Preventing Workplace Discrimination Essay

â€Å"Discrimination undermines employee loyalty, destroys employee morale, and reduces productivity and work quality. It can also lead to costly and painful lawsuits and do irreparable harm to a company’s reputation† (Guerin & DelPo, 2007, p. 119). Preventing workplace discrimination, therefore, is important to companies because this will make an organization stronger and will provide the employees a more harmonious working environment. Discrimination can take several forms and there are more than one way of managing such situations, which was demonstrated by the simulation exercise. One of the discriminating actions a company can show is by not accommodating people with disabilities because they believe that these people are not as competent and skillful as people who do not have disabilities. The simulation had an exercise where in job advertisements were shown and the user had to determine the phrases that can come across as discriminating. One of the phrases in the simulation stated that the company needed an employee that was â€Å"fully mobile to run around to meet client needs,† which was discriminating to people with disabilities, specifically those who are in wheelchairs. This exercise teaches companies not to judge employees based on their physical abilities. If a person wishes to apply for a certain position, the company should allow him or her and see if he or she is capable of doing the required tasks without his or her disability becoming in the way of his or her work. The job advertisement exercise also required the user to determine a discriminating phrase regarding drug use and abuse wherein future employees will be required to submit to drug testing. There is nothing wrong with wanting to know if a person has drug problems because it will ultimately be for the best of the company. However, this should not be included in job advertisements because one, it is discriminating, and two, pre-employment tests usually cover drug testing so the company should not worry about it. It is also important for companies to determine a job-seeker’s attitude regarding work to see if he or she has the same drive that the company is looking for. No one wants to hire someone who has no passion for the work that he or she applying for. This will only be a waste of time and money for both parties. The simulation demonstrated this by including some facts about the five applicants that were shortlisted for the positions. Information like religious beliefs and practices and personal stands regarding important national issues are included for the benefit of the human resource department. Title VII can definitely override the employment environment and conditions detailed in a written employment contract between an employer and an employee because title VII is a federal law and should be followed no matter what the written employment contract indicates. In addition, employees should not agree to a written employee contract that does not conform to the conditions that are stated in title VII because this can only lead to legal problems in the future when they encounter discriminating practices in the workplace environment. In conclusion, companies need to remember that they have to adhere to the conditions that are stated in title VII to avoid costly lawsuits and prevent their reputation from being destroyed. They have to provide a fair and unbiased working environment to employees, future or tenured, to maintain a structured organization that will work toward the success of the company. Reference

