Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley free essay sample

Paul Nasr, a senior MD in Capital Market Services at Morgan Stanley (from now on alluded to as MS) is confronting the provoking inquiry of how to adequately deal with Parson’s yearly execution survey without making an opening in a fundamental region that was hard to perform and had seen a colossal measure of turnover at MS. Nasr had the dread of losing Parson, his important worker and a star maker on the off chance that he was not elevated to Managing Director as guaranteed by Nasr during his recruiting. Loot Parson, Principal, Capital Market Services (CMS) had assumed a basic job in making huge increases in building MS’s income and notoriety. Parson was a remarkable individual benefactor, who in his genuine, determined endeavor to produce more business, had made an antagonistic situation around him by conflicting with the standards and culture of the association. MS’s condition and statement of purpose was of cooperation, development, building accord and rewarding representatives with poise and regard. We will compose a custom article test on Loot Parson at Morgan Stanley or on the other hand any comparative subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page Be that as it may, there was no conventional preparing for new workers with respect to MS’s culture, desires and execution assessment (PE) process. Next, there were a few predispositions and vulnerable sides in the PE procedure. The 360â ° exhibition assessment seemed, by all accounts, to be an exceptionally shallow procedure, and there was no agreement on the most proficient method to actualize a choice dependent on PE and how to utilize the PE under different conditions. Directions and preparing on the most proficient method to make powerful execution appraisal was not given to the administrators. There was no unmistakable inner legitimacy/dependability proportion of the PE, prompting individual inclinations. Questions were not explicit and concentrated hands on capacity of the worker. Despite the fact that, Parson’s partners and seniors had portrayed him to be unpredictable, arrogant, rough, tyrannical, and crafty and â€Å"not a group player†, solid guides to site his qualities and shortcoming were absent. Additionally, the 360â ° assessment process was not altered to unique circumstances where one may need to contribute independently and use out of the case techniques to fabricate business in territories like CMS. In spite of the fact that, Parson needed to break a couple of eggs so as to build up the firm’s nearness in the CMS region, he had remarkable customer relationship aptitudes and made huge additions in building MS’s notoriety (positioned up from tenth to third) and incomes (pieces of the overall industry raised from 2% to 12. 2 %). Moreover, he was complimented by a few associates for his capacity to strategically pitch, his ability to share data and make acquaintances and his vivacious methodology with his activity. Unmistakably, the PE neglected to numerically process these various measurements in deciding an employee’s advancement. In conclusion, Nasr was incompletely liable for Parson’s inability to adjust to MS’s work culture. In spite of the fact that he had worked with Parson at an alternate firm prior and knew about his work style and character, he fizzled in his duty to prepare Parson to Morgan Stanley’s work culture. He thought little of the way that Parson was not the commonplace MS type and how much some of Parson’s activities had abused MS standards. Likewise, in being thoughtful towards Parson and being seen by others as his â€Å"Godfather† he neglected to address the relational issues Parson was looking in working with the individuals inside the firm and took a delicate position towards Parson. He was unable to be a decent coach and didn't give him ideal and valuable input. Nasr could deal with this issue by using the accompanying potential other options. To start with, he can suggest advancement for Parson in the wake of finishing his presentation assessment and improvement outline. Nasr could disclose to the senior item administrators about Parson’s qualities and commitments to the firm inside a brief timeframe and that too in a difficult territory and submit to them a compelling activity intend to improve his relational abilities. Nasr ought to examine with Parson the activity design and request that he chip away at his relational and authoritative aptitudes and have Parson himself address the council about his inadequacies and therapeutic moves that he has made. Besides, Nasr can meet with Parson to talk about the PE information parcel just as his view on the equivalent. He can think of an activity plan with Parson to deal with his more fragile regions and furnish him with assets for the equivalent, for e. g. appointing him a tutor to direct him to adjust to MS work style and sending him to workshops on group building and relational aptitudes. He can give him increasingly visit input and set deadlines for surveying him in 3 months to choose whether or not to put him up for advancement. On the other hand, Nasr doesn't put him up for advancement after his presentation assessment and improvement outline and clarifies his method of reasoning behind the equivalent; examines present moment and long haul objectives with him and thinks of an activity plan for the prospective year. In conclusion, After reflecting over all the parts of the PE, Nasr can talk about in the gathering with the higher administration his interests if the current PE is reasonable for be utilized as a solid standards for advancement of a representative, remembering that not all occupations in the organization can beâ perfectly filled by holding fast to the activity culture that MS has created, and ought to be redone in unique circumstances like these. Then again, I trust Parson ought not be advanced now of time. MD should be a â€Å"role model†, who reflects company’s vision and statement of purpose to his area of expertise representatives. He needs to deserve admiration for informatio n and knowledge among individuals, both inside and outside the firm. Parson, then again was domineering, critical, racing to a choice or feeling before having the realities, with conflicting dispositions and discourteous on occasion and not saw as a cooperative person by a large portion of his associates. Additionally, he neglected to lead as a Principal in CMS, by not indicating a very remarkable nearness toward the beginning of the day gatherings. As opposed to the normal score of 4. 0 for proficient abilities, he just scored normal of 2. 95 for the board abilities in partner rating. Capacity to verbalize office dreams and system is a significant duty of a MD, which Parson is by all accounts at present lacking. Loot Parson at Morgan Stanley free article test Paul Nasr, a senior MD in Capital Market Services at Morgan Stanley (from this point forward alluded to as MS) is confronting the moving inquiry of how to viably deal with Parson’s yearly execution survey without making an opening in a basic territory that was hard to perform and had seen an enormous measure of turnover at MS. Nasr had the dread of losing Parson, his significant worker and a star maker in the event that he was not elevated to Managing Director as guaranteed by Nasr during his recruiting. Ransack Parson, Principal, Capital Market Services (CMS) had assumed a basic job in making huge additions in building MS’s income and notoriety. Parson was an extraordinary individual supporter, who in his earnest, persistent endeavor to produce more business, had made an unfriendly domain around him by conflicting with the standards and culture of the association. MS’s condition and statement of purpose was of cooperation, advancement, building agreement and rewarding representatives with poise and regard. We will compose a custom paper test on Burglarize Parson at Morgan Stanley or on the other hand any comparative subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page Be that as it may, there was no conventional preparing for new representatives with respect to MS’s culture, desires and execution assessment (PE) process. Next, there were a few inclinations and vulnerable sides in the PE procedure. The 360â ° exhibition assessment seemed, by all accounts, to be an exceptionally shallow procedure, and there was no accord on the best way to actualize a choice dependent on PE and how to utilize the PE under different conditions. Directions and preparing on the most proficient method to make successful execution evaluation was not given to the chiefs. There was no positive inner legitimacy/dependability proportion of the PE, prompting individual predispositions. Questions were not explicit and concentrated hands on capacity of the worker. In spite of the fact that, Parson’s partners and seniors had portrayed him to be unpredictable, presumptuous, rough, oppressive, and undependable and â€Å"not a group player†, solid guides to site his qualities and shortcoming were absent. Likewise, the 360â ° assessment process was not redone to uncommon circumstances where one may need to contribute independently and use out of the crate techniques to assemble business in regions like CMS. Despite the fact that, Parson needed to break a couple of eggs so as to build up the firm’s nearness in the CMS region, he had unprecedented customer relationship abilities and made critical increases in building MS’s notoriety (positioned up from tenth to third) and incomes (pieces of the pie raised from 2% to 12. 2 %). Furthermore, he was complimented by a few partners for his capacity to strategically pitch, his eagerness to share data and make acquaintances and his lively methodology with his activity. Unmistakably, the PE neglected to scientifically register these various measurements in deciding an employee’s advancement. In conclusion, Nasr was somewhat liable for Parson’s inability to adjust to MS’s work culture. Despite the fact that he had worked with Parson at an alternate firm prior and knew about his work style and character, he fizzled in his duty to prepare Parson to Morgan Stanley’s work culture. He thought little of the way that Parson was not the run of the mill MS type and how much some of Parson’s activities had disregarded MS standards. Additionally, in being thoughtful towards Parson and bei

