China and Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

China and Japan - Essay Example It has evolved and changed, during the 20th century. Many ethnic groups have existed in China. The pre-eminent ethnic group is the ‘Han Chinese’. Most social values are derived from Confucianism and Taoism with a combination of conservatism. Reincarnation and rebirth is the connection between real-life and the next-life. Spoken Chinese consisted of a number of Chinese dialects. The ancient written standard was Classical Chinese and it was used for thousands of years, but was mostly reserved for scholars and intellectuals. A large part of Chinese culture is about finding the balance of Yin and Yang in relation to Qi, in order to find harmony. Chinese medicine consists of a number of treatments including Chinese herb logy and acupuncture. Other forms of health improvement include meditation. Japanese culture has evolved from the ‘Jomon’ culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America. Archaeological research indicates that people were li ving on the islands of Japan as early as the upper paleolithic period. Japanese is written with a combination of three different types of scripts: Chinese characters ‘Kanji’ and two syllabic scripts, ‘Hiragana’ and ‘Katakana’. The Hindu-Arabic numerals are generally used for numbers, but traditional Sino-Japanese numerals are also commonplace. Japanese sculptures mainly settled on the subject of Buddhist images. Wood has traditionally been used as the chief material. The oldest sculpture is a wooden statue of 'Amitabha'. 'Chanoyu' and 'Ikebana' are the traditional rituals. The most popular professional sports are Sumo, Judo, Jujutsu and Kenjutsu. Political view of China and Japan:- The deadlock of the Chinese Civil War has resulted in two political states: the People's Republic of China (PRC), known as China, which controls "China proper" as well as Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Xingjian, Hong Kong, and Macau; and the Republic of China (ROC), known as Taiwan, which controls the island of Taiwan and its surrounding islands. The PRC is governed under the one-party system by the Chinese Communist Party, but the ROC has moved towards democratic government. After the founding of the PRC, both states claimed to be the sole legitimate ruler of all of "China". The ROC had more international support but most international diplomatic recognitions have shifted to the PRC. Both regimes use diplomatic and economic means to compete for recognition in the international arena. Currently, the PRC is recognized by most world organizations such as the World Health Organization and the International Olympic Committee. Today, there are 24 U.N. member states that maintain official diplomat ic relations with the ROC while the majority of the U.N. member states maintain official diplomatic relations with the PRC. Japan is recognized as a liberal democracy with free and fair elections, has operated with a dominant-party system known as the Liberal Democratic Party. It takes place in a framework of a parliamentary- representative- democratic- monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Japan is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Japan is generally considered a constitutional monarchy, based largely upon the British system with strong influences from European continental civil law countries such as Germany and France. The Emperor of Japan is "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people" and exercises a purely ceremonial role without the possession of sovereignty. The constitution is called "the Pacifist

Module 4 BHM415 (AUG2014-1) (CASE)Consumer Driven Health Care (SLP) Essay

Module 4 BHM415 (AUG2014-1) (CASE)Consumer Driven Health Care (SLP) - Essay Example Moreover, CDHC create an awareness of health care to consumers. With this awareness, consumers are able to weigh prices from different providers and select medical service that best suits them financially and as a result, service providers will re-price and re-package their services, in competition of patients, determined by quality and price and in the long-run the services become quality and affordable (Catherine, 2010). Furthermore, the American patients are able to utilize the internet in browsing the medical journals freely as well as the libraries for information that was not previously available to them. The parents can comfortably test their children for any ear infection while at home. This is made easy since the parents can make use of the over the counters do it yourself diagnostic kits and this assists is saving the parents from unnecessary trips to the healthcare providers. CDHC offer several services like health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement agreements (HRAs) where in each account; there is a function for deposit, accumulation, and withdrawal of payments. With health savings accounts (HSAs), the contribution deposited into the account is tax-advantaged and various medical costs are covered by the account thus cutting down on consumers healthcare cost. On the other hand, health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) are employer-sponsored and allow employees accumulate funds to cover their health care expenses. These expenses are employer-funded and the employer define how much to set aside for each employee, based on how much he can afford (Hughes, Root, & Roehrig, 2007). Nearly half (45 %) of the population in the U.S are estimated to have been infected with some type of chronic condition. Using the CDHC systems, these patients who are infected with the chronic infections can control their healthcare as well as manage their conditions e asily something that was not possible in

