Marketing Campaigns and Ethical Perspectives

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Session: 3 Subject: The Social and Ethical Perspective of Entrepreneurship Case: A Friend For Life The Glades Company is a small manufacturer. It has produces and marketed a number of different toys and appliances that have done very well in the marketplace. Late last year, the product designer at the company, Tom Bringer, told the President, Paula Glades, that he had invented a small, cuddly, talking bear that might have a great deal of appeal. The bear is made of fluffy brown material that stimulate our, and it had a tape inside that contains 50 messages.The Glades Company decided to find out exactly how much market appeal the bear would have. Fifty of the bears were produced and placed In the kindergartens and nurseries around town. The results were better than the firm had hoped. One of the nurseries reported: â€Å"The bear was so popular that most of the children wanted to take it home for an evening. † Another said the bear was the most t oy in the school. Based on these data, the company decided to manufacture and market 1,000 of the bears. At the same time, a catchy marketing slogan was formulated: â€Å"A Friend For Life. The bear was marketed as a product a child could play with for years and years. The first batch of 1,000 bears sold out within a week. The company then scheduled another production run, this time 25,000 bears. Last week. In the middle of the production run, a problem was uncovered. The process of making the bear fur was much more expensive than anticipated. The company Is now faced with two options: It can absorb the extra cost and have the simulated fur produced, or It can use a bustiest fur that will not last as long.Specifically, the Orlando simulated fur will last for up to seven years of normal use: the less expensive simulated fur will last for only eight months. Some of the managers at Glade believe that most children are not interested in playing with the same toy for more than eight mon ths; therefore, substituting the less-expensive simulated for the more expensive fur should be no problem. Others believe that the company will damage its reputation if it have opts for the substitute fur.We are going to have complaints within eight months, and we are going to repent the day we agreed to a cheaper substitute,† the production manager argues. The sales manager disagrees, contending that â€Å"the market Is ready for this product, and we ought to provide It. † In the middle of this crawls, the accounting department Issued Its cost analysis of the venture. If the company goes with the more expensive simulated fur, it will lose $ 2. 75 per bear. If it chooses the less-expensive simulated The final decision on the matter rests with Paula Glades.People on both sides of the issue have given her their opinion. One of the last to speak was the vice president of manufacturing, who said â€Å"If you opt for the less expensive fur, think of what it is going to do t o your marketing campaign of ‘A Friend For Life. ‘ Are you going to change the slogan to ‘ A Friend For Eight Months'? † But the marketing vice president argued a different course of action: â€Å"We have a fortune tied up in this bear. If you stop production now or go to the more-expensive substitute, we'll lose or shirts. We aren't owing anything illegal by substituting the fur.The bear looks the same. Who's to Questions for discussion: 1 . Is the recommendation of the vice president marketing legal? Is it ethical? Why or why not? The marketing vice president has recommended that production continue using the substitute fur. While this is not illegal, since there are no laws specifically governing what type of simulated fur is used, it is unethical to delude the public into thinking the product is of high quality when the material is actually of low quality. Especially nice the company knows exactly what it is doing in trading away good faith and trust for the sake of profits. . Would it be ethical if the firm used the less expensive simulated fur but did not change its slogan of â€Å"A Friend For Life† and did not tell the buyer about the change in the production process? Why or why not? No, it would not be ethical since the firm had already produced 26,000 bears with the higher quality simulated fur that lasts seven years. The continued production of bears under the same slogan â€Å"A Friend for Life† but with lower-quality simulated fur expected to last only eight months is consumer fraud.Thus, while the legal question may be debated as to the actual fraud, the ethics question is not debatable. This is a prime example of disregard for ethics. 3. If you were advising Paula, What would you recommend? As an adviser to Paula, you should utilize Table 6. 3, which illustrates the various approaches to management ethics. The column dealing with â€Å"moral management† explains the different aspects of ethics concer ned with motives, goals, orientation to the law, and strategy.The strategy segment especially applies to Paula in that she must assume a leadership role when ethical dilemmas arise. In dealing with consumers, enlightened self- interest means that by having concern for others will find that either full disclosure to†¦ One of the most important attributes for small business success, is the distinguishing quality of practicing admirable business ethics. Business ethics, practiced throughout the deepest layers of a company, become the heart and soul of the company's culture and can mean the difference between success and failure

Interventions: Special Education Essay

Monitoring development through observations, making assessments and targeting interventions can help lessen the likelihood of delays for children who are already at risk and can also prevent children who are not at risk from becoming at risk. Early intervention services include a variety of different resources and programmes that provide support to enhance a child’s development. These services are specifically tailored to meet a child’s individual needs. Services include: ? Assistive technology (devices a child might need) ? Audiology or hearing services ? Counselling and training for a family  ? Educational programmes ? Medical services ? Nursing services ? Nutrition services ? Occupational therapy ? Physical therapy ? Psychological services ? Respite services ? Speech/language Identify and meet any additional educational needs The Education Acts and the SEN Code of Practice provide frameworks for settings to identify and meet any additional educational needs. The Education Act 1996 states that a child or young person has special educational needs if â€Å"he or she has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her†. Children with special educational needs all have learning difficulties and/or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most other children of the same age. These children may need extra or different help from that given to other children of the same age. The extra or different help could be a different way of teaching certain things, some help from an extra adult, or the use of a particular piece of equipment like a computer or a desk with a sloping top. Children may require extra or different help because they suffer from one or more difficulties such as: ? Physical or sensory difficulties ? Emotional and behavioural problems ? Problems with thinking and understanding ? Difficulties with speech and language ? How they relate to and behave with other people These problems could mean that a child has difficulties with all of their school work or problems could arise in particular areas of their work such as: ? Understanding information ? Reading, writing and number work ? Expressing themselves or understanding what others are saying ? Behaving properly in school ? Organising themselves? Forming relationships with other children or with adults The law says that children do not have learning difficulties just because their first language is not English, but of course some of these children may have learning difficulties in addition. To help make an early identification of those children who may have special educational needs, schools must regularly measure children’s performance and progress. These assessments can be made by referring to: ? Ongoing observation and assessment monitored by the teacher ? Standardised screening or assessment tools ? The outcomes from baseline assessment results ? The objectives specified in the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy Frameworks ? The level descriptions within the National Curriculum at the end of a key stage The aim of any intervention is to provide as much help as is required, but not to intervene more than is necessary. The three levels of support that are set out in the Code of Practice are: 1. School Action (or Early Years Action for younger children) 2. School Action Plus (or Early Years Action Plus for younger children) 3. Provision outlined in a statement of SEN School action Once practitioners have identified that a child has special educational needs, the setting should intervene through School Action (or Early Years Action for younger children). At this level of support the class teacher, the school’s special educational needs coordinating officer (SENCO), a Home Learning College. Learning Support Assistant (LSA) or another member of the school’s staff gives the child extra help. The child has an Individual Education Plan (IEP) which gives details of the targets the pupils must work towards and the action/support that is required to help them to achieve those targets. IEPs will usually be linked to the main areas of literacy, mathematics, behaviour and social skills. The parents must be consulted and involved so that they too can help their child at home, in line with what the school is doing. The aim of School Action is to make it possible for the child to progress to the point where they no longer need extra help. School action plus If the intervention made as a result of School Action is not helping the child to meet his/her targets, the SENCO may need to seek advice and support from external sources, such as teaching support services and other agencies. An Educational Psychologist might be consulted to plan what forms of intervention might best help the pupil achieve the targets set out in his/her Individual Education Plan (IEP). This kind of intervention is referred to as School Action Plus (or Early Years Action Plus for younger children). The aim of School Action Plus support is to enable a child to progress so that they move from School Action Plus to School Action, or no longer need any extra help at all. Individual Education Children who are recognised as having SEN are entitled to an Individual Education Plan (IEP) as part of the School Action or School Action Plus process. An IEP should record what is different from, or additional to, those arrangements that are in place for the rest of the group or class. An IEP is written by the class teacher to help the parents and the school identify the child’s needs and to target areas of particular difficulty. Typically they focus on three or four targets that match the child’s needs. This document records the strategies that are to be employed to enable the child to progress. It should also show the steps that are to be taken to support the child’s learning and set a date for reviewing their progress. It will normally include information about: ? Learning targets for the child to reach in a given time ? Who will support the child and how that support will be organised ? What materials and methods should be used It may not always be possible to set measurable targets for every area of the curriculum, nevertheless, where targets are used, they can help individual pupils to focus energy and resources on raising standards in critical areas of the child’s school life. A statutory assessment In a great many cases, the individual needs of a child with SEN can be met via access to specialist approaches and equipment or to alternative or adapted activities that are available through School Action or School Action Plus. But there are a few exceptional circumstances, where children require more support than these two processes can provide. If the child does not make the expected advancement despite these measures, the school can ask the local education authority (LEA) to carry out a Statutory Assessment of special educational needs. The Statutory Assessment is a formal process where the LEA seeks advice from a number of different sources, for example: ? Educational advice ? Parental advice ? Medical advice ? Psychological advice ? Social services advice ? Any other advice which is considered desirable  At the end of the process the LEA will decide whether or not to issue the child with a statement of special educational needs. This statement describes all the child’s needs and special help requirements. There are many different types of professionals who can offer support to children who are not following the expected pattern of development, the support is usually coordinated by the schools, SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator). If a child starts school with a disability the SENCO will have been informed by the child’s parents prior to the child starting. The child may already be receiving support from a number of professionals. For example a child with a physical disability may well be receiving treatment from a physiotherapist, with exercises given to strengthen their gross motor skills. The physiotherapist will co-ordinate with the SENCO as to the needs of the child and advise the school on what sort of support is needed in school to encourage development. Whist at school if a teacher becomes concerned about the development pattern of a child, they would inform the SENCO who is responsible for the identification of special needs. The SENCO would in turn speak to the child’s parents about their child’s development, and depending on the area of development concerned, suggest an assessment by an outside professional. The professional would in turn give the SENCO advice as to how the child should be supported in school in order to encourage development, this may involve the school providing support or it may involve the professional giving direct support. It is important that any needs are identified so that the correct support/intervention is given in order to prevent the development delay getting worse and spreading to other areas of the child’s development. Some of the interventions used are explained below. What is early intervention? Early intervention is a system of services that helps babies and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities. Early intervention focuses on helping eligible babies and toddlers learn the basic and brand-new skills that typically develop during the first three years of life, such as: ? physical (reaching, rolling, crawling, and walking); ?cognitive (thinking, learning, solving problems); ?communication (talking, listening, understanding); ?social/emotional (playing, feeling secure and happy); and ? self-help (eating, dressing). Examples of early intervention services | If an infant or toddler has a disability or a developmental delay in one or more of these developmental areas, that child will likely be eligible for early intervention services. Those services will be tailored to meet the child’s individual needs and may include: ? Assistive technology (devices a child might need) ?Audiology or hearing services ?Speech and language services ?Counseling and training for a family ?Medical services ?Nursing services ?Nutrition services ?Occupational therapy ?Physical therapy? Psychological services Services may also be provided to address the needs and priorities of the child’s family. Family-directed services are meant to help family members understand the special needs of their child and how to enhance his or her development. Who’s eligible for early intervention? Early intervention is intended for infants and toddlers who have a developmental delay or disability. Eligibility is determined by evaluating the child (with parents’ consent) to see if the little one does, in fact, have a delay in development or a disability. Eligible children can receive  early intervention services from birth through the third birthday (and sometimes beyond). For some children, from birth | Sometimes it is known from the moment a child is born that early intervention services will be essential in helping the child grow and develop. Often this is so for children who are diagnosed at birth with a specific condition or who experience significant prematurity, very low birth weight, illness, or surgery soon after being born. Even before heading home from the hospital, this child’s parents may be given a referral to their local early intervention office. For others, because of delays in development | Some children have a relatively routine entry into the world, but may develop more slowly than others, experience set backs, or develop in ways that seem very different from other children. For these children, a visit with a developmental pediatrician and a thorough evaluation may lead to an early intervention referral. Parents don’t have to wait for a referral to early intervention, however. If you’re concerned about your child’s development, you may contact your local program directly and ask to have your child evaluated. That evaluation is provided free of charge. If you’re not sure how to locate the early intervention program in your community—keep reading. We give that information a bit further down the page. However a child comes to be referred, evaluated, and determined eligible, early intervention services provide vital support so that children with developmental needs can thrive and grow. The Early Intervention Grant (EIG) replaced a number of centrally directed grants to support services for children, young people and families.

