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Saturday, August 31, 2019

History of Circular Saw Essay

Circular Saw- As changes in the economics of the industry occurred, developments in powered machinery began that had an impact on both preparing and assembling. In 1805, Brunel took out a patent for large circular saws particularly associated with veneer cuttingand in 1807 developed the saw further in association with block-making machinery. However, one of the most important developments was not on this scale at all. The small circular saw of up to seven inches diameter, often operated by a treadle, was one of the keys to the success of small-scale furniture makers. This saw enabled makers of cheap furniture to square up, mitre and rabbet cleanly, accurately, and quickly, allowing the frames of cheap carcase work to be simply rebated and nailed. This method of rebating, using a circular saw, was particularly useful for drawer-making which was traditionally a place for using dovetail joints. The advantage of this cheap method was that a dozen drawers could be made in the time it took to merge joint just one. History behind the chair- Thomas Lee was the first to build and found the Adirondack Chair. He made it simply for relaxation for his family members. It was a great success and all his family members really liked the chair. He decided he would show it to a carpenter named Harry Bunnell. Bunnell really liked Lee’s chair and decided that he should start making them more than just for family but for a profit. Without Lee’s knowledge he patented the chair idea and began making his own Adirondack chairs with the same design as Lee’s. It was a big hit around the region and soon in the history of furniture. Originally it was named the Westport chair but then later on it was renamed the Adirondack Chair. Bunnell’s Adirondack chairs were made of hemlock, painted in either dark brown or green, and signed by the carpenter himself. Today, Bunnell’s original chairs come at a hefty price, about $1,200 each and he sold them for only $4.00.

Organizational Language

Organizational Language A human language is a kind of code. It functions on the basis of words which is unique verbal symbols which correspond to all the objects or ideas which the speakers of that language need to communicate to one another. It also has rules, followed habitually by its speakers, for linking the words of the language together. Languages in the sense in which we understand them have developed as the common means of communication of large groups of people who habitually communicate with one another and communicate less often with outsiders.A language draws together the people who speak it, and excludes others. The rules for using a language are followed by all members of the linguistic community, for all wish to be understood. Those rules are typically paralleled by other rules or laws, conventions, customs which all also have to follow if they wish to be socially accepted in that particular social and political community. To be able to speak a language is a badge of membership of a community. It ensures acceptance by other members, provided the other rules of the group are also followed. Language networks minds together.The possession of a common spoken language and even more, the later possession of a common written language enables each member of a community to benefit from the communicated experience of others, so that the mental capacity of each separate individual becomes less important. It enables fellow-members of contemporaneous groups to share information and experience. Each people speaking a common language developed a collective memory, a common store of cultural experience on which all could draw. Language enabled a community to build up long-term traditions, beliefs and values which differentiated it from other communities.

