Money Essays - Startup Cult, DraftGerald Roch,

Money Inheriting What do you do when you suddenly inherit money? Are you supposed to run out and spend it like crazy? Are you supposed to put it all in the bank? Do you tell anyone you have your money and where you got it from? These are all questions that went through my head as I turned 18. I was an overnight "rich" person. What was I to do? Ever since I can remember, my mother has been telling me, "when you turn 18 you are going to get the money your Daddy left for you." For some reason I never really believed her. I thought that I would get about $2,000 or something and be able to buy a nice computer for college or something along those lines. I never thought I would be able to buy a house. I dont even want or need a house, but all of a sudden I am able to buy one. I did not grow up poor by any means, but I was not the kid on the street with money to toss out either. Now that I had money, what was I supposed to do with it? The first thing I did when I got my money was hug my mother really tight. Ever since I was 2 she had been paying taxes on it, investing it, making sure it was safe, and tons of other things she really did not have to do. She did it all out of the kindness of her heart. When the judge in control of my funds would be a dork and send us a nice little letter saying that he "was sorry but had decided to move the money from a 10% interest account to a 4% account", my mother would be talking to our lawyer and trying to get it back to the good interest rate. We would always be getting letters like that, so having dinner with a man who charged us $250 an hour was not unusual. Even then I never realized that I would be getting actual money. I must have been in some kind of a dream land, but it did not make any sense until one certain rainy Monday. That Monday I had gotten called out of band by my lawyer, who to my suprise, was standing in my high school hallway. He handed me a stack of documents about 4 inches thick and instructed me to sign on various pages. I did so, and afterwards he gave me this big smile. "Congratulations, Beth. You now are in control of your money." I asked him exactly how much I had to spend and he directed me to the bottom of the next to last page. I stared at an unbelievable figure - $84,000. Was my lawyer serious? I actually had a bank account somewhere with my name on it that contained that much money? I could go out and by a new car and give each of my friends cars? I did not understand how overnight I had gone from my little dream world to reality. I now had a bunch of dilemas to deal with, and I was not sure I even wanted them. Would having money change me? That was a major concern of mine for a long time after I got my money. I did not want to become one of those superficial people that depend on money to make them happy. On the other hand, now that I could afford to get nice things, I wanted to take advantage of it. I could now go out and buy a nice computer for college, maybe buy a new car, and finally get some new clothes. The last time I had money to spare on clothes, I was in the 6th grade, so I think I was a little overdue for a trip to the mall. Clothes, a computer, and a car seemed very shallow to me, so I decided to get some advice on what to do with my fortune. I did not want to spend all of my money and then wake up one day and realize it was all gone and I had to hunt for tuition. That would be the last thing in the world I would ever want. Randy Baird worked for American Express at the time, although now he works for Prudential Securities, and he was more than willing to meet with me and discuss my financial future.

Book Borrowing System free essay sample

[pic] BOOK BORROWING SYSTEM In partial fulfillment of the requirements in SE101 Software Engineering I MEMBERS: Baldonado Jr. , Michael M. ADVISER Dinna Lou J. Piedad S. Y. 2011 2012 Introduction Manual systems in libraries were used in the 1970s and early 1980s until computers became more prevalent and less costly. Manual systems tended to operate with a card index to monitor the books that borrowers had out. Libraries also used a manual card catalog system for indexing and tracking books. Manual operating systems are vulnerable to human error. For instance, a librarian who misfiles a borrowers records or indexes a book incorrectly slows down the process and wastes employees time. Manual systems are also slow to operate. Instead of using a computer to issue and take back books, locating and updating a card index is slow and laborious. Manual systems are unable to store large amounts of data efficiently. With manual systems staff spends a lot of their time on mechanical, clerical tasks rather than liaising with library visitors. We will write a custom essay sample on Book Borrowing System or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page User’s Description Most likely the one that who will use the system are students, and teachers that has no time in going System Description Library Management System is a multi-user version and can take care of all the fundamental functions of a Library like borrowing books, searching for books and checking the books. It can satisfactorily cater to all the basic functions of a small library. A simple library management system that provides following facilities login, register, add Category, add / remove book, search / issue Book, return book. Library system keeps track of all the transaction that takes place in the library. Starting from book transaction to financial transaction. Purpose and Objectives The Purpose and Objectives of the project is to create a library management system which sorts the administrators, staffs and students separately. It empowers each with different levels of privileges. Users and administrators are allowed to search and lend/take books from the library. It also sorts the items in the library and lets administrator to monitor items/members and also generate graphical reports for them. Scope and Limitation Any education institute can make use of it for providing information about author, content of the available books. It can be used in offices and modifications can be easily done according to requirements. System’s Features Management System. As it has a user-friendly application interface. ENTITY RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM CONTEXT DIAGRAM USE CASE DIAGRAM USE CASE SPECIFICATION: login 1. Brief Description To interact with the system, LMS will validate its registration with this system. It also defines the actions a user can perform in LMS. 2. Flow of Events 1. Basic Flow The use case begins when the actor types his/her name and password on the login form. 1. The system displays the Main Form and the use case ends. . Alternative Flow(s) 1. Invalid username and/or password If the user enters an invalid username and/or password, the system displays an error message. The user can choose to either return to the beginning of the Basic Flow or cancel the login, at which the use case ends. 3. Pre Conditions None 4. Post Conditions If the use case is successful, the user can now log into the system. If n ot the system is unchanged. USE CASE SPECIFICATION: Search Books 1. Brief Description Search Books makes it easy to search for article on LMS. With this search companion, user can specify several search criteria. For example, type, book name, author name, publisher etc. 2. Flow of Events 1. Basic Flow The use case starts when the user/borrower wants to search what books he/she is looking for. 1. System will show searching screen. 