Social Work Case Study Essay - 1581 Words

Ms. Apple is a 45 year old African American woman who has been a widow for about 4 years. Ms. Apple has three children, whose ages range from 5-12 years old. Ms. Apple has been struggling to keep her family afloat since the death of her husband. Ms. Apple convinced herself that she would not require the extra assistance. However, she realized in attempting to provide alone has not only become very strenuous, but also quite costly. Expenses have become overwhelming for Ms. Apple to maintain, since her husband took care of the finances and was the breadwinner for the family. Ms. Apple has minimal education as she is able to read and write at grade school level. Ms. Apple also has never been employed as she was a home maker. At this†¦show more content†¦According to Jansson, (2009), the confidence of the African American women became more prevalent than the Caucasian women, as they took initiative in developing crucial programs for their fellow peers. The womenâ€⠄¢s effective efforts included programs such as providing education and vocational skills to the women (Jansson, 2009). The efforts were demonstrated by the significantly large number of members in the society (Jansson, 2009). The Charity Organization Society was recognized for attempting to rationalize and systemize philanthropy (Oyen, 2006). The Charity Organization Society cut relief costs and cut able bodied individuals from relief. The Charity Organization Society wanted to pass a clear message that relief was not a right, but an act of charity. Also, the society recruited volunteers who were white upper class females known as the Friendly Visitors. The purpose of the friendly visitors was to provide motivation and encourage the destitute. The organization was primarily run by white men who believed the poor were in need of upper class role models. According to Schram and Mandell (1997), â€Å"The roots of social work were nurtured by two major wellsprings: the Charit y Organization Societies (COSs), from which pioneered group work, community and social change, advocacy, and the all-around societal gadfly. The COS first began in England, expanding later to larger cities in the UnitesShow MoreRelatedThe Social Work Case Study2703 Words   |  11 PagesRunning Head: SOCIAL WORK CASE STUDY 1 SOCIAL WORK CASE STUDY 2 SOCIAL WORK CASE STUDY Name Institution Date Client System John Marcel aged 47 and his wife Alexia aged 39 have been one of my most fascinating neighbors for about fifteen years. The couple has five children, of whom two were in college, one in high-school, andRead MoreCase Study in Social Work Practice2105 Words   |  9 Pagesidentify a case I have been involved in and have continuously had to assess whilst on placement. It will refer to a child who will be identified as A. A is a young carer and has only recently returned home after being removed from his mothers care due to her having a substance abuse problem and mental health concerns. I will link the legal framework that was relevant to this case study and describe actions taken. 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Joseph (1983) discussed how this ethical model â€Å"suggests a structure and a systematic process for inquiry into ethical issues that emerge in clinical practice and its organizational contexts.† Dilemma in Context Practice Setting TheRead MoreCase Study Management For Decades Throughout Social Work817 Words   |  4 Pagesin case management for decades throughout social work. Crisis intervention is just one form of interventions out of thirteen. Clinical case management involves 13 distinct activities, including engagement of the patient, assessment, planning, linkage with resources, consultation with families, collaboration with psychiatrists, patient psycheducation, and crisis intervention (Kanter, 1989). Even though Crisis management may have not been the correct invention for every situation in social work isRead MoreCase Study on Ethics and Dual Relationships in Social Work Essay1050 Words   |  5 PagesEthics Case Study: Juan S. The social worker in this case study worked at the ABC Children’s Wellness Center. An ESL teacher at a local elementary school referred Juan S. to her. Juan came to the center with his mother, Silvia. Before seeing Juan and his mother, the social worker called the ESL teacher who referred Juan to her to discuss the case. The teacher reported that Juan was showing little interest in classroom activities or his peers, and always seemed exhausted. He was irritable andRead MoreSocial Work Case Study- How I Applied Social Work Skills through Sessions with Mother and Son2562 Words   |  11 PagesIntroduction Being aware of oneself as a social worker is imperative if one plans to be an effective and competent social worker. There will be many incidents and situations social workers may chance upon in their professional work, which may present some difficulty concerning the next step to take in working with a client. Being aware is the first step. Background Information The family subset that will be explored in this paper is a mother and a son dyad that I worked with in my internshipRead MoreEssay Case Study: Effective Managerial Leadership1205 Words   |  5 PagesCase Study: Effective Managerial Leadership The successful implementation of a public policy to solve a social problem will greatly depend on the abilities of a public administrator. Furthermore, numerous case studies can show examples of how a successful public agency administrator can achieve goals through dedication and commitment. The following discussion will present a thorough analysis of main political, social, and economic forces that affected Dr. Gayle in establishing legislation to fightRead MoreEssay about Research Methodology Report1448 Words   |  6 Pagesof this report is to demonstrate a grounded understanding in three research methodologies and how I will apply each one in regards to my own project. Firstly I’ll investigate the advantages of an Instrumental Case Study, looking at how it proliferates, rather than narrows a given field of study. Secondly I will delve into Symbolic Interactionism referring to some influential figures involved within this methodology, as well as providing an example in r egards to my own topic. Finally I will clarifyRead MoreAttitudes Toward Interprofessional Collaboration Changed After Attending The Mentoring Program1215 Words   |  5 PagesThe purpose of their study was to examine whether attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration held by medical, social worker, and nursing students changed after completing an interprofessional curriculum. To determine whether students’ attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration changed after attending the mentoring program a pretest and posttest design was used. To measure the attitude toward nurses and nursing services the Jefferson School of Attitudes Toward Physician-nurse Collaboration

Ronald Reagan s Economic Policies - 2199 Words

Although he was a generally controversial president, Ronald Reagan’s policy decisions to stimulate economic prosperity, known as Reaganomics, were legitimately beneficial to the United States of America. First, in order to substantiate the success of Reagan’s economic policy decisions one must first grasp the varying levels of importance for each aspect of his plan. As Reagan’s policies were substantial decisions that defined his presidency and alienated an entire population of more economically liberal people, it makes sense that an understanding of his emphasis on certain decisions would lead to a more persuasive argument. Next, the negation of well formed and logical criticisms of Reagan’s economic policies also lend to the support of their benefits and success. Acknowledging a sensible counterargument and addressing specific points of critical analysis serves to further enhance the argument for the success of Reagan’s decisions. Furthermor e, strong economic growth and the curbing of federal domestic power reinforce the accomplishments of Reaganomics. Though the U.S. did see economic growth, Reaganomics was not purely an economic plan, as cuts in government power, not including the military, benefitted the average American citizen. Moreover, Ronald Reagan’s economic decisions regarding Soviet foreign policy were also extremely beneficial to the United States. The tough decisions to further the national deficit proved a worthy sacrifice in pressuring the collapseShow MoreRelatedThe Legacy Of Ronald Wilson Reagan1432 Words   |  6 Pageshome front against the use and spread of drugs. To many all around the world , this man would become the savior of America. Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 to Jack and Nelle Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. The Reagan family moved to Dixon in 1920, where Ronald excelled in high school, earning an athletic scholarship to Eureka College. Ronald majored in economics and sociology without knowing how useful this decision would be in 1981. After graduating from Eureka in 1932 he got a jobRead MoreThe Life And Career Of Ronald Reagan1686 Words   |  7 Pages The Life and Career of Ronald Reagan Colorado State University – Global Campus HST 300 Jared Faurschou Introduction Ronald Wilson Reagan, elected as the 40th President of the United States of America in 1980. Became one of the most beloved and revered President in modern times. He’s most known for bringing the end to the Cold War and helping bring an end to major communist activities in the world. There were several of Reagan’s policies that had an impact on ending the Cold War. InRead MoreIs Ronald Reagan Under or Overrated as a President? Essay675 Words   |  3 Pages Is Ronald Reagan overrated or underrated as a president? Born Ronald Wilson Reagan on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. He was an actor for 30 years before he became involved in politics. He starred in more than 50 movies. Along with acting, he was also a radio sportscaster. He served as the 33rd Governor of California. He was married to Jane Wyman from 1940 to 1949. He married Nancy Davis in 1952. President Ronald Reagan was our 40th president of the United States. He came intoRead MoreThe Anti Epidemic Of Hiv / Aids909 Words   |  4 Pagessocial, economic and political life during the 1980s, characterized by the policies of President Ronald Reagan who took office in 1981. Often remembered for its materialism and consumerism, the decade also saw the rise of the â€Å"yuppie,† an explosion of blockbuster movies and the emergence of cable networks like MTV, which introduced the music video and launched the careers of many iconic artists, this lead to a rise in drug abuse, crime aggravated by illegal drugs while overcrowding America s prisonsRead MoreRonald Reagan Essay1145 Words   |  5 PagesIn presidency, character is everything. Born on February 6, 1911, Ronald Reagan, â€Å"Dutch,† never knew that he would grow up to be famous. He served two terms as governor of California, but before that he starred in Hollywood films. Originally a liberal Democrat, Reaga n ran for the U.S. presidency as a conservative Republican and won, his term beginning in 1980. Ronald Reagan became the oldest President elected when he took office as the 40th President of the United States. He was also the first URead MoreRonald Reag As Government Expands, Liberty Contracts Essay1628 Words   |  7 PagesEthan Martin Martin 1 Mrs. Langerot English 4 October 14, 2015 Ronald Wilson Reagan â€Å"As government expands, liberty contracts(Ronald Reagan Quotes). Those who know anything about Modern Politics in the United States know that Ronald Reagan is the poster child and founder of today s Conservatism. Today s Conservatism is at its core a hybrid between the Conservatism of Theodore Roosevelt and that of the Libertarianism of Thomas Jefferson. Libertarians believe that theRead MoreRonald Reagan and Economic Policies1030 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ Ronald Reagan and Economic Policies History 145 Jennifer Moore Ronald Reagan, President of the United States from 1981 through 1989, created economic policies throughout his presidency that aimed to pull the United States out of a recession. His policies, called Reaganomics, reduced government spending and reduced tax rates in order to foster economic growth. Reagan also appointed many conservative judges to the Supreme Court and federal courts in order to shift ideologiesRead MoreThe Significance of Ronald Reagans Tax Reform Act of 1986979 Words   |  4 Pagesassesses the significance of Ronald Reagan’s Tax Reform Act of 1986 in the overall decrease of unemployment levels during the last year of his presidency, 1989. 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Nau company Free Essays