Friday, August 30, 2019

The Success Factors of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon

The Success Factors of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon Presented to The Department of Business Administration 2011-12 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This repost is studying the success factors of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. It will be collect the information and data from questionnaire survey and focus groups. Also, it will be through Value Important Performance Grid tool and SWOT analysis that more understand the performance and state of this marathon, then make some recommendation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This thesis would not have been possible unless someone who give the information support.It is an honor for our group to interview Mrs. Vivian So, the Executive director of HKAAA, and Mr. Wong Ka Man, an committee of HKAAA. Our group also would like to thank some participants who attend our questionnaire survey and focus group. Their view and information gave us a lot of help for this report. I would like to show my gratitude to my supervisor, Leonard Kwan and course leader, Johnny Ch iu, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of the subject.Lastly, we offer our regards and blessings to all of those who supported us in any respect during the completion of the project. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF APPENDICES CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 2. 1 Background of Event 2. PROBLEM STATEMENT 3. 2 Statement of the Problem 3. 3 The Assumption 3. 4 Methodology 3. 5 Limitation 3. FACTORS AFFECTING A EVENT 4. 6 Public Acceptance 4. 7. 1 Social Environment – Cultural 4. 7. 2 Lifestyle 4. 7 Support from Stakeholders 4. 8. 3 Commercial Sponsorships . 8. 4 Participants 4. 8. 5 Organizations 4. 8. 6 Non-profit organizations 4. 8. 7 Celebrities 4. 8. 8 General Public 4. 8. 9 Government 4. 8 Effective Event Management 4. 9. 10 Event Planning 4. 9. 11 Human Resource Management 4. 9 Publicity 4. 10. 12 Word of Mouth 4. FINDIN GS 5. 10 Value Important Performance Grid 5. 11 SWOT Analysis 5. 12. 13 Strengths 5. 12. 14 Weaknesses 5. 12. 15 Opportunities 5. 12. 16 Threats 5. 12 Sustainability 5. 13 Potential for future development 5. CONCLUSION 6. RECOMMENDATIONS APPENDICES 2| 1. Introduction 1. 1 Background of the EventStandard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon is one of the most significant and brand sport event for Hong Kong. This sports event has been held annually every Chinese New Year. This event is large-scale, with local and foreign people participation. Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has been gaining a lot of support from companies, organizations, public, government and tourist. Prior to Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, it was named â€Å"Shenzhen Marathon† and was held in 1996. Due to the lack of funds, Standard Chartered Bank become the title was sponsor of â€Å"Shenzhen Marathon†.Afterward it has been named Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Since then the Marathon has been held for 15years. In the beginning, the number of participants of this event was limited thousand and the awareness was 1000. Until 2011, the number of participant has increased to more than 70,000 in 2012. 2. PROBLEM STATEMENT 2. 1 Statement of the Problem The purpose of this report is to find out the success factors of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. The event had a humble beginning, and very few Hong Kong people showed interest to join the race.After a few years, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has started to gain its popularity in Hong Kong year after year. The event has become a Hong Kong branded sports event now. This report is to study the factors that attributed to its success. This report also investigates the possible strategies to sustain its success in the future. Based on the participant number of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon in past 16 years, it showed in Chart 1. The figure indicates that the participant numbers are growing year after year. This proved the event has been more widely accepted by people in Hong Kong than other sports.Hence, how to this event successes in attracting so many people to participate every year allows us to better understand the reason behind its success. Thus, it helps to project whether the event is sustainable in the future. 2. 2 The Assumption Our group assumes public acceptance, support from stakeholders, effective event management and publicity are the important factor of success event. 2. 3 The Methodology In this report, we had used primary and secondary sources of information for the analysis of the critical success factors of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. 2. 3. 1 Data Collection Secondary researchFirst of all, we had found a lot of reference books in the library, for example, Successful Event Management, Event Sponsorship, Sports and Entertainment Marketing and Sports Marketing etc. Also, we will find the professional journals, such as the Journal of Business Research, Jour nal of Marketing Event Research, Journal of Marketing, Organizational Behavior etc. Then, we will have more information about the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon’ success factors. Moreover, we had found the sports magazine, such as Sportsoho, these helped us to know more about Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon.Moreover we found a lot of relevant information on the newspapers, such as, Singtao newspaper, Mingpao newspaper, etc. It can help us to find out more Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon information, such how can prepare for the event. Moreover, we had used internet to find more secondary information. For example, using Google to research information related to Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. It can easy to research some useful information in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, such as, past history and year the participant situation etc.Also, we used Wise News to find some past news. Primary research First of all, we have interview with Miss V ivian, the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association (HKAAA) to get more information of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. So, we can have more information about this event, such as the process of marathon, brand building etc. Furthermore, we had set questionnaires and used to interview with stakeholders such as, runner and supporter, to find out how they feel about Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. We had interviewed them the days near the marathon.We had finished 384 interviews in different place, such as, sport ground, a competition area etc. Then, it can help us to understand the customer’s behavior and expectation. We are using the following formula to decide the number of questionnaire: n=[z * se]2 Where n = sample size n=[1. 96 * 50%5%]2 z= Confidence level =384 s= sample variance e= error acceptance The latest survey has a response rate 92 per cent, a sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points and a confidence level of 95 perce nt.On the other hand, after the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, we had interviewed with focus groups who are amateur sport members from The Citizen Athletic Association and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Track and Field Team. We had interviewed with four focus groups that 5 to 6 people in a group. We had asked lots of questions on how they feel on the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon in order to help us to draw out the analysis. Lastly, we will use the following analytical methods to analysis the success factors of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. 2. 3. 2 Analytical methods 1. Value Important Performance Grid 2.SWOT analysis The Value Important Performance Grid can help us to evaluate the performance and areas of improvement of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Also, SWOT analysis can let us more understand the relative strength and weakness of this sport event for organizer perspective. 3. Factors Affecting a Mega Event 3. 1. Public Acceptance Public ac ceptance is defined to be a clear identity and social statuses have a favorable position. Also, it get the support and love of people and their ideas and direction is have to the same goal that can establish a good reputation and word of mouth . For example, Echoes of the Rainbow movie made in Hong Kong, a low-cost film production. At the beginning, this movie had few people pay attention. When this movie received the best picture in the new generation of Children's Film Unit Crystal Bear Award at the 60th Berlin Film Festival, there are many people start attending this movie. Since this movie had received an award, it caught everyone’s attention about this film. More people accept that this king of film and story. In 2008 Beijing Olympics was very successful sport event. It is because the sportsmen from all over the world had come to support and participates in it. We all attach great importance to this event.It is because this game has good recognition. This paper approache s the topic by first referencing to the present environment under the categories of social and lifestyle perspectives of the living environment in Hong Kong. According to the findings, we conjecture the public needs and analyze how the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon can fulfill the needs and obtain public acceptance. 3. 1. 3Social – Cultural Since 1996, Lee Lai Shan won the first-ever Olympic gold medal for Hong Kong in the women’s mistral boardsailing class and was the first champion in the Asian Games representing Hong Kong, China.Since them, Hong Kong people started paying more attention to our Hong Kong Campaigns. And government started investing a lot more money and time in the promotion for Hong Kong sports. In addition, Lee Lai-Shan has received â€Å"the ten most Outstanding Youth Award† and the Bronze Bauhinia Star Award in recognition of her outstanding achievements in the international sports scene. A stating of her on a wind surf board was ere cted in honor of her near the beachfront at Cheung Chau. Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards is an annual election organized by the Sports Federation ; Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China.The purpose is to encourage athletes and teams to strive for excellence. Also, it can provide role model sand inspiration for Hong Kong young people, thus help to promote sports development in Hong Kong. Moreover, it can encourage the community’s involvement in sports to further promote the sport culture in Hong Kong. Among them, Lee Lai-Shan has won numerous awards including 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004. Government has also encouraged the public to do more exercise. And it promotes different sports and exercise for us. Furthermore, nowadays people are increasingly aware about their health and peruse a healthy way of living. In the Leisure and Cultural Service Department of Healthy Exercise for All Campaign, Launched in April 2000, the â€Å"Healthy Exercise for All Campaign† is a territory- wide event jointly organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) and the Department of Health (DH). With the slogan of â€Å"Daily exercise keeps us fit, people of all ages can do it†, the Campaign aims at raising the public's interest in exercising and encouraging them to exercise regularly so that they can understand the benefits of exercising to health. † This can show that doing exercise benefits for both body and mind.Also, regular exercising can improve the health conditions, and strengthens body’s resistance to illness, trains muscles, strengthens bones and helps prevent osteoporosis. In addition since the outbreak of SARS on 2003, the public awareness to public health exercise caused more people to do exercise. All their incidents coincide with the repaid growth of participants in Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon from 2001 to 2006. Moreover, running is one of the most popular sports and easily practiced by people of all ages. Also, running can enhance physical fitness, strength and willpower.Nowadays, running of the equipment has become more advanced technologically. The innovation of running supplies, clothing and footwear which become to more lightweight and offer better protection. Running gears are how made with more eye-catching color, preferred by ladies who want to live and run in a more relaxed mood. For example, running shoes are now ultra-lightweight. Shoes cage is widen to allow runners to wear comfortable with high-tech arch boosters and the stronger induction of the foot to promote runners reflex, increase their agility, run faster. Also, windproof and breathable jacket make running more comfortable and enjoyable.Furthermore, the technological advancements now even allow smart phones to measure the running speed and pacing. It is very convenience for runner and makes more people like this sport. 3. 1. 5Lifestyle â€Å"Lifestyle is a mode of living that is identified by how people spend their tim e and resource, what they consider important in their environment, and what they think of themselves and the world around them. † First of all, there is an apparent relation between slow economic growth and desire for participation in sports event. In 2003, Hong Kong has a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and bully impact the Economic. A government spokesman explained that the March to May this year. The unemployment rate and underemployment rate rose to a new high. It is because of the impact of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) on the labor market intensifies, consumption and tourism, the impact on industry layoffs increase with an overall decline in employment. † According to government year book2003 â€Å"The labour market worsened abruptly in the first half of 2003, mainly affected by the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased from 7. per cent in the first quarter of 2003 to an all-tim e high of 8. 7 per cent in May-July 2003. † â€Å"Also, Hong Kong economic situation in 2003 can showed the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate surged to record highs in the summer of 2003, a consequent of an abrupt economic downturn under the impact of SARS. † (Chart 1) Chart 1 Unemployment and underemployment rates â€Å"Amidst the slackened labour market conditions, overall labour earnings and wages continued on a decline in 2003. The decline nevertheless narrowed down after the mid-year. †(Chart 2) Chart 2 Earnings and wages| year-on-year rate of change in money terms)| Since more people were unemployed, so that they have more time to use the spare time for exercise running. Also, running does not cost money and is a low-consumption activity that is good exercise for most people. Therefore, most people change their lifestyle. They are love to running. In addition, running is good for health. It is because most of doctors said that running could enh ance the breathing health of lung. So people started paying more attention to running. (App1) The Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society also suggests that people to do exercise 30mins every day, such as running.They claimed that, running can prevent the disease. Since then more people are interest in doing exercise. ————————————————- Furthermore, the World Health Organization suggested people to do 150mins exercise every week. This can make the body became healthily and lengthen the life by 3years than without doing exercise. ————————————————- ————————————————- Therefore, people need to health and good life time, they take action to running. It can benefit for their health.It can show that the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon increase the participants join to after 2003. Moreover, every person has different a way of living and habits. Their lifestyle reflects the attitudes and values of a person. Ms Vivian So, the Executive Director of HKAAA said that â€Å"Running is not limited to any place and no need to pay any money. Anyone can do it. However, if one plays football, basketball etc one needs to have a large group of players. Therefore, running is very convenient. † This explains why distance running has become popular in the present busy lifestyle of Hong Kong people.Leung Yiu-chung a member of the Legislative Council also said that when he was young who like swimming, running, hiking, football, table tennis, volleyball etc. But most of sports need to have a partner. After he started working, it become difficult to find a partner does exercise together. Therefore, he chose running because he can do it alone. He has been ru nning which run for more than 20 years. Ken Yuen, Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Corporation Limited of presenter said that running need only sport shirts, pants and shoes which can be done alone.Running is very convenient for him. There is one thing in a common, many people working busily. It is difficult to meet friends to do exercise together. Therefore, running can fit in to the lifestyle of new generations. Then, a study on consumer behavior can explain why people join the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. We apply the theories of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to explain it. â€Å"Consumer behavior is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy a product. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics.It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioral variables in an attempt to unders tand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. † It is mean the consumer behavior is a buyer decision making process, it includes individual, groups. The groups are like the family, friends, media, leader or artist. Participant will influence with them when they make decision. Consumer behavior is â€Å"The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. † Behavior occurs either for the individual, or in the context of a group (e. g. , friend’s influence what kinds of clothes a person wears) or an organization (people on the job make decisions as to which products the firm should use). † We can understand consumer behavior is affect by individuals, groups, or orga nizations. The consumer behavior also knows people's need.So, people join the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon is effect by their making decision and what they needs. Otherwise, the participant also will use their knowledge, experience to join it. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (chart. xx) â€Å"Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human developmental psychology, all of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans.Maslow is use the terms Physiological, Safety, Belongingness and Love, Esteem, and Self-Actualization needs to describe the pattern that human motivations generally move through. † ————————————————- The Nee ds can identify why participants join the Marathon. Physiological need is base on eating, drinking. Participates need a healthy body. Safety is meaning ensure public safety, such as how the events management provides enough facilities to protect participants. Belonging and love is base on with friends, family together. Participants may join this event with friends, families.Esteem is the glory of participating in the race to makes them satisfied. The self challenge is when the participant makes a breakthrough in their finishing time or finishing the race by challenging their potential. ————————————————- Participants join the race as they think that they can gain a great experience or achieve their personal goal in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Chart 5 Through our questionnaires, we find that near a half part of participant motion that they join this marathon a s for self- challenge. About 24% participants join because of the health.Impact of peer and family and honor respectively is 11% and 14%. Also, these had a 2% was participated with company or a litter bit number for other reasons. So, we would understand that achievement is really importance as the personal goal and this may cause the reason that why the number of participants is continuous growth. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Higher– Level Needs Lower – Level Needs ————————————————- ————————————————- 3. 2 Supports from Stakeholders It is important to cooperate with stakeholder in an event.A good stakeholders’ support can make the event more successful. In the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, we can see that it has received a good support from participants, celebrities, general public and the government etc. 3. 