Scenario Analysis

In this case, there is an ethical dilemma in that I am visiting my friends place as a friend and not as an officer. Therefore, my friends would not want me to act on anything that I notice strange as an officer. On the other hand, whatever is happening is illegal and I just cannot let it go. As Fuller, (1975) says, one needs to act out of principles and leaving these people doing drugs is not at all a sign of a principled person. Since doing drugs such as cocaine is illegal, the law requires that an officer who notices such an activity take immediate action such as arresting the victim or the person in the possession of the drugs. The criterion that would guide me in this case is assessing the effect of what these people are doing, to themselves and to the large majority. It is illegal to do such drugs and therefore if I stop them, I will have done more good than harm. I would therefore consider the effect of stopping these people from doing drugs being greater that losing friendship. The first thing that I would do is to look for my friend and try to find out whether he is aware of the people who are doing drugs at the party. However, his outcome would not change my mind. If he says that, he is aware of these people doing drugs, I would tell him that this is illegal and leaving them as an officer is unethical on my part. If he does not know, I would inform him of some people who are doing drugs within his compound. I would then try to convince him that whether he knows this on not, the fact is that the act is illegal and wrong and that I would go ahead and arrest these people. I would try to convince him the effects and the dangers that these friends who are doing drugs are exposing to all the other people in the party. I would then go ahead and make arrests of these people. Scenario 2 What I do at the community policing office is out of my free will and the passion to serve the community. I therefore do not expect that someone out there should bring me any type of gift as a sign of appreciation. I believe in honest and a world that is free of corruption. In this case, the ethical dilemma presented is the fact that the person who visits me comes after I have done something for him. Even though the timing is good, the intentions of the gift are not good and therefore I would not feel right accepting it. The reason is that I would consider such a gift a bribe as he presents it behind the counter and only after I had served him. (Fuller, 1975) In this case, I would try to explain to him that I do not feel comfortable accepting the gift and much less behind the counter. I would try to explain to him that I served him not as a favor but because it is the right thing to do and I enjoy doing it. There is therefore no need for him to show that gesture as a sign of appreciation. I would try to reject the gift and at the same time not make him to see as if he was bribing me. If he insists, I would advise him to address the gift to the organization through the counter and assure him that I will surely get it. In this case, the gift will be an appreciation to the organization and the entire organization staff members will take the fruits. Scenario 3 There is an ethical dilemma in this case in that, there are some people who still do not appreciate homosexuality and therefore they cannot accept it. This means that such an officer may not give the best to the force as he is working under conditions that he does not appreciate. On the other hand, the law prohibits any form of discrimination and if I agree to Officer Davis wish and assign him to another officer, I would look as if am acting out of discrimination. I believe that we should not discriminate any person on basis of skin color, sexual orientation or any other basis. Just because Officer Davis does not like Officer Jones’ private life does not mean that they cannot work together. (Fuller, 1975) The first thing that I would do is to try to get the reason why Officer Davis wants to another officer assigned to him. I would try to get the real reason whether it is because Officer Jones is makings some unwelcomed sexual advances to office Davis or whether it is just because Officer Jones is a homosexual. If there happen to be no cases of sexual advancement, then I would not assign Officer Davis to another officer. I would explain to him that we should try to be professional in our duties and we should not interfere with other people’s private life. Officer Jones’ sexual orientation is private and it does not interfere with his professional duties. There is no reason to feel inferior or inappropriate working with him not unless he is making some sexual advances to Officer Davis, which Officer Davis does not like.