Bottled water consumption Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 11000 words

Bottled water consumption - Dissertation Example mental Issues associated with Bottled Water 17 2.3 Consumer Behaviour and Motivation 19 2.4 Perception 21 2.5 Decision Making 22 2.6 Conclusion 22 Chapter – III 25 3. Methodology 25 3.1 Research Design 25 3.2 Population and Sample 25 3.3 The questionnaire 26 3.4 Analysis tools employed 27 3.5 Conclusion 27 Chapter – IV 29 4. Results 29 4.1 Descriptive statistics 29 4.2 Findings 30 4.3 Conclusion & summary of findings 36 Chapter – V 39 5. Conclusions & Discussion 39 5.1 Implications 40 5.2 Limitations of the study 41 5.3 Recommendations for future research 41 5.4 Conclusion 42 References 43 Appendix 47 THE QUESTIONNAIRE ON BOTTLED WATER 47 Chapter – I 1. Introduction Technological development and the demand for healthy living have brought about innovation of water being bottled in a standard nutritional method for consumption: in the place of the known tap water. The huge research and development on the part of the water companies has resulted in bottled wa ter being termed to be distinct from ordinary water, also known as tap water. The result of this has been a massive change of attitudes of the consumers towards bottled water as 57.1% of all water sales are bottled water sales. This development has skyrocketed the price of this product bringing the question of whether bottled water is a luxury or a necessity considering the cost of government spending and individual expenses on it within the present economic climate of the United Kingdom (The Times 2008). The global market for bottled water is stable and growing (Durga 2010). A forecast of the global market for bottled water suggests that by 2012, it would assume a total market value of about $94.2 billion, which is a 41% increase since 2007 (Durga 2010). Figure 1 – Increasing Global Market Value of Bottled... This study suggest that respondents are aware of the pollutant effect of plastic water bottles, they do not entirely agree that this is enough reason to ban bottled water in the UK. However, in the event that bottled water would indeed be banned in the UK, respondents are willing to use a filter in order to make sure that although they will be consuming tap water, it will be cleaned from impurities. This strongly suggests that most consumers of bottled water are paranoid about the safety of tap water. The percentage of respondents concerned about the safety of tap water is considerably high in this study, which leads to the acceptance of the hypothesis that bottled water is preferred for health reasons. This is in agreement with the findings of Saylor, Prokopy and Amberg and Doria, Pidgeon and Hunter who deduced that the "perceived safety of bottled water" and the "perceived risks from tap water" are major contributors to the preference of bottled water over tap water. However, this study found that the perception that bottled water tastes better than tap water is not highly prevalent among bottled water consumers. A relationship was also observed between gender and buying behavior. Females in the under 25 years age group were found to be the highest consumers of bottled water. This finding is also in agreement with that of Saylor, Prokopy and Amberg. They suggest that women are more concerned with environmental health risks than men are, and this may explain the finding that women are larger consumers of bottled water.

The reality of work and how this is similar to or differs from the Essay

The reality of work and how this is similar to or differs from the conventional image portrayed in management texts - Essay Example Specifically, the latter is a reaction to the first two theories developed by Taylor and Weber. Some popular names like Michel Foucault also surfaced in that era. His emphasis on surveillance and power made the employees â€Å"knowable, calculable and administrable object† (Findlay, 1996). This paper particularly tackles the subject of work: how it is portrayed in the management theories and how it is done in real life. With learnings from various seminars, it is our goal to come up with a comparison of theoretical and realistic notion of work. The topic will be dealt with balance on different perspectives. The concept of economies of scale gave rise to large organizations. During the Ford era, there was a transformation from â€Å"craft production to mass production† (http://www.willamette.edu). Two important economic theories became the foundation of efficiency: specialization and division of labor. We can trace these concepts to Adam Smith, known as the Father of modern economics. In reality, these concepts were applied through â€Å"combining specialized functional units† so that it would be â€Å"less costly to produce several products than a single specialized one† (http://www.willamette.edu). Frederick Taylor believed that scientific method can greatly increase productivity (Internet Center for Management and Business Administration). Anchored on the economic principle of achieving the optimum, jobs are simplified so that workers can perform them at the best way (Internet Center for Management and Business Administration). Taylor believed that workers should be taught the scientific way of performing the tasks rather than just motivating them and giving them incentives. He believes that the most basic tasks can even be planned out so as to achieve greater productivity (Internet Center for Management and Business Administration). Taylor’s idea of productivity necessitates extracting the

Emerging Piracy Threat off the West African Coast and Somali Piracy Essay

Emerging Piracy Threat off the West African Coast and Somali Piracy - Essay Example One definition, which relies on international law, confines piracy to attacks on the high seas and restricts attacks on state territorial waters. The other definition of piracy is more practical and is used by the international maritime bureau that encompasses both high seas and state territorial attacks. Lack of a common definition of piracy makes piracy a threat to almost all ports. This is because there is no known extent of piracy, no accurate and binding statistics on piracy activities hence inadequate allocation of resources to avert this menace (Great Britain: Parliament, 2006, p.10-11). Generally, piracy involves acts of robbery or criminal violence at sea and those who commit piracy are known as pirates. However, the definition of piracy under the 1992 Special Report on Piracy of the International Maritime Bureau as an act of boarding a vessel with an intention to commit robbery or other criminal activities with an ability to use force in attaining this goal. In the West African Coast and Somali coastline, this includes attacks on the vessel on passage, in port, at anchor, against the cargo, passengers, and crew of the vessel (Beckman, 1994, p.5). It entails simply attacking a ship or facilitating that attack. For a fact, piracy has adverse effects on the daily running of port operations (Talley, 2009, p.34-37), world security, and international business. Indeed, maritime piracy has direct costs on humanitarian assistance, adversely affects maritime economic activities like fishing, oil production and cost of energy, tourism, insurance, and shipping costs (Mbekeani and Ncube, 2011, p. 5). Upon hijacking vessels, the pirates call for ransoms to release the hijacked vessels. In 2011, ransom reached an epitome when Greek owners paid $13.5 million for the release of the Irene, an oil tanker.  Ã‚  

Leading Global Workforce Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Leading Global Workforce - Case Study Example ernational standards of human resources by eliminating multi-faceted crises and issues among the individual participants in order to run a smooth and profitable show. For solving most of such workplace blockades, present day’s managers look for solutions that ensure a win-win outcome as the end result. This paper will discuss the importance of formulating value added reciprocal relationships between the leadership and employees by interpreting a workplace issue. According to the given case study, Fassler’s visionary approach to negotiate with the workforce strategies helped him overcome the economic crash. From there, he started experimenting with the diversification strategy in the product line. As a result, a retail chain of business helped him survive the SARS crisis in the airline catering ventures. The reason behind his survival was his ‘week on; week off’ payment basis during the recession. Fassler maintained great sense of enthusiasm to learn the food habits of neighboring countries like Korea and expanded his business from Salmon slices to Mushrooms. An innovative trade in party platters also worked well for him. During the years of business, he learned the techniques to predict the trends of the East Asian economy and adopted diversity in his product range across different marketing strategies over the fifteen years of time. As time makes way for him to retire, he is now worried about the future of the ‘Fassler Gourmet’. The very doubt about the cultural adaptability of the young engineers and their skills in making market predictions about the sales of the diversified food products makes it difficult for Fassler to take his retirement decision. Even though this one is not my own experience as an employee, I have good memory of it from my friend’s description. Coming far from East Asia to seek fortune in the United States, he had many personal problems to settle before he found a job in that company. After crossing the hurdles of everyday