string(231) " only reached half of its funding goal, the first Ana store penned in Boulder, Colorado, in January 2007, with three more successful store openings following during the year in Adulating, Oregon; Chicago; and Bellevue, Washington\." Ana Innovating for Social Consciousness By Alex Claws Can a for-profit enterprise succeed if its main innovation is valuing social consciousness as much as shareholder returns? The question is particularly relevant in a time of high gas prices and a growing sense that our current consumption of natural resources is simply unsustainable. The founders of Ana, a fledgling retail outerwear company, believed the answer to this question to be a resounding mimes. Built with an unprecedented level of environmental, social, and human-rights unconsciousness, by April 2008 Ana was an underground success on the West Coast, opening five stores and a website selling critically acclaimed clothing collections. We will write a custom essay sample on Nau company or any similar topic only for you Order Now Then, at the beginning of May, Nan’s board of directors voted to shut down the company. Viewed through Insight’s lenses, Nan’s promise becomes clear-?along with the perils that led to its downfall. Ana had a reasonable business model built around a well-defined Job-to-be-done. But as will become clear, Ana didn’t follow an emergent strategy. And Nan’s management discovered that a business model that looks good on paper doesn’t always translate into immediate profits. Ultimately, a lack of careful execution and a push for quick expansion doomed Nan’s first incarnation. But the story of Ana is still unfolding. Ana 2. 0 is currently underway, and that venture appears to have a better chance of success. The Launch Ana (Maori for â€Å"welcome†) began with the dream of Eric Reynolds, an outdoor enthusiast entrepreneur, co-founder (in 1974) of outerwear brand Marmot, and subscriber to the belief that a single individual can have an impact on the world. In the summer of 2003, Reynolds conceived of Ana, a sustainable clothing company that would donate a significant portion of its revenue to nonprofit organizations. Specifically, Reynolds envisioned customers presented with a unique question at point-of-sale: â€Å"To which organization should ‘my five percent’ go? † By giving five percent of its revenue to nonprofits, Ana would break new ground. (For comparison, the most generous corporations give away one percent of revenue, with the average corporation giving less than . 05 percent. ) In the summer of 2004, Reynolds began recruiting a management team. In 2005, he hired a number of individuals away from Patagonia, a firm commonly considered a leader in outerwear, social consciousness, ND charitable giving. Chris Van Dyke (son of actor Dick Van Dyke), an ex-Nikkei employee 1 and ex-Patagonia vice president of branding and marketing, was hired as CEO. Mark Calibrating, a successful Patagonia designer, Joined Ana as lead designer. Patagonians director of marketing, Ian Yells, Joined as vice president of marketing. Nan’s commitment to sustainability framed the constraints within which Calibrating worked as he designed Nan’s clothing collection. Calibrating avoided any materials that weren’t renewable or recyclable while seeking a balance between performance, sustainability, and style. As a result, nearly all of the 30 fabrics utilized in Nan’s clothing collection were custom materials developed specifically for Ana. The fabrics -?made from corn, recycled plastic bottles, 100 percent organic wool, and recycled synthetics-?set a new standard for sustainability. Nan’s clothing creation process led to a number of innovations, including the elimination of solvent-based adhesives. The efforts of Calibrating and his team were rewarded-?Nan’s first collection received critical praise from such disparate sources as Men’s Vogue and Rock and Ice magazines. One downside: The fabric choices greatly constrained the range of colors possible, resulting in mostly drab hues. Nan’s custom fabrics also required that customers pay a substantial premium for their clothing, but Nan’s management team did not see this as a problem for its target customer segments: the affluent â€Å"multidimensional outdoor athlete,† the â€Å"new activist,† and â€Å"creative. The Ana team expected that their customers’ passion for sustainability would overcome any price resistance. Nan’s commitment to sustainability was enforced as carefully in its stores as in its clothing. The company eschewed traditional 4,000-square-foot retail stores for a 2,000-square-foot â€Å"Webfoot† concept. The store spaces were long and narrow, design ed purposefully with limited space for inventory that would be restocked twice weekly. Ana also offered customers a 10 percent discount and free shipping if they were willing to try clothing in the store, and then purchase it online. Assembled from a modular, prefabricated design, each store featured energy-saving lighting and leveraged materials such as reclaimed timber, toxin-free fiberboard, and recycled resin (for mannequins). Customers were offered a choice of 12 carefully selected environmental, social, and humanitarian nonprofit organizations, and five percent of the purchase price was donated to the chosen group. Nan’s values extended to its real estate leasing strategy as well-?Ana only leased store space that was LED-certified (LED certification indicates environmental- and health-consciousness standards). The company also set a minimum age limit for the workers at its overseas material suppliers. Nan’s principles included the constraint that the highest-paid worker within the company could only earn a maximum of 12 mimes the lowest-paid employee’s salary. Finally, Ana did not invest in marketing or public relations beyond a series of websites, choosing instead to rely on word-of- mouth, a more â€Å"sustainable† form of marketing in the eyes of Yells and his team. While Ana managed to be remarkably consistent in the infusion of its values into its processes, one of the key factors in its eventual downfall was that the company had a difficult time securing financing. At least one investor’s legal counsel balked at a contract clause that placed the â€Å"needs of society’ equal to the â€Å"needs of shareholders,† but Ana held firm. 2 Nan’s business plan called for it to earn more than $250 million in revenue in 2010 and to achieve profitability in 2009 or 2010, figures based on opening four stores in 2007, 20 stores in 2008, and 150 stores by 2010. To build the necessary momentum toward these goals, Ana needed at least $51 million in funding. By the end of 2006, Ana had raised $24 million, largely from â€Å"super angels,† individual investors who included the chairman of Seagate Technology, Steve Lucid, and Stephen Gomez, Nan’s chairman and a former Nikkei corporate vice president. Despite the fact that Ana had only reached half of its funding goal, the first Ana store penned in Boulder, Colorado, in January 2007, with three more successful store openings following during the year in Adulating, Oregon; Chicago; and Bellevue, Washington. You read "Nau company" in category "Papers" Ana completed its first year of operation in 2007 with 92 employees, four clothing collections, and four stores. In March 2008, Ana donated $223,000 to its 12 nonprofit organizations, implying 2007 sales of around $4. 5 million. In mid-April, Ana opened its fifth store in Los Angels. In late April 2008, despite raising an additional $10 million in funding, Ana announced that it would scale back its store- peeing plans to a total of five in 2008, down from an already-reduced projection of 10. Finally, on May 1, Nan’s board of directors voted to â€Å"wind down its business operations,† citing â€Å"insurmountable financial obstacles. † All inventory was liquidated at 50 percent off and the stores were closed. Post-mortem interviews with Nan’s executives suggest that the company was approximately $5 million to $10 million short of the funds needed to sustain its operations and open additional stores towards its goal of profitability. In the days following the decision, many customers commented on Nan’s blob, expressing sadness, frustration, and anger and questioning why Ana had failed. Ana: The Post-Mortem Looking at Ana through Insight’s business model innovation framework and a number of Insight lenses offers insight into how Ana developed such a devoted following as well as how the management team might have been able to ensure a brighter future for their company. Insight believes that business model innovation is one of the most powerful ways for organizations to achieve new growth. By carefully adjusting business model components-?the customer value proposition (the offering itself), the profit system (how the company creates value for itself), key resources (the critical things required to deliver on the value proposition), and key processes (how the company organizes and acts to deliver on the value proposition) -?organizations can build the type of competitive advantage necessary to create truly transformation growth. Nan’s business model looked good-?on paper, at least. But Nan’s impatient push for profits made it hard to really validate whether the business model would in fact work, and shut all opportunities for learning. Ana pulled the customer value proposition lever expertly. The company created potently positive solutions to a number of emotional, social, and functional Jobs-to- be-done. The sustainability of Nan’s operations and products set a new standard of satisfaction for the emotional Job â€Å"Feel good about 3 the environmental and social consciousness of my clothing. Nan’s clothing also satisfied the social Job â€Å"Convey to others that I prioritize the sustainability of my clothing over its color and flash. † And, as lauded by Rock and Ice magazine, Nan’s clothing also satisfied myriad functional Jobs related to comfort and technical performance. Since its sustainable materials carried up to a 20-percent price premium over more commercially available materials, Ana had to pass the premium along t o customers. But Nan’s management team was correct in assuming that the high quality and the redeeming social and environmental value of its clothing Justified that premium in the eyes of customers -?as long as the economy was robust enough that sufficient customers could afford it. And Ana broke new ground with its â€Å"Webfoot† stores by implementing a retail business model that required lower capital and operational expenditures than a traditional retail store model. But there was a significant downside to Nan’s profit-system choices. Insight recommends that new ventures â€Å"be patient for growth, impatient for profit. † Nan’s management expected the company to have 150 stores in operation by 2010, but did not expect profitability until 2009 at the earliest. Growth was thus essential to profitability, creating a significant risk of failure if the company could not reach its early-stage funding goals. Insight also recommends that new ventures pursue an emergent strategy, to take small steps by conducting inexpensive tests of its key assumptions about the new racket. When the test results are in, the venture can analyze the results, adjust its strategy accordingly, and then conduct additional tests. This careful approach helps new ventures optimize for success while avoiding huge, potentially fatal resource commitments. In Nan’s case, an emergent strategy might have enabled the firm to consume its funding more slowly while developing an optimal strategy. Instead, the team decided to go straight to launching full Webfoot’s rather than testing the clothing line in a department store or opening a single, test-store concept. The root cause for the failure of Ana 1. 0 seems to have been that Nan’s business strategy and some of its business model decisions proved questionable. By following a more careful, emergent strategy and by focusing on profitability before growth, Nan’s executives might have been able to strike a better balance between vision and execution. Ana 2. 0: On June 24, 2008, Nan’s fortunes turned around. Horny Toad Activities, a Santa Barbara-based lifestyle clothing company, stepped in to buy Nan’s assets with the goal of re-launching a modified version of Ana by late summer. While â€Å"Ana 2. † Is gust beginning to emerge, early signs suggest that the re-launch will follow a strategy more closely aligned to that which Insight would recommend for success. Horny Toad creates and sells men’s and women’s lifestyle and outerwear clothing. Horny Toad’s tagging, â€Å"every day is an adventure,† introduces a humorous, irreverent, so cially-conscious approach that lies at the core of everything the company does. Indeed, Horny Toad and Ana have much in common. Horny Toad’s stated commitment to â€Å"lightening its environmental footprint† and to 4 supporting both the community and organizations that improve the world immediately suggest synergies. Much as Ana showcased the organizations chosen for customer contributions, the Horny Toad website highlights its support for causes ranging from helping adults with developmental disabilities to supporting clean energy, with a wide range of other environmental and community-activist organizations in between. However, in contrast to Nan’s commitment to sell its clothing solely through a growing number of its own stores, Horny Toad has only two stores and sells its clothing in a wide variety of online and brick-and-mortar retailers. In addition to a store in Freeport, Maine, Horny Toad runs the â€Å"Lizard Lounge† in Portland, Oregon, complete with music, wireless access, coffee, and ping-pong. Horny Toad clothing has been lauded for its hip funkiness by print publications and blobs alike. Recognizing the similarities between Ana and Horny Toad, Horny Toad felt that it would support its motto â€Å"do well by doing good† by purchasing Nan’s assets and hiring its leadership to help re-launch the clothing line. In addition to providing financial support, Horny Toad will sell Ana clothing in the Lizard Lounge and, in a break from Nan’s original treated, through other retailers as well. And, with Horny Toad’s support, a percentage of Ana sales will continue to go to worthy non-profits. According to Nan’s â€Å"Thought Kitchen† blob, shortly after the relationship was finalized Ana leadership began working to resurrect relationships with company partners and to put together a Fall/Holiday clothing collection in time for October availability. While the Ana clothing line will continue to deliver on the â€Å"Beauty, Performance, and Sustainability’ commitment through the use of environmentally friendly and socially conscious trials and methods, a quote from Nan’s website gets to the heart of why Ana 2. May very well succeed while 1. 0 failed: â€Å"As we move forward with the re-launch of Ana, you’ll definitely recognize us, but we intend to do some things differently†¦ We’re going to start small and grow the business organically in relationship to the demand for our product. We’ll continue to sell our prod uct at Ana. Com, but we’re also going to partner with select retailers who share our common goals. We will not be operating our own retail stores, at least not in the near term†¦ So stay tuned. We’re coming back. Smaller and a little wiser, our ambitions tempered a bit by the experience, but our passions most definitely intact. Ana 2. G’s strategy will most likely enable the brand to focus more closely on identifying the product, marketing, and channel mix that appeals most to customers, without worrying about the pressures of rapid expansion. Particularly in a new venture, vision and passion tempered by patience and pragmatism is the way to go. This approach is also particularly appropriate in these tough economic times. Satisfying social and emotional Jobs-to-be-done around environmental friendliness ND social consciousness may be enough to earn significant premiums for clothing in a strong economy. However, during an economic downturn, financial reality frequently wins out as consumers prioritize value over the satisfaction of some social and emotional Jobs. 5 For example, since the economy began to sour, Whole Foods Market has seen some of its consumers move their food spending to more budget-friendly alternatives. Whole Foods has responded by shifting its marketing strategy from a focus on quality and environmental friendliness to an emphasis on discounts, store brands, and reduce value as it attempts to keep its customers. Even if Ana 1. 0 had received enough funding earlier in 2008 to continue operations, economic conditions would likely have pushed the enterprise to the breaking point, as has happened with many other fledgling clothing boutiques. When Ana 1. 0 launched, its management team made an impressive commitment to the company’s values, taking steps such as tracing the wool used in its clothing back to the sheep to ensure that they were well-treated and implementing a â€Å"sustainable† word-of-mouth marketing strategy. To launch the new Ana, it is clear that the team as had to compromise on some of its values, such as the control provided by company-owned storefronts, a grassroots-only marketing effort, and potentially the level of contribution to nonprofits. In the end, however, the Ana 2. 0 strategy, with the help of Horny Toad, may be the key to enabling the company’s sustainable operation. Making their operations as sustainable as their values will help ensure that Ana is able to be a force for good in the world for a long time to come. For more information: http://www. Ana. Com/coming-this-fall. HTML (Accessed 8/29/08, 1 :41 pm) http:// www. Gibbousness. Com/CGI-bin/magma/article. Pl? Articled=30412; http:// gratifiers. Com/content/fullest/? Acid=50781 6 Innovator’s Insight In Need of an Innovation Fill-up By Stephen Hunker Recent news that Consulship’s will be selling all 600 of its U. S. Service stations for $800 million comes as little surprise. Oil companies are facing extraordinarily attractive investment opportunities in exploration and production, and the service station business has been tightly squeezed between rising wholesale costs, inability to pass along those cost increases, and falling demand as driving declines. Clearly the station’s buyer-?closely held Peterson Fuel-?sees it differently. We do too. In our view, Peterson Fuel is buying cheap assets with lots of innovation headroom. While â€Å"stick to your knitting† is a popular business maxim, it is of course common to find diversified businesses. There are several reasons diversification can make sense: ; If the new business can share costs and customers with the core business-? in this case, owning both enterprises can provide scale economies, improve distribution, create a better buying experience, and other advantages. This is why many European parameters have service stations outside their doors, for example. ; If the new business provides a useful hedge against a core with volatile returns but a need for consistent investment. This explains why many pharmaceutical firms own over-the-counter consumer healthcare brands. ; By diversifying, a firm can hold on to a seemingly unrelated business because it sees substantial headroom for growth and a right to triumph in that arena. This is one reason News Corporation bought Namespace. Historically, oil companies owned service stations for each of these reasons. The end nonuser drove demand, and having direct access to that consumer allowed firms to exercise some control over demand levels while also gaining precise information about what products were demanded where. Profits from service stations could offset volatility in exploration and production. Also, the advent of convenience stores at service stations created a new high-margin business. Each of these Justifications for integration now seems threatened by changes such as improved information technology, more efficient capital markets, and communication of the service station experience. With supermarket-owned service stations now coming to the United States, oil companies face new competitors who may even sell gasoline at a loss in order to drive traffic into their stores. In the I-J, pressure from supermarkets is a factor leading to the net closure of 600 service stations per year. The service station business is looking much less attractive than it used to. So, what might Peterson Fuel be thinking? We imagine two major Justifications for the investment. First, if oil prices decline, the profit margins on service stations may rise, and Peterson will have bought valuable assets for a song. Second, there may be much more innovation headroom in this business than oil companies have traditionally assumed. For instance, Fullness Media International offers local news, weather, and sports on screens at pumps at a few hundred stations. Fullness pays the retailer and shows ads to this highly captive audience. Shell is experimenting with fuel pumps that are activated simply by a swipe of a fingerprint. Dutch inventors have created a robotic arm that finds a car’s fuel cap, unscrews it, and automatically pumps gas. Regional fuel retailer Sheets differentiates itself through premium coffee and made- o-order sandwiches. Another retailer, Valier, is piloting 5,000-square-foot convenience stores with fully nonwhite of the space dedicated to fresh food and other perishables. Oil companies would be well-served by thinking through how well the jobs of their customers are getting done, and whether they can De-commoditized the service station business through new propositions or re-definition of the competitive set. Looking through this lens, we can imagine how a mother could prefer a certain service station because it offers very fast, targeted entertainment for bored children n the back seat, or how a senior might prefer one with very brightly lit displays. The advent of electric- and fuel-cell-powered vehicles opens further possibilities for using service station real estate in new ways. Look at how Best Buy reconciled what an electronics retailer could be, and how it escaped industry communication in the process. While Wall-Mart and others cut prices ruthlessly, Best Buy rolled out Geek Squad-?a service tightly integrated with its retailing business that addressed a wide swath of unsatisfied Jobs its customers faced post-sale. It also became a place to try new videotapes. The store is even trying to become a hub for musicians buying electric guitars and other gear. In the process, the company increased revenue 92 percent over five years, almost entirely through internally generated growth. It turned out that electronics retailing wasn’t a commodity business at all. Sometimes a dog business is Just a dog business. MM spun off its floppy disk and magnetic tape business in 1996, and that turned out to be a smart move. But we find it hard to believe that there is little room for profitable innovation in a retail business that hundreds of millions consumers have to visit on a regular basis. When the finance people come knocking, looking to sell downtrodden assets and invest the proceeds in high-flying businesses, lock the doors for a bit. The business may indeed have few prospects. On the other hand, it may support the core business in many oblique but important ways, and it may have far more innovation headroom left to exploit. – â€Å"Consulship’s Will Sell Its Company-owned Service Stations†, by Brett Clayton, Houston Chronicle, August 27, 2008 (http://www. Chronic. Com/disk/story. Ml/business/energy/5969574. HTML) 8 â€Å"Finding the Right Job for your Product†, by Clayton Christensen, Scott Anthony, Gerald Brewster and Denies Meetinghouse, Sloan Management Review, Spring 2007 (http://www. Insight. Com/innovation_resources/research. HTML? Id=167) 9 Innovators’ Update A Good Start for Amazon AMP Amazon’s digital music store keeps sailing on the winds of industry changes Insight #98 from October 2007, â€Å"Handicapping Amazo n’s Low-Cost Music Store,† suggested that Amazon might find the results of its then newly launched music download store disappointing. What has happened since? By Renee Hopkins Callahan When Amazon launched its Amazon AMP online music download store in September 007, we were skeptical. At the time, Apple had sold more than 100 million pods and tunes had a lock on the online music market. Amazon AMP planned to sell music free of Digital Rights Management (DORM) protection-?a limited supply, since at the time only one of the four major music labels had agreed to make its music available without DORM protection. Amazon AMP seemed unlikely to succeed with a business model focused on undercutting tunes on price, selling songs for 89 cents instead of 99 cents. We were right that the low-cost strategy would not put much of a dent in the popularity of Tunes. Yet circumstances in the year since its launch have helped Amazon refine its strategy and offer a preview of possible success. According to NYPD Group research released in late July, tunes remains on top of the music retail pack. It is the largest music retailer in the world and it sells at least 90 percent of digital downloads in the U. S. However, the same research showed that Amazon AMP has grown to be the fourth-largest retailer of music in the U. S. , behind tunes, Walter, and Best Buy. That puts Amazon AMP in second place for online music download sales. And while here’s still a huge gap in volume between tunes and Amazon AMP-?with Amazon’s share of the market in single digits-?Amazon is in the game. However, Amazon hasn’t accomplished that by stealing tunes customers. Russ Cropping, an entertainment industry analyst for NYPD, said in an April 2008 report that only about 10 percent of Amazon AMP customers used to be tunes users, with the other 90 percent likely to be people who had been using other services or were new to digital downloading. Amazon AMP attracts young adults age 18 to 25, while tunes’ strongest demographic is teens age 13 to 17, another April 2008 study said. Amazon has likely benefited from winds of change blowing in the music industry. A number of analysts have speculated that the industry sees Amazon as an ally in an effort to break Apple’s dominance in digital music. It would seem counterintuitive that the music industry would want to bypass its richest retail channel. But some of Apple’s practices cut profits for the major labels. In late August, the Wall Street Journal reported on a growing trend in the music business: labels deliberately withholding some of their music from tunes. The article cites several cases in which albums were either not made available on Tunes or were pulled. Why? While consumers strongly prefer purchasing music by song, music label executives, managers and even some artists dislike the tunes policy that requires that music be made available by the song as well 10 as by the album, because profit margins for single-song sales aren’t nearly as good as the margins for album sales. Meanwhile, Amazon AMP lets labels sell music the way they want to. If a label wishes to make an artist’s work available only by the album, Amazon AMP allows it. Some of the music that the labels have been withholding from tunes is ending up on Amazon AMP. The DORM issue has worked to Amazon’s benefit as well. Apple’s tunes has historically sold Deteriorated downloads. Such encoding means that songs downloaded on tunes cannot be played on other AMP devices. Apple has worked to persuade the major labels to drop DORM, though it still seeks to keep tunes the only source of song downloads for the pod. At the time that Amazon AMP launched, only MIME, one of the four major music labels, had announced it would drop DORM protection on its music. By early January 2008, a few months after Amazon AMP launched, the three other major labels-universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMW- dropped DORM. That meant their music could be made available on Amazon AMP, which does not use DORM, and which features free software that delivers a customer’s AMP file directly to their tunes library. Meanwhile, according to a May 30 Macdonald magazine story, â€Å"Sony, Universal, and Warner continue to withhold the unencumbered tracks from Apple, choosing instead to back tuner’s rivals. † Amazon may have more surprises up its virtual sleeve. In late July, Fortune magazine reported that Amazon was in talks with Namespace about becoming the social networking giant’s download store partner hen it rolls out its highly anticipated Joint venture with Universal, Warner Music and Sony BMW in September. If the deal goes through, it puts Amazon in a good position to continue nipping at Apple’s heels. According to the Fortune report, Namespace plans to let its 120 million users stream entire songs before downloading them. That potentially changes the convenience trade-off for the Namespace customers in Amazon’s favor, because they would be able to buy a song and get it into their computer’s music manager, even tunes, with one click using Amazon’s software. Those who wanted to use tunes would have to leave Namespace and physically go to Tunes to accomplish the same end. Clearly, we underestimated the desire of other companies to develop a reasonable Number Two to Apple, a position that Amazon AMP seems to have grown into in the last year. If Amazon can figure out more ways to capitalize on its toehold position in the digital music business, How to cite Nau company, Papers

