Saturday, August 31, 2019

Modernism, Postmodernism

The youth culture of the 1960s represents the threshold between modernism and what, in most circles, passes for postmodernism. On the one hand, it is clearly an extension and reinvention of the historical avant-garde, and, on the other, it signals the increasing obsolescence of the (modernist) divide between elite and mass culture, between the artisanal and the mechanically reproduced.Reacting against the universalizing tendencies of high modernism (from abstract expressionism to the international style), and its dedication to seriousness, abstraction, and elegance, the new artists delighted in extending the range of art, in juxtaposing the exalted and the abject, the sacred and the profane, in being vernacular and relevant, and in rudely transgressing bourgeois norms.From the point of view of post-modern theory, the recent history of popular music can be seen to be marked by a trend towards the open and extensive mixing of styles and genres of music in very direct and self-conscious ways. Put very simply, the argument about the transition between modernism and postmodernism in pop music can be seen as the Beatles in the 1960s. The songs of the Beatles drew explicitly on diverse classical and popular forms and made a claim to what was for pop a new kind of musical and lyrical seriousness.Postmodernism first emerges out of a generational refusal of the categorical certainties of high modernism. The insistence on an absolute distinction between high and popular culture came to be regarded as the ‘unhip' assumption of an older generation. One sign of this collapse can be seen in the merging of art and pop music. For example, Peter Blake designed the cover of the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.Jameson (1991) distinguishes between modernist and post-modern pop music, making the argument that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones represent a modernist moment, against which punk rock and new wave can be seen as post-modern. In ‘Popular Mus ic and Postmodern Theory', Andrew Goodwin (1991) quite correctly argues that for various reasons this is a very difficult position to sustain. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are as different from each other as together they are different from, say, the Clash and Talking Heads. In fact, ‘it would be much easier to make an argument in which the distinction is made between the â€Å"artifice† of the Beatles and Talking Heads and the â€Å"authenticity† of the Rolling Stones and the Clash' (55).Perhaps the best way to think of the relationship between pop music and postmodernism is historically. In most accounts, the moment of postmodernism begins in the late 1950s-the same period as the emergence of pop music. Therefore, in terms of periodization, pop music and postmodernism are more or less simultaneous. This does not necessarily mean that all pop music is post-modern. Using Raymond Williams's model of social formations always consisting of a hierarchy of cultu res-‘dominant', 'emergent' and ‘residual'-post-modern pop music can be seen as 'emergent' in the 1960s with the late Beatles, and the rock music of the counter-culture, as principal examples, and in the 1970s with ‘art school' punk, to become in the late 1980s the ‘cultural dominant' of pop music.It is also possible to see the consumption of pop music and the surrounding pop music culture as in itself post-modern. Instead of an approach concerned with identifying and analysing the post-modern text or practice, we might look instead for postmodernism in the emergence of particular patterns of consumption; people who actively seek out and celebrate pastiche. The notion of a particular group of consumers, people who consume with irony and take pleasure in the weird, is very suggestive.Flirtations with Eastern mysticism in the 1960s brought new influences; the success of the Beatles, and George Harrison’s fascination with the Indian sitar, increased exposu re to Indian music and to Ravi Shankar, probably the first distinct ‘world musician’, unquestionably promoting musical sounds and structures quite different from those in the West. Prior to the successes of Miriam Makeba, Ravi Shankar and Manu Dibango, the first African musician to have an international hit, and whose music helped usher in the disco era (Mitchell 1996), musicians with exceptional local and regional popularity were otherwise largely unknown in the West, because their music was unfamiliar and inaccessible, and the words incomprehensible (hence Western recording companies took little interest).The Beatles’ quest for mysticism, enlightenment and innovative sounds (which could be incorporated in Western musical structures, rather than being given a life of their own) was the forerunner of other Western performers’ similar searches for authenticity and difference. Paul Simon’s Graceland (1986) recorded English lyrics over tracks performed by black South African bands and the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.As many critics noted, rock may have been the most popular and influential art form during the late '60s, â€Å"the deepest means of communication and expression† that negotiated the incompatibility of the post-modern with the preindustrial by attempting to unite â€Å"a mass culture† with â€Å"a genuine folk culture.† In the mid-Sixties, electricity, poetry, sex, and rhythm mixed with another combustible element, drugs, to create psychedelia. Baby boomer parents worshipped doctors and high medicine and avidly ingested antidepressants and other medications to achieve altered states of mental and physical health.Likewise, baby boomers' drug experimentation aimed for transport to a new personal and world consciousness that would eliminate human barriers— class, race, ideology—dividing their parents' world. By 1965, a suite of drugs coursed through the rock community. Dylan and marijuana influenced the Beatles' Rubber Soul (1965), a folk rock record of soft edges and personal introspection. Attracting a male following, The Who, the Mod heroes, thrashed through early singles such as â€Å"Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere† and â€Å"My Generation† with amphetamine-fed punk fury.Acid rock borrowed sounds, scales, chords, and rhythms from around the world to distort space and time. The Beatles adapted Indian ragas and modal jazz to dislodge the rhythmic anchor and erase the four cardinal directions. In England, the Beatles were introduced to acid in 1965; they recorded Revolver a year later. Their variable tape speeds, tape loops, backward guitar and voice lines, and other experiments transformed basic rock and roll chords, beats, and voices into a tableau of acid-soaked sound, rhythm, and poetry. Especially disorienting was â€Å"Tomorrow Never Knows,† an early trance-rock number. Ringo Starr's bass drum figure, a human heartbeat, kicked time in reverse, while John Lennon's filtered vocals, chants inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, seemed piped in from creation.In a key contribution, ‘Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism', Jameson overviews postmodernism as the cultural expression of a new phase of capitalism, characterized by communications technologies facilitating the virtually instantaneous shifting of international capital, the emergence of new centres of capital (e.g. Japan) in a global economy, new class formations breaking with the traditional labour v. capital division, and a consumer capitalism which markets style, images and tastes as much as actual products. The commoditization of culture has resulted in a new populism of the mass media, a culture centred around the marketing and consumption of surfaces and appearances, epitomised by the ubiquity of commercial television.Despite its obvious plausibility as a general explanation of developments in popular culture, postmodernism su ffers from a number of difficulties. To heavily generalise, these are: its frequent lack of specificity; its overpreoccupation with texts and audiences at the expense of locating these within the economic and productive context within which cultural products reside; its reduction of history and politics and its ignoral of ‘traditional' sociological notions of production, class and ideology.The postmodernist view of rock music regards it as exemplifying the collapse of traditional distinctions between art and the commercial, the aesthetic and the unaesthetic, and the authentic and unauthentic. This view is most prominent in discussions of music video, with its affinities to advertising (Kaplan 1987). Popular cultural texts of the Beatles are regarded as dynamic not static, mediated both by patterns of economic and social organisation and the relationship of individuals and social groups to these patterns. This puts politics in a position of central importance, as culture is vie wed as a site of conflict and struggle, of negotiations which constantly confirm and redefine the existing conditions of domination and subordination in society.Against the backdrop of these cultural studies signposts, the construction of meaning in rock can be seen as embracing a number of factors: the music industry and its associated technologies, those who create the music, the nature of rock texts, the constitution of rock audiences and their modes of consumption, and attempts to influence and regulate all of these. The role of the music industry, in its drive to commodify rock and maximise profits, is the starting point for understanding rock.In film or in rock a certain historical logic can be reintroduced by the hypothesis that such newer media recapitulate the evolutionary stages or breaks between realism, modernism and postmodernism, in a compressed time span, such that the Beatles and the Stones occupy the high modernist moment embodied by the ‘auteurs' of 1950s and 1960s art films.Although animation was used in the early days of filmmaking and became just another form of studio production, it underwent big changes in the late twentieth century. A major break in such style occurred with the Beatles' animated film, Yellow Submarine (1968). Not only was the colour startling – a psychedelic experience of sorts, as some commented – but the animation also used a mixture of media that inspired what was later called the â€Å"blendo† style in which cels, cut-outs, clay figures – and more recently – computer graphics are blended (Cohen 1998).The application of postmodernism to popular music is primarily based on two perceived trends: firstly, the increasing evidence of pastiche, intertextuality, and eclecticism; and, secondly, increased cultural fusion and the collapsing of high-low culture type distinctions in rock. However, rock history demontrates that the first trend frequently actually reaffirms the distinctions supposedly being broken down in the second trend. Post-modern music clearly contributed to the increasingly global nature of cultural and economic linkages, mapping out new networks of commodity flow and entrepreneurial activity.At least at a surface level, all countries’ popular musics were shaped by international influences and institutions, by multinational capital and technology, by global pop norms and values. Even the most nationalist sounds—carefully cultivated ‘folk’ song, angry local dialect punk, preserved (for the tourist) traditional dance—were determined by a critique of international entertainment. The rise of rock ‘n’ roll, the success of the Beatles, alongside transitions in other cultural forms, ensured some measure of ubiquity.ReferencesCentore, F. F. (1991). Being and Becoming: A Critique of Post-Modernism, Greenwood Press: New York.Goodwin, Andrew. (1991). â€Å"Popular Music and Postmodern Theory†, Cultural Studies, 5.Jameson, Fredric (1991). Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Kaplan, E.A. (1987). Rocking Around the Clock: Music Television, Postmodernism, and Consumer Culture, New York: Methuen.Mitchell, T. (1996). Popular Music and Local Identity, Leicester University Press, London and New York.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Part Four Chapter V