2. 1 Commercial Sponsorship Sponsorship is a contribution to an activity (typically in sports, arts, entertainment or causes) by a commercial organization in cash, or in-kind, with the expectation of achieving corporate and marketing objectives. Sponsorship continues to represent a popular way of cutting through advertising clutter and reaching potential customers.Commercial sponsor can increase the media and marketing leverage which can let the event become more large-scale. The scale of a representative event can’t be too small. A large scale of an event can attract and increase the number of people to join or to pay close attention to it. Also, it can cause by the public and media to discuss and report the event. – For instance, Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse sponsored the Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Match was one of the successful model in the early years. Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse was t he title commercial sponsors.Because of the sponsorship, Suisse Hong Kong Sevens become more popular and large-scale. And, the event has been well known. Because it makes the event become more representative and attract the number of people to pay attention to it. Regarding Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, because of the sponsorship of Standard Chartered Bank, making had more resources to promote the event. Also, commercial sponsor can increase the media and marketing leverage which can let the event become more large-scale. A large scale of an event can attract and increase the number of people to join or to pay close attention to it.A part from that, it can cause by the public and media to discuss and report the event. Therefore, it prove that commercial sponsor is also one of the reason why caused the marathon be more success. 3. 2. 2 Participants The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon started in 1997. Since then, it has been gaining in popularity. In the past thirteen y ears, it made record in entries every year. Now it has become a signature international sporting event in Hong Kong and was recognized as a â€Å"Brand Hong Kong Event† by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.The continuous growth of the number of participants, it proves that people support the event. Chart 1 Also, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has attracted a lot of international athletes from over seventy countries and regions, including China, Chinese Taipei, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Poland, the Netherland, New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine and Singapore. It is because people believe that Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon is a large-scale and well-known running event.These may cause that why they are interested and support for the marathon. Participants join the race as they think that they can gain a great experience or achieve their personal goal in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Chart 5 Through our questionnaires, we find that near a half part of participant motion that they join this marathon as for self- challenge. About 24% participants join because of the health. Impact of peer and family and honor respectively is 11% and 14%. Also, these had a 2% was participated with company or a litter bit number for other reasons.So, we would understand that achievement is really importance as the personal goal and this may cause the reason that why the number of participants is continuous growth. A part from joining the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, participants can achieve their personal goals. We find that about 70% of participants had joined more than one times. It can show that a great part of number were repeat participate. Chart xx Chart 6 Also, all of interviewer motioned that they will participate in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon again.It can see that participant generality enjoyable and think the higher value than payable in this mara thon. So, the continuous growth of the number of participants, it proves that people support the race. 3. 2. 3 Organization On the other hand, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon also has attracted a lot of companies and organizations’ support. Some companies and organizations like Standard Chartered Bank, LI & FUNG, Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants have joined corporate challenge or SME Marathon Cup.Furthermore other education groups include The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and The Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Educational etc. They were many staff and students who participated in it. The purpose that they may not to win for the race, they only want to have a nice day and enjoy the event. They may only want to express the support to a meaningful cause. These show that organizations’ support for the event. —————————†”——————-For example, Standard Chartered Bank has 2800 staff running in Marathon 2012. It is means participants had affected by each other’s within these groups. Through the organizations we can identify the reasons that made this event became successful. 3. 2. 4 Non-profits organization Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon is a large-scale sporting event. Therefore it needs lots of volunteers to make the event orderly. Ms Vivian So, the Executive Director HKAAA, said that volunteers are important for an event and good services can attract potential customers.Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon had thousands of volunteers serving the runners and the organizer beyond the track to ensure the race can go on smoothly. Volunteer physiotherapists, overseas invited runners’ liaison team members and photographers etc. The volunteers in Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon come from all walks of life and all of them regarded the vo lunteer work very challenging. Therefore, it can prove that non-profits organization is important for an event enter in successful. On the order hand, in order to let the marathon carried out more smoothly, it s important to have non-profits organizations’ support, like Scout Association Hong Kong – Hong Kong Island Region, Auxiliary Medical Service etc. Without their support, the event can’t continue as such smoothly. 3. 2. 5 Celebrities The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has received a lot of support from celebrities. Since 2004, artists like EO2, Fiona, Sky etc, they played games with participants, sang and share their experiences on running at the Marathon Expo. On the day before the marathon, there was a cheering concert to boost the morale for participants and volunteers.These make the event more interesting and attract more potential customers to join. Also, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon Ambassadors personally participated in the event, for example, Andy Hui, Alex Fong etc. These can prove that how the celebrities supported the event. Celebrities are important endorsers of the marathon. Therefore, from 2001 to 2006 the participants’ number has significant increase and one of the reasons that maybe participants want to support their idols. On the other hand, Mr. Donald Tsang Yam-Kuen, the Chief Executive, presented at opening ceremony and supports the participator.Moreover, lots of support from celebrities and famous people, likes Mr. Ricky Wong Wai-kay, Chairman of the City Telecom (H. K. ) Limited. Mr. Timothy T. T Fok, GBS, JP President of Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, they helped promote the vision of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon to their employees as well. These may attract more people to join the race. A part from these, it proves that the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has received a lot of support from celebrities and these may cause the reason that why marath on are success. 3. 2. General Public Moreover, in order to let the marathon conducting more smoothly. Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon caused large scale road closure, making it inconvenient to a lot of people who live along the race track. However, no public protest against the road closure has been heard. According to Apple Daily on February 24, 2012 â€Å"Road closure would certainly cause inconvenience to some people, but for the marathon road closures was definitely better than New Year Parade, fireworks, Celebration Parade is worth. † showing that the public accept holding a mega event like this.Also, Ms Vivian So, the Executive Director HKAAA, said that it can prove the popularity. The event has been support by the popularity, though it may have caused a little disturb to the neighborhood. It showing that most of the public accept for the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon and they are support Hong Kong for holding such kind of international activities. 3. 2. 7 Government Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon is now being recognized as a â€Å"Brand Hong Kong Event† and a â€Å"M† Mark sporting event by the Hong Kong Government.It has attracts more than 70,000 participants taking part in this challenge in 2012. In order to contain a greater amount of participants, government has done a lot of measures, such as road closure. Moreover, in order to let the marathon conducting more smoothly, Hong Kong Police Force and Hong Kong Road Safety Patrol had send out a great amount of human resources to support the race. On the order hand, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon normally starts early in the morning (5 a. m. ). In order to support the marathon, MTR Corporation started its trains earlier.Also, those runners who could not reach the pre-set specific time limits need to board the official buses. These special service can see that how government support Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. 3. 3 Effective Event Management 3. 3 . 1 Event Planning â€Å"Event planning is the process of planning a festival, ceremony, competition, party, or convention. Event planning includes budgeting, establishing dates and alternate dates, selecting and reserving the event site, acquiring permits, and coordinating transportation and parking.Event planning also includes some or all of the following, depending on the event: developing a theme or motif for the event, arranging for speakers and alternate speakers, coordinating location support (such as electricity and other utilities), arranging decor, tables, chairs, tents, event support and security, catering, police, fire, portable toilets, parking, signage, emergency plans, health care professionals, and clean up. † The event manager should control that planning process for events management is management, organizational and operates.Also, the planning should address in coordination of when, where, who, what, why and how (5Ws). Because an event is need to identities the objective. Set the location can hold the event, such as indoor or outdoor. Decide to who are the major customer and potential customer, or sponsor. Find which timing is suitable to hold the event. We study that when (timing), where (location), who (human resource management) to prove the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon becomes success. Timing The event planner selected the race day to decide the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon in which day. Spring, summer, and particularly fall are the busiest times for transportation companies, hotels, and resorts, which are taking care of good-weather conventions, vacationers, and business meetings. Because of the potential attendees are more likely to able to afford the time, and to attend the event. About the sport events effect are on the daily pace and commerce of the city. † The Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon always starts one to two weeks after Lunar New Year. Because in this period, the weather is cool. It coul d increase participator’s running performance.According to Ms Vivian So, the Executive Director of HKAAA , said that the Half- Marathon and Full- Marathon have been held only in a few seasons. During Lunar New Year, road traffic normally decreases because many people will be on their vacation and no need to go to work. Air pollution is greatly reduced. † Because, it can avoid the celebration of New Year, and government could regulate would more effectively. Thus, HKAAA selected the race day after Lunar New Year one to two weeks. And decrease some impact for resident and store.Moreover, this period can reduce participants working hour. Location Location can be a critical factor in determining the success of an event. During 1997 to 2012, the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon changes the route 7 times. In 1997, the route started from Sheung Shui, Lok Ma Chau, and ended in Shenzhen. In 1998, the route started at Tsing Ma Bridge and the end point was Hong Kong Internati onal Airport. In 1999, as a starting point in Central at Tsim Sha Tsui and passed by Western Harbour Tunnel, Cheung Tsing Tunnel, and as the end point, Sham Shui Po Sports Ground.In 2000, runners departured from the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, passed by Tsim Sha Tsui, Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade, and a crossed the Ting Kau Bridge and ended at the Sham Shui Po Sports Ground. In 2001 to 2007, it started from Miramar Hotel, Tsim sha tsui, and then passed by the West Kowloon Highway, Cheung Tsing Tunnel, Tsing Ma Bridge and Ting Kau Bridge exhumation of the Western Harbour Crossing, ended at the Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai. Start 2008 to 2009, the route of race was separated from the10 kilometres, Half-Marathon and Full-Marathon.The participants can follow their designated route. 10 kilometres race was first staged on Hong Kong Island Eastern Corridor. Participants are required to walk from Victoria Park on the Island Eastern Corridor in order to reach the starting point. The race end ing points was Victoria Park. Half-Marathon and Full-Marathon continued to start on Nathan Road and ended at Victoria Park. But Full-Marathon continued to run on Tsing Ma Bridge, Ma Wan, and Ting Kau Bridge. In 2010 to 2012, the 10 kilometres race was held on Hong Kong Island Eastern Corridor, and end at Victoria Park.Although Half-Marathon and Full-Marathon are started by Miramar Hotel and end of Victoria Park, Full-Marathon race was changed to Ngong Shuen Chau Viaduct, Stonecutters Bridge, East Tsing Yi Viaduct, Nam Wan Tunnel, Tsing Ma Bridge, Ting Kau Bridge, and Western Harbour Crossing than Half- Marathon. In conclusion, the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has been holding in urban area and the race track passes by score local landmarks. Participate can tour around the city such as Island Eastern corridor, Nathan Road, Tsing Ma Bridge, Stonecutters Bridge, etc. This is different from other running races.Because those routes are only for transportation, people normally ca nnot walk or run on the Tsing Ma Bridge, Ting Kau Bridge and other public facilities. Thus, participate can enjoy and find the route interesting. In overseas, the Marathon route shared similar characteristics . For instance, Tokyo Marathon is also held in urban area. In 2011, this event attract more than 350,000 participates to apply. But the participants need to draw by ballot. So the actual number is around 33,000. So we can know if the event can be held at downtown, it can attract more people to join.The routes are showed in Fig. 1 Tokyo Marathon and Fig. 2 Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. There are similar with both held the marathon in landmarks. Fig. 1 Fig. 2 3. 3. 2 Human Resource Management â€Å"Human resource management (HRM or simply HR) is the management of an organization's workforce, or human resources. It is responsible for the attraction, selection, training, assessment, and rewarding of employees, while also overseeing organizational leadership and culture, a nd ensuring compliance with employment and labor laws.In circumstances where employees desire and are legally authorized to hold a collective bargaining agreement, HR will typically also serve as the company's primary liaison with the employees' representatives. † The human resource management is including selection and training or briefing staff. And make sure staff understands the job duties and responsibility. Staff and Volunteer In 2012, 2800 Standard Chartered staff runners participated in the Marathon while another 700 volunteered to cheer or support on race day. Appendices xx) Among those volunteers their were Association of International Marathons and Road Races, Auxiliary Medical Service, Civil Aid Service, and Scout Association Hong Kong, and so on. (Appendices xx) There was a wide range of supporting volunteers and organization from commercial organizations, voluntary bodies, and to charitable organizations. The success of the event is found highly depending on the cooperation among them. Their duties include crowd control, logistics, and so on.Michael Armstrong, Joint Managing Partner of E-reward and an independent management consultant, said that business success is most likely to be achieved if the personnel policies and procedures of the enterprise are closely linked with, and make a major contribution to, the achievement of corporate objectives and strategic plans. Therefore, the management of staff and volunteers are critical to the success of the event. Ms Vivian So, the Executive Director of HKAAA, said that the marathon was success because of the enthusiastic staff and volunteers also worked hard and endeavour to finish the event.It raised the normal of event workers. This showed the marathon event was successful due to support from the staff and volunteers. In conclusion, the success of the marathon depends on the preparation of the job descriptions to staff and volunteers. Since the duties are different. HKAAA should select the volu nteers well. HKAAA should ensure them understand the procedures well. HKAAA should provide sufficient briefings to its staff and volunteers before the race events. 3. 4 Publicity 3. 4. 