Travel and Tourism Trends and Factors

A trend Is something that is reoccurring more and more often until It becomes a popular thing to do. The first trend I am going to explore Is the greater flexiblllty of booking products. This has become possible due to alterations in the traditional chain of distribution. This relates to the trend of using the Internet to book holidays as It Is a lot through this In which people can book their products. The reason for this that the services such as the principals have their own websites. his makes It simpler and easier for the ustomers to reach them directly and book their holidays this way. 1 In November 201 2, Thomas COOK which has 1. 300 travel agent shops, was forced to turn to its banks for increased loans as it looked like it might not struggle to survive. The impact this has had Is the fact that there isn't near as much demand for in branch travel agencies as everything is done virtually through the principals. However in doing this it has caused a reduction in cost for the tr avel agencies as they too have moved online. 3Wlth approximately 50 per cent of passengers travelling from the uK on budget irlines and almost 40 per cent of holidaymakers booking ‘DIY' holidays, both offering added flexibility to a trip, ensuring the transportation of luggage Is as cost-effective as the rest of the holiday is becoming more difficult. This also has an impact on the tourist travel information centres as the principals generally only offer a basic service and therefore the tourist Information offered by some companies wouldn't be included in their service.So the tourist travel Information centres would have to supply more leaflets and guides for the tourists so they can know about the local attractions and where to visit as a tourist. Another thing it has an impact on is the need for accommodation, as it is possible to contact the hotels directly they may need to advance and expand their hotels to meet the demand for more customers Instead of Just the customers who book through travel agencies and tour operators as part of packages.Principals do sell their products directly to their customers however the traditional chain of distribution Is still existent but it is not at the forefront of the travel and tourism industry as it has been In the past. It Is estimated that over 95% of holidays are now booked online, owever it is only a small percentage of these that are booked as separate principals. In 2012, Thomas Cook Group made 25% of Its sales through Its own web channels. OFS witn weD sales In Nortnern Europe at K package Duslness at 3 distribution is a key area of focus for the Group going forward and will be developed as part of an Omni-channel distribution strategy. The next trend I am going to explore is Adventure Holidays. 4The passport travel to adventure document (2009) state that the adventure travel market is worth E180m a year to the travel and tourism industry. This is an area of the Travel and Tourism ndustry that is rapidly g rowing due to the increase of people who want to experience thrill and adventurous and stimulating experiences in their spare time.The term Adventure can be used to talk about a wide range of holidays; it can vary from something as simple as a cruise along the river Nile to trekking in the Himalayas, visiting the plains of Africa or Scuba diving in foreign waters. There are certain countries that market their selves as adventure holiday destinations; an example of one of these countries is New Zealand. New Zealand offers a wide range of adventure ctivities such as Canyoning, Bungee Jumping, Hot Air Ballooning, Under Sea Canyoning and White Water Rafting. The graph here shows the different locations and types of activities of adventure holidays. Some of these destinations are very remote and therefore the impact these adventure holidays would have is an increase in accommodation needed to cater for the increasing number of people. In doing this there would be an increase of Jobs and also an expansion of facilities available in these areas. In the increase it would also invite new businesses to move into the area as there is a good opportunity to xpand their businesses to there.However as the businesses do expand to these locations there is the risk of Americanisation and the natural and remote locations could lose the natural beauty that many people come specifically to see. The reason that these holidays and this destination are becoming more popular is because people now have the opportunity and the communication available to them to book these things and try new experiences, also it widens the genre of holiday to a further audience and can cater for these people who would prefer an adventure holiday in comparison to a family or relaxing holiday.The YouGov survey (2009) 6shows a predicted 70% increase in participation in adventure travel over the next 3 years. Based on our survey responses, compared to the previous three years. I ne tnlra ana Tlnal trend I am going to explore Is new aestlnatlons. wnat I mean Dy this is the new and exciting far away destinations that are now offered to customers due to the advance in aerospace technology. From the I-JK there are hundreds of destinations you can fly to. When commercial flights first began nobody would have been able to fly to the Caribbean or to South America.However now thousands of eople visit every year. As the appetite for the long haul destinations has increased, in general the ticket prices have fallen which makes them available for many more customers who may have been out of the price range when they first became available. Demands for destinations fluctuate all the times in response to a variety of factors. ABTA's Travel Trends report suggest that, for a destination to become â€Å"hot† and attract more visitors, it must score highly on the following six points which are safety, accessibility, infrastructure, affordability, weather and the X factor.Erik Wolf, president of the International Culinary Tourism Association, said awareness of the importance of this sector has been increasing across the world for several years. He revealed that there are â€Å"always new destinations that catch the eye of culinary travellers† and described Singapore, Peru and South Australia as â€Å"particularly hot right now†. The impact of new destinations is the fact that there will be more people visiting these far out countries that will help them to develop and expand which will positively help their economy Destinations that ABTA says has all of these are Dubai, Germany, Morocco, Canada and South Africa.Spain is a top foreign destination for EIJ residents in 2012. There has been 1% less business travellers in 2013 than in 2012. There are 6% more visitors to Spain in 2013 than in 2012. In 2005 there were 29. 971 million visitors in the UK but increased in 2012 to 31. 084 million visitors. A hot favourite to become a new popular destination in 2014 and t he upcoming years is brazil. Due to the upcoming world cup and Olympic games Factors A factor is something that affects something whether it be positively or negatively, just like everything else there are factors that affect the travel and tourism industry.The first factor I am going to explore is that of Natural Disasters. Natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, Tsunamis, floods and hurricanes, can cause havoc to a countrys travel and tourism sector. The Asian tsunami that affected Indian Ocean countries in late 2004 and Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans in 2005 are examples that are all too familiar. The eruption of the Iceland volcano and subsequent ash cloud over Europe is another case in point. Although tourism can be badly affected very quickly when such disasters occur, the sector has proved itself to e very resilient in the face of adversity.Tourism in areas affected by natural disasters usually returns to its former state, on the back of investment in n ew hotels, infrastructure and other tourist facilities. The tsunami in Japan in 2011 had a lot of negative effects on the Japanese travel and tourism industry. Japanese Travel & Tourism GDP fell 4% during 2011, with domestic spending down 2. 9% and visitor exports down 27% – in line with a 28% decline in international tourist arrivals. This in turn had a knock-on effect on capital investment in Japan's Travel ; Tourism sector, hich fell by an estimated 6. 2%, despite major reconstruction efforts later in the year.The next factor I am going to explore is that of Terrorism. Due to terrorism security throughout the whole of the travel and tourism sector has increased drastically. Britain is one of the safest countries in the world for tourists to visit and explore, but recent terrorist events around the world, and the London bombing of 717 2005 in particular, have made safety and security a key issue for tourism sector in the I-JK. Following 9/1 1 , extra security measures were introduced at airports across the world, hile the London bombing led to heightened security at railway stations across the country.Although such measures can cause extra delays, most travellers are willing to sacrifice a little time in return for a safer Journey. One of the worst recorded terrorist attacks was 9/1 1 which the occurrence that happened when two planes were hijacked and flown into the world trade centre. After the 9/1 1 attacks in 2001, New York City lost $323. 