A Christmas Carol Essay Example for Free

A Christmas Carol Essay As regrets had taken place and thoughtfulness had also entered his mind. Another place that Scrooge was brought to that night was a Christmas Eve party that Scrooges old boss had thrown and the spirit enlightens Scrooge on the fact that everybody was joyful, happy and merry and what the spirit told Scrooge was that this party must have come to three or four pounds back then and Scrooge had realised that the happiness is as such as though a fortune had provided it but this was not the case as is was not a fortune that was needed for this joy. This is Scrooges first recognition of the value of money. The Second Spirit The description of the second spirit is of a large, fat man in a robe sitting on a throne with delicious food surrounding him. Through this Dickens outlines Scrooges greedy nature in the present moment. As this spirit brings Scrooge through where he lives they see the bakers and Scrooge asks whether there is a peculiar flavour in what the spirit sprinkles from his torch and the spirit replies, There is. My own Scrooge then asks if it would apply to any kind of dinner on this day and the spirit replies, To any kindly given. To a poor one most. Scrooge asks why and the spirit tells him that the poor one needs the dinner the most. This must have made Scrooge realise that this is true and that he had not realised. Another part of this chapter that moves Scrooges feelings is when he is reminded of the evil words he has spoken from the Christmas Eve, which is, If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. The spirit says these words to Scrooge at a time where they are visiting the Bob Cratchits household. After hearing the spirits words Scrooge begins to feel remorse and shame. At this time Scrooge is feeling more and more emotional and he is also feeling sympathetic for those he has hurt during the holidays and especially for Bob Cratchit his employee after hearing the way Bob speaks of him with great respect unlike the way his wife does, Mr Scrooge! Said Bob. Ill give you Mr Scrooge, the founder of the feast! these few words tell us that Bob has recognition of the fact that the meal in front of him wouldnt be there if it wasnt for Scrooge himself. How Mrs. Cratchit speaks is different, I wish I had him here. Id give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and I hope hed have a good appetite for it on which one drinks the health of such and odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr Scrooge. Mrs. Cratchit obviously knows exactly how Scrooge is or maybe how he used to be. Towards the end of the second spirits time Scrooge is brought to his nephews Christmas party that Scrooge was invited to but unfortunately Scrooge had turned down his nephew to go home instead. While Scrooge is at the party he hears more of how people speak of him behind his back but this time it is his own nephew, I am sorry for him; I couldnt be angry with him if I tried. Who suffers by his ill whims? I mean to give him the same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for I pity him. What his nephew says here must of got to Scrooge for sure. Right at the end of this paragraph there is a time at which the spirit unveils to children from his robe and he describes the little boy as ignorant and the little girl as poor. From Scrooges mouth he tries to say that the children are fine children but the words choke themselves. Scrooge cannot deny the fact that the children were not fine and had a bad personification. Just as the spirit leaves Scrooge he leaves Scrooge with the words, Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? which is also what Scrooge had said at his shop on Christmas Eve to a couple of charity workers. I now noticed that it was all backfiring at Scrooge all of his bad ways in the past had started coming back to him and he then gets a vision in his mind of when Marley had visited him just before the third spirit arrives to him. The Third Spirit The first glimpse of information that you gather about the third spirit is that the spirit is a phantom gliding along like mist which is as though it is taken out of a horror movie, lifting up his eyes, beheld a solemn Phantom, draped and hooded, coming like a mist along the ground towards him. This is what would make somebody very scared especially as it during the night as all of the spirits visit him within the night of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as Marley tells Scrooge so, Expect the first tomorrow when the bell tolls One Expect the second on the night at the same hour. The third, upon the next night when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate. The description of the Phantom is that of the Grim Reaper, It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible. This description makes me certainly feel that this Phantom resembled death by every means of its appearance and also that this last visit had something to do with death. After a visit from Marley, the first Spirit showing past and the second showing present Scrooge was very keen on listening in carefully to the third spirit a phantom showing him his future. It is almost as if this phantom was sent last to really make Scrooge learn his lesson as it is obviously intimidating Scrooge. The phantom could have been sent to scare the last bit of hatred out of Scrooge to make him pure in his mind, Scrooge feared the silent shape so much that his legs trembled beneath him I fear you more than any spectre I have seen. Scrooge is definitely seeing this is a great privilege for him to have this phantom as you read, I know your purpose is to do me good I am prepared to bear your company The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me. What Scrooge says in this lines that I have targeted is very assuring that he knows what is to come of himself if he does not pay attention and he especially lets us know this when he says that his time is precious and this allows us to know that Scrooge does not want to end up like Marley but wants to have a better afterlife. A dreadful place that the phantom brought Scrooge to, was a conversation involving two women that knew the late Scrooge before he died. Scrooge is brought to two women talking of Scrooges ways before there was time to change, Every person has a right to take care of themselves. He always did why wasnt he natural in his lifetime? The reason he is in italics is because this is how it is in the book and the reason for that is probably because when one of the women were talking about Scrooge they probably emphasized he very much. What they also ask about him, that why wasnt he natural shows for a moment that they could have had care for Scrooge but this isnt true for two reasons and one is because they speak of him badly the rest of the time and they had also robbed Scrooge of his goods after he died and placed them in bundles, if I could have laid my hands on anything else. Open that bundle, old Joe, and let me know the value of it. This is as if there is no care in the world for Scrooge even as though they waited for him to die just to take him for what he has. Another example of horrid speaking of Scrooge is still from the same woman saying, He frightened everyone away when he was alive, to profit us when he was dead. This shows us that it was as though they waited for his death to occur. Scrooge was realising that this is not the correct way to be thought of after dying as he says to the phantom, I see, I see. The case of this unhappy man might be my own. My life tends that way now. Merciful heaven, what is this. Scrooge almost prays there to beg for forgiveness because of the life he has led, one. These visits and more from this phantom has most definitely shown Scrooge what he is walking himself into and at the end of this chapter and the end of this phantoms visit the phantom shows Scrooge a grave with Scrooges name written upon it and Scrooge had just caught on to the fact that the man he visited that was dead was him and the women thieving the man where thieving him, Am I that man who lay upon the bed? The fact that this is a question shows us is was as though Scrooge did not want this to be true. The final assurance that Scrooge has changed is right at the end of the chapter when Scrooge says himself, I am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past hope? I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the past, the present, and the future I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone! The reason I have written so many quotes here is because they are all valid for my point that Scrooge is begging for forgiveness for his past ways and that he promises he will changes and has changed. He begs that the gravestone is not to be his and he tells the phantom that he has had his lesson taught. I know knew that Scrooge had changed for the better and this is purely because he had been visited by the three spirits and Marley; this took time and gradually built more and more guilt into Scrooges mind and this is the main reason why Scrooge changed. Conclusion Throughout analysing the story and each individual spirit we see the growth of Scrooge. Overall Dickens has written a provoking story, in his use of spirits and flashbacks creating a drastic change within Scrooge. The reader almost feels a sense of relief at Scrooges achievement as you are confident it will be for the better. The power of making Scrooge regretful is carried out effectively. Dickens sums up the story with the last chapter The End of it sparking the idea that at the end of something there is a new beginning which is exactly what happens. Scrooges misery is brought to an end and his happiness is shared with everyone, leaving the reader to believe that it is possible for any one to change.

