Essay about Christianity And The Just War Theory - 668 Words

Does the Just War Theory provide sufficient moral justification for Christians’ involvement in war? The Just War Theory is a set of criteria that are used to judge whether a war is morally justifiable. It was St Augustine in the third century that formulated the Just War theory, and was formalised 10 centuries later by Thomas Aquinas. There are seven criteria by which a war can be judged to be just. Among the rules are Just Cause – there must be a very good reason for going to war, such as protecting your country from invasion. There should be a formal declaration of war by the legal government. It has to be the last resort and all other alternatives must be exhausted. There must be a reasonable chance of success and great care must be†¦show more content†¦This however is qualified by stating that war should be fought within certain rules to ensure that it is fought not only for sound moral reasons but also that it is fought in a morally defensible way. Thus they are justly and morally standing up for what they believe to be worth fighting for, in a moral way. The p roblems of morals are difficult enough when judging traditional warfare, but they are complicated further when applied to modern warfare with its nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Would it be morally right to stand by and watch while our families or the weak suffer? There is also a confusing aspect in all of this, as Jesus states quite clearly in Matthew 5 that we should love our enemies and there seems to be many examples of God against war and violence. Yet, throughout the Old Testament, there are numerous examples of God supporting acts of extreme violence and destruction, seeming contradictory. Some would say that the Just War Theory is the best way to make sure that the war is as moral as possible and that they can justify this by referring to the Bible where we see that Jesus teaches us that we should fight against evil, â€Å"I came not to bring peace, but a sword†. It is our duty to obey the lawful authorities because they have been put there by God. If theseShow MoreRelatedThe War Of The Middle Of Realism And Pacifism1431 Words   |  6 PagesPositioning of myself in the aspect of war was never something I’d think about on a regular basis or even in or around the time of struggle of our nation. To be completely honest I h ad no idea there was a spectrum of where one falls or thinks they fall. I’ve always thought about it as a â€Å"what goes around comes around† ordeal. But the few weeks that I’ve actually had the privilege of studying and being able to relate to the normative positions concerning war, I’ve seem to land right in the middleRead MoreReligion1215 Words   |  5 Pagesthese religions I found that they were all so similar with their belief systems and their rules, but I didn’t seem to be able to connect to any of them. Later, I established a theory that having a religion seemed to cause more harm than not having one at all. In my opinion the earth world would be better without religion, not just certain religions such as Judaism, Catholicism, or even Buddhism but religions as a whole. I am not insensitive to other people’s beliefs and religious views, nonetheless IRead MoreSummary Of Juan Gin?ï ¿ ½s De Sepluvedas And Seplveda1111 Words   |  5 Pagesnative populous of North America (referred to as ‘Indians’) became the subject of a heated debate in which the humanity and mental capacity of the Natives were called into question. Specifically, whether or not the Indians had ability to accept Christianity. As the subject became more in-depth Charles V, the king of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire at the time ordered a group of lawyers and theologians at the University of Valladolid to evaluate the two most prominent opinions on the matter -- JuanRead MoreThe Just War Theory Essay1225 Words   |  5 PagesThe Just War Theory The Just war theory is and interesting one simply because the phrase just war is an oxymoron. War is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations. Implicit in this definition of war is the result of death and since justice is right action towards other death is the most unjust of things. Thus war is unjust. Although there is the case where one country goes to war with another becauseRead MoreThe Crusades And Its Effect On Modern Day Christianity Essay1676 Words   |  7 PagesA Brief History of the Crusades and Its Effect on Modern Day Christianity Throughout the history of the world there have been many instances in which religion and religious beliefs have been used as an excuse to perpetrate crimes against others. This is seen in many different religions. Religions such as, Islam and their use of Jihad or holy war which is used as an excuse to kill individuals they consider to be infidels . Hinduism and their caste system in which those of the lowest caste are consideredRead MoreThe Bombing Of Twin Towers1654 Words   |  7 PagesSeeing these situations, we can notice how 9/11 attacks were. Everyone has a theory about the real causes of 9/11(Prospect,Harvard University Press) Like this saying, there are lot’s of theories behind 9/11 attacks. People have been curious about them still. They do know who did attack twin towers but they do not now the exact reasons but theories. The first reason is religious difference. Most Americans are christianity while Muslam people are Islam. Lot’s of Americans have religious discriminationRead MoreThe Decay Of Ancient Civilization And Mohammed And Charlemagne1686 Words   |  7 Pageseconomic, intellectual, and spiritual. The remaining section on Rostovtzeff will discuss the reasons in detail, which follows: Political: In his discussion of the political reasons behind the decline of the ancient world, Rostovtzeff denies the class war as the only reason for the decline of antiquity. He also negates the idea of a single, better race that over came the Greco-Roman world. Rostovtzeff suggests that there were two separate political forces at play in the East and West Roman Empire. 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Islam and Christianity have some very similar theories and also some very contrasting theories. â€Å"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. †¦the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, andRead MoreThe Wolf Shall Lie With Lamb And Leopard With The Kid1369 Words   |  6 PagesFirstly, the Torah or Hebrew bible has many different examples and teachings on violence, non-violence, punishment and war (Freeman, 2015). Isaiah 2:4 states â€Å"He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares’ And their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.† The thirst for a world without violence is clearly portrayed in this passage and it appears to reflect

Examples Of Appeal To Force In 12 Angry Men - 744 Words

Twelve Angry Men Fallacies Appeal to Force The first fallacy is an example of an Appeal to Force (Ad Baculum). An Appeal to Force is simply threatening someone to try and make your argument stronger. The character from Twelve Angry Men who committed this fallacy was the Painter. The Painter said to the Father, â€Å"If you say something like that again, I’m gonna lay you out.† This is an Appeal to Force because the Painter threatened the Father to make him feel intimidated and stop arguing his point. The Painter did this because the Father was being disrespectful to the old man. What the Painter should have done is told the Father to stop being rude to the old man, and ask him to be respectful to his elders; everyone in a jury room should be†¦show more content†¦It is important to recognize Guilt by Association fallacies because, in the film the other jurors were persuaded to keep assuming the boy was guilty from the Stockbroker making a statement degrading the boy’s character just because of where he lived, and not based on actual evidence. After this, Baltimore stated that he grew up in a slum too and he didnt turn out to be a trouble to society. This statement helped to not persuade the jurors based on the Stockbrokers claims. 3. Appeal to Majority The third fallacy is an example of an Appeal to Majority (Ad Populum). An Appeal to Majority is using what you think the majority of people would use to win an argument. The character from Twelve Angry Men who committed this fallacy was the Old Man. The Old Man hesitated while voting on whether or not the boy was guilty or not guilty and, ended up voting guilty once he saw that ten out of the other eleven men in the room voted guilty. This is an example of an Appeal to Majority because, most people in the room voted for the boy to be guilty, so the Old Man decided that if everyone else was voting guilty then it must be the right choice, and he voted too. What he should have done is vote for what he truly believed was right instead of conforming to the rest of the groups beliefs. It is important to recognize Appeals to MajorityShow MoreRelatedEssay about The Power of Leadership in 12 Angry Men1477 Words   |  6 Pagespowerful pathogens – possessing equal communicability as they spread to proximal centers of consciousness. How can this characteristic of ideas be utilized to benefit society? 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The attacked took place at the U.S. Naval Base in Oahu, Hawaii. The air attack started at 7:48 in the morning, Hawaiian time. There were about 3,500 casualties from the bombing, and more than 2,300 of them were deaths. The attack beached or sank 12 AmericanRead MoreRhetorical Analysis of Thoreau’s â€Å"Civil Disobedience†1570 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿AP Language Rhetorical Analysis of Thoreau’s â€Å"Civil Disobedience† Directions: Read â€Å"Civil Disobedience.† As you read, underline examples of Thoreau using rhetorical devices and identify and explain the devices via annotation. Answer questions 1-4 to prepare for further work with a small group. The group will work together on questions 5 through 8. Be ready to explain your answers to the whole class. Even when you’re working as a group you should be writing the answers. 1. 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Looking for answers to explain their sudden headlong dive into

Early Adolescents’ Perceptions of Peer Pressure Free Essays

The Journal of Early Adolescence http://jea. sagepub. com/ Early Adolescents’ Perceptions of Peer Pressure B. We will write a custom essay sample on Early Adolescents’ Perceptions of Peer Pressure or any similar topic only for you Order Now Bradford Brown, Mary Jane Lohr and Eben L. McClenahan The Journal of Early Adolescence 1986 6: 139 DOI: 10. 1177/0272431686062005 The online version of this article can be found at: http://jea. sagepub. com/content/6/2/139 Published by: http://www. sagepublications. com Additional services and information for The Journal of Early Adolescence can be found at: Email Alerts: http://jea. sagepub. com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://jea. sagepub. com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www. sagepub. com/journalsReprints. av Permissions: http://www. sagepub. com/journalsPermissions. nav Citations: http://jea. sagepub. com/content/6/2/139. refs. html ;; Version of Record – Jun 1, 1986 What is This? Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 from the SAGE Social Science Collections. from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded All Rights Reserved. Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. om at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 Downloaded from jea. sagepub. com at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies on October 21, 2011 How to cite Early Adolescents’ Perceptions of Peer Pressure, Papers