7 million in tourism revenue as visitors avoided the city in fear of another attack. And though tourism to New York City today is higher than t's ever been, it took several years to rebound.The third and final factor I am going to explore is Cost of Travel. Travel costs are always cnanglng In response to aemana. wnen aemana Is low companles cut prlces to stimulate demand, but when demand is high prices tend to remain high. The cost of travel has actually been falling relative to other costs in recent years. Comp etition among holiday companies, the growth of low-cost airlines and development of budget hotels have all helped keep prices down. The world recession of recent years has resulted in fewer overseas visitors coming to Britain. Travel and Tourism Trends and Factors Trends and FactorsTrendsA trend is something that is reoccurring more and more often until it becomes a popular thing to do.The first trend I am going to explore is the greater flexibility of booking products. This has become possible due to alterations in the traditional chain of distribution. This relates to the trend of using the internet to book holidays as it is a lot through this in which people can book their products. The reason for this that the services such as the principals have their own websites, this makes it simpler and easier for the customers to reach them directly and book their holidays this way.In November 2012, Thomas Cook, which has 1,300 travel agent shops, was forced to turn to its banks for increased loans as it looked like it might not struggle to survive. The impact this has had is the fact that there isn’t near as much demand for in branch travel agencies as everything is done virtually through the principals. However in doing this it has caused a reduction in cost for the travel agencies as they too have moved online.With approximately 50 per cent of passengers travelling from the UK on budget airlines and almost 40 per cent of holidaymakers booking ‘DIY' holidays, both offering added flexibility to a trip, ensuring the transportation of luggage is as cost-effective as the rest of the holiday is becoming more difficult.This also has an impact on the tourist travel information centres as the principals generally only offer a basic service and therefore the tourist information offered by some companies wouldn’t be included in their service. So the tourist travel information centres would have to supply more leaflets and guides for the tourists so they can know about the local attractions and where to visit as a tourist.Another thing it has an impact on is the need for accommodation, as it is possible to contact the hotels directly they may need to advance and expand their hotels to meet the demand for more custome rs instead of just the customers who book through travel agencies and tour operators as part of packages.Principals do sell their products directly to their customers however the traditional chain of distribution is still existent but it is not at the forefront of the travel and tourism industry as it has been in the past. It is estimated that over 95% of holidays are now booked online, however it is only a small percentage of these that are booked as separate principals. In 2012, Thomas Cook Group made 25% of its sales through its own web channels, with web sales in Northern Europe at 69% and the UK package business at 35%.Web distribution is a key area of focus for the Group going forward and will be developed as part of an Omni-channel distribution strategy.The next trend I am going to explore is Adventure Holidays. 4The passport travel to adventure document (2009) state that the adventure travel market is worth  £180m a year to the travel and tourism industry. This is an area of the Travel and Tourism industry that is rapidly growing due to the increase of people who want to experience thrill and adventurous and stimulating experiences in their spare time. The term Adventure can be used to talk about a wide range of holidays; it can vary from something as simple as a cruise along the river Nile to trekking in the Himalayas, visiting the plains of Africa or Scuba diving in foreign waters.There are certain countries that market their selves as adventure holiday destinations; an example of one of these countries is New Zealand. New Zealand offers a wide range of adventure activities such as Canyoning, Bungee Jumping, Hot Air Ballooning, Under Sea Canyoning and White Water Rafting.The graph here shows the different locations and types of activities of adventure holidays. Some of these destinations are very remote and therefore the impact these adventure holidays would have is an increase in accommodation needed to cater for the increasing number of people. I n doing this there would be an increase of jobs and also an expansion of facilities  available in these areas. In the increase it would also invite new businesses to move into the area as there is a good opportunity to expand their businesses to there.However as the businesses do expand to these locations there is the risk of Americanisation and the natural and remote locations could lose the natural beauty that many people come specifically to see. The reason that these holidays and this destination are becoming more popular is because people now have the opportunity and the communication available to them to book these things and try new experiences, also it widens the genre of holiday to a further audience and can cater for these people who would prefer an adventure holiday in comparison to a family or relaxing holiday. The YouGov survey (2009) 6shows a predicted 70% increase in participation in adventure travel over the next 3 years. Based on our survey responses, compared to the previous three years.The third and final trend I am going to explore is new destinations. What I mean by this is the new and exciting far away destinations that are now offered to customers due to the advance in aerospace technology. From the UK there are hundreds of destinations you can fly to. When commercial flights first began nobody would have been able to fly to the Caribbean or to South America. However now thousands of people visit every year. As the appetite for the long haul destinations has increased, in general the ticket prices have fallen which makes them available for many more customers who may have been out of the price range when they first became available.Demands for destinations fluctuate all the times in response to a variety of factors. ABTA’s Travel Trends report suggest that, for a destination to become â€Å"hot† and attract more visitors, it must score highly on the following six points which are safety, accessibility, infrastructure, aff ordability, weather and the X factor.Erik Wolf, president of the International Culinary Tourism Association, said awareness of the importance of this sector has been increasing across the world for several years. He revealed that there are â€Å"always new destinations that catch the eye of culinary travellers† and described Singapore, Peru and South Australia as â€Å"particularly hot right now†.The impact of new destinations is the fact that there will be more people visiting these far out countries that will help them to develop and expand which will positively help their economy Destinations that ABTA says has all of these are Dubai, Germany, Morocco, Canada and South Africa. Spain is a top foreign destination for EU residents in 2012. There has been 1% less business travellers in 2013 than in 2012. There are 6% more visitors to Spain in 2013 than in 2012. In 2005 there were 29.971 million visitors in the UK but increased in 2012 to 31.084 million visitors.A hot fa vourite to become a new popular destination in 2014 and the upcoming years is brazil. Due to the upcoming world cup and Olympic games.FactorsA factor is something that affects something whether it be positively or negatively, just like everything else there are factors that affect the travel and tourism industry.The first factor I am going to explore is that of Natural Disasters. Natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, Tsunamis, floods and hurricanes, can cause havoc to a country’s travel and tourism sector. The Asian tsunami that affected Indian Ocean countries in late 2004 and Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans in 2005 are examples that are all too familiar. The eruption of the Iceland volcano and subsequent ash cloud over Europe is another case in point.Although tourism can be badly affected very quickly when such disasters occur, the sector has proved itself to be very resilient in the face of adversity. Tourism in areas affected by natural disas ters usually returns to its former state, on the back of investment in new hotels, infrastructure and other tourist facilities. The tsunami in Japan in 2011 had a lot of negative effects on the Japanese travel and tourism industry. Japanese Travel & Tourism GDP fell 4% during 2011, with domestic spending down 2.9% and visitor exports down 27% – in line with a 28% decline in international tourist arrivals. This in turn had a knock-on effect on capital investment in Japan’s Travel & Tourism sector, which fell by an  estimated 6.2%, despite major reconstruction efforts later in the year.The next factor I am going to explore is that of Terrorism. Due to terrorism security throughout the whole of the travel and tourism sector has increased drastically. Britain is one of the safest countries in the world for tourists to visit and explore, but recent terrorist events around the world, and the London bombing of 7/7 2005 in particular, have made safety and security a key issu e for tourism sector in the UK. Following 9/11, extra security measures were introduced at airports across the world, while the London bombing led to heightened security at railway stations across the country.Although such measures can cause extra delays, most travellers are willing to sacrifice a little time in return for a safer journey. One of the worst recorded terrorist attacks was 9/11 which the occurrence that happened when two planes were hijacked and flown into the world trade centre. After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, New York City lost $323.7 million in tourism revenue as visitors avoided the city in fear of another attack. And though tourism to New York City today is higher than it's ever been, it took several years to rebound.The third and final factor I am going to explore is Cost of Travel. Travel costs are always changing in response to demand. When demand is low companies cut prices to stimulate demand, but when demand is high prices tend to remain high. The cost of tr avel has actually been falling relative to other costs in recent years. Competition among holiday companies, the growth of low-cost airlines and development of budget hotels have all helped keep prices down. The world recession of recent years has resulted in fewer overseas visitors coming to Britain.

