Landslides Essays (736 words) - Landslides, , Term Papers

Landslides Causing $1-2 billion in damages and more than 25 deaths per year, landslides are a major geologic hazard, caused by earthquakes and floods. Although, landslides are generally not as exciting or costly as earthquakes, major floods, tropical storms, and other natural disasters, they occur in more expanded places and may cause more property damage than any other geologic hazards. A wide variety of ground movements, such as rock falls, slope failure, and shallow debris flows can classify landslides. When a portion of a hill slope cannot support its own weight a landslide will occur. When rainfall or some other water source increases the water content of the slope the weakness is irritated, reducing the strength of the materials. Although gravity acting upon an increased slope is the main reason for a landslide, there are other elements that contribute to its cause. Loud sounds that occur during an earthquake also cause landslides. Erosion caused by rivers, glaciers, or ocean waves create oversteepened slopes. Heavy rains and melting snow weaken rock and soil slopes. Furthermore, vibrations from machinery, traffic, and even thunder may trigger failure of weak slopes. Excess water can run through slope material and can cause a debris flow or mud flow. The rock and mud left over after a landslide may pick up anything in its path, such as trees, houses, and cars , causing bridges and tributaries to become blocked which causes flooding throughout its path. Even though, the natural cause of most landslides is unable to be stopped, geologic investigations, good engineering practices and effective enforcement of land-use management regulations can cut back landslide danger. Landslides effect every state in the United States territory. The Appalachian Mountains, the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coastal Ranges and few parts of Alaska and Hawaii have intense landslide problems. USGS marine scientists have recently identified over fifteen giant landslides surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. These slides are some of the largest known on Earth, and most have taken place throughout the past four million years. The youngest landslide is estimated to have occurred only one hundred thousand years ago, and there is evidence today that large blocks of the island are starting to slide, causing enormous earthquakes. Each landslide that has happened over the bast four million years has ended with huge land loss and gigantic waves that move rocks and s ediments up to 1000ft above sea level. The geologic hazards are important to learn about because, they don't occur as frequently as volcanoes or other disasters, they have potential to destroy lives, property, and natural resources (Giant Landslides). It is possible that any area made up of brittle and cracked materials lying on a steep slope will be subject to landslides. Scientists continue to try their best to lower the risk of landslides everywhere by producing landslide susceptibility maps for areas in the United States. Areas that are generally accessible to landslide hazards include: old landslides, bases of slopes, at the base of minor drainage hollows, at the base or top of an old fill slope or steep cut slope, and developed hillsides where leach field septic systems are used. However, there are areas that are safe from landslide activity: on hard bedrock that has not moved in the past, on flat land away from rapid changes in slope angle, and at the top or along the nose of ridges, set back from the tops of slopes. In order to be prepared for landslides, pay attention to things that might occur before the hazard. These characteristics include wetness of ground that has not been wet before, new cracks or bulges in the ground, sidewalk, or street, cracks in concrete floors and foundations, leaning telephone poles, uneven fence lines, rapid increase of water level in creaks, and movement of soil away from foundations. Incase a landslide does occur, contact local fire, police or public works department, tell affected neighbors, and be sure to evacuate the area. Bibliography: "Giant Landslides Around the Hawaiian Islands". http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/docs/projects/haland.html maintained by Molly Gowen Groome last modified June 10, 1998, accessed 12/10/98. This page updated: 16 November 1998 For suggestions and comments please send e-mail to: [emailprotected] Page URL: http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/nlicsun.html 11/30/1998 The URL of this page is http://landslides.usgs.gov/html_files/nlic/new1ft.shtml Contact: [emailprotected] Updated: Monday November 16 1998 "Landslides." http://germantown.k12.il.us/html/landslides.html

A foreword of a book on mass media laws and regulations The WritePass Journal

A foreword of a book on mass media laws and regulations Chapter 1 A foreword of a book on mass media laws and regulations Chapter 1INTRODUCTION:WHAT IS ELECTRONIC MEDIA?BACKGROUND OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN PAKISTAN AND UK:ABSTRACT:AIMS AND OBJECTIVESRESEARCH OVERVIEW:CHAPTER 2LITERATURE REVIEW:ORGANIZATIONAL THEORIES:THE CLASSICAL APPROACH:THE HUMAN RELATION APPROACH:CONTINGENCY THEORY:ROLE OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENTINTERNAL TRAINING:EXTERNAL TRAINING:THEORITICAL CONCEPT OF TRAINING:CHAPTER 3RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.PRIMARY RESEARCH:SECONDARY RESEARCH:QUALITATIVE RESEARCH:CHAPTER 4DATA ANALYSIS:COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:TIME LINE FOR DISSERTATION:CHAPTER 5CONCLUSION:Related Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: Syed Sajjad Ali Shah, Former Chief Justice of Pakistan said in a foreword of a book on Mass Media Laws and Regulations in Pakistan that: All over the world, the citizens right to acquire knowledge and information is increasingly being proclaimed and recognized as a fundamental right. The international human rights instruments as well as national constitutions and laws, acknowledge and safeguard this right† WHAT IS ELECTRONIC MEDIA? Any channel of communication which serves different functions such as a wide range of entertainment or mass appeal and communicating news and information and advertisement messages through electronic medium is called Electronic media. The duty of media is to communicate massages from advertiser or vendors and serves it as a product or services to the consumer. Types of media include print, electronic, outdoor and direct mail. Print media refers to magazine and news paper where as electronic media are usually referred as broadcast media that are radio and television including cable. BACKGROUND OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN PAKISTAN AND UK: In 1964 Television was first introduced in Pakistan. The only channel at that time was Pakistan Television (PTV) that lasts just for few hours everyday from evening till midnight to the viewers. The Channel introduced as a corporation of the state, where the government of Pakistan appointed its board of directors. The managing director was also appointed by the Government of Pakistan but with the approval of the boards. The Early channel includes STN, which was awarded by monopolistic contract with a private company called Network Television Market (NTM). In 1990 PTV was stroked by the financial mismanagement that causes a vast amount of debt and because of Hindi channels the rapidly reducing popularity among the viewers also reduced their advertising revenue. Pakistan Electronic Media is now regulated by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). It was established under PEMRA ordinance of 2002. The same month after establishment PEMRA issued 29 Radio licences for new private radio stations. The duty of this authority is to regulate and facilitate the private electronic media, and to improve the standards of information, education and entertainment and to expand the choice for the people of Pakistan including current affairs, news, religious knowledge, arts and culture and as well as science and technology. Where as in 1932 right before 32 years when television was first launched in Pakistan, BBC launched the first television channel in UK called â€Å"THE BBC TELEVISION SERVICE.