Comparison of Two Flood Stories Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Comparison of Two Flood Stories - Assignment Example It is worth mentioning that â€Å"The Flood of Noah† is the older story of the Bible, wherein all manhood got destroyed by the flood except the family of Noah. On the other hand, in case of â€Å"The Flood of Gilgamesh†, all mankind of the civilization got destroyed excluding the family of Utnapishtim (Lorey, â€Å"The Flood of Noah and the Flood of Gilgamesh†). Noah was quite spiritual in nature and he lived with his family. When the age of Noah was 500 years, the God said him to make an ark for his family. God also said Noah that after 120 years, a flood will occur, which will destroy the entire mankind and give him instruction to live in the ark with his family. Later, the flood took place, which continued for forty days. Notably, Noah along with his family stayed in the ark for full one year. After the completion of one year, when Noah found a land and left the ark, God blessed him and his family with the power of immortality (Davidson 49-77). With regards to the story of â€Å"The Flood of Gilgamesh†, Gilgamesh was the king of Samaria. The Sumerian hero journeyed the whole world and met an old man named Utnapishtim. The Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh about the disaster flood story of the Sumerian civilization. The flood took place for six days, which was a short duration, but resulted in destroying the entire civilization (Davidson 49-77). Identifiably, there lay certain differences between the above discussed two flood stories. In this context, the announcement of Noah’s flood was made by the God directly, but in relation to the case of Gilgamesh flood story, the announcement came from God via dream. The cause behind the flood of Noah was the increasing mischievousness of the people, however, in case of Gilgamesh, the reason was man’s sins. The landing space of the ark in Noah was Mountain Ararat and the landing spot of the boat in Gilgamesh was Mountain Nisir (Lorey, â€Å"The Flood of Noah and the Fl ood of Gilgamesh†). Apart from the above identified

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

Eassy 1 - Essay Example The theory of speciation can basically be traced back to a type of understanding of basic evolutionary processes. In this way, speciation is a way in which one can describe the way that different groups with innately different characteristics can arise from groups of a similar species that share a common split ancestry (Singh 2010). Such a theory can help to explain how animals such as ducks and other livestock first became domesticated and presented a clear shift from the common ancestry of the non-domesticated duck that has resultantly helped the domesticated duck to evolve to what can be noted today; a nearly flightless animal that carries a great deal more weight than its naturally occurring relative. In much the same way, environmental agents of selective pressures means that key environmental factors can influence the way that creatures adapt to the environment, or particular way of life that is most suited to the furtherance of their species within the given construct in question. This of course denotes the Darwinian theories of natural selection and can be evidenced by the way that certain species of fish have adapted to their respective environments as a way to better provide themselves and their offspring with the chance of increased survival. Conversely, an environmental agent of selective pressures denotes the ways in which certain environmental factors act upon creatures to adapt them to the particular way of life that is necessitated within their environment. Evidence of this can of course be seen in the giraffes of the savannah as they were increasingly necessitated to have longer and longer necks as a function of reaching the flora at the top of the tree canopy. In this way, environmental agents of selective pressures can alternatively be read as a type of natural selection. Lastly, with regards to the dispersion theory, this

Effectiveness of Sports Sponsorship

Effectiveness of Sports Sponsorship Introduction â€Å"Few marketing platforms can match the brand building opportunities offered by sports sponsorships, with the guarantee of exposure in print, broadcast and new media. In the highly emotive world of sport, the audience sees sponsorship as support for something to which they feel great attachment. An average of more than 150 million viewers watched each football match in Euro 2004, with 273 million people tuning in for the final, and in the UK, the highest audience was 20.7 million.† (Margraff, 2005) However, advertising avoidance in the UK is now reaching terminal proportions. A recent study conducted by Continental Research found that 45% of UK adults agree with the statement â€Å"Given the chance I avoid TV ads as much as I can†.. (Evans, 2006) Despite this, and the fact that consumers are spending less and less time consuming traditional media, Evans (2006) reports that lazy marketers still siphon off the majority of their budget to TV and magazines. Smarter adve rtisers, however, are devising new ways to interact with their target audience. As a result the main feature of the course of the year will undoubtedly be in June, where the World Cup will break all sponsorship records, and will be the showcase for brands to interact with their consumers like never before. Brands will attempt to emulate Pringles, which partnered Yahoo! Sports coverage during Euro 2004 to build awareness around its ‘dream team’ concept. (Evans, 2006) For sponsors, such viewing figures underline why it is so important to be associated with football tournaments and indeed any sports tournaments of magnitude. As a result, Cornwell et al (2005) have concluded that sponsorship of sports tournaments has now become a mainstream marketing communications tool. However, whereas sponsorship involves a fee paid in advance for future potential communication values, advertising offers a more knowable and more controlled communication. Furthermore, whereas sponsorship requires leveraging: promotional spending in addition to the sponsorship fee to o btain the greatest value, advertising is often sponsorships most valuable leverage. Sponsorships may also be directed toward consumers, channel members, financial institutions, government, community, and employees. As a result, in order to gauge the full effectiveness of sports sponsorship on marketing and branding, this review will review several different academic journals with varying methodologies, from empirical studies to more pure theoretical approaches, in an attempt to judge the most successful approaches The methodologies of the journals will be examined in more detail at the end of the review, and the conclusion will attempt to uncover the most effective methods used, as well as commenting upon the true value of tournament sponsorship in the context of modern marketing. Whilst the main focus of the methodology analysis will be on the contrast between the empirical, practical, studies and the more abstract, theoretical models, there may be more important analysis contained within the articles which use marketing paradigms as their dominant approach. Within the context of tournament sponsorship, the paradigm approach focuses on examining the specific thought patterns, both of the marketers designing the campaigns, and the target audience experiencing them. As a result, paradigms offer a much greater insight into the effectiveness of the tournament sponsorship than pure practical or theoretical approaches. However, a multi paradigm approach provides even greater insight, as it looks at differing thought patterns within target segments, and between marketers in the same sector, or even the same firm. This degree of complexity means that multi paradigms have not often been used in the context of tournament