Luxury brands Essay

Whenever you switch on the television, or flip through the pages of magazines, you are bombarded with celebrity news and reality shows that touch your inner needs to feel beautiful, important and recognized. Those gorgeous people in advertisements tell you that their lifestyle and material possessions like clothes and accessories can make you beautiful as well, and help you to be part of their world. All you need to do is to buy the right fashion brands by the right designers. Then you start to crave for the Louis Vuitton bag or the Chanel glasses. Soon you are hooked by the luxury. Fashion has always played a significant role in the history of the great civilizations. With the clear differences between social classes the consumption of luxury was limited to the elite classes. The nineteenth century marked the beginning of the luxury goods sector and the start of many of the highly valuable luxury brands that we know today, e. g. Gucci, Hermes, Cartier and Louis Vuitton in France, Burberry in England and Bvlgare in Italy. Nowadays, the luxury fashion sector is the fourth largest revenue generator in France, and one of the most remarkable sectors in Italy, Spain, the USA and the emerging markets of China, Russia and India. The luxury industry has increased impressively having a huge growth in demand. The luxury consumer is powerful. Consumers have much choice in products, shopping channels and pricing of luxury goods. The aim of this study is to examine young people’s attitudes, i. e. their beliefs, feelings and purchase intentions, towards luxury brands. The author tries to find out what â€Å"luxury† means to young people, what influences their consumer decision-making, and on a small scale, young adults luxury brand awareness. 3 defining factors of luxury: Luxury is nonessential: Luxury is desired, not needed. In luxury you are at your best. It makes your life richer and more worth living. Luxury is â€Å"hard to get†: Its availability is restricted by high price, by small series, by exclusiveness. If you are allowed at all to try and get it, it demands an effort, a sacrifice. Luxury is superb, inspiring feelings of wonder and excitement: It represents an outstanding achievement, it is a divine experience. You cannot but admire the people that created it. You are so charged up that you must share your experience with others. What is Brand? A distinguishing symbol, mark, logo, name, word, sentence or a combination of these items that companies use to distinguish their product from others in the market. Once a brand has created positive sentiment among its target audience, the firm is said to have built brand equity. Levels of brands:- Signature brands – These are the most expensive brands in their category. They are personal creations, one of a kind, signed by a highly acclaimed authority or by an artist of supreme status (an outfit created by Tom Ford) Supreme brands – These are products that are produced in limited series, often hand crafted (a Rolls Royce Phantom 101EX car, the service at Tiffany & Co. , or a night at the Ritz Hotel in Paris). High End brands – High quality mass production (from a BeoCenter2 music system by Bang & Olufsen to G Collection chocolate pieces by Godiva). 6 P’s of luxury brand marketing. Performance:- Performance refers to the delivery of superior experience of a luxury brand at two levels – first, at a product level which must satisfy the functional and utilitarian characteristic as well as deliver on its practical physical attributes and, second, at an experiential level i-e the emotional value of the brand the consumers buy into – beyond what the product is to what it represents. Pedigree:- Many luxury brands have a rich pedigree and extraordinary history that turn into an inseparable part of the brand’s mystique which isbuilt around the exceptional legendary founder character of the past. Paucity:- over distribution of luxury brands can cause dilution of luxury character. Hence, many brands try to maintain the perception that the goods are scarce. paucity is more promotional in nature such as the limited editions or the special series to generate artificial desire and demand. Public figures:- Public figures or celebrities have traditionally been employed as one of the marketing mix in luxury brand advertising and they still continue to grab attention, credibility and impact. This strategy attempts to remove the appearance of â€Å"selling† while still promoting the product by making it seem as a part of the celebrity’s lives, thereby positively affecting the consumer’s attitudes, brand value and purchase intention. Public relations:- plays an enormous role in image proliferation of the brand, thereby subtly influencing public opinion. PR is used to generate buzz and convey brand news. Pricing:- Consciously or subconsciously, consumers tend to generate a mental luxury stature or image with the price range that the brand operates. it is important for luxury brands to price themselves right as setting the price lower than consumer expectation and willingness to pay can potentially harm the brand value. Five steps to build a luxury brands Identifying a niche segment:- Luxury brands are built on the premise of offering high symbolic value to a very selective segment of consumers who are more focused on high status associations than the underlying price. As luxury brands are substantively