Through Deaf Eyes Essay

Trough Deaf Eyes is a documentary outlining the history of the early deaf communities. The movie illustrates and touches the numerous achievements the deaf community has accomplished over the past years. It is startling to see and know the many obstacles that deaf citizens had to go through here in America to reach â€Å"acceptance†; this can almost be compared to years when African Americans were segregated. People these days might think that deaf citizens have it hard, but I’m pretty sure it is nothing compared to those years when it was punishable or looked down upon to use sign language to communicate with your family and friends. It is frustrating to know that deaf people were once forced to assimilate instead of just letting them sign. One of the movies speakers hints a good point when she shares that because she spent so much time learning how to assimilate words like â€Å"dog, cat, milk, and ext.† deaf people usually fell behind in their other topics. I can really relate to this and how frustrating it is because when I moved from Mexico to the U.S. I didn’t know any English at all. It was almost like being deaf because whenever I wanted to communicate to my teachers or fellow classmates most of my communication came from my hands since they all spoke mostly English and could not understand what I was saying or asking. Twice a week I was pulled out from my home classroom to go to another â€Å"special classroom† where another teacher would teach me English little by little along with another 5 other students. Thanks to that I also fell behind in my other school subjects in class; when it came down to grammar, reading, science, and cursive I sucked. Because of this small relation I found the movie to be really interesting.

