Gender Stereotypes In The Disney Film Moana - 1918 Words

There is a poem by Rupi Kaur that says, Representation is vital otherwise the butterfly surrounded by a group of moths unable to see itself will keep trying to become the moth. It is said that most of the decisions that we make in our lifetime are made unconsciously. Whether we’d like to admit it or not, the characters we grew up laughing, crying, hating, and falling in love with have shaped who we are and how we look at the world today. These characters have impacted our lives in ways that transcend far beyond the length of the movie or television show. This impact frames how we see ourselves, our aspirations, and our perception of the people around us. It is for these reasons alone that representation in the main-steam media is so†¦show more content†¦As a result, oftentimes young girls strongly identify with princess culture and even into adulthood we not only blindly seek our own â€Å"happily ever after† but we assume that girls innately love princesses, dress up, and anything magical, making children even more susceptible to gender stereotypes. Many of the â€Å"classic† Disney movies spend a great portion of their screen time painting its leading female character as a damsel in distress. This princess culture suggests that despite other defining characteristics, a females most valuable asset is her beauty above all else. These Disney movies also imply that girls should be sweet despite the lousy hand they were dealt. Sleeping Beauty is indeed beautiful and sweet, but spends most her movie hiding, and as a result, ends up waiting hand and foot on seven dwarfs who aren’t always kind instead of fighting for her kingdom. Cinderella was so set on getting away from her evil step-mother that she swans off with a prince she barely knows who was amazed by her beauty, with the assumption that freedom from the life she once lived would come from the security of marrying a prince. In Beauty and the Beast, it is highlighted several times that Belle’s appeal is not only her beauty but her intelligence as well. Yet despite how â€Å"smart† she is, she falls in love with a Beast who held her hostage against her will. It is not until Ariel in The Little Mermaid that we see a female character stand upShow MoreRelatedMulan Essay1541 Words   |  7 PagesThe representation of women in Disney films has indefinitely transformed throughout the decades due to Disney’s need to gradually creat e conventional views and ideas of women. When comparing the 1998 Disney film, Mulan, and the 2016 Disney film, Moana, people may suggest that both are progressive feminist films that accurately depict their individual cultures, while uplifting the women in these films. However, with further analysis, Mulan consists of not only sexist views towards women, but alsoRead MoreMovie Analysis : The Movie Moana 1085 Words   |  5 PagesWhen most people think about Disney movies, their mind often goes to the stereotypical princess movies in which the protagonist wears a pink ball gown. Time and time again these princesses must fight their way through the story in a luxurious ball gown in order to end up with a prince. However, there are many Disney movies that work to challenge these gender stereotypes. The movie Moana is a recent example of a Disney production that works to break the imposed stereotypes placed on children from anRead MoreFeminism : The Advocacy Of Women s Rights On The B asis Of Equality1934 Words   |  8 Pagesscene, and plenty more beautifully influential women. Disney movies introduce the independence, strength, and rights of women to the younger generations and hopefully for many future generations. A movie like Moana is an influential feminist film in the way music, actions, relationships, and similarities as well as differences between other Disney films are presented. Moana can be connected through music to many female-empowerment based Disney movies, including but not limited to â€Å"Enchanted†, â€Å"Pocahontas†Read MoreThe Damsel Of Distress And The Knight s Shining Armor : Gender Roles1538 Words   |  7 PagesThe Damsel in Distress and the Knight in Shining Armor: Gender Roles in Disney Movies â€Å"How about a girls who’s got a brain, who always speaks her mind?† (Bancroft and Cook 00:43:30-00:43:40). This was Mulan’s (Mulan (1998)) response to her fellow soldiers’ desires for women who are beautiful, will cook for them, and will worship them. The men brush off Mulan’s suggestion without thinking, but what do objectifying comments like this being included in a children’s movie say about society? MoviesRead MoreAnalysis Of Disney Company And Its Impact On The World Of The Pockets Of Our Jeans And Hoodies1686 Words   |  7 Pagespeople perceive gender and its surrounding issues is often overlooked or ignored under the premise of normalization. One of the top contributors of media is The Walt Disney Company and its affiliated companies such as ABC, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures, Lucasfilm, and Marvel Entertainment, and from a young age many children grow up on the films, characters, books, and television series that are produced by the Walt Disney Company. In the long history of media produced by The Walt Disney Company, beginningRead MoreGender Stereotypes In Disney1711 Words   |  7 PagesNot Born a Disney Princess, but the Tiara May Fit What young girl does not dream of becoming a princess and living in a castle happily ever after? Virtually every young girl identifies with princesses and has watched at least one Disney Princess movie. From the first movies of Snow White and Cinderella, to the later movies of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, to the most current movie Moana, Disney Princess movies permeate not only the movie theaters, but also our culture. In fact, â€Å"becomingRead MoreRoyal Role Models : Why Disney Princesses1555 Words   |  7 Pages ROYAL ROLE MODELS: WHY DISNEY PRINCESSES ARE A POSITIVE INFLUENCE TO YOUNG GIRLS Are tiaras, dresses, princes, and castles destroying the minds of our youth? Most adults believe that children are heavily influenced by the things they see around them, mostly having a negative impact on their development. A phenomenon that follows this ideal are the ever so popular Disney princesses. Disney princesses are a staple of childhood interests, especially for young girls. Girls are more interested in princessesRead MoreHarry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Gender Roles983 Words   |  4 Pages After watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part Two, I was able to see how gender roles both differ and remain the same in this movie. Although some gender stereotypes apply to the film, I think many characters defy the stigmas typically assigned to males and females. Strong female roles, such as Hermione Granger, Molly Weasley, Professor McGonagall, and Luna Lovegood, help portray sturdy independent women who take charge. Reflecting on this movie, even as a dedicated Harry Potter fan

Art Museum - S.W.O.T. Analysis Essay - 706 Words

S.W.O.T. Analysis The S.W.O.T. analysis for the Cinicinnati Art Museum is what gives the viewer the information to easily see what is wrong and isn’t wrong with the museum, while providing information on possibilities the museum can capitalize on and what threats could harm the museum. The strengths were not hard to identify. I identified six different ones, all self-explanatory. Free admission, membership purchases, host of traveling exhibits, host of special events (weddings, parties, etc.), the museum is located in a popular area of Cincinnati (Mt. Adams), and they have an expansive art collection (60,000 pieces of work). All of these are huge postives for the art museum that can be capitalized on if done properly. The†¦show more content†¦There are opportunities though, and they are good opportunities. I was able to identify three that they should pay attention to and really hit hard on. In today’s economy, people aren’t wanting to spend a lot of money. The rec ession is making people be a lot more conscious about money. Good news, the museum is free. If marketed properly, this could be a huge way to gain new visitors. Plus, art museums have sophisticated connotations that make people feel smart when they go to them. What better way to spend the day than to go somewhere that is free and feel sophisticated? Another opportunity is that new exhibits could attract younger demographics, pending on the exhibit. This could be tricky though because they want to attract everyone, but older crowds are interested in things that younger generations aren’t. They have to be able to balance the attractions so everyone can relate to it and want to view it. When it comes to threats, there aren’t many. There are mainly two, competition and free admission. Competition is obviously a threat because when people think to go somewhere or bring there kids somewhere and they don’t think of the art museum, that is a visitor lost. They need to be the first place someone thinks of when they think â€Å"free† and â€Å"informative†, and frankly, they aren’t for the most part. The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal and the Children’s Museum have the top of mind awareness that theShow MoreRelatedBanyan Tree - Hotel Resorts3137 Words   |  13 Pageshotels individual villas â€Å"intimate moment† package wedding package Services: spa retail outlets Others projects: BTHR cooperate with local people to educate them to make valued crafts create the Banyan Tree Gallery support local business S.W.O.T Analysis Luxury premium resorts leadership Hotel resorts industry leading growth: well established, renowned brand name Improve brand awareness through expanding launching new brand Angsana Spa, diversifying services with Banyan Tree Galleries

