Operations Management - Cruise Inc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Operations Management - Cruise Inc - Case Study Example Every section of the cruise is productive for the firm either through the direct or indirect way of generating revenue. This productivity of the firm can be measured from the earning from each activity carried out on the cruise by analyzing the travel partner performances, analyzing the cost of sale for the firm and also analyzing the trend of the ticket booking. Analyzing these sections of the firm gives a better understanding of the financial condition of the company. The EBITDA of NCL improved a lot from $6.6 million to $37.4 million in the fourth quarter and a huge increment of over the year from $228.1 million to $324.1 million in the year 2009 (NCL, 2011). Since EBITDA don’t include interest expenses, income taxes and amortization it can also be a good addition if the additional elements are calculated for more accurate productivity measurement. Describe the service package offered by NCL to its customers. Visit the â€Å"Life Onboard† section of several cruise line websites and the insight provided by the film, â€Å"Cruise Inc† to gain a better understanding of service packages offered by cruise lines. The service packages offered by Norwegian Cruise Line ranges from high premium class to the economic class to attract all types of customer, especially who have not experienced their journey on a cruise in their life. The ‘Free Style’ introduced in the year 2000 from the company attracts each and every people of the society to avail the service with a huge collection of services and entertainment for the customers on the cruise. The resort vacation experience of the customer on the cruise is the major attraction for the customers. The cabin rates of NCL Pearl ranges from $35 to $2000 per day for each person on the cruise depicts the strategy from the company how they implemented the competitive advantage to grab the market from the low to the high market segment. The seven speciality restaurants provide foods for every need of the customers with a variety of food habits and taste.  

T-test results Essay Example for Free

T-test results Essay Factors in which Body Shop Exceeded Patrons’ Expectations. The following t-test of means of paired groups were significant at the . 01 level: Quality of the products, the customer service of the store personnel; the variety of product offerings in the store; the convenience of going to the store location; attractiveness of the packaging; the degree to which the product espouses â€Å"natural† rather than artificial; the values espoused by the company who sells the product. In all these items, Body Shop has exceeded the degree of importance attached by the respondent on the factor. Body Shop has to maintain its exemplary customer service in its stores, especially since the customer experience in the store forms part of the branding of Body Shop products. An often forgotten facet is the convenience of the store location, which also figured as a factor which exceeded the expectations of patrons. This may again be leveraged on for brand building. Consistent with the assertions of Kotler (2003), brand building involves a gamut of interdependent factors, which says everything about what Body Shop represents. This evidently includes the customer service received by the client when inside a Body Shop branch. He further asserts that customer service is perhaps the most important device for brand building. As this is a factor which has exceeded expectations of Body Shop patrons, it simply needs to maintain this asset to remain competitive. Exemplary customer service can breed loyalty among its clientele (Kotler 2003). Yet another factor which exceeded the expectations of patrons was the variety of cosmetic offerings by Body Shop. This is especially critical in the UK setting since women in Britain are the highest users of make-up in the whole Europe, about 93% of the population (Ending the Cosmetics 2008). In fact, the sales of cosmetics, toiletries and perfumes rose to 4. 1% from 3. 5%, giving the market a value of â‚ ¬64. 6bn (Montague-Jones 2008). Big names in the cosmetics industry dominate the market with L’Oreal leading the way. Variety is also a concern of the company. Since L’Oreal took over The Body Shop, the company is expected to stand out as it expands its product range to natural products (Euromonitor International 2008). This is again a facet which they can further leverage on for continued competitive advantage. Packaging is also a strength of Body Shop. It has successfully built a â€Å"green† brand and this is strongly reflective of its ‘natural’ packaging. The natural packaging of Body Shop logically tells patrons that the product has been made from natural or oganix ingredients. There is some anxiety over the accuracy of ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ labelling, although the results of the current research show that Body Shop is not in question. For instance, Paul Lieber, cosmetic chemist, expressed that physically possible for more 30-40% of the ingredients to be organic, unless its organic oil, for the simple reason that conventionally 60-70% of a product is water which cannot be certified organically grown. (Farlow 2006). Because there are no such ‘accusations’ of Body Shop products, there packaging and label information are perceived to be authentic and accurate. Moreover, Body Shop is also wary about indicating whether product may cause allerfic reactions. While other competitor brands struggle to promote an image of natural and being environmentally friendly, Body Shop has been at the forefront of the race. They always ensure that there is information on the front of the label about the health and safety of the ingredients inside the package (Farlow 2006). The foremost feature of Body Shop as a busines entity is the appeal of its noble thrusts or cause. This is attested to by the results of the survey, which suggest that it has exceeded expectations of clients in terms of the quality of their products and its natural appeal. These indicate that it has effectively used cause branding, an approach in branding where a company supports a cause to be able to increase profits or to set it apart from competitors (Ivy Cohen Corporate Communications 2007). It has gone into the league of such programmes as Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, ConAgra Foods’ Feeding Children Better Program, Reebok’s Human Rights Awards and Rockport’s Fitness Walking Program. While promotional activities are there only for the short term, cause marketing forms part of the brand, as a long-term initiative. They have been successful at making the Body Shop brand tantamount to caring for the environment and for promoting authentically natural products (Evergreen Partners 2005). Moreover, Body Shop has effectively promoted corporate social responsibility through its various community activities and environmental programmes. These various causes have helped spell its solid brand (Evergreen Partners 2005). The values of Body Shop have been instrumental in creating its successful brand, and the results of the current research have supported this. Not only has it been successful at creating a corporate brand, it has also been effective at creating a successful employer brand. VersantWorks (2008) asserts tht with the uptend in new resources such as technology, the core asset of any enterprise remains to be its manpower. Thus, as Body Shop competes with increasingly effective competitors, its must attract competent key people through its appeal as an employer. It must thus maintain its credible standing among its stakeholders current employees, potential hires, and previous staff about the company as place of work (Harris 2002), as Body Shop being a â€Å"great place to work†. This shall continually instill in them pride in being part of the company, engagement, and belongingness (VersantWorks 2008). This trend of advocating exemplary corporate values for creating an employer brand is expected to continue for Body Shop, with its acquisition by L’Oreal. The latter has in fact been nominated as among the Fast Moving Consumer Goods – FMCG Employer of Choice (Employer Profile 2008). It has also been espousing employee development explicitly through its website; they likewise offer a secure workplace, performance is given credit, a diverse culture, and where privacy and private life are valued (As An Employer 2008). What makes this strategy work for the company is because L’Oreal knows who it wanted to hire and focus the HR endeavor to accomplish the task (Klein 2008), something that they are likely to infuse further in Body Shop. Factors which Matched Patrons’ Expectations. There are no significant differences on the following items: brand; the degree to which the product is environment friendly; and positive feedback garnered from significant others. These suggest that Body Shop has met expectations of the respondents based on the degree of importance they have attached to each factor. Body Shop has matched its patrons expectations in terms of being a well known, globally acknowledged brand. Overall, they have not only raised awareness about their products, but have also been able to address the personal needs of their clientele (Lake 2003). They have been able to espouse a character to which the clients have related and associated themselves to (Klein 2008). In total, the opinions and interface of their customers with the Body Shop brand have been positive, and have allowed them to remain competitive (Lake 2003). Still among the reasons for their success if their effectiveness in building a corporate band. Body Shop has created brand loyalty where customers look for products under that company or under the Body Shop brand name (Crystal 2003). To this point, Body Shop continues to leverage on being an environmentally friendly enterprise, which is also one of the factors which matched the expectations of its patrons. Inf act, in collaboration with Adi Maimalaga Tafuna’i , executive director of Samoa’s NGO Women in Business Inc. , the Body Shop was instrumental with the launching of Samoa’s coconut oil to the world last year. September 2008, through the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, will be the launching of the organic standards for the agricultural produce in the Pacific regions, a cooperative work the NGO and New Zealand and Pacific expertise. Tafuna’i expresses complying with organic standards is always a major issue especially for agricultural exports and this undertaking will add value to the small quantities of agricultural produce for export (Radio New Zealand International 2008). Moreover, Body Shop promotes other advocacies apart from environmentalist. For example, it has commemorated International Friendship Day last August 3 by launching their For Me, For You shea butter lip care two-packs—a special edition launched late last month on July 28th —preservative-free balm retails for $15. All profits from each sale are donated to entities like Alice Housing through the Canadian Womens Foundation in support of its endeavor to help women and children who are victims of domestic violence (Webb-Campbell 2008). The women respondents in the present study have also expressed receiving positive feedback about the Body Shop brand from significant others. These results suggest that women are strongly influenced by reference groups, family, and role and status within the society. Moreover, a reference group could be a single person or a group of people that an individual consults when developing personal standards (Consumer Behavior 2008). These further indicate that their significant others’ expectations about Body Shop products have been met as well, and they were strongly influenced to adopt the same set of standards (Consumer Behavior – Social 2008). For instance officemates or friends show or introduce the latest trend, convincing their significant others that this good; consequently, purchase is impacted on by this feedback. In addition, Heath and Bryant (2000) suggested that when consumers buy things like cosmetics, they ask friends and family first prior to buying. The information and views expressed by these close relations have as much influence on whether the purchase will be made as the consumers’ own needs, inclinations and knowledge. Such is more applicable when a consumer is uncertan about what to buy; in such cases, they are likely to heed what they perceive as socially acceptable, especially by those who are significant to them (Heath Bryant 2000). Factors which Did not Match Patrons’ Expectations. In contrast, the following factors are those in which Body Shop did not quite meet client expectations based on the degree of importance they have assigned to each: competitive price of the product; trendiness or fashion sense represented by the product; and the sales promotions used for the product. Price, trendiness and sales promotions have to be beefed up further by Body Shop to be able to entice more clients and to maintain the loyalty of its patrons. While clients are willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products, clients are growing increasingly price-conscious. Moreover, while its popularity cannot be denied, it has still managed to elect a marketing entity to manage its affiliate marketing programmes in the UK. This suggests that it is still conscious about the need to further promote the products even if it has already gained a niche in the market. It has thus elected TradeDoubler, the pan-European digital marketing company, to exclusively oversee its trade marketing programme in the UK (e-Consultancy 2008).

