Customer Attitudes Towards Search Engine Marketing

Customer Attitudes Towards Search Engine Marketing Abstract The present study approaches the empathizing of the UK users behaviour with respect to internet when considere in presence of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and related activities, conceiving the present dynamic role of online and connected consumer who uses the internet and Web 2.0 tools like Social and Media Blogs. An online form survey, reaching up to 100 respondents actively using social network sites like â€Å"Face book†, analyzed the respondents social, demographic and general characteristics, their online behaviour, and their level of conflict with SEM activities. It also discovered the most democratic and the most often used internet tools. The review findings were mostly consistent with same kind of studies conducted in different regions of United Kingdom and Europe .the review of gathered data enabled to find relevant kinships between variables and equating answers through age, gender, and hours fagged on the internet. The results will give all internet marketers a d egree of perceptivity into their direct users, and will allow them to make strategies to provide for the targeted segments effectively. Also, this study will give a vital point of cite for future research related to internet marketing, which will be useful believing the current trends and development of particular marketing activity. The application using PHP and MySQL was designed to get the responses from respondents. Based on the responses collected from the sample of 68, the data was found and the conclusion has been done based on this data collection. The online questionnaire was uploaded on the web on the url http://searchresults.net63.net From this URL, one can access the questionnaire and fill up personal details followed by the responses to different situations. Based on this response, the data was captured onto the database. This database (of MySQL) was helpful to fetch the details and behaviour of individuals towards different options available on the websites. Technical Plan This study is planned as following: Initially, an exploration of previous or existing research and the documented evidence found are placed in the literature review section (chapter 2). Following this is, an explanation of how the study was carried out, which includes research design, followed by sampling, data collection methods, the methods used   for analysis and limitations are discussed in (chapter 3). Furthermore, the answers to research interrogations are discussed in detail in chapter 4, with a systematic analysis of the survey results. The application was being designed using PHP and MySQL. The former was used as the programming language with the back end database support through MySQL. Their personal details followed by their responses to different options available on the web are analysed to have a study on their behaviour for different situations. Based on this approach, the important analysis was further explored. Lastly, the conclusion of our research is accomplished in chapter 5, where study findings are analyzed using the point of observation of their contact on additional academic or professional research, which may include practical testimonials, limitations of findings and other areas for further research. For the purpose of my experiment I had designed a small application which counts clicks on particular links. I developed it in PHP and used MySQL database. The address of the application was located on the link that was made available online at http://searchresults.net63.net. One can easy get an access to this link to fill out the details in an easy manner. This helped in getting responses in a thorough manner. Through this approach, all the data was collected. 100 respondents were approached at initial stages. However, due to lack of response rate, it was noted that there is the need to reduce the sample size. So, I asked 68 participants to do the experiment. Mainly I sent emails to friends. I also went to Universitys library and asked some people to do the experiment. Basically I gave the address to people and once they typed it in a browser. They had to chose gender, age range and how experienced internet users they are. Then there was a short description explaining what will happ en. Participants had to imagine that they are looking for a watch to buy and were given search results copied from google on a ‘buy watches phrase. They had to click on any link they liked. Then they had to imagine that they are looking for a new TV. Search results for ‘buy tv phrase were displayed and they had to click on any. Lastly they were given search results for ‘buy books and again they had to click somewhere. All the clicks were saved in a database. There were organic and sponsored links. I used some simple SQL queries on myPHPadmin panel to extract the numbers. Critical review Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or else Pay per Click (PPC) marketing and is usually known in literature as well and is one of three diverse types of online marketing. The remaining two are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Banner Advertising. Precisely what they are, and how they work and advantages and disadvantages of different techniques are talked over in detail later in this report. Surveys conducted by EIAA i.e. European Interactive Advertising Association show the performance of European internet users and other online buyers or shoppers. As per their Online survey (for which around 7,008 people all across the Europe including UK, France ,Germany, , Italy ,Spain, the Nordics, Netherlands   and the Belgium were interviewed) Out of the total,76% of online buyers use search engines as a source of information. This study also stated deviations between users of the UK in particular. Before investigating the topic more closely, it is significant to define the word of SEM. Though in writing this form of marketing is frequently addressed to pay per click (also occasionally written as pay-per-click) marketing (Anderson, C., 2006). First of all a few definitions of term, to constitute the literature and will be introduced. An accurate explanation will follow later. Pay per click (PPC) is placement of small ads on the search outcome on a page for a precise keyword or set of keywords in return for a individual payment when a guest actually clicks particular ad (Battelle, J. ,2005) Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: A technique of marketing where a company pays a certain sum of money each time somebody clicks on a small advertisement on a search engine‘s results page or a homepage and then takes to the advertiser‘s website (Brin, S. and Page, L., 1998). Pay-per-click (PPC): The payment form used for patronized search advertising. Advertisers set bid on keywords and pay in case when searchers click on the search results listing related with those keywords (Broder, A., 2002). Pay per click advertising used for search engines can be explained most easily by following: The placement of a small content only adverts on search result page which is activated by a particular keyword or phrase equaling typed in search box (Brooks, N., 2004a). Pay Per Click: A performance based model of paying for online ads whereby payments are made for each click on a displayed advert, if there are no clicks then there will be no fee and is also known as CPC i.e. cost per click and CPA is known as cost per action (Brooks, N. ,2004a). This essentially means that there exists text based advertisements and are displayed on search engines result page and are next to natural search listings. Such Text ads are fore grounded by the search engines with different names like sponsored links and are typically on right hand side of a result page, and is clearly distinguished from natural search results which are displayed on left. From time to time one or more than one of those advertisements are showed on top of list, over the organic search results, fore grounded through a different backdrop color. The advertising companies can then decide which key phrase or words searches performed by the search engine users and where their ad should appear (Fain, D.C. and Pedersen, J.O. ,2006).The main mechanism of a search engine marketing operation are defining of important keywords, and the bidding on keywords and a good quality written text ad through a good call to act. The advantage of such methods of advertising when compared to banner ads is to facilitate the advertiser as he has to pay only when someone in fact clicks on the advertisement, and not only for imitation, which a customer might not be able to see. Search engines can show up to 8 Text advertisements of sponsored links on one page. The order of what text advertisement is displayed and the position is defined by how much amount each advertiser is ready to pay for searched keyword. The framework of pay per click advertising is founded on a bidding system. One of the major advantages of pay per click method is that audience is already targeted, as the people are in fact looking for something connected to the product and what company is offering(Fallows, D., 2005) .While banner advertising on other hand shows the ads to customers who may not necessarily be interested in it. They may only be interested in website where banner ad is currently displayed and may not even look at banner ad or may ignore it since they are not interested in buying anything. In addition to this, the online marketer also has the option to target clients by country and even by area or city. This utility was published in 2004 by Google. As a result online marketing is available to nearby situated business for e.g. restaurants .Similarly international companies that want to put up for sale their products outside their region (Feng, J. ,2002). Google also takes the possibility to show the text ads not only on their search engine results pages but also on their websites, clearly displayed as ads by Google. This utility is called as content network. The online marketer has authority on websites where his text advertisements will be shown at, particularly concerning the content. Though it is very hard for online marketer to have a influence on any other fraction of campaign. In addition, the analysis of data is not very suitable, because all parameters cannot be displayed as online marketer would like them to (Feng, J., Bhargava,2007). A very significant topic while talking about pay per click ads is the differentiation among good traffic and bad traffic. This topic impacts mainly PPC-advertising, as the advertiser pay for every single click, while in banner advertising payment method used is pay per impression. The aim of a pay per click advertising operation is not only to make users click on advertisement and visit their advertised website, but also to attract people, who are interested in their product. While in banner advertising, advertiser needs to pay for every impression and no matter if site visitor sees the advertisement and clicks on it at PPC advertising, each click costs money. As a result of this, the text ad must not just try to draw as many clicks as feasible, but attract more clicks of people who are interested in product and are more probable to purchase the product. There are special methods to try to attain this goal, both on keyword related side and on the text ad side. In banner advertising, only method of getting improved converting traffic is to prefer the websites, where banner ad shall be displayed very cautiously. A danger of pay per click advertising, though, is the so called text box cecity. Internet users acquire the banner blindness following banner ads have been used on different websites frequently for number of years. The people mostly just do not realize banner ad any longer or don‘t show any interest in it at all. Banner ads are considered as a necessary evil so as to help lot of websites for offering free content. It is revered by many search engines that such a phenomenon may happen again with pay per click ads. Although the same may not happen in coming time soon, as the search engine users are really looking for something while using a search engine. They may not only read the subject of a site, and are looking for piece of information or stuff to buy or other things similar to that while using a search engine and looking at search engine results page. As a result it is very likely, that people will not actually acquire text box blindness (Greenspan, R., 2004). According to Andrew Goodman who have stated in his work in â€Å"Winning Results with Google AdWord† that international pay per click campaigns don‘t work that well. According to him the markets are too small for converting and running PPC campaigns are waste of money (Hotchkiss, G. ,2004).Another case to second his opinion is that effort for translating keywords and text advertisement in different languages is huge. On the other hand there exist products having huge consumer base. If the resources required to translate keywords and text ads are accessible, an attempt for getting international SEM movements may be a worth. This only makes sense, when a company actually sells products in relevant (Hansen, E., 2002). Buying key phrases in search engines entirely inspire the online advertising, as these infer the idea of Cost per Click -client of such type of advertising pays only when a visitor clicks on a precise advertisement (Carrera, 2009). Equating to SEO, PPC gives more control on visual aspect in search pages, due to amount bid and relevance of text ad (Chaffey et al., 2009). Alternatively of spending time controlling site codes and relevant contents, sellers can then pay for laying in search results (Sen, 2005). Carrera (2009) suggests that currently, main search engines have ad schemes related to hunts (Yahoo! Search Marketing, Google Adwords and Microsoft adCenter). When a particular visitor writes in search box, single or combination of   keywords, search page shows a set of sponsored links adopted by firms and organic search results, the ads are created by advertisers, with a upper limit of 25 characters in ad heading and 35 for text lines of ad and web address. As visible in Figure 2, advertisements are located in sponsored results region of searches -paid search (EConsultancy, 2008). Though, several sources point out many a time that consumers do not see difference among organic links and sponsored, clicking in links for query but with partial content (OConnor, 2009). In previous PPC programs, ranking of sponsored lists was founded on highest offer of cost per click for a particular keyword. But now, this is not essentially the case: search engines also need to pay attention towards relative click through rates of ads ads having fewer clicks will cut down the listing (Sullivan, 2007). This study is part of Quality Score, a idea shared by most of the search engines, and also analysis of match between keyword and occurrence of the keyword in text, historical click by rate, the engagement of searcher while clicking on ad, and also its loading speed and significance of the associated web page (Google, 2009). The main advantages of such an advertisement system is that it addresses the ads only to target that searched for those specific keywords, and the client only pays when users clicks on the ad. It also and allows the clients to change contents so as to the improve results, and plan the maximum amount of promotion investment and cost per click, and refine and control movements on a daily basis throughout search engine control panels (like Google Analytics). The advertisement stays online till the initial budget accomplishes the end (Google, 2009) and include the concept that PPC is very responsible, results are expected and are simpler to use in comparison to SEO, faster to get placed in search pages and branding effect. But it also has a negative side effect as well: it is highly spirited and exclusive costs per-click, scheming campaigns can be time downing, and many people will not trust ads (EConsultancy, 2008). Therefore, the dispute of this study is to study on how UK internet users differentiates between paid search results and organic search, and how often they click such paid results. 