Religion as the Opium of the Masses

Religion as the opium of the masses. Like the Hebrew prophets of old, Marx knew that to speak of social justice, we must become socially self-critical, and that means becoming critical of the ruling powers whether they may be kings or priests or investment bankers. Power and privilege in society always disguise their own arbitrariness behind the facade of fair play, which may be called providence or karma or standardized test scores.Whatever basis is used to claim an objective and unbiased perspective such claims need critical analysis and challenge. About 90% of the world belongs to some sort of religion. Marx understood that purpose and that is why he made the statement, â€Å"religion is the opium of the masses† which means that religion is what keeps the masses motivated, like a medicine that blinds them to all the hardships of life.Religion has blinded the people to enjoy their sufferings hoping for something like a ‘purgatory’ or a ‘heaven’ that they would enjoy after their toiling on earth. It has come to control the people with its guiding principles although most of its guiding principles aren’t adhered to by its top leaders for example: on the news there are various stories of pastors molesting children or their congregations, popes, monks and nuns breaking their vows; yet their followers are faithful due to the promise of a peaceful after life.For Marx, all ideas are relative to the social location and interests of their production. And like the prophets before him, the most revealing perspective is not from the top down or from the center outward, but the view of the â€Å"widow and the orphan† – the point of view of the exploited and the marginalized. Suffering can see through and unveil official explanation; it can cry out and protest against the arrogance of power.This brings us back to how Marx viewed religion as the â€Å"opium of the masses†. That is we tend to think Marx had a monol ithically negative view of religion but that is not the case immediately preceding this language â€Å"the opium† the following is found Religion is at one and at the same time the expression of real suffering and a protest. Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions.Here Marx recognizes in religion an active moral agency especially for the deprived and the despised. Religion is not simply the ideological expression of the powerful, legitimacy the social hierarchy as in the case, for example, of singing hymns with the hidden message that there’s a â€Å"King in Heaven† so there shall and should be kings on earth. No, for Marx in the hands and voices of the poor and exploited, religion is â€Å"protest†.It is a crying out against â€Å"real suffering† not illusory sufferings such as fear of punishment from the gods or suffering caused by some impurity inherited from a previous i ncarnation. For Marx, the essence of religion is its voicing of â€Å"suffering† its crying out against the realtors of exploitation and degradation. The essence of being human is a passionate suffering, a struggle to take back into our hands a world we have made but which is then taken away from us.Religion has found a way in which it governs our or lives or society in general. It is normal for the major religious group in a society to automatically control the ruling party. The major religious group affects the behavior of the people in power and somewhat controls their decisions due to their effect on the people. A major religious group can influence the choosing of who stays in power or who comes into power just by saying ‘God’ has chosen a particular person to lead us and make our country or state stronger.The people have no choice but to follow the doctrine that’s why Marx made the statement, â€Å"religion is the opium of the masses† was made . Religion has somewhat found a way to control every aspect of the lives of individuals in the society. It has become the new trend of the day; everyone belongs to a religion because of the returns that they intend to receive. Religion has turned into the medicine for all types of sorrows this in turn controls the people who come to it for help.

Comparing and Contrasting Sonnet 130 and Ars Poetica Essay

â€Å"Change what you see by changing how you see† (Huie). This quote relates to â€Å"Sonnet 130,† by William Shakespeare and â€Å"Ars Poetica,† by Archibald Mac Leish. Sonnet 130 is about the faults of his mistress, but realizes by the end of the poem, that his love is all that matters. This man did not see his mistress as an ugly woman, but instead saw her as someone whom he loves dearly. In a different way, Ars Poetica states that â€Å"a poem should not mean, but be† (MacLeish 23). People who read a poem may try to interpret its real meaning, but there is really nothing to interpret. A poem should just mean what it says. Although both â€Å"Sonnet 130,† by William Shakespeare and â€Å"Ars Poetica,†by Archibald MacLeish have similar themes such as simplicity, and similar devices such as using imagery to describe beauty and nature, they have different meanings, since one poem seems to expect a considerable amount from a mistress, and the other poem expects nothing of a poem. One similarity between â€Å"Sonnet 130† and â€Å"Ars Poetica† is their themes of wanting nothing but simplicity in a poem and a mistress (stated in the last couplet), and love and adoration. When reading â€Å"Sonnet 130† one might think that this man spends his time complaining about his mistress, and clearly dosen’t love her, however, by the end of the poem he realizes that his mistress may not be beautiful, but their love is beautiful, and that is all that matters. â€Å"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare† (Shakespeare 13). In â€Å"Ars Poetica,† MacLeish explains that â€Å"a poem should be wordless† (7) and â€Å"a poem should be motionless in time† (9). One might be confused by what the poem is actually trying to say, but he ended the poem by saying, â€Å"a poem should not mean, but be† (23), which was a clearer statement. As was said before, a poem is not something people should over analyze, it should just make you feel the way it does. Almost ike a painting or sculpture, a poem is not a puzzle, but a mood or a feeling. Both poems seem to have different views on what to expect from a mistress/poem. In â€Å"Sonnet 130,† Shakespeare expects a great deal of things from his mistress. There are twelve lines discussing the disappointment of his mistress’ eyes, lips, hair, cheeks, breath, voice, and how she walks. Lines such as her eyes â€Å"are nothing like the sun† (Shakespeare 1), her lips are less red than coral, and her hairs are like black wires growing on her head, show how displeased he is at these unattractive qualities. â€Å"Ars Poetica† is completely different in this way. MacLeish says, â€Å"A poem should be palpable and mute† (1), and â€Å"Dumb as old medallions to the thumb† (3). These words demonstrate how he believes that poetry should be different than what society expects them to be. He wants nothing of a poem, but just believes that poems should be whatever they want to be. Another similarity between â€Å"Sonnet 130† and â€Å"Ars Poetica† would be that they both use imagery to compare beauty and nature. â€Å"Sonnet 130† used this device, to demonstrate the nature of beauty through imagery. â€Å"I have seen roses damask’d, red and white, but no such roses see I in her cheeks† (Shakespeare 5). This compares his mistress’ cheeks to the beauty of a rose. â€Å"Ars Poetica† has many lines that use imagery, one of which compares words to the flight of birds, â€Å"a poem should be wordless as the flight of birds† (MacLeish 7). Both writers did an impeccable job using imagery to enhance the readers understanding and use descriptive words to make the poem more beautiful and interesting sounding. â€Å"Ars Poetica† and â€Å"Sonnet 130† are similar in the way that they both have a similar theme of simplicity and adoration. â€Å"Ars Poetica† wanting a poem be in it’s simplest terms and wanting it to mean only just what it says. Although in â€Å"Sonnet 130† Shakespeare does seem to expect a lot from a mistress, he states at the end of the poem, that he wants nothing more than the mistress he has. Another similarity is that they both compare beauty and nature. This device was used purely to entice the reader, and make it easier for the reader to understand. One essential difference between both poems, would be that in â€Å"Ars Poetica, the poet strongly believes that a poem should be â€Å"wordless† and simple, almost careless. However, in â€Å"Sonnet 130,† Shakespeare spends most of the poem taking about his mistress’ unattractive qualities and seems quite expectant of a number of things. Analyzing these key similarities and differences are what help the reader understand the poem in a more analyitical way.

Christopher McCandless: Hero

It was a tragedy that Christopher McCandless died in Alaska; but he was not wrong in rejecting American society and what it stood for in the modern day. Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, tells the true story of Christopher McCandless and why he left his home and his family and how he managed to survive for so long after he left. The book deals with the people he meant and grew close to, and his impact on their and other people’s lives. Chris decided to leave all the deceit and lies within his own family. He chose to leave all his material goods behind and use only what he thought he absolutely needed. He left the world he knew as a young, rich man on his way to law school to become a street urchin in the wild. He left Chris McCandless and became Alexander Supertramp. Within his own family, there was a web of lies and deceit that would have made Richard Nixon look good. His father had another family with a ex-wife and children that Chris didn’t know much about. One summer, he took his Datsun up to the town in which he grew up. There he found his father’s ex-wife and her children and did some math. He figured out that it would have been impossible for his father to be completely loyal to his current wife and his children (Chris and his sister). His father had most certainly continued having relations with his ex-wife after he and Chris’s mom had been married. Chris could barley look at his father and was ashamed of him and the rest of the family who knew about the other family and had failed to tell Chris. Chris was right to leave all of that behind, try to move on and be his own person. I believe that once Chris had done some exploring and cooled down quite a bit, he would have gone back to see his family. Chris left all of his money to charity when he left and took little with him to Alaska. He wanted to go through his journey using few supplies and using only what he knew or could gain for himself. He did this because he wanted to escape the material world that his father and mother had created for themselves and that he, up until his departure, had been caught up in himself. I believe that what he did was necessary for him to feel better and for him to be happy in his life. I think it was very brave of Chris to have the courage to do this. Krakuer writes â€Å"He buried his Winchester deer-hunting rifle and a few other possessions that he might one day want to recover. Then, in a gesture that would have done both Thoreau and Tolstoy proud, he arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand – a pathetic little stack of ones and fives and twenties – and put a match to it. † (Chapter 4, page 29). Chris burned his money and buried his possessions so he could be free of the material bindings that were weighing him down. He wanted to experience the freedom that Thoreau, Tolstoy, and countless other have felt. Chris was very brave in leaving his material goods behind, and I admire that bravery and his attitude towards the wild. Chris left behind his education and decided to become an outdoorsman. At the time he studying to become a lawyer at law school. He was an extremely intelligent young man and he had a great deal of potential. Wayne Westerberg said â€Å"You could tell right away that Alex was intelligent, Westerberg reflects, draining his third drink. ‘He read a lot. Used a lot of big words. I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often. † (Chapter 3 pg. 18). He stated that Chris often tried to comprehend people and why they were bad to each other. I think that it was difficult for Chris to be a lawyer because often the attorneys have to be cruel and judgmental towards other people and that was something that Chris had a very hard time doing. He was a kind, idealistic young man who was just plain nice by nature. I think that if he had become a lawyer he would have regretted it and found a way out. Chris had an extremely big heart and that is something that everyone should admire. He wanted to escape from law school and exiting into the wild seemed to fit perfectly. In that way he left behind not only law school, but also all of the other problems and issues that were slowly destroying his character. McCandless’s choice to leave behind the life he knew to become Alexander Supertramp was most certainly worthy of admiration. It takes tremendous courage to do what Chris did and though he did not make it out his journey alive, he will go down in history as a hero to some, and a fool to others. I choose to think of McCandless as a hero, and someone to be applauded. He chose the life of a adventurer over the life of a successful and wealthy lawyer. He should be admired for his choices and by many he is. The people who execrate Chris will always be around, as will the ones who admire him. I admire McCandless for his choices, and I will encourage others to do the same because what he did is certainly worthy of recognition. He sought to be true to himself, an admirable goal for all.

