Cervical Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2555 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Biology Essay Type Review Tags: Cancer Essay Did you like this example? NHS Cervical Screening Programme: Liquid Based Cytology vs. Conventional Cytology Introduction Cervical screening, such as the regular programme provided by the NHS, is a very successful way of detecting the early signs of cervical cancer (Kitchener, Castle, Cox, 2006). The NHS programme screens around 3.5 million (Moss et al., 2003) to 4 million (Karnon et al., 2004) women annually and it is estimated that this prevents between 1100 and 3900 cases of cervical cancer a year (Moss et al., 2003). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Cervical Example For Free" essay for you Create order In recent years a new way of screening the cervical samples has been developed. This is referred to as liquid based cytology rather than conventional cytology. However, there has been considerable debate over the costs and benefits of the new technology, as will be examined below. Background Information Cervical cancer is linked to human papillomaviruses (HPV), a family of common sexually transmitted viruses (Eifel, Berek, Markman, 2011). It is believed to be fairly common for women to be exposed to HPV viral cells but usually these are readily cleared by their immune response (Bosch Iftner, 2005). However, in some instances women can develop an HPV infection following exposure to viral cells. The infection can seem largely asymptomatic but actually causes the abnormal multiplication of cells in the cervix, leading to warts, lesions or benign tumours and, if the infection persists, it can cause cervical cancer (Bosch Iftner, 2005; Eifel et al., 2011). In fact, HPV is believed to be the main, perhaps even the sole, cause of cervical cancer. The NHS cervical screening programme is available to women aged between 25 and 64 years of age and involves taking a regular swab or smear of cells from inside their cervix (Moss et al., 2003). These are then sent to a pathology labo ratory where they are screened by a cytologist for any abnormalities associated with HPV. In the absence of any abnormalities women between the ages of 25 and 50 years are advised to return for testing every three years, and those aged between 50 and 64, every five years (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013). The 2013 national statistics for the UK screening programme indicated that 78.3% of eligible women were up to date with their smear screening (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013). Cervical Cytology The focus of this essay is on the process that takes place in the pathology laboratory, where the cervical samples are sent for cytological screening. A cervical cell sample that has no abnormal cells is categorised cytologically as being negative (negative for the presence of HPV or risk of cervical cancer). Alternatively, samples may be identified as containing borderline abnormal changes, or having dyskaryosis (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013). In some literature the terms dysplasia or CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) seem to be used in place of dyskaryosis (Eifel et al., 2011), but NHS literature seems to make most consistent reference to dyskaryosis. The extent of dyskaryosis is then classified across a range from mild to severe. Depending upon the severity, the woman may be referred for colposcopy or recalled for a repeat cervical smear test 6-12 months later. In the 2013 national statistics, 6.5% of cervical samples were identified as being abno rmal, although only 1.2% were classified as being high risk (Health and Social Care Information Centre, 2013). Recently a new cytological screening technique has been developed, called liquid based cytology (LBC). The aim of this new method was initially to try to reduce false-negative and false-positive results (Karnon et al., 2004; Siebers et al., 2009), as well as the number of samples that are ‘inadequate’ or ‘unsatisfactory’ for effective screening (Arbyn et al., 2008; Siebers et al., 2009). In the conventional cytology method, a woman’s cervical sample is transferred directly from the collection spatula onto a microscopic slide (Arbyn et al., 2008; Moss et al., 2003). This transfer process seems to sometimes lead samples to be ‘inadequate’ for screening because the transferred cells are too difficult to clearly discern. This manual process does also, very occasionally, result in false results, even when conducted by experi enced cytologists. The liquid based cytology (LBC) method involves a slightly different approach to the preparation of the slides. The cell sample is placed into a vial containing a preservative fluid (Arbyn et al., 2008; Moss et al., 2003). This creates a liquid suspension of the sample, which can then be poured onto the slide in a very thin, uniform layer. However, debate remains over whether this method really offers a substantial improvement over conventional cytology. The main points of contention surround accuracy and cost effectiveness, with other arguments relating to patient anxiety and opportunities for HPV testing. Exploring the Issues Accuracy Evidence is mixed over whether LBC offers a substantial improvement in accuracy compared to conventional cytology. Early studies, such as that by Monsonego et al. (2001), were very favourable towards LBC. Further, in an extension of the LBC technique described earlier, it became possible for a computerised system to read the LBC slides to identify potential areas of concern prior to examination by a cytologist (Davey et al., 2007). Across a large Australian sample of over 55,000 women, Davey et al. (2007) found that this method of LBC was significantly better at detecting additional high grade histology cases than conventional cytology. However, more recent studies seem to undermine these reputed improvements of LBC over conventional cytology. For instance, in 2009, Siebers et al, drawing upon a sample of close to 90,000 women in the Netherlands, concluded that LBC â€Å"is neither more sensitive nor more specific in detecting CIN or cancer† (p.1764). This same point i s reiterated almost exactly by Arbyn et al. (2008) at the end of their thorough review of the most reputable, gold standard comparison studies. Whilst this creates a somewhat inconclusive picture, it is evident that LBC has not offered as marked an improvement in accuracy as might have been hoped. However, it is important to point out that none of the studies suggest that LBC is less accurate than conventional cytology. In fact, all of the studies mentioned above agree that LBC probably is more sensitive at picking up mild abnormalities and changes. It is just that this too is framed from a negative angle in the more recent studies because of concerns that unnecessarily following up these cases, when they are likely to be cleared by the patient naturally, would waste resources that would be better focused on high risk patients (Arbyn et al., 2008). There is, however, one clear point that emerges in favour of LBC in relation to accuracy. All studies seem to conclude that L BC does reduce the number of inadequate or unsatisfactory samples (Arbyn et al., 2008; Davey et al., 2007; Doyle et al., 2006; Moss et al., 2003; Siebers et al., 2009; Williams, 2006). For example, when LBC was initially trialled at three sites in the UK in 2002, Moss et al. (2003) collated data showing that LBC reduced inadequate slide preparations from 9% of samples down to 1-2%. In Scotland the difference was even greater, falling from 13% to 1.9%, and consequently referrals to colposcopy for women with repeated unsatisfactory results dropped from 25% to just 0.5% (Williams, 2006). These improvements substantially raise the efficiency of the whole screening programme. Therefore, it seems likely to have been these sorts of results that influenced the NHS that it would be cost effective to adopt LBC across the UK (Arbyn et al., 2008; Moss et al., 2003; Williams, 2006). Cost Effectiveness Turning to cost effectiveness, there are a number of aspects to take into consideration. As mentioned above, LBC may lead to a potential increase in costs if there is an increase in following up low risk abnormalities. Whilst this is framed negatively by Arbyn et al. (2008) it might be better, both for the patient and economically, to fully confirm that there is no cancer risk earlier on, rather than allowing any potential cancer to develop. Further, the significant reduction in inadequate samples may outweigh this through much larger potential savings. Reducing the number of women who are recalled due to an inadequate sample saves valuable nursing time, reduces administration costs and reduces the costs associated with repeating the whole procedure. With these primary care benefits in mind, Moss et al. (2003) estimated that LBC could generate savings of between one to ten million pounds annually. More recent studies have focused on the laboratory to consider whether LBC im proves productivity during this part of the process. Doyle et al. (2006) studied several laboratories during the change over from conventional cytology to LBC and found that on average each scientist was able to process more samples per day. The data collated by Williams (2006) similarly demonstrated that overall workload in the laboratories decreased and backlogs were cleared. Presumably, if LBC is combined with the computerised imaging technology that automates a large part of the process, there may be further efficiency as cytologist time and effort can be focused on the samples identified to contain abnormalities. Of course, all of this economising does not take into account the initial investment costs involved, or the on-going cost of the LBC specific materials. It is notable that both techniques mentioned in the NHS pilot study, ThinPrep and SurePath, are registered trademarks. Perhaps this is why more recent studies tend to argue that one of the disadvantages of LBC is that it is more expensive, both in terms of initial outlay and on-going operating costs (Arbyn et al., 2008; Eifel et al., 2011). Therefore, Arbyn et al. (2008) suggest that â€Å"economic advantage might be peculiar to the United Kingdom where inadequacy rates for the conventional Pap were excessively high† (p.175). Patient Anxiety Beyond economics, another important point to consider is patient anxiety. A benefit of reducing inadequate samples is the reduction in anxiety for the patient. Although the nurse may try to reassure the woman that an inadequate sample does not indicate any abnormality, it may be difficult for the patient not to fear a risk of cancer. On the otherhand, if minor abnormalities picked up via LBC are followed up, as Arbyn et al. (2008) suggest, this might create unnecessary stress and anxiety for these patients and their families. This seems to suggest that between the two technologies patient anxiety may balance out being alleviated for some patients or created for others. However, perhaps the balance swings in favour of LBC here, as it would seem preferable to monitor cases of mild abnormality just in case these progress, rather than to create unnecessary anxiety due simply to technical inferiority. HPV Testing The other key advantage of LBC is the potential it offers to conduct additional laboratory tests. Preparing an LBC slide from the cervical sample uses only a small amount of the solution in the vial. Therefore, the remainder can be subjected to further tests. In particular, it is now possible for laboratories to test for the presence of HPV using HPV DNA testing (Kitchener et al., 2011). Any cases showing cell abnormalities during LBC can undergo HPV testing on the same sample. This might clarify any false-negative cases or mild abnormalities without the woman even knowing. It would also reduce the costs of referring false-negative patients for colposcopy or for an unnecessary recall screening. Whilst controversy has largely focused on conventional cytology and LBC, the NHS actually introduced LBC in combination with HPV testing (Moss et al., 2003). Recent studies have demonstrated that HPV testing may be more powerful than cytology, and suggest it may come to replace cytol ogy as the primary screening technique (Katki et al., 2011; Kitchener et al., 2011). Katki et al. 2011 advocate that one negative result via HPV testing offers â€Å"strong reassurance against cervical cancer for five years in women from age 30† (p.1470). This could significantly reduce primary care costs as currently women aged 30-50 are tested every 3 years under the NHS screening programme. Kitchener et al. (2011) have gone further than this, suggesting that HPV testing might even allow the interval between cervical screens to be extended to every six years. Conclusion There has been significant debate around the shift from conventional to liquid based cytology when screening for cervical cancer. This has been particularly heightened given the evidence that LBC does not appear to reduce false-positive or false-negative results in the way that had been hoped. However, in the UK at least, LBC significantly reduces the number of ‘inadequate’ samples, reducing primary care costs and patient anxiety in these cases. Although it is a little unclear whether LBC is more cost effective when all costs are taken into consideration, it seems that by investing in the technique the NHS is now well placed to quickly and easily adopt new scientific developments, such as wide-scale HPV testing. Given LBC, HPV DNA testing and the HPV vaccination, cervical cancer prevention seems to be a rapidly advancing area of science where new developments progress fairly quickly from research into routine health practice. Therefore, it seems wise that the NHS chose to invest in LBC and HPV testing when it did so that it can keep apace, and continue to offer cutting edge cancer screening to women. References Arbyn, M., Bergeron, C., Klinkhamer, P., Martin-Hirsch, P., Siebers, A. G., Bulten, J. (2008). Liquid compared with conventional cervical cytology: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obstetrics Gynecology, 111(1), 167-177. Bosch, X. F., Iftner, T. (2005). The aetiology of cervical cancer. Sheffield: NHS Cancer Screening Programmes. Davey, E., dAssuncao, J., Irwig, L., Macaskill, P., Chan, S. F., Richards, A., Farnsworth, A. (2007). Accuracy of reading liquid based cytology slides using the ThinPrep Imager compared with conventional cytology: prospective study (Vol. 335). Doyle, B., OFarrell, C., Mahoney, E., Turner, L., Magee, D., Gibbons, D. (2006). Liquid-based cytology improves productivity in cervical cytology screening. Cytopathology, 17(2), 60-64. Eifel, P. J., Berek, J. S., Markman, M. A. (2011). Cancer of cervix, vagina, and vulva. In V. T. DeVita, T. S. Lawrence, S. A. Rosenberg (Eds.), DeVita, Hellman and Rosenbergs Cancer: Principles Practice of Oncology (9th ed.). Phildelphia: Lippincott, Williams Wilkins. Health and Social Care Information Centre. (2013). Cervical screening programme, England 2012-13. Leeds: UK Statistics Authority. Retrieved from https://www.hscic.gov.uk Karnon, J., Peters, J., Platt, J., Chilcott, J., McGoogan, E., Brewer, N. (2004). Liquid-based cytology in cervical screening: An updated rapid and systematic review and economic anylsis. Health Technology Assessment, 8(20). Katki, H. A., Kinney, W. K., Fetterman, B., Lorey, T., Poitras, N. E., Cheung, L., . . . Castle, P. E. (2011). Cervical cancer risk for women undergoing concurrent testing for human papillomavirus and cervical cytology: a population-based study in routine clinical practice. The Lancet Oncology, 12(7), 663-672. Kitchener, H. C., Castle, P. E., Cox, J. T. (2006). Chapter 7: Achievements and limitations of cervical cytology screening. Vaccine, 24, Supplement 3(0), S63-S70. Kitchener, H. C., Gilham, C., Sargent, A., Bailey, A., Albrow, R., Roberts, C., . . . Peto, J. (2011). A comparison of HPV DNA testing and liquid based cytology over three rounds of primary cervical screening: Extended follow up in the ARTISTIC trial. European Journal of Cancer, 47(6), 864-871. Monsonego, J., Autillo-Touati, A., Bergeron, C., Dachez, R., Liaras, J., Saurel, J., . . . Mottot, C. (2001). Liquid-based cytology for primary cervical cancer screening: a multi-centre study. British Journal of Cancer, 84(3), 360-366. Moss, S. M., Gray, A., Legood, R., Henstock, E. (2003). Evaluation of HPV/LBC cervical screening pilot studies. UK: First report to the Department of Health evaluation of LBC (December 2002). Siebers, A. G., Klinkhamer, P. J. J. M., Grefte, J. M. M., Massuger, L. F. A. G., Vedder, J. E. M., Beijers-Broos, A., . . . Arbyn, M. (2009). Comparison of liquid-based cytology with conventional cytology for detection of cervican cancer precursors. The Journal of the American Medical Associatio n, 302(16), 1757-1764. Williams, A. R. W. (2006). Liquid-based cytology and conventional smears compared over two 12-month periods. Cytopathology, 17(2), 82-85.

