Geography Of The United Arab Emirates Environmental Sciences Essay

Geography Of The United Arab Emirates Environmental Sciences Essay The united arab emirates, which lies in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia , is a union of seven emirates : Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. It is situated in Asia and is bordered by the Arabian Gulf from the north, Omman from the east, Sudi Arabia from both west and south sides. It also faces the Gulf of Omman from the northeast, Qatar from the northwest. The coastline, that runs along the Arabian gulf and the gulf of oman, is about 1,318 kilometers long. This makes Dubai, the pearl of the Gulf, a very important commercial centre. The total area of the United Arab Emirates is about 77.700 squares kilometers. The largest emirate is Abu Dhabi and the smallest one is Ajman. The country is mostly desert in the south and west areas with sand dunes, salt flats and some oases while the trucial coast has shallow seas, reefs, sandbars and islets. The only mountains in the emirates exist on the east coast in al Fujairah called Al Hajar mountains, the land there is suitable for agriculture and has been used for many years. The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES has no permanent rivers but it has two main important oases. http://www.United Arab Emiratesinteract.com/docs/An_oasis_in_the_heart_of_Al_Ain/18124.htm http://www.adach.ae/en/portal/heritage/alain.oasis.aspx Oases of the United Arab Emirates The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES has seven oases, two of them are very important and has underground water for permanent use. Al-Ain oasis, which is in Abu Dhabi emirate, is the largest one. This oasis has been developed and protected, people from around the world come to this place to see the date palms, fruit trees and beautiful sites. Since the land there is fertile and water is available, date and fruit production plays a part in the economy of Al Ain city which takes its name from the oasis. Liwa is another oasis in the emirate of Abu Dhabi and it also attracts tourists. Land Use of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Only 0.6% of land is considered arable, 2.3% is planted to permenant crops and about 720 square kilometers are irrigated. http://www.dubaidreams.net/562/about/animals-birds-plants-flowers-and-trees-dubai/ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/615412/United-Arab-Emirates/257038/Plant-and-animal-life http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-187664317/deal-protect-birds-prey.html http://www.epa.ae/philately/Philately-Stamps/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES-Stamps-Information.asp?TextFile=Y0509T Animals and plans in the United Arab Emirates The desert of the United Arab Emirates contains plants like shrubs, trees and bushes that are found in different places.The Ghaf is the most found tree in the United Arab Emirates. Trees in the United Arab Emirates have been used traditionally in areas related to health and medicines. Types of desert plants are Leptadenia pyrotechnica, Lycium shawii, Calotropis procera, Prosopis cineraria and Zizyphus spina-christi. The desert that surrounds Dubai has plans like wild grasses and date palms. Dates is the UNITED ARAB EMIRATESà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s main crop. Some plans like acacia and ghaf trees grow near the Western Hajar Mountains. In adittion to the desert, thw plam trees also grows in the gardens and parks within Dubai. In general, the plants growing in the United Arab Emirates are largly affected by the climate and the landscape of the emirates. For example, date plams usually grows near oases . As for animals, there are many like domesticated goats, sheep, and camels, together with cattle and poultry. There are predators in the wildlife such as the caracal, and red foxes. Some large animals also lives in the United Arab Emirates like Arabian oryx and Arabian and Persian gazelles. As well as small animals like the cape hare, lesser jerboa, and many types of gerbil; and a variety of snakes and lizards. In the waters of the United Arab Emirates lives many types of valuable fish and other kinds of sea creatures, although those creatures are becoming less by time due to human activities. There have been an identifation of about 13 bird areas in the United Arab Emirates , the most famous one is Khor Kalba on the border of United Arab Emirates-oman. The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES has made efforts to protect birds and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding in abu dhabi in order to protect the important and rare kinds of birds. http://www.mapsofworld.com/united-arab-emirates/geography/climate.html Climate of the United Arab Emirates Climate generally covers the information regarding temperature, humidity, wind, rainfall and other meteorological elements in a specific area over long periods of time. While climate can be compared to weather, weather can be defined as the day to day temperature and the precipitation activity. In general climate is the state of the atmospheric condition of an area over long periods of time. The United Arab Emirates is famous for its extremely hot and humid summer seasons while the winter seasons are moderate and