Visual Puffery in Fragrance Ads

Rollins College Rollins Scholarship Online Faculty Publications 1-1-2012 A study of visual puffery in fragrance advertising: Is the message sent stronger than the actual scent? Mark Toncar Youngstown State University Marc Fetscherin Rollins College, [email  protected] edu Published In Mark Toncar, Marc Fetscherin, (2012) â€Å"A study of visual puffery in fragrance advertising: Is the message sent stronger than the actual scent? â€Å", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 46 Iss: 1/2, pp. 52 – 72This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Rollins Scholarship Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Rollins Scholarship Online. For more information, please contact [email  protected] edu. A Study of Visual Puffery in Fragrance Advertising Is the message sent stronger than the actual scent? Abstract Purpose – This paper investigates visual exaggerations of fragrance advertisements by comparing subjects’ expectations resulting from print ads to their subsequent product evaluations.It then considers whether the actual scents fall short, meet or exceed these expectations. Design/methodology/approach – By means of a semiotic analysis we capture the corresponding literary attributes of the ads to develop adjective pairs describing the meaning of the ads. Interviews are conducted to assess the meaning that consumers draw from the fragrance ads and we supplement these findings by performing a blind olfactory product evaluation of the fragrances. Paired sample t-tests are used to compare ubjects’ ad expectations to their subsequent product evaluation of the actual scent. Findings – Our results show that the visual cues and imagery in the fragrance ads appear, under certain conditions, to result in product expectations that exceed actual product evaluations, suggesting the existence of visual puffery. We also found that the more abstract descriptors of the ad resulted in significantly higher expectations, while the more concrete descriptors resulted in significantly lower expectations than the actual product evaluation.Research limitations/implications – A small sample size of homogenous consumers limits the generalizability of the results. No measures of attitude effectiveness were taken. Practical implications – Visual puffery may be effective and help marketers, even in countries where verbal puffery is illegal, to use another means to reach consumers. Originality/value – This paper investigates an under-researched area in advertising.A multimethod approach and primary data are used to assess subjects’ ad expectations of a fragrance and the actual product evaluation and demonstrates the existence of visual puffery. Keywords Puffery, Advertising, Fragrance, Perfume Paper type Research Paper 1. Introduction Consumer research in advertising has a long history of investigating how the structure of a pers uasive message can influence its effectiveness (Belch and Belch, 2009).One useful way to classify previous research is that which pertains to the verbal aspects of the message, the visual aspects, or research that considers both verbal and visual cues (Stern, 1996; McQuarrie and Mick, 2003a; Stathakopoulos, 2008). Illustrative of the research focusing on verbal cues includes studies focusing on order of presentation of product claims (Kamins and Marks, 1987; Krugman, 1962), whether to include or omit conclusions (Chance, 1975; Kardes, 1988) and the effectiveness of one-sided versus twosided messages (Eisend, 2006; Belch, 1983; Sawyer, 1973).More recently, researchers have begun to focus on the effects of the visual components of advertising such as visual hyperbole (Callister and Stern, 2007) and visual metaphor (McQuarrie and Phillips, 2005) recognizing that both the verbal and visual information presented in an ad can influence the way an advertising message is processed and perce ived (Oliver, 1979; Mitchell, 1986; Edell and Staelin, 1983; Hirschmann, 1986; Smith, 1991; Stern, 1996; Scott and Batra, 2003; McQuarrie and Mick, 2003a; Stathakopoulos et. al 2008).Research addressing deceptive advertising practices has generally focused on the verbal aspects of product claims, and has not often assessed the role that visuals can play in communicating deceptive, misleading or inaccurate information. This is especially true regarding investigations of puffery in advertising. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the concept of visual puffery, and to examine whether exaggerated and unsubstantiated product claims can be communicated to consumers using visual imagery.Specifically, the objectives of this research are twofold; first, to examine how advertisers are using visual appeals to generate sensory expectations by consumers. Second, we explore the relationship between the sensory expectations that are created in the minds of consumers by the advert isements and consumers’ subsequent product evaluation. In so doing, we seek to identify and measure the extent to which viewers’ expectations developed in response to an ad differ from their subsequent evaluation of the actual product in the ad and whether visual puffery exists. . Literature Review 2. 1. Visuals in Advertising Historically, advertising research has been dominated by investigations that focused on the verbal content of advertisements. With regard to magazine advertising, this has generally referred to investigations involving the headlines and body copy and investigating how specific linguistic elements affect the processing of advertising information.Illustrative of these studies are the works of Leigh (1994), who investigated the use of figures of speech in magazine headlines, McQuarrie and Mick (1996) who examined the use of figures of speech in advertising language, Djafarova (2008) who investigated the use of puns in advertising, and Mothersbaugh, Huhmann and Franke (2002) who explored the effects of rhetorical figures on consumers’ processing effort and focus.Visual elements of advertisements, such as pictures or symbols are also an important component of many advertisements, and the role of imagery in shaping consumer response and behavior has only recently begun to receive the same degree and sophistication of research attention as the verbal elements in advertising (McQuarrie and Mick, 1999; Fetscherin and Toncar, 2009). The importance of visual imagery in advertising has been ecognized since the 1970s when Rossiter and Percy (1978; 1980; 1981) proposed the visual and verbal loop theory which showed â€Å"that visual content in advertising is just as capable of increasing the consumer’s product attitude as is verbal content† (Rossiter and Percy, 1980, p. 15). Since then it has become clear that visual elements can be effective tactics to achieve a range of advertising objectives, including belief acce ptance and change (Miniard et al. , 1991; Mitchell and Olson 1981; Peracchio and Meyers-Levy 1994) and memory (Childers and Houston, 1984).Messaris (1997) discusses in his book that magazine ads, and other forms of advertising, often convey meanings that cannot be expressed as well, or at all, through words. As the book title suggests, â€Å"Visual persuasionâ€Å" is an exploration of these unique aspects of advertising. Using a range of methodologies, illustrative research on the topic includes investigating the effects of visual hyperbole (Callister and Stern, 2007) and visual metaphor (McQuarrie and Phillips, 2005), ethical issues that arise from visual representations in advertising (Borgerson and Schroeder, 2002), the visual imagery and epresentation of the male body in advertising (Schroeder and Zwick, 2004), and using interpretive methodologies from art and literary criticism to explore the meanings in advertising imagery (Stern and Schroeder, 1994) to mention only a few. A more recent trend is to build upon theories of verbal rhetoric to understand the effects of visuals in advertising (Scott, 1994; McQuarrie and Mick, 1999; van Enschot, Hoeken and van Mulken, 2008; Stathakopoulos, Theodorakis and Mastoridou, 2008; Phillips and McQuarrie, 2004).The growing consensus, regardless of the methodological tool used, is that visual imagery is a nearly ubiquitous and powerful influence in advertising. In sum, there are several theories which model the way visual elements in advertising affect consumer response including classical conditioning (Rossiter and Percy, 1978; Shimp et al. , 1991), the visual and verbal loop theory (Hansen, 1981; Rossiter and Percy, 1980), the attitude towards the ad or affect-transfer theory (Mitchell, 1986; Shimp 1981), information processing theory (MacInnis and Price, 1987), and the elaboration-likelihood model (ELM) (Petty et al. 1983) which demonstrated both central and peripheral routes to persuasion. Vaughn (1986) developed the FCB grid as a framework for developing creative advertising strategies and this has been extended further by Rossiter et al. (1991) who created the Rossiter-Percy grid (Mortimer, 2002). As Scott (1994, p. 256) noted, these theories â€Å"have been investigated in overlapping ways, which makes it difficult to stipulate distinct theoretical boundaries†. Moreover, Scott (1994, p. 258) suggests that â€Å"a second area of research can be characterized by a broad methodological orientation rather than by a unified theory†.In fact, there are different interpretative theories and approaches to analyze visual elements of advertising (McQuarrie and Mick, 1999). The four most common are the following. First, the archival tradition is perhaps the oldest one whereby large samples of advertisements are gathered and content analysis is used to examine the frequency with which various types of visual elements appear (Harris and Attour, 2003; Seitz, 1998; Scott, 1994). Second, th e experimental tradition systematically varies either the presence or absence of pictures per se (McQuarrie and Mick, 1999).The third is the readerresponse approach which seeks to uncover the meanings that consumers draw from the ads (Mick and Buhl, 1992; Scott, 1994). Extended interviews are used to understand the rich and complex interplay between elements of the ad and consumer perception. Finally, the text-interpretive approach draws on rhetorical and semiotic theories to provide a systematic and nuanced analysis of the individual elements that make up the ad (Scott, 1994; McQuarrie and Mick, 1999).A few studies (Corbett, 1990; McQuarrie and Mick, 1999; Morgan and Reichert, 1999; McQuarrie and Mick, 2003a; McQuarrie and Phillips, 2005) have used visual rhetoric analysis, an interpretative theory, in advertising research. Phillips and McQuarrie (2002) show that metaphors and hyperbole, which are figurative expressions that involve intentionally exaggerated statements (visual or v erbal), appear in 17. 3% of advertisement pictures and 44% of headlines and have increased steadily since the 1960s. More recently, Callister and Stern (2007) looked at the use of visual hyperbole as an intriguing form of exaggeration in advertising.To do so they focused on the description of the rhetorical figures present in ads. Like rhetoric analysis, semiotic analysis can also be used by the researcher to assess the effects of images and symbols. Both, rhetoric and semiotics are text-centered approaches (McQuarrie and Mick, 2002). As such, â€Å"they make relatively simple and straightforward assumptions about the human system, concentrating instead on the development of elaborated structures that can be used to differentiate types of visual content in advertisements† (McQuarrie and Mick, 2003b, p. 192).The current study assesses visuals in advertising using two approaches. First, we use a text-interpretive approach by means of semiotic analysis (ad system) to identify, c apture and to generate the corresponding literary attributes that describe the most prevalent signs within the visual message. Second, using a reader-response approach, we conduct personal interviews to learn the meanings that consumers draw from the ads and take the perspective of a human system. We supplement these findings by performing a blind olfactory evaluation of the fragrances. 2. 2.Puffery in Advertising The concept and use of verbal puffery in advertising has been extensively researched in the past few decades. It is widely understood to refer to exaggerated or unsubstantiated advertising claims. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines puffery as a â€Å"term frequently used to denote the exaggerations reasonably to be expected of a seller as to the degree of quality of his product, the truth or falsity of which cannot be precisely determined† (DeFrancis, 2004, p. 10). Illustrative of the extensive research on the topic are the early works of Preston (1967), Pre ston and Scharbach (1971), and Richards (1990) among others.For example Preston (1996) and Richards (1990) investigate the role of puffery as it relates to deception and consider whether puffery constitutes deceptive advertising. Puffed claims, while obviously untrue, are typically not considered deceptive because, by definition of the FTC, puffed claims are subjective claims that no reasonable person would take to be literally true. While the FTC has taken the position that puffery is not deceptive because it does not work, empirical research has not generally supported this (Kamins and Marks, 1987).Moreover, and as Haan and Berkey (2002) argue â€Å"if puffery does not work, salespeople and advertisers would not use it† (p. 245). Some researcher demonstrated that under certain conditions consumers believe exaggerated claims (Cunningham and Cunningham, 1977; Rotfeld and Rotzoll, 1980; Rotfeld and Preston, 1981; Olson and Dover, 1978; Kamins and Marks, 1987; Wyckham, 1987; Ha an and Berkey, 2002; Cowley, 2006) while others shows that while consumers are able to identify an exaggerated claim, the evaluation of the brand was still more positive when puffed claims were used (Cowley, 2006).Still other research suggests exaggerated claims can produce negative effects (Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980b). Studies have looked at the effects of puffery on product attitude and purchase intentions (Kamins and Marks, 1987), or considered the use of puffery in ads for specific product categories such as ball point pens (Kamins and Marks, 1987, Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980b) or automobiles (Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980a; Vanden Bergh et al. , 1983) for example.In addition, there is ample evidence that verbal puffery influences pre-purchase (Oliver, 1979) as well as post-trial product evaluations (Olshavsky and Miller, 1972; Anderson, 1973; Kamins, 1985; Olson and Dover, 1978; Oliver, 1979). In sum, theses studies suggest that verbal puffery enhances pre and post-trial produc t ratings relative to trial alone and that, in certain conditions, this effect increases as the puffery becomes more exaggerated (Kamins and Marks, 1987). This last observation brings up an interesting issue regarding the effectiveness of different degrees of puffery.Preston (1996, 1998) introduced six categories of verbal puffery, based upon the strength of the assertion made in the puffed claim. He named the categories â€Å"best†, â€Å"best possible†, â€Å"better†, â€Å"specially good†, and â€Å"subjective qualities†. Haan and Berkey (2002) investigated the believability of each of the six forms of puffery and found that in all but one category, â€Å"consumers do not strongly believe or disbelieve puffed statements† (Haan and Berkey, 2002, p. 251). They concluded their findings were generally onsistent with Beltramini and Evans (1985) who suggested the consumers are â€Å"tired of overused techniques in advertising and, as a result, see little difference in the believability from one advertisement to the next† (Haan and Berkey, 2002, p. 251). A careful inspection of Haan and Berkey’s (2002) results yields an interesting observation. The only category of puffery that affected subjects’ beliefs was the subjective claim category, which, according to Preston (1996), represents the weakest form of puffery. While he other five types of puffery all involve the use of verbal superlatives and exaggeration, the subjective claim puff is one which makes a subjective assertion about the product with no implicit or explicit reference to the product. This suggests that advertisers of consumer products, who rely heavily on subjective claims, as is the case for fragrances, should be wary of delivering these claims using verbal puffery. Furthermore, and as stated by Haan and Berkey (2002), consumers’ beliefs about an advertisement are related to factors other than the verbal puffed claims made about t he product.This is important for our study as we argue that this could encourage advertisers to communicate claims about subjective product benefits by using visual rather than verbal puffery. 