McDonalds Main Mission

Every organization has values which it strives to uphold. This can be noticed in the manner the organizations conduct their business operations. Strategies will mostly be aligned to the values sustained through the years (Gambino 6).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on McDonald’s Main Mission specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More McDonald’s Mission and Values The main mission of this company is to stand as the customer’s best place of choice and way to eat. The food chain store has worldwide operations. These operations are focused along a universal tactic known as the plan to win. It lays emphasis on the excellent clientele experience which recognizes 5ps in its services. The 5ps are people, products, place, price, and promotion. The food store remains focused to endlessly better its operations and improve its clientele’s experience (Shapiro 3). The Values of McDonald’s The company plac es its customers experience at the center of all activities it undertakes. Clients are the reason for the store’s existence. It shows its appreciation by offering the clients high quality products as well as grander service in a neat, friendly atmosphere, and at a very good price. Operations focus on service quality, neatness, and the value for every person involved at all times. The company will always be focused on efficiently serving its people. It offers the chance, develops people’s talents, develops leadership, and rewards performance. It acknowledges the fact that a group of properly trained people having diverse backgrounds and knowledge, functioning coherently in an atmosphere which values respect and enhances superior levels of participation are very key to its continuous success. The business has developed a superior system in place. Its model of doing business portrayed by its â€Å"three legged stool† as an example of owner, supply people, as well a s company personnel is the base that it uses to balance all the concerns of all the three mentioned groups. McDonald’s conducts its business operations through ethical practices. Here, everybody holds himself accountable and performs business to the greatest degrees of justice, morality, and integrity. Everyone is personally responsible and collectively culpable.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The company also gives back to its immediate societies. It seriously considers the mandates which come with it being an industry leader. It assists its clients develop better societies, augment Ronald McDonald House Charities , and control its size in development, scope and assets to assist in making the globe a better place. The organization conducts its business in a manner in which everything is profitable. Since it is a public company it really struggles to ensure that ever ybody benefits from it. This needs an incessant emphasis on its clients and the wellbeing of its system. It also struggles to incessantly improve. It exists as an institution which considers every situation as an opportunity to learn as well as aim to antedate and react to the non-static client, workers, and system requirements through continuous progression and innovation. McDonald’s Operation Process The company makes use of a superior operation strategy to get a larger share of the market and intensify the value of the shareholders. It specially focuses on its speed, regularization, quality of products, and the affordability offered to clients. It has managed to beat competition by majoring on these elements. It contends on three primary pillars like speed, affordability as well as regularization basically to ensure that clients remain satisfied at all times. By conducting serious market research and survey studies, McDonald’s identified that its clients wished to h ave speed among the store’s top concerns. Hence, it anchored its operations towards offering a fast, pleasant, and perfect service. It also realized that definite targets were important to quantify speed. Hence, they incessantly use appropriate measurements to match the actual performance with the desired performance. From the moment a client makes an order, to the preparation of a burger, until the client exits the store, speed is an essential element in the store’s operation strategy.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on McDonald’s Main Mission specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In order to reduce the time taken to offer specific services, the business makes use of standardized training procedures for all its workers and has created new drive through layouts for many of its customers. In addition to speed, it also strives to outdo its competitors in the market by coming with prices that are so lo w and affordable to its clientele. A decision to offer high quality goods in a low cost margin needs effective procedures through all the units that the organization manages. Again, this objective is fitted into the statement of the vision which says that the organization endeavors to become the most effective service provider so that it can be the unique value to many people. The organization makes use of several processes to offer great value to its clientele. One of the greatest strategies which the organization has made use for a long time is referred to as the value meal. This value meal permits clients to purchase food items like sandwich, French fries as well as beverages at a discount rate when the food items are purchased together at once. This service is offered across all restaurants for both lunch and breakfast meals with time ranging from seven to twelve. Works Cited Gambino, Scott. Business in Process. London: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print. Shapiro, Peter. The Case of McD onald’s. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print. This essay on McDonald’s Main Mission was written and submitted by user Gloria F. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution essays

The Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution essays The Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution are two systems of government that were adopted by the United States as the backbone of their society. The Articles of Confederation was the first form of government established by the United States. It was a union between the newly declared thirteen states. Many delegates realized that the Articles of Confederation was a weak form of government and called a convention after what became known as Shays's Rebellion. At this convention, delegates debated and finally decided that the United States needed a new form of government. Once all debate and compromise were over the Constitution was established. The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. Congress was unicameral, or a single-chamber legislature and each state had the same amount of power no matter their size or population. When documents needed to be amended, it tool approval by all thirteen states for ratification. Passing laws required approval by nine of the thirteen states. Congress could request states to pay taxes but had no real taxing powers. There were no federal court systems and all laws and court cases were handled by the state governments. Congress had no power to regulate trade between the states or internationally. The executive branch had no power and the president presided over Congress. There was no national army and the nation depended on individual states to establish a military. The weaknesses of this first form of government were eventually seen and the U.S. Constitution was eventually established. The Constitution of the United States is a system of fundamental laws of the United States of America. The Constitution was drawn up by 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787 and ratified by the states in 1788. It is a bicameral form of government. The upper house is the Senate and it consists of two representatives from e...

Major Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Major Project - Essay Example The leadership of the organization has to pronounce their promise to support the safety programs boldly. Policies of the organization regarding safety and health management should address issues relating to the purpose of having a health safety programs. Measures are taken to safeguard the employees in the workplace and policies that protect the health and safety of an employee. The input of the worker in coming up with safety and health measures is very vital because their interests will be for because the policies affect them directly (OSHA, 2013). XYZ Company needs to form a special task force that should be the responsibility of investigating accidents in the workplace. The composition of the team should include representatives from the different departments in the organization to ensure theirs equal representation. Proper investigations should be on health and safety issues monthly reports should be done to evaluate made in addressing safety and health issues. Through such a taskforce, cases that deserve compensation will be in time hence avoiding legal lawsuits that seem to have drained the company’s revenues in the 2013 financial year (OSHA, 2013). It is prudent that the organization identifies high-risk zones within an organization and caution employees in advance. Some areas in the organization can be classified as high-risk zones because they pose severe threats to the health and safety of employees. It is important to create awareness amongst employees and discourage them from accessing such areas unnecessarily without getting prior permission. Training employees who operate in the danger zones is very essential because it offers them skills that can help them avoid accidents. When a hazard is in advance, it becomes simple to come up with measures that can be used to control them and lessen the severity of

BUSN300 UNIT 5DB Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

BUSN300 UNIT 5DB - Research Paper Example In general both of them can be used interchangeably in studying, meaning that one can be used while implementing a project (Haugan, 57). The primary role of PERT is to identify the critical path that a project takes from planning to completion. It lays down the activities that need to be done in the entire project period giving the timelines to be used in implementing a series of activities performed either sequentially or parallel with other activities. In the flow chart, the initial stage of project implementation must start from step 1 before it proceeds to step 2. Some part of the project can directly go straight to step 5 from step 2 so long as at this stage it is independent. A part of the project can go through step 3, on the diagram, before finalizing at step 5. Still, some task can take the direction through step 4 and end at step, so long as it is independent of step 2 and 3. Each step has planned number of days, weeks or months to complete. It can be in terms of days, weeks or even months. Step 1 to step 4 and eventually to step 5 can take months while in the other hand, step 1 to step 2 can take days or weeks and step 2 to step 5 can take months or several weeks. Through step 3, the timeline can be months but eventually ending at step 5. Each step’s timeline can be different, but when implemented either in parallel or concurrently, it will all end at step 5 at the project completion stage. All stages of the process are what are referred to as the critical path that the project takes in order to realize completion as planned. The stages have to be meticulously planned and implemented as planned in order not to delay the entire project from completion. The steps have to be synchronized accordingly, and necessary resources should be allocated and availed in time. Such resources include tools and equipment, labor and materials. The necessary inspection and servicing of tools and equipment should be done to reduce chances of breakdown. All materials

Quality Education to Students in Monroe College Essay

Quality Education to Students in Monroe College - Essay Example I have always believed that studying at Monroe College would bring many benefits to my life. Education wise, Monroe has received nothing but positive reviews regarding the quality of its curriculum. Given the opportunity to study at Monroe, I am confident that I will grow in leaps and bounds in the field of my interest which is criminal justice. Starting from when I was still a child, I always dreamt of working in the criminal justice department. The interest I have had in this career has led me to expand my knowledge and interests by reading related journals, enabling me to expand my view on the subject. Monroe will certainly provide me with the greatest honour in growing in this career both as a student and as an individual. I still believe that there is more to come because criminal justice is a wide and detailed area of professionalism. Criminal justice entails law enforcement, legal studies, human services, corrections, probation, and parole. In addition to that, it extends to h uman services offered at both the federal and state level. Monroe College will adversely provide me with the opportunity to study and understand the wide range of issues that exist in our society. Currently, my community is ravaged by a mirage of problems, all criminal related. Existing solutions seem to work, but there is a need to provide long-term solutions especially for the complex problems. I believe the knowledge that I will garner at Monroe will provide me with the knowledge and skill to provide lasting solutions to the benefit of the community.

