Life Developed Only on Earth Essay

Life developed only on this one small planet in this one small galaxy. There are several reasons to explain this and some of these are the following: First of all, water is sufficient on Earth making it fit for life to exist (BBC, n. d. ). Second, oxygen is available on Earth for a life to carry on living (BBC, n. d. ). Third, neither earth is too close nor too far from the Sun, thus neither it is not too warm nor is it too cold to live in (BBC, n. d. ). Fourth, the chemicals necessitated to create a living cell are more than enough (BBC, n. d. ). Fifth, a considerable amount of plant and animal species have already developed and adjusted to the environment (BBC, n. d. ). Sixth, the surface of the Earth is perfectly designed since it amazingly protects it from the rays of the Sun (BBC, n. d. ). This is the same reason why the Earth gets the right temperature while other planets are either extremely hot or excessively cold (BBC, n. d. ). Consequently, this also made it possible for water to be available in its liquid state (BBC, n. d. ). Seventh, even if it has been said that life exists in Mars, there are no evidences that support such yet (Fisher, 2005). Furthermore, telescopes are not that good enough to provide details as to whether life really exists there or not (Fisher, 2005). Moreover, to declare such a statement would entail a closer scrutiny of the aforementioned (Fisher, 2005). Eighth, unfortunately, nobody from Earth can leave for Mars (Fisher, 2005). In fact, even NASA say â€Å"no such mission will be attempted for several years† (Fisher, 2005). Last but not least, the Earth is the only planet which has a magnetic field that â€Å"turns away dangerous particles of space radiation† (Fisher, 2005). This means that other planets have a much lesser air and have a much colder temperature, thus living will be quite impossible (Fisher, 2005). References BBC. (n. d. ). Why is There Life on Earth? Retrieved August 22, 2007 from http://www. open2. net/science/finalfrontier/life/why. htm Fisher, D. (2005). Is there Life on Mars. Retrieved August 22, 2007 from http://spaceplace. nasa. gov/en/kids/phonedrmarc/2002_june. shtml

E Marketing Essay

Background of the Study Marketing plays a vital role in economic growth in the present global world. It ensures the planned economic growth in the developing economy where the scarcity of goods, services, ideas and excessive unemployment, thereby marketing efforts are needed for mobilization of economic resources for additional production of ideas, goods and services resulting in greater employment. Marketing stimulates the aggregate demand thereby enlarges the size of market. Marketing in basic industries, agriculture, mining and plantation industries helps in distribution of output without which there is no possibility of mobilization of goods and services which is the key point for economic growth. These industries are the back bone of economic growth. It also accelerates the process of monetizing the economy which in turn facilitates the transfer of investible resources. It helps in discovery of entrepreneurial talent. Intermediate industrial goods and Semi-industrial products etc. ssentially marketed for industrial purpose in order to develop the industrial sector with a view to economic growth. Today the trend of ICT development is gaining larger influence over countries’ development and growth. It would not be surprising to see the elements that evolved from the developments of ICT (such as e-commerce, e-marketing, e-business, and e-learning) have increasingly provided support toward enhancing countries’ growth and development, especia lly in highly sophisticated abstract. As the trend of ICT development is gaining larger influence over countries’ development and growth, e-commerce plays an important role in enhancing the growth of several developed and developing economies over the 21st century. This chapter aims to build the analytical base to support the importance of the development of e-commerce by investigating the role and contribution of e-commerce to economic growth and development. The chapter first investigates past contributions of e-commerce to economic growth in developed countries. Second, past research findings and frameworks are utilized to investigate the contribution of e-commerce toward economic growth, focusing on the case of e-commerce in Tanzania. The study found that e-commerce plays an important role in enhancing the economic growth of Tanzania. Two important findings supported the growth of e-commerce. First is the increase in sales generated by the use of e-commerce. Second, e-commerce induces the productivity development of firms through higher competition and innovation. E-Commerce Contribution to Economic Growth: The Case of Tanzania industries. The introduction of e-commerce and e-business seems to create a tremendous contribution to the growth of many developed nations and is continuing its increasing impact on the developments of many developing economies over the 21st century. Some recent literature pointed out the increasing contribution of e-commerce toward economic development in several developed countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom (Adam, Mulye,Deans &Palihawadana,2002).

Reflection of When Things Fall Apart Essay

Pema Chodron should be considered a spiritual teacher for anyone. Whether they are aspiring to have one, they already have one or don’t desire one at all. In her book, When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chodron exposes the overwhelming potential for happiness, wisdom and courage. She explains how one can experience all of these even during the most painful of circumstances. She introduces us to the face that there is an ultimate opportunity for the right of happiness that is right within our reach and she explains how we usually miss the opportunity for that happiness. She conveys to us that we miss that opportunity for happiness because we are all caught up in the attempts to escape the pain, fear and suffering in our lives. Her stellar story, which should and probably does guide many lives, demonstrates to us how we can utilize all of our painful emotions and develop them into compassion and courage, wisdom and understanding, and ways of communication that open up to more opportun ities for openness and true interaction with others. She gives us practices for reversing our negative everyday habits and methods for operating with stressful chaotic situations. She shows us ways to develop our painful and fearful emotions into compassionate and energetic feelings that manifest themselves into social action. She worked for 20 years to develop the practices that she preaches as a Tibetan Buddhist nun, while drawing in from her earlier years of experience and feelings as an everyday housewife and mother. She gives whole-hearted and thoughtful advice and wisdom that drew from all of her experience in her life. Her deep-seated and kind hearted advice establishes the grounds for what to do when lings begin to fall apart in our live and go against the normalcy in our environments and expectations. The instruction and assistance that she gives us is meant to offer us comfort and is meant to challenge our actions in our daily lives to live deeply, whole-heartedly and contribute to creating a more loving, peaceful and honest world. She teaches us how to hone in on our painful emotions in order to gain substantial amounts of wisdom and compassion for ourselves so that we many bring it outwards to our neighbors and the world around us. When we have the courage to step into the uncharted waters of our mental and emotional territory and relax, we can discover the happiness and contentment that does not need to depend on the world around us but the world in our minds that we can control and make our own. In her story she shows discuss and depicts many of the aspects of her life that she has experienced. She also discusses how a man named Trungpa Rinpoche taught her all about Buddhism and deeper was or meditation. â€Å"Fear is a universal experience. Even the smallest insect feels it. We wade in the tidal pools and put our finger near, the soft, open bodies of sea anemones and they close up. Everything spontaneously does that. It’s not a terrible thing that we feel fear when faced with the unknown. It is part of being alive, something we all share. We react against the possibility of loneliness, of death, of not having anything to hold onto. Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.† As I read this passage writing by Pema, I was astounded. I had never thought of our lives like this. It was completely true. As we enter the unknown in our lives we never just jump at the chance. We have to stop and think to ourselves if we should keep going or if we should turn around. We all have fear and we may externally deal with fear in different ways however, we are all the same on the inside when we deal with fear. We all wish that we could curl up into a little ball and make the fear go away. Fear itself is always a result of the unknown. When you are afraid of something, it is because we don’t really know what to do or what is going on. I agree with what she says. It isn’t a terrible thing to feel fear. We all experience fear in our lives and we should embrace it and hone in on our fear so that we can make the unknown the known. If you walked up to someone on the street and asked them what they were afraid of it would be a form of something that is to them, the unknown. It is universal. Not everyone has the same fear, but we all have one. She uses the metaphor of wading in the tide pools but not going all the way in and the sea anemone closes up as someone gets close to it. When you think about it, as you go to the swimming pool in the summer, you don’t see many people just jump in. They all test the water and are afraid to get splashed because they aren’t used to the water and the way it feels. In a way, we are all like the sea anemone. We close up when we are pushed into experiences that we aren’t yet comfortable with. But we need to continue to be like the anemone and open up. â€Å"I have a friend dying of AIDS. Before I was leaving for a trip, we were talking. He said, ‘I didn’t want this and I hated this, and I was terrified of this. But it turns out that this illness has been my greatest gift.’ He said, ‘Now every moment is so precious to me. All the people in my life are so precious to me. My whole life means so much to me.’ Something had really changed, and he felt ready for his death. Something that was horrifying and scary had turned into a gift.† I have come across a few people in my life that have HIV or AIDS and they all say the same thing. This quote hit me really hard because it was so personal. If you ever have a conversation with someone who has dealt with this for most of their life, they explain to you that the fear is gone. They had fear. A lot of fear in fact. But eventually, all of that fear went away and they began to accept what had happened to them and they realize that this is the path that they were meant to lead. I once listened to a man teach a seminar on HIV and AIDS. At the end of the seminar, he told us that he himself had full blown AIDS. He told us that yes he would eventually die and he wasn’t afraid of that. He was afraid of not being able to educate and prevent someone from making some of the same mistakes that he had made before he died. I fell that this was the best way for Pema to express the being able to hone in on your fear and turn it into happiness. When I read that part of this story, I truly understood what she was trying to tell us. We all have fear but if we can accept that fear and project it in a different way, we can have happiness†¦

Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 8

Business - Essay Example â€Å"Self† and environment is a necessary aptitude for leadership in addition to technical competencies. As Gardner (1983) expounds â€Å"expanding on the concepts presented in early intelligence work as well as social intelligence theory, developed a theory of multiple intelligences. ...one of the seven areas of intelligence discussed in multiple intelligence theory, personal intelligence, corresponds to earlier theories such as social intelligence†. II. Group Level: Leadership leadership begins with learning the â€Å"self†; to have certainty about himself/herself to as a foundation of confidence to lead and get things done â€Å"It is necessary for a â€Å"leader, who possesses a clear self-concept through private self-consciousness, to be more likely to possess a strong purpose-in-life. Having a strong purpose involves consistency in self-identity (i.e., self-concept clarity) (Campbell, 1990; Frankl, 1992). This clear awareness of the self translates to a clearer sense of goal and purpose which will evolve to Self-Belief. Self-belief, which is the inner confidence that will make an individual succeed and overcome any obstacle to achieve the best outcomes for service improvement. ... And as others are involved in the process of decision making, democratic leadership is practiced as the best form of arriving towards a common goal and consensus. Lawler (2001: 16-17) argued that democracy is inevitable, even in the workplace . . . Hierarchial organizations are simple too inflexible and rigid to compete effectively in today's business environment. They fail to attract the right human capital and to produce the right core competencies and organizational capabilities. As a result, they need to be replaced by lateral forms of organization that rely heavily on teams, information technology, networks, shared leadership, and involved employees . . . [These new organizational forms] will have flat, agile structures, open information, power that moves to expertise, and system that create knowledge and employees throughout the organization. Democratic leadership is not only useful for resolving issues but also in soliciting good ideas on how to better the organization. Democr atic process is also important to forge teamwork in any organization. In leading and managing people, free flow of ideas among my peers and subordinates should be encouraged and unhampered with fear and repression so that they can contribute the best of themselves. This democratic process will make differences see perspectives that may be unknown to before. And as such, better approach and solution to certain issues may crystallize after the exchange and free flow of ideas. Ultimately, this democratic process will not only encourage the production of better ideas but will also make a team cohesive. Where communication process is open, with peers and subordinates are

Tesla Motor Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tesla Motor - Research Paper Example Tesla Motors is leading in manufacturing electric car batteries as well as electric vehicle sports activities cars that can run on the highways and utilize battery of lithium-ion and the foremost electric car that may voyage more than 200 miles per charge (Howard Web). Americans who are environmental conscious buy many cars made by Tesla Motors. There are however various ways in which global warming may be minimized such as reducing amount of fuel burnt in the air by decreasing amount of car use and using energy efficient vehicles. Moreover, Tesla’s beautiful cars have faced concerns over potential fire risks. This makes customers question the company’s quality and safety especially in North America where many incidences of fire have been experienced. However, the company’s technological features have ensured that the people are warned before they are hurt by fire. Despite the achievements that the company has gained from its technology, Tesla still makes losses and does not meet its sales target. Strong demand for Model S has never been recorded as expected and the production is not sufficient because of the supply constraint the company undergoes. Production of Model S is very high and the supply of battery sale faces some constraints. Ohnsman explains that battery supply issue has hugely affected the company negatively thus tarnishing the company that is always committed (Web).

