Corporate Culture Of Toyota Marketing Essay

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Toyota is one of the world's biggest automobile producers; trade over 9 million models in 2006 on all over the world. Top 10 wealth Global 500 project, Toyota grades among the world's leading worldwide corporations and is superior to be the most well-liked automaker. A success of the company is to that they the commitment to customer happiness. Toyota has been created by a set of values and principles that have their line in the company's formative years in Japan.

Toyota gives the new thought of cars is about dreams, feeling and motivation. They are a single ability for Toyota to say where the aim is heading, and to prove its customers what they map in the mind as well as in future, but the fact is that Toyota engineer there’s a lot more too automotive design than dreaming up what you want your car to look like on the outside. Designers have to work closely with engineers, production plants, and marketing specialists to create a car that is not only beautiful, but that will sell and is practical to own. Toyota company changes their model in every 3rd year, whereas other companies changes their models in every 5th year.

According to the internet website Sakichi Toyoda, a productive creator, formed the Toyoda Automatic Loom Company founded on his innovative designs, one of which was approved to a British concern for 1 million yen; this money was utilized to help found Toyota Motor Company, which was maintained by the Japanese government partly because of the military purposes. The Japanese relied on overseas trucks in the war in Manchuria, but with the hopelessness, money was limited. Domestic invention would decrease costs, offer jobs, and create the country more self-governing. By 1936, just after the first victorious Toyoda vehicles were manufactured, Japan demanded that any automakers selling in the country needed to have a majority of stockholders from Japan, along with all officers, and stopped nearly all imports. (Article by Konrad Schreier)

Toyoda's car operations were placed in the hands of Kiichiro Toyoda, Sakichi Toyoda’s son; they started experimenting with two cylinder engines at first, but ended up copying the Chevrolet 65-horsepower straight-six, using the same chassis and gearbox with styling copied from the Chrysler Airflow. The first engine was produced in 1934 (the Type A), the first car and truck in 1935 (the Model A1 and G1, respectively), and its second car design in 1936 (the model AA). In 1937, Toyota Motor Company was split off.

From 1936 to 1943, only 1,7,57 cars were made – 1,404 sedans and 353 phaetons (model AB), but Toyoda found more success building trucks and busses. (Some of these early details are from http://www.geocities.com/toyotageek/) The Toyota KB, a 4x4 produced starting in 1941, was a two-ton truck similar to the prewar KC; it had a loading capacity of 1.5 tons and could run up to about 43 mph. The GB was based on the peacetime, 1.5 ton G1 truck, which in turn was based on the Model A1 cars. (From global spec).

The first Toyoda truck was roughly a one-ton to one and a half-ton design, conventional in nature, using (after 1936) an overhead valve six-cylinder engine that appears to have been a clone of the Chevrolet engine of the time: indeed, a large number of parts were interchangeable, and Toyoda trucks captured in the war were serviced by the Allies with Chevrolet components. There was also a forty-horsepower four cylinder model, very similar to the six cylinders in design but rather underpowered for a truck with a full ton of capacity.

Corporate culture is a culture in which a term used to describe the joint principles, appeal systems, and process that offer a company with its own limited flavour and way. Businesses of all sizes posses some type of corporate culture, in that every company has a set of principles and goals that help to define what the business is all about. Here are some examples of rudiments that go into creating and defining a corporate culture.

  At the establishment of several company cultures are the values that preside over the function of the trade. These principles are typically expressed in terms of the policies and measures that describe how the company will function. This will take in how altered departments or functions recount to one another in the manufacture process, the queue of communication well-known among management and departmental workforce, and rules leading satisfactory behaviour of each one who is part of the company. This essential managerial society makes it probable to build up other layers of business culture based on these foundational factors.

The basic reason for Toyota's victory in the worldwide marketplace lies in its corporate attitude – the set of rules and manners that run the use of its possessions. Toyota have profitably penetrated international markets and recognized a world-wide occurrence by good worth of its efficiency. The company's approach to both product development and distribution is very consumer-friendly and market-driven. Toyota's philosophy of empowering its workers is the attraction of a human resources management system that promotes creativity, continuous improvement, and innovation by encouraging employee participation and that likewise creates high levels of employee loyalty. Knowing that a workplace with high spirits and job satisfaction is more likely to produce reliable, high-quality products at affordable prices, Toyota have institutionalized many successful workforce practices. Toyota has done so not only in its own plants but also in supplier plants those were experiencing problems.

While a lot of car manufacturer have earned a reputation for building high-class cars, they have been not capable to conquer Toyota's reward in human resource management, dealer networks and sharing systems in the highly reasonable car market. Much of Toyota's success in the globe markets is certified in a straight line to the synergistic recital of its policies in human resources management and supply-chain networks.

Toyota has taken various steps to build high performance teams:

Stage 1: Orientation. The group needs strong way from the manager and must recognize the essential task, policy of commitment, and tools the members will use.

Stage 2: Dissatisfaction. After leaving to job, the members find out it is harder than they thinking to work as a group. In this phase, they go on with to need strong path (structure) from the boss but also need a lot of communal maintain to get through the tough social dynamics they do not recognize.

Stage 3: Integration. The collected group starts to build up a clearer image of the roles of var­ious side members and begins to bring to tolerate manage over group processes. The head does not have to give much duty direction, but the group still wants a lot of public sustain.

Stage 4: Production. The group become a high-performing team by their own and no longer they dependent on the leader.

In a meeting, people do the similar mindless task frequently and are accountable only for a minute piece of overall manufactured goods. Toyota has attempted to augment jobs in a variety of ways. Some of the quality that make the job more inspiring take in job revolution, a variety of kinds of feedback on how workers are undertaking at their jobs, the andon system and important work group independence over the tasks. Toyota became involved in job enhancement in the 1990s and redesigned its congregation appearance so that the parts that make up a subsystem of the motor vehicle are installed in one particular area on the assembly line. Rather than a work group assembling electrical systems and then putting in floor mats and then door handles, a work group strength focus almost wholly on the electrical system under the cover. For white collar employees, Toyota organizes team’s approximately com­plete projects from start to come to an end. For example, the plan of the interior of the car is the blame of one team from the plan stage from side to side produc­tion. Participation in the project from start to end enriches and empowers the member of staff.

People are encouraged by demanding but achievable goals and measurement of advancement toward those goals. Toyota's visual management systems plus policy consumption means that teams always know how they are doing and are always functioning towards stretch development targets. Policy deployment sets demanding, stretch goals from the top to the bottom of the company. Careful capacity every day let work teams know how they are performing.

According to internet when processes are steady, squander and inefficiencies become openly able to be seen, there is a chance to learn contin­ually from improvement. To be a learning group, it is essential to have constancy of personnel, slow encouragement, and very suspicious succession systems to defend the managerial information base. To "learn" means having the ability to construct on the history and move forward incrementally, rather than starting over and reinventing the wheel with new personnel with each new task.

The Toyota philosophy emphasises that accurate problem solving requires identifying the root grounds which often lies hidden away from the source." The answer lies in digging deeper by asking why the trouble occurred. The hardest part to find out is grasping the condition thor­oughly before taking place with five-why analysis. Grasping the situation starts with observing the condition with an open mind and comparing the genuine situation to the measure. To clarify the problem, one must begin by going to where the prob­lem is (genchi genbutsu). For Toyota, trouble solving is 20% tools and 80% judgment. For most other companies, it seems to be 80% tools and 20% thinking. A key to learning and increasing, not only within Toyota but in Japanese civilization, is Hansei, which generally means "reflection." Hansei means reflection on the development of developing the vehicle. Hansei is the check stage of PDCA. It is used most often at the end of a vehicle program, but is being now moved additional upstream so there are quite a lot of Hansei events at key junctures in the program.

Becoming a lean enterprise involves a lot of hard work. The company should follow the recommend the following steps:

Start with achievement in the technological system; follow quickly with cultural change. The social and technical sys­tems of TPS are intertwined. If a company wants to change the culture, it must also develop true lean leaders who can reinforce and lead that cultural change. The best way a company can develop this is through action to improve the company's core value streams, supported by committed leaders who reinforce culture change. Start with value stream pilots to demonstrate lean as a system and provide a go see" model. Within a value stream that defined by a product family. The model line should become a singularly focused project with a great deal of management attention and resources to make it a suc­cess. Use value stream mapping to develop future state visions and help "learn to see. The team members learn together as they see the waste in the current state, and in the future state they come together to figure out how to apply the lean tools and philosophy. Value stream mapping should be applied only to specific product families that will be immediately transformed. Use kaizen workshops to teach and make rapid changes. Using a talented and experienced facilitator who has a deep understanding of lean tools and philosophy with a specific problem to tackle makes all the dif­ference in what can be accomplished. However, the kaizen workshop should not become an end in itself. Kaizen workshops are best used as one tool to implement specific improvements guided by a future state value stream map. Organize around value streams. In most organizations, management is organ­ized by process or function. In a factory, there may be the paint department, the assembly department, and the maintenance department. Value stream managers have complete responsibility for the value stream and can answer the customer. Someone with real leadership skills and a deep understanding of the product and process must be responsible for the process of creating value for customers and must be accountable to the customer. Make it mandatory. If a company looks at lean transformation as a nice thing to do in any spare time or as voluntary, it will simply not happen.

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Introduction Of The Brand For Products Marketing Essay

With the increasingly intense competition in the services sector, differentiating brands is very tedious and costly. This study presents the customers’ perceptions of brand equity in the case of the hotels, as strong brands would undeniably be the surrogates when the “company offers no fabric to touch, no trousers to try on, no watermelons or apples to scrutinize, no automobile to test-drive,” (Berry, 2000).

