Literature Review - Marketing of luxury cars depending on affinity

- Marketing of luxury cars depending on affinity groups in America and The Middle East - Literature review Example In order to analyze the learning style, four vital tests have been used which are Myers-Briggs test, Belbin test, Honey & Mumford test and VARK analysis. From the analysis of Myers-Briggs test I have found that I possess the ENFJ learning style. The results of Belbin test depict that in team environment I act as plant, resource investigator and shaper. On the other hand, the Honey & Mumford test depict that I am activist and pragmatist learner. Finally outcome, of VARK analysis suggest that I prefer visual and kinaesthetic learning style. The assignment also describes about the transferrable skill I possess and how these skills can be used in my career. The discussion in Part B of the assignment elaborates on the current market trends witnessed in relation to the luxury car market around the world. Contextually, it argues that despite the rise in the demand of luxury cars across the globe, the American car market has witnessed significant fall in the production of luxury cars. Additionally, America is considered to be the home of diverse culture, owing to which, the luxury car market in the nation can be observed as significantly influenced by the Hispanic population. Hence, marketers of luxury cars have currently been involved in attracting reasonable Hispanic population towards their respective luxury car brands. On the other hand, luxury car markets in the Middle East have been flourishing at much greater speed due to the rise in the level of disposable income as well as due to the improvements in the roadway transportation facilities. The findings obtained through this study further reveals in this regard that the marketing str ategy related with luxury cars in America and the Middle East in years to come is quite likely to be strongly influenced by the affinity factor. Simultaneously, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) may also positively influence the marketing strategies of the luxury cars

Mmap Creation of New Mapping

Mmap Creation of New Mapping The goal of this experiment is too understand how mmap creates a new mapping on a process virtual memory address space. Figure 1 The outcome of the program is shown (figure 1). The page size of this architecture is equal to 4096 bytes, which is the default page size for most modern operating systems. The program threw a segmentation core dump error the first time it was ran but after editing the C program it ran as expected. The code altered is shown below, this code had to be changed as the program wouldnt have the permissions to write memory which renders this program useless Code before: Array = mmap (Null, alloc_size, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, fd, 0) Code After: Array = mmap (Null, alloc_size, PROT_READ | PROT WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE, fd, 0) This segment of code(Figure 2) writes to the first page of the allocated area at the position of zero, if this was changed to something larger than the size of page size (4096 bytes) then the program would return a segmentation fault. Tutorial 1 Exercise 2 The concept in this experiment has shown how to create a mapped memory region then use the fork() process to create a child process in which shares the same memory region as its parent. The fork() process creates a new process by duplicating the calling process. (Manual, 2016) Above (Figure 3) is a segment of code from the program used to show how to create a memory mapped area between shared processes. In this segment the child process increments the shared integer (*addr) twice, meaning when the integers value is printed again in the parent process it will be equal to three (Figure 4). The program waits for the child process until it prints to the user the value of the parent and unmmaps. The wait() system call suspends execution of the calling process until one of its children terminates, on success returns the process ID of the terminated child (Manual, wait(), 2016); Tutorial 1 -Exercise 3 The goal of this exercise to understand memory management through a program that uses the device memory(/dev/mem). /dev/mem is character device file that is an image of the main memory of the computer. Depending on the users permission level, the program must be run as root otherwise the program cannot access the main memory (Figure 5). When the program is run as root user (Figure 6) a list of memory addresses is printed to the user. These addresses in /dev/mem are interpreted as physical memory addresses. References to nonexistent locations can cause errors. (Manual, MEM(4), 2015) Tutorial 1 Exercise 4 The concept of the experiment is reducing memory footprint through the dynamical access of executables and memory addressing. Linux incorporates the use of shared libraries within its operating systems, a lot of Linux programs use the same standard functions such as screen support or file access, for a programmer to include these functions in every program it would cause program files to be unnecessarily large. The advantage of having these libraries is that a library only needs to be loaded once for several programs to use it; resulting in saving RAM and hard disk space. (Kofler, 1998) Tutorial 2 Exercise 1 The concept of the experiment is to understand how mmap uses a file as part of the address space. The program used in this experiment is an emulation of how the Operating system extends RAM to a file. The program being used in this experiment uses a file called test.txt as RAM, the file itself is equivalent to one page size of the given architecture. The program then writes to the page with a char at the array position of zero to four(Figure 9). This is an example of how a memory mapped file is taken from disk and placed into memory explicitly for reading/writing and will stay there until the user unmaps it. This experiment shows that when writing to ram youre writing to a file. Tutorial 2 -Exercise 2 The goal of this experiment is too understand that Mprotect can change permissions of mapped areas. After using the Mmap function within the program (FIGURE 10(Gedit)) the permissions set are read only, meaning that the program wouldnt be able to write to the array. After memory has been mapped, the permissions originally set can be modified with the Mprotect system call. If a program attempts to perform an operation on a memory location that is not permitted, it is terminated with a segmentation fault(FIGURE 10(Top terminal)). (Mitchell, 2001) Tutorial 2 -Exercise 3 The goal of this experiment is to understand how the operating system manages protections dynamically. (FIGURE 11) is a segment of code taken from the experiment, it shows a handler for the segmentation fault. This code is in place to take care of the segmentation fault, the problem with the above code is the fact that this is an infinite loop, the segmentation error is given when attempts to perform an operation on a memory location that is not permitted, meaning that the code will continue at the point the signal occurred, creating an infinite loop. The solution to this is to change the permissions within the Mprotect system call allowing the ability to write as well as read. Tutorial 2 Exercise 4 The goal of this experiment is to understand how the operating system manages protections dynamically. As opposed to the previous experiment, this program changes the permissions of the page that is being accessed using Mprotect. The handler is in place to ensure that an infinite loop doesnt happen like in the previous experiment. With the permissions being set within the handler itself, the handler will be able to completely handle the error resulting in no segmentation error stopping the program. Tutorial 3 Exercise 1 The goal of this research is to understand that each file in Linux has a respective Inode. Figure 14 The results of this experiment (Figure 14) show the Inodes for 3 separate files in 3 separate directories, the Inode is a data structure in a Unix file system to describe an object like a file or a directory. The Inode is a pointer with a the Inode number being unique, if a file is moved then its Inode number will also change. When an application needs a file, the application exchanges the file name for the Inode number from the directory listing, after that the application uses the Inode for a reference to the file. Tutorial 3 -Exercise 2 The goal of this experiment is to understand some system calls that manipulate files and directories. (figure 15) Shows the files and directories of several locations using a program which snippet is shown (figure 16). This program returns a list of what is in the present working directory, notice that the type of the file is shown on the left of (figure x). The system call lstat returns information about a file, in this case it is returning the type of the file. Tutorial 3 Exercise 3 The goal of this experiment is to understand how a logical mapping (file) is related to its physical one. Figure 17 The program used in this experiment determines the number of blocks associated with the given file and maps its logical and physical addressing, as can be seen in (figure 17). This is achieved using the stat system call which returns information about a file, for this exercise the only information required from stat is the number of blocks used by the file. Another system call used in this program is ioctl, used on a file descriptor fd. The ioctl function allows the user to manipulate the underlying device parameters (manuals, 2016). Using ioctl with FIBMAP allows the user to return the physical block mapping to its logical mapping. Tutorial 3 Exercise 4 The goal of this Tutorial 4 Exercise 1 The goal of this experiment is to understand the process of exchanging messages between client and server using blocking communication. Two programs were used in this experiment, a server program (Figure 20 left) and a client program (figure 20 right). Running on separate terminals the programs communicate with each other, if another client program were to try and connect to the server program the messages wouldnt arrive at the server, this happens because of blocking. When blocking is in use, control isnt returned to the server program until at least one byte of data is read from the client program (Klement, 2002). By default, sockets are set to blocking, if a socket call is issued that cant be completed immediately then the process is put to sleep, waiting for the condition to be true. Tutorial 4 Exercise 2 The goal of this experiment is to understand the process of exchanging messages between client and server using non-blocking communication. Figure 21 As opposed to the previous experiment, the client and server programs are now using non-blocking sockets. As a default when a socket is created, its set to blocking. If the input operation cannot be satisfied with at least 1 byte of data* then a return is made immediately with an error (Figure 21 left) (Stevens, 2001). *(This applies to TCP, For a UDP socket it would be a complete datagram). Tutorial 4 Exercise 3 The goal of this experiment is too understanding the basic process of exchanging messages between client and signal-driven server using non-blocking communication. Tutorial 4 Exercise 4 The goal of this experiment is to gain a better understanding about the differences between blocking and unblocking programs

Essay --

Death and the King’s Horseman, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, and The Storyteller all have multiple messages that can be obtained through reading these novels. Due to the great number messages that can be obtained throughout the readings, the authors have a lot of different, but also a lot of similar messages within the books as well. When reading these novels, the authors display a great deal of personal growth and change, a great empathy and compassion for others, and also a great image of what life is like in other cultures. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress written by Dai Sijie, is a story about re-educating in which is centered on the Cultural Revolution era. This story takes off early and gives you a great sense of what’s life was like during those days in China. The story is told by a seventeen year old boy, whose father and mother are very well known doctors throughout China. The young man and his friend are being sent away to a village on Phoenix Mountain to be re-educated. Once the Narrator and his friend Luo, are relocated at this village at they start the reeducated process right away which is an excess amount of manual labor. While there, both of the boys come across and strike an attraction towards the local tailor’s daughter, the Little Seamstress. The Little Seamstress can be describes as beautiful and delightful but has no sort of education or any ability to read. During those days, China was so heavily repressed and anybody that is being â€Å"re-educated† is p ermitted to read books of any sort, with only the exception of the little book of sayings written by Chairman Mao. A character by the name of Four Eyes, a son of a poet, has a hidden compartment which is filled with western novels. The boys c... ... is giving us an understanding of another culture in which most of the readers are not used too. Throughout reading these novel, with all the similar messages that are obtained within them, one main message from each other is similar, a better understanding of cultural difference. Authors Dai Sijie, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Wole Soyinka all exemplify what life is like in other cultures and regions of the world. The Machiguenga, The Yoruban tribe, and people involved in the Cultural Revolution era, are all timeframes and people that we will never understand or have to experience first handed due to where we come from. The life that we are used to is so different then what the life is like from the readings of these book, that these authors express that even if it’s different, we should be excepting of all lifestyles, even if we don’t fully understand their beliefs.