Bottled Water Preferences Analysis

Bottled Water Preferences Analysis Preface â€Å"Leaders arent born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And thats the price well have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal† Vincent Lombardi All the knowledge learning and procedures are useless without observations and practical experience. The purpose of this research is to acquaint the business graduate with empirical business practices. As a requirement for Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, I opted to conduct my research on â€Å"Consumer Preferences of Bottled water†, to fulfill my degree requirement. The reason for choosing bottled water was to get practical knowledge about consumer behaviour, so as to provide myself an opportunity to cope with the real life situation. This research covers the aspect about consumers preferences regarding usage of a certain brand of bottled water. The research focuses on the fact that why a consumer uses a specific brand of bottled water. Is it taste, health consciousness, fashion or any other aesthetic factor that makes a consumers use a specific brand of bottled water. The main idea for this research came from the observation, that why a consumer is using only a specific brand of bottled water, regardless of the fact that all the bottled water brands are providing â€Å"pure and clean† water. I felt that the knowledge that I have gained through this experience is an excellent way to think analytically for finding solutions to problems of day-to-day life. The study of consumer behavior and their preferences itself is a massive study comprising of different factors involved. It is impossible to study each one in detail and include everything in the report. However, I studied the consumer behaviour from preferences point of view. I am thankful to all my colleagues and higher ups for their valuable guidance in preparing this report in a presentable fashion. I am also thankful to my parents, teachers and all my friends for their cooperation. â€Å"MEASURING CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR BOTTLED DRINKING WATER† CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study: Bottled water consumption has been steadily growing in the world for the past 30 years. It is the most dynamic sector of all the food and beverage industry: bottled water consumption in the world increases by an average 7% each year, in spite of its excessively high price compared to tap water and although industrialized countries consumers have, in principle, access to cheap good quality tap water. Bottled water is often an alternative to tap water. Consumers often object to the taste of chemicals, particularly chlorine, used to purify tap water. In France, nearly half of them dont usually drink tap water because of its bad taste (IFEN, 2000), as opposed to only 7% in United States (Olson, 1999). Consumers also drink bottled water because they care for their health. In Europe, there is a long tradition, dating back to Roman times, of spas and of drinking mineral waters for medical purposes. In the 19th century, this activity developed with the fashion for upper classes to go to spas in order to improve their health. Spas owners werent long in understanding that they could increase the wellness of their customers and their own benefits â‚ ¬Ã‚  directly supplying them their water in bottles. Until the 1950s, mineral water was sold in drugstores as a health product. It has now become an everyday product. Natural mineral water, now sold in supermarket, doesnt carry along anymore this medical image. People now buy bottled water to feel well, responding to advertising campaigns based on well-being, energy, slimming, fitness etc. Bottled water is a healthy alternative to other beverages. It is calorie-free and attractive for people willing to lose weight: â€Å"one of the sparks that ignited the bottled water fire was the fitness craze that skyrocketed in the early 1980† (Sullivan, 1996). Increasing urbanization can also explain this trend for bottled water consumption. In Increasing standards of living and greater use of cars enabled people to buy water in supermarkets and to bring home higher number of bottled water, without difficulty. The use of plastic makes bottles lighter and easier to carry than when they were made of glass. The expansion of shopping centers, outside city-centers, provides consumers with a greater choice in bottled water brands. The explosion of bottled water consumption also reflects deep changes in working habits in industrialized countries, with the decline of the agriculture and industry sectors. In these countries, most people have office works and the bottle of water is now a common element on a desk, next to the computer and the telephone. Drinking expensive bottled water (compared to tap water) is a sign of a rise in the social scale. In addition, bottled water is the result of a huge marketing success. The bottled water market in Pakistan is witnessing annual growth rates nearing 40 percent. Bottled water in Pakistan is not considered a ‘beverage. Beverage processing includes carbonated soft drinks where Pakistan has the lowest per capita consumption in the world, fruit juices, syrups and juice flavoured drinks. Drinking water and also bottled water is not considered an important commodity either. The Government of Pakistan described the market for bottled water, with 33 million liters of consumption per annum in 1999, as small but growing. It furthermore estimated the consumption for 2003, as 70 million liters or 0.5 liters per capita. The bottled water market in Pakistan has witnessed annual growth rates of 40 percent, and after the introduction of Nestlà ©s ‘Pure Life, it had the fastest worldwide growth in bottled water in 2000, at 140%. Recent s estimate a yearly consumption of about 2 liters per person bottled water. Bottled water is not a solution to inadequate water supplies as it is simply not affordable for poor people who lack access to water. A bottled water culture which turns drinking water into a status symbol is not justifiable from the human rights perspective. The Pakistan government is obliged to adopt measures to provide access to safe and sufficient water supplies even if that means restraining corporations from turning water into a status symbol to make profits, or from polluting or extracting already depleting groundwater resources. 1.2 Purpose of the Study: This report/study is meant to: Understand what factors are influencing the consumer preferences to make them purchase different brands of bottled water. Identifying that what are the factors which affect the purchase of a specific bottled water brand. 1.3 Research Questions: 1. What do people expect from their water utility in the context of drinking water services? 2. What are consumers priorities? 3. What do customers consider acceptable in terms of the product and the service they receive? 4. What are they willing to accept for the current price they pay? 5. Why do people prefer to use a specific bottled water brand in terms of their priorities? 1.4 Scope of the Work: Scope of this report is limited to businessmen, professionals and students of Peshawar and Islamabad who are well users of bottled water. 1.5 Limitations of the Study: Expected limitations of this research can be: * Unavailability or Lack of data * Response from people * Limited time * Resource constraint 1.6 Research Methodology: The methodologies used for the research are as follows: 1.6.1.: Sample Unit: The respondents selected were belonging to different social backgrounds and different professions. 1.6.2: Sample Population: The study was conducted in Peshawar and Islamabad only. 1.6.3: Sample Size: A total sample size of 100 respondents was fixed for the research. 1.6.4: Sampling Procedure: Because of the limitations, convenient sampling has been selected, as the name implies, the sample is selected because they are convenient. This non probability method is often used during preliminary research efforts to get a gross estimate of the results, without incurring the cost or time required to select a random sample. The sampling was on the basis of Judgemental Sampling i.e. Non-Probability Sampling Method was used. 1.6.2: DATA COLLECTION: Both primary and secondary methods of data collection are used in the study. 1.6.2.1: Primary Data: The data-collecting tool for primary data was the questionnaire. The questionnaires were compromised of questions about personal preferences of the respondents along with questions on the subject of study. The questions used likert scale and category scale. This enabled the respondents to answer questions by marking most suitable answers. 1.6.2.2: Secondary Data: The most important source of secondary data for the study was articles from different websites and previous researches done on internet. Also different books and some related articles in different magazines and journal of marketing served as a source of secondary data. 1.7 Scheme of the Report: The report will comprise of following sections: Chapter 01: Introduction Chapter 02: Literature Review Chapter 03: Consumer Trust, Confidence and Customer Preferences for Drinking Water Chapter 04: Analysis and Findings Chapter 05: Conclusion and Recommendations CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction The global water shortage of affordable and safe drinking water is manifested in Pakistan with an estimated 44 percent of the population without access to safe drinking water. In rural areas, up to 90 percent of the population may lack such access. As one indication of the magnitude of the problem, it is estimated that 200,000 children in Pakistan die every year due to diarrhoeal diseases alone (UN Systems in Pakistan, 2003). Drinking bottled water reflects not just a certain way of life in the rich North but a necessity and the only option for safe water in the South. Beside official s, there should be no doubt that the majority of the Pakistans population is exposed to the hazard of drinking unsafe and polluted water. In an effort to improve this situation, many consumers in Pakistan have to turn to bottled water as a first alternative to drinking unfiltered tap water or contaminated water of other sources where no public drinking water service exists (GOP, Pakistan Environment Pro tection Agency, 2003). However, bottled water is a very expensive alternative and not always healthy because of infrequent testing for contaminants and sporadic inspection of processing plants. Bottled water should not be considered as a substitute to a sufficient service with drinkable tap water, but it is due to lack of access to water services or to bad quality of available resources (WHO, 2000). Bottled water consumption has been steadily growing in the world for the past 30 years. It is considered as one of the most dynamic sectors of all the food and beverage industry, where consumption in the world increases by an average 12% each year, in spite of its excessively high price compared to tap water (UNESCO, 2003). Bottled water consumption has been steadily growing in the world for the past 30 years. It is the most dynamic sector of all the food and beverage industry: bottled water consumption in the world increases by an average 7% each year, in spite of its excessively high price compared to tap water and although industrialized countries consumers have, in principle, access to cheap good quality tap water. This research report aims to provide background information on bottled water, the use of bottled water in order to understand the reasons of a trend that goes beyond a simple fashion and turns to be a real social phenomenon. It will first identify existing types of bottled water: although they seem very much alike, bottles of water dont contain the same product. The increase in bottled water consumption has boosted the bottled water industry and market trends show very promising perspectives for the future. This report will then identify the major reasons why consumers choose to buy speci fic expensive bottled water rather than drink tap water. It will finally analyze the impact this industry has on the environment. 2.2 Water Global Trends and Pakistans Struggle Water is essential for human beings to survive and develop. At the same time, water is a scarce good, and shortage sometimes results in crises. Both facts lead to the simple conclusion that lack of water hinders development and a dignified life. This can be assessed from global trends, as well as from Pakistans national and local struggles for better access for people to safe and sufficient drinking water. 2.3 Water A Global but Scarce Good According to s published by the United Nations, subsidiary organizations and other international organizations, 1.1bn people are without a sufficient access to water, and 2.4bn people have to live without adequate sanitation. Under current trends, the prognosis is that about 3bn people of a population of 8.5bn will suffer from water shortage by 2025. 