Are Sweatshops Good or Bad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Are Sweatshops Good or Bad - Essay Example Some of the benefits include generating an added income for the family, discourages children from engaging in drug and substance abuse and enables production of low priced goods. There are positive and negative impacts of sweat shops and the essay concentrates on the disadvantages. The major argument against sweat shops in the US and world over is related to the working policies. It has been observed that the working conditions in these factories are poor. The environment is most sweat shops is damp, cold and dark and it may have negative health implications on the workers such as respiratory and sight problems. Secondly, the employees in sweat shops work for long hours and this can lead to fatigue or even depression (Kristof 114). In some situations the employees work for sixteen hours in a day and throughout the weak. Unfortunately, these employees do not get paid for working overtime. To make matters worse, these individuals work for low wages that is barely enough to buy food or cater for their basic needs. The second most important argument against sweatshops is that they make use of child labor. This is owing to the fact that sweat shops are focused towards maximizing their profits and children offer cheap labor thus minimizing the cost of production (Kristof 115). This is seen as a violation of the children’ rights as they should be given the opportunity to play and study. It is wrong to contract children to work in sweat shops as they are exposed to poor working conditions and for prolonged hours and at little pay. The final argument against sweat shops is that they take away jobs from the US citizens. Owing the current economic conditions in the US it has become increasingly difficult to find work (Kristof 115). It has been observed that most of the employees working in these factories are immigrants. Additionally, factories are

Scene Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Scene - Essay Example The ladies are joined by another group of ladies and they sum up to seven. They walk slowly on the pathway to the relaxing zone where they continue with their conversation. Meanwhile, the game gets sweeter and I cannot resist the temptation of joining the team. I give the idea to my friends and they do not object to the idea of joining the players. As we head for the pitch, I remember that I have a presentation to make in an afternoon class. I stop for a while and remind my friends and surprisingly, none of them remembers the assignment. Immediately we change our minds from joining the game to preparing the presentation. We head to an empty bench where we sit and take out our presentation materials and get busy with our perfection. I notice that we are sited at a bench opposite a group of finalists who are busy discussing their project. This gives me the morale to get serious with the presentation. I notice that all my group mates, despite having forgotten about the assignment, they are all ready to contribute the ideas and materials that we are supposed to use. This motivates me more and I get down to working with my team in order to better our

Laying Off Talent Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Laying Off Talent - Assignment Example The success of an organization relies on the productivity of its employees. Firstly, layoffs discourage the creation of a cohesive team of experienced employees. This causes either understaffing or introduces inexperienced employees who will slow productivity since new employees require orientation (Silzer & Dowell, 2010). Additionally, layoff is always a major factor that demoralizes employees thereby slowing the productivity of the employees. The process causes fear in the remaining employees since they begin doubting the longevity of the organization thus their social security. Such a scenario discourages the creation of a dedicated workforce capable of improving the long-term performance of the organization. Laying off employees affects the talent pool primarily by reducing the capacity of the pool. Eliminating employees implies that the talents leave the organization. This causes a smaller talent pool with fewer individuals a feature that lowers the innovativeness of the workforce. In addition, the remaining employees became too demoralized to employ creativity. Both features lower the productivity of the organization. As explained earlier, layoffs require effective management that begins with the measurement of the talent to ensure that the company lays off the most appropriate group. The organization must create a conducive environment for the employees to maximize their productivity. This way, the management determines redundant employees for layoff thereby increasing the space of operations for the most productive

Provider Roles in Spiritual Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Provider Roles in Spiritual Care - Essay Example As the discussion stresses the spiritual dimension of the client is strongly evident during illness, stress, difficulties, and end-life-care when people strongly needed the direction and comfort derived from their spiritual preferences. Faith and religion are essential components of a client’s spiritual dimension and health provider has the responsibility to have self-awareness of one’s spiritual preferences before integrating a non-biased spiritual care.This paper discusses that in order to address a holistic care, the healthcare team must involve the participation of multi-faith chaplain professionals to assist healthcare team members in providing specific cultural, religious, and faith needs of clients and families. Spiritual care is the most difficult task of a provider, specially the nurses. Most of the nurses lack adequate training for spiritual care giving and may influence the provision of adequate spiritual care. Healthcare providers such as nurses need to have formal education training or graduate programs in pastoral counseling or ministry in order to provide an excellent and competent spiritual care and to refer clients to other spiritual care providers as needed.  Organizational team members such as the Baptist Healing Trust aim to further the work of non-profit agencies in providing health services to vulnerable populations in Middle Tennessee.  Members of the Baptist Healing Trust heal with love and compassionate care in accordance with the Christian tradition.

Health assessment of newborn paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Health assessment of newborn paper - Essay Example In addition, a child that is not breastfed is 15times more likely to die than breastfed children (Jones 2013). In later life, it is perceived that adults who were effectively breast fed have a high IQ than adults who were provided with formula. The IQ is more advanced if the adult was breastfed for a long period. Jones (2013) is of the assumption that children who are breastfed for a long period have a less probability of obesity in adulthood. The information should be provided to the mother during the child’s clinical visits. In addition, the health practitioner should also highlight the benefits of breast feeding to the mother. To enhance the understanding of the mother, the practitioner should provide the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dietetic Association as recommendation sites. From the sites, the mother will effectively understand the benefits of breastfeeding. Ssemukasa, E. & Kearney, J. (2014). Six months of exclusive breastfeeding recommendation: how applicable is the universal exclusive breastfeeding recommendation policy? African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition & Development, 14 (4):

Literature Review Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Literature Review - Research Paper Example This article lays emphasis on the effects of drug and substance abuse on children, and tells that children may emerge as users. In today’s society, drug use and its impacts have heightened. This norm has been experienced across variable age forms with children gaining increased participation in this exercise. There has been a call to find out the cause of the drug abuse problem among individuals with emphasis placed on the outcome of indulging in the heinous act. Barrett and Veerman stated that children have joined the number of drug users and are affected directly or sometimes may be a third party in the substance abuse act. There is the need to protect children from the substance abuse problem because they constitute the population who constitute the future society. There have been numerous investigations into the cause of mental disorders. Substance disorder has been frontal to causing these complications with a 3.8-11.3%. Via the national surveys, countries have been able to articulate the main cause of mental behaviour. Up to an average of 4 % of the users have the problem to encourage the drug dependency, living with a motive to kill the craving by practising the substance abuse. The society dictates the morals of the members and with the measures it undertakes to curb the spread of drug addiction there will be a similar realization of the impacts of the measure. The paper researches on the link between drug abuse and criminal behaviour. There are several crimes in the society that have been caused by substance abuse and an example is in prostitution. The government policy has been identified as a form of regulation for these drug related crimes. These drugs have the tendency to create a vice within an individual to involve in harmful measures that corrupt societal event. There is a direct link between crime and drugs within the society and regulations to curb drug indulgence would help protect the innocent members. Drug use is often

Pepsi branding and marketing strategies defined in history Essay Example for Free