Role of Philosophy in Ancient Greece Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Role of Philosophy in Ancient Greece - Essay Example Although Greece prospered as a superpower, its iron-fisted rule caused frustration and discontentment. The teachings and admonition of Homer, Hesiod, and other philosophers, thinkers, and other men of renown had an impact although they were neither taken seriously nor officially acknowledged. It would be incorrect to say that they were totally and exclusively rejected. However, at best, the ruling class’ opinion was divided. Thus, a conscientious section among learned men of the times deemed it necessary to invoke the gods, goddesses, the consequences of evil, and the trysts and involvement of the divine beings with the lives and affairs of men. They exhorted the people in the name of their god, Zeus, and other gods including the deathless gods, that these great divine beings hated violence and injustice. Ancient inscriptions, texts and another archaeological evidence point to the greatness of the empire, its height of power, corruption, and decline, and ultimate albeit temporary demise in the times of Hesiod. The empire was to resurrect a few centuries later. The political, economic, social and administrative structure of the great monolith was so powerful and wielded such influence that there was no way it could not find its way back. Those who recorded the decrees and events and the architects and sculptors who designed city and town structures conformed to the best information and technology available at that time. They did so under duress. However, the system was near perfect and all-pervasive to the extent it left no stone unturned in ensuring a feasible, time and motion-based planning and execution. The execution of administration itself was ruthless enough to quell insubordination. Obviously, the Greek rulers had in place some form of reward and punishment system in place to spur performance and forbid failure.

Assignment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Assignment - Case Study Example already established is growing as the rate of competition goes high with the example of Mini-mills taking over and setting a price war in the industry. There is also an increase of foreign companies taking the market shares. The third force is the bargaining power that suppliers have. The suppliers are decreasing due to bankruptcy thus; the number of suppliers is low. Few suppliers makes the services that the industry offers to be the same and not unique in any way (Steel Industry Profile, 2013). The fourth force is the buyer’s bargaining power and the number of customers is high. When the number of customers is high then the supply price becomes sensitive. The costs that customers have to go through to switch to a differential product are relatively low. The fifth force is a threat to the substitutes where the prices of switching to substitutes is high and thus the companies must adjust their prices so that they are able to compete with plastics, composites, and aluminum which are

Digital recording equipment Essay Example for Free

Digital recording equipment Essay The use of information and communications technology has permeated almost every fabric of society. The education sector and the teaching of mathematics in particular are no exception. Increasingly, information and communication technologies are being used to administer teaching materials to students. Students also benefit from these tools in their knowledge acquisition (Goodison,2002; Hall and Higgins, 2005; Oldknow, 2002; Wall, Higgins and Smith, 2005) . This development is taking place in the developed as well as the developing world. The usage of information of communications technology has become so endemic that schools and teachers for that matter that fail to participate in this development risk increasing marginalization (Spanos, Prastacos and Poulymenakou, 2002). Information and communication technologies being used in the education sector include computers, the internet, telephone, emails, among others. Other specific tools offered by information and communication technology for teaching and learning have been catalogued by Osborne and Hennessy (2007) as follows: (a) tools for data capture, processing and interpretation such as data logging systems, databases and spreadsheets, graphing tools and modeling environments (b) multimedia software for simulation of processes and carrying out â€Å"virtual experiments†. (c) Publishing and presentation tools (d) Digital recording equipment (e) Computer projection technology These research workers added that these forms of information and communication technology can enhance both the practical and theoretical aspects of teaching. Other advantages of information and communication technology include enhancing the learning experience by offering a more personalized environment to students (Williams, 2005), boundaryless to which teaching materials can be administered and learning received (Osborne and Hennessy, 2007) and its limitless capacity to reach countless pupils and students with the same teaching materials (Van Brakel and Chisenga, 2003. , Johnston-Wilder and Pimm, 2004). It is known that many school pupils and students alike shy away from mathematics, claiming it is a difficult subject. It maybe a worthwhile undertaking to find out how information and communication technology help students overcome the problem of learning the subject and also teachers in effectively teaching it. Also, despite the widespread use of information and communication technology in the teaching of mathematics, few studies have been conducted to assess its effectiveness as a teaching tool and its impact on learning. Consequently, there is paucity of information in this area of education. This study therefore was instituted to help fill the information gap. Specifically, it shall seek to answer the question of whether the use of information and communication technology enhance teaching and learning of mathematics or otherwise. 2. 0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 1 Information and Communication Technologies for teaching mathematics Oldknow (2004) has given a vivid description of the information and communication technology hardwares, softwares and gadgets available for teaching and learning of mathematics. According to this author, information and communication technology hardware used to support interactive whole class teaching are conventionally based on a computer (desktop or laptop) or a projector or both. These gadgets can be permanently mounted or are movable. This author also pointed out that the objects projected can be displayed on an interactive white board (IWB) or an ordinary whiteboard or a clear patch of wall or screen. The IWB also come with its own pack of software tools. Two commonly used softwares for teaching mathematics are the Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS) and the Cabri Geometry Software. The former can be used at all levels of education. Other tools in use are the graphical calculators and data-loggers as well as integrated mathematical softwares such as the TI Inter-active. In their book titled â€Å"Teaching secondary mathematics with ICT (Learning and teaching with Information and communication technology), Johnston-Wilder and Pimm (2004) offered useful tools used in teaching and learning of mathematics. For example, they showed how the internet and video conferencing can be used to enhance teaching. They also revealed how interactive boards can be used in the classroom. Softwares that support the teaching and learning of mathematics in primary schools have been categorized by the DfES (2007). These include (a) software for numbering and number patterns (b) spreadsheet software and calculators (c) pixie and roamer programmable toys for stage one pupils (d) shape programs using computer-aided design (CAD), (e) Abacus 1, 2, and 3 teaching software and (f) 123-CD for numeric skill development. 2. 2 The use of information and communication technology in schools In the last decade or two, information and communication technology (ICT) has considerably altered the way and manner teaching of students and pupils, learning and school administration is carried out. According to Gurr (2001) school systems worldwide face increasing pressure to use technology to enhance teaching, learning and administration. This research worker further pointed out that in the school system of Victoria, Australia, school principals had been able to manage the decade of explosive change through an increasing reliance on information communication and technology. Some of the principals he interviewed in this study revealed that they would not have been able to do their work, if they had not been familiar with information and communication technology. A lot of changes have taken place since 2001 in the information and communication technology sector itself and its usage in teaching, learning and administration of schools that lack of knowledge in information and communication technology would have made the work of operatives in this sector virtually possible. Loveless (2003) studied the interaction between primary school teachers’ perceptions of information and communication technology and their pedagogy at Carberry Junior School in England. He found that Information and communication technology was perceived as by the teachers as a social and cultural phenomenon and an ambiguous area constructed as a discrete subject and a ‘new’ field in primary schools. Yuen, Law and Wong (2003), on the other hand, studied the models of change in eighteen schools striving to integrate the use of information and communications technology in teaching and learning across school curriculum in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. They found that the strategy adopted by a school instituting such change and the resulting variation of pedagogical practices using information and communication technology was strongly dependent on the school leader’s vision and understanding of the role and impact of information and communication technology in the curriculum, culture and background of the school and its general vision and mission. Hennessy, Ruthven and Brindley (2005) also examined how secondary school teachers of core subjects such as English, Mathematics and Science integrate information and communication technology into mainstream classroom practice in English schools. They found that teachers used Information and communication technology to enhance and extend their existing classroom practice. Teachers also developed and tried new strategies specifically for mediating Information and communication technology supported learning. These research workers also found that teachers were able to overcome potentially obstructive role of some forms of information and communication technology by focusing pupils’ attention to underlying learning objectives. In another study involving a survey of teachers, Ruthven and Hennessy (2003) reported that ICT enabled teachers to facilitate more of their routine components of classroom activity, increasing the productivity of pupils and improving the quality of work they produced. These researchers also added that ICT allowed the teachers’ activities to be carried out more quickly and reliably, with greater ease and higher quality (Ruthven and Hennessy, 2002) Sutherland and co-workers (2004) also studied how teams of teachers and researchers embed information and communication technology into everyday classroom practices to enhance learning. The study focused on the teaching and learning across a range of subjects such as English, History, Geography, Mathematics, Foreign languages, Music and Science. They found that young people out of school uses of information and communication technology influenced their in-school learning. Higgins (2007), on the other hand, has pointed out that there is evidence from research that information and communication technology could help pupils to learn and teachers to teach more effectively. This researcher however, added that there was not a simple message in such evidence that ICT would make a difference simply by being used. In other words, concrete plans and objectives must be set in place and stringently implemented before observable results can be seen. Higgins (2007) further added that findings suggest that although information and communication technology can improve learning, there were a number of issues that must be addressed if technology was to make a difference. These issues are (a) the modest effect of information and communication technology compared with other research interventions and (b) the almost negligible effect of the provision and use of information and communication technology at a general level. Lawson and Comber (1999) have examined the non-technical factors which lead to successful integration of information and communication technology into school curriculum. The factors identified included (a) teachers’ attitudes prior to the innovation (b) the role of the information and communication technology coordinator (c) the attitude of senior management and (d) the existence of adequate support and training. These research workers concluded that the interplay between these four factors provided the necessary conditions for a successful deployment of superhighways technology in the curriculum. According to McCarney (2004) previous studies into teacher attitude and motivation in Scotland, identified staff development as one of the contributing factors to the effective usage of information and communication technology in the classroom. This study further revealed that there was the need to place greater emphasis on the pedagogy of information and communication technology. The study concluded that these findings should be of interest to all involved in teacher education and the continuing professional development of teachers. 2. 3 Problems associated with information and communication technology usage in schools The use of information and communication technology in the educational sector has not been without its peculiar problems. Littlejohn (2002) has pointed out that common shortcomings in educational design in higher education had not been fully addressed in some schools during the rapid shift towards online, resource-based learning. He noted that a contributing factor to this problem has been the adherence of academic staffs towards passive and didactic forms of online teaching and learning. Continuous professional development has been offered as the most valid way of rectifying this problem (Davies and Preston, 2002; Littlejohn, 2002). There are more primary and secondary schools than schools catering for higher educations, so it can be expected that the problem can be more pronounced in the lower end of the educational ladder. Some educators have suggested that information and communication technology use should start at the schools where teachers are trained. Galanouli and McNair (2001) have shown from a study that students’ use of information and communication technology on teaching practice was necessary for effective future use of information and communication technology in the classroom. They therefore recommended that schools should be supported and resourced properly to enable teachers gain effective information and communication technology training for their future careers. Some researchers have highlighted the negative effects information and communication technology can have on pupils or students. Tolmie (2001) has pointed out that whilst information and communication technology has tremendous benefits, it can have unexpected diverse effects on students according to the setting in which they are used. He counseled that if the object was to exercise control over the outcome, then conditions of use need to be planned for within the design and implementation of the technology. In order to do this, Tolmie (2001) recommended that data should be gathered on how outcomes are affected by the interplay between technology and the context within which they are used. Watson (2004) has bemoaned technology’s role in education. According to this research worker despite the ubiquity of technology in the business world, no clear role has emerged for it in education. He further pointed out that this was happening after many years of national policies and investment in information technologies in the UK and elsewhere. He added that technology is still considered by many people as having been imposed and novel â€Å"outsider† in the pedagogy of schools. Kennewell (2001) has conceded that evaluating the nature and extent of the influence of information and communication technology on the quality of learning is highly problematic, owning to the number and complexity of interacting variables involved in the settings of teaching and learning. These difficulties notwithstanding, Kennewell (2001) pointed out that there was the need to identify, characterize, measure and model more precisely the features and processes through which technology impacts upon teaching and learning. According to this research worker, such information is very much needed by those responsible for allocating large sums of money for the development of information and communication technology in education. METHODOLOGY A qualitative study involving in-depth personal interviews with mathematics teachers shall be conducted. Three teachers shall be engaged for this interview. The questionnaire to be used is given in the Appendix. This study shall endeavour to assess the knowledge and understanding of the three chosen mathematics teachers about information and communication technology as well as problems they encountered in using them. REFERENCES 1. Davies, R. and Preston, M. (2002). An evaluation of the impact of continuing professional development on personal and professional lives, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(2):231-254.

