Classroom Scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Classroom Scenario - Essay Example Mr. Hamilton should meet with Danny’s parents and inform them what role they can play in improving Danny’s academic performance. This includes monitoring Danny’s activities at home, providing Danny with a proper place to focus his attention, and linking timely completed homework with rewards. It is vital that Danny’s parents adopt the same approach that Mr. Hamilton has adopted i.e. praising Danny at the display of good performance, and look disappointed at poor performance and yet, encourage him to do better next time rather than scold him. The monitoring system that can help determine the effectiveness of the instructional interventions should comprise both behavioral assessment and performance assessment. â€Å"Prereferral intervention strategies are generally determined by a committee of general education teachers before any specialists are included in the plan† (D’Amico and Gallaway, 2008, p. 4). For optimal performance, it is imperative that Danny feels satisfied and happy with the monitoring system. One way to achieve this is by gauging what intervention strategies Danny feels comfortable with. Instructional interventions can also be established by way of mutual consensus between Mr. Hamilton, Danny, and Danny’s

E Commerce On Marketing Strategy Of Hotel Industry Marketing Essay

E Commerce On Marketing Strategy Of Hotel Industry Marketing Essay E-commerce is defined as the complete set of process that supports business activities in 1970s and 1980s; this would also have involved information analysis. The growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machine (ATM) and telephone banking in 1980s were also forms of e commerce. The web first become well known among general public in 1994 and it took four years for security protocols (like HTTPS) to become sufficient developed and widely deployed. E commerce starts its relations with hotel in twenty first century, which was very different and complex than before. This way of business attract the hotel also for upgrading their business and here the marketing strategies of hotel industry become changed. Direct link with the customers through e commerce gave ideas to the hotel industry to change the customers expectations like when, how they want their needs and what is the budget of the customers for their product (rooms). The usual expectation of the hotels is that e co mmerce promotes friction-free-capitalism (CF. [Gates 1995]), with distribution cost reduced. It is easy to see that how this can happen, as the older communication system such as the post office, telegraph, telephone and the fax have all served but the cheapest, easiest, and time reduction way for the hotel revenue is e commerce. Many hotels have registration and payment done online. By the e commerce a customer can select the hotel, days and type of rooms from those automatically listed as available. Also hotels can order their supplies from companies that have e commerce services available. It also help the customers to choose their needs without thinking of time duration weather it is day or night at anytime. (www.school-for-champions.com) Although we all would likely agree that a balanced distribution strategy, which leverages both direct and indirect channels, including third-party sites and the GDS, is the best solution to optimize hotel revenue, if we will focus on the advantages of direct distribution. Specifically, we will look at how direct distribution is empowering hotels like never before to drive demand, generate profitable business, and maximize ROI for owners, regardless of the affiliation they may choose. Here is just one example of the power of the Internet to level the playing field across hotels of all types. What do the Royal Crown, Sofitel Brussels, Hotel Amigo and Hotel Metro pole have in common? They are luxury properties. They are located here in Brussels. They have different brand promises to their guests. They include an independent, a branded property, and representation company hotel. What they all have in common is that each of these hotels is placed on page 1 of Googles search results when s earching for Brussels luxury hotel. They are on the first page of a popular European OTA, Lastminute.com. And they are listed as a preferred placement on the GDS. (www.hospitalitynet.org) So, the Internet is an equalizer. Hotels can compete at previously unattainable levels. Now, no matter what the distribution strategy or marketing affiliation, hotels can compete effectively across all distribution channels. What this new playing field has done is give control for all channels of distribution back to hotels. In the excitement over the Internet as a new distribution tool, hotels unintentionally relinquished too much control of their bookings to third parties. With direct distribution, hotels can take back control of their pricing, their brand identity, their promise to guests, and their relationship with the customer. Most importantly, direct distribution allows hotels to take back control of profitability. To understand where the marketing strategy is leading in hotel industry by e commerce there is an example. In yesterdays model, hotels entrusted others to do their bookings. In Europes fragmented hotel industry there is not any coordinated effort for its distribution. Here, the mostly independent and small hotels are less than 30 percent represented in the Global Distribution Systems. The travel agents and tour operators were the lifeline to most hotels. In this model, the consumer had to use the travel agent and tour operators access to hotel information to make informed decisions, as there was little information available directly to the consumers. For those that did decide to expand their reach through electronic distribution systems, the Global Distribution Systems were the only alternative. In this model, the Brands provided the much-needed visibility. It gave hotels an identity, a way to be recognized. For the consumer, the Brand delivered a level of comfort. It was a pledge to the customer to deliver THE SAME as they traveled to unfamiliar territory. There were no travel- blogs or other review sites. In yesterdays model, the stars system was THE hotel review system that proved the level of Quality. Some hotels did see the Web as an opportunity to present their selves online, displaying information pages about their hotel, more like an online brochure than an e-commerce site. This while some Travel agents did embrace e-commerce and ingeniously moved their models online with dramatically increased inventories, promising mass volume, but at the cost of profitability for hotels. (www.hospitalityebusiness.com) Things are changing as it is mentioned before and it is crucial for hotels to stay abreast of the market. If they dont, their long-term success might be jeopardized by increasing and intensified competition. Hotels who do not diversify by leveraging the multiple channels can find themselves in situations that parallel the 70s in Spain, where tour operators dictated the room rates. The Center for Regional and Tourism Research reported that in Europe online hotel room sales increased by as much as 34 percent from 2004 to 2005 and reached over 25 billion in Europe in 2005. A further increase of about 25 percent during 2006 is expected. 120 million consumers are online across Germany, the UK, Italy, France, and Spain, according to Forrester Research. Broadband has become widely available, and prices have dropped dramatically. Phocus Wright statistics released last days predict that almost 40% of hotel booking in Europe will be booked online by 2008. Forrester, also points out that TWO of the TOP THREE most popular online activities for all users are travel related-researching hotel for holiday destinations and preparing booking online. (www.hospitalitynet.org) These changes cannot be ignored. Consumer behavior is changing and hotels need to adapt their relationships to reflect these changes, or be left behind. If we will focus we can say the e-commerce does appear to be leveling the playing field, and its transparency seems to be dictating the need for new distribution models. Now Why would a hotel encourage its customers to buy via the intermediary for less when it means even less yield for them? The Intercontinental Hotel Group, who was among the first to implement Best Rate Guarantees, even went so far as to implement a code of conduct and certification program for partner intermediaries. The hotel group eventually withdrew its inventory from Expedia and Hotels.com. Not surprisingly, then, we see why many hotels are moving to a consistent online pricing policy a nd have made their own web site top priority. In 2005, European direct travel suppliers booked almost TWICE as much business as the intermediaries with 66% of travel sales. (www.hospitalitynet.org) The Internets capabilities have matured to the point that it really is changing the way they do business. And so a new direct distribution model has emerged. This change in the online marketplace is not only changing how consumers shop, it is influencing what they shop for. Lets see what this means to competition for a couple sample markets. In London, where all parties are growing, independent hotels have had a growth of 21.3 percent, leading to revenue growth of 19.2 percent-well above the market average. Independents have been able to increase their ADR by 2 percent year-over-year, which has allowed them to see increases in revenue of nearly 20 percent. Reservations also grew for this segment, illustrating that independents can command the high price for the business. Independent hotels are also making gains in Paris. Independents saw an increase in bookings of 12.7 percent, leading to revenue growth of almost 10 percent. They are also seeing some other interesting trends in the Paris market. Independent hotels are commanding a $100 premium on their ADR as compared to the branded hotels in this market. While independents have taken small increases year-over-year to maintain this high ADR, branded hotels maintained their year-over-year ADR and experienced a loss in bookings and revenue. This data, from Travel CLICKs pr oprietary database, shows that independents can in fact compete with the brands today. (www.hospitalityebusiness.com) Indeed hotels have many choices. The choice of direct or indirect distribution is often related to brand affiliation and many times they go hand in hand. It is a business decision whether to go independent or fly a brand flag a decision that includes distribution capability, marketing, management expertise, and more that all together translate into a ROI. Recently, The Righa Royale, The Greenbrier, Grand American, and Grand Bohemian Hotel are just a few of the hotels that have left brand affiliations to go solo. Now the de-branding phenomenon is making its way to Europe. For example, here in Brussels, the Royal Crown Hotel recently de-branded. A brand is the product of experiences and is much more than a name or a logo. A brand is a pledge to consumers to deliver consistency in an effort to meet expectations. (www.hospitalityebusiness.com) Franchise/management company fees do, however, represent one of the largest operating expenses for branded hotels. When we look at the average GDS fees, we come to a sample reservation cost of $25; the average OTA reservation cost is $33. And a direct booking through Web site will cost only $7.50 in this scenario. These high fees can be over 10% of room revenue, which is as significant as having a  ¼ share partner! (www.hospitalitynet.org) Again, we come to the same conclusion. With a level playing field, direct distribution will yield hotels higher profits than third-party bookings. In the new model, every customer counts. It should be no surprise that positive consumer reviews have helped increases sales on Amazon.com and eBay for years and now are doing the same for Travel city, Expedia, and Sheraton. Today there are Central Reservation Systems and enhanced web booking engines that help hotels merchandise and differentiate their properties. New content management solutions help manage and distribute rich digital content including photos, video, room plans, and other brand-defining elements that need consistency across all channels. Today channel management solutions can quickly and easily manage the ever-increasing number of channels including GDS and OTA Web sites through a single user interface. All this, together with real time market based Competitive Intelligence, makes hoteliers informed and in charge of their distribution. In fact, those who have taken control of their destiny are being rewarded with higher revenues. Now that everything is so connected there is consistent 2-way communication. A wealth of market intelligence enables hoteliers to make even more informed decisions on their distribution and marketing strategies. And CRM-like applications keep hotels in touch wi th their most important assets their customers. Another way of e-commerce is Search engine marketing, which is an essential component of the hotel direct online distribution strategy. Almost 85 percent of Internet users rely on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN to locate relevant information on the Web. Marketing is an extremely dynamic field. Search algorithms change, new search techniques and formats are introduced, new search services are launched, and new challenges emerge daily those keep search marketers busy. The result of web traffic affects a lot on those hotels, which are on the first page. Approximately 50 percent of people on the first page went to the second page and so on. Which affects the hotel and its marketing strategy off course. So the conclusion drawn from above is that competing on the search engines by appearing as early and as often as possible is of increasing importance. How a Web site achieves top position is not simply an adjustment of the Web page, but a concerted effort that requires time, expertise, and resources in Web site optimization and search marketing. Now another mode of attraction for the customers are how the web page of the hotel is made up have like how attractive is it and how much is it easier for a customer to search any information related to their need? If we will see in past there is an example, which can make it easier to understand. In a highly competitive northern California market, a boutique hotel needed to outsmart its competition and boost ADRs, revenues and occupancy rates. Internet distribution and marketing strategy developed from scratch. Actions: HeBS launched an aggressive Direct Online Distribution and Marketing Strategy for the hotel, including an award winning des igned Web site, email marketing, search marketing and link popularity strategies. Results: Within 12 months the hotel opt-in e-mail list grew from practically zero to more than 10,000 recipients. The website ranks in top positions on all major search engines for most popular keyword terms. The hotel website, supported by powerful email, search marketing, link creation and online sponsorship campaigns has indeed become the first point of contact with customers and over 50% of hotel bookings come via the hotel website.( www.hospitalityimpact.com) Many hotel sites are performing poorly as far as online distribution and search engine strategy are concerned. Why? Many hotel sites have been developed by Web designers who know nothing about the hospitality industry, based on input and concepts by hoteliers who are not experts on Internet strategy, online distribution, and E-Marketing. And many of them were designed as online brochures without taking into account principles in fundamental search engine marketing and online distribution. Such hotel sites inevitably produce poor results and few bookings. Strong search engine rankings require systematic, ongoing Web site optimization. Only a fully optimized site developed according to the best practices in online distribution and marketing can produce robust revenues, top search engine rankings, and position your hotel company ahead of the competition. Website optimization takes a comprehensive look at the Web site and prepares it for its best performance maximum user experience, book ability and conversion rates and yes, the search engines.