2. 3. Personal Fragrance Advertising Fragrance advertising represents a significant portion of ad pages and spending, estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Print advertising of fragrances poses additional challenges compared to many other products for the following three main reasons. First, fragrances have no significant functional benefit and are very intimate purchases where preferences are personal (Busch, 2003).Since odors stimulate the part of the brain responsible for emotional responses, olfaction represents a different path to the consumer than is afforded by other types of cues (Ellen and Bone, 1998). According to Kirk-Smith and Booth (1987), the emotional response generated by a scent depends on â€Å"the complex meaning of previous social experience with odors† (p. 159 ). The emotional aspect of odors may therefore influence a consumer’s attitude and motivation to purchase through the associations it evokes.Second, because perfume, like many other products and services, is not purchased based upon the functional benefits they provide, advertising a perfume represents a special challenge for marketers because they cannot sell their product based solely on its features. Instead, fragrance marketers speak to people’s fantasies, and attempt to create a sensual â€Å"mood† using a variety of visual and verbal tactics, including metaphors and other figures of speech as well as a broad range of visual symbols that can often best be understood using a semiotic analysis approach (Toncar and Munch, 2001). Third, it is difficult to ommunicate a taste, or in our case a scent in a print ad. This is compounded by the fact that the actual scent of a perfume is only one of a number of salient cues that affect product purchase, many of which a re introduced and communicated in the ads. The ad can depict a photograph of the bottle, might include a scent strip in magazine advertising, making a nebulous product a bit more substantive, or use a variety of rhetorical techniques to tap into the human capacity for multi-sensory perception and provoke the consumer to actually envision the scent based on coded images and signs embedded within the print advertisement.In this regard, much fragrance advertising can have transformational effects. Transformational advertising (Wells, 1980) is effective by â€Å"developing associations with the brand use experience that transforms that experience into something different than it would be in the absence of the advertising† †¦ â€Å"transformational advertising creates, alters, or intensifies feelings† (Aaker and Stayman, 1992, p. 239) and attempts to move the consumer emotionally to a point of greater product acceptance (Cutler et al. 2000). In that respect, transforma tional advertising enhance mostly hedonic and symbolic benefits but does not appear to affect evaluations of functional benefits (Naylor et al. , 2008). Drawing on biology, psychology, and rhetorical techniques, print advertisements for fragrances are generally quite artistic. For this reason, the text interpretative analysis of the semiotic relations among key elements of the ad is a suitable approach to gain insights about the messages being conveyed in the ads.Busch (2003) explains that the human senses do not work independently, but in tandem to influence desires, decisions, and emotional responses and this feature of human perception suggests that fragrance advertising using linguistic and visual cues actually has the power to affect consumer expectations and convey the scent of the advertised fragrance. Ellen and Bone (1998) showed that the addition of a more congruent scratch-and-sniff panel to a fragrance advertisement improves attitude toward the ad or the brand.Lambiase an d Reichert (2003) used rhetorical analysis to explore sexually oriented appeals in fragrance advertisements. Moriarty (2006) showed how semiotics can be used in advertising to create meaning that does not naturally exist and Clare (1998) demonstrated the usefulness of semiotic analysis for men’s fragrance advertising and showed that signs or cues in the ad provide a favorable image of the product. Studies from the Advertising Educational Foundation (2006) as well as Ellen and Bone (1998) discuss the growing emphasis on olfactory cues for differentiation in modern advertising. 3.Methodology The objectives of this paper are to investigate: (1) how fragrance advertisers are using visual appeals to generate sensory product expectations and (2) the relationship between the product expectations resulting from the ad and the corresponding product evaluations. This task is somewhat complicated by the subjective nature of the meanings generated by the visuals in the ad as well as the scent of a fragrance. To address this issue, we will use the same set of literary attributes when assessing and comparing viewers’ product expectations based on an ad with their subsequent product evaluation of the fragrance.The extent to which consumer expectations based on the ad exceed their subsequent product evaluations can be viewed as a form of visual exaggeration, or perhaps visual puffery. This basic rationale, that puffery may be conceptualized and even quantified as the extent to which expectations of a product arising from an ad exceed subsequent product evaluations seems reasonable. A similar approach has been used in other studies, including McQuarrie and Mick (1999). Visual claims that, if believed, result in expectations on the part of viewers that exceed the capabilities of the product fit the accepted definition of puffery.As mentioned previously, in this study we assess visual puffery in magazine advertising using a multi-method approach. First, we use a te xt-interpretative approach by means of a semiotic analysis to identify, capture and to generate the corresponding literary attributes that describe the most prevalent signs within the visual message (ad system). This gives us the descriptors of product attributes and therefore the literary attributes to be evaluated and on which visual puffery was assessed. Second, we use a reader-response approach by means of personal interviews to assess the meaning that consumers draw from the ads (human system).In addition, these findings are supplemented with an actual product test by means of a blind olfactory evaluation of the fragrance. This multi-method approach builds on previous studies to show the value of this approach for consumer research (McQuarrie and Mick, 1999). 3. 1 Semiotic Analysis The literary attributes were developed using a semiotic analysis of the three ads chosen. Semiotic analysis can be used to decode the meaning of advertisements. It is an approach that seeks to interp ret messages in terms of their signs and patterns of symbolism (Moriarty, 1995).Everything in an advertisement, such as the model’s hair and clothing, the ad’s color palate, the lighting and the objects featured in the advertisement, functions as a signifier of something else. All forms of semiotic analysis consider each aspect of the ad in question to be important for the generation of meaning. Semiotic analysis begins with the listing of all of the signs, structures, and codes embedded within the text (Lawes, 2002). Another important part of semiotic analysis involves looking at contrasts and implied contradictions.The structural methods employed by many semioticians involve the study of paradigms as binary or polar oppositions (Chandler, 2001), and there are many contrasting pairs that can be recognized in advertisements. Male/female appears to be the most central opposition, since male and female sexuality is connoted from their pairing in the advertisements. The o bjective of an advertisement, for example, could be to bring male and female together through the use of the product by the woman to attract the male. The subsequent â€Å"power† the woman has over the man, or vice-versa, leads us to the next noticeable opposition; dominant/subordinate.The woman can dominate the subordinate man, or the opposite may occur. Black/white and mind/body are also binary oppositions; the text or background is presented in black and white. And of course, the reverse may also be true. The researchers used a semiotic analysis of the three ads and the following attribute-adjectives pairs were generated that describe the range of meanings of the three selected ads. These are â€Å"adjective pairs† and not â€Å"polar opposites† in the literary sense and are meant to be, to some degree, synonyms rather than antonyms, describing similar, not opposite aspects of the ads.The selected pairs of adjectives were used to identify the elements of visu al imagery in the ads and subsequently also in the product evaluation. They are summarized in the following Table I. Table I. Adjective Pair Light/Understated Bold/Powerful Arousing/Sensual Romantic/Feminine Playful/Flirtatious Mysterious/Exotic Earthy/Musky Fruity/Tasty Medicinal/Bland Velvety/Creamy 4. Data Collection We gathered primary data by means of structured interviews (survey) of potential consumers. The first section of the questionnaire focused on purchasing habits and fragrance use.In the second section subjects were shown a copy of a fragrance ad and were asked to answer questions pertaining to that ad. The questions required subjects to describe how they envisioned the scent by identifying their expectations using the adjective pairs, resulted from the semiotic analysis, on a five point Likert scale anchored by â€Å"strongly disagree† and â€Å"strongly agree. † This process was then repeated with the remaining two ads. The third section tested subjects ’ actual olfactory perceptions of each of the three fragrances. The subjects were asked to perform a blind olfactory evaluation of the fragrances.They were asked to describe each scent using the same adjective pairs and scale so that their actual product evaluations could be compared to their expectations. This procedure was then repeated for the remaining two fragrances. Respondents were provided a small vial of coffee beans to smell between each fragrance sample, in order to clear the olfactory palate and minimize the likelihood of scents mixing or getting confused. The order of presentation of both the ads and the fragrances was randomly selected to prevent any ordering effect. Finally, socio-demographic information was collected.Three different full-page advertisements for women’s fragrances from Vogue magazine were selected for this study. Vogue was used for several reasons; it is one of the oldest fashion magazines in the market (since 1892), the target audience is females, it is widely accepted as the â€Å"Fashion Bible† or â€Å"Style Bible†, and it is one of the most influential fashion magazines in the world (Weber, 2006). Moreover, it is among the top 10 magazines in the US in terms of ad pages and is also the leading magazine in terms of advertising revenue and circulation.The three advertisements used in this study were: (1) Red Delicious by DKNY, (2) Hypnose by Lancome Paris, and (3) Euphoria by Calvin Klein. Fragrances were selected as a product category because of the intensely visual imagery that is often utilized to communicate intangible product benefits as mentioned above. The specific ads were selected primarily due to the relative absence of verbal cues which may explain why these ads appeared not only in the US edition of Vogue but in many international editions as well (Vogue UK, Vogue France, and Vogue Australia, and Vogue Italy). The actual ads used in this research are reproduced in Figure I.Take in Figur e I Three ads were chosen for several reasons. First, we believed that multiple ads would provide a more broad inspection of our research objectives than a single ad. However, we were concerned that too many ads and their associated fragrances would overwhelm the respondents’ senses of smell and impair their ability to accurately evaluate the fragrances, a key objective in our research. Finally, related studies used similar number of ads per respondent (Kamins and Marks, 1987; Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980b; Rothfeld and Rotzoll, 1980; Wychkam, 1985; Ellen and Bone, 1998; Schmitt et al. 1995; McQuarrie and Mick, 1999; Cowley, 2006). The target audience of women’s fashion and beauty magazines such as Vogue is generally fashion-conscious women under the age of 45. Vogue, specifically, reports that the average age is 34 and that 63% of its readership is between the age of 18-49 (Conde Nast Digital, 2009). In addition, approximately 75% of perfume purchases in the United Sta tes are made by women under the age of 25 (Busch, 2003). This suggests that young women are a representative and suitable sample for this research. It should be noted that many studies used student samples (e. . , Vanden Bergh and Reid, 1980b; Kamins and Marks, 1987, McQuarrie and Mick, 1999; Cowley, 2006) compared to ours which is based on consumers. The survey instrument and procedures were pre-tested with a sample of sixteen women to identify problems prior to the actual interviews. Finally, 75 young women below the age of 25 were randomly interviewed outside a major upscale shopping mall near a metropolitan city located in the southeastern part of the United States. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the reliability of the measurement items used.The overall alpha for all the scales was 0. 85. The alpha for the ad rating scales was 0. 72, and 0. 73 for the fragrance rating scales. This suggests the measurement scales exhibited acceptable reliability. 5. Results 5. 