sponsorship, but wherever they have been encount ered, they have been identified and analysed, using the four interacting paradigms defined by Burrell and Morgan’s (1979) work on multi paradigms Literature Review Sports Sponsorship Overview Grohs et al (2004) analysed recent surveys which found that, while managers tended to favour media coverage around ten years ago, now they rate sponsor awareness and image transfer from the sponsored event to the sponsor as the main reasons for engaging in sport sponsorship.. However, the evaluation of sponsorship has not kept up with this change in priorities, and companies often seem reluctant to evaluate sponsor and spectator awareness even though measurement is straightforward and not very costly. An important reason might be that previous studies showed the unsatisfying effects of â€Å"ambush marketing†, a form of marketing where other firms make consumers believe, incorrectly, that these companies are the actual sponsors of an event. This phenomenon will be covered in more detail later in the review but, in the case of image transfer, evaluation seems to be difficult due to a lack of a compelling comprehensive and testable model Despite these concerns, corporate spending on sport sponsorship continues to escalate: up 3.7% from 2001 to 2002, with several companies reportedly spending over $100 million each year (Stotlar, 2004). Sport sponsorship has been shown in the literature to be a viable component contributing to market strategy, however of late, the downward movement in many corporate stocks through 2003, projected earnings shortfalls, and decreased company profitability has caused some shareholders to question sport sponsorship as an appropriate expenditure of funds because little empirical evidence of return on investment has been provided. However, this can be primarily viewed as being because many corporations have failed to assess sponsorships effectiveness in meeting their objectives. Perhaps the lack of assessment exists because the process for evaluation has not been solidified in theory or practice; thus an evaluation model for sport sponsorship based on the myriad of contributing factors is ne eded. Stakeholder Perspectives Cornwell et al (2001a) reports that sponsorship of sporting and other events has become an increasingly popular marketing communications vehicle. However, Cornwell et al (2001a) join the ranks of academics who claim that precious little research has investigated how sponsorship participation is beneficial to a firm and its brands. Thus their study explores how managers view the brand equity building capabilities of their sponsorship linked marketing programs over time and, in a two-phase survey, fifty managers reported on the value of sponsorships in building brand equity. Findings showed that leverage, the use of advertising and promotion to support the sponsorship, and active management involvement are significant predictors of both the perceived differentiation of the brand from its competitors and adding financial value to the brand. To put tournament sponsorship in perspective, the sponsorship of sports, causes, and events has become an established communications tool seen as useful in building brand awareness, brand image, and corporate image (Javalgi et al. 1994; McDonald 1991; Quester 1997; Turco 1995; Witcher et al. 1991). Brand awareness and image, in turn, are integral to the idea of brand equity, the set of value-adding assets linked to a brand (Aaker 1996). Both academic (Keller 1993; Park and Srinivasan 1994) and business writers confirm the role that sponsorship can play in building equity for the brand. Indeed, Keller (1993, p. 10), in his theoretical development of customer-based brand equity, notes that anything that causes the consumer to experience or be exposed to the brand has the potential to increase familiarity and awareness. Likewise, promotion industry analysts find sponsorship popular as a platform from which to build equity and gain affinity with target audiences (Smith 1996, p. 15). Empi rical work, however, concentrates on only a few brand equity elements, for example, brand awareness Sandler and Shani (1992), brand preference Nicholls and Roslow, (1994), corporate image Turco (1995), and adding financial value to the brand (Cornwell et al, 2001b). As a result, Cornwell and Maignan (1998) claim that no study has considered a broad range of equity elements, thus Cornwell et al (2001a) therefore explore the potential of sponsorship to build various aspects of brand equity, with their purpose being to develop an understanding of how managers view the brand equity building capabilities of their sponsorship-linked marketing programs. However, of concern to managers is that, whilst the sponsorship of football is a multi million pound industry, with many sponsors hoping that supporters enthusiasm for their team will translate into long term benefits for the sponsor, the intensity of team rivalry means that a sponsorship may also alienate opposing supporters. Davies et al (2006) examined the rival Glasgow clubs, Celtic and Rangers, who undertook a joint sponsorship arrangement with the communications company NTL, investigating how the benefits obtained compared to those that may have been expected from a single sponsorship. While the sponsorship was very effective in creating awareness for NTL and very profitable for the clubs; Davies et al (2006) found ambivalent attitudes towards the company, with the most committed supporters being the least accepting of the sponsorship, and the expected positive relationship between support for the club and brand preference for NTL was not found. Of course, the companies and participants are not the only stakeholders in a sponsorship deal, especially for major events. One example of this is in tobacco sponsorship of sporting events, where the opinions of government, health activists, and sport organizers towards the concept have been widely discussed and debated. This paper Danyichuk (2000) contributes a new perspective to the debate by providing input from spectators at a major sporting event obtaining four hundred spectator respondents to a paper and pencil survey at a Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) event that had a tobacco company as its title sponsor. The questions elicited demographic information in addition to spectator smoking habits, awareness of title sponsor, awareness of current tobacco legislation, opinion concerning tobacco sponsorship, and suggestions for alternative sponsorship. The final results actually indicated that 73% supported tobacco sponsorship; 11 % opposed it; and the remaining 16% had n o opinion. Those opposed to tobacco sponsorship cited health implications of tobacco use, negative influence on young people, and negative aspects of tobacco promotion in general, and some spectators provided specific examples of alternative sponsors whilst the majority of others indicated that the willingness and financial interest of a potential sponsor were key elements of the sponsorship arrangement. The final interpretation of this was that, whilst it would be better to have found another sponsor, it was better to have a tobacco company than no sponsor at all. Given that events would always prefer to have a sponsor, where possible, Westerbeek (2000) tested the hypothesis that â€Å"revenue maximization of the tenants of sports facilities is dependent on the geographical location of the facility, or the ‘location of distribution’†. To test this hypothesis, revenue maximization was operationalised pertaining to sponsorship, and a survey instrument was sent to all sponsors of a Melbourne based football club. The sponsors were grouped as location dependent and location independent based on the location of their head office and financial turnover achieved in the area around the sports facility. The survey thus collected information on three different steps in the