AirAsia Consumer Behaviour Essay

1.0. Introduction AIRASIA: AirAsia is a Malaysian company, that introduced the Low Cost Carrier service to the domestic market and eventually the asian region. Currently AirAsia is  the leader in this market segment. Before it becomes the AirAsia that we all know today, AirAsia was a poorly performed company owned by a government-link company (GLC) in Malaysia, DRB-HICOM. In 2001, it was sold to the current owner, Tony Fernandes and its TuneAir company, for a sum of only RM1.00 or approximately US$0.30, together with its accumulated debt of RM40 million (AirAsia, 2008). Within two years, Tony Fernandes exceeds everyone’s expectations, and turned AirAsia to a profit making company. By the third year it was listed in the Kuala Lumpur bourse with outstanding IPO (initial Public Offer) of RM717.4 million (AirAsia, 2008). In 2006, the AirAsia was given the use of LCCT terminal in Malaysia, because its passenger load have expanded to such a capacity. This assignment will describe how AirAsia, managed to become the company it is today, started with a fleet of only 1 aircraft in 2001, to a fleet of 72 aircrafts, flies over 61 domestic and 108 international destinations, and operates over 400 flights daily from hubs located not only in Malaysia, but also Thailand and Indonesia, and launched AirAsia X for longer haul flights with its wide-body aircrafts, through the eyes of Consumer Behaviour, from psychological drivers, sociological drivers and consumer decision making process. 2.0. Psychological Drivers of consumer behaviour There are psychological drivers that influence the consumer’s behaviour. They are; motivation, perception, learning, values, beliefs and attitudes, and lifestyle, are useful for intrepeting the consumer’s buying process and directing the company’s marketing efforts. 2.1. Motivation. Motivation is the energizing force that causes behavior that satisfies a need. The needs are hierarchical, from the basic of it and higher. 2.1.1. Hierarchy of Needs From this Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, before AirAsia, air travel is generally considered in the higher hierarcy of needs, esteem, where some people intend to show others their ability to travel by air, and visit destinatations that others can’t. This is what AirAsia realized, they created the tagline â€Å"now everyone can fly†, hence creating the awarenes to the people, and also created the motivation that now air travel is no longer  considered in the ‘esteem’ hierarchy of needs, people can travel just to fulfil their Love/Belonging needs, whether people travel to seek the ones they love, friends or family, or they travel to please those loved ones, such as holiday destinations, by air. 2.1.2. Means-end chain. Means-end chain follow a time-honered approach for thinking about motivational issues. The central premise — that objects have value only because they produce desirable consequences or enable one to avoid negative consequences — is at the heart of most modern conceptualizations of motivation (Atkinson, 1964, Lewin, 1951, Tolman 1959). The above chain shows that at the end of the day, a consumer who purchase AirAsia as way of their air travel, will have excess money to save or to spend on something else in their travel or holiday. The ad above, shows that because of the AirAsia’s cheap price of airticket to London, consumers get to spend their money on something else, like shopping and visiting heritages places in London. AirAsia marketing people created the motivation of a desirable consequences if consumer purchase their service 2.2. Perception. Perception is â€Å"the process of assembling sensations into a useable mental representation of the world,..perception creates faces, melodies, works of art, illusions out of the raw material of sensation† (Coon, 1983) or to summarize, is the process by which physical sensations are selected, organised and interpreted. Individuals with the same need might not purchase or choose similar products or service due to the difference in perception. From the perceptual process model above (Solomon, 2006), AirAsia succeded in creating stimulations and attentions, and try to generalized the perception of people that now everyone can fly. Obviously they stimulate the sights first, by using the same tagline in every ads, media and online and billboards. Thus, consumers remember this information, which results when they want to purchase an airline ticket, AirAsia is the first choice comes to mind. 2.3. Learning Learning is â€Å"the process by which relatively permanent changes occur in behavioural potential as a result of experience† (Anderson, 1995). AirAsia’s marketing people understand consumer’s learning process affecting their decision making. 2.3.1. Behavioural Learning. Repeated exposure to an experience will result in the process of developing an automatic response to that particular situation. In the AirAsia case, the company is trying to develop that automatic response is choosing AirAsia as their airline, everytime a customer wants to buy an airline ticket. e.g: As AirAsia owns by Tune group who also owns the Hotel chain of Tune Hotel, the company able to sell air tickets together with hotel fares, resulted in cheaper and convenient way to travel. Customers learned that through the website, they can purchased the air ticket together with hotel. This resulted in repeated behaviour of purchasing AirAsia ticket, as the customer find it more convenient. 2.3.2. Cognitive Learning. AirAsia is trying to make connections between the two ideas of purchasing airline ticket together with the hotel. But now, as the customers uses the AirAsia website to purchase the air ticket, they can also choose a wider range of hotel choices, not just the AirAsia’s own Tune Hotel Chain. AirAsia through their website now also act as an agent, where customer, as they’re saving money by buying airasia’s ticket, have the options to spend more whether to indulge in more luxurious way of staying, by choosing more luxurious hotels that now available in the company’s website. The above screenshot of airasia’s website shows that cosumers can purchase airticket and hotel vouchers at the same time. 2.3.3. Brand Loyalty. One of the way of doing applicating learning principles by AirAsia is introducing their reward programs to AirAsia’s customers, there are the frequent flyer miles, or free ticket, or holiday vouchers to give away to its customers. These things reinforce their behaviour and build brand loyalty toward AirAsia itself. AirAsia is trying to educate the people, they themselves become the catalyst of the learning process. The outcome of learning is memory. By putting inputs and information out there, â€Å"now everyone can fly†, even the people who are not in needs of air travel, learned that there is now a cheap way to fly. Hence, this information is recovered from memory when these consumers are in need of air travel, and choose AirAsia. 2.4. Beliefs and Attitudes. Beliefs and attitudes play an essential role in influencing the buying decisions of consumers. No matter how good the service is, but if the consumer feels it is useless, he/she would never purchase it. From the attitude-towards-the-ad models, AirAsia, creates such an exposure to ads for consumers, with the same theme of red and white, in their billboards ads, website’s look, magazine and newspaper’s ads, thus affecting the beliefs towards the AirAsia brand. Constant exposure to these ads and commercials, with red and white coloured themed, create the attitude of choosing AirAsia, when the time is come for consumer to make a choice. 2.5. Lifestyle. A person’s activities, interests and opinions, often resulted in that particular person’s lifestyle. The technology nowadays created a new lifestyle in people’s life. Internet and smartphones is becoming more and more important to people. AirAsia recognized this, beside website as their purchasing portal, now people also can purchase air ticket and hotel voucher as well through their smartphones, by creating application for smartphone’s plattforms such as iOS and android. 3.0. Sociological Drivers of consumer behaviour 3.1. Personal Influence. Personal influences resulted from the interaction between one individual and others. These influences can also come from opinion leaders, where one individual can exert certain infulence over other people. e.g., in a working environment, when a manager decided to use AirAsia, even for his/her personal travel, his/her subordinances will be influenced to do the same  thing. 3.2. Reference Groups. When a certain individual looks to a group of people, as a basis of self-appraisal or as a source for personal standards, these group of people can be considered as Reference groups. Marketers must understand: how groups influence individual behaviour, how group influences vary accross products and brands, how to use group influences to develop effective strategies. Recognizing these groups can help the marketing people of AirAsia for their marketing strategies. There are three types of reference groups to create a difference in marketing implications: 3.2.1. Membership group. A membership group is where an individual is actually belong to. 3.2.2. Aspiration group. An aspiration group is a group where an individual want to be indentified to. 3.2.3. Dissociative group. A dissociative group is a group where one individual wants to maintain a distance to, because of differences in values or behaviour. 3.3. The Family. Differential influence of family members can affect the pruchasing decisions. AirAsia recognized this by introducing one credit card for all transactions in their home website. In asian region, in a family, decision usually carried out by the head of the family (the father), or the one who is providing for the whole family. Thus, even where a situation like a joint decision making is arised, the father who has the biggest income usually make the decision. In their website, a father, can create a username, which already included with all the credit card’s data. In this case, any family member who wants to purchase air ticket can easily use their husband’s/father’s username. 3.4. Social Class. Social class is a relatively permanent, homogeneous divisions in a society into which people sharing similar values, interests, and behaviour are grouped. The determinant of social class usually include occupation, source of income and education. AirAsia’s marketing strategies and advertisement spotted these social classes in society, especially the middle-class. The  rise of middle-class economy in asia pacific region created more value-oriented consumer, where value for money is important. Co-workers, students even housewives group can now easily travel and spend holiday together. 3.5. Culture Culture refers to the set of values, ideas and attitudes that are accepted by a homogeneous group of people and transmitted to the next generation. The South East Asian region, where AirAsia is based, is translated to a growing market. By studying the buying patterns of these people, AirAsia can focused their marketing strategies. These growing market in South East Asia, which also recognized by the growing economies, means more and more people have an extra disposable income. The South East Asian people are easily affected by others. A trend is easily formed, if a group of workers, families or students are using AirAsia to travel and explore new places and shared their experiences through social media, it can easily influence other similar groups in the society to do the same thing. 4.0. Consumer Decision Making process. 4.1. Problem recognition. First stage of the consumer decision making process is the problem recognition. At this stage, a consumer is perceiving a need. In AirAsia’s case, is the need to travel. In some AirAsia’s advertisement, the marketing people shows a numerous travel destination, with each separate own picture, and shows how cheap it is now to get to those places by using AirAsia as their airline. Hence, it is underlining the need of the people. This relates to marketing mix, of PRODUCT, PRICE and PLACE. For PRODUCT and PRICE, no airlines before airasia can provide this low fare of airtickets. As for PLACE, airasia provides more destination regionally than any other airlines and also have new sales office in major cities not just in Malaysia, but also Indonesia and the Phillippines. Another thing, the internet booking, how airasia manage to save consumer’s time in purchasing of airticket, people can now buy their airtickets online, or even from their smartphones. The ad shows how cheap it is to travel to Paris. The need to travel,  especially overseas, maybe as honeymoon, is already there, but now AirAsia, with these commercials all over the place, is enhancing that need. 4.2. Information search The information search by the consumers, clarify what options are there available to them. Which airline is the cheapest, which one is the most comfortable, hassle free and so on. There are two steps of information search; 4.2.1. Internal Search. Internal search is where one search one’s memory, recall any previous experience or information, in this case, related to air travel. An individual may remember how hard it is to purchase a ticket using a physical store, where the need to be at the travel agent physically and purchased the ticket. In marketing mix, PROMOTION, airasia is going all-out with their â€Å"now everyone can fly† tagline. Consumer can see this tagline everywhere; billboards on roadsides, magazines, newspaper, even on news website as pop-up advertisement. Airasia is trying to plant this tagline inside everyone’s mind, hence, by the time they want to purchase airticket, they straight away remember of airasia’s â€Å"now everyone can fly†. 4.2.2. External Search. Sources for external information are usually friends and family, public sources, and marketer-dominated source. Marketer-dominated sources are where AirAsia’s marketing team excelled at. Their advertising aggressive all over the place and media, their websites are constantly updating with new time-limited promotions, causing people to access it more often. Now, consumer’s can even subscribe for their newsletter by emails. In relation to marketing mix, airasia provide new PRODUCT/SERVICE. The screenshot above shows AirAsia comes up with hassle free website, with its flash page technology, that shows multiple destinations pictures that always changing in the home page. 4.3. Evaluation of alternatives At this stage, a consumer is evaluating what are the alternatives of choices  he/she has. The company will always enhancing what are their superiorities over competitors. PRICE is one obvious thing why consumer choose AirAsia, theirs will often cheaper than others. Other way doing this is always one step ahead in the technology side of marketing. AirAsia is the first airline that providing online purchasing through the internet. Now, where other low-cost airline also have the same feature on their website, AirAsia have come up with smartphone application. This application can be downloaded to a consumer’s smartphone, and he/she can easily make flight queries or purchasing ticket(s) or even buying hotel voucher, just by using his/her smartphone. 4.4. Purchase decision At this stage, consumer are making their decision in which airline service to choose. AirAsia’s marketing people understand at the previous stages of CDP, they have excelled. Hence, at this stage, their marketing mix, PRODUCT, PRICE, PROMOTION and PLACE of AirAsia have succesfully target the consumer and guiding them into purchasing their service. 4.5. Postpurchase behaviour At this stage, the consumer compares the service they purchased with expectations and is either satisfied of dissastified. Expentancy disconfirmation with performance approach (Oliver, 1997) and the balancing paradigm (Fournier and Mick, 1999) are two current theories of consumer satisfaction. Satisfaction more likely to lead to repeat purchase/loyalty and positive Word of Mouth (WOM). Dissatisfaction more likely to lead to brand switching, complaints and negative word of mouth (WOM). In AirAsia’s case, they try to minimize the consumer’s expectations as low as possible. The two pictures above are the screenshot of airasia website when consumer purchasing airticket. It clearly shows that passengers will not get in-flight refreshment, no complimentary luggage, no choice of seats, unless they purchase all of these things in the website. By doing this, AirAsia managed to get their customer’s expectations as low as possible, beacuse they don’t promise other than the service that you, as a customer, already purchased online. 5.0. Conclusion Airasia has established themselves as a profit making company and a succesful low cost carrier that prompted other airlines in the south east asian region to do the same thing. This company build their brand name with their tag line â€Å"now everyone can fly†, telling people that flying is now more affordable and easy. This tagline is also shaping their marketing mix. For their Product, Price, and Place, airasia clearly introduced a new way of flying by airlines, a cheap and easy one. At Consumer Decision Making process, the Product and Price influenced consumer at the Problem recognizition and Information search step process. With Promotion, they influence the steps of Information search and Purchase decision in the CDP process. Airasia is so aggressive in their promotional activities, by putting their tagline â€Å"now everyone can fly† in every advertisement and commercials. By understanding the psychological drivers and sociological drivers of consumer, airasia have executed its marketing plan briliantly, putting the type of advertisement that suitable. By understanding the Consumer Decision making process, AirAsia provide what kind of values that consumer seeks and asses in the information search, and evaluation of alternatives stages. By the time consumer making their purchase decision and postpurchase behaviour, these values are good enough to make them purchase airasia’s service and by not giving the consumer high expectations from the first time, the satisfaction rate from consumer is high. The succes story of AirAsia marketing strategies shows how important it is for a brand to understand the psychological drivers, sociological drivers and the decision making process of consumer behaviour. 6.0. Bibliography AirAsia.com, 2013. Corporate profile. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 December 2013]. Cohen, J, B, and Warlop, L. A Motivational Perspective on Means-End Chains. [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2013]. Hawkins, D. I., Best, R. J. and Coney, K. A., 2001. Consumer Behaviour: Building Marketing Strategy. 8th ed. New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. Lim, Y, K., Mohamed, R., Ariffin, A. and Guan, G, G., 2009. Branding an Airline: A Case Study of AirAsia. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 December 2013]. Management of Technology, 2009. The AirAsia company strategic management:†How AirAsia can be a leader in the lowest cost carrier in the airplane industry†. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 December 2013]. MANAGEMENT STUDY GUIDE, 2013. Social factors affecting Consumer Behaviour. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 December 2013]. MANAGEMENT STUDY GUIDE, 2013. Psychological factors affecting Consumer Behaviour. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 December 2013]. Onwutalobi and Claret, A., 2008. Understanding Marketing Mix in AirAsia Airline Bhd. [online] codewit. Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2013]. Sdsu, 2013. how to print notes. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 December 2013]. Schiffman, L. G. and Kanuk, L. L., 2000. Consumer Behaviour. 7th ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. The Market, Media, Life., 2013. MARKETING 101: PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS OF CONSUMER BUYER BEHAVIOUR. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 December 2013]. The Market, Media, Life., 2013. MARKETING 101: SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BUYER BEHAVIOUR. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 December 2013]. THE TIMES 100, 2013. Marketing mix (Price, Place, Promotion, Product). [online] Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2013]. USC Marshall, 2008. Consumer Behaviour. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 December 2013]. Yaashoda, Y., 2012. AirAsia Berhad: Strategic analysis of a leading low cost carrier in the Asian region. [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 December 2013]. Yeoh, E. and Chan, J, K, L., 2011. Malaysian Low Cost Airlines: Key Influencing Factors on Customers’ Repeat Purchase Intention. [online] IDOSI Publications. Available at: [Accessed 22 December 2013]. Yuswohady., 2012. Consumer 3000: Revolusi Konsumen Kelas Menengah Indonesia.