1. Desc riptive Statistics Table II presents basic descriptive statistics about the respondents that illustrate their similarity to the target market of these fragrances and advertisements. The age, household income, frequency of travel and enjoyment of cultural visits such as museums and the theatre are provided in the table.Table II. Descriptive Statistics Demographic Characteristic (n=75) Age 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Household Income $0- $25,000 $25,001 – $50,000 $50,001 – $75,000 $75,001 – $100,000 $100,001 and above Travel Never Percentage 1% 16% 36% 24% 12% 8% 3% 7% 20% 8% 15% 50% 4% Culture Visits Seldom Occasionally Often Frequently Never Seldom Occasionally Often Frequently 12% 39% 20% 25% 3% 12% 36% 31% 18% The self-reported annual household income was generally consistent with the average household income of the typical Vogue readership.The same applies to the travel habits as well as cultural activities, such as visits to museums, art galleries and theatrical pe rformances. Overall, our analysis indicates that our sample is similar to the readership of Vogue. Ninety-two percent of our sample reported buying a fragrance for themselves at least once each year and over 50% reported buying at least twice each year. Eightythree percent reported that they read a fashion/beauty magazine at least once each month and 55% reported reading one at least twice each month.This information suggests that the women in our sample appear to have substantial exposure to magazine fragrance advertising. 5. 2. Viewers Expectations and Evaluations Since prior knowledge of, or experience with the ads or fragrances used in the experiment could have an impact on subjects’ expectations and product evaluations, we first asked respondents whether they had seen each ad and whether they recalled smelling each fragrance. The responses of the women who reported either seeing one or ore of the ads or smelling one or more of the fragrances were compared to the response s of the women who reported no previous exposure to either the ads or the fragrances. There were no significant differences between the two groups. While this result allows us to consider our sample as one relatively homogeneous group, it is at the same time somewhat troubling as this seems to suggest that prior exposure to the ads and/or the fragrances in this study did not affect subjects’ perceptions of either the ads or the fragrances.One explanation is that there are hundreds of different fragrances and ads out in the market, while our study is limited to three fragrances and ads. Furthermore, those subjects who were exposed to the ads and/or fragrances prior to our study either did not recall or recognize it, especially this might be the fact in the case of the blind olfactory test, or respondents did not integrate the prior ad and fragrance information into their consciousness based on the parameters established by our dependent measures.Table III summarizes the averag e rating of the subjects’ expectations resulting from the advertisement (â€Å"Ad†) as well as the average rating of the subsequent product evaluations (â€Å"Fragrance†) for the three ads and their respective fragrances. Table III. Advertisement and Fragrance Evaluations Mean values Light/Understated Bold/Powerful Arousing/Sensual Romantic/Feminine Playful/ Flirtatious Mysterious/ Exotic Earthy/Musky Fruity/Tasty Medicinal/Bland Velvety/Creamy Red Delicious Ad Fragrance 2. 31 3. 41 3. 80 2. 81 4. 04 3. 31 3. 81 3. 51 4. 09 3. 61 3. 28 2. 65 2. 15 2. 43 3. 68 3. 41 1. 60 1. 97 1. 79 2. 28 Hypnose Ad Fragrance 3. 9 3. 04 2. 89 3. 13 3. 65 3. 11 4. 03 3. 55 3. 43 3. 12 3. 52 2. 95 2. 33 2. 65 2. 31 2. 47 1. 80 1. 93 2. 47 2. 61 Euphoria Ad Fragrance 2. 43 2. 60 3. 80 3. 60 4. 31 3. 28 3. 95 3. 49 3. 63 3. 17 3. 96 3. 15 2. 77 2. 72 2. 13 2. 53 1. 72 1. 89 2. 76 2. 40 Since subjects reported both their fragrance expectations and subsequent product evaluations using the same set of scale items, paired sample t-tests were used to consider whether the ads generated scent expectations that fell short, met, or exceeded subjects’ actual product evaluations. The tables that follow summarize the similarities and differences between the xpectations that were generated in response to the ads and the subsequent product evaluations in response to the blind olfactory tests. 5. 3. Red Delicious Results Subjects’ responses to the Red Delicious ad/scent pairing indicated significant differences between subjects’ expectations and product evaluations in eight of the 10 adjective pairs. In five of the pairs, Bold/Powerful, Arousing/Sensual, Romantic/Feminine, Playful/Flirtatious and Mysterious/Exotic, the expectations generated in response to the ad exceeded the subsequent olfactory evaluation of the fragrance.In three pairs, Light/Understated, Medicinal/Bland and Velvety/Creamy the olfactory evaluation exceeded expectations. It appears tha t based upon their exposure to the ad, respondents expected the fragrance to be more powerful, sensual, feminine, flirtatious and exotic than they ultimately evaluated the fragrance to be. Conversely, the actual fragrance appears to have been lighter, more velvety and understated than subjects expected it would be. These results are summarized in Table IV below and are addressed at greater length in our discussion section.In the table, the expectation/evaluation pairs that differed significantly (p Fragrance (Visual puffery) Ad = Fragrance (match) Ad < Fragrance Total Red Delicious 5 2 3 10 Hypnose Euphoria 4 5 5 4 1 1 10 10 Total 14 11 5 30 There is sparse evidence that the ads used in this research generated accurate expectations. Instead, there is more evidence that the ads generally resulted in higher expectations among subjects, expectations that were not met when subjects actually used the products. Almost half (14) of the paired comparisons resulted in significantly higher ex pectations than product evaluations.One interpretation of this observation is that the visual imagery in the ads communicated exaggerated claims about the product benefits. Across all three fragrances, the expectations generated by the ads that related to the adjective pairs of Arousing/Sensual, Romantic/Feminine, Playful/Flirtatious and Mysterious/Exotic were all significantly greater than subsequent product evaluations. Interestingly, all four adjective pairs seem to be unambiguously favorable characteristics of perfume. A careful inspection of our results yields one additional intriguing observation.Each of the ten adjectives pairs can be categorized as pertaining to either concrete or abstract descriptors. The first six (Light/Understated, Bold/Powerful, Arousing/Sensual, Romantic/Feminine, Playful/Flirtatious, Mysterious/Exotic) are more abstract and symbolic descriptors, while the remaining four (Earthy/Musky, Fruity/Tasty, Medicinal/Bland, Velvety/Creamy) are more concrete. A cross all three ad/fragrance pairs, we observed that in most cases, for the abstract descriptors the ads generated significantly higher expectations that exceeded the actual product evaluation.In contrast, for the concrete descriptors we observe that the expectations in response to the ads fell short of actual product evaluation. We discuss this result further in the next section. 6. Discussion Readers of magazine advertisements may not overtly recognize the visual themes and messages in an advertisement that emerge from a semiotic analysis. However, if the visual and symbolic message of the ad is successfully delivered and therefore understood, implicitly or explicitly by readers, the ad can convey expectations of the product that exceed, fall short of, or match consumers’ subsequent evaluation of the product.To convey a weaker message risks developing expectations that may be insufficient to prompt consumers to consider purchasing the product. However, to convey expectation s beyond the product’s ability to satisfy these expectations risks dissatisfied customers who try or purchase the product with certain expectations of its performance, but who ultimately learn that the product will not meet their expectations. Taken together, our results suggest that the visual imagery in magazine advertising for fragrances can be effectively used to make claims about product features and benefits that are not substantiated through actual trial of the product.This brings up the real and intriguing possibility that visual imagery can be used as a mechanism of puffery; making superlative, exaggerated claims that are not substantiated. To our knowledge, the existence and effectiveness of visual puffery has not been previously investigated despite a call made already by Richards and Zakia (1981) in the early 1980s, that pictures and symbols should be regulated as vigorously as words as well as the decision of the 2nd U. S. District Court of Appeals in Manhattan w hich ruled that puffery can include visual depictions.Moreover, this also poses interesting questions for policy makers because, in contrast to verbal puffery, which according to FTC is recognizable by reasonable consumers and cannot lead to deception (Kamins and Marks, 1987), visual puffery is not immediately recognizable. Typically, puffed claims have been expressed verbally, in the form of superlatives. Verbal puffed claims are, at least in the United States, legal and acceptable because they are considered by the FTC as the language of advertising and consumers understand as much and are not deceived by puffed claims.This doesn’t mean that there are any cultural, ethical or visual issues related to this (Borgerson and Schroeder, 2002; Schroeder and Zwick, 2004; Schroeder, 2005; Schroeder and Borgerson, 2005). As Schroeder and Borgerson (2003) noted, visual issues often are overlooked in advertising research despite their importance in meaning creation (p. 68). Our study i s therefore noteworthy as it contributes and extends existing literature by suggesting the existence of another important form of puffery, which we refer to as â€Å"visual puffery†.In many cases, the visual cues and imagery in the ads used in this research appeared to generate product expectations that were not met when the product was used. This is both intriguing and perplexing and suggests potential legal implications as well. In short, while verbal puffery is legal in the United States because it is presumed to not be effective by FTC, visual puffery may be quite effective and might help marketers, and specifically in countries where verbal puffery is illegal, to use another means to reach consumers.This study provides a first step toward understanding and assessing visual puffery and we encourage further research in that direction. Given the ubiquitous use of imageryladen ads in the promotion of personal fragrances, the larger question may be why and how visual puffery, in which type of ads, other type of products and consumer segments, is effective? One plausible explanation is that fragrances are somewhat of a fantasy product, intimately connected to the self-esteem or self-image and perceived desirability and attractiveness of the buyer.Consumers are not buying the fragrance alone, but the imagery that becomes intimately associated with the fragrance. While we offer some evidence in this paper related to fragrances, it is an idea that merits further consideration and research. It seems likely that the purpose of fragrance ads is to captivate attention, to stimulate interest and desire ultimately leading to purchase intention and behavior. It can also help to build brand awareness, to develop and reinforce brand image and brand personality.It is plausible that fragrance advertising leads to product trial, and product trial is then influenced by the imagery created in the advertising. In one sense, consistent with the concept of transformational advertising, we can argue that the visual imagery in the ad creates an intangible product benefit, the presence of which is either supported or refuted at the time of product trial. When consumers actually try the scent, they may associate the scent with the visual imagery that they have been previously exposed to.They may also associate the scent with the overall brand image, particularly if that image is well-established and understood, such as Calvin Klein. This suggests a somewhat symbiotic relationship between the visual imagery in the ad, the overall brand image and the actual fragrance of the product. A consumer who tries a fragrance in a store often does so with prior knowledge of the brand and after prior exposure to the ads or the fragrance. The scent of the fragrance might become closely associated with the brand image, the visual imagery in the ad, or both.The scent, therefore, becomes mysterious, or sexy, or exotic, because it is depicted that way in the ad and reinforc ed by the overall image of the brand. Future research should explore the existence of this symbiotic and interdependent relationship. 7. Conclusion This study contributes and extends existing literature by suggesting the existence of visual puffery. Our results show that the visual cues and imagery in the fragrance ads appear, under certain conditions, to result in product expectations that exceed actual product evaluations, suggesting the existence of visual puffery.The adjective pairs that represented abstract descriptors accounted for nearly all of the instances in which expectations of the ad exceeded product evaluations. For Red Delicious it was 83%, for Hypnose and Euphoria it was 100% of the adjectives pairs which were significantly different. In contrast, for adjective pairs that represent concrete descriptors, in most instances (Red Delicious 100%; Hypnose 100%, and Euphoria 50%) we observed that product evaluations exceeded the ad expectations.One interpretation of this re sult is that the evaluation of these attributes may be significantly more subjective and therefore more difficult than evaluating more concrete attributes. A second possible explanation has its origin in the work of Haan and Berkey (2002). Recall that in their research, only the weakest puffs, subjective claims, influenced claim believability. Respondents in their experiment found subjective claims to be more unbelievable than the other five types of puffery claims. In our research, respondents’ expectations regarding the abstract (subjective) descriptors were generally not met.We put forth this observation merely as an intriguing idea for future research investigating the relationship between the level of abstraction of a visual puffed claim and subsequent product evaluations. As with all research, there are certain limitations which must be noted. First, we used a carefully controlled setting, with one consumer product for one consumer segment, and based on three magazine a dvertisements. Our results cannot be generalized beyond the product category nor beyond the consumer segment used in this study in the context of magazine print advertisements.Future research should investigate other product groups (e. g. high versus low involvement products), consumer segments (e. g. , male vs. female), gender in ads, ads from different countries and in different cultural settings. Second, one unanswered question is whether the high expectations of viewers influence their purchasing intention and ultimately behavior and if so, to what extent. This research did not explicitly address this issue and future research should investigate that. Third, semiotics is a qualitative research method that is inherently subjective.By arguing for the presence of visual puffery, we are, in some sense, translating a legal term into behavioral variables that can then be identified and measured. We acknowledge that, given the subjective nature of the analysis, other adjective pairs ma y have been identified by other researchers. 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Film Analysis on There Will Be Blood and the Bicycle Theif Essay