1 INTRODUCTION The topic of this explore, â€Å"Examination of UK Online Consumers sensing and Attitudes towards Marketing governed by Search Engine in context of Web 2.0† .Firstly, we need to understand what is Search Engine Marketing and is essential for contextualization of project. Carrera (2009) and Chaffey et al. (2009) have defined Search Engine Marketing as an action that affects promoting firms with the help of online search engines, to meet marketing targets by providing relevant content to users and search results, thus motivating to click on particular link. As for Search Engine Marketing Park and Kim (2008) have defined it as most measurable, strategic and governable way to build a dynamic and mutually good consumer to consumer and   also consumer to marketer communications about a certain service, product or company. It is acknowledged in field of marketing that the knowledge owned by customers, their prediction of relative conduct, and meeting expectations which is important and is key to success. As a result, internet marketers need to understand characteristics of users and internet habits of users in order to effectively find and reach target segments (Carrera, 2009; Chaffey et al., 2009). From position of consumer marketing, study of internet users and their decision making process should be based upon users characteristics and relative online behaviour. This study aims to critically find how UK online consumers comprehend and act in front of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and other activities, and main objectives are as follows: To realize impact of internet on existing modern day marketing. To look into the current circumstance of the Web 2.0 consumer, and its role on web To realize the modern day internet Consumers conduct towards marketing To look into key concepts related to Internet Marketing, poring specifically on SEM (Search Engine Marketing). To examine the ways UK consumers comprehend SEM activities, and evaluate mental attitude towards SEM activities. To suggest testimonials for further study or schemes in internet marketing context During the procedure of secondary search, there are several key questions ,   which forms the foundation of form elaboration: To what extent trust issues are a concern when analyzing activities for internet marketing and their effectiveness? How do consumer performs searches using search engine pages and what is considered more important during the search? Why internet users choose massively the organic results retrieved from a search engine page, instead of frequented links? What incites internet users in forward marketing emails to their friends and other users? How far consumers engage in company blogs and various social network pages? How do users interact with blogs and various social network pages? From a point of view of a user, web search engines require to provide applicable and useful results in reply to some user input, usually a query. Web search engines employ dozens of factors in knowing how to score significance and to rank the found results. Typically, the internet user has no thought what factors has lead to particular result being ranked and retrieved. One exception to this is sponsored links. Many web search engines currently give at least two types of search listings for web Search Engine Results Page (SERP). First type of links is non sponsored list, which web search engine show with the help of proprietary algorithms (Hotchkiss, G. ,2006). The other type of link is the sponsored list, which comes due to a bid on phrase that searcher has entered in his query. Most of the major web search engines available today present sponsored and non sponsored listings in different areas of SERP. For this one (and frequently only one Category), searchers are informed in broader terms how these result are retrieved. Why other results are not highlighted (for e.g., anchor text, page rank)? Certainly, the causal motivation is to highlight the economic motivation that caused the sponsored listing to come into view. Study shows that web searchers are biased against sponsored links (Hotchkiss, G., 2004). Though, assuming that web searchers wish relevant and helpful results in reply to their queries and sponsored links are as appropriate as against non sponsored results, are web search engines doing the web searchers a disservice by stressing the sponsored links so prominently? 1.1 The impact of the Internet on consumer marketing Analyzing the internet with regards to consumer marketing is important to understand .A simple question which arises is: What factors affect Internet consumer marketing? According to Chaffey et al. (2009) internet has enhanced marketing as first website made in 90s was (http://info.cern.ch/) (CERN, 2008), and now, there are more than one billion users using internet regularly and the manner companies sell products or services and way consumers react has changed emphatically. Peterson et al. (1999) honor this idea, debating that World Wide Web owned maximum potential for marketing. Drawing Success in business mostly depends upon technological knowledge and further gives competitive edge and remains continuous process. There are many authors who conceive that Internet play an important major impact on Marketing mix 4 Ps: in Product Mix, digital brought different services and products (e.g. software) and further added new features to already existing ones (Carrera, 2009). Avlonitis and Karayanni (2000) admit to the fact that internet helped the discovery of user needs, cut across and product testing; In Price Mix, Carrera (2009) expresses that there is significant reduction in costs is seen, which developed firms selling products or services at a very low price, with the use of web sites for e.g. a low-cost airlines. Nevertheless, the customization of services and products allows companies to appoint premium price, as they abide by with buyers tastes and is studied in detail by (Chaffey et al., 2009); For the Place, products and services like home banking has facilitated the interaction and reduced costs in comparison to other distribution channels. Besides, the ability to continue information related to clients is much more effective than traditional transfers, dealing the Promotion, with regards to digital context and advertising adapts directly to the needs of consumers, as it collects information related to these for e.g. detection   of IP address and profile of buyer for suggestions (Carrera, 2009). Furthermore, the promotion of a service /product is now also built by C2C basis, which is very difficult to control and there are different ways to manage (Mangold and Fauls, 2009), and will be analyzed later in project. All these elements have changed the manner consumers behave with companies, thus bringing a wider choice from all the different suppliers, and are a means to selecting and purchasing of items has turned out to be easier and faster. But for long customers are engaged and confident of this new way of marketing. 1.2 Web 2.0 A paper was published by Microsoft (2007), stating that web 2.0 is changing the internet into a powerful and authoritative medium, changing the way how society believes and behaves or reacts. The report confirms that especially social networking process is gathering people from different communities, and acting as a medium for personal reflection. This is consistent And is in accordance with Fu et al. (2007), and is said that use of collaborative technologies leads to an extraordinarily fast growing community which is virtual, here people pass by and share their information. These authors have agreed on the fact that World Wide Web is moving towards social web, and users have an important role in all the aspects of business and remains to be the main focus in this study. Consumers have embraced role of an important agent, who can express themselves using new tools, like wikis blogs or social networks (Carrera, 2009). In similar manner, Cheung and Lee (2009) contend that web has moved from being mere medium of information into a medium of content creation and further sharing. Chaffey et al. (2009) further gives arguments that the widespread acceptation of high speed broadband and world-wide media experiences are more and more used to absorb consumers with each other and also with companies. More and more people discuss online and interact with products and brand campaigns, in a manner of â€Å"viral effect†. These authors are in line with Carreras definition, which suggests that by addition of Web 2.0 it enhances in promoting interaction and user yielded content using virtual community and participation of social network, content ratings and widgets and tagging. However, it remains to be seen is how users are willing to absorb the internet marketing campaigns and further motivates user to share the latter. 1.3 Online Consumers behaviour towards e-Marketing Online users mostly dont have physical comfort provided by offline stores and a communication which is face to face. This concept is related to security problems and stories of fraud and internet commerce (Chaffey et al., 2009). As a result, consumers look for evidence of trust on a website, which may include brand familiarity or site appearance and quality of content, site may have official recognition and other recommendations given by users. Ha (2004) completes this discussion, by excusing that consumers have grown more internet savvy, they now insist on interacting with firms they trust. Various other trust factors are also added like privacy (risk of giving personal information), security related with payment risks, navigation like fulfilling access to various kind of information and related to order fulfillment (Bart et al., 2005; Ha, 2004). However, there are consumers who buy only on company websites: but also have other online sources, is important to purchase choice. Following the research conducted by AOL UK (2006), about 77% of all the respondents accord that if they read a negative review about a product on internet related, it would make them think about their purchase, 42% assumed that they had to switch and move towards a different brand. One of the most important sources for online information is the search engines, which is followed closely by websites of famous brands, price comparison websites and reviews/opinions available on internet, are written by experts, customer reviews on websites. One of the important factors is that these online sources for information reduce time spent in comparing product quality which is to be done before purchase, this is a common aspect related to offline context (Huang et al., 2009). As a result, it is important to carry on here   that the trust factors has an important role related to consumers perceptions towards online marketing, also consumers need to reach for different sources related to information of products they want to buy. 1.4 Attitudes of Online Consumers Towards e-Marketing Breitenbach and Van Doren (1998) studied five distinguished kind of internet users, which are accorded by different academics to continue valid currently (Chaffey et al., 2009): organized information seekers: Those who want to get information for product or leisure, services information, that generally are not brought online Unorganized information seekers: They are referred as â€Å"surfers†, and such users want to browse and change web sites using links, looks for interesting or different things and are   more expected to click on ads or banner Organized buyers: Such users are usually get online to purchase something specific. Websites which compare various products have an important role in this case. Bargain hunters: Users who want to get offers and promotions, so as to vindicate their investment in shopping. Entertainment seekers Such users look for complete online entertainment in various contests like puzzles ,quizzes, or games for multi-player, and lik to interact with various animated features available on web site Recently, a study from EConsultancy (2004) found a similar classification for online consumer behaviour, stating it does not involve behaviours which are applied to various people on the basis of product or occasion; different individuals may react or behave differently. The report found the â€Å"Tracker† and the â€Å"Explorer† concept. But it needs to be explored in detail, and is the kind of consumer who dont have any buying intention, and is exposed to internet marketing action (like Search Engine Marketing), which may result in a conversion. 1.5 Attitudes towards search engines To conduct product or service explores, consumers mostly use search engines. These are powerful consumer tools which retrieve relevant information related to products or services. Consumers can perform quick searches which are online by simply issuing queries built up of search products or services (Kumar and Lang, 2007). However, it is very important to note that not all consumers are searching for particular products; consumers mainly want to know for information on search engines. In reality, as Smith (2009) states, Yahoo and Googles (worlds most used search engine) objective is to retrieve relevant information related to the words queried. More so, information websites forever rank higher in comparison to profit-driven sites, continuing here an important dispute for Search Engine Marketing. To understand this consumer search engine conduct, iProspect a Search marketing company in (2006) carried out a research on the way consumers use search engines. The major findings were that 62% of users only look only at first page of results and ignore the rest. Aula and Rodden (2009) accomplished this finding, by demonstrating that users assess search results very quickly and most of the times make unconscious decisions, centering mainly on first two results for a particular search as shown in (Figure 1). iProspect also expresses that when consumers do not get what they were looking for, about 41% change their search term and 82% complicate their search with other complementary words. As for prestige, it was ascertained that about 36% consider that the firms enrolled at the top of search are best brands in market. The final feeling was that comparing with sponsored area, which is between 60% and 80% and click on natural or organic listings of search page. It remains to be searched why users mostly like organic links, and reasons behind not flicking on sponsored links. 