2. User enters required information. a. It can be user name, book description ISBN etc. 3. By pressing search button system will list down all searching results. 2. Alternative Flow(s) 2. 2. 1. The User enters a invalid keywords. The system will display an error message. The user may choose to re enter the keyword or cancel the search. 3. Pre Conditions Actor must login to the system. 4. Post Conditions If the use case is successful the user can now view the desired results. If not the system displays an error. USE CASE SPECIFICATION: Manage Borrower 1. Brief Description From this use case the Librarian can manage Borrowers. 2. Flow of Events 2. 1. Basic Flow The use case starts when the Librarian checks the borrowers in the borrowing system. 1. The system will show the entire registered user in the system. 2. Librarian will select any user; system will list down all information of a current user. 1. Alternative Flow(s) 2. 2. 1. The actor enters a invalid name of the borrower. The system will display an error message. The Actor may choose to re enter the keyword or cancel the search. 2. Pre Conditions Librarian must login to the system. 3. Post Conditions If the use case is successful the actor can now manage the members in the system, if not the system is unchanged USE CASE SPECIFICATION: Manage Books 1. Brief Description Books have different details; Inquiry Books is used to inquiry all books or articles in the system, it also gives details of its transaction history, and current status. 2. Flow of Events 2. 1. Basic Flow The use case starts when the user will manage books or articles. 2. 1. 1. User enters the required information. . 1. 2. It can be author’s name, ISBN of the book, Label, Number of books available. By pressing the search button system will list down all searching results. 2. 2. Alternative Flow(s) 2. 2. 1. The user enters invalid information about the book. The system will display an error message, the user chooses to cancel or Repeat the search. 3. Pre Conditions The Act or must login to the system. 4. Post Conditions If the use case is successful the user can now view his/her desired results, if not the system is unchanged. USE CASE SPECIFICATION: Manage Borrowed Books 1. Brief Description System will show members current issued books, transaction history and their deadlines. 2. Flow of Events 2. 1. Basic Flow The use case starts when the actor will check the Books Borrowed in the system. 2. 1. 1. The system will display all user history. 2. 2. Alternative Flow(s) 2. 2. 1. The user enters invalid information. The system will display an error message, the user will choose to cancel or repeat the information that he/she entered. 3. Pre Conditions The user must login to the system. 4. Post Conditions If the use case is successful the user can now view his/her desired results, if not the system is unchanged. ACTIVITY DIAGRAM:

Is a Two-Page Resume Ever Acceptable

Is a Two-Page Resume Ever Acceptable There is a lot of confusing information out there these days about how long a resume should be. While a resume that goes on for pages is unlikely to be read by a hiring manager, not putting in enough information can have the same effect. Now that many resumes are no longer submitted on paper but in digital format, the old rules for resumes make little sense. Keep in mind that hiring managers are interested in finding the right candidate for the job, and the resume quickly tells them whether or not the applicant is eligible for consideration. What About One Page Resumes?One argument is that one page resumes are fine for recent graduates or those who don’t have much work experience. While this might be true, the custom is to try and keep a resume short and to the point. This makes sense since a hiring manager or recruiter may have many of them to check over in order to fill a job position.Are Longer Resumes Acceptable?More experienced workers may require more than one page to li st their previous job positions, skills and experience or already have a resume that takes up more than one page. This is particularly true for those with a lot of work experience or advanced degrees. Now, with social media, personal websites and sites such as LinkedIn, a job seeker can add information to those sites so recruiters can find added information. The good thing about personal websites and LinkedIn is that you can include as much as you wish.Do You Include All Your Jobs?You don’t have to include every job you’ve ever held. Instead, keep it to the last ten years of employment. The important thing is to aim your resume toward the job for which you are applying. A recruiter’s job is to find the best candidates for the position, so if you are qualified for the job and point it out in your resume, you can go to the top of the list of candidates.Do Bullet Points Help?Using bullet points add to your resume by making it quick to scan for the recruiter to pick up important information. It also makes it less likely that an important job qualification will not be missed. Use caution, however, to not overdo using bullet points. Use your qualifications that respond to the job ad.What About Job History?Including your entire job history isn’t necessary for a resume, and neither is listing everything you did in each job. What the recruiter is interested in are the things you did that benefitted the company such as increasing productivity, saving the company money or other benefits. Use this type of approach to show how you would be an asset. This lets the recruiter know quickly whether you are a match for the job position.Should I Chop My Resume or Add to It?By now, you’ve chopped out all unnecessary information but you find your resume is still over one page long, and you are faced with the decision of making the print small to make it fit on one page or of using a second page that is mostly a large blank space. What do you do? T hinking about if you were the person reading it, would you be happy trying to read tiny print or would you prefer a second page, even if it only has a few lines of text? Rather than give the recruiter eye strain, it is better to include the second page. If you really feel that space shouldn’t go to waste, use it to show volunteer work, awards and organizations so the recruiter can see into your personality.Having a good resume is a start to getting that great job. TheJobNetwork takes all the stress out of job hunting by doing the search for you. After you sign up for job match alert and enter your qualifications and job requirements, TheJobNetwork toils around the clock searching for the jobs that match and sends you alerts to notify you when job listings are found.