Ladri di Biciclette and There will be Blood Character Analysis Ladri di Biciclette takes place in 1948 post-World War II Rome and is considered one of the best works of Italian Neorealism. There will be Blood is an American drama film set in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It is considered one of the best films ever created. Despite their many differences, these two films share plenty of common ground. The theme of these two powerfully inspiring movies is that of a broken relationship between a father and a son. Ladri di Biciclette is one of the few films that do not follow the hero cycle. At no point in the plot does Antonio Ricci, played by Lamberto Maggiorani, ever redeem himself. Instead, he plummets down to the shocking level of stealing another’s bicycle. It is at this point in the story line Bruno, his son played my Enzo Staiola, will forever see his father differently. When Antonio slaps Bruno, Bruno’s world changes drastically. He has never been treated so harshly like this by his father, someone he loves and trusts dearly. This is the first time his perfect image of his dad is shattered. Even though Antonio is put in multiple moral situations, he truly loves and cares for his son. For example, when he hears the cries of a little boy drowning he rushes over to the commotion worried the little boy is Bruno. Fortunately, the boy is not Bruno and he picks up his son in a tight embrace. There are some moments in the film where Antonio forgets his son is with him. For instance, when he spies the thief he will run after him not thinking of his son and whether or not he will get lost trying to keep up in the chase. Still, he will look down to his son and ask if he is tired or hungry. Then he accommodates to the little boy’s needs. Antonio is trying to provide the best life possible for his family even if it meant doing something morally incriminating. Although his father has treat him wrong a few times, Bruno knows how stressful of a situation his father is in and tries to keep his dad in good spirits. In the last scene Antonio has a blank stare and is fighting the urge to cry. Bruno, watching his father, takes his hand. As Antonio looks at Bruno, the camera watches as they disappear into the crowd. They know that the bicycle will never be found, and the defeat can clearly be seen in Antonio’s blank stare. In There will be Blood Daniel Plainview, brilliantly acted by Daniel Day-Lewis, adopts one of his deceased  worker’s o rphaned son, played by Dillon Freasier. Plainview names his son H.W. and he becomes Plainview’s business â€Å"partner†. Later, his son loses his hearing in a drilling accident. Daniel boards a train with his boy and gets up, not looking back as he abandons the train and his child. Daniel doesn’t really feel a loss when sending his son away since the kid is not blood related. He feels H.W. does not have any of his qualities or personality. He eventually reunites with his son, who has now steadily built resentment for his father. H.W.’s teacher and interpreter becomes his new father figure in life as he and Daniel drift apart with his taking to be a drunkard and his more aggressive behavior. In one of the last scenes H.W., played by Russell Harvard) has married his childhood sweetheart and is visiting his now wealthy father to discuss ending their partnership and starting his own oil company in Mexico. Daniel mocks his son and tells H.W. that he is an orphan by saying, â€Å"You’re an orphan from a basket in the middle of the desert. And I took you for no other reason than I needed a sweet face to buy land. Did you get that? Now you know. Look at me. You’re lower than a bastard. You have none of me in you. You’re just a bastard from a basket.† H.W. leaves his father with no regrets and tells his â€Å"father† he is glad he doesn’t have any of Daniel in himself. Clearly these two have had relationship problems from the beginning. H.W. loved and idolized Daniel Plainview, even though the love was usually not returned. His deep interest for oil drilling started and grew all because of Daniel, and for that reason he was grateful and still loved his father, Plainview. Plainview only cared about money and power, so when his son lost hearing, due to the explosion at the oil site, he simply thought of the money he would make not about the well bein g of his only child. When he leaves his child to help with the fire, H.W. for the first time is lost, confounded, scared, and feels betrayed as his father lets go of him, leaving him in the dark with unanswered questions. Daniel Plainview never realizes that even though H.W. is not blood related he still raised, cared, and provided for this â€Å"bastard from a basket†. In both films the two father figures struggle with the yearning for power, money, social gain, and their ambition. Antonio cannot stop thinking of the money he would make if his bicycle is found. He thinks of the different life style he and his family would get to live with the salary he would be making. Anderson, the director of There will be Blood, was inspired by the fact that Sierra  Madre is â€Å"about greed and ambition and paranoia and looking at the worst parts of yourself†. All of those traits can easily be found in Daniel Plainview. Daniel even admits to his half brother’s imposter that he has this hatred and competition in himself. The character Daniel Plainview shows the savagery and obsession in humanity by draining the land of its natural resources for power and wealth. There will be Blood not only addresses the broken father son relationship but also the dark heart of free enterprise. It displays the inner workings of capitalism and how not only gain but domination is the ultimate goal in this grand scheme called politics. These two films are great influences in not only the film industry but also give great messages about life. Neither of the films follow the hero cycle and  the fathers never redeem themselves. This adds to the magnitude of these pieces of art for the reason that it makes them unique and sets them apart from other great works of art in film.