Thus the following discussion would be about branding services since there has been minimal inquiry upon it and has evolved as a major component of marketing strategy.

Every company is making the most of its fundamental assets they possess- the brand- may help them attain goals profitably in the long run. The challenge is to comprehend how consumers perceive the brand since organizations have not really come up to a coherent terminology.

According to the world’s standard marketing textbook, written by Philip Kotler (1984), a brand is “…a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.”

This definition considers the identification aspect of the brand as a sign and as label of differentiation from competitors. The rationale behind is correct as it has to do with consumer perception stressing on the supplier’s recognition to make a purchase.

Ambler and Styles (1996, p.10) put forward a refined definition of brand taking into account the intangibility and variability characteristics of services:

“…the promise of the bundle of attributes that someone buys…the attributes that make up a brand may be real or illusory, rational or emotional, tangible or invisible.”

In the “Power of the Brand” by Scott M. Davis (2000) argues that “a brand is made up of three things: what a company sells, what a company does, and what a company is. A brand represents a set of promises. It implies trust, consistency and a defined set of expectations.”

Service branding is crucial for an organization’s competitive advantage, emphasizing on Wood (2000) refined definition of brand that focus mostly on the consumer’s benefits:

“[…] a brand is a mechanism for achieving competitive advantage for firms, through differentiation (purpose). The attributes that differentiate a brand provide the customer with satisfaction and benefits for which they are willing to pay (mechanism).”

However, it did not match with the intense growth of the services sector but increased competition has made service companies realize of its fundamental nature (Chernatony & McDonald, 2003).

In the context of services, the company itself is the prime and meaningful brand compared to branding goods. Initially the focal point was on product preferably than services as such there has been minimal inquiry on how to brand a service. Much of the study has converged to service quality, service failures and customer evaluation of service in the marketing domain (O’ Cass & Grace, 2004).

According to Davis (2000), branding services merges the activities undertaken by a company from the customer’s point of view. Also, it is critical to apply branding in the service arena underpinning that services are intangible in nature for consumers to assess the quality. Service brand is eventually a promise of future satisfaction that customers believe in the invisible purchase (Berry, 2000).

Dobree and Page (1990) postulated five phases for branding services successfully:

building a brand proposition

overcoming internal barriers

measuring delivery against the proposition

continual improvement

expansion

Service branding comprises of multiple interfaces, as opposed to product branding. This involves the contact between the customers and the diverse staff across the service companies, thus resulting in the distinct experiences with the brand (Mc Donald et al, 2001)

The overall conception of branding goods and services is similar but the discrepancy lies in the execution of the product and service brand. Services have a number of distinctive characteristics including intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity of quality and perishability (Jones et al, 2002).

Service branding is predominantly unlike that make service traits distinguish from physical goods and they depend much on the employees’ actions and mind set. In this project, the primary aspect impacting on the uniqueness of services is intangibility that is explored to build up successful service brands.

According to Rowley (1997), the objectives of service branding can be classified into the following categories:

to boost sales

to sustain or improve market share

to create a competitive edge

to inform and educate the market

to develop promotional efficiency

It should be noted that services branding might contribute to the attainment of any of these objectives, but it is vital to identify where the main concerns should lie. Moreover, the above-named objectives are not exhaustive as different organizations have diverse objectives.

According to Berry et al (1991), a service brand should possess, if not all, of these attributes:

Distinction. The brand name instantly recognizes the quality of service provided with a means to differentiate it from others.

Relevance. The brand name communicates both the nature of the service or identifies a trait

Memorability. The brand name can be understood, utilized and remembered easily; changing its brevity and simplicity into an asset.

Flexibility. The brand name allows probable growth so far including the current services provided.

Alternatively, Rowley (1997) proposes that service brand names should be simple for customers to say, spell and remember. In similar vein to Berry et al (1991), the brand names should be distinctive. Therefore, service brands are more than just names, which is a blend of all the elements that reflect the intangible nature of the services.

Services cannot be felt, tasted, touched or seen in contrast to goods, making them difficult to grasp mentally. Nevertheless, the existence of some tangible features helps consumers in general to evaluate the services fully. In the ambit of services, the company itself is presented as the brand to make the service more tangible. Studies show that consumers do not require additional information relating to an organization product and services since they are content to presume that well known companies have the exceptional service (Chernatony & Mc Donald, 2003).

Service branding must be made tangible to provide positive perceptions among customers to deal with intangible offerings, as often the service brands run the risk of being perceived as commodities. For instance, physical aspects such as employee attire, interior decoration and the tune played to customers on hold are effective ways to make brands tangible.

From the evaluation spectrum adapted by Zeithaml & Bitner (1996), service companies need to assess their services to allow consumers’ judge their service brand well. The level of difficulty in evaluation often depends on whether consumers are evaluating a search, experience or credence attribute of a service.

Search qualities-identifiable features like colour, smell, feel, price among others that can be judged by consumers before purchase. Word of mouth (WOM) is an effective tool for communication that persuades consumers to suggest the brand mostly to others.

Experience qualities- discerning attributes such as fun, taste and purchase satisfaction that can be best realized only during or after the consumption experience. As such, presentation of service facilities helps consumers to make a viable judgement of the purchase of the brand.

Credence qualities- characteristics that consumers lack to entirely assess the services, yet after consumption to compare the outcome expectations. For instance, service brand need to demonstrate the need to offer the brand attributes artistically through a strong message of trust.

According to Krishnan & Hartline (2001), most services are dominated by experience and credence qualities preferably than search attributes. Therefore, customers are able to assess the service features only during or after the consumption experience. Availability of information can by no means substitute the actual experience for services that are elevated in experience attributes such as a hotel stay (Fung So & King, 2009). Conversely, it has been argued that the presence of search attributes facilitates to tangibilize the service, thereby making the purchase less risky for the customers.

Branding services can also be an effectual means to hint to customers that the organization has devised a particular service offering that is special and deserving of its own name. Branding has obviously become a competitive tool for services. In addition, it helps to make the abstract nature of services more existing (Keller, 2003).

It is indeed fundamental to consider the methods to create successful brands in the services sector. As such, Doyle (1990) postulated four elements of strong branding but their significance in the service domain is not in doubt.

Prioritize quality

Service brands give the customers an indication of the service quality of the organization. High quality helps to create a competitive edge, thereby leading to scale economies. Most importantly, brands reside in the minds of the customers because of the past experience with the quality service.

Offer superior service

Service firms aims at offering exceptional service with regards to differentiating their offering with competitors. The bond between the brand and the customer is based on trust and loyalty with implicit understanding. Only if they derive satisfaction from the superior service, they will take full advantage from it otherwise, switch to another brand with high service levels.

Get there first

The importance here is to reach the customers’ mind set before the entrant of competitors, which is eventually to grasp the market first. This can be done thru’ the creation of rational structures that help customers to categorize the information about the firm’s services, thereby simplifying their decision making.

Be different

The offerings in the service sector are particularly similar but the opportunities to offer the customer something distinctive and special is being exploited by organizations. Moreover, the service brand must be the overall promise projected into the market and the experience delivered and both have to be aligned so it is the customer’s total experience of the organization. Therefore, the need for efficient control of differentiation in services paradigm is essential.

According to Mc Donald et al. (2001), service brands can be built up thru’ a fairly related process to product branding:

establishment of clear brand aims

description of clear positioning; and

choice of apt values

In the context of services, there have been over dependence on the traditional FMCG branding approach. But, the emergence of services branding literature by few scholars has shifted the focus from tangibles to intangibles with a more unbiased perspective.

As a result, the FMCG paradigm was customized with the need to ensure an absolute communication between the customer and the service organization, taking into account its specific nature:

Brand differentiation .Service marketers strive to distinguish their brands thru’ unique selling proposition, thereby building up lasting relationships with customers.

Consumer motivation. Customers are hesitant to switch between service brands because they see the disparities as minor, whereby customer loyalty is difficult to retain.

This chapter provides an overview of service branding. It started with some brief definitions of brand perceived by different scholars. Explanation was given to make clear of the evolving concept of branding in the context of services. It also highlights the objectives of service branding and the characteristics the service names should possess. It also provides emphasis on how to tangibilize the service brand together with the elements for building up successful service brands. The chapter ends with the notion of the modification of the FMCG model in the service companies. Having overviewed service branding, the next chapter deals with the brand equity that eventually relates to the Service Branding Model (Berry, 2000).

This chapter provides a critical analysis of the various economics associated with the brand equity concept. Building brand equity is considered to be the cornerstone of an organization’s success.

It should be noted that, referring to the previous chapter, service branding goes in line with the development of brand equity in the context of services. Thus the following discussion would be about brand equity relating to the Service Branding Model (Berry, 2000).

Brand equity has achieved much attention during the recent years. The commonly accepted definition of brand equity is the “added value endowed by the brand to the product” (Farquhar 1989). It is a primary tool that customers use to seek information about a purchase, like quality.

Aaker (1991) has considered brand equity and its contribution to value by defining brand equity as “the sets of assets (and liabilities) linked to a brand’s name and symbol that adds the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or that firm’s customer”. This explores the fundamental nature of brand equity (Lemon et al, 2001) as customer’s subjective and intangible assessment of the brand, above and beyond its perceived value.

Keller (1993) overlooked the behavioral aspect and delineated brand equity as “the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand”. Alternatively, brand equity has been operationalized by scholars like Blackston (1995) and Lassar et al (1995).

The challenge for hotel industry to gain higher brand equity lies upon “tangiblizing the intangible hotel experience” that customers confide in the invisible purchase (Kayaman & Arasli, 2007).