Summarize Queen Magdas journey Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Summarize Queen Magdas journey - Coursework Example On hearing the message stating her wish to depart, Solomon pleaded with her to stay so that he could show her how his government works and the state of his soldiers and dignitaries. Queen Magda complied after hearing all she had missed and attended King Solomon’s supper and she sat behind him as he had stated that she will linger behind him. Solomon ordered his servant to serve a repast for Queen Magda with the intention of making her thirsty. Solomon approached Queen Magda and begged her to reside with her in his quarters. The Queen made him make a vow that he would not touch her and she promised she would not touch anything that belonged to Solomon. Later in the night, she became very thirsty and she opted to take the water present in Solomon’s room. Solomon caught her and reminded her of their vow and she opted to break the vow for the water in the vase. They slept together and Solomon had a vision about the sun moving from Israel to Ethiopia. After her encounter, Ma gda sought to return to Ethiopia and Solomon gave her treasures and other precious things. He gave her his ring and told her to keep it as his token of love, and in the event that she bore a child, the ring would be a sign of his recognition. The Quincy Mayans Myth stated that the gods had sought to create humans who would come as a source of nourishment and sustain them in the light of the day. Later, humans and God's relations became poor and the humans fell out of favor with the gods for their lack of worship to the gods.

Food industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Food industry - Essay Example The company has made great advances in the production of fast foods through their kitchen prototyping, standardizing, self-serving along with fundamental changes in their marketing demographics (Schlosser, 212). The company has been offering fast foods to various classes of customers who include teenagers and the elderly. The beef department of the company is currently being dominated by immigrants who offer cheap labor in the various branches that the company has opened up across the globe. Through the process of recruiting more cheap workers, the organization has been able to expand their activities while at the same time maximizing their profits (Mankiw, 141). In consolidating their activities, Fast food Nation has been able to acquire many other smaller companies in different countries for the purpose of expanding the scope of their activities (Schlosser, 79). For instance, the company has acquired companies that indulge in packing meat such as Kenny Dobbins along with IBP Inc. T hey have been additionally able to ensure that all the outlets deal with uniform franchises (Kroeger, Vizjak, Moriarity, 89). The Omnivore’s dilemma offers a wide variety of foodstuffs for humans that range from industrial and organic foods and the foods we scavenge for ourselves such as meat products (Pollan, 62). The company manufactures the above meals in an effort to diversify their activities while expanding their activities across national along with international boundaries. They have enjoyed economies of scale with their production costs decreasing over the years as a result of using cheaper forms of labor, the use of technology in their activities and advanced production methods (Mankiw, 132). The company acquires its raw materials from many areas, which implies that they rarely have shortages in their production. The company’s production has however faced problems as a result of animal diseases which affect their production along with the

Consumer Behaviour Analysis Essay Example for Free

Consumer Behaviour Analysis Essay In this competitive market, high quality of products may not be sufficient for companies to gain competitive edges in market (Palmer, 2004). In addition, according to Moutinho et al (1996), it seems that the nature of marketing is to satisfy the needs and requirements of consumers rather than product oriented. Thus, consumers play a prominent role in market as contemporary marketing is customer-oriented. However, it should be noticed that consumer behaviour is unstable because psychological factors have impacts on consumer behaviour. Moreover, Evans et al (2006) indicate that social factors also affect consumer behaviour. Although many companies have drawn attention to the status of consumers in market, they lack of the knowledge of consumer behaviour and guidelines to analysis their consumers. Therefore, the study of consumer behavior is necessary for helping companies clearly understand consumer behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to observe the effects of consumer behavior on established and new companies. Factors affecting consumer behavior will first be presented. The discussion of consumer behaviour’s effect on two types of companies will then be displayed, with a focus on brand loyalty, dynamic demands, and online shopping channels. Furthermore, for future development, effective approaches will be given to reduce the negative effects of customer behavior. Indeed, this paper briefly discusses some main effects of consumer behaviour on established and new companies, and it aims to help companies clearly understand consumer behaviour and further development. 