had never been to a concert before, so I was incredibly excited about it

It was the 6th of April 2001 and I remember every detail vividly. I was with 6 of my close friends; Ben, my boyfriend of 5 months, Becka, my best friend for as long as I can remember, Charlotte and her boyfriend Steve, Sbecky and her boyfriend Tony. Charlotte and Sbecky were also very old friends of mine from school years, both of whom I had kept in contact with since leaving school. We were all very excited about the gig, and as we stood outside waiting for the doors to open, I noticed that nobody was concerned about the fact that it was bitterly cold. I stood amongst my friends and while we were talking about Charlotte's birthday that had just been, I felt a gust of wind hit my face like sharp knifes piercing my skin. I rubbed my face to warm myself slightly. Ben noticed that I was incredibly cold and he wrapped his arms around me to shelter me from the unkind coldness of the night. It was very slow getting into the venue as there were so many people waiting, so as we slowly crept nearer to the doors, we all became a little more anxious to get in. When we finally got there we handed over our tickets and they were torn in half, just like at the cinema. The first thing I noticed as I walked through the doors was the instant warmth, so welcoming in contrast to the icy wind that waited to stalk us on our return home. Next I noticed the amount of people that surrounded me; it was just like a sea of teenagers all as happy and excited as me and my friends. It was such a lively enthusiastic environment. I turned around, expecting to see Ben, but instead there was a short woman in her early twenties. I started to look around and walk back towards the doors until I heard Ben's voice from about 5 feet away, so I turned and moved towards him. As soon as I was back with him I felt safe and relaxed. Everybody else soon found us, and as soon as we were all back together we headed towards the main hall. There was a long passage leading to the main hall, I was sure it would have seemed longer if there were fewer people surrounding me. The doors on our right hand side were huge and had two people in luminous yellow jackets standing at either side. As we walked in we had a little more room to move about. We went to the back, and sat down on the hard, uncomfortable plastic chairs. For me Charlotte and Becky, it was the first time we had ever been to a concert, so we had no idea what to expect. We waited for about twenty minutes until the support band came on stage. They greeted the audience and told us that they were called Ten Benson. Each member of the band wore a fish-net top and a green baseball cap. We had already begun to walk down the stairs and into the main crowd by the time they started playing. The noise was so powerful it began to make my ears tingle. As we got closer and closer to the front, we could see the band a little more clearly. They were such an energetic band; their act consisted of climbing on top of amplifiers and jumping off, whilst still playing their instruments incredibly well. The drum beat was very powerful and so we were all compelled to dance. When the vocalist began to sing on the second song it was clear that he was a very heavy smoker, but his voice was so intoxicating, I couldn't do anything but listen to him. At the end of each song there was a huge sound of clapping and cheering for the band, but it wasn't until they started to leave the stage that the sound became like thunder. They had played amazingly well and I'm sure that anyone who didn't have their album already would own it within the next week. When the band had left the stage and the lights came on slowly, people began to drift back towards the seats. Becka, Charlotte and I, decided to do the opposite. As people were leaving the front we moved forward. We eventually managed to squeeze our way right up to the front. Various people were coming onto the stage, swapping leads about, tuning the lead and bass guitars, and trying to make the stage a little tidier. After about fifteen minutes the crowd started to force their way back to the front again. I was being squeezed against the metal railings that were keeping the crowd from getting onto the stage. Security guards stood in front of the railings, I felt envious of the amount of space they had. It seemed so strange that thousands of people were all packed into a space like sardines and less than two feet away from them stood security guards who had all the space they liked. The main band appeared and the crowed roared once again. They were called The Darkness and I had only heard one track they had ever made, but I loved it from the first time I heard it. They talked to the crowd for a few minutes, saying how great it was to be back in Wales and what a great crowd we were. They started playing and the pain I was feeling as my ribs got crushed was reduced as I was distracted by the creativity of the band. They were outstandingly good. The drummer looked like he had just escaped from a mental institution. He let out all his energy onto the drums, with his head moving up and down frantically and arms everywhere, he was so talented. The lead guitarist/vocalist wore a cat suit with zebra print on it and a huge hole from the waist line up to the shoulders so that his torso was on full display. He had shoulder length dark hair, and as he was playing his hair was flying about so freely. His fingers moved up and down the guitar with such elegance and ease, and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy every aspect of the performance. The bassist, on the other hand wasn't moving much, he looked very serious and was concentrating on his instrument. He played very well, and the bass line was very clear, which was unusual. I was having the time of my life, and I didn't think the night could get any better, until they played the one song I'd heard by them the week before. It was called ‘Love on the Rocks with No Ice', and it was played so much better live, than when I had heard it on the television. The crowd loved them, there were people on other people's shoulders, singing with the band and people were crowd surfing over our heads. The enthusiasm from the crowd was so powerful that it seemed to give me more energy, so I danced and danced for the rest of the set. When the band played their final piece the crowd all shouted for more, nobody wanted the night to end. Eventually the band came back on to the stage and told us we could have one more song. They played what was going to be their next single. It was great, but when the song ended, I knew it was the end of the night. The lights in the hall came on and the atmosphere was diminished. As we wandered out of the hall with the rest of the crowd, I felt overwhelmed with happiness. Ben tried to talk to me but I couldn't hear him, I'm not sure if it was that the noise from the concert had slightly damaged my ears or whether it was the fact that so many people were talking around us. As we got into the main reception area where t-shirts and posters were being sold frantically, my friends and I began to talk about the concert. Everyone had thoroughly enjoyed the night; the only thing that had gone wrong was that Becka had lost her jacket in the crowd. We all put our money together and bought her a long sleeved top to keep her a little warmer on the walk home. We walked outside, said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. As predicted, the cold wind crept behind me, Becka and Ben, reminding us of its presence every now and again, until we finally reached the warmth of our own homes.

