Comparing Civilizations Essay

1. Write an essay comparing and contrasting two civilizations in one category from the River Valley Civilizations sheet. For example, you could choose Egypt and China and compare and contrast the governments. Your essay should have specific information. Be sure to explain both how they were alike and how they were different in that category. You can use the River Valley Civilizations sheet as a reference. Answer: Ancient Egypt and China were very similar but also differed in many ways. Their geography was alike. They both shared the same concept of writing. Both civilizations valued religion and made it a big part of their lives. The main difference between the two countries would be the intricacies of their cultures. This essay will compare and contrast the two ancient civilizations. Egypt and China both had an abundance of waters. For Egypt, it was the Nile River, for China, the Yellow River. These rivers were really important to both of the civilizations in many ways. They both had systems of writing that incorporated simple pictures. Both the ancient Egyptians and Chinese were polytheistic. The Chinese and Egyptians were both technologically advanced. Both of them even had complex irrigation methods. Also, literacy was limited to a select amount of people for both civilizations. When it comes to differences between the two civilizations, they often come down to the detail. For example, both of them had organized governments but Egypt’s was a Theocracy and China’s was a Monarchy. Social hierarchy differed between the two, as well. In Egypt, the Pharaoh was the sun and stars over the whole of Egypt, he was believed to be a reincarnation of God. In china however, home and family were at the center of life. The two both built great structures, but th e Egyptians made Pyramids while the Chinese built the Great Wall of China. The ancient Egyptians buried the dead with thought to preservation due to the belief that the souls could use their bodies in the after life.

Improved Rewards at Work: Compensation and Benefits Packages Essay

Compensation and benefits packages are the talk of the century. Whether it is benefits offered by the government, an insurance company, the local supermarket, a fortune 500 company, a logistic firm, retail, or even being the owner of a business, this topic is wide spread. Employees want to know what they will get in exchange for their working for a company. The cost of dental, vision, and health benefits are increasing higher than ever before and having a great benefits package will surely have employees or future applicants beating the path down to work for an organization that has offers competitive benefits. These are the benefits that most organizations offer and are pretty standard. However, if organization include in their compensation package 401 K, retirement insurance, disability insurance, and life insurance, it makes the organization more attractive. Oftentimes, most employees don’t have a life insurance policy and their loved ones are stuck trying to come up with the money to give the deceased a decent burial. This can be a less stressful task if the person is covered by a life insurance policy. Organizations who offer this plan to their employees are definitely a benefit. The rate is usually cheaper as a group company rate, than it is to purchase it privately. Another benefit that comes in handy for employees is a retirement plan. Although this is often not enough money for seniors to retire and have to end up going back to work part-time just to continue the lifestyle they are accustomed to, it gives them some sort of cushion. It’s even better if they pay more into it to better plan for the future. If the plan also includes a 401 K package, then the employee gets a better cushion for retirement. Since insurance is needed in this age, it is more likely than not, that employee’s who are pursuing new work ventures and opportunities with a better organization; they are looking for these types of benefits. For example, McDonald’s offers their employees competitive wages, free uniforms, free discounted meals, flexible work hours, medical insurance, prescription drug coverage, 24-hour nurse line access, vision discount, short-term disability, term-life insurance, 401(K), paid holidays, vacation and educational assistance (McDonald’s, 2013). Having said this, college students who start out working at McDonalds may go on to pursue careers with McDonald’s because they offer an excellent compensation package, especially since they offer educational assistance/tuition reimbursements/scholarships. For someone who has the education and experience in a field such as Logistics or Human Resources, the benefits may be slightly different, because it is a larger organization in a different field. With McDonald’s, the vacation, sick pay and personal days may be more structured, whereas with the government, the days may increase with the hours worked. With that said, businesses are getting more creative with the compensation packages they offer to remain competitive and retain employees. To determine the ways innovations in employee benefits can improve the overall competitive compensation strategy of the organization we must look at what employees really want. Some suggestions would be: (1) Allow employees to have flexible work schedules. This will allow them to have personal time with the family, attend schools functions or field trips, meet scheduled dr. ’s appointments, or even relax and recuperate so that the employee can come with a fresh renewed mind. The next suggestion is (2) Give out achievement (such as employee of the month with parking privileges or gift card), appreciation of service awards, or letters of appreciation from an immediate supervisor/manager. This type of reward lets employees know they are appreciated for the hard work they have accomplished for the company; they are being noticed and acknowledged by the top of the chain and sends a message to the employee that they are being watched, so keep of the good work. It could also let the employee know that in the event of promotion or if raises go out, they may be a good candidate for receiving it. By the same token, if they are slacking in any way, they may be coached or forfeit being considered for a raise or promotion. An example is that our company writes love notes to the student (which is a form of appreciation letter). They basically address them for doing a good deed for someone, excelling in their classes/grades, moving on to the next level/phase of their education, or how well they performed a service on a guest. Our managers and the owner write love notes to us and sometimes reward us with gift cards, movie tickets, bracelets, and necklaces or some sort of prize. Often we do receive raises according to our performance reviews, but sometimes if we meet service and take home goals, get raises. Another thing that is incorporated is student and employee of the month. These rewards often come with free passes to events and front row parking. Aside from that, another innovative benefit is (3) Make the work environment exciting and fun. No one likes to come to work in a stuffy environment where everyone is on edge and way pass serious about everything. Creating a fun environment sets the tone for success, drives employees to not want to miss a day of work because they enjoy going, is an incentive for staying with the company and remaining loyal, makes employees feel they are part of a family away from family and motivates them to perform better. It is somewhat double fold, because it is also a winning situation for the employer as it makes the work day more productive when employees perform at their peak. Employees meet or exceed service or product goals when they are happy with their employer. Next, (4) Allow employees to work from home if it is feasible. Sometimes when there is no one to interrupt when projects or deadlines have to be met, being in the comfort of your home environment allows the quiet time needed to gather the information for the plan that needs to be implemented, cuts down commuting time that could be spent on working, offers a change of scenery so creativeness is allowed to flow and best of all, there is no need for dressing the part, it can be done in comfortable clothing. Last but not least, (5) Allowing employees to be a part of a team or project where they can implement ideas and suggestions on how to accomplish the project effectively and efficiently. Employees feel like what they think is important and their opinions count and are valuable to their employer. It gives them a sense of responsibility, accountability, and belonging. Most of the time, employees acquire the confidence to eventually want to step out and lead projects (Tynan, 2013). Such as with innovative benefits improving an overall competitive compensation strategy, the same applies with tying benefits to those specific jobs. Performance appraisals are normally tied to raises and wage compensation. The scenario usually goes something like this: The employee has an evaluation on the job performance they have carried out during the evaluation period. The manager conducting the assessment usually has a check list with the duties and rates each section with excellent, good, needs improvement, or poor. The raise is usually based on how well the employee scored (in other words, if they will be rewarded the maximum allowance, receive a portion or nothing at all). The same goes for tying innovative benefits to specific jobs. For example, if an employee receives a recognition award for high performance and meeting company goals (such as employee of the month), the benefit will be attached to that specific job. Another example is salary and wages. Salary and wages are connected to specific job duties. If a receptionist has duties that include filing, setting appointments, greeting guest, answering phones/taking and dispersing messages, booking meeting, making travel arrangements for managers, and running errands, when evaluation time comes, the amount of wages or salary is dependant on how well the employee performed their duties. This is also in line with pay for performance. When it comes to a rewards system, there are some things that have to be fulfilled in order for the system to work. Some of the criteria are to ensure employees understand what their job duties include. If employees don’t know what they are suppose to be doing then they will not be able to perform their jobs according to how managers expect them to. Another thing is there must be value placed on this system. If everyone can receive a raise/pay increase or incentive whether or not they are a high performer or a poor performer then there really is no since in incorporating this award. It will not be fair to the outstand performers. It will send a message that it doesn’t matter how well you do, you will still be rewarded. For the ones who strive to do their best, it lowers their morale and causes them to not want to perform their best. This will also cause a decrese in productivity. Once the high performers stop meeting goals, the organization suffers. An assessment must be conducted on a regular basis and evaluations must include feed back so the employee knows if and where they are lacking and excelling. There should also be team meetings if feasible or an individual meeting to ensure the employee(s) are on track with what needs to be accomplished in order to make company goals happen. The effectiveness of an equity-based rewards program as apposed to a more creative one is that first, an equity-based rewards program may include stock options in the company. It is also and incentive for being able to retain employees and may contirbute to the success of the company. When employees have stock in a company they anticipate on it doing well in the future so they can cash it in or receive dividends on it when they are paid out. It also doesn’t hurt if the employee feels like they are an important part of the organization. This may also play a role in employees sticking around. Stock may also be an incentive to employees so they know how valuable of an employee they are. Not all companies offer stock to their employees, so it is a big deal if an organization trusts its employees to participate in owning a portion of the company. Employers have a hard task of making sure their employees motives for wanting to own stock is in the right place. The reason for this is, say for instance the employee wants to see how much the stock is worth in 5 years. For one, this sends a red flag that they only wanted to invest to see if they could get lucky quickly, in hopes of leaving the company or even earning quick cash. Another motive for the organization to give employees stock in the company is to get employees to commit to the company for the long term. The organization can also look forward to the employee feeling like they are part owner of the company and will therefore give their all to see that the organization is successful. The employees who have stock will also advocate for the company, ensure they are looking for like employees (high potential), and make sure everyone is on the same page with organizational goals. On the other hand, managers should be aware that this could completely go the other way and the employee can feel as if they should be able to make suggestion and have them implement them, allows them some sort of power to make decisions and afford them the opportunity to make do what they want. Stock can definitely be a motivator if employees commit for the long haul, show an interest in the organization and perform their best (Robbins, 2004). As for the more creative approaches, they offer a wider variety of options such as child care benefits/discounts, retirement benefits, elder care benefits and educational assistance to name a few. The difference is that the creative approaches include benefits that are very useful to employees. Having stock in a company is a great motivator, however, it is even more motivating being able to receive benefits that are usually more expensive to employees on their own. It frees up the amount of money that the employee will have to shovel out. According to the article â€Å"Driving Success: How You Innovate Determines What You Innovate†, there is a few key components that can be implemented when incorporating traditional benefits with innovation benefits. These are known as the seven innovation rules: (1) Line up the variety of innovations to the organizations industry. Innovation may or may not be the key to success for the company’s overall business strategy; It may be determined by the types and amounts of innovation needed to support the business strategy. (2) Deal with the expected pressure concerning creativeness and worth. A company needs strength in both. Creativity without the ability to translate it into profits (for example, execution and value capture) can be fun but it is unsustainable; profits without creativity is rewarding but only works for a short time. (3) Reduce the effect of organizational antibodies. Innovation necessitates change and change stimulate explicit routines and cultural norms that act to block or negate change. (4) Recognize that the basic unit or fundamental building block of innovation is a network that includes people and knowledge both inside and out of the organization. A successful organization excels at fusing its internal resources with selected portions of the vast resources of the worlds capitalist economy. (5) Create the right metric and rewards for innovation. People react to positive and negative stimuli, and a company’s innovation is no exception. It will never achieve the level of innovation that is needed if people do not have the proper reward (Devila, Shelton, and Epstein, 2005, retrieved from: www. ftpress. com /articles).

