William Blake was one of the first romantic poets, writing during the French and American revolutions in 1780

William Blake was one of the first romantic poets, writing during the French and American revolutions in 1780. Romantic poets believe that people should be free to follow their own desires, everyone has a right to pursue and fulfil their desires in order to be happy, that imagination is more important than science and logic, and that childhood is important and should be innocent. Blake was a visionary writer, he talked to God and angels came to him in his dreams and visions. He translates these experiences into his poems. He viewed God as an artist, active and full of passion and love, rather than a scientist. However, Blake disliked institutions such as the Church and formal religion, the government and the royal family. Blake believed that people should have open marriages and to enjoy sex, possibly with multiple partners, and was also against unions such as marriages. Society and the Church taught people to think that sex was sinful and wrong, whereas Blake believed sex and desire is a connection to God and spirituality. Blake was especially frustrated with the Church, he thought they were controlling people, especially the poor and working classes. These institutions would teach that although people may be poor and unhappy in this life, if they do not rebel they will be able to go to Heaven and be rewarded. This was seen by Blake as a form of brain washing, ‘London', a poem found in Blake's Songs of Experience, relates to the poet's views on the English capital in the 19th century. Blake employs a consistent rhyming structure similar to that of ‘The Schoolboy' but with shorter four line verses. The poem, written in Blake's first person, is obviously expressing his own personal opinions. The first stanza relates to the strict uniformity of London's plotted land (a pet hate of Blake's) along with the poet's observations of troubled citizens (‘Marks of weakness, marks of woe'). The second chorus style verse expands upon Blake's views of public constraint, implying that citizens have been conditioned into believing that their lives are tolerable (‘mind-forged manacles'). Examples of which kind of people should not put up with their miserable lives are provided in the third stanza (chimney sweeps, soldiers) and the poems ends with a specific development of the life of a 19th century prostitute (‘harlot'). The first verse of the poem relates to Blake himself wandering through the streets of London, noting the wretchedness of the unaware citizens. The poet curses the dictatorial layout of London in quiet outrage with the use of the word ‘chartered' in consecutive lines. Blake believed that life could be better for everyone without the strict rules and regulations imposed by governing bodies, and his unusual wording plays on this fact. The ‘marks' Blake apparently sees on ‘every face' he passes are not of the physical variety; a deeper, more sinister interpretation relating to deprivation of the population at the time should be considered. The ‘weakness' and ‘woe' Blake speaks of cannot be perceived by the uncaring eye. In the second chorus style verse, Blake attempts to show the reader the totalitarian influence of the ‘mind-forged manacles' he can ‘hear'. The use of the word ‘every' in three successive lines emphasises the entirety of the population he is referring to; men, women and infants alike are all included in his exclamation. Blake obviously wants the reader to realise that the ‘mind-forged manacles' he refers to are a bad thing. Negative imagery (such as the ‘infant's cry of fear'), the repetition of the word ‘cry' and the relation of his statement to arguments (‘bans') are each included to contribute towards the overall feel of sadness. The ‘mind-forged manacles' Blake mentions associate with his view that the people of London unintentionally restrict their minds and imaginations by the ‘proper' customs of 19th century England. The third stanza of London subjectively considers two different figures that Blake believes have been deprived. The plight of the chimney sweep is one the poet takes particularly to heart (exhibited by other works), with once again a ‘cry' falling upon deaf ears. This time, it is the church that is ignoring the heartbreaking situation of the young sweeps (‘How the chimney-sweeper's cry/Every blackening church appals'). ‘Blackening' is used here as a link to the growing pollution levels in London and as a reference the soot which covered the little chimney sweeps. Symbolically, it may also relate to the church's reluctance to help the sweeps which Blake thought seemed painfully hypocritical and cruel. Blake's description of a ‘hapless' soldier in the second half of the verse refers to the unpleasant life of many combatants. The imagery of their blood running ‘down palace walls' relates to the many pointless wars that higher powers have deemed necessary. Meanwhile, many lives of those that could have enjoyed life have been wasted in futile struggles for supremacy. The last verse displays another personal exasperation of Blake's. It is made out to be of greatest importance of the three cases the poet mentions via the use of the word ‘most' (‘But most thro' midnight streets I hear/How the youthful harlot's curse'). The ‘youthful harlot' is just one of many young girls that had to resort to selling their bodies to survive. Blake attempts to relate to the situation some young women had to deal with by having no choice but to take care of an unwanted, fatherless child (‘Blasts the new born infants tear'). The poet takes upon a tone of irony in the final line as he mentions the strange image of a ‘marriage hearse'. A hearse, usually used in funeral processions, does not fit the joyful representation of a wedding. This may be a reference to the adverse affect prostitution had on a marriage both physically and psychologically. The ending of this poem is another perhaps more subtle example of Blake's dislike for the dising enuous social culture of his time. In conclusion, William Blake's poems are very successful in presenting his social viewpoints. Using relatively simple language, subtle irony and sarcasm, powerful imagery and easily identifiable meanings, Blake makes sure that his points get across to the reader. It is easy to see that the Songs of Innocence and Experience are not just idle words that have wandered onto a piece of paper: Blake wrote each of his poems for a purpose and with a clear significance. William Blake was a man fighting against the mainstream opinions of 19th society. His strong willed independent attitudes meant that no matter what the odds, he would ‘stick to his guns'. Blake had an intense dislike for government and other established ruling bodies. He believed that people would lead happier lives if left to their own devices, unrestricted by rules or regulations. William Blake was also great critic of the church, viewing them as wretched hypocrites in the battle against the evils of society. Even in today's modern era, the central themes of his poems (poverty, social injustice, the church) still remain relevant and Blake serves a wonderful icon for those battling against such political constraints. Although his work was not truly appreciated until a century and a half after his death, Blake was a undoubtedly a genius of his time. Blake believed that the Church was so corrupt, it brain washed individuals into not questioning fate, God and its authority. The Church would teach catechisms to small children, such as the child in The Lamb. In this poem, the young child has found a lamb and talking to it, and telling the lamb how wonderful God is and how they are both part of God. The little child is confident and asks questions to the lamb, ‘Little lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?' In the second stanza, with no response from the lamb, the child continues with ‘Little lamb, I'll tell thee, Little lamb, I'll tell thee:' The child is brain washing the lamb, having been brain washed himself. He has been taught questions and answers, and knows that God was once a lamb and then a child, but the child no longer questions what he has been taught. He (or she) is happy and safe, and so is still in the world of innocence. In this poem Blake is challenging the way the Church has brain washed children to not question their fate and to accept unhappiness. The child in the Lamb describes God as ‘He is meek, and He is mild;' which to Blake is too passive. A God needs to be strong and helpful, the opposite to meek and mild. The language used is simple, and reflective of the world of innocence. For example, ‘delight' and ‘bright'. This is also end rhyme, to emphasise the child's delight at talking with the little lamb about his God, and how everyone is a part of him. The child rejoices in his knowledge and is proud of himself on teaching the lamb about his creator. As a romantic writer, Blake saw God as more of an artist, and in the poem ‘The Tiger' demonstrates what he believes God to be like. The Tiger is paired with the Lamb, and although it is in the songs of experience, the person is returning to innocence by asking so many questions. These questions, such as ‘In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What hand dare seize the fire?' challenge God. In this poem, Blake is marvelling what kind of God could make such a beautiful, deadly creature. Blake is showing that if God can make something as gentle as a lamb, and then makes a killing machine such as a Tiger, He must be dangerous. Blake is also portraying God as a workman or blacksmith, with the line ‘In what furnace was thy brain?'. The God in this poem, despite not answering the questions, is clearly more of an artist. He is strong and powerful, the opposite to a lamb. The use of exclamation marks throughout indicates the awe and wonder felt by the person asking the questions. The pace is fast, and is almost predatory, similar to the movement of a tiger. The pace also reflects the thoughts processes of the person asking the questions, there is a sense of excitement and the images created are vivid. Run on lines are used in the first stanza, and also in the last as the first stanza is repeated at the end of the poem to reinforce the magnificence of such a beautiful creature and its creator. ‘Tiger! Tiger! Burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?' The combination of end rhyme for ‘bright' and ‘night' and also the run on line for that sentence create a strong image of the Tiger prowling through a forest, and is clearly visible in the night. The second line rhymes ‘eye' and ‘symmetry' to suggest that God must be physically perfect and immortal to create such a beautiful, strong creature. In conclusion, Blake has used his collection of poems to demonstrate many of his views on the society of his era, including his disapproval of institutions such as the church, the government and royal family, his ideas on marriage and sexuality, the neglect of the poor, and also the way the church brainwash people to control them so that they do not question anything. Blake demonstrated his views in his collection of poems called the Songs of Experience and the Songs of Innocence. Children are born into the world of innocence, where they are allowed to be free and happy, and are also protected from the world of experience for as long as possible by adults. Blake would have hoped that adults would enter the world of experience but someday return to innocence, and protect the children. The world of experience to Blake and other romantic writers was inevitable yet a harsh, cruel and unhappy place full of restrictions and frustration. Blake suggests in his poems that people and children are not in control of their own lives, they are not allowed to think for themselves and are restricted by a corrupt, uncaring Church and monarchy. In this essay I will discuss how William Blake objected to the poverty suffered by most of the society, neglect by the government and how children were used and not allowed a childhood. I will also look at religion's disapproval of sex and its agreement with the state to keep the poor, ‘poor', for their own moral good. Durkheim theorised hi123's marxism . There are two ‘The Chimney Sweeper' poems, one in the Songs of Experience and one in Innocence. The boy in the songs of innocence has maintained his innocence despite experiencing the death of his mother and his father selling him at such a young age. In this first stanza, Blake uses end rhyme for ‘young' and ‘tongue' to indicate how young this child is to be sold and not have a family to protect him. †weep!' ‘weep!' ‘weep!' ‘weep!† is repeated and followed by exclamation marks to emphasise how awful that ‘weep!' is the first thing this child says, when babies are supposedly born into pure innocence and should be happy. ‘So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.' , Ends in a full stop and indicates that this child is doomed to be unhappy, he has been brain washed into accepting his situation and does not aspire to be anything other than a chimney sweeper, and believes he can only be happy in death. In the second stanza, when Tom Darce's head is shaved, the narrating boy is positive and practical in saying that at least the soot will not spoil his hair. Blake uses run on lines to reinforce the youth of these children, and their vulnerability with the line coed ed† . â€Å"r se† . ed . â€Å"ed† . â€Å"w or†. ed . † † . ed . â€Å"k ined foed † . ed . â€Å"! ‘ â€Å"Hush, Tom! Never mind it, for when your head's bare You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ. cogb gb† . â€Å"r se† . gb . â€Å"gb† . â€Å"w or†. gb . † † . gb . â€Å"k ingb fogb † . gb . â€Å". Without realising, the boy is helping to brain wash Tom by telling him to accept the situation. Tom's hair was white and with the soot had become black, symbolic of the end of innocence. Blake believed that in dreams and in our imaginations, we are truly free. However, this boy dreams of angels. Blake is showing how deeply brain washed by the Church this child must be for dreaming of angels and still believing that if cogb gb† . â€Å"r se† . gb . â€Å"gb† . â€Å"w or†. gb . † † . gb . â€Å"k ingb fogb † . gb . â€Å". ‘he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father, and never want joy.' These chimney sweepers are so desperately unhappy, they are looking forward to their deaths in order for them to be free and happy. Blake is also criticising the God and angels in this poem for being too passive in the lives of these young, unhappy children. Symbolic words such as ‘bright key', ‘free', ‘green', ‘leaping, laughing, they run', ‘lamb's back' and ‘joy' are all associated with the world of innocence, however there are also words such as ‘soot' and ‘coffins of black' showing that these children are surrounded by the harsh world of experience and corruption with no protection. To Blake, the colours black and grey were the colours for the world of experience and unhappiness, whereas white and green were for the world of innocence. As the children dream of running ‘down a green plain', it shows the children dream in the world of innocence. The chimney sweeper in the world of experience does not even dream in innocence, he wears ‘clothes of death'. Although this child has parents, they have left him to go to the church to pray. It is as though he has no parents, like the boy in the songs of innocence. Blake is showing that the parents have also been corrupted by the Church, and are helping to brain wash their child. Blake also explicitly demonstrates his views on the monarchy and the church in the last two lines, ‘And are gone to praise God and His Priest and King, Who make up a Heaven of our misery.' The full stop at the end of the sentence finalises the poem's message that the child, along with his parents and church goers, are doomed to be unhappy whilst the Church and monarchy continue to restrict and control. The young boy in the world of experience appears no hope of return to innocence. Unlike the boy in the songs of innocence, this child cannot even dream in the world of innocence. Blake is showing the boy is so restricted that not even in his dreams is he able to be free. In the first poem, the boy uses ‘I' , whereas this child is described as ‘a little black thing'. This is showing that the child is not aware of its own identity, it has been so exposed to the world of experience. ‘a little black thing' also shows that he has been corrupted, the colour black being a negative colour in the world of experience. ‘thing' suggests that the child is of no importance to anyone, the child is weaker and more vulnerable. He has no protection from parents or even other chimney sweepers as companions and support. He is totally alone in a world where no one, including the church, will help him. ‘Snow' and ‘woe' are used as end rhyme twice in the poem, emphasising that although the snow is white, a pure colour, it is cold and cannot offer warmth, linking it to ‘woe' where the child is constantly unhappy and full of sorrow.