Critical thinking skills

Basic reasoning abilities As per Loving and Wilson (2000), its moving undertaking to ensuring the understudies have the basic reasoning aptitudes. To Novak, learning requires 5 segments which are the educator, student, information, assessment and setting to introduce. Novak likewise referenced that understudies ought to be guided by a decent educator through genuine learning and not simply by simply retaining it. An idea map is educated to the understudies so as to improve their subjective abilities identified with basic reasoning aptitudes which are valuable in different fields. The ideas map can improve the understudies execution in the subjects requiring basic reasoning abilities (Daley et al, 1999). Thus, Ausubels (1968) osmosis hypothesis is utilized along with Novaks (1998) idea map so as to advance basic suspecting abilities among the understudies in light of the fact that the attributes of basic deduction, for example, investigation, translation, induction, clarification and self guideline are associa ted with the idea improvement. (Vacek, 2009) 5 stages of learning procedure, for example, idea development, subsumption, dynamic separation, integrative compromise and conlidation are depicted in the Ausubel digestion hypothesis. These means are consolidated to make confused basic reasoning procedure such a great amount of simpler through the structure of an idea map (Novak, 1998). The arrangement of idea is partitioned into the essential idea and optional idea. As indicated by Ausubel (1968), the little youngsters start to perceive and mark something that is customary utilizing the language images and the idea development is first happening in them. Through perception, the little youngsters formed their scholarly movement and this makes up the essential idea which the case of essential idea incorporate seat, table and feline (Novak 1998). The auxiliary idea is when after having perceived a lot of consistency, their subjective structures are manufactured, and numerous new ideas with no noticeable items are taken by the youngsters through kids. The models are love, outrage and trouble. As indicated by Novak (1998), the learning procedure of grown-ups building the new ideas is comparative with the procedure learnt by a kid to make importance for words. The development of idea is additionally comparable with understanding of basic reasoning.         According to Ausubel (1968), the joining of the recently procured information with the past information is the thing that known as the subsumption, a period of learning process and important learning. New substance and old information are connected together and this structures the osmosis hypothesis.         In dynamic separation, Ausubel (1998) expressed that the normal succession where individuals intellectually arrange and store information is hierarchal from general to explicit. It is infrequently utilized in the instruction which makes numerous understudies retain the data than having a significant learning process. Human psyche works by taking the entire with the acclimatized parts than the other way around process. Ausubel (1998) likewise notice that it tends to be accomplished by organizing the data in a hierarchal arrangement which its from the general to the subtleties parts in a diving way by having subset focuses stretching from the central matters.         Integrated compromise is a type of examination which it will happen when an individual comprehends a given idea which is unique yet in addition like another idea. Misinterpretations will happens when coordinated compromise isn't finished. Recently procured thoughts are coordinated and related with the recently learned subjects. With incorporated compromise, understudies will realize how to interconnect his new learning and old learning through creation full utilization of the past scholarly information to help the new information.         Ausubel (1968) referenced that combination is done through remedy and explanation and it is imperative to ace one exercise before learning the following exercise as learning may be hindered if an understudy didn't ace the present exercise. Its a piece of basic intuition as union will make open door for the understudy to self-manage their exercise.         The mix of Ausubels hypothesis of absorption and Novaks idea maps is utilized to advance and ace the basic reasoning abilities. As indicated by Novak(1998), an idea is characterized as an apparent normality in occasions or items, or records of occasions or protested assigned by mark. An idea guide can help individuals to unravel, decipher and sort the issues. An idea map is begun by distinguishing and addresses the issues on maps and later introducing it from the general into progressively explicit ideas in a sliding hierarchal way with cross-interfaces that depicts an association of information. Obstructions to Critical Thinking The mix of basic speculation abilities to instruction are frequently obstructed by hindrances or deterrents. These hindrances are absence of preparing, absence of data, previously established inclinations and time requirements. As indicated by Broadbear(2003), the absence of preparing among the instructors in basic reasoning approach cause the poor the basic intuition abilities among the understudies. The instructors dont realize how to show basic reasoning aptitudes despite the fact that they have gotten the preparation techniques and knowing the substance of the basic reasoning abilities. Next, Scriven and Paul (2007) notice that the absence of extra basic intuition assets in the instructional materials as just a couple of instructional materials give it. Albeit, certain course books give part based basic reasoning conversation questions yet anyway it comes up short on extra data. Frequently, previously established inclinations, for example, individual predisposition about the instructional materials regularly hinder and obstructs the capacity of the instructors and understudies to think basically as one of the attributes of basic reasoning abilities is systematic aptitudes which is as a rule reasonable, liberal and slanted to pose inquiries in regards to the themes. (Kang Howren, 2004). Finally, teachers need to cover a wide substance inside a brief timeframe period and consequently, easy routes are taken by these educators so as to complete the prospectus. Talks, tips or target tests are given to the understudies as opposed to testing their diagnostic capacities through issue based inquiries. The educators will in general spotlight on the substance rather offering chances to the understudies to comprehend questions. Target tests are given to the understudies as it is quicker to level than short answer questions and as per the exploration done, target tests and addressing are not the best evaluation and guidance techniques (Broadbear, 2003; Brodie Irving 2007). Basic Thinking Development: A Stage Theory         There are 6 phases in the basic reasoning turn of events. The stages start with the unreflective mastermind stage followed by the tested scholar, the starting mastermind, the rehearsing mastermind, the propelled mastermind and in conclusion, the ace scholar stage.         The first stage, the unreflective scholar stage, which the mastermind comes up short on the mindfulness in regards to their reasoning are influencing their lives and they dont realize how to apply their insight and routinely practice in their every day lives. Explain, exactness, rationale, or significance are a piece of the principles for the appraisal of considering which the masterminds in this stage are uninformed of. Their reasoning aptitudes may have grown however they probably won't understand it. Also, issues, for example, biases and misguided judgments may happen in their lives because of absence of self-checking musings. Next, graduates moving on from auxiliary school or school can be still in the principal stage and they come up short on the aptitudes to survey or improve their reasoning.         The second stage, the tested scholar, is characterized when the masterminds acknowledged and mindful that reasoning is a piece of their lives and furthermore issues emerges because of poor reasoning. They know that their reasoning has issues however ignorant in distinguishing the issues are. Guidelines for the evaluation and furthermore attention to intuition as including ideas, suppositions and surmisings are what the masterminds in this stage are getting mindful of in spite of the fact that their comprehension may be restricted. The irregularity of applying their reasoning abilities are making the masterminds accepted that their reasoning is better than it really is. The starting scholar which is the third stage is the point at which the masterminds understood the fundamental issues in their reasoning and start to discover approaches to comprehend and improve their thoroughly considering adjustment of a portion of their reasoning yet may have come up short on the precise plans and constrained comprehension of more profound degrees of issues. In this stage, the masterminds have enough abilities to self manage their contemplations and ready to acknowledge the study of their forces of thought. Next, they start to understand the necessities of disguising and utilizing the measures for the appraisal of reasoning and furthermore the job of intuition in their day by day life. The fourth stage is the rehearsing scholar which the mastermind perceive the requirements to address the issues existed the in their thoroughly considering an efficient practice in deduction consistently and disguise them into propensities. Be that as it may, they do not have the comprehension of the more profound degrees of understanding which prompts further degrees of issues installed in the reasoning. They getting increasingly learned and normally screen the job in their reasoning and furthermore surveying their principles for the evaluation of reasoning. The key characteristic in this stage is scholarly diligence which will end up being a main thrust building up a sensible arrangement for efficient practice. Stage five or the propelled scholar is the point at which the masterminds are into issues at more profound degrees of thought, for example, egocentric and sociocentric and furthermore effectively examining their reasoning. They can deliberately

Legitimate Trade And Cash Crops Essay

[European missionaries] endeavored to end the slave exchange, that is exchange a few products other than slaves. The abolitionist servitude development was a generally helpful development that started in the mid nineteenth century. The endeavor to end the slave exchange additionally was expected to additionally Europeanize African social orders. Not exclusively did the â€Å"legitimization† of exchange look to end the Atlantic slave exchange, yet in addition the slave that had existed among Africans for a considerable length of time. Accordingly, numerous parts of the customary African culture were changed. As the slave exchange passed on, new markets opened both to fulfill European needs and to exploit the accessible African work. The greater part of the items that the Europeans executed were money crops. Different money crops included cotton, maize, tobacco, sugar, espresso, tea, palm oil, and groundnuts. The money crops were sought after in the remainder of the world and had a significant influence in the modernization of most areas of the landmass. Europeans sought after the creation of money crops to raise income to pay for the costs of the colonization procedure. Therefore, conventional resource cultivating lost significance, most countries concentrated on just a solitary or a couple of yields, patriotism of land happened, and developments were brought to Africa, for example, water system.

National Infrastructure Protection Plan - 550 Words

National Infrastructure Protection Plan and Risk Management Framework (Essay Sample) Content: Infrastructure Protection and Risk Management PlanNameInstitution The 21st century world is characterized by a wide range of both natural and manmade threats and hazards that include but not limited to terrorism attacks, natural calamities, accidents and other form of emergencies. These threats and hazards expose critical natural infrastructure and key resources to either direct or indirect risk. An effective national infrastructure and resources protection system should prioritize prevention of catastrophes that may lead to loses of lives and management of disruptive impacts that may tamper with national economies. In the United States of America, the national infrastructure protection plan (NIPP) has been put in place to manage and reduce the effects of the most serious threats and risks that the national faces. The current NIPP has achieved the above objectives by coming up with a strategy that strikes a balance between the nations resiliency and a well focused and risky conscious prevention, protection and preparedness plan (Department of Homeland Security 2009). The NIPP plan, which operates under critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR) protection framework, carries out its operations by integrating a vast network of federal agencies, local government agencies, private sector and regional consortia. The overall aim of the NIPP plan is to incorporate multiple jurisdictions and authorities in unifies yet flexible way in enhancing the countrys CIKR protection. The feedback loop design is a critical part of the NIPP for it tracks the progress of the infrastructure protection plan and suggests necessary improvements to the protection of the CIKR. The feedback loop design consists of various continuous steps that should be followed to protect infrastructure or resources from risk (John 2007). These steps are repeated in reverse order, also referred to as loop order, to fast track the improvements and make necessary improvements. The pre sence of the feedback loop design works to strengthen the national infrastructure protection program since it measure effectiveness of the program from time to time, making it identify areas of weaknesses and carry out necessary corrections, updates and improvements. The risk management approach is suitable for protecting the nations critical infrastructure since it establishes a comprehensive risk management framework that combines vulnerability, consequences and risk information in order to come up with a holistic rational and systematic assessment of national and regional risk. The risk management approach framework is structured such that it promotes continued improvement in infrastructure and resources protection program. Risk management approach is comprised of six steps namely setting of security goals, identification of target systems, assets, functions and networks, assessment of risks, prioritization of risks, implementation of protective programs and measurement of effec tiveness (Department of Homeland Security 2009). The outcomes of these steps is usually reduced risk and improved risk management activities. The second step, that involves identification of target systems, assets, functions and networks, is the most central and critical in the entire risk management framework since narrows down to national resources and installations that are deemed most vulnerable. By developing an inventory of systems, assets and networks located within and without the nation, the step enables the NIPP to focus on the most critical areas as opposed to spreading attention to some areas that may not be under threat at all. The major criticism that the national infrastructure protection model has faced is that it has vast number of entries that can not effectively be handled using the currently available resources. The next critic is that most of these assets have mo...