Country of origin, consumer’s Perception and Brand Image Essay

Introduction The impact of country of origin (COO) on the consumer’s perception of products has been one of the most widely studied areas of international marketing. Increasing globalization of today’s business has resulted in unprecedented problems for manufacturers, marketers, and consumers (L. Y. Lin & Chen, 2006). The country of origin (where a product is made) touches both consumer evaluations of the product as well as the firm’s decision to manufacture its goods in certain countries and how to brand (Parkvithee & Miranda, 2012). Country-of-origin or in other words the â€Å"Made in† is a concept which states that people constitutes attitudes and believes shaping the perceptions to products from specific countries and this influences purchase and consumption behaviors in international markets. The â€Å"Made In† image is the picture, the reputation, the stereotype that businessmen and consumers attach to products of a specific country (Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Gaedeke, 1973; Johansson, 1989; Nagashima, 1970, 1977, Zain and Yasin, 1997). Country-of-origin image (COI) has a strong influence on consumer behavior in the global market, as it is associated with mass communication, personal experience, as well as brand image. COI is defined as the consumer’s perception formed of a certain product offering according to this offering’s country of origin (Samiee, 1994; Peterson and Jolibert, 1995, Leonidou et al, 1999). The country, the type of product, and the image of the company and its brands all influence whether the country of origin will engender a positive or negative reaction. A variety of generalization can be made about country of origin effects on products and brands. Consumers tend to have stereotypes about products and countries that have been formed by experience, hearsay, and myth (Piron, 2000, p. 308; Roth and Rameo, 1992, p.479). Stereotypes of country and the preference of customer influence the purchase intention. Political system, culture and the economy of the country can be a  cause of sensitivity to people (Teo, Mohamad, & Ramayah, 2011). For instance, in 2006, protestors across the Muslim world demonstrated against the publications of cartoon images â€Å"Prophet Mohammed† in a Danish newspaper therefore many boycotted Danish products and many supermarkets in Cairo removed Danish products from their shelves. The question that this paper will attempt to answer is â€Å"To what extent does the country of origin image affect consumer perceptions, brand image and purchase intentions†. Previous research indicates that consumers’ and businesses’ evaluations are based on their assessment of product cues, which may be intrinsic (taste, design, performance) or extrinsic (brand name, country of origin). Buyers often make judgments about product quality and purchase value on the basis of extrinsic cues, especially when it is difficult to evaluate the intrinsic value of a product. This justifies the reason behind using the country of origin as an extrinsic cue in order to judge any foreign product. This paper also aims to fill the gap between the impact of country of origin on the brand image, consumer’s perception and purchase intention, more specially; the research objective is to develop a better understanding of the effect of positive and negative country of origin image on consumer’s buying decisions. Literature background The impact of COO applies to products in general, classes of products, specific types of products, specific brands, image among developed countries, between developed and less developed countries, or among less developed countries (Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Prendergast, Chan and Tsang, 2010, p.181). Country image is ‘‘the overall perception consumers’ form of products from a particular country, based on their prior perceptions of the country’s production and marketing strengths and weaknesses’’ (Roth and Romeo, 1992; Koubaa, 2008, p.140). Brand-image has been described as part of branding strategy at the country level (Meenaghan, 1995; Koubaa, 2008, p.141). Consumers tend to recall the  stored information about the brand and the country in question and then they relate the brand name with the COO to form a brand image and infer the product evaluation (Scott and Keith, 2005; Koubaa, 2008, p.141). Brand image is the reasoned or emotional perceptions consumers attach to a specific brand. It consists of functional and symbolic brand beliefs (Dobni and Zinkhan, 1990; Koubaa, 2008, p.141). Brand image is made up of brand associations. ‘‘Brand associations are the category of brand’s assets and liabilities that include anything ‘‘linked’’ in memory to a brand’’ (Aaker, 1991; Koubaa, 2008, p.141). â€Å"The ‘essence’ of the brand is a single simple value, easily understood and valued by consumer† (Arnold, 1992, p. 17; Pappu, Quester and Cooksey 2006, p.697).When brands are competing in the international arena, marketing managers should understand how to maintain the core essence of their brand across international boundaries. Examining how country of origin impacts brand image and its associated dimensions (e.g. perceived quality, brand associations) should reveal the means to protect or enhance the core essence of a brand. The country of origin of a product is an important marketing element known to influence consumer perceptions as well as behavior. Conversely, an inferior country of origin could tarnish a brand name (Thakor and Katsanis, 1997; Pappu, Quester and Cooksey, 2006, p.697). That is, if the country of origin of a brand were to change from a country towards which consumers have favorable associations (e.g. the USA), to a country towards which consumers have less favorable associations (e.g. Mexico), the brand names in question could be tarnished and the consumer-based equity of these brands erodes. Johansson (1989) speculated that consumers may, depending their circumstances, regard the country cue as a silent attribute of the product in question and that this attribute may influence the consumer through affective processes, as in the case of individuals who hold strongly patriotic feelings about their own country (Han, 1988; Knight and Calantone, 2000, p.129), or through behavioral intentions via processes such as social norms (Fishben and Ajzen, 1975; Knight and Calantone, 2000, p.129). Johansson’s (1989) model is an important accompaniment to the empirical work of Han (1989). Household and organizational buyers’ perceptions of the quality and purchase value of products are more favorable when these products are designed and/or assembled in developed countries than when they are designed and/or assembled in a newly industrializing country. A basic premise of the COO effect is that consumers’ image of a given product’s COO influences their subsequent evaluations of the product (e.g. Gurhan-Canli and Maheswaran, 2000; Josiassen and Assaf, 2010, p.296) as well as their subsequent behavioral intentions to purchase or repurchase the product (e.g. Ouellet, 2007). According to Johansson, country of origin is an extrinsic information cue allowing buyers to make inferences about the intrinsic value of a product (Ahmed and Astous, 1995, p.38). Consumers are more likely to purchase products manufactured by countries having distinctive images for that product(s) rather than countries that do not possess a good reputation for producing the same product(s) (Roth and Romeo, 1992; Chuang and Yen, 2007; Ozmen, 2004; Ahmed, Zbib, Sikander and Noujaim, 2012, p.110). The values which consumers associate with a brand are significantly associated with both the macro- and micro-images of the COO of the brand (Pappu et al., 2007; Ahmed, Zbib, Sikander and Noujaim, 2012, p.110). According to Cordell, consumer preferences are more product specific for industrialized than less developed countries. COO becomes of less significance when the product is widely known (Cordell, 1992; Ahmed, Zbib, Sikander and Noujaim, 2012, p.110). The image of countries as origins of products is one of many extrinsic cues, such as price, brand name that may become part of a product’s total image. Country image in respect of customer purchase intention is one of the most significant subjects among marketers for supporting their manufactured goods. The attention to this issue is because many researchers have demonstrated that a country’s image influences the prior purchase decision of customers. These kinds of investigation about country image and other related subjects dates back over three decades in developed countries  (YAMOAH, 2005). According to Laroche et al. (2005) country image and product beliefs affect product evaluations simultaneously regardless of consumers’ level of familiarity with a country’s products. A product’s COO can have a significant effect on consumer’s purchase and consumption decisions. Further, causal observation indicates the importance of COO in many consumer goods, such as clothing, cars, and food products. For instance, some luxury products (e.g. perfumes, fashion clothing) are strongly and positively tainted by being labeled ‘‘Product of France†. Most of the researchers agree that the â€Å"Country of Origin Image† has a significant impact on consumers’ evaluations of product quality and willingness to buy a product (e.g. Bilkey and Nes, 1982; Han and Terpstra, 1988; Maheswaran, 1994) Conceptual development and hypotheses In this study, Country of origin is the independent variable of interest while the dependent variables include 3 main dimensions (perception, brand image and purchase intention) as shown in Figure 1. Each of these dimensions is expected to be affected by the country of origin image. Since the proposed model is being tested for a certain product category therefore, there relation between COI and the 3 main dependent variables will be affected by the product category in question. In other words we can say that Product category will moderate this relation. Country of origin image (COI) The history of country image dates back to 1970, when Nagashima wrote about it in an academic paper. In a statement about country image he defined it as a â€Å"special image, stereotype and standing, which customers have in their mind about specific country, this picture can be shaped by historical, economical and traditional variables† (L. Y. Lin & Chen, 2006). In addition, country image is one of the first variables that researchers test when it comes to foreign product as well as international business and consumer behavior studies (Kotler, 2011). Studying issues concerning country image  has been prominent in international business for many years (Laroche, Papadopoulos, Heslop, & Mourali, 2005). In our research we investigate COI as an independent variable in order to monitor its effect on buyer’s decision making process which involves two main factors consumer’s perception and purchase intentions and also to examine its influence on the brand image through examining the brand’s perceived quality and brand associations. Brand image Brand image is defined as ‘‘a set of perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand associations held in consumers’ memory’’ (Hsieh and Lindridge, 2005; Koubaa, 2008, p.140). Brand image is determined not by only the brand’s perceived quality, but also by a host of other factors such as product characteristics, packaging, advertising, price and schemas of the typical user. Purchase intention Scholars define purchase intention as personal action tendencies according to brand. They have also concluded that intention is different from attitude. While attitude means evaluation of products, intention is the person’s motivation in the sense of his or her intention to perform behavior. Another definition declares that purchase intention is the individual’s awareness to make an attempt to buy a brand (Shabbir, M. S., Kirmani, S., Iqbal, J., & Khan, B. 2009). In a very competitive global market consumers are facing a variety of alternatives when they decide to buy a certain product therefore it is important to consider COI as a factor that can influence the consumer’s purchase intentions Consumer’s perception Individual act and react on the basis of their perceptions, not on the basis of objective reality. Thus, perceptions are much more important. Perception can be described as â€Å"How we see the world around us†. Perception is defined as the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets stimuli in to a meaningful and coherent picture of the world. Customers are individuals, and each customer perceives things differently in the same  situation. Perception of the product is more important than the product itself (Dave, 2013). Product category Consumers have associations toward entities such as products, places, brands and countries of origin. These associations can have direction and strength. For example, Farquhar and Herr (1993) argued that product category-brand associations can be bi-directional. That is, consumers may recall a product category when they think of a brand name and they may recall a brand name when they think of a product category. Product category-country associations, which refer to consumers’ ability to evoke a country when the product category is mentioned, are of interest when examining the relationships between country of origin and our 3 main dependent variables. Since consumers are known to associate countries with certain product categories and vice Versa (Terpstra and Sarathy, 2000), consumers’ â€Å"product category-country† associations appear to be bi-directional. Based on the literature review and our research objectives, a conceptualized model for this research was developed and is shown in Figure 1. Previous research results support the following relations: CI directly and positively impacts brand image (Roth and Romeo, 1992; Hsieh et al, 2004). CI directly and positively impacts purchase intentions (Laroche et al, 2005). Brand image directly and positively impact purchase intentions (Esch et al, 2006). Hypotheses H1: COO image significantly affects how consumers perceive the products H2: COO image has a significant influence on the formulation of the brand image H3: The country-of-origin asserts a significant impact on the consumer’s purchase intention. H4: Product category will moderate the effect of COO image on the purchase intentions, consumer’s perceptions, and brand image We expect that the perceived quality levels of a brand will vary by the country of origin of the brand. That is, the perceived quality level of Ericsson made in Sweden is likely to be higher than the perceived quality  level of Ericsson made in Mexico or Hungary, for the product category â€Å"mobile phones†. Furthermore, consumers’ perception of the quality of products is known to be product-category specific (Kaynak and Cavusgil, 1983; Pappu, Quester and Cooksey 2006, p.701) Furthermore, consumers’ product category is believed to moderate the effect of the country of origin on consumer-based brand image. For example, the consumer’s perception of a brand made in a country with positive COO image in a certain product category (e.g. car/Germany) is likely to be substantially higher than that for the same brand made in a country with a negative COO image in that same product category (e.g. car/Mexico), in cases where consumers perceive substantive differences between the two countries in terms of their product category associated with COO (Pappu, Quester and Cooksey 2006, p.702). As concerns brand-origin effects, Takhor and Lavack (2003) declared that brand-origin is one such cue that plays potentially important role in determining a brand’s image. Samiee et al. (2005) found that consumers classify brands with their COO basing on the brand pronunciation or spelling and its similarity with the brand-origin language (Koubaa, 2007, p.142). When the brand is created, it comes out to consumers in association with its brand origin (Koubaa, 2007, p.143). Farquhar and Herr (1993) claimed that brand image will have different dimensions in consumer’s mind (Koubaa, 2007, p.143). Because brands have different perceptions among consumers across brands and across countries of production, and consumers are likely to be different as they have different backgrounds and are under different circumstances of consumption; we expect that brand image will differ across brands and across countries of production (origin) (Koubaa. , 2007, p.143). Nowadays, the international trade market is very competitive and there are many new ideas on the market to attract customers. In this case, customers have many alternatives for buying products; however, there are many elements that have an effect on product success and customer purchase intention. Other researchers believe that purchase intention is â€Å"what we think we will buy† (Park, J. 2002). It also describes the feeling or perceived likelihood of purchasing the products that are advertised, moreover, purchase shows the level of loyalty to products. Other scholars like Daneshvary and Schower (2000) believe that purchase intention has a relationship with demographic factors like age, gender, profession and education (Lu, M. 2007). There is another statement that shows that particular