1 Word of Mouth Word of mouth (WOM) is one of the importance factors for holding a successful event.Mr. Wong Ka Man, an committee of HKAAA, said that it lead to more people know Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon and feel interest in this event because of word of mouth. Mr. Wong also motion that â€Å"after few years for holding this marathon, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon was more corporate with media like Hong Kong Commercial Radio. Under eulogized, Standard Chartered Marathon was became a hot topic. Also, participants were post some event photo in the internet that attract many citizens attention and feel interest to participant. So we can that word of mouth is the importance factor. Word of mouth is a social communication between consumers or between businesses about a product, service or brand. People share and seek other opinions on consumption experiences. A desire to help other people drives consumers to provide advice to others while a desire to reduce risk and time in decision making pushes them to seek options from other consumers. Storytelling is the oldest form of word of mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up.Word of mouth depends on the extent of customer satisfaction with the product or service, and on the degree of its perceived value. Even without a direct and full control of word of mouth, companies can indirectly influence word of mouth by making sure consumers have many incentives to praise and no reason to talk about the negative aspects. Sports marketers must can take the expanded relationship into account. To do so, engage in positive word of mouth exchanges with other people. Word of mouth by event organizationBecause of positive word of mouth building, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon was doing something that let more people think this is a joyful event. Firstly, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon have had revamped official website (www. hkmarathon. com or http://hk. hkmarathon. yahoo. com) in 2002. This website has been designed and engineered by the renowned internet service provider Yahoo! Hong Kong. Up to now, except the related race information of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon on the website, there are also including â€Å"Activities†, â€Å"News†, Photo Gallery† and â€Å"Webcast† etc.Visitors can gain more information like pre-event promotional activities, pre-race activities, any news report, also review the exciting moments of the past few years and last event's highlights. People accept more positive information and image, so they may build up a confidence for this Standard Chartered marathon and feel a grand occasion that they need to participate too. Word of mouth by media Newspaper reports also hav e a lot of influence on the public image of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, the more positive reports for this event by the media, the more word of mouth can be built to help them to build the image.Because of knowing the covers range of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon report by all newspaper medias, what including Apple Daily, Ming Pao Daily News, South China Morning Post, any Free and overseas Newspaper. The reports will collected by using Wisers information Portal service system and with the keywords â€Å" / / / /Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon/Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon/Hong Kong Marathon/Standard Chartered Marathon† that search the number of related article between 1998-2012 (no data before 1998). Also these include the number of StandardChartered Hong Kong Marathon official Press release (no data before 2002). Source: Wiser Information Portal and Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon official press release Period| Number of Article| Number ofStandard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon official press release| 1/1/1998- 30/6/1998| 64| -| 1/7/1998-30/6/1999| 256| -| 1/7/1999-30/6/200| 219| -| 1/7/2000-30/6/2001| 247| -| 1/7/2001-30/6/2002| 299| -| 1/7/2002-30/6/2003| 375| 3| 1/7/2003-30/6/2004| 404| 5| 1/7/2004-30/6/2005| 468| 15| 1/7/2005-30/6/2006| 938| 29| 1/7/2006-30/6/2007| 805| 14| 1/7/2007-30/6/2008| 895| 11| /7/2008-30/6/2009| 1281| 10| 1/7/2009-30/6/2010| 1386| 7| 1/7/2010-30/6/2011| 1885| 12| 1/7/2011-26/3/2012| 2817| 13| According to the analysis the numbers of articles are increasing every year. And except in the first few years, the number of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon official press release had increased and so are the news reports. During 2005 and 2006, the number of press release and article doubled. After 2006, the official press release reduced, but the news reports still increasing. So that, we can see how the news reports caused stronger word of mouth.In analyzing of the official press release a nd the newspapers report from2002 to 2012, within the period from September to March, it was found that most of the news releases were reported from October and February. The race entry usually starts in October, so there were more news posted in this month, and there report are usually related the race information, apply state etc. Usually, around before the date of event applies entry 1-2 months, there also has had the report for pre- event promotion and help to attract more participants when thought this word of mouth.Since the race is held after Chinese New Year, so that Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon will be become the hot topic during February and that explain why most of the news report were written on this month and some on March. The news in this time are usually related the race, winners and champion feeling or comment. Other then print media, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon also gained a lot of electronic media exposure like CCTV, myTV, Magazine, internet too ls etc.Some difference sport magazines are like to report Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, like Sportsoho. Sometime, magazines are like make a interview with this event winner or coach. They present both feeling and professional knowledge and view to influence people to think that Standard Chartered marathon is a popular event as the participant of some outstanding contestant. Sportsoho is a popular monthly magazine, special for sport lover. There were some themes related Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon during October to March.According to the research, there were averages of 8 to 15 pages related to Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon in one issue of Sportsoho. The content was sicker as compare with other sports event and it can get a big help in word of mouth among the magazine readers. Journal of Advertising Research had motion that â€Å"There is a positive relationship between openness and word of mouth. People are more willing to forward a message to their frien ds. And this group people are intelligent, imaginative, curious, visionary, and emotionally responsive consumers. Also, people are easily influenced by each other and affect their decision making. Without created the word of mouth on some media, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon also did a lot of thing to building their image and tell the public that they have social responsibility. At the same time, word of mouth will be create and gain an effective effort. Word of mouth by celebrity For example, in 2005, Standard Chartered bank was sponsored HENRY WANYOIKE, who have lost his sight overnight in 1995, to raise fund for â€Å"SEEING IS BELIEVING†.Henry Wanyoike is a famous runner and used to gain a lot of awards in running before he lost his eye sight. People may really appreciate his firm and persistent, also they may take action to support this so meaningful raises fund. Another, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon also invites some famous celebrities as spokesmen. In 2004, this marathon had invited Alex Fong, a highly successful swimmer who represented Hong Kong at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and set several local records in the pool.Furthermore, Do Do Cheng, who is a famous artist in films and television in Hong Kong was once the event spokesperson. The public may trust what she said due to her positive image. So that they can really create some positive work of mouth as their support, and leading more people come to join this event. There are some celebrity will be join this marathon every years, they may like to share their preparation of race, race feeling and experience to public. There will be increase the attention after their word of mouth. Word of mouth by participantAs revealed from the result of our this marathon race focus group on the reason of the first time to participant in Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, most of the participants said that good of word of mouth and recommendation from their friends or families are the main reason. Also, all of respondents mentioned that they used to share their feeling and experience of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon to other people. In the focus group research, nearly 80% of the interviewers used Facebook to share their experience, and a great part of these massages are positive.Internet is the one of the extensively communication way for people send and received massages. In the internet, these are so many tools for us to express ourselves feeling. Facebook, yahoo blog, weibo and chatroom also are the popular tool in Hong Kong and abroad. Now, we are Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon was found successful in creating a special and unforgettable experience for participants. The participants will give their comments and express their experience in SCHKM to everyone on the internet. We had known that people like to forward a message to their friends, thus generated a social facilitation effect.In the internet search, it is not difficult can see the topic whi ch related Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon in the social network website, like facebook, weibo,and some popular chatroom etc. For example, one participant of this Standard Chartered marathon used to mention in her blog that she felt so great to join this event, and the feeling was so different between being the help and the runner. She thanked her friends who keep giving her the support. Also, she was wished everyone can do the best next year and appeal more people come to join together.The comment from his friends in his post, they were so agreed with her and promise to join together next year again. So, it can see that these social communications really work to exchange experience whatever friends or unknown, also direct to create word of mouth. Ms Vivian So had motion that an attraction of the event is important. If the events have attraction itself and give the happy experience, it can build word of mouth easily and a positive image, then these unforgettable memories will stay in their mind deeply. Ms So also said that Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon is attractive by itself.This event is a brand event in sports. Fun and good atmosphere of SCHKM have influenced many people. Because of this, word of mouth let one person to spread the message to ten people and grow exponential. 4 Findings 4. 1 The Value Important Performance Grid on Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon (Chart 7) As revealed from the analysis with the Value Important Performance Grid, we can identify and determine which value of the event attributes that need improvement. There are four parts including waste resources, people feels good, ignore and problem area.Among the 17 attributes studied in the survey, participants regarded 8 of them are well performed, with only one attributes found to have priority for improvements. This represents that participant will continue to be loyalty to join this event. According the Value Important Performance Grid, we found that Standard Chartere d Hong Kong Marathon have 8 attributes performing well and met the expectation of the participants. They are scale of the activity, word of mouth, transport arrangements, staffing arrangements, atmosphere, personal meaning, activity flow and support.Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has been a mega sports event in Hong Kong, the scale of the activity is large. This sports event attracts  a lot of media to  reports of every year and the number of participant has been increasing. In addition, then people have different feeling about Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. When the event has been organized, people have become more willing share with each other, thus creating word of mouth. Also, transport arrangements have been one of the important elements that to hold an event and participants are relatively satisfied with the arrangement.On the race day, MTR  provide special transportation arrangements that is the routes will open early to succeed the shuttle and  buses p rovide the relative transport arrangements  to pick up participants  to  the  race location. Furthermore, staff arrangements are important to the success. Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has been a mega event, with many people and organizations to orchestrate the event, including staff and helper, to help make this sports event holding smoothly. There are different training and briefing to staff and helper. The atmosphere of this sport event is has been very hot.The public knows about  the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Close to  the event holding date, people will see  a lot of promotion about this sports event,  such  as  television advertising  and newspaper  advertising. Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon have strong message bring out. Their slogan is â€Å"Run for a reason†, let people thinking Marathon for their own personal meaning. Each participant  has  their own personal  reasons  to attend  this event. Therefore th ey all have  different purposes  to participate this sports event. The interviewers also feet satisfied with the schedule of the activity. The sports event categories are clear.Apart from full marathon, half marathon and a 10 km run hold on different time, they found the racing schedules were much friendlier. Furthermore, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon needs different government departments, organizations and groups to support it. Without that, HKAAA is difficult to hold this sports event become a mega sports event. Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has many supported by different companies, patrons, agencies, organizations, groups and government departments. It is include Hong Kong Tourism Board, Leisure and Cultural Service Department etc that can help this sports event holding smoothly.In the other point, there are three attributes that people feel importance but the performances are not good, including information, sponsorship and guide. There problems need to be improved, to make the event more successful. The information attribute of the event is slighter lower in the performance, so compared with the importance. It need to carefully. Many people think that need to improve. They feel  that  the  information  is not very liquid, should know the message through the General Assembly announced. With regard to sponsorship, the attributes is average level but its performance is bad.Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has many companies sponsorship. Although Standard Chartered Bank is the title sponsor, the overall sponsorship is not attractive enough. Race participants expect more than the current level of sponsorship. Guide the importance is average but the actual performance is badly. This must need to improve. As a mega event, guideline must be clearly, let people easy to find where they can go. In race day, the race route do not have enough guideline, they do not have the way of cheer in en route, there are many cheer  group cann ot cheer  for the participants.In the Value Important Performance Grid, performance is high and importance is low area is mean not important but the performance is good, it is waste resources. According to the analysis, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon did not have attribute not important but the performance is good. That means HKAAA holding this event have little wastes of the resources. Besides, there are six attributes are not important and the performances are bad. This attributes can be ignored. They include enrollment process, promotion, social contribution, entertainment, application fee and souvenir. . 2 The SWOT Analysis on Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon SWOT Analysis is conducted in order to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and  Threats involved in Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. SWOT Analysis can identify the internal and external factors. HKAAA can ensure a clear objective that it is important part for event planning and achieve t heir objective. SWOT Analysis provides information that is helpful in matching HKAAA resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates.Moreover, SWOT Analysis can help us find out more, which is the potential problem and fault of Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. 4. 2. 1 Strengths Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has received a lot of sponsorship and been supported by different companies, patrons, agencies, organizations, groups and government departments. Standard Chartered Bank has been the title sponsor. Without which, HKAAA might not have sufficient resources to hold the event. Many patrons support this event, including the honourable Donald Tsang (Chief Executive, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region).The promotion has been well planned with advertisements on television, cover page on print media and has built a positive image. As a result, more people know this mega event. Ms Vivian So, the Executive Director of HKAAA said that increas e in the promotion has been one of the factors that can let more people attend this sports event. In addition, HKAAA has sent mails to past participants of Hong Kong Marathon, to remind them come to join this year Hong Kong Marathon. Promotions of a star players are quite effective point attract people to join this sports event.Moreover, there are theme songs of 2003- 2006 year. Since 2009 Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon provides touching slogan that remind people about Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon effectively and created word of mouth in the community. Also, they have good human resources support from include staff, helpers and volunteers. They are well co-ordinate to make this event run smoothly. Ms Vivian So, the Executive Director of HKAAA said that the  volunteers help  has been  a very important part than let more people care this sports event and make Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon  to  be conducted  successfully.For instance, this event was very good in planning and supporting, includes baggage, equipment food supplies etc. Apart from full marathon, half marathon and a 10 km run hold on different section time, crowd was controlled effectively. Participants were mostly satisfied with Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Moreover, HKAAA, as the event organizer had invited some overseas runners to join this event, and it can capture the international media attention about Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. Therefore created more media coverage let more local people and foreigners know about Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. . 2. 2 Weaknesses The event experienced some accidents in year 2001-2007, when the full marathon, half marathon and a 10 km run were arranged on the same track,  10 km and half- Marathon runners crowded  in  the  Western Harbour Tunnel. Besides,  some participants dressed in fancy costume, took pictures  and even  pushed baby trolleys on the race track ,  caused danger and ot her participants’  discontent. In the  2011  race,  the wheelchair  race was canceled. Many disabled athletes  could not participate in the race and felt disappointed. There also lack  toilets on the race track, making it inconvenient to some  participants.This is a quite an important problem. Participants feel bad about that and are not satisfied with the race route for having too few toilets to use. 4. 2. 3 Opportunities People began to focus on their health nowadays. According to our survey (Chart 5), 24% of the participants ran in the race for this reason. Therefore many people wanted to join this sports event. ‘Launched in April 2000, the â€Å"Healthy Exercise for All Campaign† is a territory-wide event jointly organized by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) and the Department of Health (DH). With the slogan of â€Å"Daily exercise keeps us fit, people of all ages can do it’.The Campaign aims at raising the public's awareness in exercising and encouraging them to exercise regularly so that they can understand the benefits of exercising to health. † This is an opportunity get more attention for Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. This can encourage more people to do more exercise and let them peruse their interest that is good for health. â€Å"As people  grow older, physical fitness decline,  and  wanted to do something  easier  sport. Running is a good choice to keep healthier. This sport equipment  to  acquire  are less expensive  and there is no strict requirements  on the  physical fitness.Most important of all, there is no opponent,  and can be  done anywhere. Reaching the  age of 30, friends, and family are usually busy at work. Finding sports  partner can  become increasingly difficult. † This massage brings out running is a good sport. As a result, many people have been more willing to join this exercise. â€Å"With five days  at work, it is difficult  to  find  time for exercise. In  fact,  I like a different ball games, but  with teammates  gradually busy at work,  practicing together has become difficult and, running has become my only  sport. Otherwise, busy life of Hong Kong can attract people running and let the public keen to go running. Gradually running becomes a public favorite sport. In  addition, Ms Vivian So, the Executive Director of HKAAA said that running  is easily accessible, even with no partner. It can be  flexible, and inexpensive, and without doing it in a team. Furthermore, there is no restrictions, need to rent a  venue;  individual can also participates in the run  without the need for special gear. † The lifestyle is more favorable to long distance race like Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon. 4. 2. 4 ThreatsStandard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has been one of the Hong Kong major running races. But there are many different running races in Hong Kong . Running races are confronted with strong competitiveness. These are about Mizuno Shing Mun River 10KM, UNICEF Charity Run etc. Marathon to race still face strong competition among themselves. HKAAA need to constantly improve the activities. Otherwise, Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon may be replaced by other running game. According to am730, road closure has been the one important problem to be a real mega event. Now participants needed to join the e

