Marketing practices in Kuwait vs. the USA Assignment

Marketing practices in Kuwait vs. the USA - Assignment Example consumers have developed favorable attitudes towards the United States and the Kuwaiti firms have many marketing ideologies that are prevalent in the United States. The United States takes marketing segmentation as a critical marketing element to determine the consumers who are likely to seek for their products and services. Segmentations exist in various aspects such as geographically, demographically, by culture, or in relation to the benefits, which are demanded by customers. Kuwait also has segmented its market to reach the most desirable consumers. These segmentation strategies ensure that future promotions and integrated communication are available between the two countries. Kuwait simplifies the process of determining how to effectively promote a product while taking into consideration the consumers values, attitude and lifestyle. Psychographics seem to be of high relevance in the United States market as evident in the fast food chain. Positioning of a product is an important aspect for Kuwait and USA marketing strategies in order to gain competitive advantages and ensure higher revenue growth in sales of products and services. Both Kuwait and USA have taken advantage of the digital marketing activities in order to effectively promote their products and services particularly brand promotion. The advantage of doing this is that fact that it reduces dependency on external agents and allow the firms to market directly to the consumers of their goods and services at much less market based expenditures. The USA and Kuwait have formed platforms for common marketing practices in order to seek ways of justifying the quality of products as a means of expressing the benefits of the products to the consumers and the ethical stance associated with the brand and the businesses. The marketers from both the nations realize the importance of adding certification to their products and services as an illustration of compliance to the social expectations and inspections

Buyer Behaviour Analysis - The Psychology of Buying Coursework

Buyer Behaviour Analysis - The Psychology of Buying - Coursework Example It is therefore important to understand how they arrive at a decision to purchase in order for a marketer to build an offering that would attract them. This paper focuses on how psychological factors; motivation, perception, learning and attitude could influence purchasing decision of luxury cars. A motive can be defined as the internal energizing force that directs individual’s activities towards achieving a goal or satisfying a need. Actions are however affected by several motives thus marketers’ ability to identify these motives forms the basis of developing a successful marketing mix. Motivation is the internal force that reorients our behaviour towards the decision making process and purchasing behaviour. According toYalch& Brand (1996, p.406), once an individual recognizes that they have a need, there is normal a state of tension existing that drives the consumer to achieving the goal by eliminating the need and reducing the tension. In this regard, it is important to note that only unmet needs motivates an individual and once they are eliminated there could only be another motivation emanating from another need. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs identifies five levels of needs that are likely to determine the level of hierarchy the consumers are and determine what motivates their purchases. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, purchasing behaviour is mainly driven by the lowest need that has not been met by a buyer. The five primary areas of needs identified by Maslow model are physiological, safety and security, love and belongingness, self esteem and finally self actualization. This model postulates that as the needs of consumers are met in the first level say physiological, they move towards the next and so on (Lester, 2013 p.15). In this model, consumer buyer decisions are motivated by one of the 5 needs level in their hierarchy. In this regard, ability of a marketer to appeal to one of five motivational

Business entity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business entity - Essay Example The limited partnership is not subject to federal income tax. The limited partnership allows the acceptance of two partners who contribute a different fund amount and a third partner who only contributes his or her services in lieu of capital, considering each of the owners has a spouse and adult children. Normally, the limited partner’s contribution to the partnership is lower than the general partners’ contributions. The limited partners are prohibited from participating in the management decisions of the partnership. Only general partners are allowed to make management decisions (Clifford, 2008). In terms of limited partnership’s liability, the creditors can get the general partner’s family assets to pay for the liabilities of the limited partnership. On the other hand, the creditors cannot get the limited partner’s family assets to pay for the liabilities of the limited partnership’s liabilities (Clifford, 2008). The best form of business for a small business is limited partnership. For a limited partnership, a small business can easily grow to become a big business when the most opportune moment comes. As the business profits continue, all the limited partnership’s partners can increase the store size, sell more product types, or up a new branch in another locality (Clifford, 2008). Analyzing the above information, many persons want to form a limited partnership. The limited partnership is tax exempt. The creditors can only get the general partners’ assets. Only the general partners can make partnership decisions. Convincingly, the limited partnership works best in the above business