Insurance case studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Insurance case studies - Essay Example I would not approve Mr. Farid’s application for income protection insurance because he already had a heart valve disorder. Considering the nature of his job and the insurance cover he is taking, I would not accept his application because he does not abide by the principle of utmost good faith. Also, Mr. Farid provides information that is not in accordance with his daily tasks. Prudent Insurance Inc. should deny the claim and not pay Mr. Farid. Mr. Farid took advantage of the broker’s lack of knowledge about his job description and the various tasks that he executes. Mr. Farid does not obey the doctrine of utmost good fait, and even says he is a director at general merchandise Selling Company. The policy compensates the insured against accident and illness that makes him or her to terminate work. In the case of Mr. Farid, his condition may have resulted form the fact that his heart valve was already ill at the time he was taking the insurance policy. He did not stop working as a result of the insured risks. The number of activities Mr. Farid submitted, with their corresponding hours are not enough to cause him terminate his job. The principle of utmost good faith requires the insured to disclose all material facts to the insurer or broker. This applies regardless of the fact that the insurer asked specific questions or not. Mr. Green is bound by this doctrine of insurance to have provided all details concerning himself, including a domestic dispute that took place in January 2009. The contract law requires the policyholder to disclose all information particularly that which may affect the decision of the prudent insurer (Skipper & Kwon, 2007). The underwriter would have reconsidered accepting to cover Mr. Green, as well as the amount of premium to charge on the risk (UNLOCK, 2011). Also, the underwriter may rule the contract null and the

Drilling at the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve Essay

Drilling at the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve - Essay Example Nonetheless, it is high time that people agreed on drilling on the refuge. The U.S should drill in the ANWR because it would add economic value, reduce dependency on foreign petroleum, and because the plan has immense support from Alaskans. An essential reason to drill in the ANWR is to add economic worth of the US. It is of immense profit not only to Alaskans but also to all American to explore the area for economic value. Economic and other remuneration of ANWR oil are of much implication that even conservationists should concur to consent drilling since even they might profit directly from the venture. America’s reliance on oil from countries that are constantly either politically unsteadies, or at variance with the U.S subjects. The U.S economy irregularly delivers disruptions, price hikes and trouncing of wealth. In the recent past, U.S has spent over 7 trillion defending hefty foreign oil, money that is more than what the U.S has spent in all the wars it has fought since the revolutionary war. America’s cost of Middle East oil is projected at fifty billion dollars each year. From all these expenses that stretch the U.S economy subjecting the citizens to grave economic crisis it is vital to explore the ANWR oil. By drilling the ANWR, this will enable the American economy to progress, as several costs will be minimized. Therefore, quick response should be taken to start exploring the oil reserves in ANWR to ease the economic burden on the American citizens. This will also take off the emotional stress, placed on the U.S, due to frequent loss of lives of soldiers’, things that are not always reflected on the imported oil price tags. The constructive significance on the U.S economy is enormous. More than 80 percent of the theoretically recoverable gas is commercially developable at a gas price of around $25 per barrel. The recoverable oil in Alaska generally, is presumed that, creation from Alaska would reduce oil imports by an equal amou nt. The latent ANWR oil improved would have a worth between $125 and $350 billion (kitchen & Burger, 1). Another critical reason to drill in the ANWR is to help the U.S to reduce its dependency of foreign oil manufacturers. It is vital to sustain drilling in this hefty area in Alaska as a method of reducing dependence on foreign, and often hostile, sources of petroleum. Taking into consideration the U.S’s present political intervention in conflicts, in the Middle East, as well as the shortage of other practical supply of petroleum, it is inevitable drilling in the ANWR as a requisite to secure and defend the interests of the country (Corn, 97). Supporters also include organizations that facilitate support extensive employment, including factions such as the Teamsters, was in favor of drilling in ANWR since it would generate a bulky sum of newly formed jobs. It is a monumental step in designing new jobs in a country facing several layoffs and recession problems, which hugely a ffect the Americans lives. Drilling for oil and natural fuels would create numerous jobs for the American public in a time where work is abundantly needed. Jobs would not only be available in the state of Alaska, but in every single state across the United States (Trapp 76). A further reason to drill in the ANWR is that many Americans are in support of the initiative. One of the main arguments against