According to Prasad and Dev (2000), attitudes and perceptions, whether positive or negative, are likely to persuade a customer from choosing a hotel brand, which eventually represents brand equity. As such, they proposed a numerical brand equity index with the aim to help hotel companies capitalize on their brand value. It helps to scrutinize the modifications in brand equity through the use of brand performance and brand awareness as indicators.

Referring to Aaker’s (1991) definition of brand equity- a set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand- he grouped the major assets of brand equity model into five components of consumer-related bases that he describes as “brand equity drivers”: brand awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand associations and other proprietary brand assets such as patents and channel relationships.

According to Chen (2001), brand association is the underlying asset for creating strong brand equity. The reasons behind are:

Brand awareness is not adequate enough to build up strong brand equity though it is a vital driver. A powerful service brand requires more knowledge as compared to a weak brand.

The remaining brand equity dimensions increase brand loyalty. The perceived quality and the brand name help customers to buy and impinge on the satisfaction, thereby leading to brand loyalty. But, sometimes customers do not really think while buying a hotel brand, leading to the exclusion of brand loyalty from the brand equity concept.

Brand awareness is the primary step in building brand equity through the ability to recognize the strength of the brand in the customer’s mind. Social marketers try hard to build this equity through brand awareness that impact on the consumers’ brand choices (Xu & Chan, 2010).

Moreover, recognition and recall are much more than indicators for remembering a hotel brand. Brand recognition is merely to recollect a past experience with that particular brand whilst brand recall is to remember the brand when the service class is mentioned (Aaker, 1996). Little information is adequate enough for customers to know a brand that will eventually elicit a positive response.

Consumers perceive the quality of the offering with an association of the hotel brand development. This association drives the quality of the service delivery, thus fostering long term success.

Perceived quality is the only amongst the brand associations that drive financial performance. In the hotel industry, quality is regarded as the foremost values in the mission statement that depict the authentic hospitality experience. Customers judge an organization performance mainly through the quality of experience. Only if the perceived quality improves, then the customers’ perceptions of the hotel brand trigger a favorable response towards brand loyalty (Aaker, 1996).

Occasionally, brands fail to build up equity without loyalty (Aaker, 2001). Brand loyalty is developed and enhanced through the creation of brand associations that make the brand an important element of the target’s self-image.

Brand loyalty is the determining aspect that boosts the loyalty -building programs of hotel companies. In order to achieve higher brand equity, there is primary need to develop and maintain a positive relationship thru’ customer loyalty. This will ultimately drive the financial performance of the organization, as the costs for attracting new customers are superior to the costs of retaining the potential customers (Xu & Chan, 2010).

According to Aaker (1991, p.109)), a brand association is referred to “anything linked in the memory to a brand”. For instance, the associated link could be the country of origin, organization, competitor or others. He categorized brand associations into eleven types, including “product attributes, intangibles, customer benefits, relative price, use/application, user/ customer, celebrity/person, lifestyle/personality, product class, competitors and country/geographic area.” Brand associations lead customers to describe fully what actually the hotel brand implies to them (Kim et al, 2003).

Three principal perspectives have been adopted in an attempt to understand brand equity. These distinct stances are financial perspective, customer perspective and a combination of both perspectives.

For this study, we will focus on the customer based perspective as it investigates brand equity at the consumer level. The customer based perspective explores brand equity at the consumer level, taking into account the importance of customers as both stakeholders of the organization and target of marketing communications (Xu & Chan, 2010).

It includes the two concepts of brand strength and brand value. Brand strength emphasizes on the perceptions and behaviors that consumers gain from the brand benefits whilst brand value regards the outcome of management capability in financial terms to influence the brand strength for proceeds (Kim et al, 2003).

Brand equity from the customer perspective reflects positivity when customers respond favorably to the degree of marketing activity such as advertising and word of mouth communication. Moreover, customer based brand equity drives financial returns to an organization (Lassar et al, 1995).

Muller (1998) proposed 3 critical points that a service brand should focus so as to build up equity:

Excellent quality products and services

Performance of service delivery; and

Formation of a symbolic and reminiscent image

Aaker‘s (1991) brand equity model has been criticized for minimal clue as to what marketing mix elements should be espoused by hotel managers to develop brand equity but it simplifies the process of measuring the concept of brand equity.

Specifically, Keller (1993) postulated a knowledge- based framework that depicted brands from consumers’ perspective based on two components:

Brand awareness

Brand image

Brand awareness is a crucial step for building up brand equity as it helps customers to identify the particular brand under any conditions. Customers must be aware and be familiar with the offering. Brand image can be referred to as perceptions residing in the minds of the consumers. However, Keller’s (1993) model may not be relevant in the context of services as they are more important to manufactured goods (So & King, 2009).

In the light of the fundamental nature of brand equity, Berry (2000) proposed a different approach - Service Branding Model- to measure brand equity in the services sector. The model helps to explore the relationship between service customers and the brand (O’ Cass & Grace, 2003).

Recognizing the significance of brand development in the services sector, Berry (2000) has postulated a distinct framework – Service Branding Model – depicting the service brand from the customer’s standpoint in the formation of service brand equity. Similarly, Berry (2000) supports Keller (1993) approach that brand equity is influenced by both brand awareness and brand image (brand meaning) (O’Cass & Grace, 2003).

Customer’s experience with the brand is an essential aspect of the service branding model. This underpins the argument of Berry (2000) that customer’s experience with the brand has primary impact on brand meaning and that brand meaning then has primary impact on brand equity.

The service branding model demonstrates the relationships between the six key components namely; brand equity, brand awareness, brand meaning, company’s presented brand, external brand communications and customer experience with company. The relationships between the constructs are illustrated by both dotted lines (secondary impact) and bold lines (primary impact).

Source: Berry (2000)

The primary source of brand awareness, the ability for customers to identify and remember the brand endowed with an indication is the company’s presented brand, i.e. the organization controlled communications. It is the communications that sell the company’s uniqueness and purpose thru’ advertising or promotional materials, service amenities, physical air of service providers, company name and logo.

The next main construct in the service branding model is the external brand communications that have secondary influence on the brand awareness. It refers to the information that customers gather about the service brand which is basically unrestrained by the company. Word of mouth (WOM) communications and publicity are the nearly common types of external brand communications.

Word of mouth (WOM) communications are familiar in the context of services due to their intangible nature, thereby influencing highly in the purchase decision. Publicity can impact not only brand awareness but also brand meaning that ultimately help in brand development (Berry 2000). External brand communications are characterized by the dotted- line link to brand awareness and brand meaning as compared to the bold- line effect of the presented brand on brand awareness.

Alternatively, brand meaning is primarily determined by customer experience with company. Such service experience depends mostly on the brand activities that are internal to the company such as the dealing with the servicescape, supporting the uniform behavior of employees and making sure of the significance of the core service offered by the company. Brand meaning refers to the perceptions of a particular brand from a customer’s perspective. This is because the services sector are labor- intensive, and the human touch plays a vital role in developing the brand thru’ exceptional service. Therefore, customer experience is a crucial element in the model as it depicts the primary impact on brand meaning while company’s presented brand and external brand communications show secondary influence (So & King, 2009).

Customer’s experience with company is more dominant than the company’s presented brand and external brand communications. As such, a presented brand can only generate brand awareness with the existing customers but service experiences differ. Negative experience with a particular service provider will discourage customer’s repeat visit no matter how much advertising. In order to reduce advertising costs with the purpose of attracting new customers, there is the need to retain the existing customers by providing positive service encounters. The source of the experience is the locus of brand formation where the service organization is itself the brand.

Therefore, the Service Branding Model is concluded to be the most appropriate framework to date in exploring brand equity in the hotel services. In order to measure the six constructs in the Berry’s (2000) model, a sample comprising of hotel customers that have direct experience with the hotel brands are required in determining the brand equity. To facilitate this validation, the model is used as a conceptual framework upon which the research hypotheses are developed in the research methodology chapter.

This chapter depicts an apercu of the components and concept of brand equity. It deals with conflicting definitions of brand equity. The different elements of brand equity are also discussed in details. Emphasis is as well given on the brand equity approach from the customer’s perspective. Besides, this chapter deals with the essential Service Branding Model (Berry, 2000) and the relationship between the various constructs. After having reviewed the literature on the brand equity, the following chapter deals with the research methodology of the study.

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Elaborating On The Public Information Model Marketing Essay

In advertising, ad space is purchased by an individual in the required format (such as radio, print or online) and this would mean that the individual has control over what information are communicated and as long as the ad space is paid for, the information would be published.

In public relations however, a practitioner would be able to control what he/she writes for the company but what takes place after the information is released is often uncontrollable. An important factor is whether the media view your information as newsworthy.

Public relation is often referred to as credibility (by building ties with endorsers, stakeholders and media) while advertising is visibility.  

Marketing focuses on sales while public relations is concerned with many more public groups. PR allows questions to be raised which marketing with ‘its focus on market and its orientation towards growth and consumption’ (Smith, P. R & Taylor. J, pp. 445) cannot.

These 3 elements complement each other as advertising acts as the visibility tool for a product while marketing generates focus on customers, distributors and competition, at the same time public relations open up to a bigger number of public groups while building bridges with stakeholders and media.

The 4 James Grunig’s models of public relations are: press agentry, public information, two-way asymmetrical and two-way symmetrical.

Elaborating on the public information model, it is essentially disseminating accurate information about an organization but do not volunteer negative information. Since the model is considered to be a one-way model in that practitioner who follows this model give information about an organization to the public but do not seek information from the public through research or informal methods. (Grunig et al. 1995, pp. 169)

In Singapore, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) engaged in a PR campaign (promoting the adoption of dogs) with the public information model. The campaign was in the form of ads that were put up at bus shelters and local magazines and newspapers such as 8-Days, TODAY and The Sunday Times. The ads consist of the photography of a person with a dog in a unique situation. Information on the ads were little and to the point. A hot line number and website address were provided on the ads to allow the audience to further enquire information should they wish too. The ads act as a disseminator of information.