Language development& early literacy in multilingual context Essay

Language development& early literacy in multilingual context - Essay Example In multilingual contexts, the learning experience and process of the first language significantly affects the acquisition of the second and other additional languages (Robertson and Nunn 2006). Basing on this, this essay tries to highlight the role of an early childhood practitioner in the learning process. It highlights the appropriate planning and implementation of the learning process in such contexts. This essay explains the childhood language learning process, together with the factors affecting language development. It also discusses the current approaches in childhood language learning and gives ways that can be used to improve the process. Before writing this essay, a number of ethical issues and confidentiality have been taken into account. The first thing that has been taken into account is to provide information that has no bias. This essay tries to provide practices and theories that can be used all over the world to better the learning process in early childhood learning centers. In addition to this, this essay cites all the sources from which the information used has been obtained. This will help readers to read more about the topic in case they need more inf ormation (Wang 2011). Language development at an early age is an important process and needs keen concern and support. It forms the foundation on which future language learning and literacy acquisition is build. The degree and ease with which children learn a language can also be a great predictor of future academic success and has many long-term implications in the social and economic sectors. This affects the development and interactivity of individuals in a family and in the society. Many things in the society affect language learning at an early age. This is because, during the learning process, a child always interprets information from the environment and forms his or her own perceptions of what language is and of how to

Business entity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business entity - Essay Example The limited partnership is not subject to federal income tax. The limited partnership allows the acceptance of two partners who contribute a different fund amount and a third partner who only contributes his or her services in lieu of capital, considering each of the owners has a spouse and adult children. Normally, the limited partner’s contribution to the partnership is lower than the general partners’ contributions. The limited partners are prohibited from participating in the management decisions of the partnership. Only general partners are allowed to make management decisions (Clifford, 2008). In terms of limited partnership’s liability, the creditors can get the general partner’s family assets to pay for the liabilities of the limited partnership. On the other hand, the creditors cannot get the limited partner’s family assets to pay for the liabilities of the limited partnership’s liabilities (Clifford, 2008). The best form of business for a small business is limited partnership. For a limited partnership, a small business can easily grow to become a big business when the most opportune moment comes. As the business profits continue, all the limited partnership’s partners can increase the store size, sell more product types, or up a new branch in another locality (Clifford, 2008). Analyzing the above information, many persons want to form a limited partnership. The limited partnership is tax exempt. The creditors can only get the general partners’ assets. Only the general partners can make partnership decisions. Convincingly, the limited partnership works best in the above business

Fasting in hinduism and islam Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Fasting in hinduism and islam - Research Paper Example Fasting is mostly used as a religious term to describe an act of willingly abstaining (Adlakha, 2005) from some or all types of drink, food or both of them for a given period. Some people or religions fast for 24 hours while others for many days. Some types of fasting are only partial merely restricting some types of food, sub substances or drinks (Desika, 1997). Some people’s fasting culture or practice prohibits sexual intercourse alongside other activities that are not food or drink related (Kittler and Sucher, 2007). Particularly, both Hinduism and Islam embrace fasting to certain limits as part of their religion practices. Fasting in Hinduism is embraced as quite an integral component of the Hindu’s religious practices. However, local customs and personal beliefs determine the different kinds of fasts individuals undertake. This is to say that fasting in Hindu is done differently based on