Impact of Brand Image and Advertisement on Consumer Buying Behavior Essay

Impact of Brand Image and Advertisement on Consumer Buying Behavior Impact of Brand Image and Advertisement on Consumer Buying Behavior Muhammad Ehsan Malik, Muhammad 1 2 Mudasar Ghafoor, 3Hafiz Kashif Iqbal, 4Qasim Ali, 4Hira Hunbal, 4Muhammad Noman and 4Bilal Ahmad 1Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan Dean Economics and Management Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan 2School of Business, University of Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom 3School of Business and Economics, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan 4Department of Business Administration, University of the Punjab Gujranwala Campus, Pakistan Submitted: Apr 27, 2013; Accepted: Jun 3, 2013; Published: Jun 20, 2013 Abstract: Brand image and advertisement play a crucial role to boost up any business performance as brand image is an implied tool which can positively change people’s buying behaviors and advertisement is behaving as a driving force for any business as it’s an effective source to convey your message and stay in customer’s mind. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of brand image and advertisement on consumer buying behavior in the general public at Gujranwala city. Questionnaire survey was used to collect the data by using non probability convenient sampling technique. A sample of 200 questionnaires was used in which 175 responses were collected within the period of one month. Findings show that brand image and advertisement have strong positive influence and significant relationship with Consumer buying behavior. People perceive the brand image with positive attitude. Study depicted that teenagers in Gujranwala are more conscious about their social status so they prefer branded products and advertisement affects their Consumer Buying Behavior positively. In the last of article limitations of research, implications and suggestions for further research also included. Key words: Brand image Advertisement Consumer Buying Behavior INTRODUCTION can build long term profitable relations with customers. People in our society are so conscious about their any business can positively affect the behaviors of status and they prefer to use branded products to show people regarding brand image, satisfaction and loyalty. off their status symbol. Brand is considered as implied At present time in global and emerging markets device through which any business can attain the business war is not only on price but customer attraction, attraction of people and can enjoy the competitive edge. loyalty and relationship matters a lot. Companies are so In our local scenario it also considered as a valuable asset conscious about their customer’s satisfaction. for any business as it can change peoples’ buying Advertisement plays a crucial role for any business to behavior. It can play a vital role to expand any business. boost up its performance graph as it is a powerful strategy Brand image development is a long term process and it to attract your customers toward your product. In can prove a strong weapon to fight with your competitors. Pakistan advertisement also becoming a driving force for Customers rely on branded products and mostly prefer to any business because it can force people to change their buy products with well known brand name. Marketing behavior regarding your product in positive sense. valuable strategies and tools can develop the brand of Advertisement is a dominant and leading weapon in all any product. If brand is managed in effective ways, a marketing tools due to its positive impact on consumers’ business can enjoy maximum number of customers and buying behavior. It’s an effective way to communicate Refine quality of products and social

Operations Management at Rolls Royce

Automobile sector is one of the most competitive and technological driven sector of the world, taking an advantage edge on Innovation and technology the automobile companies such as Ford, Honda, BMW etc. have successfully implemented these changes into its product as well process and introduced differentiated product in the market. To remain competitive, it is important for the organization to focus on its operations and supply management with which they are able to achieve competitive advantage over the other company. The CEO of Rolls Royce has strongly focused on enhancing the operations management in 2006 so as improve on its production. Facilities: In 2006, the company commenced its operations at Derby, Hucknall, Barnoldswick and Bristol. These facilities are equipped with the modern working facilities along with the old repair and overhaul workforce in Montreal. With this the operations and the productivity of the company will improve which will help the company is producing more effective cars in 2007. Inventory: The inventory of the company was increased in 2006 because of the growth and demand of the products. The company needed raw material to build the end product . The inventory is also expected to increase further in 2007 which will help in improving on the productivity of the company. For this it is important for the company to manage its working capital adequately. Information: The company enhanced on technology as well as learning in 2006. The company used its process excellence programme so as to continue to improve on its quality and production. With this the company was able to improve on its quality by 20% in 2006 as compared with 2005. Read also Exam Operations Management With this the company will be able to further enhance quality and productivity of the company. The company also implemented and standardised ERP system to its unit in Europe, this is going to expand to the other units as well in 2007 which will help in improving the operations of the company. The company will be implementing its remaining IT ERP across its facilities which will help in enhancing its global supply chain management. Sourcing: With a strong focus on building supply chain management, the company is able to improve on its sourcing and having low cost production. With the enhancement in the supply chain the company will be able to further improve on its supply chain, operations and cost. Pricing: Even with the increase in the prices of the fuel and some metals, the company has aligned its operations and activities with such a way that it has been able to focus on reducing the overall cost of overhead as well as value activities. The company also increased the number of employees so as to increase the productivity of the company. Even despite of all these measure, the per unit cost of the product is expected to increase in 2007 which might affect the sales of the company.

Mankind are Greater Gainers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mankind are Greater Gainers - Essay Example It is true that humankind is not fallible, that their truths are mostly half-truths. It results from the freest and fullest comparison of opinions that are opposite. It is not desirable until they are capable at present of recognizing sides of the truth. These principles can be applied to men’s action modes. In the society, it is desirable that in those things that do not concern others primarily, individuality should assert itself. Where, not the individuals own character, but the traditional customs of other people are the conducts rule, there is wanting one of principal ingredients of human happiness, and quite the chief ingredient of social and individual progress. In the process of maintaining this principle, the greatest challenges and difficulty to be encountered does not   entail appreciation of means towards the end that acknowledge, but in the indifference of persons in general to the end. If at all it were felt that free development of individuality is among the l eading essentials of well-being; it is not only an element of co-ordinate designated by the civilization, education, culture and instruction terms but is itself a necessary part, then danger would not exist at all that liberty should be undervalued by any means. Huge numbers of people in the society are satisfied with ways of mankind as they currently are. This is because it is they who make them be what they are, and cannot understand why those ways should not be good for every person in the society. It will probably be seen that people who are desirable good should be exercising their understanding, and following customs intelligently. It would be misunderstanding J. Mills’s doctrine supposing that it is one among the selfish indifference, which is pretending that human beings have nothing at all to do with each other’s conduct of life, and that they should not should not concern themselves with the well-being of another person unless their personal interest is engag ed. There is a need of increasing disinterest exertion to promoting other people's good.

MIH521 - Health Program Evaluation Mod 4 SLP Essay

MIH521 - Health Program Evaluation Mod 4 SLP - Essay Example There is an added problem and that is that these children are bound for poverty based on the illnesses that they develop because of the obesity. There are several measureable goals and they come from different sides of what is happening. For instance, the primary goal is to improve the overall health of the children but there is also the goal to improve the health of those that are already obese. These goals are meant to be accomplished through activity (see appendix A) (fitkids.gov). All of these goals are measureable and are being measured. Those schools that have adopted this program at this time have done overall BMI of all elementary school children for school records. Children are screened for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease yearly as part of the school physical. Schools are monitored by independent organizations assuring that the grant money is spent well as far as assuring that exercise and dietary programs are carried out (Glasgow, 1999). As can be seen by the things listed here this is really a program about prevention and not treatment though certainly a side effect of the prevention is treatment. It is believed that a full evaluation of this program will yield excellent results. In conclusion, this program has some very difficult goals to meet as it is easy to leave the healthy lifestyle at school and go home and watch TV but the hope is that learning this lifestyle and feeling better because of it will encourage children to remain activity and to eat well even after they leave school. The Elementary Energizers were developed by East Carolina University, Physical Activity Laboratory in partnership with the NC Department of Public Instruction (Healthful Living and Healthy Schools Sections) and Be Active North

Winslow Homer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Winslow Homer - Research Paper Example (Downes, 2006) In this painting After the Hurricane, 1899, Winslow Homer tries to convey the idea in his painting (After the Hurricane, 1899) that a man is laid to stand against nature. During the early civilizations, when men had just started evolving, the painting relates that era to the modern World. Imagine a World with no technology and communication, the humans would have to rely on nature and that is what this painting depicts. The excellent technique adopted by Wilson Homer in doing such a great masterpiece painting is empathetic. He used human psychology to drive human mind on what happens after a man is competing against nature. As you can see that the man in the painting (After the Hurricane, 1899) is washed off on the shore of a beach after a hurricane. The man in the painting is helpless yet he has to find the courage to stand again and survive not for what he has lost but for what his future holds. You see life of a person doesn’t stop after losing a loved one. He still has to find the courage to survive and the nature will be its provider. The purpose it serves is of cherishing family. No one knows the point till they are alive so why not spend time with loved ones. In the painting (After The Hurricane, 1899) the man washed off on the shore might have lost his family, his loved one, anyone and now they are gone forever. Similarly, in this era, people are so busy within their lives to progress that they often forget to value the people that helped them. In the painting, hurricane is used as a metaphor where death can strike at any time to anyone and just like the man is washed off on the shore of a beach in the painting, the modern human will be mourning the loss in real life. His another masterpiece The Gulf Stream,1899 is influenced by the tale of a man from British Army who got robbed by pirates and sailed on a boat alone on the sea to reach the coast. The man later dies due to his

The LInux Operating System Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The LInux Operating System - Research Paper Example Thus, one can download the software and edit and make changes as per one’s requirements. This adds to the flexibility and adaptability of the operating system to user requirements. Linux is often called a derivative of UNIX, the other operating system that is character based and one that is widely used in research laboratories around the world. Linux operates in many flavors and some of the popular distributions of Linux are Fedora Core, Debian and SuSE Linux. According to many software sites, â€Å"Although there are a large number of Linux implementations, you will find a lot of similarities in the different distributions, if only because every Linux machine is a box with building blocks that you may put together following your own needs and views. Installing the system is only the beginning of a long term relationship† (Linuxtopia, 2008). Thus, one can install Linux and build on top of it or use it in any way possible according to one’s needs. Linux is an operating system, a software program that controls your computer. Linux traces its evolution to a mainframe operating system called Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service). UNIX was developed by two Bell Labs software engineers who during their spare time used to play a game called Space Travel. Sometimes they used to find themselves without the operating system by which they could play their favorite game. Thus, the two software engineers, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie developed the game to play on an otherwise unused PDP-7 computer. This was the origin of UNIX that was a precursor to Linux. Once the UNIX operating system began to be widely used and freely available, AT&T decided to license it and this led to its claiming a huge license fee for UNIX and it secured the intellectual property rights for UNIX. Once UNIX was no longer a freeware, a MIT scientist called Richard Stallman began what is known as the GNU (Or Not Unix) operating system and started to make it available under the

United States v. Wade Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

United States v. Wade - Case Study Example During the trial, Wade's legal counsel tried to get an acquittal for their client based upon their belief that the Fifth Amendment Rights of their client was violated as the line up was done without any legal counsel present to advise the accused of his rights. The courts denied the motion, resulting in the conviction of Wade in the end (n.d., â€Å"United States v. Wade). This led the defense to file a motion before the Supreme Court in order to request that they resolve the issue of allowing courtroom identifications of an accused to be excluded from evidence since the events surrounding the identification process was done without the presence of counsel. The events before the trial at the post indictment line up was therefore illegally conducted and was violation of his client's Fifth Amendment Rights (n.d., â€Å"United States v. Wade†). They requested that the Supreme Court overturn the decision of the lower court in the process. The Supreme Court however, did not find a ny reason to dismiss the case against Wade. It was the opinion of the court that the lack of counsel at the line up proceedings could not be seen as a violation of the accused Fifth Amendment Right against self incrimination. ... That is, provided that the prosecution would be able to support the pretrial line up identification the accused with a solid and valid court identification of the accused as well (n.d., â€Å"The United State v. Wade†). Therefore, it was the opinion of the court that the Fifth Amendment Right to self incrimination was not violated in this case as the line up identification did not show that there was any testimonial or communicative evidence that needed to be suppressed. On the other hand, the Sixth Amendment Right to counsel was violated in the pretrial proceedings since the accused had a right to legal representation during critical stages of the pretrial proceedings, specially during the identification stages. Proper witness identification can easily be influenced during an investigation due to the nervousness and trauma that the witness had to endure during the incident. Therefore their memory recall of the perpetrators and the events as it unfolded may have a cloud of dou bt about it. That is why the police rely on certain variables in order to ensure that the eyewitness accounts are as accurate and court admissible as possible. The key factors relating to the accuracy of witness identification, that can easily offset the suggestiveness and bias of show ups include (Moses, â€Å"Misidentification: the Caprices of Eye Witness Testimony in Criminal Cases†): â€Å"(1) Perception; (2) Memory; (3) Communication; and (4) Candor. â€Å" However, these traits are not easily acquired by people and therefore affects the way that a witness gives an account of the things that happened during the incident, thereby making the witness prone to suggestive questioning. Let us remember that perception is created by the events as the witness wants to