Acupuncture: An Alternative Essay

To support the life of an ailing individual and to relieve pain, the application of formal and conventional medical practice is not alone that can help. The application of complementary and alternative medicine may also relieve the patient of such sufferings. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), National Institutes of Health has defined complementary and alternative medicine as â€Å"a group of diverse health care and medical systems, practices and products that are not presently considered to be part of the conventional medicine† (House Select, 2006 p.10). There is a distinction between the complementary medicine alone and alternative medicine alone. Complementary medicine is applied jointly with the conventional medicine such as the use of aromatherapy in reducing the patient’s pain after undergoing a surgery while alternative medicine is applied as a substitute for conventional medicine such as the use of special diet to treat cancer instead of following the physician’s recommendation to undergo surgery or chemotherapy. The NCCAM classifies complementary and alternative medicine into five major categories. They areà § 1.Alternative Medical Systems that are built upon absolute systems of theory and practice that have often developed before and apart from the conventional medicine of the U.S.A. Some of these are homeopathy, hydropathy and naturopathy as well as the Chinese traditional medicine and Ayurveda. 2. Mind-Body Interventions that use a variety of procedures intended to enhance the mind’s capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms such as meditating, praying, mental healing, and therapies that use creative outlets like art, music, or dance. 3.Biologically Based Therapies that use substances found in nature like herbs, foods, and vitamins. These kinds of therapies include dietary supplements, herbal products, and the use of other so-called natural but non-scientifically proven methods like the use of shark cartilage to treat cancer. 4.Manipulative and Body-Based Methods which is based upon manipulation and/or movement of one or more parts of the body like massage and chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation. 5.Energy Therapies that include the use of energy fields. It is divided into two subcategories, the biofield therapies and the bioelectromagnetic-based therapies.   Biofield therapies are intended to affect energy fields that purportedly surround and penetrate the human body such as the application of pressure and/or manipulation of the body by placing the hands in, or through   these fields, i.e., qi gong, reiki, and therapeutic touch. On the other hand the bioelectromagnetic-based therapies entail the unconventional use of electromagnetic fields, such as pulsed fields, magnetic fields, or alternating-current or direct-current fields. According to NCCAM, Acupuncture is an â€Å"energy medicine involving putative energy fields†, or the biofields. (Energy Medicine, 2004) II. What is Acupuncture, Its Philosophies, Purpose, and Treatment Principles? â€Å"Acupuncture can alleviate prolonged pain, discomfort, and anxiety, and end severe dependence on a medical system so huge and impersonal that each patient feels like a forgotten cog in a machine.†Ã‚  (Cargill, 1994, p. 3) That is what Acupuncture can do according to Cargill. But what is it? NCCAM defines Acupuncture as â€Å"a family of procedures involving the stimulation of anatomical points on the body using a variety of techniques, the most common of which is the penetration in the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are either manipulated by the hands or by some electrical stimulation†. (An Introduction) The philosophical basis behind Acupuncture for traditional practitioners is the â€Å"qi† (Birch & Felt, 1999, p. 88) or the so called vital energy. Qi flows through the twelve major energy pathways called meridians, each of these is connected to specific internal organs of the body or organ systems and â€Å"three hundred sixty-five to two thousand acupoints† (Freeman & Lawlis, 2001, p. 311). This qi is blocked when there is imbalance of yin and yang, â€Å"two opposing and inseparable forces†(An Introduction), in the body thereby causing illnesses. Acupuncture can relieve the ailment by unblocking the qi through the insertion of needles at specific anatomic points in the body. Simply stated, the purpose of Acupuncture is to heal or therapeutic. Some healing results of acupuncture, according to research, include alleviation of low back pain, headache, pain from osteoarthritis, neck pain, musculoskeletal and myofascial pain, organic pain, and pain before and after surgery. It has also been used for the treatment of postoperative and chemotherapy-induced nausea, neurologic dysfunction, gynecologic and obstetric conditions, asthma, and substance abuse. With Acupuncture, illness or sickness is prevented while better health is restored. III. Brief Summary and Evolution of Acupuncture Acupuncture evolved from the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Earliest evidence regarding this practice can be found in the text, â€Å"The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic (Huang Di Nei Jing), a collection of 81 treatises compiled between 206 BC and 220 AD†Ã‚  (Freeman ; Lawlis, 2001, p. 316) However, Freeman and Lawlis further noted that â€Å"the oldest surviving classical text dedicated entirely to acupuncture was written sometime in 282 AD by Huang-Fu Mi† entitled, The Comprehensive Manual of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing). This book contains the â€Å"combined classical concepts concerning the theories and teachings of acupuncture points, channels, and the cause of illness, diagnosis, and therapeutic needling†Ã‚  (Freeman ; Lawlis, 2001, p. 316) It was in 618 AD when the practice reached its peak in China with the foundation of the Imperial Medical College. During this period, the practice was spreading its influence over other Asian nations such as Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. Acupuncture attained maximum refinements at the end of the sixteenth century. Although it was in 1971 when Acupuncture became popularly recognized in the United States of America (USA), awareness about this therapeutic practice has been introduced in the country long before this period. The first records and studies of the practice became known to the Americans in 1825 in the publication of Morand’s Memoir on Acupuncturation, a document translated from French by Franklin Bache. However, it was in 1971 when the New York Times correspondent James Reston note down his experience about Acupuncture describing how medical professionals in China utilized needles to alleviate his pain after he have undergone surgery. Currently, the NCCAM reported that in the USA Acupuncture is being â€Å"widely† practiced by thousands of   related medical practitioners such as physicians, dentists, acupuncturists, and other practitioners mainly for alleviation and avoidance of pain and for other health purposes. In fact it was reported that in 2002, the survey showed that 8.2 million of the American adults have made use of Acupuncture. IV. Hazards of the Practice and Its Licensing and Regulatory Requirements The NCCAM provides in its website that the use of Acupuncture has a relatively lower account in terms of health problems and complication despite the huge number of treated individuals in America. Generally the negative complications resulted from the use of inadequately sterilized needles causing serious undesirable effects, including infections and punctured organs. Moreover improper needle placement, patient movements, or a defective needle may cause to tenderness, discomfort, soreness and pain during treatment. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates acupuncture needles. These needles should be used by licensed practitioners only and need to be manufactured and labeled according to the required standards on   sterilization, nontoxic quality, and must be labeled for single use by qualified practitioners only. Public hearings held   on April 25, 2006 in Asheville, and on September 27, 2006 in New Bern in North Carolina have acknowledged issues regarding the following safety measures in alternative medical practice: a.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Practitioners Training, Qualifications and Credentials of Acupuncturists b.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consumer Protection of patients c.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Insurance Coverage of patients for possible health problems and side effects d.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An Oversight- Regulatory Board to regulate and control the practice ensuring public safety. Finally, for public awareness the NCCAM Clearinghouse provides information on CAM and NCCAM, as well as publications and searches of Federal databases of medical and scientific texts in service to the American nation regarding alternative medicines. References An Introduction to Acupuncture. (2007). NCCAM Publication No.  D404, NCCAM, National Institutes of Health. Retrieved 15 May 2008 from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/acupuncture/ Birch, S. J., & Felt, R. L. (1999).  Understanding Acupuncture. New York: Churchill Livingstone. Retrieved May 15, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=100223449 Cargill, M. (1994).  Acupuncture: A Viable Medical Alternative. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Retrieved May 15, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=81902256 Energy Medicine: An Overview. (2004). NCCAM Publication No.  D235, NCCAM, National Institutes of Health. Retrieved 15 May 2008 from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/backgrounds/energymed.htm Freeman, L. W., & Lawlis, G. F. (2001).  Mosby’s Complementary Alternative Medicine: A Research-Based Approach. St. Louis, MO: Mosby. Retrieved May 15, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o;d=100735773 House Select Study on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Final Report to the House of Representatives 2007 North Carolina General Assembly. (2006). Retrieved 15 May 2008, from http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/documentsites/legislativepublications/Study%20Reports%20to%20the%202007%20NCGA/Complementary%20and%20Alternative%20Medicine.pdf

From Freemasons to Industrious Patriots Assignment

From Freemasons to Industrious Patriots - Assignment Example Sticking to the German context, the author shows that with time, freemasons were allowed to inculcate elite practices as joining reading book clubs, improving drinking habits and recognizing organizational discipline. The author also studies that modernization of organizational culture began in two waves, one in 1760 and the other in 1790s with the establishment of patriotic societies which had strong influence in decision making process of the governmental bodies of the states, in spite of poor number of members in the 50 to 60 such groups found all through Germany. This was the beginning of modern organizations wherein the philosophy of the organization was more important than self discipline, patriotism or ethical practices. According to Kieser, people who follow organizational discipline in modern day organizations, fail to recognize the need of learning new and individualistic working styles and disciplines. This is in stark contrast to the rational approach seen in freemasons of the middle ages and is indicative of work culture stagnation. This is also directly in contrast with the modern culture of social progress. Writer suggests that instead of resorting to this new kind of iron cage, the employees must go for multi-societal memberships to develop more complete self discipline and industrious patriotism that is devoid of single organizational dominance. The early freemason organizations comprised low classes of the society including manual laborers, small time vendors and believers of traditional Mason cult. The practices used by these organizations were based on ethical and spiritual philosophies. They were dedicated to achieving spiritual goals like establishing personal standards of discipline and extending them to contribution to society. Modern organizations on the contrary are based on economic and societal philosophies and are more focused

Self Leadership Personal Profile (This topic is regarding Leadership Essay

Self Leadership Personal Profile (This topic is regarding Leadership field) - Essay Example Self-leadership Skills Literature Overview Lorenz (2009) defined soft skills as a combination of personal attitudes, qualities, social adaptability and habits, all of which determine the behavioural traits of an employee at workplace. Many studies have revealed that several companies value both soft and hard skills in equal proportions since together these serve as indicators of the overall job performance of an individual. Soft skills, in general, are based on the inherent qualities of an individual and hence the development or improvement of these skills is dependent on the level of motivation and self-awareness possessed by the employee or any other individual. Self-awareness is based on the ability of individuals to assess their soft and hard skills. Through such an assessment, individuals become more aware about their strengths and the areas which they need to develop in order to achieve commendable self-leadership skills. According to Sparrowe (2005), self-leadership skills ref er to â€Å"authentic leadership† in terms of â€Å"self-awareness of one’s fundamental values and purpose†. Leadership is based on self-awareness and a personal recognition and appreciation of an individual’s own personal preferences, personality and habits. In short, for the understanding of those who are relatively new to this concept, self-awareness which is determined through self-assessment constitutes the basis of self-leadership. This is truly reflected in the words of Harrison (n.d.), who states: â€Å"True leaders are as keenly – and realistically – aware of their strengths as their limitations†. The most important and primary soft-skills that have been identified include: a diplomatic understanding about team behaviour, motivation of employees, organizational dynamics, possess good communication skills (Brandel, 2006); coordination and execution of various ideas put forth by the team, flexibility, ability to handle work-rel ated stress and risks (DiVincenzo, 2006); strengthen interpersonal relationships, become goal-oriented and focused, committed to organizational values, strong leadership skills which include commitment to work, punctuality and taking responsibility for one’s actions (Kerzner, 1987); possess the capacity to lead an manage team members (Sacco, 2006); the ability to negotiate and plan, if required, in order to reach a consensus (Black, 2006); and the willingness to build networks (Jiang, Klein, & Chen, 2001). Hence soft skills are equally important to hard skills as only these help an individual to increase their work productivity, quality, and self-confidence which would help them achieve success in their career (Lorenz, 2009). And all the above soft skills are also required to develop the leadership skills of an individual. The increasing global changes in the economy have forced organizations to focus on the skills of an individual and in building viable relationships. In suc h a scenario, the need for individuals with soft skills is significantly rising as it directly correlates to the success of the organization as well as the individual (Sukhoo et al., 2005; Lorenz, 2009). Current Skill Level Self-awareness and knowledge about one’s own skills constitutes a key factor in both personal and professional growth as they would help pave way for better changes and improvements. In my case, I wish to use the feedbacks offered by my