83% of them will live in developing countries, mostly in rural areas where even today sometimes only 20% of the population have access to a sufficient water supply (Guissà ©, El Hadji, 2004). This actual lack of water is opposed to the theoretical conclusion that there is enough ground water existing in all regions of the world to guarantee an adequate water supply for all people. According to international law, in the case of concurring water users, the socio-economic priorities have to rest on human development and social interests of the people (UN, 1997). However, only 6% of global freshwater is used by households, while 20% is util ized industry and another 70% by agriculture. The conclusion drawn from these framework conditions is that water shortage and the unequal distribution of water are global problems rather than regional problems that require international solutions. Insufficient supply of drinking water is the main cause of diseases in developing countries. Already in 1997, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development concluded that 2.3bn people suffer from diseases rooted in insufficient water provision and quality (UN, 1997). More than five years later, it was estimated that 2.4bn people were suffering from water related diseases, and the World Health Organization reckons that 80% of all infections are traceable to poor water conditions. 5,483 people die daily of water caused diarrhoea 90 percent are children under five. Taking into account all water related diseases and deaths, international organizations estimated in 2001 that 2,213,000 people died because of inadequate water supply ten times more than the tsunami disaster caused in December 2004 (UNESCO, 2003). 2.4 Poverty and Access to Water in Pakistan It is acknowledged that lacking safe and sufficient drinking water as with other basic needs such as food, shelter and education is not a geographical but social problem. Being poor or rich is mainly decided by birth, and poverty perpetuates itself from generation to generation. Development strategies should be judged by their effort to break through this vicious cycle. Single indicators, such as literacy rates or households with access to water, are a litmus test for such an assessment. 2.4.1 Access to Water in Pakistan Pakistan is an Islamic Republic, whose aim is to enable its Muslim majority â€Å"to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah† (Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973). Water is recognized in Islamic teachings as a vital resource, of which everyone has the right to a fair share. Following the Hadith, it is reported that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: â€Å"Muslims have common share in three (things): grass, water and fire† (Abu-Dawood 3470). Furthermore, the Holy Quran warns human beings against unfair distribution of common goods and the majority of scholars agree that Islam forbids speculation, manipulation and unbalance profit with a common good such as water (Faruqui, Naser I, 2001). In 1995, UNDP counted Pakistan as country having among the highest water potential per person out of 130 countries that should dramatically improve its water situation to overcome the current crisis and prevent future ones (IRIN, 2001). Obviously, Pakistan failed to make any improvement. In 2003, the United Nations dropped Pakistans ranking, because its total renewable water resources per capita per year have been estimated as 114th out of 180 countries (UN, 2003). Only three percent of Pakistans sweet water resources are used for household purposes and drinking (GOP, Pakistan Ministry of Water and Power, 2002). Therefore the debate about access to water in Pakistan is dominated by irrigation disputes, mega-projects of dams and canals, and climate change. The focus is on water for agriculture rather than for people (UNDP, 2003). This production oriented perspective continues in the debate about groundwater use and extraction. It is estimated that surface water meets only 75-80 percent of crop water requirements. As a result, groundwater is merely seen as a reserve water source for irrigation and food production, as well as the maj or factor for the growth of agricultural production in the late 20th century (World Bank, 1996). With regard to the availability of safe and sufficient drinking water, Pakistan lacks reliable statistics. While data about the availability of water and field studies about water quality exist, there is no sufficient data that take both into account. Official data about the access to drinking water vary between 60 and 90 percent of households. In rural areas where a decline of households with access to water is documented s about availability differ between 10 and 53 percent. Differences in these statistics mainly emerge from the inclusion or exclusion of households that rely on privately owned wells and supply systems (Pakistan Mouza Report, 1998). In addition, having access to water in Pakistan is not similar with having access to safe and sufficient water supply. Pakistans water quality ranks as 80th out of 122 nations. Pipe water in Pakistan is contaminated either because of leakages with all sorts of bacteria or due to geological conditions and insufficient purification, with abnormally high levels of arsenic and elevated fluoride (IRIN, OCHA, 2004). Water, extracted by hand pumps the major water source in rural areas is mainly brackish water and not sufficient for drinking and cooking. The Pakistan Council of Research and Water Resources (PCRWR) estimate that almost 50 percent of urban water supply is insufficient for drinking and personal use (GOP, Pakistan Council of Research and Water Resources, 2004). According to a research which took data about availability and quality into relation and concluded that an average of 25.61 percent of Pakistans 159 million inhabitants has access to safe and sufficient drinking water ( Nils Rosemann, 2005). This calculation shows that in rural areas only 23.5 percent and in urban areas approximately 30 percent can use their source of water without jeopardizing their health. These findings come close to a conclusion by independent experts who predicted that already in 2001, with prevailing consumption rates and a population growth of 4 million people per year, one out of three people in Pakistan would face critical shortages of water, threatening their very survival. The Government of Pakistan estimated with regard to diarrhoea that this mainly water related disease accounts for 14 percent of illnesses for children under five and for seven percent of all disease in people age five and older (GOP, Pakistan Ministry of Economic Affairs and Statistics, 2004). The Pakistan Council of Research and Water Resources (PCRWR) assesses that 40 percent of all reported illnesses are water-related. It is estimated that 200,000 children in Pakistan die every year due to diarrhoea l diseases alone (UN Systems in Pakistan, 2003). Unsafe water affects mainly rural and urban poor, who suffer above the average from sickness and water related diseases. (GOP, Pakistan National Human Development Report, 2003). 2.5 About Bottled Water The term bottled water seems to tell that any bottle containing water, however there are important differences: all bottles dont contain the same product. There is very little in common between natural mineral water and purified water, as the chemical compositions or the treatments these waters can undergo respond to very different criteria that can change from one country to another. In some cases bottled water is merely bottled tap water. 2.5.1 Industry Definitions Several terms are commonly used to describe the products of the bottled water industry, including some of the following: * Artesian water bottled water from a well that taps a confined aquifer (a water-bearing underground layer of rock or sand) in which the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer. * Fluoridated Water often used as a health focused drink for growing children, it contains fluorine within permissible limits. * Ground water obtained from underground sources, pumped out using pressure that is equal to or more then atmospheric pressure. * Mineral water An extremely specific product that must meet certain criteria. Defined as water with at least 250 parts per million total dissolved solids. The source of water is either ground water or a spring. * Purified water or drinking water is water taken from rivers, lakes or underground springs that has undergone some form of treatment. It can be produced by â€Å"distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis or other suitable processes. It can be chemically treated in order to have some components disappear. It is basically de-mineralized water from public sources. Purified water is actually a manufactured product. * Sparkling water water injected with carbon dioxide * Spring water water obtained from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the earths surface. * Sterile water water that meets the requirements specified under government or other sterility tests. * Well water water from a hole bored, drilled or otherwise constructed in the ground which taps the water of an aquifer. (IBWA, 2000) If these waters contain the minimum required mineral content according to US standards, they can be called â€Å"mineral waters†. So many different categories of bottled water, changing from one country to another, are not easy for consumers to differentiate. 2.5.2 What is Distilled Water? Distillation is a process that leaves water free of minerals. Distilled water has been brought up to a boiling temperature. The steam is captured and is cooled, which condenses it back into a liquid form. When the water turns to steam, anything heavier than water (like minerals, or unwanted organic matter) is left behind. Thus, distilled water only contains water. Distilled water is good to use in appliances such as coffee makers because since it contains no minerals it does not leave behind lime scale. 2.5.3 Packaging Packaging used for water can have very different shapes and colours and are made of different materials. For a long time, bottled water was only available in glass, a very good but heavy material. At the end of the 1960s, bottlers started to use packaging made of PVC (vinyl polychlorure). In the 1980s, a new kind of plastic started being used: PET (polyethylene terephtalate). PET is progressively replacing PVC because of its numerous advantages. Plastic, either PVC or PET, is the most frequently used material to make bottles of water; about 70% of the bottles used for natural mineral water are made of plastic. Bottles usually contain 33cl, 50cl, 1 litre, 1.5 litre, 2 litres or 5 litres. The biggest packaging for bottled water is a 5-gallon carboy (about 20 litres). Packaging is an essential part of bottled water marketing strategies. â€Å"The packaging makes the brand. The brand makes the packaging. A product must have visibility to sell its presentation refers to notions such as service, security, hygiene† (Miquel, 1999). In some cases, such as Kinley, it is even possible to recognize the brand of the bottled water thanks to the shape and colour of its packaging. Some brands have reshaped their bottles in order to make them look like the marketing message they are supposed to carry. Many bottles, for instance, now high mountains not only on the labels but also on the plastic itself. The packaging is an important part of the bottled water marketing success. All types of bottles coexist and are regularly reshaped in order to better catch consumers attention. Marketing and advertising campaigns are essential to differentiate the product and attract consumers. Brands tend to associate with specific activities: sport, fitness, slimming, fashion, etc. For the last 50 years, Evian has been the water of babies, emphasizing that its low mineral concentration is suitable for them. The brands marketing strategy capitalizes on infants, from the pink colour of its labels to advertising campaigns. 2.6 Bottled water market trends and Planets Health The world bottled water market amounts to an annual volume of 89 billion litres, which represents an average 15 litres of bottled water drunk yearly per person (Danone, 2000). Western Europeans are the major consumers, drinking nearly half of all the world bottled water, with an average of 85 litres/person/year (Sollberger, 1994). In United States, 54% of Americans regularly drink bottled water (Olson, 1999). More than half (59%) of the bottled water drunk in the world is purified water, the remaining 41% being spring or mineral water (Belot, 2000). Bottled water is an extremely competitive market; hence companies need to develop diverse marketing strategies. But according to campaigners, the planets health may be suffering as a result. A new report warns that peoples thirst for bottled water is producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy, even in areas where perfectly good drinking water is available on tap. The report, released by the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), says global consumption of bottled water doubled between 1999 and 2004, reaching 41 billion gallons (154 billion liters) annually. 