Analysis Of The Reason Why Destinations Brand Themselves Marketing Essay

Analysis Of The Reason Why Destinations Brand Themselves Marketing Essay As travel and tourism is one of the biggest global industries, the competition all over the world is enormous (World Travel Tourism Council, 2007). Therefore one of the most important things for a destination and moreover a key task for destination marketers, mainly due to the already mentioned global competition, is the process of branding a certain destination. The marketers have to be aware that there are many other destinations that try to attract the potential tourists and visitors as well. Consequently branding is essential and very important for a destination to show what it has to offer through the use of words and symbols for instance. A brand can have many different forms. It can for example be a logo, a symbol, a trademark or a name. Furthermore branding is not a new idea, even when, according to Gilmore (2001; as cited in Morgan et al. 2002: 57), many people tend to think of it as something new. But it is not a new phenomenon; branding already exists for years. Gilmore argues that many of the brands we use today have been in existence for over 100 years (Morgan et al., 2002: 57). This statement shows that branding products, which are in the case of this essay destinations, has been existing for a very long time and still has a huge significance all over the world. The aim of this essay is to critically assess the reason why destinations brand themselves. In addition it contains general information about branding like definitions, what branding is about and why rebranding in particular cases is necessary. The outcome is a conclusion and recommendations for branding destinations in the future. Before explaining the necessity of branding it is important to have a look at several definitions of this term due to many different ones existing. Kolb (2006: 229) for example defines branding as the use of words and symbol to represent the image of a product and the benefits it offers to consumers. Furthermore he adds that branding is about the promotion of the unique benefits that tourists will experience during their visit (Kolb, 2006: 18). According to The American Marketing Association (as cited in Tasci and Kozak, 2006: 300) a brand is defined as a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. This definition adds the differentiation from other products and it goes along with Milligan (1995; as cited in Tasci and Kozak, 2006) who expresses the importance of differentiating one brand from others as well. He argues that a brand is wha t differentiates you and makes you special. Besides along with Morgan et al. (2002: 11) branding is perhaps the most powerful marketing weapon available to contemporary destination marketers confronted by increasing product parity, substitutability and competition. But is the branding process of products the same as for destinations? Or is there a difference between branding normal products and destinations? According to Caldwell and Freire (2004: 50) many academics (e.g. Cai, 2002; Kotler and Gertner, 2002; Olins 2002) argue that places can be branded in much the same way as consumer goods and services. And also along with Pike (2005; as cited in Balakrishnan 2009: 613) destination brands are also similar to product and services. They have both tangible and intangible components, are mostly service dependent, and can be positioned through the use of slogans. But besides these arguments there are also some academics that see a difference between the branding process of normal products and destinations. According to Karavatsis and Ashworth (2005; as cited in Hankinson 2009: 98) the branding of places as destinations requires more complex managerial activities than product brands. Furthermore along with Hankinson (2001; as cited in Murphy et al., 2007) creating brands as defined and discussed in the traditional marketing literature is a more difficult and complex process when considering d estinations and locations. These findings of different academics show that some consider the branding process of destinations as more challenging than branding products in general. Therefore the author of this essay thinks that it is necessary to define destination branding separate to the branding process of normal products in general. Along with Cai (2002; as cited in Murphy et al., 2007: 5) a destination brand is defined as perceptions about a place as reflected by the associations held in tourist memory. Furthermore Morrison and Anderson (2002: 16) describe destination branding as a process used to develop a unique identity and personality that is different from all competitive destinations. According to many academics (e.g. Eby, Molnar and Cai 1999; Gartner 1989; as cited in Hem and Iversen, 2004: 85) unlike other tangible products, tourists are not able to test drive and try the destinations before making a choice. When deciding to go on holiday you pay for something that you will not receive at once. Furthermore Hem and Iversen (2004: 85) argue that the decision involves greater risk and extensive information search, and depends on tourists mental construct of what a potential destination has