Consumer in hospitality, leisure and tourism Essays

Consumer in hospitality, leisure and tourism Essays Consumer in hospitality, leisure and tourism Paper Consumer in hospitality, leisure and tourism Paper ABSTRACT This paper talks about consumer in hospitality, leisure and tourism. It details on the workings behind the consumer’s mind by going deep into consumer behaviour pertaining to only hospitality and the catering industry specifically. It starts off with adding to the entire document as an essay, an abstract to highlight the key elements that the paper has. It moves on to then introduce the topic at hand, with a brief introduction followed by a literature review covering pertinent secondary research. After that the methodology followed by the research this essay undertook before compilation of results is discussed followed by the findings themselves. The essay then further explores upon the topic by discussing the primary characteristics that the essay touches, and then concludes it with an ending paragraph. INTRODUCTION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consumer behaviour is the focal point of this essay which is based on both primary and secondary research. Consumer behaviour, the definition hence stands out to be very essential for explanation henceforth. Consumer behaviour is a science that has everything to do with the art of understanding and assessing when, how, where, with who, and why do consumers buy certain products while they do not others. It has everything to do with the psychoanalysis of the consumer’s mind as seen from the marketer’s or researcher’s perspective.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consumer behaviour, as a field has attracted a lot of attention in recent times owing to the excessive competition between companies calling for increased studies done on the topic. Much has already been said about the field which is now getting more and more attached to the field of psychology, and the significance the term now has in the marketer’s or the researcher’s mind is also gaining momentum as things get more and more competitive, with opening variety of choices that are now available to a regular customer. LITERATURE REVIEW To understand what customer behaviour really is in a general context it is important to analyse the functioning behind a normal processing in a brain. It is highly imperative hence that the term critical thinking is mentioned now. Critical thinking is the ability of people to assume responsibility of the thinking of their own. Hence, people who indulge in critical thinking use certain principles to incorporate these into the way they perceive things and form judgments about them. It is an entire process of thinking, and analyzing that involves asking questions also to reflect upon the matter at hand best (McMillan and Keller, 2007). Critical thinking is a grouping of various skills that include self-awareness, rationality, discipline, honesty, open-mindedness, and judgments (Kurland, 2000). Deduction is defined as a statement, the conclusion of which bears evidence in some form or another, in order to make the conclusion stand true. Induction statements, on the other hand are those w hose conclusions might be true, hence there is a chance involved there in the form of probability. (PhilosophyLander, 2004) There are in short words, a guarantee involved about the truth of the conclusion in a deduction, and it is almost impossible that it renders false. Induction statements have probability involved of the statement becoming true and it is said that if the induction statement is true then it is unlikely to be false. Hence, no surety is there of the truth in an induction statement (IEP, 2006). It can be hence established that general statements are not what â€Å"deduction† statements include, rather the opposite. In deduction a series of steps take place that form reasoning involving logic about the statement/s at hand and formulate a judgment about its conclusion. This conclusion after thorough reasoning is called true and logical in a deduction statement. Whereas the basis for the formulation of conclusions in induction statements is assumptions and not logical reasoning. In the case of consumer behaviour hence, the case of induction seems more attached and close to the topic. Critical thinking or scientific thinking is based on investigations and proper reflective thinking that has evidence or a series of proof facts at the back of the related theory. This dependable or trustworthy set of knowledge and ideas comes from the thinker’s own life and the society in general. Scientific thinking also, hence is based on ideas and theories that give the thinker such dependent information. Scientific thinking has the following three aspects: o  Ã‚   Empirical evidence (evidence that a person can hear, see, touch, smell, and taste) o  Ã‚   Logical reasoning or rationality (logic taking precedence over emotions and feelings etc.) o  Ã‚   Skepticism (questioning of own beliefs and the conclusions one has reached when doing scientific thinking). (Schafersman, 1994). Metaphysical thinking, on the other hand has no relation to evidence or proof based conclusions at all. Rather it is a formulation of the mind in a way that it appears absurd or vague to most people. An example could include beliefs of people about magic. Usually, the soul or beliefs about reality are the sources or aims of metaphysical thinking. Aristotle said that metaphysical thinking is the highest demonstration