Violent Video Games and Kids

Keep the Violent Vids away from Kids Violent video games and their effects on children is a growing debate in today’s society. The controversial problem is: are violent video games a negative effect on children or not? It is my personal opinion that violent video games are a bad influence on children. These young children learn from what they see. It is not a good thing when what they see is violence. It is also not a good thing when they are in control of the character that is doing the violence.Some children may be too young to know right from wrong yet and should not be exposed to these games. They may see something and get the wrong idea. Stricter laws should be made and enforced on violent video games. Children should not be allowed to have these games unless they are at least 15 years of age for the following reasons: Most research illustrates violent video games as a negative effect on children, video games content teaches children the wrong lessons, and violent video g ame use has been linked to delinquent crime.The debate originally began with violence on television and in movies. With the new advancements in technology, it eventually escalated into the debate of violent video games. Craig A. Anderson, a well renowned psychologist and professor at Iowa State, explains it like this: After 40+ years of research, one might think that debate about media violence effects would be over. An historical examination of the research reveals that debate concerning whether such exposure is a significant risk factor for aggressive and violent behavior should have been over years ago (Bushman & Anderson, 2001).Four types of media violence studies provide converging evidence of such effects: laboratory experiments, field experiments, cross-sectional correlation studies, and longitudinal studies (Anderson & Bushman, 2002a; Bushman & Huesmann, 2000). But the development of a new genre-electronic video games-reinvigorated the debate. Two sides of this issue exist. Many parents, researchers, and public policy makers believe violent video games are a bad influence on children.On the other hand, many public policy makers and video game developers believe violent video games can be educational to children and not a bad influence. In order to gain new knowledge and answer some of the questions of this growing debate, scientists all over the world have been doing research on this issue. Most of this research illustrates that violent video games have a negative effect on children. Many studies have found that violent video games cause an increased level of aggression in children.One such study was explained in an MSNBC popular news article written by Kristin Kalning called: â€Å"Does game violence make teens aggressive? † The article was written about an experiment done at the Indiana University Medical School. The experiment consisted of children having brain scans done while playing a violent video game and while playing a non-violent vide o game. The following results were gathered: â€Å"the brain scans of kids who played a violent video game showed an increase in emotional arousal – and a corresponding decrease in brain areas involved in self-control, inhibition and attention.The kids who played the non-violent games did not have the same effect. † Another study done by three scientists named Hanneke Polman, Bram Orobio de Castro, and Marcel A. G. van Aken called â€Å"Experimental Study of the Different Effects of Playing Versus Watching Violent Video Games on Children’s Aggressive Behavior† yielded similar results. It was a study that was done by examining fifty-seven children ages 10-13 who either played violent video games or watched violent video games. The scientists examined their behaviors in free play session at school.The results were as follows: â€Å"After the active participation of actually playing the violent video game, boys behaved more aggressively than did the boys in the passive game condition. For girls, game condition was not related to aggression. These ? ndings indicate that, speci? cally for boys, playing a violent video game should lead to more aggression than watching television violence. † Although it may not be known how much violent video games effect children, these studies illustrate that they do indeed affect children in a negative way.They illustrate that psychologically something is going on in the brain that is not normal while playing. Providing evidence that children of a young age should not have access to these violent video games. Not only does research done on violent video games demonstrate that better age restrictions should be enforced on violent video games, but also the fact that the content of violent video games teaches children the wrong lessons. The graphics in video games these days are so real that they make players feel as if they are in the game. Violent video games often present unethical ideas and less ons to children.Craig A. Anderson explains these lessons very well: â€Å"Recent video games reward players for killing innocent bystanders, police, and prostitutes, using a wide range of weapons including guns, knives, flame throwers, swords, baseball bats, cars, hands, and feet. Some include cut scenes (i. e. , brief movie clips supposedly designed to move the story forward) of strippers. In some, the player assumes the role of hero, whereas in others the player is a criminal. † These ideas and lessons should not first be presented to children in video games.They instead should be discussed before hand with children’s parents. Children should not be able to play these games. Only teens that know their right from wrong and understand that the ideas perceived in these games are completely unethical should be allowed to play them. Another reason violent video games should be kept away from children is violent video game use has been linked to bad behavior among children and even delinquent crime. Children who play violent video games are more likely to bully or start a fight at school. Patrick McCormick, a writer for the U.S. Catholic, in an article titled â€Å"Moral Kombat† references Craig A. Anderson and says this: â€Å"Surveying a gigabyte of studies done over the past 50 years, Anderson found â€Å"unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts. † Children who played video games were more likely to bully and fight with others and less likely to exhibit self-control or empathy. † Violent video games should not be available to children if these are the effects that they invoke in children.What’s worse is there is worse behavior that is linked to violent video games. Violent video games have been linked to delinquent crime, most specifically school shootings. â€Å"In the last decade numerous headlines have made the connection betwee n gaming and violent crimes. Stories have identified the perpetrators in school shootings and other multiple homicides as adolescents who spent a good deal of time playing violent video games, and FBI reports have suggested that fascination with this sort of media violence could be a arning sign identifying possible shooters†(McCormick). The Columbine shooting in Colorado is historical evidence providing proof that violent video games are bad influences on children. The shooters played a violent video game and make a reference to it in a video. Guy Porter and Vladan Starcevic wrote an article called â€Å"Are violent video games harmful? † and say this: â€Å"The 1993 game ‘Doom’†¦was played by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before they went on a shooting Rampage at Columbine High School in 1999, killing 12 fellow students and one teacher, before committing suicide.The two killers had mentioned the game in a video they made before the massacre, stating it would be â€Å"just like Doom†. † This type of behavior should not be accepted in today’s society. Violent video games should not be responsible for fueling children like this to do heinous crimes. Stricter laws should be enforced and parents should be more educated about the violent video games that are available to their teens. Many critics say violent video games are not a bad influence on children and instead are educational and helpful to children.Peter McCormick writes: â€Å"complex and challenging video games engage our children, helping them to learn useful information and master necessary skills. † Kristin Kalning illustrates the same idea in her article on MSNBC when she speaks of the ESA website. She says: the ESA has done â€Å"several studies pointing to games’ potential benefits for developing decision-making skills or bettering reaction time. † Any video game can be made to be complex and challenging without being violent. Violent video games may teach you better reaction time and how to make decisions quickly, however; they also usually teach children the wrong lesson. Video games in general take away extra time children can be spending outside doing physical activities and studying. Violent Video games should not be sold to children who are under the age of sixteen. Children who are too young do not have a mind developed enough to understand the violence.

Secondary Youth Perspective On Dropping Out Of School Education Essay

The rate at which pupils are dropping out of school is a quandary and has become a serious job for school territories across the state. The intent of this survey is to reap penetrations from the dropouts themselves, sing their determination to go forth school before completion and to codify their perceptual experiences, beliefs and attitudes toward dropping out of school. This paper examines the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptual experiences through interviews and will be conducted on 10 participants in Penang. A qualitative research method was used to concentrate on the significance that people make of their lives, their experiences, and their environment. Secondary Youth Perspective on Droping Out of School Concern for dropouts is non new. Mohamad Kamal Haji Nawawi ( Bornep Post Online, 2012 ) , general director for Malayan Talents Development of Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad said that: â€Å" between Form One and Form Five, out of the 400,000 pupils that enrolled in Form One, some 44,000 would go forth school yearly before finishing their Form Five, or Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia. † â€Å" Some 80,000 pupils are estimated to hold dropped out of secondary schools from 2006 to 2010, † said Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong ( The Malaysian Insider, 2011 ) . He speculated that some factors for dungs out may be for wellness grounds, to come in the work force and because of deficiency of involvement in instruction ( The Malaysian Insider, 2011 ) . Previously parents can state they have five or six kids and can non afford to pay school fees. â€Å" Now, the authorities is taking attention of that. If they do non hold the money, they will be given RM100 and for h apless households, we give RM500 one-off, † said Dr Wee ( The Malaysian Insider, 2011 ) . â€Å" We are working towards that, intending policy-wise we want to do everyone finish Form Five, at least complete the secondary instruction, † he said when asked if the ministry will see doing secondary school registration as mandatary. † said Dr Wee ( The Malaysian Insider, 2011 ) . Before looking at the grounds for dropping out from school, it is necessary to specify what is means to drop out. We use term â€Å" dropout † refer to youth whom leave secondary school before graduation, including those who leave but return subsequently, and those who after complete some signifier of equivalency sheepskin ( Audus & A ; Willms, 2001 ) . Droping out of school is a serious job, and society is eventually admiting the profound societal and economic effects for pupils, their households, the school and the community. Leaving school without a sheepskin can hold permanent negat ive effects on the individual socially and economically, doing terrible disadvantages come ining into big life. Understanding why pupils drop out of school is the key to turn toing this major educational job. A figure of theories have been advanced to understand the particular phenomenon of the saging out ( Audas & A ; Willms, 2001 ; Finn & A ; Zimmer, 2012 ; Rumberger & A ; Lim, 2008 ) . The theorical model to be used in this survey will be the Rumberger ‘s ( 2011 ) model that use single factors associated with pupils themselves, such as their attitudes, behaviours and educational public presentation. The other frameworks focal point on the contextual factors found in pupils ‘ households, schools, and communities. Both models are utile and, necessary to understand this complex phenomenon. It is of import for the community to cognize why pupils are dropping out of school. There are figure of grounds. Individual position Individual factors that predict whether pupils drop out or alumnus from high school autumn into four countries: ( 1 ) behaviours, ( 2 ) attitudes, and ( 3 ) educational public presentation. ( 1 ) Behavior. A broad scope of behaviours both in and out of school have been shown to foretell dropout and graduation. One of the most of import is student battle, which includes pupils ‘ active engagement in academic work ( e.g. , coming to category, making prep ) and the societal facets of school ( e.g. , take parting in athleticss or other extracurricular activities ) . Misbehavior in high school and delinquent behaviour outside of high school are both decidedly associated with higher dropout and lower graduation rates. Adolescents who drink and fume are more likely to originate sex earlier than their equals ; those who engage in these behaviour forms frequently have a history of troubles in school ( Rumberger, 2011 ) . Having friends who engage in condemnable behaviour or friends who have dropped out besides increases the odds of dropping out ( Rumberger, 2011 ) . ( 2 ) Attitudes. The dropout literature has by and large focused on a individual indicator- educational outlooks ( how far in school a pupil expects to travel ) and has found that higher degrees of educational outlooks are associated with lower dropout rates. ( 3 ) Educational public presentation. Droping out represents one facet of three interconnected dimensions of educational public presentation: ( 1 ) academic accomplishment, as reflected in classs and trial tonss, ( 2 ) educational stableness, which reflects whether pupils remain in the same school ( school stableness ) or remain enrolled in school at all ( enrollment stableness ) , and ( 3 ) educational attainment, which is reflected by old ages of schooling completed and the completion of grades or sheepskin ( Rumberger and Lim, 2008 ) . The model suggests that educational attainment is dependent on both educational stableness and academic accomplishment. That is, pupils who either interrupt their schooling by dropping out or altering schools, or who have hapless academic accomplishment in school, are less likely to graduate or finish that section of schooling. Research Question The research inquiries examined in this paper are: Cardinal inquiry: What are the grounds for pupils ‘ detachment from school? Subquestions: What factors contributed to their determination to go forth? Can the dropouts themselves reveal the critical junctions in their determination to disrupt their instruction? What can school decision makers and pedagogues do to forestall pupils from dropping out? The chief focal point of treatment will be around the grounds for dropping out of school and cognizing why they make such determination. The 3rd research inquiry is to understand either they still can endorse into some educational scene. Finally, the 4th inquiry is looks at illustrations of good pattern, seek to forestall this procedure happens once more. Significance of the Study Keeping pupils in school is really of import for the wellbeing of the pupils and society as a whole. Objective of this paper is to understand the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptual experiences of the dropout pupils through interviews. The participant reply will assist schools develop plans or policies for cut downing the school bead out rate. What helps in accomplishing this nonsubjective must be studied so that suited intercessions and policies may be drawn out and implemented by the relevant governments. To cut down the dropout rates of pupils in the long tally, the issue of school battle must be given due consideration. Schools can besides profit from the findings of the survey. School disposal can analyze how existing school patterns, the school atmosphere and instructors affect pupils ‘ school attitude. Research Paradigm Droping out of school can non be understood merely by analyzing the conditions of households and schools, or even the behaviours of pupils. The research worker takes a societal constructivism base as the research worker is seeking to understand by analyzing the positions and readings of those conditions and behaviours by dropouts themselves. Phenomenology surveies of dropouts are based on this premiss. Methodology Approach This research will be taking a phenomenalogical attack as the research worker will be analyzing their lives, their experiences, and their environment. A qualitative research can assist understand the grounds for dropping out of school. Interview and interact with a little group of school dropouts. Main interview types that qualitative research workers use are in-depth, one-on-one interviews. Interview Questions What factors contributed to their determination to go forth? What can school decision makers and pedagogues do to forestall pupils from dropping out? Was dropping out of school a good determination or a bad determination for you? Explain why. Describe your grounds for go forthing school early. When you think back over the old ages, depict any specific events that lead up to your dropping out of school. Would you make anything otherwise if you had the chance? Is there anything else you would wish to state? Sample The participants will be obtained utilizing a convenience trying method. The first participant will be introduced by an familiarity and the participants are asked to propose other participants who qualify.10 participants will be interviewed for this research. These interviews were typically 30 to 1 hr in continuance. The participants were asked a set of semi-structured open-ended inquiries in a prearranged order. Perticipant of the survey should be above 18, no specific pick of gender or ethnicity, must be an grownup who has dropped out from school. Procedure The interview will be conducted on 10 participants with the presence of research worker. Throughout the session, the participants will be asked inquiries about the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptual experiences. It will wholly be done in a maximal clip of 1 hr, and a lower limit of 30 proceedingss, and merely be a erstwhile interview, this is so that the participants would non be excessively tired after the interview. The interview will be recorded in audio format so that a written text can be done. The interview will be done in a closed room so that the privateness and the confidentiality of the participants will be protected with the best attempts of the experimenter. Participants can decline to reply any inquiry. Participant replies to all inquiries are private and confidential. Dependability and Validity To guarantee dependability of the consequences for this research, pilot trial will be conducted on one of the participant before the existent research begins. The pilot trial will be used to guarantee that the inquiries are capable of acquiring the needed replies and to look into whether a certain interview location would be suited for this interview every bit good as to cognize the estimated clip an interview will take. After the complete aggregation of informations the consequences will be taken back to the participant to corroborate that there was no misunderstanding of the participant ‘s words. A equal reappraisal will besides be conducted among the researches class mates to guarantee that the research worker had non do any errors.