to offer relative to their needs. A very important question when branding destinations is how long the brand can be used? According to Kotler (1997; as cited in Tasci and Kozak, 2006: 300) the seller or maker of a brand [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] is entitled to exclusive rights to use the brand without any expiration dates, which distinguishes it from patents and copyrights. Therefore destination marketers are able to use a brand endlessly. This is a great advantage because when a well-working brand is created it can be used as long as the marketers wish to. There are many destinations that do it this way but there are also some who change their brand from time to time. This change of the brand has to be done when a brand does not attract enough people to visit a certain destination. But more significant than having a look at what branding is, is to clarify why is it necessary for destinations to brand themselves? It is important that a brand shows real benefits in order to be effective (Kolb, 2006). These benefits include that the brand is understood easily, memorable, and it has to be designed in a way that it can be used on every form of communication (Kolb, 2006: 222). Furthermore Kolb (2006: 222) argues that it is very important that the potential tourist understands the brand symbol and message easily because if they are confused by the words and image communicated, the branding may be noticed but will not attract them. Therefore it is necessary to know the target group before creating a brand because if the consumer does not understand the message of the brand he or she will not be interested in it and furthermore not be attracted by the destination. According to Kolb (2006: 229) branding provides a shorthand message that will hopefully be heard by the potential tourists and visitors over all the other destinations. That means that the brand of one destination needs to be created very well and moreover it has to be more attractive than other brands. Besides this Gilmore (2001) argues that branding seeks to convey messages to the user or potential user of a product or service. These messages need to be simple and consistent, since we are all bombarded with messages from hundreds of products every day (as cited in Morgan et al., 2002: 58). Kolb and Gilmore both argue that it is important to create brands that are easily understood by the potential tourists or visitors of a destination. The author of this essay fully agrees to both of them because if a brand is not understood by first glance or is not attractive enough that the consumer has a deeper look at it to understand what it is about, than all the effort to create the brand w as not really worth it. When a brand is created it is necessary that the destination marketers use it to communicate it to the potential tourists and visitors. According to Kolb (2006: 229) the brand should appear on all forms of communication like letters, flyers, the websites, brochures as well as T-shirts. Besides those facts concerning the design of a brand, it is according to Kolb (2006: 221) important that tourism marketers choose an identity that authentically and genuinely reflects what the city has to offer. The different forms of communication and the well-chosen reflection of the offers show only some of the challenging points branding has to deal with in the various steps the brand has to pass through during the process of creating it. According to Kolb (2006: 229) developing a brand takes time, effort, and creativity. Besides these mentioned facts branding is also very expensive due to many different things that have to be considered. One of the first steps is that the brand needs to be created. When this stage is taken, the next one is to communicate the brand by using it for all the representing articles like letters or brochures. One rather risky point is that these articles have to be printed before the destination marketers even know if the brand will be understood by the potential tourists or visitors or not. But why is it still so important that destinations brand themselves when there are all these aspects which are at first sight rather negative? Kolb (2006) argues that branding can develop repeat visits due to familiarity with the brand. In the best case branding remembers the tourists of all the benefits the destination has to offer and therefore may create brand loyalty (Kolb, 2006: 229). The loyalty towards a brand can most easily be achieved through the constant use after the successful creation of a brand. When the potential tourists or visitors understand the brand and are attracted by it they may visit the destination. If they like it and the well-working brand remains they possibly visit the destination again which means that brand loyalty is created. One very well working example is the case of New York City with its brand I love NY. The potential creation of loyalty towards a brand leads to the idea of building a relationship with a brand and therefore with the corresponding destination. This is suggested by Kotler (1997; as cited in Tasci and Kozak, 2006: 300) who mentions the evoke of emotions. Furthermore this idea arises as well according to Morgan et al. (2002) who argue