Dutchtown High School Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dutchtown High School - Research Paper Example There are a number of classes that are offered at Dutchtown middle school even though all the students are encouraged to take the entire four major lessons, which are science social studies, math, and English. The school also provides an opportunity to get into an in-state university. The schools motto is to provide an environment of excellence where all students can become lifelong learners and productive citizens. In addition, the school also offers courses in United States history, studio art 2d-design, biology, computer science, art history, calculus Ab & Bc, chemistry, English language and composition , politics, studio art drawing, US government, English literature, world history, European history and physics. The state of Louisiana has an enrollment of 703,309 students while the attendance rate for the year 2010-2011 was 94.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). However, the in-school suspension rate for the year 2010-2011 was 9.6% while the percentage of classes taught by highly qual ified teachers for the same year was 88.8%. The expenditure per student was $10,622. The state ranked in a grade of 91.8 in 2010, which is a 2 star ranking and 93.3 in 2011, which is a grade C ranking (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). ... n.  However, the area where the school is located is vulnerable to hurricanes and the tropical systems since the area is lowly elevated, and has a close location to the coast of southeast Louisiana. The town lies 23 feet above the sea level, which is slightly lower than most areas of United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). Geismar in turn is located in Louisiana, a state found in the US, which is found in the southern region. The state of Louisiana is among the most extensive and populous states of the United States. This has contributed greatly in shaping the demographics patterns of Ducthtown High School in that the school boasts of a large population of students and teachers. The average ratio of students to teacher is 25:1, which is actually a moderate ratio. The capitals of Louisiana are found in Baton Rouge whereas the largest city in that state is New Orleans. One interesting political fact is that the state of New Orleans is the only state in the US whereby the three are political subdivisions known as parishes. Dutchtown High School is located in Ascension Parish. These parishes are the equivalents of counties in many other US states (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). Ethnically, the state of Louisiana’s urban environments is a multi-cultural environment and multi-lingual surroundings. The states heritage is by far shaped and influenced by the admixture of 18th century,  Native American, African,  and Spanish cultures. Cultures and ethnicity are considered exceptional in the US statistics, which have also played a major role in shaping the schools ethnicity and cultural heritage. This multi cultures were contributed largely by the colonial history of this state whereby the French and the Spanish colonized it way before the British took over colonizing America.

Work Package Essay Example for Free

Work Package Essay What approach would you take to identify the activities needed to complete the work package? A work package is a portion of the WBS that allows project management to define the steps necessary for completing the project. (Ultimate Resource for PM) In my opinion, the activities should be divided into different levels. We should try to pick the most important activities and try to avoid the less-important ones. Put the feasible activities on the list and delete the impractical ones. How would you know that you have identified the right level of detail? To identify the right level of the details, we have to start from the first level. The first level should be a general idea of the activities and the main steps. The second level is the expansion of the first level. So is the third level. Form the top-down structure, the top level is always the conclusion and the basic level is the details. How would you prevent identifying ‘too much’ detail or too many activities that would it very difficult for you to manage? By identifying the details, we should try to take the details that build up the structure and work for the project. It should be a blueprint for the project manager to identify the activities clearly. So we should just keep the main steps on the list and try to avoid the unnecessary activities. Can you give an example of a Work Package or something similar (it can be a real life example) where you decomposed the deliverable (what is needed) into the activities that are needed to complete the deliverable? When I was in the former class, our team was to finish one project called developing new IPhone 5 market. So we tried to develop our WBS and the deliverables. Our team had thought of 3 main deliverables of producing, advertising and customer service. But we found out that actually, we needed to decompose the producing into producing, packing and transportation. Mailing new iPhone to different customers and stores is still a big activity we need to pay attention to.

An Over View Of Brand And Brand Image Marketing Essay

An Over View Of Brand And Brand Image Marketing Essay CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 2.1 Primary Research Primary research data is collected directly, detached observation, evaluate of phenomena in the real life, without any exoteric interference (Walliman 2001). There are some primary research methods, such as questionnaire, interview, observations, etc. For the research project choose the suitable methodology is very necessary and effective. In this project will use the one of the primary research method: questionnaire Questionnaire is very direct way to get feedback from responder When create the questionnaire need consider all the questions are related the topic, and all the answers also need to analysis, discussion and so on. In this project will find 60 female students to answer the questions, their ages are from 18-25 years old. All of them are from Hollings Campus of MMU. The researcher should make sure the questionnaire easily to answer, give the responder a comfortable and free environment to answer the questions; and do not make questions verbose and complicated. Thus the researcher can get the maximum feedback. When create the questionnaire need consider all the questions are related the topic, and all the answers also need to analysis, discussion and so on. During the research there will have some limitations, because the number and the age of the respondents are not wide enough, so the results only can reflect a group of consumers thought. 