Brand Communication

Journal of Consumer Marketing Emerald Article: Brand communities for mainstream brands: the example of the Yamaha R1 brand community Reto Felix Article information: To cite this document: Reto Felix, (2012),†Brand communities for mainstream brands: the example of the Yamaha R1 brand community†, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 Iss: 3 pp. 225 – 232 Permanent link to this document: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/07363761211221756 Downloaded on: 08-10-2012 References: This document contains references to 47 other documents To copy this document: [email  protected] comAccess to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by Dublin City University For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www. emeraldinsight. com/authors for more information. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With over forty years' experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education.In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download. Brand communities for mainstream brands: the example of the Yamaha R1 brand community Reto Felix ? Department of Business Administration, University of Monterrey, San Pedro Garza Garc? , Mexico Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to understand consumers’ product use, practices, identity, and brand meanings in the co ntext of a brand community dedicated to a mainstream Japanese motorcycle brand. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative research approach was used in the form of netnography (i. e. ethnography adapted to the study of online communities). Findings – On the product level, consumers experience multiple con? icts and negotiations of meaning related to the use of the product. These ? dings are reproduced on the brand level, where members of the brand community present a more differentiated look on the brand, accompanied by lower levels of admiration and identi? cation with the brand, as in previous reports of brand communities for brands such as Apple, Jeep, or Harley-Davidson. The results suggest that consumers for mainstream brands may be more prone to multi-brand loyalty instead of single-brand loyalty. Practical implications – Marketers should monitor motivations, attitudes, and decision-making processes on both the product and the brand level.Further, non-co mpany-run online communities such as the Yamaha R1 forum bear the risk of community members transmitting brand information in a way not desired by the company. Thus, marketers should consider sponsoring an entire discussion website, a forum, or part of a forum. Originality/value – Whereas previous studies on brand communities have concentrated predominantly on highly admired and differentiated brands, such as Apple or Harley-Davidson, this study investigates consumer practices, identities, and negotiations of meaning on both the product and brand level for a less differentiated mainstream brand.Keywords Brand community, Brand loyalty, Netnography, Identity, Consumer behaviour, Brand management Paper type Research paper An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article. Introduction to brand communities and literature review Community-based brand relationships in marketing literature have been discussed commonly with a focus on bra nd communities. A brand community is a â€Å"specialized, nongeographically bound community, based on a structured set ? f social relationships among admirers of a brand† (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001, p. 412). Brand communities have been found to be crucial in order to understand brand loyalty (Fournier and Lee, 2009; McAlexander et al. , 2002, 2003). They are based on a shared interest in the brand (Algesheimer et al. , 2005) and, more speci? cally, on the three characteristics of consciousness of kind, shared rituals and traditions, and a ? sense or moral responsibility (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001). As a positive outcome of brand communities, consumers may engage in cocreation (Schau et al. 2009), and religious-like relationships between consumers and brands may evolve, as documented in the case of the Apple Newton brand ? ? community (Muniz and Schau, 2005; Schau and Muniz, 2006). The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldin sight. com/0736-3761. htm Journal of Consumer Marketing 29/3 (2012) 225– 232 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761] [DOI 10. 1108/07363761211221756] Because of their geographical independence, brand communities can exist in the form of local clubs or interest groups (Algesheimer et al. 2005; Schouten and McAlexander, 1995), entirely on the Internet (Kozinets, ? 1997; Muniz and Schau, 2005), or in combined form (Kozinets, 2001). Further, brand communities have emerged for virtually any product, such as cars (Algesheimer et al. , 2005; Leigh et al. , 2006; Luedicke et al. , 2010; McAlexander ? et al. , 2002; Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001; Schouten et al. , 2007), motorbikes (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995), computers (Belk and Tumbat, 2005), groceries (Cova and Pace, 2006), or movies and television series (Brown et al. , 2003; Kozinets, 2001).The common denominator of the brands patronized in brand communities is a clear and unique positioning in combination with consumers who strongly identify with the brand. Consumers de? ne themselves by the brands they consume as well as the brands they do not consume, and brands are clearly classi? ed into â€Å"our brands† ? and â€Å"other brands† by the community (Muniz and Hamer, 2001). In other words, members of a particular brand community are not only supposed to be more loyal to the own brand, but also substantially less loyal to competing brands.This phenomenon has been described as oppositional brand ? loyalty by Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) and may lead to enhanced intergroup stereotyping, trash talk targeted at members outside the community, and emotional pleasures from news about a rival’s failure (Hickman and Ward, 2007). In extreme cases, oppositional brand loyalty can turn into active consumer resistance or anti-brand communities (Hollenbeck and Zinkhan, 2006; Luedicke et al. , 2010). However, brand communities are not free of oppositional forces and negotiations of meaning coming from inside.Rather, brand communities may embrace consumers who are 225 Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 critical with the brand or the product in general, and it would thus be overly optimistic to expect equally high levels of loyalty from all visitors of a brand community. For example, Kozinets (1999) classi? es members of virtual communities according to the identi? cation with the consumption activity (or brand) and the intensity of the social relationships with other members of the community.Whereas insiders show both high levels of brand identi? cation and social orientation towards the community, other members may have lower levels of brand identi? cation (minglers), lower levels of social relationships with the community (devotees), or both (tourists). Especially consumers who are simultaneously members in competing brand communities in the same product ca tegory may have high levels of participation in the communities, but without showing high levels of brand loyalty or admiration for the brands (Thompson and Sinha, 2008).In an application of these segmentation approaches to a sample of videogame players (Settlers of Catan) and a Swatch brand community, Ouwersloot and Odekerken-Schroder ? (2008) ? nd one segment of community members who are highly interested in the product, but not in the brand (36 and 7 percent, respectively) and a second segment including consumers who are neither interested in the product, the brand, or social relationships, yet still prefer to remain in the community (15 and 7 percent, respectively).Thus, it can be argued that consumer responses, such as satisfaction or loyalty, operate not only on the brand, but also on the product level (Torres-Moraga et al. , 2008). In the following analysis of an online brand community for a Japanese mainstream motorcycle brand, it is shown how consumers negotiate product and brand meanings, and how identity construction and brand attitudes are affected. The analysis is divided into a ? rst part on issues related to the activity and practices of riding a sports bike and the identity of sports bike consumers in general, and a second part on brand attitudes and how brands mediate identity construction. as chosen as the primary data source. Yamaha is one of four mainstream Japanese motorcycle brands with worldwide sales of US$12. 5 billion in 2009 (Yamaha Motor Co. , 2009). As a comparison, Harley Davidson’s same year consolidated sales from motorcycles and related products were US$4. 3 billion (Harley-Davidson, 2009). The Yamaha R1 forum is primarily dedicated to Yamaha’s top-of-the-range sport bike, the Yamaha R1, but there are also members subscribed to the forum who either have motorbikes from different brands, such as Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, or Ducati, or who currently do not have a motorbike.As of June 14, 2010, the R1 forum had 107,24 9 subscribed members and more than four million postings in approximately 265,000 threads. The threads in the forum are organized into ? ve different sections: 1 Community 2 R1-related discussion 3 Technique, racing, and stunt discussion 4 Marketplace/classi? ed. 5 Misc. section. After starting reading threads in the Community section, it was possible to identify preliminary themes and issues by further browsing through the postings. At a very early stage of the research, evidence was found for more complex and ambiguous brand relationships than in previous studies on brand communities.Following a purposive sampling approach (Lincoln and Guba, 1985; Wallendorf and Belk, 1989), reading and downloading posts were continued as long as analysis of the postings generated new insights and did not lead to redundancy (Belk et al. , 1988). At a later stage of the study, the forum’s search engine was used to immerse more systematically into the data. Over the period between August 2006 and June 2010, around 10,000 postings were read, of which approximately 300 were downloaded. Organization, analysis, and ethical procedures In a ? st step, downloaded postings were pre-classi? ed into different categories and reoccurrences were coded by assigning one or several codes to the statements in the postings. Using an iterative approach, jumping back and forth between coded and uncoded statements facilitated the interpretation of the data. Codes were then condensed into more meaningful constructs and subsequently into interpretive themes in order to obtain relevant layers of meaning and richly textured interpretations (Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994).This procedure allowed a grounded, hermeneutic interpretation to emerge from the data that did not strive for representativeness, but rather for analytic depth and relevance. In order to impede the tracking of forum members’ identities, user names were changed to generic member names, such as â€Å"forum member 1. † Deviating from Kozinets’ (2002) recommendations, permissions from community members to use direct quotations were not requested. The reason for this decision was twofold: First, in an initial attempt to contact community members, only one response out of ten emails sent was obtained.If only those postings had been used that responses had been received for, the pool of usable data had been reduced signi? cantly. And second, Langer and Beckman’s (2005) reasoning was considered in that postings in an internet community forum are intentionally public postings, comparable to readers’ letters in a newspaper, and that it would be highly unusual to seek 226 Method Netnography was used to explore brand relationships and identity construction for an online community of a mainstream Japanese motorcycle brand. Netnography has been de? ed as â€Å"ethnography adapted to the study of online communities† (Kozinets, 2002, p. 61) and has been used in consumption context s such as the X-Files (Kozinets, 1997), Star Trek (Kozinets, 2001, 2006), wedding messages (Nelson and Otnes, 2005), cars (Brown et al. , 2003), and consumer gift systems (Giesler, 2006). Similar to traditional ethnography, netnography is open-ended, interpretative, ? exible, metaphorical, and grounded in the knowledge of the speci? c and particularistic (Kozinets, 2002). However, netnography is usually faster, simpler, and less expensive than traditional ethnography (Kozinets, 2002, 2006).Further, it has been argued that new online communication technologies have â€Å"expanded the array of generalized others contributing to the construction of the self† (Cerulo, 1997, p. 386), and netnography as a tool of analyzing online communities is thus able to integrate the broadened spectrum of agents involved in the construction of individual and collective identity. Data collection Because of its size and relevance for the motorcycle community, the Yamaha R1 forum (www. r1-forum. c om) Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 ermission to use direct quotations in this context. However, Kozinet’s concerns about adequate ethical procedures in netnography research are certainly valid, and the pragmatic issue (non-responses for permission requests) ? nally was the one that complicated following his recommendations. The product level: practice and identity Although recreational motorcycling in general is considered a high-risk leisure time activity, there are different segments within the motorcycle community that distinguish themselves in attitudes and behaviors related to riding style and speed.On one extreme of street bike riding are the easy-rider oriented owners of choppers or touring bikes who prefer to ride at moderate speeds and enjoy the immediate experience with the environment. On the other extreme are sports bike enthusiasts who prefer a fast, competiti ve riding style that is often accompanied by the exhibition of riding skills and risky stunting maneuvers such as performing wheelies (Haigh and Crowther, 2005).Commercial sports bikes aim to be copies of racing bikes used by professional riders at the Moto GP or Superbike competitions, and a modern liter bike, available at dealerships for under US$15,000, accelerates from zero to 200 km/h (125 miles) in less than ten seconds and reaches speeds in excess of 290 km/h (180 miles). A complete safety gear, consisting of helmet, leather gear, gloves, and boots, is considered an obligation for any sports bike rider by some, but lead to mock comments by others, ridiculing the â€Å"power ranger† out? t of sports bike riders. An important number of psychological and social con? cts are derived from the inherent nature of sports bike riding. Physical, functional, ? nancial, psychological and social risks form a complex, multilayered ? eld of tensions and constraints that are constantl y negotiated by the individual, both internally and externally, and rarely resolved with simple heuristics. The actual or anticipated implications of an accident are dominant in many of the comments on the R1 forum, as the following sequence of succeeding narratives related to accidents and quitting riding suggests: I quit riding one time in my life.I was just getting married, building a house, etc. [. . . ] and coincidentally I was involved in a string of near misses: cars cutting me off, almost getting side swiped by an idiot who didn’t know how to turn into his own lane, getting run off road and up over a curb through a gas station parking lot by a garbage truck who just decided he wanted to cut across two lanes with no warning. It was my opinion that there was just some bad energy around me right then, and with all the other stress in my life maybe it was adding to the problem. I don’t know.I hung it up for a few years, then got back into it when everything felt ri ght again. It still feels right [. . . ] all the while I’ve witnessed bike wrecks, been close to others’ fatal accidents, laid my own bike down at a track day, etc. [. . . ] but it still feels right for me. My single rule is that as long as my head is in the game, then it’s â€Å"rightâ€Å". If my head is constantly focusing on crashing, dying, etc. [. . . ] then it’s time to take another time-out. Shouldn’t be riding if you can’t focus on what you’re doing. Period. No shame in that (forum member 1).I’ve seen bad accidents but also I believe its mental. With so many, â€Å"I’ve gone down† threads, it can eat your con? dence away and make riding not fun. If it ain’t fun, that’s a good time to step back