Essay on Junk Food Is Unhealthy Long Time Ago Essay Example For Students

Essay on Junk Food Is Unhealthy Long Time Ago Essay Junk food has been proven to be unhealthy long time ago. Junk food started to grow more and more recently and spread fast all over the world. Junk food reveals any food with high calories and low nutritional value. A big problem with junk foods is that satiation value of them is low, that means people need to eat a large amount of that unhealthy foods to feel full. So it is like eating a lot of poisons for a long time, what do you think the result will be on the health condition of the humans? Another problem of junk foods tend to replace other healthy foods; people who drink a lot of soda there is no room for healthy natural fruit juice in their stomach, people who are snacking on cookies, they’re not eating fruits and healthy vegetables (WebMD 2007). The idea of increasing taxes on junk food has been thinking about and only in the recent years that idea has been seriously dealt with after it became so clear the increase in chronic and serious diseases because of unhealthy nutrition. It became so clear that junk foods lead to a punch of catastrophic diseases like obesity, type two diabetes, vascular diseases and cardiac disorders. Those kinds of diseases cost more than $150 billion annually, just to diagnose, treat people who suffer from them. That disease is chronic and leads to many health-related issues, for example, obesity considers a risk factor for type two diabetes, and high blood pressure, joint disorders and many others (The Denver Post 2012). The key of preventing many chronic problems is nutrition. Low income plays an important role of limiting most people to buy and eat a healthy diet and in the other hand, it is easy for people budgets to purchase junk foods. So controlling the prices of healthy foods to be suitabl. .ibrary of Medicine 2009). The whole ideology behind higher taxation on junk food will definitely cause a riot within the food industry and lobbyist due to the negative effects it will have on their business. This will also give them the opportunity to claim that this taxation is an infringement of the public’s right to choose whatever food they want to eat and that the government is forcibly controlling people into purchasing the products they want to them to purchase. With the current way things are going, low-income families are forced to spend the majority of their income on food and would not be able to afford junk food if the prices were outside their budget. By reducing the prices of healthier foods and increasing junk food prices, we give them the opportunity to improve their diets and thus help reduce any diseases that may develop (The New York Times 2011).

Analytical overview of the newspaper publishing industry in the uk. The WritePass Journal

Analytical overview of the newspaper publishing industry in the uk. Introduction Analytical overview of the newspaper publishing industry in the uk. , there was a 25% drop in the circulation of the daily newspapers in the UK (Smith 2013). Although the rise of the internet has to some extent benefited newspaper publishers through the revenues generated from advertizing on their online publications, the loss suffered by print advertizing has been far greater than the benefits derived from online publications such that it has resulted in an overall negative growth for most of the newspapers (Boczkowski 2005). Also, the value chain of news production, distribution and consumption has been fundamentally affected by the growth of the internet and the ongoing digitization (Leurdijk et al 2012). Whilst most newspapers have launched their own websites and offered blogs and apps for mobile devices, they still have to bear the costs which are significantly high (Leurdijk et al 2012).   Moreover, the huge quantity of information available online has made it increasingly difficult for people to pay for online services. Pay models which have proven to be successful are scarce. The pay-wall model was initially experimented by some of the newspaper publishers but failed as the subscription revenues could not offset the vast loss of advertising revenues that resulted from decline in readership (Leurdijk et al 2012). However, there have been new attempts lately to re-introduce pay-walls for premium content by some of the publishers such as the New York Times, the Hamburger Abendblatt and The Berliner Morgenpost among others (Leurdijk et al 2012).   But still, only a few companies have managed to succeed in developing viable online business models (Miyamoto Whittaker 2005). Perhaps we can say that the newspaper publishing industry is under turmoil due to the penetration of broadband and the rise of new devices for delivering digital content. Consumers are quickly embracing technology and switching to digital media. However, this transition from traditional print media to digital media varies with age (Fenez et al 2010). The younger generation is particularly the most affected. But as noted by Keynote, the impact has also been felt among the older consumers. Of course these changes will tend to benefit the consumers. Such newer forms of decentralized news will liberate readers from partisan news monopolies which have dominated the industry (Currah 2009). Consumers will also benefit from increase in the availability of free news and news consumption that can be tailored to fit own preference (Currah 2009). But at the same time there is a concern regarding the quality of output, in particular, whether the desired output can be sustained by market. It should be noted that, unlike the traditional news organizations, many actors involved in the online content lack the large fixed cost base needed to provide in-depth and varied reporting of news (OECD 2010). In this regard, will vulnerable news genres such as reporting on local government, investigative journalism and reporting on areas not of immediate economic or political interest, survive (Leurdijk et al 2010)? This is an issue that requires further documentation. Current issues and what the future holds Following the recent recession that led to declining business profit, the advertisers budget has today shrunk (Smith 2013). The impact of the recession has been a decline in readership due to high prices of newspapers. Also, the recent phone hacking scandal that implicated tabloid newspapers has undermined trust in journalists and led to a declining demand in major papers (Smith 2013). More recently, the introduction a new generation of eReaders such the iPad, tablet computers and kindles has provided an alternative for accessing information online (Sabagh 2011). With influx of such portable technology, the decline print newspaper is likely to accelerate, adding pressure to the traditional models that have supported many titles (Sabbagh 2011). The impact of these changes has already been felt by a number of local newspapers with 31 titles closing in 2010 (Sabbagh 2011). However, there are those that seem to handle the transition well such as the Financial Times which has seen a growth in digital subscription (Sabbagh 2011). For instance, in 2011, the average print circulation of Financial Times (FT) was 297,227 whereas that of the digital circulation was around 301,471, indicating a 31% increase in digital subscribers (Greenslade 2012). During the same year, the average global audience grew to 2.1m whereas that of the print stayed flat (Greenslade 2012). But while FT has made a successful digital transition, majority of the newspapers have not succeed in developing viable online business models. Given the declining demand, pressure has mounted on newspapers to adopt defence mechanism in order to protect their bottom line (Smith 2011). Publishers have been forced to optimize online advertizing platforms and some others have had to adopt paywalls (Smith 2011). Also, there are those that are opting to expand internationally in efforts to capture a new market in an information-centric society (Smith 2011). The structural challenges facing the newspaper publishing industry have no doubt resulted in a decline in circulation volume and a shift of advertizing to online channels. The growth in information technology is already having an impact on consumption behaviours as reading is losing against listening and watching of news via the Televisions, radios and the internet (ATKearney 2005). The trend is also forecast to continue in the coming future. As pointed out by ATKearney (2005), circulation of newspapers is likely to decline by over 25% in the forthcoming 20 years due to a decline in readership and the growth of digital generation. With newspaper revenue declining, there is a higher possibility of heavy consolidation to occur through company ‘attrition’ and Merger and acquisition activities (ATKearney 2005). The impact of the recent phone hacking scandal is likely to be minimal as popular titles still remain in fair commercial health. Tabloid newspapers such as ‘The People’, ‘The Daily’ and ‘Sunday Mirror’, and ‘Record titles’ in Scotland are still in fair commercial health. However, whilst the Leveson inquiry is expected to have minimal effects on the industry performance, a concern has been raised that the resulting regulation will be unbalanced between print news and that published online (Smith 2011). Conclusion Indeed we have seen that a number of factors have contributed to a decline in newspaper circulation such as recession, new technology (e-readers and smartphones), new internet intermediaries, new business models, and social factors such as increased participation in creation of digital content. These changes have had mixed effects in the industry. On the one extreme, consumers have benefited from availability of free information and consumption of news content which can be tailored to suit their own preferences. Also such newer forms of decentralized news have liberated readers from partisan news monopolies which have dominated the industry. On the other extreme, the traditional print media has been declining and this demise puts at risk an important foundation of democratic societies. Also, there is a concern that the desired quality output may not be sustainable as many actors involved in the online content lack the large fixed cost base needed to provide in-depth and varied reporting of news. Reference Anon, 2013. UK regional newspapers. Magforum ATKearney, 2005. Newspaper endgame: evolution scenarios for the European Newspaper Publishing industry. London Berte, K. and De Bens, E., 2008. ‘Newspapers go for advertising! Challenges and opportunities in a changing media environment’. Journalism Studies, 9(5), 692-703. Boczkowski, P. J., 2005. Digitizing the news: innovation in online newspapers. Cambirdge, Currah, A., 2009. Whats happening to our news: an investigation into the likely impact of the digital revolution on the economics of news publishing in the UK. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Elvestad, E. and Blekesaune, A., 2008. ‘Newspaper readers in Europe: a multilevel study of individual and national differences’. European Journal of Communication, 23(4), 425-447. Fenez, M., Middelweerd, J., Van der Donk, M., 2010. Moving into multiple business models. Pricewaterhousecoopers, Greenslade, R., 2012. How the Financial Times successfully made the digital transition. The Guardian. Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C.K., 1994, Competing for the Future, Boston MA: Harvard Business School Press. Keynote, 2010. Publishing industry: who still reads newspapers? {viewed on 24th April 2013} availablefrom https://www.keynote.co.uk/media-centre/in-the-news/display/publishing-industry%3A-who-still-reads-newspapers%3F/?articleId=426 Leurdijk,A., Slot, M., Niewenhuis, O., 2012. Statistical, ecosystems and competitiveness analysis of the media and content industries: The newspaper publishing industry. Joint Research Centre Massachusetts: MIT Press. Miyamoto, D. and Whittaker, D., 2005. The book publishing industry in Japan and the UK: corporate philosophy/objectives, behaviour and market structure. Working paper No.309, ESRC Centre for Business Research OECD 2010, The evolution of news and the internet. DSTI/ICCP/IE(2009)14/FINAL Office of Fair Trading (OFT), 2008, Newspaper and magazine distribution in the United Kingdom, Crown Publishers Sabbagh, D., 2011. iPads and Kindles force newspapers further away from print. The Guardian Smith, G., 2013. Newspaper publishing in the UK industry market research report now updated by IBISWorld. IBISWorld {viewed on 24th April 2013} available from prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb10407604.htm