Economic Demand and Supply Analysis †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Questions: 1.Why is it important to consider the price elasticity of demand of your product when setting the price you are going to charge? 2.Explain the difference between comparative advantage an absolute advantage? Answers: 1. Demand for a product is usually highly responsive to a change in its price. This responsiveness is captured by price elasticity of demand. Price elasticity is calculated as a percentage change in quantity demand in response to a change in price. Now, response of demand to price is not uniform. It depends on several factors. These factors include nature of the product, availability of substitutes, income of the people and others (Baumol Blinder, 2015). Since, elasticity measure responsiveness of demand to its price this plays an important role in pricing decision. Sellers should set its price keeping in mind elastic response of the demand for the product. If demand is highly elastic as in case of luxury items, then charging a high price lead to a loss of business because people are able to reduce their demand largely. With availability of substitutes products demand, become more flexible. In this situation, producers should not set a high price. For goods having high elasticity, too high price harm the business by reducing demand and sellers should set a low price (Varian, 2014). Therefore, knowledge about demand elasticity helps the firm to take decision on price. This helps firms to rightly plan their marketing strategy and fulfill revenue goal. Even after setting price producers sometimes, need to revise for either increasing their revenue or capturing a greater market share. With complete information about elasticity, producers can optimally decide how much price increase or decrease is needed to achieve set revenue target. 2. In international trade, a country usually exports the good in which it has an advantage over another country and imports the good in which the country has disadvantage in production. This advantage or disadvantage is determined using the concept of absolute ad comparative advantage. Adam Smith gives the theory of absolute advantage. A country is said to have an absolute advantage in producing one good if it enjoys absolute cost benefit. On the other hand, comparative advantage is determined based on opportunity cost that is what amount of other goods needs to be sacrificed to produce a particular good (Levchenko Zhang, 2016). There are situations where two countries have absolute advantage in both goods. Then it becomes difficult to decide the trade relation. To resolve this issue David Ricardo gives the theory of comparative advantage. Trade based on absolute advantage cannot be mutually beneficial always. In times of comparative advantage, trade is always beneficial for both the nation. In contrast to absolute advantage overall output level is also considered under comparative advantage. In computing absolute advantage, absolute cost is important while for comparative advantage opportunity cost is used. Countries generally specialize and export goods in which it has a comparative advantage. The idea of comparative advantage dominates that of absolute advantage as it more efficiently determines countries production capacity more efficiently (Yang Ng, 2015). Comparative advantage analyzes gains from trade more intensively and provides a bigger rationale for trade than absolute advantage. Today international trade theory is mostly based on comparative advantage theory. References Baumol, W. J., Blinder, A. S. (2015). Microeconomics: Principles and policy. Cengage Learning. Levchenko, A. A., Zhang, J. (2016). The evolution of comparative advantage: Measurement and welfare implications.Journal of Monetary Economics,78, 96-111. Varian, H. R. (2014).Intermediate microeconomics with calculus: a modern approach. WW Norton Company. Yang, X., Ng, Y. K. (2015).Specialization and economic organization: A new classicalmicroeconomic framework (Vol. 215). Elsevier.