that the potential tourists and visitors need to get a relationship with the destinations visited. They reason that it is not a question of price but a question of emotions what makes the tourists visit or revisit a certain destination. The author of this essay not fully agrees to this statement. The point with the relationship may be true as well as important but nevertheless nowadays, after the financial crisis, the people have less money to spend and therefore the price is an important point when choosing holidays. However, the idea of having a relationship with products is nothing new, it is already suggested by several other academics (e.g. Urdde, 1993; Sheth, Mittal and Newman, 1999; as stated in Morgan et al., 2002). Along with Kolb (2006: 18) it is necessary that a brand gets into the consumers mind. Without this step it would not even be possible to build a relationship with a brand. This goes along with Lury (1998: 4) who argues that it is our perceptions our beliefs and our feelings about a brand that are most important. However, according to Hallberg (1995) mere emotion is not enough, the key is to develop a strong brand which holds some unique associations for the consumer but emotion has always been an important component of branding (as cited in Morgan et al., 2002: 12). According to Weinreich (1999; as stated in Morgan et al.,2002: 25) in the case of destination branding the destination managers should not think in terms of the traditional brand life cycle, brand managers should be thinking of the S-curve which charts a brands life and development through birth, growth, maturity, decay and death (see Figure 1). The S-curve symbolises a series of stages in the brands relationship with its consumers, revealing useful insights into a brands communication requirements (Weinreich, 1999; as stated in Morgan et al.,2002: 26). The first stage in the S-curve diagram, the fashionable stage, shows the stage when the destination is new and exclusive and therefore yet small due to the lack of advertising activities (Weinreich, 1999; as stated in Morgan et al.,2002: 26). Within the next and so-called famous phase, a destinations brands consumers are loyal and affluent but at any time the destinations brand values may become irrelevant to them hence the on-going need for them to remain fresh and appealing. According to Weinreich (1999; as stated in Morgan et al.,2002: 27) the destination needs to remain contemporary but if it fails, it will drift into the familiar zone where everyone knows about the destination, but it hast lost its appeal. The following stage is the familiar phase wherein it is not easy anymore to attract lucerative market segments. This stage is followed by the fatigued phase in which the question of a potential refreshment needs to be asked. Figure 1 Source: Morgan et al., 2002: 25 According to Gilmore (2001) it is essential that a destination is unique. Furthermore Gilmore argues that this uniqueness has two different sources: first, the culture of the destination itself, which is normally unique or a unique combination of cultures, and, second, from the combination of other benefits convenient yet unspoilt, lively city with peaceful countryside, historic monuments and great food (as cited in Morgan et al 2002: 60). When a destination does for example not have great cultural aspects to offer, food can be a very important benefit for a destination. Along with Hall (2004: xiii) [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] food is a significant part of tourism. Furthermore Hall (2004) argues (as cited in Hall et al., 2003) that food has come to be recognized as part of the local culture which tourists consume, as an element of regional tourism promotion [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]. This statement leads to the possibility that a destination may include its traditional food into the brand which is a very effective way of using a benefit if others like for example the countryside are not really effective. According to Mitchell and Hall (2003; as cited in Gyimà ³thy and Mykletun, 2009: 260) the growing interest in culinary products and traditions implies that food is also becoming a more important factor in influencing tourists motivations for traveling to a particular destination. Furthermore they argue that it is necessary to market the culinary products to the various consumers. To use traditional products like food is how a destination may rebrand itself successfully if for example another brand did not work very well to attract tourists. But there are also other reasons why destinations may have to rebrand themselves. Additional reasons are disasters, natural as well as manmade ones and political issues. In this case rebranding is very important because the destinations need to regain the visitors trust again. A destination or even a whole country may have certain image problems due to for example a crisis or a war. Therefore it is very important for destination marketers to create a new brand that convinces the potential tourists or visitors of the good sides the destination has to offer, even when the image is perceived differently. As could be seen to brand a destination is different than to brand any kind