†Ã‚   The BBC was sponsored by the public money build up from a TV licence fee collected from all UK households who had a television set. This fee was mandatory for all; failure to pay the fee was punishable by prosecution causing a fine or imprisonment. Until ITV was launched in 1955 BBC television service had a complete monopoly in UK. ABSTRACT: Training and development come under the umbrella of human resource management. This research will help analyse the current frameworks by human resource executives to improve training and development within Pakistan media industry and as well as look at the barriers facing by human resource department over the coming year and techniques for overcoming them. This research is a comparative study of training and development strategies in UK and Pakistan media Industry. With the purpose to look into the topic, I will compare and relate the techniques of UK media Industry with Pakistan media industry as how UK media industry deals with such kind of situations. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Training and development refers to pass on or to enhance the specific knowledge and skills of an employee. Training and development is essential to advance the current and future performance of the employee by boosting the ability of an employee to perform better through learning and training. Training usually offers to the operatives on the other hand development programmes are for the employees on upper level or positions. The Primary aim of training and development is to help the organisation reach its goal by increasing value to its key resources that is the employee of the organization. By training the employee we can enable them to perform well and to empower them to make the best use of their natural abilities. The Basic aims of training and development are: It develops the ability of the employee and advances their performance. It helps to meet the organization with the future needs of human resource by help the staff to grow within the organization. And it also reduces the learning time for the employees and make sure that they become completely proficient as quickly and economically as possible. It has been seen that most of the researchers mainly focused their investigation on the role and responsibilities, role conflict and role ambiguity and some extent on the training and development programme, but this piece of research reflects the study of how training advance the level of understanding of the employee to their job and also how it helps in their career development. The main objective of the research is to look in to the developments in this important field of human resources particularly in electronic media industry in United Kingdom and Pakistan. Further to this we also look in to the organisations working without training and development department in some organisations. RESEARCH OVERVIEW: The goal of my research is to find out that how training and development can help improve the knowledge and skills of the employee within the organization especially in Pakistan electronic media by comparing it with the UK electronic industry mainly focus on the broadcasting media. The first chapter of my research will help to introduce the analysis of the study and also why it is useful to investigate further into this topic. The aim and objectives of the research study are also included in this chapter. Chapter two highlight the critical review of literature. The literature review will be divided into two major parts (1) Organizational theories (2) Training and Development. Chapter Three will cover up the research methodologies used for the research area. Chapter four will examine the data collection and analyse the types of information of the collected data. The Fifth Chapter will conclude the research and will suggest some advice and emphasize the limitations of the study. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW: A critical and in depth evaluation of a previous research is called Literature Review. It examines a wide range of literature concerned with the employee motivation which has major importance for organizational matters such as Training and development. The themes provided the framework based on: 1. Organisational theory which relates to employee in an organization 2. To designed the development strategies to reward and distinguish the employee input in television channels. We will look in this research how these set of organisational theories and approaches relate to understand the topic of research. ORGANIZATIONAL THEORIES: Dugan the famous Author said in 1985 that â€Å"training and development is alive and well and growing. In fact, it has grown to be a part of a much larger arena.† There are so many approaches to training and development by so many authors my research will mainly focus on the Classical Approach, The human relation approach, and the contingency theory. I will give a brief introduction of all of these theories in my research. THE CLASSICAL APPROACH: The Standard model to the organizational plan and management in the classical approach were based on the assumed basic numbers, which are written below. To be operated and structured there is at least one best approach for all the organizations. Classical approach was based on the legal managerial power and rule of law. We know financial reward is the best way to motivate employee to work and we will also examine what are other ways of motivating employee and get their maximum use. THE HUMAN RELATION APPROACH: The Third step in the development of modern management was the advancement in the attention to the human factors which has become known as the â€Å"Human Relation School of management.† It was introduced in 1930s as a response to the negative view of human nature suggested by the classical approach and against the mechanistic view of organization. Human Relation approach talks about the emotional behaviour of the people that people are more emotional rather than economical rational beings, where as organizations are cooperative social systems rather than mechanical ones; and also that organizations are composed of informal structure, and rules as well as formal procedures and practices. CONTINGENCY THEORY: This theory was first come in to view in the 1960s as a rejection of the â€Å"One best way† approach. There are many types of the contingency theory. It is a set of behavioural theory that argues that there is no one best way of organising or leading and the leadership approach to one situation is not necessarily suitable to others. The Four most important suggestions of Contingency theory are:    There is no one best way to manage the organization.   Ã‚   The plan and aim of the organization should be according to the environment.   Ã‚   Effective organizations not only plan according to the environment but also fit between its subsystems.   Ã‚   The organization should be properly designed and the management style should be suitable both to the tasks and the nature of the work group if the organization wants to satisfy its needs and requirements. ROLE OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT According to Casse and Banahan (2007), â€Å"the different approaches to training and development need to be explored.