Real Estate Development MSc Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Real Estate Development MSc - Personal Statement Example f structures often blind to others and enabled me to gain deeper understanding of the CAD programs which contributed to the success during my work experiences. However, it became apparent that finished buildings and structures were not the entire processes, the overlaps that existed between the buildings and business made me want to dig deeper in this process that is why I have chosen to incline my career towards this direction. Though designing structures, still interests me what interest me, the most is the cost and management side of the structures. I have gone through numerous blogs and studied resource works from RICS’s surveying.com and have become intrigued by the behind the scenes logistics and work effort that are undertaken to construct buildings. A change of heart in interests has formed the basis of changing my career to be a quantity surveyor. I engaged in work placement with Northacre on may last year where my interest in the building of structures developed. I also gained practical experience in the process. Most important is that I gained firsthand knowledge on completion of a construction project from scratch, analyzing the development issues and solutions to the issues during different phases of construction. Precisely I gained experience on the various factors that have to be taken into account, whether they are related to the designs or the stockholders. I learnt how to create designs using the CAD software and how to make the presentations to clients. During my time at Northacre I spent a lot of time engaging with both architects and quantity surveyors. It is at his point that I decided that the property development side was my way to go and follow. I have been greatly inspired by the experience I have gained during my placement period that is why I have selected property development as the topic of my dissertation that proves my desire and thirst for knowledge of the construction development process. I marvel at built world that surrounds

Video assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Video assignment - Essay Example From the film, the United States is brought out as one of the most individualistic society in the world. They tend to put more emphasis on individual achievement, equal rights, informal communication as well as little dependence on authority. The US employees are seen consulting with each other frequently and sharing information openly. They are also extremely comfortable interacting with people they don’t even know, and they aren’t shy doing so. On the other hand, the Japanese managers are more of collectivists. They seem to value harmony and loyalty to both the group and company. The movie successfully brought to light the clash between individualist and collectivist cultures in the most beautiful way. For instance, the Japanese workers performed their duties without complaint and a lower salary and higher production rate consistently. On the other hand, the American auto workers depicted less loyalty to the company compared to the Japanese employees. This is evident when Stevenson (role played by Keaton) tried to convince his American workforce to meet the 15000 production quota. Rather than make concessions to accomplish the company goals like their Japanese counterparts had, the US plant employees immediately started talking themselves out of achieving the goal and further looking for ways to lower the quota. In the beginning, Stevenson thinks that he can get them to push the quota nevertheless. However, he discovered that in the absence of the same level of loyalty, the American workers weren’t as motivated and driven to make the set goal a realit y. Quick advancement and reward appear to be the norm in America and is usually based on merit. On the other hand, Japanese culture values dedication and long service are always rewarded. The expectation of rapid reward by the Americans is depicted in the movie when the plant employees ask if they will receive a reward even if they don’t meet the production quota. This means that they

Masculinity and the Mythology of Cinematic heros Essay Example for Free

Masculinity and the Mythology of Cinematic heros Essay Gender roles have been a part of the social norm of society since the early existence of civilizations. These roles strictly incline to the two collective divisions of society known as males and females, thus, such gender roles are dubbed as masculinity and femininity. Masculinity is a term which refers to the characteristics attributed to the male populace of society, while femininity signifies qualities reflective to females (Devor, 58). Generally, masculinity is applied with the integration of dominance and pride, in this sense, masculinity for the longest time has been commonly associated with agression and superiority in various aspects of human capability (Devor, 58). In an aesthetic context, motion pictures particularly often incorporate the stereotypical domineering qualities of males in the element of character. Regardless if a role be a police officer, a cowboy, a superhero or an average individual, masculinity is always expressed in male Hollywood film characters, from Superman to Rambo to Terminator, the fundamentals of toughness, dominance and power are always the viewers heroes. Furthermore, machismo, in fact, seems to be the only reasonable and vital characteristic distinct to characters of major motion