of product. As many academics (e.g. Kolb, 2006; Milligan, 1995; Tasci and Kozak, 2006) argue it is necessary to create successful brands for destinations in order to be competitive in the huge existing global market. A successful brand that is understood by the potential tourists or visitors may create loyalty towards a brand. However, before brand loyalty can be created it is essential to produce a well-working brand that is understood simply. In many cases this is not really easy and it always depends on what a certain destination has to offer to the consumers. If a destination does not have any outstanding offers like for example a unique combination of cultures or a special countryside it is also possible to use for instance the local food to attract potential tourists or visitors and to use it for the brand (Gilmore, 2001). But according to many academics (e.g. Kolb, 2006; Morgan et al. 2002) the most important thing is that a relationship with a certain destination has to be achieved. Otherwise the potential tourists or visitors would not visit or revisit the destination and brand loyalty would not be created at all (Kolb, 2006). To build a relationship towards a brand expects that the message of a brand needs to be understood. Therefore another important point when creating a brand is the message that shall be communicated to the consumers. It should be understood by the potential tourists or visitors, which are a specific target group, to attract them; otherwise they will rather not be interested in the destination (Kolb, 2006). But not only the creation of the message itself is a challenging point within the developing process of a brand. Furthermore, the brand has to pass through different stages, which is shown in a diagram called the S-Curve. These various phases in a brands life all have their o wn challenging points and the destination marketers have to be aware of those already in the developing process of a brand (Weinreich, 1999). Although within the developing process of a brand those challenging steps occur, it is inevitable for destinations to brand themselves. Only through branding the potential tourists or visitors can build a relationship with the destination. And therefore the destination can be attractive as well as competitive. In the future it will be important for destination marketers to stick to their well-working brands if they have already created one or change their brands if it is necessary to rebrand the destination. Otherwise it would not be possible at all to compete against the huge amount of existing offers all over the world. As the most important point is the creation of a relationship it is therefore necessary that the brands created help to build a relationship between the destinations and the potential tourists or visitors. Only through the connection between a destination and the consumers a destination can be competitive and the message will be heard over all the other messages. Bu t without a brand it would not even be possible to attract anybody.

Genre Defense of Shakespeare’s ”As You Like It” Essay

â€Å"As You Like It represents, together with Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night, the summation of Shakespeare’s achievement in festive, happy comedy during the years 1598-1601,† proclaims David Bevington his The Complete Works of Shakespeare (288). Bevington is obviously not the first editor to have categorized Shakespeare’s plays. In fact, part of the plays’ popularity might be based upon the fact that audiences know what to expect when they begin viewing the productions. For example, As You Like It’s title hints that audiences should expect the play to end happily. This play’s name is not, however, all that helps classify it as a comedy. Every element of the play drips with comedic elements, as Shakespeare characteristically critiques love, while highlighting the pastoral motif. The theme of the play is an obvious remark on its classification. Shakespeare exploits literary convention by mocking the foolishness love generates in us all. Kenneth Muir, in Shakespeare’s Comic Sequence, declares, â€Å"His [Shakespeare’s] lovers-Rosalind, Orlando, Celia, Oliver and Phoebe-would all make answer to Marlowe’s question ‘Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?’ with a chorus of ‘No one.'(88)† Each of the characters do and say impulsive things based solely on emotion. The Forest of Arden gives the characters freedom to act in such silly manners. Once their love relationships have been realized in marriage, the couples can prepare to return to the order, and presumably reason, of the court. The plot of As You Like It centers on the love relationships of four couples. Made up of the lovers’ stories and the story of the overthrown Duke Senior, who has fled into the Forest of Arden, the plot is quite complex. It centers on the movement of the characters from the court to the forest and then readying themselves to return to court. The play begins with the instantaneous falling in love of Rosalind and Orlando at court and the nearly simultaneous retreat of each into the Forest of Arden, due to Duke Frederick’s sudden disdain for Rosalind and Oliver’s intention to kill Orlando. The plotline continues with Rosalind disguised as Ganymede, a boy, blocking Rosalind and Orlando’s love. The plot moves from disorder to order, though, and the play concludes with a typical comic ending: a marriage ceremony. The marriage masque further solidifies the play’s comedic classification. Helen Gardner notes in her article that the masque of Hymen returns order as it is able â€Å"to end the whole with courtly grace and dignity. This is an image of civility and true society, for Hymen is a god of cities† (59). A song sung at the wedding feast declares Hymen’s dominion over towns: â€Å"Tis Hymen peoples every town / High wedlock then be honored. / Honor, high honor and renown / To Hymen, god of every town!