Writer's choice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 35

Writer's choice - Essay Example This is because material misrepresentation of the facts of a product has a potential effect of making the customers to make decisions to purchase the product, something that would not have happened had the facts been set right. Misrepresentation of information to customers is both an ethical issue as well as a tort that can attract civil liability (CCAB, 2011). The ethical issue arises as the company’s president is only driven by greed desires to keep up with the external competition that the company faces. That is why he is keen on deliberating changing the estimated life of the company’s principal product, non-biodegradable plastic cartons, from 8 years to 12 years. He wants to do this to improve the profitability of the company while not putting the needs of the customers in mind. A potential ethical situation that can happen when dealing with bad debts is when the unethical accountants modify the financial registers of a company and scheme the numbers so as to generate a fabricated picture that the company is making profits (CCAB, 2011). This can arise if the accountant in custody of the company’s financial statements and balance sheets is under unwarranted pressure and tension from the management who want to record a success of the company. This pressure makes the accountants to provide deceitful reports of the proceeds, possessions and liabilities of the company. This type of a fraud is responsible for short-term remunerations for the company’s but it can also lead to the ruin of the company once it is discovered by the relevant authorities (CCAB,

Geometry in Everyday Life Essay Example for Free

Geometry in Everyday Life Essay A solar water heater is the most competitive alternative to conventional water heating methods such as electric geysers and fuel-fed boilers. It makes an attractive and sustainable option, with its global distribution, pollution free nature, virtually inexhaustible supply and near-zero operational cost. Solar water heaters run on a free fuel (i. e. sunshine), thus saving on energy costs that help recover its initial cost in just 2-4 years. Hot water throughout the year: the system works all year round, though youll need to heat the water further with a boiler or immersion heater during the winter months. Cut your bills: sunlight is free, so once youve paid for the initial installation your hot water costs will be reduced. Cut your carbon footprint: solar hot water is a green, renewable heating system and can reduce your carbon dioxide emissions. Solar water heating systems use solar panels, called collectors, fitted to your roof. These collect heat from the sun and use it to heat up water which is stored in a hot water cylinder. A boiler or immersion heater can be used as a back up to heat the water further to reach the temperature you want. There are two types of solar water heating panels: evacuated tubes (as in the picture above) flat plate collectors, which can be fixed on the roof tiles or integrated into the roof. Larger solar panels can also be arranged to provide some contribution to heating your home as well. However, the amount of heat provided is generally very small and it is not normally considered worth while. Maintenance costs for solar water heating systems are generally very low. Most solar water heating systems come with a five-year or ten-year warranty and require little maintenance. Once fitted your installer should leave written details of any maintenance checks that you can carry out from time to time, ensuring everything is working properly. Perhaps the most important thing you can check for yourself from time to time is whether there are any leaks. If there are any leaks of anti-freeze (even if you can’t see any liquid) this will have a strong smell. If you notice this you should contact your installer. In general you should keep an eye on your system to check that it is doing what it has been designed to do. If you are not getting hot water or the solar pipework is cold (when the pump is running) on warm, sunny days then again you should contact your installer. For peace of mind some installation companies offer an annual service check. You should have your system checked more thoroughly by an accredited installer every 3-7 years, or as specified by your installer. It is likely that after this period of time the anti-freeze that is used to protect your system in the winter months will need to topped up or be replaced as it breaks down over time reducing the performance of your system. Anti-freeze lasts better if the solar water system is used throughout the year and not left unused during the warmest weeks of the year. This cost of replacing the anti-freezer is usually around ? 100. The other thing that your installer should check is the pump. In a well maintained system, pumps can last for ten years plus and usually cost around ? 90 to replace. Solar water heating systems can achieve savings on your energy bills. Based on the results of our recent field trial, typical savings from a well-installed and properly used system are ? 60 per year when replacing gas heating and ? 5 per year when replacing electric immersion heating; however, savings will vary from user to user. Typical carbon savings are around 230kgCO2/year when replacing gas and 500kgCO2/year when replacing electric immersion heating. Spherical reflector type cooker Spherical mirrors are the simplest type of concentrator and are easy to build and use. It is easy to focus sun rays, and if one opts for a moving vessel to meet the focus, cooking can also be done very easily. Such a design was suggested for the first time in the year 1961 by Stam (1961). He suggested a large reflector of 4. m diameter made of local material which could even include mud, and the reflector surface suitably smoothed with fine mud/cement and coated with aluminized polyester. An appropriate technology handbook describes a simple method of construction of the spherical mirror in the ground (a tall tripod with a long string to which a stone is attached at the tip, will act as a guide for excavating a hollow in the ground) and after finishing and stabilizing the interior, the reflector material could be stuck to make it into a spherical mirror. Such a mirror, of about 2. m in diameter, would do useful work for at least five to six hours a day. The cooking vessel could be hung from the tripod or a suitable stand and positioned to meet the focus. Dan Halacy (1974) suggests a similar design. He uses two full and several half cardboard ribs to fabricate the base and attaches mylar film as a reflector. This device was meant mainly for campers. Bamboo and/or other locally available materials could be used to fabricate such hemispherical baskets. Recently Prof. Quintone of the United Kingdom has taken up this design and is trying to popularize it in places likePeru. In his beautifully designed and illustrated site he presents detailed instructions on fabricating the design and using it. The cooker below is a simple steel bowl used for carrying sand, is coated with a reflector foil and a blackened cooking vessel is put in it. The entire assembly is covered over by a flat sheet glass. The design is very similar toSuryakund cited by Kuhnke et al in their book Solar Cookers in the third world. In Suryakund, the vessels are kept in a inverted glass jar. Like Suryakund, this cooker too would suffer from limitation of size. Unfortunately, this simple design has not attracted much attention, but on a very big scale, like in power generation (as in Marseilles, France), such a hemispherical mirror is being used (Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1981). Scientists ofAustralia (Anon. 1979) have presented a similar design. Margaret Koshoni developed the Cone Cooker to suit the needs of Nigerian women. Most people live in flats with balconies; the structure of the balconies will shade the CooKit and make a shadow. The Cone Cooker being placed on a stand has the advantage of elevation and the stand can be moved about without disturbing the cooking. Medved et al. , propose an interesting design (1996) called a SOLAR BALL. It is an inflatable plastic ball with lower part of reflective material. The cooking vessel is kept at the base. It is an interesting variation but there appears to be some serious limitations with reference to size of the ball as well as size and handling of the cooking vessel. Recently, the spherical geometry seems to have made a come back, and we see that at Auroville in India a 15 meter diameter mirror cooks food for over 1500 persons. A similar large solar bowl was built at the University of Mexico. photovoltaic solar cells PV cells are made from layers of semi-conducting material, usually silicon. When light shines on the cell it creates an electric field across the layers. The stronger the sunshine, the more electricity is produced. Groups of cells are mounted together in panels or modules that can be mounted on your roof. The power of a PV cell is measured in kilowatts peak (kWp). Thats the rate at which it generates energy at peak performance in full direct sunlight during the summer. PV cells come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Most PV systems are made up of panels that fit on top of an existing roof, but you can also fit solar tiles. Solar tiles and slates Solar tiles are designed to be used in place of ordinary roof tiles. A system made up of solar tiles will typically cost around twice as much as an equivalent panel system, although you will save the money you would have spent on roof tiles or slates. Solar tile systems are not normally as cost-effective as panel systems, and are usually only considered where panels are not considered appropriate for aesthetic or planning reasons. Solar PV needs little maintenance – youll just need to keep the panels relatively clean and make sure trees dont begin to overshadow them. In the UK panels that are tilted at 15Â ° or more have the additional benefit of being cleaned by rainfall to ensure optimal performance. Debris is more likely to accumulate if you have ground mounted panels. If dust, debris, snow or bird droppings are a problem they should be removed with warm water (and perhaps some washing-up liquid or something similar – your installer can advise) and a brush or a high pressure hose (or telescopic cleaning pole) if the panels are difficult to reach. Always be careful if you are working above the ground or near the top of a ladder. Alternatively, there are a number of specialist window cleaning companies who will clean solar PV panels for you at a cost (of around ? 30 based on our research in March 2012) depending on the size of your array and location. Many of these companies use a water fed pole system which does away with the need for a ladder. Once fitted, your installer should leave written details of any maintenance checks that you should carry out from time to time to ensure everything is working properly. This should include details of the main inverter fault signals and key trouble-shooting guidance. Ideally your installer should demonstrate this to you at the point of handover. Keeping a close eye on your system and the amount of electricity it’s generating (alongside the weather conditions) will familiarise you with what to expect and alert you to when something might be wrong. The panels should last 25 years or more, but the inverter is likely to need replacing some time during this period, at a current cost of around ? 1,000. Consult with your installer for exact maintenance requirements before you commit to installing a solar PV system. Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of light into electricity at the atomic level. Some materials exhibit a property known as the photoelectric effect that causes them to absorb photons of light and release electrons. When these free electrons are captured, an electric current results that can be used as electricity. The photoelectric effect was first noted by a French physicist, Edmund Bequerel, in 1839, who found that certain materials would produce small amounts of electric current when exposed to light. In 1905, Albert Einstein described the nature of light and the photoelectric effect on which photovoltaic technology is based, for which he later won a Nobel prize in physics. The first photovoltaic module was built by Bell Laboratories in 1954. It was billed as a solar battery and was mostly just a curiosity as it was too expensive to gain widespread use. In the 1960s, the space industry began to make the first serious use of the technology to provide power aboard spacecraft. Through the space programs, the technology advanced, its reliability was established, and the cost began to decline. During the energy crisis in the 1970s, photovoltaic technology gained recognition as a source of power for non-space applications. A number of solar cells electrically connected to each other and mounted in a support structure or frame is called a photovoltaic module. Modules are designed to supply electricity at a certain voltage, such as a common 12 volts system. The current produced is directly dependent on how much light strikes the module. Photovoltaic solar plants work like this: As light hits the solar panels, the solar radiation is converted into direct current electricity (DC). The direct current flows from the panels and is converted into alternating current (AC) used by local electric utilities. Finally, the electricity travels through transformers, and the voltage is boosted for delivery onto the transmission lines so local electric utilities can distribute the electricity to homes and businesses. Solar-Thermal plants work like this: Solar collectors capture and concentrate sunlight to heat a synthetic oil called therminol, which then heats water to create steam. The steam is piped to an onsite turbine-generator to produce electricity, which is then transmitted over power lines. On cloudy days, the plant has a supplementary natural gas boiler. The plant can burn natural gas to heat the water, creating steam to generate electricity. Solar power plants use the suns rays to produce electricity. Photovoltaic plants and solar thermal systems are the most commonly used solar technologies today. ` Solar cells such as these are used in photovoltaic solar technology There are two types of solar power plants. They are differentiated depending on how the energy from the sun is converted into electricity either via photovoltaic or solar cells, or via solar thermal power plants. Photovoltaic plants A photovoltaic cell, commonly called a solar cell or PV, is a technology used to convert solar energy directly into electricity. A photovoltaic cell is usually made from silicon alloys. Particles of solar energy, known as photons, strike the surface of a photovoltaic cell between two semiconductors. These semiconductors exhibit a property known as the photoelectric effect, which causes them to absorb the photons and release electrons. The electrons are captured in the form of an electric current in other words, electricity. Solar thermal power plants A solar thermal plant generates heat and electricity by concentrating the suns energy. That in turn builds steam that helps to feed a turbine and generator to produce electricity. There are three types of solar thermal power plants: 1) Parabolic troughs This is the most common type of solar thermal plant. A solar field usually contains many parallel rows of solar parabolic trough collectors. They use parabola-shaped reflectors to focus the sun at 30 to 100 times its normal intensity. The method is used to heat a special type of fluid, which is then collected at a central location to generate high-pressure, superheated steam. 2) Solar power tower This system uses hundreds to thousands of flat sun-tracking mirrors called heliostats to reflect and concentrate the suns energy onto a central receiver tower. The energy can be concentrated as much as 1,500 times that of the energy coming in from the sun. A test solar power tower exists in Juelich in the western German state of North-Rhine Westphalia. It is spread over 18,000 square meters (194,000 square feet) and uses more than 2,000 sun-tracking mirrors to reflect and concentrate the suns energy onto a 60-meter-high (200 foot high) central receiver tower. The concentrated solar energy is used to heat the air in the tower to up to 700 degrees Celsius (1,300 degrees Fahrenheit). The heat is captured in a boiler and is used to produce electricity with the help of a steam turbine. Solar thermal energy collectors work well even in adverse weather conditions. Theyre used in the Mojave Desert in California and have withstood hailstorms and sandstorms. 3) Solar pond This is a pool of saltwater which collects and stores solar thermal energy. It uses so-called salinity-gradient technology. Basically, the bottom layer of the pond is extremely hot up to 85 degrees Celsius and acts as a transparent insulator, permitting sunlight to be trapped from which heat may be withdrawn or stored for later use.