Process vs Product Drama in Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Process vs Product Drama in Education - Essay Example According to the paper the intrinsic, imaginative of the student was part of learning and was based on the intrinsic needs of the individual. A new student-centered approach became a primary and secondary method of approaching process vs. product drama in education in England†¦ the exploration of intrinsic, imaginative needs from the ‘mind’s eye’ or inner visualization of the student was the basis of discussion and practice for production and performance moving into the 20th century. Thus, many of the ‘product vs. process drama’ perspectives were based on the intrinsic processes of the student-centered learning experiences. Teacher and drama education practitioner, Harriet-Finlay Johnson   claimed freedom of expression concerning ‘aesthetic valuation’ of product, production and performance of plays†¦a student’s aesthetics and perspective should be the diverse ‘lens’ through which the value of dramatic proce ss or theatrical experiences be judged. Analysis of the research literature is a predominant method by which this thesis.

Assignment 7 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assignment 7 - Research Paper Example This paper will also seek to come up with expected outcomes, how to implement these outcomes, and how to assess the changes after initial implementation of the expected findings. Data Collection and Measurement The research will utilize a demographic survey and focus groups in order to collect required data. The use of a short survey was made in obtaining self-reported information with regards to the perception of nurses to interpersonal relationships with their patients (Anderson, 2006). During and following each session, field notes and PI observations were made to complement analysis of voice data that is digitally recorded. Observation will also be used to study the nurses in the focus groups in order to compare, as well as validate, the information discussed in the sessions, as well as to observe the interpersonal interactions between patients and staff. An observation guide will give consistent items that each of the nurses will be observed for. The observed behavior of patient s and nurses will be recorded. For the survey questions under investigation, a comprehensive measurement summary will be given by the qualitative descriptive method. The interviews will be transcribed verbatim. Common themes, metaphors, and concepts will then be identified through a transcript review for subsequent identification of thematic trends (Anderson, 2006). Statistical measures will be done inferentially through predictions about the nursing population in the hospital on satisfaction and attitudes, as well as in the analysis of the studied sample. The results after analysis of the sample will be taken and generalized for a larger population of the nurses in the hospital, which will be possible since the selected sample is representative of the nursing population in the two units under study. The levels of measurement used for this research study are ordinal scales since is wishes to measure the satisfaction of a particular group, in this group the nurses, with bedside repor ting. The scale items for the questionnaires and survey will from most to least satisfied. Expected Outcomes of the Research This study is expected to show common differences and concerns about bedside reporting, particularly with regards to interpersonal relationships. The geriatric unit, which consistently carries out bedside reporting, will have a higher level of interpersonal relationships than the telemetry unit that dos not consistently carry out bedside reporting. It is also expected that there will be inconsistency in, as well as lack of, information from one shift to the next. This affects the ability of the nurses to deliver quality care and discuss meaningfully with the family members and the doctors (Laws & Amato, 2010). Therefore, interpersonal relationships between nurses, patients, patient families, and doctors will have to be improved in order to improve perceptions about bedside reporting among nurses. Improvement will be made through informing nursing staff on chan ges required and the importance of these changes. The staff will also be trained through role-play, video, and power point slides. The message in the training will involve the importance of bedside reporting to safety and quality of healthcare (Laws & Amato, 2010). Finally, bedside reporting should be made using a checklist to ensure that its key elements are covered. It is anticipated that the

Social Commentators and Modern American Society Research Paper

Social Commentators and Modern American Society - Research Paper Example This is done in light of the fictitious characters and plots that may either be based on fact, or on fiction. In fact, there are many who have successfully pointed out that change emanates from literary works. As literary works are read and analyzed, life in the society gets revisited, with benevolent values being strengthened and malevolent ones being abrogated; and hence the exaction of reforms. Summary On one hand, Gilman’s novel Herland was published in 1915 by the Forerunner and depicts a utopia of a female-only society which reproduces through pathogenesis. The culmination of this development is the realization of an ideal fully functioning social order which is devoid of war, oppression and subservience. On the other hand, there is playwright Arthur’s Miller Death of a Salesman was first premiered on February 10th, 1949. The play is about a father who has a lot of expectations on his sons, especially Biff. Later on, he comes to the harsh reality that he has not b een perfect himself, and commits suicide as an artifice to help Biff start a business. He kills himself in a traffic accident so that his insurer can indemnify Biff and Happy. He assumes that with the indemnity, Biff can start off a business. Interpretive analysis students on key themes: Who were Charlotte Perkins Gilmore and Arthur Miller Arthur A. Miller (1915- 2005) was an American essayist and playwright. Not only did Miller leave a lasting impact in American theatre industry, but he also remained a public figure in the Interwar and the Cold War periods. Miller’s dexterity in literary works is underscored by the Prince of Asturias and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama Awards. Miller’s consciousness for American politics is well underscored by several instances in which he castigated the unjust racist systems in America, even before civil rights movement made an advent. Charlotte Perkins Gilmore (July 3rd, 1860- August 17th, 1935) was an American writer, novelist, poet, short storyteller, sociologist, a nonfiction writer, social reformer, a lecturer and a feminist. As a matter of fact, many scholars and analysts have grouped Gilman as a utopian feminist, since her works were exceptionally suited for women. The veracity of this standpoint is well exemplified by the novel Herland, where she envisions a world that is strictly populated by women and as such, is totally perfect. The Literary Devices Gilmore and Miller Used to Write Their Works there are many literary devices that Miller and Gilmore used to communicate their message. Miller in the play, The Death of a Salesman strongly uses flashbacks to weave his plotline together and into a complex whole. This is seen in the instance where Willy, an old salesperson remembers an instance where he overstated his earnings, and only got to admit this folly when his wife Linda calculated his commission and found an anomaly. It is in this same instance where Willy remembers his conversation with his wife whe re he complained about feeling inadequate about his looks. His wife Linda reassures him that he is good looking. At this point, the playwright lets the audience and analysts into Willy’s insecurity. It is insecurity that leads him into overstating his earnings, and

A view of Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A view of - Essay Example It turns out that the country is geographically located in the Western Pacific Ocean and is a sovereign state of South East Asia. Its closest neighboring countries are China, Borneo, and Indonesia. I asked Tine how she has been enjoying her stay in her new home so far. She mentioned to me that although she loves the cold climate in the country, it sometimes make her long for the tropical weather in the Philippines. It seems that they have only 3 types of weather in the country hot, wet, and cold. The hot weather is felt almost the whole year round except during the so called Ber months when the cold winter air from China blows down to their area. While we partook of the Filipino snack, I could not help but mention to her that she did not look like a typical Filipino to me. Tine is relatively light skin toned with Latina features. She giggled a bit and thanked me for the compliment. She explained that the dark skinned Filipino is a myth perpetrated by their colonizers centuries ago. The Spaniards who were the first to colonize the country referred to them as Indios meaning â€Å"dark skinned† and the image seems to have stuck. I asked Tine to describe a typical Filipino to me then. She said that was next to impossible because of the diluted blood of the Filipinos. Tine herself has a mix of Filipino-Spanish-Chinese blood in her. While Don, her husband is of American-Filipino descent. She told me that there are no pure blooded Filipinos anymore. They have inter married with other nationalities so many times that one would be hard pressed to describe a typical Filipino look. It is because of their colonization by the Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese that their customs and traditions have also become a hybrid of two or three various cultures that create a totally unique Filipino culture and customs. She used the Maskara Festival in one of their provinces as an example of the hybrid custom and tradition in the country. Their culture and

Business strategy in global environment Assignment

Business strategy in global environment - Assignment Example The competitors in this market are holding their ground; they are trying very hard to slice of some customers from Fastway’s customer base, but so far, no competitor has been successful in accomplishing this objective. Even though the current operations of the company are redundant, but still the company has been very successful in meeting its customers’ expectations with significant ease. Nevertheless, the company cannot keep operating like this for too long and it will have to take initiatives to improve its current processes. Moreover, the company needs to decide whether it would use its strong capital base to expand into new market or if it will continue to serve in its current market. In this regards a decisive action is needs from the company’s management. Introduction: Tough economic climate has made it imperative upon companies to improve their operation methods, restructure their cost structure and identify new market segments, which the company can serv e profitably. In this regards, if a company wants to ensure its survival, it should start its operations in the global arena. A company by initiating its operations in the international arena can expand its customer base and take advantage of the opportunities presented by globalization. To reap the benefits of globalization, the company needs to adopt a global strategy. ... Part 1: Strategic Choices and Options for the Company Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Matrix: Strength: The company was formed in 1983 in New Zealand, and is now the world’s largest franchise courier service company. The company’s management is renowned for coming up with exceptional company policies. Company’s internal structure, comprising of policies, procedures and staff is perfectly tailored to fit the requirements and expectations of local market. The company has a very strong organisational culture in place, which is perfect for handling any unprecedented circumstances in the company’s external and internal environment. The company is offering a product mix that is highly suitable to meet the needs of the local market. The company has strong brand equity in its local market. The company has strong infrastructure and is highly technology oriented; the company firmly supports innovation in its existing company processes. The comp any has a strong positioning statement to differentiate it from competitors operating in the market. The company has operational processes which enables it to deliver a package in a very quick time. This further leads to its name being synonymous to quick and timely delivery. The company has a strong capital base which allows it to maintain a large fleet in the marketplace. The company has a strong network of hubs, airplanes and trucks which allow it to offer fast track services. The company holds 50% of the market share of the parcels in the shipping industry. The company is firmly customer oriented and this fact is professed by means of its customer service.

Infringement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Infringement - Essay Example Section 10 of the Trade Mark Act 1994 states. A person infringes a registered trade mark if he uses in the course of trade a sign where because – (a) the sign is identical with the trade mark and is used in relation to goods or services similar to those for which the trade mark is registered, or, in specifically addressing the question at hand concerning Adam, (b) the sign is similar to the trademark and is used in relation to goods or services identical with or similar to those for which the trade mark is registered, there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public, which includes the likelihood of association with the trade mark. In English statute or case law, there is no definition for what is use as a mark. Use as a mark will depend on the facts of each case, in particular, the nature of the mark and the goods and services concerned. English case law indicates that the judges are looking for use which is taken by the public as a badge of origin, in other w ords as an indication that the goods and services are from a particular trader. This requirement is not the same as a requirement that the relevant public should know the identity of owner’s of trade marks, but nevertheless associate the marks of products with a particular trade origin. It will be more difficult for an applicant or proprietor to show use as a trade mark with very non-distinctive marks or where the use has been mainly in conjunction with another trade mark.