An Analysis of the Seniority Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

An Analysis of the Seniority Problem - Essay Example Seniority in Companies can be positive or negative. This paper will discuss the positive and the negative of Seniority in companies non-unionized and unionized. How will Seniority affect the Company, Management, Co-Workers? The concept of seniority refers to an individual or a group who is in charge of or commands another individual or group. In companies seniority is often followed by additional privileges such as higher salary, more authority over subordinates, favorable work hours etc. â€Å"Seniority means precedence of position, especially precedence over others of the same rank by reason of a longer span of service. It is a system often used by employers as a basis for granting job benefits† (US Legal, 2009). Seniority systems help in protecting the employees from indiscriminate termination, occasioned by whims, malice or prejudice of the employer. On the other hand, it also helps in creating a harmonious work environment, filled with co-operation and solidarity amongst the workers (Ezorsky, Nickel, 1987). Several companies are known to offer job bidding rights to their employees which facilitate them in availing several perquisites. However these bidding rights are subject to certain restrictions imposed by the organizations, for instance, the employee claiming such a benefit must be employed in the company for a period of at least 12 months and / or worked in his capacity for a period of at least 6 months in his current job. Those who qualify are eligible to bid for additional benefits offered by the company such as promotion or transfer. According to Edwards (1993) â€Å"The right to seniority preference is closely linked to job – bidding rights†. In some organizations seniority preference rather often tend to be the determining factor in for employment, promotion, or transfer, and where factors such as qualification, skill and work record are more or less equal, seniority is

Diabetic Ketoacidosis v Hyperglycamic Hyperosmolar State Essay

Diabetic Ketoacidosis v Hyperglycamic Hyperosmolar State - Essay Example There are three main types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2 and gestational diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is formerly known as juvenile diabetes, simply because it is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. Type 2 diabetes, or adult-onset diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes as it can develop at any age. The failure of the muscles and liver to use insulin properly forces the pancreas to produce more insulin until such time that it can no longer cope with the demand and lose its ability to secrete insulin. Gestational diabetes is the kind that is associated with a woman’s pregnancy (â€Å"Diagnosis of Diabetes†). Insulin deficiency may also cause the buildup of an acid known as ketone in the blood. Ketoacidosis, or having high levels of ketone in the blood, can poison the body as it disrupts the chemical balance in the blood and may lead to a diabetic coma or even death. It passes up in the urine and is the warning sign that insulin levels are very low and that ketone levels are high. It is most commonly found in people with type 1 diabetes. Some of the symptoms include: dry mouth, frequent urination, hyperglycemia, constant feeling of tiredness, dry/flushed skin, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, difficulty in breathing, fruity odor on breath and confusion. While the common cold or flu can bring about ketoacidosis, some other causes may be insufficient insulin in the body which would lead to the breaking down of fats for energy, insufficient food intake, and low blood glucose (â€Å"Ketoacidosis†). Hyperosmolar hyperglycemic nonketotic coma (HHNC) is a condition that is more commonly found in Type 2 diabetes patients. It is characterized by decreased consciousness, extreme dehydration, and extremely high blood glucose levels, which is not accompanied by ketoacidosis (â€Å"Diabetic Hyperglycemic Hyperosmolar

Assessment Task2 an individual report on international marketing Research Paper

Assessment Task2 an individual report on international marketing environment assessment - Research Paper Example Facilitating international business and marketing has been the underlying strategy of Australia that is directed towards strengthening the country’s economy and the country has been able to achieve that this far. The study of these factors has also enabled the researcher to determine the major challenges for international marketers as well as major prospects for international marketers in the country. The study concludes that although the Australian marketing environment is associated with certain drawbacks, the benefits and opportunities that it provides to the global marketers outweighs all drawbacks and constraints and makes marketing in Australia a prospective decision. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 4 2.International marketing environment in Australia 5 2.1.Political forces 5 2.2.Economic forces 6 2.3.Financial forces 7 2.4.Social forces 8 2.5.Cultural forces 8 2.6.Technological forces 9 2.7. Legal forces 9 3. Current challenges for international marketers 10 4. Opport unities for international marketers 10 5. Conclusion 11 Reference List 12 1. ... International marketing is the process of marketing on a global scale by integrating or taking commercial advantage of operational differences that can be identified globally as well as the similarities and opportunities present all over the world in order to fulfil objectives as far as expanding internationally is concerned (Baack, Harris and Baack, 2013). The authors have explained that international marketing involves the activity of franchising, exporting and merging or a complete direct entry of a marketing organization into a foreign country. Following this, a company needs to develop a marketing mix specific to the country of expansion as a part of its international marketing strategy (Buckley, 2002). It can be as straightforward as implementing an existing marketing strategy, product mix and tools for export and alongside that, the company can formulate highly complex relationship strategy that includes localization, pricing, regional product offerings, production and distrib ution. Globalization and international marketing caters to meet the needs and requirements of the targeted foreign country whereby a company can export its value, thereby achieving optimization and efficiency in economies of scale and scope as well as facilitating inter-firm and firm learning (Felzensztein et al., 2013). The abovementioned theories explain the importance of international marketing as far as a company’s growth and success strategy is concerned. For a company planning to expand internationally, a detailed judgement of the market prospects along with a thorough evaluation of the PESTEL environment of the target country is pivotal. This is primarily

Moral views in the development of English law Essay

Moral views in the development of English law - Essay Example 123), which calls upon a legal community's moral judgment in determining what is aptly, the common good. Moreover, within the context of English Law, this relationship is further emphasised in the role that judges play in the development of precedents embodied within case law. Thus, it is within this context that this essay aims to analyse the significance that moral views have played, if they did, in the development of English Law. As this essay will argue, moral views have played a significant role in the development of English laws, due to the consideration that the legal community has given to the collective standards of morality accepted by the English society in creating legislations, statutes, and EC (European Council) Directives; and the discretion of judges in developing precedents in common law. To prove this point, the essay will begin by presenting the sources of English Law. It will then illustrate the manner that legislations, statutes, and EC Directives are reflective of societal perceptions of morality; and the extent of judges' discretion in case law. Lastly, the essay will illustrate the role morals have played in the development of English law, as well as the effect it has had the law's legal development, before ending with concluding statements. Under English Law, legal development proceeds through a number of instruments such as precedent through courts, legislation through the UK parliament, and as a result of European legislation through directives and decisions of the European Union court adopted by the government. What is apparent among these sources is the degree of discretionary power given both to the individual judges under common law in terms of interpretation, such that disputes can be resolved in a manner that can be either just or unjust; and to the legal community in terms of legislation, which is affected by the individual judgment of each member, as well - both of which will be discussed in following sections. What is imperative as this point, however, is the need to distinguish between morality and moral views, such that while morality refers to some conventional conception of right or wrong; moral views, which is the topic of this essay, refers to the individual standards adhered to by individual judges an d members of the parliament, as well as legislators of Community law. Thus, in order to illustrate that moral views are significant in the development of laws, one must simply illustrate that discretion is evident in the legal development of English Law, regardless if this legal development is moral or not. In this respect, this essay argues that the significance of moral views are evident in the way that English Law can both either be just or unjust, depending on the consensus of legislators' moral views regarding the common good; and the moral judgment of case law judges in interpreting these rules. English Law and the Common Good The Parliament consists of the Crown, the elected House of Common and the Unelected House of Lords. As Sir E. Coke claims, it is "the highest and most honourable and absolute Court of Justice in England,' and its 'jurisdiction' is 'so transcendent' that it can make and repeal laws on any subject matter and its honour and justice cannot be doubted" (cited in Walters 2003). This is also echoed by Austin, claiming that "the sovereign, or supreme legislator, is the author of all law"

Pupils of Learning Difficulties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Pupils of Learning Difficulties - Essay Example There is a good number of such assessment strategies now available to the classroom teacher in the detection of children's learning difficulties, especially dyslexia. Dyslexia is sometimes defined as an impaired word and non-word reading ability, which problem is often inherited or genetic in origin (Grigorenko, 2001). In these cases, the problems of dyslexia on lack of phonological awareness, balance and automaticity are perceptible at an early age, such that failure to attend to children predisposed to dyslexia is inexcusable. The relevant literature says early palliative measures are most beneficial to society by teaching at-risk children early phonological awareness, motor skills, memory strategies and visualization techniques through games. If dyslexia cannot be prevented, these measures should at least minimize the damage of this learning difficulty on human motivation and self-esteem, whose effects could be permanent (Crombie). The puzzle that drew the scientific and academic community into the study of dyslexia is the "unexplained" reading failure in children. For the most part, the puzzle remains unexplained insofar as scientific certitude and unanimity is concerned. As a result, the education sector is still unsure of how to detect and address dyslexia in a more efficient manner. One of the major difficulties is that children present inconsistent and contradictory profiles, such that there is no single test for dyslexia with a complete measure of certainty and reliability. What is being done is to build up innumerable bits of data until the picture becomes clear (Turner, 1997). With this method, assessment approaches have been developed to help teachers identify dyslexic children. This paper examines each of the available assessment packages to help classroom teachers detect dyslexia with more accuracy and confidence. 2. Learning Difficulties A child is said to be a candidate for dyslexia when he performs poorly in phonetic reading, the most common sign of word reading difficulties in dyslexic children. Most hypotheses on phonological deficit attribute poor reading to an impaired phonological segmentation skill, which is also called phonological awareness deficit. This is because a phonological awareness deficit may affect different aspects of phonological processing. Thus, difficulty with the output and input phonology is apt to delay the acquisition of letter-sound corresponding rules or impair phoneme blending. This accounts for the persistent occurrence of non-word reading deficit in dyslexic children (Rack, et al., 1979). The ability of children to read nonsensical words is more indicative of the ability to read regular than irregular words. This suggests that at certain stages in reading development, a phonological recording strategy may be used to let the child read regular words as well as non-words. When a child's phonological awareness is deficient, his phonological recording process is also likely to be flawed. Phonology refers to the sounds