Epistolary Novel Essay

The word epistolary is derived through Latin from the Greek word á ¼ Ãâ‚¬ÃŽ ¹ÃÆ'Ï„Î ¿ÃŽ »ÃŽ ® epistolÄ“, meaning a letter. An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters. The epistolary form can add greater realism to a story, because it mimics the workings of real life The founder of the epistolary novel in English is said by many to be James Howell (1594–1666) with â€Å"Familiar Letters†, who writes of prison, foreign adventure, and the love of women. There are two theories on the genesis of the epistolary novel. The first claims that the genre originated from novels with inserted letters, in which the portion containing the third person narrative in between the letters was gradually reduced.[1] The other theory claims that the epistolary novel arose from miscellanies of letters and poetry: some of the letters were tied together into a (mostly amorous) plot. The first truly epistolary novel, the Spanish â€Å"Prison of Love† (Cà ¡rcel de amor) (c.1485) by Diego de San Pedro, belongs to a tradition of novels in which a large number of inserted letters already dominated the narrative The epistolary novel as a genre became popular in the 18th century in the works of such authors as Samuel Richardson, with his immensely successful novels Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1749). In the novel Pamela, the female narrator can be found wielding a pen and scribbling her diary entries under the most dramatic and unlikely of circumstances. The first North American novel, The History of Emily Montague (1769) by Frances Brooke was written in epistolary form. There are three types of epistolary novels: monologic (giving the letters of only one character, like Letters of a Portuguese Nun and The Sorrow Of Young Werther), dialogic (giving the letters of two characters, like Mme Marie Jeanne Riccoboni’s Letters of Fanni Butlerd (1757), and polylogic (with three or more letter-writing characters, such as in Bram Stoker’s Dracula)

City of Granston Study Case Essay

1 What evidence exists in this case of potential supplier collusion? The evidence that exists in the case of potential supplier collusion is that each chose to bit only on certain types of aggregates, which is very suspicious and raises further concern. 2 How does a purchaser know he or she is getting a fair price in a bid situation? Awareness of the many cost components that lead to a target cost and market price is an essential requirement for the procurer who wishes to assess whether the person is getting good value 3 Why would suppliers voluntarily lower prices on a fixed price contract? This again shows signs of collusion, but in this case we can also read that since there were a slump in the local construction industry, they lowered their prices to keep business and renew contract with their current buyer. 4 Is it reasonable to adjust price based on a general inflation index? I think is reasonable to create a contract where the supplier adjusts their price based on a general inflation index. I think if helps the supplier to generate revenue, generate work and keep a fair price for the buyer where the inflation rate keeps rising. 5 How should the performance of a public buying office be measured? Cost saving generated Increased quality Purchasing improvements Price effectiveness

buy custom Student’s Communication essay

buy custom Student’s Communication essay From the onset, the researchers are clear on the premise of their research. The basis of this study was that the online community is widely held as the most important prerequisite for successful course. The setting of the research is equally clear. The research was carried out in the University of Pretoria in South Africa. The participants of the research were post graduate students in web based learning. The research followed the standardized scientific criteria. It had an abstract, background, literature review, the methodology, the discussions and the conclusion. The researchers attained credibility by first carrying out an extensive literature review on the topic of study. This enabled them to link their work with what has been done previously. Moreover, the research added new information in this field as it builds on the previous works. They incorporated others work with much impartiality nd objectivity. They extensively analyzed the importance of participation in online discussion by the students. Among the key contributions of the study is the potential of online discussions to improve general learning. They also highlighted on the need for community of learning as well as finding out the challenges facing poor online students. The researches methodology was a mixed extensive one. They used various qualitative methods which allowed them to probe different perception and reactions. The content analysis was conducted using the software like students blog postings, online quiz and examination essays. This gave their study credibility. The mixed methodology approach was used to investigate the link between online activity and discussion posting to learning and course completion. The study also investigated how students collaborative behavior and integration into the commuunity relates to success. The researchers clearly communicated their findings which revealed significant differences between the stratification of student performance. It was also reveled that the students who expect little access can increase their benefit by managing their log-in time effectively. Also realized were significant difference in both the postings and the students grade groups. It was also clear that organizing students into online groups also encouraged them to participate. Conclusion The research clearly showed the link between successful course completion and the students level of contribution to discussions, the ratio of their replies to others posts and their integration into others community. The study therefore achieved its main objective establishing the facts on online participation by students and communicating such findings with simplicity. Buy custom Student’s Communication essay

Policy With the Native Americas essays

Policy With the Native Americas essays After many years of fighting with the French and their Native allies the war is finally over. We have claimed Canada and almost all of North Americas. We have taken Florida from the Spanish whom is an ally of France. Although we signed a treaty with the Spanish allowing them to keep possessions of the lands west of the Mississippi River and the city of New Orleans there is one more problem. The ally of the French, the Native Americans, still remains. Although we have ownership of the Ohio Valley we have been attacked by many Natives American armies and they have taken over several of our forts. We must bargain or offer something to the Natives to bring peace and stop the attacks and hopefully prevent future wars between us and the Natives. The Natives feel as if they have been violated since we have been invading in their territory across the Appalachian Mountains. Instead off making a law banning colonist to cross the Appalachians and invading the Natives we propose to offer the Natives a treaty in which we share the land that we have and they share the land they have. This way the colonists have more land and so do the Natives. It may be hard to make peace with the Natives after the war, but we must do whatever it takes to become a unified society. This treaty could work in advantage to both the Natives and the Colonists. Both cultures can learn about one another and get a better understanding why the culture thinks that way. Another beneficial purpose of living together with the Natives is trading. We can engage in trading which would benefit both sides of the trade. We can use the goods in which the Natives prosper in and they can use the goods in which we prosper in. We will have to talk to the Natives and ask them if they agree with our ideas. If they do not then we will work together to make a treaty that we all agree on that will benefit on both sides. We will have to talk to the leader of the Natives ...

5 Field Trip Ideas for Elementary School

5 Field Trip Ideas for Elementary School Field trips are a wonderful way for children to connect what they are learning in class to the outside world. For instance, if you are teaching your students about dinosaurs, the best way to wrap up the unit is to bring the class on a field trip to your local dinosaur exhibit at the museum. This way they can get a hands-on view of everything they learned and help them connect what they learned to what they are seeing at the exhibit. Here are 5 fun and exciting educational field trip ideas for your elementary school class. Post Office A field trip to your local Post Office is a great way for students to compare the history of the postal service with the technology they use today. Students will leave the Post Office with a better understanding of how the mail connects everyone in the world. Pick Your Own Farms A unique field trip idea is to take students on a trip to pick their own fruits and vegetables. Children will be exposed to agricultural topics and experience nature and how food grows. A hands-on trip to your local farm is the perfect way to end your nutrition unit. Bank What child isnt fascinated with money? If you want to see your students participate in class and really be engaged, then take them on a field trip to your local bank. Children are always asking, Why do I have to learn math? and When I am really going to use these math skills? Well, a trip to the bank will show your students how the math skills they are learning in school can be applied to everyday life when they grow up. Bank tellers can show students how to write a personal check and withdrawal slips, and how to open a bank account and use a debit card. The information they learn on this trip will help them realize how important paying attention in math really is. A fun idea beforehand is to teach students about PayPal and how with technology today you can send money online. Grocery Store With the child obesity rate as high as it is today, the local grocery store is a great place for a field trip. There are a variety of topics that can be focused on at the grocery store, like nutrition, math, health and wellness, and home economics. Children can learn about healthy food choices and go on a food scavenger hunt. They can study measurements and, on the day of the trip,  buy appropriate ingredients for a specific recipe you give them. They can learn how to budget their money, group foods into food groups, and learn important life skills. Amusement Park How is a field trip to an amusement park educational? Students can determine the speed of roller-coasters or see behind the scenes of how a stage show works. Students can learn about the animals in the on-site zoo, or see how the actors transform into characters. A field trip to an amusement park can take some of the concepts students are learning in school into a real-world experience. Additional Field Trip Ideas Worth Considering Here are a few more field trip ideas that are worth thinking about it. Any of the following ideas would make for a perfect field trip with your students: Water parkBakerySkating RinkLocal HospitalMoviesCollegeTV StationNewspaperAquariumZooBotanical GardensTrain RideSoup KitchenLocal FestivalNursing HomeLocal MonumentFarmers MarketMuseumA Virtual Field Trip

