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This is a Quantitative method dissertation.
Can you write the management dissertation plan first before you start writing in order for me to give my tutor some idea on my dissertation, please?
Please include the following question in dissertation plan,
Can you outlining clearly your main research question and at least three arguments (or sub-questions) you are making to support your main research question?
Please also outline your research methodologies etc and how it can help you answer the research questions.
Moreover, you also need to show me the data you plan to use (primary or secondary) and tell me why you want to use a particular data or methodology.
The dissertation Max word limit:10,000 words
Introduction (250 words)
Literature Review (3000 words)
Methods / Data collection (2000 words)
Results / Analysis (4000 words)
Conclusion (750 words)

I need my healthcare desertation chapter wise, because I have to show it to my supervisor. You have to search articles for this (atleast 8-15).
I will be asking for a draft per week per chapter to show my professor.
Suggested dissertation template for systematic review studies
Getting the structure of your dissertation right is a tricky but extremely important task. There is no ‘one’ right way to structuring a dissertation thesis as the structure will vary depending on your research topic and what you are trying to achieve. Please make sure that you discuss and plan the structure of your thesis with your supervisor as he/she will be best placed to support you with this. The following provides an example of one way you may want to structure your dissertation (systematic review studies only).
In total your dissertationmust be between 15,000 and 20,000 words. It should be written in a clear standard font type (usually Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri font), size 12, with 1.5 lines spacing, and 2.54 cm margins space (top, bottom, left and right margins).Please note that your title page, contents page, abstract, tables, figures, diagrams, references and appendices do not count towards your word limit.
Title page
The must include the name of the unit, the title of your dissertation, the date and your full name (with your student number), and the name of your degree title (please use the phrase ‘Submitted in part fulfilment for the award of…’ (title of your award/degree))
Acknowledgements (optional)
You can list the people who have helped you, ensuring that you use correct titles, names and qualifications (if these are necessary). You should exercise care in making reference to individuals if they have supplied confidential, contentious or embarrassing information or opinions.
Contents page
Be sure to provide page numbers for the different sections and sub-sections (do this last). It is usual for material preceding the contents page to be numbered in Roman numerals, with the remainder using Arabic numerals. A list of figures and tables (if used) should be given on a separate page. These should be consecutively numbered in the text. Again, you may find it easier to number them at the end of the writing process, especially if you have quite a few. Please number sections and sub-sections.
Abstract (250-350 words)
Your abstract should aim to succinctly summarise key background literature, your rationale, aims, methods, findings, conclusions and implications.
Chapter 1: Introduction (approximately 1000-2000 words)
– Succinctly and explicitly state what study you are proposing to carry out
– Provide key background literature. You should try to take a ‘funnel’ approach to describing and critically evaluating key background literature to your study. This involves starting with general and broadly relevant literature, then progressively citing literature which is more and more specific, and finally by providing literature which is most specifically relevant to your study
– Provide an explicit and convincing rationale as to why this study is important to carry out. State what the possible implications your proposed study might have, and what contribution it adds to the existing body of knowledge in this area. Your rationale should be at least partially based on the background literature that you have introduced.
– Clearly state your research question(s), research aim(s) and study objective(s),you’re your study hypotheses (if you have any)
Chapter 2: Literature review (approximately 4000-5000 words)
– This chapter needs very careful planning. Before you start writing it, you should discuss with your supervisor what the best way of structuring this chapter should be, and what content should be prioritised for it.
– The overall aim of this chapter is to provide the context, background and set the scene for your study.
– One way of approaching this chapter is to write 3 – 5 mini essays (around 1000 words each) that cover the key themes in your proposed study. Together, these mini-essays should provide all of the most key previous studies, theories and conceptual knowledge related to your study. The word count may not appear to be restrictive at first glance, but once you begin writing you will likely realise very quickly that you will need to be very strategic about which 3000-5000 words you choose to include.
– For systematic review dissertation studies, it is particularly important not to review literature that directly attempts to address your research question(s). This task is the study itself, whereas this chapter is purely for background and context purposes. This is an important difference to primary research dissertation studies.
– Try to use this chapter to evidence your ability to think critically. This will likely mean critically appraising individual studies and theories, as well as critically appraising and reflecting at the end of each of your mini-essays. Two particularly important critical questions to ask are ‘what is the quality of the evidence being presented in a particular study or set of studies?’ and ‘what are the evidence gaps?’
Chapter 3: Method (approximately 3000 words)
This is a key chapter and your opportunity to evidence your research methodology knowledge and understanding. If you complete this methods chapter effectively, you should have provided enough detail for another research to replicate your study. Please always write this chapter in the past tense. Please also try to avoid writing generic text that is not directly relevant to your study. A suggested structure:
– Research design/approach: Begin by explicitly stating what your study design/approach was. Explain what this design/approach means and provide a clear justification for its choice (what advantages did it afford you in addressing your research question[s]?).
– Inclusion and exclusion criteria: Very clearly state the inclusion and exclusion criteria you set in this study. Provide rationale and justification for each criterion.
– Searching strategy: State what your search keyword terms were (provide Boolean operators). Describe which literature databases you searched, what each literature each database targets, and provide clear rationale for these choices. Describe the other searching techniques you may have used (e.g. reference list checking, emailing authors, manual/hand-searching).
– Screening strategy: Clearly describe how screened your search results against your inclusion and exclusion criteria. What screening stages were involved in identifying the appropriate literature?
– Data extraction: Describe how you extracted your data. Which software did you use? What extraction columns did you create and what data were you targeting in your extraction?
– Quality appraisal: Describe how you quality appraised each study, and what scoring/evaluation system you implemented. What were the implications of studies with stronger or weaker evidence? For example, did the appraisal result in various studies being excluded in the analysis?
– Ethical issues:Describe the ethical issues which were pertinent and relevant to your study. Explain what each issue means, why they are important and relevant in this study, and how you addressed them during the study. These are likely to be minimal in a systematic review. Also state which institutions granted you ethical approval and how this was sought.
– Analysis: Describe your evidence synthesis and data analysis method. If you conducted a meta-analysis, explain your reasons for its adoption and how the meta-analysis was conducted. If you only narratively analysed your data, explain why a meta-analysis was not appropriate. Also explain your approach to your narrative analysis.
Chapter 4: Results (approximately 2000-3000 words)
This chapter is highly descriptive. It involves describing in a structured manner what the exact findings were without interpretation (this is left to your discussion chapter). You will very likely find presenting your data in tables and figures very useful. Please spend time ensuring that any tables and figures you use are very well presented (for example, do not just copy and paste tables or forest plots directly from software programs), titled clearly and accurately, and are referred to within your text. Some good tips for this chapter are:
• focus on the key results –i.e. the ones that answer your research question(s)
• be clear and concise – make sure your readers know exactly which results you are describing
• do not go into too much detail – you only need to direct your readers to important and relevant findings and information
• however, be careful not to omit anything important- your readers were notinvolved in your research study so you need to tell them what you exactly you found
• you must talk about every table, figure and chart you include. If it is not worth talking about, leave it out!
• make life easier for your readers by simplifying your results. For example, 75% is easier to understand than 150 out of 200, and ‘nearly 10%’ is easier to digest than 9.98%
• describe your results. Do not explain or discuss them – this is what the discussion section is for.
Chapter 5: Discussion (approximately 4000-5000 words)
– This is one of the most important parts of your dissertation and you again have an excellent opportunity here to evidence your ability to think critically.
– Begin by succinctly summarising your key findings (but avoid repetition of your results).
– Next, you need to interpret and explain what these findings mean and to address your research question(s). If you set out to test a theory and hypothesis, what were the test findings and what implications do they have for theory? If you set out to explore a theory, how do your findings add to existing theory?
– Critically consider where your results fit in relation to existing literature and the existing evidence-base. This is where you can and should link in with your literature review chapter. Think about how your results and findings compare with previous research, where the differences and similarities are, and theorise as to why the findings are different or similar to previous studies.
– What are the implications of your findings? What significance do they have for relevant public health policy and professionals?
– Critically evaluate your own study. What were the strengths and weaknesses of the study and what implications do these have when readers consider your findings?This is an important subsection as it is one way of evidencing your ability to think critically, and helps the reader understand how powerful this study’s findings are.
Chapter 6: Conclusion (approximately 1000-2000 words)
This is the final chapter in your dissertation. You should:
– Succinctly summarise your study from beginning to end. Remind the reader what your research questions were, why they were important to examine, the methods you used, what the key findings were and what the key implications of the study are.
