A Critical Review Essay Politics Essay

A Critical Review Essay Politics Essay Arend dAngremond Lijphart born in Apeldoom, the Netherlands is a world renowned political scientist specializing in comparative politics, elections and voting systems, democratic institutions and ethnicity and politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporation, academia, and religion institutions. He is currently Research Professor Emeritus of Political Science Political science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior.at the University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego is a public research university in San Diego, California, California. The schools campus contains 694 buildings and is located in the La Jolla, San Diego, California community.His work has focused on the broader contrasts between majoritarian and consensus democracies. The origin of this article under review was an invitation Lipjhart received to deliver at the Stein Rokkan Lecture, Joint Sessions of Workshops of the European Consortium for Political Research in Leiden on April 3rd, 1993 (Lipjhart 1994a). He uses this opportunity to present a report at that time on the latest phase of his work-in-progress a large-scale project, on which he has been working since the early 1980s, that attempts the systematic mapping of the worlds democracies in terms of their principal institutional characteristics. My purpose is to demonstrate if there is one best model of democracy while evaluating the approach Lipjhart has taken. Part of the argument has already been offered by Lipjhart (1994a), and this paper builds on his work. I will demonstrate his strengths while explaining the various forms of democratic methods proportional representation, consensus and majoritarian including implications of his weaknesses. Sartori (1968:273) adequately summarises the electoral system as the most specific manipulative instrument of politics. Democracies: Forms, Performance and Constitutional Engineering Lipjhart (1994a) argues that the choice between majoritarian electoral systems and proportional representation (PR) systems, there exists an exchange, as both are good forms of democracy but there is better minority representation in proportional representation systems and with the majoritarian system it leads to effective government. While Lijphart advocated consociationalism primarily for societies deeply divided along ethnic, religious, ideological, or other divisions, he sees consensus democracy as appropriate for any society. Lipjhart (1994a) strongly suggested that the government by the people or, democracy, as stated by Abraham Lincoln, is an ideal rather than a precise form of governmental procedures and goals. Lijpharts (1994a) article compares the two basic models of democracy: majoritarian or Westminster as used in the United Kingdom and New Zealand and consensus which is used in major Western European nations such as Switzerland. He goes on to state that each of these models use a different approach of an electoral model at how to best represent the citizens. In consequence one may ask, is it more democratic to delegate policy-making power to the majority only or is it better to include minorities, as well? (Lipjhart, 1994a:2) Lipjhart (1994a:2) defines the majoritarian model is characterized by a one party majority executive; an executive that predominates over the legislature; a two party system; a one dimensional party system (in which the two main parties differ primarily on socio-economic issues); a disproportional electoral system; and a pluralist interest group system. This maintains that majority rule comes closer to the democratic ideal than a government responsive to a minority. Furthermore, Lipjhart (1994a:2) states that the other type of electoral system, the consensus democracy has the opposite six characteristics: multiparty coalition executives; executive legislative balance; a multi party system; a multi-dimensional party system (in which the parties differ on issues in addition to socio-economic issues, for example, on religious, rural-urban and foreign policy issues); more or less proportional electoral outcomes; and a corporatists interest group system. He contends that majoritarian system when compared to the consensus form of government is a result of the more divided a country is, the more it is a plural society- the more consensual its form of democracy tends to be (Lipjhart 1994a:2) while countries with a British political colonial past adopted the majoritarian model. Lipjhart (2000:4) then extends his comparative analysis to plurality versus proportional representational systems. Here he analyses 13 advanced industrial democracies with parliamentary systems of government, contrasting four that use majoritarian election methods and nine that use proportional representational methods. He argued three main points: He then goes on to use the same performance variables comparing consensus versus majoritarian democracy where he concludes that Western European democracies with their consensus democracies have superior political representation while arguing that the majoritarian democracies are not performing better economically and that concentrating political power in the hands of a narrow majority can promote unified, decisive leadership and fast decision making (Lipjhart 1994a:11-12). Lipjharts findings are in a particular time period and he argues (1994a:12) the special advantage because of the 1990s are not only the decade of democratization but also the decade of renewed ethnic conflict, and because ethnic divisions are generally deeper and more severe in the democratizing world than in the world of established democracies. In the end his evidence points to consensus oriented political cultures are a strong counterforce to the majoritarian institutional conservatism and they provide fertile soil for the consensus model of democracy (Lipjhart 1994a:15). There are many good arguments that Lipjhart (1994a) makes using his methods of analysis and illustrated evidence. The first benefit of Lipjharts paper, Schmidt (1997) agrees with Lipjhart and what he addresses to be a truly significant topic of political science, comparative politics and that the article focuses the attention with a precisely stated and highly relevant research question Lipjhart (1994a:1) what can the new democracies of and democratizing countries of Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa learn from Western Europe?. Schmidt (1997) supports Lipjharts claims, which centres on the concentration of the relationship between constitutional structures and forms of democracy while Lipjhart measures political performance. Schmidt (1997:194) comments that this question is related to a recurrent topic in political science: which political system is more advanced than others in coping with social, economic and political problems and why? Lipjhart (1994a:1) answers this indispensible task in representative democracies