features of products, perception of consumers, country of origin and perception of country of origin, all have an influence on customer purchase intention (C. L. Wang, Li, Barnes, & Ahn, 2012). Purchase intention can also be defined as the decision to act or physiological action that shows an individual’s behavior according to the product (X. Wang & Yang, 2008; Rezvani, Dehkordi, Rahman, Fouladivanda, 2012, p.208). Sample characteristics Respondents were asked in the end of the questionnaire to deliver some personal information related to gender, age, income and education. Thirty eight respondents participated in the investigation. Regarding gender, the sample was selected randomly. Females’ percentage was 57.9 while the males’ percentage was 42.1. As for the income category 15.8 percent earned less than 5000 LE per month, 34.2 percent earned between 5000 LE and 10000 LE while 50 percent earned more than 10000 LE per month. And for the education 5.3 percent of the respondents were high school graduates, 71.1 percent are bachelor degree holder, 23.7 percent are master degree holders. Data collection: Our choice of COI stimuli and our variables (BI, CP and PI) was guided by our conceptual framework, specifically we wanted to test and compare the effect of COI on the three variables shown in figure (1) to enhance the generalizability of our results. To test our hypothesis we asked Egyptian  consumers to answer a questionnaire (see appendix) with regards to the latest purchased items. In addition to hypothesis advanced in this study we explore the reliability of the measurements of each variable to conduct a reliable computation regarding each variable in the questionnaire. Reflective scales were to operationalize the constructs in our conceptual framework. Except for the demographic indicators (gender, age, income and education) Measurements  COI 1. economic development 2. Political structure 3. Industrialization 4. standard of living 5. Product made in this country is reliable 6. Products made in this country of good quality 7. Products made in his country Prestigious 8. It is great to have a products from this country Khosrozadeh Shirin and Heidarzadeh Hanzaee Kambiz, (2011), P.614 Consumer perception 1. Important/ not important 2. Overall quality 3. Durability 4. Technological sophistication 5. Prestigious Gray A. Knight & Roger J. Calantone (1999) P. 144 Brand image 1. brand X offers high quality 2. brand X offers reliable products 3. I feel proud to products from brand X 4. I trust the company which makes brand X (Aakar,1991, 1996; Yoo et al. 2000) Purchase intention 1. the possibility I will buy this product 2. the possibility I recommend this product Khosrozadeh Shirin and Heidarzadeh Hanzaee Kambiz, (2011), P.614 Product category 1. Expensive/ inexpensive 2. Good quality/bad quality 3. I look for the COO to choose the best product available in a product class Ravi Pappu, Pascale G. Quester, Ray W. Cooksey, (2005) Country of origin image We used Khosrocadeh Shirin 9-items scale. The 9-items of the scale measure the extent to which the respondent perceives a particular product category from a particular country to be a good purchase choice, of high quality better than the same product category originating from other countries. The COI is formed according to the economic level of the country, the political system of the country, the standard of living and finally the technological advancement of that country. The items are anchored with strongly agree and strongly disagree. The scale displays lower reliability (ÃŽ ± = 0.66). In comparison with the previous studies reliability, our scale measurements are lower (Alpha = 0.83). Consumer perception We used five items scale from Ali Riza (April 2006). The items measure the importance of looking for COI as an external attribute. It also measures the perceived quality of the product from a certain country, so as the consumer’s association of COI with the technological sophistication of the product, and finally if they don’t have knowledge about the product’s COO; whether they will refuse to purchase the product or agree to purchase this product. The items anchored strongly agree and strongly disagree, the scale displays a good reliability (Alpha = 0.75). In comparison with the previous studies reliability, our scale measurements are lower (Alpha = 0.92). Brand image We mapped the brand image depending on two main indicators; brand perceived quality and brand associations using Aaker, 1991, 1996; Yoo et al. , 2000.  Seven items scale including the brand’s good quality, reliability, durability, its excellent features and prestige. Items was anchored with strongly agree and strongly disagree, the scale displays a good reliability (Alpha = 0.74). In comparison with the previous studies reliability, our scale measurements are higher (Alpha = 0.70). Purchase intentions The purchase intention was examined using Khostozodel Shirin. Two items scale including the possibility of the purchase and the recommendation of the purchased product. Anchored with very low and very high, the scale displays a very good reliability (Alpha = 0.89). In comparison with the previous studies reliability, our scale measurements are higher (Alpha = 0.87). Product category The research investigated the product category variable using Ray W. Cooksey, 2005. Scale with four items including the value of certain product category relative to the COI, the importance of this product category and whether it depends on the COI or not was also investigated. And finally the choice of the product class according to the COI. Ray W. Cooksey research suggested that four items scale are adequate when measuring this moderating variable. It was examined according to five-point likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The scale displays a very poor reliability (Alpha = 0.5) which was very close to the researcher’s reliability (Alpha = 0.56) Correlation Analysis Correlation coefficient of Pierson was applied to study the relation between constructs. The results are listed in Table 3. As it is stated in the table, Pierson coefficients between constructs are significant at 95% confidence level. Several of the constructs in the research were correlated. The highest correlation was 0.36, which was between the COI and brand image, and also between the consumer’s perception and brand image. This correlation appears to be weak, positive and significant, while the lowest correlation was 0.08, which was between COI and consumer’s perception. This correlation appears to be weak, positive and insignificant. Correlations between our independent variable â€Å"COI† and the other 3 main dependent variables are as follows: there is a weak and positive yet insignificant correlation between the COI and consumer’s perception (0.08). The previous studies findings concerning this correlation were (0.48) which is higher than our correlation. These analyses were conducted by (Knight, Calantone, 1998, p.136). When comparing the correlations between COI and brand image with the previous studies, we found that our correlation was significant, positive and weak amounted to (0.36) while (Ahmed, Zbib, Sikander, Noujaim, 2012, p.118) concluded that it was (0.344) which is lower than our correlation. Table (3) shows that there is a significantly weak positive correlation between country of origin and purchase intention with (0.28) while the previous studies correlation was (0.375) by (Shirin, Kambiz, 2011) there correlation was weak significant and positive. COI has a weak and positive yet insignificant correlation with product category amounted to (0.14). It also has an insignificant weak positive correlation with brand image and purchase intention while, it has a negative weak correlation with consumers’ perception. According to the previous studies; the interaction between COI and product category was insignificant  at (correlation less than 0.05). Indicating that the product category will moderate the relation ship between the COI and consumer’s perception, brand image and purchase intention (Pappu, Quester, Cooksey, 2006, p.705) Two new significant correlations were deduced from the analysis; the brand image has a significant, weak, positive correlation with the purchase intentions (0.27) and also with the consumer perception (0.36). The prior correlation corresponds with previous studies (0.53) which states that â€Å"Brand image directly and positively impacts purchase intentions† (bu Esch et al. 2006). In light of our findings it appears to us that; COI has a positive impact on focal country’s brand image. This would be the case for Germany that has a strong reputation for cars in general (product) but also produces strong brands like BMW or Mercedes. Alternatively, a country like Turkey may develop a strong reputation for a certain type of product, such as carpets, but lacks the relevant skills to turn this product-related capability into strong and well-known brands (strong product image/weak brand image) Conceptually interesting are also cases where a country, such as Austria, manages to develop strong brands, for example Red Bull or Swarowski, but is not at all well known for its expertise in the respective product categories (weak product image/ strong brand image). It would be of immediate benefit for companies operating in such countries to analyze whether image advantages accrued by strong brands can also be used to support other less well-known brands in these product categories. Hypothesis Testing To test the hypotheses of the research, we used the correlation analysis in table 3 as an indicator. This testing resulted in several significant correlation and other insignificant ones and this analysis enabled us to reject and accept our previously stated hypothesis statements. Hypothesis H1 stated that COO image significantly affects how consumer perceives the product. The major substantive finding from the correlation analysis is that the correlation between the 2 variables is insignificant therefore H1 is  rejected. This finding doesn’t confirm the predictions of previous researchers that the country of origin image significantly impacts the consumer perceptions (including two important dimension consumer’s attitude and beliefs). Gary A. Knight and Roger J. Calantone (1999,p.131) stated that COI is a significant antecedent of attitudes and beliefs which form the consumer’s perceptions related to the product in question and this appear to be insignificant in our hypothesis testing. Hypothesis H2 predicted the existents of a significant influence of the COI and the brand image. Our findings support this hypothesis therefore H2 will be accepted. The correlation confirms that the COI is directly related to the brand image which supports the previous studies findings (Roth and Romeo, 1992; Hsieh et al, 2004) which stated that CI directly and positively impacts brand image. Hypothesis H3 stated that the country of origin asserts a significant impact on the purchase intention. The result of the correlation analysis shows a statistical significant relation between the two variables which supports our hypothesis therefore H3 is accepted. This finding confirms with the predictions of previous researchers that CI directly and positively impacts purchase intentions (Laroche et al, 2005) and also with â€Å"the country of origin has a significantly positive impact on purchase intention† stated by ( Shirin; Kambiz, 2011 p.605). Hypothesis H4 offered that the product category will moderate the relation between the COI and consumer perceptions, brand image and purchase intentions. The results supported the predictions made in H4,therefore H4 is accepted. This confirms with the pervious studies findings (Pappu, Quester and Cooksey, 2005 p.705). Conclusion The verification of the hypotheses in this paper leads to five conclusions: (1) Country-of-origin image has an insignificant influence on consumer perceptions (2) Country-of-origin image has a significantly positive influence on brand image; (3) Country of origin image has a significantly  positive influence on purchase intentions; (4) Brand image has a significantly positive influence on both consumer perceptions and purchase intentions; (5) product category moderates the relation between COI and the other 3 variables. The country-of-origin effect is an environmental factor that firms have to deal with whenever they trade in non-domestic market. Yet we can do little to change COI since it is defined by a set of historical and cultural attitudes rather than by anything lying within the control of an individual firm. The good news, however, is that consumer place (COO) below such things as quality and reliability as factor influencing purchase decision for instance Mercedes make good cars but don’t necessarily transfer such positive impression to other German products. Our findings confirms that consumers use a product’s COO as a cue in purchase decisions but this cue can be superseded by the brand image which proves to have a significant relation with the purchase intentions. Also COI insignificantly contribute to the consumer’s perceptions of a certain products this means that other information about the product reliability, quality or brand image will take precedence over COI in determining how people perceive a certain product. So where does this leave us? Companies cannot ignore COO effect but equally they should not rely on those effects in the promotion of their brands because for instance simply being an Italian clothing brand may be an advantage but it isn’t enough for the firm to rely solely on it when promoting its products. Any advantage from COO needs reinforcement through the marketing process this justifies the weak positive correlation between the COI and the brand image. In conclusion, COI is just one of many factors that influence the consumer’s decision to purchase or not to purchase a particular brand. And, yet again we find that consumers do not place a huge emphasis on where a product comes  from- unless they have nothing else on which to base a decision. â€Å"The origin of a product has never been more important in the minds of consumers† (Winter, 2004, p. 46). â€Å"Ninety three percent said it is good to know the origin of products such as where it came from and who made it. People are no longer content to pay for something superficial and hollow† (Winter, 2004, p. 46). Holt et al. (2004, p. 96) Elaborated on this sentiment by stating that consumers expect global brands to tell the myth from the particular places that are associated with the brand. In this research we are presenting both point of views supporting and against the idea that COI is considered an important external attribute that buyers take into account when making a purchase decisions. The research did not attempt to support a certain point of view that is why the predicted hypotheses were not initially directional. One of the limitations of the study was the number of samples collected. In our research we managed to collect 38 questionnaires which are relatively small in comparison to our population. More over the age range and income level range were narrow ranges also the reliability of the measurements imitated from previous papers of 2 variables including product category and COI was very weak; future studies shall consider such limitations. Reference Adamantios Diamantopoulos, Bodo Schlegelmilch, Dayananda Palihawadana,(2011), The relationship between country-of-origin image and brand image as drivers of purchase intentions. Ahmed, d’Astous, (1994), Comparison of country-of origin effects on household and organizational buyers’ product perceptions. Alexander Josiassen, A. Assaf, (2009), Country-of-origin contingencies: their joint influence on consumer behavior. APIL, (2006), Foreign Product Perceptions and Country of Origin Analysis across Black Sea; Studies on Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, and Turkey Gerared P. Prendergast and Alex S.L. Tsang, (2010), The interactive influence of country origin of brand and product involvement on purchase intention. Hong, S. and Wyer, R.S. (1989), â€Å"Effects of country-of-origin and product attribute information or product evaluation: an information processing perspective Kamal Ghalandari and Abdollah Norouzi , (2012), The Effect of Country of Origin on Purchase Intention: The Role of Product Knowledge. Katja Jà ¤rvelà ¤inen, (2012), Effects of Country of Origin on Consumer Product Evaluations. Khosrozadeh Shirin, Heidarzadeh Hanzaee Kambiz, (2011), The Effect of the Country-of-Origin Image, Product Knowledge and Product Involvement on Consumer Purchase Decisions. Knight, Calantone, (1999), A flexible model of consumer country- of- origin perceptions. Pappu, Quester, Cooksey, (2005) Consumer-based brand equity and country-of-origin relationships. Piron, (2000), Consumers’ perception of the country of origin effect on purchase intentions of (in) conceptions products. Rezvani, Rahman, Fouladivand, Habibi,(2012), A Conceptual Study on the Country of Origin Effect on Consumer Purchase Intention. Schaefer, (1995), Consumer knowledge and country of origin effects. Zafar U. Ahmed, Imad J. Zbib, Arif Sikander, Ralph Gilbert Noujaim, (2012), Does country of brand origin (COBO) matter for the Lebanese consumers?