– Future research: What future research do you think needs to be conducted in order to follow-up and build upon what you have found in your study?
– Reflective thoughts about the study (optional): Here you can reflect upon your experiences of completing your dissertation, for example – what did you learn, where you surprised by anything in particular, how might you have done things differently if you started this study again?
– Final thoughts: Provide any concluding thoughts and remarks.
References
– As usual, please use the University’s Harvard referencing system. Carefully and accurately provide a list of references for all of the literature that you have cited in this proposal.
Appendices
These are intended to give you the opportunity to provide supplementary materials that support the discussion and analysis in the main text. Do not include unrelated and unnecessary appendices. Examples of appendices include supporting information such as the data collection tools used, ethical clearance documents, etc. The exact nature of the appendices will vary with the type of study undertaken.

Please read the two readings and write two poems related to each of them. After the poem, you will write how the poem is related to the reading for each of them. So 1 page for 1 poem+ explanation. I uploaded one reading as attached file and the other
reading is online at https://seriouspony.com/trouble-at-the-koolaid-point
Television, Black Americans,
and the American Dream
HERMAN GRAY
W:am E Buckley Jr. has observed, “It is simply not correct …
at race prejudice is increasing in America. How does one
ow this? Simple, by the ratings of Bill Cosby’s television
show and the sales of his books. A nation simply does not idolize
members of a race which that nation despises” (Demeter, 1986, p. 67).
Buckley seems to suggest that if racial prejudice exists at all in the
United States, it does not figure significantly in the nature of American
society, nor does this explain very much about social inequality based
on race and characterized by racial discrimination, racial violence, and
economic dislocation-and perhaps most interesting about Buckley’s
observation is his reliance on Bill Cosby’s successful media presence as
a barometer of American racial equality.
An open class structure, racial tolerance, economic mobility, the
sanctity of individualism, and the availability of the American dream
for black Americans are represented in a wide range of media. Representations
of such success are available in the The Cosby Show, the box
office power of Eddie Murphy, the international popularity of Michael
SOURCE: This chapter originally appeared in C1itical Studies in Mass Commu11icatio11, 6,
376-386; used and slightly modified by permission.
131
—
!
f
132 ISSUES IN TELEVISION/CABLE
Jackson, and the visibility of Oprah Winfrey. Equally important to the
contemporary ideology of American racial openness, however, are
representations of deprivation and poverty such as those shown on
network newscasts and documentaries. In media reports of urban
crime, prisons overcrowded with black men, increased violence associated
with drugs, and the growing ranks of the homeless are drawn the
lines of success and failure.
As Buckley’s observations demonstrate, the meanings of these representations
are not given; rather, viewers define and use the representations
differently and for different reasons. One message of these
representations of success and failure is that middle,class blacks ( and
whites) succeed because they take advantage of available opportunities
while poor blacks and other marginal members of our sociery fail
because they do not (Glasgow, 1981; Lewis, 1984). These representations
operate not just in terms of their relationship to the empirical
realities of black life in America but also in rel�tionship to other popular
media constructions about black life. My interest here is in the relationship
between representations of black life in fictional and nonfictional
television and the ideological meanings of these representations when
television is viewed as a complete ideological field (Fiske, 1987a). In
the following section, I theoretically situate the problem. I then turn
to a discussion of black failure as represented in the CBS News
documentary The Winishing Family: Crisis in Black America and the
representation of upper-middle-class black affluence in the The Cosby
Show.
THEORETICAL CONTEXT
To describe how television representations about race communicate
and to examine their ideological meanings, I draw on Gramsci’s notion
of ideological hegemony (Gramsci, 1971; Hall, 1982). Media representations
of black life ( especially middle-class success and underclass
failure) are routinely fractured, selectively assembled, and subsequently
become a part of the storehouse of American racial memory. The social
and racial meanings that result from these processes appear in the media
as natural and given rather than as social and constructed. In Ideology
and the Image (1981), Bill Nichols stated that “ideology uses the
Black Amcric:ms·and the American Dream 133
fabrication of images and processes of representation to persuade us
that how things are is hQw they ought to be and that the place provided
for us is the place we ought to have” (p. 1). I use hegemony to specify
the material and symbolic processes by which these racial representations
and understandings are produced and naturalized (Fiske, 1987a; Hall,
1982).
Media representations of black success and failure and the processes
that produce them are ideological to the extent that the assumptions
that organize the media discourses shift our understanding of racial
inequality away from structured social processes to matters of individual
choices. Such ideological representations appear natural and universal
rather than as the result of social and political struggles over
power.
The process of medi:i selection and appropriation, however, is only
one part of the play of hegemony. Mass media and popular culture are,
according to Stuart Hall (1980), sites where struggles over meaning
and the power to represent it are waged. Thus, even as the media and
popular cultural forms present representations of race and racial
( in )equality, the power of these meanings to register with the expression
(common sense) of different segments of the population remains
problematic. Meanings constantly shift and are available for negotiations.
It is in this process of negotiations that different, alternative, even
oppositional readings are possible (Fiske, 1987a; Hall, 1980). Because
of this constantly shifting terrain of meaning and struggle, the representations
of race and racial interaction in fictional and nonfictional
television reveal both the elements of the dominant racial ideology as
well as the limits to that ideology.
Within this broad struggle over meaning, Fredric Jameson (1979)
shows how popular cultural forms such as film and television work
symbolically to establish preferred, even dominant ideological meanings.
In popular culture, ideology is secured through the psychological
appeal to utopian values and aspirations and a simultaneous repression
and displacement of critical sensibilities that identify the social and
economic organization of American society as the source of inequality.
In television representations of blacks, the historical realities of slavery,
discrimination, and racism or persistent struggles against domination
are displaced and translated into celebrations of black middle-class
visibility and achievement. In this context, successful and highly visible
1i
134 ISSUES IN TELEVISION/CABLE
stars such as Bill Cosby and Michael Jackson confirm the openness and
pluralism of American society.
The commercial culture industry presents idealized representations
of racial justice, social equalit)� and economic success. Idealized middleclass
black Americans increasingly populate fictional television. They
confirm a middle-class utopian imagination of racial pluralism (Gray,
1986). These idealized representations remain before us, driven, in the
case of television, by the constant search for sta.ble audiences and the
centrality of advertising revenue as the basis for profits (Cantor, 1980;
Gitlin, 1983).
As Jameson further notes, however, utopian possibilities are secured
against the backdrop of reified nonfictional ( and fictional) representations.
In the case of racial representations, the black underclass appears as menace
and a source of social disorganization in news accounts of black urban
crime, gang violence, drug use, teenage pregnancy, riots,’ homelessness,
and general aimlessness. In news accounts ( and in Holl ood films such
as Coum), poor blacks (and Hispanics) signify a social menace
yw
that must
be contained. Poor urban blacks help to mark the boundaries of appropriate
middle-class behavior as well as the acceptable routes to success. As a
unity, these representations of black middle-class success and underclass
failure are ideological because they are mutually reinforcing and their
fractured and selective status allows them to be continuously renewed and
secured. Furthermore, the meanings operate within a frame that privileges
representations of middle-class racial pluralism while marginalizing those
of racial inequalit)i This constant quest for legitimacy and the need to quell
and displace fears at the same time as calling them forth are part of the
complex ideological work that takes place in television representations of
race.
The representations of black American success and failure in both
fictional and nonfictional television, and the assumptions that organize
them, are socially constructed according to commercial, professional,
and aesthetic conventions that guide producers and consumers of
television (Gray, 1986). These conventions guide personnel in the
selection and presentation of images to ensure that they are aesthetically
appealing, cuiturally meaningful, politically legitimate, and economically
profitable.
Although fictional and nonfictional representations of blacks emanate
from separate generic quarters of television, they activate meanings
Black Americans and the American Dream 135
for viewers across these boundaries. That is, the representations make
sense in terms of their intertextuality between and within programs
(Fiske, 1987a; Fiske & Hartley, 1978; Williams, 1974). Television
representations of black life in the late 1980s cannot be read in isolation
but should be read in terms of their relationship to other television texts.
The meaning that these· representations express and activate are also
significant in terms of the broad social and historical context in which
they operate. Fictional and nonfictional representations of black life
appear at a time when political and intellectual debate continues over
the role of the state in helping the black urban poor and whetl1er or not
affirmative action ought to remain an active component of public
policy. Within the black political and activist community, sharp differences
remain over the role of the black middle class and the efficacy of
black-generated self-help programs to battle problems facing black
communities. Increased racial violence and antagonisms (including
those on college campuses), economic dislocation, a changing industrial
base, ethnic and racial shifts in the demographic composition of
the population, and the reelection of a conservative national administration
help set the social context within which television representations
of black life take on meaning.