of human’s capability to think and express. This is because such thinking is basically related to the deep interconnections of a person’s mind and what his perceptions in life are, and what imaginations does he/she hold. (Rosengren, Johnson and Harris, n.d.) Meta-physics is often referred to concepts like materialism and dualistic beliefs. (Carrol, 2007). METHODOLOGY This research is a descriptive study that aims to identify the characteristics of a consumer’s mind and the behavior that follows when making decisions involving hospitality, and tourism. For this purpose employing a combination of Qualitative and Quantitative Research was used. (Creswell, 2008) Elements of brainstorming, critical thinking, questionnaire-aided interviews and observation studies were carried to follow through the research. Brainstorming Brainstorming was employed at multiple stages. Initially, the researchers required brainstorming for the open ended questions that were asked during the focus group sessions. The focus group sessions that followed took the form of unstructured, free flowing ideas coined by the respondents. Important ideas were then made to incorporate the â€Å"Funnel approach† of gradually narrowing down the scope of the relevant domain. Volleying such topics with the respondents helped gain a rudimentary understanding which in turn helped in drafting the questionnaire for detailed interviews. (Pacelli, 2006) Proactive Problem Solving and Critical Thinking During the course of this descriptive study the researchers resorted to proactive problem solving and critical thinking at all stages. (CareWeb, 2003) The researchers ensured, at all stages, that there was adequate amount of information before proceeding to the next stage. Additionally, an initial analysis of the qualitative exploratory research to unearth any trends and patterns the researchers based their hypothesis will be conducted. Once the initial exploratory data gathering completed, the researchers conducted the observation studies and interviews to critically understand the workings behind people’s brains (belonging to different cultures) when it came to the hospitality industry. (Tesch, 1990) Questionnaire-aided Interviews   Ã‚   Interviews were conducted to gain deeper insight into the perspectives of several different people belonging to different cultures about what they feel about the hospitality industry, brands etc. It helped the researcher’s draft a proper detailed findings document, henceforth and made data that was derived from observation studies more valid. Observation studies   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Observation studies were also done in many restaurants and eateries in nearby places, catering to different age groups, different cusines and cultures henceforth. FINDINGS   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It was found that yes culture being a comprehensive element in a person’s personality has a great impact on the things that a consumer sees and considers buying/ consuming and does or doesn’t. Also, people belonging to the Asian region have more emotionally charges perceptions about brands, restaurants etc. People belonging to individualistic countries like America, England, Australia and Europe for instance were more adept at changing their choices when it came to eateries. They also felt that when it came to brands that involved mass appeal, like McDonald’s emotions was more of an element. It was found that intensity of culture does have an impact on consumers as well. Also it stands less strong as it was years back or previously sine it has become more flexible now. DISCUSSION The media today can be held responsible for the implicit force behind people’s actions since the hidden characteristics of mediums used by the media are powerful enough to move people into doing things they otherwise will not do. Manipulation can take the form of anything that uses media as a forum, therefore. Media hence being of many forms is often used as a manipulation tool to provide information that actually inflicts someone else’s opinions on people through the mass media. To many people, especially writer’s propaganda is an instrument through which a lot of â€Å"bad† persuasion is done. This according to them then includes the usage of half-truths and various other concealments so that data and information can be manipulated. This distortion is then used by these people for their own benefit by â€Å"fooling† the people who are being directed at by these propagandists. (What is Propaganda, n.d.) Sustainability Sustainability is the endurance that is needed. It is basically the push that is needed to use resources now the way that they are used while making sure that the needs of the future population or the next generation are however not compromised. Culture affects this dimension greatly too. For instance, where building a posh, un-atmosphere friendly restaurant is concerned; people belonging to individualistic societies and culture tend to ignore such characteristics while opting for greater refinement in terms of edible goods and eateries. Also, it was seen that the intensity of culture does have an impact on consumers as well. Also it stands less strong as it was years back or previously sine it has become more flexible now. This was particularly true for sustainability. Technology Many a times we hear arguments pertaining to how the world is moving towards employing a single customized strategy when handling technology; little do