Tutoring in high school Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tutoring in high school - Essay Example I assisted Rose times by helping her organize her backpack because her bag had so many worksheets and she could not find her homework easily. Also, I stayed after homework hours and assisted students with many recreational activities. I worked with students in baking cookies, brownies, puppy chow, and cupcakes for their parents’ meeting. I also played Scrabble with them and a variety card games such as Uno, Egyptian Rat Screw, and Speed. One afternoon we had a girls’ time and Rose painted my fingernails blue. I thought about Rose every moment I saw my fingernails. I interacted with students from diverse backgrounds. Most students get bus tokens to take the city bus home, some live in unstable homes with family problems, and some live in unsafe environments. I gained a sense of their hard lives by tutoring and playing sports with them. I truly felt that I was making a difference in their lives and I enjoyed every minute of it. I hope I can expand my desire to help young children in the

Shaping An Individual As A Person And as A Learner Essay

Shaping An Individual As A Person And as A Learner - Essay Example You teach, you should be more goal focused, and you cannot be a good teacher with a bad plan, and it does not mean that having a good plan makes you a good teacher definitely† (Wiggins, 2013). In every sense, curriculum design and implementation shapes an individual as a person and learns. It is evident that curriculum designs can have the profound influence on the lives of students and learners. It may also affect the approach that students have towards life and how they approach life in general. Basically, proper curriculum designs and their effective implementation will positively impact the lives of student and learners. This being the case, the vice versa is true. When I was a kid, I had an experience unlike any of my classmates then. When I was in lower primary school, Most of the mates with whom I was schooling liked reading a lot. It was hard for me to be found studying on my own; much of the things I was interested in related to science, especially physical science. I loved science so much that my dream was always to be a scientist. I liked the practical bits of almost all lessons, including the Physical Education lessons. I never was interested in history and such lessons which demanded that I spend much time reading. This was due to the fact that my teacher used science as an approach to almost all subjects, thus I increasingly disliked non science based subjects. This was advantageous to me since I loved the scientific approach, but was a headache to most of my mates who did not have science related careers as their aspirations. This was in a way not addressing the general students whose likeliness of doing the sciences was low. â€Å"Jesuit’s curriculum  is structured to develop disciplined habits, to stimulate critical thinking, and to develop the skills necessary for the expression of that thinking. The school strives to instill five characteristics in its students. The goal is to educate our young men to be open to growth, intellectually competent.

Final self-assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Final self-assessment - Essay Example 1. How does your enthymeme help determine the organization of your essay? Choose one of the essay cycles from the quarter and explain how and where the essays enthymeme drives its organization. Directly quote or paraphrase from the essay to support your answer, and provide citation for all quotations and paraphrases. The essay virtue and trust was based on the enthymeme that the rich people in the society are the most morally corrupt based on the depictions in most entertainment media. Therefore, the organization of the essay relied on the ability to draw references form the various depictions of the rich people in the media and the actual perception of the people in the society. The essay is divided into various sections, which are aimed at independently expounding on the issue of virtue and trust. The first section of the essay is the introduction, which briefly highlights the topic in order to engage the reader on what the essay will entail. In the essay, the line â€Å"The entertainment media has continuously brought out the working class as uncouth, un-nurtured, unlettered, undesirable and less moral than the middle and upper classes in the society† (2.2, 1) provides the enthymeme which is aimed at provoking the reader to establish whether the statement is true. In order to establish the validity of this statement the introduction offers a thesis statement â€Å". Is it true that the working class lack virtue due to their physical appearance and outward presentation? Is it true that speech, grooming, and association define virtue?† (2.2, 1). Therefore, the rest of the essay uses a thirteen-paragraph structure, which expounds the validity or invalidity of the claim. For instance, the observation that â€Å"The society judges people mostly based on the outcomes of their actions and not on the contributions that they make to society† proves that the depiction of the wealthy people in the society is not based on their wealth but due to how they treat other

Perform an analysis of data Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Perform an analysis of data - Research Paper Example From the results, high GRE scores and GPA affect positively the probability of being admitted into graduate school while having been into a high class undergraduate program has no effect on the probability of being admitted into graduate school. The probabilities of admission increase with increase in GRE scores and GPA. The objective of this research study was to evaluate the effect of Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores, Grade Point Average (GPA) and undergraduate program (whether from high class or low class) enrolled on the probability of being admitted (admitted and not admitted) into graduate school. Admission to graduate schools and colleges in the US depends on GRE scores and GPA among many other considerations. Student personal statements, referees and transcripts also form an important part of considerations during admission. According to Richmond (2006), high GPA and GRE does not mean high probability of admissions but shows how the student is likely to perform as a student and mostly many colleges allow a GPA of 2.5 as the minimum. However, according Barnes (2004), the consideration of GPA and GRE scores depends on the course one is applied for. For example, applying for a medical course one has to have very good scores in science and mathematics. Quantitative research technique was used in this research work as sought to determine the relationship between the dependent variable (admission) and the independent variables (GRE, GPA and undergraduate program). The use of this methodology is evident through the use of structured data collection tool where the 4 aspects are strictly recorded for each participant. According to Godin, G. (1993), the relationship between dependent variable sand independent variables can only be shown through the use of quantitative research approach. Secondary data is used in this research study and is available from http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/dae/logit.dta. This data if of 400 participants collected

Frontline Analysis of Terrorist Attacks of September 11 Essay

Frontline Analysis of Terrorist Attacks of September 11 - Essay Example The first controversy that is detailed within this program is the lack of communication between US organizations such as the FBI and CIA. Former FBI agent, Ali Soufan is interviewed in this program and he describes how the CIA withheld information from the FBI which could have stopped the terrorist attacks on September 11th. According to Soufan, he requested information from the CIA on several occasions before the attacks because he was working on another terrorist attack that had occurred on the USS Cole in Yemen and was struggling to figure out specific connections between terrorist groups(â€Å"The Interrogator,† 2011). However, the CIA ignored all of his requests, but after September 11th, 2001, they suddenly began to provide him with documents and photographs which, if he had been given access to these sources earlier, he believes that the FBI would have been able to track down the people involved with 9/11 and ultimately been able to stop it. Ali Soufan did not really un derstand why he was ignored earlier, but most people seem to think that it had to do with miscommunication in that the CIA might have thought that the FBI and other agencies already had access to this information(â€Å"The Interrogator,† 2011). There is a lot of â€Å"what ifs† in this particular controversy as people imagine what the United States and the world might look like today if these two major agencies had been better at communicating with each other. There were other problems with communication as well when it came to interrogation techniques. Ali Soufan was one of the FBI’s foremost interrogators because of his ability to speak Arabic. He had spent a great deal of time questioning terrorist subjects; however, after September 11th, 2001, the United States decided to begin using enhanced interrogation techniques which included water boarding, nudity, sleep deprivation, and no toilets. Ali Soufan did not agree with these techniques because he believed th em to be ineffective in comparison to his own method of questioning. Ultimately, Soufan and others like him were replaced by experts in enhanced interrogation techniques. Soufan attempted to communicate his concerns about this, but no one really listened. He even spoke before the government with his identity concealed that there were plenty of examples which illustrated that techniques like water-boarding did more harm than good as terrorists simply give out false information in order to stop what some consider to be torture(â€Å"The Interrogator,† 2011). The controversy here stems from the fact that Soufan believes that no significant information has been gleaned from imprisoned terrorists using these severe interrogation techniques. However, those on the other side of the argument such as Dick Cheney, continue to defend these methods and say that they have been able to thwart many potential terrorist attacks because of it. The average American will never know the truth bec ause this controversey appears to be more of a difference of opinion than anything else with each side saying that the other is wrong. The average American is also unlikely to be aware of the controversey that surrounds how much money has been spent on counter-terrorism efforts and the ultimate impact that these efforts have had on stopping

Labour Laws Application Practice and Implementation Coursework

Labour Laws Application Practice and Implementation - Coursework Example In order to understand an employee’s right to imply law and regulation, to place an appeal against unfair dismissal, a case will be studied thoroughly. Lastly, the paper aims to study the maternity rights which are granted to the employees and how they accommodate in the present society. Background to the Context: Employment law has been considered as an integral area of law which has received imperative attention from international law as well. As evident from the provisions associated with the Employment Act, there are many guidelines, obligations, rights, and criteria for different cases and their consequences on both for the employee and the employer. Since there is an increased number of obligations, it has become a complexity for both the parties to implement relevant provisions in their respective cases. It should be noted that employment law is being practiced in almost every country of the world with their alliance to international labor law (Barnard, 2006). Part 1 (a ) Rights of Employees under Section 1- Employment Particulars During the period of employment, the employee and the employer both should be aware of their rights and authorities. i. Sub- Section 3 and 4: Where on one hand, it is important for the employer to have complete information and trust of the employee; ii. CONT: it is also very significant for the employee to know what his rights are and to know what he can claim in the case of a conflict with his employer. Employment Rights Act of 1996 clearly defines these situations for both of them. The section 1 of the law deals with the employment particulars and the employment statement. This section of the law is a kind of guideline for the employee to know what his rights are during employment and at the time of termination fair or unfair so they get to know what sort of word and conditions to expect from the tribunal in case of any breach from the employer(Barnard, 2006) Subsection 1 of Section1 states: Where an employee begins emp loyment with an employer, the employer shall give to the employee a written statement of particulars of employment† (Gavin Mansfield, 2011, p. 581) Under the statement of particulars of the section 1 subsection 1 of the Employment Rights Act of 1996, any employee is provided with a statement of particulars when he starts any job (Section 1, sub section1). 1 The subsection 2 of section 1 further explains the subsection 1 stating that: The statement may (subject to section 2(4)) be given in installments and shall be given not later than two months after the beginning of the employment (Gavin Mansfield, 2011, p. 581)† The statement of particulars must be given to the employee within eight weeks of the start of his employment (Section 1, Subsection2). Subsection 3 & 4: i. The section 1 of the law basically deals with this statement of particulars, the details and the terms and guidelines for the deal between the employer and the employee. ii. The statement has a list of thin gs entitled, from the name of the employee and the job description to the salary wages and its payment schedule (Section 1, Subsection3 & 4). As stated in the clauses of the Subsection 3 & 4: 3- â€Å"The statement shall contain particulars of: (a) the names of the employer and employee, (b) the date when the employment began† 4- â€Å".