The Butterfly Effect :: Personal Narrative Essays

The Butterfly Effect If you hold a piece of string between your hands you have an "end" in each hand, but in more ways than one each end can also be called a beginning: The beginning of the string, the beginning of the transition from string to hand, or the beginning of the transition from string to air. Quantum physics has taught us that nothing is absolutely any one thing. The string--be it nylon, hemp, or cotton--has electrons, and those electrons, busy critters, move, flux, and orbit, constantly redefining the space of that piece of string. The electrons of your hand, too, constantly shape and reshape your "personal space" by their activity. In the resultant intermingling of the subatomic parts of your body and the string you become, to some extent, an extension of that piece of string and it becomes a part of you. Astronomers speak of a similar idea called "The Mediocrity Principle." This idea says that, at this time, the view of the universe from earth is no better or no worse than from anywhere else in the universe. As Chet Raymo says in his book The Virgin and the Mousetrap: "We're cosmically mediocre." But because the universe continues to expand, there must have been a time when it began to expand. Though with today's technology they have no way of knowing when exactly this occurred, astronomers have formed a hypothetical idea called zero time. Even this, zero time, is not the beginning of the universe, however; that's just when it began to take its current shape. You can trace the evolution of a loaf of bread back to when it was just a lump of ingredients, and you can trace it to a time when the ingredients came together, but even beyond that all the ingredients were still there; they just hadn't come together yet. Cosmologists differ on what they think the universe was before the ingred ients came together or how they got there in the first place, but even the strictest of evolutionists believe in the literal truth of at least one bible passage: Ecclesiastes 1:9: "That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which will be done: and there is nothing new under the sun." For the past twenty-five years or so Chaos Theory has been one of the hottest, most interesting fields of scientific study.

Modern and Traditional Families

Have modern families changed over the past few generations, or have people remained the same in playing each of their own leading gender role responsibilities in modern families? Some statistics show that times have now changed in spite of the man’s perception of women being stay at home mothers to their children. In addition, women can also be the breadwinner in their families rather than the father going to work. In fact, traditional families in contrast with modern families have exponentially changed as time has passed.To better understand the context of this paper I will discuss the differences and similarities between modern and traditional mothers. In my opinion I believe there are three key important responsibilities in a traditional and modern family childcare, education, and healthcare. In addition, there are various things to consider when taking care of child. For example, in the article of â€Å"The Men We Carry in our Minds,† by Russell Sanders, realizes as a young lad that hard working men like his father would have to go to work leaving his mother to stay at home and take care of young Russell.Secondly, in the story Russell talks about men and realizes that men can sometimes be overbearing and view power, competency, efficiency and achievement more importantly (Sanders, R. 1984). To cite another example, in early human history women were frowned upon to tend to their kids because of the high death rate which consequently led mothers to take the task of nurturing their children at home. (Henslin, J. M. 2009). In contrast, there are some moderate differences between modern and traditional mothers in childcare and education.Even though, we live in a modern time there has been a 16% percent increase in traditional mothers still taking care of their children. In addition, studies done in a class group together found that younger parents, as opposed to older parents, were placed in the 73 percent and placing traditional mothers at 86 perc ent. On the other hand, educating a child is equally important so the parents must decide how they will educate their children; in traditional families it is usually the mother who tends to educate the children.For example, one of the parents  may feel more strongly about supervision, discipline, and education to the child, In particular, the same cannot be said about modern parents. In fact, the reason being is because there has been a 13% percent decrease in modern mother taking care of their children because of work related problems. (See Appendix, in Figure 1). Furthermore, healthcare is another major form of responsibility for the mothers. In most households it is usually the mothers that are left behind to fend for their child throughout the first forty days of the baby being born.Moreover, this may sometimes abrupt verbal disputes, misunderstandings, and communication problems about how they want to raise their child. In Addition, one of the parents may feel stronger about the habits and health of the child. (Neuman. F, 2013). In the same way, modern mothers are taking the leading role in taking care of the child’s health. In comparison, between modern and traditional mothers people are still see a declining percentage in modern parents in regards to caregiving and healthcare. So people can conclude that there are some negative changes in modern families even though women still tend to the children.There are two more additional factors in a household that must be decided when it comes to providing for the family. This leads to the second question in the matter of who will work, and who will be in charge of balancing the books as well as paying the bills. Modern and traditional mothers have always had the capability of working, paying bills, and balance check books, but because of the plain definition and meaning of the word â€Å"gender† has some biological adherence, and has resulted in mothers being socially deemed incapable. (Henslin, J. M. 2009) Whereas today, modern mothers are now less likely to be stay at home mothers.In contrast, modern mothers today, rather than traditional, have drastically changed and can now multitask just as well as fathers. For example, mothers today can now pay bills, work, and balance check books without the help of the father. In fact, people are now seeing mothers today playing the role of the breadwinner a lot more. Lastly, families are still seeing traditional and modern mother cleaning and doing most of the household duties around the house. Modern and traditional families are now noticing a slight differential change in mother helping outside of the home.Although, there has been a small change in modern and traditional mother helping their families outside of the home. For instance, cutting the grass, or fixing the fence, and repairing things around the house. As a result, mothers today are more open to the meaning of household duties. In conclusion, to the discussion presente d in this paper people can conclude that traditional mothers in comparison with modern mothers today have a higher percentage rate in childcare, wage earnings, and household duties rather than modern mother.All in all, I truly believe that it is very important for families to have equality in order to have functional family. In addition, I still believe men should strive to do more for their other half’s. In my opinion there has been a greater significant change over the past generations in mothers, Ultimately, it seems that modern families have relatively remained the same, and traditional families have continuously increased over the past generations.

