Sources of Demo Data

The issue of population and development has increasingly evolved into the ‘population, environment, and development nexus. In the face of this mandate for research on population and environment dynamics, different theoretical frameworks are brought on board. Ester Boserup was one of the scholars who have contributed to these theoretical frameworks hence this essay will attempt to expound Ester her theory of population growth and demonstrate how applicable the theory is to Africa. Later on, the weaknesses of the theory will be brought in with reference to the African context.Lastly a conclusion will summarize the whole essay. A theory is defined as a set of facts, propositions, or principles analyzed in their relation to one another to explain phenomena. (Chambers dictionary, 2005) Population growth is defined as the total number of people who inhabit an area, region, or country, or the number of people in a particular group who inhabit an area. Ester Boserup (May 18, 910 â€⠀œ September 24, 1999) was a Danish economist, writer. She studied economical and agricultural development, worked at the United Nations as well as other international organizations, and she wrote several books.Her most notable book is The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure. (Aldine, 1965) This book presents a â€Å"dynamic analysis embracing all types of primitive agriculture. The work undoes the assumption dating back to Malthus’s time (and still held in many quarters) that agricultural methods determine population (via food supply). Instead, Boserup argued that population determines agricultural methods. A major point of her book is that â€Å"necessity is the mother of invention†.It was her great belief that humanity would always find a way and was quoted in saying â€Å"The power of ingenuity would always outmatch that of demand† in a letter to Northern Irish philosopher T S Hueston. She also influ enced debate on the role of women in workforce and human development, and the possibility of better opportunities of work and education for women. (Jain, 2005) According to Malthusian theory, the size and growth of the population depends on the food supply and agricultural methods. In Boserup’s theory agricultural methods depend on the size of the population.In the Malthusian view, in times when food is not sufficient for everyone, the excess population will die. However, Boserup argued that in those times of pressure, people will find ways to increase the production of food by increasing workforce, machinery, fertilizers, (Jain, 2005) Bosarupian theory focuses on the relationship between population, environment, and technology. Her concept of ‘population,’ encompasses population density as well as absolute size and growth. Her concept of environment refers mainly to land resources and related factors such as climate and soil quality.Since her focus is historical civilizations or developing countries, ‘technology’ for Boserup refers mainly to the tools and inputs used in agriculture, the primary productive activity in these societies. In arraying relationships between population, environment, and technology, Boserup proposes that it is generally agreed that successive change in technology has an important influence on the population size. The opposite side of the interrelationship, the influence of population size on technology, has attracted less attention (Boserup, 1981, p. ). In response, Boserup focus her attention on exploring the role of population as an independent variable that influences both the development of agricultural technology which, in turn, shape the productive capacity of resources. Boserup argues that in the short-term a period of sustained population growth would lower output per man hour. This occurs more intensive methods mean more hours of work on the part of the agriculture laborer. The ratio of output to labour cost, thus, deteriorates in the short run.In the long run, however, workers would become more efficient at the tasks required by the new intensive regime. More importantly, the growing population would stimulate more efficient production by allowing division of labor. Therefore, a growing population or increased population density leads ultimately to long run increase in output that outweigh short run declines (Boserup, 1965, p. 39-42). Boserup also states that for small populations with low density it is not worthwhile switching to more intensive regimes that require more labor inputs and that entail short-term productivity losses.She asserts that density must increase to a certain level before it is worthwhile accepting short term declines in labor output and the â€Å"hard toil of intensive agriculture† (Boserup, 1965, p. 51). Once higher densities occur, however, it becomes imperative for the population to undertake the increase labor investment of more intensi ve systems for the sake of the long term advantage of increased output. Boserup asserts that reliance on food imports to meet the gap between the growing populations food needs and production has undercut the ressure for domestic intensification of agriculture. By offering food aid and subsidized and concessionary food imports, the developed world has made it more attractive for many sub-Saharan African countries to import food rather than increase domestic production. She asserts that food imports also play a role in the continued lack of investment in rural areas. Dependence on food production lessens the need for investment in the domestic food production. This allows all resources to flow into the production of crops for export or urban industrial sector.This type of flow correspond with the major development models of export-led growth promoted by international organizations, such as world bank, in sub-Saharan Africa (Boserup, 1981, p. 202) The theory has been instrumental in u nderstanding agricultural patterns in developing countries, although it is highly simplified and generalized. The theory can be applied in Africa in the following ways; Boserup sees sub-Saharan Africa as historically a sparsely populated continent relative to other regions. As a result, subsistence agriculture and low-technology predominate in the region.Boserup states that â€Å"because past rates of population growth were much lower in Africa than in other parts of the world, extensive land-using subsistence systems, that is, long-fallow agriculture continue to be much more prevalent than elsewhere. In large parts of Africa, there is more land than the sparse population needs for growing crops† (Boserup, 1990, p. 258). Boserup’s theory can also be demonstrated in the Case study of Mauritius. Mauritius is an island country of 1860  km2 in area, located off the east coast of Africa.Farming and fishing are its main ventures, with agriculture accounting for 4. 6% of it s GDP. This is comprehensible since it has fertile soils and a tropical climate. Its exports are divided into four main categories: sugar (32%), garments (31%), plastics (32%) and others (5%). (Jain, 2005) Its population in 1992 was 1,094,000 people. For 2025, the estimated population is 1,365,000. This would mean a growth rate of 1. 45%, with a doubling time of 47 years. Its fertility rate was of 2. 17 children per woman. Jain, 2005) It is possible to notice how uneven population growth has been in Mauritius. At first it was a maintained at a more or less constant level, because there were almost equal values of birth and death rates. Around the 1950s, the birth rate increased significantly (from 35 per thousand to more than 45 per thousand). The death rate declined from 30 to 15 per thousand shortly afterwards. (Jain, 2005) The rate of natural increase was very great, and there was a great pressure on the country for resources because of this increasing population.It was then that the government had to intervene. It promoted family planning, restricted early marriage, provided improved health care and looked to improve the status of women. The government also worked on diversifying agriculture, invested in industry and improved trading links. With time, there were changes in general attitude toward family size and people were getting married later. As well, there was an improvement in educational and work opportunities for women (in 1975 employment of women was 22. 3%, by 1990 it had increased to 35. 5%). Many transnational companies came to Mauritius because of tax incentives, the Freeport at Port Luis, the large number of educated residents, a considerable amount of cheap labour and the good transport. This would assert to us Boserup’s theory that â€Å"necessity is the mother of invention. † Because the population had risen, the government had to take measures to adapt to this growth. It had to improve and diversify agriculture, so proving a gricultural intensification and that â€Å"population growth cause’s agricultural growth. (This idea is presented in The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure; 1965. ) It also suggests that a country must improve its technology to be able to support the growing population, and that many technologies will not be taken advantage of if the population is not large enough. Mauritius had to build a Freeport and improve transportation to be able to maintain its population. (Jain, 2005) Chitemene system in Zambia is also one example of how Buserup’s theory is applicable to Africa.Chitemene system is a method of farming practiced in the Northern Province of Zambia in which fields are cleared by cutting down trees in order to make the soil fertile. This system was introduced as a result of population increase in Northern Province of Zambia. As population density increased, there was need for more food production, this led discovery of an agriculture system which could make land more fertile hence increasing food production for the growing population. Despite Boserup’s theory being considered as the optimum population theory it as some weaknesses in the African context.Some of these weaknesses are explained in this part of the text. Boserup did not put the law of diminishing returns into consideration when formulating her theory. Increasing labor at a fixed potion of land (increasing population density) would lead to an extent where each addition unit of labor would be adding less to output than what the previous unit added, this would reach a point where output starts decreasing. Most African countries have limited technology and hence increasing population density would lead to diminishing returns in agriculture. (Obadan. 004. P. 99) Another weakness in Boserup’s theory is lack of consideration of ecological factors that arise as a result of increase in population density which affect agriculture negatively. For example in Africa, Nigeria in particular, agriculture contributed more than 75 percent of export earnings before 1970. Since then, due to population growth, however, agriculture has stagnated, mostly due to ecological factors such as drought, disease, and reduction in soil fertility. By the mid-1990s, agriculture’s share of exports had declined to less than 5 percent.Once an exporter of food to nearby countries, Nigeria now must import food to meet domestic demand (keet, 1994: p. 55). It is clear that certain types of fragile environments cannot support excessive numbers of people in Africa for example the Barotse flood plains in Zambia. In such cases, population pressure may not lead to technological innovations as Boserup suggested. Boserup’s theory does not adequately account for lack of the impact of subsidization of agriculture production by developed countries on African.Subsidization of agricultural products by developed countries lea ds to African agriculture products fetching low prices at the international market which in turn discourages farming in Africa despite an increase in population density. Fontanel and Touatam (2004, p. 31) gave an example of trade in cotton. Without financial subsides from the government, the price of cotton production in the United States would be three times higher than the cotton production in most sub-Saharan Africa.Because of subsides to cotton producers in the United States and European union in 2001/2002, Africa had lost in that period US $920 million (Miroudot, 2004: 47). Boserup’s theory does not also account for the comflicts in some African states which hinder agricultural activities such as farming hence making them depend on foreign aid rather than domestically produced products. Ayttey (1998, p. 193) writes that in 1996, more than 20 million of Africans were refugees. These people, who have lost their homes, jobs, and possessions, should be the ones to go to scho ol, grow food, or work in factories and government and business administration.This has greatly contributed to the low food output levels in these countries. Boserup’s idea is based upon field studies in south east Asia and she developed her idea based on the number of assumptions, her ideas are not much applicable in Africa which the population is sparse since her field work was conducted in places with very high population densities like india. In conclusion, Boserup’s population theory may not alone fully explain the relationship between population growth, environment and technology but most importantly it has offered a complementary perspective to other theories.The theory has offered applicable solutions on the relationship between population growth and resources especially in Africa. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ayittey, G. 1998. Africa In Chaos, St. Martin’s press. New York Boserup, E. 1965. The Conditions of Agricultural Growth. Allen and Unwin, London. Boserup, E. 1981 . Population and Technological Change. Chicago press, Chicago. Boserup, E. 1990. Economic and Demographic Relationships in Development. The John Hopkins University press. London. Ehrlich, P. 1968. The Population Bomb: Ballantine. New York. Fontanel, J. and Touatam, A. 2004. The Rift. African Geopolitics. No. 13. Paris. OR. IMA INTERNATIONAL.Pp. 29-42. Keet, D. 1994. Systematic Destruction – IMF/World Bank Social Engineering in Africa. Track Two. The centre for intergroup studies. Vol. 2. No. 1. Pp. 10-11. Obadan, M. 2004. The External Debt Crisis: Strategies and policies. In African Development and Governance strategies in the 21st century. London . Zed Books. Pp. 140-164. Simon, J. 1981. The Ultimate Resource: Princeton university press. New Jersey. Aldine. (1965, 08 03). Women, Development and the UN. Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from wikipedia: http://www. wikipedia. com Jain, D. (2005, 03 16). ester buserup. Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from enotes. com: http://www. enotes. com Sources of Demo Data The issue of population and development has increasingly evolved into the ‘population, environment, and development nexus. In the face of this mandate for research on population and environment dynamics, different theoretical frameworks are brought on board. Ester Boserup was one of the scholars who have contributed to these theoretical frameworks hence this essay will attempt to expound Ester her theory of population growth and demonstrate how applicable the theory is to Africa. Later on, the weaknesses of the theory will be brought in with reference to the African context.Lastly a conclusion will summarize the whole essay. A theory is defined as a set of facts, propositions, or principles analyzed in their relation to one another to explain phenomena. (Chambers dictionary, 2005) Population growth is defined as the total number of people who inhabit an area, region, or country, or the number of people in a particular group who inhabit an area. Ester Boserup (May 18, 910 â€⠀œ September 24, 1999) was a Danish economist, writer. She studied economical and agricultural development, worked at the United Nations as well as other international organizations, and she wrote several books.Her most notable book is The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure. (Aldine, 1965) This book presents a â€Å"dynamic analysis embracing all types of primitive agriculture. The work undoes the assumption dating back to Malthus’s time (and still held in many quarters) that agricultural methods determine population (via food supply). Instead, Boserup argued that population determines agricultural methods. A major point of her book is that â€Å"necessity is the mother of invention†.It was her great belief that humanity would always find a way and was quoted in saying â€Å"The power of ingenuity would always outmatch that of demand† in a letter to Northern Irish philosopher T S Hueston. She also influ enced debate on the role of women in workforce and human development, and the possibility of better opportunities of work and education for women. (Jain, 2005) According to Malthusian theory, the size and growth of the population depends on the food supply and agricultural methods. In Boserup’s theory agricultural methods depend on the size of the population.In the Malthusian view, in times when food is not sufficient for everyone, the excess population will die. However, Boserup argued that in those times of pressure, people will find ways to increase the production of food by increasing workforce, machinery, fertilizers, (Jain, 2005) Bosarupian theory focuses on the relationship between population, environment, and technology. Her concept of ‘population,’ encompasses population density as well as absolute size and growth. Her concept of environment refers mainly to land resources and related factors such as climate and soil quality.Since her focus is historical civilizations or developing countries, ‘technology’ for Boserup refers mainly to the tools and inputs used in agriculture, the primary productive activity in these societies. In arraying relationships between population, environment, and technology, Boserup proposes that it is generally agreed that successive change in technology has an important influence on the population size. The opposite side of the interrelationship, the influence of population size on technology, has attracted less attention (Boserup, 1981, p. ). In response, Boserup focus her attention on exploring the role of population as an independent variable that influences both the development of agricultural technology which, in turn, shape the productive capacity of resources. Boserup argues that in the short-term a period of sustained population growth would lower output per man hour. This occurs more intensive methods mean more hours of work on the part of the agriculture laborer. The ratio of output to labour cost, thus, deteriorates in the short run.In the long run, however, workers would become more efficient at the tasks required by the new intensive regime. More importantly, the growing population would stimulate more efficient production by allowing division of labor. Therefore, a growing population or increased population density leads ultimately to long run increase in output that outweigh short run declines (Boserup, 1965, p. 39-42). Boserup also states that for small populations with low density it is not worthwhile switching to more intensive regimes that require more labor inputs and that entail short-term productivity losses.She asserts that density must increase to a certain level before it is worthwhile accepting short term declines in labor output and the â€Å"hard toil of intensive agriculture† (Boserup, 1965, p. 51). Once higher densities occur, however, it becomes imperative for the population to undertake the increase labor investment of more intensi ve systems for the sake of the long term advantage of increased output. Boserup asserts that reliance on food imports to meet the gap between the growing populations food needs and production has undercut the ressure for domestic intensification of agriculture. By offering food aid and subsidized and concessionary food imports, the developed world has made it more attractive for many sub-Saharan African countries to import food rather than increase domestic production. She asserts that food imports also play a role in the continued lack of investment in rural areas. Dependence on food production lessens the need for investment in the domestic food production. This allows all resources to flow into the production of crops for export or urban industrial sector.This type of flow correspond with the major development models of export-led growth promoted by international organizations, such as world bank, in sub-Saharan Africa (Boserup, 1981, p. 202) The theory has been instrumental in u nderstanding agricultural patterns in developing countries, although it is highly simplified and generalized. The theory can be applied in Africa in the following ways; Boserup sees sub-Saharan Africa as historically a sparsely populated continent relative to other regions. As a result, subsistence agriculture and low-technology predominate in the region.Boserup states that â€Å"because past rates of population growth were much lower in Africa than in other parts of the world, extensive land-using subsistence systems, that is, long-fallow agriculture continue to be much more prevalent than elsewhere. In large parts of Africa, there is more land than the sparse population needs for growing crops† (Boserup, 1990, p. 258). Boserup’s theory can also be demonstrated in the Case study of Mauritius. Mauritius is an island country of 1860  km2 in area, located off the east coast of Africa.Farming and fishing are its main ventures, with agriculture accounting for 4. 6% of it s GDP. This is comprehensible since it has fertile soils and a tropical climate. Its exports are divided into four main categories: sugar (32%), garments (31%), plastics (32%) and others (5%). (Jain, 2005) Its population in 1992 was 1,094,000 people. For 2025, the estimated population is 1,365,000. This would mean a growth rate of 1. 45%, with a doubling time of 47 years. Its fertility rate was of 2. 17 children per woman. Jain, 2005) It is possible to notice how uneven population growth has been in Mauritius. At first it was a maintained at a more or less constant level, because there were almost equal values of birth and death rates. Around the 1950s, the birth rate increased significantly (from 35 per thousand to more than 45 per thousand). The death rate declined from 30 to 15 per thousand shortly afterwards. (Jain, 2005) The rate of natural increase was very great, and there was a great pressure on the country for resources because of this increasing population.It was then that the government had to intervene. It promoted family planning, restricted early marriage, provided improved health care and looked to improve the status of women. The government also worked on diversifying agriculture, invested in industry and improved trading links. With time, there were changes in general attitude toward family size and people were getting married later. As well, there was an improvement in educational and work opportunities for women (in 1975 employment of women was 22. 3%, by 1990 it had increased to 35. 5%). Many transnational companies came to Mauritius because of tax incentives, the Freeport at Port Luis, the large number of educated residents, a considerable amount of cheap labour and the good transport. This would assert to us Boserup’s theory that â€Å"necessity is the mother of invention. † Because the population had risen, the government had to take measures to adapt to this growth. It had to improve and diversify agriculture, so proving a gricultural intensification and that â€Å"population growth cause’s agricultural growth. (This idea is presented in The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarian Change under Population Pressure; 1965. ) It also suggests that a country must improve its technology to be able to support the growing population, and that many technologies will not be taken advantage of if the population is not large enough. Mauritius had to build a Freeport and improve transportation to be able to maintain its population. (Jain, 2005) Chitemene system in Zambia is also one example of how Buserup’s theory is applicable to Africa.Chitemene system is a method of farming practiced in the Northern Province of Zambia in which fields are cleared by cutting down trees in order to make the soil fertile. This system was introduced as a result of population increase in Northern Province of Zambia. As population density increased, there was need for more food production, this led discovery of an agriculture system which could make land more fertile hence increasing food production for the growing population. Despite Boserup’s theory being considered as the optimum population theory it as some weaknesses in the African context.Some of these weaknesses are explained in this part of the text. Boserup did not put the law of diminishing returns into consideration when formulating her theory. Increasing labor at a fixed potion of land (increasing population density) would lead to an extent where each addition unit of labor would be adding less to output than what the previous unit added, this would reach a point where output starts decreasing. Most African countries have limited technology and hence increasing population density would lead to diminishing returns in agriculture. (Obadan. 004. P. 99) Another weakness in Boserup’s theory is lack of consideration of ecological factors that arise as a result of increase in population density which affect agriculture negatively. For example in Africa, Nigeria in particular, agriculture contributed more than 75 percent of export earnings before 1970. Since then, due to population growth, however, agriculture has stagnated, mostly due to ecological factors such as drought, disease, and reduction in soil fertility. By the mid-1990s, agriculture’s share of exports had declined to less than 5 percent.Once an exporter of food to nearby countries, Nigeria now must import food to meet domestic demand (keet, 1994: p. 55). It is clear that certain types of fragile environments cannot support excessive numbers of people in Africa for example the Barotse flood plains in Zambia. In such cases, population pressure may not lead to technological innovations as Boserup suggested. Boserup’s theory does not adequately account for lack of the impact of subsidization of agriculture production by developed countries on African.Subsidization of agricultural products by developed countries lea ds to African agriculture products fetching low prices at the international market which in turn discourages farming in Africa despite an increase in population density. Fontanel and Touatam (2004, p. 31) gave an example of trade in cotton. Without financial subsides from the government, the price of cotton production in the United States would be three times higher than the cotton production in most sub-Saharan Africa.Because of subsides to cotton producers in the United States and European union in 2001/2002, Africa had lost in that period US $920 million (Miroudot, 2004: 47). Boserup’s theory does not also account for the comflicts in some African states which hinder agricultural activities such as farming hence making them depend on foreign aid rather than domestically produced products. Ayttey (1998, p. 193) writes that in 1996, more than 20 million of Africans were refugees. These people, who have lost their homes, jobs, and possessions, should be the ones to go to scho ol, grow food, or work in factories and government and business administration.This has greatly contributed to the low food output levels in these countries. Boserup’s idea is based upon field studies in south east Asia and she developed her idea based on the number of assumptions, her ideas are not much applicable in Africa which the population is sparse since her field work was conducted in places with very high population densities like india. In conclusion, Boserup’s population theory may not alone fully explain the relationship between population growth, environment and technology but most importantly it has offered a complementary perspective to other theories.The theory has offered applicable solutions on the relationship between population growth and resources especially in Africa. BIBLIOGRAPHY Ayittey, G. 1998. Africa In Chaos, St. Martin’s press. New York Boserup, E. 1965. The Conditions of Agricultural Growth. Allen and Unwin, London. Boserup, E. 1981 . Population and Technological Change. Chicago press, Chicago. Boserup, E. 1990. Economic and Demographic Relationships in Development. The John Hopkins University press. London. Ehrlich, P. 1968. The Population Bomb: Ballantine. New York. Fontanel, J. and Touatam, A. 2004. The Rift. African Geopolitics. No. 13. Paris. OR. IMA INTERNATIONAL.Pp. 29-42. Keet, D. 1994. Systematic Destruction – IMF/World Bank Social Engineering in Africa. Track Two. The centre for intergroup studies. Vol. 2. No. 1. Pp. 10-11. Obadan, M. 2004. The External Debt Crisis: Strategies and policies. In African Development and Governance strategies in the 21st century. London . Zed Books. Pp. 140-164. Simon, J. 1981. The Ultimate Resource: Princeton university press. New Jersey. Aldine. (1965, 08 03). Women, Development and the UN. Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from wikipedia: http://www. wikipedia. com Jain, D. (2005, 03 16). ester buserup. Retrieved 03 15, 2012, from enotes. com: http://www. enotes. com

