Evolution Vs. Creationism Essay -- Environmental Compare Contrast Essa

Evolution vs. Creationism Abstract In the history of science vs. religion there have been no issues more intensely debated than evolution vs. creationism. The issue is passionately debated since the majority of evidence is in favor of evolution, but the creation point of view can never be proved wrong because of religious belief. Human creation breaks down into three simple beliefs; creation theory, naturalistic evolution theory, and theistic evolution theory. The complexities of all three sides create a dilemma for what theory to support among all people, religious and non-religious. Evolution vs. Creationism The theories of human evolution may always cause a heated dispute. Each theory presents its own evidence proving its acceptance, but lacks enough evidence to prove the other theories incorrect. All the theories that attempt to explain human existence fall under the categories of creation theory, naturalistic evolution theory, and the theistic evolution theory. The creation theory explains that a certain God created the humans, and evolution does not exist. The naturalistic evolution theory states that evolution is driven by purely natural forces, and is not controlled by any input from a god, goddess, or multiple deities. The theistic evolution is a mixture of both creation and naturalistic theories. The theistic evolution theory states that god created the world and guides the evolution process (Religious Tolerance, 2004). The information presented in evolution studies must be viewed with an open mind since there is no definite proof or law of evolution. The dilemma boils down to science vs. religion. God has been our creator since beginning of time, but the discoveries of recent science are sudde... ...ive as long as religion. Evolution vs. creationism is in fact science vs. religion, and no theory will ever be unanimously accepted until religion or science is eliminated. Evolution vs. creationism is a controversy that may never be solved. References Steen, Francis. (2001, March 25). Evolutionary Theory. Retrieved November 30, 2004, from <a href="http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Evolution.html">http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Evolution.html</a> Religious Tolerance. (2004). Evolution. Retrieved November 30, 2004, from <a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/evolutio.htm">http://www.religioustolerance.org/evolutio.htm</a> Stewart, Ian. (2003). How the Species Became. New Science, Vol. 180, Iss. 2416, 32. Monastersky, Richard. (2004). Society Disowns Paper Attacking Darwinism. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol. 51, Iss. 5, A.16.

The Media Dumbs Us Down Essay -- The Dumbing Down of America

The rise of media in our society has many effects on the consumers of the media. Many people propose the question: is this media making us dumber? Today there are a lot more forms of media available to people today. Through the media outlets of television and news, internet and user-generated content, and social media, people have many options as to where they receive their media. As a whole, the mass media dumbs down society, through their attempt to keep up with the changing of times and reach large masses of people. It is up to the consumer of the media what type they want to partake in. How do media compete in such an environment? The only way to compete is to go with it. To become it, and to help it. New forms of mass media is happening, will happen, and will not stop because we are a constantly changing society. The media tries to put a new spin on media that combines older media techniques with a new more advanced form of media that attempts to reach all of society. Even tho ugh they are effective at reaching mass crowds of viewers, and reaching people who may not have ever engaged in issues, they dumb down society by limiting the thoroughness of information presented. The dumbing down is usually applied as a derogatory term that refers to the simplifying of a subject towards the lowest common denominator. Americans consume large amounts of media. The average American spends half or their day watching hours of television, or listening to some sort of mass media. According to Shachtman author of The Inarticulate Society: Eloquence and Culture in America, â€Å"most Americans watch thirty hours of television a week, or 1,550 hours a year, listen to the radio 1, 160 hours a year, spend 180 hours a year reading some part of a ne... ...al_media_stats_kagan_fisch_mcleod Carr, N. (2008, Jul. - Aug.). Is google making us stupid?. The Atlantic, 1. Retrieved February 14, 2012, from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/ Shachtman, T. (1995). Extracurricular Educators. The inarticulate society: eloquence and culture in America (pp. 95-142). New York: Free Press. Sommerville, C. J. (1999). How the news makes us dumb: the death of wisdom in an information society. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press. Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the squid, the story and science of the reading brain. New York, NY: Harpercollins. YDSTIE, J. (2007, June 16). Does the internet undermine culture? : NPR. NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11131872

A Study on the Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty of Furniture Purchaser in on-Line Shop

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/1598-2688. htm AJQ 11,2 146 A study on the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of furniture purchaser in on-line shop Yongju Jeong and Yongsung Lee Department of Business Administration, The University of Incheon, Incheon, South Korea Abstract Purpose – The paper intends to explore the in? uencing factors on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the internet shopping mall through service quality based on the data obtained from furniture purchaser. Design/methodology/approach – The research model and the relevant research hypothesis were set up through the data derived from the existing researches, and then the relevant hypothesis was tested through regression analysis. Findings – As result of analysis, the in? uencing factors on customer satisfaction of furniture purchaser in the internet shopping mall were proved to be product diversity of service quality, tangibles, responsiveness, interaction, stability, and customer satisfaction was found to be a signi? cant in? encing factor on customer loyalty in the internet shopping mall. Research limitations/implications – Although this study was carried out against actual furniture purchaser in selecting the samples, it reached the limit in considering the diversity of internet shopping mall, and sorting into on-line and off-line concurrent shopping mall and internet exclusive shopping mall. Originality/value – The study reviews the service quality measure suggested in the existing literature on service quality, newly applying it to on-line services environment, and then ? ding out the in? uence of service quality in internet shopping mall on customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and repurchase intention as well as in which dimension they are built up. Keywords Internet, Shopping, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty, Electronic commerce Paper type Research paper The Asian Journal on Quality Vol. 11 No. 2, 2010 pp. 146-156 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1598-2688 DOI 10. 