different from other brands. Positioning based on high levels of differentiation:- As global brands strategize their competitive moves, they are likely to either follow a cost leadership strategy or a differentiation strategy. luxury brands should aggressively differentiate their brand experience. luxury brands are characterized by high levels of customer loyalty, that define their identity and powerful associations. Emphasizing symbolic value:- The most important element is the brand’s ability to create and communicate symbolic value for its customers. Symbolic value means the extent to which the brand is perceived by the customers. Creating perceptions of exclusivity:- All luxury brands strive to create a sense of exclusivity for their customers. Perceptions of exclusivity can be created by unattainable price, limited geographic availability, barriers to possession, or even limited supply. It enables the brand to sustain its positioning in the face of extreme external shocks such as heightened competition, regulatory shocks or even recession. Uncompromising delivery on superior brand promise:- Successful brands are those that create supportive organizational and operational structures that facilitate the implementation of strategies to deliver on promises which involves multiple dimensions in the case of luxury brands. they also will need to project consistency and continuity at every possible touch point. Objectives of the study:- To examine consumer’s motives for buying luxury brands. To identify the factors influencing the consumer’s at the time of purchasing luxury brands. To measure the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction among the people with their preferred luxury brands. To examine consumer’s preferences towards celebrity endorsed brands in comparison to premium brands. Need of the study:- It has been observed the growth of Luxury market is growing by leaps and bounds. The world has become a very small place in terms of geographies and global distance is getting shorter and shorter every day. Modes of communication have increased considerably and hence people have exposure to varying products available at a premium cadre across the globe. Hence it becomes imperative to design and market. Luxury brands that have a universal appeal and can take on the needs and aspirations of people across the globe. Review of Literature:- (Hansen & Wanke, 2011) Luxury is highly desirable, but affordable only to a few. Luxury is often described as something being of excellent quality, which means that the ingredients or components of a luxury product are exceptional and superior to what is found in ordinary products. (Dubois & Kapferer, 2010) were among the first to recognize the importance of international luxury products and brands in academic literature. (Dijk, 2009) Luxury brands is the kind of goods for which demand increases as income rises, and goods that have a high income elasticity of demand. (Silverstein & Fiske, 2008) Brands are important when creating an individual style, especially when talking about shoes, clothing, watches, fashion accessories, spirits and cars. Brands send messages to friends, lovers and potential employers about who a person is or would like to be. (Danziger, 2005) Luxuries are the extras in life that make it more fulfilling, more rewarding, more comfortable, more enjoyable†. She further suggests a definition for the concept, which states that luxury is â€Å"that which nobody needs but desires†. (Vickers, 2003) It has been remarked that luxury goods are higher in the psychological, social and symbolic dimension, while non luxury goods score higher in the functional value. (Dubois & Czellar, 2002) have also explored the relationship between the concepts of â€Å"luxury and â€Å"prestige† as applied to brands by means of an interpretative analysis of in-depth consumer interviews. The results indicated that prestige can be achieved independently of luxury in many categories. At a symbolic level, consumers can interpret luxury as the symbol of brand prestige. (Dubois, Laurent & Sandor Czellar, 2001) published a consumer report analyzing complex and ambivalent attitudes to luxury. Again they conducted two studies. The first study was a consumer-based exploratory analysis with usual qualitative interviewing methods. Research Methodology:- Research is an intensive study in a particular field to achieve at a better conclusion of a problem. Research Methodology is a systematic way of solving the problem. 1) Research Type:- Type of research used is Descriptive Research. The purpose of using the descriptive research method is to acquire accurate, factual, systematic data that can provide you with an actual picture of the data set that you are reviewing. 2) Research Design:- The research design is the basic framework or a plan for a study that guides the collection of data and analysis of data. It includes how data is to be collected, what instruments will be employed, how the instruments will be used and the intended means for analyzing data collected. 3) Data collection method:- a) Primary data:- Questionnaire: These are designed to collect information which consists of relevant questions about the respondent’s attitude and consumer preferences. It is semi-structured, has a combination of close and open ended questions. A sample of 100 will be chosen. The survey will aim at young people under the age 20-30 in Ludhiana. b) Secondary data:- Information that has been previously gathered for some purpose other than the current research project. Information gathered from research journals, books, internet and articles. 