Should I be required to by my marketing manager to write a media release launching an old product as new without having changed any of its features, I would advise him to be truthful about the product to the audience from the start. Launching an old product as new, goes against the ethics of public relation.

The situation described as above opposes four rules of ethics as stipulated by the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) and four rules by the Institute of Public Relations of Singapore (IPRS).

The four rules from PRIA are as follows: (1) Members shall deal fairly and honestly with their employers, clients and prospective clients, with their fellow workers including superiors and subordinates, with public officials, the communication media, the general public and with fellow members of PRIA. (2) Members shall avoid conduct or practices likely to bring discredit upon themselves, the Institute, their employers or clients. (3) Members shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information and shall take care to avoid doing so inadvertently. (4) Members shall, in advertising and marketing their skills and services and in soliciting professional assignments, avoid false, misleading or exaggerated claims and shall refrain from comment or action that may injure the professional reputation, practice or services of a fellow member.

The five rules from IPRS are as follows: (1) A member shall conduct his professional activities with respect for the public interest and the interest of the profession. (2) A member shall at all times deal fairly and honestly with his client or employers, with his fellow members and with the general public. (3) A member shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information, and shall use proper care to avoid doing so. He has a positive professional duty to maintain high standards of truth, accuracy and good taste. (4) A member shall not engage in any practice, which tends to corrupt the integrity of channels of public communication.

As seen above, PRIA and IPRS share similar rules. With regards to the situation if I were to adhere to the marketing manager, I would be working against the public interest and will not be dealing fairly and honestly as the information for the product would not be entirely true. Giving falsified information could also prove to be fatal to the company’s reputation and image as the public could stage a backlash. Thus I would advise my marketing manager against launching the old product as new.

It is untrue that PR professionals have to honour every request for a media interview. A PR professional can chose to decline or accept media request. If he/she believes that the company’s targeted audience would not be reached through a certain media outlet, there is a higher chance that the interview will be rejected. Once they have agreed to give an interview however, they should honour that commitment although limiting factors may be placed on the material to be discussed.

It should be highlighted that PR professionals need to be aware that they hold a two-way relationship with the media. There will be occasions when the PR professional would require the help and co-operation of the media. If he/she is too strict about the interviews he/she is prepared to give then there would be a chance that the PR professional may not get the co-operation when he/she needs it, for example during times of crisis.

A focus group is a qualitative research technique that consists of between eight to fifteen people who share similar characteristics in a discussion of a topic.

A pro of focus group is that it enables the practitioner to collect, explore and identify preliminary information from the target audience about message awareness and acceptance. Practitioners are also able to read non-verbal feedback through the focus group’s body and facial language. Visual aids can be used in a focus group and practitioners are able to move the discussion in a direction that is relevant to the topic to avoid resource wastage. Practitioners could also assist the focus group with unfamiliar questions or concepts pertaining to the topic.

Cons of focus group include biasness as the people in a focus group only constitutes to a small percentage of the actual population. If the practitioner is not properly trained in leading a focus group discussion, he/she could influence the data collected thus quality is compromised. Certain topics may cause individuals of a focus group to feel reluctant to share personal opinions and beliefs as they may feel uncomfortable. Cost effectiveness of conducting a discussion should also be taken in consideration.

According to Johnston & Zawawi (2009), planning is about developing a carefully sequenced series of actions to progress and access the strategy. Planning is important as it maximises the return on effort placed into planning as with proper step by step plan an individual could complete more tasks simultaneously. Also it could retain confidence, focus and motivation on the team as it is possible to track and monitor progress. Planning prevents putting people offside as a systematic plan will allow more tasks to be delegated thus making use of all resources.

Planning also enables easier check backs on issues. With all tasks documented and organized systematically, it is easier to check back tactics against objectives – whether they match or check back objectives against goals – is there any consistency.

Key elements in developing a crisis plan consist of the following - identifying participants, premise to the crisis, objectives, working through the crisis and choosing a media spokesperson.

Identify a crisis team that could include company’s CEO and legal and financial advisers. It is important for relevant staff to be informed of after-hours contact details of the crisis team. Distinguish industry experts or academics that can be ‘enlisted to support or expound on the company’s position’ (Moster, M. C. & Franklin, T 1997, pp. 14) and making use of the crisis team’s expertise to execute a risk audit. The next group of participants are the key stakeholders. Determine who they are and their communication needs as different audiences require different communication strategies.

In premise to the crisis, a web page with the company’s hotline details, contacts and other information for media and stakeholders should be prepared and ready to be published when needed. Create a protocol to prioritise different crises to ‘minimize confusion, and to avoid poor use of resources, or duplication of effort and misplaced focus’ (Johnston & Zawawi 2009, pp. 311). Train management and staff with media training especially support staff like customer service officers and secretariats and carry out simulations of a crisis. Establish a plan for a crisis centre that is equipped with a communication and media monitoring area.

The objectives of training staff and management are to allow staff to familiarize themselves with what to anticipate and to plan for shortfalls. Support staff should undergo media training as they are often the first to receive calls. Phrases such as ‘I’m not at liberty to say’ could point to speculation and this could be damaging to the company. Employees of a company in a crisis have to be able to work under media pressure.

When working through a crisis, consider arrangements to receive large numbers of calls and other issues such as this. It should also be noted that crisis management has to be flexible as plans may not match the actual situation.

Choosing a spokesperson is important as they will be communicating with the media directly. Media liaison has to be ensured that they are equipped with the right information before speaking, and knows the information well, especially the key areas and any difficult topics within the information. The message should be stated immediately in plain English. Any untruths must be refuted straightaway.

In addition to the above, building a reliable trust bank is also essential in crisis planning.

The web raises issues such as truth – what is true on the internet, trust – people can be suspicious of information found online, timeliness – expectations audiences hold on immediate communication and technology – which outlet (twitter, facebook, company website) to use. To further elaborate on timeliness, Kaplan and Norton (1992) suggest that where information is stale it is no more useful than an absence of information. A company website that is not updated with the latest news and information and poorly maintained is no longer beneficial to the audience.

With the advancement of technology, public relations professionals are able to deal with international time difference with ease. For example, a handphone company located in the United States (US) is in a crisis over bad reviews on its latest handphone model. It is essential for the company to address the situation as people will believe what they see, hear or read in the media and ‘basing opinions and intentions on media-provided information’ (Johnston & Zawawi 2009, pp. 309) thus to alleviate the situation and ease its global customer’s discomfort, the company’s PR person could post a brief statement regarding the issue on its company website initially before organizing a press conference which would require planning and take a longer time. The posted statement could be accessed by all audience regardless of where they are located.

The pro to technology advancement (with regards to the timeliness situation above) is that it reduces waiting time such as time to take a press conference to be televised and time to take for the report to be printed on paper. With the internet, updates and posts are almost instantaneous.

However it should be highlighted that even though timeliness is important for a company to maintain good reputation, the updates and posts of what is said must be true and if the situation has not been well investigated it is not wise for the company to speculate because if proven wrong it will bring about a bad image.

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Customer Intentions In Buying A Premium Product Industry Marketing Essay

Organic food consumption between customers is getting famous these days. The approach has appeared in present’s modern world as a result of the raised in knowledge of the significance to sustain a healthy lifestyle by consuming foods without insecure additives, preservatives, flavor as well as coloring. Organic food is manufactured without utilizing mainly conventional pesticides; fertilizers prepared through artificial items or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation, consequently supports the healthy food attributes. Though, found on the analysis of literatures, there were a number of discrepancies in the earlier research findings. In terms of perceived value towards organic food product, the majority of the research found positive as well as not less also ascertained negative outcome primarily because of the lack of some special value in the eyes of customers. For example, high in cost, not value for money, satisfied through the presented conventional food, uncertainties on the product warranty as well as ambiguous assertions of the organic status. The research plans to recognize the perceived value factor as well as its impact towards the consumers’ intention in buying a premium product in the food industry.

Our way of life has modified in such fast paced world as contrasted to some decades ago. Nowadays, more and more persons are caught up in a continuous cycle of purchasing as well as throwing away, observing consumption as a means of self-fulfillment. Consumption is the basis why anything is manufactured. Demand towards products is directed by handiness moreover habit that in returned is difficult to change. In fact customers has slight information of the link among their consumption preferences as well as the environmentally outcomes. Malaysia which is at the intermediary phase of expansion is dealing with incredible challenge in ensuring sustainable growth. According to Aini M.S (2003), “Solid domestic waste is one of the key environmental setbacks facing by the municipalities in the country principally inside the urban area”.

“The increase of the environmental awareness has had a thoughtful result on customer behavior, with the green product market developing at an outstanding rate”, (Bhaskaran et.al, 2006). Consequently, in the ancient times there have been an enhanced of production as well as consumption of organically-manufactured products which is seen as having fewer effect to the environment. Within December 2000, the National Organic Standards Board of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) created a national standard for the word "organic." Organic food, described by how it cannot be prepared rather than how it can be prepared, should be manufactured without the utilization of sewer-sludge fertilizers, mainly synthetic fertilizers as well as pesticides, genetic engineering (biotechnology), growth hormones, irradiation as well as antibiotics. Various ranges of agricultural products can be manufactured organically, including produce, grains, meat, dairy, eggs, as well as processed food products. "Organic" does not indicate "natural." There is no legal description as to what represents a "natural" food. Though, the food industry applies the word "natural" to point out that a food has been simply processed furthermore is preservative-free. Natural foods can contain organic foods; however not the entire natural foods are organic.