sports consumption process including ‘coming to the sports facility’, ‘being in and around the sports facility’ and ‘being serviced in the sports facility, and found that revenue was geographically dependent when the sponsor was simil arly location dependent. Finally, Payne (1998) conducted a study into the practice of â€Å"ambush marketing†, and its effect on stakeholder, using the example of The Olympic Games which, as the world’s largest and most prestigious sports event, has been a major target for ambush marketing activity. The position of the International Olympic Committee is that the practice of ambush marketing represents a deliberate attempt to mislead consumers into believing that the companies involved are supporters of the Olympic Games. However, it was found that the effects were most marked on the other stakeholders: the activities of ambushers were found to erode the integrity of major events and lessen the benefits to official sponsors, who are the real supporters of such events. Ambush marketing has been criticised heavily as it breaches one of the fundamental tenets of business activity, namely, truth in advertising and business communications. As a result, the IOC, as custodian of the Olympic Games, succ essfully adopts a twofold strategy of protection and prevention to counter the threat of ambush marketing. Integrating the marketing approach Statistics show that sponsorship of sports and other events is one of the fastest growing areas of promotion, despite the fact that the importance of this persuasion strategy is not reflected in the amount of attention it has received in the marketing literature. Although some research has been done in this area, the majority of work has not employed the same theoretical and methodological rigor given other areas of consumer behaviour. Some scholars, such as McDaniel (1999) have suggested that sponsorship functions like celebrity endorsement advertising, where the perceived match, or mismatch, of brand attributes with the endorsers attributes influences consumer response to such marketing communications, and the marketing mix as a whole. However, one of the most difficult challenges for marketers remains the large, diverse means of communication and communication options that are available to support their brands: TV, print, and interactive advertising; trade and consumer promotions; arts, sports, and cause sponsorships; etc. Consequently, marketers must understand what various marketing communication options have to offer and how they should be combined to optimize their marketing communications programs. Towards that goal, Keller et al (2001) considered how to develop, implement, and evaluate an integrated marketing communication program, including event sponsorship. To provide both macro perspectives, especially relevant for managerial planning, and micro perspectives; they provided criteria as to how integrated marketing communication programs can be designed and evaluated as a whole, i.e. according to coverage, contribution, commonality, complementarities, robustness, and cost considerations. They also described how the two perspectives relate and conclude by discussing theoretical and managerial implications and outlining future research directions. The competitive strategy literature seems to offer two principal approaches to the problems of developing marketing strategy in volatile environments, labelled as the formal and informal approaches by Wilson (1999).. More recent research into managerial cognition provides promising possibilities for integrating formal and informal approaches to understanding strategy development in volatile conditions, and exploratory research by Wilson (1999) has shown that, in practice and in contrast to much of the strategic marketing literature, the response of organizations in volatile environments depends fundamentally on how the managers involved perceive their environment and that managerial perception can vary considerably between, and even within, rival organizations facing ostensibly similar environments. As a result, the effectiveness of an organizations strategy can depend crucially on these managerial perceptions, or paradigms, and that it may be more realistic to regard competitive str ategy as an organization’s response to the perception of competitive ‘threat’, rather than the more popular emphasis on ‘opportunity’; thus sponsorship is often undertaken as a response to a competitor pursuing a similar strategy, and reaping perceived benefits. Finally, although the importance of signs and symbols has been widely recognized in an integrated marketing approach, only a handful of consumer researchers have developed theory and research programs based on semiotics, the doctrine of signs. Mick (1986) outlined the emergence and principal perspectives of semiotics and then discussed its applications and implications for consumer research and marketing strategy Among its strengths, semiotics positions meaning at the nucleus of consumer behaviour, provides a rich ‘meta-language’ for semiotic consumer research, and recommends a multi-paradigm philosophy of marketing which can be applied to the effective integration of sponsorship into a wide ranging marketing strategy. Evaluating Effectiveness The use of sales figures, traditionally used to measure marketing effectiveness, as an indicator of sponsorship effectiveness is highly problematic in consequence of the possible influences of collateral marketing communications inputs, carry-over effects of past advertising, changing economic conditions, entry or exit of competing businesses, and so on. Hence, the results of sponsorship are typically appraised in terms of awareness levels achieved; attitudes created or altered; prompted and unprompted brand or company name recall; the extents of television, radio and press coverage, and cost per thousand prospects. (Bennett, 1999) A common approach is to measure the duration of television coverage of a sponsored event and the magnitude of press coverage obtained in terms of single column inches and then to compute the cost of purchasing corresponding amounts of space or broadcast time (Allen, 1990). This is convenient and practicable, but only indicates the extent of the publicity r esulting from sponsorship, rather than the impact and effects of the exposure (Meenaghan, 1991). Meenaghan (1991) in fact recommends a three-fold evaluation procedure: determination of a companys present position in terms of pre-sponsorship awareness and image with the target audience; tracking to detect movements in customer attitudes towards the firm; and the post-sponsorship comparison of performance levels against initial objectives. A number of theorists, primarily Thwaites (1995), have advocated the use of tracking devices to monitor sponsorship effectiveness, however Marshall and Cook (1992) found that although 78 per cent of a sample of 58 UK sponsoring companies evaluated their investments in some way or other, very few of them actually undertook specialised tracking. Allen (1990) similarly reported evidence to suggest that only a small number of companies completed any formal evaluation of their sponsorship expenditure, or engaged in any research whatsoever designed to identify the likely interests of target customers. The survey conducted by Thwaites (1995) found that while two-thirds of a sample of 30 companies sponsoring UK football teams attempted to evaluate their sponsorship activities, few went beyond the basic measurement of media coverage, and generally unsophisticated methods seemed to be applied. Reasons advanced by managers for not evaluating sponsorship effectiveness included the costs and uncertainties involved, technical research difficulties, absence of meaningful criteria for assessment, and lack of clear initial objectives (Allen, 1990; Thwaites, 1995). As a result, Bennett (1999), suggested that a sponsoring companys ability to