How Saturated the DVD Market Has Become Case Study

How Saturated the DVD Market Has Become - Case Study Example The future development of the market will mainly depend on innovation; the company who manages to come up with new things will become the market leader. Blue-ray discs may not perform well because the blue ray players are quite expensive, people may be reluctant to buy blue ray players at a hefty price. It will also be great if companies can offer more space in a disc, it again comes down to innovation and reliability. Making a disc with more space is really difficult; the durability of the disc is another important factor. People will surely buy these discs if they can offer more space and if they are durable. Everything is becoming HD these days so it is important to make discs which can hold and play HD quality movies at a decent speed. Making scratch free discs is also a good idea to lure more customers into buying these modern day discs. These are some really important points which can give a company an edge and have an edge over others is always beneficial and profitable.   The blue-laser process is common to both the DVD types; the protection of the disc has been shrunk by the Blue-ray developers. HD discs have more capacity and a better scope of watching HD videos and other related content. The HD DVD format has not been altered much, the protective layer has not been meddled with and it has been left as it was. HD DVD is the next big thing there are no two ways about this, the picture quality is impeccable and a normal DVD can never match HD DVD but everything comes down to price. HD DVDs are way too expensive and not too many people would be willing to buy it. Normal DVDs can score over HD DVDs when it comes to price. If I were the manager of Toshiba I would employ the strategy of market penetration, similar products already exist in the market hence this strategy must be employed. Blue–Ray DVDs are way too expensive; I would cut down profits and make HD DVDs cheaper.

Intermediate Microeconomics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Intermediate Microeconomics - Assignment Example EX, Y = % change in quantity demanded of a product X/ % change in price of product Y. = {(400+450)/ (5+4)}* (4-5)/ (450-400) = (850/9)*(-1/50) = 94.44/-0.02 = -4.722. The negative coefficient depicts an increase in price of computer will result to 4.72 percentages in decrease in demand for printers. Income elasticity of demand assesses the "sensitivity of the demand for a good to a change in the income of the consumers" (Mankiw 97). Ed = (A1+A2)/ (Q1+Q2)*(change in Q/change in A) = (10,000+15,000)/ (20+18)* (18-20)/ (15,000-10,000) = (25,000/38)*(-2/5,000) = (657.89*0.0004) = -0.263. As the consumers income increases the demand of the commodity decrease even though the price remains the same. This implies the goods are of inferior quality thus when income increases consumers opt for better quality products (Mankiw 109). Regressing the logs of independent variables Px, Py and I results to a linear function of the amount needed and the independent variables (Mankiw 123). The percent change in quantity demanded is determined by the coefficient of the income I, price of the product X and price of the product

Macroeconomic Situation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Macroeconomic Situation - Essay Example As a result there are lesser incentives for the manufacturers to increase the production and so reduced industrial production is anticipated. The consumer spending, on the other hand, has increased rapidly (especially for food items), despite the fact that the household incomes had been reduced in the last quarter of 2009. Meanwhile, the inventories for the consumer goods and business supplies have reduced considerably in contrast to the inventories of different materials and equipment. Further, the inflation rate was anticipated to increase recently because of the increase in the oil prices. However, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation has remained more or less the same as the previous year. (FRB, 2010) The overall GDP has risen 14204 billion dollars after an increase of 5.6% in the last quarter of 2009. At this rate of economic expansion the economy can easily recover within a few months. But that is not quite likely. Despite the fact that the economy has improved considerably since the last quarter of 2009, it is still important to consider the fact that the US economy has grown only 0.1% over the last one year. (Fedec, 2010) Since the percentage by which the output worsened in 2008 was 1.9%, a lot of economic growth is needed to cover up for the loss. Also it is pertinent that the government gives importance to the strong expansion of the economy. Out of the 5.6% of the increase in the GDP over the last few months, 3.9% has been due to the rebuilding of inventories. (Fedec, 2010) Once the inventories are created the production is likely to fall. As a result the overall output production may fall. Although the labor market has improved considerably, the unemployment rate still is the highest that has been recorded in the last 26 years. (Fedec, 2010) If nothing is done by the government in this regard the situation can worsen. The

Biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Biology - Essay Example Each protein is formed in accordance with a set of instructions contained within the nucleic acid, which accounts for the cells genetic material. These set of instructions regulate which of the twenty amino acids are to be incorporated into the protein, and in what sequence. The final shape of the protein and its chemical properties is decided by the R groups of the amino acid subunits. There are four levels of protein structural organization: primary (1Â °), secondary (2Â °), tertiary (3Â °), and quaternary (4Â °). Primary structure is defined as the linear sequence of amino acids in a polypeptide chain. The secondary structure refers to certain spatial arrangement of the main peptide chain, examples of which are the alpha helix and the beta pleated sheet. Tertiary structure results from long-range contacts within the chain. The quaternary structure is the organization of protein subunits, or two or more independent polypeptide chains, as found in hemoglobin and certain enzymes. Proteins are broken down in the stomach into amino acids by enzymes known as proteases. These amino acids help build protein for the body organs, muscles, bones, blood, besides also acting as an important nutritional source of nitrogen. They also act as a storehouse of energy, containing around 4 kilocalories per gram. In addition to their function in growth and cell maintenance, proteins are also responsible for muscle contraction. Insulin, hormones and most digestive enzymes are all proteins. The antibodies in the immune system are well known proteins, and they are also the chief constituents of hemoglobin, which does the work of carrying oxygen to all parts of the body. The cell theory states that all organisms are made up of similar units of organization, called cells. This idea was conceived by Schleiden and Schwann in the year 1839 and has been one of the major milestones in the history of biology. The road

Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Happiness - Essay Example These challenges include the satisfaction of physiological needs, safety, love, and self esteem. All of which serves as the motivation for the individual to strive for self actualization which is the basis of true happiness. To begin with however, the person has to take care of his body and mind. A person has to satisfy his physiological and psychosocial needs then continue to meet his self esteem and finally self actualization. In each of this case, people should have the determination to work it out to be able to be successful at this level. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, when the lower needs are satisfied, there is the possibility that the individual may move on to the next level of need contributing to happiness. Thus, lower needs have to be maintained. A disturbance in one area may lead to disequilibrium which may result to unhappy life (Suddarth, p 4). A person who is deprived of food cannot be able to understand what love means. The absence of this may undermine the in dividual’s psychosocial capacity to be happy and share happiness to others. This goes with the idea that if a person is hungry is likely to be angry. Self actualization leads to contentment which defines happiness in a deeper sense. People who are satisfied with what they have done in their life are a true picture of happiness.

Online Buying Behavior Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Online Buying Behavior - Research Paper Example For them buying online is a great option. Before we move on to the actual context we should know what is buying online One would ask 'why people switch to buying online rather than visiting stores and feeling the actual experience. Online Shopping is shopping you do online. There are sites that let you buy directly from manufacturers, online versions of regular retail stores, auctions, specialty sites, comparison sites, group buying sites and so on. Some sell items, others give advice and still others search the Internet to find you the best deal. Looking at this one may wonder how easy it gets to buy online, you simple have to just type in a word or words that best describe what you're looking for. Use product name, manufacturer or type. After you enter your search words, you'll get a list of items matching your description. Simply click on any link for get more specifics. Many women would go for this option as it feels so reliable and less risky indeed. The problem is how to identify the dos and don'ts of online buying. Women are very conscious decision makers when it comes to supporting family causes. They have a general tendency of being more careful about things after entering parenthood. Choice is something that has troubled a woman for long time. Dissonance is the factor which women try to avoid the most. For that reason this is a great case to handle. Methodology For the proposed research I would like to identify a few things that would help in identifying why there is a need for online buying. Below is the criteria and findings of what I think is suitable to demonstrate the use of online buying and its importance. The general idea is about visiting certain stores and reviewing what window shoppers or market folk say and the other approach present here is the actual citing of E-commerce sites present on the web their one can also find pretty helpful information about what is priority if considering shopping physically or digitally Some one may have the same opinion as given below regarding features of online shopping. Features of online buying 1. You can do it 24hours/7 days. You can shop whenever you want. 2. Comfort is the priority. If it is hot outside, you don't have to go out in the heat. If you don't feel like getting dressed, if there is a foot of snow on the roads and you can't get out, you can still shop. Also, if you don't feel well, this is definitely the way to shop. 3. Discount coupons are readily available online. For example, if you are planning to buy a book at a BM bookstore, you are unlikely to find a coupon to reduce the cost of the book. However, many online bookstores offer discount coupons. However, there are many other sites that list these types of

Necessity to study in Japan and future prospects Essay Example for Free

Necessity to study in Japan and future prospects Essay I am a sophomore student at the National University of Mongolia. I would like to study at the †¦. University as an exchange student for following reasons: I started learning Japanese from my second grade of elementary school. Afterwards, I had the great chance of visiting Japan twice, each for the duration of 3 months. It was a great experience for me as it broadened my views of the world and provided an opportunity to meet new people. I was also impressed by the kindness and honesty of the Japanese people and the magnificent development of the Japanese society. †¦. scholarship will give me opportunities to learn about Japanese university life, expand my eyes to campus intercultural diversity and increase my academic knowledge. After my return, I wish to build on my Japanese experience. Armed with both Japanese and Mongolian education and practice, I hope to excel in my field economics. First of all, in †¦. University I will study with International students; meet different people with different cultures, which mean I will expend my knowledge of other culture. I hope it may lead to future cooperation. †¦.. is a prestigious and well known world university. I am sure that my peers will be the most gifted students. So I think I should be hard working and work as a team with such excellent students. East Asian countries have high developed economics. In my opinion, there are many things to learn from Japanese economic system. So, it is very important for our students to study at highly developed country like Japan. I wm willing to take part in development of our country. 2. Study plan in Japan: If awarded this scholarship, I plan to take the following steps. During my time at †¦.. university, I plan to maximize my Japanese experience by taking several classes in Japanese and economics, both subjects which I am interested in. In my first semester I hope to take courses such as â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..† and Japan’s â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.† to create foundation. On that basis, in my second semester, I hope to take courses such as â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.† and â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..† to acquire a broader understanding of the subjects. Of course, I hope to contribute my knowledge of economics and novel experiences in class. When I return to Mongolia, I will be able to utilize my leanings and analyze local facts and economic phenomenon deepening my knowledge of economics. To balance my studies and personal experiences, I also plan to be active in social  activities in sports and culture. During my time at high school I started Kendo and enjoyed it very much. I hope to continue this sport and learn from the original masters. Through my active participation I will be able to make many friends who I will in turn invite to Mongolia one day. Such friendship may, in the future, lead to the basis of broader cooperation. Thank you for this opportunity.