Place Branding And Sustainable Development Marketing Essay

Place Branding And Sustainable Development Marketing Essay According to Tasci and Kozak, as an interdisciplinary area, tourism borrows and applies many aspects from other areas of inquiry; branding is one of them from the field of marketing (p.300). This chapter is to examine the discipline that encompasses literature on the place branding. It is comprised of two parts. The first part concerns with place branding and its branding initiatives, and the second part is regarding the brand image formation process of tourism destination that leads to sustainable growth of the tourism industry. This literature review is divided into several sections. It begins with a general discussion of place marketing, following on with a clear distinction regarding the term place brand and the term place branding from a marketing perspective. Moreover, place branding will be examined to illustrate the relationship of branding and in tourism literature, with various place branding context such as brand identity, brand image and brand equity. Marketing of a Place Marketing of a place is defined as a strategic planning procedures attempted by places brand developers with the objectives of satisfying the variety needs of target markets (Kotler et al, 1999). Market-a-place is able to give positive contribution to the economy of a country. However, there is a shifting from rather narrow view of economic development to broader set of strategies and plans since the past few decades (Govers Go, 2009). These strategies are aimed at attracting new businesses, strengthen traditional culture of a country, developed global trade, build tourism industry and target local and foreign investors from outside the country (Kotler et al, 2008). Furthermore, some places have transformed their informal economic campaigns into highly targeted, stylish marketing strategies aimed at building competitive markets within diverse consumer segments, targeting specific buyers, and positioning the communitys resources in order to respond to the specific buyers needs and wa nts (Maheshwari et al, 2011). Hence, many countries aim to promote economic growth by improving their physical infrastructure with high technology facilities, thereby upgrade the place image which in turn brings in more business opportunities and growth. Moreover, marketing a place is not considered to be more than just carrying out few promotional activities, but it involves specific planning initiatives that is designed to encourage the processes that would further increase a place identity and profile, therefore attractive more new inward investments, improving the infrastructure and strengthening the public and private sector services. As a result, developing an effective place marketing strategies is now considered to be the important focal point to local economic development plans (Walker, 2000). Place Brand Place brand is the peoples perception about a place, region or a country; and also the reputation of a place among those people that the place embraces (Anholt, 2005). Place brand is considered complex and multi-dimensional construct with constantly changing reputation as people will have different perceptions of a place; no matter from residents, investors or visitors. According to Anholt (2005), place brand is various individual perceptions and beliefs which coincide at some point but may have different point of view from others. Gold (2006) explain that place brand is residual perception left in the mind of recipient regarding a place after encountering its various facets either through their own experience, expose towards the media, through word-of-mouth or from purchasing of goods and services. Likewise, the worlds marketplace is currently going through the phase of globalisation. According to Kotler and Gerner (2004), place brand is considered an important requirement because of the advancement of technology, and increase mobility of people and resource in this 21st century. Moreover, the advance brand theories of city marketing, nation branding and destination marketing (Anholt, 2004) such as those applied specifically to countries, destinations, regions and cities have been developed to increase their respective images. Largely, this has been achieved by nurturing the tangible and intangible assets of a place, such as culture and heritage, aborigine architecture, local skills, prosperous communities and investments for good future growth. Place brand is thus a process that will facilitate the creation of the most realistic and most compelling strategic vision for a city, region or country (Placebrands, 2006). This is to ensure that a place can get appreciation that it deserves for its existent strengths and positive attributes and behaviours, and that the place brand gains appropriate brand equity from the recognition which those behaviours bring (Keller, 2008). Also, place brand provides a far broader spectrum of research areas if compared to those associated purely with conventional brand management, and brand strategy. It has attracted interest from the areas of sociology, history, national identity, geography and politics. Nevertheless, place brand still remains as an area that is still predominantly practitioner-led and where academic research-led knowledge has been slow to accumulate, although greater interest from academics is now beginning to develop. Place Branding The concept of place branding is consisting of many parts and elements, which requires an in-depth analysis of the literature. As such, to define the term place is essential for this research. According to Buhalis (2000), place is considered as an amalgams of tourism products, which can offer an integrated experience to the people (p.97). As a result, a place is something of like products and experiences that are available rather than geographical scale and cultural diversity. So a place can be comprised of a wide variety of diverse attributes which it can be called as a city, a country or a continent. Hu and Ritchie (1993) explained that a tourism place is a package of tourism facilities and services in which like any other consumers product or service, is composed of a number of multidimensional attributes that together determine its attractiveness to a particular individual in a given choice of situation (p.26). Indeed, a tourism place is much subjected to different individual per ceptions and thus there is a need for differentiation and competitiveness transpires. As a result, the ability to attract the tourists attention to a particular place and to spark their curiosity can be achieved by the means of place branding. Meanwhile, Hankinson (2004) defined branding in the context of a place brand as the built environment in which the various services forming part of the core brand take place (p.117). Another author Fan (2006) argued that nation branding is concern with applying branding and marketing communications techniques in order to promote a nations image (p.6). Further explanation from this author is that place branding is to promote the country or city as a destination for tourism (Fan, 2006, p.7). As a matter of fact, wide definitions have been suggested for place branding due to lack of agreement among academics (Pike, 2008). Regardless of the wide array of place branding definitions within the academic literature, place branding can best describe in this research as : (a) the set of marketing activities that support the creation of name, logo or other graphic that can identify and