Kurt Vonnegut - The Only Story of Mine Whose Moral I Know :: Biography Biographies Essays

Kurt Vonnegut - The Only Story of Mine Whose Moral I Know "This is the only story of mine whose moral I know. I don't think it's a marvelous moral; I simply happen to know what it is : We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." "Look out, Kid!" -Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues Vonnegut's work is rife with instances of lie become truth. Howard Campbell's own double identity is a particularly strong example, although Vonnegut's message is subtle. His actions were an attempt to survive, but also an attempt to serve his country. Campbell would no doubt have survived regardless - survival is his special talent - but we aren't given any indication that he would have become a cog in the war machine. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. When approached by Major Wirtanen, his contact with the DOD, he protests that he is not political and will not help the war's progress. He was not an anti-Semite, and does not become one. Furthermore, in at least two passages in the novel he makes reference to a true self that he kept hidden. Campbell's "we are" in his moral cannot be just a reference to personality. Instead, we must take a less psychological view. Campbell pretends to be a man who incites other men to hatred. He becomes that man. It is in Campbell's actions and their effects, along with his societal and legal persecution, that we find the lie that becomes truth. As Mr. Campbell was not the only propagandist at work in Germany in World War Two, it is for the most part impossible to determine what measure of war and genocide guilt he deserves. Nor can we say that he helped win the war in the sense that those who stormed the beaches at Normandy did. But as he became his lie to the Germans, he becomes his lie to Israel and Kurt Vonnegut - The Only Story of Mine Whose Moral I Know :: Biography Biographies Essays Kurt Vonnegut - The Only Story of Mine Whose Moral I Know "This is the only story of mine whose moral I know. I don't think it's a marvelous moral; I simply happen to know what it is : We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." "Look out, Kid!" -Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues Vonnegut's work is rife with instances of lie become truth. Howard Campbell's own double identity is a particularly strong example, although Vonnegut's message is subtle. His actions were an attempt to survive, but also an attempt to serve his country. Campbell would no doubt have survived regardless - survival is his special talent - but we aren't given any indication that he would have become a cog in the war machine. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. When approached by Major Wirtanen, his contact with the DOD, he protests that he is not political and will not help the war's progress. He was not an anti-Semite, and does not become one. Furthermore, in at least two passages in the novel he makes reference to a true self that he kept hidden. Campbell's "we are" in his moral cannot be just a reference to personality. Instead, we must take a less psychological view. Campbell pretends to be a man who incites other men to hatred. He becomes that man. It is in Campbell's actions and their effects, along with his societal and legal persecution, that we find the lie that becomes truth. As Mr. Campbell was not the only propagandist at work in Germany in World War Two, it is for the most part impossible to determine what measure of war and genocide guilt he deserves. Nor can we say that he helped win the war in the sense that those who stormed the beaches at Normandy did. But as he became his lie to the Germans, he becomes his lie to Israel and

Ancient Kemet :: World History

Ancient Kemet Egypt was without question the first great civilization in Africa. Surrounded by the hostile desert, Egypt arose as a populous settlement as a "gift of the Nile River," which flooded surrounding plains and thus supported game and wild plants. Straddling the strategic land crossroads between Africa, Asia, and Europe, Egypt also became a point for interchange between the Mediterranean and Red seas and the Persian Gulf. Many developments affecting the rest of Africa took place in or near the Nile Valley, such as the cultivation of plants and the development of metal smelting. Thus, Egypt's major role in forming early African civilizations has been well established. In modern times, scholars often underestimated the contributions of ancient Egypt to European civilization. More than two millennia ago, when the Ptolemaic Greeks came to rule Egypt, they extensively adopted and interpreted Egyptian spiritual, material, political, aesthetic, and intellectual systems. Although later Greek authorities freely acknowledged their cultural debt to Egypt, during the nineteenth century many European writers, limited by their ethnocentrism and racism, decided that black Africa could have had nothing to do with Europe's rise to greatness. Some treated Egypt as Middle Eastern and divorced it from the rest of Africa, whereas others went further, asserting the preeminence of northern Aryan sources of Greek civilization to the virtual exclusion of Semitic, African, and Egyptian influences. Beginning in ancient times, Egypt was a genuine crossroads of peoples and cultures, and its peoples were multiethnic and multiracial, as depicted in dynastic drawings of their rulers. They came from as far way as Asia Minor and Nubia, in the upper Nile Valley. Ancient Kemet :: World History Ancient Kemet Egypt was without question the first great civilization in Africa. Surrounded by the hostile desert, Egypt arose as a populous settlement as a "gift of the Nile River," which flooded surrounding plains and thus supported game and wild plants. Straddling the strategic land crossroads between Africa, Asia, and Europe, Egypt also became a point for interchange between the Mediterranean and Red seas and the Persian Gulf. Many developments affecting the rest of Africa took place in or near the Nile Valley, such as the cultivation of plants and the development of metal smelting. Thus, Egypt's major role in forming early African civilizations has been well established. In modern times, scholars often underestimated the contributions of ancient Egypt to European civilization. More than two millennia ago, when the Ptolemaic Greeks came to rule Egypt, they extensively adopted and interpreted Egyptian spiritual, material, political, aesthetic, and intellectual systems. Although later Greek authorities freely acknowledged their cultural debt to Egypt, during the nineteenth century many European writers, limited by their ethnocentrism and racism, decided that black Africa could have had nothing to do with Europe's rise to greatness. Some treated Egypt as Middle Eastern and divorced it from the rest of Africa, whereas others went further, asserting the preeminence of northern Aryan sources of Greek civilization to the virtual exclusion of Semitic, African, and Egyptian influences. Beginning in ancient times, Egypt was a genuine crossroads of peoples and cultures, and its peoples were multiethnic and multiracial, as depicted in dynastic drawings of their rulers. They came from as far way as Asia Minor and Nubia, in the upper Nile Valley.

A Leaving Certificate

A Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme plan to arrange a Visit Out to an enterprise, Kelly Printing Works in our local community. Presented by: Nollaig Kenny Objectives: 1. We will arrange a visit out to a local enterprise KPW in our community. 2. We hope to carry out a SWOT analysis of KPW. 3. I hope to improve my communication, organisational and mathematical skills while carrying out this investigation. Research methods: a) We will write a letter to request permission from our principal to visit KPW on Tuesday 29th March 2011 at 9:10 am. ) We will use the Internet to research KPW’s business. c) I will ring the bus company to arrange a date and time for transport to the company. Analysis of Research: a) We were granted permission from our principal for the date and time requested. b) We researched KPW’s business on the Internet and found that it is a family run business set up in 1941. c) I called Declan Fahy, the owner of the local bus company and booked a bus fo r the agreed date and time of our visit which would cost â‚ ¬20. Actions and Schedules of time: 5/03/11 We will have to ensure that all jobs including questions to be asked and permission from the principal are completed by students in the class. 28/03/11 We will to reconfirm the bus, the visit with KPW and lodge the money for the bus to the office. 29/03/11 Day of the Visit: 9:00am:Take the roll call. 9:04am:Make sure all the students have questions and template of Summary Report. 9:05am:I will go out to see if the bus has arrived. 9:06am: Everyone get on the bus. 9:12am:Arrive at KPW and introduce the group. 9:14am: Listen attentively and take down notes. :45am: Ask the assigned questions. 10:05am: Thank KPW and give the Thank You card. 10:10am: Leave KPW. 10:20am: Arrive back at the school. Resources and Costs: We will incur the following costs: Bus Fare @ â‚ ¬2 per student â‚ ¬20. 00 2 Phone Calls @10c each â‚ ¬ 0. 20 Thank You cardâ‚ ¬ 1. 50 Total â‚ ¬22. 70 E valuation: 1. If the visit is a success and we learn about a local enterprise including products and services offered, the use of ICT in the business and health and safety procedures followed we will have achieved our first aim. . If we find out about the current strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of KPW then we will have achieved our second aim. 3. Working as part of a team will help me improve my communication and organisational skills. Collecting the correct amount of money for the bus fare and lodging it to the office will help me to improve my mathematical skills. I will ask my LCVP teacher to access my communication and organisational skills at the end of the visit.