† Training in an organization is mainly consisting of two parts: 1- Internal Training 2- External Training INTERNAL TRAINING: Internal training means a training session organised within the house by human resource department or giving training to a particular department by a senior staff or talented employee as a resource person. EXTERNAL TRAINING: The training which is arranged outside the organization by training institutes and consultants are called external training. Both the trainings are very essential as it helps preparing staff for greater challenges. THEORITICAL CONCEPT OF TRAINING: When the planning of a learning programme become a major concern, the theoretical concept of training becomes more significant. It helps determining the area where there is a space for further improvement and the training is required to achieve the goal. For any organization it is important to design the objectives and framework of training to achieve its corporate goal. There are countless theoretical concepts I will include few of them in my dissertation to make it clear to understand the objective of my research. I will try to briefly explain those concepts in my research proposal. Systematic training cycle is a stage based activity which begins with Training Needs Analysis (TNA) Jill Bowman John P. Wilson, (2008) Jill Bowman John P. Wilson, (2008) point out two definitions regarding (TNA)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Analysing training needs provides a focus and direction for the investment an organization has to make in its people†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Need for training exists in organizations when particular weaknesses need to me overcome by the application of systematic training. Therefore, before commencement of actual training session, it is very important to identify the training needs first. Jill Bowman John P. Wilson, (2008) The systematic training cycle has three stages. 1- Training Design 2- Training Delivery 3- Evaluation Any training programme in an organization has to be designed first once it is designed it needs to be implemented. Implementation is overwhelmed with certain problems such as managers at the first place are more action oriented but suddenly they get busy to engage in the training efforts. Secondly availability of the trainer who also knows the philosophy and objective of the company is difficult. And also scheduling the training programme around the present work is another problem. The final stage of the training and development programme is the evaluation of the programme. Evaluation of the programme helps determine the result. These set of classic theories and approaches will make the research topic more clearly for readers and how these relate to each other in media industry. CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. The core task for any researcher to complete its research is to analyze the problem and to select that which research methodology to follow. It is a challenging endeavour and causes difficulties if the most suitable methodology is not selected. TYPES OF RESEARCH: 1- Primary Research 2- Secondary Research 3- Qualitative Research 4- Quantitative Research PRIMARY RESEARCH: In Primary research a researcher collects the data which doesn’t really exist. It can be done through surveys, questionnaire, interviews and observations. SECONDARY RESEARCH: Secondary research is to examining the existing data, it may be the mixture of information acquire by different authors and scholars and a summary or collation. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: Qualitative research tries to find out the â€Å"WHY† not â€Å"HOW†. It is about investigating the issues, answering the questions and understanding phenomena. The main methods uses in this research are observation, interviews and documentary analysis. It seeks to explore people’s attitudes, behaviours, value system, and lifestyles. It also focuses groups, in depth interviews like many other approaches but qualitative research also involves the analysis of any unstructured material including customer’s feedback forms, reports or media clips. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH: Quantitative research technique enumerates the data by applying different mathematical and statistical methods. Quantitative research includes surveys and customers questionnaires. It is about knowing the opinion of the people in a way so you can produce an appropriate fact and statistic to guide you in making decision for future. You can only get the reliable statistical result by surveying people in a fairly large numbers and also ensure they are representative sample of your target market. CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS: At first the data may appear to be a mass of confusing, unrelated, accounts.   But by Studying and coding (often I code the same materials several times just after Collecting them), the researcher begins to create order (Charmaz, 1983: 114) In Data Analysis researcher gathers a raw data and organize it so that useful information can be extracted from it. Raw data can be in variety of types including measurements, surveys, and observations. In data analysis process, the raw data organised in a way which will be useful. For Example, The result of surveys may b tallied so that we can see that how many people answer to the surveys and how they response to the questions. Data Analysis is an important step of the research process. The aim of data analysis is to define the qualitative and quantitative data that provides learner to develop knowledge and skills in data analysis. It also supports the development of critical appraisal skills by considering the critical review. COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: In this stage I will try to analyze the primary data which I will collect from different television channels. I will try to collect data from BBC and Pakistan television channels including GEO TV Network, Express News and AAJ TV. I will also do the surveys and make the questionnaire for the employee working in electronic media industry and also a separate interview questions for HR experts associated with the industry. I will also analyze the data and the information collected through surveys by focusing on the objective of my research and will try to analyse them in a very systematic way, it is very important as it will help me to draw a valid conclusion and clarify the aim and objectives of my research. TIME LINE FOR DISSERTATION: A dissertation is an extensive piece of academic writing. The timeline make sure that every step is completed at a given time. For successful achievement of a dissertation there has to be a time line. Month 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Month 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Month 3 TASKS Preliminary Research Define research questions/objectives Work on methodology and finish rough drafts of methodology Library Work Preparing Questionnaires, and survey questions Refine Dissertation Methodology Write literature review Write Introduction Research paper writing References and Bibliography Polish format of research proposal CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION: This research adds value in quite a lot of ways; firstly it contributes a better understanding on some vital attributes of Training and Development specifically in Pakistan and UK electronic media Industry. Secondly it provides insight the attitude and behaviour of an employee in the organization and why they need training. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of training in the efficiency of an employee, in how the training gives confidence to perform there desire task in their routine work.