1.6 Attitudes towards Emails Following a analysis by Habeas (2008), irrespective of email and other internet threat concerns, users are still and will continue to be dependent on email, irrespective of their relationships with business organization or from each one other through web 2.0 applications. The study   has revealed that nearly 69% of total users expressed concern related to email fraud scams, and many of them do not know how can they distinguish between possibly dangerous and emails that are trustable. It also showed that majority prefer firms that offer choices and content of emails. Mintel (2008) added up users that trust emails which come from similar companies who provide relevant information with least effort. In a seminar conducted by dotMailer (2009), it was mentioned that even though the current circumstance of web 2.0 era in which consumers have the power, still email is gateway to consumers. Users today have digital lives where every single user owns an email account (or may be more t Customer Attitudes Towards Search Engine Marketing Customer Attitudes Towards Search Engine Marketing Abstract The present study approaches the empathizing of the UK users behaviour with respect to internet when considere in presence of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and related activities, conceiving the present dynamic role of online and connected consumer who uses the internet and Web 2.0 tools like Social and Media Blogs. An online form survey, reaching up to 100 respondents actively using social network sites like â€Å"Face book†, analyzed the respondents social, demographic and general characteristics, their online behaviour, and their level of conflict with SEM activities. It also discovered the most democratic and the most often used internet tools. The review findings were mostly consistent with same kind of studies conducted in different regions of United Kingdom and Europe .the review of gathered data enabled to find relevant kinships between variables and equating answers through age, gender, and hours fagged on the internet. The results will give all internet marketers a d egree of perceptivity into their direct users, and will allow them to make strategies to provide for the targeted segments effectively. Also, this study will give a vital point of cite for future research related to internet marketing, which will be useful believing the current trends and development of particular marketing activity. The application using PHP and MySQL was designed to get the responses from respondents. Based on the responses collected from the sample of 68, the data was found and the conclusion has been done based on this data collection. The online questionnaire was uploaded on the web on the url http://searchresults.net63.net From this URL, one can access the questionnaire and fill up personal details followed by the responses to different situations. Based on this response, the data was captured onto the database. This database (of MySQL) was helpful to fetch the details and behaviour of individuals towards different options available on the websites. Technical Plan This study is planned as following: Initially, an exploration of previous or existing research and the documented evidence found are placed in the literature review section (chapter 2). Following this is, an explanation of how the study was carried out, which includes research design, followed by sampling, data collection methods, the methods used   for analysis and limitations are discussed in (chapter 3). Furthermore, the answers to research interrogations are discussed in detail in chapter 4, with a systematic analysis of the survey results. The application was being designed using PHP and MySQL. The former was used as the programming language with the back end database support through MySQL. Their personal details followed by their responses to different options available on the web are analysed to have a study on their behaviour for different situations. Based on this approach, the important analysis was further explored. Lastly, the conclusion of our research is accomplished in chapter 5, where study findings are analyzed using the point of observation of their contact on additional academic or professional research, which may include practical testimonials, limitations of findings and other areas for further research. For the purpose of my experiment I had designed a small application which counts clicks on particular links. I developed it in PHP and used MySQL database. The address of the application was located on the link that was made available online at http://searchresults.net63.net. One can easy get an access to this link to fill out the details in an easy manner. This helped in getting responses in a thorough manner. Through this approach, all the data was collected. 100 respondents were approached at initial stages. However, due to lack of response rate, it was noted that there is the need to reduce the sample size. So, I asked 68 participants to do the experiment. Mainly I sent emails to friends. I also went to Universitys library and asked some people to do the experiment. Basically I gave the address to people and once they typed it in a browser. They had to chose gender, age range and how experienced internet users they are. Then there was a short description explaining what will happ en. Participants had to imagine that they are looking for a watch to buy and were given search results copied from google on a ‘buy watches phrase. They had to click on any link they liked. Then they had to imagine that they are looking for a new TV. Search results for ‘buy tv phrase were displayed and they had to click on any. Lastly they were given search results for ‘buy books and again they had to click somewhere. All the clicks were saved in a database. There were organic and sponsored links. I used some simple SQL queries on myPHPadmin panel to extract the numbers. Critical review Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or else Pay per Click (PPC) marketing and is usually known in literature as well and is one of three diverse types of online marketing. The remaining two are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Banner Advertising. Precisely what they are, and how they work and advantages and disadvantages of different techniques are talked over in detail later in this report. Surveys conducted by EIAA i.e. European Interactive Advertising Association show the performance of European internet users and other online buyers or shoppers. As per their Online survey (for which around 7,008 people all across the Europe including UK, France ,Germany, , Italy ,Spain, the Nordics, Netherlands   and the Belgium were interviewed) Out of the total,76% of online buyers use search engines as a source of information. This study also stated deviations between users of the UK in particular. Before investigating the topic more closely, it is significant to define the word of SEM. Though in writing this form of marketing is frequently addressed to pay per click (also occasionally written as pay-per-click) marketing (Anderson, C., 2006). First of all a few definitions of term, to constitute the literature and will be introduced. An accurate explanation will follow later. Pay per click (PPC) is placement of small ads on the search outcome on a page for a precise keyword or set of keywords in return for a individual payment when a guest actually clicks particular ad (Battelle, J. ,2005) Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: A technique of marketing where a company pays a certain sum of money each time somebody clicks on a small advertisement on a search engine‘s results page or a homepage and then takes to the advertiser‘s website (Brin, S. and Page, L., 1998). Pay-per-click (PPC): The payment form used for patronized search advertising. Advertisers set bid on keywords and pay in case when searchers click on the search results listing related with those keywords (Broder, A., 2002). Pay per click advertising used for search engines can be explained most easily by following: The placement of a small content only adverts on search result page which is activated by a particular keyword or phrase equaling typed in search box (Brooks, N., 2004a). Pay Per Click: A performance based model of paying for online ads whereby payments are made for each click on a displayed advert, if there are no clicks then there will be no fee and is also known as CPC i.e. cost per click and CPA is known as cost per action (Brooks, N. ,2004a). This essentially means that there exists text based advertisements and are displayed on search engines result page and are next to natural search listings. Such Text ads are fore grounded by the search engines with different names like sponsored links and are typically on right hand side of a result page, and is clearly distinguished from natural search results which are displayed on left. From time to time one or more than one of those advertisements are showed on top of list, over the organic search results, fore grounded through a different backdrop color. The advertising companies can then decide which key phrase or words searches performed by the search engine users and where their ad should appear (Fain, D.C. and Pedersen, J.O. ,2006).The main mechanism of a search engine marketing operation are defining of important keywords, and the bidding on keywords and a good quality written text ad through a good call to act. The advantage of such methods of advertising when compared to banner ads is to facilitate the advertiser as he has to pay only when someone in fact clicks on the advertisement, and not only for imitation, which a customer might not be able to see. Search engines can show up to 8 Text advertisements of sponsored links on one page. The order of what text advertisement is displayed and the position is defined by how much amount each advertiser is ready to pay for searched keyword. The framework of pay per click advertising is founded on a bidding system. One of the major advantages of pay per click method is that audience is already targeted, as the people are in fact looking for something connected to the product and what company is offering(Fallows, D., 2005) .While banner advertising on other hand shows the ads to customers who may not necessarily be interested in it. They may only be interested in website where banner ad is currently displayed and may not even look at banner ad or may ignore it since they are not interested in buying anything. In addition to this, the online marketer also has the option to target clients by country and even by area or city. This utility was published in 2004 by Google. As a result online marketing is available to nearby situated business for e.g. restaurants .Similarly international companies that want to put up for sale their products outside their region (Feng, J. ,2002). Google also takes the possibility to show the text ads not only on their search engine results pages but also on their websites, clearly displayed as ads by Google. This utility is called as content network. The online marketer has authority on websites where his text advertisements will be shown at, particularly concerning the content. Though it is very hard for online marketer to have a influence on any other fraction of campaign. In addition, the analysis of data is not very suitable, because all parameters cannot be displayed as online marketer would like them to (Feng, J., Bhargava,2007). A very significant topic while talking about pay per click ads is the differentiation among good traffic and bad traffic. This topic impacts mainly PPC-advertising, as the advertiser pay for every single click, while in banner advertising payment method used is pay per impression. The aim of a pay per click advertising operation is not only to make users click on advertisement and visit their advertised website, but also to attract people, who are interested in their product. While in banner advertising, advertiser needs to pay for every impression and no matter if site visitor sees the advertisement and clicks on it at PPC advertising, each click costs money. As a result of this, the text ad must not just try to draw as many clicks as feasible, but attract more clicks of people who are interested in product and are more probable to purchase the product. There are special methods to try to attain this goal, both on keyword related side and on the text ad side. In banner advertising, only method of getting improved converting traffic is to prefer the websites, where banner ad shall be displayed very cautiously. A danger of pay per click advertising, though, is the so called text box cecity. Internet users acquire the banner blindness following banner ads have been used on different websites frequently for number of years. The people mostly just do not realize banner ad any longer or don‘t show any interest in it at all. Banner ads are considered as a necessary evil so as to help lot of websites for offering free content. It is revered by many search engines that such a phenomenon may happen again with pay per click ads. Although the same may not happen in coming time soon, as the search engine users are really looking for something while using a search engine. They may not only read the subject of a site, and are looking for piece of information or stuff to buy or other things similar to that while using a search engine and looking at search engine results page. As a result it is very likely, that people will not actually acquire text box blindness (Greenspan, R., 2004). According to Andrew Goodman who have stated in his work in â€Å"Winning Results with Google AdWord† that international pay per click campaigns don‘t work that well. According to him the markets are too small for converting and running PPC campaigns are waste of money (Hotchkiss, G. ,2004).Another case to second his opinion is that effort for translating keywords and text advertisement in different languages is huge. On the other hand there exist products having huge consumer base. If the resources required to translate keywords and text ads are accessible, an attempt for getting international SEM movements may be a worth. This only makes sense, when a company actually sells products in relevant (Hansen, E., 2002). Buying key phrases in search engines entirely inspire the online advertising, as these infer the idea of Cost per Click -client of such type of advertising pays only when a visitor clicks on a precise advertisement (Carrera, 2009). Equating to SEO, PPC gives more control on visual aspect in search pages, due to amount bid and relevance of text ad (Chaffey et al., 2009). Alternatively of spending time controlling site codes and relevant contents, sellers can then pay for laying in search results (Sen, 2005). Carrera (2009) suggests that currently, main search engines have ad schemes related to hunts (Yahoo! Search Marketing, Google Adwords and Microsoft adCenter). When a particular visitor writes in search box, single or combination of   keywords, search page shows a set of sponsored links adopted by firms and organic search results, the ads are created by advertisers, with a upper limit of 25 characters in ad heading and 35 for text lines of ad and web address. As visible in Figure 2, advertisements are located in sponsored results region of searches -paid search (EConsultancy, 2008). Though, several sources point out many a time that consumers do not see difference among organic links and sponsored, clicking in links for query but with partial content (OConnor, 2009). In previous PPC programs, ranking of sponsored lists was founded on highest offer of cost per click for a particular keyword. But now, this is not essentially the case: search engines also need to pay attention towards relative click through rates of ads ads having fewer clicks will cut down the listing (Sullivan, 2007). This study is part of Quality Score, a idea shared by most of the search engines, and also analysis of match between keyword and occurrence of the keyword in text, historical click by rate, the engagement of searcher while clicking on ad, and also its loading speed and significance of the associated web page (Google, 2009). The main advantages of such an advertisement system is that it addresses the ads only to target that searched for those specific keywords, and the client only pays when users clicks on the ad. It also and allows the clients to change contents so as to the improve results, and plan the maximum amount of promotion investment and cost per click, and refine and control movements on a daily basis throughout search engine control panels (like Google Analytics). The advertisement stays online till the initial budget accomplishes the end (Google, 2009) and include the concept that PPC is very responsible, results are expected and are simpler to use in comparison to SEO, faster to get placed in search pages and branding effect. But it also has a negative side effect as well: it is highly spirited and exclusive costs per-click, scheming campaigns can be time downing, and many people will not trust ads (EConsultancy, 2008). Therefore, the dispute of this study is to study on how UK internet users differentiates between paid search results and organic search, and how often they click such paid results. 