The Article Here Comes The Sun - 1284 Words

The article Here Comes the Sun deals with the fundamental issue of energy production. The author delves into how some forms of energy production can cause damages to citizens and the environment (Krugman, 2011). Thus, there is need for invention of cost-effective means of energy production that will not impose any harm to the environment nor call for a huge portion of funding from the citizens’ taxes. The alternative source of energy would be solar energy according to the writer (Krugman, 2011). The author is a veteran columnist for the New York Times who writes in diverse fields such as politics, trade, health and microeconomics. Some of Krugman’s famous articles include Health Reform Lives and The Force Awakens published in November 23rd and 20th respectively. Therefore, the article Here Comes the Sun lays a basis on why the adoption of solar energy in the United States will save the government and its citizenry the extra cost while at the same time protecting our env ironment. Summary: In summary, the article tries to give justifications as to why solar energy is the best alternative to energy problems encountered in the United States today (Krugman, 2011). However, solar energy not been tapped effectively due to the fossil energy cartels that have ganged up with politicians to thwart all efforts to embrace alternative sources of energy (Ahmed, 2014). The propaganda created by this group has made large scale production of solar energy a nightmare. The writer contends thatShow MoreRelatedHow Sun Produces Light And Heat1689 Words   |  7 PagesMubarak Alkhulifi 12/2/15 How Sun Produces Light and Heat? It is a common among human beings that our brain asks questions regarding everything, which comes in front of us in our daily routine. We tend to explore why and how it occurred or was produced and we try to get to the core of it. With the development of this universe, man is now questioning how it was created. But, unlike other man made stuff, the core of this universe is pretty complex to understand since it has many other things linkedRead MoreEssay on Asylum Seekers: The Comparison of Two Sides737 Words   |  3 PagesComparison of Two Sides  · The points of view that the suns newspaper report are trying to express are that the immigrants are entering the country under false pretences â€Å"falsely claming benefits† which angers there readers because they were lead to believe that they were entering the country to flee from poverty and war. From the instance that the audience picks up the paper the headlines for the article is â€Å"Read this article and get angry† with a picture of 4 illegal immigrantsRead MoreSkin Cancer Essay1178 Words   |  5 Pagesmillion people each year. Luckily, basal cell carcinoma has a ninety-five percent cure rate so it is rare to be killed by it but if it’s not treated quickly enough, it can cause disfiguring. It mostly occurs in the places your body is exposed to the sun the most such as your head, your neck, and the back of your hands. It’s also possible to get it on your legs, torso, arms and the rest of your body. Use of a tanning bed can up the chances of getting basal cell carcinoma and cause one to develop itRead MoreComparing Romanticism And Transcendentalism902 Words   |  4 Pagesthe medium, push men to be more close to God, that is the relationship triangle. This perspective of view is also what Emerson talked about in â€Å"Nature†. The individualism plays an essential role of Transcendentalism, the evidence shows in the other article from Emerson-- †Å"Self-reliance† which encourage people to leave the sociality and be a solitude and compare a lot of nature and the sociality. The first feature of Transcendentalism is imagination that is produced by the nature from â€Å"Nature†. SuchRead MoreMake Your Money Work For You - The Magic Of Compound Interest1163 Words   |  5 PagesThe Magic of Compound Interest By Maryanne Pope | Submitted On June 11, 2015 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook 1 Share this article on Twitter 6 Share this article on Google+ 2 Share this article on Linkedin 1 Share this article on StumbleUpon 1 Share this article on Delicious 1 Share this article on Digg 1 Share this article on Reddit 1 Share this article on Pinterest 1 Expert Author Maryanne Pope Compound interest is the eighth wonder of theRead MoreDevelopments and Possiblilities of Solar Power800 Words   |  3 Pagescentury with the Greeks and Romans starting fires through broken glass. Indirect benefits from solar have been used way back to even photosynthesis (Bengtson, 2012). Passive solar energy was used to heat building by using the design to capture the sun for heating and lighting. Moving into the 20th century major changes have accrued and there is now concentrating solar power technologies for centralized solar thermal plants (Bengtson, 2012). The public believes that solar is not yet ready to takeRead MoreA Raisin In The Sun Literary Analysis1023 Words   |  5 Pagesnot be shamed upon or looked at differently due to the color of their skin. The poem  ¨The Negro Mother, ¨ the play A Raisin in the Sun, and the article Innocence Is Irrelevant, all show how our society and they way people can get in the way of our happiness. In our class we read a poem called  ¨Harlem ¨ which related to the book, A Raisin in the Sun. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry is about the Younger family that has dreams that rely on the insurance claim of 10,000 dollars to pursue eachRead MoreAnalysis Of Sharon M. Drapers Copper Sun1144 Words   |  5 PagesIn the novel, Copper Sun, Sharon M. Draper quotes a fictional auctioneer: â€Å"Do I hear more than ten pounds for this fine example of African womanhood? Hardly a scratch on her. Bright enough to be taught simple commands, like ‘Come here’ and ‘Lie down’† (52). Amari, the terrified teenager the auctioneer was talking about, was recently taken from her home, chained, and crammed into a slave ship set for America. While on the slave ship, people underwent hunger, sickness, thirst, rape, and death. ThoughRead MoreSun God Of Egypt Ra1086 Words   |  5 PagesSeptember 26, 2017 Sun God of Egypt Ra In ancient Egypt people believe that the sun king represented power and strength. The sun God for the ancient Egyptians represented life. The reasons that it represented life are that the sun had power, energy, light and warmth. At that time they worship the sun God Ra. People believe that he made the crops grow every season. A lot of ancient cultures marked the date as significant, since the sun is at its highest point and the concept of sun worship is as oldRead MoreAtheism, Evolution And Secular Humanism Masquerading As Science Against The Bible And Creation1095 Words   |  5 PagesAgainst the Bible and Creation By Richard Ruhling | Submitted On February 20, 2014 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest Expert Author Richard Ruhling Science depends on research. Consider our limited opportunities--our

Immigration And The Illegal Immigration Into The United...

Immigration A major part of political platforms in the 2016 race is immigration and how we will deal with it. And it is seemingly unanimous that they are trying to decrease the amount of travel into the United states because it leads to major issues, but does it really? It’s acting as a catalyst in creating a more diverse economy, helping the growth and advancement of diplomatic ties with other countries, and it is the basis for which this country is founded on - immigrate, settle, colonize, grow. The issue that we should be fighting against is the illegal immigration into the US. The undocumented persons -- not the document travelers -- are where issues like manual labor jobs being given at a lower wage, the idea that terrorist acts can be committed, and the increase in crime arise, but even so these statements are frequently false and grotesquely exaggerated. The issue of immigration and illegal immigration being spoken on within the same context is giving the a large majority of the p opulation the idea that they are one and the same- both being seen as one criminal group. The United States needs a complete overhaul of their illegal immigration prevention and legal immigration system, but the opposition is attempting to close the borders completely. To both those who are coming in with and without permission, and they are gaining followers because they are using facts that are not facts at all and are purely procured from opinion. (Show Your Support) The process to beShow MoreRelatedIllegal Immigration And Immigration In The United States1091 Words   |  5 Pagesarrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes. (De Leon, K) The new legislation, created by California Senate President Kevin de Leon, officially makes the state of California a â€Å"sanctuary state†. Previously, de Leon determined that Donald Trump is a racist because of his positions on immigration; most notably, Trump’s attempt to defund cities that considered themselves sanctuaries. In a debate that is becoming increasingly more polarized, Brown sought to protect illegal immigrants againstRead MoreIllegal Immigration And The United States1388 Words   |  6 PagesIllegal immigration has plagued the United States since immigration laws were created, and has worsened in recent history. Since Ronald Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 provided amnesty for 3 million illegal aliens in exchange for increased border security, millions of people have entered the country illegally. Over the past 30 years, the illegal immigrant population of the country has more than doubled from 5 million in 1986 to over 11.5 million in 2015. It has become one of theRead MoreIllegal Immigration And The United States1126 Words   |  5 PagesIllegal Immigration Illegal immigration, according to an online dictionary is, â€Å"an alien (non-citizen) who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa† (thefreedictionary.com). This issue has been a controversial and divisive topic throughout the world. Illegal immigration is a serious threat to national security. Lack of proper immigration can cause harmful consequences, and while there is much debate over what to do with the manyRead MoreIllegal Immigration And The United States1593 Words   |  7 PagesIllegal immigration and the deployment of these undocumented inhabitants of America has been a disputed issue for decades. It is debated whether to return the illegal immigrants to their country of origin, or to let them stay in the United States. Factual evidence and statistics has proven that although the immigrants may not be authorized as citizens or inhabitants of America, they do contribute to the diversity of the count ry. With such a large population of foreigners, the immigrants also influenceRead MoreIllegal Immigration And The United States1135 Words   |  5 PagesIllegal immigration has been a controversial topic over several years in America, but it has come to light in recent years because of the dramatic increase of Latino individuals crossing the southern border of the United States. This requires multiple people in multiple sections of our government, whether it is politicians, federal law enforcement agencies, or local police, to work together flawlessly to police and combat the current predicament in our nation. Throughout this paper, I am going toRead MoreIllegal Immigration Is The United States Essay1643 Words   |  7 PagesThe United States of America has always been referred to the land of opportunity because it is the only true free country in the world. Because of this, the issue of illegal immigration is, and always been occurring since day one. The defined definition of th e term â€Å"illegal immigration† is the migration of people across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country. There are thousands of illegals that get inside the United States borders every single dayRead MoreIllegal Immigration And The United States1481 Words   |  6 PagesThe United States has been a country filled with immigrants ever since it began to flourish a few hundred years ago in the eighteenth century. Everyone, to begin with, had their eye on the United States. They were all in search of a bright future with a new life in a new place, just as the many immigrants we see here today are. People were curious about life here and what later on was called the â€Å"American Dream;† they wanted to know what it was really like. However, over the years, legal residencyRead MoreIllegal Immigration And The United States1624 Words   |  7 PagesWhy is illegal immigration often viewed as a threat to the United States ra ther than being unscrupulous? With over 11.5 million illegal immigrants in the Unites States, opponents of illegal immigration dispute that concept of granting amnesty to these immigrants. These arguments include that certain jobs will be stolen, and an increase in crime rate would develop. Despite the fact that illegal immigration is controversial, recent studies and social trends have shown that granting amnesty to illegalRead MoreIllegal Immigration And The United States1664 Words   |  7 Pagesunauthorized immigrants or â€Å"aliens† (as many people labeled them) living in the United States has stabilized since 2013, compared to 12.2 million in 2007 (which was the beginning of the Great Recession) and 3.5 million in 1990. In other words, the illegal immigration rate arriving and living in the U.S. has decreased, but there are still millions of unauthorized immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Illegal immigration and policy has become an important and political d ebate between millions ofRead MoreIllegal Immigration And The United States1573 Words   |  7 Pagesmillion illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States furthermore, for the United States economy. The correctional prerequisites against migrants were added to enactment to protect it from feedback that acquittal is absolution without outcome. Immigration makes a difference among everybody, and Congress ought to be doing everything in its energy to make it as simple as feasible for settlers to live and work lawfully what s more, openly in the United States. The United States is known

