Implications Of Different Sources Of Finance Finance Essay

Implications Of Different Sources Of Finance Finance EssayThis appointee volition look at the different cums of pay that are addressable to a sm all in all business or a big union. With for each one source of finance listed the report get out assess the implications that can arise and a coherent with this the report leave look at the speak to to the business to taking a curtain source of finance. All businesses need short-run finance from the very beginning to start up the business and to cover day-to-day running costs. This provides the business with working groovy. until now businesses also need long-term bang-up to armed service them to grow and expand, and this is compensable affirm over a number of years. With tabu finance a business would find it difficult to accomplish anything.For my assignment purpose I have chosen two companys they are sainsbury and tesco respectly, source of finance can be define into two ways such as internal source of finance and exte rnal source of finance.Source of national finace fro both company are as followsPersonal savings This is most a great deal an option for small businesses where the deliverer has some savings available to use as they paying attention. Practically both sainsbury and tesco depends on their savings for source of finance.Retained derive This is profit already made that has been set aside to reinvest in the business. It could be used for new(a) machinery, marketing and advertising, vehicles or a new IT system.Working capital This is short-term funds that is reserved for day-to-day expenses such as stationery, salaries, rent, bills and invoice payments.Sales of assets There may be surplus fixed assets, such as constructs and machinery that could be sold to generate money for new areas. Decisions to sell dots that are still used should be made thriftyly as it could affect susceptibility to deliver existing products and services.External Source of financingShares Limited companie s could look to sell additional fates, to new or existing shareholders, in exchange for a return on their investment.Loans There are debenture loans, with fixed or variable interest, which are usually secured against the asset being invested in, so the loan company will have a legal shared interest in the investment. This means that the company would not be able to sell the asset without the lenders preceding agreement. In addition the lender will take priority over the owners and shareholders if the business should fail and the cost will have to be repaid even if a loss is made.There are other types of loan for fixed amounts with fixed repayment schedules. These may be considered a little more(prenominal) flexible than debenture loans.Overdraft A bank overdraft may be a good source of short-term finance to help a business flatten seasonal dips in cash-flow, which would not justify or need a long-term solution. The advantage here is that interest is calculated daily and an overd raft is therefore cheaper than a loan.Hire leveraging Hire grease ones palms arrangements enable a firm to acquire an asset quickly without paying the full-price for it. The company will have exclusive use of the item for a set period of snip and then have the option to either return it or buy it at a reduced price. This is often used to fund purchases of vehicles, machinery and printers.Credit from suppliers Many invoices have payment terms of 30 days or longer. A company can take the utmost amount of time to pay and use the money in the interim period to finance other things. This method should be treated with caution to determine that the invoice is still paid on time or else the firm might jeopardize upsetting the supplier and jeopardise the future working consanguinity and terms of business. It should also be remembered that its not found money but rather a careful balancing act of cash-flow.Grants Grants are often available from councils and other political science bod ies for specific issues. For example there may be a council priority to regenerate a particular area of a townsfolk and who are happy to help fund refurbishment of buildings. Alternatively there may be an organisation that specialises in helping young enterprisers to launch new businesses. Assessment for grants can be very competitive, is very individual and not automatic.Venture capital This source is most often used in the beforehand(predicate) stages of developing a new business. There may be a huge risk of failure but the potential returns may also be big. This is a high risk source as the venture capitalist will be looking for a share in the firms equity and a strong return on their investment. However the significant experience these investors have in running businesses could prove valuable to the company. This is what the TV programme Dragons Den is all closelyFactoring This involves a company outsourcing its invoicing arrangements to an external organisation. It immediat ely allows the company to receive money based on the value of its outstanding invoices as rise up as to receive payment of future invoices more quickly. It works by the firm making a bargain, sending the invoice to the customer, copying the invoice to the factor in company and the factoring company paying an agreed percentage of that invoice, usually 80% within 24 hours. There are fees involved to cover address management, administration charges, interest and credit nurseion charges. This must be weighed up against the benefit gained in maximising cash flow, a reduction in the time spent chasing payments and access to a more sophisticated credit control system. The downside is that customers may prefer to deal direct with the company selling the goods or services. In addition ending the relationship could be tricky as the sales ledger would have to be repurchased. bullion is a scarce resource and each source has its own advantages and disadvantages. Lenders will be looking for a return on investment, the size of the risk and the flexibility with which they can get their money back when they requirement or need it. For the company seeking money, the decision as to the best source will ultimately depend on what the money is for, how long the money is needed for, the cost of borrowing and whether the firm can afford the repayments. labour 2The launch of Clubcard in Thailand in August this year extends Tescos homage cards operation further across the globe, and belatedly brings Thailands biggest retailer into a loyalty card market which already contains offers from Carrefour, Tops and Big C. It will distinctly be big in its first three weeks Clubcard gained more members (two one thousand million) than competitor Carrefours I-Wish card has accumulated since its launch in 2007. The recent launch in Malaysia has resulted in 70% of scanned transactions being covered by Clubcard.The benefits to Tesco are clear. Their dominance of the UK market has been underpi nned by Clubcard, and whilst their latest campaign to double points has yet to prove potent (Tesco growth in the period still lags Asda*, a competitor which does not use a loyalty card), there is a consensus amongst industry observers that it has historically been a critical part of their marketing mix. The benefits to manufacturers are slight clear and one suspects criticism of ones biggest customer would naturally be muted. So what are the implications for Tescos suppliers and how should they respond to Clubcard?Clubcard is a loyalty card, and is designed to encourage shoppers to use a particular chain more. In its simplest incarnation a loyalty card gives rewards, usually in the system of discounts against future purchases, based on how much is spent. Because Clubcard registers who did the shopping, it is possible for Tesco (through their partners Dunnhumby, majority-owned by Tesco), to analyze who buys what, which should enable activities such as promotions to be better targe ted. So, for example, a coffee supplier could target their next promotion only at shoppers who bought the competitor product. The targeting of promotions offers a theoretical improvement in effectiveness, but the real boon is the potential to efficaciously evaluate activities knowing which shoppers bought adds useful data to a promotion evaluation which is certainly limited to whether sales went up or not.Clubcard promises suppliers much Insight into shoppers, more efficient promotions, and unprecedented access to new in-store media opportunities. Suppliers will need to evaluate the potential benefits of the Clubcard offer against the inevitable associated costs. Yet it clearly has limitations Clubcard in Thailand has two million card holders, yet with Tesco enjoying 25% of the Thai retail market, their total number of shoppers must be significantly higher than this. So how skewed is the sample, how representative, and what is missing?Task 3Choosing the Right Source of FinanceA b usiness needs to assess the different types of finance based on the following criteriaAmount of money required a large amount of money is not available through some sources and the other sources of finance may not offer adequate flexibility for a smaller amount.How quickly the money is needed the longer a business can spend trying to raise the money, normally the cheaper it is. However it may need the money very quickly (say if had to pay a big wage bill which if not paid would mean the factory would shoemakers last down). The business would then have to accept a higher cost.The cheapest option available the cost of finance is normally measured in terms of the plain money that needs to be paid to secure the initial amount the typical cost is the interest that has to be paid on the borrowed amount. The cheapest form of money to a business comes from its trading profits.The amount of risk involved in the reason for the cash a project which has less chance of leading to a profi t is deemed more risky than one that does. Potential sources of finance (especially external sources) take this into account and may not lend money to higher risk business projects, unless there is some sort of guarantee that their money will be returned.The length of time of the requirement for finance a good entrepreneur will judge whether the finance needed is for a long-term project or short term and therefore decide what type of finance they wish to use.Short Term and Long Term FinanceShort-term finance is needed to cover the day to day running of the business. It will be paid back in a short period of time, so less risky for lenders.Long-term finance tends to be spent on large projects that will pay back over a longer period of time. More risky so lenders tend to ask for some form of insurance or security if the company is unable to repay the loan. A owe is an example of secured long-term finance.The main types of short-term finance areOverdraftSuppliers creditWorking capita lThe main types of long-term finance that are available for to a business areMortgagesBank loansShare issueDebenturesRetained profitsHire purchaseInternal and External FinanceInternal finance comes from the trading of the business.External finance comes from individuals or organisations that do not trade directly with the business e.g. banks.Internal finance tends to be the cheapest form of finance since a business does not need to pay interest on the money. However it may not be able to generate the sums of money the business is looking for, especially for larger uses of finance.Examples of internal finance areDay to day cash from sales to customers.Money loaned from trade suppliers through extended credit.Reductions in the amount of stock held by the business.Disposal (sale) of any surplus assets no longer needed (e.g. selling a company car).Examples of external finance areAn overdraft from the bank.A loan from a bank or building society.The sale of new shares through a share issu e.Task 4All lenders charge interest on their loans and this is the major element in the cost of the finance. Building societies and banks have variable interest grade which may vary according to the size of the loan.However, there are other charges that are normally involved in arraning a mortgageArrangement feesBanks and building societies do not always charge arrangement or setup fees, but many lenders do charge them, particularly for some of the specialist mortgages expound later in this guide. Arrangement fees are typically in the range of 100 400.Valuers reportIn order to protect its security, the lender will want to be sure that the house is worth the sale price, so will alwas insist on a valuation for mortgage purposes. This will be carried out by a qualified surveyor, who will charge a survey fee, paid by the borrower.The lenders survey aims to establish if the value of the house is enough to protect the lenders security. It does not mean that the property is free from an y defects. It is therefore recommended that house buyers obtain a homebuyers report or a full survey to get a line that they are aware of any problems. This will increase the cost but could prove to be a wise investment.Indemnity guarantee fee some(prenominal) lenders insist on an indemnity guarantee policy if the loan exceeds 75 percent of the property value. This protects the lender in the event of the borrower defaulting on the mortgage and the sale price of the property not being enough to repay the loan. However, this policy is paid for by the borrower and often, the premium has to be added to the loan. In recent times, the threshold for mortgage indemnity guarantees has increased many lenders now set the level at 90 percent.Stamp dutyThis is a tax charged by the Government on the document transferring ownership of the house, paid by the purchaser. The rates areNil up to 60,0001% over 60,000 but not more than 250,0003% over 250,000 but not more than 500,0004% over 500,000Leg al feesThere will be legal fees payable to the solicitor or license conveyancer handling the transaction. The legal fees will include the local search fees (carried out to reveal matters affecting theproperty) and land registry fees, as well as the lawyers own charges.Other chargesAll mortgage lenders will have a tariff of other charges that you may incur in certain circumstances at dissimilar points during the life of your loan. These are not universal charges lenders will vary in terms of which ones apply, but all should be able to provide details on request.Task 5Importance of Financial PlanningIt is important to figure finances in order to reap long term benefits through the assets in hand. The investments that one makes are structured properly and managed by professionals through financial planning. Every decision regarding our finances can be monitored if a proper plan is devised in advance. The following points explain why financial planning is important.Cash Flow Financi al planning helps in increasing cash flow as well as monitoring the spending pattern. The cash flow is increased by undertaking measures such as tax planning, prudent spending and careful budgeting.Capital A strong capital base can be built with the help of efficient financial planning. Thus, one can think about investments and thereby improve his financial position.Income It is possible to manage income effectively through planning. Managing income helps in segregating it into tax payments, other monthly outlays and savings.Family Security Financial planning is undeniable from the point of view of family security. The various policies available in the market serve the purpose of financially securing the family.Investment A proper financial plan that considers the income and expenditure of a person, helps in choosing the right investment policy. It enables the person to reach the set goals.Standard of Living The savings created by through planning, come to the rescue in difficult times. Death of the bread winner in a family, affects the standard of living to a great extent. A proper financial plan acts as a guard in such situations and enables the family to survive hard times.Financial Understanding The financial planning process helps gain an sagaciousness about the current financial position. Adjustments in an investment plan or evaluating a retirement scheme becomes easy for an individual with financial understanding.Assets A nice cushion in the form of assets is what many of us desire for. But many assets come with liabilities attached. Thus, it becomes important to determine the true value of an asset. The knowledge of settling or canceling the liabilities, comes with the understanding of our finances. The overall process helps us build assets that dont become a burden in the future.Savings It is good to have investments with high liquidity. These investments, owing to their liquidity, can be utilized in times of emergency and for educational purposes. The argument made by people from low income groups is that they dont need to plan their finances due to the less money they possess. However, no matter how much one earns, better planning of income always helps in the long run.Task 6Defining the problem sequestrate time to properly define the problem. What is the issue to be covered? What is the problem? What decisions need to be taken? A fish-bone diagram will sometimes help in understanding the complex interlinkages that create a particular problem. For each of the causes or its effects, make a list of teaching or data that will be required, and clarify how that data will lead to a better decision.Finding the informationDetermine the sources from where information needed for decision-making can be obtained. What information needs to be taken? Who has that information? Why is that information being collected by the source? Which component of the problem at hand will it help? Evaluate the sources to see which of them can provide t he best information, and identify the mode and format in which the information is presented. Keep in mind that different sources provide information in different formats (for different reasons).Processing the KnowledgeThis where the information gathered is matched with the problem in hand. The relevant information from each source is extracted and information from multiple sources is organized. Which parts of the information collected needs to be used? What additional data or information is needed? How can information be best presented to be able to understand the situation and take decisions? The collected information is evaluated and integrated for its relevance, validity and interconnectedness.Taking the decisionIn an interactive and inclusive process involving all the concerned parties, form an opinion from the information collected for its effectiveness and efficiency. Use it to take the decision. Has the decision taken help in solving the problem at hand? Was the decision sati sfactory and took into account all the views of concerned parties? A decision taken may need to be examined closely and refined, and modified to meet differing needs over time.Task 7Impact of finance of financial statement is immence because inorder to prepare financial statememnt some cost is essential such as auditors fee, financial analysts fee.

