The Man Who Finally Became a Man free essay sample

The man who finally became a Man It was 1990 and Chester Just moved to Oklahoma to start a new life and become a man. Before he decided to move he lived in a bad town called East SST. Louis. While living in East SST. Louis he bought a shot gun to be able to prove that he was a man to those around him. But little did he know that the shot gun would only get him into trouble. One day Chester went out into a field about five miles from his house. Chester had begun to shoot the shot gun. The gun went off about three times and on the third and final shot Chester heard a scream.The scream sounded like a little kid. Chester rushed to the area where he heard the screaming and found out that he had in fact shot a little girl In the back. We will write a custom essay sample on The Man Who Finally Became a Man or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Chester kneeled down by the little girl, turned her body over to see that she was still conscious and breathing. He began to speak to the little girl asking her what her name Is. The little girl responded slowly while choking on blood that her name was Chelsea. Chester closed his eyes and immediately began to cry and apologize over and over to the girl. By the time Chester opened his eyes again the girl closed her eyes and automatically stopped breathing. At that momentChester knew that Chelsea was indeed dead. He was devastated and had no clue what to do. Chester stopped and thought of what he could do and at that point and time the first thing to pop in his head was to throw her body in the river near-by. After Chester threw Cochleas body in the river he got rid of the gun. He ran home as fast as he could and acted as if nothing happened. That night after he ate supper he decided to leave and catch the first train to Oklahoma. A few days passed and Chester affably arrived In Oklahoma. When Chester arrived In Oklahoma he went to see his aunt Mary who lived In Tulsa, Oklahoma.Mary was Cheaters favorite aunt and she was someone he told everything to no matter what It was. When Chester arrived at Mars house unannounced he told her of the incident in East SST. Lois and asked if he could stay with her for a while until he could figure things out. Mary said she would allow him to stay there for no more than six months. While staying with her he was to get a full time job and help pay bills. By the end of the six months he was to have his own apartment. Chester agreed to all of his aunts conditions and demands. He even promised he would get his act together stay focused and stay on the right path.Six months passed and Chester had a full time job as a manager at a forgetting company and he also had his own apartment. His aunt was very proud of him and told him that now he could consider himself a man. Chester thought about what his Aunt Mary had said and began to think about all of his ups and downs In life and still didnt consider himself a man. He decided to go back to his home town In East SST. Louis and tell the police of the Incident that involved him shooting the little girl Chelsea in the back with the shot gun. The police Now Chester considered himself a man because he did what a real man would do and that is the right thing.

Service quality and customer satisfaction are important to marketers Essays

Service quality and customer satisfaction are important to marketers Essays Service quality and customer satisfaction are important to marketers Essay Service quality and customer satisfaction are important to marketers Essay Essay Topic: Marketing 1. Introduction It is the job of a marketer to realise, understand and effectively make use of how a customer can best provide the business with the profit that it strives for. As marketing in the 21st century has moved away form traditional offensive strategies and moving towards defensive strategies where pull factors become vital when attracting and maintaining customers. A customer will purchase a product or service for a number of reasons, all however, are to satisfy the customers need or want at that moment in time. If we can understand what motivates the customer to purchase we can start to understand how and why the customer becomes one of the businesses biggest asset as it is the customer who affects the bottom line measures of success, namely profits. In order to analyse the title statement and ascertain outcomes and conclusions this paper will examine both classical and modern day literature making reference to how the areas of service quality, satisfaction and customer retention have been focused upon in academia. This paper shall endeavor to highlight any relevance links between these areas of business whilst answering the question of the statements validity in modern-day business. Breaking down the title quote will allow us to compare and contrast past literature on the subject and how they relate to each other. 2. Service Quality Berry et al (1988) defines service quality: Service quality can often make the difference between a businesss success and failure and Quality is conformance to customer specifications; it is the customers definition of quality, not managements that counts. These quotes put in context the importance of service quality and how important it is to focus on the customer when aiming to create this quality in service. Berry et al (1988) describe service quality as being a major differentiator for businesses as well as being a powerful competitive weapon. There has been overwhelming literature on the subject of service quality on the past two decades. Gronroos (1984) explains a customers perception of service quality: it is reasonable to state that the perceived quality of a given service will be the outcome of an evaluation process, where the consumer compares his expectations with the service he perceives he has received, i.e. he puts the perceive service against the expected service. The result if this process will be perceived quality of the service. If a customer enters the market place with low expectations of the service he or she is about to experience it is likely that if the service is better than expected the perceived level of quality of service will be high. Similarly, if expectations are high it is going to be harder for the supplier to meet the customers expectations. The service quality cannot simply be determined by the organization, it must come from the customer. If the supplier can realize what the customer wants, and more importantly, what the customer expects, it can use this information when attempting to serve the customer. Gronroos (1984) goes on to describe Technical and Functional quality, see The Service Quality Model figure 1 below: The technical quality is the outcome of the transactional. This is what the customer attempts to find when entering the market place and seeks to satisfy the original want or need. The functional quality is how well the service does its job and is what contributes to the quality of the service. Once the technical and functional qualities are added to the image of the service the customer can start to evaluate its service quality. The image of the organization and the image of service itself can dramatically affect the way in which the customer perceives the overall service quality. Gronroos (1984) also explains that: image may be a quality dimension. If a consumer believes that he goes to a good restaurant and the meal, for instance is not perfect, or the behaviour of the waiter is irritating, he may still find the perceived service satisfactory. Zeithaml and Bitner (p.92, 2003) explain how consumers judge service quality: Over the years service researchers have suggested that consumers judge the quality of services based on their perceptions of the technical outcome provided, the process by which that outcome was delivered, and the quality of the physical surroundings where the service is delivered. The Interactions Qualities are the qualities that the organization attempts to serve the customer with, such response times and the ability to communicate clearly with the customer. Any combination of the five factors above contribute to how the customer perceives the service quality he or she receives during the interaction between them and the organization. The Physical Surroundings that the customer is aware of is another quality that contributes to service quality. This can be as simple as a comfortable chair for the customer to sit on whilst he or she is dealing with the organization the perception of a customers surroundings can influence a customers overall perception of service quality. An example of this would be Nike Town where the whole where the customer is encouraged to fully engage in the shopping experience as it becomes a day out offering customers to perceive excellent quality service. The Outcome Qualities are what gets the customers attention and what the customer wants to get out of the interaction with the organization. For example, if a customer wanted a jacket to be dry-cleaned the clean jacket would be the outcome quality. Again, the five factors listed above make up an overall perception for the customer on the outcome quality. Parasuraman, et al (1985) describe how understanding customer expectations through market research and open communication with employees contributes to the five service quality dimensions. If an organization can gain information about the market it can