is performed by the electoral system- the set of methods for translating the citizens votes into representatives seats. Thus the electoral system is the most fundamental element of representative democracy. Lipjhart (1994a:3) further states the conventional wisdom is that there is a trade off between consensus and majoritarian democracy where he goes on to comment consensus democracy provides more accurate representation and in particular, better minority representation and protection of minority interests while majority governments produced by majoritarian election methods are more decisive, and are more effective policy-makers. Similarly, Sartori (1997:8) states that the major factor establishing the proportionality or disproportionality of the proportional representation (PR) is the size of the constituency, where size is measured by the number of members that each district elects. So and regardless of the mathematical fine points, the larger the constituency, the greater the proportionality. Hence allowing for better representation. While Schmidt (2002:148) agrees however, the view that the English-speaking democracies (regardless of whether the Westminster model or the checks-and-balances model is concerned) are superior is no longer regarded as tenable. The second argument in favour of this (1994a) article, Schmidt (1997:195) applauds Lipjhart on the quality of the research design, the methodology and the empirical results. Schmidt (1997:195) argues in contrast to more traditional case-oriented theories of the ideal state, Lipjhart (1994a) addresses the research question within the framework of an empirical comparative analysis of 21 constitutional democracies. Moreover, the work builds on extensive research, such as his 1984 book, Democracies, not to mention numerous articles on related topics. In substantive terms, Lijphart demonstrates significant commonalities as well as differences between various democracies, such as those between consensus democracies and majoritarian democracy. The third merit of the article By Schmidt (1997:195) is due to the successful effort on the part of Lijphart to bring work on more formal institutions state structures and constitutional structures back into the investigation of public policy and policy outcomes. Following his own impressive research in comparative politics, Lijphart does this within the context of a comparative framework. Lijpharts article inspires other scholars in the field to follow more closely the avenue of a more fully integrated comparative analysis of the relationships between institutions and public policy choices. Finally, Schmidt (1997:195) states that the author derives relevant recommendations for purposes of constitutional engineering from his analysis. Pointing to the weaknesses and strengths of the various forms of democracies, the author has lessons to offer not only for constitution building in established democracies, but also for new political systems such as the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe. This demonstrates in a particularly convincing manner that high quality political science can generate high quality policy advice. However, this discussion is not without flaws and by careful examination and review of perspectives which might have been neglected by Schmidt (1997) support for Lipjhart (1994a), the following will include theoretical perspectives ignored and exaggerated claims not fully supported by argument or evidence. As Geddes (1990:132) states the effort here is not to discredit arguments or belittle authors, who are, after all, working within accepted conventions-but to demonstrate the deficiencies of the conventions. Discussion First, Schmidt (2002:148) states majoritarian democracies were long regarded as more stable, fitter for survival even under adverse circumstances such as during the interwar period and World War II, and better at problem solving. That belief largely mirrored the survival of the English speaking democracies in the 1920s and 1930s as opposed to the breakdown of a wide variety of democratic states and the rise of Fascism in Italy and of National Socialism in Germany and Austria in this period. Questioning this statement, according to consociationalist empirical democratic theory, such as that put forward by Lijphart (1999) and Lehmbruch (1975), negotiation democracies are often of equal strength and sometimes stronger than their majoritarian counterparts. There is little evidence and inaccuracy to state one is better than other from the evidence that is put forward by Lipjhart (1994a). Infact Satori (1997:69) states the necessary condition for the successful working of a consociational democracy is an elite cooperation whose intent counters the disintegrative tendencies of their society; but this necessary and most crucial condition disappears in the definition of consensus democracy. Second, Sartori (1997:69) argues there is a false belief that proportional systems are inherently superior to majoritarian systems and therefore that they are always to be preferred. He (Satori 1997:73) also states that in the pure form of PR generally backfires; and in the extremist package recommended by Lipjhart its defects boomerang and PR may turn out to be the kiss of death. Sartori (1997:28) thus as a result states once an electoral arrangement is in place, its beneficiaries protect their vested interests and struggle to go on playing the game by the rules they know. Third, another unproven claim by Lipjharts (1994a) article about the two types of electoral systems, he does not go into detail on the discussion of Duvergers laws and is very uncritical of those laws. Maurice Duverger was the first author to address the effects of electoral systems. Duverger as stated by Sartori (1997:29) formulated two laws, the first one states that plurality (majoritarian) systems tend to party dualism while the second law asserts that PR tends to mutlipartism, i.e., that it has a multiplying effect. Saroti was setting up his evidence to show the weakness of Duvergers laws in relation to Lipjharts views in the (1994a) article under review. Sartori (1997:30) goes on to demonstrate that weakness by stating Duverger assumes that a causal relation can be deduced from a correlation; that is to say, he misses the difference between cause of and associated with' while in the second law, he states a causal generalization is verifiable if and only if, the cause and the effect are clearly specified, whereas the effect of Duvergers first law (party dualism) defies underpinning, and the effect of his second law (multipartism) also suffers from excessive imprecision. Sartori comments that Duvergers laws are not consistent and that he can be easily use his evidence to fit his purpose. Sartori (1997:31) states the bottom line is, then, that a law is required to declare more than a regularity and cannot consist of a mere generalization. Furthermore, since a law stands so long as it is not falsified, it must be