Economic Impact Of The Development Of Airline Industry Essay Example for Free

Economic Impact Of The Development Of Airline Industry Essay Hardly many inventions can manage to change the way people live and also how they experience the world like the way inventing airplane has done. The airline industry offer air transport for passengers. The airlines companies own the airplanes or may lease them. Airlines Company differs in terms of capacity, some are smaller with one or two airplanes to transport mail and cargo, while other are big multinational companies with hundreds of aircrafts. Majority of airlines are privately owned, though some are government owned. Today, the air travel has grown to an extent that no one can imagine life without it. Air travelling as greatly reduced travelling time and opened up links all over the world. Economic Impact of the development of airline The air airline industry has played a major role in world economic growth; it has improved the mobility and facilitated world supply lines all over the world. The aviation industry not only serves as an economic tool for nations and cities, but also servers as a vital network for transport within the world. The industry creates jobs by providing them directly and also by creating opportunities in the travel and hotel industry. Aviation industry has continued to be critical in the world economy, in terms of creating these job opportunities, and the industry has employed thousands of employees in the whole world. And has the industry continue to grow more jobs are created. This leads to economic growth. Transport plays a major role in making sure that goods reach their destinations. The World Bank estimates that the airline industry contributes to a total of 5% economic growth in the world. Competition Competition in the industry can be traced back when most governments deregulated the industry I order allow competition among the industry to regulate fares. For many years now this resulted in low fares as the airline industry responded to customers needs. Most of the reduced fare also comes from new players on the market, and also from the big airlines themselves. With the growth of economy in many countries, more travellers are using the air, this id due to the fact that the fares have also been reducing gradually. In a report carried out in America by the senate, it was found out that competition has resulted into low fares, and from 1990 the traffic has gone up by over 33%, it was found out that the number of flights had also gone up to over 20%. This of course has a positive impact on economic growth. Competition in the industry has also lead to mergers as small companies fail to compete. This has improved the industry service delivery. It is important to note better service delivery has economic advantage. With the economic development being witnessed in many countries, the amount of travelling has gone up. Many people are travelling to transact their business. The high demand of air passengers has caused resource constraints, on airports and also on airways, especially during the peak travelling periods. Business community usually travels at these times and normally makes last minute bookings. However, main airlines have planned their networks to be able to meet the high rate flight requirement by the business passengers, though; these fares are expensive as the airlines need to cover cost of servicing high number flight. Nevertheless, airline competition and the way they price their tickets causes concerned. It has been noted that, with the emerging of low fare trends that have been occurring since 1996, when smaller airlines enter into this market with low fares, the major airlines drastically reduce their prices. And also avail a high number of low fare seats. This behaviour seems to be ill intended because it aims at repressing competition from the smaller airlines. Increase in fuel prices Oil and fuel prices have continuously increased for the past 10 years, for example, in 2001 the price per barrel was $20, yet in 2006 it had reached $75. The increase in price can be attributed to various such as, high demand of oil, collapse of Yukos Oil Company in Russia and political instability in the Middle East. This high increase in oil prices has affected the aviation industry. The increase in fuel prices has lead to reduction in the global trade. It is estimated that about 40% of goods traded on the world market are transported by the air, and cargo traffic is used to reflect economic growth. Fuel account for 20-30% of the total cost of operation expenses of the airline industry. Due to this high cost in oil the economy has suffered negatively. The microeconomic effect for those countries which import oil will be harsh, in the industry high prices is a big problem; the companies are forced to increase consumers’ fares to upset the fuel price increase, for example if fuel price reached 100$ per barrel, then a gallon of jet fuel will be more than 3$. This will imply that a passenger will have to pay 50$ more to travel than previous. This will result in reduction of passengers and for the case of cargo transporters it may lead to high reduction in demand of their services, which may spell down for the airline companies. The indirect impact on the airline industry caused by high fuel prices in the increase in airline products prices. The overall impact is reduction in international trade. As pointed out by the world trade organisation , increase in oil prices leads to low economic growth as it was observed in 2005. Terrorist threat Since the September 11 terrorist attack, the airline industry suffered so much, the industry experience a reduced number of passengers as many opted to use alternative means. The economic impact on the global level was immerse, has many countries experienced low foreign exchange due reduced business especially in tourism industry. The terrorist attack had a big effect on the aviation industry, and also on the economy. In America alone, more than 2 million passengers travel on air daily. Airline industry and tourism alone account for mote than 8% the world GDP. With the imminent threat of terrorism, the industry has undertaken different security measures. For example in America, the industry has to use over 11$ billion in security improvements. This costs at the end of the day have to be met by the passengers, thus, the fare in the industry have steadily gone up. This has reduced the volume of goods and passengers using the industry and negatively affected the economy. Any small distractions in the industry send shock waves in many other industries. Currently, the industry has experienced a trend by which they are weak economy, insecurity fear and other issues. This has led to reduced number of passengers flying. Even those passengers who are flying they are paying less because most of them are taking economy seats. This trend has resulted in decline of the growth of the industry. In decline in the industry usually result in reduction of economy growth of the world economy. After the September 11 many airline companies grounded their business due to security concerns this was so pronounced in America. The impact of the attack reverberated all over the world. It was estimated that the attack caused a reduction of 1% world economic growth. In this area of global economy the aviation industry all over the world suffered. The industry saw an increase in costs of airline insurance, increased expenses on security, and customer fear to travel using the air due to insecurity. This led to massive losses for the industry in the whole world. This was the worst disaster the industry had suffered in the past 50 years. In whole world more than 400,000 jobs were lost. Decline in the air travel has a direct consequence on number of business which includes tourism, travel agencies and entertainment spots, this is felt global. It is important to note that, in the continuous threat of terrorist, the world economy has been affected badly. The industry had to go through lean times and some companies had to shut down. Conclusion The airline industry is very important in economic development, the airline employees a lot of people directly and indirectly. The industry has developed steadily over the last 50 years, and has continuous grown. Competition, fuel increase and terrorist attack pose a serious challenge to the industry and the industry should come up with ways to controlling these effects to maintain profitable. However, the airline industry will continue to grow though, it will be faced with more challenges.