† (Shakespeare, V. iv. 142-145). Furthermore, the scene accounts for all of the characters happy state: Rosalind and Orlando have finally overcome all obstacles to be united; Oliver and Celia are able to immediately marry and Oliver has changed his ways; Silvius finally obtains Phoebe’s love; Touchstone and Audrey are married; and Duke Frederick has repented and joined a monastery, leaving Duke Senior to assume his rightful throne. All problems have been resolved, which leaves no room for arguing that the play is a comedy. The characters also prove that the play has been appropriately classified. The different lovers demonstrate stereotypical kinds of love. Commentator Kenneth Muir remarks, â€Å"In As You Like It different kinds of love are examined-the lust of Touchstone, the self-love of Jacques, the pride and vanity of Phoebe, and the sentimental idealism of Orlando-and all are found wanting† (91). The central relationship is between Rosalind and Orlando, whom Bertrand Evans describes as â€Å"the brightest of Shakespeare’s bright heroines† and â€Å"the least conscious of his unconscious heroes† (92). Orlando seems a typical jock. He wrestles Charles in the court and then falls hopelessly in love with Rosalind-so hopelessly in love that he, despite being a poor poet, carves Rosalind’s name and poems about her into tree trunks. Although Oliver has denied him a gentleman’s education, he is a noble character, who is loyal to his servant Adam, brave enough to fight Charles, and loving when speaking about his beloved Rosalind. Nonetheless, Orlando must have some naivetà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ in order for Rosalind to continue fooling him. Evans expounds, â€Å"Despite the deserved praise which Oliver heaps upon Orlando [†¦,] Orlando is exposed repeatedly in situations of which the truth eludes him. [†¦] His abrupt disposal of Charles the wrestler; his first tongue-tied meeting with Rosalind; his sword-brandishing, valiant, but frightfully unaware entrance to demand food of Duke Senior-all these are parts of the preparation.† (92-3) Orlando’s good intentions are mocked somewhat by his actions. Rosalind is also a good person, as is evident in her devotion to Celia, her father, and Orlando. However, Rosalind’s disguise leads to some humorous scenes as the (at least, original) audience is aware of the fact that, as Muir describes, when Ganymede is helping Orlando, â€Å"We have a boy pretending to be a woman, pretending to be a boy, pretending to be a boy, pretending to be a woman, satirising feminine behaviour† (90). Her disguise provides numerous incongruities as the audience continues to see the male Ganymede in opposition to Rosalind. Taking on a masculine role helps Rosalind to develop inner strength. In fact, Diane Dreher explains in her analysis of androgynous Shakespearean characters that â€Å"Rosalind’s disguise enables her to examine Orlando’s motives, allowing her to say and do things that traditional feminine modestly would not permit† (121). Despite her depth of character, the audience is constantly aware of her super objective : to marry Orlando. This goal in and of itself is a romantic convention that cannot be ignored. While Oliver and Duke Frederick appear as antagonistic characters in the beginning scenes when they are at court, both make a turn around after entering the forest. Shakespeare utilizes a romantic convention, the sudden conversion of a villain, to further illuminate the plays comedic nature. When Orlando rescues Oliver from a lioness, Oliver finds favor in his younger brother, and the two are reunited. Oliver and Orlando’s brother Jacques explains that Duke Frederick has changed: â€Å"And to the skirts of this wild wood [Duke Frederick] came, / Where, meeting with an old religious man, / After some question with him, was converted / Both from his enterprise and from the world, / His crown bequeathing to his banished brother, / And all their lands restored to them again / That were with him exiled.