1 INTRODUCTION The topic of this explore, â€Å"Examination of UK Online Consumers sensing and Attitudes towards Marketing governed by Search Engine in context of Web 2.0† .Firstly, we need to understand what is Search Engine Marketing and is essential for contextualization of project. Carrera (2009) and Chaffey et al. (2009) have defined Search Engine Marketing as an action that affects promoting firms with the help of online search engines, to meet marketing targets by providing relevant content to users and search results, thus motivating to click on particular link. As for Search Engine Marketing Park and Kim (2008) have defined it as most measurable, strategic and governable way to build a dynamic and mutually good consumer to consumer and   also consumer to marketer communications about a certain service, product or company. It is acknowledged in field of marketing that the knowledge owned by customers, their prediction of relative conduct, and meeting expectations which is important and is key to success. As a result, internet marketers need to understand characteristics of users and internet habits of users in order to effectively find and reach target segments (Carrera, 2009; Chaffey et al., 2009). From position of consumer marketing, study of internet users and their decision making process should be based upon users characteristics and relative online behaviour. This study aims to critically find how UK online consumers comprehend and act in front of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and other activities, and main objectives are as follows: To realize impact of internet on existing modern day marketing. To look into the current circumstance of the Web 2.0 consumer, and its role on web To realize the modern day internet Consumers conduct towards marketing To look into key concepts related to Internet Marketing, poring specifically on SEM (Search Engine Marketing). To examine the ways UK consumers comprehend SEM activities, and evaluate mental attitude towards SEM activities. To suggest testimonials for further study or schemes in internet marketing context During the procedure of secondary search, there are several key questions ,   which forms the foundation of form elaboration: To what extent trust issues are a concern when analyzing activities for internet marketing and their effectiveness? How do consumer performs searches using search engine pages and what is considered more important during the search? Why internet users choose massively the organic results retrieved from a search engine page, instead of frequented links? What incites internet users in forward marketing emails to their friends and other users? How far consumers engage in company blogs and various social network pages? How do users interact with blogs and various social network pages? From a point of view of a user, web search engines require to provide applicable and useful results in reply to some user input, usually a query. Web search engines employ dozens of factors in knowing how to score significance and to rank the found results. Typically, the internet user has no thought what factors has lead to particular result being ranked and retrieved. One exception to this is sponsored links. Many web search engines currently give at least two types of search listings for web Search Engine Results Page (SERP). First type of links is non sponsored list, which web search engine show with the help of proprietary algorithms (Hotchkiss, G. ,2006). The other type of link is the sponsored list, which comes due to a bid on phrase that searcher has entered in his query. Most of the major web search engines available today present sponsored and non sponsored listings in different areas of SERP. For this one (and frequently only one Category), searchers are informed in broader terms how these result are retrieved. Why other results are not highlighted (for e.g., anchor text, page rank)? Certainly, the causal motivation is to highlight the economic motivation that caused the sponsored listing to come into view. Study shows that web searchers are biased against sponsored links (Hotchkiss, G., 2004). Though, assuming that web searchers wish relevant and helpful results in reply to their queries and sponsored links are as appropriate as against non sponsored results, are web search engines doing the web searchers a disservice by stressing the sponsored links so prominently? 1.1 The impact of the Internet on consumer marketing Analyzing the internet with regards to consumer marketing is important to understand .A simple question which arises is: What factors affect Internet consumer marketing? According to Chaffey et al. (2009) internet has enhanced marketing as first website made in 90s was (http://info.cern.ch/) (CERN, 2008), and now, there are more than one billion users using internet regularly and the manner companies sell products or services and way consumers react has changed emphatically. Peterson et al. (1999) honor this idea, debating that World Wide Web owned maximum potential for marketing. Drawing Success in business mostly depends upon technological knowledge and further gives competitive edge and remains continuous process. There are many authors who conceive that Internet play an important major impact on Marketing mix 4 Ps: in Product Mix, digital brought different services and products (e.g. software) and further added new features to already existing ones (Carrera, 2009). Avlonitis and Karayanni (2000) admit to the fact that internet helped the discovery of user needs, cut across and product testing; In Price Mix, Carrera (2009) expresses that there is significant reduction in costs is seen, which developed firms selling products or services at a very low price, with the use of web sites for e.g. a low-cost airlines. Nevertheless, the customization of services and products allows companies to appoint premium price, as they abide by with buyers tastes and is studied in detail by (Chaffey et al., 2009); For the Place, products and services like home banking has facilitated the interaction and reduced costs in comparison to other distribution channels. Besides, the ability to continue information related to clients is much more effective than traditional transfers, dealing the Promotion, with regards to digital context and advertising adapts directly to the needs of consumers, as it collects information related to these for e.g. detection   of IP address and profile of buyer for suggestions (Carrera, 2009). Furthermore, the promotion of a service /product is now also built by C2C basis, which is very difficult to control and there are different ways to manage (Mangold and Fauls, 2009), and will be analyzed later in project. All these elements have changed the manner consumers behave with companies, thus bringing a wider choice from all the different suppliers, and are a means to selecting and purchasing of items has turned out to be easier and faster. But for long customers are engaged and confident of this new way of marketing. 1.2 Web 2.0 A paper was published by Microsoft (2007), stating that web 2.0 is changing the internet into a powerful and authoritative medium, changing the way how society believes and behaves or reacts. The report confirms that especially social networking process is gathering people from different communities, and acting as a medium for personal reflection. This is consistent And is in accordance with Fu et al. (2007), and is said that use of collaborative technologies leads to an extraordinarily fast growing community which is virtual, here people pass by and share their information. These authors have agreed on the fact that World Wide Web is moving towards social web, and users have an important role in all the aspects of business and remains to be the main focus in this study. Consumers have embraced role of an important agent, who can express themselves using new tools, like wikis blogs or social networks (Carrera, 2009). In similar manner, Cheung and Lee (2009) contend that web has moved from being mere medium of information into a medium of content creation and further sharing. Chaffey et al. (2009) further gives arguments that the widespread acceptation of high speed broadband and world-wide media experiences are more and more used to absorb consumers with each other and also with companies. More and more people discuss online and interact with products and brand campaigns, in a manner of â€Å"viral effect†. These authors are in line with Carreras definition, which suggests that by addition of Web 2.0 it enhances in promoting interaction and user yielded content using virtual community and participation of social network, content ratings and widgets and tagging. However, it remains to be seen is how users are willing to absorb the internet marketing campaigns and further motivates user to share the latter. 1.3 Online Consumers behaviour towards e-Marketing Online users mostly dont have physical comfort provided by offline stores and a communication which is face to face. This concept is related to security problems and stories of fraud and internet commerce (Chaffey et al., 2009). As a result, consumers look for evidence of trust on a website, which may include brand familiarity or site appearance and quality of content, site may have official recognition and other recommendations given by users. Ha (2004) completes this discussion, by excusing that consumers have grown more internet savvy, they now insist on interacting with firms they trust. Various other trust factors are also added like privacy (risk of giving personal information), security related with payment risks, navigation like fulfilling access to various kind of information and related to order fulfillment (Bart et al., 2005; Ha, 2004). However, there are consumers who buy only on company websites: but also have other online sources, is important to purchase choice. Following the research conducted by AOL UK (2006), about 77% of all the respondents accord that if they read a negative review about a product on internet related, it would make them think about their purchase, 42% assumed that they had to switch and move towards a different brand. One of the most important sources for online information is the search engines, which is followed closely by websites of famous brands, price comparison websites and reviews/opinions available on internet, are written by experts, customer reviews on websites. One of the important factors is that these online sources for information reduce time spent in comparing product quality which is to be done before purchase, this is a common aspect related to offline context (Huang et al., 2009). As a result, it is important to carry on here   that the trust factors has an important role related to consumers perceptions towards online marketing, also consumers need to reach for different sources related to information of products they want to buy. 1.4 Attitudes of Online Consumers Towards e-Marketing Breitenbach and Van Doren (1998) studied five distinguished kind of internet users, which are accorded by different academics to continue valid currently (Chaffey et al., 2009): organized information seekers: Those who want to get information for product or leisure, services information, that generally are not brought online Unorganized information seekers: They are referred as â€Å"surfers†, and such users want to browse and change web sites using links, looks for interesting or different things and are   more expected to click on ads or banner Organized buyers: Such users are usually get online to purchase something specific. Websites which compare various products have an important role in this case. Bargain hunters: Users who want to get offers and promotions, so as to vindicate their investment in shopping. Entertainment seekers Such users look for complete online entertainment in various contests like puzzles ,quizzes, or games for multi-player, and lik to interact with various animated features available on web site Recently, a study from EConsultancy (2004) found a similar classification for online consumer behaviour, stating it does not involve behaviours which are applied to various people on the basis of product or occasion; different individuals may react or behave differently. The report found the â€Å"Tracker† and the â€Å"Explorer† concept. But it needs to be explored in detail, and is the kind of consumer who dont have any buying intention, and is exposed to internet marketing action (like Search Engine Marketing), which may result in a conversion. 