The Influence of Coalhouse Walker Essay Example for Free

The Influence of Coalhouse Walker Essay In literature, one character can impact the entire story and all of its characters. Such is the case with Coalhouse Walker Jr. in E.L. Doctrows Ragtime. His characterization provides insight into race relations in turn-of-the-century America. Many characters react strongly to his mannerisms, as they believe his social standing does not allow for such behavior. Because Coalhouse conducts himself with a sense of pride unusual of African Americans at this point in history, his view of how he should be treated repeatedly come into direct contradiction with others. He, then, represents all African Americans who oppose the expectations many whites have of them. Coalhouse Walker is the most essential character in Ragtime, because he deeply affects the plot and all other characters. Coalhouse most deeply influences Mothers Younger Brother, a young fundamentalist with little objective in life. However, when he joins Coalhouses group of revolutionaries, he feels as if his life contains purpose. This concept creates a dramatic, exalted self-awareness. Younger Brother was, at last, part of a community. However, Mothers Younger Brother ultimately meets his death while pledged in such an idealistic battle. He begins a new way of life, based on Coalhouses ideals, and encounters a rebirth of his soul. However, this new way of life conflicts with that of his parents; thus, he finds it necessary to depart from them and live his life independently. This is all under Coalhouses influence and guidance. Coalhouse Walker has a grave impact on Father and Mother. Initially, Mother is shocked that he does not act like other African-Americans, but more like a Caucasian gentleman. Father, stumped by Coalhouses proud behavior, concludes that he is not conscious of his racial inferiority. Mothers feelings towards her husband begin to deteriorate after this conversation. At a later point, when Coalhouse takes over the firehouse, Father, as usual putting business before family, rushes off to New York City, thus, leaving Mother to fall in love with Tateh. In Ragtime, by E.L. Doctrow, Coalhouse Walker Jr. is the most important character, as he ties together the treads of the novel. It is through Coalhouse that the three different societal groups, the immigrants, the  African-Americans, and the WASPs mingle and interact. Coalhouse also undergoes a rebirth, like Younger Brother, although his is much more dramatic and swift than Tatehs. Coalhouse goes from being a fine upstanding gentleman to a quintessential angry black male as he resorts to violence to resolve his feelings toward society.

A Model Of Consumer Behavior Online

A Model Of Consumer Behavior Online Del Monte operates in a very competitive global food industry. In addition to manufacturing canned fruits and vegetables for human consumption, Del Monte produces pet food such as Gravy Train, 9 Lives, and Meow Mix. Therefore, using market research the company constantly looks for innovative ways to increase its competitive edge. The company also decided to implement social media. Once Del Monte made the decision to deploy social media projects, the company had to decide how best to use social media research to support its diverse product line-in this case dog food. The Solution The basic idea was first to connect and collaborate with dog lovers via social networks. Since the corporate IT department was not equipped to deal with social network research, Del Monte hired Market Tools Inc., a market research firm. With the help of Market Tools Inc., Del Monte began offering an online platform for customers to chat and comment on blog entries about different Del Monte products. Using their propriety software, Market Tools monitors millions of relevant blogs in the blogsphere as well as forums in social networks, in order to identify key ideas and issues that consumers are interested in, analyze them, and then predict consumer behavior trends. To analyze the collected data, Del Monte teamed up with Umbria (a division of J. D. Power and Associates), a pioneer in drawing market intelligence from the online community. Umbria assisted in further analysis of and in profiling the collected information. Such analysis is usually done by using computerized tools such as monitoring consumer interactions, analyzing consumers sentiments, and using social analytics methods (e.g., see Hedin, et al. 2011 and Jayanti 2010). By utilizing social media, Del Monte can conduct market research much more efficiently. The conventional approach was to use questionnaires or focus groups that were expensive and difficult to fill with qualified participants. Using social media, Del Monte can gather much of the same or more qualitative data faster and at a lower price. All that is required now is to monitor customer conversations, collect the data, and analyze the vast amount of information. The software also facilitates subgroup creation, idea generation, and panel creation. The results of the analysis help Del Monte understand its customers and consequently plan its marketing activities, communication strategies, and customer service applications. The results also help evaluate the success of marketing campaigns, how well the business processes accomplished the goals, and better justify proposed new activities. The Experiment Del Monte used the above application first to help improve its dog treat, Snausages Breakfast Bites. For guidance, Del Monte relied on its dog lovers social community. By monitoring customer blogs and by posting questions to customers to stimulate discussions, Del Monte used text analysis methods to investigate the relationship between dogs and their owners. Del Monte concluded that owners of small dogs would be the major purchasers of Snausages Breakfast Bites. The company also found differences due to the age of owners, and discovered other people-dogs relationships. Next, a small sample of the improved dog food was produced and tested in the physical market. As a result of both social media and physical research, the product design decisions were revised. Also, marketing promotions were modified. The product sells better because the dogs love it. Finally, the new approach solidified the community of dog lovers who are happy that their opinions are considered. The Results Product cycle time was reduced by more than 50 percent to only 6 months, and Del Monte was able to develop a better marketing communication strategy. Furthermore, the analysis helped the company better understand customers and their purchasing activities as well as predicting market trends and identifying and anticipating opportunities. Note: Similar research on cat food was conducted in 2012 in an online survey, by Kelton Research, using e-mail invitation and an online survey. For details see Meow Mix (2012). Sources: Compiled from Steel (2008), Greengard (2008), Hedin et al. (2011), Jayanti (2010), Meow Mix (2012), Wikivest (2012), and Market Tools (2008). What we can learnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The opening case illustrates that market research can be useful in a competitive market by providing insights for better product development and marketing strategy. In this case, the company collected data online from its socially-oriented customers. Market Tools Inc. monitored conversations (over 50 millions of them) on blogs and discussion rooms to find the voice of the customers. The collected data were then analyzed. The results of the analysis helped Del Monte improve its dog food and devise new marketing strategies. Market research, as seen in the case, is related to consumer behavior, purchasing decision making, behavioral marketing, and advertising strategies; all these topics are addressed in this chapter. 