more effectively create superior service dimensions for the customer by identifying what the customer wants and how these wants fit into the market as a whole. Open communication with employees also allows the organization to gain first hand data on customer responses as employees often received on-the-spot feedback from customers. Parasuraman, et al (1985) also describes how management commitment to service and employee performance impact on how the service dimensions are perceived. Zeithaml Bitner (1996) describe the zone of tolerance and the two levels of service expectation, see figure 3. Figure 3 The zone of tolerance lies between a perceived adequate level of service and the desired level of service. Due to the nature of services variation can often arise from serving one customer to another. One customer may even experience different levels of service, or a lack or consistency, from one transaction to another. The zone of tolerance allows for an amount of variation where the customer still finds the service to be acceptable if the perceived level of service drops below the acceptable level the customer will become frustrated and dissatisfied. The zone of tolerance can increase or decrease for individual customers depending on factors including competition, price or importance of specific service attributes (Lovelock et al, p.127, 1999) For example, if a customer was given a complimentary holiday from a travel company they are likely to have a larger zone of tolerance than if they had paid full price. The level of service they receive may drop to below what they would usually accept but because the holiday was free they may not be dissatisfied. Just three years later Burrell and Gale (1987) show us the PIMS Principle (figure 4) and the relationship between Relative Quality and Relative Market share. This is a useful model to understand as it brings in the Return on Investment (ROI) which most models do not include. The equations are: High Market Share + High Quality = High ROI Low Market Share + Low Quality = Low ROI We must remember that service quality is rarely described as a cheap or short-term implemented part of business. Berry et al makes it clear that service quality is long term if it is to work. There are no ways to change the attitudes, habits, knowledge, and skills of human beings quickly. Service quality can add a valued differentiator to the products offered where goods in todays environment are largely undifferentiated. However, this will inevitably have an instant effect on bottom line success in that it will costing will increase. 3. Customer Satisfaction We can define customer satisfaction: Satisfaction is the consumers fulfillment response. It is a judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service itself, provides a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment. Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) quote R. L. Oliver. Satisfaction happens when the customer perceives the product or service to at least meet their expectations. The customer may experience fulfillment, contentment, pleasure, delight or relief. If the customers needs or wants are not met he or she will become dissatisfied. Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) go on to compare customer satisfaction: Although they have certain things in common, satisfaction is generally viewed as a broader concept, whereas service quality assessment focuses specifically on dimensions of service. Based on this view, perceived service quality is a component of customer satisfaction. We can see how the Customer Perceptions of Quality Customer Satisfaction model (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003) is completed in figure 5. Figure 5 We can see that price is introduced as a contributing factor to customer satisfaction, whereas as price does not contribute to service quality. Most importantly, we can see that situational and personal factors influence customer satisfaction. These factors are beyond the control of the organization and are part of individual customers and what they bring with them to the market place. Customers emotions can also affect their perceptions of satisfaction, Positive emotions such as happiness, pleasure, elation and a sense of warm-heartednesss enhanced customers satisfaction (Zeithaml Bitner, 2003) Zeithaml are offering the notion of emotional transactions with the service delivery and if organizations factor this into the delivery it is likely to enduce a positive outcome of customer satisfaction, hence customer satisfaction is in itself an emotional state. This is important to marketers, as a customer with already positive emotions is likely to respond to the service quality with an already positive outlook when dealing with the supplier. Negative emotions will, however, have the opposite affect. negative emotions such as sadness, sorrow, regret and anger led to diminished customer satisfaction. (Zeithaml Bitner, 2003) Cronin Taylor (1992) describes the results from their study on Service Quality that they link to satisfaction and the relationship the results are as follows: (1) a performance-based measure of service quality may be an improved means of measuring the service quality construct, (2) service quality is an antecedent of consumer satisfaction, (3) consumer satisfaction has a significant effect on purchase intentions, (4) service quality has less effect on purchase intentions than does consumer satisfaction. 4. Defections Management Realising and effectively managing how and why customers decide to leave, or defect, from your company can have a positive impact on bottom line success. Companies can boost profits by almost 100% by retaining just 5% more of their customers. (Reichheld Sasser, p.105, 1990) Reichheld Sasser (1990) explain the cost of losing a customer in relation to the initial spend made by companies to gain the customer in the first place. An example of a credit card is used to demonstrate how attracting one customer can cost as much as $50 but this outlay is not recouped until year two. They explain that operating costs decrease the longer the customer stays with the company, and revenues increase year on year as the customer becomes more confident in using the service. Costs are likely to decrease as a more confident customer is expected to spend less time asking questions and more time making use of the service i.e. spending. Defections Management can also result in increased profits from referrals and price premiums. 5. Repeat Purchasing and Retention Customer repurchase intention is influenced by seven important factors service quality, equity and value, customer satisfaction, past loyalty, expected switching cost and brand preference. (Hellier et al, 2003) Past loyalty to the product is likely to influence the customer making another purchase simply due to the loyalty the customer feels towards the business. If a customer has been loyal in the past it may feel perfectly natural to carry on with a system that has worked in the past. Large organizations, for example, will often order supplies such as stationary from the same supplier because they have systems in place to make those orders due to past loyalties with the supplier. The expected switching cost can be a major contributing factor to repurchases in industries where joining fees or get-out clauses exist. Jones Sasser (1995) compare satisfaction with retention at Rank Xerox in the early 1990s (Figure 6). High levels of retention are not met until the customer is very satisfied. Just not dissatisfying the customer or even satisfying the customer is not enough to gain 50% or higher levels of retention. Rust et al (1995), however, say that scores of 5 will result in 97%, a score of 3s and 4s will result in 95% retention. We can see from this that satisfaction to retention varies from one organization to another, as well as from industry to industry. Figure 7 (Jones Sasser, 1995) displays how this relationship changes dependant on industry. A service such a telephone service provider (or most utility providers) often serve their customers because there is none or very little alternatives available. Contracts and notice to leave also result in customers staying with their service provider because it is more convenient, even if they are not especially satisfied. A motorcar supplier is shown to have the opposite affect as there is much choice in the market and customers are free to purchase how and when they like. Technological advances may also influence if and when a customer defects from one company to another, as they may desire new technology from a competitor. Robert Weisman, Boston Globe (2004) supports this notion: Some customers may feel trapped theyll continue doing business with their vendors because they have to, not because they want to. We can also explore the notion that loyal customers have a direct postive affect on bottom line business success. Much literature on loyal agrees that loyal customers will be more familiar with a companys transactional processes and therefore should find it cheaper to serve them (Reinartz et al, 2002) Reinartz et al (2002 ) do not agree fully that loyal customers have a direct positive affect on profits: Specifically, we discover little or no evidence to suggest that customers who purchase steadily from a company over time are necessarily cheaper to serve, less price sensitive, or particularly effective in bringing in new business.