The Importance of the Process of Colonization and the Formation of Unique Cultures in America to the Formation of the United States

Julius Caesar an Iconic Roman

Julius Caesar an Iconic Roman Introduction Based on my personal opinion, Julius Caesar was a highly influential Roman, as a leader and as an ordinary person. He is a person who greatly influenced the then Roman people, as well as the recent generations, including Western culture affiliates. He lived between July 100 BC and March 44 BC. Caesar was a statesman, Roman General, and a renowned writer of Latin literature.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Julius Caesar an Iconic Roman specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More He was a major actor in bringing about the gradual revolution of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Among the milestones of his life, in 60 BC, together with Pompey, he formed the political alliance, an establishment created to dominate Roman politics for a number of years. However, their attempts to converge power through populist movements, were greatly opposed by the conservative elite class within the Roman senate. These included Cato the younger, and Cicero. Caesar’s conquest over Gaul was accomplished by 51 BC, leading to the expansion of Rome’s coverage to the English Channel and the Rhine area. Caesar recorded the accomplishment of becoming the first Roman Empire, to cross both boundaries, after building a bridge across the Rhine and leading the first invasion into the British territory (Thorne, 2003). Discussion The accomplishments which Caesar achieved, marked him as an unmatched military leader, who would command massive military power, which led to his eclipsing of Pompey’s standing. The division of power among the two was further threatened by the death of Crassus in 53 BC. Later, the political realignments taking place in Roman rule led to confrontation between Caesar and Pompey, with Pompey assuming the course of the senate. Through the demands of the senate, Caesar was required to face a trial in Rome, over a number of charges. Instead, Caesar accompanied by one legion, march ed from Gaul to Italy, during which, he crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC. The march sparked a civil war, which left Caesar, the unopposed leader of the Roman Republic.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More After taking up leadership over the government, he started widespread reforms of the Roman society and the government system. Further, he centralized the bureaucracy of the Roman Republic, thus was declared a dictator in precedence. Later on, a number of senators led by Marcus Brutus, ordered the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC, hoping that his death would help revert the system to the constitutional republic government system. However, the unexpected came about, as a series of civil wars took place, which led to the ultimate permanent establishment of the Roman Empire by Caesar’s adopted heir, Octavius (Augustus Caesar). The larger part of Caesars life was marked by his milit ary engagements (Thorne, 2003). During his time and after his death, especially among the Romans and his present day admirers, Julius Caesar was well-liked and revered for a number of accomplishments and traits. These include the view that he was a defender of the rights of the people of his time, against the ruling oligarchy. He is also revered as a highly ambitious person, who was able to push his way into dictatorial power, and bringing about the death of the republic, through his highly developed tactical leadership. Caesar is also revered for his gifted, versatile nature, which saw him amass great success in war, as an orator and a statesman in an effective manner (Thorne, 2003). Another area that has touched and influenced succeeding generation till the present time, is the literary ability of Caesar. His literary creations are highly revered and used as military references. These include the civil war literature (three books), and commentaries on the Gallic wars, which are do cumented in seven books. This literature lives on, and is cited as beautiful and clearly drawn from Latin classic works. In the field of poetry, the only one of Caesar’s works which is traceable to the present, is a poem about Terrence. This piece has also received usage and reverence as a concise Latin piece, depicting the literal constructions of the then Roman society.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Julius Caesar an Iconic Roman specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In tracing his influence on the Western culture up to date, Caesars death, served to trigger his power and influence, which grew to the level of installing him as a central symbol of western culture and a mythic emblem. In contributing to the Western culture, the figure of Caesar has been adopted by historical figures like Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Madison Avenue, and George Shaw. For instance, Mussolini and Napoleon have given tribute to Caesarâ⠂¬â„¢s crossing of the Rubicon in the protection of the dictatorial course they supported. Caesar has received credit as a one of a kind political leader. Credit is given to the social, economic, and political changes he caused on the Roman society and government. Caesar’s unique model is given credit and acknowledgement for the ability he showed in breaking the long-standing laws operating within the then Roman society. This serves to show him as a historical model, who may be emulated by the leaders of today, to bring about the changes that are needed within the history of government systems. Some of the revolutionary changes of Caesar, include his bringing of an entire army into the city, mainly because, prior to his act of disobedience, the army had not set foot inside the city of Rome. Caesar is seen as a proponent of changes, against the interests of the powerful system, proving the ability of changing socially constructed tolerance for undesired societal systems and st ructures. Some of the lines or key phrases used or related to his life, are used in real life situations, to explain the directly unrelated events or occurrences. One phrase which has received such usage to a considerable level is, ‘Crosses the Rubicon,’ which is used as a figurative phrase to show the situation of going beyond the expected conventional levels. For instance, the phrase is used in explaining the cases, where an individual acts way beyond his entitlement, in terms of what he is allowed to do and what not to. These constructions show that his lines of action, mark milestones in marking real life events, which has held value for many generations after his death (Elton, 1996).Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More After his death, instead of his legacy dying and things returning to the way they were before he had got into the picture of political leadership, they got even worse, with the possibility of a return to the republic status becoming impossible. Instead, what happened was that civil wars started taking place, which threatened the leadership of the very people who had gotten Caesar assassinated. After all the civil wars and the deterioration in stability, the leadership fell into the hands of Caesars heir, Mr. Augustus Caesar, and not the rivals. The power of Augustus, further led to the permanent change to the empire status of the region, thus the hopes of reclaiming the republic status (Casson, 1998). The death of Caesar was more of a motivation to the Romans, and not a loss of their highly esteemed leader. This can be traced to the dramatic entry into power, which had clearly portrayed to the Romans, the ability of working against the common current or established negative principl es. After his death, the Romans were again woken up to the fact that they would expect the leadership imbalances eliminated by Caesar to resurface. As a result, the fear that a power struggle would take place empowered the Romans, which led to the revolt against the leadership change, thus the civil wars witnessed. This was highly unexpected, as Caesar, a declared dictator, had the support of all the people of Rome, and his death resulted in administrative imbalances. That helped serve the role of showing that he was more of a Roman’s leader, though a dictator. This trait has led to the long held prominence of this icon, thus the influence of Western leadership which comes along with it (Blackburn Holford, 1999). The key role played by Caesar in changing Rome and Europe in general, is socially, through the conquering of Gaul and the extension of the Roman culture into England, Belgium, and France. This was the unifying tie, between these varied lands of Celtic tribes into a unified common, in the fabric of the history of Western Europe as Romanic, and the Germanic Europe as a classic. These major revisions of the cultural aspects of Europe and other societies, have played a great role, in shaping the current world, which has directed credit to him, even thousands of years after his death (Adkins Adkins, 1998). Conclusion One highly revered figure in the history of the Western culture as well as the history of the globe as a whole is Caesar, a person who was authoritative in his time, and who grew more influential after his death. The areas that give this figure immense influence, include his pattern of leadership against the odds, as well as the historical role played in creating the Western culture. Thousands of years later, his name is as influential as it was after his death, both in leadership lines as well as other areas. References Adkins, L., Adkins, R. (1998). Handbook to life in ancient Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Blackburn, B., Holford, S. L. (1999). The Oxford companion to the year. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Casson, L. (1998). Everyday life in ancient Rome. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Elton, H. (1996). Warfare in Roman Europe AD350-425. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Thorne, J. (2003). Julius Caesar: conqueror and dictator. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Strategic Planning Utilizing the Balanced Scorecard Assignment

Strategic Planning Utilizing the Balanced Scorecard - Assignment Example Vision and strategy statements often contain phrases such as superior or top class service or excellent product quality and so on. Often, these statements do not provide accurate meaning to internal and external stakeholders. Through the process of Balanced Scorecard, the management provides a clear-cut definition, for example, the top class service as 97 percent on-time delivery to customers. With this clarity, everyone concerned will focus and put their efforts to achieving the top class service rather than speculating on its abstract meaning. Scorecard provides a platform to translate the strategy overcoming vision barrier. Scorecard creates understandable measurement criteria that guide all employees to achieving desired goals. Customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and market share are the critical indicators that inform how close the company is to customers. The organization needs to create the performance drivers that not only measure the customer perspective but suggests the ways to improve upon them. Entirely new processes such as product development, production activities, or service capabilities may be considered in this perspective. The organization needs to create the performance drivers that not only measure the internal process perspective but suggests the ways to improve upon them. Skyline College’s vision statement is: "Skyline College inspires a global and diverse community of learners to achieve intellectual, cultural, social, economic and personal fulfillment" (Skyline College, 2014). Keeping in line with vision statement, several strategies of Skyline are in operation for achieving its goal. To know about the effectiveness of the strategies formulated, Skyline has devised several measures such as retention, persistence, all course success, basic skill course success, student-counselor ratio, and many more. Through these measuring criteria, it is possible to know

VP candidates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

VP candidates - Essay Example This would result in Medicare going bankrupt by 2016, and this shows that they do not want to preserve Medicare at all. Biden claims that their new plan will be called voucher care. Biden then continues to attack Republicans by putting down their idea of needing to act now. They want to reduce the national debt, but they have rejected all proposals brought forward by the Democrats. Biden finishes on the same theme of courage by saying that the Republican plan is not courage and it is not fair. Joe Biden seems to be Obama’s attack dog in that all he ever does is come out and criticize Republicans. This speech showed that he did not offer any way forward and only dismissed the Republicans’ claims. Paul Ryan begins by saying that American values remain as strong as they were during the days of the founding fathers. He also says that Republicans’ rights come from nature and god and not from government. Going back to his theme of the founding fathers, Ryan says that the nation’s founding father secured these rights and it is up to people today to uphold those ideals. Ryan also says that we have the right to choose our own leaders. Something interesting that he says is that he refers to â€Å"you,† which is something that Biden did not do when speaking. Other values that Ryan talks about include leadership and responsibility. A stark contrast is made over the issues of America’s founding principles. Ryan says that Republicans will reapply the founding principles while, without referring to them by name, Ryan says that the Democrats will replace America’s founding principles. Ryan uses repetition at one stage to get a point across (he repeats the words ‘we can do this’ over and over again). Ryan then makes an appeal for everyone to work together to build a better future, and he says that Romney and himself will do just that. Paul Ryan came across as a