1. Consumer Behaviour 1.1 Psychological influences A company has spent amounts of time developing a new product; however, after the company launches the product to markets, it could realize its efforts is wasted because customers reject its product in a few minutes. The reason is the company fails or neglects to analyze the psychological factors of consumers. Understanding psychological factors is essential for designing and publicizing a product, as these factors tend to influence consumer behaviour. According to Hollensen (2003:122), psychological factors include: â€Å"needs, perception, memory, and attitude†. With regards to the needs of consumers, marketers often distinguish the needs by using Maslow’s famous classification (1970). The classification divides the needs of people into five grades based on hierarchy. The higher level needs cannot be realized unless lower level needs are satisfied. For example, most African countries suffer from starvation. If a marketer sells luxury goods to African consumers, the marketer tends to fail because the marketer cannot understand what African people urgently need. Baker (2006:204) says â€Å"Sensation occurs when a sense organ receives a stimulus, while perception is the interpretation of that stimulus†. From the marketer’s viewpoint, it is essential to attract attention of consumers, and consumers can respond the way marketers intend to. For example, if a marketer chooses red colour to package products, the consumer likes all commodities with red packaging by chance; then, perception arises as this packaging draws the consumer attention. In terms of memory, when consumers make decision among kinds of brands, they prefer to select the brand that they remember. Hollensen (2003) observes consumers store information that is frequently seen or heard. Therefore, marketers try their best to publicize their brand name as much as possible with a view to making consumers remember their brand name when consumers select a product. Attitude can be described as consumers have positive and negative feelings when they see a object that can be a brand, an action, or a person. For this reason, marketers formulate marketing strategy based on using the knowledge of consume attitude in order to associate with consumer’s tastes and preferences. This subsection focuses on psychological factors that influence consumer behavior. In the latter subsection, it concerns social factors that would influence consumer behaviour. 1.2 Social influences Baker (2006) points out that social influences can be divided into three categories including culture, social class, and life-style. In terms of culture, Bennett and Kassarjian (1972) define culture as a consecutive form that can be passed on from one generation to another mainly including habits, beliefs, values, and attitudes. However, culture tends to be relatively unstable, and it is in the process of changing and inducing new ideas because of environmental change and technological change. In addition, Evans et al (2006) note that marketing is a contributory factor in changing of culture. For example, in China, before fast food restaurants of McDonald opened, Chinese people prefer to eat their own food such as porridge, rice, and noodles; nevertheless, after the US lifestyle has transmitted to China through McDonald, the eating habits of Chinese has changed as most of them, especially the young people, would choose hamburgers or chips instead of rice and noodles. With regard to social classes, this classes are groups who have similar characteristics usually including education, income, occupation, and social status (Baker, 2006). Consumers’ behaviour tends to be influenced by the values of social classes, when consumers are divided into one of social classes (Palmer, 2004). In general, social classes consist of three groups including upper class, middle class, and lower class. For example, if individuals identify with the â€Å"upper class†, they prefer to purchase products that differ from universal goods such as luxury necklaces, and advanced cars. Another aspect of social influences is lifestyle that is a way of living of people or families. For example, how people plan leisure time, which interesting products people prefer to purchase. In consumption activities, through analyzing people’s lifestyles, marketers probably know which groups of people tend to be their targets, hence they can design a suitable marketing mix for their targets. 1.3 The buying decision process The above paragraphs introduce influential factors that affect consumers’ decision making. For better understanding consumer behaviour, the process of buying decision is divided into five steps (Hollensen, 2003). The first step tends to be problem identification. According to Hollensen (2003), the differences between current situation and desired situation motivate consumers to seek and purchase products that probably bring satisfaction in order to balance the current condition with the desire. The second step is information search. Consumers gain information from past experiences and long memories stored in mind. In addition, Hollensen (2003) states that memory seeks information from three sources including personal sources, commercial sources, and public sources. The commercial sources are information disseminated by marketers and dealers. Thus, marketers tend to take use of this source in order to make consumer remember and store their brand name in long memory. The third step is evaluation of alternative. In this step, Hollensen (2003) points out that consumers tend to evaluate products from four attributes including cost attributes, performance attributes, social attributes, and availability attributes. Fourthly, Palmer (2004) points out that the purchase decision is made by DMU (Decision Making Unit). This DMU consists of influencers, gatekeepers, buyers, users, and decision makers. Finally, the post-purchase evaluation stage tends to result in satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Also, in this stage, Palmer (2004) states that consumers tend to develop brand loyalty if they obtain satisfaction about their decision-making. Thus, marketers play an active role in developing customer’s brand loyalty. For example, marketers can provide all-weather after-sales services for customers with a view to assure later usage with satisfaction. 