2.2 Company background 2.2.1 HM HM was established in Và ¤sterà ¥s, Sweden in 1947 by Erling Persson. Now have 1,700 stores around the world. The first HM store in the United Kingdom was opened in 1976. 2006 United Kingdom passed Sweden as HMs second largest market. Through the recorded there are 146 stores in UK. It has great steady expansion and growth this year, too (HM website). The Figure shows the top 5 largest shareholders as per 31 March 2008 Name Number of shares % of total shares % of voting rights Stefan Persson med familj 304 872 400* 36,84 69,30 Lottie Tham med familj 44 040 200 5,32 2,59 Alecta Pensionsfà ¶rsà ¤kring 27 735 000 3,35 1,63 Swedbank Robur fonder 24 406 752 2,95 1,43 JP Morgan Chase Bank 21 843 019 2,64 1,28 Figure 2.2.1 (a) Ownership structure Source: HM website The reason choose HM is: it is an international big company and come into the UK market, also has successful business in British market, during this project you will find how the HM operate their brand in the UK market, and get consumers responds known the attractive factors of HM. 2.2.2 Levis From its website (Levis website) can know LSCo. is one of the worlds largest brand-name apparel marketers with sales in more than 100 countries. It is America company, there is no other company with a comparable global presence in jeans and casual pants markets. It is a different type of company with HM, its main products are denim. Because the respondents of this project is young female students, so need compare with the valuable price retailer and get the feedback known how popular of the denim brand and find out what the develop direction if Levis want attract the young female students. 2.2.3 All Saints All Saints is a young fashion chain, has nearly 110 stores in the UK (All Saints Website). Kait Bolongaro and Stuart Trevor, who founded All Saints in 1994 and sold the chain to entrepreneur Kevin Stanford at the end of 2005, have struck a deal with Religions majority owner Darren Collins to roll out retail stores under two fascias, one called Bolongaro Trevor and the other called Religion (Tate 2007). All Saints is part owned by investment firm Baugur. Baugur has a stake of about 35% (Brown 2009). Different with above two brands, All Saints is a UK local brand, and do not has that much stores in overseas market like the HM and Levis. From research questions will get how the market status in young female students, and how to build a strong brand awareness and develop the oversea market like above two. These three brands background and target consumers are different, but can use them to compare what influence in this focus group consumer and then give the suggestions to each of them how to develop their brand image or gain more potential consumers. CHAPTER 3 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS 3.1 Logo Recognition Through the research results, the data display all the 60 respondents can recognize the HM and Levis logos; but there are 5 respondents can not recognize the All Saints logo. Figure 3.1 (a): Logo Recognition Status Source: Questionnaire 3.2 Purchase Situation Look at Figure 3.2(a) you can see the data of how many people have bought these three brands. In research the 60 people, there are 59 people have bought HM products and only 1 has not bought before. In the All Saints part, 37 people said they have not bought any All Saints products, rest of 23 respondents have bought before, the distance between Yes and No are smaller. Go to look the Levis part, the gap between Yes and No are smaller than All saints, the 26 respondents have not buy any Levis products, 34 of them have bought before. Figure 3.2(a): Rate of Purchase Situation Source: Questionnaire 3. 3 Most Important Factor The following table and pie charts are showing the occupancy of each factor. You can see it more vivid. The results of most important factor for each brand Brand Factor HM All Saints Levis Price 23 26 8 Quality 11 8 23 Style 25 16 15 Brand 1 10 14 Figure 3.3(a): The number of results of shopping frequency Source: Questionnaire Figure 3.3 (b) HM The percentage of each factor occupancy Source: Questionnaire Figure 3.3 (c) All Saints The percentage of each factor occupancy Source: Questionnaire Figure 3.3 (d) Levis The percentage of each factor occupancy Source: Questionnaire 3.4 Shopping Frequency The following pie charts show the frequency of respondents shop in these stores. Each of them has different situation and these charts give reader clear data. The results of shopping frequency HM All Saints Levis Once a week 4 0 0 Once a month 42 20 23 Several times a month 13 4 7 Not often 0 7 5 Never 0 29 25 Figure 3.4 (a) The results of shopping frequency Source: Questionnaire The percentage of the shopping frequency of each brand Figure 3.4 (b) HM Source: Questionnaire Figure 3.4 (c) All Saints Source: Questionnaire Figure 3.4 (d) Levis Source: Questionnaire 3.5 Average Expenditure Results of how much of the respondents spent on average price brand HM percentage All Saints percentage Levis percentage  ¿Ã‚ ¡0 ~ ¿Ã‚ ¡30 43 71.7% 8 13.3% 8 13.3%  ¿Ã‚ ¡30 ~ ¿Ã‚ ¡60 17 28.3% 0 0 15 25%  ¿Ã‚ ¡60 ~ ¿Ã‚ ¡90 0 0 17 28.3% 17 28.3% above  ¿Ã‚ ¡90 0 0 9 15% 0 0 Never buy 1 0 26 43.3% 20 33.3% Total respondents 60 60 60 Figure 3.5(a) Results of average expenditure Source: Questionnaire CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION From last chapter all the research results are presented, in this part will discussion the results and develop the project. 