Literature Review of Strategic Management

This review provides an overview of a few of the key topics that have defined the strategic management field since the later twentieth century. Strategic planning, strategic planning frameworks and strategy implementation issues are discussed both from a historical and modern perspective. Michael Porter's frameworks and generic strategy provide an excellent backdrop for formulation of strategy but scholars argue that the current environment of business may require new or altered frameworks.A blended strategy of differentiation plus cost leadership may be possible within the new technology platforms afforded via e-commerce. Mega sized corporations nearing 500 billion in revenue are redefining the rules of strategy and using their massive scope and scale in new and unique ways. Regulation, diversity and shared value are important to consider in developing strategy and can contribute to differentiation if properly managed. Strategy implementation is an area where further research is nee ded and special attention needs to be focused on the internet and mega corporations as they seem to defy all historical strategy guidance.Keywords: Strategic management, strategy implementation, Michael Porter Introduction The single most important intellectual asset in any company outside of its employees is its strategy. Leaders are defined by the strategies they create and execute. Poorly designed strategy can be devastating to firms and many years of hard work can disintegrate when strategic plans are not properly implemented. Developing consistency in strategy is very important to proper implementation of the core elements. Ultimately the strategy must become centrally integrated and externally oriented in order to define how the business will achieve its objectives.One of the most common reasons for firm bankruptcy is improper implementation of strategy (Hosiery, Chambermaids, Onerous, & Saudi, 2013). Strategy is largely defined by adaptation to a constantly changing marketpla ce which seems to get more and more complex. True strategy is about making complex bets and following up with hard choices (Martin, 2014). Historically stable markets allowed managers to rely on complex strategies that were built on future predictions (Eisenhower & Sulk, 2001). But in the current fast moving marketplace and with the rise of the millennial billionaires, opportunity seizure may require a different approach.The review contained herein will take a shallow dive into a few of the endless strategic management models along with the challenges and typical faults with implementation. The e-commerce world and mega sized corporations will be explored as they present special challenges to strategy makers. The internet seems to defy many of the historical perspectives on business strategy. Diversity and regulation are highlighted as these issues stand out in the literature as being an ongoing consideration for strategy makers.A special focus is on the perspectives of Michael Port er both historically and in the present. Countless reviewers have dissected and applied Porter's academic work. Many arguments have been made both for and against Porter's frameworks held up against a modern business landscape. This paper will serve to challenge Porter's generic strategies and the applicability in today's business world. Managers can learn much from Porter, but to survive in the age of millennial billionaires, leaders may need to develop new frameworks.And those who do will have a good chance at building a firm foundation for responding to competition and reacting to market opportunities in a fast moving global economy. Strategic Management Overview The word strategy is often improperly used by managers as an industry buzzword in hopes of gaining credibility for their management priorities. This often results in confusion and can undermine the credibility of the leader. The word strategy is derived from the Greek strategist, which means the art of the general. The b usiness general must form a coherent strategy which is the sum of the parts of the organization.If this is not accomplished then mid level managers will focus time on their own priorities and the organization will risk fragmentation (Humpback & Frederickson, 2005). The origin of the subject of strategic management is heavily abated but H. Igor Anions is commonly noted as having significant influence in the field prior to Michael Porter whom took center stage in the asses (Martinet, 2010). Insofar bestselling book titled Corporate Strategy was published in 1965 and started to transition the mindset from strategic planning to strategic management.Much of the current understanding of strategic management can be traced back to Porter's (1985) low cost, differentiation, focus framework. His concepts marked a key transition point in the strategic management field by integrating organization specific factors into a model of firm performance (Apparel, 2006). According to Porter's generic st rategy, a firm can maximize performance by either being a low cost producer or differentiating its products or services from other businesses. Either of these strategies can be accomplished by focusing the organizations efforts on a segment of the market.Porter believes that businesses that attempt to employ both strategies simultaneously will end up â€Å"stuck in the middle† and will not be successful. This issue is hotly debated in the literature and especially as related to e-commerce. Internet firms seem to be employing strategies that exhibit one of more firms of differentiation in unison. Despite all the debate, Porter is widely cited in the literature and is highly respected by both supporters and critics alike whom all consider him to be a significant contributor to the field of strategic management.Nag, Humpback, and Chem. (2007) contended that the field of strategic management is lacking an identity. The researchers conducted an exhaustive large scale survey of aca demics in the field and came up with the following definition for strategic management. â€Å"The field of strategic management deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments. † (p. 944).The interface with the external environment, also known as the customer and the community, is a central dogma of the strategic planning process and we will see this theme emerge throughout the literature review. Strategic Planning Strategic planning is normally the first step in the strategic management process and is critical to the success of an organization. Strategic plans normally have three parts (Martin, 2014). The first is the mission or mission statement that sets the long term owls. The second is a listing of the initiatives that the organization will carry out as part of its fulfillment of the goal.And third is the financial i mpact of the initiatives. Martin (2014) recommends three rules for strategic planning to prevent from falling into the trap of focusing on internal metrics and not the external customer. Rule one is to keep the strategy simple by focusing on what will attract customers. Eisenhower and Sulk (2001) contend that to survive in a complicated high velocity market space, managers should choose simple rules over complicated plans. The simple rules will low the managers to move quickly in order to capture opportunities more quickly.Customers will spend their money with the company that has the superior value proposition. Martin (2014) rule two is strategies do not have to be perfect. There should be some risk in the strategy and boards should not prevent management from taking risks in setting strategy. This actually weakens the strategy. And the final rule is to test the logic of your thinking. Write down the desired outcome when setting strategy. The logic should be compared to real life e vents in order to identify areas of improvement along the way.Despite the criticality of strategic management to an organization's success, a McKinney survey found that most executives are not happy with their strategic planning process (Dye, 2006). And companies that have formal strategic planning processes have the highest level of satisfaction with corporate strategy development. Selene (2009) broke strategic management into four different schools including the classical school, the environmental school, the competitive school, and the contemporary school.The classical school is based on the research contributions of the mid twentieth century and is centered on the fit between internal and external actors. Classical management assumes that internal and external factors have an equal fit. The SOOT analysis is a common model used to assess the classical business environment. The environmental school contends that the external environment plays the most important role in strategy de velopment. And firms that do not respond well to the external environment will eventually die out. The competitive school of strategy is distinguished by competition being the driving force in differentiation.Porter (1980) noted that the firm must acknowledge and respond to the external opportunities and threats to survive. The contemporary school souses on understanding the internal firm. Collaboration and differentiation are important to winning with a contemporary strategy. Multicast (2009) provides an interesting perspective on strategic management and its relationship to time. Strategic planning is most often thought of in terms of planning for the long term future of the firm. The author encourages management to also consider history, the present, and the near future in making strategic planning decisions.When new management enters a firm, history is often seen as a negative since historical perspectives are sometimes viewed as a hindrance to instituting hanged. But in reality , history can be an asset to strategic planners. For example, if the company has a culture of continuous improvement, good employee loyalty and commitment, and good learning ability, then this is a sustainable competitive advantage that should be retained. If new management is not aware of the firm's culture then they may make decisions like terminating senior employees therefore damaging the firms culture and competitiveness.Passage of time can also be a weakness if management has become complacent and they are not questioning the way their firm operates or making suggestions for efficiency gains. Improving the learning capabilities of the firm can help prevent previous strengths from turning into weaknesses. Generic Strategies According to Porter (1980), differentiation, cost leadership, focus, or a combination of differentiation and cost leadership are the keys to maintaining a competitive advantage. These are known as Porter's generic strategies and are still relevant in busines s today.The below sections will explore some of the applications of Porter's generic strategies. This section also addresses a blended cost leadership/ differentiation strategy model which has emerged in the literature largely as a result f the success of companies that have seen success using the internet as the primary customer interface. Differentiation. Differentiation or value is defined by having a product or service that is differentiated from the competitor on some stand alone merit. Firms that employ differentiation typically can charge a premium for their product or service.The consumer typically sees a superior value in the product or service, whether perceived or real, and is willing to pay a premium. Akin, Allen, Helms, and Sprawls (2006) discovered three tactics that were most commonly employed in differentiation strategy. These included innovative marketing technology or tactics, a culture of creativity and innovation, and an emphasis on having a significant market sh are. Marketing research had found that it is eight to ten times more expensive to market to new customers than to existing customers (Akin et al. 006). Organizations must have insight into the future in order to manage and drive profitability and this should be a key component of the strategic planning process. This can only be accomplished by developing a culture of innovation. Unfortunately the tactics needed to create a culture of innovation are not ell understood and documented in the literature. Many firms seem to be out of touch with the external environment in which they operate. Kim, Name, and Stripers (2004) evaluated differentiation within the context of e-commerce.Due to the low costs on switching sources via the internet, it is more important that internet companies learn how to differentiate. Differentiation based on distribution is a key area of focus for internet firms. Speed of delivery, online interface, security, and order tracking are all ways that internet firms are differentiating themselves. There re numerous studies that show that internet shoppers are less sensitive to price when the product or service is coupled with information or services. Olio and Fay (2012) noted that innovation is only possible with a good strategy.Firms should avoid copying other company's ideas. And instead develop innovation that is relevant to the needs you are trying to serve. Jumping on trends is not always a bad idea as long as it is tailored to your strategy. The firm's core value proposition should have stability. Successful companies rarely have to go through major changes since they re constantly updating their processes, offerings, and methods. Industry structure is dynamic and structural change is very slow. Having a good understanding of industry stricture will help to identify new strategic opportunities.Multicast (2009) discussed differentiation as a crucial component of understanding competitiveness. Differential value is an important component of competitiveness and can be created in a number of ways including reliability, product features, quality attributes, and aesthetics. In addition to having differentiating factors, the product will also need to overcome the â€Å"hurdle factors. These are the characteristics that the customer expects the products to have and are a limiting factor in the initial product selection. Differentiating factors without â€Å"hurdle factors† will not position the product or service competitively.Perception is important since it is important to understanding the customer perspective since it may be different than the firms perspective. If the customer does not have a need for a differentiating characteristic of the products than those characteristics will potentially add manufacturing cost without adding value to the customer. Cost Leadership. Cost leadership requires a accompanied mindset to operate at the lowest cost possible. The company must be willing to walk away from opportuniti es where they cannot be a cost leader and must choose outsourcing partners whom will provide cost leadership.All company operations and marketing must be centered on cost leadership. Tactics employed include mass production and distribution, vertical integration, lower input cost from raw materials, and technology. The tactic that has proven to be most beneficial to cost reduction strategy is to lower distribution costs (Akin, Allen, Helms, & Sprawls, 2006). One way hat retailers have accomplished this is through cross docking or shipping direct from manufacturer to retailer without storing in warehouses. Wall-Mart is largely credited with developing cross-docking strategy and this has been widely adopted and refined by retailers since the asses.The internet has been a hotbed for companies trying to implement cost leadership strategy. Kim et al. (2004) studied this issue and reported that most online shoppers are using price as their most important buying criteria. The internet prov ides a format for retailers to quickly access a large volume of customers through a price leadership strategy. Porter (2001) argued that the internet is a very difficult environment in which to differentiate one's firm since they lack many of the physical attributes of brick and mortar firms like sales people.In general, most online only brands have not been very successful at brand building and have developed only modest customer loyalty(Papua & Upon, 2000). Kim et al. (2004) recommend that companies avoid cost leadership for internet firms. And instead they recommend using a blended strategy that includes elements of cost leadership as well as differentiation. Porter's cost leadership framework is often misinterpreted by managers. Competitive advantage for example has come to mean anything that the organization deems as noteworthy. Porter was very specific in defining competitive advantage as price advantage versus rivals.The price