1.5 Attitudes towards search engines To conduct product or service explores, consumers mostly use search engines. These are powerful consumer tools which retrieve relevant information related to products or services. Consumers can perform quick searches which are online by simply issuing queries built up of search products or services (Kumar and Lang, 2007). However, it is very important to note that not all consumers are searching for particular products; consumers mainly want to know for information on search engines. In reality, as Smith (2009) states, Yahoo and Googles (worlds most used search engine) objective is to retrieve relevant information related to the words queried. More so, information websites forever rank higher in comparison to profit-driven sites, continuing here an important dispute for Search Engine Marketing. To understand this consumer search engine conduct, iProspect a Search marketing company in (2006) carried out a research on the way consumers use search engines. The major findings were that 62% of users only look only at first page of results and ignore the rest. Aula and Rodden (2009) accomplished this finding, by demonstrating that users assess search results very quickly and most of the times make unconscious decisions, centering mainly on first two results for a particular search as shown in (Figure 1). iProspect also expresses that when consumers do not get what they were looking for, about 41% change their search term and 82% complicate their search with other complementary words. As for prestige, it was ascertained that about 36% consider that the firms enrolled at the top of search are best brands in market. The final feeling was that comparing with sponsored area, which is between 60% and 80% and click on natural or organic listings of search page. It remains to be searched why users mostly like organic links, and reasons behind not flicking on sponsored links. 1.6 Attitudes towards Emails Following a analysis by Habeas (2008), irrespective of email and other internet threat concerns, users are still and will continue to be dependent on email, irrespective of their relationships with business organization or from each one other through web 2.0 applications. The study   has revealed that nearly 69% of total users expressed concern related to email fraud scams, and many of them do not know how can they distinguish between possibly dangerous and emails that are trustable. It also showed that majority prefer firms that offer choices and content of emails. Mintel (2008) added up users that trust emails which come from similar companies who provide relevant information with least effort. In a seminar conducted by dotMailer (2009), it was mentioned that even though the current circumstance of web 2.0 era in which consumers have the power, still email is gateway to consumers. Users today have digital lives where every single user owns an email account (or may be more t

Representations Of Arabs In Shakespearean Plays English Literature Essay

Representations Of Arabs In Shakespearean Plays English Literature Essay The early years of the 1550s witnessed the first sizeable appearance of black people in England; those whom English merchants took captive and brought to England to work as slaves (Barthelemy 1987). John Hawkins was among the earliest English adventurers to bring black people to England and to sell some other black Africans into slavery in the New Found World. In the 1550s, a black man who was brought to England was married to a native white woman. The child that the mixed couple brought to life was described as black as coal. Arabs include Moors and Moroccan as well as the people that originated from the Arabian Gulf, Middle East and North Africa. Others may include other Eastern people such as Turks. The wordmoors is a loose term that is often used in the Medieval and Renaissance England. It referred to the moor, black moor, and Negroes, Indians, Mahometans and Muslims. These terms are more than not used interchangeably. It has been seen that these people have played various roles in Shakespearean plays. One example of which is Othello. The main character of the tragedy, Othello, is a racial and cultural outsider in Venice. This paper examines the links between the Arabs and stereotypes and how well they were represented in the Shakespearean plays. Further, this paper seeks to explain how the Arabs were viewed in these plays; the sorts of stereotypes that were linked to the Arabs; how these stereotypes influenced that plays and its protagonists; and the change representations and evolutions of the Arabs in the play. Problem Statement and Research Questions It is evident that the Arabs played a great part in the plays of Shakespeare, especially in the tragedy Othello. These representations have emerged as a major topic in modern and contemporary scholarships. Various studies have representations of Arabs in the English and European literature. This papers main research problem is that, on the representation of Arabs in Shakespeares plays, what is the link between the representation and the stereotypes? Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. How were the Arabs viewed in the plays of Shakespeare? 2. What sorts of stereotypes were linked to the Arabs? These stereotypes were from Shakespeares contemporary society and time frame which is 16th and 17th century Britain. 3. How these stereotypes affected the plays and its protagonists? 4. How do the Arab representations changed and evolved in the plays? Research Objectives The main objective of this paper is examining the link between the stereotypes and the Arab representation made by Shakespeare in his plays. These stereotypes were from Shakespeares contemporary society and time frame which is 16th and 17th century Britain. This aims to examine the effects these representation had on the written plays as well as to study the evolution of these representations. Scope and Limitation The scope of the study shall remain in the examination of the linkage between the Arab representation of Shakespeare in his plays and with the stereotypes of his time. It can be said that this shall include interdisciplinary studies of history and literature. However, this paper shall remain a paper for literature. Arab will be the term to be used in this study; however, this may also include other Eastern people such as Turks, as necessary. Since the main focus of the study is on Arab representation of Shakespearean classics, the researcher will only be limited to the examination of the same. Therefore, the researcher shall not include other literary works that have the same subject. Finally, the researcher will not be concerned on the analysis and the criticism of the literary pieces that include the representation because of the reasons that were mentioned in the aims of this study. Review of Related Literature In the tragedy, Othello, casting the male protagonist as black, Shakespeare activates all the fantasms that have haunted white society about miscegenation to our day: the idea of the black man and the white woman. The double standards of contemporary society, a fortiriori in Shakespeares time, do not hold the same anger against relations between a white man and a black woman, where the assumed dominant and submissive gender roles are matched in the racists minds with the desired racial roles (Serageldin 1998). Shakespeare draws out a powerful argument for the profound alienation of Othello, who-despite arriving at his position by Venetian merit, which also requires him to deny himself-is still destroyed because of his race and his erstwhile, if not continued, religion. When it comes to Morocco and the image of Moors, generally speaking, the relationship between Morocco and England was a friendly one. All along, the relations between the two monarchs were of special nature in spite of the fact that violations happened from time to time from both sides. As has been pointed out in the introduction and throughout this thesis, the Anglo-Moroccan alliance was at some point so strong that the two sides fought side by side in the Cadiz expedition to punish the Spanish (the common enemies of the Moors and the English) and planned to restore the contender of the Portuguese to his Royal seat and to challenge the Spanish interests in the Atlantic and the West Indies. Matar describes the relations between England and Morocco in the Elizabethan period as oscillating between cooperation and conflict, trade and piracy. However, it should be noted here that the Moors, historically speaking, were not so much abhorred by Elizabethan Englishmen as many of their Europe an foes; mainly the Spanish and the French. The then anti-foreign sentiment (whether anti- Spanish, French, Dutch or African) was common. The Moors, though different in religion, and in color, were treated by Britons no worse than, may be better than, any other European, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish or French, aliens, pirates, merchants or ambassadors. Shakespeare is not the only dramatist who utilized foreign and exotic settings in his plays, but Shakespeares distinction was that he did well what many others have failed to do. He was able to imagine life from the perspective of these others while many of his fellow playwrights could not (Elaskary 2008). Shakespeare was bold enough in introducing a revolution in the representation of the Moor, as he did with the Jew. Shakespeare introduced his audience and readers to different types of Moors and blackmoors. The most famous, rather notorious, among Shakespeares Moors (other than Othello) is Aaron in Titus Andronicus while Caliban in The Tempest deservedly takes the status of his deputy. Aaron is among Shakespeares articulated villains. He is described as inhuman dog, unhallowed slave [Act V, iii, 14] and he commits horrible crimes against other characters in the play. Caliban is a little picaresque dwarfish character. Shakespeares Moors are portrayed in a way that is independent and unique yet not very detached from the time or society in which the plays were written. Othello may have some elements of the stereotypal Moor of his time but he is far more human, influential, and independent. Though the play was acted before King James I and his men, Shakespeare, unlike the majority of his contemporary dramatists, seems not to have been involved in the then fashionable habit of worshipping his King and stigmatizing the Others and foreigners to amuse the King and his retinue (Elaskary 2008). When it came to the representation of Moors in Elizabethan drama, it was concluded by Elaskary (2008) that the image of Moors was not static, though stereotypal; it was varied, inconsistent, contradictory and illogical. As the relations between Morocco and England ranged from friendship to enmity so did the image of Moors. When sketching out the plays that were written in the Elizabethan era, the reader may find the raging Turk; the good Turk, the voluptuous, treacherous black Moor, and the noble Moor. The trend at that time, however, was that in general the others (be they blacks, Moors, Spaniards, French, or Irish) would be the villains, the plotters, and the killers while the white natives would be the courageous men and defenders of country and Queen. Sins and crimes have been committed by the black and the white peoples since the dawn of history but the key point is, that when the white man commits a crime this does not indicate or involve an inherent judgment of his race or the nationality to which he belongs as it does with the black man. The representation of Moors in the period under study (as has always been) was always politically motivated. That is why the prudent reader will notice that that Moors with darker skin were more often painted in the darkest colors; merciless conspirators, haters and murderers, than those light or brown skin Moors. Muly Mahamet, Aaron and Caliban may fit in this category. North African Moors, however, fared well on the London stage. Abdelmelec, Muly Hamet and Othello come in this category. If nothing could have washed the black Moors white the friendly ties between Morocco and England positively affected the way Moors from Morocco were represented on the London stage (Elaskary 2008). It turns out that it was the political element rather than the religious, racial or cultural ones that played the leading role when it came to representing the other in Elizabethan England. It might not have been safer (or wiser) for Elizabethan dramatists to flatly oppose, challenge, or criticize the pol itical line of the period. Those who did boldly challenge and question the political taboos at that time ended up penniless or in jail. Thus, John Marston (and Robert Greene) was imprisoned and his manuscripts burnt for his anti-James I writings at the turn of the seventeenth century (Farag). Othellos tragedy is bared before the audiences eyes, and continues to challenge the racism and gender double standards that plague society today. It acknowledges the profound human frailties that jealousy can prey upon in all of us, but it also invites us to question the social context that would prevent people to behave in a natural and humane way and invites us to ask why it should be so (Serageldin 1998). Methodology and Method of Analysis Data driven research is an easy choice for the researcher. This is a flexible and responsive approach and the researcher will not know where the data can lead into. Although the literature is quite difficult because at the start of the study the researcher will not know which literature will be relevant later. Reading is therefore postponed until the literatures relevance is judged later on. Consequently, this may affect the structure of the research later on. Secondly, it is not only the interpretation and the understanding that emerge during the research process. The same is also applied in choosing the methodology. The contents of the research and its process both develop during the proceedings of the research. It has been a debate amongst research students the misalignment between the philosophical pluralism and methodological pluralism. This misalignment can create confusion during the entire research process. When linking the quantitative and qualitative methods of research with the understanding interpretation of philosophy which is positivism and interpretive, the research process often becomes too difficult for many. Along with other constraints, researchers face lack of time, intensity of program, through to willingness in engaging with literature. This confusion drives researchers to remove themselves in the theory and just carry out the research based on their initial goal on what to achieve in it. This relationship between the methods and philosophy has caused this current research on the investigation of Shakespeares portrayal of Richard III with so much anxiety and thought provoking questions. In this research, quantitative tools are used together with the inductive and deductive approaches. Easterby-Smith, et al (2002) has highlighted the importance of the relationship between the research philosophy and the research methods. According to them, this relationship allows one in taking a more informed decision regarding the research approach; helps in deciding which method/s are appropriate for the research; lets the researcher think about constraints that may hinder the research. Checkland and Hollwell (1998) added the component of framework which is epistemology. This consists of assumptions and counted as knowledge. It is expected that researchers shall explain and justify their respective epistemologies, their methodology and methods as well as their conclusions. Evidently, this approach encourages the researchers in being more mindful during the research process. Qualitative research allows the subjects being studied to give