Reflection Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Reflection - Assignment Example Ideally, holographic evidence enhances the decentralization of understanding, which has no center of control (Morgan, 2006). However, the author notes that the brain is holographic and specialized. For instance, according to split-brain research, the right and left-brain hemispheres specialize on certain aspects but also participate in any given activity (Morgan, 2006). This manifests in our organization where I specialize on advanced nursing but also offer healthcare to all women and infants under 1 year old. Indeed, it is through understanding that patterns and order emerge in an organization just as in brains. More so, organizations just like brains, involve information processing and understanding. Indeed, organizations are information-processing brains (Morgan, 2006). Additionally, we can also translate the results of the modern brain into established learning organizations, which defines understanding of ideas. We can also see how modern technology develops advanced understanding in global and local organizations. Indeed, modern technology affects understanding by offering powerful images to create organizations that suit the digital age. At the same time, organizations and brains require the freedom to evolve for them to gain autonomy and derive advanced understanding (Morgan, 2006). The author equally reckons that for any organization to self-organize, it must have valuable capacity/ free space to support innovation. As such, an understanding of the brain would help us to understa nd our organization. This leads us to the discussion question, which seeks to establish how organizations self-organize and regenerate themselves without losing their effectiveness. More so, we can derive another discussion question, which will address how a holographic organization distributes its capabilities, control, and intelligence for purposes of ensuring that every single unit is significant to the overall operations of an

Focus Group Essay Example for Free

Focus Group Essay Qualitative research Definition- it is a research, which is undertaken using an unstructured research, approach with a small number of carefully selected individuals to produce non-quantifiable insights into behavior, motivations and attitudes. Qualitative and quantitative research as two distinctly separate bodies of research – many studies encompass both approaches, with qualitative research being used to explore and understand attitudes and behavior, and quantitative research being used to measure how widespread these attitudes and behaviors are. Qualitative research can be used when managers need exploratory research. Managers use exploratory research to understand customer attitudes, emotions, preferences and behaviors. It can also be used in new product development or creative development research. Individual depth interview It is an interview that is conducted face-to-face, in which the subject matter of the interview is explored in detail using an unstructured and flexible approach. As with all qualitative research, depth interviews are used to develop a deeper understanding d of consumer attitudes and the reasons behind specific behaviors. This understanding is achieved through responding to an individual’s comments with extensive probing. The flexibility of this probing sets this interview approach apart from oter questionnaire-type interviews. Although there is an agenda of topics to be covered, the interviewers will use their knowledge of the research objectives, the information gained from other interviews and the comments of the respondent to select which parts of the dialogue with the respondent to explore further, which to ignore, and which to return to later in the interview. Not only is the depth interview flexible, it is also evolutionary in nature. Focus group Focus groups are depth interviews undertaken with a group of respondents. It is different to individual interviews in the number of respondents and interaction between participants. Several factors affect focus group Recruitment is a very critical element of group discussions and has long been a major quality-control issue in the UK marketing research industry. Group discussions are unlikely to achieve their research objectives if the wrong types of participant are recruited. The research proposal will set out the type of participants required for a group discussion. For example, if Colgate is researching a new type of toothpaste for a sensitive teeth. Their specification may request respondents who regularly purchase toothpaste with sensitive protection function. Respondents age (for example 25-64), living area, etc. Managers can also use Screening questionnaire to identify suitable respondents for its group discussion. The area that respondents are recruited normally should be in street or telephone interviews. The location that group discussions were held should let respondents feel comfortable. Locations such as viewing rooms or hotels for business should have no special facilities apart from audio type recorder. Food or snacks will also be provided to assist in relaxing the atmosphere. Time to hold the discussion should be well scheduled. Times should be available to target group. For example, outside working hours, times of available public transport etc. The number of groups should be 3-4. As the 3rd and 4th group can used to exam atypical views. * There are problems involving focus groups. For example in the case of overlapping dialogues from different speakers which may affect the transcript. * Moderators must learn to control such people and encourage those less willing to speak up and let their opinions be heard. Comparing to traditional group discussion, online group discussion or chat room is becoming popular. Apart from lower cost and possible time-saving, it can allow more people to be involved in observing the research, particularly if it is being carried out in a different region or country. However, a cheaper version of online group discussion or chat room where a group is recruited who are willing to discuss a subject online usually using text. It can be difficult to develop any real group dynamics and it is impossible to see people’s facial expression. Even with webcams, the video picture is usually so poor. Participants may also be distracted by events within their own office or home, as the environment is not under the control of the moderator. However, it may be useful with people who could be unwilling to attend a group discussion because of their geographical dispersal or their introverted nature. Projective techniques Projective techniques are techniques used in group discussions and individual interviews to facilitate a deeper exploration of a respondent’s attitudes towards a concept, product or situation. They enable respondents to express attitudes that they find difficult to verbalize. Projective technique projective techniques may gather ‘richer’ data than do standard questioning and discussion. There are many types of projective techniques. The most common three techniques are projective questioning. It is a projective technique that asks the respondent to consider what other people would think about a situation. An example of this could be â€Å"What do you think people in your street would think if they saw a BMW parked in your driveway?