Analysis of Product Packaging Design

Analysis of Product Packaging Design ABSTRACT 1 Introduction Product design and specifically product shape and looks have long been identified as factors that may contribute to product value and new product success. Design of products evokes both cognitive and affective responses in the mind of the observers and this can be used to tailor a more attractive product proposition. While a lot of excellent research has been conducted on the positive effect that industrial design can have on the perceptions of customers about the product functionality, embedding issues like utility, safety and comfort, the importance of the perceived value by a customer on judgements about product elegance and social significance have not been extensively studied until recently. reference In this thesis I am trying to test whether Yes please soup pot design not only communicates to the potential customer a series of qualitative attributes about its content, i.e. quality and healthiness, but also triggers positive emotional responses on the perceived beauty and difference with similar products and that can be leveraged by the company to command a price premium 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT DESIGN New product development processes are the subset of standardized procedures that companies use to manage the new product project phases that lead to the launch of new products in the market. The objective of these procedures is to implement a systematized approach to ensure the potential of new projects based on their financial and development feasibility while maximizing the value of new products as perceived by its target customers. 2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is industrial design Industrial design is the set of activities within new product development processes that deal with optimizing the functionality and appearance of a product to maximize its value for both consumer and manufacturer (1). The ultimate objective of a product design is thus to align the set of attributes embedded within the product with the target customer preferences and to implement them in a way that they are actually perceived and valued by them. In order to achieve a successful design and implementation, companies engage in direct market research to elicit the target customer segment implicit and explicit needs (the voice of the customer) and align those with product attributes, using techniques such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD) which systematically links the needs the product must satisfy with technical specifications while also prioritizing them based on the level of importance to customers. At the same time, the identification of the customer segment preferences and the mapping of those within a perceptual map, comparing how well different products in the market fulfill the identified needs, allow for the design of specific product propositions that no other product does and thus achieving a unique positioning and successful product differentiation. The dimension of product design has been recognized by several authors (Cooper, Trueman) as being critical to the ultimate success of the launch of new products. The focus of design development is centered around the efficient implementation of the product features, ergonomics and quality form to maximize its utility to users, while at the same time embedding it with a pleasant appearance that is able to communicate positive attributes that contribute to the ultimate value proposition. (3) (4) Trueman: Design has the facility to improve product reliability and quality standards thereby raising the perceived value of goods and services in the eyes of the customer, allowing companies to increase profit margins As Trueman estates (6), A value proposition must successfully integrate a product within its own environment by combining and merging coherently the different attributes, aesthetics, price and quality so that they are aligned similarly and reinforce each other. Although mistaken by artists that only worry about the visual appearece of a product, or styling, successful industrial designers are able dig into such fields as engineering, Materials science, manufacturing, and marketing to embed new products with a set of attributes directly influencing new product success in the market.(2) (3) (4) (5) (6). Ultimately, the design of an object is the specific configuration of elements, materials and components that give its particular attributes of function, shape etc. and determine how it is to be made and used. (13) By embedding the design dimension into the processes, companies ensure that the final value proposition is increased as it contributes to the perceived value by the customer. A successful design increase the perceived quality of a product, ensures that is aligned with market and regulatory standards and thus increase the odds to satisfy customer expectations. A consistent Design strategy in new product development processes also contributes to build a product and company image and helps to pull together the dimensions of company identity with branding and promotion (Trueman). Also, by taking the design dimensions early on the NPD projects, companies can reduce the final time to market and product costs by simplifying the manufacturing processes and reduce the final costs of fabrication. 2.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The contribution of Industrial design in the final product value proposition There are many design attributes that can be embedded into new products, roughly separated within ergonomics and aesthetics, being the former more related to the experience of using the product, while the latter is focused into the experience of seeing the product. Aestethics, embedding all product parameters that determine the way the product look, are a an essential element of the purchasing process since customers base their preference on products by the subjective perceptions elicited by the product on the potential benefits it can provide.(7) In that line, the Lens model first introduced by Brunswick (?), states that the potential customer makes a mental bundle of the information it receives about the product and from there triggers a set of perceptions that will ultimately lead to a set of preferences and choices. The ways a specific design can lead to a positive perception and thus to a choice of preference vary and are entangled with other sources of information the customer receives and which align the propostion to the customer already decided preferences. The perceptions that a product can evoke are immediately related to past information received and allow the person for example to relate it to a certain corporate and brand identity, a process that many companies have followed by implementing a sustained design strategy on their products. Brand identity allows to ultimately link the products observed to perceptions on company values and overall level of attributes of the products and has been used as means of effective product differentiation. (9) (10). In different industries, companies tend to emphasize different attributes in their communication to be aligned with their specific company positioning and customers most importance preferences, like tastiness and safety in the food industry and reliability and environment friendliness in the car industry. The physical form of a product has been researched to have an important impact in the way customers judge it and has ultimately a strong correlation effect with the final product success in the market (). As Bloch (10) states the physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product by increasing the quality of the usage experiences associated with it. 2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Which financial benefits can it provide Companies with an effective industrial design strategy achieve better perfoming products in the market in terms of several financial indicators as return on assets, return on sales and higher profitability, which can be linked to both the design differentiation factor as stated previously by Porter in the famous book Competitve strategy (1980) and to reduced costs due to more efficient use of materials and manufacturing processes. (14) Also, the study of Roy (13) in 1993 on 221 small and medium sized UK manufacturers which received a government subsidy to promote the active use of industrial design in the development of new or improved products showed that 60% of all projects and 90% of the implemented ones were commercially successful and profitable with payback periods averaging under 15months, which show that the effective strategic approach to include design in new product development processes can be implemented in firms of different sizes. Bloch in his research also collected previous studies that linked new product financial success factors with the inclusion of design as an inherent part of their NPD processes. He identified in a survey of senior marketing managers that, design was mentioned as the most important determinant of new product performatice by 60% of respondents by only 17% considered Price most important . Also and based on the work of cooper on the analysis of the performance of 203 new products identified that product design was the most important determinant of sales success . Most interestingly for the case of Yes Please foods product, which as will be explained later chose specifically a designer for the pot based on his previous award winning record, Some research has identified that the receipt of design awards is positively associated with profit margins above average and sales growth (Goodrich 1994; Roy 1994). 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The purchasing process and the visual effect of a product design 3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  XXXXXXXXXXXXX The ultimate act of purchasing occurs as a result of a complex mental process where the information received is analyzed and weighted as per to measure to which extend the product satisfies the needs of the customer. A general categorization of customer needs has been frequently compared with the Maslow hierarchy of needs which states that once most basic requirements have been satisfied by a product, the emphasis on a customer shifts to satisfy other more intangible needs related to symbolic and aesthetic attributes. As a result of this the purchasing process is triggered by the fulfillment of the requirements for the intended use of the product but also by the satisfaction of more intangible needs like status, elegance or social significance. In order to understand the ultimate behavioral response of a customer triggered by the visual appearance of a product it is critical to assess the cognitive and emotional processes that result from the act of observing the item under evaluation. The cognitive processes take place when a customer uses his visual senses to observe the product and perceives certain information which mentally organizes to make some judgments about its attributes and which are influenced by previous visual references or similar product stereotypes, which suggest familiar usages of the product and ultimately help the observer to interpret the signals received. It has been described a number of different approaches on how to categorize the judgments that a customer does based on the perception of a product observation. Crilly (?) has summarized all previous approaches and identifies a total of three main categories of cognitive responses to product appearance: Aesthetic, Semantic and Symbolic. From those three, the semantic interpretation, the mental inferences that an observer does to judge whether a product is capable of performing the tasks for what is intended for, is the only processes where the tangible attributes of the product are assessed. During this process the practical qualities of a product like function, performance and efficiency are analyzed and mentally compared with other references to judge the utility a product will offer to the observer. In this category I include the information that is gathered by the customer when obtaining information from reading the label and which is directly processed to identify the physical attributes of the product. The emotional responses following this cognitive process are then aligned to assess the instrumental utility of the product which ultimately lead to satisfaction, when fulfilling the expected requirements, and dissatisfaction when the product is not fulfilling them. The two other described cognitive processes are used to identify intangible attributes of the product that may or may not be perceived as valuable for the customer depending on a number of different factors, like current positioning within the Maslow hierarchy of needs, consumers cultural context and personal characteristics. The symbolic association is the cognitive response that attaches to the product some socially determined symbolic meaning. During this process, as series of values are realized to be attached to the product and assumes that others must also associate them with it. As Crilly states This culturally agreed meaning will allow the customer project a desirable image to others, express social status or communicate its personal characteristics through it. Examples of intangible values that can be associated to the product through symbolic meaning are exclusivity as the identification with certain economic status and environmentally consciousness. Finally the aesthetic impression comprises all cognitive responses that are directed towards a perceived judgment of elegance and beautifulness. Even if still there is no unanimous consensus on what comprises beautiful objects, the perception of aesthetic attraction triggers positive emotional thoughts on the customer and contribute to attaching value to the product observed. 