pictures. Contemporary filmmakers, conversely resshaped the cinematic interpretations of heros, this modern approach is considered to be an augmentation of masculinity since these heroes express more humane qualities, emotion and sensitivity while still poised with conventional toughness. The exemplification of such hybrid portrayal of masculinity is evident in Bruce Willis film Live Free or Die Hard. The motion picture Live Fast or Die Hard gives the hybrid depiction of a hero in John McClaines (Bruce Willis) persona. McClaines responsible yet femine character departs from the dogmatic and arrogant side of manliness. McClaines brawn elements, however, prove to be the only viable means to defeat his adversary, consequently, masculinity is portrayed to be valued and in turn advocates the ideology of male supremacy and patriarchy. The motion picture Live Free or Die Hard depicts John Mclaine at war with an internet based terrorist faction led by Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant). In erference to the films plot may urge a disturbing thought on the emasculation of the conventional cowboys stature in the American film industry. In this regard Live Free or Die Hard may address to this cultural ordeal as it serves as the contemporary guide on the retention of American ideas on the aforementioned character. The film begins with the establishment of the modern hybrid hero, where McClaine is shown as a veteran detective of the New York Police Department receiving a degrading treatment from non-ranking members. The principles of masculinity are epitomized by the law enforcing fathers over-protective nature results to a blatant display of masculinity when his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is caught torridly kissing a guy in a car. The intimacy of the moment is interrupted when the young man tries to go to second base, McClaine then pry opens the door to apprehend the individual who is taking advantage of his daughter. McClaines knight-in-shining-armor routine, scares the male companion half dead as the latter is single-handedly pulled out of the vehicle. The subsequent scene bequeathes another panorama of the modern heros amlgamation. The supposed macho hero is then found chauffeuring a computer hacker, Matt Farrell (Justin Long) to Washington, a total contraband to the archetypal duty of a hero of saving such national nerds from national bullies. The total drift on the popular notion of heroism is not only on the supporting characters treatment of McClaine but on the plot as well, there are several conflicts in the film that only Farrell can resolve. It is also important to take notice of Farrells qualities; scrawny physique, rebellious attitude and in the fact that Farrell requires some saving every once in a while. There are, conversely, counter-villain moves that do not require the brain-bashing experties of McClaine, a very unorthodox execution of an action movie with an established character. Additionally, to add more insult to the injury of traditional masculine male heroes, Farrell gets to kill the last villain in the movie. The potential hybrid treatment of the hero is consequently transferred to the scrawny computer geek since he gets to battle the villains in the cyberworld, hence, this weak bodied geek gets to save the day. In this regard, the masculinity is now present in the person with the nerdy smarts.

Challenges Of The Hr Specialist Management Essay

Challenges Of The Hr Specialist Management Essay As a HR specialist, what are the challenges you may face and what HR intervention mechanisms would you consider using in an attempt to drive individual and organisational performance in a multinational company? Critically evaluate this question by utilising the appropriate academic literatures. This thesis proposed the challenges of the HR specialist when there engage in attempt of increasing the individual and organisational performances in Multinational Companies through developing a set of coherent HRM best practices, especially relating to employee recruitment and selection, performance management and staff retention. Since the organizations are multinational number of concerns are arises such as dealing cultural issues with the organizational goals as well as individual goals. Furthermore organizational behaviors and tools such as engagement, motivation and empowerment are basically highlighted; without those it is merely a dream to achieving the business goals. Basically Multinational companies are aiming profits and there for individual and organisational performance are very vital for their existence. HR has been organized in a different ways over the years. Some functions have emphasized delivery by location or by business structure. In these models an integrated HR team has serviced managers and employees at specific location or with in specific businesses units, with some more strategic or complex tasks reserved for the corporate centre. The degree to which these different arms of HR were centralized or co-located and the question of whether they were managed by the business unit varied. Within the HR teams, depending up on their size their might have been specialization by work area (especially for industrial relations in the 1960s and 1970s) or by employee grade or group (responsibility, say, divided between those looking after clerical staff from those covering production) The advancement of personal management starts around end of the 19th century, when welfare officers came in to being. This creation was a reaction to