Creative writing – Birth

Steve sat next to Tim with a small, permanent grin on his face. His life was finally back on track. Three months and he had managed to stay clean. It was a real achievement, something to be proud of. Not to mention the fact that he was waiting for his fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½e to give birth to his first child. If he wasn't so thrilled with himself, Steven might have noticed that there had been no communication with any of his girlfriend's doctors of midwives for at least two hours. It wasn't something you paid attention to when you were glowing with joy at your own accomplishments. Steve and Katie's friend Tim, however, was not drunk on his own pride. He had noticed that the sun was rapidly setting, and the new addition to the Davies family hadn't yet made their grand-entrance to the world. The pair were not left on their own for much longer, however. A solemn-looking doctor flung the swinging doors at the other end of the corridor open infront of him and, in giant strides, approached the pair hurriedly. He was clutching a brown clipboard in his hand, his knuckles white and his brow furrowed. â€Å"Mr. Davies?† The doctor stopped infront of Steve and took a step back, inviting him to stand. â€Å"Yes,† admitted Steve with a smile, â€Å"what's the news?† The doctor clenched his jaw and wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. â€Å"I'm afraid it's not good.† At this point Tim's eyes widened. The grin hadn't left Steven's face yet, and he stood with one hand on his hip. Met with a wall of silence the doctor, though unnerved, carried on with his explanation. â€Å"I'm afraid your partner has abnormally high blood pressure and, at this moment, we cannot assure her or your child's lives.† Steven's face fell slowly, and he slumped back into his seat, burying his head in his hands. â€Å"I'm sorry,† garbled the doctor, â€Å"you will be informed of any developments†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He turned on his heel and briskly strode for the double-doors. Tim stood up and put a hand on his best friend's shoulder reassuringly. â€Å"Don't worry, Steve†¦ They always say that. Get you expecting the worse, y'know? Katie and the baby will be just fine, trust me.† He looked down at his friend's head. His dark hair had matted as a result of Steve's nervous sweating. â€Å"Look†¦Ã¢â‚¬  began Tim, scratching the back of his neck uneasily, â€Å"I'll go and get us both a coffee. I'll get you a magazine, if you like?† He bent to Steve's level. â€Å"Mmm, sure.† Came the husky reply. â€Å"Okay†¦ I'll be back in five minutes. Chin up, Steven.† Tim flashed a weak grin as he too disappeared through the double doors. It took Steve twenty seconds to work out what he was going to do. His coat wrapped around him, collar covering up most of his face, Steve stalked along a dark road on a familiar course. In the cold night air his tears froze on his face. He had counted how many alleys he has passed. He pivoted on his heel at the entrance to the sixth. Stopping for a second, he nodded slowly to himself and pressed on. Tim McKee finally returned with two steaming decaf coffees in hand. He didn't think much of Steven's absence, assuming he had left to use the bathroom or in pursuit of food. He began to sip one cup while, non-blinking, watched steam rise from the other. Steven James Davies stood in front of the dark, derelict house. That is, if you could call it a house. It served its owner, Tom Campbell, as an office of sorts. Despite losing one of his favourite customers a few months earlier, there was no shortage of junkies to help Campbell pay the bills. Steven had been so happy when he realised he no longer needed Thomas Campbell and the substance he sold. But now there was nothing to be happy about. There was no reason for him to be alive anyway; Katie was the only reason he hadn't taken his life a year before, and now she had gone. Together they were going to raise their baby, together they were going to help people like Steven when they had no one left to turn to. He couldn't take the pressure. Leaning heavily against a damp alleyway wall, Steve began to cry. He had been there for ten minutes, shaking with sorrow. He had made up his mind though. He wasn't going to go back to the way things were. He was going to make Katie proud of him; he was going to be strong. Just as he turned away, Thomas Campbell flung open the door of his ‘house' and beckoned Steve inside with a sickening smile. Tim was starting to get worried. It had been almost an hour now. Sure, his friend was famed for his huge appetite, but surely he wouldn't be able to eat that much at a time like this. Suddenly it dawned on him. He was at Thomas's. He stood up quickly, knocking the stone cold cup of coffee all over the floor. As he strode towards the doors the doctor appeared once again. â€Å"Are you with the Davies's?† The doctor was wearing a grin not unlike the one that had been wiped off Steven's face hours before. Tim nodded, and the doctor couldn't hide his happiness any longer. â€Å"They're going to be fine,† he smiled, â€Å"Katie's blood pressure is back down and her waters just broke. She's fine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The doctor looked slightly perplexed as McKee pushed through the doors, rounded a corner and began to sprint towards the exit of the hospital. He had to find Steve. He stumbled out of Thomas Campbell's house just ten minutes after entering it. It hadn't changed a bit in those three short months. There was still a ‘waiting room'. The smoke from cigarettes hung low in the air, and people that looked without souls stared blankly at the walls or floor. The stained wallpaper curled at the ceiling, exposing the plaster underneath. There was still the muffled sound of coughing and the awful smell. Urine, sick, the smell of rotting food†¦ It was all encapsulated in the nauseating thick air of Thomas Campbell's home. Tom had assured Steven that he was expecting him. He told him that he was weak, and that they all come back. Steve had put up with the sneering, paid and had left. He was now stumbling back down the alley, grinning manically and zigzagging from wall to wall. He bent down and let out a series of jagged, croaking laughs before carrying on towards the main road. â€Å"Watch where you're going!† Steve had bumped into an elderly man. The citizens of Steve's town had seen anything. During his life the man had become cold and harsh, and was extremely opinionated. Instead of bending down to check if Steve, now lying on the floor in a foetal position, was breathing or conscious, the man spat on him. â€Å"Damn druggies†¦ You should all go to hell, you know that?† He carried on muttering to himself as he sauntered down the road. Tim was also muttering under his breath. He couldn't believe he had left Steve on his own. He was so irresponsible. It was entirely his fault. â€Å"Steve!† He called into the dark, turning down streets he didn't know in the hope of finding his friend. â€Å"Steven!† He didn't know where he was. He had no clue where to find Steve. He had to keep searching. After a problem-free labour, Katie Winters had given birth to a healthy baby boy. â€Å"Can you send my fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ through, please?† It felt as though he had searched down every street in the city. Panting, Tim leant against a car to try and catch his breath. It was then he saw him. â€Å"STEVEN!† He called, running towards the shadowy figure that was crouching on the other side of the road. â€Å"Steven! You idiot! Katie's fine! She was going in to labour when I left!† Steve struggled to his feet. He could just make out what Tim was saying. He broke from his stupor and began to amble across the road towards his friend. He reached halfway before there was a flash of white light. A speeding car had just turned down the quiet street. Steve turned towards it and froze. There was a screech of brakes and then nothing. He was thrown into the air and rolled off the bonnet of the car, which sped away as quickly as it had come. Tim rushed to the middle of the road and knelt by his Steven's side. â€Å"Somebody called an ambulance!† He screamed, though he couldn't hear himself. Steve reached out for Tim's gloved hand and squeezed it. The faint call of ambulance sirens rang out through the night. Steven looked up at Tim, smiled, and fell back to the ground.

Flannery O essays

Flannery O essays Flannery was born on March 25, 1925 daughter of Edward F. and Regina L. OConnor in Savannah Georgia. Her parents only child she grew up in their Catholic home in Savannah until she was twelve (Baumgaertner 5). At age twelve her family moved from Savannah to Milledgeville, the town where her mothers father had been mayor for a number of years. In Milledgeville she attended Peabody High School and after graduation enrolled in the Georgia State College for Women (Whitt 6). These schools were both only a few blocks from Flannerys childhood home in the antebellum Cline House (McKenzie 38). After graduating from Georgia State College for women in 1945 with an A.B., OConnor furthered her education by attending the University of Iowa. Her first short story The Geranium was published at age 21 while attending school in Iowa (Liukkonen). After receiving her Master of Fine Arts in Literature from the University of Iowa, OConnor moved her life to New York. While in New York, OConnor was able to publish her first Novel, Wise Blood. The first four chapters appeared in various magazines in 1948 and 1949. In 1952 the entire book was published. In 1978, long after OConnors death a screenplay was written from this work (Liukkonen). Wise Blood was not exactly the work some people were expecting to come from OConnor. A cousin of OConnor sent the book to local clergy members prior to reading it and once she read it she felt necessary to send apologies to the same people (Starr). Wise Blood dealt with a distraught soldier returning from the army and creating a Church without Christ (Liukkonen). It is very common for a story written by OConnor to have a plot centered on religion. As noted by Liukkonen, OConnors second novel, The Violent Bear it Away (1960), had a related subject matter. The reasons a writer chooses a particular style of...