Human Resources Management

Questions 1. What should be the format and final form of the store manager’s job description? There is no standard format as to what should be included in the job description of store manager but most job descriptions cover the following sections †¢ Job identification †¢ Job summary †¢ Responsibilities and Duties †¢ Authority of incumbent †¢ Standards of performance †¢ Working conditions †¢ Job specification 2. Is it practical to specify standards and procedures in the body of the job description, or should these be kept separate?Not all the standards and procedures are important to mention in the body of job description except the ones that are relevant and important for the applicants to know i. e. Performance and Competency standards. Note: It depends upon the type of job under discussion as to what sort of standards to include. 3. How should Jennifer go about collecting the information required for the standards, procedures and job descri ption?First of all Jennifer should conduct a complete job analysis for the job of store manager and she should also check out existing policies and procedures of the company in place, then she should use one or more of the following methods for collecting information about Standards, Procedures and Job description for the job of Store Manager. †¢ The Interview †¢ Questionnaire †¢ Observation †¢ Participant Diary/ Logs In addition to these basic methods Jennifer Carter can also use these Quantitative techniques as well for measuring job description of store manager Position analysis questionnaire †¢ Department of labor procedures †¢ Functional job analysis 4. What, in your opinion should the store manager’s job description look like and contain? The Sore manager’s job description should look like and contain the following things. Carter Cleaning Center Store Manager Job Description |Title |2025 Store Manager | |Department(s) |Cleaning | |Re ports to |President (Jennifer Carter) | Job summaryThe store manager is responsible for directing all store activities in such a way that quality work is produced, customer relations and sales are maximized and profitability is maintained through effective control of labor supply and energy costs Summary of essential job functions In accomplishing the general aim the store manager’s duties and responsibilities are †¢ Quality control †¢ Store appearance and cleanliness †¢ Customer relations †¢ Bookkeeping and cash management †¢ Cost control and productivity †¢ Damage control †¢ Pricing †¢ Inventory control †¢ Spotting and cleaning Machine maintenance †¢ Purchasing †¢ Employee safety †¢ Hazardous waste removal †¢ Humane resource administration †¢ Pest control Knowledge, skills and abilities (The knowledge, skills and attitudes required for satisfactory job performance) Knowledge The incumbent must have profic ient knowledge in the following areas: †¢ Cusomer service †¢ Accounts payable accounts receivables †¢ Store and motel management and administration Skills The incumbent must demonstrate the following skills: Personal Attributes The incumbent must also demonstrate the following personal attributes: be honest and trustworthy †¢ possess cultural awarenes and senstivity The Store Manager would normally attain the required knowledge, skills and attitudes through related in experience in a retail setting. Equivalencies will be considered. Disclaimer The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified.All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed. Additional information |HR use only | |Job code | | |Generic title | | |Pay grade | | |Management? (Yes/No) | | |E/NE status | | |Last revised | | ———————– †¢ excellent customer service and interpersonal skills †¢ effective verbal and listening communications skills †¢ effective written communications skills †¢ decision making skills †¢ time management skills †¢ analytical and problem solving skills †¢

A Prominent Leader Essay

This paper will entirely focus on Oprah Winfrey. Oprah Winfrey has shone and demonstrated more strength, character, and changed the way America looks at and views racial issues in America. This paper will analyze her start in the film industry, her leadership, personal wealth, Business Leadership Oprah Winfrey is a reputable, prominent world leader, businesswoman, actress, philanthropist, and talk show-host. It is said by some that she has revolutionized television talk show. One has to admire her perseverance to overcome the hardships she faced as a child. Oprah’s mother had Oprah when she was only a teenager in a town in rural Mississippi. She was born into poverty and raped at a young age of nine years old. History repeats itself and a young teenage Oprah gives birth to a child that dies. Oprah started her career in radio. Today women turn to Oprah for self-help, self-improvement, compassion, religious questions, and even how to regulate your bowel movements. Against all odds in a male dominated field, Oprah rises to have the most-popular, longest running, and highest-ranking talk show. CNN, Time Magazine, and Life all list Oprah Winfrey as the most influential woman in the world. (Finz, 2011). Oprah Winfrey would be an example of a Transformational leader. Transformational leaders influence, inspire, move, and literally transform followers to achieve organizational goals beyond their self-interests (Burns, 1978), thus initiating and bringing about positive change. (Weiss, 2011). She was very much involved in Civil Rights, and changed the way African – Amrericans are treated. Her endorsement of President Obama brought about a post-racial era long before we would have seen. (Zak, 2011) Oprah demonstrates characteristics of a transformational leader by demonstrating the four I’s of a Transformational leader. The first I is Idealized Influence which is probably the most obvious trait. Oprah routinely fosters trust and you admire her strength and feel a sense of pride for some of the subjects she touches on. For example, I remember once seeing a show on gay/lesbians. It literally changed the entire way I view them. I used to think they wanted attention and they choose to go against what we as a society think is acceptable or not. After her show I realize they don’t want to be different they just want to be accepted. The second I is for Inspirational Motivation. Oprah rallies people everyday across America inspiring and motivating people. The third I is for Intellectual stimulation. In my opinion this is obvious through her belief and promoting President Obama during his presidency. Who really thought an African American would be president in our lifetime? Finally the last I is for Individualized consideration. She constantly is taking on sensitive subjects. I remember one show where she interviewed a boy who had been locked in a wire cage for several hours a day. She was able to tell his story and let him maintain his dignity even though horrific things were done to him. Oprah’s ratings prove she has the following and believers a Transformational leader has. Through the last twenty- five years we have seen an African American take over the media and change daytime talk shows.

Company profile report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Company profile report - Essay Example For instance, it has sponsored various global events such as world cup, Olympic, premier league, NBA and other sports. The company’s history traces back to the year 1886. Out of personal curiosity, a pharmacist based in Atlanta, Dr. John S. Pemberton created a soft drink that soda kiosks sold. The innovation involved creation of a flavored syrup, mixed with carbonated water and sampled for fitness. The pharmacist’s bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, later named the beverage and went ahead to design its trademark that is still used distinctively today. Within the succeeding two years, prior to his death in 1888, Dr. Pemberton sold out portions of the business to various shareholders. Majority of these sales went to then Atlanta businessperson, Asa G. Candler. Asa’s leadership expanded distribution of the beverage to beyond Atlanta. Soda fountains grew rapidly beyond Atlanta and in 1894; Joseph Biedenharn established the first bottling machinery in Mississippi. The growing demand for Coca-Cola and the desire for the product’s portability motivated him to become the first to bottle the beverage. Five years later, three businesspersons, Benjamin Thomas, Joseph Whitehead and John Lupton, secured bottling and selling rights for Coca-Cola. They established the first-ever large scale bottling system in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Early bottlers were constrained by product imitation by competitors and absence of packaging consistency. Stiff competition led to unanimous agreement among the bottlers to a distinctive bottling of the beverage. In 1916, they approved the design of the contoured bottle. The bottle set the brand aside from the competitors and remained so until its trade marking in 1977. Adverts of the product existed as early as the 1970s. It is during then that the brand’s advert depended on and or drew from funs, friends and even memorable moments. The company also had its first computer

Business Intelligence Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Intelligence - Article Example As a result of this philosophy, Vodafone resorted to implementing EDW to get better access to information from diverse sources for enhanced and dynamic decision making. This made capturing the market impulse easier and becoming proactive in chalking out strategies. Ans 3. Executives do rely on their ‘gut feel’ when making major corporate decisions as asserted by research conducted by Graham et al (2010). They opine that executives of mostly small firms do base their decision on their experience, emotional intelligence, and intuition. Gut feeling in decision making creeps in when executives do not want to delegate more and also when they have faced similar risks during their lifetime. The amount of information collected and processed by the human mind in a service of a large number of years is far more than data analyzed through any of the EDW. This benefit allows executives to rely on their gut feeling when going for major corporate decisions. Ans 4. CEOs care about the single version of the truth because it defines the vertical or the horizontal alignment of the company (Oracle 2008). The single version of truth eliminates redundancy and multiple definitions of a single term used in a business parlance and thus bring in greater financial and operational transparency leading to enhanced business performance (Wailgum 2008). Ans 1. The Go Forward Strategy of Continental deployed the combined use of real-time data warehousing with decision support system to better its business proposition. The primary benefit attained was the single version of the truth for both the employees and the customers and also reduction in costs arising due to frauds, misrepresentation of facts and figures and redundant and obsolete data. Reputation wise, Continental rose to the ‘favorite’ category from that of worst and numerically, over $500 million were saved as costs and generated through increased revenues.