4.1 Logo Recognition From 3.1 you can know the rate of brand recognition of these three retailers. The first question in questionnaire reflects the consumers impression to a brand. This kind of impression can be considered as brand awareness. Brand awareness reflects the how many customers remember a brand (Glossary 2007). Nowadays, consumers have their own way to judge a brand such as consumers can distinguish the brand with a particular product category because the brand awareness reflects the saliency of a brand and how convenient it brings to consumers (Chernatong McDonald 1998). Brand awareness reflects the brands presence in consumers memory (Hague and Jackson, 1994; Aaker, 2002), and it is the amount of the consumers or potential consumers who have cognition of a brand. Thus, companies will find how many consumers can recognise their brand instinctively and how it differentiation with other competing brands (Crainer 1995). From the results you can know the HM and Levis have very successful brand awareness in peoples mind. This indicated their marketing communications are effectively (Glossary 2007). They always give the people strong impression.In order to consolidate their market status, they have new action continual. For example, HM launch a new flagship on Londons Regent Street in March. This action increases their brand awareness and makes the gain more customers (Brown 2008). The awareness of All Saints are slightly weak than another two brands. So the All Saints need create the strong marketing campaign, or communication to support its brand awareness. Drapers online (2009) reported All Saints has opening several new stores last year, and ramped up international expansion with openings in Paris in October and Antwerp in November. 4.2 Purchase Situation The purchase situation influences the whole income of the company. Income of a company can be divided visible and invisible. The visible income could say sales income, and invisible could say brand equity. Because brand equity is the commercial and financial value of the brand to the organisation which owns and utilises it  ¼Ã‹â€ Crainer 1995; Aaker, 2002 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. Riezebos (2003) and Aaker(2002) defined brand equity is the strategic and management advantage, it is can be the fundamental of competitive advantage, also it is a kind of asset and long- term benefit. Brand equity can understanding from multi perspectives and they concluded that brand equity build on by differential features and give added profit to the companys balance sheet. In 3.2 has presented that the consumer purchases these three brands are dissimilar. Certainly also can said the popularity of these three brands are different. HM is the most popular store of these three, nearly 98% respondents expressed they have shopping experiences in here; this is a popular consumption brand. HM is aimed at everyone with an interest in fashion; it supplies extensive range of products, from clothes to accessories, at same time keeps new items come into the stores every day (HM website). The research results show, All Saints and Levis are not as widespread purchased as HM. Most of these respondents know these two brands, but not mean they certainly have bought their products. More than half ( 62% have not) of the respondents have not buy any All Saints products before, only 38% respondents have bought their products. Of course you may say that they have more development space. To make sure the brand equity growth, the brand gives to convince them that it is relevant to consumers needs can gain more attraction and hold consumers. (Chernatong McDonald 1998). Like recently, All Saints has some advantaged actions to attract more consumers. It has relaunched its online store with new imagery and better navigation, it gives customer a fresh appearance and simpler operating system. Stephen Ritchie, chief executive of Drivebusiness, the etail development firm that handled the relaunch, said: All Saints [the website] has grown phenomenally since we launched it in 2005 and its turnover continues to grow and exceed all expectations. All Saints online store is one of its top performing stores and we continue work with the team on improvements such as the recent enhancements to its distribution centre which has increased output by 250 %( Brown 2009). Levis received better results than All Saints, 57% of them have Levis products. It is more widely purchased by this group of people. Their products have more attraction than All Saints. Like the All Saints, Levis also has positive action. From the Drapersonline: Denim brand Levis has changed the licensee for its underwear and lingerie collection as part of a repositioning strategy. The move is intended to reinvigorate the collection ( Drapersonline 2009). This action gives more opportunity to potential and existing consumers to buy their products. This report said this is a part of repositioning strategy; it means they will have more and effective activities in the future and the consumers purchasing volume will increase. 4. 3 Most Important Factor Different retailer gives different impression to the customers. The research results give us direct information about the consumers ideas. At the same time reflects the consumers buying behaviour. Consumer behaviour is the study of the process when individuals or groups choose, buy, use of products, services, ideas or related experiences to satisfy their needs and wishes (Hawkins, Best and Coney 2004). Usually, when consumers purchasing clothing, they have their own way to judge the store, product, price and so on. In 3.3, the display these three different type retailer give the different impression to consumers. From HM part, there are 45% respondents thought the style are most important factor of this retailer. HM supply a broad and wide range product; the collections are created with broad design ideas and satisfy many different tastes of requirements. Their designing group always take the world as inspiration; styles are following the fashion trends. They try their best to create a good balance between fashion, quality and the best price (HM website). Thus, other 38.3% respondents said the price of HM is acceptable. About the quality there are 15% respondents express they are interested in this and only 1.7% respondents think about the brand of HM. It reflects the fashion consumers have their judgements. Many apparel decisions are rationally consider ones evaluative measure and choosing a feasible alternative. Like Solomon (2004) said if the object reaches consumers interest, they evaluate it and then might purchase. From other point view, this also reflects what the brand image in consumers mind. Brand image includes the target markets interpretation of the products attributes, benefits, usage situations, users, and manufacturer features. In a market brand image reflects schematic memory of a brand (Hawkins, Best