Discrimination: Racism

Many conferences have been organized especially by the United Nations to discuss the issue of discrimination in different perspectives. Discrimination has been a setback in many nations especially in the West, like America where there is an influx of people from different parts of the world. In this paper, discrimination will be elaborated. The focus will be on racism as a type of discrimination. Scientist hold the opinion that races came into being as a result of family groups living together over a period of time. The different races of human beings can therefore live together.The impact of racism will be assessed and possible solutions recommended. Introduction Discrimination is described as that act of people treating others based on their differences regardless of their individual merits. This is practised in religion, race, disability, gender, ethnicity, age, height and employment amongst others. This judgement could be positive or negative. Positive discrimination is the discr imination based on merit (also called differentiating) while the negative discrimination is based on factors like race and religion.Negative discrimination is however the common form of discrimination in spite of the fact that this is illegal in many Western societies just like many other societies. Despite being illegal, discrimination is still rampant in different forms in many parts of the world. The most common form of discrimination is racial discrimination, also referred to as racism. This is destructive. It is the act of basing treatment on the racial origin of an individual (Randal, 2008). Racism is influenced by social, political, historical and economic factors.It has so many definitions due to its various forms. It involves social values, institutional practices and individual attitudes. It changes with response to social change. The basis of racism is the belief that some individuals are superior due to their ethnicity, race or nationality. It is a social phenomenon and not scientific. Some of the racist behaviors include xenophobia, racial vilification, ridicule and physical assault. Racism could be practised intentionally (direct discrimination) or unintentionally making some groups to be disadvantaged (indirect racial discrimination).Racism is enhanced either individually or institutionally. Institutionally, it involves systems in life such as education, employment, housing and media aimed at perpetuating and maintaining power and the well being of a group at the expense of another. It is a more subtle form of discrimination since it involves respected forces in the society. Individual racism involves treating people differently on the basis of their race. It is the deliberate denial of power to a person or a group of persons. The above two forms of racism refer to race as the determining factor in human capacities and traits.There is no clear cut distinction between racial and ethnic discrimination and this is still a debate among anthropologis ts. Institutional racism is also referred to as structural, systemic or state discrimination. It is socially or politically structured. As indicated early, the perpetrators are corporations, governments, organizations and educational institutions which are influential in the lives of individuals. It is the systematic policies and the organizational practices that disadvantage certain races or ethnic groups.From the statistics given in 2005 on the US, it is evident that the Whites are highly regarded while the African Americans are looked down upon by the society. Their household incomes differ greatly ($50,984, $33,627, $35,967 and $30,858 for Whites, Native Americans, Latinos and African Americans respectively). Their poverty rates follow suit with that of the African Americans being thrice that of the Whites. Unlike the Whites, the other groups attend underfunded schools. Their living environments are below standards compounded by poorly paying jobs and high unemployment rates.The employment in the labor market is disproportional in favor of the Whites. Le Duff (2000) describes a situation in a slaughterhouse where a White boss just sits in his glass office only to come out when the day is almost over to double the workload for the workers. The Black workers are overworked if only to meet the company's target of pork production. It is important to note that this Smithfield Packing Company is the largest plant in the world in pork production. The workers, who are Blacks however do not feel any positive impact of the company as they are overworked and mistreated by their white boss.It is common for the boss to unleash his anger on the workers and they seem to have very little power to take any action against this. The immigrants are another category of those who are socially discriminated. They are the lowest in the society's stratification and are the ones to do the low forms of jobs considered ‘dirty work'. This is social racism. The wages they get fro m these jobs are very low and minimal or no benefits at all. Since the 1996 welfare reform was passed by the Congress, all the legal immigrants have had to do without federal programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income.Sonneman (1992) describes a community of immigrants who have to deal with racial discrimination from the natives. These immigrants have poor jobs as pickers. They do not have adequate food and have to work extra hard in their jobs to earn a living. The natives overcharge them for basic commodities. An example is that of the picker who was charged five dollars instead of three dollars for the groceries he bought at the store. A gallon of milk is also charged at 30 cents higher than in town. They are however so powerless that they can do nothing about it.These pickers flock in this remote area and not in the town which is only a mile and a half away because of the high cost of living in the town. Berube A. and Berube F. (1997), give an example of their famil y who lived in trailer coaches as dictated by their economical capability. In South Africa, racism was rampant just like in many other African countries under colonial rule. From 1948 to 1994, the apartheid system denied the non-whites their basic rights. The whites who were the minority were allowed to keep certain areas for themselves without permission thus locking out the blacks.Schools taught the subjects meant for Africans in Afrikaans. Other than the protests by many countries and the United Nations, the South Africans protested against these systems leading to many deaths as the police fought them back. However, in 1994, this was brought to an end with Nelson Mandela becoming the president, allowing equal rights for both the blacks and the whites. The racial stereotypes who propagate racism by the belief that other races are better than others are said to propagate individual racism (Hanshem, 2007). Stigma is closely related to discrimination.In the interview by Rodgers, it is revealed that those women who came from well-off families found it more difficult going to welfare unlike their counterparts from poorer backgrounds who had children to look after with no child support. According to sociology, stigma is the act of a society discrediting an individual. It is the disapproval of an individual's character or what they believe in that goes against cultural norms. Examples include illegitimacy, mental or physical disabilities, nationality affiliations, illnesses, religious affiliations and ethnicity.Stigma could be based on external deformations such as scars and other physical manifestations like leprosy and obesity. The other form is based on traits such as drug addiction. Lastly is tribal stigma that involve ethnicity, nationality or religion. There are some factors that indicate racism. Among them are refusing to work with a specific group of people. Others would spread racist propaganda or racist comments. People who physically assault or harass o thers are considered racists. Discriminatory policies or procedures are an indicator of racism. The effects of racism cannot be ignored.Healthcare among the racially discriminated is poor or non-existent. For instance, the 1999 Centre on Budget Priorities study showed that 46% of the non-citizen immigrant children could not access health insurance unlike the natives' children. Racism lowers an individual's self esteem. When someone disregards another because of the skin color or religion, their self-esteem is lowered. It could be ignored if it happens at once, but if it persists, it negatively influences the confidence of an individual. Children skip schools because of such effects. Learning thus becomes difficult.In an attempt to suppress the factors that make them discriminated against, they try to change their religion, skin colour, hair color and even stop trusting people. Others resort to learning foreign languages and their respective accents to cover up their ethnicities so a s to identify with the race that is considered superior. In some cases, surgery has been undertaken to conform to the societal demands. One problem that has been cited is lack of education on racism. An educated individual is aware that there is need for different people if learning is to take place.Then, if one is to experience the positive impact of education, appreciating other people around will be of importance. Otherwise, discriminating people could lead to lack of expertise knowledge in some specific areas. It is thus important to sensitize the community on the importance of each and every person. Education will go a long way to even help those who are being educated to appreciate who they are. On the same note, schools and other learning institutions should provide an all-inclusive environment which would accommodate people of different ethnic affiliations (Einfeld, 1997).Then, they should meet their specific needs based on their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Religiou s solutions could be sought where necessary. In Islam for instance, Qua'ran teaches against racism. If these people with religious affiliations are allowed to practise their religion freely, then this could curb racism. Thus, all religions should be respected and given the chance to conduct their practices. The responsible authorities are endowed with the duty of coming up with laws that prohibits racism. There have been conventions and conferences where these laws are discussed and drafted.The United Nations has been on the forefront in implementing these rules. It is not adequate enough to only discuss these issues. They should come up with solutions that could be implemented. Conclusion No one can dare deny the effect that racism has had in various states. it is only wise to face the problem head on and find the right solutions. a solution must be found to curb this problem once and for all. it calls for the efforts by every member of the society to assume their respective roles and do what is expected of them.

U.S. Immigration Sources Annotated Bibliography

U.S. Immigration Sources - Annotated Bibliography Example Some of the reasons cited as the negative effects of immigration include being a threat to American culture and traditions. However, overall, approximately 75% of Americans are favoring the opinion of giving the illegal immigrants an opportunity for the legal status and a path to citizenship. The overall progress that has been made by the president includes a proposal for the illegal immigrants to wait at least thirteen years before they could get the chance to apply to become citizens. This source is credible since it presents all sides of the controversial immigration issue before deducing any conclusions. The main political parties’ take has been evaluated and the potential effect that the issue may have on the outcome of those parties. The overall progress that has been made by the president is also evaluated to ensure that information from all concerned parties is available. Furthermore, the public’s view on this issue has not been ignored in the case because American’s views make a significant impact on the outcome of most issues. Personally, I would deduce that the larger portion of Americans is favoring the move to give illegal immigrants a legal status. Although this might affect the traditions as cited by some concerned Americans mostly due to intermarriages, U.S is a free country that gives individuals the freedom of choosing where they would want to belong. Additionally, if the illegal immigrants were granted the opportunity to become citizens, then issues regarding deportations on minor crimes would cease and create a better environment for the immigrants. The American health system is under crisis and the cause of the problem is being projected on to the immigrants. This is because the author indicates that both legal and illegal immigrants account for approximately one billion dollars annually in the form of unreimbursed medical expenses. Additionally, an

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand Research Paper

Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand - Research Paper Example It was evident as he would go hunting for Kangaroos and emus in New Zealand and Australia. This paper discusses the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as not justifiable as it was not the correct thing to solve the problem that was there by then. Franz Ferdinand had a military background. He entered the Austro-Hungarian Army at a young age like the most males during the Habsburg ruling. He underwent various promotions from lieutenant at the age of fourteen to a major general when he was thirty-one years old. It was evident that he had a great influence in the armed forces even when he was not a key command in the military chancery. In the year 1913, Franz was appointed inspector general of all the armed forces of Austria-Hungary. Franz had moral earnestness and intellectual gifts though he was impatient, suspicious and had a hysterical temperament (Eye Witness to History, 2). One of the Franz project while on the throne was to consolidate the structure of the state and the popularity of the crown. This would be done only by abolishing the dominance of the German Austrians, but he opted to maintain them for military reasons. Before his death, he regarded Hungarian nationalism as a revolutionary threat to the Habsburg dynasty and often became angry when the 9th Hussars Regime officers spoke Hungarian in his presence. He also advocated a strategic approach towards Serbia that if harsh treatment in Serbia continued it would lead top Austria-Hungary conflict with Russia (Hayes, 106). In June 1914, Archduke Ferdinand was to visit Sarajevo in Bosnia. It was the south-east of the Austrian empire and it was evident that the Black Hand Gang in the region wanted to be independent from Austria and set up their state which could run itself. This was due to the expectations from the less radical Serbians that when Franz Ferdinand came to power he would ease the position of Serbs and the slaves in the empire through the

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Bad News - Essay Example I am social and enjoy the good company of my friends. Since I was young, living in Minnesota has been a fun and enjoyable experience. Growing up I enjoyed being outside and When I was young I was the oldest of my four friends. Every day after school, three of my friends and I would meet in our playhouse we made. The playhouse was made of materials we found and I can still smell the distinctive smell of the inside. The inside smelt of a worn leather smell. Just the four of us would play together for hours and do normal things kids our age did. We went on adventures and got into a little trouble. Our favorite game to play was a CSI type investigators game. We would pretend that we were crime solvers on an unsolvable case. I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was a cool summer Sunday. The wind was blowing just slightly and enough to cool one form the heat. It wasn’t too humid and to breath in the air was very refreshing. My friends and I were pretending we were investigato rs working on a serious crime. Our playhouse was located in my backyard right up next to the neighbor’s property line between a few oak trees. The neighbor next to where are play house was, was the prime suspect. His name was Jim. My family knew the neighbor very well and he didn’t mind us playing in his yard. We knew that he would not be home until after 4:30pm because he worked as an usher at a local church on Sundays.

Fundamentals of Healthy Lifestyle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Fundamentals of Healthy Lifestyle - Essay Example Center for Disease Control recommends people to engage in physical activities to combat diabetes (Samuels 1). I experienced many health problems while consuming unhealthy food that is why I turned to healthier choices. By healthy lifestyle, I mean cooking and preparing my meals and snacks using organic products. The outcome so far to this lifestyle change has been a change that I'm more than happy I did. My healthy lifestyle routine consists of my personal health, saving money while eating clean, and being physically active and productive in my daily activities. As an individual, you have the responsibility to take care of your health through eating lifestyles changes and participating in physical activities. Considering my personal health, I come from a family who has been diagnosed with diabetes type one. According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report, that was released in 2014 "1.25 million American children and adults have type 1 diabetes" (Statistics About Diabetes 3). The type one diabetes is genetically passed, and it is a disease that cannot be prevented and you cannot get rid of it. It also occurs when the immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Symptoms to the type one diabetes usually start during childhood or young adulthood. Episodes of low blood sugar levels also known as hypoglycemia are common. Diabetics struggle a lot with emotions. They often lash out for little things because they experience the emotional roller coaster. They have to visit frequently the doctor, they need support from their loved ones, they need encouragement, and sometimes they feel lonely because they feel their disease is controlling them rather than them controlling the disease. These statistics are scary enough, which made me consider a healthier way of life. I wanted to be around my friends and family for a long time.