Free Essays on Flannery OConnor

The American writer Flannery O’Connor is best known for her religious aspect in her fiction. O’Connor’s religious style writing is not too common in literature; this is what makes O’Connor different and well known. O’Connor’s short stories demonstrate the religious beliefs of the characters, as there lives change. Characteristics and style remain constant throughout her stories as well. Her humor and crazy, grotesque characters and situations are typical in her stories. The stories seem to contain a deep, complex world of moral and religious mystery that is brought to life. In Flannery O’Connor short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† she creates a struggle between two characters, the grandmother and the Misfit, which she displays by their different religious beliefs. Throughout this story the reader can clearly see the religious beliefs revealing itself in the two main characters, the Misfit and the grandmother. The characters in the â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† the characters seem real. In this short story, O’Connor characters are just vessels for her ideas. Another thing is that O’Connor uses her Characters personality to create action in all of his short stories, especially this story. By the Misfit remarks, he basically describe is own personality. For example, â€Å"I call myself the Misfit, because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment†. Basically, the Misfit’s has a negative attitude towards God and any belief related to that. The gr andmother in â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is superficial and feels strongly about her religious beliefs. She develops a firm ground in believing everyone is just as a good a person as her from the help of God. For example, when she is held at gun point by the Misfit, she says, â€Å"You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you†¦I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must com... Free Essays on Flannery O'connor Free Essays on Flannery O'connor The American writer Flannery O’Connor is best known for her religious aspect in her fiction. O’Connor’s religious style writing is not too common in literature; this is what makes O’Connor different and well known. O’Connor’s short stories demonstrate the religious beliefs of the characters, as there lives change. Characteristics and style remain constant throughout her stories as well. Her humor and crazy, grotesque characters and situations are typical in her stories. The stories seem to contain a deep, complex world of moral and religious mystery that is brought to life. In Flannery O’Connor short story â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† she creates a struggle between two characters, the grandmother and the Misfit, which she displays by their different religious beliefs. Throughout this story the reader can clearly see the religious beliefs revealing itself in the two main characters, the Misfit and the grandmother. The characters in the â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find,† the characters seem real. In this short story, O’Connor characters are just vessels for her ideas. Another thing is that O’Connor uses her Characters personality to create action in all of his short stories, especially this story. By the Misfit remarks, he basically describe is own personality. For example, â€Å"I call myself the Misfit, because I can’t make what all I done wrong fit what all I gone through in punishment†. Basically, the Misfit’s has a negative attitude towards God and any belief related to that. The gr andmother in â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find† is superficial and feels strongly about her religious beliefs. She develops a firm ground in believing everyone is just as a good a person as her from the help of God. For example, when she is held at gun point by the Misfit, she says, â€Å"You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you†¦I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must com... Free Essays on Flannery O'Connor Agents of Grace in Flannery O’Connor’s Fiction The American writer Flannery O’Connor is best known for her religious aspect in her fiction. O’Connor’s religious style writing is not too common in literature, this is what makes O’Connor different and well known. O’Connor’s short stories demonstrate the religious beliefs of the characters, as there lives change. Flannery O’Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia on March 25,1925, given the birth name of Mary Flannery O’Connor. She was the only child born into the arms of Edward Flannery and Regina Cline O’Connor. During Miss. O’Connor’s early years, she began to develop skills in drawing and cartooning. At the young age of thirteen, her family moved to Milledgeville, Georgia because her father was diagnosed with disseminated lupus. Unfortunately, when O’Connor was only sixteen, her father passed away, and O’Connor remained in Milledgeville for the most of the rest of her life. Flannery O’Connor was raised in a Catholic family. Her religious heritage from her parents had a deep impact on O’Connor’s writing technique. â€Å"The most important tradition influencing O’Connor’s writing, however, was her avowed Roman Catholicism; This belief served as the foundation of her vision of human condition†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Desmond 1983). Religious incorporation appears to be consistent throughout her fiction. Characteristics and style remain constant throughout her stories as well. Her humor and crazy, grotesque characters and situations are typical in her stories. The stories seem to contain a deep, complex world of moral and religious mystery that is brought to life. Seymour-Smith states, that â€Å"Her style seems pure â€Å"Southern Gothic† and her Catholicism seems Protestant†. Flannery O’Connor is most known for her emotional and spiritually deformed characters, who are greatly obsessed with religion; this stereotype is evident in short stories such as: â€Å"A Good Ma...

Strategic Supply Chain Management in United Arab Emirates Research Paper

Strategic Supply Chain Management in United Arab Emirates - Research Paper Example Strategic supply chain management is a new concept that majority of companies with strategic objectives of growth and future continuity and sustainability cannot ignore or under-value. Likewise, companies in UAE are actively being influenced by forces of globalization and as a result, there is increased attention to operate within frameworks of reduced costs, enhanced customer satisfaction, productive cooperation, and collaboration among suppliers, and short lead-time together with decreased inventories. Adoption and implementation of Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) as supply chain practice in other parts of the world has proved successful and as a result, it is deemed that such an endeavor in Gulf Extrusions Company Ltd will yield numerous benefits as far as supply chain needs of the company are involved. Major objective of this research report is to assess and elaborate on the most effective way adoption and implementation of Collaborative Planning Forec asting and Replenishment (CPFR) supply practice can be achieved at Gulf Extrusions Company Ltd. As a result, detailed analysis of CPFR will be carried out with regard to Strategic supply chain goals of the company.Overview of Gulf Extrusion Company Ltd  Gulf Extrusion is located in the hub-business center of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. It was established in 1978 and remains part of the Al Ghurair Group of Companies (Gulf Extrusion n.d). Over the years, the company has evolved.

_________________ Millennials Say Marriage Ideal but Parenthood the Essay

_________________ Millennials Say Marriage Ideal but Parenthood the Priority, written by Jason Hanna and published on the CNN - Essay Example The article ends by stating that the changing environment, meaning economic, has also helped to change the current culture with respect to how marriage is viewed among Millenials as well as others. While completing an education is a high priority still, finding a good job and establishing oneself has also become almost a requirement prior to considering marriage or child bearing. Essay: Although the above article has very good points and key insights into the generation known as the Millenials, it is however somewhat deceiving as to the true trends that are being represented. Furthermore, when articles such as the one above are published it is always necessary to consider by whom, when, why, and to what end. In this way, this brief response essay will help to consider but a few of these as well as to provide some key reading insights that this author gained from analyzing the above article. Firstly, a common trend in journalism is to create stories where none would otherwise exist. I t is a well known fact that in order to sell journalism must convince the readership/viewership that ideas, cultures, and individuals are changing. Imagine a world in which a newspaper or a television news program reported that absolutely nothing new or interesting was taking place. Of course the idea seems ludicrous. Similarly, one of the primary mechanisms which the media uses to engage the attention of the viewership/readership is to convince them that a fundamental shift is taking place at each and every moment of the day. The above article is not dissimilar to such a tactic in that it has all of the tell tale makers of sensationalist journalism. Firstly, one group is compared to another. Secondly a level of statistical analysis is used. Thirdly, it is determined that based upon the statistical analysis, it is indeed measurable that the current generation does not value traditional morality to the same extent that the previous one did. Although there may be a grain of truth to s ome of the information that the study and proceeding article related, the fact of the matter is that it follows all too similar a pattern with reference to attempting to sell advertising space by playing off the emotions of a concerning citizenry. An additional point of interest is the fact that the article opens by citing â€Å"a new study† and then goes on for some length before admitting that the PEW Research Center was indeed the group that put out such a study. This is not important to the average reader. However, the fact of the matter is that centers such as the PEW Research Center are able to make the lion’s share of their profits by churning out untenable study after untenable study. Most of these are sold to political think tanks and picked up by the media. Accordingly, for each political point of view or journalist, there is a corresponding statistic that can work to tell one particular side of the story. Yet a further flaw of logic and scholarship is refere nced in the fact that the journalist refers to the fact that Gen-X placed a higher emphasis on marriage than did the Millenials based on a similar survey (Hanna 1). One would expect that the survey would have been conducted at the very least by the same group (the PEW

Project management Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Project management - Coursework Example According to Snedaker & Rogers (2006), for a project to be successful, it needs to have carefully designed programs, which provide a direction for the achievement of the project goals and objectives. In this regard, a program can be described as a series of different items, events or performances that guide the project’s implementation. Another important aspect of effective business management is portfolio management, which combines management activities for projects and programs. Portfolio management can be defined as the process of central management for one or many portfolios (Bonham 2005). These portfolios include such aspects as identifying, giving priority, authorizing and later management and controlling of programs, projects and different tasks that are linked towards achieving the broad goals of the business. As a manager in ABC Company, I have been tasked with ensuring that the company becomes successful in its operations. To achieve this, I have had to identify smaller projects that can be managed effectively in achieving the company’s mission and vision. Being a company that deals in software development, the staff has been grouped according to their professional experience and specialization into teams that manage certain projects (Bonham 2005). One of the projects being undertaken involves development of websites and online tools for our client. This project is undertaken by a team of technology experts, who come up with programs that guide the implementation of strategies in mangling the projects. A series of projects being undertaken in the company make up its portfolio. As a manager, my responsibility of often empowering the particular project managers to be successful in their projects, thus making the company successful. Each of these elements have people that head them, with a hierarchical structure of leadership that aids in communication and information flow vertically or horizontally for the success of the company. Wide