Importance of Brand Management in SMEs

Importance of provoker perplexity in SMEsStudy on Fast Food Takeaways of West London administrator SummaryMany remarkable studies and literatures agree been produced which discusses critical activities of the Brand watchfulness in LOs (Large organizations) spell investigate on the importance of the pit charge this in SME (Sm any(prenominal) Business Enterprises) has been neglected. I run through tried to emphasis in my dissertation that what were those grand factors of betray circumspection which put up be applied in subtile crinkle so that these business sectores can develop a erupt mug sign in the trade.I have tried to limit my look for on the fast nutrition harboraways of west London atomic number 18a. My dissertation is based on chief(a) and secondary research to sustenance the literature and authenticity. It has been highlighted in the previous studies that some(prenominal) major research streams have been emerged in this subject theater of oper ations first foc rehearses on providing an oerarching betray management frame wee-wee to guide managerial decision making (Keller, 1998 Macrae, 1996 Aaker, 1991 Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis, 1986) piece of music the some opposite concentrates on various discrete aspects of the process (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2000 Berthon, Hulbert, and Pitt 1999a de Chernatony and Riley 1998). Two gaps in the literature have been determine 1) It has been identified that developed organizations atomic number 18 involved in numerous courses at once, 2) the trademark management researches had been focusing utterly on salient organizations, while the humble and strong point enterprises have been overlooked (Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008)To manage a shit ambit requires a number of activities which shows that importance of strike out management in SME be varied than large organizations. On this basis an key suspense has been raised by the authors that how fall guys ar in fact contro lled in SME.Though I am not been able to find any flying field specifically focusing on target management in SMEs further I have tried to explore the atomic number 18as menti unrivaledd by previous authors. Visual identifications, exhibiting business in food exhibitions and magazine and keeping node records ar some of the important factors mentioned by the respondents.Chapter 1 origination1.1 BackgroundFollowe Blankson, C. and Omar, O.E. (2002), SME is explained as a mild to medium unfaltering having employees slight then 250, having a relatively midget voice of the market in economic terms, and managed by its possessor(s) in a individualise way. Brands whitethorn have been there for much than a 1,000 years but never has any society come across the influence of stigmatisation as is witnessed nowadays. Brands argon prevailing in all portions of tender life kindred food and clothing, point of intersectionion and consumption, personality and lifestyle and pop culture to politics. stigmatization themselves has suffer a kind of culture because it promotes represents dirts and same yesterday, it is no longer unsloped or so adding value to a overlap. In the eyes of Carson, D. (1990) (quoted in Hall, 1999) deformitys atomic number 18 soon gunning for a sh are of inner lives, their label, their mental pictures, their politics, and their souls of consumers. The effect of brands and stigmatization is far away from the field of trade and publicise. brand is an economic construct as it has been considered from both merchandise and financial perspectives and is a social construct as brands hasnt been completely understood owing to the lack of academic research in this area. Advertising in all probability is the most visible factor of selling but stigmatization in all probability is at the centre of any merchandising communications. The grow of most problems of advertising lies in mark dodging. In 1990s Benettons shocking advertisi ng tactic is an infamous example.Majority people would relate to a oversize business brand with large advertising expenditures, distorting to reinforce the mindset that gravid businesses can be brands un equal the small businesses. Small business branding is frequently referred to as an oxymoron, so might the term enterpriserial branding (Blankson, C. and Stokes. D, 2002). In small business branding, there is very less research. The research is in the first place concerned with brand management of an existing venture. There seems to be very less academic research of branding in small business bleak ventures.In SME marketing management it has been recognised that management style operations and functions of SMEs are different from LOs (Knight, 2000 Cohn and Lindberg, 1972). The use of advertising or enlisting agencies is rare. Definition of extract mentality has been mentioned as when a business meets resources and time constraints SME managers adapt a costume called Surviv al Mentality. Marketing, human resource, management and worldwide business planning are the major problems quoted by the authors in an SME (Huang and Brown, 1999). unified image and incarnate reputations have been secern under the umbrella of brand management. unified image has been defined as the publics latest beliefs about the play along (Balmer, 1998 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 29) while corporal reputations has been defined as value judgments about an organizations qualities, trusdeucerthiness and dependableness built up over time (Balmer, 1998 Fombrun and Van Riel, 1997 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p.29). It has been mentioned that there is a consistency between an organizations and s gather inholders belief about a brand though unfortunately SME and stakeholder singing hasnt been discussed but in detail. The importance of the building a positive brand image in the market has been emphasized in order to wee-wee a recessional in the market place. Regardless of whether an organization is comprised of a singular or nonuple brands, it is necessary that marketing efforts be directed toward establishing and maintaining a positive brand image in the minds of key stakeholders. Ultimately, this can contribute to the development of a well-situated corporal reputation (de Chernatony, 1999, cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 30). Few small businesses follow a reputation building strategy and when a need for image management is receiptd, it is ofttimes circumscribed to implementing a public relations campaign (Goldberg, Cohen, and Fiegenbaum, 2003 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 30).However, a brand can be best considered as a psychological phenomenon. Formally, a brand can be defined as a ready, sign, symbol, logo, and so on that identifies the undecomposeds and dishs of one selling the goods and differentiates the goods from separates (Deshpande, R., Farley, J.U. and Webster, F.E. Jr, 2003). A br and takes on blottoing with customers with commercial messages, personal experiences, interpersonal communications and other means. The power of a brand resides in the minds of customers by dint of countless brand interactions like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, behavior. The brand protects a proceeds or service with meaning that differentiates the result from other merchandise or services proposed to fulfill the same need. A brand is much more than a name. Branding is not a naming problem but a strategy problem (Deshpande, R., Farley, J.U. and Webster, F.E. Jr, 2003). A brand is a precious admittance which must be managed carefully to preserve and enhance the meaning so that customers form strong relations as a result. Several essential principles of brand management applicable to industrial branding are highlighted here (Fuller, P.B. 2004).Brand awareness and brand image are two components of the psychological meaning of a brand. Customers should be aw are of what wares or services are associated with a brand (brand awareness) and should be aware of what attributes and benefits the brand offers and what consecrates it superior and unique (brand image) (Gadenne, D. 2004). Industrial brands can key themselves on the basis of a complete host of characteristics and benefits that purge in tangibility and their association to the crossing. Some relationship testament be associated to the brands functional procedure such as products value proposition and promised benefits and more intangible considerations lead be indicated from further associations like integrated image dimensions embodying such characteristics as trust, ethics, credibility, reliability and corporate social responsibility (Gilmore, A., Carson, D. and Grant, K. 2001).Branding is a central stop of marketing activity. To brand or not to brand? isnt the question. Moreover, every play along has a name which forgeting function as a brand for it. For some indust rial marketers, the company name is the brand. The question is What you want your name stand for and what it is to mean in the mind of the customer(Gray, B., Matear, S., Boshoff, C. and Matheson, P. 2007) every contact involving the company and the customer becomes an input. The brand must be managed as a strategical asset otherwise it will be managed by customers there or thereabouts at random. An industrial brand managed properly can realize the same reward as a consumer brand like price premiums, greater loyalty, and ability to extend into other categories, and so on.Brand office brings in the heart of the brand (Hogarth-Scott, S., Watson, K. and Wilson, L, 1996). They should have both points-of-parity and points-of-difference with regard to competitors product offerings. Those associations where the brand breaks even with competitors and negates their intended points-of-difference are called as Points-of-parity while those associations where the customer behavior is driven by strong, favorable, and unique brand associations are called points-of-difference (Hill, J. 2001a). The core brand promise or brand mantra is an internal marketing expression that captures key points-of-difference that are the essence and spirit of the brand in a three-to-five word phrase. The brand slogan is based on the brand mantra which is employ in advertising and other communications where a translation of the mantra is done in consumer friendly language. For instance, Nikes internal brand mantra is authentic athletic performance while the external brand slogan is Just Do it which is used as spot to many an(prenominal) of their ads (Hill, J. 2001b). Examples for industrial brands slogan which reflect principal brand mantras are Agilent Technologies Dreams Made Real, Emersons Consider It Solved, GEs Imagination at Work, Hewlett Packards Invent, Novells The Power to Change, United Technologies Next Things First, and chase away The Document Company. The Brand Charter summarize s the development, history, and positioning of a brand. totally marketing action must be consistent and be evaluated against the Brand Charter. Strong brands have a uniform brand image for every individual customer and across the customer population. Strength of a brand reflects the tone and uniformity of the regulars marketing efforts and the concern with which the brand has been managed in due course. For a brand to be victorful, it has to be consistent with the fasts strategy and the strategic marketing management (Hurmerinta-Peltomaki, L. and Nummela, N.1998).1.2 Research Aims and Objectives engender* To recognize the forces of brand Management which generates a brand image for a little fast food restaurant/takeaway in the market?Objectives* To recognize the suitable literature produced on brand management in SMEs.* To constrict hold a few of the key fast food restaurants/takeaways.