individual factors. On the other hand, fasting in Islam is also viewed as one of the most (Adlakha, 2005) valuable parts of the religious practices. Five pillars of religion to which fasting are observed as the fourth one among these pillars guides Islam. In Islam, unlike Hinduism, there are specific periods in which every Muslim is expected to first. For instance, during the month of Ramadan; notably the period in which most Muslims fast (Desika, 1997). Comparing Fasting in Hinduism and Islam Both religions might share a number of similarities in the way they undertake their fasting. However, there are significant differences. These differences emanate from the way it has practiced, the days and the purpose that make every religion to fast. In Hindu, fasting is done differently in that some sections of the Hindus fast on a number of days of the month such as the Ekadasi, pradosha, and Purnima. Some people fast on certain weekdays as dependent on the favorite deity or personal beliefs. For instance, there are those who fast on Monday. These are known as the Shiva devotees (Kittler and Sucher, 2007). Those who fast on Thursdays are known to devote to Vishnu while those who fast on Saturdays are known to be devotees of Ayyappa. Fasting is also done differently in different regions. For example, the southern Indians who fast on Tuesday are said to be the devotees of the goddess Mariamman, in which those who fast eat before sunrise and are only allowed to drink liquids from sunrise to sunset. The northern Indians fast on Tuesday to honor lord Hanuman, in which the devotees can only take fruits and milk between sunrise and sunset. They are also known to fast majorly on Thursday during which they worship Vrihaspati Mahadeva  while they are dressed in yellow clothes (Kittler and Sucher, 2007). The meals they eat are also colored in yellow. It is also dedicated to guru, which makes the followers of guru to fast on Thursday. On the other hand fasting in Islam can also be done in a number of days. Despite the fact that Ramadan is the most notable fasting period, there are also days referred to as non-obligatory days in which members can voluntarily fast. These days include every Monday and Thursday of a week, the 13th, 14th and 15th of each lunar month. In the month, that follows Ramadan; known as Shawwal, there are also non-obligatory six days of fasting. The fast of Prophet David, among the calendar of Islam, is sup posed to be done each other. The tenth day of Muharram; also referred to as Day of Ashura is also a non-obligatory fasting day. It can also be done a day after or before the tenth day (Desika, 1997). Despite this large fasting calendar, Islam forbids fasting on a number of days. First, no one is to fast during Eid Fitr and Eid Adha, which are the 1st Shawwal and 10th Dhulhijjah respectively. Suni Islam prohibits fasting on Tashriq that is on 11th, 12th, and 13th Dhulhijjah. There is also no fasting during Eid Al Adha, the 10th day of Dhu Al-Hijjah in the calendar of I

Effect of Smoking on Division of Attention

Effect of Smoking on Division of Attention ABSTRACT The basic objective of this study is to see whether smoking significantly affects the division of attention of an individual. Smoking can be defined as the process in which any substance, usually tobacco is rolled and burnt and the smoke that is released is inhaled. There is evidence that smoking is harmful to the brain at the functional and morphological level (Swan Lessov-Schlaggar, 2007). Division of attention can be defined as the person’s ability to attend to two or more tasks at a single time. Snowball Sampling was used to select 60 participants, 30 Smokers (N=30) and 30 Non-Smokers (N=30). A screener developed by Fagerstrom called the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (1978) was used to screen the participants after which the Division of Attention Experiment by Shailaja Bhagwat was administered. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in the division of attention between smokers and non-smokers (t=0.27, t=0.38, t=0.009, t=0.22). They both had n early the same divisions of attention between physical and mental tasks. INTRODUCTION Smoking: There are approximately about 2 billion smokers all over the world. (WHO, 2013) Smoking can be defined as the process in which any substance, usually tobacco is rolled and burnt, and the smoke that is released is inhaled. This practice was started as a recreational one in which an active substance like for example nicotine is made available to the blood stream through the lungs (Gatley Wilbert). The most common method of this practice of smoking is through cigarettes. There are other methods of this practice too like the use of bidis, bongs, cigars, hookah, pipes and vaporizers to name a few. A 2007 report states that, each year, about 4.9 million people worldwide die as a result of smoking. (West, Robert Shiffman, 2007.) Among the many substances used for smoking, tobacco is by far the most widely used substance which is addictive because of the nicotine content. The history of smoking can date back to as early as 5000 BC when it was used for religious ceremonies. The use of tobacco products is increasing globally, though in some higher and middle income countries its use is decreasing. The global prevalence is 48% for adult males and 12% for adult females. There