Martha McCakey Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Martha McCakey - Case Study Example Moreover one of her old classmates working for the same company also encouraged her to join that company and finally she decided to join Praxis Associates. (Kyurinyan, 2006) Martha McCaskey was a hard working young woman who believed in good ethical standards at the work place. She never believed in short cuts to achieve targets. She has completed many successful projects at a fast pace and soon became a valuable member of the company. As a business tactics, Praxis Associates often hired ex employees of their competitors to obtain valuable information regarding the functioning of the competitors. They have divided the division into two sub groups; old guards and new guards. Old The attitude of the top management of Praxis associates was motivated only by the profit. They were ready to engage in any sort of activities to capture business and also they never believed in business ethics. For them, Business is a competitive world where only the smarter ones will succeed and the others will fail. In order to achieve targets anything can be done as per their moral standards. Moreover they forced the employees to go up to the maximum extent to achieve the targets. They never bothered about retaining the employees. It is under this circumstances Martha McCaskey asked to complete a project. It was a crucial time period of her career. The successful completion of that project will ensure her higher bonuses and promotion. But she found no way to complete the project without compromising her ethical standards. She was forced to decide whether she wanted to maintain her integrity and high standards or to compromise with all such things. Morality and ethical standards are vanishing gradually from the modern world. Globalization and liberalization policies made the competition immense in the business world. It is extremely hard to survive in a highly competitive business world by keeping all the ethical standards. Business is a smart game where most of the moves

Wartime Film Essay Example for Free

Wartime Film Essay If, in the midst of the true-life films all through World War II, the British films were exemplified or distinguished by their humanistic vision of man’s capability to tolerate and triumph, and the Nazi films by their intimidating bellicosity and aggression, the American films were well-known equally for their bold, nationalistic and perceptive or insightful justification of why the Americans were fighting, and for their complicated yet refined cinematic artistry. The wartime true-life film propaganda of Allied and Axis nations alike show an exaggerated depiction or representation of society, morals and power. The American films illustrate an influential and virtuous state, confident in its future to save and protect humankind from oppression, cruelty or autocracy. Based on an account made by Allan M. Winkler (1978), the propaganda used during these times â€Å"reflected the way that most ordinary Americans viewed themselves as they worked to defeat the Axis powers. † He also adds that â€Å"in the end, American propaganda reflected American policy, and indeed America itself. † A lot of of the true-life films finished throughout World War II were described or illustrated by the unchanged traits that famed the feature films of the earlier decade. They were sentimental and corny, witty and intelligent, simplistic and superficial, hard-hitting and zealous. In addition to this, not like the American true-life films of the 1930s created mainly by individual or group filmmakers on the East coast, several of the films during the period of war were completed, under the administration of Washington, by Hollywood experts in the world’s motion picture capital. This venture or project concerned an extraordinary partnership involving industry and government. As Americans were drafted into the armed forces service, so too, were cinematographers, writers, editors, and directors of Hollywood and individual films drafted into the motion picture units of military, with the resources of dominant distributors, studios, film archives and motion picture tools producers put at their disposal. The Hollywood part of this endeavor was corresponded by the War Activities Committee of the Motion Picture Industry, which was structured into seven divisions that replicated the multifaceted American motion picture industry such as distributors, theaters, newsreels, trade press, public relations, foreign markets and Hollywood production. Together with Washington were the dominant government agencies such as Justice, Inter-American Affairs, Interior, Agricultural, Treasury, State, Transportation, Civilian Defense, and definitely including War, War Information, War Production Board, and War Relocation Authority. Collectively, the movie industry and the government created or formed an astounding amount of movies of various categories or types for several functions. Several offer documentary accounts of battle and struggle, others demonstrate the national offerings to the war effort, and still others give tribute to a person’s courage, strength and valor. In the Untied States, the solitary Allied country unscathed by hostilities and war activity inside its continental boundaries, civilians had to rely for their war reports on private communication from armed personnel in the war zones, newspapers, journals, motion pictures, radio, or media prepared by the Office of War Information. National television broadcasting, the primary or main source of public information in the Vietnam War, was not present in the 1940s, and neither did the idea or notion of the â€Å"living room war. † Certainly, though their weekly attendance at the movie theaters, viewers were able to observe up-to-date newsreels and government combat movies or pictures, as well as narrative films, which offered or presented information, amusement, and getaway from their apprehensions or concerns with regards to the war. The joint venture linking Hollywood and Washington made certain or guaranteed a steady flow of suitable and well-timed information to film screens in the nation’s theaters, civilian hospitals, to industrial plants and to military camps. These movies helped Americans appreciate the very important significance of several new things, as well as the need for struggle in areas they had by no means heard of before, twenty-four-hour industrial assembly, and food rationing. This information not only informed and educated the public, but also encouraged their munificent support of the war effort. During the war, turnout was soaring at local motion picture theaters, which demonstrate to be an ideal location for advertising and selling war bonds or for accumulating financial support for such reasons or functions as war relief. In the United States, gathering support for the war endeavor was not at all times trouble-free, for numerous Americans had not only a rugged isolationist predisposition, but also a deep-rooted suspicion and disbelief in the United States administration propaganda. Industry and government leaders, who were overwhelmed by the Nazi and British film programs, were certain that film could be successful in informing the predominantly isolationist Americans of how, where, when and why they were combating and thus awaken their patriotic sympathies. According to Elmer Davis (1968), the wartime head of the Office of War Information (OWI), there were at least three other complications or hindrances to film production during the period of war. The hazard that the propaganda is a sign of partisan views particularly that of the president’s. The deficiency of military collaboration and teamwork in gathering and reporting facts, especially when it might aid or give comfort to enemy; and the belief among some members of the press that they should be free to gather the news without having to rely on a government spokesperson. During the Second World War, true-life film helped and gave support to the unification of the public in its loyalty and nationalism and to promote its support of military participation. Even though Allied films do not idealize war, they attempt to justify World War II by explaining it in clear, non-ambiguous terms. Still, bound together by a common goal, freedom from Fascist aggression and tyranny, Allied filmmakers often set aside logic and convention, as well as civic and personal values, to support the overriding idea of victory over the enemy. One of the most significant tasks of narrative feature film war propaganda, or war propaganda in general, is to create specific role models through whom filmmakers create or reinforce important values. Particularly in World War II when American pro-war propaganda films experienced their heyday, the government knew it needed to overcome an ingrained American trait: stubborn individuality. Audiences had to be shown that although in peace time, â€Å"doing one’s own thing† was an acceptable, even praiseworthy, American entrepreneurial virtue, team play and regimentation are more desirable goals in wartime. In John Ford’s â€Å"They Were Expendable† (1945), John Wayne depicts or portrays an archetypal model of the strong individualist faced with a conversion decision. Tired of no-glory milk runs in the P. T. boats to which he was assigned, Wayne wants a transfer. He’s convinced that his ambitions can only be served if he is reassigned to a destroyer, where he can make a name for himself. He even goes so far to fill out a transfer application, but tears it up when he hears the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His ambition and search for glory must wait. Similarly, Robert Montgomery, Wayne’s P. T. boat squadron commander, is aggravated by his admiral’s reluctance to use P. T. ’s on combat missions. On one instance, the admiral, in prototypical World War II pep talk, uses a sports analogy to remind Montgomery of the need for teamwork. â€Å"You and I are professionals, if the manager says ‘sacrifice’. We lay down a bunt and let somebody else hit the home runs. † Duly chastised, Montgomery adjusts his attitude. Correspondingly, in â€Å"Crash Dive† (1943), Tyrone Power is resentful for being transferred to submarine service, especially since he has recently made a name for himself in P. T. boats, his favorite naval craft. But, through various espirit de corps-building experiences on board the submarine, the hardheaded role in the team effort to win the war. At the conclusion, with patriotic music rising in the background, Power recites a litany of naval craft, from P. T. ’s to battleships to carriers, extolling their individual contributions to team victory. Regardless of era, these films state clearly that individualism must take a back seat to the needs of the military organizations. In the American movies, the audiences are also thought from selfish to being selfless. As such, there is a great resemblance between John Carroll in â€Å"The Flying Tigers† (1942) and the characters in the previous section. Like Edmund O’Brien and James Cagney, Carroll plays a veteran pilot not used to taking orders, very short on cooperation and obedience. But Carroll offers a bridge from the previous category to this one because of his motivation: Primarily, he’s a modern-day bounty hunter out strictly for the money paid to Flying Tigers for each Japanese plane they shoot down. Unlike the other Tigers, who, like Texan Jimmy Dodd, agree that â€Å"Where I come from there doesn’t have to be a bounty on a rattlesnake to kill him,† Carroll is selfish and is only motivated by money. He abandons wingmen if he can shoot down another plane, takes reckless chances, and endangers others, all for money. But when he sees the results of Japanese bombing of an orphanage, his outlook widens. And when his irresponsibility causes the death of a fellow Tiger, Carroll repents and takes on an expiative suicide mission. Similarly, three 1943 film heroes, George Montgomery in â€Å"China Girl†, Alan Ladd in â€Å"China†, and Ward Bond in â€Å"Hitler: Dead or Alive, are concerned solely with money at the outset of their adventures. Montgomery, a salty photojournalist, is out to document the war for fame and tidy profit, and, like Carroll, is unconcerned about what is happening to the Chinese people he photographs. Ladd sells truckloads of gasoline to anyone who will pay, Chinese guerillas or the Japanese. When both protagonists experience the love of Eurasian women (Gene Tierney and Loretta Young, respectively), and witness first-hand Japanese atrocities committed against Chinese civilians, they put aside profits and personal security and protection and join the Chinese guerillas. In â€Å"Hitler: Dead of Alive†, a predominantly silly grade-B hooligan adventure movie, Ward Bond is a criminal world â€Å"big-shot† who, along with two other hooligans, accepts a million dollar agreement, let by a rich American entrepreneur to kill in cold blood or kidnap Adolph Hitler. At first only concerned with the money, Bond witnesses a Nazi â€Å"blood purge,† the killing of innocent women and children. Horrified, he discards the chance to kill Hitler. As an alternative, Bond tries no discuss an end to the war in return for the â€Å"fuhrer†, whom he has kidnapped. This unselfish effort fails, and Bond dies. But in memory of Bond’s endeavor, the industrialist nevertheless â€Å"pays off† the hooligan by making a contribution of a million dollars worth of planes to the war endeavor. In addition to this, the viewers through the films during the wartime were taught from being cowards to heroes. In Act III of Julius Caesar, â€Å"Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste death but once† (Shakespeare, 29). Films portraying an assortment of wars have constantly managed to deal with those who faced fear and mastered it. War propaganda must address the subject of fear, and supply its audiences with reasons sufficient to convince peaceful men to engage in mortal combat. Patriotism, responsibility, revenge, espirit de corps, and other motivations are presented as explanation or rationalization for risking one’s life. Object lessons about fearful men are most helpful. That is why one of the frequently heard stock discussions in combat movies is the one in which as soldier new to combat is surprise to discover that the old sarge, or the captain is sacred too. In two occupied-country war movies, Charles Laughton in â€Å"This Land is Mine† (1943) and Roman Bohnen in â€Å"The Edge of Darkness† (1943) represent men for whom courage is a foreign concept. Although an adult in his forties, Laughton’s character is a â€Å"mamby-pamby mama’s boy†, afraid of everything, especially guns and hostility. But he lives in busy France throughout World War II, and Nazi mayhem and associated air raids are ordinary occurrences. A schoolteacher, Laughton is ashamed of himself, because he is a poor example to his students, who show no respect and mock him. But as soon as his headmaster and mentor, who had advocated or recommended him to develop into a positive model to his students, is killed by the Nazis as a retaliation for resistance activities in the area, Laughton turns out to be both furious and courageous. He candidly speaks out in opposition to the enemy, influencing the townspeople to join the fight and engage in resistance and sabotage. His students now look on him with pride and admiration. Immediately before the Germans guide him out of his classroom to be shot, he reads the French Declaration of the Rights of men to his pupils. When he is gone, he leaves a classroom complete of new young zealots for the cause of liberty. Roman Bohnen plays a salesperson in Norway in â€Å"The Edge of Darkness†. Different from Laughton, he has constantly been vocal in his hate for the Germans, and pictures himself as a soldier executing all of them. But Bohnen’s character is all harangue and chatter. In a face-to-face disagreement with a group of disdainful German troops, he has the chance to courageously say to the Nazis what he believes or thinks of them. But he becomes so frightened he can say nothing. The significance or meaning of the film is that even though as individuals, people are hard pushed to stand up to such an attacker, if each and everybody stands together, they can succeed. So when the whole village rises up as one against the Nazis, Bohnen takes his place among the men, picks up a rifle, and becomes conscious his daydreams. He unites his fellow townspeople in the annihilation of the whole German defense force. Furthermore, films were a sign of the mood of its audience when the unconcerned were portrayed and became concerned. This class or group of character conversion is moderately comparable to the selfish-selfless conversion, in view of the fact that in these situations or circumstances, concern with one’s self is often tied to a singular lack of concern for anything else. Unquestionably, Alan Ladd in â€Å"China† and George Montgomery in â€Å"China Girl† both were mainly concerned with money and fame but the unnecessary massacre of the Chinese had as much to do with their change to the reason as did the encouragements of Loretta Young and Gene Tierney. In addition to these films, Tallulah Bankhead in â€Å"Lifeboat† (1944) and Henry Hull in â€Å"Objective Burma† (1945) play journalists more interested in filing sensational stories than in the issues and outcomes of the war. Instead of helping victims of a U-Boat assault into her lifeboat, Bankhead receives movies and curses when John Hodiak unintentionally knocks her camera into the water. Hull, somewhat anti-military, uninterested and for the most part concerned with a good story, goes along with Errol Flynn on a paratrooper raid into Japanese-held territory. Despite their wishes to remain onlookers, both characters cease to be objective chroniclers and become active participants in events. The demure Bankhead in the end joins the others in savagely murdering their Nazi lifeboat-mate in retaliation for the execution of an injured man. Hull observes the remnants of American troops viciously tormented by the Japanese. Losing his usual or customary worldly cool, wilde-eyed and shaking he shouts, â€Å"Stinking little savages! Wipe ‘em out! Wipe ‘em off the face of the earth! † Earlier than the war, particularly, the documentary genre was dominantly concerned with motivating productive and significant thinking and with determining or scattering opinions and thoughts for the good of mankind. The greater part of true-life films created throughout the war were also concerned with teaching and information, but they were based on the basic principles, morals, ethics or values of the countries which created them. They may not have called upon the viewers to think critically or to depict rational conclusions, but they were swift to be virtuous regarding their own purposes, motivations and inspirations or to pass decision on the motives of their adversaries (Barsam, 175). Works Cited China. 1943. John Farrow, April 21. China Girl. 1943. Henry Hathaway, December 9. Crash Dive. 1943. Archie Mayo, April 22. The Edge of Darkness. 1943. Lewis Milestone, April 24. The Flying Tigers. 1942. David Miller, October 8. Hitler: Dead of Alive. 1943. Nick Grinde, April 3. The Land Is Mine. 1943. Jean Renoir, May 7. Lifeboat. 1944. Alfred Hitchcock, January 12. Objective, Burma! 1945. Raoul Walsh, February 17. They Were Expendable. 1945. John Ford, December 30. Barsam, Richard Meran. Nonfiction Film: A Critical History. USA: Richard Meran Barsam, 1992. Davis, Elmer. Report to the President. Journalism Monographs No. 7 (August 1968). Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. , 1991. Winkler, Allan M. The Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942-1945. Yale University Press, 1978.

