Managing the Environment (MEWK3 DQ2) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Managing the Environment (MEWK3 DQ2) - Essay Example Brand extension is the introduction of a new host of products under some of a company's strongest brand names (Kotler & Keller 2008, p. 280). Perhaps, one of the most effective defenses for brand extensions is to list success stories of such strategy. Let us take for example Apple, Inc. and Steve Jobs - they have successfully leveraged on one of their brands, the iPod which is now featuring a wide range of mobile entertainment products. According to a study done by Ying, Jin and Yi, "the higher the consumers' degree of information exposure, the higher product knowledge and impulse purchasing behavior" (2008, p. 418). Brand extensions is one of the more effective ways of providing information exposures of the products to the consumers. Encouraging the consumer's impulse buying behavior is necessary in retailing: "Previous studies discovered that 39% of all department store purchases and 67% of all general store purchases are impulse purchases" (Ying, Jin & Yi 2008, p. 419). Moreover, Lei, de Ruyter and Wetzels found out that "a parent brand receives more positive evaluations after the introduction of a step-up extension than that of a step-down extension' (2008, p. 268). It seems here, then, that whether a brand extension is successful or not, it will still be beneficial to the parent brand. On the other hand a successful brand extension "can not only contribute to the parent brand image but also enable a brand

How does a study of popular culture help researchers understand how Essay

How does a study of popular culture help researchers understand how financial reporting information is valued by society - Essay Example Financial reports are then prepared to mirror the popular culture that prevails in monetary terms. Thus, ideally these reports should replicate the popular culture and should tell if that suits the well being of a country or not. Critical theory encompasses the idea of popular culture. It involves the examination and analysis of a society and its culture. Recently, Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions have been used to describe national or, better put, popular cultures. Hofstede’s ideas are based on a large scale research project to bridge cultural differences globally and to come up with a global popular culture! It uses data obtained from sixty-four countries. These studies identify five dimensions. These dimensions can be used to analyze how similar or different countries are. Based on these, their financial reports should mirror the popular trends that prevail and should compare the financial status of the countries in a considerable time period. The first dimension is of power distance, second one being individualism, third masculinity, fourth uncertainty avoidance and last one being long term orientation( Hofstede, Geert). Power distance index is used to measure the degree to which author ity is distributed lopsidedly within an association or an institution (and even in families). It also implies that a society’s degree of disparity is authorized by the supporters as much as by the leaders. The analysis of power distance shows significant differences amongst countries, Germany has a power distance index of 35 while Arab countries have a power index of 80. The second dimension of assessing the popular culture according to Hofstede is individualism. In this, it is compared whether the citizens prefer to look after themselves only, i.e. if they prefer individualism or if they prefer collectivism and like to help others. On the individualistic side, we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose. Everyone takes care of himself