Compare and Contrast Television Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast Television Essay There are so many TV’s to choose from now days it is so hard to pick the right one. Maybe this guide will help you out. The first color TV was introduced into the world in the year of 1966. It has taken 25 yrs for a mass acceptance. In today’s society majority of the homes have the up to date television. The newer versions of TV’S are a better choice to make when picking out a TV. Here are list of some web sites for you to look at before buying any TV’s. http://shop. panasonic. com, www. bestbuy. com, www. rca. com. Television sets in the early nineties were pretty cool then even though a TV had a price tag of: $750 for a 1997 28 inch Samsung. The graphic was ok but still needed so much work on it to make it clearer. The other thing about the TV’s back then is it’s bulky and not to mention heavy. There are great advantages to having a TV in the 90’s. You can hook up RCA jacks to use a DVD player or video games. People in the 90’s gave someone a new TV for a gift for Christmas or birthday or even a graduation present. In the year of 2012 there are so many ways to see the world of televisions. One of the ways is through the TV set of Panasonic VIERA HDTV. One plus is that they have a new sleek and thin look to them not to mention the price tag of more or less than $2,999. 99. New up to date Graphics are so exciting. There are taking the original 2D and turning it into 3D eye popping full high definition. Smart phones in the last 5 years and now for the year of 2012 there is a smart TV out there called : SMART VIERAÂ ® 55 Class WT50 Series Full HD 3D LED HDTV (54. 6 Diag. ). These TV’s still have some of the basics that are on TV. You can still plug RCA jacks and also hook up cables for game playing. You can also give these TV’s as Christmas, birthday, wedding, or even a graduation present. Knowing these facts about televisions you should have enough confidence to go out and buy a new TV. Even go to a goodwill store and get a good used TV there. If you were to go out and buy a new one you should get a newer model like the new 2012 models so you can get the most up to date technology. With the older TV’s being obsolete due to the technology in the year 2012. The pawn shops don’t even take them . with them being older than the year 2001. TV’s are like cars they are always changing over a year’s time. There are so many TV’s to choose from now days it is so hard to pick the right one. You just have to keep looking for the right information for your own needs not everyone has the same needs that is also why there is so many models of TV’S. The way the technology is increasing and moving forward in this short amount of time make you wonder how the next 20 years of technology is going towards.