Business Proposal Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Proposal - Coursework Example For this reason, there is always the need for a business to derive strategies by which it can rely on to adapt to the external environment. The factors in the external business environment play a big role in determining the operations of the internal functions. This is because; the business is expected to keep continually realigning its internal operations in order to remain relevant and effective. The external business environment is very dynamic; every day, new economic conditions always arise, legislations, competition strategies among other factors. This paper discusses the economic factors that affect the business in various ways; it focus on mobile phones, as the product that is traded most in many places for economic and social reasons. In addition, it examines the pricing approaches that are used in an imperfect market structure and the factors guiding the pricing in relation to demand patterns The economic factors in the business external business are hard to predict, for instance, the global recession has affected many businesses, making them look for various cost-saving and waste reduction approaches. While some businesses focus on ways to reduce their expenses and increase their, efficiencies, there are those that resolve to outsource functions in order to cut down on their costs. Businesses that effectively manage their external environment effectively end up becoming market leaders, with increased rates of turnover and profitability. There are different types of market structures that exist in an economy, these structures are determined by the types of products being sold, the number of buyers and sellers and their knowledge of the market among other factors. Monopolistic market structures are those characterized by a high competition between many large firms and individuals (Maurya 2008). This market structure is almost similar to a perfect competition only that here; there

MAN-40036 strategy and information management assignment 2014 Essay

MAN-40036 strategy and information management assignment 2014 - Essay Example In addition, it has been able to develop a standard operating procedure that has been largely responsible for the identification, acquisition, and transfer of knowledge between the different stores in the company’s network. Because of the skill displayed by its management when handling diverse issues from its numerous stores globally, and also being able to venture into countries which speak different languages, IKEA has achieved success on the international scene where other companies take years to achieve the same. The vision of IKEA is to generate an enhanced daily life for the many people and in order to achieve it; this company has worked toward the provision of a range of well-designed and serviceable home furnishing (Meisler, 2004). In addition, it has ensured that the cost of production is low enough so that the sale price of its products is low enough to so that as many people as possible can be able to purchase them. The mission of IKEA supports it vision through the development of a diverse range of useful household and office products at prices which are low enough to ensure that as many of its customers as possible can afford them (Jonsson & Foss, 2011). In order to fulfill its mission, this company focuses towards the creation of good furniture design that is set at a low price. The furnishings that are offered by this company vary to a great degree and these cover every room in the home, with the aim of satisfying those people ranging from the romantic at heart to the minimalist. The company’s stores are so well coordinated that the designers are normally able to come up with products which meet the daily needs of their customers through the elimination of all those parts which are unnecessary. The cornerstone of IKEA’s mission is ensuring that the prices of its products remain low so that they can be available to everyone. In order to fulfill this

Business Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Studies - Essay Example The customers interested in jeans do view Levi Strauss as a brand that could be trusted. Thus, the positive customer perception is further bolstered by the hold that the company has over the varied aspects of the apparel business that is purchase, production, marketing and sales. Besides, the company has also made salubrious inroads into the new product lines through diversification, which portends a positive future. The company does has the financial resources at its disposal to be invested into new product lines and entering new markets. However, it does need to be mentioned that the strengths acquired by the company came with a heavy price. The company did come out with some product lines like the permanent press slacks, the denim bathing suit and the disposable sheets and towels, which did not gel with the already existing product lines and lead to considerable losses. So the company needs to avoid entering into such flop product lines (Adcock 2000, p. 90). This may jeopardize th e strong brand image of Levi Strauss and dilute customer perceptions (Reddy 1994, p. 129). ... In that sense, Levi Strauss has a viable opportunity at its disposal to garner the ascending interest of these customers by expanding into such product lines. The biggest threat that the company faces is relying predominantly on the established product lines, which may fade away soon (Gilley 2005). Besides, a less than proactive attitude may give advantage to the other established competitors. Also, expanding into product lines that do not deliver the expected customer satisfaction may dilute the brand appeal of the company. Hence, the best possible way out for the company is to expand into product lines that cater to the proceeding tastes and requirements of the already loyal customer base, while desisting from venturing into lines that rub away the exiting brand reputation, while extending unwanted advantage to the established competitors. Reference List Adcock, Dennis 2000, Marketing Strategies for Competitive Advantage, Wiley, New York. Gilligan, Colin & Wilson, Richard MS 2003, Strategic Marketing Planning, Butterworth Heinemann, Boston. Gilley, Ann 2005, The Manager as Change Leader, Praeger, Westport, CT. Golembiewski, Robert T 2000, Handbook of Organizational Consultation, Marcel Dekker, New York. Reddy, Allan C 1994, Total Quality Marketing, Quorum Books, Westport, CT. Part II. McDonald’s and the Health Conscious Consumer It goes without saying that McDonald’s has been a leading fast food brand not only in the US, but in a more current context, the world over. However, with the consumers getting more health conscious and the commensurate health trends like the rising number of obese people within the population, many of the McDonald’s existing product lines that also happened to be high calorie products are

Emerging New Luxury Brands Marketing Essay