9.1 Learning About Consumer Behavior Online Companies are operating in an increasingly competitive environment. Therefore, they please customers and influence them to buy their goods and services. Finding and retaining customers are major critical success factors for most businesses, both offline and online. One of the key elements in building effective customer relationships is an understanding of consumer shopping behavior online. A Model of Consumer Behavior Online For decades, market researchers have tried to understand consumer shopping behavior, and have summarized their findings in various models. The purpose of a consumer behavior model is to help vendors understand how a consumer makes a purchasing decision. If a firm understands the decision process, it may be able to better influence the buyers decision, for example, through advertising or special promotions. Before examining the consumer behavior models variables, lets describe who the EC consumers are. Online consumers can be divided into two types: individual consumers (who get much of the media attention) and organizational buyers, who do most of the actual shopping in cyberspace in terms of dollar volume of sales. Organizational buyers include governments, private corporations, resellers, and nonprofit organizations. Purchases by organizational buyers are generally used to add value to materials or products. Also, organizational buyers may purchase products for resale without any further modifications. We discuss organizational purchasing in detail in Chapter 5 (e-procurement) and will focus on individual consumers in this chapter. The purpose of a consumer behavior model (for individuals) is to show factors that affect consumer behavior. Exhibit 9.1 shows the basic elements of a consumer behavior model. The model is composed of two major parts: influential factors and the consumer decision process. [Insert Exhibit 9.1 here] Æ’ËÅ" Influential factors. Five dimensions are considered to affect consumer behavior. They are consumer characteristics, environmental characteristics, merchant and intermediary characteristics (which are at the top of the exhibit and are considered uncontrollable from the sellers point of view), product/service characteristics (which include market stimuli), and EC systems. The last two are mostly controlled by the sellers. Exhibit 9.1 illustrates the major variables in each influential dimension. A more detailed description is provided in Online File W9.1. Æ’ËÅ" The attitude-behavior decision process. The consumer decision process usually starts with a positive attitude and ends with the buyers decision to purchase and/or repurchase. A favorable attitude would lead to a stronger buying intention, which in turn would result in the actual buying behavior. Previous research has shown that the linkages among the previously mentioned three constructs are quite strong. For example, Ranganathan and Jha (2007) found that past online shopping experiences have the strongest associations with online purchase intention, followed by customer concerns, website quality, and computer self-efficacy. Therefore, developing a positive consumer attitude plays a central role in the final purchase decision. The Major Influential Factors These factors fall into the following categories: Personal characteristics. Personal characteristics, which are shown in the top-left portion of Exhibit 9.1, refer to demographic factors, individual preferences, and behavioral characteristics. Several websites provide information on customer buying habits online (e.g., emarketer.com, clickz.com, and comscore.com). The major demographics that such sites track are gender, age, marital status, educational level, ethnicity, occupation, and household income, which can be correlated with Internet usage and EC data. Males and females have been found to perceive information differently depending on their levels of purchase confidence and internal knowledge (Barber et al. 2009). A recent survey by Crespo and Bosque (2010) shows that shopping experience has a significant effect on consumer attitude and intention to purchase online. Psychological variables such as personality and lifestyle characteristics are also studied by marketers. These variables are briefly mentioned in several places throughout the text. The reader who is interested in the impact of lifestyle differences on online shopping may see Wang et al. (2006). Product/service factors. The second group of factors is related to the product/service itself. Whether a consumer decides to buy is affected by the nature of the product/service in the transaction. These may include the price, quality, design, brand, and other related attributes of the product. Merchant and intermediary factors. Online transactions may also be affected by the merchant that provides the product/service. This group of factors includes merchant reputation, size of transaction, trust in the merchant, and so on. For example, people feel more secure when they purchase from Amazon.com (due to its reputation) than from a no-name seller. Other factors such as marketing strategy and advertising can also play a major role. EC systems. The EC platform for online transactions (e.g., security protection, payment mechanism, and so forth) offered by the merchant may also have effects. EC design factors can be divided into motivational and hygiene factors. Motivational factors were found to be more important than hygiene factors in attracting online customers (Liang and Lai 2002). Perceived usability is highly related to user preference for commercial websites (Lee and Koubek 2010). Motivational factors. Motivational factors are the functions available on the website to provide direct support in the transactional process (e.g., search engine, shopping carts, multiple payment methods). Hygiene factors. Hygiene factors are functions available on the website whose main purpose is to prevent possible trouble in the process (e.g., security and product status tracking). Environmental factors. The environment in which a transaction occurs may affect a consumers purchase decision. As shown in Exhibit 8.1, environmental variables can be grouped into the following categories: Social variables. People are influenced by family members, friends, coworkers, and whats in fashion this year. Therefore, social variables (such as customer endorsement, word-of-mouth) play an important role in EC. Of special importance in EC are Internet communities (see Chapter 7) and discussion groups, in which people communicate via chat rooms, electronic bulletin boards, twitting, and newsgroups. These topics are discussed in various places in the text. Cultural/community variables. It makes a big difference in what people buy if a consumer lives near Silicon Valley in California or in the mountains in Nepal. Chinese shoppers may differ from French shoppers, and rural shoppers may differ from urban ones. Other environmental variables. These include aspects such as available information, government regulations, legal constraints, and situational factors. [Comp: please shade the bullet list] Section 9.1 Ã… ¸ Review Questions 1. Describe the major components and structure of the consumer online purchasing behavior model. 2. List some major personal characteristics that influence consumer behavior. 3. List the major environmental variables of the purchasing environment. 4. List and describe five major merchant-related variables. 5. Describe the relationships among attitude, intention, and actual behavior in the behavior process model. 