V Shirley Mollison was convinced that her husband and son were over-stating the danger to the council of leaving the Ghost's posts online. She could not see how the messages were worse than gossip, and that, she knew, was not yet punishable by law; nor did she believe that the law would be foolish and unreasonable enough to punish her for what somebody else had written: that would be monstrously unfair. Proud as she was of Miles' law degree, she was sure that he must have this bit wrong. She was checking the message boards even more frequently than Miles and Howard had advised, but not because she was afraid of legal consequences. Certain as she was that Barry Fairbrother's Ghost had not yet finished his self-appointed task of crushing the pro-Fielders, she was eager to be the first to set eyes on his next post. Several times a day she scurried into Patricia's old room, and clicked on the web page. Sometimes a little frisson would run through her while she was hoovering or peeling potatoes and she would race to the study, only to be disappointed again. Shirley felt a special, secret kinship with the Ghost. He had chosen her website as the forum where he would expose the hypocrisy of Howard's opponents, and this, she felt, entitled her to the pride of the naturalist who has constructed a habitat in which a rare species deigns to nest. But there was more to it than that. Shirley relished the Ghost's anger, his savagery and his audacity. She wondered who he might be, visualizing a strong, shadowy man standing behind herself and Howard, on their side, cutting a path for them through the opponents who crumpled as he slayed them with their own ugly truths. Somehow, none of the men in Pagford seemed worthy to be the Ghost; she would have felt disappointed to learn that it was any of the anti-Fielders she knew. ‘That's if it's a man,' said Maureen. ‘Good point,' said Howard. ‘I think it's a man,' said Shirley coolly. When Howard left for the cafe on Sunday morning, Shirley, still in her dressing gown, and holding her cup of tea, padded automatically to the study and brought up the website. Fantasies of a Deputy Headmaster posted by The_Ghost_of_Barry_Fairbrother. She set down her tea with trembling hands, clicked on the post and read it, open-mouthed. Then she ran to the lounge, seized the telephone and called the cafe, but the number was engaged. A mere five minutes later, Parminder Jawanda, who had also developed a habit of looking at the council message boards much more frequently than usual, opened up the site and saw the post. Like Shirley, her immediate reaction was to seize a telephone. The Walls were breakfasting without their son, who was still asleep upstairs. When Tessa picked up, Parminder cut across her friend's greeting. ‘There's a post about Colin on the council website. Don't let him see it, whatever you do.' Tessa's frightened eyes swivelled to her husband, but he was a mere three feet from the receiver and had already heard every word that Parminder had spoken so loudly and clearly. ‘I'll call you back,' said Tessa urgently. ‘Colin,' she said, fumbling to replace the receiver, ‘Colin, wait – ‘ But he had already stalked out of the room, bobbing up and down, his arms stiff by his side, and Tessa had to jog to catch him up. ‘Perhaps it's better not to look,' she urged him, as his big, knobble-knuckled hand moved the mouse across the desk, ‘or I can read it and – ‘ Fantasies of a Deputy Headmaster One of the men hoping to represent the community at Parish Council level is Colin Wall, Deputy Headmaster at Winterdown Comprehensive School. Voters might be interested to know that Wall, a strict disciplinarian, has a very unusual fantasy life. Mr Wall is so frightened that a pupil might accuse him of inappropriate sexual behaviour that he has often needed time off work to calm himself down again. Whether Mr Wall has actually fondled a first year, the Ghost can only guess. The fervour of his feverish fantasies suggests that, even if he hasn't, he would like to. Stuart wrote that, thought Tessa, at once. Colin's face was ghastly in the light pouring out of the monitor. It was how she imagined he would look if he had had a stroke. ‘Colin – ‘ ‘I suppose Fiona Shawcross has told people,' he whispered. The catastrophe he had always feared was upon him. It was the end of everything. He had always imagined taking sleeping tablets. He wondered whether they had enough in the house. Tessa, who had been momentarily thrown by the mention of the headmistress, said, ‘Fiona wouldn't – anyway, she doesn't know – ‘ ‘She knows I've got OCD.' ‘Yes, but she doesn't know what you – what you're afraid of – ‘ ‘She does,' said Colin. ‘I told her, before the last time I needed sick leave.' ‘Why?' Tessa burst out. ‘What on earth did you tell her for?' ‘I wanted to explain why it was so important I had time off,' said Colin, almost humbly. ‘I thought she needed to know how serious it was.' Tessa fought down a powerful desire to shout at him. The tinge of distaste with which Fiona treated him and talked about him was explained; Tessa had never liked her, always thought her hard and unsympathetic. ‘Be that as it may,' she said, ‘I don't think Fiona's got anything to do – ‘ ‘Not directly,' said Colin, pressing a trembling hand to his sweating upper lip. ‘But Mollison's heard gossip from somewhere.' It wasn't Mollison. Stuart wrote that, I know he did. Tessa recognized her son in every line. She was even astonished that Colin could not see it, that he had not connected the message with yesterday's row, with hitting his son. He couldn't even resist a bit of alliteration. He must have done all of them – Simon Price. Parminder. Tessa was horror-struck. But Colin was not thinking about Stuart. He was recalling thoughts that were as vivid as memories, as sensory impressions, violent, vile ideas: a hand seizing and squeezing as he passed through densely packed young bodies; a cry of pain, a child's face contorted. And then asking himself, again and again: had he done it? Had he enjoyed it? He could not remember. He only knew that he kept thinking about it, seeing it happen, feeling it happen. Soft flesh through a thin cotton blouse; seize, squeeze, pain and shock; a violation. How many times? He did not know. He had spent hours wondering how many of the children knew he did it, whether they had spoken to each other, how long it would be until he was exposed. Not knowing how many times he had offended, and unable to trust himself, he burdened himself with so many papers and files that he had no hands free to attack as he moved through the corridors. He shouted at the swarming children to get out of the way, to stand clear, as he passed. None of it helped. There were always stragglers, running past him, up against him, and with his hands burdened he imagined other ways to have improper contact with them: a swiftly repositioned elbow brushing against a breast; a side-step to ensure bodily contact; a leg accidentally entangled, so that the child's groin made contact with his flesh. ‘Colin,' said Tessa. But he had started to cry again, great sobs shaking his big, ungainly body, and when she put her arms around him and pressed her face to his her own tears wet his skin. A few miles away, in Hilltop House, Simon Price was sitting at a brand-new family computer in the sitting room. Watching Andrew cycle away to his weekend job with Howard Mollison, and the reflection that he had been forced to pay full market price for this computer, made him feel irritable and additionally hard done by. Simon had not looked at the Parish Council website once since the night that he had thrown out the stolen PC, but it occurred to him, by an association of ideas, to check whether the message that had cost him his job was still on the site and thus viewable by potential employers. It was not. Simon did not know that he owed this to his wife, because Ruth was scared of admitting that she had telephoned Shirley, even to request the removal of the post. Slightly cheered by its absence, Simon looked for the post about Parminder, but that was gone too. He was about to close the site, when he saw the newest post, which was entitled Fantasies of a Deputy Headmaster. He read it through twice and then, alone in the sitting room, he began to laugh. It was a savage triumphant laugh. He had never taken to that big, bobbing man with his massive forehead. It was good to know that he, Simon, had got off very lightly indeed by comparison. Ruth came into the room, smiling timidly; she was glad to hear Simon laughing, because he had been in a dreadful mood since losing his job. ‘What's funny?' ‘You know Fats' old man? Wall, the deputy headmaster? He's only a bloody paedo.' Ruth's smile slipped. She hurried forward to read the post. ‘I'm going to shower,' said Simon, in high good humour. Ruth waited until he had left the room before trying to call her friend Shirley, and alert her to this new scandal, but the Mollisons' telephone was engaged. Shirley had, at last, reached Howard at the delicatessen. She was still in her dressing gown; he was pacing up and down the little back room, behind the counter. ‘†¦ been trying to get you for ages – ‘ ‘Mo was using the phone. What did it say? Slowly.' Shirley read the message about Colin, enunciating like a newsreader. She had not reached the end, when he cut across her. ‘Did you copy this down or something?' ‘Sorry?' she said. ‘Are you reading it off the screen? Is it still on there? Have you taken it off?' ‘I'm dealing with it now,' lied Shirley, unnerved. ‘I thought you'd like to – ‘ ‘Get it off there now! God above, Shirley, this is getting out of hand – we can't have stuff like that on there!' ‘I just thought you ought to – ‘ ‘Make sure you've got rid of it, and we'll talk about it when I get home!' Howard shouted. Shirley was furious: they never raised their voices to each other.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

HRD assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

HRD assignment - Research Paper Example Evaluation is characterized as either formative or summative . Broadly , formative evaluation focuses on what leads to an intervention working, and summative evaluation, on the other hand, looks at specifically the short-term to long-term outcomes of an intervention on the groups targeted. Formative evaluation takes place before the project, and also during the project so as to improve the design of the project as it is being put into implementation. Formative evaluation is usually used in qualitative ways of inquiry. Summative evaluation is used during and after the project implementation, and it is associated with more decision, quantitative methods. The difference between formative and summative evaluation is blurred. Generally it is of paramount importance to have knowledge of how an intervention works, and also if it worked. It is thus important to capture and make assessment of both qualitative and quantitative data. Importance of Evaluation The first importance of evaluation i s that evaluation theories are a way of consolidating lessons learned, that is, of synthesizing prior experience. They help evaluators develop a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the way organizations make decisions and may be influenced by evaluation findings. Theories enable us to learn from the experience of others. Second, comparing evaluation theories are a useful way of identifying and better understanding the key areas of debate within the field. Comparative study of evaluation theory likewise helps crystallize what the unsettled issues are in practice. A third reason for studying evaluation theory is that the theory should be an important part of our identities as evaluators, both individually and collectively. If we think of ourselves in terms of our methodological skills, what is it that differentiates us from many other people with equal (or even superior) methodological expertise? Evaluation theory. But people come for evaluation through quite varied pathwa ys, many of which don’t involve explicit training in evaluation. That there are myriad pathways into evaluation is, of course, a source of great strength of the field, bringing a diversity of skills, opinions, knowledge sets, and so on (Schwandt 2002).. Types of evaluations Process Evaluation Process evaluations help stakeholders see how a program outcome or impact was achieved. Overemphasizing outcome evaluation of the cost of other types, especially process evaluation, is a disservice to nonprofits and the sector. This is because the process evaluation allows a nonprofit to look at how it develops itself, its structures, its supporting programs like communications and marketing, even fund development in order to get to the outcomes everyone wants it to achieve. In other words, process evaluations document the process of a program's implementation. Process evaluations help stakeholders see how a program outcome or impact was achieved. The focus of a process evaluation is on the types and quantities of services delivered, the beneficiaries of those services, the resources used to deliver the services, the practical problems encountered, and the ways it was handled. Taking process evaluation a step further, it can also look at the processes of program, management and  infrastructure together that is  the capacity of an organization to deliver on its promised outcomes. Approaches to

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

What Factors lead to hyperinflations and what can be done to eliminate Essay

What Factors lead to hyperinflations and what can be done to eliminate them - Essay Example ral cause of hyperinflation may be described as follows – an unprecedented rise in money supply that is bereft of any growth in output or services creates a disparity between the demand and supply of money. This imbalance leads to a loss of confidence in the value of the money and finally, hyperinflation. The situation becomes such gruesome that any kind of legal tender laws, price controls, fail to return the confidence on the value of the paper money, which is without any intrinsic value to the consumer. If the government resorts to excessive printing of money and if it gets a friendly environment to foster inflation, hyperinflation keeps on sustaining and in a cumulative manner, erodes the economy day by day. The government in such case often fails to match the pace of its currency printing mechanism with that of the devaluating currency (the rate at which the currency is losing its value). (Hyperinflation: causes, cures†) The incident of hyperinflation is almost always associated with the paper form of money. This is because it is the simplest way to increase money supply. In most of the cases after experiencing hyperinflation, an economy reverts to hard money. An investigation into the basic causes of hyperinflation will offer more questions than answers. According to the monetarists and the classical economists, a hyperinflation is always led by irresponsible borrowing of money by the government in order to pay all of its expenses. The monetary and classical theory regarding the hyperinflation center on the untamed seignorage on behalf of the monetary authority and the gains they can reap off the inflation tax. The neo liberals, on the other hand, explain hyperinflation in terms of the confidence crisis. The neoliberal theory of hyperinflation is known as the quantity theory of hyperinflation. According to them loss of confidence of the mass on the capability of paper money to readily transform int o hard currency like gold, silver or other form of

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Applying Organizational Management to Work and Life Term Paper

Applying Organizational Management to Work and Life - Term Paper Example 2. Corporate culture also affects talent management and the overall success of the organization. B. Explain the effect of power and influence on leadership 1. Effective leaders use their personal power rather than position power. C. Explain the centrality that ethics has to leadership within organizations 1. Ethics provide a set of principles that guide leaders in making decisions. III. Viewing the course learning outcomes in light of my experience in the army A. The U.S. Army follows the transformational leadership style wherein a leader can influence followers to transcend self-interests and commit themselves to excellence. B. Not all managers are leaders. C. A good leader is one who can switch instinctively between leadership styles based on the people and work that they are dealing with. IV. Applying the course learning outcomes to my personal and professional goals A. Use my influence and power to provide the best qualified LNLs who can assist military units in Afghanistan in th eir varied and complex missions. B. Ensure that the corporate culture within the organization encourages creative talent, sincerity and trust. C. Be sensitive to cultural differences and maintain ethical responsibility. V. Insight that I gained from this course A. The organizational culture established by leaders is key to organizational success VI. Conclusion A. Organizational management is a complex process. However, its success rests on leaders who provide a supportive culture for employees to feel committed to achieving organizational goals. Applying Organizational Management in Work and Life Organizational management has been a subject of great interest to me. Since I have worked in the army for twenty two years in a supervisory role and I am currently working as a site manager for the linguist program in Afghanistan, I have been able to look back at my experience and compare and contrast it with what I learnt in this course. In simple terms, organizational management is define d as, â€Å"the process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the efforts of organizational members and resources to achieve stated organizational goals† (Schermerhorn, 2002, p. 9). As part of their roles, organizational managers need to achieve certain specified goals and thereby ensure that each person does their part in unity and integrity. To achieve this, managers need to make decisions and resolve problems on a daily basis. These decisions are made to benefit the organization and improve organizational performance. Although, organizational management is an extremely complex process, organizational success depends on leaders who establish a supportive culture within the organization to ensure that employees are committed to achieving the goals of the organization. Three course learning outcomes important to me After reviewing the course learning outcomes, I feel that the following three learning outcomes are very important because they form the foundation, bas ed on which a leader would try to find solutions to address any given problem in an organization: 1. Analyze the ways leadership is affected by corporate culture, personal values, globalization and outcomes performance According to Rue (2001), a noted ethicist and educator, â€Å"Values are the essence of who we are as human beings. Our values get us out of bed every morning, help us

Monday, August 26, 2019

Decision-Making Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Decision-Making Model - Essay Example Ethical dilemma or problem of this case can be to make the decision for the recovery of the child and for improving the quality of life of the child suffering from fever. This problem has been raised due to the wrong decision of the parent, because the parents of the child are divorced. Parents play the most vital role in the recovery of disease of their children and therefore, if parents take wrong decisions regarding the treatment, then it can be a major dilemma for the well-being of the health of the children. From the provided case study, it can also be evaluated that wrong decision has been taken due to religion and cultural problem (Vaz & Srinivas, 2014; Moulton & King, n.d.). Decision should be taken based on the importance of the problem or treatment, because during the time of treatment, decisions of the family members or parents play a vital role for the well-being of the health of their patients. During the time of treatment, the responsibilities of the doctors are to diagnosis the problem and then provide the treatment solution to the parents or family members through which the disease of patients can be reduced.

