Thursday, October 31, 2019

Turbo Charger Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Turbo Charger Company - Essay Example The four P’s of Marketing: Product: The products that the companies offer are often the heart of any companies marketing strategy. Since the banks are a part of the service industry therefore many a times the results or the benefits of the product are not that conspicuous to the customer. The marketing strategy will fail badly if the product part is not good, no matter how strong the other 3 P’s of marketing are. HSBC offers many products and services but the one thing that makes it stand out from the other banks is its current account feature. This will be used in this assignment to highlight HSBC’s marketing mix. According to HSBC (2012) sources the current account has many features one of them which is the prepaid cards. There are two types of these cards: the financial manager and the budget manager. The financial manager is targeted towards customers who are financially stronger while the budget manager is for customers with relatively lower incomes who find trouble in maintaining a regular credit card like students. Apart from this the current account also has the feature of online banking which makes it possible to make transactions on the move. It also has the option of real time balance alerts. It has an additional option of savings for customers who deposit more than a specified amount monthly into the account. Price: The price is important for the bank it has a dual function. The first is that the price must be good enough that it attracts the customers and the second is that this price must be good enough to generate the required revenue for the bank. A number of factors influence the pricing decision some of which are the maximization of profit, increase in the market share, corporate social responsibility and survival in the market. The trend in the pricing of current accounts has not changed much for quite some time now. There is usually no set up fees and the benefit is sought from the cash that is deposited in the banks. In crease in the interest rate would not help much in increasing the number of existing customers. The credit cards give an incentive to the customer to save more. The saved money is within the customer’s account which the bank can always lend further. This strategy is especially useful in situations when it is hard to raise new capital. Place: Place in terms of the marketing mix means that the product is available to the customer through a proper channel which include delivery as well. Delivery does not only mean the physicality but also the availability of the service through electronic means. Even if the product is of very high quality and very highly rated, the readiness of the availability will highly affect the customers’ opinion whether the product is a failure or a success. The current account scheme is available at the majority of HSBC centers. Promotion: Promotion heavily depends upon the methods of communication used to create awareness among the customers and potential customers regarding a particular product or service. The major objectives of promotion are to get customer attention, give them the relevant information and encourage the customer to buy the product. According to Adrian Palmer (2008) Advertisement on the other hand first of all mean that it entails costs and is paid, it cultivates the attitude of the customer into believing something which in return forces the customer to some extent to buy the product or the service. There

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

An investigation into Chinese consumers' reasons for purchasing luxury Dissertation

An investigation into Chinese consumers' reasons for purchasing luxury brands in the UK - Dissertation Example The Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 5, Number 1, April, 2010. P 189 27 LeCompte, MD and   Schensul, JJ. 2010. Designing & Conducting Ethnographic Research: An Introduction: Volume 1 of Ethnographer's Toolkit, Second Edition Series. Rowman Altamira, Edition 2 27 Lu, PX. 2011. Confucianism and Conspicuousness. Elite China: Luxury Consumer Behavior in China. John Wiley & Sons. Book 27 Mason, R. 1993. Cross-Cultural Influences on the Demand For Status Goods, in European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 1, eds. W. Fred Van Raaij and Gary J. Bamossy, European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 1 : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 46-51. 27 Oswald, LR. 2010. Developing Brand Literacy among Affluent Chinese Consumers A Semiotic Perspective. Advances in Consumer Research. Volume 37.Journal Article 27 Reidel, D. 2012. From Mao Suits To Michael Kors: Stocks That Capitalize On Chinese Consumers. Forbes. 10 September 2012 Retreived 27 Nov 2012 from 27 Vigneron , F and Johnson WL. 1999.A Review and Conceptual Framework of Prestige Seeking Consumers. Accademy of Marketing Science. No.1 Pp 1-15 28 Appendix 28 1. 2. 3. 4. 4.1. Introduction The qualitative research conducted for the purpose of gathering data for this report consisted of interviews from a sample using open-ended questions that were opinion based. The most important yet complex issue with qualitative research is that it generates a large and thoughtful database that is based on the responses generated from interviews, documents and field notes (Bryman and Bell, 2003). Miles (1979) refers to this form of research as â€Å"attractive nuisance†, this is because he believes that the data generated is rich and resourceful but taking it in a definite direction is a complex task. The role of the researcher becomes very vital to the conclusions drawn from the research because it is based on their critical analysis of the data and findings. Unlike quantitative research where concl usions can be directly inferred from figures and values, a qualitative research would go to a complete waste if the researcher does not perform proper analysis. Data analysis is also an important concern for businesses, this method of data analysis is adopted by businesses for conducting survey research from their target audience and market. The research problem needs to be clearly stated as they would guide the researcher to meet specific objectives. The information and experiences that respondents shared were arranged in a tabular format in Appendix 1. The research topic is â€Å"An investigation into Chinese consumers’ reasons for purchasing luxury brands in the UK†, this qualitative research would be categorized as an Ethnographic research. Ethnographic research is described as a systematic approach to understand the culture and social life of communities, and emphasize and build on the perspective of respondents in the research setting (LeCompte & Schensu). The in terview session took place in the form