Apprehensions associated to the atmosphere are evident in the increasingly environmentally aware market place. “Over the years a greater part of customers have understand that their buying attitude has a straight impact on numerous ecological troubles”, (Laroche, 1996). The expansion of organic agriculture is observed as element of the rising marketing trends where customers demand to identify what advantages a food could bring before crafting a buying intention. Even though the demand for organic food is yet optimistic, there are symbols so as to markets are growing as well as expansion rates over the some preceding years reduced to lower 10% (Firth et.al, 2004). With respect to growth potential of customer demand as well as its limits various researchers have recognized furthermore leveled motivations for purchasing organic products moreover have usually demonstrated an optimistic image of powerful demand. Person that buy organic food has been categorized within four groups respectively (Anne Davis, Albert J.Titterington and Clive Cochrane, 1995): greens; person that are affected with the atmosphere, food phobic; individuals that concerned regarding chemical residues within food, humanists; individuals that are preoccupied with factory farming processes as well as hedonists; individuals that consider so as to a premium products should be good as well as significantly taste good.

The customers identified that organic food has the value as well as advantages and therefore they are ready to pay extra for the cost. Hutchins as well as Greenhalgh (1997) noted that about half of the customers of their sample were ready to pay extra for organic foods, the greater part of them reaching levels of 10-20%. Meier-Ploeger as well as Woodward (1999) stated that 52% of the German customers of their sample were ready to pay extra for organic fruits as well as vegetables, 34% for animal products as well as 39% for grain products. Canavari et al. (2003) stated that the intended premium price for organic peaches as well as apples was accepted by 65.8% of the Italian respondents of their survey. In the same way, Gil et al. (2000) said that actual Spanish organic customers were ready to pay a premium of 15-25% for organic food.

This research tried to expand understanding related to customer intention towards organic food product utilization moreover to perceive whether there is any potential such might have for changing their attitude. The underlying principle for carrying out such project is that no chances of any products to be well acknowledged moreover no conservation program could be booming if there is not sufficient support presented from the public, on the other hand good it may be. In brief, consideration for the atmosphere could come only from knowledgeable public who are aware of, as well as entirely committed to their rights to a quality health as well as atmosphere. On the other hand, before any attitude can be transformed, it is essential to calculate the present condition of customer understanding as well as awareness. Consequently customer’s behavior, intention towards organic food products, eagerness to compensate for organic food product as well as intention to buy organic food will be the key outline of the study.

The objective of this research is usually to realize the behavior of local customers on their intention towards purchasing organic food product. Such customers are amongst those that have finished their buying in conjunction with organic product, customer that never buy any organic product moreover those that are in longer time offered themselves as an organic food purchasers as well as customers. Particularly the study is attempting:

To increase understanding about customer behavior towards organic food product

To scrutinize the causes which may effects the intention of purchasing organic food product

To discover factors which might affect buying intention of organic food between customers

The basic purpose was to better recognize customer motivations for purchasing organic food products in order that organic manufacturers could build up further valuable strategic marketing planning.

Research associated to customer behaviors as well as preferences for organic products is extremely undetectable (Chinnici et al.,2002). Outcomes of researches assured that customers have optimistic bevaiors towards organic products where one of the mainly widespread stated cause for buying organic products was it is recognized as healthier as compared to conventional substitutes (Chinnici et al., 2002; Harper and Makatouni, 2002). In previous research the majority respondents are illustrated as white, female, professional as well as younger (Harris, 2000), though such traits cannot be used across the entire studies because the reactions towards organic food products alters in relation to countries environment, stage of awareness, product accessibility as well as attitude transforms. Customer behaviors to organic food have as well been discovered in a little amount of qualitative studies (Nielsen at al., 1998; Torjusen et al., 2001). Customers do not all the time purchase sustainable products as effects of environmental alarms or to advantage the community or because of personal faiths however mostly to grant precedence to health, to be an element of the societal group, to differentiate from various furthermore to realize the requirement to test latest technologies (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2004).

While near the beginning of 1965, customer’s perceptions towards pesticide utilization in farms were discovered (Bearler and Willits, 1968; Sachs et al., 1987). Methods applied to investigate such topics have been differed, comprised mail as well as phone surveys. In proportion to the research, there are amount of causes so as to customer decide to buy organic food products, in addition to several barriers. Causes of purchasing could be assembled according to common as well as commodity-specific concerns (Yiridoe et al. 2005). Instance of concern comprises food safety, human health, environmental effect, while commodity characteristics contained taste, freshness as well as packaging (Yiridoe et al., 2005). Surveys have recognized further positive characteristics so as to customer relate with organic food products that comprise advanced taste (Davies, 1995), they are good for atmosphere (Lea and Worsley, 2005), as well as they are enhanced for animals (Goldman and Clancy, 1991).

Do you expect to consume organic food?

Do you would like to buy organic food products?

Do you plan to consume organic food?

What are you intentions when buying premium organic products?

Do you try to consume organic food for long term health benefits?

Are you satisfied with the organic products?

Does your family prefer halal products?

Do you believe that organic products have more freshness?

Do you believe that Organic products have superior quality?

Do you believe that Organic foods are natural food products?

Do you believe that Organic products are tastier?

Are you intend to buy organic food produce within the subsequently fortnight?

Do you think that Organic food has more nutritional value than conventional food?

Are you really worried about food safety because of your concerns with animal diseases for instance bird flu, influenza H1N1?

Quality and safety of meat nowadays concerns you?

Do you think it is important to know well how to eat healthily?

Do you prepared to leave a lot to eat as healthily as possible?

Are you alert to changes in health?

Do you take responsibility for the state of your own health?

Do you consider yourself very health conscious?

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Critical Evaluation Of Consumer Theories Marketing Essay

Inside the idea of optimistic economics, the chief purpose of fiscal premise is to describe how the financial system works. According to Avnet, (2006): “… Viewed as a body of substantive hypotheses, premise is to be judged by its predictive power for the class of phenomena which it is intended to “explain.” … The hypothesis is rejected if its predictions are contradicted (“frequently” or further often than predictions as of an substitute hypothesis)

…”. A premise has to therefore be discarded if its prognostic power is feeble. (Avnet, 2006)

In “traditional” economic models of buyer choice agents are typically assumed to be super rational, do not behave inconsistent, as well as have a superior computation capacity plus so on. Psychologists question several of these assumptions moreover offer proof that the premise, in a number of circumstances, might generate weak predictions of buyer choice.

Economists typically assume buyers behave time-consistent. Psychologists question this hypothesis. In particular, there exists proof that buyers in a number of circumstances behave “myopic” or have present-biased preferences. Present-biased preferences might imply that buyers plan to do something, however change their mind as times goes by. For instance, myopic buyers might plan to start a diet tomorrow, however when tomorrow comes they prefer to postpone it yet another day. In the end they might not start the diet at all. (Ball, 2001)

Choice is the outcome of a process which involves assessment in addition to judgement; that is, the evaluation of dissimilar options moreover making a choice regarding which option to choose. In order for these processes to take place in addition to a choice to be made, there need to be two or further substitutes as of which to choose. In addition, these substitutes have to have a number of positive value; in this sense a 'choice' flanked by something which is definitely desired as well as something which is definitely not desired is not a true choice. The processes entailed in choice all involve cognition, moreover psychological theories concentrate on explaining how people make choices, in particular the cognitive processes that underlie choice. Empirical research on how people make choices moreover choices covers a range of dissimilar people in dissimilar circumstances, for instance as of clinicians treating patients or investors plus financial experts, to students taking part in psychological experiments. However, it proposes that dissimilar people in dissimilar circumstances frequently think regarding choices in the similar manner, reflecting the fact that human beings have a common set of cognitive skills. These cognitive skills along with their limitations are in addition influential in constraining choices so that choice making in reality varies as of what might be seen as ideal and logical. (Baltes, 1990)

Theories regarding judgement, choice making as well as choice generally fall into two categories: normative theories of cognition moreover descriptive theories of cognition. Normative theories are concerned by means of 'how we have to or ought to reason, make judgements and take choice'. Theories falling into this category comprise formal logic, probability premise, and choice premise. Descriptive theories set out to describe how people actually think when making choices plus have empirical proof to maintain them. It is this latter set of theories that we are concerned by means of in this paper, in order to inform our aim of exploring the processes through which people make choices. (Ball, 2001)

The Information Processing Approach to choice research can be traced back to Baltes, (1990) along with the notion of bounded rationality, that is, humans are 'bounded' by constraints in the environment for instance, information costs, and in the mind for instance, limited memory; these constraints shape people's behaviour. Research taking this approach initially focused on cognitive aspects of choice-making; further recently it has expanded to comprise emotional as well as ‘ease of justification’ aspects of choice-making. (Baltes, 1990)

The approach is based on the following assumptions:

We are highly selective regarding what information we attend to in addition to how it is worn.

Acquiring moreover processing information has cognitive and/or emotional costs.

We employ simplification mechanisms (heuristics) to select plus process information: lots of dissimilar heuristics have been identified.

Heuristics are chosen on the basis of the nature of the task problem.

Beliefs along with preferences are often constructed and or generated through the process of choice-making, as opposed to persons having known, well-defined preferences which they bring to a choice-making situation. (Baltes, 1999)

The Adaptive Choice-Maker Framework is an instance of the Information Processing Approach to choice-making. It is concerned by means of how persons choose flanked by dissimilar courses of action, in particular, in choice circumstances where no single substitute (or option) is best on all attributes (or qualities, features). These sorts of choices are known as preferential choice problems. (Baltes, 1990)

The Adaptive Choice-Maker Framework disputes that preferential choice problems are generally solved through a process of information acquisition as well as evaluation regarding the substitutes moreover their attributes. The attributes by which the dissimilar options are defined will vary according to:

Their desirability to the choice-maker;

The uncertainty of actually receiving the attribute value;

The willingness of the choice-maker to accept a loss on one attribute for gain on another attribute.