companies often realize is that throughout the world irrespective of the kind of industry one is in, thee have to be adaptations that need to be made to ensure that all explicit and implicit characteristics that one’s company is dealing with are all equally important to make it successful in the consumer’s mind. For this purpose, it is highly essential that regional differences are seen through while evaluating a company’s potential critically. Therefore, it highly essential that technological breakthroughs are implemented after customizing them to one’s own systems immediately. This was a characteristic that was seen to be exceptionally true for individualistic cultures or people belonging to the Europe region. However, the incidence of embracement of technology was seen to be higher in people with South Korean and Chinese roots. This was a finding that was derived through observation studies conducted in different parts. Brand Power Many researchers and marketers alike now have seemed to realize the importance of culture and differences in culture and the kind of impact that these have on perceptions that consumers have about specific brands.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This is the basic core reason why marketers hence go for region and culture based promotional and launch campaigns because this way the correct target group is hit with the kind of perceptions that the brand managers want to give off for their brand to the consumers. Marketers introduce many products but while doing so they ensure that the variety of ‘tastes’ that are being catered to are duly met. Likewise, the consumers too make up separate perceptions about the brands themselves based on the feel that the marketer gives off or is trying to give off. This, when is in alignment with the brand template itself, then we say that an effective culture transfer has taken place. For instance, in the questionnaire for interviews that was developed, it was asked of the respondent to talk about a brand that they felt connected to and a brand that they couldn’t link to at all even though the product was decent enough functionalit y wise. Respondents belonging to the South Asian region specifically claimed that the presence of Coca-Cola’s Coke Studio (a recently introduced initiative by Coke connecting eastern and western strings under one roof) was a product they felt close to and the perceptions about the brand were very emotionally charged. However, the existence of certain medicinal preventives or contraceptives was something that always linked with a taboo topic that of contraception is still considered a sin in certain religions. Therefore, people belonging to the Hindu religion in the interviews claimed to have had negative perceptions about such brands. They claimed that emotional aspects of brands like these should not be targeted towards this group of consumers. Sales Promotions There are many persuasion elements as follows: o  Ã‚   Emotional element: using emotions or inducing emotional sensations in people to make them act out the way the sender wants them to. o  Ã‚   Humorous element: by including a light element in the entire transfer of information process and thereby impressing people by the humor involved o  Ã‚   Rational: by setting out logical arguments and providing proof to whatever information is being imparted. This also is correlated directly with the credibility of the sender of the propaganda message in the first place. It is up to the person who is delivering to decide what element will prove to be the most effective and essential to the positivity of the success of the entire message or the propaganda itself. However, one thing that they have to be sure about is what sort of audience is being addressed and dealt with, so as to not harm anyone verbally or behaviorally. All in all, propaganda is a political process and in all the latter’s forms, it plays a huge role in the imparting of information that is used to persuade and influence the people in the audience that is being dealt with. (Welch, 1998) Advertising is transporting into common knowledge of a person or many people the existence of a product or service. These people would be the ones who would belong to the buyer’s class and will hence be called â€Å"customers†; the customers in the case of political advertising being political; candidate’s respective audience or target group. (McNamara, n.d.) There are howev er still many variations to the basic concept. Sales promotion and advertising are talked about in reference and replacement to each other. In many companies, the word and advertising when is used it is often meant that the mass is being communicated with to reach the end consumers within it. Hence there are many channels involved in distribution of this information. These are more specifically called the channels of distribution, which can in the political framework include:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Salesmen: candidates  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Distributors: members of the party  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dealers: immediate members along with a group or team of supporters Another characteristic very typical of advertising is that advertising constitutes of time, space and costs in using the media involved. Hence, we can say that a plan of action with respect to the type of seat a candidate is running for is important. Advertising is mass; it’s communication for which a price is