Research Methodology into Ratio Analysis of HSBC Bank

Research Methodology into Ratio Analysis of HSBC Bank In this project my aim is to analysis the Ratio Analysis to find financial position of the HSBC bank by using the financial tools and also to know the functions of Internet Banking System in HSBC Bank. This study based on financial statement such as Ratio analysis and financial performance. This project helps to identify and give suggestion the area of weaker position of business transaction in HSBC. This study is made to evaluate the Ratio analysis as per trend analysis. Here I have given the Title, Aim, Objectives of the project, Introduction and background of the company chosen. It also gives the summary regarding the literature review, methodology using for the research, data collection methods and data analyzing procedures. Introduction: Finance is very essential for every business to run successfully. To run the business every organization will need financial support. In our present economy finance is defined as the provision of money at the time when it is required. Every enterprise whether big or small needs finance to carry on its target. In fact finance is so indispensable today. It can be said as blood of an enterprise. Without adequate finance no enterprise can possible accomplish its objectives. In the early years of its evolution it was treated synonymously with the rising of funds. In the current literature pertaining to financial management a broader scope so as to include in addition to procurement of funds efficient use of resources is universally recognized. Nowadays internet is widely used by all sectors of people. Today bank has introduced various facilities through internet. E-Banking is a revolution that changes the banking system around the world. E-Banking is more comfortable for the customers and bank. Title: Critically analyzing the ratios of HSBC bank to study the financial performance of bank during 2010-2011 and also study the functions of internet banking system in HSBC bank. Aim: To study the financial performance of HSBC bank by analyzing the financial ratios from the past five years financial data and also study the role of internet banking system in HSBC bank. Objective of the study: To analyze and evaluate the financial performance of HSBC Bank To study the growth of HSBC in terms of comparative analysis and trend analysis of financial statements for the past five years, from 2006 to 2010. To study the roles of Internet Banking in HSBC To review the benefits of internet banking to customer and bank To make suggestions recommendations for improving the financial position Rationale: Personal Rationale: As I am a finance student, am very much interested in doing the ratio analysis of the company because of that we can able to know the financial performance of any company. I am very eager to know the financial status of the HSBC bank always. Because this bank is globalized bank, it is in every part of the world. Now it has introduced the lot of facility in Internet banking that benefits the customers. I have the relationship with the bank for the past five years. So, I personally interest in doing with HSBC Bank financial performance and internet banking sector. Organizational Rationale: As it is bank, we have wide range of information available in website, articles, journals, magazines and newspapers. HSBC employees are very friendly to their customers. They are always ready to explain their roles of internet banking system. For the financial data, we will able to get the financial statement from their website so there is no lack of information availability. Policy Rationale: The system and the procedures followed by the HSBC bank is also one of my interests to choose the HSBC bank. This bank follows the banking rules and regulations given by the government and fair trade practice. Thats make the customer safety banking. In internet banking system, there are many options for doing the transaction easily and safely. Academic Rationale: There are more resources available for doing this work. There are many financial books available to elaborate the ratio analysis. We have studied in deep about the ratio analysis and Internet banking system. IMPORTANCE OF THIS STUDY The subject matter of financial management is of immense interest for every financial analyzer. It needs special attention because of the complexities involve in managing cash in present day banking function. The important aspect is the estimation of how much of finance. The business organization requires and for what purpose. The most important area of financial management is the working capital management. Here the study tries to reveal the banks position and performance by evaluating the relationship between various components parts of financial statements. Ration analysis has been taken as a tool in assessing the performance of the company in respect of the following aspects. Liquidity Position .Long-term solvency. Profitability. Activity. This study helps to know the usage and the benefits of internet banking system This study helps to study the functions of internet banking in UK HSBC bank Literature Review: 1 RATIO ANALYSIS Ratio analysis is one of the techniques of financial analysis where ratios are used as a yardstick for evaluating the relationship between component parts of financial statements to obtain a better understanding of the firms position and performance. It is used as tool by the company or individual to analysis the quantitative performance of the company financial statement. Meaning Ratio is relationships expressed in mathematical terms between figures which are connected with each other in some manner. Ratio will be calculated from current year figures and it is compared with previous year in order to know the financial performance of the company. It is defined as the systematic use of ratio to interpret the financial statements so that the strengths and weaknesses of a firm as well as its historical performance and current financial condition can be determined. The importance of ratio analysis relies in the fact that it presents facts on a comparative basis Conclusions can be drawn regarding the liquidity position of a firm. It is useful for assessing the long-term financial viability of a firm. It throws light on the degree of efficiency in the management and utilization of its assets. It helps in inter-firm comparison and also with industry averages. Liquidity Ratios: It is the ratio which is used to determine the companys capacity to pay its short- period debt obligations. If the value of the ratio is high, then the margin of safety will become high so that the company able to cover its short term debts. Liquidity ratio includes Current ratio, Quick/Acid ratio and Operating cash flow ratio. Current Ratio It is a quantitative relationship between current assets and current liabilities and indicates and enterprises ability to meet the current obligation. Current assets refer to liquid resources and must be sufficient enough to pay current liabilities when they mature. A relatively high current ratio is an Indication that the firm has ability to pay its current obligations in time as and on the other hand a relatively low current ratio represents that the firm shall not be able to pay its current liabilities in time without facing difficulties. An increase in the current ratio represents improvement in the liquidity position of a firm while a decrease in the current ratio indicates that there has been deterioration in the liquid assets of the firm. The ratio equal to the rule of thumb is 2:1. Quick/Acid Test Ratio: The ratio is ascertained by companys liquid assets and current liabilities. Here liquid assets are those assets which are immediately convertible in to cash without much loss. It is also known as liquidity ratio. It shows the ability of the enterprise to meet its short term obligation without sale and collection of inventories. LeverageRatios: It is the ratio which is used to calculate the financial leverage of the company inorder to know the methods of financing using by the company and to measure the ability of the company to meet its financial obligations. Debt-equity Ratio This ratio indicates the relative proportions of debt and equity in financing the assets of a firm. One approach is to express the debt-equity ratio in terms of the relative proportion of long-term debt and shareholders equity. The debt considered here is exclusive of current liabilities. It is an important tool of financial analysis to appraise the financial structure of a firm. A high ratio shows a large share of financing by the creditors of the firm, a low ratio implies a smaller claim of creditors. Interest Coverage Ratio : These ratios are computed from information available in the profit and loss account. It is also known as time-interest earned ratio. This ratio measures the debt servicing capacity of a firm insofar as fixed interest on long-term loan is concerned. It is determined by dividing the operating profits or earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) by the fixed interest charges on loans. Proprietary Ratio: This ratio indicates whether the firm is employing a reasonable proportion of debt or if heavily loaded with debt in which case its solvency is exposed to serious strain. This ratio relates the owners/proprietors funds with total assets. The ratio indicates the proportion of total assets financed by owners. PROFITABILITY RATIOS: This ratio helps to access the ability of business in order to generate the earnings of the business by comparing the expenses and relevant costs during the specific period of time. Net profit Ratio: This measures the relationship between net profits and sales of a firm. Depending on the concept of net profit employed. A high net profit margin would ensure adequate return as well as enable a firm to with stand adverse economic conditions when selling price is declining cost of production is rising and demand for the product is failing. A low net profit merging would have the opposite implications. Return on Assets: Thus profitability ratio is measured in terms of this relationship between net profit and assets. This may also be called profit-to-asset ratio. The concept of net profit may be net profits after taxes net profits after taxes plus interest and net profits after taxes plus interest minus tax savings. Assets may be defined as total assets fixed assets and tangible assets. Return on capital Employed: The term capital employed refers to long-term funds supplied by the creditors and owners of the firm. Here the profits are related to the total capital employed. It can be computed as The capital employed provides a test of profitability related to the sources of long-term funds. The higher the ratio the more efficient is the use of capital employed. A comparison of this ratio with similar firms with the industry average and over time would provide sufficient insight into how efficiently the long-term funds of owners and creditors are being used. Debtor turnover ratio: Debtor turnover ratio indicates the number of times the debtors are turned over during the year. Generally if the value of debtor turnover is high, then there is more efficient in the management of debts and sales. OTHER RATIOS Fixed Assets Ratio This ratio relates the net assets and the long-term funds. Here the ratio should be high. That is the handling of fixed asset should be greater than the long-term funds at an appropriate level. E-Banking: Electronic banking system is the system that allows the individual to do the banking activities by sitting in one place. Electronic funds transfer means doing the financial transactions electronically. This is used for the number of different activities like electronic payments and card transactions where the holder makes payment by using their credit or debit cards.[Brain Dixon and Mary Dixon 2006] Internet banking is also called as online banking, it is an outgrowth of PC banking. Internet banking uses the internet as the delivery channel for conducting banking activity, it is used for the purpose of transferring funds, paying bills, helps to checking and saving account balances, paying mortgages and also help to purchase financial instruments.[Benton E Gup 2005] According to Richard H Baker, advancement in technology helps to develop the system of internet banking. According to industry analysts, internet banking provides many facilitiies Able to access the banking at any time World wide connectivity Very easy to access the information by transacting data Direct customer control of international movement of funds without intermediation of financial institutions in customers jurisdiction According to the report of Global Market for Internet Banking, more than 172 banks in Europe are running the internet banking system and they are very successful in running online banking. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY RESEARCH Research is a process in which the researcher wishes to find out the end result for a given problem and thus the solution helps in future course of action. The research has been defined as A careful investigation or enquiry especially through search for new facts in branch of knowledge RESEARCH DESIGN Redman and Mory (1923) defined research as a systematic effort to gain new knowledge According to Clifford Woody research comprises defining or redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or giving solutions, collecting, organizing, evaluating the data, making deductions and reaching conclusions and at carefully testing the conclusion to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis The research design used in this project is Analytical in nature the procedure using, which researcher has to use facts or information already available, and analyze these to make a critical evaluation of the performance. With particular reference to working capital management, for the prosecution of the study, both the primary and secondary data. DATA COLLECTION METHOD: Primary Data: Primary data is the information collected by the researcher in first hand. This data is collected by the researcher inorder to analysis the research. Primary data is collected from the field organization selected that is from the employees, customers and observing the real life situations. The main benefit of the primary data is collected only for the specific study so it is more relevant to the study. But there is disadvantage for the collection of primary data it involves more cost and time. It is not suitable for short term study. Primary data for this proposal will be collected from the employees and customers of HSBC bank inorder to know how they run the internet banking system and the functions and benefits of internet banking system in HSBC bank. Primary research may be quantitative and qualitative research. Qualitative research is the method where the researcher set the questionnaire which will give to large number of respondents (Hair, Wolfinbarger, Ortinau, and Bush, 2008, p81). Based on the responses the data will be analysed. In this study, questionnaire will be given to the customers and employees of HSBC bank to analyse the data regarding the functions of Internet Banking. Secondary Data Secondary data is the information which is collected already and it is used for some other studies by different researcher. This data not only used for the current study. The sources of secondary data are books, journals, articles, newspapers, internet, government, corporate reports and library. The advantage of this data it is easily available and also very cheap compared to primary data. In this study we are using secondary data for the analyses of ratio in order to know the financial performance of HSBC bank. From the annual reports maintained by the company. Data are collected from the companys website. Books and journals pertaining to the topic. Research Approach: There are two types of research approaches Inductive and Deductive approaches. Inductive approach is the approach that starts with specific objectives and become generalized. It begins by identifying the issue by observation or being informed. Deductive approach is the approaches where the conclusions derived from the situation. It begins with general situation and ends by identifying the specific issue. Arguments based on the rules, laws and regulation will be using deductive approaches and the argument based on the observations will be using the inductive approaches. SAMPLING PROGRESS Sampling: It is the process of choosing small number of people for doing the research from the large population. That sample group will be tested, analyzed by assuming that sample group represents the entire group (Crouch, S. and Housden, M., 1996, p116). Sampling Unit In this research the target populations are the customers of HSBC Bank Alperton Branch. The sizes of the sampling will be 100 customers. Sampling type will be random choosen among the large population group. From the total sample size the study will be done for the 10 customers and 5 employees of HSBC bank. Ethnography procedure will be used for analyzing the data based on the data collection method. In this method it takes account of words, context and non-verbals. STATISTICAL TOOLS Tool for Data Collection Questionnaire will be used as a tool for data collection as it provides the advantages of allowing the respondents to answer at their convenience and faster data collection. The questionnaire explicitly stated the purpose of study as academic and assured confidentiality of information solicited from the respondent. Percentage method This method is used in making comparison between two are more series of data. Percentages are used to describe relationship. Percentages can also be used to compare the relative terms, the distribution of two or more series of data. The data collected through questionnaire response method was analyzed in the following manner: Raw data will be coded and tabulated and the tabulated data will be converted into percentages, to show the percentage of opinion among respondents. Percentage analysis thus involves the simple interpretation / analysis of the various items taken up in the questionnaire on a percentage basis from the data collected. Interpretations of the graphs also include mean scores obtained by the organization on every aspect / item as calculated. Number of respondent Percentage of Respondents =  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­___________________________________ * 100 Total number of people questioned Weighted average method Weighted average method is defined as an average whose component items are multiplied by certain value (weights) and the aggregate of the products are divided by the total of weights In the Weighted Average Method, the weighted average can be calculated by the following formula K XW = ÃŽÂ µ WX/ ÃŽÂ µX Here XW represents the weighted average X1, X 2, X3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.Xn represents the value for variable values W1, W2, W3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Wn represents the weight age given to the variable. Steps:- Multiply the weights(W) by the variables(X) to obtain WX Add all WX to obtain ÃŽÂ µWX Divide ÃŽÂ µWX by sum of the weights (ÃŽÂ µX) to get weighted average. Correlation: Correlation is the techniques of determining the degree of correlation between two variables in case of ordinal data where ranks are given to the different values of the variables. Spearmans coefficient of correlation (or) 1 6 à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬Ëœdi  ² r = _____________ n (n ² 1) TOOLS OF ANALYSIS Ratio Analysis. Comparative Balance Sheet. Trend Analysis Conclusion: This dissertation proposal starts with the introduction of finance, and helps to know the importance of finance for banking sector. The researcher will work towards the financial ratios of HSBC bank from the sources of annual reports, financial statements like balance sheet in orer to know the financial position of HSBC bank and analyze the role of internet banking in HSBC by getting the data from the bank customer and employees.