Emerging New Luxury Brands Marketing Essay Let us imagine that we have gone back a decade in time. There is a woman in some part of the world flipping through the pages of a high-fashion magazine. The minute she opens the magazine she is bombarded by images of luxury goods. Luxury brand names like Versace, Chanel, Gucci and Christian Louboutin shout out to her. All she desires is to own at least one piece from these luxury fashion goods. Unfortunately, the woman earns a middling income and can only dream about owning a Versace dress or a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes. Luckily for her, in 2004 Hennes Mauritz (HM) came up with a brilliant collaboration which made all her dreams come true. For a long time access to luxury fashion goods had been limited to the elite classes. Since the 1990s there has been a boom in the luxury market because as times progressed traditional luxury brands such as Christian Dior started facing competition from emerging new luxury brands like Jimmy Choo. These new luxury brands brought in new branding and positioning strategies (Truong et al., 2009). The result of these strategies was the materialisation of masstige brands. Even though masstige brands are priced lower than super premium or traditional luxury brands, they still hold a place above conventional products and enjoy a high level of prestige (Silverstein et al, 2005). In order to tackle competition faced from these masstige brands, certain traditional luxury brands took an unconventional step. In June 2004 Hennes Mauritz (hereafter referred to as HM) announced that they would be releasing a limited edition collection designed by none other than Karl Lagerfeld, chief designer of Chanel (HM, 2004). With this step, HM began a fresh trend of co-branding in the fashion industry between high-street and luxury fashion brands. Since then HM have undergone an annual collaboration project with some of the biggest names of luxury fashion, the latest being French label, Maison Martin Margiela. With HM making continuous headlines in the fashion industry for its collaborations with luxury fashion brands, the need to study the science of co-branding, especially in fashion, is becoming vital. Thus, this dissertation aims at exploring and investigating the term co-branding and the role it plays between high-street fashion and luxury fashion brands. As HM are the contemporary of this trend in the fashion industry, the issues discussed in this dissertation will be mainly based on them. 1.1 Company Profile Company name H M Hennes and Mauritz AB Industry Retailing Sub Industry Fashion (clothing, accessories) Headquarters Stockholm, Sweden Employees 94,000 Key People Founder: Erling Persson Chairman: Stefan Persson CEO/Managing Director: Karl-Johan Perrson Table : Company Profile of Hennes Mauritz (HM, 2012a)H M Hennes and Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail company, functioning in the clothing industry. The company is known for designing fast fashion i.e. chic styles at cheap prices. The first store was opened in Sweden in 1947 under the name Hennes, selling only womens clothing. In 1968 the company bought Mauritz Widsforss, a hunting and fishing equipments store, changing the company name to Hennes Mauritz. This was also the year the company started selling mens and childrens clothing. Today, HM have branched out into five independent brands which are globally recognised HM, COS, Monki, Weekday and Cheap Monday. Besides clothing, today the company also offers footwear, accessories, cosmetics and furniture. As of 2012, the company operates around 2600 stores across 44 countries. HMs top two competitors are Spanish fashion group Inditex (who own Zara and Bershka) and American retail giant The Gap, Inc. From 2004 HM started collaborating with some of the biggest names in the luxury fashion industry, a tradition they have since followed every year. Besides HMs annual collaboration with some of the biggest luxury fashion houses, the company also has a long-standing tradition of getting together with super models and popular music artists to either design or be the faces of their seasonal collections and campaigns. 1.2 Problem Definition and Purpose Co-branding is a relatively new concept in the field of marketing. The concept has been in practice for only the past few decades and the collaborations have often yielded mixed results. Co-branding has taken place in all sectors and industries from tobacco to automobile to retail to film-making to consumer goods. Co-branding is a moderately new term in the business vocabulary which is used to describe integrated marketing activities involving two or more brands (Blackett, Boad, 1999). It is important to analyse and understand the practice of co-branding as it has been gaining recognition in the recent years and can have a considerable impact on the future of branding. More and more consumer product manufacturers are becoming interested in co-branding strategies as it is a means to gain more exposure in the marketplace, fight competition and threats innovatively and at the same time share expensive promotional costs with a partner (Spethmann, Benezra, 1994). Co-branding gives compani es a great opportunity to create something new, while sharing costs, and also provides them with an opportunity to present consumers with a market they may have not explored before. Besides undergoing classical brand extensions and other brand alliance strategies (like advertising alliances and dual branding), co-branding is a strategy which presents a brand an added method to differentiate themselves in a competitive environment (Helmig et al., 2008). While co-branding in other sectors has returned mediocre results, co-branding in fashion has generally been extremely well appreciated. American discount retailer, Target, has often collaborated with designers such as Jason Wu, Issac Mizrahi and Neiman Markus, offering their designs for a slightly higher price than Targets usual rate. These attempts have been very well received by the mass consumers. HM, especially, have a high success rate when it comes to this business practice. More than 1000 people entered New Yorks Fifth Avenue store in the first hour when Karl Lagerfeld, Chanels haute couture and ready-to-wear chief designer, created pieces for HM (de Chernatony et al., 2011). Another example would be the success of HM and American designer Stella McCartney coming together. Queues were reported outside several HM stores all across the world, forming from the night before the collection was launched (Okonkwo, 2007). However, as successful as HMs attempts at co-branding have been, this practice of luxury brands and high-street brands coming together has lead to a lot of debate and even criticism. According to the critiques, co-branding often hampers with the companys original brand equity and confuses the consumer. Although the names of the brands that come together are familiar to the consumer, the actual co-branded product is completely new. Thus, unable to make out what to think of the new product, the consumer makes a judgement based on the known brand names involved (Washburn et al., 2000). There have also been questions raised regarding the effect of co-branding on the image of one or both of the parent brands. Some critiques believe that co-branding hampers the reputation of highly ranked brands. There have been sufficient works as well as research conducted on co-branding which are available to us. Considerable research has been conducted on co-branding in the retail sector. However, there has not been much detailed research on co-branding specifically between high-street fashion brands and luxury fashion brands. There are questions still left unanswered in this particular area. Therefore, this dissertation aims to investigate and study the practice of co-branding in this particular field and hopes to give a better understanding of this phenomenon. 1.3 Research Objectives Taking into account the purpose of this dissertation, the main research objective that this study will try to answer is: Exploring and understanding co-branding between high-street and luxury fashion brands. In order to help present relevant answers for this dissertation, the main research objective can be further divided into the following sub-objectives: To understand why co-branding occurs between high-street fashion brands and luxury fashion brands To analyse the perception of consumers regarding co-branding in the fashion industry To analyse the effect of such a collaboration on the brand image and reputation of both parties involved To understand whether co-branding between a high-street and a luxury brand can yield successful results 1.4 Relevance of the Research The following section provides a justification about the relevancy of this study. Arguments for both, academic and practical, relevance are discussed. 