Thursday, October 31, 2019

Analysis of Royal Mail's Internal Environment Essay

Analysis of Royal Mail's Internal Environment - Essay Example So risk assessment and reducing the risk are the main priorities. So it believes in providing a secure working atmosphere for their staffs. The responsibility for this does not just rely on a policy, but the company also inspires its employees to take the responsibility for ensuring a safe environment. As a big employer of UK, Royal Mail gives priority to safety and security for their employers, suppliers and customers. Royal Mail Group has excellent human resource to recruit, train and motivate a huge number of workforces. Royal Mail Group carries specialist HR skilled persons to run a big workforce. Eventually the management will help employees to identify which designations and job roles are most appropriate for an individual’s knowledge and interests. Excellent remuneration, incentive package with rewards are given for the suitable employees. Recruitment, learning, reward and recognition, corporate social responsibilities are the key features of the Royal Mail human resour ce departments. Each of RMG (Royal Mail Group) operational areas has its HR Business Associates. Royal Mail Group has expert teams to develop strategic HR solutions in specialist areas such as diversification in business, talent management and learning. At Royal Mail every employee feels valued and respected. At Royal Mail any type of discrimination and harassment, based on race and gender are not tolerated. Promoting values, behaviors that recognize and value the difference between people, bringing out their potential, enhancing performance and delivering improved services to customers are the keys of success in Royal Mail. Royal Mail Group offers suppliers the many challenges and benefits that create a good successful relationship. Royal Mail Group supplies a good quality of service or product to customers. Royal Mail has the brands that are trusted names like Royal Name, Post Office, Post Office Products and Services, Percelforce Worldwide

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

World War I Essay Example for Free

World War I Essay In a major world event such as world war, the world economy is much affected. At first it is surprising to know that there is a boost in economy during the war. Actually, the economic problem really took place after the war. Indeed, economic recession happens as an aftermath of a war like what happened after World War I. Just like the case of 1921 recession, the world economy experienced its worst condition years after the war. What is the reason for that? Economic experts believe that the end of war time production as well as the influx of returning troops caused a great recession in the world economy. In a major world event such as world war, the world economy is much affected. At first it is surprising to know that there is a boost in economy during the war. Actually, the economic problem really took place after the war. Indeed, economic recession happens as an aftermath of a war like what happened after World War I. Just like the case of 1921 recession, the world economy experienced its worst condition years after the war. What is the reason for that? Economic experts believe that the end of war time production as well as the influx of returning troops caused a great recession in the world economy. During World War I, there were a lot of war time related productions such as weapons that cause a certain boost in world’s economy. If there are greater productions, it follows that a lot of labor is needed. This will lessen the rate of unemployment in those countries that are involved in the war. In the case of World War I, the production of war related products stopped which means that a lot of workers who are related to the said industry lose their job. The increase in the production of money because of the increase in war expenditure resulted to inflation. Although there is an increase of the number of money in the circulation, still the economy is not in good situation because of high prices. Other than that, those troops who return after the war added to the number of unemployed people. Although the America experienced the worst effect of recession in 1921, still countries such as United States was able to recover and even experience economic growth. New factories that are producing radios and automobiles emerged. Aside from that, a lot of women left their work to give way to the returning troops. That is the reason why it was easy for the United States economy to recover after the post war recession. But still the economic growth that the United States had experienced gave way to what is known as great depression. The great depression in US economy started when a breakdown in the stock market had occurred known as Black Tuesday. As we look at the world wide great depression, we cannot say that it is a sudden collapse of the world economy. Black Tuesday was just the start of it. In 1930, US government and business spent so much but the consumers who suffered from a great loses during the black Tuesday decreased their expenditures by ten percent. Other than that, there was a severe drought in the US during that time. As a result, personal income, tax revenues, income and profit, as well as international trade had declined. Meanwhile, there is also a belief that the Great Depression was caused by poor policy of the American Federal Reserve System. Because of the belief that it is for the regulation of money, the said institution allowed the money supply to shrink. They believed that they can recover easily just like what happened during the 1921 recession. They didn’t expect that it will affect a great number of investor that will cause them to stop investing. Meanwhile, there are also other historians who blame the U. S. Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in the decline of international trade which later worsened the Great Depression. Because of the fact that foreign trade is just a small part of their economy, US had ignored the possibility of affecting the economy of other countries. As a conclusion, we can say that the experience of fast recovery from the post World War I recession gave so much confidence to the US economy that they ignored the possibility of another economic breakdown such as the Great Depression. Because of their so much economic security, they did some careless act that lead to Great Depression and even worsening the situation.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Macroeconomic Variables and Equity Market Relationship

Macroeconomic Variables and Equity Market Relationship Introduction The equity market also known as stock market is the market for buyers and sellers to trade their equity instruments. There are a few types of equity securities, the most common form of equity securities are preferred stock and common stock. Equity market is important for a company because it allows a company to acquire funds without incurring debts. However, not all the companies are allowed to issue shares, only public listed company which is a limited liability company are allowed to issue share for the sale to the public. The buyers of the stock also became an ownership of a corporation and common stock holders have the right to vote on issues important to the corporation. Company pays their stock holders dividend annually base on the profit of the years. There are two main branches for investor to trade the corporate stock, which are organized exchange and over-the-counter (OTC). Organized exchange trading is governed by regulations and formal procedures to ensure the soundness o f the market. However, stocks that traded through over-the-counter is more informal and uses electronic to trade. From the past, statistics has shown that stock prices can be determined by the economic factors. Literature Review The objective of the authors to carry out the research is to examine the relationship between macroeconomic variables with equity market. The research can helps stakeholder to understand more about equity market and the impact of macroeconomic variables toward equity market. Kim, McKenzie, and Faff (2003) had investigated the impact of scheduled announcements made by government for macroeconomic variables toward the risk and return of three major US financial markets which include equity market. Ioannidis and Kontonikas (2007) had investigates the impact of monetary policy on equity market performance in 13 OECD countries. Abugri (2006) had investigated the relationship between macroeconomic variables with equity market performance. Hooker (2004) had investigated the macroeconomic variables to predict the equity market performance using the Bayesian model developed in Cremers (2002). Patel (2012) had carry out the research in on Indian Stock Market for the effect of macroeconomic det erminants on the performance of market. Trivedi and Behera (2012) and Prof. Sangmi and Hassan (2013) also had carry out research on Indian Stock Market for the relationship between equity prices and macroeconomic variables. Abdelbaki (2013) had used Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model to examine the relationship between macroeconomic variables and Bahraini equity market. Verma and Ozuna (2004) had carried out an empirical investigation for the outcome of Latin American stock markets influence by the macroeconomic variables. Maysami, Howe and Hamzah (2004) had examined the cointegration between macroeconomic variables and stock market’s sector indices rather than the composite index. Most of the journals had chosen interest rate and money supply as one of the macroeconomic variable which will affect the equity market. Nevertheless, foreign exchange rate, inflation rate, industrial production, gross domestic product, foreign direct investment, unemployment rate, gold price and stock market index also popular macroeconomic variables used to carry out the researches. Besides that, few authors also used some unpopular variables such as balance of trade, consumer price index, producer price index, volatility in foreign market and retail sales growth to do their researches. The following table shows the macroeconomic variables used by the authors to carry out their researches. The reason that the authors conduct the research is to provide empirical evidence and also extend the research area that previous researchers voided. The reason that Kim, McKenzie and Faff (2004) do this research is because literature only investigate about the news announcement without investigate about the impact of important macroeconomic variables announcement and the actual news announcement that different from the participant’s expectation that reflect the stock price. Ioannidis, Kontonikas (2008) expand the literature of the significant of monetary policy and stock price by including dividend payment of stock return of 13 OECD countries. Abugri (2008) examine whether the macroeconomic indicator could significantly explain the stock market returns of Latin American. Verma and Ozuna (2005) investigate whether macroeconomic movement significantly impacts the equity market of other Latin American countries. Hooker (2004) extends the research by including macroeconomic varia bles to examine the expected emerging equity market return. Patel (2012), Trivedi and Behera (2012) investigate the existing literature by including eight more macroeconomic variables to test the effect of macroeconomics as determinant on the performance of the Indian stock market. Sangmi and Hassan (2013) examine the effects of macroeconomic variables on Indian stock market in the Arbitrage pricing theory (APT). Abdelbaki (2013) carry out the research to find the significant relationship between macroeconomic variables and Bahraini stock market development (BSMD). Maysami, Lee, and Hamzah (2004) extend the research between macroeconomics variable and stock market’s sector indices instead of the composite index and examine relationships between selected macroeconomic variables and the Singapore’s stock market index (STI), and Singapore Exchange Sector indices. In order to determine the relationship of the macroeconomic variables and stock return, there was variety of test employed by different researchers for different purposes. First, Ioannidis and Kontonikas (2008) employed the Jarque-Bera test to test for the normality. They indicate that stock returns are non-normally distributed which leading the results of hypothesis testing invalid. By taking into account of the non-normality stock returns, bootstrap analysis was undertaken. The researchers also used the ordinary least squares method and the Newey-West heteroscedasticity consistent covariance matrix estimator method to examine the negative relationship between stock returns and interest rates. Moreover, Patel (2012), Trivedi and Behera (2012), and Maysami, Lee, and Hamzah (2004) found that the Johansens cointegration test (Johansen and Juselius, 1990) is more powerful in estimating the cointegrating vectors than Engle and Granger’s (1987). This is because cointegration can be tested in a full system of equations under one procedure, without requiring a specific variable to be normalized. This enables researchers to avoid carrying excessive errors from the first- into the second step. It also allows the avoidance of a priori of assumptions of endogenity or exogeniety. Moreover, the Johansen framework incorporates dynamic co-movements or simultaneous interactions, which enable researchers to study the channels through which of the macroeconomic variables affect the asset prices as well as their relative importance. Furthermore, Trivedi and Behera (2012), Patel (2012), and Verma and Ozuna (2005) identify that the Argumented Dickey-Fuller unit root test must carry out first to find the non-stationary of the variables before the Vector Error Correction which is used to investigate the long-run relationship and short-run dynamics among the variables. For the ADF test, reject the null hypothesis of non-stationarity for all the series. Then estimate the model i n log first difference if the given log first difference of all series is stationary which help to ensures that the series of data do not consist of unit roots problem and this could avoids the spurious relationships. In addition, Trivedi and Behera (2012) and Abugri (2008) estimates impulse response functions (IRFs) which are derived from the Vector Autoregressive Model (VAR). This estimates is used to measures the time profile of the effect of a shock on the behavior and investigate the dynamic relationship of equity prices with macroeconomic variables. Lutkenpohl (1991) states that depending on the ordering of the variables in the VAR model, the results from impulse response functions may have big different which may subject to the â€Å"orthogonality assumption†. Hence, Koop, Pesaran, and Potter (1996), and Pesaran and Shin (1998) combat the problem by employed â€Å"generalized† impulse response functions which are invariant to any reordering of the variables in t he VAR and also helps to any to ensure that the results are not subject to the orthogonality assumption. Last but not least, Hooker (2004) employed the Bayesian model selection approach. Due to the results could be sensitive to model specification problem, particularly when including additional variables in the regressions. Meanwhile, the theory provides little guidance as which macroeconomic variables should be included and excluded. This approach considers all achievable (linear) combinations of included explanatory variables, assigns them each flat priors of inclusion, and estimates their posterior probabilities. The purpose of the researchers is to examine the significant or insignificant relationship between macroeconomics variables and equity market. Kim, McKenzie and Faff (2003) found a significant relationship between equity market and price information of customer and producer. This can be evidenced by government announcements relating unexpected balance of trade news, bond market and financial market volatility which have great impact and important to the internal economy and subsequently influence equity return. Ioannidis and Kontonikas (2007) identify that the relationship between interest rate of monetary policy and expected equity return is significant. This had proved that the central bank can changed the interest rate to influence assessment of stock market. Moreover, Abugri (2006) found that the global variables which include interest rate, exchange rate, industrial production and money supply in four Latin American countries are significantly influence stock market’s ret urn. However, Hooker (2004) discovered that exchange rate do not provide significant results on equity market returns. Patel (2012) has identified commodity prices is one of the important variables that will significantly influence the stock market’s return. Hence, he suggested that the policymakers should try to maintain competitive price levels by implementing proper import duty and local taxes. Trivedi and Behera (2012) identify that there is a positive relationship between equity returns and macroeconomics variables which include index of industrial production, wholesale price index, foreihn institutional investment and capital international world index. Prof. Sangmi and Hassan (2013) have found that macroeconomics such as inflation, exchange rate, industrial production, money supply and interest rate, bring significant impact to the equity market where enhance in inflation would lead to higher stock price and tend to have higher rate of return. Abdelbaki (2013) found tha t the macroeconomics variables like income level, domestic investment, banking system development, private capital flows and stock market liquidity provide significant effects on a stock market functions, development and role in national economy. Verma and Ozuna (2004) found out that the use of cross-country Latin American macroeconomics variables is not significant in determining Latin American stock market movements. Maysami, Howe and Hamzah (2004) found out that the Singapore stock market formed significant relationship with all macroeconomic variables identified like money supply and interest rate, while the other Equity Index shows significant relationships on selected variables. Most of the journals are leading us to know that the macroeconomics variables and equity market have a significant relationship. Overall the researcher of Abugri (2006), Hooker (2004), Patel (2012), Trivedi and Behera (2012), Prof. Sangmi and Hassan (2013), Maysami, Howe and Hamzah (2004), found out th at macroeconomics variable such as interest rate and exchange rate is mostly the key of affecting the equity market. Recommendations Conclusion The results of the journals show us there is significant impact of macroeconomic variables toward the equity market. Hence, we recommend that there is a need for the government to initiate policies that will lower the interest rates as lower interest rate may boost up the equity market performance. There is a need for the government to control money supply since the results from the journals show that high money supply will lead to a better stock performance. Besides that, government also needs to control the exchange rate because there stock performance will go worse if the exchange rate is too high. Moreover, inflation rate may also a vital factor that will lower down the equity market performance if it is not control well. Hence, government is playing an important role and they should always analyze the equity market to boost up the country’s economy. In conclusion, macroeconomic variables significantly influence the stock price due to the implementation of macroeconomic variables affects the economic performance and companies’ stock price will be dropping during economic recession. Hence, movement of stock price can be predicted through the announcement or implementation of macroeconomic variables by the government.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Gender Roles, Stereotyping and Gender Bias Essay -- Sexism and Gender