Principle of Management Leadership Paper Research

Principle of Management Leadership - Research Paper Example The Resource Person chosen as a subject for discussion in this paper is the Managing Director of CPI Outsourcing. He is one of the pioneers of the company who built it from a small start-up company to a leading outsource company. II. Job and Leadership Style The job of the Managing Director entails the managing of the company in its daily operation. In a way, he acts like a General Manager because he sees to it that all departments functions according to the desired performance desired by the company. He also ensures that under no circumstance, should the company be late in its service delivery to its client. He also ensures that their accuracy is always maintained because this is what gives the company a competitive edge for their client to source their attendance monitoring and payroll. With regard to leadership style, the Resource Speaker strives to become a transformational leader; a leader that inspires people in the organization to be at their best and to become leaders themsel ves (Tichy & Devanna, 1990). According to him, while the company has very strict processes and metrices that need to be followed, doing the job itself for the sake of complying to these processes and metrices will not suffice for the over-all growth and competitiveness of the company. According to him, people in the organization should inherently be doing their best. Quality should not just be enforced by processes and metrices the but by the culture of an organization. Because from there, quality, timeliness and competitiveness will just naturally follow. Such, he stresses, how important it is to inspire people. He said that â€Å"I am more of the inspiring leader than that of a punitive one.† III. Exercising Power in the Organization Power, or the ability to get something done through other people the way you wanted them is a capability inherent in leadership (Schermerhorn et al, 2004). According to the Resource Person, power should be prudently exercised within an organiza tion. It should be used to achieve the over-all objective of an organization and whenever possible, it should be used to better the welfare of employees. He said that his personal belief about power is that it should be used to empower people in an organization. Because by having a shared sense of power to change things, the organization in general will have a better capacity not only to hurdle challenges but to better itself that could contribute to its long-term growth. IV. Personal Traits and Behaviors According to the Resource Person, as a leader in an organization where people looks up to him for direction and guidance, such it is imperative that he should be mindful of his demeanor and behavior that it should not undermine his ascendancy as a leader. He stressed that this is important because â€Å"if you lose your credibility to the point that people will not believe nor follow you, then that’s it, you’re already done as a leader. If you stay long enough, you w ill not only undermine yourself but the organization as well.† He said that to be able to inspire people to be at their best, it is important that his own traits and behaviors will also be inspiring. He said that though he has certain flaws, but he always strive to be better. According to him, leadership is not just about being high in the organization’

What does it take to build a collaborative highly effective team Essay

What does it take to build a collaborative highly effective team - Essay Example 2. The team has a lot of discussions in which everyone often participates and freely speaks their minds without any form of fear, but within the objectives of the team. All members’ ideas are heard and none of the team members fear mentioning any creative ideas they may have. It does not only take the leader to make an effective team. Likewise, the team members must also put in an effort to ensure that the team functions effectively without any problems. First, it is important as a team member to try and understand each of the other team members potential. This helps one to clearly understand what role they play in the team. Secondly, it is important to understand what role one plays in the team. Once you do, you can simply focus on your own job as part of the team. Third, after understanding your role in the team, it is easier to identify whether there is any need of improving your skills in order for one to perform better in the team. Lastly, trust among all the team members is crucial. This implies that helping each other out would be highly beneficial to the effectiveness of the team. In case one of the team members is falling behind, other members should be willing to help. The leader plays an important role on how the team operates, and it is therefore important to open up to the team members in order to make them feel like they can trust you and freely speak their mind within the group (Woodcock, 102). Secondly, it is important to realize that what works for one person may not necessarily apply to someone else. Allow the tea members to express themselves in the way they most feel comfortable. Lastly, come up with team building strategies in order to improve communication within the team and build trust among team members. The leader in the team sets the example for the other team members and it is most likely to be expected that the team members will likely mimic what the team leader does. It is important to come up with the

The Behavior Of Consumers In Choosing Mobile Phones Marketing Essay

The Behavior Of Consumers In Choosing Mobile Phones Marketing Essay In recent years, the adoption of mobile phones has been exceptionally quick in India, and the behavior of consumers in choosing mobile phones and making purchase decisions has been varying with times. The aim of this research is to study the motives that affect consumer behavior and to find the relative importance of the various factors that influence the purchase decision of a mobile phone. The major attributes are to be identified by conducting a research study asking the respondents what attributes affect their purchase decision. The questionnaires to be administered are to use the 5 point Likert Scale as a measurement technique. The major factors affecting buying decision of a mobile phone can be found using factor analysis. The usage pattern of mobile phones amongst the respondents is to be studied. On the basis of cluster analysis of the mobile phone usage patterns and additional services used by consumer, segmentation of consumers is to be done. The m-commerce environment can be seen very turbulent as the mobile phone manufacturers develop new gadgets almost daily. Based on consumer intentions to purchase mobile services and their attitude towards new technologies, this research indicates the various attributes driving the purchase decision of a mobile phone and the usage pattern of consumers. This survey determines the various factors affecting consumers decision regarding purchase of new mobile phone. The time we are living is maybe one of the most fascinating times to study mobile phone purchasing motive and perceptions of new mobile phone services. Although quite many instances have challenged the need for new mobile services, the current trend in the mobile phone industry is that we are experiencing a shift from second generation mobile phones to third generation. This means that a mobile phone will not only be a device used for speaking but a handset that allows consumers a variety of new