1.4.1 Academic Relevance This dissertation surely has academic relevance in todays time. In order to study co-branding in the fashion industry, this study has merged various branches of marketing. Brand alliances, brand equity, brand leverage and consumer behaviour are combined and discussed together to help understand the phenomenon of co-branding. Although there is significant work already done on co-branding, only a few discuss the area in which co-branding has gained the most success fashion. Thus, this dissertation tries to give a clear and more detailed explanation of why and how co-branding in fashion occurs and the effects it has on the consumer. 1.4.2 Practical Relevance The practical relevance of this dissertation is also of significance. Co-branding is being frequently used as a strategy to stand out in a crowded market place (Dieleman, 2010). By understanding the science of co-branding, not just for general understanding, but especially for the fashion industry, more retail clothing brands can partake in it. By studying consumers perception towards the collaboration of high-street and luxury fashion brands, managers can decide on whether or not creating a co-branding strategy is the right approach for them. Managers can also have a better appreciation of the effects of co-branding on their brand equity and brand reputation. 1.5 Limitations As mentioned in the company profile, HM have also collaborated with popular music artists like Madonna and Kylie Minogue to conceptualise and be the faces of limited edition lines and collections. Also, the fast-fashion company has collaborated with Finnish textile company, Marimekko, in the past to use their fabric designs on their products (Wettergren, 2010). These celebrities and companies are also brands in their own; however, this dissertation will not be discussing them. Only HMs collaborations with luxury fashion brands will be taken into account. Thus, this dissertation only examines the relationship of a high-street and luxury brand, and not between other categories of brands. This dissertation does not discuss the process of co-branding between HM and the luxury brands, but the motive and effects of the collaborations. The questions this dissertation tries to answer are why co-branding occurs and what are the possible outcomes of it. How co-branding occurs is a question this study does not venture into. Also, this dissertation does not go too deeply into the marketing activities of the co-branded products and retail collections. Thus, answers to these questions will not be available in this study. 1.6 Structure The following section of this dissertation talks about existing concepts, theories and research conducted that led to the formation of this studys research question. The section is a review of existing literature as well as a presentation of the theoretical framework. Concepts such as brand management, co-branding, fashion marketing, co-branding strategies, fashion strategies and so on will be discussed. The third chapter talks about the methodology selected to conduct this research. The chapter talks about the justification of choosing the research method as well as the possible limitations of the same. Chapter four represents the findings of this research as well as gives a discussion for each of the findings. This chapter evaluates the relevant research findings for each of the research sub-objectives. The final chapter of this dissertation presents a general discussion of the entire study, highlighting the key areas and important research findings. At the end of the dissertation is a list of references; sources which helped with the research of this study as well as sources one can look into for the purpose of further reading. 2. Literature Review 2.1 The Concept of Branding Branding building is an important concept in the science of marketing and several definitions of this concept exist. The official definition of branding given to us by the American Marketing Association is that a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. This means that even though a product or service may satisfy the same need as another, a brand provides it with an element which differentiates it from other products or services of the same kind (Kotler, Keller, 2011). The process of brand building is imperative for almost all companies, products and services because building successful brands promises future income stream and profit. Brands help build consumer loyalty which means that consumers will keep coming back to buy the brands and will support them even during crisis situations (de Chernatony et al., 2011). However, the profile of the consumer is changing from what it used to be. The market place is getting more and more crowded with the constant addition of new products and services. Not only does this mean that there is a lot of fierce competition, but also todays consumer has a lot more choice than from a decade ago. Thus, it is extremely necessary to make ones brand stand out. This is where the concept of brand management comes in. Appropriate and effective practise of brand management can lend a hand in leveraging a brand, which leads to the making of a successful brand. The concept of brand management was created by Procter Gambles Neil McElroy (Harvard Business School, 2000). Effective brand management can lead to high brand equity. Brand equity is the additional value which products and services are seen to have, besides the functional value that they possess. This value is measured on the basis of what consumers feel and think about the brand as well as the market share and pr ofitability that the brand enjoys (Keller, 2008; Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000; Aaker, 1996; Aaker, 1991). Proper practice of brand management can also do wonders for the brand image. Brand image is impression of the brands personality (real or imaginary) that has been developed in the consumers mind (Business Dictionary). Various techniques can be applied under brand management in order to leverage a brand. One of these techniques is brand extension. Brand extension is a marketing strategy wherein a company uses a brand name which already exists in order to penetrate into a new, different product category than which it is established in (Swaminathan, 2003). A somewhat new development has been formed from brand extension in recent decades which is known as the process of co-branding. 2.2 Co-Branding Co-branding is a brand leveraging technique where two or more brands, each having significant recognition in the eyes of the consumer, co-operatively come together to create a single unique product while retaining the names of all the brands involved (Blackett and Russell, 1999; Leuthesser et al., 2003). This term is also referred to as brand alliance and composite branding. Co-branding provides marketers with the choice of opting for a short-term alliance, thus making it an attractive opportunity. It is not necessary for co-branding to be a long-term affair, as along other benefits, marketers are mainly looking for a quick sales boost (Spethmann and Benezra, 1994) As discussed by Nunes et al. (2003), co-branding can be divided into four different types. They are as following: Promotional/sponsorship co-branding Here a company co-brands by being a part of an events activities so as to link its image to that particular event in the mind of the consumer. Example: Conseco the official financial services provider of NASCAR Ingredient co-branding In this type there is a primary brand, which acts as an important component of the secondary brand. Example: Sony Vaio laptop with an Intel microprocessor Value chain co-branding Here two or more companies come together in order to create a brand new experience for the consumer to increase differentiation. It can be further divided into three types: Product-service co-branding Yahoo! and SBC Communications coming together to form SBC Global Networks Supplier retailer co-branding Architect Michael Grave creating a line of co-branded products specially for American retailer, Target Alliance co-branding Airline alliances such as Star