Young Black Men Fallen By The Wayside Research Paper

Young Black Men Fallen By The Wayside - Research Paper Example John Casor, in 1654, became the first black man to become a slave and this began a stream of events that led to the growth of slavery and the dehumanizing treatment of a black person. The consequential and constant bad treatment of blacks has lowered the perception a black person as a less than perfect person in comparison with the rest. This has led to son black people blaming the color of their skin for their woes to a point of murder. Jimerson (2013) attributes under development among black families to the low self-esteem that was set in motion before the American Revolution to enable the blacks to be normal members of the society. The Martin Luther King era was a significant time to the black in America and all over the world. Lack of equal chances has denied the black families to develop. Racial self-hatred leads a child away from the concentration of schoolwork as they try to fit in the society. They also believe that they inferior to other race in the school, so they believe they can perfume better than the rest; that lack of self-belief leads them to perform badly. Self-doubt in young black men makes them feel as if they are being looked down upon because of their skin color even when they are being corrected rightfully. It will always make them move away from their jobs to look for others that they consider are fitting for them (Vogel et al, 2011). Michael Jackson, hate for being black pushed him to the extreme of trying to discolor himself. The amount of money he used was staggering. Many musicians, like dancehall star Vybz Cartel, try to bleach themselves into being white, an act that costs them a fortune. The financial status of these young men is always poor and most of them are always in debts as they seek to change their appearance through artificial means. The integration of races is an issue not only in the United States but also everywhere in the world. It exists even in communities that are the most liberated and

Evaluation of a planned actiity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Evaluation of a planned actiity - Essay Example But the ideas of some people concerning children growing up in bilingual environments have not in any way benefited these children, and may have an adverse effect on them. Therefore, when a parent changes jobs and it involves moving to a different part of the world, there is linguistic demand on them and their children (Romaine, 1995). During the first week, I observed the children in the role play area and offered guidance and assistance when needed. In the second week I joined the children in the role play area, initiating and supporting. Finally I introduced an old word processor in order to improve and extend the children’s writing skills. Children could use this to type things such as prescriptions, appointment sheets and health advice and print them off. By adding props which support early writing, it allows the children to make early attempts at writing through play. By adding this word processor to the role play area it will â€Å"help set the scene† for the topic area. This allows the children to get involved and makes the role play area more â€Å"meaningful† to the activity (Cooke, 1997, p. 122). On the first day, the teacher read a book called â€Å"A Day in the Life of a Doctor† to the whole class. The teaching assistant translated it to Urdu, a member of the EAL (English as Additional Language) department translated it to Tamil, and this in turn started a discussion about being ill and going to the doctor. A child in my group who is normally shy and timid started to participate in the conversation. When this child is home, her first language is Tamil and her English is very limited, however, listening to the lady translate it she started responding by telling how her sister had a cough and that her mum had to take her to the doctor. She was also listening to her peers explaining in English and she tried to start a simple sentence in English by saying â€Å"my mum†, then she stopped as she got embarrassed. This

Explain how Marketing Communications can be used to change customers Essay

Explain how Marketing Communications can be used to change customers attitudes and influence customers behaviour.(Marketing communications) - Essay Example The different models and the ways are discussed below that may change the attitudes and perceptions of the consumers. The marketing models discussed below for the marketing communications allows the marketing managers to know about the attitudes of the customer and then influence different strategies to influence their buying behavior. Attractive marketing campaigns and promotions need to be done so that a huge level of customer base can be attracted towards the organisation. This model allows us to focus on the attitude level of the consumer and how they interpret and learn about the new information that is being communicated to them through the advertising messages and other marketing mediums. It is important to influence the strength and usability of a product or service to the consumers in the marketing messages so that they can show their interest towards the product or service (Fitzgerald and Arnott 2000). The McGuire’s information processing model basically focuses on five elements. They are as follows: Exposure, attention level from the customers, Comprehension, Acceptance level ability of the consumers, and the Retention level rate of the consumers (Dahlen et al 2009). The information processing model developed by McGuire allows the researcher to learn about the attitudes and changes in behavior of the consumers for the communication aspects that take place while communicating the marketing information to the consumers about any product or service. According McGuire, the changes in behavior will occur if the communication takes place in a persuasive manner. The communication can be delivered in a persuasive manner by following the steps that follows ahead (Fill 2008). Firstly, the message that is to be communicated to the consumers must be presented in a clear and unambiguous manner. Then, the message must be clearly attended by the one who has delivered it. All

Financial Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Financial Management - Case Study Example Every foreign exchange market is in a position to mitigate the risk of uncertainty occurred due to the variations in the exchange rates on cash flows of both payables and receivables. â€Å"Under the hypothesis of efficient foreign exchange markets, the validity of the Purchasing Power Parity theorem may take care of the company’s uncertainty with respect to the mean value of its foreign currency portfolio. The remaining uncertainty, i.e. the variance of the value of the foreign currency portfolio around its mean, can be reduced by hedging† (Soenon 2006). Under this kind of marketing, generally, there should be equilibrium between the estimated cost of hedging and the actual cost. In addition, the chances of risks and uncertainty will be higher in case of exchange rates and its variations. It is necessary to consider the uncertainty caused by fluctuating exchange rates on cash flows both payable and receivable. This is due to the fact that one of the important tools with the finance manager to determine the changes in cash in hand and at bank is the cash flow statement. The statement of cash flows, both inflows and outflows can be analyzed to reveal significant relationships. Cash generating efficiency is the ability of an organization or a company to generate cash from its current or continuing operations. To evaluate this, fundamentally, certain ratios are used. Similarly, free cash flow is significant in this regard. It is the amount of cash that remains after deducting funds a company must commit to continue operating as its planned level. Such commitments must cover current continuing operations, interest, income tax, dividend, and net capital expenditures. When the free cash flow is positive, it means that the company has met all its planned commitments and has cash available to reduce debt or expand. A negative free cash flow would mean that the company needs to sell investments, borrow money or issue stock, in a short term, to carry on its finance at the planned levels. Besides measuring the cash efficiency and free cash flow with the help of cash flow statement, the financial analyst also calculates various ratios on cash figures rather than the earnings of the company. Such major ratios are- 1. Price per share/free cash flow per share 2. Operating cash flow/Operating profit 3. Self financing investment ratio, which is the internal funding/ Investment activities (net). It helps to indicates how much of the funds generated by the business are reinvested in assets. It is evident that the concepts of investment and risk are related to each other. Every business entity aims to maximize its returns. The business that deals with the investment in different securities by the investors is beneficial to a great extend but at the same time is quiet risky. More

How did nuclear weapons affect the dynamics of the Cold War Essay - 1

How did nuclear weapons affect the dynamics of the Cold War - Essay Example During this period, Cold War revolutionized global approaches to war. Military growth and development became the subject of the day, especially in both Eastern and Western blocs. High tension also became evident as United States and the Soviet Union embarked on a bid to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. A significant rise in the production of nuclear weapons was anticipated following the end of World War II. Both Eastern and Western blocs feared the emergence of yet another world war as time went by. This fear accelerated arming in both United States and the Soviet Union. These two countries had taken their respective positions as global superpowers, an aspect that fuelled the emergence of Cold War. Over the years, the two countries would accumulate weapons of mass destruction without necessarily engaging in physical war-like attacks. Cold War was a significant factor in shaping war trends across the globe. The Soviet Union consolidated the Eastern bloc while the United States of America did the same on the Western bloc. During this time, no fighting of significant scale was reported. In other words, the war was literally cold even though it lasted for decades. Based on these observations, the Cold War exhibited critical dynamics, most of which were subject to the influence of nuclear weapons. Weapons of mass destruction undoubtedly come with consequences that do not only affect the attacked party, but also the attacker. Atomic energy that is out of control carries devastating and catastrophic implications. With two nuclear-armed nations in a standoff, it was evident that the victims would comprise of more than just the warring parties would. In fact, memories of World War II reveal just how destructive atomic bombs and nuclear weapons are. In the context of war, a repeat of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attack was an experience that warring nations would rather avoid (Miller,

China Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

China - Assignment Example While taking into account, the â€Å"long-cycle theory†, which stipulates that, a hegemon after being in power for some time is likely to be challenged by an upcoming superpower, thus, China seems to be the perfect challenger. Even though, China intends to become a superpower, it will be difficult for it to achieve this goal since; the world in the past century has embraced the culture of avoiding an all-out war. Moreover, the United States cannot let its place as the number one in the world to be taken since it is aware of the bloodshed, which can be witnessed in the event that such takeover occurs through a great-power war. Yes, when China becomes a superpower, there are many indications that it will threaten the US. These threats will be; political, social, and economic. Firstly, the political threats that China will foster will be the enforcing of authoritarian governments, instead of promoting democracy. China has the reputation of governing its citizens through authoritarian rule. Superpowers maintain their number one position by influencing other nations and governments; therefore, for China to cement its leadership, it will influence various governments to become authoritarian, and this in the process will kill freedom and democracy. Secondly, as a super-power, China would threaten the US through spreading its ideology of communism while denouncing the ideology of capitalism. Thirdly, in recent years, China’s economic influence, particularly with African and Asian countries has been on a steady rise. While considering the above, when China becomes a superpower, it is beyond imagination on how its economic influence will continue to grow. The overwhelming economic growth of China will be a great threat to the US economy. The US strategy towards China should start with the US ensuring that it maintains its position as the world’s superpower. The US ought to show that it is powerful enough, and it is not