* To discover and take into account a methodological approach which will assist in finding p rimary (qualitative or quantitative have to be determined yet)* To vitally analysis and evaluate results with the preceding findings and provide the significance of brand management in the SMEs.1.3 Value and contributionIn the intellectual perspective, this research will try to highlight the importance of branding in small businesses investigating the ideal in fast food and takeaways of London. Though the research and literature done in Branding in small businesses is very less. In the industrial context, the study will provide a strategic understanding of the potential application of Branding at the early stage of business development and how it can be used as a strategic tool for building a brand image.1.4 structure of the dissertationThe report is structured in the following stageChapter 1 IntroductionThis chapter provides the background to the research topic discusses the aims and objectives of the study. It as well as illustrates the academic and industrial value the researc h seeks to address.Chapter 2 Literature ReviewLiterature round highlights the literature the research is based upon and concludes with the research done into the effectiveness of brand management in small business enterprises and different samples of branding like product branding and corporate branding and their differences. It overly discusses unsanded theory of branding for small businesses which is of importance to the dissertation at hand.Chapter 3 MethodologyThis chapter includes the methodology able by for this research paper. Sample data of the research is being discussed in this chapter. It will also highlight the research philosophy, research question, research design, data accruement and analysis methods and reliability and validity of the data.Chapter 4 FindingsThis chapter discusses the finding of the questionnaires in graphical pilot burner followed by descriptive description. It also presents the important factors highlighted by the respondents during the surv ey.Chapter 5 Discussions and LimitationsYou will be able to find the comparative analysis of the findings and recommendations in this chapter. This chapter also highlights the limitations of the research and future research possibilities in this area.Chapter 2Literature Review2.1 IntroductionThe strategic importance of the effective brand management has been recognised and been highlighted by many researchers (Kirby, D., 2003). Two major streams which have emerged in the brand management field includes providing an overarching brand management framework to guide managerial decision-making (Keller, 1998 Macrae, 1996 Aaker, 1991 Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis, 1986 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 27) whereas the second concentrates on various discrete aspects of the process (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000 Berthon, Hulbert and Pitt, 1999a de Chernatony and Riley, 1998 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 27). Authors have identified two gaps in the literature, 1) It ha s been becoming common that developed organizations are involved in ninefold directions which probably means that they have enhanced their business operations or they have probably entered into different product lines which normally most of the small medium sized business do to step-up their profits and sales (Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008) it is also been quoted by the authors, as Organizational Ambidexterity (Berthon, Hulbert and Pitt 1999).The second major gap which is identified is that previously empirical studies have focused brand management concept only on the large organizations which normally includes top 100 companies of the world. The suggested reasons for this gap are given by some of the other authors which are also quoted in this article it may be because SMEs typically lack the capabilities, marketing power and other resources of large organizations (Knight, 2000 Cohn and Lindberg, 1972) or it may be because SMEs are failed to realize brand can also be built with the help of relatively reserved budgets (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 1999) Authors do contend that SMEs can build a brand image with limited budget but the major question is what management principles they should follow to build it?An initial precise study on SME brandings is Abimbola (2001) who has tried to explore how branding can be a war-ridden strategy. Other studies have also explored this theme like Cravens (2000), but not in an SME context. According to Abimbola, brand-new brands are like new products, and there is a detail need to draw on inventiveness, founding and imaginative flair in brand extensions. For instance, the imaginative flair of the owner, like Virgin or Easy Jet, help deliver creative applications of branding programs. Though, analogous principles pertain to SME in comparison to large-scale branding, Abimbola (2001) advises SMEs, having fewer resources, need better focus and effectiveness. For example, an SMEs center of attention be corporate brand or just a handful brands and run very closely specified and targeted campaigns. Utilizisation of the entrepreneur in public relations was also encouraged. For instance, a study of Dyson appliance company (Doyle, 2003), a house used an entrepreneurial approach to create its brand. precaution was paid as to how Dyson built a brand personality as dowry of its marketing.A useful typology of branding among SMEs based on case research of eight smalls- to medium sized firms have been provided by Wong and Merrilees (2005). Three different types of small businesses were identified, At the bottom was the minimalist branding approach, where firms have minimalist marketing across the board, in the middle was an embryonic branding archetype, these firms are stronger than the first archetype with respect to marketing, but their understanding of branding isnt well developed and at the top was the integrated branding archetype. Branding is very informal, optional, and a narrow range of promotional tool s. Wong and Merrilees (2005) initiate that SMEs at the top were the integrated branding archetype and possibly the least familiar.Small business branding is not a good logo, a rhyming name, or special font. Small business branding is the owner. Its what the owner does, says and how the owners traits come through in every aspect of the business. Its the way relationships are built and maintained, the way a person does business and treats other people. Its how rapport is established at an individual level, where trust and comfort exist as human characteristics, not from theme music, models or slogans. Yaro Starak, 2005Marketing as well as branding were stronger informal approaches and formal approaches were taken to branding branding was essential to the business branding was not merely a choice and a wider miscellanea of promotional tools were used. A clearer understanding of customer needs was there among the integrated branding small businesses The letter Z was included in a firm s name to appear close to the top of any industry list while other firm to remind its employees posted a laminated description of its brand on the back-office door to remind employees of it. One more substantive outlook on SME branding is offered by Krake (2005), who agreed with the deficit of earlier literature on the subject, compared to SME marketing research and uses a qualitative case study of ten medium-sized firms. A varied set of approaches to branding was seen but little at a informed level. However, the cases did not propose a common tack or brand success route. Krake (2005), drawing partially from the cases and especially the common branding literature, built-up a displace model of brand management in SMEs. The SMEs special features incorporated the most important persona of the entrepreneur/owner in terms of their obsession of the brand and this may widen to their epitome of the brand. The entrepreneur will have a particularly controlling authority on the company str ucture and there may be more imagination used in marketing promotions. In other words, there is a more personal character to the brand. In addition, the owner appreciates the significance of branding there may be extra room to take the brand throughout the firm. The most authoritative documents on small business branding inspect the role of corporate branding for start-ups (Rode and Vallaster, 2005). This study is flanking to the realm of the current paper. Start-up companies refer to pre-launch as well as early start-up activity, while the ix cases in Rode and Vallaster (2005) look to focus on the first few years of operation. Their work suitably sums up the connection among corporate identity and corporate image and they point out its significance to new ventures.Their experiential evidence of nine cases shows a miserable picture of how well small businesses have incorporated corporate identity ideas. The majority of the interviewed entrepreneurs had only an imprecise idea of th eir business concept, market positioning core values and the business concept was seldom documented (Inskip, 2004). Submissions to banks were to a little extent contrived in order to secure financing. Philosophies and basic values and seemed fluid, answers brand names, and consistency not at all times was achieved. excerpt and training of staff was disorganized. Corporate communication and sharing of information proved difficult. All in all, the corporate identity and cultural developments looked unstructured, encouraging Rode and Vallaster (2005) to build up three propositions that potentially could start to move this observed near to ground performance. Fascinatingly, quaternion out of five most important studies have alluded to the essential role of the founder in the branding process therefore it would seem that any new theory of small business branding should do the similar.2.2 BrandingBranding can somehow be explained as a strategy, a process, an orientation and a instrument (Majumdar, 2006). Branding is defined as the method through which a marketer aims to build long term relationship with the consumers by evaluating their requirements and needs so that the product (brand) can fulfill their mutual likings.Branding can be looked as an instrument to locate a product or a service with a reliable of quality and also the value for money to make certain the development of a habitual liking by the consumer. It is a general knowledge that the costumers selection is inclined by many factors out of which the simplest one is a brand name (Kotler, et al, 2007). Even though there can be equally pleasing products useable in the market, the customer once bright with some brand will not want to make an additional try to assess the other substitutes available. Initially if the customer is satisfied with a particular brand, than he or she is inclined to stick with it, unless and until there is a great increase in the price of the product or an evident superior qual ity of product comes to their knowledge, which force the customer to change the brand (Lancaster, Massingham, 1999).Branding may be generally applied as a segregation strategy when the products available cannot be differentiated easily in conditions of tangible traits or in products that are apparent as a commodity. In all these conditions marketers apply branding as a preeminence strategy and attempt to build up a relationship with consumer groups. That is, they attempt to expand and provide the customized products and auxiliary services with customized communications to tally with the self-image of the consumer. Such differentiation is a regular procedure and the beginning and on-going measures are explained (Majumdar, 2006).2.3 Corporate BrandingIn coordinating the brand-building process, corporate brand computer architecture plays a vital role which is defined by core values shared by different products with a common and overall brand identity. The major part of the corporate brand is to give credibility in cases such as communications with government, the financial sector, the labor market, and society in general (Urde, 2003). Corporate Brand has different fundamentals like organizational values, core values and added values. The relation between these foundations helps to form the value-creating process of the corporate brand (Urde, 2003). Companies face different disputes and argufys of organizing their resources and internal procedures so that the core values for which the corporate brand stands can be strengthened, differentiated and expressed as added value for consumers. The firms brand equity and competitive position is significant for the linkage between core values and corporate brand. Management and organization-wide put forward is crucial in this process (Urde, 2003). A corporate brand is not necessarily limited to a single corporation. It can also apply to a variety of corporate entities, such as corporations, their subsidiaries, and grou ps of companies (Balmer and Gray, 2003). Balmer (1998) suggests that to differentiate the firm from its competitors, corporate identity is an important corporate asset which represents the firms ethics, goals and values. The reason being that the markets are becoming more complex and products and services are quickly imitated and equate which is rather difficult in maintaining a credible product differentiation, requiring the positioning of the in all corporation relatively than simply its products. Therefore, the corporate values and images appear as key elements of differentiation strategies ( track and Schultz, 2001). A corporate brand has an assumption that it will support all aspects of the firm and differentiate the firm from its competitors (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001 Ind, 1997 Balmer, 2001).Corporate branding allows the firms to use the vision and culture of the whole organization clearly as part of its distinctiveness (Balmer, 1995, 2001 de Chernatony, 1999). De Cher natony (2001) suggests for firms to incorporate their strategic vision with their brand building. In contrast with the product brand, the firms visibility, recognition and reputation to a greater extent can be increase with the corporate brand. Balmer and Gray (2003) propose that one of the benefits of strong corporate brands is that investors may seek them out deliberately. They furthermore play an imperative role in the recruitment and retention of valuable employees and offer more chances for strategic or brand associations. Alan (1996) illustrates the flow of corporate branding to the rising costs of advertising, retailer power, product fragmentation, new product development cost efficiencies, and consumers expectations of corporate credentials.2.4 product BrandingProduct branding yields different advantages for firms. McDonald et al. (2001) argue that, a firm using a product-brand strategy rather than corporate branding will experience less toll to its corporate image if one of its individual brands fails. When the Tylenol brand was under siege in the regular army because of tainted batches, Procter Gambles name and reputation were somewhat protect by the product-branding strategy, leaving Pampers and Tide undamaged by the Tylenol scare. A