much richer answers to questions put to them by the researcher, and may give valuable insights which might have been missed by any other method. Not only does it provide valuable information to certain research questions in its own right but there is a strong case for using it to complement quantitative research methods. Qualitative research has its roots in social science and is more concerned with understanding why people behave as they do: their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, fears, etc. Conclusion In the tragedy, Othello, casting the male protagonist as black, Shakespeare activates all the fantasms that have haunted white society about miscegenation to our day: the idea of the black man and the white woman. The double standards of contemporary society, a fortiriori in Shakespeares time, do not hold the same anger against relations between a white man and a black woman, where the assumed dominant and submissive gender roles are matched in the racists minds with the desired racial roles. Shakespeare draws out a powerful argument for the profound alienation of Othello, who-despite arriving at his position by Venetian merit, which also requires him to deny himself-is still destroyed because of his race and his erstwhile, if not continued, religion. The representation of Moors in the period under study (as has always been) was always politically motivated. That is why the prudent reader will notice that that moors with darker skin were more often painted in the darkest colors; merciless conspirators, haters and murderers, than those light or brown skin Moors. It turns out that it was the political element rather than the religious, racial or cultural ones that played the leading role when it came to representing the other in Elizabethan England. It might not have been safer (or wiser) for Elizabethan dramatists to flatly oppose, challenge, or criticize the political line of the period. Those who did boldly challenge and question the political taboos at that time ended up penniless or in jail. Othellos tragedy is bared before the audiences eyes, and continues to challenge the racism and gender double standards that plague society today. It acknowledges the profound human frailties that jealousy can prey upon in all of us, but it also invites us to question the social context that would prevent people to behave in a natural and humane way and invites us to ask why it should be so. Work Plan and Timetable Task Description Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Writing of Research Proposal; Intensive Review of Related Studies Execution of Research Methodology Analysis of Data Gathered Writing the Research Paper Presentation and Defense of the Research Paper

Management and Leadership Essay -- Business Management Leading Leader

Management and Leadership Management and leadership are two words that are considered synonymous but describe two different concepts. According to the dictionary, management is the act, manner, or practice of managing; handling, supervision, or control; leadership is the capacity or ability to lead. In many organizations, management is a job description; leadership is a positive trait. The purpose of this paper is to distinguish between the two, to look at the responsibilities that come with leadership, and make suggestions about creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture. Management is 'the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals' (Bateman-Snell, 2003, p. 14). Management is a theory and a way of doing business. Management is a process that is exercised in order for an organization to be successful. This process is usually broken down into four established functions: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (Bateman-Snell, 2003, p. 14). The people within an organization that practice management are called managers. Managers are 'principally administrators' they write business plans, set budgets and monitor progress? (Maccoby, 2000, para 1). Other tasks handled by managers are problem-solving and facilitating meetings. Managers usually achieve their position through experience and understanding. A manager obtains authority through time and loyalty. A manager knows how the organization works and may also possess a good technical knowledge. People follow a manager because as employees, they are forced to, but preferably ?a manager is also a leader that people want to follow? (Maccoby, 2000, para 8). Leadership is ?one of the many assets a successful manager must possess? (The Difference, 1997, para 2). While management can be considered a position, leadership can be considered a relationship. Leadership is the connection between the leader and led that makes management successful. This connection can strengthen the organization and make the work more focused and effective. Leadership is the ability to get people to follow. A person who exhibits the trait of leadership is called a leader. A leader is a person who ?influences others to attain goals? (McGraw-Hill, 2003, p. 366). A leader exhibits special qualities that induce people to admire her. These qualities can include drive, moti... ...rs and great leaders. There are a variety of ways to practice good management and effective leadership. There is no one best way. Leadership is constant and continual developmental process. A successful leader appreciates the responsibilities that come with the role. The leader must find the right steps to establish and maintain a healthy organizational culture. It is important to design the culture by involving employees and inspiring them to follow it. By doing this, the culture will be a fulfilling one, and satisfied employees make a successful organization. Works Cited Bateman-Snell (Ed.). (2003). Management: The New Competitive Landscape, Sixth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Maccoby, M. (2000). Understanding the Difference between Management and Leadership. Research Technology Management, 43. Retrieved January 29, 2005 from http://www.maccoby.com/Articles/UtDBMaL.html. Schein, E. (n.d.) Organizational Culture and Leadership. Retrieved January 30, 2005, from http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/schein.html. The Difference between Management and Leadership (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2005, from http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/Documents/Intro/leader.html. Management and Leadership Essay -- Business Management Leading Leader Management and Leadership Management and leadership are two words that are considered synonymous but describe two different concepts. According to the dictionary, management is the act, manner, or practice of managing; handling, supervision, or control; leadership is the capacity or ability to lead. In many organizations, management is a job description; leadership is a positive trait. The purpose of this paper is to distinguish between the two, to look at the responsibilities that come with leadership, and make suggestions about creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture. Management is 'the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals' (Bateman-Snell, 2003, p. 14). Management is a theory and a way of doing business. Management is a process that is exercised in order for an organization to be successful. This process is usually broken down into four established functions: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (Bateman-Snell, 2003, p. 14). The people within an organization that practice management are called managers. Managers are 'principally administrators' they write business plans, set budgets and monitor progress? (Maccoby, 2000, para 1). Other tasks handled by managers are problem-solving and facilitating meetings. Managers usually achieve their position through experience and understanding. A manager obtains authority through time and loyalty. A manager knows how the organization works and may also possess a good technical knowledge. People follow a manager because as employees, they are forced to, but preferably ?a manager is also a leader that people want to follow? (Maccoby, 2000, para 8). Leadership is ?one of the many assets a successful manager must possess? (The Difference, 1997, para 2). While management can be considered a position, leadership can be considered a relationship. Leadership is the connection between the leader and led that makes management successful. This connection can strengthen the organization and make the work more focused and effective. Leadership is the ability to get people to follow. A person who exhibits the trait of leadership is called a leader. A leader is a person who ?influences others to attain goals? (McGraw-Hill, 2003, p. 366). A leader exhibits special qualities that induce people to admire her. These qualities can include drive, moti... ...rs and great leaders. There are a variety of ways to practice good management and effective leadership. There is no one best way. Leadership is constant and continual developmental process. A successful leader appreciates the responsibilities that come with the role. The leader must find the right steps to establish and maintain a healthy organizational culture. It is important to design the culture by involving employees and inspiring them to follow it. By doing this, the culture will be a fulfilling one, and satisfied employees make a successful organization. Works Cited Bateman-Snell (Ed.). (2003). Management: The New Competitive Landscape, Sixth Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Maccoby, M. (2000). Understanding the Difference between Management and Leadership. Research Technology Management, 43. Retrieved January 29, 2005 from http://www.maccoby.com/Articles/UtDBMaL.html. Schein, E. (n.d.) Organizational Culture and Leadership. Retrieved January 30, 2005, from http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/schein.html. The Difference between Management and Leadership (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2005, from http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/ME96/Documents/Intro/leader.html.

The Death Penalty Is Morally Unjustified Essay -- anti capital punishm

The earliest historical record of the death penalty otherwise known as capital punishment goes back as far as the eighteenth century B.C., when the code of King Hammurabi of Babylon listed 25 crimes which were punishable by death. Since then, the uses of the death penalty have prevailed throughout the ages in laws and justice systems of different civilizations. For instance, the Draconian Code of Athens punishes all crimes with the death penalty. During those times, the death penalty involved suffering a gruesome death such as being burnt alive, impaling, crucifixion and stoning (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011). In America, capital punishment was first implemented with the arrival of early European settlers as a form of punishment for various serious crimes. Although the scope of crime punishable by death penalty differs among the states, many states used to follow the British codes of conduct which declares 13 crimes to be punishable by the death penalty (Information Plus, 1995, â€Å"Capital punishment: cruel and unusual?†). Currently, death penalty has been abolished in many countries except for roughly 25 countries which carried out execution in year 2009 (antideathpealty.org, 2011). In America as of year 2011, the death penalty has been abolished in 4 states, leaving 34 other states still practicing it. However, the number of executions and death sentence has decreased tremendously over the years. (Dieter, 2011) With the European Union and the Human Right Watch pressing for the abolishment of death penalty, there is much disparity and debate among the citizens of the United States of America on whether the death penalty should be continued or abolished. For the advocates of the death penalty, they champion death ... ...://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/StruckByLightning.pdf> Information Plus, (1995), ‘Capital Punishment: Cruel And Unusual?’, in Braid, R.M. and Rosenbaum, S.E., Punishment And The Death Penalty, 1st edition, Prometheus Books, New York, pg.103-110. Morgan, E. (2011), ‘The Death Penalty Does Not Deliver Justice’, in Friedman, L.S., The Death Penalty, Thomson Gale, Farmington Hills, pg.52-63 Reiman, J.F. (1995), ‘Reiman: Answering Van Den Haag’, in Baird, R.M. and Rosenbaum, S.E., Punishment And The Death Penalty: The Current Debate, Prometheus Books, New York, pg. 175-205 Sheffer, S. (2006), ‘The Death Penalty is Unjust’ in Friedman, L.S., The Death Penalty, Thomson Gale, Farmington Hills, pg. 25-31. Trumbach, T. (2011), ‘The Death Penalty Does Not Violate Human Rights’ in Friedman, L.S., The Death Penalty, Thomson Gale, Farmington Hills, pg.79-83

Cookridge Ltd Essay

Inkwell is a Public limited company and was established in 2003, seven years ago by two of its three controlling shareholders, Paul Farnon and Victoria Dawson. Two years ago Anil Gupta bought into the company and joined the board as Finance Director. The company has its head office and warehouse on the industrial estate in Birmingham, where the management team and account department resides, including a large central warehouse. 4.2 The business was set up to offer a part exchange facility online accessible 24 hours a day or physically bring them into one of the 60 shops, and supplies a complete range of re-manufactured inkjet and toner cartridges through nationwide high street shops. Its main competitors are suppliers in the cartridge supplier sector in UK. Its main internal stakeholders are its Board of Directors, being the investors and manager of the organization. Employees, they are the workers of the organization in various departments to run its operations in return for a salary. Its external stakeholders are its: Supplier’s, these are the people that provide the supplies of re-manufactured inkjet and laser toner cartridge after it has been refilled. Customers that pay on cash, order online, or buy at one of the nationwide network of shops. These customers account for 80% of Inkwell Limited revenue. Government of UK, they are interested in the performance of the business in order to be able to collect the taxes on the profit levels. 4.4 The shareholders are still heavily involved in the day to day operations with Paul Fernon as Managing Director with 40% shares with the largest share, Victoria Dawson as Sales Director with 30% shares and Anil Gupta as Finance Director with 30% shares. A qualified Accountant Alex Fox has been employed as the first member of the accountant team that reports to Michael O’Payne but have direct access to the Finance Director as well. 4.5 Inkwell Limited is organized into departments and has an equivalent of 180 employees including  the accounting de partment – see Appendix on page for a structured chart. Analysis and evaluating the system Structure and Function 5.1 The Company Accountant is Michael O’Payne who’s responsible for the running of the accounting department. The first member of the accounts team is Alex Fox with other 5 full time staff. 5.2 The computerized system in the head office is an integrated system which is linked between the different accounting functions. While in other 60 shops they are on a stand-alone basis and data and information are stored separately. 