and let time rebuild your enjoyment (forum member 2). [. . . ] Subscribed [. . . ] (forum member 3). Personally everyday that I wake up and am fortunate enough to ride I tell my wife I love her I get my brain focused and I always keep reminding myself that this could be my last ride and I think that is half the reason I ride so responsibly on the street.I don’t want to have a last ride I love this sport. I have been down once very hard and that was a wake up call but I can’t give up what I love and to all my friends and fellow riders if I do go down and don’t get up please keep riding for me cause I would do the same (forum member 4). The con? ict between the hedonistic and aesthetic pleasures of riding a bike and the inherent risks involved in the activity becomes salient in forum member 2 comment about how riding a motorcycle should be related to fun. Speci? life events, such as those mentioned in forum member 1 narrative, amplify these tensions and may lead to important changes in attitudes or behaviors. However, these attitudinal or behavioral changes are frequently dynamic and unstable in time. For example, the decision to quit riding is in many cases a temporal one, and forum members compare riding to an addiction such as drinking or smoking. This addiction-like need to ride a motorbike then becomes an important factor in identity construction: From the point of view of the individual, riders do not choose riding a motorbike in order to signal certain values.Rather, as expressed by forum member 4, the activity forms a natural part of the self and is just there, similar to early conceptualizations of gender or race in the essentialist identity logic. Riding a bike is elevated to a mission that does not leave room for choices, and fellow riders are encouraged to honor the dead by continuing the mission and keeping the spirit alive. The inherent trait of being addicted to motorcycles is assessed critically in a re? ective discourse by many riders. For example, forum member 5 explains that he is aware of the multiple con? cts that surround his hobby, but apparently resolves these con? icts by stating that riding is the most importan t thing in his life, and that he has learned that riding makes him happy. The shared consciousness and discourse related to themes such as the risk of experiencing a severe accident, losing a fellow rider, or problems with girlfriends, spouses, or the family in general, leads to a collective identity that is constructed, complex, and deprived of precise classi? cations. The brand level: attitudes mediating identity constructionThe negotiations of meaning related to the practice of riding a sports bike are reproduced at the more speci? c brand level. Whereas previous research on brand communities has been largely focused on communities with extraordinary high levels of brand loyalty and commitment, members of the R1 sports bike community show a more ambiguous and differentiated relationship with the Yamaha brand: I’m really faithful to Yamaha, but when sitting on a new R1 and a new GSXR1000 side by side, I have to say I like the Suzuki. The R1 just feels so much [. . . bigger. I don’t know. Also, the magazines bitch about the suspension [. . . ] yet how many serious track people leave suspension stock anyway? Regardless, I’m too poor to buy a new bike, so I’ll continue riding my 02 R1 on the track (forum member 6). Faithfulness in this context is not experienced as absolute loyalty to only one brand. Rather, it is legitimate to question publicly the qualities of the favorite brand. Contrary to what might be expected, forum member 6 receives very few objections from the community members, and a relatively ational, attribute-based discussion of the merits and disadvantages of different motorcycle brands and models follows. In general, discourses presented by the forum members include few elements of real enthusiasm and emotional commitment for the brand. Apparently, community members perceive both the products and the brands in the sports bike category as little differentiated. This does not mean that R1 owners are dissatis? ed with th eir bike 227 Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 r the Yamaha brand in general. Rather, the speci? c situation of the sports bike community suggests customers who are highly satis? ed with their brand, yet nevertheless would switch to another brand easily. It has been suggested that brand loyalty can be measured by asking individuals how likely it is they would recommend the brand to a friend or colleague (Reichheld, 2003). Because people new to sports bike riding frequently ask for advice on the forum, a great number of posts are related to what bike from which brand would be recommended.Typical answers include statements such as â€Å"any of the new bikes are great† (forum member 7) or â€Å"I’ve spent some time on all the bikes and seriously there is no true winner, no matter what you get nowadays is a rocket out of the crate and you will be getting a good bike! Each has its ups and down but overall I could see myself on any of them really! † (forum member 8). Rather than showing indifference, consumers like and actually buy any of the important sports bike brands.Using the conceptual partition of the awareness set into an evoked set, an inert set, and an inept set (Narayana and Markin, 1975; Spiggle and Seawall, 1987), it seems that R1 community members place most of the important sports bike brands into the evoked set, whereas the inert set is relatively small. Instead of a highly committed loyalty to one single brand, as in previous accounts of brand communities, the Yamaha R1 brand community is, if anything, prone to multi-brand or split loyalty (Jacoby, 1971; Jacoby and Kyner, 1973). Identity is thus less de? ed by a speci? c brand, but rather by the activity of riding a sports bike itself. Wherever brand personalities in? uence decision making, it seems that these criteria are exclusive rather than inclusive. That is, the considerat ion set is not formed by the inclusion of a speci? c brand or set of brands, but rather by excluding unattractive brands. For example, in the R1 forum, some members distance themselves from Suzuki, one of Yamaha’s main competitors, because they don’t identify with the people who ride Suzukis: Yes, gixxer is by far the â€Å"squid bike† all the ? st time riders and newbies love the gixxers [. . . ] Their mentality and unfriendly attitude is because they are young, dumb, and think their bike is the best ever (forum member 9). the brand and clash with the otherwise positively perceived performance and quality of the product. The identity of the R1 brand community is further formed by the relationship with two other groups of motorcycles. On one hand, most forum members seem to admire the more exclusive Italian sports bike brands, such as Ducati and MV Agusta.On the other hand, the relationship to Harley Davidson is not marked by a clear distinction of acceptance ve rsus rejection pattern, but rather by a complicated and sometimes ambiguous pattern of mixed emotions toward the brand and its users: There are a lot of douche bag riders, Harley and sportbike alike, but I will admit I’ve ? ipped off quite a few Harley riders. I’ve gotten less camaraderie from Harley riders than anyone, but those are just the young wannabies, the old guys are usually cool tho, hahaha (forum member 10). In motorcycle slang, Gixxer stands for Suzuki’s GSX-R line of super sport motorbikes.Forum members do not reject the Suzuki brand because of issues with the quality or performance of the product, but rather because of the characteristics of the riders who use the brand. Squid, an expression that, according to some forum members, is a combination of the two words â€Å"squirrel† and â€Å"kid,† describes irresponsible motorcycle riders who overestimate their riding skills and frequently wear inappropriate and insuf? cient riding gear. By claiming that the Suzuki GSX-R series is the typical squid bike, attributes of the consumers are ascribed to the brand.Thus, brand identity is built on exclusion (â€Å"this is not how we want to be†) rather than on inclusion. Further, meaning transfer in this case deviates substantially from the traditional symbolic consumption process. Symbolic consumption suggests that individuals transfer the symbolic meaning of a brand to themselves, and subsequently the audience, such as peers and signi? cant others, assigns the attributes of the brand to the individual (Grubb and Grathwohl, 1967). However, meaning in the example above is transferred in the reverse direction, from the user to the brand.Negative attributes of Suzuki brand users (such as being squiddish, dumb, and inexperienced) are transferred to 228 Here, forum member 10 develops a differentiated look toward Harley-Davidson riders by explaining that the less friendly Harley riders are typically those that are younge r (and thus less experienced), whereas the older riders seem to be more open. Both positive and negative feelings co-exist at the same time as the result of a cognitive evaluation that avoids simple stereotyping found at other brand communities.Many R1 forum members perceive the Harley-Davidson brand as both cool and obsolete at the same time, and this ambiguity toward the brand is replicated for the users of the brand, where Harley-Davidson riders have been experienced as both cool and authentic riders or as ignorant and unfriendly â€Å"weekend warriors. † Thus, brands in the R1 community are not iconic symbols that unambiguously communicate attitudes and lifestyles of brand users to the larger audience via the meaning of the brand.Rather, brands are complex, multidimensional entities that gain meaning only in the reciprocal relationship with the brand user. Unconditional single-brand loyalty and â€Å"we† versus â€Å"us† stereotypes are replaced in large par t by ambiguous, differentiated, and often critical attitudes toward the own brand. Brand identity is based on exclusion (Suzuki is a typical brand for squids) instead of inclusion, and within a relatively large evoked set, multi-brand loyalty is more common than religious-like brand worshipping described for, e. g. the Apple Newton. Conclusions and managerial implicationsBrand communities have sparked the interest of marketing researchers and practitioners alike because of the high levels of brand loyalty and commitment observed in previous studies on brands such as Apple, Jeep, or Harley Davidson. However, the results of this qualitative study suggest that instead of single-brand loyalty, consumers for mainstream brands may be more prone to multi-brand loyalty. As forum member 8 (see citation above) expressed it, â€Å"[. . . ] no matter what you get nowadays is a rocket out of the crate and you will be getting a good bike!Each has its ups and down but overall I could see myself o n any of them really! † The case of the Yamaha R1 brand community thus presents preliminary evidence that speci? c industry conditions may shape the relationships consumers have with their brand, and more speci? cally, that multi-brand loyalty is more probable to occur for low levels of brand differentiation (Felix, 2009) combined with more choices (Bennett and Rundle-Thiele, 2005). It follows that from the point of view of a company, having many members in a speci? c brand community does not necessarily translate into a highly loyal customer base.Rather, under certain Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 conditions, higher levels of participation may actually increase the likelihood of adopting products from competing brands, especially if individuals are simultaneously members in several brand communities (Thompson and Sinha, 2008). The results of this study suggest that market ers should monitor and track consumers’ motivations, attitudes, and decision making processes on two levels: On the product level, it is important for marketers to understand barriers and con? cts related to the general use of the product. In the speci? c case of a sports bike, the physical risk (in the form of experiencing a severe accident) is probably the most important issue, which in turn may lead to substantial social tensions, especially with family members. For other products, such as clothing, computers, or food, the motivations why consumers may or may not consider a speci? c product category may be different, but it remains essential to understand these reasons. On the brand level, it is important for marketers to understand the degree of brand identi? ation in the community as well as the way how consumers perceive a consciousness of kind, share rituals and traditions, and experience a sense of moral responsibility ? (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001). In a world of online consumer-to-consumer communications, companies are increasingly losing control over their brands. It is therefore important for marketers to get involved in the process of image building and brand positioning in online communication platforms. Non-company-run communities, such as the Yamaha R1 forum, bear the risk of community members transmitting brand information in a way not desired by the company (Stokburger-Sauer, 2010).Marketers thus should try to integrate consumers by either sponsoring an entire discussion website, a forum, or part of a forum (Pitta and Fowler, 2005). Finally, an unobtrusive and authentic way of increasing a company’s involvement in a noncompany-run forum is exempli? ed by a company that provides motorcycle braking systems. One of the company’s employees invites Yamaha R1 forum members to ask him brake related questions and explains that he is on the forum not to sell, but to educate riders about brakes in general.By choosing a nonselli ng approach in the R1 forum, the company manages to gain credibility in the community and to build customer relationships that are more consumer-focused and authentic than many of the hard-selling approaches at the dealerships. The employee’s thread on brake questions has more than 600 postings, which is signi? cantly above the forum’s average of around 15 postings per thread, and evidences the interest of the community in a direct contact with company representatives. The example also suggests that online communities are not limited to relationships between consumers and the brand and between consumers and consumers.Rather, consumers develop complex relationships with several brands, products, marketing agents, and other consumers within the same community. brand love are divided among the different brands in the evoked set? Or is it possible that several brands receive the same amount of commitment and dedication, as might be claimed by a husband being in a polygynou s relationship with several wives? Finally, how can corporations increase their share in the multi-loyal brand set? As in many other industries, differentiation on the product level seems to be dif? cult for sports bikes, but efforts in brand communication, e. . by using events and experiences to build brand image, might be a promising avenue to go. References Algesheimer, R. , Dholakia, U. M. and Herrmann, A. (2005), â€Å"The social in? uence of brand community: evidence from European car clubs†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 69 No. 3, pp. 19-34. Arnould, E. J. and Wallendorf, M. (1994), â€Å"Market-oriented ethnography: interpretation building and marketing strategy formulation†, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 484-504. Belk, R. W. and Tumbat, G. (2005), â€Å"The cult of Macintosh†, Consumption, Markets, and Culture, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 205-17. Belk, R. W. Sherry, J. F. Jr and Wallendorf, M. (1988), â€Å"A naturalistic inquiry into buyer and seller behavior at a swap meet†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 449-70. Bennett, R. and Rundle-Thiele, S. (2005), â€Å"The brand loyalty life cycle: implications for marketers†, Brand Management, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 250-63. Brown, S. , Kozinets, R. V. and Sherry, J. F. Jr (2003), â€Å"Teaching old brands new tricks: retro branding and the revival of brand meaning†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 67 No. 2, pp. 19-33. Cerulo, K. A. (1997), â€Å"Identity construction: new issues, new directions†, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 385-409. Cova, B. and Pace, S. (2006), â€Å"Brand community of convenience products: new forms of customer empowerment – the case ‘my Nutella The community’†, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40 Nos 9/10, pp. 1087-106. Felix, R. (2009), â€Å"Explaining loyalty: the personal relationship analogy†, in Kehoe, W. J. and Whitten, L. K. (Eds), Advances in Marketing: Embraci ng Challenges and Change, Society for Marketing Advances, Tuscaloosa, AL, pp. 59-62. Fournier, S. and Lee, L. (2009), â€Å"Getting brand communities right†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 87 No. 4, pp. 105-11. Giesler, M. 2006), â€Å"Consumer gift systems: insights from Napster†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 283-90. Grubb, E. L. and Grathwohl, H. L. (1967), â€Å"Consumer selfconcept, symbolism and market behavior: a theoretical approach†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 22-7. Haigh, J. and Crowther, G. (2005), â€Å"Interpreting motorcycling through its embodiment in life story narratives†, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 21 Nos 5/6, pp. 555-72. Harley-Davidson (2009), â€Å"Annual report†, available at: www. harley-davidson. com/en_US/Media/downloads/Annual_ Reports/2009/HD_Annual2009. df (accessed June 14, 2010). 