create false consensus among spectators represents a concrete and useful device for measuring the effectiveness of sponsorship activities. In the absence of an external measure of validity of sports advertising effectiveness, alternative measures are often utilized. For example, John Hancock Financial Services measures the effectiveness of its bowl sponsorship by the number of stories and lineage in newspapers and magazines across the country (McCarthy 1991). For the 1990 ‘John Hancock Bowl’, an American football collegiate championship, 21 binders of newspaper clippings were collected, whose value the insurance company estimated at over $1 million of advertising equivalency. Another approach used by event sponsors is to compare sales in periods before and after the sponsored event, however such surrogate measures give no evidence of the size of the audience exposed to the promotion. Furthermore, Levin 1993), claims that measures such as these are incomplete because they do not tell â€Å"how event marketing shapes consumer awareness, attitudes and impressions of a company or its brands†.. It is possible to have on-site audience research that goes beyond mere number counting and studies consumer attitudes, interests, and opinions (AIO). For example, statisticians, including Sudman (1980), have developed techniques to make place-based media surveys conform to traditional norms Research has also demonstrated that audiences at particular events have varied demographic and lifestyle characteristics, as well as distinct AIO (Nicholls, Laskey, and Roslow 1992). This finding makes certain events more attractive to some sponsors than others. For instance, Nicholls and Roslow (1994) found that the Maryland Gold Cup steeplechase attracts spectators targeted by the local Mercedes-Benz dealers, whereas those attending the Indy CART automobile race in Miami have characteristics sought by Nissan. Even though Mercedes-Benz and Nissan understand the importance of demographics, lifestyles, and AIO, the impact of sponsorship and advertising in place-based media is still enigmatic. Where it is possible to make purchases on-site, sales measures are available and, moreover, can be related to the characteristics of customers. For instance, individuals who purchase particular items at a supermarket may be tracked by specialized Nielsen and IRI databases. (Nicholls and Roslow, 1994) In general, however, advertising effectiveness measures are not available for audiences at most place based sites, including sports events, unless they are specially commissioned. Thus, Nicholls and Roslow (1994) were most concerned with methods of measuring the advertising effectiveness of a specific sports event Traditional measures of effectiveness, beyond actual sales, include advertising exposure, consumer attitudes, brand recall, and purchase intentions, and Nicholls and Roslow (1994) collected and an alyzed brand preference on sponsor brands promoted at a professional golf tournament in order to build a model of sponsorship effectiveness. Examples from Specific Genres â€Å"Action sports†, an emerging genre of individualistic sports, increased immensely in popularity over the end of the last century (Bennett et al, 2002). Sponsorship of action sports events has likewise increased rapidly over the last few years, and these sponsorships are prevalent on most televised event broadcasts. Bennett et al’s (2002) research suggested that there is an expansive and increasing action sports industry and several major corporate sponsors have uncovered the benefits of advertising on ESPN, NBC, and others. Advertising research is replete with examples of utilizing intermediate measures to assess sponsorship effectiveness, and the literature base on intermediate measures in sport marketing has now been well established by the authors listed above, and has provided sport marketing and management practitioners with useful data on intermediate measures utilized by the LPGA, Olympic Games, and Gay Games, respectively. However, despite the development o f literature on sponsorship effectiveness within the sport industry, there is a relative paucity of original research on the action sports phenomenon. As such, Bennett and Lachowetz (2004) discussed the attractiveness of the action sports genre to the ‘Generation Y’ market, claiming that action sports events may increase in popularity even further over the next few years. Since action sports were founded by individuals seeking to be involved in participant-controlled sports, the genre will likely continue to have some mass appeal for the members of ‘Generation Y’, and therefore many companies and marketers will seek to benefit from the transfer of brand associations resulting from the firms aligning themselves with the events and athletes that appeal to the youth segment. Certainly, there are valuable lessons for all sports sponsorship marketing practitioners that can be learned from the substantial growth of the action sports industry, and since there has been such a dramatic rise in the popularity and strength of the genre, practitioners should analyze the efforts made by those responsible for expanding the industry. Obtaining sponsors that appeal to targeted markets or have the capability of transferring images is another objective that has been utilized by action sports marketers and managers, and marketers should consider being authentic or creating a cool image when attempting to influence the youth market, especially one so large and filled with cynicism toward corporate sponsorship. As such, Bennett and Lachowetz (2004) concluded that choosing sponsors that can deliver on authenticity rather than simply provide a revenue stream may allow greater return on investment in the future for those targeting ‘Generation Y’ Moving to looking at a more mature genre, certain professional sport organisations fall short of educating their corporate clients with respect to all of the benefits and attributes of the sport products they offer, including sponsorship programs, luxury suites and event sponsorship(Lachowetz et al, 2003). In response to this problem, theorists have developed a nine-step framework: â€Å"eduselling,† that identifies corporate sales activities designed to assist professional sport franchises in the education and retention of their corporate customers. Lachowetz et al. (2003) surveyed all 29 teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in an attempt to validate the nine-step process, with the purpose of the study being to collect more detailed information about the sales activities used by NBA franchises. As a follow up to the study, marketing directors were selected from five NBA franchises, with selection criteria including average to below-average team winning percentag e and average to above-average corporate customer retention rates, which indicated an effective corporate sales strategy. Methodology Theoretical Models A great deal of fieldwork has attempted to gauge the relative effectiveness of sponsorship in a marketing context, but theorists such as Cornwell et al (2005) claim that these â€Å"weakly controlled field studies contribute little to our understanding of how individuals process sponsorship-linked marketing communications.