Pepsi branding and marketing strategies defined in history Essay In 1893 Caleb Bradham experimented on several soft drink concoctions from his drug store at North Carolina. In 1898 the brand name was first introduced as Brad’s drink but later renamed to Pepsi Cola (Ads history 2007) after the pepsin and cola nuts used in the recipe. Pepsi was first introduced as a fountain drink. It was about 750 microns wide 6 ounces straight sided bottle with paper labels glued to them and a non-descript crown on top. Price was reported to be costing for only a nickel. Advertisement before was done in signage and if you can read the arrow’s text it says: â€Å"look for the trademark† while the bottom label reads, â€Å"healthful and refreshing† (Davidson FSU 2004). In 1903 Caleb sold about 7,968 gallons using the line â€Å"exhilarating invigorating, aids digestion†. This also started his franchising activity to independent investors to about 24 states. In 1905 the logo was first changed then changed again in 1906. The slogan was also changed to the â€Å"original pure food drink† which gives a boost to sales of 38,605 gallons. In 1908 the company was the first to shift from horse drawn carts to motor vehicles mode of delivery. In 1909 Barney Oldfield endorsed Pepsi as â€Å"a bully drink†¦ refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before the race.† In 1920 the theme was changed to â€Å"drink Pepsi cola, it will satisfy you†. In 1934 Pepsi cola replaced the 6 ounce bottle to 12 ounce bottle at the same price which is still a nickel. The shift was brought about by the high depression which demands for low cost products but high value. The 12 ounce bottle previously priced at ten cents was slashed to five cents which made a hit because it was of same value as the competitive colas of 6 ounce bottles. It was then known as the Pepsi legacy followed by skyrocketed sales giving the company a real good break. In 1939 they pioneered the idea of a comic strip form of advertising in the newspapers introduced and named as Pepsi Pete promoting the product as â€Å"twice as much for a nickel† which deliberately increased consumer awareness in the process. Pepsi cola was remarkably associated nationwide with two policemen that were patterned after the Keystone Kops and became extremely popular. In 1940 their nationwide advertising campaign theme was changed to: â€Å"Pepsi cola hits the spot, 12 full ounces, that’s a lot twice as much for a nickel too! Pepsi cola is the drink for you.† At the same time, they launched the first jingle in the cola world known as â€Å"Nickel, nickel†. The jingle was recorded in fifty five different languages and produced over one million records played coast to coast on radio. It was well adapted by the consumers and those who have heard the jingle. Their jingles appropriately played to the perception and emotional-psychological responses of the consumers for even fifty years later some still remembered. The logo was also changed to a simpler bolder rounded script letters that is really noticeable. Pepsi cola bottles adapted the embossed 12 ounce bottle designed and had the word Pepsi blown and baked into the side of the bottle while the paper labels were replaced as blown labels also. Pepsi cola began to tap the African American niche market and commenced advertising in a Negro newspaper lead by an all black sales team. They also sponsored a nationwide essay contest hiring African Americans professionals in the process. An advertisement specifically aimed for African Americans was modeled by a black mother holding a six packed Pepsi while the son was reaching out to the bottles. In 1941, the crown was changed to red, white, and blue. This was done to support America’s war effort. They wisely set up a Pepsi canteen in Times Square New York. It served to help families’ record messages for overseas armed service personnel. In 1943 the theme twice as much included â€Å"bigger drink, better taste†. In 1947 one of their ad campaigns profiled prominent African Americans using the title â€Å"Leaders in their field†. Using racism as a selling point, their sales shot up dramatically. In 1949 the theme â€Å"why take less when Pepsi’s best† was added. In 1950 the new logo incorporated the bottle cap look. Advertising was done by promoting Pepsi as an experience rather than a bargain. Slogan was changed to â€Å"more bounce to the ounce†. They relied and invested more with advertising that tripled their sales that year. The jingle was then changed to â€Å"have a Pepsi, the light refreshment†. In 1953 Americans became conscious with weight and health that they changed their slogan to â€Å"the light refreshment†. The formula was also changed with a reduced caloric content. In 1954 the slogan â€Å"refreshing without filling† was incorporated to the light refreshment theme. In 1958 Pepsi was known as the kitchen cola as a result of its bargain branch longtime positioning. This time Pepsi targeted the young fashionable consumers. The slogan was changed to â€Å"be sociable, have a Pepsi†. The bottle was then changed to the swirl designed bottle replacing the old straight sided one. Along with it was the introduction of the ballroom dancing. In 1960 the slogan was changed to â€Å"now it’s Pepsi for those who think young†. It defines youth as a psychological state of mind it maintains its appeal for the post war young generation and to all market segments. Some commercials portrayed people going fishing. In 1962 the logo was changed again with serrated bottle caps along with its Pepsi generation ads. In 1963 12 ounce bottles gave way to16 ounce bottles. Pepsi then introduced the 12 ounce Pepsi cans to the military for transport convenience. Their advertising history’s slogan was introduced as â€Å"come alive, you’re in the Pepsi generation† along with their jingle â€Å"come alive† also. Commercials usually portrayed sports and entertainment concept like motorbikes, amusement park and sand sailing. In 1970 Pepsi introduced the first two liter bottles. They were also the first to respond to consumer’s need for light weight recyclable plastic bottles. In 1973 Pepsi changed its logo again. The slogan was also changed to â€Å"join the Pepsi people, feeling free† which is their very own interpretation of one people but with many personalities. In 1975 Pepsi introduced the Pepsi challenge marketing campaign where the results of the blind tasting test between Pepsi cola and its rival Coca cola was made public through television commercials. Participants picked Pepsi as the cola that taste better. As a result Coca cola changed their formula to taste more like Pepsi. The slogan jingle was then â€Å"you’ve got a lot to live, Pepsi got a lot to give†. On that year   the two liter plastishield bottle was introduced. The theme is to promote to live and to give. In 1978 the 12 packed can were introduced to the market. In 1991 Pepsi introduced the first polyethylene terephthalate (PET) along with the changed of its new logo. In 1993 the slogan was changed to â€Å"be young, have fun† modeled by Shaquille O’Neal. In 2001 Britney Spears run her first Pepsi commercial doing her own version of â€Å"The joy of Pepsi†. In 2003 Pepsi cola has a new theme: â€Å"Pepsi it’s the cola.† It portrays popularity in the cola industry that goes from food to fun. Evaluation For decades Pepsi has defined itself as the slogan wizard that can closely associate with the times and changing lifestyle of the consumers. It has first introduced itself as a health drink which was the very reason why it has garnered a big portion of the cola market pie. As it continued to evolve in the market, it has studied its market well, and has well developed themes and slogans or activities that will create consumer awareness. Marketing strategy has always been the challenge of any external environment and how you select your target market, know the needs of your market and penetrate by spending more on advertisements to create consumer awareness. And how Pepsi has penetrated consumers like the Blacks was by spending on advertisements promoting racism to equality and in return enjoyed skyrocketed sales. Tactics will always change along with the evolution of logos, bottle designs, storyboard and jingles. Jingles and music have a very strong psychological effect on the minds of the consumers. It will always be remembered even if fifty years later. Jingles tune and lyrics stays more in the minds of the consumers longer than plain ads signage, commercials, and slogans. As we have noted Pepsi has been very sensitive with what is happening to its world politically and with the needs of its consumers as portrayed by their continuous changed of slogans and jingles. Pepsi has always been portrayed to be part of the life of their target markets. It was never separated in commercials as plain features of the product but rather as something that consumers can greatly identify with themselves. Marketing was a silent warfare among leading competitors. What Pepsi did was to concentrate on specific untapped niche markets and evolved its theme to be able to maintain consumer database. Pepsi had always been keen to combine on product, price, market, and promotion sometimes as far as demographics and selection which always resulted to a captivated market. Pepsi realized that it should focus and play on product innovation and advertising first to promote the brand and not the reverse. Their strong image was the result of directed marketing mix variables. The slogans were always guided by the concept of people and health as it was presented as a health drink in the first stages of its life. When Pepsi developed its campaign Pepsi generation portraying the product as a trendy drink for the young, it has made other cola products looked stodgy. Branding may offer instant product recognition or sort of identification but it was, for always, a result of effective advertising. Pepsi had successfully made the consumers identified themselves with the product by its series of jingles and slogans with just one unchanged brand name but packed with a lot of commercials and ads networking. One thing for sure Pepsi was able to determine its market changing lifestyle, need, and taste and that the product needs to evolve along with the consumer’s trend. So advertising could well focus on the dominating activity of target market in the life cycle of the product. Perception and emotional responses of the consumers were of very important consideration on Pepsi’s approach in the process of creating consumer’s sense of identification with the product. The main thing that Pepsi had done is to link the product with the consumer and not the consumer linking self with the product. As a result they had a handful of loyal customer base. Summary of Pepsi ads and logos Year 1898: Introduction of Pepsi. Packaging: 750 microns wide, 6 ounces straight sided bottle, paper labels glued to them, non-descript crown on top Cost: nickel Theme: Look for the trademark, healthful and refreshing. Branding: Introduced first as Brad’s drink but was later changed to Pepsi cola. Logo: Thin brand name Pepsi cola. Packaging: 6 pack bottle as shown below. Advertising: form of signage, please see image below: Delivery: horse driven cart Year 1903: start of franchising. Theme: Exhilarating, invigorating, aids digestion. Sales: 7,968 gallons Logo: still the same. Year 1905: Logo was first changed. The point is to make the letters bolder from the old thin ones. This is easier to read even at a distance. Delivery: automobile delivery Year 1909: Barney Oldfield Endorsement: Barney oldfield, a racer, endorsed Pepsi. Theme: A bully drink†¦ refreshing, invigorating, a fine bracer before the race. Advertisements: newspaper ads Year 1920: Theme Theme: Drink Pepsi cola, it will satisfy you Year 1934: Pepsi legacy. Price of product: changed from ten cents to five cents. Packaging: 12 full ounce bottles. Sales: skyrocketed. Year 1939: comic strip Comic strip: Pepsi Pete Advertising: newspapers Effect of advertising: Pepsi cola was associated with the characters. Theme: Twice as much for a nickel Signage: Target market: Advertising targeting African Americans: Year 1940: Jingle break Theme: â€Å"Pepsi-Cola hits the spot Twelve full ounces, that’s a lot Twice as much for a nickel, too Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you.† Jingle: Nickel, nickel Logo: Packaging: bottles are 12 full ounce with embossed Pepsi word and label. Sponsored: Nationwide essay writing using Blacks Year 1941: American war support Crown: changed to red, white, and blue Make: Year 1943: Theme Theme: Bigger drink, better taste Year 1947: Blacks in ads Theme: Leaders in their field Year 1949: Theme Theme: Why take less when Pepsi’s best Year 1950: bottle cap Slogan: More bounce to the ounce (energetic decade) Logo: bottle cap with desc logo Jingle: have a Pepsi, the light refreshment Year 1953: Theme Slogan: The light refreshment Reason: to answer the weight conscious Americans Year 1954: Theme Slogan added: Refreshing without filling Year 1958: Target Target market: young and fashionable Slogan: Be sociable, have a Pepsi Bottle: swirl design Trend: ballroom dancing Year 1960: slogan Slogan: Now it’s Pepsi for those who think young Reason: Be young think young Commercials: soda fountain, fishing Year 1962: logo Logo: logo was changed Caps: serrated bottle caps Year 1963: bottles volume Bottles: shifted from 12 ounce to 16 ounce then to 12 ounce cans Jingle: Come alive Slogan: Come alive, you’re in the Pepsi generation. Reason: Identifies with the consumers and not by the products attributes Commercials: motorbikes, amusement park, sand sailing Year 1970: bottles Bottles: two liters Year 1973: logo Logo was changed Slogan: Join the Pepsi people, feeling free Reason: One people, many personalities Year 1975: Pepsi challenge Commercials: results of the Pepsi challenge was made public in TV Jingle: You’ve got to live Pepsi got a lot to give Bottle: introduction of two liter plastishield bottles Year 1978: Packaging: introduced the 12 packed cans Year 1991: Packaging: PET Logo: changed Year 1993: theme Slogan: Be young have fun Year 2001: theme Slogan: The joy of Pepsi References Ads history highlights (2007). Retrieved November 8, 2007   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Website: http://www.pepsi.com/help/faqs/faq.php?category=ads_and_history page=highlights Davidson, M. W. FSU (2004). The Pepsi generation. Retrieved November 8, 2007   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Website: http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/creatures/pages/pepsi.html