† The advantage of projective questioning is that it usually reflect the opinions of the respondent without causing them any embarrassment. Managers can get more objective answers. Word association tests It is a projective technique that involves asking respondents what brands or products they associate with specific words. In marketing research, word association is typically used in conjunction with brand names or celerity endorsers. This can assist marketers in developing communication objectives and strategies to position or differentiate their brands from those of competitors. In addition to the direct outputs of word association, the technique is also very useful as a way of warming up a group by getting everybody contributing and involved. Brand personalities Brand personalities involve respondents imagining a brand a person and describing their looks, clothes. Lifestyles, employment etc. For example, if ‘Nokia’ was a person, what type of person would he or she be? The answer could be such as a modern, relatively young slightly quirky male. This could compare with other brands. Developing brand personification can help to verbalize the imagery and vocabulary associated with the brand. Sentence completion Sentence completion involves providing respondents with an incomplete sentence or group of sentences. Respondents are then asked to complete them. For example, ‘Tesco, as a supermarket, is†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ in many way, sentence completion is similar to word associations, although it can enable researcher to put the respondent’s thinking process into a proper context. Observation research Observation is a data-gathering approach where information on the behavior of people, objects and organizations is collected without any questions being asked of the participants. Observation can take a quantitative format where a large number of events or people are observed and the outputs are analyzed using statistical method. The major advantage of it over surveys of respondents is that the data collected do not have inaccuracies as a result of memory error or social desire bias. The data recorded reflect the actual behavior that took place. For example, video record gives a true representation of rental behavior. Observation overcomes the high refusal rates that may exist for some survey research. However, observation cannot investigate reasons behind behavior. Also, only public behavior is observed. Examples of what can be observed are consumers behavior in store, family consuming behavior at home, comments on the internet. Typical methods of observation are internet monitoring (club card, cookies), in-store observations (CCTV), mystery shopping(researchers participant into observation to look at process not the outcome of number of satisfaction), content analysis(how many time that the word appear in the article), ethnography(could be costly and have ethical issues). Ethical problem Questionnaire A questionnaire is the research instrument designed to generate the data necessary for accomplishing a project’s research objectives. Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap, do not require as much effort from the questioner as focus group, and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data. However, questionnaires also have many of the same problems relating to question construction and wording. The effect of questionnaire might also limited by the location that respondents do the questionnaire. For example, respondents who did questionnaire in high street could be affected by noise. There are many types of questionnaire. There are open-ended question, closed question, scaling questions. There are many factors when comparing Focus group, depth interviews, projective techniques, observation and questionnaire. In terms of degree of structure, focus group are relatively high as managers will guide and control the whole discussion until all tasks are finished. In terms of probing of individual respondents, depth interviews are high and focus group and questionnaire are low. Moderator bias in depth interviews are high and others are medium. Observation has none effects in terms of both probing of individual respondents and moderator bias. Focus group is also high in discovering innovative information. Projective techniques and observation are high in uncovering subconscious information and obtaining sensitive information. Questionnaire and projective techniques are involving unusual behavior or questioning.

Factors That Influence Consumers To Consume Honey Marketing Essay

Factors That Influence Consumers To Consume Honey Marketing Essay There are numerous of explanations when it comes to exploring the factors that influence consumers to consume honey products. The portrayal of honey congregated importance ever since it has been commonly used in both medical and domestic needs and as well as beauty needs. The oldest and most pioneer natural sweetening agent is honey where it has been exists for over centuries. (Aparna Rajalakshmi, 1999). Honey is a foundation of readily accessible sugars, protein, acids, nitrogen, amino acids, minimal amount of minerals and a number of other micro quantities of modules like pigments, aroma, flavour, phenolic compounds, colloids, sugar alcohol and vitamins (Crane et al, 1975). It takes 50000 bees to produce 500 pounds of honey in one year. Overall, most of the honey in the world is produced by the Apis Mellifera which better known as the honey bee and the other one would be the Apis Cerana which is regarded as the eastern honey bee. Average Range Standard Deviation Fructose/Glucose 1.23 0.76 1.86 0.126 Fructose, % 38.38 30.91 44.26 1.77 Glucose, % 30.31 22.89 40.75 3.04 Minerals (Ash), % 0.169 0.020 1.028 0.15 Moisture, % 17.2 13.4 22.9 1.46 Reducing Sugars, % 76.75 61.39 83.72 2.76 Sucrose, % 1.31 0.25 7.57 0.87 pH 3.91 3.42 6.10 Total Acidity, mcq/kg 29.12 8.68 59.49 10.33 True/Protein, mg/100g 168.6 57.7 56.7 70.9 Table .1 Composition of Honey (National Honey Board, 1996) In peoples perspective, the quality of the product will be the key success factor of honey product where industries of honey maker faced challenges for making and maintaining as well as preserving of honey products. Nevertheless, honey plays an essential role of contribution towards the medical field as it is generally healthy and popular. On the other hand, brand reputation of honey is going competitive around the world as countries such as India, Yemen, New Zealand, Australia, Saudi Arabia and etc. come in as big competitors to gain the largest honey manufacturer title. While for the pricing for honey is vary depending on the saturation, the level of harvesting, taste, colour, country origin and many more. Physical appearance also important as it plays an intrinsic and extrinsic role for consumers. Nowadays, honey is consumed all over the world nonetheless. To add on, the Americans in the US are the largest consumers of honey followed up by Chinese in China and the Germans in Germany. Though there has been a moderately steady of consumption of honey for the last five