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Be Your Own Boss Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Be Your Own Boss - Essay Example In addition, there has been scarcity of clean water especially in the developing countries leading to an increase of water borne diseases and deaths. For example, in the developing countries young children at the age of less than five years experience an average of 10 attacks of water borne diseases. Ice Cool Water Company (ICWC) is focused at providing safe and clean Ice Cool water within Birmingham City where the firm will be located. In order to ensure Ice Cool remain competitive in the bottled water industry, it will in future emulate extensive marketing strategies and adequate research to ensure that it meets the high demand for clean water in regions like Bangladesh, Nepal, and developing countries within the Africa continent. Feasibility of the business idea Birmingham City has the population of more than 1.4 million people making it to be the second most populous city after London (Hodder, 2004). In this regard, Ice Cool Water has a high possibility of acquiring a large marke t segment. To expand its supply to match with the consumers demand, ICWC will need to employ large number of skilled manpower that will also ensure quality products are provided in the market. Birmingham City University, one of the biggest universities in United Kingdom is a key institution that will provide experts who will be hired by the company. The skills possessed by the graduates from Birmingham City University and other institutions of higher learning within Birmingham's metropolitan area, provides effective and productive employees. In its production process, ICWC will greatly emphasize environmental conservation. In this way, the company will enjoy the support of the Birmingham Friends of the Earth, a volunteer group that advocates for development of industries that cater for conservation of the environment (Gordon, 1994).With a GDP of more than $90bn, the purchasing power of the of Birmingham residents is high. In this way, the company will not take a long time to break e ven thus making it to be at par with its competitors who are already established in the UK market (Kurtz, 2010). Being a renowned engineering and manufacturing centre, the city has high number of personnel who will be highly demanded in the production facility systems. This implies that ICWC will not incur high costs of hiring foreign engineers thus resulting to low costs of establishing the company. This feasibility study therefore shows that the establishment of ICWC is a viable idea and the company has the opportunity of excelling in the UK and international market. Market research and competitor analysis As mentioned earlier the city of Birmingham and Birmingham's metropolitan area in general, have high population resulting to establishment of large number of bottled water companies as they seek to expand their sales by meeting the high demand for their products in the market. Key competitors that ICWC will face include A Fine Choise Ltd, Aqua Amore Ltd, Refresh Water Ltd, Rent a Water Cooler, and Aqua Victis Ltd among others. Based on their early market entry, the competitors have the strength of large market segment and increased revenue. However, ICWC will provide quality and cheap bottled water that will ensure it attracts new customers even those who are loyal towards our competitors. It is worthy to note that even though the competitors have wide market segment, they have not effectively penetrated foreign market including Peru and Bangladesh where

Saturday, August 24, 2019

MERCOSUR and FTAA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

MERCOSUR and FTAA - Essay Example DP, climbed from $650 billion to $990 billion, and direct foreign investment soared from $2.6 billion to $20.24 billion.†(Merco Press 2006)It is the fourth largest integrated market after the European Union (EU), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and ASEAN. Despite the setbacks like devaluation in Brazil and Argentine crisis hindering the sustained growth of the sector, the bloc continued to move forward. However the trading block has to face crucial tests with in connection with the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). This paper envisages bringing out the features and issues that makes the relationship between the block countries and the developed nations a difficult one especially in the political and economic sphere. MERCOSUR the â€Å"Common Market of the Southern Cone’ was formed by the Treaty of Asuncion and consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay with Chile and Bolivia becoming associate members. â€Å"Its purpose is to establish a common market which would include the free movement of goods, services and factors of production, the elimination of customs duties and non-tariff restrictions, the establishment of a common external tariff and the adoption of a common trade policy, the coordination of positions in regional and international economic and commercial for a and the coordination of macro economic and sectoral policies amongst the member states in the areas of foreign trade, agriculture, industry, fiscal and monetary matters, foreign exchange and capital, services, customs, transport and communications and any other means that may have been agreed upon† (Malcolm Rowat, et al. 1997) There were several factors connected with the member countries which have stood in the way of the growth of MERCOSUR. While there was a possibility for building up regional integration for the clustering less developed smaller countries around a more developed and larger neighbouring country, this advantage could not be taken by MERCOSUR. This

Taxation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Taxation - Essay Example Your sources should be fully referenced. (i) Compliance with tax laws: it is the sole duty of tax practitioner to make sure that the clients of the accounting firm comply with all the tax laws as they affect their income, benefits, savings, investments etc. This will prevent a situation whereby tax laws are intentionally or unintentionally broken by people. In the preparation of payroll in accounting process, it is important that tax matters must be ironed out to ensure compliance with tax laws (Gowthorpe and Blake, 1998) (ii) Tax evasion as a crime: The tax practitioner makes sure that people understand that tax evasion is a serious crime that is punishable by prison terms. Ordinary people do not understand this fact, hence it is the responsibility of the tax practitioner to sound the warning in the hearing of the people (Gowthorpe and Blake, 1998). Most importantly, the agents and advisers are easily accessible to the businesses and individuals that want to settle their tax issues. They give tax advice and provide the following tax resources (forms, manuals and tax resources): (1) PAYE forms for employers; (2) Self Assessment Vat form; (3) Corporation Tax form; (4) Tax Credits Manuals; (5) Capital Gains tax form; (6) Tax and Trusts forms etc (HMRC, 2010). Question 3: There are various ways in which the Chancellor can regulate the spending power of individuals in his annual budget. Explain these measures and evaluate the impact on the net income after tax, of an individual aged under 65 with total income comprising earned income of  £ 40,000, by comparing 2008/9 tax rates and allowances with those of 2009/10. (a) Reducing Taxes: when taxes (income, corporation, property etc) are reduced, this will encourage people to spend more. This entails that the tax rates are made lower comparable to that of the preceding or succeeding fiscal year (Weir & Beetham, 1999). (b) Increase Taxes: On the other hand, the

Friday, August 23, 2019

PHL323 social and cutural theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

PHL323 social and cutural theory - Essay Example One can infer from the writings of Benjamin, the idea of language from his point of view. Language was perceived as one of the forms of communication and the idea represented by that language was in no way identifiable with the language itself. To make it simpler, language was considered to be just a medium of communication. It was not a stand-alone system of knowledge as such, but rather a set of symbols that aid in representation of reality. A language was needed to possess inherent meaning. Language, then, became an entity, which existed only if it had a function, in his point of view. One arguable point here was the cases where there were possibilities that a language with grammar, syntax and vocabulary could exist without the function of a desire to communicate. Computer generated poetry and languages were the instances; the question arises whether they can be taken under Benjamin's definition of language without the function of communication or creativity. Computer languages ha d the requisite grammar, syntax and vocabulary and they were used as a set of instructions that were seemingly understood by the computer. Here, there is the case where a live, organic mind communicates with a non-organic entity. Further, the non-organic entity, besides being capable of understanding, was also able to generate the language understandable by an organic entity. Thus, the computer, which was just a box, was able to generate language to communicate. Computers can also communicate with each other, which had been made possible through the advancements in technology. This led to the case where two non-organic entities were able to communicate. In such cases, the meaning and the language were separable. There is also the instance where an organic entity is capable of generating a language without the purpose of communication. It is the uncommunicative language of a mentally ill person. Even though Benjamin clearly stated that language and what was described using a language were not identifiable, it also remained that he believed that language always should communicate something. If something was made, it should have a function and a meaning. If not, it really cannot exist. While considering the circumstance where one language did not make any sense to a person who does not know that language, the purpose of the language to communicate was lost. The language, even though possessed a grammar, syntax and vocabulary, did not mean anything to that person except being conceived as incoherent noise. Language in such cases negotiated with meaninglessness. Benjamin's idea of language extended to include inanimate objects such as lamps too. His idea of language of such objects was their linguistic being, but it was man who could name something other than him. In this context, man was the only entity that possessed the universal language. Thus, man's linguistic being was to name things. But, a language as such did not end with just naming. It was a tool that en abled creation and possession but it in itself was not so. Benjamin finally resorted to the theological ideas such as that of God being the true possessor and so on to arrive at the higher function of language. Many also conceived theology as a means of escape opted by Benjamin when he was not able to go beyond a certain limit about his conception of such mystical thoughts. In one of his works, "On Language as Such and the

Thursday, August 22, 2019

This essay compares and contrasts the political philosophy of Hobbes and Locke Essay Example for Free