Underdetermination, Instrumentalism and Realism

Underdetermination, Instrumentalism and Realism Understanding Underdetermination in conjunction with realism and instrumentalism The present essay is about the understanding of under determination thesis in conjunction with the realism and instrumentalism. As we know that realism and instrumentalism are two opposite views in philosophy of science, so by explaining the two it would be much easier to grasp the concept of under determination thesis, which is one of complex doctrine. The intended audiences of this essay are science students and people who are interested to know about the philosophical issues in science. I divide the essay into four of parts. The first part explains the realism and instrumentalism concepts, second part explains the under determination thesis in detail and then the third part will state the views of different philosophers about three schools of thoughts. The fourth and the final part conclude the whole argumentation Realism The word realism in the dictionary means the tendency to view or represent things as they really are. [dic]. In philosophy of science it can be defined as â€Å"the philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their names†. It can be explained as an approach in philosophy that considers objects as they are in the universe as real things and their characteristics as a secondary thing. The advocate of realism are called realist and it is important to differentiate the realists. A person can be realist about the different kinds of things i.e. mountains, physical objects, numbers, universe etc. but in the case of a philosopher, it is required to specify that for what object/thing the philosopher is realist [book]. An American philosopher name Hilary Putnam stated that â€Å"A realist with respect to a given theory holds the following: What makes them true or false is something external that is to say, it is not in general our sense data, actual or potential, or the structure of our minds, or our language, etc. Furthermore he says that the positive argument for realism is that it is the only â€Å"philosophy that does not make the success of science a miracle†. [Book]. Generally, in science established scientific theories are treated as a true fact, but according to realist these theories would be treated as a successful explanation of the whole scientific process or its relation to an object, and not as a whole truth. [Book] An example is that sun, mountains, building etc. exists in this world, but the attributes like length, width, colour etc. are either dependent or independent of the environment. For example the sun is spherical in shape, so it is independent from any material thing of this universe. But in case of a building, its shape and size, all depend upon the person who designed or built it. So it can be said that reality is related to mind and environment. In general, Realism is supposed to be a term that relates to number of subjects i.e. ethics, aesthetics, causation, modality, science, mathematics, semantics etc. When we talk about the realism in the context of science then the intention is to elaborate the scientific realism which has a number of dimensions i.e. metaphysical, epistemological and methodological. Besides this it is also the truth that there is no single version of scientific realism which is being accepted by all the scientific realists. The doctrine of scientific realism states that â€Å" the world studied by science exists and has the properties it does, independently of our beliefs, perceptions, and theorizing; that the aim of science is to describe and explain that world, including those many aspects of it that are not directly observable; that, other things being equal, scientific theories are to be interpreted literally; that to accept a theory is to believe that what it says about the world is true, and that by continually replacing current scientific theories with better ones. Science makes objective progress and its theories get closer to the truth†. Realism has two schools of thought, first one is called Extreme realism, represented by William, a French philosopher; according to him â€Å"universals exist independently of both the human mind and particular things†. The second one is moderate realism and according to which â€Å"universals exist only in the mind of God, as patterns by which He creates particular things†. The main proponent of this view was St. Thomas Aquinas and John of Salisbury. According to epistemological view of realism, things exist in this universe, independent of our understanding or perception. This point is totally opposite to the theory of idealism, which states that â€Å"reality exists only in the mind†. By having a brief explanation of realism, instrumentalism will be discussed, which is the opposite view of realism and most of time called Antirealism. Antirealism is a doctrine that rejects realism, and includes instrumentalism, conventionalism, logical positivism, logical empiricism and constructive empiricism. Instrumentalism Instrumentalism is treated as a doctrine that states â€Å"theories are merely instruments, tools for the prediction and convenient summary of data† [Book]. In other words it can be defined as â€Å"concepts and theories are merely useful instruments whose worth is measured not by whether the concepts and theories are true or false, but by how effective they are in explaining and predicting phenomena†. The point is that in order to make predictions from theories, logic is required, so it can be hard to say theories have no truth values. In view of this instrumentalists admit that theories have truth values, but do not accept this argument that theories should be treated as accurately true. In view of this T.S. Kuhn said that â€Å"Theories may have truth values but their truth of falsity is irrelevant to our understanding of science†. [Book] In other words instrumentalism evaluates the significance of a theory with respect to empirical evidence and did not require the understanding of the actual phenomena. For example Newton gravity model is understandable and working fine, but it has no theoretical foundation [Answer.com] The another aspect of instrumentalism is that it relates closely to pragmatism and this point of view opposes the scientific realism because according to this, theories are more or less true in nature. Moreover, instrumentalism refutes that theories can be evaluated on the basis of truth. Theories will not be perceived as air plane black box which gives output on the basis of observed input. The point is that there should be a clear distinction between theory and observation that further leads to a distinction between terms and statements in each type. Like in science for statement of observation there is a specific meaning for an observable truth, for example if the litmus paper is red, so the observation terms have their meaning fixed by their referring to observable things or properties, e.g. red. Theoretical statements have their meaning fixed by their function within a theory and arent truth evaluable, e.g. the solution is acidic, whereas theoretical terms have their meaning fixed by their systematic function within a theory and dont refer to any observable thing or property, e.g. acidic. Though you may think that acidic refers to a real property in an object, the meaning of the term can only be explained by reference to a theory about acidity, in contrast to red, which is a property you can observe. Statements that mix both T-terms and O-terms are therefore T-statements, since their totality cannot be directly observed†. There is some criticism of this distinction, however, as it confuses non-theoretical with observable, and likewise theoretical with non-observable. For example, the term gene is theoretical (so a T-term) but it can also be observed (so an O-term). Whether a term is theoretical or not is a semantic matter, because it involves the different ways in which the term gets its meaning (from a theory or from an observation). Whether a term is observable or not is an epistemic matter, because it involves how we can come to know about it. Instrumentalists contend that the distinctions are the same, that we can only come to know about something if we can understand its meaning according to truth-evaluable observations. So in the above example, gene is a T-term because, although it is observable, we cannot understand its meaning from observation alone. The explanation of realism and instrumentalism above has provided us the capability to understand the topic with much insight. Now, I switch to under determination thesis. From the above discussion we have the knowledge that instrumentalism is related to pragmatism and this point of view is in contrasts with the scientific realism, which states that theories are often more or less true. Here, I refer to Quine, who said that theories can be underdetermined by all possible observations [23], and Newton Smiths, treat this as a threat to realism. He said, realism in his sense has to be rejected if there can be cases of under determination of theories. Under determination As we know that under determination is a thesis that is â€Å"used in the discussion of theories and their relation to the evidence that is cited to support them†.[1] Arguments from under determination are used to support epistemic relativism by claiming that there is no good way to certify a theory based on any set of evidence. A theory is underdetermined if, given the available evidence, there is a rival theory which is inconsistent with the theory that is at least as consistent with the evidence. Moreover, under determination is treated an epistemological issue about the relation of evidence to conclusions. Historical background The subject gets its first attention by Renà © Descartes, a French philosopher and mathematician in the 17th century. He presented two arguments related to under determination. â€Å"While dreaming, perceived experiences (for example, falling) do not necessarily contain sufficient information to deduce the true situation (being in bed)†.[2] As we know that it is not always possible for a person to separate dreams from reality and the theory that what is real or dream at a certain time is underdetermined. The second argument of Descartess is called demon argument â€Å"which is a variant of the dream argument that posits that all of ones experiences and thoughts might be manipulated by a very powerful being (an evil demon) that always deceives. Once again, so long as the perceived reality appears internally consistent to the limits of ones limited ability to tell, the situation is indistinguishable from reality, one cannot logically determine between correct beliefs from being misled; this is another version of under determination†.[2] The second person who talks about under determination was David Hume, who does not use the word under determination specifically but an argument about the problem of induction. I will discuss the induction later in the essay while explaining the under determination types. The Under determination thesis gets the recognition in the twentieth century through the work of Thomas S. Kuhn, who is a famous theoretical physicist and philosopher. He was very much prominent due to his work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions that offered an alternative to linear models of scientific progress. According to Kuhn the under determination has a place to for argumentation against theories in the philosophy of science, and scientific realism. According to Khun the under determination can be divided into two types the weak and strong under determination. The both could be stated in the following words: Weak underdetermined is that the currently available evidence is not sufficient to prove the argument, but some evidence that will be available in the future might do this. Strong underdetermined is to claim that it is principally impossible to get evidence that could fully resolve the argument between the opponent theories. Besides strong and weak underdetermined theory there are two other attributes called deductive and inductive under determination. The two rival theories could be deductively underdetermined when the available evidence does not completely deny either theory. The theory is inductively underdetermined when theories are compatible with the available evidence, but still tries to determine, which theory could be a better failure A weak under determination can turn to a strong one if it avoids the attainment of future evidence that turns it into deductive under determination. A counter argument is that it is not possible for a theory to be accurately strong and inductive. In general weak under determination arguments are focused on the availability of evidence for an explicit set of theories, and strong under determination mostly entails common epistemological arguments that relates to the type of evidence and its viability for a particular or general theory. Furthermore, it is generally acknowledged that all theories are weakly underdetermined, but in case of some specific purpose all theories are strongly underdetermined. Explaining the types of under determination thesis, Ludan said that â€Å"for any finite body of evidence, there are indefinitely many mutually contrary theories, each of which logically entails the evidence†. So in other words it can be said that deductive under determination is under determination of selecting theory through a logical method. Finally, the term under determination as thesis is associated with two respectable names Pierre Duhem and W.V. Quine in philosophy of science, â€Å"that neither the truth nor the falsity of any scientific theory is determined by evidence†. According to Duhem-Quine Under determination is a â€Å"relation between evidence and theory. More accurately, it is a relation between the propositions that express the (relevant) evidence and the propositions that constitute the theory. Evidence is said to underdetermine theory†. From the above it can be said that evidence is not enough to prove the theory, belief or truth. Moreover, only the availability of evidence is not enough to make the theory a credible one. In view of this we can call the first argument a deductive and the second inductive under determination. Hence, according to under determination thesis, both arguments have required some definite epistemic proposition, and belief in a theory could not be justified on the basis of evidence. For under determination types, Duhem, also said that â€Å"logic alone cannot take us from the falsification of a prediction to a refutation of an isolated hypothesis. Importantly, deductive under determination does not mean that theory choice is underdetermined, nor does it mean that there is more than one reasonable conclusion given certain experimental evidence†. Up until now we have a basic understanding of the under determination thesis, so now I will discuss what realism actually is, the theoretical frame and the origin of the concept. Another argument against scientific realism, deriving from the under determination problem, is not as historically motivated as these others. It claims that observational data can in principle be explained by multiple theories that are mutually incompatible. Realists counter by pointing out that there have been few actual cases of under determination in the history of science. Usually the requirement of explaining the data is so exacting that scientists are lucky to find even one theory that fulfils it. Furthermore, if we take the under determination argument seriously, it implies that we can know about only what we have directly observed. For example, we could not theorize that dinosaurs once lived based on the fossil evidence because other theories (e.g., that the fossils are clever hoaxes) can account for the same data. Realists claim that, in addition to empirical adequacy, there are other criteria for theory choice, such as parsimony. In particular, it must not be confused with what Newton-Smith takes to be a minimal common factor among the wide range of philosophers who in recent years have advocated a realist construal of scientific theories. This common factor consists of the following theses: (1) Scientific theories are either true or false and which a given theory is, it is in virtue of how the world is, (2) If a theory is true, the theoretical terms of the theory denote theoretical entities which are causally responsible for the observable phenomenon whose occurrence is evidence for the theory, (3) We can have warranted beliefs (at least in principle) concerning the truth values of theories, (4) The historically generated sequence of theories of a mature science may well be a sequence of false theories but it is a sequence in which succeeding theories have greater truth-content and less falsity content than their predecessors. We may refer to (1) as the objectivity, (2) as the causality, (3) as the decidability, and (4) as the convergence of scientific theories. Newton-Smith uses the name realism for the combination of these four theses, and he also seems to hold that this is the standard use of the term. It is clear that theoretical realism in the weakest sense entails neither objectivity, nor causality, nor decidability, nor convergence. In particular, some theoretical propositions may be true even if no scientific theory as a whole is either true or false. Moreover, it is doubtful whether realism in Newton-Smiths sense entails theoretical realism. For example, if all theoretical propositions are false, then theoretical realism is false, but realism in Newton-Smiths sense might still be true. In any case, one of Newton-Smiths main theses is that realism in his sense has to be rejected if there can be cases of under determination. In particular, he claims that either objectivity or decidability has to be weakened if under determination can occur to give up decidability is what he calls the ignorance response (to under determination). This involves embracing the possibility of inaccessible facts facts concerning whose obtaining we could have no information. To give up objectivity is what he calls the arrogance response. This amounts to holding that if we cannot know about something there is nothing to know about. 36 Notice, that this holds only for under determination in Newton-Smiths sense, i.e. under determination by all possible data. It does not hold for the other kinds of under determination mentioned above. In other words, it is only when an underdetermined theory is empirically viable that we cannot know that it is true or that it is false (either because it is neither true nor false, or because we cannot know, even in principle, what its truth value is). In general, we cannot have under determination (of any kind) together with empirical viability, objectivity, and decidability. If a theory is underdetermined, we cannot know that it is true. This I accept. At first, it appears that Quine would not accept this. He holds that there may be two best total theories which are empirically viable and incompatible, but that we may know, at least in principle, that one of them is true and the other false. However, it seems that Quine is then using true and false in a non-realistic sense; according to him, to call a statement true is just to reaffirm it. He does not seem to assume that there is some objective reality, the world, such that the truth of a statement consists it its correspondence with this reality. Hence, presumably he would reject the objectivity thesis which is part of realism in Newton Smiths sense. Realism/Anti-realism Given the various epistemological difficulties (under determination, problem of induction, rationality, social forces), and the lack of a consensus on these issues, why should we think that our theories are actually describing reality? The apparently large gap between observational and theoretical knowledge inspires worry about realism Metaphysical difficulties come into play here as well—we do not have good understandings of the nature of laws and causation, explanation, so how can we claim that we are discovering the nature of the universe?