years, however the weather and superiority still maintained as the key factors manipulating the world market. (AAFRD, 2005). There have been studies on the average world consumption of honey which is about 220 grams per inhabitants per year. Thus, the average consumption of honey in developing and developed countries is 133 and 650 grams per inhabitants per year respectively (Napolitano et al, 2006). With the increasing of market size and the increasing consumer demand each year, honey makers have to search for new approaches and to learn to understand the consumer need in order to increase their product satisfaction and customers loyalty. Thus, the increase in consumers satisfaction will affect positively towards product sales. Therefore, this research is a study on how quality of product, medical condition, brand reputation, physical appearance and pricing can affect the consumers satisfaction in purchasing honey products. The manufacturing process of honey is simply beyond belief and amusing. The first stage will be the removal of full honeycombs from the hive. For the removal of honeycombs, the bee hive will have to be either immunise with smoke to force the bee to come out or simply sweep the bees off the combs gently and guide them back to hive or a separator board will be positioned to close the honey chamber off from the brood chamber. This is depicted in Diagram 1 and 2. When honey is finally squirted out, the comb is then reinserted carefully. Secondly, the honeycombs will then be unsealed where at least two-thirds capped are placed into a transport box and taken to a location where there is free of bees. Thirdly is the extraction of honey where the honey combs are inserted into an extractor which is a large drum that draws out honey. Then comes the processing and bottling where honey is poured into tanks and heated to 120 °F (48.9 °C) to liquefy the crystals. After that, the condition is l eft for 24 hour. Any bee parts or pollen that rose up are being skimmed off. Last but not least, the honey is then propels into jars or cans for shipment. There are several methods for removing honey combs. The beekeeper can either sweep the bees off the combs and guide them back into the hive or inject a puff of smoke into the hive. When the bees sense the presence of fire, they gorge on honey in an attempt to take as much as they can with them before fleeing. Somewhat tranquilized by engorgement, the bees are less likely to sting when the hive is opened. Alternately, a separator board can be placed between the honey chamber and the brood chamber. When the bees in the honey chamber discover that they have been separated from their queen, they move through a hatch that allows them to enter the brood chamber, but not reenter the honey chamber. Diagram 1 Removal of honeycombs Source: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Honey.html#b A typical hive used in beekeeping. Diagram 2 The Structure of honey comb Source: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Honey.html#b Table 1: World honey production and consumption in 2005 Countries Production (1000 metric tons) Consumption (1000 metric tons) No. of bee hives No. of bee keepers Ukraine 71.46 52 RussiaRussia 52.13 54 SpainSpain 37.00 40 GermanyGermany  (*2008) 21.23 89 1,000,000 90,000 HungaryHungary 19.71 4 RomaniaRomania 19.20 10 GreeceGreece 16.27 16 FranceFrance 15.45 30 SerbiaSerbia 3 to 5 6.3 430,000 30,000 DenmarkDenmark  (*1996) 2.5 5 *150,000 *4,000 United StatesUnited States of America  (*2006, **2002) 70.306* 158.75* 2,400,000 12,029** (210,000 bee keepers) CanadaCanada 45 (2006); 28 (2007) 29 500,000 13,000 ArgentinaArgentina 93.42 (Average 84) 3 BrazilBrazil 33.75 2 AustraliaAustralia 18.46 16 New ZealandNew Zealand 9.69 8 313,399 2602 ChinaChina 299.33 (average 245) 238 7,200,000 7,200,000 TurkeyTurkey 82.34 (average 70) 66 4,500,000 IranIran 3,500,000 IndiaIndia 52.23 45 9,800,000 South KoreaSouth Korea 23.82 27 VietnamVietnam 13.59 0 TanzaniaTanzania 28.68 28 EgyptEgypt  (*1997) 16* 2,-00,000* 200,000* Central African RepublicCentral African Republic 14.23 14 South AfricaSouth Africa  (*2008) ~2.5* ~1.5* 92,000 1,790 Table 1 Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), August 2007. Table 1 shows the world honey production and consumption in the year 2005. The available details in the table are production level (1000 metric per tons), consumption level (1000 metric per tons), number of bee keepers and bee hives. Countries that have been selected in this research are Ukraine, Russia, Spain, Germany (2008), Hungary, Romania, Greece, France, Serbia, Denmark, United States of America, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Iran, India, South Korea, Vietnam, Tanzania, Egypt and Central Africa Republic. Problem Statement/ Research Questions Consumers always confirm that the value or quality of the product is acceptable or equivalent to the amount of money they paid for. It is unquestionable that customer perceived value as the ratio of the perceived benefits (Monroe, 1990). In other words, customers always expect the highest and best quality of the product for what they had paid for. There have been studies of forbidden honey imported in China by the United Kingdom and the European Union and Canada due to the content of the chemical, Chloramphenicol which is a type of slow process destructive antibiotic that can caused toxicity in human health. (Ingram, 2002). This is because large packers and manufacturers have no concern over business ethics and quality management by mixing the specific honey with the American honey in order to decrease their overall cost. Therefore it has become cheap honey that has commonly been used in daily intake. Some consumers have been deceived by cheaper price marketing strategies. Researchers argued that price promotion occasionally does not bring positive effect on purchase intention but negative effects. There has been some figure of consumers that do not check the origin country of the honey from the container which eventually will lead to misinformation. Nevertheless, consumers do not have the initiatives to know more about the legal packaging and nutrition level as they presumed its totally safe to consume. They simply are being deceived by the fake messages. This practice may lead to the development of contraband or fake honey to be delivered globally through black market. Also, most of the commercial honey was thinned by added syrups. There have been evidence to support the idea of product packaging can affect the consumers buying behaviour. All the aspect such as colour, shape, brand belief, designs, brand personality, and brand image plays an important role in affecting consumers buying behaviour in purchasing honey because consumer do not actually think intensely about all brands at all before they walked into the store to buy. More than 70 percent of purchase decisions are achieved through at the point of sale after a detailed market research is conducted (Connolly and Davidson, 1996). Honey products have been developing from health supplements field to economic development field. In the past issue has triggered a lot of numbers of academicians and researchers to conduct a thorough research on this issue. Few research questions they