This essay compares and contrasts the political philosophy of Hobbes and Locke Essay In this paper, I will examine the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. I will investigate both mens ideas individually and offer my own views on their theories. I will conclude the paper by comparing and contrasting the notions introduced in their respective writings. Thomas Hobbes was born in Wiltshire, England in 1588. He lived in one of the most unsettled periods in English history. Following a rebellion against King Charles, there resulted a civil war, which began in 1642. As a consequence of this political instability, Hobbes was forced into exile in November of 1640. He remained abroad living on the continent for approximately eleven years. During this period he worked and conversed with many of the great philosophers of his time. It was while in Paris in 1640 that Hobbes finally matured the plan for his own philosophical work. It was to consist of three treatises, dealing respectively with matter or body, with human nature, and with society. It was his intention, he says, to have dealt with these issues in this order, but his country was in turmoil with concerns regarding the rights of dominion, and the obedience due from the sovereigns subjects. As a result of this, Hobbes began instead with his examination of society. When stable government seemed to have been re-established by the Commonwealth, he had his ideas published in London. The same year, 1651, saw the publication of his greatest work, Leviathan, and his own return to England, which now promised a safer shelter to the philosopher than France, where he feared the clergy and was no longer in favour with the remnant of the exiled English court. The last twenty-eight years of Hobbes long life were spent in England. Hobbes philosophy can be described as materialistic, and mechanicalistic. He believed everything is matter. One cannot differentiate between matter, life and mind. To describe social reality, Hobbes would argue, is like describing physics or biology. It is concerned with matter in motion. He argued that all human life and all human thought are to be understood quite simply as matter in motion. In this regard Galileo heavily influenced his thinking. Hobbes identified two distinguishable types of motion. These he defined as vital motion and voluntary motion. I will not indulged heavily into these notions, except to say, that Hobbes believed that the ultimate goal in all human motion is toward self-preservation. Basically what he is saying is that all motion is a result of fear of death. Although reason plays a significant role according to Hobbes, it is largely a regulatory instrument to these basic motions (1). Hobbes philosophical ideas are largely portrayed in his text, Leviathan. In this piece, he discloses the fact that he feels the evils of absolute power is still better than living in a society without that ultimate overseer. Perhaps as a result of the turbulent time in which he lived, Hobbes had an almost chronic fear of living within a chaotic society. It was his belief that a society without an absolute leader would be, or eventually become a chaotic one. Hobbes gives us a psychological explanation for why he believes this to be so. In his opinion, all people are by nature selfish and egoistic. As all men are selfish, and wish only to satisfy their own needs, competition for resources inevitably occurs. Resources are not infinite in amount, but are limited in their availability. As a result, Hobbes argues that conflict between men over these resources is unavoidable. Hobbes refers to people living in this state of nature as natural man (Hobbes, Pt 1, Ch 11). In his brief introduction to the Leviathan, Hobbes describes the State as an organism analogous to a large person. He shows how each part of the state parallels the function of the parts of the human body. He notes that the first part of his project is to describe human nature, in so far as humans are the creators of the state. To this end, he advises that we look into ourselves to see the nature of humanity in general. Hobbes argues that, in the absence of social condition, every action we perform, no matter how charitable or benevolent, is done for reasons, which are ultimately self-serving. For example, when I donate to charity, I am actually taking delight in demonstrating my powers, in its most extreme form; this view of human nature has since been termed Psychological Egoism. Hobbes believes that any account of human action, including morality, must be consistent with the fact that we are all self-serving. Hobbes speculates how selfish people would behave in a state of nature, prior to the formation of any government. He begins noting that humans are essentially equal, both mentally and physically, in so far as even the weakest person has the strength to kill the strongest. Given our equal standing, Hobbes continues by noting how situations in nature make us naturally prone to quarrel. There are three natural causes of disagreement among people: competition for limited supplies of material possessions, distrust of one another, and glory in so far as people remain hostile to preserve their powerful reputation. Given the natural causes of conflict, Hobbes concludes that the natural condition of humans is a state of perpetual war of all against all, where no morality exists, and everyone lives in constant fear (Hobbes Pt 1, Ch 13). Under such conditions, there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building, no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Hobbes continues offering proofs that the state of nature would be as brutal as he describes. We see signs of this in the mistrust we show of others in our daily lives. In countries, which have yet to be civilized, people are barbaric to each other. Finally, in the absence of international law, strong countries prey on the vulnerability of weak countries. Humans have three motivations for ending this state of war: the fear of death, the desire to have an adequate living, and the hope to attain this through ones labour. Nevertheless, until the state of war ends, each person has a right to everything, including another persons life (Ibid). In articulating the peace-securing process, Hobbes draws on the language of the natural law tradition of morality, which was then championed by Dutch philosopher Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). According to Grotius, all particular moral principles derive from immutable principles of reason. Since these moral mandates are fixed in nature, they are thus called laws of nature. By using the terminology of the natural law theory, Hobbes is suggesting that, from human self-interest and social agreement alone, one can derive the same kinds of laws, which Grotius believes are immutably fixed in nature (2). Throughout his discussion of morality, Hobbes continually re-defines traditional moral terms, such as right, liberty, contract and justice, in ways which reflects his account of self-interest and social agreement (Hobbes Pt 1, Ch 14). For Grotius and other natural law theorists, a law of nature is an unchangeable truth, which establishes proper conduct. Hobbes defines a law of nature as follows: A Law of Nature (lex naturalis) is a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life, or takes away the means of preserving the same; and to omit that by which he thinks it may be best preserved. Hobbes continues by listing specific laws of nature all of which aim at preserving a persons life. Hobbess first three Laws of Nature are the most important since they establish the overall framework for putting an end to the state of nature. Given our desire to get out of the state of nature, and thereby preserve our lives, Hobbes concludes that we should seek peace. This becomes his first law of nature (Ibid). That every man ought to endeavour peace as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek and use all helps and advantages of war; the first branch of which rule contains the first fundamental Law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it. The second law of nature advocates the position that man in this state is entitled to defend himself (Ibid). The mutual transferring of these rights is called a covenant and is the basis of the notion of moral obligation and duty. For example, I agree to give up my right to steal from you, if you give up your right to steal from me. We have then transferred these rights to each other and thereby become obligated to not steal from each other. From selfish reasons alone, we are both motivated to mutually transfer these and other rights, since this will end the dreaded state of war between us. Hobbes continues by discussing the validity of certain contracts. For example, contracts made in the state of nature are not generally binding, for, if I fear that you will violate your part of the bargain, then no true agreement can be reached. No contracts can be made with animals since animals cannot understand an agreement. Most significantly, I cannot contract to give up my right to self-defence since self-defence is my sole motive for entering into any contract (Ibid). Hobbes derives his laws of nature deductively, modelled after the type of reasoning used in geometry. That is, from a set of general principles, more specific principles are logically derived. Hobbess general principles are: that people pursue only their own self-interest, the equality of people, the causes of quarrel, the natural condition of war, and the motivations for peace. From these he derives the above two laws, along with at least 13 others. Simply making contracts will not in and of itself secure peace. We also need to keep the contracts we make, and this is Hobbes third law of nature. Hobbes notes a fundamental problem underlying all covenants: as selfish people, each of us will have an incentive to violate a contract when it serves our best interests. For example, it is in the mutual best interest of Murphy and I to agree to not steal from each other. However, it is also in my best interests to break this contract and steal from Murphy if I can get away with it and what complicates matters more, Murphy is also aware of this fact. Thus, it seems that no covenant can ever get off the ground. This difficulty is overcome by giving unlimited power to a political sovereign who will punish us if we violate our covenants. Again, it is from purely selfish reasons that I agree to set up a policing power, which will potentially punish me if I deviate from the agreement (Hobbes, Pt 1, Ch 15). As noted, Hobbes first three Laws of Nature establish the overall framework for putting an end to the state of nature. The remaining laws give content to the earlier ones by describing more precisely the kinds of covenants, which will preserve peace. For example, the fourth law is to show gratitude toward those who comply with covenants. Otherwise people will regret that they complied when someone is ungrateful. Similarly, the fifth law is that we should be accommodating to the interests of society. For, if we quarrel over every minor issue, then this will interrupt the peace process. Briefly, here are the remaining laws: cautious pardoning of those who commit past offences; the purpose of punishment is to correct the offender not an eye for an eye retribution; avoid direct or indirect signs of hatred or contempt of another; avoid pride; retain only those rights which you would acknowledge in others; be equitable; share in common that which cannot be divided, such as rivers; items which cannot be divided or enjoyed in common should be assigned by lot; mediators of peace should have safe conduct; resolve disputes through an arbitrator. Hobbes explains that there are other possible laws, which are less important such as those against drunkenness, which tends to the destruction of particular people. At the close of Chapter 15, Hobbes states that morality consists entirely of these Laws of Nature, which are arrived at through social contract. Contrary to Aristotles account of virtue ethics, Hobbes adds that moral virtues are relevant to ethical theory only in so far as they promote peace. Outside of this function, virtues have no moral significance. Hobbes continues in Chapter 17 by arguing that in order to ensure covenants and peace, power must be given to one person or one assembly. We do this by saying, implicitly, I authorise and give up my right of governing myself, to this person or to this assembly of people, on this condition, that thou give up thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner. His definition of a commonwealth, then, is this: One person, of whose acts a great multitude, by mutual covenants one with another, have made themselves every one the author, to the end he may use the strength and means of them all, as he shall think expedient, for their peace and common defence This person is called a sovereign. He continues that there are two ways of establishing a commonwealth: through acquisition, or through institution. In Chapter18 Hobbes lists the rights of rights of sovereigns. They are, subjects owe him sole loyalty, subjects cannot be freed from their obligation, dissenters must consent with the majority in declaring a sovereign, sovereign cannot be unjust or injure any subject, the sovereign cannot be put to death, the sovereign has the right to censor doctrines repugnant to peace, legislative power of prescribing rules, judicial power of deciding all controversies, make war and peace with other nations, choose counsellors, power of reward and punishment, power of all civil appointments, including the militia. In Chapter 19 he discusses the kinds of governments that can be instituted. The three main forms are monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. He argues that monarchy is best for several reasons. Monarchs interests are the same as the peoples. He will receive better counsel since he can select experts and get advice in private. His policies will be more consistent. Finally, there is less chance of a civil war since the monarch cannot disagree with himself. His overriding belief here is that the sovereign, most likely a king, will only have the best interests of his subjects at heart, as he, Hobbes argues, is only as wealthy as his country. Rather inconsistently when you consider his theory overall, Hobbes also grants certain rights, or liberties to the subjects living within his monarchist society. These liberties, as you might expect, are established to ensure the right of the subject to self-preservation. Therefore, if the sovereign unnecessarily places the life of the subject in peril, either directly or indirectly, the covenant has in effect been broken, or the subject is free to disembark from the agreement. The subject is expected to defend his country from attack, should that occur, despite the danger it may entail for his life. However, he is not obliged, for instance to testify against himself in court, as that would quite obviously be counter to his desire for self-preservation. This concept was incorporated in the United States Constitution in the form of the Fifth Amendment, and many upstanding members of society have enjoyed its benefits since, including Al Capone, Jimmy Hoffa, and most recently Junior Soprano! Another idea introduced by Hobbes which was embraced by the United States legal system, as well as our own, was his belief that the subject had the right to sue the sovereign if his needs were not met. Hobbes theory has often been criticised quite severely and I believe rightly so. His individualistic perspective suggests that our self-preservation is the dominant motivation in our lives. Society exists, if we are to believe Hobbes theory, simply as a method of ensuring our self-interest, or at least maximising it. His theory is built on the premise of mutual trust, yet the society would collapse without the threat of sanctions imposed by the sovereign. So, in fact it is not trust that is the