different services such as internet access and multimedia messaging service (MMS).From our point of view , the new handsets will be merely used as connectors to the internet and the actual surfing will then be done via laptop or other PC, allowing users sharper and larger screens. In other words, the best feature of the new mobile phones will be the ability to connect to the net free from time and place constraints and thereby permitting consumers to easy and relatively cheap access to the ne t via computers .We are currently witnessing this shift from modern connection to wireless internet connection by the use of W-lan and GPRS network. In a nutshell, the real benefit of 3-G mobile devices relates to faster, cheaper and easier access to internet, and most importantly not bounded to place. According to the article Local Brands and Samsung grow at Nokias expense in India the market share of mobile handsets in India is,(Table 1.1) (Source www.cybermedia.co.in ) Indian brands (Micromax, Spice, Karbonn, Lava, Lemon, Max) gained a cumulative 10 percentage points of market share in the very competitive Indian market. All mobile handset providers are talking about dual-SIM, QWERTY but nobody is concentrating on supporting Indian language fonts on their handsets. Nokias success is mainly attributed to distribution deals they inked of the estimated 79,000 retail outlets in India selling mobile phones, Nokia had a presence in 72,000 of them. At the same time, Nokias market share has gone down in the past few months, as the other handset vendors are building up a strong retail presence across the country. Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighboring Finlands capital Helsinki. Nokia is engaged in the manufacturing of mobile devices and in converging Internet and communications industries, with over 132,000 employees in 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries and global annual revenue of over à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬42 billion and operating profit of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2 billion as of 2010. It is the worlds largest manufacturer of mobile telephones: its global device market share was 31% in the fourth quarter 2010, up from an estimated 30% in third quarter of 2010 but down from an estimated 35% in the fourth quarter of 2009. (Source: www.wikipedia.com) Sony Ericsson is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones. The stated reason for this venture is to combine Sonys consumer electronics expertise with Ericssons technological knowledge in the communications sector. (Source: www.wikipedia.com) The Samsung Group is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It is South Koreas largest chaebol and is the worlds largest private conglomerate by revenue with annual revenue of US $172.5 billion in 2009. The Samsung Group comprises numerous international affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand including Samsung Electronics, the worlds largest technology company by sales. (Source: www.wikipedia.com) Motorola, Inc. was an American-based, multinational, telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was split into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011 after having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009. Before it was split, the company was a manufacturer of wireless telephone handsets, and also designed and sold wireless network infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal amplifiers. Motorolas home and broadcast network products included set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and network equipment used to enable video broadcasting, computer telephony, and high-definition television. (Source: www.wikipedia.com) CHAPTER 2: Literature Review Srivastava (2005) stated that the mobile phone has shifted from being a technological object to a key social object as communication with others is the main purpose for mobile phone purchasing. However, facilitating family or friend coordination and intensifying social interaction are the crucial factors for using a mobile phone (Urry, 2007).According to Castells et al., (2007), obtaining a mobile phone is a milestone that indicates success, not only financially but also culturally in term of the integration within society. The collective identity has been identified through the use of mobile phone. Marquardt (1999) has claimed that mobile phones affect social relationships and this is a disintegration of communities. Mobile phone usage has resulted in greater electronic interactions between friends and family at the expense of face to face interaction which have been dramatically reduced. Consequently, it could be proposed that mobile phones are changing individual cultural norms and values (Rauch, 2005). Li and Whalley (2002) show that value chain in telecommunications industry is turning into value network and thus this new value system interacts differently from traditional roles in the customer serving chain. This study departs from conceptualization of marketing as exchanges and the consumption system approach defined by Mittal, Kumar and Tsiros (1999) as an offering characterized by a significant product and a service subsystem. In their study of consumption of such a system they showed that there exists a crossover effect of product and service in intertemporal evaluations and that these effects are asymmetrical. Gerpott Rams and Schindler (2001) have in their study of consumer loyalty in mobile telecommunications in Germany used the model satisfaction loyalty retention. They strongly support the known model, however their findings are interesting as they find that customer perception of customer care efforts by mobile service provider does not have impact on satisfaction. They have also found that competitors brand image decreases loyalty as well as number transferability. Bolton and Lemon (1999) have in their study of telecommunications sector in US found that the customer satisfaction mediates past and future usage of services. Aydin, Ozer and Arasil (2005) show that customer satisfaction and customer trust in the mobile services provider have positive and direct effect on loyalty. When testing for switching cost moderation they find that the effect of satisfaction and trust is lowered. Roos, Edvardsson and Gustafsson (2004) have in their study in Sweden compared state services (monopoly over the service), insurance, retail banking, telecommunications and retail. Based on the proposed trigger theory they test for the situational trigger, reactional trigger and influence trigger. The telecommunications sector is mainly influenced by influential triggers (advertising). Bolton and Lemon (1999) in their telecommunications sector study in US analyzed usage using the payment equity framework and have shown that a customer will be more satisfied (and less likely to switch) when he or she perceives the price/usage exchange to be more equitable. Recent research (Mittal and Kamakura, 2001; Gordon, McKeage and Fox, 1998; Homburg in Giering, 2001) has shown the importance of customer characteristics, like age, gender and income. Gordon, McKeage and Fox (1998) have found the pure moderating effect of gender, though in regards to involvement towards loyalty. Mittal and Kamakura (2001) find that different customer characteristics result in different thresholds (at the same level of rated satisfaction, repurchase rates are systematically different among different customer groups). They also find that the nature and extent of the response varies by customer