Argument Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Argument Analysis - Essay Example Botstein however claims that it is not the length of school days that affects the performance of the children rather; it is how the time in school is spent. He presented some statistics to point out his argument. The thesis of the article is that the solution to the improvement of the academic performance of the school children in the US is not the lengthening of the time spent in school but rather, an analysis of how the time in school is spent. Botstein’s article is targeted to every American citizen, particularly to the politicians who are moving for the extension of the number of school days. He also aims to target the parents of the school children to explain to them that it is not the number of school days that really matters. He is addressing the parents to probably put some pressure on the politicians to extensively study their proposal before making it into a law. Botstein is trying to convince his readers to believe his argument through the use of the logical appeal to prove his point. He supports his argument by comparing the number of school days in the other countries that outperforms the US’ school children. Botstein indicated that some countries have longer school days, others have less school days while others have the same school days as in the US but it was not what really mattered. What are essential are the instruction hours that are dedicated in key areas such as mathematics, science, history and literature. He mentioned that American high school students spend only 41 per cent of their time in school studying these subject areas unlike the Japanese and the French (Botstein 1). Botstein used analogy to prove his point. Another issue which Botstein identified as the reason for the poorer performance of the US school children compared with other countries is the issue on who is doing the teaching. To prove his point he presented the results of the 1996 survey of the Education

Astronomy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Astronomy - Essay Example 1 D. Advanced Computer methodologies are there which embed the light into arbitrary colors that are perceptible. The Hubble Space Telescope is intelligent to determine wavelengths starting from 0.1150 to 2 micrometers other than visible region. 2 A. Ions are charged particles whereas atoms are neutral. When an atom looses or gains an electron it is said to be ion. For example sodium metal in neutral state is composed of atoms where as sodium in sodium chloride is ion. 2 C. Hot objects release more of their light at short wavelengths. This is because of the reason that hot bodies have blue intensity peaks and thus the wavelength for blue color is relatively smaller whilst the cooler objects have red intensity peaks means their wavelength is relatively longer due to the color of the peak. 2 D. The spectrum produced from white light comprises of all colors is termed as a continuous spectrum. Continuous spectra are formed by all radiant solids, liquids and gases under high pressure. A gas at low pressure does not make a continuous spectrum but forms a line spectrum explicated as individual lines at definite frequencies of the gas. If the gas is manipulated luminescent by warmth or an electric discharge, the consequential spectrum is a bright-line, or emission, spectrum, consisting of a series of bright lines against a dark background. A dark-line, or absorption spectrum is the reciprocal of a bright-line spectrum; it is formed when white light comprising all frequencies transcends through a gas not hot sufficient to be radiant. 3. In astronomy, spectral classification is a classification of stars founded on their spectral distinctiveness. The spectral classification arrived at a specified class of a star explicating the radicalization of its chromospheres, what atomic excitations are mainly well-known in the light, providing a purposeful determination of the temperature in chromospheres. Light from a specific star is assessed by breaking it up

THE BP OIL SPILL IN MEXICAN GULF 2010 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

THE BP OIL SPILL IN MEXICAN GULF 2010 - Essay Example A crisis refers to an undesirable and unfortunate position that a business finds itself in, and which poses a great threat to the organization (Benoit, 1995). The value of communication in any company is very important, and this importance cannot be understated. The major concept of this work is crisis management, and will employ a special focus on the BP oil company, and the oil spillage crisis of 2010. It shall take keen interest on how well, or otherwise, the crisis was handled by the company. Two theories are important in this work. First is the structural function systems theory which provides an in depth insight in crisis management. It implies that those companies that have a very effective information and communication model are more likely to succeed in crisis management (Lightstone and Driscoll, 2008). The second theory, the diffusion innovation theory, which is a widely applied theory, helps to structure the framework of this work, theoretically. It shows how businesses co mmunicate and disseminate information through specified networks, or after a period of time which results to consistency (Hooghiemstra, 2000). Accounting theories lay great value in communication, and sets up assumptions, methodology and frameworks, to ensure timely, reliable, efficient and consistent information (Islam and Deegan, 2010). The crisis that BP found itself in was a great test to the company’s reputation, which has taken many years to build. The case The case study chosen, in this context is about BP oil spill in the Mexican Gulf in 2010. BP Ltd has operation sin over eighty companies. Statistics reveal that in 2012, it was the fifth largest company in terms of market share, and has over 87, 000 employees globally (BP, 2010). According to this report, on the morning of 20th April 2010, there was a huge explosion at the Macondo Prospect. A drilling rig had exploded, which resulted to the death of eleven people and seventeen others being injured. This was the worst marine accident in the oil industry, which put the reputation of the company at stake. The BP Company addressed the issue through several press releases, interviews, updates via new media including Facebook and Twitter and also through their annual financial report. The use of these means can be attributed to several accounting theories including the stakeholders and legitimacy theory, the systems oriented theory and the positive accounting theory, which will be discussed in the methodology section. Data After the accident, the company CEO, Tony Hayward, was interviewed by several media houses. In the interview, he consoled the family of the bereaved and the injured. The company also issued press releases regarding the accident. The press releases thereafter were released after a period of time, and each of it gave updates about the accident. For instance, between the day of the accident and the beginning of the year 2011, the company had released about thirty or more press release s on the same issue (Landau, 2001). New media has also boosted communication. The company therefore took its chances and continued to communicate via Facebook and twitter, updating all recent developments and photos of the progressing work. The other disclosure vehicle chosen was the annual report of 2010. In this, the chairman, Carl Henric Sanberg addressed the issue. In the same report, there is a summary of the accident, and a detailed explanation of what has been done, and what continues to be done (BP, 2010). The vehicles chosen for corporate analysis in this particular crisis were effective, though not fully. Methodology The

The Life and Influence of Jimi Hendrix Research Paper

The Life and Influence of Jimi Hendrix - Research Paper Example Hendrix was primarily a self-taught musician. He was also left-handed which created a problem with his father because he wanted him to play right handed for superstitious reasons. Hendrix was also an introvert and he was very shy. At one point in his life, his mother died and this sent him into more seclusion and a more focused concentration on his music. Hendrix had many challenges in school and eventually dropped out. He wanted to focus more on his music than on his school work and all he wanted to do was play music (Willett, 23). In 1956, he received his first real guitar from his father; it was an electric guitar without an amplifier. From that point on, Hendrix played music with any musician he could find to play with and listened very carefully to the music. The first time he played professional was with an amateur band of older boys. They were auditioning him to see if he could be a part of the group. The challenge was that Hendrix wanted to be a star even then and he played o ut. Hendrix first played with a group called "The Velvetones" where he played backup and he learned to play a mixture of blues, rhythm and blues, jazz and R&B; they also did a lot of dancing on the stage (Willett, 26). Later he played with a group called "The Rocking Kings." After they broke up Jimi next played with a group called "The Tomcats". After a short time working for his father in a landscaping business, Jimi went into the Army to escape his father and to get out of some legal problems.

Educational Differences as a Result of Governmental Measures Essay

Educational Differences as a Result of Governmental Measures - Essay Example If education is not taken seriously, it can have very stark outcomes. The educational differences actually start this discussion which can culminate in a number of ramifications. When children are treated differently as per their educational realms, they have a sense of inferiority complex attached to their personalities. They believe it is their right to be on par with the very best and the authorities concerned should ensure the very same (Sharp, 2011). However, this sadly happens, which opens up a plethora of problems for society at large. Since educational differences become manifested within the lives of the people as well, it is only natural to think of it in a very serious manner. When the educational differences are understood from a narrowed down perspective, one finds out that the issue stems from the very top. The role of the government in chalking down proper policies and formulating rules is a missing ingredient of this discussion. They should do their homework well so that there are no anomalies which come about all the same. However, this rarely happens which essentially means that the children are left behind and they lack in having a positive attitude within the varied spheres of the society. The government can enact such measures and coin regulations which will have a direct impact on the educational realms that exist within any society of the world. There must never be a difference, to begin with, such a discussion. This is because education is a right of everyone and no one can deny the very same to anyone (Author Unknown, 2012). What is even more distressing is to know that the educational differences take the backburner of a number of policy mat ters.

Phase 4 Individual Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Phase 4 Individual Project - Essay Example Customer relationship management is broadly defined as a model through which a company manages its interaction with customers, both current and potential (Kumar & Reinartz, 2012). With the development of technology, the model has incorporated technology and has made it easier and efficient for firms to automate, organize, and synchronize marketing, sales, technical support and customer service. Buttle (2012) states, â€Å"customer relationship management is the major function of an organizational strategy that combines the internal functions and process, and external networks, to create and offer value to target market at a profit.† (Buttle, 2012) Greenberg (2004) defined CRM as â€Å"a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a system and technology, designed to improve human interactions in a business environment.† (Greenberg, 2004) Fostering good relations with customers is very essential for any business that wants to survive and achieve profitability. Custo mers form the society in which the business operates, hence, they determine to a great extent the performance of the company. They are ‘kings’ in business and therefore should be treated with utmost care and respect. A good customer relationship is healthy for an organization in that it makes consumers develop confidence in the organization and improves their perception on the capability and competence of the business (Kumar & Reinartz, 2012). This eventually creates customer loyalty leading to customer retention. As a result, the company will be in a position to increase its revenues due to the favorable market. According to previous researches, it has been found that it is easier to retain a customer than to attract a new customer. This therefore underlines the importance of a firm to foster good relations with its customer in order to retain them. The main objective of CRM is to create a continuous mutual business relationship with current and potential customers in order to help an organization achieve competitive advantage as it also creates value for the customers (Microsoft Dynamics, 2009). According to Nordic school of thought, in order for an organization to have an effective CRM, knowledge of how to develop customer value and enhance the degree of customer satisfaction is necessary. This school of thought tries to explain the importance of relationship marketing theory and acknowledges the value and importance of such relationship to the business and the customers. It also notes the crucial role played by customers and suggests that customer service should be joined with marketing (Buttle, 2012). According to Morgan and Hunt (1994), customer trust is essential in having a successful customer relationship. Customers’ trust in the business comes up as a result of an assurance that the organization will perform certain activities that will benefit them. Anderson and Narus (1990) state that it is hard to break a trustworthy relationsh ip; even if one party is negatively affected by the deeds of the other, trust can still be restored. In order to build customer trust, a firm should ensure there is consistency in its actions. It should ensure that products and services have the right quality at all times and meet the customers’ needs. In addition, goods and services should be availed at the right place and time. There should be no cases of goods shortages in the market (Kamakura, et al., 2005). One of