3.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Aesthetics Dimension As researched by several authors (?) the definition of what makes an item beautiful or aesthetically pleasant is not conclusive. It has been described though that cultural and social forces have an influence in the preferences for specific forms. Specifically, it has been described that a specific culture values and preferences may influence the acceptance of a particular style. Also seems to be proven that cultural norms may overwhelm an individual inner preferences and help shape its perceptions towards the acceptance of a specific design form. (blaich, Bloch) Thus, and although cross cultural differences stay in the way of having an unified view of what can be considered as aesthetically pleasant, the current era of advanced information technology is working towards unifying the concepts that influence the perceptions of the soft values within a product design and thus working towards a more globalized and uniform set of criteria. The cognitive processes described triggered upon the observation of a product lead to a series of emotional responses that will ultimately lead to the final decision on the purchasing process, being the most important the attraction or disgust towards the aesthetics, the satisfaction or dissatisfaction towards the fulfillment by the product of instrumental requirements for its use, the surprise or indifference based on the perceived product novelty and the admiration or indignation towards social significance. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DESIGN IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY In the food industry, Tauber (8), collected through extensive market studies an exhaustive set of problems related to food products. By doing so, he was trying to identify potential opportunities for new products while also providing with a thorough analysis of the basic needs to be fulfilled by this kind of products. From that list it can be identified a series of attributes that the product under study is fulfilling and thus achieving a specific positioning. Some of them, like low calorie content, convenience of transport and preparation and adequacy of the serving size are efficiently communicated through the information contained in the label. Others like healthy, tasty, and high quality can only be perceived by the customer through the design of the pot and label and by some previous information it might have received. Moreover, as Berkowitz researched, the shapes and images that have a more natural looking are associated with products that are fresher, taste better and have a better texture, and are ultimately more preferred by customers. At the same time, he found that aesthetic appealingness of the product, defined by bloch (10) as the ability to evoke positive beliefs, positive emotions and sympathetic with consumers aesthetic tastes, and by Crilly (11) as the sensation that results from the perception of attractiveness (or unattractiveness) in products was not of any specific interest to food products customers. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Yes Please! Foods Company, products and market The trigger for the writing of this thesis has been evaluation of the influence that the design of the Yes Please! Foods soup product packaging may be having in its market performance. Yes Please Foods is Germany based company that entered the chilled organic convenience food German market in 2007. Although belonging to the generally mature food industry, both the organic and convenience sub segments have been growing at an average rate of 12% in the period 2003-2008 in Germany (15). Yes please foods can be considered to be positioned in the Premium priced range of offers within the segment as its Price its on average 33% more expensive than that of the competitors. The company started its operations in the Berlin area and has been enjoying a high growth rate in volumes sold ever since (the actual numbers can not be disclosed in this paper as they are covered by a confidential disclosure agreement). The company is currently planning to expand its operations throughout Germany and is about to close its first round of external financing. Based on the information provided by the company, it is know that the customer profile of this kind of products is that of mid to high educated people, working full time, with above average income and health conscious. It is inferred from the information provided by the company that the product is intended to fulfill the need of high quality healthy food that can be prepared and ready to serve within a short period time frame. The motto of the company portrays this positioning of healthy convenient to prepare food for customers that do not want to spend time in the kitchen as good food for busy people The design of the pot, as explained by the company owner and general manager, Gemma Michalski, was the central part of their strategy to build a company identity and resulted in one of the biggest expenditures incurred during the initial company launching. The design was commissioned to Willimas Myurray Hamm from London which used the artwork of Berlin based illustrator Martin Haake. As explained by Ms Michalski, they were specifically chosen to perform the design task because of their previous record of award winning product designs that resulted in highly successful products in the market. (16) 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Use of conjoint analysis to elicit the importance of attributes in the eyes of the costumers The first part of the field study I am going to conduct has been designed to measure a the potential correlation between price and design in the final willingness to pay expressed by respondents. Also I shall use the results to mesure the relative importance of each, for the whole of respondents and for potential segments I shall identify within the sample of respondents. The technique used, an empirical marketing research using conjoint analysis, was first introduced as an effective marketing tool during 1970s and has been validated as an effective means to identify the most relevant features of product, its key design attributes, and the degree of importance that customers attach to them. (17) The usefulness of the tool is extended by the ability to sort the answers from respondents to some specific criteria which allow eliciting the kind of different features preferred by different segments of consumers within the same market. At the heart of the technique, consumers are asked to rate as per their own preferences a number of different product prototypes that are embedding different features and levels of features. By doing so, the customer is making choices and trade-offs from those multi attribute alternatives based on the overall perceived utility or value of the product under evaluation. The statistical treatment of the data, using a multiple regression model, allows quantifying how much each of the single attributes is affecting the overall value of the entangled set of properties, as it is assumed that consumers have an implicit utility value for every single one of them. The first part of the technique is normally a consumer attitude survey were the general attitudes of the consumer towards the product are collected. One of the main outcomes of this part of the research is to determine which features of the product are relevant for the consumers. The aim of this first part is typically to find out why the products are purchased, which use they make of them and their attitudes toward them. Once the information is collected allows the design teams to elicit which features of the product seem to be more relevant for the customers and allows to potentially determine needs that still unresolved or problems existing with current products in the market. In this thesis I have overcome this phase since this part of the research is aimed at determining which physical features of the product are relevant, whether the focus of this thesis is aimed to the soft values attached to physical appearance. Thus, by assuming that the current most important features of the product for the target customer segment are actually satisfied by all products in the study, I have been able to focus any significance preference in the actual aesthetic value of the product and its potential relationship with the price they would be willing to pay. In order to communicate to respondents that all products evaluated had exactly the same features and were only differing in design and price, the following statement was introducing the questionnaire: The products you are going to see are all soup products. They contain just natural organic ingredients without any conservatives and must be kept in the fridge. The portions are all 500ml Generally, The second part of the conjoint process uses the information gathered to determine the whole set of attributes that define all of the existing products in a market and introduces new ones to test their acceptance by consumers. Also, different levels for each attribute are defined to obtain a meaningful representation of the different ranges within each attribute that are or could be available in the market. In order for the research to be significant, prototypes having different combinations of levels of all attributes have to be created to be ranked in preference by consumers. Typically, and due to the large number of possible permutations of attributes that can be created, a smaller sample is chosen to facilitate the consumer research study. It has been shown that eliminating combinations through an experimental design called orthogonal arrays or through judgment (those that are not possible physically i.e. by cost or conceptually i.e. by design), has no significant effect on the final outcome of the study (18) Since the research to be conducted for this thesis is aimed at identifying any preferred designs for a soup product and potentially monetary value attached to specific product appearances, I have chosen to study two sets of attributes, design comprised by the three levels, picture of natural ingredient, artistic draw and no draw and the attribute price, also with three different levels: â‚ ¬ 1,99, â‚ ¬ 2,49 and â‚ ¬ 2,99. Due to the small number of total possible combinations (32), the empirical survey shall ask respondents to evaluate all possible combinations. The rationale for choosing these type of designs has been based on previous literature on shape and images in food products (Berkowitz) and the need for the actual inclusion of the design of the Yes Please Food product to test its hypothesized perceived value on the design. The third design included no draw has been arbitrarily selected hypothesizing it to be a representative sample of an unaesthetic design. The three price level selected have been chosen on the basis of actual prices of products in the market for the picture of natural ingredient (â‚ ¬2,49) and artistic draw (â‚ ¬2,99) designs, while the third level price has been arbitrarily selected to represent a low price level within that attribute. The third part of the procedure gathers a meaningful sample of the product consumers and asks them to rank the different prototypes (combinations of the different levels of the selected attributes) based on their preferences. The aim of this part is to gather the structure of consumers preferences for different product features. In this part is important to define the question to be asked properly so it collects the opinion on consumers about the perceived value they attach to each specific product proposition. In my research I have chosen the sentence from 1-7 how likely would you be to buy this product at the stated price. One of the benefits of conjoint analysis is that it is able to achieve statistical significance on the results with a relative small sample of respondents. The aim of this research will be to achieve at least 33 respondents in order to be able to make some inferences about the direction of the proportional influence that design has in the final monetary value of the proposed prototype, being that either positive or negative. One of the limitations of my study shall be that the random sample of respondents to the questionnaire shall only be validated as actual consumers of soup products by one of the questions in the demographic profile, do you like soup? that is embedding three possible answers: no, sometimes is ok and love it. It shall be assumed that a positive answer to this question (all possible answers but no) allow to make inferences about their potentiality to be consumers of the product. That limitation is affecting jus this part of the study were the research is trying to elucidate whether design has a relationship with willingness to pay. For the second part where it will be researched the consumers perceptions about intangible attributes of the design, it will be assumed that cultural context and general profile of the respondents is similar to that of the consumers of fresh soups as explained before in the Yes Please Foods product and market chapter of this thesis. A segmentation of the respondents by any kind of useful criteria like demographics, type of usage, attitude towards the products etc will also allow to identify the preferred attributes for each type of customer segment. The final part is the statistical treatment of the results that tries to identify which attributes are preferred by consumers and which are considered to be of more relative importance to them, and thus to the final value of the product proposition. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experiment 7.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Objectives The objectives of the experiments executed were designed to validate and refute previous research about the influence that design have in the purchase decision making process and to elicit specific findings about the design of the soup product of the sponsor company Yes Please! Foods. In the first experiment, the objective is to validate whether a series of qualitative attributes about the product can be inferred from the customer just by looking at the design, specifically the respondents are required to rate each of the three designs as per their perception on how they consider them to be healthy, fresh, of high quality, different and beautiful. One of the objectives of this part of the experiment is to validate the hypothesis that the design of the pot of the Yes Please! Foods soup product has is somehow original that can be clearly differentiated from that of the competitors and that is considered to be an aesthetically pleasant design. Another objective of this part of the research is to validate previous research like that of Berkowitz (9), Bloch (10) and Trueman (6) which asserted that in mature markets, product form is one way to gain consumer notice and achieve a clear product differentiation. By assessing the responses about the attributes quality, freshness and Healthiness, it is pursued to validate the research of Bloch (10) and Nusssbaum (?), which stated that exterior appearance of a product is an important channel to communicate information to consumers, that Product form allows to generate inferences regarding other product attributes. Also this experiment will help to validate the research from Berlkowtiz () which found that natural shapes displayed in the packaging of food products help consumers to make assumptions about the product as being more fresh healthy and of higher quality. Finally I intend to validate the research of Trueman (6) which found that products that are considered to have a good design (which I shall relate to the weight of the responses on the attribute beautiful) are considered to be of superior quality, by checking whether products to be considered beautiful on my research are also considered to be of high quality. The inferences that I will try to make with the results of the second part of the research, a conjoint analysis of 9 different prototypes which result from the combination of three different design styles and three different sets of prices, will be dependent upon the results of the first part. If during the first experiment I am able to proof that some of the three designs are considered to be significantly more beautiful than the others, I shall be able to validate with the results of the second experiment are aligned with the results found by Bloch. Kotler and Nussbaum when they found that given two identical products in terms of features and price, the one with the most beautiful design is preferred by respodents. At the same time I shall try to validate whether a product considered to be more beautiful can command a higher willingness to pay, which is stated in the survey designed as the likeliness to buy the shown product. If that is proven to be the case, I will try to identify the reasons why those customers would be willing to spend more in such product by relating it to their perceptions on the other attributes of the same product, either being the subset of attributes regarding product utility, (higher quality, more natural or more healthy) , the subset of aesthetic attributes (more beautiful, more different) or both. Finally I shall use the results of the second experiment to validate the research of Berkowitz which found that products with natural shapes tend to be considered more natural, and healthy. I shall do this by specifically analyzing the results of one of the chosen designs which portrays a picture of a natural tomato on the label. Also I shall try to refute the findings of the same author which found in previous research that attractive designs where not of any specific interest to consumers in terms of aesthetic appeal. 7.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Methodology 7.2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sample The survey will be send to all recipients of the address domain [emailprotected], for which I expect a random sample of respondents within the employees of ESMT and all recipients of address [emailprotected], for which I expect a random sample of ESMT MBA 2009 students I believe this sample shall be repre Analysis of Product Packaging Design Analysis of Product Packaging Design ABSTRACT 1 Introduction Product design and specifically product shape and looks have long been identified as factors that may contribute to product value and new product success. Design of products evokes both cognitive and affective responses in the mind of the observers and this can be used to tailor a more attractive product proposition. While a lot of excellent research has been conducted on the positive effect that industrial design can have on the perceptions of customers about the product functionality, embedding issues like utility, safety and comfort, the importance of the perceived value by a customer on judgements about product elegance and social significance have not been extensively studied until recently. reference In this thesis I am trying to test whether Yes please soup pot design not only communicates to the potential customer a series of qualitative attributes about its content, i.e. quality and healthiness, but also triggers positive emotional responses on the perceived beauty and difference with similar products and that can be leveraged by the company to command a price premium 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT DESIGN New product development processes are the subset of standardized procedures that companies use to manage the new product project phases that lead to the launch of new products in the market. The objective of these procedures is to implement a systematized approach to ensure the potential of new projects based on their financial and development feasibility while maximizing the value of new products as perceived by its target customers. 2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is industrial design Industrial design is the set of activities within new product development processes that deal with optimizing the functionality and appearance of a product to maximize its value for both consumer and manufacturer (1). The ultimate objective of a product design is thus to align the set of attributes embedded within the product with the target customer preferences and to implement them in a way that they are actually perceived and valued by them. In order to achieve a successful design and implementation, companies engage in direct market research to elicit the target customer segment implicit and explicit needs (the voice of the customer) and align those with product attributes, using techniques such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD) which systematically links the needs the product must satisfy with technical specifications while also prioritizing them based on the level of importance to customers. At the same time, the identification of the customer segment preferences and the mapping of those within a perceptual map, comparing how well different products in the market fulfill the identified needs, allow for the design of specific product propositions that no other product does and thus achieving a unique positioning and successful product differentiation. The dimension of product design has been recognized by several authors (Cooper, Trueman) as being critical to the ultimate success of the launch of new products. The focus of design development is centered around the efficient implementation of the product features, ergonomics and quality form to maximize its utility to users, while at the same time embedding it with a pleasant appearance that is able to communicate positive attributes that contribute to the ultimate value proposition. (3) (4) Trueman: Design has the facility to improve product reliability and quality standards thereby raising the perceived value of goods and services in the eyes of the customer, allowing companies to increase profit margins As Trueman estates (6), A value proposition must successfully integrate a product within its own environment by combining and merging coherently the different attributes, aesthetics, price and quality so that they are aligned similarly and reinforce each other. Although mistaken by artists that only worry about the visual appearece of a product, or styling, successful industrial designers are able dig into such fields as engineering, Materials science, manufacturing, and marketing to embed new products with a set of attributes directly influencing new product success in the market.(2) (3) (4) (5) (6). Ultimately, the design of an object is the specific configuration of elements, materials and components that give its particular attributes of function, shape etc. and determine how it is to be made and used. (13) By embedding the design dimension into the processes, companies ensure that the final value proposition is increased as it contributes to the perceived value by the customer. A successful design increase the perceived quality of a product, ensures that is aligned with market and regulatory standards and thus increase the odds to satisfy customer expectations. A consistent Design strategy in new product development processes also contributes to build a product and company image and helps to pull together the dimensions of company identity with branding and promotion (Trueman). Also, by taking the design dimensions early on the NPD projects, companies can reduce the final time to market and product costs by simplifying the manufacturing processes and reduce the final costs of fabrication. 2.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The contribution of Industrial design in the final product value proposition There are many design attributes that can be embedded into new products, roughly separated within ergonomics and aesthetics, being the former more related to the experience of using the product, while the latter is focused into the experience of seeing the product. Aestethics, embedding all product parameters that determine the way the product look, are a an essential element of the purchasing process since customers base their preference on products by the subjective perceptions elicited by the product on the potential benefits it can provide.