Myriad community, institutional, social, political, and economic
forces shape the broad public discourse on the conditions of blacks in
contemporary American society. In the absence of effective s�ial
movements such as those for civil rights, students, women, and agamst
the war, which, at the very least, helped ground and mediate media
representations, these representations take on greater authority and find
easier access to our common sense (Winston, 1983, p. 178). Under
these conditions, tl1e ideological potency of media representations
remains quite strong.
Media representations of black success and failure occur within a
kind of gerrymandered framework. Through production conventions,
political sensibilities, commercial pressures, and requirem�
nts for social
organization and efficiency, television news and enterta1�ent selectively
construct the boundaries within which representanons abo
_ �
t
black life occur. The primacy of individual effort over collemve possibilities,
the centrality of individual values, morality, and initiative, and
a benign (if not invisible) social structure are the key social terms that
define television discourses about black success and failure.
136 ISSUES IN TELEVISlON/CABLE
REIFICATION AND THE UNDERCLASS
To explore the reification side of the Jameson formulation, I begin
with a discussion of the CBS News report aoout the black urban
underclass. The social report that aired in January 1985 is titled The
Uinisbing Family: Crisis in Black America. C_BS senior correspondent Bill
Moyers hosted the 90-minute documentary, which was filmed in Newark,
·New Jersey. Through interviews and narration by Moyers, the
report examines the lives of unwed mothers and fathers, detailing their
education, employment, welfare history ( especially across generations),
hopes, frustrations, and disappointments.
The appearance of the terms vanishing family and crisis in the tide of
the program implicitly suggests the normalcy of everyday life when
defined by stable nuclear families (Feuer, 1986; Fiske, 1987a). Missing
is recognition that families and communities throughout the country
are in the midst of significant transformation. Instead, the program title
suggests an abnormal condition that must be recognized and addressed.
In the report’s opening segment, visual representations also help
frame the ideological terms of the report. Medium and long camera
shots are used to establish perspective on the daily life in the community.
Mothers are shown shopping for food and caring for children; groups
of boys and young men appear standing on street corners, playing
basketball, listening to music, and working out at the gym. Welfare
lines, couples arguing, the police, housing projects, and the streets are
also common images.
These shots tie the specific issues addressed in the story into a
broader discourse about race in America. Shots of black men and youth
standing on corners or blacks arrested for crimes are conventionally
used in newscasts to signify abnormalities and social problems. These
images operate at multiple levels, so even though they explicitly work
to frame the documentary, they also draw on and evoke images of crime,
drugs, riots, menace, and social problems. People and communities
who appear in these representations are labeled as problematic and
undesirable. .
The documentary’s four segments are organized around three major
themes, with each segment profiling unmarried couples. By the end of
the four segments, the dominant message of the report is evident;
self-help, individual responsibility, and community accountability are
Black Americans and the American Dream 137
required to survive the crisis. This conclusion is anticipated early in the
report with a promotional tease from a black social worker. In a
30-second sound bite, the social worker notes that the problem in the
black community is not racism or unemployment but the corruption
of values, the absence of moral authority, and the lack of individual
motivation. This dominant message is also reinforced in the introduction
to the report by correspo:11dent Moyers:
A lot of white families are in trouble too. Single parent families are twice
as common in America today as they were 20 years ago. But for the
majority of white children, family still means a mother and a father. This
is not true for most black children. For them things arc getting worse.
Today black teenagers have the highest pregnancy rate in the industrialized
world and in the black inner city, practically no teenage mother gets
married. That’s no racist comment. What’s happening goes far beyond
race.
Because blacks dominate the visual representations that evoke images
of crime, drugs, and social problems, little in the internal logic and
organization of the documentary supports this contention. Even when
voice-over data are used to address these issues among whites, it
competes with rather than complements the dominance of the visual
representations. Moyers’s comment is also muted because the issues are
examined primarily at the dramatic and personal level.
For example, the first segment considers the experience of urban
single-parent families from the viewpoint of women. The opening piece
profiles Clarinda and Darren, both young and poorly prepared emotionally
or financially to care for an infant. Clarinda supports the baby with welfare
and is also the baby’s primary source of emotional nurturance. Darren
occasionally sees his baby but takes little economic or emotional responsibility
for her. On camera, he appears distant and frustrated.
The second segment focuses on Alice, 23, and Timothy, 26. They
are older but financially no more prepared to raise a family than
Clarinda and Darren. Unlike Darren, Timothy is emotionally available
to Alice. (On camera, they confess their love for each other, and
Timothy is present at a birthday party for one child and the delivery of
another.) In the interview, Alice freely shows her frustration with
Timothy, especially his lack of work and unwillingness to take responsibility
for his family.
138 ISSUES IN TELEVISION/CABLE
Timothy, on the other hand, lives in a world of male sexual myths
and a code that celebrates male sexual conquest and virility (Glasgow,
1981). Although he confesses love for Alice and his kids, he avoids
economic and parental responsibility for them, especially when his own
pleasures and sexual conquests are considered.
The mothers in these segments are caring, responsible, and conscientious;
they raise the children and provide for them. They are the
social, economic, and emotional centers of their children’s lives. As
suggested in the interviews and visual footage,·the fathers are absent,
immature, selfish, irresponsible, and exploitative. Where women are
shown at home with the children, the men are shown on street corners
with other men. Where women talk of their children’s futures, men
speak in individual terms about their current frustration and unrealistic
aspirations.
The dramatic and personal tone of these representations makes them
compelling and helps draw in the viewer. These strategies of organization
and presentation also help personalize the story and, to a limited
extent, give the people texture and dimensions. Nevertheless, these
representations are also mediated by a broader set of racial and class
codes that continue to construct the people in the documentary as
deviant and criminal, hence marginal. The members of the community
are contained by these broader codes. They remain curious but distant
“others.”
The third segment features Bernard, a 15-year-old single male who
still lives at home with Brenda, his 30-year-old single mother of three.
This segment tells the story of life in this community from the young
male point of view. The male voice takes on resonance and, in contrast
to Darren and Timoth); we learn that the men in this community have
feelings and hopes too. The segment shows Bernard’s struggle to avoid
the obstacles (drugs, educational failure, unemployment, homicide,
jail) to his future. From Brenda’s boyfriend (and roll model for Bernard),
we learn about the generational persistence of these obstacles to
young male futures.
In each of.these segments, the dramatic dominates the analytic, the
personal dominates the public, and the individual dominates the social.
Individual mobility, character, and responsibility provide powerful
explanations for the failures presented in the story. Indeed, by the final
segment of the report, the theme of moral irresponsibility and individBlack
Americans and the American Dream 139
ual behavior .as explanations for the crisis of the underclass is fully
developed. M?yers introduces the segment this way:
There arc successful strong black families in America. Families that affirm
parental authority and the values of discipline, work, and achievement.
But you won’t find many who live around here. Still, not every girl in
the inner city ends up a teenage mother, not every young man goes into
crime. There are people who have stayed here. They’re outnumbered by
the con artists and pushers. It’s not an even match, but they stand for
morality and authority and give some of these kids a dose of unsentimental
love.
As a major “actor” in the structure of this report, Moyers is central
to the way that the preferred meanings of the report are conveyed. As
an economically and professionally successful white male, Moyers’s
political and moral authority establishes the framework for identifying
the conditions as trouble, for articulating the interest of the dominant
society, and for demonstrating that in the continued openness of the
social order there is hope. Through Moyers’s position as a journalist,
this report confirms the American dream even as it identifies casualties
of the dream.
Moyers’s authority in this story stems also from his position as an
adult. During his interviews and stand-ups, Moyers represents adult
common sense, disbelief, and concern. This adult authority remains
throughout the report and is reinforced ( and activated) later in the story
when we hear from caring ( and successful) black adults of the community
who claim that the problems facing the community stem from poor
motivation, unclear and unsound values, and the lack of personal
discipline. Like Moyers, these adults-two social workers, a psychologist,
and a police officer-do not identify complex social forces like
racism, social organization, the changing economy, or the welfare state
as the causes of the crisis in their community. They blame members of
the black community for the erosion of values, morality, and authority.
This is how Mrs. Wallace, the social worker, puts it:
We are destroying ourselves. Now it [the crisis] might have been
motivated and plotted and seeded with racism, but we are content to be
in this well now. We’re just content to be in this mud and we need to get
out of it. There are not any great white people running around this block
tearing up stuff. It’s us. We’ve got to stop doing that.