Role of Blog Marketing in Consumer Decision Making Process

Role of Blog Marketing in Consumer Decision Making Process A FUTURE MARKETING PERSPECTIVE The phenomenon of blogs is growing rapidly and is expected to increase even in a more rapid pace (Technorati, 2006, November 6). As Wright (2006) discuss; blogs provides a new way of communicating with customers, as customers want to be talked with, not to. Companies have newly started to pay attention to this and as a result, the concept of Blog marketing has been born. The use of blogs as a communication tool has the huge importance for companies to understand how consumers use blogs in their decision making. The purpose of this paper is to understand and explore how and why consumers use blogs in their decision making process. Interview technique was used on young adults, as research suggests that this population use blogs the most (Tremayne, 2007). It was identified that consumers use blogs throughout their decision making. Within the consumers decision making, collaborative blogs was mostly used as the consumers because it cover specific topic of interest for the consumers. Consumers were found mainly writing in the blogs when they had knowledge to contribute with or when they needed information that they could not otherwise find in the blogs. It was identified that consumers turned to groups they belonged to, so called normative group, or they turned to groups that they did not belong to, so called comparative groups. These groups influenced the consumer by providing them with knowledge and by giving them positive and negative confirmation on their choice of purchase. However normative groups also persuaded the consumer to buy products in order to belong to the group. Besides this, a pattern of characteristics of the individuals that the consumer blogged with were noticed. Consumers wanted user experiences and thus the vast majority of these individuals they turned to, seemed to be consumers themselves, with relevant product experiences. The consumers also seem to blog more with certain individuals, whose opinions were valued more. These individuals often shared the latest information on products. Lastly it was also identified that consumers seemed to be selective when reading blog posts. The blog posts needed to contain detailed- and up-to-date information. Moreover, consumers wanted blog post to be written by other consumers because they saw them as more credible then companies. The consumers also chose to read blog posts that show similarities between the consumer and the blogger in terms of either usage pattern of product or preference for product choices. INTRODUCTION Ever since the internet was introduced for the general public during the 1990s, people have used it as a source of information. Majority of the population in India use internet in order to get information regarding products and services. However most statistics available does not tell how the consumers use the internet and what kind of information they search for. There are many different sources of information online, for example company web pages, communities, blogs etc. The concept of blogs and blogging is a relatively new phenomenon in todays society and it has not really been explored before. Nevertheless, magazines are today filled with articles on the importance for companies to start blogging and join the communication of the future, if they do not want to loose ground to their competitors (Lindstedt, 2005, November). The major blog search engine, Technorati, shows some interesting facts on the number of blogs and its growth. In October, 2006, Technorati counted 57 million blogs and a growth rate of one hundred thousand new blogs per day. This number is expected to keep growing and double every eight month (Technorati, 2006, November 6). However, when it comes to the number of blogs in India, there is uncertainty. Different articles talk about a wide interval of blogs, starting at around 18,000 (Lindstedt, 2005, August) and counting up to more then hundred thousands (Johansson, 2007). The reason to this wide span is due to the lack of a clear definition on what a blog is and also the fact that the figures are 18 months apart from each other. But the fact is that the tremendous growth of blogs worldwide also is true for India. India contains actors like Twitter, Facebook and MSN spaces whom all contain blogs and allow for a creation of your own blog. As a result of this growth, blog marketing has emerged as a new innovative way to create closer relationship with customers. It has also given the consumers the possibility to discuss amongst each other. Blog marketing allows marketers to establish closer relationships with its segment. Today limited research has been made within the concept of blog marketing. Furthermore, all research that has been conducted has had the focus on how companies can use blogs in order to interact with consumers. Something that has not been considered, and has been taken for granted, is the issue of how consumers use blogs in their decision making. Moreover, how consumers consider the information that is being transmitted on the blog has not yet been explored. The truth could be that consumers use blogs in a way that companies have not thought about. The existing use of blog marketing could thus miss its objectives if companies do not know how their audience perceives it. PROBLEM DISCUSSION The paper focuses on consumer decision making process and tried to explore how consumers use blogs in this process. As there is not so much work done on the area, this increases the importance to conduct such study. Blogs provides a new way of communicating with customers (Wright, 2006). In order to use this communication tool, it is of big importance for companies to understand how consumers use blogs in their decision making. The focus on the consumer decision making process in the context of blog is of importance for several reasons. It is today unclear how and in what stages consumers use blogs in their decision making process. An overview of the literature shows that not much research has been done within this subject. Traditional marketing tools such as advertising, sales promotion etc have different impact in the different stages of the consumer decision making process. But it is unclear what impact blogging has in those stages. By mapping out this information, companies can learn how to use their marketing in a new and innovative way to appeal consumers. Moreover, whatever research is conducted is from company perspective. To be successful in blog marketing, activities needs to be shaped in accordance to consumers blog usage. If companies learn how blogs are used, they can benefit in several ways like they can engage in the viral marketing on the blogs to create knowledge of their products, or can listen on why consumers prefer competitors products. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK What is Blog? A blog is a web page that contains regularly posted inlays that are archived and arranged in reversed chronological order (Wright 2006). They are user-friendly, inexpensive, self-publication of content for a potentially vast audience on the web. The entries in the blogs are called blog posts. Blogs are more flexible and interactive than previous publication print and digital formats. They contain numerous hyperlinks that are often accompanied by comments regarding the destination of the link. Blogs are designed to be a part of a network where they are connected to each other through links, which are generally related to the content. The readers then have the possibility to comment on the blog posts. Blogosphere is the term used to describe the global network of blog postings. Blogs can be thought of as a gateway to vast sources of information where users may respond to a blogger by sending comments and links to additional information. In this sense, it is fulfilling many needs (Trema yne, 2007). Type of Blogs Diary blog A diary blog is a web based tool that gives the author the possibility to post information for consumption for others. Also, diary blogs gives the reader the possibility to add comments regarding its content; however, this is not applicable for all diary blogs. The authors that are writing on a diary blog all have different opinions regarding things and express their view of whatever they are writing about. This is a demonstration to the personal and dynamic capacity of a diary blog according to Searles and Sifry (2002). Pomerantz and Stutzman, (2006) describes diary blogs as web pages that arranges discrete posts that contains chunks of information that may contain images, multimedia and text. According to Lamshed, Berry and Armstrong (2002) diary blogs are very personal and if the reader does not like the author and his/her opinion, it may not interest them enough to return. The blogger can use the diary blog for personal enjoyment and archive the happenings in their li ves. Collaborative blog It contains information that is posted by several individuals not just one author. In collaborative blogs, readers have the possibility to contribute with links or posts comments, in order to participate with their opinions, answers and questions. Most collaborative blogs focus on a specific topic, and the authors can be both regular people as well as experts within the topic (Holtz and Demopoulos, 2006). The collaborative blogs are an online group created by the bloggers in the blogosphere. These groups have focus on certain topics in order to encourage readers to correspond to each other, which is similar to a normal discussion group. The purpose, according to Lamshed et al. (2002), is to break down the barriers between people and to extend the blog to more than just one author, in order to create a discussion among its members. Collaborative blogs have standard rules about participation in order to avoid development of poor quality content, which do not encoura ge new and current readers to come back on a regular basis. Company blog It include two types of blogs, product and customer service blog. Product blogs can consist of different approaches. One approach is to provide updates about the product so customers can receive the latest information. A second approach is to provide customers with insights and information directly from those who are responsible for the products. A product blog that keeps customers updated can build loyalty to the product and the brand/company. The customer service blog is rather similar to product blogs, but customer service blogs focus completely on issues on the already purchased products. The customer service blogs is a channel in order to address the issues on the products to the customers that have purchased the product (Holtz and Demopoulos, 2006). When the first blogs appeared in the late 1990s, they were primary web pages that contained many links, offering mostly â€Å"personal information† and easy to update. The blogosphere has been expanding rapidly over the last few years. According to the New York Times and Pew Research, nearly one blog per second is created (Tremayne, 2007). The Current Scenario People have blogged long before the term was coined, but the trend gained force with the introduction of automated published systems, especially Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and increase the publishing process. People started using the blogs because they wanted to express themselves about mentioned events. Blogging about events has attracted the attention of the mainstream news media, further contributing to the popularisation and adoption of this new phenomenon of computer mediated communication. Today the blogging in the blogosphere concerns business, for example about markets, customer service, product etc. (Tremayne, 2007). According to the search engine Technorati (2006, November 6) there were more than 57 million blogs available on the internet as of the end of October 2006. Approximately 12% of those blogs had posted comments or links. Research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project presented by Tremayne (2007) also indicates that blog readers today are similar to the early adopters of the internet and other new communication technologies. The bloggers are young, well-educated and more likely to be males. According to Tremayne (2007) the development of blogs seems to follow the traditionally diffusion path of successful new communication technologies and users with great interest in technology. The final step to become a part of the broader public of the internet community is then to shift to the general internet users. The new stage of the development of blogs is the business sector. Business has become a new phase of the communications that appears on the blogosphere today. Bloggers communicate and share information to each other since blogs are the new ways for customers to reach out to the companies. This scenario has made the companies more alert to listen to their customers demands through the blogosphere. Enterprises now have the opportunity to gain new knowledge from the customer and to gain an idea about what the customers are saying about them (Tremayne, 2007). Observations have been done on why internet users connect to blogs. Blogs seem to encourage a sense of community, especially for those who seek more in-depth information than what is available through traditional media. Blog content generally reflects the bias of the blogger, who tends to take one side of an issue. Furthermore it contains a sense of belonging to a group of like-minded individuals. Information seeking is also a reason for accessing blogs. Bloggers provide the latest news and analysis by experts and other with inside knowledge, some of which is glossed over or omitted by the traditional channels. Blog users can also frequently use one certain blog due to they follow a story for a longer period of time than that they would be able to do if the story came from traditional media (Tremayne, 2007). Blog as mode of Communication In business, companies are required to communicate with their customer and have a strategy for the implementation of the chosen approach (Kotler et al. 2005). Communication with customer can take many forms, such as advertising, mailed brochures, sales promotion and personal selling etc. The marketers are often those who conduct this communication. They are often perceived as people with something to sell; they express what is good, great and irresistible with the product/service (Varey 2002). Blog enjoys characteristics of different types of flow of communication like: It enjoys characteristics of One-step flow of communication as: Flow of information from company to the target audience (Fill 1999, Harrell et al 1999, Ottesen 2001). It is non-personal communication since the message is carried without personal involvement by Kotler et al. (2005). All consumers are exposed to the same message at the very same time. It follows the principle of Mass Communication (Fill 1999). It enjoys characteristics of Two-step flow of communication as: In this information goes from the sender to certain receivers, that in turn reach the target audience through interpersonal networks (Fill 1999). Mass communication reaches the target audience, opinion leaders and opinion formers are there to strengthen the influence of the message (Blackwell 2001). Blogs helps the opinion formers and leaders in reaching targets that were missed by the traditional mass communication. It enjoys characteristics of Multiple-step flow of communication as: It overcomes the problem of two-step flow of information that neither allow the information to flow between individuals in the target audience, nor it includes the communication between the original senders, via a consumer, to the opinion leader and then passed on to other consumers. It adds the function of gatekeepers, who are people