differentiate a place; (b) a brand that can give a memorable travelling experience that is associated with that place; (c) activities that can serve to create a branding image that positively influences consumer choice of destination (Blain et al, 2005). To differentiate a place from the rest of the competitors is a key function of a place branding. The ability to capture the attention of potential tourist to a place and to foster an emotional connection between the individual and destination is essential element of brand effectiveness (Morgan Pritchard, 2004). According to Nickerson and Moisey (1999), showing the feelings and emotions in place marketing campaigns will capture the attention of consumers, but not all will have the same feeling and perceptions. Rather than capture the feeling of consumer through photo, it would be more effective to provide visual image with feature such as mountain or sea that will allow the consumer to have the sense of relaxation, physical challenge or spirituality. To enhance successful connection between customer emotion and that particular place, a place brand must be deliverable, differentiating, conveying powerful ideas and must be enthusing for stakeholders, especially the consumer. As a resul t, if a place has the capable to market itself through positive image building, it will help to differentiate itself among other places that offering the same characteristics (Cai, 2002). Further explanation from Moilanen and Rainisto (2009) is that strong national brand must not only attract business and investments, it must also help to promote the goals of the tourism industry that will strengthen the national identity. Moilanen and Rainisto (2009) identified that brand development process takes a long period of time with time span of five to ten years, due to the numerous steps involved in the process; this include: (a) start-up and organise, (b) research stage, (c) forming brand identity, (d) making execution and enforcement plan, and (e) implementation and follow up. One of the critical elements of place brand is positioning. Positioning is establishing an image for a product or service in relation to others in the marketplace (Hudson, 2005, p.54). To attain competitive advantage in the marketplace, three steps under positioning are needed to be followed: product differentiation, prioritising and selecting the competitive advantage, and communication and delivering the position. Moreover, Pike (2008) noted the three core positioning elements for a place, including the place name, the symbol and the positioning slogan (p.299). These are important as they represent something good about a place and that help to differentiate the product from the competitors. Yet, brand logo is important as it is the visual representation of a product, service, company or a place that is being advertised. Logo should be able to achieve product identification and differentiation, as well as to raise consumer awareness and enhance recognition (Blain et al, 2005; Hender son et al, 2003). In relation to introducing a place to consumers, the logo should attract and stimulate the interest of consumer and influence destination of choice (Blain et al, 2005). Place Brand Identity According to Cai (2002), brand identity is often regarded as a missing link between branding and image building, meaning that image building does not consider the identity. In fact, Olins (2002) argued that despite of changing country names and political contexts, for example, nations have always been engaged in building their identities. Morgan et al (2002) claimed that brand thus represents the identity of a place and is likely to be relevant across markets being the core of the proposition of a country. Hankinson (2004) explained that the destination brand core, which represents an identity of a place, include a statement of brand personality, positioning and brand reality. According to Morgan et al (2002), sometimes brand identity and brand personality is termed as the same. However, Ekinci and Hosany (2006) claimed that brand personality is dealing with human traits and thus is different from identity. Research on tourism has traditionally drawn from economic and cultural geography. Approaches inspired by cultural geography view identity as an essence of nationhood or community (Palmer, 1999; Ballesteros Ramirez, 2007). Sometimes, marketing and culturally inspired approaches to identity may seem contradictory, because some perspectives see branding as a sense of place, detracting from a countrys essence and superficially commodifying nationhood. However, both of these approaches seem to view identity as a reality of a destination or restricted as an expression of a brand personality (Cornelissen Harris, 2001). Drawing from identity discussions in marketing and organisational literature, the attempts to a more holistic aspect towards destination identity have occurred. According to Berry (2000), brand identity is not only customers dominant perceptions of the brand, but also constructed in an ongoing relationship with the brand, and adding meaning or value to the consumer. Tourists and also residents defined meanings of places by being at places, by consuming and by interacting with others at the place and thereby forming a social communication system (Snepenger et al, 2004). Williams et al (2006) explained that brand identity is determined by the visitors values and how well they align with the experiences that they have encountered. This view emphasises visitors perspective as the source of place brand identity. To conclude, these approaches seem to view a place identity being not something that a destination has but something that will engage in social interaction. In the corporate identity studies, the focus has expanded to employees and other stakeholders besides the customers (He Balmer, 2007). Leitch and Richardson (2003) claimed that the understanding of stakeholders towards the organisation identity is continuously evolving in an unpredictable process and thus corporate brand is considered to be the outcome of an interactive process with stakeholders. Stakeholders may not only involving customers or visitors but also local people, associations, politicians etc. Hence, place identity is identified as originating in the interaction by all components, characteristics and stakeholders of a place. Moreover, in the branding context, place identity and brand identity are in identical context, as customer-centric view sees the place brand identity as a perceptual entity in the customers mind, and the destination-centric view defines brand identity in terms of how the brand owners want the brand to be seen (Kavaratzis Ashworth, 2006). Place Brand Image How people perceive a country or a specific region is developed based on individual basis. As such, how perceived images can be created will solely depends on personal beliefs and demographic factors. According to Pike (2008), the research area related to place image has been studied in the literature of tourism in more than 30 years. Richardson and Crompton (1988) claimed that place image is dictated through income and is reflected towards the attributes of vacation. Kozak (2002) noted a variety of factors that may have influence on choice of destination in terms of place image income, age, personality, distance, risk and motivation. Further research is that people perception towards place image will be influence by information source from various media outlets. From the advertising perspective, the challenge would be to capture images