may be low or high depending on the choices made in the value chain. These choices shift relative cost or relative price to the advantage. This ultimately leads to sustainable performance (Olio & Fay, 2012). Price competition is more about developing a value chain than it is about low prices. This value chain should be differentiated and not easily reproduced by competition. When companies imitate each other's reduces and value chain then price becomes the only dimension that customers utilize. This results in a very destructive environment.Competition should be thought of more in terms of profits rather than competing to win. Competitors are competing to capture the value an industry creates. The value is being captured by customers, suppliers, rivals, potential new rivals, and producers of replacements. Creating economic value results in sustained profitability by using resources effectively to meet customer needs. Focus Strategy. Focus strategy is when firms decide to focus on a specific segment of the market. The company may f ocus on specific customer demographic, product range, or service line.Often the focus strategy is used to grab market share that may have been overlooked or is not large enough for larger competitors. The segment must have good growth potential but be small enough to not be of great importance to competitors. Firms may utilize focus strategy as a standalone or they may bundle low cost with focus strategy. Common tactics that are employed in low cost/focus strategy include providing outstanding customer service, improving operational efficiency, quality control of products, and extensive training of front line sales and technical personnel(Akin, Allen, Helms, & Sprawls, 2006).The key to success with low cost/focus strategy is to reduce cost by creating a happy customer. Customer complaints and a failure to meet customer expectations result in higher costs through corrective actions. Low cost/focus firms must be masters of preventative action and create quality procedures that drive c ustomer satisfaction through consistently meeting customer expectations. Customer service is typically the first point of a customer engagement and can be an important component in standardizing procedures and preventing problems.If services are done right the first time the firm will save a significant amount of costly managerial time in solving problems in the future. Men's Warehouse is an example of where price and focus strategy and successfully employed. The store offers a lower priced high quality suit when compared to larger retailers, and they couple this with a high level of customer service and on site services such as tailoring. Kim et al. (2004) note that focus strategy can be very effective with online commerce. The internet allows companies to customize their products and offerings to meet the pacific wants and needs of a select group of customers.Customers see value in being directed to the specialty retailer on the internet and will pay a premium for the products or services. The internet has the ability to service both broad markets and very niche markets. Consumers have instant access to price information and product information. Internet retailers would be wise to consider focus or focus/ differentiation strategy as their primary strategic development platform. Focus/ Differentiation Strategy. Firms may also employ a focus/differentiation strategy when he firm has a unique quality focused product aimed toward a specific market segment.Common tactics employed by these firms include the production of specialty products and producing products for higher priced market segments (Akin, Allen, Helms, & Sprawls, 2006). Specialty retailers like Pier 1 accomplished the first tactic by focusing on unique high quality specialty products. These are often times imported goods that have a unique differentiator. The second tactic is employed by luxury car companies like Cadillac that can only afforded by the highest income segment of the population. Blended Strategy.An integrated strategy of price leadership and differentiation was strongly opposed by Porter (1980). He argued that these two generic strategies are fundamentally contradictory and that any firm attempting to fluctuate between the two would fail to realize the full potential of their performance. On one extreme, cost leadership requires standardization and building low cost in the value chain. One the other extreme is differentiation which almost always drives up marketing and production costs. But there is a large proportion of the literature which challenges Porter on this issue (Kim et al. 004). Most scholars agree that Porter's incompatibility argument will hold up in a stable business environment, but in the rapidly changing competitive environment that reflects the modern business world, a flexible combination of multiple strategies may be required. The internet is especially challenging in that it can disassemble traditional value chains. For example, several onlin e companies are successfully employing a diversified business strategy such as Amazon and Backbone. This issue will be discussed in more detail later in this literature review. Strategic Management FrameworksThe multitude and complexity of issues facing organizations has resulted in a wide variety of strategic management frameworks that are referenced in the literature. Each model attempts to organize issues in a way that makes management decision making more comprehensible. With each framework comes a myriad of academic scholars that have created, critiqued, or built the frameworks in positive ways. This literature review will cover two well known strategic management frameworks, SOOT and Porter's five forces. In SOOT analysis, internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats are considered.Some of the most widely referenced frameworks in the literature are credited to Michael Porter. The framework that will be reviewed in this section is Porter's fiv e forces. SOOT The originator of SOOT is somewhat unclear from the literature but it was first described by Learned, Christiansen, Andrews, and Gust (1969). SOOT is often the first tool of choice for decision makers assessing alternatives and complex decisions. The use of SOOT to group external and internal business issues is a logical starting point for most management decisions.Helms and Nixon (2010) provide a more cent analysis of SOOT as a strategic planning tool and some of the limitations. SOOT is commonly used in academia and business largely due the simplicity of SOOT as well as its catchy well known name. The literature reveals that SOOT is most commonly used for business strategic planning both for individual organizations as well as for comparing two or more companies. SOOT analysis consists of examination of internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats.The analysis can be quickly constructed and multiple viewpoints can be combined to pe rform a brainstorming exercise Helms et al, 2010). Internal strengths and weaknesses may include branding, organization structure, access to raw materials or natural resources, production capacity, or capital for investment. External opportunities and threats could include customers, rivals, market trends, contractors, vendors, or technology. Various environmental, political, and regulatory issues are often examined as well. The literature revealed that SOOT was the most commonly utilized strategic management tool well into the late nineties.After the year 2000, the literature is conflicted as to he value of SOOT although there are multiple researchers both for and against (Evans and Wright, 2000). Sherman, Rowley, and Armband' (2007) added steps to SOOT and came up with a seven step strategic management process to assist firms in the pre planning stages. Many researchers have coupled SOOT with various mathematical models to give it a quantitative basis versus qualitative. Most supp orters of SOOT admit that it should be combined with other strategic management tools like Porter's five forces and not used in isolation.But as with any strategic management tool, SOOT is only as good as the experts whom use it. Its greatest weakness is probably that it is a snapshot of time. The business environment is constantly changing and firms will need to constantly scan the environment and update their SOOT analysis (Helms et al. , 2010). In the next section we will explore another widely used strategic management model developed by Michael Porter. Porter's Five Forces Porter is most well known for the association of competition with the firm and its external environment.Porter felt that corporate strategy should meet the threats and opportunities in the external environment Ellen, 2009). Porter identified five nominative forces that he claims are the key to shaping every industry and every market (Porter, 1980). By studying and understanding these forces, a firm should be able to determine the level of competition and therefore the attractiveness and potential profitability of a market. Porter's five forces analysis framework is primarily used for industry level analysis Ellen, 2009). Five forces were first discussed by Porter in his publication titled Competitive Strategy (Porter, 1980).The five forces are threats from competitors, buyer power, supplier power, threat of new entrants, and alternative products. The strength of these collective forces decides the amount of profit potential available to rivals in an industry. Unfortunately the literature reveals that the application of the five forces may not be straight forward and even Porter (2008) has been disappointed with its misapplication. Five forces analysis should not only be used to determine if an industry is attractive or not, but it should be a primary tool to unravel the complexity of competition and improve performance (Olio & Fay, 2012).Dobbs (2014) discusses some of the challenges tha t are faced by managers when they attempt to apply the five forces. These include a lack of depth, lack of structured analysis, lack of strategic insight, and millennial generation preferences. Many people use the five forces analysis in a superficial way and this leads to inaccurate and incomplete analysis. This may largely be due the lack of in depth study given to MBA students. The lack of quantitative measures in the five forces framework may be a limiting factor in many cases. Most applications of five forces consist of lists which make poor substitutes for in depth analysis.Olio and Fay noted that five forces analysis should not only be used to determine if an industry is attractive or not, but it should be a primary tool to unravel the complexity of competition and improve performance. With the rise of the millennial generation in 2010, Dobbs (2014) noted that the five forces framework must be modified in order to accommodate the technology vigor and analysis preferred by thi s generation. Akin, Allen, Helms, and Sprawls (2006) contend that the literature is missing information on the tactics that are needed in order to implement Porter's strategies.Several researchers have proposed models to be used to better apply the five forces. In Akin et al. s (2006) study, the authors researched over 200 companies to develop a set of key tactics that could be used to implement Porter's generic strategies and drive organization performance. Dobbs (2014) provides a practical template that provides good comprehension and ease of use. The models have proved very beneficial in the classroom setting in terms of driving higher levels of strategic insight and industry analysis.Diversity and Shared Value Building market share can also be influenced by diversification in the workforce and acknowledgement of a preference for products that are made and sold by companies with similar cultural heritage. This is largely due to the diversification of the customer base which cross es many borders, cultures, and ethnic groups. Hiring a diverse workforce and drawing in a culturally diverse customer base is critical to success. This group of consumers is growing at a much faster rate than the rest of the US population.The US welcomes nearly one million new immigrants into the country every year. These people come from different backgrounds, nationalities and ethnicities and they are learning how to work in an unfamiliar culture. Ramifies (2010) reported that the challenges are immense for immigrants as they try and maintain a nation connection to their home country as well as try and adapt to their host country. The pressure that results drives individuals to be more inventive and productive. The force is very powerful and one of the reasons why immigrants do so well in start up businesses in the US.They develop a comfort level with uncertainty and risk that allows them to drive performance. Despite the advantages of diversity most companies fall short on divers ity thought and leadership. In fact, half of companies operating in 25 countries or more, reported only having one or two foreign nationals on their boards. Yet they cited global experience as one of the most important factors in terms of selecting board members. Managers that understand and take advantage of diversity into their strategy will have a distinct competitive advantage.Developing a global company that appeals to a global customer is extremely important in developing strategy. In work done by Watson and Wright (2000), the authors looked into the country of origin effect. This â€Å"made in† concept has to do with the attitudes and buying behaviors of consumers for foreign made goods. This is also known as ethnocentrism. Research has proved that the â€Å"made in† concept has as a very strong influence on buying behaviors. These behaviors can override other more practical factors such as brand name, quality, or price.A tactic that is commonly employed is to m arket the country of origin information with the product. For example, a Chinese American may have a preference for Chinese manufactured products over US manufacturing products. Shared Value Porter and Kramer (2011) discuss the concept of the shared value which focuses on improving the connections between society, the economy as well as corporate growth and profitability. The economic collapse of the last decade contributed to frustration with corporations as companies in the banking sector were largely blamed for causing the failed economy though risky lending practices.Firms have begun to realize that social harms and weaknesses frequently create internal costs for the firm in wasted energy costs and costly accidents. As a result many large firms have begun to embrace the concept of shared value and have started to see some rewards in terms of public opinion and profitability. Companies and their communities are intertwined since companies need the consumers and the raw trials fro m their communities, while the people in the communities need the wages and opportunity offered by the firm.This interdependence or shared value has the potential to unlock the next wave of growth and innovation for companies if incorporated into their strategic plans. Regulation and the Porter Hypothesis No review of strategic management would be complete without a discussion on the impact of regulation on business. Regulation has become an increasing concern for business leaders as they develop strategy and decide on how best to allocate resources. There are also political implications since government regulators have the power to influence market dynamics between rivals as well as between countries.Generally economists, politicians, and business leaders see increasing regulation as an economic challenge which erodes global competitiveness. But Porter (1991) argued that well designed regulation could be a competitive advantage if properly managed. This concept is frequently refere nced in the literature as the Porter Hypothesis. Researchers frequently use the Porter Hypothesis to help understand the links between regulation, competitiveness, and innovation. Porter (1991) andClass van deer Lined (Porter & van deer Lined,AAA) argued that pollution was an example of wasted resources and that by reducing pollution, productivity could be improved. They felt that properly designed environmental regulation would help drive innovation and would more than offset the additional cost of implementing regulation. Porter brought these concepts to mainstream businesses and policy and has revolutionized how strategic management deals with the impact of environmental or other regulation. Porter et al (AAA) explained five reasons why they thought innovation offsets any negatives created by regulation.