the harshness of industrial conditions, coupled with pr essure arising from the extention of the franchise, the influence of the trade unions and the labour movement and the campaigning of enlightened employers, often quakers, for what was called industrial betterment. (CIPD Research Role of HR) Personal Management(PM) is mainly concerned with obtaining, organizing and motivating the human resources required by the corporation (ARMSTRONG, Michael, 1977) PM includes a range of activities which deals with the workforce other than the resources and also more administrative in nature. HRM deals with soft issues rather than administrative tasks of personnel management and explain a wide vision of how management would like the resources to organise to the success of the organization. Becker and Gerhart (1996) and Wright,Dunford and Snell (2001) have concluded that although the traditional view as HR acost to be minimised (Becker Gerart,1996:779)is being challenged by the rise of strategic HRM, the conventional view is still prevalent in the professional domain. Wright, Dunford and Snell(2001)expand on this by stating that the HR function hasconsistently faced a battle in justifying its position in organisations (Wright,Dunford Snell 2001:701) and during times of economic hardship, the HR function is usually the first function to feel the full effect of organisational streamlining and cost cutting efforts. There are various models exists to explain the peoples role in an organization. The business oriented approach to people management described by Storey (1989) as Hard HRM emerged as a method of responding to and supporting the enterprise culture of the 1980s. Hard HRM and Soft HRM are two contrasting styles that helps to tackle workforce in an organization. Hard HRM mainly focused on achieving organisational goals while Soft HRM deals with more insightful functions like Human Resource Education, Leadership Development, Organization Culture, Relationship building while the achieving organisational goals. More recently the importance of involving and developing people which is characteristic of current approchches to personal management has been emphasized by the resource based theory of the firm formulated by Barney(1991). This explains that competitive advantage is achieved if a firm can obtain and develop human resources which enable it to learn faster and apply its learning more effectively than its competitors. An approach based on this concept will aim to improve resource capability(Kamoche,1996)achieving strategic fit between resources and opportunities and obtaining added value from the effective deployment of these resources.(The name has changed but has the game remained same, Armstrong) Ulrich described how HR practitioners employ in a set of roles defined along two axes: strategy versus operations and process versus people. The four key roles that become known from these two dimensions are Strategic partner, Administrative Expert, Employee Champion, Change agent. Strategic Partners help to successfully accomplish business strategy and meet customer needs. Administrative Experts continuously improve organisational efficiency by reengineering the HR function and other work process. Employee Champions maximize employee commitment and capability while Change Agent delivers organisational transformation and culture change. (CIPD Resarch Of HR, 2007) There have been considerable tensions around the conceptualizations of roles and how the work of Ulrich and others has been interpreted. According to Ashton and Lambert (2005),while Ulrichs original four roles have been influential, whether and how they are put in to practice varies. (The changing HR functions) There are some organizations where HR is seen as a central, corporate function with little advancement to business units. Some other organizations position themselves in the opposite direction, with a very small corporate centre and all the activity distributed to business units. The question of best structure is how the function best organizes itself between the pulls of centralization and the pushes of decentralization.(The changing HR functions) The HR assumptions and HR practices observed in high performing firms are the key elements to the formation of the Best Practice theory. Employment security, selective hiring, self managed teams, high pay contingent on company performance, extensive training, reduction of status difference, and sharing information are the key element of the theory. However less concern about the organisational goals and culture are given as draw backs for the theory. According to the best fit theory a firms that follows a cost leadership strategy designs narrow jobs and provides little job security, whereas a company pursuing a differentiation strategy emphasizes training and development. In other words this argues that all SHRM activities must be consistent with each other and linked to the strategic objectives of the business. Selective hiring of new employees are greatly support to achieve both individual and organisational performance. Recruitment and selection is more or less subjective in its nature, with the objectives of any given business at the forefront of process. To select the best fit there is no specific way. It is clear that combining techniques greatly increases accuracy. The combination of intelligence test or work sampling leads to a substantial improvement in validity (Shmidt and Hunter(1998)). Comprehensive recruitment and selection policy will be enable an organization