2.7 Bottled Water Market in Pakistan Before focusing on Pakistan in particular, one should note that bottled water consumption has generally grown around the world in the past 30 years, despite its high price compared to tap water. Lured by the potential for huge profits, multinational companies have been trying to create an international market for bottled water. The bottled water market in Pakistan is witnessing annual growth rates nearing 40 percent. Bottled water in Pakistan is not considered a ‘beverage. Beverage processing includes carbonated soft drinks where Pakistan has the lowest per capita consumption in the world, fruit juices, syrups and juice flavoured drinks (Pakistan Investors Guide, 2004). Drinking water and also bottled water is not considered an important commodity either. Water supply and prices for drinking water and bottled water are not considered under the items in the Sensitive Price Indicator, Consumer Price Index or Wholesale Price Index. From this perspective; it is obvious that Pakistan has low consumption of bottled water. The Government of Pakistan described the market for bottled water, with 33 million litres of consumption per annum in 1999, as small but growing. It furthermore estimated the consumption for 2003, as 70 million litres or 0.5 litres per capita. The bottled water market in Pakistan has wi tnessed annual growth rates of 40 percent, and after the introduction of Nestlà ©s ‘Pure Life, it had the fastest worldwide growth in bottled water in 2000, at 140% (The Bottled Water Industry of Pakistan, 2004). Recent s estimate a yearly consumption of about 2 litres per person bottled water (Nils Rosemann, 2005). Compared with Thailands 43 litres and Philippines 15 litres per capita consumption, this seems relatively low. But taking Pakistans population into account, one has to estimate an annual consumption of 318 million litres. While, sufficient s are not available to prove this 964 percent consumption increase in five years, one is able to conclude that Pakistan is a highly dynamic and lucrative market. Market expectations are as high in the retail market of bottled water as in the household and operations sector for bulk water. Besides these market expectations, the production of bottled water is also considered quite profitable. It is estimated that a bottle of 1.5 litres has production costs of PKR 12.51 while it is sold for PKR 22 (Nils Rosemann, 2005). The profit is shared between producing corporations, with PKR 0.66-0.83, and middleman, with PKR 6.66-7.08. By this standard, the producing corporation makes a profit of 4-5 percent while the middleman makes a profit of 27-30.55 percent. In Pakistans water market, there are approximately 20 permanent players. Official s show an estimated number of 26 corporations, while in summer time, this number increases up to 70 (Nils Rosemann, 2005). But from the perspective of quality control, PCRWR is witnessing a fluctuation in the market of 50 percent, e.g. half of the brands disappear and are replaced by new brands yearly (PCRWR, 2003). In 2005, PSQCA admitted that 200 companies are selling bottled water in Pakistan, but only 27 are registered as maintaining standards stipulated for the product (Hoti, Ikram, 2005). Nestlà © itself estimates approximately 150 water brands, with only 15 registered under the PSQCA scheme (Hoti, Ikram, 2005). Regardless of this data, it is unquestioned that Nestlà © controls the majority of the market (over 50 percent) with its brands ‘Pure Life, AVA and Fontalia, while Danones subsidy 22 â€Å"Sparkletts† holds 12 percent and another local brand â€Å"BSW† has an estimated five percent market share (Nils Rosemann, 2005). Bottled water is not a solution to inadequate water supplies as it is simply not affordable for poor people who lack access to water. A bottled water culture which turns drinking water into a status symbol is not justifiable from the human rights perspective. The Pakistan government is obliged to adopt measures to provide access to safe and sufficient water supplies even if that means restraining corporations from turning water into a status symbol to make profits, or from polluting or extracting already depleting groundwater resources. 2.8 Bottled water consumption: a certain way of life Some consumers choose to only drink bottled water; we can identify several reasons for drinking bottled water. 2.8.1. Consumers care for their health and safety Bottled water is often an alternative to tap water. Consumers often object to the taste of chemicals, particularly chlorine, used to purify tap water. In France, nearly half of them dont usually drink tap water because of its bad taste (IFEN, 2000), as opposed to only 7% in United States (Olson, 1999). Consumers also look for security, in emerging as well as in industrialized countries. They often mistrust their tap water, because of previous bacterial contamination for instance, and perceive bottled water as being safer than tap water. In India, the suspicion of bad tap water quality, in addition to general and seasonal shortages of tap water, lead people to turn to bottled water. In Pakistan, only t Bottled Water Preferences Analysis Bottled Water Preferences Analysis Preface â€Å"Leaders arent born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And thats the price well have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal† Vincent Lombardi All the knowledge learning and procedures are useless without observations and practical experience. The purpose of this research is to acquaint the business graduate with empirical business practices. As a requirement for Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, I opted to conduct my research on â€Å"Consumer Preferences of Bottled water†, to fulfill my degree requirement. The reason for choosing bottled water was to get practical knowledge about consumer behaviour, so as to provide myself an opportunity to cope with the real life situation. This research covers the aspect about consumers preferences regarding usage of a certain brand of bottled water. The research focuses on the fact that why a consumer uses a specific brand of bottled water. Is it taste, health consciousness, fashion or any other aesthetic factor that makes a consumers use a specific brand of bottled water. The main idea for this research came from the observation, that why a consumer is using only a specific brand of bottled water, regardless of the fact that all the bottled water brands are providing â€Å"pure and clean† water. I felt that the knowledge that I have gained through this experience is an excellent way to think analytically for finding solutions to problems of day-to-day life. The study of consumer behavior and their preferences itself is a massive study comprising of different factors involved. It is impossible to study each one in detail and include everything in the report. However, I studied the consumer behaviour from preferences point of view. I am thankful to all my colleagues and higher ups for their valuable guidance in preparing this report in a presentable fashion. I am also thankful to my parents, teachers and all my friends for their cooperation. â€Å"MEASURING CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR BOTTLED DRINKING WATER† CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study: Bottled water consumption has been steadily growing in the world for the past 30 years. It is the most dynamic sector of all the food and beverage industry: bottled water consumption in the world increases by an average 7% each year, in spite of its excessively high price compared to tap water and although industrialized countries consumers have, in principle, access to cheap good quality tap water. Bottled water is often an alternative to tap water. Consumers often object to the taste of chemicals, particularly chlorine, used to purify tap water. In France, nearly half of them dont usually drink tap water because of its bad taste (IFEN, 2000), as opposed to only 7% in United States (Olson, 1999). Consumers also drink bottled water because they care for their health. In Europe, there is a long tradition, dating back to Roman times, of spas and of drinking mineral waters for medical purposes. In the 19th century, this activity developed with the fashion for upper classes to go to spas in order to improve their health. Spas owners werent long in understanding that they could increase the wellness of their customers and their own benefits â‚ ¬Ã‚  directly supplying them their water in bottles. Until the 1950s, mineral water was sold in drugstores as a health product. It has now become an everyday product. Natural mineral water, now sold in supermarket, doesnt carry along anymore this medical image. People now buy bottled water to feel well, responding to advertising campaigns based on well-being, energy, slimming, fitness etc. Bottled water is a healthy alternative to other beverages. It is calorie-free and attractive for people willing to lose weight: â€Å"one of the sparks that ignited the bottled water fire was the fitness craze that skyrocketed in the early 1980† (Sullivan, 1996). Increasing urbanization can also explain this trend for bottled water consumption. In Increasing standards of living and greater use of cars enabled people to buy water in supermarkets and to bring home higher number of bottled water, without difficulty. The use of plastic makes bottles lighter and easier to carry than when they were made of glass. The expansion of shopping centers, outside city-centers, provides consumers with a greater choice in bottled water brands. The explosion of bottled water consumption also reflects deep changes in working habits in industrialized countries, with the decline of the agriculture and industry sectors. In these countries, most people have office works and the bottle of water is now a common element on a desk, next to the computer and the telephone. Drinking expensive bottled water (compared to tap water) is a sign of a rise in the social scale. In addition, bottled water is the result of a huge marketing success. The bottled water market in Pakistan is witnessing annual growth rates nearing 40 percent. Bottled water in Pakistan is not considered a ‘beverage. Beverage processing includes carbonated soft drinks where Pakistan has the lowest per capita consumption in the world, fruit juices, syrups and juice flavoured drinks. Drinking water and also bottled water is not considered an important commodity either. The Government of Pakistan described the market for bottled water, with 33 million liters of consumption per annum in 1999, as small but growing. It furthermore estimated the consumption for 2003, as 70 million liters or 0.5 liters per capita. The bottled water market in Pakistan has witnessed annual growth rates of 40 percent, and after the introduction of Nestlà ©s ‘Pure Life, it had the fastest worldwide growth in bottled water in 2000, at 140%. Recent s estimate a yearly consumption of about 2 liters per person bottled water. Bottled water is not a solution to inadequate water supplies as it is simply not affordable for poor people who lack access to water. A bottled water culture which turns drinking water into a status symbol is not justifiable from the human rights perspective. The Pakistan government is obliged to adopt measures to provide access to safe and sufficient water supplies even if that means restraining corporations from turning water into a status symbol to make profits, or from polluting or extracting already depleting groundwater resources. 1.2 Purpose of the Study: This report/study is meant to: Understand what factors are influencing the consumer preferences to make them purchase different brands of bottled water. Identifying that what are the factors which affect the purchase of a specific bottled water brand. 1.3 Research Questions: 1. What do people expect from their water utility in the context of drinking water services? 2. What are consumers priorities? 3. What do customers consider acceptable in terms of the product and the service they receive? 4. What are they willing to accept for the current price they pay? 5. Why do people prefer to use a specific bottled water brand in terms of their priorities? 1.4 Scope of the Work: Scope of this report is limited to businessmen, professionals and students of Peshawar and Islamabad who are well users of bottled water. 1.5 Limitations of the Study: Expected limitations of this research can be: * Unavailability or Lack of data * Response from people * Limited time * Resource constraint 1.6 Research Methodology: The methodologies used for the research are as follows: 1.6.1.: Sample Unit: The respondents selected were belonging to different social backgrounds and different professions. 1.6.2: Sample Population: The study was conducted in Peshawar and Islamabad only. 1.6.3: Sample Size: A total sample size of 100 respondents was fixed for the research. 