Unique effects of apathy and depression signs on cognition and Research Paper

Unique effects of apathy and depression signs on cognition and function in amnestic mild cognitive impairment - Research Paper Example According to Zahodne & Tremont (2013), apathy and depression are distinct signs in amnestic MCI and for different patients the two are associated with specific executive functions. For mental health nurses, the distinction of apathy and depression relative to the presented differential frontal lobes neuropathology patterns and the affected functions are crucial in planning and delivery appropriate care. Zahodne & Tremont (2013), present the current diagnostic criteria as indicating that about 43% and 20% patients meet apathy and major depression criteria correspondingly with and without baseline dementia. Through a multiple regression framework, apathy and depression linked to specific cognitive abilities and functional status as presented in a sample of 90 elderly persons (with mean age 75.8 years) highly vulnerable to Dementia following amnestic MCI. For all participants, clinical assessments presented unbiased memory impairment and exclusion criteria of comorbid neurological illnesses, brain trauma history, and medical problems like cancer, and severe psychiatric disturbance (Zahodne & Tremont, 2013). The independent variables were apathy, depression, education, and age, while the dependent variables were unprocessed scores on individual tests. The result linked depression to inferior exclusive functioning and was independent of age, apathy, and education. Conversely, apathy pre sented intricacies in Instrumental Activities of Daily Living or IADL and did not link to age, depression, or education. These findings proved that apathy and depression distinctively associate with varying elements of executive functioning in amnestic MCI. For a mental health nurse, this information fundamentally contributes to the formulation of interventions aimed at fostering health, assessing dysfunction, and helping patients in regaining their coping abilities (Daniel, et al., 2014). Further, the nurse