I will upload the specific question later on the file Essay - 2

I will upload the specific question later on the file - Essay Example Sociological studies have shown that from the last 40-50 years, America has faced one big issue and that is Racism. Obviously, the intensity and mode in the practice of racism has changed but it has not been eliminated from the society. These changes can be explained with the help of an easy social test or a general survey such as: How many Black head of States have been elected in America compared to White Head of States. When someone gives extra privileges to an African American and treats him different from the others ones that is where racism comes in. The mode of racism has changed from ‘treat them like hell’ to ‘treat them different from others, and be in a good sense so they can feel that they are not one of us and lower than us’. In fact, it cannot be denied that there have been made certain efforts by general public as a whole, including the state, in which this element has been tried to be eliminated by organizing workshops in which people of all races sat together and worked together, by providing black children with equal opportunities to study at schools and by giving races other than whites to progress and flourish in America. For instance let us take the example of the Boston busing desegregation, although, it was a very hard time for the administration and people as a whole when the people of southern Boston turned on the Blacks, but it was an unprecedented effort by the government, not seen before. It was not only the busing desegregation; however, Boston has been the pioneer in making very significant intentions, clear in the riots and protests against the racial unbalanced actions. The children that were brought to southern Boston suffered deep emotional stresses, but they have laid some of the co rner stones in development of the elimination of racial discrimination. The president Ronald Regan, however, had some policies, which may be said to be

Fair Value Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Fair Value Accounting - Essay Example (Parshall, 2009) This study is set out to discuss fair value accounting and more specifically determine its role in the credit crisis that rocked the world in 2008. It will try to justify the statement that, â€Å"Fair value accounting only works in efficient, active and liquid markets. In order to produce information which is relevant and reliable, fair value focuses on market prices.† Due to the financial crisis, fair-value approach for accounting has triggered major debates globally. Among the debaters are the European Commission, USA Congress as well as accounting and banking regulators in the globe. Cynics have it that the financial crisis impacting the whole world in the recent past has been mostly caused by the effects of fair-value accounting. The study is going to determine whether fair value accounting is only applicable in active, efficient and liquid markets. Various arguments will be considered while trying to draw the befitting approach to the issue. The Standards of accounting reports, IFRS and US GAAP, aid in deriving from market prices in various circumstances. However, it is not very clear whether these standards are the origin of the predicaments. The allowing of the managements of organisations to be flexible when it comes to dealing with future value accounting problems leads to the manipulation during such times as those of financial crisis. From the perspective thus the market conditions may impact on fair value accounting. However, according to Laux and Leuz, future value accounting is an approach to the measurement of liabilities and assets in a given company’s balance sheet. FAS’s number 157 definition is that fair value accounting is â€Å"the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date.† Under IFRS fair value has been defined as the sum at which a certain asset and liability could be

Young people 's attitude to health (young people who eat McDonald's Essay

Young people 's attitude to health (young people who eat McDonald's more than once a week do not care about their health) - Essay Example nald's more than once a week. The researcher has used two separate hypothesis regarding health awareness and hedonic value drivers of eating in fast food restaurants in order to develop research problems. As research methodology, the researcher has used triangulation approach in order to address the research problem in robust manner. Close ended questionnaire and open ended interview were used in order to collect the data. On the basis of data analysis, influence of hedonic value drivers on fast food consumption of young people has been identified but the study has failed to find any significance of the primary hypothesis: â€Å"Young people who eat McDonald's more than once a week do not care about their health†. It is not the fact that the research paper has only the academic value of fulfilling gap in the literature but the research findings will also have commercial value such as, findings of the research can be used by fast-food marketers to decide their marketing strateg y. Chapter 1: Research Background In the last couple of years, fast food industry has witnessed phenomenal growth in terms of both value and volume across different countries. Ali, Kapoor and Moorthy (2010) found that demand for fast food among customers have increased due to three reasons, 1- convenience for customers to consume fast food in quick succession in contrast to waiting in long queue to dine out in traditional restaurants, 2- fast foods are low cost food offerings which can satisfy the hunger of consumer without costing them huge chunk of money in contrast to dining in posh restaurants and 3- while consuming fast food, consumers often pass through health-indulgence antinomy which helps them to establish trade-off between immediate gratification and prophylactic reward. According to Ali, Kapoor and Moorthy (2010), children, adolescents, young people and working professional are the prime target market for fast-food marketers like McDonald, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pi zza Huts, Domino’s, US Pizza etc. Anand (2011) and Ali, Kapoor and Moorthy (2010) identified reasons why fast-food marketers target young people and the identified reasons can be summarized as, 1- income of young people is low as compared to adults, therefore they show the preference for low cost fast-food items in contrast to high end food items, 2- young people prefer to eat out in fast food joints with friends due to convenience, 3- health consciousness among young people regarding the ill effects of fast foods is less as compared to young people and 4- young people prefer to indulge themselves in fast-food experience in order to satisfy hedonic value. Now the question is whether eating fast-food offered fast-food marketers like McDonald, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Pizza Huts, Domino’s, US Pizza has only benefits or there is presence of dark side of the story? The answer is yes and health related issues regarding fast-food consumption among people are central the me of the research paper. Consideration of the research works of Ritzer (2001) and Williams (2006) reveals the fact that periodic and frequent consumption fast food can lead to multiple health problems such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even cancers. Ali, Kapoor and Moorthy (2010) found a direct link between growing obesity among young people

Medieval Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Medieval Philosophy - Essay Example Thomas Aquinas. Al-Ghazali, after studying the rationalist philosophers became a mystic convinced that ultimate truth could be attained only through revelation. While other philosophers claimed that God dealt only with universals, Ghazali's God was concerned with the minutest details. Perhaps best known to the Western World were Ibn Sina, known in Europe as Avicenna (980-1037), and Ib Rushd (Averroes). Ibn Sina's numerous works, also rooted in Aristotle, greatly influenced medieval European philosophers such as Abelard, Albertus Magnus, and St. Thomas Aquinas. Ibn Rushd, born in 1126 in Spain, wrote about philosophy, mathematics, law, and theology, building upon his predecessors, al-Farabi and Ibn Sina. He was the last of the classical Muslim philosophers in Spain. Faith in the existence of human knowledge in all men marked his philosophy - which also had many similarities to that of Thomas Aquinas. The ninth century A.C. forms the golden period of the development of Islamic learning, when the Arabs were the real standard bearers of civilization. They not only saved Greek learning from total extinction but also made lasting contributions to almost all branches of knowledge and made considerable advancements in diverse spheres of human activity.

Take Your Vitamins Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Take Your Vitamins - Essay Example The foods called â€Å"functional foods,† or more scientifically nutraceuticals, offer greater benefits than the same standard foods do not. A really important element of the â€Å"functional foods† is that most people are probably not aware is that they are not directly regulated, at this time, by the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration. This means that no one, outside the company’s manufacturing the products, are really guaranteeing the absolute safety, purity, or quality of these products. (Manore and Thompson 189) Because the nutraceuticals are not drugs, and are not really capable of being dangerous, then there is no concern about where and to what they are added. To be perfectly honest, is not safety that is in question, but, whether, or not, they are in fact beneficial. Adding vitamins and minerals to granola bars, breakfast cereals, and dairy products is well and fine, ideally designed to encourage people to purchase those products. But is that really a cunning way to get people to â€Å"take their vitamins† or a clever way to get consumers to spend more on a product that benefits are potentially questionable at best. Also, as is the hypothetical case of Judy, she considers buying the soda with the vitamins added figuring that it must be better for her. (Manore and Thompson 189) But just because the given product has newly added ingredients does not mean that the food overall is healthier for you. If your favorite fast food restaurant added all the needed daily necessity of all the vitamins and minerals to their tastiest and greasiest french fries, would you start eating those fries everyday because they are healthier?