Ethics, innovation and entrepreneurship Essay Example for Free

Ethics, innovation and entrepreneurship Essay With reference to one or two organization that you have studied, discuss the influence of ethics and innovation on the role of entrepreneurship (entrepreneur) and intrapreneurship (intrapreneur). Conceptual approaches play a vital role in influencing the role of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in an organization. Innovation, which is one of the concepts, is the ability to think anew by developing new services or products. It is synonymous with risk taking as defined in the entrepreneurial behavior. Organizations that create innovative products take on the greatest risk because they create new markets. It is the act to carve a new niche in it, as deemed by most entrepreneurs. Ethics, on the other hand is the basic concepts and fundamental principles of decent human conduct. Organizations that mobilize this conduct concerned with decisions and what and how to do it. For example, ethical considerations in the role of entrepreneurship and intrepreneurship are revolved around the ways of an organization approaches its customers by instilling good values throughout the conduct, and also through consideration in the branding of the products or services, based on morality as it portrays the image of the organization. These two concepts influence the survival of an organization in the modern world to cater the society’s demands. One of the organizations that best fit these criterions is IKEA. IKEA has introduced various ethical conducts throughout the century. One of its most significance considerations is that IKEA introduced IWAY. It is an ethic code that had been introduced by the founder of the organization as a code of conduct between the organization and its suppliers since the year 2000. It encompasses guidelines concerning working conditions, prevention of child labour, the environment and responsible forestry management. This ethical conduct is to ensure that the suppliers won’t go overboard although things may seem inevitable as most suppliers don’t put that much of concern regarding the issues and most organizations seek for reduced cost. However, IKEA prioritizes morality, and dare to be venturesome, in starting their business with ofits from the quality. This ethical conducts inhibit bribery and anything related to the impropriety andanother organization as it is to ensure that their products are top-notch and can initiate a much greater pr results in creating quality products for the customers, hence providing customers the best of what they should opt for from an organization. It will  promote trust in business, and enhance in the growth of likely more organizations alike to adhere to the same code of conduct resulting a better lifestyle in a society. People benefits from getting to use quality products, while organization and suppliers gain profits as the business go viral from the trust embedded by the customers. However, this code of conduct, to a certain extent, won’t be able to stand a chance against the long run of the business. From time to time, organizations should revise on how they conduct their business as policies change overtime in order to adapt to the current demand of the world. IWAY can’t stay appr opriate for organizations as benefits and importance would be totally different years after. Hence suppliers will end up breaking the guidelines, resulting in contract breaches causing damages and loss to both organizations. Code of conduct, is about refinement in order to get it sustainably carried out, yielding its finest outcomes. In the innovative aspect, IKEA had been coming up with the concept of sustaining the price by introducing the ‘do-it-yourselves’ concept. Lowest price is the basis of IKEA’s concept. IKEA identify new customer needs for furniture from not just from those who can afford but also among the young and less wealthy. So the founder had came out with the idea of designing furniture in kit form, leaving the customer to put them together by themselves hence, reduce the cost of assembly. The furniture is put in flat-cardboard boxes, so that customers can access to the self-service warehouse without using any third-parties. This results in almost 80% of reduced cost for transportation. This innovation, as deemed to be potently reducing most of the cost, comes from having the customers engage in the idea of ‘do-it-yourselves’. IKEA’s prices have been 30% below any other traditional furniture manufacturers. Its contemporary and innovative avant garde idea had garnered both the attention of customers and suppliers. This results in impactful effects on the society as more classes of people would be able to possess high quality products and furniture. IKEA’s ‘do-it-yourselves’ furniture not just exhibit the exquisite design and sophisticated image from the company but indicates their stand in providing quality products in affordable price. This will entirely improve the social standard of a society and cater the demand of the customers, to own furniture that suits their social living within the current globalization. However, this strategy is not foolproof. There have  been numbers of debates on how customers comment that some I KEA’s products are complicated to assemble and in further action, require the need of an expert hence require more expenses. This will get us back to square one where buyers would have to pay for assembling the products. The idea of ‘do-it-yourselves’ is vividly attracting attention of customers and suppliers however, it would be better if proper guidelines and further proposal is planned for this strategy to work. Entrepreneurs are gambling to the fact that they’re selling unfinished products to the customers hoping profits in return, however this won’t be likely to occur without proper planning and detailed reviews. As discussed in the passage above, IKEA is been putting priorities to both the suppliers and also the customers. Attention on the suppliers was to ensure that the raw materials used reach the standard of quality to yield the best products. Customers were given priorities in the aspect of wanting them to buy the products, by taking care their needs, and demands. Exclusion of any of these two societies would leave a profound impact to IKEA itself. But in this aspect, it would be better if slight inclination of priorities were given to the suppliers instead of the customers. A great enforcement on how the expensive raw materials should have been taken into count by IKEA, is essential and should undergo ethical inspection, so that it gratifies the satisfaction of both the supplier and customers. Any organization should be aware that, if the materials are not off good quality, this will affect the selling process, as well as will hinder the profits gained. It is for us to realize that even though entrepreneurship is about approaching the customers need, venturing to their demands, it is highly recommended that we should look back and reflect that without having proper supplies and the right suppliers, none of that would happen. To deduce, both the concepts, innovation and ethics influence the role of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in an organization. Without the actualization of these two concepts, IKEA won’t be able to achieve such influences in the modern world of furnishing.

