Marketing Plan For The Health Care Field - 1529 Words

A select few, with the vision to see the next great advancement, ignite remarkable evolution. In the health care field, this ability is critical as new regulations mandate improvements and result in a shift from a provider’s market to a consumer market. individual create advancement in ways the most unexpected and innovative fashion. However, sometimes advancements materialize simply because an individual excels in their field. Shaping Wellness in the United States Health care leaders emerge from all from all backgrounds to stimulate changes and improvements in the medical field. [1] They push societal development to the next level. Physicians’ have shifted from individual practices to working under resource rich mega health networks, and institutions have readjusted their focus from service quantity toward community wellness because of the combined influence of today’s medical pioneers; now more than ever, modern health care leaders have reshaping medicine with bold innovations, such as the following ten truly exceptional leaders. #1. Steve Jobs: The Rebel Who Changed the World https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-real-leadership-lessons-of-steve-jobs Steve Jobs started the world-famous Apple technology firm in 1979. After a hiatus from the firm between 1985 and 1997, Jobs returned to lead the company toward global domination. His innovations reinvented how companies, including health care enterprises, conduct business. Business leaders from all discipline regard Mr. Jobs as aShow MoreRelatedEssay on Strategic Planning for Nightingale Home Care1448 Words   |  6 Pages| Course Project | Nightingale Home Health Services | | | 2/19/2011 | | HSM 430 February 15, 2011 Final research Paper-Week 8 Executive Summary Nightingale Home Health Care Services is a new home health care agency that will offer a unique combination of premier home health care and community-based social services to the Bryn Mawr area in Philadelphia. Our office will be located will be established in quality office space on Main Street in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania andRead MoreMarketing Plan For A Marketing Strategy909 Words   |  4 PagesA marketing plan is crucial to the survival of an organization. Marketing plans need to be well thought out and target a certain market. The market that an organization chooses will demonstrate what direction they want the organization to head in. However, choosing just one market will be problematic to the organization because they will be missing out on other opportunities to grow. The organization needs to operate like the old sane, kill two birds with one stone. Therefore, if an organizationRead MoreWhy Do Healthcare Practices Need a Marketing Plan?793 Words   |  3 Pagesadvertisin g and marketing efforts for the coming year is known as a marketing plan. A marketing plan includes a statement of the marketing situation, a discussion of target markets and company positioning and a description of the marketing mix intended for use in reaching marketing goals (entrepreneur.com, 2012). A second definition of a marketing plan is as follows: a plan that describes the activities involved in achieving certain marketing objectives within a given timeframe. A market plan starts offRead MorePersonal Statement On Healthcare Management Essay1149 Words   |  5 PagesHealthcare management is a great, complex, and dynamic field. Like any business, healthcare requires exceptional administration to keeps its operations effective and smooth. Notably, the healthcare field is constantly growing, calling for the expertise of skilled administrators with the capacity to manage hospitals. Since my childhood, I have enjoyed solving problems, helping people, caring about the community and individuals, and having an excellent compensation and growth opportunities. MissionRead MoreCommunication Plan For Effective Communication1526 Words   |  7 PagesCommunication Plan Communication is the one known or form of communication known to everyone whether you are in the United States or not. Whether you communicate verbally, body language or by gestures there will always be some form of communication between a two people. In doing so there are several elements for effective communication. As a manager, you have various types of employees that you have to get to know and understanding how others learn (Borkowski, N., 2011). Because America is suchRead MoreThe Breakdown Of Continuum Care952 Words   |  4 Pagescalled continuum care system, it deals with tracking and keeping in contact with a patient over time and to follow them thru their health care services. The breakdown of continuum care is extended care, acute hospital care, ambulatory care, home care, outreach, wellness and housing. It could follow a patient from birth to the end of life. The services could be acute healthcare, hospital, emergency, inpatient services, outpatient services, urg ent care, skilled nursing home, rehab, home care visiting nurseRead MoreBusiness Opportunities Within The Field Of Medicine962 Words   |  4 Pagesbusiness opportunities depend on whether the individual want to grow in this field of medicine. These employment opportunities include clinical consultant, home assessment nurse, care management and education and training nurses (Grensing). Clinical consultant has many available opportunities in the field of medicine. The consulting industry involves itself in risk management, consultation in wellness and fitness, and other health facilities. In order for nurses to join this opportunity, they must haveRead MoreThe Medical Field Is An Ever Changing Market With New Competitors Entering1748 Words   |  7 PagesExecutive Summary The medical field is an ever changing market with new competitors entering and competitors leaving every week. If you have ever had a minor illness or minor injury after five-o’clock or on the weekend, I’m sure you experienced a wait in an emergency room for the non-emergency care, because as you would expect patents in an emergency room setting are treated according to the extent of their illness or injury. This wait in emergency rooms and the lack of primary physicians has fueledRead MoreEssay on Professional Care Action Plan1534 Words   |  7 PagesProfessional Career Action Plan Renika Johnson HCS/449 October 22, 2012 Urmi Bhaumik Professional Career Action Plan The professional career action plan gives in details my career goals, rather than the personal goals. This professional career action plan will give an insight into the professional strengths and weaknesses, the health care organization to work at, and the knowledge gaps that exist, and professional resume. In this paper will speak on professionalRead MorePersonal Statement : The University Of New Orleans Essay1727 Words   |  7 Pagesthe experts in the fields and extending current thinking into new health organizations. Situation Analysis My name is Jaydeep Chaudhari. I’m an undergraduate student attending University Of New Orleans and studying in Bachelors of Science in Business Administration. Getting the business school education and self-education beside life experiences has directed me toward health care careers. I have been taking classes and learning various business opportunities in healthcare fields. I want to use my

Tactical Crime Analysis Crime And Disorder - 906 Words

Tactical crime analysis is the study of recent criminal incidents and potential criminal activity through the examination of characteristics such as how, when, and where the activity has occurred to assist in pattern development, investigative lead and suspect identification, and case clearance (Santos, 2012). â€Å"The first goal of tactical crime analysis is pattern identification, which consists of linking crimes by type, MO, person, and vehicle characteristics, among other things† (Santos, 2012). Strategic crime analysis is the study of crime and disorder problems and other police-related issues to determine long-term patterns of activity as well as to evaluate police responses and organizational procedures (Santos, 2012).Tactical crime analysis seeks to identify patterns of crimes that are not easily linked together. It focuses on crimes in which the offender and the victim do not know one another (Santos, 2012). The other sort of fleeting issue tended to in wrongdoing di minishment is examples, which is the essential center of tactical crime analysis. A standout amongst the most critical parts of tactical crime analysis, and the initial phase in the wrongdoing investigation procedure, is the gathering of the important information. Examples from the IACA site for Tactical crime analysis would be the North Richmond Robberies. Between March 2nd and June 22nd a series of robberies were identified within the North Richmond area. Fifteen (15) incidents were identified withShow MoreRelatedCrime Analysis954 Words   |  4 PagesHOW TECHNOLOGY IS USED IN CRIME ANALYSIS CJ 216 Highfill, Lucrissa 9/7/2010 Leave this page blank The first step in the crime analysis process is the collection of data; this step is closely connected to data storage. As noted above, this step occurs outside the direct control of the crime analysis function. In most police agencies, officers and/or civilian employees enter crime reports and other data into a computer system. Officers may write reports in longhand that are then enteredRead MoreAnalyzing The Crime Patterns Generated By The First Layer And Create A Trend Analysis967 Words   |  4 PagesTrend analysis can be executed in layers to transform crime data. The first layer incorporated identification of incidents and crime events that require further investigation. Analyze the crime patterns generated by the first layer and create a trend analysis. MVPD will use this analysis and share the information throughout the department. MVPD will implement a policy to combat the crime or public disorder identified in the first layer. The next layer will educate the community to detail the department’sRead MoreThe Type Of Technology Necessary For Accurate Crime Analysis921 Words   |  4 Pagestechnology necessary for accurate crime analysis. I will explain at least four methods of collecting, storing, and retrieving information needed for crime analysis. I will provide examples to support the importance of each method selected. In conclusion, I will detail the benefits of crime analysis to the community. Crime analysis is a tactic that police officers need in order to enhance their prevention, investigation, and apprehension skills (Foster, 2013). Crime analysis is a set of organized, diagnosticRead MoreThe Implementation Of Police And Community Outreach Programs Essay875 Words   |  4 Pagesevery city in the United States, there will be certain areas of town that is populated with low-income families. It is disrespectful and generalizing to say that low-income/poor neighborhoods are infested with drug dealers, prostitutes and violent crimes. 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These dimensions make up most of the common elements of community policing (DunhamRead MorePolice Department: Proposal for Analytical Unit1941 Words   |  8 Pageswill obtain and analyze as much information as possible in order to identify crime patterns, trends, offenders, and develop correlations, to improve short-term and long-term decision-making. Once this new analytical unit is in place and all key positions are filled, the pertinent information gathered and analyzed will aid in the prevention of crime and the catching of criminals. Keywords: crime, analytical unit, crime patterns, trends Proposal forRead MorePolice Department: Proposal for Analytical Unit1947 Words   |  8 Pageswill obtain and analyze as much information as possible in order to identify crime patterns, trends, offenders, and develop correlations, to improve short-term and long-term decision-making. 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However, these factors are also intertwined with other interrelated ones. For instance, for the imprisonment rate to increase, it does not necessarily mean that more people are engaging in crime. A country could have changed its policies thus making illegal some actions that were previously legal. Therefore, people who will fail to update themselves with the new policies end up in prisons. Additionally, crime trends are changing implyingRead MoreThe United States Of America Saw An Estimated 1,197,7041827 Words   |  8 Pagesestimated 1,197,704 violent crimes in 2015 (FBI, 2016). The different types of crime that are included within this statistic are rapes, aggravated assaults, robberies, and murders (FBI, 2016). It is astounding that there a re this many crimes that are happening in this country alone in one year. This statistic of crime doesn’t even include the amount of property crimes that occurred in 2015. Even though crime has been declining over the past few decades, there is still too much crime that is going on across