Critically response to articles and a book Essay

Critically response to articles and a book - Essay Example Readers interpret texts depending on how they understand them. When readers read the book The Things They Carried, they will not fail to sympathize with what soldiers go through while at war. The paper looks at how a reader may respond to the book concerning the circumstances surrounding the soldiers when they are at war. When readers read the text, they will no doubt understand the role of soldiers in ensuring that their country is safe from external attacks. Andrew Krepinevich Jr, the author of The Army, and Vietnam argues that soldiers must be ready to face various challenges when they go to war (13). The writer argues that the US army had to accomplish its mission in Vietnam before leaving that country. In order for soldiers to have victory in the war, they are fighting, it is important for them to be prepared both psychologically and physically. Wars are won first in the mind, then physically. Fatalities on the side of the American army would have been reduced if America would have taken time and studied Vietnam before launching attacks. Love is the most powerful weapon soldiers can take to war. Soldiers must first love their country and family in order to have the morale to fight in the war. The author of the text does a commendable job to highlight the story of love in the book. In the book, Cross carries letters from a student named Martha because he is in love with her. Cross remembers taking her out on a date and wishes he had taken to her room (Brien Cranston). Love is a powerful tool for an individual can decide to do anything just because of love. What the American army needs to do always is to cultivate the love of its members to their country and families. Every soldier would want to be a hero back at home. The book ought to have identified more cases of love in the book since it is the main issue that surrounded the soldiers who went to Vietnam. Every person must embrace hope when facing challenges or

Case summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Case summary - Assignment Example Furthermore the locality of the airline provides it with a competitive advantage as it is located in the region of Dubai which is the hub to several important cities throughout the world. Other than the locality the company does not face any issues from the unions and is owned by a single shareholder. The company is indulged in carefully attending to the customer’s needs and wants. The airline has quite strong relationships with its suppliers such as Airbus and Boeing and the airline even enjoys the benefits of government help as well as subsidized fuel. These advantages may prove to be a disadvantage if it wants to make a mark in other localities. It even experiences immense competition from domestic competitors such as Etihad Airlines as they are even performing quite well and are satisfying customer needs and wants in a successful manner. A major problem that the airline is experiencing is that its customers who are basically businesses and their employees are trying to cut down on their travelling

The Speckled Band Essay Essay Example for Free

The Speckled Band Essay Essay The Adventure of the Speckled Band is a typical detective story which includes a crime, a motive and inevitably the case being solved, with a few red herrings along the way. Helen Stoner turns to Holmes and his assistant Watson to help solve the mysterious death of her sister, Julia, just weeks before she was to be married. This is interesting as for every marriage, their stepfather Dr Grimesby Roylott has to pay out i 250. This straight away gets the reader thinking in to who committed the crime. This incentive turns out to be false as in the end we learn that Dr Grimesby Roylott had been feeding a deadly snake down an unused bell rope and into Julias room, in an attempt to kill her off. His plan backfires however, as the snake returns but only to make him the victim of its deadly bite. Holmes is then only left to put all the pieces together and the crime is solved. The story was written by Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, who was born on May 22nd 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is recognised better by the name Conan Doyle and is well known for his Sherlock Holmes stories and the Adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works included science fiction stories, historical novels, plays, poetry and non-fiction. Around the period which he lived life, things would have been very different from nowadays. Vicious killers would roam the streets, brutally murdering innocent passer-bys and prostitutes. Jack the Ripper was a better-known criminal who murdered many prostitutes and was never caught by the police. This was no surprise at the time as the Police were seen as useless and people instead, would turn to private detectives like Sherlock Holmes himself. At the beginning of the story the mood is unclear as we dont know what the perceived crime is yet. Watson drops hints to the seriousness and unusualness of the crime with phrases such as I cannot recall any which presented more singular features than that which was associated with the well-known surrey family of the Roylotts, of Stoke Moran. This basically means that Watson cannot remember any case that he has accompanied Holmes with that has had more unusual happenings or events than this one. The fact that this case is unusual is backed up further by that Sherlock Holmes is up and awake early. He was a late riser In my habits. I think that Sherlock Holmes visitors words and actions prepare us for what happens next. This is because she arrives shivering and when Holmes notices this he offers her a cup of coffee, but she rejects this and states that It is now cold that makes me shiver, it is fear Mr Holmes, it is terror. I think this then notifies the reader of the situation of the crime and therefore expects something bad to happen later on which keeps them reading on further to see what they will uncover for themselves. Helen Stoner is described by Watson as if she is a victim and doesnt suspect anything unusual with her and only wants to find out was has happened so he can help her. In the story she is described as we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and gray, with restless, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal.

Material Science Essay Example for Free

Material Science Essay Abstract In this assignment I will be defining the 3 essential properties of every material and describing those. I would also be describing how silicon-based semiconductors revolutionized computing. I will also define what microchips are and how they relate to integrate circuits. Since the pressing questions about the increasing ability of computers to quickly process large amounts of information is whether a computer can be built that is considered â€Å"alive† or â€Å"conscious.† I will also be defining artificial intelligence and telling the difference between the human brain and the central processing unit of a computer. Material Science There are three essential properties of every material that scientists use as a foundation for most every study. First it is the kind of atoms that is made up from the material. There are the neutral elements and the compound elements. The neutral elements would have the identical amount of protons and electrons; this would essentially terminate one another, which would leave the protons and electrons neutral. The compound element is when there is a combination of more than one element. The atoms are second in the way that they are arranged. A great way to explain this is by relating atoms of liquid and atoms of solids. For example the atoms of liquids move around allowing the atoms of solids which are packed together. The way that atoms are attached together is number three. These are the key properties when understanding the study of materials. The strong point of the material, this is the capability to endure forces being useful to it without breaking, this is first. The materials elasticity is second, which is the capability to flex while returning to its original form. Number three is the materials plasticity; this is the ability to change its shape forever. Thanks to the starter of semiconductors, computers have developed over a billion times faster than one of the first built in 1946 (ENIAC). Describe how silicon-based semiconductors revolutionized computing. Since silicone semiconductors are capable to move easily through the solid component it is more proficient than copper based conductors. Silicone based conductor’s makes holes which produces and fills a space constantly. This means electrons jump from one atom to another. This will also change the silicon through a process called doping by adding either phosphorus or aluminum the desired effect is achieved. When adding phosphorus to silicon it develops n-type which is negative-semiconductor. When adding aluminum to silicone it develops p-type semiconductors. These are both essential parts functions efficient electrical devices microchips, which are used in computers. Microchips are positive and negative type semiconductors. Microchips do a detailed function. A microchip is individual diodes and transistors will play a big part of the essential function in modern electronics, although these strategies have been mainly replaced by much more complex arrays of P- and N- kind semiconductors, known as microchips. Microchips may join hundreds or thousands of transistors in one integrated circuit, particularly intended to do a specific role. They are related to integrated circuits this is why. Combined circuits (microchips) are the main component in devices such as microwave calculators, and other devices. An integrated circuit microprocessor lies on modern technology. Modern technology is occupied with electrical integrated circuits. Such as, Televisions, MP3 players and computers all contain integrated circuit which allows them to perform specific functions. Also known as microchips or microprocessors, these circuits keep track of all the information being transferred within the device, in essence giving it life. Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce are both who take credit with inventing the integrated circuit, both coming up with the idea within a year of each other while working for separate companies. Artificial Intelligence is a division of science which deals with helping machines and finds explanations to complex problems in a more human like manner. This normally contains borrowing features from human intelligence, and applying them as procedures in a computer friendly way. A more or less well-organized approach can be taken depending on the necessities recognized, which impacts how artificial the intelligent performance seems. (http://ai-depot.com/Intro.html) The 2 essential differences between human brains and the central processing unit of a computer is the brain-computer metaphor has served intellectual psychology well, research in intellectual neuroscience has revealed many significant changes between brains and computers. Escalating these differences may be crucial to understanding the mechanisms of neural information processing, and eventually for the creation of artificial intelligence. (http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2007/03/27/why-the-brain-is-not-like-a-co/) One difference is that brains are analogue and computers are digital. For instance one of the primary devices of information communication appears to be the amount at which neurons fire a fundamentally unbroken variable. Likewise, networks of neurons can fire in relative synchrony or in relative confusion; the coherence affects the strength of the signals received by downstream neurons. Lastly, inside each and every neuron is a leaky integrator circuit, composed of a diversity of ion channels and endlessly changing membrane potentials. (http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2007/03/27/why-the-brain-is-not-like-a-co/) Another difference is short-term memory is not like RAM. While the superficial similarities between RAM and short-term memory encouraged many early intellectual psychologists, a closer examination reveals strikingly important differences. Although RAM and short-term memory both seem to required power, short-term seems to hold only to long-term memory however. RAM holds data that is Isomorphic which is having similar appearance but different ancestry. Not like RAM, the capacity limit of short-term memory is not fixed, the capacity of short-term memory seems to vary with differences in processing speed as well as with expertise and understanding. (http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2007/03/27/why-the-brain-is-not-like-a-co/)