buy custom Japan History essay

buy custom Japan History essay The Ashikaga era in Japan happened in the years 1336 to 1573, and marked the governance of the Ashikaga Shogunate or the Muromachi. This period was known as the Ashikaga period or the Muromachi period. The governance of the Ashikaga ahogunate was formally established in the year 1338. During the Ashikaga period, the first European merchant ships docked in Japan, with Portuguese traders in the year 1543. The Portuguese started trading in Japan and their business activities were referred to as the Nanban trade. The Nanban Trade which was also referred to as the Southern barbarian trade, started when the Europeans arrived to Japan. The Japanese considered the Europeans as unsophisticated because of their cultural and social behaviors. On the other side, the Europeans admired Japan, describing the country as a land which is rich in minerals (Mason Caiger 187). They were fascinated by the temples and palaces built on the land, and were greatly impressed by the abundant presence of surface ores which are common features of a volcanic land. This was before the start of commercial mining. These events led to commercial extraction of minerals and Japan soon became a major exporter of silver and cooper minerals to Europe. The Early Tokugawa Japan was a period that happened in the 17th century. The period was referred to as the Tokugawa period or the Edo period. In Japan history, the Tokugawa period was ruled by the shoguns from the Tokugawa family from 1603 to 1868. During this period, poetry went through many changes although the court poets were enviously fighting to maintain their monopoly (Morton Olenik 119). Poetry was greatly admired and was one of the major arts in the social scene. During this period, there existed a famous poet known as Basho. Basho was highly recognized for his unique works in the combined forms of haikai no renga. Bashos lifetime saw his recognition as a master of brief and clear Haiku. At his young age, Basho was introduced to poetry and he quickly became famous throughout Japan after integrating himself into intellectual scene of Edo. He worked as a teacher and gave up the luxurious social, city life of the literally groupings and he preferred to explore the whole countr y from the West to East, and went further into the northern side of the country to grow insight for his poetry writing. His creativity was influenced by his worldly encounters from his expedition. The late Tokugawa Japan happened at the final years of the Edo period when the reign of Tokugawa shogunate ended. Numerous major events characterized this period, the most notable being the isolationalist foreign policy which was also known as sakoku and its transition from a feudal shogunate to the Meiji administration (Mason Caiger 257). The Sakoku policy was enacted by the Tokugawa Shogunate throug an act of law and policies between the years 1633 to 1639 and remained in effect to the year 1853, on the arrival of Commodore Mathew Perry, and marked the opening of Japan. The policy restricted movement of people in and out of Japan, and thus restricted trade and foreign activities between Japan and the outside world. Tokugawa Japan: Economic Growth, Urbanization, and Cultural Change The period of Tokugawa in Japan witnessed numerous economic and cultural changes. During the Tokugawa period, trade and foreign affairs were yielding massive profits because the activities were monopolized by the shogunate, although the trading activities were also permitted to the Tsushima domains and to the Satsuma (Mason Caiger 222). The first trade exchanges were witnessed when European Nanban ships brought in Portuguese merchants. The European trade ships to the Nanban trade were later followed by traders who were Dutch, Spanish and English. The year 1603 marked the start of active foreign trade by Japan and in 1615, the Hasekura Tsunenaga allowed trade missions across the pacific to the New Spain and until the year 1635, the Shogun gave out various permits for the trade ships designed for the Asian markets. The move increased foreign trade and the economy recorded high gains due to the presence of foreign exchange. Christianity started spreading in Japan after the influence of European traders on the Japanese people. Some of the high ranking leaders embraced Christianity and the western culture. One Japanese leader known as Oda Nobunaga also embraced Christianity and the foreign Western technology because he wanted to use it as a strategy to curb Buddhism (Mason Caiger 106). In the year 1614, an ruler known as Leyasu promoted foreign trade and started relations with the Dutch and the English but on the other hand, the imposed suppression and discrimination of Christianity. Foreign trade between Japan and European countries boosted economic growth because the country became a major exporter of valuable minerals. During the Tokugawa period, Japan experienced development of large urban centers, education, productive agriculture and highly developed economic systems coupled with national economic structures. This trade resulted to introduction of Christianity and western culture to Japan. The Tokugawa period saw the growth of urban centers, increased export and import activities and expansion of domestic and foreign trades. Foreign trade led to the development of urban areas and as a result, this urbanization greatly influenced the cultural and social standards of Tokugawa Japan. Urbanization saw the development of prostitution and geisha. Geishas were famous female dancers, meant to entertain men. Merchantss enjoyed spending their luxury time in places that had Geishas. Prostitution became rampant because foreign merchants were used to the pressures of prostitutes. Crime increased in Tokugawa and presence of beggars who were seen as non human, were present in urban areas. Discontent in Tokugawa Japan In the mid 1800s of the Japan history, the country had faced numerous changes due to foreign influence. The country had many factions with differing opinions about their social and political ways, leading to discontent among the Japanese and foreign traders. Some leaders embraced western cultures while others fought to preserve their indigenous culture. The economic environment was stable although the political environment had many negative influences on Japan and the international world. The downfall of Tokugawa Shogunate led to the loss of previously enjoyed traditional rights of the Samurai. The Samurai were denied their traditional privileges of carrying two swords, the privileges of being exclusively military and the privileges of holding high bureaucratic positions. The Samurai were unsatisfied with the new governance that denied them their long-established civil liberties. In the mid 1800s, the sakoku policy was in effect and restricted any movement in or out of Japan. The policy was unwelcomed by the Japanese people and foreigners. Foreigners were discontented by the law that restricted them from doing free business with Japan, and the people of Japan felt land locked by the policy because traders wanted to do foreign trade with the west. The Sakoku policy was a major impediment to economic and social growth and was unwelcomed by the Japanese people and foreigners (Morton Olenik 168). After the mid 1800s, various Japanese factions had borrowed a lot of support from the west, and the Japanese people had adopted various aspects of the western culture. This borrowed culture led to the fading of the Japanese traditions and culture. The Japanese people realized that the foreign influence was a threat to their culture and felt unhappy (Morton Olenik 168). Towards the end of the 1800s, the Japanese people devised a strategy in admiration of their culture, a plan that was aimed at overseeing respect for Japan's time-honored culture, such as admiration for the Emperor. The Social, political and economic environments were all altered in order to incorporate foreign influences while trying to maintain stability. This era saw the employment of French military in efforts to modernize the military of the Bakufu (Morton Olenik 168). Extremists in Japan resulted to war against the Bakufu, the Han authorities and all foreigners in an effort to reclaim the emperor, as a figure of peace and unity. Buy custom Japan History essay

How to Use the Complement Rule in Statistics

How to Use the Complement Rule in Statistics In statistics, the complement rule is a theorem that provides a connection between the probability of an event and the probability of the complement of the event in such a way that if we know one of these probabilities, then we automatically know the other one. The complement rule comes in handy when we calculate certain probabilities. Many times the probability of an event is messy or complicated to compute, whereas the probability of its complement is much simpler. Before we see how the complement rule is used, we will define specifically what this rule is. We begin with a bit of notation.  The complement of the event  A, consisting of all elements in the  sample space  S  that are not elements of the set  A, is denoted by  AC. Statement of the Complement Rule The complement rule is stated as the sum of the probability of an event and the probability of its complement is equal to 1, as expressed by the following equation: P(AC) 1 – P(A) The following example will show how to use the complement rule. It will become evident that this theorem will both speed up and simplify probability calculations. Probability Without the Complement Rule Suppose that we flip eight fair coins - what is the probability that we have at least one head showing? One way to figure this out is to calculate the following probabilities. The denominator of each is explained by the fact that there are 28 256 outcomes, each of them equally likely. All of the following us a formula for combinations: The probability of flipping exactly one head is C(8,1)/256 8/256.The probability of flipping exactly two heads is C(8,2)/256 28/256.The probability of flipping exactly three heads is C(8,3)/256 56/256.The probability of flipping exactly four heads is C(8,4)/256 70/256.The probability of flipping exactly five heads is C(8,5)/256 56/256.The probability of flipping exactly six heads is C(8,6)/256 28/256.The probability of flipping exactly seven heads is C(8,7)/256 8/256.The probability of flipping exactly eight heads is C(8,8)/256 1/256. These are mutually exclusive events, so we sum the probabilities together using one the appropriate addition rule. This means that the probability that we have at least one head is 255 out of 256. Using the Complement Rule to Simplify Probability Problems We now calculate the same probability by using the complement rule. The complement of the event â€Å"We flip at least one head† is the event â€Å"There are no heads.† There is one way for this to occur, giving us the probability of 1/256. We use the complement rule and find that our desired probability is one minus one out of 256, which is equal to 255 out of 256. This example demonstrates not only the usefulness but also the power of the complement rule. Although there is nothing wrong with our original calculation, it was quite involved and required multiple steps. In contrast, when we used the complement rule for this problem there were not as many steps where calculations could go awry.​

Irony in The Most Dangerous Game

Irony in The Most Dangerous Game Free Online Research Papers â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† is a suspenseful, ironic, action-thriller. I thought the author successfully created an attention-grabbing plot. The story included some very interesting characters, though there were few; General Zaroff, the owner of the mysterious Ship-Trap Island and the hunter in the Game; Ivan, the enormous, brutish Cossack, Zaroff’s servant; and Rainsford, the hunter turned hunted and main character of the story. Three of the many ironies in this book include: 1) the fact that Rainsford, being a hunter, became the hunted; 2) Rainsford didn’t care about the prey he hunted and how they felt, but in the end, he realized how an animal at bay felt; and 3) the setting, Ship-Trap Island, is used by the general as a means of trapping ships. It is apparent in the very beginning of the story that Rainsford is a hunter that believes hunting is â€Å"the best sport in the world†. He claims that â€Å"The world is made up of two classesthe hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters.† He says this in the exposition of the story. After this statement, he proceeds to fall off the yacht and swim to assumed safety aboard Ship-Trap Island where he meets General Zaroff. Here, Zaroff provides Rainsford with room and board and treats him with the utmost respect. Slowly, Zaroff reveals his true nature and tells Rainsford of his activities on the dreaded island. He informs Rainsford that he hunts humans for sport and Rainsford is his next target. The hunter became the hunted. The second example of irony goes hand-in-hand with the first. In the very beginning of the story, Rainsford believes that no one should care about how prey feels and that they have no understanding of what’s going on. His partner, Whitney, believes that prey only understands one thing, fear. Rainsford merely laughs at this proposition until he is hunted by Zaroff. After three long days of being chased all across the small Ship-Trap Island, Rainsford finally understands. He realizes how prey feels and what drives them, fear, as Whitney said. Rainsford now knew the terror a beast at bay feels. The third example of irony is quite interesting, in my opinion. The setting of the story is on a small, remote Caribbean Island deemed Ship-Trap Island. No one really knows why the island has such a name, for no one has ever left the island alive to tell the tale. What is intriguing is that not only is the island known for trapping ships, the General actually uses the island itself to capture the ships. The island is shaped in such a way that there appears to be a channel that travels through it. The General built a lighthouse that shines upon this apparent channel where there are actually jagged rocks that could tear any ship apart. It is his way of attracting new targets for him to hunt. If you ask me, it’s really quite genius. As one can plainly see, â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† is a story filled with many subtle examples of irony. Only three are explained in this essay, but there are many located throughout the story. The story is quite thrilling in that it is a hunt. Any hunt is suspenseful, for the hunter, the hunted, and even the uninvolved bystander (in this case the reader). It is an excellent short story. Research Papers on Irony in The Most Dangerous Game19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayTrailblazing by Eric AndersonThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsThe Hockey GameMind TravelBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XWhere Wild and West MeetEffects of Television Violence on Children

Contract Administration and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contract Administration and Management - Essay Example Furthermore, the federal act assists my small business by managing the certificate of competency program. The federal government gives some preference to certain small businesses when awarding government contracts. Since my business is unique in that not many businesses are of this nature or type, my business will be given preference. The federal act provides for affirmative action program where small businesses like mine are considered when awarding contracts. Organizational Chart I will be the general manager of my business. Since I cannot run the business alone, there are other persons. These are the internal contracting officer, the secretary, the chief engineer and the chief accountant. My work as the general manager is to oversee the smooth running of the business and to authorize big capital expenditures and projects. In addition, my work will also include strategic planning. For the secretary, her work will involve receiving business inquiries and handling all business matter , especially from the outside environment. The chief engineer will head a department; his work will include building airplanes and looking in ways of adopting the modern technology in manufacturing the airplanes. I will also be heavily involved in this department. The chief accountant will be responsible for the business revenues and expenditures and look for investment opportunities. She will as well be responsible for the business obligations as concerning remittances to the government (taxes).

Every healthcare facilty should utilize the electronic medication Essay

Every healthcare facilty should utilize the electronic medication administrtion record to help reduce medication errors - Essay Example This system is an electronic record of resident patient medication, thus improving efficiency and reducing human-based errors. The Electronic Medication Administration Record The Electronic Medication Administration Record (EMAR) is a technology system supported by enhanced computerized systems that allow for more efficient ordering and dosing of patient/resident medications in the hospital and other clinical environments. The EMAR system is implemented in health care facilities to improve interaction between patients and nurses, the physician staff, and also to reduce errors. Additionally, EMAR systems are designed to replace traditional paper systems for similar activities related to medication, thus improving costs for the organization by changing the dynamics of inter-office activities. The Institute of Medicine provides statistics regarding medication errors that continue to contribute to hospital liability claims. According to the Institute, more than a million injuries and nea rly 100,000 deaths occur annually due to errors (Hook, Pearlstein, Samarth & Cusack, 2008). Errors that occur are costly to the hospital and, in the long-term, raise prices for other patients when hospitals are forced to increase the costs of health care service in order to pay ongoing liability claims. Because of these high statistics, the need for improving the medication dosing and ordering systems are necessary. From a marketing perspective, hospitals that raise prices too extensively will lose patient business. When coupled with negative publicity from a hospital or other health care facility that faces liability suits in the court system, it is likely that patients will avoid this facility in favor of another. More Advantages of EMAR As identified, the electronic medication administration record provides for a paperless environment. This improves efficiency and also reduces the costs of office supplies and other important forms from a supply chain perspective. However, the mor e important benefit of EMAR is the ability to share medicinal data with internal sources and external partners in a method that is efficient, safe to security from an IT perspective, and improve the efficiency of the entire health network. This information can be shared via electronic data exchange with ambulance services, patients and health network payers (Garets & Davis, 2006). Currently, interactive communications with health network payers or the use of complicated forms are necessary to achieve results. With the EMAR, such transactions can occur instantly in the virtual environment, thereby improving efficiency in this process. The ability to share this data with ambulance services also provides a new training opportunity and improves the instantaneous knowledge of patient medical records in a real-time service environment. Ambulatory systems can understand whether any potential interactions might occur when they are providing trauma or other services en route to the hospital. It is an ideal model for improving communications between off-site service personnel and the hospital environment. A recent study identified frustrations with nurses that occur because of inefficiency in the workplace. â€Å"They want technology to reduce demand on nursing time by eliminating waste in care resulting from inefficient workflow†