The European Union A Controversial Issue - 2459 Words

Since 1973 when the British first joined the European Union their membership has been a controversial issue. When conservatives in the United Kingdom won the general election in 2015, their election manifesto promised to hold a referendum on whether or not the United Kingdom should stay or leave the European Union. The referendum also referred to as â€Å"Brexit† is scheduled to take place by the end of 2017. The United Kingdom initially joined the union to be part of the common market for the purpose of trade and to develop international relationships. The main argument for those who are pro Brexit is that being part of the European Union is too costly for the United Kingdom, that the EU has grown to large, has interfered to far into†¦show more content†¦The EU has its own currency called the euro which 19 of the 28 European states use. It is run by members of the European parliament, these members set rules that cover a wide range of areas such as rules on transpor t and business. Once a state becomes a member of the European Union they have a right to withdraw from the Union under the Treaty on the European Union. Article 50 in the Treaty on European Union states, â€Å"Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements. If the United Kingdom votes to leave the Union, they would be the first state to ever withdraw their membership. The United Kingdom initially joined the European Union in 1973 for economic reasons hoping to promote trade and form relationships with other states in the Union. In 1975 the UK held its first national referendum on withdrawal from the European Economic Community. According to the poll,† 67 % of Britons voted to stay in the EEC and 32 % voted to leave the union† (GYE). Because of this result the UK stayed in the EU in 1975. Over the past 40 years the European Union has been through a lot of change, many more countries have joined the organizati on and the EU has extended its control over more aspects of daily lives. These changes have sparked a lot of controversy coming from both the UK public and