product brand allows firms to position and appeal to different segments in different markets which also makes it flexible. For instance, Budweiser beer is a quality beer that is solid value for money and which is sold in the USA as large temptation. In contrast, it is marketed in some overseas markets as a premium product, and its product image is linked to the American lifestyle. Although a challenge which is faced with product branding is to target different small segments through different brands that can result in high marketing costs and raze brand profitability.The main role of branding and brand management is to create differentiation and preference in the minds of customers. The development of product bra nding has been built most the core role that maintains differentiation in a particular market (Knox and Bickerton, 2003). Corporate branding builds on the tradition of product branding, seeking to create differentiation and preference. However, corporate branding is conducted at the level of the firm instead of the product or service, and furthermore to an extend on which its reaches beyond customers to stakeholders such as employees, customers, investors, suppliers, partners, regulators and local anesthetic communities ( get over and Schultz, 2001).2.5 Corporate Branding Versus Product BrandingTo present a controlled authority of the corporations value system and identity, the corporate brand can be considered as the addition of the corporations marketing efforts (Ind, 1997 Balmer, 2001). It has been differentiated from a product brand in its strategic focus and its implementation, which combines corporate strategy, corporate communications and corporate culture (Balmer, 1995, 20 01). Balmer and Gray (2003) and Hatch and Schultz (2003) argues that corporate branding differs from product branding in several other ways. First, the focus shifts from the product to the corporation. Corporate branding therefore represents the corporation and its members to a greater extent. Second, corporate brands generally involve strategic considerations at a higher(prenominal) executive level even though managerial responsibility for product brands commonly rest in the middle-management marketing function. Third, corporate brands usually relate all of the firms stakeholders and products and services to each other whereas product brands typically target specific consumers. Fourth, product-brand management is normally conducted within the marketing department, while corporate branding requires support across the corporation and cross-functional coordination. Fifth, product brands are reasonably short-term, compared to corporate brands along with their heritage and strategic v ision. Hence, corporate branding is more strategic than the normally functional product branding. Hatch and Schultz (2003) further argues that to position the firm in its marketplace and to set up internal maintain arrangements appropriate to its strategic importance corporate branding engineers interactions among strategic vision, organizational culture and corporate image. Similarly, Ind (1997) classifies three key differences. First, corporate branding attains a certain degree of tangibility through the messages the firm delivers and the relationship it establishes with various stakeholders. Second, corporate branding is more complex than product branding because of the variety of messages and relationships and also the potentially consequent confusion. Third, it is being inclined to shoot greater attention to issues of ethical or social responsibility. The focus of a product brand is on customers while corporate brand has its focus on stakeholders. Therefore, corporate brands c an provide a palpate of trust and quality for the firm in extending a product line or diversifying into other product lines (Balmer and Gray, 2003). An effective corporate brand also has an intrinsic excess capacity, or leverage, which can possibly be translated to other markets (Peteraf, 1993). It is observed that corporate brands are extensively used to launch new products in new markets. Corporate branding usually exercises the total corporate communication mix to subscribe to target audiences who perceive and judge the company and its products or services. The overall image of the firm at the corporate level is therefore expected to generate brand equity (Keller, 2000). The firm is expected to be largely influenced by the core company values and heritage. In addition, strategic vision also contributes to the image, in the sense that stakeholders normally seek and use information about the firm beyond what it provides. Hatch and Schultz (2003) concludes that those firms who are successful in creating a corporate brand are more competitive than firms relying only on product branding in the rough markets created by globalization. On the other hand, corporate branding also requires straightaway and effective interaction of strategic vision, organizational culture, which makes it more complex than product branding. de Chernatony (1999) embraces that it facilitates customers desire to look deeper into the brand and evaluate the nature of the firm. The firm offers liable customers to take on its claims about other products and services which is build through trust in the products and the brand.Importance of Brand Management in SMEsImportance of Brand Management in SMEsStudy on Fast Food Takeaways of West LondonExecutive SummaryMany remarkable studies and literatures have been produced which discusses critical activities of the Brand management in LOs (Large organizations) while research on the importance of the brand management this in SME (Small Business Ent erprises) has been neglected. I have tried to emphasis in my dissertation that what were those important factors of brand management which can be applied in small business so that these businesses can develop a better brand image in the market.I have tried to limit my research on the fast food takeaways of west London area. My dissertation is based on primary and secondary research to support the literature and authenticity. It has been highlighted in the previous studies that two major research streams have been emerged in this field first focuses on providing an overarching brand management framework to guide managerial decision making (Keller, 1998 Macrae, 1996 Aaker, 1991 Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis, 1986) while the other concentrates on various discrete aspects of the process (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2000 Berthon, Hulbert, and Pitt 1999a de Chernatony and Riley 1998). Two gaps in the literature have been identified 1) It has been identified that developed organizations are in volved in numerous courses at once, 2) the brand management researches had been focusing utterly on large organizations, while the small and medium enterprises have been overlooked (Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008)To manage a brand image requires a number of activities which shows that importance of brand management in SME are different than large organizations. On this basis an important question has been raised by the authors that how brands are in fact controlled in SME.Though I am not been able to find any study specifically focusing on brand management in SMEs but I have tried to explore the areas mentioned by previous authors. Visual identifications, exhibiting business in food exhibitions and magazine and keeping customer records are some of the important factors mentioned by the respondents.Chapter 1Introduction1.1 BackgroundFollowing Blankson, C. and Omar, O.E. (2002), SME is explained as a small to medium firm having employees less then 250, having a relatively small share of the market in economic terms, and managed by its owner(s) in a personalized way. Brands may have been there for more than a 1,000 years but never has any society come across the influence of branding as is witnessed nowadays. Brands are prevailing in all portions of human life like food and clothing, production and consumption, personality and lifestyle and pop culture to politics. Branding themselves has become a kind of culture because it promotes represents brands and like yesterday, it is no longer just about adding value to a product. In the eyes of Carson, D. (1990) (quoted in Hall, 1999) brands are currently gunning for a share of inner lives, their values, their beliefs, their politics, and their souls of consumers. The effect of brands and branding is far away from the field of marketing and advertising. Branding is an economic construct as it has been considered from both marketing and financial perspectives and is a social construct as brands hasnt been completely und erstood owing to the lack of academic research in this area. Advertising in all probability is the most visible factor of marketing but branding in all probability is at the centre of any marketing communications. The roots of most problems of advertising lies in branding strategy. In 1990s Benettons shocking advertising tactic is an infamous example.Majority people would relate to a big business brand with large advertising expenditures, trying to reinforce the mindset that big businesses can be brands unlike the small businesses. Small business branding is frequently referred to as an oxymoron, so might the term entrepreneurial branding (Blankson, C. and Stokes. D, 2002). In small business branding, there is very less research. The research is mainly concerned with brand management of an existing venture. There seems to be very less academic research of branding in small business new ventures.In SME marketing management it has been recognised that management style operations and f unctions of SMEs are different from LOs (Knight, 2000 Cohn and Lindberg, 1972). The use of advertising or recruitment agencies is rare. Definition of survival mentality has been mentioned as when a business meets resources and time constraints SME managers adapt a habit called Survival Mentality. Marketing, human resource, management and general business planning are the major problems quoted by the authors in an SME (Huang and Brown, 1999).Corporate image and corporate reputations have been differentiated under the umbrella of brand management. Corporate image has been defined as the publics latest beliefs about the company (Balmer, 1998 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 29) while corporate reputations has been defined as value judgments about an organizations qualities, trustworthiness and reliability built up over time (Balmer, 1998 Fombrun and Van Riel, 1997 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p.29). It has been mentioned that there is a consistency between an org anizations and stakeholders belief about a brand though unfortunately SME and stakeholder relation hasnt been discussed yet in detail. The importance of the building a positive brand image in the market has been emphasized in order to create a niche in the market place. Regardless of whether an organization is comprised of a singular or multiple brands, it is necessary that marketing efforts be directed toward establishing and maintaining a positive brand image in the minds of key stakeholders. Ultimately, this can contribute to the development of a favorable corporate reputation (de Chernatony, 1999, cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 30). Few small businesses follow a reputation building strategy and when a need for image management is recognized, it is often limited to implementing a public relations campaign (Goldberg, Cohen, and Fiegenbaum, 2003 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 30).However, a brand can be best considered as a psychological phenomenon. Formal ly, a brand can be defined as a name, sign, symbol, logo, etc. that identifies the goods and services of one selling the goods and differentiates the goods from others (Deshpande, R., Farley, J.U. and Webster, F.E. Jr, 2003). A brand takes on meaning with customers through commercial messages, personal experiences, interpersonal communications and other means. The power of a brand resides in the minds of customers through countless brand interactions like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, behavior. The brand protects a product or service with meaning that differentiates the product from other product or services proposed to fulfill the same need. A brand is much more than a name. Branding is not a naming problem but a strategy problem (Deshpande, R., Farley, J.U. and Webster, F.E. Jr, 2003). A brand is a precious asset which must be managed carefully to preserve and enhance the meaning so that customers form strong relations as a result. Several essential principl es of brand management applicable to industrial branding are highlighted here (Fuller, P.B. 2004).Brand awareness and brand image are two components of the psychological meaning of a brand. Customers should be aware of what products or services are associated with a brand (brand awareness) and should be aware of what attributes and benefits the brand offers and what makes it superior and unique (brand image) (Gadenne, D. 2004). Industrial brands can distinguish themselves on the basis of a complete host of characteristics and benefits that range in tangibility and their association to the product. Some relationship will be associated to the brands functional performance such as products value proposition and promised benefits and more intangible considerations will be indicated from further associations like corporate image dimensions