Statistical Inference & Regression Analysis Free Sample

Question: 1. Use the same data that was used in Assignment 1 which is the SWEETS-4-U2 data for the previous year which consists of 52 weekly values of the sales and costs for the two popular product lines namely Forgive and Rejoice. These two products are both wrapped chocolates sold by weight. The only difference between Forgive and Rejoice is that different messages are attached to each type of chocolate. The Forgive chocolates have messages like Sorry, Forgive Me and Trust Me and the Rejoice chocolates have messages like Celebrate, Have Fun and I Love You. The 52 Sales and Cost values for both types of chocolate are given in SWEETS-4-U2.xls. The Accountant for SWEETS-4-U2 is worried that the business is spending too much on advertising for Rejoice as sales now exceed what the firm has budgeted for. In the business plan the firm had assumed that the average weekly sales for Rejoice was $450. If sales are more than $450 then the firm will be able to reduce its advertising spending. (You can use Excel or your calculator for any calculations.) [a] Using Excel and the weekly sales data find the mean and standard deviation of Rejoice Sales. [b] Find the 90% interval estimate of the average weekly sales for Rejoice. [c] Using a level of significance of a = 0.05 test whether the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice are more than 450. [d] Briefly explain what a Type I error and what a Type II error are and what are their costs or consequences in this problem. [e] Find the p value in this situation. Explain what the p value is and how we would use the p value to test the hypotheses. [f] Using the p value test the hypotheses when the level of significance is a = 0.10 [g] Briefly explain how and when we can use an interval estimate when testing hypotheses. 2. Suppose the Sales manager of the Sweets-4-U2 chain of confectionary stores is interested in the relationship between Sales and Total costs for the Rejoice range of chocolates. i.e. how total cost is affected by sales, for the Rejoice product line. The 52 Sales and Cost values for both types of chocolate are given in SWEETS-4-U2.xls. Unless otherwise stated use a level of significance of a = 0.05.) (You can use Excel or your calculator for any calculations.) [a] Obtain the scatter diagram, the covariance and the correlation coefficient for Total Costs and Sales for the Rejoice chocolates. Briefly explain what this graph and these values are telling us about the relationship between Total Costs and Sales [b] Write down the two forms of the Population Regression function you would assume here. Briefly explain how we interpret the conditional mean E(Y | X) and the error term (e). [c] Estimate the sample regression function. Write down your estimated model and briefly explain what the estimated intercept and estimated slope are telling us about the relationship between the Total Costs and Sales for Rejoice chocolates. [d] Using the F statistic, the R-squared value and the p-value for the estimated slope briefly discuss whether this estimated model does or does not show that there is a significant relationship between Total Costs and Sales for Rejoice chocolates. (With a sample of n = 52 you can assume that the critical values for the t statistic are the same as the critical values for a z statistic.) [e] Test the following hypotheses concerning the slope H0 : b1 = 0.8 and H1 : b1 0.8 [f] Using you estimated model forecast the Total Costs when Sales are 200. Comment briefly on how useful this forecast will be. Briefly explain what we mean by the terms Prediction Interval and Confidence Interval [g] Using the F statistic, the R-squared value and the scatter diagram which shows the Residuals on the vertical axis and the values of Sales (our X variable) on the horizontal axis briefly discuss whether our estimated model can be seen as a reliable estimate of the relationship between Total Costs and Sales for Rejoice chocolates. Answer: a) Using Excel and the weekly sales data find the mean and standard deviation of Rejoice Sales. The mean and standard deviation by using excel is given below: b) Find the 90% interval estimate of the average weekly sales for Rejoice. The 90% confidence interval estimate of the average weekly sales for rejoice is given in the following table: c) Using a level of significance of a = 0.05 test whether the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice are more than 450. Here we have to use the one sample t test for the population average of the weekly sales for the Rejoice. The total test with calculations are given below: Null hypothesis: Population average for weekly sales is $450. Alternative hypothesis: Population average for weekly sales is more than $450. One sample t test for Rejoice sales d) Here we reject the null hypothesis that the population average for the weekly sales is $450. Briefly explain what a Type I error and what a Type II error are and what are their costs or consequences in this problem. Type I error is nothing but the probability of the rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true and type II error is the probability of the not rejecting the null hypothesis even though it is not true. For this problem, the type I error is the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis that the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice is $450 when actually it is true that the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice is $450. The type II error is the probability of not rejecting the null hypothesis that the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice is $450 when actually it is false that the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice is $450. e) Here we are given a p-value = 0.0833 and we know the following decision rule: Decision rule: We reject the null hypothesis when the p-value is less than the alpha value or level of significance and we do not reject the null hypothesis when the p-value is greater than the alpha value or level of significance. Here, we have alpha value = 0.05 and p-value = 0.0833, that is, we have p-value alpha value, therefore, we do not reject the null hypothesis that the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice is $450. f) Using the p value test the hypotheses when the level of significance is a = 0.10 The t test for the average for alpha = 0.10 is given below: t test for rejoice (alpha = 0.10) Here also we get the p-value = 0.0833 And we have alpha = 0.10 Here, p-value alpha value Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis that the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice is $450. g) Briefly explain how and when we can use an interval estimate when testing hypotheses. If the test statistic value in the testing hypothesis is lies between the lower limit and upper limit of the given confidence interval, then we do not reject the null hypothesis that the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice is $450 and if the test statistic value is out of this confidence interval then we reject the null hypothesis that the average of the weekly sales for Rejoice is $450. The scatter plot for the total costs and sales for the Rejoice Chocolates is given as below: For this scatter plot y represents the total costs and x represents the sales for the rejoice chocolates. The covariance for the total cost and sales is given as below: The correlation coefficient for the total cost and sales is given as below: h) Write down the two forms of the Population Regression function you would assume here. Briefly explain how we interpret the conditional mean E(Y | X) and the error term (e). The two forms of the population regression function is written as below: Y = a + b*X Where Y is dependent variable, X is independent variable, a is the y-intercept and b is the slope of the regression line. In another form of the population regression function is given as below: Total cost = a + b*Sales We interpret the conditional mean E(Y|X) when we already given the mean of the x values or values of independent variable. The error term is nothing but the difference between the predicted value and the actual value. i) Estimate the sample regression function. Write down your estimated model and briefly explain what the estimated intercept and estimated slope are telling us about the relationship between the Total Costs and Sales for Rejoice chocolates. Here we have to estimate the sample regression function. For this regression model, we take the dependent variable y as the total cost and independent variable x as the sales of the rejoice chocolates. The regression analysis by using excel is given as below: Here we get the correlation coefficient as the 0.9723, this indicate that there is high association between the dependent variable total cost and independent variable sales of the rejoice chocolates. There is high linear relationship found between the dependent variable total cost and independent variable sales of the rejoice chocolates. The ANOVA table for this regression model is given as below: The coefficients for the regression equation are given in the following table: The regression equation is given as below: Y = 51.7669 + 1.0014*X Total cost = 51.7669 + 1.0014*sales j) Using the F statistic, the R-squared value and the p-value for the estimated slope briefly discuss whether this estimated model does or does not show that there is a significant relationship between Total Costs and Sales for Rejoice chocolates. (With a sample of n = 52 you can assume that the critical values for the t statistic are the same as the critical values for a z statistic.) Here the F statistic value is given as 865.47 and p-value is given as 0.00. The value of coefficient of determination or R squared is given as 0.9454, this means, about 94.54% of the variation in the dependent variable total cost is explained by the independent variable sales of rejoice chocolates for this regression model. For this regression model, the p-value is given as 0.00 which is less than the level of significance or alpha value 0.05, therefore we reject the null hypothesis that the linear relationship between the dependent variable total cost and independent variable sales of rejoice chocolates is significant. k) Test the following hypotheses concerning the slope H0 : b1 = 0.8 and H1 : b1 0.8 The complete test procedure is given below: Null hypothesis: H0 : b1 = 0.8 Alternative hypothesis: H1 : b1 0.8 Level of significance = alpha = 0.05 Degrees of freedom = n 2 = 52 2 = 50 Critical value = 2.008559072 Test statistic formula is given as below: t = b1 / SE where SE is the standard error and formula for standard error is given as bleow: SE = sb1 = sqrt [ (yi - i)2 / (n - 2) ] / sqrt [ (xi - x)2 ] The standard error is given as SE = 0.1373 Test statistic = t = 0.8 / 0.1373 = 5.8267 Critical value = 2.008559072 Test statistic Critical value Decision rule: Reject null hypothesis when test statistic value critical value Here test statistic value is greater than the critical value, therefore, we reject the null hypothesis that the slope is 0.8. l) Using you estimated model forecast the Total Costs when Sales are 200. Comment briefly on how useful this forecast will be. Briefly explain what we mean by the terms Prediction Interval and Confidence Interval Here we are given value of sales = 200. Now for forecasting the total costs we have to use the above regression model which is given as below: Y = a + b*X Total cost = a + b*Sales Y = 51.7669 + 1.0014*X Total cost = 51.7669 + 1.0014*sales Now, plug sales = 200 in the above regression equation for estimation or forecasting of total costs. Total cost = 51.7669 + 1.0014*200 = 252.0469 Total cost = $252.0469 Prediction interval means, the interval in which the predicted values lies in and the confidence interval means, the interval for which we have exact probability or confidence that the values are lies within this interval. m) Using the F statistic, the R-squared value and the scatter diagram which shows the Residuals on the vertical axis and the values of Sales (our X variable) on the horizontal axis briefly discuss whether our estimated model can be seen as a reliable estimate of the relationship between Total Costs and Sales for Rejoice chocolates. For this regression model, we get the F statistic value as 865.4676 which is very high. The value of coefficient of determination or R squared is given as 0.9454, this means, about 94.54% of the variation in the dependent variable total cost is explained by the independent variable sales of rejoice chocolates for this regression model. The scatter plot clearly shows the linear relationship exist between the dependent variable total cost and independent variable sales of rejoice chocolates. For this regression model, we reject the null hypothesis that the linear relationship between the dependent variable total cost and independent variable sales of rejoice chocolates is significant.