Hypermarket Impact on Small Retailer Free Essays

ABSTRACT Kedai runcit or sundry shops have been a standard feature of our housing estate landscape ever since there were housing estates. These mom-and-pop operations have been selling to their surrounding residents everyday essentials such as groceries, fresh produce, poultry, toiletries, etc. Their reasonable price and close distance have made them popular among residents of the housing estates in which they are located. We will write a custom essay sample on Hypermarket Impact on Small Retailer or any similar topic only for you Order Now Lately, though, their popularity has been on the decline due to competition from wholesale markets or hypermarkets which can offer the same items cheaper and conveniently under one roof. Local and foreign-bred hypermarkets such as Giants, Tesco and Carrefour have been invading our towns, big and small, leaving the traditional sundry shops fighting for their business. Many of these small-scale individually-owned shops have since closed their operations permanently or moved them a little further outskirt of town, away from the hypermarket catchment. Just how serious is the impact of these hypermarkets on the operation of the sundry shops has so far not been fully investigated in Malaysia although many studies have been carried out elsewhere. Thus, this paper presents a study that has been carried out by the authors to investigate how serious the impact is in Johor Bahru. A sample of three hypermarkets was chosen for this study. Using GIS, we spatially showed the annual changes in the density of sundry shop licenses issued by the local authority within the catchment of each hypermarket, three years before as well as three years after the inaugural date of the hypermarket. Also using GIS, we corroborated the decline in the number of sundry shops within the surrounding housing estates with the residing addresses of the surveyed customers of the hypermarkets. The results obtained confirmed that the operation of hypermarkets does contribute to the decline in the number of sundry shops and the degree of the decline decreases radially outward from the location of the hypermarkets. The findings from this study suggest that some rethinking needs to be done about the manner in which hypermarket licenses, or sundry shop licenses for that matter, are issued. Even our current policy of allowing a certain percentage of new housing development to be set aside for shoplots may also need to be reviewed. Keywords: Hypermarkets, sundry shops, GIS spatial analysis 1. INTRODUCTION Kedai runcit or a sundry shop is any shop that sells groceries and other daily items directly to its customers in small quantity (Osman, 1988). Normally, sundry shops are owned by individuals or shared by several individuals and offer limited number of items and quantity. In Malaysia one can find sundry shops in almost every housing estates and villages and they normally have a limited cathment area. A hypermarket, in contrast, is a big-scale retail store that offers a variety of goods and services all conveniently under one roof (Duncan, Hollander and Savitt, 1983). A hypermarket commands a wide catchment area and it is normally owned by big companies who have numerous branches of the hypermarkets in many places. Among the more-popular chains of hypermarket operating in Malaysia are the locally-owned Giant Hypermarkets, and foreign-owned Tesco Hypermarkets and Carrefour Hypermarkets. Like in any modern country, hypermarkets in Malaysia have been expanding their operation to meet the demand of current generation for quality, convenience, product variety and long operation hours (Malaysian Ninth Plan, 2006). However, there are ever growing concern on the negative impacts of hypermarkets on the business of nearby neighborhood sundry shops (Johor Structure Plan 2002-2020, 2005). This is supported by Bennison Davies (1980) and Seiders Tigert (2000) whose study concluded that a hypermarket did have a negative impact on the growth of small sundry shops in the area. In spite of the same concern in Malaysia, there have been no study to investigate the spatial extent of the impact. Thus, a study was set up by the authors to investigate the spatial extent of the impact and also to find out the factors that attract customers to hypermakets, leaving their neighborhood sundry shops struggling for business. 2. OBJECTIVES The objective of the study was to spatially investigate the impact of a hypermarket on the operation of the surrounding sundry shops. In order to achieve the objectives the following tasks needed to be carried out: 1) identifying the suitable samples of hypermarkets; 2) identifying the market catchment of the hypermarkets; 3) collection of data pertaining to the number of business licenses issued to sundry shop operators within the catchment areas three years before as well as three years after the operation of the hypermarkets; 4) identifying factors that influence the decisions by the customers to shop at these hypermarkets. The method used to conduct the study is discussed in details in the following section. 3. METHOD The first step of the study was to choose a number of hypermarkets as units of analysis. Among the criteria taken into consideration in choosing the hypermarkets were: 1) the year they were opened for business to ensure that the chosen hypermarkets have been operating for at least three years; 2) the distances between each other to avoid overlapping of the market catchments; and 3) the types of goods sold at the hypermarkets so that they match those sold at the neighborhood sundry shops. Of the total of about ten hypermarkets in the City of Johor Bahru, three hypermarkets met these criteria and were chosen for the study. The three hypermarkets were from a locallygrown hypermarket chain known as Giant Hypermarket that are located in Southern City (in Johor Bahru City Centre), in Plentong and in Skudai (10km outskirt of Johor Bahru) (Refer Figure 1. 0). These three hypermarkets served a number of residential areas, known in Malaysia as taman perumahan or housing estates, located between 0 – 20km surrounding them. The next step was the distribution of questionaire sets to 200 customers per hypermarket (100 during weekday and 100 during weekend) containing questions concerning their home addresses and the reasons for choosing to shop at the hypermarkets. Their home addresses were then inputted into the city plan in GIS format to dertermine the extent of each hypermarket’s cathment area. One way to measure the impact of a hypermarket on the neighborhood sundry shops is to actually count the number of sundry shops that are in business several years before and after the hypermarket is in operation. This is difficult to conduct since the monitoring would take as long as the number of years that we are interested in investigating. One way to expedite the process is to actually study the records of the number of annual business licenses issued to sundry shops and assume that each sundry shop that holds such license is actually operating a sundry shop. On this basis, the number of business licenses issued to sundry shops within three years before and after a hypermarket was in operation were obtained from the local authority (Johor Bahru Tengah Municipal Council). The locations of the business premises of these licenses were then plotted on the city map and then rasterised into a 50m grid format to give a density of sundry shop licenses per fifty square meters for each of the three years before and after the operation of the hypermarkets. The changes in the sundry shop density were then used to explain the impact of the hypermatkets on the business of the sundry shops. 2. Impact on Neighbourhood Sundry Shops If most of the customers that patronize these hypermarkets come from the surrounding housing estates as described previously, what is the impact on the sundry shops within those housing estates? The least impact would be slowing down of business for these neighborhood sundry shops while the worst impact would be closing down of business. While business slowdown can be investigated, this study only looked at the closing down of business by tracking the number of sundry shop licenses issued annualy by the local authority. Since the impact normally materializes a few years after the opening of a hypermarket, records of licenses three years before and after the opening of the hypermarket were inventoried. Changes in the number of sundry shops were investigated by studying the changes in the density of sundry shop licenses for every 50m2 area surrounding each hypermarket. This is done spatially in GIS by rasterising the 50m2 area into grids and varying the color of the grids according to the number of licenses within the grids for each particular year. Figures 5. 0 – 7. show the annual changes in the density of licenses within the grids for all the three hypermarkets studied. In general, the figures show the decreasing trend in the densities of sundry shops even before the opening of these hypermarkets except for the Plentong Giant Hypermarket. The decreasing number of sundry shops surrounding the Southern City Hypermarket (Figure 5. 0) could be attributed to competition among themselves and the o peration of another hypermarket chain at the very building occupied by the Giant Hypermarket before it took over the operation. Meanwhile the decreasing number of sundry shops surrounding the Skudai Hypermarket (Figure 7. 0) could be attributed to the opening of another Giant Hypermarket just 4km away the year before the Skudai Hypermarket opened, apart from competition among themselves. The number of sundry shops surrounding the Plentong Hypermarket (Figure 6. 0) on the other hand was on the increase prior to the opening of the hypermarket. Investigation revealed that this was due to the opening of several new housing estates in the area which normally, as the case is in Malaysia, come with a number of shoplots. How to cite Hypermarket Impact on Small Retailer, Essay examples

Leonardo Di Ser Piero Da Vinci Essay Summary Example For Students

Leonardo Di Ser Piero Da Vinci Essay Summary Leonardo was a man of many different talents; among those talents were polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, inventor, engineer, writer, geologist, anatomist, cartographer, anatomist, and botanist. Leonardo was primarily known for his painting (Mona Lisa, the last supper, Vitamins Man), and his fascinating inventions (Helicopter, tank, flying Machine, Viola Organists) which I will be talking about in depth in my research paper. First study science, and then follow with practice based on science.. The painter who draws by practice and judgment of the eye without the use of reason is like the mirror the reproduces within itself all the objects which are set opposite to it without knowledge of the same. The youth ought first to learn perspective, then the proportions of everything, then he should learn from the hand off good master. Leonardo Dad Vinci The Renaissance marked the transition point from the middle ages to the modern world. Young Leonardo Did Seer Piper Dad Vince received his education of Painter, sculptor, and engineering in Florence in the early sass. In a time when coming with a new approach toward science was considered a direct insult or challenge to the church, Leonardo managed to project his new finding of science, Mathematics formulas, and logical reasoning without creating a new reform of cultural beliefs. Among his reaction we can find what is considered to be an early predecessor of todays helicopter. Between 1480 and 1493 Leonardo Dad Vinci designed what is known today as the Aerial Screw or also known as the Helical Air Screw. Leonardo Helical Air Screw measure approximately fifteen feet across and the material used to build it were reed, linen, and wire. The main power proportion came from four men that were standing in the middle of the craft rotating different pedals in order to rotate the screw like shaft (See figure L-1). Leonardo was a very methodical reader and writer. He often read books that interest him with pen on hand. He was so critical of himself that he used to describe his though in writing, and draw them most of the time in order to retrace his thinking. In the old time it was common for inventors to read others innovators ideas in order to create new ones or reproduce the same invention with improvements. One of those creations was the Leonardo Assault Vehicle. After researching Roberto Evaluators De re military, Leonardo Dad Vinci went ahead and created the Assault Vehicle with a technology that was unheard of at the time. Due to the lack of funds and the war at the Apennines Peninsula Leonardo had o restrain his master creation to Just a blueprint. The Assault Vehicle had an upside- down cone shape with four wheels at the bottom, and a crankshaft for propulsion. Been that Leonardo was so critical of his own invention, he decided to make improvement to his own invention at a later time. One of those improvements was the vehicle self-propulsion. Leonardo achieved this improvement by creating a spring-power system (As the Motor), and an innovated differential transmission system. (L-2 Picture of Assault Vehicle) Another area in which Leonardo Dad Vinci broke new ground was painting. But to his misfortune in life by 1514 most of his paintings were not completed due to lack of commissions and Italians wars. One of those paintings happened to be the Mona Lisa or La Cocooned a 16th century oil painting portray of Lisa did Antonio Maria Grenadine which in todays expert opinion it is one of the most impossible to comprehend painting in the history of art. Leonardo started to paint the Mona Lisa in 1503 under the commission of Francesco did Bartholomew did Zinnia del Giaconda and finished nil 519 shortly before he died. .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be , .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be .postImageUrl , .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be , .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be:hover , .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be:visited , .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be:active { border:0!important; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be:active , .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9a37f76abba6922fcd4f147e6cde90be:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Renaissance Question mark EssayBy 1511 Leonardo had to migrate under the Melee family protection to Vapor where he sided and produced magnificent creation of arts for two years in order to repay the Melee family hospitality. While at Vapor Leonardo continued to develop his new projects and improving his paintings knowing that sooner or later he will have to find a more suitable patron in order to be able to finance his work. The solution to financial impasse came in February 1 513 in the hand of Giovanni De Medici, the younger descendent of Lorenz IL Magnificent. With the death of Pope Julius II in Rome and Giovanni ser piero asserted to papacy under the name of Pope Leo X . Giuliani De Medici rather of Pope Leo X and by them commander of the papal army, invited Leonardo to Rome for his knowledge of art and military technology. The invitation to Rome by Giuliani De Medici was the opportunity that Leonardo Dad Vinci was waiting for. Unlimited commissions, immeasurable social status, and a very power full patron. What else? By September 1513 Leonardo relocated himself back to Rome where he was accommodated in the Vatican luxury Belvedere villas together with all his painting including some half stages such us the Lead, the Mona Lisa, and the Saint Anne.

Enjoyment Music Chapter 44 Flashcard

Enjoyment Music Chapter 44

Autumn When Autumn Came Essays

Autumn When Autumn Came Essays Autumn When Autumn Came Essay Autumn When Autumn Came Essay In both poems people reflect on autumn. Write about both poems and their effect on you. You may wish to include some or all of these points: The content what they are about The themes -? ideas the poet wanted the reader to consider The atmosphere and mood of the poem Structure how the poem is organized How they are written -? words and phrase you find interesting Your personal response When Autumn Came This is the way that autumn came to the trees: it stripped them down to the skin, left their ebony bodies naked. It shook out their hearts, the yellow leaves, catered them over the ground. Anyone could trample them out of shape undisturbed by a single moan of protest. The birds that herald dreams were exiled from their song, each voice torn out of its throat. They dropped into the dust even before the hunter strung his bow. Naomi Lizard Autumn Autumn arrives Like an experienced robber Grabbing the green stuff Then cunningly covering his tracks With a deep multitude Of colorful distractions. And the wind, The wind is his accomplice Putting an air of chaos Into the careful diversions So branches shake And dead leaves are suddenly brown In the faces of inquisitive strangers. The theft chills the world Changes the temper of the earth Till the normally placid sky Glows red with a quiet rage. Alan Bold Unseen Poetry similarities differences Content: Who? Where? When? What? Why do you think the poet wrote this poem? What is the mood or atmosphere of the poem? Does it change at any point? Why? How has the poet used language cleverly? Similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, alliteration etc. Think why each technique has been chosen. Give your opinion of the poem (three sentences) Which poem did you prefer and why?