Appropriation of Brand Extension

Appropriation of Brand Extension LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter intends to set the theoretical frame of the thesis by introducing the main areas needed to create the basis of our analysis, shaping the ways towards our own main purpose. Thus, it begins with the roots of brand extension and starts of with the concepts of brand, brand identity and brand hierarchy and then leads into brand extension and explains it as a means of growth for a brand. Narrowing down the scope, it goes into the typology of brand extension and identifies the successful and unsuccessful factors of brand extension. Finally it identifies certain rules for the success of brand extension and looks at different models used for the effectiveness of brand extension. 2.1 BRANDING: In todays world of increased competition and consumer awareness, the marketing of new products has become ever more complex. We have moved into a time where consumers are literate enough to choose their own products on the basis of their judgment and where competition among products and services gives them an opportunity to select the best product that would suit their need. Branding has become one of the most important issues in the launch of a new product. Having functional and emotional attributes attached to it, branding has gained popularity as consumer relates more and more to it. Historically examples of branding can be found as early as 9000 years ago when owners or manufacturers used to give distinctive and distinguishing symbol or name to their property or product. However it was the 19thcentury that arguably saw the dawn of the modern branding era and it was the industrial revolution that caused its birth. It was the industrial revolution that created the mass production t hat meant an ever- increasing proportion of people worked for a manufacturer and not themselves. They no longer needed to mark the products that they produced as their own; rather what they produced was collectively produced for one company. Before we proceed further, lets look more deeply into branding and then link that to the concept of brand extension. 2.1.1 DEFINITION AND EXPLANATION Different scholars have defined the word brand differently as different meaning or contexts have been attached to them. Balmer and Greyser (2003) have given the most explanatory definition of branding explaining both the traditional and their own perspective about branding. They have stepped forward from the traditional definitions of branding and have defined branding on the corporate level having corporate implications. According to them three type of definitions have been identified. The first two are traditional whereas the third one is the advanced version of branding which incorporates their point of view about branding. They are: Erstwhile. In its simplest sense a brand denotes a name, logotype, or trademark and was originally used to signify ownership as with branding of live stock. These are, increasingly, seen to be points of entry to the essence of a brand rather than the essence of branding per se. (Definition similar to the one given in Oxford Concise Dictionary) Established. This refers to the added values that a brand brings to a product. Products may or may not have brand values. Product brand values are superimposed by the organization by its marketing and communication experts and advisers. They are made memorable. In the main, such values are fashioned in the mind; not on the production floor. They are, essentially, synthetic. Whereas products are made in a factory, brand values exist in the mind. Brands can be timeless in a way that products may not be. However Balmer and Greyser(2003) have identified a new understanding about brands. They call this aspect of branding as emergent Emergent. While the category most certainly is established, the fundamental differences between this category and the other two are only beginning to be appreciated. This category refers to brands at the corporate level. Corporate brand values are not contrived; they need to be bona fide. The role of personnel and of culture in establishing and maintaining and understanding corporate brand values is of essence. In the words of Sir Michael Perry, a former Chairman of Unilever, brand is much more than a symbol to differentiate goods and services: In the modern world, brands are a key part of how individuals define themselves and their relationships with one another. More and more we are simply consumers We are what we wear, what we eat, what we drive. This description of brand explains that brand is much more than the physical and functional value that it holds. Its a bundle of attributes both functional and emotional. Thus brands not only meet our physical needs but also address our emotional needs. A blind test was conducted on Pepsi and Coca Cola. It was found that Pepsi was preferred over Coke in regards to its taste. Yet the sales of Coke are much higher than Pepsi that shows that despite being functionally better, people are emotionally attached to coke. Stephen King was Director of planning at one of the largest advertising agencies, J Walter Thompson, when he described brand as: People choose their brand as they choose their friends. You choose your friends not usually because of specific skills or physical attributes (though of course these come into it) but simply because you like them as people. It is the total person you choose, not a compendium of virtues and vices. 2.2 BRAND IDENTITY Brand identity refers to the public image of a product, line or service in the eyes of a consumer. McClendon (2003) considers that brand identity is something that exists in the minds and hearts of the consumers when they hear the name of the brand. He further adds that it is the identity of the brand that provides the real strength to the business. It is the visual link between the company and the consumer. Brand identity includes brand names, logos, positioning, brand associations and brand personality. Upshaw (1995) has identified brand identity as a brands DNA configuration. He supposes that the particular set of brand elements is blended in a unique way to establish how the brand will be perceived in the market place. According to Kapferer (2001), it is critical for each business to understand that the attributes of a brand represent the indispensable elements. Not all brand managers are aware of this. Yet in order to find out which of the extended brand elements is needed to me diate with the market, pre testing is done and this is considered to be the best method to avoid trails and errors. In his book, Aaker (2000) argues that a brand is more than a product. Creating an extension can benefit the parent brand by helping it break out of the box. According to him, there are several reasons for building a rich extended brand identity, reasons that are going to be illustrated in the following figure and explained underneath it. A richer brand identity is a more accurate reflection of the brand. Just as a person cannot be described in one or two words, neither can a brand. Three word taglines or an identity limited to attributes will simply not be accurate (Aaker, 2000, p. 54). Aaker (2000) considers that the identity of a brand represents what the brand stands for. Taking into consideration that the brand identity is inspirational, it must comprise and reflect the values and cultures of the entire organization. Moreover, customer concern should dominate the strategy of the business. And lastly, Aaker emphasizes in his picture that the extended identity provides a home for constructs that help the brand move beyond attributes. In particular, brand personality and symbols normally fail to make the cut when a terse brand position is developed, yet both are often extremely helpful strategically as well as tactically (Aaker, 2000, p.54). Balmer (2003) has emphasized on the concept of corporate identity and in his historiography model, we are currently in stage 4 in which the emphasis would be on organizational identity, corporate identity, corporate communication, corporate reputation and finally but most importantly corporate branding. 2.3 BRAND HIEARCHY TREE Brand structure can be illustrated logically by using the brand family tree together with all the related sub-brand branches. The figure below can be viewed as an organizational chart. The horizontal and vertical dimensions are grouped after numerous factors such as segment, product, quality and design (Aaker, 2000). The horizontal dimension shows the scope of the brand in terms of the sub brands that lie under the brand umbrella in the box visualized Colgate as a parent brand. The vertical dimension represents the brands and sub-brands that exist for an individual product- market entry (Aaker, 2000). The visualized overview of the whole brand guides the brand managers to keep an eye on its entire brand and to analyze if there are too many or too few. The question is how these brands can be reinforced, what message they deliver to the consumer and what improvements to the particular message can be done (Aaker, 2000). Keeping an eye on this hierarchy is quite important as it enables a company to identify the fit for new extension and also helps to maintain a clear vision of each product keeping in view the rest of the brands in the hierarchy. Thus its easy to maintain fit and leverage in brand extension with the help of this brand hierarchy. Every company would like to see its brand growing and prospering. Brands grow through two principle means. The first mean is called organic growth whereas the second one is called growth through extension. 2.4 ORGANIC GROWTH FOR BRANDS In this case making a brand or product frequently available or adding incentives to the brand makes it more popular. Sales of any one brand increase because what they have to offer becomes attractive to somebody, somewhere. Brands can be made more attractive by improving either the functional or emotional attributes of the brand. Thus in functional attributes we can improve any of the four Ps whereas in emotional one can improve the personality or image of the brand. A good example would be of Coca Cola and their distribution. Not only have they made it available from Atlanta to Zanzibar, from Moscow to Melbourne but also you can buy it from supermarkets, newsagents, cinema, restaurants, street corners, cafà ©, football stadium, pop concert and even at car parks where you have vending machine1. Whilst there are numerous marketing tools to achieve organic growth, this type of growth stems from three things: getting that brand used by more people, getting it used by the same people more often or getting people to use more of it on any of the occasions they use it in the first place. 2.5 GROWTH THROUGH EXTENSION The second and relatively newer way of growing brand is through extension, which is the core focus of this study. Before going into detail about how brands grow through extension, I will firstly define extension and try to differentiate the various types of extensions. Due to the relative immaturity of the concept, there is no standard definition of brand extension and various marketing scholars have given different definition to the same terminology. From the readings that I have conducted of books and research papers, its obvious that around a decade back scholars used to give a more generalized definition of brand extension. The generalization of the definition can be observed from the fact that brand extension was used for extension into both related and non-related products. The following definition will clarify my point of view. In a typical brand extension situation, an established brand name is applied to a new product in a category either related or unrelated, in order to capitalize on the equity of the core brand name (DeGraba and Sullivan, 1995; Pitta and Katsanis, 1995). Also certain research papers indicated that brand extension being generalized was then differentiated into two types as indicated by this piece of research work. Brand extensions come in two primary forms: horizontal and vertical. In a horizontal brand extension situation, an existing brand name is applied to a new product introduction in either a related product class, or in a product category completely new to the firm (Sheinin and Schmitt, 1994). A vertical brand extension, on the other hand, involves introducing a brand extension in the same product category as the core brand, but at a different price point and quality level (Keller and Aaker, 1992; Sullivan, 1990). In a vertical brand extension situation, a second brand name or descriptor is usually introduced alongside the core brand name, in order to demonstrate the link between the brand extension and the core brand name (e.g. Marriott Hotels, Courtyard Inn by Marriott). Most recently the word line extension has been given to extension done in the same product category whereas brand extension would refer to extension in unrelated products and in this study I will undertake this understanding of extension. Taylor (2003) has referred to them as direct and indirect stretch. Jobber (2003) has given the term brand extension to line extension whereas brand extension has been referred to as brand stretch. The current emphasis on the subject has been due to its enormous success. Consumers being the end users have become friendlier to the concept and are now accepting it as illustrated on the next page. Its obvious from this graph that consumers are becoming much friendlier to the concept then they were a decade ago and this shows the popularity of the concept and the frequency at which it has been used in the past decade. Lets get an insight into the various types of extension. 