† (Shakespeare, V. iv. 158-164). Entering the woods leads the characters to become better people. The characters language, although sometimes a bit poetic, is rather common. The play’s pastoral elements make prose a more likely language choice. In fact, Dr. Sharron Cassavant, professor of English at Northeastern University has calculated that 54.5 percent of the plays 2, 636 lines are written in prose. The opening scene, exposition in conversation between Orlando and Adam, is entirely prose. Rosalind and Celia also interchange in prose. Prose dominates the dialogue between the lovers. Rhymed verse is generally used when Orlando attempts to write poems about his beloved Rosalind. Blank verse, a higher form, is used most often by Jacques, but Duke Senior also utilizes to proclaim the good that nature has offered him. In this critique of love, blank verse is reserved most often for use by those characters unaffected by love. The language lends itself to the play’s love-at-first-sight theme in that the lovers do not have time to organize their thoughts in a collected wa y, but rather speak whatever first enters their mind. The play appeals to the comedic audience visually and aurally as well. Most notably, Rosalind’s disguise allows the audience, aware of the fact that the boy they see pretending to be a woman is actually the woman he is pretending to be, to laugh at the incongruities of Orlando’s pretend love for and Phoebe’s real love for Ganymede. The disguise also presents funny sounds as Rosalind’s voice must change depending on the character she is playing. The other pastoral characters also lend country-bumpkin accents to the plays aural elements, as they are less sophisticated than the courtly characters. As You Like It could not be more comedic. Each of the plays elements presents stereotypical characteristics of comedy. Shakespeare obviously knew the requirements of each genre and managed to control those requirements while never ceasing to dazzle his audience. His works were all as we like them. Works Cited Bevington, David. Introduction to As You Like It. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. By Bevington. NY: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1997. 288-91. Cassavant, Sharron. As You Like It Main page. Introduction to Shakespeare. Course Website. Dept. of English, Northeastern University. 11 December 2004 . Dreher, Diane Elizabeth. Domination and Defiance: Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 1986. [OBU] Evans, Bertrand. Shakespeare’s Comedies. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1960. [OBU] Gardner, Helen. â€Å"As You Like It.† Shakespeare the Comedies: A Collection of Critical Essays, Ed. Kenneth Muir. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,1965.

Freedom of the Press Versus Right to Privacy

Privacy has become a big issue in contemporary jurisprudence. The â€Å"right to privacy† is enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, and guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. But Article 8 is balanced by Article 10, which guarantees â€Å"free expression of opinion†. So what right has priority when they conflict? Under what circumstances, for example, is it right to curtail press freedom in order to protect the right to privacy, or vice versa? The same balance is being sought between the right of citizens to data privacy and government demands for access to personal information to fight crime, terrorism, and so on. Freedom of speech is a fundamental democratic liberty. It is a necessary protection against abuses of power and cover-ups of wrongdoing by public officials. It was never more effectively displayed than in the Watergate investigation, which brought down Richard Nixon in 1974. But one can have too much press freedom. Over the years, the tabloid press has become increasingly intrusive, claiming the right not just to expose corruption and incompetence in high places, but to titillate readers with scandalous revelations about the private lives of the famous. What started off as entertaining gossip about royalty and film stars has burgeoned into a massive assault on privacy, with newspapers claiming that any attempt to keep them out of the bedroom is an assault on free speech. The issue has just been tested in Britain's High Court. In March, Britain's leading scandal sheet, The News of the World, published an â€Å"exclusive† front page story, under the headline â€Å"F1 Boss Has Sick Nazi Orgy With 5 Hookers†. It told how Max Mosley, President of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA, the body that oversees world motoring and racing) and son of the former British fascist leader, Sir Oswald Mosley, had, two days earlier, taken part in a sadomasochistic â€Å"orgy† with a â€Å"Nazi theme† in a private apartment in London. The story was accompanied by photographs taken clandestinely by one of the women in cooperation with the News of the World, which readers were invited to download from the paper's website. Max Mosley admitted participating in this (not illegal) happening, but sued the News of the World for breach of privacy; the newspaper argued that it was in the â€Å"public interest† that Mosley's sexual activities be disclosed. The presiding judge, Justice Eady, rejected the newspaper's defense, and awarded Max Mosley 60,000 English pounds ($115,000) compensation for the invasion of his privacy, the highest damages so far given for a complaint brought under Article 8. There is a curious aspect to Eady's judgment. He rejected the News of the World's â€Å"public interest† defense, because he found no evidence that the sadomasochistic party had a â€Å"Nazi theme†. This implies that had there been a Nazi theme, it could have been legitimate to publish it, given Mosley's position as FIA president. But