Answer the questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 15

Answer the questions - Essay Example The story is itself based on Oliver Crisp. Crisp serves as the protagonist in the story and he comes across as a highly enthusiastic explorer. Dubai is considered one of the most exotic places in the world which harbors many opportunities for amazing adventures. Kids in Dubai are naturally inclined to themes of exploration and adventure to a great extent which is why this particular children’s story has amassed great critical acclaim in my culture. The use and implementation of organization development (OD) principles and processes at community and national levels has drastically risen over the past years in Dubai. This stands true not only in context of Dubai, but application of OD principles is now seen around the globe in community contexts and also at national levels. The rise of violence in the world has served to challenge the safety and protection of people. In a situation characterized by increased violence, OD principles exercised by experienced professionals serve to increase the possibility of bringing that expertise which is needed to build more robust communities and plummet down the level of violence. Implementation of OD principles has played a very influential role in managing even the most intractable conflicts in the most professional and cost-saving

Interpersonal Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Interpersonal Management - Assignment Example in an independent manner including being aware of how I can be able to manage time, do presentations and express my views and opinions to other people. These skills are vital as they assist in the development of the aspects that a person needs for the workplace in future. They are integral in the development of confidence as well as self-esteem as they allow a person to learn to be assertive and develop an awareness of the needs of other people. The interpersonal skills learnt are also important as far as teamwork and responsibility is concerned as they make it easier for an individual to manage particular situations. The interpersonal skills that I have learnt have assisted me to understand that I should not be judgmental towards other people and to share ideas while working as a team through communicating with each other (Sen, 2007). All this aspects are integral and important in any workplace, particularly as far as social care is concerned. I have learnt to appreciate the concepts that are necessary for successful and efficient group work and to enjoy group sessions while contributing. I am now more confident that I am able to contribute positively to the success of any workforce while helping others to appreciate the significance of contributing their perceptions and ideas that are relevant to the prevailing situation. I have learnt to understand that every person has a point and there are always people who are willing to learn from what I have to offer. I have developed skills that assist me to work and collaborate with various individuals in different groups where I can listen to the ideas of others while giving my own. However, I have also learnt that some people are selfish with their ideas and do not contribute much in a group settings, instead, they soak up information that has been contributed by other people and add their own ideas from there. Knowledge that is acquired from subjects such as social policy and considering the manner in which different

Contemporary Economic Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Contemporary Economic Policy - Essay Example What is needed is not less than an energy revolution itself. This World Energy Outlook demonstrates how that might be achieved through decisive policy action and at what cost. It also describes the consequences of failure. Take oil for example, which is the world's essential supply of energy and will remain so for many years to come, even under the most optimistic of assumptions about the pace of growth and exploitation of alternative technology. But the sources of oil to meet rising demand, the cost of producing Oil and the prices that consumers will need to pay for it are extremely uncertain and constantly fluctuating, perhaps more than ever. The surge in prices in recent years drastically ending in the price spike of 2008, joined with much greater short-term price instability, have highlighted just how sensitive prices are to short-term market imbalances. They have also alerted people to the ultimately finite nature of oil (and natural gas) resources. In fact, the immediate risk to supply is not one of a lack of global resources, but rather a lack of investment where it is needed. Upstream investment has been rising rapidly in nominal terms, but much of the augmentation is due to heaving costs and the need to battle rising decline rates - especially in higher-cost provinces outside of OPEC. Today, most capital goes to exploring for and developing high-cost reserves, partly because of limitations on international oil company access to the cheapest resources. Expanding production in the lowest-cost countries will be central to meeting the world's needs at reasonable cost in the face of dwindling resources in most parts of the world and accelerating decline rates everywhere. 1. Introduction: The United Kingdom has been a net importer of energy resources (Oil and Gas) the energy sector itself has a big chunk in the over-all economy of the nation. However with the ever fluctuating and unpredictable fuel prices, it does not seem like a feasible approach to depend on traditional energy resources. A better and more mature energy policy needs to be prepared and implemented. The purpose of this paper is to highlight key energy consumption trends in the UK, review the energy policy and come up with a better approach towards dealing with the economic impact of energy. The energy industries in the UK play an innermost role in the economy by producing, transforming and supplying energy in its various forms to all sectors. They are also major contributors to the UK's balance of payments through the exports of crude oil and oil products (National Statistics Publication 2007). i) 4.8 per cent of GDP; ii) 8.6 per cent of total investment; iii) 44.3 per cent of industrial investment; iv) 137,800 people directly employed (5 per cent of indus

Understanding Prejudice Essay Example for Free

Understanding Prejudice Essay What exactly is the meaning of prejudice, and what does being prejudiced mean? Prejudice is a big word with a very deep meaning. Indeed, a lot of people may not know the true sense of it and how it affects people in the society. People live in a world that is full of prejudice. It is considered as one of the negative social phenomenons and one of the main sources of problems in the world. Prejudice denotes making or predisposition to make a decision or judgment before one becomes aware of the relevant truth of a certain case or scenario. For instance, people may have heard others saying things about a certain group of individuals such as â€Å"all black people are†¦. ,† â€Å"all white people are†¦. ,† â€Å"people in third world countries are†¦,† etc. (Breen, 2006). People may think that prejudice only refers to racial prejudice that is usually directed towards people with light or dark skin. However, I have learned that prejudice has a deeper meaning than discrimination against people of a certain race or color. Rather, prejudice can also be a result of one’s gender and geographical, religious, and cultural backgrounds. Every person also has his or her own way of being prejudiced. For example, one can judge somebody by the way he or she dresses and talks or even by his or her appearance. Thus, prejudice can come from different sources such as peers, parents, school, and public organization. At the same time, it can also be directed to various types of people. There are also many different kinds of prejudice that exist in our society today. Some of them may be observed in school, at home, or even in the television. For this reason, discrimination, racism, sexism, and other forms of social problems exist in the world we live in. Hence, it is not fair and also very sad that prejudice is a widely pervasive phenomenon in the world. (Breen, 2006). It is always inevitable to become prejudiced. There are a lot of reasons why people become prejudiced. It is a fact that one can learn it from home; parents often do not recognize that they are being an example to their children. If parents are prejudiced, then it is most likely that the child will also become one because that is what he or she observes from his or her parents. Children may also become prejudiced if parents directly teach or tell the former to perceive somebody or some things in the society in a certain way. That is why at a very young age, many children start to become prejudiced already and start to judge people and things by what they believe and think of them. They also become prejudiced due to the environment that they grow up in, the school and the neighborhood that they get involved in or witnesses. The media also plays a role in influencing people to become prejudiced. The effect on prejudice of television shows and films is very substantial. There are just so many ways on how people can become prejudiced, and it is very alarming that it has become one common source of misunderstandings, fights, and disputes all over the world (Breen, 2006). It is very hard to stop prejudice; however, it can be lessened if people would try not to be judgmental on simple things that they see and observe in their environment. Proper or right education must be imposed to children especially at home and in school in order to stop prejudice and so that people will eventually look at one another without making negative judgments. On the other hand, it would be very difficult to stop this social phenomenon as prejudice has become already part of the society. In conclusion, prejudice is an attitude that is based on generalizations and stereotypes. It is very astounding how easy it is for an individual to become prejudiced on somebody or something. Nevertheless, prejudice is merely a kind of thinking or a feeling in an individual’s mind. While people will never abolish the existence of prejudice in the society, it can be lessened and prevented if everyone will just start to cooperate and make an effort in reducing it. I believe that working hand in hand toward a common objective or goal can bring different groups of people all together, regardless of their age, race and sex. Reference Breen, R. (2006). Real Life Issues: Prejudice. Great Britain: Trotman Company Limited.