2. The Effects of Three Forms of Consumer Behaviour on Established and New Companies 2.1 Brand loyalty It seems that attitudes of consumers tend to build customer loyalty on the certain brand. Evans et al (2006) seem to support this view and point out that consumers’ attitude of one product is significantly different from their attitude of another product, and this attitude can contribute towards loyalty. Indeed, brand loyalty is a competitive marketing strategy for companies especially for established companies. According to Evans et al (2006), loyalty can result in a great number of advantages such as reduction in marketing budgets, expanding market share, and extension of existing brands. For example, in the UK, Tesco is an outstanding retailer. Relying on the success in the UK, Tesco not only extents its career from the retailer to the food manufacture and the clothing manufacture, but also expands its market to China, Korea, and also Thailand. Reichheld (1996) also reports that the longer time a customer is loyal to a company, the much more benefits the company obtains as consumers tend to purchase more products in that company. Furthermore, customers tend to neglect prices of the product in certain industries, so companies can double their profits. For example, the advent of Apple products has attracted many customers to purchase, and many customers has built their brand loyalty to Apple products no matter how high prices Apple products set. However, the brand loyalty of consumers tends not to be advantageous for new companies. Firstly, the new company should pay a considerable fund of marketing costs to publicize its product and brand name. Secondly, established companies already occupy large amounts of market share. Boush and Jones (2006) note that there are few appropriate positions for later entrants. Thus, it tends to be difficult to attract customers that have brand loyalty to a certain brand from competitors. For example, In spite of the fact that Carrefour is famous for its low price and high quality products, it exited from the South Korea eventually because it is a new company for Korea, failed to seize consumers from competitors. 2.2 Dynamic demands In terms of the dynamic demands of consumers, companies need update their products or services constantly because of the change of consumer demands, although Boush and Jones (2006) indicate that established companies already occupy large amounts of market share. Palmer (2004) proposes that established companies should reposition or extension their brand based on their growing strengths in order to meet the changeable needs of targets. From established companies aspects, Murphy (1998) argues that the extension of brand will has risks on diluting the existing brand. Then, Murphy (1998) provides a related example of Cadbury, a chocolate manufacture in Britain. The managers of Cadbury extended the Cadbury name to embrace non-chocolate products to attract new consumers with a view to reducing investments on developing a new brand such as mashed potatoes, dried milk, and beverages. Over the years, the managers of Cadbury realized this action not only diluted Cadbury’s reputation but also weakened its power in the chocolate area (ibid). Moreover, Andrew (1998) also observes that chances are limited to extent brands if the brand maintains its current product attributes. However, from new companies aspects, dynamic demands of consumers create opportunities for them. Joel and Michael (2010) cite a supporting example that Apple’s success due to the change in the mobile phone industry. Moreover, Hartman and Beck-Dudley (1999) provide empirical evidence to support that dynamic demands create opportunities for new companies. With the improvement of environmental awareness, current customers tend to purchase ecofriendly goods that have no detrimental effects on environment. The CEO of the body shop, Anita Roddick, realized this demand of consumers; therefore, in 1976, the first body shop opened and launched its brand with minimal package, natural products that have not been tested on animals. Based on these initiatives, the body shop became most successful company and remained one of the global brands till today in cosmetic industry (ibid). 2.3 New shopping channel: online With the rise of online shopping, internet has become a popular shopping platform. Today, shopping online tend to be a major shopping channel, compared with traditional shopping channel such as stores or shopping Hall. From established and new companies aspects, this condition has positive effects on them. Palmer (2004) gives supporting ideas that online marketing is not only less expensive to use, but also less time to communicate with consumersï ¼Å'compared with traditional marketing such as face-to-face marketing, and personal selling. The Oxford Associations astutely observes, that most companies receive over 50% reduction in transaction costs through the internet (ibid). Furthermore, internet help marketers improve conservation rate, and update rapidly after reviewing consumers’ feedback such as respond to demand change (ibid). Moreover, Baker (2006) seems to support this view and points out that online marketing can collect different requirements about products, and marketers can use these data to make customization for consumers. However, not only established companies, but also new companies should notice that the internet is not as a perfect platform for marketing. Palmer (2004) argues that challenges for companies are how to attract consumers when they face information overload because Millen (1994:303) reports that â€Å"individuals can process about seven chunks of information† at most. Chang and Wildt (1996) also indicate that price is becoming an important factor to choose products when consumer face large amounts of information. Thus, companies tend to use low-price strategy with a view to attracting consumers’ attention. The results of using this strategy lead to slight profit and enter in a vicious competition. Palmer (2004) also provides a related argument that the security of financial transaction and private information of consumers should be taken into consideration. Many consumers resist shopping online because they tend to have concerns over the safety of their transaction and private information. Thus, companies will probably lose these potential consumers. Additionally, Palmer (2004) also argues that consumers tend to lose confident to shopping online because they are unable to fell goods physically before purchase. For example, when shopping onlineï ¼Å'one consumer is attracted by a product with light red packaging; nevertheless, after receiving the product, the consumer is frustrating about the product because the colour is not same as showing online. After this shopping experience, this consumer tends not to purchase products in that brand. Thus, it seems that the company tend to lose this potential consumer because of the terrible experience by chance. This subsection discusses the effect of three forms of consumer behaviour on established and new companies. In the following subsection, the paper will focus on the future development of both types of companies. 