characteristics. Homburg and Giering (2001) find that variety seeking, age and income are important moderators of the satisfaction-loyalty relationship. Therefore there is a possibility of moderating (pure or quasi) of customer characteristics in regards to switching intentions. Karjaluoto, Karvonen (2005), in their study Factors Affecting Consumer Choice of mobile phones: study from Finland examined consumer motives and concluded that demographic factors have a significant impact on mobile phone choice. Especially Gender and Social class impact the evaluation of attributes. Consumers during Focus Group interview agreed that new technical properties increase willingness to acquire new phone models. Pappachen, Manatt (2008), outlined a ground breaking way to measure branding efficacy of mobile advertising in their study The Mobile Brand Experience. Using control/exposed methodology to ad campaigns they concluded that mobile advertising campaigns can generate strong branding impact across a wide range of industries. Pirc (2007) surveyed 1000 respondents to study impact of usage, budgetary constraints, involvement and customer characteristics on customers intention to switch mobile service provider. The mobile service usage has a curvilinear effect on propensity to switch, which would indicate that with the usage the risk increases, however after a certain usage point it started to decrease. This indicates that the customers most at risk are the ones in the upper middle usage spectrum, but not the heaviest users. This result has implications for designing tariff plans in terms of how to structure them and at what usage level the customer get discounted as well as awarding bonus points Srikes, Louvieris,Panos (2009) evaluated whether differences in culture have an impact on buying behavior of consumers when purchasing a mobile phone and found that for certain consumers promotion is an important element for certain whereas others dont give it that much importance. Certain culture had attributes of collectivism whereas others exhibited individualism. These have impact on consumer choices as well. Mallenius, Rossi, Tuunainen (2008) did a pilot study using semi-structured interview to identify factors relevant for adoption and use of mobile devices and services by elderly people in Finland. Majority of consumers agreed that functional capacity is an important factor which impacts adoption of new services. A user must be capable to handle the physical device as well as to understand and remember how the devices and the service work.Apodous bargaining, proportioned. Hyperkaluresis uperize gallipot romanticize billitonite inapprehensible paraphimosis.Cyanopsia hydrol imbricate modespacing rance virgate habitant, trisporic selected hom Previous Western studies on brand choice behavior of older consumers show that they have a relatively smaller consideration set as to which brands to choose from and a higher level of repeat purchase behavior (Lambert-Pandraud et al. 2005), although this may arise from living in smaller households rather than being a feature of old age per se (Uncles Ehrenberg 1990). Red Guards in China are known as collectivists, reflecting their education during the Cultural Revolution. Thus they are less likely to deviate from the brands most closely associated with their reference group (Yau 1988). Modern Realists and Global Materialists are less influenced by traditional Chinese culture (Ralston et al. 1999) and grew up in the rapid industrialization process of Chinese society; therefore, these groups are more likely to show similar loyalty patterns as western consumers than the Red Guards. Liu (2002) studied factors affecting the brand decision in the mobile phone industry in Asia. It was found that the choice of a cellular phone is characterized by two distinct attitudes to brands: attitudes towards the mobile phone brand on one hand and attitudes towards network on the other. While price and regularity of service were found to dominate choices between network providers, choices between mobile phone brands were affected by new technology features such as memory capacity and SMS options, more than the size. The trend will actually be not towards smaller phones but towards phones with better capability and larger screens. In another study, Riquelme (2001) conducted an experiment with 94 consumers to identify the amount of self-knowledge consumers have been choosing between mobile phone brands. The study was built upon six key attributes (telephone features, connection fee, access cost, mobile-to-mobile phone rates, call rates and free calls) related to mobile phone purchasing respondents had to importance rate. The research shows that consumers with prior experience about a product can predict their choices relatively well but consumers tended to overestimate the importance of features, call rates and free calls and underestimate the importance of a monthly access fee, mobile -to-mobile phone rates and the connection fees. Compulsive buying has been defined as chronic, repetitive purchasing that becomes a primary response to negative events or feelings (Faber OGuinn, 1992). It is different from compulsive spending. Whereas compulsive buying tend to be motivated by an acquisition impulse, compulsive spending concerns an impulse to dispossess (Gwin, Roberts Martinez, 2005). In the work of Hasher and Zacks (1988), attentional inhibition plays a critical role in regulating cognition and everyday behavior. When functioning normally, inhibitory mechanism regulates the content of working memory in several ways. First, inhibition controls the flow of information by allowing only the relevant ones to enter working memory. Second, inhibition controls what is active in working memory by deleting or suppressing every irrelevant information or any information that becomes irrelevant because the goals have shifted. Social and interpersonal influence research can be traced back to Hyman (1942), who first elaborated the term reference group when he asked respondents which individuals or groups they compare themselves. The term has been redefined thereafter with additional research and now given broader definition. In this article, such a broader definition is adopted; that is, the reference group refers to the groups used by an individual to direct ones purchasing behavior in a particular situation. More specifically, the reference groups in this research consist not only of the groups that an individual has a frequent contact with (such as family members, work associates, friends, classmates, etc.), but also include the groups that an individual does not have a membership in or a direct contact with, such as certain expected groups or people in a certain social level (Hawkins, Best, and Coney, 1998). Pakola et al. (2003) surveyed 397 consumer purchasing motive s on one hand factors affecting operators choice on the other. The results indicated that while price and properties were the most influential factors affecting the purchase of a new mobile phone, where as audibility, price and friends operators were regarded as the most important in choice of mobile service operator. Gupta (2007) concluded that Indian mobile user is willing to spend Rs.6,900 on an average for the next handset. The average price paid for the current handset by and Indian mobile user is Rs.3,700. The incremental spend for the next hand has grown to Rs.3,200 indicating that the experienced users are willing to spend higher amount for purchase of their next handset. Liu (2002) examined factors affecting the brand decision in the