† By considering qualitative factors, including possible underlying information processing mechanics, individual and group level factors, market factors, and management factors, together with theorized sponsorship outcomes, Cornwell et al (2005) thus offers a theoretical model of consumer focused sponsorship linked marketing communications that summarizes and extends theoretical understanding of the topic. Grohs et al (2004) in contrast, examined these obstacles of assessing sponsor awareness and image transfer in sport sponsorships in two ways. Firstly, as a means of reducing the danger of ambush marketing, they analysed a qualitative model designed to identify what drives correct sponsor identification. Their empirical results, collected to test the model, indicated that event sponsor fit, event involvement, and exposure are the dominant factors predicting sponsor recall, thus offering sponsors a basis for successful sponsorship planning and execution through the selection of an appropriate sponsorship. Secondly, Grohs et al (2004) proposed and empirically tested a quantitative model that assesses image transfer in sport sponsorships, finding support for a basic level of image transfer for all sponsors. However, more detailed research and interpretation of results suggest that the magnitude of image transfer depended on two factors: sponsorship leverage and event sponsor fit. The other main theoretical pieces of work were conducted by Keller (2001) and Wilson (1999). Keller (2001) aimed specifically to provide micro perspectives especially relevant for academic research, and in order to achieve this, they introduced the Marketing Communication Tetrahedron, a quantitative model, as a marketing paradigm approach, as well as a means of classifying and analyzing factors influencing marketing communication effectiveness along four broad dimensions, i.e. factors related to the consumer, communication, response, and situation. In contrast, Wilson et al built a model based on research that suggested that organizations seem to respond initially to the perception of competitive threat by reinforcing previous behaviour patterns before later and often reluctantly adopting more innovative reforms, implying a cyclical pattern of paradigm adjustment. Implications for further research and for management practice are discussed including the need for multi paradigm models, to compensate for said cyclical behaviour. Survey, Questionnaire and Empirical Data Oriented One of the major quantitative, practical pieces of work on the subject was the on site survey conducted by Nicholls and Roslow (1994) at the Doral-Ryder Open Golf Tournament in 1992. At the time, this was a major Professional Golf Association (PGA) championship, held each year at the Doral Country Club in Miami, Florida, with the principal sponsor, Ryder System, being a major vehicle leasing corporation, headquartered in the United States, but with numerous operations abroad. Nine major sponsors were included in the analysis, and the survey was conducted on each of the four days of the actual professional tournament. The championship itself was preceded by several days of pro-am rounds and a musical evening so that the whole affair extended over ten days, and respondents were interviewed as the tournament progressed. Each of the interviewers was assigned to a specific location on the golf course and a total sample of 276 respondents was obtained during the final four days of tournament play. Interviewers were instructed to select the first person to cross a given point following the conclusion of each interview, and this procedure was found to have reduced bias with respect to the interviewer selection of the respondents. Respondents were asked their specific brand preference in the categories included in the study, and the analysis investigated whether the preference for advertiser sponsored brands was related to the number of days attended. Nicholls and Roslow’s (1994) stated aim was to establish whether there was any empirical relationship between spectators’ degree of preference for brands advertised on-site and the number of days these spectators attended the tournament, i.e. the number of advertising messages directed to the events audience. Their findings provided a link betw een the degree of brand exposure and the degree of preference however, despite the large number of respondents interviewed, the link was found to be equivocal at best. A more decisive piece of practical work was completed by Bennett et al (2002) who, after concluding that their literature review revealed no significant research involving sponsorship and action sports, undertook an investigation of the effectiveness of action sports sponsorships.. They claimed that such a study was both warranted and timely; and thus composed an original 19 item questionnaire in order to measure action sports sponsor and athlete recognition by members of the ‘Generation Y’ market. The results from these questionnaires were crucial in forming their conclusions about targeting younger people. Similarly, as part of their work, Lachowetz et al (2003) interviewed numerous individuals by means of a 45-60 minute phone interview. Data from these calls was qualitatively a

Nature vs Nurture: Genes vs Environment Essay -- child development, ps

Introduction A debate between psychologist, scientists and philosopher thinkers on the spectrum of ‘nature vs. nurture’ arose concerning human development. In the nature versus nurture debate, the term "nature" refers to the genes we inherit while the term "nurture" refers to our outside environment (Nature vs. Nurture: Twin and Adoption Studies). This debate of ‘nature vs. nurture’ has existed for centuries and up to now it is still a topic of major discussion although at present time. Human development is the scientific study of age-related changes in behavior, thinking, emotions and personality (Boyd & Bee, 2005). In order to understand cognitive, emotional, physical, social and educational growth that everyone experiences from childhood until adulthood, we must first understand the influence and importance of child development. Different psychologists have different theories and concepts of child development. Grand theories often use a stage-by-stage approach while a ttempting to describe the areas of development. Mini-theories focus only on a fairly limited aspect of development, such as cognitive or social growth. (Cherry, Child Development Theories, 2011) Discussion John Locke, a famous philosopher once introduced the concept of tabula rasa that defines a child’s mind as a ‘blank slate’ which can be written on and moulded by the society and environment. He believes that what we are is determined by the experiences we face. Plato, the Greek philosopher suggests that certain things simply occur naturally regardless of any environmental influence. However, Jean Jacques Rousseau describes humans in their state of nature as noble savages living in peace and harmony but due to civilization and advancement in society, humans ... ...0 Â © 1963). Childhood and Society. W.W Norton & Company, Inc. 5. King, A. L. (2008). The Science of Psychology: An Appreciative View. New York: McGraw-Hill . 6. Nature vs. Nurture: Twin and Adoption Studies. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2011, from Nurture or Nature.com: http://www.nurture-or-nature.com/articles/twin-and-adoption-studies/index.php 7. Preaaley, M., & McCormick, C. (2007). Child and Adolescent Development for Educators. New York: The Guilford Publications. 8. Robert S. Feldman, P. (2006). Child Development, . University of Massachusetts,Amherst. 9. Smolako, l. (1993). Adult development. Adult Development . 10. Spaulding, K. (2009). Human Development Theory - Psychological Growth Over Time. Retrieved December 4, 2011, from Knol - a unit of knowledge: share what you know, publish your expertise.: http://knol.google.com/k/human-development-theory#

Because It Is Running by