Debate on Lowering the Voting Age to 16

Debate on Lowering the Voting Age to 16 Introduction A. Being an American has many great benefits because we have many rights as an individual like privacy, a strong constitution and a centralized government with balanced powers. As the people of the United States we have the right to vote to express our beliefs and to hear our voice. According to free dictionary.com voting is defined as a formal expression of preference for a candidate for office or for a proposed resolution of an issue. We face with many issues every day politically and It allows the men and women to get rid of bad governments and makes sure that any government listens to its people. There is a proposition going on and age wanting to change the policy on voting age qualifications. There are many discussions about this because people say there to young should not vote because they havent fully matured or some argue that they should because voting represents a voice. Three arguments for the policy B. The truth is that many 16 year olds would love to have the right to vote because it represents the responsibility and shows that you are mature enough to politically vote, express your opinions and shows how serious this is and what a difference it can make. Many teenagers are of course immature, but this is one of the ways we can improve the young people by engaging them into politics. At this age many young adults are just as capable of forming opinions. C. Many argue that 16 year olds should be able to vote because at that age they can start driving. Driving is a big part of todays society because you must be responsible enough to make decisions whether to take the light by being at risked for a ticket, the responsibility to watch out for any pedestrians, driving safely especially when you have passengers. This is a very big responsibility to anyone and if a 16 year old is able to drive then maybe they can be able to vote too. D. Alex Koroknay Palicz quoted that at that age most teenagers can work, pay taxes, drive and be charged as adults for crimes – even be sentenced to death- executive director of the National Youth Rights Association. Activist argue this issues a lot because if you work you are contributing the right of being a citizen and if an issues comes along that affects workers well this will have a great affect the 16 and 17 year olds because they wont be politically involved by expressing there opinion or demands. Three arguments against the policy E. This new proposition is manly on the young adults, but many argue that they are just too young. Many of these 16 and 17 year olds are still in high school and at that age is the age rebellion, trying to be cool by fitting in by smoking, doing drugs and ditching school. Most teenagers go trough that even I did when I was in high school. Many of these teens havent fully matured and are worried of many other things. Many of them still live at home with their parents being dependent on them by providing food, shelter, decision making. They have adult bodies, but many still act as if there were children by rebelling authority. The difference between 18 year olds and 16 is the fact is that once graduating you become more aware your responsibilities. Most 18s year olds go to college and it is a big difference from high school they start driving to work and school and pay for there college. Some move out and develop more responsibilities. I dont think that there are going to be a lot of s ixteen and seventeen year olds out there that are willing and concerned enough to take the time and energy to register to vote. F. The young adolescents are also not politically involved or even informed. Statistically the percentages of 16 year olds have limited knowledge of the candidates and issues. A lot of them can pass there classes with a D and that letter grade is a very poor grade. If this is true than why should we let 16 year olds to vote when they dont understand how our system works. G. Others argue about this new proposition government do things that affect every age group, but that does not mean everyone deserves the vote. Alastair Endersby stated Should 12 year olds get the vote because school policies affect them? Should toddlers get the vote because health services affect them? No – we trust parents to cast votes after thinking about the interests of their families. Also, it can be a bit dangerous to the adolescents to vote because they can vote for the wrong reasons for example a certain celebrity is running for office just because they liked how that person is on a movie they would get the vote like how Arnold Swartzenager got to be governor and he sucked because he has no experience whats so ever on politics. Three constitutional principles H. This proposition has its pros and cons which can have a great affect on many young people and our political votes. This issue reflects back in history when we amended the 15th amendment which was the right for African Americans to vote, but it was only African American MEN. The 15 amendment stated â€Å"right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This actually reflects on todays society because now we have a black president for the first time and this wouldnt of happened if we didnt amended it. I. Women are strong political vocal people and for years the women were fighting to have the right to vote. The 19th amendment was a great victory for women that granted the right to vote for women, but it took 50 years after the 15th amendment was passed. The amendment stated prohibits each of the states and the federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen’s sex. In the 2009 election we had Hilary Clinton the first woman to run for president in the united states because on the amendment in 1920 she was able to run for president representing all the strong women in the U.S. J. Amendment 26 was the standardized the voting age to 18 by the United States Constitution. This was in 1971 that this gave many 18 year olds the right to politically vote and have a voice. This age is an appropriate age to vote because they have fully matured and also developed political discussions and responsibilities. Work Cited   Edwards, George. Government in America. New York: Pearson Longman, Endersby , Alastair . â€Å"Voting Age Lowering†. IDea.com. 09/11/2009 . â€Å"Voting†. The Free Dictionary. 09/10/2009 . Weiser, Carl . â€Å"Should voting age fall to 16?†. The Enquirer. 09/11/2009 .