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Poverty in European Union Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Poverty in European Union - Essay Example According to Draxler, absolute poverty levels have continuously fallen in a uniform manner in the entire of the European Union as well as generally in the countries of OECD in the recent past. On the other hand, relative levels of poverty have been escalating. Further, he argues that this has a high connection to the predicaments of the creation of employment. He continues to argue that the social exclusion issue and the downright establishment of the underclass impacts several functions of the policies of society and more specifically and of essence to it are the policies of education. This predicament as Draxler continues to argue, may be having some outdated structural causes. It manifests itself in the numerous new ways, though. Most of the risks socially are highly correlated with the habits of the lifestyle. Some of the examples he has given are society’s post-scarcity, smoking and overfeeding on junk food. Such habits are further correlated with disparities socially. The problem of obesity according to him is of the ones with a status of low-income and has increased in terms of its impact on society, especially to UK. In UK, due to the effect of obesity on society, efforts are underway to change the legislative stipulations to ban the marketing of junk food. Policies relating to lifestyle are highly becoming a component of essence to the intervention by the state. (Draxler, 2006 pp31, 32) In this same line of the item of argument. The article by think-tank says that, UK and Germany form the largest economies of the EU member states. It further states that UK has the biggest levels of relative poverty in the entire EU as well as the largest disparity of incomes. On the other hand, in accordance to think-tank, Germany’s situation is the rise in levels of unemployment as well as child poverty. The approach of explanation by think-tank is that poverty is a predicament approached with three models of programs of