229 Avenues for future research Future research may strive to examine in more detail the impact of overlapping (i. e. multiple) community memberships (McAlexander et al. , 2002). There are also questions about the speci? c impact of multi-brand loyalty on brand relationships. For example, if multi-brand loyalty is the more adequate model to describe brand relationships for mainstream brands, does that mean that commitment and Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 Hickman, T. nd Ward, J. (2007), â€Å"The dark side of brand community: inter-group stereotyping, trash talk, and Schadenfreude†, in Fitzsimons, G. and Morwitz, V. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 34, Association for Consumer Research, Duluth, MN, pp. 314-9. Hollenbeck, C. R. and Zinkhan, G. M. (2006), â€Å"Consumer activism on the internet: the role of anti-brand communities†, in Pechmann, C. and Price, L. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 33, Association for Consumer Research, Duluth, MN, pp. 479-85. Jacoby, J. (1971), â€Å"A model of multi-brand loyalty†, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 25-31. Jacoby, J. and Kyner, D. B. (1973), â€Å"Brand loyalty vs. repeat purchasing behavior†, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 1-9. Kozinets, R. V. (1997), â€Å"I want to believe: a netnography of the X-Philes’ subculture of consumption†, in Brucks, M. and MacInnis, D. J. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 24, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, pp. 470-5. Kozinets, R. V. (1999), â€Å"E-tribalized marketing? The strategic implications of virtual communities of consumption†, European Management Journal, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 252-64. Kozinets, R. V. 2001), â€Å"Utopian enterprise: articulating the meanings of Star Trek’s culture of consumption†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 67-88. Kozinets, R. V. (2002), â€Å"The ? eld behind the screen: using netnography for marketing research in online communities†, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 61-72. Kozinets, R. V. (2006), â€Å"Click to connect: netnography and tribal advertising†, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 46 No. 3, pp. 279-88. Langer, R. and Beckman, S. C. (2005), â€Å"Sensitive research topics: netnography revisited†, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. No. 2, pp. 189-203. Leigh, T. W. , Peters, C. and Shelton, J. (2006), â€Å"The consumer quest for authenticity: the multiplicity of meanings within the MG subculture of consumption†, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 481-93. Lincoln, Y. S. and Guba, E. G. (1985), Naturalistic Inquiry, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA. Luedicke, M. K. , Thompson, C. J. and Giesler, M. (2010), â€Å"Consumer identity work as moral protagonism: how myth and ideology animate a brand-mediated moral con? ict†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 36 No. 6, pp. 1016-32. McAlexander, J. H. , Kim, S.K. and Roberts, S. D. (2003), â€Å"Loyalty: the in? uences of satisfaction and brand community integration†, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 1-11. McAlexander, J. H. , Schouten, J. W. and Koenig, H. F. (2002), â€Å"Building brand community†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 66 No. 1, pp. 38-54. ? Muniz, A. M. Jr and Hamer, L. O. (2001), â€Å"Us versus them: oppositional brand loyalty and the Cola wars†, in Gilly, M. C. and Meyers-Levy, J. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 28, Association for Consumer Research, Valdosta, GA, pp. 355-61. ? Muniz, A. M. Jr and O’Guinn, T. C. 2001), â€Å"Brand community†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 412-32. 230 ? Muniz, A. M. Jr and Schau, H. J. (2005), â€Å"Religiosity in the abandoned Apple Newton brand community†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 737-47. Narayana, C. L. and Markin, R. J. (1975), â€Å"Consumer behavior and product performance: an alternative conceptualization†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 1-6. Nelson, M. R. and Otnes, C. C. (2005), â€Å"Exploring crosscultural ambivalence: a netnography of intercultural wedding message boards†, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp. 89-95.Ouwersloot, H. and Odekerken-Schroder, G. (2008), â€Å"Who’s ? who in brand communities – and why? †, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 42 Nos 5/6, pp. 571-85. Pitta, D. A. and Fowler, D. (2005), â€Å"Internet community forums: an untapped resource for consumer marketers†, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 265-74. Reichheld, F. F. (2003), â€Å"The one number you need to grow†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 81 No. 12, pp. 46-54. ? Schau, H. J. and Muniz, A. M. Jr (2006), â€Å"A tale of tales: the Apple Newton narratives†, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 19-33. ? Schau, H. J. Muniz, A. M. Jr and Arnould, E. J. (2009), â€Å"How brand community practices create value†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 73 No. 5, pp. 30-51. Schouten, J. W. and McAlexander, J. H. (1995), â€Å"Subcultures of consumption: an ethnography of the new bikers†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 43-61. Schouten, J. W. , McAlexander, J. H. and Koenig, H. F. (2007), â€Å"Transcendent customer experience and brand community†, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 357-68. Spiggle, S. and Seawall, M. A. (1987), â€Å"A choice sets model of retail selection†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 97-111. Stokburger-Sauer, N. (2010), â€Å"Brand communities: drivers and outcomes†, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 347-68. Thompson, S. A. and Sinha, R. K. (2008), â€Å"Brand communities and new product adoption: the in? uence and limits of oppositional loyalty†, Journal of Marketing, Vol . 72 No. 6, pp. 65-80. ? Torres-Moraga, E. , Vasquez-Parraga, A. Z. and Zamora? Gonzalez, J. (2008), â€Å"Customer satisfaction and loyalty: start with the product, culminate with the brand†, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 302-13. Wallendorf, M. and Belk, R.W. (1989), â€Å"Assessing trustworthiness in naturalistic consumer research†, in Hirschman, E. C. (Ed. ), Interpretive Consumer Research, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, pp. 69-84. Yamaha Motor Co. (2009), â€Å"Annual report†, available at: www. yamaha-motor. co. jp/global/ir/material/pdf/2009/2009 annual-e. pdf (accessed June 14, 2010). About the author Reto Felix is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Monterrey, Mexico. He received his Master’s in Marketing and PhD in Business Administration from the University of St Gallen, Switzerland.He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Marketing Group, Haas School of Business, University of California, Ber keley, and has published in journals such as Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 Business & Industrial Marketing, and Journal of International Consumer Marketing. Further, he has presented his research at conferences hosted by the Association for Consumer Research, the American Marketing Association, the Academy of Marketing Science and the Society for Marketing Advances.Reto Felix can be contacted at: [email  protected] edu. mx Executive summary and implications for managers and executives This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full bene? ts of the material present . The topic of brand communities has provided the focus for much marketing literature.Brand communities transcend geographical boundaries and contain people who exhibit passion for a particular brand. These individuals also display similarities in consciousness while â€Å"shared rituals and traditions† is another cornerstone of their social relationships. Some scholars have even noted the propensity for â€Å"religious-like† associations to develop. Evidence shows that groups can be based locally, online or a combination of both. A wide range of products has supplied the inspiration for brand communities to form. In addition to strong consumer identi? ation with the brands, â€Å"clear and unique positioning† is viewed as a common characteristic among brands concerned. Brand loyalty can be fervent to a degree that an â€Å"us and them† mentality often arises with regard to other brands. Bonding within the community can generate stereotypes and outsiders are treated with some disdain. Any failure of competitor brands is cause for celebration. It is, however, a misconception to assume that brand communities are always homogenous. Signi? cant internal differences appear to be the rule not the exception.Relationship intensity with other members is subject to variation because some are loyal to the brand while others may identify more closely with the product. Levels of social orientation can similarly differ. Researchers have also pointed out the possibility of some individuals lacking interest in brand, product and social relationships yet remaining in the community. Others might become involved with different brand communities in the same product category, resulting in further dissemination of loyalty. Felix explores the topic in a study of an online Yamaha brand community principally devoted to the Japanese manufacturer’s R1 luxury sports otorcycle. Yamaha is one of the world’s leading brands in its category and in 200 9 boasted sales of $12. 5 billion. At the time of the study, there were 107,249 registered members in the R1 forum. Some members did not currently own a motorcycle, while others possessed a different brand. The author considers netnography as the most relevant study method for the investigation of brand relationships and â€Å"identity construction of an online community†. This approach is regarded as ethnography adapted for the purpose of exploring online communities. Among other things, netnography has been commended for its ? xibility, 231 open-endedness and interpretative qualities. Different researchers have used the approach in a variety of study contexts including cars, consumer gifts and TV programs. Following initial analysis of messages posted on the forum, the threads were arranged into ? ve different sections respectively labeled as: Community; R1-related Discussion; Technique, Racing and Stunt Discussion; Marketplace/ Classi? ed; and Miscellaneous Section. Analys is of the threads enabled messages to be coded and then organized into â€Å"interpretive themes† so that appropriate â€Å"layers of meaning† could be identi? d. Message themes were analyzed at the product level to ascertain factors which in? uence practice and identity. In general, considerable risk is associated with riding a motorcycle for leisure purposes. But the variation in attitudes towards factors like speed and riding style means that different segments exist within the biking community. At one end of the continuum are those who ride around at moderate speeds to savor the experience with the environment. Positioned at the other extreme are bikers whose penchant for high speed is often accompanied by an aggressive style of riding.Such individuals are also likelier to ? aunt their biking skills through dangerous maneuvers like pulling wheelies. According to Felix, riding a motorcycle gives rise to various risks and con? icts that can be physical, functional, ? nancial, psychological or social in nature. The activity is therefore highly complex and generates a web of â€Å"tensions and constraints† that the individual must constantly address internally and externally. Concern about accidents is a recurring theme with community members referring to â€Å"actual or anticipated implications† in that eventuality.Message content reveals that con? ict exists between knowledge of the intrinsic risks associated with bike riding and the grati? cation derived from it. Forum members suggest that such tensions may prompt attitude or behavioral changes, albeit sometimes ? eeting in nature. This occurs because riding a motorcycle is almost addictive and an important aspect of identity construction. Some comments imply that it is a â€Å"mission† that simply has to be ful? lled. Even though members are aware of the con? icts which surround this pastime, the desire to ride is the main driving force.Analysis reveals a â€Å"shared co nsciousness† about issues including serious accidents, loss of a fellow biker, and problems relating to the family. The author ascertains a collective identity that is complex in nature but dif? cult to categorize precisely. An examination of meaning at the speci? c brand level reveals a relationship between forum members and the Yamaha brand that is â€Å"ambiguous and differentiated†. Instead of absolute loyalty to the brand, it is more evident that people engage in balanced debate about its qualities and those of other motorcycle brands.Members apparently perceive little differentiation between brands and may switch to another brand even if they are highly satis? ed. Many studies have noted that some consumers can display loyalty to multiple brands and there is some evidence of this tendency here. Messages seeking advice on future purchases are frequent and members typically recommend a range of brands they consider decent. In the opinion of Felix, this indicates tha t riding a sports motorcycle de? nes identity much more that the speci? c brand of bike. Another signi? cant ? nding is how decision making seems in? enced more by exclusive than inclusive brand criteria. A Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 key example is the negative perceptions of the Suzuki brand among some R1 forum members. The interesting fact about this hostility is that is has little to do with product quality concerns. Instead, such evaluation arises because members question those who ride Suzuki sport bikes. With regard to identity construction, meaning is normally transferred from brand to individual. Here, however, it is the negative traits of Suzuki riders that re transferred to the brand. Some con? ict with positive perceptions of the product subsequently occurs. That brands are complex and multidimensional is further illustrated by the contrasting ways in which R1 memb ers relate to Harley Davidson. Positive and negative feelings exist simultaneously as the brand is regarded as cool yet obsolete. Contrasting statements are likewise directed at Harley Davidson riders. One important deduction is that ambiguity surrounds brand meaning, attitude and lifestyle conveyed within this community. This study indicates that consumer-brand relations might be shaped by â€Å"speci? industry conditions†. Marketers are also alerted to lack of clear brand differentiation and the possibility that multi-brand loyalty will ensue, even when a large brand community exists. Understanding what in? uences consumer attitudes, motivations and decision-making at both product and brand level is essential. Certain factors may encourage or deter choice of a particular product, while it is equally important to be aware of brand identi? cation levels and collective sensitivities among consumers. Given the revealing nature of online communication, Felix suggests that ? ms m ight gain greater insight into consumer thinking by becoming actively involved in non-company forums. An unobtrusive approach is considered vital though. The aim should not be to sell but to build authentic consumer-focused relationships with an emphasis on providing advice or information. ? (A precis of the article â€Å"Brand communities for mainstream brands: the example of the Yamaha R1 brand community†. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald. ) To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email  protected] com Or visit our web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints 232