paid. The main goal remains of imparting information, altering people’s stance towards what is being advertised and then persuading an action to be followed or taken by them that is to the advantage of the person who is advertising. CONCLUSION The type of â€Å"consumer†, in other words whether he is a rural person or a literate one or even an illiterate one, it depends on the way in which this advertising of the candidate is done. Hence, even one-to-one selling, also known as personal selling, user recommendations, publicity through famous other political or celebrity figures etc. can also induce voting behavior of people. The end goals remains the same: satisfaction of the end user, convincing him to â€Å"buy the product† that is going for this candidate over some other. And along the way, one other thing involves making sure that this behaviour is rationed through successive exposure to the candidate’s current status etc.   The aim of advertising is doing it with efficiency, speed and communication on a mass or on a whole level efficiently.   (Colley, n.d.) REFERENCES Care Web (2003) Proactive Problem Solving. [Internet] Available from: http://careweb.care.org/help/devplan/Proactive_Problem_Solving.htm Dan Kurland (2000). â€Å"What is Critical Thinking.† Critical Reading.Com. [Internet] Available from: criticalreading.com/critical_thinking.htm [Accessed 29 July 2009] IEP. â€Å"Deductive and Inductive Arguments.† The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2006. [Internet] Available from:. iep.utm.edu/d/ded-ind.htm [Accessed 29 July 2009] Jordan Lieberman (2008) Advertising [Internet] Available from: campaignline.com/sections/?SectionName=advertising [Accessed 29 July 2009] Karen Brooks (2008) Web expands ad opportunities for campaigns. Journal of EBSCOHost. [Internet] Available from: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=nfhAN=2W62W63177396659site=ehost-live [Accessed 29 July 2009] Karl Rosengren, Carl Johnson, and Paul Harris. â€Å"The Development of Metaphysical Thinking†.   N.d. Immanuel Kant Research. [Internet] Available from: http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=dcr0WKw2IYICpg=PA179lpg=PA179dq=what+is+meta-physical+thinking%3Fsource=webots=TZaxUogS6Zsig=_nsGD7qcWMKIEo_JlTaphN7pJTYhl=ensa=Xoi=book_resultresnum=9ct=result#PPA183,M1 [Accessed 29 July 2009] Nora McMillan and Carol Keller. â€Å"Critical Thinking.† 2007. ACCD. [Internet] Available from: accd.edu/sac/history/keller/ACCDitg/SSCT.htm [Accessed 29 July 2009] Pacelli, L. (2006) The perfect brainstorm. Digital PhilosophyLander. â€Å"Deduction and Induction†. 2004. GFDL. [Internet] Available from: http://philosophy.lander.edu/logic/ded_ind.html [Accessed 29 July 2009] Robert T. Carrol. â€Å"Metaphysics†. The Skeptic’s Dictionary. 2007. Skepdic. [Internet] Available from:   http://skepdic.com/metaphysics.html [Accessed 29 July 2009] Steven D. Schafersman. â€Å"An Introduction to Science†. 1994. Steven D. Schafersman Copyrights. [Internet] Available from:   freeinquiry.com/intro-to-sci.html [Accessed 29 July 2009] Tesch, R. (1990) Qualitative Research. Paperback Welch, David. (1998) Germany, Propaganda and Total War, 1914-18: The Sins of Omission. [Internet] Available from: http://science.jrank.org/pages/10872/Propaganda-Defining-Propaganda.html [Accessed 29 July 2009] What is Propaganda? (n.d.) [Internet] Available from: historians.org/projects/giroundtable/Propaganda/Propaganda8.htm [Accessed 29 July 2009]

Assignment 3 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

3 - Assignment Example ding to the research on the effects of global warming by computer modeling incorporation, it is evident that we may not have conferring benefits on the carbon sink from Amazon rain forest. Thus by 2100 it will cause an increase of around 5-8 degrees centigrade. Based on the research, it is a serious concern because once the methane release starts, due to the global warming, it would be impossible to stop the runaway methane global warming. 3) A little reported but quite serious global infrastructure problem is the current rate of iron ore/steel usage. Research and report the growth of Chinas use of steel (since the year 2000) and the implication that this growth rate has on the exhaustion timescale of the worlds steel supply. Find data to compare the growth rates from 2000 to 2008 to those for 2009-2012. Comment on whether or not this is the silver lining associated with global economic meltdown. 4) a) Which county is growing fastest and what is that growth rate? (attach a screen shoot of your result); If new schools are built for every new 5000 people, how many new schools would need to be built in this county by the year 2050? In 1980 a standard emerged that there should be 1 county sheriff for every 3000 citizens of any county. Based on the 1950-1980 growth rates, what would be the population of Lane County in 2010 and how many county sheriffs should we have? Bonus point* Find the actual size of the Lane County Sheriff’s department. When a country is at the pre-industrial stage, the population grows slowly because the death and birth rates are quite high. During industrialization stage, the food increases, medical care improves, sanitation improves and the death rate increases. At this stage, the population grows rapidly. After the living conditions have improved, the birth rate decreases, which in turn cause the population rate to decrease. After the industrial stage has kicked in fully, the population will grow at a very slow rate (Russell, Herz &