arose are as follow: What is the Malaysians level of understanding of honey products? Does the quality of the products affect the consumption of honey products among consumers? Does the medical conditions played an important role in affecting the consumers satisfaction and buying decision? Does the brand reputation affect the consumption of honey products among consumers? Is physical appearance really important in order to affect the consumers to purchase honey products? What are the correlations between consumption of honey products and pricing? Research Objectives In order to answer all the research questions, the following objectives are clearly defined: To determine the level of understanding of honey products among Malaysians. To investigate the relationship between the quality of products and consumption of honey products. To explore the relationship between the medical condition affecting consumption of honey products. To define the relationship between the reputation and consumption of honey products. To explain the relationship between the physical appearances which may affect the consumption of honey products? To clarify the relationship of pricing affecting the consumption of honey products. Significance of study The topic on the factors that affect the consumers to purchase honey products has seldom been discussed in recent research. Upon the completion of this research shall grant more essential information and guidance to the honey maker industries as the honey served well in economics and health fields. Nevertheless, this research is beneficial to those who are interested in learning more about consumers behaviour toward honey products and factors affecting it. Also, the independent variables served as a strong purpose to the honey maker industries as the research might help the industries to change the method and implement the necessary strategy in term of manipulating the strategy related to honey in order to enhance the competitive advantage in modern marketplace. Lastly, this research also studies the behavior and satisfaction of consumers purchasing honey products. Honey industries have made a great impact on employment and economics in the agricultural and health field. People with experiences in honey and bees can easily being employed by honey manufacturer companies, pharmacies, traditional medical store and hospitals because those businesses lack of potential input (Mclane, 2012). Scope of study This research mainly focuses on middle age adults in Malaysia as they are the primary consumers of honey products because their percentage of buying intention is higher compared to young adulthood and elderly. The age of middle adulthood is 30 to 65 (Cattin and Wattink, 1982). The middle age adults are the most suitable candidates for this research because their physical fitness and mental obligation start to decrease as age is catching up to them or maybe they purchased honey products for their family usage. Therefore, they are the one who need honey products and most importantly is that they are the categorized group whom are willing and able to pay for honey products as supplements (Ee, 2012). Operational Definition The independent variables are quality of the product, medical condition, brand reputation, physical appearance, and pricing while the dependent variable is consumption of honey products. Quality of product The variety of types and characteristics of a specific product to its ability to meet given requirements and in degree of excellence. Medical condition The benefits of health which can be obtained by undertaking the product. Brand reputation The recognition which has increased the clearness and accessibility to information through mission statement, marketing and affiliation. Pricing Customers perceived value. Different pricing methods vary depending on the degree of importance on selection, estimation, evaluation of cost, comparative analysis and market situation. Consumption of honey products The act of consuming the honey and also the ways applying the product. Consumers behavior towards honey products Comportment of an individual or groups acquiring, using, and disposing of products, services, ideas or experiences. Also includes the study of understanding consumer thoughts, actions and feelings. 1.7 Organisational of Research Chapter 1 discuss about the introduction of the honey products and factors influencing the consumers purchasing of honey products. Then, there is the background of the study followed up by the objectives and problem statement which has been clearly defined here. The background of the research mainly covers the managers who are part of catalyst of virtual product development as sample in this research. This chapter also covers the significance of the study, the scope of the study and the operational definition. Chapter 2 is examine the past literature review that are related to this field, factors affecting the consumers to purchase honey products. This chapter is more on extracting the past researches done by researchers on the dependent and independent variables involved. Chapter 3 will describe the research methods that were employed in conducting this research in order to find out the tendencies of the consumption of honey responding to the independent variables. The theoretical framework and hypothesis will be shown in this part .Lastly, the sampling design and data analysis method will be discussed in details in this part. Chapter 4 express all the analysis of the data collected done by using the Statistical Process for Social Science (SPSS) version 17. The frequencies and percentage of the demographic profile is shown in this chapter. Three tests are done in this research to test the hypotheses which are the Reliability Test, Pearson Correlation Test and Multiple Regression Analysis. Chapter 5 shows the discussion of the hypotheses .Each hypotheses is explained in details and the latter part of the research is the implications and recommendations for the research study. Lastly, conclusion is made to sum up the entire research. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction The literature review is a documentation of the related studies from past researchers, with the objectives to deliver supporting evidence for the research. Furthermore, literature review is designed to provide a clearer preview and logical presentation to the studies. In this particular research, the literature review is divided into three sections which consist of introduction, brief history, dependent variable and independent variable. The introduction will be the explanation of the meaning literature review while the brief history will be the description of past history of honey industry in the world. Nevertheless, the dependent variable will be the consumers behaviour of purchasing honey related products. On the other hand, the independent variables are the quality of products, medical condition, brand reputation, physical appearance and pricing. 