Article of Marketing Strategies of Bajaj Auto

It is required to provide protection for men, machines, materials, products or even the companyaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s secrets. It has to serve as a part of the production facilities and as a factor to maximize economy and efficiency in plant operations. It should be such, as would offer a pleasant and comfortable working environment and project the managementaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s image and prestige. Besides, it involves considerable investment of capital. In a way, a factory building is to a plant what skin and bones are to a living being, the structure and appearance heighten the functioning as a whole of the body corporate, or of a living body. It is for these reasons that the factory building acquires great importance. The management of an existing factory may, on certain occasions, feel the need for raising a building. This may be an improvement on, or an addition to, the existing building for purpose of expansion or growth, or a new structure necessitated by product diversification or market considerations. A factory building may be rented, if available in the place, when the management decides that way. But, generally speaking, no large factory, or even a medium-sized factory, is housed in a rented accommodation. The reasons are that, in the first place, ready made factory buildings are not available to suit particular needs, except for small plants. In the second place, a rented building does not indicate prosperity and progressaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬ a fact which is important to a manufacturing concern in so far as its public image is concerned. Whether a building has to be constructed, or rented, or improved, or expanded, certain factors, which are of vital importance to every plant, should be borne in mind. These considerations relate to: 1. The design of the buildings. 2. The types of materials for construction; and 3. The types of buildings Every factory management enlists the services of architects, engineers and contractors to ensure that these considerations find their due place in the consideration of factory buildings. more at http://www. citeman. com/136-importance-of-factory-buildings-in-operations. html#ixzz2O9Gy3LP6 Article of Marketing Strategies of Bajaj Auto It is required to provide protection for men, machines, materials, products or even the companyaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s secrets. It has to serve as a part of the production facilities and as a factor to maximize economy and efficiency in plant operations. It should be such, as would offer a pleasant and comfortable working environment and project the managementaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s image and prestige. Besides, it involves considerable investment of capital. In a way, a factory building is to a plant what skin and bones are to a living being, the structure and appearance heighten the functioning as a whole of the body corporate, or of a living body. It is for these reasons that the factory building acquires great importance. The management of an existing factory may, on certain occasions, feel the need for raising a building. This may be an improvement on, or an addition to, the existing building for purpose of expansion or growth, or a new structure necessitated by product diversification or market considerations. A factory building may be rented, if available in the place, when the management decides that way. But, generally speaking, no large factory, or even a medium-sized factory, is housed in a rented accommodation. The reasons are that, in the first place, ready made factory buildings are not available to suit particular needs, except for small plants. In the second place, a rented building does not indicate prosperity and progressaâ‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬ a fact which is important to a manufacturing concern in so far as its public image is concerned. Whether a building has to be constructed, or rented, or improved, or expanded, certain factors, which are of vital importance to every plant, should be borne in mind. These considerations relate to: 1. The design of the buildings. 2. The types of materials for construction; and 3. The types of buildings Every factory management enlists the services of architects, engineers and contractors to ensure that these considerations find their due place in the consideration of factory buildings. more at http://www. citeman. com/136-importance-of-factory-buildings-in-operations. html#ixzz2O9Gy3LP6

Education as the Surest Way of Empowering an Individual Essay

Education as the Surest Way of Empowering an Individual - Essay Example This way, I will make the scholarship work both for me and for the rest of people in my community. My history is grim and hopeless. However, I have always loved studies. I have interacted with educated people in a number of scenarios and I have always loved their lives. My childhood role model was a district attorney who lived in my township. I promised myself while young to work hard in studies to become as successful as he was and indeed, I have and continues to work hard in my studies. The cost of high-quality education remained a forbidding factor in my quest for competitive education in leading institutions of higher learning. The scholarship offers me an opportunity to identify my interests and abilities. Furthermore, it provides me with an opportunity to work on the two in order to become a productive member of the society. As such, the scholarship is an opportunity for me to receive the education I have desired for as long as I can remember. The education I receive through the scholarship is going to help me, my family and my community in a number of ways. Among the ways the education is going to benefit me is by molding my personality into an ideal individual capable of communicating with people from various backgrounds and capable of upholding the ethical standards in any society. Education grooms people. It increases the mental capacities of an individual thereby making people more reasonable and capable of embracing peaceful ways of resolving conflicts and minimizing harm. I believe I will learn a number of humanist concepts that will enable my growth into an analytical adult capable of protecting the interests of the various publics I will interact with in future. The traits I describe above are those of a leader.