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Demography - Essay Example As people live longer there is bound to be a shift in the structure of the household. For example: working population is the biggest contributor to nation's development and family's economy. The longer the old population lives, the longer the working population will have to support them. When the working population gets older and cannot work anymore, their children, who are now in labor force, will have to support their parents and grand parents by working very hard. The existing Social Security and Medicare benefits may not prove to be sufficient for the older ones because in all likelihood the medical services become more costly for the older people as their requirements of medical attention become more. Well, to a great extent the improved medical services are one good reason for an increase in the average age of an individual. As a result, many households now a day consist of four generations. In many such cases the number of financially dependent family members far exceeds the w orking members. Out of these four generations, the third generation, who are the only ones in labor force, will have to support their parents, grand parents and their children. This phenomenon is certainly the result of increasing aging population with high life expectancy. In order to aid the increasing older

Art Comparison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Art Comparison - Essay Example In this essay, it will feature more from the Museum of Modern art where the comparison between the works will be mainly based on the style, content, artistic intention and the historical context. When these aspects are explained, it gives one a deeper meaning of the work art work and you stop viewing it with a surface eye. This is because ever art work has a meaning and a source of inspiration. Art work has been used to communicate and it has more than a thousand words. It is a simpler way to communicate and it leaves a greater impact than writing so many words. It is much easier to remember an image of an art for many years than to remember a piece of written work. Though there are many types of art like singing, drama, poetry, and dancing, this essay will be focusing on painting and sculpture arts. Most of the paintings were done using oil because oil was resistant to water, it was readily found, was flexible enough to take different shapes and colors. Therefore, this paper look at the comparison between Lucky Strike by Stuart Davis and OOF by Edward Ruscha artistic works and Marilyn Monroe, I by James Rosenquist and Woman, I by Willem de Kooning in this essay. Luck Strike is a painting that was done by Stuart Davis. Stuart Davis was an American who was passionate about art. This art can tell that the artist was appreciating the tobacco company in America. It also shows that he loved the products from his own country.2 It was during 1921 that the tobacco the top most products in America that Stuart Davis came up with this art as a gift to the American Tobacco Company. OOF was done by Edward Ruscha in the year 1962 but he refined it in 1963. It was a gift of Agnes Gund. â€Å"I was interested in monosyllabic word sounds that seemed to have a certain comedic value to them†, Ruscha said. He was in a joyful mood when he was designing this art and he wanted to pass the

Legal and Ethical Responsibilities Essay Example for Free

Legal and Ethical Responsibilities Essay This memo is in response to the company’s decrease in sales and profit because of the current state of the economy. The company will be executing more cost-effective measures because of this present situation. These new procedures will begin immediately with approval from the company owners. The first change will be a reduction in the monetary incentives for the sales department. To be successful in implementing this change a complete understanding of the sales process is mandatory. Consumer and salespeople feedback will be instrumental in gathering the data necessary to make a concise and informed decision on the best way to reduce the incentives for every party involved. The first step in the decision-making process is determining the facts of the situation at hand (Hartman DesJardins, 2011, p. 47). The facts are that the company is losing income because of the economy. Additionally known is the company profits are on the finished product that meets the need of the consumer. A written survey will ascertain what the specific needs and wants of the consumer toward a particular product are. Once the feedback is analyzed, the products most in demand by the consumer will continue with production, whereas the products in less demand will begin interruption until the sales or the demand from the consumer are in need. This step will aid in cutting costs for products with unnecessary production. As an example, there was a significant increase in sales the first few years, opposed to last year’s sales that decreased substantially for the products not in demand. By investigating and discovering products in demand will aid in painting a clearer picture, thus assisting in cutting production cost that will get the company back in line with increasing sales and profits. Additionally, investigating and discovering will keep the plan of reducing monetary incentives for the sales force until sales and profits are on the increase again. However, the plan is to once again start issuing monetary incentives to the sales force once the company starts again seeing an increase in sales and profits. For this plan to be successful it will be necessary to motivate the sales force with tools to set achievable goals relating to increasing company sales and profits. This also has a direct impact on the sales force pertaining to the company’s organization and management. Upper management as well as the owners of the company has to be on the same accord concerning aiding the sales department in reaching their goals by providing motivation and support to the sales department. A strong support system is imperative if the sales team along with the organization is to reach their primary objectives. This plan will also include evaluations on the progress of the sales department pertaining to reaching their goals. The second and final change will be implementing a month-long layoff for some of the production employees. Laying-off production workers for a month will cut production costs of producing products unnecessary for the economy. While keeping in mind that this layoff will also have an adverse result on producing products in demand. Instead of laying off production workers, the more cost-effective way would be to keep them at work to help meet the current demand for products. The workers still working with the organization will receive more overtime, and this is not cost-effective because the result is increasing payroll for employees. Although removing monetary incentives for the sales department and laying-off a portion of the production department is legal, it does nothing for morale. Ethically there will be some repercussions to implementing these changes. Some of the repercussions may include employees leaving the organization and a decline in sales means possible bankruptcy. Implementing a more amicable plan will have a more positive influence that will promote a higher morale and happiness. With a higher morale, this will more likely promote a boost in productivity.

The effect of temperature in catalyse activity Essay Example for Free

The effect of temperature in catalyse activity Essay Enzymes are proteins that act as catalysts. They are made in cells. A catalyst is something that speeds up a reaction, but does not get used up in the reaction. One can usually be used many times. An example of this is shown in the following diagram: Prediction and Scientific Knowledge I predict, that if I have a higher enzyme concentration, then this will cause a higher rate of catalyse activity, because there will be more active places for a reaction to take place, which will cause more chemical reactions because of successful collisions because of the active site of the enzyme and substrate. The collision theory states that molecules must collide with sufficient energy (activation energy) if a reaction is to take place. As temperature increases more molecules gain this activation energy, hence more collisions occur per second, so the rate increases. This is what will happen in my experiment. The product will be the carbon dioxide produced. I believe the rate of reaction will be at its peak when used in conjunction with water at a temperature of 40? C, because if the temperature exceeds this then the enzyme is also not efficient due to the lock and key hypothesis, which states, when an enzyme gets to a certain temperature, it denatures and cannot function properly. Apparatus The apparatus I will be required to use in this experiment are a: Conical Flask (plus cork) Measuring cylinder (Cylindrical) Borer Delivery tube Water Water bath (room temperature, 30? C, 40? C, 50? C and 60? C) Knife White tile Ruler Variables Stop watch Bung The variables used in this experiment will be: The varying temperature of the water The volume of H2O2 The amount of Potato (for this experiment we used #cm as if we used a certain weight rather than length, the surface area would be different for each piece, so therefore making the test unfair. The shape of the potato (again to do with the surface area) The time of the reaction so as to gain the correct readings from each test. Apparatus and Diagram Method Firstly we gathered together the above apparatus and set up the experiment as shown in the diagram. We would use 2, 3cm size pieces of potato for each test tube and carry out each individual test 3 times and gain an average reading. The tests would involve testing the reactivity with 5 different water temperatures, these temperatures: Room temperature, 30? C, 40? C, 50? C, 60? C We decided with the experiment that we would time the reaction for 1 minute and then note down the reading of oxygen (O2) produced. To insure that the temperatures were at their exact point and to make sire the we stable, we used water baths, which heat the water to the exact temperature and keep the temperature constant, as to make the test a fair one. As with all experiments, we had to be aware of safety, for a number of reasons: We were using a knife to cut up the potatoes, which, when being used wrongly could lead to injury. H2O2 is a corrosive substance, so we had to be careful that we did not come in direct physical contact with it (i. e. spill it on our skin) and finally, We were using a water of high temperature (50 and 60) so had to be careful not to burn ourselves. Table of Results Temperature (? C) Test 1 (O2 produced in cmi ) Test 2 (O2 produced in cmi ) Test 3 (O2 produced in cmi ) Average (cmi ) 20. 0 (room temp) 1. 20 0. 80 0. 90 0. 96 30. 0 1. 40 1. 80 2. 00 1. 73 40. 0 2. 40 2. 60 3. 10 2. 70 50. 0 1. 80 2. 00 1. 50 1. 76 60. 0 0. 07 0. 09 0. 10 0. 086 Summary of Results You can see from the results, the reaction rate slowly increases as it goes from 20 to 40 and at 50 it has begun to denature, but by 60 the enzymes have completely denatured and the reaction is very small. Conclusion The scientific knowledge we gathered during our theoretical side of the experiment proved to create results that we easily distinguishable when plotted against what we had predicted to find. For example, the lock and key hypothesis states that once an enzyme has reached a certain temperature beyond its optimum, it becomes denatured and cannot function properly as a catalyst and therefore not speed up the reaction. The collision theory also comes into the experiment, as with a greater volume of H2O2 the experiment rate of reaction would increase. This is due to the fact that with a greater volume, there will be more successful collisions between both reactants. To conclude the practical experiment, we found that due to the enzymes being biological, they denature once they reach a certain high degrees, and we found the reaction decreased severely between 40 and 60. This suggests that the enzymes began to denature somewhere before 50. We also found that the results reflected the theoretical calculations we had made earlier (i. e. the collision theory: Rate = Change in Volume/Time) This also suggests that if we used a greater volume of H2O2 then the rate of reaction would speed up (e. g. in this experiment the rate of reaction was directly proportional to the rate of reaction. ) Evaluation The aim of our experiment was to see whether temperature has an effect on catalyse activity, from my results we can see that it does. The procedure of this experiment was fairly straight forward and was carried out correctly though there were certain things that complicated the practical side of it. The quality of the data we obtained was if not perfect, close to correct as it approximately fitted with our theoretical predictions that after 40 the enzymes would begin to denature and by 60 they would be completely ineffective in the reaction. With most experiments like this one, there are always going to be certain factors that either arent carried out properly or are not going to work quite as they should in a classroom atmosphere, as it is far different from a scientific lab, but I feel that the experiment was suitable and we received good, accurate results. There are a few improvements that could be made to improve the fairness and accuracy of the experiment. For example: Use either a more accurate water bath, or other device that can heat to a certain temperature and keep that temperature at a constant level. And Use a more accurate instrument (rather than a knife and ruler) to cut out the potatoes to insure they are all of exactly the same length and surface area, to keep the test fair. Another thing I would have done is use a pureed potato instead of using a potato cylinder like I did. This is because it would give more active sites for a reaction to take place.