1.6.4: Sampling Procedure: Because of the limitations, convenient sampling has been selected, as the name implies, the sample is selected because they are convenient. This non probability method is often used during preliminary research efforts to get a gross estimate of the results, without incurring the cost or time required to select a random sample. The sampling was on the basis of Judgemental Sampling i.e. Non-Probability Sampling Method was used. 1.6.2: DATA COLLECTION: Both primary and secondary methods of data collection are used in the study. 1.6.2.1: Primary Data: The data-collecting tool for primary data was the questionnaire. The questionnaires were compromised of questions about personal preferences of the respondents along with questions on the subject of study. The questions used likert scale and category scale. This enabled the respondents to answer questions by marking most suitable answers. 1.6.2.2: Secondary Data: The most important source of secondary data for the study was articles from different websites and previous researches done on internet. Also different books and some related articles in different magazines and journal of marketing served as a source of secondary data. 1.7 Scheme of the Report: The report will comprise of following sections: Chapter 01: Introduction Chapter 02: Literature Review Chapter 03: Consumer Trust, Confidence and Customer Preferences for Drinking Water Chapter 04: Analysis and Findings Chapter 05: Conclusion and Recommendations CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction The global water shortage of affordable and safe drinking water is manifested in Pakistan with an estimated 44 percent of the population without access to safe drinking water. In rural areas, up to 90 percent of the population may lack such access. As one indication of the magnitude of the problem, it is estimated that 200,000 children in Pakistan die every year due to diarrhoeal diseases alone (UN Systems in Pakistan, 2003). Drinking bottled water reflects not just a certain way of life in the rich North but a necessity and the only option for safe water in the South. Beside official s, there should be no doubt that the majority of the Pakistans population is exposed to the hazard of drinking unsafe and polluted water. In an effort to improve this situation, many consumers in Pakistan have to turn to bottled water as a first alternative to drinking unfiltered tap water or contaminated water of other sources where no public drinking water service exists (GOP, Pakistan Environment Pro tection Agency, 2003). However, bottled water is a very expensive alternative and not always healthy because of infrequent testing for contaminants and sporadic inspection of processing plants. Bottled water should not be considered as a substitute to a sufficient service with drinkable tap water, but it is due to lack of access to water services or to bad quality of available resources (WHO, 2000). Bottled water consumption has been steadily growing in the world for the past 30 years. It is considered as one of the most dynamic sectors of all the food and beverage industry, where consumption in the world increases by an average 12% each year, in spite of its excessively high price compared to tap water (UNESCO, 2003). Bottled water consumption has been steadily growing in the world for the past 30 years. It is the most dynamic sector of all the food and beverage industry: bottled water consumption in the world increases by an average 7% each year, in spite of its excessively high price compared to tap water and although industrialized countries consumers have, in principle, access to cheap good quality tap water. This research report aims to provide background information on bottled water, the use of bottled water in order to understand the reasons of a trend that goes beyond a simple fashion and turns to be a real social phenomenon. It will first identify existing types of bottled water: although they seem very much alike, bottles of water dont contain the same product. The increase in bottled water consumption has boosted the bottled water industry and market trends show very promising perspectives for the future. This report will then identify the major reasons why consumers choose to buy speci fic expensive bottled water rather than drink tap water. It will finally analyze the impact this industry has on the environment. 2.2 Water Global Trends and Pakistans Struggle Water is essential for human beings to survive and develop. At the same time, water is a scarce good, and shortage sometimes results in crises. Both facts lead to the simple conclusion that lack of water hinders development and a dignified life. This can be assessed from global trends, as well as from Pakistans national and local struggles for better access for people to safe and sufficient drinking water. 2.3 Water A Global but Scarce Good According to s published by the United Nations, subsidiary organizations and other international organizations, 1.1bn people are without a sufficient access to water, and 2.4bn people have to live without adequate sanitation. Under current trends, the prognosis is that about 3bn people of a population of 8.5bn will suffer from water shortage by 2025. 83% of them will live in developing countries, mostly in rural areas where even today sometimes only 20% of the population have access to a sufficient water supply (Guissà ©, El Hadji, 2004). This actual lack of water is opposed to the theoretical conclusion that there is enough ground water existing in all regions of the world to guarantee an adequate water supply for all people. According to international law, in the case of concurring water users, the socio-economic priorities have to rest on human development and social interests of the people (UN, 1997). However, only 6% of global freshwater is used by households, while 20% is util ized industry and another 70% by agriculture. The conclusion drawn from these framework conditions is that water shortage and the unequal distribution of water are global problems rather than regional problems that require international solutions. Insufficient supply of drinking water is the main cause of diseases in developing countries. Already in 1997, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development concluded that 2.3bn people suffer from diseases rooted in insufficient water provision and quality (UN, 1997). More than five years later, it was estimated that 2.4bn people were suffering from water related diseases, and the World Health Organization reckons that 80% of all infections are traceable to poor water conditions. 5,483 people die daily of water caused diarrhoea 90 percent are children under five. Taking into account all water related diseases and deaths, international organizations estimated in 2001 that 2,213,000 people died because of inadequate water supply ten times more than the tsunami disaster caused in December 2004 (UNESCO, 2003). 2.4 Poverty and Access to Water in Pakistan It is acknowledged that lacking safe and sufficient drinking water as with other basic needs such as food, shelter and education is not a geographical but social problem. Being poor or rich is mainly decided by birth, and poverty perpetuates itself from generation to generation. Development strategies should be judged by their effort to break through this vicious cycle. Single indicators, such as literacy rates or households with access to water, are a litmus test for such an assessment. 2.4.1 Access to Water in Pakistan Pakistan is an Islamic Republic, whose aim is to enable its Muslim majority â€Å"to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah† (Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973). Water is recognized in Islamic teachings as a vital resource, of which everyone has the right to a fair share. Following the Hadith, it is reported that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: â€Å"Muslims have common share in three (things): grass, water and fire† (Abu-Dawood 3470). Furthermore, the Holy Quran warns human beings against unfair distribution of common goods and the majority of scholars agree that Islam forbids speculation, manipulation and unbalance profit with a common good such as water (Faruqui, Naser I, 2001). In 1995, UNDP counted Pakistan as country having among the highest water potential per person out of 130 countries that should dramatically improve its water situation to overcome the current crisis and prevent future ones (IRIN, 2001). Obviously, Pakistan failed to make any improvement. In 2003, the United Nations dropped Pakistans ranking, because its total renewable water resources per capita per year have been estimated as 114th out of 180 countries (UN, 2003). Only three percent of Pakistans sweet water resources are used for household purposes and drinking (GOP, Pakistan Ministry of Water and Power, 2002). Therefore the debate about access to water in Pakistan is dominated by irrigation disputes, mega-projects of dams and canals, and climate change. The focus is on water for agriculture rather than for people (UNDP, 2003). This production oriented perspective continues in the debate about groundwater use and extraction. It is estimated that surface water meets only 75-80 percent of crop water requirements. As a result, groundwater is merely seen as a reserve water source for irrigation and food production, as well as the maj or factor for the growth of agricultural production in the late 20th century (World Bank, 1996). With regard to the availability of safe and sufficient drinking water, Pakistan lacks reliable statistics. While data about the availability of water and field studies about water quality exist, there is no sufficient data that take both into account. Official data about the access to drinking water vary between 60 and 90 percent of households. In rural areas where a decline of households with access to water is documented s about availability differ between 10 and 53 percent. Differences in these statistics mainly emerge from the inclusion or exclusion of households that rely on privately owned wells and supply systems (Pakistan Mouza Report, 1998). In addition, having access to water in Pakistan is not similar with having access to safe and sufficient water supply. Pakistans water quality ranks as 80th out of 122 nations. Pipe water in Pakistan is contaminated either because of leakages with all sorts of bacteria or due to geological conditions and insufficient purification, with abnormally high levels of arsenic and elevated fluoride (IRIN, OCHA, 2004). Water, extracted by hand pumps the major water source in rural areas is mainly brackish water and not sufficient for drinking and cooking. The Pakistan Council of Research and Water Resources (PCRWR) estimate that almost 50 percent of urban water supply is insufficient for drinking and personal use (GOP, Pakistan Council of Research and Water Resources, 2004). According to a research which took data about availability and quality into relation and concluded that an average of 25.61 percent of Pakistans 159 million inhabitants has access to safe and sufficient drinking water ( Nils Rosemann, 2005). This calculation shows that in rural areas only 23.5 percent and in urban areas approximately 30 percent can use their source of water without jeopardizing their health. These findings come close to a conclusion by independent experts who predicted that already in 2001, with prevailing consumption rates and a population growth of 4 million people per year, one out of three people in Pakistan would face critical shortages of water, threatening their very survival. The Government of Pakistan estimated with regard to diarrhoea that this mainly water related disease accounts for 14 percent of illnesses for children under five and for seven percent of all disease in people age five and older (GOP, Pakistan Ministry of Economic Affairs and Statistics, 2004). The Pakistan Council of Research and Water Resources (PCRWR) assesses that 40 percent of all reported illnesses are water-related. It is estimated that 200,000 children in Pakistan die every year due to diarrhoea l diseases alone (UN Systems in Pakistan, 2003). Unsafe water affects mainly rural and urban poor, who suffer above the average from sickness and water related diseases. (GOP, Pakistan National Human Development Report, 2003). 2.5 About Bottled Water The term bottled water seems to tell that any bottle containing water, however there are important differences: all bottles dont contain the same product. There is very little in common between natural mineral water and purified water, as the chemical compositions or the treatments these waters can undergo respond to very different criteria that can change from one country to another. In some cases bottled water is merely bottled tap water. 