How did nuclear weapons affect the dynamics of the Cold War Essay - 1

How did nuclear weapons affect the dynamics of the Cold War - Essay Example During this period, Cold War revolutionized global approaches to war. Military growth and development became the subject of the day, especially in both Eastern and Western blocs. High tension also became evident as United States and the Soviet Union embarked on a bid to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. A significant rise in the production of nuclear weapons was anticipated following the end of World War II. Both Eastern and Western blocs feared the emergence of yet another world war as time went by. This fear accelerated arming in both United States and the Soviet Union. These two countries had taken their respective positions as global superpowers, an aspect that fuelled the emergence of Cold War. Over the years, the two countries would accumulate weapons of mass destruction without necessarily engaging in physical war-like attacks. Cold War was a significant factor in shaping war trends across the globe. The Soviet Union consolidated the Eastern bloc while the United States of America did the same on the Western bloc. During this time, no fighting of significant scale was reported. In other words, the war was literally cold even though it lasted for decades. Based on these observations, the Cold War exhibited critical dynamics, most of which were subject to the influence of nuclear weapons. Weapons of mass destruction undoubtedly come with consequences that do not only affect the attacked party, but also the attacker. Atomic energy that is out of control carries devastating and catastrophic implications. With two nuclear-armed nations in a standoff, it was evident that the victims would comprise of more than just the warring parties would. In fact, memories of World War II reveal just how destructive atomic bombs and nuclear weapons are. In the context of war, a repeat of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attack was an experience that warring nations would rather avoid (Miller,

Home Health Agency Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Home Health Agency - Assignment Example ly literate, and meet several other training requirements such as satisfactorily completing the health and safety component of the training course titled â€Å"Direct Support Persons Core Training Program† or its equivalent. As such training for authorization to provide direct care services is mandatory. The curriculum may vary from state to state however each regulatory agency approves a certain curricula for their direct care trainees to undergo. One of the approved curriculum for training direct caretakers includes â€Å"Providing Residential Services in Community Settings: A Training Guide† (Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, 2015). The curriculum covers a wide range of topics that needs to be included in the training including best practices for the practitioners. Further for medication administration, the direct caretakers are trained under standardized medication curriculum by a nurse trainer. The nurse trainers supervise the direct caretaker trainees and evaluate their progress. Trainees who need to be authorized for medication administration also need to pass certain examination that evaluates their knowledge and competency of the various drugs that need to be administered. The test could be written or oral examination to test the competency of the direct care staff to ensure that they are qualified to provide the service. After the direct care staff is evaluated, they may be evaluated again in order to ensure compliance. The frequency of being re-evaluated depends upon the nurse trainer. Further if the direct care staff fails to meet the required competency level, then they may be retrained in order to ensure their competency is enough to authorize them for administering medication. Therefore, direct care staff members must undergo training under an approved curriculum in order to be eligible for providing their services at a residence or to administer medication to the patients. The curriculum involves best practices and covers different

Impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance

Impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance Acknowledgement Apart from the efforts put by me, the success of any project depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of many others. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of my Thesis. I am heartily thankful to my Thesis Guide- Prof. Robin Thomas, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of this subject. The guidance and support received from all the members who contributed and who are contributing to this research, was vital for the success of this Thesis. I am grateful for their constant support and help. OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance in the organizations in todays scenario. Also, to study the impact of effective Employer Branding on perceptual and objective areas of Performance Management. ABSTRACT Employer branding is the development and communication of an organizations culture as an employer in the marketplace. It conveys the organizations value proposition the totality of the organizations culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging its people to embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on personal and professional levels. Employer branding represents a firms efforts to promote, both within and outside the firm, a clear view of what makes it different and desirable as an employer. In recent years employer branding has gained popularity among practicing managers. The importance of managing employee perceptions has given rise to the contemporary notion of Employer Brand. This is essentially the brand the employer projects to existing and potential employees via the chain of communication touch points ranging from recruitment intermediaries through to line managers. However one of the major issues in Employer Branding is how to measure an employer brand, what value does the employer brand have? Ultimately, a strong employer brand should contribute to the performance and success of the organization. The workforce is the real driver of profits in todays business world. Employer Branding helps in recruitment and retention of the best of talents. It has its impact in many areas of Human Resource Management like Employee Loyalty, Employee commitment, Employee retention and one of these areas which should get highly affected by this concept is Employee Performance. The strength of an organizations brand has a significant impact on the performance of its employees. A strong Employer Brand has a significant influence in the employees performance and that a strong product brand can essentially support the development of the employment brand. These days companies make a lot of investments in this concept of Employer Branding, thus studying the extent of its impact on Employees Performance in these organizations has become a vital need in todays scenario. THE SCOPE/COMMERCIAL VIABILITY OF THE STUDY * To study the concept of Employer Branding and its evolution over a period of time. * To study what it takes for an organization to build a magnetic Employer Brand. * To study the causes that lead organizations to focus more on this concept of Employer Branding. * To study the extent to which this process of Employer Branding helps the organizations to improve Employee Performance and what impact it has on other areas like Employee Loyalty and Employee Retention. * To study Employees Brand Based Equity and its impact on Employee Performance. * To study the benefits gained by the organizations as well as the obstacles faced by the organizations in the development and implementation of this process of Employer Branding. * To study the ways by which the impact of Employer Branding Process can be measured with Employee Performance being a major area of focus. METHODOLOGY The conceptual study of the thesis will be done through literature reviews. Descriptive research design will be used to get an idea of the implementation of this concept. Also, Causal research design will be used to understand the relationship between the variables under study to reach reliable and valid conclusions. The method of Probability sampling will be used to carry out the required surveys. Hereby, the method of Stratified Random Sampling will be used. The use of these methods and Research Designs would make the study more concrete and reliable. SOURCES OF INFORMATION  · Secondary data collection will be done through websites, literature study, journals, magazines and articles.  · Primary data collection will be done through interviews of professionals and subject experts. Also, the questionnaires will be used to carry out the surveys of the Target Audience. * The target audience would be the H.R [Senior Level] and Subject Experts. Study would be conducted across sectors and around Five Industries would be taken under study. Five Firms would be taken for survey purpose under each Industry. So in all, 25 H.R [Senior Level] across sectors and Five Subject Experts would be surveyed. Sample size would be 30. Note: The thesis has to be divided in three parts. The first part would talk about the following: * The meaning and background of Employer Branding, the dimensions of Employer Branding, etc. * The meaning and background of Employee Performance and how it is defined. * How are Employer Branding and Employee Performance related. The second part would be of Industry research which would include study of various industries taking into consideration various units under various industries. It would include data analysis and data interpretation. The third part would include the derivations of the study. It would include key findings and learning and suggestions. Chapter 1. Introduction to Branding 1.1 Defining a Brand Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one producer from those of another. In fact, the word brand is derived from the Old Norse word brandr, which means â€Å"to burn, as brands are the means by which owners of livestock mark their animals to identify them. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA) a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition.† Technically speaking, then, whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo, or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand. Thus, the key to creating a brand, according to the AMA definition, is to be able to choose a name, logo, symbol, package design, or other attribute that identifies a prod ­uct and distinguishes it from others. These different components of a brand that iden ­tify and differentiate it can be called brand elements. A brand is therefore a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be rational and tangible—related to product performance of the brand—or more symbolic, emotional, and intangible—related to what the brand represents. One mar ­keting Observer put it this way. More specifically, what distinguishes a brand from its unbranded commodity counterpart and gives it equity is the sum total of consumers perceptions and feelings about the products attributes and how they perform, about the brand name and what it stands for, and about the company associated with the brand? 1.2 Why Brand? More and more firms and other organizations have come to the realization that one of their most valuable assets is the brand names associated with their products or services. In an increasingly complex world, individuals and businesses are faced with more and more choices but seemingly have less and less time to make those choices. The ability of a strong brand to simplify consumer decision making, reduce risk, and set expectations is thus invaluable. Creating strong brands that deliver on that promise, and maintaining and enhancing the strength of those brands over time, is thus a management imperative. Emile Durkheim in Elementary Forms of The Religious Life explains the religion of the Australian Aborigines. The concept of a church as Durkheim defines it is ‘a shared feeling of a special kind. It is group dynamics, the act of assembling for a common purpose, that creates the feeling of being in the presence of a spirit greater than the individual, a sacred feeling of being in the presence of a spirit greater than the individual, a sacred feeling that strikes a chord with our deepest longings. Brands, too, strike chords. However, striking the right chord is both difficult and often costly. There are no guarantees of the result, although there is a clear difference in the growth of financial value if we compare companies that have done at least a little branding and those that havent branded themselves at all. 1.3 Why do Brands matter? Creating a successful brand entails blending all these various elements to ­gether in a unique way—the product or service has to be of high quality and appropriate to consumer needs, the brand name must be appealing and in tune with the consumers perceptions of the product, the packaging, promo ­tion, pricing and all other elements must similarly meet the tests of appropri ­ateness, appeal, and differentiation. An obvious question is why are brands important? What functions do they per ­form that make them so valuable to marketers? One can take a couple of per ­spectives to uncover the value of brands to both consumers and firms themselves. 1.3.1 To Consumers As with the term product, this book uses the term consumer broadly to encompass all types of customers, including individuals as well as organizations. To consumers, brands provide important functions. Brands identify the source or maker of a product and allow consumers to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer or distributor. Most important, brands take on special meaning to consumers. Because of past experi ­ences with the product and its marketing program over the years, consumers learn about brands. They find out which brands satisfy their needs and which ones do not. As a result, brands provide a shorthand device or means of simplification for their product decisions. If consumers recognize a brand and have some knowledge about it, then they do not have to engage in a lot of additional thought or processing of information to make a product decision. Thus, from an economic perspective, brands allow consumers to lour search costs for products both internally (in terms of how much they have to think) and externally (in terms of how much they have to look around). Based on what they already know about the brand—its quality, product characteristics, and so forth— consumers can make assumptions and form reasonable expectations about what they may not know about the brand. Brands can also play a significant role in signaling certain product characteristics to consumers. Researchers have classified products and their associated attributes or benefits into three major categories: search goods, experience goods, and credence goods. With search goods, product attributes can be evaluated by visual inspection (e.g., the sturdiness, size, color, style, weight, and ingredient composition of a product). With experience goods, product attributes—potentially equally important—cannot be assessed so easily by inspection, and actual product trial and experience is necessary (e.g., as with durability, service quality, safety, and ease of handling or use). With cre ­dence goods, product attributes may be rarely learned (e.g., insurance coverage). Because of the difficulty in assessing and interpreting product attributes and benefits with experience and credence goods, brands may be particularly important signals of quality and other characteristics to consumers for these types of products. Brands can reduce the risks in product decisions. Consumers may perceive many different types of risks in buying and consuming a product: *Functional risk: The product does not perform up to expectations *Physical risk: The product poses a threat to the physical well-being or health of the user or others *Financial risk: The product is not worth the price paid *Social risk: The product results in embarrassment from others *Psychological risk: The product affects the mental well-being of the user *Time risk: The failure of the product results in an opportunity cost of finding another satis ­factory product Although there are a number of different means by which consumers handle these risks, certainly one way in which consumers cope is to buy well-known brands, espe ­cially those brands with which consumers have had favorable past experiences. Thus, brands can be a very important risk-handling device, especially in business to business settings where these risks can sometimes have quite profound implications. 1.3.2 To Firms Brands also provide a number of valuable functions to firms. Fundamentally, they serve an identification purpose to simplify product handling or tracing for the firm. Operationally, brands help to organize inventory and accounting records. A brand also offers the firm legal protection for unique features or aspects of the product. A brand can retain intellectual property rights, giving legal title to the brand owner. The brand name can be protected through registered trademarks, manufacturing processes can be protected through patents, and packaging can be protected through copyrights and designs. These intellectual property rights ensure that the firm can safely invest in the brand and reap the benefits of a valuable asset. As noted earlier, these investments in the brand can endow a product with unique associations and meanings that differentiate it from other products. Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the product again. This brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the firm and cre ­ates barriers of entry that make it difficult for other firms to enter the market. Although manufacturing processes and product designs may be easily duplicated, last ­ing impressions in the minds of individuals and organizations from years of marketing activity and product experience may not be so easily reproduced. In this sense, brand ­ing can be seen as a powerful means of securing a competitive advantage. 1.4 Can anything be branded? [Can organizations be branded?] Brands clearly provide important benefits to both consumers and firms. An obvious question, then, is, How are brands created? How do we brand a product? Although firms provide the impetus for brand creation through their marketing programs and other activities, ultimately a brand is something that resides in the minds of consumers. A brand is a perceptual entity that is rooted in reality, but it is also more than that, reflecting the perceptions and perhaps even the idiosyncrasies of consumers. To brand a product it is necessary to teach consumers who the product is by giving it a name and using other brand elements to help identify it—as well as what the product does and why consumers should care. In other words, to brand a product or ser ­vice, it is necessary to give consumers a label for the product (i.e., heres how we can identify the product) and to provide meaning for the brand to consumers (i.e., heres what this particular product can do for we and why it is special and different from other brand name products). Branding involves creating mental structures and helping con ­sumers organize their knowledge about products and services in a way that clarifies their decision making and, in the process, provides value to the firm. The key to brand ­ing is that consumers perceive differences among brands in a product category. As noted earlier, brand differences often are related to attributes or benefits of the product itself. In other cases, however, brand d ifferences may be related to more intangible image considerations. The universality of branding can be recognized by looking at some different product applications. As noted previously, products can be defined broadly to include phys ­ical-goods, services, retail stores, online businesses, people, organizations, places, or ideas. Brands extend beyond products and services. People and organizations also can be viewed as brands. The naming aspect of the brand is generally straightforward in this case, and people and organizations also often have well-defined images understood and liked or disliked by others. This fact becomes particularly true when considering public figures such as politicians, entertainers, and professional athletes. All of these different public figures compete in some sense for public approval and acceptance and benefit from conveying a strong and desirable image. 