pleasant. The months from May till September are very hot and the temperature can reach 45 C and exceed it, the months from December till march are comfortable, the average temperature is 28 C in daytime and 14 C at night. At Al Hajar mountains, the temperature is much lower due to the elevation and nature of landscape there. Climate in the United Arab Emirates is usually sub tropical arid. It tends to be warm in winter while hot and humid in summer. Humidity is very high and can reach more than 85% during summer time. Due to this climate conditions, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES has very little rain, averagely between 100 and 200 millimeters but in some mountainous areas the rainfall reaches 350 millimeters , the rain falls in short large quantities in summer time and the wettest months are February and March. The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES is characterized with frequent sand and dust storms which reduce visibility and cause problems such as blocking ship movements near the shore area. Desalinization can make up for the lack of fresh water resources . UNITED ARAB EMIRATES faces environmental problems such as desertification and beach pollution caused by oil spills. Dry northerly wind blows on the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES and it usually cools the air unless it was loaded with dust. There is also the eastern wind which is known to be short-term and humid. The UNITED ARAB EMIRATES becomes foggy in coastal areas because the air is saturated with water Climate can affect a lot of aspects on the planet such as the human health, plants and animals: Climate effects on human health: Climate changes can affect the planetsà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ geological, biological and ecological systems, and one of the important effects is on the human health, climate changes has let to large scale environmental hazards that affects the human health, and one of the most important ones is the depletion of the ozone layer, pressure on the food producing systems and the spread of the infectious diseases. Climate effects on Plants: Climate change can affect plants not only humans, the increase in temperature causes the plants to grow less than they are supposed to and produce less crops, and as the temperature becomes higher and higher the plants produce less and less till they stop producing due to the extreme heat. Changes in climate can have a positive side to it too, as in the colder areas when the temperature increases more plants will be able to grow for longer periods and produce more crops. Due to the fast change in the climate nowadays plants will have to adapt faster and more rapidly than they had to do before. Another effect on plants is drought (reduces rainfall). The availability of water can affect the production of crops directly. Climate effects on Animals: climate change can effect animals in extremely negative ways. Any changes in the environment in which an animal lives can drastically affect their lives as they are adapted to certain conditions. Mostly, its going to be those animals that are not easily able to adapt, specifically those that are endemic to a certain part of the world and those that are not very mobile species. Also, plants are an important part of animals life cycles. There are many animals that have evolved in a way that follows the life cycle of plants. A perfect example of this is pollinators and the flowers that they pollinate. If the flowers bloom before their pollinators are physiologically prepared this could cause a massive upset to the ecological system. http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/266.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.pdf http://www.United Arab Emirates.ii5ii.com/showthread.php?t=51632 tourism Due to the beautiful landscapes of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES tourists come mostly during winter months from around the world. They come by car, plane or ship especially to visit Dubai which is known to be an excellent host with luxurious hotels including the worldà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s tallest hotel. There are many projects being planned to be built in the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. Some changes have been made in the waters of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES to make such projects possible as in Al Nakhla project in Jumera. This project was named Al-Nakhla, which means plam, because it was created to look like a palm. It goes from Jumera beach for about 300 meters inside the gulf. The work began in 2002 with land reclamation and purification of soil to prepare the ground for building, which was introduced in 2006 , when the reclamination phase was finished, phase two began with implementation of the infrastructure in the project, bridges where used to connect the islands with the land with the rest of the palm shape. This proves the natural and man-made changing happening to the land and water of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. http://mcgsc.usgs.gov/publications/United Arab Emirates_poster.pdf Changing of UNITED ARAB EMIRATES landscape The landscape of the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES is under significant change. Through the use of irrigation and agricultural programs over the last 20 years or so, the country has transformed large amounts of sand desert into areas of green land vegetation and forests. While providing vegetables and animal fodder for the country. This action of greening is also affecting the groundwater resources, like draw-down of the water table, contamination of the ground water by agri-chemicals and land surface subsidence. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES-DESERTIFICATION: Control policy proves successful Att.Editors: The following item is by the United Arab Emirates news agency(WAM) ABU DHABI, May 16 (WAM) The United Arab Emirates (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES) desertification control and land reclamation policies have proven to have yielded fruit with the plantation of thousands of hectares of palm trees, woodlands and green belts, according to a recent report by the Abu Dhabi Municipality. The UNITED ARAB EMIRATESs efforts in this regard are one of the most successful experiences in the Arab and Gulf region in particular and at the global level in general, the report, issued by Abu Dhabi Municipalitys Forestry Section said. The most important advantage of the desertification control policy, the report adds, is the transformation of the desert from a once repulsive barren land into an area that has much appeal for inhabitants to live in. The nomadic and unsettled lifestyle of people has changed into a settled one with the economic, health, social and educational patterns also changing accordingly, the report notes. It draws attention to the fact that the strategy of growing forests in vast areas of land in the heart of the desert has provided habitat for man, flora and fauna, especially the once endangered wild animals such as rabbits, foxes and gazelles, which have considerably proliferated. New species of gazelle, namely the white deer and the Arabian Oryx, and other wild birds, such as falcons, doves and sparrows have been introduced, the report maintains. Laws barring hunting and shooting of animals and birds have been enacted in a bid to save these species from extinction. The Forestry section, the report says, is currently engaged in several projects such as Abu Dhabi-Zayed City highway, Ghayathy-Bidaa Zayed road and afforestation of the 140 km-long Hamim-Abu Dhabi road. The Municipalitys Forestry section is busy fencing 200 kilometers of land to be used as sanctuaries in the Western region. This is over and above the 51 already existing natural reserves in the region, the report emphasizes. The Abu Dhabi Municipality, the report points out, has been successful in planting several forests in the Emirate such as the 1500-hectare forest in Liwa and another 90-hectare one in Shamkhah. The aim of planting these forests and green belts, the report stresses, is to hold back desertification, improve environment and preserve endangered flora and fauna. Researches are being conducted to introduce new species of trees following the successful introduction of the jojoba tree in the region, the report points. (WAM)

Citi Group Restructuring

Background It all began with the financial crisis of 2007-2008, a crisis which was of a scale that had never been seen before. Many economists called it even worse than the Great Depression. Whether it was or not, that’s something that could be argued. But everyone was of the view that the crisis is really very serious. As a result of it large financial institutions collapsed, banks were being bailed out by the national governments and stock markets tanked to their new lows.This caused the collapse of housing markets in many countries, consumer spending suffered immensely as a result, industries went bankrupt, businesses closed down and unemployment peaked. There were many reasons that were put forth by various economists. A report presented in the US senate called it as the â€Å"failure of regulators, credit agencies and markets†. Citigroup’s Sufferings According to a US government’s report which came into the light in 2011, Citigroup which was the third largest US bank in terms of assets at that time was on the verge of failure.Regulators were going to pull the plugs on it anytime as depositors were withdrawing their deposits and bank’s counterparties also declined to give credits to the bank. How Citigroup moved to new setup? Citigroup suffered losses for five consecutive quarters. In the fifth quarter, in fact its losses were to the tune of $ 8. 29 billion. Many in the Citigroup agreed to the fact that unless something is done to sharpen its strategy, Citigroup will never regain its glory and perform accordingly.As a result, Citigroup started analyzing its business and strategies. It was found that Citigroup was involved in too many business segments which stopped it from focusing on its core interest area. While analyzing, everything big or small was examined. Citigroup in its annual report called the analysis as â€Å"wide ranging and dispassionate†. The outcome of this analysis was that the Citigroup finally dec ided to realign the group’s various business interests in two broad segments: Citicorp and Citi Holdings.The thinking behind this new setup was that this structure will help the company focus on its core business areas which in turn