The Glass Menagerie A Study In Symbolism Essays (1550 words)

The Glass Menagerie: A Study In Symbolism In the drama, The Glass Menagerie (1945), Tennessee Williams reflects upon personalexperiences he and his family encountered during the Depression of the 1930's. As a lower classfamily, the characters are placed in the slums of St. Louis in 1935. The protagonist, Tom Wingfield,is the narrator and Williams' surrogate. Living with his mother and sister, Tom supports them byworking in a shoe manufacturing warehouse. He should feel lucky to have this job; however, hedespises his work and dreams of leaving to become a Merchant Marine. Unhappy with what life hasdealt him, Tom strives for adventure and longs to turn his back on his responsibilities. His mother,Amanda Wingfield, abandoned by her husband almost sixteen years ago, tries to keep her familytogether through tough times. Although her love and hopes for her children are sincere, heroverbearing and outspoken nature often hurts them. Laura, Tom's sister, suffers from neuroses. She has trouble separating fantasy from reality. Without the ability to function in the outside world,Laura becomes a liability to both Tom and Amanda. The gentleman caller, Jim O'Connor, is afriend of Tom's from the warehouse. He is an ambitious young man, who strives for the AmericanDream through hard work and optimism. Jim offers the Wingfields hope for the future: Tom: He is the most realistic character in the play, being an emissary from aworld of reality that we were somehow set apart from. But since I have apoet's weakness for symbols, I am using this character also as a symbol; he is the long- delayed but always expected something that we live for (23). Williams gives the reader many emblems throughout the play; there are three of them are especiallyinteresting. The unicorn symbolizes Laura's uniqueness, the picture of Mr. Wingfield represents hisstrong influence on his deserted family, and Malvolio's coffin trick signifies Tom's suffocatinglifestyle. The unicorn is a symbolic representation of ways that Laura is unique or unusual . The first facetof the unicorn, its horn, refers to ways that Laura is an unusual person, such as in her may escapemechanisms. Laura's escape devices include her glass menagerie, listening to records on theVictrola, and visiting the park and zoo. Laura identifies with her glass menagerie because she hastrouble identifying with the real world, the pieces are small and delicate, just as she is. The Victrolais a reminder of Mr. Wingfield; Laura often plays records to avoid the present and thinks pleasantlyabout the times she had with her father. When Laura stopped going to Rubicam's Business College,she would spend many of her days at the zoo or park. She was a nature lover and thought of theseplaces as very peaceful and beautiful, a sharp contrast to her real life. The fragility of the unicorn, itssecond part, recalls Laura's delicate psychological condition. Laura's emotional problems causedmany difficulties in her life. While in high school, Laura was very self-conscious about the brace shehad to wear, as evidenced in the following passage: Laura: I had that brace on my leg -- it clumped so loud! Jim: I never heard any clumping. Laura: To me it sounded like -- thunder! Jim: Well, well, well, I never even noticed. Laura: And everybody was seated before I came in. I had to walk in front of all those people. Myseat was in the back row. I had to go clumping all the way up the aisle with everyone watching! Jim: You shouldn't have been self-conscious. Laura: I know, but I was (93). Laura suffered all the way through high school. Unfortunately, she scored poorly on her finalexaminations and dropped out of school. After such a failure, her fragile self-esteem dropped fromlow to almost non-existent, and she could not face going back. Six years later, with pressure fromher mother, Laura took another stab at education. She enrolled at Rubicam's Business College. However, Laura only made it to the first test. As the test began, she vomited on the floor and had tobe carri ed to the bathroom. Laura never returned to school, and once again her fragile emotions gotthe best of her. The transparency of the unicorn, its final facet, represents the fact that Laura'sproblems are easily apparent to anyone who cares to notice them. This is best seen

My Trip to Brazil essays

My Trip to Brazil essays Last summer I was invited to play soccer in Brazil, an experience of a lifetime. I traveled alone leaving La Guardia airport in New York, making connections in Miami, Sao Paulo and finally arriving in the cit of Natal, Brazil 20 hours later. There I trained with the professional soccer team, America F.C. The Brazilian natives could not have been any nicer or friendlier. This was an experience that I would never forget. Since I was unable to speak their language, Portuguese, the Brazilian players communicated to me through Soccer. Indeed they helped me through the training sessions by physically showing me what to do with the ball. Nevertheless when I was not focused, or simply could not do what they could, their body language made their dissatisfaction with me clear. The Brazilian players and coaches however, never were negative always projecting a positive attitude. A typical example of their passion of the game and teaching ability occurred when we were playing in a game. A Brazilian player would pass me the ball and naturally expect that I handle it properly. In the beginning, I could not and so the next time the same player would pretend to pass me the ball but purposely pass it to someone else. This is the way he told me he expected more from me. Perhaps ten minutes later I would be given another try. I quickly learned what they expected from me and improved dramatically from this. Off the soccer field was even more enlightening, as the players would invite me to go out with them. They interpreted the language, showed me the local sites, introduced me to native foods and showed me how to exchange Dollars to Reals. They took me in and watched over me for my entire trip and I thank them for that. On my first day I met and extremely interesting person, a fifteen year old, homeless native, who lives on the beach. The natives nicknamed him appropriately, Pele. Ironically Pele was the happiest boy on the beach...

Write a 2-3 page paper about outsourcing from the perspective of a Essay

Write a 2-3 page paper about outsourcing from the perspective of a multinational firm (Yes, this may be a hypothetical firm), - Essay Example t saving has been passed on to the customer who has benefited by the fact that even though the costs of raw materials is on the rise, the price of our goods haven’t gone north and the quality of the goods we provide has remained the same over the years and even improved in many cases. Something that the customers have really appreciated and have been complimenting us on time and again. Also with outsourcing we have been able to reduce the time it takes to bring out new products into the market. With people working in different time zones, it is now possible to bring out new products at a faster rate than before. Now our designers can create a design which is sent to the manufacturers who can produce the goods and it can be ready and shipped back to all our stores within weeks. This has meant that whenever a customer purchases a T&T product they are always buying the latest in fashion. Most of our back office operations have been outsourced freeing up valuable resources which would otherwise have been bogged down due such tasks. This has brought in a huge cost saving to the company as well allowing us on to divert our resources and concentrate on many other avenues which would have otherwise would have suffered. But even though outsourcing is seen by many as the fix it all solution for many problems, it comes with its own set of woes, the biggest and by far the toughest to deal with is the people issue. A company’s most precious asset are the people that work there and they are the hardest hit when outsourcing is considered. Since many processes have been outsourced, many workers have been let go which was done with a heavy heart but it was a must. The customer wanted high quality apparel at reasonable costs and the only way to provide it to them without sacrificing on the product was to downsize. Also with our high dependence on the Internet and other such information delivery systems, when a crash occurs things can spiral into chaos as was the recent case

Canterbury Television ( CTV ) building in Christchurch Assignment

Canterbury Television ( CTV ) building in Christchurch - Assignment Example However, none of these earthquakes has caused havoc and loss of lives as did the earthquake of 6.3 on Richer that hit Christchurch on 22 February 2011. This aftershock reportedly claimed 184 lives in the city. However, CTV building was the most affected, something that raised many questions from structural engineers and the public at large. This is because CTV was the only building that collapsed from the earthquake, claiming 115 lives of the 184 people who perished in the entire Christchurch. The collapse of the building has been blamed on human error associated with poor design and construction. Several key-role players and stakeholders have been associated with the incident and its consequences, which this paper seeks to examine. In addition, the paper will analyze the management and organizational factors that might have been associated with the incident. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 The key role-players 4 The key stakeholders 7 Management and organization al factors associated with the incident 9 Conclusion 10 Recommendations 10 References 10 Introduction New Zealand is one of the European countries that are very prone to earthquakes. Seismologist attributes this to its proximity to seismic zone. Associated Press (2012) reveals that very powerful earthquakes have hit the country several times in the recent past. ... This is because CTV was the only building that collapsed from the earthquake, claiming 115 lives of the 184 people who perished in the entire Christchurch, according to Associated Press (2012). The commission formed to investigate the matter found out that the building might have collapsed due to poor design and construction. The commission also identified several key role-players and stakeholders that this paper seeks to examine. In addition, the paper will provide an analysis and evaluation of the key management and organizational factors linked to the incident, prior, during, and after the incident. The key role-players Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (2012) report claimed that showed that the CTV building incident on 22 February 2011 was extraordinary. This is after findings showed that the building collapsed from the earthquake due to human error. As earlier stated, an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 hit Christchurch on this fateful day killing 184 people most of whom peris hed from the collapsed CTV building, where 115 people reportedly perished. According to the royal commission report, CTV building collapsed due to poor design and construction. As a result, David Harding, the architect who designed the building becomes the first key-role player to blame for the collapse. Write and Greenhill (2012) reveals that the building did not meet the 1986 building standards when it was constructed. The investigation revealed several structural weaknesses in the design that caused the building to collapse upon being subjected to tension. Vervaeck and Daniell (2012) noted that the CTV building had poorly designed joints between beams and columns. This made the