2: Introduction to Employer Branding 2.1 Defining an Employer Brand Like a consumer brand, it is an emotional relationship, but between an employer and employee, one that radiates out from this core to other stakeholders, to the community at large, and obviously to potential employees. Employer branding is the development and communication of an organizations culture as an employer in the marketplace. It conveys a value proposition the totality of a culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging a people to embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on personal and professional levels. Employer branding is the essence of the employment experience, providing points that commence with initial employer brand awareness, and continuing throughout the tenure of employment, even extending into retirement. Employer branding is a distinguishing and relevant opportunity for a company to differentiate itself from the competition creating its branded factors as its USP for employee satisfaction and happiness resulting in retention, productivity and efficiency. 2.2 Elements/ Essentials of an Employer Brand Few things that form an Employer Brand are:  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST ARTICULATE A PROMISE TO EMPLOYEES. Just as every business has a customer brand, every business has an employer brand, too. Whether or not a business has ever spent any time developing it. Thats because every business needs employees. And as it recruits and retains and motivates, a business needs to clarify what it stands for. Why it must exist. What difference it can make. What it believes in. How its offerings align with its values. And if a business doesnt define an employer brand, just ask the recruiters. They will tell the story based on their own experience. In fact, more than 90 percent of people on line looking for jobs say they must very closely or closely understand the value of working for a company, according to the 2005 poll by Yahoo! Hot Jobs. An employer brand is a promise to employees to provide an experience that, in return, will motivate their commitment to deliver a customer brand. The real spirit of a employer brand is a combination of what a business may promise and deliver, inside and outside. Essentially, its about a relationship, between a business and a people. How business generally approaches people, or talent, has actually changed a bit over the years. We can remember when business viewed employees as followers in a campaign—people who simply did as they were told. Then, as time passed, business progressed to considering employees as partners in the implementation of strategies. This led, in recent years, to a consideration of the exchange between employees and business—sort of a we do this in exchange for this—to express the relationship. But that was primarily a financial transaction. And over time the old ways of framing the relationship functionally became outdated. Employees began to demand a relationship that reached for something more: an emotional connection. Thats where employer brand makes a difference. An employer brand can be a magical combination of what a business values, offers, and rewards—marrying what a brand promises outside with what a experience demands inside; what a business believes in and how we fundamentally respect the people who deliver a brand.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST SUPPORT A BUSINESS STRATEGY. But one cant just build an employer brand because everyone else does. Its too important. Theres too much it must accomplish. The need must come from a business strategy. The key to a successful employer brand is alignment with the business strategy, says Yvonne Larkin of Diageo. Together the business and organization strategies give the employer brand a reason for being. The power of employer brand is how it connects the internal experience to the external business need. How it grounds the necessity for this internal experience in the economic realities of the buying decisions a customers make. For example, is a business in a phase of rapid growth? An employer brand is essential to a growth strategy. Thats because growth will demand that a business continue to hire the right people in the right jobs at the right time. And keep the people we currently have. This constant effort to recruit and re recruit demands that a business enjoy a reputation in the marketplace that will support am bitions for growth. An employer brand can help a business clarify what will and will not change as we grow. And what growth means to the people who choose to work for we. Or is a business shrinking? An employer brand is essential to a strategy for stability. It can, simply, give employees something to hold on to during periods of significant turbulence. An emotional connection with employees will be tested as a business faces challenges, such as reducing a size without cutting out a heart, or shifting a direction from what employees may consider sacred. And is a business changing? Considering or pursuing new strategies? An employer brand is essential to any change strategy simply because it provides a focal point for employees. An employer brand is a touchstone for a employees, as their willingness to emotionally connect may be tested with each action each day. The essence of effective change management is effective stability management, giving people things to protect as they adjust to things that change. An employer brand can give people that emotional anchor as they may emotionally react to how they are expected to change. It can help people sing off the same page and embrace a common vision.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE, FOR EMPLOYEES, WHAT A CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE. An employer brand will never thrive if its only an HR thing or a Communications thing. If its only purpose is to make people feel better. It will only thrive if it makes a difference in results by making a difference to customers. If it supports every touch point a customers have with a business. Such importance is a key reason why Hallmark, as part of its internal efforts to excite employees about its consumer brand, annually gives each employee a card pack as a friendly way to tell others of sending greeting cards. The card pack is just that—an attractive folder with three greeting cards inside, along with a note to the employee suggesting that they share this pack with someone outside Hallmark and their immediate family, such as a new neighbor, the person sitting next to them on an airplane or bus, or the helpful sacker at the grocery store.† The approach clearly connects employees to consumer touch points to help share Hallmarks mission of enriching lives. A customer who has a positive experience will be more likely to return. But that positive experience doesnt simply happen. People make it happen. And most of these are employees of a business. A customers experience, regardless of the product or service a business offers, is a series of reactions and observ ations at each touch point: how people notice, observe, hear, experience, and talk. Every brand experience has a defining moment. An authentic brand experience will be consistent from one person to the next because employees internalize what they must accomplish at each customer touch point. And ultimately they will tell others what they think based on what their experience. Commitment to the brand is just as important for an employee who touches customers as for an employee who never sees a customer. People who work with customers must live the brand in every interaction they conduct. Others, at the same time, work behind the scenes to make sure customer-facing employees have the tools and support they need for a positive interaction. Any business has people who never see a customer but who, in every interaction, represent the brand. Regardless of where an employee works, the commitment to deliver the brand involves internalizing the promise the brand makes, developing the skills necessary to deliver the promise, and displaying the behavior necessary when implementing those skills. At every touch point.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE WHAT A BUSINESS NEEDS FROM AN EMPLOYEES. All the magical things that can happen when a brand connects with customers dont simply happen. Employees make them happen. An employer brand is more than simply articulating what the customer brand is all about. A employer brand must define what a business needs from employees to deliver the brand Two things must happen for any employee of any business— from the smallest gas station on the corner to the largest global business—to live the brand. First, the employee must understand what the brand is all about. The employee must understand and internalize the essence of what a business is about—how that essence authentically applies to the products and services and experiences a business offers, and how the customer brand articulates this essence. What customers expect. To successfully deliver the brand promise to customers, the employee must understand the difference a business makes to customers—through its brands as well as what employees are expected to deliver. Which is the difference between doing the job and delivering the brand? Second, the employee must believe how the brand differentiates from what else is available on the market. Its not enough for the employee to believe the product, service, or business is a better choice. The employee must seriously believe it is the only choice. How the brand is aspirational. The employee must believe in the authenticity of the pictures the brand can create. The idea the brand promotes. How the brand reaches beyond a single product or service to articulate the cumulative purpose of a business behind the brand and how it connects to what people aspire to be. How the brand is inspirational. The employee must believe in the authenticity of the brand. What a business stands for. How it differentiates from others, not just in products and services, but in fundamental integrity. How its business proposition stands apart. What is unique in how a business inspires people to connect? How the brand is emotional. The employee must feel a sense of ownership in the brand, how the brand represents a business and anyone who works for a business. As if each employee wears the brand on his or her sleeve. And it certainly involves more than wearing a logo on a shirt. This has everything to do with the values of a business. Its as if, to strongly believe in the brand, the employee must believe there is something at this business they simply cannot find anywhere else. This has everything to do with how the employees values align with the values of a business. And if everyone in a business shares and aligns with these values, the brand will grow stronger. How the brand is functional. Finally, the employee must believe the products and services a business produces will actually work. They must believe in the functional integrity of what a business delivers.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE ON-BRAND BEHAVIOR. On-brand behavior is what brand is all about. Any business needs specific behaviors from employees to deliver its brand promise to customers. This on-brand behavior occurs when an employee acts (or delivers) in a way that is consistent with what the brand is all about. And its important because customers experience the brand only when employees deliver the characteristics the brand promises—when the behavior of employees supports the promise of the brand. The key to delivery of the brand is the on-brand behavior of employees at each touch point. PG carefully outlines the principles for creating exciting, memorable PG experiences—in short, a summary of on-brand behavior. In materials distributed to employees, the company says, â€Å"To make the experience personal for a consumer, the employee is encouraged, for example, to anticipate, appreciate, and respond to diverse styles, needs, and motivations. To put the guest in the center of the experience, the employee is encouraged to be genuine and authentic in actions and behavior. To deliberately build a consistent delightful experience for the consumer, the employee is encouraged to define and execute a total experience from the very first moment the guest is made aware through the final follow-up. To make the guests experience comfortable and seemingly simple, the employee is suggested to put the guest at ease. And to respond generously and selflessly to delight, and go beyond what is expected, the employee is encouraged to always look for ways to improve an experience .† The role of the employee to deliver the brand will differ from one business to another, simply because of the differences in what businesses offer. On-brand behavior is just as important in businesses whose employees never see a customer. Employees create what a business sells to customers. And customers experience the brand.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST CONNECT WHAT HAPPENS OUTSIDE TO WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE. A business has a customer brand as a place to buy—and an employer brand as a place to work. While a customer brand focuses on specific products or services available externally, an employer brand may highlight distinct experiences or opportunities available internally. An employer brand, on the inside, frames the experience a business creates for employees, so they in turn deliver the brand promises to customers. In fact, the only way an employer brand can authentically reflect a business is if it articulates an identity, mission and values. That can happen only if an employer brand builds from the inside—to incorporate an essential identity, mission, and values. But its not just about what happens inside a business. To fully picture the potential of an employer brand, we must focus on what happens outside—and what an employees must deliver.  § A EMPLOYER BRAND MUST FOCUS ON EMPLOYEE CHOICE Every day, employees make choices about where and how to work. They view each stage of their relationship with a business as a brand experience that a business delivers. Some may consider new opportunities they believe may better meet their personal expectations. Some may wonder Whats in it for me? if they contribute to the demands of the job and a business. Some may decide to depart a business about which they hold memories of what they experience—and they likely will share those experiences with others still actively connected to or certainly considering a business as an employer. Thats why a business needs to use its employer brand no matter what it is doing or w Impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance Impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance Acknowledgement Apart from the efforts put by me, the success of any project depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of many others. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of my Thesis. I am heartily thankful to my Thesis Guide- Prof. Robin Thomas, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of this subject. The guidance and support received from all the members who contributed and who are contributing to this research, was vital for the success of this Thesis. I am grateful for their constant support and help. OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance in the organizations in todays scenario. Also, to study the impact of effective Employer Branding on perceptual and objective areas of Performance Management. ABSTRACT Employer branding is the development and communication of an organizations culture as an employer in the marketplace. It conveys the organizations value proposition the totality of the organizations culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging its people to embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on personal and professional levels. Employer branding represents a firms efforts to promote, both within and outside the firm, a clear view of what makes it different and desirable as an employer. In recent years employer branding has gained popularity among practicing managers. The importance of managing employee perceptions has given rise to the contemporary notion of Employer Brand. This is essentially the brand the employer projects to existing and potential employees via the chain of communication touch points ranging from recruitment intermediaries through to line managers. However one of the major issues in Employer Branding is how to measure an employer brand, what value does the employer brand have? Ultimately, a strong employer brand should contribute to the performance and success of the organization. The workforce is the real driver of profits in todays business world. Employer Branding helps in recruitment and retention of the best of talents. It has its impact in many areas of Human Resource Management like Employee Loyalty, Employee commitment, Employee retention and one of these areas which should get highly affected by this concept is Employee Performance. The strength of an organizations brand has a significant impact on the performance of its employees. A strong Employer Brand has a significant influence in the employees performance and that a strong product brand can essentially support the development of the employment brand. These days companies make a lot of investments in this concept of Employer Branding, thus studying the extent of its impact on Employees Performance in these organizations has become a vital need in todays scenario. THE SCOPE/COMMERCIAL VIABILITY OF THE STUDY * To study the concept of Employer Branding and its evolution over a period of time. * To study what it takes for an organization to build a magnetic Employer Brand. * To study the causes that lead organizations to focus more on this concept of Employer Branding. * To study the extent to which this process of Employer Branding helps the organizations to improve Employee Performance and what impact it has on other areas like Employee Loyalty and Employee Retention. * To study Employees Brand Based Equity and its impact on Employee Performance. * To study the benefits gained by the organizations as well as the obstacles faced by the organizations in the development and implementation of this process of Employer Branding. * To study the ways by which the impact of Employer Branding Process can be measured with Employee Performance being a major area of focus. METHODOLOGY The conceptual study of the thesis will be done through literature reviews. Descriptive research design will be used to get an idea of the implementation of this concept. Also, Causal research design will be used to understand the relationship between the variables under study to reach reliable and valid conclusions. The method of Probability sampling will be used to carry out the required surveys. Hereby, the method of Stratified Random Sampling will be used. The use of these methods and Research Designs would make the study more concrete and reliable. SOURCES OF INFORMATION  · Secondary data collection will be done through websites, literature study, journals, magazines and articles.  · Primary data collection will be done through interviews of professionals and subject experts. Also, the questionnaires will be used to carry out the surveys of the Target Audience. * The target audience would be the H.R [Senior Level] and Subject Experts. Study would be conducted across sectors and around Five Industries would be taken under study. Five Firms would be taken for survey purpose under each Industry. So in all, 25 H.R [Senior Level] across sectors and Five Subject Experts would be surveyed. Sample size would be 30. Note: The thesis has to be divided in three parts. The first part would talk about the following: * The meaning and background of Employer Branding, the dimensions of Employer Branding, etc. * The meaning and background of Employee Performance and how it is defined. * How are Employer Branding and Employee Performance related. The second part would be of Industry research which would include study of various industries taking into consideration various units under various industries. It would include data analysis and data interpretation. The third part would include the derivations of the study. It would include key findings and learning and suggestions. Chapter 1. Introduction to Branding 1.1 Defining a Brand Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one producer from those of another. In fact, the word brand is derived from the Old Norse word brandr, which means â€Å"to burn, as brands are the means by which owners of livestock mark their animals to identify them. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA) a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition.† Technically speaking, then, whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo, or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand. Thus, the key to creating a brand, according to the AMA definition, is to be able to choose a name, logo, symbol, package design, or other attribute that identifies a prod ­uct and distinguishes it from others. These different components of a brand that iden ­tify and differentiate it can be called brand elements. A brand is therefore a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be rational and tangible—related to product performance of the brand—or more symbolic, emotional, and intangible—related to what the brand represents. One mar ­keting Observer put it this way. More specifically, what distinguishes a brand from its unbranded commodity counterpart and gives it equity is the sum total of consumers perceptions and feelings about the products attributes and how they perform, about the brand name and what it stands for, and about the company associated with the brand? 1.2 Why Brand? More and more firms and other organizations have come to the realization that one of their most valuable assets is the brand names associated with their products or services. In an increasingly complex world, individuals and businesses are faced with more and more choices but seemingly have less and less time to make those choices. The ability of a strong brand to simplify consumer decision making, reduce risk, and set expectations is thus invaluable. Creating strong brands that deliver on that promise, and maintaining and enhancing the strength of those brands over time, is thus a management imperative. Emile Durkheim in Elementary Forms of The Religious Life explains the religion of the Australian Aborigines. The concept of a church as Durkheim defines it is ‘a shared feeling of a special kind. It is group dynamics, the act of assembling for a common purpose, that creates the feeling of being in the presence of a spirit greater than the individual, a sacred feeling of being in the presence of a spirit greater than the individual, a sacred feeling that strikes a chord with our deepest longings. Brands, too, strike chords. However, striking the right chord is both difficult and often costly. There are no guarantees of the result, although there is a clear difference in the growth of financial value if we compare companies that have done at least a little branding and those that havent branded themselves at all. 1.3 Why do Brands matter? Creating a successful brand entails blending all these various elements to ­gether in a unique way—the product or service has to be of high quality and appropriate to consumer needs, the brand name must be appealing and in tune with the consumers perceptions of the product, the packaging, promo ­tion, pricing and all other elements must similarly meet the tests of appropri ­ateness, appeal, and differentiation. An obvious question is why are brands important? What functions do they per ­form that make them so valuable to marketers? One can take a couple of per ­spectives to uncover the value of brands to both consumers and firms themselves. 1.3.1 To Consumers As with the term product, this book uses the term consumer broadly to encompass all types of customers, including individuals as well as organizations. To consumers, brands provide important functions. Brands identify the source or maker of a product and allow consumers to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer or distributor. Most important, brands take on special meaning to consumers. Because of past experi ­ences with the product and its marketing program over the years, consumers learn about brands. They find out which brands satisfy their needs and which ones do not. As a result, brands provide a shorthand device or means of simplification for their product decisions. If consumers recognize a brand and have some knowledge about it, then they do not have to engage in a lot of additional thought or processing of information to make a product decision. Thus, from an economic perspective, brands allow consumers to lour search costs for products both internally (in terms of how much they have to think) and externally (in terms of how much they have to look around). Based on what they already know about the brand—its quality, product characteristics, and so forth— consumers can make assumptions and form reasonable expectations about what they may not know about the brand. Brands can also play a significant role in signaling certain product characteristics to consumers. Researchers have classified products and their associated attributes or benefits into three major categories: search goods, experience goods, and credence goods. With search goods, product attributes can be evaluated by visual inspection (e.g., the sturdiness, size, color, style, weight, and ingredient composition of a product). With experience goods, product attributes—potentially equally important—cannot be assessed so easily by inspection, and actual product trial and experience is necessary (e.g., as with durability, service quality, safety, and ease of handling or use). With cre ­dence goods, product attributes may be rarely learned (e.g., insurance coverage). Because of the difficulty in assessing and interpreting product attributes and benefits with experience and credence goods, brands may be particularly important signals of quality and other characteristics to consumers for these types of products. Brands can reduce the risks in product decisions. Consumers may perceive many different types of risks in buying and consuming a product: *Functional risk: The product does not perform up to expectations *Physical risk: The product poses a threat to the physical well-being or health of the user or others *Financial risk: The product is not worth the price paid *Social risk: The product results in embarrassment from others *Psychological risk: The product affects the mental well-being of the user *Time risk: The failure of the product results in an opportunity cost of finding another satis ­factory product Although there are a number of different means by which consumers handle these risks, certainly one way in which consumers cope is to buy well-known brands, espe ­cially those brands with which consumers have had favorable past experiences. Thus, brands can be a very important risk-handling device, especially in business to business settings where these risks can sometimes have quite profound implications. 1.3.2 To Firms Brands also provide a number of valuable functions to firms. Fundamentally, they serve an identification purpose to simplify product handling or tracing for the firm. Operationally, brands help to organize inventory and accounting records. A brand also offers the firm legal protection for unique features or aspects of the product. A brand can retain intellectual property rights, giving legal title to the brand owner. The brand name can be protected through registered trademarks, manufacturing processes can be protected through patents, and packaging can be protected through copyrights and designs. These intellectual property rights ensure that the firm can safely invest in the brand and reap the benefits of a valuable asset. As noted earlier, these investments in the brand can endow a product with unique associations and meanings that differentiate it from other products. Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the product again. This brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the firm and cre ­ates barriers of entry that make it difficult for other firms to enter the market. Although manufacturing processes and product designs may be easily duplicated, last ­ing impressions in the minds of individuals and organizations from years of marketing activity and product experience may not be so easily reproduced. In this sense, brand ­ing can be seen as a powerful means of securing a competitive advantage. 1.4 Can anything be branded? [Can organizations be branded?] Brands clearly provide important benefits to both consumers and firms. An obvious question, then, is, How are brands created? How do we brand a product? Although firms provide the impetus for brand creation through their marketing programs and other activities, ultimately a brand is something that resides in the minds of consumers. A brand is a perceptual entity that is rooted in reality, but it is also more than that, reflecting the perceptions and perhaps even the idiosyncrasies of consumers. To brand a product it is necessary to teach consumers who the product is by giving it a name and using other brand elements to help identify it—as well as what the product does and why consumers should care. In other words, to brand a product or ser ­vice, it is necessary to give consumers a label for the product (i.e., heres how we can identify the product) and to provide meaning for the brand to consumers (i.e., heres what this particular product can do for we and why it is special and different from other brand name products). Branding involves creating mental structures and helping con ­sumers organize their knowledge about products and services in a way that clarifies their decision making and, in the process, provides value to the firm. The key to brand ­ing is that consumers perceive differences among brands in a product category. As noted earlier, brand differences often are related to attributes or benefits of the product itself. In other cases, however, brand d ifferences may be related to more intangible image considerations. The universality of branding can be recognized by looking at some different product applications. As noted previously, products can be defined broadly to include phys ­ical-goods, services, retail stores, online businesses, people, organizations, places, or ideas. Brands extend beyond products and services. People and organizations also can be viewed as brands. The naming aspect of the brand is generally straightforward in this case, and people and organizations also often have well-defined images understood and liked or disliked by others. This fact becomes particularly true when considering public figures such as politicians, entertainers, and professional athletes. All of these different public figures compete in some sense for public approval and acceptance and benefit from conveying a strong and desirable image. 