The following instance illustrates the role of attributes in the choice-process put forward by the Adaptive Choice-Maker Framework. Theorists dispute that there are ranges of strategies one might employ for solving a multi-attribute choice problem. The approach chosen will depend on the demands of the task for instance, the number of substitutes to be considered, how accurate the choice has to be, in addition to person dissimilarities. In other words, dissimilar persons will chose dissimilar strategies; moreover this will in addition vary according to the significance of the choice-making situation to that person. (Baltes, 1990)

A number of strategies will employ all relevant information; others will employ information in a further limited plus frequently extremely selective fashion. A number of strategies focus on the substitutes moreover process each one in turn, other strategies are further attribute-focused that is, the values of several substitutes on a single attribute are examined before information on another attribute is considered. (Baltes, 1999)

Simpler choice processes save on cognitive effort by only processing a number of of the choice-relevant information. In experimental conditions they have been shown to work less as well as less well the greater the number of significant attributes. Researchers have identified and named dissimilar types of heuristics.

Lexographic approach (LEX): here the approach is to identify and chose the substitute by means of the best value on the most significant attribute.

Satisfying Approach for Choices (SAT): this heuristic involves each attribute’s value for the substitute/option currently under consideration being compared to a pre-determined cut-off level for that attribute. If any attribute fails to meet the cut-off level, the option is rejected moreover the next option considered. Once a satisfactory substitute has been identified, that substitute is chosen (so it might not be the ‘best’). If no option passes the cut-off, the levels can be relaxed in addition to the process repeated.

Elimination by Aspects (EBA): this is a commonly worn heuristic containing elements of LEX along with SAT. EBA eliminates options that do not meet a minimum cut-off value for the most significant attribute or do not have a desired aspect for the most significant attribute. The removal process is repeated for the subsequent most significant attribute plus continues until a single option remains. The order in which attributes are considered reflects the choice-maker’s basic values. Theorist dispute that ‘choice accuracy’ is affected by the attributes worn for instance, selectively attending to irrelevant, or relatively irrelevant, attributes. (Baltes, 1990)

Researchers have in addition shown that choice-makers might combine choice strategies. A typical combined approach might involve elimination of a number of substitutes in an initial ‘broad brush’ viewing of the options, followed by a second phase in which the remaining options are analysed in further specify.

Laboratory-based research on the effectiveness/accuracy of heuristics has shown that heuristics can result in highly accurate/high quality choices by means of substantial savings in cognitive effort. However, no single heuristic does well across all environments as well as people therefore need a repertoire of heuristics. Researchers have in addition shown that, in cases of substantial time pressure, the simple LEX rule is frequently best in terms of maintaining choice accuracy. That is, it is best to examine some, although restricted, information regarding each option under severe time pressure than to examine a number of options in depth and not examine others at all. (Baltes, 1999)

There has been a lot of research looking at how to employ or choose dissimilar choice strategies. Key (relevant) findings as of this work are as follows:

People process information quite dissimilarly if faced by means of many substitutes four or further than if faced by means of just two or three substitutes.

People have a repertoire of choice strategies and sometimes plan in advance how to solve a problem based on the proof of what the task involves. However, sometimes approach selection is bottom-up, by means of little or no constructive awareness of a approach being selected.

Furthermore, people adjust their processing throughout the course of solving a problem in an “opportunistic” fashion as they learn further regarding the structure of the choice.

Choice strategies by means of high cognitive effort are further likely to be worn when choice accuracy is prioritised over saving cognitive effort.

In laboratory-based simulations, people who shift strategies in response to the demands of the choice or time constraints perform better.

Time pressure that is, a choice have to be made by a certain point in time has been shown to be one of the most significant choice task variables. Errors in judgement can be made as of either deciding too soon rush-to-judgement or as of delaying choices too long.

Person dissimilarities in values will define what constitutes an accurate or high quality choice that is, whether or not an person is happy or satisfied by means of the choice made. It is in addition likely that we adjust our ‘quality standards’ as a function of task demands such as time pressure, complexity of the choice. (Baltes, 1990)

The majority of research as well as theorising on choice-making has extremely much been approached in terms of understanding choice-quality or accuracy plus minimising cognitive effort. Further recently, the Adaptive Choice-Maker Framework has been extended to comprise emotion in addition to other goals for a choice for the reason that it is clear that approach selection moreover other aspects of choice behaviour are not just determined by cognitive effort along with choice accuracy. The other goals or desired outcomes of a choice are frequently developed constructively ‘on the spot’ moreover can affect the processes of the choice and the products of the choice. (Baltes, 1990)

Baltes, (1999) developed a choice goals framework for choice-making. In addition to maximising choice quality as well as minimizing cognitive effort, they disputed there were two further meta-goals for choice namely:

Minimizing the experience of negative emotion while making the choice in addition to afterwards;

Maximising the ease of justification of a choice to oneself plus to others. (Baltes, 1999)

The relative significance of these meta-goals, and other goals, will vary according to the specific choice-making situation. It would appear that factors such as the significance moreover irreversibility of the choice affect the manner these meta-goals are prioritised. Minimising negative emotion along with ease of justification are clearly potentially salient concerns for the Panel Study. In terms of the latter, Grady, (1994) disputes that needing to justify a choice might lead to the employ of choice strategies which are based on easily seen and communicable relationships among options. Work on the influence of minimising negative emotion inside the choice-making process is further developed as well as draws on other pre-existing theories in addition to research on how negative emotion influences on cognitive processing moreover how humans cope by means of negative emotion. These are described below. (Grady, 1994)

Not all choices evoke emotional responses, however sometimes people face emotion-laden choices.

There are contrasting views on the potential influence of negative emotion on the choice-making process:

Ball, (2001) disputes that emotion interferes by means of choice processes and degrades cognitive presentation apparent in augmented time to make a choice plus further negative error. This argument would propose that choice circumstances where negative emotions are aroused are, in a sense, analogous to highly complex choice circumstances. One would therefore expect persons to adapt to them in the similar manner as they adapt to complex choice circumstances that is by shifting to simpler, easier to implement choice strategies. (Ball, 2001)

An substitute view draws on coping premise, which disputes that people directly adapt to the negative emotion in one of two manners:

Problem-focused coping: Adopting this approach will mean the person try to solve the problem as well as possible, by means of the negative emotion being seen to indicate the significance of the choice to the person. (Grady, 1994)

Emotion-centred coping: This manner of managing negative emotion will mean action is taken directly to minimise emotion by changing the amount or content of thought regarding the choice. This might be achieved in a

Diversity of manners: refusing to make any choice; letting another person make the choice for you; showing an augmented preference for the status quo option or any other related option that is easier to justify to oneself; not avoiding the choice altogether however instead avoiding whatever aspects of the choice one finds most distressing. (Grady, 1994)

One type of choice which has the potential to arouse negative emotions is when trade-offs had to be made flanked by two highly valued things. An instance of an emotionally hard trade-off is life sustaining, however invasive moreover possibly painful, treatment versus quality of life. Grady, (1994) talked regarding sacred versus profane tradeoffs as well as noted that a number of tradeoffs are taboo – people just do not go there. For the reason that making trade-offs can generate negative emotions, persons might cope by means of emotion-laden choices by avoiding strategies which employ trade-offs of one attribute against another and instead employ non-compensatory strategies. (Grady, 1994)

The negative emotions experienced while making a choice involving hard trade-offs have been shown to influence on approach selection along with choice-making. For instance, research has found that emotion-laden choices are characterised by augmented amounts of processing in addition to avoidance of trade-offs. In addition, proof proposes that choice-makers tend to confront flanked by-attribute trade-offs explicitly when attributes are relatively low in emotional trade-off problem, however they avoid these explicit trade-offs when attributes are higher in emotional trade-off problem. (Carstensen, 2003)

This is a model which would appear to be highly relevant to the project as it is concerned by means of choices flanked by courses of action where none of the options is optimal in terms of all its attributes. Furthermore, proponents of this approach propose it is particularly relevant by means of respect to unusual circumstances, where the person cannot ‘go’ on past experience, moreover by means of regard to choices re prospect events. In the end, there appears to be relatively robust proof to maintain the framework. (Grady, 1994)

The approach is primarily concerned by means of cognitive processes and raises questions regarding the influence of learning difficulties/cognitive impairment/memory impairment as well as ability/quality/accuracy of choice-making. This will be an concern for the Panel Study in circumstances where there is a decline or loss of cognitive abilities: how do persons involved in those circumstances try to maintain continued involvement in choice-making for instance, by changing the amount plus manner information is offered; how are judgements made regarding someone’s ability to take choices; whether certain choices are judged too complicated etc. (Fung, 1999)

The recent shift to considering concerns of negative emotion and ‘ease of justification’ on the process along with outcomes of choice-making proposes the significance of exploring those concerns by means of Panel Study participants. For instance, do people avoid certain pieces of information in making a choice for the reason that they are too emotionally hard? To what extent does the notion of ‘ease of justification’ influence on the choice process, bearing in mind that many of the choices we will be exploring are relatively ‘public’ if not in the choice process itself, then in terms of the outcome of a choice? It is significant that we explore these other meta-goals in the interviews. (Chasseigne, 2000)

Another interesting research finding is that which proposes people’s preferences for/beliefs regarding things are frequently constructed not merely revealed in the course of choice-making. Perhaps this is particularly relevant where entirely novel circumstances are being encountered for instance, through sudden onset or degenerative conditions. It would in addition be good to explore the manner choice-making means that the beliefs/views which people hold in quite an

Objective sense might be challenged moreover changed throughout a choice-making episode.