2.2.1 Brief history of honey industry (world) Honey has been in the history of mankind since 2100 B.C. where researchers found the evidence on the written wall of the Sumerian and Babylonian civilisation as well as in Egypt and India. Researchers even assumed that honey existed even earlier than the civilisations. Hunig was given as a supplementary English name for honey where it was then been well recognised as sweetener used by many people (Filippone, 2012). Back in those days, honey is nevertheless considered as essential in terms of food, beverages, furniture polishes and glosses as well as medical purpose (Crane, 1975). Honey has also often been used as practices of currency exchange, tributes or offerings (Ransome, 2002). Honey industry in the world has faced a lot of obstacles such as global weather patterns in Argentina and Chile where the extreme temperatures and dry humidity affect the honey drastically and market manipulation of honey price in Europe. As a result, the US crop is estimated at the end of the year to decline to approximately 150,000,000- 160,000,000 pounds which is one of the lowest crops ever recorded the history of honey production (Phipps, 2012). Likewise, the honey production in 2005 had been decline to as much as five percent worldwide (Flottum, 2005). There has been research from Anton (1995) where farm management is practiced so that the organic food management can meet the Federal regulations of safety and quality of food supply including Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Nutrition Labelling and Education Act. Still, beekeeping has never failed to be one of the primogenital forms of animal husbandry the world has ever known. (McNulty et al, 2006). As an implication, honey has been serving as an important benchmark and standard for both consumers and suppliers in the honey industry ever since (Baltrusaityte et al, 2007). As nutrition knowledge has been expanded and was put as a priority in science field, many people were pretty well-aware of understanding the assortment and types of foods, their nutritional composition and human dietary in their daily life. Soon from gaining the knowledge, people were somehow able to indicate the relationship between different type and combination of food and the links and good health as well as food intake. (Valentine, 2000). Since then, honey industries have been making a giant leap as essential food supplement for human (Aparna and Rajalakshmi, 1999). Also, there has been a research defining the price of organic honey being relatively high in the market demand (Phipps, 2012). 2.2.2 Consumer behaviour towards honey products Consumer behaviour is undoubtedly defined as the behaviour that consumers project in searching for, using, purchasing, evaluating, and disposing of products and services that they assume will satisfy their needs (Pelau, 2011). The term is defined in order to have a better understanding and information on the relationship between consumer behaviour and the marketing concept as well as market segmentation, targeting and positioning (Hawkins pg 11, 2010). Customer satisfaction is considered as the top notch of the whole idea of consumer behaviour as its defined as customers feelings towards a certain value of the product or service that was received as a result of using a specific organizations proposing in precise use situations which is essential (Woodruff, 1993). Own Total Product Consumer Decision Superior Value Process Expected Competitors Total Sales Product Perceived Value Delivered Customers Satisfaction Figure 2.1 Creating Satisfied Customers Source: Consumer Behaviour: Building Marketing Strategy 11th Edition 2010 pg 24 Figure 2.1 shows on how to create satisfied customers especially for industries that grow from its emerging status into large scale. There has been a research showing that most of the consumers usually comprehend themselves bearing with risks instead of benefits (Reid, 2000 a,b). This occurrence is based on habitualized behaviour and decision making as most of the consumers always purchase it repeatedly until they are familiarized and put their trust in it which is better known as superior value expected. From the occurrence of sale, customers perceived value were delivered and satisfaction is obtained (Pelau, 2011). According to Phipps (2008), industries that sell natural products tend to generate a connection bond and send confident messages to consumers so that there will be an increase of consumption level, new products are developed, consumers perception value boosted and the increased entrance of higher quality products into the market. Occasionally, there are consumers which want to obtain high quality of food products with unique and exclusive characteristics (Madas et al, 2011).Not overlooking that consumers always put their interest and their money into foods that are free of contaminants, pesticides, chemicals and other health risks so that they are somehow able to feel assured in their rational mind (Mintel Organic Foods, 2006, p.1). Some of the consumers react to the purchase decision making are sometimes based on past experience (Robert Douglas, 2001). However, most of the consumers always purchase the product or service based on emotional aspect rather than rational aspect and its important to capture their buying decision by projecting superior value of the product or service which can be done through mass media and advertising. Consumers are usually influenced not only by economy but psychology as well (Leon et al, 2011). Nonetheless, human behaviour can be best explained by the Theory Planned Behaviour (TPB) as the theory are widely used in managerial decision making in order to link between attitudes and behaviour of a customer (Sommer, 2011). It is the way of understanding on how an individual would react and behave in a specific manner which is influenced by attitudes, norms and perceived behavioural control (Smith et al, 2007). The Theory Planned Behaviour is a detailed development of reason-based actions which explained; people do what they like and intend to do whereas people do not do what they dislike and not intend to do (Fishbein, 1975). The fundamental elements of the Theory Planned Behaviour are behavioural beliefs and attitude toward behaviour, normative and subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and lastly the behavioural intention (Ajzen et al, 1986 Chan et al, 1993). Behavioural beliefs are the understanding of consequences or particular behaviour while attitude toward behav iour is defined as progressive or adverse valuation of self-performance of the particular behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). Normative norm is an individuals perception based on peer or family influence while subjective norm is an individuals acuity based on societal normative pressure (Kuhl, 1985). Then again, perceived behavioural control refers to peoples perception of their ability to execute an assigned behaviour. Lastly, the behavioural intention is the autonomous probability that he or she will participate in a given behaviour (Committee on Communication for Behaviour Change in 21st Century, 2002). Mutually, the Theory Planned Behaviour has a higher rate of success in forecasting the intentions rather than the behaviour aspect (Armitage et al, 2001 Sheeran, 2002 Sutton, 1998). Understanding consumers behaviour and purchasing patterns especially on product line are extremely crucial in order to create inevitable customers satisfaction level (Leon et al, 2011). Without potential consumers to purchase honey products, there will be decline opportunity for honey makers to survive in the natural food industry (Anton 1995). 