Report on Primary School Essay

Drop-out problem is not caused by any single reason, in fact, a whole lot of different factors work behind it. These factors are also inter-related to each other and therefore one factor influences many other factors. For example, poverty has inter-linkages with many other factors that influences drop-out like quality of education, parental attitude etc. Poverty also has intra linkages with facts like direct cost, indirect cost and opportunity cost of schooling, early pressure for marriage. As poverty is one of the major reasons behind drop-out, it has various linkages with most of the other problems. Although primary education is declared as tuition-free, there are many direct costs like exam fees, enrollment fee; certain amount from the stipend money is also taken for various reasons. These expenses become a big problem for the poor households and it influences dropping out because when survival is the issue, things like education is less important. Another problem was the hidden costs of schooling that are clothes, pen and paper, etc. all of the 12 samples and their parents said that buying clothes, pen and papers was a huge problem for them. All of the parents said that as they are poor people, these extra costs of schooling are unbearable to them. Almost all of 12 dropouts have missed school frequently due to failure in obtaining these articles. They feared that they will be punished if they go to school without pen or paper. Teachers said that children who come to school without pen or paper cause a lot of trouble because they are unable to do any class work and disturb the other students. So they are given punishment. The opportunity costs of schooling include chore time, sibling care and foregone earnings of children. The opportunity costs of educating children are higher in poor families because these families rely more on each member to contribute to the family’s economic survival. Girls and women are the unpaid household labourers. All of the 6 female samples’ labour in the household is an economic necessity because it frees others to earn outside. All of them had to do important works like collecting water and firewood, washing utensils, helping in cooking and taking care of siblings. Dropouts who belonged to large families, less earning members and unstable income due to illness of earning members had to do wage work for  cash. All of the female samples told that they had worked in rich households as domestic helps when their family needed cash or could not afford a satisfactory meal. It is difficult for poor families to afford the opportunity cost of schooling because the contribution of their child’s labour at household work or earning is essential at certain times for the survival of their families. All of these direct, hidden and opportunity costs are intra-linked with poverty, which causes poor attendance rate. This encourages dropping-out as the school terms clash with the agricultural cycle and those who miss school over several weeks drop behind, teachers withdraw their books and they are disqualified for stipend, as a result, they ultimately abandon school. Poverty is interlinked with quality of education as poor families cannot afford private tuitions for their children. Apart from a few parents most of them were illiterate and they could not give any effective help to their children in their studies. Hence these parents have regarded the need of going to private tuitions as a very urgent one. All the samples agreed that students who took private tuitions performs in the class and does well in exams. All the parents agreed that if the teachers had taught the students well in the class, then the parents would not have to spend extra money to send their children for private tuitions. The parents even said that the teachers do this deliberately to earn money. The students who receive private coaching get promoted to the next class regardless of their results, so they do not get dropped from the PESP receiver’s list. As a result, only the children from solvent families are able to continue their studies. Dropping out due to disqualifying for PESP have been observed in this research amongst those households who sent their children to school after hearing about the PESP. During harvest period, there are many works to be done, so a lot of the children do not go to school. Consequently, many of them fail in the exams as they fail to catch up with the class due to absence. As a result, they get dropped from the PESP receiver’s list. So again the economic factors affect the situation because it can be seen that only the children of the well to do families can receive stipend. This is because since the children of solvent people do not have to work at home, they can attend school regularly and on the other hand, they can attain private lessons by using the money they get from stipend, so they can pass in the exams. Poverty is interlinked to students’ eagerness to learn. As the drop-out children belonged to the poor households they all suffered from certain extent of malnutrition. The samples told that usually they went to school after eating rice, rice crisps, banana, molasses etc and 7 of the children said that very often they had to take insufficient food and so they felt hungry in the class. Some of the children had to do household works and they felt tired and sleepy in the class. All of these children said they found it hard to concentrate in the study. So the eagerness and motivation of the children of the poor households are affected by their economic condition. The irregular and low salary of teachers influences their motivation to teach and forces them to depend on alternative income sources like private tuition. As a result they are obligated to favour their private students which create frustration amongst the other students. These children found school unfriendly and unfair. They become reluctant to attend school and as a result they miss classes and this causes poor performance in exams. All of these factors contributes to disqualifying from stipend program and finally leads to drop-out. Societal reasons are also found to be affecting drop-out of children, especially girls. The people of this village are very pious and they think that school education is the trend of the new age. They think that receiving religious lessons is more important since it will help them in the afterlife. Maximum people think that it is foolish for children of poor people to receive higher education because there are no such job opportunities for them, and the people who have no certainty of their day meal will obviously send their children to work and earn money to run the family, this is reality. Pressure for early marriage is also present as most of the community members agreed that this the safest option for the parents. Incidents of eve teasing were seen and sadly the societal pressure was on the girl as she will earn a bad reputation and her prospect of marriage will be ruined. These types of societal pressures are interlinked with unsupportive parental attitudes, because all parents and especially the poor parents do not have much of a say in the society and they are the most vulnerable ones. So the parents of a girl child prefer marriage over education as that is safest option and also this is what the society expects them to do. So all of these different factors are interlinked with each other which affects dropping out of children. CHAPTER 7: IMPACTS OF PESP 7. 1 BACKGROUND OF PESP. The most notable among the incentive programs undertaken by the government at the primary level were the Food for Education Program (FFE) and the Primary Educational Stipend Program (PESP). The FFE Program was launched in 1993 to increase the enrollment, persistence, and attendance rates of children from landless and very poor families. Forty percent of the children enrolled in primary schools in the targeted poor areas received a monthly allocation of wheat or rice for their family if they attended primary school regularly. To be eligible for receiving the food, the children were to be present at school for 85 percent of classes each month. A sliding scale increased the amount if more than one child per family attended school. Ultimately, the FFE was implemented in 1255 unions, covering 27 percent of the country. The World Bank’s 1998 Poverty Assessment found that the FFE did raise enrollment and attendance rates, and by 2000, the FFE program had covered about 27 percent of all primary schools in Bangladesh. Out of 5. 2 million students enrolled in schools with FFE, about 40 percent received food grains (mostly wheat) through the program. About two million families benefited from the FFE program. But there negative issues related to the FFE program as well. It suffered from high levels of leakage (it cost 1. 59 taka to transfer 1 taka in benefits) and was poorly targeted (50 percent of the beneficiaries came from households above the lower poverty line). Increases in the price of the food commodities in 2001-2002 caused the government of Bangladesh to reduce the amount of food assistance, until the program was discontinued in June 2002. However, universal primary education was still far from achieving. So, a new program, the PESP was introduced. The new Primary Education Stipend Project was designed to provide cash assistance through a stipend program to poor primary school pupils and their families throughout rural Bangladesh. The targeted beneficiaries of the PESP were an estimated 5. 5 million pupils from the poorest households who were enrolled in eligible primary schools in all rural areas of Bangladesh (469 upazillas). In order to qualify for the stipend, selected pupils were to maintain 85 percent monthly attendance and attain a minimum of 50 percent marks on the annual exam administered for each grade. To continue to participate in the program, a school must demonstrate at least 60 percent pupil attendance, and 10 percent of its grade 5 pupils must sit for the Primary School Scholarship Exam. Households of qualifying pupils would receive 100 taka (about $1. 76) per month for one pupil (not to exceed 1200 taka annually) and 125 taka per month for more than one pupil (not to exceed 1500 taka annually). Six designated national banks would disburse the stipends on a quarterly basis to authorized parents/guardians on a pre-determined date at the local bank branch or at a temporary distribution post (â€Å"camp’) established at a convenient location within 5 kilometres of the school site. Stipends would be disbursed to pupils’ parents or legal guardians who present the proper PESP bank-issued identity card. Preferences were to be given to issuing cards to the mothers of the selected pupil. The new features of the PESP were: †¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Subsidies provided in cash, rather than in kind (as in the FFE Program) would ease transfer to poor recipients and would limit the involvement of school personnel in distribution (FFE required teachers to dole out the wheat and rice). †¢Cost-effectiveness would increase as the government of Bangladesh can offer stipends to more families for the same cost and not be vulnerable to increases in food prices (as with the FFE Program that necessitated decreasing the amount of food provided). †¢The stipend amount is fixed at a level that will significantly offset household poverty (unlike the 25 taka offered through the PES Project). †¢The cash stipend is more flexible, so the family can determine its best use according to their needs—whether it is used for food purchase, school expenses or financing income generating activities (unlike the FFE Program where households often sold the food at less than market value to obtain cash). †¢Disbursing the stipend funds to the mother will increase her power within the household and she will be more likely to spend the money to improve the children’s welfare (earlier programs disbursed to fathers or male household heads). †¢Leakage will be reduced because (i) commodities (such as the FFE Program’s wheat and rice rations) are more liable to misappropriation and (ii) bank-mediated distribution eliminates scope for underpayment or kick-backs. †¢Provision of stipends on a nation-wide basis (rather than in selected areas) will reach the poor families throughout rural Bangladesh who must restrict their children’s participation in primary school. 7. 2 ProgramME Performance. The Primary Education Stipend Project (PESP) aims to increase the educational participation—enrollment, attendance, persistence, and performance–of primary school-aged children from poor families throughout Bangladesh by providing cash payments to targeted households. The new Primary Education Stipend Project is designed to provide cash assistance through a stipend program to poor primary school pupils and their families throughout rural Bangladesh. The impacts of PESP in the research area are described below according to the official objectives of the PESP: †¢ Increase the enrolment rate among primary school-aged children from poor families. The researcher found this objective successful to some extent because the statistics provided by the teachers show that enrolment rate has increased after the PESP have been introduced. The school enrolled the new students in only class one. The numbers of enrolment of last five years has been shown in the table below. YearNumber of students enrolled in class 1Total students of the school 200084270 200195280 2002102288 2003108295 2004116309 Table 6: The number of students enrolled in class 1. †¢ Increase the attendance rate of primary school pupils. The PESP rationale is that regular attendance will improve pupils learning outcomes and contribute to good grades on exams. Attaining 40 percent marks will motivate the pupil to study and the pupil’s family to support his/her studies, by ensuing school attendance (not withdrawing for labour) and providing the necessary supplies and inputs. Combined these conditions are expected to lead to reduced repetition and drop-out and increased completion. Meeting the attendance requirement on a monthly basis will  determine the amount of the quarterly stipend disbursement. If a pupil does not meet the condition, the stipend will not be paid for that month. Classroom teachers record attendance daily, checked by head teachers. The 85 percent target is relatively high, compared with average primary school attendance rates that are reported to be 61 percent or below and even with the FSSAP which has a target of 75 percent. This objective was not very successful as the attendance rate was very poor in the primary school were this research have been done. Teachers said that in general attendance rate is well below 85 percent. Students from the poor households are the most irregular ones. The reason for absenteeism is primarily due to the inability to pay for school expenses and/or the need to work either at home or outside the home. However, in some of the cases, reasons behind absenteeism were temporary or chronic illness, disinclination for schooling, bad weather, flooding, etc. During the rainy season the attendance was low as the roads were muddy and slippery and transportation was unavailable. During the bad whether some of them stayed absent as they didn’t want to damage their clothes. Two of the samples said that they had only two clothes, of which one was torn so they wore it in the house and the other one they wore in the school. They remained absent if the better cloth was wet as they couldn’t were the other one. The direct and opportunity costs of schooling, cultural constraints and prejudices, and special needs of vulnerable children—prevent these children from going to school. Although primary education is declared as tuition-free, there are many direct costs like exam fees, enrolment fee etc and with this there are many indirect costs like pen, papers, clothes etc. Though the stipend money was a help to some extent to the poor families, it was distributed after 3 months and during that time whenever the family couldn’t afford the necessary equipments, the children remained absent. Although the stipend receivers said that they bought pen, papers, clothes etc, they also said they still missed school whenever they couldn’t