9.2 The Consumer Purchasing Decision-Making Process Consumer behavior is a major element in the process of consumers decisions to purchase or repurchase. A Generic Purchasing-Decision Model From the consumers perspective, a general purchasing-decision model consists of five major phases (Hawkins and Mothersbaugh 2010). In each phase, we can distinguish several activities and, in some, one or more decisions. The five phases are (1) need identification, (2) information search, (3) evaluation of alternatives, (4) purchase and delivery, and (5) postpurchase activities. Although these phases offer a general guide to the consumer decision-making process, one should not assume that every consumers decision-making process will necessarily proceed in this order. In fact, some consumers may proceed to a specific phase and then revert to a previous phase, or they may skip a phase altogether. The phases are discussed in more details next. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Need identification. The first phase occurs when a consumer is faced with an imbalance between the actual and the desired states of a need. A marketers goal is to get the consumer to recognize such imbalance and then convince the consumer that the product or service the seller offers will fill this gap. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Information search. After identifying the need, the consumer searches for information on the various alternatives available to satisfy the need. Here, we differentiate between two decisions: what product to buy (product brokering) and from whom to buy it (merchant brokering). These two decisions can be separate or combined. In the consumers search for information, catalogs, advertising, promotions, and reference groups could influence decision making. During this phase, online product search and comparison engines, see examples at shopping.com, buyersindex.com, and mysimon.com, can be very helpful. (See decision aids in Chapter 3.) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Evaluation of Alternatives. The consumers information search will eventually generate a smaller set of preferred alternatives. From this set, the would-be buyer will further evaluate the alternatives and, if possible, negotiate terms. In this phase, a consumer will use the collected information to develop a set of criteria. These criteria will help the consumer evaluate and compare alternatives. For online consumers, the activities may include evaluation of product prices and features. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Purchase and delivery. After evaluating the alternatives, the consumer will make the purchasing decision, arrange payment and delivery, purchase warranties, and so on. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Postpurchase activities. The final phase is a postpurchase phase, which consists of customer service and evaluation of the usefulness of the product. Customer services and consumer satisfaction will result in positive experience and word-of-mouth (e.g., This product is really great! or We really received good service when we had problems.). If the customer is satisfied with the product and services, loyalty will increase and repeat purchases will occur afterward. [Comp: please shade the bullet list] Several other purchasing-decision models have been proposed. A classic (1925) model for describing consumer message processing is the Attention-Interest-Desire-Action (AIDA) model at Wikipedia (see AIDA at Wikipedia). It argues that consumer processing of an advertising message (part of the information search phase) includes the following four stages: 1. A-Attention (Awareness). The first step is to get the customers attention. 2. I-Interest. By demonstrating features, advantages, and benefits, the customer becomes interested in the product. 3. D-Desire. Convice the customers that they want the product or service and that it will suit their needs. 4. A-Action. Finally, the consumer will take action toward purchasing. Now, some researchers also add another letter to form AIDA(S), where: 5. S-Satisfaction. Customer satisfaction will generate higher loyalty and lead to repurchase after using a product/service. (Loyalty, satisfaction, and trust are discussed in Online File W9.2.) A recent version of AIDA is the AISAS model proposed by the Dentsu Group that is tailored to online behavior. The model replaces decision with search and adds share to show the increased word-of-mouth effect on the Internet. It indicates that consumers go through a process of Attention-Interest-Search-Action-Share in their online decision process. This model is particularly suitable for social commerce. Customer Decision Support in Web Purchasing The preceding generic purchasing-decision model was widely used in research on consumer-based EC. In the Web-based environment, decision support is available in each phase. The framework that is illustrated in Online File W9.3 shows that each of the phases of the purchasing model, which were described earlier, can be supported by both a consumer decision support system (CDSS) that facilitates the process and Internet and Web-aiding facilities. The CDSS facilities support the specific decisions in the process. Generic EC technologies and analytics provide the necessary mechanisms as well as enhanced communication and collaboration tools. Specific implementation of this framework and explanations of some of the terms are provided throughout this chapter and the entire text. The planner of B2C marketing needs to consider the Web purchasing models in order to better influence the customers decision-making process (e.g., by effective one-to-one advertising and marketing). [Insert Exhibit 9.2 here] Online File W9.1 shows a model for a website that supports buyer searching and decision making. This model revises the generic model by describing a purchasing framework. The model is divided into three parts. The first includes three stages of buyer behavior (see top of exhibit): identify and manage buying criteria, search for products and merchants, and compare alternatives. Below these activities are boxes with decision support options that support the three top boxes (such as product representation).. The second part of the model (on the right) has a box that includes price, financial terms, shipping and warranty negotiations. These become relevant when alternatives are compared. The third part at the bottom of the exhibit, major concerns are cited. Players in the Consumer Decision Process Several different people may play roles in various phases of the consumer decision process. The following are five major roles: 1. Initiator. The person who first suggests or thinks of the idea of buying a particular product or service. 2. Influencer. A person whose advice or view carries some weight in making a final purchasing decision. 3. Decider. The person who ultimately makes a buying decision or any part of it-whether to buy, what to buy, how to buy, or where to buy. 4. Buyer. The person who makes an actual purchase. 5. User. The person who consumes or uses a product or service. [Comp: please shade the number list] A single person may play all the roles if the product or service is for personal use. In this case, the marketer needs to understand and target such individuals. In many situations, however, different people may play different roles. For example, a newly graduated engineer proposed to buy a car for his mother, which was followed by suggestions from his father and friends. Finally, he followed his fathers suggestion to buy the car. When more than one individual comes into play, it becomes more difficult to properly target advertising and marketing. Different marketing efforts may be designed to target people who are playing different roles. Section 9.2 Ã… ¸ Review Questions 1. List the five phases of the generic purchasing-decision model. 2. Use an example to explain the five phases in the generic purchasing-decision model. 3. Describe the supporting functions available in Web-based purchasing. 4. Describe AIDA and AISAS models and analyze their differences in illustrating an online purchasing behavior. 5. Describe the major players in a purchasing decision. 