and Coney 2004) and consumers perception of a brands characteristics (Hague and Jackson, 1994; Chernatony and McDonald 1998). So from 3.3(b) it demonstrated style and price are main points to attract HM consumers. Look at the All Saints part, 43.3% of respondents considered the most important factor of this retailer is price. Compare with other two retailers the price of All Saints are higher; it is why the consumer think this is important factor of it. Following the price the style are another important section, there are 26.7% respondents are interested in this. 16.7% respondents considered brand, 13.3% considered quality. In the Levis part there are 38.3% respondents thought the quality is the first important section, the second important section is the style, in this section 25% respondents. About the brand and price respectively are 23.3% and 13.3%. To this group consumer, when asked about the HM, the style is most considered factor; they thought style is All Saints brand image is: its price is high and, and they thought Levis has good quality products. Brand image like a receiver  ¼Ã‹â€ Jean-Noà «l 1997 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °, the image will be influenced by the performance of the promotions, literature and the message, thus a positive image will accelerate the development for an organisation (Hague and Jackson, 1994). Sproles and Kendall explained (1986, p.268; cited by Wang. C.L; Siu. N. Y. M; Hui. A. S. Y 2004), a consumers decision-making style is a mental orientation characterizing a consumers approach to making choices. There are some main decision styles (Sproles and Kendall 1986, cited by Wang. C.L; Siu. N. Y. M; Hui. A. S. Y 2004): Quality conscious Brand conscious Fashion conscious Price conscious These eight styles explain the most basic mental features of a consumers decision making, and have directly relationship with consumer choice behaviour. When consumers buying clothing, often take time to evaluate alternatives of brand, style, design, colour, price and country-of-origin. These choice behaviours are particularly display consumers interest, such as brand conscious, fashion conscious, price conscious and hedonistic orientation (Wang. C.L; Siu. N. Y. M; Hui. A. S. Y, 2004). From the analysis the feedback of these three retailers, they have their own advantages to attractive the consumer. of course there are some disadvantages influence their development, e.g the higher price of All Saints impede most of consumer buy it. Fashion consumer decision making sometimes is a slightly different with the normal consumer decision. Look this figure; it compares what is the different. Firstly, the fashion consumer would like pay attention about the fashion object; not like the traditional consumers, they are sometimes only focus on the function of the cloth. Secondly, the fashion consumers have their view of the product, the traditional consumers always get the information other source, they do not have particular requirement of the fashion, and just sourcing the cloth in the narrow area or shop in customary shop. Fourth, it shows the fashion decision consumers judge the product in different way, fashion decision always try to evaluate product and not the brand performance. In the fifth step, the traditional decision is last step, but fashion decision has one more step than traditional. You can see the figure, consumers not enjoy the purchase immediately, they think about the products satisfy their demand or not , and then reflects they enjoy it. Figure 4.3 (a): Stages in Fashion and Traditional Decision Making( Solomon and Rabolt, 2004;p. 353) Fashion buying is a strategic decision for the organization and influence the products assortment available to consumers (Hines and Bruce, 2007). 4.4 Shopping Frequency The research results display most (70%) of the respondents shop in HM once a month and another 21.7% go to HM stores several times a month. Normally, the fashion buying cycle is not very long, sometimes the period of buying new goods are every six weeks( Kline and Wagner, 1994; cited by Hines and Bruce 2007). When companies have intent on fast fashion, this can happen more quickly, even on every week (Buckley,2006; cited by Hines and Bruce 2007). Everyday HM has new item arrive in stores( HM website). The role of fashion buyer can divide by 18 and 25 different actions, including reviewing market knowledge and analysing old sales records to know different levels of demand for different products (Fiorito, 1990; cited by Hines and Bruce 2007). Otherwise, the fashion buyer will analyse and consider other conditions, such as economic situation; trade, business and industry journals. In this way the buyer can buy the best products at the lowest price (Hines and Bruce 2007). The respondents go to All saints and Levis stores time are not as many as go to HM. From the feedback you can know most (48.3%) of the respondents never shop in All Saints stores and there are 41.7% respondents have never shop in Levis. It demonstrate these 60 respondents are not their main target consumers or their products characters are not attractive these respondents enough. Compared with these consumers never shop in these two stores, other major part respondents are shop in these stores once a month, such as 33.3% respondents shop in All Saints stores once a month, and 38.3% respondents shop in Levis stores once a month. This demonstrate these group of consumers still have interested in these two retailers, but some factors reduce their purchase such as higher price level or fixed style, etc. These two brands can do some marketing research, and following the results can slightly change some previous operational technique, and attractive more potential consumers such as make the never part join the not often part, and reduce rate of the not often part, encourage them purchase more than before. 