2.5.1 Industry Definitions Several terms are commonly used to describe the products of the bottled water industry, including some of the following: * Artesian water bottled water from a well that taps a confined aquifer (a water-bearing underground layer of rock or sand) in which the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer. * Fluoridated Water often used as a health focused drink for growing children, it contains fluorine within permissible limits. * Ground water obtained from underground sources, pumped out using pressure that is equal to or more then atmospheric pressure. * Mineral water An extremely specific product that must meet certain criteria. Defined as water with at least 250 parts per million total dissolved solids. The source of water is either ground water or a spring. * Purified water or drinking water is water taken from rivers, lakes or underground springs that has undergone some form of treatment. It can be produced by â€Å"distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis or other suitable processes. It can be chemically treated in order to have some components disappear. It is basically de-mineralized water from public sources. Purified water is actually a manufactured product. * Sparkling water water injected with carbon dioxide * Spring water water obtained from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the earths surface. * Sterile water water that meets the requirements specified under government or other sterility tests. * Well water water from a hole bored, drilled or otherwise constructed in the ground which taps the water of an aquifer. (IBWA, 2000) If these waters contain the minimum required mineral content according to US standards, they can be called â€Å"mineral waters†. So many different categories of bottled water, changing from one country to another, are not easy for consumers to differentiate. 2.5.2 What is Distilled Water? Distillation is a process that leaves water free of minerals. Distilled water has been brought up to a boiling temperature. The steam is captured and is cooled, which condenses it back into a liquid form. When the water turns to steam, anything heavier than water (like minerals, or unwanted organic matter) is left behind. Thus, distilled water only contains water. Distilled water is good to use in appliances such as coffee makers because since it contains no minerals it does not leave behind lime scale. 2.5.3 Packaging Packaging used for water can have very different shapes and colours and are made of different materials. For a long time, bottled water was only available in glass, a very good but heavy material. At the end of the 1960s, bottlers started to use packaging made of PVC (vinyl polychlorure). In the 1980s, a new kind of plastic started being used: PET (polyethylene terephtalate). PET is progressively replacing PVC because of its numerous advantages. Plastic, either PVC or PET, is the most frequently used material to make bottles of water; about 70% of the bottles used for natural mineral water are made of plastic. Bottles usually contain 33cl, 50cl, 1 litre, 1.5 litre, 2 litres or 5 litres. The biggest packaging for bottled water is a 5-gallon carboy (about 20 litres). Packaging is an essential part of bottled water marketing strategies. â€Å"The packaging makes the brand. The brand makes the packaging. A product must have visibility to sell its presentation refers to notions such as service, security, hygiene† (Miquel, 1999). In some cases, such as Kinley, it is even possible to recognize the brand of the bottled water thanks to the shape and colour of its packaging. Some brands have reshaped their bottles in order to make them look like the marketing message they are supposed to carry. Many bottles, for instance, now high mountains not only on the labels but also on the plastic itself. The packaging is an important part of the bottled water marketing success. All types of bottles coexist and are regularly reshaped in order to better catch consumers attention. Marketing and advertising campaigns are essential to differentiate the product and attract consumers. Brands tend to associate with specific activities: sport, fitness, slimming, fashion, etc. For the last 50 years, Evian has been the water of babies, emphasizing that its low mineral concentration is suitable for them. The brands marketing strategy capitalizes on infants, from the pink colour of its labels to advertising campaigns. 2.6 Bottled water market trends and Planets Health The world bottled water market amounts to an annual volume of 89 billion litres, which represents an average 15 litres of bottled water drunk yearly per person (Danone, 2000). Western Europeans are the major consumers, drinking nearly half of all the world bottled water, with an average of 85 litres/person/year (Sollberger, 1994). In United States, 54% of Americans regularly drink bottled water (Olson, 1999). More than half (59%) of the bottled water drunk in the world is purified water, the remaining 41% being spring or mineral water (Belot, 2000). Bottled water is an extremely competitive market; hence companies need to develop diverse marketing strategies. But according to campaigners, the planets health may be suffering as a result. A new report warns that peoples thirst for bottled water is producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy, even in areas where perfectly good drinking water is available on tap. The report, released by the Earth Policy Institute (EPI), says global consumption of bottled water doubled between 1999 and 2004, reaching 41 billion gallons (154 billion liters) annually. 2.7 Bottled Water Market in Pakistan Before focusing on Pakistan in particular, one should note that bottled water consumption has generally grown around the world in the past 30 years, despite its high price compared to tap water. Lured by the potential for huge profits, multinational companies have been trying to create an international market for bottled water. The bottled water market in Pakistan is witnessing annual growth rates nearing 40 percent. Bottled water in Pakistan is not considered a ‘beverage. Beverage processing includes carbonated soft drinks where Pakistan has the lowest per capita consumption in the world, fruit juices, syrups and juice flavoured drinks (Pakistan Investors Guide, 2004). Drinking water and also bottled water is not considered an important commodity either. Water supply and prices for drinking water and bottled water are not considered under the items in the Sensitive Price Indicator, Consumer Price Index or Wholesale Price Index. From this perspective; it is obvious that Pakistan has low consumption of bottled water. The Government of Pakistan described the market for bottled water, with 33 million litres of consumption per annum in 1999, as small but growing. It furthermore estimated the consumption for 2003, as 70 million litres or 0.5 litres per capita. The bottled water market in Pakistan has wi tnessed annual growth rates of 40 percent, and after the introduction of Nestlà ©s ‘Pure Life, it had the fastest worldwide growth in bottled water in 2000, at 140% (The Bottled Water Industry of Pakistan, 2004). Recent s estimate a yearly consumption of about 2 litres per person bottled water (Nils Rosemann, 2005). Compared with Thailands 43 litres and Philippines 15 litres per capita consumption, this seems relatively low. But taking Pakistans population into account, one has to estimate an annual consumption of 318 million litres. While, sufficient s are not available to prove this 964 percent consumption increase in five years, one is able to conclude that Pakistan is a highly dynamic and lucrative market. Market expectations are as high in the retail market of bottled water as in the household and operations sector for bulk water. Besides these market expectations, the production of bottled water is also considered quite profitable. It is estimated that a bottle of 1.5 litres has production costs of PKR 12.51 while it is sold for PKR 22 (Nils Rosemann, 2005). The profit is shared between producing corporations, with PKR 0.66-0.83, and middleman, with PKR 6.66-7.08. By this standard, the producing corporation makes a profit of 4-5 percent while the middleman makes a profit of 27-30.55 percent. In Pakistans water market, there are approximately 20 permanent players. Official s show an estimated number of 26 corporations, while in summer time, this number increases up to 70 (Nils Rosemann, 2005). But from the perspective of quality control, PCRWR is witnessing a fluctuation in the market of 50 percent, e.g. half of the brands disappear and are replaced by new brands yearly (PCRWR, 2003). In 2005, PSQCA admitted that 200 companies are selling bottled water in Pakistan, but only 27 are registered as maintaining standards stipulated for the product (Hoti, Ikram, 2005). Nestlà © itself estimates approximately 150 water brands, with only 15 registered under the PSQCA scheme (Hoti, Ikram, 2005). Regardless of this data, it is unquestioned that Nestlà © controls the majority of the market (over 50 percent) with its brands ‘Pure Life, AVA and Fontalia, while Danones subsidy 22 â€Å"Sparkletts† holds 12 percent and another local brand â€Å"BSW† has an estimated five percent market share (Nils Rosemann, 2005). Bottled water is not a solution to inadequate water supplies as it is simply not affordable for poor people who lack access to water. A bottled water culture which turns drinking water into a status symbol is not justifiable from the human rights perspective. The Pakistan government is obliged to adopt measures to provide access to safe and sufficient water supplies even if that means restraining corporations from turning water into a status symbol to make profits, or from polluting or extracting already depleting groundwater resources. 2.8 Bottled water consumption: a certain way of life Some consumers choose to only drink bottled water; we can identify several reasons for drinking bottled water. 2.8.1. Consumers care for their health and safety Bottled water is often an alternative to tap water. Consumers often object to the taste of chemicals, particularly chlorine, used to purify tap water. In France, nearly half of them dont usually drink tap water because of its bad taste (IFEN, 2000), as opposed to only 7% in United States (Olson, 1999). Consumers also look for security, in emerging as well as in industrialized countries. They often mistrust their tap water, because of previous bacterial contamination for instance, and perceive bottled water as being safer than tap water. In India, the suspicion of bad tap water quality, in addition to general and seasonal shortages of tap water, lead people to turn to bottled water. In Pakistan, only t

The Importance of Roger Spottiswoode’s Screen Adaptation of And The Ban

The Importance of Roger Spottiswoode’s Screen Adaptation of And The Band Played On [1] Hollywood is no longer just a name, it is a business, a living entity holding America’s people in its grasp, and it is not about to let them go. Gradually taking on more responsibility and trying to build up its reputation over the years, Hollywood has progressively assumed the position of history-teller for the American public. This role, whether or not an appropriate one for an industry such as Hollywood to tackle, has catapulted actors and actresses into high paying, high visibility positions. History has and will continue to be one of the main subjects that the movie industry has been fascinated with. It is an alive and very fragile subject that, through its multi-dimensional character, requires careful attention by everyone involved in the project. Whenever Hollywood tackles an historical topic, whether portraying a non-disputable factual event or only a vaguely one, the industry is bound to encounter dispute and criticism. [2] Regardless of how careful the director, producer, and actors are at being loyal to the subject matter, then, the question still remains whether or not Hollywood is a legitimate resource for historical matter. Is it possible for a dramatic, high priced and glitzy medium to be honest and true to its subject matter in such a way that viewers are not confused but more educated walking out than they were walking in? Is the Movie Theater any place for history to be learned? Directors fight and argue that indeed Hollywood is equally as reliable and legitimate a source as other "texts." The movies provide a more immediate resource, allowing history to change from the dreaded school subject to an appea... ...-. Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the U.S. Military: Vietnam to the Persian Gulf. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993. ---. The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life & Times of Harvey Milk. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982. â€Å"The True Virus.† The Economist 8 June 1991 (v319 n7710): 83. Video Against AIDS. v1-3. Curated by John Greyson and Bill Horrigan. The Video Data Bank with V Tape/Canada, 1988 Voices From the Front. Video. Dir. Robyn Hutt, David Meieran and Sandra Elgear. Cinemax/Vangaurd Cinema, 1991. Wallis, Claudia. â€Å"Battling AIDS; More Misery, Less Mystery.† Time 29 April 1985: 68. Weintraub, Bernard. â€Å"Stars Flock to Be in HBO Film About the Early Years of AIDS.† Rev of And the Band Played On, by HBO Productions. New York Times 11 Jan 1993, Current Events ed.: C11. Werth, Barry. â€Å"By AIDS Obsessed.† GQ Aug 1991.