1108/15982681011075952 1. Introduction Owing to rapid development of information communication, e-commerce through internet is picking up briskly throughout the world. According to the survey of Korea National Statistical Of? ce, the volume of transaction in domestic cyber shopping mall in Korea steadily grew starting from 2001 when it reached approximately 3,400,000,000,000 won, which is well over 20,000,000,000,000 won in 2009. Like this, internet market is growing in non-negligible scale, and even it is expected to grow more and more in future. Development of various information communication technology including computer has changed the consumption life of the consumers, and especially tons of changes take place in the consumers’ selection through their decision making. Such changes suggest a new environment characterized by global market, collapse of hierarchy, and economy of information era. Internet shopping mall is a business that can be operated at minimum expense with minimum labor force, which allows to ecure price competitiveness by minimizing distribution stages, and further provide better customer service than the existing off-line shopping by providing various information. These days, rapid growth of do-it-yourself furniture stimulates the tendency of purchasing furniture through internet shopping. On-line furniture sales system was attempted by a small-scale ? rm at the beginning, but large furniture suppliers soon after jumped on to the on-line market band wagon without hesitation (The Korea Economic Da ily, 2007, July 16). This study is intended to ? d out the factors of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty by exploring the characteristic of the users regarding customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of the furniture purchasers in the internet shopping mall, and then reviewing the literature on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, conducting empirical research through statistical data obtained from questionnaire survey by establishing model and hypothesis after reviewing the literature on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in order to discover the characteristic that appeared through the user’s purchase of furniture. . Theoretical backgrounds 2. 1 Internet shopping mall Internet shopping allows the purchaser to search and survey the information on service or product by accessing internet shopping site through internet in remote place instead of retail shop as a physical space, and then enables to select or order the goods, and ultimately pay the mone y using credit card to purchase the goods/services (Ruth, 2000). It is de? ed as the collective concept of on-line shops having the products in a variety of lines where advertisement and exhibition of the products for internet shopping is carried out through electronic shopping mall, server is equipped with data like prices, structures, characteristics of various products, webpage provides information on the product together with multi-media information (Hoffman and Novak, 1996). Internet shopping mall is characterized by connecting producer directly with ? al end-user while traditional off-line market comprises four steps from producer through ? nal consumer. In addition, it is rarely restricted by time/space, and easy to acquire information from customer. Traditional commercial transaction requires a large amount of investment to maintain ? xed assets and human resource, while e-commerce requires investment mainly for system installation only. Besides, in terms of advertisement, p romotion, etc. owing to conversion to two-way from the existing one-way, it is changed into the style of one-to-one connection with customer. . 2 Furniture industry The structure of Korea’s furniture industry is driven to domestic demand while Taiwan to export market. Therefore, the industry is very weak in its management foundation owing to extremely ? erce competition within the same industrial circle, generalized phenomenon of design being imitated and the subsequent deterioration of pro? tability, etc. In addition, because of insuf? cient timber source at home, the industry depends on import from Indonesia, etc. for 95 percent of major raw materials such as plywood for furniture production, etc. Domestic furniture industry has structural problems in both design and distribution sectors. Especially, in distribution sector, attacked by aggressive merchants who seek unlawful deals with low-price sale, general tax payers A study on customer satisfaction 147 AJQ 11,2 148 with sincerity tend to lose their competition foundation, and furthermore event companies or representatives hold their own discount sales ruthlessly, disturbing domestic distribution order, resulting in sharp drop of quality and subsequent damage to the consumers. Accordingly, it is necessary to develop our furniture business circle again in such a manner of reinforcing production foundation centered on own specialized product of each while expediting cooperative relationship with professional companies for the other non-specialized products, and thus it is needed to establish production and operation strategy under new system, and then reinforce the competitiveness in price and distribution. 2. 3 Service quality Service means an intangible activity or bene? provided by the services provider to customer, which can be tangible product and something that is added to intangible service, or in an independent form (Kotler, 1991). With regard to the nature of service, there exist some different opinions among the researchers, but service is known to have four properties; being intangible, inseparability of production and consumption, heterogeneity, and perishability (Parasuraman et al. , 1985). The concept of service quality can be represented in different way depending on aspect and approaching method. Especially, service quality has a aspect emphasized by subjective assessment recognized by each individual customer rather than that examined objectively being dif? cult to measure owing to its specialty. Generally, the de? nition of quality varies depending on the methods of approach driven to transcendental experience, product, manufacture, value, and user (Garvin, 1984). Parasuraman et al. 1985, hereinafter â€Å"PZB†) de? ned cognitive service quality, aside from objective quality, is a type of attitude â€Å"that is the