Soils The Unseen Earth that Nurtures Society Free Essays

string(41) " as a musculus relaxant and anaesthetic\." Dirts or the Unobserved Earth that Nurtures Society 1. The Sumerians are considered the â€Å"inventors of agriculture† where they practiced intensive, year-around agribusiness. Intensive agriculture allowed unmanaged dirts to supply foods to workss in sums that related to the soil’s alimentary supply capacity. We will write a custom essay sample on Soils: The Unseen Earth that Nurtures Society or any similar topic only for you Order Now It produced large-scale cultivations of land where they besides practiced monocropping and organized irrigation. Mechanization and chemical fertilisers and pesticides are other factors to assist increase outputs in production. Intensive agribusiness allowed early civilisations to populate more sustainable lives. It allowed unmanaged dirts to supply foods to workss in sums related to the soil’s alimentary supply capacity. It besides aided in feeding larger populations from a smaller land base due to higher harvest outputs. A little labour force was needed in agribusiness along with needing to be mechanized. Due to this, the economic sciences improved when it was focused around a big, centralized production system. Because of intensive agribusiness, the Sumerians were able to make a excess of storable nutrient that enabled the population to settle in one topographic point, farther leting an accretion of extra merchandise. It flourished because they were able to specialise their labour force in the ways of agribusiness therefore taking to a greater population denseness. With a turning population, an addition in production was able to go on because intensive agriculture allowed higher harvest outputs to be produced from smaller land bases. The Sumerians finally over exploited their cedar woods in order to back up the initiation of their metropolis, Ur, during the Bronze Age. They created log transit in the rivers, which increased the salinization. Salinization is the 2nd largest cause of dirt debasement and due to salinization ; there was a progressive diminution in harvest outputs. Finally, this so led to the autumn of the Sumerians. Forests and Human Survival 10. The tundra is the least disturbed biome proved by its statistic of being disturbed by about.3 % by worlds. It proves to be a hard country to populate in because of its cold temperature and limited tree growing. Well-established workss can non last here because deep root systems are impossible to organize due to the bed of permafrost. Permafrost is the chief commanding factor as to why such small flora grows within this biome. The tundra contains blunt landscapes and dirt that is frozen for most of the twelvemonth. It is besides characterized by bare and bouldery land, doing trees hard to turn. All of the flora that is able to turn here are adapted to high air currents that invariably disturb the dirt. Plants are short and bunch together to defy the cold temperatures and are protected by the snow during the winter. Although workss are frequently ephemeral and little here, they can transport out photosynthesis at low temperatures and low visible radiation strengths. The turning sea sons are short and merely last between 50-60 yearss. Most workss reproduce by budding and division instead than by blooming. Turning big harvests would be hard within the tundra because of the tundra’s utmost clime. Agriculture is an of import portion to a turning civilisation and due to the tundra’s highly cold clime and unsustainable resources, it makes establishment hard. The tundra besides experiences small precipitation during the twelvemonth doing the clime seem desert-like. During the summer, the top bed of dirt thaws doing the land free and boggy. Besides, the bed of permafrost does non run excessively far below the surface hence, making lakes and fens on the surface. An unstable land does non back up lasting residences. Dead organic stuff serves as a beginning of foods, therefore supplying P and N. Biodiversity is low within the tundra while besides incorporating low population Numberss of the animate beings that do live here. The big mammals frequently migrate or hibernate so nutrient beginnings are non wholly consistent. During the long winters, mammals that hibernate would turn out to supply a nutrient deficit to dwellers that tried to populate here. Because a person’s chief beginning for meat migrates, this would coerce the household to go mobile as good merely like the Laplanders that lived in this part. Seal meat is an option, but it does non make a balanced diet. Humans would hold to look to kelp or other workss for farther nutrition. Due to these grounds, the tundra proves to be more of an utmost environment that makes it difficult for human endurance. Ecological Constraints in Torrid zones 1. Tropical woods are located between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn and are characterized by the mean air temperature being above 75 grades Fahrenheit. Almost all tropical woods lie near the equator. Tropical woods are besides really damp and can be hurt if they receive well less sums of rainfall. These woods are known to incorporate high biodiversity, hapless dirts and workss that are toxic due to their defensive chemicals. Although tropical woods contain high biodiversity in workss and animate beings, they do non incorporate high Numberss in microbic biodiversity. Worlds are besides found to hold short life spans in these parts due to their exposure to disease. Yet, worlds are still able to pull out many resources from tropical woods that prove to be helpful in mundane stuffs. Latexes, resins, and medical specialties are common resources extracted from the woods every bit good as fibre, tannic acids and cork. Latexes that exist within bark are used as the treeâ€℠¢s manner of defence against marauding insects. It is besides used in the production of masticating gum and some electrical insulating compounds. About a one-fourth of all the medical specialties people use comes from rainforest workss. The tubocurarine is a works that comes from a tropical vine that is known for its toxicant that can paralyse. Worlds have been able to pull out this plant’s toxicant in order to utilize for runing. It is besides known to be used in surgeries as a musculus relaxant and anaesthetic. You read "Soils: The Unseen Earth that Nurtures Society" in category "Essay examples" Quinine, from the Peruvian bark tree, is used to handle malaria. It is estimated that about 1,400 assortments of tropical workss are exploited medically and thought to be possible remedies for malignant neoplastic disease. Tropical woods house about half of the world’s works and animate being species yet merely cover approximately 6 % of the Earth’s land surface. Some features of animate beings found in the wood are distinguishable forms with bright colourss, loud voices, and diets heavy on fruits. Insects make up the largest population of animate beings that live in the tropical woods. They include brilliantly coloured butterflies, mosquitoes, stick insects, and immense settlements of emmets. The Amazon river basin rain forest contains a wider assortment of works and carnal life than any other biome in the universe. Over 80 % of people live along the Amazon river and grow harvests in these countries. The river provides all human endurance demands such as H2O for imbibing, bathing, rinsing and even their bathroom. Folktales such as the Pink Dolphin is popular amongst the people who live by the Amazon river that says Botos, or the Pink Dolphins, turn into fine-looking work forces and come onto shore to infuse adult females in order to explicate why the pregnant adult female has no hubby. The Amazon river’s H2O degrees rise approximately one time a twelvemonth to every bit much as 24 pess. The people populating on the Amazon’s shore have adapted by constructing their house on piles in order to suit to the lifting H2O degrees. The implosion therapy of the river helps to scatter seeds and go around different species of fish. Large fish frequently acquire stranded in lakes when the H2O recedes and communities have learned to pull off these lakes as a beginning of nutrient. Some of the bi g fish that acquire caught is the Pirarucu. It is the largest fresh H2O fish in the universe that can make lengths of 15 pess. It has shrunk in size from the past due to take down food degrees. The dwellers that live along the Amazon river are in the Riparian zone, which is the country right following to the river. It contains the most productive dirts and is dependent on river implosion therapy for cycling. The Riparian zone contrasts with non inundation field dirts because they contain high Numberss in clay and high Numberss in toxic elements as good. The trees within tropical woods prove to be alone every bit good. Their huge tallness and consecutive short pantss characterize many trees. Their short pantss do non ramify out for 100 pess or more because subdivisions are non able to last below the canopy where there is small sunlight. A bulk of the trees have smooth and thin bark because of the warm temperatures, there is no demand to protect themselves from H2O loss or freezing temperatures. Their smooth bark makes them resistant to air plants and works parasites to attach themselves to their short pantss. The trees physically look instead similar and can merely be characterized by their budding flowers. A tropical wood contains beds which are identified as the emergent, upper canopy, understory and forest floor.Emergent trees are characterized by being spaced widely apart with umbrella-shaped canopies that grow above the forest. They tend to hold little, pointed foliages because of their exposure to dry air currents. Some species of emergent trees lose their foliages during the brief dry season in monsoon rain forests. These elephantine trees have straight, smooth short pantss with few subdivisions. Their root system is really shallow, so in order to back up their size they grow buttresses that can distribute out to a distance of 30 pess. These buttresses relieve force per unit area and weight to the outer subdivisions. The upper canopy of 60 to 130 pes trees is the most open to sunlight. Due to this, it causes big sums of shadiness to the beds below it. Most of the rain forest ‘s animate beings live in the upper canopy. The readily available nutrient beginnings lay within the upper canopy so animate beings barely have to travel down to the forest floor. The sloth, an animate being that lives in the upper canopy, merely makes it manner down to the forest floor one time a hebdomad as a bathroom trip. The foliages in the upper canopy contain trickle spouts that allow rain to run off. This helps keeps the foliages dry and prevents cast and mold from organizing in this humid environment. The following bed is the understory. The trees that live in this bed are around 60 pess tall. The understory is usually place to the short pantss of trees, bushs, little trees and other workss. The humidness found at this degree is really high due to small air motion. Because the upper canopy creates a batch of shadiness to the beds below, this degree receives really small sunshine and is invariably in the shadiness. Due to this, it is hard for big flora to turn here. The forest floor is usually wholly shaded. On the floor, few shrubs or workss grow here because of the deficiency of sunshine. Studies show that approximately less than 1 % of the sunshine that hits the upper canopy reaches the forest floor. Small flora grows here because the top bed of dirt is really thin and hapless in foods. Debris falls from the upper canopies onto the floor that serves as foods for decomposers such as worms, Fungis and other decomposers. At the forest floor, the humidness is really high due to even less air motion but it besides helps to interrupt down dust on the forest floor. The tree’s shallow roots besides absorb the organic affair from the dust. The air beneath the lower canopy is really humid due to miss of air motion and the upper canopy barricading the sun’s rays. The trees give off H2O through pores in their bole through a procedure of transpiration which accounts for about half of the forests’ precipitation. Due to the forests’ high precipitation rate, workss have adapted foliages that shed H2O reasonably rapidly so they are non weighed down by the H2O and interruption. Besides, in order to absorb every bit much sunshine as possible, the foliages are wide and really big in the understory. Some trees are even found to hold chaffs that turn with the motion of the Sun in order to absorb every bit much sunshine as possible. In contrast with the lower degrees of the forest, in the upper canopies, where the foliages are exposed to much of the sunshine, they have adapted to be little and dark in order to cut down H2O loss. Dominant species do non be in tropical rain forests. This biodiversity and separation of the species enables them to be less vulnerable to mass taint and prevent die-off from disease or insect infestation. Animals depend on the turning seasons of the blooming and fruiting of rain forest workss in order to provide them with a year-around beginning of nutrient. Forest and Human Development Index 1. The Human Development Index measured a country’s development by uniting indexs of life anticipation, educational attainment and income into a composite homo development index. The Human Development Index created a frame for both societal and economic development. The HDI sets a lower limit and a maximal for each dimension, called goalposts, and so shows where each state stands in relation to these goalposts, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A high HDI addition human ability to accommodate to alter and increase human resilience. High HDI states are by and large exceeding on instruction, wealth and their economic system. They normally exist within medium climates instead than extreme climes because they are excessively difficult to populate in. Norway was voted # 1 in HDI, or the best topographic point to populate. 37 % of its woods cover entire land country. Hong Kong was voted # 21 in HDI with a 17 % wood screen. The United States was voted # 12 in HDI and had 28 % woo d screen. The wood to set down distribution within the United States is equal to its distribution globally whereas land used for nutrient production is more than two times higher than what it is globaly. By and large, states with a high HDI have nice per centum in wood covering their entire land country yet high HDI have lower forest screen than average HDIs. Some myths include that high populations correlate to unsustainable picks made by its population yet it is non population denseness that determines this, but picks. A sustainability myth such as high population densenesss equates to unsustainable picks states that states with high populations are more likely overexploit their resources. This is non needfully true because the myth fails to admit that it is instead the picks a society makes on how it consumes its resources. States with high development rankings have differing population densenesss that don’t correlate to their sustainability patterns. Netherlands has one o f the highest population densenesss with 393 n/km2while Sweden merely has 20 n/km2. Yet both are ranked high in development. Surveies show that less labour in agribusiness or forestry or the more labour in service industries produces a higher HDI rank. In order to expose traditional ways of judging how good a state is making, the Human Development Index efforts to make a simple composite step of human development in order to convert the populace, faculty members, and policy-makers that they can and should measure development non merely by economic progresss but besides betterments in human wellbeing. Other histories that were believed to be taken into consideration when finding a country’s wellbeing is by analysing the other capablenesss cardinal to a fulfilling life that include the ability to take part in the determinations that affect one’s life, to hold control over one’s life environment, to bask freedom from force, to hold other’s regard, and to loosen up and merely hold merriment. Health, instruction and income are the chief three make up one’s minding factors to a country’s HDI because they are universally valued around the universe and mensurable indexs. Health proves to be one of the most of import indexs people possess to be alive. Peoples are concerned with holding to avoid premature decease by disease or hurt and to populate in a healthy environment, to keep a healthy life style, and to achieve the highest possible criterion of physical and mental wellness. Education is indispensable in order to make single freedom, self-government, and autonomy. Income is indispensable to run intoing basic demands like nutrient and shelter. Importantly, income straight or indirectly ties the other cardinal factors together such as a nice instruction ; safe, clean life ; and individualisation. Plants Cited Michael G. â€Å"Tropical Rainforest.† 2001. Web: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm â€Å"The Tundra Biome† . Web: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/tundra.html United Nations Development Programme. Human Development Reports: â€Å"Human Development Index.† Web: hypertext transfer protocol: //hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi Measure of America: â€Å"Human Development.† 2014. Web: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.measureofamerica.org/human-development/ How to cite Soils: The Unseen Earth that Nurtures Society, Essay examples