embodying such characteristics as trust, ethics, credibility, reliability and corporate social responsibility (Gilmore, A., Carson, D. and Grant, K. 2 001).Branding is a central part of marketing activity. To brand or not to brand? isnt the question. Moreover, every company has a name which will function as a brand for it. For many industrial marketers, the company name is the brand. The question is What you want your name stand for and what it is to mean in the mind of the customer(Gray, B., Matear, S., Boshoff, C. and Matheson, P. 2007) every contact involving the company and the customer becomes an input. The brand must be managed as a strategic asset otherwise it will be managed by customers there or thereabouts at random. An industrial brand managed properly can realize the same reward as a consumer brand like price premiums, greater loyalty, and ability to extend into other categories, and so on.Brand positioning brings in the heart of the brand (Hogarth-Scott, S., Watson, K. and Wilson, L, 1996). They should have both points-of-parity and points-of-difference with regard to competitors product offerings. Those associations where the brand breaks even with competitors and negates their intended points-of-difference are called as Points-of-parity while those associations where the customer behavior is driven by strong, favorable, and unique brand associations are called points-of-difference (Hill, J. 2001a). The core brand promise or brand mantra is an internal marketing expression that captures key points-of-difference that are the essence and spirit of the brand in a three-to-five word phrase. The brand slogan is based on the brand mantra which is used in advertising and other communications where a translation of the mantra is done in consumer friendly language. For instance, Nikes internal brand mantra is authentic athletic performance while the external brand slogan is Just Do it which is used as signature to many of their ads (Hill, J. 2001b). Examples for industrial brands slogan which reflect principal brand mantras are Agilent Technologies Dreams Made Real, Emersons Consider It Solved, GEs Imag ination at Work, Hewlett Packards Invent, Novells The Power to Change, United Technologies Next Things First, and Xerox The Document Company. The Brand Charter summarizes the development, history, and positioning of a brand. All marketing action must be consistent and be evaluated against the Brand Charter. Strong brands have a uniform brand image for every individual customer and across the customer population. Strength of a brand reflects the quality and uniformity of the firms marketing efforts and the concern with which the brand has been managed in due course. For a brand to be successful, it has to be consistent with the firms strategy and the strategic marketing management (Hurmerinta-Peltomaki, L. and Nummela, N.1998).1.2 Research Aims and ObjectivesAIM* To recognize the forces of brand Management which generates a brand image for a little fast food restaurant/takeaway in the market?Objectives* To recognize the suitable literature produced on brand management in SMEs.* To ge t hold a few of the key fast food restaurants/takeaways.* To discover and take into account a methodological approach which will assist in finding primary (qualitative or quantitative have to be determined yet)* To vitally analysis and evaluate results with the preceding findings and provide the significance of brand management in the SMEs.1.3 Value and contributionIn the intellectual perspective, this research will try to highlight the importance of branding in small businesses investigating the concept in fast food and takeaways of London. Though the research and literature done in Branding in small businesses is very less. In the industrial context, the study will provide a strategic understanding of the potential application of Branding at the early stage of business development and how it can be used as a strategic tool for building a brand image.1.4 structure of the dissertationThe report is structured in the following formatChapter 1 IntroductionThis chapter provides the back ground to the research topic discusses the aims and objectives of the study. It also illustrates the academic and industrial value the research seeks to address.Chapter 2 Literature ReviewLiterature review highlights the literature the research is based upon and concludes with the research done into the effectiveness of brand management in small business enterprises and different concepts of branding like product branding and corporate branding and their differences. It also discusses new theory of branding for small businesses which is of importance to the dissertation at hand.Chapter 3 MethodologyThis chapter includes the methodology adapted by for this research paper. Sample data of the research is being discussed in this chapter. It will also highlight the research philosophy, research question, research design, data collection and analysis methods and reliability and validity of the data.Chapter 4 FindingsThis chapter discusses the finding of the questionnaires in graphical rep resentation followed by descriptive description. It also presents the important factors highlighted by the respondents during the survey.Chapter 5 Discussions and LimitationsYou will be able to find the comparative analysis of the findings and recommendations in this chapter. This chapter also highlights the limitations of the research and future research possibilities in this area.Chapter 2Literature Review2.1 IntroductionThe strategic importance of the effective brand management has been recognised and been highlighted by many researchers (Kirby, D., 2003). Two major streams which have emerged in the brand management field includes providing an overarching brand management framework to guide managerial decision-making (Keller, 1998 Macrae, 1996 Aaker, 1991 Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis, 1986 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 27) whereas the second concentrates on various discrete aspects of the process (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000 Berthon, Hulbert and Pitt, 1999a de Ch ernatony and Riley, 1998 cited in Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008, p. 27). Authors have identified two gaps in the literature, 1) It has been becoming common that developed organizations are involved in multiple directions which probably means that they have enhanced their business operations or they have probably entered into different product lines which normally most of the small medium sized business do to increase their profits and sales (Berrthon, Ewing, Napoli, 2008) it is also been quoted by the authors, as Organizational Ambidexterity (Berthon, Hulbert and Pitt 1999).The second major gap which is identified is that previously empirical studies have focused brand management concept only on the large organizations which normally includes top 100 companies of the world. The suggested reasons for this gap are given by some of the other authors which are also quoted in this article it may be because SMEs typically lack the capabilities, marketing power and other resources of lar ge organizations (Knight, 2000 Cohn and Lindberg, 1972) or it may be because SMEs are failed to realize brand can also be built with the help of relatively reserved budgets (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 1999) Authors do contend that SMEs can build a brand image with limited budget but the major question is what management principles they should follow to build it?An initial precise study on SME brandings is Abimbola (2001) who has tried to explore how branding can be a competitive strategy. Other studies have also explored this theme like Cravens (2000), but not in an SME context. According to Abimbola, new brands are like new products, and there is a particular need to draw on inventiveness, innovation and imaginative flair in brand extensions. For instance, the imaginative flair of the owner, like Virgin or Easy Jet, help deliver creative applications of branding programs. Though, similar principles pertain to SME in comparison to large-scale branding, Abimbola (2001) advises SMEs, h aving fewer resources, need better focus and effectiveness. For example, an SMEs center of attention be corporate brand or just a handful brands and run very closely specified and targeted campaigns. Utilizisation of the entrepreneur in public relations was also encouraged. For instance, a study of Dyson appliance company (Doyle, 2003), a firm used an entrepreneurial approach to create its brand. Attention was paid as to how Dyson built a brand personality as part of its marketing.A useful typology of branding among SMEs based on case research of eight smalls- to medium sized firms have been provided by Wong and Merrilees (2005). Three different types of small businesses were identified, At the bottom was the minimalist branding approach, where firms have minimalist marketing across the board, in the middle was an embryonic branding archetype, these firms are stronger than the first archetype with respect to marketing, but their understanding of branding isnt well developed and at t he top was the integrated branding archetype. Branding is very informal, optional, and a narrow range of promotional tools. Wong and Merrilees (2005) initiate that SMEs at the top were the integrated branding archetype and possibly the least familiar.Small business branding is not a good logo, a rhyming name, or special font. Small business branding is the owner. Its what the owner does, says and how the owners traits come through in every aspect of the business. Its the way relationships are built and maintained, the way a person does business and treats other people. Its how rapport is established at an individual level, where trust and comfort exist as human characteristics, not from theme music, models or slogans. Yaro Starak, 2005Marketing as well as branding were stronger informal approaches and formal approaches were taken to branding branding was essential to the business branding was not merely a choice and a wider assortment of promotional tools were used. A clearer unders tanding of customer needs was there among the integrated branding small businesses The letter Z was included in a firms name to appear close to the top of any industry list while another firm to remind its employees posted a laminated description of its brand on the back-office door to remind employees of it. One more substantive outlook on SME branding is offered by Krake (2005), who agreed with the deficit of earlier literature on the subject, compared to SME marketing research and uses a qualitative case study of ten medium-sized firms. A varied set of approaches to branding was seen but little at a conscious level. However, the cases did not propose a common tack or brand success route. Krake (2005), drawing partially from the cases and particularly the common branding literature, built-up a funnel model of brand management in SMEs. The SMEs special features incorporated the most important role of the entrepreneur/owner in terms of their obsession of the brand and this may widen to their epitome of the brand. The entrepreneur will have a particularly controlling authority on the company structure and there may be more imagination used in marketing promotions. In other words, there is a more personal character to the brand. In addition, the owner appreciates the significance of branding there may be extra room to take the brand throughout the firm. The most current documents on small business branding inspect the role of corporate branding for start-ups (Rode and Vallaster, 2005). This study is flanking to the realm of the current paper. Start-up companies refer to pre-launch as well as early start-up activity, while the nine cases in Rode and Vallaster (2005) look to focus on the first few years of operation. Their work suitably sums up the connection among corporate identity and corporate image and they point out its significance to new ventures.Their experiential evidence of nine cases shows a miserable picture of how well small businesses have incorpora ted corporate identity ideas. The majority of the interviewed entrepreneurs had only an imprecise idea of their business concept, market positioning core values and the business concept was seldom documented (Inskip, 2004). Submissions to banks were to a little extent contrived in order to secure financing. Philosophies and basic values and seemed fluid, answers brand names, and consistency not at all times was achieved. Selection and training of staff was disorganized. Corporate communication and sharing of information proved difficult. All in all, the corporate identity and cultural developments looked unstructured, encouraging Rode and Vallaster (2005) to build up three propositions that potentially could start to move this observed near to ground performance. Fascinatingly, four out of five most important studies have alluded to the essential role of the founder in the branding process therefore it would seem that any new theory of small business branding should do the similar.2 .2 BrandingBranding can somehow be explained as a strategy, a process, an orientation and a instrument (Majumdar, 2006). Branding is defined as the method through which a marketer aims to build long term relationship with the consumers by evaluating their requirements and needs so that the product (brand) can fulfill their mutual desires.Branding can be looked as an instrument to locate a product or a service with a