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Assignment1 with VHDL using Xilinx software version 10.1 Essay

Assignment1 with VHDL using Xilinx software version 10.1 - Essay Example A serial register operates serially, accepting and transferring data one bit at a time, while a parallel register operates on a parallel fashion accepting and transferring all the bits simultaneously. Since mere transferring or storing data in digital circuits is literally achieved by shifting the bits, the registers specifically used for storing and retrieval purposes without any manipulations, are called shift registers. A shift register is generally designed with a series of flip-flops connected in the form of a chain such that the output of one is connected to the input of the other expect the output of the last one which is the actual output of the circuit. A universal shift register is one that incorporates all the features that are applicable for shifting operations including parallel input/output, left/right-shift serial inputs, operating mode control inputs (S1 & S0) and direct overriding clear line (RESET), etc. 2. Design Overview For this assignment, a 4-bit universal shift register is designed in VHDL (VHSI Hardware Description Language) and simulated in VHDL IDE- Xilinx ISE. VHDL is generally used to write down the entire digital circuit description and its logic in the form of code or program. The circuit description is defined as entity and the logic as process. ... Schematic view of 4-bit universal Shift Register created in Xilinx ISE The input S1 and S0 act as control signals which determines the mode of operation of the shift register. The possible combination of the two signals along with the required mode of operation are summarised in the below table: S1 S0 Action 0 0 Hold (retain the previous state) 0 1 Shift left 1 0 Shift right 1 1 Parallel load 3. Design Solution Based on the above truth table for possible combinations of control signals, the state function table is derived for all combinations of input signals and control signals with respect to RESET and CLOCK signals and is summarised below: RESET Mode Clock Serial IN Parallel IN OUTPUTS _RST S1 S0 CLK SIL SIR D0 D1 D2 D3 Q3 Q2 Q1 Q0 0 X X X X X X X X X X X X X 1 X X Not ? X X X X X X Q3 Q2 Q1 Q0 0 0 0 ? X X X X X X Q3 Q2 Q1 Q0 0 0 1 ? 1 X X X X X Q2 Q1 Q0 1 0 0 1 ? 0 X X X X X Q2 Q1 Q0 0 0 1 0 ? X 1 X X X X 1 Q3 Q2 Q1 0 1 0 ? X 0 X X X X 0 Q3 Q2 Q1 0 1 1 ? X X D0 D1 D2 D3 Q0 Q1 Q2 Q3 X – don’t care condition low to high clock transition In order to achieve the above functionality using VHDL programming, behavioural approach of VHDL is employed in the process definition. This approach is chosen due to the fact that it is purely behaviour oriented and highly independent of the design implementations and will not change with changes in design approach for the same behaviour. The process is defined with the circuit’s behavioural architecture and the event attribute on the CLK signal is employed, to realize the clock signal state change. Since RESET signal is asynchronous and needs immediate action irrespective of the states of other inputs, RST is checked at the beginning of the process

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

ECONOMICS 1. The Managerial theories of the firm seek to provide Essay

ECONOMICS 1. The Managerial theories of the firm seek to provide models characterised by realism in motivation, whilst recognising the continued importance of profit in the corporate environment - Essay Example As income taxes have risen over the past historical era, the outright impact of salary or bonus increases has been moderated somewhat. The incremental tax on income in the UK and the US is at about 50%, when all local and national income taxes are taken into account. Thus the standard supply and demand relationship demonstrates a curve, as shown below. Since taxes climb with income, the curve's change in slope is more pronounced: As compared to the turn of the last century, when income taxes were less than 10%, the total impact of increases in wages has therefore moderated. The second influence on this moderation has been the increase on the value of leisure time (Kokoski 1987). As the value of leisure hours has increased, the amount which needs to be paid to offset the value of leisure time has also increased, all else being equal. Group incentives can take the form of income increases (salary and bonus) or non-monetary rewards, such as additional vacation days. From a microeconomics standpoint, there is no difference between group pay incentives and individual pay incentives. There are psychological differences which can be substantial, however, depending on the type of performance being rewarded. An extreme example of the point above is an individual whose personal rewards far exceed those of the group, and in achieving his goals may actually be a detriment to the shareholders. An example of this might be Robert Eaton, who was the Chairman of the Chrysler Corporation at the time that his company was approached by Daimler-Benz. Eaton agreed to a plan whereby Daimler-Benz would merge with Chrysler, and he sold the Board of Directors and employees' unions on the plan. What he didn't reveal was that he stood to gain over $100 million personally if the deal went through. The resulting hue and cry was that Eaton "sold out" Chrysler, which was borne out by subsequent events. Chrysler's largest shareholder at the time, the Tracinda Corporation1, sued Daimler-Chrysler for over $8 billion for erasing nearly $38 billion of market capitalization due to the transaction (CNN 2000). Figure 2: Reduction in share price since merger (CNN 2000) Thus a personal incentive (for Eaton) was in direct opposition to the interests of the shareholders. Stock Options Stock options have the advantage of better alignment with shareholder expectations. The theory is that managers are

Monday, August 26, 2019

IT - Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

IT - Project Management - Essay Example Despite the fact that the code of ethics may not be accepted in the academic field, universality may not be wide accepted because of difference in culture, and varied business environment. It is believed that ethical codes should be accepted across all the business environments and ethical principles arise (Cleland, & Gareis, 2006). There are various reasons that can be attributed to this. one is that since professional ethical codes are quite useful and that they share several grounds, they thereby increase the usefulness of adhering to the ethical codes. In adhering to the professional codes of ethics, accountability and standards are established within a profession. In a professional field where standards exist, one would use to evaluate his/her behaviors and compare with expectations from the profession code of ethics. When professionals have defined their ethical rules, they will easily identify on their limits on which to act upon. In setting up the accepted codes of ethics for professionals that they should attain at their minimum efforts, the standards will help push them to meet the expected practices and conducts. In practicing what the code of ethics actually states, the public will consider to be having value and professionals will be acting as examples to the reality. If professionals fully stick to the codes of ethics, they will be honored, and seen as reliable and be seen to practice faithfulness and follow what is good instead of doing what have been set to the as minimum acceptance. Trade-off is a case where one decides to lose quality in a given aspect but gain quality in another aspect in return. There are a number of players of tradeoff. In electricity, electrical engineering employs tradeoffs used in amplifiers to trade gain properties such as bandwidth, stability of the gain and bias point, immunity noise, and finally the distortion in the nonlinear is reduced. Information scientists employ tradeoffs as their tool of trade. They believe th at a given program may be faster in processing if more of its program is used. Such a tradeoff is termed space-time tradeoffs (Kerzer, 2009). It was not his. It was sussy’s In medicine, tradeoffs are faced with problems as far as tradeoff is concern. For instance, a prostrate cancer patient has to weigh the chances of a prolonged life expectancy verses treating stress. That kind of tradeoff is known as patient trade off. In tradeoff that exists in a government, the controversies that exist in politics and problems faced in the social arenas at a given time. Any kind of political event can be considered a series of tradeoffs, and that the foundation of it core vales are targeted to the politicians or high profile people. Trade-off can also be found in music; in this field, instruments of a soloist can be termed tradeoff since they perform the duties of a soloist. For instance, a lead guitarists performing in a musical group, the two shares a guitar solos. Tradeoff mainly appli es to a case where heavy metals are used during a twin guitars featuring. Project management experience documentation Project management concerns planning, controlling of resources so as to complete the project successfully thus achieving set goals. During my work in one of the constructing firms as a project manager, I ensured that all the stages that are to be undertaken and activities involved in the project were well planned. During the planning, all the teams who were in my function were involved. Before the project commenced,

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Effect of IT Industry on Literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Effect of IT Industry on Literacy - Essay Example For example a manual may require at least a week with a man power of ten to fifteen people whereas when it comes to an automation the same work can be finished off within a day with an employee of one o two who knows how to operate it. A number of examples can be cited where Information Technology has played a considerable role. We can take the banks before they were automated. There used to be a lot of difficulty and lot of time consumption for performing transactions. Cashing a check involved a lot of time as the balance had to be calculated manually. But Information Technology has revolutionized banking sectors. Any kind of transaction can be performed within seconds from creating an account to withdrawing cash. And the introduction of ATMs(Automated Teller machines) has made the work even much more simpler in which the user can take money whenever he or she likes and need nor carry the exact amount of money. The IT industry has created a lot of opportunities as well in terms of employment and also with special incentives and packages which no other fields are offering. And also IT sector had a lot of influence of the education sector. Computer education is being provided from early years of education itself. This helps children to cope up with the coming years since they would have firm foundation in computers. Also special emphasis is being given in terms of application programming and also to games. Games help children to improve creativity and also form a kind of entertainment and refreshment. Similarly exposure to internet has also helped since internet is considered to be the largest storage of knowledge and the child can get any sort of information on whatever topic or subject he or she is interested in. It also makes learning easy and interesting. Information technology provides for students to develop and exercise their critical thinking abilities. Information conveyed through advanced information technology such as computers and the World Wide Web can appear more convincing than the same information conveyed through a conversation with a stranger or the newspaper, despite the fact that it may have equiva lent accuracy and validity. Students must evaluate all information critically. Their ability to present information using information technology can aid in developing an ability to separate form from content in all information, and in assessing its accuracy and validity. The result is a more critical evaluation of all information. Such critical ability helps individuals to evaluate information technology-mediated claims for alternative medicines, advertisements for energy-efficient homes, and homework advice from peers. Hence it can be observed that the IT industry has many positive aspects on literacy and education. One of the reasons is that IT has been made to reach even the remote places these days. In the past computers were only subjected to large offices and sectors. Even the internet was limitedly available. But slowly due to advancement in technology an attempt has been made to reach technology to every one and everywhere. This had been dome mainly due to the benefits which this particular field has got. These are the advantages of the IT field. But there are many negative aspects of IT sector as well. IT has definitely promoted literacy. But it has