Formulate And Conduct Monetary Policy In Malaysia Information Technology Essay

Formulate And Conduct Monetary Policy In Malaysia Information Technology Essay The selected company for this paper is the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The organization is popularly known by its widely accepted acronym HSBC. To-date, this multi-national company is a giant financial conglomerate that operates from more than 7,500 offices spread across 87 countries world-wide with more than 330,000 employees (www.hsbc.com). Briefly, the historical background of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) was that it was founded in 1865. Its formation was to cater to primarily for the China trade. In 1876, it opened its Singapore branch followed by the Penang branch in 1884. The main banking activities then during the turn of the century in the Straits Settlements were to cater for trading activities in China. As the British presence in the Malay states in the Malay Peninsular grew through tin mining and during the later stages through rubber cultivation as well as other commodity plantations such as cocoa, tobacco and spices, Hongkong bank grew larger as demand for banking support to the business communities grew (HSBC. Its Malaysian Story, text by Douglas Wong, Editions Didier Millet, 2003). The financial industry in Malaysia has demonstrated a vibrant development since its announcement to open up the industry for foreign participation via increased equity and to hold a major stake in insurance companies, investment banks and commercial banks. Amongst the foreign players that has made a big inroad into the financial industry of Malaysia is HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citibank. (www.chinapost.com). The industry is controlled by the central bank of Malaysia known as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). BNM formulates policies, sets out controls for the banking lending activities in the country and implements the Banking Financial Institutions Act 1989. Its main primary functions are:- Formulate and conduct monetary policy in Malaysia; Issue currency in Malaysia; Regulate and supervise financial institutions which are subject to the laws enforced by the Bank; Provide oversight over money and foreign exchange markets; Exercise oversight over payment systems; Promote a sound, progressive and inclusive financial system; Hold and manage the foreign reserves of Malaysia; Promote an exchange rate regime consistent with the fundamentals of the economy; and Act as financial adviser, banker and financial agent of the Government. (www.mida.gov.my) The major competitors to HSBC in Malaysia comprises of the foreign banks in Malaysia such as Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, OCBC Bank and UOB Bank. The local banks that competes with HSBC are larger in terms of branch network, customer accessibility, capitalization, systems, loan spread as well as human capital. Part 2 The early era of modernization in the bank is through implementation of accounting machines in 1959 with the use of National Cash Register Corporation (NCR) Machine called NCR Class 32s for the general ledger and current accounts in Hongkong banks branches. The savings accounts were done using the NCR 42. The NCR 32 were later replaced by NCR Postronic machines in the larger branches in Malaya. The second phase of mechanization or early computerization in Hongkong bank started in 1976 through out to 1980. This phase involved the use of IBM mainframe such as IBM 360 which cost USD450,000 in 1977, Philips terminals, Racal modems and telecommunication provide by Telekon Malaysia. By 1988-89, the Philips banking terminal has been replaced by a Unisys system used by the HSBC group worldwide (HSBC. Its Malaysian Story, text by Douglas Wong, Editions Didier Millet, 2003). The Data Management and Storage system of HSBC are based mainly on its mainframe system that has been retained largely from its era of computerization in the 1976 era up until mid 1984/5. The mainframes are its key machines in storage of data and information which comprises of customer information, loan advances, staff information including its compensation payroll data. The Windows NT server is one HSBCs key data management and storage system. Another system in HSBCs data management and storage is its Windows 2000 SP4 server and Windows 2003 SP1 server. These three systems forms the core data management and storage for HSBC. The advantages of these systems are their storage capacity that is large enough for HSBCs customer information. The dependability of these systems has proven stable and dependable against unnecessary data losses. The IT Support teams constantly provide cumulative security update such as its Outlook Express. The flexibility of these three systems can be demonstrated in the series of pack and patches that was downloaded for the Windows 2000 SP4. Among those patches to address the system are:- Vulnerability in the Web View to allow Remote Code Execution. Vulnerability in HTML Help to allow Remote Code Execution. Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Protocol could allow denial of service. Vulnerability in the Microsift Data Access Components (MDAC) Function Could Allow Code Execution. (HSBC Intranet) The ability of the server to accommodate the above patched identified from the list of Microsoft Service Pack and Patches for Windows 2000 SP4 demonstrated the flexibility of the server to take patches in the system. These are aimed to ensure the server remains stable to support the banks requirement in data management and storage. In addition to the data management, the operating systems platforms are based mainly on Microsoft Windows. (www.hsbc.com.my) The bank placed high importance to ensure its operating systems are sound, dependable to its business needs, safeguard customer information, enables continuous product enhancement as well as maintaining employees information which are considered sensitive and crucial. Policies on internet usage for HSBC are highly regulated. The banks policy on the usage of email and internet is regulated and the policies can be found in the banks intranet accessible by all staff. The usage of email and internet is based on conditions laid down in the banks group policies. Its usage is for business correspondences and is to be conducted in a business-like and professional manner. The use of email and use of external computer access over the internet is subject to the banks policies and Code of Conduct. (HSBC Intranet). The networking and telecommunications aspect of HSBC is controlled and careful attention is given to the access to internal software and hardware of the organization. This manner of control is reflected in the organizations LAN security where all software installation is authorized through formal procedures. This would include LAN administrator guide strictly enforced, service patches on latest Microsoft updates are monitored and using approved anti-virus software (inclusive of updates). In terms of controlling the organizations network, strict password usage and control is enforced. This is evident in the organizations policy on placing ownership and accountability on individual user of their password. This includes frequent changing of password every 60 days (HSBC Intranet). In broad terms regarding consultants, system integrator and vendors, HSBC maintains strict regulations on outside equipment by consultants and vendors. In addition, the bank enforces strict controls on third party data transfer, maintenance of customer and staff personal data within the mainframe system and serves are not accessed by third parties such as external consultants and contract employees without proper clearance (HSBC Intranet/PC Security Guidelines). These strict controls are put in place to protect customer and staff data privacy as well as data security from being compromised by external or third parties that comes in contact with the banks systems or servers. In terms of the banks computer hardware platforms, these equipments are maintained through tight policy and guidelines that governs administration of the banks IBM servers, the computer hardware especially PCs and laptops used by the staff, comprising mainly of IBM machines (HSBC Intranet). Part 3 This report will proceed to present the concept on cloud computing, outlining its key features, current trends, future developments and consider its benefits to business (making direct reference to banking) and the cost of cloud computing to HSBC. Cloud computing comes into focus only when companies think about the IT needs/requirements. Companies started to explore ways to increase capacity or add capabilities on the go with business-as-usual operations without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends ITs existing capabilities (www.infoworld.com) (Based on an article by Eric Knorr Galen Gruman adapted from Infoworld). Prior to the availability of cloud computing, the traditional business applications have been complicated and expensive. The amount and variety of hardware and software required to run these applications and systems are daunting. The organization requires a whole team of experts to install, configure, test, run, secure, and update them. When the organization begins to multiply this effort across dozens or hundreds of applications, it is easy to observe the reason why the biggest companies with the best IT departments are not getting the applications they require. Given this reality, the small and mid-sized businesses will obviously face even bigger challenges (www.salesforce.com). While the concept of cloud computing was recognized to be spearheaded by Salesforce.com, there has been other companies that have dived into the business of providing CRM solutions in the form of software-as-a-service. A Google search produced several key service providers in cloud computing such as Gogrid, ORACLE, IBM, SAP cloud computing.com, vads.com and rimuhosting.com. The published benefits of cloud computing are the ability of the concept to leverage on cost while providing customized options to the subscribers. The list of benefits provided by cloud computing given the fundamental infra structure of cloud computing is as follows:- The level of Web-services integration has been proven. Cloud computing technology has demonstrated itself to be much easier and faster to integrate with the organizations existing enterprise applications (both traditional software and cloud computing infrastructure-based), whether third-party or applications that has been developed internally by the organization. Advanced service delivery. Cloud computing infrastructures offer greater scalability, complete disaster recovery, and demonstrated an impressive uptime figures. Lack of requirement to install additional hardware or software: There is no requirement for additional hardware or software in a fully cloud computing infrastructure. The positive features of cloud computing technology is in its overall simplicity and it requires significantly fewer capital expenditure to set up and get the whole system running. Faster and lower-risk deployment. The organization can set up and run the whole system much faster with a cloud computing infrastructure. It also saves the organization substantial expenses and allows employees/users to log into the new solution quickly. The cloud computing technology applications are live in a matter of weeks or months, even with extensive customization or integration included. Support for deep customizations. Cloud computing infrastructure allows deep customization and application configuration and it also preserves all those customizations even during upgrades. In addition, cloud computing technology is ideal for application development to support the organizations evolving needs. Empowered business users. Cloud computing technology allows on-the-fly, point-and-click customization and report generation for business users. As a result, IT is not required to spend a large amount of time and resource making minor changes and running reports. Automatic upgrades that dont impact IT resources. Cloud computing infrastructures put an end to a huge IT dilemma: If the organization upgrades to the latest version of the application, the organization is required to spend time and resources to rebuild their customizations and integrations. Cloud computing technology doesnt force an organization to decide between upgrading and preserving all its applications, because those customizations and integrations are automatically preserved during an upgrade. Pre-built, pre-integrated apps for cloud computing technology. The involvement of more companies in providing cloud computing infrastructure and applications will be able to multiply and provide more applications in either pre-built or post-built requirement to suit clients requirement. (www.salesforce.com). Malaysias IT infrastructure. The availability of better infrastructure compared to other countries in the region such as the availability of broadband indicates that the country is a suitable platform to embrace cloud computing with the assurance and support from the government. An example of this support is the entrance of Microsofts full range of cloud computing capabilities in Malaysia as well as other established parts in this region. (www.nst.com.my). While the concept and published reports and opinions have advocated various benefits from cloud computing, there are obvious down side to the concept compared to the more established traditional business applications that are more supported by the applications provider. One of the major online company that adopted cloud computing is Amazon.com. Recently, there have been technical problems and interruptions by the company starting on 21 April 2011. This has prompted industry analysts and observers to ask organizations to seriously reconsider relying on remote computers that are beyond their control. Matthew Eastwood, an analyst for the research firm IDC has called this incident involving Amazon.com as a wake-up call for cloud computing. The incident has started discussion on the concerns for cloud computing as such:- The amount organizations are required to pay for backup and recovery services. This concern also covers other areas, including paying extra for data centers in different locations. That is because the companies that were apparently hit hardest by the Amazon interruption were start-ups that, analysts said, are focused on moving fast in pursuit of growth, and less apt to pay for extensive backup and recovery services. (www.nytimes.com). The actual flexibility of cloud computing. While cloud computing has demonstrated its flexibility in terms of adaptability to organizations requirement and cost, there is a real concern amongst industry analysts on the claim of actual infinite elasticity of cloud computing. Arising from the recent Amazon.com interruption, there are serious concern on the ability of cloud computing to provide stability beyond the security from the traditional business applications provider that has seen proven reliability. This will be severe for what the analysts are concern for larger industry such as the entertainment industry (http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com). Taking this argument a step further, this report also raises the concern arising from the Amazon.com incident to the banking industry. Would HSBC depart from the major players in banking to embrace cloud computing given this latest discussion in the IT industry. Part 4 In my analysis of the present structure of HSBC, the idea of adopting cloud computing needs to be pursued with a certain degree of caution and optimism. I am recommending the following options for your consideration in adopting cloud computing into the applications support, maintenance and storage for HSBC:- Limited participation in the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) by putting in the new applications via cloud computing whilst keeping the existing applications to be enhanced, supported and stored by the existing system. The bank will continue to work our vendors and system support providers to maintain the existing applications. This dual approach is aimed to venture quickly into cloud computing and at the same time in assuring senior management, Asia Pacific Group IT as well as the Global team on our prudence to continue maintain the existing system for our current applications. This recommendation is to maintain status quo in our level of customer service with any unexpected disruption to our clients arising from technical problems. In addition, the VPC is relatively simple to implement and the cost of the subscription to SKALI Cloud Servers a minimal fee while having pre-build features which HSBC can use immediately. (www.skalicloud.com). This approach also eases up our GTLM (subsidiary providing IT support to HSBC) who is having attrition of IT personnel and simultaneously struggling to backfill the vacancies. In considering the IT infrastructure of our competitors, our proposed investment into cloud computing would be timely to ease off more capital investment into applications management and storage. The savings can be channeled to other IT requirement such as upgrade of our servers and other interface channel to the front end to give better support to our users. This will enable faster turnaround time and increase productivity of backroom / support staff and also better customer service for our sales service staff to our clients. Our overall business strategy under the Medium Term Outlook (MTO) three year plan from 2010 to 2012 emphasize the importance of improving productivity and cost savings to complement the bigger business revenue aim for the bank. Under this plan, the proposed adoption of cloud computing is to enable HSBC to have a quick support for its application support, minimize over dependence on staff, service providers and vendors. Many banks have spent time and money building an internal infrastructure. Such large infrastructure investment makes it difficult to cost justify moving for such infrastructure to be moved to an outside provider. There may be long-term savings but in the short-term, the difficulty is justifying the large investment into a cloud computing arrangement. In addition, moving the whole application systems from internal to eternal source via a cloud-based platform has a certain cost in itself which makes it even less attractive and even more difficult to justify. (http://thefinanser.co.uk) Issues with regulators. A recent report appearing in the UK Financier highlighted that Microsoft is often asked about Security by share holders as well as regulators. Companies would naturally due to their interest in protecting data privacy, will be determined to know how organizations protect their data. Among the questions posed to the organizations is the location of the cloud, the standards used by the organization in selecting the cloud that is located remotely away from the host country. In this respect, Microsoft is heavily geared towards security and is one of the largest firms in the development space in this area. Some issues do arise however with regulators in key markets, particularly in finance. For example, in Turkey, they regulate that data must be held on bank premises. Thats hard to overcome but is a key reason Microsoft continues to provide on premise solutions banks can implement while regulations catch up. (http://thefinanser.co.uk) Security of the information maintained within the cloud that is located away from the bank. In view that the cloud is not part of the banks organization or a subsidiary where the bank has partial or majority ownership, there remain questions on the control the bank has over the information, data or applications stored in the cloud (Interview with Mr Peter Ng, Manager IT Development/Support Office Automation on 12 April 2011). In addition, there is a provision within the Banking And Financial Institutions Act 1989 (BAFIA) that prohibits any director, employee or agent appointed by the bank who has access to the banks information made available such information to any other person or parties (S.97 of the Banking And Financial Institutions Act 1989). The concern raised by Mr Peter Ng is amplified by the fact that banks information, data or applications stored in the cloud outside the management purview of the bank. In view that the facility and commercial ownership of the cloud does not come under the definition of an agent appointed by the bank, there is no locus standi on the part of the cloud being accountable for any legal action that can be taken in the event there is a breach of S.97 of BAFIA. Section 97 of BAFIA states as follows:- 97.  Ã‚   (1)  Ã‚   No director or officer of any licensed institution or of any external bureau established, or any agent appointed, by the licensed institution to undertake any part of its business, whether during his tenure of office, or during his employment, or thereafter, and no person who for any reason, has by any means access to any record, book, register, correspondence, or other document whatsoever, or material, relating to the affairs or, in particular, the account, of any particular customer of the institution, shall give, produce, divulge, reveal, publish or otherwise disclose, to any person, or make a record for any person, of any information or document whatsoever relating to the affairs or account of such customer. (Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989). Part 5 In summary, HSBC has a complex IT system that has been build over the years of our existence in Malaysia since the computerization of our banking system. The availability of cloud computing as an alternative in our on-going challenges in application management should be carefully considered in terms of expanding our IT capabilities to move into bigger areas of banking. This will provide HSBC with the opportunity to have better flexibility in managing our overall applications system to be able to provide better support to our users. This will in turn, enable our staff to provide better customer service and engagement. The adoption of cloud computing by the bank can be implemented with the following strategies:- Adopting a hybrid cloud where major vendors such as IBM, ORACLE and Hewlett Packard offers hybrid delivery with their existing technology to manage complexity of HSBCs diverse application systems that caters to different business groups where different applications for business segments such as Personal Financial Services, Commercial Banking, Treasury and Global Banking are different. The dedicated servers and applications can be better managed through public cloud (for lower cost applications storage with medium or low risks) and managed dedicated servers (for higher risks applications and data) that can be managed in partnership with the major vendor. This combined approach mitigates risks portfolio for the bank in terms of spreading evenly its storage in cloud computing where external parties and vendors cannot be fully controlled compared to internally managed servers and storage facilities (Interview with Mr Lim Wei Hup, Senior Manager IT Operations/Support conducted on 14 April 2011). Co-venturing into cloud computing by adopting a strategic partner to mitigate risks as well as leverage on common areas and different technical expertise to harness effective teamwork for selecting external applications from various clouds. An example of a recent tie-up and cooperation in the financial industry is the venture of Polaris Software Lab, one of the leading global financial technology companies announced a strategic investment in IdenTrust, a global financial institution. IdenTrust is one of the premier service providers of digital identity authentication services to several key banks such as Citibank, Bank of America, Deutsche, HSBC and even Barclays Bank. (www.siliconindia.com). The concern of being the first bank in Malaysia to embrace cloud computing need not arise as the government has provided ample support, key service provider such as Telekom Malaysia has been upgrading its broadband services and the availability of fiber optic infrastructure will ensure adequate bandwidth and speed. HSBC has always been a pioneer in various aspect in banking be it technology, products and services and even bringing environmental issues into part of its global commitments. With our rich history and forward optimism, venturing into cloud computing is an option management seriously need to consider in view our future growth strategy.