140 ISSUES IN TELEVISION/CABLE
When combined with the personal tone of the documentary and
Moyers’s professional (and adult) authority, this comment, coming as
it does from an �dult member of the community, legitimates the
empp.asis on personal attributes and a benign social structure.
At the ideological level of what Stuart Hall (1980) calls preferred
readings, each segment of the documentary emphasizes in?ividual personalities,
aspirations, and struggles for improvemen.
t. These assumptions and
analytic strategies are consistently privileged over social explanations,
and they provide a compelling vantage point from which to read the
documentary. This displacement of the social by the personal and the
complex by the dramatic both draws viewers into the report and takes
them away from explanations that criticize the ·social system. Viewers
question individual coping mechanisms rather than the structural and
political circumstances that create and sustain racial inequalities.
MIDDLE-CLASS UTOPIA
I consider the utopian side of the Jameson formulation by exploring
the theme that media representations of black success and failure are
ideological, precisely to the extent that they provide a way of seeing
underclass failure through representations of middle-class success. Implicitly
operating in this way of viewing the underclass ( and the middle
class) is the assumption that because America is an open racial and class
order, then people who succeed (and fail) do so because of their
individual abilities rather than their position in the social structure
(Lewis, 1984).
In contrast to the blacks in the CBS documentary, successful blacks
who populate prime time television are charming, unique, and attractive
individuals who, we assume, reached their stations in life through
hard work, skill, talent, discipline, and determination. Their very
presence in formats from talk show (Bryant Gumbel, Arsenio Ha�,
Oprah Winfrey) to situation comedy (Bill Cosby) confirms the Amencan
value of individual success and mobiliq,
In the genr� of situation comed programs such as The Cosby Show,
227 Frank’s Place, and Amen all
y,
show successful middle-class black �ericans who effectively negotiated their way through benign social
institutions and environments ( Gray, 1986). Their family-centered lives
Black Amcric:ins :ind the American Dream 141
take place in attractive homes and offices. Rarely if ever do these
characters venture into settings or interact with people like those in the
CBS documentary. �s doctors, lawyers, restaurateurs, ministers, contractors,
and housewives; these are representations of black Americans
who have surely realized the American dream. They are pleasant and
competent social actors whose racial and cultural experiences are, for
the most part, insignificant. Although black, their class position (signified
by their occupations, tastes, language, and setting) distances
them from the codes of crime, drugs, and social problems activated by
the urban underclass. With the exception of the short-lived Frank’s
Place, the characters are never presented in situations where their racial
identity matters. This representation of racial encounters further appeals
to the utopian desire in blacks and whites for racial oneness and
equality while displacing the persistent reality of racism and racial
inequality or the kinds of social struggles and cooperation required to
eliminate them. At the level of the show’s dominant meanings, this
strategy accounts in part for the success of The Cosby Show among blacks
and whites.
In virtually any episode of The Cosby Show, the Huxtable childrenSandra,
Denise, Vanessa, Theo, and Rudi-are given appropriate lessons
in what appear to be universal values such as individual responsibility,
parental trust, honesty, the value of money, the importance of
family and tradition, peer group pressure, the value of education, the
need for independence, and other important guides to successful living
in America. In contrast to the experience of the young men in the CBS
documentary, Cosby’s Theo learns and accepts lessons of responsibility,
maintaining a household, the dangers of drugs, the value of mone and
respect for women through the guidance of supportive parents.
y,
In
Theo’s relationship to his family, especially his father Cliff, the lessons
of fatherhood and manhood are made explicit. Theo and his male peers
talk about their aspirations and fears. They even exchange exaggerated
tales of adolescent male conquest. Because similar discussions among
the young men in the documentary are embedded within a larger set
of codes about the urban black male menace, this kind of talk from
Timothy, Darren, and Bernard signals their incompetence and irresponsibility
at male roles. In the middle-class setting of The Cosby Sh for
Theo and his peers, this same talk represents the ritual of adolescent
ow,
male maturation. Together, these very opposite representations suggest
142 ISSUES IN TELEVISION/CABLE
a contemporary version of the culture of poverty thesis that attributes
black male incompetence and irresponsibility to the absence of male
role models, weak personal values, and a deficient cultural environment.
The strategy of imparting explicit lessons of responsibility to Theo
(and to young black male viewers) is deliberate on the part of Cosby.
This is not surprising given that the show enjoyed its greatest commercial
success in the midst of increasing gang violence and epidemic teen
pregnancy in urban black communities. The show’s strategy illustrates
its attempt to speak to a number of different audiences at a number of
different levels (Fiske, 1987a; Hall, 1980).
Shows about middle-class black Americans revolve around specific
characters, settings, and situations (Gitlin, 1983; Gray, 1986). The personal
dimension of social life is privileged over, an1 in many cases displaces,
broader social and structural factors. In singling out The Cosby Show, my
aim is not to diminish the unique qualities, hard work, and sacrifices that
these personal representations stress. Nevertheless, I do want to insist that
the assumptions and framework that structure these representations often
displace representations that would enable viewers to see that many
individuals trapped in the underclass have the very same qualities but lack
the options and opportunities to realize them. And in the world of
television news and entertainment, where production conventions, rating
wars, and cautious political sensibilities guide the aesthetic and journalistic
decisions of networks, the hegemony of the personal and personable rules.
Whether it is Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashad, Darren, Alice, or Bill Moyers,
the representation is of either deficient or gifted individuals.
Against fictional television representations of gifted and successful individuals,
members of the urban underclass are deficient. They are unemployed,
unskilled, menacing, unmotivated, ruthless, and irresponsible. They
live differently and operate with different attitudes and moral codes than
everyone else; they are set apart. Again, at television’s preferred level of
meaning, these assumptions-like the images they organize and legitimateoccupy
our commonsense understandings of An1erican racial inequality.
CONCLUSIONS
The assumptions that organize our understandings of black middleclass
success and underclass failure are expressed and reinforced in the
–·
Place and Amen (Feuer, 1987; Taylor, 1987). The idealized repre
sentations of family presented in these shows maintain the hope an
possibility of a stable and rewarding family life. At the same time, thi
idealization displaces (but docs not eliminate) possibilities for critica
examination of the social roots of crisis in the American family (Jameson
1979).
­
­
n
r
s
­
d
s
l
,
144 ISSUES IN TELEVI SION/CABLE
Family stresses such as alienation, estrangement, violence, divorce,
and latchkey kids are typically ignored. When addressed in the television
representations of black middle-class families, they are represented as
the subject of periodic and temporary disagreements rather than as
expressions of the social stresses and disruptive impulses that originate
in the social organization of society and the conflicting ideologies that
shape our understanding of the family as a social institution.
At the negotiated level of meaning (Hall, 1980), The Cosby Show
effectively incorporates many progressive moments and impulses from
recent social movements. The show presents Claire’s independence,
autonomy, and authority in the family without resorting to exaggeration
and trivialization (Downing, 1988). Again, this utopian impulse
is one of the reasons for the show’s popular appeal. And yet it is also
one of the ways the explicit critical possibilities of the show are
contained and subverted. Claire’s independence and autonomy are
expressions of her own individual character; they are confined to the
fall)ily and put in the service of running a smoother household. This
claim on the family and the affirmation of female independence are
especially appealing when seen against the crisis of the family dissolution,
female-headed households, and teenage pregnancy presented in
the CBS documentary. Ironicall)� this celebration of Claire’s independence
and agency within the family has its counterpart in the CBS
documentaf)i In each case, black women are assertive and responsible
within the contexts of their various households. Thus, even within the
constraints of underclass poverty, this moment can be read as an appeal
to the utopian ideal of strong and liberated black women.
Ideologically, representations of underclass failure still appeal and
contribute to the notion of the black poor as menacing and threatening,
especially to members of the white middle class. Such a menace must,
of course, be contained, and through weekly visits to black middle-class
homes and experiences, whites ( and middle-class backs) are reasonably
assured that the middle-class blacks with whom they interact are safe
(Miller, 1986). Whites can take comfort in the fact that they have more
in common ‘Yith the Huxtables than with those representations of the
family in crisis-Timothy, Clarinda, Darren, and Alice.
The twin representations of fictional and nonfictional television have
become part of the public discourse about American race relations.
Although, no doubt, both the fictional and the nonfictional repreBlack
Americans and the American Dream 145
sentations of blacks are real, like all ideology, the realities a�e selected,
partial, and incomplete. Where the television lens is trained, how wide,
which angle, how long, and with whose voice-these shape much of
what we see and how we understand it. As these fictional and nonfictional
television representations indicate, television helps shape our
understandings about racial (in)equality in America.