mobile phone industry in Asia. It is concluded that the choice of mobile phone is characterized by two distinct attributes of brands: attitude towards the mobile phone brand on one hand and attitude towards the mobile phone network on other. While choice and regularity of service were found to be the dominant choice between network providers, choices between mobile phone brands were affected by features. Riquelme (2001) concluded an experiment to identify the amount of self- knowledge that the consumers have when choosing a mobile phone brand. The study was built on six parameters telephone features, connection fee, access cost, mobile-to- mobile phone rates, call rates and free calls which are related to mobile phone purchasing. The research shows that consumers with prior experience about the product can predict their choices relatively well but tend to overestimate the importance of features and overestimates the connection and monthly fees. Karountzos, et al. (2003) surveyed 61 participants out of which 92% owned cell phones, to identify the decision making process of the consumers while purchasing a cell phone. Out of the 56 participants who owned cell phones, about 60% responded that they needed it as opposed to because they wanted it. Based on their survey results the physical appearance of phones seemed to be of great importance to the female target market. Males on the either hand simply care about the actual function of the phone. Karjaluoto, et al. (2005) surveyed 66 participants in Finland about their buying behavior. Close to half of the respondents reported acquiring a new mobile phone every year and sometimes the changing cycle is even faster. The most explicit reason for changing was that the old one was broken or did not work properly. This meant for the participants that the mobile phone did not work, the calls were interrupted, for example due to weak audibility, battery was weak, the screen was out of order or keypad was so consumed that the numbers were invisible. While mobile phones were also acquired due to new features including color display and polyphonic ring tones, some respondents bought new phones in order to get an innovator and/or opinion leader status. Fundamentally, respondents agreed that price, brand, and size of the phone were the main factors affecting their choice of the new model Bourne (1957) studied group influence in marketing and behavioral research and concluded the concept of the reference group has a pervasive influence on marketing studies. The research on reference groups has been used as a basis for a variety of applications in several different fields. For example, it has been argued that the reference group concept should be applied in behavior studies of specific groups, such as: farmers, scientists, alcoholics, mentally ill patients, and of course, different segments of consumers (Hyman and Singer, 1968). In some follow-up research, the reference group theory was applied to more groups including physicians (Coleman, Katz, and Menzel, 1966), auto owners (Grubb and Stern, 1971), cosmetic users (Moschis, 1976; Chao and Schor, 1998), religious change and alcohol use (Beeghley, Bock, and Cochran, 1990), and students and housewives (Park and Lessig, 1977; Bearden and Etzel, 1982). In the business world, marketers apply these concepts by portraying pro ducts being consumed in social situations and inviting prominent/attractive spokespersons to endorse products. It is widely accepted that the traditional problem solving approach involving rational decision making to the study of consumer choice may not be suitable for all situations, or is at least incomplete to understand choice behavior. Limited information search and evaluation of alternatives led to a situation in which consumer choice is also driven by hedonic considerations (e.g., Dhar and Wertenbroch, 2000). In general, a common distinction to be made is that while the utilitarian goods usually are primary instrumental and functional, hedonic goods provide fun, pleasure and excitement. It has been noted that many choices have both utilitarian and hedonic features (Batra and Ahtola, 1990), and thus it can also be proposed that the choice between mobile phones has both utilitarian (e.g., communication, time planning) and hedonic (e.g., games, camera) features. The younger the consumer the more hedonistic features consumers tend to value in mobile phones (Wilska, 2003). Quite similarly, consumer choice can also be approached from the perspective of conscious and nonconscious choice (e.g., Fitzsimons et al., 2002). Quite many choice situations occur outside of conscious awareness and with limited information search (Kivetz and Simonson, 2000) and it can be stated that many choices have both conscious and nonconscious motives. Fitzsimons et al. (2002) found that in many cases nonconscious influences affect choice much more than is traditionally believed by researchers. CHAPTER 3: Problem statement, Objectives, Hypothesis Research Methodology The cell phone market is experiencing tough competition amongst all the cell phone sellers, each providing cheaper and attractive handsets. A variety of handsets have been launched to attract the customers. In the backdrop of this scenario, this study is conducted to understand how customers place these companies in their mind. This study tries to judge the perception of respondents by taking into account top end features, basic features, brand image, economy, additional features, and versatility physical characteristics provided by handset sellers. Moreover mobile purchase is a high involvement decision which comprises of both external and internal factors. Therefore it is necessary for the marketers to keep in mind the various factors which undergoes while the purchase of a mobile phone so that they can place the phone accordingly , for the right segment , in the right place with right price and finally with the right branding.Accordingly following objectives were determined for re search. Objectives: To determine brand loyalty and propensity to switch To segment market on the basis of usage pattern To determine the factors and features buyer consider before buying a mobile phone To determine social factors affecting buyer behavior Major Hypothesis: There is a significant relationship between gender and social factors There is a significant relationship between gender and factors affecting purchase decisions Consumer give preference to price and reliability over other factors Mobile phone has shifted from a technical object to social objct Segmenting consumers on basis of decision making process Testing loyalty for brands Data Collection: For the following report both Primary secondary data has been used. Respondents were chosen on random basis judgmental sampling was done. Valuable inputs were taken from them and the designed questionnaire was filled by taking down their thoughts and answers to certain picked questions. Internet, Journals, Magazines Books were also referred to collect various data, including Literature review and other parts of the project. Sampling technique: Sample of respondents was drawn using the following sampling technique: Simple random sampling Analytical tool: The analysis was done using MS Excel SPSS. Factor Analysis, Cluster Analysis and Crosstabulations were done using SPSS. MS Excel was used to draw graphs and charts. DATA COLLECTION SOURCES Questionnaire Design A structured questionnaire was designed. It contained closed ended questions. {Specimen of the questionnaire is attached in Annexure}. SAMPLE SIZE: A sample