Applying Ethical theories in IT-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Ethical theoris in IT. Answer: Introduction Ethics is that branch of philosophy which includes the principles that defines the standard of right and wrong and can be treated as the reference principles of morality. Ethics in IT take into consideration the responsibilities and human right (Crane and Matten. 2016). Ethics is concerned about the right and wrongs of the society. This report will discuss about the ethical theories that finds its importance in IT organizations. Discussion Theory of ethics Theories of ethics can be broadly categorized under the following terms: - Natural Laws Consequentialism Kantian Deontological ethics Virtue ethics (Barry, 2016) Reflective Analysis The theory of Ethics that was followed by me in my working place is Consequentialism. Consequentialism states that ethical theories which falls under the broad classification of consequentialism posts, takes into consideration the right and wrongness of the decision in terms of the consequences that might happen in near future (Vaughn, 2015) . I being the team leader of the team have the responsibilities of approving leaves and assigning tasks to the members of my team. A team member of mine had his tasks deadline to be met by that day evening came up to me and asked for an emergency early leave without any proper reason. I decided not to allow him the leave as the consequences of leaving him would have hurt the organization as the target would not have been met and the organization would have lost a loyal client. On applying Natural law that states that one must be ethical in nature without considering the consequences of the act. Righteousness must prevail in the act that one performs even if the outcome of the act possesses a negative impact in a long run (Kant, 2017). In order to follow this ethical law, I had to grant the leave to the team member of my team without him providing a proper reason for an early leave in order to satisfy the ethical terminology as fulfilling the demands of the employees seems to be the righteous option in order to keep them motivated. This ethical terminology could have cost us a loyal client which would have ended up in losing huge revenues of the organization. Preferred Ethical law that matches with my ethical principles The ethical law that matches my Ethical principle is Consequentialism law. This law is consequence centric and does not have any predefined references. Acts that will provide better consequences are treated as the reference list for this law (Demuijnck, 2015). This law supports decision making ability for the mass betterment rather than focusing on the predefined conclusions. Experience of Ethical Dilemma Rachael has been working in a claimed department of multispecialty hospital. She was a psychiatrist by profession. Her family consists of her husband and two daughters both studying in 3rd standard of St. Peters School. Psychiatrists are ethically not allowed to violate a patients confidentiality. Paperwork of the recently admitted patient state that the patient has undergone a traumatic situation which has led to mental instability, anxiety and unusual mood swings. Rachael was struck by the unusual first name of the patient. On checking the information of employment of the newly admitted patient she found that he is supposedly teaching in her daughters grade school. After going through the case study of the patient Rachael found that her new patient turns violent very often in case of disapproval of his sayings. While talking to him Rachael also found that he is suffering from very frequent mood swings and is turning violent very often and has the potential to harm the one who is in teracting with him. The main dilemma Rachael was facing was to protect all the students of the school by informing the higher authorities of the school about the mental instability as the patient had a tendency of being violent and harming people around him or the other option she had was to take her daughters out of the school and admit them in some other school. In the end we see professional ethics winning over consequentialism ethics. According to me Rachael should have informed the school authorities in order to safe guard all the students of the school keeping aside the Natural ethical laws, which she has followed. In case of Consequentialism law of ethics and the Kantian deontological law of ethics Rachael should have informed the higher authorities of the school in order to seek the public interest and global benefits (Bowen and Prescott, 2015). Kantian deontological law is efficient in nature for handling a large mass of people. Conclusion Therefore from the above discourse it can be stated that applying ethical theories in IT is beneficial in nature for IT organizations. Ethics should be utilized in order to get the full benefits of the procedural enhancement. Ethics should be characterized properly and made use of the specific ethical law in specific situation in order to get the most efficient result References Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016.Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press. Barry, N., 2016.Business ethics. Springer. Vaughn, L., 2015.Doing ethics: Moral reasoning and contemporary issues. WW Norton Company. Kant, I., 2017.Kant: The metaphysics of morals. Cambridge University Press. Demuijnck, G., 2015. Universal values and virtues in management versus cross-cultural moral relativism: An educational strategy to clear the ground for business ethics.Journal of Business Ethics,128(4), pp.817-835. Bowen, S.A. and Prescott, P., 2015. Kants contribution to the ethics of communication.Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics,12, pp.38-44.

Miles and Vergen Landmark Study Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Miles and Vergen Landmark Study. Answer: Introduction A goal shows what an individual would want to achieve. Setting a goal involves laying down guidelines on how a person is to perform to meet his objectives. Miles and Vergen landmark study describes on how an individual would improve on their aims by formulating goals that would motivate them to improve on their efforts or change their strategies to yield the much-expected outcome. Therefore, based on the Miles and Vergen Landmark, goals must meet three conditions for best practice as outlined in this paper. The conditions are goal achievable, believable, and conceivable. Conditions The first condition based on Miles and Vergen landmark indicates that the goal has to be accepted for them to be achievable. To agree to a goal is the primary step when formulating a goal (Munson, and Consolvo, 2012, May, pp.27). An individual has to determine the importance of the goal and their self-efficacy which determines if the individual is in a position to reach the target. These two factors, importance, and self-efficacy, assist in developing goal commitment. A person must believe that they can attain the goal. Hence, this helps them avoid failures.A goal attains higher performance if it is set by the individual himself as there is that feeling of control over the goal setting-process (Harding,and Hsiaw, 2014, pp 209). The goal should be stated and broadly described to enhance motivation. Using brief words to explain the goals to a participant lowers their motivation, indicating that the goals should be specific. The second condition outlines that the goal set by an individual has to be specific and measurable for them to be believable. Specificity and measurability refer to external factors such as time and space which are used to indicate the progress of the goals (Locke, and Latham, 2013, pp 35). The goal should be in apposition to answer all the five W questions which are Why, what, who, where, when. Ambiguous goals normally do not present motivation to the person (Zhu, Kraut, and Kittur, 2012, February, pp 935). A more accurate goal enhances better performance by a person. It is always wise to set a short goal to be achieved in a short period rather a goal to be achieved within an extended period of time. The goal must be convincing, understandable and precise for it to motivate performance. Regardless of the fact that a goal is specific, it cannot be achieved if an individual is not encouraged to reach it. The goal must have some relevance to the person for them to attain the goal. Finally, the third condition outlines that goals are always set with a high objective of reaching new and better levels of achievements for them to be conceivable (Moeller, Theiler, and Wu 2012, pp154). However, they are set at a small degree for them to be achieved. Setting high goals usually act as motivation to an individual. When a person attains a goal, then the goal is considered being effective. However, when a person sets a goal is past his achievements, then the person becomes less motivated, and their commitment to the goal lowers. Additionally, a person setting a goal that is far beyond his capability may also lead to dishonesty by not wanting to fall short of their failures as well as creating a culture of corruption (Ryan,Huta, and Deci, 2013, pp.120). The goals set by individuals should not be too low or too difficult as this reduces motivation and performance of a person. These goals, however, should be attainable, challenging and realistic. It can be achieved by setti ng goals that are moderately difficult. Even it is a bit out of a persons capability to meet the goal; the person would put extra effort in ensuring that the goal has been achieved unlike when the goal is easy. Conclusion In conclusion, goal setting is essential for every person for them to achieve their objectives (Berson, Halevy, Shamir, and Erez, 2015, pp.144). Goal acceptance, goal specify, ad goal difficulty lead to formulating a good goal. Goals should be conceivable, believable, and achievable as outlined in this paper based on Miles and Vergen landmark. These goals have to be set in a way that they improve on a persons motivation and their performance (Hsiaw, 2013, pp.602). The individual has to set the goals that are unique, i.e., improve on their jump but not jumping too high to levels that they cannot attain. Therefore the goals must be measurableto give feedback if it is achieved. Once the goal is formulated, a person has to continually receive feedback to measure his performance and what they would do better. Bibliography Harding, M. and Hsiaw, A., 2014. Goal setting and energy conservation.Journal of Economic Behavior Organization,107, pp.209-227. Hsiaw, A., 2013. Goal-setting and self-control.Journal of Economic Theory,148(2), pp.601-626. Locke, E.A. and Latham, G.P. eds., 2013.New developments in goal setting and task performance. Routledge. Moeller, A.J., Theiler, J.M. and Wu, C., 2012. Goal setting and student achievement: A longitudinal study.The Modern Language Journal,96(2), pp.153-169. Munson, S.A. and Consolvo, S., 2012, May. Exploring goal-setting, rewards, self-monitoring, and sharing to motivate physical activity. InPervasive computing technologies for healthcare (PervasiveHealth), 2012 6th international conference on(pp. 25-32). IEEE. Ryan, R.M., Huta, V. and Deci, E.L., 2013. Living well: A self-determination theory perspective on eudaimonia. InThe exploration of happiness(pp. 117-139). Springer Netherlands. Zhu, H., Kraut, R. and Kittur, A., 2012, February. Organizing without formal organization: group identification, goal setting and social modeling in directing online production. InProceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work(pp. 935-944). ACM. Berson, Y., Halevy, N., Shamir, B. and Erez, M., 2015. Leading from different psychological distances: A construal-level perspective on vision communication, goal setting, and follower motivation.The Leadership Quarterly,26(2), pp.143-155.