(7) In that line, the Lens model first introduced by Brunswick (?), states that the potential customer makes a mental bundle of the information it receives about the product and from there triggers a set of perceptions that will ultimately lead to a set of preferences and choices. The ways a specific design can lead to a positive perception and thus to a choice of preference vary and are entangled with other sources of information the customer receives and which align the propostion to the customer already decided preferences. The perceptions that a product can evoke are immediately related to past information received and allow the person for example to relate it to a certain corporate and brand identity, a process that many companies have followed by implementing a sustained design strategy on their products. Brand identity allows to ultimately link the products observed to perceptions on company values and overall level of attributes of the products and has been used as means of effective product differentiation. (9) (10). In different industries, companies tend to emphasize different attributes in their communication to be aligned with their specific company positioning and customers most importance preferences, like tastiness and safety in the food industry and reliability and environment friendliness in the car industry. The physical form of a product has been researched to have an important impact in the way customers judge it and has ultimately a strong correlation effect with the final product success in the market (). As Bloch (10) states the physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product by increasing the quality of the usage experiences associated with it. 2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Which financial benefits can it provide Companies with an effective industrial design strategy achieve better perfoming products in the market in terms of several financial indicators as return on assets, return on sales and higher profitability, which can be linked to both the design differentiation factor as stated previously by Porter in the famous book Competitve strategy (1980) and to reduced costs due to more efficient use of materials and manufacturing processes. (14) Also, the study of Roy (13) in 1993 on 221 small and medium sized UK manufacturers which received a government subsidy to promote the active use of industrial design in the development of new or improved products showed that 60% of all projects and 90% of the implemented ones were commercially successful and profitable with payback periods averaging under 15months, which show that the effective strategic approach to include design in new product development processes can be implemented in firms of different sizes. Bloch in his research also collected previous studies that linked new product financial success factors with the inclusion of design as an inherent part of their NPD processes. He identified in a survey of senior marketing managers that, design was mentioned as the most important determinant of new product performatice by 60% of respondents by only 17% considered Price most important . Also and based on the work of cooper on the analysis of the performance of 203 new products identified that product design was the most important determinant of sales success . Most interestingly for the case of Yes Please foods product, which as will be explained later chose specifically a designer for the pot based on his previous award winning record, Some research has identified that the receipt of design awards is positively associated with profit margins above average and sales growth (Goodrich 1994; Roy 1994). 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The purchasing process and the visual effect of a product design 3.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  XXXXXXXXXXXXX The ultimate act of purchasing occurs as a result of a complex mental process where the information received is analyzed and weighted as per to measure to which extend the product satisfies the needs of the customer. A general categorization of customer needs has been frequently compared with the Maslow hierarchy of needs which states that once most basic requirements have been satisfied by a product, the emphasis on a customer shifts to satisfy other more intangible needs related to symbolic and aesthetic attributes. As a result of this the purchasing process is triggered by the fulfillment of the requirements for the intended use of the product but also by the satisfaction of more intangible needs like status, elegance or social significance. In order to understand the ultimate behavioral response of a customer triggered by the visual appearance of a product it is critical to assess the cognitive and emotional processes that result from the act of observing the item under evaluation. The cognitive processes take place when a customer uses his visual senses to observe the product and perceives certain information which mentally organizes to make some judgments about its attributes and which are influenced by previous visual references or similar product stereotypes, which suggest familiar usages of the product and ultimately help the observer to interpret the signals received. It has been described a number of different approaches on how to categorize the judgments that a customer does based on the perception of a product observation. Crilly (?) has summarized all previous approaches and identifies a total of three main categories of cognitive responses to product appearance: Aesthetic, Semantic and Symbolic. From those three, the semantic interpretation, the mental inferences that an observer does to judge whether a product is capable of performing the tasks for what is intended for, is the only processes where the tangible attributes of the product are assessed. During this process the practical qualities of a product like function, performance and efficiency are analyzed and mentally compared with other references to judge the utility a product will offer to the observer. In this category I include the information that is gathered by the customer when obtaining information from reading the label and which is directly processed to identify the physical attributes of the product. The emotional responses following this cognitive process are then aligned to assess the instrumental utility of the product which ultimately lead to satisfaction, when fulfilling the expected requirements, and dissatisfaction when the product is not fulfilling them. The two other described cognitive processes are used to identify intangible attributes of the product that may or may not be perceived as valuable for the customer depending on a number of different factors, like current positioning within the Maslow hierarchy of needs, consumers cultural context and personal characteristics. The symbolic association is the cognitive response that attaches to the product some socially determined symbolic meaning. During this process, as series of values are realized to be attached to the product and assumes that others must also associate them with it. As Crilly states This culturally agreed meaning will allow the customer project a desirable image to others, express social status or communicate its personal characteristics through it. Examples of intangible values that can be associated to the product through symbolic meaning are exclusivity as the identification with certain economic status and environmentally consciousness. Finally the aesthetic impression comprises all cognitive responses that are directed towards a perceived judgment of elegance and beautifulness. Even if still there is no unanimous consensus on what comprises beautiful objects, the perception of aesthetic attraction triggers positive emotional thoughts on the customer and contribute to attaching value to the product observed. 3.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Aesthetics Dimension As researched by several authors (?) the definition of what makes an item beautiful or aesthetically pleasant is not conclusive. It has been described though that cultural and social forces have an influence in the preferences for specific forms. Specifically, it has been described that a specific culture values and preferences may influence the acceptance of a particular style. Also seems to be proven that cultural norms may overwhelm an individual inner preferences and help shape its perceptions towards the acceptance of a specific design form. (blaich, Bloch) Thus, and although cross cultural differences stay in the way of having an unified view of what can be considered as aesthetically pleasant, the current era of advanced information technology is working towards unifying the concepts that influence the perceptions of the soft values within a product design and thus working towards a more globalized and uniform set of criteria. The cognitive processes described triggered upon the observation of a product lead to a series of emotional responses that will ultimately lead to the final decision on the purchasing process, being the most important the attraction or disgust towards the aesthetics, the satisfaction or dissatisfaction towards the fulfillment by the product of instrumental requirements for its use, the surprise or indifference based on the perceived product novelty and the admiration or indignation towards social significance. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  DESIGN IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY In the food industry, Tauber (8), collected through extensive market studies an exhaustive set of problems related to food products. By doing so, he was trying to identify potential opportunities for new products while also providing with a thorough analysis of the basic needs to be fulfilled by this kind of products. From that list it can be identified a series of attributes that the product under study is fulfilling and thus achieving a specific positioning. Some of them, like low calorie content, convenience of transport and preparation and adequacy of the serving size are efficiently communicated through the information contained in the label. Others like healthy, tasty, and high quality can only be perceived by the customer through the design of the pot and label and by some previous information it might have received. Moreover, as Berkowitz researched, the shapes and images that have a more natural looking are associated with products that are fresher, taste better and have a better texture, and are ultimately more preferred by customers. At the same time, he found that aesthetic appealingness of the product, defined by bloch (10) as the ability to evoke positive beliefs, positive emotions and sympathetic with consumers aesthetic tastes, and by Crilly (11) as the sensation that results from the perception of attractiveness (or unattractiveness) in products was not of any specific interest to food products customers. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Yes Please! Foods Company, products and market The trigger for the writing of this thesis has been evaluation of the influence that the design of the Yes Please! Foods soup product packaging may be having in its market performance. Yes Please Foods is Germany based company that entered the chilled organic convenience food German market in 2007. Although belonging to the generally mature food industry, both the organic and convenience sub segments have been growing at an average rate of 12% in the period 2003-2008 in Germany (15). Yes please foods can be considered to be positioned in the Premium priced range of offers within the segment as its Price its on average 33% more expensive than that of the competitors. The company started its operations in the Berlin area and has been enjoying a high growth rate in volumes sold ever since (the actual numbers can not be disclosed in this paper as they are covered by a confidential disclosure agreement). The company is currently planning to expand its operations throughout Germany and is about to close its first round of external financing. Based on the information provided by the company, it is know that the customer profile of this kind of products is that of mid to high educated people, working full time, with above average income and health conscious. It is inferred from the information provided by the company that the product is intended to fulfill the need of high quality healthy food that can be prepared and ready to serve within a short period time frame. The motto of the company portrays this positioning of healthy convenient to prepare food for customers that do not want to spend time in the kitchen as good food for busy people The design of the pot, as explained by the company owner and general manager, Gemma Michalski, was the central part of their strategy to build a company identity and resulted in one of the biggest expenditures incurred during the initial company launching. The design was commissioned to Willimas Myurray Hamm from London which used the artwork of Berlin based illustrator Martin Haake. As explained by Ms Michalski, they were specifically chosen to perform the design task because of their previous record of award winning product designs that