Marketing Anthropology Essay Example for Free

Marketing Anthropology Essay Anthropology and marketing (together with consumer research) were once described as ‘linchpin disciplines in parallel intellectual domains’ (Sherry 1985a: 10). To judge from the prevalent literature, however, this view is not shared by many anthropologists, who tend to look at markets (for example, Carrier 1997) and exchange rather than at marketing per se (Lien 1997 is the obvious exception here). For their part, marketers, always open to new ideas, have over the decades made – albeit eclectic (de Groot 1980:131) – use of the work of anthropologists such as Claude Levi-Strauss and Mary Douglas whose aims in promulgating their ideas on binary oppositions, totemism and grid and group were at the time far removed from the endeavour of marketing both as a discipline and as practice. Can anthropology really be of use to marketing? Can the discipline in effect market itself as an effective potential contributor to solving the problems faced by marketers? There is no reason why not. After all, it is anthropologists who point out that there is more than one market and that these markets, like the Free Market beloved by economists, are all socio-cultural constructions. In this respect, what they have to say about the social costs of markets, as well as about the non-market social institutions upon which markets depends and the social contexts that shape them (cf. Carruthers and Babb 2000:219-222), is extremely pertinent to marketers anxious to come up with definitive answers as to why certain people buy certain products and how to persuade the rest of the world to do so. At the same time, however, there are reasons why anthropology probably cannot be of direct use to marketing. In particular, as we shall see in the following discussion of marketing practices in a Japanese advertising agency, anthropology suffers from the fact that its conclusions are based on long-term immersion in a socio-cultural ‘field’ and that its methodology is frequently unscientific, subjective and imprecise. As part of their persuasive strategy, on the other hand, proponents of marketing need to present their discipline as objective, scientific, speedy and producing the necessary results. How they actually go about obtaining such results, however, and whether they really are as objective and scientific as they claim to their clients, are moot points. This paper focuses, by means of a case study, on how marketing is actually practised in a large advertising agency in Japan and has four main aims. Firstly, it outlines the organisational structure of the agency to show how marketing acts as a social mechanism to back up inter-firm ties based primarily on tenuous personal relationships. Secondly, it reveals how these same interpersonal relations can affect the construction of apparently ‘objective’ marketing strategies. Thirdly, it focuses on the problem of how all marketing campaigns are obliged to shift from ‘scientific’ to ‘artistic’ criteria as statistical data, information and analysis are converted into 1 linguistic and visual images for public consumption. Finally, it will make a few tentative comments on the relations between anthropology and marketing, with a view to developing a comparative theory of advertising as a marketing system, based on the cultural relativity of a specific marketing practice in a Japanese advertising agency (cf. Arnould 1995:110). The Discipline, Organisation and Practice of Marketing The Marketing Division is the engine room of the Japanese advertising agency in which I conducted my research in 1990. At the time, this agency handled more than 600 accounts a year, their value varying from several million to a few thousand dollars. The Marketing Division was almost invariably involved in some way in the ad campaigns, cultural and sporting events, merchandising opportunities, special promotions, POP constructions, and various other activities that the agency carried out on behalf of its clients. Exceptions were those accounts involving media placement or certain kinds of work expressly requested by a client – like, for example, the organisation of a national sales force meeting for a car manufacturer. Even here, however, there was often information that could be usefully relayed back to the Marketing Division (the number and regional distribution of the manufacturer’s sales representatives, as well as possible advance information on new products and/or services to be offered in the coming year). Marketing Discipline As Marianne Lien (1997:11) points out, marketing is both a discipline and a practice. The main aims as a discipline of the Marketing Division were (and, of course, still are): firstly, to acquire as much information as possible from consumers about their clients’ products and services; secondly, to acquire as much information as possible, too, from clients about their own products and services; and, thirdly, to use strategically both kinds of information acquired to develop new accounts. Marketing thus provided those working in the Marketing Division with the dispassionate data that account executives needed in their personal networking with (potential) clients whom they cajoled, persuaded, impressed and pleaded with to part with (more) money. Marketing Organisation In order to achieve the three overall objectives outlined above, the agency established a certain set of organisational features to enable marketing practice to take place. Firstly, the Marketing Division, which consisted of almost 90 members, was structured into three separate, but interlocking, sub-divisions. These consisted of Computer Systems; Market Development and Merchandising; and Marketing. The last was itself sub-divided into three departments, each of which was broken down into three or four sections. 1 Each section consisted of from six to a dozen members, led by a Section Leader, under whom they worked in teams of two to three on an account. These teams were not fixed. Thus one member, A, might work with another, B, under the Section Leader (SL) on a contact lens advertising campaign, but find herself assigned to worked with C under SL on an airline company’s business class service account, and with D under SL on a computer manufacturer’s consumer survey. In this respect, the daily life of members of the Marketing Note that, unlike the Marketing department in Viking foods discussed by Lien. Department was similar to that of product managers described by Lien (1997:69), being characterised by ‘frequent shifts from one activity to another, a wide network of communications, and a considerable amount of time spent in meetings or talking on the telephone’. Secondly, tasks (or accounts) were allocated formally through the hierarchical divisional structure – by departments first, then by sections – according to their existing responsibilities and perceived suitability for the job in hand. Each SL then distributed these tasks to individual members on the basis of their current overall workloads. At the same time, however, there was an informal allocation of accounts involving individuals. Each SL or DL could take on a job directly from account executives handling particular accounts on behalf of their clients. Here, prior experiences and personal contacts were important influences on AEs’ decisions as to whether to go through formal or informal channels of recruitment. The account executive in charge of the NFC contact lens campaign described in my book (Moeran 1996), for example, went directly to a particular SL in the Marketing Department because of some smart work that the latter had done for the AE on a different account some months previously. Mutual respect had been established and the contact lens campaign provided both parties with an opportunity to assess and, in the event, positively validate their working relationship. There were certain organisational advantages to the ways in which accounts were distributed in the manner described here. Firstly, by freely permitting interpersonal relations between account executives and marketers, the Agency ensured that there was competitiveness at each structural level of department and section. Such competition was felt to be healthy for the Agency as a whole, and to encourage its continued growth. Secondly, by assigning individual members of each section in the Marketing Department to working in different combinations of people on different tasks, the Agency ensured that each member of the Marketing Department received training in a wide variety of marketing problems and was obliged to interact fully with fellow section members, thereby promoting a sense of cooperation, cohesion and mutual understanding. This in itself meant that each section developed the broadest possible shared knowledge of marketing issues, because of the knowledge gained by individual members and the interaction among them. Marketing Practice Accounts were won by the Agency primarily through the liaison work conducted with a (potential) client by an account executive (who might be a very senior manager or junior ‘salesman’ recruited only a few years earlier). Once an agreement was made between Agency and client – and such an agreement might be limited to the Agency’s participation in a competitive presentation, the outcome of which might lead to an account being established – the AE concerned would put together an account team. An account team consists of the AE in charge (possibly with assistants); the Marketing Team (generally of 2 persons under a Marketing Director [MD], but sometimes much larger, depending on the size of the account and the work to be done); the Creative Team (consisting of Creative Director [CD], Copywriter, and Art Director [AD] as a minimum, but usually including two ADs – one for print-, the other for TV-related work); and Media Planner/Buyer(s). The job of the account team is to carry out successfully the task set by the client, and to this end meets initially for an orientation meeting in which the issues and problems relayed by the client to the AE are explained and discussed to all members. 2 Prior to this, however, the AE provides the marketing team with all the information and data that he has been able to extract from the client (a lot of it highly confidential to the company concerned). The marketing team, therefore, tends to come prepared and to have certain quite specific questions regarding the nature of the statistics provided, the target market, retail outlets, and so on. If it has done its homework properly – which is not always the case, given the number of different accounts on which the team’s members are working and the pressure of work that they are under – the marketing team may well have several pertinent suggestions for further research. It is on the basis of these discussions that the AE then asks the MD to carry out such research as is thought necessary for the matter in hand. In the meantime, the creative team is asked to mull over the issues generally and to think of possible ways of coping ‘creatively’ (that is, linguistically and visually) with the client’s marketing problems. Back in the Marketing Department, the MD will tell his subordinates to carry out specific tasks, such as a consumer survey to find out who precisely makes use of a particular product and why. This kind of task is fairly mechanical in its general form, since the Agency does this sort of work for dozens of clients every year, but has to be tailored to the present client’s particular situation, needs and expectations. The MD will therefore discuss his subordinate’s proposal, make some suggestions to ensure that all points are overed (and that may well include some additional questions to elicit further information from the target audience that has taken on importance during their discussion), and then give them permission to have the work carried out. All surveys of this kind are subcontracted by the Agency to marketing firms and research organisations of one sort or another. This means that the marketing team’s members are rarely involved in direct face-to-face contact or interaction with the consumers of the products that they wish to advertise,3 except when small ‘focus group’ interviews take place (usually in one of the Agency’s buildings). The informal nature of such groups, the different kinds of insights that they can yield, and the need to spot and pursue particular comments mean that members of the marketing team should be present to listen to and, as warranted, direct the discussion so that the Agency’s particular objectives are achieved. In general, however, the only evidence of consumers in the Agency is indirect, through reports, statistics, figures, data analyses and other information that, paradoxically, are always seen to be insufficient or ‘incomplete’ (cf. Lien 1997:112). Once the results of the survey are returned, the marketers enter them into their computers (since all such information is stored and can be used to generate comparative data for other accounts as and when required). They can make use of particular programmes to sort and analyse such data, but ultimately they need to be able to present their results in readily comprehensible form to other members of the account team. Here again, the MD tends to ensure that the information presented at the next meeting is to the point and properly hierarchised in terms of importance. This leads to the marketing team’s putting forward things like: a positioning statement, slogan, purchasing decision The Media Planners do not usually participate in these early meetings since their task is primarily to provide information of suitable media, and slots therein, for the finished campaign to be placed in. 3 A similar point is made by Lien (1997. 11) in her study of Viking Foods. Focus Groups usually consist of about half a dozen people who represent by age, gender, socio-economic grouping and so on the type of target audience being addressed, and who have agreed to talk about (their attitudes towards) a particular product or product range – usually in exchange for some gift or money. Interviews are carried out in a small meeting room (that may have a one-way mirror to enable outside observation) and tend to last between one and two hours. 