Opportunities in the Hospitality Industry Assignment

Opportunities in the Hospitality Industry - Assignment Example Any part of hospitality industry such as theme parks, hotels regardless of its status and restaurants try to maximize the number of visitors and the turnover of the business. Almost all businesses in this line use various avenues for increasing their business and sales. One of these ways  is  eWOM.   The full form of eWOM is Electronic word of mouth and can be defined as the customer reviews that are posted on Social Media as well as other websites. The marketing experts have studied the importance and relation of eWOM with existing and future paying customers and the relation between content of  eWOMand increase in sales volume.   The main mediums of eWOM include blogs, social media sites such as facebook, pintereste, Twitter and others. This medium also includes various popular travel websites where most of the people do their bookings, chat rooms and other user-generated websites in this field. It is a fact that the hospitality business in UK must pay attention to these online reviews, as most of the potential customers prefer to check the reviews before booking of the room in any UK Hotel (Melià ¡n-Gonzà ¡lez, Santiago, Bulchand- Gidumal,, Jacques and Gonzà ¡lez Là ³pez-Valcà ¡rcel, Beatriz (2013)). Due to this, the hospitality industry should keep the  negative  reviews at minimum and positive reviews at the maximum. One way with which this can be done is to contact the person who  has  posted  negative  reviews and sort out the issue.   These studies also consider some factors such as the role of volume and valence of eWOM  for  an increase  in sales for future. The volume of reviews of any hotel affects the (RevPAR  revenue per room.  The valance refers to the ratio of positive review vs the negative review and has  a lot of effect over business of luxury hotels. The volume refers to the number of reviews posted on relevant websites, blogs and other social media (Melià ¡n-Gonzà ¡lez, Santiago, Bulchand- Gidumal,, Jacques and Gonzà ¡lez Là ³pez-Valcà ¡rcel,

Heaney Digging or Frost The Road Not Taken Essay

Heaney Digging or Frost The Road Not Taken - Essay Example Life is a journey where every turn is a major turning point. One decision can make or break a life-long expedition. Life is influenced so much by time and like what Frost stated in the first stanza of his poem, it is such a disappointment that one cannot travel a certain path and knows exactly what would happen through its journey there. There are other factors that should be taken into consideration like the time and opportunity that is presented at a given situation. One can consider the possible pros and cons that might occur during the circumstances. Things may present to be more appealing at the first sight but may have complex hurdles along the way which the person would not know how to overcome it unless it is already right under his nose (10). Frost put into metaphor a person’s life and a traveler’s journey to an unknown place. It would be a pity not to explore ideas at the same time to know the beauty and the consequences that life or the journey may bring. There are roads or opportunities which may present itself as a totally disastrous event yet at the onset yet as one goes through this path, the more fulfilling it is becoming for the person. This is usually the road not taken especially in recent years as more and more people would choose the easier path that may bring instant gratification rather than the one which may need time before gathering any form of fulfillment. Others may decide towards the road because of status-quo, it is just like ordering the usual at a fast-food chain at the corner of the street. There is no adventure in it and simply represents a routine (10). On the third stanza of the poem, Frost gave an example as to what may one thinks if there are two ideas presented having an identical onset presentation. However, these ideas may have and will have different path struggles which may incur various outcomes. One cannot go back to the starting point and take the

Retail atmospherics are quite well studied but are poorly explained Essay

Retail atmospherics are quite well studied but are poorly explained - Essay Example Before examining the claim that retail atmospherics are thoroughly studied but not stated well, we need to define what is meant by retail atmospherics. According to Kotler (1974), it is the effort to design buying environments to produce specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhances his purchase probability. A renewed interest was created in retail atmospherics through the caricature reporting by the Wall Street Journal showing a bank manager asking a customer’s opinion on the background music, which the manager has boasted of selecting himself. Such complex decisions as presenting background music are made irrationally in retail ambience. It gives the impression that no serious thought is given on creating retail atmospherics to provide a memorable experience to customers in the retail industry. Such decisions if taken rationally and thoughtfully can create a positive impact on customer perceptions of service quality, purchase, and consumption behaviour (Chebat & Dube , 2000). Developing of a customer experience has become very crucial with the importance given to the purchase of commodities. Expectations from retail managers have increased to create an environment of understanding in creating the atmospheric resources for providing the desired customer experience. Challenges in the retail atmospheric research lie in understanding the psychology of consumer reactions on the one hand and the functional requirements and planning at the firm level to provide that experience to the customers on the other hand (Chebat & Dube, 2000). Babin and Attaway (2000) have specifically worked on developing a reliable mechanism tool to innovatively measure the customers’ behavioural outcomes. Customer spending is directly impressed by a store’s capacity to create value that benefits the customer. It was found that environmentally inspired emotions affect relative spending by the customer. Their research indicates that customer behaviour can be induc ed by developing the right retail atmosphere. The value of shopping through the relationship of the customer behaviour with the retail environment provided by the retailer is justified. Research has been done on the relation between shopping behaviour and environmental factors via transformations in emotional feelings. Shoppers’ behaviour was examined through fixed time and changing time during a simulated shopping test. It included listening experience of different but familiar music provided to the shoppers. Later on shoppers’ outlook on shopping time, their mental state and product appraisal were recorded, which indicated that shoppers spent long hours while listening to favourite music, which was their perception but actually they spent long hours shopping when listening to not-popular music. Limited actual shopping times in the known music scenario were associated with increased awareness. Longer assumed shopping hours by the shoppers in popular music listening ex perience were associated to unmeasured cognitive factors. Mental states of the shoppers played a part in taking a purchase decision on a product but these impressions were not directly associated to the playing of music (Yalch and Spangenberg, 2000). Research by Turley and Milliman (2000)) also shows that impact of music is not positive and good always. Their review shows weakness of the theoretical base. Majority of customer emotion measures depend on store type. Functional and job-oriented environments are related with lower levels of pleasure and arousal-related emotions, which provides an alternative to Mehrabian and Russel (1974)) model on environmental psychology. By changing the store design and settings, emotional shopping results can be