to become competitive with in the market and also, with right people in the right place at the right time, will lead to a high performing culture with in the organization while adding extra value to the organisation. The main focus of Employee Recruitment is to generate a pool of appropriate candidates for the selection process. This to be carried out in cost effective way and while remain in lawfull. Organizations can de cide whether to select externally or internally. Internal recruitment may not always be beneficial. Ex: no one suitable or stagnation. Best way is to recruit both internally and externally (Torrington, Hall Taylor, 2008). But many organisations prefer to look to recruit internally first especially when this represents a promotion (Newall Shackleton, 2000) To select the best fit there is no specific way. It is clear that combining techniques greatly increases accuracy , the combination of intelligence tests with structured interview, integrity test or work sampling leads to a substantial improvement in validity (Schmidt Hunter (1998).) At the interview stage attitude based competencies should give more priority in order to select the best candidate. In addition during the recruiting and selection process psychological contract between employer and the employee is distinct and specify. According to the report Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement,engaged employees have a sence of personal attachment to their work and organization; they are motivated and able to give of their best to help it succeed and from that flows a series of tangible benefits for organization and individual alike'(Macleod Clarke 2009:7) HRM uses various technologies to direct employees behavior towards objectives and tasks that deliver approved organisational performance. Many organizations try to frame these levers with an overall performance management system, and attach incentives and rewards to achievements of objectives and targets within this. In recent years PM has become massively popular. The basic idea was to fix behavior to targets and attach financial rewards. Howe ever performance related pay was not always introduced for the best reason; there was a preoccupation with defining measures to which individual rewards could be attached and the connection with performance was often tenuous (IPM/IMS, 1992) For many line managers PM is still means no more than the appraisal process and it seen as time consuming, bureaucratic, paper driven and top down with little reference to organisational performance and goals.(Egan,1995) Despite significant efforts to present performance management as a systemic process and to raise managers sights (eg.Armstrong,1994;Hartle, 1995) many fundamental problems remain. A PMS may, indeed, support employee development, but this is often undermined by number of problems, among the most important which are, The link between individual behavior and business objectives, Defining and aligning objectives, Motivation theory and managers own assumptions and beliefs, Performance management as a management process, The impact on the employment relationship etc.. A analysis of above issues highlights fundamental questions about performance linkages and how rewards are attached to these and how the motivation to control unnecessarily and inappropriately vitiates the design of rewards and incentives.(Human Resource Management Journal, vol 10-No-3) In addition people performance is vitiated by the obsession with control and therefore is liable to undermine, rather than contribute to, performance. It should only be done within a context of strict attention to corporate business objectives and limited number of specific improvement goals. Engagement is a crucial organisational tool that can generate both individual and organisational performance and can be defined as a set of positive attitudes and behaviors enabling high job performance of kind which are in tune with the organization mission'(Storey, Wright Ulrich 2008) Recent research concluded that there are 3 broad groups of employees. Engaged (loyal, productive, would recommend their organization to friends) , Non-engaged (productive but not bonded, tempted by job vacancies, instrumental, focus on hours JDs), Disengaged (physically present but psychologically absent, negative, uncooperative, hostile, uninvolved) (Buckingham (2001) What a waste PM October) We can perhaps distinguish between two types of employee turnover: Functional vs Dysfunctional turnover functional turnover serves to promoted ideas and methods and can thus renew a stagnating organisation (Carrell et al, 1995, 177). According to Hom and Griffeth (1995), functional turnover is more common than dysfunctional: In addition, high turnover is often less troubling in relatively low skill occupations; especially customer-service related ones (fast-food restaurants, telesales, etc). Kearns (1994) suggests this is because organisations want to harness short-term enthusiasm. Thus, empl oyee turnover may not be a bad thing, however, there is likely to be a point beyond which it is unhealthy. Taylor (2008) suggests this is a rate of 5-10%. The more valuable the employee to the organisation, the more damaging the resignation especially if he/she chooses to work for a competitor Indirect concerns/costs include:-Productivity losses,Impaired quality of service,Lost business opportunities, An increased administrative burden,Employee demoralisation Direct costs include: Recruitment costs (advertising, admin, etc),Induction/training