Individual and Organizational Knowledge Interface Term Paper

Individual and Organizational Knowledge Interface - Term Paper Example †¢Ã‚  The Development of Organizations’ personnel in monetary terms and in terms of time spent upon their grooming with respect to the organization’s environment is one of the foremost IT management requirements of present day. The ongoing advancements in the field of Information and Communications technology make it essential for businesses to remain equipped with the latest technologies and trends related to IT Management.   It is required that in order to do the best possible job, the business should budget for training and developing their staff and encouraging it to participate in the training lessons whenever possible. †¢Ã‚  Staff Familiarization is another essential phenomenon. The routines of the staff should be made familiar to the management. This way, better cordial relation is possible which in turn enhances the knowledge sharing paradigm within the organization. †¢Ã‚  Communication Flow is essential. The better the flow of communication wit hin an organization, the better is the adaptation to ever growing technical trends and scenarios. It should be ensured that communication should flow freely and easily between management and workers. Information should not be hoarded at different levels of an organization. Embedding of better technical features is more likely to easy flow of information.†¢Ã‚  Adapting to Best IT Practices. The best IT practices suitable to the environment of the organization should be assessed, applied and understood.... Information should not be hoarded at different levels of an organization. Embedding of better technical features is more likely to easy flow of information. Adapting to Best IT Practices. The best IT practices suitable to the environment of the organization should be assessed, applied and understood. The current stature of the company should be assessed against them from time to time and the required IT related improvements should be incorporated in order to keep up with growing business and consumer needs and requirements. SIGNIFICANCE OF DATA MODELING IN DATABASE ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENTS Data Modeling is the arena that is responsible for handling the management of data within an organization. In the simplest of terminologies, data modeling refers to the way in which data is maintained within a database. Data, as mentioned by Teorey and Lightstone in their book ‘Database Modeling & Design: Logical Design’ (2005) â€Å"is the smallest named unit of  data  that has meaning in the real world†. With respect to each corporate arena all data that has meaning for it is integral to it. The better managed the data of an organization is, the better is its overall performance and operation. Since, â€Å"A  data model  describes how the data in an information system is represented and accessed.† (Oppel, 2009) the information systems within an organization are mainly base on how well the data models incorporate the data used by them. The better the modeling of data is, the better is the running of information systems and thus targeted and efficient the output. Since data and its modeling transcend the systems within a business environment, the entire roots of the tasks of a manager and database administrator are directly

Managing change at bingham business college Essay

Managing change at bingham business college - Essay Example Having said that, Stacey (2011, p.27) cautions that â€Å"the particular explanation one adopts directly affects the particular account one gives of any phenomena, including those to which the concepts of strategy and organisational change apply†. Thus this interpretation is partial and not objective, which is not how business situations should be viewed. The correct business approach to problem solving is represented in the rational decision-making process described by Miller et al (1996): Figure 1: Rational Decision Making Model (Source: based on Miller et al, 1996, p.76) This appears to be the approach taken by Snook when devising his new system. However, what he perceives as a problem is not necessarily a problem. His issue is how the Central Records Office appears to those outside of the Office, with data security and the impact of anticipated increases in student numbers seemingly secondary to his primary impression of the Office as being unprofessional. He wants the Col lege to appear professional and the Office to appear the same as part of that. He makes several assumptions about the original Office set-up, including it is inefficient (â€Å"it must be, it’s a mess†) and that a fundamental restructuring is needed. He ignores evidence showing the Office has been operating at 120% capacity, using the original system, that he doesn’t like, and proceeds with his ideas without advising the Office staff of the potential for additional student enrolments or asking them for their views on how the Office might need to change to deal with this. At no point has he actually discussed his opinion of the Office with the staff, which might have averted the crisis that now exists. He even ignores the warning from his â€Å"expert† that the Head of Central Records would not be comfortable with the proposals, projecting his own preferences onto Fearne to justify his decision. Ignoring Roberts’ point, when it is made by someone wh o has been at the College for some time and therefore knows how things operate both formally and informally, is a major error of judgment on the part of Snook, who has only been in post for a matter of months. A Learning Organisation Perspective A learning organisation is one that â€Å"encourages and facilitates the learning and development of people at all levels of the organisation, values the learning and simultaneously transforms itself† (Mullins, 2010, p.827). Stacey (2010, p.99) looks at different approaches to strategy, stating that one belief is that â€Å"an organisation’s strategic development could be better understood as arising in processes of learning†. Organisations become what they are due to â€Å"the quality of their learning processes†, with organisational leaders required to â€Å"design learning processes and inspire effective learning† (ibid). Fearne would argue the learning experience for her and her team is one of how not t o manage change. Snook’s imposition of the change indicates he does not consider the College to be a learning organisation, nor does he consider the Office staff have any knowledge which could be useful to him in redesigning the Office systems. He also believes the staff do not need development, which could have happened had he involved the staff in the change process. Stacey (ibid) refers to Senge’

Personal management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Personal management - Essay Example In addition, the report also identifies some features related to culture and norms that need to be catered to as well. Vitamond is a manufacturing concern that produces non alcoholic drinks in order to promote a healthy lifestyle among people. This organization has grown by leaps and bounds based on the premise on which they sell their drinks. At this point in time, Vitamond has a secret formula based on which it produces flavored drinks which are healthy and tasty. These drinks are then exported to various European countries and in the North America. Because of the immense success of the organization, the management has decided to branch off into another country and start producing these drinks in another similar country. The choices that the management has include France and Germany of which Germany has been chosen as the country in which another manufacturing set up will be established. The opportunity in Germany is such that another manufacturing plant is going to be established there along with a possibility of a warehouse. In addition to that, on the operational level, about two hundred and fifty people will be employed, who will be part of administration, management and production in this set up. A local subsidiary set up has been done to monitor and administer the manufacturing plant in Germany. In addition that, an expatriate from United Kingdom has been sent to Germany to head the business unit that has been established in the country. Moreover, another expatriate will also be sent who will act as the quality assurance manager for the manufacturing plant. This paper aims to define the various human resource practices that would be required in order to help manage the personnel within the organization in Germany. In addition, the paper also aims to identify the various practices that are part of Germany and how they need

Managing change at bingham business college Essay

Managing change at bingham business college - Essay Example Having said that, Stacey (2011, p.27) cautions that â€Å"the particular explanation one adopts directly affects the particular account one gives of any phenomena, including those to which the concepts of strategy and organisational change apply†. Thus this interpretation is partial and not objective, which is not how business situations should be viewed. The correct business approach to problem solving is represented in the rational decision-making process described by Miller et al (1996): Figure 1: Rational Decision Making Model (Source: based on Miller et al, 1996, p.76) This appears to be the approach taken by Snook when devising his new system. However, what he perceives as a problem is not necessarily a problem. His issue is how the Central Records Office appears to those outside of the Office, with data security and the impact of anticipated increases in student numbers seemingly secondary to his primary impression of the Office as being unprofessional. He wants the Col lege to appear professional and the Office to appear the same as part of that. He makes several assumptions about the original Office set-up, including it is inefficient (â€Å"it must be, it’s a mess†) and that a fundamental restructuring is needed. He ignores evidence showing the Office has been operating at 120% capacity, using the original system, that he doesn’t like, and proceeds with his ideas without advising the Office staff of the potential for additional student enrolments or asking them for their views on how the Office might need to change to deal with this. At no point has he actually discussed his opinion of the Office with the staff, which might have averted the crisis that now exists. He even ignores the warning from his â€Å"expert† that the Head of Central Records would not be comfortable with the proposals, projecting his own preferences onto Fearne to justify his decision. Ignoring Roberts’ point, when it is made by someone wh o has been at the College for some time and therefore knows how things operate both formally and informally, is a major error of judgment on the part of Snook, who has only been in post for a matter of months. A Learning Organisation Perspective A learning organisation is one that â€Å"encourages and facilitates the learning and development of people at all levels of the organisation, values the learning and simultaneously transforms itself† (Mullins, 2010, p.827). Stacey (2010, p.99) looks at different approaches to strategy, stating that one belief is that â€Å"an organisation’s strategic development could be better understood as arising in processes of learning†. Organisations become what they are due to â€Å"the quality of their learning processes†, with organisational leaders required to â€Å"design learning processes and inspire effective learning† (ibid). Fearne would argue the learning experience for her and her team is one of how not t o manage change. Snook’s imposition of the change indicates he does not consider the College to be a learning organisation, nor does he consider the Office staff have any knowledge which could be useful to him in redesigning the Office systems. He also believes the staff do not need development, which could have happened had he involved the staff in the change process. Stacey (ibid) refers to Senge’

Leadership in the Movie Wolf of Wall Street Assignment

Leadership in the Movie Wolf of Wall Street - Assignment Example He starts a brokerage office on the Wall Street where he runs his daily crimes. Using a great convincing power, Jordan together with his employees manages to lure unsuspecting people into their game. They are great brokers and thus assure those willing to invest with them a jackpot kind of returns. Actually, many people end up losing all their life savings with the hope of getting a nice package after the agreed period. Having realized that he is greedy, he openly dismisses this claim by encouraging the employees not to be greedy. This is a smart way to cover up his plans. Leaders play a key role in shaping the culture (Hansel man, 2014) of the company. This movie clearly shows how the leader cultivates a dangerous culture. He involves every employee in the habit of drinking and abusing illegal drugs. In addition, most of the employees end up being sex addicts because of the culture that their own boss cultivates in them. While Jordan sounds like a great leader by giving all the necessary advice and guidelines he as well makes it clear to the employees what he considers right and wrong. With this said, his administrative power diverts the energy of the employees into a bad culture. While most of them were fearful at the first time, he takes the courage to drive them into the dirty business. He reminds them that nothing can be done by itself until they take action. This is evident when he requires them to make calls and convince the customers. While most of the employees least suspect the game behind the brokerage business, they show commitment and will ingness to attain the goals. They are motivated by how their boss runs his life. They see him as a successful person worth admiring. On the contrary, Jordan is a great advisor. He gives his best imagination on how to run a successful business.  