4 2 4 odel (high/low involvement; think/feel product relationship), product message concept, and creative frame. One of the main objectives of this initial – and, if properly done, only – round of research is to discover the balance between what are terms product, user and end benefits, since it is these factors that determine the way in which an ad campaign should be presented and, therefore, how the creative team should visualise the marketing problems analysed and ensuing suggestions from the marketing team. It is here that we come to the crux of marketing as practised in an advertising agency (whether in Japan or elsewhere). Creative people tend to be suspicious of marketing people and vice-versa. This is primarily because marketers believe that they work rationally and that the creative frames that they produce are founded on objective data and analyses. Creative people, on the other hand, believe that their work should be ‘inspired’, and that such inspiration can take the place at the expense of the data and analyses provided for their consideration. As a result, when it comes to producing creative work for an ad campaign, copywriters and creative directors tend not to pay strict attention to what the marketing team has told them. For example, attracted by the idea of a particular celebrity or filming location, they may come up with ideas that in no way meet the pragmatic demands of a particular ad campaign that may require emphasis on product benefits that are irrelevant to the chosen location or celebrity suggested for endorsement. This does not always happen, of course. A good and professional creative team – and such teams are not infrequent – will follow the marketing team’s instructions. In such cases, their success is based on a creative interpretation of the data and analyses provided. Agency-Client Interaction If there is some indecision and argument among different elements of the account team – and it is the presiding account executive’s job to ensure that marketers and creatives do not come to blows over their disagreements – they almost invariably band together when meeting and presenting their plans to the client. Such meetings can take place several, even more than a dozen, times during the course of an account team’s preparations for an ad campaign. At most of them the MD will be present, until such time as it is clear that the client has accepted the Agency’s campaign strategy and the creative team has to fine-tune the objectives outlined therein. Very often, therefore, the marketing team will not stay on a particular account long enough to learn of its finished result, although a good AE will keep his MD abreast of creative developments and show him the (near) finalised campaign prior to the client’s final approval. But marketers do not get involved in the production side of a campaign (studio photography, television commercial filming, and so on) – unless one of those concerned knows what is going on when, happens to be nearby at the time, and drops in to see how things are going. In other words, the marketing team’s job is to see a project through until accepted by the client. It will then dissolve and its members will be assigned to new accounts. Advertising Campaigns: A Case Study To illustrate in more detail particular examples of marketing practice in the Agency, let me cite as a case study the preparation of contact lens campaign in Japan. This example is illuminating because it reveals a number of typical problems faced by an advertising agency in the formulation and execution of campaigns on behalf of its clients. These include the interface between marketing and creative people within an agency and the interpretation of marketing analysis and data; the 5 transposition of marketing analysis into ‘creative’ (i. e. linguistic, visual and design) ideas; the interface between agency and client in the ‘selling’ of a campaign proposal; and the problems of having to appeal to more than one ‘consumer’ target. When the Nihon Fibre Corporation asked the Agency to prepare an advertising campaign for its new Ikon Breath O2 oxygen-passing GCL hard contact lenses in early 1990, it provided a considerable amount of product information with which to help and guide those concerned. This information included the following facts: firstly, with a differential coefficient (DK factor) of 150, Ikon Breath O2 had the highest rate of oxygen permeation of all lenses currently manufactured and marketed in Japan. As a result, secondly, Ikon Breath O2 was the first lens authorized for continuous wear by Japan’s Ministry of Health. Thirdly, the lens was particularly flexible, dirt and water resistant, durable, and of extremely high quality. The client asked the Agency to confirm that the targeted market consisted of young people and to create a campaign that would help NFC capture initially a minimum three per cent share of the market, rising to ten per cent over three years. The Agency immediately formed an account team, consisting of eight members all told. Their first step was to arrange for the marketing team to carry out its own consumer research before proceeding further. A detailed survey – of 500 men and women – was worked out in consultation with the account executive and the client, and was executed by a market research company subcontracted by the Agency. Results confirmed that the targeted audience for the Ikon Breath O2 advertising campaign should be young people, but particularly young women, between the ages of 18 and 27 years, since it was they who were most likely to wear contact lenses. At the same time, however, the survey also revealed that there was little brand loyalty among contact lens wearers so that, with effective advertising, it should be possible to persuade users to shift from their current brand to Ikon Breath O2 lenses. It also showed that young women were not overly concerned with price provided that lenses were safe and comfortable to wear, which meant that Ikon Breath O2’s comparatively high price in itself should not prove a major obstacle to brand switching or sales. On a less positive note, however, the account team also discovered that users were primarily concerned with comfort and were not interested in the technology that went into the manufacture of contact lenses (thereby obviating the apparent advantage of Ikon Breath O2’s high DK factor of which NFC was so proud); and that, because almost all contact lens users consulted medical specialists prior to purchase, the advertising campaign would have to address a second audience consisting mainly of middle-aged men. All in all, therefore, Ikon Breath O2 lenses had an advantage in being of superb quality, approved by medical experts and recognized, together with other GCL lenses, as being the safest for one’s eyes. Its disadvantages were that NFC had no ‘name’ in the contact lens market and that users knew very little about GCL lenses or contact lenses in general. This meant that the advertising campaign had to be backed up by point of purchase sales promotion (in the form of a brochure) to ensure that the product survived. Moreover, it was clear that Ikon Breath O2’s technical advantage (the DK 150 factor) would not last long because rival companies would soon be able to make lenses with a differential coefficient that surpassed that developed by NFC. 5 On this occasion, because the advertising budget was comparatively small, the media buyer was not brought in until later stages in the campaign’s preparations. The AE in charge of the NFC account interacted individually with the media buyer and presented the latter’s suggestions to the account team as a whole. 6 As a result of intense discussions following this survey, the account team moved slowly towards what it thought should be as the campaign’s overall ‘tone and manner’. Ideally, advertisements should be information-oriented: the campaign needed to put across a number of points about the special product benefits that differentiated it from similar lenses on the market (in particular, its flexibility and high rate of oxygen-permeation). Practically, however – as the marketing team had to emphasize time and time again – the campaign needed to stress the functional and emotional benefits that users would obtain from wearing Ikon Breath O2 lenses (for example, continuous wear, safety, release from anxiety and so on). This meant that the advertising itself should be emotional (and information left to the promotional brochure) and stress the end benefits to consumers, rather than the lenses’ product benefits. Because the marketing team had concluded that the product’s end benefits should be stressed, copywriter and art director opted for user imagery rather than product characteristics when thinking of ideas for copy and visuals. However, they were thwarted in their endeavours by a number of problems. Firstly, advertising industry self-policing regulations prohibited the use of certain words and images (for example, the notion of ‘safety’, plus a visual of someone asleep while wearing contact lenses), and insisted on the inclusion in all advertising of a warning that the Ikon Breath O2 lens was a medical product that should be purchased through a medical specialist. This constriction meant that the creative team’s could not use the idea of ‘continuous wear’ because, even though so certified by Japan’s Ministry of Health, opticians and doctors were generally of the opinion that Ikon Breath O2 lenses were bound to affect individual wearers in different ways. NFC was terrified of antagonizing the medical world which would often be recommending its product, so the product manager concerned refused to permit the use of any word or visual connected with ‘continuous wear’. Thus, to the account team’s collective dismay, the product’s end benefit to consumers could not be effectively advertised. Secondly, precisely because Ikon Breath O2 lenses had to be recommended by medical specialists, NFC’s advertising campaign needed to address the latter as well as young women users. In other words, the campaign’s tone and manner had to appeal to two totally different segments of the market, while at the same time satisfying those employed in the client company. This caused the creative team immense difficulties, especially because – thirdly – the product manager of NFC’s contact lens manufacturing division was convinced that the high differential coefficient set Ikon Breath O2 lenses apart from all other contact lenses on the market and would appeal to members of the medical profession. So he insisted on emphasizing what he saw as the unique technological qualities of the product. In other words, not only did he relegate young women who were expected to buy the product to secondary importance; he ignored the marketing team’s recommendation that user benefit be stressed. Instead, for a long time he insisted on the creative team’s focussing on product benefit, even though the DK factor was only a marginal and temporary advantage to NFC. As a result of these two sets of disagreements, the copywriter came up with two different key ideas. The first was based on the product’s characteristics, and thus supported the manufacturer’s (but went against his own marketing team’s) product benefit point of view, with the phrase ‘corneal physiology’ (kakumaku seiri). The second also stressed a feature of the product, but managed to emphasize the user benefits that young women could gain from wearing lenses that were both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ (yawarakai). The former headline was the only way to break brand parity and make Ikon Breath O2 temporarily distinct from all other lenses on the market (the product manager liked the distinction; the marketing team disliked the temporary nature of that distinction). At this stage in the negotiations, the account executive in charge felt obliged to tow an obsequious line, but needed to appease his marketing team and ensure that the creative team came up with something else if at all possible, since 7 corneal physiology gave Ikon Breath O2 lenses only a temporary advantage. As a result, the copywriter introduced the word ‘serious’ (majime) into discussions – on the grounds that NFC was a ‘serious’ (majime) manufacturer (it was, after all, a well-known and respected Japanese corporation) which had developed a product that, by a process of assimilation, could also be regarded as ‘serious’; moreover, by a further rubbing-off process, as the marketing team agreed, such ‘seriousness’ could be attributed to users who decided to buy and wear Ikon Breath O2 lenses. In this way, both the distinction between product benefit and user benefit might be overcome. The copywriter’s last idea was the one that broke the deadlock (and it was at certain moments an extremely tense deadlock) between the account team as a whole and members of NFC’s contact lens manufacturing division. After a series of meetings in which copywriter and designer desperately tried to convince the client that the idea of softness and hardness was not a product characteristic, but an image designed to support the benefits to consumers wearing Ikon Breath O2 lenses, the product manager accepted the account team’s proposals in principle, provided that ‘serious’ was used as a back-up selling point. Soft hard’ (yawaraka hard) was adopted as the key headline phrase for the campaign as a whole. It can be seen that the marketing team’s analysis of how NFC should successfully enter the contact lens market met two stumbling blocks during the early stages of preparation for the advertising campaign. The first was within the account team itself, where the copywriter in particular tended to opt for the manufacturer’s approach by emphasising the product benefit of Ikon Breath O2. The second was when the Agency’s account team had to persuade the client to accept its analysis and campaign proposal. But the next major problem facing the account team was how to convert this linguistic rendering of market analysis into visual terms. What sort of visual image would adequately fulfil the marketing aims of the campaign and make the campaign as a whole – including television commercial and promotional materials – readily recognizable to the targeted audience? It was almost immediately accepted by the account team that the safest way to achieve this important aim was to use a celebrity or personality (talent in Japanese) to endorse the product. Here there was little argument, because it is generally recognized