manage them as they were given punishments. Another reason for low attendance of the students was the opportunity cost of the child. Students frequently remained absent during different times of agricultural cycles as their labour was needed by their family. In the rainy seasons some of the boys helped their father in boat rowing so they stayed absent and because of this, they were dropped from the stipend receivers list. †¢ Reduce the drop out rate of primary school pupils and increase the cycle completion rate of primary school pupil. Unlike enrollment, persistence in primary school requires an ongoing household commitment that, especially among the vulnerable poor, is easily assailed by family circumstances (e.g. illness, death), the economy, and a host of other factors. The continuous payment of a stipend for the pupil’s entire primary school career—does provide both motivation and a monetary cushion for the family by helping to offset the opportunity costs associated with economic hardship that could pull a child from school. However, as a child ages both the direct and opportunity costs (for boys in the labour market and girls in the marriage market) increase, and the stipend is not sufficient to meet these costs. In addition, considerations other than monetary—such as lack of interest in schooling, dissatisfaction with the quality of schooling, cultural imperatives to marry, etc. –may come into play that are not amenable to financial incentives. Although primary education is declared as tuition-free, there are many direct costs like exam fees, enrolment fee; certain amount from the stipend money is also taken for various reasons. These expenses become a big problem for the poor households and it influences dropping out. The number of drop-out children in last five years is given below. Table 7: Number of dropouts in the last 5 years provided by the school YearNumber of drop-out childrenNumber of children completed class fiveTotal students in class five 1999104555 2000124254 2001114455 2002114960 2003124759 Chart: The number of dropouts and completions during last five years Although the dropout numbers provided by the school shows that dropout from school in class five is around 10 to 12, the researcher found that in reality the number was more than that as certain amount of underwriting is done so that the school remains in the PESP allotting list. The PESP stipend does not appear to meaningfully offset the opportunity costs of child labour, averaging less than 5 taka per day or $2 per month. But, its ability to attract children from the labour market to school clearly depends on the situation of the family. It is unlikely that a desperately poor family would be able to forego the income or even the food earned by a regularly-employed child. However, in some cases the child may continue to earn a sufficient amount outside of school hours and during school absences tolerated by the PESP (15 percent). The additional 25 taka per month for any subsequent children enrolled in primary school represents a much smaller contribution towards meeting the opportunity cost of schooling, and acts more as a reward to those households who have already made the decision to send their children to school than to encourage households to send non-attending children to school. Since opportunity costs must also be added to direct costs of schooling to assess the real cost, families of working children may not be able to cover both the sacrifice of a child’s income or labour and the cash outlays for the direct costs discussed above. Both the direct and opportunity costs of schooling increases as the child ages and progresses in primary school, increasing the burden for very poor families. Consequently, the PESP stipend may not be sufficient to overcome the financial barriers to primary schooling in families where children must work constantly to increase household production or income or to feed themselves. †¢ Enhance the quality of primary education. The PESP is least likely to be successful in improving the quality of education (as defined by learning outcomes and completion rates), because it places the entire burden of quality improvement on the child (maintaining high attendance) and household (purchasing educational inputs to ensure good grades), rather than on the teacher or school. First, failure to achieve is more often the result of poor instruction than of incapable students. Second, families targeted for support are poor, and it is far more likely that the stipend will be used to provide additional food and clothing for the family than purchase educational materials or tutoring for a primary school child. And while it would not be reasonable to expect a stipend program to also be a quality improvement program, the PESP may have negative consequences for educational quality of the 75-85 percent of primary school-age children already in school by diverting resources away from  needed supply-side improvements. The impact of PESP in the research area seemed to favour access over quality. The teachers said as the most of the parents who enrolled their children for stipend, they don’t worry about the quality of education; instead they want to receive the stipend money anyhow. This attitude can never help to improve quality of education. †¢ Ensure equity in the provision of financial assistance to primary school-age children and alleviate poverty. Bangladesh ranks as one of the poorest countries in the world, with a GDP per capita of $350. The poor account for about 50 percent of Bangladesh’s total population, and 37 percent are counted among the â€Å"hard-core† poor, who live in the direst circumstances (Bangladesh Human Development Report 2000, BIDS). That fifty-three percent of pupils in the primary education system come from poor households reflects the high demand for primary education among Bangladeshi parents. Ultimately, much of the success of the PESP in combating poverty and helping families deal with the direct and opportunity costs of sending their children to primary school will depend on the validity of the targeting mechanism and on the real value of the stipend in offsetting those costs. Primary school-age children become eligible for stipend benefits if their families meet at least one of the following five targeting criteria: ? Children from a landless or near-landless household that owns less than half an acre of land; ? Children of day labourers; ?Children from female-headed households (i. e. , a household headed by a female who is widowed, separated from husband, divorced, or having a disabled husband); ? Children from households that earn their living from low-income professions (such as, fishing, pottery, weaving, blacksmithing, and cobbling); and ? Children of sharecroppers. At present, the targeting methodology does not appear sufficiently well-defined to ensure that the poorest families in Bangladesh benefit, but rather the poorer families relative to their specific locale (which may not be terribly poor). With no clear-cut guidelines or empirical methods for identifying the poorest students, it is not clear how poor children can be identified. More over, a lot of community members and parents of the dropout children blamed the teachers and SMC members of deliberate biases and distortions. Almost universally, those interviewed said that SMC members and teachers complicit in giving favour to local elites and the non-poor in school admission and enrollment in the PESP or extracting some form of payment for consideration. Because the SMC members are generally members of the local elite, it has been told by the parents of the drop-outs and community member that they have a tendency to favour their own friends and relatives. The stipend amount appears sufficient to cover the education costs of one child, but the PESP often employs a rationale that double- and triple-counts the stipend, by stating that it will offset direct costs, eliminate opportunity costs, and increase household income. It is unlikely that the stipend is adequate to address all three at the same time. It does not appear to fully recognize that the PESP will also cause the families—especially those with working children—to incur significant costs that may not represent a net gain for the household (at least in the short-term). The PESP may be too expensive for very poor households whose children are not already enrolled, as the stipend amount is not sufficient to pay for education, compensate for lost wages/production and increase household income as well. Poverty impedes households’ ability to pay for school fees and/or other direct (e. g. textbooks) and indirect (e. g. â€Å"donations† for school authorities) costs that may be required for school admission or full participation in primary school. Poor households are more likely to need children’s labour for income-producing or cost-saving activities, and be less able to sacrifice the child’s time to schooling, resulting in frequent absenteeism and/or early withdrawal from school. The poor are more prone to disease and malnutrition than the non-poor. Poor health and nutritional status among young and school-aged children can result in illness and/or physical and cognitive impairment or delays, causing late enrollment, drop-out, absenteeism and poor learning outcomes. Additional objectives (mentioned by MOPME officials): Eradication of child labour and empowerment of women were the additional objectives. PESP could not eradicate child labour as it was seen that the samples often missed classes because of various household works. All of the 6 male samples helped their fathers in the field at different times of agricultural cycles. The boys who worked in the agricultural field worked in two phases. For working in the morning from 8AM to 1PM, they received 1 meal and 50 to 70 taka and for working from 2PM to 5PM, they are given 30 taka. In the rainy season a some of the male samples helped their fathers in boat rowing. Girls and women are the unpaid household labourers. All of the 6 female samples’ labour in the household is an economic necessity because it frees others to earn outside. All of them had to do important works like collecting water and firewood, washing utensils, helping in cooking and taking care of siblings. Because of these reasons, parents were reluctant to spare their daughters for schooling. There is no evidence of gender disparity in enrollment rates among the poor, but it is likely that girls who belonged to poor families are less likely to persist and perform in school than boys. But as there is a stipend programme for the secondary female students, girls are now getting the opportunity for higher studies. Social Impact of PESP: Irrespective of the PESP’s impact on primary education or its reaching the poorest 40 percent of families, the prevalence of poverty in Bangladesh is such that the PESP must be regarded as a positive move in improving social welfare, in that it represents a substantial redistribution or transfer of income from the wealthier sections of society to the poorer ones. Given the rural focus, it is seen that these cash transfers has some positive impact on the economies of small rural communities. As households spend the PESP stipend on commodities (books, food, clothing, etc) and services (tutoring, medical, etc. ), the effects are rippling through the community, generating additional income for merchants and suppliers. Insofar as mothers are the stipend recipients, it is expected that they will have decision-making authority over its use and their economic prestige will be enhanced somewhat. The political and social impact is also positive as beneficiary poor families and community members appreciate the recognition of need and the benefits offered by the PESP. But the major negative impact of this program is that those parents who sent their children to school after hearing about the stipend money, many of them withdrew their children when they were dropped from the stipend receivers list. These parents were unaware of the rules for achieving the stipend and they became angry and  annoyed by the rules. They also claimed that rules are strictly followed in the cases of poor students and teachers showed biasness while distributing stipends. According to them, the students who take private tuitions from the teachers and the children of the rich and powerful people receive stipend even if they are irregular or have failed in exams. Many of the parents said with anger that the strictness of rules happens only for the poor. Thus even though the stipend programme has increased the enrolment rate it has also became a reason for dropping out of children. The people who have two or more children enrolled in school do not support the rule of Tk. 125 for two children. They feel that all of their children should receive Tk. 100 each. Some of the parents of the dropouts were very annoyed with this rule. Few dropout children had their siblings reading in the same schools as well, so the amount of money received from PESP due to this rule made the parents take different strategy. Although both children received stipend, many of these parents withdrew their eldest child from school and engaged them in work, while the other children continued studying as long as they receive stipend. It is difficult for a poor family to afford the opportunity cost of more then one child. Matrix 1—Knowledge, attitude and perception towards the primary education stipend project Key issues Students ParentsTeachersCommunity 1. Knowledge regarding the project. Selection criteriaFor poor and regular students, in primary school are eligible for stipendFor poor and regular students85% attendance and at least 45% pass marks in each subjects in all examsGiven to all poor and good students schools Retention CriteriaRegular attendance and at least pass marks in all examsRegular attendance and good result85% attendance and at least 50% pass marks in each subjects in all examsRegular attendance in school and good result Disbursement ProcessDistributed by bank officials or teachers to the students in school/nearby camps arranged for disbursement. Distributed from school and received by studentsDistributed from school or camps arranged by UPO in the presence of headmaster, class teacher, and SMC members Distributed by school among students 2. Attitude towards the projectBeneficial for all especially the poor. Helpful for allHighly beneficial particularly to the poor studentsHelpful for children Adequacy of stipend amount Disbursement processNot sufficient and should be increased ReasonableInadequate for expenses of direct and hidden costs but still helpful. ReasonableThough inadequate but helpful for the very poor students Though reasonable but takes a whole working day Key issuesStudentsParentsTeachersCommunity 3. Impact of the project Enrollment Attendance Increased, particularly for the poor students Increased a little Increased Increased a little Increased for all, and especially increased for poor students Attendance is still the same amongst poor students but in general increased a little Increased Probably more regular than before Dropout Completion rate Incidence of early marriage. Support towards female education Family pressure for marriage Social pressure for marriageDecreased High Still the same Same as before Still the same Still the sameLess than before Higher than before Still the same Increased a little Decreased a little Still the sameDecreased a little Higher than before Still the same Increased a little Still the same Still the sameDecreased a little Higher than before Still the same Increased Decreased a little Still the same Key issues Students ParentsTeachersCommunity 4. Problems regarding the project. Inadequate stipend amount Late distribution of text books Late disbursement of stipend Extortion of stipend money in forms of school fees and private tuitionInadequate stipend amount, Indirect cost of schooling (fees, uniform, cost of education aids), Late distribution of stipend Extortion of stipend money in forms of school fees and private tuitionInadequate stipend amount for the very poor students, Lack of training opportunities for teachers in the project Late disbursement of stipend money by the government Inadequate stipend amount 7. 3 IMPACTS ON BENEF.