Levi Strauss free essay sample

As one attempts to assess the business ethics of Levi Strauss and Nike in this writing assignment, we are again compelled to revisit the critical distinction of conduct that is legal, yet still unethical. In both instances, Levi Strauss and Nike behaved with the parameters of legal conduct, yet few would argue that profiting from exploitive work conditions is an ethical behavior of any socially responsible organization (broad view social responsibility). Obviously, it’s very tempting to just condense this argument to the point of â€Å"bad companies boosting profits from lower labor costs via exploiting foreign workers in sweatshops†. I am going to take a much broader approach here in my assessment, as complete fairness to the two corporations here requires a bit of an indictment of the legal, regulatory, political, and socioeconomic environment that they operate in. So, let’s start there †¦ how is it that both of these large corporations are permitted (and driven) to outsource (with relative impunity) labor to countries with poor labor laws? In order to fairly assess their conduct, one must first examine the system under which they operate. We will write a custom essay sample on Levi Strauss or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page How has corporate America gone down this path? Why do so many large U. S. corporations outsource labor en masse, which costs the U. S. economy so many jobs domestically? Let’s start by looking in the mirror and by that I mean you and I †¦ the U. S. consumer. Our thirst for cheap merchandise made overseas knows no limits. Do any of us look at the country of origin for goods, and if it’s non-U. S. do we even pause for a second to consider boycotting said goods due to loss of American jobs? Or boycott due to the nation of origin’s reputation for worker abuse? Of course we don’t. We want that Japanese high definition television from Wal-Mart that costs $100 less. We want the clothing from China or Indonesia that is 30% cheaper than similar brands made here. So, my first premise in this entire argument is that American consumers are NOT socially responsible in their purchasing habits. This lack of social responsibility on the demand side is a catalyst for Levi Strauss and Nike to seek cheaper labor overseas – for if they do not, their competitors assuredly will and they will be at a competitive disadvantage. Now, let’s assess the legal and regulatory environment under which both entities operate in the United States. Has Congress made it illegal to outsource labor to countries that they know are abusing their labor forces? In general, of course not. Congress maintains a blind eye to the problem, debating it over the years here and there in a politically motivated, half-hearted effort to occasionally placate certain voting segments (labor unions; displaced workers). Do they tougher their stance? Do they for one minute say to themselves, â€Å"this is really wrong, and socially irresponsible†? By inaction Congress is tacitly approving this practice, which of course is what powerful corporate lobbyists want. The profit motive has large U. S. corporations addicted to cheap labor now; Pandora’s Box has been opened and no one has the political will to attempt to close it. So let’s recap so far: we’ve indicted the U. S. consumer and our lawmakers in the legislative branch of the U. S. government (Congress) as major cultivators of the pro-outsourcing environment for which Levi Strauss and Nike must successfully operate under. Next on our list of socially irresponsible contributing parties – the judicial branch of the U.S. government. When the U. S. Supreme Court found in 2010 that the formation of so called â€Å"Super PACs† for campaign donations was legal, this gave corporations new powers under the law to, in effect, buy our government via opulent and obscene campaign spend funneled to candidates. The end result of this ruling is that corporations that profit greatly from outsourced labor are now able to pay for the elections of our Congressmen – and gee, wonder how this economic â€Å"favor† will be repaid when attempts to rein in outsourcing come up in Congress? Let’s move on to our two protagonists in this debate: Levi Strauss and Nike. Now that we’ve got the backdrop well in hand, and a reasonable person would agree that a massive systemic failure in the U. S. has allowed and promoted unchecked outsourcing of jobs, it’s time to discuss these two corporate giants and their respective behaviors here. Do these two corporations have a responsibility to monitor the conduct of the companies they do business within particular, their contractors and suppliers? As a personal believer in the broader view of corporate social  responsibility, I believe that they do. Notwithstanding the fact that all of this outsourcing is legal, and despite the mitigating factors that I’ve argued above that do alleviate these two companies of all of the blame – I still believe that they need to take the higher moral ground. Levi Strauss overall has conducted itself with far greater corporate social responsibility than Nike has, in my judgment. Strauss for many years withdrew from China due to their notoriety as a non-democratic country with abusive labor conditions. Regrettably, it had to re-enter China eventually to keep pace with competitors. Also, witness the way that Strauss treated its displaced U. S. workers as it (with some remorse) eventually had to close all its U. S. plants due to competition from outsourcers. Strauss gave generous severance and retraining dollars to the affected workers. In my estimation, Strauss has had to compromise its socially responsible corporate culture due to pressures from the warped competitive environment that was designed around them. It became a matter of survival for their corporation; their management had to adapt or risk failure and loss of the shareholders’ investments in the company. That is why I authored the overview above – I think it’s highly relevant to assessing Strauss’s conduct here. The system failed Levi Strauss – they wanted to behave under the broad definition of corporate social responsibility, but the demand for cheaper outsourced goods by consumers and the legality of outsourcing jobs (Congressional oversight failure) forced an adaptive change against their moral grain. Nike, however, is no apologist when it comes to their outsourcing. In fact, they are proud of it – even boasting that they pay outsourced workers higher than average wages for their region. To me, this is tantamount to bragging that â€Å"we don’t abuse those workers as badly as others do†. Frankly, that attitude offends my sensibilities and my personal set of ethical standards. I also deem it to be in direct conflict with the broader definition of corporate social responsibility. Lastly, I think that corporations have the obligation to take the ethical high ground and behave in a socially responsible manner (broad definition). That said, however, I do not believe that it’s a fair expectation to demand that high standard if adhering to same places the company’s very existence at risk due to systemic failures beyond their control. Levi Strauss attempted to â€Å"do the right thing†, but poor rules and oversight make competing in a broad ethical manner quite dangerous to its ultimate survival. Strauss’s example should serve as a wakeup call to U. S. consumers and our Congress: systemic change is needed, and it’s needed NOW. Levi Strauss free essay sample CUSTOMERS’ SATISFACTION LEVEL OF LEVI’S JEANS SEC-F Submitted To: Prof. Suptarishi Purkaystha Submitted by: Akanksha Gupta Komal Shanjan Sinha Tuhina Mandowara Shweta Puri Sujata Barua Akshay Sharma 09BSHYD1012 09BSHYD0386 09BSHYD0765 09BSHYD1032 09BSHYD0807 09BSHYD0866 09BSHYD0060 1 INDEX CONTENTS INTRODUCTION LITERATURE REVIEW HYPOTHESIS FORMATION DATA SAMPLE SIZE CONSOLIDATION RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ANALYSIS CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES ANNEXURES PAGE 3 5 8 9 11 12 20 22 24 2 INTRODUCTION The modern age is known as the â€Å"Age of Consumers†. In today? s cut-throat competition the consumer is considered as the â€Å"KING† and the main objective of the various organizations are aimed at keeping the consumer happy and satisfied. It is very important for each and every organization to keep its consumers satisfied in order to maintain its competitiveness in the market. However when we take a closer look, we find that the consumers satisfaction level towards a company and its leading products vary on one aspect or the other based on a variety of attributes (Kotler, 2009). We will write a custom essay sample on Levi Strauss or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Fashion is a highly customer oriented industry with innovative products, where there are large number of competitors giving you a intense competition. Thus companies have to come up with something different and unique keeping the target buyer group and the time factor in mind since in the fashion industry the product life cycle is very short. LEVI’S STRAUSS CO. : Statistics show that every day millions of customers go for shopping worldwide. Hence every company wants to attract customers and increase their customer base. To ensure this companies have to keep up with the latest fads for satisfying customer requirements. For those of us that want to wear jeans with style and make a fashion statement about who we are, then finding the right pair(s) of designer jeans is crucial to our social standing. Levis offers a great range of jeans for both men and women, but variety is not the only factor influencing Levi? s customer? s purchasing behavior. There may be other factors because of which customers are more or less satisfied which influences their repurchasing decision of Levis Jeans. Invented in 1873, Levis ® jeans are the original, authentic jeans. Levis ® brand is one of the most widely recognized brands in the