2.2.3 Quality of Product The meaning of quality refers to any situations and perception where consumers decisive roles and patterns are manipulated (Oliver 1997). Due to its differences, there are many meanings. Quality of product is well-defined as superiority or excellence of performance and apparent quality of a certain product which judged and assessed based on consumers perception and opinion (Aaker1991). A typical characteristic of an object to its degree of superiority is known as quality (Conklin Thompson, 1993). There are people who favour quality as the originator or determinant of satisfaction because the customers are the one that define and perceive quality (Cronin Taylor, 1992; Sullivan, 1993; Spreng and Mackoy 1996). Product quality can be examined under two different categories which are objectives quality and perceived quality (Brunso et al, 2005). Measuring the quality is fixed by intrinsic and extrinsic value. The intrinsic value denotes to something that are interrelated to the physical form of the product such as colour, appearance and volume whereas extrinsic value is related to non-physical form of the product such as branding and product information (Zeithaml 1988 and Steemkamp 1997). There has been a research done by Anderson and Sullivan in 1993 stating that consumers may have different preferences or obligations with respect to which characteristics of a product quality need to be improvised simultaneously, and, to what extent just to get more satisfactory result. This is because attitude of the consumers are credentials for satisfaction which links the relationships between quality perceptions and the product itself (Maria, 2003). Attitude of the consumers can either be constructive or inauspicious depending on the quality of product they received (Fishbein Ajden 1975). Therefore, product owners need to find out the missing links and think out of the box to give solutions and improvisations on the products if its been found under dissatisfactory level in order to maintain customers loyalty (Pearson, 2006). Product from industrialized countries such as China, United States of America and the European Union are supposed to have higher quality compared to those from less developed countries such as Vietnam and Iran (Cordell, 1992). For honey maker industries, the quality of honey is primarily branded by its sensorial, chemical, physical and microbiological characteristics. Each and every honey products that been manufactured have to be under license, approved by International Honey Commissions and meets the requirements by governments food safety authority (IMAQE) in order to gain customers trust and loyalty (Mariana et al, 2011). For Products Performance Serviceability    Reliable Reasonable Price    Ease of Use   Maintainability Durability   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Simplicity Aesthetics Available   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Safe   Ã‚     Ease of Disposal Figure 2.2- The content of quality for products Source: http://www.bexcellence.org/What-Is-Quality.html For a product to achieve its maximum potential quality in order to satisfy consumers requires to achieve most of the attributes such as outstanding performance to execute, reasonable price to purchase, durable, easily available everywhere, easily to be service, user friendly, simple as possible, safe, reliable, easily to maintain, aesthetics and easily to dispose (Based on Figure 2.2). The tool for measuring quality which has been suggested by Petrick (2002) is divided into four sub groups which are quality outstanding, reliability, trustworthiness and consistency. On the other hand, consultation advice from industry experts and product samplings are often the key to maintain a high level quality of the product (Elder 2005; Ross 2005). Nonetheless when the quality of the product is good or reliable, consumers dont mind and willing to pay more extra for these attributes (Figure 2.2) as they are well aware that the virtue of quality surpassed quantity (Cronin Taylor, 1992 and Sullivan, 1993; Spreng and Mackoy 1996). However, consumers tend to understand the quality information provided on the label as well as based on their observations in order to purchase a certain product. A good quality product can constructs customer pleasure and delight while an inferior quality product will lead to customers dissatisfaction and irritation (Kotler Armstrong 2010). 2.2.4 Medical Condition Medical condition can be classified as condition which the occurrence of medical problem that needs to be treated or managed (George, 2012). Diseases from major to minor state or even the sign of disease which occurred on an individual is also considered as medical condition (Rod, 2009). People nowadays have always been concerning about health preservation and improvement especially for themselves and their family (Schifferstein and Oude, Ophuis, 1998; Tregear et al, 1994) .Consciousness on the nutrition, health, and quality of food they eat has bec

Tess of the D´Urbervilles :: Essays Papers

Tess of the D ´Urbervilles Tess of the d ´Urbervilles written by Thomas Hardy is a novel about a young girl of a poor family whose life changes because someone tells her family that they belong to a noble family. But is it a bad change or a good one? This story is written in third person point of view. John Durbeyfield is walking through the street at night and suddenly a historian visiting the town, stops and tells him that his last name is really d ´Urberville and it belongs to a noble family. Sir John hurries and tells the news to his family. He is a very poor man. So he tells his young daughter, Tess, to go find job at their â€Å"family’s† town, but Tess’s mother never warned her about how mean man can be. There, Tess meets a man, Alec d ´Urberville, and in a short time he manages to seduce her and he forces her to do something she didn’t want to. She leaves immediately that town and shortly after finds out that she is pregnant but her baby, soon after being born, dies. This makes her have a lot of anger towards men. When she goes to find a job at another town she meets a very charming man, Angel Clare, and very soon they fall in love and get married, but when Tess tells him her dark secret he is not able to forgive her after he has done wrong too by having relations with a woman he did not love, and knowing it was not Tess’s fault. He then leaves her. While Angel is gone Alec starts to seduce Tess again and she falls for him again. When Angel realizes he was wrong it was too late. Tess then realizes she really loves Angel. Alec was still that mean man she had met and was forced to kill him. Angel and Tess are finally very happy, but just for two days because Tess is put in jail and killed. Alec ends up marrying Tess’s sister Liza-Lu like Tess wanted when she knew she was going to be killed. This story takes place in the countryside of England at first in a little village called Marlott, a poor place in a little cottage where she and her family live, and then in several other towns a bit more sophisticated.