Theory Of Tourism Demand

Theory Of Tourism Demand Presently, considerable research in the field of economics of tourism since the 1970s led to well established models and methodologies to quantify tourism demand. Main factors that proved its significance are for example income in the country of origin, relative tourism prices at the destination, or substitute prices of an alternative destination. On the other hand travel motivation has been a focus within destination choice theories. The typical tourist undertakes several steps before deciding for a vacation destination. Each stage is influenced by internal and external stimuli and the tourists intention maximize its utility, thus to make the most of it. It becomes apparent that the root of total tourism demand lies within both economic and socio-psychological theories. It is the intention of the thesis to therefore propose a combined framework. In order to prove its validity a survey will be conducted to capture stereotypes associated with Ireland and the Irish and to what extend this influences Ireland as a destination choice. The results will then be incorporated into the new framework to help future research testing other variables. Literature Review Theory of Tourism Demand Research differentiates between two major approaches to analyze tourism demand: Tourism economists mainly consider an economic framework while travel motivation mainly applies a socio-psychological framework (Goh, 2012). The following paragraphs will go into more detail on each of the theories to illustrate that tourism demand can be derived from theories of destination choice as well as market demand theory. Although studying the characteristics of tourism is a comparably new era starting in the 1960s, this industrys excessive growth has also led to an equally extensive evolution as a field of study and consequently its methods and findings. Neoclassical economic theory usually assumes a multi-stage budgeting process for every choice for a certain product or service. Within a tourism context this process can be divided as in Figure . Additionally, each stage corresponds to a utility maximization problem where the consumer subconsciously intends to maximize the utility of the choices within the given budget constraint (Smeral Weber, 2000). As Figure illustrates the budget line shows how different combinations of tourism expenditure could be allocated to the destinations, but the indifference curve shows that the tourist wishes to allocate set proportions of the budget to each (Sinclair Stabler, 1997). The most recent review papers by Song and Li (2008) and Song et al. (2012) summarize the research progress made in respect of approaches, applied methods, innovations, emerging topics, research gaps, and directions for future research. According to their assessment a number of researchers have created and tested a variety of demand models for different destinations in order to quantify its impacts. Most commonly the number of arrivals is used as the indicator for total tourism demand of a destination, although tourist expenditure, and tourist nights in registered accommodations were chosen in some studies. Predominantly considered determinants that empirically proved to have an impact on tourism demand were: Income in country of origin Relative tourism prices at destination Substitute prices of alternative destination Travel cost Marketing expenditure One-off events (Song, et al., 2009) While total impact and its explanatory variables have been thoroughly investigated through several econometric models, little attention is placed to the social context of tourism decision making: Traditional demand theory does not explain how preferences and tastes are formed and change [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (Sinclair Stabler, 1997, p. 29). Decision-making processes, its components and generalized frameworks have been widely researched over the past decades (Crompton Um, 1991; Woodside Lysonski, 1989). Decrop (2005) for example classified the factors of tourists decision-making process into six cognitive constructs: Tourist perception Learning and attitude Personality and self-concept Motivation and involvement Emotion Context On the contrary, Crompton and Um (1991) explain how tourists perception of a destination is influenced by internal and external inputs (see Figure ). Connecting the findings of Heung et al. (2001) review about major vacation motives and Gallarza et al. (2002) findings on attributes related to the destination image, it becomes apparent that research exploring factors influencing destination choice has been extensive. Despite the wide recognition of Um and Cromptonss framework of a multi-stage destination choice and acceptance that beliefs and attitudes are related to destination preferences, they are some restrictions when it comes to the act of purchasing a vacation at a destination. During the early stage of selecting a destination socio-psychological factors such as image or beliefs are significant indicators in specifing which destination evolved to a late consideration stage. However, the ultimate selection depends to a higher magnitude on perceived inhibtors acting on a potential traveler such as monetary constraints (Crompton Um, 1992). According to Crompton and Ums findings in the consumer behavior, tourism, and recreation choice literature à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦constraints should be integrated into the cognitive choice process. (Crompton Um, 1992, p. 97) Figure : Framework of decision-making process by Crompton and Um (1991) (Source: Own illustration) Similarly, very few prior studies focused on the influence of socio-psychological factors on demand itself. During the 1970s several studies concluded that a large number of explanatory variables affecting demand are too small to have a significant influence, but if aggregated à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦are likely to be as important as prices and income in determining travel growth. (Goh, 2012, p. 1862). Additionally, OHagan and Harrison (1984) again proved the high significance of non-economic factors in their study. The main reason for omitting relevant variables in tourism demand theory is its difficulty to define and collect accurate measures (Song Witt, 2000). Attempts to integrate socio-psychological factors into tourism demand models have failed due to the lack of appropriated procedures and econometric models. As most these factors are more commonly interrelated a new more complex modeling approach would have to be designed and tested. As Stabler notes: Though motivations and preferences, in which images are embodied, are acknowledged as being important, they tend to be ignored by main stream economists, because they are either assumed to be relatively stable and therefore do not influence the model, or are considered too complex to cope with. (Stabler, 1988, p. 137) In summary, apart from each other the economic perspective as well as the socio-psychological aspect has been subject to extensive research. Both fields of study realize their incompleteness when it comes to assessing tourist behavior and demand. However, to fully comprehend and measure the tourism demand, theories of destination choice and theory of market demand should be combined to create an in-depth understanding (Goh, 2012). Stereotyping Social categorizing allows people to respond quicker to a range of perceptual impressions. As Lustig and Koester (1999) state the way humans process can be broken down into three aspects: Conceptual categories  [1]   Ethnocentrism  [2]   Stereotyping For this thesis most important, is the effect of stereotyping. First mentioned by Lippmann in 1922 it refers to a selection process to simplify our perception of others; creating pictures in our heads (Lippmann, 1922, p. 5). Basically, the cognitive representations of a group influence our thinking, judgment and behavior of people within that group. Hewstone and Brown (1986) defined three characteristics of stereotypes: Often individuals are categorized, usually on the basis of easily identifiable characteristics such as sex or ethnicity. A set of attributes is ascribed to all (or most) members of that category. Individuals belonging to the stereotyped group are assumed to be similar to each other, and different from other groups, on this set of attributes. The set of attributes is ascribed to any individual member of that category (p. 29) Thus, after defining an out-group, they, on the basis of their differing characteristic to oneself, the dissimilarities are emphasized and extended in order to create a more distinct division between the social groups. Last, the characteristics are attributed to all members of that group, resulting in a person not being treated as an individual, but as a typical example of a category (Lustig Koester, 1999; Hinton, 2000). Before judging, people rarely gather a sufficient amount of information from various resources. Most commonly, they had a direct experience with a few people of the out-group, received information and opinions second hand such as from friends or relatives, were influenced by the output of the mass media, or just general pigeonhole thinking (Brewer, 1996). These sources that form a stereotype initially are moreover the multipliers and causes for stereotypes shared by an entire social group. As Stangor and Schaller (1996, pp. 4-5) mention: From one perspective stereotypes are represented within the mind of an individual person. From the other perspective, stereotypes are represented as part of the social fabric of a society, shared by the people within the culture. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] Because group values and group behavior provide the underlying foundation of stereotyping, stereotypes only have meaning to the extent they are culturally shared. Stereotyping is therefore not only an indiv idual problem, but when they are shared within a society; they have a considerable (positive or negative) impact on the labeled individual or group. As diverse and intricate as the environment appears to be and as useful as it seems to simplify this complexity by structuring, the more dangerous it becomes to misjudge and have inaccurate assumptions. Judd and Park (1993) assessed three major phenomena resulting from stereotyping: The so-called out-group homogeneity effect causes the person in the in-group to consider members of the out-group to be much more similar to one another than in reality. Second, humans tend to make wrong or inappropriately exaggerated assumptions about the group average, such as when all US Americans are assumed to be friendly and service-oriented, but also superficial. Third, the phenomenon of prejudices occurs when there is a negative valence inaccuracy, thus a negative attribute is weighted more important while the positive is being ignored or underestimated. For instance, when visiting the US a tourist could stereotype all Americans being superficial or insincere (the negative attribute), but disregar ding the fact that they are highly service and customer oriented (positive attribute). Conversely, one can show a positive valence inaccuracy. As Kunda and Scherman-Williams already proved in 1993 imprecise stereotyping can eventually lead to false interpretation of ambiguous incidents. Consider, for example, the unambiguous event of losing a soccer game. Ethnic stereotypes could relate the failure to laziness if the team was from Germany or low ability if the team is Kazakhstani. Thus, stereotypes will affect judgments of the targets ability even if subjects base these judgments only on the act, because the stereotypes will determine the meaning of the act. (Kunda Sherman-Williams, 1993, p. 97) Stereotypes even have consequences for future behavior. An investigation by Seta and Seta (1993) revealed the following results: The stereotype would persist even after the subjects were exposed to a disconfirming behavior as they expected a future action would compensate for the atypical behavior If a subjects stereotype would be consistently challenged by a member of the stereotyped group then expected compensatory behavior would cease. Nevertheless, the subject still expects another member of the group to make up for the disconfirming behavior. This way people are still able to anticipate certain future events without making it necessary to revise their deeply set beliefs and values. In conclusion, stereotypes are highly subjective, but because experiences and events are shared through various channels, it can eventually lead to a shared consensus. Although categorizing helps an individual to cope with an ambiguous environment more efficiently, caution has to be exercised to avoid unjust judgment of others behavior. Stereotyping is a strong set of beliefs and values, which is difficult to overcome for an individual and consequently even less likely for an entire social group. Conclusion Literature review gives a scattered insight into tourism behavior and demand. The field of tourism economics with its consistent developments in methodological innovations, research progresses, and different approaches consists of a comprehensive body of knowledge and theoretical foundations. Similarly, extensive research in the tourist behavior area and especially the understanding of decision-making process has led to a number of frameworks and assessment methods. Apart from each other, both have empirically and qualitatively evidence for a number of factors influencing the consumer equilibrium the point at which the tourists economical constraints intersects with the consumer indifference curve. Thus, market demand is proven to be depicted from economical as well as socio-psychological theories. However, only very few studies attempted to combine and investigate their relationship and impact. Factors influencing destination choice and destination image are many. Stereotypes are one of numerous causes shaping personality and beliefs. Due to its persistent nature and difficulty to overcome deeply held principles, stereotypes proved to be highly influential on expectations towards future situations peoples behavior. Thus, although stereotyping is a commonly known phenomena its implications into tourism theories is yet limited. The literature gave a profound understanding of economic and non-economic tourism theories as well as origin and impact of stereotypes on social behavior. It is the papers intention to prove a significant relationship between stereotypes and its influence on destination choice. Research Problem Research Problem It is evident from the literature that market demand as well as destination choice theory face constraints when trying to explain the complexity of tourists choices. Despite their methodological developments in econometric models over the past decades, integrating qualitative as well as quantitative measures has failed due to lack of available data or complexity. Similarly, socio-psychological frameworks tend to omit inhibitors and constraints such as budget. From the research problem identified above, the research question can be formulated as follows: To what extend can stereotypes be classified as a relevant factor influencing tourism demand? In other words, the author will intends to link both economic and socio-psychological factors into tourism demand theory. Further, it is hypothesized that stereotypes have a significant impact on the decision-making process of tourists and thus tourism demand in general. Research Objectives The research objectives are generated from the research question and should provide clearer sense of purpose and direction for the researcher (Baker, 2000). The following research objectives arise from the hypothesis above: Establish a framework that includes both socio-psychological and economic factors Song et al. (2012) as well as Song Li (2008) noted in their review papers that developments in tourism demand are limited to quantifiable measures. During their early works Crompton Um (1992) realized as well that the destination choice process is not limited to intrinsic motivators. Goh (2012) recently proposed an initial framework linking destination choice and theory of market demand. Investigate on stereotypes existing towards Ireland/Irish Seta Seta (1993) found that stereotypes deep-rooted and difficult to overcome. Stereotypes about Ireland and the Irish are widespread which could be due to its high emigration throughout the previous centuries. Since its subjective nature social science has not scientifically named or analyzed existing stereotypes. It will ths become essential to collect primary data. Analyze connection between existing stereotypes and willingness to choose Ireland as a vacation destination The multi-stage destination decision-making process has most commonly been researched by Crompton Um (1991; 1992) and Decrop (2005). Influencing factors are numeral and their magnitudinal impact depends on the stage of the process as well. Assess to what extend the economic tourism demand formula can be extended by the socio-psychological factors Research integrating socio-psychological aspects with tourism demand theory is limited. For example, Goh (2012) was able to link the factor weather with tourism demand theory. Based on the framework established from the first objective the author intends to generalize the findings. Research Method The methodology outlines how the research objectives are to be achieved within the given time frame and explains the rationale behind the chosen method (Saunders, et al., 1997). Special emphasize is to be placed on the research design, data collection, and ethical implications. Research Design In order to resolve the above mentioned research objectives a triangulate approach has been chosen, applying both quantitative as well as qualitative methods. First, in order to fully comprehend and test the relationship between stereotypes and tourism demand, a framework needs to be created which stems from economical as well as consumer choice theory. This inductive and more discovery-oriented approach is necessary due to the lack of available research and quantitative data that combined the two fields of study. Through an investigation of the literature about economic tourism demand and socio-psychological theory, the exploratory research will confidently result in a comprehensive tourism demand framework. Additionally, it will clarify the authors understanding about the separateness and consequently help to successfully commence with subsequent objectives (Heath Tynan, 2010). The main focus of this thesis will rely on a positivist approach though, thus deducing a hypothesis from the theory and empirically testing it (Saunders, et al., 1997). The intention is to quantitatively prove a causal relationship between stereotypes and tourism demand. From the literature review it can be concluded that socio-psychological factors play a major role when deciding for a destination and as a result imply to have certain impact on tourism demand of that destination. However, this hypothesis has not been tested yet. In order to do accomplish objectives two and three a survey will be conducted among people who have not visited or lived in Ireland. Conducting surveys allows the researchers to have more control over the research process and is widely perceived as authoritative by people in general (Saunders, et al., 1997). According to an analysis from Irelands national tourism board Fà ¡ilte Ireland its main markets are Britain, North America, France, and Germany (Fà ¡ilte Ireland, 2011). The author intends to collect sufficient amount of data from at least two source countries, namely United States and Germany. As the survey is standardized it will be easier to distribute to the different nations and later compare the received results. It aims at collecting cross-sectional data about the kinds of stereotypes existing towards Ireland and the Irish as well as the participants willingness to choose Ireland as a vacation destination based on their held beliefs. Regression analysis will then allow the author to conduct the fourth step of positivist research: Examining the specific outcome of the inquiry. It will either tend to confirm the theory or indicate the need for its modification (Robson, 2002, pp. 18-19) According to Saunders et al. (1997) the data collected might not reach such a wide range as a qualitative research method would due to the limited number of questions a questionnaire can contain. However, in case the conducted survey does not give sufficient causal explanation, thus its validity and reliability cannot be assured, additional secondary data from a recent survey by Fà ¡ilte Ireland could be analyzed who interrogated tourists that have chosen Ireland as a vacation destination (Fà ¡ilte Ireland, 2011). It is important to note though, this data can only serve supplementary as a clear distinction between stereotypes and other reasons to choose Ireland has not been considered. The reason for choosing a positivist approach is the advantages that come with it. Its deductive nature allows the application of a rigorous structure that would make this hypothesis applicable to generalization and give an opportunity for further research to test other socio-psychological factors (Easterby-Smith, et al., 2001). The last objective intends to incorporate the findings from the survey into the framework proposed at the beginning of the research applying the knowledge gained throughout the thesis. If the survey were to prove the causal relationship between stereotypes leading to higher likeliness to choose Ireland, the hypothesis demonstrated its validity. The fourth objective is to conclude to what extend the findings can be generalized and applied to other non-economic factors. Data Collection As mentioned above the main purpose of this thesis is a survey among US and German citizens collecting empirical data about stereotypes towards Ireland and the Irish as well as their willingness to choose Ireland as a vacation destination based on their held beliefs. Irish born as well as residents who previously visited Ireland are excluded. This specification is especially relevant as stereotypes root mainly from other peoples experience (i.e. visitors to Ireland) and/or limited familiarity with the other social group (i.e. Irish emigrants) (Brewer, 1996). The author targets to gain 50 utilizable questionnaires from each nation, totaling to n=100. In order to ensure a high number of participants from Germany the survey will be translated into German as well. Distribution will primarily be channeled as a web questionnaire through social media. This note only enables the survey to reach a wide range of potential partakers and guarantees there anonymity, but also ensures a certain level of randomness which is one of the main challenges when conducting surveys. Although the author cannot fully exclude a connection with all the participants, the potentially exponential circulation minimizes this risk. The data then will be used for a linear regression analysis in order to validate how the independent variable (stereotype) impacts the dependent variable (select Ireland as vacation destination). The linear regression will only be an approximation of the true relationship though, as it is not possible to include all the variables which may have an influence on the dependent variable (Koop, 2009). The omission of these variables in the model is referred to as the error term. The basic regression model is written as where y equals dependent variable (select Ireland as vacation destination), coefficients ÃŽÂ ± and ÃŽÂ ², x represents the independent variable (stereotype), and refers to the error term. A null hypothesis test will be applied to determine whether results are statistically significant. Main problems arising using regression analysis can be autocorrelation, omitted variable bias and multi-collinearity (Koop, 2009). As the hypothesis is only testing the impact of one independent variable on one dependent variable, autocorrelation can be neglected. Similarly, multi-collinearity, evident through high p-values and low t-stats can be excluded as only one explanatory variable is applied. However, omitted variable bias can lead to unreliable coefficients if an explanatory variable which may have an impact on the dependent variable are omitted from the data set. However, as mentioned above it is nearly impossible to include all explanatory variables, which is why the error term is included. The values of the coefficients will nevertheless be treated with caution. Ethical considerations have to be taken into account as well. The online survey ensures the participants anonymity and no personal data will be collected. Additionally, it goes without saying that the author conducts this hypothesis in an objective and non-discriminatory manner. Stereotypes have a tendency to classify or even favor one social group over the other. The thesis is not intended to strengthen or overcome beliefs towards Ireland or the Irish, but to capture a snapshot of existing stereotypes.