9.3 LOYALTY, SATISFACTION, AND TRUST IN E-COMMERCE Good online marketing activity can generate positive effects, which are generally observed as trust, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. Loyalty is the goal of marketing, while trust and customer satisfaction are factors that may affect customer loyalty. CUSTOMER LOYALTY One of the major objectives of marketing is to increase customer loyalty (recall the Netflix case). Customer loyalty refers to a deep commitment to repurchase or repatronize a preferred product/service continually in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts that have the potential to cause switching behavior. Customer acquisition and retention is a critical success factor in e-tailing. The expense of acquiring a new customer can be more than $100; even for Amazon.com, which has a huge reach, it is more than $15. In contrast, the cost of maintaining an existing customer at Amazon.com is $2 to $4. Attracting and retaining loyal customers remains the most important issue for any selling company, including e-tailers. Increased customer loyalty can result in cost savings to a company in various ways: lower marketing and advertising costs, lower transaction costs, lower customer turnover expenses, lower failure costs such as warranty claims, and so on. Customer loyalty also strengthens a companys market position because loyal customers are kept away from the competition. In addition, customer loyalty can lead to high resistance to competitors, a decrease in price sensitivity, and an increase in favorable word of mouth. Loyalty programs were introduced more than 100 years ago and are widely used among airlines, retailers, hotel chains, banks, casinos, car rentals, restaurants, and credit card companies. But now, loyalty programs have been computerized and expanded to all kinds of businesses. For example, Octopus Hong Kong (octopuscards.com), a stored-value card operator, launched a reward program for consumers aimed at increasing card usage across Hong Kong. Reward points are gained by purchasing at a number of leading merchants across the territory, including Wellcome, Watsons, UA Cinemas, and McDonalds. Each Octopus card can store up to 1,000 rewards points, which can be redeemed on the next purchase. FANCL, see the company atfancl.com, a Japanese cosmetics and health-care company, offers the FANCL point program where consumers earn FANCL points that are saved for gift redemption. However, the introduction of Internet technologies and social networking has the potential to undermine brands and discourage customer loyalty. The customers ability to shop, compare, get quick advice from friends, and switch to different vendors becomes easier, faster, and less expensive, given the aid of search engines and other technologies. Furthermore, customers are less loyal to the brand because of the lower switching costs for them to take advantage of special online offers and promotions, as well as to try new things. It is interesting to note that companies have found that loyal customers end up buying more when they have an optional website from which to shop. For example, W.W. Grainger, a large industrial-supply company, found that loyal B2B customers increased their purchases substantially when they began using Graingers website (grainger.com). (See Chapter 4 for more information.) Also, loyal customers may refer other customers to a site, especially with word of mouth in social networks. Therefore, it is important for EC companies to increase customer loyalty. The Web offers ample opportunities to do so. E-Loyalty E-loyalty refers to a customers loyalty to an e-tailer or a manufacturer that sells directly online, or to loyalty programs delivered online or supported electronically. Companies can foster e-loyalty by learning about their customers needs, interacting with customers, and providing superb customer service. Another source of information is colloquy.com, which concentrates on loyalty marketing. In an online environment, merchant ratings can be the source of interpersonal communication and are obtained from other consumers, not just friends and family. It is interesting to note that positive customer reviews have considerable impact on repurchase intention. It is not the total number of reviews that influences customer repurchase intention, but the percentage of positive reviews. This increases e-loyalty. (For reviews and recommendations in social networks, see Chapter 7.) Also, online ratings and word of mouth may undermine the effects of competitors low prices. For example, Amazon.com has higher prices than Half.com, but Amazon.com is still preferred by many customers. The difference is that Amazon.com has customer reviews and other personalization services, and Half.com does not. Many factors may affect customer loyalty and e-loyalty. A typical model is to check the relationship quality between retailers and their customers, which often is composed of trust, satisfaction, and commitment. Satisfaction and trust are particularly important because they will lead to commitment. For example, a recent study by Cyr (2008) found that e-loyalty is affected by trust and satisfaction across different cultures. Hence, we shall further discuss these two factors. SATISFACTION IN EC Satisfaction is one of the most important success measures in the B2C online environment. Customer satisfaction is associated with several key outcomes (e.g., repeat purchase, positive word of mouth, and so on) and it can lead to higher customer loyalty. A survey indicates that 80 percent of highly satisfied online consumers would shop again within two months, and 90 percent would recommend Internet retailers to others. However, 87 percent of dissatisfied consumers would permanently leave their Internet retailers without any complaints (Cheung and Lee 2005). Satisfaction has received considerable attention in studies of consumer-based EC. For example, ForeSee Results, an online customer satisfaction measurement company, developed the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) (theasci.org) for measuring customer satisfaction with EC. The Customer Respect Group (customerrespect.com) also provides an index to measure customers online experiences. The Customer Respect Index (CRI) includes the following components: simplicity, responsiveness, transparency, principles, attitude, and privacy. Researchers have proposed several models to explain the formation of satisfaction with online shopping. For example, Cheung and Lee (2005) proposed a framework for consumer satisfaction with Internet shopping by correlating the end-user satisfaction perspective with the service quality viewpoint. The framework is shown in Exhibit 9.3. The ability to predict consumer satisfaction can be useful in designing websites as well as advertising and marketing strategies. However, website designers should also pay attention to the nature of website features including navigational, visual, and information design (Cyr 2008). Different features have different impacts on customer (dis)satisfaction. If certain website features, such as reliability of content, loading speed, and usefulness fail to perform properly, customer satisfaction will drop dramatically. In contrast, if features such as those make the usage enjoyable, entertaining, and useful, they could result in a significant jump in customer satisfaction. [Insert Exhibit 9.3 here] Factors that Affect Consumer Satisfaction with Internet Shopping TRUST IN EC Trust is the psychological status of depending on another person or organization to achieve a planned goal. When people trust each other, they have confidence that their transaction partners will keep their promises. However, both parties in a transaction assume some risk. In the electronic marketplace, sellers and buyers do not meet face to face. The buyer can see a picture of the product but not the product itself. Promises of quality and