in a position able to decide whether or not the target audience will be able to take part of the message. Relationship between Blog and Word of mouth (WOM) WOM is defined by (Blackwell et al 2001 p.404) as â€Å"the informal transmission of ideas, comments, opinions, and information between two people, neither one of which is a marketer†. According to them, both the sender and the receiver gains from WOM, which is supported by Fill (1999), who also argues for the above. The benefits for the receiver are rather straight-forward; as they gain lots of information they would not be able to obtain otherwise. The benefits for the sender can be a little vaguer at first glance, but according to both Blackwell et al (2001) and Fill (1999) people like to talk about the purchases for a number of reasons, such as confirmation, satisfaction, status etc; which is what the purpose of blogs. According to Blackwell et al (2001) the affect of WOM has increased rapidly due to Internet. Consumers of today are able to spread the word of something faster and further than ever before. Schindler and Bickart (2005) discuss that the traditional WOM and online WOM differs in the strength of ties between consumers when they are exchanging information between each other. Granovetter (1973) previously argued that the strength of ties between two individuals is a function of the amount of time spent together, the emotional intensity and degree of intimacy in the relationship. Following this discussion, online WOM is characterized by weak ties. Weak ties then provide three possible benefits for the consumer. Friedkin (1982) argues that it first provides a potential input for a decision. Second, consumer information should be more diverse then that coming from stronger ties. Thirdly, it also gives consumers the opportunity to gain access to expertise which they normally would not get access to (Constant, Sproull and Kiesler, 1997). One downside is however, that consumers do not know the motives of the person that provides the online WOM. It can be difficult to access the in formants background and expertise in the topic (Schindler and Bickart, 2005). Consumer Decision Making Process The consumer decision making process provides a general description on how a purchase decision is made. Consumers does not necessarily go through all the stages for all the kinds of decisions they make, and neither do they always go through the stages in the very specific order that is presented below (Blackwell et al 2001). The process consists of mainly five steps (need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and the post-purchase process) according to most researchers within the field (Blackwell et al. 2001, Statt 1997, Kotler et al. 2005), but there are number of factors that affects the consumer in their purchasing process. Consumer are affected by individual determinants (Blackwell et al., 2001) and physical factors (Harell Frazier, 1999) because they are different, have different experiences and motivations, therefore, they will interpret things differently. Also consumers differ in available resources and knowledge which will further affect thei r decision. Another aspect that affects the consumers is the environmental influences (Blackwell et al., 2001) and societal and social factors (Harell et al., 1999). Here the authors talk about external factors that affect consumer, such as culture, social class and reference groups, but also the influence of the family and other individuals by whom the consumer is affected because every individual strive to some extent â€Å"fit in† heavily affect consumers. Also the information provided by these groups tend to have high credibility, depending on the consumers need to belong. Lastly, consumers are also affected by their degree of involvement (Harell et al. 1999). Involvement is the degree to which the consumers perceive the purchase to be of importance to them, and how complex they find the purchase situation (Blackwell et al 2001). The more complex the purchase, the more effort will be needed from the consumer in order to make a good decision. The involvement in turn affects the way in which consumes will learn about the products. Since a low involvement purchase is fairly routine consumers do not engage in a very extensive information search on the product, they mainly gather their information passively. A high-involvement purchase will demand more from the consumer and they will be more motivated to actively search for information. LITERATURE REVIEW Bickart Schindler (2001) investigated the WOM in online forums on the Internet. They assigned students to look at either corporate web pages or consumer forums about specific products. They found that after one semester, there was a higher interest in the product category for those who used the online discussion forum. They then suggested that a reason for this was because the content posts in the online discussion forums are thought to be more credible and more relevant but also having more empathy among its readers. In another study, Bickart Schindler (2005) tried to explore the consumer use of online WOM. They found three motives for using online WOM a) To gain information on purchase decisions, in which consumer reviews and negative information was of most interest; b) To get support from decision already made in which positive was used most for confirmation of that the right choice have been made; and c) Whether information was searched for fun or not. Another theme they discovered was the evaluation of the content of information in online WOM. They identified, corporate web pages are more biased and untrustworthy. Independent web pages free from corporate marketing, in which detailed information and authentic first person experience was viewed more credible and reliable. A consensus of agreement among consumers in the online WOM also tended to increase the credibility. Finally, they found online WOM disperse more information in all stages of consumer decision-making process. During the nee d recognition, when product was mentioned, it sometimes stimulated interest or problem recognition for the consumer. Other consumers sometimes provide ideas that lead for alternative product to be included, or removed, in the consumer consideration set. Online WOM also suggested important attributes that could influence the criteria of which alternatives are compared. Information from consumers on how alternative rate on those criteria was also of importance when comparing alternatives. After purchase was done, online WOM information could increase the consumers satisfaction of the purchase through positive information. They also discovered that their informants were selective in their information gathering process. This was done to simplify the information but also to help them absorb the information with amount of consumer information about a large area of different products. They continue and suggest that future research should look deeper into what characterise the content in those online WOM consumers choose to read. Bernhad, Bjurling and Ã…hrà ©n (2006) did another study on un-addressed consumer complaints through blogs. They found that the blog is used as a way to express dissatisfaction on companies and their products and services. It is used when the consumer do not get enough amendments from the companies. Blogs then works as a complement to complaints through friends and family, and it is an easy way to ease the consumers experiences and reduce the stress of a distasteful treatment from companies. The consumers have then used blog to warn other consumers on products and companies but also to tell their own story regarding the complaint. Bernhad et al. (2006) discuss that the technical development has reduced the barriers to complain and this had led to increased likelihood to present complains for products of less value. Wallstà ©n (2005) then comes to the conclusion that the collaborative blogs increase the learning process in which people can learn from each other by reading blog pos t. It also gives a shared knowledge base for the participants. In another study by Constant, et al. (1997) weak-tie sources were found to make it harder for consumers to assess the quality of the WOM information they received. Schindler and Bickart (2005) then discuss that the reason for this may be that the consumer do not know the motives of the informant and it may also sometimes be hard to assess the background and expertise in the topic of the informant. RESEARCH METHOD Research approach As the purpose of study is to understand how consumers perceive their own experiences and behaviour which can be best analysed through inductive approach. As this approach allows researcher to have more flexible structure that will permit alternative explanations of the phenomena. This approach is qualitative in nature that begins with data. It develops an empirical generalisation that describes patterns of that data and it seeks to identify or develop a theoretical proposition that is consistent with those patterns (Schutt, 1996). Research Strategy Putting emphasis on the inductive approach, research strategy of the paper is built on an exploratory study, though it also includes a cross-sectional study as interviews were held over a short period of time (Saunders et al. 2003). As the paper does not allow for sufficient time for conducting a longitudinal study and it is not intended to study the effects of change and development of the blogging phenomena on the consumers decision making process, a cross-sectional study is more appropriate. As the purpose of paper is from the consumers perspective, qualitative research method will enable us to get information from the informants and will allow us to understand the meaning that the informants attach to their experiences of blogging. Description is based on the meanings that informants express through words. A qualitative approach will allow getting this non-standardised data without being locked into a standardised set of questions. This is because the nature of the questions will need to be flexible and open-ended in order to explore what emerges during the interview. Furthermore, to get a rich description of this non-standardised data and to get into the thoughts of our informants, the interviews will need to allow a long length of time. Sample selection The sample selection consists of young educated adults; as previous research suggests they use blogs the most. The sample size consisted of nine people within the ages of 21 to 28. Of those nine people, three are females and six are males. Judgement sampling technique was used for identifying the informants who had rich experiences of blogging. The low number of informants can be justified by this as it allows getting a richer description of the phenomena studied. Data collection This primary data has been collected through interviews which are qualitative (semi-structured and in-depth) in nature. Limited research that exists and relates to our study has been used as secondary data. To check the effectiveness of semi-structured interview, two pilot studies were conducted. First semi-structured interview uses too much theoretical jargons that fail in retrieving the information. The second test then avoided the theoretical jargon and explanations. To get a rich description, informants were briefed two days prior on the themes to be covered in the interview. It was ensured that each informant had read the information letter before the interview took place. The informants were interviewed in two different ways -a) 6 informants were interviewed face-to-face in quiet rooms and conversations were recorded; and b) remaining 3 informants were interviewed through Skype because of distance and conversations were again recorded. However, attempt was made to conduct all interviews face-to-face as it enables to establish personal contact which is also important as Saunders et al (2003) argue; qualitative data favours the establishment of personal contact. It was also judged that the face-to-face contact would increase the likelihood of describing and identifying our informants accurately. In all cases, focus was on recording the findings from the interview as the findings emerged naturally. To really understand the informants meanings to their experiences and actions, flexible approach was used within the semi-structured interview. Although questions were bound to the themes, questions were flexible to allow an understanding of the participant. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS Data is presented through sectioning each interview individually. Collected raw data was put into categories and themes that emerged from the interview as need is to have a close understanding to our informants. Information collected and compiled under each category will be compared with other categories. This helps in identifying relationships; in discovering key themes, and recognising patterns and trends. Later on, theoretical framework will be applied on those patterns in order to understand it in a new way. Quotes will be made to simplify the meaning and in drawing conclusions. Empirical Findings a) Interview with Reema Sharma: Reema, 25 years old, was interviewed at her office in Jammu and studying at Jammu University. She uses blogs when she wants to buy something new or wants to find out different type of products available. She also uses blogs for reading travel diaries for fun and to be in touch with people she knows. When it comes to blogging about a future purchase, she reads blogs by people who are in the same situation as her and that have experience from the things she is interested in. She blogs travels but sometimes for electronics products and hiking. She has never used blogs actively, she only reads them. The kind of blogs she uses is mainly product blogs, and collaborative blogs, where she can read and learn more. She does not really read the blogs from companies. Rarely she reads a blog and completely changes her mind. The blog can instead make her choose a different brand. Relationship with bloggers: For her, the blogger is just someone whose blog she happens to find. Reema trusts all the information that is written in the blogs, but she explains that the more detailed description on how the product has been used, the more she relies on the inlay. People whose blogs she reads most often posses greater knowledge then her, within the subject. Need and awareness discovered with blogs:Reema agrees that she discovers a lot of new kinds of products, but this has never actually evolved to a need. This has occurred, for example, when she has blogged about hiking gear, she has learned about many new products and the advantaged with those products, but as she is not very experienced in the area, many of those products are just too complicated. However, the blogs she reads regarding travels could actually create a need sometimes. From these blogs she learns more about possible places to travel to which she might visit later in her life she explains. Blogging for information and evaluation of potential purchase: Reema searches for information about experience from others consumers and their opinions. She looks for new things and assesses which of the product will give most value for her money. For her, price is often one of the most important factors affecting her decision. The reason to why she chooses to collect the information from blogs is because she feels that this is the only place where she can learn about peoples experiences and opinions, and also since this information is more neutral then if it would be from a company. When it comes to evaluating products, she mainly uses collaborative blogs in where many people can express their opinions on things. While evaluating the products she mainly stick within one price category that will offer her maximum value of her money. Bloggi