would improve the overall performance, while at the same time realizing the value from its non-core assets. The new structure would look like this: In Citicorp, businesses which were core to the group’s strategy and which offered maximum earnings potential to its shareholders with appropriate risk parameters were placed. These businesses are: †¢ Global Transaction Services – Treasury and Trade Solutions Securities and Fund Services †¢ Securities and Banking – Global Banking – Global Markets – Citi Private Bank – Citi Capital Advisors †¢ Regional Consumer Banking – Four Regional Consumer Banks in North America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), Latin America and Asia that each in clude retail banking, local commercial banking and Citi-branded cards (Source: http://www. citigroup. com/citi/investor/quarterly/2010) Citicorp, according to the new structure will be a relationship driven global bank, to serve both consumers and businesses.The assets of Citicorp include its core assets located across the globe with strong presence in emerging markets like India, China etc. Citicorp will have the capability to take deposits from customers throughout the world in a manner so that maximum return could be availed. Citicorp will have the capacity to serve local customers globally and global customers in a highly localized way. While in Citi Holdings, assets and businesses which were not central to Citi’s strategy were placed.But that does not mean that those assets were not good. Some have had very high value in their own right. Some were big iconic brands like Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture. Citi Holdings includes: †¢ Brokerage and Asset Managem ent, which includes the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint venture †¢ Local Consumer Lending – North America, which includes residential and commercial real estate loans; auto, student and personal loans; and retail partner cards International, which includes Western Europe consumer banking and other consumer finance franchises around the world †¢ Special Asset Pool, which includes non-core assets, many of which are illiquid in current markets Citi Holdings will consist of non-core businesses which attract long term investments. But since those businesses are not the core one, therefore they do not enhance the performance of the group as a whole and in fact they compete for the limited resources that the company could employ in a highly risky and volatile situation.It was expected that the management team of Citi Holdings will restructure, divest and manage its business in a way that maximizes the value and will take the group forward in a tough economic situation Vi kram Pandit, then CEO of Citigroup in one of his interview talked about â€Å"accelerating the implementation of its newly evolved strategy to focus on its core business†. Given the market conditions and business sentiments, Vikram Pandit wanted to streamline the business of Citigroup as soon as possible to further strengthen its position and better serve its clients.

Chocolate Package Design Combined with Price Setting

Chocolate package design combined with price setting: A consumer purchase intention and overall impression investigation Cao Youjia, Wang Yicheng, Li Simei, Gao Junhong Abstract In our experiments, the research sheds light on consumers’ purchase intention and overall impression towards six types of combination of chocolate package and price: 1. aesthetic package with a relatively high price, 2. aesthetic package with an intermediate price, 3. aesthetic package with a relatively low price, 4. plain package with a relatively high price, 5. lain package with an intermediate price, 6. plain package with a relatively low price. After the six between-subject experiments, we find that package design and price setting do have influence on customers’ preference to purchase, but not as strong as our perception. On the other hand, the packaging has significance influence on the customers’ overall impression towards the product. The aesthetic package with the highest price l eaves the customer the best impression. Implications for future application for businesses are discussed in the final part.Key words: Package design, price setting, analysis of variance, purchase intention. Introduction â€Å"Man shows that he is affected by appearance, by something that causes him pleasure over and above the immediate utility of the object† (Clay, 1908). Designing aesthetic products to satisfy the consumers’ need is of growing importance in marketing. As core attributes of product, such as quality and functionality, become increasingly homogeneous (Reimann, Schilke, & Thomas, 2010), firms are shifting their efforts from concrete product characteristics towards less concrete ones such as package designing.This trend towards aesthetics in product differentiation may be based on the insight that aesthetic designs seem to trigger certain positive responses in consumers such as an immediate desire to own the product (Norman, 2004); an increased inclination to show off and care for that product (Bloch, 1995); and a higher willingness to pay for it (Bloch, Brunel, & Arnold, 2003). More importantly, products with aesthetic qualities may be treasured long fter their functional value fades (Martin, 