To bring about its downfall Essay Example for Free

To bring about its downfall Essay The Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts, during the 17th century. Salem is a very religious village, with life being centred around the church. Everyone was expected to go to church, and to learn the Ten Commandments off by heart, and always to dress modestly. Sinning was not tolerated at all! Rules were very strict. Everyone feared the devil, this was one of the religious codes. This leads to the whole town becoming very superstitious, believing in witchcraft and servants of the devil. This view shows how narrow minded people can be, and it is this fear of the devil which sets the scene for the prejudice we see during the play. The story has two different meanings which help it to function on two different levels. It shows how a community can live in fear of God and will admit to anything when faced with a death threat. This shows how weak people can be and how people can use their own deceptive minds and power to get what they want. It shows one good man fighting back against a narrow minded judicial system that believes in demons and that sins are unacceptable. It shows good strong men have weaknesses too and that they can be exploited. That everyone is human and unless you stand by what you believe in, it can lead to the downfall of us all. The Crucible shows a good man die when he shows weakness! Abbey Williams is one of the main characters in The Crucible. She is an evil child who twists evidence and words to murder her way through the people she does not like. She must get what she wants at all costs. Abbey seems to have a sexual power which she exploits over John Proctor, but she seems to use it on others in the town to get what she wants. She has power over the girls in the village and threatens them for example; I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it. This exhibits what a nasty girl Abbey is, and the girls in the town are scared rigid of her and will do whatever she says. This demonstrates the kind of power she has over the girls. She uses the forcefulness of her personality on the girls of the town, this leads them to do whatever she says. John was in love with Abbey and she uses this against him, she exploits it over him to get him to do what she wants for example; She is blackening my name in the village. You sweated like a stallion whenever I came near. These quotes show how Abbey uses what power she has over John to get him to do what she wants. It shows that Abbey knows what power she has and when to use it. This sexual power is her main power and she uses it over everyone she can. Abbey Williams is a very cruel and arrogant person she insults the judges and is aggressive towards Danforth for example; Ill have no such looks! If I have to answer that I will leave and never come back again. This shows that she can say this to the judges and get away with it, and that Abbey even seems to have power over the judges and court officials. Abbey Williams pretends she was taken by the devil in order to get power over the people of Salem and to get what she wants, this shows how evilly twisted she is. On the other hand the Putnams have a totally different kind of power. They have the power of their material possessions. They are very wealthy, but they are greedy and they have a habit of claiming land that is not theirs for example; Your grandfather had a habit of calling land that never belonged to him. This leads the Putnams to be disliked in the town. The Putnams do have a lot of land most of it swindled from their neighbours and because the rest of the people in Salem arent as rich, lots of them are resentful towards the Putnams. All the Putnams sons have died; we learn this during the play When Mrs Putnam says; Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptised in the earth. Believe me sir you never saw more hearty babies born. And yet they would wither in my arms the very night of their birth.