3)Sampling:- When some of the elements are selected with the intention of finding out something about the population from which they are taken, that group of elements is referred as a sample, and the process of selection is called Sampling. 4) Sampling Unit:- A single section selected to research and gather statistics of the whole. Limitations:- A major limitation of the project is that it lacks broader exploration on consumer perception and purchasing of luxury products and its relationship with local products. This study has a homogeneous sample and its analyses and tests can only be applied to present luxury consumers. The sample size for both, quantitative and qualitative research might be seen as a further limitation of this research impacting the extent of generalization and should be increased in future research. This would also allow for a better differentiations to gender, age and/or income groups and for higher levels of R-square explanation. The positive relationships between purchasing of luxury goods and the need of uniqueness, symbolic/status consumption and identity indicate that most of the people want to avoid similarity, but, at the same time, they want to possess the status symbols that are consumed to symbolize personal and social identity.

Person Centred Counselling

What I understand by the term Person- Centred Counselling Person-Centred counselling was developed by the psychologist Dr. Carl Rogers . It is a humanistic non-directive approach to counselling where the counsellor allows the client to lead the conversation and not try to steer them in a particular direction. A fundamental part of this type of counselling is the therapeutic relationship between Counsellor/Client. An important part of this is providing an environment where a person feels free from threat, both physically and psychologically.This can be achieved by the counsellor providing three ‘core conditions’ genuineness, empathy and warmth which help that growth to occur. The approach relies on the personal qualities of the practitioner to build a non-judgemental and empathic relationship with the client. The objective of the counsellor is to listen without making any judgements, without giving advice, and make the client feel accepted for their own feelings. It trust s the client to find their own answers and direction and of being fully capable of fulfilling their own potential.There are many tools used in person-centred counselling, including active listening, , paraphrasing, summarising, minimal encourages etc. Person-centred counselling recognizes that achieving potential requires favourable conditions and that not having these conditions may lead the individual to not grow and develop in the best ways that are possible. When we are denied acceptance from others or it is made conditional upon the individual behaving in a particular way we may begin to lose touch with their own feelings and not be able to chose paths which are best for ourselves.When a client feels safe and accepted in the relationship they can explore their own feelings and desires and take any steps they feel necessary to self-actualize. This occurs when a person’s behaviour is congruent with the person they would like to be. Person-centred counselling encourages the client to freely look at themselves and accept themselves for who they are or make changes to eliminate the behaviours that they do not like. Positive regard is to do with how other people evaluate and judge us. If a person has not been accepted in life for numerous reasons it can affect their self worth.A person with low self-worth may avoid challenges in life, not accept that life can be painful and unhappy at times, and will be defensive and guarded with other people but a person who has high self-worth, that is, has confidence and positive feelings about themselves, faces challenges in life, accepts failure and unhappiness at times, and is open with people. By providing the client with the core conditions it allows for an environment where they feel accepted for who they are and can change the negative outlook they have on themselves and increase their self esteem.In summary person-centred counselling provides a therapeutic relationship which allows the client to explore their feelings freely. It promotes a person to go on in life and grow to be the best that they can possibly be. The overall aim of person-centred counselling is to help the client self actualise and become a Fully Functioning Person where they are Open to experience , live in the present moment, trust their own feelings, and live a fulfilled life where they are well adjusted and balanced.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Research Paper