Marketing strategy of the organisation

In order for us to understand any administration we have to either cognize about or make some research on it. So in this assignment I have chosen an administration. The administration I am making my assignment on is Polyflor South Africa. The administration will be described, including their products/services and their clients. In order to understand the administration we need to carry on a SWOT analysis, besides looking at barriers. If we have all the needed information from above we will understand the administration better and can get down with the selling program.Question 1The administration I am traveling to depict is Polyflor Gross saless Africa otherwise known as Polyflor South Africa. Polyflor S.A is an industrial flooring company. The South African subdivision was established in 2004 by Denver Coleman and Sheila Coleman. The administration really originates from the United Kingdom where the first Branch of was established in Manchester.Polyflor is all over the universe, they have subdivisions all over the universe. There are subdivisions all over Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. So they are fundamentally on every continent. Polyflor Manchester is the chief caput office. Polyflor S.A is a household concern, where they all work together. The administration believes strongly in â€Å" Team Work † . And is all about profiting the consumer.Polyflor S.A has a figure of different merchandises. All their merchandises are heavy responsibility, industrial merchandises. They do chiefly shocking but they got some other merchandises that is non flooring, it ‘s really got to make with plumbing.Their chief merchandise is heavy responsibility, industrial vinyl flooring. Another merchandise of theirs is industrial meshing gum elastic tiles. They besides do wooden block mosaics. The merchandise that is non shocking related that is comparatively new at Polyflor S.A is specialized industrial drains. As you can see all their merchandises are industrial merchandises so they meant to be used in topographic points where the merchandises will be introduced to a batch of wear and tear. You will happen their merchandises in mills, large edifices etc. The vinyl flooring can really be seen chiefly in infirmaries and in many of the luxury coach line drives. The merchandises are non truly used in a private capacity. Polyflor does n't acquire their merchandises from merely one topographic point, their merchandises come all over the universe. Their vinyl shocking comes from the United Kingdom, from Manchester. That ‘s the majority of their merchandises they do. The specialised drains are imported from Germany. They do hold a local manufactured merchandise and that is the meshing gum elastic tiles that they really get from down the route from them. They do n't truly supply a service as they sell shocking and other merchandises, but they do hold support systems where they will the aid at anytime. They ever there for their clients. They besides got a station sale service where they will help refering their merchandises. If a client is necessitating aid or general aid refering their merchandises, the employees of Polyflor S.A will ever be at that place to assist every bit much as they can.For these types of merchandises there is non a immense mark market, as these merchandises are non used in a personal and private capacity. They are used in a industrial capacity, intending mills, infirmaries and so on. Polyflor S.A does non put in the shocking they sell their merchandises to the administrations who install it.So Polyflor ‘s has non got an limitless sum of clients, but they do hold a big client base. Which the bulk of them are regular, on traveling purchasers of their merchandises. Basically, Polyflor merely sells to shockin g contractors. Polyflor is non allowed to put in their flooring. So other shocking companies who do besides sell flooring and put in it. Purchase from Polyflor. Some of the chief flooring contractors that are regular clients are Peter Bates, Turner Piercing, Kevin Bates, Albert Carpets and many others.Question 2Looking at assorted administrations we need to understand them more. We can make this by carry oning a SWOT analysis. Basically a SWOT analysis is structuring of information, which is collected from the internal and external environment. It gives us a theoretical account in order to get down the selling planning procedure. Shows us the strengths, failings, chances and menaces of the administration. Cloete ( 2010,21 ) So the SWOT analysis of Polyflor is:Strengths:They are a recognized administration, good known in the flooring trade.They are known for holding the best quality merchandises.They are an international administration, so they are recognised all over the universe.Polyflor has one of the best proficient backgrounds in the flooring trade.They are a household concern so the squad of employees work truly expeditiously and good together.Keeping up in the new manner tendencies of today with their new designs on the flooring.They are a really environmentally friendly company.Failings:Finding reps that know about shocking who will be able to sell their merchandises.Finding employees who are able to work with the merchandises and know about flooring.Not holding plenty South African manufactured merchandises.Geting bulk merchandises from abroad states, people need to acquire the merchandises and start assorted occupations utilizing Polyflor ‘s merchandises but they cant because Polyflor has non received the merchandises due to detain being imported from abroad.Opportunities:The manner tendencies are altering all the clip, so Polyflor can hold new manner tendencies in the designs of their flooring.Most people and companies are going â€Å" Green † , so they want to utilize more environmentally friendly merchandises. So Polyflor can sell environmentally friendly merchandises and present new â€Å" Green † merchandises.Besides they could sell more locally produced goods, .Polyflor could non merely merely sell to shocking contractors for industrial usage, but besides opening up a new market for people to utilize it in a private capacity.Menaces:Of class their chief menace is competition ; there are other shocking companies besides Polyflor. So they have to invariably maintain happening ways to remain on top and maintaining competitory advantage.Another menace would be that most merchandises come from other international states, which sometimes the merchandis es are n't delivered in clip. So clients could travel looking other topographic points.Besides coming from abroad, the monetary value of the merchandises could alter easy, due to currency, revenue enhancements, import and export responsibilities.All of these facets can hold deductions on the selling scheme of the administration. Therefore it is of import to make this analysis.

Baroque Agead

Tu se’ morta is a piece sung by Orpheus accompanied by a basso continuo after he is told of Eurydice’s death. Orpheus wants to bring her back from Hell as he offers a distressed goodbye to the earth, sky and sun. The style of singing is simple and intended to bring a dramatic delivery to the audience. The vocal line is rhythmically free and the phrases are more irregular. The song is flexible because it is suggesting a sad and passionate farewell to the person he loves. To express this farewell, the song reaches the climax several different times and then drops away.Dido’s Lament is also accompanied by a basso continuo and has a mournful setting as well. The song opens with a descending chromatic line, the ground bass, which is repeated eleven different times throughout the piece. Dido repeats â€Å"Remember Me† several times as well also reaches the highest note of the aria. The dynamics were constant and not notated and the tempi were slow and constant. The woman who sang the song portrays a haunting and sorrowful mood for the listener. The song comes to a conclusion with a descending violin melody which expresses the tragedy.There are several similarities in these pieces. One of the main similarities is that both songs give the listener a haunting, sorrowful, distressed and sad feeling. Although one song is expressing the sorrow of a loved one’s death and the other is expressing the tragedy of one’s fate; they both put off a sad vibe. They both at one point or another reach a climax and then drop, which keeps the listener entertained and interested in the song. Tu se’ morta and Dido’s Lament are both accompanied by a basso continuo.Last but not least, the texture of both of these pieces is homophonic. The main difference, in my opinion, is how different they sound from one another because one is sung by a female and the other by a male. The deep, powerful voice of Orpheus as he sung Tu se’ morta compared to the high, thrill voice of the female who sung Dido’s Lament puts a whole new outlook on the songs. Even though both songs give a haunting feeling to the listener just the fact that one is a female and the other is male changed the mood slightly.In my opinion, it is hard to point out many differences. All in all, both pieces were interesting. The intensity of both Tu Se’ Morta and Dido’s Lament were compelling and put the listener in the exact mood that they were portraying. Haunting, sorrowful, sad and depressed was the mood I felt after listening to both. Personally, Dido’s Lament was my favorite out of the two. Her chromatic notes which created tension and stress kept the song fascinating and the want to hear more. In conclusion, both pieces were wonderful, but Dido’ Lament was absolutely amazing to the ears!