Gender affects every aspect of our life, from how we feel about ourselves and set our goals in educational, recreational and work opportunities as well as the the nature and extent of our participation in social and civic life. It has a strong impact on the way we practice our religion, the way we dress, the way we express our feelings and the nature of all of our relationships with others. This paper explores various facets of gender roles in order to understand this topic such as what role males and females are expected to play in today's society, how gender roles are decided, affected and exaggerated by stereotyping. Futhermore, this paper will draw attention towards how stereotyping leads to gender biases. What is 'Gender' ? ''Gender'' means those characteristics which defines or explains if someone is masculine or feminine according to their behavioural differences, for example how they dress or act towards others, the kinds of work they do and their status in society. Gender is not the sex we are born with, 'Sex' refers to all the physical attributes separating women and men according to the biological differences or in other words 'Sex' is the biological make up of a human being , whereas gender refers to the cultural attributes derived from sex differences. For exampel some children who are male by birth means having male parts but feel like female.They are just physically males with female characteristics and behave like feminine.This gives them new identity which is known as how they feel more anin accordance with the gender they have and that gives them new gender identity . There are two major genders: 'Masculine' and 'Feminine'. Gender roles are in fact just those ideas and which are implemen... ...s appear. Change begins at home. As quoted by Dr.Phill '' Change can come in either of two important ways: Start behaving positively or stop behaving negatively'' Parents need to give chance to their children to live their lives free from the fetters of gender bias and stereotyping As they say,'' Great oaks grow from little acorns'' Conclusion : Sex is the organizer of human society.This is filtered culturally through gender roles which have an impact our lives. Gender role stereotyping is one of the most consistent ways in which adults and particularly parents play a significant part in socialization of a child. Parents have to learn to adopt an androgynous attitude towards while bring up their children. Eradicate the gender biases and implement adequate egalitarianism. ''Every clould has a silver lining'' Every man is the architect of his own fortune''