are about 1/3 of the adults worldwide, who smoke, that is an approximate of about 2.0 billion smokers around the world including child smokers. (WHO 2013) A few reasons as to why people start smoking can be: having parents who smoke, siblings who smoke, friends who smoke, the freedom that they have to do what they want, peer pressure, low academic achievements, their daily surrounding, that is, having co-workers or people they are usually surrounded with being chain smokers, economic background or even life in the urban environment to an extent. An individual might just start smoking as a result of a social gathering or a party which becomes an addiction later on. Smoking is most prevalent in the age group of 18-25. It is stated that there are about 1000 smokers at the age of 18 and below who start smoking (WHO 2013). There are various reasons and causes for such a trend. This age group is the most prone to getting addicted to smoking as individuals in this age bracket are most easily swayed in their decisions and get addicted most easily. Once addicted to the use of any substance, tobacco generally, it gets very difficult for individuals to leave this habit. According to statistics by the World Health Organization we have more male smokers (35% developed 50% developing) than female smokers (22% developed 9% developing). These statistics show a rather large number of women smoking, especially in the developed countries we see that a lot of women smoking. Division of Attention: Division of attention (Multi-Tasking) is the process in which an individual’s attention is divided between two tasks. The talent of multitasking is when an individual knows how to juggle the time and attention spent between the two tasks well so as to give equal amount of attention to both so that it doesn’t look like there is any amount of partiality or preference given to a specific task on hand. One is said to be good at multi-tasking when one is able to perform both the tasks at the best of their abilities without being overworked or stressed. Since the 1990s experimental psychologists have tried to understand the nature and limits of human multitasking. In dichotic listening, subjects are apparently unable to attend simultaneously to two concurrent, auditory speech messages. However, in two experiments reported here, it is shown that people can attend to and repeat back continuous speech at the same time as taking in complex, unrelated visual scenes, or even while sight-readingpiano music. In both cases performance with dividedattentionwas very good, and in the case of sight-reading was as good as with undivided attention. There was little or no effect of the dual task on the accuracy of speech shadowing. (Allport, Antonis Reynold, 1971) Attention, it can be described as the process of focusing in ones field of awareness. Our attention can be commanded by a number of factors. Two of the main factors that can do so are: Objective factors such as intensity, size, movement, distinctiveness etc. Subjective factors such as, an individual’s needs, motives, interests, past experiences etc. The intensity of attention given to a specific stimulus is affected by the presence of another stimulus that is competing for one’s attention. This is known as shifting of attention. Shifting of attention is necessary for perception as it prevents negative adaptation. Another phenomenon which is related to attention is known as the distraction of attention. As we already know what is shifting of attention, distraction of attention is when the attention wavers and gets back to the previous stimuli. There are maximum numbers of stimuli that can be responded to in a particular period of attention. This maximum amount of attention that can be referred to in this particular period is called the span of attention. How a person can divide their attention has to do with that person’s intelligence (Sternberg Sternberg, 2012). Researchers Navon and Gopher (1979) theorized a modality model which explains the basics of attention mainly divided between various simple tasks and not between various complex tasks. There are various variables that play a role in our ability to pay attention or to concentrate on the many tasks that are to be performed at once. A few of those variables are anxiety, arousal, the difficulty of the tasks to be performed and the skills that an individual possesses. Relation between Smoking and Division of Attention: When we look back to studies done in the past on these two topics, we have many, but when it comes to a study involving both these topics we have hardly any studies. We have many researches on smoking and its effect on health, cognition, effect of nicotine on the brain activity during the performance of a task, impact of smoking on the performance of an individual, as well as studies on the effect of smoking during pregnancy on the performance of a child after its birth. An accumulation of evidence suggests that smoking may be reinforcing, in part, due to nicotines capacity to enhance the process of attention, but correspondingly, the stimulus-filter model of nicotine reinforcement asserts that nicotine increases cognitive performance by acting as a stimulus-barrier, thereby screening and preventing the irrelevant and annoying stimuli from the smokers awareness. (Kassel, 1997) Some studies that have been performed