2.5.1 LINE EXTENSION OR DIRECT STRETCH Line extension is defined as being a variant of the same basic product. It might be a new flavor or a new size. Basically its a slight variation to the original product. Examples would be of Colgate. We used to have Colgate regular but now we have Colgate total, Colgate Max fresh Gel, my first Colgate for kids, Platinum, Deep clean etc. The basic purpose of this strategy is to encourage more people to use a brand. It can also be considered as a first step towards brand extension. But the only bad thing about too many variations in the products or having too many line extension is that it may confuse the user in regards to which product should he/she use. Also it may cause a cannibalization affect within the product range. 2.5.2 BRAND EXTENSION OR INDIRECT STRETCH Brand extension on the other hand would refer to extending your product range into a product category that wouldnt be commonly associated with it. A simple definition described below will illustrate my point of view. Brand extension is using the leverage of a well known brand name in one category to launch a new product in a different category. (Brandextension.org) Giles Lury in his book about Brand Watching has defined brand extension as: Brand extension is the use (and occasional misuse) of an existing brand name and equity to launch a product or service into a category or market not normally associated with that brand. (Lury, 1998) Thus in contrast to earlier scholars, who had generalized the concept of brand extension, new researchers have distinguished the concept well from line extension. 2.6 RATIONALE BEHIND USING BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension has gained a lot of popularity and is considered to be the key tool for launching new innovations. A survey was conducted by Brand gym in 2003 in which marketing directors were asked about brand extension. The following graph illustrates the response. The results indicated that 83% of the marketing directors thought that brand extension would be the main way of launching new innovation in the next two to three years. Yet research has also shown that only 50 percent of brand extension survives after the first three years. Firstly brand extension differs from line extension because where line extension offers customers more varieties or styles of the original brand in its original market, a brand extension takes an existing brand to pasture new ones. Taking Mars as an example we see that the original chocolate bar has been line extended into different styles including Mars Kingsize, Mars miniature and for a limited period Dark chocolate Mars. However when Mars launched the Mars ice cream, it entered a new market for the brand and as such had extended the brand franchise. Mars also extended into flavored milk drinks market with Mars in a bottle. The rationale behind brand extensions popularity is that its difficult and expensive to launch a completely new brand. The most often quoted statistic being that nine out of every ten new brands fail. New brands are therefore seen as a high, though sometimes high return strategy. On the other hand, brand extension is a cheaper and more reliable method of building on what already exists. Not surprisingly companies who have already invested a lot of money in creating a brand are keen to maximize its full potential. Finally it can be concluded that companies would like to leverage and thus give initial success to the new brand by exploiting the equity that has been established by the parent brand. 2.7 KELLER AND AAKERS WORK ON BRAND EXTENSION Keller and Aaker (1998) extending on their typology of product range extension and corporate brand extension have examined the impact of corporate marketing on a companys brand extension. In their research paper they have described how consumers evaluate brand extension in general and then concentrating on corporate brand extension, they have studied the impact of corporate marketing on consumer evaluation of corporate brand extension in the presence and absence of supporting product advertising. The initial research work describing product brand extension is as follows: Research on consumer responses to extensions of product brands, suggest that two key factors influence consumer evaluation. the types of association that make up the parent brand image the relationship between the parent brand and the extension product These factors affect the consumer belief about whether the new product fits as a member of the product line. In sum, the record therefore suggests that a variety of different associations for the parent brand can be transferred to an extension, assuming a basis of fit exists. Now an extension that they made in regards to brand extension was that they applied this concept to corporate brand extension. But before going further its important to know Aakers three dimensions of corporate credibility. They are: 1. Corporate expertise is the extent to which a company is thought able to competently make and sell its products and services. 2. Corporate trustworthiness is the extent to which a company is thought to be honest, dependable, and sensitive to consumer needs. 3. Corporate likability is the extent to which a company is thought likable, prestigious and interesting. This results gathered from this study have strategic implication both to the benefits/risks associated with brand extension and also to the effectiveness of brand extension. Thus a summary of the results are as follows. Firstly by showing that corporate marketing related to product innovation enhances perceptions of corporate credibility and extension fit, and thus much favorable extension evaluations, this study showed benefits for brands with reputation of high quality products. Secondly this study provided a more detailed account of particular dimensions of corporate credibility, namely corporate expertise, trust worthiness and likeability. Thus this study concluded that corporate expertise appeared to play a more influential role in evaluation of corporate brand extension than either corporate trustworthiness or likeability. Thirdly this study suggested the merits of leveraging a strong brand to introduce a new product. One advantage of using a brand extension strategy to name a new product is that a less concerted advertising effort may be necessary. To the extent that brands extensions are able to leverage existing parent brand associations in consumer memory, a company should find it easier to achieve brand image with an extension branding strategy instead of giving a new product a new name. The fact that corporate marketing activity impacted consumer evaluations of a corporate brand extension in the absence of any product specific advertising is further an empirical support for the benefit of adopting a brand extension strategy. Fourthly this study suggested that corporate marketing activity significantly influenced extension evaluations even when the extension was advertised on the basis of another image dimension point. Thus corporate image associations are more likely to transfer to an extension on the basis of the branding strategy. Lastly this study also suggested that where a company is in a situation of having a trade off between various strategies like reinforcing a strong association, strengthening a weak association or creating a new association, then it wholly depends on the situation of each of the elements to decide which strategy to choose. For example: In some cases, existing associations may be so strong that they may be better off emphasizing other information to fortify a weak or supply a missing association. 2.8 TYPES OF BRAND EXTENSION Limited work has been done on the typology of brand extension. From various research papers, books and websites that I have consulted regarding brand extension, very few have distributed brand extension into different types. (Brandextension.org) have generated the following typology of brand extension taking functional and emotional attributes of the brand into consideration. 1. Similar product in a different form from the original parent product. This is where a company changes the form of the product from the original parent product. An example is (frozen) Snickers Ice Cream Bars. The original Snickers bar is a shelf stable candy. The brand extension is a similar product, but in a different form. Jell-O Portable Pudding and Pudding Cups is Jell-O pudding in a different form and section of the store. 2. Distinctive flavor/ingredient/component in the new item. When a brand owns a flavor, ingredient or component, there may be other categories where consumers want that property. E.g. Peanut butter is a characteristic ingredient in Reeses Peanut Butter Cups candy. Chocolate is a characteristic ingredient of Hershey. Brand Extension Research identified Reeses Peanut Butter as a logical extension that capitalizes on this association. 3. Benefit/attribute/feature owned. Many brands own a benefit, attribute or feature that can be extended. E.g. Brand Extension Research showed Armor All brand was defined by automotive surface protection which can go beyond vinyl dressing. Paint needs protecting also. Arm Hammer owns a benefit of deodorizing. Their baking soda product has claimed that it removes odors from refrigerators, etc. As a result, they extended the brand into other products such as Arm Hammer underarm deodorant and cat litter deodorizer. 4. Expertise. Over time, certain brands may gain a reputation for having an expertise in a given area. Leverage can be achieved when extending into areas where this special expertise is deemed important. E.g. Hondas expertise in reliable engines led to lawn mowers, gas powered generators and a variety of other gasoline engine powered devices. What brand comes to mind when we think of baby products? Gerber. As a result of this acceptance of their expertise, they successfully launched Gerber Baby Powder, Gerber Baby Bottles, etc. Sara Lee is known for baked desserts, so why not other baked goods like bread. 5. Companion products. Some brand extensions are a natural companion to the products the company already makes. E.g. Contadina was a tomato paste and sauce brand. In brand extension research, consumers thought Contadina pasta was a logical companion product that would have the leverage of the Italian heritage of the parent. Aunt Jemima (the pancake mix brand) launched pancake syrup, as a companion to compete with Log Cabin syrup. 6. Vertical extensions. Some brand extensions are vertical extensions of what they currently offer. A brand can use their ingredient/component heritage to launch products in a more (or sometimes less) finished form. E.g. Nestlà ©s Toll House chocolate refrigerated cookies is an example. Most Toll House chocolate chips are used in cookies, so why not make a brand of Toll House chocolate chip cookies. Mrs. Fields Cookies were ready-to-eat. They offered frozen cookie dough, moving backwards as a vertical extension. Rice Krispies has always been used in kids treats. Kellogg offered Rice Krispies Treats ready-to-eat. 7. Same customer base. Many brand extensions represent a marketers effort to sell something else to its customer base. This works particularly well when that customer base is large and to some extent captive. E.g. VISA launched travelers checks directed to its credit card customers. 