Unification Of Italy Essay Example For Students

Unification Of Italy Essay The statement powerful forces are more dominant than any leader in making history is false. Men with power can be more influential than an economy, nationalism, or liberalism. Camillo Benso better known as Count Cavour or plain Cavour was the man mainly responsible for uniting Italy. Cavour though a series of fighting and diplomacy united the country. Cavour, Prime Minister in piedmont, insults the king of Piedmont. As a result he gets thrown out of the country because of his wanting to unite Italy. He is interested in politics and the status of Italy so he goes to England to read the free press. In doing this he learns English. By discovering what is happening in the world he goes back to Italy and becomes a philanthropist and builds railroads in Italy and shows the peasants how to turn there subsistence farming to cash crops. After to spread his influence throughout Italy he made the Risorgimento a newspaper in Italy. This newspaper had two reasons for being created: Cavour wanted a constitution for Italy and wanted to get Austrian troops out of Italian soil. The reason for Austrias presents was it wanted to keep Italy spread apart so it wouldnt have two enemies to deal with on both borders, the north (Prussia) and the south (Italy). There was a vote was taken during this time and the countries of Tuscany, Parma, Modena and the Papal States. This made Italy and France was an accomplice. Now that Italy was a country Garibalbi , a popular revolutionary, retired after being defeated at Naples. Cavour had now done what he had planed and formed a united Italy. Before Bismark comes into play in the unification there are procuresses to his entrance. The Zollerin is one of them. It is the formal Customs Union use by the Prussian. This brought chaos to the economic system of the German states. The other factors that come into play is that Prussia and Geramn have one Railroad and telegraph system. In the 1860s the balance of power reversed itself. Now Prussia had the power to pursue uniting Germany. Prussia also had another advantage all their armies were equipped with the new breech loading rifles. Germany under the influence of one man was united. The main influence of this unification is man named Bismark. Otto Von Bismark was made Prussian delegate at the Diet of Frankfurt. Bismark ignored the constitutional problem of the German Confederacy and in its place made military reforms. Germany finally becomes united with hand of Bismark. In conclusion men with power are more influential than any kind of forces. Bismark and Cavour were that influential power that changed or united their countrys states. Without those men present day Italy and Germany would not be anything now. History Essays