REFERENCES
Cantor, M. (1980). Prime-time Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Demeter, (1986). Notes on the
televisiou:
media and
Contmt
race.
aud coutrol.
Downing,
J. 20(5), 63-71.
J. ( 1988). “The Cosby Show” and American
Radical
racial
Ameri
discourse.
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In G. Smitherman-Donaldson
& T. A. van Dijk (Eds.), Discourse (pp. 46-74).
Detroit, MI: Wtyne State Universiry Press.
a11d discrimiuatiou
Feuer, J. (1986). Narrative form in American television. In C. MacCabe (Ed.), High
theory (pp. 101-115). New York: St.
Martin’s.
/low culture: A11alyzi1,g popular televisio11 a11d film
Feuer, J. (1987). Genre study and television. In R. Allen (Ed.), (pp.
113-134). Chapel Hill: Universiry of North Carolina Press.
Channels of discourse
Fiske, J. (1987a). Television cult1m. London: Methuen.
Fiske, J. (1987b). British cultural studies and television. In R. Allen (Ed.),
(pp. 254-291). Chapel Hill: Universiry of North Carolina Press.
Cbmmcls of
Fiske,
discourse
J., & Hartle)\ J. (1978). Readi,,g televisiou. London: Methuen.
Gitlin, T. (1983). !llside prime time. New York: Pantheon.
Glasgow, D. (1981). New York: Vintage.
Gramsci, A. (1971 ).
The black 1mdei·class.
Selectio11sfro111 tl1e prison notebooks. New York: International Publishers.
Gray, H. (1986). Television and the new black man: Black male images in prime-time
situation comed
Hall, S. (1980). Encoding/decoding.
y. Media, Culture, 223-242.
In
and
S.
Society
Hall,
,
A.
8,
Lowe, & P. Willis (Eds.),
media, language (pp. 128-139). London: Hutchinson.
Culture,
Hall, S. (1982). The rediscovery of ideology: Return of the repressed in media studic.s.
In M. Gurevitch, T. Bennett, J. Curran, & J. Woollocon (Eds.), Culture, society, mid
Jameson,
tbc media (pp. 56-91). London: Methuen.
E (1979). Rcification and utopia in mass culture. 130-148.
Lewis, M. (1984). Tbe culture of inequality. New York: American
Social
Library.
Text, 1,
Miller, M. C. (1986). Deride and conquer. In T. Gitlin (Ed.),
183-229). New York: Pantheon.
Uhtcbing television (pp.
Nichols, B. (1981). Ideology aud tbe image. Bloomington: Universiry oflndiana Press.
Taylor, E. (1987, October 5). TV families: Three generations of packaged dreams.
R&vicJP of p. 5.
Bostou
Williams, R. (1974).
Books,
Televisiou: Teclmologya11d ctdtm·alform. New York: Oxford Universiry
Press.
Winston, M. (1983). Racial consciousness and the evolurion of mass communication in
the United States. DcadalllS, 111, 171-183.

1,000 words
Weighting: 30%
Due Date: 31 July 2017, 1700 hours
AIM:
The aim of this task is for you to apply the first sevenstages of the clinical reasoning cycle(Levett-Jones, 2012) to review a clinical decision. Familiarisation with the clinical reasoning cycle will support you to provide safe quality care as a Registered Nurse and will provide a foundation for the next essay in this course.
TASK INSTRUCTIONS:
Write a 1000 word nursing essay that applies the first seven stages of the clinical reasoning cycle (Levett-Jones, 2012) to a clinical decision that you have been involved with during a Bachelor of Nursing clinical placement. The clinical decision you select can be a decision that went well or one with a negative outcome. You only need to review and describeone example of a clinical decision.
Examples of clinical decisions may include (but are not limited to):
• Responding to a change in the patient’s condition
• Care planning considering the patient’s present health status
• Reviewing planned patient interventions including medications
• Outcome from effective or ineffective communication
• Discharge planning
In your essay you must:
1) Provide a clear description of the clinical decision making process using the first seven of the eight stages of the clinical reasoning cycle (Levett-Jones, 2012).
2) Use literature where relevant to support the key points you make to demonstrate evidence based practice.
Additional information:
• Always refer to the Griffith Health Writing and Referencing Guide
• Ensure that you use scholarly literature (digitised readings, research articles,relevant Government reports and text books) that has been published within the last 5 years.
• Refer to the marking criteria when completing your assignment. This will assist you in calculating the weightings of the sections for this assignment.
• Provide a clear introduction, sound body and conclusion to your paper.
• You may use headings to organise your work if you wish.
• The use of first person can be utilised in your writing.
• Use academic language and health specific terminology throughout.
• Submit your assignment via Turnitin on your Learning@Griffith course site.
• You must submit this assignment as instructed to be eligible for a passing grade in this course.
MARKING CRITERIA POSSIBLE MARK
CRITERION ONE: Introduction
• Has an opening paragraph that clearly identifies the aim of the assignment. /5
CRITERION TWO: Clinical Reasoning Cycle
• Clearly describes the factors influencing the clinical decision making process using the first seven of the eight stages of the clinical reasoning cycle /70
CRITERION THREE: Research and use of evidence
• Identifies analyses and uses quality evidence to support the outlined relevant points.
• Uses at least 5 sources published in the last 5 years /10
CRITERION FOUR: Academic Writing
• Skilful use of language, grammar, sentence and paragraph construction to create a clear description focused on the topic /10
CRITERION FIVE: Conclusion
• Succinctly summarises the aim of the assignment /5
Total Marks
Weighted at 30% /100

I have three questions for my essay and I want them to be written separately(each question for about one and a half page). Please also refer to the lecture note and the readings that I attached.
1. Philosophers and theorists developed legal realism in the United States as a reaction to legal formalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and they did so primarily to describe the behavior of judges and lawyers. Please explain the central aspects of legal formalism and legal realism.
2. In his essay about “instrumental” views of law, Professor Brian Tamanaha cautioned against realist and instrumental theories of law. Please explain, from his essay, what he meant by “the rule of law” as a concept in legal theory, and then please explain how instrumental theories might challenge that concept.
3. Please explain the central arguments in Professor Cheryl Harris’ essay about “whiteness as property.”

My medicine and health assignment is about “IDIOVENTRICULAR RHYTHM”
Basically, What is IDIOVENTRICULAR RHYTHM, Its signs and symtoms, Causes, and Medications. Also, I want you to write about who has this? Why does this happen? How does this happen? When does this happen? What is the underlying causes for it? What is the pathology and the pathophysiology? All these things should be mentioned.
Also I want a diagram and link to go through and allow other students to read more.
“The Aim of this medicine and health assignment is to teach other students about this topic, and that should be good and easy to be read and understood by other students”.

In the last 2 chapters of Business Model Generation, the authors describe and analyze the strategy and process for developing successful business models. After carefully reading and understanding these chapters, answer these research questions:
• RQ1 What role should external factors of demand play in successful business models? NOTE: First, fully define the role and then analyze or discuss. This must be at least 4 paragraphs.
• RQ2 What is “Business Model Design and Innovation”? Provide examples and discussion for each factor listed. This must be at least 3 paragraphs.
• RQ3 What are the challenges to “Business Model Design and Innovation”? This must be at least 3 paragraphs.
Deliverables:
• This assignment must be in a business professional format with a cover page in current APA format and must contain at least 600–800 words. This assignment must also include current APA citations and references.
• You must post the final draft of this assignment in Blackboard using the SafeAssign link provided. Before submitting your final draft, check for any plagiarism issues with the SafeAssign Draft link provided. NOTE: All SafeAssign scores must be less than 28%.
BUSINESS MODEL GENERATION EXERCISE 2 STANDARDS
Criteria Levels of Achievement
Proficient
RQ1 (4 Paragraphs) Analysis clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.
RQ2 (3 Paragraphs) Analysis clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.
RQ3 (3 Paragraphs) Analysis clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.
Current APA Format All sources (information and graphics) were accurately documented in the desired current APA format.
Mechanics Minimal or no grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.

• Prepare a 3–5-page executive report that analyzes target market segments, evaluates the effectiveness of a marketing strategy, and recommends an alternative strategy.
Note: You are encouraged to complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.
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Context
A given product may meet the needs and wants of a variety of customers; however, different types of customers may think about and use the product in different ways.