that most likely enhancing an image of that particular destination, motivation towards purchase decision and induce visitation (Butler Bennett, 200 8). Anholt (2004) explained that in order to develop an individuals perception of a place will be depending upon six areas, based on National Brand Hexagon: tourism, exports, governance, investment and immigration, culture heritage, and people. Therefore, how a tourist perceives a place is not only influenced by information sources, but will also influenced by the policies and national identity of that country. There are broad ranges of meanings for the term image and the concepts of place image have been introduced within the academic literature (Cai, 2002; Gali Donaire, 2005; Goodall, 1992). The American Marketing Association (2009) defined brand image as how a brand is perceived in the mind of a consumer, and it is what consumers think, feel and expect about a product. Consequentially, emotional connection in between people and the projected product image is interrelated that will influence their buying behaviour. With regards to image of a place rather than a tangible product, the term place image is defined by Buhalis (2000) as what a traveller expect and perceive towards a destination or a place. Cai (2002) noted that place image are subjective introspections that are held in the mind of the visitor and that illustrate the complexity of a place brand which requires the need to market specific attributes in order to reduce further ambiguity by tourists. To go to a larger extent, the i mage formation process can be further influence by a promoted place personality. According to Ekinci and Hosany (2006), a place personality is the set of human characteristics in accordance to a place as perceived by tourist rather than from a local resident viewpoint. It is important to identify the personality traits of visitor as there are possible emotional connection between tourist and a particular place. It can be argued that there is a possibility that the place image can be perceived differently based on the type of traveller involved in. For example, a perception of a place by business tourists may have different perceptions by adventure tourists towards a particular place. Added by Bigne et al (2001) is that image will influence a tourist in the process of choosing a stay, the subsequent evaluation of that stay and his or her future intentions of whether he or she will come back to the place again. As a result, place image has a significant function as a place can influen ce the tourist prior to travel, throughout travel by means of their behaviour, and upon return after their travel experience. Regardless of the place brand being marketed, a place image is often changed by personal stereotypes, past experiences or word-of-mouth. Therefore, even though different types of tourist might view a place differently, it is still an integral part for a place to have the initiative to market the place effectively; as this will minimise unsecure feeling among the potential tourists and enhance the identity of that place. Place Brand Equity In the economic context, brand equity is a term defined as the brand value as determined by the consumers, usually in a measurement of performance (Aaker Biel, 1993; Pike, 2008). Brand equity is usually comprised of five assets name awareness, perceived quality, brand associations, brand loyalty and other proprietary brand assets (Asker Biel, 1993). How successful a product or service will be looking at brand equity, as it is considered the last stage in branding process; whereby consumers will be loyal to that particular product or service in long-term period of time. However, for place branding, especially in the tourism context, the measurement of product brand equity as mentioned earlier is ineffective due to the intangibility of the brand itself; as a result, consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) was introduced. CBBE is termed as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand, and is made up of two underlying attributes brand aware ness and brand image (Keller, 1993, p.8). However, Pike (2008) suggested another four attributes for CBBE: brand awareness, brand associations, brand resonance and brand loyalty. It can be explained that brand equity is depending on how consumers are aware of the brand itself (brand awareness), as what the previous researchers have agreed upon. Essentially, increased brand awareness and having positive image will lead to increase consumers choice and lastly to increase tourist arrivals due to effective marketing of the brand (Keller, 1993). More likely, tourist will revisit the place again in the future and spread good things about the place. Added by this researcher is that there are two different approaches to measuring CBBE, namely the indirect and direct approach. The indirect approach attempts to assess potential source of CBBE through brand knowledge measurement, while the direct approach attempts to measure CBBE more directly by assessing the brand knowledge of consumer throu gh responses of different elements of marketing program. Hence, consumers ability to be able to recognise with a place brand and make associations is a determinant of how effective is the marketing campaign. Aaker (1991) explained that there are 11 types of brand associations: product attributes, intangibles, customer benefits, price, application, customer, celebrity, lifestyle/personality, product class, competitors and country/geographical area (p.114). These associations can help the consumer to relate the brand to specific attributes, therefore increasing brand awareness and to recall the brand information. As a result, the greater the ability consumer can make these associations, the greater likelihood that success can be placed on the marketing initiatives. Place Branding and Sustainable Development Campbell (1996) claimed that sustainable development is comprises of elusive elements that represent three areas: development, property and resource conflicts of conventional planning strategy, around which are the key planning goals such as economic growth, social harmony, employment and financial relief and environmental protection. As such, sustainable development involves reformation and restricting of local economic and political policies to regeneration and planning activities all with the aim to have success growth in the future. Meanwhile, to achieve ongoing local development from a places perspective is to consider hosting large events (Andranovich et al, 2001) such as Olympic through the mega-event strategy, like South Korea (1988), Australia (2000) or China (2008). Studies on places that had hosted or were about to host these games had provide to provide some direct benefits such as infrastructure development, improved economical and political support. This can show that such mega-events can have positive impacts on brand image and the ability to increase future economic growth of a place that leads to sustainable development of the place. Nevertheless, there are few uncertainties associated with place branding campaigns (might be due to limited funding and tangible resources) which seek to have low raising awareness and limits the differentiation of place branding process to the mere propagation of logos and symbols (Hankinson, 2001). Added by him is that places that have successful attracting appropriate resources have however, successful in developing positive brand images; for instance, resources such as heritage and history and attractive