Alliance and SkyTeam Innovation based co-branding In this type two or more companies come together in order to present a brand new product or offering, to increase customer value as well as corporate value. Example: Boating shoe manufacturer Sperry Top-Sider collaborating with New Balance to create an athletic boat shoe It is a known fact that brands play an important role in influencing culture in consumer societies. They not only satisfy ones utilitarian needs, but also serve some hedonic purpose. It is not in the power of the marketer to create the hedonic value that the brands hold. It is only the consumer who is in control of the feelings and meanings associated with a particular brand. Thus, it is safe to say that a part of the brands equity is in hands of the consumers. Thus, the reason marketers decide on a co-branding strategy is to not only access the utilitarian benefit which a certain brand offers, but also to generate the hedonic value which the association with that brand would bring. There is a transfer of status, imagery and reputation of one brand to the other. Co-branding also reduces costs, as the RD, production and marketing expenses get shared between the parent brands. Thus, co-branding is a quick way of improving all the aspects of marketing related issues (Askegaard and Bengt sson, 2005; Nunes et al., 2003). There are also risks and disadvantages to co-branding. There is the risk of dilution, where a brand loses meaning for a consumer because of the co-branded product. There is a chance of a co-branding strategy resulting in a potential competitor. This happened when IMB partnered with Microsoft to develop DOS. Microsoft then had very low brand equity, but today they are a giant in the computer world. There is also the risk of devaluation. When aligning with a low valued brand, a high value brand may lose its reputation in front of the consumers. Co-branding may also limit a brands market reach as they might be targeting the same consumer group with the new product as well (Nunes et al., 2003; Leuthesser et al., 2003). Many theories and research have been conducted on brand alliances and their possible spillover effects. One of the first ones was by Simonin and Ruth (1998). A study was conducted by them to evaluate the change in the attitude of consumers due to the spillover effects of co-branding. The results of that study have matched the results of many other newer studies conducted on brand alliances. Baumgarth (2004) created a brand alliance study, based on Simonin and Ruths study. The results of the study matched with the hypotheses presented by Simonin and Ruth. Baumgarths model added improvements by giving importance not only to the brand fit, but also to the prior attitudes consumers have towards the brands. In a study conducted by James et al. (2006), it was found that the personalities of the two brands involved have an impact on the perception of the consumers towards the co-branded product. Bouten et al. (2011) too conducted a study, basing it on the Simonin and Ruth paper. The result of their study was that a perfect fit of both, the brand image as well as the existing products of the parent brands is required for a successful brand alliance. As brand alliances started getting popular, researchers started concentrating on the term co-branding. Abratt and Motlana (2002) devised a five-step brand transition process for companies who wanted to undertake co-branding. The process stresses on the importance of understanding consumer perception as well as the fit of the brands involved. The same result was seen in the strategic framework for co-branding created by Leuthessar et al. (2003) which would help marketers assess co-branding opportunities in order to leverage their brands. On the basis of this framework, possible co-branding can be assessed by the nature of the parent brands as well as their target audiences. Co-branding was slowly starting to be seen as an important marketing strategy. As a result of this, an ontology based co-branding strategy system, called OnCob, was created by Chang (2008). This system helps marketers and brand managers research the co-branding phenomenon based on the concepts of aim, category and effect. Co-branding was further researched by Chang (2009) to present a roadmap and guide for companies wanting to co-brand. Different industries were discussed wherein some results were successful, while some were a complete failure. Also, a co-branding matrix was presented, which gives researchers a better understanding of this emerging science. The effects of co-branding on brand equity were studied by Washburn et al. (2000). The research results showed that co-branding is a win-win situation for both the brands involved, irrespective of their perceived brand value. When a high equity brand is paired with another high equity brand, the final co-branded product is perceived to have high value as well. Also, Washburn et al. found that in the case of a low equity-high equity brand pairing, it is the brand with a lower value that benefits the most from the co-branding, and although the positive effects might be less for the higher valued brand, co-branding does not have any negative effects on it. Motion et al. (2003) conducted a research on corporate co-branding and its effect on corporate brand equity. The research was conducted by studying the sponsorship of rugby team, All Blacks, by Adidas. The result of the study was that co-branding has a positive effect on the corporate brand equity, however as concluded by other studie s, it is important that the parent brands have a common vision and similar brand values. Besharat (2010) undertook a study combining the strategies of co-branding and brand extension. A comparison between co-branding and brand extensions with respect to brand equity was carried out. The final result of the study matched the results of many previous studies i.e. the success of a co-branding strategy depends on the existing brand value of the parent brands. However, there was no significant difference between consumer perception of co-branded products or brand extensions. As long as the consumers saw a fit between the new products and the brand, they accept the new product positively. A research was conducted by Thompson and Strutton (2012) to find out the effects of co-branding when one of the parent brand co-brands into a product category where it does not exist. However, the analysis showed that such an alliance is not likely to be successful. For a co-branding strategy to be successful, it is important for consumers to perceive a high level of fit between the brands involved. Another finding is that if a low value brand collaborates with a brand that is perceived highly in the eyes of the consumers, the co-branded product is likely to be viewed favourably. Thus, the brand fit plays an extremely important role in the success or failure of co-branding strategies. Erevelles et al. (2008) conducted a study on ingredient co-branding in the B2B sector, an area which does not have much research done. The finding of the research is that ingredient co-branding occurs in B2B sector usually when there is a threat of entry from a more fiscally rich competitor. Thus, brands get into an ingredient co-branding strategy to block out this competition. Besides this, the secondary brand also has monetary benefits as the ingredient supplier provides their component at a reduced cost. Askegaard and Bengtsson (2005) proposed the importance of cultural meaning in co-branding. Compared to the conventional approach to co-branding, their paper provides us with a new perspective. They suggested that each brand characterises certain symbolic and cultural meanings to the consumers, ones that may not be visible to us directly. The cultural meanings of the parent brands have a heavy influence on the meaning that the co-branded product represents. However, the interpretations provided by Askegaard and Bengtsson are far too imaginative and descriptive. No matter how creatively brand managers develop cultural meaning for a co-branded product, at the end it is only the consumer whose interpretation of brand image and meaning count. 