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Why Authoritarian Governments In Asia Control The Media Politics Essay

Why Authoritarian Governments In Asia Control The Media Politics Essay Authoritarian regimes or governments have always been considered by western scholars or politicians as standing on the opposite side of democracy. In those states within which media are controlled, the freedom of speech, human rights and democracy remain big concerns of those democrats. Asia, the largest continent in the world, boasts its diversified politic forms, be it democratic regimes, like Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korean and quasi-democratic ones like Thailand, as well as authoritarian ones like Mainland China, North Korean and Burma. The role of media in Asia varies with the political style, from free to control. This essay, then, mainly focuses on exploring the reason why authoritarian regime expects to take control of media from the political, cultural, technological and economic perspectives. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚  Media in authoritarian rule in Asia Authoritarian government refers to the government that concentrates power in the hands of a leader or a small group of elites unelected by the people; and is opposed to individualism and democracy. Although authoritarian governments always claim that their existence is to protect the country and to provide discipline and order to its way of life and that the traditional culture should be aggressively maintained against encroaching external or contemporary culture (Robert McKenzie, 2006 73-74), the reality is in the opposite side that those basic components of a civil society like human rights, free information, free speech, social justice, etc. are almost eliminated or constrained in the so called order and traditional culture. As what Myung-Jin Park,James Curran(1999) point out, authoritarian regimes can be divided into three major forms: single-party regime, military regime and religious regime. In Asia, countries can be entitled as authoritarian are Brunei (the executive authority lies with the unelected sultan), China (state under communist single party rule), Laos (a communist single party state), Burma (military rule), North Korea (one-party rule), Oman (ruled by a hereditary sultan, and no political parties are legal and no opposition movement), Qatar (ruled by hereditary emirates), Saudi Arabia Syria United Arab Emirates (ruled by hereditary emirates), Vietnam (communist single-party state). Media in these authoritarian regimes can be either privately or publicly owned but must resort to the control of the state. Such control means that the media are never allowed to expose the information that opposes the will of ruling class or interest groups strictly related to the government. Media can criticize the government, but not the supreme level which takes the hold of the highest power. They have certain degree of freedom, but it is only restricted to the reports and programs unrelated to political areas, such as entertainment, sports, travel, etc. In authoritarian rule, Robert McKenzie (2006) points out two procedures that are commonly implemented: censorship and punishment. In terms of the censorship of the media content, it involves two steps: state censorship and self-censorship. State censorship is applied when speech and communication are contrary to state objectives, then the content is banned for dissemination. Self-censorship is the act of intently censoring ones own publications, blogs, films, news scripts, TV programs or other means of expression without direct pressure from the authority, in order not to disseminate the content against the government objectives. So after finishing ones work, he or she may remove inappropriate material for fear of sanction by the government. With the above two kinds of censorship, media only speak the voice of the government or ruling class instead of the people. With the regard to the punishment, the consequence is always conditioned by the seriousness of the illegal content. In the authoritarian rule, the state has the right to penalize individuals and media organizations for seditious libel (Robert McKenzie, 2006). Since the authoritarian societies are under the rule of men instead of law, the punishment can be various types according to the leaders will, such as confiscating private facilities, incarceration of media professionals, expiration, long-term prison, or even death. The content of media in different countries may vary, but one common feature of the authoritarian states in Asia is that media are controlled or owned by the state. Therefore, the information the audience received in the media reflect not the interest of the people but the ruling class, no matter how capable or how hard-working the leaders are, because it is the system of a state that decides the role of the media. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¡Reasons for the authoritarian seeking to control the media According to Denis Mcquail(2005), there are four types of control over media: control of content for political reasons; control of content for cultural and/or moral reasons; control of infrastructures for technical reasons; and control infrastructures for economic reasons. These reasons can serve as a guideline for the author to explore further. 