Improving Customer Service in a Nigerian Musical Instrument Company

Nigerian consumers are reluctant to use online shopping carts for local purchases. The main reason for this is the fear of becoming victims of online fraud (Onaiwu KPMG 2013). This means that any company in the country seeking to trade online has the uphill task of creating customer confidence before the successful deployment shopping carts.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Improving Customer Service in a Nigerian Musical Instrument Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More An option in this regard is to use shopping carts as an online ordering system, and then to handle payments using mobile money. Mobile money is more reliable because it is possible to trace the owners of a local mobile money account, unlike online payment systems (Onaiwu KPMG 2013). Data Analysis Technique A wide range of options exist for the analysis of qualitative data. The main data collection tool for this exercise was a semi structured q uestionnaire designed to collect quantitative data. The data collection took place via phone interview. The researcher read out the questions and recorded the answers that the respondents gave. Since the interviews took place over the phone, the researcher could not gauge any element of body language. This means that the information gathered lacks the nuances associated with body language in qualitative research. The data analysis method chosen for any research project usually depends on the nature of the project and the objectives of the research. In this case, the objective of the project was to uncover several issues regarding the use of websites as part of the customer care infrastructure for businesses based in Nigeria. The research questions guided the development of the questionnaire and in turn, the specific questions in the questionnaire dealt with the issues associated with the project. The quantitative data collection method chosen to analyse the data collected was induct ion. Induction is an application to qualitative data analysis where the researchers study the responses presented by the respondents and finds relationships in the data (Eriksson Kovalainen 2008).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The number of respondents was not very large to justify elaborate coding (Creswell 2008). In any case, the researcher was open to limited coding in the interest of making the most sense out of the data collected. The exact process applied in the analysis had the following steps. First the researcher studied all the responses presented by respondents to find an overview of the information contained. Unlike quantitative research, respondents participating in qualitative research are free to answer questions in any manner that is sensible to them (Eriksson Kovalainen 2008). In addition, qualitative research is not hypothesis based. Therefore, there is no fixed expectation regarding the specific facts that will arise from the research project. This fact makes quantitative research analysis more challenging. However, qualitative research makes it easier for researchers to pinpoint key issues from the responses provided by the respondents in regards to the research questions. Coding is a very useful method of aggregating responses in qualitative research (Creswell 2008). It involves the categorization of responses into thematic areas, and establishing the relative importance of each thematic area. Criticisms against coding suggest that it is an attempt to turn qualitative data into quantitative data. However, proponents argue that this is the only way of sifting out important issues from trivial ones (Onaiwu KPMG 2013). Qualitative data do not give researchers a simple prioritised method of classifying information. The decision to use coding sparingly in this project arose from the relative ease of analysing the data availed by th e respondents. This situation arose because the number of respondents chosen for the project was small. In addition, the research project was interested in general trends, and not specifics of customer care. Simply put, the ecommerce environment in Nigeria is changing very rapidly hence very exact measures will be obsolete in a very short time. The information needed at this point is only necessary to enable the company to design the website for current use. Anticipated future changes will depend on the dynamics of the ecommerce environment.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Improving Customer Service in a Nigerian Musical Instrument Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Additional Research Question Is ecommerce a viable inclusion in the company’s customer service model? Findings and Analysis This section is divided into two main parts. The first part focuses on the answers given by the respondents durin g the interviews and their implications. The second part focuses on how those responses relate to the research questions. Visibility of Igno Merchandise Company The first question dealt with how the respondents came into contact with the Igno Merchandise Company. The purpose of this question was to find out if there is any correlation between how people find the company, and its current promotion efforts. The most common way of finding out about the Igno Merchandise Company was through fiends. More than half of all respondents mentioned their friends as the link persons to the company. This shows that the strongest method of marketing of the Igno Merchandise Company has been through word of mouth. The implication of this situation is that the company needs to think about developing a robust social media campaign to take advantage of this phenomenon. Other respondents said that they found out about the company through contact with its products, advertisements in mainstream media, and industry events. One respondent found the company randomly while driving. While the company’s promotion potential is in the social media, it needs to maintain a broad based approach to ensure that it makes contact will all potential clients in its reach. A broad based strategy is what will guarantee future business for the company. Perceived Competitors The researchers asked the respondents to list three Igno Merchandise Company competitors. The data collected from this question was very specific hence the possibility of presenting it in qualitative terms. The graph in Table 1 below shows the companies recognised by the respondents as the competitors of Igno Merchandise Company.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More From the frequency of mentions, it appears that Igno Merchandise strongest competitor is Fred Nature’s Company, followed by PSV Company and then Goodfellow limited. The implication of this finding is that Igno Merchandise Company should not relax. Rather, the company should keep in mind that it is in direct competition with many other companies of varying appeal to its own customers. Perceived Competitor Number of Mentions Fred Natures Company 4 PSV Company 3 Goodfellow Ltd 3 Max Power Ltd 2 Tony Best Musical 1 New Creation Electronics 1 Steve Com Musical 1 Table 1: The Perceived Competitors of the Igno Merchandise Company Attractiveness of the Company The researchers asked the respondents what attracted them to the company. The objective of this question was to determine what competitive advantages the company had in relation to its competitors. In addition this question was meant to find out whether customer care was a key consideration for the customers of the company. The respondents gave several reasons to explain their interest in buying products from the Igno Merchandise Company. The reasons the respondents gave varied. Some of them came to the company because they were happy with the company’s interaction with its customers. Some customers said that the layout of the stores is what attracted them. Others said that what attracted them to the company was the price of products relative to the prices offered by competitors. There was mention of the range of products offered by the company as well as the special offers given by the company. This analysis reveals that customers come to Igno Merchandise Company for various reasons. While those who mentioned customer service as their main point of attraction were the majority, the company must ensure that all the business elements such as a range of products, shop floor design and a promotional strategy that resonates with the potential clients. Popular Products When asked abo ut the products bought from the company, the respondents gave the responses as shown in Table 2 below. Products Number of Mentions Mixers 4 Megaphones 3 Wireless Microphones 3 Microphone 2 Speakers 2 Guitars 1 Public Address System 1 Table 2: Popularity of Products Sold by the Igno Merchandise Company The most popular products sold by the Igno Merchandise Company were mixers. The product appeared four times from the answers given by the respondents. Megaphones and wireless microphones each mentioned three times among the most popular products. One respondent mentioned â€Å"public address system† as his/her most popular product. It is unclear what the respondent was referring to because a megaphone is also a public address system, just like a unit consisting of microphones, a mixer, and loud speakers. This demonstrates one of the weaknesses of qualitative research. In this case, it is hard to segregate the specifics associated with the public address syste m this respondent mentioned. The impact of this finding on the project is that it is sensible to have the items listed as the most sought-after products as part of a slideshow on the home page of the website. Sources of Competitive Advantage The researcher inquired from the respondents what the company should do to stand out from its competitors. This question sought to establish the sources of competitive advantage that the company needed to leverage in line with the demands of the website. The main issue raised by the respondents was advertising. In this regard, many respondents felt that the company was not doing enough to advertise the products it had on sale. The correlation between this view and the previous question that asked the respondents how they heard about the company confirms that the advertising efforts of the company are not reaching the intended consumers effectively. The specific ideas gleaned from the answers to this question on how to improve advertising include increasing the quantity of adverts, increasing the number of advertising media, and using offers and promotions to attract the attention of customers. This means that the website can be a useful tool for the company as an advertising avenue. Other issues raised that can increase the competitive advantage of the company were increasing product quality, improving service quality (though there is satisfaction with the current levels of services), and making the sales process more convenient for the customers. On this last point, there is little evidence to support robust ecommerce in Nigeria, especially based on first time buyers. However, the company needs to think about a small scale system that can handle small scale sales via the internet. The emergence of Mobile Money in Nigeria can help deal with the security concerns many people have when it comes to ecommerce. Source of Credible Information Credibility is the main ingredient of ecommerce. Clients try to establish the credibili ty of companies in the process of making purchasing decisions. In this respect, the researcher asked the respondents about the sources of information they find credible in order to determine the relative importance of the website. The two main avenues that consumers use to establish credibility were company websites and mainstream advertisements. Table 3 below shows the sources of credible information by the proportion of mentions. Sources of Credible Information Number of Mentions Friends 1 Advertising 3 Company websites and online reviews 3 Table 3: Sources of Credible Information Company websites play a very important role in establishing the credibility of a product. Consumers use them to find out what the company says about its own products before making buying decisions. However, potential customers also look at online reviews of the products from other customers in blogs, forums, and on social media. This amounts to electronic word of mouth (eWOM). eWOM is the vir tual version of word of mouth advertising. In a previous question, the respondents said that they heard about the company through their friends. This shows that eWOM can also play an important role in marketing the company to new clients. This finding shows that an online presence, based on a website and supported by a social media strategy will help to market the company. Online Shopping Habits One of the elements that arose during the literature review was the potential importance of fitting the website with a shopping cart. In markets where ecommerce is mature, online shopping is taking root very fast. When the respondents were asked whether they shop online, an overwhelming majority answered in the negative. The ones who reported that they shop online do not shop in Nigerian websites. The reasons that they gave in this regard ranged from security concerns to obliviousness. The following table summarises the responses. Reasons why Nigerians do not shop Online 1. Security Co ncerns (Online scams) 2. Unproven systems (Perceived poor reliability) 3. Obliviousness Table 4: Reasons why Nigerians do not Shop Online The main concern that the customers had in regards to online commerce was the potential to fall victim to online scams. Nigeria is infamous as a base for online scammers. This made the customers hesitant to participate in online commerce. The second reason given by the customers was that the system is unproven. They have no proof that it will work as planned, or otherwise. Thirdly, some customers were oblivious to the possibility of buying products online. This means that customer education is needed in the country to build a critical mass for ecommerce. This finding shows that there are good grounds for not including an online shopping cart on the website at the moment, until online shoppers reach critical mass. However, there is more promise in the use of mobile money to facilitate online transactions. The website can act as an order plac ement system with payments being handled via the more reliable mobile phone network. In addition, the company can put up a small scale ecommerce platform to support early adopters. This system should be easy to operate, be secure, and should have minimal maintenance needs. Failure to have an ecommerce platform will be a strategic blunder because in time, ecommerce will become a prominent feature of Nigerian commerce. What is not justified at the moment is heavy investment in such a system. Preferred Web Content In order to find out the preferences of the clients regarding the content of the proposed website, the researcher asked the respondents to state the elements they would like to see on the website. The main elements mentioned by the respondents were as follows. First, the respondents would like to see information about the products available in the store. In context, this was thought to be a more convenient way of finding out what the company had in stock, as compared to physi cally going to the store. Secondly, the responds wanted to see information about the company. The sense the customers seemed to communicate is that there is very little corporate information about the company. More information would make it easy for them to identify with the company. Thirdly, the customers wanted to see a page with customer testimonials. This concept is very similar to a forum. The company has the choice of establishing a forum for the customers, or to collect and post testimonials from clients. Forums that are user controlled tend to have higher credibility, but they also carry greater risks. On the other hand, company chosen testimonials may come off as self-praise and choreographed testimony. The final item that the customers would like to see on the website is company contact information to enable them to get in touch with the company whenever the need arises. Top Website Features The researcher asked the respondents to indicate the features that they would like to see on the website. The respondents gave the list of features captured in Table 5. Preferred Website Features Information about the Company’s branch network Ease of contacting the company Ease of navigation Quick loading website FAQ Page Mobile friendliness Table 5: List of Preferred Website Features These features resonate well with the issues unearthed in the literature review. The specific issues tackled in the literature review section included the need to have mobile friendly websites. This arises from the fact that most internet connections in Nigeria are mobile based. Secondly, the slow speeds require design choices that will support the quick loading of the website. The customers also mentioned ease of navigation. It is usually better to have an intuitive design, arranged in a logical manner for easy navigation. The presence of a FAQ page was also tackled in the review. This confirms that it is very important to include a FAQ page as an element o f customer service. The customers also wanted the ability to contact the company easily. This is where ideas like chat and VoIP come in. Finally, the respondents asked the company to consider listing all the store locations on their website because most people were only aware of their head office. A map, based on one of the free maps services can help to resolve this issue. Analysis Based on the findings and discussion presented in the section above, the following is the analysis of the research questions in light of the findings. The three main issues arising from this inquiry are as follows. First, Igno Merchandise Company customers want reliable services. This deduction arises from the responses to the questions regarding their comfort levels with ecommerce, their response to how they found the company, and the features they want to see on the company’s website. The customers who do not buy goods online mainly cited cyber security and a perceived lack of reliability when i t comes to Nigerian websites. This means that if there was an ecommerce system that was reliable, the customers may consider buying goods online. On the question of how the customers found the company, it was clear that the customer felt that the company was not doing enough to reach them. While they all seemed happy with their purchases, there was an undertone suggesting that they wanted to hear about the company from the company itself. This means that they did not find Igno’s promotional strategy reliable. On the questions regarding the features that they want to see on the site, their concerns were based on ease of use, ease of navigation, quick loading speeds and relevant content. What all these customers are looking for is a reliable website, supporting a reliable customer service system. They want the assurance that they can get all the information that they need when they need it. The second main theme underlying the responses given by the respondents was easy access to services. The customers want easy access to information about the company and its products. The respondents spoke of the little awareness among the general public about the locations of the company’s stores across the country. What the customers were asking for was more convenience when dealing with the company. The elements they mentioned include listing all the branches of the company in the website, coming up a quick means of communication, and more contact with the customers through adverts. The third main issue that arises from the analysis is the need to notify customers whenever there are promotions and offers. The customers are essentially looking for the best prices when they shop. This means that if the company want to grow its market share at the cost of narrower margins, the market is waiting. A simple way of doing this would be by developing an email list and sending out information regarding available offers to customers. Email is personal and can support htm l newsletters. In addition, the company can collect phone numbers of customers whenever they shop at the company’s stores in order to send texts to them. The viability of ecommerce in the current business environment is not high. Out of all the people interviewed, the only ones who buy things online do so in non-Nigerian websites. For purposes of strategy, it is not wise at this point to commit resources to ecommerce. At the same time, it is strategically improper to ignore the potential. This means that the company must find an innovative model that will require fewer resources to set up an ecommerce platform. This will make it possible for the company to cash in on the early adopters when the Nigerian market starts accepting ecommerce. In conclusion, this section has made it possible validate earlier design choices made after the literature review, and has also ensured that customer priorities form part of the final design of the company’s