5.3 The different section of the department, its staff and responsibilities: General Ledger and Inventory- Michelle Labelle account clerk. Responsible for entering relevant data into the general ledger, keep financial control over companies inventories. Purchase ledger- Liana Khan accounts clerk. Responsible for liaising with suppliers and other associated transactions. Sales ledger- Greg Morris accounts clerk. Responsible for dealing with customers and other associated transactions. Costing- Alan Cook costing technician. Responsible for dealing with in put costs and other associated transactions. Payroll- Sharon Ward, BA (Hons) is a personnel database and wage clerk. Responsible for preparing monthly salaries and wages for all the employees and all associated transactions and second is to maintain the personnel database. 5.4 The accounting functions in details are: Processing and recording of the financial transactions of the credit customers and credit suppliers of the different sections in the accounts department. Preparation of management information’s on credit sales, credit purchases, costing and payroll associated returns and documents. 5.5 Michelle Labelle in the general ledger and inventory function: Enters all data requiring input directly into company’s cash book and its petty cash imprest system and keep financial control over the company’s inventories. If inventories get above three days’ holding in any shop Michelle has to telephone and get justifications for the variance. 5.6 Liana Khan in the purchase ledger function: Makes sure that all supplier’s invoices and credit notes are entered into the Accounts Payable Ledger, and for Subsequently arranging the payments to suppliers. 5.7 Greg Morris in the sales ledger function Uses a credit reference agency to ensure that potential new credit customers have no history of poor payments. Checks any new customer who applies is always given a line of credit after this trial period. 5.8 Alan Cook in the costing function: Uses a target costing approach, working out what the cost of each component such as ink or plastic, and Supplies management with the monthly basis, and Advises management of variances from target. 5.9 Sharon Ward in the payroll and personnel database function: Operates the company’s two payrolls prepares the pay slips from the rotas prepared by the managers for the staffs. The salaries staffs are paid monthly on the last working day of the month using the Bankers Automated Clearing System (BACS). 6 Review of the accounting system 6.1 Record Keeping System A business needs an effective and manageable recordkeeping system. This is why in the business environment with regulated accounting structures, it is vital that organizations have the necessary records of evidence to support business operations. All transaction is electronically and manually processed to be made available. The necessity to provide access to recorded information is crucial. These are information’s relating to the different accounting function, such as; Purchase Sales Payroll Cash and Banking Record keeping systems are used; To better support the performance of the organization activities and enable better decision making all throughout the structure of the organization. To make sure that information is available for future or current processes, and helps also in the improving and upgrading of the manual or computerized processes. To address any future issues that may arise internally or  externally, such as fraud, lawsuits and other an-ethical accusations. To support the employees in the different functions of the business to be more efficient, productive in the accuracy of delivering the work. Records which are processed and made available are then used to produce other financial reports. Michelle Labelle in the general ledger and inventory function record and process the different inventory, supplier’s data to make available information on: Suppliers Cost prices Selling prices Profit margins Re-order level and quantities The data is used to know the overall cost of inventory, purchase and how much owed to better plan for future costs. Greg Morris in the sales ledger function processes the cash, cheques and other financial data to ensure that information is available on demand for: Customers Selling prices Bad debt Amount customers owed This information is used for different purposes such as; it is used by the debt collection agency for the collections of debt. The use of computerized recording system is more efficient than paper base. This is due to because the use of paper base recording system is more likely to produce errors then having a computerized format that data is just inputted in. Using a computerized system is less costly and time consuming. 6.2 Internal System of Control For an organization to have efficient and effective operation of its activities, internal system of control procedures is used by the management in place to ensure that the organization achieve its goals. This is where policies and procedures come in place to establish an internal control system to maximize the detection of frauds and errors, and to minimize their occurrence also. Existing internal system of control in Inkwell limited are: Supervision of the accounts office by a Company Accountant and Senior accounts member. A staff rota is prepared by the managers to ensure adequate staff coverage for all the opening hours of their shops. An information technology policy exists which sets out rules relevant to securing the computer systems. The computer system throughout the company is password protected. Company cheques are required for authorization by the three directors & company accountant and other financial documents for approval. Reconciliation of the purchased stock against recorded inventory level. Purchases duties are segregated to minimize the risk of fraud. A credit rating agency is used to ensure that potentially new credit customers have no history of poor payments. Policy for dealing with non-payment of debt exists, and its state out the actions and procedure. Cheques and cash from customers are kept in office safe until it is banked. Internal control that is missing or can improve is: Company policies and procedures. Disciplinary measure to breach of policy or miss conduct. Management supervision. Segregation of duties Staff Recruitment procedures Staff training and Continual Professional Development. Restriction on accessing of computer systems. Enforcement on Computerize backup of financial documents. Retention and disposal of records throughout the business. Accounting standard and procedures. Risk assessment. Liquidity management. Verification and checks of accounting data. List of authorized access. Checks relating to wages paid out Credit control system. 6.3 Fraud Fraud is the use of deception with the intention of obtaining an advantage, avoiding an obligation or causing loss to someone else or to an  organization; this is the general definition of fraud. It is an unfortunate fact of life and comes in many forms and is recognized as a criminal activity in many countries including UK. Possibility and opportunity of fraud within Inkwell limited is possible due to the internal control is not efficient, efficacious, being deficient and the opportunity of fraud is there for the taking. Fraud covers a wide range of area criminal activity. Common types of fraud are: Theft – Dishonestly taking someone else’s property. False accounting – Dishonestly destroying, defacing, concealing or falsifying an accounting record for personal gain or to cause loss to someone else. Bribery and corruption – taking or giving a bribe that might influence the actions of others. Deception – Obtaining property, money, services or evading liability by deception Methods that can be used to detect fraud Fraud can be detected by the experience manager by simple observation and through experience and also through a robust internal control system. Some sigh can include: Employees acting suspiciously – looking shifty and hiding paperwork Employees with higher levels of spending than you would expect from their income Employees working long hours and taking less than the normal holiday entitlement. Employees who have a grudge against the organization. Employees who are known to be short of money. The usage of the internet to for online sale is also at risk of fraud, since customers give Debit and Credit Cards details to pay their debts. Card fraud transaction can be detected by using Business rules. Opportunity and Potential areas of risk of fraud taking place are:  £3000 worth of a particular make of cartridge was unaccounted for during reconciliation of inventory with purchase order. Goods not appearing on the warehouse inventory record. Cash and cheques are entered manually which can be easily be subject to false accounting Complaint’s on wages being underpaid Only one staff operates and have access to payroll system Lack of written instructions Computer are not logged out and locked when not in use. No system in place for warehouse or administrative employees to record and know the time they arrive and when they leave the office The usage of debit or credit card detail by customers over the internet to pay. 6.4 Working Methods and Practices The working methods used in Inkwell Limited are: Computers are attributed to each staff whether part-time or fulltime to work on. The computer systems are run on an integrated network, with all PCs linked to two printers in the department. Every shop has PCs and printers of its own. Microsoft office excel spreadsheets is used in the accounting system for recording of the different data. All computers use Windows Vista operating system and loaded with Microsoft office 2007 consisting of 80-user operating license, and one new computer loaded with Sage Payroll software to unable payroll and personnel system to be run in-house. Internet access is available on every computer with Mozilla Firefox as web browser. Password is used on the computers. Large trade customers are put on a cash-with-order basis for the first three months of business. A credit reference agency is used potentially new customers have no history of bad credit. All cash and cheques are removed from the till, leaving a float of  £50 cash in each for the start of the next day. Staff salaries are paid monthly using the Bankers Automated Clearing System (BACS). Prepared by the wage clerk, signed by the Company Accountant and banked on 24th of each month. The methods and practices can be improved in the following: All 60 computers at the shops operate on a stand-alone system. Excel Spreadsheet being used for recording accounting data. Debt collection agency being used to collect bad debt is expensive. Password used for the computers. The removal of all cash and cheques, from the individual tills are not  practiced. Backing up of computerized data. 6.5 Training Training is essential for every personnel of an organization, as it improve the ability of the staff to perform its work and therefor reducing the amount of errors and hired part time staff used to perform tasks that can’t be done inside the organization. This is why every staff must get the opportunity to continue their professional development and be skilled to perform the task at hand. Inkwell Limited does not have the proper policy and systems in place to encourage employees to be enrolled in a part time or full time course, unless they take it on themselves to address the issue to the management. Benefits of training: Staffs are updated to the accounting standard and regulations. They will be motivated to work and be more efficient due to possibility of a promotion or career opportunity being increased, therefor errors is reduced. Staff will be more skilled to meet the needs of the organization. Professionally regulated staff will be governed by a recognized code of ethics from a professional accountancy body. Will better know how to, manage the time to do the tasks, therefor becoming more flexible and productive. Development of an ethical approach to the work and to employers and clients, acquired by experience and training. WEAKNESSES IDENTIFIED Record keeping system No completion of trial balance, statutory accounts as planned. Window dressing of the accounts. Transaction accounting are not done on a day to day basis Accounting record data entry is not being viewed as apriority by Michael O’Payne and Anil Gupta. Having unusual entries found in the general ledger. Errors may occur in inputting data into the computer. Internal System of Control No proper recruitment procedures in place to hire staff that has dismiss. The existing policies are not fully followed. This includes the Computers information technology policy, with no proper password, and logging off the computer after use. A lack of internal control for detection and fraud prevention Lack of segregation of duties. No proper scheduling back up of all IT systems being followed. No proper security for the shops. No policy for Data protection. No list of authorized personnel to access certain documents. No follow up control in place to the internal controls being followed. No supervision is done to monitor the signing in and signing out in the business. For the 60 shops, computers run on a stand-alone system. No safeguard for the proper security procedures in place/security issues relating to debit and credit cards details over the internet (Identity theft). Fraud Possibility of fraud is high; this may be caused due to: Nothing is done to ensure working practices undergoes a proper way. Inadequate guidance on how to detect and deal with fraud. Low effectiveness of security systems especially the password which does not improved each time is changed and can be guessed easily. A lack of supervision, monitoring and checks of accounting activities and records kept. Debit and Credit cards usage over the internet for customers to pay their debt can be subject to identity theft. Noncompliance to internal control. Unaccounted Cartridge’s worth  £3500, with no record in inventory. Details of transactions being deleted in the database, relating to one-off significant payments. Working Methods and Practices Breach of software and user license for software in use, can bring legal action against the company. No coverage or placement of professional personnel to carry out the work of absent staff. Lack of enforcement of legal requirement trough out the business and working practice is very low due to low standards Liquidity management is very poor. Lack of motivational skills from the directors of the business. No adequate physical controls to ensure the security and safe keeping of the businesses assets so that they do not go missing or are stolen. Working conditions and schedule are not respected by the Directors, having problems prioritizing work Lack of staffs, causing over working of staffs and no coverage or placement of professional personnel to carry out the work of absent staff. Therefor agencies are hired to do the work, which is costly. Job rotation is not practiced in the organization A required computer program needs to be attributed to these functions: Invoicing which is carried out. Data on Excel