place-specific facets. Generally, the development of positive brand images such as these has led to the successful transformation of several post-industrial cities, such as Seoul, Beijing, Bangkok into vibrant leisure and business tourism destinations which reflect sustainable development and continuous growth aspects (Ward, 1998). As such, there is very little evidence that place branding are essential drivers of sustainable development of a place. However, according to Pedersen (2004), there were few publications suggested there is a link between successful place branding and sustainability. For example, in a survey in 2002 commissioned by the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board, Singapore was seen, by a broad selection of selection of travellers and tourist agents from USA, Japan, India, Germany, Australia, UK and Sweden as clean, modern and safe. Chinas dominant image and attraction was culture. Whereas Thailand had a brand image of exotic, fun and friendly people. Tourism as an Economic Development Tourism has contributed to the economic growth of a country, and is considered the most profit-making industry. Yet, the tourism market has the ability to transform an emerging place both positively and negatively. Tourism industry itself has variety of sub-sectors that can cater to different tourists demands. According to Hudson (2005), tourism is a powerful economic force that is able to provide employment, foreign exchange, income and tax revenue (p.4). This identifies that tourism development is a powerful tool for change and cause for rapid global transformation. The interest gained within the academia concerning tourism marketing and place branding is a preview of the importance of place differentiation. Clancy (1999) explained that when developing countries tend to promote tourism, they put into account by greater integration into worlds economy, leading to direct economic and political effects on the region. With that, the contribution of tourism to the worlds economy will en courage place marketing organisations to become more innovation in their advertisement in order to attract more tourist arrivals. As a result, the importance of place branding and marketing campaigns are vital in this growing global competition. Moreover, the needs of a community are reflected in marketing policies which contributes to the economic development. To achieve this, creative strategies need to be memorable in the market the area and to encourage travel so as to gain economic benefits of tourism, for example, a study of competitive advantage of Oresund region using place branding as tool (Pederson, 2004), and the case of New Zealands tourism development (Ryan Zahra, 2004). As a result, sustainable development is still considered vital in increasing the number of tourists into a country, modernising the infrastructure and encourage more inward investments. Sarawak Tourism Industry Sarawak is situated in the Borneo Island and is part of the state of Malaysia. It is considered the largest state in Malaysia, and is considered an adventure land covered with a dense rainforest, and jungle-clad hills. Sarawak is a destination that usually provides unique products and experiences to visitors who come to Sarawak. According to Sarawak Tourism Board (2011), Sarawak is the place for history, mystery, romance and exotic adventures. Sarawak tourism started from the cultural tradition and heritage from different ethnic groups in Sarawak which successfully attract visitors to come. This ancient rainforest land is a home to 27 ethnic groups, whereby these people have their own language, lifestyle and culture. Apart from that, Sarawaks treasure of natural wonders is best appreciated in its many protected national parks and ancient rainforests like alluring caves and exotic wildlife. Its protected national parks are sanctuary to rare flora and fauna, such as Orang-utans, probos cis monkey, mouse deer, and a variety of birds, with the famous protected wildlife like the hornbills (SEDC, 2010). One of the states most alluring attractions is the Mulu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring razor-sharp limestone pinnacles (UNESCO, 2012). According to the deputy minister of tourism, Datuk Dr. James Dawos Mamit, he said that there is still a need to come up with effective strategies to promote Sarawak. He encouraged those tourism players to be more active and work together so that Sarawak tourism can be successful in the South East Asia region. Besides that, due to lack of promotion in Sarawak tourism industry, the ministry has set up facilities like websites and fairs in order to promote tourism related products and packages. He also mentioned that industry players should make more effort on their part, citing the embarrassing brochures provide by some tour agencies because he observed that they are not giving good information towards specific destination (Bernama, 2011). In 2009, Minister of Urban Development and Tourism, Datuk Michael Manyi set the Sarawak tourism industry a target of 5 million visitors by 2011 (Press Collections, 2009). In association with the announcement of this target, the Sarawak Tourism Board initiated a Discover Sarawak campaign, with the aim to promote Sarawak to the rest of the world. Only 3.8 million outbound and inbound visitors came to Sarawak in 2011. Nevertheless, 3.3 million visitors had visited Sarawak in 2010 (Ministry of Tourism and Heritage Sarawak, 2011). This can be shown that the number of visitors has maintained at about 3 million visitors. Despite the increased marketing effort to attract a greater number of visitors and higher levels of visitor spend, a recent report (Borneo Talk, 2011) has found out that there is still a dominance of day visitors from the immediate surrounding area with low levels of associated visitor spend. Moreover, there is a perceived belief by local tourism industry that Sarawak suffe rs from lack of identity and low awareness by potential visitors, especially when compared with other similar but seemingly higher profile destinations, such as Sabah state. As such, Sarawak is frequently omitted from Malaysia travel features in the national press, despite the fact that Sarawak tourism players having embarked on a proactive public relations programme which included hosting a number of visits for travel writers. Although these visits have directly resulted in some positive press coverage in the media, Sarawak still appears to maintain a low profile. Added on is the statement made by the Malaysian Tourism Ministry where efforts had been made over the years to get more flights from international routes to Sarawak but with little progress (Borneo Post, 2012). This has shown that Sarawak has least number of international flights if compared to other states of Malaysia. This can be problematic in such a highly competitive market, as well as economic uncertainty. The question for Sarawak tourism government is why some countries which has the same characteristics as Sarawak are able to attract more visitors than others? There must be few lessons that Sarawak can opt to gain from these countries. It can be said that Sarawak has not focused on active marketing of its tourism industry. Despite the governments interest in making Sarawak as a famous travel and tourism industry among the foreigners, marketing of the industry has not gone beyond the concept of branding. Conclusion Throughout the academic literature within both tourism and marketing disciplines, insight into the different aspects of place