How to Start Paying Students for Good Grades Effectively

How to Start Paying Students for Good Grades Effectively SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Paying students for good grades is a controversial practice, and many would argue that it cheapens the learning experience (pun intended). However, it appears that sometimes monetary incentives can be a positive motivation for struggling students if they are applied wisely. I'll go through some scientific findings onthe success of incentive programs in schools and then give you ideas for how you can responsibly implement a reward policy for your student. Cash Incentives for Students: Who Pays? Parents or Schools? Some schools have experimented with payment programs (as I’ll discuss in the next couple of sections), and the results from these studies can helpparents decide if and how to use monetary incentives for good grades.Since it is unlikely that your high school is or will be a part of these types of studies, in the last section of this article I will discuss how parents can implement payment systems to reward students for good grades. Small incentives are likely within the reach of most parents. Fun low-cost experiences can also be substituted for money!In considering the successes and failures of experimental school-based payment plans, we can make inferences about how parents can successfully use monetary rewards to help students get better grades. The studies I describe in the next section will provideinformation that can be applied to the more specific circumstances surrounding you and your family. What Do Studies Say About Paying Studentsfor Good Grades? There have been a few studies over the years that have experimented with paying students for attending and doing well in school. At Chelsea High School in Chelsea, MA, students were given $25 if they had a perfect attendancerecord during a school term. This study ran from 2004-2008 but didn't seem to yield any improvements in academic performance or attendance at the school. Schools have also experimented with giving students prizes for attendance. In Georgia, at Stone Creek Elementary School, students were given incentives for attendance including video game consoles, ice cream, and other prizes. The rate of students missing 15 or more days of school during the year dropped by 10 percent. This study may have had more success than the one in Chelsea because the embodiment of incentives in the form of something like an Xbox is more exciting to kids than the prospect of earning $25 at the end of a semester. Seems like kind of a counterproductive reward, but whatever. The most wide-ranging studyon monetary incentives for good grades was organized by Harvard economist and founder of Harvard’s Education Innovation Laboratory, Roland Fryer, in the cities of Dallas, New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Over 38,000 students were given paychecks for performing well in school. Each city had a different incentive system to test the merits of various methods of paying students for good grades. The experimental group in Dallas was comprised of 3,718 second-grade students at21 different public schools in the Dallas Independent School District. These students were paid $2 every time they read a book, with a limit of 20 books per semester. To earn the reward, students had to take an AR (Accelerated Reader) quiz on the book and score at least an 80 percent. The average student received $13.81 in incentive payments, with a total of $42,800 distributed. In New York City, 63 schools were included in the experimental group with a total of 15,883 fourth and seventh-grade students. Incentives were given out based on students' performance on six computerized exams (three in reading and three in math) and four pencil and paper predictive assessments. Fourth graders earned $5 for completing a test and $25 for a perfect score. Incentives for seventh graders were set at double this amount, so they earned $10 for completing a test and $50 for a perfect score. In this case, the average fourth-grader earned $139.43, and the average seventh-grader earned $231.55. The portion of the study in Chicago was conducted in 20 low-performing public schools with 7,655 ninth-graders. In this case, students were simply given incentives for their grades in five core courses: English, math, science, social science, and gym. Students would earn $50 for each A, $35 for each B, $20 for each C, and no money for lower grades. The average student earned $695.61. In Washington, D.C., 17 schools were included in the experimental group. Sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students were given incentives based on attendance, behavior, and three other inputs chosen by each school individually. These mostly included things like wearing a school uniform and completing homework and classwork. Students were given one point for each of the five metrics they satisfied on a given school day. This meant that students could earn a maximum of 50 points during each two-week pay period. Each point was rewarded with a $2 monetary incentive. The average student earned about $40 every two weeks. Give kids the gift that keeps on giving: cold hard cash. From the data collected after these studies, there is very limited evidence to suggest that monetary incentives improve student performance. In Chicago, GPA and credits earned on average increased by a very small amount, but there were no changes in standardized test scores. In New York, no significant positive changes were noted in terms of either test scores or GPA. The portion of the study conducted in Dallas showed some potential. Reading achievement increased significantly on standardized English tests taken by the second graders after the study. The middle school students in Washington, D.C. schools also demonstrated improvement in reading and, to a lesser degree, math scores. In the next section, I'll go over what these results might mean in regards to the effectivenessof paying students for good grades. What Can We Learn From This Information? The success of these policies depended heavily on how and for what reasonthe money wasdistributed.Students were more likely to improve if they were given monetary rewards for concrete tasks like reading books (Dallas) or completing classwork (D.C.) rather than something more abstractlike earning a certain grade.If students don’t have an understanding of the tools and strategies they need to implement in order to improve, they won’t be able to change their grades or test scores. More specific directives help kids who may have never learned how to study properly get on the right track. Improvements in grades and scores may come later as a result. In general, the studies show that giving money to students for good grades only works if you also give them the strategies they need to get there and provide incentives for smaller milestones that are less intimidating.Inputs, rather than outputs, should be rewarded first. It's impossible to reach your destination if you don't have directions. Also, whoever took this picture should probably stop lying in the middle of roads for the sake of mediocre artsy photography. The Pros and Cons of Paying Kids for Good Grades If you’re thinking about rewarding your child with cash for good grades, you should take the arguments for and against itinto account.Some would say that, even if a child improves his or her grades as a result of a monetary incentive, it’s sending the wrong message.When you set up money as a motivator, it may cause a student to lose any appreciation for the intrinsic value of learning.If their only motivation is money, they may lose interest in the actual subjects and could suffer later on when rewards are less forthcoming.This won't happen with every kid, but it’s a risk that comes with the territory. However, if you have a student who’s very unmotivated and just feels like there’s no point to trying in school, money could be a good motivator.Even for students who don’t plan on going to college, it’s important to get a high school degree.Paying students who plan on going to trade schools or professions rather than a four-year college may be a productive strategy.Students who feel like they’re â€Å"not cut out for school† may respond well to concrete incentives for good academic performance. The privilegeof being able to wear a hideous hat is only one of the many perks of graduating from high school. What's the Most Effective Method ofPaying Your Child for Good Grades? If you’re hoping to see actual improvement, you should challenge your child to meet specific short-term goals first. Avoid saying something like â€Å"I’ll give you $100 if you get an A in this class.† If your child isdoing poorly in a class, shemight not know where to begin in terms of improving herperformance to an A level. Instead, you can try something like â€Å"If you finish every problem set you’re assigned in Algebra 2/read all the chapters you were assigned for English/work on your history project for three hours this week, I’ll give you $10.† These are concrete goals that any student can achieve with some persistence.You can still plan on giving your child a bonus if and when she reaches a certain letter grade, but in the meantime, taking baby steps towards that grade with short-term goals is important. To make it a little more fun, you could set up a system where, if a studentcompletes a certain number of small milestones, he or she earns a monetary reward.This might work if your child is struggling in more than one class and needs to do a significant amount of work in different areas to catch up. Another idea that could be even better than a cash reward is to reward your child with a fun experience for diligent study habits.This could be as simple as going out to a favorite restaurant or taking a day trip. It all depends on the temperament of your child and the types of incentives you think he or she will appreciate the most. There are also many other ways to encourage your child to do better in school without monetary incentives. Some kids need more structure than others, so setting up a homework schedule might help keep them on track. You may also be able to work with the school to organize low-cost tutoring from more advanced peers and extra help from teachers. These methods can yield more significant positive results than payment plans if they're implemented effectively, but it will take time and effort on the part of both you and your student. Gold stars might not work as actual incentives for high school students, but their symbolic value still stands. What's Next? If you're looking for tips on how to get good grades in high school, read this article to learn about academic strategies that can lead to major improvements. Unsure of where you stand with your current grades? Check out this article on what constitutes a good or bad GPA for college applications. If you're still in the process of planning out a high school schedule, take a look at our expert guide to which classes you should take in high school. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

What Is Purple Prose (and 4 Expert Tips on Fixing It In Your Writing)

What Is Purple Prose (and 4 Expert Tips on Fixing It In Your Writing) What Is Purple Prose? And How to Avoid It Most of us have committed the sin of purple prose at one time or another - and many find it hard to shake, even as experienced writers. It can sometimes be hard to tell good description from bad, leaving lots of writers worried about accidentally sounding â€Å"too purple.†But worry no more! This guide will take you through all the ins and outs of that pesky, pernicious prose, from its precise definition to how to prevent it in your writing. How to make your prose less purple and more powerful What is purple prose?Purple prose is overly embellished language that serves little meaningful purpose in a piece. It’s characterized by strings of multisyllabic words, run-on sentences, and blocks of unyielding text. Universally discouraged by all manner of writing experts, purple prose slows the pace, muddles the content, and can lose the reader entirely.If you’ve never read purple prose before, it sounds something like this:The mahogany-haired adolescent girl glanced fleetingly at her rugged paramour, a crystalline sparkle in her eyes as she gazed happily upon his countenance. It was filled with an expression as enigmatic as shadows in the night. She pondered thoughtfully whether it would behoove her to request that she continue to follow him on his noble mission†¦Ã‚  Very difficult to get through, no?Purple prose doesn't always persist throughout the entirety of a piece - it can also pop up every so often in â€Å"purple patches.† But even a few "purple passages" can disrupt your reader. This is because:1. The writing draws attention to itself and away from the narrative  or thesis.2. It’s too convoluted to read smoothly and can disrupt the pacing of your story.So why, despite its many drawbacks, do some writers continue to use such unnecessarily ornate language? The answer, ironically, is simple: to try and appear more â€Å"literary.†Think of purple prose as a cardboard cutout of a celebrity. From a distance it looks convincing, even impressive - but as you draw closer, you realize there’s nothing behind it. Purple prose is like that: beautiful from afar, with very little substance to it.What's the most purple thing you've ever written? Just for fun, leave it in the comments below!

Skin cancer Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Skin cancer - Annotated Bibliography Example Due to the comparable rates of growth the drugs that are most appropriately used to treat both forms of cancer have been deemed to be equally beneficial in both cases. Moreover, the analysis notes that the same types of inhibitors. This can of course be seen as a breakthrough due to the fact that the reader can come to understand that not all cancers behave in analogous manners. Moreover, due to the fact that some forms of cancers react to the treatments more readily than do others, seeking to find the ones that respond most favorably to different forms of treatment is of primary importance. The article further calls into question the different means by which researchers seek to define and describe the types of drugs that can seek to aid those that have been diagnosed with cancer. As a means of understanding the material presented within the article, the reader is made aware not only of the way in which otherwise disjoint forms of cancer can be treated by the same means but also by the fact that humans respond on an individual basis to these means. Finally, the article seeks to track the different levels of breakthroughs which have occurred within the recent past which help to define skin cancer as one of the most treatable and preventable forms of cancer within the cancer spectrum. Although the disease itself was at first ranked as one of the most feared and misunderstood of the cancers that exist, it has since become the most treatable with rapid detection. However, as with most cancers, the inability to detect skin cancer at an early stage necessarily portends disaster for the cancer patient. Although not specifically discussed, the articles tacit discussion of the importance of early detection can be understood to expand far beyond mere skin cancer and extend out to all types of cancers. Gwishe, Edgar. "Battling skin

Information System Security of a Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Information System Security of a Company - Essay Example The essay "Information System Security of a Company" talks about the measures companies should take against ‘social engineers’. Phones are the most dangerous tools that hackers use in stealing out information from an organization. Because of their skills in deceiving naà ¯ve people into revealing proprietary information, these hackers are termed as social engineers. They attempt to gain information by enticing people into simple gimmicks and taking advantage of the people’s trusting nature. Quoting an example of a real life case where a hacker manages to get a spyware installed on a Vice President’s PC, the author points out about the vulnerability of human beings and the ease at which any clever hacker can succeed. The hacker or social engineer first manages to get the contact number of a new employee from the HR department and then, pretending to be one of the vice presidents, he calls the employee and fools him into downloading a file on the actual VP’s computer. This does require technical skills to create the malware files and a sufficient amount of information about the organization and its employees, but the core essence is the ability to sound genuine on the phone and trick the other person into believing you. This method is very dangerous and using such techniques, social engineers can easily gain control of company’s computers and telephone systems and pretending to be company’s employees, they can even access company’s confidential information such as customer lists and financial data.

The incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome SIDS in Australia Essay

The incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome SIDS in Australia - Essay Example (NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service, 1997) Babies die from SIDS at all times of the day and night, in cots, prams, car seats, and bassinettes and even in their parent's arms. "With the better education about the risks of SIDS, the number of deaths has been reduced by more than 50 per cent over the last six years." (Horgan, 1995 pp.22-24) "Although the cause of SIDS is still a mystery, research in Australia and other parts of the world suggests it's possible for parents, grandparents and other carers to lower the risk in these simple ways". (Jones Michael Dr, 2006) Since parents in Australia and across the rest of the world have changed how babies are put down for sleep, fewer babies have died from SIDS. However, SIDS can still occur even when all the known risk factors have been ruled out. (SIDS and Kids, 2005a) In Australia, SIDS accounts for the deaths of more babies between the ages of one month and one year than all who die of cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, child abuse, AIDS, cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy combined. In the United States SIDS is responsible for more deaths than any other cause in childhood for babies one month to one year of age, claiming 150,000 victims in this generation alone 7,000 babies each year, nearly one baby every hour of every day. (BHC, 2006c) SIDS occurs at any time of the day or night and most babies die quietly in their sleep. (Better Health Channel, 2006a) "Although it is more common in babies between the ages of two to four months it happens to younger and older babies also, this syndrome occurs in both bottle-fed and breastfed babies. There is a 60 to 40 percent male to female ratio. 60 per cent babies are boys who die. It occurs in families of all races, ethnic and socioeconomic origins without warning. SIDS occurrence is quite sudden, neither parent nor physician can predict that something is wrong. Most SIDS victims appear healthy prior to death." (AAP American academy of Pediatrics, 2005 pp.1245-1255) Researchers believe that babies who die of SIDS are born with one or more conditions that make them especially vulnerable to stresses that occur in the normal life of an infant, including both internal and external influences. "SIDS is a diagnosis of exclusion. A death is diagnosed as SIDS only after all other alte rnatives have been eliminated." (Mage & Donner, 2004 pp.1210-1215) SIDS is very rare syndrome. The number of SIDS deaths remained constant despite fluctuations in the overall number of infant deaths. The National Center for Health Statistics NCHS reported that, in 1988 in the United States, 5,476 infants under 1 year of age died from SIDS in 1989, the number of SIDS deaths was 5,634 (NCHS,1990 p. 33). "However, other sources estimate that the number of SIDS deaths may actually be closer to 7,000". (Goyco, Beckerman, 1990 pp. 299-346) The larger estimate represents additional cases that are unreported or underreported the cases that were not reported as SIDS. More than 4999 out of every 5000 babies in South Australia do not die from SIDS. Although SIDS is the most common cause in Australia of death for babies between 1 month and 12 months old, but it is still rare. (NCHS, 1992 p. 44) Causes of SIDS: While there are still no adequate medical explanations for SIDS deaths, current theories include: (1) Stress in a normal baby caused by infection or other factors (2) A birth defect (3)

Hemingway and Cezanne - Sharing a Vision Research Paper

Hemingway and Cezanne - Sharing a Vision - Research Paper Example In particular, the unique connection between Ernest Hemingway and Paul Cezanne is manifested through their inclination to the simplicity of presentation and complexity of inner meaning. Even a person who opens any book written by Hemingway for the first time feels that it will be a completely new and unique experience. Having read at least one page of any of his masterpieces, one understands what the matter is. In the heart of the writer's uniqueness and unusualness, which may seem to be even strangeness for some people, is his writing style. Hemingways technique is really simple, and it is this simplicity that stands out in all his works. This technique was developed by the author during his career as a journalist. In accordance with Wainwright, simplicity, and clarity of his writing style is manifested through plain grammar, austere word choice, accessible and understandable language, and unembellished description. Perhaps, a perfect word that describes Hemingways writing style is â€Å"clean† for, in his pieces, he uses simple and rhythmic sentences focused mostly on the representation of bold actions rather than vast descriptions. The simplicity of Ernest Hemingways writing style is also in the way he presents information to the reader. In this case, it is necessary to mention the so-called â€Å"iceberg principle† utilized by the writer in all his works. He does tell much about or even does not tell at all about what a particular character feels and/or thoughts. He omits such delicate things, presents readers with mere facts and actions and makes them figure out what he implies. He does it in such a masterful way that the audience grasps the hidden meaning as if the writer stated it directly. The way Paul Cezanne created his masterpieces is regarded as a unique case in the history of art.  

Chinese Pharmaceutical Industry Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chinese Pharmaceutical Industry - Research Paper Example Theses firms are additionally required to set aside a minimum of 5.5% of the total revenue for R&D expenses. This Shanghai province necessitates a minimum expenditure of 4%, on similar lines to the Fuji Province which necessitates that the minimum R&D expenditure for such firms should be 5%, an increase of 2% from the earlier 3% prior to 1999. On similar lines, different provinces provide different benefits to the HTIE, with the basic structure remaining the same. These Articles of diverse provinces outline several benefits including tax reductions, discounts on capital purchase, lending support by the government and other operation priorities related to the pharmaceutical HTIE units. The Shenzhen Article 2.2 gives numerous benefits to HTIE units that have operated for more than a decade. The government promises that the income tax for the first and the second year of operation would be waived off completely, and would be reduced by fifty percent by the time they reached the eighth year of functioning. Article 2.3 states that for products concerning National innovation, twenty-five percent of the total share of the local government tax should be returned by a minimum of fifty percent by the municipal government for three years in a row. Article 3.3 further affirms that financial support as debt would be provided by the government to the tune of twenty percent to the HTIE firms. Article A-4.2 assures a discount between ten-twenty percent on rent and A-13.5 assures HTIE firms to have a priority on exports. Article-A/10 reduces the taxes on R&D expenditure. Although the basic vision and goals of the provinces remain the same, slight differences occur in terms of per centage numbers among the provinces of Shanghai, Fuji, Shangxi and the Zhejiang. The role of the government in supporting the HTI Enterprises is obvious by the measures taken to provide aid and support to these enterprises. However, the benefits mentioned in the Articles are applied universally, as a whole to diverse industries, including Information Technology, Bio-technology, Modern agriculture, Environment protection along with the Pharmaceutical Industry (Article 5, Shanghai, 2001-7-2). The government ignores the fact that the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry play a crucial role in R&D spending with nearly fifty leading Chinese global firms spending 16.4% of their total revenue on R&D activities whereas only four-to-six percent was set aside for the HTIE qualified units in China. The figure of 4-6& is understandably sufficient for other industries' innovation and development, but not so for the Pharmaceutical industry. It is therefore necessary to segregate the Pharmaceutical industry from the HTIE, providing it with a distinct status and consequentl y separate substantial waivers and rewards by the government for these actual innovative Pharmaceutical enterprises to flourish and prosper. Price Ceiling In China, the unequal distribution of medication is a serious social problem because of the differences in the price of drugs and regional incomes. In the year 2000, China ranked fourth last among 191 countries of WHO with regard to health service equality and accessibility. The 2003 national health census, confirmed that 48.9%