The emphasis on information raises concerns regarding access to information, the manner information is offered in addition to how that might slant a choice. The phenomenon of ‘framing’ a key aspect of Prospect Premise that we discuss later in this paper links nicely to this. (Castel, 2005)

Finally, the choice-maker framework acknowledges numerous sources of person difference to account for dissimilarities in the manner persons make a choice and in the choice made for instance, cognitive ability; choice of heuristics; preferred styles of coping by means of negative emotion; communal context in which having to justify oneself. (Carstensen, 2003)

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The Same Principal Product Or More Broadly Marketing Essay

Industry – Is a group of firms producing the same principal product or more broadly, a group of firms producing products that are substitutes for each other. (Johnson et al, 2009). This report is about the Simulation exercise which took place as a part of Strategic management subject. It starts by explaining what the simulation exercise was about and how the firm in which I was involved as part of my group performed.

The Simulation exercise took place for the Automobile industry. The industry is very profitable but competitive too. All the firms involved need to be well informed about what’s going on in the market and come up with various strategies so as to make sure that the business keeps moving ahead.

In this simulation exercise, our firm was Firm G. we were three in our group. Naima, Christine and I. There were a total of seven firms in this industry, Firm A to Firm G. Each firm had its own members to run it.

All the firms initially started with the identical situation or scenario. All had same amount of income, sales, market value, stock value and also production capacity. And all had the same vehicle classes too; they were The family, The Economy and The truck. There were other vehicle classes as well like Minivan, Sports, Luxury but this was up to the owners of the firm to introduce them during the simulation period.

The simulation exercise took place for the duration of four periods in which all the groups had to make various decisions for their respective firms. The decisions were to be made on the marketing, distribution, manufacturing, technology, concept creation and product development areas.

The objective of this game or exercise was to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy that enables the firms to maintain long term profitability in the context of an increasingly competitive and changing environment.

Before making any decision, a business has to do some research on its industry’s business environment. There must be some kind of industry analysis to help the owners of the business to make a wise decision that would help the business expand. Hence the automobile industry is no different. The following is the industrial analysis of the Automobile industry:

This tool usually helps people to analyze the external environment or in other words the MACRO environment of a particular industry. It helps the firms to know what’s taking place in the market and assists them in creating strategies that go hand in hand with these factors. The below is the PESTEL of the Automobile industry:

Changes in the required age to apply for driving license.

Taxes and duty on the manufacture of vehicles.

Changes in the fuel prices.

Changes in the exchange rates.

Disposable income of the people in the society. (increase or decrease)

Different people having different tastes and preference.

Different people opinions about car culture. What type of car goes with their image.

Different age groups like different vehicle models like teens would like sports and a business person would want a luxury.

Availability of E-commerce to let people get more information

The plant capacity and efficiency in production process.

The safety of the vehicles manufactured.

Waste management for the scrap from production.

Pollution control from the fumes produced by the cars.

Energy consumption of the vehicles.

Noise created by the cars. (engines, exhaust pipes)

Laws and regulations like the minimum wage and health and safety of the workers.

Laws on mergers and acquisition in the automobile industry.

Control on the type of competition like monopoly.

Michael porter’s five forces framework was originally developed as a way of assessing the attractiveness (profit potential) of different industries. (Johnson et al, 2009)

This tool is really helpful in analyzing whether the industry is attractive enough and profitable enough to enter. As there are many players (the seven firms), it is good to know the key players power so as to plan a strategy that helps to overcome these influences. The following are the five forces analysis of the Automobile industry:

As this automobile industry is already on the run and the firms are already the established ones which already have a market share, their suppliers, distributors and their own customer segments, it is difficult for a new firm to enter the market until and unless it is ready to incur high costs to be in a position which is currently enjoyed by the existing firms (Firms A to G). So the threat to entry is low.

The cars provided can be substituted by the available public transport, however most people consider having their own private transport which is also convenient for them and their families. And the automobile industry provides them with the opportunity to have a safe and efficient transport at their hand. Hence the threat of substitutes is low.

The power of the buyers or customers in this industry seems to be high. As there are many firms producing the same products, the customers have a choice to choose the product and the firm that satisfies its preference the most like the price, quality, speed, interior, discounts offered.

As this Automobile industry consists of limited number of firms i.e. seven firms in total, the suppliers don’t have that much power as the firms are few. The firms have an influence on the suppliers because they know that they are the only ones to which these suppliers are providing their supplies.

The overall intensity of the competition is high. All the firms in the industry are targeting the same customer segments. And all of them monitor each other’s performance closely so as to plan and be ahead of the competition. There is existence of price wars as each firm try to adjust its prices to attract customers and there is also the introduction of new products as well. Therefore the competitive rivalry is high.

The SWOT analysis helps the firms to know their strengths and weaknesses. It tells them about what threats they have to overcome and what opportunities are available to it. The below is the SWOT analysis for the Firm G.

Already established name and brand.

Already have the market share in the industry.

Technological capabilities.

Less experience in the automobile industry.

Less aggressive to competition.

A chance to introduce new products in the market. (concepts)

A chance to upgrade the existing products.

Able to reduce prices and market the firm by using advertisement and promotion.

Able to add development centers to be used in future production.

Competition from other existing firms.

Capability of others firms to introduce new products and lessen their prices.

To make decisions on how much to spend where or in which areas like advertisement or production.

The fluctuation of market share in the industry.

Our Firm had three vehicle classes:

Gas, a Family car.

Go, an Economy car.

And

Gone, a Truck.

The below is the performance summary with which our firm started operating:

Firm G

Sales ($)

$15,278.3

Sales (000's units)

945

Market Share ($)

14.3%

Market Share (units)

14.3%

Net Income

$523.5

Cum. Net Income

$523.5

Stock Price

$26.60

Market Value

$13,302.5

Return on Sales

3.4%

Return on Assets

6.4%

Firm Preference

14.3%

Dealer Rating

58

COGS

76.1%

Capacity Utilization

92.4%

Debt

$5,553.0

Stock Issue/Purch. %

0.0%

Note: Dollar amounts are in millions.

In the first decision making, the aim was to increase the firm’s product awareness and so the main aim was marketing our products through advertising and promotion.

Hence the corporate marketing in all the four regions (North, South, East and West) was increased. Our firm also increased PR (Public relations) and targeted the value seekers and families segments for mail targets. The direct mail service was also increased.

In the Product’s decision we adjusted the Manufacturer’s suggested Retail Price (MSRP), reduced the discount rate increased promotion and advertising. For the family class, our theme was safety. Quality for Economy class and Style for the Truck class.

The dealers in each four regions were increased and their training and support activities also went up.

As our firm was advertising more, it was forecasted that sales would go up and hence we increased our firm’s production capacity by 500 and also the vehicle production.

As our firm had increased the awareness of the vehicles in period 1, there could be seen increase in the sales of our firm. The product performance and summary are attached at the end.

For the second period, the same objective was applied, to increase awareness of our vehicles and so we again increased our budget on the advertising and promotion.

There was also a minor upgrade of the Family class vehicle Gas. A little adjustment was done on the size and the performance and also the attributes of the car in terms of the interior, styling, safety and quality.

As our firm was going through the industry news, we got the information that there were new customer segments and also vehicle classes in the market and hence we took this opportunity and created a new concept or added a new vehicle class in our portfolio. The new class was the Minivan and our target customers were the family. We named our vehicle as Goofy- The perfect family car for all. It would take 3 years to introduce it in the market.

As we had introduced a new concept, we also decided to add one development centre to help in manufacturing the vehicles.

In the third decision our firm had to seriously consider the expenditure. It was found out that as the firm was spending more on the advertising and promotion, the expenses were becoming more and hence this affected our income. We had managed to increase our market share but on the other hand we had an income which was showing a negative signal.

And so in the third period of the simulation exercise, we decided to enter some decision on the financing section so as to raise some capital. We issued bonds for $ 3 M and stock for $ 2 M.

We also paid our dividends for $ 80.

In the marketing section, we adjusted some prices and discount rates for our three vehicle classes and increased our dealers in the four regions.

This was the last period in which decisions had to be entered. As our Firm had introduced a new vehicle class in the market, Goofy, the minivan, the performance of the firm looked to be promising.

The marketing of the new vehicle was decided and also the other three existing vehicles. The family vehicle Gas was really doing well in the market as the sales were showing a positive trend or growth.

After the fourth round was played, the simulation game came to an end. When viewing the results, I found out that our firm had performed well. It had a large market share than it’s competitors and also had four vehicle classes. It was the only firm having introduced the minivan and hence it was enjoying the customer segments related to the vehicle.

The overall performance was good as the sales were increasing. However as our firm was spending heavily on the advertisements and promotions, our firm had gone into a negative income. But as the trend of our products is increasing and with the new vehicle introduced, our firm will be able to cover up those costs.

This simulation exercise was a really interesting exercise for me. At first I had no idea of what we as a group are supposed to do or how to go about making decisions. But once I read the manual and our tutor explained, I found out that it was a very good way of learning and putting our theories into practice.

I really enjoyed making various decisions with my colleagues and now I have an idea how the business people have to think and decide on what strategies to choose to keep their business on the run.