Appropriation of Brand Extension

Appropriation of Brand Extension LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter intends to set the theoretical frame of the thesis by introducing the main areas needed to create the basis of our analysis, shaping the ways towards our own main purpose. Thus, it begins with the roots of brand extension and starts of with the concepts of brand, brand identity and brand hierarchy and then leads into brand extension and explains it as a means of growth for a brand. Narrowing down the scope, it goes into the typology of brand extension and identifies the successful and unsuccessful factors of brand extension. Finally it identifies certain rules for the success of brand extension and looks at different models used for the effectiveness of brand extension. 2.1 BRANDING: In todays world of increased competition and consumer awareness, the marketing of new products has become ever more complex. We have moved into a time where consumers are literate enough to choose their own products on the basis of their judgment and where competition among products and services gives them an opportunity to select the best product that would suit their need. Branding has become one of the most important issues in the launch of a new product. Having functional and emotional attributes attached to it, branding has gained popularity as consumer relates more and more to it. Historically examples of branding can be found as early as 9000 years ago when owners or manufacturers used to give distinctive and distinguishing symbol or name to their property or product. However it was the 19thcentury that arguably saw the dawn of the modern branding era and it was the industrial revolution that caused its birth. It was the industrial revolution that created the mass production t hat meant an ever- increasing proportion of people worked for a manufacturer and not themselves. They no longer needed to mark the products that they produced as their own; rather what they produced was collectively produced for one company. Before we proceed further, lets look more deeply into branding and then link that to the concept of brand extension. 2.1.1 DEFINITION AND EXPLANATION Different scholars have defined the word brand differently as different meaning or contexts have been attached to them. Balmer and Greyser (2003) have given the most explanatory definition of branding explaining both the traditional and their own perspective about branding. They have stepped forward from the traditional definitions of branding and have defined branding on the corporate level having corporate implications. According to them three type of definitions have been identified. The first two are traditional whereas the third one is the advanced version of branding which incorporates their point of view about branding. They are: Erstwhile. In its simplest sense a brand denotes a name, logotype, or trademark and was originally used to signify ownership as with branding of live stock. These are, increasingly, seen to be points of entry to the essence of a brand rather than the essence of branding per se. (Definition similar to the one given in Oxford Concise Dictionary) Established. This refers to the added values that a brand brings to a product. Products may or may not have brand values. Product brand values are superimposed by the organization by its marketing and communication experts and advisers. They are made memorable. In the main, such values are fashioned in the mind; not on the production floor. They are, essentially, synthetic. Whereas products are made in a factory, brand values exist in the mind. Brands can be timeless in a way that products may not be. However Balmer and Greyser(2003) have identified a new understanding about brands. They call this aspect of branding as emergent Emergent. While the category most certainly is established, the fundamental differences between this category and the other two are only beginning to be appreciated. This category refers to brands at the corporate level. Corporate brand values are not contrived; they need to be bona fide. The role of personnel and of culture in establishing and maintaining and understanding corporate brand values is of essence. In the words of Sir Michael Perry, a former Chairman of Unilever, brand is much more than a symbol to differentiate goods and services: In the modern world, brands are a key part of how individuals define themselves and their relationships with one another. More and more we are simply consumers We are what we wear, what we eat, what we drive. This description of brand explains that brand is much more than the physical and functional value that it holds. Its a bundle of attributes both functional and emotional. Thus brands not only meet our physical needs but also address our emotional needs. A blind test was conducted on Pepsi and Coca Cola. It was found that Pepsi was preferred over Coke in regards to its taste. Yet the sales of Coke are much higher than Pepsi that shows that despite being functionally better, people are emotionally attached to coke. Stephen King was Director of planning at one of the largest advertising agencies, J Walter Thompson, when he described brand as: People choose their brand as they choose their friends. You choose your friends not usually because of specific skills or physical attributes (though of course these come into it) but simply because you like them as people. It is the total person you choose, not a compendium of virtues and vices. 2.2 BRAND IDENTITY Brand identity refers to the public image of a product, line or service in the eyes of a consumer. McClendon (2003) considers that brand identity is something that exists in the minds and hearts of the consumers when they hear the name of the brand. He further adds that it is the identity of the brand that provides the real strength to the business. It is the visual link between the company and the consumer. Brand identity includes brand names, logos, positioning, brand associations and brand personality. Upshaw (1995) has identified brand identity as a brands DNA configuration. He supposes that the particular set of brand elements is blended in a unique way to establish how the brand will be perceived in the market place. According to Kapferer (2001), it is critical for each business to understand that the attributes of a brand represent the indispensable elements. Not all brand managers are aware of this. Yet in order to find out which of the extended brand elements is needed to me diate with the market, pre testing is done and this is considered to be the best method to avoid trails and errors. In his book, Aaker (2000) argues that a brand is more than a product. Creating an extension can benefit the parent brand by helping it break out of the box. According to him, there are several reasons for building a rich extended brand identity, reasons that are going to be illustrated in the following figure and explained underneath it. A richer brand identity is a more accurate reflection of the brand. Just as a person cannot be described in one or two words, neither can a brand. Three word taglines or an identity limited to attributes will simply not be accurate (Aaker, 2000, p. 54). Aaker (2000) considers that the identity of a brand represents what the brand stands for. Taking into consideration that the brand identity is inspirational, it must comprise and reflect the values and cultures of the entire organization. Moreover, customer concern should dominate the strategy of the business. And lastly, Aaker emphasizes in his picture that the extended identity provides a home for constructs that help the brand move beyond attributes. In particular, brand personality and symbols normally fail to make the cut when a terse brand position is developed, yet both are often extremely helpful strategically as well as tactically (Aaker, 2000, p.54). Balmer (2003) has emphasized on the concept of corporate identity and in his historiography model, we are currently in stage 4 in which the emphasis would be on organizational identity, corporate identity, corporate communication, corporate reputation and finally but most importantly corporate branding. 2.3 BRAND HIEARCHY TREE Brand structure can be illustrated logically by using the brand family tree together with all the related sub-brand branches. The figure below can be viewed as an organizational chart. The horizontal and vertical dimensions are grouped after numerous factors such as segment, product, quality and design (Aaker, 2000). The horizontal dimension shows the scope of the brand in terms of the sub brands that lie under the brand umbrella in the box visualized Colgate as a parent brand. The vertical dimension represents the brands and sub-brands that exist for an individual product- market entry (Aaker, 2000). The visualized overview of the whole brand guides the brand managers to keep an eye on its entire brand and to analyze if there are too many or too few. The question is how these brands can be reinforced, what message they deliver to the consumer and what improvements to the particular message can be done (Aaker, 2000). Keeping an eye on this hierarchy is quite important as it enables a company to identify the fit for new extension and also helps to maintain a clear vision of each product keeping in view the rest of the brands in the hierarchy. Thus its easy to maintain fit and leverage in brand extension with the help of this brand hierarchy. Every company would like to see its brand growing and prospering. Brands grow through two principle means. The first mean is called organic growth whereas the second one is called growth through extension. 2.4 ORGANIC GROWTH FOR BRANDS In this case making a brand or product frequently available or adding incentives to the brand makes it more popular. Sales of any one brand increase because what they have to offer becomes attractive to somebody, somewhere. Brands can be made more attractive by improving either the functional or emotional attributes of the brand. Thus in functional attributes we can improve any of the four Ps whereas in emotional one can improve the personality or image of the brand. A good example would be of Coca Cola and their distribution. Not only have they made it available from Atlanta to Zanzibar, from Moscow to Melbourne but also you can buy it from supermarkets, newsagents, cinema, restaurants, street corners, cafà ©, football stadium, pop concert and even at car parks where you have vending machine1. Whilst there are numerous marketing tools to achieve organic growth, this type of growth stems from three things: getting that brand used by more people, getting it used by the same people more often or getting people to use more of it on any of the occasions they use it in the first place. 2.5 GROWTH THROUGH EXTENSION The second and relatively newer way of growing brand is through extension, which is the core focus of this study. Before going into detail about how brands grow through extension, I will firstly define extension and try to differentiate the various types of extensions. Due to the relative immaturity of the concept, there is no standard definition of brand extension and various marketing scholars have given different definition to the same terminology. From the readings that I have conducted of books and research papers, its obvious that around a decade back scholars used to give a more generalized definition of brand extension. The generalization of the definition can be observed from the fact that brand extension was used for extension into both related and non-related products. The following definition will clarify my point of view. In a typical brand extension situation, an established brand name is applied to a new product in a category either related or unrelated, in order to capitalize on the equity of the core brand name (DeGraba and Sullivan, 1995; Pitta and Katsanis, 1995). Also certain research papers indicated that brand extension being generalized was then differentiated into two types as indicated by this piece of research work. Brand extensions come in two primary forms: horizontal and vertical. In a horizontal brand extension situation, an existing brand name is applied to a new product introduction in either a related product class, or in a product category completely new to the firm (Sheinin and Schmitt, 1994). A vertical brand extension, on the other hand, involves introducing a brand extension in the same product category as the core brand, but at a different price point and quality level (Keller and Aaker, 1992; Sullivan, 1990). In a vertical brand extension situation, a second brand name or descriptor is usually introduced alongside the core brand name, in order to demonstrate the link between the brand extension and the core brand name (e.g. Marriott Hotels, Courtyard Inn by Marriott). Most recently the word line extension has been given to extension done in the same product category whereas brand extension would refer to extension in unrelated products and in this study I will undertake this understanding of extension. Taylor (2003) has referred to them as direct and indirect stretch. Jobber (2003) has given the term brand extension to line extension whereas brand extension has been referred to as brand stretch. The current emphasis on the subject has been due to its enormous success. Consumers being the end users have become friendlier to the concept and are now accepting it as illustrated on the next page. Its obvious from this graph that consumers are becoming much friendlier to the concept then they were a decade ago and this shows the popularity of the concept and the frequency at which it has been used in the past decade. Lets get an insight into the various types of extension. 2.5.1 LINE EXTENSION OR DIRECT STRETCH Line extension is defined as being a variant of the same basic product. It might be a new flavor or a new size. Basically its a slight variation to the original product. Examples would be of Colgate. We used to have Colgate regular but now we have Colgate total, Colgate Max fresh Gel, my first Colgate for kids, Platinum, Deep clean etc. The basic purpose of this strategy is to encourage more people to use a brand. It can also be considered as a first step towards brand extension. But the only bad thing about too many variations in the products or having too many line extension is that it may confuse the user in regards to which product should he/she use. Also it may cause a cannibalization affect within the product range. 2.5.2 BRAND EXTENSION OR INDIRECT STRETCH Brand extension on the other hand would refer to extending your product range into a product category that wouldnt be commonly associated with it. A simple definition described below will illustrate my point of view. Brand extension is using the leverage of a well known brand name in one category to launch a new product in a different category. (Brandextension.org) Giles Lury in his book about Brand Watching has defined brand extension as: Brand extension is the use (and occasional misuse) of an existing brand name and equity to launch a product or service into a category or market not normally associated with that brand. (Lury, 1998) Thus in contrast to earlier scholars, who had generalized the concept of brand extension, new researchers have distinguished the concept well from line extension. 2.6 RATIONALE BEHIND USING BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension has gained a lot of popularity and is considered to be the key tool for launching new innovations. A survey was conducted by Brand gym in 2003 in which marketing directors were asked about brand extension. The following graph illustrates the response. The results indicated that 83% of the marketing directors thought that brand extension would be the main way of launching new innovation in the next two to three years. Yet research has also shown that only 50 percent of brand extension survives after the first three years. Firstly brand extension differs from line extension because where line extension offers customers more varieties or styles of the original brand in its original market, a brand extension takes an existing brand to pasture new ones. Taking Mars as an example we see that the original chocolate bar has been line extended into different styles including Mars Kingsize, Mars miniature and for a limited period Dark chocolate Mars. However when Mars launched the Mars ice cream, it entered a new market for the brand and as such had extended the brand franchise. Mars also extended into flavored milk drinks market with Mars in a bottle. The rationale behind brand extensions popularity is that its difficult and expensive to launch a completely new brand. The most often quoted statistic being that nine out of every ten new brands fail. New brands are therefore seen as a high, though sometimes high return strategy. On the other hand, brand extension is a cheaper and more reliable method of building on what already exists. Not surprisingly companies who have already invested a lot of money in creating a brand are keen to maximize its full potential. Finally it can be concluded that companies would like to leverage and thus give initial success to the new brand by exploiting the equity that has been established by the parent brand. 2.7 KELLER AND AAKERS WORK ON BRAND EXTENSION Keller and Aaker (1998) extending on their typology of product range extension and corporate brand extension have examined the impact of corporate marketing on a companys brand extension. In their research paper they have described how consumers evaluate brand extension in general and then concentrating on corporate brand extension, they have studied the impact of corporate marketing on consumer evaluation of corporate brand extension in the presence and absence of supporting product advertising. The initial research work describing product brand extension is as follows: Research on consumer responses to extensions of product brands, suggest that two key factors influence consumer evaluation. the types of association that make up the parent brand image the relationship between the parent brand and the extension product These factors affect the consumer belief about whether the new product fits as a member of the product line. In sum, the record therefore suggests that a variety of different associations for the parent brand can be transferred to an extension, assuming a basis of fit exists. Now an extension that they made in regards to brand extension was that they applied this concept to corporate brand extension. But before going further its important to know Aakers three dimensions of corporate credibility. They are: 1. Corporate expertise is the extent to which a company is thought able to competently make and sell its products and services. 2. Corporate trustworthiness is the extent to which a company is thought to be honest, dependable, and sensitive to consumer needs. 3. Corporate likability is the extent to which a company is thought likable, prestigious and interesting. This results gathered from this study have strategic implication both to the benefits/risks associated with brand extension and also to the effectiveness of brand extension. Thus a summary of the results are as follows. Firstly by showing that corporate marketing related to product innovation enhances perceptions of corporate credibility and extension fit, and thus much favorable extension evaluations, this study showed benefits for brands with reputation of high quality products. Secondly this study provided a more detailed account of particular dimensions of corporate credibility, namely corporate expertise, trust worthiness and likeability. Thus this study concluded that corporate expertise appeared to play a more influential role in evaluation of corporate brand extension than either corporate trustworthiness or likeability. Thirdly this study suggested the merits of leveraging a strong brand to introduce a new product. One advantage of using a brand extension strategy to name a new product is that a less concerted advertising effort may be necessary. To the extent that brands extensions are able to leverage existing parent brand associations in consumer memory, a company should find it easier to achieve brand image with an extension branding strategy instead of giving a new product a new name. The fact that corporate marketing activity impacted consumer evaluations of a corporate brand extension in the absence of any product specific advertising is further an empirical support for the benefit of adopting a brand extension strategy. Fourthly this study suggested that corporate marketing activity significantly influenced extension evaluations even when the extension was advertised on the basis of another image dimension point. Thus corporate image associations are more likely to transfer to an extension on the basis of the branding strategy. Lastly this study also suggested that where a company is in a situation of having a trade off between various strategies like reinforcing a strong association, strengthening a weak association or creating a new association, then it wholly depends on the situation of each of the elements to decide which strategy to choose. For example: In some cases, existing associations may be so strong that they may be better off emphasizing other information to fortify a weak or supply a missing association. 