In Tess of the DUrbervilles, how does Hardy present Tess Essay

In Hardy’s tragic novel, nothing is as clear as it seems. Although Alec D’Urberville was the ostensible instigator of the protagonist Tess Durbeyfield’s downfall, it must be argued that Angel Clare plays just as a significant role in her destruction. Initial contemporary readings saw Tess and Angel’s relationship as doomed by Tess’ past, while more modern interpretations point to Angel’s decision to leave for the failure of the marriage. Throughout the novel, Hardy makes great use of foreshadowing in order to emphasise how the numerous tragedies in his protagonist’s life cumulate in disaster. This has never been more apparent than with Tess and Angel: as a keystone of the novel, their relationship is haunted by the spectre of the past all the way through. By introducing Angel almost as soon as he establishes Tess’ character, Hardy makes it clear from the outset that this relationship will be more significant than any other.. It is evident that Angel and Tess will fall in love, but what is even more arresting is Angel’s initial and lasting impression that Tess is the epitome of purity and maidenhood. Hardy starkly emphasises Tess’ virginal aspects through compound nominal phrases such as â€Å"white shape† and â€Å"pretty maiden†, creating the lasting image of her as a perfect woman. However, when Angel leaves and â€Å"dismisses the subject from his mind†, Hardy at once shows Angel’s objectification of Tess and how easily he can put aside her hurt, hinting at their relationship to come. Even once Angel knows who Tess is, his initial impression of her as a â€Å"fresh and virginal daughter of Nature† does not change but only becomes deeper embedded in his and the reader’s subconscious, painting a cruel contrast between his expectations and the real knowledge of Tess’ past. As soon as Angel and Tess meet again at the idyllic Talbothay’s Dairy, Hardy introduces the severe contrast between Tess’ simple nature and Angel’s intellectual presence, foreshadowing more than ever that once Tess’ past comes to light, the relationship is doomed. When Angel first notices Tess at the breakfast table, Hardy subtly hints about his idiosyncratic tendency to see what he wants to see to the reader, saying that he â€Å"was ever in the habit of neglecting the particulars of an outward scene for the general impression†. This may seem to be incongruous with Angel’s introspective and thoughtful character, but when considered alongside his behaviour towards Tess, it fits perfectly. The use of the adverb â€Å"ever† suggests that Angel is fixed and unswerving in his beliefs and principles. In particular, Hardy is setting the scene for Angel’s refusal to take into account the mitigating circumstances of Tess’ rape, as he only sees the gross magnitude of the sin that has been committed. He refuses to entertain the notion that her past is similar to his, gasping â€Å"My God- how can forgiveness meet such a grotesque- prestigidation as that! † Hardy’s use of the adjective â€Å"grotesque† indicates how Angel simply cannot equate such a brutal act as rape with the innocent Tess, and it is anger at this, rather than at Tess herself, which causes his outburst. Additionally, Angel is idealistic in his morals, â€Å"imaginative to impracticability† as Hardy later scorns him, and this early quotation shows how Angel refuses to compromise his high ideals for anything, even his love for Tess. He takes advantage of her unshakeable belief in his views and asks her to â€Å"Think of years to come†¦ and this past matter getting known- for it must be known†, striking fear into her honest heart and preventing her from using her feminine charms as a tool of persuasion. Tess genuinely believes him and does not think to suggest emigrating: her loyalty to him is such that she does not question his decision. Early on in Angel and Tess’ relationship, Hardy describes Tess’ unhappiness at her apparent want of intellectual capability compared to Angel, whom she sees as â€Å"an intelligence rather than a man†. Straightaway, Tess’ assumed inferiority is introduced, highlighting the insurmountable gap in the backgrounds of the two characters. Hardy even points out that during Angel’s initial reaction to Tess’ history, he still felt enough of a â€Å"back current of sympathy through which a woman of the world might have conquered him†, but she takes his emotional confusion as a final judgement, simply because she continues to see him as so superior to her. With the phrase â€Å"woman of the world†, Hardy brings attention to Tess’ pitiful lack of experience concerning men and relationships: he highlights how submissive Tess is that she will not attempt to change Angel’s mind, but also how pure and innocent she remains, that she will not use â€Å"her exceptional physical nature† in order to convince him to stay. However, through the use of the abstract noun â€Å"current†, the novelist implies that Angel’s emotions are transient and ever-shifting, portraying him as unreliable and untrustworthy. Angel’s idealism continues to be an important factor of the developing romance, creating the impression that the whole relationship is a fai ade. During the idyllic early morning meetings, Hardy illustrates a hazy new transitional world â€Å"in that strange and solemn interval, the twilight of the morning† to mirror Angel’s rose-tinted and not entirely clear vision of Tess. The author continually uses a semantic field of religious references to illustrate the significance of certain moments. For instance, Hardy describes â€Å"a feeling of isolation, as if they were Adam and Eve†, which not only confers heroic status on them, but creates an ominous sense that Tess’ past will eventually catch up with them and drive them from the lush, fertile Eden that is not only Talbothay’s Dairy, but the bubble of idealism in which the lovers are living. While Angel may be raised to â€Å"godlike† status while Tess is referred to as â€Å"the Magdalen†, supporting Tess’ idolatry of him, they cannot escape the third presence in their relationship. In one of Hardy’s most sensual descriptions of Tess, he describes â€Å"the red interior of her mouth† and compares it to a snake’s. The sensuality of the colour red and the snake both reference Alec D’Urberville, who is consistently given Satanic attributes such as â€Å"animalism† and â€Å"Paganism† as well as possessing â€Å"black angularities† in both appearance and personality, here symbolising the temptation that drove both Adam and Eve from Eden. Hardy cleverly employs the religious lexis: owing to his contempt of traditional, â€Å"quaint and curious† religion (which is divested in Angel and Tess’ rebellious views), his use of instantly recognisable Biblical features makes the point that Angel and Tess’ doomed relationship is simply a sad story that has been played out many times at some level over the centuries. Due to his portrayal of Tess as pure and guiltless, Hardy uses religion to emphasise how women like Tess have been in similar predicaments ever since Eve. It also gives a greater gravity to Tess and Angel’s romance, as the reader knows that it is finite. Hardy continues to expose faults in Angel’s character, namely his hypocrisy and ability to change his mind easily, showing how the relationship only leads to disaster. During their courtship he staunchly argues that her low position as a milkmaid does not and will not deter him- on the contrary, Angel insists he needs a wife â€Å"who knows all about the management of farms† and Tess, therefore, is better suited to him than the Mercy Chant. However, during the passionate argument when Tess follows Angel out of the house after her confession, Angel states firmly that he and Tess belong to â€Å"different societies† and compares her to â€Å"an unapprehending peasant woman† who has never experienced any form of society. This example is not unique: Hardy portrays Angel as eager to seize on an idea and find any evidence to fit it, regardless of previous beliefs: for instance, his ever-changing opinion of â€Å"old families† which only depends on his attitude to Tess at the time. One of the most obvious events that foreshadows the ending of the novel is Angel’s somnambulation. Hardy wrote this scene to symbolise all of Angel’s conflicting emotion and Tess’ self-destructive nature. The outpouring of Angel’s love for his â€Å"dearest, darling Tess! So sweet, so good, so true! â€Å", which he kept so carefully hidden during the day, hints at yet another change of mind on his part later on in the novel, while his exclamation â€Å"‘dead, dead! ‘† signifies not only how Tess is morally dead to him, but how he feels his actions have killed the spirit and love within his â€Å"‘poor, poor Tess'†. Even though Tess suspects multiple times that Angel’s actions could lead to her death, either intentionally or accidentally, â€Å"self-solicitude was near extinction in her†, linking to how she remains placid and uncomplaining even throughout temptation and harsh conditions at Flintcombe-Ash. When Angel â€Å"carefully laid† her in the open coffin, Hardy is symbolising that due to Tess’ devotion to Angel, she will allow herself to be led to her death, arguably the greatest moment of symbolism in the novel. In Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hardy as the omniscient narrator remains firmly on the side of his protagonist: she is the vehicle for him to express his contempt of the traditionally misogynistic values so strongly upheld by Victorian society. Although Angel professes to reject these conventions, he ultimately submits to them, thus creating an even greater divide between the two lovers. In her final hours, Tess herself states that her happiness with Angel â€Å"could not have lasted† and that it was better that she would be gone, fulfilling Hardy’s portrayal of a love that was sincere, almost ethereal, but lavished on a fallible, human man, and therefore inevitably doomed to fail.