costs,Other admin costs associated with new hires,Overtime/ cost of temporary workers,Reduced productivity during induction Taylor (2008)-The employee turnover decisi Evaluate existing job, Experience job dissatisfaction, Think of quitting, Evaluate expected utility of search for new job and cost of quitting, Decide to search for alternatives, Search for alternatives, Evaluate alternatives, Compare best alternative with present job, Decide whether to stay or quit, Quit on process Mobley(1977), ten stage model. There are ways to investigate why employees leave from the organisation.,Exit interviews (89%)Anon. exit questionnaires (28%),Word of mouth (25%),Extrapolate from staff attitude surveys (23%),Exit interviews external consultant used (2%),Surveys of ex-employees (rare) (CIPD survey 2009) Following ways are considered as most effective way to address staff retention.Realistic job previews, Job e nrichment, Workspace characteristics (environment), Induction practices, Leader-member exchange, Employee selection, Reward practices, Demographic diversity,Managing inter-role conflict (Hom Griffeth, 1995) Multinational Corporation has its facilities and other assets in at least one country other than its home country. Such companies have offices and factories in different countries and usually have a centralized head office. Nearly all dominant multinationals are American, Japanese, or Western European such as Nike, Coca-cola, Wal- Mart, AOL, Toshiba, Honda and BMW. MNCs may take any of four forms: a decentralized that has a strong home-country presence; a global and centralized corporation that can acquire a cost advantage through centralized production; an international company that builds on the parent companys technology or research and development; or a transnational enterprise that combines all three of these approaches. In the modern world the capabilities and the knowledge incorporated in an organisations human resources are the key to performance. So on both the cost and benefit sides of the equation, HRM is crucial to the survival, performance and success of the enterprise. For MNCs, the additional complications of dealing with multicultural assumptions about the way people should be managed and differing institutional constraints become important contributors to the chances of that success. A culture is a set of basic tacit assumptions about how the world is and ought to be that a group of people share and that determines their perceptions, thoughts, feelings and to some degree, their overt behavior. Culture manifests itself at three levels. The level of deep tacit assumptions that are the essence of the culture, the level of espoused values that often reflect what a group wishes ideally to be and the way it wants to present it self publicly and the day to day behavior that represents a complex compromise among the espoused value, the deeper assumptions, and the immediate requirements of the situation. (1996)(Sloan Management Review/fall 1996) Geert Hofstedes theory of cultural dimensions describes the effects of a societys culture on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior, using a structure derived from factor analysis. The theory has been widely used in several fields as a paradigm for research, particularly in cross-cultural psychology, international management, and cross-cultural communication. The original theory proposed four dimensions along which cultural values could be analyzed: individualism-collectivism; uncertainty avoidance; power distance (strength of social hierarchy) and masculinity-femininity. (task orientation versus person-orientation) With compared to UK Asian countries characterized by high power distance and week uncertainty avoidance. The HRM approach in Asia generally accepted as being humanists rather than materialistic. Therefore MNCs in Asia focus much concentration on personal growth and development of employees. In return for an organization creating opportunities, employees reciprocate with increased commitment and lower levels of absenteeism and turn over. (Ayree, Chen and Budhwar,2004) In European context highly focus on Individualism and masculine with low power distance and week uncertainty avoidance Hofstede,1980). Performance Appraisal Systems (PAS) basically aimed towards being achieving individual-level targets for employees and preparing cutting edges to identifying performance ratings for rewards. Individualism is more common in western cultures unlike Asian culture is more parental. Therefore western HR practice may be not measured the required standards in Asian MNC employees performance if it not ideally matched for the cultural and organisational targets. However some argues that the world is becoming more globalised, all aspects of business and HRM are becoming more alike which indicate the convergence divergence debate. In conclusion there is evidence to suggest that including the practice out line within this thesis organisational behaviours and tools can used to drive organisational and individual performance in Multinational companies. It is essential to have suitable recruitment and selection process, Performance Appraisal System and Staff Retention plan to ensure the right people, In the right place, at the right time with right attitude. Training and development is also vital to improve HR performance. In addition HR Specialists role will be more specific when these techniques applying in to multi cultural environments where people perceptions and behavioral patterns are different from each other.