Customer Satisfaction at Sainsburys

Customer Satisfaction at Sainsburys Implications for the development of Sainsbury in the future 1. Introduction The retail industry is one of the oldest industrial sectors of UK having its roots based in the 19th century. An article in The Financial Times about Sainsburys dropping sales and consequently market shares triggered the research topic and we drove ourselves to the history of supermarkets to reveal the secret behind the big giants (Tesco, Sainsburys and ASDA) fighting for the top position in the market. The reason to select Sainsburys rather than other two foes from the flock was the interesting reign of Sainsburys in past 100 years of business. The article first illustrates the supermarket retailers background and outlines the present problems. Secondly, it analyzes the perception of customers towards the current supermarkets and the extent to which their needs are satisfied by Sainsburys. Finally, the possible solutions are evaluated and it indicates some recommendations for implementation. The work established in the following research is purely based on a quantitative data collection and scrutiny with a wide implementation of literature and marketing research tools. In the following research work, we, group of five students, have cloaked the role of researchers and reaped a considerable amount of sagacious know-how about conducting a research and using marketing research gears in different areas of research. 2. Background to the problem 2.1 About Sainsburys Sainsburys Supermarket is the longest standing major food retailing chain in the UK, with their first store opened in 1869. The mission and policy of Sainsburys is to provide customers with healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food. The quality and fair prices of Sainsburys is taking responsibility to their business. Sainsburys stores have particularly emphasized on fresh food and they devote themselves to create continuous innovation. Moreover, they are concerned about customer needs and based on these needs improve products regularly. Its market share is around 16 % and now they serve over 18 million customers a week. Sainsburys own 455 supermarkets and 301 convenience stores, the type of these stores are categorized into 3 types, which are Main Mission outlets, Main Plus format stores (hypermarkets),and Mixed mission format shops (Sainsburys Central and Local). The large stores offer approximately 30,000 products and offer and support the non-food products and services in many of their stores. Around 88% of British households are provided by the internet-based home delivery shopping service. At present, Sainsburys is the third biggest supermarket chain in Britain after the countrys largest retailer Tesco and Wal-Mart owned ASDA. Their business mission is to be the consumers first choice for food, delivering products of outstanding quality and great service at a competitive cost working faster, simpler and together.'(http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/index.jsp, N.D) 2.2 Describe the problem Sainsburys used to take the biggest slice of the whole retail market in the UK. However, since 1995, Tesco started with their membership cards, and out of blue their sales have increased rapidly. Sainsburys became the third biggest supermarket chain in Britain after the countrys largest retailer Tesco and Wal-Mart owned Asda. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4694974.stm, N.D, BBC News) 2.3The main reasons for exploring the problem The formula of Sainsburys success could be concluded in the points which are listed below: High quality products quality assurance Wide range of products Different customer segmentations (http://www.foodprocessing-technology.com/features/feature56457/, ND) Although Sainsburys still follows these points to manage the company, but according to the reduction of the market share, the profit of managing Sainsburys has been more seriously affected. Although Sainsburys could retain the balance of revenue and expenditure, moreover, it remained permanent. It still needs to attract more customers and raise its market share. Furthermore, the needs of its customers should be valued and respected. We need to do marketing research to explore the possible factors which affect customers satisfaction and then use marketing strategies to improve these factors to increase customers shopping demands and enhance their loyalty. 3. Problem Definition An extensive study of market conditions and retail industry in United Kingdom gave us a brief idea about the status of Sainsburys in the retail industry. The largest retailer in the UK till mid 1990s suddenly dropped to the third position loosing its hold on market and decrement in the potential market customers. The decline in market shares and a low rate of sales returns was enough to define the problem for Sainsburys in the present market scenario. With new retailers emerging in the sector deploying all their marketing strategies to be the best in the race, it is very important for Sainsburys to take a brave step now to protect their current position and then to improvise on their hold in the industry. 3.1 Management Decision Problem What can Sainsburys doto regain the market share in retailing industry? The management team now require to sit down and discuss the failure points and the current shortcoming to establish a conclusion to why there is a constant downfall in the shares of the company and why it is being overtaken by a company (ASDA) which has its central operating sector based in a country (USA) which is thousands of miles away from UK. As per a latest study, the retail industry is expected to show an increase in 15% annually and Sainsburys needs to identify the market requirement till they become history for the consumers. (sources) 3.2 Marketing Research Problem The Management Problem was turned into a Research Problem which more specifically tackles the aim of this study. l To determine the various needs of shoppers and the extent to which current Sainsburys experiences were satisfying those needs compared to the competitors. The conversion of the management problem into a research problem makes the concept easier to understand and tackle. It gives a broader prospective of the problem and alongside makes a simple way to handle and implement the desired implications. 3.3 Research Components The research components further diversify the purpose of research and explain the problem in detail. The following components define the research problem: What is the demographic and psychographic profile of the customers? What do customers expect when going shopping in the stores? How well does Sainsburys existing products and service offering meet customers needs compared to Tesco and ASDA? Are there any customer needs that are not being adequately met by Sainsburys? How often do customers go shopping per week? 4. Research Approach Development In this section, it reveals the Exploratory Research conducted and the Conceptual Model. 4.1 Exploratory Research 4.1.1 Literature Reviews This section concerns some available information extracted from Literature Reviews. Based on literature reviews, service quality, is seen as an important factor, and closely related to a retail companies performance. Service quality is perceived by customers as the result of comparing the expectations about the service they are going to receive and their perceptions of the retail companys actions. (Rodolfo Vazquez et al, 2001). It is of great help to demonstrate how to assess the service performance of a retail company and it carries some implications itself as well, which is beneficial when making the model of this study. According to Yan Lu et al (2008) there are five dimensions of service quality in a retail store setting, including: physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction, problem solving and policy. In addition, Rodolfo Vazquez et al. (2001) found that service quality in retail companies adopting the commercial format of supermarkets has a four factor structure (physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction and policies). Physical Environment Physical environment incorporates the inward and outward appearance of the store. According to Rodolfo Vazquez et al (2001), physical environment involves the simplicity and importance of shopping from the internal appearance of the sales outlet. Based on this, Rodolfo Vazquez et al states that there are two physical aspects of supermarkets: store appearance, which includes: decoration, fixtures, equipment, cleanliness, design of product and services publicity leaflets and the convenience of shopping, which includes: interior design and store layout of sections and product shelf position. According to Poping Lin (2005), traditional wisdom teaches that one key to win market share is offering a wide variety of products, which can be helpful for attracting a wider variety of customers. Providing products and services at a close and most convenient location, is the very core of deriving the best return from investments, also the ambience a store maintains can influence a customers purcha se decisions to a great extent. (Prakash Gupta, year) Reliability According to A.Parasuraman et al. (1988), to be reliable is being able to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. Based on his research, A.Parasuraman et al. found out that reliability is the most important factor taken into consideration by customers when they evaluate a retail companys overall service quality. This has also been supported by many researches in other studies. Dabholker et al. (1996) indicate that reliability in the eyes of customers is a combination of keeping promise and doing it well. Keeping promise means that a retail company should stock enough products to satisfy customers needs and guarantee the products quality as well as allowing returns and exchanges and being willing to dealing with any problems from customers. On the other side, in the terms of doing it well, a company is expected to be able to provide customers with fast sales transactions and precise information, such as sales promotions, price and sales slips. (Rodolfo Vazquez et al, 2 001) Personal Interaction Based on existing literature, it is noted that customers are not only interested in the product offerings and physical environment, but also on the service provided by staffs. Personal interaction involves the process followed in order to obtain the sale and the service encounters where the need arises while coming in contact with the retail company employees. (Rodolfo Vazquez et al, 2001) According to Prakash Gupta (year), consumers look for help whenever they are in an emergency. In that situation, store employees helpful advice and assistance will help to reduce the attrition rate of customers and enhance shopping experience. Policy Policy captures aspects of service quality affected by the strategies of the prices and brand assortment. Brand assortment policy must be established with great care and also a large and wide-ranging assortment of well-known brands is needed. (Rodolfo Vazquez et al, 2001) In addition, retail stores should be able to come up with an attractive pricing policy. According to Siu and Cheung, policy has a great impact on customers repeat purchase intention. (Yan Lu, Yoo-Kyoung Seock, 2008) Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is a measure of how an organizations total product performs in relation to a set or customers requirement (Nigel Hill, Jim Alexander, 2006). There is no better advertisement than a Satisfied Customer and nothing worse than a Dissatisfied Customer (Phillip Kotler et al, 2008). Marketing Researchers and Managers have realized how important customer satisfaction is. According to Robert Heller (2006), customer based strategy is the only important form of strategy, product and producer driven strategies are fast dying. Similarly, Customer Satisfaction is the ultimate goal, and an investment that often doesnt produce result in a short term, but leads to Customer loyalty in a medium or long term (Craig Cochran, 2003). The lack of attention to customer Satisfaction costs companies money because there is an intractable connection to high level of customer satisfaction and increased share holder value (Chris Denove, James D. Power IV, 2007) Loyalty It is believed that maintaining the current customers costs less than attracting new customers, in the light of this; it is wise for companies to pay close attention to retaining