Thursday, October 24, 2019

A Summary of Radical Evolution by Joel Garreau Essay

Radical Evolution by Joel Garreau has chapters on two scenarios of the future of humans. Both Heaven and Hell Scenarios have â€Å"The Curve† involved, but the dangers of the GRIN technologies make the Hell Scenario more likely. Rise of technology will lead to the downfall of humanity due to Bioengineered Disease Agents/Weapons. Supporting ideas for this topic are: threat of humans creating dangerous weapons such as pox with cobra venom, biotechnology such as the Australian mouse pox incident being dangerous, and the rise of technology may enhance a plague and kill more people than a natural plague. Garreau is worried about humans being changed so much we won’t be able to tell who is who. Also, we might end up missing â€Å"typical human characteristics.† To Garreau, human nature is â€Å"the sum of the behavior and characteristics that are typical of the human species, arising from genetic rather than environmental factors (Garreau, 159).† A couple early warning signs we’re entering The Hell Scenario are: â€Å"Almost unimaginably bad things are happening, destroying large chunks of the human race or the biosphere, at an accelerating pace, and technologies continue to accelerate as individual nations, continents, tribes or movements jockey for position in a hostile world (Garreau, 184).† Chapter four mentions the GRIN technologies. Gregory Stock is the G, nanotechnology is the N, and computer intelligence is the I. Gregory Stock is the director of the Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society at the School of Medicine of the University of California at Los Angeles. According to Garreau, Stock thinks humans will transcend because of genetic engineering and not because of computers which is what Kurzweil thinks. There are two kinds of nanotechnology. The first â€Å"reduces big things to sizes so astonishingly little that their behavior changes dramatically (Garreau, 118).† â€Å"Promising godlike powers, immortality and unimaginable wealth (Garreau, 118)† is the second kind. One example of the first kind of nanotechnology is the â€Å"buckyball† which is nicknamed in Buckminster Fuller’s honor. Its properties are: â€Å"60 times the strength of steel, the weight of plastic, the electrical conductivity of silicon, the heat conductivity o f diamond and the size and perfection of DNA (Garreau, 119).† The second kind of nanotechnology starts with Eric Dexler. With his book Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, he discusses his ideas. Growing objects such as a car, or a TV will be possible with nanotechnology. Computer intelligence has two meanings: weak and strong. There’s a man name Ray Kurzweil, also known as â€Å"the restless genius,† in the movie Transcendent Man. He said, â€Å"technology feeds on itself and gets faster and faster. It’s gonna continue and in about forty years the basic changes are going to be so astonishingly quick that you won’t be able to follow it unless you enhance your own intelligence with the technology we’ve created.† According to Garreau, Kurzweil’s thinking of the weakness of humans was affected by his and his wife’s family being destroyed by the Holocaust and his dad suffering from a heart attack and dying at age 58. Kurzweil’s view of human nature is humans, unlike reptiles, are capable of higher functions such as love, art, culture and technology. He â€Å"can see† the hell and prevail scenarios and mentions avoiding dangerous technologies such as nanotechnology is unrealistic. He said, â€Å"Most technology will be nanotechnology in the 2 020s. You would have to relinquish all of technology.† Kurzweil calls â€Å"The Curve of exponentially increasing technology (Garreau)† â€Å"The Law of Accelerating Returns.† He thinks humans don’t have control of the force (the Curve) and it’s a â€Å"pattern of life (Garreau).† Surviving Progress mentioned a term called â€Å"Progress trap.† According to the video a progress trap was created â€Å"to define human behavior that seem to provide benefits in the short term, but ultimately leads to disaster because they’re unsustainable.† An example that was provided was our ancestors hunting mammoths. Hunters who discovered how to kill two mammoths made progress. Driving a herd over a cliff was discovered which led to making too much progress. Also, this progress trap could be related to the Curve. The movie stated, â€Å"†We think progress is more of the same†¦ Like we should make our machines better and make more machines.† Technology is rising due to humans trying to make progress which ended up being too much. According to the movie, we are essentially the same people as those stone age people, culture has become completely detached from natural evolution, and our knowledge and technology (ability to do good or harm) has grown out of proportion. After, he went to the topic â€Å"the mortal threat from the development of self-replicating man-made anything (Garreau, 145),† but he found information which lead him to believe biotech is a greater threat. Francis Fukuyama is â€Å"one of America’s most thoughtful and challenging public intellectuals (Garreau, 155).† â€Å"He defines human nature as â€Å"the sum of the behavior and characteristics that are typical of the human species, arising from genetic rather than environmental factors (Garreau, 159).† Also, Fukuyama said, â€Å"The thing I’m worried the most about is the attempt to modify on a large scale some basic characteristics of human behavior in ways that will make us scarcely recognizable (Garreau, 159).† Different versions of hell are mentioned in Radical Evolution. â€Å"For Francis Fukuyama the lowest ring of hell will be reserved for those who, through biotechnology, dream of leaving behind human nature (Garreau, 155).† Garreau’s conclusion from his studies is there will be three different types of humans: The Enhanced, The Naturals, and The Rest. The Enhanced are people who use GRIN technologies, The Naturals are humans that have an opportunity to become Enhanced but choose not to, and The Rest are people who don’t have a choice of becoming Enhanced. Questions are asked which are: â€Å"If a person has a test-tube baby, is she an Enhanced?† and â€Å"If a person has a Viagra prescription, is he an Enhanced?† Garreau wants to use The Shakespeare Test to answer the question: â€Å"How will you someday tell, looking at an Enhanced, if she genuinely represents a transformation of the species-comparable to the difference between Neanderthals and tod ay’s humans?† Bill Joy is â€Å"the Edison of the Internet.† Joy stated, â€Å"Ethical humans, not robots, dominated this future, and I took Roddenberry’s dream as part of my own (Garreau, 141).† After Joy hearing a debate between Kurzweil and John Searle on the Heaven Scenario, Joy thought of a hell scenario. Both scenarios have The Curve. Although Joy thought of the idea he doesn’t have a book of The Hell Scenario. At first Joy focused on the topic of â€Å"overcoming people’s denial (Garreau, 145),† but to him it seems it’s already a topic that had a lot of discussion. After, he went to the topic â€Å"the mortal threat from the development of self-replicating man-made anything (Garreau, 145),† but he found information which lead him to believe biotech is a greater threat. When Saddam Hussein was in power Iraq was working to mix pox and cobra venom with the knowledge of fowlpox with venom extract kills more chickens. Another piece of information is the incident with Australian mouse pox. This virus can kill every mouse it infects. Since smallpox is a close relative, it could be genetically modified to be as fatal. In a description by Roman poet and Epicurean philosopher Lucretius a quote says, â€Å"A flame, like flame in furnaces, would blaze/Within the stomach (Garreau, 148).† These make up The Hell Scenario. First, Pox with cobra venom was almost made after the second Gulf War, but in the process of it’s making, the invention was ruined due to bombings. When Saddam Hussein was in power Iraq was working to mix pox and cobra venom with the knowledge of fowlpox with venom extract kills more chickens. After hearing this, â€Å"Joy’s alarm is underlined by the fact that such a weapon in the hands of someone like Saddam Hussein was a serious worry (Garreau, 146).† Second, is the incident with Australian mouse pox. This virus can kill every mouse it infects. Since smallpox is a close relative, it could be genetically modified to be as fatal. In Australia, mice were everywhere and scientists tried to find a way to control them. According to Garreau, â€Å"Toward this end, two Canberra researchers, Ron Jackson and Ian Ramshwo, in late 2000 were trying to create a new mouse contraceptive. Instead, they created a monster. They added one gene to a mouse pox virus, and this new virus turned out to be 100 percent fatal.† Next, A modern plague will be more dangerous than a plague in the past. In a description by Roman poet and Epicurean philosopher Lucretius a quote says, â€Å"Recurrent spasms of vomiting would rack alway their thews and members, breaking down with sheer exhaustion men already spent†¦ the inward parts of men, in truth, would blaze unto the very bones; A flame, like flame in furnaces, would blaze within the stomach (Garreau, 148).† This shows the symptoms of the plague of Athens. With that in mind, imagine what a plague enhanced by today’s/future generation’s technology can do. How many people would die? The Inauguration Poem â€Å"One Today† says, â€Å"†¦ digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands as worn as my father’s cutting sugarcane so my brother and I could have books and shoes.† Will we need to work once we reach a point where technology is so advance machines can do the work for us? If that happens humans won’t need to work hard or even work at all because machines will be the product of human’s past work. In conclusion, possibilities of dangerous weapons, fear from the Australian mouse pox incident, and the high level of threat of a modern plague all make up The Hell Scenario. With these imperfections of humanity it’s unlikely man kind will follow the Heaven Scenario. Instead man kind will dive into the Hell Scenario because that’s a closer match to how things will go with imperfect humans. Works Cited Garreau, Joel. Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies– and What It Means to Be Human. New York: Doubleday, 2005. Print. Ggrefeder. â€Å"Hd Movie Transcendent Man Part 1/7.† YouTube. YouTube, 02 Oct. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. Joy, Bill. â€Å"Bill Joy: What I’m Worried About, What I’m Excited about.† TED: Ideas worth Spreading. TED, 2008. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. â€Å"KurzweilAI | Accelerating Intelligence.† KurzweilAI Ray Kurzweil Bio Comments. N.p., 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. Surviving Progress. Dir. Mathieu Roy. Perf. Stephen Hawking, David Suzuki, Jane Goodall. 2011. Netflix. Wade, Nicholas. â€Å"From ‘End of History’ Author, a Look at the Beginning and Middle.† The New York Times. The New York Times, 08 Mar. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2013.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Police Encounters with Suspects and Evidence Essay

Analysis and application: police encounters with suspects and evidence| CJ227-08 Criminal procedure| Unit 2: analysis and application: police encounters with suspects and evidence| 1. DidofficerSmithhavereasonablesuspiciontomaketheinitialstopofthisvehicle? OfficerSmithhadreasonablesuspicionwhichisbasedonthetotalityofthecircumstancesasunderstoodbythoseversedinthefieldoflawenforcement;itiscommonlydescribedassomethingmorethanahunchbutlessthanprobablecause. (quiz law)Theanswerisyes,OfficerSmithdidhavereasonablesuspiciontomaketheinitialstopofthevehicle. Because thetaillightappearedtobebrokenwhichisatrafficlawviolation. AlsoofficerSmithrememberedavehiclethatmatchedthegeneraldescriptionofthecarthathestopped. Thiscarfitthedescriptionofthevehiclethatwassuspectedinarecentroadsidekillingofanotherpoliceofficer. 2. Was the â€Å"pat-down† of the driver legal? Anofficermayorderamotoristoutofacartoensuretheofficer’ssafety. (quiz law)Thepoliceofficermayconductapat-downsearchtoensuretherearenoweapons. quiz law)Theâ€Å"pat-down†isaquicksearchofaperson’sbeinginordertodetermineifanyweaponsarepresent. Officer Smith’spat-downwaslegalbecauseitwasnecessarytoensurehissafety. Insteadofprovidingherlicenseandregistration,thedriverspeedsawaywhichresultedinahighspeedchase. Thisisacircumstancethatwouldcauseareasonablepersontobelievethatentry(orotherrelevantpromptaction)wasnecessarytopreventphysicalharmtotheofficersorotherpersons. (Thelectriclawlibrary,1995-2011)Thissituationdoesfallunderexigentcircumstancebecausethereisimminentdanger,destruction,andthesuspectistryingtoescape. (quiz law) 4. Was the gun in â€Å"plain view† and legally obtained? Plain-viewdoctrinetherulepermittingapoliceofficer’swarrantlessseizureanduseasevidenceofanitemobservedinplainviewfromalawfulpositionorduringalegalsearchwhentheitemisevidenceofacrime. Todetermineiftheplainviewdoctrineapplies,policemustconsideranumberofvalidationsoneisduetoexigentcircumstances,whichOfficerSmith’sfindingthegunfallsunder. (quiz law)PlainviewdidapplytoOfficerSmithfindingthegunintheopenglovecompartmentandislawful. Thegunwasdiscoveredinadvertently,OfficerSmithhadlawfulaccesstotheplacefromwhichtheguncouldbeplainlyseen. Inadvertentdiscoveryalaw-enforcementofficer’sunexpectedfindingofincriminatingevidenceinplainview. 5. Will the marijuana baggie be admissible evidence? Whenapersonisunabletogiveconsentduetounconsciousness, theofficercansearchthepurseorwalletofthesuspecttogettheirI. D. ,it’scalledimpliedconsent. ThewomangaveOfficer SmithprobablecausetoconductafullsearchwhenshefledfromOfficerSmithwhenhepulledheroverforthetaillight. OfficerSmithwillbeabletousethemarijuanabaggieasevidence. Whilelookingfortheunconsciouswoman’sI. D. ,OfficerSmithfoundabaggieofmarijuanainherpurse. SincethewomanfledandwreckedthecarOfficerSmithhasprobablecauseandthemarijuanabaggiecanusedasevidence.