history of the apparel industry. From updating classics with the latest finishes, fabrications and colors, to reinventing five-pocket jeans, they are always creating new and innovative products The company has also been worldwide appreciated for the perfect fit. The specialty of Levis lies in the fact that it is very empathetic towards people. A good pair of jeans can bring dignity and honor to everyone from common man to the high profile business men, across both the sex and irrespective of income groups. The search for decent jeans is a kind quest, with moments of translucent success alternating with tragedy failures. From its foundation in 1853 and patenting of riveted pants 20 years later, Levi Strauss has become an instantly recognizable global brand. With sales in more than 100 countries, the company employs 12,500 people worldwide. Nonetheless, the last six years have seen the company struggling to come out of a slide in sales. Traditional customers have started buying 3 cheaper or more fashionable clothes. Prices have come under pressure from clothing competitors and from retailers like Tesco buying Levis product on the â€Å"grey market†. Levis response involved product diversification and brutal trimming. Thus in this age of global trading for establishing one as a leading brand in different regions it is necessary to analyze the satisfaction level of customers in that region and cater to their needs by improving on attributes on which customer is not satisfied. Jeans are the nondurable goods, Nondurable goods are goods that are used up quickly or purchased frequently, as food and apparel. Jeans are now a very popular form of casual dress around the world, and have been so for decades. However, there are certain factors that affect their sales, in addition to increase in customer specific needs in recent time there are other factors which affect sales of apparel industry (in particular jeans) like recession, inflation and shortening of fashion products life cycle.. Consumer satisfaction is a desirable outcome for apparel manufacturers and retailers, since satisfied customers can lead to increased store patronage, repeat purchase and brand loyalty. Thus we seek to ascertain the factors for which Levis jeans users are satisfied to ensure that identifying these factors will result in the company implementing policies to increase the satisfaction level of its users thereby assuring increased sales in future. 4 LITERATURE REVIEW Consumer satisfaction is a desirable outcome for apparel manufacturers and retailers, since satisfied customers can lead to increased store patronage, repeat purchase and brand loyalty (Otieno, 2000). Many people have worked on relationship between satisfaction level of customer towards a particular brand and buying behavior of customers. Satisfaction is often used as a predictor of future consumer purchases (Newman and Werbel, 1973; Kasper, 1988). Satisfied customers have a higher likelihood of repeating purchases in time (Zeithaml et al. , 1996), of recommending others to try the source of satisfaction (Reynolds and Arnold, 2000; Reynolds and Beatty, 1999), and of becoming less receptive to the competitors offerings (Fitzell, 1998). Prior research on the economic impact of defecting customers suggests that service companies can boost profits by almost 100 per cent by retaining only five per cent of their customers (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). Retaining existing customers is generally more profitable to companies than attracting new customers (Hawkins et al. , 1995; Sirohi et al. , 1998). Therefore, it is critically important for apparel industry in particular LEVI? S to identify customers desired service levels in relation to their patronage intentions. The expectations of nondurable goods such as jeans should become strong, stable and generally consistent with a product? s perceived performance (Johnson 1991). â€Å"Levi Strauss: an international marketing investigation†: by Demetris Vrontis and Peri Vronti talks of the Levis jeans business and investigates whether LEVI? S should choose global standardization or adaptation to local market conditions. The authors propose the Levis approach which combines aspects of both solutions as the best way to secure competitive advantage and satisfy its customers ensuring retention as well as increase of its customer base. The understanding of consumer behavior appeals to a set of different areas of knowledge/factors like psychological, cultural, social, genetics, anthropological (POLSA et. al 2002). On the basis of previous studies and research paper and literary articles from PROQUEST and EBESCO a number of variables were found to be responsible for influencing consumers to opt for a branded apparel, of which a 33 variables have been taken up in our study to understand whether they have any implication on the consumers? preference for a branded apparel or not. BRAND IMAGE (PREFERENCE FOR A PARTICULAR BRAND): Customers orientations towards shopping are considered to be important predictors of patronage behaviors, such as preference for brands as well as for certain stores (Darden and Howell, 1987; Gutman and Mills, 1982; Shim and Kotsiopulous, 1992b). Research on brand personality acknowledges that consumers often â€Å"humanize† brands. Respondents typically describe a brand using human personality traits such as extroversion, agreeableness, and dependability (Aaker, 1996; Aaker and Fournier, 1995). o their decision of buying a particular brand is highly influenced by brand image of that product. 5 QUALITATIVE VARIABLES: Jeans attributes such as fabrics, comfort, fit, durability have been defined in previous research (Kaiser et. al. 2003, chowdhary 2002, Enoch 1993, young 1980) as an important factor that contributes towards customer satisfaction about the product. STATUS: Research also associate meaning of wearing jeans(Enoch? s 19 93; Delong et al. 1998), apparels are often associated with status symbol, hence people wear a particular brand which adds or suits their status in the society. For instance in the USA and Europe, jeans have connotations of casualness and rebelliousness where as in Russia, jeans denote sophistication and high status and in Spain the high price turns them into a high fashion item. COMFORT: Brand name and comfort are found to be really important (young 1980) to people though degree of importance of these factors is variable. Here we can take the example of Americans, for who comfort matters above brand name whereas for the Chinese brand name matters most (Minglue marketing shanghai co ltd. 1998). CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERINCE: There repurchase behavior of individuals are based on the company redressed their grievances in the past. Relationships of redress and repurchase have been examined with service retailing and with durable products but not with apparel products. Though limited research has been done on consumer complaint behavior and apparel purchases, but it is found that there is need to focus on complaints redressed time, response to enquiries and reliability of customer services(LaBarbera and Mazursky,1990) since these factors determines the satisfaction of customer towards the brand. DISCOUNTS: Discount outlets sell about one-fifth of all jeans in the $12. 4 billion U. S. market, according to research firm Mintel International Group Ltd. Hence Levi Strauss opts for the discount game at Wal-Mart? s. There has also been a strong growth in shopping at discount stores.. VALUE FOR MONEY: Fornell in his study found some interesting results about customer satisfaction and price. Price expectations are highly linked to quality and value. There was a direct relationship between expectations of the product and satisfaction (Fornell 1996). Thus we can say that the customer is satisfied if he gets quality in respect of the money he pay for the product. PRICE: Higher price seems to form high status feature along with affordability both of these factors are linked to the economic and demographic factors of the company (Rao 1989). Denim, formerly an affordable classic, has been changed into a product that is highly coveted and highly priced. Consumer? s satisfaction level depends on price as a measure of quality (Lichtenstein et al. , 1993, Veek Burns, 1995). The various studies conducted by Suri Monroe, 2002; Adaval Monroe, 2002; O? Cass Lim, 2002 lead to the conclusion that consumers in general on their market experience tend to decide on an acceptable price which they confirm with the quality of product and determine if it is too high or low . 