formulated so as to permit empirical confirmation or refutation. Fourth, consensus democracies are not necessarily better at policy formulation and implementation. Schmidt (2002:150) argues they are also faced with certain problems such as challenges requiring swift response, the rapid development of political alternatives and rapid decision making tend to overburden the consensus democracies. And so, too, do challenges which require the capacity to design and implement significant policy changes. Due to the large number of participants in policy deliberation and decision making, consensus democracies usually need longer periods of time to reach a consensus or initiatives may even get stuck in a blocked decision-making process. Schmidt (2002:150) adds a further weakness of consensus democracies lies in the lower transparency of the process of deliberation and decision making as well as the indistinct accountabilities of the participants in the negotiations. These deficits often are overlooked in the comparison of political performance levels of majoritarian and consensus democracies. Sartori (1997:72) argues if you reward divisions and divisiveness (and this is precisely what proporz and veto power do), you increase and eventually heighten divisions and divisiveness. In the end, then, Lipharts machinery may well engender more consensus-breaking than consensus-making. Fifth, in contrast to majoritarian democracies there is incomplete arguments made, Lipjhart (1994:11) argues that consensus democracy with regard to minority representation and democratic quality is not surprising because consensus democracy may be said to be designed so as to achieve more accurate representation of interests and broad participation in decision-making. While Powell (2000:234) comments that concentrated power is valued by majoritarians for enabling elected governments to carry out their promises (mandates) and for giving voters clear information about responsibility for government actions (accountability). Unless public opinion is very homogenous, however, concentrating power in the hands of the government will be detrimental to the normative principle of giving proportional influence to agents of all the electorate, which is the process most valued by the alternative vision. Sixth, another factor against consensus democracy is that some perform better than others. Schmidt (2002:149) argues other blind spots also include the asymmetric availability of performance data, with less systematic coverage of democracies in economically less-advanced states as a major gap, as well as the tendency to overlook both the imperfections of all consensus democracies and the wide range of variation in policy performance among consensus democracies. Powell (2000:52) argues clarity of responsibility is greatest when a single, unified political party controls both the national legislature and chief executive. If control of these critical policy-making points is dispersed among various parties or among individuals not firmly connected by political parties, then it will be much harder for citizens to determine who should bear the responsibility for policy success or failure and to use their electoral resources effectively as instruments for reward or retribution. Seventh, another weakness of Lijphart, is that he uses different concepts of democracy. Van Schendelen (1981:8) states in his first book, he refers to the election process, in the second (Democracies of Plurality) to Dahls concept of polyarchy. Between the two there exist, of course, important differences: for Dahl elections are only one element of polyarchy among many. Van Schendelen (1981:8) further states in his first conceptualization Lijphart leaves open the possibilities that political parties fully control the recruitment of candidates for an election; that in the interelection period the relationships between electors and elected are almost non-existent or antagonistic; that elites opinions and behaviour are non-representative of the peoples demands; and that elite-politics is full of secrecy and immune to popular control. Eighth, while Lipjhart focuses on certain countries for his research, Barbara Geddes (1990:131) states that there is a problem with selecting cases for study when the dependent variable originates from the logic of explanation. She (1990:131) further states when one sets out to explain why countries A and B have, say, developed more rapidly than countries C through G, one is implicitly looking for some antecedent factors X through Z that countries A and B possess, but that countries C through G do not. Geddes (1990) argues that the crux of the difficulty that arises when cases are selected on the dependent variable is that if one studies only countries A and B, one can collect only half the information needed, namely what A and B have in common which is what Lipjhart (1994a) does. She (1990:131) goes on to state unless one also studies countries C through G (or a sample of them) to make sure they lack factors X through Z, one cannot know whether or not the factors identified are cruc ial antecedents of the outcome under investigation. Countries A and B may be the only countries that have X through Z, in which case the hypothesis seems plausible. But many other countries may also have them, in which case the hypothesis would seem dubious. Schmidt (2002:148) clearly states one result of comparative studies of the behaviour, output and outcome of democracies has been that simple generalizations do not fit. According to Lijphart (1994a), no significant difference exists between the two types of democracies with respect to macro-economic policy outcomes and law-and-order-management. However, when it comes to softer political issues, consensus democracy turns out to be the winner. As a group, consensus democracies, Lijphart (1994a) argues, they perform better than majoritarian democracies in the protection of minorities, voter turnout, income equality and ratings of democratic quality. Schmidt (2002:151) continues with his discussion stating this finding is undoubtedly preliminary, and future work will require more detailed analysis of the impact of alternative explanations and control variables. However, the major point in this context is that Lijphart (1994a) has asked the right questions, such as do forms of democracy make a difference to policy outputs and policy outcomes and, if so, to what extent? Moreover, Schmidt (2002:151) continues his discussion the research published from many academics thus far has already produced fresh evidence on the costs and benefits of governmental systems with different political arrangements and different forms of democracy in particular. In contrast to this, policy deliberation in a non-majoritarian democracy is frequently characterized by extended bargaining, time-consuming searches for compromises and circuitous attempts to develop a political consensus such features are not at all suitable to politics as a