Impact of Obesity on Students Grades Research Paper

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Executive Summary - Essay Example A 2003 study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that at least 52% of Miami-Dade struggled to complete basic skills like reading a menu or a bus schedule. In our research, we found that the percentage of those living below the poverty line in different categories of Miami population are as follows: 36.8% of children, 35.1% of married-couple families, 10.5% of single parent families with no wife and 54.4% of single parent families without husband. Â   There is need for creating opportunities that can enable the low-income families learn computer skills that can lead to better job opportunities. This will also equip the parents with the necessary resource. There is also need to motivate each child to achieve his or her dream despite his/her financial situation. A greater impact can be realized by sponsoring Kiwanis Club in Little Havana. Based on this, we have decided that we can help Kiwanis Club by implementing ideas to raise funds or computer donations in order to advance this great

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The Dasani Scandal The Facts

The Dasani Scandal The Facts For many years, The Coca Cola Company has been forced to diversify their products because the fizzy drinks market was saturated and people were looking for healthier drink. So, in March 2004 Coca Cola decided to launch its bottled water Dasani in UK. And Coca-Cola wanted Dasani on everybodys lips last and it happened but for the wrong reasons. The origin of UK Dasani came to light when a complaint was made to the British Food Standards Agency over Cokes use of the word pure in its Dasani marketing. After some analysis, it seems that the Dasani water is only tap water from the mains supply in Sidcup, Kent. In fact the water submits a lot of treatments into a special plant. The raw product is first passed through three filters intended to extract particles, organic debris and chlorine before a final stage known as reverse osmosis a technique invented and perfected by Nasa. The result is a almost totally pure water. After having gone to the trouble of taking everything out, put three other things back into it calcium, magnesium and sodium bicarbonate. Apparently, Dasani tastes nicer that way, while still being as pure as bottled water gets. Research shows that the UK bottled-water market is all about the natural purity of the source. Yet Coke not only decided to sell purified tap water but to make a virtue of it. It stressed its NASA-style purification process could transform tap water into something more wholesome than natural spring water. Commercialized in United Kingdom the February 1st of 2004, the Dasani bottle water cost is only tap water sold 1, 42 euro for half a litter although the water supplier Thames Water sold it at 0,008 euro per litter that is to say 3000 times more expensive. In spite of Cokes claims that its NASA-approved reverse osmosis multi-barrier filtration system created water so pure it was better than the real thing, consumers thought they were getting little more than Brita filtered water at 95p a bottle. When illegal levels of cancer-causing Bromate chemicals were discovered, Coke had no choice but to recall 500,000 bottles and abandon the drinks launch in UK. Coke dumped its new bottled water following a cancer scare and an unprecedented consumer revolt. Consequences The entire UK supply of Dasani was pulled off the shelves because it has been contaminated with bromate, a cancer-causing chemical. Any increased cancer risk is likely to be small. However the levels are higher than legally permitted in the UK and present an unnecessary risk. Some consumers may chose not to drink any Dasani they purchased prior to its withdrawal given the levels of bromate in it.Therefore, Coca-Cola withdrew all the Dasani bottles in order to ensure that only products of the highest quality are provided to their consumers .The latter could get a refund if they wanted to. To sum up we can say that the brand lost part of its equity because now consumers wont trust coca cola. Coca Cola officials said that consumers needed to be educated and informed about the products. But here, it is a crucial point that Coke missed: transparency of information and truth. The fact that consumers do not trust Coca-cola anymore is likely to damage Cokes ability to relaunch Dasani in the U.K. as Nestlà © and other players will likely take this opportunity to remind consumers that they are selling spring water vs. the purified tap water Coke is selling. Of course, Coca cola is a big player in the field of the beverage industry, somehow, on the face of a fierce competition, it may lose ground and market shares with this scandal. This event could also damage the image of coca-cola in the UK and in the world Another consequence could be on the long run, the lack of confidence from consumers from developing countries. In fact, we know that Coke is very present in developing countries, and even if part of those consumers are not aware nor educated to be informed about the content of the products, the role of the media or humanitarian associations could make them quite reluctant to buy Coca Colas products. The Dasani scandal has left Coke nursing a  £25 million loss from canceled production contracts and advertising deals. The damage to the firms reputation is 20 times that figure, analysts say. The launch was an extraordinary gaffe for a company which has marketed its way to become the worlds most valuable brand, worth $70 billion, and which has often joked that one day every kitchen will have three taps: cold water, hot water and Coke. France TELECOM France Telecom S.A. is the main telecommunications company in France, the third-largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It currently employs about 180,000 people (half outside of France) and has 192.7 million customers worldwide (2010). In 2008 the group had revenue of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬53.5 billion. and the current CEO is Stà ©phane Richard. The privatization step In September 2004, France Telecom became a private company. 