6 ADVERTISING: There is large number of studies that focus on relationship between advertising, service quality and satisfaction issue of consumers (Lewis 1993). Advertisements are responsible for the creation of a brand image and brand loyalty among customers. Moreover the use of celebrity to endorse these brands has an impact on the brand image and brand loyalty (Aakar, 1991). It is found out that advertising can yield significant marketing advantages by increasing brand preference (Rajagopal, 2007) for a particular product. FASHION TRENDS: Just as the apparel industry is constantly changing, the denim industry is also struggling to keep a pace with it. Every year new cuts, colors, styles, stitching, etc. emerge (FORNELL 1996). So to keep pace with customer satisfaction level, fashion trend is an important variable. AVAILABILITY: Consumers want every design and style, color and shade offered by the company to be available in the company? store at all times thereby increasing customer satisfaction level towards the product. RANGE OF STYLE: Teenagers do not want to wear a brand that isn? t stylish enough. So in apparels range of styles offered by a company matters a lot adding to the customer satisfaction level towards a particular brand. RANGE OF SIZE: There should be a size that fits all. As people all over the world have different tastes as well as sizes , so a customer is satisfied more if the company offers him a design in many sizes so that one size fits him well. CONVENIENCE OF WASHING: Since convenience of washing of denim is an important factor towards adding customer satisfaction for buying a particular brand therefore in July of 2003, Levi Strauss Company finally decided to follow the successful example of others and launch a new casual clothing brand called Levi Strauss Signature targeted towards U. S. consumers for whom convenience of washing of denim is an important factor. PRODUCT PROPERTIES (DESIGN, COMFORT): The products? properties, like design, comfort, individuality, have a decisive role on apparel? buying behavior, which individually may vary depending on a set of factors, mainly on sex (Fischer and Arnold, 1994). DURABILITY OF CLOTHING: European markets are happy with standard weight denim but hotter climates require lighter weight denim and even brighter colors over lighter shades of denim. So the durability of clothing (DENIM) in various regions is an important factor regarding customer satisfaction about jeans So these are the variables we look for making our final questionnaire, comprising of 33 variables from the above mentioned parameters. HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION Null hypothesis, H0: Factors identified do not affect the level of satisfaction of the customer Alternate hypothesis, H1: Factors identified affect the level of satisfaction of the customer In this project we measured the levels to which the customers are satisfied with the product, Levi’s Jeans. This yielded the reasons for their buying preferences and the current level of satisfaction. By using the results of the analysis we will able to answer the problems: Are Levi’s Jeans Users Satisfied With What The Company Is Offering? And What Measures Need To Be Adopted To Increase Their Current Level Of Satisfaction? The rationale behind conducting this project is to recognize the extent to which Levi? s brand is satisfying the customers. Moreover we can gauge where the company lags in serving its customers so as to improve on measures on how we can retain them. The variables obtained would be helpful to understand the buying behavior of the customers . For example, the customers of the particular region want classic Levi? jeans instead of the new designs and those jeans are out of stock ,the satisfaction level of customers in that region is low, the company can improve on it by having an up to date stock of classic jeans. Retaining existing customers is generally more profitable to companies than attracting new customers (Hawkins et al. , 1995; Sirohi et al. , 1998. Therefore, it is critically important for apparel industry to identify customers desired service levels in relation to their patronage intentions. This is just an instance through which we are showing that how by recognizing the variables affecting the buying behavior of customer , the company can improve and work on to have more customer retention and brand loyalty. However, the real variables can only be determined after conducting the survey. 8 DATA SAMPLE SIZE CONSOLIDATIONS DATA The study was conducted to measure the satisfaction level of Levis jeans users. Data was collected through secondary as well as primary sources. Secondary sources included articles on jeans from internet, books, and journals. Primary data was obtained by conducting the survey on the sample size of 350 respondents. Relevant variables were generated and questionnaire was developed to obtain the same. Findings based on questionnaire filled were analyzed using SPSS software. QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN Preliminary Decisions Required information: The questionnaire was designed with the view of finding out how much each of the identified factors affects the respondents? level of satisfaction in his / her purchase of the Levi? s jeans. Target respondents: As the research aims at identifying factors affecting customer satisfaction, the survey has been conducted on 350 respondents consisting of IBS students who were the users of the brand. SAMPLE SIZE Primary data was collected for which the target populations were the students of Hyderabad. The target sample size was of 350 however the data for 330 were analyzed, 20 respondents discarded due to inconsistency SAMPLING: The non random sampling technique was chosen, i. e. , the population elements? selection to form the sample depends, partly, on the researcher? judgment as only the existing customers of Levi? s jeans were taken as respondents. There are no known conjectures that a random element in the population may have a share in the sample. MEASUREMENT SCALE Likert Scale Likert scale indicate the attitudes of the respondents by checking how strongly they agree or disagree with carefully constructed statements that range from very positive to very negative 9 towar d attitudinal object. In our questionnaire we have designed questions of variables with different levels of response each denoting a particular preference. 1. 2. 3. . 5. Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree (SA) (A) (N) (D) (SD) Desired pair of Levi? s jeans is easily available? SA A N D SD If the respondent answers as SA meaning 1, this means that he strongly agrees to the fact that the he is fully satisfied with the Levi? s jeans. This scale was selected by us as it is suitable for calculation purposes like arithmetic mean, standard deviation and co-relation coefficient etc. because the research we are conducting requires us to analyze the correlation between the variables, responses and also for factor analysis. GENERALIZABILITY Generalizability refers to the amount of flexibility in interpreting the data and ability to collect data from a wide variety of respondents. Also we consider flexibility to interpret data gathered from variety of respondents. In our survey, we have considered all close ended questions. So, the respondents just have to select their choices from the given options. Close ended questions in our survey helped us to collect and analyze the data because it provides us luxury to collect data in the identical format from wide variety of respondents. 10 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PRELIMINARY INTRODUCTION We have taken the help of reports from various websites and databases including EBSCO and ProQuest in order to identify important secondary factors which influence the decision of users of Levi? s jeans. These databases feature highly-respected, diversified mix of scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers enabling us to identify variables for our study and design our questionnaire. Reliability Statistics Cronbachs Alpha . 828 N of Items 21 SAMPLING Primary data was collected for which the target populations were the students of Hyderabad. The target sample size was of 350 however the data for 330 were analyzed, 20 respondents discarded due to inconsistency 11 ANALYSIS Descriptive statistics is run and the output obtained shows the mean, standard deviation and variance, the sample size and missing values, if any. Mean These are the means of the variables used in the factor analysis. Std. Deviation These are the standard deviations of the variables used in the factor analysis. Analysis N This is the number of cases used in the factor analysis. 12 FACTOR ANALYSIS IN SPSS Factor Analysis is a technique for analyzing complex, multidimensional problems. It is used to Examine the underlying patterns or relationships for a large number of variables and condense the information to a smaller set of factors or components. Purpose of factor analysis Identify a set of dimensions that are latent Combine large number of objects into distinctly different groups or factors Create an entirely new set of factors for further analysis. For example, use the orthogonal factors to remove multi-collinearity in a regression analysis. The method used for running the factor analysis is Principal Component. In our case, we will continue with the default method keep Eigen value =1. The maximum number of iteration is kept at 25. KMO Bartlett’s Test The first table that we will get in the SPSS output is the „KMO and Bartlett? s Test?. The KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy) tests whether the partial correlations among variables are small. In other words, it tells us whether the data that we have for factor analysis is good enough. A general guideline is KMO ; or = 0. 90 : Excellent 0. 80 to 0. 0 : Very Good 0. 70 0. 80 : Good 0. 60 to 0. 70: Fair 0. 50 0. 60: Bad ; or = 0. 5: Forget Normally KMO below 0. 60 is unacceptable. The Bartletts test of sphericity tests whether the correlation matrix is an identity matrix, which would indicate that the factor model is inappropriate. The significance level of this test should be lower than 0. 05 in order to proceed further. KMO and Bartletts T est Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. Bartletts Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square df Sig. .891 2356. 530 210 . 000 13 Interpretation In this case the KMO value is 89. % which according to the standards is considered VERY GOOD also the model is significant @ 5%. Hence the data seems to be acceptable for the study. COMMUNALITIES Communality of a variable is the proportion of the variance accounted by the factors included in the solution. The method used is Principle Component Analysis and the communalities are well above 0. 5 which indicates that all these factors can be considered for the Factor Analysis. However, if we feel that the variables that have low communality are important to our study, we may keep them and run the full factor solution (i. . the rotated component matrix) and see if the results obtained are meaningful. Interpretation The communality of Affordability- Price of the product variable is 0. 733 and the number of factors in the solution is 10, it implies that these 10 factors explain 73. 