4.5 Average expenditure From the 3.5(a), in the HM section 71.7% of the respondents indicated the  ¿Ã‚ ¡0 ~ ¿Ã‚ ¡30 is a very popular price area, they always spent this amount in HM stores. This express the consumers can use this amount money bought their satisfy products in HM. Opposite this, the 43.3% respondents never spent money in All Saints stores. Like mentioned in 3.5(b) the All Saints price level all most from  ¿Ã‚ ¡60, it is a little high for the students. So except never buy part, the ¿Ã‚ ¡60~90 is second popular part (28.3%), only smaller part (15%) of the respondents spent above  ¿Ã‚ ¡90, and rest of 13.3% spent  ¿Ã‚ ¡0 ~ ¿Ã‚ ¡30, no body spent  ¿Ã‚ ¡30 ~ ¿Ã‚ ¡60. Although like this, their sales were  £46.9 million for the year to February 3 2008 All Saints chief executive Stephen Craig said: sales had been consistently well above budget throughout 2008 Christmas trade was also strong, above budget and ahead of market rivals, according to the company. They do not like other high street rivals; All Saints did not give discount in its shops Craig said that unlike some of its high street rivals, All Saints did not discount in its shops pre-Christmas, in this way, maintain margin and consolidate brand positioning (Brown 2009). The Levis situation is similar with All Saints, from the research results known, the figure is better than All Saints, there are 33.3% respondents never spent money in Levis stores, but all the respondents known this brand. In  ¿Ã‚ ¡60 ~ ¿Ã‚ ¡90 area Levis has the same result ( 28.3%) with All Saints, this is the acceptable price area. Following this figure the close area is  ¿Ã‚ ¡30 ~ ¿Ã‚ ¡60, 25% of them spent this amount. 13.3% spent  ¿Ã‚ ¡0 ~ ¿Ã‚ ¡30, non of them spent above  ¿Ã‚ ¡90. In the Appendix part there are some products prices with photographs of these three brands, In 4.3 has talked about the brand image gives to this focus group. Each of these brands gives the different images to consumers. Feldwick (2003) said improving brand image can help to increase sales; gain the extra income, other author like Hague and Jackson (1994) mentioned: a) a positive image will get more margins and reduce the competitive pressure and easier to sell with lower prices, b) More competitive, a strong brand will be like a barrier to competitors products. Therefore to increase their average expenditure, have a strong brand image is essential. With the strong brand image, their whole sales volume can be increased. CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION In this section will conclude the wider perspective on the findings of the investigation and also provides suggestions for the further research on the subject. Nowadays, brands can not be avoided today, it already infiltrate into peoples daily life. The primary research, which was presented and discussion in Chapter 3 and 4, those information showed that the performance of the retailers in the market, reflects their status. The status of brand logo recognition can reflects the brand awareness of a company, If a company has a wide brand awareness, it means have big amount of consumers can recognize its public logo. At the meanwhile the products of this company can satisfy general consumers demands; it is also can have higher brand awareness. So when the question is ask about the brand logo recognize, it can be described the brand awareness level, the answers demonstrated the awareness level of company. Other theory which related with brand awareness and brand logo is brand equity; it has talked about in 4.2. From 3.4 you know there are some respondents have not buy any products in the All Saints and Levis stores, so increase the brand equity may encourage more purchase actions. The brand equity can increase (or reduce) the value of the organizations products or services. The value of the organization achieved not only from sales income but also from the brand equity, increase the brand equity is a positive method to attract more consumers interests and attentions to the products and then have the opportunity increase the sale. Following these two contents, in 4.3 the brand image and consumers buying behaviours are talked in this section. Consumers have different impression to these three brands; they rely on the characters of and estimate their brand image. in this section has also discussed about the fashion buying behaviour because these four answers of 4.3 reflects the what the main requires of the consumers, so when the a fashion retailer want gain the biggest value they need known their consumers demands and build a strong brand image. The duration of the fashion trend is very short, so the fashion buying cycle is also not very long, in 4.4 has discussed the shopping frequency of the consumers and through the results most of HM consumers can follow the fashion trend, and purchase its products more frequent. Finally, the average spent when consumers shopping these stores, can display how popular of this brand, if the consumers like the products they would like to spend more money, of course in this section has some suggestions of how to make the consumers spend more in future. 5.1 Further research recommendations The research comprehended only a limited sample of consumers, and focused upon three brands, so the results only can reflect a group of consumers thought. I suggest someone else looks into in more wide details about the brand and do some wider research, not only focus on female, also can be another occupation. CHAPTER 6 REFERENCE Aaker, D. A. (2002) Building strong brands New York; London : Free. Aaker, D. A (2002) Brand leadership New York; London : Free. Crainer, S.(1995) The real power of brands: making brands work for competitive advantage London : Pitman. Chernatony, D.L. and McDonald, M. (1998) Creating powerful brands in consumer, service and industrial markets 2nd ed.. Oxford : Butterworth-Heinemann. Easey, M (2002) Fashion marketing 2nd ed. Oxford : Blackwell Science. Feldwick. P (2003) Brand communications in Brand and Branding Hawkins, D. I., Best, R. J., and Coney, K. A. (2004) Consumer behaviour: building marketing strategy 9th ed. Boston, Mass. : McGraw-Hill. Hague, P. and Jackson, P. (1994) The power of industrial brands : an effective route to competitive advantage . London : McGraw-Hill. Jean-Noà «l, K. (1997) Strategic brand management : creating and sustaining brand equity long term 2nd ed. London : Kogan Page. Riezebos, R. (2003) Brand management : a theoretical and practical approach Harlow : Financial Times Prentice Hall. Solomon, M. R.and Rabolt, N. J. (2004) Consumer behavior : in fashion Upper Saddle River, N.J.; London : Prentice Hall. Walliman, N. (2001) Your research project : a step-by-step guide for the first-time researcher London : SAGE. Wang. C.L; Siu. N. Y. M; Hui. A. S. Y (2004) Consumer decision-making styles on domestic and imported brand clothing. Eurropean Journal of Marketing, [online], Vol.38, Iss. 1/2, pp.239-252 6.1 INTERNET SOURCE http://www.allsaints.co.uk/brand/ http://www.hm.com/gb/abouthm__abouthm.nhtml http://www.levistrauss.com/Company/ Pam Tate 2007 http://www.drapersonline.com/news/all-saints-founders-sign-religion-deal/765531.article Jessica Price Brown 2009: http://www.drapersonline.com/news/multiples/all-saints-sales-buck-downturn/5000200.article Glossary (2007) All About Branding, [online], Available at: http://www.allaboutbranding.com/index.lasso?page=11,54,0. [Accessed: 10th December 2008] Jessica Price Brown 2008 http://www.drapersonline.com/news/hm-unveils-its-design-for-dominance/903574.article 10 March, Jessica Price Brown 2009 http://www.drapersonline.com/news/all-saints-brightens-sector-gloom/1967495.article Drapersonline 2009 http://www.drapersonline.com/news/other-sectors/lingerie/new-underwear-licensee-at-levis/5000720.article Appendices