on smoking and the performance of an individual, either cognitive or social both say that smoking usually has a negative impact or rather they say that smoking reduces the cognitive and physical performance of an individual.It was found that while cigarette smoking had no negative effect upon performance for simple perceptual tasks, smoking was found to exert measurable negative effects upon performance for more complex information processing tasks (Spilich, June Renner, 1992). There is a scientific background for the decrease in the physical performance of an individual who smokes. Smoking reduces the capacity of an individual to do work as the oxygen available to the body is reduced. When we inhale smoke from a cigarette, we introduce the carbon monoxide into the blood. The carbon monoxide combines with the hemoglobin in the blood to form carboxy-hemoglobin which reduces the amount of oxygen that is carried in the blood. The lesser the available oxygen, the lesser the physical endurance, the lesser the endurance, the weaker the individual. Prolonged smoking causes irreversible lung damage. A study recently done in Kings College London tells us that smoking spoils the brain by damaging memory, learning and reasoning as well (Smoking Rots the Brain Lowers Cognitive Performance, November 2012). Smoking just a single cigarette can immediately affect physical capability in exercise when the inhaled carbon monoxide binds to red blood cells, displacing oxygen and preventing its delivery to muscle cells. In fact, a study at UCLA found that young adults experience a four percent decrease in oxygen uptake right after smoking. It has long been known that smokers tend to be less physically active than nonsmokers, and vice versa. For instance, a study in Public Health Reports found smokers are more likely to quit supervised exercise programs. Another study found that male high school students who were less physically active than their peers were twice as likely to smoke. There hasn’t been a specific study on the effect that smoking has on the division of attention. Generally the division of attention is usually different for different individuals. Smokers perform one physical and one mental task at a time. They are hence â€Å"multitasking† or rather dividing their attention in such a way that they are spending enough time performing both the tasks but to what level of their ability? Smokers are better at Division of Attention. The above mentioned hypothesis is one study or rather one topic that has not been widely studied under the vast topic of smoking especially in the Indian contest. There have been various studies on the effect of smoking on performance as well as the capacity of an individual to divide their attention between two tasks. Will the division of attention among non-smokers be greater than the division of attention among smokers? OBJECTIVE To determine whether there is a significant difference in the division of attention between smokers and non-smokers while performing two tasks simultaneously. HYPOTHESIS There is a significant difference between the division of attention of smokers and non-smokers while performing two tasks simultaneously. METHOD Participants: A sample size of 60 students (n=60) within the age group of 18-22 with all of them from a middle class background, studying in college and from the city of Hyderabad were selected on the basis of Random Sampling. They were divided into two groups of 30 each i.e. smoker and non-smokers. These two groups were further divided into 15 girls and 15 boys each. Before giving them the screener itself, the purpose of the study was explained and a signed informed consent was taken from the students. Participation inclusion criteria: Students between the ages of 18-22 Pursuing bachelor’s degree from any college Students who were smokers Participation exclusion criteria: Students above the age of 22 or below 18 Students working part time or full time Instruments: The Fagerstrom Nicotine Dependence Scale (FTND) was used as a screener for the smokers. It is a 6 question scale which shows the levels of dependence on nicotine. Anybody who has moderate to high dependency (score of 5 or above) on this scale is considered a smoker. This scale was developed by Fagerstrom in 1978 titled Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire which was later called the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND: Heatherton et al., 1991). After this the Division of Attention (different variables) by Dr. (Smt.) Shailaja Bhagwat was given to the participants, which involved the performance of 4 tasks. Each task was to be performed only for two minutes, that too each task had 3 sub tasks. The students were explained what each and every task was very carefully and if they had any doubts, those doubts were cleared too. The 4 tasks in brief were: one Physical and one Mental Simple Tasks (separately as well as simultaneously) one Physical Simple Task and one Mental Complex Task (separately as well as simultaneously) one Physical Complex and one Mental Complex Task (separately as well as simultaneously) one Physical and Mental Complex Task (separately as well as simultaneously) ANALYSIS The statistics that were used on the raw data were: Mean Standard Deviation T-Test RESULTS The hypothesis states that there is a significant difference between the