Truth and the characters in this act Essay Example for Free

Truth and the characters in this act Essay Arthur Miller wrote this play in accordance and reference to the persecution placed upon him and many others by the committee of un-American activities. He was persecuted for his way of thinking, and this inspired him to write the book The Crucible to make people realise that history is repeating. In his mind, the way he and the other communists were treated bared a great likeness to that of the witches of Salem and the way the Jews were treated during the holocaust. This, I think, is why the book and then the play had such a large effect on the country and the way the un-American activities committee treated the so called Comunists. In the sixteen hundreds Salem was ruled by a theocracy so their ideas of truth and justice would have varied from ours. The puritans ideology was that if the bible says its so, its so. Most of us are now aware that most of the bible is not to be taken literally, but symbolically. With relevance to the witch-hunt the puritans believed that no one would lie about something of such importance as witchcraft, after all god damns all liars and what puritan in their right mind would wish damnation upon themselves. Of course we know that the girls had no fear about lying to ensure they get their own way. So if anyone was accused they had to be guilty, and the only way they could save their lives would be to confess to witchery. If they did not confess they would be hung or killed by other means. This to me is a queer justice, as I should hope it is to you or any other fellow human. This however was not the case and many people died, these people can thank a foolish ideology for their death. In my mind the way and personality of the people of Salem did nothing to help the matter, in particular John Procter and Abigail Williams. Again the matter truth and honesty arises. John and Abigail, having had an affair were both adulterers, if they were to confess this their name would be blackened. However if the truth was to arise John and Elizabeths names would be cleared of the crime of witchery and Abigails true motives would have been made clear. So if John and Elizabeth had been entirely truthful with the court they both would have survived. On the other hand if Abigail and the other girls had been truthful from the outset, the only punishment that would have been administered was a public flogging. But we must not overlook the fact that regardless of the previous lies one more lie would have saved them all. If they had confessed to the crime they would have been free. It seems that the epiphany of honesty struck at the wrong time. As the maid to the Proctors, an official of the court and one of the accusing girls, Mary Warren had the power to stop all this foolishness. In act III Mary, with a little encouragement from Procter, does confess and tells the judges that it is all a false but she soon withdraws that claim when she herself is accused. There is a great change in Marys character from acts I and II through III and IV. I think this is probably due to her supreme maturity to the other girls, she realises exactly how foolish she had been and what problems her lies were causing. Proctors behaviour affected the people of Salem in a great many ways. Primarily he was considered somewhat of a heretic due to the fact that he very rarely attended Holy Communion. He put this down to his dislike of Paris and his preaching of bloody hellfire and damnation I dont know how many believed this excuse. Secondly Proctor was not afraid to stand up to the court and tell them how ludicrous they were being about the witch-hunt and trials. He was also the first to admit false confession. In general I believe he was a big influence on the people of Salem. If proctor had confessed to his adultery earlier as his wife Elizabeth beckoned him to, things would have been very different, he would have been a sinner but he would be free. In my eyes there is no justice in Salem. I put this down to mostly one person and that persons judgement and ideology, Head judge Danforth. This is the main interrogator throughout the whole trial. He does his job very well, too well. He has a talent at getting somebody to say something and then he twists this into a confession or accusation. He is very manipulative. Towards the end of the book it starts to show how hell bent he is on killing people. The other judges notice this and when they attempt to prove him wrong or attempt to show him how foolish he is being, he interrupts them. He believes everything Abby says simply because he wants to kill people. He is obsessed with the pain, death and social rejection of others. Of course he is going to snap up every inkling of a hint of witchcraft. Perhaps he is mentally retarded or just I psycho. Another very manipulative character is Abigail. She is very successful, perhaps even more so than Danforth, at changing the way people think and even getting them to see things that arent there or Hallucinate. There are many examples of this. A good example of her mind-manipulation skills is in act III when Mary confesses the false of the accusations. She manages to get the other girls to think that the devil is present and that Mary is bewitching them. This convinces the Judges and Mary is accused of witchcraft and the confession falls through. Abigails methods are very cleaver she is a very good actor. She knows many sure ways of getting people to believe her. When she is trying to make out that Mary Warren is bewitching her, she knows exactly how to convince the judges. She is able to convince herself things are actually happening when they are not. This is why the look in her eyes, her screaming and her cowering etc. are so convincing, because she believes that the devil is there. In the final moments of the last scene the whole truth is revealed and the audience are manipulated to fell sorry for the Proctors and hate Abigail. And ultimately loose faith in goodness and perhaps even God. The scene is one of great emotion. Another very dramatic scene in the play is when Mary warren confronts the court to confess that the whole thing had been a lie. Not only does the sheer idea of the court finding out that they had convicted so many innocent people make it dramatic. In a desperate attempt to save themselves Abigail and the other girls claim that they can see Mary warren with the devil beside her. They start screaming and fainting and pretending to be cold, of course this is all a false but it makes the scene very dramatic.