8. Designer image/status. Certain brands convey status and hence create an image for the user. E.g. Designer clothing labels have been extended to furniture, jewellery, perfume, cosmetics and a host of other items. Some brands promote a lifestyle and can extend to items that people wear, as a badge of identifying themselves with that lifestyle. The above-mentioned typology is quite useful as it indicate the key areas where extension is done along with the methodology used to extend the product line. Yet it must be said that not all research work would agree with this typology as it is felt that certain types confuses line and brand extension or in ways generalizes it more to extension rather than brand extension. For example: Adding attribute to the products in the same product line would be line extension and not brand extension. Still it is a good base for my research work and also for further research into the typology of brand extension. Aaker (1998) has described two types brand extension differentiating the concept on a corporate level. The first type described by him is product brand extension. A company makes a product brand extension when it uses an existing brand name distinct from its corporate name to introduce a new product outside its current product offering. With product brand extension consumers are often completely unaware of the company involved. The second type described by him is corporate brand extension. A corporate brand extension is one which relies on the corporate name to launch a new product . A corporate brand extension clearly identifies an organization with a product, and so evokes different reactions from consumers than a product brand extension. A corporate brand may create associations in consumers minds that reflect the values, program, and activities of the firm. 2.9 SEQUENTIAL STRETCHING AND UMBRELLA BRANDING Extension to parent brand is usually a sequential process in which brands are initially line extended and then brand extended. This sequential stretching of brands leads to the formation of a whole family of brands thus giving rise to the concept of Umbrella branding. As the name indicates, umbrella branding refers to extension of a parent brand into a variety of products such that a whole range of products would come under the same brand. Taylor (2003) has divided the sequential extension into three main steps namely core brand extension, direct stretch and indirect stretch. I will illustrate the concept using Dove as an example. Brand extension was a key driver of Doves explosive growth during the 1990s. Coupled with geographic expansion, it helped grow sales fivefold, to almost $1 billion. The brand continues to grow at 20 percent per year and is well on its way to hitting the $ 2 billion mark in the next few years. Let go through the sequential process and apply it to Dove. The first and most crucial step to be noted is that Dove didnt extend its product line until it had achieved the following two things. †¢ A strong bar business had been built †¢ The brand had satisfactory scores on attributes rating for mildness and moisturizing. An important thing to be noted is that extension took place only after Dove had secured its soap bar business and had improved it. Thus once there was strength in the brand, it extending it to other products. Stretching went through the following stages. Stage One: Core Range extensions: Dove remained a product brand with a single format at this stage. It extended (line extension) its product range by adding new versions such as sensitive skin that now accounts for up to a third of sales. Further growth of the bar through product and pack innovation, remains a key source of profitable growth. Diagrammatic illustration of this step would indicate the extension into the two types. Stage Two: Direct stretch: In this stage extension is done into markets that are quite relevant to the product line. In the case of dove, it extended its product range into bath and shower products. Yet till now dove is focused on personal washing. The key reasons of dove extension at this stage were strong product delivery and innovative packing that differentiated them from other products in the range. The following diagram illustrates their stretch in to shower and bath products. Stage three: Indirect stretch: Capitalizing on their skin care outlook, Dove decided to be ambitious and to move beyond the washing and bathing market. Although they started off selectively, they introduced products like deodorants and hair gels etc. that were once again a big success. This process of broadening a product range is referred to as Umbrella Branding as illustrated by the diagram given below. The dove success has been due to consistent marketing and a consistent communication campaign. Consistency has been a key part of building brand identity and has been an additional glue to tie together the extension. 2.10 BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS ASSOCIATED WITH BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension being the most popular mean of brand growth has some surprising statistics. Success rate of brand extension is hard to find, especially as what constitutes a success varies enormously. Yet a survey conducted by OCC using a simple and effective definition of success (still being on shelf after six years after launch) found out that 50 percent of all brand extension fails. This figure is certainly an eye opener for most companies as half of the product fails using brand extension. Taylor (2003) has associated this huge failure figure due to Brand ego tripping and also gives effective steps to avoid it. But before we go into the detail of this concept, lets look into the benefits and drawbacks of brand extension. 2.10.1 BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH BRAND EXTENSION The remarkable popularity of the concept over the last decade is a confirmation of the fact that there are marked benefits that can be associated with brand extension. Taylor (2003) has described the consumer benefits of brand extension in which he has identified consumer knowledge, consumer trust and lower cost as the major benefits of brand extension. Tauber (1988) has differentiated the benefits on the basis of efficiency and effectiveness emphasizing more on the cost benefits. An existing strong brand promotes a new product or service as there is less need to create awareness and imagery. Thus in a way awareness is already present and the only thing left is Appropriation of Brand Extension Appropriation of Brand Extension LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter intends to set the theoretical frame of the thesis by introducing the main areas needed to create the basis of our analysis, shaping the ways towards our own main purpose. Thus, it begins with the roots of brand extension and starts of with the concepts of brand, brand identity and brand hierarchy and then leads into brand extension and explains it as a means of growth for a brand. Narrowing down the scope, it goes into the typology of brand extension and identifies the successful and unsuccessful factors of brand extension. Finally it identifies certain rules for the success of brand extension and looks at different models used for the effectiveness of brand extension. 2.1 BRANDING: In todays world of increased competition and consumer awareness, the marketing of new products has become ever more complex. We have moved into a time where consumers are literate enough to choose their own products on the basis of their judgment and where competition among products and services gives them an opportunity to select the best product that would suit their need. Branding has become one of the most important issues in the launch of a new product. Having functional and emotional attributes attached to it, branding has gained popularity as consumer relates more and more to it. Historically examples of branding can be found as early as 9000 years ago when owners or manufacturers used to give distinctive and distinguishing symbol or name to their property or product. However it was the 19thcentury that arguably saw the dawn of the modern branding era and it was the industrial revolution that caused its birth. It was the industrial revolution that created the mass production t hat meant an ever- increasing proportion of people worked for a manufacturer and not themselves. They no longer needed to mark the products that they produced as their own; rather what they produced was collectively produced for one company. Before we proceed further, lets look more deeply into branding and then link that to the concept of brand extension. 2.1.1 DEFINITION AND EXPLANATION Different scholars have defined the word brand differently as different meaning or contexts have been attached to them. Balmer and Greyser (2003) have given the most explanatory definition of branding explaining both the traditional and their own perspective about branding. They have stepped forward from the traditional definitions of branding and have defined branding on the corporate level having corporate implications. According to them three type of definitions have been identified. The first two are traditional whereas the third one is the advanced version of branding which incorporates their point of view about branding. They are: Erstwhile. In its simplest sense a brand denotes a name, logotype, or trademark and was originally used to signify ownership as with branding of live stock. These are, increasingly, seen to be points of entry to the essence of a brand rather than the essence of branding per se. (Definition similar to the one given in Oxford Concise Dictionary) Established. This refers to the added values that a brand brings to a product. Products may or may not have brand values. Product brand values are superimposed by the organization by its marketing and communication experts and advisers. They are made memorable. In the main, such values are fashioned in the mind; not on the production floor. They are, essentially, synthetic. Whereas products are made in a factory, brand values exist in the mind. Brands can be timeless in a way that products may not be. However Balmer and Greyser(2003) have identified a new understanding about brands. They call this aspect of branding as emergent Emergent. While the category most certainly is established, the fundamental differences between this category and the other two are only beginning to be appreciated. This category refers to brands at the corporate level. Corporate brand values are not contrived; they need to be bona fide. The role of personnel and of culture in establishing and maintaining and understanding corporate brand values is of essence. In the words of Sir Michael Perry, a former Chairman of Unilever, brand is much more than a symbol to differentiate goods and services: In the modern world, brands are a key part of how individuals define themselves and their relationships with one another. More and more we are simply consumers We are what we wear, what we eat, what we drive. This description of brand explains that brand is much more than the physical and functional value that it holds. Its a bundle of attributes both functional and emotional. Thus brands not only meet our physical needs but also address our emotional needs. A blind test was conducted on Pepsi and Coca Cola. It was found that Pepsi was preferred over Coke in regards to its taste. Yet the sales of Coke are much higher than Pepsi that shows that despite being functionally better, people are emotionally attached to coke. Stephen King was Director of planning at one of the largest advertising agencies, J Walter Thompson, when he described brand as: People choose their brand as they choose their friends. You choose your friends not usually because of specific skills or physical attributes (though of course these come into it) but simply because you like them as people. It is the total person you choose, not a compendium of virtues and vices. 