Why Did Henry Viii Closed Dow the Monasteris Essay Example for Free

Why Did Henry Viii Closed Dow the Monasteris Essay In the 1500’s the king of England was Henry VIII. He had already broken up with the Catholic Church and the Pop. He had made himself head of the Church of England. Also he had divorced with Catherine of Aragon and marred Anna Boleyn. His lifestyle was extravagant and he was also worried that he could be attacked by the Catholic countries of Europe. Under these circumstances he decided to close down the monasteries for the following reasons: * He was greedy and needed more money for his extravagant lifestyle. * He needed lots of money to be prepared in case of a war with enemies * He needed to make sure the nobles of England supported him. * The monasteries had a lot of treasures and valuable parts and land * Monks and nuns lived a sinful life. Hennery VIII did not want to be unpopular to his people, for closing the monasteries, so he needed to justify his actions. For this reason he ordered his minister Thomas Cromwell to send inspectors to report how holy was the life of monks / nuns and how wealthy the monasteries were. The reports said that the monks and nuns were living a sinful life. Using the reports he managed to justify closing down the monasteries. He seized the wealth and the land of the monasteries for his needs (extravagant lifestyle, in case of war). To keep the nobles loyal to him, he gave them money and land. Finally this helped him to break one more link of the Pope with his people. Henry the VIII by closing the monasteries managed to solve his problems and to keep as many people as he could.