Elementary statistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Elementary statistics - Essay Example What can you conclude from Chebychev’s theorem about the percentage of  adults in the town whose heights are between 59.7 and 72.9 inches? Show all work. 5) Find the z-score corresponding to the given value and use the z-score to determine whether the value is unusual. Consider a score to be unusual if its z-score is less than –2.00 or greater than 2.00. Round to the nearest hundredth if necessary. Combinations and permutations are concepts related. The central difference is the order. For example, in a permutation the order is important. The same set of objects, but taken in a different order will give different permutations. In a combination, we select objects from a total of , but the order is no longer required. (Spiegel, 2000) Assume that a procedure yields a binomial distribution with a trial repeated n times.  Use the Binomial Probability Formula to find the probability of x successes given the probability p of successes on a single trial. (5 pts) normal distribution: The normal distribution is the curve that resemble a bell curve and it is referred to as Gaussian distribution. Normal distributions are symmetrical with a single central peak at the mean of the data. standard normal distribution: Standard normal distribution is a special case of the normal distribution. It is distribution that occurs when a normal random variable has a mean , and a standard deviation

Arab Israeli Relations and the Middle East Conflict Essay

Arab Israeli Relations and the Middle East Conflict - Essay Example However, the Muslims are the majority while Christians are the minority in Palestine (Smith, 2006). The war has been fought since then with no signs of it ending any time soon despite efforts being put by the two warring factions to strike a cease-fire to end the war. In fact, the war has led to the death of many people in the region something, which is so alarming. As such, the United Nations and the U.S. have been at the forefront in trying to bring the two warring factions to the negotiating table so as to end the war. Nevertheless, it is surprising that even after making an agreement, it seldom take too long before the wear regenerates again. This war has led to much research being conducted to establish its real cause as regards the views held by the two warring factions. In this regard, historians have established that the conflict has mainly been attributed to the struggle over land. This is because the war of 1948 was fought purely on the land question that later led to the d ivision of Palestine into three parts namely the West Bank, the Israel State and the Gaza Strip. Palestine, as it is known internationally is a small area of about 10,000 square miles. The war over this land degenerated over the fight for its political control (Smith, 2006). The Jews claim that the land was given to them in according to the torah where God promised Abraham and his descendants the land. In fact, they argue that the land has been a historical site for the Jews people of Israel, which had been illegally occupied by the Roman Empire. Therefore, the Jewish are of the opinion that the land rightfully belongs to them and nothing whatsoever can deter them from occupying this land. Palestine Arab’s, on the other hand, claims that the land rightfully belongs to them based on the fact that they have lived on this land for several years. They also claim that, demographically, they represent the majority on this land, which signifies their legitimate ownership of the land . Therefore, they refute the argument put forwards by the Biblical-era kingdom that claims that the land belong to the minority Jewish. In fact, Palestine Arabs argue that based on the fact that Ishmael, the son of Abraham is an Arab’s ancestor, then the promise of God to the Abraham’s descendants also include the Arabs as well. Therefore, they object any attempt aimed at snatching them the land, which they believe rightfully belongs to them (Lesch and Tschirgi, 1998). It is noted in the 19th century, preceded by the trend that began in Europe, many people across the globe began to identify themselves as sovereign nations that culminated to the demand for independence. As a result, the Palestine and Jews started developing national consciousness aimed at achieving their national agenda. However, since the Jews were spread all over the world, there came a need to identify a place where the Jews could call home thereby leading to the formation of the Zionist movement. Th e Jews later found Palestine to the right place since it represented the place of Jews origin. As a result, in 1882, the Zionist movement initiated mass immigration of the Europeans into Palestine. However, what is noted is that, at this time, Palestine formed part of the Ottoman Empire. The Jewish settled mainly in four major cities in Palestine particularly those with religious significance such as Jerusalem, Safad, Hebron, and Tiberas (Mahler and Mahler, 2010). As the Jews continued to

Coming of Age in Mississippi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Coming of Age in Mississippi - Essay Example Through Anne’s development of virtues and faults, one gets to visualise a real picture of discrimination based on colour and gender. A reader has to fight with what the author believes in throughout the book, and gets drawn into her deeds that one can cheer when the actions are justified or shy away when someone is treated unfairly. Using her memories, the author invites the reader to imagine a young girl growing up in Mississippi. During her entire life, Moody dealt with hardships that most people could not imagine, but due to her experiences, Anne gains the heroin qualities. How Moody deals with the questions of gender in her life and in her book As Moody grows up, she notes that there are different roles and misconceptions associated with each gender and race. She realizes the way women are treated and she struggles to make sure that they do not hinder her from achieving the best she could be. In the book, she depicts her everyday life in detail as a teenage lady being brou ght up in the pre-civil rights times in the South. Her maturity and experience become tools that she utilizes to cope up with gender inequality within her society and the family to develop into a woman she desired. Through most of her youthful experiences, Moody manages the question of gender by learning its social importance on her own since her mother avoids dealing with the issue as she feels that nothing regarding the societal believes about women can be changed. The insufficiency of information on society that Moody received from her mother made her to explore even further on life issues on her own and critique the standard of that era, rather than incorporating herself into a society that seemed so unfair and disgracing. Anne Moody proudly and confidently uses her observations of the various social aspects to determine her individual identity as a tough black woman who is ready and willing to stand up for what she considers right with hopes of future success and progress for A frican Americans (Moody 280). How white supremacy affect gender related experiences among and between the black and white communities According to Moody, white supremacy restrains black women to take up certain roles in the working environments and acts as a hindrance to equal rights in terms of wages. Quality education is also given to white women at the expense of the blacks. For instance, the author argues that the only option that was availed to her uneducated mother was working as a house help for a worthless pay. This forced Anne to take the burden of working to support her family while still at school (Moody 300). It is further depicted that white women were given more respect and their rights protected more than the blacks of both genders. Meddling with the life of a white woman meant that the black person associated with the action would face serious consequences. For example, Moody says that a 14-year old black man from Chicago was murdered merely for allegedly whistling a t a young white woman. This made Moody to conclude that white supremacy was too stern that any black person could be killed simply for his or her colour. At some point in time, Moody tries to depict that whites were always superior and that their wrong deeds were not treated with serious consequences as did for male blacks. This is illustrated in the book when Moody gives a picture of her life in high school when a white police administrator was caught having a love affair with a black teenage girl. It is quite obvious in this context that the act brought them

The systematic analysis of an art work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The systematic analysis of an art work - Essay Example The Museum possesses a permanent collection of Art works of American, European, Asian and Contemporary Art. The reason behind the selection of the painting- The Young Shepherdess is that it represents the attractiveness of village life. Besides, it stands for nostalgic feeling and realism. At the museum, the work was displayed on canvas mounted on board, with high concentration on minute details of female human body. Bailey Van Hook concludes that: â€Å"Bouguereau’s subjects divide into mythological and religious subjects and peasant genre.† (Hook 32) As an exponent of Academic Painting, Bouguereau’s subject matter is vivid, ranging from mythological, religious and peasant genre. Moreover, he was with a Classical approach towards composition, form and subject matter. Bouguereau was an exponent of Academic Art, which was deeply influenced by European Universities. He made use of nature allegories to bring out the essence of his unique ideas. As a supporter of Academic Painting style, Bouguereau granted highest status to historical and mythological subjects. This uniqu e art work belongs to peasant genre because the very face of the shepherd girl reveals her innocence and truthfulness of peasant life in remote villages. Besides, the work is symbolic of hardships of peasant life. The face of the girl reveals that she is without any emotion towards life and her defensive pose shows that she is with so many household responsibilities like rearing sheep. Her bare footed state, naked neck, ears and hands expose her poverty. Moreover, the artist was famous for his lively female portraits with a slight touch of eroticism. At this point, the artist makes use of color combination for the clarity of the painting. For instance, the girl is portrayed in light colors, i.e. grey, light grey, ash color and ivory white color. Here, one can see that the lower part of the girl is painted in dark colors/shades and the upper part is painted in light colors/shades.

Case Study 10.1 - Project Scheduling at Blanque Cheque Construction - 1

10.1 - Project Scheduling at Blanque Cheque Construction - Case Study Example A project manager may make use of the below approaches to estimate how long a project will last, rather than basing it on how long he is pressured to make it last. The expert opinion uses the consensus method to arrive at an estimate. The project manager will engage the services of at least three experts who have an understanding of the type of project to be undertaken or have managed similar projects before (Kerzner 6). After a briefing by the project manager on the project requirements, the experts discuss it among themselves and each submits their own separate estimates according to their understanding. Each produces a task list containing effort estimates for each task. The project manager then hands back a list of the estimates to the experts without revealing to which one of them each belongs. He asks the experts to consider the risks and estimates of the others’ results and recalculate their work. The experts then discuss the project to determine if any assumptions or issues have changed after the last discussion. After studying the combined estimates, the experts revise their estimates and submit the results independently again. If the discrepancies are still not practical, the project manager hands the results back again, or invites more experts. The aim is to make the difference between the lowest and the highest estimates as low as possible. The cycle may be repeated severally until most of the results are in or close to agreement. Once in agreement, an average of the experts’ estimates is used as the project duration. However, rather than spending much time on the estimation procedure, the project manager may use the results of several experts in the early stages. For example, if three experts determined the estimate as 2000 hours and one estimated at 4000 hours, he may need to ignore the overestimated duration but with the knowledge that he bears the risk of the duration accepted actually doubling. Past history is one of

Biology of food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Biology of food - Essay Example Genes are required to direct the production of functional molecules; also known as proteins. A process known as gene expression does this. Gene expression consists of two steps: transcription, and translation. Gene information is necessary in the production of proteins. Transcription is the first step done to get the information out of storage. The information stored in the DNA of a gene is relocated to an RNA (mRNA) molecule located in the cell nucleus; this process is called transcription. The DNA of a gene serves as a template for harmonizing base pairing. RNA polymerase II catalyzes the configuration of a pre- mRNA molecule; which is developed to form a mature mRNA. The mRNA transports the information from the DNA located in the nucleus into the cytoplasm. The second major step in gene expression, translation step follows in the cytoplasm. Three start factor proteins (IF1, IF2, and IF3) bind to the small subunit of the ribosome, resulting to a pre-initiation mRNA complex. The mRN A complex and methinine carrying tRNA, bind to the mRNA in close proximity to the AUG start codon; forming the initiation complex. The mRNA intermingles with the large ribosomal subunits, which releases the initiation factors. The large ribosomal subunit binds to the small ribosomal subunit to complete the initiation complex. ... Peptide bonds are formed via a peptidyl transferase activity. This procedure is repeated until the tRNA molecules have read all codons; amino acids joined to the tRNA have been connected in the growing polypeptide chain appropriately. With each mRNA, base sequence, codes for a specific amino acid. Each codon identifies a particular amino acid. Therefore, the mRNA sequence is used as a template to bring together the chain of amino acids that make up a protein. Transfer RNA joins the protein; by linking one amino acid within the interval. Protein production comes to a halt when the ribosome comes across a stop codon in mRNA. The stop codons are UAA, UAG, and UGA; Trna can recognize these codons. In place of the tRNA, release factors bind and facilitate the release of the mRNA from the ribosome and consequent dissociation of the ribosome. This sting of amino acids built by chromosomes finally acquires its activity during gene regulation, when gene expression is taking place. Signals fro m the location and or other cells activate transcription facets. The transcription features are proteins, which bind to the dogmatic locations of the gene. The rate of transcription can then be increased or decreased; establishing the amount of protein and product made. This is paramount as the string-of-stuff will resemble and act differently as per the specified activities. Environmental mutagens (like oxygen radicals) can result to DNA modifications causing mutations. These radicals react with DNA yielding lesions such as base modifications, cross-links, and strand breaks. A highly reactive hydroxyl radical, counters the DNA. This is done by the addition to double bonds of the DNA bases, as well as the blocking of the hydrogen atom from the methyl assemblage of thymine and C-H