Essay on MONEY AND INFLATION

Essay on MONEY AND INFLATION Essay on MONEY AND INFLATION Essay on MONEY AND INFLATIONInflation and deflation, in fact, are two sides of the same coin: inflation shows how prices of goods and services have risen, and deflation how they fell. Both these conditions may adversely affect the return on investment, and therefore these are the economic factors that must be taken into account when planning and managing investments. While in the apparent predominance of one trend (rising or falling of prices) the actions of an investor to protect one’s portfolio are quite obvious, if both deflation and inflation threaten the portfolio at the same time, it is necessary to undertake more complex steps to protect the investment. Below, we will consider in detail how the prediction of inflation or deflation will affect our personal investment decisions.Expecting inflationOver time, the prices of almost all commodities are growing. However, when this growth is too rapid, consumers as well as investors face difficulties: their purchasing power is f alling, therefore they cannot purchase the desired amount of goods. In addition, inflation negates return on investment: the amount received as profit is no longer sufficient to acquire the necessary goods and services (Hellerstein, 1997).In our view, there are several effective strategies to protect investments from inflation. In particular, investors who seek to receive a fixed income from investments often choose the inflation-protected state treasury securities: these bonds guarantee the increase in payments along with the increase of inflation. You can also invest in foreign bonds and currency, thus diversifying the portfolio and gaining access to the markets of those countries that are experiencing the negative effects of inflation to a lesser extent, or do not have them at all (Amadeo, 2010).Another popular way to hedge is gold. This metal has always served as the most reliable tool for conservation of savings, and today the price of gold increases with increasing instability , inflation and negative sentiment in the market. One more beneficial way of investment during inflation includes other tools of commodity market. Investing in shares of companies from developing countries who are engaged in the export of raw materials, investors may receive income from rising prices for oil, gas, gold, metals and others (Correa, 2012). In general, in anticipation of the depreciation of money, investors seek to find more cost-effective use of money, in particular, investing in business expansion, commodity assets, and real estate.Expecting deflationDeflation occurs when the low level of demand leads to a significant drop in prices. Anticipation of the coming fall in prices leads to postponement of current consumption of goods and services by the population. People delay shopping expecting the prices to go down, thereby the total consumption falls with all the consequences (Hellerstein, 1997). For example, the increase of the money purchasing power leads to lower com mitment of companies to invest with all other conditions being equal, employers begin to reduce their workforce, lenders begin to wind down their lending programs, and central banks will cut interest rates to encourage consumers to take credits and spend more.Under these conditions, investors can take advantage of the bonds as tools to protect their investments, as well as invest in shares of companies producing essential goods (Hellerstein, 1997). Indeed people will buy basic food, medicine, hygiene products, etc., no matter what, which means that the shares of such companies will be able to go through difficult times with minimal loss. Such securities are often called protective.Conditions of uncertaintySometimes it is difficult to determine whether inflation or deflation will bring more threats to investments. Such a situation could be seen during the global crisis of 2008-2009, when the real estate market and raw materials experienced deflation, while prices of consumer goods gr ew very rapidly (Hellerstein, 1997). The best solution in this situation is to prepare an investment portfolio for both situations to draw the portfolio including both, securities giving good results in periods of deflation, and the tools to protect against inflation. If the investor does not have a desire or sufficient skills to rapidly and accurately determine the cycle of inflation/deflation, diversification can provide income and preservation of funds regardless of the trends that will develop in the economy (Correa, 2012). In particular, we can recommend to invest in the securities of â€Å"blue chips†: they are more persistent to deflation and pay dividends more often than other companies during inflation. Another way is investing in foreign emerging markets: companies from these countries are often exporting commodity, which are in high demand (protection against inflation) and are not too much attached to their national economy (which will protect investments in the case of deflation).At the same time, time factor plays an important role in the choice of ways to protect the investments. When making a long-term investment in the future, perhaps, one should not react to the slightest changes in the economy (Hellerstein, 1997). However, if the return on investment is a serious budget item, there is no time to wait for economic recovery. In order to continue to earn income and feel stable it is necessary to promptly take measures to protect one’s investments and diversify the portfolio in line with the current market situation.ConclusionWhen the prices of goods and services are rising and the purchasing power of money falls, we call this phenomenon inflation. When prices are falling and the purchasing power of money grows, it is deflation. General assumptions of investors about future changes in the price level affect their assessment of rate of return, and thus get reflected in the market value of assets. Thus, financial investments that br ing fixed incomes could be seriously damaged by a sudden rise in inflation, and conversely, could provide additional benefit in unexpected deflation. Unanticipated inflation reduces the value of the coupon payments on bonds as well as other fixed payments received by pension plans, annuities and insurance policies. Sudden deflation affects these payments in the opposite direction: the value of fixed payments such as interest on bonds rises, and therefore, the price of fixed income securities grows (Correa, 2012). In turn, during periods of sudden burst of inflation the most profitable are the investments in real estate, long-lived commodities, gold, and shares of commodity companies. To the extent in which prices in other countries change independently from the prices in the country of the investor, the possession of foreign currency or foreign securities can also protect from the effects of inflation and deflation.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Philippine Nationalism Essays