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Review the Capstone case Chaplinsky v New Hampshire on pages 310-311 Essay

Review the Capstone case Chaplinsky v New Hampshire on pages 310-311 of your textbook. Briefly discuss the issue the court had t - Essay Example 135). The court said it did not contribute to any meaningful benefit to a healthy discussion of ideas and that social order and morality are much more important than allowing someone to use profanity to castigate one type of religion by using free speech. The court’s ruling – the judge ruled that profanity has no place in society because it is a different matter altogether as compared to mere obscenity. Profanity already involved God’s name being used in a disparaging or unflattering manner and should therefore be disallowed. Although previous court rulings had nullified anti-blasphemy laws in the United States before this case (such as Cantwell v Connecticut), the judge in this capstone case drew the line as it pertains to certain acts not allowed under guise of the First Amendment protection (ibid.). The rationale – a justification behind this precedent-setting case is that there are limits to First Amendment rights. Profanity is not allowed in the same manner obscenity is outlawed and protection under First Amendment extends only to legitimate political, religious or social discussion of ideas in the spirit of free and open dialogue. It does not allow derogatory words. Moreover, the larger implication of this ruling was it reinforced the separation of the Church and State in that no single religion is favored over other religions (Christianity was favored in earlier times being the majority religion).

Friday, August 23, 2019

The Current And Potential Use Of Knowledge Management Within The Essay

The Current And Potential Use Of Knowledge Management Within The Airline Industry - Essay Example The Current And Potential Use Of Knowledge Management Within The Airline Industry The various sectors of both AirAsia and the Malaysian Air travel industry were considered and the study research conducted on how they have strategized their operations in order to reap the good benefits of Knowledge Management (AirAsia 2007). The key aspects of Knowledge Management with concern to the airline industry included the information communication technology, organizational learning that involves collective approach towards gaining intellectual capital by the organization, and knowledge sharing that is done between various organizations and institutions either within or externally to acquire better skills and knowledge (Christensen 2007). An industry analysis was conducted and it was clear that the Malaysian Air Services is an oligopoly. It was found out that ICT had been used in innovation, knowledge development and utilization and knowledge capitalization whereas organizational learning and knowledge sharing were so fruitful in improving the modus operandi and new business development for the two airlines. It was thus recommended that the AirAsia knowledge management practices needed to support their expanding business besides sustenance of its cost-leadership advantage and MAS would have to face challenges of its hybrid strategy of competitive pricing and differentiation that would in turn make its brand recognized as a five-star value carrier. (Oxford Business Group 2007). 2.0 Introduction The term Knowledge Management is a diverse field though does not have a specific common definition throughout the universe. In a general sense this is the collective use of skills, principles, facts and rules embodied in a firm’s knowledge assets to add value to the organization by gaining competitive knowledge over othe r firms (Stonehouse and Pemberton, 1999).Knowledge Management is a prerequisite to successful operation by various companies in the current hyper-competitive and ever-dynamic environment where survival can only be a product of their ability to develop longing knowledge-based competencies which can be easily adapted (Nonaka, 1991).though it be difficult to manage, it is most likely that it is the most strategic organizational asset (Shepard, 2000) and is the dominant way of gaining competitive advantage. Knowledge can be classified as either generic or specific though to a certain degree specific knowledge is unique to the firm hence it is more likely source of competitive advantage and is the basis of main competences in comparison with generic knowledge which is even so necessary for business operation (Stonehouse and Pemberton, 1999).the airline industry with its very competitive nature, dynamic stance, complexity alongside its high dependence on knowledge management gives

Discussing Linguistics Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussing Linguistics Issues - Assignment Example â€Å"Phatic Communication† refers to everyday small talk. It may consist of repeatedly and trite phrases. However, it is impossible to live without any phatic communication throughout the day regardless of how clichà ©d it appears to be. It may be verbal or non-verbal. Verbal communications would include " hi" and "hello", small talk about weather, sports and politics, while non-verbal communications would consist of waving to a friend at the bus stop or ending a business deal with a firm handshake. In the cyber world, chat rooms are a perfect example of phatic communications. Phatic communications are usually devoid of any facts or figures or useful information, but it helps an individual, to a great extent, to socialize with ease and to remain in touch with one's colleagues, friends, family members without putting any pressure to be informative on him or her (Michael Pollick) Meaning of a word refers to a feature common to all scenarios. That means a word would carrying all meanings, which would be appropriate socially, culturally and also conforms to reality. However, the true and complete meaning of a word is only understood when used while socializing with other people. However, there is never one meaning of the word. Different people use a word differently, in different situations. "Social Meaning" refers to the meaning of a word that is most commonly used. A word may have many meanings but there might be few or one that is most frequently used by people while communicating and socializing with other people this is the "social meaning" of the word. (Bloch, Trager,1942)

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline Essay Example for Free

Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline Essay Although significant oil reserves have been found in the early 1970s, these could not be developed because: 1- Chad is a landlocked country with limited domestic demand; 2- civil war prevented the creation of a stable investment environment and caused the departure of several investors. Since peace was established in 1990, investors and the World Bank returned to Chad for developing its oil reserves. In order to justify the large investment, access to the world market was sought via a pipeline through Cameroon, which is also a relatively poor country that can benefit from the investment and transit revenues. The World Bank has been supporting natural resource extraction based development around the world and, in particular, in Africa as the primary driver for economic growth and poverty reduction in these countries. But, the Bank has also been heavily criticized for failing to achieve these goals as the revenues from resource development do not reach the majority of the society. With the Chad-Cameroon pipeline and oil development in Chad, the Bank and the companies are following a novel partnership and revenue management approach. How is the project financing different? How will this new approach work? Will Chad and Cameroon benefit from this approach? Background1 Upon getting its independence from France in 1960, Chad has been involved in 30 years of civil war. The peace was finally restored in 1990, and the country drifted towards multiparty democracy, until rebellion broke out again in the north of the country. In January 2002 peace treaty was signed confirming de jure reign of northern ethnicity. Chad is one of the least developed nations on earth with GNI per capita of around $200. Republic of Chad is ranked 165th of 175 countries in UN’s Survival Ranking. The agricultural sector accounts for 36% of Chad’s GDP. Cotton exports account for 50% of foreign currency earnings. Chad’s government is concerned about this dependence on cotton and wants to diversify its economy in order to mitigate vulnerability associated with volatility of the international price of cotton. Chad’s only significant natural resources are oil deposits. Being independent since 1960, Cameroon has developed a rather stable political system, based on ethnic oligopoly. Despite of vast natural resource base (including oil, natural gas and aluminum) the country is one of the poorest in the world, with GNI per capita of roughly $600 in 2002. According to World Bank classification Cameroon is an HIPC (heavily indebted poor country) with total debt of $4. 9 billion and outstanding short-term debt over $950 million. Cameroon is in Top-15 countries with highest HIV rate (around 12%) and in Top-30 infant mortality rate. Economic and social development information on this section comes from the World Bank web site, CIA Fact Book, and U. N. Human Development Report. Â © Center for Energy Economics. No reproduction, distribution or attribution without permission. Chad-Cameroon Pipeline 1 1 Case Study From Since 1990, being faced with a fall in GDP due to unfavorable prices on major exported goods; Cameroon has been engaged in several World Bank and IMF programs, aimed at poverty reduction and acceleration of economic growth. As a result annual GDP growth averaged 2. 1% through 1990-2001, compared to 3. 4% in 1980s. Oil Development Conoco became the first foreign oil company to undertake significant oil exploration in Chad with acquisition of the Chad Permit H concession in 1969. Between 1973 and 1975, oil was discovered in varying amounts in the Doba, Doseo, and Lake Chad basins, that led to the creation of a multinational consortium comprising Conoco (12. 5% and operator), Royal Dutch/Shell (37. 5%), Exxon (25%), and Chevron (25%). In 1981 all the exploration projects were stopped due to escalating civil war. In 1988 a convention was signed between the government of Chad and the consortium, granting exploration permit with term of validity until early 2004. Conoco withdrew from the project, and Exxon took over operations, discovering the Bolobo field in 1989 with estimated 135 million barrels of reserves. 3 Chevron, in its turn, sold its share (20% interest in the Block H hydrocarbon license containing the three fields) to Elf Aquitaine, in 1993.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Effect of Social Media on Political Participation