Analysis of Waterloo International Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Analysis of Waterloo International - Essay Example This essay describes the design of Waterloo International. The International terminal at Waterloo opened in 1994 under Eurostar’s banner. The terminal itself has had nearly 100 million pairs of feet through its concourses, millions using the restrooms, parking facilities, hotel and boarding areas. The terminal has stood up well to the demands placed on it and it is rather the route through the chunnel which has caused most problems for the operation of the trains. The high speed travel option has been dogged by bad press and Nicholas Sarkozy has openly citicised the company for lack of adequate preparation in case of emergencies. Because of extreme weather conditions the chunnel has been forced to close on many occasions-on one occasion passengers were stuck for hours-the ensuing panic almost crippled Eurostar. What began as a revolution in travel and design seemed, in 2007, to be a doomed operation and when Eurostar moved its entire operation to St Pancreas , Grimshaw’s lovely soaring dome looked set to become yet another Modernist white elephant. So far the building has been a venue for a performance of the Kink’s song, Waterloo Sunset, by Lily Allen (a fitting tribute), a major art exhibition and a Topshop fashion show during London Fashion Week, the models strutted down the platform showcasing the latest in British street style. These events show that Grimshaw’s addition to Waterloo station has been accepted by the Bri ts and looks set to be well utalised in the future.

Effective Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Effective Advertising - Essay Example ng on the other hand refers to an advertisement that reaches the target audience specifically and succeeds in influencing them to take particular actions (Homburg, Sabine & Harley, 2009). The particular actions and the expected results of any advertising process are to influence the consumer behavior regarding increasing the sale of products or services. Political advertising as a contemporary type of advertising seeks to achieve the same results by influencing voters to appreciate either a particular candidate or an ideology. Effective advertising requires effective objectives and timelines. Some of the common objectives in advertising include positioning a new brand or product. Such a product requires dedicated advertisement that addresses particular interests of the target audience. Additionally, such an advert must explain the vital features of the product in order to explain the features elaborately including the products’ competitive advantages (Benkler, 2006). Increasing sales, creation of a brand and competitive relations are yet other primary objectives in different advertisements. The advertisers must develop appropriate messages and win particular appeals of the audience. Additionally, the objectives must influence the timing and channels of communication in order to reach a large group of the target audience. This way, the advertiser increases the chances of the messages influencing the consumer behaviors thereby achieving some of the objectives. Irrespective of the objectives of an advert, an effective advert must pursue three fundamental goals that include the presentation of information to both potential consumers and the rest of the public most of who may not be consumers, increasing the demand for the products and differentiating the product. The three are objectives that every advertiser must address when formulating an advert for a particular product. When developing an advert, an advertiser must consider the features of the product that will

Standard financial investment information Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Standard financial investment information - Essay Example Outsourcing can be defined as, "subcontracting a process, such as product design or manufacturing, to a third-party company. Outsourcing became part of the business lexicon during the 1980s. The purpose of this paper is to agree or disagree with the concept that standard financial investment information and criteria are all that is needed to effectively evaluate IT outsourcing definitions The decision to outsource is often made in the interest of lowering firm costs, redirecting or conserving energy directed at the competencies of a particular business, or to make more efficient use of labor, capital, technology and resources" (Wikipedia, 2008). Significant cost savings, cost restructuring, an improvement in overall quality, access to a greater pool of knowledge, the existence of a legally binding contract, operational expertise that would otherwise be too expensive, the solving of staffing issues such as a small and dependable internal talent pool, improved capacity management, prov iding a catalyst for major change, reducing the time it takes for a product to reach market, commoditization, improved risk management techniques, the ability to operate 24/7 because of various time zones, and the pressure that is being placed on a company by customers which may only be solved through outsourcing (Wikipedia, 2008).Provided that the best ethical practices are taken into consideration and implemented, it is not agreed that standard financial investment information is all that is needed to effectively evaluate IT outsourcing definitions ... as information risk management or integrity services, providing routine assistance to in-house auditing for operations and control evaluations in peak period activity and conduct special projects such as fraud investigation or plant investment appraisals" (Wikipedia, 2008). Before any decisions are made, however, it is important that a Return on Investment is conducted. Companies need to way the benefits and the savings against the drawbacks and the costs in order to determine whether they are doing the right thing. This task is accomplished through a Return on Investment. According to the article written by Cresswell, "The choice of how to conduct the analysis should be based on four critical principles pertaining to: the strategic objective(s) of the ROI analysis, the place (and importance) of the IT investment in the overall enterprise architecture, the type of analysis that should be conducted (i.e., what data and methods of analysis are best suited to those objectives), and how the ROI analysis fits in the overall decision context for IT investments" (2008) During the Return on Investment analysis, it is crucial for managers to determine who is going to be impacted by it, what the risk factors are, who will be affected, is it really necessary for the given project, and if it is even worth the cost of an ROI analysis. In addition, the overall technology infrastructure should be considered, along with business processes, the organizational environment, and external relationships (Cresswell, 2008). Although many firms have chosen to at least partially outsource their IT functions over the past several years, these decisions have not been made for cost reasoning alone. According to Graham and Harvey, who conducted a survey, "The results of our survey were