delivery time can be easily made-but will they be kept? To deal with these issues, EC vendors need to establish high levels of trust with current and potential customers. Trust is particularly important in global EC transactions due to the difficulty of taking legal action in cases of a dispute or fraud and the potential for conflicts caused by differences in culture and business environments. In addition to sellers and buyers trusting each other, both must have trust in the EC computing environment and in the EC infrastructure. For example, if people do not trust the security of the EC infrastructure, they will not feel comfortable about using credit cards to make EC purchases. EC Trust Models Trust in e-commerce is often called online trust. Several models have been put forth to explain the factors that may affect online trust. For example, Lee and Turban (2001) examined the various aspects of EC trust and developed the model shown in Online File W9.2. According to this model, the level of trust is determined by numerous variables (factors) shown on the left side and in the middle of the exhibit. The exhibit illustrates the complexity of trust relationships, especially in B2C EC. [Enter Exhibit 9.4 here] EC Trust Model A newer model expands previous ones to include internal and external factors. Internal factors are directly related to online services provided by the vendor, and external factors are those that have indirect relationships (Salo and Karjaluoto 2007). How to Increase Trust in EC Consumer trust is fundamental to successful online retailing; it is considered the currency of the Internet. The following are representative strategies for building consumer trust in EC. Improve Your Website. The most important factor that affects online trust is the quality of the website. Cyr (2008) found that the navigational, visual, and information design of a website affect consumer trust. Gregg and Walczak (2010) reported a positive relationship between website quality and trust. Higher perceived website quality induces higher trust and price premium based on a survey of 701 eBay users. Therefore, how to design the EC website that delivers high-quality information and navigational experience

Runway And Terminal 6 Developments Engineering Essay

Runway And Terminal 6 Developments Engineering Essay The problem that I have decided to research and gather a greater understanding of, is the expansion of Heathrow. This is a greatly debated topic at the moment, and something that comes under scrutiney from numerous people and parties. If this work is successful it would show people that real issues surrounding the very controversial expansion, and the solutions that the expansion will solve, and the new ones that it will create. The problem I am looking at is the likely impacts of Heathrows 3rd runway and terminal 6 developments. I am going to be looking specifically at the environmental, economic and social problems caused by the possible expansion. For my research, I looked at recent news articles, websites and documents released by the government, and other organizations that look into developments like this. I think that the answer that I found with this research was that the airport should not be allowed to expand, however, Stansted airport should. The answer that I have come up with is potentially possible. Assess the likely impacts of Heathrows 3rd runway and Terminal 6 developments. On the 16th December 2003, the British Government announced its intentions for the future of air travel in the UK. This included the 3rd runway at Heathrow, as well as the 6th Terminal. There has been considerable opposition to this development, especially from Environmental Groups, such as Greenpeace. This essay will assess the likely environmental, social and economic impacts of having the third runway, and whether some of the current imapcts of the airport will be resolved. Heathrow is the UKs biggest and busiest airport. It is also one of the busiest airports in the world. It is located in the Hillingdon Borough of London. The airport is about 14 miles west of Central London. The airport has very good access with two main roads near it, these being the M4 and the M5.  [1]   From the maps, we can see the airport is located to the west of the city. As the airport has East-West runways, there are tighter operating restrictions on when planes can arrive and depart. Most of the major European airports, such as Amsterdam and Charles-de-Gaulle, are located North of South of their respective cities. Amsterdam has runways in 5 different directions, meaning that planes can arrive and depart at most times of the day without disturbing anybody. Charles-de-Gaulle has East-West runways, but can operate more freely as there is no city in its way. These airports do not run the risk of arrivals and departures over peoples house at unsociable times. Heathrow has to clamp down its operations during the night so as not to disturb nearby residents. Heathrow is operating at about 99% capacity, while Amsterdam and Charles-de-Gaulle are operating at about 70% capacity. As both these airports have at least double the current number of runways at Heathrow, they are airports that could start taking business away from Heathrow and the UK.  [2]   The government issued some strict policies for the 3rd runway. Firstly, the third runway will operate at half its capacity when it opens, (scheduled in 2020), raising the total number of flights at Heathrow from 480,000 to 600,000 rather than the 702,000 that was inteded. Secondly, the total carbon emissions from UK aviation must fall below 2005 levels by 2050. And finally, aircraft using the third runway will have to meet strict greenhouse gas emissions standards. This is the toughest climate challenge for aviation in any country in the world.  [3]   There are numerous impacts that the 3rd runway and the Terminal 6 developments could have. I have broken these down into environmental, economical and sociable reasons. The environment could be hit hard by the 3rd runway and Terminal 6 developments. Firstly, surface runoff will be increased. Surface runoff occurs when the ground cannot soak up any more water, and the excess water ends up flowing across the top of the ground. At Heathrow, this problem will be escalated by the high amount of impenetrable surfaces, such as concrete and tarmac. This extra surface runoff could cause flooding, or depending on where it is directed (if at all), it could make the drainage system fill with silt. Flooding could then become a bigger problem, or, depending on the drainage system type, erosion could occur. The erosion would be more noticeable on a natural drain, such as a river or stream. Airports use large amounts of aviation fuel and, in the winter, large amounts of de-icing fluid. This, if ending up on the ground, could get into a water source, and start contaminating water. A problem noticed at airports other than Heathrow, such as airports in countries with a colder climate and that are more prone to snow and icy conditions, would be fluids ending up in the snow. They are not visible to the naked eye, but when the snow starts melting, they become a big problem, as they usually enter a water source through surface runoff. For Heathrows latest terminal building (Terminal 5), they have designed a SWOT system. SWOT stands for storm water outfall tunnel. All surface runoff water is pumped into a specially built reservoir, 2 kms away from the airport. Before the water is allowed into the reservoir, it is thoroughly cleaned. The system is helping to reduce the environmental impact of the airport as well. Some of the cleaned water is pumped back to Terminal 5 and used in the heating system and in toilet flushing.  [4]   The lack of vegetation will mean that there is more soil infiltration taking place. Water will be absorbed quicker into the soil, which means that it will become more saturated in a smaller amount of time. This means that surface runoff may be a bigger problem at the airport when it rains. The extra runway and terminal will cause lots of extra congestion around London. This is enhanced by the airports location on the M4, and very close to the M4/M25 intersection. Any accidents in and around the airport will have a knock on effect on the surrounding roads. If people are sitting in queues, then they are using fuel without moving anywhere. The increased passenger numbers through the airport will increase pollution from cars as people will have to get to the airport. Planes will still leave the airport at their scheduled time, whether passengers are onboard or not. This means that planes are still polluting the atmosphere, but with less people on board, and the people that are not on board, are still polluting the atmosphere by being in queues. After the construction phase of the airport, any habitats that have not already been destroyed will be severely affected. The surface runoff could temporarily destroy habitats. A lack of wildlife in the area would look bad on the airport, as airports try to encourage some sort of wildlife into the area. However, birds and planes do not mix very well, as was proved on 15th January 2009, with the River Hudson plane crash.  [5]  The airport would have a lack of vegetation around it, apart from grass, and a lack of vegetation reduces humidity. A lack of humidity may cause animals to leave the area. Figure Noise pollution will become another major issue. The animals around the airport eventually get used to the noise. Humans living around the airport have to get used to the sound of the airport, but they are never satisfied, despite the lower and lower noise regulations. Figure 1 shows the current (2008) noise levels (in decibels) around the airport.  [6]   Figure 2 Figure 2 shows the predicted noise levels in 2030, again measured in decibels. As you can see, the 57 decibel mark has moved much closer to the airport. This is due to planes becoming more powerful, and quieter. This means that they can climb higher out of the built up areas. When the plane is higher, the sound of the ground is reduced, and something that is good for the environment would be that the higher a plane goes, generally, the less fuel that is uses.  [7]   Figure 3Figure 3 shows the 57 decibel mark around the airport in 2030. This map has the added feature of showing the average daily usage of each projected departure route. The 3rd runway predicted departure routes do not merge with the existing runway depature routes, this could be due to the runway only serving short haul destinations.  [8]   Figure 4The use of bigger planes, such as the Airbus A380 will help the surrounding area. This plane can carry up to 800 people, with a 1000 people varient on the way. Encouraging the use of larger aircraft could be one way that Heathrow reduces its damaging effects on the environment. At the moment, Heathrow is cutting back on noise levels. However, this has been done by not letting older planes use the airport. The effects of the noise levels being cut down are slowing, however, as there are a very limited number of older planes that use the airport. Night flights have also been reduced, and there are only a number of planes that are allowed to land at night, due to noise restrictions. http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44365000/gif/_44365809_heathrow_flight_paths416.gif Figure 4 shows the holding stacks used by Heathrow. These are currently situated at Bovingdon, Lambourne, Ockham and Biggin. The holding stacks are used to hold planes while they wait in line for their landing slot. With a 3rd runway only to be used for short haul flights, and at half capacity (initially), the airport could make use of the runway to get planes on the ground quicker. This means that planes are flying for less time, saving fuel and reducing pollution. This will obviously help the environment. At the end of a long haul flight, the aircraft weighs about the same as a plane that is about to start a short haul flight. As landing distances are always shorter than take off distances, the 3rd runway could be used to help get planes on the ground. It should be pointed out that the diagram is for the current two runway layout that the airport already possesses. This does not take into account any holding stacks that could be made by the new runway, or holding stacks that have to be moved or made nonexistent for the future. The airport could end up with its own microclimate due to the darker surfaces absorbing heat and releasing it slowly throughout the day. This could make the temperatures at the airport 1-2 °C warmer. As the air is warmer, it will be able to hold more moisture. Warm air rises until it reaches the dew point, and then it will start to form clouds. The clouds will eventually release the moisture as rain. The airport could be wetter by between 5 and 10%. The pollution around the airport will increase the effect of the clouds, as raindrops form around pollution. At the airport, there would be lots of pollution, and so lots of rain will be forming here. There will be less humidity around the airport (as mentioned earlier, due to the lack of vegetation). Even though there will be more rain, the airport will be hotter, so the moisture will be evaporated quicker. And as the prevailing wind direction is from the west, the clouds and rain could be moved over the main city of London. In microclimates, sometimes the wind is altered. At Heathrow, it depends on where you are, as to how the wind has been altered. The prevailing wind direction is from the west (heading east). A lot of the buildings at the airport are North-South facing (even more so when Terminal East is built), and so you will be protected from the wind more when you are between these buildings. There are going to be numerous social impacts of the airport being expanded. The residents of the area that Heathrow most directly affects (West London) are going to have noticeable impacts on their day to day life if/when the third runway are built. Firstly, the airport will be busier, meaning that the noise from the airport will start earlier, and may also be louder. The airport has a policy that no planes should land before 5 am, unless it is an emergency, however, British Airways have a flight from Honk Kong that lands at 4:30 am every morning.  [9]  This disrupts residents, and as a result, many suffer from lack of sleep. The sound from the planes taking off is heard all day long. Even in the areas that are not classed as noise affected, the plane noise is very loud, and pretty much constant. Residents complain that after one plane has gone out of ear shot, another plane enters, and the cycle starts all over again. Some residents health is going to be affected by the airport expansion, mainly because air pollution will increase. Asthma in young children is severely affected by air pollution. Apparently, Heathrow already breaks the EU regulations on nitrous oxide. Even more flights would mean that the levels of this gas would be greater than ever before. A lot of efforts to make airport noise quieter normally mean that more nitrous oxide is produced. Sipson, a village near the airport would have to be cleared for this 3rd runway. The village would lose about 700 homes, a church and eight grade II listed buildings and graveyard would have to be bulldozed to make way for the new transport links. The noise levels from the airport would be greater as there would be more flights. BAA has said that the noise levels would not exceed 2002 noise levels. However, in 2002, Concorde was still operational. The noise from just one Concorde flight every 4 hours is the equivalent of 120 flights, one every two minutes, spread of the same time period. Also, with the noise pollution, the diagram on page 3, showing the 57 decibel mark is a true diagram. However, noise annoyance does start at around 50 decibels. There are only 258,000 people living within the 57 decibel mark region, but there are over 2 million people living in the 50 decibel area.  [10]   Lastly, there are going to be economical impacts to do with the expansion. The government have outlined some figures on what the runway will bring to the economy, and what it will cost the economy. The figures are shown below: Generated user benefit + £9 Billion Producer benefit + £5 Billion Government revenue + £3 Billion Climate costs - £4.8 Billion Building costs - £6.8-7.6 Billion Tourism An undecided positive amount Other costs/benifits - £0.3 Billion Total net economic benefit + £5.1-5.9 Billion The terms in the above table are defined as: The Generated user benefits are the economic benefits to future passengers who will be taking a flight in the future, when flying is cheaper. The flying will be cheaper, as the more capacity an airport has, the cheaper the flights. The Producer Benefit and Government Revenue figures are benefits due to the extra revenue that the airports operators gain and the greater tax revenue the government gets, due to greater passenger numbers. Climate costs are an estimation of the cost of the damage caused by the additional emissions from the extra aircraft using Heathrow. Building costs are the estimated building costs of building the 3rd runway, and the extra infrastructure that it needs. Other costs and benefits are estimations of the damage caused by the extra noise pollution, and other costs that may not be documented. Tourism costs are a figure that is harder to define, mainly because the extra runway could be used in two ways. Tourists could come to the UK and boost the economy over he re, or people from Britain could be going abroad on holiday, meaning they boost the economy of other countries.  [11]   Figures of about  £30 Billion over 60 years have been forecasted, however, the initial figure has been released of around  £5.5 Billion over 60 years. BAA (the airport owner) has said that the runway could be worth as much as  £7 Billion a year. This is due to the current economic climate and the growth of air travel at the moment. When we come out of the recession, this figure will no doubt be massively increased. The extra money that would be created due to the runway would not be directly associated with the airport. The runway would create extra jobs, and mean that London becomes an even bigger international business location. The 6th Terminal has not been mentioned in these prices, but more jobs would be created in the process of this terminal being built, and being made operational. The airport would have to employ more staff to keep the Terminal functioning properly. The runway would manage to reduce delays and increase the frequency of flights. This means that people could be more productive (especially business people) as they would not be travelling for as long to foreign destinations. The average cost of a minute delay in a plane is  £23.40 (In 2005 prices). Taking into account the average plane delay time at Heathrow in 2005 and the cost of a delay, the total cost of delays to all the airlines operating at Heathrow was estimated to be more than  £185 million. The 3rd runway should help to reduce delays, meaning that money is not going to be spent on delayed planes. It should be mentioned here, that not all flights are delayed due to airport capacity. Sometimes passengers do not turn up for their flights, and their luggage needs to be unloaded, adding to the departure time, and effectively delaying planes. The weather can also mean that planes are delayed. Sometimes, airports are closed due to the weather. However, Heathrow airport is rar ely closed due to the weather. Destinations within the UK would be more easily accessible as well. The new runway and Terminal may allow extra destinations to be reached by the airport, reducing the need for transfers at airports outside of the UK. The delays in the runway being built are losing the UK economy an estimated  £900 million to  £1.1 billion each year.  [12]  This is a serious amount of money, and in the current economic climate (3rd quarter of 2009), could be money that would really help to boost the economy within the UK. This money would mostly be spent on jobs and tax meaning that many unemployed people in London and the surrounding area would find direct employment with the airport, and people further afield would be able to find jobs to do with the airport, but not necessarily at the airport. There are other alternatives to expanding the airport. These would eradicate the problems associated with the current site of the airport, and they would also enable the UK to increase its airport capacity. The new sites that have been considered include an airport in the Thames Estuary, Maplin sands, near Southend-on-sea in Essex and expanding Stansted. The planning and evaluation stage of Maplin sands didnt get going as there was a lack of public money for this project. Expanding Stansted airport has been another option that has been deeply explored. If Stansted had two runways, then it would have a higher passenger capacity per year than Heathrow does. Also, it would be able to have flights going during more hours of the day than Heathrow does, due to the operating restrictions surrounding each individual airport. There are plans for Stansted to have up to 4 runways, considerably increasing its passenger capacity, and making it the busiest airport in the world. The airport in the Thames Estuary would have virtually all its flights leaving over the North Sea, meaning that noise pollution would not affect anybody and the airports actions would have minimal impact on people if the airport was built in the estuary. Since the 1960s, 13 major cities have moved their main airports from inside the cities to the outskirts of the cities. These include Paris, Milan and New York. The most recent and noticeable airport move would be Hong Kong International airport. The government spent 6 years and $20 Billion on construction of an artificial island for the airport, building the new airport, and linking the airport to the city with a high speed bullet train. The main reasons for not moving Heathrow would be the money issues. The expansion has already had  £65 million spent on it, and the spending has to come to a stop. This is because the Labour party are the only party that are pushing forward for the expansion and there is not much point spending any more money if the airport will not be allowed to expand under a new government. If the government decide to move the airport, building the 6th terminal and 3rd runway would have been a waste of time and money. In conclusion, therefore, the Heathrow expansion does have numerous problems surrounding it. Some problems that the current airport has are solved, but these solutions mean that more problems will be caused. Some of the solutions for the airport as a whole are very promising, such as building a new airport, or expanding Stansted. However, these will inevitably bring new problems. In my opinion, the airport should not be closed down, nor should it be expanded. They should simply finish building the current Terminal East, and leave the airport as it is. Stansted should then be expanded and some of Heathrows daily flights moved there. Heathrow airport would then be able to carry on as it was, without having any extra problems created. As BAA own Stansted anyway, they would still be getting a greater income, but without having to expand Heathrow. There are lots of questions surrounding the expansion of Heathrow airport, and in my opinion, I do not think that the expansion should go ahead . The problems that it would solve would not counteract the problems that would be created.