reliable of quality and also the value for money to make certain the development of a habitual liking by the consumer. It is a general knowledge that the costumers selection is inclined by many factors out of which the simplest one is a brand name (Kotler, et al, 2007). Even though there can be equally pleasing products available in the market, the customer once pleased with some brand will not want to make an additional endeavor to assess the other substitutes available. Initially if the customer is satisfied with a particular brand, than he or she is inclined to stick with it, unless and until there is a great increase in the price of the product or an evident superior quality of product comes to their knowledge, which force the customer to change the brand (Lancaster, Massingham, 1999).Branding may be generally applied as a segregation strategy when the products available cannot be differentiated easily in conditions of tangible traits or in products that are apparent as a commodity. In all these conditions marketers apply branding as a differentiation strategy and attempt to build up a relationship with consumer groups. That is, they attempt to expand and provide the customized products and auxiliary services with customized communications to tally with the self-image of the consumer. Such differentiation is a regular procedure and the beginning and on-going measures are explained (Majumdar, 2006).2.3 Corporate BrandingIn coordinating the brand-building process, corporate brand architecture plays a vital role which is defined by core values sh ared by different products with a common and overall brand identity. The major part of the corporate brand is to give credibility in cases such as communications with government, the financial sector, the labor market, and society in general (Urde, 2003). Corporate Brand has different fundamentals like organizational values, core values and added values. The relation between these foundations helps to form the value-creating process of the corporate brand (Urde, 2003). Companies face different disputes and challenges of organizing their resources and internal procedures so that the core values for which the corporate brand stands can be strengthened, differentiated and expressed as added value for consumers. The firms brand equity and competitive position is significant for the linkage between core values and corporate brand. Management and organization-wide support is crucial in this process (Urde, 2003). A corporate brand is not necessarily limited to a single corporation. It can also apply to a variety of corporate entities, such as corporations, their subsidiaries, and groups of companies (Balmer and Gray, 2003). Balmer (1998) suggests that to differentiate the firm from its competitors, corporate identity is an important corporate asset which represents the firms ethics, goals and values. The reason being that the markets are becoming more complex and products and services are quickly imitated and homogenized which is rather difficult in maintaining a credible product differentiation, requiring the positioning of the whole corporation relatively than simply its products. Therefore, the corporate values and images appear as key elements of differentiation strategies (Hatch and Schultz, 2001). A corporate brand has an assumption that it will support all aspects of the firm and differentiate the firm from its competitors (Harris and de Chernatony, 2001 Ind, 1997 Balmer, 2001).Corporate branding allows the firms to use the vision and culture of the whole orga nization clearly as part of its distinctiveness (Balmer, 1995, 2001 de Chernatony, 1999). De Chernatony (2001) suggests for firms to incorporate their strategic vision with their brand building. In contrast with the product brand, the firms visibility, recognition and reputation to a greater extent can be increased with the corporate brand. Balmer and Gray (2003) propose that one of the benefits of strong corporate brands is that investors may seek them out deliberately. They furthermore play an imperative role in the recruitment and retention of valuable employees and offer more chances for strategic or brand associations. Alan (1996) illustrates the flow of corporate branding to the rising costs of advertising, retailer power, product fragmentation, new product development cost efficiencies, and consumers expectations of corporate credentials.2.4 Product BrandingProduct branding yields different advantages for firms. McDonald et al. (2001) argue that, a firm using a product-brand strategy rather than corporate branding will experience less damage to its corporate image if one of its individual brands fails. When the Tylenol brand was under siege in the USA because of tainted batches, Procter Gambles name and reputation were somewhat shielded by the product-branding strategy, leaving Pampers and Tide undamaged by the Tylenol scare. A product brand allows firms to position and appeal to different segments in different markets which also makes it flexible. For instance, Budweiser beer is a quality beer that is solid value for money and which is sold in the USA as large temptation. In contrast, it is marketed in some overseas markets as a premium product, and its product image is linked to the American lifestyle. Although a challenge which is faced with product branding is to target different small segments through different brands that can result in high marketing costs and lower brand profitability.The main role of branding and brand management is to create d ifferentiation and preference in the minds of customers. The development of product branding has been built around the core role that maintains differentiation in a particular market (Knox and Bickerton, 2003). Corporate branding builds on the tradition of product branding, seeking to create differentiation and preference. However, corporate branding is conducted at the level of the firm instead of the product or service, and furthermore to an extend on which its reaches beyond customers to stakeholders such as employees, customers, investors, suppliers, partners, regulators and local communities (Hatch and Schultz, 2001).2.5 Corporate Branding Versus Product BrandingTo present a controlled representation of the corporations value system and identity, the corporate brand can be considered as the addition of the corporations marketing efforts (Ind, 1997 Balmer, 2001). It has been differentiated from a product brand in its strategic focus and its implementation, which combines corpora te strategy, corporate communications and corporate culture (Balmer, 1995, 2001). Balmer and Gray (2003) and Hatch and Schultz (2003) argues that corporate branding differs from product branding in several other ways. First, the focus shifts from the product to the corporation. Corporate branding therefore represents the corporation and its members to a greater extent. Second, corporate brands generally involve strategic considerations at a higher executive level even though managerial responsibility for product brands usually rest in the middle-management marketing function. Third, corporate brands usually relate all of the firms stakeholders and products and services to each other whereas product brands typically target specific consumers. Fourth, product-brand management is normally conducted within the marketing department, while corporate branding requires support across the corporation and cross-functional coordination. Fifth, product brands are reasonably short-term, compared to corporate brands along with their heritage and strategic vision. Hence, corporate branding is more strategic than the normally functional product branding. Hatch and Schultz (2003) further argues that to position the firm in its marketplace and to set up internal maintain arrangements appropriate to its strategic importance corporate branding engineers interactions among strategic vision, organizational culture and corporate image. Similarly, Ind (1997) classifies three key differences. First, corporate branding attains a certain degree of tangibility through the messages the firm delivers and the relationship it establishes with various stakeholders. Second, corporate branding is more complex than product branding because of the variety of messages and relationships and also the potentially consequent confusion. Third, it is being inclined to demand greater attention to issues of ethical or social responsibility. The focus of a product brand is on customers while corporate bran d has its focus on stakeholders. Therefore, corporate brands can provide a sense of trust and quality for the firm in extending a product line or diversifying into other product lines (Balmer and Gray, 2003). An effective corporate brand also has an intrinsic excess capacity, or leverage, which can possibly be translated to other markets (Peteraf, 1993). It is observed that corporate brands are extensively used to launch new products in new markets. Corporate branding usually exercises the total corporate communication mix to engage target audiences who perceive and judge the company and its products or services. The overall image of the firm at the corporate level is therefore expected to generate brand equity (Keller, 2000). The firm is expected to be largely influenced by the core company values and heritage. In addition, strategic vision also contributes to the image, in the sense that stakeholders normally seek and use information about the firm beyond what it provides. Hatch a nd Schultz (2003) concludes that those firms who are successful in creating a corporate brand are more competitive than firms relying only on product branding in the uneven markets created by globalization. On the other hand, corporate branding also requires immediate and effective interaction of strategic vision, organizational culture, which makes it more complex than product branding. de Chernatony (1999) embraces that it facilitates customers desire to look deeper into the brand and evaluate the nature of the firm. The firm offers liable customers to accept its claims about other products and services which is build through trust in the products and the brand.

Website For Malaysian Insurance Institute

Website For Malayan indemnification workINTRODUCTIONThe project aim is to setup a website for Malaysian damages to allow indemnification place leader to enroll their candidates for the Pre-Contract Examination. In phase 1, the author go forth conduct a few studies related to the electronic mercantile system to allow insurance agency leader to pay for the trial run fees. Furthermore, additional security features to protect the website and the substance abuser will in like manner be oeuvre to enhance the security of the website.FINDINGSBackground Study of Malaysian Insurance foundMalaysian Insurance Institute is a non-profit brass section that founded in 1968. This organization is a leading insurance institute that provide insurance knowledge, training and offer all kinds of qualifications that recognized by the international insurance club such as insurance, financial planning and risk anxiety. MII is known as the primary insurance knowledge provider in Malaysia. It wo rks together with other insurance comp both in the industry with supports and helps from the Bank Negara Malaysia and Regulator to guarantee the provided education is up to date and fulfill the changes in the insurance industry.Figure 1.1 Malaysian Insurance Institute Website1.1 MII AS EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING BODYAn average of 300 training programs is organized by MII to educate the brokers, insurers, reinsurers, adjusters and regulators. In each training program, there atomic number 18 about 10,000 participants from all other countries including Malaysia. These outstanding records make MII a place in the Education Board of the Federation of Afro Asian Insurers and Reinsurers (FAIR) that based in Egypt. to a fault that, MII also help general and life insurance agents by providing training to them. These training will help them to provide a better service to their customers. For agency leaders, MII is ally with LIMRA (USA) to organize the Agency Management Training Course (AMTC) t o upgrade their leadership and professionalism.There be two primary professional programs provide by MII. They are the Diploma of The Malaysian Insurance Institute (DMII) and the Associateship of The Malaysian Insurance Institute (AMII). These two programs are the basic requirement for the insurance industry and also for the emerging markets.1.2 MII AS EXAMINATION CENTREMII act as a guardian to monitor the education standards of insurance exam. excessively that, it is also the authorized exam center to conduct insurance examination. MII offers 32 major examinations that attract over 60 thousand candidates for the insurance industry in a social class. Because of the outstanding management and good reputation as an education and exam centre, MII is consigned to be the primary place to conduct some others examinations that organize by others examination bodies such as The Institute of Risk Management (UK), Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters ( UK), The Insurance Institute of Amer ica ( USA), The Society of Actuaries (USA) and others.1.3 MII AS INSURANCE INFORMATION CENTREMII is noble to have their own library that specialized in the insurance industry and others related industry. Besides that, all kind of collection of books, magazines or journals that related to insurance is also collect by the library for public use. Moreover, MII also