Thesis guidelines Essay Example for Free

Thesis guidelines Essay The Use and Purpose of the Guidelines At the Faculty of Technology, there are five different guidelines for writing theses: guideline for bachelor’s degree in business studies, guideline for bachelor’s degree in technology, guideline for master’s degree in business studies, guideline for master’s degree in technology, and general writing guideline for the Faculty of Technology. The guidelines for specific degrees contain instructions for the structure, printing and submitting of the theses. The general writing guideline contains information about the formatting of text and the use of sources and references. The student is required to use two of these guidelines, 1) general writing guideline for the Faculty of Technology and 2) guideline for appropriate degree. The purpose of the above guidelines is to ensure that theses at the faculty fulfil the requirements concerning academic writing and layout. This guideline is for students studying at Faculty of Technology and writing their master’s thesis for the degree of Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration. In addition, students are required to use the general guideline for the Faculty of Technology. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS page 1. MASTER’S THESIS AND ITS PURPOSE 4 2. FROM MASTER’S THESIS TO GRADUATION 5 2. 1. Thesis Subject 5 2. 2. Credits 5 2. 3. Supervision 5 2. 4. Assessment, Approval and Grading 5 2. 5. Maturity Essay 7 2. 6. Publicity 9 2. 7. Further Details 10 3. MASTER’S THESES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES 11 4. THE STRUCTURE OF THE MASTER’S THESIS 12 4. 1. Title 12 4. 2. Covers 12 4. 3. General notes on printing and editing 13 4. 4. Title page 13 4. 5. Abstract 14 5. EDITING THE MASTER’S THESIS 15 5. 1. Introduction 15 5. 2. Theory and background information 15 5. 3. Main subject of the thesis 16 5. 4. Discussion and results. 17 5. 5. Conclusions 17 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1. Glossary 19 19 3 APPENDIX 2. Title page of a Master? s Thesis 22 APPENDIX 3. Abstract page of a Master? s Thesis 23 APPENDIX 4. Assessment criteria for master’s theses and licentiate theses 24 4 1. MASTER’S THESIS AND ITS PURPOSE According to regulations concerning the degree Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration (higher university degree), the student is required to write a master’s thesis (pro gradu) and pass a written maturity essay. Master’s thesis is a personal independent academic work prepared by the student. The student is advised to start preparing the master’s thesis in the second year of higher degree studies. The student has to sign up for a research seminar group of the major subject. The master’s thesis must show familiarity with previous work in the field and must demonstrate ability to use research methods and academic style. The aim of the master’s thesis is to improve the student’s ability for independent research work and its practical application as well as to enable the student to apply different research methods both independently and in groups. Furthermore, master’s thesis must demonstrate the student’s ability to use relevant literature and to present research results as well as show ability for doctoral studies. 5 2. FROM MASTER’S THESIS TO GRADUATION 2. 1. Thesis Subject The student has to prepare a master’s thesis in order to obtain the degree of Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration (higher university degree). The subject of the thesis is suggested by the student and approved by the thesis supervisor of the major department. Teachers may provide help in choosing the subject. 2. 2. Credits. During the advanced level studies of master’s degree studies, the student prepares a master’s thesis, which comprises 30 ECTS. 2. 3. Supervision The Master’s thesis is supervised by a teacher of the major field. The supervisor gives general guidance during the writing process and more detailed advice when necessary. The supervisor gives feedback about the thesis and may ask the student to report on the progress of the work. 2. 4. Assessment, Approval and Grading The thesis must be submitted to the faculty in 3 or 4 bound copies. One copy should be submitted to each examiner of the thesis. In addition, one or two copies should be submitted to the Amanuensis, depending on whether or not the student gives permission to publish the thesis online in Tritonia database. An electronic copy of the whole thesis and an abstract must be saved to the Tritonia’s database regardless of the student’s 6 decision on public availability. The work and abstract are submitted to Tritonia by filling in a thesis form at http://www. tritonia. fi/? d=140l=1. The thesis cannot be approved unless the work is successfully submitted to Tritonia. Theses copies submitted to the University are not returned to the student. One copy of the thesis must be submitted to the Amanuensis if the student allows his or her work to be made publicly available outside the Tritonia network. If the wok is not to be shown publicly, two copies must be submitted. In addition, an abstract without page number must be submitted to the Amanuensis of the Faculty of Technology. The student should submit only the abstract which is written in the language used in the thesis. The evaluation time for a Master’s thesis is 30 days. This means that the thesis has to be left to the examiners and the Amanuensis for evaluation approximately 5 weeks before the expected acceptance date. If the Master’s thesis is the last study attainment of the student, it should be available for the Dean’s decision at least 10 days before the deadline for submitting the application for degree certificate (which is 28 days before the graduation day). The Dean usually processes theses two times each month. It is recommended that students check the schedule for graduation well beforehand from the university web pages at http://www. uwasa. fi/english/studies/degree-and-postgraduatestudents/academic-information/graduation/. The schedule of the Dean’s thesis processing is available from the Amanuensis, if needed. Two evaluators assigned by the Head of the appropriate department make a statement about the thesis to the Dean within 30 days of the day the thesis is submitted for evaluation. Usually one of the evaluators is the supervisor of the thesis. The student is reserved the right to see the statements and a suggestion for the grading before the work is taken to the Dean for approval. The Dean decides on approval of the thesis and confirms the grade based on the statements and suggestion made by the examiners. The grading scale for Master’s thesis is sufficient, satisfactory, good, very good, and excellent. After the Dean’s decision has been made, the student will receive a notification about the grade of the thesis and a copy of the evaluators’ statement by post. 7 The student dissatisfied with the thesis grading may apply to the degree committee of the University of Vaasa in writing for rectification of the evaluation of the Masters thesis within 14 days of the day when the grade was released (Universities Act 558/2009, Section 82, and the University of Vaasa Degree Ordinance, Section 13). An appeal cannot be made against the decision made by the degree committee on the request for rectification of the decision concerning the evaluation of a study attainment. 2. 5. Maturity Essay In order to obtain the degree of Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration, the student also has to pass a written maturity essay. In the maturity essay, the student is expected to demonstrate knowledge of the subject matter of the master’s thesis in a supervised examination. In addition, the student is expected to show ability to write fluent Finnish or Swedish (see exceptions below). Finnish students write the maturity essay in the language in which the student has received elementary education (Finnish or Swedish). A completed maturity essay in the language of elementary education gives the student excellent language proficiency in the appropriate language (in compliance with Decree A 481/2003). In case the student has already completed a maturity essay for a bachelor’s degree in the same language, the maturity essay for the higher degree concerns only content, not language proficiency. In this case, the language of the maturity essay is determined by the faculty (see Decree on University Degrees, section 16 subsection 3; or the University of Vaasa Degree Ordinance, Section 17). The same applies in all cases where the student has already completed a maturity essay for another higher education degree; the maturity essay concerns only content. Students who have completed their elementary education in a language other than Finnish or Swedish or have received elementary education outside Finland are not 8 required to prove their language proficiency in the maturity essay. Also in these cases the language of the maturity essay is determined by the faculty. International students who have not received their elementary education in Finnish or Swedish but have obtained sufficient language proficiency in Finnish or Swedish may complete their maturity essay in Finnish or Swedish. In this case, language proficiency is assessed according to the criteria used for Finnish students. A successfully completed maturity essay gives the student good language proficiency in Finnish or Swedish in compliance with Decree A 481/2003, and it will be stated in the degree certificate as well. The Maturity essay can be completed on any of the general examination days. Registration must be made with a form and registration envelope available at the Academic Affairs office. The form is available also at the web pages of the Language Centre. The student may register for the maturity essay only after the Master’s thesis has been left for inspection in its final form. The examination date for maturity essay must be agreed on with the thesis supervisor and should be at least 7 days after the thesis has been left for inspection. In the maturity essay, the student is given two or three questions on the subject of the student’s master’s thesis. The student is required to answer one of the questions by an essay. The essay should be written for a reader that is familiar with the appropriate field but has not studied the specific research topic of the master’s thesis. In other words, the maturity essay should comprise an independent text and the student should not assume that the reader is familiar with the master’s thesis. In addition to academic content, the essay must also demonstrate good language proficiency and comprise a logical, well-structured whole. It must present the topic in writing, not by graphical presentations like tables or charts. The essay must also have a heading (otherwise the examiner evaluating the language of the thesis will not be able to see whether the essay really answers the question). The essay must have an introduction and a conclusion. Suggested length of the essay is approximately one examination sheet 9 (four pages). It should be written on each line of the paper with empty lines separating between paragraphs. After the first draft, it is advisable to rewrite the maturity essay, with special emphasis on clear handwriting. Words should be clearly separate and the difference between capital and lower case letters should be clearly shown. The essay must show knowledge of the basics of grammar and punctuation. Excessive use of abbreviations should be avoided. Sentences and clauses must be clearly connected, and they should be logical and show variation. Incorrect reference relationships must be avoided. Word order must be unambiguous and fit the structure of the presented information. The essay must be written in a factual style. Further advice is available at: www. uwasa. fi/kielipalvelut/opiskelu/kypsyysnayte/. The result of the maturity essay must be given within 30 days from the date of examination. The grading scale for maturity essay is pass/fail (no other grade). In case the maturity essay is failed on the basis of its content, the student must meet with the thesis supervisor in order to receive feedback before registering for a retake. If the reason for failing is related to problems in the language, the student must contact the examiner responsible for evaluating the language of the essay. 2. 6. Publicity All theses are public documents. According to the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), official documents shall be in the public domain, unless specifically otherwise provided by the law. A master’s thesis becomes public when it has been officially approved. With commissioned theses, the commissioner may demand that a thesis or parts of it have to remain non-public in order to protect business or professional secrets. In this case, those parts of the work that contain such secrets are not integrated into the master’s thesis, but annexed to the thesis as background material. The background 10  material must conform to the general guidelines on writing master’s thesis and must be left for inspection at the same time and in as many copies as the master’s thesis. The background material is not bound together with the master’s thesis but submitted separately with its own title page and titled BACKGROUND MATERIAL. However, general, non-specific information from the background material should be incorporated in the text of the master’s thesis whenever possible. The minimum requirements for the master’s thesis proper are that it specifies the theoretical framework, research methods, material and its analysis, and has a list of references. It must comprise an independent, readable whole. Background material is evaluated together with the actual master’s thesis but is not made public. After the evaluation, the background material is archived and kept in a secure place at the appropriate department. Use of non-public background material must always be discussed in advance with the thesis supervisor. 2. 7. Further Details For information on layout and other technical details of mater’s thesis, see faculty’s general guidelines on writing theses. Further advice is given by the staff of the faculty and departments. 11 3. MASTER’S THESES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES The student may write the master’s thesis also in languages other than Finnish or Swedish. For practical reasons, this language is usually English as the evaluators of the thesis have to master the language in order to be able to evaluate the academic quality of the thesis. Using a language other than Finnish or Swedish must always be discussed with the thesis supervisor in advance. International students are advised to consult the thesis supervisor and amanuensis about their thesis and maturity essay before they start preparing their master’s thesis. The student is personally responsible for expenses resulting from for example use of language consultant etc. Appendix 1 shows the names of the departments, subjects, study programmes and modules in Swedish, and English. 