Fire on the Home Front - The Possessive :: Possessive Essays

Fire on the Home Front - The Possessive  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   General Douglas Macarthur said that "the best time to meet the threat [of war] is in the beginning. It is easier to put out a fire in the beginning when it is small than after it has become a roaring blaze" (qtd. in Urofsky, part 9). The mother in Sharon Olds' "The Possessive" undoubtedly feels the same way. War is a terrible time between two or more nations that fight to part from each other or for some other reason; nations fight over property rights and independence. In "The Possessive," Olds uses powerful images of war, such as helmets, blades, and fires to show how her daughter is similar to a warring country that has pulled away from her.    Sharon Olds states "In her bright helmet / she looks at me as if across a great distance" (Olds, 506). The helmet exemplifies the imagery that Olds uses to show the warlike tone in her poem. In modern day wars people see pictures of Cruise missiles and Stealth Bombers on CNN. However, when asked what they envision when they think about war, some will talk about guns, knives, helmets, and fires. As Olds talks about her daughter, she realizes that there is an impending battle yet to come. This battle, too, will be about possession. When her daughter sits in the barber's chair, Olds realizes that her daughter will soon reach her teens. The teenage years are a time when parents battle over cars, boys, and other rights with there children. The children and parents will fight over haircutting rights. As Olds reports, her daughter "has been to the barber, that knife grinder, / and had the edge of her hair sharpened" (506). Knife grinding and sharp objects are another image of war. Soldiers must be sure that their instruments are perfectly sharp if they want to win the war. The first time Olds things about the upcoming battle occurs during the warlike image of the haircut. These first warlike images set the tone of the rest of the piece.    The most vivid and important warlike image that Olds uses in "The Possessive" is the image of fire. The fire imagery appears more than once in the piece. Olds writes that "Distant fires can be / glimpsed in the resin light of her eyes" (506).

Questions and Answers About Luxury Products Essay -- customers, brand

Questions and Answers: (2) How does a brand name or country of origin work as a heuristic? (3) Do ratings change as a function of the country of origin? (4) Are there any significant differences or similarities between domestic versus foreign brands for EACH fashion product (eg. A Chinese luxury brand versus an Australian luxury brand)? (5) What are the implications for companies and businesses that use country of origin as a way of advertising / promoting their product and brands? a) Based on the results in question 4a, (2) How does a brand name or country of origin work as a heuristic(2 marks)? Heuristic or rules of thumb are general decision making strategies people use that are based on little information, yet very often correct; heuristics are mental shortcuts that reduce the cognitive burden associated with decision making (Shah & Oppenheimer, 2008). In this case, consumers always see an Italian product with the exemplar of luxury brand. Thus, they may assume all Italian based product is always expensive, exclusive, unique, high price and comfortable. Meanwhile, consumer may also assume that all products from China were all low quality, cheap and not long lasting based on what they heard and see on the television or friends. (3) Do ratings change as a function of the country of origin? Explain why or why not. (4 marks) Yes. It is because the perceived theoretical relationship between the cue of country of origin and the attributes of a product is largely conducted by product-country images, among which quality as a representative of a country’s production has an important effect on consumers’ evaluations of products (Broniarczyk & Alba, 1994). For example, Korean music has been famous worldw... ... Decision Outcomes†. Student Pulse.http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/180/2/decision-making-factors-that-influence-decision-making-heuristics-used-and-decision-outcomes Klein, Jill Gabrielle, Richard Ettenson and Marlene D. Morris (1998). "The Animosity Model of Foreign Product Purchase: An Empirical Test in the People's Republic of China", Journal of Marketing, 62(1), 89-100 Shah, A.K., & Oppenheimer, D.M. (2008).Heuristics made easy: An effort-reduction framework. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 207-222. DOI: 1.1037/0033-2909.134.2.207. Shimp, Terence A. and Subhash Sharma (1987), "Consumer Ethnocentrism: Construction and Validation of the CETSCALE", Journal of Marketing Research 24(3), 280-289 Tversky, Amos and David Kahneman. 