in the advertising industry that celebrity endorsement is an excellent and readily appreciated linkage device in multi-media campaigns of the kind requested by NFC. Moreover, since television commercials in Japan are more often than not only fifteen seconds long and therefore cannot include any detailed product information, personalities have proved to be attention grabbers in an image-dominated medium and to have a useful, short-term effect on sales because of their popularity in other parts of the entertainment industry. At the same time, not all personalities come across equally well in the rather differing media of television and magazines or newspapers, so that the account team felt obliged to look for someone who was more than a mere pop idol and who could act. It was here that those concerned encountered the most difficulty. The presence of a famous personality was crucial since s/he would be able to attract public attention to a new product and hopefully draw people into retail outlets to buy Ikon Breath O2 lenses. It was agreed right from the start that the personality should be a young woman, in the same age group as the targeted audience, and Japanese. (After all, a ‘blue eyed foreigner’ endorsing Ikon Breath O2 contact lenses would hardly be appropriate for brown-eyed Japanese. ) Just who this woman should be, however, proved problematic. Tennis players (who could indulge in both ‘hard’ activities and ‘soft’ romance) were discarded early on because the professional season was already in full swing at the time the campaign was being prepared. Classical musicians, while romantic and thus ‘soft’, were not seen to be ‘hard’ enough, while the idea of using a Japanese ‘talent’, Miyazawa Rie (everyone on the account team’s favourite at the time), was reluctantly rejected because, even though photographs of her in the nude were at the time causing a 8 minor sensation among Japanese men interested in soft-porn, she was rather inappropriate for a medical product like a contact lens which was aimed at young women. Any personality chosen had to show certain distinct qualities. One of these was a ‘presence’ (sonzaikan) that would attract people’s attention on the page or screen. Another was ‘topicality’ (wadaisei) that stemmed from her professional activities. A third was ‘future potential’ (nobisei), meaning that the celebrity had not yet peaked in her career, but would attract further widespread media attention and so, it was hoped, indirectly promote Ikon Breath O2 lenses and NFC. Most importantly, however, she had to suit the product. In the early stages of the campaign’s preparations, the creative team found itself in a slight quandary. They wanted to choose a celebrity whose personality fitted the ‘soft-hard’ and ‘serious’ ideas and who would then anchor a particular image to Ikon Breath O2 lenses, although it proved difficult to find someone who would fit the product and appeal to all those concerned. Eventually, the woman chosen was an actress, Sekine Miho, who epitomized the kind of modern woman that the creative team was seeking, but who was also about to star in a national television (NHK) drama series that autumn – a series in which she played a starring role as a ‘soft’, romantic character. Although popularity in itself can act as a straightjacket when it comes to celebrity endorsement of a product, in this case it was judged – correctly, it transpired – that Sekine had enough ‘depth’ (fukasa) to bring a special image to Ikon Breath O2 lenses. Once the celebrity had been decided on, the creative team was able to fix the tone and manner, expression and style of the advertising campaign as a whole. Sekine was a ‘high class’ (or ‘one rank up’ in Japanese-English parlance) celebrity who matched NFC’s image of itself as a ‘high class’ (ichiryu) company and who was made to reflect that sense of eliteness in deportment and clothing. At the same time, NFC was a ‘serious’ manufacturer and wanted a serious, rather than frivolous, personality who could then be photographed in soft-focus, serious poses to suit the serious medical product being advertised. This seriousness was expressed further by means of ery slightly tinted black and white photographs which, to the art director’s – but, not initially, the product manager’s – eye made Sekine look even ‘softer’ in appearance and so match the campaign’s headline of yawaraka hard. This softness was further reinforced by the heart-shaped lens cut at the bottom of every print ad, and on the front of the brochure, which the art director m ade green rather than blue – partly to differentiate the Ikon Breath O2 campaign from all other contact lens campaigns run at that time, and partly to appeal to the fad for ‘ecological’ colours then-current among young women in particular. This case study shows that there is an extremely complex relationship linking marketing and creative aspects of any advertising campaign. In this case, market research showed that Ikon Breath O2 lenses were special because of the safety that derived from their technical quality, but that consumers themselves were not interested in technical matters since their major concern was with comfort. Hence the need to focus the advertising campaign on user benefit. Yet the client insisted on stressing product benefit – a stance made more difficult for the creative team because it could not legally use the only real consumer benefit available to it (continuous wear), and so had to find something that would appeal to both manufacturer and direct and indirect ‘consumers’ of the lens in question. In the end, the ideas of ‘soft hard’ and ‘serious’ were adopted as compromise positions for both client and agency, as well as for creative and marketing teams. Concluding Comments Let us in conclusion try to follow two separate lines of thought. One of these is, as promised, the relationship between marketing and anthropology; the other that between advertising and marketing. 9 Although convergence between anthropology, marketing and consumer research may be growing, the evidence suggested by the case study in this paper is that huge differences still exist. Marketing people in the advertising agency in which I studied may be interested in anthropology; they may even have dipped into the work of anthropologists here and there. But their view of the discipline tends to be rather old-fashioned, and they certainly do not have time to go in for the kind of intensive, detail ethnographic nquiry of consumers that anthropologists might encourage. If anthropologists are to make a useful contribution to marketing, therefore, they need to present their material and analyses succinctly and in readily digestible form, since marketing people hate things that are overcomplicated. It is, perhaps, for this rather than any other reason that someone like Mary Douglas (Douglas and Isherwood 1979) has been so favourably received. In the end, marketing people aim to be positivist, science-like (rather than scientific, as such), and rationalist in their ad campaigns. They aspire to measure and predict on the basis of observer categories, if only because this is the simplest way to sell a campaign to a client. In this respect, they are closer to the kind of sociology and anthropology advocated in the 1940s and 50s (which would explain their adoption of Talcott Parsons’s theory of action, for example), than to the present-day ‘interpretive’ trends in the discipline, and thus favour in their practices an outmoded – and among most anthropologists themselves, discredited – form of discourse. So, ‘if anthropologists are kings of the castle, it is a castle most other people have never heard of’ (Chapman and Buckley 1997: 234). As Malcolm Chapman and Peter Buckley wryly observe, we need perhaps to spend some time entirely outside social anthropology in order to be convinced of the truth of this fact. Secondly, as part of this positivist, science-like approach, marketers in the Japanese advertising agency tended to make clear-cut categories that would be easily understood by both their colleagues in other divisions in the Agency and by their clients. These categories tended to present the consumer world as a series of binary oppositions (between individual and group, modern and traditional, idealist and materialist, and so on [cf. Lien 1997: 202-8]) that they then presented as matrix or quadripartite structures (the Agency’s Purchase Decision Model, for example, was structured in terms of think/feel and high/low involvement axes). In this respect, their work could be said to exhibit a basic form of structuralism. One of these oppositions was that made between product benefit and user benefit (with its variant end benefit). As this case study has shown, this is a distinction that lies at the heart of all advertising and needs to be teased out if we are successfully to decode particular advertisements in a manner that goes beyond the work of Barthes (1977), Williamson (1978), Goffman (1979) and others. Thirdly, one of the factors anchoring marketing to the kind of structured thinking characteristic of modernist disciplines, perhaps, is that the creation of meaning in commodities is inextricably bound up with the establishment of a sense of difference between one object and all others of its class. After all, the three tasks of advertising are: to stand out from the surrounding competition to attract people’s attention; to communicate (both rationally and emotionally) what it is intended to communicate; and to predispose people to buy or keep on buying what is advertised. The sole preoccupation of those engaged in the Ikon Breath 02 campaign was to create what they referred to as the ‘parity break’: to set NFC’s contact lenses apart from all other contact lenses on sale in Japan, and from all other products on the market. At the same time, the idea of parity break extended to the style in which the campaign was to be presented (tinted monochrome photo, green logo, and so on). In this respect, the structure of meaning in advertising is akin to that found in the syntagmatic and paradigmatic axes of structural linguistics where particular choices of words and phrases are influenced by the overall structure and availability of meanings in the language in which a speaker is communicating. That the work of LeviStrauss should be known to most marketers, therefore, is hardly surprising. Marketing practice is in many respects an application of the principles of structural anthropology to the selling of products. 10 Fourthly, although those working in marketing and consumer research take it as given that there is one-way flow of activity stemming from the manufacturer and targeted at the end consumer, in fact, as this case study shows, advertising – as well as the marketing that an advertising agency conducts on behalf of a client – always addresses at least two audiences. One of these is, of course, the group of targeted consumers (even though they are somewhat removed from the direct experience of marketers in their work). In this particular case, to complicate the issue further, there were two groups of consumers, since the campaign had to address both young women and middle-aged male opticians. Another audience is the client. As we have seen, the assumed or proven dis/likes of both consumers and advertising client affect the final meaning of the products advertised, and the client in particular had to be satisfied with the Agency’s campaign approach before consumer ‘needs’ could be addressed. At the same time, we should recognise that a third audience exists among different members of the account team within the Agency itself, since each of the three separate parties involved in account servicing, marketing and creative work needed to be satisfied by the arguments of the other two. In this respect, perhaps, we should note that marketing people have spent a lot of time over the decades making use of insights developed in learning behaviour, personality theory and psychoanalysis which they then apply to individual consumers. In the process, however, they have tended to overlook the forms of social organisation of which these individuals are a part (cf. de Groot 1980:44). Yet it is precisely the ways in which individual consumers interact that is crucial to an understanding of consumption and thus of how marketing should address its targeted audience: how networks function, for example, reveals a lot about the vital role of word-of-mouth in marketing successes and failures; how status groups operate and on what grounds can tell marketers a lot about the motivations and practices of their targeted audience. Anthropologists should be able to help by providing sociological analyses of these and other mechanisms pertinent to the marketing endeavour. In particular, their extensive work on ritual and symbolism should be of use in foreign, ‘third world’ markets. Fifthly, most products are made to be sold. As a result, different manufacturers have in mind different kinds of sales strategies, target audiences, and marketing methods that have somehow to be translated into persuasive linguistic and visual images – not only in advertising, but also in packaging and product design. For the most part, producers of the commodities in question find themselves obliged to call on the specialized services of copywriters and art designers who are seen to be more in tune with the consumers than are they themselves. This is how advertising agencies market themselves. But within any agency, the creation of advertising involves an ever-present tension between sales and marketing people, on the one hand, and creative staff, on the other; between the not necessarily compatible demands for the dissemination of product and other market information, on the one hand, and for linguistic and visual images that will attract consumers’ attention and push them into retail outlets to make purchases, on the other. This is not always taken into account by those currently writing about advertising. More interestingly, perhaps, the opposition that is perceived to exist between data and statistical analysis, on the one hand, and the creation of images, on the other, parallels that seen to pertain between a social science like economics or marketing and a more humanities-like discipline such as anthropology. Perhaps the role for an anthropology of marketing is to bridge this great divide.