2: Introduction to Employer Branding 2.1 Defining an Employer Brand Like a consumer brand, it is an emotional relationship, but between an employer and employee, one that radiates out from this core to other stakeholders, to the community at large, and obviously to potential employees. Employer branding is the development and communication of an organizations culture as an employer in the marketplace. It conveys a value proposition the totality of a culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging a people to embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on personal and professional levels. Employer branding is the essence of the employment experience, providing points that commence with initial employer brand awareness, and continuing throughout the tenure of employment, even extending into retirement. Employer branding is a distinguishing and relevant opportunity for a company to differentiate itself from the competition creating its branded factors as its USP for employee satisfaction and happiness resulting in retention, productivity and efficiency. 2.2 Elements/ Essentials of an Employer Brand Few things that form an Employer Brand are:  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST ARTICULATE A PROMISE TO EMPLOYEES. Just as every business has a customer brand, every business has an employer brand, too. Whether or not a business has ever spent any time developing it. Thats because every business needs employees. And as it recruits and retains and motivates, a business needs to clarify what it stands for. Why it must exist. What difference it can make. What it believes in. How its offerings align with its values. And if a business doesnt define an employer brand, just ask the recruiters. They will tell the story based on their own experience. In fact, more than 90 percent of people on line looking for jobs say they must very closely or closely understand the value of working for a company, according to the 2005 poll by Yahoo! Hot Jobs. An employer brand is a promise to employees to provide an experience that, in return, will motivate their commitment to deliver a customer brand. The real spirit of a employer brand is a combination of what a business may promise and deliver, inside and outside. Essentially, its about a relationship, between a business and a people. How business generally approaches people, or talent, has actually changed a bit over the years. We can remember when business viewed employees as followers in a campaign—people who simply did as they were told. Then, as time passed, business progressed to considering employees as partners in the implementation of strategies. This led, in recent years, to a consideration of the exchange between employees and business—sort of a we do this in exchange for this—to express the relationship. But that was primarily a financial transaction. And over time the old ways of framing the relationship functionally became outdated. Employees began to demand a relationship that reached for something more: an emotional connection. Thats where employer brand makes a difference. An employer brand can be a magical combination of what a business values, offers, and rewards—marrying what a brand promises outside with what a experience demands inside; what a business believes in and how we fundamentally respect the people who deliver a brand.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST SUPPORT A BUSINESS STRATEGY. But one cant just build an employer brand because everyone else does. Its too important. Theres too much it must accomplish. The need must come from a business strategy. The key to a successful employer brand is alignment with the business strategy, says Yvonne Larkin of Diageo. Together the business and organization strategies give the employer brand a reason for being. The power of employer brand is how it connects the internal experience to the external business need. How it grounds the necessity for this internal experience in the economic realities of the buying decisions a customers make. For example, is a business in a phase of rapid growth? An employer brand is essential to a growth strategy. Thats because growth will demand that a business continue to hire the right people in the right jobs at the right time. And keep the people we currently have. This constant effort to recruit and re recruit demands that a business enjoy a reputation in the marketplace that will support am bitions for growth. An employer brand can help a business clarify what will and will not change as we grow. And what growth means to the people who choose to work for we. Or is a business shrinking? An employer brand is essential to a strategy for stability. It can, simply, give employees something to hold on to during periods of significant turbulence. An emotional connection with employees will be tested as a business faces challenges, such as reducing a size without cutting out a heart, or shifting a direction from what employees may consider sacred. And is a business changing? Considering or pursuing new strategies? An employer brand is essential to any change strategy simply because it provides a focal point for employees. An employer brand is a touchstone for a employees, as their willingness to emotionally connect may be tested with each action each day. The essence of effective change management is effective stability management, giving people things to protect as they adjust to things that change. An employer brand can give people that emotional anchor as they may emotionally react to how they are expected to change. It can help people sing off the same page and embrace a common vision.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE, FOR EMPLOYEES, WHAT A CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE. An employer brand will never thrive if its only an HR thing or a Communications thing. If its only purpose is to make people feel better. It will only thrive if it makes a difference in results by making a difference to customers. If it supports every touch point a customers have with a business. Such importance is a key reason why Hallmark, as part of its internal efforts to excite employees about its consumer brand, annually gives each employee a card pack as a friendly way to tell others of sending greeting cards. The card pack is just that—an attractive folder with three greeting cards inside, along with a note to the employee suggesting that they share this pack with someone outside Hallmark and their immediate family, such as a new neighbor, the person sitting next to them on an airplane or bus, or the helpful sacker at the grocery store.† The approach clearly connects employees to consumer touch points to help share Hallmarks mission of enriching lives. A customer who has a positive experience will be more likely to return. But that positive experience doesnt simply happen. People make it happen. And most of these are employees of a business. A customers experience, regardless of the product or service a business offers, is a series of reactions and observ ations at each touch point: how people notice, observe, hear, experience, and talk. Every brand experience has a defining moment. An authentic brand experience will be consistent from one person to the next because employees internalize what they must accomplish at each customer touch point. And ultimately they will tell others what they think based on what their experience. Commitment to the brand is just as important for an employee who touches customers as for an employee who never sees a customer. People who work with customers must live the brand in every interaction they conduct. Others, at the same time, work behind the scenes to make sure customer-facing employees have the tools and support they need for a positive interaction. Any business has people who never see a customer but who, in every interaction, represent the brand. Regardless of where an employee works, the commitment to deliver the brand involves internalizing the promise the brand makes, developing the skills necessary to deliver the promise, and displaying the behavior necessary when implementing those skills. At every touch point.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE WHAT A BUSINESS NEEDS FROM AN EMPLOYEES. All the magical things that can happen when a brand connects with customers dont simply happen. Employees make them happen. An employer brand is more than simply articulating what the customer brand is all about. A employer brand must define what a business needs from employees to deliver the brand Two things must happen for any employee of any business— from the smallest gas station on the corner to the largest global business—to live the brand. First, the employee must understand what the brand is all about. The employee must understand and internalize the essence of what a business is about—how that essence authentically applies to the products and services and experiences a business offers, and how the customer brand articulates this essence. What customers expect. To successfully deliver the brand promise to customers, the employee must understand the difference a business makes to customers—through its brands as well as what employees are expected to deliver. Which is the difference between doing the job and delivering the brand? Second, the employee must believe how the brand differentiates from what else is available on the market. Its not enough for the employee to believe the product, service, or business is a better choice. The employee must seriously believe it is the only choice. How the brand is aspirational. The employee must believe in the authenticity of the pictures the brand can create. The idea the brand promotes. How the brand reaches beyond a single product or service to articulate the cumulative purpose of a business behind the brand and how it connects to what people aspire to be. How the brand is inspirational. The employee must believe in the authenticity of the brand. What a business stands for. How it differentiates from others, not just in products and services, but in fundamental integrity. How its business proposition stands apart. What is unique in how a business inspires people to connect? How the brand is emotional. The employee must feel a sense of ownership in the brand, how the brand represents a business and anyone who works for a business. As if each employee wears the brand on his or her sleeve. And it certainly involves more than wearing a logo on a shirt. This has everything to do with the values of a business. Its as if, to strongly believe in the brand, the employee must believe there is something at this business they simply cannot find anywhere else. This has everything to do with how the employees values align with the values of a business. And if everyone in a business shares and aligns with these values, the brand will grow stronger. How the brand is functional. Finally, the employee must believe the products and services a business produces will actually work. They must believe in the functional integrity of what a business delivers.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE ON-BRAND BEHAVIOR. On-brand behavior is what brand is all about. Any business needs specific behaviors from employees to deliver its brand promise to customers. This on-brand behavior occurs when an employee acts (or delivers) in a way that is consistent with what the brand is all about. And its important because customers experience the brand only when employees deliver the characteristics the brand promises—when the behavior of employees supports the promise of the brand. The key to delivery of the brand is the on-brand behavior of employees at each touch point. PG carefully outlines the principles for creating exciting, memorable PG experiences—in short, a summary of on-brand behavior. In materials distributed to employees, the company says, â€Å"To make the experience personal for a consumer, the employee is encouraged, for example, to anticipate, appreciate, and respond to diverse styles, needs, and motivations. To put the guest in the center of the experience, the employee is encouraged to be genuine and authentic in actions and behavior. To deliberately build a consistent delightful experience for the consumer, the employee is encouraged to define and execute a total experience from the very first moment the guest is made aware through the final follow-up. To make the guests experience comfortable and seemingly simple, the employee is suggested to put the guest at ease. And to respond generously and selflessly to delight, and go beyond what is expected, the employee is encouraged to always look for ways to improve an experience .† The role of the employee to deliver the brand will differ from one business to another, simply because of the differences in what businesses offer. On-brand behavior is just as important in businesses whose employees never see a customer. Employees create what a business sells to customers. And customers experience the brand.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST CONNECT WHAT HAPPENS OUTSIDE TO WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE. A business has a customer brand as a place to buy—and an employer brand as a place to work. While a customer brand focuses on specific products or services available externally, an employer brand may highlight distinct experiences or opportunities available internally. An employer brand, on the inside, frames the experience a business creates for employees, so they in turn deliver the brand promises to customers. In fact, the only way an employer brand can authentically reflect a business is if it articulates an identity, mission and values. That can happen only if an employer brand builds from the inside—to incorporate an essential identity, mission, and values. But its not just about what happens inside a business. To fully picture the potential of an employer brand, we must focus on what happens outside—and what an employees must deliver.  § A EMPLOYER BRAND MUST FOCUS ON EMPLOYEE CHOICE Every day, employees make choices about where and how to work. They view each stage of their relationship with a business as a brand experience that a business delivers. Some may consider new opportunities they believe may better meet their personal expectations. Some may wonder Whats in it for me? if they contribute to the demands of the job and a business. Some may decide to depart a business about which they hold memories of what they experience—and they likely will share those experiences with others still actively connected to or certainly considering a business as an employer. Thats why a business needs to use its employer brand no matter what it is doing or w