Dawn of the (Evil & Symbolic) Dead Essay Example for Free

Dawn of the (Evil Symbolic) Dead Essay Over the past decade, interest in zombies in pop culture has sky rocketed. There have been over 100 games and movies featuring the living dead. George Romero’s 1978 film Dawn of the Dead, sequel to Night of the Living Dead, gives its audience insight into these evil symbolic structures known today as zombies. In this film, there are four survivors that take refuge in a huge shopping mall, sealing the doors and creating a zombie-free hideout. This movie is often referred to as one the best horror films of its time and a door way to today’s interest in zombies. Throughout the film, the four survivors deal with hundreds of zombies and at the climax are also having to deal with a biker gang. Although not all four of these characters survived, the mall was a perfect spot for the movie to take place according to a review done by the Spinning Image Company. â€Å"The mall is a brilliant location, not just for the satirical possibilities it offers Romero, but also for creating some clever, unsettling imagery,† said Daniel Auty in his review. Auty is speaking of the several times throughout the film where Romero would cut to a scene of just zombies roaming random parts of the mall. These zombies were different than what we see today however. â€Å"[The zombies] look silly, they fall over a lot, and Romero mostly shoots them in either broad daylight or the stark fluorescence of the mall† (Auty). The zombies in Dawn of the Dead appeared from the first minute without Romero giving any sort of insight on how it happened. So in order to understand the body in its monstrous state, one must know the origins of the zombie. Many scholars agree that the term zombie originated from the voodoo religion in Haiti. In â€Å"Slaves, Cannibals, and Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race and Religion of Zombies†, writer Elizabeth McCalister discusses these origins in great detail. â€Å"The word zonbi appears in writing as far back as colonial Saint- Domingue, glossed by travel writer Moreau de Saint-Mà ©ry as the slaves’ belief in a returned soul, a revenant†(3). The Haitians still heavily believe that this is a part of the spiritual world. They say that these entities separate the body and the soul and compel one to work without the other, in this case the body without the soul. Over the years, however, these origins have begun to vanish due to new forms of the zombies. In the early 20th Century, films began to show Eurocentric ideas that created African-Americans to be viewed as these zombie creatures. Films such as White Zombie (1932) and I walked with a Zombie (1943) â€Å"invariably cast black sorcerers plotting for conquest of and control over white women, and blackness is unmistakably linked with primitive menace, superstition, and the diabolical† (5). These views began to change by the time Romero’s films came out. Now this monstrous creature is as simple as â€Å"a ghoul who lumbers around trying to eat people.† Today’s society is used to seeing these ghouls in pop culture. Because of the more than 100 shows, movies and video games on the market now, people are more accepting of this idea of a â€Å"zombie apocalypse.† In many places, they have held events, such as 5K races and obstacle courses, that center around a zombie theme. In Muskegon, Michigan they held a zombie apocalypse day where civilians dressed as zombies and chased after those that were dressed as civilians. â€Å"Zombie participants got creative and tore up and stained their clothing. They also added scars and bloody makeup,† said an article in the Muskegon Chronicle. This goes to show how immune today’s society has become to the idea of these flesh-eating monsters. Not everyone is taking it lightly though as some have plans set in stone for when the apocalypse may happen. The CDC, Center of Disease Control, has its own website dedicated to a zombie outbreak. The blog includes a brief history of the creatures, a list of survival tools for a kit and their own plan for survival if it would ever happen. â€Å"If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak.† The CDC tells us that it would be taken just as seriously as any other disease, and thanks pop culture and today’s society in helping to prepare for that day. Christopher Moreman takes a look past the plan in his book Zombies Are Us: Essays on the Humanity of the Walking Dead. The author looks into a world that is already ruled by the dead and sees how society would have to live to survive. He speaks for society as a whole through one line by referencing the graphic novel The Walking Dead: â€Å"In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living† (5). The creatures in Romero’s Dawn of the Dead may not be the scariest or deadliest of monsters, but it is when they are in large numbers that they can cause havoc. It is hard to deal with hundreds of flesh eating monsters at once no matter how fast or intelligent they may be. Much of the films’ audience