Market segmentation is an information-driven analysis that enables a company to tease out these differences among customers. In this analytical process, a company gathers detailed information about customer needs and wants in relation to how customers use, or could use, a product. The emphasis is on identifying customer characteristics.
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Questions to Consider
As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.
• Because customers’ needs vary, the same product may be used in different ways by different customers. If the product is fully capable of meeting all of the varying needs, the marketing challenge may be to make sure that each market segment receives the right messages about the product. In some cases, though, some attributes of the product may be critical to some customers and less important, or even irrelevant, to others. In these situations, what alternative product marketing strategies might be most effective? What limitations might the company face in attempting to meet the divergent needs involved?
• In addition to product capabilities, some companies may segment their markets based on characteristics such as demographics or psychographics. To explore this concept further, apply this thinking to a personal situation. Consider a product you have purchased. To what different market segments is this product marketed? To what extent do you see yourself fitting the characteristics of any of those market segments? How did the company reach or communicate with you? To what extent has the product met your personal needs?
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Resources
Suggested Resources
The resources provided here are optional and support the assessment. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; However, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid. They provide helpful information about the topics in this unit. The MBA-FP6012 – Integrated Global Marketing Library Guide can help direct your research. The Supplemental Resources and Research Resources, both linked from the left navigation menu in your courseroom, provide additional resources to help support you.
Product Strategy
The resources below provide information about product strategy.
• Cuellar, S. S., & Claps, M. (2013). Differential effects of brand, ratings and region on willingness to pay: A hedonic price approach. Journal of Wine Research, 24(2), 138–155.
• Thellefsen, T., Sørensen, B., &Danesi, M. (2013). A note on cognitive branding and the value profile. Social Semiotics, 23(4), 561–569.
• Marshall, G. W., & Johnston, M. W. (2015). Marketing management (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
o Chapter 7, “Product Strategy and New Product Development,” pages 198–234.
o Chapter 8, “Building the Brand,” pages 238–261.
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•Assessment Instructions
Now that the competitive analysis has been completed, the company’s senior leadership has asked you to analyze market segments and evaluate the strategy currently being used to market the product globally.
Preparation
As you prepare to complete this assessment, what types of information will help you to segment target markets? What type of demographic information will you need? How will you determine the psychographics of your target customers? How can you use the information from the competitive analysis you completed? What questions do you need answered in order to develop a product-market profile?
Format this assessment as an executive report and include a title page and reference page. Follow APA guidelines for citations and references.
Assessment Requirements
Within your Market Segmentation and Product Strategy report, include the following:
• Analyze the target market segments in relation to the product.
o Identify the market segments (at least 2) you believe would be effective to target for the product.
o Explain how the product serves the wants and needs of each target segment.
o Evaluate the growth potential of the product within each target segment.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s current marketing strategy being used within each target segment.
o Provide examples of how the strategy is and is not effective.
• Based on your analysis, recommend an alternative strategy that would better position the product for each target segment.
o Explain the types of challenges the company is likely to face in trying to reposition the product and change customers’ perceptions of the product.
o Explain the importance of branding/positioning in an effective marketing strategy.
• Support your recommendations with marketing theories, models, or principles.
Additional Requirements
• Include a title page and reference page.
• Length: 3–5 double-spaced pages, not including title page and reference page.
• Resources: At least 4. Resources must be formatted according to current APA guidelines.
• Font: Times New Roman, 12-point.
Market Segmentation and Product Strategy Scoring Guide
View Scoring Guide Use the scoring guide to enhance your learning. How to use the scoring guide
•Submit Assessment

Power of One (Part II)
Create a two- to four-page EDUCATION RESEARCH paper (excluding the title and reference pages) that provides:
A reflective narrative on how you arrived at your initiative. You will want to include:
How you accessed necessary supports
Evaluate what barriers you faced in the development of your initiative. Examine how you overcame the barriers identified.
Summarize how you were able to recruit committee or group members.
Illustrate how you were able to secure school or community support.
Your process for developing your mission/vision statement
Analyze what barriers you had to overcome in the development of your mission and vision statement.
Evaluate how you were able to reach consensus.
Specify what community needs are focused on in your initiative.
A design of a graphic or narrative that outlines the steps that you have taken or will take to achieve your mission/vision.
A defense of how your initiative will include at least four of the Five Action Strategies.
Your paper must be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, two to four pages in length, and cite at least three scholarly sources in addition to your textbook.

Critical analysis big success of VIPShop in China
the company I choose is a Chinese company: VIPShop.I have already written the literature review part. the methodology should be secondary data. please write the rest of the dissertation. thank you
i want to add: the methodology should be qualitative approach
Table of Contents
1. 0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………1
Table of contents………………………………………………………………………………………………2
2.0 Literature Review……………………………………………………………………………………….4
2.1 Overview………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
2.2 Trends in current luxury goods market in China………………………………………….4
2.2.1 stable and sustainable growth in purchase………………………………………….4.
2.2.3 Growing requirements for user experience………………………………………..5
2.2.2 Emerging markets in the second-tier and third-tier cities…………………….5
2.2.4 Emphasis on brand images………………………………………………………………4
2.2.5 Current situation in luxury goods consumption in China…………………….6
2.3 Competitive advantage…………………………………………………………………………..6
2.3.1 Introduction to competitive advantage……………………………………………6
2.3.2 Value chain………………………………………………………………………………….7
2.3.3 Implications for e-commerce in competitive advantage…………………….8
2.4 Core competence………………………………………………………………………………….9
2.4.1 Introduction to core competence…………………………………………………….9
2.4.2 Various focuses or views on core competence………………………………….9
2.4.3 Features and identification of core competence………………………………10
2.4.4 Methods to core competence cultivation………………………………………..11
2.4.5 Core competences of VIPshop………………………………………………………12
2.5 Customer loyalty………………………………………………………………………………..13
2.5.1 Introduction to customer loyalty…………………………………………………….13
2.5.2 Previous research on customer loyalty…………………………………………….13
2.5.3 Methods to establish and enhance customer loyalty…………………………..16
3.0 Research Methods
4.0 Findings
5.0 Contributions
6.0 Conclusions
7.0 References
Chapter Two Literature review
2.1 Overview
In an era of internet, e-commerce is increasingly popular and an increasing number of online stores or retailers are springing up one after another. Among the numerous online retailers, most of them failed because of a series of problems, while as a newly emerging online retailer VIPshop survives the cutthroat competition and develops at a good momentum. As the competition among online discounter retailers is increasingly fierce, VIPshop does not fail but develops vigorously and has become a leading online retailer in China within only less than 10 years. Its development is really miraculous and it makes the public confused why VIPshop can achieve such huge accomplishments within such a short period. Hence, this research will focus on the reasons contributing to its success. After a research and analysis, the success of VIPshop can’t be separated from the following strategies: competitive advantage and strategy, customer satisfaction and loyalty, branding, core competencies, and core resources and capabilities. Based on relevant theories, these strategies leading to VIPshop’s success would be analyzed in detail in the following.
2.2 Trends in current luxury goods market in China
2.2.1 stable and sustainable growth in purchase
In current years, with the Chinese economy developing prosperously, the demands for luxury goods are on the rise in China and such a growing trend can be associated with several reasons. For example, driven by the huge demands for luxury goods in the Chinese mainland market, the number of stores with various brands keeps increasing, which stimulates consumers to purchase with a wider range of selections available(Carmine, 2012). The luxury goods supply of foreign brands to the Chinese market is considerably enhanced, which vastly improves the consumer consumption experience. Due to the operational cost reduction, various foreign brands narrow down the price differences of their products in Chinese market and foreign market, and at the same time they rely on the diversity and variety of products to appeal to Chinese consumers.
2.2.2 Emerging markets in the second-tier and third-tier cities
In the second and third-class cities, there are a large number of consumers with strong purchasing power, and they have something in common with the consumers in the first-class cities in China. In recent years, the prosperous development of economy in these small and remote cities also stimulates the booming of demands for luxury goods.
2.2.3 Growing requirements for user experience
In Chinese market of luxury goods, the majority of consumers are increasingly mature about the attitude towards and awareness of luxury goods, and what the emphasizes more is the user experience (Kwon and Lennon,2009). With regard to this trend, various brands open their large-scale flagship online and physical stores, to better facilitate consumers and better perfect the after-sales service. Currently, many people use luxury goods as gifts to present to friends, relatives and colleagues or even familiars, which requires various types of luxuries goods to be developed based on the occasions.