3. Future Development Consumer behavior has become an essential factor to influence marketing strategies. To a certain extent, companies can derive benefits from consumer behaviour; however, it should be noticed that consumer behavior also tend to threaten companies. Thus, companies should adopt effective measures to avoid negative effects of consumer behavior with a view to future development. 3.1 Aspects of brand loyalty In terms of brand loyalty, new companies occupy an inferior position, compared with established companies. However, they can take advantage of marketing strategies to reserve this position. Firstly, they can fluctuate brand loyalty of consumers through changing consumers’ attitude because loyalty builds on the basis of attitudes. Evans, et al (2006:76) state, â€Å"Attitudes are essentially stable structures and are not easily modified†. However, Hovland and Weiss (1951) argue that attitude can be changed if consumers believe what experts say, as expert effects or star effects. For example, if Ming Yao, who is a popular basketball player in the world especially in China, endorse a nutrition brand, his opinion tends to be a strongly persuasive force that can change consumer attitude and make consumers establish a trust relationship with the brand. Moreover, if consumers are loyal to a certain brand, it shows that they are satisfied with it, and this brand loyalty is not easy to change. Thus, Murphy (1998) proposes that brand differentiation strategy is significant for new companies in terms of brand loyalty. Finally, low-price strategy plays a significant role in entering market for new companies, because Chang and Wildt (1996) indicate that price is one of important factors for consumers to choose product. After successfully attract consumers through low-price strategy, new companies can use other marketing mix such as promotion, and packaging to cultivate customer loyalty. However, With regard to price, it should be noticed that there should be a correspondence between the prices of a product and positioning. 3.2 Aspects of dynamic demands With regard to dynamic demands of consumers, established companies face a complex and multifaceted problem of reposition or extension with a view to retaining loyal customers and attracting new customers. Firstly, Andrew (1998) states that the core value of a brand is a significant basis for reposition or extension a brand. It seems that the reposition or extension of a brand tends to pose risks on diluting the existing brand if the company ignore the core value of the brand. The company of Cadbury mentioned in the second section is a good example. Furthermore, â€Å"the message/offering should be perceived and understood in the intended way† (Evans et al, 1996:51) by consumers. Thus, it is essential to communicating with current and potential customers when companies need reposition or extension of their brands. Finally, Gerstman (1998) indicates that packaging is an excellent starting point for established companies wishing to reposition or ext ension of their brands. 3.3 Aspects of online shopping channel With regards to disadvantages of shopping online, firstly, not only established companies, but also new companies should strengthen the security of finance transaction and privacy information and use of third-party platform of payment transaction that can improve the safety of online shopping such as paypal, alertpay in order to make consumers believe that their information is security when they shopping online. Secondly, in terms of information overload, Palmer (2004:513) proposes â€Å"Getting a high ranking in search engines has become a critical skill†. Finally, it seems that no practical approach tend to solve the problem that consumers cannot examine goods physically before purchase. However, the company can take pre-action in order to reduce dissatisfaction. For example, free samples can provide for potential customers to attempt. Conclusion Understanding consumer behavior is not only a necessary in the stage of attracting consumers, but also a process of sustainable development for companies. This paper supports consumer behavior having a significant effect on established and new companies, and this paper has presented three forms of consumer behavior. These included brand loyalty, dynamic demands, and online shopping channel. The discussion of consumer behaviour’ effects on two types companies have been highlighted. Moreover, factors affecting consumer behaviour are mentioned, including psychological factors, social factors, and buying process. Similarly, for future development, effective approaches have also been given in terms of aspects of brand loyalty, aspects of dynamic demands, and aspects of online shopping channel. In discussing effects of consumer behavior on companies, it may be concluded that established companies occupy dominant position in terms of brand loyalty, compared with new companies; from dynamic demands perspective, new companies reverse the inferior position, and get opportunities to develop and attract consumers from competitors; with regard to online shopping channel, established and new companies face same opportunities and threats. The future role of consumer behaviour has also been taken into consideration, based on research by Evans, et al (1996), and this suggests that consumer behaviour has become a basis to analysis market issues or future trend in market. It should be noted that this paper briefly discussed some effects of consumer behavior on companies and other effects is beyond of this paper and further work could be done in this area. This paper would be of particular interest to those companies who face a problem about consumer behavior.