Fast Food Industry Challenges and Opportunities

Fast Food Industry Challenges and Opportunities Fast food franchising was still in its infancy in the 1950s however this picked up greatly in the 1970s due to several factors including the steady decline on hourly wages of US workers which resulted in a substantial percentage of women re-entering the job market to support their families. This trend resulted in great business opportunities for fast food chains whose product saw a substantial increase in demand due to long working hours of parents, thus lack of time to dedicate to cooking due to other family commitments, including a lack of quality time between family members. Fast food options thus made it easier for families who could choose to either purchase take away food, on their way home, or else consume it at the chains premises together with family members or friends. Thus this provided an affordable solution to purchase cooked food, for families, single parents, youths and professionals. Burger King was the first fast food chain to introduce drive thru service which now accounts for a majority of the companys business. www.datamonitor.com Apart from the drive thru option, Burger King as well as other fast food retailers, offered home service delivery in order to suit the needs of consumers who were pressed for time. The provision of such convenient services boosted the organisations turnover. Lack of elaborate furnishings and low skilled labour of fast food chains, compared to full service restaurants were substantially lower, contributed to low operating costs, which was reflected in the price of meals, rendering them affordable. Although the chains sales were very promising, stiff competition from other fast food operators forced fast food leaders to engage in aggressive marketing campaigns and diversified product offerings. Burger Kings major limitation has been the adoption of a reactive rather than a proactive strategy. This resulted in higher costs which were at times wasted as the reactive strategy would have been employed too late, and the competitors effort would have by then been too effective to be beaten. It is also worth noting that although in the case of Burger King, its major competitors have been McDonalds and Wendys being the first and third placed leaders respectively, in the fast food industry, so far, yet competition from many well-established food service companies, has been cut throat. The restaurant industry is intensely competitive and BKC competes with many well-established food service companies on the basis of product choice, quality, affordability, service and location. Burger King Corporation- SWOT Analysis: May 2010 ( www.datamonitor.com) Health concerns lead to a substantial slow down by fast food chain companies in the 1990s. Health campaigns bombarded the media claiming that obesity was the result of excessive fast food consumption. Fear of heart conditions, damaged liver and other health conditions, resulted in lower consumption of fast food, which proved to be a major threat to fast food sellers, particularly large chains like Burger King who had thousands of outlets spread across the globe reflecting high investments in the franchise. This major setback also led to a considerable drop in value meals which had been introduced to beat stiff competition from other fast food suppliers. Such favourable pricing strategies encouraged consumers to opt for the added value meal options, contributing further to health problems including obesity. During this period, Obesity was believed to cause more deaths than smoking. (Case Study:4) Apart from consuming high levels of fast food, people hardly engaged in physical due to their working commitments and hectic lifestyles which were the main reasons for drawing crowds to fast food consumption. Had fast food companies not have catered for such a shift in demand, they would have probably been driven out of the market particularly since people have become more health conscious due to higher exposure to media and the internet the latter being a super highway of information. The emerging popularity of certain diets including the Atkins and the South Beach diets, which proved to be effective for many, were also a threat to the industry, thus the introduction of a much varied menu by fast food retailers. With increased health consciousness, consumers shifted to healthy food like salads and organic food. (Case Study: 6). Leaders in the fast food industry sought to adapt to changing consumer preferences. The provision of healthier options increased operational costs, including the requirement for more cooking spaces. Fast food leaders sought to transform the initial threat into an opportunity for business development, particularly since the desire for healthy options at fast food outlets, was not a phase but is still in demand today. Awareness of the negative effects of hydrogenated oils which were deemed to be cancerous, had to be eliminated from fast food kitchens and replaced buy healthier oils. The industry was further challenged by the bird flu and Mad Cow diseases which also contributed to a decrease in consumer traffic. In 2005, the World Health Organisation (WHO), also made reference to the fact that Acrylamide in certain foods as fried or roasted potato products, has shown to cause cancer. Growing public awareness about Acrylamide levels in French fries, could affect the companys sales. Other threats faced by fast food retailers including Burger King, include Legal tangles such as violation of accessibility requirements under federal and state law, which will reflect negatively the brand image of the organisation. Unemployment and low consumer confidence the US a case in point, will affect consumer spending and thus will impact directly Burger Kings financial performance which tends to be highly sensitive to such economic conditions. Burger King, apart from dealing with the number of threats faced earlier in the write up, had a number of internal issues to solve. These problems contributed to higher challenges the company has to face particularly since for a company to deal with external factors, it must be backed up by key important factors, including internal organisational stability. Lack of constructive communication between the Mother Company and franchisees led to a number of outlets to close down. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] disagreements soon erupted between the franchisees and the parent company regarding issues of product control, store image, design and operations. (Case Study: pp 6) Franchisees claimed that Burger King failed to understand and adapt to the needs and requirements of the franchisees target audience who demanded a varied product to suit the culture and trends of the particular country and location. Franchisees also claimed that they had no financial backing from the mother company to refurbish the ir outlets, thus a considerable percentage of Burger Kings outlets were shabby and neglected. The No. 2 fast food chain may need to spend billions on refurbishing. Burt Helm (2010) Burger King also faces the threat of expiry franchise agreements. Of the 409 agreements that expired in fiscal 2006, only 47% were renewed and 28% were extended for similar periods. If a substantial number of franchisees decide not to renew their agreement, the companys operations would be affected. (www.datamonitor.com) In spite of the number of threats faced by fast food retailers during the past decades, one must not underestimate the future opportunities which such industry players can take advantage of. In this regard there has been a considerable rise of the restaurant industry in the US. New dining and lifestyle patterns including an increased percentage of working women, divorce, rise in single parent household and longer working hours have all been extended further over the last three decades. Demographic changes including the demand for snacking and increased comfort requirements are creating further opportunities for businesses within the catering industry. The FFHR business in the US is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4% per annum during 2006-2011. (www.datamonitor.com) Burger King is seeking to extend on product development by introducing new products and an increase in limited time offers. Ongoing product development must be in line with current market trends to ensure that the menu is appealing to the target market and to ensure that the menu is not stale, which will benefit competitors. Launching new products will enhance the brand image in line with the success of its direct competitors. However the success of the Whopper which is Burger Kings signature product which initially contributed to Burger King Brands image, should continue to appear in the chain marketing campaigns, with the latter being more innovative. Burger King is also seeking to expand in current and tap potential markets, including Asian markets such as China and Malaysia. This diversification plan will hopefully improve Burger Kings threat of market concentration. Further investment in the chains restaurants could also be an opportunity to boost the brand image. A change in design and image of the outlets, would provide an opportunity for further growth, targeting upcoming generations proactively. Market analysis and in-depth research will provide the company with feedback regarding the emerging customer needs not only as regards food menu, but also design and dà ©cor and in-store facilities including a potential area accommodating business meetings and coffee breaks, if in demand. In todays global, fast changing and ever growing competitive environment being a market leader, today, will give you some advantages but definitely will not grant you automatic market leadership for the future. A competitive strategy based on a number of key internal competences will provide a solid platform for organisation sustainability and long-term success. Internal competences may be referred to as stated by Barney (1991) in Lado et al. (1994) organisational resources that are rare, valuable, non substitutable and imperfectly imitable form the basis for a firms sustainable competitive advantage. Unless these core competences are unique to the company, achieving competitive advantage would be harder particularly in todays competitive business environments. Further more Prahalad and Hamel (1990) state that In the 1990s managers will be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate, and exploit th core competences that make growth possible indeed, theyll have to rethink the concept of the corporation it self. Organisations must seek to understand first and foremost the micro and macro environment including, the immediate industry (micro) and competitive environment, and general economic conditions (macro). Understanding the Critical Success Factors of the industry in which they operate helps companies identify the areas in which the company must excel over its competitors to achieve competitive advantage in the market place. Internal competences will prove to be effective if they contribute directly or indirectly to the organisations success, based on the industry Critical Success Factors. In this respect, the Board of Directors and the CEO should: have the ability of understanding the process of industry evolution; be able to predict change that would satisfy customers in terms of their expectations and preferences; understand that company Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, is not a one off exercise. Such factors have to be analysed and revised regularly to ensure that the organisations strategy is updated to cater for any changing patters, newly recognized weaknesses or threats and that any potential opportunities are tapped in real time Investment in quality Human Resources contributes towards achieving competitive advantage. Recruitment and selection processes are fundamental for a companys long term success, considering nowadays, the organisations best resources are human resources. Ongoing training and development of employees contributes to high efficiency levels within companies, and in the case of retail, ongoing training and monitoring ensures that high levels of customer service by the organisations employees, is practiced at all times. In the case of a large company as Burger King, standardised and compulsory training ensures that service standardisation is achieved throughout its franchise outlets. Apart from providing ongoing, updated training, companies should seek to develop their staff complement so that their key staff members will improve their skills and will be given the opportunity to be promoted internally and contribute to the companys success, rather than leave the organisation in search for better opportunities. This investment in human resources contributes highly to a companys internal competences, thus to the companys overall success, considering a substantial percentage of Burger Kings (as an example) employees are the chains front liners, providing the service directly to the customer. The way employees are treated at the workplace and the relationships with their superiors, automatically affects their performance and hence the efforts they give. In a way this all depends on the management level and as Foot and Hook (1999) state [] they enhance the willingness and ability of employees to contribute to the achievement of their organisations goal. The level of Information Sharing and Effective Communication within organisations may also be viewed as a fundamental internal competence. Members within an organisation should be informed and should feel part of the organisations success of failure. The Mission and Vision of the company must be clear from top to bottom, otherwise it may result in lack of commitment due to a lack of understanding of the companys goals. Dissemination of information and communication within companies may take different forms ranging from meetings, e-mails, intranet and newsletters. Further advancements in technologies, have reduced communication barriers to a substantial degree, thus communication between the head office, or parents company and its internationally spread businesses, is now even more possible than ever. The use of Skpe, conference calls, video conferencing have contributed to new forms of communication options. Total Quality Management (TQM) emphasises the responsibility of each individual for ensuring high levels of quality throughout the organisation. Commitment and training in this regard will require less supervision and higher levels of commitment. Encouraging Quality Circles, involves having a group of people who meet away from the shop floor to discuss potential improvements in the work systems. Members of quality circles will then analyse the data and set up proposals addressed to senior management for consideration. Achievement of effective Total Quality Management within companies provides results in competitive advantage over competitor organisations since high levels of quality, are the order of the day. Other examples of organisational competences include; innovation, embracing change rather than resisting it and other key characteristics which render a companys product or service distinct from those of direct competitors or substitutes. Organisations must not take their internal competences for granted but must seek to develop them further so as to maintain long-term competitive advantage. Seeking other forms of key internal competences is very important in view of the ever changing market conditions in which organisations operate. Unless organisations have key ingredients distinguishing them from what their competitors are offering, it would be very challenging to operate sustainably and register ongoing growth. Market research including competitor analysis is carried out by companies with the main purpose of identifying any potential threats or new opportunities within the diverse business markets. Unless companies seek to embrace their key competences and improve to maintain mar ket leadership position whenever possible, they will soon be challenged by upcoming competitors. Enterprises across the whole spectrum of the economy are faced with multiple challenges generated within the parameters of national and global economy. Globalisation is resulting in a high degree of economic openness, and to a very large measure, this exposes emerging businesses to vulnerable business scenarios. Ruysseveldt et al (1995) highlighted that In general, companies now face fierce competition, and this in turn affects the employment relationship, which is increasingly subject to the logic of the market. In this regard, organisations which fail in adapting their structures to emerging societies of the market will eventually face a natural death. Subsequently, visionary agile organisations need to capitalise on a proactive approach, in anticipating and responding to change effectively. 