Philippine Nationalism Essays Philippine Nationalism Paper Philippine Nationalism Paper Essay Topic: Second Treatise of Government - Filipino nationalism Filipino Nationalism  is an upsurge of patriotic sentiments and  nationalistic  ideals in the  Philippines  of the 19th  century that came consequently as a result of more than two centuries of Spanish rule[1]  and as an immediate outcome of the Filipino  Propaganda Movement  (mostly in Europe) from 1872 to 1892. It served as the backbone of the first nationalist revolution inAsia, the  Philippine Revolution  of 1896. [2] - The Creole Age (1780s-1872) The term Filipino in its earliest sense referred to  Spaniards  born in the Philippines or  Insulares  (Creoles) and from which Filipino Nationalism began. Spanish-born  Spaniards or mainland Spaniards residing in the Philippines were referred to as  Peninsulares. The indigenous peoples of the Philippines were referred to as  Indios. Those of mixed ancestry were referred to asMestizos. Traditionally, the Creoles had enjoyed various government and church positions- composing mainly the majority of the government bureaucracy itself. 3]  The decline of  Galleon Tradebetween  Manila  and  Acapulco  and the growing sense of economic insecurity in the later years of the 18th  century led the Creoles to turn their attention to agricultural production. The Creoles gradually changed from a very government-dependent class into capital-driven entrepreneurs. Their turning of attention towards guilded soil caused the rise of the large privat ehaciendas. Various government and church positions were transferred to the roles of the  Peninsulares  who were characterized mostly in the 19th  century Philippine history as corrupt bureaucrats. The earliest signs of Filipino Nationalism could be seen in the writings of Luis Rodriguez Varela, a Creole educated in liberal  France  and highly exposed to the romanticism of the age. Knighted under the  Order of Carlos III, Varela was perhaps the only Philippine Creole who was actually part of  European nobility. The court  gazette  in  Madrid  announced that he was to become a  Conde  and from that point on proudly called himself  Conde Filipino. He championed the rights of Filipinos in the islands and slowly made the term pplicable to anyone born in the Philippines. However, by 1823 he was deported together with other Creoles [allegedly known as  Los Hijos del Pais  (English:  The Children of the Country)], after being associated with a Creole revolt in Manila led by the  Mexican  Creole Andres Novales. [4] Varela would then retire from politics but his nationalism was carried on by another Creole Padre Pelaez, who campaigned for the rights of Fi lipino priests (Creoles, Mestizos and Indios) and pressed for secularization of Philippine parishes. The  Latin American revolutions  and decline of  friar  influence in  Spain  resulted in the increase of the  regular clergy  (Peninsular friars) in the Philippines. Filipino priests (Creoles, Mestizos and Indios) were being replaced by Spanish friars (Peninsulares) and Pelaez demanded explanation as to the legality of replacing asecular  with regulars- which is in contradiction to the  Exponi nobis. Pelaez brought the case to the  Vatican  almost succeeded if not for an earthquake that cut his career short and the ideology would be carried by his more militant disciple,  Jose Burgos. Burgos in turn died after the infamous  Cavite Mutiny, which was pinned on Burgos as his attempt to start a Creole Revolution and make himself president or  Rey Indio. The death of Jose Burgos, and the other alleged conspirators  Mariano Gomez  and  Jacinto Zamora, seemingly ended the entire Creole movement in 1872. [4]  Governor-General  Rafael de Izquierdo y Gutierrez  unleashed his reign of terror in order to prevent the spread of the Creole ideology- Filipino nationalism. - - Spread of Filipino Nationalism (1872-1892) But the Creole affair was seen by the other natives (Mestizos and Indios) as a simple family affair- Spaniards born in Spain (Peninsulares) against Spaniards born in the Philippines (Creoles). The events of 1872 however invited the other colored section of the  Ilustrados  (English:  Intellectually Enlightened Class) to at least do something to preserve the Creole ideals. Seeing the impossibility of a revolution against Izquierdo and the Governor-Generals brutal reign convinced the  Ilustrados  to get out of the Philippines and continue propaganda in  Europe. This massive propaganda upheaval from 1872 to 1892 is now known as the  Propaganda Movement. Through their writings and orations,  Marcelo H. del Pilar,  Graciano Lopez Jaena  andJose Rizal  sounded the trumpets of Filipino nationalism and brought it to the level of the masses. Rizals  Noli me tangere  and  El filibusterismo  rode the increasing anti-Spanish (anti-Peninsulares) sentiments in the islands and was pushing the people towards revolution. 5]  By July 1892, an  Ilustrado  mass man in the name of  Andres Bonifacio  established a revolutionary party based on the Filipino nationalism that started with  Los Hijos del PaisKatipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan. Ideology turned into revolution and gave Asia its first anti-imperialist/nationalist revolution by the last week of August 1896. - Philippine nationalism Philippine nation alism  is an upsurge of patriotic sentiments and nationalism|nationalistic ideals in the  Philippines  of the late 1800s that came as a result of the Filipino  Propaganda Movement  from 1872 to 1892. It became the main ideology of the first Asian nationalist revolution, the  Philippine Revolution  of  1896. - Spain in the Philippines Spain  already ruled the Philippines for at least 300 years before Philippine nationalism was developed. Towards the 19th century, the bureaucratic centralized government established inManila  had caused widespread discontent in the entire archipelago, but there was yet no united front against the Spanish Regime. Many revolts were caused due to Spanish impositions, but most of these revolts were caused by either personal discontent or territorial defense. From  Diego Silangs revolt in  Luzon  to  Francisco Dagohoys revolt in  Visayas, no united and conscious effort was made against the colonial master. Patriotism was limited to regionalistic tendencies. - Development of native patriotism The belated development of Philippine nationalism was caused by the natives tendency to be regionalistic. The geography of the Philippines did not help. The Philippines is  insular  and the people were divided by waters. In fact, the term Filipino originally means Spaniards born in the Philippines and not the native inhabitants. But certain events eventually led to the development of native patriotism. Things that happened which transcended the cultural and geographical boundaries that had been barriers to the unification of the inhabitants of the archipelago. The first break happened in the early 1830s when Spain, highly influenced by the revolutions in Europe and in Latin America, opened the Philippines to international trade. This led to the rise of a Middle Class from which came the ilustrado elites that soon became the main agitators against the Spanish Regime. The liberalism of Europe arrived through books and other literature. Jean Jacques Rousseaus Social Contract and John Lockes Second Treatise on Civil Government became the primary sources for the development of nationalistic ideals. Such ideals were mostly understood by the ilustradossome became the future leaders of the  Philippine Revolution. In  1869, following a liberal victory in Spain, Carlos Ma. de la Torre was assigned as the Governor-General of the Philippines. He became loved by the people because of his liberal reforms in the government, which include the giving of privileges to military personnel exempting them from forced labor, taxes, and tributes. De la Torre (1869-1871) became the most-loved Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines. His liberal regime gave the natives a point of comparison between a liberal government and the conservative absolutist government (Political absolutism|absolutism) of the past. During de la Torres regime, the native clergy, who were waging a struggle for the Filipinization of the Philippine Church became an ally of the Governor-General. Headed by Father  Jose Burgos, the native clergy wanted to rid the Philippine church of Spanish friars. The Filipinization Controversy was deeply seeded on Spanish racial prejudice against the native priests. The Spanish friars, agitated by Burgos, wanted Burgos out of the picture; but they were not yet presented with an opportunity. The opportunity came when dela Torre was recalled back to Spain in 1871. He was replaced by the brutish, Gov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo. Izquierdo took back all the privileges and reforms that de la Torre instituted. As a response, the military personnel, headed by a certain Sergeant La Madrid, of the Cavite arsenal staged a mutiny by 1872. The Spanish friars had their chance. They convinced Izquierdo that it was Burgos, together with Fathers Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, who masterminded the mutiny. Months later, the three priests were executed. The execution of the Gomburza became a spark among the educated ilustrados. That same year, native patriotism was born and the ilustrados launched in Europe the  Propaganda Movement. - edit]  Propaganda Movement and Philippine nationalism The development of native patriotism that resulted from the execution of Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora also began the unconsicous formation of the ideological side of patriotismnationalism. The Propaganda Movement (1872-1892) called for the assimilation of the Philippines as a province of Spain so that the same laws will be applied in the Philippines and that the inhabitants of the Philippines will experience the same civil liberties and rights as that of a Spanish citizen. Men like  Marcelo H. el Pilar,  Graciano Lopez Jaena, and  Jose Rizal  bombarded both the Spanish and Filipino public with nationalist literature. Rizals novels  Noli Me Tangere  and  El Filibusterismo  became the bibles of Philippine nationalism. This time, the term Pilipino was not only for Spaniards born in the Philippines but was generically applied to every inhabitants born in the Philippine Islands. The movement ended in a failure, but the literature that resulted from it became the source of what came to be Philippine nationalism. - Katipunan and the Revolution As the movement was failing in Europe, Jose Rizal returned to the Philippines and created his  La Liga Filipina  in 1892. It also failed after his arrest a just few days after the creation of the group. The group split into two: the ilustrado elites formed their own Cuerpo de Compromisarios, while the lowly ilustrados formed the revolutionary  Katipunan. The former disappeared into oblivion, while the latter started the  Philippine Revolution  (1896-1898) by  1896, culminating both the formation of patriotic sentiment and nationalistic ideals. - - - Moro nationalism The Philippine nationalism that emerged after the Propaganda Movement and the Philippine Revolution was only limited to the people of Visayas to Luzon, and may be to some extent, northern portions of  Mindanao. Generally, the islands of  Sulu,  Palawan, and Mindanao had a different story. These islands had been once dominated by two powerful Muslim Sultanates prior to the arrival of the Spaniards: the  Sultanate of Sulu  and the  Sultanate of Maguindanao. Never did the Spaniards take sufficient control of these islands and the people came to clearly distinguish themselves from those from Visayas and Mindanao. For more than three centuries, the people in these islands waged war against the  Spanish Empire. Their nationalism is different since it is deeply rooted in their religionIslam. - Decadence of Philippine nationalism and the Limited Filipino The United States of America replaced Spain in the Philippines after the  Treaty of Paris  of December 10,  1898. The period 1901 to 1910 became known as, what  Teodoro Agoncillo  called, the period of suppressed nationalism. The Filipinos were to be americanized through education. Nationalist essays and literature were suppressed. The raising of the Philippine flag was banned. Any utterances against the Americans and about Philippine nationalism was considered an act of sedition. The nationalism that emerged after this period is a nationalism trapped behind the rhetorics of party-politics. The Filipino that emerged were, in  Renato Constantinos words, Limited Filipinos. Filipinos by name, Spanish-American by heart. Cultural by form, yet a damaged culture by substance. This is what by some is called the decadence, by some the tragedy of Philippine nationalism. - Present struggle for revival and the True Filipino Modern-day Philippine nationalism is highly conceptualized by revolutionary historians. Teodoro Agoncillo  emphasized the role of the people in making their own history. Renato Constantino  emphasized the revolutionary theoretical groundwork for the making of new True Filipino. Someone who can transcend the cultural and geographical boundaries that had been the cause for disunity. Someone who can shed away his western soul and create the New Filipino identity. Other historians, like Rudy B. Rodil, work for the destruction of the boundaries between Moros and Filipinossuggesting that a True Filipino does not live in the prejudices of religious belief. One common theme among all is the recognition of the threat of American intervention and Globalization. As long as there will be no strong leader to help in the development of a new Philippine nationalism, then it can be considered dead, for now.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Foreign Exchange Derivatives Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Foreign Exchange Derivatives - Essay Example Since mny derivtives involve cross-border trding, the derivtives mrket hs led to incresed interntionl finncil frgility nd the ttendnt need for greter suprntionl governnce of derivtives. To explore these themes, I will use monetry theory of production provided by institutionlist economic theory. From the outset, institutionlist nlyses of the economic process hve incorported the impct of monetry phenomen on the production of goods nd services. Thorstein Veblen distinguished between pecuniry nd industril employments, Wesley Mitchell between mking goods nd mking money, nd John R. Commons between rel nd finncil vlues. Wht ll sought to cpture ws dilecticl reltionship between money nd mteril flows. s Dudley Dillrd put it, under mrket cpitlism "the production of goods nd services by which we live is byproduct of the expecttion of businessmen to 'mke money'" [Dillrd 1987, 1623]. In institutionl nlysis, money is described s hving functions beyond tht of medium of exchnge. Money is core component of economizing behvior under mrket cpitlism becuse it serves s the numerire by which gin my be clculted in quntittive terms, n element essentil to wht Mx Weber clled cpitl ccounting, or Kpitlrechnung. Perhps the most importnt function of money in the mrket economy rises from wht Dillrd [1987, 1625] termed its chrcteristic s specil form of property. key feture of the use of property is the power to hold or withhold. Moneyholders hve the power to grnt or withhold ccess to their money cpitl, nd it is this bility tht provides one of the mens through which monetry flows my disrupt the production process nd thereby socil provisioning. Hymn Minsky's [1986] finncil instbility hypothesis furthers the nlysis of the dilecticl reltionship between the rel nd finncil sectors. For firm to purchse physicl cpitl ssets it must often issue debt. Unlike its fixed debt obligtions, the firm's expected income flow is subject to uncertinty. Income flow depends on the level of ggregte demnd in the economy, fll in ggregte demnd being likely to cuse decline in the firm's sles nd income from which it services its debt. Should ggregte demnd fll fr enough, the firm my fce insolvency nd the instbility cn spred throughout the finncil system. It is Minsky's contention tht incresed dependence on corporte debt s mens of finncing investment in physicl cpitl hs incresed the possibility of substntil defltionry pressures should there be mjor downturn in economic ctivity. To dte, the extensive intervention of the welfre stte hs prevented recurrences of the mssive defltion experienced during the Gret Depression. Fiscl policy hs mintined dequte levels of ggregte demnd while, s the result of monetry policy, firms hve been ble to refinnce their debt, rther thn liquidte rel cpitl ssets tht hve lost vlue through defltion. Hence, s Dillrd noted [1987, 1644], n irony identified by Minsky's nlysis is tht while privte sector debt hs been destbilizing, the growth of public sector debt hs hd stbilizing effect on the rel sector of modern economies. The monetry theory of production my be extended to n nlysis of the interntionl economy. Ntionl centrl bnks hve used their lender of lst resort cpcities to provide short-term liquidity to bnks involved in interntionl finncil mrkets. The Finncil Derivtives Mrket Finncil derivtives re finncil contrcts