raft that keeps society afloat, rather it is obviously fear. The most disturbing fact in regard to his theory, I believe, is Hobbes notion that society arises largely as a result of our selfish ways. He suggests that we are egoistic, as we as being are driven by our desires. It seems that he does not seriously consider the fact that our desires could incorporate any notions of legitimately, and unselfishly wanting to help others. This in my opinion is rather bizarre. There are other aspects to Hobbes theory that I find difficult to comprehend. His assertion that a monarchy offers us the best option for government is ludicrous to say the least, and his arguments to support this position are feeble at best. I will address just one of them here, to prove my point. In the course of his dialogue, Hobbes makes the claim that the best possible way to ensure that the constantly changing desires and needs of subjects are met, is to have a King or Queen as sovereign. When you consider some of the monarchies of our day, I will draw particular attention to the British monarchy, and how out of touch they are with their subjects, I think that it is fair to say that Hobbes opinions on this issue is almost laughable. Another aspect of Hobbes political philosophy that I find particularly disconcerting is his belief that conflict must never occur between subjects and their sovereign. Often, if not always, change only occurs as a result of conflict. Without conflict, we might never develop and advance significantly as societies. Revolutionary leader Thomas Jefferson said: The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is natural manure (3). I believe that the threat of revolt is always necessary in order to keep leaders firmly in tune with the needs of their citizens. The final comment I will make on Hobbes work on this matter relates to the fact that I believe his theory is extremely defeatist in essence. Basically, Hobbes theory is built on the foundation that we desire peace so much that we should be willing to accept the evils of absolute power, or even dictatorship in order to maintain it. John Locke was born in Somerset, England in 1632. Like Hobbes, he lived in a period of great political instability. He was forced to flee England twice as a result of this situation, however, unlike Hobbes; he was not soared against mankind as a consequence. In his major political works, his Two Treatise on Civil Government, he attempts to justify the revolution of King William of Orange against the legitimate monarch, King James II. In the first of these two treatise, Lockes purpose is to attack the ideas of pro-royalist; Sir Robert Filmer, and specifically his theory put forward in his work; The Patriarch. In the Second Treatise on Civil Government, Locke puts forth his own ideas on the establishment of a democratic government. The focus of this piece shall be in the analysis of this work, as it displays Lockes own thoughts and believes. Locke developed the theoretical argument that became the basis for democracy, as we know it today within the western world. His ideas were to become the building blocks for the development of the constitution in both the United States of America and France. In fact, sections of his writings appear almost word for word in the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The influence of his ideas on todays world cannot be understated. In examining Lockes ideas, I also hope to demonstrate how distinctly different his thoughts often are from Hobbes. There are a few similarities between the two mens work however. For one, Locke, like his predecessor Hobbes, begins his work by giving what he believes is the historical description of how governments came into existence. In the same way as Hobbes, Locke commences by examining the relevance of the social contract to the establishment of government. Also corresponding to Hobbes he discusses the state of nature. However, Locke believes that the fundamental mistake in Hobbes theory is in his ideas introduced on this issue. Lockes state of nature is a largely peaceful one. Men live side-by-side, own property, possessions, and are free to do with these as they please. He rejects Hobbes notion that men are as a rule selfish, but rather thinks of a situation were many times people cooperate with each other, but unfortunately sometimes they are egoistic, but not always. For Locke, the law of nature that governs behaviour within this state, is quite simple. People should not harm others in his life, health, liberty or possessions (Locke, Ch 2). Life within the state of nature for Locke is a life of perfect freedom. Its moral order is overseen by the law of nature, which is God-given, and exists independent of any constitution or society. Essential to this moral well being, are the natural rights of the people living within this state. These entitlements include that of life, liberty, property and also the authority to reprimand those who violate the natural law. It is difficult for individuals to do this alone, and so it is as a result of this factor, according to Locke that we were forced to vacate the state of nature, and establish societies. When a person breaks the law of nature, it is essential, he believes, to have the institutions in place to be able to punish the person, or persons in a fair and just manner. It is due to this fact that man originally voluntarily agreed to create society in order to have these institutions established (Ibid). These institutions that had to be erected had a number of goals, or objectives, which it needed to fulfill. Firstly, laws had to be created that reflected the needs of the population. In addition, these laws must become relatively fixed within the framework of that society, to the extent that those who would come under their influence would know them. Locke also felt that it was imperative to have at the core of these legal institutions impartial judges, who would have both knowledge of the law and authority to adjudicate in legal disputes. Finally, Locke rightly believed that all of this would be pointless unless the society had in place the resources to enforce these laws. If it did not, then quite simply the laws would not be followed (Ibid). Locke also discusses what he calls his state of war, which is very similar to Hobbes state of nature. In this state, there are no common judges or established institutions of law. Locke describes an environment where the fittest survive. This state of war can exist both inside a society and outside the bounds of it. It occurs when somebody, or some group, attempts to acquire resources solely as a result of their power. Opposition to such tyrants, according to Locke, is not only justified, but he would even argue that at times it is completely necessary for the maintenance of the society. If an issue such as this is not addressed, life will simply revert back to the conditions experienced within the state of nature (Locke, Ch 3). The accounts I have already given of the consensual agreement among citizens to establish legal institutions to oversee the upholding of the law are the basic rudiments of democracy. Laws within such a democracy are created only after long deliberation, and are not invented on the spur of the moment. This is often the case under the rule of monarchies, according to Locke, were laws are created and destroyed at will to simply fulfil the wishes of the sovereign. Furthermore, laws within a democracy will be created by representatives of the people and so, Locke argues, should clearly reflect the wishes of the society with whom they represent. An interesting fact built into Lockes theory, is his belief that certain aspects of human behaviour should not come under the influence of governmental control. He referred to these as rights. This particular notion of Lockes was another aspect of his theory incorporated in many national constitutions. The most notable of these, is The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. The bill of rights grants those living in the United States certain undeniable rights, such as the right to free speech, the right to choose where one worships, and also the right to bare arms to mention a few. Also included within The Bill of Rights is the right to own private property. Again, this is another aspect of Lockes theory that he gave particular emphasis to within his work (Locke, Ch 5). Locke considered property to be much more than just material substance. He believed property to actually be part of oneself, as it is clearly the fruit of your own labour. Throughout his writings, property is used in a much broader sense than the dictionary definition of the word. It is usually referred to as meaning such things as life and liberty. Therefore, Locke argues that to attempt to take an individuals property from them, it is much more than simply theft. Instead, he maintains that it is an assault on you as a person. This particular opinion on property is very different from the beliefs expressed by Hobbes. For him, property is a creation of society. Furthermore, he insists that no person can claim anything as his own within the state of nature. What you own is only yours for as long as you are strong enough to hold onto it. Lockes ideas were obviously in marked contrast to those put forward by Hobbes regarding property. Locke believed that we were all created equal in nature; therefore, society had no right to take from us what nature had given to us initially. This conception was advanced further and indeed incorporated into law. It is of course the NOTION that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. I deliberately highlighted the word NOTION, because I believe that is all it is, and the truth in reality is actually far from this (Ibid). The most democratic aspect of Lockes theory is incorporated in his ideas that when we departed from the state of nature, we voluntarily gave up some of our personnel rights to the government. Specifically, the right to punish those who transgress the law. This right is given to the executive who is appointed by the people and is therefore responsible to them. Lockes government is almost like a secretary for the mass population. Acting like a secretary, the government should simply do the jobs required by, or requested by the people. If the government does not fulfil the wishes of the population, Locke maintained, they should be removed from office. For Locke, power lies with the people. Revolution by the people is not to be ruled out if the government has to be removed for not fulfilling the wishes of its citizens (Locke, Ch 8). In order to prevent abuse of power by the government, or indeed any one area of it, Locke introduced the idea of dividing the government into three branches. Each branch has the capability to influence, and if necessary, restrain the other branch or branches of government. The different strands of government he established were the executive, legislature and federative. Again, these branches of government are remarkably similar to those used in the United States. The executive and legislature proposed by Locke are very similar to those used in the U. S. government. Lockes federative branch was intended to deal with foreign negotiations, and does not in fact exists in the U. S. government framework. The third element of government there is called the judicial and deals with the legal applications of government. The overall goal of using three branches of government is nonetheless very similar in purpose; in that its aims are restrict power from becoming to great within any one branch (Locke, Ch 12). Locke was particularly concerned with the executive gaining too much power. As a result, it is the legislature who is granted the greatest power and influence within government. The legislature makes the laws and the executive is only charged with enforcing these laws. Therefore, the ability of the executive is severely restricted by the limitations of the laws sent down from the legislature. Another interesting aspect of Lockes desire to restrict the executive is his belief that they could be removed from their office by the legislature should they defy the rules of that office. Again, an idea very similar to this is found within the scheme of the United States government. Impeachment proceeding can be taking against any member of the civil government, if they are believed to have broken any rules of their office. In the history of the country, impeachment proceeding has been introduced against three presidents. These affairs, overseen by the House of Representatives determine whether there is sufficient evidence against the accused to warrant a trial before the Senate. None of the three presidents were ever convicted of the charges against them. President Andrew Jackson was taken to trial before the Senate, but failed to be convicted by one vote. President Richard Nixon resigned from his office before proceeding could really get under way, following the fallout from the Watergate Scandal. Most recently, President Bill Clinton survived a vote in the House of Representatives and so was not forced to undergo a legal trial before the Senate. I believe Lockes theory is a substantial improvement on that proposed by Hobbes. Locke correctly identifies the two major weaknesses I see in Hobbes theory. They are centred on his believes that man is innately selfish, or egoistic, and so is motivated solely by self-interest, and also his believe that man can live stably and securely under the sovereign leadership of a monarch. He fails to convince me on either of these points. Despite the fact that I see much to be praised about Lockes theory, I feel that there are certain frailties that should be addressed, and I will conclude this essay by those that I feel are most significant. Essential too much of Lockes theory is his belief that living within the state of nature, we have certain rights, which he insists should be transferred to the societal or governmental level. Locke provides little evidence to offer support for the significance he places on these rights, and the evidence he does provide is certainly not totally convincing. Concerning opinion on social contract, Locke fails to identify his position on the double contract, and seems to tactfully dodge this difficult issue. Although certainly not nearly as individualist as Hobbes, Lockes theory does seem to lean in favour of the individual, rather than towards the genuine concerns of the group as a whole. One notion within his theory in particular seems to suggest this standpoint most clearly. His belief that we consent to joining society, definitely suggest to me that one is doing so for ones own good, and any thoughts of common good, are secondary at best. Finally, Lockes belief that government and society should be built on the premise that the majority rule, at first glimpse appears fair. This idea certainly was an enormous step forward from the ideas of those who came before him, going all the back to the ancients. However, often within democracies this notion is taking too literally and the majority rule only while considering their own interests and not those of the society as a whole. Minorities are treated like second-class citizens. Evidence of such behaviour can easily be found even within our own borders in Northern Ireland. Endnotes: 1. Gauthier, D. Hobbes, A Companion to the Philosophers. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 305. 2. Blackburn, S. Dictionary of Philosophy. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 163. 3. Darwin, B. (Ed. ) The Oxford Library of Words Phrases. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 130. Note: All other quotations cited throughout this essay are taken from: 4. Hobbes, T. Leviathan, Classics of Moral Political Theory. (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Company Inc. , 1996, 2nd Ed. ). 5. Locke, J. Two Treatises of Civil Gover.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Main economic case in favour of globalisation