Analysis of Product Packaging Design

Analysis of Product Packaging Design ABSTRACT 1 Introduction Product design and specifically product shape and looks have long been identified as factors that may contribute to product value and new product success. Design of products evokes both cognitive and affective responses in the mind of the observers and this can be used to tailor a more attractive product proposition. While a lot of excellent research has been conducted on the positive effect that industrial design can have on the perceptions of customers about the product functionality, embedding issues like utility, safety and comfort, the importance of the perceived value by a customer on judgements about product elegance and social significance have not been extensively studied until recently. reference In this thesis I am trying to test whether Yes please soup pot design not only communicates to the potential customer a series of qualitative attributes about its content, i.e. quality and healthiness, but also triggers positive emotional responses on the perceived beauty and difference with similar products and that can be leveraged by the company to command a price premium 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT DESIGN New product development processes are the subset of standardized procedures that companies use to manage the new product project phases that lead to the launch of new products in the market. The objective of these procedures is to implement a systematized approach to ensure the potential of new projects based on their financial and development feasibility while maximizing the value of new products as perceived by its target customers. 2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is industrial design Industrial design is the set of activities within new product development processes that deal with optimizing the functionality and appearance of a product to maximize its value for both consumer and manufacturer (1). The ultimate objective of a product design is thus to align the set of attributes embedded within the product with the target customer preferences and to implement them in a way that they are actually perceived and valued by them. In order to achieve a successful design and implementation, companies engage in direct market research to elicit the target customer segment implicit and explicit needs (the voice of the customer) and align those with product attributes, using techniques such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD) which systematically links the needs the product must satisfy with technical specifications while also prioritizing them based on the level of importance to customers. At the same time, the identification of the customer segment preferences and the mapping of those within a perceptual map, comparing how well different products in the market fulfill the identified needs, allow for the design of specific product propositions that no other product does and thus achieving a unique positioning and successful product differentiation. The dimension of product design has been recognized by several authors (Cooper, Trueman) as being critical to the ultimate success of the launch of new products. The focus of design development is centered around the efficient implementation of the product features, ergonomics and quality form to maximize its utility to users, while at the same time embedding it with a pleasant appearance that is able to communicate positive attributes that contribute to the ultimate value proposition. (3) (4) Trueman: Design has the facility to improve product reliability and quality standards thereby raising the perceived value of goods and services in the eyes of the customer, allowing companies to increase profit margins As Trueman estates (6), A value proposition must successfully integrate a product within its own environment by combining and merging coherently the different attributes, aesthetics, price and quality so that they are aligned similarly and reinforce each other. Although mistaken by artists that only worry about the visual appearece of a product, or styling, successful industrial designers are able dig into such fields as engineering, Materials science, manufacturing, and marketing to embed new products with a set of attributes directly influencing new product success in the market.(2) (3) (4) (5) (6). Ultimately, the design of an object is the specific configuration of elements, materials and components that give its particular attributes of function, shape etc. and determine how it is to be made and used. (13) By embedding the design dimension into the processes, companies ensure that the final value proposition is increased as it contributes to the perceived value by the customer. A successful design increase the perceived quality of a product, ensures that is aligned with market and regulatory standards and thus increase the odds to satisfy customer expectations. A consistent Design strategy in new product development processes also contributes to build a product and company image and helps to pull together the dimensions of company identity with branding and promotion (Trueman). Also, by taking the design dimensions early on the NPD projects, companies can reduce the final time to market and product costs by simplifying the manufacturing processes and reduce the final costs of fabrication. 2.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The contribution of Industrial design in the final product value proposition There are many design attributes that can be embedded into new products, roughly separated within ergonomics and aesthetics, being the former more related to the experience of using the product, while the latter is focused into the experience of seeing the product. Aestethics, embedding all product parameters that determine the way the product look, are a an essential element of the purchasing process since customers base their preference on products by the subjective perceptions elicited by the product on the potential benefits it can provide.(7) In that line, the Lens model first introduced by Brunswick (?), states that the potential customer makes a mental bundle of the information it receives about the product and from there triggers a set of perceptions that will ultimately lead to a set of preferences and choices. The ways a specific design can lead to a positive perception and thus to a choice of preference vary and are entangled with other sources of information the customer receives and which align the propostion to the customer already decided preferences. The perceptions that a product can evoke are immediately related to past information received and allow the person for example to relate it to a certain corporate and brand identity, a process that many companies have followed by implementing a sustained design strategy on their products. Brand identity allows to ultimately link the products observed to perceptions on company values and overall level of attributes of the products and has been used as means of effective product differentiation. (9) (10). In different industries, companies tend to emphasize different attributes in their communication to be aligned with their specific company positioning and customers most importance preferences, like tastiness and safety in the food industry and reliability and environment friendliness in the car industry. The physical form of a product has been researched to have an important impact in the way customers judge it and has ultimately a strong correlation effect with the final product success in the market (). As Bloch (10) states the physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product by increasing the quality of the usage experiences associated with it. 2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Which financial benefits can it provide Companies with an effective industrial design strategy achieve better perfoming products in the market in terms of several financial indicators as return on assets, return on sales and higher profitability, which can be linked to both the design differentiation factor as stated previously by Porter in the famous book Competitve strategy (1980) and to reduced costs due to more efficient use of materials and manufacturing processes. (14) Also, the study of Roy (13) in 1993 on 221 small and medium sized UK manufacturers which received a government subsidy to promote the active use of industrial design in the development of new or improved products showed that 60% of all projects and 90% of the implemented ones were commercially successful and profitable with payback periods averaging under 15months, which show that the effective strategic approach to include design in new product development processes can be implemented in firms of different sizes. Bloch in his research also collected previous studies that linked new product financial success factors with the inclusion of design as an inherent part of their NPD processes. He identified in a survey of senior marketing managers that, design was mentioned as the most important determinant of new product performatice by 60% of respondents by only 17% considered Price most important . Also and based on the work of cooper on the analysis of the performance of 203 new products identified that product design was the most important determinant of sales success . Most interestingly for the case of Yes Please foods product, which as will be explained later chose specifically a designer for the pot based on his previous award winning record, Some research has identified that the receipt of design awards is positively associated with profit margins above average and sales growth (Goodrich 1994; Roy 1994). 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The purchasing process and the visual effect of a product design 3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  XXXXXXXXXXXXX The ultimate act of purchasing occurs as a result of a complex mental process where the information received is analyzed and weighted as per to measure to which extend the product satisfies the needs of the customer. A general categorization of customer needs has been frequently compared with the Maslow hierarchy of needs which states that once most basic requirements have been satisfied by a product, the emphasis on a customer shifts to satisfy other more intangible needs related to symbolic and aesthetic attributes. As a result of this the purchasing process is triggered by the fulfillment of the requirements for the intended use of the product but also by the satisfaction of more intangible needs like status, elegance or social significance. In order to understand the ultimate behavioral response of a customer triggered by the visual appearance of a product it is critical to assess the cognitive and emotional processes that result from the act of observing the item under evaluation. The cognitive processes take place when a customer uses his visual senses to observe the product and perceives certain information which mentally organizes to make some judgments about its attributes and which are influenced by previous visual references or similar product stereotypes, which suggest familiar usages of the product and ultimately help the observer to interpret the signals received. It has been described a number of different approaches on how to categorize the judgments that a customer does based on the perception of a product observation. Crilly (?) has summarized all previous approaches and identifies a total of three main categories of cognitive responses to product appearance: Aesthetic, Semantic and Symbolic. From those three, the semantic interpretation, the mental inferences that an observer does to judge whether a product is capable of performing the tasks for what is intended for, is the only processes where the tangible attributes of the product are assessed. During this process the practical qualities of a product like function, performance and efficiency are analyzed and mentally compared with other references to judge the utility a product will offer to the observer. In this category I include the information that is gathered by the customer when obtaining information from reading the label and which is directly processed to identify the physical attributes of the product. The emotional responses following this cognitive process are then aligned to assess the instrumental utility of the product which ultimately lead to satisfaction, when fulfilling the expected requirements, and dissatisfaction when the product is not fulfilling them. The two other described cognitive processes are used to identify intangible attributes of the product that may or may not be perceived as valuable for the customer depending on a number of different factors, like current positioning within the Maslow hierarchy of needs, consumers cultural context and personal characteristics. The symbolic association is the cognitive response that attaches to the product some socially determined symbolic meaning. During this process, as series of values are realized to be attached to the product and assumes that others must also associate them with it. As Crilly states This culturally agreed meaning will allow the customer project a desirable image to others, express social status or communicate its personal characteristics through it. Examples of intangible values that can be associated to the product through symbolic meaning are exclusivity as the identification with certain economic status and environmentally consciousness. Finally the aesthetic impression comprises all cognitive responses that are directed towards a perceived judgment of elegance and beautifulness. Even if still there is no unanimous consensus on what comprises beautiful objects, the perception of aesthetic attraction triggers positive emotional thoughts on the customer and contribute to attaching value to the product observed. 3.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Aesthetics Dimension As researched by several authors (?) the definition of what makes an item beautiful or aesthetically pleasant is not conclusive. It has been described though that cultural and social forces have an influence in the preferences for specific forms. Specifically, it has been described that a specific culture values and preferences may influence the acceptance of a particular style. Also seems to be proven that cultural norms may overwhelm an individual inner preferences and help shape its perceptions towards the acceptance of a specific design form. (blaich, Bloch) Thus, and although cross cultural differences stay in the way of having an unified view of what can be considered as aesthetically pleasant, the current era of advanced information technology is working towards unifying the concepts that influence the perceptions of the soft values within a product design and thus working towards a more globalized and uniform set of criteria. The cognitive processes described triggered upon the observation of a product lead to a series of emotional responses that will ultimately lead to the final decision on the purchasing process, being the most important the attraction or disgust towards the aesthetics, the satisfaction or dissatisfaction towards the fulfillment by the product of instrumental requirements for its use, the surprise or indifference based on the perceived product novelty and the admiration or indignation towards social significance. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DESIGN IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY In the food industry, Tauber (8), collected through extensive market studies an exhaustive set of problems related to food products. By doing so, he was trying to identify potential opportunities for new products while also providing with a thorough analysis of the basic needs to be fulfilled by this kind of products. From that list it can be identified a series of attributes that the product under study is fulfilling and thus achieving a specific positioning. Some of them, like low calorie content, convenience of transport and preparation and adequacy of the serving size are efficiently communicated through the information contained in the label. Others like healthy, tasty, and high quality can only be perceived by the customer through the design of the pot and label and by some previous information it might have received. Moreover, as Berkowitz researched, the shapes and images that have a more natural looking are associated with products that are fresher, taste better and have a better texture, and are ultimately more preferred by customers. At the same time, he found that aesthetic appealingness of the product, defined by bloch (10) as the ability to evoke positive beliefs, positive emotions and sympathetic with consumers aesthetic tastes, and by Crilly (11) as the sensation that results from the perception of attractiveness (or unattractiveness) in products was not of any specific interest to food products customers. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Yes Please! Foods Company, products and market The trigger for the writing of this thesis has been evaluation of the influence that the design of the Yes Please! Foods soup product packaging may be having in its market performance. Yes Please Foods is Germany based company that entered the chilled organic convenience food German market in 2007. Although belonging to the generally mature food industry, both the organic and convenience sub segments have been growing at an average rate of 12% in the period 2003-2008 in Germany (15). Yes please foods can be considered to be positioned in the Premium priced range of offers within the segment as its Price its on average 33% more expensive than that of the competitors. The company started its operations in the Berlin area and has been enjoying a high growth rate in volumes sold ever since (the actual numbers can not be disclosed in this paper as they are covered by a confidential disclosure agreement). The company is currently planning to expand its operations throughout Germany and is about to close its first round of external financing. Based on the information provided by the company, it is know that the customer profile of this kind of products is that of mid to high educated people, working full time, with above average income and health conscious. It is inferred from the information provided by the company that the product is intended to fulfill the need of high quality healthy food that can be prepared and ready to serve within a short period time frame. The motto of the company portrays this positioning of healthy convenient to prepare food for customers that do not want to spend time in the kitchen as good food for busy people The design of the pot, as explained by the company owner and general manager, Gemma Michalski, was the central part of their strategy to build a company identity and resulted in one of the biggest expenditures incurred during the initial company launching. The design was commissioned to Willimas Myurray Hamm from London which used the artwork of Berlin based illustrator Martin Haake. As explained by Ms Michalski, they were specifically chosen to perform the design task because of their previous record of award winning product designs that resulted in highly successful products in the market. (16) 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Use of conjoint analysis to elicit the importance of attributes in the eyes of the costumers The first part of the field study I am going to conduct has been designed to measure a the potential correlation between price and design in the final willingness to pay expressed by respondents. Also I shall use the results to mesure the relative importance of each, for the whole of respondents and for potential segments I shall identify within the sample of respondents. The technique used, an empirical marketing research using conjoint analysis, was first introduced as an effective marketing tool during 1970s and has been validated as an effective means to identify the most relevant features of product, its key design attributes, and the degree of importance that customers attach to them. (17) The usefulness of the tool is extended by the ability to sort the answers from respondents to some specific criteria which allow eliciting the kind of different features preferred by different segments of consumers within the same market. At the heart of the technique, consumers are asked to rate as per their own preferences a number of different product prototypes that are embedding different features and levels of features. By doing so, the customer is making choices and trade-offs from those multi attribute alternatives based on the overall perceived utility or value of the product under evaluation. The statistical treatment of the data, using a multiple regression model, allows quantifying how much each of the single attributes is affecting the overall value of the entangled set of properties, as it is assumed that consumers have an implicit utility value for every single one of them. The first part of the technique is normally a consumer attitude survey were the general attitudes of the consumer towards the product are collected. One of the main outcomes of this part of the research is to determine which features of the product are relevant for the consumers. The aim of this first part is typically to find out why the products are purchased, which use they make of them and their attitudes toward them. Once the information is collected allows the design teams to elicit which features of the product seem to be more relevant for the customers and allows to potentially determine needs that still unresolved or problems existing with current products in the market. In this thesis I have overcome this phase since this part of the research is aimed at determining which physical features of the product are relevant, whether the focus of this thesis is aimed to the soft values attached to physical appearance. Thus, by assuming that the current most important features of the product for the target customer segment are actually satisfied by all products in the study, I have been able to focus any significance preference in the actual aesthetic value of the product and its potential relationship with the price they would be willing to pay. In order to communicate to respondents that all products evaluated had exactly the same features and were only differing in design and price, the following statement was introducing the questionnaire: The products you are going to see are all soup products. They contain just natural organic ingredients without any conservatives and must be kept in the fridge. The portions are all 500ml Generally, The second part of the conjoint process uses the information gathered to determine the whole set of attributes that define all of the existing products in a market and introduces new ones to test their acceptance by consumers. Also, different levels for each attribute are defined to obtain a meaningful representation of the different ranges within each attribute that are or could be available in the market. In order for the research to be significant, prototypes having different combinations of levels of all attributes have to be created to be ranked in preference by consumers. Typically, and due to the large number of possible permutations of attributes that can be created, a smaller sample is chosen to facilitate the consumer research study. It has been shown that eliminating combinations through an experimental design called orthogonal arrays or through judgment (those that are not possible physically i.e. by cost or conceptually i.e. by design), has no significant effect on the final outcome of the study (18) Since the research to be conducted for this thesis is aimed at identifying any preferred designs for a soup product and potentially monetary value attached to specific product appearances, I have chosen to study two sets of attributes, design comprised by the three levels, picture of natural ingredient, artistic draw and no draw and the attribute price, also with three different levels: â‚ ¬ 1,99, â‚ ¬ 2,49 and â‚ ¬ 2,99. Due to the small number of total possible combinations (32), the empirical survey shall ask respondents to evaluate all possible combinations. The rationale for choosing these type of designs has been based on previous literature on shape and images in food products (Berkowitz) and the need for the actual inclusion of the design of the Yes Please Food product to test its hypothesized perceived value on the design. The third design included no draw has been arbitrarily selected hypothesizing it to be a representative sample of an unaesthetic design. The three price level selected have been chosen on the basis of actual prices of products in the market for the picture of natural ingredient (â‚ ¬2,49) and artistic draw (â‚ ¬2,99) designs, while the third level price has been arbitrarily selected to represent a low price level within that attribute. The third part of the procedure gathers a meaningful sample of the product consumers and asks them to rank the different prototypes (combinations of the different levels of the selected attributes) based on their preferences. The aim of this part is to gather the structure of consumers preferences for different product features. In this part is important to define the question to be asked properly so it collects the opinion on consumers about the perceived value they attach to each specific product proposition. In my research I have chosen the sentence from 1-7 how likely would you be to buy this product at the stated price. One of the benefits of conjoint analysis is that it is able to achieve statistical significance on the results with a relative small sample of respondents. The aim of this research will be to achieve at least 33 respondents in order to be able to make some inferences about the direction of the proportional influence that design has in the final monetary value of the proposed prototype, being that either positive or negative. One of the limitations of my study shall be that the random sample of respondents to the questionnaire shall only be validated as actual consumers of soup products by one of the questions in the demographic profile, do you like soup? that is embedding three possible answers: no, sometimes is ok and love it. It shall be assumed that a positive answer to this question (all possible answers but no) allow to make inferences about their potentiality to be consumers of the product. That limitation is affecting jus this part of the study were the research is trying to elucidate whether design has a relationship with willingness to pay. For the second part where it will be researched the consumers perceptions about intangible attributes of the design, it will be assumed that cultural context and general profile of the respondents is similar to that of the consumers of fresh soups as explained before in the Yes Please Foods product and market chapter of this thesis. A segmentation of the respondents by any kind of useful criteria like demographics, type of usage, attitude towards the products etc will also allow to identify the preferred attributes for each type of customer segment. The final part is the statistical treatment of the results that tries to identify which attributes are preferred by consumers and which are considered to be of more relative importance to them, and thus to the final value of the product proposition. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experiment 7.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Objectives The objectives of the experiments executed were designed to validate and refute previous research about the influence that design have in the purchase decision making process and to elicit specific findings about the design of the soup product of the sponsor company Yes Please! Foods. In the first experiment, the objective is to validate whether a series of qualitative attributes about the product can be inferred from the customer just by looking at the design, specifically the respondents are required to rate each of the three designs as per their perception on how they consider them to be healthy, fresh, of high quality, different and beautiful. One of the objectives of this part of the experiment is to validate the hypothesis that the design of the pot of the Yes Please! Foods soup product has is somehow original that can be clearly differentiated from that of the competitors and that is considered to be an aesthetically pleasant design. Another objective of this part of the research is to validate previous research like that of Berkowitz (9), Bloch (10) and Trueman (6) which asserted that in mature markets, product form is one way to gain consumer notice and achieve a clear product differentiation. By assessing the responses about the attributes quality, freshness and Healthiness, it is pursued to validate the research of Bloch (10) and Nusssbaum (?), which stated that exterior appearance of a product is an important channel to communicate information to consumers, that Product form allows to generate inferences regarding other product attributes. Also this experiment will help to validate the research from Berlkowtiz () which found that natural shapes displayed in the packaging of food products help consumers to make assumptions about the product as being more fresh healthy and of higher quality. Finally I intend to validate the research of Trueman (6) which found that products that are considered to have a good design (which I shall relate to the weight of the responses on the attribute beautiful) are considered to be of superior quality, by checking whether products to be considered beautiful on my research are also considered to be of high quality. The inferences that I will try to make with the results of the second part of the research, a conjoint analysis of 9 different prototypes which result from the combination of three different design styles and three different sets of prices, will be dependent upon the results of the first part. If during the first experiment I am able to proof that some of the three designs are considered to be significantly more beautiful than the others, I shall be able to validate with the results of the second experiment are aligned with the results found by Bloch. Kotler and Nussbaum when they found that given two identical products in terms of features and price, the one with the most beautiful design is preferred by respodents. At the same time I shall try to validate whether a product considered to be more beautiful can command a higher willingness to pay, which is stated in the survey designed as the likeliness to buy the shown product. If that is proven to be the case, I will try to identify the reasons why those customers would be willing to spend more in such product by relating it to their perceptions on the other attributes of the same product, either being the subset of attributes regarding product utility, (higher quality, more natural or more healthy) , the subset of aesthetic attributes (more beautiful, more different) or both. Finally I shall use the results of the second experiment to validate the research of Berkowitz which found that products with natural shapes tend to be considered more natural, and healthy. I shall do this by specifically analyzing the results of one of the chosen designs which portrays a picture of a natural tomato on the label. Also I shall try to refute the findings of the same author which found in previous research that attractive designs where not of any specific interest to consumers in terms of aesthetic appeal. 7.