resulted in highly successful products in the market. (16) 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Use of conjoint analysis to elicit the importance of attributes in the eyes of the costumers The first part of the field study I am going to conduct has been designed to measure a the potential correlation between price and design in the final willingness to pay expressed by respondents. Also I shall use the results to mesure the relative importance of each, for the whole of respondents and for potential segments I shall identify within the sample of respondents. The technique used, an empirical marketing research using conjoint analysis, was first introduced as an effective marketing tool during 1970s and has been validated as an effective means to identify the most relevant features of product, its key design attributes, and the degree of importance that customers attach to them. (17) The usefulness of the tool is extended by the ability to sort the answers from respondents to some specific criteria which allow eliciting the kind of different features preferred by different segments of consumers within the same market. At the heart of the technique, consumers are asked to rate as per their own preferences a number of different product prototypes that are embedding different features and levels of features. By doing so, the customer is making choices and trade-offs from those multi attribute alternatives based on the overall perceived utility or value of the product under evaluation. The statistical treatment of the data, using a multiple regression model, allows quantifying how much each of the single attributes is affecting the overall value of the entangled set of properties, as it is assumed that consumers have an implicit utility value for every single one of them. The first part of the technique is normally a consumer attitude survey were the general attitudes of the consumer towards the product are collected. One of the main outcomes of this part of the research is to determine which features of the product are relevant for the consumers. The aim of this first part is typically to find out why the products are purchased, which use they make of them and their attitudes toward them. Once the information is collected allows the design teams to elicit which features of the product seem to be more relevant for the customers and allows to potentially determine needs that still unresolved or problems existing with current products in the market. In this thesis I have overcome this phase since this part of the research is aimed at determining which physical features of the product are relevant, whether the focus of this thesis is aimed to the soft values attached to physical appearance. Thus, by assuming that the current most important features of the product for the target customer segment are actually satisfied by all products in the study, I have been able to focus any significance preference in the actual aesthetic value of the product and its potential relationship with the price they would be willing to pay. In order to communicate to respondents that all products evaluated had exactly the same features and were only differing in design and price, the following statement was introducing the questionnaire: The products you are going to see are all soup products. They contain just natural organic ingredients without any conservatives and must be kept in the fridge. The portions are all 500ml Generally, The second part of the conjoint process uses the information gathered to determine the whole set of attributes that define all of the existing products in a market and introduces new ones to test their acceptance by consumers. Also, different levels for each attribute are defined to obtain a meaningful representation of the different ranges within each attribute that are or could be available in the market. In order for the research to be significant, prototypes having different combinations of levels of all attributes have to be created to be ranked in preference by consumers. Typically, and due to the large number of possible permutations of attributes that can be created, a smaller sample is chosen to facilitate the consumer research study. It has been shown that eliminating combinations through an experimental design called orthogonal arrays or through judgment (those that are not possible physically i.e. by cost or conceptually i.e. by design), has no significant effect on the final outcome of the study (18) Since the research to be conducted for this thesis is aimed at identifying any preferred designs for a soup product and potentially monetary value attached to specific product appearances, I have chosen to study two sets of attributes, design comprised by the three levels, picture of natural ingredient, artistic draw and no draw and the attribute price, also with three different levels: â‚ ¬ 1,99, â‚ ¬ 2,49 and â‚ ¬ 2,99. Due to the small number of total possible combinations (32), the empirical survey shall ask respondents to evaluate all possible combinations. The rationale for choosing these type of designs has been based on previous literature on shape and images in food products (Berkowitz) and the need for the actual inclusion of the design of the Yes Please Food product to test its hypothesized perceived value on the design. The third design included no draw has been arbitrarily selected hypothesizing it to be a representative sample of an unaesthetic design. The three price level selected have been chosen on the basis of actual prices of products in the market for the picture of natural ingredient (â‚ ¬2,49) and artistic draw (â‚ ¬2,99) designs, while the third level price has been arbitrarily selected to represent a low price level within that attribute. The third part of the procedure gathers a meaningful sample of the product consumers and asks them to rank the different prototypes (combinations of the different levels of the selected attributes) based on their preferences. The aim of this part is to gather the structure of consumers preferences for different product features. In this part is important to define the question to be asked properly so it collects the opinion on consumers about the perceived value they attach to each specific product proposition. In my research I have chosen the sentence from 1-7 how likely would you be to buy this product at the stated price. One of the benefits of conjoint analysis is that it is able to achieve statistical significance on the results with a relative small sample of respondents. The aim of this research will be to achieve at least 33 respondents in order to be able to make some inferences about the direction of the proportional influence that design has in the final monetary value of the proposed prototype, being that either positive or negative. One of the limitations of my study shall be that the random sample of respondents to the questionnaire shall only be validated as actual consumers of soup products by one of the questions in the demographic profile, do you like soup? that is embedding three possible answers: no, sometimes is ok and love it. It shall be assumed that a positive answer to this question (all possible answers but no) allow to make inferences about their potentiality to be consumers of the product. That limitation is affecting jus this part of the study were the research is trying to elucidate whether design has a relationship with willingness to pay. For the second part where it will be researched the consumers perceptions about intangible attributes of the design, it will be assumed that cultural context and general profile of the respondents is similar to that of the consumers of fresh soups as explained before in the Yes Please Foods product and market chapter of this thesis. A segmentation of the respondents by any kind of useful criteria like demographics, type of usage, attitude towards the products etc will also allow to identify the preferred attributes for each type of customer segment. The final part is the statistical treatment of the results that tries to identify which attributes are preferred by consumers and which are considered to be of more relative importance to them, and thus to the final value of the product proposition. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experiment 7.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Objectives The objectives of the experiments executed were designed to validate and refute previous research about the influence that design have in the purchase decision making process and to elicit specific findings about the design of the soup product of the sponsor company Yes Please! Foods. In the first experiment, the objective is to validate whether a series of qualitative attributes about the product can be inferred from the customer just by looking at the design, specifically the respondents are required to rate each of the three designs as per their perception on how they consider them to be healthy, fresh, of high quality, different and beautiful. One of the objectives of this part of the experiment is to validate the hypothesis that the design of the pot of the Yes Please! Foods soup product has is somehow original that can be clearly differentiated from that of the competitors and that is considered to be an aesthetically pleasant design. Another objective of this part of the research is to validate previous research like that of Berkowitz (9), Bloch (10) and Trueman (6) which asserted that in mature markets, product form is one way to gain consumer notice and achieve a clear product differentiation. By assessing the responses about the attributes quality, freshness and Healthiness, it is pursued to validate the research of Bloch (10) and Nusssbaum (?), which stated that exterior appearance of a product is an important channel to communicate information to consumers, that Product form allows to generate inferences regarding other product attributes. Also this experiment will help to validate the research from Berlkowtiz () which found that natural shapes displayed in the packaging of food products help consumers to make assumptions about the product as being more fresh healthy and of higher quality. Finally I intend to validate the research of Trueman (6) which found that products that are considered to have a good design (which I shall relate to the weight of the responses on the attribute beautiful) are considered to be of superior quality, by checking whether products to be considered beautiful on my research are also considered to be of high quality. The inferences that I will try to make with the results of the second part of the research, a conjoint analysis of 9 different prototypes which result from the combination of three different design styles and three different sets of prices, will be dependent upon the results of the first part. If during the first experiment I am able to proof that some of the three designs are considered to be significantly more beautiful than the others, I shall be able to validate with the results of the second experiment are aligned with the results found by Bloch. Kotler and Nussbaum when they found that given two identical products in terms of features and price, the one with the most beautiful design is preferred by respodents. At the same time I shall try to validate whether a product considered to be more beautiful can command a higher willingness to pay, which is stated in the survey designed as the likeliness to buy the shown product. If that is proven to be the case, I will try to identify the reasons why those customers would be willing to spend more in such product by relating it to their perceptions on the other attributes of the same product, either being the subset of attributes regarding product utility, (higher quality, more natural or more healthy) , the subset of aesthetic attributes (more beautiful, more different) or both. Finally I shall use the results of the second experiment to validate the research of Berkowitz which found that products with natural shapes tend to be considered more natural, and healthy. I shall do this by specifically analyzing the results of one of the chosen designs which portrays a picture of a natural tomato on the label. Also I shall try to refute the findings of the same author which found in previous research that attractive designs where not of any specific interest to consumers in terms of aesthetic appeal. 7.2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Methodology 7.2.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sample The survey will be send to all recipients of the address domain [emailprotected], for which I expect a random sample of respondents within the employees of ESMT and all recipients of address [emailprotected], for which I expect a random sample of ESMT MBA 2009 students I believe this sample shall be repre