2.8 TYPES OF BRAND EXTENSION Limited work has been done on the typology of brand extension. From various research papers, books and websites that I have consulted regarding brand extension, very few have distributed brand extension into different types. (Brandextension.org) have generated the following typology of brand extension taking functional and emotional attributes of the brand into consideration. 1. Similar product in a different form from the original parent product. This is where a company changes the form of the product from the original parent product. An example is (frozen) Snickers Ice Cream Bars. The original Snickers bar is a shelf stable candy. The brand extension is a similar product, but in a different form. Jell-O Portable Pudding and Pudding Cups is Jell-O pudding in a different form and section of the store. 2. Distinctive flavor/ingredient/component in the new item. When a brand owns a flavor, ingredient or component, there may be other categories where consumers want that property. E.g. Peanut butter is a characteristic ingredient in Reeses Peanut Butter Cups candy. Chocolate is a characteristic ingredient of Hershey. Brand Extension Research identified Reeses Peanut Butter as a logical extension that capitalizes on this association. 3. Benefit/attribute/feature owned. Many brands own a benefit, attribute or feature that can be extended. E.g. Brand Extension Research showed Armor All brand was defined by automotive surface protection which can go beyond vinyl dressing. Paint needs protecting also. Arm Hammer owns a benefit of deodorizing. Their baking soda product has claimed that it removes odors from refrigerators, etc. As a result, they extended the brand into other products such as Arm Hammer underarm deodorant and cat litter deodorizer. 4. Expertise. Over time, certain brands may gain a reputation for having an expertise in a given area. Leverage can be achieved when extending into areas where this special expertise is deemed important. E.g. Hondas expertise in reliable engines led to lawn mowers, gas powered generators and a variety of other gasoline engine powered devices. What brand comes to mind when we think of baby products? Gerber. As a result of this acceptance of their expertise, they successfully launched Gerber Baby Powder, Gerber Baby Bottles, etc. Sara Lee is known for baked desserts, so why not other baked goods like bread. 5. Companion products. Some brand extensions are a natural companion to the products the company already makes. E.g. Contadina was a tomato paste and sauce brand. In brand extension research, consumers thought Contadina pasta was a logical companion product that would have the leverage of the Italian heritage of the parent. Aunt Jemima (the pancake mix brand) launched pancake syrup, as a companion to compete with Log Cabin syrup. 6. Vertical extensions. Some brand extensions are vertical extensions of what they currently offer. A brand can use their ingredient/component heritage to launch products in a more (or sometimes less) finished form. E.g. Nestlà ©s Toll House chocolate refrigerated cookies is an example. Most Toll House chocolate chips are used in cookies, so why not make a brand of Toll House chocolate chip cookies. Mrs. Fields Cookies were ready-to-eat. They offered frozen cookie dough, moving backwards as a vertical extension. Rice Krispies has always been used in kids treats. Kellogg offered Rice Krispies Treats ready-to-eat. 7. Same customer base. Many brand extensions represent a marketers effort to sell something else to its customer base. This works particularly well when that customer base is large and to some extent captive. E.g. VISA launched travelers checks directed to its credit card customers. 8. Designer image/status. Certain brands convey status and hence create an image for the user. E.g. Designer clothing labels have been extended to furniture, jewellery, perfume, cosmetics and a host of other items. Some brands promote a lifestyle and can extend to items that people wear, as a badge of identifying themselves with that lifestyle. The above-mentioned typology is quite useful as it indicate the key areas where extension is done along with the methodology used to extend the product line. Yet it must be said that not all research work would agree with this typology as it is felt that certain types confuses line and brand extension or in ways generalizes it more to extension rather than brand extension. For example: Adding attribute to the products in the same product line would be line extension and not brand extension. Still it is a good base for my research work and also for further research into the typology of brand extension. Aaker (1998) has described two types brand extension differentiating the concept on a corporate level. The first type described by him is product brand extension. A company makes a product brand extension when it uses an existing brand name distinct from its corporate name to introduce a new product outside its current product offering. With product brand extension consumers are often completely unaware of the company involved. The second type described by him is corporate brand extension. A corporate brand extension is one which relies on the corporate name to launch a new product . A corporate brand extension clearly identifies an organization with a product, and so evokes different reactions from consumers than a product brand extension. A corporate brand may create associations in consumers minds that reflect the values, program, and activities of the firm. 2.9 SEQUENTIAL STRETCHING AND UMBRELLA BRANDING Extension to parent brand is usually a sequential process in which brands are initially line extended and then brand extended. This sequential stretching of brands leads to the formation of a whole family of brands thus giving rise to the concept of Umbrella branding. As the name indicates, umbrella branding refers to extension of a parent brand into a variety of products such that a whole range of products would come under the same brand. Taylor (2003) has divided the sequential extension into three main steps namely core brand extension, direct stretch and indirect stretch. I will illustrate the concept using Dove as an example. Brand extension was a key driver of Doves explosive growth during the 1990s. Coupled with geographic expansion, it helped grow sales fivefold, to almost $1 billion. The brand continues to grow at 20 percent per year and is well on its way to hitting the $ 2 billion mark in the next few years. Let go through the sequential process and apply it to Dove. The first and most crucial step to be noted is that Dove didnt extend its product line until it had achieved the following two things. †¢ A strong bar business had been built †¢ The brand had satisfactory scores on attributes rating for mildness and moisturizing. An important thing to be noted is that extension took place only after Dove had secured its soap bar business and had improved it. Thus once there was strength in the brand, it extending it to other products. Stretching went through the following stages. Stage One: Core Range extensions: Dove remained a product brand with a single format at this stage. It extended (line extension) its product range by adding new versions such as sensitive skin that now accounts for up to a third of sales. Further growth of the bar through product and pack innovation, remains a key source of profitable growth. Diagrammatic illustration of this step would indicate the extension into the two types. Stage Two: Direct stretch: In this stage extension is done into markets that are quite relevant to the product line. In the case of dove, it extended its product range into bath and shower products. Yet till now dove is focused on personal washing. The key reasons of dove extension at this stage were strong product delivery and innovative packing that differentiated them from other products in the range. The following diagram illustrates their stretch in to shower and bath products. Stage three: Indirect stretch: Capitalizing on their skin care outlook, Dove decided to be ambitious and to move beyond the washing and bathing market. Although they started off selectively, they introduced products like deodorants and hair gels etc. that were once again a big success. This process of broadening a product range is referred to as Umbrella Branding as illustrated by the diagram given below. The dove success has been due to consistent marketing and a consistent communication campaign. Consistency has been a key part of building brand identity and has been an additional glue to tie together the extension. 2.10 BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS ASSOCIATED WITH BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension being the most popular mean of brand growth has some surprising statistics. Success rate of brand extension is hard to find, especially as what constitutes a success varies enormously. Yet a survey conducted by OCC using a simple and effective definition of success (still being on shelf after six years after launch) found out that 50 percent of all brand extension fails. This figure is certainly an eye opener for most companies as half of the product fails using brand extension. Taylor (2003) has associated this huge failure figure due to Brand ego tripping and also gives effective steps to avoid it. But before we go into the detail of this concept, lets look into the benefits and drawbacks of brand extension. 2.10.1 BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH BRAND EXTENSION The remarkable popularity of the concept over the last decade is a confirmation of the fact that there are marked benefits that can be associated with brand extension. Taylor (2003) has described the consumer benefits of brand extension in which he has identified consumer knowledge, consumer trust and lower cost as the major benefits of brand extension. Tauber (1988) has differentiated the benefits on the basis of efficiency and effectiveness emphasizing more on the cost benefits. An existing strong brand promotes a new product or service as there is less need to create awareness and imagery. Thus in a way awareness is already present and the only thing left is Appropriation of Brand Extension Appropriation of Brand Extension LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter intends to set the theoretical frame of the thesis by introducing the main areas needed to create the basis of our analysis, shaping the ways towards our own main purpose. Thus, it begins with the roots of brand extension and starts of with the concepts of brand, brand identity and brand hierarchy and then leads into brand extension and explains it as a means of growth for a brand. Narrowing down the scope, it goes into the typology of brand extension and identifies the successful and unsuccessful factors of brand extension. Finally it identifies certain rules for the success of brand extension and looks at different models used for the effectiveness of brand extension. 2.1 BRANDING: In todays world of increased competition and consumer awareness, the marketing of new products has become ever more complex. We have moved into a time where consumers are literate enough to choose their own products on the basis of their judgment and where competition among products and services gives them an opportunity to select the best product that would suit their need. Branding has become one of the most important issues in the launch of a new product. Having functional and emotional attributes attached to it, branding has gained popularity as consumer relates more and more to it. Historically examples of branding can be found as early as 9000 years ago when owners or manufacturers used to give distinctive and distinguishing symbol or name to their property or product. However it was the 19thcentury that arguably saw the dawn of the modern branding era and it was the industrial revolution that caused its birth. It was the industrial revolution that created the mass production t hat meant an ever- increasing proportion of people worked for a manufacturer and not themselves. They no longer needed to mark the products that they produced as their own; rather what they produced was collectively produced for one company. Before we proceed further, lets look more deeply into branding and then link that to the concept of brand extension. 2.1.1 DEFINITION AND EXPLANATION Different scholars have defined the word brand differently as different meaning or contexts have been attached to them. Balmer and Greyser (2003) have given the most explanatory definition of branding explaining both the traditional and their own perspective about branding. They have stepped forward from the traditional definitions of branding and have defined branding on the corporate level having corporate implications. According to them three type of definitions have been identified. The first two are traditional whereas the third one is the advanced version of branding which incorporates their point of view about branding. They are: Erstwhile. In its simplest sense a brand denotes a name, logotype, or trademark and was originally used to signify ownership as with branding of live stock. These are, increasingly, seen to be points of entry to the essence of a brand rather than the essence of branding per se. (Definition similar to the one given in Oxford Concise Dictionary) Established. This refers to the added values that a brand brings to a product. Products may or may not have brand values. Product brand values are superimposed by the organization by its marketing and communication experts and advisers. They are made memorable. In the main, such values are fashioned in the mind; not on the production floor. They are, essentially, synthetic. Whereas products are made in a factory, brand values exist in the mind. Brands can be timeless in a way that products may not be. However Balmer and Greyser(2003) have identified a new understanding about brands. They call this aspect of branding as emergent Emergent. While the category most certainly is established, the fundamental differences between this category and the other two are only beginning to be appreciated. This category refers to brands at the corporate level. Corporate brand values are not contrived; they need to be bona fide. The role of personnel and of culture in establishing and maintaining and understanding corporate brand values is of essence. In the words of Sir Michael Perry, a former Chairman of Unilever, brand is much more than a symbol to differentiate goods and services: In the modern world, brands are a key part of how individuals define themselves and their relationships with one another. More and more we are simply consumers We are what we wear, what we eat, what we drive. This description of brand explains that brand is much more than the physical and functional value that it holds. Its a bundle of attributes both functional and emotional. Thus brands not only meet our physical needs but also address our emotional needs. A blind test was conducted on Pepsi and Coca Cola. It was found that Pepsi was preferred over Coke in regards to its taste. Yet the sales of Coke are much higher than Pepsi that shows that despite being functionally better, people are emotionally attached to coke. Stephen King was Director of planning at one of the largest advertising agencies, J Walter Thompson, when he described brand as: People choose their brand as they choose their friends. You choose your friends not usually because of specific skills or physical attributes (though of course these come into it) but simply because you like them as people. It is the total person you choose, not a compendium of virtues and vices. 2.2 BRAND IDENTITY Brand identity refers to the public image of a product, line or service in the eyes of a consumer. McClendon (2003) considers that brand identity is something that exists in the minds and hearts of the consumers when they hear the name of the brand. He further adds that it is the identity of the brand that provides the real strength to the business. It is the visual link between the company and the consumer. Brand identity includes brand names, logos, positioning, brand associations and brand personality. Upshaw (1995) has identified brand identity as a brands DNA configuration. He supposes that the particular set of brand elements is blended in a unique way to establish how the brand will be perceived in the market place. According to Kapferer (2001), it is critical for each business to understand that the attributes of a brand represent the indispensable elements. Not all brand managers are aware of this. Yet in order to find out which of the extended brand elements is needed to me diate with the market, pre testing is done and this is considered to be the best method to avoid trails and errors. In his book, Aaker (2000) argues that a brand is more than a product. Creating an extension can benefit the parent brand by helping it break out of the box. According to him, there are several reasons for building a rich extended brand identity, reasons that are going to be illustrated in the following figure and explained underneath it. A richer brand identity is a more accurate reflection of the brand. Just as a person cannot be described in one or two words, neither can a brand. Three word taglines or an identity limited to attributes will simply not be accurate (Aaker, 2000, p. 54). Aaker (2000) considers that the identity of a brand represents what the brand stands for. Taking into consideration that the brand identity is inspirational, it must comprise and reflect the values and cultures of the entire organization. Moreover, customer concern should dominate the strategy of the business. And lastly, Aaker emphasizes in his picture that the extended identity provides a home for constructs that help the brand move beyond attributes. In particular, brand personality and symbols normally fail to make the cut when a terse brand position is developed, yet both are often extremely helpful strategically as well as tactically (Aaker, 2000, p.54). Balmer (2003) has emphasized on the concept of corporate identity and in his historiography model, we are currently in stage 4 in which the emphasis would be on organizational identity, corporate identity, corporate communication, corporate reputation and finally but most importantly corporate branding. 2.3 BRAND HIEARCHY TREE Brand structure can be illustrated logically by using the brand family tree together with all the related sub-brand branches. The figure below can be viewed as an organizational chart. The horizontal and vertical dimensions are grouped after numerous factors such as segment, product, quality and design (Aaker, 2000). The horizontal dimension shows the scope of the brand in terms of the sub brands that lie under the brand umbrella in the box visualized Colgate as a parent brand. The vertical dimension represents the brands and sub-brands that exist for an individual product- market entry (Aaker, 2000). The visualized overview of the whole brand guides the brand managers to keep an eye on its entire brand and to analyze if there are too many or too few. The question is how these brands can be reinforced, what message they deliver to the consumer and what improvements to the particular message can be done (Aaker, 2000). Keeping an eye on this hierarchy is quite important as it enables a company to identify the fit for new extension and also helps to maintain a clear vision of each product keeping in view the rest of the brands in the hierarchy. Thus its easy to maintain fit and leverage in brand extension with the help of this brand hierarchy. Every company would like to see its brand growing and prospering. Brands grow through two principle means. The first mean is called organic growth whereas the second one is called growth through extension. 2.4 ORGANIC GROWTH FOR BRANDS In this case making a brand or product frequently available or adding incentives to the brand makes it more popular. Sales of any one brand increase because what they have to offer becomes attractive to somebody, somewhere. Brands can be made more attractive by improving either the functional or emotional attributes of the brand. Thus in functional attributes we can improve any of the four Ps whereas in emotional one can improve the personality or image of the brand. A good example would be of Coca Cola and their distribution. Not only have they made it available from Atlanta to Zanzibar, from Moscow to Melbourne but also you can buy it from supermarkets, newsagents, cinema, restaurants, street corners, cafà ©, football stadium, pop concert and even at car parks where you have vending machine1. Whilst there are numerous marketing tools to achieve organic growth, this type of growth stems from three things: getting that brand used by more people, getting it used by the same people more often or getting people to use more of it on any of the occasions they use it in the first place. 