website. The following sect ion will explore the features of the website arising from the design issues proposed above. Website Design The analysis presented in the section above formed the basis for the design of the website as shown below. The tool used to design the website is an online web editor available at www.wix.com. This tool allows users to develop websites using templates. The web design component of the project illustrated the ease of designing a website that can respond to consumer needs. The use of the platform developed by wix.com shows that it need not be expensive to develop a website for a company. Wix.com has a free account with certain limitations. However, a paid account makes it possible to get a fully fledged account that has no branding from wix.com. The limitation associated with template based design is that there is a limit to the number of features that someone can apply to a website. However, the range of options offered by wix.com rely more on the skill of the designer, rather th an the limitations of the platform. These options make it possible to develop websites that have a professional appeal. The guidance followed in the design of the website was the set proposed by Jakob Nielsen. The rules he proposed included the need to ensure that the language used is easy for users to understand, the need for consistency throughout the site and making it easy for users to see all the options available, rather than having to recall the options from memory. The technical elements that could not be implemented in this project include error-handling, and error-recovery in a website. The website designed for Igno Merchandise Company has five main pages. These are the Home page, About Us page, Products page, Stores page and a Contact Us page. The Home Page The Home page has a slideshow featuring three images of the most popular products. The research showed that the top three products sold by the company are mixers, wireless microphones and megaphones. This informed the decision to include the three products in the slide show. Each of the photos is hyperlinked to the product page, on the section that shows the full range of products within the representative category. For example, clicking on the mixer as shown in Figure 1 below takes you to the page that has the complete range of mixers in the stores. About UsFigure 1: Screenshot Showing One of the Photos in the Homepage Slideshow Research showed that customers would like to know more about the company. In response, the website design features an About Us page made to enlighten customers and other stakeholders about the history and operations of the company. About us pages serve a very important function in many websites. It shows openness about the company, and it helps external parties to gauge what the company thinks about itself. The page also contains the vision and mission statements of the company. Figure 2 below shows a screenshot of the â€Å"About Us Page†. Figure 2: About Us Pa ge of the Igno Merchandise Company Products The Products page is the major page in the website. This page will require regular updates to reflect changes in prices, and availability of stock. On this page, all the products listed have a product description that allows customers to peruse the features of all the products in the range. The inclusion of the description and pricing is in direct response to the demands made by customers in the research phase. Figure 3 below shows a screenshot of the products page Contact UsFigure 3: Products Page The Contact Us page gives the customers several options regarding how to get in touch with the company. This page has a form that customers can fill if they want the company to send them information. It works like the email system discussed in the literature review section. The page also has the physical address of the headquarters as well as the phone number of the company that enables them to call whenever they need information. These feature s appear as seen in Figure 4 below. This page still requires social media integration and the addition of a chat facility for instant communication. These two aspects should come into play when the company is ready and willing to commit resources to manage the two services fully. Figure 4: The Contact Us page In addition to the contacts, the page also contains a physical map showing the physical location of the company’s headquarters. This will make it easy for clients who want to visit the store to find it. Stores Page The Stores page was developed to answer the concerns about lack of information regarding the stores of the company in other parts of the country. This page will have a list of all the locations as well as their contacts to make it easy for customers to access the Igno Merchandise Company outlets. Evaluation This main achievement of this project was the development of a website that answers consumer needs and meets the business objectives of the Igno Merchandi se Company. The entire project was developed as a means of improving the level of customer service provided by the company. The website will now answer the needs of the clients as unearthed during the research phase. The second achievement of the project was the discovery and clarification of the company’s sources of competitive advantage. The company now has a clear idea regarding customer expectations and what constitute its sources of competitive advantage. The research was not geared towards analysing the business environment. Therefore, there is a need for more research into the competitive climate of the business. The web design phase did not include social media integration and it also did not include ecommerce options for the company. Social media integration is not just a design issue. It requires careful development of a strategy to counter the risks that come with a social media presence. In addition, it needs full time monitoring and management to take full advant age of the opportunities availed by social media. The company did not indicate whether it was ready to make this investment. On ecommerce, there is need to carry out further studies to find low-cost, or no-cost options that can position the company for ecommerce without unnecessary administrative costs. Ecommerce is almost absent in Nigeria, but can become a force to reckon with at any time given the increasing uptake of the internet. It is strategically sound to develop the capabilities before ecommerce takes off in Nigeria. The management of the company was very happy about the insights the whole project gave them in relation to the position of the company. However, they were reluctant to take up the site developed as part of the project citing the need for further thought into the issues raised in order to develop a more effective website. They also mentioned that the site was too basic in terms of graphic layout. They felt that in general, the information provided to them throug h this project was invaluable, but the website component required a professional touch to ensure that they got it right. The management will use the site as the basis for discussions with a professional web developer to decide on the next step. Conclusion The objective of this work has been to investigate which aspect of customer service can be delivered by Igno Merchandise Company through an interactive website. The research carried out showed that customers essentially seek reliable services, ease of access to the services, and notification whenever there are special offers in place. The project shows that a website can help to deliver these aspects of customer service. In addition, a website gives a company many choices such as social media integration, ecommerce options, and an extra avenue for running promotions. The web design component of the project illustrated the ease of designing a website that can respond to consumer needs. The main limitation associated with this work i s that the research was done on a subject that is very evolutionary. Before applying its conclusions to any other business, it is important to check the work for context as time moves on because of the rapid changes associated with the internet. The researcher predicts that ecommerce will become an important part of the Nigerian economy based on current internet uptake trends. There is good reason for companies in the country to position their businesses in readiness for ecommerce. However, heavy investment in ecommerce platforms is not advisable at the moment. Companies should only aim for presence, not dominance. Evaluation This main achievement of this project was the development of a website that answers consumer needs and meets the business objectives of the Igno Merchandise Company. The entire project was developed as a means of improving the level of customer service provided by the company. The website will now answer the needs of the clients as unearthed during the research phase of the project. The second achievement of the project was the discovery and clarification of the company’s sources of competitive advantage. The company now has a clear idea of what its customers expect, and what constitute its sources of competitive advantage. However, it is important to note that the research was not geared towards analysing the business environment of the company. Therefore, there is a need for more research into the full range of competitive advantages of the business. The web design phase did not include social media integration and it also did not include ecommerce options for the company. Social media integration is not just a design issue. It requires careful development of a strategy to counter the risks that come with a social media presence. In addition, it needs full time monitoring and management to take full advantage of the opportunities availed by social media. The company did not indicate whether it was ready to make this investment. O n ecommerce, there is need to carry out further studies to find low-cost, or no-cost options that can position the company for ecommerce without unnecessary administrative costs. Ecommerce is almost absent in Nigeria, but can become a force to reckon with at any time given the increasing uptake of the internet. It is strategically sound to develop the capabilities before ecommerce takes off in Nigeria. The management of the company was very happy about the insights the whole project gave them in relation to the position of the company. However, the management was reluctant to take up the website developed as part of the project citing the need for further thought into the issues raised in order to develop a more effective website. They also mentioned that the site was too basic in terms of graphic layout. They felt that in general, the information provided to them through this project was invaluable, but the website component required a professional touch to ensure that they got it right. The management will use the site as the basis for discussions with a professional web developer to decide on the next step. The specific issues that arose after showing the customers the proposed design for the website were as follows. The customers were pleased with the navigation elements of the website. They said that the navigation was simple to follow, which made finding information on the website relatively easy. The website’s navigation elements were made in a way that it was possible to access all the pages from the home page. In addition the choice of names for the navigation bars made is possible for the customers to navigate through the site intuitively. The customers were happy with the fact that the arrangement of the website reduced the chances of confusion when visiting the site when looking for information. The second area where the customers gave feedback was in the choice of a colour scheme for the website. The main colours for the website were white and red. In general terms, the clients were satisfied with the choice of colours for the website. Some of the clients attributed their satisfaction with the colour scheme to the fact that it matched the corporate colour scheme of the company. The choice of red gave the website a strong brand attribution to the parent company. This consistency between the website and the company’s corporate colours gave the customers greater satisfaction with the work. While there was general agreement among the clients that the use of the red colour was good, some felt that the colour was too bright. They suggested that a deeper shade of red would be more appealing. The customers found the â€Å"About Us† page very helpful. This page contained a brief presentation of the company and its operations. The purpose of this page was to meet the expectation of customers of interacting with the company in addition to the products it sold. This page gave them sufficient information about the co mpany. The information contained in the â€Å"About Us† page was designed to help customers who were seeking reasons to identify with the company to find these reasons. The two main aspects of the â€Å"About Us† page that the customers found useful was the simplicity of the presentation of information and the sufficiency of the information. The language used to develop the content on the page was very simple English. In addition, the issues presented in the â€Å"About Us† section were factual and precise about the company. The third aspect of the website that the customers gave positive reviews was the presence of a map. During the research stage, the customers noted that it was difficult to know the number and locations of the company’s stores around Nigeria. The map now shows exactly where the stores are located. The map is based on the popular Google Maps platform which has other features such as showing the best route between two points. This can he lp a customer to find one of the company’s stores based on his/her location in Nigeria. The customers were happy with the addition of the map on the website because it improved accessibility to the company’s stores. Customer opinions varied regarding the website. Some of them thought that it was good, while some were not fully satisfied with it in the overall sense. The main issues that were raised by the customers who were dissatisfied include the colour scheme. In their view, the colours were boring. They lacked appeal and needed tweaking in order to make the website more attractive. They also felt that the design was boring. The flip side of this view is that the navigation of the site was simple and easy to handle. The customers who found the site boring could have been pleased by a more complicated design. In addition, some customers took issue with the fact that the site was not social media integrated. It lacked fancy graphics, and had very basic web design elem ents. Conclusion The objective of this project was to find out which aspects of customer service can be delivered by Igno Merchandise Company through an interactive website, and to develop a website based on the findings derived from interviews with the company’s customers. In order to achieve these objectives, it was necessary to undertake a qualitative research exercise to find out the aspects of a website that the customers expect to find in the company’s website. The research project was designed to reach a selected number of customers via phone interviews. Based on their responses, a website was developed using a web design portal found on wix.com. Wix.com provides an online web design suite that does not require coding. Rather, it uses a graphical user interface where a web designer uses graphic elements rather than code to develop a website. After the design of the website, some of the customers were asked to review it to see whether it met their expectations. T hey gave very valuable feedback which can be used to enhance the quality of the site. The qualitative research exercise that was carried out showed that customers essentially seek reliable services, ease of access to the services, and notification whenever there are special offers. The need for reliable services arises from the poor services offered by many Nigerian websites. The customers want to have access to web services on demand, and not at the convenience of the business entity. The need for ease of access had two dimensions. First, the customers asked the company to ensure that the company had a website that was mobile friendly to ensure that anyone with an internet enabled phone can access the services. Secondly, the customers wanted all the store locations of the company to be listed on the website to make it easy for them to access the shops. The third main need identified in the research project was that the customers would like the company to inform them whenever they h ave bargains or promotions. This can be done directly on the website and also via other IT tools such as email, short messaging or via the social media. The project shows that a website can help to deliver these aspects of customer service. A website on its own may have limitations because visiting a website is initiated by individual internet users. The company needs to use other strategies of attracting traffic to the website to ensure that it gets the full benefits of the service. Despite this limitation, a website gives a company many choices such as social media integration, ecommerce options, and an extra avenue for running promotions. The researcher learnt several things in the course of undertaking this project. The first lesson was that it is possible to use research to solve practical business problems. The researcher successfully found out what customers needed from the company’s website via research, and then he made an attempt to provide it. Secondly, the researc her learnt that solving business problems require the work of several professionals. The range of skills needed to solve problems effectively cannot be found in one person. In this case, the researcher was better at the research and evaluation, but was weaker on professional web design. Finally, the researcher learnt how to use wix.com to develop a website, a skill that now requires refinement. The actual development of the website was done on wix.com. Wix.com provides a free online editor for web design. The systems rely on templates to enable designers to use a graphical approach to web design. The advantage of such tools is that they do not require someone to learn a programming language before building a website. The main limitation associated with this work is that the research was done on an evolving subject. The development of ecommerce, websites and all accompanying platforms is a work in progress. The most influential social media site, Facebook, is barely ten years old. Th is shows that it is very difficult to predict how the scene will change in regards to the use of the internet for business. Therefore, before applying the conclusions of this project to any other business, it is important to check the work for context as time moves on because of the rapid changes associated with internet technologies. The second limitation was on the web design aspect. The project required the researcher to develop a website based on information received from customers. Web design is a technical skill developed over time. In this sense, it was not possible to develop a high quality website, in terms of graphical layout, on the first attempt. This explains why some customers found the site unsophisticated. While the site was developed following research results, it met the needs of the clients in a technical sense, but without the artistic feel of web design. If this project was to be done again, the main changes that the researcher would introduce would be to solici t for the help of a web designer on pro Bono basis, or with some arrangement with the company to help develop a more professional looking site. Despite the strong grounding in research and theory, the site was not appealing enough for the company to be used as the official site. The alternative would have been to develop competency in web design using wix.com. The time available for the project did not allow for the development of such competency. The researcher predicts that ecommerce will become an important part of the Nigerian economy based on current internet uptake trends. There is good reason for companies in the country to position their businesses in readiness for ecommerce. However, heavy investment in ecommerce platforms is not advisable at the moment. Companies should only aim for presence, but not dominance. Failure by companies to position themselves in ecommerce early enough will impose a stiff learning curve on them which may rob them of competitive advantage in the ecommerce arena. Reference List Creswell, J 2008, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 3rd edn, Sage, London. Eriksson, P Kovalainen, A 2008, Qualitative Methods in Business Research, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA. Onaiwu, E KPMG 2013, Mobile Money in Nigeria: Identification and Security. Web. This essay on Improving Customer Service in a Nigerian Musical Instrument Company was written and submitted by user Emiliano Gould to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Your Trucker Future Forecast