Tesco and Sainsburys Websites Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Tesco and Sainsburys Websites - Coursework Example Tesco and Sainsbury are two giants in the retail business. The head quarter of the two supermarkets is in United Kingdom. However, they have branches in Europe, and Asia. The two companies specialise in food retailing. Tesco is the largest food retailer in United Kingdom. Its head quarter is in Hertfordshire. It operates about 2,318 stores in entire Europe and Asia. The European countries in which Tesco has its operations include Ireland, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia (Plunkett, 2007:76). The company has 82 and 60 stores in Ireland and Hungary respectively. In Poland, Tesco manages 66 hypermarkets and supermarkets. The countries that Tesco has extended its services in the Asian comprise of South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, and Taiwan. Tesco offers both online and offline services. The services range from personal finance services to selling online. Tesco Personal Finance is a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland (Zentes, et al, 2012:358). This service caters f or approximately 3.4 million customers for various financial services and products. The company has about 326,000 employees (Thomson, & Martin, 2010:549). This makes Tesco one of the biggest job creators in United Kingdom and all its branches of operation. In United Kingdom, Tesco operates under four banners. These banners comprise of Extra, Metro, Superstore, and express. Although the core business of Tesco is food retailing, it also sells non-food products such as clothing in its Superstores. The company also has runs petroleum products and it is in the list of one of the largest and independent petrol retailers. Tesco has registered an excellent performance in the recent years (Tesco, 2011:35). Sainsbury deals in retailing of foods and promotion of health eating. Sainsbury’s has been the largest leader in grocery retailing in United Kingdom. The goal of Sainsbury is to provide food to customers at fair prices. The company does not only stock foodstuffs but also clothing an d general merchandise (Hoover, 2004:176). Sainsbury operates under two banners. These include Jacksons Stores and JB Beaumont Hemming (Information Services, 2006:137). This paper looks at Tesco and Sainsbury’s websites. The paper will endeavour to identify the business model that each company employs and the target audiences. Tesco and Sainsbury’s websites are very crucial in order to understand retailing of food in United Kingdom. The two websites are Tesco.com and Sainsbury.co.uk (Davenport, 2007:212). The core businesses of the two companies is specialising on foodstuffs. However, Tesco and Sainsbury sell non-food commodities such as clothes and petroleum products. The two companies have invested many funds in the development of their website to connect with their consumers (Seth & Randall, 2011:26). The management of these two companies understands that dissemination of information is very crucial for success of business venture. With the unparalleled era of techno logy expansion, the companies embrace online methods of reaching their consumers. They have created a strong database that keeps all the information that is relevant to their customers. Online services are not a complement to the offline ones, but an essential tool in the prosperity of the two companies. Competitor Analysis The two companies are big competitors in the retailing of foodstuffs. Tesco has flourished and out-competed the Sainsbury Company over time. This has led Tesco to emerge as a market leader in the foodstuff industry. The principle reason to explain Sainsbury’s poor performance is the relatively low operating profit margins (J Sainsbury plc, 2011:4). Several factors contribute to the low profit margins. These include specialisation on products with low margin profits, inefficiencies in controlling costs, and lack of value added through the chain of suppliers. The low profit margin leads to relatively low return on invested capital and return on equity ratios . This is despite lack

Chinese Pharmaceutical Industry Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chinese Pharmaceutical Industry - Research Paper Example Theses firms are additionally required to set aside a minimum of 5.5% of the total revenue for R&D expenses. This Shanghai province necessitates a minimum expenditure of 4%, on similar lines to the Fuji Province which necessitates that the minimum R&D expenditure for such firms should be 5%, an increase of 2% from the earlier 3% prior to 1999. On similar lines, different provinces provide different benefits to the HTIE, with the basic structure remaining the same. These Articles of diverse provinces outline several benefits including tax reductions, discounts on capital purchase, lending support by the government and other operation priorities related to the pharmaceutical HTIE units. The Shenzhen Article 2.2 gives numerous benefits to HTIE units that have operated for more than a decade. The government promises that the income tax for the first and the second year of operation would be waived off completely, and would be reduced by fifty percent by the time they reached the eighth year of functioning. Article 2.3 states that for products concerning National innovation, twenty-five percent of the total share of the local government tax should be returned by a minimum of fifty percent by the municipal government for three years in a row. Article 3.3 further affirms that financial support as debt would be provided by the government to the tune of twenty percent to the HTIE firms. Article A-4.2 assures a discount between ten-twenty percent on rent and A-13.5 assures HTIE firms to have a priority on exports. Article-A/10 reduces the taxes on R&D expenditure. Although the basic vision and goals of the provinces remain the same, slight differences occur in terms of per centage numbers among the provinces of Shanghai, Fuji, Shangxi and the Zhejiang. The role of the government in supporting the HTI Enterprises is obvious by the measures taken to provide aid and support to these enterprises. However, the benefits mentioned in the Articles are applied universally, as a whole to diverse industries, including Information Technology, Bio-technology, Modern agriculture, Environment protection along with the Pharmaceutical Industry (Article 5, Shanghai, 2001-7-2). The government ignores the fact that the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry play a crucial role in R&D spending with nearly fifty leading Chinese global firms spending 16.4% of their total revenue on R&D activities whereas only four-to-six percent was set aside for the HTIE qualified units in China. The figure of 4-6& is understandably sufficient for other industries' innovation and development, but not so for the Pharmaceutical industry. It is therefore necessary to segregate the Pharmaceutical industry from the HTIE, providing it with a distinct status and consequentl y separate substantial waivers and rewards by the government for these actual innovative Pharmaceutical enterprises to flourish and prosper. Price Ceiling In China, the unequal distribution of medication is a serious social problem because of the differences in the price of drugs and regional incomes. In the year 2000, China ranked fourth last among 191 countries of WHO with regard to health service equality and accessibility. The 2003 national health census, confirmed that 48.9%

Employee Reward Strategy for Heidelberg Insurance Services Assignment

Employee Reward Strategy for Heidelberg Insurance Services - Assignment Example In order to reduce the problems of lack of commitment, Poor quality performance and Lack of effective control, it is hereby recommended that the amount of times based salary in their monthly take home should be considerably reduced and a new system of commission based salary should be introduced. Commission should be directly proportionate to the volume of sales achieved by individual sales consultant. Also, the formula of higher the sales, the higher the percentage of commission should apply. Complete abandonment of fixed based salary is not recommended because it will reduce job security that may lead to high turnover. Also, if due to any reason i.e. illness, a sales consultant is not able to work for full number of days in a month; his/her commission income will sharply reduce. Thus, this fixed based salary will supplement that consultant's income in that particular month. Ultimately it will lead to enhanced commitment towards HIS. In an addition, to ensure effective checks and balances on the activities of sales consultants, amount of commission income should be made inversely proportionate to the number of complaints received against each of them. A Points System of Rewards i.e. ... Customer's feedback should also have strong impact on a sales consultant's pay package and quarterly/yearly bonus. To achieve this, customer satisfaction survey should be conducted after careful selection of sample. It will help in two ways. First of all it will make the customer feel that his/her feedback regarding the sales consultant's service to him is important to the company and thus it will develop a sense of attachment between him/her and the company. Secondly, it will help exercise effective control over the sales consultant. He/she will take great care at the time of making commitments - a problem that the company is facing and paying for by bad publicity by some unsatisfied customers. It is also highly recommended that the team of sales consultants should not be hired by one sales director only; they should be divided into 4 teams and each team headed by one team leader directly reporting to the sales director. It will be easy for team leaders and the sales director also to handle small groups of people that will help develop committed teams competing with each other in terms of sales and quality of output. Clerical Division Existing Payment System An organization's success depends not only on the performance of its sales team and / or of the senior management, the minor tasks performed by clerical staff are also important though relatively lesser than that of others. At Heidelberg, existing reward strategy does not reflects any thing that may motivate clerical staff to stay committed to the organization and to help achieve management's aim of reducing cost. Recommended Reward Strategy Since the job does not require a very high level of commitment, neither does