Reflections on Shevchenkos Kateryna Essay -- Poetry Analysis

Purpose Statement The purpose of this research paper is to discover why Taras Shevchenko uses of women in his poetry. Along with the poem â€Å"Kateryna†, women are used quite heavily by the author. The women in his poetry appear to symbolize the czarist imposition of serfdom in the Ukraine. The irony was written when his own freedom was purchased by a friend. Women are usually seen as becoming impregnated by Moscals and then abandon by their impregnators. Shevchenko desire is to reveal how the czars imprison the Ukrainian people just as women are put into a prison by the seduction of the soldiers from Moscow. Problem Statement Taras Shevchenko, through his poem, "Kateryna," was addressing the issue of Petersburg imposing serfdom upon the Ukraine. He used the symbol of women who gave themselves to the Moscals soldiers. The problem Shevchenko perceived was twofold. He was concerned about how Ukraine purity was being filed by the introduction of Russian genes by these women's pregnancies. The second was Russian interference into everyday Ukrainian life as symbolized by the pregnant women being abandoned by the Moscal soldier. Introduction Not taking into account all challenges and difficulties, Taras Shevchenko, ninetieth century Ukrainian romantic national poet, wrote in Ukrainian and about Ukraine. He demonstrated that the Ukrainian language deserves literary attention and in turn rekindling a latent Ukrainian national spirit. George Luckyj writes â€Å"Shevchenko provided in his poems the raison d’à ªtre of the modern Ukrainian nation. The mythic poet became a national prophet†. Thus his first importance to Ukraine is clear: his works for the first time proved the intellectual maturity of the Ukrainian language and culture. Although... ...uel before your grief. (Shevchenko) Works Cited "Early Ukrainian Identity: The Case of Taras Shevchenko." Perspectives Student Journal of Germanic and Slavic Studies. Winter 2004. Web. 4 May 2012. Luckyj, George S.N. "The Archetype of the Bastard in Shevchenko's Poetry." Shevchenko and the critics, 1861-1980. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980. pp. 386-394. Rudnichenko, Nataliya. Being a women in Ukraine. Welcome to Ukraine n.d. Web. 5 May 2012. Shevchenko, Taras. "If You but Knew." 1961. Shevchenko Poetry. Taras Shevchenko Museum. n.d. Web. 6 May 2012. Shevchenko, Taras. "Katerina." 1960. Electronic Library of Ukraine Literature. University of Toronto. n.d. Web. 5 May 2012. Zheleznova, Irina, John Weir and Olga Shartse. "Selected Works by Taras Shevchenko." Spring, 1984. The Modern Language Journal , Vol. 68, No. 1 (Spring, 1984), pp. 89-90.

Sharks Essay examples -- essays research papers fc

SHARKS There are more that 250 species of sharks, ranging from the harmless whale shark to the ferocious great white. I will describe the feeding habits and localities of the three greatly known to mankind: the great white shark (Carcharodon Carcharias), the tiger shark (Galeocerdo Cuvieri), and the bull shark (Carcharhinus Leucas). The great white shark, known as Carchardon Carcharias, feeds regularly on marine mammals, such as seals, sea lions, otters, dolphins, and whales. Samuel Gruber in Discovering Sharks writes that the great white consumes marine mammals when they come across a deceased one. Even though the great white has the reputation of a man-eater; they attack thinking that the diver or surfers on a short board are part of its natural prey. The San Francisco area is known as the great white capital, because of the â€Å"Red Triangle.† The red triangle is the breeding ground for its natural prey, seals and sea lions. The triangle’s boundaries are north of Tamales Point, south of Monterey Bay, and west of the Farallon Islands, states Rodney Steel in the book Sharks of the World. The sharks also are found in quiet, shallow waters, along with in Australia. The tiger shark, known as Galeocerdo Cuivieri, feeds regularly on marine mammals also. Tiger sharks do end up with curious articles in their stomach like license plates, lamps, and sheep. The tiger shark is a cannibalistic shark, which means it will attack its own kind when needed. Tiger sharks will feed on anything th...

Distinctively Visual speech Essay

Good morning/afternoon class and maim, I am here today to demonstrate my understanding of the concept of distinctively visual, through an analysis of the relationship between Henry Lawson’s short story ‘The Drover’s Wife’ , with a strong, courageous and determined woman that deals with the severe, unmerciful Australian outback. The painting ‘Battling Bushfires by the Alan J. Benge in 2007 illustrates a woman, face to face fighting against a bushfire encroaching on her land. Another Henry Lawson short story â€Å"The Loaded Dog† is about a dog that innocently takes a stick of dynamite, sparking it as he runs past the camp fire, then tries to play with it and in fear, everyone that runs away, and thirdly, James Reeves â€Å"The Sea†, a poem that creates an extended metaphor of a dog, which illustrates the change of behaviour of both a dog and the sea. My chosen related text â€Å"battling bushfires† is a distinctively visual image that explores the harsh and rugged environment of the Australian outback and the people in it. In this painting, the artist powerfully depicts the determination and strength of the salient figure the woman, as she battles the fire that is encroaching on her land destroying everything in its path and potentially, her house seen in the background of the painting. Bege carefully uses his brush techniques and colours, such as the black, dark reds and orange illustrating the striking image of heat and the threat of danger, as well as the diagonal lines of vector, of the fire and her arms, to reinforce the woman standing, fighting face to face with the advancing fire. Distinctively visual is represented by the dominance of the woman in the foreground as she stands there strong and determined, leading a small team of men battling the fire with only a few wet sacks. She is the only female figure in this p ainting which emphasizes to the audience her courage as she battles to save the family home. As the team, composing of mostly men, work together to battle the bushfire, using the true Australian pioneer spirit, it is the female figure in a dress that dominates the painting. She is the major visual centre piece of the picture. The only woman fighting the fire beside strong hardy men highlights the bravery and courage of the hardworking qualities of the woman battling to save her home. â€Å"The Drover’s Wife† clearly mirrors the painting with her similar qualities of protectiveness and experiences with  battling bushfires not letting fear get in the way as he puts on her husband’s trousers to battle the fire. Lawson creates a distinctively visual picture of the â€Å"Drover’s Wife† for the reader through his use of descriptive language as it creates an engaging image in the readers imagination of the â€Å"gaunt sun browned woman† as she battles her way through life of the Australian outback. â€Å"The Sea† by James reeves is a poem that successfully makes an extended metaphor that depicts a distinctive image of a dog by relating it to â€Å"the sea†. Reeves also links the different behaviours of the sea, and how it relates to the behaviours and moods of a dog. â€Å"The sea† is brought to life as Reeves uses a number of literary tools, for example, the use of onomatopoeia or sound words such as â€Å"Roars†, â€Å"sniffs† and â€Å"snuffs† describes the poem vividly capturing reader’s imagination. He grasps the relation between the giant grey dog and ocean. The playful more happy nature of a dog is visualised in the first stanza as Reeves imagery describes the ocean and relates it’s be behaviours to a dog, with the way they roll around on the beach. This is similar to the way the rough waves tumble and crash on the ocean shore. Over the three stanzas we are able to see the recognisable shift of mood from anger to playfulness to complete relaxation.P Henry Lawson’s â€Å"the loaded dog†, mirrors the atmosphere of the environment created by reeves, as the lively behavioural characters of the dog in â€Å"the sea†, are parallel with the also lively, playful, mischievous dog in â€Å"the loaded dog†. There is a contrasting objective with the two composing animals, clearly separating the two characterisations of the yellow vicious canine, in henry Lawson’s short story, and the joyful big black dog. The way both the authors have creatively used language, encourages the mind’s eye to vividly capture the images that he writers are trying to express. The readers visualises the scenes in â€Å"the loaded dog† because the narration is skilfully manipulated to build and hold tension throughout the story. In conclusion, I was able use all the four texts to show my knowledge and understanding of the topic distinctively visual and how they relate to composing texts. When relating materials we can display how each of the themes from each text plays its role with the overall result for the reader. The woman in battling bushfires, was the distinctive image as she stood out leading the team of men to fight the fire that was potentially destroying her house. My last related material â€Å"the sea† linked the sea to a distinctive image of a dog  through the use of the descriptive language that captures the reader from start to finish, showing the recognisable shifts of mood. Thank you. The sea is a hungry dog, Giant and grey. He rolls on the beach all day. With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws Hour upon hour he gnaws The rumbling, tumbling stones, And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones! ‘ The giant sea-dog moans, Licking his greasy paws. And when the night wind roars And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud, He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs, Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs, And howls and hollos long and loud. But on quiet days in May or June, When even the grasses on the dune Play no more their reedy tune, With his head between his paws He lies on the sandy shores, So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.

Military: Leadership and Discipline

Discipline Leadership Responsibilities and Duties Importance to the Military Discipline: Training that corrects, molds or perfects the mental facilities or moral character; the discipline to a superior authority. [Defined by Webster]. Discipline to me means that you are capable of accepting the norms. You respect the commands given from a higher authority or the leader in charge. Training your mind to think in a routine way of life, being able to accept the responsibilities of what you do and/or don’t do.In the world of the military discipline is a major factor. It defines your future and what you do or how your career will turn out. Max Anders says, â€Å"Only the disciplined ever get really good at anything. † Everything in life requires some sort of discipline. Whether it is hitting a baseball, climbing a mountain, playing a musical instrument, making good grades or brushing your teeth it all comes down to a matter of discipline. The core of a superior soldier is sai d to be moral disciple. Morals are principles and beliefs concerning rights and wrongs of behavior). Discipline tends to be important because it is the basis of todays and yesterday’s soldiers. In the Army discipline comes in many forms and fashions: PRT, drill and ceremony, basic commands given, routine life, training the body, etc. Discipline is something you need to have to live a military life and be successful. Leadership: the position or function of a leader; a person who guides or directs a group; the ability to lead. [Defined by Webster].A leader in the military life is usually the most â€Å"squared-away† soldier. One that had the discipline to know and correct another when one needs help or is the wrong. I feel that when it comes to the military one who is a soldier has to have discipline. You can not be a leader and not have the discipline to lead a group/platoon to success. Leadership means you have the discipline to maintain yourself as well as the rest fo llowing you. Being in a leadership role means that you are capable of leading by direction and following direction at the same time.As a leader you should never have the ones you are leading do something you yourself would not do. You have to lead as being lead. â€Å"Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity. If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles. † As quoted by Karl von Clausewitz. Leadership and discipline go hand and hand in the army. I feel that you can not have one without the other. Along with that goes the Army core values.With the right discipline noticed by the right sergeant/officer you are most-likely to be a leader of a platoon or group given. Both topics are important to the military way of life without these 2 subjects the army would have no foundation. Soldiers in the leadership position guide the platoon to a succe ssful mission. Soldiers with the right discipline tend to lead the mission to victory. Without the 2 come many consequences: loss of rank; money, leadership positions, suspension etc. Personally I feel that a great leader has discipline.Being a leader without discipline you have nothing. Being a good leader to me means that you leave your mark on the ones who follow you. When another leader comes to charge, the soldiers that you have lead will know if that leader is good or not based on the path left behind. â€Å"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. † – Walter Lippmann, 1889-1974. A good leader will continue to lead weather they are in a leadership position or not. As said before it is a basic foundation to get the mission completed.The military’s discipline is also know and having military bearing, knowing where to act in accordance. Commissioned officers and officers would have to make s wift decisions in the battlefield that may affect the lives of their soldiers. In a world of chaos, their subordinates are relying on their leaders to make the right decision and trusting that those big decisions made is the best out of all the options given. Leaders should be able to make these big decisions with all his confidence projecting out with his military bearing.A leader should look like a leader, disciplined, confident, and has the skills and abilities to persuade and provide their subordinates with the motivation, direction and purpose so as to accomplish a mission without being easily rattled by problems that arises. One who leads has to have the proper discipline to be a great leader. With these words sergeant who lead me also feel that I’m a great leader with the proper discipline to lead. Duty: Obligatory task, conduct service or functions that arise from ones position; assigned service or business. Defined by Webster]. At each level of authority soldiers hav e certain responsibilities or duties that they must fulfill. Duty begins with everything required of you by law, regulation, and orders but it includes much more than that. A duty is a legal or moral obligation. Duties are assigned at different levels rank for set reasons. As a private or non-NCO you may not hold as many responsibilities compared to an NCO, which can hold numerous amounts of duties that all are required to be fulfilled in a timely manner.Responsibilities: The quality or state of being responsible. [Defined by Webster]. Responsibilities are set to enforce task and make sure they are carried out properly. They are set for a numerous amounts of reasons. Some responsibilities are set to see how well an individual performs under certain task, time limits. Others may be set to get a task or chore done. All of these things combined are qualities that make or break a soldier. If you lack one the possibilities are great that you may lack another. Military: Leadership and Discipline Discipline Leadership Responsibilities and Duties Importance to the Military Discipline: Training that corrects, molds or perfects the mental facilities or moral character; the discipline to a superior authority. [Defined by Webster]. Discipline to me means that you are capable of accepting the norms. You respect the commands given from a higher authority or the leader in charge. Training your mind to think in a routine way of life, being able to accept the responsibilities of what you do and/or don’t do.In the world of the military discipline is a major factor. It defines your future and what you do or how your career will turn out. Max Anders says, â€Å"Only the disciplined ever get really good at anything. † Everything in life requires some sort of discipline. Whether it is hitting a baseball, climbing a mountain, playing a musical instrument, making good grades or brushing your teeth it all comes down to a matter of discipline. The core of a superior soldier is sai d to be moral disciple. Morals are principles and beliefs concerning rights and wrongs of behavior). Discipline tends to be important because it is the basis of todays and yesterday’s soldiers. In the Army discipline comes in many forms and fashions: PRT, drill and ceremony, basic commands given, routine life, training the body, etc. Discipline is something you need to have to live a military life and be successful. Leadership: the position or function of a leader; a person who guides or directs a group; the ability to lead. [Defined by Webster].A leader in the military life is usually the most â€Å"squared-away† soldier. One that had the discipline to know and correct another when one needs help or is the wrong. I feel that when it comes to the military one who is a soldier has to have discipline. You can not be a leader and not have the discipline to lead a group/platoon to success. Leadership means you have the discipline to maintain yourself as well as the rest fo llowing you. Being in a leadership role means that you are capable of leading by direction and following direction at the same time.As a leader you should never have the ones you are leading do something you yourself would not do. You have to lead as being lead. â€Å"Never forget that no military leader has ever become great without audacity. If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles. † As quoted by Karl von Clausewitz. Leadership and discipline go hand and hand in the army. I feel that you can not have one without the other. Along with that goes the Army core values.With the right discipline noticed by the right sergeant/officer you are most-likely to be a leader of a platoon or group given. Both topics are important to the military way of life without these 2 subjects the army would have no foundation. Soldiers in the leadership position guide the platoon to a succe ssful mission. Soldiers with the right discipline tend to lead the mission to victory. Without the 2 come many consequences: loss of rank; money, leadership positions, suspension etc. Personally I feel that a great leader has discipline.Being a leader without discipline you have nothing. Being a good leader to me means that you leave your mark on the ones who follow you. When another leader comes to charge, the soldiers that you have lead will know if that leader is good or not based on the path left behind. â€Å"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. † – Walter Lippmann, 1889-1974. A good leader will continue to lead weather they are in a leadership position or not. As said before it is a basic foundation to get the mission completed.The military’s discipline is also know and having military bearing, knowing where to act in accordance. Commissioned officers and officers would have to make s wift decisions in the battlefield that may affect the lives of their soldiers. In a world of chaos, their subordinates are relying on their leaders to make the right decision and trusting that those big decisions made is the best out of all the options given. Leaders should be able to make these big decisions with all his confidence projecting out with his military bearing.A leader should look like a leader, disciplined, confident, and has the skills and abilities to persuade and provide their subordinates with the motivation, direction and purpose so as to accomplish a mission without being easily rattled by problems that arises. One who leads has to have the proper discipline to be a great leader. With these words sergeant who lead me also feel that I’m a great leader with the proper discipline to lead. Duty: Obligatory task, conduct service or functions that arise from ones position; assigned service or business. Defined by Webster]. At each level of authority soldiers hav e certain responsibilities or duties that they must fulfill. Duty begins with everything required of you by law, regulation, and orders but it includes much more than that. A duty is a legal or moral obligation. Duties are assigned at different levels rank for set reasons. As a private or non-NCO you may not hold as many responsibilities compared to an NCO, which can hold numerous amounts of duties that all are required to be fulfilled in a timely manner.Responsibilities: The quality or state of being responsible. [Defined by Webster]. Responsibilities are set to enforce task and make sure they are carried out properly. They are set for a numerous amounts of reasons. Some responsibilities are set to see how well an individual performs under certain task, time limits. Others may be set to get a task or chore done. All of these things combined are qualities that make or break a soldier. If you lack one the possibilities are great that you may lack another.