their current customers. There are efficiencies in dealing with existing customers rather than new customers. (Ruth N.Bolton, 2000) Relative retention has been shown to explained profits better than market share, scale, cost position, or any of the other variables usually associated with competitive advantage. (Niren Sirohi et al, 1998) In general, the customers loyalty is indicated by an intention to perform a diverse set of behaviors that signal a motivation to maintain a relationship with focal firm, including allocating a higher share of the category wallet to the specific service provider, engaging in positive word-of -mouth, and repeat purchasing. (Ulrich R. Orth, Mark T.Green, 2009) According to Zeithaml et al., favorable assessment of service quality leads to favorable behavioral intentions such as p ositive word-of-mouth and preference for one company over others. (Yan Lu, Yoo-Kyoung Seock, 2008). In other word, higher satisfaction relates to higher loyalty. (Ulrich R. Orth, Mark T.Green, 2009) 4.2 Conceptual Model On the basis of the literature reviews, a final model has been defined (Refer to figure 1), which consists of two parts. In the first part of the model, there are 4 Independent variables (namely Physical Environment, Reliability, Personal Interaction, Policy), consisting of several aspects respectively, that may have an impact on the Dependent variables (Customer Satisfaction as shown in the model). As regard to the second part of the model, we assume that the Independent variable, Satisfaction, is connected with Loyalty, Dependent variable. Table 1: Summary of Research Questions and Hypothesis Specification of information needed Depending upon each component of the problem and the conceptual model, research questions and hypothesis, the information needed can be defined as follows: Component 1: To determine the factors customers are apprehensive about when selecting a store for shopping. Perceptions of customers on factors that influence choice of supermarkets Component 2: To determine how well do existing service offering meet customers needs. Evaluation of customers on the performance of ASDA. Evaluation of customers on the performance of Sainsburys. Evaluation of customers on the performance of Tesco. 5. Research Design and Methodology 5.1 Research Design In order to obtain the required information to solve the marketing research problems, research design was carried out for the further step. The research design is the framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project that specify the procedures necessary to obtain the information needed. (Malhotra, 2009) There are two basic types of research designs available which are classified in terms of the research objectives: exploratory and conclusive. (Malhotra, 2009) In this report, both exploratory and conclusive research designs were conducted for Sainsburys. 5.1.1 Exploratory research design In order to understand and gain insight to the problem that the company is facing now, a detailed literature review was prepared. 5.1.2 Conclusive research design After gaining understanding of current situation and management-decision problem of the company from exploratory research, the conclusive research was designed to make the management decision, testing hypotheses and also examining relationships between factors influencing the supermarket selection and customer satisfaction of Sainsburys as compared to its competitors. Furthermore, the descriptive research was used to describe the market characteristics and determine those relationships. Due to time constraint, the single cross-sectional design was used and a selected group of respondents were measured at one time. The data-collection technique used in this report was the survey conducted by a predesigned questionnaire. 5.2 Methodology 5.2.1 Secondary research methodology In order to collect data about the companys problem in general, two types of the secondary research were collected. The first one is the internal secondary data. Obtaining information from companys annual report provided the background of the company and fundamental data about its market shares. The second one is the external secondary data. In research approach development step, literatures have been reviewed. The information was retrieved from many sources including census data that provided elementary background of demographic data of UK households and consumption behaviors of UK consumers. In addition, abstracts in form of bibliographic databases have been retrieved from the University of Leeds Portals library. Gaining information from above secondary data can help us to understand the companys situation, define the research problem and also develop an approach to that problem. Journal articles and books provide knowledge in defining the variables in the research model which led to formulate the hypotheses and forming questionnaire design. 5.2.2 Primary research methodology 5.2.2.1 Research approach The major research approach chosen in this report is questionnaire survey. A detailed survey selecting a large sample was conducted to support the literature to get a deeper understanding of factors in choosing supermarkets. Furthermore, surveys were chosen in order to gain insights into the consumer behaviors pattern and consumers perceptions of UK supermarkets. 5.2.2.2 Sampling design Due to budget and time limitation, sample surveys were selected based on direct questioning. A sample is a subgroup of the elements of the population selected for participation in the study. (Malhotra, 2009) In this report, the sample group was selected from the total population in the UK. In determining the sample size, the statistical method was chosen. The sample size was calculated as follows: 2500 * N * Z2 n = ____________________ [25(N-1)] + [2500 * Z2] Where n = sample size required N = population size Z = number of standard errors The total population size (N) is 41,020,711 which are derived from the estimated people aged at 15-64 years in the United Kingdom as of July 2009. The source of information is The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In this case, the most commonly used 95% confidence level is applied. When the variables are taken, the result obtained from the formula could be as below: 2,500 * 41,020,711 * 1.962 n = __________________________ 25(41,020,711 -1) + (2,500 * 1.962) = 384 Due to time and cost constraints, 40% of the total sample size was taken into consideration, therefore adding up to 154 samples could be collected in conducting the survey. For the sampling method used in the surveys, the data collected through a survey of 154 respondents was divided into two proportions equally. The probability sampling techniques used in this report is Simple Random Sampling (SRS) in which each sample in the total population has an equal probability in selecting. (Malhotra, 2009) Therefore, half of the total questionnaires were executed by people living in Leeds and the rest was from people living outside Leeds. Moreover, two ways in distributing the questionnaires were conducted: paper based and online based survey. 5.2.2.3 Questionnaire Design (Refer to Appendix 1) The division of research problem into components made the way to design the questionnaire to analyze the market scenario and the customer needs. The background of the questionnaire design was the basic study of the component and sub-dividing the components into various similar factors which are considered to select or prefer any retail industry. The Physical Factors were classified as size, location, layout, and etc. of the store and mentioned as questions in the draft. 12 broad questions were decided on the basis of relevance and availability of time for the participant to come out with rational answers without any external or internal influence of reviewer or the industry. The intention was to collect some primary data about the general perception of people and then segmenting them as per their responses and choices. As required questionnaire was designed in 4 major segments in five pages including the introduction and purpose of study, literature was consulted to find out the best blue print of the questionnaire. It was also considered that all the questions are easy to understand and the response is useful for the analysis of the components. The questionnaire was designed with both multiple choice and dichotomous questions with all the scales referred as per the 5 Point Likert Scale l The first section dealt with the general introduction of the respondents to the retail industry, the shopping habits and the familiarity with the retail market. l Section 2 were the general factors affecting the selection of supermarkets and respondents preference of retail stores, continued with the acuity of three major supermarkets in the UK namely ASDA, Sainsburys and Tesco. l Section 3 covered the satisfaction and loyalty level of the participants towards their favorite retail store. l The final section was the personal information about the respondent assisting with the demographical and segmentation of the participants. The sentences of the questionnaire were made simple and all the options and questions were double checked for any offence in the questions. It was specially taken care that every response should be informative and two open questions were also provided in the questionnaire in order to find depth know-how about the stance of people towards Sainsburys irrespective they are loyal members of Sainsburys shopping club or not. 5.2.2.4 Field work The data was collected between the 18th and the 22th of November, 2009. The questionnaires were collected in different times and different places, targeting all supermarket shoppers throughout the UK; starting from University of Leeds, city centre, flat residents and people outside Leeds. The questionnaire delivering method was personal interviews in order to control the response rate and clarify the complex questions. 5.2.2.5 Analytical issues A diversity of analytical methods was used to gather the data and analyze the results. To analyze the basic statistics, descriptive statistics has been used. Furthermore, graphical representations and one-sample tests were applied to present the demographic and psychographic profile of respondents and also examine the influential factors when choosing a supermarket. To analyze the relationship between independent and dependent variables, the regression analysis has been used. Bivariate regressions were used to test the hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5 while multiple regression analysis was used to test whether or not there is collective relation between all hypothetical factors and customer satisfaction. 6. Results and Analysis In this part, SPSS was used to represent the basic statistics, graphical representations and one-sample tests in order to answer the five problem components. Also, it was used for testing whether or not the results support the hypotheses. 6. 1. Analysis of Problem Components 6.1.1 Examining demographic and psychographic profile of respondents There are 154 questionnaires have been completed which 60 % is female and the other 40% is male. (Refer to Appendix 2) More than 50% of respondents aged between 18-24 years old and they are all students. The second most majority is people aged between 25-34 years old. The minority is people aged more than 65 years old. (Refer to Appendix 3) By far the most of respondents are single due to the fact that they are students. One-fifth of them are married and there is no widowed who filled in the questionnaires. (Refer to Appendix 4) More than a half of respondents are students and nearly 30% of all respondents are working and employed by the company. (Refer to Appendix 5) Nearly half spend between  £20 40 when going shopping while the average household annual income is below  £ 15,000. (Refer to Appendix 6 and 7) 6.1.2 Examining factors affecting supermarket selection Table 2: One-sample T-test statistics results One sample T-test were carried out to test the extent to which the mean scores are significantly higher than the mid point 3 on the scale ranging from 1 = the least important to 5 = the most important. Results summarized in the table indicate that customers evaluate the Independent variables positively when choosing which supermarket to shop in, but at different levels. It is also obvious from the table that Price, Location/Nearness, Quality of Products, Variety of Products have the strongest mean. It is important to note that the 4 Independ Customer Satisfaction at Sainsburys Customer Satisfaction at Sainsburys Implications for the development of Sainsbury in the future 1. Introduction The retail industry is one of the oldest industrial sectors of UK having its roots based in the 19th century. An article in The Financial Times about Sainsburys dropping sales and consequently market shares triggered the research topic and we drove ourselves to the history of supermarkets to reveal the secret behind the big giants (Tesco, Sainsburys and ASDA) fighting for the top position in the market. The reason to select Sainsburys rather than other two foes from the flock was the interesting reign of Sainsburys in past 100 years of business. The article first illustrates the supermarket retailers background and outlines the present problems. Secondly, it analyzes the perception of customers towards the current supermarkets and the extent to which their needs are satisfied by Sainsburys. Finally, the possible solutions are evaluated and it indicates some recommendations for implementation. The work established in the following research is purely based on a quantitative data collection and scrutiny with a wide implementation of literature and marketing research tools. In the following research work, we, group of five students, have cloaked the role of researchers and reaped a considerable amount of sagacious know-how about conducting a research and using marketing research gears in different areas of research. 