MGT CHECKPOINT WK6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MGT CHECKPOINT WK6 - Essay Example First, I will call for an impromptu meeting with the union officials and discuss the matter at hand. In this meeting, I will convince them that the management have them in mind and that the issues at hand can be resolved without the need for the planned action. Secondly, armed with employee’s issues at hand, I will plan a meeting with upper management. In this meeting, I will remind the upper management of the employee’s rights and those rights that the company may be violating that is making the employees unhappy. In Addition, I will discuss other matters like employees promises not met, their working conditions, and any other issues raised by employees. It will be good to remind the upper management of the good work that the team is doing and without it, the company cannot achieve what it has. The management will give a stipulated time after which we will have a meeting with the union official to give

A formal business letter to the Chief Executive of Arsenal FC Essay

A formal business letter to the Chief Executive of Arsenal FC - Essay Example The major external environment forces include; Based on the PESTEL model, Economy is one of the external forces that influence business practices of Arsenal. Change in the UK economy may present both the positive and the negative results to Arsenalii. Therefore, business activities and strategies used by the club should acknowledge the influence of UK economy in the club’s business activities. Growth in economy may present various opportunities to the club. On the other hand, decline in economic growth during instances of recession affects the club’s business objectives in a negative manner. Favorable economic environment is strength to the club. Arsenal generates a substantial amount of income from match ticket sales. In 2011, the audit company, Deloitte, ascertained that the club earned  £93.1 million from ticket sales. With respect to the underlying external factor, ticket purchases depend on the prevailing economic environment. Recession results in low ticket sales. On the other hand, a boom in economy increases ticket sales; hence a subsequent increase in ticket revenue. In addition, economy affects the club’s commercial activities. Sale of property and other merchandise depends on the state of UK economy. Since the club owns property, which includes houses, recession results in poor sales of property. On the other hand, improvement of economy makes fans to buy more merchandise and homes. Finally, the UK economic environment influences player value whereby growth in economy results in a subsequent increase in player value. Consequently, the club may not be in a position to sustain quality players due to exorbitant wagesiii. Technology is another external force that influence business practices of Arsenal. In the contemporary business platform, technology plays a significant role in communication. In this regard, Arsenal adopts modern technological tools in conducting some of the business

Marketing and Social Networking Web Sites Essay

Marketing and Social Networking Web Sites - Essay Example It's a straightforward concept that assists build integrity when you are able to put a face to the messenger. Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have turned out to be the party lines in this 21st century. They are attractive and fascinating and a powerful tool for communication between people. Learning the way to use them intelligently for marketing can add to any businesses profile. Social networking Web sites provides an important media channel for broadcasting to a diverse demographic, ranging from teens and young to adults, women, moms, prosperous consumers, to elder individuals. In fact experts suppose U.S. ad expenditure on social networks to rise by about 200% by 2011. Consumers react less to conventional media and advertising, and are changing towards consumer-to-consumer communication including mobile messaging, blogging, word-of mouth marketing, similarity shopping sites, and peer-to-peer networks. Study shows that 80% of consumers belief in the advice from online friends, representing thrice as much trust compared to through traditional media. Additionally, one of every three users of the internet visits Web sites comprising of user-generated stuff to aid make purchase choices (Ward, 2007, 3). There are several companies, including P&G, Morgan Chase, Toyota, Unilever and JP Burger King that have successfully leveraged their marketing communications through social networking Web sites to accomplish different marketing strategies. These social sites permit people to communicate freely on anything. However, most significantly allow people to share knowledge that might be helpful to both parties. Numerous common things shared via these sites are fashionable recipes, sites to visit, trustworthy mechanics in their area, superlative place to acquire a steak and still great areas to go fishing. A number of the most well known and established Networking sites comprise of MySpace, SlingAd Videos, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Social Media on the internet is a vast untapped source of leads, projections and partners to business and the good news with this is they are FREE. Thus, in order to take advantage of the social media madness, businesses have to recognize how precisely to monetize this critical untapped resource of prospective business partners. Numerous Online business proprietors have learned the way to establish a Blueprint of themselves over the internet with the rationale of presenting to their consumer that they have used up the time perhaps writing articles, redistribution videos and presenting photos of themselves and their relatives in order for this new consumers not to be intimidated when they contact them through either email or calls. This enables the consumers to easily be capable of

Current international interest (anything really) Essay

Current international interest (anything really) - Essay Example Armed extortion is one of the ways of making a living in Somalia. Piracy today in Somalia is a highly profitable enterprise raking in millions of dollars through ransom. It is growing at an alarming rate. According to reports about 41 ships were attacked in 2007, more than 122 were attacked in 2008 and more than 100 in 2009. The situation is grim and has become a cause for worry with reports of connection between the pirates and Islamist extremists. Most of the pirates are from Puntland, situated in northeastern Somalia and their ages range from 20 to 35.According to The East African Seafarers Association there are about five pirate gangs consisting of about 1,000 armed men. The pirates are mainly local Somali fishermen who work for themselves and are known for their skill and knowledge of the sea. Some pirates are ex-militiamen who used to fight for the local warlords. What began as small acts of piracy on small and vulnerable ships has today reached alarming proportions. From 2008 Somali pirates have attacked ships much outside the Gulf of Aden. There has been an increase in the frequency and sophistication of the attacks. The size of vessels hijacked has also increased and today large cargo ships and international oil and chemical tankers have become the new targets for the Somali pirates. The economic success of the pirates has had negative effect on local residents. The presence of armed men makes the local residents feel insecure, and the lavish spending ways of the pirates has caused great fluctuations in the local exchange rate. There are also reports that some Islamist groups have used Somali Pirates to smuggle arms. US Navys Fifth Fleet and many other countries have deployed ships to patrol the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. Egypt along with Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan and Sudan has formulated a joint strategy against piracy. But the size of the coast and the traffic of ships that goes past Somalia make it

The Curse (1988) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Curse (1988) - Research Paper Example Through his narration, the author has tried to make use of the words, actions as well as thoughts of Mitchell Hayes that would occur to the man as he went about living the due course of his lifestyle. His family and friends, as well as the police try to tell him that he had done enough, however, he began questioning his own decisions and feels guilt and resentment at himself for not having been able to do ‘more’. Hayes says, â€Å"I should have stopped it. I think I could have stopped it.† (Dubus, Andre) The author has tried to express how every human being tries his best to always do more than what he can, and when he is not able to do so, he blames himself for it and regrets his decisions later. However, this is a futile exercise because every man has a choice to make and those choices affect his entire life and the course that it takes. No choices can be made later or gone back upon, and thus Hayes takes a long time to understand the very concept of not regrett ing whatever one does in their life. As the rape comes to an end and the bikers leave the scene, Hayes slowly walks towards the girl and sits down next to her.

Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Management Essay - 6

Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Management - Essay Example It is important to consider financial, legal, marketing and other related business considerations in order to keep an enterprise organised in every aspect of it to survive the competition. Competition is everywhere and there are various ways made by business organisations that try to make them a cut above any other. It is in this reason that there is a need to completely set everything prepared and ready before an enterprise can keep going. Hence, a business plan. Idea Generation As the familiar adage puts it, ‘Knowledge is power’. Everything that comes to be created must start with an idea and all generated ideas can be combined together to form a substantial knowledge on certain things, issues or activities. In business activities, there is a need to consolidate all the necessaries and this would include basic data, the business details, financial data, financial reports, supporting documents and more (Cross and Richey, 1998). Therefore, understanding the basic compone nts of each of these will lead to the generation of better ideas. Placing it in the context of business plan making, all of these mentioned basic components can be substantially included in the outline. ... ctives From the idea of Porter (1980) on competitive strategy in reaching competitive advantage, everything about this whole process starts with an objective. The objective itself encompasses everything about formulating strategies. Strategic objectives are very important in business plan since these would determine the right actions to take in order for the business to keep going, competitively above any other. The objective simply starts with knowing what the business owner desires most which might be in line with profit, stature, satisfaction, security and many more (Cross and Richey, 1998). In knowing these desires, the right objectives are obtained and it is through knowing them one may be able to strategically formulate objectives that will ensure competitive advantage. It is impossible therefore to formulate strategic objectives if the business owners do not have complete idea on what they really want to achieve. It is therefore clear that the strategic objectives in any busin ess plan must be able to integrate all the desires and wants of the business owners in order to carefully select the right target to be set for the venture. Market Analysis and Research Here is another important consideration in any business plan. Market analysis and research are widely discussed aspects in every business. This is the reason why there is a growing body of knowledge in marketing particularly on its detailed aspects such as market analysis and research. A business plan therefore must be able to have market analysis and research considering that the whole business process includes marketing activities and part of these is to understand the interaction between the enterprise and the market in general (Kotler et al., 1999; Boone and Kurtz, 2006). The market is a broad area since

Vancouver-Hollywood North vs the Loss of Canadian Identity Essay Example for Free