115 years after its nationalization, the phone became again private in France. The French State sold a part of its shares so that it would not be the majority shareholder any more. On the 27th of July 2005, France Telecom announced the takeover of 80% of the mobile phone operator Amena which has 24% of market shares in Spain for 6.4 billion euro of which 3 billion correspond to a capital increase. France Telecom also informed of the NeXT scheme deployment that aimed at providing to its customers the set of telecommunications services that they need in an integrated way. Since the 1st of June 2006, France Tà ©là ©com tries to commercialize worldwide all its products under a single brand Orange. The France Tà ©là ©com logo called ampersand has a more rounded shape and the graphic guidelines have been modified. In June 2007, the French State sold again 5% of its France Tà ©là ©com shares; therefore, the public contribution (French State and ERAP) represents 27%. At the same time, France Tà ©là ©com resold Orange Netherlands and bought out the Spanish Internet service provider, Ya and the Austrian mobile phone operator, One. In March 2008, the media claimed that France Tà ©là ©com wanted to take over on the Scandinavian company TeliaSonera. This new firm would become the first European operator, however, this operation failed. On the 21st of September 2010, France Tà ©là ©com contributed up to 40% to the capital of Meditelecom (Mà ©ditel brand), the 2nd mobile phone operator in Morocco. When the operation was set up, Meditelecom had 10 mill ion customers. The agreement plans France Telecom to rise up to 49% of the capital by 2015. New management methods The NeXT scheme (2006-2008) is the recovery plan for France Telecom which aims at among other things, reducing costs and especially wage costs, carrying on a converging policy for its products and services, and grouping together all the brands under a unique one Orange except for the activities dealing with fixed line telephone which will stay under the designation France Telecom. Consequently, this led to the disappearing of numerous brands as Wanadoo and thousands of people were fired (the estimated percentage was 10%). The NeXT scheme introduced an aggressive management style. In 2004, 4000 employees were trained during 10 days to achieve in the field the new scheme. The top priority is to reduce workforce, thus new management techniques are implemented, and they aimed at damaging working conditions to force one part of the employees to leave willingly because they can not cope more psychological strain. By enhancing this phenomenon, France Telecom was diminishing the amount of re dundancy payments. The scandal After the transition period, between the beginning of January 2008 and the end of January 2010, thirty-four France Telecom employees committed suicide, some leaving notes blaming stress and misery at work. In October 2009, the wave of suicides led former Deputy CEO Louis-Pierre Wenes to resign under trade union pressure, to be replaced by Stephane Richard.Faced with repeated suicides, the company promoted Stephane Richard to chief executive officer on 1 February 2010, while Didier Lombard will remain as chairman. The official said 23 FT employees had now killed themselves this year, compared with 19 in 2009. The rate this year is slightly ahead of the French average of 17 suicides per 100,000 people in 2006, according to World Health Organization figures. France Telecom has 181,000 employees, with 100,000 in France. Union officials attribute the suicide surge to stress And apparently FT was aware by trade unions of the big tensions and pressure among the employees but decided to do nothing. Consequences In France and in Europe Orange is still the first operator but its image is strongly damaged because of the series of suicide. The France opinion was particularly shocked of the working conditions in this company which lead so many people to suicide. A commission decided to set up an investigation on FT to enlighten responsibilities in theses deaths. Benetton advertising by Toscani Every one knows the famous Italian fashion brand Benetton. And all those over twenty years old know these advertising campaigns born from the collaboration between the Group Benetton and the photograph Oliviero Toscani, in which topics, images, confrontations and situations were provocative. If you dont know what we are talking about, lets just have a look to some of those ad It is obvious that those ads play it both ways : commercial advertising, and charity campaign. According to Oliviero Toscani, todays businesses must have a social and political responsibility, they should not spend their profits ahead of basic human principles. Ultimately the famous photographer underlines precisely the