2.2 BRAND IDENTITY Brand identity refers to the public image of a product, line or service in the eyes of a consumer. McClendon (2003) considers that brand identity is something that exists in the minds and hearts of the consumers when they hear the name of the brand. He further adds that it is the identity of the brand that provides the real strength to the business. It is the visual link between the company and the consumer. Brand identity includes brand names, logos, positioning, brand associations and brand personality. Upshaw (1995) has identified brand identity as a brands DNA configuration. He supposes that the particular set of brand elements is blended in a unique way to establish how the brand will be perceived in the market place. According to Kapferer (2001), it is critical for each business to understand that the attributes of a brand represent the indispensable elements. Not all brand managers are aware of this. Yet in order to find out which of the extended brand elements is needed to me diate with the market, pre testing is done and this is considered to be the best method to avoid trails and errors. In his book, Aaker (2000) argues that a brand is more than a product. Creating an extension can benefit the parent brand by helping it break out of the box. According to him, there are several reasons for building a rich extended brand identity, reasons that are going to be illustrated in the following figure and explained underneath it. A richer brand identity is a more accurate reflection of the brand. Just as a person cannot be described in one or two words, neither can a brand. Three word taglines or an identity limited to attributes will simply not be accurate (Aaker, 2000, p. 54). Aaker (2000) considers that the identity of a brand represents what the brand stands for. Taking into consideration that the brand identity is inspirational, it must comprise and reflect the values and cultures of the entire organization. Moreover, customer concern should dominate the strategy of the business. And lastly, Aaker emphasizes in his picture that the extended identity provides a home for constructs that help the brand move beyond attributes. In particular, brand personality and symbols normally fail to make the cut when a terse brand position is developed, yet both are often extremely helpful strategically as well as tactically (Aaker, 2000, p.54). Balmer (2003) has emphasized on the concept of corporate identity and in his historiography model, we are currently in stage 4 in which the emphasis would be on organizational identity, corporate identity, corporate communication, corporate reputation and finally but most importantly corporate branding. 2.3 BRAND HIEARCHY TREE Brand structure can be illustrated logically by using the brand family tree together with all the related sub-brand branches. The figure below can be viewed as an organizational chart. The horizontal and vertical dimensions are grouped after numerous factors such as segment, product, quality and design (Aaker, 2000). The horizontal dimension shows the scope of the brand in terms of the sub brands that lie under the brand umbrella in the box visualized Colgate as a parent brand. The vertical dimension represents the brands and sub-brands that exist for an individual product- market entry (Aaker, 2000). The visualized overview of the whole brand guides the brand managers to keep an eye on its entire brand and to analyze if there are too many or too few. The question is how these brands can be reinforced, what message they deliver to the consumer and what improvements to the particular message can be done (Aaker, 2000). Keeping an eye on this hierarchy is quite important as it enables a company to identify the fit for new extension and also helps to maintain a clear vision of each product keeping in view the rest of the brands in the hierarchy. Thus its easy to maintain fit and leverage in brand extension with the help of this brand hierarchy. Every company would like to see its brand growing and prospering. Brands grow through two principle means. The first mean is called organic growth whereas the second one is called growth through extension. 2.4 ORGANIC GROWTH FOR BRANDS In this case making a brand or product frequently available or adding incentives to the brand makes it more popular. Sales of any one brand increase because what they have to offer becomes attractive to somebody, somewhere. Brands can be made more attractive by improving either the functional or emotional attributes of the brand. Thus in functional attributes we can improve any of the four Ps whereas in emotional one can improve the personality or image of the brand. A good example would be of Coca Cola and their distribution. Not only have they made it available from Atlanta to Zanzibar, from Moscow to Melbourne but also you can buy it from supermarkets, newsagents, cinema, restaurants, street corners, cafà ©, football stadium, pop concert and even at car parks where you have vending machine1. Whilst there are numerous marketing tools to achieve organic growth, this type of growth stems from three things: getting that brand used by more people, getting it used by the same people more often or getting people to use more of it on any of the occasions they use it in the first place. 2.5 GROWTH THROUGH EXTENSION The second and relatively newer way of growing brand is through extension, which is the core focus of this study. Before going into detail about how brands grow through extension, I will firstly define extension and try to differentiate the various types of extensions. Due to the relative immaturity of the concept, there is no standard definition of brand extension and various marketing scholars have given different definition to the same terminology. From the readings that I have conducted of books and research papers, its obvious that around a decade back scholars used to give a more generalized definition of brand extension. The generalization of the definition can be observed from the fact that brand extension was used for extension into both related and non-related products. The following definition will clarify my point of view. In a typical brand extension situation, an established brand name is applied to a new product in a category either related or unrelated, in order to capitalize on the equity of the core brand name (DeGraba and Sullivan, 1995; Pitta and Katsanis, 1995). Also certain research papers indicated that brand extension being generalized was then differentiated into two types as indicated by this piece of research work. Brand extensions come in two primary forms: horizontal and vertical. In a horizontal brand extension situation, an existing brand name is applied to a new product introduction in either a related product class, or in a product category completely new to the firm (Sheinin and Schmitt, 1994). A vertical brand extension, on the other hand, involves introducing a brand extension in the same product category as the core brand, but at a different price point and quality level (Keller and Aaker, 1992; Sullivan, 1990). In a vertical brand extension situation, a second brand name or descriptor is usually introduced alongside the core brand name, in order to demonstrate the link between the brand extension and the core brand name (e.g. Marriott Hotels, Courtyard Inn by Marriott). Most recently the word line extension has been given to extension done in the same product category whereas brand extension would refer to extension in unrelated products and in this study I will undertake this understanding of extension. Taylor (2003) has referred to them as direct and indirect stretch. Jobber (2003) has given the term brand extension to line extension whereas brand extension has been referred to as brand stretch. The current emphasis on the subject has been due to its enormous success. Consumers being the end users have become friendlier to the concept and are now accepting it as illustrated on the next page. Its obvious from this graph that consumers are becoming much friendlier to the concept then they were a decade ago and this shows the popularity of the concept and the frequency at which it has been used in the past decade. Lets get an insight into the various types of extension. 2.5.1 LINE EXTENSION OR DIRECT STRETCH Line extension is defined as being a variant of the same basic product. It might be a new flavor or a new size. Basically its a slight variation to the original product. Examples would be of Colgate. We used to have Colgate regular but now we have Colgate total, Colgate Max fresh Gel, my first Colgate for kids, Platinum, Deep clean etc. The basic purpose of this strategy is to encourage more people to use a brand. It can also be considered as a first step towards brand extension. But the only bad thing about too many variations in the products or having too many line extension is that it may confuse the user in regards to which product should he/she use. Also it may cause a cannibalization affect within the product range. 2.5.2 BRAND EXTENSION OR INDIRECT STRETCH Brand extension on the other hand would refer to extending your product range into a product category that wouldnt be commonly associated with it. A simple definition described below will illustrate my point of view. Brand extension is using the leverage of a well known brand name in one category to launch a new product in a different category. (Brandextension.org) Giles Lury in his book about Brand Watching has defined brand extension as: Brand extension is the use (and occasional misuse) of an existing brand name and equity to launch a product or service into a category or market not normally associated with that brand. (Lury, 1998) Thus in contrast to earlier scholars, who had generalized the concept of brand extension, new researchers have distinguished the concept well from line extension. 2.6 RATIONALE BEHIND USING BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension has gained a lot of popularity and is considered to be the key tool for launching new innovations. A survey was conducted by Brand gym in 2003 in which marketing directors were asked about brand extension. The following graph illustrates the response. The results indicated that 83% of the marketing directors thought that brand extension would be the main way of launching new innovation in the next two to three years. Yet research has also shown that only 50 percent of brand extension survives after the first three years. Firstly brand extension differs from line extension because where line extension offers customers more varieties or styles of the original brand in its original market, a brand extension takes an existing brand to pasture new ones. Taking Mars as an example we see that the original chocolate bar has been line extended into different styles including Mars Kingsize, Mars miniature and for a limited period Dark chocolate Mars. However when Mars launched the Mars ice cream, it entered a new market for the brand and as such had extended the brand franchise. Mars also extended into flavored milk drinks market with Mars in a bottle. The rationale behind brand extensions popularity is that its difficult and expensive to launch a completely new brand. The most often quoted statistic being that nine out of every ten new brands fail. New brands are therefore seen as a high, though sometimes high return strategy. On the other hand, brand extension is a cheaper and more reliable method of building on what already exists. Not surprisingly companies who have already invested a lot of money in creating a brand are keen to maximize its full potential. Finally it can be concluded that companies would like to leverage and thus give initial success to the new brand by exploiting the equity that has been established by the parent brand. 2.7 KELLER AND AAKERS WORK ON BRAND EXTENSION Keller and Aaker (1998) extending on their typology of product range extension and corporate brand extension have examined the impact of corporate marketing on a companys brand extension. In their research paper they have described how consumers evaluate brand extension in general and then concentrating on corporate brand extension, they have studied the impact of corporate marketing on consumer evaluation of corporate brand extension in the presence and absence of supporting product advertising. The initial research work describing product brand extension is as follows: Research on consumer responses to extensions of product brands, suggest that two key factors influence consumer evaluation. the types of association that make up the parent brand image the relationship between the parent brand and the extension product These factors affect the consumer belief about whether the new product fits as a member of the product line. In sum, the record therefore suggests that a variety of different associations for the parent brand can be transferred to an extension, assuming a basis of fit exists. Now an extension that they made in regards to brand extension was that they applied this concept to corporate brand extension. But before going further its important to know Aakers three dimensions of corporate credibility. They are: 1. Corporate expertise is the extent to which a company is thought able to competently make and sell its products and services. 2. Corporate trustworthiness is the extent to which a company is thought to be honest, dependable, and sensitive to consumer needs. 