A Computerized World :: science

A Computerized World Since the first computer was made in the late fifties, the technology has developed extremely. Computers which took the place of a living-room then, are now being made in creditcard-formats. More and more areas are being taken over by the computer. As computers are capable of handling large amounts of data in a very short time, they are well suited for wordprocessing. I guess that it won't be long till all the paper-archives are replaced by magnetic tapes and diskettes. A diskette can contain much more data than a written page, and it takes less place! It is possible to get the Norwegian telephone book on just one diskette. In near future, a new area will be taken over by computers, namely maps. Different routes are stored on one single compact-disk. Imagine, simply insert the CD into the CD-driver in your car, and tell the computer where to go. The rest will be done automatically. This will be a safer, faster, and more comfortable way to travel. Another new area, called "virtual reality" is currently being tested. This is a way to simulate reality on a monitor. In order to feel this so-called reality you have to wear special electronic glasses and an electronic suit. Fastened to the suit are sensors, which send information to the main computer. This computer works with the data and displays them on the electronic spectacles. This is a technique which use three-dimentional views, therefore the scenery seems incredibly realistic. If you want to be a boxer, simply change the scenery on the main computer, and you are in the ring. Today, many kids have got video games. You could say these games are the present's answer to ludo and monopoly. In a way, it is a great advantage that the kids are being presented to computors at an early age, because they will definitely have to use them later, when they start to work. In the future there will be few occupations which won't use computors, one way or another. But the videogames are often being presented as something negative, which hinder the kids from doing homework and other more useful activities. This partially true, if they do much of it. But generally, I think the young people's contact with computers is positive. In Norway today, it is getting more common to have a computer at home. You can use a personal computer to keep household-budgets or other economics.

Blake writes about his thoughts and feelings concerning the society around him Essay

In his poetry Blake writes about his thoughts and feelings concerning the society around him. Comment on Blake’s attitudes in several poems of your choice and explain how effective the poems are in presenting his views. William Blake, who lived in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth, was a profound poet who was, in large part, responsible for bringing about the Romantic Movement in poetry. Blake was an extremely eccentric man, who was viewed by most of the people of the time as mad, except for a small group of loyal followers who saw him as a genius. Blake was an individual to say the least, who had his own views on everything, He didn’t automatically agree with set views that were seen to be proper, instead he acted like his own man and made decisions for himself. His views at the time would have seemed rebellious and very unorthodox, which is probably the reason that his work only became famous long after his death. Yet seeing his paintings, and reading his poems and engravings in the modern world, where everyone has freedom of speech, the somewhat outrageous aspect that they used to have has diminished. To help me convey his views on the society that he lived in I have selected three poems. All of my chosen poems are taken from the ‘Songs of Experience’, which shows the world as he saw it, where ‘iron laws’ devised by Blake’s grim god, crush ‘the soul of sweet delight’. In this book he uses words, which can be understood on different levels. Therefore to understand the poems fully you need to look below the surface meanings. The poems that I have selected are: The School Boy The Chimney Sweeper London ‘The School Boy’ is a poem in which Blake’s views on the schooling system of his time are strongly portrayed. It explains that the children get taught unimportant things, and even if they were taught something important they wouldn’t be able to take it in properly because they are miserable. It says how school wears away their childhood, and by taking away their joy and happiness they are not being prepared for later life, instead their individual qualities are being stripped. In ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ Blake tries to express his views on the chimney sweep trade. He explains that it is as bad as death, and the parents can go off to church (to follow Christianity, where you should treat others like you would like to be treated yourself) leaving their child in ‘slavery’. And because the child doesn’t voice their objection the parents think that it is all right. In ‘London’ Blake criticises the state of the city and shows his pity and sympathy for the suffering people that live there; people that are repressed, exploited, poor and miserable. The Chimney Sweeper (experience) A little black thing among the snow, Crying â€Å"weep! weep!† in notes of woe. â€Å"Where are thy father and mother, say?† They are both gone up to the church to pray. The poem starts off by playing on the innocence of the chimney sweeper by using the word ‘little’ to make the sweep seem innocent and defenceless. The next line again plays on this by using the word ‘weep’ which makes the child seem more defenceless and to a degree pathetic, it is also similar to the chimney sweeper cry of sweep sweep. The next line is trying to blame the parents by saying where are the parents when the child is suffering. The next line says that the parents are praying in church. As before this is a dig aimed at the parents, it is saying that the parents are praying to God possibly to stop suffering in the world when their own child is suffering and they aren’t doing any thing about it. Because I was happy upon the heath, And smiled among the winter snow, They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe. In the second stanza the child in a way blames his predicament on his own happiness. The child says that because I was happy and smiled, the parents thought it was all right to make him a chimney sweep. The stanza hangs on the word because, this make it sound like it is his fault when it isn’t. Then next line has two slightly different meanings. The first is that because the child seemed happy they dressed him as a chimney sweep, which to the child was as bad as being dead. The other is that the dirty grey smelly clothes reminded him of death. The poem next says that the parents taught the child to sing the notes of woe. This is saying that after being dressed as a chimney sweep, the parents taught him to how to sweep the chimney. The song being the actual sweeping and the notes of woe (sadness) being the grim task. And because I am happy, and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury, And are gone to praise God and His Priest and King, Who make up a Heaven of our misery. This stanza starts much like the last one; it says that because I am happy, they think they have done me no misery. It means that just because I am happy doesn’t mean that what you did was all right. The injury that they have caused was the ‘enslavement’ into sweeping. Yet because the child seems happy and endures the treatment the parents can’t see that it isn’t a good thing to do. The next line refers back to the first stanza in which the parents went to pray; here they have gone to pray leaving the child behind, where they are blindly making out the misery that the child is enduring to be something happy and bright like heaven. He is also criticising the church by implying that the church seem to support the parents’ decision to ‘enslave’ the child. The School Boy I love to rise in a summer morn When the birds sing on every tree, The distant huntsman winds his horn, And the skylarks sing with me. Oh what sweet company! The poem starts off nice and cheerfully, Blake uses strong happy words like love to emphasise the joy of the verse. The happiness is again emphasised by using happy images like singing birds. This is made more powerful by saying that birds were singing on every tree. Although the image of a huntsman isn’t exactly a happy, joyful image it helps to display the free atmosphere that he is trying to create. On the next line when he says ‘the skylarks sing with me’ he is again highlighting that every thing is happy, and that he is in harmony with nature. The last line in the stanza summarises the whole verse, and ends it with a very cheerful line. But to got to school in a Summer Morn, Oh! it drives all joy away. Under a cruel eye outworn The little ones spend the day In sighing and dismay The first two lines show what he thinks of school. That on a summer morning when you should be happy and joyful, having to go to school makes you miserable. Then on the third line he portrays an evil image (‘cruel eye’) in attempt to get the readers to agree with his views. He also tries to do this in the last two lines of the verse, he refers to the children as ‘little ones’, this makes them seem pathetic and innocent. He follows that up by portraying the image of the innocent defenceless children sighing. Ah! then at times I drooping sit And spend many an anxious hour, Nor in my book can I take delight, Nor sit in learning’s bower, Worn thro’ with the dreary shower. He starts the third stanza with a sigh (Ah) to emphasise the misery that the children are feeling, he then portrays another strong image of children drooping over their desks. The next three lines depicts the way that he thinks that school isn’t the best place for children to learn. He is saying that the children are too worried to learn. And because they are so anxious they can’t enjoy books, nor can they learn properly. The last line shows that he is worn out with his life. How can a bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing? How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring? The first two lines are analogies, which mean that how can a child, have fun, if it is cooped up in school where they are miserable. The idea of the bird in a cage is a very effective image because it clearly portrays the ‘enslavement’. The next three lines suggest that the schooling system is wearing away the child’s precious childhood. Oh! Father and mother, if buds are nipped, And blossoms blown away; And if the tender plants are stripped Of their joy in the springing day By sorrow and care’s dismay; The verse opens with another exclamation, this is used to emphasise the feelings towards the life of the schoolboy. The end of the first line and the second are analogies that mean that the child’s personality is curved and it can’t develop fully, the next line reinforces this view by saying that these qualities will be lost. The next lines mean if that if the child isn’t allowed to play and have fun on a spring day then the child will be damaged. How shall the summer arise in joy, Or the summer fruits appear? Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy, Or bless the mellowing year, When blasts of winter appear? This verse like many of the previous ones is in anomaly. In this verse Blake is asking the readers how can the child do well in later life as an adult, if they was restricted as a child. It is suggesting that if a child’s joy and happiness is taken away then they are not being properly prepared for later life. London I wander thro’ each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness marks of woe. The whole of this poem has a very rhythmic feel to it; the last words on alternate lines also rhyme. The first verse is very negative and depressing. In the first two lines he describes each streets (which suggests that there are lots) and the Thames to be owned by something. That nothing is left to be and everything has a price. It the next two lines he goes on to say how there are signs of weakness and woe in peoples faces. This is very negative and suggests that they are fed up and worn out. In every cry of every man In every infant’s cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear. In the first three lines of this stanza he repeats the use of the word every to emphasise his point. This is effective because he compared both men and children. By saying every ban it makes it sound as though every thing is forbidden. He then says how man’s mind has devised laws to imprison himself in. The strong image of chains is use here to great effect. How the chimney-sweeper’s cry Every blackening church appals; And the hapless soldiers sigh Runs in blood down palace walls. He again dwells on the misery by stating the crying chimney sweeps. The next line has a double meaning, it refers to the pollution of the time but more significantly the fact that the church is black because it condors dark deeds such as chimney sweeping. The unlucky soldiers sigh because they are sent of to war by those in power. The blood running down the palaces walls is that of the soldiers and is meant to signify that the soldiers’ deaths were the responsibility of the palace/rulers. But most thro’ midnight streets I hear. How the youthful harlot’s curse Blasts the new-born infants tear, And blights with plagues the marriage hearse. This verse is about the collapse of marriages and as a result, children’s lives. He is saying that men turning to prostitutes help to destroy marriage, and the babies, whether born to harlots of married women stand little chance in life. He uses very strong imagery to convey his views, like ‘blights with plagues the marriage hearse’. Normally marriage is associated with joy and happiness, the beginning of a new life, not with death and misery. After analysing the three poems it is very clear to see what his views are regarding the society of the time. ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ clearly portrays his views on both the trade and of the Church. He comments and describes the trade as being like death, and the church seaming to agree with the awful trade seams like a hypocrisy. In ‘The School Boy’ he clearly shows how he sees the schools. He describes them as places of misery, places where children are too scared to learn. He shows how he thinks the school does more harm than good in preparing the child for later life. In ‘London’ his views cover both the people and the land. He discusses how the land is all owned, and nothing is free. He talks about the rules and regulations that man has set upon himself and how the downfall of marriages leads to the child having little chance in life. He also refers back to his views of the church and chimney sweeping.