spreadsheet is manually input. Training More training is needed for operating: Quickcost system Payroll and personal system: Several teething problems experienced with the integrated payroll and personnel database. Need for education is needed for: Professional approach to work. Reliability in terms of competence. How to properly handle a secure credit and debit card transaction. Recommendation Recommendations are done following the various weaknesses identified and mentioned above. Record keeping system The management must ensure that the planned working schedule is followed strictly. If problems meeting the targets occur, it should be communicated to the responsible supervisors so proper action can be taken. Working schedule should be adjusted in so that the review of the payments and all other relating transaction are done earlier so that they don’t have to window dress. Different task must be prioritized by the management, so that conflict does not occur, were task are neglected. Accounting record data entry must be prioritized by the two organization’s directors Michael O’Payne and Anil Gupta. The directors must review the benefits that will be gained. Unsure that the proper records relating to the daily business transaction are entered into the general ledger. Verify the data inputted in the computer to ensure that is correct. Internal System of Control Standard policy and guidelines of hiring staffs should be introduced, pointing out the necessary detailed document that is needed making the  process more transparent and reliable. Staffs should be sensitized of the policies in place and know the importance of respecting them. Setting up a fraud policy which sets out the way to detect and deal with fraud, throughout the different working procedure and practice. Duties should be segregated, by setting up a system, which when combined, could lead to fraud. The existing policy should be re-enforce, so that the record kept on the computers would be backed up on the server regularly to prevent loss of data instead of doing it once a day. Alarm systems should be installed for all the shops of the organization, to better protect the business assets from being stolen. Proper policy and procedures should be introduced. The Data Protection Act should be communicated to all staffs, to better protect the company’s and the customer Data. A list of authorized personnel should be produced and communicated to the staffs. Staff personnel should be put in charge of verifying that all policies in place are being followed. A logging system should be set up to have a record of who comes in the office and at what time. Such system should be monitored to ensure all staff complies. An integrated network should be set up on a server to connect the computers together with proper licensed software. Safeguards should be implemented on the procedure for transaction involving debit and credit card details provided by the customers. A standard and effective Sage Accounting package should be bought to unable: A standard layout of the invoices issued to customers. Enable data to be imported and exported from and to Excel spreadsheets. Enable better detection of errors in the different account ledgers. Fraud To reduce the possibility of fraud and make the internal control system fraud resistant, the various techniques should use: Accounting activities should be supervised on a regular basis. The records and calculation of financial document should be sampled and checked regularly for errors. Make sure that the fraud policy which will be introduced set out the way to detect and deal with fraud, throughout the different working procedure and practice and to make any adjustment necessary. Managers of the various departments should be given areas of responsibilities and answerability to ensure that fraud is kept to a minimum. Value of a business rule management system (BRMS) approach to fraud detection can be implemented. Business rules can be used  to validate various conditions for detecting anomalies that can indicate fraud. Enables institutions to react quickly in their effort to keep pace with fraudsters. Disciplinary measures or penalties should be set up for breaking an internal control or if a staff is practicing fraudulent act. Physical security should be re-enforced, locking up valuable items away, such as cash and cheques. Set up a limit to which a financial transaction should be requiring authorization, by one or more authorized signature. This may range from petty cash or cheques over a certain amount. Doing a regular reconciliation of the accounts to the financial documents to make sure they balance and errors corrected. Management should carry out Risk Assessments as part of the of an effective internal control system. Working Methods and Practices Make sure that all computers use license software in all the shops and departments, monitor that the license are not broken causing legal action to the organization. Adequate number of specialized staffs should be introduced for the coverage of staff that is absent. The business must comply with all relevant External regulations. Such as international accounting standards even government regulation from HMRC. This will aid in raising the standard of working practices. Better management of buying inventory from suppliers. Credit to customers should be reduced. The managers should undergo a management course, to learn how to better manage their business, motivate their employees through training, giving out bonuses, paying for overtime and other incentives. All assets should be recorded and proper management of the assets should be put in place, to know the life cycle. Directors should produce an effective working schedule, reducing the stress on employees. Adequate number of specializ ed staffs should be introduced for the coverage of staff that is absent. Produce an effective rota to unable the staff to rotate to different accounting functions in the organization. A standard and effective Sage Accounting package should be bought to unable: A standard layout of the invoices issued to customers. Enable data to be imported and exported from and to Excel spreadsheets. Enable better detection of errors in the different account ledgers. Training More training should be provided for: Quick cost system Payroll and personal system To ensure that staff has the necessary skills and knowledge to be more effective and reliable in their work, in terms of competence: Staffs Training should be invested in by the management, to better handle the daily tasks. Including Debit & Credit cards transactions This should include internal or external training courses for using any newly introduced accounting package. Telephone support lines made available by the software provider. Workshops on the improvement of staffs’ communications skills. Cost benefit analysis Improvement Recommended Cost of Time Benefits Time spent by manager in Training 25 hours Ãâ€" 3 Ãâ€"  £25 per hour Time spent by 5 account staff 25 hours Ãâ€" 5 Ãâ€"  £15 per hour TOTAL TRAINING COST  £ 1875 1875 3750 The work output will be more accurate due to the raise of standard. The organization will appear more professional, more efficient, meanings fewer errors and problems. Cost of hiring new Accounting staffs  £ 192000 The different responsibilities can be segregated and work will be done faster. Setting up of computers on a network – Cost of hardware – Installation cost  £ 5000 1000 6000 Access to data will be easier which will speed up the work and save time. New accounting Package – Cost of the software – Installation cost – cost of training the staff 10000 3000 3500 16500 Many routine operations will be speeded up, save time and reduces wages bill. 9.2 To carry out a Risk assessment the management will require 2 hours per month. This will discourage and reduce the risk of fraud in the accounting system by identifying the areas of the risk of fraud and then setting up a system in place to detect any possibility of fraud and then deal with it, making the system more reliable. Appendices SWOT Analysis Strengths Record keeping system Using an archiving computer package to store full accounting records. Easy access to past exact copy of company accounting transactions. Sage Payroll software was loaded in the accounts department to enable the new payroll and personnel system to be in house. Excel spreadsheets are used for maintaining the inventory information. Integrated General, Accounts payable and Accounts Receivable set of ledger principal financial accounting system. Internal system of control An information technology policy exist which sets out rules relevant to securing the computer systems. The computer system throughout the company is password protected. A credit rating agency is used to ensure that potentially new credit customers have no history of poor payment. Value of a business rule management system (BRMS) approach to fraud detection benefits: The performance of the rules is high enough to provide real-time detection of anomalies based on several criteria, including multiple sources, transaction values, card-use frequency, merchant and location of the charges. If implemented new detection policies can be activated in hours, instead of months, helping to reduce lost revenue and increase customer satisfaction and provides safety in online transaction.

Native Americans of Chesapeake Bay

The Native American group in the Chesapeake Bay region was known collectively as the Powhatan Federation of Indians. Powhatan also refers to the Algonquin Indian chief that lived and ruled in the region around the early 17th century. The Algonquians were a deeply religious group of people subsisted primarily through agriculture. The natives referred to the area as Tsenacommacah. Powhatan was the weroance, or chief ruler of Tsenacommacah and 25 other Algonquin villages. Powhatan would play a significant role with the 104 men from the Virginia company that made up the settlement of Jamestown.Powhatan agreed to an alliance with the settlers, Powhatan would provide the colonists with foodstuffs in exchange for guns, hatchets, and swords. Powhatan hoped this alliance would make him technologically superior over his people’s enemies. The following is a quote from Powhatan recorded by John smith in 1609; â€Å"I am not so simple as not to know it is better to eat good meat, sleep co mfortably, live quietly with my women and children, laugh and be merry with the English, and being their friend, trade for their copper and hatchets, than to run away from them. (Smithsonian source, 2012) Joint stock companies were business corporations that amassed capital through sales of stock to investors. Joint stock companies were the forerunners for modern day corporations. The Virginia Company was a joint stock venture that funded the settlement at Jamestown. Colonies required ongoing capital investments and the lack of immediate returns created tensions between stockholders and the colonists. Although investors were expecting great returns, there was great risk and start up costs, and could take years to recoup their money.With an excess landless population to serve as workers, and motivated, adventurous, or devout investors, the joint-stock company became the vehicle by which England finally settled the Western Hemisphere. The first joint stock company to launch its ventur e in the new world was The Virginia Company of London. In 1607 The Virginia Company established the first colony along the Chesapeake bay in what is now modern day Virginia. The new colony was called Jamestown, named after King James I. The colonists arrived in the midst of the worse drought in 1,700 years, and life in the new world was hard from the get go.The settlement at Jamestown was on a swampy peninsula located in the middle of a river. The colonists proved to be ill equipped for survival, and many fell victim to starvation and disease. In attempts to ease the colonists struggle for food ,Captain John Smith made a deal with the weroance. The Powhatan would help the colonists acquire food in exchange for weaponry. This deal was short lasting, as mutual mistrust built on both sides. The weroance relocated his primary village to an area not easily accessible to the colonists. The colonists struggled greatly without Powhatan’s help, and soon were driven to starvation.This time of hardship for the colonists was referred to as the â€Å"starving time. † The situation was very bleak for the colonists, and the starving time lasted from 1609-1610. Throughout the colonists year long struggle for survival many died, and one colonist resorted to cannibalism. This was the beginning of a bloody history that ensued between the colonists and the Powhatan people. In the spring of 1610 a new wave of settlers came to Jamestown, and brought with them more supplies. Around 1613, and in attempts to gain the upper hand , the colonists kidnapped Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas.During her captivity she was converted to Christianity and married settler John Rolfe. This event helped to further sour the relationship between the two groups. The two also could not come to terms on each others ideas of property rights, gender roles, and religion. The colonists thought the Powhatan were lazy because they did not cultivate crops, conversely the Powhatan thought the colonists effeminate for doing so. Perhaps the biggest cause for dispute was the colonists superiority complex, in which they expected full cooperation from the native people to convert to Christianity and adopt English customs.Around 1620 Jamestown finally began to prosper through tobacco cultivation and exportation. Opechancanough, Powhatan’s brother, and successor, watched as the colonists expanded and attempted to convert the natives to Christianity. This angered Opechancanough, and in March of 1622 he attacked, killing 347 colonists. The Powhatans indiscriminately attacked, men, women, and children, mutilating many of their corpses. Although the colonists were surprised at the treachery of the Powhatans, a decade and a half of hatred fueled the natives call for vengeance.The massacre was a terrible loss to the settlers, but still they persevered. A short time had passed until the settlers inflicted massive retaliation on the Powhatans. One of the colonists wrote, â€Å" Now we have just cause to destroy them by all means possible, it is more easy to civilize them by conquest than faire meanest. † (Schwarz,1997) The two sides continued their brutal onslaught for the next ten years, and in 1632 an ill advised cease-fire was agreed upon. However, in 1644 the Powhatans attacked one last time, killing several more hundred settlers.In 1646 the Powhatans surrendered for good, but the bloody history and interaction of the two will never be forgotten. Norton, M. B. , Sheriff, C. , Blight, D. W. , Chudacoff, H. P. , Logevall, F. , Bailey, B. (2012), A people & a nation, a history of the united states (Vol. 1) Ninth edition. Boston, MA, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Schwarz, Frederic D. â€Å" Massacre. † American Heritage Feb. -Mar. 1997 US History Collection. Web. 1 Apr. 2012Smith, John. (nd). Smithsonian Source. In Resources for teaching American History. Retrieved April 1, 2012, from http://www. smithsoniansource. org/.