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR (EXAM PREPARATION) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR (EXAM PREPARATION) - Essay Example Schouten and McAlexander (1995), in the work, try to explain that the responses of individual consumers can be explained by using what the term as the subcultures of consumption. The subcultures arise from the fact that people will tend to organize their lives along particular lines. The organizing process results in one making choices in their lives. The sub-groups can be defined as the authentic sub-units that can offer a self-reflection as to the relations of consumption. That is on the basis of the commitment that the people share in terms of the product, the brand or the activities being undertaken in the use circles. Other characteristics that may exist include unique jargons, rituals as well as the shared beliefs. The authors try to understand the consumers as well as the manner in which these consumers organize their various identities, as well as their lives. The most powerful organizing forces are the activities as well as the associated relationships. These interpersonal relationships are taken into consideration by people, and they make up a bigger percentage of the contributory factors towards consumer mannerisms. In trying to understand the fundamental alignments within the subcultures one would need to understand the ethnographic analyzes behind these groupings. Take for members club whereby on requires some subscription. Here there is a gathering of people with similar interests that have led to being together since they share the same mannerisms. For one to study the consumer behavior within this grouping, one would need to understand the overall structure of the subculture, as well as its ethos. The ethos represents the moral standing of the group as well as its values (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995). The grouping has some impact on the lives of the members since they are prescribed by an absolute code of conduct that distinguishes them from the rest, and that also aligns their consumption behaviors

The concepts “community” Essay Example for Free

The concepts â€Å"community† Essay Assessment evidence shows that you can: †¢ critically discuss the meaning of the concepts â€Å"community† and â€Å"community development† †¢ discuss some of the difficulties encountered when explaining these concepts †¢ provide a historical background of community development †¢ critically discuss how the meaning of these concepts has changed over time and how scholars influenced by different ideologies and disciplines have given diverse meanings to these concepts †¢ use evidence from the prescribed readings Critically discuss the meaning of the concepts â€Å"community† and â€Å"community development† Community Geographers emphasise spatial aspects, economists emphasise work and markets and sociologists emphasise social interactions and networks in their definitions of community. Community is also defined as people in a given geographical location, the word can really refer to any group sharing something in common. This may refer to smaller geographic areas a neighborhood, a housing project or development, a rural area or to a number of other possible communities within a larger, geographically-defined community. Examples of community: The Catholic community (or faith community, a term used to refer to one or more congregations of a specific faith). The arts community The African American community The education community The business community The homeless community The gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community The medical community The Haitian community The elderly community Often when we think of community, we think in geographic terms. Our community is the city, town or village where we live. When community is defined through physical location, it has precise boundaries that are readily understood and accepted by others. Defining communities in terms of geography, however, is only one way of looking at them. Communities can also be defined by common cultural heritage, language, and beliefs or shared interests. These are sometimes called communities of interest. Even when community does refer to a geographic location, it doesn’t always include everyone within the area. For example, many Aboriginal communities are part of a larger non-Aboriginal geography. In larger urban centres, communities are often defined in terms of particular neighbourhoods. Most of us belong to more than one community, whether we’re aware of it or not. For example, an individual can be part of a neighbourhood community, a religious community and a community of shared interests all at the same time. Relationships, whether with people or the land, define a community for each individual. Community development The United Nations defines Community development as a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems. Community development is a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems. Community wellbeing (economic, social, environmental and cultural) often evolves from this type of collective action being taken at a grassroots level. Community development ranges from small initiatives within a small group to large initiatives that involve the broader community. It is a broad term given to the practices of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various  aspects of communities, typically aiming to build stronger and more resilient local communities. Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing them with the skills they need to cause in their communities. These skills are often created through the formation of large social groups working for a common agenda. Community developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities positions within the context of larger social institutions. Community development as a term has taken off widely in anglophone countries i.e. the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and other countries in the Commonwealth. It is also used in some countries in eastern Europe with active community development associations in Hungary and Romania. The Community Development Journal, published by Oxford University Press, since 1966 has aimed to be the major forum for research and dissemination of international community development theory and practice. Community development approaches are recognised internationally. These methods and approaches have been acknowledged as significant for local social, economic, cultural, environmental and political development by such organisations as the UN, WHO, OECD, World Bank, Council of Europe and EU. Discuss some of the difficulties encountered when explaining these concepts Mayo (in Mae Shaw 2008:24) observes that it is not just that the term has been used ambiguously; it has been contested, fought over and appropriated for different uses and interests to justify different politics, policies and practices. Stacey (in Mae Shaw 2008:24) also states that the ambiguity of the term community also tells us something about its wider social significance and the way in which it continues to be appropriated to legitimise or justify a wide range of political positions, which might otherwise be regarded as incompatible. Kumar (2005:279) takes the debate further by looking at how the concept community has often been used in the implementation of community-based natural resource management (hereafter CBNRM) projects. The manner in which the term community is represented conceptually, socially, politically and geographically in CBNRM policies shapes the way in which relation- ships and administrative procedures are constituted and enacted. Mearns and Scoones (in Kumar 2005:279) argue that the concept of community has been taken for granted, especially, in policies, projects and also the literature dealing with the CBNRM. They argue that a community has been portrayed as a distinct social group in one geographical location, sharing common characteristics, in harmony and consensus: images that actually may be quite misguiding reflections of reality. Uphoff (in Kumar 2005:280) argues that CBNRM faces two particular problems in how the community is conceptualised, firstly, communities are not necessarily bounded social or geographical units, and nor are they likely to be homogeneous entities with single and agreed interests. It is this generalisation of community that has made the implementation of CBNRM difficult. Provide a historical background of community development One author traces its history back to the mid-19th- century USA, while another finds its origin in the early 20th-century history of the USA. One says it all started in India in 1921, and yet another would credit the 1931 Gandhian experiment in rural reconstruction as its beginnings. It is also claimed that the British colonial administrators of India were the creators of the elusive concept of community development. Critically discuss how the meaning of these concepts has changed over time and how scholars influenced by different ideologies and disciplines have given diverse meanings to these concepts Conclusion About the early history of community development there is as little agreement simply because there is no definition. Bibliography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Community Tool Box website PeerNetBC website

Vicarious Living Essay Example for Free

Vicarious Living Essay In Gabriel Garcia Marquezs book Chronicle of a Death Foretold our heroine is a young woman, one of many children in a poor family. Her name is Angela Vicario. Angelas last name is Vicario as in vicarious living it is clearly connotated in this passage to show its meaning of a representative, or not the real one. In this passage of the Chronicle of a Death Foretold Marquez very efficiently utilizes his writing skills and literary devices to present us Angelas thoughts. Angelas role in this stereotypical romance is that of an underprivileged woman who has found herself a husband, who is flashy and a wealthy outsider. Angela herself, however, resists this role until after she had been returned to the family. This resistance involves rejecting the refined marital relationship that everyone else seems to accept. Her mother is urging her to marry Bayardo San Roman for his wealth because love can be learned. This indicates a belief that one husband is as good as another and that money is what separates them. Angela finally accepts her role in this stereotypical romance along with its refined relationships. Her mother is right. Love can be learned. It is learned by Angela under the influence of rejection and the lash. She begins loving the man she rightfully hated. She starts writing hundreds of letters to try and convince him to return to her. The letters that Angela sends to Bayardo explore the notion of love letter. Whereas the function of love letters is traditionally to express emotion or convey longing, Bayardo does not value Angelas love letters for their content. By not opening any of the love letters, Bayardo shows that the repeated act of sending a love letter, rather than the love letters actual content, demonstrates the love that Angela feels for him. Love letters are often similar and interchangeable; their content is less persuasive to Bayardo than the fact that they continue to arrive. His attitude makes the love letters part of the ritual of love, and underscores his relationship with Angela as another ritual within the story. The readers realization that the marriage of the hero and the heroine will be founded on the quantities of stereotypes not the conversations. This removes the whole aspect of a happy ending. The sentence structure in this passage is very important and used very skilfully by Marquez. The narrator describes Angela writing her letters as though he is able to feel her raw emotions. He employs longer sentences when describing scenes of her writing her letters, and switches back to short sentences when describing her dismay. Marquez also uses many words twice in a row to emphasize the anxiousness of Angela in wait On Friday she gave it (letter) to the postmistress who came Friday However, when describing the day Bayardo had returned he only described it as halfway through one August day. This lack of information shows how little affection Angela feels for Bayardo. Also Angela weighs her love as more passionate than Bayardos. She was trying to put a value on her love. Her name is a very good metaphor which described this. Her name meaning not the real one represents how her love is not real. Also the use of literary devises gave the reader a more realistic view of the story. Marquez uses magic realism and depicts a world where Angela is convinced that she has slept with Bayardo and lost her virginity for the first time. She is unashamed to reveal this in her letter and talks about it with full feeling and passion. Marquez describes her feelings as very real and has exaggerated a few details. This gives this passage a sense of magic realism making the reader believe Angela. Marquezs use of imagery in the description of Bayardos return is very significant. He returns just as he had first met Angela. Nothing about him has changed, except for the obvious exterior. This implies to the reader that Bayardo that had not changed his way of thinking nor has his character or personality. The contrast Marquez provides between the past and present represents to the reader his love and passion for Angela. Moreover, Marquez also uses embroidery several times in this passage. Embroidery is connotated positively in this passage to symbolize an invisible thread that ties together both Angela and Bayardo. The letters are the invisible thread between the two. Angela reaches consciousness through a protracted process of letter writing. This is clearly the function of the letters, which are never opened by her Bayardo. As the letters progress they mature and grow with Angela. Each letter has a beautiful crescendo quality and each letter shows Angelas growth spiritually and mentally. This passage is not one of the major important passages in the story, since it does not give more information on the murder of Santiago; however, what this passage does provide is a key understanding of how Angelas mind works. She has been like a prisoner, just writing letters and just hoping to be free one day. Writing all those letters Angela comes out at the end as a liberated woman, individuated and separate. She achieves the emancipation through the magic of the letter.