Role of Blog Marketing in Consumer Decision Making Process Role of Blog Marketing in Consumer Decision Making Process A FUTURE MARKETING PERSPECTIVE The phenomenon of blogs is growing rapidly and is expected to increase even in a more rapid pace (Technorati, 2006, November 6). As Wright (2006) discuss; blogs provides a new way of communicating with customers, as customers want to be talked with, not to. Companies have newly started to pay attention to this and as a result, the concept of Blog marketing has been born. The use of blogs as a communication tool has the huge importance for companies to understand how consumers use blogs in their decision making. The purpose of this paper is to understand and explore how and why consumers use blogs in their decision making process. Interview technique was used on young adults, as research suggests that this population use blogs the most (Tremayne, 2007). It was identified that consumers use blogs throughout their decision making. Within the consumers decision making, collaborative blogs was mostly used as the consumers because it cover specific topic of interest for the consumers. Consumers were found mainly writing in the blogs when they had knowledge to contribute with or when they needed information that they could not otherwise find in the blogs. It was identified that consumers turned to groups they belonged to, so called normative group, or they turned to groups that they did not belong to, so called comparative groups. These groups influenced the consumer by providing them with knowledge and by giving them positive and negative confirmation on their choice of purchase. However normative groups also persuaded the consumer to buy products in order to belong to the group. Besides this, a pattern of characteristics of the individuals that the consumer blogged with were noticed. Consumers wanted user experiences and thus the vast majority of these individuals they turned to, seemed to be consumers themselves, with relevant product experiences. The consumers also seem to blog more with certain individuals, whose opinions were valued more. These individuals often shared the latest information on products. Lastly it was also identified that consumers seemed to be selective when reading blog posts. The blog posts needed to contain detailed- and up-to-date information. Moreover, consumers wanted blog post to be written by other consumers because they saw them as more credible then companies. The consumers also chose to read blog posts that show similarities between the consumer and the blogger in terms of either usage pattern of product or preference for product choices. INTRODUCTION Ever since the internet was introduced for the general public during the 1990s, people have used it as a source of information. Majority of the population in India use internet in order to get information regarding products and services. However most statistics available does not tell how the consumers use the internet and what kind of information they search for. There are many different sources of information online, for example company web pages, communities, blogs etc. The concept of blogs and blogging is a relatively new phenomenon in todays society and it has not really been explored before. Nevertheless, magazines are today filled with articles on the importance for companies to start blogging and join the communication of the future, if they do not want to loose ground to their competitors (Lindstedt, 2005, November). The major blog search engine, Technorati, shows some interesting facts on the number of blogs and its growth. In October, 2006, Technorati counted 57 million blogs and a growth rate of one hundred thousand new blogs per day. This number is expected to keep growing and double every eight month (Technorati, 2006, November 6). However, when it comes to the number of blogs in India, there is uncertainty. Different articles talk about a wide interval of blogs, starting at around 18,000 (Lindstedt, 2005, August) and counting up to more then hundred thousands (Johansson, 2007). The reason to this wide span is due to the lack of a clear definition on what a blog is and also the fact that the figures are 18 months apart from each other. But the fact is that the tremendous growth of blogs worldwide also is true for India. India contains actors like Twitter, Facebook and MSN spaces whom all contain blogs and allow for a creation of your own blog. As a result of this growth, blog marketing has emerged as a new innovative way to create closer relationship with customers. It has also given the consumers the possibility to discuss amongst each other. Blog marketing allows marketers to establish closer relationships with its segment. Today limited research has been made within the concept of blog marketing. Furthermore, all research that has been conducted has had the focus on how companies can use blogs in order to interact with consumers. Something that has not been considered, and has been taken for granted, is the issue of how consumers use blogs in their decision making. Moreover, how consumers consider the information that is being transmitted on the blog has not yet been explored. The truth could be that consumers use blogs in a way that companies have not thought about. The existing use of blog marketing could thus miss its objectives if companies do not know how their audience perceives it. PROBLEM DISCUSSION The paper focuses on consumer decision making process and tried to explore how consumers use blogs in this process. As there is not so much work done on the area, this increases the importance to conduct such study. Blogs provides a new way of communicating with customers (Wright, 2006). In order to use this communication tool, it is of big importance for companies to understand how consumers use blogs in their decision making. The focus on the consumer decision making process in the context of blog is of importance for several reasons. It is today unclear how and in what stages consumers use blogs in their decision making process. An overview of the literature shows that not much research has been done within this subject. Traditional marketing tools such as advertising, sales promotion etc have different impact in the different stages of the consumer decision making process. But it is unclear what impact blogging has in those stages. By mapping out this information, companies can learn how to use their marketing in a new and innovative way to appeal consumers. Moreover, whatever research is conducted is from company perspective. To be successful in blog marketing, activities needs to be shaped in accordance to consumers blog usage. If companies learn how blogs are used, they can benefit in several ways like they can engage in the viral marketing on the blogs to create knowledge of their products, or can listen on why consumers prefer competitors products. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK What is Blog? A blog is a web page that contains regularly posted inlays that are archived and arranged in reversed chronological order (Wright 2006). They are user-friendly, inexpensive, self-publication of content for a potentially vast audience on the web. The entries in the blogs are called blog posts. Blogs are more flexible and interactive than previous publication print and digital formats. They contain numerous hyperlinks that are often accompanied by comments regarding the destination of the link. Blogs are designed to be a part of a network where they are connected to each other through links, which are generally related to the content. The readers then have the possibility to comment on the blog posts. Blogosphere is the term used to describe the global network of blog postings. Blogs can be thought of as a gateway to vast sources of information where users may respond to a blogger by sending comments and links to additional information. In this sense, it is fulfilling many needs (Trema yne, 2007). Type of Blogs Diary blog A diary blog is a web based tool that gives the author the possibility to post information for consumption for others. Also, diary blogs gives the reader the possibility to add comments regarding its content; however, this is not applicable for all diary blogs. The authors that are writing on a diary blog all have different opinions regarding things and express their view of whatever they are writing about. This is a demonstration to the personal and dynamic capacity of a diary blog according to Searles and Sifry (2002). Pomerantz and Stutzman, (2006) describes diary blogs as web pages that arranges discrete posts that contains chunks of information that may contain images, multimedia and text. According to Lamshed, Berry and Armstrong (2002) diary blogs are very personal and if the reader does not like the author and his/her opinion, it may not interest them enough to return. The blogger can use the diary blog for personal enjoyment and archive the happenings in their li ves. Collaborative blog It contains information that is posted by several individuals not just one author. In collaborative blogs, readers have the possibility to contribute with links or posts comments, in order to participate with their opinions, answers and questions. Most collaborative blogs focus on a specific topic, and the authors can be both regular people as well as experts within the topic (Holtz and Demopoulos, 2006). The collaborative blogs are an online group created by the bloggers in the blogosphere. These groups have focus on certain topics in order to encourage readers to correspond to each other, which is similar to a normal discussion group. The purpose, according to Lamshed et al. (2002), is to break down the barriers between people and to extend the blog to more than just one author, in order to create a discussion among its members. Collaborative blogs have standard rules about participation in order to avoid development of poor quality content, which do not encoura ge new and current readers to come back on a regular basis. Company blog It include two types of blogs, product and customer service blog. Product blogs can consist of different approaches. One approach is to provide updates about the product so customers can receive the latest information. A second approach is to provide customers with insights and information directly from those who are responsible for the products. A product blog that keeps customers updated can build loyalty to the product and the brand/company. The customer service blog is rather similar to product blogs, but customer service blogs focus completely on issues on the already purchased products. The customer service blogs is a channel in order to address the issues on the products to the customers that have purchased the product (Holtz and Demopoulos, 2006). When the first blogs appeared in the late 1990s, they were primary web pages that contained many links, offering mostly â€Å"personal information† and easy to update. The blogosphere has been expanding rapidly over the last few years. According to the New York Times and Pew Research, nearly one blog per second is created (Tremayne, 2007). The Current Scenario People have blogged long before the term was coined, but the trend gained force with the introduction of automated published systems, especially Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and increase the publishing process. People started using the blogs because they wanted to express themselves about mentioned events. Blogging about events has attracted the attention of the mainstream news media, further contributing to the popularisation and adoption of this new phenomenon of computer mediated communication. Today the blogging in the blogosphere concerns business, for example about markets, customer service, product etc. (Tremayne, 2007). According to the search engine Technorati (2006, November 6) there were more than 57 million blogs available on the internet as of the end of October 2006. Approximately 12% of those blogs had posted comments or links. Research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project presented by Tremayne (2007) also indicates that blog readers today are similar to the early adopters of the internet and other new communication technologies. The bloggers are young, well-educated and more likely to be males. According to Tremayne (2007) the development of blogs seems to follow the traditionally diffusion path of successful new communication technologies and users with great interest in technology. The final step to become a part of the broader public of the internet community is then to shift to the general internet users. The new stage of the development of blogs is the business sector. Business has become a new phase of the communications that appears on the blogosphere today. Bloggers communicate and share information to each other since blogs are the new ways for customers to reach out to the companies. This scenario has made the companies more alert to listen to their customers demands through the blogosphere. Enterprises now have the opportunity to gain new knowledge from the customer and to gain an idea about what the customers are saying about them (Tremayne, 2007). Observations have been done on why internet users connect to blogs. Blogs seem to encourage a sense of community, especially for those who seek more in-depth information than what is available through traditional media. Blog content generally reflects the bias of the blogger, who tends to take one side of an issue. Furthermore it contains a sense of belonging to a group of like-minded individuals. Information seeking is also a reason for accessing blogs. Bloggers provide the latest news and analysis by experts and other with inside knowledge, some of which is glossed over or omitted by the traditional channels. Blog users can also frequently use one certain blog due to they follow a story for a longer period of time than that they would be able to do if the story came from traditional media (Tremayne, 2007). Blog as mode of Communication In business, companies are required to communicate with their customer and have a strategy for the implementation of the chosen approach (Kotler et al. 2005). Communication with customer can take many forms, such as advertising, mailed brochures, sales promotion and personal selling etc. The marketers are often those who conduct this communication. They are often perceived as people with something to sell; they express what is good, great and irresistible with the product/service (Varey 2002). Blog enjoys characteristics of different types of flow of communication like: It enjoys characteristics of One-step flow of communication as: Flow of information from company to the target audience (Fill 1999, Harrell et al 1999, Ottesen 2001). It is non-personal communication since the message is carried without personal involvement by Kotler et al. (2005). All consumers are exposed to the same message at the very same time. It follows the principle of Mass Communication (Fill 1999). It enjoys characteristics of Two-step flow of communication as: In this information goes from the sender to certain receivers, that in turn reach the target audience through interpersonal networks (Fill 1999). Mass communication reaches the target audience, opinion leaders and opinion formers are there to strengthen the influence of the message (Blackwell 2001). Blogs helps the opinion formers and leaders in reaching targets that were missed by the traditional mass communication. It enjoys characteristics of Multiple-step flow of communication as: It overcomes the problem of two-step flow of information that neither allow the information to flow between individuals in the target audience, nor it includes the communication between the original senders, via a consumer, to the opinion leader and then passed on to other consumers. It adds the function of gatekeepers, who are people