2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the franchising business model used by Burger King. What are the implications of this approach for successful implementation of their strategies? Franchising is a form of business in which the franchiser gives the authority to a franchisee to distribute services, products or methods of business to affiliated dealers. In many cases franchisees are given exclusive access to a particular geographical area. The franchiser usually mandates uniform symbols, trademarks and standardization of services. On the other hand negative macro consequences of franchising include the propensity of franchising to promote anticompetitive distribution systems (Hunt, 1972), the rationalization of consumer choice (Alon, 2004), and the destruction of local customs (Ram, 2004), leading to what has been called the McDonaldization of Society (Ritzer, 1995). Currently Burger King has 3 different forms of franchise schemes, which correspond to 3 different types of franchise ownership: Individual or Owner/ Operator Entity Corporate Individual or owner/ operator ownership was traditionally used for individuals who signed the franchise agreement personally and who were personally responsible for operating the franchise restaurant. Although the individual franchise agreement can be assigned to an operating company under certain conditions, the individual remains personally responsible under the franchise agreement. Entity ownership allows different forms of ownership and management of, and equity investment in the franchisee. Under the Entity ownership program, a corporation, a limited partnership or a limited liability company can directly execute the Entity franchisee scheme if they satisfy Burger Kings guidelines and for approval of franchise ownership distribution plans. Generally, one of the conditions of Entity ownership is that one or more individuals or entities guarantee to be responsible for the franchisee obligations to Burger King out of which one of them has to be designated by Burger Kings approval to be the managing owner who shall be responsible to ensure that they comply to the franchise agreement and has to have enough authority to make certain decisions. Additionally the managing owner must have at least 5% ownership of the franchisee. Corporate ownership franchise scheme occurs when a company with publicly-traded stock or a subsidiary of a publicly-traded company, that controls locations that are not accessible or have limited access to the general public. Such franchisees are typically food service companies that provide a variety of contract feeding services in a institutional location such as government buildings and facilities, airports, bus and train stations, theme parks and zoos. A qualified director of operations who shall be approved by Burger King needs to be appointed who will have certain responsibilities and authority to ensure that the corporate franchisee is complying with the franchise agreement. Although these 3 franchise schemes may slightly vary between them as to responsibilities and setup costs, however in substance they follow the traditional franchise setup that Burger King has adopted through the years. Burger King grants franchisees to operate restaurants using Burger King trademarks, trade dress and other intellectual property rights that it owns, from quality of products and standardization of service. For each franchise restaurant, Burger King enters into a franchise agreement that covers a number of standard terms and conditions that are common to all franchisees. Franchisees incur recurring fees consisting of royalty and advertising payments that range between 3.5% to 5% on monthly gross sales, and a fixed yearly fee that starts from $50,000 depending on the size of franchisee set-up. Burger King offers its franchisees its renowned barbell menu strategy, which gives the franchisees the opportunity to expand on Burger Kings high-margin premium products and value products in order to grow the core drivers of its product offerings. The barbell menu strategy is aimed at driving average check and traffic, since Burger Kings management team believes that by adopting this strategy Burger king is balancing higher margin products with value offerings and at the same time increasing the brand equity of flame-broiled taste. However the fast food industry is highly competitive and some of Burger Kings competitors have greater resources, such as Macdonalds. This leads to a disadvantage when it comes to compete with Macdonalds, since Burger King takes a reactive mode to price changes, furthermore Macdonalds marketing campaigns in general are more effective than Burger Kings. Clearly this gives the competitors a competitive advantage through higher levels of brand awareness among consumers. In addition, our major competitors are also able to devote greater resources to accelerate their restaurant re-modelling and rebuilding efforts, introduce new product and implement advantageous product offerings, which in most cases gives them a competitive edge over Burger King. Furthermore, the market for retail real estate is highly competitive. Due to the economies of scale that Burger Kings competitors managed to achieve, Burger Kings major competitors may have the ability to negotiate more favourable terms and entrepreneurs may offer priority or grant exclusivity to these competitors for more desirable locations. As a result, this may hinder the ability to obtain new franchisees or renew existing agreements. The capital required to grow and maintain Burger King Corporation is primarily funded by franchise agreements, this presents a number of drawbacks in Burger Kings portfolio management strategy, especially when the company currently holds ownership of only 10% of its restaurants. Burger King is planning to significantly reduce the ownership of these restaurants over the next 5 years. This may lead to problematic situations whereby Burger King being the franchisor will have limited influence over franchisees and high reliance on franchisees to implement major initiatives. This may also lead to limited ability to facilitate changes in restaurant ownership, limitations on enforcement of franchise obligations due to bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings and inability or unwillingness of franchisees to participate in our strategic initiatives. On the other hand Burger Kings principal competitors are mainly Macdonalds and Wendys. These have greater influence over their respective franchisees due to the significantly higher percentage of company restaurants and ownership of franchisee real estate that they hold. This may result, that they may have a greater ability to implement operational initiatives and business strategies, including their marketing and advertising programs. While Burger King can mandate certain strategic initiatives through the enforcement of its franchise agreements, they need the actively seek support from its franchisees for a successful implementation of these initiatives. These efforts to build this alignment with its franchisees may result in a delay in the implementation of the marketing and advertising programs. Although the current relationship with its franchisees is positive, there is no assurance that it will continue to be so. In fact Burger King has already been sued by the National Franchisee association, this organisation represents over 50% of Burger Kings franchisees in the United States. This law suit is due to Burger Kings decision to dictate to the U.S. franchisees to sell the 1/4 lb. Double Cheeseburger and the Buck Double burger at $1. This is a clear example whereby Burger Kings failure to win the franchisees support in its marketing programs and strategic initiatives could lead to negatively affect the ability t o implement the strategy that it would have decided to adopt. Burger Kings operating results substantially depend upon its franchisees sales. However, its franchisees are independent operators and they cannot control many factors that impact the profitability of their restaurants. Pursuant to the franchise agreements and their operational manual, Burger King mandate menu items, signage, equipment, hours of operation and value menu, standardization of procedures and approval of suppliers. However, the quality of franchise restaurant operations may be diminished by any number of factors beyond its control. Consequently, franchisees may not successfully operate restaurants in a consistent manner with the mother company standards and requirements. Due to various factors, Burger King as a franchisor may not be able to identify problems and take action quickly enough; as a result, its image and reputation may suffer. Most of Burger Kings franchisee restaurants are presently located on leased premises. As restaurant leases expire, our franchisees may be unable to renegotiate a new lease, on commercially acceptable terms or nothing at all, which could cause a number of its franchisees to close down. As already stated, the fast food industry is intensely competitive and Burger King has to compete both in the U.S. and internationally with a number of established companies on the basis of product choice, quality, affordability, service and location. Burger Kings competitors include a variety of independent operators, in addition to well-capitalized national and international chains and franchises. Furthermore, this industry has few barriers to entry, and therefore new competitors may emerge at any time. Burger Kings ability to compete will mainly depend on the success to improve existing products, to develop new products, effectively respond to consumer preferences and to manage the complexity of its operations as well as the impact of our competitors actions. 3.Using relevant theory and examples to support your answer, critically evaluate the role of leadership in managing cultural and behavioural factors during the execution of a turnaround strategy.    In the rapidly developing modern world and the age of globalization, the concept of organisational change has become more important than ever before. Although it has always been an important feature of organisational life, the place, magnitude and necessity of organisational change has considerably escalated over the past two decades (Arnold, 2005). As Mullins (2007) states, Change is a pervasive influence. It is an inescapable part of both social and organisational life and we are all subject to continual change of one form or another. There exists a multitude of reasons as to why organisations must constantly make changes, both external and internal. Although internal factors play a role, the main pressures faced by companies to change comes from external forces. This is because in order to survive in the corporate world, organisations must be properly prepared to face and respond to the new challenges and opportunities presented by the ever-changing external environment (Mullins, 2007). Many organisations appear to be in a continuous state of change as they are forced to increase the speed with which they respond to the unpredictability of external factors, essential for their survival (Hussey, 2000). One of the most influential forces instigating organisational change today is the rapid rate of globalisation and consequent fierce world competition. With the accelerating emergence of economies such as India and China, Mayle (2006) states that globalisation is no longer an academic discipline or a fringe movement but a business imperative Thus creating the need for constant change and the fact that competition is intensifying, means that organisations cannot simply ignore developments and give advantage to their competitors. Technological change has therefore become extremely significant as the rate of obsolescence increases, a trend that is set to become more significant with the rapid growth of the internet and E-commerce. As Hussey (2000) states, it is unlikely that organisations can introduce new developments without causing changes to skills, jobs, structure and often culture. Another external factor to consider is that the demographic profile of most countries is changing the proportion of older people is increasing relative to the proportion of younger people. This will create huge pressures for organisations, and corporate issues may involve finding ways of dealing with skill shortages, changes in attitudes to the employment of older people and problems of motivation in flat organisational structures which of fer little opportunity for promotion (Hussey, 2000). Other external forces of change relevant to organisations include government intervention, political interests, scarcity of natural resources and the nature of customers. Internal sources of change include innovations, new methods of work, re-locating, training, staff development and the re-allocation of resources and responsibilities (Mullins, 2007). The survival and success of any organisation depends how they choose to adapt to these internal and external demands. It is not about whether to change, but to how and when. Burger King started this process in 1977, by hiring Donald Smith as president and CEO. Smith identified the shortfalls that Burger King was facing at the time. Smith adapted and executed his turnaround strategy, and modelled on the basis of Macdonalds strategy which proofed rather successful. The processes involved in organisational change may differ widely depending on the corporation in question and the current situation that it is facing. However, it is important for all organisations in todays globalised economy to understand the importance of continual change constantly transforming in order to keep up with the changing environment and hence survive in the competitive modern world. The actual changes to an organisation can either be implemented in a planned and systematic fashion, often designed and implemented by consultants, or in a more informal and reactive way, where managers react to situations on a daily basis and implement change accordingly (Tosi, Rizzo Carroll, 1994). The notion of organisational development change that focuses on the whole organisation is concerned with anticipated, planned and consciously designed change that will serve to increase an organisations effectiveness (Cummings and Worley, 2001). Lewins change model provides a fundamental m odel of planned change, which perceives change as a modification of those forces keeping a systems behaviour stable. In this model, Lewin believes that the change process consists of three steps: Unfreezing, Moving and Refreezing. Unfreezing involves diminishing the forces that uphold an organisations current behaviour often done by showing employees the discrepancies between behaviour desired by the organisation and behaviour that is currently displayed. Through a process of psychological disconfirmation members can thereby be motivated to change. The second step, Moving aims to shift the current behaviour of