Your Trucker Future Forecast Wondering what the state of the trucking industry looks like from the vantage point of industry insiders? If so, then keep reading! TruckingInfo.com recently looked at a nationwide GE Capital forecasting survey given to mid-market trucking company execs. The results? Company insiders see a trend towards growth over the coming year, in business, employment, and equipment expenditures. Execs point to growing optimism in the national economy as a key factor.The outlook over the next 12 months isn’t completely rosy, however. Execs also anticipate a number of challenges including key regulatory concerns involving the hours of service regulations, CSA, and reauthorization of the highway bill. Retention of quality staff, fluctuations in oil and gas prices, and commodity costs are also concerns.What should you make of these results? Well, if you’re looking to become a driver, the overall outlook is a good one! An optimistic outlook on hiring means that now could be a great time to make a move if you’ve been thinking of becoming a driver. So make your move and find yourself on the road to a new career!GE Capital Survey Forecasts Expanding Trucking IndustryRead More at TruckingInfo

Using Gene Therapy as a Treatment for Cancer - Developments and Future Literature review

Using Gene Therapy as a Treatment for Cancer - Developments and Future Prospects - Literature review Example Cancer mainly affects human organs including lung, prostate, and bone. Breast cancer is common in females. Although scientists have proposed a series of therapies that can improve patient outcomes, definitive cure for cancer has not been developed yet. Over the last decade, researchers gave more emphasis on gene therapy development as they believed that this treatment method would effectively contribute to cancer prevention. The process of gene therapy is mainly concerned with the modification or alteration of genetic material such as genes and DNA, which play a notable role in determining the characteristic traits of individuals. Different gene therapy methods mainly focus on three basic approaches and they are destruction of cancerous cells, prevention of the growth of cancerous cells, and improvement of normal cells’ ability to fight against the affected cells. In gene therapy, viruses are used to replace cancerous cells instead of inserting genes directly into the patient’s body. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned the use of retroviruses since experiments showed that this virus may cause the development of other diseases like leukemia. By the end of 2010, more than 1060 gene therapy protocols have been suggested or practiced for various cancers; this figure constitutes over 64% of all gene therapy experiments in humans in the United States. Although, majority of such trials reported modest therapeutic responses, the clinical efficacy of such practices is still to be proven. The major disadvantage of gene therapy method is the possibility of infection of the healthy cells attribu ted to the viruses used for gene delivery. Introduction The history of gene therapy started during the beginning of the 1960’s. In the opinion of Bettelheim, Brown, Campbell &Farrell (2010, p. 721), gene therapy is a complicated medical procedure by which genes within an individual’s cells and biological tissues are altered, and removed in order to treat diseases. In other words, the gene therapy intends to correct a genetic mutation by the addition, alteration, or removal of specific genes. By the application of gene therapy, the restored cells get the proper instructions for building proteins and thereby the body mechanisms return to the normal state. In 1970, Stanfield Rogers, an American doctor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, tried to apply gene therapy as a method to treat two sisters who had suffered from a genetic disorder called argininemia (‘History of gene therapy’ 2011). Although, Rogers’ effort was unsuccessful, it is considered as a m ilestone in the history of gene therapy development. By the end of 1977, scientists could successfully apply gene therapy techniques to deliver a gene into the cells of mammals (‘Gene therapy/ human genome project/ history of gene therapy/ future of gene therapy’ n.d). As Jain (2000, pp. 3-4) points out, the year 1989 witnessed tremendous improvements in gene therapy development when scientists began to research the scope of gene therapy in cancer treatment. A team of researchers including, Drs. Kenneth Culver, W. French Anderson, Michael Blaese, and Steven Rosenberg conducted a study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the gene therapy process in cancer patients. The research team â€Å"grew tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL cells) from people with the deadly cancer malignant melanoma, and then they engineered a virus to put a DNA market into those cells† (‘Gene therapy’ n.d). This experiment assisted the researchers to conclude two things : TIL cells can be applied to treat cancer and the engineered virus can effectively and safely work in humans. (Baruch 2005) tells that in 1990, American doctor W. French Anderson conducted a detailed research on a