Because It Is Running By – 2. Delprove A. â€Å"This is Edie, Wil, said his mother. She’s going to be helping me out. [†¦] When was this decided? he said. † Edie meets Wil, opposites meet. In Because It Is Running By these two main characters, Wil and Edie, meet when Wil’s mother hires Edie to help out with some chores. As the first quote might allude to, Wil is not very happy with Edie coming into his life. Eventually Wil seems to accept Edie as they spend some time together and get to talk. One thing leads to another and one day Wil invites Edie out and buys her a drink. When Wil realizes that Edie is leaving soon, he accuses his mother of throwing Edie out of the house. Edie is heading for Marrakesh, Morocco and, as the text ends, Wil is with Edie and Wil suggests that he could go to Morocco. Wil is a young man who is not in his teenage years anymore. He lives with his mother and has probably done so most of his life. We know that he has never left Great Britain and, at this point, the only woman in his life is his mother. We don’t know much of Edie’s past. We only know of where she is now and where she’s going. These two main characters have completely different approaches to life. Edie is staying with his mother where everything is safe, while Edie dares to enter new areas unknowing of what will happen. â€Å"Never been abroad. Never been on an aeroplane. I’m just a fucking peasant. † â€Å"Don’t do that, she said. † â€Å"I seen you thinking it, he said. With your Pernod and your fancy accent† [†¦] â€Å"I think you are where you are. † I think this is a very interesting dialogue between Wil and Edie, which gives us some idea of who our main characters are, especially Wil. Wil is very much aware of his lifestyle, within the safety borders, and the dialogue might indicate that he is somewhat ashamed of it. When later, he says that â€Å"I could go to Morocco†, he is probably fascinated by Edie and her way of life. He wants to see what happens if you leave the comfort zone. All in all, the last sentence of the text basically sums up Wil’s way of life: â€Å"[†¦] things continuing in the same way. † While Edie is the opposite who has only been at their place during summer, until she is moving on to another distant location – which is fascinating to Wil. There are several themes in this text: relationship between a mother and her son, relationship between a boy and a girl. But in my opinion the main theme is breaking the comfort zone or, as the old Latin phrase goes, Carpe Diem – seize the day. Wil probably had his reasons for living with his mom, but if you’re too scared to go anywhere else, who knows, you might just end up dying as the same â€Å"fucking peasant† that you have been your entire life. The title of the text, Because It Is Running By, could refer to Wil who is just letting life run by, instead of getting the best out of it and becoming a part of it. Text 4, Making the decision to take a gap year, deals with this matter. There are many things to worry about when leaving the comfort zone, such as loneliness and language problems. But all these factors are just a part of the adventure that life is supposed to be. You can’t know what experiences you’re missing out if you’re well pleased with where you are. It’s our life and our responsibility to get the best out of it – seize the day or die regretting the time you lost. Picture 1, Desired Freedom, shows a man leaning, with his arms, against the window and a dove painted on the wall. Like Wil and Edie; the man and the dove are opposites. Since there are no bars on the window we can conclude that he is not in prison. But then again, this man has probably imprisoned himself, by not living life to the fullest. He has only spectated life from the sidelines, but he doesn’t dare to go to the other side of that window and experience what it’s like. The dove, on the other hand, is completely free. And the dove knows what to do to survive. Its mother might have fed it at first, but eventually it has to live life on its own. Even if that means going to dangerous territories to find food, the dove knows that it must be done in order to survive. It doesn’t wait in its own prison and end up dying in regret. Which way of life would you rather imitate? B. Because It Is Running By is a text which is basically built up of dialogues, with remarks from a narrator. Since there are many dialogues in the text, it is written in colloquial language. That means a large amount of very short sentences, which aren’t necessarily grammatically correct. An example of this is the above-mentioned dialogue: â€Å"Never been abroad. Never been on an aeroplane. I’m just a fucking peasant. † â€Å"Don’t do that, she said. † â€Å"I seen you thinking it, he said. † However, typical slang used in colloquial language, such as â€Å"gonna† and â€Å"wanna† is not used in the text. The text is not written with formal language and there are very few difficult words. The text can be rather annoying to read, due to the fact that there are many stops throughout the text, caused by small sentences. Also, Wil often jumps from one subject to another, which can be frustrating for the reader. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Song: Avenged Sevenfold – Seize The Day

One Direction

Intro to Communication 2. oopm-3. 40pm Informative Speech Outline Dreams and Ambitions Purpose: To inform my audience about how to follow your own dream and path, not following anyone else's paths because they say you can't do something. l. Introduction A. Greeting Good evening everyone. B. Attention getter Today, I'm going to tell you the stories of my life and someone who I looked up to. When I was in middle school, I was a dreamer and so was he. (Visual aid #1) One day, while watching Fast and Furious with my dad, I told him that when I was older, I would become a racecar driver Just like Vin Diesel.My dad checked my temperature after I said that. (Visual aid #2) Another day I was watching Step Up with my mom and told her I would become a dancer. I would search up dance tutorials on Youtube, watch them over and over again. Practiced in front of the mirror until I got it. But I never got it. And it Just annoyed my parent that they kept hearing mammoth footsteps from my room and tha t they couldn't sleep. More recently, when I was half asleep on the bus on its way to my school. I was suddenly awakened to this funky song sung by this amazing singer. Then I knew I'd become a singer.Excited for an upcoming school concert. I signed up. Then my friends in school slammed me that no one would like me and that I would be the Joke to the school. I doubted myself since then. C. Credibility statement As someone who have been following every of his footsteps from he was as small as a fetus. He represents an iconic symbol for having dreams, faith, and to never stop believing in yourself. I would like to inform you about this person. D. Thesis statement It didn't matter how many times you got knocked down on the floor, but you know one day you would have to get up and stand tall.Because everything has to start from omething, and something would be nothing if you didn't believe and have faith in yourself. Where would you be if you didn't believe. E. Preview of main points I'm going to leave with your imagination to fgure out whom this person is. I will slowly leave clue about this person. So I will be talking about his not so ideal background, his struggles to superstardom, and his triumphs. This is his story. Transition II. Body A. Main point #1 – His background 1. Subordinate point (e. g. , â€Å"According to†¦ â€Å") – He didn't have the happiest family, in the world.He didn't live in the biggest mansion in his neighborhood. And he didn't even come first place in a school singing competition. a. Support- According to Townhall. com, his mother had him when she was only 18 years old. She had to live through an abusive childhood. Because everyone was pressuring her to abort her child. Because everyone thinks she didn't have sufficient finance to support for her child, since she worked for a series of low paying office Jobs. His parent split when he was 10 months old. (Visual aid #3) b. Support- He came from a small town called Stra tford, Ontario.When he was 12 years old, he wanted to play guitar and sing in front of a shopping mall. He would sit t the steps at the gate of the shopping mall and sing in the cold night. His voice carry out throughout the whole street Every pedestrians would have to stop, pull out their camera and film it. He also Joined his school idol competition. With only 