1998). However, little is known about the preference of purchasing and the impression when consumers experience different designed packages with certain prices. Although packaging, as an integral design element, has recently been investigated by Orth and Malkewitz (2008), they comment that there is no good psychological theory when it comes to packaging aesthetics as well as the related prices and further research is necessary.In summary, we propose that the combination of the package and the price will shed light on the consumer purchase intentions and overall impression, therefore, may enlighten the businesses to wisely appropriate the capital on packaging with a certain price. One fundamental problem limiting work in the area involves the me aning of the concepts: packaging aesthetic is indistinct and elusive construct that often is mistaken for imprecise adjectives like â€Å"goodness, or luxury, or shininess, or weight† (Crosby 1979).Because definition is difficult, researchers often depend on one-dimensional self-report measures to capture the concepts (Jacoby, Olson, and Haddock 1973; McConnell 1968; Shapiro 1973) and thus must assume shared meanings among consumers. In experiments 1a, we attempt to differentiate aesthetic from plain package design by measuring scores given by participants between differently packaged chocolate. In experiment 1b, we attempt to figure out buyers’ subjective perceptions of price.Finally, applying the data from experiment 1a and 1b, experiment 2 uses 2*3 matrixes to shed light on the underlying correlation impact with packaging and price on buyers’ preference of purchasing as well as the overall impression, which helps explain consumers behavior and gives suggestio n to the domestic chocolate businesses. Furthermore, we slightly investigated the utility differentiation when the price and packaging is taken into consideration. Conceptual background and hypotheses H1.Given a certain product, when refer to the purchase intention, people are more likely to choose one with aesthetic package and relative low price, though package design and price setting have little influence on customers’ purchase intention of chocolate. Packaging is often important to the customer’s first impression of a brand, its quality, or its value (Harckham 1989). Price, the extrinsic cue receiving the most research attention (see Olson 1977 for a complete review of this literature), appears to function as a surrogate for quality when the consumer has inadequate information about intrinsic attributes.H2. Package design has significance influence on the customers’ overall impression towards the chocolate product. Aesthetic package with a relatively high p rice owns the best evaluation. Considerable empirical research has investigated the relationship between price and quality (see Olson 1977 for a review of this literature in marketing) and has shown that consumers use price to infer quality when it is the only available cue. Experiment 1a Overview and method In our first experiment, we attempt to differentiate aesthetic from plain packages through the scores that participant given.Our between-subjects, repeated measure experimental design included two different conditions: in the aesthetic condition, we presented chocolate packages that were pre-selected according to important visual aspects of aesthetic package design such as beauty, unity, and prototypically (Orth & Malkewitz, 2008; Veryzer & Hutchinson, 1998). In the plain condition, we presented the other package that was pre-selected based on their functionality and practical utility. Each trial started with a brief preparation phase show the chocolate, followed by the packagin g to hold the chocolate.Picture stimuli were pretested among 32 undergraduate students, which were given aesthetics versus plain product packaging. Participants were then asked to assess the picture given as being plain or aesthetic (scale from 1 to 6). Randomly eight boys and eight girls were kept for aesthetic packaging and another eight boys and eight girls were exposed to plain packaging. The questionnaires of the experiment are attached to the report as appendix 1. Result We simply counted the number of choices in both conditions and found that participants in the aesthetics condition give higher scores than the plain condition[pic].Sex has no effects on the given scores[pic] and[pic]. Discussion In experiment 1a, when the visual product stimuli were richer in their aesthetic appeal, participants have the inherent perception of which should get higher marks. Experiment 1b Overview and method We intended to get the acceptable price range of the given image of chocolate and then figure out the relative high price, intermediate price and the low price, which will contribute to accuracy and efficiency of experiment 2.We show the same image of chocolate without packaging (the same image of the first phase of experiment 1) to 32 randomly chosen undergraduates (16 girls and 16 boys). Then ask them how much they would pay for that kind of chocolate (x/500g). As we usually don’t have a clear mind of how much the chocolate usually worth the money, we give the price of Dove chocolate as the reference point (53/500g). The questionnaires of the experiment are attached to the report as appendix 2. Result We collected the data and draw the graph as follows: [pic] And sex has no effects on the given scores[pic].Discussion After experiment 1b, we decided to use the relative low price as ? 