The Origin And Types Of Thrash Metal Music Essay

The Origin And Types Of Thrash Metal Music Essay We all know punk and classic metal were the two places thrash was taken from. Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Venom, Accept, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head and Thin Lizzy had a big influence on thrash. So did punk bands like Discharge, The Ramones, Sex Pistols and The Dead Boys. Another genre that thrash took influence from was hair metal, from the early hair metal of KISS to the satanic hair metal of Venom. Songs like Symptom of the Universe Black Sabbath, Stone Cold Crazy Queen, Ace of Spades and Overkill Motorhead and dozens of Judas Priest songs like Exciter were the first hints of thrash, with a very different riff-structure and high tempos never reached before by rock/metal. Thrash metal is directly responsible for the offshoot of popular underground metal genres, such as death metal and black metal BLACK METAL: During the 1980s, certain thrash metal bands formed a prototype for black metal. This so-called first wave included bands such as Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer AND Celtic Frost DEATH METAL : Building from the musical structure of thrash metal and early black metal, death metal emerged during the mid 1980s Metal acts such as Slayer, Kreator, Celtic Frost and Venom were very important influences to the crafting of the genre. Along with the band Death and its frontman Chuck Schuldiner, who is often referred to as the father of death metal bands such as Possessed, Obituary and Morbid Angel are often considered pioneers of the genre [b]Early Thrash:[/b] Many people see the genre getting its beginnings in California and the West Coast. But it was happening all over the world. Metal Church is the band that started off the West Coast thrash scene with their infamous Red Skies demo. About the same time as Metal Church was releasing some of the heaviest metal in existence at the time, the same was going on in New Jersey with a cover band, Overkill, who recently started writting their own music. By 1981, Overkill had written, copyrighted and been performing their new song, Unleash The Beast Within, everywhere. Kreator, of Germany, at the time known as Tormentor, was also releasing live demos of some of their new heavy thrash style by the very early 80s. Another band who helped innovate thrash, but is given little credit for it is Znowhite, a thrash band from Chicago, IL. Znowhite had their first demos out by 1981, but a Chicago thrash scene never really developed from it. And last but not least is the Canadian thrash giant, Exciter, who released their first demos as early as 1980! Soon after, still in the very early 80s, a new band was beginning to pick up the lighter thrash/classic metal sound Metal Church had innovated, and they brought it to a new level of speed and heaviness. This band was Leather Charm, a not so well known name, run by a nearly household name, James Hetfield. He developed the style of Metal Church into a new milestone in thrash, which went by the name Hit The Lights. The song started as a cover song, but moved very far away from that and into one of the first true thrash songs ever written. Soon after they finished this song, the band disbanded, and James Hetfield than formed a new band by the name of Metallica in late 1981. Soon many other bands that had connections with some of the first pioneers of thrash, like Overkill, Metallica, Tormentor (Kreator) and Metal Church, started to develop a thrash sound as well. Exodus, Trauma and Warning SF were examples on the east coast. Those three bands, and a few others, being the founders of what would become the biggest thrash scene in existence. And Anthrax would soon follow in Overkills footsteps on the east coast. Sodom, Destruction and Angel Dust followed after Tormentor/Kreators style in Germany. During Metallicas early career, the band was having trouble with their Lead guitarist, who was constantly out partying, drinking and doing drugs. This man was Dave Mustaine, and after Exodus and Kirk Hammet (at the time guitarist of Exodus) were brought to Metallicas attention, they kicked Mustaine out of the band and recruited Kirk Hammet. Not long before this, a new bassist, Cliff Burton, was found by Metallica during a Trauma (Burtons band at the time) concert and recruited as their new bassist. Megadeth was soon formed by the enraged Dave Mustaine to get vengeance against Metallica. [b]The Bay Area/San Francisco:[/b] This thrash scene was founded in the very early 80s, around 1982, by thrash band Exodus as well as Death Angel, Dark Angel, Blind Illusion and Slayer in 1983. Bands like Trauma (who was more so a speed metal band than thrash), Hirax, Testament, Forbidden, Possessed and dozens of others developed and helped the scene as well. Slayer is probably the best known of all the pioneering bands of the Bay Area, although during their early career, it was not thrash they were playing at the start of their career, it was classic metal, hugely influenced by NWOBHM. Blind Illusion is one of the least known, but has two of the most recognized metal musicians of all time, Les Claypool, of Primus, and Larry LaLonde, of Possessed and Primus. Bands like Blind Illusion and Forbidden would become pioneers of a soon to come sub-genre of thrash, Tech. thrash. Possessed and Slayer would become godfathers of the genre that developed from thrash, death metal, as well as brut al thrash. [b]East Coast Thrash:[/b] This scene was largely based in Newyork. The first thrash band of this scene, Overkill, might have started in New Jersey, but they soon relocated to New York. The next band to come was Hades, a straight-forward thrash band with a huge-octived vocalist came onto the thrash scene in 82 with the demo, Deliver Us From Evil. Even though Hades formed in 1978, they didnt record material until 82. Bands like Anthrax came onto the scene soon after in 1982, which were probably the second most important pioneer of the East Coast thrash scene (Even though they came after Hades, they largely popularized the scene, making it easier for thrash bands to make it in New York in particular). Bands like Blessed Death (in 83/84), Nuclear Assault (in 84), Hallows Eve (in 84), Nasty Savage (in 84), Whiplash (in 84), Ludichrist (in 85), Deceased (in 85). A later band who didnt really contribute to the creation of the scene was Blood Feast, and I just thought Id mention them as they re considered the Slayer of the East Coast. [b]Teutonic Thrash: [/b]Better known as German Thrash, was started by thrash band Kreator in 81/82, but at the time, the band was known as Tormentor. For some reason, the German Thrash scene was much heavier in general than any American thrash scene. The two other big pioneers of German thrash were Sodom, in 1983, and Destruction, in 1984.. Vendetta was also a big contributor to the scene, but never got the credit they deserved. They wrote great music and released their first material in 82, before Sodom or Destruction. Bands like Tankard (in 84), Living Death (in 83), Holy Moses (First album in 87, dont know when their first demos were), Iron Angel (in 84) and Angel Dust (in 85), both had huge influences on the scene, too. These bands would go on to help aid the creation of extreme metal (black/death metal), especially Kreator. Some of the other big bands of the scene were Assassin (in 85), Exumer (in 85), Accuser (in 86), Deathrow (in 86) and Paradox (in 87). The oddest of the well known thrash bands is probably Mekong Delta, a prog/thrash band, whose guitarists were unknown for the beginning of their career and are hugely influenced by classical composers. The German thrash scene is still alive with bands like Grinder and Desaster, but its nearing death and is nowhere near as popular as it once was. [b]Canadian Thrash[/b]: Canada is known for producing several top quality tech. thrash, but for some reason, people usually dont go farther beyond the tech. giants like Annihilator and Voivod. The pioneers of the Canadian thrash scene were Exciter (in 1980), Eudoxis (Not very popular, but they have influence almost every Canadian thrash band. They released Metal Fix in 1985), Voivoid (in 83), Annihilator (in 85), Razor (in 84) and Slaughter (in 84.. Not the Shitty Las Vegas hair metal band). Voivod debuted in 1984, but it wasnt until their 1987 album, Killing Technology did they add prog. to their song-structures. Annihilator was the band that started the tech. thrash scene in Canada, while Voivod brought it to new levels. Annihilator didnt debut until 1989, but had tech. thrash demos out as early as 1985. Bands like Razor and Slaughter were some of the earliest thrashers, but it was Eudoxis who set the standards with their near-perfect EP, Metal Fix. Exciter was the first band to br ing thrash/speed metal to Canada, and one of the first three speed/thrash metal bands in existence. Some of the other big Canadian thrashers were Ghoulunatics, Infernal Majesty, Dyoxen, Sacrifice, DBC and Obliveon. On a random note, Eudoxis drummers double bass drums were six feet in diameter each! [b]Brazilian Thrash:[/b] The latest big thrash scene to develop. The scene was started by Ratos de PorALo, they were a hardcore punk band, bordering thrash, and were fairly popular. The actual thrash scene was pioneered by Vulcano (in 83), Sepultura (in 85), Korzus (in 84/85) and Overdose (in 85). Other big Brazilian thrash bands are Chakal (in 86), Dorsal AtlAcntica (in 85.. Known as Ultimatum at the time), Opprobrium (in 87.. Then known as Incubus, no relation to the rap-metal band Incubus, though), Mutilator (in 85), Torture Squad (in 93) and Holocausto (in 85.. It was a very controversial band, and Ill explain why soon). Sepultura was a brutal thrash band that released their first material in 1985, AKA Bestial Devastation. They were influenced by Brazilian death/thrash band, Vulcano, the first big thrash band onto the scene. Now about Holocausto, you can probably guess why they were controversial from the name. Holocausto was a thrash of neo-nazis whose lyrics were based on neo-n azism. The Brazilian thrash scene is still healthy and probably the only of the big thrash scenes still far from death. [b]Thrash from Everywhere Else[/b]: There were a couple other smaller thrash scenes that I decided to just throw together in an Everywhere Else section. There was Sabbat (in 85), Onslaught (in 83) and Xentrix (in 89), being the three premier British thrash bands. Prog. Thrash band Stone (in 87) of Finland, Artillery (in 83) of Denmark and uber-technical thrash band Coroner (in 86) of Switzerland. Finally, there is Mortal Sin (in 87), Hobbs Angel of Death (in 88 ) and Sadistik Exekution (in 91) of Australia. Those are all the big thrash metal bands I havent covered yet. Now onto sub-genres. [b]Crossover:[/b] This is a sub-genre of bands whose punk influence is so strong that they crossover into both hardcore and thrash. The sub-genre was first introduced by DRI (AKA Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) with their 1982 EP, Dirty Rotten EP. The next most important pioneer was Suicidal Tendencies who released their first material in 1983. They usually influenced thrash and started the Crossover sub-genre. Bands to follow in their footsteps would be Nuclear Assault (in 84), Hirax (in 85), Anthrax (In 85, as after their debut, they began focusing on their hardcore influences), Stormtroopers of Death (in 85), MOD (in 86), Ludichrist (in 85) and Cryptic Slaughter (in 86). [b]Groove Metal :[/b] Groove Metal was a genre of groove-based melodies and usually slower tempod riffs, solos, etc, than normal thrashThis genre was pioneered by Exhorder in the mid/late eighties (Starting in 86), but popularized by Pantera (First Groove Metal albums in 1990). The genre became very popular before of Pantera and was also played by Sepultura on the album, Arise. some other great groove metal bands are Machine Head (in 94), Ghoulunatics (in 95), Prong (Later albums) and Overkill (From The Killing Kind to BloodLetting.. AKA their 1996-1999 albums). [b]Technical Thrash:[/b] This genre is pretty much a combination of progressive metal and thrash metal. The pioneers of this genre were Watchtower, of Austin Texas, who released their first material in 1984, on the Demo Meltdown. They were the first big metal band to fuse prog. and thrash, along with Blind Illusion at least, who released less popular demos in very late 1983/1984. Annihilator followed in a thrashier form of technical thrash with their first demos being released in 1985. Some other great pioneering tech. thrash bands are Voivod (in 87), Forbidden (in 88), Coroner (in 86) and Megadeth (on Rust In Peace). [b]END OF THRASH METAL[/b] In the 1990s, many veteran thrash metal bands began changing to more accessible, radio-friendly styles. Metallica were a notable example of this shift, particularly with their mid to late 90s albums Load (1996), and ReLoad (1997), which both displayed minor blues and southern rock influences, and were seen as a major departure from the bands earlier sound. Megadeth took a more accessible hard rock route starting with their 1992 album Countdown to Extinction, and Testament released the melodic The Ritual in 1992 [b]THRASH IS BACK (2000s)[/b] Thrash metal has recently seen a certain degree of resurgence of popularity. Bands including Municipal Waste, Evile, SSS, Sanctity and Gama Bomb have been cited as key in the resurgence of thrash metal. The genres sense of recklessness and energy has been cited as a potential reason for its resurgence. Also many bands that ended around the 90s gathered again around 2000s, bands like Exumer, Evildead, Dark Angel (band), Death Angel, Nuclear Assault, Defiance (band), Whiplash (band), Hirax, and Possessed (band). Older thrash bands have continued to put out material such as Megadeths Endgame (2009), Slayers World Painted Blood (2009), Metallicas Death Magnetic (2008), Destructions D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. (2008), Sodoms The Final Sign of Evil (2007), Death Angels Relentless Retribution (2010), Kreators Hordes of Chaos (2009), Exodus Exhibit B: The Human Condition (2010), Overkills Ironbound (2010), Onslaughts Killing Peace (2007), Testaments The Formation of Damnation (2008), Metal Church This Present Wasteland (2008), Artillerys When Death Comes (2009), and Voivods Infini (2009). In September 2009, it was reported that Metallicas Lars Ulrich was attempting to assemble a tour with thrash metals Big Four ? Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax ? together on one bill. The Big Four took the stage together for seven shows in the Sonisphere Festival concert series.