saw Romero’s zombie as a symbolic structure of other things that could take down America. McCalister analyzes all of Romero’s films on the living dead and the time frame that they were made. â€Å"Night of the Living Dead attacks the nuclear American family, patriarchy, and racism; Dawn of the Dead fastens its attention on the deadening effects of rampant consumerism; and Day of the Dead offers an indictment of militarism and American misuse of science and technology† (17). These things were on the minds of Americans in the time the movies were made. Now they can be related to something different such as the events going on in the Middle East. Stephen Asma takes a look into the torturing of Iraqi soldiers and how the Americans may be the ones viewed as the evil creatures. In his book On Monsters, Asma references Dr. Philip Zimbardo and his theory called The Lucifer Effect. This idea helps to explain how good people can become evil in specific ways. He focuses on the torture of Iraqi soldiers. â€Å"The fact that seemingly normal American soldiers engaged in torture and degradation techniques on Iraqi detainees offers more evidence, Zimbardo thinks, for his view t hat abuse and aggression are not the results of inner character flaws† (Asma 413). He goes on to explain how Zimbardo believes these soldiers were not just a case of just one spoiled apple, but a bad barrel that spoiled anything put into it. In the case of the zombies, one can make the case that everyone on this planet will eventually fall to the disease and it is not because of the one zombie who started it all, but because everyone is infected to begin. These kinds of ideas are what bring the monstrous view of zombies into society. Kyle Bishop writes in his book American Zombie Gothic about how the use of the zombies in Dawn of the Dead creates a connection with the audience. He says that because the zombies look very similar to just another regular human being, it can make the audience feel terrified of the creatures. However, the way that the zombies act can tell the audience obvious differences between one that is still human and one that has turned. â€Å"Romero’s monsters are primarily ‘othered’ creatures, possessing virtually no subject ive, human qualities and encouraging almost no psychological suture with the audience† (Bishop 159). The comparison of zombies to human qualities can go on forever. Asma continues to analyze the psyche of the monstrous through the Id. â€Å"Rage is a powerful force that, along with other socially deleterious impulses, lives like a frustrated virus in the dark cellars of the Id† (354). The Id is the part of the personality that can make decisions unconsciously based off of desire and instinct. In the case of the zombies, all they want and need is food and in this case, the flesh of the protagonists. The zombies in Romero’s film were often times the ones being killed, whether it is a gunshot to the head, a bat to the head, a car hood to the head or a screwdriver through the ear. However, Romero kept scenes where humans were eaten by these creatures to give the audience a clear understanding of what to expect from the movie and who would be the good guys. In David Gilmore’s Monsters, the author discusses of ways on how to approach the monster. â€Å"Mythologistsâ € ¦ have written much about the theme of the Epic Hero who goes out to fight monsters in order to rescue maidens or to save society as a whole† (12). The monster is obvious in film but no Epic Hero is there to save the day. Taken this perspective into Dawn of the Dead, the audience can tell that it is society as a whole trying to fight the monsters to save the world from the dead. There are several ways to see why Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was up for awards. Much of it was not based off the effects and acting but what thought and background was put into the project. The study behind the zombies was thorough and began giving more meaning to the story. The symbolism of these creatures and how the good human being became an evil, flesh-seeking monster were just two of the things to write about. When all is said and done, the zombies may never come, but if they do, it is because of films like this that could help with survival. Works Cited Asma, Stephen T. On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print. Auty, Daniel. Dawn of the Dead. Rev. of Dawn of the Dead. n.d.: n. pag. The Spinning Image. Web. Bishop, Kyle William. American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland , 2010. Print. Gilmore, David D. Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2003. Print. Haiti and the Truth about Zombies. Www.umich.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. http://www.umich.edu/~uncanny/zombies.html. McCalister, Elizabeth. Slaves, Cannibals, and Infected Hyper-Whites: The Race and Religion of Zombies. Anthropological Quarterly 85.2 (n.d.): 457-86. Web. Public Health Matters Blog. Public Health Matters Blog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/.