Importance of Brand Management in SMEs

Importance of Brand Management in SMEs Study on Fast Food Takeaways of West London Executive Summary Many remarkable studies and literatures have been produced which discusses critical activities of the Brand management in LOs (Large organizations) while research on the importance of the brand management this in SME (Small Business Enterprises) has been neglected. I have tried to emphasis in my dissertation that what were those important factors of brand management which can be applied in small business so that these businesses can develop a better brand image in the market. I have tried to limit my research on the fast food takeaways of west London area. My dissertation is based on primary and secondary research to support the literature and authenticity. It has been highlighted in the previous studies that two major research streams have been emerged in this field first focuses on providing an overarching brand management framework to guide managerial decision making (Keller, 1998; Macrae, 1996; Aaker, 1991; Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis, 1986) while the other concentrates on various discrete aspects of the process (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2000; Berthon, Hulbert, and Pitt 1999a; de Chernatony and Riley 1998). Two gaps in the literature have been identified; 1) It has been identified that developed organizations are involved in numerous courses at once, 2) the brand management researches had been focusing utterly on large organizations, while the small and medium enterprises have been overlooked (Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008) To manage a brand image requires a number of activities which shows that importance of brand management in SME are different than large organizations. On this basis an important question has been raised by the authors that how brands are in fact controlled in SME. Though I am not been able to find any study specifically focusing on brand management in SMEs but I have tried to explore the areas mentioned by previous authors. Visual identifications, exhibiting business in food exhibitions and magazine and keeping customer records are some of the important factors mentioned by the respondents. Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Background Following Blankson, C. and Omar, O.E. (2002), SME is explained as a small to medium firm having employees less then 250, having a relatively small share of the market in economic terms, and managed by its owner(s) in a personalized way. Brands may have been there for more than a 1,000 years; but never has any society come across the influence of branding as is witnessed nowadays. Brands are prevailing in all portions of human life like food and clothing, production and consumption, personality and lifestyle and pop culture to politics. Branding themselves has become a kind of culture because it promotes represents brands and like yesterday, it is no longer just about adding value to a product. In the eyes of Carson, D. (1990) (quoted in Hall, 1999); brands are currently gunning for a share of inner lives, their values, their beliefs, their politics, and their souls of consumers. The effect of brands and branding is far away from the field of marketing and advertising. Branding is an economic construct as it has been considered from both marketing and financial perspectives and is a social construct as brands hasnt been completely understood owing to the lack of academic research in this area. Advertising in all probability is the most visible factor of marketing but branding in all probability is at the centre of any marketing communications. The roots of most problems of advertising lies in branding strategy. In 1990s Benettons shocking advertising tactic is an infamous example. Majority people would relate to a big business brand with large advertising expenditures, trying to reinforce the mindset that big businesses can be brands unlike the small businesses. Small business branding is frequently referred to as an oxymoron, so might the term entrepreneurial branding (Blankson, C. and Stokes. D, 2002). In small business branding, there is very less research. The research is mainly concerned with brand management of an existing venture. There seems to be very less academic research of branding in small business new ventures. In SME marketing management it has been recognised that management style; operations and functions of SMEs are different from LOs (Knight, 2000; Cohn and Lindberg, 1972). The use of advertising or recruitment agencies is rare. Definition of survival mentality has been mentioned as ‘when a business meets resources and time constraints SME managers adapt a habit called Survival Mentality. Marketing, human resource, management and general business planning are the major problems quoted by the authors in an SME (Huang and Brown, 1999). Corporate image and corporate reputations have been differentiated under the umbrella of brand management. Corporate image has been defined as the â€Å"publics latest beliefs about the company† (Balmer, 1998 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 29) while corporate reputations has been defined as â€Å"value judgments about an organizations qualities, trustworthiness and reliability built up over time† (Balmer, 1998; Fombrun and Van Riel, 1997 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p.29). It has been mentioned that there is a consistency between an organizations and stakeholders belief about a brand though unfortunately SME and stakeholder relation hasnt been discussed yet in detail. The importance of the building a positive brand image in the market has been emphasized in order to create a niche in the market place. â€Å"Regardless of whether an organization is comprised of a singular or multiple brands, it is necessary that marketing efforts be directed tow ard establishing and maintaining a positive brand image in the minds of key stakeholders. Ultimately, this can contribute to the development of a favorable corporate reputation† (de Chernatony, 1999, cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 30). â€Å"Few small businesses follow a reputation building strategy and when a need for â€Å"image management† is recognized, it is often limited to implementing a public relations campaign† (Goldberg, Cohen, and Fiegenbaum, 2003 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 30). However, a brand can be best considered as a psychological phenomenon. Formally, a brand can be defined as a â€Å"name, sign, symbol, logo, etc. that identifies the goods and services of one selling the goods and differentiates the goods from others† (Deshpande, R., Farley, J.U. and Webster, F.E. Jr, 2003). A brand takes on meaning with customers through commercial messages, personal experiences, interpersonal communications and other means. The power of a brand resides in the minds of customers through countless brand interactions like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, behavior. The brand protects a product or service with meaning that differentiates the product from other product or services proposed to fulfill the same need. A brand is much more than a name. Branding is not a naming problem but a strategy problem (Deshpande, R., Farley, J.U. and Webster, F.E. Jr, 2003). A brand is a precious asset which must be managed carefully to preserve and enhance t he meaning so that customers form strong relations as a result. Several essential principles of brand management applicable to industrial branding are highlighted here (Fuller, P.B. 2004). Brand awareness and brand image are two components of the psychological meaning of a brand. Customers should be aware of what products or services are associated with a brand (brand awareness) and should be aware of what attributes and benefits the brand offers and what makes it superior and unique (brand image) (Gadenne, D. 2004). Industrial brands can distinguish themselves on the basis of a complete host of characteristics and benefits that range in tangibility and their association to the product. Some relationship will be associated to the brands functional performance such as products value proposition and promised benefits and more intangible considerations will be indicated from further associations like corporate image dimensions embodying such characteristics as trust, ethics, credibility, reliability and corporate social responsibility (Gilmore, A., Carson, D. and Grant, K. 2001). Branding is a central part of marketing activity. To brand or not to brand? isnt the question. Moreover, every company has a name which will function as a brand for it. For many industrial marketers, the company name is the brand. The question is What you want your name stand for and what it is to mean in the mind of the customer(Gray, B., Matear, S., Boshoff, C. and Matheson, P. 2007) every contact involving the company and the customer becomes an input. The brand must be managed as a strategic asset otherwise it will be managed by customers there or thereabouts at random. An industrial brand managed properly can realize the same reward as a consumer brand like price premiums, greater loyalty, and ability to extend into other categories, and so on. Brand positioning brings in the heart of the brand (Hogarth-Scott, S., Watson, K. and Wilson, L, 1996). They should have both points-of-parity and points-of-difference with regard to competitors product offerings. Those associations where the brand â€Å"breaks even† with competitors and negates their intended points-of-difference are called as Points-of-parity while those associations where the customer behavior is driven by strong, favorable, and unique brand associations are called points-of-difference (Hill, J. 2001a). The core brand promise or brand mantra is an internal marketing expression that captures key points-of-difference that are the essence and spirit of the brand in a three-to-five word phrase. The brand slogan is based on the brand mantra which is used in advertising and other communications where a translation of the mantra is done in consumer friendly language. For instance, Nikes internal brand mantra is â€Å"authentic athletic performance† while th e external brand slogan is â€Å"Just Do it† which is used as signature to many of their ads (Hill, J. 2001b). Examples for industrial brands slogan which reflect principal brand mantras are Agilent Technologies Dreams Made Real, Emersons Consider It Solved, GEs Imagination at Work, Hewlett Packards Invent, Novells The Power to Change, United Technologies Next Things First, and Xerox The Document Company. The Brand Charter summarizes the development, history, and positioning of a brand. All marketing action must be consistent and be evaluated against the Brand Charter. Strong brands have a uniform brand image for every individual customer and across the customer population. Strength of a brand reflects the quality and uniformity of the firms marketing efforts and the concern with which the brand has been managed in due course. For a brand to be successful, it has to be consistent with the firms strategy and the strategic marketing management (Hurmerinta-Peltomaki, L. and Numm ela, N.1998). 1.2 Research Aims and Objectives AIM: * To recognize the forces of brand Management which generates a brand image for a little fast food restaurant/takeaway in the market? Objectives: * To recognize the suitable literature produced on brand management in SMEs. * To get hold a few of the key fast food restaurants/takeaways. * To discover and take into account a methodological approach which will assist in finding primary (qualitative or quantitative have to be determined yet) * To vitally analysis and evaluate results with the preceding findings and provide the significance of brand management in the SMEs. 1.3 Value and contribution In the intellectual perspective, this research will try to highlight the importance of branding in small businesses investigating the concept in fast food and takeaways of London. Though the research and literature done in Branding in small businesses is very less. In the industrial context, the study will provide a strategic understanding of the potential application of Branding at the early stage of business development and how it can be used as a strategic tool for building a brand image. 1.4 structure of the dissertation The report is structured in the following format: Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter provides the background to the research topic discusses the aims and objectives of the study. It also illustrates the academic and industrial value the research seeks to address. Chapter 2: Literature Review Literature review highlights the literature the research is based upon and concludes with the research done into the effectiveness of brand management in small business enterprises and different concepts of branding like product branding and corporate branding and their differences. It also discusses new theory of branding for small businesses which is of importance to the dissertation at hand. Chapter 3: Methodology This chapter includes the methodology adapted by for this research paper. Sample data of the research is being discussed in this chapter. It will also highlight the research philosophy, research question, research design, data collection and analysis methods and reliability and validity of the data. Chapter 4: Findings This chapter discusses the finding of the questionnaires in graphical representation followed by descriptive description. It also presents the important factors highlighted by the respondents during the survey. Chapter 5: Discussions and Limitations You will be able to find the comparative analysis of the findings and recommendations in this chapter. This chapter also highlights the limitations of the research and future research possibilities in this area. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction The strategic importance of the effective brand management has been recognised and been highlighted by many researchers (Kirby, D., 2003). Two major streams which have emerged in the brand management field includes; â€Å"providing an overarching brand management framework to guide managerial decision-making† (Keller, 1998; Macrae, 1996; Aaker, 1991; Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis, 1986 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 27); whereas â€Å"the second concentrates on various discrete aspects of the process† (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000; Berthon, Hulbert and Pitt, 1999a; de Chernatony and Riley, 1998 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 27). Authors have identified two gaps in the literature, 1) It has been becoming common that developed organizations are involved in multiple directions which probably means that they have enhanced their business operations or they have probably entered into different product lines which normally most of the small medium s ized business do to increase their profits and sales (Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008) it is also been quoted by the authors, as ‘Organizational Ambidexterity (Berthon, Hulbert and Pitt 1999). The second major gap which is identified is that previously empirical studies have focused brand management concept only on the large organizations which normally includes top 100 companies of the world. The suggested reasons for this gap are given by some of the other authors which are also quoted in this article; it may be because SMEs typically lack the capabilities, marketing power and other resources of large organizations (Knight, 2000; Cohn and Lindberg, 1972) or it may be because SMEs are failed to realize brand can also be built with the help of relatively reserved budgets (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 1999) Authors do contend that SMEs can build a brand image with limited budget but the major question is what management principles they should follow to build it? An initial precise study on SME brandings is Abimbola (2001) who has tried to explore how branding can be a competitive strategy. Other studies have also explored this theme like Cravens (2000), but not in an SME context. According to Abimbola, new brands are like new products, and there is a particular need to draw on inventiveness, innovation and imaginative flair in brand extensions. For instance, the imaginative flair of the owner, like Virgin or Easy Jet, help deliver creative applications of branding programs. Though, similar principles pertain to SME in comparison to large-scale branding, Abimbola (2001) advises SMEs, having fewer resources, need better focus and effectiveness. For example, an SMEs center of attention be corporate brand or just a handful brands and run very closely specified and targeted campaigns. Utilizisation of the entrepreneur in public relations was also encouraged. For instance, a study of Dyson appliance company (Doyle, 2003), a firm used an entreprene urial approach to create its brand. Attention was paid as to how Dyson built a brand personality as part of its marketing. A useful typology of branding among SMEs based on case research of eight smalls- to medium sized firms have been provided by Wong and Merrilees (2005). Three different types of small businesses were identified, At the bottom was the minimalist branding approach, where firms have minimalist marketing across the board, in the middle was an embryonic branding archetype, these firms are stronger than the first archetype with respect to marketing, but their understanding of branding isnt well developed and at the top was the integrated branding archetype. Branding is very informal, optional, and a narrow range of promotional tools. Wong and Merrilees (2005) initiate that SMEs at the top were the integrated branding archetype and possibly the least familiar. â€Å"Small business branding is not a good logo, a rhyming name, or special font. Small business branding is the owner. Its what the owner does, says and how the owners traits come through in every aspect of the business. Its the way relationships are built and maintained, the way a person does business and treats other people. Its how rapport is established at an individual level, where trust and comfort exist as human characteristics, not from theme music, models or slogans.† Yaro Starak, 2005 Marketing as well as branding were stronger; informal approaches and formal approaches were taken to branding; branding was essential to the business; branding was not merely a choice; and a wider assortment of promotional tools were used. A clearer understanding of customer needs was there among the integrated branding small businesses: The letter Z was included in a firms name to appear close to the top of any industry list while another firm to remind its employees posted a laminated description of its brand on the back-office door to remind employees of it. One more substantive outlook on SME branding is offered by Krake (2005), who agreed with the deficit of earlier literature on the subject, compared to SME marketing research and uses a qualitative case study of ten medium-sized firms. A varied set of approaches to branding was seen but little at a conscious level. However, the cases did not propose a common tack or brand success route. Krake (2005), drawing partially from the cases and particularly the common branding literature, built-up a â€Å"funnel† model of brand management in SMEs. The SMEs special features incorporated: the most important role of the entrepreneur/owner in terms of their obsession of the brand and this may widen to their epitome of the brand. The entrepreneur will have a particularly controlling authority on the company structure; and there may be more imagination used in marketing promotions. In other words, there is a more personal character to the brand. In addition, the owner appreciates the significance of branding; there may be extra room to take the brand throughout the firm. The most current documents on small business branding inspect the role of corporate branding for start-ups (Rode and Vallaster, 2005). This study is flanking to the realm of the current paper. Start-up companies refer to pre-launch as well as early start-up activity, while the nine cases in Rode and Vallaster (2005) look to focus on the first fe w years of operation. Their work suitably sums up the connection among corporate identity and corporate image and they point out its significance to new ventures. Their experiential evidence of nine cases shows a miserable picture of how well small businesses have incorporated corporate identity ideas. The majority of the interviewed entrepreneurs had only an imprecise idea of their business concept, market positioning core values and the business concept was seldom documented (Inskip, 2004). Submissions to banks were to a little extent contrived in order to secure financing. Philosophies and basic values and seemed fluid, answers brand names, and consistency not at all times was achieved. Selection and training of staff was disorganized. Corporate communication and sharing of information proved difficult. All in all, the corporate identity and cultural developments looked unstructured, encouraging Rode and Vallaster (2005) to build up three propositions that potentially could start to move this observed near to ground performance. Fascinatingly, four out of five most important studies have alluded to the essential role of the founder in the b randing process; therefore it would seem that any new theory of small business branding should do the similar. 2.2 Branding Branding can somehow be explained as a strategy, a process, an orientation and a instrument (Majumdar, 2006). Branding is defined as the method through which a marketer aims to build long term relationship with the consumers by evaluating their requirements and needs so that the product (brand) can fulfill their mutual desires. Branding can be looked as an instrument to locate a product or a service with a reliable of quality and also the value for money to make certain the development of a habitual liking by the consumer. It is a general knowledge that the costumers selection is inclined by many factors out of which the simplest one is a brand name (Kotler, et al, 2007). Even though there can be equally pleasing products available in the market, the customer once pleased with some brand will not want to make an additional endeavor to assess the other substitutes available. Initially if the customer is satisfied with a particular brand, than he or she is inclined to stick with it, unless and until there is a great increase in the price of the product or an evident superior quality of product comes to their knowledge, which force the customer to change the brand (Lancaster, Massingham, 1999). Branding may be generally applied as a segregation strategy when the products available cannot be differentiated easily in conditions of tangible traits or in products that are apparent as a commodity. In all these conditions marketers apply branding as a differentiation strategy and attempt to build up a relationship with consumer groups. That is, they attempt to expand and provide the customized products and auxiliary services with customized communications to tally with the self-image of the consumer. Such differentiation is a regular procedure and the beginning and on-going measures are explained (Majumdar, 2006). 2.3 Corporate Branding In coordinating the brand-building process, corporate brand architecture plays a vital role which is defined by core values shared by different products with a common and overall brand identity. The major part of the corporate brand is to give credibility in cases such as communications with government, the financial sector, the labor market, and society in general (Urde, 2003). Corporate Brand has different fundamentals like organizational values, core values and added values. The relation between these foundations helps to form the value-creating process of the corporate brand (Urde, 2003). Companies face different disputes and challenges of organizing their resources and internal procedures so that the core values for which the corporate brand stands can be strengthened, differentiated and expressed as added value for consumers. The firms brand equity and competitive position is significant for the linkage between core values and corporate brand. Management and organization-wide s upport is crucial in this process (Urde, 2003). A corporate brand is not necessarily limited to a single corporation. It can also apply to a variety of corporate entities, such as corporations, their subsidiaries, and groups of companies (Balmer and Gray, 2003). Balmer (1998) suggests that to differentiate the firm from its competitors, corporate identity is an important corporate asset which represents the firms ethics, goals and values. The reason being that the markets are becoming more complex and products and services are quickly imitated and homogenized which is rather difficult in maintaining a credible product differentiation, requiring the positioning of the whole corporation relatively than simply its products. Therefore, the corporate values and images appear as key elements of differentiation strategies (Hatch and Schultz, 2001). A corporate brand has an assumption that it will support all aspects of the firm and differentiate the firm from its competitors (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001; Ind, 1997; Balmer, 2001). Corporate branding allows the firms to use the vision and culture of the whole organization clearly as part of its distinctiveness (Balmer, 1995, 2001; de Chernatony, 1999). De Chernatony (2001) suggests for firms to incorporate their strategic vision with their brand building. In contrast with the product brand, the firms visibility, recognition and reputation to a greater extent can be increased with the corporate brand. Balmer and Gray (2003) propose that one of the benefits of strong corporate brands is that investors may seek them out deliberately. They furthermore play an imperative role in the recruitment and retention of valuable employees and offer more chances for strategic or brand associations. Alan (1996) illustrates the flow of corporate branding to the rising costs of advertising, retailer power, product fragmentation, new product development cost efficiencies, and consumers expectations of corporate credentials. 2.4 Product Branding Product branding yields different advantages for firms. McDonald et al. (2001) argue that, a firm using a product-brand strategy rather than corporate branding will experience less damage to its corporate image if one of its individual brands fails. When the Tylenol brand was under siege in the USA because of tainted batches, Procter Gambles name and reputation were somewhat shielded by the product-branding strategy, leaving Pampers and Tide undamaged by the Tylenol scare. A product brand allows firms to position and appeal to different segments in different markets which also makes it flexible. For instance, Budweiser beer is a quality beer that is solid value for money and which is sold in the USA as large temptation. In contrast, it is marketed in some overseas markets as a premium product, and its product image is linked to the American lifestyle. Although a challenge which is faced with product branding is to target different small segments through different brands that can res ult in high marketing costs and lower brand profitability. The main role of branding and brand management is to create differentiation and preference in the minds of customers. The development of product branding has been built around the core role that maintains differentiation in a particular market (Knox and Bickerton, 2003). Corporate branding builds on the tradition of product branding, seeking to create differentiation and preference. However, corporate branding is conducted at the level of the firm instead of the product or service, and furthermore to an extend on which its reaches beyond customers to stakeholders such as employees, customers, investors, suppliers, partners, regulators and local communities (Hatch and Schultz, 2001). 2.5 Corporate Branding Versus Product Branding To present a controlled representation of the corporations value system and identity, the corporate brand can be considered as the addition of the corporations marketing efforts (Ind, 1997; Balmer, 2001). It has been differentiated from a product brand in its strategic focus and its implementation, which combines corporate strategy, corporate communications and corporate culture (Balmer, 1995, 2001). Balmer and Gray (2003) and Hatch and Schultz (2003) argues that corporate branding differs from product branding in several other ways. First, the focus shifts from the product to the corporation. Corporate branding therefore represents the corporation and its members to a greater extent. Second, corporate brands generally involve strategic considerations at a higher executive level even though managerial responsibility for product brands usually rest in the middle-management marketing function. Third, corporate brands usually relate all of the firms stakeholders and products and service s to each other whereas product brands typically target specific consumers. Fourth, product-brand management is normally conducted within the marketing department, while corporate branding requires support across the corporation and cross-functional coordination. Fifth, product brands are reasonably short-term, compared to corporate brands along with their heritage and strategic vision. Hence, corporate branding is more strategic than the normally functional product branding. Hatch and Schultz (2003) further argues that to position the firm in its marketplace and to set up internal maintain arrangements appropriate to its strategic importance corporate branding engineers interactions among strategic vision, organizational culture and corporate image. Similarly, Ind (1997) classifies three key differences. First, corporate branding attains a certain degree of tangibility through the messages the firm delivers and the relationship it establishes with various stakeholders. Second, corp orate branding is more complex than product branding because of the variety of messages and relationships and also the potentially consequent confusion. Third, it is being inclined to demand greater attention to issues of ethical or social responsibility. The focus of a product brand is on customers while corporate brand has its focus on stakeholders. Therefore, corporate brands can provide a sense of trust and quality for the firm in extending a product line or diversifying into other product lines (Balmer and Gray, 2003). An effective corporate brand also has an intrinsic â€Å"excess capacity†, or â€Å"leverage†, which can possibly be translated to other markets (Peteraf, 1993). It is observed that corporate brands are extensively used to launch new products in new markets. Corporate branding usually exercises the total corporate communication mix to engage target audiences who perceive and judge the company and its products or services. The overall image of the fi rm at the corporate level is therefore expected to generate brand equity (Keller, 2000). The firm is expected to be largely influenced by the core company values and heritage. In addition, strategic vision also contributes to the image, in the sense that stakeholders normally seek and use information about the firm beyond what it provides. Hatch and Schultz (2003) concludes that those firms who are successful in creating a corporate brand are more competitive than firms relying only on product branding in the uneven markets created by globalization. On the other hand, corporate branding also requires immediate and effective interaction of strategic vision, organizational culture, which makes it more complex than product branding. de Chernatony (1999) embraces that it facilitates customers desire to look deeper into the brand and evaluate the nature of the firm. The firm offers liable customers to accept its claims about other products and services which is build through trust in the products and the brand.