2. Background to the problem 2.1 About Sainsburys Sainsburys Supermarket is the longest standing major food retailing chain in the UK, with their first store opened in 1869. The mission and policy of Sainsburys is to provide customers with healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food. The quality and fair prices of Sainsburys is taking responsibility to their business. Sainsburys stores have particularly emphasized on fresh food and they devote themselves to create continuous innovation. Moreover, they are concerned about customer needs and based on these needs improve products regularly. Its market share is around 16 % and now they serve over 18 million customers a week. Sainsburys own 455 supermarkets and 301 convenience stores, the type of these stores are categorized into 3 types, which are Main Mission outlets, Main Plus format stores (hypermarkets),and Mixed mission format shops (Sainsburys Central and Local). The large stores offer approximately 30,000 products and offer and support the non-food products and services in many of their stores. Around 88% of British households are provided by the internet-based home delivery shopping service. At present, Sainsburys is the third biggest supermarket chain in Britain after the countrys largest retailer Tesco and Wal-Mart owned ASDA. Their business mission is to be the consumers first choice for food, delivering products of outstanding quality and great service at a competitive cost working faster, simpler and together.'(http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/index.jsp, N.D) 2.2 Describe the problem Sainsburys used to take the biggest slice of the whole retail market in the UK. However, since 1995, Tesco started with their membership cards, and out of blue their sales have increased rapidly. Sainsburys became the third biggest supermarket chain in Britain after the countrys largest retailer Tesco and Wal-Mart owned Asda. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4694974.stm, N.D, BBC News) 2.3The main reasons for exploring the problem The formula of Sainsburys success could be concluded in the points which are listed below: High quality products quality assurance Wide range of products Different customer segmentations (http://www.foodprocessing-technology.com/features/feature56457/, ND) Although Sainsburys still follows these points to manage the company, but according to the reduction of the market share, the profit of managing Sainsburys has been more seriously affected. Although Sainsburys could retain the balance of revenue and expenditure, moreover, it remained permanent. It still needs to attract more customers and raise its market share. Furthermore, the needs of its customers should be valued and respected. We need to do marketing research to explore the possible factors which affect customers satisfaction and then use marketing strategies to improve these factors to increase customers shopping demands and enhance their loyalty. 3. Problem Definition An extensive study of market conditions and retail industry in United Kingdom gave us a brief idea about the status of Sainsburys in the retail industry. The largest retailer in the UK till mid 1990s suddenly dropped to the third position loosing its hold on market and decrement in the potential market customers. The decline in market shares and a low rate of sales returns was enough to define the problem for Sainsburys in the present market scenario. With new retailers emerging in the sector deploying all their marketing strategies to be the best in the race, it is very important for Sainsburys to take a brave step now to protect their current position and then to improvise on their hold in the industry. 3.1 Management Decision Problem What can Sainsburys doto regain the market share in retailing industry? The management team now require to sit down and discuss the failure points and the current shortcoming to establish a conclusion to why there is a constant downfall in the shares of the company and why it is being overtaken by a company (ASDA) which has its central operating sector based in a country (USA) which is thousands of miles away from UK. As per a latest study, the retail industry is expected to show an increase in 15% annually and Sainsburys needs to identify the market requirement till they become history for the consumers. (sources) 3.2 Marketing Research Problem The Management Problem was turned into a Research Problem which more specifically tackles the aim of this study. l To determine the various needs of shoppers and the extent to which current Sainsburys experiences were satisfying those needs compared to the competitors. The conversion of the management problem into a research problem makes the concept easier to understand and tackle. It gives a broader prospective of the problem and alongside makes a simple way to handle and implement the desired implications. 3.3 Research Components The research components further diversify the purpose of research and explain the problem in detail. The following components define the research problem: What is the demographic and psychographic profile of the customers? What do customers expect when going shopping in the stores? How well does Sainsburys existing products and service offering meet customers needs compared to Tesco and ASDA? Are there any customer needs that are not being adequately met by Sainsburys? How often do customers go shopping per week? 4. Research Approach Development In this section, it reveals the Exploratory Research conducted and the Conceptual Model. 4.1 Exploratory Research 4.1.1 Literature Reviews This section concerns some available information extracted from Literature Reviews. Based on literature reviews, service quality, is seen as an important factor, and closely related to a retail companies performance. Service quality is perceived by customers as the result of comparing the expectations about the service they are going to receive and their perceptions of the retail companys actions. (Rodolfo Vazquez et al, 2001). It is of great help to demonstrate how to assess the service performance of a retail company and it carries some implications itself as well, which is beneficial when making the model of this study. According to Yan Lu et al (2008) there are five dimensions of service quality in a retail store setting, including: physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction, problem solving and policy. In addition, Rodolfo Vazquez et al. (2001) found that service quality in retail companies adopting the commercial format of supermarkets has a four factor structure (physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction and policies). Physical Environment Physical environment incorporates the inward and outward appearance of the store. According to Rodolfo Vazquez et al (2001), physical environment involves the simplicity and importance of shopping from the internal appearance of the sales outlet. Based on this, Rodolfo Vazquez et al states that there are two physical aspects of supermarkets: store appearance, which includes: decoration, fixtures, equipment, cleanliness, design of product and services publicity leaflets and the convenience of shopping, which includes: interior design and store layout of sections and product shelf position. According to Poping Lin (2005), traditional wisdom teaches that one key to win market share is offering a wide variety of products, which can be helpful for attracting a wider variety of customers. Providing products and services at a close and most convenient location, is the very core of deriving the best return from investments, also the ambience a store maintains can influence a customers purcha se decisions to a great extent. (Prakash Gupta, year) Reliability According to A.Parasuraman et al. (1988), to be reliable is being able to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. Based on his research, A.Parasuraman et al. found out that reliability is the most important factor taken into consideration by customers when they evaluate a retail companys overall service quality. This has also been supported by many researches in other studies. Dabholker et al. (1996) indicate that reliability in the eyes of customers is a combination of keeping promise and doing it well. Keeping promise means that a retail company should stock enough products to satisfy customers needs and guarantee the products quality as well as allowing returns and exchanges and being willing to dealing with any problems from customers. On the other side, in the terms of doing it well, a company is expected to be able to provide customers with fast sales transactions and precise information, such as sales promotions, price and sales slips. (Rodolfo Vazquez et al, 2 001) Personal Interaction Based on existing literature, it is noted that customers are not only interested in the product offerings and physical environment, but also on the service provided by staffs. Personal interaction involves the process followed in order to obtain the sale and the service encounters where the need arises while coming in contact with the retail company employees. (Rodolfo Vazquez et al, 2001) According to Prakash Gupta (year), consumers look for help whenever they are in an emergency. In that situation, store employees helpful advice and assistance will help to reduce the attrition rate of customers and enhance shopping experience. Policy Policy captures aspects of service quality affected by the strategies of the prices and brand assortment. Brand assortment policy must be established with great care and also a large and wide-ranging assortment of well-known brands is needed. (Rodolfo Vazquez et al, 2001) In addition, retail stores should be able to come up with an attractive pricing policy. According to Siu and Cheung, policy has a great impact on customers repeat purchase intention. (Yan Lu, Yoo-Kyoung Seock, 2008) Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is a measure of how an organizations total product performs in relation to a set or customers requirement (Nigel Hill, Jim Alexander, 2006). There is no better advertisement than a Satisfied Customer and nothing worse than a Dissatisfied Customer (Phillip Kotler et al, 2008). Marketing Researchers and Managers have realized how important customer satisfaction is. According to Robert Heller (2006), customer based strategy is the only important form of strategy, product and producer driven strategies are fast dying. Similarly, Customer Satisfaction is the ultimate goal, and an investment that often doesnt produce result in a short term, but leads to Customer loyalty in a medium or long term (Craig Cochran, 2003). The lack of attention to customer Satisfaction costs companies money because there is an intractable connection to high level of customer satisfaction and increased share holder value (Chris Denove, James D. Power IV, 2007) Loyalty It is believed that maintaining the current customers costs less than attracting new customers, in the light of this; it is wise for companies to pay close attention to retaining