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Introduction To Consumerism Through Branding Identity Marketing Essay

Consumerism has played a big role in economy and society of the present time. Consumerism is one of the main aspects that have helped the economy to have a good growth. Conspicuous consumption has also taken over the society where people are trying to classify themselves to a certain social status. Hence, branding identities has become one of the approaches used for marketing in the industry.

For this project, we are to propose a design to supply the demand required in Singapore. From the research that has been done, Singaporeans have a strong habit of eating out and therefore there will always be a demand for the food service industry. The proposal for the project would be of a restaurant targeted at the middle-upper class. The decision is supported by a chart that has shown the annual income derived from a restaurant has been at a constant growth despite of the economy crisis. This is because people who usually go to the restaurants come from the middle-upper range with a more stable financial power.

It is common in the modern days for people to take leisure in the place where they eat. This can be considered as consumerism in the service industry as well. Branding identities comes to place as the present society does measure one’s social status from the place where they eat. In order to have a wholesome package of good branding of the restaurant, interior space design plays an important role to predetermine a proper identity for both the restaurant and the future customers. In the direction of proposing a potential scheme, a critical thought has been set for good site selection and design program.

Consumerism is defined as followed by

1. The state of an advanced industrial society in which a lot of goods are bought and sold

2. Disapproving when too much attention is given to buying and owning things

(dictionary.cambridge.org)

3. Protection of the rights of consumers

(www.collinslanguage.com/results.aspx)

Consumerism is understood as an action where people purchase goods more than necessary. It has been around ever since the first civilisation. However, it got popular during the Industrial Revolution period, when goods are produced in an affordable price and therefore were able to reach a wider range of people, promoting consumerism internationally.

Since then and still growing till now, consumerism has been a tool for people to feel content by the purchase and owning the goods. This is also a media for people to determine, or at least attempt to, mark their status in the society.

As for the latter issue, consumerism has brought a positive effect on the economy. Therefore, it plays an important role in the financial system. It is the main factor of how the economy can have a good cycle. If people only purchase the essential goods, the economy will suffer and it will affect the stability of a country. Hence, consumerism is important to boost the economy. Moreover, consumerism is also one of the means of how people can get exposed to new technology and advancement.

However, consumerism has its disadvantages too. Although it is advantageous at encouraging a good economy cycle, consumerism means more usage of materials in the industry. This has been affecting the environment as it causes more wastage. Furthermore, the industries contributed to the pollution as well. There will always be an effect after an action; and on the environmental aspect, consumerism has caused an ecological imbalance and global warming.

Some actions have been taken to respond to the latter. More environmentally friendly and sustainable design has emerged. The society is also encouraged to take part in the action by having environmentally friendly habits, such as reducing the usage of plastic bags and such.

In the present context, consumerism is not just about selling the physical manufactured good but also the image or the branding of the product itself as well. It is an act for psychological satisfaction for the consumer. This leads to the fact that branding identities has been used by the manufacturers or producers to make the most of it as a strategy to get more people to be loyal or have a sense of belonging to the brand itself. Physical or functional attraction of the goods is no longer the key factors to attract buyers. “A transaction is like a one-night stand,” said a book titled Emotional Branding in which it means that there is only one business deal in a transaction. However, what the producers want are consumers that will keep using their products. They are trying to imply the contemporary branding by generating or promoting relationship between the consumers and the products (or the brand) through advertising and marketing (branding) in order to make people come back for more in the future. The old economy used to be focused on producing the manufactured goods itself. However, the economy strategy towards consumerism has changed. The new economy is now giving more attention towards creating brands or making the items more appealing psychologically to the targeted market.

Branded lifestyles, to some degree, have become substitute identities. It creates an identity that we develop by our own preference, and has the tendency to replace our original identity, such as traditional and cultural aspects. This view has been supported by Benjamin R Barber in his book titled Consumed (2007, Page 167).

Consumerism can also be applied to the service industry. One of them is the F&B industry where people look for good eating place that does not provide only fine food but also good quality of service and environment. In Singapore, the demand for the food service industry is high as there is a strong habit of Singaporeans to eat out. It is also considered as lifestyle, especially for the middle-upper market. Singapore has been considered as a high-end playground, shown by the emergence of the casino (fig 1.1), the F1 tournament (fig 1.2) and such. It has developed as a world gourmet destination as well.

1.1 Singapore Integrated Resort 1.2 Formula 1 in Singapore 2008

As my approach, good branding identities would be of a useful tool to be implied to promote a restaurant and bring it to success. Branding identities is part of the lifestyle. It is common nowadays to consider the place of someone to eat or hang out; as a benchmark for the social status of that person. Therefore, branding the restaurant has become one of substantial elements to attract the targeted market customers to come back again and again. Branding a restaurant would be more towards the image and marketing of the restaurant in which preferably an in-context and appealing whole package. Therefore, branding the restaurant needs to be done thoughtfully, considering all the supporting aspects to be part of the image of the restaurant. In the modern days, good eating place does not supply good quality food only but also the environment that it provides as well as the atmosphere or the ambiance that has been the main intention of the interior designer to be projected for the customers to feel and experience while they are enjoying the food and the service presented. Therefore, spatial elements do hold a significant role in creating a good branding image to attract the right crowd of the people from the targeted market.

Singapore is a city with a busy high-paced lifestyle where the stress level is considered high. A psychological research written in the book of John T. Haworth has shown that stress should be tackled with leisure in order to be able to live a healthy lifestyle (1997, page 138-141). Leisure can be both passive and active. The focus of passive leisure would be to deal with the emotion while active leisure is to be targeted at problem solving. Social support is considered as active leisure. Another study has shown that only personal social circles can help in dealing with stress related problems, social connection from either work or school usually are not efficient in doing so (Bolger and Eckenrode, 1991). Therefore, social leisure is an important reasoning of why people get together.

The proposal for this project would be of a restaurant targeted at the middle-upper market society. The main objective of the restaurant would be to provide a place where people can have a place to be away from the high-paced city lifestyle and have a relaxed moment at the restaurant. Clifford Pier is the ideal place for the design intention as it is a waterfront in which water has always been considered as a calming natural element. The location of the site itself is very supportive as well because it is secluded and tranquil but still placed at the heart of the busy area of the city, right at the hot developing area, Marina Bay.

Clifford Pier used to function as a port where people took ferries to go to the near islands. It operated from 1933-2006 and now conserved as a historical building. The issue that needs to be solved for this project is that as a historical place, Clifford Pier’s original value for being a jetty has been neglected. Since Clifford Pier is a transit place that had been operating for such a long period, it had somehow captured the memories of the growth of Singapore. I believe that people who were around when Clifford Pier was still functioning as a port and actually made use of it in the past will be missing it dearly as it holds some of their memories. Therefore, Clifford Pier is precious enough to be revived with its essence being infused in the design so that it can be used again for people to either have a nostalgic time and/or have a good meal with great conversation. The restaurant that is intended to be created at Clifford Pier is a Tapas Bar where it serves small-serving food, hence promoting more interaction between the consumers so that they are not too engrossed with just enjoying the meal but also to make them able to have time to appreciate both the food and the surrounding such as the interior space and the great panoramic scenery of Marina Bay and The Integrated Resort. This will also promote more interaction with the other party that they are spending time with as this is one of the main intentions for the place being a place to relax, have a social leisure time and breaking away from daily pressure. This contributed to the main design intention to create a restaurant space that is both doing justice to the site by appreciating its original value as well as being comfortable and appealing to the future users of the space (for example, the customers of the restaurant and the employee).

The idea of the restaurant would be of the revival of Clifford Pier’s soul in which the concept is derived from the nature of the function of the pier itself for being a place where people come and go to take the ferry service. Hence, the concept or keyword used to promote the creative design process is ‘interlink’. Interlink is used in the sense of Clifford Pier was a place where people departed and arrived from and to other islands. Although the boats and ferries were the ones that transported people from one place to another but Clifford Pier is the physical stationary connector of the whole journey as it is the gathering point for the people.

There was not much interaction between the people and the space in the past as most of them did not hang out at the pier. This project would be about encouraging more interaction and connection between the user to the space and within the spaces itself as well. Hence, the concept for the project is to create interlinked space. The interlinked space would be to promote interaction from various aspects. It will be between the spaces within the site, the spaces and users; as well as between the people themselves.

An interlinked space is shown in the space planning through curvy lines. Spatially, the interaction between the spaces within the capacity is shown through the circles of spaces that are connected by the lines that resulted in the curvy lines. Clifford Pier was built in the Art Deco style, designed with arches for both its exterior and interior. The beams of the building have been replaced with graceful concrete arched trusses. Hence, the curvy lines are a response to the feminine nature of the original architectural structure.

Interaction between the spaces and users would be interlinked through visual connection. The users of the space would have the ability to enjoy a visual interaction not only within the dining spaces itself but also to the service areas such as the open kitchen and storages. Different levels of spaces and non-solid room divider are used to promote such interaction (Fig 2.1).

2.1 View of the dining area with visual interaction with another space

The type of restaurant that would be infused to the site is Tapas Bar. Tapa is a Spanish style of food serving that comes in small portion. It is a social food where the intention of the servings is to promote interaction between the consumers. Therefore, tapas bar is suitable to be implied in the restaurant as its intention is communicative with the objective of design which is to provide a place to hang out and break away from the hustle bustle of the busy life in Singapore. This interaction between the users of the space can be encouraged through the visibility between the spaces.

In conclusion, consumerism will help in promoting the success of the restaurant. This is because in the present time, branding identity in the society is a strong point to get consumers from the middle-upper class to be attracted to the restaurant in which interior design plays an important role within the whole package. An in-context design can be a great support for the latter as it gives more value not just for the new restaurant but also to the site itself as its essence of the original function of Clifford Pier as a port is infused to the new function that is designed at the site.

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