12 years of age, he demonstrated a wide range of musical talents. Such as pop, R and B, he even rap for the audience too. Sometime he would bust out dance move that crack the audience. Like the air guitar. His friends were surprised, they would ask him where did all of hose moves come from.However, he fall short in third place. Suffered his first rejection in his singing career. Transition/Signpost Now that I have mentioned his background. I will now talk about his struggles. – B. Main point #2 – His struggles 1. Subordinate point – At this stage of success, there will be Jealousy and hatred. There are p eople who want him to fall, they want him to be the next train wreck, and want him to fall on the ground and never be able to get back up. a. Support – Celebrity gossip sites on the Internet such as TMZ, they will make up the most hideous and untrue stories about this kid.Here are examples of the stories they made up. – According to TMZ, they pictured him walking around with his shirt off in he street of London. Saying it's a sign of disrespectful. Other say that he illegally went to an under aged club with his shirt off. Later, he was asked during an interview about this issue, and he was Just sweaty and hot from a grueling three hours performance. – According to mirror. co. uk, another news site. They said he was accused of hitting a paparazzi photographer in June while driving in the city of los Angeles who apparently stood right in front of his car.The paparazzi then have to be moved to a nearby hospital for treatments. However, in the photograph, the papara zzi is a full grown adult with twice the size of this kid. And another one, according to mirror. co. uk again, he was branded â€Å"disgusting† and â€Å"revolting†. For spitting from the top of his hotel. Transition to main point – Now that I have talked about his struggles and challenges, I will then talk about his road to fame. C. Main point #3 – His road to success. – At this point of success, people are watching him every breath and every move he takes.He have basically grown up with cameras all around him. Therefore, there are people who Just want to see him fall. But he didn't take it as granted. He takes matter into his own hand. He became Just another kid on Youtube, to a worldwide arena eteran. a. Support – Then came social media. A powerful source of information that aided him to raise to superstardom. When he was 12, he decided to mess around with youtube. Posting videos of him doing different cover in his small apartment. And on e day, this manager. People liked his video, wanting him to do different covers.His subscribers on Youtube reached hundred of thousand. – Then his mom, received a call from her friends. Saying that there's this guy trying to reach her. He got a hold of his great aunt, got a hold of his school board. His mom was scared, asking herself, â€Å"Who is this guy? â€Å". So she went to a computer phone and called the mysterious guy from an unknown number to tell him, â€Å"Please stop calling! † She was trying to get rid of the anonymous man. Then they ended up taking from 2 to 3 hours. And this man, all the way from Atlanta. Told the mom and the kid to fly to him for a week with no strings attached.And he would introduce her to a bunch of other record producer to see if they want to sign the kid. If the mom didn't want to sign, then they would Just get a free vacation and back to life as usual. They flew to Atlanta. This anonymous guy was a manager for a small record stud io. He picked them up form the airport drove to his music studio. Then there's this expensive Range Rover drove up to their car. And step out of the car was Usher, this kid freaked out ran up to him. And told him, â€Å"I'm one of your biggest fan. Can I sing one of your song to you? † after the manager warned him, â€Å"What ever you do, don't say anything! . Yet again, he suffered another rejection. Usher simply pushed him aside and said, â€Å"It's cold outside buddy, don't worry about it. † He took off. This kid and the manager would fly to several states in 2 or 3 days. Meet with record producer, labels, and musicians. And every record label would say no to him. They said he had no platform. They need this kid to come from an experienced background like Disney. There's no other option for him right now. Eventually this manager went to Usher's recording studio, and Usher had to let him tryout. After a few minutes listening to this kid.He looked at the manager and asked him, â€Å"Who is this kid? † in astonishment. And the kid answered, miou don't remember. You blew me off the other day. † It was not Just his amazing voice, it was his hair, his face, and his down to earth attitude. He just soaked up all the air in the room. It was beyond convinced that Usher had delivered a gift. That's it, he has singed a contract with Usher. The mom and the kid is moving to the His grandfather, looking him walking pass the gate at the airport. He knew it was time to let this kid go. b. Support – He started to go to radio station.There were 40 kids, then 80, then 100 kids, then a couple of hundreds kids lining up outside the radio station to see him. – There are artists who sell out arena and stadium world tour, he is now the member of this club. On his first record, in his first year and a half. – Madison Square Garden in NY represents the pinnacle of success for an artist. The Rolling Stones, 132, Michael Jackson. And for this kid to play at MSG, and he's the headliner. This Just doesn't happen. And MSG sold out tickets in 22 minutes. The entire show depends on 2 fibers in his vocal chord. â€Å"Little things goes a very very long way. The moment we forget that, I think its over. † Said his manager. There were people standing outside the arena because they cant affordti, what he did was he walked outside the arena and gave free tickets that sit right up close to the stage to these girls. The fact that this kid can do this for his fans is amazing. – In the end, it's Just him with his pen, nd paper in a room expressing his feelings and telling the world who he really is through his music. He said, â€Å"I'm 19 years old. I think I'm doing a pretty good Job.Basically from my heart I really Just want to say it really should be about music. It should be about the craft that I'm making. This is not a gimmick and I'm an artist and I should be taken seriously. † – And he's right, so far at this point, he have won countless awards. 2 Grammy awards, 1 Brit awards, 6 Billboard Music Awards, 7 American Music Awards, 11 Teen Choice Awards, and the most prestigious award in the music industry, the milestone award. Which celebrate Ill. Conclusion IVe already signed up for the concert, its too late to back up now. I got on the stage alone, and I sung.My legs and hands were shaking. I asked myself â€Å"Will I be a dumb joke to the school? † But no, the audience leaped up from their chair, they applaud and clapped. Shocking, I couldn't believe my own eye. Teachers were asking me to sing for their concert. Then I realized I was wrong. There's nothing wrong with dreaming big, when you have believe in yourself. You only live once to follow your own dream. Don't follow anyone else's pathway. However, if you're lost in the wood and you found a pathway, by all mean follow that. And most importantly, don't listen to anyone's advice.So here's my advice Heres the mode l that IVe lived by. â€Å"There's gonna be time in your life when people tell you that you cant do something. And there's gonna be time in your life when people say you can't live your dream. And there's gonna be time in your life when people say that you can't sell out Madison Square Garden. This is what I tell them. Never Say Never. † Justin Bieber â€Å"Don't ever let someone tell you that you can't do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you gotta protect it. When people can't do something themselves, they are onna tell you that you can't do it.