Ligation of EGFP into pET41a(+) vector transformed into E. coli cells :: PCR amplification of extracted DNA plasmid

Ligation of EGFP into pET41a(+) vector transformed into E. coli cells followed by PCR amplification of extracted DNA plasmid for success evaluation along with gel electrophoresis at each step. Introduction Enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was originally isolated from a bioluminescent jellyfish called Aequorea victoria. As suggested by the name, this protein fluoresces green when exposed to light in the ultraviolet range. The ultimate goal of the following experiment was to successfully create a pET41a(+)/EGFP recombinant plasmid that was transformed into live E. coli cells. The success of this transformation could be evaluated based on whether EGFP’s fluorescence properties were displayed by the colony in question. The protein’s fluorescence properties â€Å"triggered the widespread and growing use of GFP as a reporter for gene expression and protein localization in a broad variety of organisms† (Ormo, et. al., 1996). Although EGFP and GFP differ for a few amino acids that make EGFP’s fluorescence mildly stronger, the basic principle that such a protein allows for the evaluation of transformation success remains intact. The first step of the experiment was ligation, and the objective was to insert EGFP cDNA into a restriction cut pET41a(+) vector to obtain a recombinant plasmid that would express green fluorescent gene. pET41a(+) was the choice of vector to ligate the EGFP into. Its structural design and genomic sequential properties render it especially well-suited for cloning and high-level expression of peptide sequences. This 5933 bp circular vector contains a built in sequence for Kanamayacin resistance gene. â€Å"Rooting of non-transgenic shoots was completely inhibited in all culture media containing kanamycin† (Montserrat, et. al., 2001). This allowed the growth of recombinant and non-recombinant colonies of E. coli, all of which contained the vector insert. Once the recombinant plasmid was obtained, it was then inserted into E. coli cells through transformation. From a successful transformation, we expected the bacterial cells to translate the inserted EGFP sequence into its protein form. The bacteria cultures were plated on petri dishes containing growth supplement, Luria Broth (LB), an antibiotic: Kanamycin, and IPTG which induced the fluorescence property within successfully transformed bacterial colonies. Different variants of the petri dishes were also included as control and unknown. The miniprep consisted of isolating the DNA plasmid from the bacterial cells. This was used to identify the success of EGFP ligation into pET41a(+) vector upon restriction digest and gel electrophoresis. Additionally, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was run on the isolated DNA plasmids with one of the primers specifically annealing to a part of pET41a(+) sequence and the other annealing to the EGFP gene.

Bharti Airtel Outsourcing

* Bharti Airtel aimed to be a low cost provider in the highly capital intensive telecom industry. They needed to keep pace with the rapid growth of their customer base, which was growing at almost 100 percent per year. Their strategy was to acquire new customers and achieve low cost per minute, but it required huge capital investments. * They outsourced everything and concentrated only on marketing, sales and distribution. They redefined the core activities in telecom industry and concentrated all their resources in acquiring and retaining customers. There were two parts to the Outsourcing deal between Bharti and telecom vendors. First was build up, maintenance, and servicing of the telecom network to equipment vendors Nokia, Siemens and Ericson. Then there was the deal with IBM to provide all in all IT solutions. 1) Advantages of Outsourcing their Network management to Ericsson, Nokia, & Siemens: * Keeping pace with network expansion due to faster installations. * Freed the manageme nt of time consuming budgeting, tendering, financing, purchasing and installing process.They could now focus on core competencies of the company. * Shift from short-term agreements with equipment vendors to long term commitments to get better bargains and service. * Bharti will pay for network capacity (erlangs) only when it up and running. No need to pay for unused capacity. This solved the problem of conflict of interest between Bharti and the network suppliers. * Increased flexibility, no need to make huge capital investments will enable transferring of the risk to the network supplier. No Production costs( no capital investments, no labor costs), reduced Transaction costs as no need for new tenders every six months( reduced search & contract costs, reduced enforcement costs because of implementation of relational governance, lower adaptation costs because of pay for use model) * They were able to achieve Predictable Cost Model, no unplanned expenditures. Use the savings in capit al expenditure in focusing on new customer acquisition, building new services etc. Disadvantages of deal with Ericsson, Nokia, & Siemens: The project might be difficult to manage and become increasingly complex because of the involvement of 3 vendors to provide the network management. * There might be resistance from the existing employees to get transferred to vendor companies because of the cultural barriers that may arise. * There is a chance of developing rivalries among the 3 vendors if the margins and competition starts getting stiff. * Wastage of installed capacity. * It