comparison between consumer’s recognition of the result of service provided by the corporation and the expectation of consumer that should be provided by the corporation in their opinion†. Accordingly, cognitive service quality was observed through the degree and direction of the difference existing between consumer’s recognit ion and expectation (Woo-seong, 2006). According to PZB, although there exists the difference of relative importance that assess the service quality depending on service types, there exists basically similar assessment criteria, and therefore the service quality observation system developed by them is the decisive factor of service quality that may be generally applied to service industry. Since then, Parasuraman et al. (1988) discovered that there exist correlation among ten decisive factors of service quality that were examined from Parasuraman et al. 1985) conducted against the corporations such as machinery repair and maintenance, bank, long-distance telephone company, credit card company, and security broker. Finally, they named SERVQUAL for it by combining ? ve factors (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy). SERVQUAL can be also measured by gap score between the score of consumer’s performance recognition and score of expectation. Five dimensions comprising SERVQUAL and the descripti on of each dimension is as shown in Table I. As a result of reviewing the precedent research on the service quality of on-line shopping mall, it was found that the study on the satisfaction with loyalty and consumer satisfaction as result of the service quality of on-line shopping mall was conducted in such a manner that the property of on-line shopping mall was re? ected in the existing service quality dimensions to develop the dimension of on-line shopping mall service quality. 2. 4 Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty 2. 4. 1 Customer satisfaction. In the study on customer’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction, there exists inconsistency concerning its concept among the researchers, and a variety of attempts are carried out in its measurement. The de? nition of customer satisfaction can be divided into two; de? nitions driven to outcome and driven to process (Lee, 1995). From the aspect driven to outcome, customer satisfaction is conceptualized as the result of consumption experience such as the recognition felt by customer that the price paid is rewarded in proper or improper manner, emotional reaction against the retail shop or purchasing behavior related with purchased speci? product or service, or emotional reaction against the behavior in wider meaning such as consumer’s behavior or the market on the whole, comprehensive mental state that occurs when the emotion due to inconsistent expectation is combined with the emotion prior to the customer’s experience of purchase. The aspect driven to process is useful i n that it generalizes the whole consumption experience, and it enables to examine an important process that reaches customer satisfaction through the measure of observing unique elements at each stage (Oliver, 1981). Internet shopping mall is a web site in virtual space in the name of internet. Chen and Wells (1999), in measuring the attitude to the web site, suggested three aspects; informativeness that shows the degree of usefulness of information provided by web site to the visitor, entertainment of web site that shows the degree on how it meets emotional necessity and desire of the visitor, and organization of web site that shows the degree on how it provides the visitor’s desired information and product/service in convenient and prompt way. 2. 4. 2 Customer loyalty. Typically, customer loyalty means the property of customer to repeatedly purchasing speci? c subject (brand, product, service, shop, etc. with affection regardless of the change in the circumstance (Jacoby and Chesnut, 1978; Oliver and Swan, 1989). There are the variables for measuring customer loyalty such as devotion into speci? c subject, repurchase intention, and intention to recommend to others, etc. (Reichheld, 1993). Especially, customer loyalty is known to arise from the result of customer sa tisfaction in general. Customer loyalty in on-line can be de? ned the tendency of customer to keep on using speci? c web site with affection (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003). Customer with high loyalty is supposed to keep a speci? web site with him/her using bookmark function, frequently visit it, and show high site adhesion with high detention time. In addition, Dimension Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy De? nition Physical facility, equipment, outlook of employee Ability to perform the committed service in reliable and correct manner Will of assisting the customer and providing quick service to the customer Knowledge, courtesy, ability of the employees that give rise to reliability and assurance Careful concern and individual interest in the customer A study on customer satisfaction 149 Table I. Five types of SERVQUAL AJQ 11,2 they are very friendly with the site, and positively promote or recommend it to the others. The customers of high customer loyalty like this is very possible to purchase the goods from that site, and tends to consistently purchase again from that site in spite of positive marketing activity by other sites (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003). 3. Design of research 3. 1 Research model and establishment of research hypothesis This study aims for reviewing service quality measure suggested in the existing literature on service quality, newly applying it to on-line services environment, and then ? nding out the in? ence of service quality in internet shopping mall on customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and repurchase intention as well as in which dimension they are built up. Therefore, research model for empirical analysis was established as Figure 1 based on the result of precedent research. As research model, based on the results of previous studies; Lee and Lin (2005), Lee (2 006), Jeon (2006), etc. the dimension of on-line service quality were suggested to ? nd out its in? uences on customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and repurchase intention: H1. Product diversity of service quality in on-line shopping mall will have positive (? in? uence. H2. Tangibles of service quality in on-line shopping mall will have positive (? ) in? uence. H3. Responsiveness of service quality in on-line shopping mall will have positive (? ) in? uence. H4. Interaction of service quality in on-line shopping mall will have positive (? ) in? uence. H5. Stable service quality in on-line shopping mall will have positive (? ) in? uence. H6. Customer satisfaction with service quality in on-line shopping mall will have positive (? ) in? uence on customer loyalty. Service quality Product driversity H1 Tangibles H2 H3 H4 Interaction H5 Customer satisfaction H6 Customer loyalty 50 Responsiveness Figure 1. Research model Stability 3. 