2.5 GROWTH THROUGH EXTENSION The second and relatively newer way of growing brand is through extension, which is the core focus of this study. Before going into detail about how brands grow through extension, I will firstly define extension and try to differentiate the various types of extensions. Due to the relative immaturity of the concept, there is no standard definition of brand extension and various marketing scholars have given different definition to the same terminology. From the readings that I have conducted of books and research papers, its obvious that around a decade back scholars used to give a more generalized definition of brand extension. The generalization of the definition can be observed from the fact that brand extension was used for extension into both related and non-related products. The following definition will clarify my point of view. In a typical brand extension situation, an established brand name is applied to a new product in a category either related or unrelated, in order to capitalize on the equity of the core brand name (DeGraba and Sullivan, 1995; Pitta and Katsanis, 1995). Also certain research papers indicated that brand extension being generalized was then differentiated into two types as indicated by this piece of research work. Brand extensions come in two primary forms: horizontal and vertical. In a horizontal brand extension situation, an existing brand name is applied to a new product introduction in either a related product class, or in a product category completely new to the firm (Sheinin and Schmitt, 1994). A vertical brand extension, on the other hand, involves introducing a brand extension in the same product category as the core brand, but at a different price point and quality level (Keller and Aaker, 1992; Sullivan, 1990). In a vertical brand extension situation, a second brand name or descriptor is usually introduced alongside the core brand name, in order to demonstrate the link between the brand extension and the core brand name (e.g. Marriott Hotels, Courtyard Inn by Marriott). Most recently the word line extension has been given to extension done in the same product category whereas brand extension would refer to extension in unrelated products and in this study I will undertake this understanding of extension. Taylor (2003) has referred to them as direct and indirect stretch. Jobber (2003) has given the term brand extension to line extension whereas brand extension has been referred to as brand stretch. The current emphasis on the subject has been due to its enormous success. Consumers being the end users have become friendlier to the concept and are now accepting it as illustrated on the next page. Its obvious from this graph that consumers are becoming much friendlier to the concept then they were a decade ago and this shows the popularity of the concept and the frequency at which it has been used in the past decade. Lets get an insight into the various types of extension. 2.5.1 LINE EXTENSION OR DIRECT STRETCH Line extension is defined as being a variant of the same basic product. It might be a new flavor or a new size. Basically its a slight variation to the original product. Examples would be of Colgate. We used to have Colgate regular but now we have Colgate total, Colgate Max fresh Gel, my first Colgate for kids, Platinum, Deep clean etc. The basic purpose of this strategy is to encourage more people to use a brand. It can also be considered as a first step towards brand extension. But the only bad thing about too many variations in the products or having too many line extension is that it may confuse the user in regards to which product should he/she use. Also it may cause a cannibalization affect within the product range. 2.5.2 BRAND EXTENSION OR INDIRECT STRETCH Brand extension on the other hand would refer to extending your product range into a product category that wouldnt be commonly associated with it. A simple definition described below will illustrate my point of view. Brand extension is using the leverage of a well known brand name in one category to launch a new product in a different category. (Brandextension.org) Giles Lury in his book about Brand Watching has defined brand extension as: Brand extension is the use (and occasional misuse) of an existing brand name and equity to launch a product or service into a category or market not normally associated with that brand. (Lury, 1998) Thus in contrast to earlier scholars, who had generalized the concept of brand extension, new researchers have distinguished the concept well from line extension. 2.6 RATIONALE BEHIND USING BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension has gained a lot of popularity and is considered to be the key tool for launching new innovations. A survey was conducted by Brand gym in 2003 in which marketing directors were asked about brand extension. The following graph illustrates the response. The results indicated that 83% of the marketing directors thought that brand extension would be the main way of launching new innovation in the next two to three years. Yet research has also shown that only 50 percent of brand extension survives after the first three years. Firstly brand extension differs from line extension because where line extension offers customers more varieties or styles of the original brand in its original market, a brand extension takes an existing brand to pasture new ones. Taking Mars as an example we see that the original chocolate bar has been line extended into different styles including Mars Kingsize, Mars miniature and for a limited period Dark chocolate Mars. However when Mars launched the Mars ice cream, it entered a new market for the brand and as such had extended the brand franchise. Mars also extended into flavored milk drinks market with Mars in a bottle. The rationale behind brand extensions popularity is that its difficult and expensive to launch a completely new brand. The most often quoted statistic being that nine out of every ten new brands fail. New brands are therefore seen as a high, though sometimes high return strategy. On the other hand, brand extension is a cheaper and more reliable method of building on what already exists. Not surprisingly companies who have already invested a lot of money in creating a brand are keen to maximize its full potential. Finally it can be concluded that companies would like to leverage and thus give initial success to the new brand by exploiting the equity that has been established by the parent brand. 2.7 KELLER AND AAKERS WORK ON BRAND EXTENSION Keller and Aaker (1998) extending on their typology of product range extension and corporate brand extension have examined the impact of corporate marketing on a companys brand extension. In their research paper they have described how consumers evaluate brand extension in general and then concentrating on corporate brand extension, they have studied the impact of corporate marketing on consumer evaluation of corporate brand extension in the presence and absence of supporting product advertising. The initial research work describing product brand extension is as follows: Research on consumer responses to extensions of product brands, suggest that two key factors influence consumer evaluation. the types of association that make up the parent brand image the relationship between the parent brand and the extension product These factors affect the consumer belief about whether the new product fits as a member of the product line. In sum, the record therefore suggests that a variety of different associations for the parent brand can be transferred to an extension, assuming a basis of fit exists. Now an extension that they made in regards to brand extension was that they applied this concept to corporate brand extension. But before going further its important to know Aakers three dimensions of corporate credibility. They are: 1. Corporate expertise is the extent to which a company is thought able to competently make and sell its products and services. 2. Corporate trustworthiness is the extent to which a company is thought to be honest, dependable, and sensitive to consumer needs. 3. Corporate likability is the extent to which a company is thought likable, prestigious and interesting. This results gathered from this study have strategic implication both to the benefits/risks associated with brand extension and also to the effectiveness of brand extension. Thus a summary of the results are as follows. Firstly by showing that corporate marketing related to product innovation enhances perceptions of corporate credibility and extension fit, and thus much favorable extension evaluations, this study showed benefits for brands with reputation of high quality products. Secondly this study provided a more detailed account of particular dimensions of corporate credibility, namely corporate expertise, trust worthiness and likeability. Thus this study concluded that corporate expertise appeared to play a more influential role in evaluation of corporate brand extension than either corporate trustworthiness or likeability. Thirdly this study suggested the merits of leveraging a strong brand to introduce a new product. One advantage of using a brand extension strategy to name a new product is that a less concerted advertising effort may be necessary. To the extent that brands extensions are able to leverage existing parent brand associations in consumer memory, a company should find it easier to achieve brand image with an extension branding strategy instead of giving a new product a new name. The fact that corporate marketing activity impacted consumer evaluations of a corporate brand extension in the absence of any product specific advertising is further an empirical support for the benefit of adopting a brand extension strategy. Fourthly this study suggested that corporate marketing activity significantly influenced extension evaluations even when the extension was advertised on the basis of another image dimension point. Thus corporate image associations are more likely to transfer to an extension on the basis of the branding strategy. Lastly this study also suggested that where a company is in a situation of having a trade off between various strategies like reinforcing a strong association, strengthening a weak association or creating a new association, then it wholly depends on the situation of each of the elements to decide which strategy to choose. For example: In some cases, existing associations may be so strong that they may be better off emphasizing other information to fortify a weak or supply a missing association. 2.8 TYPES OF BRAND EXTENSION Limited work has been done on the typology of brand extension. From various research papers, books and websites that I have consulted regarding brand extension, very few have distributed brand extension into different types. (Brandextension.org) have generated the following typology of brand extension taking functional and emotional attributes of the brand into consideration. 1. Similar product in a different form from the original parent product. This is where a company changes the form of the product from the original parent product. An example is (frozen) Snickers Ice Cream Bars. The original Snickers bar is a shelf stable candy. The brand extension is a similar product, but in a different form. Jell-O Portable Pudding and Pudding Cups is Jell-O pudding in a different form and section of the store. 2. Distinctive flavor/ingredient/component in the new item. When a brand owns a flavor, ingredient or component, there may be other categories where consumers want that property. E.g. Peanut butter is a characteristic ingredient in Reeses Peanut Butter Cups candy. Chocolate is a characteristic ingredient of Hershey. Brand Extension Research identified Reeses Peanut Butter as a logical extension that capitalizes on this association. 3. Benefit/attribute/feature owned. Many brands own a benefit, attribute or feature that can be extended. E.g. Brand Extension Research showed Armor All brand was defined by automotive surface protection which can go beyond vinyl dressing. Paint needs protecting also. Arm Hammer owns a benefit of deodorizing. Their baking soda product has claimed that it removes odors from refrigerators, etc. As a result, they extended the brand into other products such as Arm Hammer underarm deodorant and cat litter deodorizer. 4. Expertise. Over time, certain brands may gain a reputation for having an expertise in a given area. Leverage can be achieved when extending into areas where this special expertise is deemed important. E.g. Hondas expertise in reliable engines led to lawn mowers, gas powered generators and a variety of other gasoline engine powered devices. What brand comes to mind when we think of baby products? Gerber. As a result of this acceptance of their expertise, they successfully launched Gerber Baby Powder, Gerber Baby Bottles, etc. Sara Lee is known for baked desserts, so why not other baked goods like bread. 5. Companion products. Some brand extensions are a natural companion to the products the company already makes. E.g. Contadina was a tomato paste and sauce brand. In brand extension research, consumers thought Contadina pasta was a logical companion product that would have the leverage of the Italian heritage of the parent. Aunt Jemima (the pancake mix brand) launched pancake syrup, as a companion to compete with Log Cabin syrup. 6. Vertical extensions. Some brand extensions are vertical extensions of what they currently offer. A brand can use their ingredient/component heritage to launch products in a more (or sometimes less) finished form. E.g. Nestlà ©s Toll House chocolate refrigerated cookies is an example. Most Toll House chocolate chips are used in cookies, so why not make a brand of Toll House chocolate chip cookies. Mrs. Fields Cookies were ready-to-eat. They offered frozen cookie dough, moving backwards as a vertical extension. Rice Krispies has always been used in kids treats. Kellogg offered Rice Krispies Treats ready-to-eat. 7. Same customer base. Many brand extensions represent a marketers effort to sell something else to its customer base. This works particularly well when that customer base is large and to some extent captive. E.g. VISA launched travelers checks directed to its credit card customers. 8. Designer image/status. Certain brands convey status and hence create an image for the user. E.g. Designer clothing labels have been extended to furniture, jewellery, perfume, cosmetics and a host of other items. Some brands promote a lifestyle and can extend to items that people wear, as a badge of identifying themselves with that lifestyle. The above-mentioned typology is quite useful as it indicate the key areas where extension is done along with the methodology used to extend the product line. Yet it must be said that not all research work would agree with this typology as it is felt that certain types confuses line and brand extension or in ways generalizes it more to extension rather than brand extension. For example: Adding attribute to the products in the same product line would be line extension and not brand extension. Still it is a good base for my research work and also for further research into the typology of brand extension. Aaker (1998) has described two types brand extension differentiating the concept on a corporate level. The first type described by him is product brand extension. A company makes a product brand extension when it uses an existing brand name distinct from its corporate name to introduce a new product outside its current product offering. With product brand extension consumers are often completely unaware of the company involved. The second type described by him is corporate brand extension. A corporate brand extension is one which relies on the corporate name to launch a new product . A corporate brand extension clearly identifies an organization with a product, and so evokes different reactions from consumers than a product brand extension. A corporate brand may create associations in consumers minds that reflect the values, program, and activities of the firm. 2.9 SEQUENTIAL STRETCHING AND UMBRELLA BRANDING Extension to parent brand is usually a sequential process in which brands are initially line extended and then brand extended. This sequential stretching of brands leads to the formation of a whole family of brands thus giving rise to the concept of Umbrella branding. As the name indicates, umbrella branding refers to extension of a parent brand into a variety of products such that a whole range of products would come under the same brand. Taylor (2003) has divided the sequential extension into three main steps namely core brand extension, direct stretch and indirect stretch. I will illustrate the concept using Dove as an example. Brand extension was a key driver of Doves explosive growth during the 1990s. Coupled with geographic expansion, it helped grow sales fivefold, to almost $1 billion. The brand continues to grow at 20 percent per year and is well on its way to hitting the $ 2 billion mark in the next few years. Let go through the sequential process and apply it to Dove. The first and most crucial step to be noted is that Dove didnt extend its product line until it had achieved the following two things. †¢ A strong bar business had been built †¢ The brand had satisfactory scores on attributes rating for mildness and moisturizing. An important thing to be noted is that extension took place only after Dove had secured its soap bar business and had improved it. Thus once there was strength in the brand, it extending it to other products. Stretching went through the following stages. Stage One: Core Range extensions: Dove remained a product brand with a single format at this stage. It extended (line extension) its product range by adding new versions such as sensitive skin that now accounts for up to a third of sales. Further growth of the bar through product and pack innovation, remains a key source of profitable growth. Diagrammatic illustration of this step would indicate the extension into the two types. Stage Two: Direct stretch: In this stage extension is done into markets that are quite relevant to the product line. In the case of dove, it extended its product range into bath and shower products. Yet till now dove is focused on personal washing. The key reasons of dove extension at this stage were strong product delivery and innovative packing that differentiated them from other products in the range. The following diagram illustrates their stretch in to shower and bath products. Stage three: Indirect stretch: Capitalizing on their skin care outlook, Dove decided to be ambitious and to move beyond the washing and bathing market. Although they started off selectively, they introduced products like deodorants and hair gels etc. that were once again a big success. This process of broadening a product range is referred to as Umbrella Branding as illustrated by the diagram given below. The dove success has been due to consistent marketing and a consistent communication campaign. Consistency has been a key part of building brand identity and has been an additional glue to tie together the extension. 2.10 BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS ASSOCIATED WITH BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension being the most popular mean of brand growth has some surprising statistics. Success rate of brand extension is hard to find, especially as what constitutes a success varies enormously. Yet a survey conducted by OCC using a simple and effective definition of success (still being on shelf after six years after launch) found out that 50 percent of all brand extension fails. This figure is certainly an eye opener for most companies as half of the product fails using brand extension. Taylor (2003) has associated this huge failure figure due to Brand ego tripping and also gives effective steps to avoid it. But before we go into the detail of this concept, lets look into the benefits and drawbacks of brand extension. 2.10.1 BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH BRAND EXTENSION The remarkable popularity of the concept over the last decade is a confirmation of the fact that there are marked benefits that can be associated with brand extension. Taylor (2003) has described the consumer benefits of brand extension in which he has identified consumer knowledge, consumer trust and lower cost as the major benefits of brand extension. Tauber (1988) has differentiated the benefits on the basis of efficiency and effectiveness emphasizing more on the cost benefits. An existing strong brand promotes a new product or service as there is less need to create awareness and imagery. Thus in a way awareness is already present and the only thing left is