Identity Crisis in Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee

Identity Crisis in Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee ABSTRACT: Immigrants have envisioned tales that exhibit experiences of independent and emerging countries. Cultures have taken up new form in the contemporary times, where the issues of Diaspora, globalization, consumerism, transnationalism cultural hyberidity and identity crisis have become new motif in the postcolonial literatures. The new issues give rise to identity crisis that evokes feelings of an individual that portrays socio-cultural setup that shows the blend of tradition and modernity. The new identity creates problems for Tara in Desirable Daughters by Bharati Mukherjee, where she is alienated, languishing in the angst and ennui of the diasporic experience, yet to carve out a niche for herself. In the novel, Bharati Mukherjee has struck a balance between tradition and modernity by representing past and present which is achieved through the female protagonist -Tara, who severed her links with tradition but remains tied to her native country. Tara is influenced by ancient customs and traditions, but is rooted to modern customs. She is conscious of her existential predicament which is mirrored in the epigraph: No one behind, no one ahead the path the ancients cleared has closed. And the other path everyones pathà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ goes nowhere, I am alone and find my way. Tara is alienated from the society as she oscillated between the nostalgic fascinations of a traditional past and the romantic and adventurous allurements of the present. The diasporic qualities exhibited by Tara establish the merging of the East and West which shows the clash. The Identity of the protagonist is highly assimilative, can adopt and accommodate herself both to her traditional Indian way of life and to her newly adopted American ethos. She tries to move away from the constrained identity and vacillates between two lives: maybe I really was between two lives.(251) Taras reconstruction of identity is rooted in her nostalgic and romantic recollection of her past. It is based on the flux of her thoughts about the past coming to her mind in the present but in fragments, and not whole. She tried to reconstruct her identity through her diasporic experience. She was attempting to redefine the importance of her cultures through space and time. Loneliness had made Tara a little wanton and wantonness had made her very lonely. In these five years she had changed beyond recognition, but other character Bish had not changed at all.Bish is also an upholder of tradition. He prefers the values of an imagined past than those of contemporaneity. The concept of home and migration is very much embedded in the narratology that Bharati Mukherjee presents in Desirable Daughters. It is the sense of migration which brings about a change to the identity of Padma, who has finally made New York her home, her land of choice. But her inalienable attachment to her home makes her the sustainer and preserver of Bengali tradition in America. The alien culture thus fails to subvert her traditional identity. On the other hand it only remaps nad reconstructs her cultural identity. Hence migration plays a crucial role in restricting individual identifies and cultural attitudes and perceptions. The novel is woven brilliantly which depicts the thoughts and feelings of three Calcutta, India-born Brahmin upper-class sisters, renowned for their beauty, brains, wealth, and privileged position in society. Mukherjee narrates their lives as they leave their conservative, sheltered childhood home, where they are inundated with culture, tradition, and values and inculcated with education by the Catholic nuns in their convent structured school and college. Two of them emigrate to America and the other relocates to Bombay, India. The three sisters, Padma, Parvati, and Tara, are born exactly three years apart from each other and share the same birthday.They are named after the goddessess name,hoping that they will survive and prosper in whatever they do. We are sisters three/as alike as three blossoms on one flowering tree. (But we are not), says Tara, the protagonist, quoting a poem. Desirable Daughters is the novel that takes a long time to lift itself from the surface and once it releases its themes and characters, it seems to get liberated from the trapped situation. Engrossed in Indian culture old and new, it keeps strucking down in tight little circles of detail that create an atmosphere of cramped inwardness, even suffocation. Bharati Mukherjee, like in her previous four novels and short stories, tries to portray the repression that enables the women of her culture nailed down in subservience to male desires. The feelings and emotions are discovered after exploring traditional Indian society. The novel is based on three strikingly-beautiful sisters from a privileged Bengali Brahmin family in Calcutta feel the tug between tradition and freedom as they try to meet expectations that are often wildly contradictory. The youngest, Tara Chatterjee, seems to have flown farthest from the nest. Tara is divorced from Bishwapriya (a Silicon Valley multimillionaire hand-picked for her by her father), shes raising a sensitive teenaged son on her own. The depressing part is that, she works as a lowly teacher, a choice which would be unthinkable in the culture of her birth. The story is narrated by Tara from her adopted San Francisco home, where she lives with Andy Karolyi, a strange sort of Hungarian Zen carpenter who earthquake-proofs houses. The lifestyle of the protagonist implies, a sort of free and easy hippie lifestyle, but nothing could be farther