Main economic case in favour of globalisation 1. Introduction The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defined globalisation as,The geographical dispersion of industrial and service activities for example, research and development, sourcing of inputs, production and distribution and the cross border networking of companies through joint ventures and the sharing of assets. According to Bhagwati and Jagdish (2004)economic globalization is the integration of national economies into the international economy throughtrade, for examples such as foreign direct investment, migration, and the technology transfer from one country to another. Despite, globalization recognised as combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural, political, and biological factors (Sheila, 2004). The term can also refer to the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, orpopular culturethroughacculturation. Economic activity is becoming organised on a global scale giving a new international division of labour, with production, investment patternsand movements and technology transfers all becoming global. In thisstrategy, activities are established in many sites spread over theworld, based on a countrys comparative advantage. 2. Factors that have led to the process of increased globalisation The rapid effects of globalisation can be linked to the growth of multi-national firms, since products and services have been increasingly internationalised, seen in the development of globalised supply chains. In addition to this, the deregulation of capital markets also makes it easier to achieve acquisitions and mergers. This has resulted in the expansion of the trans-national activities of multi-national firms, and particularly in motor cars, oil, pharmaceuticals, airlines and financial services. There has been an accompanying integration and fusion of national markets, in part through free trade zones such as NAFTA and AFTA, and often reflected in the escalation of foreign direct investment, including in the less developed world. Reference should also be made to cross-border connectivity in other words, the development of new information technologies, and the accompanying new ways of buying and selling goods and services. The process of globalisation is mainly motivated by the desire of corporations to increase profits and by governments intent upon tapping into the potential economic and social benefits that come from increased trade in goods, services and the free flow of financial capital. Among the factors, this essay has divided main drivers that accelerated the production and market globalization into two aspects which are static aspects and dynamic aspects. 3. Static trade globalisation 3.1. Technology Modern artefact and technological are a static aspects which accelerated global economies. In 1980s, the world communication has experienced a fundamental change in the perception of the world and one of the reaching transformations has been the economic structural changes on the global scale. The fundamental of these changes is seen to lie on the technological information revolution for example the intranet in US army base commercialise to market. The innovation of the new technologies has made many countries to grow and a good example in this case is e-marketing. The change in Technological have reducing the cost of transmitting information in other word new technologies presence death of distance. The internet has allowedinformation and communication technology to flourish for example E-business. Internet communications with branches, suppliers, plants, distributors andcustomers generally do not require a physical presence in another country, while much can be achieved through lic ensing and franchising. As a result administration costs have fallen as firms from different parts of the globe can trade efficiently and effectively. 3.2. Trade Liberlisation Another influential factor is the desire to circumvent tariff and non-tariff barriers by regional trading blocs. For example, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which replaced the former GATT, was set up to help promote free trade by persuading countries to abolish tariffs and other barriers to open markets. The full benefits of trade liberalization are difficult to quantify. Studies evaluating the effects of trade liberalization under the Uruguay Round completed in 1994 estimate that the increase in annual global income could reach US$200 billion once the reduction in tariffs, export subsidies and quotas negotiated are fully implemented. A similarly positive outlook is provided by the Doha Round. With a 50 percent reduction in tariffs, the World Bank model suggests a real income gain for developing countries of US$ 83 billion or 1 percent, and an exports lift of 14.6 percent. High-income countries see a 0.3 percent real income gain of US$ 67 billion and a 2.8 percent increase in ex ports (Garrett and Goldin and Rodrik, 2003). 3.3. Comparative Advantage Supporters of the WTO argued that there could be substantial economic welfare gains if there was integration of the worlds economy into a single international market. Based upon Ricardos Theory of Comparative Advantage, it was argued that free trade was likely to benefit countries. By allowing each country to specialise in full orpart production would be concentrated in locations which will enjoy the comparative advantage. It was further argued that specialisation in one type of export was likely to improve its quality and perhaps reduce production costs. For example, Belgian chocolates are exported worldwide. Their high quality is due to expert skills that their producers developed, a process known as learning by doing. Their average costs have also been lowered, by the use of specialised labour and capital; through specialised knowledge and research and development and also perhaps through economies of scale. 3.4. Growth of Multi-National Enterprise (MNE) The growth of multi-national firms has contributed to the rapid increase in globalisation. Firstly, a multi-national firm can bedefined as a company that produces in more than one country. Inpractice, globalisation has involved MNEs because the scale of their investment is such that the sales of the largest MNEs exceed the entire GDP of many countries. Many MNEs have moved their production from the west to developing countries because they want to benefit from that countrys comparative advantage, usually access to much lower labour costs. Due to the low standard of living in many developing economies and lack of government legislation MNEs often locate in areas of high unemployment. Therefore they are likely to benefit from a continuous cheap supply of labour. In theory, this has led to the international division of labour. 3.5. Deregulation National economies have become increasingly integrated, leading to a growth in the number of trading blocs and economic unions. The process has been facilitated by the increased mobility of both physical and financial capital, the latter reflecting the trend towards the abolition of capital controls, the deregulation of financial markets, and the opening up of capital markets in LDCs and in the former Soviet bloc. 4. Dynamic trade of globalisation The European continent has seen a lot of dramatic changes over the past decades. Two world wars have been fought here and new countries have evolved every decade. With such a dynamic place as Europe one would think that trade would be a significantly contributing factor to the globalization of the continent. Taking this one step further it is most likely that other factors such as trade affinities are believed to facilitate trade flows between the trading parties which in turn have yielded a higher state of globalization. In order to be able to determine the effects that trade affinities have had on globalization through time one must first start by determining the meaning of the word globalization. Harris (1993) states in his article Globalization, trade, and income To economists globalization is generally thought of as the increasing internationalization of the production, distribution, and marketing of goods and services. (Harris, 1993, p755). By taking this one step further one can look at globalization as the term use when define the process, or evolution, of the welfare around the world. Although, Harris argues that the definition of globalization alters between subjects but that its importance remains the same no matter the discussion. However one defines globalization it is surely a development that is having a profound impact on the subject of economics as a whole and ought to have on the field of international economics in particular. (Harris, 1993, p. 756) To understand and describe globalization it is not enough to concentrate on the static aspect and the primary phenomena. Not less important for the globalization dynamic are the consequences and rebound effects. 4.1. Improve poverty Poverty reduction has remained the central challenge to majority of the countries especially the developing countries. It is with the help of globalization that majority of the countries have been in a position to reduce their poverty levels. There is great evidence that with the introduction of globalization, it has been in a position to eradicate poverty levels and eventually accelerating growth in most of the countries. It is an important catalytic role in both accelerating growth and also at the same time reducing poverty levels. A good example in this case can be explained by analyzing the developing countries. The developing countries have been in a position to grow out of globalization especially in agriculture sector. This is because with globalization, it means that there is a common market for goods and services and at the same time there are no restrictions to trade. It means that the developing countries that are not in a position to compete with the already developed countries can now compete well with them since you find that with globalization, it means free trade that is a trade which is free from trade restriction. Most of the developing countries found it hard to trade globally due to the introduction of tariffs which were usually high for the infant industries to meet. They had limited exports since the tariffs which were imposed when exporting these goods and services were high hence leading to the increased costs of production. It is out of the increased costs of production that the infant industries from the developing countries could not realize their competitive advantage hence leading to increased poverty levels to these countries. As a result, the countries which are still underg oing development can now benefit from globalization since it means that they are in a position to export their products freely and hence can compete effectively with the other developed countries. As a result, it means that globalization has done so much in eradicating poverty levels especially in the developing countries (Boswell, and Dimitris, 1997). 4.2. Increase employment Globalization accelerated growth from opening, an accelerated creation of private companies or MNEs and trade expansion have substantially accelerated the pace of job creation. During 1982-1999, the number of new jobs created in manufacturing and services almost doubled from 1965-1982 (Hauser and OberhÃÆ'Â ¤nsli, 2002). Source: adopted from Hauser and OberhÃÆ'Â ¤nsli in WTO news creates additional jobs (2002) According to Eurostat statistic data, in the 17 years from 1982 to 1999, 34 million jobs were created on average every year in manufacturing and services worldwide. From 1991 to 1999, 30.6 million new jobs were created worldwide, slightly less than during the period 1982-1991. This slowdown in job creation is the result of the restructuring of the formerly socialist economies in Europe (CEE/CIS), as the result of earlier mistakes and misallocations during the communist period. Another event was the 1997 Asian crisis that, according to ILO estimates, destroyed approximately 10 million jobs (ILO, 2000). But this latter event came after a period of very high job creation; for the whole period 1991-1999 it is the job losses in Eastern Europe that practically explain the difference, both in absolute and relative terms, in job creation vis-ÃÆ'Â  -vis the 1982-1991 period. Between 1982 and 1999, employment growth was mainly in emerging economies, plus about 80 percent in Latin America and in Africa/Middle East, close to 120% in developing Asia. The very high pace of employment creation in emerging economies has not been a zero-sum game; all regions in the industrialized world participated in the employment gains, both in absolute terms and also relative to total population. The only area with unsatisfactorily low growth in employment was the European Union, but this was clearly not a consequence of globalizationbut of the excessive rigidities that constitute an obstacle to markets adjustments. 4.3. Enhanced economic interdependence The sharp rise in trade has been accompanied by an even faster increase in foreign investment flows, as industries and companies relocate production processes throughout the world. During 1980-1997, world foreign direct investment flows increased at an annual average rate close to 15 percent, almost twice as fast as trade growth and considerably faster than world output. In particular, during the 1993-1998 periods, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows rose at an even faster rate, from US$219 billion to US$692 billion (UN, 2001). Developing countries for long only receivers of FDI have now also become investors abroad. Trueglobalization does not mean one-way flows, but it means true interdependence. Economic interdependence can be taken to mean the economic corporation of many countries. Many countries are thought to have increased their economic interdependence. These countries are seen to come together for the trade purposes. A good example in this case can be seen in the formation of NAFTA, WTO, and UNACTAD among other bodies which are said to have increased the production and the market globalization. A good example in this case is NAFTA (North American free Trade association). It is with the formation of NAFTA the member countries have been in a position to expand in growth. This is because it is a free trade association between the member countries whereby there are reduced tariffs to the members of the association. So, the infant industries in these countries can be protected hence leading to their increased production. These countries will be in a position to produce more goods and services and sale them globally hence leading to the growth of the economy. So, it can be argued that the increased economic interdependence has led to the increased production of goods and services and also the globalization market. This is because these countries have made trade agreements so that they can promote trade (Boswell, and Dimitris, 1997). It is also with the increased economic integration that economies have been in a position to improve on infrastructure. The communication process in this case has been made easy since the communication travel for these goods are made easy. With a good infrastructure, the production of these goods and services have increased since they can be transported quickly and marketed so quickly. The integrated labour force is also another area which has led to the increased production of goods. This is because the integrated labour ensures that people from other countries can work in a given country as long as they have the skills. As result, more expertise in the production hence lead to the increased production and the globalization market (Boswell, and Dimitris, 1997). Conclusion Globalization is one of the areas that led to most economies to improve. A good can be explained by analyzing the developing countries that they have benefited from the technologies developed by the rich countries. Without globalization that most of the developing countries that could not compete effectively with the developed countries are seen to benefit a lot from the issue of globalization. The rich countries are not better off because they have taken prosperity away from the poor ones; rather, the poor countries are better off because, but situation would have further improved had they been better prepared to capture the benefits of globalization. In additional, globalization is seen to have so many advantages in term of social, economical, and political aspects. It is seen to have increased production hence leading to the economic growth of countries especially in the developing countries. REFERENCES: Bhagwati, Jagdish (2004).In Defense of Globalization. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Pres Boswell, T and Dimitris, S. 1997. Globalization and International Labor Organizing: A World-system Perspective.Work and Occupations,24(3), pp.288-308. Garrett, Michael; Goldin, Ian A.; Rodrik, Dani (2003); Scenarios International Trade and Doha Development Agenda; World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos January 2003. Harris, G. R. (1993). Globalization, trade, and income. Retrieved Febuary 7th , 2010 from http://www.jstor.org/sici?sici=00084085(199311)26%3A4%3C755%3AGTAI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0 Hauser, H and OberhÃÆ'Â ¤nsli, H. (2002). Globalization creates additional jobs; in: WTO-News; University St. Gallen February; www.wto-news.ch. ILO (2000). World Labour Report 2000. Income security and social protection in a changing world. Geneva: ILO. Martin, Will- Winters, Alan (Eds.) (1996). The Uruguay Round and the Developing Countries. World Bank and Cambridge University Press. London, U.K. Sheila L. C (2004).Globalization and Belonging: The Politics of Identity in a Changing World. United Nations (2001).World Investment Report 2001: Promoting Linkages. UNCTAD. New York, U.S.A. and Geneva, Switzerland.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Impact Of Internet Marketing