Necklace by Guy de Maupassant Essay

The â€Å"Necklace† by Guy de Maupassant, is a story about a beautiful girl, named Mathilde Loisel who was born into an unfavorable family. She then got married, Monsieur Loisel who is a common clerk, who can only provide her with little things. Unhappy with her circumstances, Mme Loisel always felt beneath herself. So to become the person she wanted to be she borrowed a friends necklace for a party, she lost it, and then had to do everything she could to pay off the debt made from the replacement necklace. Maupassant shows that she had gotten exactly what she deserves for her vanity and pride. She not only was punished, but her husband’s life was also affected. Since Mme Loisel had believed that because of her beauty she deserved to be of higher class that what she was in. She claims she had â€Å"suffered endlessly† because she felt as though she was entitled to â€Å"delicacy and luxury†. Maupassant is showing his reader how conceited Mme Loisel was being. Instead of being happy that she live in comfort, Mme Loisel dreamed of more. She dreamed of â€Å" delicate meals† and â€Å"marvelous dishes† things that she believed she deserved just because of her beauty. Trying to make his wife happy Monsieur Loisel came home with an invitation to a party. Instead of being happy â€Å"she flung the invitation† and â€Å"was beginning to cry. The was another example, given by Maupassant, showing Mme Loisel’s vanity, and how much she hated that fact that she couldn’t afford dresses to match her beauty. Her husband, however still tries to please her by giving her money to buy a beautiful dress. However this was still not enough because she now needed jewelry to match. Thus showing more of how she thought highly of herself just because of beauty and wanted more to mach it. She borrowed her friends necklace, and unfortunately lost it on the way home. She bought a replacement and it caused her and her husband to be in debt. She began to do â€Å"the heavy work of the house†and ten years went by and she began to look old and became like all other poor women. Maupassant showed his readers Mme Loisel’s karma for her wanting so much of what she cannot have. Then what made matters worse, she found out that the necklace she borrowed was fake and was worth a lot less than the replacement. This was Maupassant’s way to punish the conceited girl. Now she is no longer the beautiful girl she once was and she now lives in poverty. This was the best way to punish Mme Loisel. Unfortunately her husband suffered too. Her husband also was punished, mainly because instead of telling his wife she should just tell her friend what happened, he told her to buy time by saying they’re getting it fixed. His punishment was using the money left from his father, and â€Å"risked his signature† by borrowing money from different people. He now had to let go of their servant, changed their flat, because now they had work to pay off the debt, and in the process they fell into more debt. The husband had to work even harder than before having to pay off the many debts. He even had to work evenings and nights. Maupassant gave his reader the right punishment for Mme Loisel. She now was old, lost her beauty and became even more poor. This was a just punishment because she should have been appreciative of what she had. Even though she wan’t rich she at least lived comfortably. She now lost her beauty trying to be someone she wasn’t and now she lives with even less luxury than before. Maupassant wanted to show his reader that you must be grateful for what you have, and don’t look for things that is not of you nature. Mme Loisel didn’t live luxury so she shouldn’t have looked for luxury.