Drivers Ed essays

Drivers Ed essays The book I am reading is called Drivers Ed. It is about a girl named Remy, her friend Lark, and her other friend Morgan. The first 25 pages of the book starts off by describing Remys family, which includes her mom, dad, younger brother Mac, and younger brother Henry. Then it talks about Morgans family. It consists of his mom, dad, and little sister Starr. His dad is going to run for governor, and it pretty much says how perfect his family and life is. It also lets you know that Remy has a crush on Morgan, and Morgan has a crush on Remy. Anyway, in this class, the teacher has a lot of trouble with names. He announces three names to go drive, and Remy, Lark, and Morgan drive most of the time. He calls out Remy, Christine, and Morgan. Lark then switches with Christine. Remy is driving, and she accidentally drives over the median and leaves some of the muffler behind. Then Lark drives and runs a red light. It doesnt let you know how Morgan did, but when they get back from driving, they get an idea that they should all steal road signs for their room. In the next 25 pages, Remy, Lark, and Morgan plan to go out to steal their signs. Lark is sick though, so she doesnt go. None of them have their licenses, so Nicky Buddy drives. He is one year older than all of them, and he lives by Morgan so he is friends with him. Remy decides that she want a Morgan Road sign, they get a Thickly Settled sign for Lark, and Morgan takes a Stop sign. Also, Remy and Morgan kiss when they are in the car. When Remy comes home, Mac starts to question her and she has to hide the Morgan Road sign in the bushes to make sure that Mac doesnt tell their mom what she did. In the next 25 pages, Morgan begins to think about the fact that he is going out with Remy now. He is worried about what is going to happen in school the next day. In concert choir, he doesnt even look at her, or talk to her. H...

An Introduction to Irregular Verbs in English

An Introduction to Irregular Verbs in English Although fewer than 200 verbs are classified as irregular, these include some of the most common words in English. Here, after briefly reviewing regular verbs, well look at the principal parts of irregular verbs. Review of Regular Verbs Regular verbs have three basic forms: the present (or base form), the past (ending in -ed), and the past participle (also ending in -ed). These three forms are referred to as the principal parts of a verb. Heres how we might list the principal parts of the regular verb laugh: I always laugh at her jokes. (present)She laughed nervously during her speech. (past)We have often laughed together. (past participle) The past participle form works with different auxiliary verbs (has or have; had) to form different tenses. (See Forming the Past Tense of Regular Verbs.) What Are Irregular Verbs? Irregular verbs are those verbs that do not end in -ed in the past tense. Though their endings differ from those of regular verbs, irregular verbs rely on the same auxiliary verbs (also called helping verbs) to indicate past, present, and future time. Principal Parts of Irregular Verbs Irregular verbs have three principal parts: I tell a joke. (present)I told a joke. (past)I have told a joke. (past participle) Some irregular verbs, such as tell, have the same form in the past and the past participle. Others, however, have different forms: I wear a cap. (present)I wore a cap. (past)I have worn a cap. (past participle) With irregular verbs such as wear, we need to learn the different forms for the past and the past participle. Auxiliaries with Irregular Verbs Just like regular verbs, irregular verbs are used with various auxiliaries to form different tenses. For instance, we use has or have with the past participle of an irregular verb to form the present-perfect tense: Tom has worn out his welcome. Similarly, we use had with the past participle of an irregular verb to form the past perfect tense: I had never worn a seat belt before you told me why I should. And we use will with the present form of an irregular verb to form the future tense: I will wear a seat belt from now on. In short, irregular verbs work the same way as regular verbs; they just have different endings. Tables of Irregular Verbs The tables linked below contain the most common irregular verbs in English. Although you are probably familiar with many of them already, study the verbs in all three lists and look for patterns that will help you remember the forms of all these verbs. Irregular Verbs: Arise to GrowIrregular Verbs: Hang to SinkIrregular Verbs: Sit to Write

Infrastructure Security of Agricultural and Food Research Paper

Infrastructure Security of Agricultural and Food - Research Paper Example Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration at the federal level. In order to serve the nation well, the sector needs to be effectively associated and dependent on other sectors that include water, transportation, energy, banking and finance, chemical, and dams (Food and Agriculture Sector: Critical Infrastructure, 2012). The present study focuses on the infrastructural security of food and agriculture which are essential for successful service to the people in a nation. Infrastructure Protection and the U.S. Food and Agriculture Sector: In the recent years, much of attention has been considered with respect to the fear of terrorism in a country like the US. Agriculture in this regard has been observed to have received lesser attention and concern. â€Å"Indeed, in terms of accurate threat assessments, response structures and preparedness initiatives, the sector continues to exist as a glaring exception to the wide-ranging emphasis that has been given to critical infrastructure protection in this country† (Chalk, 2001, p.2). Agro terrorism is a matter of serious concern with respect to the security of food and agriculture infrastructure. ... There is an increasing rate of the susceptibility of farm animals to diseases. A large number of agents are found to exist that are fatal and highly infectious to animals. The farming practices in the country can be realized to be of highly intensive and concentrated as can be reflected from the easiness and rapidity with which animals are vulnerable to diseases. This thus requires effective security measures of infrastructure protection. Lack of internal quality control, increased production of genetically modified products are other factors making the food and agriculture sector in the country susceptible to agro-terrorism and higher levels of insecurity (Chalk, 2001, pp.3-5). Infrastructural Security of Agriculture and Food: National Infrastructure Protection Plan: Under the National Protection Plan of the infrastructure of agriculture and food, the USDA or U.S. Department of Agriculture has significant roles to play. One of its most important roles is to assure that the foods and clothing of the people of the nation are met without fail. It is in charge of supervising the nation’s 192 million acres of national forests and rangelands. It is also the largest conservation agency of the country and encourages deliberate efforts to look after soil, water, and wildlife on 70 percent of America’s lands that are under the control of private ownerships. The safety of around 80 percent of the food consumed in the country is under the responsibility of the FDA. It shares its responsibility with Federal, State, and local agencies; regulated industry; academia; health providers; and consumers. â€Å"The Agriculture and Food Sector is dependent upon: the Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment Systems Sector for clean irrigation and processed