12 4. THE STRUCTURE OF THE MASTER’S THESIS Master’s thesis can be structured as follows: Title page Table of contents (Symbols and abbreviations) (Pictures) (Tables) Abstract Introduction Main body text (methods, discussion, results) Conclusions List of references Appendices Parts in parentheses are not compulsory. 4. 1. Title. The title of the master’s thesis should be short, clear and expressive of the content (field and orientation). The student may use a subtitle in order to add focus to the title. No abbreviations should be used in the title. 4. 2. Covers The master’s thesis must be bound in hard, dark blue covers (marble blue for licentiate theses for the Faculty of Technology), page size A4. It is advisable to reserve enough time for the printing process – at least a week. 13 Lettering on the front cover should appear in the colour Gold and font Palatino, Times New Roman or equivalent: MASTER’S THESIS or LICENTIATE THESIS. Centred, bottom margin 200mm (font size 34pt) Author’s name (bottom right corner with 30–35 mm margins from bottom and right, font size 20 pt) Lettering on the spine of the thesis should appear in the colour Gold and font as above: Author’s name (on the left of the spine with 40mm margin on left) Year of publication (on the right of the spine with 30mm margin on right) 4. 3. General notes on printing and editing The student should pay attention to the printing quality of the master’s thesis. The hard copy of the master’s thesis should be printed out with a laser printer or equivalent. When attaching images, tables or appendices, care should be taken so that the final thesis is free of smudges and extra marks. The thesis must be printed, single-sided, on standard A4 paper. 4. 4. Title page The title page must follow the format requirements (appendix 2). Title page must state the following: University of Vaasa, Faculty of Technology, study subject (in capital letters, bolded and centred) Author’s name (centred) Title of the thesis (in capital letters, bolded and centred) and possible subtitle (bolded and centred) Study subject and the type of thesis (right alignment). Possible study programme (right alignment) Place (in capital letters and bolded) and year (bolded) 14 Title page should not be numbered 4. 5. Abstract The master’s thesis must include a one-page abstract (in Finnish/Swedish and in English, international students only in English). The abstract page is numbered and bound after list of symbols and abbreviations or, in case there is no list of symbols and abbreviations, after table of contents, before introduction. When the thesis is left for inspection, the student must also submit one separate, unnumbered abstract page. The separate abstract must be submitted in the language in which the thesis is written, and it is needed as an enclosure of the acceptance decision. The abstract page must state the research problem, material, research methods and major results of the thesis. The abstract should be understandable without having to consult the thesis itself. In the abstract, the student should use established terminology. References or quotations are not to be used. The title of the master’s thesis on the abstract page must be identical with the title on the title page. See examples of abstract in Appendix 3. Fill out ALL parts of the abstract page and take into consideration the margins of the page. The student must give 1-5 keywords. The first keyword should state, as specifically as possible, the field of study. It is followed by the other keywords which further specify the subject of the thesis. You may discuss the keywords with the assistant or your supervisor, if necessary. Keywords can also be searched from the VESA subject thesaurus of the library of the University of Helsinki. 15 5. EDITING THE MASTER’S THESIS. The master’s thesis consists of an introduction, main body text (which may include several chapters), and a conclusions chapter. The specific content, approach and emphasis of the thesis are chosen by the student and revised according to the supervisor’s comments. There are many different ways to prepare a (good) master’s thesis on the same topic. The only general rule is that the first chapter of the thesis is an introduction and the last presents the conclusions. 5. 1. Introduction The introduction should capture the reader’s interest. It gives the background for the choice of topic and presents the goals of the thesis. It limits the topic and gives a general outline of the approach to the research problem. Furthermore, the introduction should place the thesis in context by referring to other previous or contemporary academic studies on the topic. It also outlines the content and structure of the thesis. In case the thesis is a part of a larger project, the introduction must clearly define the author’s contribution to the project. The introduction does not give any details of the theory, methods or results of the thesis. The length of a typical introduction is 2-3 pages. 5. 2. Theory and background information In the chapter after the introduction, the student should give the technical, theoretical and other background information needed in order to understand the solutions and methods used in the later chapters. The theory part should focus only on things that are relevant to the thesis. However, it should not waste time on things that are self-evident to the reader (in other words, there is no need for a textbook-type presentation of the 16 basics in the field). The student’s own new methods are not presented in this section but given later in the thesis. The ‘ideal reader’ for the thesis could be defined as a person who is a professional in the field but unfamiliar with the particular topic. Thus all terms and symbols are to be explained when they are introduced but not later in the work. If several theories are used, it is advisable to present them in separate chapters. In addition to theory, the background information may include for example a company’s old products, a system that is about to be replaced, important standards, internal policies of a company, and possible other parts of a project (in case the thesis forms part of a larger project). These elements are to be explained in as much detail as is relevant for understanding the solutions in and the overall significance of the thesis. Whether this should be placed in the theory part of the work is case-specific and depends on the amount of background information of the thesis. The background information could also be integrated in the general outline of the thesis or be given in a separate chapter or appendix. A more detailed structuring and titles of the chapters (including the main title) are planned and executed on the basis of the work itself. It is highly important that the theoretical part of the work is closely connected to the later description and analysis of the work. In some clearly constructive work, the theory part may be relatively short. The length, however, is not the mere objective, but emphasis should be put on the contents. 5. 3. Main subject of the thesis After theory and background information, the student should focus on the main subject of the thesis and apply the theory to a specific research problem. The structure, headings and analysis in this section depend on the subject and on the approach chosen by the 17  student (and approved by the supervisor). There is no one correct way to approach the main subject of the thesis. In case the thesis includes scientific data (such as measurements etc. ), the appropriate study or experiment must be explained in such detail that the reader can understand all steps of the process. Methods must be presented in a manner that enables replication. For example the mathematical leads of new findings must be presented in such detail that the reader does not have to make extensive calculations in order to follow the process. In case of generally known methods, a short description or reference is sufficient. Less known methods, especially those developed by the author of the thesis, are to be described in much deeper detail. There should always be a clear connection between the theory and the application sections of the thesis. 5. 4. Discussion and results The last section of the main body text (before conclusions) consists of a ‘Results’ chapter or of two separate chapters with headings ‘Discussion’ and ‘Results’. In ‘Discussions’, the student may make comparisons between theory and (for example) measurement results as well as suggest lines of further research or application. The ‘Results’ chapter should focus primarily on the final results of the study, what the student found out and how it relates to the literature. The results should also be placed in the context of the possible earlier studies on the topic. 5. 5. Conclusions Conclusions chapter briefly summarises the whole thesis from start to finish. Aspects of the work that were discussed in the introduction are revisited in the conclusions chapter in order to find out whether initial plans were followed and initial goals achieved. 18 At the end of the conclusions chapter, the student may discuss possible future research on the subject. If this requires more extensive discussion, it can be placed in a separate chapter at the end. The conclusions chapter should be no more than 3 pages long and should not introduce any new ideas or include references to source materials. 19 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1. Glossary Faculty, departments, study subjects, study programmes and orientations in Swedish and English Teknillinen tiedekunta Tekniska fakulteten Faculty of Technology Matemaattiset tieteet Institutionen for matematik och statistik Department of Mathematics and Statistics Sahko- ja energiatekniikka Institutionen for elektro- och energiteknik. Department of Electrical Engineering and Energy Technology Tieto- ja tietoliikennetekniikka Institutionen for datavetenskap Department of Computer Science Tuotantotalous Institutionen for produktion Department of Production Study subjects: Automaatiotekniikka energiatekniikka automationsteknik energiteknik automation technology energy technology 20 fysiikka fysik physics matematiikka materiaalitekniikka matematik materialteknik mathematics materials science sahkotekniikka talousmatematiikka elektroteknik ekonomisk matematik electrical engineering business mathematics tietoliikennetekniikka telekommunikationsteknik  telecommunications engineering tietotekniikka tilastotiede datavetenskap statistik computer science statistics tuotantotalous produktionsekonomi industrial management Study programmes and orientations: Teknisen viestinnan koulutusohjelma Utbildningsprogram for teknisk kommunikation Technical Communication Programme 21 Tietotekniikan koulutusohjelma ohjelmistotekniikka tietoliikennetekniikka Utbildningsprogrammet for datateknik programmeringsteknik telekommunikationsteknik Degree Programme in Information Technology Software Engineering Telecommunications Engineering Sahko- ja energiatekniikan koulutusohjelma  automaatiotekniikka sahkotekniikka Utbildningsprogrammet for elektro- och energiteknik automationsteknik elektroteknik Degree Programme in Electrical and Energy Engineering Automation Electrical Engineering 22 APPENDIX 2. Title page of a Master? Thesis (partly shortened in the example) UNIVERSITY OF VAASA FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY SUBJECT (E. G. COMPUTER SCIENCE) Author’s name TOPIC OF THE THESIS Subtitle Master’s Thesis in e. g. Computer Science (Degree Programme) VAASA 20XX 23 APPENDIX 3. Abstract page of a Master? s Thesis UNIVERSITY OF VAASA Faculty of Technology Author: Topic of the Master’s Thesis: Instructor: Degree: First name Last name Name of the thesis (subtitle) First name Last name Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration Major subject: (e. g. Computer Science) Degree Programme: (only if Degree Programme in Multimedia systems and Technical Communication) Year of Entering the University: 20xx Year of Completing the Master’s Thesis: 20xx Pages: xxx ABSTRACT: KEYWORDS 24 APPENDIX 4. Assessment criteria for master’s theses and licentiate theses Grade Theoretical knowledge, literature and sources Strong theoretical knowledge; excellent use of source materials; criticism  of source materials is wellgrounded Research problem Original; shows familiarity with and understanding of the subject. Results are interesting. Strong theoretical knowledge; very good use of source materials; demonstrates the student’s familiarity with the subject 3. No significant flaws in dealing with the subject; study produces clear results Good theoretical knowledge; no significant flaws in use of source materials 2 Inconsistencies or clear mistakes; results are difficult to interpret Satisfactory theoretical knowledge; use of source materials is rather limited; flaws in criticism of source materials  Confusing and difficult to follow; several inconsistencies and mistakes; results are questionable Sufficient familiarity with the subject; theoretical knowledge is limited; number of source materials is limited (often mainly Finnish sources). 5 4 1 General Original; shows independent thinking; results are interesting and make a contribution to knowledge of the subject with which it deals Research method and empirical part Methodologically justified; empirically thorough and systematic Text, structure, language and layout Textually fluent and stylistically excellent; technical documentation is excellent; clear and logical  structure; layout is flawless Clear and well-grounded research problem; questions are well-formulated; good research strategy and approach Methodologically correct; empirically correct Textually fluent; Language and layout are flawless; very good technical documentation; clear and logical structure Good research problem; clearly formulated questions; fairly successful solution to research problem Not clearly formulated or bears some inconsistencies; goal not quite achieved No significant mistakes; empirical part prepared rather well Wrongly or confusingly formulated; academic approach is lacking; goals  not achieved Methodologically weak; serious empirical flaws Textually good; Good technical documentation; no serious weaknesses; very few mistakes; layout fairly flawless Textually rather clumsy; incomplete technical documentation; grammatical errors; some weaknesses in structure; layout problems Textually clumsy; technical documentation is weak and unpolished; grammatical errors; flawed structure; weak layout Interesting and welldefined research problem; challenging questions; mature research strategy and approach Clear methodological and empirical flaws. Thesis process Excellent thesis process;  the student is motivated; agreements were kept; the student took responsibility and shows outstanding ability for independent research Excellent thesis process; the student is motivated; agreements were kept; the student took responsibility and shows good ability for independent research Good thesis process; the student is mostly motivated; agreements were mostly kept Flawed thesis process; the student needed extra guidance; occasional lack of motivation and responsibility The student’s motivation is rather weak; the student needed extra guidance; lack of responsibility; the process was prolonged.