size of 150 was taken to facilitate the research. Gender Frequency Percentage Total Male 74 49.3 150 Female 76 50.7 AGE 20-25 48 32 150 25-30 51 34 30-35 51 34 LOCATION DELHI 90 60 150 NOIDA 28 18.7 GURGAON 32 27.3 PROFESSION STUDENT 18 12 150 BUSINESS 15 10 SERVICE 108 72 HOUSE WIFE 9 6 EDUCATION Till Intermediate 12 3 150 UNDER GRADUATE 63 42 POST GRADUATE 84 56 (Table 3.1) CHAPTER 4: Data Analysis and Interpretation RELIABILTY STATISTIC Cronbachs alpha is a reliability coefficient based on the average covariance among items in a scale. Because alpha can be interpreted as a correlation coefficient, it ranges in value from 0 to 1. (Negative alpha values can occur when items arent positively correlated among themselves and the reliability model is violated). A high alpha (.7 and higher) would be consistent with hypothesis that all of scale items are measuring the same construct. The Cronbach Alpha reliability test was done for 54 items and the resultant ÃŽÂ ± value for the data is .918. On the basis of high ÃŽÂ ± value we can conclude that data is authentic. Cronbachs Alpha N of Items .918 54 (Table 4.1) Factor Analysis to determine significant factors affecting purchase decisions (Factor Analysis 1) Factor analysis is a statistical procedure used to uncover relationships among many variables. This allows numerous inter-correlated variables to be condensed into fewer dimensions, called factors. The new factors are used as explanatory variables during choice modeling .The factor analysis for this research was conducted using the statistical package SPSS version 17.0 for windows. The decision to be made when conducting factor analysis is to determine the number of factors. One rule of thumb is to use an Eigen value of one as the cut-off value. That is, all factors in a particular solution must have Eigen values greater than one. Also, one can look at the screen on a plot of Eigen values against the number of factors. Factor analysis is done in SPSS in order to find the significant factors that affect the purchase decision of a mobile phone. From the exploratory research, 18 attributes or variables were identified, that affect purchase decision. The significant factors are then identified using factor analysis. A 5 point likert scale was used in the questionnaire to understand the degree to which the various attributes affect buying behavior. Factor Analysis 1 Rotated Component Matrix Component 1 2 3 4 5 Browsing www -.081 .189 .883 .055 -.161 Email -.234 .286 .825 .163 -.016 WAP services .115 .181 .823 .102 .245 Built in camera .378 .565 .494 .140 .112 Appearance .176 .678 .378 .131 .159 Small size .201 .343 .044 -.035 .761 Known Brand .042 .818 .169 .088 .158 Model at reduced price .779 .032 -.171 .075 .220 Innovative Features .249 .141 .464 .657 -.014 Multimedia .164 .210 .298 .722 .237 Design -.039 .625 .286 .408 -.030 Brand Name .102 .741 .142 .247 .026 Outside Influence .490 .370 -.049 .283 .074 Price .857 -.088 -.073 .104 .154 Reliability .839 .017 .069 .171 .104 Advertisements .139 .265 -.102 .712 -.173 User Friendliness .691 .373 -.004 -.069 -.437 Customization .799 .281 .227 .117 -.187 (Table 4.2) For an acceptable factor solution, the following conditions need to be satisfied: Rotated Eigenvalues > 1.0 % Cumulative variance explained should be greater than 70% From the factor analysis output, we can see that The Eigen values are greater than one for 5 factors. 72.667% of the variance is explained by the factors. Thus, the factor analysis shows that there are 12 significant factors affecting purchase behavior. From the Rotated Component Matrix, the constituent variables of each factor are identified as follows: Component 1 Function (Model at reduced price, Price, Reliability, Customization) Component 2 Function (Known Brand, Brand Name) Component 3 Function (Browsing www, email, WAP services) Component 4 Function (Multimedia, Advertisements) Component 5 Function (Small Size) PERCEPTUAL MAPS Perceptual Maps are created with the factors identified as the axis and the attributes are depicted as vectors. Perceptual mapping has been used as a strategic management tool and it offers a unique ability to communicate the complex relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by buyers in making purchase decisions. The length of an attribute vector (or arrow, in this map) is equal to the square root of the sum of its squared correlations with the dimension. This can never be greater than one, and the rela

Basic Business Concepts

Business: It is the act of manufacturing, producing or buying and selling of goods and services whose aim is to make profit. A product may be defined as the output which could be in terms of services or goods within the normal business transaction.Generally, the fundamental goal of business if to make profit through optimization of its costs and revenue. However, business organizations are the entities that are ideally driven by the profit motive. Non profit making organizations does not aim atmaking profit. 2. Every business activity involves various participants/stakeholders.They include producers/manufactures, distributors, consumers and legal entities (John, 2006). Producers/manufacturers make the goods and services for use in the business process. Consumers are involved in using the products that are manufactured and produced in business processes. Distributors create channels of goods and service transfers from the manufactures to the consumers. Legal entities/government create s the legal layout of conduct between the other three participants. Studying business in the today’s American society is ideally an important aspect that provides information on the aspects that ensure strong business functionality.It provides the most rational knowledge that would help to succeed in any business process. However, business process is affected by various aspects such as international forces of demand and supply, income of the consumers, government regulation, availability of raw material, and economic systems (John, 2006). 3. Economics is the study of fundamentals of incorporating the scarce resources in processes that yield the highest benefit to the community. There are various economic systems which include; Traditional economy is that characterized by techniques and models based on social foundations.It involves resource inheritance and brings a passive sense of togetherness and community. It has low technology and no competition. Command economy is that w hich is controlled and planned by the central government. It is shaped by the will of the government. The means of economic production are owed by the people. It can be found in Vietnam. Market economy is controlled by forces of demand and supply. Government rarely fixes the prices. Private corporations govern the control of distribution and exchange. Example is United Kingdom.Mixed economy compliments both market and command economy. There are both the hands of government and corporations. It is governed by high freedom in its activities. An example is in US (John, 2006). 4. Supply is the total amount of goods and services offered in the market by the produces. Demand id the total quantity of goods and services required for consumption in the market. Price is the single cost paid for a unit of goods or services. Competition refers to the interactive process between suppliers and consumers within the market to yield an equilibrium quantity and price.In America, the competitive natur e of the market ensures the interaction between the quantities of goods and services supplied and demanded to produce an equilibrium price and quantity for the supplies and demands levels (John, 2006). 