Three Types of Friends Essay -- essays research papers friendship rela

Through my experiences I have come to realize that there are basically three types of friends a person can have. There are friends that I call â€Å"sometimes† friends, these people appear to be your friend but only when you are face to face with them, and when you are not around them they act more like a foe. They are often referred to as two faced or a back stabber. These types of friends are not very reliable nor should they be trusted. Another type of friend a person can have, and the best kind, is a â€Å"true† friend. A true friend is someone you know you can always trust and rely on no matter what. The last type of friend is the â€Å"acquaintance†. These are the type of friends that you do not necessarily hate, but at the same time you do not divulge your personal information with this person, simply because you do not spend a great amount of time with the person and do not know them well. It may be hard to determine if someone that you call a friend is actually a â€Å"true† friend or a â€Å"sometimes† friend. They can be very deceitful and scandalous towards you at times. If you notice...

Super Athletes :: Essays Papers

Super Athletes In the last ten years there has been a drastic change in professional athletics. Players are coming out of college much bigger, faster, and stronger than players of the past. When players reach the High School level of sports it is forced upon them that their sport is twelve months long, and it is basically a job. Players are expected to run and condition, as well as lift weights every day in the off-season. Players training so hard and so much they come out of college fully matured and developed. Jevone Kearse of the Tennessee Titans was given the nickname, â€Å"The Freak, due to his massive size, amazing speed, and phenomenal strength his rookie year in the NFL. Players are much bigger than they were twenty years ago. In 1979 the NFL's heaviest offensive lineman, Max Montoya of the Bengals, weighed 285 pounds. At the NFL scouting combine in February, 48 of 53 offensive linemen weighed more than 300 pounds (Oehser 2). The receivers are still fast, and the fastest guys these days are generally as fast as they were then. The difference is in who is running these speeds. As an example former Cowboys wide receiver and Olympic gold-medal sprinter Bob Hayes, ran a 4.4 forty yard dash, and he weighed 185 pounds. Jevon Kearse is 30 pounds heavier and he runs only 3/10 of a second slower in his forty yard dash (Oehser 2). Athletes are driven by a fierce competitiveness to achieve at the highest levels. Athletes in professional sports getting bigger, faster, and stronger, has led to drastic changes in the entire world of sports. More frequent and severe injuries are occurring, which is leading to changes in rules, and proposed changes for current rules. Equipment has also changed along with demands according to the physique of the players. Some have proposed changes in size and dimensions of the playing field in both the NHL and NBA. As players continue to get bigger, stronger and faster, the collisions between them cause more and more serious injuries. In the first four weeks of play in the NFL in 2001 there were 22 serious injuries, with five cases resulting in broken bones, eleven players tearing ligaments in their knees, and six severe sprains (King 106). With bone shattering collisions due to increased player speed and size, leagues have been forced to change rules and policies on hitting and contact between players.

Aetna: A Target Market Analysis Essay -- Market Research

Overview: With an evolving market in the various fields marketing, companies needed to readjust their and update their marketing strategies. Centuries ago, a company that needed to market for its products would just post a paper note at the main town street and if people liked the product it would be sold. In the 21st century, marketing became an essential field and necessary branch in any company that plans to succeed. Aetna recognized this necessity and while analyzing the company’s strategies and structure, one can recognize the un-doubtful organization in identifying their target market. Through the creation of different subsidiaries, Aetna, Inc. is able to organize its target market and classify their various services based on the target market’s specific demographics. Primary and Secondary Target Markets Being a giant in the insurance market in the United States, Aetna, Inc’s target market is widely spread and can’t be simply classified in primary and secondary targets. The company’s target market’s however, can be divided into two general markets with each having different classifications. Aetna’s target markets can be divided into an American market and an international one. Within the American market, Aetna divided itself into subsidiaries each concentrating on a specific target market. Outside of the American market, Aetna created Aetna International to specifically target various non-American markets. Within Aetna’s primary target market, there are seven subsidiaries that target the various American markets. Six of these subsidiaries aim at the various markets in the United States while the seventh aim towards improving the collective services offered by Aetna through the delivery of various health ... ... About Medicity. (2011). In Medicity. Retrieved March 10, 2012, from http://www.medicity.com/about-medicity.html About Us. (2012). In ActiveHealth Management. Retrieved March 10, 2012, from http://activehealthmanagement.com/ Aenta History. (2012). In Aetna. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from http://www.aetna.com/about-aetna-insurance/aetna-corporate-profile/aetna-history/index.html Aetna Subsidiaries: Standalone Companies Owned by Aetna. (2012). In Aetna. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from http://www.aetna.com/about-aetna-insurance/aetna-corporate-profile/subsidiaries.html Miles, J., & Armstrong, R. (Narrator). (2011). Rivalry: Aetna vs Humana [Online video]. Fox News: Business. Retrieved April 6, 2012, from http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3893197/rivalry-aetna-vs-humana/ Our Mission. (2012). In SRC. Retrieved March 10, 2012, from http://www.aetna.com/src/about/index.html

Reducing Transport Carbon Emissions In The UK Environmental Sciences Essay

The conveyance sector is the fastest turning consumer of energy and manufacturer of green house gasses in the European Union every bit good as in the universe ( EIA, 2010 ) . Energy usage in the conveyance sector includes energy consumed in traveling people and goods by route, rail, air, H2O, and grapevine ( EIA, 2010 ) . In UK, the overall addition in concluding energy ingestion between 1990 and 2008, was 7.5 million metric tons of oil tantamount – an addition of 5.1 % . Transport energy ingestion rose to 21 % between this period, and the largest addition occurred in the air conveyance sector ; where ingestion rose by 83 % . Over the same period, the rail sector ‘s ingestion rose by 31 % , while rider route fuel rose by 4 % ( Govtoday 2010 ) . on the other manus, It has been estimated that 480.9 million metric tons of C dioxide ( MtCO2 ) were emitted during 2009 in UK. Out of these emanations, conveyance sector paged at 121.8 MtCO2- accounted for a one-fourth of all CO2 emanations in the UK ( Department of Energy and climate change,2010 ) This shows that conveyance remains one of the major users of energy and emitter of C, non merely in the universe or European Union in general but besides UK in specific. In position of this fact, the UK authorities demand to follow energy usage decrease schemes so as to cut down its C pes print and aid to accomplish European Union ‘s policy of cut downing C emanations by 2020 so as to accomplish sustainable development.Proposed Options to cut down Energy ingestion and or emanations in conveyance sector.1.Technological options( a ) .Hybrid-electric vehicles. A intercrossed electrical vehicle ( HEV ) is a vehicle equipped with either an internal burning engine ( ICE ) and an electrical motor powered by electrical batteries. HEVs are an emerging engineering in the automotive market, with makers planing and bring forthing intercrossed systems for rider autos, light-duty vehicles, heavy responsibility vehicles, and even engines. The improved efficiency of HEVs over conventional vehicle is achieved by runing a smaller, more efficient ICE within a narrower, more efficient operational speed/power set and utilizing an electric engine and electrical storage ( i.e. the battery ) to equilibrate the public presentation energy demands. ( Deutsche Bank,2008 ) . Potential nest eggs Hybrid vehicles are frequently equipped with â€Å" halt & amp ; travel † devices. In the urban rhythm, these devices may enable farther decrease of energy usage and emanations ( Ricardo, 2009 ) . Mild loanblends ( where an electric motor is non a exclusive beginning of driving power, but besides auxiliary internal burning engine when extremum power is needed ) provide a 10-20 % fuel efficiency addition ( Deutsche Bank,2008 ) , and full loanblends, can cut down CO2 emanations for urban applications by up to 40 % depending on the vehicle. For long draw drive ( i.e. chiefly on high-velocity roads ) an norm of 7 % is reported as more typical ( Ricardo, 2009 ) , and coachs runing on intercrossed system have the possible to cut down emanations by 30 % on the conventional Diesel coachs ( Transport for London ) . Restrictions and possible actions HEVs of In general, offer more efficiency benefits in metropolis drive instead than in long-distance expressway usage ( Ricardo, 2009 ) . Though nearing commercial position, HEVs are rather expensive and it is ill-defined whether consumers will encompass them in the mass market. However, Government can make a batch to advance loanblends, including strong monetary value inducements and instruction runs to do certain consumers are cognizant of this engineering and understand its benefits ( Deutsche Bank,2008 ) . ( B ) .Carbon gaining control and storage engineering ( CCS ) Refers to the gaining control of CO2 from emanations, followed by storage in geological constructions, thereby forestalling it from come ining the ambiance ( Parliamentarly office of scientific discipline and engineering, 2005 ) . This method of C segregation can be done at production phase of fuel such that Carbon gaining control and storage engineering offers a low-carbon manner to utilize fossil fuels to guarantee security of energy supply ( Parliamentarly office of scientific discipline and engineering, 2005 ) . Potential nest eggs Using CO2 gaining control to the UK ‘s energy industries has the greatest possible to cut down current emanations. The cost of emanation decrease utilizing CCS are comparable with those of utilizing offshore wind power or atomic power-Carbon emanation decrease costs of about ?50/tCO2 ( DTI, 2003 ) Restrictions and solutions There are concerns that Carbon could be released during conveyance and injection or over clip from geological storage ( DTI, 2003 ) .Hence, CO2 release would necessitate to be carefully monitored for homo and environmental safety. However, there are already expertise and industrial protocols associated with its handling. Even utilizing pessimistic premises it has been estimated that it is improbable that more than 0.03 % of the CO2 would be released during conveyance and injection ( DTI, 2003 ) . Under present economic conditions CCS is non financially feasible. However, Making inducements for CCS signifiers portion of the wider argument on economic schemes to cut down CO2 emanations ( Parliamentarly office of scientific discipline and engineering, 2005 ) .2. Fiscal techniquesFiscal instruments are an obvious tool for authorities policy in general. They can besides be a tool for rapidly act uponing the consumption of energy efficiency in conveyance so as to cut down energy demand and cut down auto ownership by persons ( Banister, 2006 ) . Examples of financial techniques that can be used are as follows ; Fuel bringing direction measures- where autos can merely replenish at a certain clip of the twenty-four hours dependant on the last figure of their license home base Artificial elevation of fuel monetary values through revenue enhancements, Introduction of route and interior metropolis tolls restrictive parking and debut of parking fees. These financial techniques can ensue to cut down urban vehicle trips to merely indispensable trips and to deviate the bulk of occupants to public conveyance where by cut downing energy usage and C emanations ( Saleh etal,1998 ) . Potential nest eggs These techniques can cut down oil demand and ingestion by between 7 % and 10 % depending on the size of the break ( Banister, 2006 ) . Road pricing/congestion charges have been implemented in London and Durham. Even though the motive has non been to cut down CO2 emanations but traffic congestion, there has nevertheless been a significant betterment in local air quality in cardinal London and CO2 emanations degrees are down by 15 % , chiefly due to fewer autos, higher velocities and less stop-start drive ( Banister, 2006 ) . Restrictions and possible actions Information about possible steps of demand decreases in the conveyance sector is frequently highly limited and dated. Fuel revenue enhancement addition has the possible to keep demand but – recent informations about the effectivity of such steps is scarce ( IE A,2003 ) . However, since other countries have been implementing the techniques, lessons can be learnt from them which can back up determination doing procedure.3.Legislative stepsLegislative steps can besides be used to excite the consumption of energy efficiency in conveyance where by cut downing energy demand and emanations ( The Allen confer withing group,2008 ) . Example include compulsory criterions for fuel efficiency Compulsory Standards for Fuel Efficiency Standards on degree of pollution can be imposed on auto makers, with a mark agreed that all new vehicles should hold mean lower emanation rate of fuel. EU mean rate is 140 g CO2/km3 ( SMMT, 2007 ) . In the UK, the current degree for new autos is 167.2 g CO2/km ( 2006 ) with approximately 20 % more to making the 140 g/km mark ( SMMT, 2007 ) . Potential nest eggs A survey by the The Allen confer withing group,2008 in Australia indicated that a plan affecting compulsory criterions demands for big energy consumers ( devouring 100 TJ or more of energy each twelvemonth ) , is likely to present a net economic benefit over 10 old ages of around $ 710 million ( in cyberspace present value ( NPV ) footings ) .This is based on a demand for these sites to implement energy salvaging undertakings with a payback period of 3 old ages or less, and the consequence of a modest domestic C monetary value ( assumed to average about $ 15 per metric ton CO2e ) in the period 2010 to 2020. Restrictions and possible actions Mandatory energy efficiency plans implementation incur highest plan costs compared to voluntary attacks but the expected benefits are besides the highest compared to other attacks ( The Allen confer withing group,2008 ) .4. Infrastructure alterations and behavioral alteration optionsIncreasing the efficiency of route and rail vehicles so they use less fuel per rider Km or tonne-Km ( IE A,2003 ) ; Reducing the overall auto ownership and sum of personal travel and motion of goods ( IE A,2003 ) ; Transfering riders and cargo from high-consumption manners to low ingestion manners eg public conveyance ( IE A,2003 ) ; back uping Eco- drive -energy usage in conveyance is besides dependent on mean velocity of the vehicle, service quality and driver behaviour hence important sum of energy and C emanations could be saved by learning people how to drive ( Hodac, 2008 ) . bettering journey times and connexions, improved quality, handiness and affordability of public conveyance through electrification of rail webs and disgnating high velocity rail associating metropoliss to do train more attractive option to auto use ( Scots Government Publication,2009 ) . planing substructure and layout to promote and ease walking and cycling ; and do non-motorised manners of conveyance safer, quicker and more attractive ( Scots Government Publication,2009 ) Promoting options to go ( e.g. greater telecommuting ) Potential nest eggs substructure betterments, â€Å" intelligent conveyance † engineerings and systems such as better routing systems and congestion decrease and information systems can assist to replace for travel systems and better theodolite systems. An aggressive combination of such steps could realistically cut travel ( or go growing ) by 10-15 % where by cut downing energy usage and C emanations ( IE A,2003 ) . Freight-efficiency betterment programmes, much more aggressive attempts could give a 10-20 % decrease in cargo fuel usage ( IE A,2003 ) .The IEA estimations that a 5 % -10 % decrease in mean fuel ingestion per kilometer could be achieved through a combination of the undermentioned steps: stronger review and care programmes to aim fuel efficiency, acceptance of on-board engineerings that better in-use fuel efficiency and better driver consciousness of efficiency ; better and more widespread driver preparation programmes, and better enforcement and control of vehicle velocities. Restrictions and possible actions Measures such as transport demand direction and traffic direction systems are frequently supported by specific revenue enhancements, publicity of public conveyance systems to promote voluntary transportation from autos, support for usage of alternate fuels, etc. These steps face a different scope of political jobs and other jobs ( OECD, 2002 ) . However, Measures including outreach and inducements for improved heavy-duty vehicle fuel efficiency and advancing greater usage of telecommuting and public conveyance for better system efficiency can be emphasized ( IE A,2003 ) ..DecisionThere are several options that UK Government can see to follow in seeking to accomplish the purpose of cut downing C emanations from conveyance sector. The options are in the class of substructure, engineering, statute law every bit good as financial techniques. Each option has possible to cut down emanations but has associated restrictions. However, suggested solutions to restrictions are available which so allow the Government to do determinations against its ain precedences.Beyond 2050Carbon gaining control and storage engineering ( CCS ) Using CO2 gaining control to the UK ‘s energy industries has the greatest possible to cut down current emanations. The cost of emanation decrease utilizing CCS are comparable with those of utilizing offshore wind power or atomic power-Carbon emanation decrease costs of about ?50/tCO2 ( DTI, 2003 )