from the truth. In the novel the rebellion-gestures are merely trappings, or reactions against the gagging restrictions of Taras girlhood. Tara initiates her tale of repression in a curious way, with a legend about her namesake Tara Lata, also known as the Tree Bride a remarkable figure who became prominent in the fight for Indian freedom. After going in for more than twenty pages, Tara then delves into telling story of her own, which seems to be dislocating in nature. She recalls the utter lack of romanticism in her marriage, in which her father told her, There is a boy and we have found him suitable. Here is his picture. The marriage will be in three weeks. Tara, not knowing any other way, submitted: I married a man I had never met, whose picture and biography and bloodlines I approved of, because my father told me it was time to get married and this was the best husband on the market. Mukherjee dwells on every detail of this highly traditional occurrence. The father of the child bride is a traditionalist even though he is a lawyer educated in English and English law. The groom dies of snakebite and his family blames the bride as unlucky. Greedily the father of the groom demands the dowry. But the brides father takes his daughter into the forest where he marries her to a tree. She becomes a woman noted for her courage and generosity. Her American granddaughter visits her home. She has the same name, Tara Lata, as the old woman and like her she has two sisters. The contemporary woman is a divorced woman. Her ex-husband was the traditionally pre-selected bridegroom like his former wife a resident in America and now she lives with her lover, an American, in San Francisco. Her son introduces a young man who claims kinship as the son of her oldest sister, Padma. This is a kind of impossibility. An impossibility since her sister never had a child and a possibility since the familial relationships are so convolutedly secretive as to make the existence of the young man as her nephew plausible. It seems likely that the young mans claim is true and that Padma, Taras sister, did bear an illegitimate child. This is a momentous event for Tara. As the pampered child of wealthy Calcutta parents, she was sheltered from the poverty of the city and from all but the most severe political crises. She suffers the stress now of an immigrant with a child that belongs wholly to her new country. The discovery of Padmas child brings into focus all her inner disqu iet and the need to find valid connections. In the novel, Taras relationship with her two elder sisters is complicated, the flow of affection blocked by a certain formality and adherence to preset roles. Middle sister Parvati married a rich man and stayed in India, but by some miracle was able to select the suitable match for her. Parvati in her own way had established her identity, because of which it was said:Parvati, the pliable middle daughter had done the unthinkable: shed made a love match. He was certainly not what brains-and-beauty Parvati Bhattacharjee could have commanded on the Calcutta marriage market. Even though Paravati was given right to select her right match but after that she is depicted as one who is a meek follower and gets diminished by losing her real.She writes to Tara: I hope you arent doing bad things to yourself like taking Prozac and having cosmetic surgery. Please, please dont become that Americanized. The third, and the eldest sister of Tara, Didi, is married to a Mehta (an illustrious family which includes the conductor Zubin) and moved to New Jersey to pursue a career in television. But again, all is not as it seems. Her lifestyle is a thin veneer laid over the dense, pressed-down bedrock of tradition. She is considered to be most glamorous of all the three sisters. The other character Chris Dey, is represented as crisis in the novel. He is a young man who represents himself to Tara as Didis illegitimate son, conceived through an affair with a prominent businessman named Ronald Dey. This exposes an ugly under layer of culture to Tara, not the India of doting grandparents, not the India of comfort and privilege, but the backyard of family, the compost heap. The characters in the novel are not portrayed in the liberated form, they are trapped into different set of emotions trying to carve out a new identity for themselves. Tara is projected as a character who more of a status conscious tries to uphold the values of traditional society despite falling for different allurements in the present. Her elder sister, Didi pretends hard to be a pure character but falters when gives birth to her son, which represents misalliance.Chris Dey isnt really who he says he is, and in fact he feels like a device, something dropped into the story to keep things moving forward. In the end, the novel, tries to come back from where it started, where and the legend of Tara Lata the Tree Bride, but this device doesnt quite work either. The denouement somehow goes slack and does not yield a satisfying end to the story. The novel seems to be a family saga which could not bring out the desirable characteristics in the characters of the novel, that portrays them as a dominant in any sphere. The end is quite suspenseful and complex where the description of homeland may be magical but symbolic intention was lost. Bharati Mukherjee depicts a liquid society in her novels, ie a society in flux. It is a society of constant flow, the flow of migrants, the flow of machines, flow of criminals, flow of power structures, flow of people and commodities.  Amidst all the confusions the message was brought out clearly and it is represented as a fascinating beautifully written work of art that exhibits vulnerability that cannot be missed out.