spectacle (Edelm an 1988). Finally, Schmidt (2002:151) says the higher level of transparency and accountability of majoritarian democracies also weighs in their favour. Political leaders in a majoritarian democracy are more exposed and accountable to the general public, while responsibility and accountability in non-majoritarian systems often tends to evaporate in the countless networks typical of a negotiation democracy. Satori (1997:72) adds consociational democracy is a cross-pressured system held together by countervailing, solidaristic elites bent upon neutralizing the centrifugal pulls of their societies; consensus democracy is, instead, a one way slope that leads to a self-reinforcing system of minority appetites. CONCLUSION The catalogue of collected criticisms raised against Lijpharts views demonstrates at least one thing: his views are widely and fundamentally contested. But it also demonstrates that Lijpharts views have been taken seriously and that they have at least provoked critical debate and analysis among scholars. This critical inquiry attests to the substance and importance of Lijpharts efforts. I agree with Sartori (1997) where he states Lijphart seems to be more concerned about the applicability or the engineering potential of his theory than about its political science validity. If, along the basic lines of his essential views, democratic stability could be realized in highly unstable countries, then the theory may be weak, but not wrong. In consequence, Edelman (1985:2) states in their obsession with the state, men are of course obsessed with themselves. If politics is as complicated and ambivalent as the men who create it, it is to be expected that its institutions and forms should take on strong meanings: meanings that men cue and teach each other to expect and that are vital for the acquiescence of the general public in the actions of elites and therefore for social harmony. I support Lipjharts consociational democracy as it presents us with a challenging and provocative point of view. But, at the present time, it provides less than is needed for solid prescriptions for deeply divided societies anxiously searching for stable democracy. Perhaps, after rigorous analysis and evaluation, it might lead us to answers for problems confronting such societies. Any answers it might provide would certainly be highly valued by those who seek a stable, democratic political system.

Executive Summary

Executive Summary Executive Summary For Wingate systems to work, a relationship marketing model can be used via e-commerce to increase success. To most, it would seem late in the game to begin assessing whether continuous relationship marketing (CRM) can work in e-commerce. In the decade or so since the issue first arose, several things have become apparent, not least of which is that simply segmenting a market to serve different populations of customers, especially online customers, is inadequate. In fact, relationship marketing has been defined, since the 1980s, as â€Å"attracting, maintaining, andin multi-service organizationsenhancing customer relationships,† (Stern, 1997) In addition, â€Å"the reality of customers forming relationships with people rather than [with] goods† is what drove it, and made it a key source of benefits to the firm. (Stern, 1997) For traditional relationship marketing to work as it should in any organization, all other business parameters also need to be in place. Recently, this has been identified in a forward-looking model as a â€Å"holistic, dynamic and dialectical† model. (Chang, 2004) Not surprisingly, this model was developed in an Asian developing economy context. The author noted that local firms in developing countries need to be creative in developing e-business strategies because they are operating in under-developed e-business environments. It that is true for relationship marketing success in developing countries, it should, therefore, be even more valuable to mature organizations operating in mature business environments. E-business is sometimes identified as the â€Å"convergence of digital technology, intellectual property and customer supremacy† (Chang, 2004) and it emphasizes the interconnectedness of both the hardware and human capital functions within any company that wants to be successful in using CRM in an e-business environment. Done right, it will transcend â€Å"the traditional boundaries of space, time, individuals and organizations.† (Chang, 2004) Introduction Despite the dot-com failures of the recent past, few would doubt that e-business is a main driver of the new and future economy globally. It is also safe to assume that relationship marketing began its development when bricks-and-mortar businesses were able to operate without substantial Internet presence. Then, it was ‘relationship marketing, and depended on such things as ‘personal bankers, and ‘personal shoppers, and arguably, within each organization that had added the relationship marketing function, it was viewed as a ‘must have but with little relative impact on the bottom line. However, three things entered the business arena that made it paramount for relationship marketing to become both continuous (CRM) and integrated into the business structures. Those three things were the development of digital technologies, the importance of intellectual property, and â€Å"customer supremacy,† defined as customization of product/service and reduced cycle time. (Chang, 2004) E-business has altered prior relationships so that the complex of digital technology, intellectual property and customer supremacy when integrated with business activities makes conventional rules of business obsolete. â€Å"E-business seems to have the capability to change the competitive landscapes in the traditional industries, create new industries, and affect the configuration and coordination of firm-level business activities, especially such external activities as customer relationship management†¦..