Research Survey on Use of Opportunity Cost in Project Evaluation

RESEARCH SURVEY ON USE OF OPPORTUNITY COST IN PROJECT EVALUATION AT SELECTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN THE KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN A RESEARCH PAPER PRESENTED TO THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE AMA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN BY MUBEEN FATIMA August, 2012 ABSTRACT Accounting and Economics work for two different purposes. Today managerial decision making uses economics, as well as accounting concepts, methods & practices of scrutiny given by decision sciences.Literature shows that there are four basic tools and techniques of decision making used by economists, these are; augmentation, statistical valuation, projecting, numerical study, and game theory, most of which are equally procedural in nature they helps us to gather the idea of how decisions are made in economics. Since resources are limited relative to wants, the usage of resources in one way hinders their use in other means.This implies the cost of opportunity, which is lost, is actually the profit of whose output is given up, this indicates that, lost time, satisfaction or any other benefit that provides usefulness should also be taken as opportunity cost. Opportunity cost in literature is the cost referred as the next-best choice available to a rational consumer who has to select between a number of mutually distinct projects. It is, thus the key concept in economics. It has been illustrated as conveying â€Å"the basic relationship between deficiency and choice. Yet its relation to the economic profit is seldom discussed.CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Prior research work provides us the idea that opportunity costs is one of the key differences between the concepts of economic cost and accounting cost. Being treated as a cost, opportunity cost had always been considered vital in calculation of the true cost of a project & has always effected a management accountant decision However the modern economists, particularly the Austrian school of thought treats opportunity cost as something that has neither existence nor has any importance in decision making.Though the field of economics gave birth to the concept of opportunity cost, the awareness about assessing the second best alternate is now taken over by management accounting, today this concept is being taught in academic graduate courses of economics however; in practice, the economists today emphasize on mathematical techniques in decision making there by ignoring various conceptual factors like opportunity costs and worth of projects being missed. Evaluating opportunity costs is important to find out the true cost of any project under consideration.If the financial worth of second best alternative of an investment project is low, then, overlooking that opportunity costs, gives an impression that benefits of next best alternative, cost practically nothing. The invisible opportunity costs then become one of the hidden costs of that particular project. Mr. John Stuart Mill, a British philosopher and a civil servant was the first man to give the idea of Opportunity Cost in his economic theory of free markets as well as explaining his concept of liberty and an individual and freedom of choice.Opportunity costs are thought of as the retrospective costs that cannot be recovered in the field of Economics and Corporate decision making. Opportunity costs are occasionally compared with â€Å"potential costs† which obviously are the future costs that may or may not incurr depending upon the decision taken. Both past aswell as prospective costs can be either static or dynamic Austrian school of thought pay attention to the concept of opportunity costs on both sides of the market links very deeply to the importance of finance and economic profit estimation in their model of the market process.They argue that the money of an investor having opportunity cost means that his money has many uses but the uses are not unlimited. With the assumption of a market with seamlessly exclusi ve capital goods, those goods will have no opportunity cost as every exclusive good has only one yield. In a market of seamlessly standardized capital goods, they have no opportunity cost because all of the goods are same in terms of use and benefit thus can be used equally well for each yield. In practice the calculation of project cost by an accountant is different from that of an economist.This variance is not grounded in different fundamentals on what to assess or how, but lies in the basic difference in understanding-of costs and profits. However if opportunity costs are not ignored by the economist then while calculating the GDP of Country the economist must also consider the large scale pearl diving industry in certain areas of Bahrain. Statement of the Problem The study aims to discuss the relevance of the concept of Opportunity Cost in project evaluation procedure adopted by commercial banks in Kingdom of Bahrain.The opportunity cost has different importance in the opinion of economists and accounts professionals and therefore the use of this concept in project costing . This research will attempt to find out importance of Opportunity cost while considering an investment proposal. Specifically it sought to answer the succeeding questions. 1. What is the status of the opportunity cost in project evaluation at Selected Commercial banks in Kingdom of Bahrain? 2. What are the banking operations where opportunity cost is deemed important by Commercial Banks in Kingdom of Bahrain? 3.What are the factors effecting the importance of opportunity cost faced by Commercial Banks in Kigdom of Bahrain? 4. What are the problems encountered in application of Opportunity cost concept by the Bankers while evaluating a project? Assumption The study assumed that the respondents are honest in answering all the questionnaire Significance of the Study The study is beneficial to the following: Decision Makers: the study will help the decision makers in Commercial Banking ind ustry to find the true cost of a project and therefore finding the true profit or loss generated by itFuture Researches: the study will help in relating the two concepts i. e, opportunity cost and Project Costing by using the quantitative methodology of research. It will further help in decision making and project evaluation for the accounts Managers and Economists. Scope and Limitation The aim of this study is to deliberate the significance of the concept of Opportunity Cost in project evaluation procedure adopted by Commercial banks in Kingdom of Bahrain. The opportunity cost has different importance in the pinion of economists and accounts professionals and therefore the use of this concept in project costing . The study includes Bank Officers at selected Commercial Banks working in Kingdom of Bahrain. The target population is Executives and managers (top and middle level ) who are directly involved in decision making This research focused on finding out importance of Opportunity cost while considering an investment proposalstudy is conducted in Commercial Banks of Bahrain, the responses therefore reflect the most important sector of Bahrain economy. The study is conducted in the natural settings i. during the business hours and responses are taken while the samples are on their work places, therefore 100 percent reliability of responses is not possible due to various un controllable distractions. The period covered by this study is January till December 2012. All the data is collected in Bahrain and responses therefore will represent the local population. Definition of Terms Opportunity Cost (OC) The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action (John Stuart Mil)Economic Value Added (EVA) A measure of a company's financial performance based on the residual wealth calculated by deducting cost of capital from its operating profit (Stern St ewart) EVA is also referred to as â€Å"economic profit†. CHAPTER 2 Review of Related Literature and Studies Foreign Literature Mankiw ( 2000) from Harvard University USA and the author of† Principles of Microeconomics† explained here that Economic profits are calculated by using both explicit as well as implicit costs however Accounting profits are calculated using only explicit costs.Therefore , accounting profits are higher than economic profits Neale( 2001) have found that due to forgoing opportunity costs, delayed decisions can be seen as option between certain loss and the risk of greater or zero loss. Chung, (2005)from Princeton University have conclude in their work â€Å"The Opportunity Cost of Admission Preferences at Elite Universities† that economic cost of a decision relies on the cost of the project that is selected and also the profits that the second best alternative project may had given if selected.This perspective of scarcity of resource leads to the dimension of opportunity cost. Hawkins et. al ( 2008 ) in their article â€Å" Cost and benefit Analysis† are of the view that the â€Å"next best alternative† is an important concept in cost and benefit analysis (CBA). The benefits gone by not implementing the second favorite choice are known as opportunity costs. Opportunity costs are relevant in calculating costs of a project. Opportunity costs help in economic scrutiny. In financial investigation market values are used as the market price for man power has the market value same as a person’s wageThe Indian scholars are also of the view that Opportunity Cost of Idle Capacity Zero, supporting the work of (Coase 1938). The researchers of M2 Presswire publications have found that opportunity cost of ignoring the markets, have disastrous results as eBay failed to beat yahoo in this regard. Buchanan (1969 ) says that it is just to bind the term opportunity cost to this idea that only decision changing cost represents an analysis of given up â€Å"opportunities. † and to invent other vivid terms to mention ecision altering cost in a logic of choice and to the objective cost of the predictive theory. Hebert (1985 ) gave a very comprehensive idea about the market value. Yet his belief of fundamental value has quite possibly been a red-herring in the antiquity of economic analysis, according to him market value is sensitive to elements other than â€Å"on record costs† few of them are independent. Horwitz (2010) identifies the partiality of opportunity costs on either sides of the market connections so well to the importance of capital and economic calculation in the Austrian theory of the market process.Aherns (2008) says that management accountants’ most prior duty is to relate the available reserves with the future dealings of the business. Whereas this process is rather simpler in economics to determine which of the available alternates is going to pay off h ighest future cash flows Kearing et. al (2005) are of the view that multiple allocation of capital funds , commercial analysis and manufacturer side opportunity costs are all the unified part of the Austrian ideology. Woodbery (2000) says that the true opportunity cost of using the additional capability is the change in the worth of the firm's choices.By emphasizing on the state-contingent nature of best decisions, his framework distinguishes that the cost is not always identical to the present value of explicit venture or manufacturing decisions. Taylor (2005) suggests that many proficient economists may not completely comprehend opportunity cost. Frank (2005) said that comparative prices helps in finding out the comparative worth of ordained opportunities. His hypothesis is based on an indepth study of consumer indifferense curves. According to the author the economic cost is virtually the opportunity cost.Samuelson( 2009) puts stress on a close link between opportunity costs and cost of available resources. Economic cost consist of not only the noticeable monetary purchases or on record financial transactions but also more indirect opportunity costs, such as the profits on the manpower supplied by the owner of a resource company and other returns of similar nature. The factors mentioned are firmly controlled by the quotations available and demand in competitive markets. Henderson (2011), said that by â€Å"opportunity cost† of a resource, the economist mean the financial worth of the second favourite utilization of the available resource.Opportunity costs as in (Lawrance Gitman 2000) are those profits or returns that could be obtained from best alternative use of an a retained asset. So opportunity cost is the cash that shall not be obtained because of engaging an asset in project under consideration. Due to this, opportunity cost should be included as an expense or loss while doing the project evaluation. Raftery et. al(1999) writes that considerati on of opportunity cost is essential for the economist's while determining the costs. As resources are less compared to the needs, so application of resources in one profitable project hinders their use in other profitable pojectsBauman (2011) says that opportunity cost is the second best choice, he said that it is difficult to clearly frame the opportunity cost as identifying second best choices is a knotty matter. According to him the concept of opportunity cost can only be clearly defined in academic problems as in practical field a project â€Å"price to worth† calculations are complex Kimberly (1998) said that computerized accounting systems today solely emphasize on cash in and out of the firm, this eventually attracts clever dealers to dump credits that produce a big accounting profits.By the introduction of opportunity cost in persuit of calculating the true costs enforces further control on reporting process. Such concept implication helps the auditors to identify the fake earnings shown in the financial statements made in the year end. Recklies (2001) argues that from economic perspective the cost include all those expenditures that are crucial for perpetual succession of a business as as going concern, it also consist of the reimbursement for owners in shape of profit so that they maintain their investment portfolio within the firm.Marshall (2009) identifies the income as a total of personal skills, capital funds invested, assets possessed and the reputation of the business. Leeson (2008) has explained in his research work the uses if the concept of uncertainty and derives from this concept of the value of information and how it can be calculated. And emphasized upon the role of management accounting in the decision-making Berntell (2005) have focused on the optimum utilization of scarce resources like water to give maximum utility by reducing various costs and losses. For which economist must make a clear cut cost and benefit analysisDmytrenk o (1997 )has elaborated in his price to value investigation the opportunity cost of increased automation in a firm via changing the human resource by computers and equipment Caplan (2003) says that the term opportunity cost is sometimes confusing. Sometimes it is used to submit to the profit foregone from the next best option, and Often it is used to mention the difference in benefit of decision made and the benift of second favourite decision that is given up Fraker( 2006) suggests that EVA is a unique financial performance determining tool .Unlike other financial efficiency ratios, it gives a different outlook of a Bank’s financial health by including the cost of Capital employeed in the business and is more of concern to its shareholders. Shcherbakov( 2012) explains that implication of the concept of EVA is an enhanced measuring technique to find out the effect of internationalization on the commercial performance of any business King (2009) explained that Accountancy and Economics work for different purposes. He explained the multi-national corporation scenarios and compared the use of economic profits with that of accounting profitsLocal Literature (Hasan Al-Basteki 1998) worked on the use of modern Accounting techniques in the decision making in Bahrain and he concluded that not just the western world is implementing the new costing techniques but the middle east is also adopting the modern techniques Synthesis of the Literature Review The synthesis of the literature reviewed enlightens few similarities and differences with this research studies . The main similarities found in the literature are as follows i) Opportunity cost has been used in different parts of the world particularly in Banks and Construction industry ii) The No. f alternatives available influence the Opportunity Cost iii) Economic factors like inflation has effect on the project evaluation by the Banks . A closer review of these research papers show that Economists belonging to the Austrian school of thoughts are of the view that i) Opprtunity cost is not as important as Economic Profits are for economic decision making ii) Scarcity of resource is a factor which effects the decision makers approach The literature explains the significance of opportunity cost in framing the actual picture of the financial position of a company, same is the case evaluation of an investment project.Opportunity cost helps identifying the true cost of a project Opportunity cost is important in the determining the accurate financial position, hence in this research the relationship between the factors effecting opportunity cost and decision making is under study Theoretical Frame Work The study tends to explore the Opportunity cost and EVA for a given project in order to understand their relationship with each other. Very little literature is available in Economics and Accounting to determine the true profits of an organization(Denise Woodbery).The idea behind this research is t o establish the nature of relationship between Economic value added that reflects the monetory importance of a given project or in other words the economic profit and that of Opportunity Cost that reflects the accounting profit of the same project. Conceptual Frame Work The idea behind this research is to find out how effective is Opportunity cost in project evaluation perceived by the Bankers in the Kingdom of Bahrain.The data is collected and analysed to understand what status opportunity cost concept holds in project financial evaluation and its relative efficiency perceived by the bankers at selected commercial banks of Kingdom of Bahrain The study tends to explore the two concepts for a given project in order to understand their relationship with each other. The Opportunity cost as discussed in literature like any other relevant cost adds to the overall project expenditure (Ferraro & Laura O Taylor)Opportunity cost effects the total Cost of a Project , any increase in Opportuni ty cost means increase I nthe total cost of the project The higher the Opportunity Cost of a Project is the Smaller will be the net profit of it However the higher the net profit of the project is Opportunity Cost of the Project will be lower. Financial decision making tends to go for a project with smaller cost and hence inclusion of opportunity cost will alter the project cost and alter the decision ultimately.Various factors like availability of alternatives (James Raftery 1999), Scarcity of resources (Robert Frank 2005), Economic factors like trade cycle recession, inflation (Peter T leeson 2008) effects the use of opportunity cost in Project costing CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the research design and methodology, sampling design, respondents of the study, research instrument, validity and reliability of the instrument, data gathering procedures, and statistical treatment of the gathered data.Research Design This study used the descriptive type of resear ch which involves assembling data which provide knowledge about the variables and then systematically tabularizing, portraying, and defining the data gathered (Glass & Hopkins, 1984). To get evidence concerning the current standing of the incidences to describe what happens in terms of change in value of the variables or settings in a state of research.. Opportunity Cost reflects the monetary importance of the next best alternative project.The study helps to find out how effectively this concept is incorporated in project evaluation procedure Research Design This is a descriptive research in which the population from which data is collected are the Management Personals from different business concerns established and working in Kingdom of Bahrain, directly or indirectly associated with the decision making and investment evaluation . Respondents of the Study The target population includes the working class particularly the managers , assistant managers and executives who work in Bahr ain and their field esponsibility include Investment Analysis ,Project evaluation and decision making of similar nature. Sample Size The sample size is 50 and the response rate is well above the international standard of quantitative research required to validate the result of the study Sampling Design There are many methods of sampling; however for this study Random Sampling is used that is from the target population a sample of 100 is collected on random basis.The study uses random sampling for convenience and to avoid bias of respondents that work in one organization have one opinion(as in cluster sampling) Research Instrument The instrument used in this study is Questionnaire, the content of the questionnaire that consist of 20 queries the first five of which are about the general information of the respondent, remaining queries for which the respondents will answer on a Likert Scale. All the queries will help to find the relation between the two variables Opportunity Cost (IV) and Decision Making (DV)Part I: Provide demographics of the respondents in terms of age , gender, educational attainment, work experience in years Part II: Provide the data about the respondents opinion on various factors that influence their decision while making financial evaluation of a project. The answers to these questions will be given on a five point rating scale. 