will increase their dependence on vendors. After a period of time they may move on the back foot in negotiation meetings with vendors. No previous deals of such outsourcing has happened and hence risk is high Advantages of end to end IT management Outsourcing deal with IBM: * Airtel can now concentrate on their core business activities of marketing and sales. * Revenue sharing agreement thus there was big inc entive for IBM to make the outsourcing deal a success. Reduced opportunism by the vendor. * Solved the scalability issue. * Avoid major increases in capital expenditures in IT. * Gain access to IBM’s rich talent pool, IBM’s expertise in IT. They can work together to create new products and services. (Value added services). * No Production costs ( no capital investments, no labor costs), reduced Transaction costs (reduced search & contract costs, reduced enforcement costs because of implementation of relational governance, lower adaptation costs because of revenue sharing model). Disadvantages of deal with IBM: * Excessive dependence on IBM and if they are not able to provide many innovative solutions, then Airtel won’t be having any option to go with a new vendor. There was a concern that the applications not supported by IBM may become obsolete * Revenue sharing was a new model which Airtel and IBM were trying for payments. As both of them didn’t have an y experience in it, there was a considerable risk because of the unforeseen uncertainties. 2) How would you structure the agreements to address your concerns and capture any advantages you have identified? Structure of Agreement with IBM * There should be some provision of fixed and minimum costs for the revenue share in the agreement. IT applications not supported by IBM should be available to ensure they don’t get obsolete. * The terms and conditions in the contract should be flexible enough to cover the changing environment dynamics over the period of 10 years. * Furthermore not all the details of the partnership can be written in the agreement. So a joint governing body should be formed to manage the arrangement and resolve the issues. * Agreed metrics to measure the quality of IT services provided by IBM. Structure of Agreement with Ericsson, Nokia, & Siemens: Network and Operations Management should be transitioned to the vendors in a phased and planned manner under con stant observation. * To tackle the concern of cultural barriers while working for the vendors, the Airtel employees should be absorbed on the same TnCs as they were working in Airtel. * Further recruitment of new employees should be the responsibility of vendor. * The expectations and duties of all the 3 vendors should be properly outlined and explained to prevent development of unnecessary tensions and unhealthy competition among them. The vendors should be continuously monitoring the networks and provide rapid response once the issue has been identified by them. * To be fair with the vendors if the network capacity remain unused for a major period of time, some part of payment should be done to them or it can be redeployed at other sectors. What measurements, rewards and penalties, and other governance mechanisms would you design for these two different agreements? With IBM * Strategic Alignment Measurements Process Performance Metrics – % of orders not delivered within the promised date, % of inaccurate and incomplete orders, Percentage of escalated cases, Through output. * Metrics to measure innovation – No of innovative ideas provided over a period of time. Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens * Performance Measurement and Quality Metrics – Call drop rate in the peak hours, Call drop rate over a cellular circle, Average Issue Resolve time, amount of time (measured in milliseconds) taken by data to travel from one location to another across a network etc.Penalties on the vendor if the performance of a cellular circle is not good over a period of time due to high call drops. * Customer Experience and Satisfaction Measurements -Network Availability, Call Accessibility measure eg. how many customers fail to make a call in the first attempt , Call Retainability, voice quality etc. * Management of Resources – Utilization of resources, Amount of time taken to meet request or demand, Capacity of the resource etc. Reward and appreciation for the employees who are able to solve the issues in minimum time. * Risk assessment – Security over the network etc.

Urban sprawl essays

Urban sprawl essays Gottdieners article is essentially a look at modern methods of urban studies with an exhortation of modern academia for its glossing over, or outright dismissal, of classical thought and elemental considerations. The author explores the elements of social and urban development while cautioning against the tendencies towards oversimplification and categorization exhibited by many modern urban analysts. Most critically of all Gottdiener discusses the role of space in urban and regional development, giving due consideration to technological advances and their effects on capitalism and the social-spatial perspective. Lefebvre refers to the second circuit of capital by which he means most simplistically land as commodity. This of course translates to all areas affected by commercial real estate- everything from banking to politics- essentially encompassing any area of the economy not devoted to industrial production. The second circle of capital is one of the most prominent features shaping the spatial patterns of development in urban regions as politics and money lie at its roots. Initial urban development follows a set pattern of industrialization and resulting in a core of housing and commercial development located at the site of factories. As growth spreads outward the central city becomes neglected and disenfranchised while industries in suburban areas create smaller centers of centralization leading to urban sprawl. Growth is directed, if one can apply that term, by land developers, bank investors, and political agenda. Since the times of ancient Rome real estate has provided a way for the wealthy elite to consolidate fortunes and expand empires. When Caius Gracchus introduced a land reform bill before the Tribunal and Senate of early Rome he included a provision that forbade the selling of lands given to the poor in order to encourage the return of the small farmer. After Caiuss death the bill ...