† (Chang, 2004) Companies that use e-commerce successfully within the holistic CRM paradigm will necessarily have integrated all these elements rather than treating each as a separate profit center or line item, with convergence merely found on the balance sheet and not in the conduct of the business itself. Background Organizational form, business model and strategy have been considered the framework of commerce. In the holistic viewpoint, there are only two factors, business configuration and business coordination. In this context, business configuration is used to mean the scope of business coverage by a company, what was once known as strategy. Business coordination refers to the style of business relationships both within a company and with its customers and suppliers. (Chang, 2004) If these two components of business are used in a truly holistic manner, the result will be virtually zero distance between customers and suppliers, zero inventory and (near) zero working capital. In short, the relationship marketing function will have made the company—whether a product- or service-based business—into a simply go-between. The profit comes from performing the service of obtaining supplies that become product or service, ‘warehousing that product or service only minimally, and transmitting it to the customer. Obviously, the trick to it all is knowing the suppliers and customers well enough that there is no additional negotiation needed and order and payment change hands almost simultaneously. For this, e-commerce would seem ideally suited. Strategies Intimacy model A second new thrust identified in relationship marketing is the intimacy model of relationship marketing. Personal sales, the traditional basis for relationship marketing, occur in real time. In some respects, so do e-commerce sales, with the difference that they are not happening in a ‘real place but rather a virtual storefront. That advertising—communication through a nonpersonal medium—is essential to e-commerce relationships brings into the equation the theory of intimacy. Some researchers regard evaluation of customer intimacy as a business concept as important as the holistic model. (Stern, 1997) Intimacy theory â€Å"accounts for the influence of emotion in relationships as well as that of cognition (feelings as well as thoughts).† It also allows insight into the deterioration of relationships, and finally, it â€Å"emphasizes the association between relationship stages and persuasive communication that enhances the services firms ability to apply relationship management to advertising as well as to personal sales.† (Stern, 1997) Because e-commerce is a blending of all of these elements, but not in the presence of a ‘live intermediary, it may be useful to consider whether these factors are included in ecommerce relationship marketing today, or only in ‘bricks and mortar settings (Theodosiou, M. and Leonidou, L.C., 2003). Five bases of intimacy in relationship marketing Just as Chang identified two elements to the setting in which relationship marketing can occur and be holistic, Stern identifies five components of intimacy in relationship marketing (Vorhies, D.W. and Morgan, N.A., 2003). Communication and sympathetic listening This includes self-disclosure, a willingness to share personal or attitudinal information. In the relationship-selling arena, the communication will generally be one way, from customer to company. The listener, in this case the company, must provide the sympathetic, that is, non-judgmental, listening. In that way, the customer reveals needs and desires and the company builds trust. So, â€Å"relationships in which a consumer tells all to a non-disclosing partner are perceived as intimate as long as the partner communicates a sympathetic attitude to what is being told.† (Stern, 1997) â€Å"Advertisements aimed at conveying sympathetic listening transform one-way media communication (that is, non-interactive messages) into a representation of responsiveness,† Stern adds. (1997) An example she gives is direct mail and online marketer Lands Ends headline, â€Å"Well knock ourselves out for you.† The copy reads, â€Å"Ever since we started doing business back in 1963 . . . weve done our level best to satisfy our customers. So you can be sure that whenever you call, well do whatever it takes to satisfy you, in our friendly Wisconsin way.† (Quoted by Stern , 1997) Commitment: Bonding with Consumers. A sense of â€Å"weness† is the belief that each member of a relationship is committed to the welfare of the other. (Stern, 1997) As a customer grows accustomed to positive responses in a business relationship, that feeling develops and they begin to say â€Å"my credit card company† or â€Å"my car dealership.† Stern notes that bonding techniques are an increasingly popular marketing strategy for services marketers attempting to establish long-term bonds with consumers so they can be retained. By 1997, it had been ascertained that retention beat prospecting in terms of profitability. (Stern, 1997) This goes so far as to allow a firm to lose money, be design, on a particular transaction in order to retain the customer. In a credit-card relationship, this might include waiving a fee for a late payment when it was clearly an oddity in the customers usual behavior. Caring and Giving Altruism is the watchword here, and not demands for reciprocity, even though it is a ‘relationship. Companies carrying out relationship marketing can activate perception of this by basing decisions and reactions on a â€Å"needs rule rather than an equity rule† to establish a closer mental association. (Stern, 1007) This has been successfully used in financial services POS advertising. Chase Manhattan Bank used a message at the bottom of its ATM receipts that said, â€Å"Chase give you 6 other ways to connect.† (Stern, 1997) So, even though it was an impersonal, practically an online, setting, and the ‘reach out factor was present. But the appearance was that the bank cared enough about all users of its ATMs to offer the information, at least. Comfort (Compatibility) A consumers sense of security in a relationship is central to retention. In dealing with service firms, consumers have been found to â€Å"evaluate their level of comfort†¦. on the dimension of mutual engagement in a joint venture.† (Stern, 1997) The vocabulary of intimacy is used in advertising to create this image. For example, New England Life positioned itself as â€Å"Your Financial Partner,† and showed images of three-generations meeting, conveying an image of long-term relationships. (Stern, 1997) Conflict Resolution and Trust This is a sort of last-ditch tactic in any relationship-marketing program. Although at times conflict may be inevitable, even in a well-maintained relationship, conflict resolution and problem-solving abilities including skill in listening, negotiation, and conciliation are essential to maintaining relationship marketing. (Stern, 1997) How possible this is in an e-commerce setting, especially in a service such as credit, might be problematical. There must, then, be a mechanism to resolve conflicts satisfactorily (Doty, D.H., Glick, W.H. and Huber, 1993). Campaigns: Advertising and Subscription How does a not-so-well known company show what they have, or how does a known company attack new segments seeking more consumer attention? Since the rolls on the net became voiceovers, the consumer retrieves what it wants, and the producer has to be hunted. The advertising model is based on using creative advertising banners and links in very frequented web-pages. Some companies have successfully advertised their new products and services through this system making sure their ads are more creative and attractive for the roaming eyes of the consumer (Gupta, A.K. and Govindarajan, 1991). The biggest winner here though, is the page that offers that space. Search engines like Amazon or Yahoo have made big use of this model. All the services they offer (e.g. chats, games, e-mail, search engine etc.) are