Impact of Marketing Mix on Customer Buying Decision

Impact of Marketing Mix on Customer Buying Decision Impact of Marketing Mix on Customer Buying Decision of Luxury Housing Industry in UKChapter 01 01. Introduction (Research proposal) 01.1 Industry background of the study 01.1.1 Industrial review Property development industry can be classified into several sectors, the largest being middle income land and property market which is increasingly being dominated by property developers selling ready build houses and plot of land. This sector is largely depended on the domestic economy and the housing loans market, which is driven by prevailing rate of interest. The demand for houses, condominiums, commercial property and office space, leisure property segments is also a significant contributor to the property market luxury segment generates lucrative profits. 1.1.2 International overview International property development industry; especially luxury housing industry shows same industry conditions worldwide. The Luxury Home Council (Authority for world luxury houses based in USA) has presented lot of findings on this industry with their primary collected information. Their findings are very interesting and show some cross functional relationships towards the industry and customer behavior and trends. Professionals in the real estate industry says luxury homes are more optimistic industry and majority (around 55%) is willing to get growth in the industry. These predictions based on the trends will appear in next twelve months. Based on the Forbes magazine (USA) shown better world growth of 25% in the year 2006. This trend really affected to the luxury housing industry worldwide. But existing recession conditions shows pure hit to the luxury housing industry. People try to fulfill their basic requirements. As per the survey conducted by American Affluence research center shows richest 10% will invest in real estate industry. Survey realized that portion 49% for new constructions and 11% for pre own home market. Balance invests in land sales market. 1.1.3 Market trends in the UK Based on the UK government, housing and planning statistics there are many trends find around 22 million in year 2007 contributed for the dwellings. From this market in the England 82% are bungalows, but in the London around 43% dwellings are flats. There are some secondary information released in the year 2008 and showing many rational findings. 68% are living in their own houses. Around 18% people are social tenant and private renters are around 14%. (Source:http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/housingplanningstatistics2009) The global economic crisis has adversely affected the UK property market In the wake of the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States, the global financial system has changed significantly. Long-established UK financial organizations have had to change their working practices with particular focus on management and containment of further lending and exposure to higher risk activities such as property investment. As a result the UK Construction industry has suffered The UK Construction industry has been hit particularly hard as the rate of investment into property-based activity slows significantly. The appetite for new private development has reduced dramatically as the economic crisis affects the financial performance of businesses. Equally the UK banks, which are already heavily exposed to property investment, are reluctant to fund new projects. There are also significant concerns that the UK Governments spending plans for large scale public projects will be cut to help balance the books. Falling workloads are changing market behavior UK Construction workloads are currently falling at a rate faster than any time since the late 1980s. As workloads fall customers are clearly taking advantage of increased competition amongst contractors and driving prices down accordingly. Contractors margins are reducing and businesses face a fight for survival. The competitive arena is changing as contractors seek new work As the market place changes and reliable opportunities in familiar sectors dwindle, contractors are widening their interest in projects previously outside of their regular scope and size. This is changing the nature of the competitive arena and is forcing firms to re-consider their approach to marketing strategies and their existing customers. Long-term strategies must be adopted by contractors Forward predictions indicate that the downturn in workload has years, not months, to run. As such, contractors have to develop new strategies to develop their markets and protect existing customer relationships or history tells us that they may not survive. 1.1.4 Segmentation according to UK context All Taxpayers Top 10% to 1% (adults) Top 1 % to 0.1% (adults) Top 0.1 % (or the very, very rich) Number 29.5 Million 4.21 Million 421,000 42,000 Entry level for group  £5,093  £35,345  £99,727  £351,137 Mean Value for group  £24,769  £49,960  £155,832  £780,043 Average Income tax paid  £4,415  £10,550  £49,477  £274,482 Percentage of personal income tax revenue 27.6% 8.6% 4.2% (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_in_the_United_Kingdom 08/12/2009) Worth of each segment can range as follows, (lower income earners not create value to the luxury housing industry.) Source: Introduced by the researcher 1.2 Research Problem Even though number of players trying to capture or maintain, UK Luxury Housing industry has very limited opportunity of the total market. Because of niche situation it is difficult to find potential customers to sell premium houses for GBP millions. Industry rivalry has doubled this limited prospect. Because of stagnant conditions, many companies cant sell their luxury hoses and making losses due to loan interests construction cost increases. Customers will take time, check other options and need total solution for their requirement with strong confident. To build customer confident should focus on customer decision making and buying behaviour. Thereafter developers can provide perfect solutions for customers requisitions. United Kingdom context based on the http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ there are lot of possibilities can arise. Developers brand positioning promises should be supported by the quality of houses, attributes, customer service, staff responsiveness, technical services, engineering, architecture, after sales, inter departmental relationships etc. All these divisions have to set the highest standards in order to deliver what they promise. The number of customer dissatisfaction is on the increase. Sometimes the customer- developer conflict has intensified with a large number of customers unhappy with many issues such as quality of the houses, legal issues, product faultiness, after sales service, etc. The number of competitors tying to position themselves at the level of existing market leaders. A large number of luxury housing projects are being launched in London suburbs which signifies the rising competition in the niche property market. There is no truthful information based on Accurate Market research is essential for decision making implementation of the correct management process. Dont have proper understanding about market trends, opportunities and further developments in the industry. Especially house features are expecting by customers, suitable and matching price, location and place, effective promotional methods. 1.3 Research Objectives Key Objective To identify that what extent Marketing Mix impact on Customer Buying Decision of Luxury housing industry in UK. Through the research want to identify that what are the forfeiting factors will affect to the consumer buying behaviour and how major marketing elements / marketing mix affect to the buying decision making process. Will discuss major 4 elements and extended mix to gain clear understanding about Therefore, through this research will identify the â€Å"impact of marketing mix on customer behavior of Luxury housing industry.† Specific Objectives * To measure the impact on product on consumer buying behavior of Luxury housing industry. * Ensure the impact on price. * Understand the impact on location. * Quantify the impact on promotional methods. * To measure the impact on extended marketing mix (People, Process, and Physical Evidence). 1.4 Research Questions What extent Marketing Mix impact on Customer Buying Decision of Luxury housing industry in the United Kingdom? How product features (luxury house) impact on buying decision? How house design, plinth area architectural design specifications influence? How fittings, using materials additional features engineering solutions on house will impact? How Brand image impact? To what extent impact additional services (total solution package)? How impact price factor to customer buying decision? How selling price, land value, construction cost persuade? How legal stamp fee, bank loans, special discounts for cash payments, interests on delay payments convince? How payment structure encourage? How other costs involve? How location influence to buying decision? How convenience, easy access, security force? How neighborhood, community number of houses change the decision? How area recognition, name of the district, provincial council or urban council concern? How view, higher elevation, nature beauty concern? How promotional methods communication influence to buying decision? How promotional method, media selection media schedule success? How selling and marketing strategies should use? How advertising, personnel selling, direct marketing, public relation, word of mouth, sales promotions effective? How use internet promotions, event organizing and foreign promotions effectively? How extended marketing mix (People, Process, and Physical Evidence) influence to buying decision? People How sales and marketing staff, architectures, engineers, supervisors, maintenance team members, labours involve? Process How time period to build the house, bank loan arrangement, payment arrangement, realize customer requirement, legal framework, after sales service cause? Physical Evidence How company image, dress code of officers, traveling method (vehicle), equipments (laptop, etc), office location and layout, stationeries, language affect to first impression? 1.5 Theoretical Background 1.5.1 Marketing Mix Jerome McCarthy has suggested the 4Ps via major tools as product, price, place and promotions as the marketing mix. But in recent practices has introduced another basic three parts as people, proceed and physical evidence. Through controlling major four variables can any organization to achieve their objectives. These variables are currently practicing with modern trends. After McCarthys introduction Bernard Booms and Mary Bitner built an extended theory model and modernized the marketing mix and named as 7Ps. (Booms,B. and Bitner, M. 1981). * Product Philip Kotler (1988) suggest that three distinct elements should be considered as the products attributes, its benefits, and the nature of the support service. * Price More important element for some industries is the price potentially the most controllable and flexible element of the marketing mix. Price is also in many cases one of the most important elements and, together with the product as a key component of an organizations marketing strategy. (Source: D. Mercer, ‘Marketing (Blackwell, 1996) * Place / Location Neil H.Bordens clarifying the Marketing Mix is named the distribution as Place. There are lot of definitions as channel, intermediary methods, distribution and etc to the same task. The majour task is delivering goods from the manufacturer to the final end user. * Promotion Marketing mix has its own identical ‘promotions mix. The basic elements of the promotion mix are advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations and personal selling. The final outcome is determined as how to handle these tools. * People According to the Kotler, People are the most important element of any service or experience. Services are produced and consumed at same time. Services are combined with individuals who deliver the services and according to the personality, experience and personal qualities of the service provider the quality of services are altered. * Process this is another important element of the extended marketing mix. The process is determining the efficiency. Emending automated systems can increase the efficiency of processes. There are a number of perceptions of pro buying process or luxury housing. * Physical evidence this is the tangible aspect of the service. As services are intangible, people rely on tangible items to build their perception on services. In the case of luxury houses, the tangible aspect and appearance of houses play a mojor role in building customer perception. 1.5.2 Consumer behavior According to the Belch and Belch consumer behavior is â€Å" The process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires† To understand consumer behavior we need to examine how an individual interact with the marketing mix elements. According to Cohen (1991), the 4Ps should be adapted according to the psychology needs of each individual. The Psychological requirements are based on consumers own culture, attitude, learning and experience. Based on these values consumers decide whether or not to purchase. If the product or service match with their own values consumers decide to buy it. 1.6 Research Methodology Research has given priority to primary data to take impartial result through the study. Both of qualitative and quantitative techniques have being used to collect primary data from the target audience. Also has being used effective secondary sources to develop the research and to have a sophisticated output (Broadly discussed under the research methodology part). There are few methods has being applied by the researcher to get perfect solution. Survey method, interview method, internal data collections of property developers published secondary data has used as data collection method. 1.6.1 Survey Method Given the priority and research analysis based on the collected data through the survey. Questioner focused on customers who already bought luxury house. 1.6.2 Interview Method Researcher not given more priority to this method, but has added more findings through industry expert ideas. 1.6.3 Published Secondary data Internet, Industry Magazines, Government Institutions, News paper articles added more findings to the research. 1.6.4 Internal data of Property Developers Internal data collections as existing customer researches, competitor analysis, marketing and communication plans and other important and relevant data captured. 