1. Control for political reasons The influence of media in political societies is immense and should never be underestimated. As what Katrin Voltmer and Gary Rawnsley (2010)point out, the function of media in democratic society is to (a) provide a forum where all voices can be heard and engage in a dialogue with each other, and (b) to act as a watchdog of the government. However, the effect of these above two functions are what the authoritarian ruling elites want to decrease, because they are not only the functions, but inherent nature of media, and if without control, the innate force will bring the media to the peoples side. Then the pluralistic opinions and voices will appear that are unlikely all to conform to the political will proposed by the ruling elites. But if we stand at the point of the authoritarian government, the control seems to be necessary, because the media have too much potential power that could be used to unseat the state or destabilize the country (Robert McKenzie, 2006 73-74). What the authoritarian governments most badly need is stability, for in chaos the power of the people will release and it is uneasy to be taken control again. Take China as an example. The government makes every effort to forbid the expressions related to Tiananmen event in 1989, for fear of arousing another wave of opponents that might shake the foundation of the superstructure. Although the information is blocked in mainland China, related videos, books, magazines and reports from abroad still remain hard evidence, which can be a great threat against the authority of communist party. Only if those media become inaccessible to people can the central government avoid losing support from the public. Therefore, the authoritarian media can also be a watchdog, but to watch people instead of the government. Beside, given that the president or premier or the elite ruling group has the high morality, responsibility, wisdom and really concern the people, it is unlikely for them to make sure that every official they appoint or appointed by their appointers other than through the election from the people obey the principles of the constitution. Holding great power and backed by the superior, bureaucractism, red-tapism and corruption will generate, which means that only by controlling the media can they cover their bad deeds, without knowing from the above and the public. But if even the supreme rulers or elites group have ulterior or scandal of their own, degree of control will be much stricter and the free of media is far from possible. In addition, since the media belong to the government, they can be used as a powerful agency to propagate, reinforce and sublimate the value and merits of the ruling concept, thus win more trust and understanding over disagreement. The news from the state-owned media is always the wise decisions and favorable policies which give the people hope and better future, but seldom is there any voice that directly criticizes the state leaders or central government. 2. Control for cultural reasons Almost all authoritarian countries in Asia have their unique as well as dominating traditional or political culture. These cultures not only determine the patterns of thought of the people, but also provide a well constructed harbor for the elite ruling groups to prevent their regime from the impact of the outside world. Media, therefore, can serve as a useful tool to further strengthen the preexisted culture on the one hand, and to broadcast and spread the domestic culture to the world on the other. In this sense, to control the media is to some extent to control the mind of the mass people. The following analysis will focus on the analysis from several powerful cultures. The most distinguished culture in Asia may be Islamism, a belief that Islam is a political ideology, as well as a faith. For this culture, to control the media is to maintain the purity of the peoples thought and enhance the loyalty to the god. It is a modernist claim that political sovereignty belongs to God, that the Sharia should be used as state law, that Muslims form a political rather than a religious bloc around the world and that it is a religious duty for all Muslims to create a political entity that is governed as such.(http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/faqs.html) Based on the above definition, religious belief becomes legitimate tool and peoples behaviors are judged by the Quran. They believe in one God and resist other religions. Then the Islamic content is dominant in media. The western thought, belief, values as well as culture are severely censored and are considered conflict to Islam. For them, the religion and politic are tied extremely close to each other. So if the religion or culture is affected by outside or different impact, the political rule will also be impaired. Another powerful culture is communist culture. In this culture, to control the media is to prevent the attack and cultural impact from the outside world.In present China, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, the culture is shaped by communist party rather than Confucianism, even though some parts of the behaviors and thoughts still follow the principles proposed by Confucius. Communist culture is relatively young but very influential. At the very beginning of the communist party, those vanguards did set up educational and honorable examples that inspire the fellow country men and women to fight against outside invasion. They did win peoples trust that the communist party will bring them freedom, democracy and equality. But communism is based on the philosophy proposed by Karl Marx that it is possible to create an egalitarian or classless society by means of working as a collective whole. Besides, there is a huge difference of the definition of democracy. While western world regard democracy a s characterized by free speech, two or multiparty and mass election, the communism believe that the democracy is to liberate people and let people become the sovereign master. Ever since the Marxism was applied by the developing countries, the capitalism has become their enemy. The western thought and value as well as ways of running economy are all considered as against the communist belief. Therefore, everything from the western world is banned or defined as evil. In extreme case like North Korea, the image of the party is always the representative of justice, while those western capitalist societies are shown as the lack enlightenment of communist thought. In this environment, the people are deprived of the idea to fight against free speech, liberty and democracy, because as what media show, there are in this process. 