Customer Switching Behaviour for Mobile Networks

Customer Switching Behaviour for Mobile Networks EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Consumers use services everyday, these ranges from taking the train or opening a bank account to talking on a mobile phone. Businesses also rely on a wide range of services on a daily basis, but on a much larger scale compared to consumers. However, customers are not always satisfied with a particular service that they maybe using and often resort to switching their service provider in order to resolve the issue or pursue better value from a less expensive service. The objective of this study is to investigate customer-switching behaviour in the mobile industry, why it takes place and what factors influence it. This topic area has been chosen, as customer switching and the mobile phone industry are contemporary and relevant to the present day and will continue to evolve overtime. Research has been undertaken using secondary and primary data collection methods. Secondary data provided a background to the mobile phone industry and an overview of customer switching behaviour in services. Primary data consisted of self administered questionnaires to a convenient sample of university students, this enabled data to be collected which would provide an idea of mobile phone users contemplation of switching and their understanding of why they believe they would switch from one service to another. Findings revealed that a majority of customer switching is due to high call and monthly charges and consumers trying to obtain more free minutes and texts. This contrasts with the literature and precious studies, which have found other reasons to cause customer switching, which illustrates how causes of switching differ in every industry according to the nature of the service. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Aims The aim of this project is to determine the reasons as to why consumers switch from one mobile phone network to another? The research objectives that arise from the aim will therefore be: 1 To evaluate whether competitors offerings are causing consumers to switch from one network to another 2 To evaluate whether retail offerings are causing consumers to switch to gain a better deal 3 What actions of the service firms or their employees cause customers to switch from one service provider to another The research will be UK based geographically using a convenient sample of university students and will be done using both primary and secondary research methods. The research may help managers and researchers understand service switching from a customers perspective in the mobile phone industry and the switching drivers may provides answers as to what has influenced customer behaviour. The results of the research will be analysed to provide recommendations. The reason for choosing this topic area is that there appears to be a lack of research on customer switching behaviour in the mobile phone industry. This study aims to explore this topic are further. 1.2 Background on Mobile Phones Service Mobile phones service refers to a service whose customer base includes firms using mobile phones for business and customers using it for their personal use. Mobile phones have become substitutes for fixed telephone lines and have led to the decline in calls made from fixed telephone lines. The take up rate of mobile phones is constantly increasing and over the years the growth in the use of mobile phones has been dramatic. According to EMC mobile user numbers reached the 1.5 billion mark in June 2004 and is set to reach 2 billion by July 2006 and 2.45 billion by the end of 2009. (http://www.cellular.co.za, 2005) Mobile phones today are not solely used to make calls, additional value added services such as Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), radio, internet access and so on. This means that the benefits and use of mobile phones is also expanding, which is also contributing to industry growth. This has become a focus point for the various operators as intense competition has led to increasingly lower voice call prices. SMS was first used in 1992 and is currently the fastest growing communications technology in history. Worldwide, 135 billion text messages were sent person to person in the first quarter in 2004 (http://www.cellular.co.za, 2005). Retail revenues from voice and data services (including MMS, SMS) account for 79% of the total revenue of the four main UK mobile operators (Vodafone, O2, Orange and T-Mobile), which accounted for  £13.6 billion in revenues in 2003, (see appendix 1). CEPG Research Company conducted a study of the mobile telecommunications industry in 2002, in which findings showed that turnover had reached  £32 billion a year, with the sector contribution to GDP being  £19.4 billion (2.2%), (ofcom.org.uk/research/telecoms, 2005). The demand for mobile phones has never been so great as it has become a must have for people of all ages; consumers are constantly exchanging their outdated phones for the latest colour handsets. The popularity of mobile phones is immense and it is perceived that this interest in mobile phones will continue to grow over the next decade or so, as demand increases and new models and technology is introduced to mobile phones. 1.3 Mobile Phone Service Industry The mobile phone industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the British economy, with the UK making up the second largest mobile market in Europe, with a share of 18% (Datamonitor, Nov 2004). This growth is due to factors such as changes in government policies towards communication (deregulation), economic growth and developments in information technology. The more recent growth has come from existing mobile phone users upgrading their handsets, which have led to mobile phone companies and network operators targeting first time buyers (Datamonitor, Nov 2004). Mobile phones are not only seen as a vital element for success in business but also as a much wanted item for social use. This is evident in the increasing number of individuals both young and old who now have at least one mobile phone. As indicated by an Oftel report, in Britain over one million people own a mobile phone instead of a fixed telephone line. 2.3 million UK residents live without a fixed line telephone at home. The popularity of the fixed line phone drastically declined after the mass introduction of mobile phones to the UK. It is worth noting however, that fixed phone line companies have not taken this lightly and have retaliated by introducing mobile phones linked to fixed home lines and companies such as BT setting up their own mobile networks i.e. BT until recently owned O2 and also offering special discounted rates to encourage customers to use their fixed lines. There are four main network providers in the UK; they are T-mobile, O2, Vodafone and Orange. In 2004 there were 342.43 million mobile subscribers, which is an increase of 8.54 percent from the previous year and a penetration rate of 87.63 percent. T-mobile UK accounted for 15.06 million subscribers, Orange UK had 13.75 million, O2 UK had 13.06 million and Vodafone UK had 12.98 million (mobile communications). Recently there have been changes in terms of ownership of the major mobile phone networks. T-mobile is now one of the three strategic growth areas of Deutsche Telekom, a German network provider and O2 is now owned by Spanish firm Telefonica. Orange was sold to German mobile phone network Mannesman, which was then taken over by Vodafone, who sold Orange to France Telecom. Orange has a strong network in the UK and overseas but recent management decisions by France Telecom have reversed their user growth and subscriber numbers, which has been partly due to customers switching to other networks. Customers can become concerned that, if their chosen network provider is owned by a firm overseas, their needs will not be met as well as they could by a UK owned provider. Additionally events such as these can contribute to switching behaviour through customer confusion, as found by Oftel (2003), where many consumers switched due to confusion over re-branding of the network. 1.4 Customer Switching Behaviour in the Mobile Phone Industry According to research by TNS Telecom Trak, consumers tend to use their handsets for about twenty months before upgrading to a new one. Telecommunications regulator OFTEL found that this is also the average amount of time that a majority of mobile phone users will stay with the same mobile provider for. Oftels research ascertained that 90% of consumers thought about changing their network when changing handsets. Oftel published a report in April 2003, which provided an overview of the key findings of trends in consumer behaviour in the mobile market based on a residential consumer survey conducted in February 2003. Research was carried out by Recom (Research in Communications) amongst a representative sample of 2,289 UK adults, 75% of who claimed to have a mobile. Findings revealed that 26% of mobile customers have switched network/ supplier. There was a strong indication that the rise in switching in the last quarter was a reflection of confusion over re-branding and rise in mobile penetration. One in ten (9%) of mobile customers were found to have switched network at least twice since owning a mobile, including customers switching back to a previous operator. Men (37%) and younger mobile users, 15-34 (38%) were found to be most likely to switch multiple times, which included returning to a previously used network. Although the switching differed according to type of package, 36% of contract customers had switched multiple times compared to those on prepay (33%). 24% of customers had switched once in the last 6 months, compared to three in ten (28%) of those that had switched twice and 43% that had switched more than 3 times. The same survey also revealed that in November 2002, 34% of consumers stated that they had switched mobile network, which was believed to have a result of customer confusion caused by the re-branding of O2 (formally BTCellent) and T-mobile (One2One). Yet this rise was temporary and soon returned to the previous level of 27%. In February 2003, 7% of T-mobile customers said that they had switched network having previously being with One2One, this was the same for O2 customers who had switched from BTCellnet. This accounted for 3% of all switchers who were confused by the re-branding during February. The current percentage of mobile consumers that have switched mobile network remains at 26%. When looking at multiple switching, two in ten (18%) of mobile customers had changed their network once, and seven out of ten claimed to have never switched network. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter will review all existing literature related to the mobile phone industry with a focus on customer switching habits and their surrounding elements such as consumer lifestyles, services themselves, competitor offerings and loyalty to help understand the research problem. This chapter will also review the contributions other researchers have made to the concepts of switching behaviour, yet it should be noted that literature on mobile phone choice is sparse and issues relating to why customers actually switch services remains unexplored in marketing literature which will be explored through this study. 2.1 Classification of Services There is no one single definition of services that is universally accepted, although many authors have attempted to define it. Yet very few products are 100% service or 100% tangible, they usually consist of a combination of both. Gronroos (1990) defines services as: â€Å"A service is an activity or series of activities of more or less intangible nature that normally, but not necessarily, takes place in interactions between the customers and the service employee and/or physical resources or goods and/or systems of the service provider, which are provided as solutions to customer problems†. This illustrates the fact that services can take place through physical form, for example this project is concerned with customers switching network provider service (which is intangible) but to have that service to begin with, customers need to purchase a mobile phone, which is a tangible product. Therefore switching behaviour in such a situation may differ from switching a service, which is not integrated with hardware; this may be due to the fact that when physical products are also involved, the costs and risk of switching is different to when there is just a service alone. Brassington (2003) acknowledged that most products tend to have a combination of both physical goods and service e.g. purchasing a gas appliance; this would require the professional fitting service as well as purchasing of the appliance itself. Kotler (1997) also recognised that some services are a combination of both a service and a product and has incorporated this in his definition of services: â€Å"Any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product.† This emphasises two key elements: 1. Intangibility A Service cannot be experience before it is purchased, 2. Lack of ownership there is no ownership in a pure service as there is no physical product involved. This is further illustrated in the Figure 1 below which illustrates Kotlers (1997) four categories of products, which are: 1. A pure service 2. A major service with accompanying minor goods/services 3. A tangible good with accompanying service 4. A pure tangible product New services are being introduced on a daily basis to satisfy and meet all customer needs from individual consumers to business consumers. The service industry comprises the majority of todays economy. In 2001, it represented 80 percent of the GDP of the USA (U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis). Keiningham et al (2003) said â€Å"there is a growing recognition among managers of the importance of measuring the share of business a customer conducts with a particular service provider (share-of-wallet) as opposed to simply repurchasing a product or service at some point in the future or continuing to keep a business relationship with a service provider†. This indicates the importance of retaining and maintaining customers and the importance of the relationship with them. Research carried out by Bitner (1990); Boulding at al, (1993) looked at service quality in service organisations, Crosby Evans and Cowles (1990); Crosby and Stephens (1987) researched relationship quality and Cronin and Taylor (1992) looked at overall satisfaction with regards to the issue of customer retention in service organisations. These researchers all agreed that service organisations could improve the likelihood of customers intention to remain with a particular service organisation, as it is these features that contribute to customer satisfaction and the growth of the organisation. The above studies all illustrated strategies relating to customer retention in services. Yet issues relating to why customers actually switch services remain unexplored in marketing literature. 2.2 Characteristics of Services When describing the main characteristics of a service, it can be depicted as being intangible, as a service has no physical dimension but can take place through a tangible product as is the case with mobile phones and network providers, as discussed earlier. A service can also be described using a tangible noun as Shostack (1987) exemplified that an ‘airline means transportation and a ‘hotel means lodging rental. Berry (1980) described a good as ‘an object, a device, a thing in comparison to a service which is ‘a deed, a performance, an effort. This further illustrates the fact that consumers cannot see, touch, hear, taste or smell a service; all they can do is experience the performance of the service as said by Carman and Uhl, (1973) and Sasser et. al, (1978) but, the experience may not be possible in all cases without some form of hardware in addition. Because services are delivered by individuals, each service experience will differ from another; as a result each purchaser will receive a different service experience. Additionally, when a consumer purchases a good, they own it, yet with a service the consumer only has temporary access or use of it, as the service is not owned, only the benefit of it is. Wyckham et al (1975) and Kotler (1986) defined this concept as ownership. 