Friday, October 18, 2019

EU ban on Tobacco advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

EU ban on Tobacco advertising - Essay Example This essay "EU ban on Tobacco advertising" outlines the negative effect of the tobacco products' advertisements and why it was restricted in the EU. The advertising of tobacco products, mostly cigarette smoking by the tobacco industry through a various forms of media including television, newspaper, magazine, direct mail, sale points, billboards, radio and sponsorship is called tobacco advertising. As part of their marketing strategy, tobacco companies use the help of advertisements and promotional schemes to boost sales and earn higher profits. On 7 December 1941 serious restrictions was imposed upon the advertisements of tobbaco. Opposition is against the advertisements trying to portray smoking as safe or as a representation of masculinity. They do not do any good except for giving misleading claims and leaving a bad impact on the young and pure minds of teenagers and youth. Pasting advertising posters and brochures along racing tracks, stadiums and rail tracks was outlawed as it give a vast exposure of this unhealthy product. Cooperation and support of anti-tobacco activists and NGO workers was highly encouraged. Advertising done through loudspeakers in stadiums during games and mail (postage stamps) was also banned. Companies use such advertising to create brand loyalty and brand image to consumers so that they choose their brand of cigarette amongst others available. Tobacco companies apportion principally large budgets for their advertising campaigns and strategies also to seek quick responses and to stimulate demand over a longer period of time. The Federal Trade Commission claimed that cigarette manufacturers spent $8.24 billion on advertising and publicity in 1999 which was the highest amount ever at that time. Later in 2005, the amount rose to $13.11. The increase, despite restrictions on the advertising in most countries, was an effort to target younger audiences mostly teenagers who get influenced easily by promotional offers and giveaways such as Zippos, ashtrays and lighters. Casey Stoner: Australia's new Marlboro Man He has become a role model to kids worldwide who see him (Sydney Telegraph picture) racing in his bike, his whole outlook endorsing a tobacco brand Tobacco companies bribe and give expensive prizes to retailers who stock cigarettes and cigars. The European Union have precised that the advertising of tobacco should not be allowed. The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states, located in Europe that have agreed to act collectively on a standardised system of laws and a wide range of issues rather than nationally. Certain legal requirements are enforced upon the packaging of tobacco cigarettes by some countries. For example in the countries of the European Union, cigarette packs must have a label notifying the health hazards associated with smoking. One of the ways was inserting cards into the packet of cigarette giving an illustration of how to quit smoking. An example of tobacco packaging carrying health warnings is shown below: For the benefit of peoples of EU, the Commission is stressing theentry into force of the EU tobacco advertising ban and to start its action, initiated three years ago. The EU directive of 2003 has a wide ban on tobacco advertising in all forms of the print media, on radio and over the more technologically advanced medium, the internet. It also prohibits tobacco sponsorship of cross-border cultural and sporting events notably Formula One racing and the European Football Championships. Most EU countries, except for Germany,have either passed the necessary laws or are in the course of

Assignment#7 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Assignment#7 - Case Study Example On the other hand, nations also owe a similar responsibility to their citizens and, in addition, they also have the onus to ensure their well being. In immigration cases, the judges consider a lot of aspects and prescribe â€Å"excessively high standard of proof† of persecution from the asylum seekers before deciding their cases (p.236). In this context, it becomes relevant that such immigrants often may not be in a position to fulfill the demands of the host nations. From the instances of the application of inconsistent regulations as well as the lack of â€Å"objective human rights assessments† while deciding immigration cases, it transpires that there is an element of bias prevailing among some of the judges (p.236). Due to their lack of adequate insight into the socio-political situations in the refugees’ homelands, these judges downplay their â€Å"likelihood of prosecution† (p.236). This may, perhaps, be the reason for the large volume of cases pending in various immigration courts. On the other hand, evidence also suggests to the pendency of a large number of social security adjudications in the country. On a surface level, since the government of a nation has an obligation to ensure the welfare of its citizens, it may appear that social security of own people deserves precedence over the rights of the people from other countries. However, this issue needs to be understood and explored on a deeper level. Asylum seekers are usually people who have no alternative other than seek refuge in an alien country because of turmoil and possible persecution in their nation of origin. In this regard, it needs to be appreciated that in normal circumstances, unless there is threat to a person’s value and belief systems, he or she may not want to abandon the homeland. Thus, it becomes evident that asylum seekers are leaving their countries due to the obvious threat to or violation of their human rights. On the other hand, the question of social security

Historical Events Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Historical Events - Research Paper Example The development and expansion story of education has just remained to be one of the expanding accesses with various differences arising at every dawn of collegiate growth in each new era. Higher educational institutions were largely supported by the educational philanthropists whenever reflected back in the 12th century during the time of medieval universities development (Riesman, 2001). The higher education system is perceived to have mainly originated in the United States whereby its development has been influenced by a series of events. The federal government became directly linked to the higher education during the time of the civil war. During this period, the southern congressmen who had a tendency of opposing the legislature were missing in the action. Most of the proposals and objectives were created under the Morril Act of 1862 that was in pursuit of the educational motion gearing programs. Among the programs proved to subdue the higher educational programs included: mechanical, agricultural, and military sciences encompassing the liberal arts. The state decided to attach some new programs like agricultural and engineering to historic colleges. This was aimed at boosting the political strength and expansion of the university definition scope and the curricula between 1887 and 1914. This Act of Morril was termed as the land grant-act due to the collective su pport gain exert on colleges to enhance development. The second Morril Act of 1890 considered to be the latest stimulated the expansion power of the federal engagement in the education development. This led to the funding of projects that related to land-grant campuses (Razzell, 2006). Basing on the Morril Act with the federal legislation furry, African –Americans were faced with great attention through the receivership of mixed results due to differences experienced in treatment. This act provided the policy of strictly funding the African-American

Thursday, October 17, 2019

The history of Italian Mobsters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The history of Italian Mobsters - Essay Example Why is this so? Where does this image of the gangster come from? Why as a "monster" type are we both attracted and repulsed by his (or less often her) screen presence?† (Florida State University, 2011). Indeed, the Mob's heroic reputation was a major part of the censorship of the early Hays Code (Florida State University, 2011). The Italian mob were complex social agents: They were both ruthless social parasites and community guards, representatives of Italian communities and their secret shame, successful businessmen and criminals. The Italian mafia were far from alone: In The Ethnic Myth, Steinberg (1991) points out that at one point one sixth of the organized crime in New York was Jewish! But it is true that the Italians were powerful in New Jersey, New York, Chicago and Las Vegas. La Cosa Nostra was a Sicilian institution, but in America, its start and success had to do with one factor: Prohibition. â€Å"The Prohibition era of the 1920s gave rise to the organized crime sy ndicate in the United States. Federal efforts to enforce prohibition, including raids on speakeasies, were countered by well-organized bootlegging operations with national and international connections. A particularly notorious gang of the times was Al Capone's mob in Chicago. There were also gangs in Detroit, New York and other cities. Wars among gangs, producing grisly killings, frequently made headlines† (US History, 2011). The FBI traces the history of La Cosa Nostra from Sicily: â€Å"These enterprises evolved over the course of 3,000 years during numerous periods of invasion and exploitation by numerous conquering armies in Italy. Over the millennia, Sicilians became more clannish and began to rely on familial ties for safety, protection, justice, and survival. An underground secret society formed initially as resistance fighters against the invaders and to exact frontier vigilante justice against oppression. A member was known as a â€Å"Man Of Honor,† respected and admired because he protected his family and friends and kept silent even unto death. Sicilians weren’t concerned if the group profited from its actions because it came at the expense of the oppressive authorities. These secret societies eventually grew into the Mafia† (2011). It is important to note, though, that not all of the people in La Cosa Nostra in America were native mobsters in Sicily. Rather, the social form was transplanted because of new conditions. It was difficult for immigrants to eke out a living in the America of the early 1900s. Prohibition made an obvious opportunity emerge: The distribution, production and consumption of alcohol would be the business model. As the Nevada Observer (1987) put it in their comprehensive time line of La Cosa Nostra (LCN), â€Å"Although organized crime had existed in the United States prior to this time, it was the bonanza of Prohibition which enabled the small, but powerful, LCN to capitalize upon its international contacts, its reputation for ruthlessness, and--above all--its rigidly disciplined structure of cooperating gangs to establish the position of unrivaled eminence it holds in the American underworld today†. But La Cosa Nostra didn't end with Prohibition. Once the organizations were created, it was too easy to use them for all sorts of other enterprises.