2 Method of research In this study, the questionnai re survey was targeted against the customers aged from 20s to 50s who had experience of purchasing furniture from on-line shopping mall. To accomplish the purpose of research, questionnaire survey was carried out for approximately ten days from August 6, 2009 to August 15, 2009. Total 140 questionnaire sheets were collected out of 150 distributed to the subject. Among 140 sheets collected, 131 were adopted except nine returned deemed to be answered with insincerity. In this study, survey was targeted to the persons who purchased the products in furniture category 1 made of steel or wood available in on-line shopping mall. 4. Empirical analysis 4. 1 Reliability analysis In this study, in order to measure reliability, Cronbach’s a coef? cient – internal consistency analysis – was used. The reason of adopting Cronbach’s a coef? cient was to enhance variable reliability by sorting out the items affecting reliability and then ruling out those variables when several items were used to measure the same concept. Normally, it proves to be suf? cient when Cronbach’s a coef? cient appears at least 0. 6, and therefore reliability coef? cient on each variable was suggested in Table II to show reliability for each item. 4. 2 Validity analysis In this study, the result of exploratory factor analysis on service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in deriving the factors that in? uences on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of furniture purchaser in the case of on-line shopping mall as shown in Table III. As result of factor analysis, product diversity of service quality, tangibles of service quality, responsiveness of service quality, interaction of service quality, stable service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty were classi? ed to be the factors, and the variable to be excluded being less than 0. 5 in factor loading did not appear. 4. 3 Testing of hypothesis To test the hypothesis, analysis of correlation among variables and multiple regression analysis between antecedent and dependent variables were carried out. Multiple regression analysis normally aims for estimating one dependent variable from the knowledge of several variables. Accordingly, this would enable to ? nd out the In? uencing variable acting on the use of internet shopping mall Product diversity of service quality Tangibles of service quality Responsiveness of service quality Interaction of service quality Stable service quality Customer satisfaction Customer loyalty Cronbach’s a coef? cient 0. 827 0. 773 0. 829 0. 843 0. 758 0. 739 0. 917 A study on customer satisfaction 151 Table II. Result of reliability analysis AJQ 11,2 Factor Product diversity Component Variable Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 Factor 6 Factor 7 sv1 sv2 sv3 st1 st2 st3 st4 sr1 sr2 sr3 sr4 sc1 sc2 sc3 sc4 ss1 ss2 ss3 cs1 cs2 cs3 cr1 cr2 cr3 0. 840 0. 770 0. 791 0. 129 0. 087 0. 028 0. 419 0. 145 0. 161 0. 113 0. 071 0. 264 2 0. 011 0. 189 0. 104 0. 329 0. 170 0. 187 0. 466 0. 363 0. 269 0. 180 0. 180 2 0. 027 0. 066 0. 238 0. 123 0. 820 0. 851 0. 772 0. 667 0. 231 0. 160 0. 104 0. 048 0. 175 0. 166 0. 162 0. 304 0. 019 0. 139 0. 069 0. 111 0. 109 0. 141 0. 019 20. 006 0. 006 0. 138 0. 146 0. 114 0. 113 0. 135 0. 195 0. 045 0. 707 0. 712 0. 801 0. 810 0. 075 0. 157 20. 040 0. 321 0. 299 0. 83 0. 134 20. 001 0. 141 0. 221 0. 213 0. 203 20. 024 0. 103 20. 056 0. 181 0. 052 0. 192 0. 112 0. 153 0. 263 0. 359 0. 086 0. 041 0. 682 0. 780 0. 807 0. 649 0. 315 0. 172 0. 125 0. 197 0. 089 0. 042 0. 035 0. 065 20. 023 0. 011 0. 129 0. 219 0. 225 0. 133 0. 205 0. 026 2 0. 095 2 0. 105 0. 221 0. 198 0. 167 0. 111 0. 168 0. 255 0. 573 0. 838 0. 854 2 0. 042 2 0. 219 2 0. 106 2 0. 154 2 0. 138 2 0. 263 0. 003 0. 172 0. 202 0. 227 0. 134 0. 190 0. 041 20. 059 20. 072 0. 208 0. 172 0. 221 0. 199 0. 261 0. 303 0. 279 0. 169 0. 099 0. 634 0. 751 0. 844 0. 091 0. 120 0. 004 0. 065 0. 109 0. 090 20. 097 0. 068 20. 015 0. 163 0. 05 0. 102 20. 079 20. 288 0. 254 0. 269 0. 233 0. 253 0. 233 20. 031 20. 014 20. 050 20. 024 20. 091 0. 808 0. 834 0. 545 152 Tangibles Responsiveness Interaction Stability Customer satisfaction Customer loyalty Table III. Result of factor analysis Notes: Extraction method: principal component analysis; rotation method: varimax with Kaiser normalization; rotation converged in six iterations strategy of enhancing customer satisfaction and customer loyalty by grasping which factors in? uence on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of furniture purchaser in on-line shopping mall, and to which degree it has in? uence if so. In carrying out regression analysis, it may produce wrong interpretation if independent variables are not mutually independent or regression coef? cients are estimated incorrectly. In other words, there could exist the problem of multi-collinearity. In order to conduct the test for equal variance and normality that are the premise of multiple regression analysis, testing of multi-collinearity was carried out. Pearson’s correlation was used in the analysis of correlation, which shows there exist no problem of multi-collinearity (Table IV). 4. 3. 1 Testing of hypothesis between customer satisfaction and antecedent variable. As the antecedent factor of customer satisfaction, diversity of service quality, tangibles of service quality, responsiveness of service quality, interaction of service quality, and stable service quality were set up, and then multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the in? uence on customer satisfaction (Table V). Table VI is the result of analysis on the signi? cance for individual variables. Each b coef? cient appeared 0. 361 for diversity of service quality, 0. 526 for tangibles of service quality, 0. 364 for responsiveness of service quality, 0. 486 for interaction of service quality, and 0. 32 for stable service quality. Standardized regression coef? cient (b) that represents Constructive concept Diversity Tangibles Responsiveness Interaction Stability Customer satisfaction Customer loyalty Customer Customer Diversity Tangibles Responsiveness Interaction Stability satisfaction loyally 1 0. 201 * * 0. 125 * 0. 256 * * 0. 534 * * 0. 361 * * 0. 431 * * 1 0. 075 0. 601 * * 0. 512 * * 0. 526 * * 0. 367 * * A study on customer satisfaction 153 1 0. 219 * * 0. 438 * * 0. 364 * * 0. 547 * * 1 0. 608 * * 0. 486 * * 0. 249 * * 1 0. 332 * * 0. 341 * * 1 0. 236 * * 1 Notes: Correlation coef? cient is signi? cance at *0. 05 and * *0. 1 levels, respectiviely, at both sides; n ? 131 Table IV. Correlation matrix of constructive concepts R2 0. 487 Adjusted R 2 0. 476 F-value 50. 647 F-signi? cance 0. 000 Durbin-Watson 2. 016 Table V. ANOVA Independent variable (Constant) Diversity Tangibles Responsiveness Interaction Stability Unstandardized coef? cients b SE 2 0. 