has an electronic library portal that publish information to the public such as online cuttingfoundspapers, electronic journals, links to others insurance companies, associations, regulators, university and other related sectors.1.4 MII AS CONFERENCE ORGANIZERThere are around eight assemblages that conducted by MII in a year which was planned to fulfill the urgencys of the emerging insurance industry. Most of the conference receives massive response from all kinds of descent industry from local and international. These conferences not tho provide experience and knowledge to the public but also provide a chance to each other to build up their networking with other industry.1.5 connexion WITH INTERNATIONAL BODIESMII has a firm belief in collaborating its lawsuits and resources together with other reputable insurance education bodies throughout the world so as to maximise and leverage on each others strengths. MIIs commitment to deliver the best quality standards in education is reflected in its international links with major insurance institutions, universities and pertinent organisations. Among the collaborations that MII has established are with The Chartered Insurance Institute (UK), Australasian Institute of Chartered Loss adjusters (AICLA), Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA), Australian New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF), LOMA (USA), Institute of Risk Management (UK), LIMRA (USA) and others1.6 INTERNATIONAL PRESENCEWhile addressing the domestic needs will always remain as a main focus and priority, MII has also spread its wings into the international scene, particularly in fulfilling the needs of the emerging markets. This is in line with its vision to be the preferable Institute for training solutions, education and information in insurance in Malaysia and the emerging markets. The increasing numbers and wide range of international training participants and conference delegates is a testimony of the recognition and regard for the relevant and high quality programmes being offered by MII.MIIs presence in the emerging market, particularly within the ASEAN portion is quite significant. When the 10 ASEAN insurance regulatory authorities formed the ASEAN Insurance Training Research Institute (AITRI), MII was given the honour to lead as the secretariate for AITRI. AITRI is a non-profit organization to provide regional research, insurance education and training support for the regulators as well as the industry of the ASEAN member countries. Its activities are feature in international publications and have gained great recognition and i nternational support such as the World Bank (USA), International Association for Insurance Supervisors ( Switzerland), patch of the Superintendent of financial Institutions ( Canada) and others.1.7 INTERNATIONAL AWARDMII won a title named as Professional Service Provider of the Year 2007 Award at year 2007 from The Review Worldwide Reinsurance Association in London, U.K. MII show up as the first winner that come from Asia after 14 years when the award is started. MIIs effort and their compliance for the training and the education was the reasons for them to receive the award.1.8 List of Certification and Professional ProgramsThe list below is the certification or professional programs that offer by Malaysian Insurance Institute. These certification or professional programs are recognized by all the insurance company in Malaysia. The agent of an insurance company es moveial possess the related certification or professional programs to promote or sell the insurance to the customers .Diploma of Financial ServicesAssociateship of the Malaysia Insurance Institute (AMII)Associateship of the Malaysia Insurance Institute (AMII) InternationalDiploma of the Malaysia Insurance Institute (DMII)Diploma of the Malaysia Insurance Institute (DMII) Life documentation of MII Insurance (CMII Insurance)Pre-Contract Examination for Insurance Agent (PCEIA)Certificate Examination in Investment-Linked Life Insurance (CEILLI)International Certificate in Risk Management (CIRM)Basic Agency Management Course (BAMC)Registered Financial contriver (RFP)Basic Certificate Course in Loss Adjusting (BCCILA)Intermediate Certificate Course in Loss Adjusting (ICCILA)Basic Certificate Course in Insurance Broking (BCCIB)Intermediate Certificate Course in Insurance Broking (ICCIB)Certificate in General Insurance Actuarial Practice (CGIAP)1.9 expirationMII is a powerful organization that provides high quality education to the insurance industry and others related field. Besides that, MII is also recognized by international organization for their quality services and sharp programs.Literature ReviewThis chapter discusses about the online electronic commerce constitution and the security features that plan to implement on the registration website such as on hide come uponboard, multi step au and sotication and secure socket layer.2.1 electronic CommerceElectronic commerce is known as any transaction or defrayment that occurs through the internet. It includes a wide range of area such as auction website, retail website, registration website, banking website, and etc. The content of electronic commerce can be goods or services. It has become important with the emerging of the internet and World Wide Web.Since electronic commerce is conduct on the internet, so the customer can ignore the breastwork of distance and time. The electronic commerce is growing frequently since five years ago and it is expected to growing in faster rate.When electronic commerce is conducted, it g overnment agency online payment will be conduct during the transaction. There are several of payment method are available online such as ac address card, PayPal, and Google checkout.(Networksolution, 2010) realisation card is the most prevalent payment method used by most of the electronic commerce website. A marketing research shows that an electronic business will lost 60 to 80 percent of potential customers if credit card payment is not implemented in their electronic commerce system.With credit cards payment enabled, it makes the customer has the impulse to purchase an item at anytime and also ensure the legitimacy of the electronic business to the customers.(EasyStoreCreator, 2010)Another popular online payment method is PayPal. The benefit of PayPal is it allows the merchant or customer to make online and offline transaction at anytime. Furthermore, PayPal is well known for its ease of use and no verification bounding of credit rating. The users of PayPal only need to verify their electronic mail address and their accounts individualised information. Payment can be easily directed to the PayPal account with the tied electronic mail address like emailprotectedAdditionally, Google checkout is also a preference of some electronic business merchant. Google checkout fast enough to become popular is because the provided service of this system is user friendly, very stable and reliable. Another benefits of Google checkout is it charge lesser merchant fees compare to PayPal and this makes it grow at a fast rate.(Arora.n, 2010)2.2 Types of Electronic CommerceThere are multiple types of electronic commerce that are available on the internet. Among all kinds of electronic commerce, there are 4 popular types that occupy most of the electronic commerce website. They are business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-business (C2B), consumer-to-consumer (C2C).Out of these popular types, there are also some others electronic commerce are used b y those electronic business merchant such as business-to-employee (B2E), government-to-government (G2G), government-to-employee (G2E), government-to-business (G2B), business-to-government (B2G), government-to-citizen (G2C), citizen-to-government (C2G) and etc.(DigitSmith Embroidery and Screen Printing, 2006)2.3 On Screen KeyboardOn screen keyboard is a software or application that shows on the monitor of the computer. It allow user to input any kind of text by mouse or the monitors tint screen. On screen keyboard can help those mobility impairment people or those people that cannot type. Besides that, on screen keyboard also can help users to get out those virus, Trojan or key logger to steal data (Microsoft Corporation, 2010).Figure 2.1 shows an example of on screen keyboard. It is a default application that comes with the operating system provide by Microsoft.msosk.jpgFigure 2.1 Microsoft on screen keyboard2.4 Multi Step AuthenticationThe single factor authentication such as the username and word form is widely used by a lot of website in the World Wide Web. Due to the demand for more security during login, an ideology named multi step authentication has been gain to fulfill the public demand.Multi step authentication is a process of login and authenticates users in multiple webpage. The first step of the authentication is verify the username entered by the user. If it is match with any name inside the database, then the user will be redirect to the second step. Second step mandatory the user to enter their password and if it is correct, then the system will redirect the user to the services they login to.(Agilewebsolutions, 2010)Besides that, this feature also delay any malware that using form robot to capture password entered by the user because there is two different login processes is performing.2.5 Secure Socket stratum Protocol(SSL)Secure Socket Layer is a well known protocol that uses to provide a secure connection amidst the server and the client. The purpose to secure a connection is to protect the integrity of data, privacy and authentication.SSL protect data by encrypting a plaintext message to ciphertext. Ciphertext is meaningless to allone if someone captured the data packet try to crack it. A pair of key is used to encrypt the data. They are named public key and private key. Public key is used to encrypt data that send from the client and the private key is used to decrypt the data that received by the server.To ensure the server side is the real owner of the service provider, a digital certificate will be issue by a triplet party certificate authority such as GeoTrust and VeriSign. This process is to identify the domain is maintain by the recognized owner and it is legal. Figure 2.2 shows an example of digital certificate. (GeoCerts, 2010)cert.gifFigure 2.2 Digital CertificateNetscape introduced the SSL Protocol in 1994 due to the concern for the security over the internet was rising. At first, SSL is develop to secure the connection between the server and the client but modification was make to fit it in to other services such as TELNET, FTP, Email and etc. (Martz. C, 2010)2.6 Conclusion security measure feature is an important session to keep a website safe from any threats. All the features discussed is planned to implement into the website to work with the electronic commerce system and the website security.Electronic Commerce System SecurityIt is a big challenge to maintain and securing an electronic commerce system as the internet world is emerging every day. It is important for electronic merchant to implement security for their electronic commerce website.3.1 Components of Electronic Commerce SecurityThere are 5 components of electronic commerce security that is important to electronic commerce website. The first component is containment that uses to prevent all kinds of violates. The second component is compartmentalization that uses to avoid unauthorized access to the websit e system. Besides that, it prevents collateral damage deal to the website during attacks. The third component is continuity that guarantees website system to keep running even during DOS attacks or even during the equipment failure. The fourth component is recovery that frequently starts the recovery operation during external attacks or malicious internal activity. The fifth component is performance that ensures the network performance is not decrease due to the others security operation.3.2 Electronic Commerce VulnerabilitiesThe fearful of online transaction threats has been increase with all types of attacks. Multiple vulnerabilities will be discussed to understand their characteristic.3.2.1 SQL InjectionSQL injection is a technique that inserts the SQL meta character into the user input. This technique allows the attacker to force the back-end database to execute the command entered into the system. To check whether the website is vulnerable to this attack, a single quote () cha racter will be send into the database. An invulnerable website will return an error message which exposes the technology being used at the host machine. These information is enough for the attackers to perform further attacks to the restricted area or the operation system.SQL injection attack can be different depends on the types of database. If the attack is conduct on the prophet database, it needs the UNION keyword to execute and it is harder to capture compare to Microsoft SQL server.(Mookhey. K. K, 2004)3.2.2 Price ManipulationThis is a new threat that threatens the payment gateway and the shopping cart. In the park case, the total price that needs to pay by the customer is presentd in a hidden HTML field. A web application procurator such as Achilles can modify these figures when the information is send from the users browser to the website.The figure 3.1 is taken from one of the Symantec article showing that the price can be modify by the attackers to any value. Then, this information will be send to the merchants payment gateway.