Human Genome Project: Legal, Ethical and Social Implications

Human Genome Project: Legal, Ethical and Social Implications In this dissertation we consider the human genome project in its wider context. We take a brief overview of the aims, the working and the sequencing techniques used together with the timeline achieved. The ability to sequence genes has given a greater understanding of the human genome. This understanding has thrown up a great many legal, social medical and ethical problems and dilemmas which clearly need tube both addressed and solved. This dissertation looks at many of the issues, analyses them, and considers some of the possible solutions. We primarily consider the situation in the UK, but comparisons are drawn with the arguably more litigious society in the USA, particularly in consideration of the legal implications of the subject. We make a consideration of the ethical position of researchers, medical professionals and also individuals whether they are considered as research subjects or simply as private citizens. We draw conclusions from our findings and present them. Introduction The Human Genome Project (HGP) was a vast and ambitious concept which was conceived in the 1980s and formally started in 1990, the main stated aim of which was to achieve the mapping of the entire human genome. It was originally anticipated that the process would take approximately 15 years and was therefore scheduled to be complete in2005/6 but the advances in technological hard and software improved sequencing ability to the extent that the entire undertaking was actually completed in 2003. The project itself involved over 1,000 principal scientists in over 200Universities, Government laboratories and private facilities. The stated and defined primary goals of the project were to: identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA, determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA, store this information in databases, improve tools for data analysis, transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues that may arise from the project. (after Collins FS et al 1998), Although the project was primarily about the sequencing of the human genome, part of the intrinsic preparatory work was carried out in the sequencing techniques of other organisms such as E Coli and Drosophila(the fruit fly) Brief description of the genome The genome of an organism is a term which relates to the sum total of the DNA of the organism. This is replicated in virtually every cell in the organism and it should be noted that it includes not only the nuclear DNA but the extra-nuclear DNA as well. It is the basic code for making all of the constituent proteins and thereby it is the ultimate determinant of the various processes that occur within the organism. The human genome has approximately 3 billion base pairs (abbreviated as A T G C). These are arranged in sequential style in the DNA double helix and are unique to an individual. There are large areas of repetition and large areas which appear to be â€Å"biologically silent† but we shall discuss this in rather greater detail later in this dissertation. (Nichols, E.K. 1998) Sequencing techniques used The eventual sequence derived in the human genome project does not represent anyone individual’s genome. The original samples were taken from multiple sperm and blood (from females) donations which were mixed and sent to labs across the world. The differences were comparatively insignificant as the vast majority (99.7+%) of the genomic sequence is identical in every individual.(Collins et al 2001) Sperm is used, as the DNA : protein ratio is higher in sperm than for other cells and is therefore easier to prepare. It should be noted that sperm contains both the male and female sex chromosomes (X Y) so equal numbers of each were added to the samples and the blood DNA was added to ensure that female derived DNA was also present. The original sequencing techniques (in the 1990s) were primarily those of gel electrophoresis, which is slow, labour intensive and expensive. It was reported that the entire human genome project team managed to sequence 200Mb of gene in 1998. Advances in technology and automotive processing allowed one participant (DOE Joint genome institute) to sequence 1.5 billion bases in one month in January 2003. (Soga, Kakazuet al 2004) It was the discovery and large-scale implementation of the capillary gel electrophoresis technique that was mainly responsible for these advances. One of the major advantages of the capillary tube method is that the comparatively larger surface area of the capillary tube allows for greater heat dissipation which was the rate limiting step for the older models as too much heat would melt the gel carrier. (Tsai et al.2004) The actual mechanism for sequencing is extremely complex but in essence each chromosome, which comprises between 50 and 250 million base pairs, is fragmented into more manageable size pieces. (the sub cloning step).Each piece is then set up as a template from which a set of smaller fragments are generated, each one is a base pair shorter than the parent (the template preparation and sequencing reaction steps). (Marsha et al 2004) The resulting fragments are separated by electrophoresis which is an ideal method because of their differing size (separation step). The end base of each fragment is then identified (base-calling step). Automated sequencers then can analyse the resulting patterns which will give representation of the base order which is then â€Å"reassembled† into blocks of about 500 bases each (for ease of handling the data) . Number of very sophisticated computer programmes then analyse the raw data for potential errors and can identify specific genes and silent areas (Krill P et al 2000) Once sequenced, the final details are placed in the public domain such as Embank for open access to all. We have made several references to the draft and final sequences. The explanation of the difference lies in the fact that there are both intrinsic errors in the processing and also in the variability of the genetic material used. The original draft sequence was published in June 2000. This was the result of each area being analysed at least 4-5times to minimise the errors. This original data was presented inspections of about 10,000 base pairs and the chromosomal locations of the genes were known at this stage. A higher quality â€Å"final† reference sequence was published in April 2003which represented a 8-9 fold sequencing of every chromosome to fill in gaps and to minimise errors which were quoted as being no more than one in 10,000 bases (Kaiser et al 2004) Human genome project timeline 1990 Official commencement of HGP work Apr. 1998 HGP passes sequencing midpoint March 1999 Target completion date for â€Å"Human genome Working Draft† accelerated to early 2000 Dec 1999 Human Chromosome 22 sequenced (first human chromosome ever sequenced) May 2000 Human Chromosome 21 sequenced March 2000 Drosophila genome completed April 2000 Draft sequences of Human Chromosome 5, 16 19 completed June 2000 Working draft of DNA sequence achieved Dec 2001 Human Chromosome 20 sequenced Dec 2002 Complete Mouse genome draft publication Jan 2003 Human Chromosome 14 sequenced June 2003 Human Chromosome Y sequenced July 2003 Human Chromosome 7 sequenced Oct 2003 Human Chromosome 6 sequenced March 2004 Human Chromosome 13 19 sequenced May 2004 Human Chromosome 9 10 sequenced Sept 2004 Human Chromosome 5 sequenced Oct 2004 Human gene count estimates changed from 20,000 to 25,000 Dec 2004 Human Chromosome 16 sequenced March 2004 Human Chromosome X sequenced April 2005 Human Chromosome 2 4 sequenced Legal issues Patenting The whole issue of patenting the genome and the offshoots of the project caused an enormous furore in medical, scientific and pharmaceutical circles. The opposing ends of the spectrum argued that, on the one hand, the benefits of such a fundamentally important piece of work should be freely available for the human race in general and the scientific community in particular, to the other who believed that the money to be made by the commercial exploitation of the genome could be used to finance other related projects. (Nuffield 2002) The culmination of the argument was that the genome was fragmented and patented piecemeal. In order to fully understand the implications of this we must explore the workings of the patent system. In the UK, patents are issued by the Patent Office. Applications must be received within 18 months of the discovery (it is 3 years in the USA). Once granted, they remain in force for 20 years from the date of issue. In order to be considered suitable for a patent to be issued a product must generally satisfy four criteria, namely: Useful – the patent application must be accompanied by some practical application of the invention (whether it has actually been applied or has been proposed in a purely theoretical sense) Novel – it must be a new, or previously unknown entity. Non-obvious –it must be a significant modification that is not simply a minor adjustment made by someone with appropriate skill and training in that particular area Detailed – the item must be described in sufficient detail to allow person who has appropriate training in the field to use it for the purpose for which it was designed. This is often referred to as the â€Å"enablement criterion† ( after Cochran and Cox. 1997) The academic argument referred to earlier was intensified by the knowledge that raw products of nature are not generally patentable. Special provision had to be made by the agencies on both sides of the Atlantic to allow for patents to be issued for genetic material. The general guiding principal in issuing patents is that they are issued on a â€Å"first to invent† basis. Where a specific application is not immediately obvious (as is the case with many pharmaceutical and bio-tech products), provisional patents can be applied for and enforced for up to one year after either discovery or publication of the findings. This is a mechanism to allow for the full implications of the finding to be worked out and patented.(Nickols F 2004) In specific reference to our considerations here, we should note that with bio-tech discoveries in general and DNA patents in particular, coincident with the application for a patent, the applicant is required to deposit a sample of their discovery in any one of 26 designated biological culture repositories which are distributed throughout the world. (Bjorn tad DJ, et al. 2002) It is a reflection of both the scale and importance of this work to appreciate that to date, there have been over 3 million separate genome-related applications for patents received on file throughout the world. The legal ramifications of this process are huge. In the UK, USA and Japan (where the bulk of the applications for genome-related patents are filed) the system requires that the details of the applications are kept completely confidential until the full patent is finally issued. As we have discussed, this process can take up to a year. (Brown,2000) The corollary of this fact is that those scientists and companies who utilise the data ( which is available on the Internet) to evaluate clinical or pharmaceutical applications of gene sequences risk the issuing of a future injunction if it transpires that those particular sequences have been the subject of a previous patent application which has subsequently turned out to be successful. (Morris AH 2002) The 3 million genome related patents include the genes themselves, gene fragments, tests for specific genes, various proteins and stem cells. To satisfy the Patent Office the four tests set out above are specifically modified to accommodate genetic material thus: (1) identify novel genetic sequences, (2) specify the sequences product, (3) specify how the product functions in nature i.e., its use (4) enable one skilled in the field to use the sequence for its stated purpose (after Caulfield 2003) Even this is not completely sufficient for the current needs of science. If we take the example of gene fragments. Their function is often not known although their structure almost invariably is. The practical applications can be extremely vague. A quoted utility of a gene fragment has been cited as â€Å"providing a scientific probe to help find another gene†. Clearly it could cause substantial practical difficulties if a patent were to be issued on such a basis, and the subsequent usage was found to be substantially different, it would not invalidate the patent. The significance of this can be fully appreciated if we consider that the typical gene fragment, comprising about 500 bases (known as expressed sequence tags or ESTs) actually represent typically about20-30% of the active chromosomal genetic material, the full chromosome may be about 40-60 times larger than this. The active chromosomal genetic material is often referred to as canal and typically only contains its information-rich (or exon) regions. The scientific importance of these gene segments are that they represent very useful tools for research as they can duplicate the actions of genes, can be synthesised in the laboratory, and remove the need for scientists to manipulate the entire gene. (HUGO 2000) It can therefore be clearly be appreciated that such gene fragments are very useful tools in genetic research and the granting of patents touch entities has sparked off another major controversy in the scientific community. There have been major representations to the various Patent Offices throughout the world not to grant such patents to these universally important entities to applicants who have neither determined the base sequence of the genes nor yet determined their function and possible uses. As a result of this, the UK and USA Patent Offices decided to issue more stringent guidelines (effective as from 2001) which required that an application for patent of a gene fragment must now specifically state how the fragment functions before a patent can be issued. The wording is specific and substantial utility that is credible, but is still considered by many to be too indeterminate. (Thompson 1992) The basis behind the objections stem from the two main arguments already put forward. Firstly the patenting of such a â€Å"bottleneck or gatekeeper† product can seriously hinder the eventual development or even the characterisation of more complex molecules. Secondly, scientists are obviously wary of utilising such entities because of the possible financial constraints and penalties that would be imposed if the particular entity that they were using subsequently was found to bathe subject of a provisional (and therefore initially secret) patent application. In essence the patent of the gene fragment could be taken out after a comparatively small amount of scientific work and exert totally disproportionate control over the possible commercial and scientific development of more advanced genome research. (Schwarz D teal 1997), There are also less obvious, but very practical, implications to this type of patenting. Let us consider the situation where patents have been separately applied for, and granted to gene fragments, the gene and various proteins that the gene expresses. Any scientist wishing to-do research in that area has not only to pay the various license holders for permission to use their patented entity, but there are also hidden costs in the research necessary to determine where (and whether)the patents have been granted. (Short ell SM et al 1998), Not all research has been hampered or driven by the restrictive practices that the issuing of patents inevitably promotes. Let us consider the case of the Welcome Foundation who, in collaboration with ten other smaller pharmaceutical concerns, agreed to form a non-profitmaking consortium whose stated goal was to find and map out an initial300,000 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). To date they have discovered nearly 2 million. In a truly philanthropic gesture they generated a publicly available SNP map of the human genome in which they patented every SNP found solely for the purpose of preventing others from making financial profit from them and making the information available to the public domain. The SNP is a single variation in the base sequence in the genome and they are found, on average, about one in every 500 base units. It can occur in an active or in a non-coding region. The effect will clearly vary depending upon the actual site of the variation but they are believed to be a fundamental cause of genetic variation which could give researchers important clues into the genetic basis of disease process or variations in responsiveness to pharmaceuticals. (Russell SJ1997) In addition it is believed that SNPs are responsible for variations in the way that humans respond to a multitude of potential pathogens and toxins. The SNP is therefore an invaluable tool in the research behind multifactorial disease process where complex environmental and genetic interactions are responsible for the overall phenotypic expression of the clinical disease state. (Santis,G et al 1994). We have referred in passing to the arguments that are currently raging relating to the issues on patenting genetic material. We should therefore consider the question of why patent at all? Would we be better off if the patent offices did not accept patents of genetic material? On first examination of the situation one might think that scientific investigation, in general terms, might proceed faster if all scientists had unlimited and free access to all information in the public domain. More careful consideration suggests however, the laws relating to intellectual property are built on the assumption that unless ownership and commercial profits can be reasonably secure (by means such as patents) few organisations would be willing to make the substantial investment that is typically necessary for development and research. The reasoning behind the mechanism of patenting intellectual property is therefore the marrying together of the need to secure a potential income from one’s work with the ability to allow the transparency of full publication of one’s discoveries which will therefore allow others to consider and utilise the information in their own research. (Berwick. 1996) Consideration of this point will suggest that the only other effective means of safeguarding the costs of one’s research would be total secrecy which clearly would not be in the general interest of the scientific community. If we add to the general thrust of this argument, the fact that, in general terms, the costs of development(post-invention) far outweigh the costs of research (pre-invention) we can see the economic sense in allowing innovative research-based firms the financial security of development by preserving the profit incentives by means of the Patent. (DGP 2002) In general terms we could view the patent mechanism as a positive development.(McGregor D 1965). Perhaps it is the breadth and number of the patents allowed in the field of genomic research that is the prime cause of unease in the scientific community. Special cases The arguments presented above can be broadened further if one of the natural extensions of the human genome project is the research into the possibility of cloning. We will not consider the (currently totally illegal) possibility of human cloning per se, but the therapeutic embryo cloning for the purposes of harvesting human stem cells. Such cells have immense potential for the study and therapy of a great number of disease process. As such they have enormous value as both intellectual and commercial property. The background to our discussion here includes consideration of the fact that courts in both the UK and the USA (Diamond v. Chakrabarty1980) have set precedents that single celled organisms (genetically modified bacteria) were intrinsically patentable. Legal argument then followed and shortly after there were similar rulings in favour of the patentability of simian stem cells. It logically follows that human stem cells should be afforded the same legal protection. The problem arises then that such a move would offend other legal principles such as technical ownership of another human being.