Timeline for Applying to Medical School

Timeline for Applying to Medical School Although many students succeed in college despite waiting until the last minute to write papers and cram for exams, applying to medical school requires a great deal of time and an early start. The medical school admissions process is a marathon rather than a sprint. If you really want to win a spot in medical school you must plan ahead and carefully monitor your progress. The timeline below is a guide. Be sure to discuss your aspirations with your academic advisor and another faculty of your undergraduate program to ensure that you are on the right track given your unique circumstances. First Semester, Junior Year: Researching Medical Schools and Preparing for Exams As you enter the first semester of junior year in your undergraduate program, you should seriously begin considering if medical school is the right choice for you. Completing your graduate degree and residency programs are going to require a lot of time, concentration, motivation, and dedication to the craft so you should be absolutely certain this is the career path you want to pursue before investing the money and time in applying to medical school.   Once youve determined that you do want to pursue medicine, you should then determine what a  successful application  entails. Review course requirements and ensure that your transcript satisfies these minimums. You should focus on gaining clinical, community and volunteer experience to boost your application as these will set you apart from other applicants. During this time, it is important that you familiarize yourself with the  application process  and review the resources at the  Association of American Medical Colleges  site to gather information about medical schools. You should also find out how your school handles writing recommendation letters for medical school  as well as how to obtain one. For instance, some programs provide a committee letter written by several faculty members who collectively evaluate your potential for a career in medicine.   Finally, you should prepare for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The MCAT is critical to your application, testing your knowledge of science and basic principles of medicine. Learn about its content and how it is administered.by studying material in biology, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry  and physics and by investing in MCAT prep books. You may also want to take  practice exams that can help you determine your strengths and weaknesses. Remember to register early if you plan to take the first test in January. Second Semester, Junior Year: Exams and Letters of Evaluation As early as January of your junior year, you can take the MCAT and finish off one portion of your application process. Fortunately, you may retake the test through the summer, but as always remember to register early because seats fill quickly. Its advisable that you take the MCAT in Spring, early enough to allow you to retake it if needed.   During the second semester, you should also request  letters of evaluation  either through a committee letter or a specific faculty who will write a personalized letter of recommendation. You may need to  prepare materials  for their evaluation such as your course load, resumà © and extracurricular involvement on and off campus.   By the end of the semester, you should finalize these letters and your list of medical schools you hope to apply to.  Request a copy of your transcript to ensure that there are no errors and that you have taken the range of courses required by all the programs youve chosen. During the summer, you should begin working on the  AMCAS application. It may be submitted as early as June with the first application deadline August 1 and application deadlines continuing through December. Make sure that you know the deadline dates for the schools you choose. First Semester, Senior Year: Completing Applications and Interviews You will only have a few more opportunities to retake the MCAT as you enter the senior year of your undergraduate degree. Once you have a score youre satisfied with, you should complete the AMCAS application and await follow-up from the institutions where youve applied to attend. If medical schools are interested in your application, they send secondary applications that contain additional questions. Again, take time writing your essays and seek feedback then submit your secondary applications. Also, dont forget to send thank you notes to faculty who wrote on your behalf to thank them but also to subtly remind them of your journey and need of their support.   Medical school interviews may begin as early as August but usually take place later in September and continue  into early spring. Prepare for interviews by considering what you may be asked and determining your own questions. As you get ready for this portion of the application process, it may be helpful to have friends or colleagues give you mock interviews. This will allow you a stress-free (relatively) test of how you might handle the real thing.   Second Semester, Senior Year: Acceptance or Rejection Schools will begin notifying applicants of their application status beginning in mid-October and continuing through spring, depending largely on whether or not you have had or will have an interview yet. If you are accepted, you can breathe a sigh of relief as you narrow your choices of schools that accepted you to the one school you will attend.   However, if you are waitlisted, you should update schools about new accomplishments. It is important during this time to check in on the status a few times throughout the end of the semester and especially in the summer. If on the other hand you are not accepted to medical school,  learn from your experience and consider your options and whether to apply again next year. As the semester and your degree program draw to a close, take a moment to relish in your accomplishments, pat yourself on the back and then select the one school that you want to attend. Then, its time to enjoy the summer - classes  begin as early as August.