The Impact Of Internet Marketing Internet marketing is also known as digital marketing, web marketing, online marketing, or e-marketing. As the name states, it is the advertising of products or services over the Internet. However, it also implies marketing through the wireless media and through e-mail. Electronic Customer Relationship Management (E-CRM) systems are also categorized under Internet marketing. IM can be creative, as well as, technical through its design, development, advertising, and sales over the Internet. In the past ten years, the Internet population varied a lot (Sandelands, 1997); an estimation of about 50 percent increase of the World Wide Web (WWW) per month and the numbers of websites double every 53 days (Gilbert, Perry and Widijoso, 1999). A 60 percent of large companies and 30 percent of midsize companies were estimated to make use of the Internet for marketing purposes by the year 2000 (Crain, 1994). In 2003, the first generation of internet users was fresh graduates fast to get the concepts of online commerce and shopping. The WWW is an electronic technology which is an effective means for marketing hotels and it also develops customer relationship in the long-run (Gilbert, Perry and Widijoso, 1999). The Internet allows firms to open a Web site in an electronic mall, have their products available to millions of potential customers and only in a short time period. GE, IBM, Ford, Kraft, and Proctor Gamble were the first to register domain names (Herbig and Hale, 1997). Because Internet grew in only five years (Lagrosen, 2005) and there are no barriers for time or location, internet marketing has become the new era in E-commerce with petty variable cost per customer (Deighton, 1997). Marketers use full color advertising that appeal similar to both -young and old- to attract people all over the world. The Internet is now considered as a much greater resource than traditional means of marketing (Herbig and Hale, 1997). All industries have subject matter experts (SMEs) (Marquis, 2001) who are responsible to unify and apply knowledge from different vendors and sources to solve industry problems. To prepare a Web site merging SME knowledge with other reference sources is one of example of Internet model, (Strauss and Frost, 1999), to retain and attract customers (Heinen, 1996). A well designed Web site can lead to an interesting, low cost means for sales promotion to worldwide customers (Hamill, 1997). Marketers should also refer to the AIDA model-Attent ion, Interest, Desire and Action- to successfully attract customers by introducing the right marketing on Internet (Lagrosen, 2005). 2. Objective of Study The generalized objective of the research is to assess the contribution of internet marketing on effectiveness of marketing and customer relationship management operations in specific reference to Indian organizations and Multi National Corporations (MNCs) operating in India. In the light of the above, the research attempts to have the following specific objectives: 1 To study the impact of internet marketing in attracting buyers to the websites/organizations. 2 To study the impact of internet marketing in retaining buyers of the websites/organizations. 3 To study the impact of internet marketing in maintaining customer loyalty towards the websites/organizations. 4 To study the impact of internet marketing in providing brand experience to the customers of the websites/organizations. 5 To study the impact of internet marketing in maintaining CRM for the customers of the websites/organizations. 3. Scope of Study its Limitations The proposed study would include selected organizations in India, which have used internet marketing for enhancing effectiveness of marketing operations. The impact of internet marketing on attracting buyers, retaining buyers, maintaining customer loyalty, providing brand experience and maintaining CRM would be assessed through structured research techniques. There are some limiting factors that can be called inherent in a research of this nature. These factors advise the following precautions to be observed in understanding and comparing the results. 1. The entire population of the organizations will not be covered under the study. An attempt to study the nature of the population through the limited sample will be made. All the limitations of a sample study shall apply to this research. 2. The values will be sampled from literature, but the problems of representative sample of such values may remain unresolved. 3. The assessment of relative impact of internet marketing is not wholly objective. Evidently, the research would provide rather inadequate basis for generalization about the entire organizational world. 4. The methodology for identification, grouping and measuring of several variables is only one of the different possibilities and is not a perfect one. As such, in an explorative study on assessment of relative impact of internet marketing, these weaknesses are unavoidable and one will have to use the findings with ones maturity and insight to arrive at logical conclusions. 5. The findings of the study may be expected to hold good for top-level and middle-level executives involved in internet marketing in India. 4. Hypothesis The basic hypothesis of the study is that internet marketing positively affects marketing operations. Some of the specific hypotheses are listed below: 1 Higher attraction of customers is positively correlated with usage of internet marketing. 2 Higher retention of customers is positively correlated with usage of internet marketing. 3 Higher loyalty of customers is positively correlated with usage of internet marketing. 4 Better brand experience of customers is positively correlated with usage internet marketing. 5 Better Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is positively correlated with usage of internet marketing. 5. Research Methodology The proposed study is to assess the impact of internet marketing on effectiveness of marketing operations. The functioning of the organizations, which have adopted internet marketing, will be compared against functioning of the same organizations, when internet marketing was not in practice. The backbone of this research is to establish and sustain a clear link between conceptual framework and empirical analysis. The main importance of this consideration comes from the belief that unless the conceptual framework and empirical study are highly integrated, each one of them individually would present a partitioned and distorted image of the research points. For that this study will depend on: Conceptual framework: depending mostly on the secondary data. Empirical study : depending mostly on the primary data. A combined research strategy based on survey and secondary will be carried out in the research by using structured questionnaires and interviews as a primary data collection methods. Suitable statistical techniques like Weighted Mean Analysis and Chi Square Test would be used to analyze the collected data and the conclusions would be drawn for making the recommendations. The proposed study is intended to be carried out for Indian organizations and MNCs operating in this country. The data for the study will be mainly generated through structured questionnaires to be filled up by different managerial personnel and secondary data (research reports) would also be used, wherever necessary. 6. Review of Literature The Internet plays an important role in many companies marketing communication strategies, accounting for $18.5 billion in total spending in 2005. Online advertising now ranges from directory listings of the early days to the more recent multimedia ads enabled by video streaming. Although online advertising technology has advanced to a great extent, consumers reaction toward online advertising did not improve over the years. To the contrary, banner ad click-through rates have steadily declined. Some intrusive online advertising formats have stimulated intense negative reactions from consumers (Edwards, Li and Lee, 2002). Despite its start as an interactive advertising format that should draw consumers, online advertising now faces the danger of becoming another push media and being rejected by consumers as with traditional advertising. These developments run against the trend of integrated marketing communications (IMC). IMC purports the coordination of marketing activities to form a purposeful dialogue with stakeholders (Duncan 2002), which implies the participation of consumers and a need to take consumer preferences into consideration. As a result, two-way interactive communication with consumers should be at the center of marketing communication efforts (Duncan and Moriaty, 1998). The same thinking is reflected in relationship marketing, which treats consumers as a partner in the marketing process and advocates a more intimate approach to marketing (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). This suggests that, for advertising to be truly effective to todays more wary and demanding consumers, it needs to put consumers back into the equation and empower them while getting the message across. This issue is especially critical to online advertising, as it is considered the most interactive form of advertising and has the potential o f leading the advertising industry toward the right direction. While traditional marketing strategies focus mostly on conveying information to consumers and persuading consumers, recent theories argue for a much more active and powerful role of consumers in marketing (Stewart and Pavlou, 2002, Vargo and Lusch, 2004). Consumers are no longer just receivers at one end of the communication continuum but instead actively participate in the marketing process, including the development and distribution of advertisements. As a result, consumers co-construct the meaning of marketing messages and develop a more effective personal relationship with companies. Reflecting this line of thinking, Duncan and Moriaty (1998) argue that the key to communicating effectively with consumers is a two-way exchange built on balance, symmetry, and reciprocity. This calls for attention to consumers needs and preferences in marketing communication. It advocates building long-term relationship with consumers at their willingness rather than pushing products to consumers to create near-term sales. Evidence of the need to attend to consumers needs and preferences can be gleaned from research on the general attitude toward advertising and advertising avoidance. Studies in these areas show that advertising forms that are forced onto consumers without regard to their choices are generally received negatively (Shavitt, Vargas and Lowrey, 2004). Ads in such forms are more likely to be avoided (Speck and Elliott, 1997) and tend to have adverse effects on brand recall and subsequent attitudes (Mehta, 2000). These negative effects have been attributed to the intrusiveness of ad exposure, the disruption of normal communication, and the ensuing annoyance (Shavitt, Vargas and Lowrey, 2004, Speck and Elliott, 1997). Supporting these academic findings, the advertising industry has witnessed in recent years the steady decline of dependence on TV commercials, an advertising form that has been consistently rated as the most negative by consumers due to its intrusive and pushy nature (Mittal, 1 994, Shavitt, Vargas and Lowrey, 2004). Advertisers are now resorting to much softer approaches such as product placement in TV programs and are shifting their focus to less offensive media such as print media and the Internet. Taken together, academic and industry evidences both point to a need to incorporate consumers communication preferences into advertising. As a newly emerged advertising medium, the Internet has the most potential for incorporating consumer preferences into the advertising process and overcoming the negative denotation that comes with traditional media advertising. It is an interactive medium that allows two-way communication between consumers and advertisers (Hoffman and Novak, 1996). With a diverse set of online advertising tools, advertisers can engage in effective multi-stage communication with consumers. For example, with the initial help of banner ads or search engine listings, companies can pull interested consumers to their websites for rich product information and immersive brand experience. The use of online communities can further deepen consumers identification and relationship with the brand. At each step of the process, consumers can actively participate by offering feedback to companies and by controlling the information they receive. Some online advertising formats, such as search engine advertising, del iver highly targeted advertising messages to consumers right when they need the information. All of this contributes to potentially better understanding and incorporation of consumer needs and preferences, which should lead to more effective marketing communication. The same characteristics of the Internet media also present unique challenges to advertisers. The interactive capability of the Internet endows consumers with more control. As a result, they tend to be more demanding and to be less tolerant of forced communication from advertisers. The more goal-oriented and high-involvement nature of Internet media use also means that disruption by advertisements will create more annoyance among consumers. Since some online advertising formats such as interstitials force consumers to deviate from their main goals to respond to the ads, they have been found to create reactance among consumers and to lead to negative perceptions of the advertiser and the advertised products (Edwards, Li and Lee, 2002). This equivocal nature of interactive communication is reflected in the interactivity literature. Although some existing studies have found interactive ads to be more persuasive than non-interactive ads (e.g., Fortin and Dholakia, 2005, Sundar, Kalyanaraman and Brown, 2003), other studies have revealed no or even negative effects of interactivity on persuasion (e.g., Bezjian-Avery, Calder and Iacobucci, 1998, Coyle and Thorson, 2001, Lohtia, Donthu and Hershberger, 2003). Consequently, researchers have pointed out that interactivity may not be advantageous across all consumers and/or all situations (Liu and Shrum, 2002). These conflicting findings show the intricacies of interactive communication and a need to consider how individual consumers may react to interactive advertising messages differently according to their own needs. The key consideration for an online advertiser is to maximize the benefits of the self-selected and interactive nature of the online media, and in the meantime avoid offensive and excessively interactive advertising messages to consumers who do not want to interact. The first step toward this direction is to understand how much consumers are willing to use the Internet in an interactive fashion (rather than as a passive information source as with traditional media) and what drives their desire to do so. In academic research, perceived value is an important component of the Technology Acceptance Model proposed by Davis, Bagozzi and Warshaw (1989) found that perceived usefulness is the most important predictor of peoples intention to use a new information technology, and this finding has been replicated in various other settings, including consumers adoption of online tools and consumers intention to shop at an online store (Gentry and Calantone, 2002, Koufaris, 2002). Within the arena of dyadic communication and