E Business Integration Systems Of Alibaba

E Business Integration Systems Of Alibaba Alibaba.com is commonly quoted among the leading 5 websites in the world. Other 5 websites which are competing in the same race are Amazon, Yahoo, eBay as well as AOL, with the help of domestic as well as international media. Hence, in other words, www.alibaba.com is a top rated business-to-business (B2B) as well as business-to-consumer (B2C) website. The e-business integration system of this website, in general, needs such a tactic, which has a touching appeal in order to produce prompt action. Hence, principally for an expensive products or assistance, this website is required to offer superior depth of information to the customers (both buyers as well as suppliers) in order to assist them in their assessment of this business. This website is useful for both buyers as well as sellers. Hence, one can buy as well as sell products also. This website is basically an English-language website as English is the only language which can be understood by whole world. So, there is no geographical challenge for this website to seek attention of customers. It primarily serves small as well as Medium-Sized Enterprises or in short SME, in the worldwide trade community, and hence, around 1 million users have registered themselves to this site from more than 200 countries as well as territories. Over 300,000 visitors go through this site every s ingle day, among which maximum users are global buyers as well as importers who are looking for trading with traders in China as well as other foremost manufacturing nations all over the world. Hence, the primary customers for this website are Suppliers, Exporters, Manufacturers as well as Importers. Problem Statement As www.alibaba.com is a website on a broader perspective, millions and trillions of customers go through it and trade accordingly. Now, the main problems while designing this website which needs to be solved are following: The website must be user friendly, so that it should not be problem for a buyer or a seller to navigate the site and work accordingly. Not everyone is well versed with internet technology; hence, its really important to make a comfortable website with not very complicated language. but, on the same hand, the website should be attractive enough to appeal visitors to go through it. Secondly, its a normal tendency that customers usually like to inspect the merchandise before purchase; hence, they can assume that they are at advanced threat of fraud as they are not able to inspect the product and services physically. There is one more risk of making purchase with the help of stolen credit cards or any other counterfeit refutation of the online purchase. Hence, this website needs to be more reliable and secured from customers perspective. Third problem area is that Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption is a must to be used for secured transaction otherwise not a single buyer as well as supplier will want to use their credit card for this purpose. SSL is a technique which usually solves the difficulty of credit cards which, many times, got disconnected in delivery between the customer and the business. A lot of hackers are there to hack the transaction in between; hence, SSL should be compulsorily used in order to avoid Identity theft. Thus, computer security is really a major concern, now days, for both merchants as well as e-commerce service providers, who install countermeasures like, firewalls as well as anti-virus software, which is essential for protecting the network. Phishing is one more danger, where customers are fooled by thinking that they are trading with retailer of good reputation, while, they are actually manipulated to feed confidential information to such a system which is controlled by malicious parties. Hence, website needs to be secured enough to avoid the circumstances of Phishing. One more problem area is privacy. No one wants to share their personal and confidential information with third party or over unsecured network because of risk; hence, registration must be very confidential and secured. Even, a lot of consumers do not like spam and telemarketing also, which can lead to providing contact data to any online merchant. Objective This research intend to develop as well as design a website with inbuilt e-commerce techniques, such as, B-2-C (Business-to-Consumers) as well as B-2-B (Business-to-Business) features meant for efficient marketing approaches. Moreover, there are few more specific objectives while designing this site, as well. First is to build up such a system which must permit a process of monitoring in order to maintain database interactivity. Second objective is to create such a data-driven application where the contents of the web can be reorganized dynamically. Furthermore, last but not the least objective is to provide as well as improve all the product information and allocation for Alibaba.com. Summary Alibaba.com is one of the global leaders in the world of e-commerce for small scale business organizations as well as flagship corporations of Alibaba Group. This website offers internet as well as Web-related services to customers all over the world. The services provided by this website are selling different products to its customers. As this website is designed on the principle of Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Customer (B2C), both, buyers as well as suppliers are its customers. Based on the experience along with expertise in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business sales, this business organization believe that it can offer a unique as well as superior service to its customers across the whole world, in comparison to what is currently available. The development of this project is based on the phases of System development Life Cycle. All the problem areas have been identified and hence, a user-friendly website has been created. These phases of development will emphasize most of the aspects of this system and the business. Planning Planning is something which is very important for any organization to do as it will help in organizing things in a planned manner. We can be successful in what we are doing if proper planning is done. We need to understand the purpose of planning the things. This will help in going in the right path. There are many important things which have to be taken care when planning for a task. Planning a website is again the most important thing as it is used by the users of the organization. This is something which has to be taken care seriously. Proper planning will lead to the success of the company. It is always advisable to design a website with the help of experienced people. There are two main steps in planning for a task. Project intention: This is something which helps in understanding the importance of the project. The value of the project should be known properly. Our final intention of creating a website is to increase the revenue of the company. Website should be planned in such a way that it is user friendly. Users should be able to use the website and should get the required information from it. Website planning is an important task and should be taken seriously. Details about the company should be included. Search options should be very friendly. This will help in navigating properly across the site. We should design the website in such a way that customer can get all the information that they are looking out for. We should look into minimizing the work and should think of saving money. Website should be designed in such a way that customers are visited quite often and can be impressed with the websites information. This will increase the number of users and also helps in increasing the revenu e of the company. Project management: Project management is very important as it will help in understanding the requirements. We should be very careful when designing the website. We should a proper planning of how to create the website. Care should be taken that the size of the website should be enough to get into it as it may slow down which will in turn increase customers frustration. Designed website should be virus free which will increase customers visit and also will ensure that the website is safe enough to use. There are many other things which also have to be taken care and are the color, design and the font size. Color used to design the website should be light and should not involve many colors. On the other side we should also make it look attractive. Font size should be normal so that we can easily follow. We should try to create something different on the website which will attract customers and can increase our revenue. Competition is very high in this modern generation. So we should m ake the difference to tolerate our competitors. We should ensure that the language is English as most of the customers across the globe can access the website. In this way a planned website can be created successfully with all the latest features. Analysis, including descriptions of the requirements or projected features of the Web site by highlighting integration issues The analysis phase describes all the possible necessities of this website in order to develop it. Requirements are basically the collection of functionalities as well as constraints which the end-user must expect from the site and as alibaba.com has both buyers and suppliers as the customer, it really need a well designed integration of selling and busying over the secured mode. These requirements are collected from the customer by means of discussion. It is really very important to take customers suggestion as end of the day our goal is to satisfy our customers. We should be able to analyze what is the problem, where are we lagging behind, what are the improvements to be made, etc. In this way, many things can be sorted. Analyzing the current situation and working accordingly will help in overcoming the barriers. We should be capable to analyze the situation. These requirements are examined in order to check the validity as well as the possibility of incorporating them in the system which is to be developed. At last, a document providing requirement specification is developed that will serve the intention of guiding principle for the forthcoming phases of model. This website has been designed on the basis of waterfall model under the processes of System Development Life Cycle. The requirement specifications which are included for the purpose of development of website are: proficiency in copy writing, conventional graphics, high-resolution images, consultation regarding website architecture, reasonable web hosting along with the service of active 24X7 customer supports for the domains, domain registration, hosting as well as other services. This site also requires various development services including ordinary B2C functionalities, such as e-commerce solutions as well as video integration. More features like online catalogs, integrated convincing client demonstrational videos or testimonial videos, and many others, can appeal visitors to view and trade through this website. Local Search as well as Ranking Services may also assist in dominating the presence of local market. This site will also offer various other services like pay-per click services in support of Google Adwords, MSN advertisement Center and Yahoo Search promotion, consulting advertising over the internet, in addition to entire program management in order to get the majority for the budget. Diagram1: Project Management technique While every project has different set of requirements as well as challenges as per the project specification, there are several milestones and considerations, which are common in every project. In broader perspective, a 5 stage strategy is developed. These phases comprise of all the necessary phases of a Software Development Life Cycle or in short, called SDLC model. Requirement Analysis: Before start functioning on the project, an in-depth study of users requirements is needed to make the base or foundation of the website. Hence, this will assist in suggesting one of the best clarifications suiting the current requirements. Design: next phase is design phase which basically starts as soon as the project kicks-off. This phase describes the designs for the front-end along with robust and scalable application structure which includes the database design. This phase is one of the critical phases in the project since; entire application is going to be formed based on this framework. Development: As soon as the design is confirmed, reviewed as well as approved in the design phase, now the next stage is the development stage where application development starts utilizing the suitable programming languages based on the requirement of project. Various type of testing is done in this phase, such as unit testing, system testing as well as integration testing at various milestones of this B2C and B2B website development project in order to make sure an error free delivery to the end user. Devotion to various programming in addition to testing standards is stringently followed to make sure the quality of the code and performance. Implementation Support: Subsequent to the development phase where various coding and testing is completed, the next stage is the implementation and support stage. Here, the recently developed application is installed in the real server environment to check whether it is working as per the strategy or not. Hence, now, the application goes live. In this stage, support is also provided in order to keep the application forever on the go. Maintenance Promotion: The last stage is maintenance and promotion. As soon as any application goes alive, updates are necessary. It helps the application to get restructured as per the need of latest environment. Hence, any and all of these updates are accomplished as a component of maintenance work. Various marketing campaigns over the internet are also done in order to enhance the visibility of the business over the internet. Project initiation, management and control scenarios, including overall planning and role assignment to each member To initiate a project of alibaba.com, its really required to move on with several careful planning along with projecting. Initially, this business can reduce the cost; however, it will improve the situation, later on. Following are the five most important control scenarios, which this website has taken in consideration while designing it. First feature or scenario is its reliable hosting which comprises of more than 99.99% uptime. Second feature is its user-friendly appearance as well as feel. This appealing appearance is brought with the help of various professional designs or softwares having template storefront. Third attractive scenario is a gateway for secure payment, incorporated with the feature of shopping cart. Payment transaction is mandatory to be secured and encrypted; otherwise, no user will try this site. Fourth scenario of this website is to generate a merchant account. This account will help in accepting multiple mode of payment as different users can use different mode of payment in order to trade. Fifth most important feature is to store the contact information of the customer in order to smooth the progress of customer service as well as privacy policy. Locating a Niche Market in the world of