Customer Perception Towards The Japanese Automobile Marketing Essay

Customer Perception Towards The Japanese Automobile Marketing Essay LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction The purpose of this study is to investigate the customer perception towards Japanese automobile. This chapter reviews the relevant journals and case studies pertaining to brand name, features, consumer behavior, reliability and price, and customer purchase satisfaction. The sources of these literatures obtain from many sources such as ebscohost.com and emeraldinsight.com. Previous experimental findings relating to each construct will be explored. Next, theoretical supporting that form the basis of the current study will be provided. In the end, hypotheses and brief definition and for this study will be presented. In fact, the historical approaches allow us to create a richer mode of description and understanding (Booth, 2003) This chapter include the proof regarding of the factors that influencing the Malaysians in choosing Japanese automobile. As all industries trying to move forward to gain competitive advantage, it is necessary for the car manufacturers to know about the factor such as brand name, features, consumer behavior, reliability and price that playing a vital role affecting the customers decision-making in choosing Japanese automobiles. The automobile industry is considered the single largest manufacturing sector in the world (Turnbull et al., 1992). More than 10 percent of the Japanese and American output and employment are derived from this industry. Its contribution to the European Unions trade surplus amounted to ECU22 billion in 1991 (Wells and Rawlinson, 1994). The car industry might be the most outstanding and develop industry in the world with dominated by three forces which is USA, Japan and Europe (Donnely, Mellahi and Morris, 2002). The Malaysia automobile industry can be dividing into 2 stages. The first stage was started from 1960s. At that time, most of the car was imported in Completely Built up (CBU) form (Siti Iswalah Arshad, 2009). After year 1966, many of the foreign car manufacturers is import using Completely Knock Down form (CKD), which is import the raw material and assemble in Malaysia. For example, Peugeot was assembled by Asia Automobile Industries Sdn. Bhd. and Nissan cars which assembled by Tan Chong Motors. According to Siti Iswalah Arshad (2009), the second stage is from 1984, at that time Malaysian have launch the National Car Project and have own brand of the car which is Proton. This program is joint-venture with Japans car manufacturer which is Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. In year 1992, the second national car was built which is Perodua. Nowadays, Malaysian automobiles market share was dominated by this two local car. Recvently, Malaysia is one of the biggest car market in ASEAN, accounting for one-third of sales in the region by volume (Automotive Forecast World, 2005). Malaysia exhibiting a strong driving culture and one of the highest penetration rates of cars per capita in the world (Bonami, 2005). Therefore, there are various stimulatory and protective measures, such as investment incentives, a local content policy, and tariff and non-tariff barriers were implemented to stimulate the development of both local automotive and parts production (Rosli and Kari, 2008). The automobile plays a virtual role to Malaysian daily life (Momeni and Nazemi, 2009). According to the result from Malaysian Automotive Association (2010), the total vehicle sales in Malaysia has dropped from 605,156 units in year 2010, surpassing the previous record of 552,316 units achieved in 2005. (Thestar, 2011). The Japanese automobile, Toyota had the third highest sales volume at 91,559 units and this accounted for 15.2 per cent share of the overall industry sales. Toyota has been the leader for the non-national makes for 20 consecutive years in Malaysia and it is just a challenge behind the national carmaker Proton and Perodua. Non-national makes Honda and Nissan maintained their second and third positions within the non-national car segment. The Japanese car manufacturers which are the Toyota, Honda and Nissan also gain a large market share in Malaysia although Malaysian automobile market is still dominated by Malaysians national car which is Perodua and Proton. The industry of automobile can be seen as an important sector in the world. Especially in Malaysia, this industry is to be entrusting to accomplish the vision 2020 that can let Malaysia become developed country by that time (Siti Iswalah Arshad, 2009). According to Shamini (2008), the imported of the foreign car also allows the country to earn huge taxes which is to protect the market share of the local car. According to Mahidin and Kanageswary (2004), Malaysian local car was protected by Malaysian automotive policy which collects the import taxes for foreign cars to increase their selling price. Others than that, the local content policy set a minimum value of local parts that automobile producers have to source from local parts suppliers to be assembled in their end automobile units (Rosli, 2006). This statement will cause a big decrease on the competitiveness between the Japanese and local car in Malaysia. Table 1.1: The top 10 total vehicle sales by make (year2010)c:usersdarkheavendesktopvehiclesales2001.jpg Sources: Malaysian Automotive Association (2010) According to Malaysian Automative Association (2010), it shows that the Proton and Perodua have the largest market share and sales in year 2010. The local car market share is more than 50% of total sales. Besides, Japanese car manufactures Honda and Toyota are among the top competitors for the local car in Malaysia. From the table 1, the overall sales of the Japanese cars increase rapidly from year2009 to year2010. This can consider as a threat for the Malaysian local car. According to Ahasanul et al (2007), different customer will have a different perception when come to decision-making. Sometimes it can be related to different culture diversity. Malaysia has three major races which are Malay, Chinese and Indian (Krishnan, 2004). Their factor of consideration may be different from other country before make the purchase decision. This research is aim to examine what factors affecting Malaysian to go for Japanese cars in Malaysia automobile market. History of Japanese automobile industry The  Japanese  automotive industry  is one of the most prominent industries in the world and has grown constantly over a long time and has finally surpassing U.S. auto industry as number one producer of cars in world at 2006, according to a recent survey by the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers. (Kyodo News, 2007). Major manufacturers of cars in Japan Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Suzuki, and Mazda are also amongst largest manufacturers of cars in world (EconomyWatch). The Japanese automotive industry began in 1902, with limited production of small (12 horsepower) vehicles by a number of companies on a trial basis but they were unable to compete against imported cars after the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. (http://www.roaring.jp/jp-car-technology.html). By late 1910s, Japanese zaibatsu (business conglomerates) began building their first automobiles in the middle and they were involved in joint ventures to produce and sell cars in Japan under license. (http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Japanese_automobile_industry). Overcoming ill effects of defeat in Second World War that had destroyed national economy, was not an easy process on part of Japanese industries. Car manufacturers belonging to Japanese auto industry were commissioned to supply army trucks to South Korea by Federal Government of U.S. during Korean War between 1950 and 1953. This was main reason behind upswing of Japanese auto industry that began in 1960s. (http://www.economywatch.com/world-industries/automobile/japanese-auto-industry.html) During the 1960s, Japanese automakers launched a bevy of new kei cars in their domestic market. These tiny automobiles usually featured very small engines (from 360cc to 600cc) to keep taxes much lower than larger cars. The average person in Japan was now able to afford an automobile, which boosted sales dramatically and jumpstarted the auto industry toward becoming what it is today. (http://automobile-information-update.blogspot.com/2010/06/automotive-industry-in-japan.html) Rapidly increasing domestic demand and the expansion of Japanese car companies into foreign markets in the 1970s further accelerated growth. Automobile production in Japan continued to increase rapidly after the 1970s, as Mitsubishi (as Dodge vehicles) and Honda began selling their vehicles in the US. Even more brands came to America and abroad during the 1970s, and by the 1980s, the Japanese manufacturers were gaining a major foothold in the US and world markets (http://www.roaring.jp/jp-car-technology.html). After 1980s, the Japanese automobile industry is moving into a new era of internationalization when the US automobile began to lose its competitiveness and went into decline after the second oil crises. Compared with the late 1940s when just 20,000 units or so a year produced in Japan mainly small and medium trucks- the output, mostly of automobiles, surpassed 13 million in 1991 for thirty year in succession, making it largest in the world. (http://books.google.com.my/books?id=6O7ZnT018z0Cprintsec=frontcoverdq=japanese+automobile+industrysource=blots=QeNDqiVUousig=YZPgsbRUC5iWSN-ngnR5dBYFJPghl=enei=ay2ATeOrGcWtrAep3KTIBwsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=13ved=0CIcBEOgBMAw#v=onepageqf=false) 2.1 Definition 2.1.1 Consumers decision-making Consumers decision-making can be defined as a mental orientation characterizing a consumers approach for making choices (Sproles and Kendall,1986). This mean that when a consumer would like to have or to make the purchase decision, they will pass through the process through recognition, search information, evaluation, purchase, feedback (Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, 1995). Therefore, the consumer will choose a product or brand to consume from various choice that available in the market. According to Bettman, Johnson and Payne (2000), different situation will be affected by different factors. One of the problems that may encounter by consumer during decision making process is information overload. Information overload will increase the complexity of the consumer decision-making (Bettman, Johnson and Payne, 2000). The information can be obtained by advertisement, display, brochures and etc. Lynch and Srull (1982) suggested that decision-making can be categorised into 3 categories which are stimulus-based, memory-based and mixed. When consumer is being affected by the some outsource or external information or factor can be categorized in stimulus-based. When consumer makes certain decision based on their memory or internal perception, it can be classified in as memory-based. The combination of this two is mixed. Consumer has different tastes, needs, motivation and lifestyle when they want to purchase a product (Chisnall, 1985). There are some of consumer preferred high qualities and they are more willing to pay more in term of price but some of them are not (Monroe, 2003). Furthermore, the consumer decision-making can be investigated through the consumer characteristics. It includes brand conscious, price conscious, quality conscious, recreation conscious, innovation conscious, confused by over choice, impulsive and brand (Leo, Bennett, and Hartel, 2005). Therefore, it is important to find out the relationship between those characteristics and the consumer decision-making. Consumers are demanding an increased variety of products and customized products (Ahlstrom and Westbrook, 1999). Furthermore, customized producers tend to involve consumers early in the production process in order to increase the degree of customization (Duray, 2002). In order to operate in a truly customer-oriented way, a companys goal is not to be led exclusively by consumers expressed needs butto amaze consumers by anticipating and fulfilling their unarticulated needs (Stalk, 1988). Consequently, understanding decision process by which consumers purchase customized products is of practical importance. The decision of selecting the most effective positioning strategy constitutes a main challenge for marketers since it is central to consumers perceptions and choice (Aaker and Shansby, 1982; Pham and Muthukrishnan, 2002). If positioning is done effectively it has the potential to build powerful brands; however, if done incorrectly, it can also result in disaster (see, for example, Haig, 2005; Ries and Trout, 1986). 3 2.1.2 Brand name According to Rotfled (2009), brand name is a unique and is to mark off product itself to the consumer. The main advantageous of brand name is that it can help the company to deliver the information and communicate quality to the market (Hoyer and Brown, 1990). The recognition of brand name is half the battle for a business (Church, 2008.) because it helped to create a brand name with well-established associations. It is one way to create competitive advantage for the firm in competitive market. Somehow, it is a very costly process but has many returns once success is achieved. ( Arslan and Altuna, 2010 ). It provided the primary point of differentiation between competitive offerings and so such they can be critical to the success of companies (Wood, 2000). Consumer may tend to perceive the product from an overall perspective, associating with the brand name of all the attributes and satisfactions experienced by the purchase and use of the product (Murphy, 1990; Ambler, 1996). They normally based their purchasing decisions on information cues; either intrinsic cues (e.g. product design) or extrinsic cues e.g. brand name (Jacoby et al 1977). Brand image research has long been recognized as one of the central area of the marketing research field but somehow not only because it serve as a foundation for tactical marketing mix issues but also because it play an integral role in building long term brand equity (Keller, 1993). High brand equity implies that consumers may look upon a higher positively association that may related to the brand name, over and above those of the product itself (Rio, Vazquez and Iglesias, 2001). Brand-origin is defined by Thakor and Kohli(1996) as the place, region, or country where brand is perceived to belong by its target consumers. There has a strong relationship between the brand and brand-origin. The research on effects of country of origin has made up the largest number in international buyer behavior (Heslop et al 1998; Verlegh Steenkamp, 1999). Somehow, there are some effect he effect of country image on brand image which moderated by both brand and country reputation (Hui and Zhou, 2003). It can be summarized that the brand image of a product produced in a establish or developed country is likely to be affected differently from the brand image of a product produced in unknown country. Keller (1993) mentioned that consumer brand knowledge may determine on how consumers think about a brand. According to Durgee (1988), images of brands often create notions about the performance of their product stereotypes, their key characteristics, and benefits and related services. Consumers base on their level of preferences to see whether the brand is fulfilling their requirement or not (Urbany, Dickson, and Wilkie, 1989). According to Hutchinson (1983), the knowledge of the consumer has a positive relationship with the brand name. According to Srinivasan and Till (2002), the consumer will perceived the globalisation (foreign) product have a better quality than the local product. As a result, the consumer who is required high quality will prefer to select the foreign car. The power of brand lies in the minds of consumers or customers (Keller, 2000). Brand name assures customers that they will receive the quality that the product claims to deliver (Miranda and Konya, 2007). According to Baltas and Saridakis (2009), for those consumers who are affected by brand-name and will only buy branded good usually is more concern on the quality of product rather than the price of the product. That is because brand names play a traditionally important role in purchase car decisions because car quality is often difficult to evaluate prior to purchase and buyers may have to rely on carmakers reputations. (Baltas and Saridakis 2009). For some consumer, they are not willing to pay more to purchase the brand name but some will (Monroe, 2003). According to Muncy (1996), consumers are more flexible in selecting lower price product and normally are lower brands loyalty, more prices sensitive for perceived the different between products. Brand name exerts a significant inf luence on new car prices (Baltas and Saridakis, 2009). . 