Vancouver-Hollywood North vs the Loss of Canadian Identity Essay Introduction: 1 Vancouver is being called â€Å"North Hollywood† because a vast of film producers decide to set up their shooting places at BC, Canada. Vancouver is deserved to be rewarded as this special title because it’s unique beauty of the diverse sceneries and the sophisticated filming technologies. These inputs have already attracted by Hollywood and lead the U.S. film industry entry into making the huge quantity of runaway production era. The 2001 Report concluded that the 1998 Canadian production incentive programs were very successful in attracting production from the U. S.A(StephenM.Katz, 2006, p.1). question has been brought into the public attention and this paper will mainly focus on: why does Canada not encourage their own domestic film industry, but would rather give foreign film industry tax incentives. Additionally, due to the growing number of American movies crushed into the Canadian entertainment market, this paper will also discuss both the positive and negative effects emerged under this issue. The tax incentive given by the Canadian government cannot be denied for one of the reason to turn BC as well known asNorth Hollywood: â€Å" Foreign production companies will see the Production Services Tax Credit jump to 25%, with an unchanged 6% bonus for work done outside the Vancouver area.†(BC Announce 35% Film Incentive Credit, 2008). Actually, not only BC is doing such things but also New Zealand. Newman illustrates The film and television production industry is significant in both New Zealand and British Columbia. Governments in both localities provide substantial support for the industry through government agencies and tax  incentives.(Newman.D,2005,abstract).Currently, BC is directly toward into a service-oriented country by providing the U.S. big financial profits. This strategy seems to become a really effective approach to enlarge their awareness toward the global without promoting their own film industry but rather borrowing their beauty to U.S. Takaki and Shoot explains that some of the U.S. Film associations like SAG (Screen Actors Guide) and FTAC (Television Actions Committee) already had an unpleasant attitude toward the Canadian federal governments tax incentive legislation (Takaki,MillieShoot, FilmTelevision,2001). They are not encourage the U.S. film industry to do the runaway productions in order to persist the U.S. rights and promoting their own movie domestically. Currently, there are a lot of such top-grossing movies include:X men, Silent Hill, Mean girls,etc(Chris Hamilton, 2008) . Apparently, there are both advantages and disadvantages behind the runaway production for both U.S. and Canada. Take the employment issue as instance:the loss of the job opportunities would be one of the serious concern towards the Americas because the film producer would prefer to hire the local employers rather than bring the workers all the way to B.C. This is aiming of saving appropriation expenditure. Many people like Pendarkur M hold the belief of: â€Å"creating employment is more important than fighting for better wages and working conditions†(Pendarkur, 1998). Basically, this idea is fairly straight forward which stand for its way much better to  have a job rather than getting a better wages and working conditions provided by their boss. In this way, the employment is seen as the priority of one country. Nevertheless, we still cannot deny the advantages and disadvantages it brought to BC and U.S. The optimistic effects might probably cause a decrease unemployed rate for the Canadians. In another words, more Canadians would find a job under the help of the U.S. film industry.On the other hand, there would be a high unemployed rate for the Americans. Other than the job opportunities we get, Vancouver is successfully known as North Hollywood currently and it helps to promote Canadians film industry. After that, it widen the opportunities for the TV producer to do the movies and help to  expose the beauty of diverse BC sceneries to the whole world. Eventually, he ended up with the solution that:† This type of thinking has resulted from the weakened position of Canadian and international unions, which has placed them in a struggle for survival and left them unprepared to negotiate with the powerful and expanding entertainment industry†(Pendarkur, 1998). After getting the great job opportunities, BC is actually facing a further serious problem which is the lack of capability to get rid of the domination of U.S. and build their own entertainment industry. The longer period people adopted into something, the harder for them to leave it behind and build a new industry. Actually, there is a far long period when the U.S. Corporation first started dominated some of the Canadian entertainment market. According to Pendarur M: 4 Paramount Famous-Lasky, the leading vertically integrated firm in the United States, dominated the Canadian feature film market through its subsidiary, Fomous Players Canadian Corporation,(Pendakur, M. 1990). The Canadians were influenced and dominated by the U.S. Industry for such a long period already. This situation lead the Canadian get more adopted to U.S. Entertainment world rather than building up their own film industry. This lead to the consideration of the loss of local audiences once the government decide to promote their local film market. Moreover, audience fragmentation is another concerns about why Canadian not encourage making its own movies.If people randomly walk into a cinema, it is obviously to find out the U.S. movies took over a great percentage of movie products on the Canadian cinema. Also, it gets a fairly good feedback among the audiences which makes the Canadian cinema become prosperous. In order to let it remain the same situation and let it survive, the Canadian film industry realize to spend more time and attract more foreign powerful film-making countries is significant rather than creating their own domestic film. Through David Skinners research., he claimed that:these definitions are all based on a concern that the dominant corporate media do not adequately represent the interests of all members of society(David, 2010, p.221). These definitions on the above quote are actually stand for the idea of  Ã¢â‚¬Å"alternative media† . The dominant corporate media cannot be fully satisfied by one hundred percent of the audiences because different people from the various social status have their own interests. To be  more specific, even though the Canadian government invest expenditure to promote the real Canadian movie,the audience fragmentation still exists. To consider this issue in a further financial perspectives, it better and easier to support the U.S. runaway productions in order to keep the Canadian cinema industry alive and have a large number of audiences really buy the tickets. Moreover, a more serious situation would happen derived from the previous sequences. The dominant corporate might only provide the pastime for those of them who have the ability to access media. Nevertheless, the rest of them might remain the same living style as what they were before because they dont have the capability to access them like some remote areas. The new technologys exist give people a new sight to understand the world. The powerful invention of these new media going to influence how we think and how we behave. After that, it causes the huge gaps between the one who can get into the cinema and who are not capable to use that. Its hard for a whole nation to unite together and figure out what their real interests are. The Canadian government provide the tax incentives undoubtedly created benefits for both of them financially but seems ignore the further concern of creating a â€Å"real Canada† consists of it’s real identity. What kind of movie we watch has a direct impact to shape Canadian itself. Specifically, someone who makes the film affect what kind of messages they get. It impacts the Canadian identity in several various aspects. Particularly, there is not  doubt that Canada and U.S. overlap a lot of similarities like the languages. However, there is one significant factor cannot be denied on this context which is the â€Å"unique identity†. The Canadians do have its own unique identity including the enthusiasm to the national hockey, the still existing of First Nation’s unsophisticated lifestyle and other factors make Canada become a unique nation and really help the Canadians to define who they are. Along with the tendency of growing proportion U.S. film start to shoot  movies in Canada, the Canada seems have less time to promote their own film. Some of the U.S. identities are being shown during the films and this is going to directly injected into Canadians mind. Consequently, they would not be able to have a strong nationality traits. In conclusion, this paper mainly explored the reasons for the Canadian government intentionally turn Vancouver into north Hollywood instead of investing the film producer to shoot the real domestic movie with real local identity in it. Also, this paper looked at the profits and drawbacks from both U.S. film associations perspective and Canadian governments point of view. Next, it emphasis the significant role of one countrys entertainment industry. The film industry has no longer simplly provide an entertainment way for people to have a pastime but it become a nations symbol and reflected the countrys real identity. The elements being made during the scenes potentially injected into audiences mind and they behave toward the invisible messages being created by the film. As time passes, it definitely  going to influence how Canadian behave and how they communicate between each other. This paper concluded that the creation of one countrys identity is far more significant compared with governments financial concern. References David, Skinner. (2010) â€Å"Minding the Growing Gaps: alternative media in Canada† In Leslie R.S(ed.) Mediascapes. Nelson College Indigenous Press. Famous Movies Filmed in Canada | Cinemaroll. (n.d.). Cinemaroll | film making, from the viewers perspective. Retrieved March 24, 2011, from http://cinemaroll.com/cinemarolling/famous-movies-filmed-in-canada/ Newman, D. (2005). Regions And Runways: Film Assistance In New Zealand British Columbia, 1990-2005. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture Policy, (117), 11-30. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Pendakur, M. M., Sussman, G. G., Lent, J. A. (1998). Hollywood north: film and TV production in Canada. In , Global Productions: Labor in the Making of the Information Society (pp. 213-238). Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Pendakur, M. (1990). Canadian Dreams American Control: The Political Economy of the Canadian Film Industry. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. 9 Stephen M. K. (2006). The Global Success of Production Tax Incentives and the Migration of Feature Film Production From The U.S. to the World Year 2005 Production Report[Adobe Digital Editions version]. Takaki, MillieShoot,( 12/14/2001). Dispute Heats Up Over Runaway Tariff Proposal. Film Television Literature Index with Full Text (Vol. 42, Issue 50) Vancouver Film. Net: BC Announces 35% Film Incentive Credit. (n.d.). Vancouver Film. Net. Retrieved March 24, 2011, from http://www.vancouverfilm.net/2008/01/bc-plans-35-film-tax-credit.html

Reducing plagiarism Essay Example for Free

Reducing plagiarism Essay The Council of Writing Program Administrators(2003) states that plagiarism is one of the most common issues seen in the colleges and universities. The school administration and teachers are concerned about this as it is affecting the students work. The problem with plagiarism is not only limited to the course work, but it started affecting the student publications, blogs, and research work according to the WPA council(2003). Every problem has a solution if tried to resolve, in the same way we can try to control this issue by implementing strict rules in schools and creating awareness among students about the importance of their own ideas. Plagiarism is presenting other’s ideas or work as one’s own. It is a form of cheating people by showing someone else’s effort as one’s own by taking away their credit and ignoring them. To gather certain information students refer to many sources, but they should try to understand the data and present it as understood along with citing the sources. Plagiarism is of three categories: intentional plagiarism, unintentional plagiarism, and self-plagiarism. Intentional plagiarism is stating others idea or work as one’s own without citing them. Unintentional plagiarism is ignoring or wrongly citing the small quotes or phrases taken from other sources. Self-plagiarism is submitting the same work for separate classes without actually doing them. The resources are there to utilize, but they are being misused. A work assigned to student in their academics helps in improving their knowledge by spending time on it to learn various topics and improve their thinking and individual ability. However, the situation is that students tend to plagiarize the work without learning or putting in any effort to understand what they do. This is resulting in the loss of ability to think among them; they are tending to make the work easier by copying instead of learning things. All these are resulting in reducing the standards in students so; the school administrations should take action against this by, teaching students the importance of one’s own originality, the need to learn things and implement strict rules against plagiarism. Controlling a problem is possible with small efforts, so does plagiarism. Teachers cannot solely provide a solution for this; students also need to put in their effort to reduce this problem. There are a few solutions to this issue: †¢Citation can reduce plagiarism. Citing the sources from where data is retrieved, shows that the student has put in the effort to learn the topic, moreover, in this  way the credit for original author is given. †¢Highlighting the small quotes or phrases taken from other sources and citing them would help is reducing plagiarism. †¢The school authorities should implement strict rules against plagiarism and make students aware of it. Teachers can have discussions with students regarding their academics and help students to overcome their problems. Some students’ plagiarize as they have fear in them that they cannot do a perfect work on their own and some as they cannot manage their time. Such students should speak to their teacher or adviser about how to overcome that fear and manage time, so that they can develop their own ideas. †¢Teachers should create awareness among students regarding the importance of developing one’s own thinking capacity. They should make the student aware of what issues might arise by plagiarism so that they would not choose it. †¢There are many tools available on the web to check for plagiarism, students can use them to avoid plagiarism and schools can use it to verify if it is the student’s original work. †¢Lastly, students should try to develop their interest towards their academics, which would help in reducing plagiarism. Knowledge is something, which increases by working on it, rather than copying and displaying someone else’s work as one’s own. The student should know the value of originality and try to improve it rather than ignoring it. Most importantly, credit is to be given for others work when using it in one’s own work by citing, which helps in reducing plagiarism.