005 0. 361 0. 526 0. 364 0. 486 0. 332 0. 041 0. 061 0. 098 0. 057 0. 060 0. 054 Standardized coef? cients b 0. 360 0. 518 0. 375 0. 497 0. 356 T 20. 073 8. 053 12. 438 8. 215 10. 573 7. 663 Signi? cance probability 0. 292 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 Note: Dependent variable: customer satisfaction Table VI. Multiple regression analysis between customer satisfaction and antecedent variable importance of regression coef? cient appeared 0. 360 for diversity of service quality, 0. 518 for tangibles of service quality, 0. 375 for responsiveness of service quality, 0. 497 for interaction of service quality, and 0. 356 for stable service quality. In the result of analysis, absolute value of beta coef? cient for tangibles of service quality appeared large and therefore, it is deemed to be the variable of best explanation of all. F-value of regression model was 50. 647 (? 0. 000) proved to be of signi? cance, and Durbin-Watson value was 2. 16 (close to 2) deemed to satisfy the assumption of independence. As result of testing, the coef? cient of determination (R 2) – one of the measures that show the adequacy of regression estimated from sample data to the observed value appeared 0. 476. Therefore, 47. 6 percent of variation on customer satisfaction that was the dependent variabl e as result of regression analysis was well explained by antecedent variables. AJQ 11,2 154 Thus, ? ve factors such as diversity of service quality, tangibles of service quality, responsiveness of service quality, interaction of service quality, and stable service quality were found to directly in? ence on customer satisfaction at a signi? cant level. 4. 3. 2 Testing of hypothesis between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. F-value of regression model was 38. 763 (? 0. 000) proved to be signi? cant, and Durbin-Watson value was 1. 912 (close to 2). Therefore, it is deemed to satisfy the assumption of independence (Table VII). The coef? cient of determination ( ) was 0. 212, and therefore 21. 2 percent of variation on customer satisfaction that was a dependent variable as a result of regression analysis. That is, customer loyalty is explained by customer satisfaction, and it was found to directly in? ence on customer loyalty at a signi? cant level (Table VIII). 5. Conclusion T his study aimed for analyzing the in? uence on customer loyalty exerted by product diversity, tangibles, responsiveness, interaction, stability, and customer satisfaction that are suggested as service quality factor felt by furniture purchaser in internet shopping mall. The result is as follows. First, as result of exploring the factors in internet shopping mall service quality which in? uence customer satisfaction, it was proved product diversity, tangibles, responsiveness, interaction, and stability have positive in? ence on internet shopping mall customer satisfaction. As on-line shopping mall market reaches maturity, it is thought time-saving is the main reason for the customer to prefer internet shopping, and the shopping malls focus on their service on such needs. Second, as for the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty concerning internet shopping mall service quality, more satisfaction with internet shopping mall appeared to have more positive in? u ence on customer loyalty. In result, it seems that the consumer satis? ed with internet shopping mall can keep consistent relation with internet shopping mall in future. As aforementioned, the result of this study shows that excellent service quality of internet shopping mall operator becomes the factors that can improve the competitiveness of shopping mall, and furthermore the internet shopping mall could R Table VII. ANOVA 0. 216 Adjusted 0. 212 F-value 38. 763 F-signi? cance 0. 000 Durbin-Watson 1. 912 Independent variable Table VIII. Multiple regression analysis on customer loyalty (Constant) Customer loyalty Unstandardized coef? cients b SE 2 0. 002 0. 236 0. 052 0. 051 Standardized coef? cients b 0. 238 T 20. 036 5. 603 Signi? ance probability 0. 962 0. 000 Note: Dependent variable: customer loyalty raise customer loyalty if they would improve service quality consistently to get satisfaction from the customers. Although this study was carried out against actual furniture purchaser in selecting the samples, it reached the limit in considering the diversity of internet shopping mall, and sorting into on-line and off-line concurrent shopping mall and internet exclusive shopping mall. Thus, a further study needs to be done to ? nd the aforementioned area. References Anderson, R. E. and Srinivasan, S. S. (2003), â€Å"E-satisfaction and e-loyalty: a contingency framework†, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 20. Chen, Q. and Wells, W. D. (1999), â€Å"Attitude toward the site†, Journal of Advertising Research, September-October. Garvin, D. A. (1984), â€Å"What does product quality really mean? †, SLoan Management Review, Vol. 26, Fall. Hoffman, D. L. and Novak, T. P. (1996), â€Å"Marketing in hypermedia computer-mediated environments: conceptual foundations†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60. Jacoby, J. and Chesnut, R. W. (1978), Brand Loyalty Measurement Management, Wiley, New York, NY. 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(1989), â€Å"Customer perception of interpersonal equity and satisfaction in transactions: a ? eld survey approach†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 53, April. Parasuraman, A. , Zeithaml, V. A. and Berry, L. L. (1985), â€Å"A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 9, pp. 41-50. Parasuraman, A. , Zeithaml, V. A. and Berry, L. L. (1988), â€Å"SERVQU AL: a multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality†, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64. Reichheld, F. F. (1993), â€Å"Loyalty-based management†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 71. Ruth, C. (2000), â€Å"Applying a modi? ed technology acceptance model to determine factors affecting behavior intention to adopt electronic shopping on the world wide web: a structural equation modeling approach†, doctoral thesis, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. Woo-seong, L. 2006), â€Å"The effects of service quality on customer loyalty in online shopping mall†, Master’s thesis, Sejong University, Seoul. A study on customer satisfaction 155 AJQ 11,2 Further reading Gefen, D. and Straub, D. W. (2000), â€Å"The relative importance of perceived ease of use in IS adoption: a study of e-commerce adoption†, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Vol. 1. About the authors Yongju Jeong is graduated from Korea National Open Univ ersity. He is also graduated in MA from University of Incheon and doing PhD in University of Incheon. Yongju Jeong is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email  protected] net Yongsung Lee is graduated from the Department of Administration, University of Incheon. He is also graduated in Information and Communication Engineering, University of Incheon. He received his Master of Business Administration from University of Incheon Admission. 156 To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email  protected] com Or visit our web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints

Finc2011 Major Assignment Essay

Executive summary Woolworths Limited (WOW), which is one of the listed companies in Australian Security Exchange (ASX) (ASX 200), is the largest supermarket in Australia (Kruger 2013), it specializes in the groceries, food and retailing (WOOLWORTHS LIMITED (WOW) 2013). The aim of this report is to estimate and determine the dividend growth rate, stock return and current share price of Woolworths. Methods used for the estimation include dividend growth model, Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Gordon’s Growth Model. The results of the estimation indicate that the dividend payments will continuous increasing in the future, the return on the company’s assets is reasonable and its share price is expected to rise. In addition, recommendations associated with the investment decision will be provided to the public investors regarding to the risks in the market by comparing with companies within the same industry. However, there are still a number of limitations of the report such as a few assumptions are made for calculations and limitations due to the difference of risk free rate. Calculation of Growth Rate: The approach used to estimate the growth rate (g) for dividend payments of Woolworths is: g = Ploughback Ratio x Return on Equity (ROE) Ploughback Ratio = 1 – Payout Ratio In which, payout ratio refers to the ratio of dividends to earnings per share (EPS) (Brealey, Myers and Allen 2011). Souce: http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/annualreport/2012/pdf/WW_AR12_Full.pdf Based on the figures above, the growth rate (g) for the 2012 should be: g = (1 – 0.8528) x 0.2722 = 4.01% In order to figure out a more accurate growth rate, the average should be taken from 2008 to 2012. As it is shown in the table, the average g = 7.68%. According to Woolworth’s annual report (2012), the payout ratio is quite stable, despite there is a sudden increase in 2012; hence, we could assume that the dividend payout ratio is constant. Meanwhile, although Woolworths’ Return on Equity (ROE) shows a slight decrease from 2008 to 2012, it is still fairly steady – close to 28%. Since both of two assumptions – constant dividend payout and return on equity – are satisfied (Mellare 2013), g = Ploughback x ROE is suppose to be an appropriate method to estimate the dividend growth rate for Woolworths. Calculation of required return using CAPM Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is a method used to measure the risk and return of an asset, which describes that each expected risk premium of an asset should rise in proportion to its beta (Brealey, Myers and Allen 2011): In which, ri refers to the return on asset, rf refers to the risk free rate of return, beta is the covariance and (rm-rf) is the market risk premium (Brealey, Myers and Allen 2011). To begin with, risk free rate (rf) should be determined. Generally, 10 years government bonds rate is considered to be risk free rate as it is commonly believed that a government would be unlikely to default on its obligations (McNickle 2011). However, it does not mean that government bonds face no risks, it still encounter inflation and interest rate risk (Brealey, Myers and Allen 2011). Source: http://www.rba.gov.asu/statistics/tables/xls/f02d.xls?accessed=2013-05-22-21-18-20 According to the Capital Market Yields – 10 years Government Bonds provided by Reserve Bank of Australia (2013), the 10-year government bond rates in 21th May 2013 is 3.26%, which should be used as the risk free rate (rf) for the calculation of CAPM. Source: http://www.ato.gov.au/super/content.aspx?menuid=0&doc=/content/60489.htm&page=36&H36 However, those may argue that based on the historical data from Australian Taxation Office (2013) – the table above, the average of risk free rate from 2003 to 2012 is calculated to be 5.34%, which should be the risk free rate for the calculation instead of 3.26%. Nevertheless, since the risk free rate is always changing, in order to estimate the return for asset more accurately, the current risk free rate 3.26% is supposed to be taken for the estimation. In this stage, the risky required return (rm), the same as market return, should be calculated. Stock market index is an approach to evaluate the value of stock market and S&P/ASX 200 is the most significant stock market index which tracks the performance of two hundred big Australian corporations (Australia Stock Market (S&P/ASX 200) 2013). Currently, S&P/ASX 200 is a primary share market index in Australia which replaced the All Ordinaries in April 2000 and has become the benchmark for investment for the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) (ASX 200 2013). Therefore, S&P/ASX 200 is the best indicator of the market return and used to determine the market return. Source: https://blackboard.econ.usyd.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-636137-dt-content-rid-201558_2/courses/FINC2011_SEM1_2013/All%20Ords%20Accumulation%20Indices.xls Based on the data from S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation index (daily), which is provided by Mellare (2013), the yearly index could be calculated by averaging all of the daily indexes for that year. Yearly market return (rm) can be determined by: In which, old market index refers to the index for year t and new index is the index for year (t+1). A table for the calculation of market return will be created in a similar way with the S&P/ ASX200 table (see Appendix – 1) for the periods of 10 years in order to comply with ASX. Due to the prices in 2013 is not completed, the market return for financial year (FY) 2012 cannot be estimated reliably. Importantly, averaging rm for 10 years from FY 2002 to FY 2011 is significant for the purpose of determining a more accurate figure. As a result, rm = 8.31%. Because rm is the sum of the risk free interest rate (rf) and a premium for risk (Brealey, Myers and Allen 2011), the risk premium, as a part of CAPM equation, can be calculated through: rm = rf + risk premium risk premium = rm – rf Based on the previous analysis, rf = 3.26% and rm = 8.31%, risk premium = 8.31% – 3.26% = 5.09%. According to the report from last year, the market risk premium is estimated to be 6.0% in October (Michael, Blake and Zolotic 2012), the estimated value of 5.09% is reasonable. According to the financial information from Reuters (2013), Woolworths’ beta (ÃŽ ²) = 0.34. Therefore, by applying CAPM: Calculation of Next Dividend Payment The next dividend payment should be determined by using: In which, d0 is the current dividend payment, d1 is the dividend for the next financial year and g is the growth rate. Souce:http://datanalysis.morningstar.com.au.