for free, charging companies for the use of space for ads on their Web-pages. The more frequented a page is the more it costs to display an ad. Companies starting to use this model are def initely at an advantage for their present position and the its cost. Wingate proposes to use this model to advertise its latest concepts and designs (DiMaggio, P.J. and Powell, W.W., 1993). Wingate therefore plans to use the intimacy model and combine it with both the subscription model and the advertising model in order to market its product. The Subscription Model has become a very popular model with a high range of success. By subscribing in any service or company on the net, all your given information is stored on a special data base that is used to classify users. With this data-base that has all the records of visited products and purchases, the providers are able to target the visitors on a more personal basis. An example of this is Hotmail. Hotmail is not only one of the most popular, free e-mail services, but it also belongs to Microsoft. The new way to link the customer to the wanted page can also be manipulated by the new Passport system of Hotmail (Gresov, C. and Drazin, 1997). All the information given in subscription to Hotmail is automatically transferred to other services Microsoft offers. Say you entered, your hobby is to travel, therefore you will get e-mails about travel with new offers on where to fly, it also facilitates one with the advantage of not having to re-enter all their personal details all over again when subscribing in a new company run by Microsoft. This model is very powerful and it does not end there, consumers are followed through their life cycle becoming aware of what the company has to offer to the specific consumers. It is more likely that a father will consider the idea of a family insurance rather than a child. For the child, the company will target for example new bikes. This model divides the segments even further, making sure that the consumer feels special, with not costing much extra. Therefore, it will be important to start a database of existing customers and retain their information in order to provide them with updates of Wingates latest offers and ideas. Furthermore, a website could be setup and advertised to allow individuals to know about this subscription service if they would like to sign up for information. More information about how this concept can be advertised overall is discussed below in the basic advertising model. Controls Wingate plans to budget $3000-$5000 for monthly advertising. The idea will be to run banner ads on various websites for a fee, and to also advertise on pay per click websites such as Google adwords. Other Internet marketing companies can also be hired to keep keywords high on the search engine lists. Below is a chart demonstrating this. References Bielski, Lauren. (2001). â€Å"Making the customer relationship work.† ABA Banking Journal, 93(3). Chang, Steven Tung-lung. (2004). â€Å"A holistic framework of e-business strategy: the case of Haier in China.† Journal of Global Information Management, 1 April. DiMaggio, P.J. and Powell, W.W. (1993) The iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields, American Sociological Review 48(2): 147-160. Doty, D.H., Glick, W.H. and Huber, G.P. (1993) Fit, equifinality, and organizational effectiveness: a test of two configurational theories, Academy of Management Journal 36(6): 1196-1250. Gresov, C. and Drazin, R. (1997) Equifinality: functional equivalence in organization design, Academy of Management Review 22(2): 403-428. Gupta, A.K. and Govindarajan, V. (1991) Knowledge flows and the structure of control within multinational corporations, Academy of Management Review 16(4): 768-792. Ohung, Sungmi and Mike Sherman. (2002). â€Å"Emerging Marketing: Companies dont need state-of-the-art tools, huge volumes of customer information, and armies of experts to use continuous relationship marketing effectively.† The McKinsey Quarterly, 62+. Stern, Barbara B. (1997). â€Å"Advertising Intimacy: Relationship marketing and the services consumer.† Journal of Advertising, 26 (4), 7+. Theodosiou, M. and Leonidou, L.C. (2003) Standardization versus adaptation of international marketing strategy: an integrative assessment of the empirical research, International Business Review 12(2): 141-1 71.

Essay --

Descartes’ philosophy of mind in terms of immaterialism is closely associated with Dualism. His proposition is that mind and body are not identical, or can be rephrased as, mental phenomena are non-physical. Descartes’ whole structure of philosophy is presented by the way of Dualism to some extent. He distinctly divides the world into several entities of different nature and characters, each of which is independent. So in terms of mind-body relationship, he proposes the mind-body dichotomy. But when he has anatomized the major difference between the two, he had to get back to it because he is bothered with the explanation of the synergy and interaction between mind and body. So he is facing with the major confrontation between the dualism and the mind-body synergy in my way of interpretation. Dualism is tenacious and flexible because it is not running counter to people’s intuition – mind and body are different. This is the most common opinion towards the mind-and-body issue, which is something we take for granted. In our daily lives, the difference between the state of mind and state of material is obvious: First of all, subject of material occupies space; it takes up space and is presented dimensionally. The subject of mind is invisible and therefore does not take up space. Second, attributes of mind are different from those of material. For example, when pain is inflicted upon our body, we can only FEEL it but according to neurologist’s account there’s nothing in our nerves that is found identical to the characteristics of pain. Third, the cognitive characteristics that we have for knowledge are different. Put it this way, perception towards material is ‘public’, or say, every individual who has certain intact body structure ... ...perceive and to think, we need to have a BODY to carry the thinking and perceiving activity. Subject matter are more transparent and clear than object matter. For example, we see, we touch, we imagine wax so we come to the conclusion that wax does exit; the subject matter that carries these activity are self-explanatory. To put it in a nutshell, ‘Cogito ergo sum’ is the starting point of the whole structure of Descartes’ philosophy. But it is the ‘epitaph’ of his ‘universal doubt’. ‘Cogito ergo sum’ is not pure immaterialism. Rather it’s pure theory of perception. It is fallible to conclude that Descartes is immaterial; it is very vulnerable and susceptible to attack, because the immaterialism is derived from Descartes whole body structure of his philosophy. While in light of ‘I think, (therefore) I exist’, it is not pure immaterial or material to say the least.