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) - Essay Example Chaplain, the producer of the movie, had a vision of scientific management in 1930 when the movie was produced. The era of 1930 was a period of economic misfortune, social struggles and industrial standardization (Tomlinson 660). The period’s culture was powerfully depicted by the entertainment of the thirties. In Modern Times film, the producer has constructed scenes wisely to portray his opinions of the period’s prominent management styles. The elements used in the workshop to produce the movie exhibit replaceability, standardization, specialization and centralization. These elements have been used intentionally by the producer to display criticism of classical management ideas. At the time the film was being produced, US was trapped in economic slouch that led to high unemployment rates, which consequently led to dwindling of corporate earnings. Because of these economic hardships, there came up unrelenting obsession due to the urge to save time and energy as a way of raising profit (Robinson 12). Industry leaders and business owners of the period began to turn to ever enlightening minds of scientists for help and profitability. During this time, there developed a strong consensus that math and science were the only solutions to the problems of the period. Scientists were progressing rapidly in their activities to make their labor effective and efficient. Unfortunately, for other humans within the labor force, during the scientific age had scientific views that led to great injustices. The Modern Times film unfortunately failed to suggest how employees can be managed as mechanized entities instead of just ordinary humans. Most scientific minds like Fredric k Taylor, managers and CEOs accepted and suggested classical management theorists to place proposals to work in their factories (Tomlinson 661). The Modern Times film has highlighted this aspect in brief. The film opens with a juxtaposition of a heard of crazed sheep with a street hustling with a mass

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Historical Events Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Historical Events - Research Paper Example The development and expansion story of education has just remained to be one of the expanding accesses with various differences arising at every dawn of collegiate growth in each new era. Higher educational institutions were largely supported by the educational philanthropists whenever reflected back in the 12th century during the time of medieval universities development (Riesman, 2001). The higher education system is perceived to have mainly originated in the United States whereby its development has been influenced by a series of events. The federal government became directly linked to the higher education during the time of the civil war. During this period, the southern congressmen who had a tendency of opposing the legislature were missing in the action. Most of the proposals and objectives were created under the Morril Act of 1862 that was in pursuit of the educational motion gearing programs. Among the programs proved to subdue the higher educational programs included: mechanical, agricultural, and military sciences encompassing the liberal arts. The state decided to attach some new programs like agricultural and engineering to historic colleges. This was aimed at boosting the political strength and expansion of the university definition scope and the curricula between 1887 and 1914. This Act of Morril was termed as the land grant-act due to the collective su pport gain exert on colleges to enhance development. The second Morril Act of 1890 considered to be the latest stimulated the expansion power of the federal engagement in the education development. This led to the funding of projects that related to land-grant campuses (Razzell, 2006). Basing on the Morril Act with the federal legislation furry, African –Americans were faced with great attention through the receivership of mixed results due to differences experienced in treatment. This act provided the policy of strictly funding the African-American

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) - Essay Example Chaplain, the producer of the movie, had a vision of scientific management in 1930 when the movie was produced. The era of 1930 was a period of economic misfortune, social struggles and industrial standardization (Tomlinson 660). The period’s culture was powerfully depicted by the entertainment of the thirties. In Modern Times film, the producer has constructed scenes wisely to portray his opinions of the period’s prominent management styles. The elements used in the workshop to produce the movie exhibit replaceability, standardization, specialization and centralization. These elements have been used intentionally by the producer to display criticism of classical management ideas. At the time the film was being produced, US was trapped in economic slouch that led to high unemployment rates, which consequently led to dwindling of corporate earnings. Because of these economic hardships, there came up unrelenting obsession due to the urge to save time and energy as a way of raising profit (Robinson 12). Industry leaders and business owners of the period began to turn to ever enlightening minds of scientists for help and profitability. During this time, there developed a strong consensus that math and science were the only solutions to the problems of the period. Scientists were progressing rapidly in their activities to make their labor effective and efficient. Unfortunately, for other humans within the labor force, during the scientific age had scientific views that led to great injustices. The Modern Times film unfortunately failed to suggest how employees can be managed as mechanized entities instead of just ordinary humans. Most scientific minds like Fredric k Taylor, managers and CEOs accepted and suggested classical management theorists to place proposals to work in their factories (Tomlinson 661). The Modern Times film has highlighted this aspect in brief. The film opens with a juxtaposition of a heard of crazed sheep with a street hustling with a mass