surely the particular nature of Mosley's private fantasies is irrelevant to the case. It is hard to see why I am less entitled to privacy because I am turned on by a Nazi uniform than I would be if I were excited by a pair of knickers. What Eady's judgment did accomplish was to highlight the crucial distinction, necessary for all clear thinking about privacy, between what interests the public and what is in the public interest. So how can this distinction be made effective? France has a privacy law that explicitly defines both the scope of privacy and the circumstances in which the law applies. By contrast, in Britain it is left to judges to decide what the â€Å"right to privacy† means. There is a natural fear that specific legislation designed to protect privacy would muzzle legitimate press inquiries. At the same time, it is widely acknowledged (except by most editors and journalists) that a great deal of media intrusion is simply an abuse of press freedom, with the sole aim of boosting circulation by feeding public prurience. A law that curtails the abuse of press power while protecting its freedom to expose the abuse of political power would be difficult, but not impossible, to frame. The essential principle is that the media should not be allowed to pander to the public's prurience under cover of protecting the public interest. What famous people – indeed ordinary people, too – do in private should be off limits to the media unless they give permission for those activities to be reported, photographed, or filmed. The only exceptions would be if a newspaper has reasonable grounds for believing that the individuals concerned are breaking the law, or that, even if they are not breaking the law, they are behaving in such a way as to render them unfit to perform the duties expected of them. Thus, a pop star's consumption of illegal drugs may be reported, but not his or her sexual habits (if they are legal). The private life of a politician may be revealed if it is expected to have consequences for the way the country is being governed; that of a top executive of a public company if it may affect the returns to shareholders. This should be the only â€Å"public interest† defense available to a media outlet that is sued for invasion of privacy. The media might become a bit drearier, but public life would be far healthier. The author is a professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University

Operations Management Final - 1708 Words

Operations Management Final Report Case Study (1) Gate Turnaround at Southwest Airlines (Chapter Six) (2) Constraint Management at Southwest Airlines (Chapter Seven) (3) Lean Systems at Autoliv (Chapter Eight) Ã¥ ¾ ·Ã§â€˜Å¾Ã¥â€¦â€¹(Derek Silkebaken) D974557 2012Ã¥ ¹ ´1æÅ"ˆ2æâ€" ¥ Chapter 6 Planning Capacity Video Case: Gate Turnaround at Southwest Airlines Q1. How can Capacity and utilization be measured at an airline such as SWA? Answer: Capacity is the maximum rate of output of a process or a system. And utilization is measured as the ratio of average output rate to maximum capacity. In Southwest, capacity can be measured in available seat-miles (AMS) pre month. Therefore, utilization can be measured as the ratio of average seat-mile rate to maximum†¦show more content†¦Q2. Which boarding scenario among the different ones proposed would you recommend for implementation? Why? Answer: In my personal opinion, â€Å"assigned boarding gate line positions based on both boarding group and gate arrival time† is the most workable. The principle to assign position based on boarding group can satisfy the customers who travel in group and want to sit together. The customers might be family, friends or couples. Then the principal of gate arrival time is to meet the rule: first come, first served. If the assignments of the positions are according to the arrival time, there are few customers would complain about the unfairness. Therefore, customers would like to follow the rules and accept the assigned positions. The high-quality and fast customer service will impress all his customers. Q3. How should Southwest evaluate the gate boarding and plane turnaround process? Answer: Southwest should check if it can manage all potential bottleneck are effectively. Southwest’s famous rapid gate-turnaround of 25 minutes or less demonstrates how attention to the activities that ground operations must complete to clean, fuel, and prepare a plane for flight can become bottlenecks if not properly scheduled. In the terminal at the gate, passenger boarding also can be a bottleneck if the boarding process itself is not carefully managed. In 2007, as part of the company’s improvement activities, Southwest focused its attention on the passenger boarding process toShow MoreRelatedBus 644 Operations Management Final Essay3189 Words   |  13 PagesImproving Stickley Furniture BUS 644 Operations Management Abstract Stickley Furniture has a long tradition of manufacturing and selling fine furniture goods. The Consulting Firm has been charged with the responsibility of evaluating and explaining how the company operates and tracks jobs and inventory. Also, the pros and cons of how orders are processed are evaluated. 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