Online Retail A lot of entrepreneurs, in todays time, already have a thought of what they want and are capable of selling over the internet. On the other hand, few of the entrepreneurs still do not know what to sell, however, are familiar with the opportunity and hence, are involved in the planning of initializing a retail business based on e-commerce. The preliminary phase of business planning is basically an opportunity in order to investigate numerous markets in addition to making sensible and realistic decision on which products or else, services are offering the maximum earning potential. A niche is really important while planning for a online retail as if you dont know what to sell and how to sell, then its not possible to sell products and services properly and run business. Hence, its really important to think about all the expenses linked with the product, together with its storage, import taxes, shipping or packaging, in order to obtain a practical projection of the expenditure of selling it. Projecting Sales, Costs and Profits in B2C E-Commerce Business Planning Financial projections play a very important role on the planning for business. However, this is also true that it is really impossible to enlighten at the planning phase how well the business will be going to perform. Still, market as well as competition research work as a support and permit entrepreneurs to formulate educated guesses that include various tools like, graphs or charts in this phase of business planning. Diagram 2: Detail Project Analysis with the help of graphs and charts This course of action is really very important. As, in todays world, B2C e-commerce companies like www.alibaba.com launch themselves very quickly over the internet, hence proper research and plan acts are really important to be performed as they work as an authenticity check. A lot of time it happens that a idea which seems one of the best idea from the theory perspective, does not make logic in the live, real environment, hence, its best to have few alternatives so that one can move on to the subsequent possible product. This alternative is basically sinking money into a failed business. Its a ray of hope to a dead business. Design Detailed feature of www.alibaba.com Design phase is the subsequent phase after the analysis phase in the system development life cycle model. Unlike analysis phase, where what needs to be done is decided, this phase implements the strategies of analysis phase and design the frame work of the website as shown below: Diagram 3: Screenshot of www.alibaba.com Diagram 4: Screen shot of www.alibaba.com The website of www.alibaba.com is very user friendly. As this site has the features of both B2B (Business-to Business) as well as B2C (Business to Consumer), buyers and sellers, both are its customers. One can buy various products and on the same time one can sell various products from here. Below are some key features of this website as per the SDLC approach: This site has a Buy feature. This tab is needed to be used when the user is planning to buy various products. This tab comprise of all the details which are needed while purchasing: newly added products (detail of fresh products), how to buy, safety and security center and last but not the least is the post buying leads. Second feature is the sell feature. This tab is used by the end user when its time to sell products. Hence, this tab is mainly used by suppliers who supply products. This tab comprises of all the details while selling products, such as, newly added buying leads, how to sell and display new products. Third key feature is the community tab. This tab is basically a support tab in order to help both buyers and sellers while dealing with their trade. It comprises of :Ask it, where one can ask any question regarding this site and the answer will be provided to them as soon as possible, forums, price watch which gives an idea on the prices of different products and trade shows. Fourth feature is the registration feature. As this website deals with genuine trade, fake peoples are not allowed to enter here. Thus, a proper registration is done here before buyers and sellers move inside to trade. This consists of a proper unique login id and password, which help in maintaining the secured environment. Fifth key feature is the search tab. This tab is also very different unlike other search engines. Here, various products can be searched out. Moreover, suppliers as well as buyers can search for different products for selling and buying purpose, separately. Searching can be done as per the geographical location also. The next key feature of www.alibaba.com is the ask it section. Here, both buyers and suppliers can ask any type of query related to dealing with this website. For example, a customer can ask a question like should he has to make payment before the delivery or after delivery, etc. this site consist of three sub features which means question can be related to trade, safe trading as well as finding different suppliers. Next feature is the price watch tab. This gives an idea of updates in the value of different currency, different product prices, etc. hence, while trading, customers do not have to go through other websites to check all this and they can get the updated information from here, only. Next feature is the success stories tab. This feature helps in providing success stories of this website. Its just a strategy to promote this website as customers definitely want to be aware of this, when they are trading here. Hence, they need not check various news sites in order to get the latest report. Each and every success story related to www.alibaba.com is available here. One more unique feature of this website is to provide a detail of products which are highly eye-catching. This tab is known as featured products. At present, which product is leading the market, can be known from here. This gives the customer an idea to go through them and buy as per their requirement. This feature is very similar to todays special in restaurants. Next feature is the advertisement section. This section advertises one of the best products of this e-commerce site. Last but not the least feature is the section from where one can easily surf all the details about the website, from company information, partners, to buying, selling, safety and support and other services as well as tools. Detailed description of features and functions of www.alibaba.com Alibaba.com is basically based on quite a few requirement frameworks that include strategic advertising branding, consultation for web designing, creation of professional contents, robust features of ecommerce, management in addition to administration of site, managed services, systems integration, as well as hosting. Below are the details of all the features as well as functions, which have been the part of the alibaba.com. Custom Site Design This feature include customized or traditional designed banner, navigation buttons or links, logo, site layout as well as color scheme as per the choice of the customer for the website. It basically works as per the customers need, requirement as well as choice. Second customized design is that the home page of www.alibaba.com must have various links, such as, view account, buyers and suppliers account login, , checkout page, shopping cart in addition to site map Management of various products Customized products are making entry and hence, get managed with the help of built-in merchant tools This website includes pages with unlimited number of grouping, sub-categories as well as detailed information related to products. Products are assigned to multiple different categories as well as sub-categories One more function of this website is to upload products in bulk or product feeding which means importing product details from other websites or databases by the help of files of XML data feed. Internal products can be searched with the help of various keyword related to products along with search query archiving. Technique for dynamic imaging is used which helps in enlarging image view, zooming image as well as multiple views of the image from front, side and back in order to provide most favorable user experience. Selection of Color swatch is done which allow end users to select from a variety of available colors. Notification for Out-of-stock is provided. This basically produce an out-of-stock notice on that page where the product detail is mentioned along with an anticipated in-stock date One more feature of this site is such that it can mark products as Unavailable. This means, products which have been removed from the catalog, although not from the database, are marked as, not available. Playback of video is also available to give attractive look to end-user. Videos related to any product can be uploaded on the site and played on the page of detailed product. Order Management Order editing can be done here, which means all the components of order can be edited. Searching for Order can be done which includes searching orders by the name of customer, corporation name, date, state, and order ID as well as order status. This business works on the principle of partial as well as back-order shipment which means shipping of in-stock items are done first and items which are out-of-stock are shipped later on. Order history is available which helps registered end users to view a catalog of formerly placed orders in addition to transferring selected orders to the online basket, known as shopping cart. Tracking of order status can also be done which means registered users are able to keep a eye on the condition of current orders as well as partially shipped orders. Shopping Cart Shopping cart is basically an online basket. Hence, a normal shopping cart or a drop-down is really needed and hence, designed. The customer can select among any of these two which appeared on the page where product detail is given in order to transfer the product to a shopping cart. The feature of this function is such that it can sum up all the items automatically inside the cart. Editing of shopping cart can also be done like consumers can delete items as well as update product items as per their requirement. Checkout Processing of instantaneous credit card permit order payment by majority of the credit card. Payment processing is done at the point of sale or for the duration of order fulfillment Order notification consumer get order confirmation along with order tracking number as well as shipping confirmation as soon as the order ships. Security SSL is used which means secured encrypted transport of order as well as credit card information is done. Secured HTTPS/SSL as well as password protected entry is done in order to enter to the admin section. Complete log-out capabilities is provided for site administrator as well as customer. Website is PCI compliant which means the servers are firewall protected. Numbers of credit card are no longer stored than necessary, susceptible data is encrypted in addition to restricted access. Audit logs are also created. Site Management Account management is done where site administrator has to login and revise the information related to customer account. Product management as well as order management is done. Pricing updates are provided which gives flexible interface for various price information related to all product items or for definite categories. Generation of sales reports for sales is done with the help of date, type of product, customer, location and order size, etc. Content management is done. Reviewing customer reviews, making those reviews on or off, are done here. User Engagement Customer account registration is done. Account information can be viewed. Customers can login to go through and update various and can check status of the order. Onsite blogging- end users can put their comment on various blog posts. Onsite product reviews can be done which means customers may rate as well as share their personal experiences regarding any product. Social media optimization in addition to integration provides link to social media sites such as Digg and Reddit, and on the other hand, two-way incorporation with different social networking sites such as Facebook as well as Twitter. Testing Diagram 5: Testing Testing is one of the important parts of designing and development of web based application for the reason that this application all the time works as a multi-user system along with limitations of bandwidth. Few of the common testing are integration testing, Scalability testing, Stress testing, resolution testing, load testing as well as cross-browser compatibility testing. Testing is a broader term which basically divided into two parts: automated testing and manual testing. Both of these testing can be performed without any failure. For instance, its really essential to test the speed of uploading of graphics, in order to calculate this loading time, as they plays a very important role in the appearance of any website. In todays time, there are a lot of testing tools available over the internet which assist testers to test the web applications. After complete of all the short step-by-step testing, a final testing is necessary. This testing will be done in a live environment. Hence, the basic policy is that as soon as the site is uploaded, there must be a complete testing. Various Inputs to the phase of testing A website, supporting documents, Requirement specifications, Technical specifications, along with Technical documents Various outputs of the phase of Testing Complete Website, Reports on testing, Error logs, recurrent interaction along with developers as well as designers Promotion This stage of system development life cycle is applicable only for websites. This phase consist of preparing Meta tags, steady analysis in addition to suggesting the URL to various search engines as well as directories. Its generally an ongoing process because the different strategies of search engine usually changes quite often. Hence, one of the ideal policies for submission will be to submit the website URLs once in every two months. Moreover, if the end user is willing, paid submissions as well as paid click can also be performed with extra cost. Various Inputs to the phase of promotion A website along with content, Mails from client notifying the competitors Few Output to the phase of promotion Site submission is done along with essential Meta tags. Maintenance and Updating All the e-commerce websites like www.alibaba.com basically require frequent updates in order to look fresh and adjust with any situation. Hence, a need for analysis is there so that application can be well maintained as well as all the phases of life cycle must get revised. Bug or error fixes are also done throughout the period of maintenance. As soon as the website is functional, ongoing promotion, content management and updating, technical maintenance, reports for website visit, mentoring as well as staff training are considered necessary on a normal basis depending on the intricacies of the website as well as the needs within the business organization. Various Inputs to Maintenance along with Updating Site or the application, Content as well as functions which are needed to be modernized, Reports for Re-Analysis Various Outputs to Maintenance along with Updating An Updated application, Various supporting documents developed to