Science: Friend or Foe? Essays -- Argumentative Persuasive Scientific

Science: Friend or Foe? Science, a field of study featuring a relentless stream of change and advancements, is widely viewed as both the scourge and savior of the modern world. It is true that science offers solutions to many problems, suggesting greater convenience, technological improvement, and longer, healthier lives. Still, science is far from perfect, a point that many critics are eager to vocalize. Science has been blamed for invoking fear, reaching inadequate results, and supporting the most immoral of studies. Clearly, the opinions and perceptions that people have toward science play the largest part in this complex love-hate relationship. Mary Shelley and J. Michael Bishop have a tremendous amount to say about this conflict amongst people, and they furthermore predict where science will take the world in the future. Society cannot escape from its dependence upon science. It is worth noticing that nearly every aspect of an individual's life is affected by science in some form or another. The technology people utilize, the hospitals they attend, and the lives they lead are immersed with scientific findings, advancements, and mastery. Most individuals gladly accept these various advancements to their lives; appreciating their convenience and usefulness, society does not consistently look down upon the fruit which science has born. Regardless of these facts, the reputation of science in today's world is not one of flagrant and unrelenting praise (237). In fact, science has been referred to with many angry expressions, including "socially constructed fictions" and "useful myths" (238). The question must be asked, then, as to why science has been the target of severe scrutiny. J. Michael Bishop, leading a ... ...e to aspire (234). Shelley's Frankenstein is indeed a reminder; her tale suggests that the ends must justify the means, and furthermore that the ends must be wanted in the first place. In a world where scientific advancement seems inevitable and happens everyday, it is clear that there will be no clean end to this complex argument any time soon. The best strategy is to both recognize the good and the bad, the successes and failures, and hope that people's hearts guide them towards the right answers to life's most difficult moral questions. Works Cited Bishop, J. Michael. "Enemies of Promise." The Presence of Others. Andrea A. Lunsford, John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 237-242. Shelley, Mary. "Frankenstein." The Presence of Others. Andrea A. Lunsford, John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 231-235.

Essay --

Philosophy is derived from Ancient Greek as â€Å"philosophia† which means â€Å"love of wisdom† (Liddell). In Western Philosophy, there are two predominant schools of ethical thought and these are: categorical moral imperative and consequentialism. In this essay, some background descriptions on each theory are provided, and I will provide justifications for using categorical moral imperatives. The categorical imperative is one of the central philosophical concepts that were developed by philosopher Immanuel Kant. Kant moral philosophy is deontological; it rests on the notion of duty or obligation from the Greek word ‘Deon’ (Kant, Immanuel). Kant formulated the categorical imperative in three different ways: The first universal law formulation â€Å"Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that is should become universal law†. (Kant, Immanuel) In other words, any moral law or maxim you choose to adopt, it has to have rational sense to be implemented for everyone else to adopt is as well. If so, then this moral law can guide whatever course of action is open to you. The second humanity or end of itself formulation â€Å"Act in such a way that you always treat humanity whether in your own person or in the person of any other never merely as a means but always at the same time as end† (Kant, Immanuel) In other words, this al most follows the golden rule treat people with respect, so that they can treat you with the same courtesy. Moreover, treat thyself with the same respect as you would treat others. The third kingdom of ends formulation â€Å"Therefore, every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxim always a legislating member in the universal kingdom of ends.†(Kant, Immanuel) In other words, we should treat eac... ...s a life at stake. Going back to the example, I can also argue that is not necessary for the person at the house to tell the stranger where the family relative is. It is true that he is not allowed to lie, but he can also choose to stay quiet. If he doesn’t say anything he has neither lied nor told the truth to the murderer. Kant’s categorical imperative can provide a set of rules to formulate what a good person is and should do. Kantian philosophy is deontological and it requires people to always do their duty. Kant does not forbid feeling good or happiness, but it must be the case that each person can fulfill their duty even if they did not enjoy doing it. In summary, in order to determine whether or not a particular act is good or bad, morally speaking, we must apply the categorical imperative and I have provide justifications to use it in our daily day lives.