3 % of the variance of that particular variable. It is always good to remove those variables that have communality less than 0. 50. In our result there is only one variable „Convenience in washing’ (0. 467) whose values is 14 very are marginally less than 0. 5 so we do not remove them from our analysis. All the other variables have reasonably high communalities. The next table is the „Total Variance Explained? table. Eigen values are the variance explained by each factor. It is called the „initial Eigen value? because the factor solution that we have obtained is not rotated and thus may not be optimum. The percentage of variance is the proportion of variance explained by that factor to the total variance. Also notice that the number of factors that are shown in the output is restricted by the condition of Eigen value greater than 1. Interpretation For example, if the Eigen value is 6. 795, then the factor corresponding to this Eigen value i. e in this case FACTOR 1 explains 6. 795variance. The percentage of variance is the proportion of variance explained by the factor to the total variance. Also the number of factors that are shown in the output is restricted by the condition of Eigen value greater than 1. In this case, the first 6 factors have the Eigen values greater than 1 and they cumulatively explain 62. 67% of the variance, therefore we take into account only the first 6 factors to continue. 5 SCREE PLOT The next plot is the Scree Plot which is graph between Component (read factor, in your case) and Eigen value. This plot is a visual inspection as to how many factors explain your data suitably. Normally, the number of factors is chosen where the scree plots flatten out. The scree plot also gives you an idea as to whether you can relax your Eigen value greater than 1 criterion. Interpretation The Scree Plo t which is graph between factor and Eigen value. This plot is a visual inspection as to how many factors explain your data suitably. Normally, the number of factors is chosen where the scree plots flatten out. In this case the plot starts to flatten at 10. So we are considering the first 10 factors only. It also gives an idea as to whether we can relax the Eigen value greater than 1 criterion. Here we are not relaxing this condition. Rotated Component Matrix Like the „Component matrix? , the „Rotated Component Matrix? specifies the correlation between Rotated factors and the variables. Normally, a rotated factor loading of more than 0. 5 is considered to be high. The variable that has at least a factor loading of 0. is said to have highly loaded on to that factor. All variables that have high loadings are loaded on to that factor. 16 Rotated Component Matrix Component 1 Affordability- Price of the product Desired pair of levis jeans is easily available? Durability of clothing (Levis Denim) Durability of Stitching of Levis Jeans Comfortability of Levis jeans Variety/ Designs offered by Levis Strauss Ra nge of shades offered by the brand Range of fitting styles offered Range of sizes Convenience in washing Discounts/schemes offered by Levi Strauss Value for money w. r. product Levi’s responsiveness towards the latest fashion trends Reliability of customer services offered at Levis stores Response to enquiries regarding the porduct from the company Complaints redressed time Advertisements promotions of the product Location of Levis Stores Proximity of Levis Stores Layout of Levis stores Salesmens Promptness in service . 818 . 802 . 728 . 494 . 649 . 657 . 939 . 530 . 725 . 654 . 705 . 767 . 743 . 632 2 3 4 5 . 791 . 464 6 .631 .636 .767 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. A Rotation converged in 8 iterations. 17 Interpretation Absolute values less than 0. 45 have been suppressed. This was done to make the Rotated Component matrix look less cluttered as all factor loadings below 0. 45 would be suppressed but not deleted. From the final rotated Component matrix, all the variables have been loaded into the factors according to the value of their Loadings. And it can be observed that related variables have been collated under one factor. For example, variables like durability, affordability, comfortability, value for money latest styles have been collated under factor1 named QUALITY. Likewise all the other related variables are also combined into one factor whose names have been mentioned. Component Transformation Matrix The final table that is to be looked into is the „Component Transformation Matrix? is the correlation between your rotated and un-rotated factors. Model Summary a Predictors: (Constant), REGR factor score 6 for analysis 4, REGR factor score 5 for analysis 4, REGR factor score 4 for analysis 4, REGR factor score 3 for analysis 4, REGR factor score 2 for analysis 4, REGR factor score 1 for analysis 4 b Dependent Variable: How satisfied are you with the product? Interpretation 18 In regression, the validity of the factors is tested by comparing them with the dependant variable. For this purpose, the significance values at 95% significance level are tested. For a particular factor to be significant, the significance should be lesser than 0. 05. The adjusted R2 (coefficient of determination) shows the percentage of variance in the dependant variable that is explained by the independent variable. In this, the adjusted R2 value is 0. 418 which is good. Since the P value is less than 0. 05(0. 03 in this case) the model holds well. We can see from the normal PP Plot that the regression line is a fairly good estimation of the expected values. The F statistic value is high this shows that the explained variance is 5. 945 times the unexplained variance which again reiterates the validity of the regression model. Interpretation The model is significant at 5% significance level. 19 CONCLUSION The sample is a representative of the target population. The conclusion we can draw from the above statistical research is that the major factors are: Quality of Levi? s Jeans Levi? Store Designs Offered Customer Service Experience Price Discounts offered The above factors are the major indicators of the satisfaction level of the customers. We reject the null hypothesis that Factors identified do not affect the level of satisfaction of the customer as the model is significant at 5%. Hence we conclude that the identified factors significantly affect the level of satisfaction. 20 The variables the factors summary is given below : FACTORS Factor 1 OLD VARIABLES Durability of clothing, durability of stitching, comfort, range of sizes, NEW FACTORS Quality of Levi’s Jeans Levi? s responsiveness towards the latest fashion trends Factor 2 Factor 3 Location, Proximity, Layout Designs, range of fitting style, range of size offered by Levi? s Levi’s Store Designs Offered Factor 4 Reliability of customer services, Response to enquiries regarding the product from the company, Complaints redressed time, Salesmens Promptness in service Affordability, Desired pair of Levi? s jeans is easily available, Value for money Discounts/ Schemes offered Customer Service Experience Factor 5 Price Factor 6 Discounts offered Thus we seek to ascertain the factors for which Levis jeans users are satisfied to ensure that identifying these factors will result in the company implementing policies to increase the satisfaction level of its users thereby assuring increased sales in future. 21 REFERENCES Aaker, D. (1996). Building Strong Brands. New York: Free Press. Aaker, J. L. (1997). Dimensions of Brand Personality. Journal of Marketing Research, 34: 47-356. Ailing Levi Strauss refits U. S. strategy. By: Cuneo, Alice Z. , Advertising Age, 00018899, 7/15/2002, Vol. 73, Issue 28 Anderson, Brian. â€Å"Levi? s are out, khakis are in. 1999. http://www. wearablesbusiness. com (16 Sept. 2004). Anderson, E. W. , Fornell, C. , Lehman, D. R. (1994). Customer Satisfaction, Market Share and Profitability: Findings from Sweden. Journal of Marketing, 58, 3, 53-66 Bolton R and Drew J H (1991) A multistage model of customer? s assessments of service quality and value. J Consumer Res 17: 375-84 Boulding W, Kalra A, Staelin R and Zeithmal VA (1993) A dynamic process model of service quality: from expectations to behavioral intentions. J Mktg 30: 7-27. David K and Wilton P C (1988) Models of consumer satisfaction formation: An extension. J Mktg Res 25: 204-10 Dodds, William B. , Kent B. Monroe, and Dhruv Grewal. â€Å"Effects of Price, Brand, and Store Information on Buyers? Product Evaluations. † Journal of Marketing Research 28, no. 3 (1991): 307-319 Durable Goods. Dictionary. com. Dictionary. com Unabridged (v 1. 1) Random House, Inc. http://dictionary. reference. com/search? q=durable%20goods (accessed: April 23, 2007). Fornell, C. (1992). A National Customer Satisfaction Barometer: The Swedish Experience,Journal of Marketing, 56, 1, 6-21. Fornell, Claes, Michael D. Johnson, Eugene W. Anderson, Jaesung Cha, Barbara Everitt Bryant. The American Customer Satisfaction Index: Nature, Purpose, and Findings. † Journal of Marketing 60, no. 4 (1996): 7-1 Fournier, S. (1998): Consumers and their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research, 24: 25-50 Gardyn, Rebecca. â€Å"The Shape of Things to Come. † 1 July 2003. http://www. findarticles. com/p/articles/m i_m4021/is_6_25/ai_105777516 (23 Nov. 2004 Grewal D, Monroe K B and Krishnan R (1998) The effects of price-comparison advertising on buyers, perceptions of acquisition value, transaction value, and behavioral intentions. J Mktg 62: 46-59 Garbarino E and Johnson M S (1999) The different roles of satisfaction, trust and commitment in customer relationships. J Mktg 63: 70-87 Gilly, M. C. , Postcomplaint Processes: From Organizational Response to Repurchase Behavior, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 21 No. 2, 1987, pp 293-313 Gilley, M. C. and Gelb, B. D. , Post-purchase Consumer Processes and the Complaining Consumer, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol 9 No. 12, 1982, pp. 323-8. 