3. Corporate likability is the extent to which a company is thought likable, prestigious and interesting. This results gathered from this study have strategic implication both to the benefits/risks associated with brand extension and also to the effectiveness of brand extension. Thus a summary of the results are as follows. Firstly by showing that corporate marketing related to product innovation enhances perceptions of corporate credibility and extension fit, and thus much favorable extension evaluations, this study showed benefits for brands with reputation of high quality products. Secondly this study provided a more detailed account of particular dimensions of corporate credibility, namely corporate expertise, trust worthiness and likeability. Thus this study concluded that corporate expertise appeared to play a more influential role in evaluation of corporate brand extension than either corporate trustworthiness or likeability. Thirdly this study suggested the merits of leveraging a strong brand to introduce a new product. One advantage of using a brand extension strategy to name a new product is that a less concerted advertising effort may be necessary. To the extent that brands extensions are able to leverage existing parent brand associations in consumer memory, a company should find it easier to achieve brand image with an extension branding strategy instead of giving a new product a new name. The fact that corporate marketing activity impacted consumer evaluations of a corporate brand extension in the absence of any product specific advertising is further an empirical support for the benefit of adopting a brand extension strategy. Fourthly this study suggested that corporate marketing activity significantly influenced extension evaluations even when the extension was advertised on the basis of another image dimension point. Thus corporate image associations are more likely to transfer to an extension on the basis of the branding strategy. Lastly this study also suggested that where a company is in a situation of having a trade off between various strategies like reinforcing a strong association, strengthening a weak association or creating a new association, then it wholly depends on the situation of each of the elements to decide which strategy to choose. For example: In some cases, existing associations may be so strong that they may be better off emphasizing other information to fortify a weak or supply a missing association. 2.8 TYPES OF BRAND EXTENSION Limited work has been done on the typology of brand extension. From various research papers, books and websites that I have consulted regarding brand extension, very few have distributed brand extension into different types. (Brandextension.org) have generated the following typology of brand extension taking functional and emotional attributes of the brand into consideration. 1. Similar product in a different form from the original parent product. This is where a company changes the form of the product from the original parent product. An example is (frozen) Snickers Ice Cream Bars. The original Snickers bar is a shelf stable candy. The brand extension is a similar product, but in a different form. Jell-O Portable Pudding and Pudding Cups is Jell-O pudding in a different form and section of the store. 2. Distinctive flavor/ingredient/component in the new item. When a brand owns a flavor, ingredient or component, there may be other categories where consumers want that property. E.g. Peanut butter is a characteristic ingredient in Reeses Peanut Butter Cups candy. Chocolate is a characteristic ingredient of Hershey. Brand Extension Research identified Reeses Peanut Butter as a logical extension that capitalizes on this association. 3. Benefit/attribute/feature owned. Many brands own a benefit, attribute or feature that can be extended. E.g. Brand Extension Research showed Armor All brand was defined by automotive surface protection which can go beyond vinyl dressing. Paint needs protecting also. Arm Hammer owns a benefit of deodorizing. Their baking soda product has claimed that it removes odors from refrigerators, etc. As a result, they extended the brand into other products such as Arm Hammer underarm deodorant and cat litter deodorizer. 4. Expertise. Over time, certain brands may gain a reputation for having an expertise in a given area. Leverage can be achieved when extending into areas where this special expertise is deemed important. E.g. Hondas expertise in reliable engines led to lawn mowers, gas powered generators and a variety of other gasoline engine powered devices. What brand comes to mind when we think of baby products? Gerber. As a result of this acceptance of their expertise, they successfully launched Gerber Baby Powder, Gerber Baby Bottles, etc. Sara Lee is known for baked desserts, so why not other baked goods like bread. 5. Companion products. Some brand extensions are a natural companion to the products the company already makes. E.g. Contadina was a tomato paste and sauce brand. In brand extension research, consumers thought Contadina pasta was a logical companion product that would have the leverage of the Italian heritage of the parent. Aunt Jemima (the pancake mix brand) launched pancake syrup, as a companion to compete with Log Cabin syrup. 6. Vertical extensions. Some brand extensions are vertical extensions of what they currently offer. A brand can use their ingredient/component heritage to launch products in a more (or sometimes less) finished form. E.g. Nestlà ©s Toll House chocolate refrigerated cookies is an example. Most Toll House chocolate chips are used in cookies, so why not make a brand of Toll House chocolate chip cookies. Mrs. Fields Cookies were ready-to-eat. They offered frozen cookie dough, moving backwards as a vertical extension. Rice Krispies has always been used in kids treats. Kellogg offered Rice Krispies Treats ready-to-eat. 7. Same customer base. Many brand extensions represent a marketers effort to sell something else to its customer base. This works particularly well when that customer base is large and to some extent captive. E.g. VISA launched travelers checks directed to its credit card customers. 8. Designer image/status. Certain brands convey status and hence create an image for the user. E.g. Designer clothing labels have been extended to furniture, jewellery, perfume, cosmetics and a host of other items. Some brands promote a lifestyle and can extend to items that people wear, as a badge of identifying themselves with that lifestyle. The above-mentioned typology is quite useful as it indicate the key areas where extension is done along with the methodology used to extend the product line. Yet it must be said that not all research work would agree with this typology as it is felt that certain types confuses line and brand extension or in ways generalizes it more to extension rather than brand extension. For example: Adding attribute to the products in the same product line would be line extension and not brand extension. Still it is a good base for my research work and also for further research into the typology of brand extension. Aaker (1998) has described two types brand extension differentiating the concept on a corporate level. The first type described by him is product brand extension. A company makes a product brand extension when it uses an existing brand name distinct from its corporate name to introduce a new product outside its current product offering. With product brand extension consumers are often completely unaware of the company involved. The second type described by him is corporate brand extension. A corporate brand extension is one which relies on the corporate name to launch a new product . A corporate brand extension clearly identifies an organization with a product, and so evokes different reactions from consumers than a product brand extension. A corporate brand may create associations in consumers minds that reflect the values, program, and activities of the firm. 2.9 SEQUENTIAL STRETCHING AND UMBRELLA BRANDING Extension to parent brand is usually a sequential process in which brands are initially line extended and then brand extended. This sequential stretching of brands leads to the formation of a whole family of brands thus giving rise to the concept of Umbrella branding. As the name indicates, umbrella branding refers to extension of a parent brand into a variety of products such that a whole range of products would come under the same brand. Taylor (2003) has divided the sequential extension into three main steps namely core brand extension, direct stretch and indirect stretch. I will illustrate the concept using Dove as an example. Brand extension was a key driver of Doves explosive growth during the 1990s. Coupled with geographic expansion, it helped grow sales fivefold, to almost $1 billion. The brand continues to grow at 20 percent per year and is well on its way to hitting the $ 2 billion mark in the next few years. Let go through the sequential process and apply it to Dove. The first and most crucial step to be noted is that Dove didnt extend its product line until it had achieved the following two things. †¢ A strong bar business had been built †¢ The brand had satisfactory scores on attributes rating for mildness and moisturizing. An important thing to be noted is that extension took place only after Dove had secured its soap bar business and had improved it. Thus once there was strength in the brand, it extending it to other products. Stretching went through the following stages. Stage One: Core Range extensions: Dove remained a product brand with a single format at this stage. It extended (line extension) its product range by adding new versions such as sensitive skin that now accounts for up to a third of sales. Further growth of the bar through product and pack innovation, remains a key source of profitable growth. Diagrammatic illustration of this step would indicate the extension into the two types. Stage Two: Direct stretch: In this stage extension is done into markets that are quite relevant to the product line. In the case of dove, it extended its product range into bath and shower products. Yet till now dove is focused on personal washing. The key reasons of dove extension at this stage were strong product delivery and innovative packing that differentiated them from other products in the range. The following diagram illustrates their stretch in to shower and bath products. Stage three: Indirect stretch: Capitalizing on their skin care outlook, Dove decided to be ambitious and to move beyond the washing and bathing market. Although they started off selectively, they introduced products like deodorants and hair gels etc. that were once again a big success. This process of broadening a product range is referred to as Umbrella Branding as illustrated by the diagram given below. The dove success has been due to consistent marketing and a consistent communication campaign. Consistency has been a key part of building brand identity and has been an additional glue to tie together the extension. 2.10 BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS ASSOCIATED WITH BRAND EXTENSION Brand extension being the most popular mean of brand growth has some surprising statistics. Success rate of brand extension is hard to find, especially as what constitutes a success varies enormously. Yet a survey conducted by OCC using a simple and effective definition of success (still being on shelf after six years after launch) found out that 50 percent of all brand extension fails. This figure is certainly an eye opener for most companies as half of the product fails using brand extension. Taylor (2003) has associated this huge failure figure due to Brand ego tripping and also gives effective steps to avoid it. But before we go into the detail of this concept, lets look into the benefits and drawbacks of brand extension. 2.10.1 BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH BRAND EXTENSION The remarkable popularity of the concept over the last decade is a confirmation of the fact that there are marked benefits that can be associated with brand extension. Taylor (2003) has described the consumer benefits of brand extension in which he has identified consumer knowledge, consumer trust and lower cost as the major benefits of brand extension. Tauber (1988) has differentiated the benefits on the basis of efficiency and effectiveness emphasizing more on the cost benefits. An existing strong brand promotes a new product or service as there is less need to create awareness and imagery. Thus in a way awareness is already present and the only thing left is