(PGA 2001) Clearly there are enormous, and some would say insurmountable, difficulties in this region. We present this point simply to illustrate the potential difficulties surrounding ownership of the human genome. Broader legal issues Matters relating to the legal implications arising from the human genome project already fill countless volumes and we do not propose to make an exhaustive examination of the subject. There are however, number of major issues that arise either directly or indirectly from this project. They are largely interlinked with major social and ethical considerations and society, as a whole, has looked to the law to provide authoritative answers to some of them. (Stripling R et al.1992) One of the major problems associated with the potential ability to decipher the human genome is what to do with the information that it gives us. The ability to â€Å"read genes† brings with it the ability to discriminate with increasing degrees of subtlety. Discrimination is inevitably linked (historically, at least) with varying degrees of injustice. Whether it is the more obvious forms of discrimination such as insurance loading on the basis of predisposition to disease traits or more insidious and pernicious scenarios such as the ability to discriminate by genetic association with various ethnic groups, the ability is there. Will it become acceptable to refuse a mortgage application on the grounds that a person has been found to have a genetic disposition towards gastric cancer? Could health insurance premiums be based on an interpretation of various aspects of one’s genome? Some lawyers have already voiced their concerns about the ability of the law to provide genetic defences where it may be possible to challenge prosecutions on the ability to undermine the ethical principle of the validity of individual responsibility. The concept of free-will may be legally challenged in the prospect of discovery of various genetic traits that may predispose the individual to any one oaf number of behaviour patterns such as antisocial or thrill-seeking behaviour or violence. (Laurie G 2004) We currently accept that some manifestations of the human genome are now routinely enshrined in virtually unchallengeable law. DNA identification in criminal law is commonplace and scarcely questioned. Paternity suits are settled on the basis of genetic make-up. It doesn’t take a quantum leap of intuition to appreciate that there may soon be potential negligence cases brought against physicians and the like who fail to warn patients against the possibility of developing the ever increasing number of disease processes that are thought to have a genetic predisposition or component. The converse of that dilemma is should we expect physicians to suppress information found by genetic testing if there is no known cure? It follows that if we do not then people could be condemned to live with the knowledge that they are statistically likely to develop any one oaf number of diseases that they may very well, in other circumstances, have chosen to live in ignorance of. (Hyde, SC et al. 1993) Such cases have already surfaced, unsurprisingly in the USA. The estate of a colonic cancer victim unsuccessfully tried to sue a physician who failed to warn him about a genetic predisposition to colonic cancer from which he subsequently died. (Safer v Estate of Peck 1996) Some measures have been taken to try to protect exploitation of the genetic status of individuals where it is known. In the USA, some 16states have enacted laws to prevent both health and other insurance companies from using any form of genetic information to load premiums or to refuse cover. The initial reaction to these moves was one of delight, but it soon became clear that this was only of any potential value when the individual was asymptomatic. There was no bar to premium levels once the symptoms became apparent. To some extent, although the same level of legal prohibition does not apply in the UK, there is little difference. In this country, insurance companies will still load premiums or refuse cover once symptoms are apparent. (Rothstein MR1999) Social and medical considerations As we have implied earlier in this piece, the fundamental nature and importance of the human genome project to humanity as a whole means that its impact has great implications for the fields of law, ethics and social considerations. This is hardly surprising as, at the most basic level, all these three considerations are inextricably linked. Many of the social implications are also tied up with medical considerations and therefore we shall consider both of these elements together. Humans, as a race, have about 3 million pairs of bases that determine their genetic identity. Interpersonal differences between individual humans however, are determined by only one tenth of one present of our collective DNA. These three million base pairs are ultimately responsible for the physical and perhaps behavioural diversity that we observe in our species. (Erickson 1993) It is in the nature of inheritance that this variation has accumulated across the generations by small mutations or variations in the base sequences. These small differences are ultimately responsible for all human diversity including many overt disease process and predisposition or resistance to others. It is clearly important where these mutations take place as some have no functional effect, others may confer some form of advantage or benefit (and thereby the motive factor behind the evolutionary processes) others may cause disease or even be incompatible with life.(Griesenbach U et al 2002), It can be argued that all disease process have at least a genetic component. It can be completely due to a genetic malfunction such as the defect in the single gene for the cystic fibrosis transmembraneconductance regulator (CFTR) which results in an abnormal expression of one protein (the protein is still expressed, but due to one amino acid irregularity it folds in a different way) which results in the clinical situation of cystic fibrosis. (Piteous DJ et al 1997). Equally it may be due to a variation in the genetic code that modifies how the immune system responds to a particular pathogen (Yoshimura, K et al. 1992). As we understand how our genome influences literally every aspect of our health we will inevitably discover more ways to combat and tackle the diseases of mankind. Before we move on to discuss overtly social and ethical considerations we should logically extend the appraisal and examination of the medical issues, as they have a pronounced bearing on these other areas. With the advent of a greater understanding of the human genome and the cellular mechanisms of regulation and disease comes the prospect of gene therapy. On the one hand, the potential benefits for the sufferers of single gene mutation syndromes such as Tay Asch’s disease and Sickle Cell Anaemia are clear and undisputed, and yet the same technology has enormous social and ethical ramifications. There are thought to be about 4,000 single gene defect syndromes known to medical science at present (Termite, S et al 1998). These are the prime targets for the gene therapy researchers There are also an enormous number of more complex, but still primarily genetically determined disease process, such as Alzheimers Disease and schizophrenia, together with the commoner Diabetes Mellitus and hypertension variants which, although having a genetic component, are thought to be manifested after a period of interaction with environmental factors. It is quite possible that the techniques of gene therapy could ultimately be applied to these conditions as well.(Sikorski R et al 1998), Social and medical benefits The advent of understanding of gene function leads to other developments in the fields of both diagnostics and possibly preventative medicine. There is already considerable debate in pharmaceutical circles about the ability of researchers to utilise genetic information to make predictive assumptions about the ability of individuals to metabolise drugs. (Sailor R et al. 1998).One of the big problems with pharmacology is that, although a normal response to a particular drug can be predicted reasonably accurately, there are variations in genetic make-up which cause marked differences in threat of metabolism and excretion of some drugs. In many cases, these differences are of minor clinical importance, but in anaesthetic and cytotoxic drugs, the differences can be lethal. (Wriggle DJ 2004). As extension of this thread of argument is that it is known that some malignancies will respond well to some cytotoxic agents while others will show no response at all. The point behind these comments is that there are considerable efforts in the pharmaceutical industry to identify the particular regions of the genome which are ultimately responsible for these differences. If they can be found it follows that they may either be capable of modification (by gene therapy or other mechanism) or their effect can be measured so that the dose (or even the type) of medication can be adjusted with far more confidence in the knowledge of the likely pharmacodynamics of that individual patient.(Spindle et al 2002). It is the ultimate hope and goal of these efforts that the pharmaceutical industry will ultimately be able to speed up the process of drug development, make the drugs faster and more effective while dramatically reducing the number of adverse drug reactions observed. Social and medical difficulties Gene tests are currently in the process of being developed as a direct result of the human genome project. Some are already commercially available. the social implications here are huge. Quite apart from the medical implications of being able to predict the likelihood of possibly developing certain disease processes, there are legal and social applications as well. Courts have been presented with the results of gene tests in cases as diverse as medical malpractice, privacy violations, criminal cases and even child custody battles.(Diamond. B. 2001) The immediate difficulty in this area is, firstly that there is insufficient knowledge to be able to interpret the results of the gene tests with 100% accuracy. This, when combined with the knowledge that many of the conditions that currently can be tested for have no known or successful treatment, leads to enormous social and ethical dilemmas. While it may be considered quite reasonable to tell a person that they are carrying a defective gene for cystic fibrosis ( as a carrier state, rather than a symptomatic individual) and thereby allow them to make positive decisions with regard to whether they choose to run the risk of passing that particular gene on to future generations. Is it reasonable to tell someone in their 20s that they are likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease in their 60s? How will that knowledge impinge upon their approach to life? (Douglas C 2002) Equally how will such knowledge affect the eventual application and acceptance of health insurance policies which are currently worked out on Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers 1. Introduction 1.1 Importance of the Research According to the philosophical bases of marketing customer wants satisfaction. As the consumer is the key for a firm, the voter is the central element for a government or party (Lock and Harri,1996).In this context the citizen voter wants satisfaction and searching his satisfaction from the services that are offered to him is ‘‘ a lens through which government and public managers can gain a better perspective on how citizens respond to the performance of public services, (Van Ryzin , 2004) and offers important findings for the policy makers. Citizen satisfaction surveys are frequently used by U.S. local governments and public administration researchers in order to measure the quality of local government services (Hatry et al., 1992; Miller and Kobayashi, 2000). A big number of U.S. cities use surveys regularly (New York , San Francisco, Phoenix etc.),in order to analyze in a descriptive and unvaried way , the level of perceived quality of services ,within a locality and over time (Van Ryzin et al., 2004). Recent studies have compared citizen satisfaction with benchmarks that were developed from data collected across many localities (Miller and Miller 1991; Miller and Kobayashi 2000), and have focused on the individual, jurisdictional, and city-specific determinants of citizen ratings of service quality (De Hoog, Lowery, and Lyons 1990; Hero and Durand 1985),like taxes and expenditure ,and also on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents such as race (Schuman and Gruenberg, 1972). Other investigations have negotiated the citizen satisfaction from the police according to their ethnoracial characteristics (Brad W. S. 2005), or satisfaction from the education system or from hospitals (Amyx,Bristow ,2001, Suda Anita D.,1998). The importance of the public services quality became popular in the United Kingdom at 1990s when the political parties put an emphasis on the subject ,but even in our days the need for quality services that meet â€Å"customer† citizens needs and expectations, is more and more obvious .This need for quality public services is even expressed by the European Social Fund, as the implementation of the strategy and policies of the European Committee at Member States ,is strongly related with the public service organizations, which many of them are responsible for (ESF,2009). And although, in the marketing research exist a number of well-developed models of approaching customer satisfaction, there has been little development of a model that would test citizens satisfaction. As a result, it would be valuable to test such a model in the framework of Greek public services. 1.2 The Research Objectives The overall objective of this research is to examine the Greek citizens perceptions and expectations of service quality concerning the Citizen Service Centres (KEP) -a Greek public service based on servqual model. From this overall objective a number of more specific aims can be identified: Investigate consumer expectations towards the service offered from public services Examine citizen perceptions about Citizen Service Centres(KEP) Asses the factors that play an important role in the service quality of Citizen Service Centres (KEP) 2. Literature Review 2.1 Politics and the marketing concept It has often been argued that the application of ‘marketing tools and instruments in politics is nothing new (Perloff, 1999; Baines and Egan, 2001).In the last twenty-five years what have changed about the political marketing is not just the size of political marketing management but also the belief that political actors act and think in political terms. Political actors are them that they try to do marketing management in a frame of integration of marketing instruments in a coherent marketing strategy (Newman, 1994a; Dermody and Scullion, 2001). It is supposed that the selling of politicians and the selling of a product is linked (OShaughnessy, 2001) and that commercial and political contexts are essentially similar (Kotler, 1999). Many marketers believe that the tools and concepts of marketing can be transferred directly to the political arena (Lock and Harris ,1996) .The applications of political marketing are used as a tool of managing politics, developing policy (Nimmo, 1999), or even governing (OShaughnessy, 2003). The marketing concept in commercial terms is based on the principle that all company planning and operations will be customer oriented. As such the philosophical basis of the marketing concept is that customer want satisfaction (OCass, 1996). When a political party or candidate applies this concept to the political process, they must be in a position to adapt to and satisfy voters needs (Mauser, 1983; Newman and Sheth, 1987; Reid, 1988). For major mainstream parties, the overriding objective is to attract voters, win elections and hold power (Lock and Harris, 1996).In this extent knowing the degree of satisfaction of citizens seems to be important. 2.2 Citizen Citizen is every person of a state that has the citizenship of it (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). According the place and the time different criteria were used to define the citizen .The genealogical criterion, which is the oldest, the legal criterion and the economic (taxation) criterion .According to the first, citizen is the son of citizen that hasnt lost his rights. This definition was used in the ancient cities in order to distinguish the mass from the public. According to the second criterion citizen is each one that is recognized like that from the law. And finally, according to the last , citizen is each one that owns property or a quantity of goods and contributes to the governmental budget (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica, 1992).Citizens have some rights and obligations .Their rights are political such as the right to vote, to be member of the jury or public servant , and personal such as the right to live ,to have free speech , to work, to live in freedom ,etc . ,that are protected from the state and are given to everyone. Citizens obligations such as taxation are set in order to protect the privileges that are offered to citizens from the government and they emerge from the need of the States existence (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). One of the governmental works is the provision of goods and services. All the modern governments take part directly to the economy by providing goods and services , organising industrial enterprises I promoting economic activities .Providing sanitary, education, and social insurance services , is one of the modern states concerns (Heinz Eulau ,1992). 2.3 Citizens as Customers, Customers as Citizens The classic definition of customer is â€Å"one who purchases or receives a product or service† (Carlson, 1997). The concept of customer is often more complicated in the public sector. For example, the city of Coral Springs in Florida, refined the idea by considering two distinct categories of external customers. Moreover, a building permit applicant is a direct customer while the applicants neighbors are among the indirect customers who will benefit if the decision helps to ensure a safer city and more appropriate land use and construction practices. But even with these refinements, â€Å"citizen† sometimes has a broader meaning. Citizens enjoy rights and take on responsibilities that extend well beyond those commonly recognized to customers (Popovich, 1999). Despite the passage of generations, the fact that government cannot succeed without the peoples trust and support, is a true even today. These essential elements of civil society shape the capacity and help determine the actual performance of government. Societys efforts to accomplish its highest priority and most practical goals are likely to fall short in the absence of the peoples agreement in the functions of government. As the customer is the key for a firm, the citizen -voter is the central element for a government. 2.4 Public services A service is a non material product (education, health safety etc).The meaning of public services isnt constrained in the area of Public and Αdministrative law .The public service is a known significance in the economy, as an appropriate tool of the states expansion in the social relations, for the preservation of stabilized provisions for the welfare state. Beyond the needs of the of practical policy, the interest of the political science with the expansions of the political philosophy is expressed , as the public service is characterized as the expansion of the state in its social activity . In other words , it is the way by which the state contacts the citizens in order to cover their direct needs .After the two World Wars this phenomenon is observed in the European area .In Germany , this works as ‘‘Anstalten (institutions) and the ‘‘ offentlichen Unternehmungen (public enterprises) . The administration (the welfare state) undertakes and guarantees ben efits even for the preservation of life of human who live massively in big cities such as transportation ,cleanliness , water , electricity etc. ÃŽ ¤he principles of function of the public services are connected with the needs and social aims that are tended to fulfil. Therefore, services are provided to everyone in the same way in order to cover the needs, under conditions that change from time to time (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica ,1992 ). According to the Europa Glossary that is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon ,the concept of public service is >. At the same time the Europa Glossary defines that continuity of service quality security of supply equal access affordable prices social , cultural and environmental acceptability Article 16 of the EC Treaty, introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, confirms the role of public services in the European Union. The EU policy on operators of public services is still shaped by the desire to liberalise network public services and to widen the scope of competition on national markets, be this, in the areas of rail transport, postal services, energy or telecommunications>>. 