22 Jean Therapy, $23 a Pop. By: Lee, Louise, BusinessWeek, 00077135, 6/28/2004, Issue 3889 Levis struggles to peddle Signature to men. By: Cuneo, Alice Z. , Advertising Age, 00018899, 12/1/2003, Vol. 74, Issue 48 Lessons From a Faded Levi Strauss. By: Zellner, Wendy, BusinessWeek, 00077135, 12/15/2003, Issue 3862 McDonell, Meghann. â€Å"Denim Dilemma. † 2003. http://www. journalism. ryerson. ca/online/downlo/selfhelp/denimdileme2. htm (24 Nov. 2004). Morganosky, M. A. and Postlewait, D. S. , Consumers Evaluations of Apparel Form, Expression, and Aesthetic Quality, Clothing Textiles Research Journal, Vol. 7 No. 2, 1989, pp. 11-15. Morganosky, M. A. and Buckley, H. M. Complaint Behavior: Analysis by Demographics, Lifestyle, and Consumer Values, in Wallendorf, W. and Anderson, P. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, Vol. 14, 1987, pp. 223-6 Oliver, R. L. (1980), â€Å"A cognitive model for the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction†, Journal ofMarketing Research, 17, 460-469. Rao, Akshay R. and Kent B. Monroe. â€Å"The Effect of Price, Brand Name, a nd Store Name on Buyers? Perceptions of Product Quality: An Integrative Review. † Journal of Marketing Research. 6, no. 3 (1989): 351-357 Semon Thomas T. Marketing News. Chicago: May 9, 1994. Customer satisfaction is relative Vol. 28, Iss. 10; pg. 15, 1 pgs Steven T. Goldber (April 2006)consumers will pay for jeans: Kiplinger? s p-66 Swan, J. E. and Oliver, R. L. , Postpurchase Communications by Consumers, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 65 No. 4, 1989, pp. 516-33 . (Vrontis, D. , Vronti, P. (2004), Levi Strauss: an international marketing investigation, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, ISSN: 1361-2026, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 38998) â€Å"Why Levi? still looks faded. † 2002. http://www. businessweek. com (19 Sept. 2004) Walton, Scott. â€Å"Low-cost, high-fashion. † 2004. http://www. azcentral. com (20 Sept. 2004). Youn, Soo. â€Å"Levi? s jeans going discount. † 2004. http://www. nydailynews. com (19 Sept. 2004). â€Å"Levi Strauss Company. † 2 004. http://www. levistrauss. com (20 Sept. 2004) http://www. ucimc. org (18 Sept. 2004) http://www. responsibleshopper. org (18 Sept. 2004) 23 ANNEXURES QUESTIONNAIRE Consumer Satisfaction level of Levi’s Jeans users * Required Do you possess a pair of Levi? Jeans? * Yes No How many pairs of Levi? s jeans do you have? * 1 2 3 More than 3 Gender Male Female Age How often do you purchase a pair of jeans? Occasionally Once every three months Once every 6 months Once a year In which of the following family income group? * Below 200, 000 200, 000 400, 000 400, 000 – 600, 000 above 600, 000 Your decision of buying towards THE BRAND Levi? s, depends upon: 24 Brand linked status Authenticity of products Publicity Versatility Are You satisfied with the product, Levi’s jeans on the following parameters. Tick appropriate satisfaction level. Affordability- Price of the product * 1 Strongly Agree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Desired pair of Levi? s jeans is easily available? * 1 Strongly Agree Durability of clothing (Levi? s Denim) * 1 Strongle Agree Durability of Stitching of Levi? s Jeans * 1 Strongly Agree Comfortability of Levi? s jeans * 1 Strongly Agree Variety/ Designs offered by Levis Strauss * 1 Strongly Agree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 25 Range of shades offered by the brand * 1 Strongly Agree Range of fitting styles offered * 1 Strongly Agree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Range of sizes * 1 Strongly Agree Convenience in washing * 1 Strongly Agree Discounts/schemes offered by Levi Strauss * 1 Strongly Agree Value for money w. r. t product * 1 Strongly Agree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Levi? s responsiveness towards the latest fashion trends 1 Strongly Agree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Reliability of customer services offered at Levi? s stores * 26 Strongly Agree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Response to enquiries regarding the porduct from the company * 1 Strongly Agree Complaints redressed time * 1 Strongly Agree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Advertisements promotions of the product * 1 Strongly Agree Location of Levi? s Stores * 1 Strongly Agree Proximity of Levi? s Stores * 1 Strongly Agree Layout of Levi? s stores * 1 Strongly Agree Salesmens Promptness in service * 1 Strongly Agree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree 7 How satisfied are you with the product? 1 Satisfied 2 3 4 5 Dissatisfied CATEGORICAL DATA: PAIR OF JEANS 1: 1pair 2: 2pairs 3:3 pairs 4: More than 3 pairs GENDER 0: Male 1: Female AGE 1: 18-22yrs 2: 23-26yrs 3: 27above FREQUENCY OF BUYING JEANS 1: occasionally 2: once in three months 3: once in six months 4: once a year INCOME 1: less than 200,000 2: 200,000-400,000 3: 400,000-600,000 4. 600,000 above DECISION IS RELATED TO: 1: Brand Linked status 2: Authenticity of products 3: Publicity 4: Versatality 28 29

Religion, peace and politics

Religion, peace and politics Religion, peace and politics have always been closely tied. Admittedly, the Dark Ages can be regarded as the brightest example of the period when religion was the most potent stimulus in making peace or rather war. Of course, the contemporary world has changed significantly as the society has become more secular.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Religion, peace and politics specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Nonetheless, religion is still an important part of political life of countries. Numerous conflicts suggest that people are still ready to start a war trying to defend their religious beliefs and traditions. Importantly, religion also shapes ways people employ to reach their goals. It is possible to consider conflicts in such countries as South Africa, Egypt and Burma to understand the correlation between religion, politics and peace in the contemporary world. In the first place, it is important to note that religio n has often contributed to certain division of citizens within countries. Thus, religion contributed greatly to the development of Apartheid in South Africa (Botman 244). The debate on segregation started in the Dutch Reformed Church in the 19th century. Notably, local people were converted into Christianity and Christian churches were built. Soon, however, local people were prevented from coming to some churches. A bright example of the process is the way Khoi-Khoi people were deprived of their right to practice Christianity with white people. Khoi-Khoi people invited white people to join their church, but some white congregants addressed church officials to hold separate celebrations (Botman 244). The Synod considered the matter and it was declared that â€Å"it was desirable and according to the Holly Scripture† that white people could attend churches different from the ones attended by the locals (Botman 244). This contributed greatly to the division within the society. A nother illustration of the process of division is Egyptian society. Historically, the society has been divided in two major groups, Muslims and Orthodox Christians. There have always been conflicts between the two groups. Nonetheless, in the middle of the twentieth century, Abdel Nasser strived for creation of a secular society and this led to decrease in conflicts between religious groups (Hibbard 86). Multiethnic society divided into two major religious groups learnt to live in peace.Advertising Looking for essay on political culture? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, in the 1970 the political situation changed and a new force came in power. Anwar Sadat employed mechanisms to â€Å"promote a Saudi-inspired salafist (or fundamentalist) Islam in Egyptian public life† (Hibbard 86). This led to activation of fundamentalist Islamic groups such as Muslim Brotherhood. Tension between the groups also increase d as Orthodox Christians were afraid of possible violent acts and restriction of their freedoms. The present Egyptian society is still torn into two camps where Orthodox Christians have to defend their right to practice their religion and remain equal with the rest of the citizens. They are afraid of becoming an inferior class of citizens pursued by the larger group of Muslims. In other words, they are afraid of another form of Apartheid which took place in South Africa. Therefore, it is obvious that religion can shape (in this case, divide) the society, which can lead to numerous conflicts and strive for violent changes. Hence, it is possible to note that religion is still one of the reasons of conflicts worldwide. Religion is also an integral part of political regime in some countries. The Egyptian case is one of the brightest examples. Fundamentalist Muslim groups strive for a Muslim society where all people share Islamic values. Admittedly, the most fundamentalist militants also believe that other religions are wrongful and cannot exist in Egypt (Hibbard 92). Therefore, some militants attack Orthodox Christians and destroy their property. This increases tension between the two groups. As has been mentioned above, religious beliefs have shaped the political regime in Egypt. For instance, in 1980, The Egyptian constitution was amended to make Islamic Law â€Å"the principal (or primary) source of legislation† (qtd. in Hibbard 93). Since then, Egypt has witnessed Islamization of all spheres of public life. Remarkably, Sadat relied on the Islamic student groups and the Muslim Brotherhood to seize power. Sadat also supported development of these groups and similar organizations. Nevertheless, these groups have caused a lot of problems to the political regime as these groups have been responsible for numerous violent acts which negatively affect popularity of those in power.