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Research Paper Example The notion of disillusionment is a characteristic of his life, but not in such a pronounced way as Gatsby or even his friend, Tom, and indeed, most of the major characters of the novel. Nick is from the US Midwest, but travels to New York in order to learn the bond business.[Fitzgerald 8]. It is worth noting that his profession is in many ways the very back-drop to the roaring twenties. It was the era of extreme prosperity brought about by healthy stock-market which would eventually crash and in turn, be a main catalyst and cause for the Great Depression. Nick moves into a Long Island community known as West Egg where his next door neighbor is Jay Gatsby – the main protagonist of the novel and of course, the source for the title of the work. The theme of disillusionment is typified in the character of Nick on a number of levels. First, his pursuing a life in the 'East' is the most general area that defines most of the action of the novel, but is proclaimed in the end as a mist ake: â€Å"After Gatsby's death the East was haunted for me like that, distorted beyond my eyes' power of correction. So when the blue smoke of brittle leaves was in the air and the wind blew the wet laundry stiff on the line I decided to come back home.† [Fitzgerald 140]. As narrator, the story is seen mostly through Nick's eyes. So, he is the figure who interprets for the reader, the decadence of Gatsby's life, the shallowness of the characters – such as the affair that Daisy carries on with Gatsby and the affair that her husband carries on with Myrtle, and finally, the conflicts most of the characters have over their pursuit of wealth and the emptiness of its acquisition. The emptiness of acquiring wealth and status is unquestionably one of the constant themes of the book. In many respects, it is embodied in the figure of Daisy Nick's cousin and her husband Tom: â€Å"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made† [Fitzgerald 142]. One of the core plots of the work concerns Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy. Initially he had met her when he was a young soldier in Louisville before going to Europe to War. While she promised to wait for him, she wound up marrying Tom because of his wealth and because her family approved of the relationship. In other words, she gave up a relationship built on passion for a life of security – however much she carries a lot of disdain for her husband, Tom. Gatsby's life is probably the most disillusioned compared with all of the characters. Gatsby is from a poor family, and when he met Daisy as a young soldier, he lied to her about it because of the shame and also the insecurity of feeling that she would not like him if he didn't have that type of foundation. In a sense, he was right about the latter part given th at Daisy does decide to marry Tom because of the security element. Gatsby goes to extreme lengths in order to reverse his fortunes. And, this involves both legitimate but also illegitimate business interests. He is involved with organized crime which is something that reflects the era of prohibition, but also, something that reflects the extremes that he is willing to go to in order to obtain Daisy. This is not a line that Nick crosses for approximately the same goal. The disillusionment of his pursuit is articulated in the following: â€Å"

Law of Evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Law of Evidence - Essay Example This has to be done through the finding of credible evidence that proves beyond doubt that the accused person is indeed guilty. The decisions that have been made in recent years where there has been no sufficient proof from the prosecution to show that the accused individual is guilty of the crime committed have been influenced by the one golden thread rule. While this rule is still one of the most paramount in the justice system, it has come to be put aside in many cases because of the fact that many of the courts have been under immense pressure to get rid of a many cases as possible in the shortest time available. This has ensured that the quality of the evidence provided in court before a verdict was reached has been eroded. Because of this, it can be said that some of the individuals who have gone through the English justice system and have been found guilty may indeed have been sentenced falsely. If this is the case, then the gravest violation of justice by the courts may have taken place and more needs to be done to ensure that such gaps in the criminal justice system are sealed to help boost public confidence in it. ... Instead, it has been declared that it is a means through which the truth can be found, despite the fact that the truth is something that can be considered to be relative. The truth according to one individual may not necessarily be so to another and this has led to the almost total disregard for the correct and thorough examination of the evidence at hand. Judges, who are supposed to be impartial referees, have come to be directly involved in the cases because of the pressure that has been put on them to show as many results as possible; disregarding the fact that the judges have to be impartial in order to perform best. One of the biggest failures of the criminal justice system has been the absolute absence of any meaningful sanction for its failure to meet schedules.2 In addition, this lack of sanction also extends to the failure to make proper disclosure and to ensure that all the witnesses named appear at court. One would go as far as to state that the definition of finding the t ruth, according to the criminal justice system is not the seeking of the answers concerning the case, but has in reality turned into a bid to ensure the securing of a conviction as speedily and as cheaply as possible. The need for speed as well as the reduction of the expenses of the trials, while seen as being economical is among the reasons why the criminal justice system is failing to deliver justice as it should. An example of this scenario is the Woolmington case where at the trial the judge informed the jury that if it was convinced that Woolmington killed his wife, then it was up to Woolmington himself to convince the jury that the shooting was an accident. When Woolmington gave evidence, he admitted to shooting his wife but said