3. Control for technological reasons With the development of high technology, especially the booming of the internet, the battle between media control and anti-control has been largely upgraded. Modern communications technologies mean that authoritarian governments find it ever more difficult to hermetically seal their borders and prevent their people from receiving often uncomfortable news, information and opinion from overseas sources (Katrin Voltmer and Gary Rawnsley, 2010). On the other hand, the ruling elites clearly know that to control the core technology is to hold the initiative advantage, so the high technology is not only widely applied by people, but also by the government as a fairly useful tool to exercise censorship, underground investigation as well as supervisory. In other word, the authoritarian government plays the role of defense, while the dissidents and civil right fighters act as the role of offense, and the rest becomes the audience, looking on the development of the game. This means that even though people can create some software to get access to the blocked information, government then can renew the fire-wall and all kinds of software to block the sensitive expressions, detect the opinion initiators, or even control them. After all, the power of individuals is relatively small. They do not have enough economic income to keep them fighting longer. They are intelligent and are able to find the flaw of the censorship system, but seldom is there anyone daring to cross the bottom line of the ruling class. However, the government has sufficient financial support. It can establish well-equipped companies and hire a group of highly professional hackers or internet veterans to help the information control and monitoring. New technology or the new media does provide the citizens with a platform to voice out their opinions and unfair experience with the government and the exposed officials will do meet their deserved consequence. Nevertheless, no government wants its system to be corrupted and then lose its efficiency. In this sense, new technology also helps the government to find a new method to govern the stuff and officials. 4. Control for economic reasons When studying the media issues, economic respect should be considered, for mass media is not only a social institution, but also an industry. With the regard to the present essay, the reasons of media control from the economic perspective are mainly focused on the issue of ownership. Altschull(1984) in his second law of journalism says: the contents of media always reflect the interests of those who finance them. That is to say, the economic structure of the state decides the structure of the media industry, thus determines the role of media. Specifically, in authoritarian regime, the state owns the media, and the main sources of income are advertising, consumer revenue as well as the state financial support. What should be noticed is that the most powerful enterprises in authoritarian states are commonly the state-owned or royal relates-owned industries, which contribute a lion share of the advertising investments. Those state-owned companies not only have continuously financial support from the central government, but also take control of the choices of the consumers, in other word, the market. The vulnerable private media companies, though exist, can seldom have the opportunities to set foot in the most influential market like broadcasting industry and are fac ed with severe competition from various aspects. Then the domination of powerful state-owned companies in communication industries remains as an impassable barrier for private sectors. Consequently, since the government controls the market, that media are controlled becomes a nature process. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¢ Conclusion The study of the relationship between government and the media involves a various range of research and analysis. The present essay at first introduces the situation of media in authoritarian regimes in Asia. When media are unable to perform as an agent of democratic transition and consolidation, they become the important means of enforcing the authoritarian or totalitarian rule. Serving as the lapdog and gatekeeper of the government and accompanied by the relevant law and policy, the position of media is fixed and can hardly be changed. Consequently, the people have to be careful with the serious censorship and take the risk of being punished if they seek to rebel the government will. The purpose for government to control the media can be analyzed in four aspects. The first one is the political aspect that government takes the media as a useful tool to maintain the stability of ideology, reinforce the governance and to hide truth and dirt deeds of the rulers themselves. In terms of the cultural reasons, the author tries to find result from studying to distinctive cases of Islam culture and communist culture. A common feature of the both cultures is that the government seeks to manipulate media through keeping the purity of the culture, thus erecting a shield to resist the western democratic thought and culture. With the regard to the technological sphere, the government does realize the potential threat from the booming internet communication, so they intently act as a powerful defender to defend the attack from the domestic and abroad on the one hand, and makes most use of the high technology to strengthen itself on the other. The last reason is from the economic sphere that since the authoritarian government has the huge influence on the market, it influences the media industry as well. Owned and financed by state-run enterprises, the media industry is unchallengeablely controlled by the government. All in all, the media independence is a long process, and the freedom of media and information follows the political reform, cultural transformation and globalization, technological advancement as well as economic development. Although media are controlled, they are still able to play a significant role in pushing forward the social progress of these authoritarian countries in Asia,