Evaluation of Tourism Brochure for Portugal

Evaluation of Tourism Brochure for Portugal The National Tourism Office for Portugal describes the country as one of the world’s oldest nations whose boundaries have remained unchanged since the thirteenth century. It encompasses the Azores and Madeira within its region and offers rapid access to other countries in Europe as well as the American continent and Africa. It has mild winters and ‘agreeable’ summers. It has a population of over 10 million, with the highest demographic in Lisbon. It boasts strong and historical and cultural ties with the rest of the world. (Sourced from: http://www.portugal.org/index.shtml, Date accessed, 12/01/09) Located in South West Europe Portugal has been an economic and politically powerful country and played a key role in early maritime exploration during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is clear that tourist brochures key objectives are to sell a positive and appealing destination to travelers; what is not quite so apparent are the disguised messages that are frequently conveyed by the way in which certain pictures are produced and by way of cleverly composed coded text throughout. Two official brochures issued by the Portuguese Tourism Office will be analysed for their content within this paper. This will mostly focus on visual images as well as some textual interpretation. One represents a traditional travel brochure depicting the country generically, while the other is their most up to date promotional campaign brochure which has only recently been launched. In Eric Laws’ Embracing and Managing Change in Tourism he talks about using content analysis to make ‘replicable and valued inferences from data to their context’. His model seeks to decode messages according to categories including location, activities, transport and travel parties etc whilst breaking down the analysis in sections; the front page, photographs and text. (Laws, 1998) It is this approach that will be applied to this paper. Assessing first the more traditional brochure for the country, immediately the front cover conveys a sense of isolation, with what appears to be a digitally enhanced image of a rock in the middle of the sea. Whether this is meant to represent Portugal is unclear and although a little uninspiring it will appeal to a certain type of audience that will want to discover more. This audience target becomes more apparent the further into the brochure you read. The first page into the literature provides a mixture of emotive, nationalistic and evocative images. A local Portuguese poet is quoted as a means of engaging the reader immediately with the prospect of a country which is inspired by the arts, as well as characterising it as a country not to be confused as a seaside resort, but rather for its lesser known rugged mountains and lakes which are illustrated romantically on the front cover. The accompanying text continues to relay all of the diverse things that Portugal has in terms of app ealing to a broad audience. These include nightclubs, hiking or deserted coves. However whilst it may seem to want to appeal to all people it is at the same time obviously trying to attract the type of middle class, sensitive and emotional visitor who will be inspired by beauty and poetry. The second page continues with this theme but elaborates on the architecture, museums and heritage to be discovered. Now the reader begins to imagine Portugal as more of an ‘old world’ country, which of course is what it is and it is clear that the brochure wants to emphasise this age old association with Portugal, not so much the seaside resort, but more of a cultural haven. Once again this romantic element continues across the following pages where the quaint old images are elaborated further with the introduction of the idea of romance. It’s as if the brochure has succeeded in coming across as a charming, welcoming country which is most suitable as a destination for lovers a nd couples to embrace. The reader is told that for the Portuguese ‘romance is as important as the air they breath’ It even goes so far as to say ‘one-night stands are out’ which automatically assumes that the young, single man or woman perhaps coming to the country in a group of similar young and single people would not feel comfortable or at ease. This is not the market that they want to encourage. It is a clever message and not so much cryptic, more overt in its presence. Already there have been four images all of which contain no people in them. This is particularly interesting as it suggests the sender of the message is trying to convey Portugal as a form of tourism which suits escapism. Pictures of food and restaurants feature across the next two pages with a list of the ten things you should not leave Portugal before tasting. Portugal thrives on its high-level services like drinking, eating and shopping and it seems uncharacteristic then that for a thirty six page brochure only around three or four pages have any images of food, bars or restaurants. Already this assumes in many ways that the country has defined its tourist and is utilising different methods of trying to attract them. In Finn et al’s Tourism and Leisure Research Methods: Data Collection, Analysis, and Interpretation the authors write about a research study which took place over three years on a remote Scottish Island with the intention of understanding better the relationship between islanders and tourists. Life on the island changed significantly over the summer months when visitors arrived and the study was able to determine that all visitors could be clearly categorized. The categories included day-trippers, summer residents, tourists, returning island-born visitors etc. (Finn et al, 2000) The tourists were defined, known and responded to accordingly. Each country has an understanding of who their visitors are and will attempt to appeal to them as categories, such as those listed above. In order to do that they apply a number of techniques that will be designed to capture the imagination of any given category. This particular brochure omits any indication of hedonism, instead it depicts couples walking or lone back-packers. There are no crowd scenes, no shots of happy groups of participatory people. The focus remains on large rural landscapes, with urban representations limited to the city architecture, rather than on nightlife or entertainment. The word romance appears seven times in the first four pages, which immediately indicates that the oweness is on this type of visitor; a couple or perhaps two friends looking for meaningful encounters rather than drink-fuelled, party antics. This isn’t isolated to one section of the brochure either, it is prevalent throughout even in the pages selling Lisbon, Portugal’s adven turous capital city. In fact the word Lisbon only features once in some contact details at the end of the literature. Portugal’s capital is referred throughout by its old traditional Portuguese name, Lisboa. This in itself suggests that the tourist office is appealing to more sophisticated and knowledgeable travelers who will know that Lisboa is Lisbon. Some readers may understandably pick up a brochure of Portugal looking for Lisbon, but it is clearly this type of prospective visitor that the country is not necessarily interested in appealing to here. Page 19 goes into tremendous detail about the historical background of the region. For many standard holiday makers looking for a cheap and cheerful get away this will automatically leave them cold and disinterested. The text reads like a detailed guide book in the style of Lonely Planet or Time Out. The Mosteiro dos Jerà ³nimos in the district of Belà ©m is a hymn in stone to Portugal’s maritime heritage, while the Torre de Belà ©m is a potent symbol of Portugal’s great age  of expansion. Even contemporary architecture takes on a maritime theme – the amazing new Vasco da Gama bridge is in the shape of a giant sail. After the devastating earthquake of 1755, Baixa Pombalina (the centre of Lisboa) was rebuilt in a classical style, but many of the winding mediaeval bairros remain, crammed with fascinating shops, restaurants and cafà ©s. At night they come into their own,  offering everything from African to Latin American music – and of course the  bluesy melancholy of fado. This is not the language traditionally associated with grabbing the attention of hard marketing, fast promoting tourist attractions and once again only seeks to reiterate the type of audience they are trying to capture. The second brochure for analysis is very different in its approach. It has been designed in a deliberately stylized way to grab the attention of the potential tourist. The reader is informed immediately that this has been created specifically for Portugal by the world renowned photographer Nick Knight. A photographer who is British, which immediately eradicates any thoughts of patriotism or national pride which comes across so clearly in the opening pages of the other brochure. And on the cover the reader is presented with a juxtaposing photograph of the Portuguese football manager Jose Mourinho resting above the caption ‘My country has 220 days of sunshine every year’. Jose Mourinho is the face of Portugal, literally. Not only that but the accompanying statement makes it personalized somehow, as if Mourinho was talking to the reader as a friend or confident. This is a very clever way of engaging readers. In addition it is almost as if the writers of the brochure have de cided that they need to associate the country more with a well known image. It signifies pride whilst boasting that it is a country blessed with sun and celebrities. National celebrities as well as the ability to attract other celebrities such as Nick Knight. It is a very bold, confident style. The most noticeable next technique to be analysed is the selected font that the brochure is written in. This looks like old computer style icons, which conjures up images of both the future in terms of technology and of nostalgia for old fashioned computer text. As a consequence the reader becomes drawn in by a familiar yet inspirational attitude towards the literature being presented. Is this the way in which Portugal is trying to be imagined? As an inspiring, forward-thinking country which is also reassuring some how. As if carrying on with this theme the brochure then informs us that Portugal is essentially trying to re-define and re-brand itself, telling us on page 4, that its many and varied assets deserve to be ‘promoted and exploited†¦.with a proper stage so that they can be seen, appreciated and valued as they are not enough at the moment’. This self-depreciating and yet overly confident message will appeal to readers on a number of levels. The information which the reader is communicated on page 6 is particularly interesting. It seeks to plead with prospective tourists on the basis of beginning to disassociate itself away from its old Mediterranean identity. Despite none of Portugal’s coast being on the Mediterranean Sea, it has often promoted itself as a ‘Mediterranean area’. For the first time in this brochure it is realigning itself with the ‘Atlantic†¦and our home’. This signifies a complete change of image and identity for the country and one that it wants to relay to other potential visitors from around the world. After approximately seven extremely short paragraphs along this same theme and a biography of Nick Knight; what emerges is a series of robust images, first of rugged seascapes and rough coastal scenes which invoke feelings of drama, excitement and energy which is clearly what this ‘new’ Portugal is attempting to portray. Probably the most powerful messa ges are however the next set of portraits which illustrate well known Portuguese people including the architect Miguel Cancio Martins, the artist Joana Vasconcelos, the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and of course Jose Mourinho. It is a brochure which is very stylised and reads more like a power point presentation than a piece of promotional tourist information. It is particularly visual and leaves behind any romantic, idealised, historical textual information so associated with the hard sell of ‘old world country’s’. Instead it is making a very brave and bold move into re-branding itself as a country to be viewed as a modern contender even going to the extreme of repositioning itself geographically within the Atlantic Ocean, rather than the Mediterranean. Perhaps this has been done in a move towards getting people to start associating it with an entirely new type of holiday which does not necessarily reflect the beaches, clubs and excitement connected to the Medit erranean, but more in line with the sophistication of the brochure discussed earlier. To be considered more like Mexico and Guyana rather than Cyprus and Greece; the more popular and media driven destinations which are more and more prone to be associated with package tours, groups of young people and stag and hen parties. The other rationale for its provocative move might relate to the Middle East; so firmly entrenched as it is in the Mediterranean, in particular Israel and Libya. Recent political unrest and continued problems in this area might have prompted Portugal to consider disassociating itself from its previous identity. In Pritchard and Morgan’s study, Evaluating vacation destination brochure images: the case of local authorities in Wales, they identified the power and influence of images appearing in brochures into six groups all of which assist with establishing identity; scenery, activities, people, heritage, urban and rural and iconic destinations. (Pritchard and Morgan, 1995). This contemporary brochure proves no different in many ways. It still succeeds in Portugal establishing itself as a vacation destination in that it projects large bold images of Portugal’s natural scenery, not its heritage, castles or monuments, but the wildlife that exists around its coast, the people of course are also iconic representations and exemplify the country as a modern forward thinking and inspirational place to go. No activities are demonstrated but the photographs of well known people listed by occupation craftily suggests that it is possible to do anything in Portugal, whether that be a scient ist, artists, architect or even an Olympic champion. Portugal has it all. The juxtaposition of both brochures; traditional and contemporary have been interesting to analyse in relation to their differences as well as their very obvious similarities. From this angle it is determinable that messages may often be similar or indeed the same but that they can be delivered in very conflicting ways in the context of differing perspectives. Many of the messages relayed in both brochures advertising Portugal predominantly appeal to more broad minded, sophisticated audiences who appreciate and know a little more about life and the world around them. By doing so it sometimes actually serves to discourage anything other than that type of tourist, which may on some levels seem risky, whilst on others is understandable if the country has faced economic, public or political issues due to the nature of their tourism or media associated tourism. References Finn, M, Elliott-White, M, Walton, M (2000) Tourism and Leisure Research Methods: Data Collection, Analysis, and Interpretation: Pearson Education Laws, E, Faulkner, W, Moscardo, G, Faulkner, B (1998) Embracing and Managing Change in Tourism: International Case Studies: Routledge Pritchard, A and Morgan, N. (1995) Evaluating destination brochure images: the case of local authorities in Wales, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol 2, pp 23-38 Ringer, G.D (1998) Destinations: Cultural Landscapes of Tourism: Routledge Official Portugal Tourism Office (Sourced from: http://www.portugal.org/index.shtml, Date accessed, 12/01/09)