Psychometric study of academic self efficacy scale

Psychometric study of academic self efficacy scale The development of Malaysia industries, infrastructures and ensuring the general well being of the country by Malaysian engineers cannot be underestimated. A new of engineering education model have been introduced to develop the interpersonal skills deal with public effectively as well as the technically competent ( Johari, 2002). In order to develop the interpersonal skills among Malaysia future engineers, a research in psychology well being have to be done. A psychometric analysis is most important part to get a valid and reliable psychology research for predicting the interpersonal skills among students. Standardized testing procedures are essential to valid testing. An invalid and misleading of the test result may alter by using of nonstandard procedures (Gregory, 2007). The psychological test is an effective tool in measuring the attitude and mental ability. It assesses their efficiency in acquiring knowledge relevant to the job and putting what they learn to practice. The test measures emotional stability, and skills such as analytical and problem-solving skills, human communication and leadership skills. The standard procedure for measuring beliefs of personal efficacy includes number of safeguards to minimize any potential motivational effects of self-assessment. These safeguards are built into the instructions and the mode of administration. Self-efficacy judgments are recorded privately without personal identification to reduce social evaluative concerns. The assessments of perceived efficacy and behavior are conducted in different settings and by different assessors to remove any possible carryover of social influence from assessment to the performance setting (Bandura, 1984). For example, in this case, The College Academic Self efficacy scale (Owen Froman, 1988) indicates that students perceptions of their abilities to perform tasks, greatly influences their success. The importance of validity and reliable measure of the sources of self-efficacy is needed. First, self-efficacy beliefs play a critical role in the academic and career choices of students (Hackett, 1995). It is important for educators or a counselors to be well known of the factors that help create and nurture the self-efficacy beliefs of their students. This information is invaluable in helping educators tailor their instructional strategies and counseling practices in ways most supportive both of their students self-efficacy and also of their achievement. Educators and counselors can also make use of such assessments as they evaluate the manner in which academic programs and intervention strategies may influence the self-efficacy beliefs of the adolescents in their care. All professional educators would readily agree that identifying the ways in which students unrealistically low self-efficacy beliefs can be challenged and altered is an essential and critical enterprise. Another important reason why a psychometrically sound assessment of the sources of self-efficacy is required is that the tenets of Banduras (1986) social cognitive theory regarding the workings of self-efficacy cannot effectively be tested without such assessment. Researchers who wish to understand the formation of academic self-efficacy must obtain that understanding using valid and reliable measures that faithfully reflect the sources hypothesized and their role within the broader structure of social cognitive theory. This is especially important in the field of academic motivation where the sources of self-efficacy have often been operationalized and measured in a manner that bears little resemblance to how they were hypothesized by Bandura (1986, 1997). This study will be able to craft items to assess each source by matching them carefully to each source as it that has been described by Bandura (1997). The researcher next sought to establish a psychometrically fit model to measure the sources of self-efficacy and to test whether the model is invariant across demographic factors and the correlation with social support. This study will be also examined evidence for convergent and factor analysis by assessing the relationship between the sources, self-efficacy, and other constructs typically included in studies of academic motivation. College Students self-efficacy beliefs have been found to play an important role in motivating them to learn (Pajares Schunk, 2001). Self-efficacy refers to beliefs about ones capability to learn or perform effectively, such as to solve a particular type of math problem. Self-efficacy differs operationally from other self-related constructs in that self-efficacy items are phrased in terms of what students can do rather than what they will do or usually do in a particular domain (Bandura, 2006). An important type of self-efficacy focuses on students beliefs about their capability to self-regulate learning (SRL), which refers to such processes as goal setting, self-monitoring, strategy use, self-evaluation, and self-reactions (Zimmerman, 2007). Research has indicated that self efficacy correlates with achievement outcomes (Bandura, 1997; Pajares, 1996; Schunk, 1995). Students with high self efficacy often display greater performance comparatively to those with low efficacy. Self efficacy is also equated with self competence, hence significant authorities such as parents and teachers who exert great influences should play their role efficiently in enhancing this self competence and eventually self efficacy for it has great bearings in achievement, be it in the English language or any other subjects ( Mahyuddin.R, 2006). 1.2 Problem Statement This study concentrates on the psychometric properties and application of the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale and its relationship with social supports and students life satisfaction. Through the haze of available measurements in self efficacy, may of them offering weak or unknown psychometric properties, and unlikely that self-efficacy can penetrate clearly (Owen and Froman, 1988). Items in Self efficacy scale should accurately reflect the construct. Self efficacy is concerned with perceived capability. Self efficacy should also be distinguished from other constructs such as self esteem, locus of control, self regulation and outcome expectancies. Scientific advances are greatly accelerated by methodological development of assessment tools for key determinants of human functioning. Quality of assessment provides the basis for stringent empirical tests of theory. Self efficacy assessment tailored to domains of functioning and task demands identify patterns of strengths and limitations in perceived capability (Bandura, 1997). The academic self efficacy and self efficacy in learning have been widely investigate by western researchers and educators. For Malaysian researcher, the study of academic self efficacy is quite constrictive. There are several significance to investigate the psychometric properties of the academic self efficacy scale that will be discussed in part significance of the study. Researchers have previously investigated predictors affecting students decision to pursue higher education. Predictors include primary and secondary school preparations, family dynamics, self esteem, commitment to goals and social support systems. Yet, with all the services available to students and the research conducted to better understand factor associated with the above issues, there are some students who never successfully assimilate into and navigate through the university system (Shaw, N. E, 2008). Owen and Fromans (1988) College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale was selected for this study because it was different from most academic self-efficacy instruments. CASES was unique in that the instrument investigates feelings of academic self-efficacy as a whole as opposed to teasing out individual constructs or areas of academic self-efficacy such as English, mathematics, and reading. Owen and Froman (1988) also believed that CASES can give specific diagnostic findings that can influence holistic change to increase overall academic self-efficacy. This study is unique because one of its objectives was not to simply find a relationship between self efficacy, academic motivation and academic achievement, but to also explore how the psychometric properties is significance before the researcher conduct a test. The study attempted to focus on the mediating variable that would explain the relationship between self efficacy, academic motivation and academic achievement. 1.3 Research Question The research questions are listed as below; i) Do the ASES scores demonstrate adequate internal consistency reliability, convergent validity and factor analysis of the testing for the college students? ii) Are there significant differences in the level of academic self efficacy experienced by male and female students? iii) Are there significant differences in the level of academic self efficacy experienced by students with the level of parents education and income? iv) Is there a relationship between college academic self-efficacy and social support? v) is there a relationship between academic self efficacy and life satisfaction? 1.4 Research Objectives: i) To examine the psychometric properties of a Academic Self efficacy Scale to estimate the students self-efficacy. ii) To identify the levels of self efficacy among engineering students in tertiary education iii) To identify the relationship of self efficacy with demographic factors. iv) To identify the relationship of academic self efficacy with students social supports. v) To identify the relationship of academic self efficacy with life satisfaction. 1.5 Significance of the study Many studies in educational and psychological literature revealed that measurement of self-efficacy is important in the field of education because of its key role and relationships with many other variables, which have great influences on education. For this reason, self efficacy measurements and the development of an effective measurement tool with respect to psychometric properties have become an important issue and major concern. The educators can nurture student self-direction and personal efficacy by providing students with opportunities before, during and after instruction to exercise some control of their own learning. An emphasis on student self-direction and efficacy means that educators teach and engage students in specific strategies that offer them opportunities to make decisions and solve problems on their own without being told what to do at all times. It means, the educators can provide them with strategies designed to help them process information effectively and to be self-confident, believing that they have the abilities to succeed. And perhaps most important, we help students become more reflective about their thinking and learning processes. The perceived attractiveness of the field of engineering and the attrition of engineering students are important issues that are significantly influenced by self-efficacy beliefs. In order to address these problems, educators must gain a better understanding of how students assess their confidence in their abilities to complete the tasks that they find necessary to succeed in engineering fields with their engineering self-efficacy beliefs (Hutchison, 2007). Self-efficacy can influence peoples behavior either positively or negatively, based on their perception of their abilities concerning a particular task. It influences the choices people make, the effort they put forth, and how long they persist in the face of obstacles and failure. The efficacy beliefs of undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs have been linked to their persistence, achievement and interest. 1.6 Limitation of the study The psychometric study will only focus on The College Academic Self Efficacy Scale(CASES) which was develop by Owen and Froman (1988). This instrument also will be used to study the level of academic self efficacy among students. The sample only will be focus on engineering undergraduates. This study only will be done in Higher Public universities in term of geographical, cultural and course offered by the universities. 1.7 Definition of the Terms Psychometric Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of educational and psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. The field is primarily concerned with the study of measurement instruments such as questionnaires and tests. It involves two major research tasks, namely: (i) the construction of instruments and procedures for measurement; and (ii) the development and refinement of theoretical approaches to measurement. In this study, the psychometric analysis will be involved the reliability and validity analysis. In this research, the psychometric analysis will be involved reliability, convergent validity and confirmatory factor analysis. Academic Self efficacy Academic self-efficacy refers to individuals convictions that they can successfully perform given academic tasks at designated levels (Schunk, 1991). In this study, academic self efficacy will be demonstrated by the College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES) developed by Owen Froman (1988). College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES) College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES) refers to an instruments which was developed by Owen Froman (1988) in order to assess students belief that they can master the material and skills thought in university. The CASES was used in order to measure students levels of perceived academic self-efficacy. The scale contained 33-item with five-point Likert-type instruction to be appended. Social supports Life satisfaction A global assessment of a persons quality of life, dependent on the values and criteria deemed important by the individual (Shin Johnson, 1978). Engineering students Engineering students refers for those whom learned and willing to do the creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property. In this study, engineering students refers to first year students from four selected public universities which includes Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia(UTM), Universiti Putra malaysia and Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka. Chapter 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 Introduction This chapter will review and summarize the model and social cognitive theory and also self efficacy by Bandura (1997). The researcher has also focused on psychometrics analysis such as validity and reliability. The primary goal of understanding how students from engineering self efficacy beliefs, Bandura (1997) self efficacy beliefs, Bandura (1997) self-efficacy theory was selected to guide the research. 