in a position able to decide whether or not the target audience will be able to take part of the message. Relationship between Blog and Word of mouth (WOM) WOM is defined by (Blackwell et al 2001 p.404) as â€Å"the informal transmission of ideas, comments, opinions, and information between two people, neither one of which is a marketer†. According to them, both the sender and the receiver gains from WOM, which is supported by Fill (1999), who also argues for the above. The benefits for the receiver are rather straight-forward; as they gain lots of information they would not be able to obtain otherwise. The benefits for the sender can be a little vaguer at first glance, but according to both Blackwell et al (2001) and Fill (1999) people like to talk about the purchases for a number of reasons, such as confirmation, satisfaction, status etc; which is what the purpose of blogs. According to Blackwell et al (2001) the affect of WOM has increased rapidly due to Internet. Consumers of today are able to spread the word of something faster and further than ever before. Schindler and Bickart (2005) discuss that the traditional WOM and online WOM differs in the strength of ties between consumers when they are exchanging information between each other. Granovetter (1973) previously argued that the strength of ties between two individuals is a function of the amount of time spent together, the emotional intensity and degree of intimacy in the relationship. Following this discussion, online WOM is characterized by weak ties. Weak ties then provide three possible benefits for the consumer. Friedkin (1982) argues that it first provides a potential input for a decision. Second, consumer information should be more diverse then that coming from stronger ties. Thirdly, it also gives consumers the opportunity to gain access to expertise which they normally would not get access to (Constant, Sproull and Kiesler, 1997). One downside is however, that consumers do not know the motives of the person that provides the online WOM. It can be difficult to access the in formants background and expertise in the topic (Schindler and Bickart, 2005). Consumer Decision Making Process The consumer decision making process provides a general description on how a purchase decision is made. Consumers does not necessarily go through all the stages for all the kinds of decisions they make, and neither do they always go through the stages in the very specific order that is presented below (Blackwell et al 2001). The process consists of mainly five steps (need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and the post-purchase process) according to most researchers within the field (Blackwell et al. 2001, Statt 1997, Kotler et al. 2005), but there are number of factors that affects the consumer in their purchasing process. Consumer are affected by individual determinants (Blackwell et al., 2001) and physical factors (Harell Frazier, 1999) because they are different, have different experiences and motivations, therefore, they will interpret things differently. Also consumers differ in available resources and knowledge which will further affect thei r decision. Another aspect that affects the consumers is the environmental influences (Blackwell et al., 2001) and societal and social factors (Harell et al., 1999). Here the authors talk about external factors that affect consumer, such as culture, social class and reference groups, but also the influence of the family and other individuals by whom the consumer is affected because every individual strive to some extent â€Å"fit in† heavily affect consumers. Also the information provided by these groups tend to have high credibility, depending on the consumers need to belong. Lastly, consumers are also affected by their degree of involvement (Harell et al. 1999). Involvement is the degree to which the consumers perceive the purchase to be of importance to them, and how complex they find the purchase situation (Blackwell et al 2001). The more complex the purchase, the more effort will be needed from the consumer in order to make a good decision. The involvement in turn affects the way in which consumes will learn about the products. Since a low involvement purchase is fairly routine consumers do not engage in a very extensive information search on the product, they mainly gather their information passively. A high-involvement purchase will demand more from the consumer and they will be more motivated to actively search for information. LITERATURE REVIEW Bickart Schindler (2001) investigated the WOM in online forums on the Internet. They assigned students to look at either corporate web pages or consumer forums about specific products. They found that after one semester, there was a higher interest in the product category for those who used the online discussion forum. They then suggested that a reason for this was because the content posts in the online discussion forums are thought to be more credible and more relevant but also having more empathy among its readers. In another study, Bickart Schindler (2005) tried to explore the consumer use of online WOM. They found three motives for using online WOM a) To gain information on purchase decisions, in which consumer reviews and negative information was of most interest; b) To get support from decision already made in which positive was used most for confirmation of that the right choice have been made; and c) Whether information was searched for fun or not. Another theme they discovered was the evaluation of the content of information in online WOM. They identified, corporate web pages are more biased and untrustworthy. Independent web pages free from corporate marketing, in which detailed information and authentic first person experience was viewed more credible and reliable. A consensus of agreement among consumers in the online WOM also tended to increase the credibility. Finally, they found online WOM disperse more information in all stages of consumer decision-making process. During the nee d recognition, when product was mentioned, it sometimes stimulated interest or problem recognition for the consumer. Other consumers sometimes provide ideas that lead for alternative product to be included, or removed, in the consumer consideration set. Online WOM also suggested important attributes that could influence the criteria of which alternatives are compared. Information from consumers on how alternative rate on those criteria was also of importance when comparing alternatives. After purchase was done, online WOM information could increase the consumers satisfaction of the purchase through positive information. They also discovered that their informants were selective in their information gathering process. This was done to simplify the information but also to help them absorb the information with amount of consumer information about a large area of different products. They continue and suggest that future research should look deeper into what characterise the content in those online WOM consumers choose to read. Bernhad, Bjurling and Ã…hrà ©n (2006) did another study on un-addressed consumer complaints through blogs. They found that the blog is used as a way to express dissatisfaction on companies and their products and services. It is used when the consumer do not get enough amendments from the companies. Blogs then works as a complement to complaints through friends and family, and it is an easy way to ease the consumers experiences and reduce the stress of a distasteful treatment from companies. The consumers have then used blog to warn other consumers on products and companies but also to tell their own story regarding the complaint. Bernhad et al. (2006) discuss that the technical development has reduced the barriers to complain and this had led to increased likelihood to present complains for products of less value. Wallstà ©n (2005) then comes to the conclusion that the collaborative blogs increase the learning process in which people can learn from each other by reading blog pos t. It also gives a shared knowledge base for the participants. In another study by Constant, et al. (1997) weak-tie sources were found to make it harder for consumers to assess the quality of the WOM information they received. Schindler and Bickart (2005) then discuss that the reason for this may be that the consumer do not know the motives of the informant and it may also sometimes be hard to assess the background and expertise in the topic of the informant. RESEARCH METHOD Research approach As the purpose of study is to understand how consumers perceive their own experiences and behaviour which can be best analysed through inductive approach. As this approach allows researcher to have more flexible structure that will permit alternative explanations of the phenomena. This approach is qualitative in nature that begins with data. It develops an empirical generalisation that describes patterns of that data and it seeks to identify or develop a theoretical proposition that is consistent with those patterns (Schutt, 1996). Research Strategy Putting emphasis on the inductive approach, research strategy of the paper is built on an exploratory study, though it also includes a cross-sectional study as interviews were held over a short period of time (Saunders et al. 2003). As the paper does not allow for sufficient time for conducting a longitudinal study and it is not intended to study the effects of change and development of the blogging phenomena on the consumers decision making process, a cross-sectional study is more appropriate. As the purpose of paper is from the consumers perspective, qualitative research method will enable us to get information from the informants and will allow us to understand the meaning that the informants attach to their experiences of blogging. Description is based on the meanings that informants express through words. A qualitative approach will allow getting this non-standardised data without being locked into a standardised set of questions. This is because the nature of the questions will need to be flexible and open-ended in order to explore what emerges during the interview. Furthermore, to get a rich description of this non-standardised data and to get into the thoughts of our informants, the interviews will need to allow a long length of time. Sample selection The sample selection consists of young educated adults; as previous research suggests they use blogs the most. The sample size consisted of nine people within the ages of 21 to 28. Of those nine people, three are females and six are males. Judgement sampling technique was used for identifying the informants who had rich experiences of blogging. The low number of informants can be justified by this as it allows getting a richer description of the phenomena studied. Data collection This primary data has been collected through interviews which are qualitative (semi-structured and in-depth) in nature. Limited research that exists and relates to our study has been used as secondary data. To check the effectiveness of semi-structured interview, two pilot studies were conducted. First semi-structured interview uses too much theoretical jargons that fail in retrieving the information. The second test then avoided the theoretical jargon and explanations. To get a rich description, informants were briefed two days prior on the themes to be covered in the interview. It was ensured that each informant had read the information letter before the interview took place. The informants were interviewed in two different ways -a) 6 informants were interviewed face-to-face in quiet rooms and conversations were recorded; and b) remaining 3 informants were interviewed through Skype because of distance and conversations were again recorded. However, attempt was made to conduct all interviews face-to-face as it enables to establish personal contact which is also important as Saunders et al (2003) argue; qualitative data favours the establishment of personal contact. It was also judged that the face-to-face contact would increase the likelihood of describing and identifying our informants accurately. In all cases, focus was on recording the findings from the interview as the findings emerged naturally. To really understand the informants meanings to their experiences and actions, flexible approach was used within the semi-structured interview. Although questions were bound to the themes, questions were flexible to allow an understanding of the participant. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS Data is presented through sectioning each interview individually. Collected raw data was put into categories and themes that emerged from the interview as need is to have a close understanding to our informants. Information collected and compiled under each category will be compared with other categories. This helps in identifying relationships; in discovering key themes, and recognising patterns and trends. Later on, theoretical framework will be applied on those patterns in order to understand it in a new way. Quotes will be made to simplify the meaning and in drawing conclusions. Empirical Findings a) Interview with Reema Sharma: Reema, 25 years old, was interviewed at her office in Jammu and studying at Jammu University. She uses blogs when she wants to buy something new or wants to find out different type of products available. She also uses blogs for reading travel diaries for fun and to be in touch with people she knows. When it comes to blogging about a future purchase, she reads blogs by people who are in the same situation as her and that have experience from the things she is interested in. She blogs travels but sometimes for electronics products and hiking. She has never used blogs actively, she only reads them. The kind of blogs she uses is mainly product blogs, and collaborative blogs, where she can read and learn more. She does not really read the blogs from companies. Rarely she reads a blog and completely changes her mind. The blog can instead make her choose a different brand. Relationship with bloggers: For her, the blogger is just someone whose blog she happens to find. Reema trusts all the information that is written in the blogs, but she explains that the more detailed description on how the product has been used, the more she relies on the inlay. People whose blogs she reads most often posses greater knowledge then her, within the subject. Need and awareness discovered with blogs:Reema agrees that she discovers a lot of new kinds of products, but this has never actually evolved to a need. This has occurred, for example, when she has blogged about hiking gear, she has learned about many new products and the advantaged with those products, but as she is not very experienced in the area, many of those products are just too complicated. However, the blogs she reads regarding travels could actually create a need sometimes. From these blogs she learns more about possible places to travel to which she might visit later in her life she explains. Blogging for information and evaluation of potential purchase: Reema searches for information about experience from others consumers and their opinions. She looks for new things and assesses which of the product will give most value for her money. For her, price is often one of the most important factors affecting her decision. The reason to why she chooses to collect the information from blogs is because she feels that this is the only place where she can learn about peoples experiences and opinions, and also since this information is more neutral then if it would be from a company. When it comes to evaluating products, she mainly uses collaborative blogs in where many people can express their opinions on things. While evaluating the products she mainly stick within one price category that will offer her maximum value of her money. Bloggi