From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing Essay

This report discusses how the marketing mix management paradigm has dominated the marketing thought, research and practice since it was introduced almost 40 years ago, but today new marketing approaches are being introduced and used. The globalization of business and the evolving recognition of the importance of customer retention and market economies and of customer relationship economics, among other trends, reinforce the change in mainstream marketing. Marketing Mix The term â€Å"marketing mix† is probably one of the most famous marketing terms used by millions of people. Its elements are known as the Four P’s, which are price, place, product, and promotion. These four variables are the variables that marketing managers can control in order to best satisfy customers in the target market. Figure 1: Marketing Mix Model – 4Ps Marketing the way most textbooks treat it today was introduced around 1960. The concept of the marketing mix and the Four Ps of marketing – product, price, place and promotion – entered the marketing textbooks at that time. Quickly they also became treated as the unchallenged basic model of marketing, so totally overpowering previous models and approaches, such as, for example, the organic functionalist approach advocated by Wroe Alderson as well as other systems-oriented approaches and parameter theory developed by the Copenhagen School in Europe that these are hardly remembered, even with a footnote in most textbooks of today. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) The marketing mix refers to variables that a marketing manager can control to influence a brand’s sales or market share. Traditionally, these variables are summarized as the Four Ps of marketing: product, price, promotion, and place (i. e. , distribution). Product refers to aspects such as the firm’s portfolio of products, the newness of those products, their differentiation from competitors, or their superiority to rivals’ products in terms of quality. Promotion refers to advertising, detailing, or informative sales promotions such as features and displays. Price refers to the product’s list price or any incentive sales promotion such as quantity discounts, temporary price cuts, or deals. Place refers to delivery of the product measured by variables such as distribution, availability, and shelf space. The 4Ps model is just one of many marketing mix lists that have been developed over the years. And, whilst the questions we have listed above are keys, they are just a subset of the detailed probing that may be required to optimize your marketing mix. Amongst the other marketing mix models have been developed over the years is the 7Ps, sometimes called the extended marketing mix, which include the first 4 Ps, plus people, processes and physical layout decisions. Another marketing mix approach is Lauterborn’s 4Cs, which presents the elements of the marketing mix from the buyer’s, rather than the seller’s, perspective. It is made up of Customer needs and wants (the equivalent of product), Cost (price), Convenience (place) and Communication (promotion). Cultural policies to promote diversity of cultural expressions today must deal with numerous factors and needs, some of which concern the right of all groups to their forms of expression, and others strictly with business feasibility and the possibility of marketing on a global scale. These different factors may be difficult to reconcile but they are complementary as none can survive and be managed without referring to or involving the other. From the perspective of production development, it is frequently stated that cultural expressions need to find their market in order to survive, but it is also the case that the sacrificing of cultural content with little market value lowers the value of cultural production overall. From the perspective of rights to and processes of identity construction, culture generates services that cannot be governed exclusively by the market, especially in view of the marginality of subaltern groups. Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to think of cultural practices and consumption today without involving the market in some way. For marketers in the cultural industry it is important to identify the factors influencing consumers’ purchasing. Cultural factors are essentially important in selection of the two elements of â€Å"place† and â€Å"product†. For example, someone brought p in an environment that values art would be more likely to buy artistic products. Even it may be important considering customers in terms of their sub-culture. One may be surrounded by people who not only value art but place a higher priority on paintings as opposed to the music. As a result, they will be more likely to buy paintings rather than musical instrument. â€Å"Pr icing† the artistic products and activities should also follow a logic trend. This practice may be done through some standards set among artists of the same class or by the very artist creator of his work. In general, as it can be seen, due to the difference. (Shahhosseini & Ardahaey, 2011) The Four Ps of the marketing mix became an indisputable paradigm in academic research, the validity of which was taken for granted. For most marketing researchers in large parts of the academic world it seems to remain the marketing truth even today. The Four Ps of the marketing mix had been even referred to as â€Å"the holy quadruple†¦of the marketing faith written in tablets of stone. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) The marketer plans various means of competition and blends them into a â€Å"marketing mix† so that a profit function is optimized, or rather satisfied. The â€Å"marketing mix†, concept was introduced by Neil Borden in the 1950s, and the mix of different means of competitions was soon labeled the Four Ps. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Any marketing paradigm should be well set to fulfill the marketing concept, i. e. the notion that the firm is best off by designing and directing its activities according to the needs and desires of customers in chosen target markets. Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) American Marketing Association, in its most recent definition states that â€Å"marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange and satisfy individual and organizational objectives† (emphasis added) (Gronroos, From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing, 1994) The problem with the Marketing Mix One can easily argue that the four Ps of the marketing mix are not well able to fulfill the requirements of the marketing concept. As Dixon and Blois put it, â€Å"†¦indeed it would not be unfair to suggest that far from being concerned with a customer’s interests (i. e. somebody for whom something is done) the views implicit in the Four P approach is that the customer is somebody to whom something is done! † (emphasis added) . To use a marketing metaphor, the marketing mix and its four Ps constitute a production-oriented definition of marketing, and not a market-oriented or customer oriented one. Moreover, although the interactive nature of the Ps is recognized, the model itself does not explicitly include any interactive elements. Furthermore, it does not indicate the nature and scope of such interactions. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Van Waterschoot and Van den Bulte recognize three flaws in the Four P model: * â€Å"The properties or characteristics that are the basis for classification have not been identified. * The categories are not mutually exclusive. * There is a catch-all subcategory that is continually growing† . Many marketing-related phenomena are not included. Moreover, as Johan Arndt has concluded, marketing research remains narrow in scope and even myopic, and methodological issues become more important than substance matters. Gronroos, From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing, 1994) The Nature of the Marketing Mix The usefulness of the Four Ps as a general marketing theory for practical purposes is, to say the least, highly questionable. Originally, although they were largely based on empirical induction and earlier lists of marketing functions of the functional school of marketing, they were probably developed under the influence of microeconomic theory and specially the theory of monopolistic competition of the 1930s, in order to add more realism to that theory. However, very soon the connection to microeconomic theory was cut off and subsequently totally forgotten. Theoretically, the marketing mix became just a list of Ps without roots. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Managing the marketing mix makes marketing seem too easy to handle and organize. Marketing is separated from other activities of the firm and delegated to specialists who take care of the analysis, planning and implementation of various marketing tasks, such as market analysis, marketing planning, advertising, sales promotion, sales, pricing, distribution and product packaging. Marketing departments are created to take responsibility for the marketing function of the firm, The marketing department approach to organizing the marketing function has isolated marketing from design, production, deliveries, technical service, complaints handling, invoicing and other activities of the firm. As a consequence, the rest of the organization has been alienated from marketing. Therefore, it has made it difficult, often even impossible, to turn marketing into the â€Å"integrative function† that would provide other departments with the market-related input needed in order to make the organization truly market oriented and reach a stage of â€Å"co-ordinated marketing† the marketing specialists organized in a marketing department may get alienated from the customers. Managing the marketing mix means relying on mass marketing. Customers become numbers for the marketing specialists, whose actions, therefore, typically are based on surface information obtained from market research reports and market share statistics. Frequently such marketers act without ever having encountered a real customer. The marketing department concept is obsolete and has to be replaced by some other way of organizing the marketing function, so that the organization will have a chance to become market-oriented. A traditional marketing department will always, in the final analysis, stand in the way of spreading market orientation. The use of the marketing mix management paradigm and the Four Ps has made it very difficult for the marketing function to earn credibility. Some firms have solved this problem not only by downscaling or altogether terminating their marketing departments but also by banning the use of the term marketing for the marketing function. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) What is the History of the Marketing Mix? A paradigm like this has to be well founded by theoretical deduction and empirical research; otherwise much of marketing research is based on a loose foundation and the results of it questionable. Let us look at the history of the marketing mix paradigm and the four P’s. The marketing mix developed from a notion of the marketer as a â€Å"mixer of ingredients†, which was an expression originally used by James Culliton (1948) in a study of marketing costs in 1947 and 1948. The marketer plans various means of competitions and blends them into a â€Å"marketing mix†, so that a profit function is optimized, or rather satisfied. The marketing mix is actually a list of categories of marketing variables, and to begin with, this way of defining or describing a phenomenon can never be considered a very valid one. A list never includes all relevant elements, it does not fit every situation, and it becomes obsolete. And indeed, marketing academics every now and then offer additional P’s to the list, once they have found the standard â€Å"tablet of faith† too limited. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Kotler has, in the context of megamarketing, added public relations and politics, thus expanding the list to six P’s. In service marketing. Booms and Bitner (1982) have suggested three additional P’s, people, physical evidence and process. Judd (1987) among others, has argued for just one new P, people. Advocators of the marketing mix paradigm sometimes have suggested that service should be added to the list of P’s (e. g. Lambert and Harrington 1989 and Collier 1991). J It is, by the way, interesting to notice that after the four P’s were definitely canonized sometime in the early 1970s new items to the list are almost exclusively put in the form of P’s It is also noteworthy that Borden’s original marketing mix included 12 elements, and that this list was not intended to be a definition at all. Borden considered it guidelines only, which the marketer probably would have to reconsider in any given situation. In line with the â€Å"mixer of ingredients† metaphor he also implied that the marketer would blend the various ingredients or variables of the mix into an integrated marketing program. This is a fact that advocators of the four P’s (or five, six, seven or more P’s) and of today’s marketing mix approach seem to have totally forgotten. In fact, the four P’s represent a significant oversimplification of Borden’s original concept. McCarthy either misunderstood the meaning of Borden’s marketing mix when he reformulated the original list in the shape of the rigid mnemonic of the four P’s where no blending of the P’s is explicitly included; or his followers misinterpreted McCarthy’s intentions. In many marketing textbooks organized around the marketing mix, such as Philip Kotler’s well-known Marketing Management (e. g. 991), the blending aspect and the need for integration of the four P’s are discussed, even in depth, but such discussions are always limited due to the fact that the model does not explicitly include an integrative dimension. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Contemporary Theories of Marketing In most marketing textbooks the marketing mix management paradigm and its Four Ps are still considered the theory of marketing. Indeed , this is the case in much of the academic research into marketing; however, since the 1960s alternative theories of marketing have been developed. As Moller observes in a recent overview of research traditions in marketing, â€Å"from the functional view of marketing ‘mix’ management our focus has extended to the strategic role of marketing, aspects of service marketing, political dimensions of channel management, interactions in industrial networks; to mention just a few evolving trends. The interaction/network approach to industrial marketing was originated in Sweden at Uppsala University during the 1960s and has since spread to a large number of countries. Between the parties in a network various interactions take place, where exchanges and adaptations to each other occur. A flow of goods and information as well as financial and social exchanges takes place in the network. In such a network the role and forms of marketing are not very clear. All exchanges, all sorts of interactions have an impact on the position of the parties in the network. The interactions are not necessarily initiated by the seller – the marketer according to the marketing mix management paradigm – and they may continue over a long period of time, for example, for several years. The seller, who at the same time may be the buyer in a reciprocal setting, may of course employ marketing specialists, such as sales representatives, market communication people and market analysts but in addition to them a large number of persons in functions which according to the marketing mix management paradigm are non-marketing, such as research and development, design, deliveries, customer training, invoicing and credit management, has a decisive impact on the marketing success of the â€Å"seller† in the network. In the early 1970s the marketing of services started to emerge as a separate area of marketing with concepts and models of its own geared to typical characteristics of services. In Scandinavia and Finland the Nordic School of Services more than research into this field elsewhere looked at the marketing of services as something that cannot be separated from overall management. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) The New Approaches and the Marketing Mix The interaction and network approach of industrial marketing and modern service marketing approaches, especially the one by the Nordic School, clearly views marketing as an interactive process in a social context where relationship building and management is a vital cornerstone. They are in some respects clearly related to the systems-based approaches to marketing of the 1950s (compare, for example, Alderson 1957). The marketing mix paradigm and its four P’s, on the other hand, is a much more clinical approach, which makes the seller the active part and the buyer and consumer passive. No personalized relationship with the producer and marketer of a product is supposed to exist, other than with professional sales representatives in some case. The development of innovative theories, models and concepts of industrial marketing (interaction/network approach) and service marketing has clearly demonstrated that the marketing mix paradigm and its four P’s finally have reached the end of the road as the universal marketing theory. From a management point of view the four P’s, undoubtedly, may have been helpful. The use of various means of competition became more organized. However, the four P’s were never applicable to all markets and to all types of marketing situations. The development of alternative marketing theories discussed above demonstrate that even from a management perspective, the marketing mix and its four P’s became a problem. Their pedagogic elegance and deceiving sense of simplicity made practical marketing management look all too clinical and straightforward even for actors in the consumer packaged goods field where they were originally intended to be used. Consumer goods amounts to a considerable business, and there the four P’s could still fulfill a function. However, many of the customer relationships of manufacturers of consumer goods are industrial-type relationships with wholesalers and retailers, and the retailers of consumer goods more and more consider themselves service providers. In such situations the four P’s have less to offer even in the consumer goods field. Moreover, as far as the marketing of consumer goods from the manufacturer to the ultimate consumers is concerned, there is a growing debate whether one can continue to apply marketing in the traditional mass marketing way. Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) The Future: The Relationship Marketing Concept In the relationship marketing concept to be presented here the core variables are relationships, networks and interaction. The choice is not arbitrary; these variables recurrently emerge in the new marketing theories that have challenged the reigning marketing management paradigm during the past twenty-five years. These variables are not new; they were there thousands of years ago and they present themselves ‘‘here and now. ’ They will be here in the future, no matter if they are represented by relationship marketing or something else. They are part of society. In fact, society is nothing less than a network of relationships within which we interact, and marketing is a dimension of society. Research and education in business have only recently begun to acknowledge the existence of relationships, but have not as yet understood their omnipresence and deep impact on marketing. Although it is encouraging that relationships have been made visible and that the interest in them is soaring, major problems follow. One is that those who start to explore and implement relationship marketing techniques are often not sufficiently familiar with the foundations of relationship marketing, its paradigm. Furthermore, relationship marketing is put under siege by the traditional marketing management paradigm, and the techniques used in relationship marketing implementation are often more grounded in marketing management values than in relationship marketing values. (Gummesson, 2002) An integral element of the relationship marketing approach is the promise concept, which has been strongly emphasized by Henrik Calonius According to him the responsibilities of marketing do not only, or predominantly, including giving promises and thus persuading customers as passive counterparts on the marketplace to act in a given way. Fulfilling promises that have been given is equally important as means of achieving customer satisfaction, retention of the customer base and long-term profitability (compare also Reichheld and Sasser). He also stresses the fact that promises are mutually given and fulfilled. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Relationship Marketing There are many definitions of relationship marketing, most of them stressing the development and maintenance of long term relationships with customers and sometimes with other stakeholders. Total relationship marketing is marketing based on relationships, networks and interaction, recognizing that marketing is embedded in the total management of the networks of the selling organization, the market and society. It is directed to long term win-win relationships with individual customers, and value is jointly created between the parties involved. It transcends the boundaries between specialist functions and disciplines. Total relationship marketing embraces not just the supplier-customer dyad as does one-to-one marketing and CRM (customer relationship management) but also relationships to a supplier’s own suppliers, to competitors and to middlemen; these are all market relationships. (Gummesson, 2002) Is There a Paradigm Shift in Marketing? Relationships do not function by themselves. As McInnes said already three decades ago, â€Å"the existence of a market relation is the foundation of exchange not a substitute for it†. Only in extreme situations, for example when the computer systems of a buyer and a materials provider are connected to each other in order to initiate and execute purchase decisions automatically, the relationship, at least for some time, may function by itself. In such situations one comes close to what Johan rndt called â€Å"domesticated markets†, where â€Å"transactions†¦are usually handled by administrative processes on the basis of negotiated rules of exchange†. Normally, advertising, distribution and product branding, for example, will still be needed, but along with a host of other activities and resources. (Gummesson, 2002) However, what marketing deserves is new perspectives, which are more market-oriented and less manipulative, and where the customer indeed is the focal point as suggested by the marketing concept. Conclusion Marketing mix as a general perspective evolved because at one time it was an effective way of describing and managing many marketing situations. Before the marketing mix there were other approaches. Now time has made this approach less helpful other than in specific situations. New paradigms have to come. After all, we live in the 1990s, and we cannot for ever continue to live with a paradigm from the 1950s and 1960s. However, bearing in mind the long-term damages of the marketing mix as the universal truth, we are going to need several approaches or paradigms Relationship marketing will be one of them.