Early Chinese Funerary Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Early Chinese Funerary Art - Essay Example Excavations at B'ei-li-kang near Luo-yang date materials found at that site to 6000-5000 B.C." (Pearson Education, 2007). In order to understand better about early Chinese funerary art, there are several issues in particular which need to be discussed. The Chinese culture itself, the history of Chinese art, and as well the purpose of funerary art in this regards are all incredibly significant and critical issues, and by thoroughly examining and discussing all of these issues, we will be able to attain a more informed and knowledgeable understanding in regards to what Chinese funerary art is all about. This is what will be dissertated in the following. Chinese art has truly varied throughout history, and it has been divided into certain periods by the ruling dynasties of China in particular, and that includes the Yangshao, Dawenkou, Hongshan, Liangzhu, Longshan, Early Shang, Anyang, Eastern and Western Zhou, Warring States, and the Early Qin Dynasties. The difference in art is remarkable throughout each separate dynasty; the way that the art evolved, and the actual purpose and meaning of it as well, especially in regards to funerary art. In the earliest dynasty periods in China, the forms of (funerary) art were typically made from pottery and jade, "to which was added bronze in the Shang Dynasty" (Wikipedia, 2007). It was in early imperial China when porcelain was introduced into the art forms, and this is in fact why in English the word China has become associated with the most valuable and high-quality porcelain. The Shang Dynasty is actually considered as being the first dynasty of all, and inscriptions are one of the most significant art forms that took place during the time of this dynasty, and this meant inscriptions on bronze artifacts and oracle bones for instance, the oracle bones in particular which date back to the latter half of the dynasty, and these divinations can truly be considered as standing for various different things, including for giving information on the politics, economy, culture, and religion at that time. The Western Zhou Dynasty period was another which held incredible significance, and it was during this period in particular in which inscriptions became increasingly common and significant, and as well lengthier, and these were used to truly extol the achievements of the owner, as well as express the 'poignant wish' that the piece will not only be able to honor his forebears, but as well that he will be able to recall his own merits to his descendants, for 'generations without end'. The Yangshao Dynasty is yet another one of great importance in regards to the Chinese (funerary) art which was created during this time, and one of the most common forms of art in particular was that of swirling spirals and geometric designs, of which were often etched onto pottery wares. During the latter part of this dynasty, brush-painted pottery became incredibly popular, and it also became more sophisticated in regards to the way that it was completed, especially in regards to the handling of the design. The Dawenkou Dynasty is another important time period here for Chinese art, and during this period it was ceramics that were incredibly common and as well significant, and here as well inscriptions were used quite frequently,

Think Global Act Local Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Think Global Act Local - Essay Example Nurses can be involved in the planning of their activities, for example, the ones that promote giving to present voluntary giving without anticipating anything in return. These are the work that most nurses do by helping others voluntarily. Nurses can also be assisted to help others develop their self-esteem by helping them value themselves. The next organization is Philadelphia FIGHT. This is an all-encompassing AIDS service agency, which provides primary care, advocacy on potential vaccines or treatments and consumer care. The main goal is to provide care to HIV/AIDS through offering a wide range of prevention, education, as well as information services such as AIDS Library, Project TEACH, Critical Path AIDS Project and the Youth Health Empowerment Project. These missions are also how its goals are being achieved and the agency can be really assisted a lot with the introduction of nurses into their program. For instance, a nurse can be brought in to assist in the Project TEACH, whi ch basically teaches people who to live after developing AIDS and also how to prevent themselves from catching the virus. The final organization is the American Association of University Women. This organization promotes equity and education for girls and women. What the organization has done to realize its mission is spreading itself into different universities in the United States and areas where education is not female education is not widespread to advocate for the education of more female adults and young ones.