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/af/company/dividendhistory?ASXCode=WOW&xtm-licensee=dat The table above shows the dividend history of Woolworths (Morningstar 2013). Since, the total dividend payment in 2012 is $67+59 = $126 cents/$1.26 per share, which should be d0, and the growth rate is estimated to be 7.68% in the previous calculations, d1 = 1.26*(1+7.68%) = $1.36, which is the total dividend payment for 2013. As the interim dividend for 2013 has already paid on 26/04/2013, the final dividend for 2013 which is the next dividend payment should be: $1.36–0.62=$0.74 per share. Determination of Expected Current Share Price The constant divident growth model, which is Gordon’s Growth Model, is used for estimating the current share price: In which, P0 refers to the current share price, d1 is the divident payment for the next year, re is the required rate of return and g is the growth rate. In order to calculate the current price P0, firstly, d1 need be calculated which should be the dividend for the next year – 2014. Hence, d1 = 1.36*(1+7.68%) = $ 1.46 As required rate of return (re) consists of both capital gains and dividend yields (Mellare 2013) and capital gains is the same as g (Mathis 2001), re = capital gains (g) + dividend yields. Souce: http://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/annualreport/2012/pdf/WW_AR12_Full.pdf According to the historical data from annural report of Woolworth (2012), taking the average of all of the dividend yields for the last five years – from 2008 to 2012, the dividend yield = 3.8808%. Therefore, re = 7.68% + 3.88% = 11.56% Lastly, the expected current share price in 2013 is: P0 = 1.46/(11.56%-7.68%) = $ 37.63 Recommodation and Discussion Investment decisions are rely on the return and risk associated with a security. According to CAPM, actural returns are measured by beta, which is defined as a security’s sencitivity relative to the changes in the value of the market portfolio (Brealey, Myers and Allen 2011), over the long run. Beta of Woolworths Limited is 0.34 (Reuters 2013), which is a good sign as it indicates that the company is insensitive to the market risk. Comparing it with other companies, Wesfarmers Limited (WES), the Perth-based conglomerate which selling food to customers (Greenblat 2013), has same situation with Woolworths in terms of growing trend of dividend payment and  sharing market risk as they operates within the same industry – food industriy. Beta of Wesfarmers is 0.96 (Reuters 2013),which means that Wesfarmers is more risky than Woolworths as it is as risky as the market porfolio (Brealey, Myers and Allen 2011). As well, beta of Goodman Fielder (GFF), another food company, is 0.98 (Reuters 2013), which means it shares almost the same risk with the market porfolio (Mellare 2013) – realtively in the same situation with Wesfarmers. Therefore, when concerning with the risks, it is recommended to invest in Woolworths. However, under CAPM, high-beta securities will result in high return: ri = rf + ÃŽ ²*(rm – rf) As all of these three companies are in the same market, they share the same market risk but the proportion is different based on their beta. Although, securities of Wesfarmers and Goodman Fielder are more risky than Woolworths due to higher beta, they provide higher return to investors. Since investment decisions are depend on personal interests (Mellare 2013), it cannot be denied that there are a few investors prefer higher returns with higher risks. Moreover, the higher returns compensate investors for higher risk, hence, it is unlikely to determine whether invest in Woolworths is a better option. Nevertheless, investing in Woolworth is still recommended. Investing in low-risk securities provides constant and stable returns. Investing in Woolworths is worthwhile not only because Woolworths provides quite constant returns, but also its potential to growth due to its strong profitability and cash flows (WOW – Woolworths Limited 2012). Overall, it is recommended to invest in Woolworths. It is important to notice that there are a number of limitations for this report. Firstly, the method used for calculating dividend growth is based on the assumptions – constant dividend payout and return on equity, but in reality, both dividend payout and return on equity are unlikely to be constant. Consequently, the calculation of g may not be accurate. As well, since the 10-year government bond rate, which is considered as risk free

Psychology and Biology Essay

The essay will begin with an introduction to each approach, giving main assumptions and supporting evidence. Following this, the two theories will be compared and contrasted, looking at strengths and weaknesses. In conclusion there will be a short explanation of the main areas of similarity, and differences  Psychology and its many definitions has changed radically and frequently over time, as an independent area of study. There are many different theoretical views, some conflicting, regarding the most appropriate methods for investigating human nature. The approaches chosen to discuss in this essay are biology psychology and comparative psychology. Biopsychology is the scientific study of the biology of behaviour.Some refer to this field as psychobiology,behavioural biology,behavioural neuroscience.It is an integrative discipline. The study of the biology of behaviour has a long history,but biopsychology did not coalesce into a major neuroscientific discipline until this century.Biopsychologists draw together knowledge from the other neuroscientific disciplines and apply it to the study of behaviour. Biopsychologists are neuroscientists who brings to their research a knowledge of behaviour and the methods of behavioural research. They uses animals because their methods of study can not be used with humans. Comparative psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of animal behaviour. Modern research on animal behaviour began with the work of Charles Darwin and Georges Romanes and has continued to grow into a multidisciplinary subject. Today, biologists, psychologists, anthropologists, ecologists, geneticists and many others contribute to the study of animal behaviour.Comparative psychologists compare the behaviour of different species and focus on the genetics,evolution and adaptivness of behaviour.Historically,comparative psychologists have focused on the experimental investigation of animal behaviour in controlled laboratory environments.Modern comparative psychology also encompasses the study of animal behaviour in its natural environment. For Biopsychology,biological bases have been found for a range of psychological disorders. Schizophrenics, for example, have been found to have different brain structures to other people, with smaller brains and higher-than-normal