Injustice and Justice

Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere In the name of ALLAH the most gracious the most merciful, the Omnipresent and Omnipotent. Mr. President sir, honourable chief guest, worthy opponents and future scholars. â€Å"O believers! Be firm in justice as witnesses for God, even in cases against yourselves, your parents or your kin† â€Å"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. † These powerful words were said by one of American best known advocate of equal rights – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. According to him, all humans are caught in a patent network of sympathy.Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Hence injustice with one individual of a society can affect the life of other individuals of the society. Dear audience lets first talk about what justice really is. Justice is the ideal, morally correct state of things and persons. Justice is action in accordance with the requirements of some law. Whether these rules are grou nded in human consensus or social norms, they are supposed to ensure that all members of society receive fair treatment. Justice is distinguished from other ethical standards as required.Justice is linked conceptually, to the idea of justification: having and giving decisive reasons for one's beliefs and actions. So, attempts to understand justice are typically attempts to discover the justification – the source or basis – of justice, and therefore to account for (or disprove) its vast importance. Justice is the foundation on which the edifice of the society stands. Justice,Pakistan. Justice is perhaps the most important of the supreme values of Islam. In fact, it can be said that the main purpose of disclosure and the tasks of Prophets (alayhum salam) has been to establish Justice.Justice is the building block of the society and it is directly proportional to the truth, in order to keep check and balance in the society it is essential to maintain justice. Justice so c alled as ADAL can be seen in the early Arabian era when Hazarat Umar (R. A) was the governor General of Islamic Society. The whole society was propagated due to justified principles and teaching of Islam. He was the only ruler ever to admit that even if a dog died of hunger on the banks of river Tigris during his rule, he would be held answerable to Almighty ALLAH.It was the true spirit of justice, what the leaders of the modern world lake. Justice is like the life blood of the society which can be thick or thin, periodically, but its viscosity have a great impact in the life of the people. Justice is the first principle of social life. It can be shown to govern all relations in life: between ruler and ruled, rich and poor, husband and wife, parents and children. In all our dealings, we are required to stand firmly for justice even if it is against our own benefits.Dear youngsters of 21st century, our country, Pakistan, is facing a severe problem of bloodshed, illegal killings, suic ide bomb blast, terrorism etc. only due to the unjustified policies. Economic injustice involves the state's failure to provide individuals with basic necessities of life, such as access to adequate food and housing, and its maintenance of huge discrepancies in wealth. In the most extreme cases of misdistribution, some individuals suffer from poverty while the elite of that society live in relative luxury.Such injustice can stem from unfair hiring procedures, lack of available jobs and education, and insufficient health care. All of these conditions may lead individuals to believe that they have not received a â€Å"fair share† of the benefits and resources available in that society. Political injustice involves the violation of individual liberties, including the denial of voting rights or due process, infringements on rights to freedom of speech or religion, and inadequate protection from cruel and unusual punishment.Such injustice often stems from unfair procedures, and in volves political systems in which some but not others are allowed to have voice and representation in the processes and decisions that affect them. This sort of procedural injustice can contribute to serious social problems as well as political ones. any procedures that are carried out in a biased manner are likely to contribute to problems of religious, ethnic, gender, or race discrimination. In Pakistan our law is like a cobweb it sticks to the weaker ones but the stronger ones break it off.When the procedure in question has to do with employment or wages, such issues can lead to serious economic and social problems. In the nutshell, by setting examples of injustice we are actually creating fear in the society to fight for their basic rights. This fear is one of the major causes of our poor economy and this is the vital reason, why we are left behind from other countries. We have to make firm believe on it that Allah. It is an old saying that â€Å"absence of war does not mean pe ace, its only due to presence of justice. † Thankyou†¦

The Elements of Transition and Threshold Spaces

Passage infinites are those infinites that are passed through in the journey to finish, some being the finish themselves.Threshold is a starting point or point at which something begins to take consequence.Passages and thresholds are infinites or points of alteration in a journey. They define our place in relation to where we have come from and where we are traveling.The experience and impact of a passage infinite is influenced by how it is revealed and how it relates to its milieus.It is believed that we, the perceivers are in a uninterrupted duologue with the infinite we are detecting. All the elements in the infinite speak to us. The more dominant 1s tend to talk first or we can state reveal foremost. This disclosure creates interesting experience through a passage infinite, making a better sense of journey and topographic point. There are assorted ways in which infinites or elements in the infinite are revealed. â€Å"Much of the delectation of a topographic point lies in how one gets to it.†2 2 Kevin Lynch,Site Planning, 3rd erectile dysfunction. ( Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1984 ) , 329.It is hence non incorrect to state that it is the creative activity of journey, the passage infinite and the disclosure of objects or elements both touchable and intangible, which generate stimulating experiences and heighten the sense of topographic point.The spacial experience of a passage infinite is a series of assorted degrees of containment and openness, shadow and visible radiation, degree alterations, frontage beat and forms and assorted other factors.The elementsPassage through infinites can besides be looked at constructing degree. We can see passage infinites in a vehicle and other on pes. So one is vehicular experience and other is prosaic experience. For a prosaic it is the finer inside informations that he experiences. He perceives all points of difference and alteration within the boundary really accurately, which he would be given to lose out while detecting from inside a v ehicle. The proportions and densenesss of edifices along the border of the streets influence the experience of the journey along the street. There may be narrow streets with tall edifices on both the sides. There are other streets with edifices on one side and unfastened countries on the other side. In both the instances the prosaic experience is rather the antonym, one gives the feeling of containment while the other gives you the feeling of openness. The feeling of openness is enhanced when it comes after the feeling of containment or frailty versa. These intangible feelings of containment and openness can be generated by many more ways. The interior decorator merely has to play with the volume of the passage infinite and the borders in order to bring forth these feelings. One must besides gain that a infinite might non be unfastened in true sense but it in relation to the infinite predating it or infinite next in row can be considered unfastened. This brings us to another facet o f a passage infinite which is they are frequently perceived in relation to infinite environing it.In order to understand passage infinites it is really of import to understand thresholds. As antecedently mentioned thresholds are like points of alteration in a journey. A door in the wall is a threshold which connects two otherwise separate infinites. Some interior decorators use different elements like little bridging elements to make thresholds. These thresholds enhance the sense of topographic point by restricting the position of what is beyond and make expectancy. Some usage thresholds to concentrate or pull attending towards a certain component in infinite. So in one topographic point thresholds are used to hide while in the other they are used to uncover.Thresholds for different edifices are designed otherwise. You will detect a toran with graven images of Gods and goddesses carved out in them in the thresholds of a Hindu temple. Whereas you will detect a corbelled arch with a w ooden door as a threshold in a house. Some thresholds are designed to stand for the position of the edifice or the street.Since clip immemorial the drama of shadow and visible radiation have been used to make a beat within the street or even inside a edifice. Shadow of the edifices, trees, vehicles parked, people and other objects create a beat. You may detect that it is at these points where people pause before traveling on to the following infinite. Just like shadow adds deepness in a 2D picture, the drama of shadow and visible radiation add life to any infinite. If the enchantment of shadow or visible radiation is big plenty to go a possible infinite so interior decorators create thresholds at the alteration from shadow to visible radiation and visible radiation to shadow.Other normally experient characteristics are stairss. They connect and separate infinites. They can make a sense of reaching. The placement of the flights of stepss influences the experience of reaching. The ste ps contained within the passage infinite defined by the edifices create a strong sense of separation.Through dividing the flight into two the tallness of the flight is less dashing and a infinite is defined by the landing. The landing becomes a passage into the confined infinite and the stairss at the terminal lead out of the infinite.Peoples are a really of import portion of the experience.Lynch, Kevin, 1967,The Image of the City, 3rd print, MA: MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England. â€Å"Moving elements in a metropolis, and in peculiar the people and their activities, are every bit of import as the stationary physical parts. We are non merely perceivers of this spectacle, but are ourselves a portion of it, on the phase with the other participants.† The sight of old people sitting and reading newspaper, kids running about or playing games, adult females speaking in the front pace and making family jobs are a common sight in societies. It is these people that add life to any infinite. A market topographic point with people is more welcoming and pleasant than one without them. This does non intend that a topographic point without people appears dead. Even without people the infinite is still alive. The place and seting propose a infinite that is used by the people who live at that place, the scooter parked in the street suggests that person is place, the stairss lifting up to a door connect the street to the upper degree. The Windowss looking over the street perforate the mass of the edifices supplying connexion between interior and outside, a sense that person could be watching. The figure of doors accessing a public infinite affects the security of the infinite. An flat block serviced by merely one entree onto the street activates the infinite every bit long as there are people utilizing the door, but when no 1 is coming or traveling a individual door offers no indicant of the figure of people utilizing it. Multiple doors indicate a larger figure of people potentially utilizing the infinite. The more doors that entree a public infinite the greater the sense that people could emerge from the door, supplying activation and security in the infinite. Nowadays people have started edifice boundary walls. They frequently have one chief gate. The infinite outside the walls is activated merely when people use that gate. You can visualize a school gate with tonss of little kids running out of the gate. The street in forepart is active merely so. A boundary wall may be supplying security to the people inside but it makes the infinite around really insecure. At times t he infinite within the boundary walls is besides non safe. An easy solution to this job of security is to increase the porousness in the walls. Many doors accessing a street work the same manner.