The Impact of Race on Childrens Friendships

The Impact of Race on Childrens Friendships In his 1963 â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech† the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. longed for the day when â€Å"little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.† While in 21st century America, King’s dream is certainly possible, more often than not black children and white children remain strangers thanks to de facto segregation in the nation’s schools and neighborhoods. Even in diverse communities, however, children of color and white children tend not to be close friends. What’s responsible for this trend? Studies reveal that children internalize society’s views on race relations, which has largely given them the idea that it’s best for people to â€Å"stick to their own kind.† The older children get, the more likely they are not to socialize closely with peers of a different race. This paints a relatively bleak picture for the future of race relations, but the good news is that by the time youth reach college they aren’t as quick to rule out people as friends on the basis of race. Why Interracial Friendships Are Important Cross-race friendships have a number of benefits for children, according to a study on the subject published in the Journal of Research on Childhood Education in 2011. â€Å"Researchers find that children who hold interracial friendships tend to have high levels of social competence and self-esteem,† according to study lead Cinzia Pica-Smith. â€Å"They are also socially skilled and tend to have more positive attitudes about racial differences than their peers who do not have interracial friendships. Despite the benefits of interracial friendships, several studies have shown that even young children are more inclined to have intra-racial friendships than interracial ones and that cross-race friendships decrease as children age. â€Å"Children’s Perceptions of Interethnic and Interracial Friendships in a Multiethnic School Context,† Pica-Smith’s study of 103 children- including one group of kindergartners and first graders and another of fourth- and fifth-graders- found that younger children do have a more positive outlook on inter-group friendships than their older peers. In addition, children of color favor cross-racial friendships more than whites do, and girls do more than boys. Due to the positive impact cross-racial friendships have on race relations, Pica-Smith encourages educators to foster such friendships among the children in their classrooms. Kids on Race CNN’s report â€Å"Kids on Race: The Hidden Picture† made it clear that some children hesitate to form cross-race friendships because they’ve picked up cues from society that â€Å"birds of a feather flock together.† Released in March 2012, the online report focused on the friendship patterns of 145 African-American and Caucasian children. One group of study subjects fell between the ages of 6 and 7 years old and a second group fell between the ages of 13 and 14 years old. When shown pictures of a black child and a white child together and asked if the pair could be friends, 49 percent of young children said they could be while just 35 percent of teens said the same. Moreover, young African-American children were far more likely than either young white children or white teens to believe that friendship between the youths in the picture was possible. Black teens, however, were just four percent more likely than white teens to think cross-race friendship between the youths in the picture was possible. This indicates that skepticism about cross-race friendships rises with age. Also of note is that white youths in majority black schools were more likely than whites in majority white schools to view cross-race friendship as possible. Sixty percent of the former youths viewed interracial friendships favorably compared to just 24 percent of the latter. Diversity Doesnt Always Result in Interracial Friendships Attending a large, diverse school doesnt mean that children will be more likely to form cross-race friendships. A University of Michigan study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal in 2013 found that race is a bigger factor in larger (and typically more diverse) communities. The larger the school, the more racial segregation there is, says sociologist Yu Xie, one of the studys authors. Data on 4,745 students in grades 7-12 during the 1994-95 school year was collected for the study. Xie explained that in smaller communities the number of potential friends is limited, making it more difficult for students to find a person who has the traits they want in a friend and shares their racial background as well. In larger schools, however, its easier to find someone who will meet other criteria for a friend plus be of the same race, Xie says. Race plays a bigger role in a larger community because you can satisfy other criteria, but in a smaller school other factors dominate the decision who is your friend. Interracial Friendships in College While several reports indicate that interracial friendships wane with age, a study published in 2010 in the American Journal of Sociology found that first-year college students â€Å"are more likely to make friends with peers they share a dorm room or major with than they are to befriend those from similar racial backgrounds,† the Houston Chronicle reported. Researchers from Harvard University and the University of California at Los Angeles tracked the Facebook profiles of 1,640 students at an unnamed university to determine how they picked friends. The study suggested students are more likely to become friends with peers they see often, peers from the same state or peers who attended similar types of high schools than they were to become friends with peers who simply shared their same cultural background. â€Å"Race is important in the end,† explained Kevin Lewis, one of the study’s authors, â€Å"but it’s nowhere near as important as we thought.†