Capital Punishment Essay: Retardation and Capital Punishment

Retardation and Capital Punishment      Ã‚  Ã‚   One can agree (or not) with the recent ruling by the Supreme Court that the death penalty should not apply to retarded citizens because it violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against "cruel and unusual punishment," and still be troubled by the twisted road the court took to reach its destination. Reading the history of the Eighth Amendment shows that it proceeded from concerns over the methods the state could use to take the life of a convicted criminal -- not the intelligence level of the criminal.    When the Constitution was adopted, the British penalty for high treason was to have the convicted person "hanged by the neck and then cut down alive, then he was disemboweled while yet living. His head was cut off and his body divided into four parts for disposition by the King"(Norton). Among punishments for other crimes, English law provided for cutting off the ears, flogging, cutting off hands, castrating, standing in the pillory, slitting of the nose and branding on the cheek. Now THAT was cruel and unusual punishment.    The Supreme Court, in its decision, said that persons deemed retarded -- with an IQ of 70 or less -- and judged guilty of a capital crime, cannot be executed. In so rul... ...Retarded citizens who do not know right from wrong should be exempted from the death penalty -- but not given blanket absolution by a Supreme Court, which has relied in this latest of many recent rulings not on the Constitution, but on a preferred outcome. Such "reasoning" will come back to haunt us in situations where the outcome is less desirable.      WORKS CITED:    Atkins v Virginia. http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-8452.ZS.html    Norton, Thomas James. "The Constitution of the United States," p. 224.    Trop v. Dulles. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/meiklejohn/meik-1_4/index.html

You are My One and Only :: Love Letters Dating Email Relationships

Dear Jen, At the moment, I am sitting here thinking of you and everything that we have been through. I would say that I have no idea how we have made it this far, if I did not believe in there being one person that you are destined to be with, but I do. We have had our share of ups and downs, plus so much more. Things have happened to us that we can truly say no one else has had to go through, but regardless we made it through. When we first met I did not know how to trust anymore. The spirit of life had been taken from me, but somehow you helped me find it again. At the time we met, I was going through some hard times, but when others turned their backs on me, you stood by my side. You were determined to be there for me and for that I thank God every day that he sent you to me. If I would have known that when I told about my past you would be there to help me through it, then I would have told you a long time ago. I know that I start things between us a lot of the time, but even you know why. You know that it took a lot for me to trust you, but now I do. I am so happy that you are still here with me, being patient, and still by my side. So many people say that I will not make it far in life, but they do not understand me, let alone know me. So many of those people do not know how hard you push me to make something of myself. In the past, I honestly believed that I would not make it anywhere, but now I know that as long as I am happy and still alive, with you by my side I am doing great and can achieve anything. Every day that I wake up and every night before I fall asleep, I thank God that we met, because without you I would be nothing. Through the hard times you have held my hand, through the rough times you have held me close to you, and through the ups and downs you have stayed by my side. What else could I ask for? When I am sick you tuck me in. You have brought back the person that everyone loved and have helped me learn to be the person I always wanted and knew I could be.