Friday, October 25, 2019

Examination of Characters in Katherine Anne Porters Short Story He Ess

Examination of Characters in Katherine Anne Porter's Short Story He Katherine Anne Porter's moving and stylistically cohesive short story "He" contains much worth discussing. The story's characters are quite memorable and provide for interesting character studies; in addition, the plot and themes of the story are also noteworthy. The most elaborately detailed character is Mrs. Whipple. She is the dominating member of the Whipple family; despite her belief in "men's work" as opposed to women's, she seems to have a great deal of say in family decisions. Mrs. Whipple is extremely concerned with status and appearances -- indeed, overly so. This preoccupation of hers is prominent throughout the story, from beginning to end. She is concerned, first of all, with making sure that no one else is aware of her family's poverty. She mentions, when things are going particularly bad for the Whipple, that "[The neighbors]'ll be calling us poor white trash next," and we know that would be tantamount to death for Mrs. Whipple. She is so concerned with keeping up appearances, in fact, that she goes against the advice of her husband and butchers a sucking pig when her brother, his "plump wife" and two "roaring hungry" boys come to visit. Although this will hurt them in the long run, Mrs. Whipple simply cannot bear to adm it the inadequacy of her family's income. Mrs. Whipple knows her family, especially her the long run, Mrs. Whipple simply cannot bear to admit the inadequacy of her family's income. Mrs. Whipple knows her family, especially her "simple-minded" son, is not like others, but she tries desperately to make them appear normal. Thus her other preoccupation lies in protecting her "simple-minded" son. We learn that Mrs. ... ...s moving and darkly humorous look at family dynamics. It certainly makes a clear statement against concern for appearances at all costs. It also explores the idea of "motherly love" and how good intentions can go bad. In the end, however, this story is just appearances at all costs. It also explores the idea of "motherly love" and how good intentions can go bad. In the end, however, this story is just depressing. We feel very sorry for -- and a little true sympathy for -- Mrs. Whipple and her family. Nevertheless, we cannot agree that it was "a mortal pity He was ever born," for we know that "she had loved Him as much as she possibly could"; in light of all her other concerns and preoccupations, however, it just wasn't enough. Work Cited Porter, Katherine Anne. "He." The Literature of the American South. Ed. William L. Andrews. New York: Norton. 1998.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