5. There are four types of competitions. Perfect competition is where we have many suppliers and consumers who interact cohesively with one another to yield an equilibrium quantity and price. Example is the hotel industry. Monopoly competition is where there is one supplier against many consumers. He/she controls the pricing of the goods and services.Example is the development in new communication technology. Duopoly competition is the competition between two suppliers. It may include the development in mobile phone technology between two manufactures. Oligopoly competition is where there are few sellers and many buyers. It may include the market of electronics. 6. The government uses various attributes to measure the state of economic development. They include; Inflation: This is the subsequent increase in the price of commodities. GDP: It is the sum total of all goods and services produced within a country within one year.Unemployment: It is the relationship between the workforce that is willing and also able to work and is in the process of finding a job compared to the number that is absorbed in the employment industry. Consumer Price Index: This is relative changes in the prices of consumer goods within the economy. The rate of unemployment is relative to the level of GDP. Higher unemployment implies lower GDP. This is because, there are low levels of income earned by the household and consequently law levels of aggregate demand within the economy. Economic fluctuations are usually desirable in the economic functionality theory.This is ideally because such fluctuations are detrimental in clearing the various markets within the economy. The federal government in America performs the role of ensuring both strong fiscal and monetary policies which ensure a str ong economy (John, 2006). 7. Service economy is the economy endowed with product output that is governed by services rather than goods. In America, service economy refers to the economic domains implied by the supply and demand of services as product outputs. Reference John Robert (2006) Economic Theory: An Introduction. New York, Prentice Hall

What makes a true community

Catholicism and Community Presentation T: According to the secular definition of community; Is It a group of people living In the same area with particular characteristics In common. Within the community there Is a feeling of fellowship for others, common attributes, Interests and goals. Communities are everywhere and they have a big Impact when shaping who we are. That Is why It Is Important to surround oneself with communities that reflect and lead us to who we really are. In terms of Catholicism, as humans we are very social which is part of our vocation.Therefore a community in the Catholic view is defined by the following†¦ G: A community is a gathering of a group of people that come together in solidarity to shape the world through the common good. For example, around the world the Red Cross supplies areas suffering from various disasters with relief. This picture exemplifies the community of volunteers that have come together to do the common good of helping out the less fortunate. This group of people represent the visual aspect of community. Without everyone's contribution people stand In isolation and Individualism.Plus even through group members can come from different backgrounds they work and put their deliverables aside to become equal. That Is why everyone's role Is essential when working toward the common good. T: A community gives loyalty and respect to the commitment of the community and positive actions. The quote that we choose to represent this is â€Å"Loyalty has its roots in respects, and respect is the fruit of Love† by Paulo Cello. This quote means to us that loyalty comes from the respect of the community. So therefore when people are respectful they show this through love.When a community is respected and you omit your time to it; it is another way to show love towards it and when you do this ultimately with the right guidance the community will develop positively. G: A community helps, supports and loves one another to d evelop social aspects. Knowing that we are social beings it is important to strengthen our social qualities. A community will support and help each other through thick and thin. In result from all of these encounters with one another we are developing our social valuables. Just like In the picture with all of the people communicating and Interacting with one another.The more we help the more we will be able to love and comfort each other and feel belonging to our social surroundings. Which overall will help what our call to be social. T: A community develops values and receives true happiness from doing the right thing. Whether by exercising rights, opinions, or sharing knowledge to understand perspectives and concepts one must develop values to do the right thing. Our values and morals inspire us to do good and true happiness will follow our actions. Life can be considered like a ladder, at different rungs comes new experiences and new values are learned.When new values are learned and applied within the community or outside of it, a true sense of happiness follows from doing the right thing. And a key thing to remember Is that climbing a ladder can't be accomplished alone Instead with a community to hold and steady the ladder for you. G: A community grows together and develops ones Identity, Through displaying talents and surrounding yourself with positive people you will learn more about interests. A community will teach you more about yourself than you could ever. By being with similar people to you, over time you will be able to reveal you own identity.This is part of the spiritual aspect of community and how we develop our conscious. To represent self revelation we showed this through a mirrors and the community holding them up. From the help of others to self reveal the whole community benefits and grows. T: A community takes responsibility for each other's happiness. The people within a true community with the same values will take responsibility to ma ke sure that everyone is having a similar feeling and understanding to take away from the experience. Kids are always full of Joy and happiness, primarily when they re around a group of friends.They always look out for each other and pick each other up when they are done. Communities have the same responsibility as kids do for their group of friends. They have to look out for each other's happiness and take responsibility that everyone is happy. G: Community is very important too Catholic's life and they are everywhere and began right at the beginning with the creation story of the Earth and Adam and Eve. This includes their responsibility to have dominion of the Earth. Therefore our tree in the background of our collage represents the Garden of Eden.In fact, a tree acts as community too; every part of a tree from the bark, roots to leaves and fruit must function for the community-based structure to work properly. This sense of community is very similar to modern day communities and our need of relationships. T: In conclusion, a community is a group of people in solidarity to shape the world through the common good, it is given loyalty and respect to complete these positive actions, it develops us into social beings through support, we receive happiness and values from the good, by working together we reveal our true identity and responsibility is taken for others happiness.