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Religion, peace and pol itics specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the most recent attacks took place in 2010 when several Muslim men killed seven people and wounded some people after celebrations services on the Orthodox Christmas Eve. This led to other conflicts and violence in the streets. It is apparent that even though the changes started in the 1970s, people are still unwilling to abandon their father’s religious beliefs. More so, focus on religion contributes to imbalance in political life, which, in its turn, affects economic sphere and wellbeing of all Egyptians. Of course, economic constraints make people to strive for changes in the country. The Egyptian government is unable to break this vicious circle. Thus, there is a strong correlation between religious beliefs and political as well as public sphere. It is also necessary to note that religion does not only shape the development of societies as it can also affect political struggle. The case of Burma is a good example of the impact of religion on people’s struggle. In the 1980s, people’s life became intolerable as harsh economic crisis led to unprecedented rate of poverty. According to religious beliefs, people should give food to monks, which is a â€Å"primary form of merit-making in Theravada Buddhist practice† (Fink 355). Irresponsible policies and economic measures of the government contributed to the development of severe crisis. People did not have food for themselves. They did not have food to give to monks, and, in other words, to live in accordance with their religious beliefs. Thus, monks decided to start demonstrations to make officials aware of the intolerable conditions of people. Importantly, monks did not want to make others involved in the demonstrations as they were afraid of possible negative consequences for people. At that, monks could not pose threats to people or cause any harm. Interestingly, religion was also used as a tool as monks refused to take food from those in power or military people who used force to disperse demonstrators. In 2007, demonstrations started again due to financial constraints the country faced. The primary force of the opponents of the regime was the 88 Generation Students’ Group. Again, monks participated in marches and demonstrations. Importantly, religious beliefs sparked the movement as those in power used force and a lot of monks were badly injured. This led to people’s dissatisfaction and even anger as physical assault of monks is one â€Å"one of the greatest sins† in Buddhism (Fink 355). Lots of people joined marches and demonstrations. It is also important to note that actions of demonstrators were quite organized and peaceful which deprived the officials of opportunity to use force. Notably, different countries supported peaceful marches and tried to make the government take into account protestors’ demands. Therefore, it is possible to trac e a global trend as many countries strive for peaceful changes in societies. Obviously, the vast majority of countries condemn violence and societies try to implement the change employing peaceful measures.Advertising Looking for essay on political culture? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Clearly, religion, politics and peace are closely connected in the twenty-first century. People are still eager to defend their right to preserve their religious beliefs and practices. In some countries, religion is an integral part of political and social life. Thus, there are several Islamic countries where Islamic law is incorporated in the constitution. This does not necessarily lead to tension and violent acts if the population of the country is homogeneous (at least, in terms of religion). However, when there are several religious groups in the society, these groups often have conflicts. Recent conflicts can suggest that a society constituted by different religious groups and peace are incompatible. Importantly, the world is globalized and countries will have more and more newcomers. It is likely that there will be no homogeneous societies any more. Those newcomers are likely to pertain to different religious groups. Nonetheless, there are lots of examples of peaceful coexiste nce of different ethnical and religious groups. For instance, Egypt of the 1950s was a country constituted by several religious and ethnic groups. Thus, one of the best ways to ensure peace within a country is to divide secular and spiritual spheres. Thus, political sphere should be secular as a few countries are now homogenous in terms of religion and ethnicity. Therefore, all groups should have equal rights to practice their religion. This will also ensure that all citizens will have equal civil rights irrespective of their religious beliefs. Admittedly, people cannot be divided into certain classes according to their religious beliefs or ethnicity. Any unfair division will result in violent acts and unrest. Though, it is necessary to note that religion can also have a positive impact on political struggle. The vast majority of religions strive for peaceful solutions for any conflicts. Thus, peaceful demonstrations in Burma can be a good example how to struggle for civil rights ex ploiting peaceful tools only. Admittedly, citizens have to remind groups in power that the latter are chosen to contribute to the development of the country and should address citizens’ needs. However, it is inappropriate to use force and strive for violent changes in the society as this leads to destruction and numerous negative consequences. In conclusion, it is possible to note that the cases of South Africa, Egypt and Burma provide numerous important lessons to learn. These are lessons on the correlation between religion, politics and peace. These cases reveal hazards and opportunities for the contemporary societies. These lessons help people understand that political sphere should remain secular in multicultural and multiethnic societies of the contemporary world. At the same time, political struggle can be based on religious values of peace, cooperation and respect. This will enable people to contribute to positive and peaceful changes in the society. Botman, H. Russel . Truth and Reconciliation: The South Africa Case. Religion and Peacebuilding. Ed. Harold Coward and Gordon S. Smith. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2004. 243-261. Print. Fink, Christina. The Moment of the Monks: Burma, 2007. Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-Violent Action from Gandhi to the Present. Ed. Sir Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009. 354-370. Print. Hibbard, Scott W. Egypt and the Legacy of Sectarianism. Between Terror and Tolerance: Religious Leaders, Conflict, and Peacemaking. Ed. Timothy D. Sisk. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2011. 85-104. Print.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that before going to understand the contribution and role of Wal-Mart towards the CSR, it is utterly significant to clearly define and understand the entire concept of CSR. This understanding would clearly help critically evaluate the role and commitment of Wal-Mart and other corporations towards the CSR.This paper outlines that  undoubtedly, this broader definition with a wider range of stakeholders may have distinct preferences for the socially responsibly activities they would prefer to see a corporation invest in. In addition, these preferences do not remain the same; they vary as the currency of social and environmental issues evolves over period of time. More clearly, CSR involves extending corporate accountability to other stakeholders, who are either directly or indirectly affected by the corporate activities of corporations. Under the framework of CSR, corporations are required to publish their corporate activities that put either negative or positive effects on the other stakeholders. Normally, corporations add an additional portion to their annual reports. The additional portion defines and explains the aggregate bearing of a corporation towards the CSR. Employees, customers, suppliers, social and environmental groups, communities, governments, current and potential creditors, suppliers, and those other groups whose interests are directly or indirectly affected by corporate activities of corporations, are defined as the stakeholders.... In order to justify with the requirements of this paper, first, a corporation, Wal-Mart, and its CSR role has been included in this paper. Afterwards, the contribution of CSR towards corporate strategy is highlighted. Subsequent to that, the importance of CSR is discussed; and a critical evaluation of CSR comes before the part of conclusion. Wal-Mart and CSR Before going to understand the contribution and role of Wal-Mart towards the CSR, it is utterly significant to clearly define and understand the entire concept of CSR. This understanding would clearly help critically evaluate the role and commitment of Wal-Mart and other corporations towards the CSR. Corporate Social Responsibility has a wide variety of definitions (Margolis & Walsh, 2003). However, one particular definition has been given to understand the term: corporate social responsibility defines to be as voluntary actions of corporations, these actions are designed to improve social or environmental conditions (Davis, 1973 ; Wood, 1991; Wood & Jones, 1995; Waddock, 2004). Additionally, corporate social responsibility is also called as corporate social performance, sustainable responsible business (SRB), responsible business, corporate responsibility or corporate citizenship (Wood, 1991). Undoubtedly, this broader definition with a wider range of stakeholders may have distinct preferences for the socially responsibly activities they would prefer to see a corporation invest in. In addition, these preferences do not remain the same; they vary as the currency of social and environmental issues evolves over period of time (Clarkson, 1995; Davis, 1973; Moskowitz, 1975; Wartick &Cochran, 1985; Wood, 1991a). More