fact that in our occidental societies, we never questioned values such as democracy and capitalism, as if they were obvious. Therefore, what is the Benetton advertisements bring? For the photographer side, they allow people asking themselves what is advertising, and think in a critical way about capitalism and the society. Because for him, nowadays companies shouldnt give priority only to economic interests, they should be more engaged than that. So thats what he did for those advertisements for Benetton. And for the Group, those advertisements bring a lot of talk, debate, word of mouth, positive (because it shows that the brand is engaged for equality of people, for stopping legal murder and death sentences, think outside the box) or not (because the way used to pass the message, the images used were shocking, and clearly unethical), but it makes people talking about the brand, and that is what is important for a brand, that people know its name, talk about it all over the world. And despite numerous boycott offs, the group still posted a profit in 2000 up 10% over the year before. But nothing last forever, and this adventure of trying an activist approach of advertising ended in 2000. Volvic and its drinking water in Niger operation When we talk about marketing ethics, it is necessary to distinguish ethical and legal aspects of the framework. An unethical decision or action lead by a company is not necessarily illegal and vice versa. So one effective way to integrate ethical marketing in a positive way is to be actively engaged for a social cause. A really good example of such a social and ethical engagement is the operation 1L = 10L lead by Volvic, a French brand of drinking water, in 2006. The promise was simple : every time a consumer bought one liter of Volvic water, Volvic pledged to fund construction of wells in Niger, so that ten liters of drinking water can be drawn. The results of this operation have been spectacular. Volvic has seen a great increase in its sales, and has financed the construction and the maintenance of 16 wells for 10 years. All this provided through a partnership between the brand and the Unicef organization. Thus marketing ethics has allowed to simultaneously satisfy several requirements : the villagers in Niger who benefited from drinking water infrastructure the consumer who felt happy to have contributed to this, in their small extent, but preferring this proposal instead of a reduced price in a competitor for example Volvic which saw its sales rise and its image permanently associated to a high value, and a great story. And we can go further in the positives consequences of this type of marketing action : the Unicef organization enjoyed a high visibility without incurring the sometimes controversial direct marketing expenditures employees of Volvic have been naturally associated to the action and adhered more easily to a social and thus more motivating project than just a simply growth objective the shareholders also enjoyed this operation through the financial efficiency of the device

Hattin: Trapping a Victory :: European Europe History

Hattin: Trapping a Victory On June 26, 1187, the Muslim Sultan Saladin crossed the river Jordan with 20,000 of his followers - an army consisting of roughly 12,000 light horsemen and a number of footmen to a location south of the Sea of Galilee where he and his men encamped. They had been ravaging the nearby countryside in hopes of provoking a Christian attack, but had been unsuccessful. The Frankish Christians led by King Guy in Jerusalem had also mobilized their own army and camped at the spring at Saffuriyah . Marshall W. Baldwin says that the Franks too had an army 20,000 strong, but it was different in composition. The "Latins", as they are called, were a cavalry of 1,200 heavily armored knights, 3,500 lightly armored, mounted sergeants, several thousand foot soldiers, as well as a large number of native auxiliaries as mounted bowmen . Between the two great forces (the largest memorable, Christian gathering in years) lay an arid terrain; the hot summer sun made travel extremely difficult, especially for large numbers. One could easily expect fatigue, dehydration, and low morale when venturing to the east of Saffuriyah until reaching the Sea of Galilee. Strategists of each side knew the consequences of traveling across the region and so, "the waiting game" was played to see who would be the one to be provoked into a trap through the valleys. Although Saladin had unified large sections of the Muslim world, his army was still not a standing one. The crusaders counted on the fact that Saladin would have trouble holding his army together for a long period of time because his soldiers were not full-time warriors. Many were also tradesmen or farmers that easily disbanded when there was no action to get back home . Saladin knew his situation and continually harassed the area of Tiberias in failed attempts to provoke the Christians into leaving Saffuriyah, until he decided on July, 2 to besiege the city itself. He moved the majority of his troops to the high ground west of Tiberias. From this location, the Muslims could block entrance to the city while still accessing water supplies from the Sea of Galilee through the eastern side of the ridge. Tiberias was poorly fortified and Saladin's well - supplied forces had no trouble entering its walls. Residents of the city took refuge in the citadel, including the wife of Count Raymond of Tripoli who urgently sent west for help.