division of attention between smokers and non-smokers. The Statistics used were: Mean: The Mathematical Average of a set of numbers. Standard Deviation: Measures how spread out the data is. T-Test: Measures if there is a significant difference between two variables. The results got do not support the hypothesis which states that there is a significant difference in the division of attention between smokers and non-smokers. Table 1 shows the Mean (M) Standard Deviation (SD) and T-Value (t) between smokers and non-smokers. *N.S = Not Significant Table 1 shows that the t-values were not found to be significant. DISCUSSION When we attend two or more tasks at one time, it is mainly because of the division of attention of that person. The first scientist to study in the field of division of attention was Paulhan (1887) who found out that if the nature of both the jobs is simple, the outcome would be the least affected. A few other scientists who got the same results were Binet (1890), Jastraw and Cairnes (1892) and Fitts and Simon (1949). According to the table shown above, the hypothesis mentioned above has been proved right. There is no significant difference between the: Division of attention between smokers and non-smokers in performing two tasks simultaneously. These results could be due to various reasons. The lifestyle of both smokers and non-smokers is the same. Their surroundings, their routines everything is very similar. Although minor differences will be present in the results due to differing mental abilities, everything else is the same. Hence their results or rather the levels of division of attention between ideally should not differ to a great extent. When we look at the tables closely we observe that the performance of two simple tasks (one physical and one mental) the loss of efficiency in the performance of tasks in non-smokers is lesser than that of smokers, whereas in the performance of two difficult tasks (one mental and one physical) the opposite case happens. The loss of efficiency is lesser for smokers when compared to non-smokers. When we look at the results of the tasks of difficult physical- easy mental or difficult mental and easy physical, they depended completely on the mental abilities of that person. There was no pattern that was followed. The hypothesis may not have been proved right as the all the students have not been smoking regularly for long. The effects might be seen more clearly if they had been smoking for longer. The brain functioning might be something that would be impaired only after a while. The impairment is not going to be sudden. There could have also been many intervening variables such as the weather, the students mood the surroundings, the situations and even the noise levels. All these affect the performance of the subject while performing a task. This particular research in this field gives the psychologists a base to build up future researches and ones which can be conducted in more depth. The same study can be conducted on an older population and the results can be matched and seen. Then it can be proven if age plays a major role in this research. As the subjects are older it is but natural that they have smoked for longer in their life which has been proved to reduce brain functioning. This study shows that there is no significant difference between smokers and non-smokers as well as girls and boys when it comes to the division of attention. REFERENCE Anstyl, O’Kearney, Salim, Sanden. Smoking as a Risk Factor for Dementia and Cognitive Decline: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies (2007) West, Robert and Shiffman, Saul (2007).Fast Facts: Smoking Cessation. Health Press Ltd. p.28 Hirsch, GL, et al., â€Å"Immediate effects of smoking on cardiorespiratory response to exercise,† Journal of Applied Physiology 58:1975-81, June 1985 Blair, SN, et al., â€Å"Relationship Between Exercise or Physical Activity and Other Health Behaviors,† Public Health Reports 100(2):172-180, March-April 1985; Faulkner, RA, et al., â€Å"The Relationship of Physical Activity to Smoking Characteristics in Canadian Men and Women,† Canadian Journal of Public Health 78(3):155-60, May-June 1987; Lazarus, NB, et al., â€Å"Smoking and Body Mass in the Natural History of Physical Activity: Prospective Evidence from the Alameda County Study, 1965-1974,† American Journal of Preventive Medicine 5(3):127-35, May-June 1989 Dishman, RK, et al., â€Å"The Determinants of Physical Activity and Exercise,† Public Health Reports 100(2):158-71, March-April 1985 Winnail, SD, et al., â€Å"Relationship Between Physical Activity Level and Cigarette, Smokeless Tobacco, and Marijuana Use Among Public High School Adolescents,† Journal of School Health 65(10):438-442, December 1995 http://www.holah.karoo.net/sampling.htm The Effects of Tobacco Smoke and Nicotine on Cognition and the Brain, Gary E. Swan, Christina N. Lessov-Schlaggar On thedivisionofattention: A disproof of the single channel hypothesis, D. Alan Allporta,Barbara AntonisaPatricia Reynolds Smoking and attention: A review and reformulation of the stimulus-filter hypothesis, Jon D. Kassel Cigarette smoking and cognitive performance, George J. Spilich, Lorraine June, Judith Renner. Smoking Rots the Brain Lowers Cognitive Performance November 29, 2012 http://scitechdaily.com/smoking-rots-the-brain-lowers-cognitive-performance/ 1