levels of dopamine.Looking at the chemical make-up of the brain has lead to the successful production of a range of drug treatments in recent decades that have helped in the treatment of a variety of issues, including Prozac (for depression), schizophrenia. However,The biological approach in psychology is highly reductionist in its approach to the complexity of human behavior and emotion. Reducing our feelings and reactions to robot-like behavior is not only unethical, it also ignores the factors in our every day environment – our childhood experiences and the influence and behavior of friends and media – that have been found to affect us.Many drug treatments have unwanted side-effects. Claims, for example, that Prozac can cause violent behavior after taking it, are not uncommon, so the claim that the biological approach can produce effective treatment.Drugs only treat the biologically-visible effects, not the causes of problems. Childhood experiences that cause trauma and depression during adulthood may be better treated by confronting our past than by using anti-depressants. Different with biopsychology,Comparative psychology often utilizes the comparative method to study animal behavior. The comparative method involves comparing the similarities and differences among species to gain and understanding of evolutionary relationships. The comparative method can also be used to compare modern species of animals to ancient species.  The study of animal behavior can lead to a deeper and broader understanding of human psychology. Research on animal behavior has led to numerous discoveries about human behavior, such as Ivan Pavlov’s research on classical conditioning or Harry Harlow’s work with rhesus monkeys. Students of biological sciences and social sciences can benefit from studying comparative psychology. The strengths of the comparative psychology is that it is easy to find out and analyse the statistics of human psychology and the results are always believable.In addition,it is also clear to show the relationships between different variable quantities.However,there is a weakness that it is hard to find out the conclusion of the cause and effect and the experiments are always inflexible.Also,most of the experiments require a lot of manpower and material resources.  If the approaches are compared in terms of the nature – nurture debate, common ground is found, both believe an individual’s personality develops as they grow, therefore, they are on the nurture side of the argument as opposed to nature, which suggests people are born with genetic dispositions and only possess innate, inherited personality. (Carlson 1990) In conclusion both have fundamental differences and share many attributes, comparative psychologists believe the unconscious has no bearing on behaviour, opposed to biology psychologists’ belief that unconscious drives are the reason we behave as we do, one is scientific, the other isn’t and they both use very different therapies to treat patients. The similarities between the approaches begin as far back as evolution and Darwin’s theory, they share determinism and both fall into the nurture side of the great debate.  However, it is fair to say, that even with their many differences and similarities, these approaches have made the biggest contribution to this ‘science of the mind’ and made history with different therapeutic techniques. Reference lists Simmon Green(1994) Principles of Biopsychology. Lawrence erlbaum associates ltd.  John P.J Pinel(1999) Biopsychology . A Pearson Education Company.

What Factors lead to hyperinflations and what can be done to eliminate Essay

What Factors lead to hyperinflations and what can be done to eliminate them - Essay Example ral cause of hyperinflation may be described as follows – an unprecedented rise in money supply that is bereft of any growth in output or services creates a disparity between the demand and supply of money. This imbalance leads to a loss of confidence in the value of the money and finally, hyperinflation. The situation becomes such gruesome that any kind of legal tender laws, price controls, fail to return the confidence on the value of the paper money, which is without any intrinsic value to the consumer. If the government resorts to excessive printing of money and if it gets a friendly environment to foster inflation, hyperinflation keeps on sustaining and in a cumulative manner, erodes the economy day by day. The government in such case often fails to match the pace of its currency printing mechanism with that of the devaluating currency (the rate at which the currency is losing its value). (Hyperinflation: causes, cures†) The incident of hyperinflation is almost always associated with the paper form of money. This is because it is the simplest way to increase money supply. In most of the cases after experiencing hyperinflation, an economy reverts to hard money. An investigation into the basic causes of hyperinflation will offer more questions than answers. According to the monetarists and the classical economists, a hyperinflation is always led by irresponsible borrowing of money by the government in order to pay all of its expenses. The monetary and classical theory regarding the hyperinflation center on the untamed seignorage on behalf of the monetary authority and the gains they can reap off the inflation tax. The neo liberals, on the other hand, explain hyperinflation in terms of the confidence crisis. The neoliberal theory of hyperinflation is known as the quantity theory of hyperinflation. According to them loss of confidence of the mass on the capability of paper money to readily transform int o hard currency like gold, silver or other form of

Fredrickson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Fredrickson - Essay Example This was through the modification of the institutions brought about by English colonist and the open-door policy of immigration. In adopting the mindset of Anglo conformity as highlighted in the theory, one would need to be alert to the ways through American assimilation of the different ideologies was attained. This way, they would easily identify with the policies that were implemented in the realization of the American reformation and integration of divergent cultures brought by the immigrants. The mindset is right and appropriate for adoption by an individual and society in the sense that it would enable the recognition of the efforts put in enhancing assimilation in America. Subsequently, one would be able to accept the concepts of developing a new society as were realized in the Americanization to the extent that it is possible to integrate divergent opinions. To survive in the modern society, these mindsets would enable individuals and communities to promote coexistence amongst themselves in the manner that allows for the recognition of historical sacrifices made to ensure the achievement of assimilation goals (Norgren & Serena