Why Did The Soviet Union Not Invade Poland History Essay

Why Did The Soviet Union Not Invade Poland History Essay This essay will primarily analyse the factors that prevented the Soviet Union from intervening in Poland in 1981, when faced with political opposition by the Solidarity movement. There are four main reasons as to why the USSR decided against the invasion of Poland: StanisÅ‚aw Kanias involvement in the decision making process, the USAs pressure on the Soviet government, domestic factors affecting the Soviet Union and Wojciech Jaruzelskis successes in crushing the opposition. When combined, these factors worked as obstacles to the Soviet Unions decision to invade Poland. The Polish crisis officially burst onto the scene in August 1980. Under the leadership of Lech Walesa, some 10 million poles joined the solidarity movement which immediately set off alarm bells for the communist government in charge. Solidarity was an umbrella organisation which consisted of political and social organisations that wanted a change in the state of affairs in Poland. Solidarity aimed to hold the regime to its communistic promises of government by the people and less work for more pay. Furthermore it demanded free elections and called for a referendum on the replacement of the communist government. Solidarity was so influential that it was allowed to register as a political organisation which encroached on the monopoly of power that the communist government had normally enjoyed. The sheer numbers in Solidaritys ranks and position of relative power it held as a political opposition group caused panic in the Moscow Kremlin. The Soviet military reserves were called up and w arships were sent to ports in Poland. Furthermore a special commission was set up by the Kremlin headed by Mikhail Susolov to investigate the roots of the crisis as well as a remedy to tame the uprising. This background to the Polish crisis gives a solid foundation upon which analysis can take place as to why the invasion of Poland did not take place. StanisÅ‚aw Kania played a crucial role in delaying the intervention till a time when the Polish government had proved itself incapable of handling the political opposition. In the early days of 1981 the Soviet Union had drawn up plans for military intervention in Poland. Soviet, East German and Czechoslovak troops would enter Poland, with 18 divisions remaining in close proximity to the city. The short but effective campaign was set to crush the solidarity movement and restore the communist governments supremacy in Poland. This campaign would have no doubt been complete humiliation for the Polish regime and its leaders, who would be viewed by the rest of the world and, Warsaw pact member alike, as a government incapable of controlling its own people. Furthermore this intervention would have left the Polish government with few supporters and a huge loss of faith from the general population. Kania, being a member of the ruling class in Poland, was determined not to let this h appen and thus played a vital role in delaying the Soviet intervention. On December the 5th during the Moscow summit Kania addressed Brezhnev and fellow Warsaw pact leaders of the critical condition of administrative affairs in his country. He acknowledged the threat that Solidarity posed to communist power in Poland however he emphasized that intervention was not the answer. He stated, If there were to be an intervention there would no doubt be a national uprisingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ which would leave socialist ideas swimming in blood. His open and truthful manner of addressing his countries problems gained the confidence of Leonid Brezhnev. At the end of the summit Brezhnev concluded that the intervention would be postponed in order to give Polish officials a chance to regain the confidence of the public and tame the political opposition. Hence Kanias influence proved a crucial obstacle to the Soviet intervention of Poland in 1981. The USA used its influence as the other global hegemony to great effect in deterring the Soviet Union from invading Poland. The USAs constant threats to the Soviet Union, under the Carter administration, leading up to 1980 are often seen as rather inadequate. Upon hearing that the Soviet Union planned to intervene in Poland, Jimmy Carter put out a press release stating that non intervention of Poland would have clear benefits for the USSR and US- Soviet relations. The Carter administration also had an informant within the Polish borders, who updated them on all Soviet military advancements. When informed of the Warsaw Pacts build up of troops around the Polish border, Carter promptly disclosed the information to the press and the Solidarity movement, thus denying the invaders the element of surprise. Although these threats and actions did have some effect on the Soviet decision making process, they were more useful as a foundation upon which the Reagan administration were able to bui ld their own intimidating tactics. Upon its inauguration into office the Regan administration stated that Soviet intervention in Poland would have dire consequences on US- Soviet relations and strongly advised them to stay out of Polish affairs. Furthermore Reagan emphasised that if Polish forces were to intervene in Poland it would be a, Polish matter in which the US would stay out. Rather than just target threats at the Soviet Union, the USA also provided economic incentive to make the Polish crisis a solely Polish affair. Regan ordered the rescheduling of Polands enormous debt to its creditors in order to enable a relatively peaceful political solution, as opposed to a violent military one. This debt postponement meant that the Polish regime could not focus more resources towards crushing the political uprising thus giving Soviet officials a major reason to leave the Polish crisis to Polish officials. Reagans tactics worked in intimidating the Soviet Union; the Soviet Union would ultimately factor in US relations as a big reason to stay out of Poland. The state of domestic affairs and the importance of public opinion are quite naturally seen as the biggest reasons for the Soviet decision to not intervene in Poland. In the 1980s Soviet leaders had a new found sensitivity towards public opinion. In order to continue the spread of communism, especially in the third world, the Soviet Union needed to portray itself as a progressive nation with the peoples best interest at heart. The Polish crisis had cropped up at a time when the USSR was engaged in a failing war in Afghanistan, with a faltering economy based on deteriorating terms of trade and the dà ©tente having all but ended. Yuri Andropov addressed the politburo on the 10th of December stating that it was an enormous risk to go into Poland that would most likely end in catastrophe. He stated that the USSRs priorities had changed since the 1950s and that they no longer needed Poland to maintain their influence. In addition he addressed the economic and political sanctions that the West would surely impose upon them which would prove an even greater strain on the already waning Soviet economy. On the other hand public opinion was of great importance to both the USA and the USSR and whichever side was deemed to be winning the battle would no doubt be in a better position to influence world affairs. Andropov addressed this point as well by clearly stating, that an invasion in Poland was out of the question because, World public opinion will condemn us [USSR]. These claims by Andropov were well found because the USSR was at a crossroads where they needed to focus on their own countries interests above all others. Ultimately the communist regime being replaced by Solidarity would have only proved a small obstacle for the USSR. The USSRs position of power and influence would have been enough to prevent the downfall of communism in Poland to be mirrored in the rest of the empire. In bordering East Germany and Czechoslovakia the polish crisis was received with relat ively neutral opinions. Their firmly rooted conservative regimes did not fear their respective populations to follow suit. This was mainly due to the fact that the populations of the two countries looked down on Poland for their massive debt and economic backwardness. If a large scale war were to have broken out between communism and capitalism, the USSR would have had no trouble in marching through Poland and reclaiming it and thus the leaders of the politburo concluded that there would be no immediate intervention in Poland. In making this decision Brezhnev remarked, Okay we wont go in, although if severe problems occur we would. Hence in this way the Soviet Union proved to be more concerned with long term western pressure and world public opinion than short term loss of a Warsaw pact member. Jaruzelskis success in imposing martial law is, in my opinion, the most crucial reason as to why the Soviet Union did not invade Poland in 1981. In the final weeks of 1981 it seemed as though the Soviet Unions decision not to invade Poland rested solely on the success of martial law in Poland. In the early days of December Jaruzelski held a conference directed towards Solidarity and other opposition groups where he said, If Polish forces do not manage to break resistance by Solidarity they [the public] could expect other countries to introduce armed forces in Poland. On December the 12th, the night prior to the proclamation of martial law, Warsaw Pact forces in neighbouring countries were put on alert in the case of a large scale public uprising that the Polish authorities would be unable to manage. The imposition of martial law on December 13th 1981 caught Solidarity and other opposition groups off guard. All political organisations, such as solidarity, were banned, a curfew was put in place and all telephone and postal mail were subject to censorship. The initial resistance to martial law proved to be weak and no match to Jaruzelskis military patrols that roamed the streets. Over 90 people were killed in the initial uprising which showed that Jaruzelski was liable to resort to extreme brutality in order to ensure that the nation was once again firmly under the grip of the communist regime. Furthermore in order to further hamper the opposition, all known solidarity members were rounded up for interrogation and Lech Walesa, Solidaritys leader, amongst other opposition leaders was arrested. Jaruzelskis tactics were working in the mere weeks after martial law was imposed. Special military courts were set up which had an outstandingly high rate of conviction. Jaruzelski instilled fear within the population to the magnitude that they refused to go on strike because they were likely to lose their jobs and be detained without trial. Underground Solidarity leaders att empted to rally the population to go on strike at their places of work, in response to this water tanks and armoured cars were sent to large factories and mills to combat any opposition. An underground Solidarity leader said, It was too much to ask of workersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ without specific strategy it was unfair to ask workers to risk their jobs. The public began to fear assembling in opposition to the government because they feared the over used police brutality and were no longer certain about receiving a free and fair trial. Lack of strong and organised opposition put Soviet intervention in Poland out of the question. Brezhnev no longer saw the need to intervene in a country where the communist regime had seemed to, at least temporarily, have the public and opposition under control. In the early 1990s Jaruzelski gave an interview to justify his proclamation of martial law in Poland, where he stated that martial law was the lesser evil in the given scenario. Had he not imposed it the Warsaw pact forces would have inevitably invaded the country. Thus the success of martial law stands as the biggest reason for Soviet non-intervention of Poland in 1981. The four main reasons that stood in the way of the Soviet Union intervening in Poland, all have their respective merits. However it is in the last two reasons, internal problems in the Soviet Union and Jaruzelskis success in crushing the opposition, that stand out as the most crucial. Had Solidarity taken power in 1981, all obstacles preventing the USSR from invading Poland would have vanished and an army would have ultimately been sent into Poland. However in my opinion Jaruzelskis success in imposing martial law was the only factor that gave the Soviet Union a finality about their decision to not invade Poland and must thus stand as the main point of analysis when considering the given question.

ed philosophy re: history :: essays research papers

To understand history, you must grasp how your everyday view of the world developed, how it was created by the reality of the people who lived before you. It took 1000 years to evolve the modern way of looking at things, and to really understand where you are today, you must take yourself back to the year 1000 and then move forward through the entire millennium experientially, as though you actually lived through the whole period yourself in a single lifetime.† (Redfield, 1994) I have chosen to become a history professor to open the minds of college students who have despised history, not because of the contents of what they are taught, but because of the way that they were taught. With an existentialist point of view on education, my teachings will be based on how individuals influences and reacted to certain events in history, not the events themselves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to fully explain why I agree with the existentialist philosophy, I should point out why I feel this will help my ability to teach my students. Existentialists rely on self-reflection as a major tool. I can’t think of a better way to show a student what happened throughout history than by asking how he or she would react in that time period. Imagine being a journalist trying to capture the feeling of a nation on November 23, 1963, the day after President John F. Kennedy was shot. Take your imagination further to capture the torn emotions felt by Mary Todd Lincoln, President Abraham Lincoln‘s wife, who’s half-brother Ben Hardin Helm was killed as a Confederate General in the Civil War (Find A Grave, Retrieved 2002). By throwing yourself into a situation and expressing those emotions you feel about that situation, your reactions will bring about a deeper meaning; one not so easily tossed aside after an exam is taken or the course is compl eted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Existentialists also believe that a classroom should be an open forum for discussion. I plan on lecturing for the first half of my class and letting the students share their thoughts in the remaining half of the class. Knowing that all individuals think and act differently, this help to explain all sides of an event. One student may feel that our current situation warrants military action against Iraq while another student may be strongly opposed to America‘s use of force. By letting these individuals express their true feeling without judgment, I believe other students will better understand the situation at hand. ed philosophy re: history :: essays research papers To understand history, you must grasp how your everyday view of the world developed, how it was created by the reality of the people who lived before you. It took 1000 years to evolve the modern way of looking at things, and to really understand where you are today, you must take yourself back to the year 1000 and then move forward through the entire millennium experientially, as though you actually lived through the whole period yourself in a single lifetime.† (Redfield, 1994) I have chosen to become a history professor to open the minds of college students who have despised history, not because of the contents of what they are taught, but because of the way that they were taught. With an existentialist point of view on education, my teachings will be based on how individuals influences and reacted to certain events in history, not the events themselves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to fully explain why I agree with the existentialist philosophy, I should point out why I feel this will help my ability to teach my students. Existentialists rely on self-reflection as a major tool. I can’t think of a better way to show a student what happened throughout history than by asking how he or she would react in that time period. Imagine being a journalist trying to capture the feeling of a nation on November 23, 1963, the day after President John F. Kennedy was shot. Take your imagination further to capture the torn emotions felt by Mary Todd Lincoln, President Abraham Lincoln‘s wife, who’s half-brother Ben Hardin Helm was killed as a Confederate General in the Civil War (Find A Grave, Retrieved 2002). By throwing yourself into a situation and expressing those emotions you feel about that situation, your reactions will bring about a deeper meaning; one not so easily tossed aside after an exam is taken or the course is compl eted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Existentialists also believe that a classroom should be an open forum for discussion. I plan on lecturing for the first half of my class and letting the students share their thoughts in the remaining half of the class. Knowing that all individuals think and act differently, this help to explain all sides of an event. One student may feel that our current situation warrants military action against Iraq while another student may be strongly opposed to America‘s use of force. By letting these individuals express their true feeling without judgment, I believe other students will better understand the situation at hand.