The KMT lose the war more than the CCP winning it :: essays research papers

The question asks if the CCP really won the war because of tactics and skill or if the KMT lost the war not because the CCP beat them but if they brought their loss upon themselves. As the CCP and KMT were preparing to fight, the majority of people perceived that the KMT would win the war easily. After all, America was prepared to pour billions of dollars into funding the KMT in order for them to win the war. With America on their side the KMT had a powerful American-trained and American-equipped army of three million men. They held all the big cities, all the main railway lines, and some of the richest provinces. Money was abundant and they had large stocks of weapons. In comparison, the CCP were nothing. They held only countryside areas, no air force, no navy and an army of only one million men. They did not have the backing of a single foreign country. I think that the KMT could easily have won the war but instead lost it. The KMT had always been very cowardly. Their cowardice was shown during the Japanese Invasion, when they moved west to Chongqing. This isolated themselves from main cities and could be seen as them isolating their people. The relocation showed that they were unwilling to fight against Japan for their country and therefore unprepared to fight any war. However, America made sure that the KMT were airlifted out of Chongqing and into key cities to stop the CCP from gaining more land. The KMT were did not plan well in advance and could not handle the money that was meant to benefit them properly. The rapid inflation of the currency was causing great hardship for many civilians in the KMT-held cities. As money lost its value, many workers went on strike, hungry crowds stormed shops, riots broke out and public order collapsed. This was very bad for the KMT as people stopped supporting the KMT and went over to the communist party’s side. Another example of the KMT not thinking ahead can be seen during the Japanese invasion. During this time, they never gained support from the peasants which made up most of China. Instead, they bullied them by imposing high taxes on them which made them even more unpopular with them. So instead of gaining supporters they lost what were potential supporters.

Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- Essays on Shakesp

Madness and Insanity in Shakespeare's Hamlet         Ã‚   Shakespeare's Hamlet is a master of deception. Hamlet decides to make Claudius believe that he is insane, but the scheme backfires when everyone, except Claudius, falls for it. Ophelia is one of those who believes Hamlet lost his mind, and when he does not return her love, she is so brokenhearted that she commits suicide. Near the end of the tragedy, Hamlet plays the part so well, that he convinces himself he is insane. Clearly, Hamlet's plan to put on an antic disposition is a tragic error.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamlet's plan for the antic disposition is to fool all the courtiers, especially Claudius. This way Claudius will not think that Hamlet is capable of killing him and usurping the throne. Hamlet clearly hates Claudius, and wants revenge for his father. "A little more than kin, and less than kind!" (I; ii; 65) Hamlet tries repeatedly to portray the image of insanity, but often Claudius sees through the antic disposition. "Love? his affections do not that way tend,/ Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little,/ Was not like madness." (III; i; 159-161) After Claudius realizes that Hamlet is not actually insane, but playing the part for his antic disposition, he sends Hamlet to England to be executed.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As my great power thereof may give thee sense,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the Danish sword, and thy free awe   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pays homage to us- thou mayst not coldly set   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ... ...rol of his mind, but as the plot unfolds he is thrown into a fit of true madness.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Through examination, it is proven that Hamlet's choice of displaying an antic disposition is a tragic error on his part. Claudius was the only courtier who sees through the act, Ophelia fell into utter madness, and Hamlet convinces himself that he has lost his mind. As Claudius said, "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go." (III; i; 185)    Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations Of Hamlet. New York, NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Charney, Maurice. All of Shakespeare. New York, NY. Columbia University Press. 1993. Magill, Frank N. Masterplots. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1995. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The Riverside Shakespeare. ED. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Haughton Mifflin Company, 1974.

Patras and the Adriatic Sea :: Geography Greece History Papers

Patras and the Adriatic Sea Problems with format PATRAS ?Patras is a port city located in the Northern Achaia, standing as the gateway to the West for all of Greece. As the third largest Greek city, Patras plays an important role as the center of administrative and commercial activity for Western Greece. Standing in Northwest Peloponnese, Patras has become the link between the European Union and the East because of its prime geographic location. The climate is mild year round, but retains the same four seasons experienced in the United States. The city is over 3000 years old and has always had a unique culture because of its connection with Italy and the Ionian Islands. The footprint of the city was developed in very organized quadrants by Kapodistrias in 1829, and is separated into upper and lower portions. The upper is the original city, and extends down from a castle built during the 6th century. The castle was built upon the ruins of the acropolis on an extension from mount Panachaico. The inside of the castle has been converted into a park, providing the best view of the city on a clear day. ?The old city consists of Patras? wealthy and important homeowners and is less spontaneously scattered upon the hillside. Despite having a 3000-year history many of the old structures have been ruined, although the upper section is today well decorated with neoclassic homes. The entire city was burned and destroyed by the Turks during the 19th century war of Independence. The more organized lower section drops down to the coast and includes the cathedral and the port. The cathedral is very colorful and is named after the city?s patron, St. Andrew, rising high into the air and resting on the remnants of an old Christian Basilica. It sits next to an older church that stands on the remnants of a burnt down Byzantine church (dept. of computer engineering and informatics). The square of George I is the center of the low city and is one of many squares and parks in the area. Another largely famous park is Psila Alonia, ?the balcony? of Patras, a smaller square of palm tress encompassing a sundial. History: ?The name of the region, Achaia, comes from the Achaias that forced out the Ionians living in the region during the Mycenaean period. One of the Achaian leader?s sons was named Patreas, the eventual chief of the Achaians and the root of the city?

Prelude to Foundation Author’s Note

When I wrote â€Å"Foundation,† which appeared in the May 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, I had no idea that I had begun a series of stories that would eventually grow into six volumes and a total of 650,000 words (so far). Nor did I have any idea that it would be unified with my series of short stories and novels involving robots and my novels involving the Galactic Empire for a grand total (so far) of fourteen volumes and a total of about 1,450,000 words. You will see, if you study the publication dates of these books, that there was a twenty-five-year hiatus between 1957 and 1982, during which I did not add to this series. This was not because I had stopped writing. Indeed, I wrote full-speed throughout the quarter century, but I wrote other things. That I returned to the series in 1982 was not my own notion but was the result of a combination of pressures from readers and publishers that eventually became overwhelming. In any case, the situation has become sufficiently complicated for me to feel that the readers might welcome a kind of guide to the series, since they were not written in the order in which (perhaps) they should be read. The fourteen books, all published by Doubleday, offer a kind of history of the future, which is, perhaps, not completely consistent, since I did not plan consistency to begin with. The chronological order of the books, in terms of future history (and not of publication date), is as follows: The Complete Robot (1982). This is a collection of thirty-one robot short stories published between 1940 and 1976 and includes every story in my earlier collection I Robot (1950). Only one robot short story has been written since this collection appeared. That is â€Å"Robot Dreams,† which has not yet appeared in any Doubleday collection. The Caves of Steel (1954). This is the first of my robot novels. The Naked Sun (1957). The second robot novel. The Robots of Dawn (1983). The third robot novel. Robots and Empire (1985). The fourth robot novel. The Currents of Space (1952). This is the first of my Empire novels. The Stars, Like Dust (1951). The second Empire novel. Pebble in the Sky (1950). The third Empire novel. Prelude to Foundation (1988). This is the first Foundation novel (although it is the latest written, so far). Foundation (1951). The second Foundation novel. Actually, it is a collection of four stories, originally published between 1942 and 1944, plus an introductory section written for the book in 1949. Foundation and Empire (1952). The third Foundation novel, made up of two stories, originally published in 1945. Second Foundation (1953). The fourth Foundation novel, made up of two stories, originally published in 1948 and 1949. Foundations Edge (1982). The fifth Foundation novel. Foundation and Earth (1983). The sixth Foundation novel. Will I add additional books to the series? I might. There is room for a book between Robots and Empire (5) and The Currents of Space (6) and between Prelude to Foundation (9) and Foundation (10) and of course between others as well. And then I can follow Foundation and Earth (14) with additional volumes-as many as I like. Naturally, there's got to be some limit, for I don't expect to live forever, but I do intend to hang on as long as possible.