FIN Assignment

At that point, when it disperses the unifies to the shareholders (as profits), the shareholders need to pay assesses on the profits. Fundamentally, the same wage gets burdened twice. You can stay away from this by making the corporation a â€Å"S corporation†, which implies the corporation does not pay any government wage charge itself – rather the shareholders pay assess on their offer of the corporation's benefits. This is accessible just for corporations with few shareholders. A â€Å"sole partnership† does not by any stretch of the imagination exist. You likely mean sole proprietorship.This is the point at which somebody runs heir business without the security of a corporation, partnership or limited liability organization (LLC) or any possible legal entity that ensures the managers from being subject for the business. A â€Å"partnership† is a legal entity that gives the same assessment preferences as â€Å"S corporation† – the partnersh ip does not pay any salary charge. Partnerships come in 2 essential structures: A â€Å"general partnership† is a manifestation of business where each one accomplice is subject for the other accomplice's exercises identifying with the business.This is clearly not a cent alternative, since limited liability is one of the primary focal points of structuring a business entity. A â€Å"limited partnership† is the place the accomplices have â€Å"limited liability† like a corporation. An alternate manifestation of association is the LLC – this provides for you the same â€Å"limited liability† as a corporation or limited partnership, and provides for you the same tax reductions as a â€Å"S corporation† or partnership. 2. Owners' liability' (is) limited to the amount they invested in the firm.Stockholders (are not) responsible for any encumbrances of the firm; in reticular, they (cannot) be required to pay back any debts incurred by the firm. 3. A limited liability company, or LLC, is a manifestation of business association that takes into account limited liability for the owner(s). It considers an unlimited number of parts and provides for them the liability shield that they may not have generally reveled in had they framed as a straightforward association, yet at the same time keeping up the majority of the levy profits managed by an organization.As a result of these double profits, the shareholders, or â€Å"Parts† as they are known whether some piece of a LLC, fundamentally delight in the same sorts f limited liability security that a corporation offers, with not many special cases, and in the meantime, additionally revel in certain expense focal points, including, yet not limited to, pass-through tariff and association treatment by the IRS. These focal points make All's extremely alluring for certain business dealings and wanders.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Plea for the Chimpanzees

In the story â€Å"The Plea for the Chimpanzees† by Jane Goodall, Jane writes of a personal experience on her visit to a testing center where they use various primates to test products, one being chimpanzees. She was very upset with what she had seen during her visit. Chimpanzees were being treated horribly during and after being tested. Their living conditions were not what she would have thought them to be. They were quite worse. They had very little a social life with other chimpanzees or even humans.I think if we are going to use chimps to test products or inject them with our major diseases, then the least we can do is give back a little bit of freedom to run and play in a closed, safe environment and offer some compassion and love to these animals who are helping us find cures for the serious diseases we are fighting every day. It is proven that if the chimpanzees were in the presence of trusted caregivers, who are understanding of animal behavior, and dedicated, they wo uld react to treatments without being uncomfortable. At the Stanford Primate Center in California, a number of chimpanzees were taught to extend their arms for the drawing of blood. In return they were given a food reward. † (Page 369) We should provide loving and carrying staff to the chimpanzees.If the staff were more caring, then it will make their job so much better and easier to test the chimps. If the tested Chimpanzees were introduced to loving caregiver to interact with or even a chimp who was injected with the same disease, it would help with the major problem of chimpanzees going insane by isolation. A youngster, for example, can be treated when in the presence of a trusted human friend. Experiments have shown that young chimps react with high levels of distress if subjected to mild electric shocks when alone, but show almost no fear or pain when held by a sympathetic caretaker. † (Page 369) Along with caring staff, the chimps should be given the opportunity to have a sanitary and safe play room. The chimps should be provided with sanitary and safe playing equipment. A variety of simple toys and objects and be provided with little cost. It wouldn’t cost a lot of money to provide happiness to the animals that have no freedom.They also should be provided with some kind of toy that could help them feel comfortable, such as a small blanket or stuffed animal that can be cleaned easily. Offering these objects can help chimpanzees with depression, and also help if one chimp has to be isolated from any interaction from humans or other primates. In my opinion, I feel it is very wrong to be treating these animals this way. But, I know if we don’t than it would be very hard to find cures to our major diseases. But, if we are going to take away these animals’ rights and freedom, the least we can do is provide them with care and love while being tested on.It is very upsetting to hear how these animals are isolated in cages that ar e too small for them to spread out to stretch, or at least be given some affection. How can their caretakers just sit back and watch the animals in so much distress or hear their cries, and not care? These animals need the loving support while being poked and prodded and taking away their health. If these animals were shown some love, bigger cages and play time, it will greatly change the way the animal react to treatment and help the caretakers with making their job easier.