Solomon, Consumer Behaviour Essay Example for Free

Solomon, Consumer Behaviour Essay When we say personality, actually everyone can understand what it is meant to be but actually it is hard to define a formal description of â€Å"Personality†. One answer can lie in the concept of personality, which refeers to a person’s unique psychological make up and how it concsistently influences the ay a person’s responds to his/her environment. From now on when we say â€Å"Personality†, we mean all of the distinctive, consistent and structured relations between an individual ‘s inner and outer environment. Personality is also be described as â€Å" the particular combination of emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral response patterns of an individual† Some psychologists may argue that the concept of personality may not be valid. Many studies find that people do not seem to exhibit stable personalities. Because people do not necessarily behave the same way in all situations, they argue that this is merely a convenient way to categorize people. It’s a bit hard to accept because we tend to see others in a limited range of situations and so they do appear to act consistently. Marketing strategies often include some aspect of personality. These dimensions are usually considered in conjunction with a person’s choice of leisure activities, political beliefs, aesthetic tastes, and other personal factors that help us to understand consumer lifestyle. Freudian Theories: Who is Sigmund Freud? Sigmund, born Sigismund Schlomo Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939), was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis. An early neurological researcher into cerebral palsy, aphasia and microscopic neuroanatomy, Freud later developed theories about the unconscious mind and the mechanism of repression, and established the field of verbal psychotherapy by creating psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient (or analysand) and a psychoanalyst. Psychoanalysis has in turn helped inspire the development of many other forms of psychotherapy, some diverging from Freuds original ideas and approach. * http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud Sigmund Freud proposed the idea that much of one’s adult personality stems from a fundamental conflict between a person’s desire to gratify his/her physical needs and the necessity to function as a responsible member of society. The id seeks out immediate gratification. The superego is the counterweight to the id. It is a person’s conscience. The ego is the system that mediates between the two. It tries to find ways to gratify the id that are acceptable to society. This is called the Pleasure Principle. â€Å"Id† is selfish and illogical. It is the â€Å"Party Animal† of the mind. It’s about immidiate gratification. Id operates according to the pleasure principle which our basic desire to maximize pleasure and avoid pain guides our behaviour. Id directs a person’s physical energy toward pleasurable acts without regard for any consequences. â€Å"Superego† is the counterweight to the id. The superego is essentially the person’s consicience. The superego internalizes society’s rules and tries to prevent the id from seeking selfish gratification. â€Å"Ego† mediates between the id and superego, it acts as a refree in the fight between temptation and virtue. The ego tries to balance these opposing forces according to the reality principle which means it finds way to gratify the id that the outside world will find acceptable. These conflicts occur on an unconcious level , so the person is not necessarily awere of the underlying reasons for his/her behaviour. Freud’s ideas highlights the potential importance of unconscious motives that guide our purchases. Consumer researchers have adapted some of Freud’s ideas. Consumers cannot necessarily tell us their true motivation when they choose products, even if we can devise a sensitive way to ask them directly. The Freudian perspective also raises the possibility that the ego relies on the symbolism in products to compromise between the demands of the id and the prohibitions of the superego. The person channels her unacceptable desire into acceptable outlets when she uses products that signify these underlying desires. This is the connection between product symbolism and motivation: The product stands for, or represents, a consumer’s true goal, which is socially unacceptable or unattainable. By acquiring the product, the person vicariously experiences the forbidden fruit. Phallic Symbols: are male-oriented symbolism that appeals to women. According to Freud’s idea the use of some objects that resemmble sex organs. For example: Cigars, trees, swords, buttons,trains and cars are look alike male sex organs. In addition to those mentioned, tunnels and button holes are symbolysed as female sex organs. Most Freudian applications in marketing relate to a product’s supposed sexual symbolism. For example owning a sports car for a man going through a mid-life crysis is a substitute for sexual gratification. Motivational Research: Motivational research borrowed Freudian ideas to understand the deeper meanings of products and advertisements. The approach assumed that we channel socially unacceptable needs into acceptable outlets including product substitutes. Motivational Research relies on depth interviews with individual consumers instead of asking many consumers a few general questions about product usage. Motivational Researcher probes deeply into each respondents’ purchase motivations. It might take several hours and the respondent can not immediately articulate his/her latent or underlying motives. The researcher can reach these only after extensive questioning and interpretation. Ernst Diechter was a psychoanalyst who trained with Freud’s disciples in Vienna. Dichter conducted in-depth interview studies on more than 230 products. There are both appeals and criticism associated with motivational research. * Criticisms * Invalid or works too well * Gave advertisers the power to manipulate consumers * Research lacked sufficient rigor and validity because the interpretations are so subjective. * The analyst bases his conclusions on his own judgement after an interview with a small number of people * The doubt of if the finding would generalize to a market or not * Too sexually based because of The Orthodox Freduian Theory * Appeal * Less expensive than large-scale surveysÃ'Ž * Powerful hook for promotional strategy * Intuitively plausible findings (after the fact) * Enhanced validity with other techniques Motives and Associated Products * Power-masculinity-virility: Sugar products large breakfasts, power tools – Coffee , Red meat, heavy shoes, toy guns, buying fur coats to women, shaving with a razor * Security: Ice Cream(to feel like a loved child again), Full drawer of neatly ironed shirts * Eroticism: Sweets (to lick) gloves (to be removed by women as a form of undressing) * Moral purity-cleanliness: White Bread , Cotton Fabrics , oatmeal (sacrifice, virtue) * Social acceptance: Companionship: Ice CreamÃ'Ž Love and Affection: Toys (to express love for children) Acceptance: Soap Beauty products * Individuality: Foreign Cars, Vodka, Perfumes * Status: Health Problems (To show one has a high stress , important job! ) Carpets (to show one does not step on ground with bare feet) * Femininity: Cakes and cookies, dolls, silk, tea, household curios (anthics) * Reward: Cigarettes, Alcohol, Candy, Ice CreamÃ'Ž * Mastery over environment: Kitchen appliences, boats, sporting goods, cigarette lighters * Disalienation (a desire to feel connectedness to things) : Morning radio broadcast, skiing * Magic-mystery: Soups (healing power), paints (changes mood of room), unwrapping gifts Other interpretations were hard for some researchers to swallow; such as the observation that women equate the act of baking a cake with birth, or that men are reluctant to give blood because they feel it drains their vital fluids. However, American people sometimes say a pregnant woman has â€Å"A bun in the owen† When the Red Cross hired Ernest Diechter to boost blood donation rates he reported that men (but not women) tend to intensely overestimate the amount of blood they give. As a result the red cross, counteracted men’s fear of losing their virility when the organization symbolically equated the act of blood with fertilizing a female egg: â€Å" The gift of life. † Neo Freudian Theories Alfred Adler He was cooperating with Freud and Carl Jung but later in the Freudian Theories the emphasis on sex was not accepted by Alfred Adler. Adler called it individual psychology because he believed a human to be an indivisible whole, an individuum. He also imagined a person to be connected or associated with the surrounding world to form an independent school of psychotherapy and personality theory. Following this split, Adler would come to have an enormous, independent effect on the disciplines of counseling and psychotherapy as they developed over the course of the 20th century. Adler emphasized the importance of equality in preventing various forms of psychopathology, and espoused the development of social interest and democratic family structures for raising children. His most famous concept is the inferiority complex which speaks to the problem of self-esteem and its negative effects on human health (e. g. sometimes producing a paradoxical superiority striving). His emphasis on power dynamics is rooted in the philosophy of Nietzsche, whose works were published a few decades before Adlers. However, Adlers conceptualization of the Will to Power focuses on the individuals creative power to change for the better. Adler argued for holism, viewing the individual holistically rather than reductively, the  latter being the dominant lens for viewing human psychology. Adler was also among the first in psychology to argue in favor of feminism making the case that power dynamics between men and women (and associations with masculinity and femininity) are crucial to understanding human psychology. Adler is considered, along with Freud and Jung, to be one of the three founding figures of depth psychology, which emphasizes the unconscious and psychodynamic. Caren Horney: According to Horney; individual’s reaction to percieved real threats ,anxiety, is stronger than sexuality or libido. Individuals have ways and neurotic tendencies to cope up with emotional problems in daily life. These tendencies occur as moving towards others (compliant), away from others (detached) or against others (The aggressive). Compliant people are more likely to gravitate toward name brand products. (Celal Birsen – Turkish Umbrella Manufacturer) Detached people are more likely to be tea drinkers. Aggressive people prefer brands with a strong masculine orientation. We can clearly see that in Old Spice Commercials with Terry Crews. Another approach by Harry Stack Sullivan focused that personality evolves in both internal and external daily communicatiosn to overcome anxiety. Carl Jung: Carl Jung was also a disciple of Freud but their relationship ended in part because Jung did not accept Freud’s emphasis on sexual aspects of personality. Jung developed his own method psychotherapy known as analytical psychology. He believed that we all share a collective unconscious. You can think of this collective unconscious as a storehouse of memories we inherited from our ancestors. From these shared memories, we recognize archetypes. An archetype is a universally recognized idea or behavior pattern. They typically involve themes like birth and death and appear in myths, stories, and dreams He is the founder of Analitical Psychology He mentioned the â€Å"id† as the power source of unconscious ego. Unconscious can be classified into personal and collective unconscious. Jung believed that cummulative experiences of past generations shape who we are today(Experiences have been inherited from past generation to next generation) which is collective unconscious. People are afraid of dark because their distant anchestors had good reasons to fear it. Personal unconscious means rudimentary ideas and subdued beliefs and livings. Many psychological concepts were first proposed by Jung, including the Archetype, the Collective Unconscious, the Complex, and synchronicity. A popular psychometric instrument has been principally developed from Jungs theories. Persona,one of the most common archetypes defined by Carl Jung, has a major factor while personality is shaped. It is the visible part of our personality by other people, it is the mask we wear during interacting in environment. The other two major archetypes are anima and animus. Anima is the feminine characteristics within a male personality, and animus is the masculine characteristics within a female personality. BrandAsset ® Valuator of Archetyes is created by BrandAsset ® Consulting: A Young Rubicam Brands Company. The model shows the relationships among the Archetypes. For each healthy personality, there is a corresponding Shadow. A healthy personality is one in which the Archetypes overwhelm their corresponding Shadows. A sick personality results when one or more Shadows prevail. When a brand’s Shadows dominate, this cues the agency to take action to guide the brand to a healthier personality. Agency uses the valuator to get opions of brands, keep the brand away from ome than one shoadow characteristic and move brand into a healthier positions. BrandAsset Valuator ® Archetypes Trait Theory : Trait theory focuses on the quantitative measurement of personality traits. Personality traits are the identifiable characteristics that define a person. For instance, we might say that someone is an introvert (quite and reserved) or an extrovert(Socially outgoing). Some of the most relevant traits for consumer behavior are listed below * Innovativeness is the degree to which a person likes to try new things. * Materialism is the amount of emphasis a person places on acquiring and owning products * Self-consciousness is the degree to which a person deliberately monitors and controls the image of the self that he or she projects to others. * Need for cognition is the degree to which a person likes to think about things and by extension, expends the necessary effort to process brand information. * Frugality is the tendency to deny short-term purchases and to make due with what they already own. David Reisman first introduced the terms inner-directed and outer-directed more than 30 years ago. There are several differences that exist between idiocentric (an individualist orientation) and allocentric (a group orientation) personalities. | Idiocentrics | Allocentrics |Ã'Ž | (individualist orientation)| (group orientation)| Contentment| More satisfied with current life| Less satisfied with current life| Health Consciousness| Less likely to avoid unhealthy foods| More likely to avoid unhealthy foods| Food Preparation| Spend less time preparing food| Love kitchen; spend more time preparing food| Workaholics| More likely to work hard and stay late at work| Less likely to work hard| Travel and Entertainment| More interested in traveling to other cultures| Visit library and read more|Ã'Ž Problems with Trait Theory The use of standard personality trait measurements to predict product choices has met with mixed success. It is simply hard to predict consumer behavior based on personality! There are several explanations; * Scales not valid/reliable –Results may not be stable over time * Tests borrow scales used for mentally ill marketers â€Å"borrow† those results to apply a more general population * Inappropriate testing conditions and not well trained test administers * Ad hoc instrument changes – reduces ability to compare test results across consumer samples * Use of global measures to predict specific brand purchases * â€Å"Shotgun approach† (no thought of scale application) – No specific advance knowledge about how test results is going to be conducted about purchases of specific brands. Researchers are recognised that Trait researches can not fully describe what the purchase decision is mainly caused by but a part of it. Marketers have to incorprate personality data with information about people social and economic conditions for it to be useful. Brand Personality Brand personality is set of traits people attribute to a product as if it were a person. Brands borrow personality traits of individuals or groups to convey an image they want customers to form of them. Many of the most recognizeable figures in popular culture are spokescharacters for long-standing brands, such as Mr. Muscle in Turkish advertisements. Animism: Brands carry their energy, attractiveness and soul on products as living creatures (Quaker Oats man and their credibility are reflected to a product package so that consumers may assume producers as shrewd and fair as Quaker Oats. Brand equity is the extent to which a consumer holds strong, favorable, and unique associations with a brand in memory—and the extent to which s/he is willing to pay more for the branded version of a product than for a nonbranded (generic) version . Like people, brand personalities do change over time. Brands’ popularity may vary from year to year. Herebelow it’s the most popular companies in Turkey in years 2010 and 2011. One year can make significant changes in brands equity. http://www. businews. eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/egsa50-1. jpg To give you another idea of how much things change Americans ranked these brands as the most stylish in year 1993 and 2008 Top 5 Stylish 1993 * Levis * Nike * Bugle Boy * Guess * L. A. Gear Top 5 Stylish – 2008Ã'Ž * Victoria’s Secret * Ralph Lauren * Nine West * Calvin Klein * Coach Doppelganger Brand Image When a company makes too many false or misguiding advertisesments, consumers can give humoristic and rebellios responses. This may be a web site attack or a fan-made(or anti-fan) video that make fun of it on Youtube and other similar content sharing social media. This is called Doppelganger Brand Image (Which means the bad twin of that brand) For example Turk Telekom’s ADSL connection also known as TTNT ADSLÃ'Ž Logo of London 2012 Olympics. The british tabloids have been less than kind; one paper described the design as a â€Å"Toileting monkey†. Also it has got some critisism due to it symbolysis Semitic Quote to â€Å"Sion†. An anti logo group got 50000 people to sign a petition demanding that organizors change the design. Some marketing experts feel that this outcry is a good thing because most young Britons are very blase about the prospect of the Olympics taking place in their backyard. So this will get their blood pumping. As an example of Animism; Adidas Brand creates a focus group of children and asks them to image, Adidas is going to join a party and tell them how they imagine adidas in the party. The kids responded that Adidas would be hanging around the keg with its pals, talking about girls unfortunely they also said Nike would be with the girls. The results reminded Adidas’ brand managers they had some work to do. Brand Action| Trait Inference| Brand Examples|Ã'Ž Brand is repositioned several times or changes slogan repeatedly | Flighty, schizophrenic| Ford, Geico, Puma| Brand uses continuing character in advertising | Familiar, comfortable | Marlboro, Turkcell, Arcelik| Brand charges high prices and uses exclusive distribution| Snobbish, sophisticated| LV, Hermes, MacroCenter| Brand frequently available on deal| Cheap, uncultured| HM| Brand offers many line extensions| Versatile, adaptable| Ipana| Brand sponsors show on PBS or uses recycled material| Helpfull, supportive| Toms, IKEA| Brand features easy to use packaging or speaks at consumers level in advertising | Warm, Approachable| T-Box| Brand offers seasonal clearance sale| Planfull, practival| Mango, Polo Garage| Brand offers five-year warranty or free customer hotline| Reliable, Dependable| Hyundai|Ã'Ž The Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) is a technique for eliciting interconnected constructs that influence thought and behavior. It is used to measure the brand equity. This tool can help companies in creating positive associations with customers. This works most, as by talking the brand in the form of story , marketer better able to grab the attention of customers and touch their feelings. ZMET is one tool used to asses the strategic aspect of brand personality and is based on the premise that brands are expressed in metaphores; that is, a representation of one thing in terms of another. These associations offen are non-verbal so the ZMAT approach is based on a non verbal representation of brands. Participants collect a minimum of twelve images representing their thoughts and feelings about the topic, and are interviewed in depth about the images and their feelings. Eventually digital imaging techniques are used to create a collage summarizing these thoughts and feelings and the person tells a story about the image created. Nestle Cerelac is the leading brand in baby food category. See how Cerelac brand equity measure through ZMET technique. By using this example, you can better able to apply this tool and increase you brands overall worth.