(Mookhey. K. K, 2004)achilles.jpgFigure 3.1 Achilles web proxy3.2.3 Buffer OverflowsBad consequences will be happen when massive number of bytes is sent to an application that is not set up properly to handle these bytes. According to K. K. Mookhey, the path of the PHP functions is exposed when he sent in a very large value in the input field.Figure 3.2 shows that when a large value is sent in and the PHP paw cannot process the value, the returned error message expose the location of the PHP functions. This error message reveals the admin folder that allows attackers to conduct further attacks.(Mookhey. K. K, 2004)phptimeout.jpgFigure 3.2 PHP timeout error3.2.4 Cross-site ScriptingCross-site scripting is primary concentrated to the end user and also leverages two factors, the weak input output validation of the web application and the trust gain from the user to the well known website name.This attack required the website t o take in user input, process it and shows the result together with the original user input. This sequence is commonly found in the search system. The attacker conducts the attack by embedding the JavaScript into the user input as part of the input. Then, a link will be created which contain this JavaScript and the victim will be persuaded to click on it. For example, the URL will looks similar like this http//www.vulnerablesite.com/cgibin/search.php?keywords=alert(OK).This example will pop up an alert box that shows the text OK. The attacker can place the script they want into this link to conduct the attack.Usually, the attacker will use this method to capture the victims cookies that whitethorn contain victims sensitive information. Besides that, the JavaScript can be also use to redirect the victim to the website that contain malicious code and conduct the attack at there.3.2.5 Weak AuthenticationAuthentication system that does not block multiple fail login can lead to unexpecte d consequences. An attacker may use some brute force software to guess an accounts password by sending all kinds of combination to the server to validate the password. Another weak authentication is when the website uses basic authentication but does not transfer it through SSL. assailant can sniff the traffic packet and discover the user information inside the packets.3.3 Pros and Cons of Electronic Commerce SystemAlthough electronic commerce provide a lot of benefits to electronic business and the consumer, but there are also some consequences that affect both merchant and the consumer.The benefits of electronic commerce are it save the users time compare to shopping at any shops or markets. Everything transaction is conduct on the internet and just a few clicks, consumer can corrupt everything they want and pay it. Compare to shopping at regular shop, consumer have to travel to the shop, park the car, walk to the shop, browse the shop for the item, then pay it and that is squa nder a lot of time.Electronic commerce is cheap compare to the reaping selling at regular shops and markets. This is because every electronic merchant does not need to pay for the rental and utilities expenses like the physical shop. That is why they can sell cheaper product when they do not need to cover these expenses. Besides that, lowering the product price is one of the marketing skills to attract customers to obtain from their electronic shop.(Finnila. J, 2008)Most of the electronic commerce is supported with credit cards paying method. With this method enable, consumer does not need to download or install special plugin to make a transaction. Besides that, consumers with credit cards are always fill with impulse to buy something during every visit. Furthermore, the electronic merchant can keep the customer transaction information for future use such as follow up sales or advertise product.(Nightcats Multimedia Productions, 2010)The disadvantages of electronic commerce are the competitor is all around the world. Electronic merchant have to keep generate new marketing strategy to attract customers or keep the customers to visit them again.As the internet world is changing rapidly, there are a lot of new traps appear to steal information from the consumer such as phishing website and malicious scripts. For any electronic commerce user that unaware to these internet threats will expose their face-to-face confidential information to those scam owners.(Finnila. J, 2008)From the point of view of most of the customers, it is an abuse to the customers personal information when the electronic merchant keeps the information for future use. The customer may want to keep their personal information in private and it is better to request for their permission before their information is used. Besides that, the customers also worry that their personal information may leak out to the public in any accident. It is a benefit for the merchant but a disadvantage to the c ustomers.(Nightcats Multimedia Productions, 2010)3.4 ConclusionIt is important to electronic merchant to secure their electronic commerce system to prevent all kinds of incident that cause unexpected losses to the business.CONCLUSIONSThe author successfully completed objective one to three in the phase 1 of the project. The author learns how MII works in daily operation and their roles and responsibilities. Besides that, the author also learn how those additional security features works to protect the website and the users. As a proof of meeting objective one to three, the reference list below shows unlike information from different sites.REFERENCES (BACKGROUND READING MATERIALS)About MII (Online) (Cited 20 MAY 2010) visible(prenominal) fromhttp//www.insurance.com.my/mii2010/about.htmlMII Vision and Mission (Online) (Cited 21 MAY 2010) usable fromhttp//www.insurance.com.my/mii2010/about_vision.htmlCertification and Professional Programmes (Online) (Cited 22 MAY 2010) Available fr omhttp//www.insurance.com.my/mii2010/certification.htmlWhat is Ecommerce? (Online) (Cited 23 MAY 2010) Available fromhttp//www.networksolutions.com/education/what-is-ecommerce/Choosing a Merchant Credit carte du jour Processing Vendor To Meet Your ecommerce Credit Card Processing Needs (Online) (Cited 25 MAY 2010) Available fromhttp//www.easystorecreator.com/choosing-vendor.aspDifferent Payment Methods in E-Commerce Website (Online) (Cited 26 MAY 2010) Available fromhttp//ezinearticles.com/?Different-Payment-Methods-in-E-Commerce-Websiteid=2073803Ecommerce definition and types of ecommerce (Online) (Cited 26 MAY 2010) Available fromhttp//www.digitsmith.com/ecommerce-definition.htmlHandling Financial Web Site Tricks (Online) (Cited 28 MAY 2010) Available fromhttp//help.agile.ws/1Password3/multi_step_logins.htmlTwo-Step Authentication Method For Online Banking (Online) (Cited 30 MAY 2010) Available fromhttp//priorartdatabase.com/IPCOM/000126859Handling Financial Web Site Tricks (Onlin e) (Cited 30 MAY 2010) Available fromhttp//help.agile.ws/1Password3/multi_step_logins.htmlTurn On and Use On-Screen Keyboard (Online) (cited 31 MAY 2010) Available from http//www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/accessibility/oskturnonuse.mspxSSL Secure Sockets Layer (Online) (Cited 1 JUNE 2010) Available fromhttp//www.birds-eye.net/definition/s/ssl-secure_sockets_layer.shtmlHow SSL Works (Online) (Cited 1 JUNE 2010) Available fromhttp//www.geocerts.com/ssl/how_ssl_worksPros Cons of E-Commerce (Online) (Cited 2 JUNE 2010) Available fromhttp//ezinearticles.com/?Pros-and-Cons-of-E-Commerceid=1481356Pros and Cons for consumers when shopping online (Online) (Cited 2 JUNE 2010) Available fromhttp//www.nireland.com/e.commerce/Pros%20and%20Cons.htmBeginners Guide to Ecommerce (Online) (Cited 2 JUNE 2010) Available fromhttp//www.nightcats.com/sales/free.html5 Essential Components of E-Commerce Security (Online) (Cited 3 JUNE 2010) Available fromhttp//www.intruguard.com/E-commerceSecurity.htm lCommon Security Vulnerabilities in e-commerce Systems (Online) (Cited 4 JUNE 2010) Available fromhttp//www.symantec.com/connect/articles/common-security-vulnerabilities-e-commerce-systems***END OF REPORT***

Qualitative Method Essay -- History, Greek

Qualitative methods can be traced back to the ancient classic historians. Herodotus, who is often called the father of history, traveled widely in the ancient world and recounted in his Histories the stories he had heard from the plenty he met. His successors down the ages recorded their observations of people that they encountered in their travels. These kinds of observations eventually became formalized in the discipline of anthropology. In clinical research, qualitative methods were first apply in case histories, for instance, Breuer and Freuds (1895/1955) first cases, which began the psychoanalytical tradition, and Watson and Rayners (1920) tuition of Little Albert, which helped establish the behavioral tradition. There is also a tradition of participant observation methods in mental health research, though they are more often conducted by sociologists than by psychologists. Classic examples of participant observation studies are Goffmans (1961) Asylums and Rosenhans (1973) S ane in insane places study (Barker and Pistrang 2002).Qualitative research seeks to understand a social or human problem through an inquiry process. It is conducted in a natural setting and reports the views of informants in rich detail. Qualitative research strives to describe the extraordinarily complex nature of people and their perceptions of their ensure in the specific social context in which the experience occurs. (Geertz, 1973). This is quite different than the paradigm of quantitative research. The raw poppycock for qualitative research is ordinary language, as opposed to the numbers that are the raw material for quantitative research. The language may be obtained in many ways. It may be the participants own descriptions of him or he... ...ings-Sanders & Anderson, 2003 Lawler, Dowswell, Hearn, Forster, & Young, 1999 as sited Schumacher, Koresawa, West, Dodd, Paul, Tripathy, Koo, Miaskowski, 2005). Others have used qualitative methods to enhance their understanding of re search participants who dropped out or did not adhere to the intervention (Jolly et al., 2003 as sited Schumacher et, al. 2005).In addition, researcher have conducted qualitative interviews adjacent an intervention study to elucidate the content and interpersonal processes of the intervention, to elicit participants experiences of having received the intervention, to evaluate the intervention, or to explain study findings (Gamel, Grypdonck, Hengeveld, & Davis, 2001). In these studies, sequential research designs, in which qualitative inquiry precedes or follows the intervention study, are most common (Schumacher et, al. 2005).

Ritalin is Like Cocaine :: Drugs Addiction Essays

What is methylphenidate?methylphenidate, or methylphenidate, is a stimulant derived from the same family as cocaine. Manufactured by the Ciba-Geigy Corporation, a social class of Novartis, Ritalin sales strike increased by 700% since 1990. The United States market accounts for over 90% of the sales (Breggin, 1998). Ritalin is dispersed in pill skeleton in varying amounts, either for short or long effects the short-term form lasts 3-5 hours while the long-term form may last 6-8 hours. (SR) Ritalin is the slow release form that lasts longer. Ritalin, like other stimulant medications, works by increasing the production of neurotransmitters, much(prenominal) as dopamine and norepinephrine, in the brain. (Reif, 1998) Who uses Ritalin?Doctors generally prescribe Ritalin as their first choice in treating ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Approximately 3-5% of children in the world have ADHD, of those, about 4 million take Ritalin (Breggin, 1998). It is thought that ADHD m ay occur from low levels of dopamine and epinephrine in the brain although that is a highly controversial topic, it makes Ritalin an obvious treatment.(http//www.restores_homepage.com/the_ritalin_generation.htm) What is ADHD?Many psychologists regard ADHD as a state deficit, where children are highly aroused to decline for the bodys feeling of under arousal. (Kerns, Eso, Thomson, 1999) Three main features of ADHD are 1.Impulsivity, the children often act before they consider consequences 2.Hyperactivity, the children struggle to sit stock-still 3.Inattentiveness, the children have difficulty focusing on a subject because of the overload of stimuli in the environment. Research may indicate that ADHD has biological origins and set symptoms, such as fidgeting, excessive talking, difficulty maintaining concentration, impulsive behavior, lack of focus and messiness. (http//www.mnsi.net/collinsw/ritalin.htm) According to the Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, in a recent conference held by the NIMH, National Institute of Mental Health, the validity of the diagnosis of ADHD was held in question. (www.breggin.com) The cause of ADHD is unknown as of yet, and speculation is all psychologists have to study and treat patients. The DSM-IV has categorized ADHD by the three dimensions listed above and included 18 symptoms under the three categories, which include some listed above. ADHD has undergone significant renaming and paygrade since the last publication of the Diagnostic Statistic Manual. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity, was referred to as ADD or sometimes ADD-H, Attention Deficit Disorder with hyperactivity. (www.journals.cup.org) Who Advocates Ritalin?Teachers, parents and doctors continue to embolden Ritalin despite the claims made by antagonists of the stimulant treatment.