branding has confirmed its complexity. While place branding has been researched for decades, place branding initiatives towards sustainable tourism development have not been extensively researched. Nickerson and Mosey (1999) claimed that there is a lack of practical application and field research concerning place branding and the travel decision process of tourists. Also, Boo et al (2009) identified there is also the lack of research of place brand measurement as evaluated by tourists which confirms the complexity of this issue of place branding. Generally, there is a call for further research combining place branding and sustainable development of tourism destination for travel and choices of place. An enhanced understanding of the correlation of these issues will aid in recommending effective place branding strategies in order to ensure tourists satisfaction . The places ability to effectively market itself will require in-depth analysis of image perception and therefore further research will help to conceptualise this multidimensional issue. This paper has combined both tourism and marketing disciplines and had set out to further enhance comprehension of what tourists seek in a place brand.

Wilfred Owens Dulce Et Decorum Est, Tim OBriens The Things They Carri

Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est, Tim OBrien's The Things They Carried, and Siegfried Sassoon's Suicide in the Trenches Many war pieces express a distinct sense of truth, hatred, and anger that can be found in the style, tone, and imagery they possess. Incredible images are created in ones mind as war writings are read and heard. Works written by such writers as Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Tim OBrien really reach out to the audience by way of the authors choice of words and images that they use in their writing. These talented writers create very touching and heart-felt images as they write about the true occurrences, problems, feelings and emotions that soldiers encountered throughout times of war. It is by way of these writers words that the bloody truth of war is heard, rather than the glorified victories heard which overlook the pain that soldiers went through. One beautifully written piece of work by Wilfred Owen is entitled Dulce Et Decorum Est. Just as the poem is written in a rhyme and rhythm that makes poetry easy to follow, the vivid imagery helps one to picture more easily what is going on in the poem. Owen brilliantly chooses words and phrases that illuminate the scene, making the reader feel as if he is physically in the scene along with the characters. For example, Owen describes that the Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots/ But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;/ Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots/ Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind (Gioia 782). A feeling of sadness and pity is felt as one hears the previous words. It is almost as if the scene of the soldiers trudging through the battlefield is being painted for the reader to actually visually ... ... they have heard about war or want to believe about war. The three incredible works of literature by Owen, OBrien, and Sassoon give a true sense of what fighting for ones country was really like. The battles, soldiers, and wars that most of the public see is glorified tremendously through movies and books mainly. These writers wanted a change and they went about this by giving the true and honest facts of what happened. War should be thought of as a tough obstacle that no one should ever have to go through, a sad occurrence, or a horrible burden, but not as a glorious victory. In order to reach that victory, the road is anything but sweet. Works Cited Gioia, Dana and X. J. Kennedy. Literature. Longman Publishing: New York, 2002. Hermine. Poetry and Music of the War Between the States. 02 July 2002. 11 October 2002.

Noughts and Crosses Essay -- essays research papers

Noughts and Crosses ‘Noughts and Crosses† by Malorie Blackman is a novel which follows the lives and experiences of two characters, Callum and Sephy. Throughout the book Blackman deals with a number of issues including relationships, alcohol abuse, power abuse, depression and violence. However, the key issues of the book are racism and prejudice. These issues of racism and prejudice are conveyed through the narrative techniques of characterization, point of view, language, structure and setting. The author uses language as a tool to show the characters’ status in society as black or white. Various language techniques are used to display the classes of society. The words â€Å"blanker† (used by blacks to describe whites) and â€Å"dagger† (used by whites to describe blacks) are used repeatedly throughout the novel. This use of language reflects the intolerant attitudes towards one another in Blackman’s radical world. There is a significant amount of symbolism used in these words. â€Å"Blanker† is used to describe a blank, worthless, brainless white person. And â€Å"dagger† is used to depict a weapon that is capable of scratching and severing, reducing and disconnecting a person, or even bringing them to an end completely. â€Å" I bet it was one of her blanker friends, they’re blank by name and blank by nature†. Through the difference of educated, formal language used by Crosses and the sometimes tasteless, simple lang uage of the noughts, the reader can see the grades in which noughts and Crosses are separately classed. Through this technique I believe Blackman is trying to show the extent to which racism can affect people. It can lessen, degrade and have heavy social affects on a person proving where they belong and what they will never be. The language is also used to emphasize the feelings and emotions of Callum and Sephy. The use of descriptive writing is employed by Blackman to give the reader insight into the effects and emotions of racism. â€Å"I was talking like my mouth was full of stones – and sharp jagged ones at that.† The book is full of descriptive writing and figurative language with use of similes and metaphors to explore the feelings of Callum and Sephy. The way in which Blackman uses these language techniques influences the reader to especially pity the white race and the way they are treated in the book. Blackman has created her own world to resemble our own op... ...fective in presenting both sides of their story accenting the differences in life standards, opportunities and rights. However Callum’s despair still affects Sephy, even when you are the wealthy daughter of a respected politician, Sephy will never be happy until she can be with Callum in an equal society. I think the authors values and attitudes are clearly shown through Sephy’s unhappiness. Blackman believes love and family to be more important than business, material goods, money and skin colour. Noughts and Crosses is an in depth story which explores the issues of racism and prejudice and the effects they can have on society. Blackman has created a world of her own in complete contrast to the society we live in. By doing this she has impacted her readers, challenged our contexts and allowed the reader insight into the effects of racism and the suffering it can cause. Blackman has effectively used a range of narrative techniques to bring her world to life giving the white reader a taste of the discrimination blacks have suffered for centuries, provoking feelings of empathy and understanding. By turning the world upside down, Blackman makes her readers see things more clearly.