< Importance of Brand Management in SMEs Importance of Brand Management in SMEs Study on Fast Food Takeaways of West London Executive Summary Many remarkable studies and literatures have been produced which discusses critical activities of the Brand management in LOs (Large organizations) while research on the importance of the brand management this in SME (Small Business Enterprises) has been neglected. I have tried to emphasis in my dissertation that what were those important factors of brand management which can be applied in small business so that these businesses can develop a better brand image in the market. I have tried to limit my research on the fast food takeaways of west London area. My dissertation is based on primary and secondary research to support the literature and authenticity. It has been highlighted in the previous studies that two major research streams have been emerged in this field first focuses on providing an overarching brand management framework to guide managerial decision making (Keller, 1998; Macrae, 1996; Aaker, 1991; Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis, 1986) while the other concentrates on various discrete aspects of the process (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2000; Berthon, Hulbert, and Pitt 1999a; de Chernatony and Riley 1998). Two gaps in the literature have been identified; 1) It has been identified that developed organizations are involved in numerous courses at once, 2) the brand management researches had been focusing utterly on large organizations, while the small and medium enterprises have been overlooked (Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008) To manage a brand image requires a number of activities which shows that importance of brand management in SME are different than large organizations. On this basis an important question has been raised by the authors that how brands are in fact controlled in SME. Though I am not been able to find any study specifically focusing on brand management in SMEs but I have tried to explore the areas mentioned by previous authors. Visual identifications, exhibiting business in food exhibitions and magazine and keeping customer records are some of the important factors mentioned by the respondents. Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Background Following Blankson, C. and Omar, O.E. (2002), SME is explained as a small to medium firm having employees less then 250, having a relatively small share of the market in economic terms, and managed by its owner(s) in a personalized way. Brands may have been there for more than a 1,000 years; but never has any society come across the influence of branding as is witnessed nowadays. Brands are prevailing in all portions of human life like food and clothing, production and consumption, personality and lifestyle and pop culture to politics. Branding themselves has become a kind of culture because it promotes represents brands and like yesterday, it is no longer just about adding value to a product. In the eyes of Carson, D. (1990) (quoted in Hall, 1999); brands are currently gunning for a share of inner lives, their values, their beliefs, their politics, and their souls of consumers. The effect of brands and branding is far away from the field of marketing and advertising. Branding is an economic construct as it has been considered from both marketing and financial perspectives and is a social construct as brands hasnt been completely understood owing to the lack of academic research in this area. Advertising in all probability is the most visible factor of marketing but branding in all probability is at the centre of any marketing communications. The roots of most problems of advertising lies in branding strategy. In 1990s Benettons shocking advertising tactic is an infamous example. Majority people would relate to a big business brand with large advertising expenditures, trying to reinforce the mindset that big businesses can be brands unlike the small businesses. Small business branding is frequently referred to as an oxymoron, so might the term entrepreneurial branding (Blankson, C. and Stokes. D, 2002). In small business branding, there is very less research. The research is mainly concerned with brand management of an existing venture. There seems to be very less academic research of branding in small business new ventures. In SME marketing management it has been recognised that management style; operations and functions of SMEs are different from LOs (Knight, 2000; Cohn and Lindberg, 1972). The use of advertising or recruitment agencies is rare. Definition of survival mentality has been mentioned as ‘when a business meets resources and time constraints SME managers adapt a habit called Survival Mentality. Marketing, human resource, management and general business planning are the major problems quoted by the authors in an SME (Huang and Brown, 1999). Corporate image and corporate reputations have been differentiated under the umbrella of brand management. Corporate image has been defined as the â€Å"publics latest beliefs about the company† (Balmer, 1998 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 29) while corporate reputations has been defined as â€Å"value judgments about an organizations qualities, trustworthiness and reliability built up over time† (Balmer, 1998; Fombrun and Van Riel, 1997 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p.29). It has been mentioned that there is a consistency between an organizations and stakeholders belief about a brand though unfortunately SME and stakeholder relation hasnt been discussed yet in detail. The importance of the building a positive brand image in the market has been emphasized in order to create a niche in the market place. â€Å"Regardless of whether an organization is comprised of a singular or multiple brands, it is necessary that marketing efforts be directed tow ard establishing and maintaining a positive brand image in the minds of key stakeholders. Ultimately, this can contribute to the development of a favorable corporate reputation† (de Chernatony, 1999, cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 30). â€Å"Few small businesses follow a reputation building strategy and when a need for â€Å"image management† is recognized, it is often limited to implementing a public relations campaign† (Goldberg, Cohen, and Fiegenbaum, 2003 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 30). However, a brand can be best considered as a psychological phenomenon. Formally, a brand can be defined as a â€Å"name, sign, symbol, logo, etc. that identifies the goods and services of one selling the goods and differentiates the goods from others† (Deshpande, R., Farley, J.U. and Webster, F.E. Jr, 2003). A brand takes on meaning with customers through commercial messages, personal experiences, interpersonal communications and other means. The power of a brand resides in the minds of customers through countless brand interactions like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, behavior. The brand protects a product or service with meaning that differentiates the product from other product or services proposed to fulfill the same need. A brand is much more than a name. Branding is not a naming problem but a strategy problem (Deshpande, R., Farley, J.U. and Webster, F.E. Jr, 2003). A brand is a precious asset which must be managed carefully to preserve and enhance t he meaning so that customers form strong relations as a result. Several essential principles of brand management applicable to industrial branding are highlighted here (Fuller, P.B. 2004). Brand awareness and brand image are two components of the psychological meaning of a brand. Customers should be aware of what products or services are associated with a brand (brand awareness) and should be aware of what attributes and benefits the brand offers and what makes it superior and unique (brand image) (Gadenne, D. 2004). Industrial brands can distinguish themselves on the basis of a complete host of characteristics and benefits that range in tangibility and their association to the product. Some relationship will be associated to the brands functional performance such as products value proposition and promised benefits and more intangible considerations will be indicated from further associations like corporate image dimensions embodying such characteristics as trust, ethics, credibility, reliability and corporate social responsibility (Gilmore, A., Carson, D. and Grant, K. 2001). Branding is a central part of marketing activity. To brand or not to brand? isnt the question. Moreover, every company has a name which will function as a brand for it. For many industrial marketers, the company name is the brand. The question is What you want your name stand for and what it is to mean in the mind of the customer(Gray, B., Matear, S., Boshoff, C. and Matheson, P. 2007) every contact involving the company and the customer becomes an input. The brand must be managed as a strategic asset otherwise it will be managed by customers there or thereabouts at random. An industrial brand managed properly can realize the same reward as a consumer brand like price premiums, greater loyalty, and ability to extend into other categories, and so on. Brand positioning brings in the heart of the brand (Hogarth-Scott, S., Watson, K. and Wilson, L, 1996). They should have both points-of-parity and points-of-difference with regard to competitors product offerings. Those associations where the brand â€Å"breaks even† with competitors and negates their intended points-of-difference are called as Points-of-parity while those associations where the customer behavior is driven by strong, favorable, and unique brand associations are called points-of-difference (Hill, J. 2001a). The core brand promise or brand mantra is an internal marketing expression that captures key points-of-difference that are the essence and spirit of the brand in a three-to-five word phrase. The brand slogan is based on the brand mantra which is used in advertising and other communications where a translation of the mantra is done in consumer friendly language. For instance, Nikes internal brand mantra is â€Å"authentic athletic performance† while th e external brand slogan is â€Å"Just Do it† which is used as signature to many of their ads (Hill, J. 2001b). Examples for industrial brands slogan which reflect principal brand mantras are Agilent Technologies Dreams Made Real, Emersons Consider It Solved, GEs Imagination at Work, Hewlett Packards Invent, Novells The Power to Change, United Technologies Next Things First, and Xerox The Document Company. The Brand Charter summarizes the development, history, and positioning of a brand. All marketing action must be consistent and be evaluated against the Brand Charter. Strong brands have a uniform brand image for every individual customer and across the customer population. Strength of a brand reflects the quality and uniformity of the firms marketing efforts and the concern with which the brand has been managed in due course. For a brand to be successful, it has to be consistent with the firms strategy and the strategic marketing management (Hurmerinta-Peltomaki, L. and Numm ela, N.1998). 1.2 Research Aims and Objectives AIM: * To recognize the forces of brand Management which generates a brand image for a little fast food restaurant/takeaway in the market? Objectives: * To recognize the suitable literature produced on brand management in SMEs. * To get hold a few of the key fast food restaurants/takeaways. * To discover and take into account a methodological approach which will assist in finding primary (qualitative or quantitative have to be determined yet) * To vitally analysis and evaluate results with the preceding findings and provide the significance of brand management in the SMEs. 1.3 Value and contribution In the intellectual perspective, this research will try to highlight the importance of branding in small businesses investigating the concept in fast food and takeaways of London. Though the research and literature done in Branding in small businesses is very less. In the industrial context, the study will provide a strategic understanding of the potential application of Branding at the early stage of business development and how it can be used as a strategic tool for building a brand image. 1.4 structure of the dissertation The report is structured in the following format: Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter provides the background to the research topic discusses the aims and objectives of the study. It also illustrates the academic and industrial value the research seeks to address. Chapter 2: Literature Review Literature review highlights the literature the research is based upon and concludes with the research done into the effectiveness of brand management in small business enterprises and different concepts of branding like product branding and corporate branding and their differences. It also discusses new theory of branding for small businesses which is of importance to the dissertation at hand. Chapter 3: Methodology This chapter includes the methodology adapted by for this research paper. Sample data of the research is being discussed in this chapter. It will also highlight the research philosophy, research question, research design, data collection and analysis methods and reliability and validity of the data. Chapter 4: Findings This chapter discusses the finding of the questionnaires in graphical representation followed by descriptive description. It also presents the important factors highlighted by the respondents during the survey. Chapter 5: Discussions and Limitations You will be able to find the comparative analysis of the findings and recommendations in this chapter. This chapter also highlights the limitations of the research and future research possibilities in this area. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction The strategic importance of the effective brand management has been recognised and been highlighted by many researchers (Kirby, D., 2003). Two major streams which have emerged in the brand management field includes; â€Å"providing an overarching brand management framework to guide managerial decision-making† (Keller, 1998; Macrae, 1996; Aaker, 1991; Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis, 1986 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 27); whereas â€Å"the second concentrates on various discrete aspects of the process† (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000; Berthon, Hulbert and Pitt, 1999a; de Chernatony and Riley, 1998 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 27). Authors have identified two gaps in the literature, 1) It has been becoming common that developed organizations are involved in multiple directions which probably means that they have enhanced their business operations or they have probably entered into different product lines which normally most of the small medium s ized business do to increase their profits and sales (Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008) it is also been quoted by the authors, as ‘Organizational Ambidexterity (Berthon, Hulbert and Pitt 1999). The second major gap which is identified is that previously empirical studies have focused brand management concept only on the large organizations which normally includes top 100 companies of the world. The suggested reasons for this gap are given by some of the other authors which are also quoted in this article; it may be because SMEs typically lack the capabilities, marketing power and other resources of large organizations (Knight, 2000; Cohn and Lindberg, 1972) or it may be because SMEs are failed to realize brand can also be built with the help of relatively reserved budgets (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 1999) Authors do contend that SMEs can build a brand image with limited budget but the major question is what management principles they should follow to build it? An initial precise study on SME brandings is Abimbola (2001) who has tried to explore how branding can be a competitive strategy. Other studies have also explored this theme like Cravens (2000), but not in an SME context. According to Abimbola, new brands are like new products, and there is a particular need to draw on inventiveness, innovation and imaginative flair in brand extensions. For instance, the imaginative flair of the owner, like Virgin or Easy Jet, help deliver creative applications of branding programs. Though, similar principles pertain to SME in comparison to large-scale branding, Abimbola (2001) advises SMEs, having fewer resources, need better focus and effectiveness. For example, an SMEs center of attention be corporate brand or just a handful brands and run very closely specified and targeted campaigns. Utilizisation of the entrepreneur in public relations was also encouraged. For instance, a study of Dyson appliance company (Doyle, 2003), a firm used an entreprene urial approach to create its brand. Attention was paid as to how Dyson built a brand personality as part of its marketing. A useful typology of branding among SMEs based on case research of eight smalls- to medium sized firms have been provided by Wong and Merrilees (2005). Three different types of small businesses were identified, At the bottom was the minimalist branding approach, where firms have minimalist marketing across the board, in the middle was an embryonic branding archetype, these firms are stronger than the first archetype with respect to marketing, but their understanding of branding isnt well developed and at the top was the integrated branding archetype. Branding is very informal, optional, and a narrow range of promotional tools. Wong and Merrilees (2005) initiate that SMEs at the top were the integrated branding archetype and possibly the least familiar. â€Å"Small business branding is not a good logo, a rhyming name, or special font. Small business branding is the owner. Its what the owner does, says and how the owners traits come through in every aspect of the business. Its the way relationships are built and maintained, the way a person does business and treats other people. Its how rapport is established at an individual level, where trust and comfort exist as human characteristics, not from theme music, models or slogans.† Yaro Starak, 2005 Marketing as well as branding were stronger; informal approaches and formal approaches were taken to branding; branding was essential to the business; branding was not merely a choice; and a wider assortment of promotional tools were used. A clearer understanding of customer needs was there among the integrated branding small businesses: The letter Z was included in a firms name to appear close to the top of any industry list while another firm to remind its employees posted a laminated description of its brand on the back-office door to remind employees of it. One more substantive outlook on SME branding is offered by Krake (2005), who agreed with the deficit of earlier literature on the subject, compared to SME marketing research and uses a qualitative case study of ten medium-sized firms. A varied set of approaches to branding was seen but little at a conscious level. However, the cases did not propose a common tack or brand success route. Krake (2005), drawing partially from the cases and particularly the common branding literature, built-up a â€Å"funnel† model of brand management in SMEs. The SMEs special features incorporated: the most important role of the entrepreneur/owner in terms of their obsession of the brand and this may widen to their epitome of the brand. The entrepreneur will have a particularly controlling authority on the company structure; and there may be more imagination used in marketing promotions. In other words, there is a more personal character to the brand. In addition, the owner appreciates the significance of branding; there may be extra room to take the brand throughout the firm. The most current documents on small business branding inspect the role of corporate branding for start-ups (Rode and Vallaster, 2005). This study is flanking to the realm of the current paper. Start-up companies refer to pre-launch as well as early start-up activity, while the nine cases in Rode and Vallaster (2005) look to focus on the first fe w years of operation. Their work suitably sums up the connection among corporate identity and corporate image and they point out its significance to new ventures. Their experiential evidence of nine cases shows a miserable picture of how well small businesses have incorporated corporate identity ideas. The majority of the interviewed entrepreneurs had only an imprecise idea of their business concept, market positioning core values and the business concept was seldom documented (Inskip, 2004). Submissions to banks were to a little extent contrived in order to secure financing. Philosophies and basic values and seemed fluid, answers brand names, and consistency not at all times was achieved. Selection and training of staff was disorganized. Corporate communication and sharing of information proved difficult. All in all, the corporate identity and cultural developments looked unstructured, encouraging Rode and Vallaster (2005) to build up three propositions that potentially could start to move this observed near to ground performance. Fascinatingly, four out of five most important studies have alluded to the essential role of the founder in the b randing process; therefore it would seem that any new theory of small business branding should do the similar. 2.2 Branding Branding can somehow be explained as a strategy, a process, an orientation and a instrument (Majumdar, 2006). Branding is defined as the method through which a marketer aims to build long term relationship with the consumers by evaluating their requirements and needs so that the product (brand) can fulfill their mutual desires. Branding can be looked as an instrument to locate a product or a service with a reliable of quality and also the value for money to make certain the development of a habitual liking by the consumer. It is a general knowledge that the costumers selection is inclined by many factors out of which the simplest one is a brand name (Kotler, et al, 2007). Even though there can be equally pleasing products available in the market, the customer once pleased with some brand will not want to make an additional endeavor to assess the other substitutes available. Initially if the customer is satisfied with a particular brand, than he or she is inclined to stick with it, unless and until there is a great increase in the price of the product or an evident superior quality of product comes to their knowledge, which force the customer to change the brand (Lancaster, Massingham, 1999). Branding may be generally applied as a segregation strategy when the products available cannot be differentiated easily in conditions of tangible traits or in products that are apparent as a commodity. In all these conditions marketers apply branding as a differentiation strategy and attempt to build up a relationship with consumer groups. That is, they attempt to expand and provide the customized products and auxiliary services with customized communications to tally with the self-image of the consumer. Such differentiation is a regular procedure and the beginning and on-going measures are explained (Majumdar, 2006). 2.3 Corporate Branding In coordinating the brand-building process, corporate brand architecture plays a vital role which is defined by core values shared by different products with a common and overall brand identity. The major part of the corporate brand is to give credibility in cases such as communications with government, the financial sector, the labor market, and society in general (Urde, 2003). Corporate Brand has different fundamentals like organizational values, core values and added values. The relation between these foundations helps to form the value-creating process of the corporate brand (Urde, 2003). Companies face different disputes and challenges of organizing their resources and internal procedures so that the core values for which the corporate brand stands can be strengthened, differentiated and expressed as added value for consumers. The firms brand equity and competitive position is significant for the linkage between core values and corporate brand. Management and organization-wide s upport is crucial in this process (Urde, 2003). A corporate brand is not necessarily limited to a single corporation. It can also apply to a variety of corporate entities, such as corporations, their subsidiaries, and groups of companies (Balmer and Gray, 2003). Balmer (1998) suggests that to differentiate the firm from its competitors, corporate identity is an important corporate asset which represents the firms ethics, goals and values. The reason being that the markets are becoming more complex and products and services are quickly imitated and homogenized which is rather difficult in maintaining a credible product differentiation, requiring the positioning of the whole corporation relatively than simply its products. Therefore, the corporate values and images appear as key elements of differentiation strategies (Hatch and Schultz, 2001). A corporate brand has an assumption that it will support all aspects of the firm and differentiate the firm from its competitors (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001; Ind, 1997; Balmer, 2001). Corporate branding allows the firms to use the vision and culture of the whole organization clearly as part of its distinctiveness (Balmer, 1995, 2001; de Chernatony, 1999). De Chernatony (2001) suggests for firms to incorporate their strategic vision with their brand building. In contrast with the product brand, the firms visibility, recognition and reputation to a greater extent can be increased with the corporate brand. Balmer and Gray (2003) propose that one of the benefits of strong corporate brands is that investors may seek them out deliberately. They furthermore play an imperative role in the recruitment and retention of valuable employees and offer more chances for strategic or brand associations. Alan (1996) illustrates the flow of corporate branding to the rising costs of advertising, retailer power, product fragmentation, new product development cost efficiencies, and consumers expectations of corporate credentials. 2.4 Product Branding Product branding yields different advantages for firms. McDonald et al. (2001) argue that, a firm using a product-brand strategy rather than corporate branding will experience less damage to its corporate image if one of its individual brands fails. When the Tylenol brand was under siege in the USA because of tainted batches, Procter Gambles name and reputation were somewhat shielded by the product-branding strategy, leaving Pampers and Tide undamaged by the Tylenol scare. A product brand allows firms to position and appeal to different segments in different markets which also makes it flexible. For instance, Budweiser beer is a quality beer that is solid value for money and which is sold in the USA as large temptation. In contrast, it is marketed in some overseas markets as a premium product, and its product image is linked to the American lifestyle. Although a challenge which is faced with product branding is to target different small segments through different brands that can res ult in high marketing costs and lower brand profitability. The main role of branding and brand management is to create differentiation and preference in the minds of customers. The development of product branding has been built around the core role that maintains differentiation in a particular market (Knox and Bickerton, 2003). Corporate branding builds on the tradition of product branding, seeking to create differentiation and preference. However, corporate branding is conducted at the level of the firm instead of the product or service, and furthermore to an extend on which its reaches beyond customers to stakeholders such as employees, customers, investors, suppliers, partners, regulators and local communities (Hatch and Schultz, 2001). 2.5 Corporate Branding Versus Product Branding To present a controlled representation of the corporations value system and identity, the corporate brand can be considered as the addition of the corporations marketing efforts (Ind, 1997; Balmer, 2001). It has been differentiated from a product brand in its strategic focus and its implementation, which combines corporate strategy, corporate communications and corporate culture (Balmer, 1995, 2001). Balmer and Gray (2003) and Hatch and Schultz (2003) argues that corporate branding differs from product branding in several other ways. First, the focus shifts from the product to the corporation. Corporate branding therefore represents the corporation and its members to a greater extent. Second, corporate brands generally involve strategic considerations at a higher executive level even though managerial responsibility for product brands usually rest in the middle-management marketing function. Third, corporate brands usually relate all of the firms stakeholders and products and service s to each other whereas product brands typically target specific consumers. Fourth, product-brand management is normally conducted within the marketing department, while corporate branding requires support across the corporation and cross-functional coordination. Fifth, product brands are reasonably short-term, compared to corporate brands along with their heritage and strategic vision. Hence, corporate branding is more strategic than the normally functional product branding. Hatch and Schultz (2003) further argues that to position the firm in its marketplace and to set up internal maintain arrangements appropriate to its strategic importance corporate branding engineers interactions among strategic vision, organizational culture and corporate image. Similarly, Ind (1997) classifies three key differences. First, corporate branding attains a certain degree of tangibility through the messages the firm delivers and the relationship it establishes with various stakeholders. Second, corp orate branding is more complex than product branding because of the variety of messages and relationships and also the potentially consequent confusion. Third, it is being inclined to demand greater attention to issues of ethical or social responsibility. The focus of a product brand is on customers while corporate brand has its focus on stakeholders. Therefore, corporate brands can provide a sense of trust and quality for the firm in extending a product line or diversifying into other product lines (Balmer and Gray, 2003). An effective corporate brand also has an intrinsic â€Å"excess capacity†, or â€Å"leverage†, which can possibly be translated to other markets (Peteraf, 1993). It is observed that corporate brands are extensively used to launch new products in new markets. Corporate branding usually exercises the total corporate communication mix to engage target audiences who perceive and judge the company and its products or services. The overall image of the fi rm at the corporate level is therefore expected to generate brand equity (Keller, 2000). The firm is expected to be largely influenced by the core company values and heritage. In addition, strategic vision also contributes to the image, in the sense that stakeholders normally seek and use information about the firm beyond what it provides. Hatch and Schultz (2003) concludes that those firms who are successful in creating a corporate brand are more competitive than firms relying only on product branding in the uneven markets created by globalization. On the other hand, corporate branding also requires immediate and effective interaction of strategic vision, organizational culture, which makes it more complex than product branding. de Chernatony (1999) embraces that it facilitates customers desire to look deeper into the brand and evaluate the nature of the firm. The firm offers liable customers to accept its claims about other products and services which is build through trust in the products and the brand.<