Coronary Heart Disease Essay Example

Coronary Heart Disease Essay Example Coronary Heart Disease Paper Coronary Heart Disease Paper Coronary heart disease, just as the name suggests is disease that affects the heart. This condition affects the blood vessels that are responsible of supplying the heart with oxygen known as coronary arteries. Usually this condition is characterized by the accumulation of fats and cholesterol inside the coronary arteries making the process of supply of blood to the heart difficult (Jean, L. 2000). To help us understand how exactly the coronary heart disease occurs it may be important to know how the heart works to ensure that the heart is constantly beating. The heart has four main chambers which are the right atrium, the right ventricle, the left atrium and the left ventricle. The blood from other body parts enters the heart through the right atrium. From this chamber the blood flows to the right ventricle where it is pumped to the lungs in order to be supplied with oxygen. The oxygenated blood returns to the heart through the left atrium where it is then pushed to the left atrium and pumped at great pressure. It is this process that ensures that the heart beats normally (Grace, M. L Allan, G. 2004). The pumping of blood in the left ventricle is very powerful since it is the one that ensures stable flow of blood throughout the body. When a person is born the inner lining of the arteries is smooth and hence there is free and easy flow of blood. However as a person advances in age the level of calcium and cholesterol begins to build up making the inner lining of the arteries thick and hence prevent free flow of blood. This is the genesis of the coronary heart disease begins. It is not always that the inner lining of the arteries become thick as one ages. It by and large depends on a person’s habits. Some habits that cause the levels of calcium and cholesterol to rise include smoking, lack of exercise and feeding in foods that have high levels of calcium and cholesterol. What are The Major Causes of the Coronary Heart Disease? As already mentioned this condition is caused by the accumulation of cholesterol and fatty substances on the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. As a result these vessels are not able to allow free flow of blood and as a result the heart develops a defect. The major causes of this condition include smoking. This includes all tobacco containing substances and not only the smoked tobacco but also the one in chewed form. High Blood pressure is yet another condition that causes this heart and so does hypertension contribute. Lack of exercise and feeding on foods that are rich in cholesterol and fats will eventually lead to this condition although it may take a long time (Jean, L. 2000). It is also important to note that the coronary heart disease is hereditary. This means that it runs through the blood family lineage and one may acquire it from other family members. Other conditions that lead to this heart defect include obesity, stress brought about by emotions and dia betes. Symptoms of Coronary Heart Disease The most devastating yet the most common symptom of coronary heart disease is cardiac arrest which mainly attacks people who have had heart attacks previously. Other common symptoms of this disease include general discomfort by the patient, dizziness, running out of breath especially when involved in a physical exercise however small it maybe. Palpitation is also a common symptom where the patient experiences rapid heart beats which then cease after sometime only for them to return after a while making the patient uncomfortable. A patient is also likely to experience pain on the jaws, at the back and on the left arm. More often patients suffering from this condition experience hearts that are not regular and this leads to lightheadedness and the patient may collapse (Sandeep, G, A. John, C.1999). If a person experiences any one or more of the above mentioned symptoms, it is advisable to seek medical care as soon as is practically possible. This is because as far as this condition goes, time is of essence. Should you delay for too long after experiencing any of the mentioned symptoms then the condition could eventually be fatal. According to a research done by medical practitioners many of those who die because of this condition could have survived if only the condition was diagnosed early enough (Grace, M. L Allan, G. 2004). Tests and Medical Examinations In the hospital medical practitioners do not merely reach to the conclusion that you are suffering from coronary heart disease. They need to actually diagnose you with the disease and therefore they carry out tests to ascertain whether exactly whether you are suffering from the heart disease. To begin with doctors will always carry out screening tests to find out whether there is actually presence of this condition and if so to what extent i.e. its severity. Blood tests are common as they help to ascertain the composition of the blood cells of the patient and to reveal if he patient has been suffering from attacks. Electrocardiogram is yet another test that is carried out and it helps ascertain al defects that the heart may be having. It helps confirm diagnosis of the coronary heart disease. X-ray of the chest helps establish if there any abnormalities of the heart especially as far as the shape and size of the heart are concerned. It also helps to detect if there are any fluids that have built up in the lungs (Jean, L. 2000). Treatment of Coronary Heart Disease Upon being diagnosed with this condition it is of utmost importance to observe instructions of the medical practitioner so as to prevent the condition from deteriorating. To begin with it is important to change one’s lifestyle. As mentioned already some of the causes of this condition include some habits like smoking and eating foods that are rich in fats and cholesterol (Sandeep, G, A. John, C.1999). Hence when one is diagnosed with this condition it would only be wise to refrain from any habit that may make the condition worse. Patients are also advised to observe a healthy diet. By so doing one ensures that the intake of fatty foods is reduced and hence the risk of the condition getting worse is lessened. Patients are also advised that they should ensure that their intake of fat is reduced considerably. As matter of fact the required intake for people suffering from this condition is less than thirty percent of all foods taken on average by a person daily. Regular exercise as part of treatment of the coronary heart disease is also highly recommended. The argument of medical practitioners is that when a patient engages himself or herself in regular exercises the cholesterol and the fats tend to melt hence making one more fit and hence reduces the risk that comes with this disease. Another major step that really works in helping in reducing the risks of this condition is to quit to smoking. This works as a great advantage in reducing the severity of the condition. Medical research shows that upon quitting smoke, within a period of 36 months the risk of a smoker drops considerably to that of a person who suffers the same condition but is a non-smoker. It is therefore of paramount importance to adhere strictly to personal discipline (Jean, L. 2000). If a patient suffering from this condition is in addition suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, one is advised to keep themselves in check all the time to ensure that their sugar levels and blood pressure are stable. By so doing the chances of this condition worsening is reduced considerably. Taking a dose aspirin on a daily basis helps reduce the frequent attacks that one may experience as result of the coronary heart disease. However one must ensure that the dose is low level and not high level. Conclusion Coronary heart disease can be fatal or manageable depending on how early it is diagnosed and how well one restricts themselves to the instructions of the medical practitioners. And as the saying goes prevention far much better than cure. It is therefore important to ensure that you avoid all habits that are likely to cause this condition. Most importantly one needs to strictly observe their diet. By so doing one is almost sure that they are safe from this defect of the heart. Reference: Grace, M. Lindsay, Allan Gaw. (2004). Coronary heart disease prevention: London: Elsevier Health Sciences. Jean, Lequime. (2000). Prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease and its complications. New York: University of Michigan. Sandeep, Gupta, A. John, Camm. (1999). Chronic Infection, Chlamydia and Coronary Heart Disease. London: Springer.