2.3 The Services Marketing Mix As previously discussed above, many features separate services from tangible products, yet the marketing principles remain the same for both. One particular difference is that there is close contact between individual employees from the supplier organisation and the customer themselves. Because of this, the traditional marketing mix needs to be re-evaluated in terms of the 7ps. Product: This refers to the features of the product or surrounding it, which in this case would be a good service or supplementary services surrounding it. These features should be benefits, which the customer would desire, and the surrounding features would be competing products performance. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Place and Time: Delivering a service to customers involves place, time of delivery and distribution channels used. Delivery can be done both physically and through electronic distribution channels according to the nature of the service being provided. Services can be delivered directly to customers or through intermediary firms, e.g. rental outlets. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Promotion and Education: these are three fold, firstly information and advice needs to be provided to customers, target customers need to be persuaded towards a product, and they need to be encouraged to take action. Service promotional communication are usually educational, informing potential customers of the benefits of the service, where and when to obtain it and how. These communications are delivered through individuals (sales people) or media (TV, radio, newspapers etc.). (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Price and Other User Outlays: In services monetary values refer to rates, fees, admissions, charges, tuition, contributions, interest etc. (Gabbott and Hogg, 1997). Physical Environment: A firms service quality can be perceived through the appearance of buildings, landscaping, vehicles, interior furnishing, equipment, staff members, signs, printed materials and other visible cues. These are physical evidence and impact customer impressions. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Process: A service is delivered to a customer through a process, which is the method and actions in the service performance. Poor processes can result in slow and ineffective service and unsatisfied customers. Front line staff may also find it difficult to do their jobs well as a result of poor process, which can again lead to service failure. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). People: Services tend to involve direct interaction between customers and firms employees. The experience of the interaction, for example talking to call centre staff, can influence the customers perceptions of service quality. The implication is that firms need to train and motivate their employees to ensure good service quality. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). 2.4 Marketing in Services Image is often a key factor in differentiating a service from its competitors. Marketing is therefore important in service because it enables the customer to link an image with a brand. Examples of these can be seen on delivery vehicles, which are painted, hotel soap and shampoos etc. When consumers have no experience with a product, they tend to ‘trust a favoured or well-known brand name; therefore service marketers need to build a favourable brand image. Some consumer theorists have linked service quality with consumer behaviour intentions, in that the quality of the service will determine whether the consumer remains with that particular provider or defects to a competitor. When consumers perceive high service quality, the behavioural intentions will be positive, as they will remain with the service provider. In contrast, poor service quality will lead to the relationship with the customer weakening resulting in defection to a competitor. Financially the firm will benefit more by retaining customers through increasing service quality; this is demonstrated in the figure 2 below. The figure above shows that the more favourable a firms service quality is, the more likely the customer is to remain with the firm, benefiting the firm. But when the service quality is poor, the customer will show unfavourable behavioural intentions, which will result in defecting/ switching. This highlights that in order to prevent customers from switching and to enable the firm to continue making profits, the firm needs to retain customers through good service quality. Service firms and service marketers need to recognise the significance of these reasons as they can lead to negative effects on share and profitability as noted by Rust and Zahorik (1993). This can arise from negative word of mouth, which will in turn deter potential customers. These reasons can also help markets to plan their promotional campaigns according to the aspects that are causing customers to switch. As maintained by Reichheld and Sasser (1990) companies can boost profits by almost 100% by retaining just 5% more of their customers. 2.5 Marketing in the Mobile Phone Industry As the market becomes more competitive, firms will endeavour to maintain their market share by focusing on retaining their current customers. It can be said that recent competition amongst mobile phone networks has become aggressive, especially with all the competitive price plans and handsets on offer, which are being promoted by the networks. More recently a ‘camera wars are taking place between mobile brands as consumers are considering this an important feature when purchasing mobile phones, Marketing magazine (2004). When network 3 entered the market, they were able to encourage many consumers to switch mobile networks from their existing providers to 3. this was done using challenging and direct advertising comparing brand and product features with those of competing networks. Marketing magazine (2004). As a result of this, 3 were able to reach the one million-customer mark faster than any other network since launching. It is evident that mobile phone networks are being innovative in their marketing tactics in the aim of securing higher customer bases. Much of the marketing the mobile networks today to do this are directed towards consumer confusion tactics. Consumer confusion tactics are where consumers are provided with large amounts of decision-relevant information, in regards to mobiles, this is seen in the form of deals, discounts, leaflets, newspaper adds and television advertising line rentals from as little as 99p per month. Confusion marketing and overload aims to confuse consumers into a state of stress and frustration, resulting in information overload and sub-optimal decisions. Price confusion is the most common confusion marketing tactic used in the mobile telephone market today in order to assist companies to gain a competitive advantage. It has been found that this tactic of confusion marketing appears to work and confuses customers to such an extent that they end up being persuaded b y this marketing literature and the information overload that they are provided with that they purchase the plan that is sold to them without investigating it further as they feel that they have all the information that they need and have made an informed choice. Confusion usually arises from 3 main sources: i) Over choice of products and stores there are independent mobile phone shops opening up regularly, and new mobile phones are being introduced to the market every month. ii) Similarity of products all the price plans available are very similar in terms of price as well as network call charges. iii) Ambiguous, misleading or inadequate information conveyed through marketing communications For example, many retailers are offering line rental for 99p per month, what consumers are not aware of is that they have to pay the full line rental for the first six months and then they claim their cash back. But using confusion marketing can have adverse effects on consumers. The ‘information overload can cause consumers to shop around, which can reduce brand loyalty towards the firm. 2.6 Decision Making Process for Mobile Phones When customers purchase a product or service they go through a complex process of three stages: the pre purchase stage (decision to buy), the service encounter stage and the post purchase stage. This can be applied to the purchasing of mobile phones. The post purchase stage will determine the customers future intentions on whether or not to remain loyal to that service provider or to switch service. During the post purchase stage, customers evaluate service quality and their satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the service experience. This is done by comparing what was initially expected with what they perceived they received from a particular provider. If expectations are met, customers are likely to be satisfied and therefore more likely to make repeat purchases and remain loyal. If customer expectations are not met, customers may complain about poor service quality, suffer in silence or resort to switching service provider. It has become evident in recent years that customers no longer â€Å"suffer in silence† with bad service to the extent that they previously and if they experience service that they are not satisfied with then are more likely to switch in order to receive a better service/better value for their money. When considering the purchase process of mobile phones, again there are complex factors, which influence the decision the decision process which include both macro and microeconomic conditions, but it generally tends to follow the traditional buying process. When faced with the problem of whether or not to purchase a mobile phone, consumers will initially take part in an information search before choosing which one to buy. The consumers decision-making process is directed by preferences that the consumer has already formed regarding a particular brand. Beatty and Smith (1987) and Moorthy et al (1997) argue that this means the consumer is most likely to make a choice based on a limited information search and without evaluating fully all the alternative brands available. As indicated by Dhar and Wertenbroach (2000), limited information search and evaluation of alternatives can result in a situation where the consumers choice is driven by hedonic considerations. Utilitarian goods are co nsidered to be instrumental and functional whereas hedonic good are seen as being fun and exciting, but some goods can have both features, as stated by Barta and Ahtola (1990). With relation to mobile phones the choice has both utilitarian (e.g. communication, SMS, planning) and hedonic (e.g. games, music, camera) features. Wilska (2003) believes the younger the consumer gets, the more they value the hedonistic features in their mobile phones. The mobile phone market is a technology driven market, therefore products are created based on consumers possible future needs which tend to be hedonistic features. Riquelme (2001) explored the level of knowledge consumers have when choosing between different mobile phone brands. The study focused on main factors, which were: telephone features, connection fee, access cost, mobile-to-mobile phone rates, call rates and free calls), which respondents had to rate according to importance. Findings revealed that respondents with previous experience about products predicted their choices well, although they over-estimate the importance of features, cal rates and free calls and under-estimated the importance of the monthly access fee, mobile-to-mobile phone rates and the connection fee. 2.7 Customer Switching Behaviour There is no one clear definition of customer switching, due to the lack of research into this area, although very few authors have attempted to define it. According to Brassington (2003) customer switching refers to â€Å"consumers who are not loyal to any one brand of a particular product and switch between two or more brands within the category†. Switching behaviour has also been referred to as defection or customer exit (Hirschman, 1970; Stewart, 1994) and refers to a customers decision to stop purchasing a particular service or patronising the service firm completely as agued by Bolton and Bronkhurst (1995) and Boote, (1998). Yet it can be argued that this is not a valid definition of customer switching as this definition refers to the consumers behaviour as abandonment of the use of a product/service although, whereas switching is concerned with consumers using one product/service provider and then deciding to switch to another. Many models have attempted to portray customer switching behaviour in services yet they all imply that switching derives from a gradual dissolution of relationships as a result of multiple problems encountered over time as found by Bejou and Palmer (1998) and Hocutt (1998). 2.8 Causes for Dissatisfied Service and Switching Bitner et al (1994) has looked at the events that lead to satisfying and dissatisfying service encounters for customers from an employees point of view. Bitner et als (1994) study found that employees were inclined to describe the customers problems with external causes such as delivery system failures as the most prominent followed by problem customers. A small percentage of dissatisfactory incidents were classified as spontaneous negative employee behaviours such as rudeness or lack of attention. It was evident that the employees were biased in terms of not blaming themselves for failures. Past research associating customer and employee views on critical factors compelling customers to switch offers assorted assumptions. Schneider and Bowen (1985) and Schneider, Parkington, and Buxton (1980) found a strong relationship between employee and customer attitudes regarding service quality on the whole in the banking service. The results from their study contradicted those of a study carried out by Brown and Swartz (1989). Data was collected from patients based on experiences with their physicians and were compared to what physicians perceived of the experiences of their patients. Results showed large differences inversely associated to patient satisfaction in general. Thus researchers have different views regarding customer and employee attitudes on service quality. When considering switching in the financial service, Mintel International Group believes the critical factor causing consumers to switch providers is price. Price is a sensitive issue and one that is close to th e heart of customers so it is perceived that they may consider switching on the basis of this if they are not satisfied with the service they are receiving. But it can be concluded that the customers view holds greater value, as it is their opinion that brings in business for a firm. Bolton Brankhurst (1995) and McDougal (1996) have looked at customer switching behaviour in relation to complaints, which they believe leads up to the defection. They suggested, that this field should be further explored, as there is a lack of research that tries to investigate the correlations between the factors that influence service switching and those that influence complaints before switching. Complains are again another major area of concern. The first Customer Switching Behaviour for Mobile Networks Customer Switching Behaviour for Mobile Networks EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Consumers use services everyday, these ranges from taking the train or opening a bank account to talking on a mobile phone. Businesses also rely on a wide range of services on a daily basis, but on a much larger scale compared to consumers. However, customers are not always satisfied with a particular service that they maybe using and often resort to switching their service provider in order to resolve the issue or pursue better value from a less expensive service. The objective of this study is to investigate customer-switching behaviour in the mobile industry, why it takes place and what factors influence it. This topic area has been chosen, as customer switching and the mobile phone industry are contemporary and relevant to the present day and will continue to evolve overtime. Research has been undertaken using secondary and primary data collection methods. Secondary data provided a background to the mobile phone industry and an overview of customer switching behaviour in services. Primary data consisted of self administered questionnaires to a convenient sample of university students, this enabled data to be collected which would provide an idea of mobile phone users contemplation of switching and their understanding of why they believe they would switch from one service to another. Findings revealed that a majority of customer switching is due to high call and monthly charges and consumers trying to obtain more free minutes and texts. This contrasts with the literature and precious studies, which have found other reasons to cause customer switching, which illustrates how causes of switching differ in every industry according to the nature of the service. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Aims The aim of this project is to determine the reasons as to why consumers switch from one mobile phone network to another? The research objectives that arise from the aim will therefore be: 1 To evaluate whether competitors offerings are causing consumers to switch from one network to another 2 To evaluate whether retail offerings are causing consumers to switch to gain a better deal 3 What actions of the service firms or their employees cause customers to switch from one service provider to another The research will be UK based geographically using a convenient sample of university students and will be done using both primary and secondary research methods. The research may help managers and researchers understand service switching from a customers perspective in the mobile phone industry and the switching drivers may provides answers as to what has influenced customer behaviour. The results of the research will be analysed to provide recommendations. The reason for choosing this topic area is that there appears to be a lack of research on customer switching behaviour in the mobile phone industry. This study aims to explore this topic are further. 1.2 Background on Mobile Phones Service Mobile phones service refers to a service whose customer base includes firms using mobile phones for business and customers using it for their personal use. Mobile phones have become substitutes for fixed telephone lines and have led to the decline in calls made from fixed telephone lines. The take up rate of mobile phones is constantly increasing and over the years the growth in the use of mobile phones has been dramatic. According to EMC mobile user numbers reached the 1.5 billion mark in June 2004 and is set to reach 2 billion by July 2006 and 2.45 billion by the end of 2009. (http://www.cellular.co.za, 2005) Mobile phones today are not solely used to make calls, additional value added services such as Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), radio, internet access and so on. This means that the benefits and use of mobile phones is also expanding, which is also contributing to industry growth. This has become a focus point for the various operators as intense competition has led to increasingly lower voice call prices. SMS was first used in 1992 and is currently the fastest growing communications technology in history. Worldwide, 135 billion text messages were sent person to person in the first quarter in 2004 (http://www.cellular.co.za, 2005). Retail revenues from voice and data services (including MMS, SMS) account for 79% of the total revenue of the four main UK mobile operators (Vodafone, O2, Orange and T-Mobile), which accounted for  £13.6 billion in revenues in 2003, (see appendix 1). CEPG Research Company conducted a study of the mobile telecommunications industry in 2002, in which findings showed that turnover had reached  £32 billion a year, with the sector contribution to GDP being  £19.4 billion (2.2%), (ofcom.org.uk/research/telecoms, 2005). The demand for mobile phones has never been so great as it has become a must have for people of all ages; consumers are constantly exchanging their outdated phones for the latest colour handsets. The popularity of mobile phones is immense and it is perceived that this interest in mobile phones will continue to grow over the next decade or so, as demand increases and new models and technology is introduced to mobile phones. 1.3 Mobile Phone Service Industry The mobile phone industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the British economy, with the UK making up the second largest mobile market in Europe, with a share of 18% (Datamonitor, Nov 2004). This growth is due to factors such as changes in government policies towards communication (deregulation), economic growth and developments in information technology. The more recent growth has come from existing mobile phone users upgrading their handsets, which have led to mobile phone companies and network operators targeting first time buyers (Datamonitor, Nov 2004). Mobile phones are not only seen as a vital element for success in business but also as a much wanted item for social use. This is evident in the increasing number of individuals both young and old who now have at least one mobile phone. As indicated by an Oftel report, in Britain over one million people own a mobile phone instead of a fixed telephone line. 2.3 million UK residents live without a fixed line telephone at home. The popularity of the fixed line phone drastically declined after the mass introduction of mobile phones to the UK. It is worth noting however, that fixed phone line companies have not taken this lightly and have retaliated by introducing mobile phones linked to fixed home lines and companies such as BT setting up their own mobile networks i.e. BT until recently owned O2 and also offering special discounted rates to encourage customers to use their fixed lines. There are four main network providers in the UK; they are T-mobile, O2, Vodafone and Orange. In 2004 there were 342.43 million mobile subscribers, which is an increase of 8.54 percent from the previous year and a penetration rate of 87.63 percent. T-mobile UK accounted for 15.06 million subscribers, Orange UK had 13.75 million, O2 UK had 13.06 million and Vodafone UK had 12.98 million (mobile communications). Recently there have been changes in terms of ownership of the major mobile phone networks. T-mobile is now one of the three strategic growth areas of Deutsche Telekom, a German network provider and O2 is now owned by Spanish firm Telefonica. Orange was sold to German mobile phone network Mannesman, which was then taken over by Vodafone, who sold Orange to France Telecom. Orange has a strong network in the UK and overseas but recent management decisions by France Telecom have reversed their user growth and subscriber numbers, which has been partly due to customers switching to other networks. Customers can become concerned that, if their chosen network provider is owned by a firm overseas, their needs will not be met as well as they could by a UK owned provider. Additionally events such as these can contribute to switching behaviour through customer confusion, as found by Oftel (2003), where many consumers switched due to confusion over re-branding of the network. 1.4 Customer Switching Behaviour in the Mobile Phone Industry According to research by TNS Telecom Trak, consumers tend to use their handsets for about twenty months before upgrading to a new one. Telecommunications regulator OFTEL found that this is also the average amount of time that a majority of mobile phone users will stay with the same mobile provider for. Oftels research ascertained that 90% of consumers thought about changing their network when changing handsets. Oftel published a report in April 2003, which provided an overview of the key findings of trends in consumer behaviour in the mobile market based on a residential consumer survey conducted in February 2003. Research was carried out by Recom (Research in Communications) amongst a representative sample of 2,289 UK adults, 75% of who claimed to have a mobile. Findings revealed that 26% of mobile customers have switched network/ supplier. There was a strong indication that the rise in switching in the last quarter was a reflection of confusion over re-branding and rise in mobile penetration. One in ten (9%) of mobile customers were found to have switched network at least twice since owning a mobile, including customers switching back to a previous operator. Men (37%) and younger mobile users, 15-34 (38%) were found to be most likely to switch multiple times, which included returning to a previously used network. Although the switching differed according to type of package, 36% of contract customers had switched multiple times compared to those on prepay (33%). 24% of customers had switched once in the last 6 months, compared to three in ten (28%) of those that had switched twice and 43% that had switched more than 3 times. The same survey also revealed that in November 2002, 34% of consumers stated that they had switched mobile network, which was believed to have a result of customer confusion caused by the re-branding of O2 (formally BTCellent) and T-mobile (One2One). Yet this rise was temporary and soon returned to the previous level of 27%. In February 2003, 7% of T-mobile customers said that they had switched network having previously being with One2One, this was the same for O2 customers who had switched from BTCellnet. This accounted for 3% of all switchers who were confused by the re-branding during February. The current percentage of mobile consumers that have switched mobile network remains at 26%. When looking at multiple switching, two in ten (18%) of mobile customers had changed their network once, and seven out of ten claimed to have never switched network. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter will review all existing literature related to the mobile phone industry with a focus on customer switching habits and their surrounding elements such as consumer lifestyles, services themselves, competitor offerings and loyalty to help understand the research problem. This chapter will also review the contributions other researchers have made to the concepts of switching behaviour, yet it should be noted that literature on mobile phone choice is sparse and issues relating to why customers actually switch services remains unexplored in marketing literature which will be explored through this study. 2.1 Classification of Services There is no one single definition of services that is universally accepted, although many authors have attempted to define it. Yet very few products are 100% service or 100% tangible, they usually consist of a combination of both. Gronroos (1990) defines services as: â€Å"A service is an activity or series of activities of more or less intangible nature that normally, but not necessarily, takes place in interactions between the customers and the service employee and/or physical resources or goods and/or systems of the service provider, which are provided as solutions to customer problems†. This illustrates the fact that services can take place through physical form, for example this project is concerned with customers switching network provider service (which is intangible) but to have that service to begin with, customers need to purchase a mobile phone, which is a tangible product. Therefore switching behaviour in such a situation may differ from switching a service, which is not integrated with hardware; this may be due to the fact that when physical products are also involved, the costs and risk of switching is different to when there is just a service alone. Brassington (2003) acknowledged that most products tend to have a combination of both physical goods and service e.g. purchasing a gas appliance; this would require the professional fitting service as well as purchasing of the appliance itself. Kotler (1997) also recognised that some services are a combination of both a service and a product and has incorporated this in his definition of services: â€Å"Any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product.† This emphasises two key elements: 1. Intangibility A Service cannot be experience before it is purchased, 2. Lack of ownership there is no ownership in a pure service as there is no physical product involved. This is further illustrated in the Figure 1 below which illustrates Kotlers (1997) four categories of products, which are: 1. A pure service 2. A major service with accompanying minor goods/services 3. A tangible good with accompanying service 4. A pure tangible product New services are being introduced on a daily basis to satisfy and meet all customer needs from individual consumers to business consumers. The service industry comprises the majority of todays economy. In 2001, it represented 80 percent of the GDP of the USA (U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis). Keiningham et al (2003) said â€Å"there is a growing recognition among managers of the importance of measuring the share of business a customer conducts with a particular service provider (share-of-wallet) as opposed to simply repurchasing a product or service at some point in the future or continuing to keep a business relationship with a service provider†. This indicates the importance of retaining and maintaining customers and the importance of the relationship with them. Research carried out by Bitner (1990); Boulding at al, (1993) looked at service quality in service organisations, Crosby Evans and Cowles (1990); Crosby and Stephens (1987) researched relationship quality and Cronin and Taylor (1992) looked at overall satisfaction with regards to the issue of customer retention in service organisations. These researchers all agreed that service organisations could improve the likelihood of customers intention to remain with a particular service organisation, as it is these features that contribute to customer satisfaction and the growth of the organisation. The above studies all illustrated strategies relating to customer retention in services. Yet issues relating to why customers actually switch services remain unexplored in marketing literature. 2.2 Characteristics of Services When describing the main characteristics of a service, it can be depicted as being intangible, as a service has no physical dimension but can take place through a tangible product as is the case with mobile phones and network providers, as discussed earlier. A service can also be described using a tangible noun as Shostack (1987) exemplified that an ‘airline means transportation and a ‘hotel means lodging rental. Berry (1980) described a good as ‘an object, a device, a thing in comparison to a service which is ‘a deed, a performance, an effort. This further illustrates the fact that consumers cannot see, touch, hear, taste or smell a service; all they can do is experience the performance of the service as said by Carman and Uhl, (1973) and Sasser et. al, (1978) but, the experience may not be possible in all cases without some form of hardware in addition. Because services are delivered by individuals, each service experience will differ from another; as a result each purchaser will receive a different service experience. Additionally, when a consumer purchases a good, they own it, yet with a service the consumer only has temporary access or use of it, as the service is not owned, only the benefit of it is. Wyckham et al (1975) and Kotler (1986) defined this concept as ownership. 