2.5 Citizen Service Centres (KEP) The institution of KEP was founded in 2002, based on an idea of the Deputy Minister Mr Beno. The KEP were founded according to the article 31 of law 3013/2002 and were staffed with short term labour agreement workers, according to the processes of article 6 of law 2527/1997. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), over 60.000 of citizens visit every day Citizen Service Centres (KEP) for certified or not processes, ratifications of registrations, certifications of genuine signature and every kind of administrative information. The last three years 40 new KEP were founded and now they are 1035 at their total. The centres are open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 20:00, and Saturday, 8:00 to 14:00. At Citizen Service Centres (KEP) citizens can:  · obtain information on what they need to do in order to manage their transactions with the municipality * submit applications for the processing of matters that involve the City that the KEP is registered and state agencies in accordance with joint decisions issued by the Interior Minister or other competent Minister >(City of Athens ,2007). Some of the procedures (about 1.014 at total) that Citizens can carry out at Citizen Service Centres are the following:  · The registration or transfer of registration of a passenger vehicle or motorcycle  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate  · The issuance of a criminal record duplicate for general or legal use  · The issuance of a marital status certificate  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate for those registered with the City of Athens  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organisation beneficiaries (former recipients)  · The issuance of a registry birth certificate duplicate for an adult or minor  · The issuance of a public transport pass for individuals with disabilities  · The application for the seasonal unemployment benefit in accordance with Article 22 of Law 1836/89 OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organisation)  · The issuance of a marital status certificate for individuals registered with the City of Athens (online)  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organization beneficiaries (new recipients)  · The issuance of a marriage license duplicate  · The application for the OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organization) family subsidy  · The issuance of a drivers license  · The issuance of a Type A military status certificate (full)  · The renewal of a drivers license  · The issuance of a registry death certificate duplicate  · The application for change in passenger vehicle or motorcycle ownership  · The issuance of a permanent residence certificate  · The issuance of a judicial interdiction certificate See Appendix 1 Progressively KEP were transformed to Centres of Completed Transactions, bringing the Public Administration more near to citizen. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), citizens trust KEP and are in general satisfied from them. Nowadays they have permanent staff which possesses about 2588 positions. The number of affairs that KEP handled the last years is presented at the table below: PERIOD NUMBER OF AFFAIRS SERVED CITIZENS 2006 3.042.509 1.154.554 2005 2.305.195 1.527.516 2004 1.643.313 1.316.505 2003 423.759 356.872 Medium number of affairs per day from Monday to Friday: 11.805 Medium number of affairs per day (Saturday): 821 According to the Ministry KEP are recognizable from about the 80% of citizens. Equally big are the visits to them that they exceed 60%, since they were enriched with new, more attractive for the citizen processes. But more interesting are the numbers linked with the subject of satisfaction of citizens, which according to the ministry exceeds the 90%. The problems that the Public Administration was facing when KEP were created were multiple. The most serious of them were the bad organization and the centralism of public services, lack of confidence in the government owned services, lack of evaluation, lack of meritocracy, weakening of ASEP, fragmentary, and consequently unsuccessful, efforts of application of Electronic Governing, absence of controls and sanctions and finally inflation of bureaucracy and corruptness. For this reason in 2007 a number of regulations of the article 15 of the law for Citizen Service Centres (KEP) were introduced, in order to fight the difficulties and dysfunctions of citizens service (Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2007). Some of the regulations were the following:  · The foundation of the Direction of Organization and Operation of KEP in the General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing. The Direction was founded in order to guarantee the proper operation of KEP, but also their evolution in Centres of Completed Administrative Transactions, and the resolution of problems that emerges, because of their big number, the crowd of subjects and processes that they realize and the recent enlargement of their competences. The monitoring and the co-ordination of the operation of KEP is practiced , up today, at fragmentary way from the existing Direction of General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing, fact which creates difficulties as far as it concerns the united confrontation of problems.  · The regulation of subjects of mobility of permanent personnel. The employees will stay in the KEP of their placement, for at least a five-year period, so that the experience, which has been acquired in the particular KEP, not to get lost.  · The simplification and acceleration of processes  · The restriction of joint responsibilities between the Ministries. It is indicatively reported that Minister of Internal Affairs does not act jointly in more than 25 different regulatory actions  · The obligatory deadline of 50 days for the transaction of the affairs of citizens  · The payment of complete compensation in the citizen in case of delay  · The self appointed search of supporting documents from the service on behalf of the citizen. 208 certificates can be requested from the service without the citizens presence, for 18 of them the self appointed search is obligatory. Indicative is the progress that took place in the case of self appointed search of certificates of birth from KEP, where, while in 2005 they had 231.327 certificates and medium time of transaction the 8 days, in the end of 2006 the transaction reached 432.188 certificates, that is to say almost double, with medium time of transaction the 5 days. Same is the acceleration as far as it concerns the certificates of familial situation, where while in 2005 were published 253.071 certificates, in 2006 until 2007, 373.219 certificates have been published  · The suppression of submission of supporting documents and their replacement with a personal declaration form for 7 cases  · The videoconference of administrative bodies  · The generalization of electronic communication and exchange of documents between the services. The network â€Å"SIZEFKSIS† ensures 50.000 digital certificates (under form of card) in civil servants equal in number. With this way is provided the possibility of electronic distribution of document, with simultaneous place of signature on this, with electronic way, without a problem of genuineness, after the distribution becomes from the above permitted employees with the use of digital certificate of (card). This electronic distribution involves big acceleration of process of publication and mission of document and contributes considerably in the fighting of bureaucracy.  · The application of a plan of restriction of state expenses and the enlarged public sector, by reforming the public services, so that they become more functional and effective  · The promotion of a regulatory reform, with the establishment of rules of good legislation as well as a system of evaluation of the results of legislative regulations in the competitiveness and the entrepreneurship The City of Athens operates a total of seven (7) Citizen Service Centres (KEP), one in each City District. Citizen Service Centres provide an online service for Athens citizens with regards the following: * City of Athens municipal roll certificates * Permanent residence certificates * Certification TAP property fee payment (in cases where agreement exists on the number of square metres registered with the Public Power Corporation and the contract of purchase) The Citizens Helpline 1595 provides information on documents required for all procedures processed by Citizen Service Centres. 2.6 Service marketing Usually marketing had been seen as having dual dimension.On the one hand, there is the notion which supports that the existence of an organization in economical and social content is based on the satisfaction of customer needs and wants, and on the other hand there is the â€Å" set of activities † which serve this philosophy in order to be implemented (CromptonLamb,1986). The marketing of services is a sector with particular characteristics .The expenditure on services is growing in most industrialized economies. According to the European Commission , â€Å"the percentage share of gross domestic product attributable to the services sector rose from 38 per cent in 1970 to almost 50 percent by 1990†. Crowell supports that â€Å"what is significant about services is the relative dominance of intangible attributes in the make up of the service product†. Services as a special kind of product usually they do not result in ownership but they can be linked to a physical good require special treatment. According to Jobber, as many offerings may combine tangible and intangible characteristics the distinction between them is >. For example, a marketing research study provides a physical good, which is the report that comes out, but also is the result of a number of service activities such as interviews with respondents, analysis of results, designing of the research, etc. Products such as a skirt or a pair of socks usually are not accompanied by a service so they can be characterised as pure goods, but also a visit to a doctor or psychotherapy can be regarded as a pure service as there is nothing tangible that the client receives. 2.6.1 THE NATURE OF SERVICES Service characteristics can be summarised to the following four: intangibility, variability, perishability and inseparability. 2.6.1.1 Intangibility As intangibility can be characterised the fact that services cant be smelled, touched, tasted or seen. Service is â€Å"a deed, performance or effort and not an object device or thing† (Berry, 1980). In other words customer cant evaluate a service before buying it and sometimes cant evaluate it even after consuming it. For this reason the challenge for the service providers is to prove the quality of the service by communicating tangible benefits to consumers. Another characteristic of intangibility is the fact that the service cant be owned so customers pay for the use of product or the performance. 2.6.1.2 Variability The provision of service quality may vary depending to the person who provides it. In other words important factors are the capabilities the person has, his physical and mental situation (tiredness, attitude etc.) the location the service is provided .So, in order to control quality variation , methods such as evaluation systems , tight quality controls and service standardization methods are necessary (Jobber,2004). 2.6.1.3 Inseparability In contrast with physical goods services cant be stored in order to be used later. Services are characterised by the â€Å"simultaneous production and consumption.† Because of this characteristic service providers role is very important to the satisfaction of consumer, as many times he is supposed to be himself the company in the eyes of customer (Berry, 1980). For this reason â€Å"the importance of service provider is an integral part of the satisfaction gained by the consumer†. The behaviour of the service provider is also important for the experience that the customer has for the provided service .So, great importance must be given to the training and rewarding of the staff and its selection (Aijo,1996). Another element that is connected to inseparability is the fact that the customer may experience the service in combination with other customers because of the nature of the service and the place it is offered. At this case marketing managers should take into consideration the role of customer interactions between them, but also the inter customer conflicts and nuisance (Barron et al., 1996). 2.6.1.4 Perishability Unlike the physical goods, services cant be stored in order to be used in the future or at peak times. So service providers should take into consideration the combination of demand and supply and use methods such as multi-skilling of the staff in order to be used at peak seasons or part time employees, supply flexibility, differential pricing and reservation system in order to minimize time waiting (Jobber, 2004). Today one of the greater challenges that the sector of services has to face is the increasing competition in combination with the growing expectations of customers and the developing demands of customers as service improves (Joseph Walker, 1988). 2.6.2 SERVICE MARKETING MIX Models had to explain the relationship between the market and the organisation in order to maximize the seconds performance (Gronrooss C, 1982). To certain extent managing services are more complicated than managing products, as products can be standardised. The standardisation of a service is far more difficult as there are more input factors i.e. process, people, physical evidence, to manage than with a product. The service marketing mix consists of the 7Ps model. These include except from the classical 4 Ps that stands for: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, three more Ps which are People, Process and Physical evidence. 2.6.2.1 People People participate and deliver the service experience, the efficiency and effectiveness, the availability and capability, the customer interaction and the internal marketing. Any provision of service includes as an essential part the use of appropriate staff and people. In order to gain an organisation competitive advantage it is important that it recruits the right staff that is well trained in the delivery of service. Usually consumers perceptions and judgements are affected by the employees they interact with. Consumers wait from the staff to have the appropriate attitude, service knowledge and interpersonal skills that they are paying for. So many organisations train their staff to certain standards. Physical Evidence Physical evidence concerns the place where the service is delivered, infrastructure, facilities, surroundings, essential evidence and peripheral evidence ,equipment and premises. It is an element of the service mix that contributes to the formation of the opinion of the consumer about the organization .So the judgments and the perceptions of the consumers are formed by the sight of the service provision .For example if you walk in an office you expect a friendly environment neat and tie. Process The systems used to assist the organisation in delivering the service, constitute the process. So process refers to the operating process that takes the customer through ,from the initial contact till the service experience and evaluation , database management, service delivery, queuing systems, ordering ,standardization .The customer usually expects efficiency and quickness at the process of the service delivery and this fosters consumers loyalty and confidence in the organization. 2.6.3 Quality Quality is important to business organisations and their consumers, because quality products or services can and will secure consumers business. In addition, linking quality with expensive spending is not absolute, as price will not determine always quality. The high or low quality of a product or service is usually determined, â€Å"by how it made the consumer feel and whether consumer expectations were satisfied or exceeded† (Kotler P. et al, 2008). Quality was very popular in the marketing literature,  « where the notion of satisfying the customer was a dominant model of quality of service provided and consumer satisfaction  » (Raftopoulos V., 2005). The US Strategic Planning Institute in 1972 developed the concept of relative perceived quality (RPQ),  «that is the perception of quality as defined by customers, relative to the offerings of competitors. In other words quality is what a customer perceives it to be and this is a dynamic and complex notion.  » 2.6.3.1 Public service quality The need for quality public services is also expressed by the European Commission through the European Social Fund in its program for 2007-2013.The reason is that the quality of public services affects the implementation of policies and the strategy design as public sector organizations are responsible for them at a big degree at the Member States ,e.g. government ministries , local authority departments and special agencies (ESF,2009). The fact of how important is the quality of public services and the need to be improved, became popular, in Britain, at 1990s when the Government gave clear > on the subject, by the proposal of the Conservative Prime Minister John Major enclosed in his Citizens Charter White Paper (Prime Minister, 1991). The issue faced great consensus from the political parties as the same year both Liberal and Labour parties published their own citizen charter proposals. The citizen driven improvement of the quality of public services was a fact (Black et al., 1994). This policy which faced the citizen as user and needed the reporting of performance from the service providers was continued for a long period it was enriched with best value new policies and was popular as>.According to this concept public services is better to be managed than administrated (Black et al.,2001). At the same time another reason that public service quality is important is that the needs and expectations of the users change and increase. Service quality and how to measure it developed to be a critical issue ,so during the 1990s performance measurement techniques developed as a result of >such as government legislation ,regulatory activity by industry keepers and major policy initiatives, as Black St. et al. , characterize them, and not as a result of the needs of the service provider. Meanwhile , all the efforts of understanding and measuring public service quality where characterized as weak and an increasing interest for quality improvement models techniques , certification and awards developed .So a number of new significances appeared such as total quality management and continuous improvement, process mapping techniques, Institution Standards and Charters. The revolution of the commercial service sector that took place the previous decades influenced also public sector organizations that faced the need to provide quality services that meet ‘customer needs and expectations. As Wisniewski remarks, > (Wisniewski, 2001). The notion of treating the customers has started to change as they dont receive passively uniform services without their voice or influence being considered (Skelcher, 1992). At the opposite side, the adoption of traditional methods may lead to the delivery of a service distant from customer needs. So organizations many times, after a more profound search, discover that the needs and values of customers are different from what they assume before searching (Farquhar C.R. ,1993). In order to discover customer perceptions and collect data concerning the attitudes o