relationships, value perception is considered a key contributor to the decision to engage in interactive relationship-oriented behavior. Sheth and Parvatiyar (1995), for example, proposed that consumers are more prone to engage in relational market behavior if the behavior brings values such as efficiency and risk reduction. In an online environment, Ko, Cho, and Roberts (2005) found that consumers needs for convenience and social interaction and the perceived ability of the Internet to fulfill such needs have a positive impact on consumers interaction intentions. While perceived value is a motivator of online interaction, perceived risk can deter a consumer from interacting online. Following Stone and Gronhaug (1993), perceived risk is defined as subjective expectations of loss as a result of interacting online. Research on traditional communication demonstrates a link between perceived risk and an individuals willingness to interact. When individuals perceive a certain situation to be uncertain and risky, they are likely to withdraw socially and exhibit a reluctance to engage in interaction (McCroskey, 1984, Neuliep and Ryan, 1998). Risk is a central topic to online marketing (Olivero and Lunt, 2004). On the Internet, face-to-face communication is replaced with screen-to-face communication. This virtual nature of the Internet brings uncertainty and risk to online communication and may prevent consumers from interacting more online. For example, an advertiser may attempt to elicit interaction from a consumer by sending a promotional email linking to additional information. But if the consumer perceives clicking on such email links as risky, he or she is unlikely to take the further step even if there is some interest in the product. Indeed, studies by industry, government, and academic resea rchers all recognize perceived risk as a big obstacle to the expansion of e-commerce (Federal Trade Federal Trade Commission, 2000, Grabner-Kraeuter, 2002, Miyazaki and Fernandez, 2001, Olivero and Lunt, 2004). The research has shown that the degree of an individuals privacy and security concerns vary with the individuals education (Burke, 2002), Internet experience (Miyazaki and Fernandez, 2001), and his or her general propensity to trust (Lee and Turban, 2001, Uslaner, 2000). The different degrees of concern can lead to variations in perceived risk and thus lead to different levels of willingness to engage in online interaction. Time-pressedness refers to a consumers general lack of time in completing the tasks in daily life. Lack of time is a common syndrome of todays fast-paced lifestyle. This time-pressedness, felt to different degrees by different consumers, can have a double-edged effect on consumers usage of the Internet. Consumers may use the Internet more because of its timesaving benefits (Alba, Lynch, Weitz, Janiszewski, Lutz, Sawyer and Wood, 1997). For example, instead of consulting daily newspaper and TV for availability of products and services, consumers can quickly research a large assortment of products on the Internet. The constant availability of the Internet also appeals to consumers with a tight schedule. However, two-way communication is highly engaging and time-consuming (Liu and Shrum, 2002). In studies of interactivity, researchers have demonstrated that the speed of a communication constitutes an important dimension of how interactive the communication is. A more synchronized communication leads to higher satisfaction and more positive attitude toward the communication target (Liu and Shrum, 2002). Industry research shows that consumers who have a faster broadband Internet connection engage in a wider variety of activities than consumers with regular dial-up connections (Horrigan, 2003). Some of these activities, such as email and online chatting, are especially communication-oriented. Such differences between broadband and dial-up Internet users can be attributed partially to the fact that a constant-on broadband connection provides greater convenience than a dial-up connection. Not only does it provide the consumer more opportunities to interact online, its high connection speed also allows richer communication formats such as voice chatting and rich media advertising . This makes the Internet a better choice for substituting or complementing other communication channels (Daft and Lengel, 1986). 7. Chapterization Scheme Chapter 01 Introduction The first chapter of the proposed research would be devoted to the history of internet marketing and would review the transformation of marketing from traditional to customer centric internet marketing. In particular, this chapter would discuss various possible contributions of internet marketing towards fulfillment of strategic goals of organizations with special reference to India. This chapter would elaborate the research plan and objectives. This chapter would also outline the hypotheses and conclusions. Chapter 02 Research Methodology This chapter of the proposed research would be devoted to establish and sustain a clear link between conceptual framework and empirical analysis. There would be special emphasis on integrating conceptual framework with empirical study. The research tools, data collection tools, data analysis tools would be elaborated in this chapter. The sample size, sampling method and justification for usage in research would also be elaborated. Chapter 03 Attraction and Retention of Customers This chapter of the proposed research would differentiate between Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketplaces. This chapter would further describe how and why customers purchase online and why consumers are attracted to particular suppliers. Online and off-line customers would be compared in order to understand reasons for observed differences. Various antecedents of the online experience would be addressed to determine influences on satisfaction and buying behavior. Web site efficacy (usefulness and ease-of-use) would be addressed in light of its importance in customer satisfaction and retention for online shopping. The chapter would conclude with insights for internet marketers to attract new buyers, satisfy, and retain them. Chapter 04 Customer Loyalty This chapter of the proposed research would discuss the importance of an integrated framework for understanding the impact of corporate image, customer trust, and customer value on e-customer loyalty in a B2C e-commerce context. This framework would incorporate cognitive and affective components in order to gain customer mind share, nurture emotional ties, and influence future purchase decisions. Chapter 05 Brand Experience This chapter of the proposed research would make a case for the importance of branding efforts by reviewing major approaches to brand development in both offline and online marketing environments. The concept of Interactive Brand Experiences (IBE) would be created and explored via the use of marketing tools, such as personalization, co-creation, purchase-process streamlining, self-service, brand community, rich media, product self-design, dynamic pricing, and customization. This chapter would deal with two major challenges involved in integrating branding efforts in online and off-line spaces: (1) identifying the appropriate techniques and the media best suited to deliver them and (2) executing seamlessly at all touch points in the process. Chapter 06 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) This chapter of the proposed research would elaborate how the Internet has emerged as a powerful electronic customer relationship management tool. This chapter would emphasize that this tool is of practical use only when consumers are willing to provide the type of information that is of value to the internet marketer. Consumer willingness to provide personal information is a cornerstone of customer relationship management. This chapter would explore how consumers self-confidence in using the Internet impacts their willingness to provide personal information online. Chapter 07 Analysis and Interpretation of Data This chapter of the proposed research would analyze the collected data and would also interpret the findings after application of statistical tools. Chapter 08 Summary of Findings, Conclusions, Limitations and Further Scope of Research This final chapter of the proposed research would summarize findings, draw conclusions and elaborate on limitations of the proposed research. This chapter would present a futuristic look at internet marketing in the decades to come through future research. In particular, this chapter would highlight the needs of organizations towards adoption of internet marketing in congruence with business strategies. In addition, this chapter would offer some valuable suggestions for the internet marketing professionals of the future. References Alba, Joseph, John Lynch, Barton Weitz, Chris Janiszewski, Richard Lutz, Alan Sawyer, and Stacy Wood. Interactive Home Shopping: Consumer, Retailer, and Manufacturer Incentives to Participate in Electronic Marketplaces. Journal of Marketing 61, 3 (1997): 38-53. Bezjian-Avery, Alexa, Bobby Calder, and Dawn Iacobucci. New Media Interactive Advertising Vs. Traditional Advertising. Journal of Advertising Research 38, July/August (1998): 23-32. Burke, Raymond R. Technology and the Customer Interface: What Consumers Want in the Physical and Virtual Store. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 30, 4 (2002): 411-432. Coyle, James R., and Esther Thorson. The Effects of Progressive Levels of Interactivity and Vividness in Web Marketing Sites. Journal of Advertising 30, Fall (2001): 65-77. Daft, Richard L., and Robert H. Lengel. Organizational Information Requirements, Media Richness and Structural Design. Management Science 32, 5 (1986): 554-571. David C. Gilbert, Jan Powell-Perry and Sianandar Widijoso (1999), Approaches by hotels to the use of the Internet as a relationship marketing tool, Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 21-38. Davis, Fred D., Richard P. Bagozzi, and Paul R. Warshaw. User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models. Management Science 35, 8 (1989): 982-1003. Deighton, J. (1997), Commentary on exploring the implications of the Internet for consumer marketing, Academy of Marketing Science, vol.25 No.4, pp.329-46. Duncan, Tom, and Sandra E. Moriaty. A Communication-Based Marketing Model for Managing Relationships. Journal of Marketing 62, 2 (1998): 1-13. Duncan, Tom. IMC Using Advertising and Promotion to Build Brands (International Edition), New York, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002. Edwards, Steven M., Hairong Li, and Joo-Hyun Lee. Forced Exposure and Psychological Reactance: Antecedents and Consequences of the Perceived Intrusiveness of Pop-up Ads. Journal of Advertising 31, 3 (2002): 83-95. Eric Sandelands (1997), Utilizing the Internet for marketing success, Pricing Strategy Practice, Volume 5, No 1, pp.7-12. Federal Trade Commission. Privacy Online: Fair Information Practices in the Electronic Marketplace, available online at http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy2000/privacy2000.pdf, 2000. Fortin, David R., and Ruby Roy Dholakia. Interactivity and Vividness Effects on Social Presence and Involvement with a Web-Based Advertisement. Journal of Business Research 58, 3 (2005): 387-396. Gentry, Lance, and Roger Calantone. A Comparison of Three Models to Explain Shop-Bot Use on the Web. Psychology Marketing 19, 11 (2002): 945-956. Grabner-Kraeuter, Sonja. The Role of Consumers Trust in Online-Shopping. Journal of Business Ethics 39, 1/2 (2002): 43-50. Hoffman, Donna L., and Thomas P. Novak. Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments: Conceptual Foundations. Journal of Marketing 60, 3 (1996): 50-68. Horrigan, John B. Adoption of Broadband to the Home. PEW Internet and American Life Project, available online at http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Broadband_adoption.pdf, 2003. Jim Hamill (1997), The Internet and international marketing, International Marketing Review, Vol. 14, No. 5, pp.300-323. Joseph Heinen (1996), Internet marketing practices, Information Management Computer Security, 4/5, pp. 7-14. Ko, Hanjun, Chang-Hoan Cho, and Marilyn S. Roberts. Internet Uses and Gratifications. Journal of Advertising 34, 2 (2005): 57-70. Koufaris, Marios. Applying the Technology Acceptance Model and Flow Theory to Online Consumer Behavior. Information Systems Research 13, 2 (2002): 205-224. Lee, Matthew K. O., and Efraim Turban. A Trust Model for Consumer Internet Shopping. International Journal of Electronic Commerce 6, 1 (2001): 75-91. Liu, Yuping, and L. J. Shrum. What Is Interactivity and Is It Always Such a Good Thing? Implications of Definition, Person, and Situation for the Influence of Interactivity on Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising 31, 4 (2002): 53-64. Lohtia, Ritu, Naveen Donthu, and Edmund K. Hershberger. The Impact of Content and Design Elements on Banner Advertising Click-through Rates. Journal of Advertising Research 43, 4 (2003): 410-418. Marquis, S. (2001), Lets not ignore the potential of the Web as a mass ad medium, Marketing, March, p. 26. [14] Boutie, P. (1997), Tales from the Web: What do Marketers Do on the Internet Today? What Works? Why?, European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR), Amsterdam. McCroskey, James C. The Communication Apprehension Perspective. In Avoiding Communication: Shyness, Reticence, and Communication Apprehension, J. A. Daly and J. C. McCroskey, eds., Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1984. Mittal, Banwari. Public Assessment of TV Advertising: Faint Praise and Harsh Criticism. Journal of Advertising Research 34, 1 (1994): 35-53. Miyazaki, Anthony D., and Ana Fernandez. Consumer Perceptions of Privacy and Security Risks for Online Shopping. The Journal of Consumer Affairs 35, 1 (2001): 27-44. Neuliep, James W., and Daniel J. Ryan. The Influence of Intercultural Communication Apprehension and Socio-Communicative Orientation During Initial Cross-Cultural Interaction. Communication Quarterly 46, 1 (1998): 88-99. Olivero, Nadia, and Peter Lunt. Privacy Versus Willingness to Disclose in E-Commerce Exchanges: The Effect of Risk Awareness on the Relative Role of Trust and Control. Journal of Economic Psychology 25, 2 (2004): 243-262. Paul Herbig and Brian Hale (1997), Internet: the marketing challenge of the twentieth century, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, Volume 7, Number 2, pp. 95-100. Shavitt, Sharon, Patrick Vargas, and Pamela Lowrey. Exploring the Role of Memory for SelfSelected Ad Experiences: Are Some Advertising Media Better Liked Than Others? Psychology Marketing 21, 12 (2004): 1011-1032. Sheth, Jagdish N., and Atul Parvatiyar. Relationship Marketing in Consumer Markets: Antecedents and Consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 23, 4 (1995): 255-271. Speck, Paul Surgi, and Michael T. Elliott. Predictors of Advertising Avoidance in Print and Broadcast Media. Journal of Advertising 26, 3 (1997): 61-76. Stephan lagrosen (2005), Effects of the internet on the marketing communication of service companies, Journal of Services Marketing, 19/2, pp. 63-69. Stewart, David, and Paul Pavlou. From Consumer Response to Active Consumer: Measuring the Effectiveness of Interactive Media. Journal of The Academy of Marketing Science 30, 4 (2002): 376-396. Stone, Robert N., and Kjell Gronhaug. Perceived Risk: Further Considerations for the Marketing Dis. European Journal of Marketing 27, 3 (1993): 39-52. Strauss, J. and Frost