2.1.3 Features Features can be defined as something that to satisfy the customers needs and wants through the belonging, use, consumption for a product (Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, and Gary, 2007). According to Mowen and Minor (1998), the product attributes can be seen as a feature that might have on a product. This can actually influence the consumer on their decision making during purchase. Prior to product evaluations, consumers are often exposed to data that permits them to judge the covariation relationship among different  product attributes (Jacoby, Szybillo and Busato, 1977). The features of an automobile which can be provide include customer services, fuel efficiency, safety, quality and design of a car. Those features will be investigating detail in this research. The customer services can be consider as a feature of a product (Chung and Young, 2003). According to Lohse and Spiller (1998), consumer wants the customer services which include careful, valuable and continuous. Salespersons recommendations or suggestions are important especially before consumer make decision. This can help as a main factors that can influence the consumer decision-making process besides price, features and brand (Karjaluoto, Karvonen, Kesti, Koivumaki, Manninen, Pakola, Ristola, and Salo, 2005). In addition, Yi and Gong (2008) stated that although company offered the low prices, promotion and competitive advantage may not gain market if they neglect the customer service. Somehow, feature may relate to complementary product. The fuel efficiency affects the demand. The price of gasoline rise during this few years. According to German Agency of Technical co-operation (2005), the price of gasoline in year 2004 in Malaysia is USD 0.37 per litre, and then increased about USD 0.20 per little if compared with year 2002. Therefore, it also directly affects the demand of automobile of the market decreased (Kandapa, Thanyawee, Vanvisa and Yingyot, 2009). As result, some of the consumer will choose the car which are more fuel efficiency or the car which are use diesel or gasohol. Furthermore, the consumer will consider the safety of the car. The airbag of a car can provide the safety of the driver and passenger when the car was accident. Some of the consumers are willing to pay to obtain the safety when choosing between local and foreign car. It has a positive relationship (Kandapa et al., 2009). According to Liu and Bai (2008), the consumer will take safety as an important factor when they make comparison between local car and foreign car. Thirdly is the quality of the product. Different brand have a different quality (Obermiller and Wheatley, 1985). The foreign car and local car are different especially in term called quality. According to Steenkamp (1989), the quality of the product can influence the consumer decision. Steenkamp (1989) also categories the consumer into 2 groups with is the consumer who is high quality conscious and low quality conscious. The people who are in high quality conscious category are willing to pay more to have a better quality product, and the consumer who are falls into low quality conscious will not willing to pay more to obtain greater quality brand (Nor Khasimah et al, 2007). According to Uncles and Saurazas (2000), the consumers who are living in developing countries will perceive foreign product have a higher quality than local product, therefore the consumer in Malaysia who falls into high quality conscious categories will preferred the foreign car which includes Japanese car rathe r than local car. Lastly is the design of a car may be one of the feature. The consumer will tend to choose a larger car and which are more have a fashionable design that is attractiveness (Liu and Bai, 2008). According to Liu and Bai (2008), the design of a car also can let the consumer have an image which is discussion earlier in the brand name. They will feel have imaged if their car have a good design. It can let them have the greatest satisfaction (Chung and Pysarchik, 2000.) 2.1.4 Price Price Nagle and Holden (2002) stated that price can be seen as a monetary value that seller must give to consumer in order to exchange it with the services or product provide. Price always is the major concern of customer for making purchase decision (Smith and Carsky, 1996). Price has been one of several product attributes considered relevant (Voss et al., 1998).When faced with performance or quality uncertainty, consumers are more likely use external indicators, such as price, in order to compare and take a decision (Urbany et al., 1997). Importance of price as a quality indicator is likely to be greater, when there are only a few other attributes that indicate quality, or when the product is difficult to evaluate. ( Mitchel and Greatorex 1997). According to Munnukka (2005), customer can be divide into 2 categories which are moderate usage customer and intensive usage customer. It was discovered that consumer differ significantly in their price sensitivity levels when choosing between foreign car and local car. The consumer with moderate usage of the product will be less sensitive of the price but the consumers who are intensive users will be more sensitive to the price changes (Munnukka, 2005). For the moderate users of consumer, the marketers will focus on quality rather than price. For intensive users the marketers will focus on low price rather than quality (Munnukka, 2005). In this research, it is important to find out our target respondent whether they are moderate user or intensive user. The price of a product is one of the most important marketing-mix tools (Vogel et al, 2004). That is because it influences consumers willingness to paid and buying decision (Monroe, 1973). According to BusinessDictionary, Price promotion is the sales promotion  based  on  a  price  discount  offer. Retailers use various types of advertised price reductions to boost store trsaffc and increase sale (Messinger et al, 2010).By some estimates, price promotions account for almost a quarter of the marketing budget of some companies (Blattberg and Neslin, 1989). Despite the positive effect price promotions have on consumers perceptions and purchase decisions, they also have some negative effect such as lowering consumers perception of quality (Dodson et al., 1978), lowering consumers expectations for the brand (Monroe, 1971), and doubting the value proposition, that is positioning of the brand and creating a perceivable distinction in the competitive market, of the firm (Daun and Klinger, 2006) Therefore, knowledge on how consumers respond to price promotions is essential in making critical decisions concerning price promotions (Oliveira-Castro et al., 2008). Understanding how consumers perceive price promotions and respond to them should be of interest to retailers. It is important for researchers to understand the appropriate match between price promotions and the specific product types. The level of price is found to positively affect behavioural intentions mainly because price establishes image of the brand in the eyes of the consumers (Yoo et al., 2000). Consumer consistently used price as a predictor of quality, particularly when they have limited knowledge of product category offerings (Bredahl, 2003). Conspicuousness (willingness to spend a great amount of money to demonstrate their social status) plays an important role on brand purchases. (Swani, 2010). Wilcox et al. (2009) found that high-priced brands are highly related to consumer conspicuousness. When price deals lower the final price they pay, conspicuousness will be damaged, which makes consumers unhappy. Low-priced brand buyers are not concerned with conspicuousness or exclusivity desires. Instead, they would be pleased with the increased value garnered by the price deals. Consumers looking for quality, status, self expression, and image will gravitate toward high-priced brands to fulfill their goals. In contrast, price deals are expected to have a positive effect on low-priced brands because they provide transaction value, the major purchase goal towards low-priced brand s. Negative consumer reactions to perceived unfair prices can result in customer boycotts and lower sales (Grover, 1994). Buying a new car is an important decision for most consumers (Herrmann et al., 2007).That is because they perceived the risk for buying a car is relative higher than other product such as food or clothes. The complexity of buying process makes the consumer had to consider many factors before make the purchasing decision. Therefore, when they face the uncertainly information such as the features of the car or the quality of the car, they will consider the price for making comparison (Urbany, Bearden, Kaicker, and Smith-de-Borrero 1997). According to Aliman N. and Othman M. (2007), the local product normally will have a price advantages if compared with the foreign product. Aliman N. and Othman M. (2007) stated that if the foreign product would like to maintain the competitiveness, they should have the advantages of brand name and features. Besides, price and quality also have a positive relationship (Etgar and Malhotra, 1981). Consequently, if the price are high but the quality or features are aim to fulfil the expectation of buyers, the consumer will perceive that it is fair and more willing to pay a higher price for the quality demanded (Monroe, 2003). It means that most of the consumer will perceive high price as high quality. In Malaysia, the local car normally has a lower price than the foreign car. It is dangerous that the consumer perceive local car has a lower quality compare to imported car. Voss et al. (1998) stated that satisfaction is a function of price, performance and expectation with support for the expectation- satisfaction link being weak.In contrast to performance, perceived price fairness an important factor influencing overall customer satisfaction judgments. (Herrmann et al., 2007). This influence is both direct, and indirect via price fairness perceptions. If consumers perceive that the price they are charged for a given service or good are unfair, they are likely to adopt behavior that is directed against the interests of the selling company (Xia et al., 2004). The study of Bolton et al. (2003) showed that consumers decide their minds about what prices should be charged for a service or a product. This evaluation is important because it implies that consumers may care for the input and output ratios comparison with the seller in the absence of a comparative other. For example, a car dealers price offer for an automobile may be accompanied with an explanation of the prices of various options and delivery charges, as well as required down payment and financing arrangements. In such situations, both the initial price of the car quoted by the sales person (i.e., price offer) and the terms associated with the price and how these terms are handled and explained to the consumer (i.e. price procedure) will influence consumers fairness perceptions (Herrmann et al., 2007) Lastly, the depreciation value of the car also can influence a consumer decision to choose between local and foreign car (Baltas and Saridakis, 2009). The consumer will choose the car which are have highest depreciation values. According to Terry (November 1, 2005), the foreign car has an annual depreciation rate which are about 13% to 16%. The Malaysian car has a depreciation rate which about 40%. The foreign car have a highest depreciation values, therefore those consumer will be affected by this issues. 2.1.5 Reliability 2.1.6 Consumer Behavior According to the American Marketing Association, consumer behavior is defined as the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behavior, and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives. Examples of consumer behavior include watching a TV commercial, visiting a store, or purchasing a product. Chinese consumers typically pay more attention to the informational content than entertainment features of the advertisements. One study found that Chinese customers considered themselves to be sophisticated and knowledgeable in their purchasing choices (Shen Zhao, 1995). According to Rosenblatt (1964), the ethnocentrism will usually have a positive attitude or manner for same group or the product made by their country, and a negative attitude toward the different group or the product made by different country. This means that a customer will make purchase decision which consider of the country of product or country-of-origin. Country of origin is generally described as the source country for a product or service provider, which may differ from the country of brand, assembly or design. Several studies has been found to significantly influence consumer perceptions of product performance and quality, these include price, brand, retail outlet and country of origin (Veale and Quester, 2009). According to Safiek et al. (2001), those consumers who are having high tendency of ethnocentric will more prefer to buy domestic product. They will feel that if buying foreign product will hurt their countrys economy. In essence, a highly ethnocentric people was proud to their own values, culture, symbols and hold in values and object for the different group because they will feel that buying foreign or import product will directly hurt their countrys economy and bring the impact such as unemployment. In contrast, low tendency of ethnocentric are more preferred to purchase the foreign products. They will view the foreign product or import product as a symbol of status, and they are more prefer to buy foreign product to make them have a highest status. According to Triandis (1994), collectivism means that the people will dependence with other people in the same group and get together with group which include their family and friends. Besides, according to Sharma et al. (1995), collectivist will consider the outcome before they take the actions. Consumers who are collectivism will choose the product which are easily accept by other people (Wickliffe and Pysarchik, 2001). In Malaysia, some of the research has found that there are more influenced by the collectivism culture (Burns and Brady, 1992; Bochner, 1994). The people who are collectivism also try to look for the similarity with other people and concern about the view of others people (Wickliffe and Pysarchik, 2001). The consumers who are more importance of the others people in the society, they will also more considered against the result of brand selection that decoded by them (Wickliffe and Pysarchik, 2001). The collectivism will influence the consumer when make choice between local car and foreign car. The marketers also can use advertisement if they are targeting those are collectivist (Kropp et al, 2005). The people who are highly collectivism will easily influence by the opinion leader, therefore the marketers of local ca