Tax burden on the middle class Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tax burden on the middle class - Thesis Example The seemingly unfair rich-poor balance in the state and local taxes has spurred discussions across different economic forums. Such imbalance has contributed immensely to the regressive tax system evident in many states. The tax burden is huge on the middle-class and low-class. The research utilized existing literature to find out whether the middle-class paid more tax than the upper-class and the lower-class taxpayers. Specifically, scholarly journals that had analyzed the topic were critical to the research. Additionally, recent reports from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy were used in the research. The data is presented in the tables and graphs. The tax systems levy more taxes on the middle-class taxpayers than they do on the upper-class counterparts. A study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy indicated that many state tax systems tend to charge the low-and middle-income families a higher tax rate than the upper class counterparts. According to the study, the imbalance has contributed to the widening income inequality gap in which the middle and low-income households feel the negative implications of differential taxation rates. The poorest twenty percent of the low-income earners pay approximately 10.9 percent of their income to the local and state taxes (Davis et al 3). Similarly, the middle twenty percent of the US citizens contribute 9.4 percent of their income towards the tax. On the other hand, the rich taxpayers pay a mere 5.4 percent of their income to the local and state taxes (Davis et al 3). Notably, the tax systems burden the middle-class, as well as, the lower class at the expense of the wealthy t axpayers. However, taxation system in California has attempted to balance tax rates among the three classes. In California, the poorest citizens pay 10.5 percent, while the top one percent residents contribute 8.7 percent (Davis et al 21). Nonetheless, the tax rate gap is arguably wide. The