20/500g (minimum), intermediate price as ? 53/500g (median) and relative high price as ? 100/500g (maximum). Experiment 2 Overview and method This is our main experiment. Problem Formulation 1. aesthetic package with a relatively high price, 2. aesthetic package with an intermediate price, 3. aesthetic package with a relatively low price, 4. plain package with a relatively high price, 5. plain package with an intermediate price, 6. plain package with a relatively low price.Which Combination does the consumer most likely to buy? And which combination can get the best evaluation from customers? Determination of Sources of Information Sources of information are from text books, literature About package theory as well as information comes from experiment 1a and 1b. IV and DV The independent variables— there are two pairs of Independent Variables of our research: 1) Package: aesthetic and plain. 2) Prices: high, intermediate and low. The dependent variables 1) The intensity of consumers’ purchase intentions. 2) Customers’ overall impression towards the chocolate product.Sample We chose our schoolmates as our research participants. Forty subje cts were selected from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and were randomly assigned to four treatment groups. As a total of 40 respondents participated, resulting in a data set of 40 different product choices. Procedure During the experiment, there was no evidence to suggest that subjects were aware of the different sets of experimental material provided and the subjects showed little concern in the experimental materials of others. All above has showed that our experiment is a between-subject experiment.Design of Data Collection Method and Data Collection forms We use a combination of PPT auto play and the questionnaire to carry out our experiment We separate our PPT display to 4 parts: 1. Product category and product image presentation, which lasts 4 seconds. 2. Chocolate presentation, which lasts 4 seconds 3. Package image presentation, which lasts 4 seconds. 4. Price presentation (price appear on top of the picture of the package), which lasts 4 second. Follow on, the participants a re asked to answer a questionnaire about their purchase. The PPT is shown as following: PPT: pic] [pic] The questionnaires of the experiment are attached to the report as appendix 3. Result After collecting the data, we get the following result, |sources of |DF |SS |MS |F |P | |variation | | | | | | |packaging |1 |1. 35 |1. 35 |0. 77 |0. 383 | |price |2 |2. 8 |1. 4 |0. 8 |0. 454 | |interaction |2 |1. 2 |0. 6 |0. 34 |0. 711 | |Error |54 |94. 3 |1. 7463 |? |? | |Total |59 |99. 65 |? |? |? |FIGURE 1 THE IMPACT ON CONSUMERS’ PURCHASE INTENSION Judging from the data above, though we may draw the conclusion that packaging and price has no significant influence on the purchase intention as we expected. There do exist some influence when we have a glance at the following graphs, we can find that customer tend to choose the one with the aesthetic packaging and low price. EXHIBIT 1 [pic][pic] FIGURE 2 THE IMPACT ON OVERALL IMPRESSION |sources of |DF |SS |MS |F |P | |variation | | | | | | |packaging |1 |10. 167 |10. 4167 |7. 69 |0. 008 | |price |2 |3. 7333 |1. 8667 |1. 38 |0. 261 | |interaction |2 |5. 7333 |2. 8667 |2. 12 |0. 13 | |Error |54 |73. 1 |1. 3537 |? |? | |Total |59 |92. 9833 |? |? |? | We can easily find that packaging has significant influence on the overall impression. EXHIBIT 2 [pic] [pic] Another interesting discovery is that given the aesthetic packaging, when the price is higher, the overall impression improves. DiscussionThe purchase intention doesn’t fluctuate a lot with the change of package and price, which is quite reasonable when the attributes of chocolate is taken into consideration. We just try to sell the same chocolate and chocolate is a certain kind of food, that intensity to purchase will not have an abrupt change with the extrinsic variation. The result of the experiment also shed light on the information as follows: People are more likely to purchase what is not only cheap, but also packaged well. But a better packaging and h igher price will contribute to better impression among the customers. ApplicationAlong with the research above, we also investigated other factors to influence the purchase behavior and get some useful data. Chinese people’s preferences towards chocolate, according to our experiment results, are relatively high. The index turns out to be 4. 5/6, females enjoys an even higher 4. 