2.2 Social cognitive theory The selection of a guiding theoretical construct is directed by the questions a study seeks to answer (Patton,2002). The social cognitive theory aimed to focus attention on the significant role played by observational learning and vicarious reinforcement in human functioning. Bandura (1977) developed his theory to further include the essential component of self beliefs holds as a factor in human behavior. Social cognitive theory holds that human behavior, adaptation and change are based on cognitive, vicarious, self-regularotary and self reflective processes, rather than reactive responses as claimed in behaviorist theories. BEHAVIOR PERSONAL FACTORS ENVIRONMENTAL (Cognitive, affective, and FACTORS biological events) Figure 1.. Model of the relations between the three classes of determinants in Banduras (1986) conception of triadic reciprocality Figure 1 shows the model of the relations between the three classes of determinants in Banduras (1986) conception of triadic reciprocality. People are viewed as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting and self-regulating rather than as reactive organisms shaped and shepherded by environmental forces or driven by concealed inner impulses. From this theoretical perspective, human functioning is viewed as the product of a dynamic interplay of personal, behavioral, and environmental influences. For example, how people interpret the results of their own behavior informs and alters their environments and the personal factors they possess which, in turn, inform and alter subsequent behavior. This is the foundation of Banduras (1986) conception of reciprocal determinism, the view that (a) personal factors in the form of cognition, affect, and biological events, (b) behavior, and (c) environmental influences create interactions that result in a triadic reciprocality. Bandura altered the l abel of his theory from social learning to social cognitive both to distance it from prevalent social learning theories of the day and to emphasize that cognition plays a critical role in peoples capability to construct reality, self-regulate, encode information, and perform behaviors. 2.3 Self Efficacy Beliefs The self-beliefs that individuals use to exercise a measure of control over their environments include self-efficacy beliefs. beliefs in ones capability to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations (Bandura, 1997, p. 2). Self-efficacy beliefs are concerned with individuals perceived capabilities to produce results and to attain designated types of performance, they differ from related conceptions of personal competence that form the core constructs of other theories. Self-efficacy judgments are both more task- and situation-specific, contextual if you will, and individuals make use of these judgments in reference to some type of goal. To better understand the nature of self-efficacy beliefs it may be useful to explain how they are acquired, how they influence motivational and self-regulatory process, and how they differ from similar or related conceptions of self-belief. According to Bandura, there are four major sources of self-efficacy. 1. Mastery Experiences The most effective way of developing a strong sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences, Bandura explained (1994). Performing a task successfully strengthens our sense of self-efficacy. However, failing to adequately deal with a task or challenge can undermine and weaken self-efficacy. 2. Social Modeling Witnessing other people successfully completing a task is another important source of self-efficacy. According to Bandura, Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers beliefs that they too possess the capabilities master comparable activities to succeed (1994). 3. Social Persuasion Bandura also asserted that people could be persuaded to belief that they have the skills and capabilities to succeed. Consider a time when someone said something positive and encouraging that helped you achieve a goal. Getting verbal encouragement from others helps people overcome self-doubt and instead focus on giving their best effort to the task at hand. 4. Psychological Responses Our own responses and emotional reactions to situations also play an important role in self-efficacy. Moods, emotional states, physical reactions, and stress levels can all impact how a person feels about their personal abilities in a particular situation. A person who becomes extremely nervous before speaking in public may develop a weak sense of self-efficacy in these situations. However, Bandura also notes it is not the sheer intensity of emotional and physical reactions that is important but rather how they are perceived and interpreted (1994). By learning how to minimize stress and elevate mood when facing difficult or challenging tasks, people can improve their sense of self-efficacy. Bandura (1986) considered self-reflection the most uniquely human capability, for through this form of self-referent thought people evaluate and alter their own thinking and behavior. These self-evaluations include perceptions of self-efficacy, that is, beliefs in ones capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations. These beliefs of personal competence affect behavior in several ways. They influence the choices individuals make and the courses of action they pursue. People engage in tasks in which they feel competent and confident and avoid those in which they do not. Efficacy beliefs help determine how much effort people will expend on an activity, how long they will persevere when confronting obstacles, and how resilient they will prove in the face of adverse situations-the higher the sense of efficacy, the greater the effort, persistence, and resilience. Efficacy beliefs also influence individuals thought patterns and emotional reactions. People with low self-efficacy may believe that things are tougher than they really are, a belief that fosters stress, depression, and a narrow vision of how best to solve a problem. High self-efficacy, on the other hand, helps to create feelings of serenity in approaching difficult tasks and activities. As a result of these influences, self-efficacy beliefs are strong determinants and predictors of the level of accomplishment that individuals finally attain. For these reasons, Bandura (in press) argued that beliefs of personal efficacy constitute the key factor of human agency . 2.4 Engineering Self Efficacy Numerous studies examining the role of self efficacy in students pursuit of engineering careers have generally found a positive correlation between self-efficacy and academic achievement in engineering disciplines (AWE, 2005). For example, it has been found that ones self-efficacy beliefs influence on effort, persistence, and perseverance in goal attainment (Bandura Schunk, 1981; Bouffard-Bouchard, 1990; Schunk Hanson, 1985). Similar findings reveal that high self-efficacy beliefs influence the academic persistence necessary to maintain high academic achievement amongst college students enrolled in science and engineering courses (Lent, Brown, Larkin, 1984, 1986). Previous research also has clearly made the case that the construct of engineering self efficacy can be an important contributor to success in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) career education by influencing the choice to pursue STEM careers and the persistence with which it is pursued. Hutchison et al (2006) have done a survey incorporating qualitative measures of student self-efficacy beliefs to administer 1,387 first-year engineering students enrolled in ENGR 106, Engineering Problem-Solving and Computer Tools, at Purdue University. The survey was designed to identify factors related to students self-efficacy beliefs, their beliefs about their capabilities to perform the tasks necessary to achieve a desired outcome. Open-ended questions prompted students to list factors affecting their confidence in their ability to succeed in the course. Students were then asked to rank these factors based on the degree to which their self-efficacy beliefs were influenced. Gender trends emerged in student responses to factors that affect confident in success. These trends are discussed in light of the categories identified by efficacy theorists as sources of self-efficacy beliefs. The results presented here provide a useful look at the first-year engineering experiences that inf luence students efficacy beliefs, an important consideration in explaining student achievement, persistence, and interest. 2.5 Academic self efficacy Bandura (1997) believed that self-efficacy contributes to the academic achievement of students. Bandura proposed that individuals make a cognitive judgment about their mastery of present situations in view of their past experiences, and proceed to carry out the necessary behaviors to accomplish the task at hand. Students are affected by personal (e.g., goal setting, information processing) and situational influences (e.g., rewards, teacher feedback) that provide students with cues about how well they are learning. Self-efficacy is enhanced when students perceive they are performing well or becoming more skillful. Lack of success or slow progress will not necessarily lower self-efficacy if learners believe they can perform better by expending more effort or using more effective strategies (Schunk, 1995). Schunk (1991) in his study has also proposed that self-efficacy is critical to the academic achievement of adolescents. He hypothesized that self-efficacy influences a students choice of activities. Students with a high level of self-efficacy will select more challenging learning tasks, therefore expending more persistence and effort to obtain higher achievement outcomes, whereas students with low level of self-efficacy will avoid difficult and challenging tasks that require more effort and persistence, and thus, obtain lower achievement outcomes. Figure 1 The Development of Academic Self Efficacy ( Adapted from Schunk and Pajares, 2001) Familial Influence on Self-Efficacy Peer Influence Role of Schooling Transitional Influences Developmental Changes in Self-Appraisal Skill Gender Differences Ethnic Differences ACADEMIC SELF EFFICACY Students with higher self-efficacy expend greater effort, exhibit more persistence and demonstrate greater resilience in the face of adverse situations. As a result of these influences, self-efficacy beliefs are strong determinants of the level of accomplishment (Bandura, 1997; Pajares, 1996), and therefore contribute tremendously to intellectual development which leads to academic success (Bandura, 1995). In addition, the research literature includes several studies which emphasize the effect of self-efficacy on numerous positive outcomes as well as academic achievement. In this case, not only has self-efficacy been found to positively relate to higher levels of achievement, but also it has a strong association with a variety of adaptive academic 30 outcomes such as higher levels of effort and increased persistence on difficult tasks. This finding has been confirmed across a number of experimental and correlational studies involving students of different ages (Bandura, 1997; Pintrich Schunk, 2002). Also, in a correlational study conducted by Linnenbrink and Pintrich (2002), was found that self- efficacy is positively related to student cognitive engagement and their use of self- regulatory strategies as well as general achievement as indexed by grades (Pintrich, 2000b; Pintrich De Groot, 1990; Wolters, Yu, Pintrich, 1996). Lastly, further evidence exists in the research literature that confirms Schunks hypothesis that students who have positive self-efficacy beliefs are more likely to choose to continue to take more difficult courses over the course of schooling (Eccles et al., 1998). Although several studies confirm the positive effect of self-efficacy on academic achievement, there also seems to be a number of other mediating influences or related variables that provide further explanation of this relationship. In view of possible mediating influences, there exist contradictions in the literature regarding the exact nature of the relationship of self-efficacy with other related variables (e.g., goal orientation, motivation) in explaining positive academic outcomes, as well as its precise strength in predicting academic achievement, irrespective of these variables. Such discrepancies in the research literature should be considered in examining the effect of self-efficacy on academic achievement. The finding that self-efficacy beliefs tend to decline as students advance through school (Pintrich Schunk, 1996) has been attributed to various factors, including greater competition, more norm-referenced grading, less teacher attention to individual student progress, a nd stresses associated with school transitions. These and other school practices can weaken academic self efficacy, especially among students who are less academically prepared to cope with increasingly challenging academic tasks. Lock-step sequences of instruction frustrate some students who fail to grasp skills and increasingly fall behind their peers (Bandura, 1997). Ability groupings can lower self-efficacy among those relegated to lower groups. Classrooms that allow for much social comparison tend to lower the self-efficacy of students who find their performances inferior to those of their peers. Students involvement and participation in school depend in part on how much the school environment contributes to their perceptions of autonomy and relatedness, which in turn influence self-efficacy and academic achievement. Although parents and teachers contribute to feeling of autonomy and relatedness, peers become highly significant during adolescence. The peer group context enhances or diminishes students feelings of belonging and affiliation (Hymel, Comfort, Schonert-Reichl, McDougall, 1996). 2.6 Social support College students may seek social and emotional support from their family and friends. Social support, or receiving emotional, informational, and/or tangible support from other individuals (Lazarus Folkman, 1984), has been linked positively with the maintenance of physical health during stressful situations. In addition, the perceived availability of social support, rather than the actual use of social support, may actually be more important in protecting individuals from the harmful effects of stressful situations (Holahan Moos, 1987). Further, social support may be an important component of college students transitioning successfully to the college environment (Hays Oxley, 1986) and college students academic achievement (DeBerard et al., 2004), with low levels of social support being related to a lack of persistence in academic endeavors (Mallinckrodt, 1988). Given these findings, it is possible that support from family and friends is extremely important in the lives of college students during their college careers, particularly as they experience and make attempts to cope with academic-related stress. For example, one study using a sample of first- and second-year college students, most of whom were without daily parental contact, showed that parental support predicted significantly the grade point average (GPA) of these students. In contrast, support from friends and romantic partners did not predict GPA significantly (Cutrona et al., 1994). These results indicated that, although parents may be removed physically from college students daily life, they still may have a major impact on college students academic performance. As a result, the perceived level of emotional support from college students parents may be related greatly to many aspects of their college career, including their academic performance and their experience of academic- related stress. 2.6.1 Parental support Seminal attachment theories developed by Bowlby (1969) and Ainsworth and