Human Resource Management - Independent Study Essay

Human Resource Management - Independent Study - Essay Example First, they must integrate human resource policies and practices across a number of subsidiaries in different countries so that overall corporate objectives can be achieved. At the same time, the approach to HRM must be sufficiently flexible to allow for significant differences in the type of HR policies and practices that are most effective in different business and cultural settings. This problem of balancing integration (control and coordination from HQ) and differentiation (flexibility in policies and practices at the local subsidiary level) have long been acknowledged as common dilemmas facing HR and other functional managers in global corporations. Although some argue that IHRM is not unlike HRM in a domestic setting, others point out that there are significant differences. Specifically compared with domestic HRM, IHRM (I) encompasses more functions, (2) has more heterogeneous functions, (3) involves constantly changing perspectives, (4) requires more involvement in employees’ personal lives, (5) is influenced by more external sources, and (6) involves a greater level of risk than typical domestic HRM. When compared with domestic human resource management, IHRM requires a much broader perspective on even the most common HR activities. The number and variety of IHRM activities are daunting. International HR managers must deal with issues as varied as international taxation; international relocation and orientation; various other administrative services for expatriates; selecting, training and appraising local and international employees; and managing relations with host governments in a number of countries around the world. Even when dealing with one particular HR function area such as compensation, the international HR manager is faced with a great variety of national and international pay issues. For example, while dealing with pay issues, the HQ-based HR

Chinua Achebes Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chinua Achebes Africa - Essay Example They live almost entirely on yams, which are considered a man’s crop, but they also ate things that the women grew such as fruits and vegetables. The people in the village are very much like people everywhere else - there are many who work very hard and are respected and there are others, like Okonkwo's father Unoka who would rather spend their time entertaining others. But the common practice of the tribes was to indiscriminately cut down the virgin forests and exploit the resources of the land in the same way that the white man wanted to exploit the resources of the land. In this way, they aren't really that much different than the white men who come in toward the end of the book. It seems like that is the major message Achebe was trying to get across about the people in his book - that whether they were black or white, they were all the same underneath. Just like the white men, the black men of the village work and struggle to eke out a survival in a harsh land. It is becau se the land is so difficult instead of any lack of personal development that forces the society to base social status on each man's success as a farmer. Unoka is proof that a friendlier land that didn't make it so difficult to grow things would have led to a more artistically developed society.

I attach the file with options on the topic of the BOOK REVIEW Essay

I attach the file with options on the topic of the BOOK REVIEW - Essay Example Since the debate of left and right has been valid and intact for the last several decades, portraying the images of modern and conservative respectively while exercising power and ensuring good governance, the author strives to depict the realities, concepts and misconceptions associated with it in general in the contemporary times (67). Giddens claims that although modernity has made its sure headway, the imperative significance of traditionalism and conservatism could never be negated or refuted at any cost. It appears to be more explicit in the sense that the previous era rightists used to look for sticking to the age-old ways of life, and used to defend the patterns of their life in a conventional manner; nevertheless, the same characteristics have been shifted to the modern, or leftist, communities, which observe great perils regarding the spread of purported contemporary era radicalism (82–5). As a result, dealing with the radicals has turned out to be a great challenge for the peace-seeking political administrations. Hence, the western societies appear to be maintaining a defensive approach while supporting the modernity at the time when the purported radicals seem to be standing against modern patterns of life with the aim of crushing the ways that are contrary to the social norms and moral values abided by almost all societies of the world for the last centuries to go. Hence, the governments of the developed nations appear to be afraid of the consequences of the reaction of radicals to allowing such freedoms including extra-marital cohabitations, same-sex relationships and marriages, illegitimate pregnancies, government controlled economic activities and application of latest scientific and technological equipment on a massive scale. Thus, the political administrations have to undergo serious reservations because of the perils of a severe reaction to the modern ways of life from the radicals. One of the most distinguished characteristics attribu ted to the contemporary radicals includes their support of the free market instead of keeping their weight in favour of the government controlled economic system advocated by socialism to be the essential element of a welfare state (136–7). Hence, the concept of welfare state with regard to the socialist economic system seems to be opposed and rebutted by the present-day radicals, who used to organise demonstrations and launch social movements for immediate enforcement of the same (192). Therefore, power appears to be shifting from modernity to radicalism-conservatism in various parts of the globe, and the developed nations have to make strong decisions in order to combat with the opposition from radicals. The Marxist-Socialist perspective, Giddens asserts, looks retrospective while narrating the relation between man and

Organizational and Management Processes Within Health Systems Coursework

Organizational and Management Processes Within Health Systems - Coursework Example The health sector is citizens oriented and ought to live to the expectation of both the government and the public. Different players have a strategic responsibility, but this paper will focus on an internal aspect of Nigerian hospitals. The alignment of activities and resources in healthcare system are classically aimed at improving the quality of service and efficiency both in service delivery and utilization of resources (Merson et al., 2009. 16-21) Corporate culture plays a significant role in employee satisfaction and therefore service delivery. Managers play an important role in the creation of culture in an organization and learning it. This allows the management to separate cultural artifices with a positive impact on service delivery from non-progressive norms. There are many contending variables in the organizations culture. The changing needs and expectation of stakeholders like the contradicting needs of the patients, the providers and regulators create inconsistencies and send mixed signals. Moreover, it handles the maintenance of most inefficient practices and is, therefore, important that the discussion about organizational culture be started (Swayne, 2014. 17). Learning an organizational culture in health will allow managers to identify specific areas and norms that affect service delivery and its efficient utilization of resources. Culture to some degree is shaped by incentives and understanding it in health, allows the managers and regulators to identify specific areas they can encourage change or improvement. Culture determines how an organization does things. It is, therefore, imperative that progressive stagnant culture are separated and dealt with accordingly through identification (Watkins, 2013, 8-14) We should be moving towards learning organizational culture in health care systems. Culture is a factor that determines the quality of service

An Ethical Dilemma for a professional Nurse Research Paper

An Ethical Dilemma for a professional Nurse - Research Paper Example Mrs. A. played the role Sherwin (1992), postulated she would when facing similar troubling ethical issue, in that she displayed an emphatic form of reasoning which propel her to seek an innovative way out of the problem, so that both parties benefit. She chose not to have the child in order to please her husband, who she believed deserve the promotion, so that in the end she is happy that he is happy. They achieved what Oberle and Bouchal (2009) called mutuality, in that both receive benefits, but this was at the expense of the unborn child, the wishes of their parents and the nurse administering support to them. The expulsion or removal of the fetus from the womb of a woman or abortion has been the subject of discussion for thousands of years, especially with regard to its ethicality, and has culminated into a divide where many professes to be either pro life or pro-choice, depending on the type of moral lens they are wearing, a significant percentage of the population be hold the m iddle ground or neutral status, sometimes for political reasons. Abortion has become a troubling moral issue in the lives of people especially in America, despite the (Rowe vs. Wade 1973) landmark ruling which have women the option to be pro-choice, because of the role of members of the American Medical Association has played in the early years according to The National Abortion Federation (2011). The organization sought to lobby the government to make the practice illegal. They achieved what Oberle and Bouchal.