2.3 Fashion 2.3.1 Luxury Fashion Luxury brands consist of those products and services which are generally associated with the affluent and the elite class. The luxury fashion industry is a global multi-billion dollar sector. Hundreds of brands are a part of this industry, some of them being Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Prada. Besides being valuable, luxury brands are some of the most influential in the world. For luxury goods, branding plays an extremely important role and is the core competence. This sector places high importance on branding and marketing strategy development by the use of human emotions and psychology (Okonkwo, 2007) Tynan et al. (2010) sought out to address the nature of the value of luxury brands and how value can be co-created. Instead of taking the more common managerial perspective, they took into account the perspective of the consumer. They developed a theoretical framework and researched case studies to find out what types of value consumers look for in luxury branded goods. The result was that although a utilitarian value was a must for all luxury goods, it was the hedonistic or symbolic value which acted as drivers for the purchase of a luxury good and was seen as the differentiating factor by the consumers. Reddy et al. (2009) studied the prospect of brand extensions for a luxury brand. In order to do so, they fashioned a Premium Adgency Grid, which measured the extent to which a particular brand extension matches up to the values embodied by the core brand. The luxury brands were divided into the four quadrants of the grid Star Brand, Aspiring Star Brand, Waning Star and Dying Star. With the help of this grid, marketers could measure their luxury brands brand adgency and then consider expansion opportunities and the possible risks. A framework was created by Moore and Fionda (2009) illustrating the various dimensions of the luxury brand to guide its marketing in the fashion sector. Their model identified nine key components which were deemed important for the creation of a luxury brand. Each of the nine components included sub-categories, which according to them, must be consistent for the successful creation of the brand. All of these components must be managed simultaneously for the creation and maintenance of a successful luxury fashion brand position. Thus, the Moore and Fionda model states that the management of a luxury brand should be consistent and coherent. However, the case companies in this research were all British and thus, the results are geographically and culturally narrow. A cross-cultural investigation would have provided a firmer insight in the marketing of luxury fashion brands. A five-factor model and brand luxury scale was designed by Vigneron and Johnson (2004) to provide luxury product marketers with an instrument to measure the amount of luxury a certain brand contains. According to Vigneron and Johnson, luxury is contained in brands in a matter of degree. Some brands have a very high level of luxury, while some very low. The brand-luxury scale helps measure the level on luxury in a given brand. The research found that luxury is a multidimensional factor and this can be proved by the five-factor model. These dimensions can be established and monitored by using the brand luxury scale in order to create a lasting luxury brand. However, Miller and Mills (2012) argue that more than anything else, it is the perception of brand leadership that counts. In order to attain clarity on the subject of luxury brand marketing, they developed a conceptual model the Brand Luxury Model (BML). This findings of this model state that trendy, up-to-date and visionary brand s and perceived to be more luxurious than brands that try to be unique, imaginative or original. The BML also showed that consumers perceive a match between themselves and the image of the luxury brand users with psychological or symbolic value. This finding is in sync with the research carried out by Liu et al. (2012) Liu et al. (2012) explored the effect that the various concepts of self-congruity theory have on the consumer. Self congruity theory was developed by Sirgy (1986), which refers to the likeliness of a potential consumer to psychologically compare themselves with other objects and stimuli (brands in this case). This theory has been widely used to understand brand purchase behaviour (Sirgy, 1986). The three concepts studied by Liu et al. are Brand Personality Congruity, Brand User Imagery Congruity and Brand Usage Imagery Congruity. The relationship of these three types of self-congruity to the customer attitude and loyalty toward a luxury brand are studied in this paper. The study focuses on two brands CK and Chanel to understand the effect of a potential consumers self congruity in the purchasing of luxury brands. The study found that Brand User Imagery Congruity and Brand Usage Imagery Congruity are much stronger predictors of attitude and loyalty than Brand Personality Congruity i n either of the brands. It was found that the consumers own self-image and perception of a typical users image as well as usage imagery play an important role in a consumers purchase intention and attitude towards a brand. The findings of this study were similar to the previous claims made by Sirgy et al. (1997), Liu et al. (2008) and Sotiropoulos (2003). 2.3.2 High-Street Fashion High-street fashion describes the clothing retailers who cater to the mass-market. These retailers design and sell clothes which are affordable and are used for mass-consumption. The brands either have independent stores, franchises or are a part of chain stores. As the high-street fashion market started getting crowded with the introduction of more and more brands, competition started running high. In order to combat this competition, many of the high-street brands started the concept of fast-fashion. These are brands like Zara, HM and Mango who create affordable, trendy and disposable items to cater to the consumers demands. Fast-fashion gives brands a competitive edge as they turn the latest runway designs to chic disposable clothes that the mass-market can afford (Tungate, 2008; Hines and Bruce; 2001). Following the success of fast fashion, Cachon and Swinney (2

Amish Business Relations Essay -- GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

Amish Business Relations The Amish are a group of people that teach separation from the outside world. A group that originated from Switzerland is centered in the United States and Canada. Their rules as a society require farming and personal simplicity as their way of life. the luxury of having electricity and telephones are not accepted in this odd way of life. Their transportation is reduced to horse and carriages as a way for them to remain simple. These old order Amish traditions are very strictly enforced. Those who break from the Amish usually join the Mennonites, a society with similar rules and values, just less strict. As a way for their society to survive as a culture they have turned to the business of selling the products that these people grow and make. The Amish are fine craftsmen, skilled in everything from building the barns to sewing some of the finest quilts around. In recent years, many Amish have opened small shops to help supplement their modest earnings from farming. Skills handed down from generation to generation have resulted in the best quality products, a proud Amish tradition. Of course, the Amish did not choose this newly found way of life, they were forced in by greater urbanization and the diminished availability and affordability of farmland. They would rather stay and go into small business than move to a more rural state. One of the most known societies is in the town of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There is an estimated 1,000...