Oedipus The King :: Oedipus Rex, Sophocles

Oedipus The King; Did the prophecy cause his destiny?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Undoubtedly there has been a tremendous amount of speculation and dissection of this play by countless people throughout the ages. I can only draw my own conclusions as to what Sophocles intended the meaning of his play to be. The drama included a number of horrific and unthinkable moral and ethical dilemas, but I believe that was what made the play so interesting and that is exactly the way Sophocles intended it to be. The play was obviously meant to entertain and portray the author’s own insight. The underlying theme to the play is that no man should know his own destiny, it will become his undoing. This knowledge of things to come was presented to both Laius and Oedipus in the form of prophecies well in advance of it coming to be. The prophecies told of things that were so morally disturbing that they both aggressively did everything in their power to try and stop them from coming true. The story begins with Oedipus at the height of power as King of Theb es. His kingdom has encountered rough times and he has sent his nobleman Creon to seek help from the god Apollo to restore his land. Creon tells Oedipus that he must find the murderer of the previous King Laius and by finding this man and banishing him, his land will be restored. The murder occurred some time ago and King Oedipus sends for the seer Theiresias with his powers of prophecy to aid in the search for the murderer. Sophocles cleverly projects his feelings on wisdom and knowledge through Teirsias when he says â€Å"Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that’s wise!†(23) Teirsias knows that this terrible prophecy has already been set into motion and the damage has already been done. There is really no point in telling it to Oedipus because it will only cause more harm than good. Oedipus provokes Teirsias into telling him the prophecy, â€Å" à  tell you, king, this man, this murderer-he is here. In name he is a stranger among citiz ens but soon he will be shown to be a citizen true native Theban, and he’ll have no joy of the discovery: blindness for sight and beggary for riches his exchange, he shall go journeying to a foreign country tapping his way befor him with a stick.

Ethics Of Cheating Essay -- essays research papers

Cheaters Never Win, Oh wait they do†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦they’re Cheaters Cheating is defined in the dictionary as, to deceive by trickery; swindle, however the dictionary fails to tell you if it is right or wrong to cheat. People have many different beliefs when it comes to cheating; some think its fine to do while others completely disapprove. I intend to show the different beliefs, from different perspectives of people, and also intend on proving which beliefs have the strongest and weakest arguments. An ethical egoist could argue that we have an obligation to cheat. Ethical egoists maintain the belief that we should act selfishly. We should do things that we believe in our self-interest, which is our own genuine interest. Egoist would cheat to benefit themselves, they believe that their own interest receives much more weight than everyone else’s interest. Egoist realize that we are solely responsible for their own lives, therefore if cheating would benefit their lives then cheating is acceptable. If we did not cheat it would bring possible misfortune to our lives. However, it could also be argued by ethical egoist that we do not have an obligation to cheat. Egoist would agree that morality is about overcoming our selfishness and living our life with positive concern for the well being of others. Cheating is not looking at the well being of others, but rather doing the complete opposite. Unless everyone in the country had the answers to the test, then it would be considered good to ch...

Music Lyrics Essay

The lyrics of a song define everything about it. Sometimes, the musical score and the tunes playing in the background can dominate the lyrics. Therefore, the listeners tend to pay less attention to the lyrics. How a particular song is worded can make or mar the meaning of what it means to its target audience. Today, we have censor boards and authorities who rate movies and let the hoi polloi know what category of movies are fine for kids, families and adults to watch. This demarcation becomes very tough and cumbersome when we take the lyrics of a song into account. Songs take almost no effort to make and they just need a person’s good voice and a rhythm to be set to music. However, sound judgment is the prerogative of the person who writes the lyrics and the singer who breathes life into the song. If we could vote and get a few well-known names in the music industry who are already established to form an official council for judging the lyrics of all these songs, that would be an excellent idea. The panel must include musicians, singers and directors who are open to all kinds of music and any kind of language used, but at the same time can be trusted to exercise some degree of control when it comes to the lyrics of the songs given to them for their approval or their rejection, as the case may be. They need not necessarily be from the upper echelon of the society. They need to be rational individuals who like music and understand where they need to draw the line when it comes to the songs being heard by children, adolescents, etc. To sum it up, we must allow some degree of freedom and be a little lenient to promote creativity and talent among the masses and for the masses. Who can be the best judge should be left to the people to choose from their icons. References M. William Krasilovsky, Sidney Shemel, John M. Gross, Jonathan Feinstein (1997): This business of music: the definitive guide to the music industry

Positive Accounting Essay

Positive economic theory and accounting practices are objective and based on fact. Positive accounting focuses on analyzing the economic statistics and data at hand, and deriving conclusions based on those figures. For example, if corporate growth allows a company to increase shareholder dividends over previous dividend payments, positive accounting theory would conclude that corporate growth causes a rise in stockholder dividends. Most bookkeeping and data collection involved with accounting relates to positive economic theory. Normative Accounting Normative economic theory is subjective and aims to describe what the economic future should be for a company or investor. As a result, normative accounting practice is a form of value judgment that can introduce subjective morality into accounting. For example, if a company that increased dividend payments could use some of those funds to improve corporate sustainability measures, a normative accounting statement would indicate how much money should be invested in those measures to sustain corporate growth. Normative accounting also deals with future events rather than past data, which is the domain of positive accounting practices. When to Use Positive accounting practices are best used to explain past financial events, as well as the causes of a business’s or individual’s current financial standing. Determining why a company is operating at a net loss requires the positive accounting practices of comparing actual revenue to actual expenses over the course of a year. These accounting practices are typically used to construct financial documents, such as balance sheets or cash flow statements. Normative accounting practices are best used when trying to set future economic policy based on theory. A company’s mission statement or the market strategies included in business plans can be viewed as normative statements — they reflect the business ideals that a company wants to accomplish. Working Together Proper financial planning for any business or individual requires the use of both positive and normative accounting practices. On a large scale,  economists indicate financial policies through normative accounting statements, but these normative statements must be based on the financial realities found through positive accounting practices. The factual-based practices of positive accounting provide a foundation for companies to engage in normative accounting, and a more idealistic view of how the company can operate while still earning a profit. – See more at: http://wiki.fool.com/Differences_Between_Positive_%26_Normative_Accounting#sthash.1hNg6Mt3.dpuf