What are the key considerations in branding exercise

What are the key considerations in branding exercise Brands can be defined as the promises that consumers believe in. In general, brand is an image that makes its way into consumers mind to influence how they think and buy. It is based on the promise of the products to the consumers. A brand, in essence, is related to the promise you are going to deliver to the consumers about the products and the benefits after using or purchasing the products. (Keller, 1993) A lot of people have misunderstanding towards concept of brand. They thought changing the logo and company are the complete set of brand exercise. Branding isnt a veneer that you slap on (usually in the form of a new logo) to mask or transform a product offering. Treating branding like some skin-deep solution to your businesss problems is like putting lipstick on a pig: People see through the makeup, no matter how thick the application. According to Aaker, and Keller (1990), branding has to go all the way to the core of everyone and the identity for all. Before starting doing any brand exercise, there are some mindset preparation needs to be established. First when you start building your brand, you must let the whole world to believe and confident towards your promise on your products. The product promises should be unique and represent the values of the products to be delivered to the customers. The promises you have made, should be delivered to your consumers at the same pace in term of name, logo, message and the company name. The consistency of the brand is important especially when doing publicity, advertisements or even maintaining customer relationship. After building up the brand, brand maintenance is very important. (Muniz and OGuinn, 2001). We must reinforce the brand promise. We must have self evaluation on the brand consistency with the message that we hope to deliver. If the brand does not show consistency, you tend to spoil your brand and put your brand at risk because consumer would think that you are breaking your pr omise to deliver the message to the consumers. No branding exercise is going to success if you are rushing for building up the brand. When building up a brand, we must always focus, persistence and put passion into it. Besides, branding exercise needs high investment. The higher the risk, the higher the return. The return on investment for brand exercise is huge because you will increase the involvement of market share at long run. Remember, you would not be able to see the results of branding at short time. Hence, building up branding exercise of a product or company follows the principle of Rome is not built in one day! Time, effort are the success key for building a brand. Brands create consumer trust and emotional attachments. For example, when we think of a convenient store, we will definitely think of 7-11. Why? This can be explained that the store has created the trust and emotional attachments among us. Branding exercise enhances customer loyalty and help the organization to win through even when they are having price war or having new competitors in the market. In consumer behaviour studies, brand actually a perception neurologically. For example, you are able to identify a logo because you believe how and what the logo represents. For example, Coffee Bean sells coffee. It stands for daily respiration. Remember, the brand lives in consumer minds, so branding is the process of development consumer beliefs and perception that are accurate and in alignment with what you want your brand to be. Key Considerations in Branding Exercise There is several keys consideration in branding exercise. It can be described through the diagram when taking action of brand exercise. The first key of consideration is the product definition. According to Balmer (1995) you can actually brand anything that wish to such as services, products, organisation, even people. Complete understanding of the product you would like to brand is the first consideration to be taken into account. The second consideration is the positioning of products. During positioning, we have to find out the is found in the consumers mind. Hence, the positioning should be unique, meaningful, and available spot in the marketplace. The uniqueness of the product that enables the product to stand out from the market is essential to understand your own product before taking the decision to brand the product. Next, the promise is the important element in branding exercise. In fact, the promise delivers by the product is the fundamental of the message to be delivered to the consumers. This promise shows what the product can deliver or how the product does helps the consumer. The key promises actually create the interest among consumers and credibility of the products. Most of the brand consultant would start the branding exercise by giving a fantastic name, creating a nice logo and launch the product to the market place with nice and beautiful packaging. (Keller, 2003). Persistence plays important role in branding. It is the important key consideration during branding. This is the point in the branding cycle where too many brands lose steam. After brands are launched, brand owners often get tired of their own looks and messages and begin to improvise with new looks, new messages, and even new brand personalities and promises. Just when consistency is most necessary in order to gain clarity and confidence in the marketplace, brands that lack persistence go off track. The persistence of the brand can be evaluated through perception analysis. In a consumers mind which is where brands live and thrive a brand is a set of beliefs about what a company offers, promises, and stands for. Great brands continually monitor brand per ­ceptions to see that theyre in alignment with the brand owners aspira ­tions and in synch with consumer wants and needs. Based on the results of perception analysis, brand owners begin their loop around the branding cycle again, this time adjusting their products, fine-tuning their positioning statements, strengthening their promises, updating their presentations, rewriting their brand management rules, and once again monitoring perceptions in order to guide ongoing brand realignments and revitalizations. 2. Never in my life did I think that any of my traditional dishes.. that I cured in my backyard would one day appear in store say Tescos partner Khun Kanungnit. Explain the key benefits of branding and how does branding change the way Tescos partner Khun Kanungnit operate his business? Key Benefit of Branding Most businessmen have the dilemma the statement, To Brand or Not to Brand. The consideration involved of the return on investment (ROI) worth for the value. However, the concept of branding brings more advantages to the business. First, the brands unlock profitability. Doing business in this competitive world creates problems to the new comers. All businesses are focusing on different areas and they are competing with each other. Product differentiation, provide a better service become the competitive key for all business. According to Berry (2000), consumers now are smart to do comparison on the price, quality of the products. Brands provide the platform for the product and business to venture into strategic advantage environment. Second, brands prompt consumer selection. The buying process now has changed. Traditional purchasing behaviour focus on direct selling and also face to face communication. Now, with advancement with internet and wireless connection, people can even use hand phone or ipad to purchase. The change of the buying behaviour breaks the geographic limitation. The boundless marketplace creates more challenge to the business and creates the needs of branding to the businesses. Third brands build name awareness. According to Theory Reasoned and Action (TRA) model awareness is the fundamental of purchase behaviour. Creating a brand can be enhanced through logo trademark registration. According to Ha (1998), there are nearly 99% of the words found in the English dictionary has been registered as the domain name to be used as the marketing strategy. Some of the names even are put as the trademark. Now, a lot of new business created words is not found in the dictionary to be used as their business. Those invented names have strong and diligent word so they create consumer awareness, recall, and meaning. Forth, Park, Jaworski and Maclnnis (1986) reported the brands increase the odds of business survival. When analysing product life cycle, we understand that boost up a product is essential in order to avoid the product reaches saturated stage. Brand helps to break through this barrier. With this strategy, products would continue to survive without having strike by the sinking of consumer awareness, understanding, and preference In fact, brands do not only brings advantages in financial prospective but it also creates non financial benefits such as customer loyalty, words of month marketing strategy and others. Even branding exercise needs high investment but the outcome of successful branding exercise would create unlimited benefit to the products and also organisation in the long run. Change of business operation due to branding There are several changes that were done by Tesco in Thailand in order to win the local market. The following strategies are implemented: Continue to develop market of quality Thai products so that every customer can discover, use the goods that are made for Thailand citizen. Involve in local participation Surin Limited partnership. Continue to maintain quality, cleanliness and general statements of products Continue to work hard to find useful information, and constantly getting advice from Tesco Britain to provide the best service to the consumers Provide strategic differentiation in term of service and product to the consumers. During implementing branding exercise, Tesco in Thailand continue to develop market of quality Thai products so that every customer can discover, use the goods that are made for Thailand citizen. All products that are displayed in Tesco Thailand have undergone product quality assessment. During quality assessment, health, food safety, varieties issues are taken care to ensure customer satisfaction. Besides, marketing research is conducted from time to time in order to know the needs of the consumers in term of price strategy, product range in order to satisfy the customers. The center wants to brand them as the one stop center that the customers can find everything in there. Hence, Tesco Thailand tries to fulfill the quality not only products but also the service. Tesco in Thailand involve in local participation Surin Limited partnership. When implementing branding exercise, culture issues are essential to determine the success in a local market. Internationalization is important when penetrating in new countries (Welch, 1988). Tesco Britain can be successful in their home country, but they have to based on local culture on the concept of do and dont in management so that would not offense local people. For example, certain words can be used in Britain in the advertisement. However, the same words can be offensive in local market. The cultural issue consideration can be achieved with local participation Surin Limited partnership. Tesco in Thailand brand themselves as the quality, cleanliness and general statements of products. They continue to maintain this concept the give comfortable feeling to the consumers. As in ISO 9002 of Tesco, washrooms need to be cleaned every two hours to ensure the cleanliness. (Smith and Sparks, 2004). Besides, the expired date of the products is checked by the stock keepers every month so that the product quality is maintained. Not only that, Tesco works together with local farmers to supply the fresh food, meat and meat to them. This exercise in fact becomes the branding identity for Tesco with the tagline, Fresh vegetable everyday. In order to maximize satisfaction level of customers, Khun Thanyapat always continue to work hard to find useful information, and constantly getting advice from Tesco Britain to provide the best service to the consumers. Thailand has move to knowledge society. Product information is important to ensure customers satisfaction. Leaflets are put on the entrance of the Tesco so the consumer are awared of the product range and also this increase the decision making process of consumers. Hence, this strategy improves and encourages purchase behaviour among consumers. Provide strategic differentiation in term of service and product to the consumers. Tesco Thailand brings all the products into the store. Besides, the center can be an entertainment center for children, shopping gallery for housewife. A business center for businessman and also the family gathering center also. In term of entertainment center for children, they have playground and game center for the children to have joy and fun there. Children would love to visit the place because they are place for them to do some activities. In term of housewives, they can buy groceries, fresh vegetables, meat and others to fulfill the needs of the family. The housewives do not need to travel to grocery to buy a broom and travel to wet market to buy a fish and even to dry market to buy onion. Now, Tesco Thailand gathers all the products according to the household needs. Not only there, bank services are available to help businessman to do their work while their wife are shopping. Besides, these facilities encourage shoppers to buy more because they can withdraw money anytime when they shop. 3. How does Tesco differentiate its brand from the competitors and build brand-loyalty among the consumers in Thailand? After analyzing the case study of Tesco, I have generally identified the brand strength of Tesco Thailand are: Customer Relationship management Commitment to quality Global-local adaptation Breadth of product Service offering Target market strategy. Customer Relationship Management Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a business strategy that aims to understand, anticipate and manage the needs of an organisations current and potential customers (Reinartz, Krafft, Hoyer, 2004). It is a comprehensive approach which provides seamless integration of every area of business that touches the customer- namely marketing, sales, customer services and field support through the integration of people, process and technology It is a shift from traditional marketing as it focuses on the retention of customers in addition to the acquisition of new customers. The expression Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is becoming standard terminology, replacing what is widely perceived to be a misleadingly narrow term, relationship marketing (RM) Tesco Thailand focuses on customer relationship management. They believe that customer satisfaction is the first priority to be set by the organization. Tesco Thailand builds the customer relationship with the consumers. According to research, a lot of consumer purchases a product not because they need the products but it is due to the emotional needs. (Morris, 1998). In relationship management, Tesco wants their clients to achieve highest customer satisfaction. They differentiate themselves by providing the return product policy when they do not feel satisfy with the products. Generally, when a customer satisfies with the products or services, they would tend to repurchase or revisit the store again. Besides, Tesco Thailand understands that it is cheaper to retain the current customers rather than making promotion and advertisements to recruit new customers. Tesco Thailand always put clients as the top priority in all purchasing process. With this policy, the customers would feel more secure to purchase and shop in the shop. Besides, Tesco provides membership for the customers. The clients can accumulate points when shopping in Tesco Thailand. The points can be used to redeem vouchers or products from Tesco. Besides, the members would receive updates of promotion from time to time. These strategies promote the relationship with the customers and this lead to the customer loyalty and brand identity among customers. Not only membership, Tesco Thailand provides exclusive discount for members. Members day are conducted yearly only for members. During the members day, members are given opportunity to shop with higher discount. Each member can only bring a friend to shop on the day. This strategy improves customer relationship and made the Tesco membership to be more exclusive. (Shaffer, 1991). Commitment to Quality Product quality is customers overall evaluation of the excellence of the performance of the good or service. Kellers (1993) 7 basic dimensions of quality Performance Employee Interactions Reliability Durability Timeliness and convenience Aesthetics Brand Equity Tesco Thailand cares of the product quality. They understand price is a factor of decision making but the quality of products is the key element that sustain the customers to stay and can be converted as the customer loyalty in the future. Besides, there is a strong relationship between quality products and customer satisfaction. High customer satisfaction promotes customer loyalty in a long run. As the implementation strategy, Tesco Thailand always maintains the product quality by doing stock check to keep track on the freshness of the products. Besides, Tesco has a computerized system to evaluate the expired date for the products. This strategy maintains the quality of the products. Global-local Adaptation Global-local adaptation is used by the Tesco Thailand to win the market. Manager from Tesco Britain can be familiar with retail business but localization is important based on the culture and taboo. Products that are sold in large quantity in Britain might not be able to win the heart of the local community. As the result, Tesco Thailand takes initiative to set up a production unit (local company Surin Limited Partnership) that has no negative association with quality, premium products. With this strategy, Tesco Thailand actually undergoes internationalization and localization to achieve the support from the local community. Some products sold in Tesco Thailand are only being found in Thailand but you would never find it in the Tesco internationally. These products are specially design for the local community. Salty fish is the best example, Thailand community likes the product and they want to buy it from Tesco Thailand. However, the product might not be accepted by Britain community. The integration of local culture is taken care when providing service to the local community. Not only that, Tesco Thailand employs only local staffs. The managers and CEO are local community. With local management team, they would able to plan effectively. For example, for advertisement and promotion program, the local marketing manager would be able to know the culture in Thailand. The preference of the consumers is identified. The words choice, colours and models used in the advertisement can be localized to increase the acceptance of the local community. Hence, Global-local adaptation in term of staffs is an essential factor to be taken care off. Breadth of product Depth of product line can be defined as the variety of products that are carried by any retails shows such as cloths, electrical products, food, furniture and others. . The breadth of the product is important to ensure Tesco Thailand success in differentiating themselves and to create customer loyalty. As review in the case study, Tesco Thailand can be an entertainment center for children, shopping gallery for housewife. A business center for businessman and also the family gathering center also. In term of entertainment center for children, they have playground and game center for the children to have joy and fun there. Children would love to visit the place because they are place for them to do some activities. In term of housewives, they can buy groceries, fresh vegetables, meat and others to fulfill the needs of the family. The housewives do not need to travel to grocery to buy a broom and travel to wet market to buy a fish and even to dry market to buy onion. Now, Tesco Thailand gathers all the products according to the household needs. Not only there, bank services are available to help businessman to do their work while their wife are shopping. Besides, these facilities encourage shoppers to buy more because they can withdraw money anytime when they shop. With the breath of products, customers satisfaction level increases and this builds the customer loyalty in the long run. Service offering Tesco Thailand has undergone market and product development strategies to provide a better service to the consumer. Tesco has used the Internet to extend its market into new product markets, such as financial services, white goods and DVD rentals. While these are promoted through the store, the web provides a wider choice of products, more detailed information about products and a method of purchase. The internet can also support entry into new geographical markets. New revenue sources are available through extending the product range online as explained above, and also with new digital revenue streams such as those for music downloads and e-Diets. Tesco also supports advertising on its site of related product such as financial services. Differentiation through Target market strategy. Tesco.com has a broad market of customer types, so it is less relevant for them to use online to selectively target these with communications. However, the article explains how Tesco has used the web and e-mail to target more closely through targeting different lifecycle groups these are customers who are grouped according to their level of adoption of online service. Tesco also uses the web to target specific requirements such as Diets and Financial Services through search engine marketing. Not only this, Tesco offers some unique online promotions and lower online prices for select products such as financial services which could attract a percentage discount when purchased online. It appears not to use the service elements of the mix for positioning beyond the slogan You Shop, We Drop. But attention has been paid to improving the customer experience through usability activities and reduction of download times. Conclusion Strong brands never happen by accident. Yet only 53% of firms say they have a long term brand strategy in place. A brand strategy is simply a plan for developing a coherent brand. It provides the means for systematically creating differentiation and consumer appeal by empowering better brand decisions across the organization. An effective brand strategy influences the total operation of a business to ensure consistent brand experiences for the customer. Tesco Thailand has become a successful story of branding that can be learnt by everyone. Differentiation and innovation are important to sustain the success of the brand. Reaching the heart by creating memory and customer loyalty is the final destination for all branding exercise.