2.2.4 Emphasis on brand images
At present, a wide selection of luxury goods brands are expanded to Chinese market and they stress their brand image establishment. A large number of brands actively advocate and support the activities for public welfare and charities, to enhance their brand image (Carmine, 2012). In addition, in order to deepen the brand image, many brands of luxury goods transfer their global marketing center to China, for example, Chanel chose Shanghai City as the marketing center in China, and cooperated with the Museum of the Contemporary Art to establish the Cultural Chanel, and hold various art exhibitions.
2.2.5 Current situation in luxury goods consumption in China
As the Chinese economy develops prosperously, the disposable personal income considerably increases and people have higher requirements for living standards, along with the attitude to luxury goods changing from blindness to acceptance, identification and pursuit. The brands of luxury goods started to enter Chinese market in the 1980s, and after more than 30-year development, these brands of luxury goods witness the changes in consumption philosophy and behavior among Chinese consumers. In the recent seven and eight years, great changes have take place in people’s consumption of luxury goods, and the luxury goods industry has taken a great leap in development, with the consumers increasing at a good momentum within the latest 3 years (iResearch, 2016).
2.3 Competitive advantage
2.3.1 Introduction to competitive advantage
The concept competitive advantage was put forward by the American economist Michael Porter in his book Competitive Advantage, and there has two basic schools about the competitive advantage theory, of which one is the structural school with Porter as a representative, and they believed that the competitive advantage comes from the series of interactive activities in the enterprise value chain, and it is this structural school that argued the competitive advantages from the cost leadership and differential competition(Porter,2004). The other is the resource school represented by the American strategic managerialist C.K.Prahalad, and they considered that the competitive advantage comes from the unique resources and competence or core competitiveness within the enterprise, arguing that the core competitive advantage was the outward manifestation of the core competitiveness.
A clear or comprehensive understanding of the competitive advantage should keep in mind two key points: first of all, competitive advantage is a comparative advantage, which means that the competitive advantage can be found through a comparison with the competitors(Gourlay, Rita, 2013). Thus, the competitive advantage is a dynamic comparative advantage, which would take into account the realistic interest and potential interest.
In addition, the competitive advantage can be analyzed in both a narrow and wide sense. Specifically, in a narrow sense, the competitive advantage refers to the advantage gained through a comparison from the perspective of the market and Porter from the marketing perspective analyzed the competitive advantage, arguing that the competitive advantage originated from the extra valued created by enterprises much more then the cost(Barney and Delwyn,2007). The value refers to the price the clients are willing to pay, while the excess value is created due to lower prices than the competitors for the same effects or benefits. Porter also pointed out that the competitive advantage has two major forms: cost leadership and otherness or difference, and these two basic competitive advantages originated from the competition about product or service marketing(Govindarajan,2008), thus, it is a concept in a narrow sense. The competitive advantage in a wide sense should start from the perspective of the enterprise comprehensive competitiveness and make a comprehensive analysis and comparison, which is usually required to make a comparison from the perspectives of system and market, to gain the core or comprehensive advantage. It is considered that the internal competence, resources and knowledge accumulation are key for enterprises to gain excess earnings and keep competitive advantages. The competitive advantages can be gained through price and quality competition of products, services and sales process, new products, technology, supply channels, and new types of competitions(Barney, 1991). Hence, seen from the internal system within enterprises, the competitive advantage is also closely related to technological innovation, product innovation, systematic innovation and management innovation.
2.3.2 Value chain
Porter creatively took the value chain as the basic tool to determine the competitive advantage and seek new methods to strengthen the competitive advantage. According to Porter, the competitive advantage came from the series of independent and interactive activities in the whole operational process, and each activity was favorable to the enterprise’ relative cost position and laid foundation for the differentiation image(Porter,2004). Porter took the value chain to express these activities and he further divided the value chain into value activities and profit, of which profit is the balance or margin between the total value and the total cost for value activities.
The value activities are classified into two categories: basic activities and secondary value activities. The basic value activities refers to activities of product production, sale, delivery and after-sale service in the physical form, including internal logistics, manufacturing, shipping logistics, marketing or sale, and service(Gourlay and Rita, 2013). The secondary value activities support the basic activities, including procurement, technology development, human resource management, and infrastructure. All these value activities become the foundation of enterprise competitive advantage and each value activity’s importance to each company varies from one to another. The competitive advantage comes from each single activity as well as the interaction of all value activities.
At the same time, Porter argued that the value chain is not simply an integration of a series of independent value activities, but an interdependent and interactive system, which consists of the interaction among various value activities, the vertical linkage between the enterprise value chain and the supplier value chain, as well as client value chain.
2.3.3 Implications for e-commerce in competitive advantage
In an era of e-commerce, the wide application and popularity of the internet, computer technology and communication technology provides new key factors for e-commerce enterprises to gain competitive advantages, whose sources would be enlarged and widened by the technological innovation and competition changes. The e-commerce can gain competitive advantage through cost leadership, differentiation, fast reaction and information, of which information may be the major source of competitive advantage for e-commerce(Power and Micallef,1997).The prosperous development of the internet and online technology speeds up the sharing and exchange of information, and it has increasingly become a determinant for an online retailer to succeed whether it has powerful information network, fast and convenient information channels, and complete information infrastructure including the platform for information sharing and database.
2.4 Core competence
2.4.1 Introduction to core competence
The concept core competence was first put forward by Prahalad and Hamel in 1990, referring to the collective learning within the organization, especially how to coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams of technologies(Prahalad and Gary, 1990). Core competence is the communication, participation, and the promise to the collaboration depth of work across the organizational boundary, and it will not reduce with the increasing use, but needs cultivation and protection since knowledge would fade away without frequent use and the core competence is the source to keep competitiveness. Prahalad and Hamel (1990) also gave out three basic principles to identify the core competence, of which the first one is that core competence can offer potential to enter various markets, another is core competence contributes to users’ perception of value from the ultimate products, and the third principle is that core competence can be hardly imitated by competitors.
2.4.2 Various focuses or views on core competence
Though Prahalad and Hamel put for ward the concept of core competence, they did not give a clear definition to it, but only gave a descriptive concept. Up to now, it still hasn’t had a complete theoretic framework or a consensus in terms of the core competence, and there were five major views about the this concept. The first view is the concept of integration and the representatives are Prahalad and Hamel (1990), who argued that the enterprise core competence lies in the knowledge accumulated within the corporation, especially the knowledge involving how to cooperate various production skills and integrate multiple technology flows.
The second is the cultural perspective and the representatives are Rafa and Zoll, who believed that the enterprise core competence not only lies in the enterprise operating subsystem, but also in the cultural subsystem permeating the entire organization, of which the consensus lays the foundation to the integrated and inimitable core competence(Alastair,2010). Another one is the competence-based view and the representatives can be Coombs and Coyne, who deemed that competence as an essential factor is the main element of core competence, and believed core competence as the integration or synthesis of various competences(Jay and Hesterly,2007).
The fourth view the resource-based and the representative is Jay Baron, who argued that the continual core competence can be created only when the enterprise resources are equipped with the four major characteristics, value, rarity, inimitability and irreplaceability(Wernerfeit,1994). The resources include the enterprise asset and knowledge information, ability features and organizational procedures, while the core competence means the unique ability of enterprise to obtain and own these special resources. The fifth view is knowledge-based, and Barothy Leonard-Barton is the representative, who considered that the basis or prerequisite of core competence is knowledge, and establishing a learning-oriented organization is an important approach to enhance the enterprise core competence(Anthony,1996).
Hence, it can be seen that the enterprise core competence can be interpreted from various perspectives and the core competence can be created through multiple methods, on condition that the method is suitable to the real situation of the enterprise.
2.4.3 Features and identification of core competence
According to Prahalad and Hamel, core competence is featured with three characteristics, ductility, value and inimitability, while Barney defined another four features of core competence, value, heterogeneity, inimitability and irreplaceability(Klein and Gee,1998). In addition, it is considered the core competence has another significant features, like the key to support enterprise, favorable to explore business opportunities, long time to be formed, and ductility(Rasoava,1999). Other scholars argued that there are three outstanding features in core competence, of which the first one is core competence definitely has extraordinary contribution to the value stressed by customers, another is that the enterprise owns the basis or foundation to create core competence, and the third one is that core competence is the effective tool to explore the potential market.
An appropriate identification of core competence is the prerequisite and foundation to cultivate and apply the core competence for an enterprise. It is considered that six methods can be used to identify the core competence, value chain analysis, skills and strategies analysis, asset analysis, knowledge analysis, customer contribution analysis and competition difference analysis(Jay and Hesterly, 2007).