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Methodology 7.2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sample The survey will be send to all recipients of the address domain [emailprotected], for which I expect a random sample of respondents within the employees of ESMT and all recipients of address [emailprotected], for which I expect a random sample of ESMT MBA 2009 students I believe this sample shall be repre Analysis of Product Packaging Design Analysis of Product Packaging Design ABSTRACT 1 Introduction Product design and specifically product shape and looks have long been identified as factors that may contribute to product value and new product success. Design of products evokes both cognitive and affective responses in the mind of the observers and this can be used to tailor a more attractive product proposition. While a lot of excellent research has been conducted on the positive effect that industrial design can have on the perceptions of customers about the product functionality, embedding issues like utility, safety and comfort, the importance of the perceived value by a customer on judgements about product elegance and social significance have not been extensively studied until recently. reference In this thesis I am trying to test whether Yes please soup pot design not only communicates to the potential customer a series of qualitative attributes about its content, i.e. quality and healthiness, but also triggers positive emotional responses on the perceived beauty and difference with similar products and that can be leveraged by the company to command a price premium 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT DESIGN New product development processes are the subset of standardized procedures that companies use to manage the new product project phases that lead to the launch of new products in the market. The objective of these procedures is to implement a systematized approach to ensure the potential of new projects based on their financial and development feasibility while maximizing the value of new products as perceived by its target customers. 2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is industrial design Industrial design is the set of activities within new product development processes that deal with optimizing the functionality and appearance of a product to maximize its value for both consumer and manufacturer (1). The ultimate objective of a product design is thus to align the set of attributes embedded within the product with the target customer preferences and to implement them in a way that they are actually perceived and valued by them. In order to achieve a successful design and implementation, companies engage in direct market research to elicit the target customer segment implicit and explicit needs (the voice of the customer) and align those with product attributes, using techniques such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD) which systematically links the needs the product must satisfy with technical specifications while also prioritizing them based on the level of importance to customers. At the same time, the identification of the customer segment preferences and the mapping of those within a perceptual map, comparing how well different products in the market fulfill the identified needs, allow for the design of specific product propositions that no other product does and thus achieving a unique positioning and successful product differentiation. The dimension of product design has been recognized by several authors (Cooper, Trueman) as being critical to the ultimate success of the launch of new products. The focus of design development is centered around the efficient implementation of the product features, ergonomics and quality form to maximize its utility to users, while at the same time embedding it with a pleasant appearance that is able to communicate positive attributes that contribute to the ultimate value proposition. (3) (4) Trueman: Design has the facility to improve product reliability and quality standards thereby raising the perceived value of goods and services in the eyes of the customer, allowing companies to increase profit margins As Trueman estates (6), A value proposition must successfully integrate a product within its own environment by combining and merging coherently the different attributes, aesthetics, price and quality so that they are aligned similarly and reinforce each other. Although mistaken by artists that only worry about the visual appearece of a product, or styling, successful industrial designers are able dig into such fields as engineering, Materials science, manufacturing, and marketing to embed new products with a set of attributes directly influencing new product success in the market.(2) (3) (4) (5) (6). Ultimately, the design of an object is the specific configuration of elements, materials and components that give its particular attributes of function, shape etc. and determine how it is to be made and used. (13) By embedding the design dimension into the processes, companies ensure that the final value proposition is increased as it contributes to the perceived value by the customer. A successful design increase the perceived quality of a product, ensures that is aligned with market and regulatory standards and thus increase the odds to satisfy customer expectations. A consistent Design strategy in new product development processes also contributes to build a product and company image and helps to pull together the dimensions of company identity with branding and promotion (Trueman). Also, by taking the design dimensions early on the NPD projects, companies can reduce the final time to market and product costs by simplifying the manufacturing processes and reduce the final costs of fabrication. 2.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The contribution of Industrial design in the final product value proposition There are many design attributes that can be embedded into new products, roughly separated within ergonomics and aesthetics, being the former more related to the experience of using the product, while the latter is focused into the experience of seeing the product. Aestethics, embedding all product parameters that determine the way the product look, are a an essential element of the purchasing process since customers base their preference on products by the subjective perceptions elicited by the product on the potential benefits it can provide.(7) In that line, the Lens model first introduced by Brunswick (?), states that the potential customer makes a mental bundle of the information it receives about the product and from there triggers a set of perceptions that will ultimately lead to a set of preferences and choices. The ways a specific design can lead to a positive perception and thus to a choice of preference vary and are entangled with other sources of information the customer receives and which align the propostion to the customer already decided preferences. The perceptions that a product can evoke are immediately related to past information received and allow the person for example to relate it to a certain corporate and brand identity, a process that many companies have followed by implementing a sustained design strategy on their products. Brand identity allows to ultimately link the products observed to perceptions on company values and overall level of attributes of the products and has been used as means of effective product differentiation. (9) (10). In different industries, companies tend to emphasize different attributes in their communication to be aligned with their specific company positioning and customers most importance preferences, like tastiness and safety in the food industry and reliability and environment friendliness in the car industry. The physical form of a product has been researched to have an important impact in the way customers judge it and has ultimately a strong correlation effect with the final product success in the market (). As Bloch (10) states the physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product by increasing the quality of the usage experiences associated with it. 2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Which financial benefits can it provide Companies with an effective industrial design strategy achieve better perfoming products in the market in terms of several financial indicators as return on assets, return on sales and higher profitability, which can be linked to both the design differentiation factor as stated previously by Porter in the famous book Competitve strategy (1980) and to reduced costs due to more efficient use of materials and manufacturing processes. (14) Also, the study of Roy (13) in 1993 on 221 small and medium sized UK manufacturers which received a government subsidy to promote the active use of industrial design in the development of new or improved products showed that 60% of all projects and 90% of the implemented ones were commercially successful and profitable with payback periods averaging under 15months, which show that the effective strategic approach to include design in new product development processes can be implemented in firms of different sizes. Bloch in his research also collected previous studies that linked new product financial success factors with the inclusion of design as an inherent part of their NPD processes. He identified in a survey of senior marketing managers that, design was mentioned as the most important determinant of new product performatice by 60% of respondents by only 17% considered Price most important . Also and based on the work of cooper on the analysis of the performance of 203 new products identified that product design was the most important determinant of sales success . Most interestingly for the case of Yes Please foods product, which as will be explained later chose specifically a designer for the pot based on his previous award winning record, Some research has identified that the receipt of design awards is positively associated with profit margins above average and sales growth (Goodrich 1994; Roy 1994). 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The purchasing process and the visual effect of a product design 3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  XXXXXXXXXXXXX The ultimate act of purchasing occurs as a result of a complex mental process where the information received is analyzed and weighted as per to measure to which extend the product satisfies the needs of the customer. A general categorization of customer needs has been frequently compared with the Maslow hierarchy of needs which states that once most basic requirements have been satisfied by a product, the emphasis on a customer shifts to satisfy other more intangible needs related to symbolic and aesthetic attributes. As a result of this the purchasing process is triggered by the fulfillment of the requirements for the intended use of the product but also by the satisfaction of more intangible needs like status, elegance or social significance. In order to understand the ultimate behavioral response of a customer triggered by the visual appearance of a product it is critical to assess the cognitive and emotional processes that result from the act of observing the item under evaluation. The cognitive processes take place when a customer uses his visual senses to observe the product and perceives certain information which mentally organizes to make some judgments about its attributes and which are influenced by previous visual references or similar product stereotypes, which suggest familiar usages of the product and ultimately help the observer to interpret the signals received. It has been described a number of different approaches on how to categorize the judgments that a customer does based on the perception of a product observation. Crilly (?) has summarized all previous approaches and identifies a total of three main categories of cognitive responses to product appearance: Aesthetic, Semantic and Symbolic. From those three, the semantic interpretation, the mental inferences that an observer does to judge whether a product is capable of performing the tasks for what is intended for, is the only processes where the tangible attributes of the product are assessed. During this process the practical qualities of a product like function, performance and efficiency are analyzed and mentally compared with other references to judge the utility a product will offer to the observer. In this category I include the information that is gathered by the customer when obtaining information from reading the label and which is directly processed to identify the physical attributes of the product. The emotional responses following this cognitive process are then aligned to assess the instrumental utility of the product which ultimately lead to satisfaction, when fulfilling the expected requirements, and dissatisfaction when the product is not fulfilling them. The two other described cognitive processes are used to identify intangible attributes of the product that may or may not be perceived as valuable for the customer depending on a number of different factors, like current positioning within the Maslow hierarchy of needs, consumers cultural context and personal characteristics. The symbolic association is the cognitive response that attaches to the product some socially determined symbolic meaning. During this process, as series of values are realized to be attached to the product and assumes that others must also associate them with it. As Crilly states This culturally agreed meaning will allow the customer project a desirable image to others, express social status or communicate its personal characteristics through it. Examples of intangible values that can be associated to the product through symbolic meaning are exclusivity as the identification with certain economic status and environmentally consciousness. Finally the aesthetic impression comprises all cognitive responses that are directed towards a perceived judgment of elegance and beautifulness. Even if still there is no unanimous consensus on what comprises beautiful objects, the perception of aesthetic attraction triggers positive emotional thoughts on the customer and contribute to attaching value to the product observed. 3.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Aesthetics Dimension As researched by several authors (?) the definition of what makes an item beautiful or aesthetically pleasant is not conclusive. It has been described though that cultural and social forces have an influence in the preferences for specific forms. Specifically, it has been described that a specific culture values and preferences may influence the acceptance of a particular style. Also seems to be proven that cultural norms may overwhelm an individual inner preferences and help shape its perceptions towards the acceptance of a specific design form. (blaich, Bloch) Thus, and although cross cultural differences stay in the way of having an unified view of what can be considered as aesthetically pleasant, the current era of advanced information technology is working towards unifying the concepts that influence the perceptions of the soft values within a product design and thus working towards a more globalized and uniform set of criteria. The cognitive processes described triggered upon the observation of a product lead to a series of emotional responses that will ultimately lead to the final decision on the purchasing process, being the most important the attraction or disgust towards the aesthetics, the satisfaction or dissatisfaction towards the fulfillment by the product of instrumental requirements for its use, the surprise or indifference based on the perceived product novelty and the admiration or indignation towards social significance. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DESIGN IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY In the food industry, Tauber (8), collected through extensive market studies an exhaustive set of problems related to food products. By doing so, he was trying to identify potential opportunities for new products while also providing with a thorough analysis of the basic needs to be fulfilled by this kind of products. From that list it can be identified a series of attributes that the product under study is fulfilling and thus achieving a specific positioning. Some of them, like low calorie content, convenience of transport and preparation and adequacy of the serving size are efficiently communicated through the information contained in the label. Others like healthy, tasty, and high quality can only be perceived by the customer through the design of the pot and label and by some previous information it might have received. Moreover, as Berkowitz researched, the shapes and images that have a more natural looking are associated with products that are fresher, taste better and have a better texture, and are ultimately more preferred by customers. At the same time, he found that aesthetic appealingness of the product, defined by bloch (10) as the ability to evoke positive beliefs, positive emotions and sympathetic with consumers aesthetic tastes, and by Crilly (11) as the sensation that results from the perception of attractiveness (or unattractiveness) in products was not of any specific interest to food products customers. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Yes Please! Foods Company, products and market The trigger for the writing of this thesis has been evaluation of the influence that the design of the Yes Please! Foods soup product packaging may be having in its market performance. Yes Please Foods is Germany based company that entered the chilled organic convenience food German market in 2007. Although belonging to the generally mature food industry, both the organic and convenience sub segments have been growing at an average rate of 12% in the period 2003-2008 in Germany (15). Yes please foods can be considered to be positioned in the Premium priced range of offers within the segment as its Price its on average 33% more expensive than that of the competitors. The company started its operations in the Berlin area and has been enjoying a high growth rate in volumes sold ever since (the actual numbers can not be disclosed in this paper as they are covered by a confidential disclosure agreement). The company is currently planning to expand its operations throughout Germany and is about to close its first round of external financing. Based on the information provided by the company, it is know that the customer profile of this kind of products is that of mid to high educated people, working full time, with above average income and health conscious. It is inferred from the information provided by the company that the product is intended to fulfill the need of high quality healthy food that can be prepared and ready to serve within a short period time frame. The motto of the company portrays this positioning of healthy convenient to prepare food for customers that do not want to spend time in the kitchen as good food for busy people The design of the pot, as explained by the company owner and general manager, Gemma Michalski, was the central part of their strategy to build a company identity and resulted in one of the biggest expenditures incurred during the initial company launching. The design was commissioned to Willimas Myurray Hamm from London which used the artwork of Berlin based illustrator Martin Haake. As explained by Ms Michalski, they were specifically chosen to perform the design task because of their previous record of award winning product designs that resulted in highly successful products in the market. (16) 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Use of conjoint analysis to elicit the importance of attributes in the eyes of the costumers The first part of the field study I am going to conduct has been designed to measure a the potential correlation between price and design in the final willingness to pay expressed by respondents. Also I shall use the results to mesure the relative importance of each, for the whole of respondents and for potential segments I shall identify within the sample of respondents. The technique used, an empirical marketing research using conjoint analysis, was first introduced as an effective marketing tool during 1970s and has been validated as an effective means to identify the most relevant features of product, its key design attributes, and the degree of importance that customers attach to them. (17) The usefulness of the tool is extended by the ability to sort the answers from respondents to some specific criteria which allow eliciting the kind of different features preferred by different segments of consumers within the same market. At the heart of the technique, consumers are asked to rate as per their own preferences a number of different product prototypes that are embedding different features and levels of features. By doing so, the customer is making choices and trade-offs from those multi attribute alternatives based on the overall perceived utility or value of the product under evaluation. The statistical treatment of the data, using a multiple regression model, allows quantifying how much each of the single attributes is affecting the overall value of the entangled set of properties, as it is assumed that consumers have an implicit utility value for every single one of them. The first part of the technique is normally a consumer attitude survey were the general attitudes of the consumer towards the product are collected. One of the main outcomes of this part of the research is to determine which features of the product are relevant for the consumers. The aim of this first part is typically to find out why the products are purchased, which use they make of them and their attitudes toward them. Once the information is collected allows the design teams to elicit which features of the product seem to be more relevant for the customers and allows to potentially determine needs that still unresolved or problems existing with current products in the market. In this thesis I have overcome this phase since this part of the research is aimed at determining which physical features of the product are relevant, whether the focus of this thesis is aimed to the soft values attached to physical appearance. Thus, by assuming that the current most important features of the product for the target customer segment are actually satisfied by all products in the study, I have been able to focus any significance preference in the actual aesthetic value of the product and its potential relationship with the price they would be willing to pay. In order to communicate to respondents that all products evaluated had exactly the same features and were only differing in design and price, the following statement was introducing the questionnaire: The products you are going to see are all soup products. They contain just natural organic ingredients without any conservatives and must be kept in the fridge. The portions are all 500ml Generally, The second part of the conjoint process uses the information gathered to determine the whole set of attributes that define all of the existing products in a market and introduces new ones to test their acceptance by consumers. Also, different levels for each attribute are defined to obtain a meaningful representation of the different ranges within each attribute that are or could be available in the market. In order for the research to be significant, prototypes having different combinations of levels of all attributes have to be created to be ranked in preference by consumers. Typically, and due to the large number of possible permutations of attributes that can be created, a smaller sample is chosen to facilitate the consumer research study. It has been shown that eliminating combinations through an experimental design called orthogonal arrays or through judgment (those that are not possible physically i.e. by cost or conceptually i.e. by design), has no significant effect on the final outcome of the study (18) Since the research to be conducted for this thesis is aimed at identifying any preferred designs for a soup product and potentially monetary value attached to specific product appearances, I have chosen to study two sets of attributes, design comprised by the three levels, picture of natural ingredient, artistic draw and no draw and the attribute price, also with three different levels: â‚ ¬ 1,99, â‚ ¬ 2,49 and â‚ ¬ 2,99. Due to the small number of total possible combinations (32), the empirical survey shall ask respondents to evaluate all possible combinations. The rationale for choosing these type of designs has been based on previous literature on shape and images in food products (Berkowitz) and the need for the actual inclusion of the design of the Yes Please Food product to test its hypothesized perceived value on the design. The third design included no draw has been arbitrarily selected hypothesizing it to be a representative sample of an unaesthetic design. The three price level selected have been chosen on the basis of actual prices of products in the market for the picture of natural ingredient (â‚ ¬2,49) and artistic draw (â‚ ¬2,99) designs, while the third level price has been arbitrarily selected to represent a low price level within that attribute. The third part of the procedure gathers a meaningful sample of the product consumers and asks them to rank the different prototypes (combinations of the different levels of the selected attributes) based on their preferences. The aim of this part is to gather the structure of consumers preferences for different product features. In this part is important to define the question to be asked properly so it collects the opinion on consumers about the perceived value they attach to each specific product proposition. In my research I have chosen the sentence from 1-7 how likely would you be to buy this product at the stated price. One of the benefits of conjoint analysis is that it is able to achieve statistical significance on the results with a relative small sample of respondents. The aim of this research will be to achieve at least 33 respondents in order to be able to make some inferences about the direction of the proportional influence that design has in the final monetary value of the proposed prototype, being that either positive or negative. One of the limitations of my study shall be that the random sample of respondents to the questionnaire shall only be validated as actual consumers of soup products by one of the questions in the demographic profile, do you like soup? that is embedding three possible answers: no, sometimes is ok and love it. It shall be assumed that a positive answer to this question (all possible answers but no) allow to make inferences about their potentiality to be consumers of the product. That limitation is affecting jus this part of the study were the research is trying to elucidate whether design has a relationship with willingness to pay. For the second part where it will be researched the consumers perceptions about intangible attributes of the design, it will be assumed that cultural context and general profile of the respondents is similar to that of the consumers of fresh soups as explained before in the Yes Please Foods product and market chapter of this thesis. A segmentation of the respondents by any kind of useful criteria like demographics, type of usage, attitude towards the products etc will also allow to identify the preferred attributes for each type of customer segment. The final part is the statistical treatment of the results that tries to identify which attributes are preferred by consumers and which are considered to be of more relative importance to them, and thus to the final value of the product proposition. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experiment 7.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Objectives The objectives of the experiments executed were designed to validate and refute previous research about the influence that design have in the purchase decision making process and to elicit specific findings about the design of the soup product of the sponsor company Yes Please! Foods. In the first experiment, the objective is to validate whether a series of qualitative attributes about the product can be inferred from the customer just by looking at the design, specifically the respondents are required to rate each of the three designs as per their perception on how they consider them to be healthy, fresh, of high quality, different and beautiful. One of the objectives of this part of the experiment is to validate the hypothesis that the design of the pot of the Yes Please! Foods soup product has is somehow original that can be clearly differentiated from that of the competitors and that is considered to be an aesthetically pleasant design. Another objective of this part of the research is to validate previous research like that of Berkowitz (9), Bloch (10) and Trueman (6) which asserted that in mature markets, product form is one way to gain consumer notice and achieve a clear product differentiation. By assessing the responses about the attributes quality, freshness and Healthiness, it is pursued to validate the research of Bloch (10) and Nusssbaum (?), which stated that exterior appearance of a product is an important channel to communicate information to consumers, that Product form allows to generate inferences regarding other product attributes. Also this experiment will help to validate the research from Berlkowtiz () which found that natural shapes displayed in the packaging of food products help consumers to make assumptions about the product as being more fresh healthy and of higher quality. Finally I intend to validate the research of Trueman (6) which found that products that are considered to have a good design (which I shall relate to the weight of the responses on the attribute beautiful) are considered to be of superior quality, by checking whether products to be considered beautiful on my research are also considered to be of high quality. The inferences that I will try to make with the results of the second part of the research, a conjoint analysis of 9 different prototypes which result from the combination of three different design styles and three different sets of prices, will be dependent upon the results of the first part. If during the first experiment I am able to proof that some of the three designs are considered to be significantly more beautiful than the others, I shall be able to validate with the results of the second experiment are aligned with the results found by Bloch. Kotler and Nussbaum when they found that given two identical products in terms of features and price, the one with the most beautiful design is preferred by respodents. At the same time I shall try to validate whether a product considered to be more beautiful can command a higher willingness to pay, which is stated in the survey designed as the likeliness to buy the shown product. If that is proven to be the case, I will try to identify the reasons why those customers would be willing to spend more in such product by relating it to their perceptions on the other attributes of the same product, either being the subset of attributes regarding product utility, (higher quality, more natural or more healthy) , the subset of aesthetic attributes (more beautiful, more different) or both. Finally I shall use the results of the second experiment to validate the research of Berkowitz which found that products with natural shapes tend to be considered more natural, and healthy. I shall do this by specifically analyzing the results of one of the chosen designs which portrays a picture of a natural tomato on the label. Also I shall try to refute the findings of the same author which found in previous research that attractive designs where not of any specific interest to consumers in terms of aesthetic appeal. 7.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Methodology 7.2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sample The survey will be send to all recipients of the address domain [emailprotected], for which I expect a random sample of respondents within the employees of ESMT and all recipients of address [emailprotected], for which I expect a random sample of ESMT MBA 2009 students I believe this sample shall be repre