Equal Opportunities policy in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Equal Opportunities policy in UK - Essay Example The policy covers all aspects of employment, from vacancy advertising, selection recruitment and training to conditions of service and reasons for termination of employment. In order to ensure the effective operation of the policy the company/ organisation/firm/practice/etc maintains records of employees' and applicants' racial origins, gender and disability. The company's/organisation's/firm's/practice/etc long term aim is that the composition of our workforce should reflect that of the community. Timetabled targets will be set for groups in the community that are identified as being underrepresented in the workforce. Where necessary, special steps, as permitted by the relevant Acts of Parliament, will be taken to help disadvantaged and/or underrepresented groups to compete for jobs on a genuine basis of equality. The company's/ organisation's/firm's/practice/etc Equal Opportunity Employment Policy (EOEP), and the measures to implement it, have been devised on the basis of advice from the relevant bodies as well as in consultation with appropriate union and/or employee representatives. The director of personnel/managing director/senior partner/etc, is responsible for the effective operation of the company's/ org... The director of personnel/managing director/senior partner/etc, is responsible for the effective operation of the company's/ organisation's/firm's/practice/etc EOEP. A copy of the EOEP is available from the personnel department/managing director/senior partner/etc (2005). Marshall stated that "The equal opportunities culture in mid-1990's has been one that has tended to have a narrow focus, and to fuse social justice issues with performance standards and improvement, with a greater emphasis on the latter." According to Chmiel the UK legislation does not extend to gay or lesbian workers and it provides only a framework to be adhered to thus the companies may adhere to and comply to the legislation loosely. "The basic premise of equal opportunities is that talent and ability are spread equally through all groups, including men and women, all able bodied and disabled people, and all ethnic groupings." As per the survey conducted by Honey, Meager and Williams in 1993 only one out of 20 organisations approached the legal quota of disabled employees. Discrimination was reported by 22 percent gay and lesbians when applying for jobs, 24 percent in promotions and about 50 percent due to their sexuality (1999). Chmiel further stated that women recruited and promoted under the programme Opportunity 2000 carried a 'Stigma of Incompetence', experienced lower self confidence and backlash from other members in the organisation (1999). Survey results published by Cara Aitchison stated that it was difficult to identify discrimination in recruitment, selection and promotion situations since many reasons could be effectively used as smoke screens, but discrimination occurs in day to day life such as indifferent attitudes

How did the Internet has brought people to think and see the world Research Paper

How did the Internet has brought people to think and see the world globally - Research Paper Example Mass media – this is written, spoken or broadcast communication with reach to a great range of audience (Zlatar 1). This includes radio, television (TV), advertisements, billboards, movies, magazines, mobile phones, newspapers, the Internet, and so forth. As earlier noted, media acts as a highway or rather a vehicle over which there is viral transmission of content, allowing a given user to initiate communications with multiple people across the globe, with an opportunity given to each that allows them to even further spread the information to different people and places around the world (Besley and Burgess 631). A clever and dedicated person possessing a quality message can turn the whole world into a personal marketing force with the use of the mass media. In addition, Zlatar reveals that media helps people be noticeable as it helps them engage with their audience as well as allow easy location or identification of the right audience to add on the cheap costs of advertizing it presents to its users (3). Political. The mass media can be an effective tool for enabling a country’s citizens monitor the activities of their governments and use this type of information to carry out their voting decisions. The deliverable of this is a government that is more accountable for its citizens as well as responsive to the needs of the citizens. In democratic governments, Besley and Burgess assert that free media aims at scrutinizing those in power and providing the public with unbiased and accurate information so that they can appropriately act on it (632). Thus, it acts as an effectual check on the power of the government as well as the influence it has