7/6. Therefore, there exists potential Chinese market for daily chocolate consumers. We suggest chocolate producers to provide customers with a fair price (lower than that of imported chocolate) and a plain package. What we want to stress is that in that circumstance, consumers’ experience is needed.Relatively plain and casual package can choose a relatively low price to gain bigger sales. As we can see from our data, the majority of Chinese consume chocolate only when holidays such as on the Valentine's Day. Therefore, we suggest chocolate companies focusing on the â€Å"festivals and holidayà ¢â‚¬  market. We emphasize that the design of the chocolate should be aesthetic. As we can see from our results, high-end chocolate may choose relatively high prices in order to give consumers a deep impression for the benefit of building a good brands reputation.Moreover, people are more likely to consider that kind of chocolate as gifts for others. Acknowledgments The authors thank Dr. Wang Liangyan for helpful comments and suggestions on earlier version of the manuscript. The research was supported by Antai College of Economics & Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Reference T Aharon, I. , Etcoff, N. , Ariely, D. , Chabris, C. F. , O'Connor, E. , & Breiter, H. C. (2001). Beautiful faces have variable reward value: fMRI and behavioral evidence. Neuron, 32(3), 537? 551. Arnheim, R. (1974).Art and visual perception: A psychology of the creative eye. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. Bechara, A. , Damasio, H. , Tranel, D. , & Damasio, A. R. (1997). Decidin g advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science, 275 (5304), 1293? 1295. Berlyne, D. E. (1974). Studies in the new experimental aesthetics: Steps toward an objective psychology of aesthetic appreciation. Washington, DC: Hemisphere Publishing. Bettman, J. R. , Luce, M. F. , & Payne, J. W. (1998). Constructive consumer choice processes.Journal of Consumer Research, 25(3), 187? 217. Bloch, P. H. (1995). Seeking the ideal form: Product design and consumer response. Journal of Marketing, 59(3), 16? 29. Appendix Questionnaire for experiment 1a: Hi, we are now carrying out a survey of consumer behavior. Please choose the answer and fill in the blanks according to your OWN conceptions. Your time and kindness are highly appreciated, thank you! NOTE: This survey is carried out anonymously, please feel free to answer. A1? Please score the chocolate package on the slidePLAIN 1 2 3 4 5 6 YES AESTHETIC Questionnaire for experiment 1b: Hi, we are now carrying out a survey of con sumer behavior. Please choose the answer and fill in the blanks according to your OWN conceptions. Your time and kindness are highly appreciated, thank you! NOTE: This survey is carried out anonymously, please feel free to answer. A1? How much would you like to pay for the chocolate on the slide, just write down the number in the blank. /500g Questionnaire for experiment 2: Hi, we are now carrying out a survey of consumer behavior.Please choose the answer and fill in the blanks according to your OWN conceptions. Your time and kindness are highly appreciated, thank you! NOTE: This survey is carried out anonymously, please feel free to answer. A1? Purchase intention NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 YES A2? Overall impression BAD 1 2 3 4 5 6 GOOD A3? usage SELF USE 1 2 3 4 5 6 AS GIFTS GENDER Male Female YOUR AGE__________________________________________________ B1? Do you like chocolate NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 YES B2? How often do you buy chocolateA Seldom B On holidays C Once-twice per month D Three times or m ore per month ———————– ?100/500g (high price) ?53/500g (intermediate price) ?20/500g (low price) ?100/500g (high price) ?53/500g (intermediate price) ?20/500g (low price) Dove chocolate? 55/500g Price Presentation (4 seconds) Package Presentation (4 seconds) Choc? 20/500g (low price) Dove chocolate? 55/500g Price Presentation (4 seconds) Package Presentation (4 seconds) Chocolate itself Presentation (4 seconds) Product category Presentation (4 seconds)

Analysis Of Usaid s Enterprise Transition Plan Essay

The components of IT products, services, tools, and partner organizations assist business processes as an Agency-wide solution to manage USAID’s global portfolio. The operational strategy includes upgrading and reinforcing existing business and IT capabilities through a development information system (DIS). Included in USAID’s Internet Technology Strategic Plan 2016-2020, is an enterprise transition roadmap (ERT) that enhances â€Å"capabilities needed in security, enterprise information management, cloud and infrastructure, application modernization, mobility, and points to the projects necessary for building these capabilities† (p. 20). Additional activities focus on the interdependency of IT systems to enhance human capital and talent management by streamlining workflows to achieve Agency goals. The strategy to align information plans in Figure 2 below illustrates USAID’s interdependency strategy. Figure 2: Alignment of Implementation Plans The enterprise transition plan provides a competitive advantage that maximizes the latest IT technologies from partnering organizations, suppliers, human capital investments, and government funding sources. Competitor forces require a consistent reassessment of new and emerging technologies. The Michael Porter Forces Model illustrates the combined forces that support USAID’s strategy to gain a competitive advantage over market competitors as seen in Figure 3 below. Figure 3: Porter’s Competitive Forces Model Through engagementShow MoreRelatedNanotech 1AC Essay13565 Words   |  55 PagesTechnology 2001-2006), which is embedded inside the National Development Plan 2001-2006, views nanotechnology as a strategic area within the science of advanced materials. 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