2.4.4 Methods to core competence cultivation
Generally, three are three major methods to cultivate core competence, of which the first is to cultivation within enterprise(Anthony, 1996). In this method, the enterprise can organize a team specially designed for core competence cultivation. When setting the target of core competence development, the team should combine the development tendency of this product at home and abroad and the real situation of the enterprise, make a comprehensive analysis of its overall competence and evaluate whether such products are unique.
Another method is merger&acquisition outside the enterprise. Theoretically, the core competitiveness can not be transplanted, but through merger& acquisition the enterprise can bring in the core external technology and apply it into the internal enterprise(Alastair, 2010). Based on asset reorganization and structural adjustment, the enterprise is able to make the technology of the merged or purchased company transform into new competence of the enterprise, and ultimately become the specialty and core competitiveness.
The third method is innovation imitation(Rasoava,1999). The effective and rapid way for enterprises in developing countries in particular to enhance core competence is to imitate innovation. Though core competence can hardly be imitated, the key technology can be similar at the maximum and imitation enables enterprises to keep track of the latest technology, development tendency, to realize innovation at low risk and low cost.
2.4.5 Core competences of VIPshop
Established in 2008, the website establishment of VIPshop looked reference to the business model of Vente Privee and Gilt Groupe, and it has kept the about 30% increase in the past few years, and has owned more than 2 million members and its commodities cover a wide range, like fashion clothing, ski care products, accessories, and perfume. VIPshop owns a large number of favorable advantages, which can contribute to core competences. First of all, though VIPshop cooperates with a wide selection of brands, it will cooperate with one brand for less than 8 times to guarantee not to influence the sales in the physical stores and the off-line sales channels of these brands, at the same time to keep the feeling of freshness among the members who will hold expectation to the promotional brands.
Another advantage lies in its own platform for members interaction. VIPshop creates the platforms specially designed for its members to communicate and give their ideas, like the information platform, blogs and message board. Through these communication platforms, the members can freely express their ideas and give their suggestions, while the VIPshop can obtain the needed information from its members and make discussion about the topics or commodities concerned about by the members, to form the guiding mechanism based on the public members’ preferences and views, to ultimately guarantee their products marketable. In addition, VIPshop also relies on various methods to realize its market expansion or promotion, for example, once you purchase from VIPshop, you will gain points and these points can be used to exchange gifts and members also have opportunities to be offered gift voucher, which are all quite attractive to the public.
Compared with the websites of other luxury goods, the website design of VIPshop has a great advantage. On the website of VIPshop, consumers can see the advance notice of new brands, and the column “date with brands” clearly displays the brand names, discounts, and the sales situation, which can be shared to whoever you want whenever browsing the information on the website. Such a design on the website enables consumers to have a better mastery of the brands they are interested in and to do shopping in a pleasant and easy way.
In addition, more advantages of VIPshop lie in its value chain and the value chain plays a leading role in an organization’s sustainable development in the long run(Normann and Ramfrez, 1993). For example, as to the supply chain, up to now, VIPshop has had more than 200 brands, and more than half of the brands are directly from the branding business and the rest come from the agents, and it also has special personnel in charge of procurement in the foreign markets. VIPshop has an advantageous capital or fund flow. On 8th December 2010, VIPshop declared the completion of the first-round financing, gaining the venture investment as much as 20 million dollars from Sequoia Capital and DCM, which was also the largest amount of the first-round investment in the domestic B2C field. The logistics can be another major advantage of VIPshop. It has its own warehouse and a logistic center covering an area of 20 thousand square meters is located in the South China and another two large-scale logistic centers were set up in East China in 2011, with the logistic center in the North China under planning.
2.5 Customer loyalty
2.5.1 Introduction to customer loyalty
Newman and Werbel defined customer loyalty as the repetitive purchasing of the same brand and consumers’ only selection and preference for this brand, without any consideration of other brands(Rober and Jill, 2002). Oliver (1997) believed customer loyalty can be represented from three perspectives, the consumers’ willingness or intention to do repetitive purchasing, purpose of cross-buying and customer referrals. He also argued that customer loyalty is the effective promise made by consumers to the enterprise and brands they love, which would drive them to do repetitive purchasing in the future for a long time, regardless of the sales situation or the marketing strategies(Carmine, 2012).
2.5.2 Previous research on customer loyalty
In an era of internet and e-commerce, customer loyalty is increasingly significant to an organization especially the online stores or retailer. According to Frederick, under the circumstances of the internet, it has been the key method for corporate to make profit and keep competitive advantages through establishing and enhancing customer loyalty(Justin, 2013). According to Keller, consumers’ repetitive buys of the same brand clearly indicate their loyalty to the brand. Gremler and Brown believed customer loyalty consists of behavioral loyalty, willingness loyalty and emotional loyalty(Luarn and Lin,2003), which is further extended and enriched by Oliver (1999), who argued that the customer loyalty can be divided into attitude loyalty and behavioral loyalty. The attitude loyalty is made up of recognition loyalty, willingness loyalty and emotion loyalty. Fornell considered that the customer loyalty can be evaluated from customers’ tolerance of the price increase and their repetitive buying. Smith (2001) also believed that the essence of customer loyalty is similar in online and offline stores, and the key lies in how the corporate uses the existing information technology to establish good relations with consumers. Seen from the findings in the research made by Luarn, due to the instability, risks and complicity in the online shopping environment, it is more challenging to gain the online customer loyalty(Wallace, Giese, and Johnson, 2004). Some scholars also found that the online customer loyalty is influenced by a series of factors or variables, such as interaction, communication, diversity and personality in goods.
2.5.3 Methods to establish and enhance customer loyalty
Enterprises not only provide goods or products for customers, but also help satisfy consumers’ other demands, to establish long-term and good rapport with customers(Wulf and Odekerken, 2003). In a times of internet, consumers can obtain and share information rapidly and the online consumers have more rights of selection, with the consumption mobility vastly enlarged. This requires the online retailers to strengthen its relations with the customers, to establish a reciprocal rapport with consumers, and gradually enhance the customer loyalty to guarantee the long-term development.
In addition, the online retailers should improve their speed of reaction and service (Smith, 2001). In the internet economical times, people’s life space has been vastly sped up, and online consumers continually reduce their time spent on online shopping, which poses higher requirements for online retailers in the reaction and service speed. The faster the online stores respond to consumers and offer corresponding services and products, the more likely they would be to win customers and establish customer loyalty. Hence, the online retailers like VIPshop ought to attach more importance to the improvement in the reaction and service-offering speed.
More importantly, the online stores ought to improve their emotional associations with customers (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). According to Schultz, compared with the relevance theory which stresses reliance on promises or unique marketing means to appeal consumers to purchase, the relationship theory emphasizes the post-trade customer retention or maintenance, to improve the customer loyalty. Seen from the 5A theory, a long-term relation between enterprises and consumers can be maintained by stressing the five points centering on consumers: Aware of the customers, making Acknowledgments for consumers, Appreciating customers, Analyzing customers, showing willingness to take Actions to serve customers to satisfy their demands, to ultimately cultivate a group of customers with high customer loyalty with low marketing cost but high marketing efficiency (Robert, 2002). Hence, as an online retailer, VIPshop should deepen its relationship with online customers, and strengthen its emotional communication with the consumers, to know their psychological demands and personal needs, to deepen the emotional ties between VIPshop and its customers, and ultimately improve the customer loyalty.
Last but not least, VIPshop can rely on reward to enhance customer loyalty. According to the 4R theory( relevance, reaction, relationship and reward) put forward by Schultz, relevance reaction refers to the speed for enterprises to make response to consumers’ demands, relevance requires the enterprises to provide products and services based on consumers’ practical demands, individual needs and the expected demands, while the relevance can be realized through the user association, production connection and interest interrelation. Relation has deeper connotations than relevance emphasizing the realization of the promise to appeal to consumers, and relation stresses relying on the customer maintenance after sales to improve the rate of second buying and develop customer loyalty (Kwon and Lennon, 2009). Reward means that enterprises can satisfy the stakeholders’ demands based a series of marketing activities, and it emphasizes rewards and the benefits for customers (Gefen, 2002). Therefore, this implies that VIPshop should pay more attention to create benefit and offer reward to customers, to enhance customer loyalty. This can rely on various methods, offer a wide selection of quality products, enhance service quality, guarantee products and service to be customer-oriented, carry out cost leadership strategy to minimize the expenditure and maximize customer shares to form the economies of scale, to reach a win-win situation between VIPshop and its customers.