Definition and Examples of Reported Speech

Definition and Examples of Reported Speech Reported speech is the report of one speaker or writer on the words spoken, written, or thought by someone else. Also called reported discourse. Traditionally, two broad categories of  reported speech  have been recognized: direct speech  (in which the original speakers words are quoted word for word) and indirect speech (in which the original speakers thoughts are conveyed without using the speakers exact words). However, a number of linguists have challenged this distinction, noting (among other things) that theres significant overlap between the two categories. Deborah Tannen, for instance, has argued that [w]  hat is commonly referred to as reported speech or direct quotation in conversation is  constructed dialogue. Observations Reported speech is not just a particular grammatical form or transformation, as some grammar books might suggest. We have to realize that reported speech represents, in fact, a kind of translation, a transposition that necessarily takes into account two different cognitive perspectives: the point of view of the person whose utterance is being reported, and that of a speaker who is actually reporting that utterance.(Teresa DobrzyÅ„ska, Rendering Metaphor in Reported Speech, in Relative Points of View: Linguistic Representation of Culture, ed. by Magda StroiÅ„ska. Berghahn Books, 2001) Tannen on the Creation of Dialogue I wish to question the conventional American literal conception of reported speech and claim instead that uttering dialogue in conversation is as much a creative act as is the creation of dialogue in fiction and drama.  The casting of thoughts and speech in dialogue creates particular scenes and charactersand . . . it is the particular that moves readers by establishing and building on a sense of identification between speaker or writer and hearer or reader. As teachers of creative writing exhort neophyte writers, the accurate representation of the particular communicates universality, whereas direct attempts to represent universality often communicate nothing. (Deborah Tannen, Talking Voices: Repetition, Dialogue, and Imagery in Conversational Discourse, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2007) Goffman on Reported Speech [Erving] Goffmans work has proven foundational in the investigation of reported speech itself. While Goffman is not in his own work concerned with the analysis of actual instances of interaction (for a critique, see Schlegoff, 1988), it provides a framework for researchers concerned with investigating reported speech in its most basic environment of occurrence: ordinary conversation. . . .Goffman . . . proposed that reported speech is a natural upshot of a more general phenomenon in interaction: shifts of footing, defined as the alignment of an individual to a particular utterance . . . ([Forms of Talk,] 1981: 227). Goffman is concerned to break down the roles of speaker and hearer into their constituent parts. . . . [O]ur ability to use reported speech stems from the fact that we can adopt different roles within the production format, and it is one of the many ways in which we constantly change footing as we interact . . ..(Rebecca Clift and Elizabeth Holt, Introduction. Reporting T alk: Reported Speech in Interaction. Cambridge University Press, 2007) Reported Speech in Legal Contexts ​[R]eported speech occupies a prominent position in our use of language in the context of the law. Much of what is said in this context has to do with rendering peoples sayings: we report the words that accompany other peoples doings in order to put the latter in the correct perspective. As a consequence, much of our judiciary system, both in the theory and in the practice of law, turns around the ability to prove or disprove the correctness of a verbal account of a situation. The problem is how to summarize that account, from the initial police report to the final imposed sentence, in legally binding terms, so that it can go on the record, that is to say, be reported in its definitive, forever immutable form as part of a case in the books. (Jacob Mey, When Voices Clash: A Study in Literary Pragmatics. Walter de Gruyter, 1998)

Penang Island As A Popular Tourist Destination Tourism Essay Essays

Penang Island As A Popular Tourist Destination Tourism Essay Essays Penang Island As A Popular Tourist Destination Tourism Essay Essay Penang Island As A Popular Tourist Destination Tourism Essay Essay Penang Island or besides known by the name of Pearl of the Orient is a little island located in the north-western seashore of Peninsular Malaysia covering 285 sq Km and besides a narrow strip consisting 760 sq kilometer over on the mainland known as Seberang Perai. . Besides known to be a thaw pot for civilization and faith, Penang has a estimated population of about 1 million with a healthy mix of all major races in Malaysia with the Malays 32 % , the Chinese 59 % and the Indians 7 % . With the different civilizations and faith Penang is rich in heritage and civilization which undertakings as a kaleidoscope of festivals and a assortment of jubilations throughout the twelvemonth ( travelmasti,2011 ) . This makes Penang one of the most visited provinces in Malaysia as a touristry musca volitanss. Tourism is considered one of the chief mechanism that drives the economic system and delivery in better outputs for the province. The history of Penang backdates to every bit early as the sixteenth century where Lusitanian bargainers sailing from Goa, India to the Far East in hunt for spices every bit good as to refill their supply of nutrient and H2O to go on their journey. They so named the island Pulo Pinaom which translates as Betel Nut Island. This is because of the abundant supply of areca nut thenar trees available. These trees are called Pinang by the local Malays ( Tourism Penang, 2010 ) . It was during the eighteenth century, when the British took involvement in the island to serve them as a port for ship fixs and a good beginning of supply to spice and opium that was considered a moneymaking and valuable trade at that clip. Penang, whose originally was under the Sultanate of Kedah was so offered by the Sultan of Kedah to the British in exchange for protection against their enemy but did non have any understanding by the higher-ups in the East India Company. However, on 11th August 1876, Captain Francis Light in order to procure Penang Island as port for the British, made an understanding with the Sultan of Kedah by holding to offer protection to Kedah against their enemy without the consent of the company therefore doing the understanding nothing. In 1781, a pact was signed between the Sultan of Kedah and British whereby, an honorarium of 6000 Spanish dollars per annum will be paid to the Sultan which subsequently changed to 10000 Spanish dollars in exchange for the island which was subsequently renamed as the Prince of Wales Island. This sum is still paid by the Malaysia Federal Government boulder clay today. One of the chief heritage sites in Penang today is the Fort Cornwallis as it is the site where the Union Jack was raised. The first township was established nearby called Georgetown. Georgetown was chiefly made up of four chief streets that existed till today such as Beach Street, Light Street, Pitt Street now known as Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling and in conclusion, Chulia Street ( Malayan Explorer, 2008 ) . Achieving UNESCO Heritage Status Finally, on 7th July 2008, after 12 long old ages of appraisal after using, Penang Island has eventually achieved its acknowledgment as one of the UNESCO Heritage Status together with the province of Malacca where its singularity in architectural and cultural landscape in it towns makes it so particular compared to any other topographic points ( Malayan Explorer, 2008 ) The rubric has enabled the province to advance to utilize it as a new stigmatization while hiking the touristry industry and the province s economic system. In the twelvemonth of 2008, Penang has experienced a good twelvemonth as the province managed to convey in a entire sum of 6.3 million tourer based on hotel beginnings excepting tourer that arrive by arrive by sails and those remaining friends and household compared to the twelvemonth before with a entire figure of 5.2 million tourer in the old twelvemonth ( Penangtourism,2009 ) .This position has enabled Penang to pull enthusiastic travellers around the universe by giving them an new option of finish to see. The acknowledgment of UNESCO Heritage position is an international recognition that highlights the planetary significance of that peculiar country. This is a symbol of honor Penang and great privilege that will able to lend to its societal and economic sector. With the great impact that the position is able to present, to be able to be listed in the World Heritage List is hence, really selective. Achieving this acknowledgment is non a one away award as there are guidelines and duties that have to be followed from clip to clip in order to keep the position as it can be revoked. Penang has pass a sum of 12 old ages in order to accomplish this acknowledgment which both clip consuming and dearly-won to keep preservation of the sites this the committedness and duty to keep this position should non be handled lightly ( Penang Tourism, 2009 ) . 1.3. Contributions By carry oning this survey, the Penang touristry board will be able to it mensurate the involvement and tendencies of travellers that are fast altering as clip base on ballss. Demands to see and larn more about heritage sites are increasing as consciousness and grasp for these sites are instilled into the younger coevals which are inherited by the older coevals. These heritages are rich with the roots of civilization and the accomplishments that contribute to what Penang is today. With the universe economic down, catastrophe, clime and possible dainties like terrorist act people are exchanging their traveling options to cheaper, safer the offers an equal value for money touristry musca volitanss which enhance the shifting of tendencies towards touristry heritage. This is because touristry has ever been one of the most resilient industries in the universe despite any given state of affairss ( Koehl,2002 ) . With the excess stigmatization heritage position, this offers the best chance that offers Penang an excess border to hike and maximise the benefits to hike its economic system in footings of gross and employment. ( Imons, et al.n.d ) . With the given chance and resources that is available, it is besides reflects importance of the cooperation and private and authorities organisations that cooperate with each other in order to duplicate the attempt to maximise the benefits for both parties. This is because there is a positive relationship between province, touristry industry, locals and tourer. Problem Statement The attempt to achieve the UNESCO Heritage Site position was non easy obtained within a short period of clip but has gone through a series of application and besides a rigorous scrutinizing rating procedure which takes up to 12 old ages of With the part in income and benefits that Penang is able to bring forth from position of UNESCO Heritage Site, there are several job statement such as, is Penang able to keep the position of its trump card in the long tally as this position can be revoked if non decently maintained harmonizing to the standards and demand set by the organisation itself so that a clear line could be adhered to avoid unwanted development in the nucleus zones within the heritage enclaves. ( Penang Economic Monthly,2009 ) Cooperation between the province authorities and the touristry board has to be synchronized and decently planned is of import to guarantee that development program for the province does non collide with the conditions and guidelines drafted by UNESCO in order to avoid the heritage position from being revoked. Proper financess need to be allocated in so that care and Restoration occupations can be executed from clip to clip as Restoration procedure in for these heritage edifices require particular labour accomplishments that non many is able to execute and different sort of stuffs in order to continue the original manner of the edifices. This will ensue in a higher cost to keep them therefore doing fund a critical portion in keeping this position Research Question The research inquiry for this research is as follows: 1. Which are the chief positions that play the chief function in pulling tourer to see Penang? 2. What are the current involvement that tourer are looking for? 3. Are the events organized and held interesting and enlightening plenty for the tourer? 4. How is the quality of services offered by staffs in the topographic points of attractive force that are visited? 5. Are the circuit bundles offered plenty to carry through the demands of the tourer? 6. What is the satisfaction degree of tourer towards the heritage sites in Penang? 7. Was Penang able to present and offer a money fulfilling trip to its tourer? Chapter 2 Literature reappraisal As one of the new approaching heritage touristry sites, armed with the profusion and singularity of its ain heritage compared to other topographic points in the universe, Penang has all the chance and resources to advance and market its touristry industry globally but in order to win, it is of import to connote an effectual economic model for any determination devising procedure that is able to assist the province authorities in planning and execution. This is of import as each determination varies as each touristry sector differs from one another every bit good as the impact of it that reflects otherwise on the civilization, people and the economic system of the topographic point. Therefore, a suggestion in extensions of micro economic theoretical accounts such as ecological economic sciences is extremely encouraged to provide to the changeless alterations in tendencies of tourist demand towards a finish and to enable a certain tourer topographic point to keep a sustainable market d emand that is important to in hiking the economic system ( Tourism and Hospitality Research,2010 ) . Tourism is ever considered an industry that can be easy affected by a incidents go oning around it such as terrorist act, epidermis dainties, natural catastrophe and many more but has ever maintain as one of the strongest industry that brings in a major function of maintaining the gross coming in. This is because, tendencies and penchant may alter from clip to clip but non reduced. Therefore, it is critical for Penang touristry to maintain path of the alterations in current tendencies and demand, acknowledge the chance and deduction to the province as a great competitory measure in keeping its sustainability ( Bailey,2010 ) However, by any agencies of advancing a certain heritage site as a touristry topographic point, there are besides concerns about the rushing up in impairment of the sites which means it clashes with the chief purpose UNESCO s mission to continue and conserve the heritage country that is considered a bequest that is handed down by past coevalss. This is an issue that is a immense concern as heritage sites are topographic points from the yesteryear that is unreplaceable and Restoration plants are dearly-won as it takes particular skilled labor and specific stuffs to keep its original construction and manner ( Harrison,2005 ) . Compared to the yesteryear, where heritage sites are seldom heard and received merely a little niche of demand my visitants, with the consciousness and wonder of travellers to derive cognition, heritages sites around the universe is fast deriving popularity therefore