Applying Servqual to Web Sites: an Exploratory Study

global journal of trimct & Reli fac pasty instruction Emerald hold Applying SERVQUAL to web posts an explorative say Jos cutting edge Iwaarden, Ton vanguard der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen Article discipline To cite this record Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),Applying SERVQUAL to weave localizes an exploratory sight, transnational journal of select & Reli susceptibility caution, Vol. 20 Iss 8 pp. 919 935 age slight link to this record http//dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 D experienceloaded on 27-01-2013References This document bustletains references to 26 otherwise documents Citations This document has been cited by 25 other documents To copy this document emailprotected com This document has been downloaded 2679 dates since 2005. * Users who downloaded this Article in give c be manner downloaded * Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),Applying SERVQUAL to meshing ai ms an exploratory study, outside(a) daybook of Quality & Reliability wariness, Vol. 20 Iss 8 pp. 919 935 http//dx. doi. org/10. 108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),Applying SERVQUAL to weathervane internet web sends an exploratory study, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss 8 pp. 919 935 http//dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),Applying SERVQUAL to meshwork posts an exploratory study, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss 8 pp. 919 935 http//dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 find to this document was granted finished an Emerald subscription bowl everywhere overd by UCSI EDUCATION SDN BHD For Authors If you would standardized to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then recreate habituate our Emerald for Authors serve salutary(p). In stockatio n near how to occur which publication to write for and submission guidelines atomic figure of speech 18 avail satis reckony for all. Please confabulate www. emeraldinsight. com/authors for to a considerableer ex xt turn outment. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With oer forty familys experience, Emerald assembly Publishing is a leading separatist publisher of global re anticipate with refer in business, society, public form _or_ system of government and education.In integral, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and to a greater extent than 130 book series, as well as an extensive hurl of online yields and wait ons. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and channelise compliant. The organization is a partner of the perpetration on Publication Ethics (COPE) and besides works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital record preservation. *Related subject and download knowledge correct at clipping of download. The Emerald inquiry Register for this journal i s available at http//www. emeraldinsight. com/ look intoregister The current surface and full text edition archive of this journal is available at http//www. emeraldinsight. om/0265-671X. htm NEW RESEARCH Applying SERVQUAL to finish off aims an exploratory study Applying SERVQUAL 919 Jos van Iwaarden and Ton van der Wiele Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Leslie Ball and Robert Millen Received August 2002 revise December 2002 Accepted December 2002 northeastern University, Boston, Massach ingestiontts, regular army Keywords Worldwide sack, SERVQUAL, electronic physician Abstract In an effort to secern the prime(a) factors savvyd to be to the highest degree authoritative in similarity to the usage of meshing sends, a prospect was under swal first basen. The questionnaire employ was establish on the SERVQUAL instrument that identi? s ? ve calibre places in profit environments. The conducts read that the caliber dimensions open appli cable in the applyfulness sphere ar to a fault applicable to mesh web situates. The items that turn over been identi? ed as close classic in relation to the t unmatchable of voice of weather vane sites atomic estimate 18 tangibles (the display of the mesh site, glide, look for options, and organise), dependableness (the ability to judge the bankworthiness of the walked serve of cover and the organization performing the wait on), responsiveness (the giveingness to athletic supporter clients and provide prompt service), potency (the ability of the sack site to convey send and con? ence in the organisation git it with respect to hordeage and solitude), and em trendy (the provision of caring, individualized attention to guests, including utilisationr recognition and customization). access In the early 1990s 3 technologies (communications belt along, memory capacity, and computer speed) were rapidly maturement in price of capabilities they had f or over 20 historic period. However, their combined S-curve ascendths suddenly modifyd one of the superior technology revolutions ever seen the explosion of the net profit.Originally aimed as an knowledge conduit, entrepreneurs soon proverb the great power of a portion outing channel that enabled browsing, selecting, and subverting without leaving the rest of the home. Businesses realized that they could interact directly with other businesses over the network, as well. Additionally, government agencies caught on and began delivering serve online, collecting payments for licenses and taxes, providing schooling, etc. The bill of this explosion is well documented as both computer and mesh implement flummox appendd substantially in the past few years (US subdivision of Commerce, 2002).Since 1997 computer determination has transmitant at a rate of 5. 3 per centum on an annualized basis. cyberspace use has grown at a rate of 20 draw per year since 1998, a nd in the 13 months prior to the September 2001 survey by the US discussion section of Commerce, over 26 million more than than Ameri female genital organs went online. The authors be grateful to all anonymous referees for their valuable comments. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Vol. 20 zero(prenominal) 8, 2003 pp. 919-935 q MCB UP particular(a) 0265-671X DOI 10. 1108/02656710310493634 IJQRM 20,8 920While in that location is a great talk about the digital start out, the US Department of Commerce account that 54 pct (or 143 million Ameri faecal matters) grow access to the profit in their homes and that roughly 100 percent of the US world has access done schools and libraries. Thousands of companies were formed to sell ripe(p)s and serve over the net during this power point creating the New Economy. Subsequently, many an(prenominal) of those companies ar now gone as witnessed by the huge number of bankruptcies (Baldwin, 2002). antithetica l experts efficiency de? e e-commerce discordently, nevertheless go uply about control on one thing the sector repre displaces a festering piece of the habitual commerce pie, and its sh be is deported to join on steadily though gradually over the next ? ve years. Various parties maintain compute distinct results. For example, Forrester reports that online gross sales in the USA accounted for $51. 3 invoiceinal in tax revenue during 2001, and revenue for 2002 is expected to a total of $72. 1 billion, a 41 percent increase over the previous year (Hirsh, 2002). However, this accounts for yet 2 percent of the boilersuit retail spending.It has been predicted that this sh ar pass on grow by about deuce-ace-tenths of a percentage point from apiece one year through at least 2005, marking a s depleted alone steady climb. As for e-commerce sales, a nonher projection estimates that online revenue leave total about $90 billion in 2002, $160-$170 billion in 2004, and $287. 9 billion by 2006 (Hirsh, 2002). The comfort of the net goes beyond adding another merchandising channel. enquiryers at McKinsey and telephoner report that the holding of nodes online is easier than in traditional bricks and howitzer companies where the online ships corporation spends triad to ? ve times less to declargon them.Companies that retained clients exhibited traits of reliable basic working(a) execution. Their sites downloaded quickly they responded to guest queries quickly they delivered more than 95 percent of their set outs on time and they made it easy for guests to return or fill in leveragings. One go with raised(a) its on-time deli really rates from 60 to 90 percent, and cut customer churn in half (Agrawal et al. , 2001). The mesh excessively quarter play a pivotal single- harbord function in enhancing brand relationships and corporeal reputations. Nike, Disney, Coke, and Toyota argon all well-established brands that drive us to search for and ? d their ingatherings. mark is a diminutive component of the design of vane sites. It is about giveing a brand or corporate reputation to create relationships with customers (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2001). Branding is rede? ned online, says Caroline Riby, vice president-media director at Saatchi & Saatchi Rowland. We atomic number 18 moving beyond representing a brand to experiencing it (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2001). The blade site moldiness capture the attention of those muckle who cheat nothing or actually lower-ranking about the society, but ar interest in its category.It must similarly build awargonness of what the companionship does within the condition of the industry in which it is competing. Earlier sack sites were positivistic by adult corporations, which required that they adhere to the corporate logo and touch scheme, attach to the corporate entropybases, and comply with several(prenominal) other corporate requirements. This translated to high monetary value and signi? nominatet development time. differents (those created for Mom and protrude operations and early entrepreneurial operations), strengthened over the weekend, did not connect to walloping databases, and had no standards. While the participation was in operation unbendable, the sites were often unattractive and dif? ult to use. Is it not surprising that the companies that ar almost successful selling over the net income be the former and not the by and by? Certainly, we fecal matter ? nd examples of the up-starts that be redeem succeeded, but they buzz off usually adapted to the position of the corporation that requires high standards. Just as in the bricks and howitzer world, companies accept to passing play excellent service on the blade. blade sites will be jazz very Coperni rotter to companies as more products and services will be bought either over the Internet or by reservation use of the Internet beforehand purchasing in a bricks and trench mortar store. in that respectfore, companies guide to have network sites that live up to customers expectations. The shoot for of our look for is to provide empiric licence on the factors that contribute to the role of weather vane sites. Our most master(prenominal) search questions argon . How do customers distinguish a good entanglement site from a deleterious one? . What factors determine the graphic symbol of a clear site? guest gaiety Companies onwarder step to fill their customers (Dale, 1999). Because a web site is part of the linkup mingled with a troupe and its customers, it is obvious that it should re? ct the feel efforts that be in place throughout the company. besides this flat coat in that respect is another reason why a company should provide high type meshing sites to its customers at that place is no human converge through net sites. The interaction via the Internet betwixt a company and a customer is al exp ressive styles through technology. This fuddleds the aftermath of truth amidst a company and a customer is the net site. Although companies may try to emulate human look with technology, the interaction remains different because some constructions of human interaction crumbnot be replaced with technology, e. g. ourtesy, friendliness, helpfulness, c ar, commitment, ?exibility and cleanliness (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). The absence of these aspects of human interaction through which quality can be delivered to customers will have to be compensated by interrupt exercise on other quality factors or by excellent performance on naked as a jaybird speci? c web quality factors. A key aspect in customer satisfaction is the musical mode a customer can strain satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a companys service. If a company wants to satisfy its customers the ? rst question it needs to answer is what is it that Applying SERVQUAL 921 IJQRM 20,8 22 satis? es customers and, e qually of the essence(predicate), what is it that organises customers dissatis? ed with the company and its products and services. Satisfying customers depends on the residuum betwixt customers expectations and customers experiences with the products and services (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). When a company is able to lift a customers experience to a take that exceeds that customers expectations, then that customer will be satis? ed. Because customers have ever change magnitude expectations it is necessary for companies continuously to improve their quality and hence customers experiences with the company.The issue is what should be meliorate to keep the customers satis? ed. What customers experience is not unless one ingenuous-minded aspect of a company, but a whole straddle of aspects. Some of these aspects atomic number 18 implicated with the way customers experience the company itself, some argon interested with the way customers experience the tangible product and, ? nally, some be c at oncerned with the way customers experience the service the company offers. Comparing customers expectations and their perceptions of actual performance can be done by making use of the SERVQUAL measure of Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml (Zeithaml et al. 1990). This scale has been developed for the service sector. It has ? ve generic dimensions or factors and atomic number 18 stated as follows (1) Tangibles. Physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel. (2) Reliability. Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. (3) responsiveness. Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. (4) say-so (including competence, courtesy, credibility and protective cover). Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire believe and con? dence. (5) Empathy (including access, communication, collar the customer).Caring and individualized attention that the ? rm provides its customers. In the SERVQUAL instrumen t, 22 statements measure the performance across these ? ve dimensions. For severally statement, the expectation and the experience of a customer is determined. There is some criticism on the long-term stability of the results of the SERVQUAL scale (Lam and Woo, 1997) and on the general applicability of the ? ve dimensions (Buttle, 1996 Crosby and LeMay, 1998). Although alternative models have been proposed for the measurement of service quality, e. . SERVPERF (Cronin and Taylor, 1992), the SERVQUAL scale has been widely utilize by academics and practitioners to measure service quality. Therefore, this model has been used as a point of reference in this paper. SERVQUAL dimensions in relation to e-business Tangibles Examples of the tangibles factor ar has up-to-date equipment, physical facilities ar optically appeal and materials be visually appealing. These aspects faculty be even more important in e-business as there is no face-to-face contact amongst the customer and an employee.The visual aspects of the equipment (i. e. the clear site) argon the only visual contact between a customer and an organization. Therefore, the need to have well functioning and good-looking weather vane sites is par mensuration. There argon a great number of customers who vacate their patronageping carts on the Internet because they get frustrated with the technology, or the design and lay out of the net site interface (Hager and Elliot, 2001). The visual aspects of wind vane sites be also judged differently by the batch of different age. While young flock may be attracted by ? timid artistry, sounds and a high-speed interface, older multitude do not want nictate texts that are hard to read or animations that distract from the use of the weather vane site (Houtman, 2002). Although a number of net sites offer exploiters the opportunity to customise the tissue site to their needs, this customization process is mostly aimed at the content of the sack site an d not at the graphics, animations and sounds. Reliability Some of the aspects in the dependableness factor have to do with doing what is promised and doing it at the promised time.Although many organizations seem to hypothe coat that the major reason why customers shop via the Internet is because of the low prices, this does not forever and a day need to be the case. Some organizations found out the hard way that there are also a lot of customers shopping via the Internet because of convenience considerations (Riseley and Schehr, 2000). If customers cannot trust an organization to do what they ask, those customers will be dissatis? ed. Priceline, for example, ran into macro problems by the end of 2000 because of its center on on the lowest prices. People could buy a plane ticket at a very low price, but because of possible inconvenient ? ing times there was a big risk for customers. This resulted in dissatis? ed customers who were happy to trade off Pricelines discounts for the convenience of a contention (Riseley and Schehr, 2000). Responsiveness One of the aspects in the responsiveness factor is gives prompt service. The amount of time it takes to download a Web varlet appears to be of great splendor to the exploiters of the Internet. seek in 1999 found that few than 10 percent of substance ab drug users leave a Web site if page reply time is kept below 7 s. However, when it rises above 8 s, 30 percent of users leave.When delays exceed 12 s, a reel 70 percent of users leave a Web site (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). It can be assumed that tribe expect Web sites to be even more speedy than in 1999 because of the scientific advances. Thus, it is very important Applying SERVQUAL 923 IJQRM 20,8 924 for organizations to have a Web site that is quick, but on the other hand users expect Web sites to be visually appealing. As the number and size of animations, pictures and sounds increase to make a Web page more visually appealing, the time it takes to download that Web page will also increase, which is judged negatively by users.Hence, there is a trade-off between the looks of a Web site and the speed of that site. Organizations will have to try to ? nd the right balance between good looks and speed. The trade-off between looks and speed is complicated by companies pauperism that their Web sites convey the corporate substitution class (Manning et al. , 1998). The design department of a company wants Web pages to be easily placeable as belonging to that company. In their view, Web pages have to display company and product logos as well as other graphics that underscore the corporate identity.These graphics add to the overall size of Web pages and thereby increase the download time for Internet users. It is questionable whether users are willing to accept slower pages in return for more logos and graphics that do not improve the functionality of the Web site (although they cogency improve the visual appeal). Assurance One of th e aspects in the effrontery factor is knowledge to answer questions. Customers expect to ? nd boththing they want on a Web site. In a bricks and mortar store, people feel comfortable with a limited breed. On the Internet, people are not satis? ed if they cannot ? nd allthing they want.Web shops need to have great depth of inventory and rich and relevant product education (Dayal et al. , 2002). Two other aspects in the self-assertion factor are employees can be trusted and feel safe in your transactions with employees. First, there is the risk for users to appoint individualized knowledge with an organization they do not know. Research on this government issue (statistical Research Inc. , 2001) shows that at least 50 percent of users are very concerned about misuse of credit card information given over the Internet selling or sharing of individual(prenominal) information by Web site owners and cookies that track customers Internet activity.Second, the aforesaid(prenominal ) research shows that two-thirds of active Web users typically abandon a site that requests in-person information and one in ? ve has entered false information to gain access to a Web site. Aspects in the sureness factor that could be very important in e-business are (Daughtrey, 2001) . availability of a formal privacy and con? dentiality form _or_ system of government on a Web site . secured access to a Web site (that customers are prompted to acknowledge) . general reputation of supplier . certi? cations or guarantees of assurance and . reports of experiences of other customers.The ? rst aspect in this heed is also acknowledged by the International Organization for Standardisation in Geneva. The enroll of Practice for discipline Security Management (ISO/IEC 177992000) provides a basis for establishing and maintaining the means of use sensitive data (Daughtrey, 2001). Certi? cations and guarantees of assurance are also important in e-business. to a greater extent and more or ganizations are trying to come up certi? cation by an objective, consensus-establish standard, just as they did antecedent with quality management standards (Daughtrey, 2001).These organizations are beseeming aware of the advantages of such certi? cation in relation to customers trust in these organizations. Empathy In the dimension of empathy there are several aspects that are usually not found on a Web site. Because of the fact that there is no human interaction, Web sites ordinarily do not offer personal attention. To achieve this, a number of Web sites have a design that can be personalized by the users of these sites, so people can have their own version of the Web site. This kind of Web site design is aimed at freehanded users the experience of getting personal attention.The view is that the more a Web site is tailored to a particular customers needs, the more likely that customer will return over again and again (The Economist, 2001). The most advanced technologies in t his electron orbit aim to create a face-to-virtual-face interaction. A friendly looking face of a virtual assistant on your riddle is supposed to make customers feel more comfortable. With the use of arti? cial intelligence, the virtual assistant can suggest products or services that faculty be of interest to a customer based on previous purchases and on reactions to the questions of the virtual assistant.The latter possibility of postulation users of a Web site questions via a virtual assistant will enable companies to tailor their offerings to the wishes of the user to prevent customer dissatisfaction. The only finding of all these technological gadgets is to add one of the Webs key missing ingredients warmth (The Economist, 2001). Other aspects It seems that most of the dimensions and aspects that have been de? ned for general service environments are also important in e-business. Besides the ? ve dimensions as de? ned by Zeithaml et al. (1990), empirical evidence might come up with more speci? c dimensions affectd to e-business.Some front research has been done in this domain of a function (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002 Fink and Laupase, 2000 