Nutritional and Fitness Paper

My sthrongest dimensions after taking the self-test are intellectual health, social health and environmental health. I think that I am sthrongest in intellectual health because I don’t make rash decisions in my life without thinking about the consequences. When I was younger I seemed to get myself in trouble a few times and at one point it got so bad that I had to really look at myself and question the decisions that I was making. I learned from the mistakes that I made in my teen years and have helped me a lot when making decisions in work and with friends.In social health I scored sthrongest in this category I feel because I am able to listen to others problems without making it about myself. If a friend comes to me with a problem, I tend to listen to them more than give my own opinion or feedback unless I am asked. I always try to give people the benefit of doubt and don’t judge them when I first meet them. Social health also includes relationships with family and fr iend, I come from a close knit family and have a good relationship with my immediate family and can’t see myself not ever talking to any of them.My friendship also have the stayed the same tthroughout the years, I have the same friends I have had since high school and college. In environmental health I believe was one of many sthrongest because over the years I have become aware of global warming and the affect that is being done to our planet and resources. When I am brushing my teeth, I turn of the faucet until I need the water again; I also use energy saving light bulbs all around my house to save electricity. I have been recycling bottles, cans and paper and have even gotten some of my family members to do the same.I know that I can do more in regards to getting out there and spread the word little by little. The way that I can become sthronger in physical health is by exercising more, whether it be taking the stairs instead of the elevator or going for a walk around the block. I could also try to improve my physical health by eating healthier meals during the day and cutting out junk food and instead eat more vegetables and fruits. I can also try and improve my sleeping patterns and get more sleep during the night.The way that I can change my emotional health is by understanding me more, for example, if I am feeling mad or aggravated at some one, I can take time and compose myself and approach the situation differently. The way that I can change my spiritual health is by getting more involved in the community and do more charitable events. I have to involve myself more in nature, for example, if I go to the park I can sit on a bench and listen to the birds chirping, the wind blowing and connect with Mother Nature. Some personal choices that I can make to improve my health are; exercising, eating healthy and quit smoking.I have started to get back in the routine of exercising for at least an hour a day, I will be using the shaping technique so that I won’t overwhelm myself and quit within the first couple of days. In eating healthy I can learn to cut out junk and greasy food, it’s important that I learn this because I have a daughter myself and I don’t want her to suffer from any health issues, such as diabetes or child obesity. I have to make these choices so that I can be a good example to my daughter and she will be able to make better choices.A behavior change technique that could help me I shaping, which is when â€Å"to reach a goal, you may need to take several individual steps, each designed to change one small piece of a larger behavior† (Donatelle, 2010). This technique would help me in exercising, for example, I can begin to walk for 30 minutes a day and after my body becomes accustomed to the exercise I will add more minutes to it until I have become used to working out. Another behavior change is called visualization, which mearns â€Å"mentally practice can transform healthy behavior into healthy ones† (Donatelle, 2010).This technique could help also in my exercise, for example, if I am going up a hill I can mentally tell myself â€Å"you can do this†. This will prepare my mind so that my body will go. Another technquie I called modeling which mearns â€Å"learning behaviors by watching other perform them† (Donatelle, 2010). This would be helpful in exercising because I will have someone else who can go to the gym with me and be motivated by them just being there. Controlling the situation would mean â€Å"the right setting or the right group of people will positively influence your behavior† (Donatelle, 2010).

Innovation Paper

? Introduction Innovation is about partnerships. It involves advancing new and improved ideas and is relevant to all communities. Partnerships create and promote entrepreneurship, the development of technology and its commercialization. Taken together, they are critical to enhancing many organizations and America’s global competitiveness. Workforce development and education support innovation and entrepreneurship, and linking these activities are important in developing a competitive innovation and an entrepreneurial system. This paper will discuss how to identify and characterize promoting innovation, the role of leadership in sustaining innovation and the ethical implications of promoting innovation in an office environment. How would you identify and characterize the roles of incentives, training, and education in promoting innovation in your organization. In order to effectively promote innovation organizations must give their employees; â€Å"meeting and recreational space which lead to spontaneous encounters and informal networking, both are important facilitators of innovation† (Bettina Von Stamm,  2003,  para. &5). These incentives cannot act alone and instead must act together through managerial efforts with their upper level management. By working together and introducing organizational competitiveness throughout the company, upper level management and everyone else will recognize the results of better communication, coordination and cohesiveness of their innovation related efforts. Through collaborative efforts, organizations become stronger by leveraging and combining the individual strengths and resources of each employee. America’s colleges and universities are key assets that must be tapped in order to advance our nation’s innovation strategy. The United States has the best higher education system in the world and that system should be continually expanding with more students, better trained faculty and more primary research capabilities. American colleges and universities are essential in educating our future workforce, conducting research, and producing innovations. What is the role of leadership in creating, managing, and sustaining innovation in your organization? Introducing organizational innovation incentives is not an easy task, and will take finesse, and people skill to be successful. The organization structure and its relationship to culture will need to be understood to develop an action plan that will fit the current and future organizational culture. Once the culture has been dissected and analyzed, it’s important to know who the key players are, in other words, those who have the power, and authority to make decisions will be the most instrumental to the success of increasing organizational innovation. During the change process it’s necessary that one possesses a certain skill set, or techniques to help deal with resistance once discovered. Communication, the art of negotiation, and people skills are the best tools one can possess when dealing with resistance to change. Once those attributes are exhibited, techniques will need to be implemented based on the leadership. What are the ethical implications of an individual reward system? To abandon or abuse the performance appraisal process is a breach of business ethics. While some managers are skillful and genuine in reviewing an individual's performance, that does not appear to be typical. The ethical ramifications of performance reviews have caused managers and employees all levels to become frustrated, cynical, and withdrawn. Many managers talk about ethics but do not recognize or act upon ethical issues in their day-to-day managerial responsibilities. Most ethical questions arise from people relationships within the organization. Managers must realize that ethics is the process of deciding and acting. Results of questions from my previous organization indicate that some of the managers believe they are recognized and reinforced for their ethical decisions and behaviors. Employees have a big stake in the way managers evaluate and operate. Managers and nonsupervisory employees alike cite concern about â€Å"politics and lack of fair treatment, honesty, and truthfulness† in connection with the performance review. References Bettina Von Stamm. (2003). Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity. Retrieved April  7, 2009, from Bettina Von Stamm, Week Five, OI 461.