The Seven Sacraments of Catholics Essay -- Catholicism Religion Christ

The Seven Sacraments of Catholics Catholics go through a cycle of events in their spiritual lives known as the seven sacraments. Although all Catholics can not partake in each sacrament, the majority receive the Holy Eucharist and are baptized as children. The sacraments are the rites of passage in the Catholic faith. Some of the sacraments require proper preparation and knowledge of the one’s faith. The seven sacraments include Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick, and the Holy Orders. Faith ties the people of God together. We are united through our belief in faith. I see the sacraments as the acceptance of faith in God and of our faith. With all the diversity that exists among God’s people, faith in God and To Chrisitan, Jesus Christ is the being that connects us all as one. He played many roles when he was on this earth and is the incarnation of God. In essence, He is God â€Å"infleshed†. While he was on the earth, some viewed him as a healer. I be lieve that receiving reconciliation and the anointing of the sick would require an individual to accept Jesus as the ultimate healer. The Eucharist accepts that Jesus had the ability to turn bread and wine into himself for his people. Receiving the Eucharist is the acceptance of the Last Supper and the symbolic meaning along with it. Jesus Christ is referred to as the anointed. At baptism we are anointed with holy oil to welcome us into the Catholic faith. In confirmation we again, confirm and renew our faith and individually commit to the vows our godparents had spoken for us. Again we are anointed with holy oil, symbolizing the truth of Jesus Christ, the anointed one. The sacraments are a rite of passage among the Christian people. We are all tied to one faith and the sacraments are the links that we tie it all together. Sacraments sometimes required preparation. In preparation of a sacrament, we are taught the underlining faith of Jesus Christ. Through our sacramental practices, we accept and acknowledge the faith of Jesus and who he was. Sacraments bring people of the church together in celebration. These gatherings are common ties among people of faith and their acceptance of God and Jesus. What do catholics and fundamentalist believe about the bible comparison 2000-07-04 Conversations about the differences and similarities between Fundamentalist and Catho... ...inisters. This can be very rare in other denominations. At the General conference not too long ago, the UM church apologized to the blacks for the discrimination they suffered. This is also a rare finding in a church The Methodist religion is different from many others. It seems that it's goal for humanity is for everyone to have their own individual relationship or bond with Christ, they prize this more than anything. Even though they are very non discriminating they still have their own set of rules to go by, just as every church does. The Methodist religion is very interesting and somewhat different than what most religions are. Bibliography 1. Academic American Encyclopedia. Groiler Incorporated. Danbury, Conneticut. Copyright 1996. 2. http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data1/dg/methodist/methchap.h tml.pages 1-4. September 28, 2000 3. http://showcase.netins.net/web/unsource/undoct.html. pages 1-9. September 28, 2000 4. Pamplet: "Whats So Great About Being A United Methodist?" 5. The United Mehtodist Church on Normandy. 6. Youth Ministry Director at the UM church on Normandy. Personal Interview. 19 October 2000 7. The World Book Encyclopedia. Volume 13. World Book Copyright 2000

Ryanair’s Management and Creativity

1. In the book â€Å"Management and Creativity† (Bilton, 2007), Wilson and Cummings define strategy as two distinctive approaches; strategy as position and strategy as process. The former, also referred to as strategy as orientation, takes a more top-down approach and is concentrated around a single leader. It attempts to establish a strategic position that will serve as a basis for differentiation, which is commonly seen as original and innovative. However, a successful implementation of the strategy often requires high monitoring and a hierarchal structure. Thus, the process itself is quite uncreative and there is little room for changes and innovation after the strategy has been established. The leader plays an important role in this strategic approach by setting vision and directing employees, and he or she is often strongly associated with the organization. Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary is a great example of a leader within an orientation strategy organization. The other approach outlined by Wilson and Cummings is strategy as animation. This adhocracy style is commonly adapted by creative organizations and the strategy is more of an evolving process than a fixed strategic position. It is built upon small, continuous changes that emerge incrementally within the organization. In difference from orientation, adhocracy takes a bottom-up approach and the strategy is developed through a collective activity. The leaders role is not to govern and direct, but to set frames, and recognize and build upon meaningful patterns. Shared goals and values hold the company together and serve as the glue in the organization. The animation film studio Pixar serves as a great example of the adhocracy approach. Their process-oriented strategy and bottom-up approach has helped to nurture creativity and build a culture where everyone’s ideas matters and all employees are urged to speak their minds. Thus, creativity is seen as something that evolves through systems and networks, and not something that is isolated to a single leader. Posthocracy is a type of non-strategy. The style is often adapted by organizations that are subject to a lot of uncertainty and changes in their environment. The unpredictability of the future makes it difficult for the organizations to establish a strategy beforehand and decisions are often rationalized after they have been made. This approach is based on ego, emotions and personality. 1. 1 It can be argued that Michael O’Leary follows a strategy as orientation approach. The low-cost strategy has come to define Ryanair and is deeply enrooted in the company. The attempt to reduce prices at all costs set the strategic direction. As in most orientation strategies, the company takes a top-down approach and the creativity is concentrated to the leader; the CEO Michael O’Leary. His controversial ideas are often seen as both new and revolutionary and he continuously finds the most radical ways to reduce prices. Still, the organization itself is highly monitored and controlled as to successfully keep costs down in every part of the value chain. Furthermore, as commonly seen in these types of strategy tendencies, Michael O’Leary is strongly associated with the company. As described in the article, â€Å"O’Leary chose to embody the role of a cheap, no-nonsense, slightly unpleasant Everyman, which he would exploit to sell a cheap, slightly unpleasant flying experience to the Everyman. Arguably, M. O’Leary is Ryanair. 