Good conductors of electricity Essay Example for Free

Good conductors of electricity Essay EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES In order to record my observations, I will use the following types of observation tables, and I will display the manner in which my wire will be setup, in order that I will be able to experiment with them. 1. LENGTH For length, we have to make sure that only the length is changed, and that all the other factors are kept as a constant, i. e. the thickness, the material, and the temperature. Thickness = 0. 3 mm Material = nichrome Temperature = room temperature The index is adjusted, to vary the resistance, 10 alternative readings of current and voltage are taken, at uniform intervals. For every 0. 2 volts, I will be measuring the current, for each wire, and I will be observing, and recording the readings on the ammeter, in a table like this. SR. NO VOLTAGE CURRENT AVERAGE R= V / I IN VOLTS(V) INCREASING DECREASING CURRENT (? ) 1 0. 00 Xxx Xxx Xxx Xxx 80 X 11 2. 00 X TOTAL AVERAGE RESISTANCE = Xxxx My expected graphs will look like this. The shorter the wire, the lesser the resistance there will be. ? = 1/ gradient ? 20 cm wire has the greatest gradient, so less resistance. The resistance on should tally with my table readings; otherwise, it will mean that there is an error somewhere. 2. Thickness For thickness, we have to make sure that only the thickness is changed, and that all the other factors are kept as a constant, i. e. the length, the material, and the temperature. Length = 50 cm Material = nichrome Temperature = room temperature SR. NO VOLTAGE CURRENT AVERAGE R= V / I IN VOLTS(V) INCREASING DECREASING CURRENT (? ). 11 2. 00 X TOTAL AVERAGE RESISTANCE = Xxxx My expected graphs will look like this. The thicker the wire, the lesser the resistance there will be. ? = 1/ gradient ? 3 mm wire has the greatest gradient, so it has the least resistance. 3. Material For material, we have to make sure that only the material is changed, and that all the other factors are kept as a constant, i. e. the length, the material, and the temperature. Length = 50 cm Thickness = 0. 4 mm Temperature = room temperature SR. NO VOLTAGE CURRENT AVERAGE R= V / I IN VOLTS(V) INCREASING DECREASING CURRENT (?) TOTAL AVERAGE RESISTANCE = Xxxx My expected graphs will look like this. Different conductors have different resistances, thus, the copper wire has the greatest gradient, and so it has the least resistance. In order to increase the reliability of my resulting readings, I am going to record the readings while increasing and decreasing the voltage supplied. I will also make use of series and parallel circuits, to verify the law of resistance. To investigate the law of resistance for length. I will use the following type of board for this. The resistance for the 25 cm wire is shown by : The resistance for the 50 cm wire is shown by : This the type of graph I would be expecting to get. As you can see, the line for the 20+30 cm graph falls just a little short of the 50 cm. R = R1+ R2 In addition, to verify the law of resistivity for thickness, we use parallel circuit, which are connected in this manner: Here we will test to see if the resistance of two . 4 mm wires connected in a parallel, is equal to the resistance of a .56 mm wire. This should get me a graph like the one that follows: In order to plot this type of graph, I will have to record my results in a table like this: The resistance for the 0. 4 mm + 0. 4 mm wire is shown by : The resistance for the 0. 56 mm wire is shown by : I did a prior test, or an introductory pre experiment test, to get me used to how to know to work the rheostat, and connect the circuit, and the results I got, are on the next page. Analyzing evidence As you can see from my graphs, which are more or less like the graphs, I had expected to get, in my planning,In order to show that when the length of the wire was changed, the resistance changed proportionately, I created this bar graph. Thus as you can see, when the lengths in crease, the resistance of the wire increases, as there are more collisions between the electron, (which is moving from the negative end to the positive), and between the atom. When length is doubled, resistance doubles. Therefore length is directly proportional to resistance. In addition, I compared the resistance obtained from the tables, when I changed the thickness of the wire, and this is the resulting pie chart. Here too, it is plain to see that when the thickness doubles, the resistance is halved. This is due to, when the thickness increases, there is more space for the electron to pass through, without colliding, and thus resistance decreases. Thus resistance is inversely proportional to resistance. Where as in my series and parallel graphs, the gradient achieved for both the graphs is almost the same, thus I state that the resistance of a longer wire, is the same as two shorter wires connected together in a series circuit. In addition, the resistance of a thicker wire is the same as that of two thinner wires connected in a parallel.

Public Relations In Non Profit Organisations Marketing Essay

Public Relations In Non Profit Organisations Marketing Essay First this essay will explain the role of public relations in non-profit organisations and provide a brief description of our campaign; second the campaigns strengths and weaknesses will be discussed; third the campaign will be discussed in relation to public relations theory; and finally a conclusion summarising the main points discussed in this essay Public Relations and Non-Profit Organisations: Public relations can play an important role for non-profit organisations, providing the support to create new, and maintain existing relationships necessary to meet organisational goals, meet fundraising targets, and develop organisational awareness. As Broom, Center, and Cutlip state, there are five functions the practitioner aims to carry out within non-profit organisations, these are to: Define or brand the organisation, gain acceptance of its mission, and protect its reputation. Develop channels of communication with those an organization serves. Create and maintain a favourable climate for fundraising. Support the development and maintenance of public policy that is favourable to an organizations mission. Inform and motivate key organizational constituents (such as employees, volunteers, and trustees) to dedicate themselves and work productively in support of an organizations mission, goal, and objectives. (Broom, Center, Cutlip, 2006, p. 449) Campaign Description: Intentio PR designed a campaign to achieve two goals; first to increase the amount of funding Parent to Parent receives through creating relationships with the business community; and second to increase awareness of Parent to Parent through the relationships and campaigns developed with the business community. Therefore, Intentio PRs key campaign goal was to increase the amount of funding Parent to Parent receives, while simultaneously increasing awareness of Parent to Parent and their services to key audiences. Intentio PR proposed three projects to achieve these goals: A redevelopment of Parent to Parents website to be more interactive, and to allow for a better donation function. A cause related marketing campaign with Huggies, where a certain amount of each Huggies product purchased was donated to the organisation A relationship with TradeMe, in which users can donate the auction success fee or entire proceeds for an auctioned item to Parent to Parent. Campaign Strength and Weaknesses: Prior to the development of Intentio PRs three campaigns, Parent to Parents current situation was researched, more specifically research concentrated on their purpose and mission, their current financial situation, and their sources of funding. The information gathered from this influenced our next stage of research as we found that there was a problem with funding, and that businesses were not approached for funding, focussing efforts on grants and applications instead. Stemming from our organisational information, we then conducted research that looked into what motivates businesses to provide sponsorship to non-profit organisations, what they see as essential to this relationship, and their level of awareness for organisations providing services to the disabled. Research also looked into the funding and sponsorship situations of the regional Parent to Parent offices. We encountered difficulties in relation to this research in regards to response rates, from both business, and the regional offices contacted to participate. Although not sufficient to produce any significant generalisations to either of the communities surveyed, the information gathered did produce enough relevant data to help in the formation of our campaign goals and objectives. The goals for this campaign fit in to two management situations that Smith describes, a task management goal focused on obtaining more funding, and reputation management goal which is focussed on Parent to Parents awareness and perception (Smith, 2002, p. 69). Although our campaign had a goal derived from our previous research and worked, as Smith states, to provide the direction while objectives pinpoint the destination (Smith, 2002, p. 67) I believe we could have developed more specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (SMART) objectives for the three campaigns developed. Consequently, this would have allowed for us to develop more specific and detailed campaign evaluations, which lacked any specific criteria to measure success against. The reputation or awareness objective that was listed could have been improved by specifically stating who the community mentioned is, for example amongst all parents of disabled children; and by providing measurable targets for the objective, for example an increase of awareness by 60%, although previous awareness levels of the organisation amongst the target audience for the objective would be needed as the standard to be measured against. Public Relations Theory: Although we attempted to use the four step process, that is research, planning, action, and evaluation, our campaign was lacking in areas such as planning and evaluation that would have brought it together. Five theories I would use to describe and evaluate aspects of Intentio PRs campaign would be systems theory, the two-way asymmetrical model, social exchange theory, social learning theory, and situational theory. Systems theory can be used to examine both the internal and external relationships an organisation has with its employees and customers. Baskin, Heiman, Lattimore, and Toth describe organisations as made up of interrelated parts, adapting and adjusting to changes in theenvironments in which they operate. Organisations have recognisable boundaries, within which there must be a communication structure that guides the parts of the organisation to achieve organisational goals. (Baskin, Heiman, Lattimore, Toth, 2007, pp. 44-45) These organisations can be considered either open or closed systems; open systems allowing the flow of information from outside stakeholders, and how these relationships with outside stakeholders might affect the organisation; closed systems choosing to focus on past decisions and how these have performed when making decisions, preferring not to seek new information from outside of the organisation. Our campaign would be based on an open systems theory, with research in to outside organisations and how these relationships are established, and maintained being conducted, as previously discussed; also, we seek to establish new relationships with Huggies, and TradeMe to increase funding and awareness. As surveys were mainly used to explore relationships with businesses, and the information found used to develop or influence our campaign design, the two-way asymmetrical best describes our research and development model, as Tench and Yeomans state Feedback from audiences is important in this model of communication, but it is used to adapt communication strategies to be more persuasive, not to alter the organisations position. (Tench Yeomans, 2006, p. 147) Intentio PRs cause related marketing campaign with Huggies establishes an exchange with the consumer of the Huggies product; for every product the consumer purchases, $2.00 will be donated towards Parent to Parent. Therefore, the act of buying this product (the cost), results in them helping out a charitable organisation (the reward). I believe this is an example of the social exchange theory, which uses the economic metaphor of costs and benefits to predict behaviour. It assumes that individuals and groups choose strategies based on perceived rewards and costs. (Baskin, Heiman, Lattimore, Toth, 2007, p. 48) I believe the social learning theory, which states that we can learn new behaviours merely by observing others (Baskin, Heiman, Lattimore, Toth, 2007, p. 50), is applicable to our TradeMe Team Up campaign. Although there will be a media release and other promotional material in relation to this campaign, the main method in which TradeMe members are going to learn about these donation features are through observing and adapting this behaviour from another member who has used these features on their auction(s). Both VanLeuven; and Baskin, Heiman, Lattimore Toth state that the more positive and rewarding the consequences, the more likely the behaviour will occur. (VanLeuven, 1989, p. 196) Therefore the probability of the observing TradeMe member adopting this behaviour (the donation feature) is more likely if they believe the reward (donating money to a charitable cause) is a sufficient or positive reward for performing the task; the goal of the promotional effort for this campaign should consequently be to align TradeMe Team Up campaign as so. Situational theory, according to Tench, and Yeomans; and Baskin, Heiman, Lattimore Toth (2007, p.46-47), divides an organisations publics according to those publics who actively seek and process information about an organisation or an issue of interest, and those publics that passively receive informationas the situation, problem, opportunity, or issue changes, the publics, with which the organisation must communicate, change. The redevelopment of Parent to Parents website is aimed towards the active information seekers of their publics; the new website design allows for easier navigation of the site, and easier access to relevant information, such as events, regional information, and organisational information. It would be the active users of this website, who are also TradeMe members, who would be the early adopters of the donation feature of TradeMe Team Up. Conclusion: Theory establishes a framework through which common phenomena can be described and analysed. This essay has described the public relations campaign designed by Intentio PR, and has worked to relate the various components that it comprises to relevant public relations theory. I believe the campaign we produced could have been improved if we had used or referred back to the theory discussed previously, and if we had designated SMART goals to each of the campaigns.