5. Strongly Agree 4. Agree 3. Moderately Agree 2. Disagree 1. Strongly Disagree Validity of the InstrumentThe validity of instrument is carefully checked by the research committee that includes research professors, statisticians and advisors. The recommendations were incorporated. The justification of this validation was to avoid vague items and bias statements which have been correctly achieved. Reliability of the Instrument The questionnaire is pre-tested to test the reliability of it, with a small group of individualsworking in different companies in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in order to check their understanding of the questions.Data collection Method Questionnaire copies were distributed among bank officers in different branches of distinct commercial banks in various regions of Kingdom of Bahrain. The target respondents are expected to be acquainted with the subject and questions, included in the questionnaire. There are other methods of data collection like documentary analysis and interview however for this study survey methodology is opted. A copy of questionnaire is provided in the appendix Statistical Treatment of the DataThere are many choices of appropriate statistical methods however Correlation Coefficient as statistical method is used, so to find out the relation between the two variables. The survey form was used the Likert five point scale for the respondents to choose from as follows: [pic] Very few enterprises are using opportunity cost for just one reason. It is clearly evident that Opportunity cost related information is being used to accurately manage wide range of activi ties across a banking organization. Activities influenced by Opportunity cost calculation Activities |% of respondents | |Product Costs & Profitability |65 | |Performance Measurement |47 | |Shared Service Costing |41 | |Planning & Budgeting |40 | |Customer costing |38 | |Customer/Channel Costs & Profitability |38 | |Transfer pricing |25 | |Outcome / Output based management |25 | Expectedly, opportunity cost is used for product costing by approximately two by three of those respondants working in banking sector. It’s precision over traditional costing methods is borne out later in the survey with 87% finding that their Opportunity Cost product costs differed substantially from traditional costing methods, leading around 50% to reprice their products as a result!Validating the views expressed by Kaplan & Norton in their latest book ‘Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes’, which lays emphesisis on the importance of using Opportunity Cos to support a Balance Scorecard, nearly half of all respondents are using their Opportunity Cost data to support their Performance Management The use of Opportunity Cost to support Shared Services costing has increased in popularity over the last few years. Now that internal services are represent up to 30% of an organisation’s costs, it has become imperative to accurately reflect how those services are consumed by business units. Over 40% of respondents are using opportunity cost to support Shared Service costing, enabling them to understand who and what is driving consumption of their internal services, and thereby increasing the effectiveness of their focus an core business. These trends are repeated by those who do not yet use opportunity cost, but are planning to. They want to use opportunity cost to support Initiative |% of respondents planning to use OPPORTUNITY COST | |Product Costing |55 | |Planning & Budgeting |36 | |Customer costing |27 | |Process/Continuous Improve ment |27 | The most noticeable difference is that only 18% are planning to use the information to support Performance Measurement. This could well be because the ease of which opportunity cost lends itself to Performance Measurement is not evident until an opportunity cost is up and running.Alternatively, the respondents may be looking to introduce opportunity cost to solve a pressing business requirement, and the links between Opportunity Cost and performance metrics are not immediately apparent. Opportunity Cost for Planning The emphasis of Bankers has moved from historical costs to future costs. An enormous 94% of those questioned are now using opportunity cost, or plan to use, opportunity costs for developmental drives. Opportunity cost Planners are looking at all aspects of their organisations in order to identify improvement opportunities. Some 60% are looking to identify process improvements, with 55% looking at activity level improvements via resource planning, and 49% looki ng to affect strategy formulation. However, only 13% are questioning their organisation’s process design in a fundamental way.Consistent with historic uses of opportunity Cost planning data is being used to support a variety of initiatives, although there is a surprising focus on opportunity cost for goal setting. |Initiative |% of OPPORTUNITY COST Planners | |Shared Service Costing |51 | |Product Costing |49 | |Defining team/dept goals |27 | |Defining organisational goals |13 | Product/Service Costing and Customer ProfitabilityBy using cause and effect tracing rather than allocations, opportunity cost better reflects the value chain of how organisations consume costs and provides more accurate product, service and customer costings than achieved using traditional costing techniques. The difference in opportunity cost product costs to absorption or other allocation based costings can be dramatic. The survey shows that 87% of practitioners found that their product and service costs differed from traditional costings markedly. The majority had an average variation of between 5 and 10%, which can be dramatic at a gross or net margin level. However, a surprising number of respondents (11%) experienced variations of over 100%! |Average variation |% |Maximum variation % | |0 |13 |; 10% |25 | |1-5% |15 |10-25% |17 | |5-10% |26 |25-50% |25 | |10-15% |13 |50-75% |14 | |15-20% |10 |75-100% |8 | |; 20% |23 |; 100% |11 | Cost Reduction and Process ImprovementThat ABC can improve your bottom line is beyond doubt, with potential cost savings amounting to 25% of cost bases being identified. Some organisations are yet to find where they can reduce their costs, but it is worth noting that over 70% of those who have not identified cost savings have less than 100 activities in their model. Whilst it is important to prevent ABC models become too large and unmanageable (primarily because they can induce analysis paralysis), it is essential that a reasonable level of detail is available, so that there is sufficient information on which to make cost reducing or revenue enhancing decisions. After all, profit outcomes are the result of process design and activity workflow†¦ Maximum potential cost saving as a % of cost base |% | |0% |18 | |1-5% |21 | |5-10% |33 | |10-15% |8 | |15-20% |13 | |20-25% |2 | |;25% |5 | A variety of methods are being used to help organisations translate their ABC data into real cost reductions. Cost driver analysis is the most frequently used method for aiding cost reduction and/or process redesign, with 67% of organisations using this technique. Process mapping and benchmarking are also popular, as is repricing of products and/or services, and analysis of the value that an activity adds to an organisation. Top techniques used to aid cost reduction |% | |Cost driver analysis |67 | |Process mapping & redesign |52 | |Benchmarking |52 | |Repricing |50 | |Value adding analysis |42 | |Product rationalisation |38 | |Value chain an alysis |32 | Conclusions ABC can, and does, add value to organisations. 96% of respondents have found the experience to be beneficial to their organisations, and 98% are expecting their implementations to deliver even more positive returns on their investment in the future Level of benefit delivered by ABC |% achieved |% future | |Adverse impact |4 |2 | |Negligible benefit |22 |13 | |Moderate benefit |54 |60 | |Substantial benefit |20 |25 | Regardless of the benefit analysis above, respondents recommend the use of ABC unanimously! In particular, practitioners recommend using ABC for product costing and cost reduction, to derive the most benefits, although there is a general belief held by ABC practitioners that the methodology should be broadly used as shown below. ABC supporting |% of organisations | |Product/service costing & profitability |80 | |Cost reduction |65 | |Continuous Improvement Program |56 | |Business Process Re-engineering |55 | |Shared Services Costing |51 | |Custom er, channel or value chain analysis |44 | ABC is generating real benefits for all sorts of organisations across Australia. These benefits can only increase as more organisations are looking to start an ABC project for the first time, but the full potential of ABC will not be realised as so many existing ABC users are still not employing ABC to its full capabilities. It is important that experienced ABC companies capitalise on their implementations to achieve the maximum possible benefits.Increasing the scale of an ABC project need not be an expensive, time-consuming process. There are cost-effective solutions that combine ABC, Process Mapping and Balanced Scorecard, to produce automated, regular reports with a minimum of manual intervention. With organisation-wide implementations providing much greater cost savings, expanding your ABC project can only be advantageous to your organisation’s bottom line. CHAPTER 4 Analysis and interpretation The data collection method for this study is survey questionnaire conducted face-to-face with 51 randomly chosen Bankers from various commercial banks in Bahrain from various cities. The questionnaire includes multiple choice, open-ended, and Likert scale questions.Some questions of the survey were adopted form various previous studies (Brierly et al. , 2001; Van Triest and Elshahat, 2007; Wijewardena and Zoysa, 1999). The data collection period ranges from October 2012 to November 2012. (1) general information on the business organizations and respondents; and (2) cost and management accounting practices. Table 4. 1 Information gathered from the first part of the questionnaire. |Bank Classification |Percent | |Commercial Banks |  40 | |Islamic Banks |  10 | |Other Banks |  1 | |No. f Employees |Percent | |10 to 49 |   | |50 to 99 |  90% | |100 and more |  10% | |Age of the Banks |Percent | |10 years or less |  10% | |20 year or less |  80% | |20 years or more |  10% | In the Table 1, Bank classifica tion, position of respondent, number of employees, and age of Banks are presented. In Bank classification, the highest percentage belongs to commercial banks (5banks), and â€Å"others† includes Banks dealing particularly in investment (1 bank) 4. 1. Product costing methodsThe respondents were asked to specify the cost factors they implement in an investment project costing. According to the answers, the most widely used costing factor is Financing cost (31 respondent), followed by opportunity cost (11 respondent) and loan process cost (9 respondents). In Table 2, which shows the detailed answers to this question, the most significant points are the financing cost widely by lower managerial levels, and that of opportunity cost largely by top managerial level. Primary cause for the financing cost by banks is that they offer more of the saving accounts than fixed deposit accounts. Table 4. 2 Most important Cost elements in an Investment Project Bank Classification |Financial Co st |Loan Processing Cost |Opportunity Cost |Other | |Commercial Banks |  20 |  3 |  3 |  0 | |Islamic Banks |  6 |  3 |  5 |  0 | |Other Banks |  5 |  3 |  3 |  0 | |Total |31 |9 |11 |0 | 4. 2. Complications faced in product costing The respondents were also asked to point out the difficulties they encounter in Investment project costing. Out of 51 respondents, 22 see the limited Complexity in cost evaluation as top difficulty (43 percent), availability of alternative resources(33. 3 percent), followed by economic instability (24. 7 percent). 4. 3. Role of Opportunity Cost in Management Accounting PracticesIn another part of the survey, which was adopted from Van Triest and Elshahat (2007)’s study, respondents were asked to score the role of opportunity cost in various financial analysis on a Likert scale of 1 (no role) to 5 (major role). To evaluate the results, one sample t-test was conducted (Table 4). The results showed that pricing decisions are t he most important area where opportunity cost is deemed important at an average of 4. 16, followed by customer profitability and activity analysis at 4. 07. Performance measurement and make or buy decisions with an average of 4. 04 and 3. 96 respectively are also important areas where opportunity cost is used. However, opportunity cost is not seen important in product mix decisions, and adding or deleting products as much as other areas. Management Accounting Practicies |Mean |S. D |t-test | |Pricing decisions |  4. 15 |  1. 146 |4. 29 | |Customer profitability |  4. 08 |  1. 034 |  4. 01 | |Performance measurement |  4. 03 |  1. 071 |  3. 714 | |Activity analysis |  4. 08 |  1. 120 |  3. 793 | |Make or buy decisions |  3. 96 |  0. 62 |  3. 576 | |Product mix decisions |  3. 54 |  1. 168 |  0. 289 | |Adding or deleting products |  3. 47 |  1. 370 |  0. 199 | Table 4. Results of one sample t-test for use of Opportunity cost in management accoun ting practicies (Test value=3. 5) |Management Accounting Practicies |Mean |S. D |t-test | |Pricing decisions |  4. 15 |  1. 146 |4. 9 | |Customer profitability |  4. 08 |  1. 034 |  4. 01 | |Performance measurement |  4. 03 |  1. 071 |3. 714 | |Activity analysis |  4. 08 |  1. 120 |  3. 793 | |Make or buy decisions |  3. 96 |  0. 962 |  3. 576 | |Product mix decisions |  3. 54 |  1. 168 |  0. 289 | |Adding or deleting products |  3. 47 |  1. 370 |  0. 199 |Furthermore, the findings are compared with the results of Van Triest and Elshahat (2007). The comparison indicated that two studies yielded parallel results. As seen in Table 5, first three items with the highest mean are the same. In both countries, pricing decisions, customer profitability, and performance measurement are the most prominent areas in which costing information is applied. Among the remaining four application areas, the rank of activity analysis is different. In this study, ac tivity analysis is the fourth in ranking, but it is the last in ranking in Van Triest and Elshahat (2007)’s study. Table 5. Comparison of results with the results of Van Triest and Elshahat (2007) Management Accounting Practices |Mean |Rank |Mean* |Rank* | |Pricing decisions |  4. 15 |  1 |  4. 44 |  1 | |Customer profitability |  4. 06 |  2 |  4. 19 |  2 | |Performance measurement |  4. 06 |  3 |  4. 11 |  3 | |Activity analysis |4. 08 |  4 |  2. 33 |7 | |Make or buy decisions |3. 99 |  5 |  3. 5 |  4 | |Product mix decisions |  3. 54   |  6 |  3. 33 |  5 | |Adding or deleting products |  3. 50 |  7 |  2. 89 |  6 | * The results of Van Triest and Elshahat (2007) 4. 5. The ratio of opportunity cost to total cost In the questionnaire survey, the ratio of opportunity cost to total cost (O. C/T. C) was also questioned. Overall mean for all the banks is 34. 48 percent. (Table 6) was conducted to see the significant differences a mong banks. The results showed that there is a significant difference among industries (significant at 0. 10).Duncan test from Post Hoc tests showed that Commercial Banks has the highest OC/TC ratio and is significantly different than Islamic Banks and Investment Banks and miscellaneous Banks. Table 6. The ratio of opportunity cost to total cost (percent) 4. 6. The reasons for the increased interest in opportunity cost manifestation in banks dealing The respondents were asked to score the reasons for the increased manifestation of Opportunity cost in their daily dealing on a Likert scale of 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). A list of reasons was provided for the respondents so that they evaluated each. The results of one-sample t-test in Table 7 showed that decreasing profitability (4. 9) is the primary reason which increases the importance of opportunity cost. Other reasons which increase the importance of opportunity cost are increasing costs (4. 57), increasing dom estic and global competition (4. 30), and economic crises (4. 23). Actually, means of four items above 4. 00 indicate that they are all factors considered important for the increased interest in opportunity cost . This means profitability of companies is decreasing, possibly due to increasing costs, and increasing domestic and global competition. Economic crises which hit companies from time to time are also important reason for the increased interest in opportunity cost identification and implication. Table 7.The reasons for the increased interest in opportunity cost Calculation (Testvalue=3. 5) |Mean |S. D |t-test | |Decreasing profitability |  0. 566 |14. 170   | |Increasing costs |  0. 666 |  11. 929 | |Increasing domestic and global competition |  0. 940 |  6. 450* | |Economic crises |  1. 020 |  5. 399* | Significant at 0. 001 level 4. 7. Perceived importance of opportunity cost in overall Banking Operation Lastly, the respondents were asked to evaluate the per ceived importance of Opportunity cost that are utilized in banking organizations on a Likert scale of 1 (unimportant) to 5 (very important). The results of one-sample ttest in Table 8 indicated that the most important management accounting practices in decreasing order are budgeting (4. 48), planning and control (4. 33), cost-volumeprofit analysis (4. 3), target costing (4. 16), quality cost reporting (4. 09), performance measurement and evaluation (4. 02), responsibility accounting (4. 0), standard costing and variance analysis (3. 89), and strategic planning (3. 78). Transfer pricing (3. 65) is unique practice that is significantly not important based on test value of 3. 5. These findings indicate that companies perceive traditional management accounting tools still important. For example, budgeting, planning and control, and cost-volume-profit analysis are perceived the most important of all management accounting practices. Quality costing and target costing as new management acc ounting practices are utilized by the companies. However, strategic planning, and transfer pricing are perceived the least important ones. This may be due to size of the sample firms.Since the sample consists mostly of small and medium-sized enterprises (according to number of employees), some tools may be too sophisticated to be utilized. Szendi and Shum (1999) states that the larger the firm the more sophisticated the management accounting system and the more likely isthe firm to utilize sophisticated management accounting techniques and practices. Abdel-Kader and Luther (2008) also proved that large firms adopt more sophisticated management accounting techniques and practices than small firms. Table 8. Perceived importance of Opportunity Cost in routine banking operations (Test value=3. 5) |Mean |S.D |t-test | |Budgeting |0. 754 |  9. 911** | |Planning and control |0. 819 |  7. 500** | |Cost-volume-profit analysis |  0. 871 |  6. 900** | |Target Costing |  0. 849 |  5 . 820** | |Total Quality Management |  1. 115 |  3. 890** | |Performance measurement and evaluation |  1. 027 |  3. 39** | |Responsibility accounting |  1. 056 |  3. 450** | |Standard costing and variance analysis |  1. 140 |  2. 480* | |Strategic planning |  1. 011 |  2. 050* | |Transfer pricing |  1. 300 |  0. 860 | ** Significant at 0. 001 level * Significant at 0. 05 level CHAPTER 5 Summary and Conclusion The survey revealed the perceived importance of Opportunity Cost at selected commercial banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain.The findings are expected to contribute to the existing literature about the subject, especially in developing markets. The major findings of the study are as follows: The most vital cost element for Commercial Banks is financial cost The complexity in loan costing poses as the highest ranking difficulty due to the availability of alternative projects, Customer Activity Analysis and pricing decisions are the most important area where op portunity cost is calculated (parallel to the finding of Van Triest and Elshahat, 2007), Overall mean of the ratio of overhead to total cost is 34. 48 percent for all Commercial Banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain,The highest opportunity cost/total cost ratio belongs to non-islamic Commercial Banks, Decreasing profitability, increasing costs and competition, and economic crises are reasons which increase the importance of opportunity cost The most important use of Opportunity Cost is in Budgeting out of all routine functioning of Commercial Banks (parallel to the finding of Chenhall and Langfield-Smith, 1998) The findings indicate that Banks perceive traditional management accounting tools less important. The new management accounting practices such as strategic planning, and transfer pricing are perceived more important than traditional ones. Therefore, the banks have been calculating the Opportunity Costs for these management accounting tools. Scope for further researchSince the sampl e consists mostly of medium sized local branches of International banks , they may not reflect the applications of large scale banking corps. Secondly, the results are confined to the Commercial Banks and should not be generalized to the other sectors. Thirdly, since the survey conducted on companies operating in Bahrain , the findings may not be generalized for the worldwide policies of the Banks. For future research, whole region wide and more comprehensive survey could be conducted with the participation of more banking companies from different countries. Moreover, case studies can be conducted to make more in-depth analysis about cost and management accounting practices.