their current customers. There are efficiencies in dealing with existing customers rather than new customers. (Ruth N.Bolton, 2000) Relative retention has been shown to explained profits better than market share, scale, cost position, or any of the other variables usually associated with competitive advantage. (Niren Sirohi et al, 1998) In general, the customers loyalty is indicated by an intention to perform a diverse set of behaviors that signal a motivation to maintain a relationship with focal firm, including allocating a higher share of the category wallet to the specific service provider, engaging in positive word-of -mouth, and repeat purchasing. (Ulrich R. Orth, Mark T.Green, 2009) According to Zeithaml et al., favorable assessment of service quality leads to favorable behavioral intentions such as p ositive word-of-mouth and preference for one company over others. (Yan Lu, Yoo-Kyoung Seock, 2008). In other word, higher satisfaction relates to higher loyalty. (Ulrich R. Orth, Mark T.Green, 2009) 4.2 Conceptual Model On the basis of the literature reviews, a final model has been defined (Refer to figure 1), which consists of two parts. In the first part of the model, there are 4 Independent variables (namely Physical Environment, Reliability, Personal Interaction, Policy), consisting of several aspects respectively, that may have an impact on the Dependent variables (Customer Satisfaction as shown in the model). As regard to the second part of the model, we assume that the Independent variable, Satisfaction, is connected with Loyalty, Dependent variable. Table 1: Summary of Research Questions and Hypothesis Specification of information needed Depending upon each component of the problem and the conceptual model, research questions and hypothesis, the information needed can be defined as follows: Component 1: To determine the factors customers are apprehensive about when selecting a store for shopping. Perceptions of customers on factors that influence choice of supermarkets Component 2: To determine how well do existing service offering meet customers needs. Evaluation of customers on the performance of ASDA. Evaluation of customers on the performance of Sainsburys. Evaluation of customers on the performance of Tesco. 5. Research Design and Methodology 5.1 Research Design In order to obtain the required information to solve the marketing research problems, research design was carried out for the further step. The research design is the framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project that specify the procedures necessary to obtain the information needed. (Malhotra, 2009) There are two basic types of research designs available which are classified in terms of the research objectives: exploratory and conclusive. (Malhotra, 2009) In this report, both exploratory and conclusive research designs were conducted for Sainsburys. 5.1.1 Exploratory research design In order to understand and gain insight to the problem that the company is facing now, a detailed literature review was prepared. 5.1.2 Conclusive research design After gaining understanding of current situation and management-decision problem of the company from exploratory research, the conclusive research was designed to make the management decision, testing hypotheses and also examining relationships between factors influencing the supermarket selection and customer satisfaction of Sainsburys as compared to its competitors. Furthermore, the descriptive research was used to describe the market characteristics and determine those relationships. Due to time constraint, the single cross-sectional design was used and a selected group of respondents were measured at one time. The data-collection technique used in this report was the survey conducted by a predesigned questionnaire. 5.2 Methodology 5.2.1 Secondary research methodology In order to collect data about the companys problem in general, two types of the secondary research were collected. The first one is the internal secondary data. Obtaining information from companys annual report provided the background of the company and fundamental data about its market shares. The second one is the external secondary data. In research approach development step, literatures have been reviewed. The information was retrieved from many sources including census data that provided elementary background of demographic data of UK households and consumption behaviors of UK consumers. In addition, abstracts in form of bibliographic databases have been retrieved from the University of Leeds Portals library. Gaining information from above secondary data can help us to understand the companys situation, define the research problem and also develop an approach to that problem. Journal articles and books provide knowledge in defining the variables in the research model which led to formulate the hypotheses and forming questionnaire design. 5.2.2 Primary research methodology 5.2.2.1 Research approach The major research approach chosen in this report is questionnaire survey. A detailed survey selecting a large sample was conducted to support the literature to get a deeper understanding of factors in choosing supermarkets. Furthermore, surveys were chosen in order to gain insights into the consumer behaviors pattern and consumers perceptions of UK supermarkets. 5.2.2.2 Sampling design Due to budget and time limitation, sample surveys were selected based on direct questioning. A sample is a subgroup of the elements of the population selected for participation in the study. (Malhotra, 2009) In this report, the sample group was selected from the total population in the UK. In determining the sample size, the statistical method was chosen. The sample size was calculated as follows: 2500 * N * Z2 n = ____________________ [25(N-1)] + [2500 * Z2] Where n = sample size required N = population size Z = number of standard errors The total population size (N) is 41,020,711 which are derived from the estimated people aged at 15-64 years in the United Kingdom as of July 2009. The source of information is The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In this case, the most commonly used 95% confidence level is applied. When the variables are taken, the result obtained from the formula could be as below: 2,500 * 41,020,711 * 1.962 n = __________________________ 25(41,020,711 -1) + (2,500 * 1.962) = 384 Due to time and cost constraints, 40% of the total sample size was taken into consideration, therefore adding up to 154 samples could be collected in conducting the survey. For the sampling method used in the surveys, the data collected through a survey of 154 respondents was divided into two proportions equally. The probability sampling techniques used in this report is Simple Random Sampling (SRS) in which each sample in the total population has an equal probability in selecting. (Malhotra, 2009) Therefore, half of the total questionnaires were executed by people living in Leeds and the rest was from people living outside Leeds. Moreover, two ways in distributing the questionnaires were conducted: paper based and online based survey. 5.2.2.3 Questionnaire Design (Refer to Appendix 1) The division of research problem into components made the way to design the questionnaire to analyze the market scenario and the customer needs. The background of the questionnaire design was the basic study of the component and sub-dividing the components into various similar factors which are considered to select or prefer any retail industry. The Physical Factors were classified as size, location, layout, and etc. of the store and mentioned as questions in the draft. 12 broad questions were decided on the basis of relevance and availability of time for the participant to come out with rational answers without any external or internal influence of reviewer or the industry. The intention was to collect some primary data about the general perception of people and then segmenting them as per their responses and choices. As required questionnaire was designed in 4 major segments in five pages including the introduction and purpose of study, literature was consulted to find out the best blue print of the questionnaire. It was also considered that all the questions are easy to understand and the response is useful for the analysis of the components. The questionnaire was designed with both multiple choice and dichotomous questions with all the scales referred as per the 5 Point Likert Scale l The first section dealt with the general introduction of the respondents to the retail industry, the shopping habits and the familiarity with the retail market. l Section 2 were the general factors affecting the selection of supermarkets and respondents preference of retail stores, continued with the acuity of three major supermarkets in the UK namely ASDA, Sainsburys and Tesco. l Section 3 covered the satisfaction and loyalty level of the participants towards their favorite retail store. l The final section was the personal information about the respondent assisting with the demographical and segmentation of the participants. The sentences of the questionnaire were made simple and all the options and questions were double checked for any offence in the questions. It was specially taken care that every response should be informative and two open questions were also provided in the questionnaire in order to find depth know-how about the stance of people towards Sainsburys irrespective they are loyal members of Sainsburys shopping club or not. 5.2.2.4 Field work The data was collected between the 18th and the 22th of November, 2009. The questionnaires were collected in different times and different places, targeting all supermarket shoppers throughout the UK; starting from University of Leeds, city centre, flat residents and people outside Leeds. The questionnaire delivering method was personal interviews in order to control the response rate and clarify the complex questions. 5.2.2.5 Analytical issues A diversity of analytical methods was used to gather the data and analyze the results. To analyze the basic statistics, descriptive statistics has been used. Furthermore, graphical representations and one-sample tests were applied to present the demographic and psychographic profile of respondents and also examine the influential factors when choosing a supermarket. To analyze the relationship between independent and dependent variables, the regression analysis has been used. Bivariate regressions were used to test the hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5 while multiple regression analysis was used to test whether or not there is collective relation between all hypothetical factors and customer satisfaction. 6. Results and Analysis In this part, SPSS was used to represent the basic statistics, graphical representations and one-sample tests in order to answer the five problem components. Also, it was used for testing whether or not the results support the hypotheses. 6. 1. Analysis of Problem Components 6.1.1 Examining demographic and psychographic profile of respondents There are 154 questionnaires have been completed which 60 % is female and the other 40% is male. (Refer to Appendix 2) More than 50% of respondents aged between 18-24 years old and they are all students. The second most majority is people aged between 25-34 years old. The minority is people aged more than 65 years old. (Refer to Appendix 3) By far the most of respondents are single due to the fact that they are students. One-fifth of them are married and there is no widowed who filled in the questionnaires. (Refer to Appendix 4) More than a half of respondents are students and nearly 30% of all respondents are working and employed by the company. (Refer to Appendix 5) Nearly half spend between  £20 40 when going shopping while the average household annual income is below  £ 15,000. (Refer to Appendix 6 and 7) 6.1.2 Examining factors affecting supermarket selection Table 2: One-sample T-test statistics results One sample T-test were carried out to test the extent to which the mean scores are significantly higher than the mid point 3 on the scale ranging from 1 = the least important to 5 = the most important. Results summarized in the table indicate that customers evaluate the Independent variables positively when choosing which supermarket to shop in, but at different levels. It is also obvious from the table that Price, Location/Nearness, Quality of Products, Variety of Products have the strongest mean. It is important to note that the 4 Independ