Schubert and Dettling, 2001 Wan, 2000), but no de? nitive results have been attained. Hence, more research is needed (Zeithaml, 2002). Research methodology The research was conducted by means of a questionnaire survey. Employment of this approach provides a relatively easy means to study the perceptions and Applying SERVQUAL 925 IJQRM 20,8 926 opinions of a large concourse of people in a limited time frame and at low costs. The survey was undertaken with the student universe of discourse at northeasterly University (NEU), Boston, USA.Students were expected to be familiar with e-business and the Internet. Students true an electronic mail with a hyperlink to the Web site containing the questionnaire allowing them to respond to the questionnaire electronically and to submit by clicking a button. The purpose of the questionnaire survey was to develop empirical evidence on the quality factors of Web sites that are important to people who are familiar with the Internet and keep going Internet users. The survey comprised the following questions . personal information (gender, age, academic discipline) . respondents use of Internet (equipment, frequency of use) . peci? c Web sites that are call on the carpeted by respondents (a prede? ned angle of 20 categories of Web sites) and . aspects of Web quality (a prede? ned list of 50 aspects). The core of the questionnaire consists of the list of aspects of Web quality. For every aspect we ask the respondent to assign the grandness of that aspect and at the same time we ask for their satisfaction with that aspect. The structure of the questions is based on the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The aspects have been de? ned consort to the categories of the model developed by Cox and Dale (2001, 2002) and are as follows clarity of purpose . design . communication . reliableness . service and sponsorly asked questions . accessibility and speed . product or service choice . revision con? rmation . product purchase . user recognition . extra service and . shop buyer incentives. For each of these categories a number of aspects have been de? ned in the questionnaire. The questionnaire has been discussed with experts in the ? eld of quality management and a pilot study has been conducted amongst a low-spirited number of students. This lead to an improved questionnaire which has been used for the esearch presented in this paper. Survey results Sample and solvent rate All students who obtained a university email account at NEU (approximately 6,000) received an e-mail about the study and the questionnaire. Responses were received from 293 students. The reply rate for the direct mailings to students was rather low (approximately 5 percent of the number of e-mails sent out), although acceptable for this flake of mailing. Applying SERVQUAL 927 Descriptive statistics In hold overs I and II, the response sample is set forth in terms of gender and age, respectively.A proportion of the response sample with the total population at NEU leads to the conclusion that the response group is representative for the total population. The respondents were enrolled across many academic disciplines, and judged by the age of the respondents, most students were at the undergraduate level. bow lead shows the respondents use of the Internet in terms of the quality of their own equipment. Overall the students are rather satis? ed with their equipment and do not seem to have problems with speed and download time. put back IV summarizes the frequencies of respondents Internet visits.They visit the Internet on an average 18 times per week, for about an hour per visit. So, it is out-of-doors that students make keep going use of the Internet. priapic Female Total 104 188 292 control board I. estimate of respondents b y gender , 21 years 21-25 years 26-30 years 31-35 years . 35 years Total 192 71 19 4 7 293 duck II. offspring of respondents by age PC partnership speed Printing from the Web Downloading from the Web zero(prenominal)es On a ? ve-point scale from very dissatis? ed to very satis? ed 3. 83 3. 59 3. 53 3. 57 Table III. felicity of respondents with the equipment they use IJQRM 20,8 928 Table IV. The use of the WebIt is interesting to note the types of Web sites that are used most often by our respondents (Table V). The types of Web sites that are used most often are search engines, university sites, passing(a) revolutionarys and entertainment sites. Web sites that are used less often are e-shops and chat rooms. Sites with stock exchange information are not visited very often either. In Table VI ( legislate ten) and Table VII ( stooge ten) the importance (expectations) and the satisfaction (experiences) are summarized on prede? ned aspects cogitate to the quality of Web sites. Th e hap ten aspects seem to relate to dependability issues in pure e-commerce.Customers who buy a product on the Internet want Web sites and the organizations behind them to be trustworthy. E-commerce Web sites need to be unfaltering, simple and always available. Customers want a clear overview and con? rmation of what they bought and what they have to pay for. flourishing to ? nd desired Web site 3. 80 gentle to use Web page links 3. 92 Easy to ? nd relevant information 3. 38 date spent on one site , 12 min Time on the Web per Internet visit , 60 min Number of Internet visits per week , 19 visits no.e If not questd otherwise, on a ? ve-point scale from very dif? cult to very easy imagine Table V. Web sites ranked by requency of visits Search engines Daily newspapers Entertainment Universities Electronic libraries Personal Web sites data portals Games trigger Sports Banking Company information E-shops Book stores euphony stores Movie stores Second-hand products Stock excha nge information Who is where Chat rooms no.e On a ? ve-point scale from never to once a day or more 4. 64 3. 63 3. 47 3. 38 3. 02 2. 99 2. 92 2. 82 2. 72 2. 62 2. 60 2. 58 2. 57 2. 41 2. 39 2. 27 2. 16 2. 02 1. 84 1. 76 Top ten with highest get ahead on importance determination your way on the Web site is easya Access is fasta A complete overview of the fix is presented before ? al purchase decisiona assess and/or other charges are intelligibly minutea The alteration process is simplea Access to judge delivery times is available at all timesa All relevant order con? rmation flourish sent by e-maila Order cancellation and returns elaborate are con? rmed within three daysa Order-tracking exposit are available until deliverya There are well course of instructionmed search optionsa vastness Satisfaction mean mean Delta S-I 4. 61 4. 60 3. 44 3. 31 2 1. 17 2 1. 29 4. 55 4. 50 4. 50 4. 46 4. 46 3. 75 3. 47 3. 36 3. 18 3. 84 2 0. 80 2 1. 03 2 1. 14 2 1. 28 2 0. 62 4. 43 4. 4 0 4. 39 3. 24 3. 30 3. 08 1. 19 2 1. 10 2 1. 31 Notes a specify values on ? ve-point scales difference between importance and satisfaction signi? vernacular at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) Bottom ten with lowest scores on importance Applying SERVQUAL Importance Satisfaction mean mean Searches on link up sites are provideda 3. 81 The privacy indemnity is kindlya 3. 79 The security policy is accessiblea 3. 76 The Web site contains company expanda 3. 70 3. 68 Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimuma tie in are provided to pages on think products and servicesa 3. 67 Web site animations are meaningfula 3. 52A customer program is provided for exchange of ideas 3. 36 The user is invited into a frequent buyer programa 3. 31 Brand see to it is important 3. 22 Notes a esteem values on ? ve-point scales Difference between importance signi? depository financial institution at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) 3. 40 3. 52 3. 51 3. 32 3. 29 929 Tab le VI. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web quality Delta S-I 2 0. 41 2 0. 27 2 0. 25 2 0. 38 2 0. 39 3. 40 2 0. 27 3. 21 2 0. 31 3. 29 2 0. 07 3. 08 2 0. 23 3. 29 0. 07 and satisfaction The bottom ten aspects seem to relate to extra service (e. g. customization of Web sites) and information (e. g. ecurity policy and company details) that is provided to the customer. Apparently respondents do not ? nd these extras very important in their use of the Internet. Tables VI and VII also show the gos between experiences and expectations (satisfaction minus importance). It can be think that the gap is widest for the aspects that respondents perceive as most important. The aspect with the largest gap is access is fast (satisfaction score 3. 31 and importance score 4. 60). In the top ten aspects there are no aspects with a positive delta, meaning Table VII. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web qualityIJQRM 20,8 930 that for every aspect the experience is less tha n expected. In the bottom ten aspects there is just one aspect with a (very small) positive delta brand image. actor analyses (varimax, chief components) on the importance data (KMO value ? 0. 91) and satisfaction data (KMO value ? 0. 93) based on Eigenvalues greater than one indicated 12 factor solutions. These factors cluster the aspects more or less according to the structure of the questionnaire. nearly of these factors also become too speci? c and do not disclose the implicit in(p) structure of customers perceptions of the quality of Web sites.The talus plots indicated solutions with fewer factors, possibly around ? ve factors. A comparison of the results of factor analyses with varying verse of factors led to the conclusion that ? ve-factor solutions ? t the data best. These ? ve-factor solutions were used to ? nd evidence for the humanity of the ? ve dimensions according to the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The results of these ? ve-factor solutions are summ arized in Table eighter. In Table VIII we only include the aspects with factor loadings greater than 0. 5. The aspects are ranked under each factor according to their factor loadings.It can be seen from the table that the two ? ve-factor solutions (importance and satisfaction) come to the same conclusions regarding the glob of the aspects. There are some minor differences in the clustering of the aspects between the two factor solutions however, these differences are related to the aspects with low factor loadings. It can be concluded that the factor analyses on both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale. Correlation between Web sites and Web quality factors The importance of any of the ? e factors of the SERVQUAL scale might differ per type of Web site, just like it differs per service sector in the bricks and mortar world. Therefore, a correlation between the ? ve SER VQUAL factors and the different types of Web sites is useful to determine these differences. In order to categorize the fairly large number of different types of Web sites, a factor analysis (varimax, principal components, KMO value ? 0. 83) on the data on the use of Web sites (Table V) is conducted. The results of this factor analysis indicate that there are intelligibly ? ve groups of sites that form the underlying usage pattern.These are (1) e-shops for books, music, movies, etc. (Cronbachs important ? 0. 75) (2) university and study information (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 64) (3) games, entertainment, and sport (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 66) (4) company information, stock information, and banks (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 69) and (5) general information on daily news, get, libraries, and search engines (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 58). Importance Satisfaction Factor 1 (Reliability) A complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision Tax and/or other charges are clearly detai led Different payment options are stated clearlyAll relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours Access to pass judgment delivery times is available at all times term and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are available until delivery Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days ripe details of product or service pricing are available The modification process is simple Full product or service characteristics are available Registration process details are retained The Web site offers free shipping and manipulation within a set of rules Access is fast The user can make a purchase without Web ite registration Factor 1 (Reliability) All relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours A complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision Terms and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are available until delivery Different payment options are s tated clearly Tax and/or other charges are clearly detailed Access to pass judgment delivery times is available at all times Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days The home page features options for new and registered users Registration process details are retainedFactor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks seafaring is consistent and standardized There are well programmed search options Instructions are directly available Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Applying SERVQUAL Factor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks seafaring is consistent and standardized The number and type of links are meaningful The purpose is clear Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimum Instructions are directly available It is easy to publish from the WebFactor 3 (Empathy) Factor 3 (Empathy) link up are provided to pages on related products Links are provided to pages on related products and services and services A customer platform is provided for the On give way sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided exchange of ideas A standard navigation bar, home button and On travel sites the user can customize hobo and back/forward button are available on every meal preferences and the information is page retained (continued ) 931 Table VIII. Con? rmative factor analysis (? ve-factor solution) IJQRM 20,8 Importance Satisfaction It is easy to print from the WebOn travel sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided Web sites that center on on brand awareness have a store locator The user is invited into a frequent buyer program Factor 4 (Assurance) The security policy is accessible The privacy policy is accessible External validation of trustworthiness is important The Web site contains company details Brand image is important knave availability information is given on entry The user is invited into a frequent bu yer program A customer platform is provided for exchange of ideas Factor 4 (Assurance) The privacy policy is accessible The security policy is accessibleThe Web site contains company details External validation of trustworthiness is important 932 Factor 5 (Responsiveness) The frequently asked questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relevant page(s) Information is provided to frequently asked questions and answers Queries or complaints are resolved within 24 hours User feedback is desire to measure customer satisfaction An e-mail address for queries and complaints is provided Table VIII. Factor 5 (Responsiveness) User feedback is sought to measure customer satisfaction Queries or complaints are resolved within 24 hoursThe frequently asked questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relevant page(s) Access is fast Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Graphics and animation do not detract from use Full details of product or service pricin g are available Notes leading component analysis. Varimax with Kaiser normalization. Rotation converged in nightclub iterations (importance) and ten iterations (satisfaction). Factor loadings . 0. 5, ranking based on factor loadings from high to low Table IX shows the correlation matrix between the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors.Some results are as follows . All ? ve quality dimensions are most strongly correlated with e-shops, indicating that frequent users of e-shops tend to have higher quality expectations. . An increase in the frequency of use of the types of Web sites is in all cases most strongly correlated with either empathy (E-shops), assurance (company sites and search engines) or responsiveness (study related sites, Reliability Coef. sign up E-shops (books, music, movies etc. ) Study-related sites Games and sports sites Company and banking sites Search engines, daily news, travel Tangibles Coef. Sign EmpathyCoef. S ign Assurance Coef. Sign Responsiveness Coef. Sign 0. 220 ** 0. 174 ** 0. 239 ** 0. 232 ** 0. 233 ** 0. 171 ** 0. 167 ** 0. 183 ** 0. 156 ** 0. 202 ** 0. 114 * 0. 124 * 0. 168 ** 0. 112 n. s. 0. 171 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 136 * 0. 151 ** 0. 166 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 122 * 0. cxv * 0. 115 * 0. 123 * 0. 115 * Notes * Correlation is signi? sham at the 0. 05 level (two-tailed) ** Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 01 level (two-tailed) n. s. ? no signi? cant correlation . Applying SERVQUAL and games and sports). More frequent users of the Internet tend to ? nd reliability and tangibles less important.All correlation coef? cients are positive, indicating that for all types of Web sites more usage leads to higher importance of all quality dimensions. The experienced user seems to have higher expectations of the quality of Web sites. Conclusion The results of this research can be summarised in the following way. Of a prede? ned list of Web quality aspects these aspects are considered to be the most important access is fast ? nding your way on the Web site is easy a complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision and the registration process is simple. Of the ? e factors that can be found by means of factor analyses (reliability, tangibles, empathy, assurance and responsiveness) various aspects related to the factors reliability and tangibles are included in the top ten important aspects. Various aspects related to the factors empathy and assurance are included in the bottom ten aspects ranked according to their perceived importance. Both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with ? ve-factor analyses that support the globe of the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale of Zeithaml et al. (1990).The importance of any of the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale differs per type of Web site, just like it differs per service industry in the bricks and mortar world. So far, it can be conclude d that the quality dimensions developed by Zeithaml et al. (1990) for service environments are equally useful in e-business. 933 Table IX. Correlation between the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors IJQRM 20,8 934 Further analysis of the data is needed. While this research project yields a number of very interesting results, we debate that there are a number of things that should be done to con? m our results as well as to expand our hypotheses. First, with the number of Internet users now over one billion, our sample is relatively small. Therefore, research with larger samples that pose the same or similar questions would be appropriate. Second, Internet users come from all over the globe. One has to defendant that there are differences between a sample taken from students of the USA and what might be found among students elsewhere. Possible, language, culture, religion, and a host of other factors may be important to a users tende r of the quality of a Web site.Finally, quality is an area of critical importance for commercialized companies. Businesses need to read what attracts people to their Web sites, what keeps them there, and what keeps them coming back. They need to understand the differences between the casual buyer versus the user who visits their Web sites on a daily basis. Web sites for companies like Dell, Cisco, Orbitz, and Covisint do millions of dollars of business each day. They need to understand the factors that keep these businesses growing better by understanding what encourages purchasing and what brings them back to the Web sites.Likewise, their competitors need to understand these factors even more to compete in this highly competitive marketplace. Due to the signi? cance of this to business, we expect that this type of research will be ongoing for many years to come. The results of that research will be easier to use Web sites that are more customer think and evolving as the user ev olves. A Chinese proverb says, May you live in interesting times. We are for certain living in interesting times. References Agrawal, V. , Arjona, L. and Lemmens, R. 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(1998), a posteriori determination of shipper requirements for motor carrier services SERVQUAL, direct questioning, and policy-capturing methods, Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 139-53. Dale, B. G. (1999), Managing Quality, 3rd ed. , Blackwell Publishers, Oxford. Daughtrey, T. (2001), Costs of trust for E-business risk analysis can help e-businesses decide where investments in quality and security should be directed, Quality Progress, No. 0, pp. 38-43. Dayal, S. , French, T. D. and Sankaran, V. (2002), The e-tailers secret weapon, The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 2. (The) Economist (2001), Talking heads, The Economist, 24 March. Fink, D. and Laupase, R. (2000), Perceptions of Web site design characteristics a Malayan/Australian comparison, Internet Research, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 44-55. Hager, L. and Elliot, B. (2001), Web quality tool around can raise ROI on contact center investments, Ga rtner First Take, 15 November. Hirsh, L. (2002), How big is e-commerce? , E-commerce Times, available at www. ecommercetimes. om/perl/story/18403. hypertext markup language (accessed 27 June). Houtman, J. (2002), Webpaginas instelbaar voor oudere surfers, Emerce, 25 March. Lam, S. S. K. and Woo, K. S. (1997), cadence service quality a test-retest reliability investigation of SERVQUAL, Journal of the Market Research Society, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 381-96. Manning, H. , McCarthy, J. C. and Souza, R. K. (1998), Forrester Report wherefore Most Web Sites Fail, Forrester, Washington, DC. Riseley, M. and Schehr, D. (2000), Pricelines problems result from poor execution in a niche market, Gartner First Take, 8 November. Schubert, P. nd Dettling, W. (2001), Web site military rating do Web applications meet user expectations? Music, consumer goods and e-banking on the test bed, minutes of the 14th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled, pp. 383-403. Statistical Research Inc. (2001), Even ve teran Web users remain skittish about sites that get personal, 7 June, available at www. statisticalresearch. com/press/pr060701. htm (accessed 15 March 2002). US Department of Commerce (2002), A rural area Online How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet, US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, February.Wan, H. A. (2000), Opportunities to enhance a commercial Web site, Information and Management, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 15-21. Zeithaml, V. A. (2002), Guru view, Managing Service Quality, special issue on service excellence, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 135-8. Zeithaml, V. A. , Parasuraman, A. and Berry, L. L. (1990), Delivering Quality Service Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, The Free Press, New York, NY. Further reading Cutler, M. and Strene, J. (2000), E-metric Business Metric for the New Economy, NetGenesis Corp. Applying SERVQUAL 935