Effect of Social Media on Political Participation Has social media led to substantial changes in citizens’ repertoires of political participation? In the past few decades, an upsurge in the use of social networking sites (SNS) has been witnessed (Bode et al., 2014). Ever since the emergence of social media, the deliberation of how and to what extent they altered the way people engaged in politics has been ardently discussed. To understand this question, one should first examine it in two directions, the definition of social media and political participation, before moving on to the discussion of whether or not there are changes over time. Undoubtedly, any authority would be ill-advised to underestimate the power of the internet. If using the internet and sending text messages can modify the foreground of a nation and overturn ingrained authoritarianisms; if they have the ability to change the fortune of an unknown man into an overnight star; if they have magic for fixing the ‘illness’ of the society by pressuring governments, is it possible for anyone to resist using these types of media to achieve their goals? It is an undeniable fact that the current society is a world where all kinds of social media are almost inevitable. Since the launch of social media over 10 years ago, one can fairly address that there have been some enormous changes in people’s everyday lives. According to Jeroen Van Laer and Peter Van Aelst, â€Å"A notable feature of recent public engagements with the internet is its use by a wide range of activists and groups engaging in social and political protest† (Aelst et al., 2010). Tufekci and Wilson (2012) provided an example of this statement. They noted that, â€Å"Since the ‘‘Arab Spring’’ burst forth in uprisings in Tunisia and in Egypt in early 2011, scholars have sought to understand how the Internet and social media contribute to political change in authoritarian regimes† (Tufekci et al, 2012). The two mentioned assertions of each scholar have shed some light on the influence of the internet. This essay will deal with the following aspects of the question of whether or not social media reforms the means of civic participation in politics, a) what is political participation; b) what is the role of social media in the sense of taking part in the policy-making procedure. Finally, the essay will be concluded by the outcome of the discussion in question. To begin with, the definition that was given by Boyle and other scholars in ‘Expressive responses to news stories about extremist groups: A framing experiment’, they proposed that the term ‘‘expressive action’’ included talking to friends and family about politics, sending letters to the editor, contacting public officials and attending rallies (Boyle et al., 2006). However, as Rojas, H. and Puigà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Abril, E mentioned in their journal (2009), â€Å"Verba et al. (1995) narrowly define political participation as ‘an activity that has the intent or effect of influencing government action–either directly by affecting the making or implementation of public policy or indirectly by influencing the selection of people who make those policies’ (Rojas et al., 2009). Either way, one thing is clear, political participation is a set of activities to affect who decides or decision itself in any possible way. In ‘Mobilizers mobilized: Information, expression, mobilization and participation in the digital age’, a number of hypotheses were suggested by Rojas, H., and Puig-Abril. These hypotheses embodied a model explaining the cycle of the interactions between Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as Figure 1 they proposed below. As the result of their study, assumptions of informational uses of ICT resulting expending expressive behaviours in the online sphere are sturdily supported. Furthermore, the relative significance of blogs as a source of information that accelerates such expressive behaviours is also suggested in this study. Nevertheless, one interesting result was noted that there is no support for a direct relationship between online expressive behaviours and offline participatory behaviours. This implies that online political activists may not be as enthusiastic as they are online when it comes to taking part in the policy-making procedure offline (Rojas et al., 2009). Political participation on social media is referred to as ‘political SNS use’ by Bode (2014). The definition of ‘political SNS use’ is using SNS for political intentions, for example, displaying a political preference on one’s profile page or becoming a ‘fan’ of a politician (Bode et al, 2014). However, another argument suggested that while one is studying ‘political SNS use’, the disadvantages that it presented should not be overlooked. One example of this is addressed in one of Clair Cain Miller’s articles of The New York Times. Miller stated that due to the convenience that the internet provides, it is useful for promoting events, such as the Arab Spring to the Ice Bucket Challenge. However, people might be reluctant to express themselves because of the urge for obtaining recognition (Miller, 2014). With the exact reason, people tend to interpret the various signals in social media, as liked or hated. As these signa ls become clearer, the reluctance of people to express their views online increases; hence, the differentiation between the different positions will turn into a more serious situation and those who share the same or similar points of view will be even more unified (Miller, 2014). Citing from Bode’s journal, â€Å"although social networking sites were not originally conceived of as political tools, politicians have quickly adapted to use them as such (Bode et al, 2014). The internet has given civil society new tools to support their claims. In the recent years catchphrases, such as, ‘‘Twitter Revolution’’ or ‘‘Facebook Revolution’’ have been high-lighted (Tufekci et al, 2012). However, one should keep in mind that social media alone did not cause the revolutions and demonstrations (Joseph, 2012). In the case study of the Arab Spring, it was the urgent need of four things; namely, justice(Adala), freedom (Hurriya), dignity (Karama), and respect (Ihtiram) which pushed the citizens participating in those protests, and social media merely played the role of supporting the combustion by providing the platform for exchanging and spreading the information. Due to the falling costs and expanding capabilities of mobile phones, the traditional communications have been enriched with capacities of taking pictures and videos. Within the past decade, communities in which it had long been difficult to access information were converted into massive social experiments fuelled by an explosion in channels of information (Aelst et al., 2010). The evolution of new communication technologies brought new forms of political communications. In Jeroen Van Laer and Peter Van Aelst’s journal, they categorised 4 new forms of political communication; namely, a) Internet-supported action with low thresholds. In this category, donation of money, consumer behaviours, and legal protests and demonstrations are involved. It is believed that donating money is the most primary way to engage in a social movement that involves almost no risks or commitments (Aelst et al., 2010). b) Internet-supported action with high threshold, which means transnational demonstrations, transnational meetings, and Sit-in / occupations and more radical forms of protest. One case study of this section is the Harvard Progressive Student Labour Movement at Harvard College. The incident was for demanding higher living wages for the institution’s security guards, janitors and dining-room workers. This movement was initiated with the occupation of several university administrative offices in 2001. Eventually, the ‘real-life ’sit-in at Harvard College was accompanied with a ‘virtual sit-in’ in order to increase media attention and to broaden the pressure on administration officials (Constanza-Chock 2003;Biddix Park 2008). c) Internet-based action with low threshold. This includes actions that are solely performed online: online petitions, email bombs and virtual sit-ins. Any Face book user can generate a group to protest or support a specific cause and invite other members to ‘sign’ this cause by taking part in this group. d) Internet-based action with high threshold. This involves Protest websites, Alternative media sites, Culture jamming, and Hacktivism. The definition of culture jamming was coined by Stolle and other researchers, â€Å"changes the meaning of corporate advertising through artistic techniques that alter corporate logos visually and by giving marketing slogans new meaning (Stolle et al., 2005). These ‘attacks’ are all blurring the line between what is legal and what is not. These tactics are then labelled as ‘electronic civil disobedience’, ‘hacktivism’ or as ‘cyber terrorism’, and depends on the point of view (Denning 2001; Vegh 2003). Using and managing social media as a participatory tool is not the same thing. The real challenge is how to utilize social media to properly take part in the decision-making process. It is indeed that the world needs diverse voices and with the help of social media, everyone is granted the power to ‘have a say.’ Social media did not merely become a tool in hands for those who actively want to have a say, they also bind the communities which were not asked to take actions previously. However, one should bear in mind that ‘saying what’ is the most crucial part of participating in politics. The results from Bode’s study are compelling,†-political SNS use is not a dead-end, but instead provides an impetus for greater political participation (Bode et al, 2014). Perhaps it is worth acknowledging here that social media have indeed changed the citizens’ repertoires of political participation. The evidence is compelling, although there are some op posed arguments. The development of ‘political SNS use’ is promising and is a study worthy for future research. Bibliography Biddix, J. P. Park, H. W. (2008) ‘Online networks of student protest: the case of the living wage campaign’, New Media Society, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 871–891. Bode, L., Vraga, E. K., Borah, P., Shah, D. V. (2014). A New Space for Political Behavior: Political Social Networking and its Democratic Consequences.Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(3), 414-429. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12048 Boyle, M. P., Schmierbach, M., Armstrong, C. L., Cho, J., McCluskey, M. R., McLeod, D. M., et al. (2006). Expressive responses to news stories about extremist groups: A framing experiment. Journal of Communication, 56, 271–288. Constanza-Chock, S. (2003) ‘Mapping the repertoire of electronic contention’, in Representing Resistance: Media, Civil Disobedience and the Global Justice Movement, eds A. Opel Pompper D. Praeger, London, pp. 173–191. Denning, D. E. (2001) ‘Activism, hacktivism, and cyberterrorism: the internet as a tool for influencing foreign policy’, in Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy, eds J. Arquilla D. Ronfeldt, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, pp. 239–288. Joseph, S. 2012. ‘Social Media, Political Change and Human Right’, Boston College International Comparative Law Review. Laer, J. V. Aelst, P. V., (2009) INTERNET AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTACTION REPERTOIRES.Information, Communication Society,13(8). Available at: http://www.academia.edu/262038/Internet_and_Social_Movement_Action_Repertoires_Opportunities_and_Limitations> [Accessed: February 19, 2015]. Miller, C. C., 2014. How Social Media Silences Debate.The New York Times, [Online]. 0, 0. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/upshot/how-social-media-silences-debate.html?abt=0002abg=1 Rojas, H., Puigà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Abril, E. (2009).Mobilizers mobilized: Information, expression, mobilization and participation in the digital age.Journal of Computerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Mediated Communication, 14(4), 902-927. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01475.x Stolle, D., Hooghe, M. Micheletti, M. (2005) ‘Politics in the supermarket: political consumerism as a form of political participation’, International PoliticalScience Review, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 245–269. Tufekci, Z. Wilson, C., 2012. Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations From Tahrir Square. Journal of Communication. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01629.x/pdf> [Accessed: February 19, 2015]. Vegh, S. (2003) ‘Classifying forms of online activism: the case of cyberprotests against the World Bank’, in Cyberactivism. Online Activism in Theory and Practice, eds M. McCaughey M. D. Ayers, Routledge, New York, London, pp. 71–95. Verba, S., Schlozman, K. L., Brady, H. E. (1995). Voice and equality: Civic volunteerism in American politics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press