2.3 The Services Marketing Mix As previously discussed above, many features separate services from tangible products, yet the marketing principles remain the same for both. One particular difference is that there is close contact between individual employees from the supplier organisation and the customer themselves. Because of this, the traditional marketing mix needs to be re-evaluated in terms of the 7ps. Product: This refers to the features of the product or surrounding it, which in this case would be a good service or supplementary services surrounding it. These features should be benefits, which the customer would desire, and the surrounding features would be competing products performance. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Place and Time: Delivering a service to customers involves place, time of delivery and distribution channels used. Delivery can be done both physically and through electronic distribution channels according to the nature of the service being provided. Services can be delivered directly to customers or through intermediary firms, e.g. rental outlets. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Promotion and Education: these are three fold, firstly information and advice needs to be provided to customers, target customers need to be persuaded towards a product, and they need to be encouraged to take action. Service promotional communication are usually educational, informing potential customers of the benefits of the service, where and when to obtain it and how. These communications are delivered through individuals (sales people) or media (TV, radio, newspapers etc.). (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Price and Other User Outlays: In services monetary values refer to rates, fees, admissions, charges, tuition, contributions, interest etc. (Gabbott and Hogg, 1997). Physical Environment: A firms service quality can be perceived through the appearance of buildings, landscaping, vehicles, interior furnishing, equipment, staff members, signs, printed materials and other visible cues. These are physical evidence and impact customer impressions. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Process: A service is delivered to a customer through a process, which is the method and actions in the service performance. Poor processes can result in slow and ineffective service and unsatisfied customers. Front line staff may also find it difficult to do their jobs well as a result of poor process, which can again lead to service failure. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). People: Services tend to involve direct interaction between customers and firms employees. The experience of the interaction, for example talking to call centre staff, can influence the customers perceptions of service quality. The implication is that firms need to train and motivate their employees to ensure good service quality. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). 2.4 Marketing in Services Image is often a key factor in differentiating a service from its competitors. Marketing is therefore important in service because it enables the customer to link an image with a brand. Examples of these can be seen on delivery vehicles, which are painted, hotel soap and shampoos etc. When consumers have no experience with a product, they tend to ‘trust a favoured or well-known brand name; therefore service marketers need to build a favourable brand image. Some consumer theorists have linked service quality with consumer behaviour intentions, in that the quality of the service will determine whether the consumer remains with that particular provider or defects to a competitor. When consumers perceive high service quality, the behavioural intentions will be positive, as they will remain with the service provider. In contrast, poor service quality will lead to the relationship with the customer weakening resulting in defection to a competitor. Financially the firm will benefit more by retaining customers through increasing service quality; this is demonstrated in the figure 2 below. The figure above shows that the more favourable a firms service quality is, the more likely the customer is to remain with the firm, benefiting the firm. But when the service quality is poor, the customer will show unfavourable behavioural intentions, which will result in defecting/ switching. This highlights that in order to prevent customers from switching and to enable the firm to continue making profits, the firm needs to retain customers through good service quality. Service firms and service marketers need to recognise the significance of these reasons as they can lead to negative effects on share and profitability as noted by Rust and Zahorik (1993). This can arise from negative word of mouth, which will in turn deter potential customers. These reasons can also help markets to plan their promotional campaigns according to the aspects that are causing customers to switch. As maintained by Reichheld and Sasser (1990) companies can boost profits by almost 100% by retaining just 5% more of their customers. 2.5 Marketing in the Mobile Phone Industry As the market becomes more competitive, firms will endeavour to maintain their market share by focusing on retaining their current customers. It can be said that recent competition amongst mobile phone networks has become aggressive, especially with all the competitive price plans and handsets on offer, which are being promoted by the networks. More recently a ‘camera wars are taking place between mobile brands as consumers are considering this an important feature when purchasing mobile phones, Marketing magazine (2004). When network 3 entered the market, they were able to encourage many consumers to switch mobile networks from their existing providers to 3. this was done using challenging and direct advertising comparing brand and product features with those of competing networks. Marketing magazine (2004). As a result of this, 3 were able to reach the one million-customer mark faster than any other network since launching. It is evident that mobile phone networks are being innovative in their marketing tactics in the aim of securing higher customer bases. Much of the marketing the mobile networks today to do this are directed towards consumer confusion tactics. Consumer confusion tactics are where consumers are provided with large amounts of decision-relevant information, in regards to mobiles, this is seen in the form of deals, discounts, leaflets, newspaper adds and television advertising line rentals from as little as 99p per month. Confusion marketing and overload aims to confuse consumers into a state of stress and frustration, resulting in information overload and sub-optimal decisions. Price confusion is the most common confusion marketing tactic used in the mobile telephone market today in order to assist companies to gain a competitive advantage. It has been found that this tactic of confusion marketing appears to work and confuses customers to such an extent that they end up being persuaded b y this marketing literature and the information overload that they are provided with that they purchase the plan that is sold to them without investigating it further as they feel that they have all the information that they need and have made an informed choice. Confusion usually arises from 3 main sources: i) Over choice of products and stores there are independent mobile phone shops opening up regularly, and new mobile phones are being introduced to the market every month. ii) Similarity of products all the price plans available are very similar in terms of price as well as network call charges. iii) Ambiguous, misleading or inadequate information conveyed through marketing communications For example, many retailers are offering line rental for 99p per month, what consumers are not aware of is that they have to pay the full line rental for the first six months and then they claim their cash back. But using confusion marketing can have adverse effects on consumers. The ‘information overload can cause consumers to shop around, which can reduce brand loyalty towards the firm. 2.6 Decision Making Process for Mobile Phones When customers purchase a product or service they go through a complex process of three stages: the pre purchase stage (decision to buy), the service encounter stage and the post purchase stage. This can be applied to the purchasing of mobile phones. The post purchase stage will determine the customers future intentions on whether or not to remain loyal to that service provider or to switch service. During the post purchase stage, customers evaluate service quality and their satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the service experience. This is done by comparing what was initially expected with what they perceived they received from a particular provider. If expectations are met, customers are likely to be satisfied and therefore more likely to make repeat purchases and remain loyal. If customer expectations are not met, customers may complain about poor service quality, suffer in silence or resort to switching service provider. It has become evident in recent years that customers no longer â€Å"suffer in silence† with bad service to the extent that they previously and if they experience service that they are not satisfied with then are more likely to switch in order to receive a better service/better value for their money. When considering the purchase process of mobile phones, again there are complex factors, which influence the decision the decision process which include both macro and microeconomic conditions, but it generally tends to follow the traditional buying process. When faced with the problem of whether or not to purchase a mobile phone, consumers will initially take part in an information search before choosing which one to buy. The consumers decision-making process is directed by preferences that the consumer has already formed regarding a particular brand. Beatty and Smith (1987) and Moorthy et al (1997) argue that this means the consumer is most likely to make a choice based on a limited information search and without evaluating fully all the alternative brands available. As indicated by Dhar and Wertenbroach (2000), limited information search and evaluation of alternatives can result in a situation where the consumers choice is driven by hedonic considerations. Utilitarian goods are co nsidered to be instrumental and functional whereas hedonic good are seen as being fun and exciting, but some goods can have both features, as stated by Barta and Ahtola (1990). With relation to mobile phones the choice has both utilitarian (e.g. communication, SMS, planning) and hedonic (e.g. games, music, camera) features. Wilska (2003) believes the younger the consumer gets, the more they value the hedonistic features in their mobile phones. The mobile phone market is a technology driven market, therefore products are created based on consumers possible future needs which tend to be hedonistic features. Riquelme (2001) explored the level of knowledge consumers have when choosing between different mobile phone brands. The study focused on main factors, which were: telephone features, connection fee, access cost, mobile-to-mobile phone rates, call rates and free calls), which respondents had to rate according to importance. Findings revealed that respondents with previous experience about products predicted their choices well, although they over-estimate the importance of features, cal rates and free calls and under-estimated the importance of the monthly access fee, mobile-to-mobile phone rates and the connection fee. 2.7 Customer Switching Behaviour There is no one clear definition of customer switching, due to the lack of research into this area, although very few authors have attempted to define it. According to Brassington (2003) customer switching refers to â€Å"consumers who are not loyal to any one brand of a particular product and switch between two or more brands within the category†. Switching behaviour has also been referred to as defection or customer exit (Hirschman, 1970; Stewart, 1994) and refers to a customers decision to stop purchasing a particular service or patronising the service firm completely as agued by Bolton and Bronkhurst (1995) and Boote, (1998). Yet it can be argued that this is not a valid definition of customer switching as this definition refers to the consumers behaviour as abandonment of the use of a product/service although, whereas switching is concerned with consumers using one product/service provider and then deciding to switch to another. Many models have attempted to portray customer switching behaviour in services yet they all imply that switching derives from a gradual dissolution of relationships as a result of multiple problems encountered over time as found by Bejou and Palmer (1998) and Hocutt (1998). 2.8 Causes for Dissatisfied Service and Switching Bitner et al (1994) has looked at the events that lead to satisfying and dissatisfying service encounters for customers from an employees point of view. Bitner et als (1994) study found that employees were inclined to describe the customers problems with external causes such as delivery system failures as the most prominent followed by problem customers. A small percentage of dissatisfactory incidents were classified as spontaneous negative employee behaviours such as rudeness or lack of attention. It was evident that the employees were biased in terms of not blaming themselves for failures. Past research associating customer and employee views on critical factors compelling customers to switch offers assorted assumptions. Schneider and Bowen (1985) and Schneider, Parkington, and Buxton (1980) found a strong relationship between employee and customer attitudes regarding service quality on the whole in the banking service. The results from their study contradicted those of a study carried out by Brown and Swartz (1989). Data was collected from patients based on experiences with their physicians and were compared to what physicians perceived of the experiences of their patients. Results showed large differences inversely associated to patient satisfaction in general. Thus researchers have different views regarding customer and employee attitudes on service quality. When considering switching in the financial service, Mintel International Group believes the critical factor causing consumers to switch providers is price. Price is a sensitive issue and one that is close to th e heart of customers so it is perceived that they may consider switching on the basis of this if they are not satisfied with the service they are receiving. But it can be concluded that the customers view holds greater value, as it is their opinion that brings in business for a firm. Bolton Brankhurst (1995) and McDougal (1996) have looked at customer switching behaviour in relation to complaints, which they believe leads up to the defection. They suggested, that this field should be further explored, as there is a lack of research that tries to investigate the correlations between the factors that influence service switching and those that influence complaints before switching. Complains are again another major area of concern. The first