over its citizens (Etling, Faris and Palfrey 37). The past few decades have been accompanied by an unprecedented increase in mass media plus reducing costs of TV, radio, and Internet services. Besley and Burgess believes that this trend has helped bring the political activities of the world to a much larger au dience as well as help various political elements or rather organizations reach a wider range of people quickly and effectively (634). Etling, Faris and Palfrey believe that the major issue with media is the inability to take a neutral stand where some take one side of the political continuum providing them with the best biased coverage at its best and at its worst acting like a virtual propaganda machines for a given political organization and or entity (41). Media coverage occurs via a wide range of gadgets ranging from mobile phones to computers working online. Today’s politics is taking a different dimension as many are adopting media or rather the mass media to pass over their political intents as well as organize political meetings and or rallies. In addition, the prevailing generation of young people is heavily immersed into the social media, for instance, Facebook and Twitter. A number of politicians have gone further to use the short message service (SMS) to communic ate their political ideas and or information to various target audiences (Etling, Faris and Palfrey 42). Social. Today, the internet has become a basic need to almost everyone and its use has continually increased with the increasing innovation of social networks (Gladwell 42). Communication in today’s societies is propelled by the constant development of new and quality social networking sites yet some find less enthusiasm in the type of interactions that these social

Research proposal in CSR Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Proposal in CSR - Research Paper Example Literature Review Summary 15 III. Research Objectives and Questions 15 IV. Research Design and Methodology 17 A. Secondary Data Collection 17 B. Scope and Limitation 18 V. Proposed Time Table 18 References 19 I. Introduction The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a haven of economic and political strength in a region that is ravaged by political disorder and wars. This strength, alongside other factors, has helped the Kingdom establish its place as one of the major business hubs in the world, with giant multinational corporations basing their operations in the country. These multinational corporations, such as the banking sector, will continue to proliferate and dominate if present trends in the country continue (Shoult 2006). With local and global companies manoeuvring simultaneously in a fast moving economy, one of the major business concerns in Saudi Arabia in the recent decade is corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well as its function and direction in the business environment of th e Kingdom. The opposite is true for the United Kingdom. The introduction of corporate social responsibility in the UK’s banking industry does not present entirely good opportunities. There are constraints in the voluntary programmes to deal with the unfavourable environmental and social effects produced by the banking industry in developing and developed nations (Solomon 2007). The political system of the UK have failed to challenge the influence of the banking sector beyond advocating gradual voluntary attempts to advance CSR, all of which have fell short of resolving successfully the major problems of sustainable development, poverty, climate change, and human rights (Ward & Smith 2006). Despite of the vast evidence, the programme of ‘Investing in the Future: a European conference on CSR and the finance sector, (ibid, p. 93)’ disproves the fact that the UK banking sector has yet failed to progress outside mainly unsuccessful efforts at self-regulation. The bank ing industry has a corporate social responsibility to adequately cater to the intricate groups of customers; a bank operates to maximize shareholders’ profit. It should sustain the most favourable liquidity to satisfy the demands of depositors. It is mandated to meet the official ‘deficit sector demand for credits’ (The National Commercial Bank 2009, p. 3). The banking sector should satisfy the provisions established by supervisory bodies to continue operations. Most of all, for the bank to be viewed as a responsible corporate entity, it has to provide substantial input to the economy’s highest development and meet the demands of its immediate vicinity (The National Commercial Bank 2009). Hence, the aim of this study is to comparatively study the challenges of CSR that the banking sector in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom confront nowadays. Two major banks for each country are studied and compared, namely Aljazeera and the National Commercial Bank in S audi Arabia, and HSBC Bank and Barclays Bank in the UK. II. Literature Review A. Definition of CSR There appears to be countless definitions of corporate social responsibility, running the gamut of the basic to the complex, and an array of related concepts and assumptions, such as ‘corporate sustainability, corporate citizenship, corporate social investment, the triple bottom line, socially responsible investment, business sustainability and corporate governance’ (Thomas 2006, 3). Singh and colleagues (2009) defines CSR as â€Å"