1974. â€Å"Judgement under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases†. Science 185: 1124-1131. http://turtletrader.com/heuristics.pdf Questions and Answers About Luxury Products Essay -- customers, brand Questions and Answers: (2) How does a brand name or country of origin work as a heuristic? (3) Do ratings change as a function of the country of origin? (4) Are there any significant differences or similarities between domestic versus foreign brands for EACH fashion product (eg. A Chinese luxury brand versus an Australian luxury brand)? (5) What are the implications for companies and businesses that use country of origin as a way of advertising / promoting their product and brands? a) Based on the results in question 4a, (2) How does a brand name or country of origin work as a heuristic(2 marks)? Heuristic or rules of thumb are general decision making strategies people use that are based on little information, yet very often correct; heuristics are mental shortcuts that reduce the cognitive burden associated with decision making (Shah & Oppenheimer, 2008). In this case, consumers always see an Italian product with the exemplar of luxury brand. Thus, they may assume all Italian based product is always expensive, exclusive, unique, high price and comfortable. Meanwhile, consumer may also assume that all products from China were all low quality, cheap and not long lasting based on what they heard and see on the television or friends. (3) Do ratings change as a function of the country of origin? Explain why or why not. (4 marks) Yes. It is because the perceived theoretical relationship between the cue of country of origin and the attributes of a product is largely conducted by product-country images, among which quality as a representative of a country’s production has an important effect on consumers’ evaluations of products (Broniarczyk & Alba, 1994). For example, Korean music has been famous worldw... ... Decision Outcomes†. Student Pulse.http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/180/2/decision-making-factors-that-influence-decision-making-heuristics-used-and-decision-outcomes Klein, Jill Gabrielle, Richard Ettenson and Marlene D. Morris (1998). "The Animosity Model of Foreign Product Purchase: An Empirical Test in the People's Republic of China", Journal of Marketing, 62(1), 89-100 Shah, A.K., & Oppenheimer, D.M. (2008).Heuristics made easy: An effort-reduction framework. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 207-222. DOI: 1.1037/0033-2909.134.2.207. Shimp, Terence A. and Subhash Sharma (1987), "Consumer Ethnocentrism: Construction and Validation of the CETSCALE", Journal of Marketing Research 24(3), 280-289 Tversky, Amos and David Kahneman. 1974. â€Å"Judgement under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases†. Science 185: 1124-1131. http://turtletrader.com/heuristics.pdf

National Security vs. Civil Liberties Essay

The recent September 11th attacks have caused many Americans to wonder about the personal sacrifices to be made in order to keep the nation â€Å"safe and free.† With mixed results, it has become a common practice throughout history to restrict personal freedoms in the name of national security. Many questions arise from this process: Where is the line drawn? If liberties are restricted do they ever truly return? If it is true that we are doomed to repeat history if we fail to learn from it, an examination into the circumstances of the Japanese American internment in 1942 may inform the ways to most effectively deal with the security concerns faced by Americans today. There is a paradox in American theories of democracy and freedom. As the United States has fought abroad in the name of freedom, we have simultaneously restricted the personal freedoms of people in the country. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt engaged in battle in World War II, it was not only to retaliate against the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but to bring down the Nazi regime that was murdering people in Europe. At the same time, Roosevelt had nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans, the majority of whom were American citizens or legal permanent residents, rounded up into internment camps, violating their civil rights to be treated with fairness and equality, without discrimination and the Fifth Amendment liberty of due process. In 2001, people are quick to dismiss the idea of an internment of American citizens, suggesting that the country has come a long way from 1942. The hypothesis that the government might conduct surveillance or use illegal wiretaps to monitor groups or individuals that it suspects of domestic terrorism seemed foreign before September 11th, and now has become a way to gain more information about potential suspects. These new measures, included in the USA Patriot Act, delicately trace the line between national security and civil liberties. A brief look at how the Bush administration has extended its powers since September 11th includes the detaining without charge of thousands of Muslim and Arab-American men without release of information to kin nor legal access, a new Bureau of Prisons regulation which allows Justice Department officials to listen in on conversations  between suspects and their lawyers and a new legislation, which includes warrant-less searches, roving wiretaps and a redefinition of a â€Å"domestic terrorist.† American society is not yet comfortably distanced from the practices of history that have threatened the civil rights and liberties Americans enjoy. Fred Korematsu’s speaking engagements continued in 2001, as he warned college students to stay aware of what the government is doing, and to stand prepared to defend their freedoms. In times of crisis, as presidential power expands, domestic policies must take shape to ensure the protection of Americans, from foreign and domestic threats. The Bush administration has a difficult task ahead, to keep Americans safe while maintaining the freedom which makes this country great. The delicate issue of interviewing Arab Americans has presented a challenge and continues the debate among Americans about how many of our civil liberties become expendable when the country is at war.