1.7 Limitations of the Study Sample size not enough For 100% accurate conclusion should cover 50% of the total market. Because of difficulties to find particular target market researcher have selected small sample size. (Limited number of people can afford for luxury house and they having busy scheduled life pattern). Limited secondary data there are no more information on luxury housing industry. Also cant find updated records through any government institute related to the housing industry and having only outdated records. Also researcher has concerned only the London and suburbs, but in some others cities other suburb areas should include to island wide result. For convenience has selected grater London and suburbs and it is difficult to based on these data to get overall picture. Didntt put more weight on other macro factors as governmental influences as regulations, legal issues economic changes. Political stability, foreign forces, employments and wages, etc. Not consider other luxury alternative can invest or spend. Through comprehensive research should pay attention on alternatives. Chapter 02 02. Literature Review 2.1 Theoretical background of Marketing Mix Meaning of the Marketing Mix The meaning of the Marketing Mix is a mixture of core factors which affecting to marketing strategies as well as consumer purchasing decision. Basic marketing mix comprises four elements as product, price, place promotion. When provide a service it should be an extended mix with people, process and physical evidence. According to McCarthy. J marketers should work with all marketing mix variables. Also he described that even change all variables it is difficult to change the product and distribution channel. Kotler, P. K. (2005). What is Marketing Mix. In P. K. Kotler, Marketing Management. Prentice Hall. Product Kotler (1988) suggest that three distinct elements need to be considered; the products attributes, its benefits, and the nature of the support service. * Product attributes are associated with the core product and include such elements as features, styling, quality, brand name, packaging, and size and color variants. * Product benefits are the elements that consumer perceive as meeting their needs. This is some time refers to as the â€Å"bundle of potential satisfactions† that the product represents. * The marketing support services comprise of all the elements that the organization provides in addition to the basic product. These typically include delivery, installation, guaranties, after sales service and reputation. (Source: Strategic Marketing Management by Richard M.S. Wilson Colin Gilligan) (Source: researcher developed based on www.wikipedia.org , 15/01/2010) Core Product this is the basic output of the product. Even you cannot touch it crates the vale to the entire product. The house example, the benefit is shelter, place to live with basic facilities. Actual product This is the tangible product of the output / physical product. As an example, it is the house with modern featured, quality construction, serenity appeal etc. Augmented Product This is the value additions can add to the particular product. Most of the time augmented value use to delight the customer. Structural warranty, customer support service from maintenance team, after sales service etc can show as examples. Price For many industries price is the potentially the most controllable and flexible element of the marketing mix. It is also in many cases one of the most important elements and, together with the product, a key component of an organizations marketing strategy. When buying a luxury house will consider selling price, easy payment structure, discount and other cost as legal stamp fee. Mercer, D. (1996). Pricing. In D. Mercer, ‘Marketing . Blackwell. Premium Price Premium pricing strategy is the best and normal payment method which is applicable to the luxury housing strategy. Location Channel of distribution comprises a set of organizations which perform all of the activities utilized to make difference in the process up to the consumption. (Bucklin Theory of Distribution method Structure, 1966). Neil H.Bordens has introduced location factor as more important variable in the Marketing Mix. Location is most crucial factor in luxury housing industry. Because of easy access, neighborhood, serenity, reputation of the area will consider according to the above facts. Promotion Another step of the 4Ps is promotion. This consists all of the tools available to the marketer for marketing communication. As with Neil H.Bordens marketing mix, effective marketing communications has its own promotions mix. Think of it like a cake mix, the fundamental ingredients are always the same. However if you vary the sum of one of the ingredients, the final outcome is different. It is the similar with promotions. The functions of the promotions mix are integrated to form a coherent campaign. * Advertising is a paid for effective communication. It is used to develop attitudes, add awareness, and transmit information in order to gain a response from the particular market. There are many advertising media as newspapers (local, national, free, trade), trade magazines and journals, television (local, national, terrestrial, satellite) cinema, outdoor advertising (such as posters, bus sides) * Personal Selling is an effective way to control personal customer relationships. The sales person acts on behalf of the organization. They tend to be well experienced in the approaches and techniques of personal selling. However sales people are too expensive and should only be used where there is a decent return on investment. For example salesmen are generally used to sell cars or home improvements where the margin is high * Sales promotion this tends to be thought of as being all promotions vary from advertising, personal selling, and public relations. As an example the BOGOF promotion, or Buy One Get One Free. Others include couponing, money-off promotions, competitions or free accessories (such as free blades for a new razor), introductory offers (such as when buy digital TV and get free installation), and so on. All sales promotion should be carefully cost and compared with the next best alternative * Public Relation This is defined as the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to be established and maintain mutual understanding between an organization as well as its publics (Institute of Public Relations). It is relatively cheaper, but certainly not cheap. Successful strategies tend to be long run and plan for all eventualities. * Direct mail Thi is very highly focused upon targeting consumers based upon a database. As with all marketing, the potential consumer is named based upon a series of attributes and similarities. Creative agencies are working with marketers to design a highly focused communication in the form of a mailing. The mail is sent out to the relevant consumers and responses are carefully monitored. For example, if you are marketing medical text books, you would be used a database of doctors surgeries as the basis of your mail shot. * Trade fair Exhibitions Such methods are very good for making new contacts and renewing old ones. Companies will individually sell much at such events. The purpose is to develop awareness and to encourage trial. They offer the opportunity for companies to meet with both the business and the consumer. Expo has recently finished in Germany with the next one planned for Japan, despite a recent decline in interest in such events. * Sponsorship this is where an organization pays to be associated with a relevant event, cause or image. Companies will sponsor to sports events such as the Olympics or Formula One. The attributes of the all event are then associated with the sponsoring organization. Gilligan, R. M. (1995). Strategic Marketing Management. In R. M. Gilligan, Strategic Marketing Management. Business Economics People People are the more important element of any service or experience. Services tend to be produced and consumed at the same time, and aspects of the customer experience are options to meet the individual needs of the person consuming it. Most of us can think of a condition where the personal service offered by individuals has made or tainted a tour, vacation or restaurant food. Remember, people buy from people that they more like, so the attitude, skills and appearance of all staff need to be first class. Here are some ways in ways of people add value to an experience, as part of the marketing mix training, personal selling and customer service. Eg: Marketing staff, architect, engineers and financial officers will participate to buying process of luxury housing. Process Process is another constituent of the extended marketing mix, or 7Ps.There are a of perceptions of the concept of process within the big business and marketing literature. Some see processes as a means to attain an outcome, for example to achieve 30% market share company equipment a marketing planning process. One more view is that marketing has a number of procedures that integrate together to create an in general marketing process Physical Evidence This is the material fraction of a service. Strictly speaking there are no corporeal attributes to a service, so a customer tends to rely on fabric cues. There are many examples of physical evidence, including Packaging, Internet/web pages, Paperwork (such as invoices, tickets and dispatch notes), Brochures, Furnishings, Signage (such as those on aircraft and vehicles), Uniforms, Business cards, The building itself (such as prestigious offices or scenic headquarters) and etc. www.marketingteacher.com. (2010, January 12). lesson_marketing_mix. Retrieved from www.marketingteacher.com: http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_marketing_mix.htm 2.2 Theoretical background of the Consumer behavior Consumer behavior is the findings of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It blends factors from psychology, sociology, psychology, anthropology and economics. It attempts to realize the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It examines characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, psychographics, and behavioral variables in an effort to understand peoples wants. It also tries to assess affect on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. Belch and Belch defined consumer behavior as â€Å"The process and activities people work in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of products and services so as to make their needs and desires†. Consumer decision making process Consumer decision making process is the best as well as crucial factor to change and influence to the buying decision. Number of philosophers had been introduced their own idea about the buying decision process. But all of them accepted the normal buying decision process. Consumer decision making process can shows as following model. With few changes in this model can apply in to luxury house buying decision process. Wikipedia-encyclopedia explains consumer decision making process according to number of researches and consumer behavior books. This common process can identify in each buying decision (consumer). In organizational buying behavior will be change the process with few rational approaches). In luxury housing industry also can apply normal buying process. But customers will be more rational than other buying products as FMCG or low valued product or service. Standard buying process will explain that to what extent it will affecting to the buying decision making. Stage Brief description Problem Recognition The consumer perceives a need and normally motivated to solve the problem. Information Search The consumer searches for data required to make a purchase decision Perception Alternative Evaluation The consumer comparing various brands and products Attitude formation Purchase Decision The consumer decides which brand should purchase Integration Post-purchase Evaluation The consumer is evaluates their purchase decision Learning Howard, J. S. (1968). Theory of Buyer Behavior. In J. S. Source: Howard, Theory of Buyer Behavior. J. Wiley Sons, New York, NY. * Problem recognition Problem recognition shows when there is a difference between ones desired state and ones actual state. Consumers are form to address this discrepancy and therefore they commence the buying process. Sources of problem recognition exists: o An item is out of the stock o Dissatisfaction with a existing product or service o Consumer needs wants o Related products purchases o Marketer-induced o New products The relevant internal psychological activity that is associated with problem identification is motivation. A motive is a element that compels action. Belch and Belch (2007) give an explanation of motivation based on Maslows hierarchy of needs Freuds psychoanalytic theory. * Information Search Once the consumer has realized a problem, they search for information on products and services that can solve that problem. Belch and Belch (2007) introduced that consumers undertake both an internal (memory) and an external search. Sources of datainclude: o Personal sources o Commercial sources o Public sources o Personal experience The correct internal psychological process that is associated with information search is perception. Perception is recognized as the process by which an individual receives, selects, organizes, and interprets information to develop a meaningful picture of the world The selective perception process step Description Selective exposure consumers choose which promotional messages they will expose themselves to. Selective action consumers select which promotional messages they will put attention to Selective comprehension consumer communicate messages in line with their beliefs, attitudes, motives and experiences Selective retention clients remember messages that are more meaningful or important to them * Alternative Evaluation At this time the consumer compares the existing brands and products that are in their evoked set. How can the marketing organization develop the likelihood that their brand is part of the consumers evoked (consideration) set? Consumers find alternatives in terms of the functional and psychological benefits that they offer. The marketing organization should understand what benefits consumers are seeking and therefore which attributes are most significant in terms of making a decision. The relevant internal psychological process that is merged with the alternative evaluation step is attitude formation. Note that attitudes are learned predispositions in an object. Attitudes comprise both inner cognitive and affective elements that is both what you think and how you feel the something. The multi-attribute attitude model shows how consumers evaluate alternatives on a range of attributes. Belch and Belch (2007) identify a number of ways that can be used to influence the process (attitude change strategies). * Purchase Decision Once the alternatives have been analyzed, the consumer is ready to make a purchase decision. Sometimes purchase intention does not show in an actual purchase. The marketing organization must give the consumer to act on their purchase intention. The provision of credit or payment terms may motivate purchase, or a sales promotion such as the opportunity to get a premium or enter a competition may provide an incentive to buy now. The relevant internal psychological process that is goes with purchase decision is integration. * Post Purchase Evaluation Once the consumer has bought and used the product, they will eva