2. According to current popular theories creativity is concerned with novelty and individualism. For an idea to be considered novel, it should provide something new or a new combination of elements. The individualism concerns the originator of the idea who is seen as a â€Å"brain† who needs space and loose control to be able to flourish. The psychological theory modifies this idea by taking away the component of individualism and adding the idea of value and meaning. For an idea to be creative, the innovation also needs to be valuable and give meaning. Merely innovation is not enough. Both the concept of innovation and the one of value is context dependent; to whom is the idea novel and to whom will it give meaning and value? According to Margaret Boden, novelty can be defined as new to the individual, H-creativity, or new to the world, P-creativity. A novel idea should be able to fit into one of these two. For an idea to give value and meaning it has to be â€Å"fit for purpose† and there will be different criterions for different situations. In a business context, a creative idea could be valuable if it improves the return on investment or if it fits with the times. In another context, a panel of experts might decide if the innovation is valuable or not. An idea might also be defined as valuable if it has a specific intention. 2. 1 Ryanair has a low-cost strategy with the vision to be â€Å"quick, efficient, affordable and safe†. Michael O'Leary is a visionary leader with â€Å"nutty† ideas that are considered radical by the rest of the airline industry. O'Leary says that in the airline business, organizations need to have a radical point of view otherwise everything will stay the same. However, new ideas should be in line with the low cost strategy of the company. Could the Ryanair idea of removing the pockets on the back of the seats be considered creative? It decreased Ryanair’s cleaning time and thereby also the turn-around time at the airport and increased the punctuality. The idea was a new combination of elements and was new to the airline industry. It could therefore be argued to be novel. The idea was valuable for customers as it fulfilled the criterion of fitness to times: customers are more time-sensitive today and therefore values on-time flights. O'Leary argued that it is also valuable for the customers as they are price-sensitive, they do not want to have a pleasant experience; they just want to be transported from A to B. For Ryanair, the idea is valuable as it decreases costs and improves the company's return on investment. At Ryanair, the organizational style of change is incremental: the company is continuously improving and developing itself. One distinguishing feature of this style is that change is happening even though the company is not in a maturity state or crisis of their life cycle. This is apparent as the company has presented net profits in 9 out of 10 recent years. The changes at Ryanair might look as radical to the rest of the airline industry, but it is in line with today's price-sensitive society. O'Leary is boundary tweaking; he is not thinking entirely outside the box but merely â€Å"modifying the edges of the core business†. It can be questioned if Ryanair sometimes make change just for change's sake. There is an impression that O'Leary might implement changes (or propose them) just to provoke the industry. And is cheaper always more valuable? Do customer's still value cheap tickets if they have to stand up or pay for the toilet?

My Ride Along Essay

My ride along wasn’t at all that exciting. It had a boring officer who seemed to not really want to have someone with him at the time. I did make the most of the time I had while I was there. I was very observant of the things that I saw around Polk county. For instance, the north side of Lakeland was more ghetto than the south side. It was completely noticeable just by how the business were kept and the type of stores that they have. We drove around a few times just to make sure nothing crazy was going on and kept it moving. I’m not one to force the issue of trying to start conversation. I can continue to sit in silence with is pretty much what was happening unless there was a call on the radio dispatch. One thing I can say is that if I ever became a cop and I was doing patrol I would need to have a partner, because I know I would go insane by myself for all types of hours of the night. I like having company and I know that I am more prone to being more aware when I ha ve someone to talk with, yet they also know we have a job to do. I’m a very sociable person when it comes to meeting people and doing things so for it to have been as quiet as it was, I felt awkward. I want to be able to talk and get to know a person, I just wouldn’t do that by myself. I liked the experience though to be able to patrol the city. I just wish it had more action in it. I got the boring ride it seems like compared to what everyone else in my class was talking about with their ride along. The way I thought my ride along was going to go was completely different. I thought I would show up like I was supposed to and I would get a patrol officer who was actually excited about having a student around for a ride along. I wanted to be able to watch the officer have to chase someone on foot and I just stand by and watch as he arrest the person and confiscate the drugs or whatever it is that they found on the person. After that, I figured we would drive around some more and stop and get coffee,we did that, and do some more patrolling. The later the night got I thought we would find some young kids out smoking or drinking underage and we would call in backup to get the group of kids off the streets and stop them from doing the nonsense that they thought was cool. After riding around I figured I would be able to talk about what I was getting my degree in criminal justice for. The talk would have gone pretty good and I would get a good insight as to what goes through  a patrol officers mind as to who they want to arrest and who they don’t want to arrest due to the significance of the situation. After all that, we would stop and get a bite to eat somewhere talk with some of the people wherever we decided to stop and get food just to have some random conversation and make everyone feel safer and confident in what their law enforcement was doing that night. I would get dropped off and go home. If that was the way my ride along would have went I would have felt a lot better and been able to be more enthusiastic about my ride along, but as you can see none of the even happened for me.