Progression of economic value for coffee

Progression of economic value for coffee Chapter 3: The origin of the idea Progression of Economic Value for Coffee â€Å"Goods and services are no longer enough. To be successful in todays increasingly competitive environment, companies must learn to stage experiences for each one of their individual customers. We have entered the Experience Economy, a new economic era in which all businesses must orchestrate memorable events for their customers that engage each one of them in an inherently personal way.† Pine Gilmore, 1999 This is undoubtedly also true for the coffee industry. The economic value of coffee begins with extracting the commodity. Companies that harvest or trade coffee, receive about a 1 euro per pound. When a manufacturer grinds, packages, and sells those same beans to a grocery store, turning them into goods, the price to the consumer is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬4 to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬8 per pound, or about 7 ¢ to 18 ¢ a cup, depending on the brand and package size. When the coffee is brewed in a diner it will sell for about à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1 per cup. Businesses offer the coffee in an experience such as a fine restaurant orStarbucks get à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2 to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬4 a cup. This means that atStarbucks, the customer is not only paying for the coffee, but also for theStarbucks experience. Interestingly, when you move a product up the progression of economic value to an experience, as can be seen in figure 1, you rarely see discounting.This is because Starbucksdoes not need to offer price cuts in order to generate business. Consumers expect better quality when willing to pay a higher price. Retailing is therefore facing an increased challenge from the experience economy. The problem being that there is a great amount of shops in the world, all basically selling the same things, causing only stores that sell values and experiences to stand out. According to Pine and Gilmore (1999), Starbucks has succeeded precisely because it is not limited to only selling a good, being coffee beans, or a service, such as a cup of coffee to-go. Instead, as a Third Place, being not the home or the office but the place between, Starbucks strives to sell a one-of-a-kind experience, which it hopes to keep its customers satisfied enough to want to keep coming back for more. Karababa Ger (2011) argue that pleasure and leisure are two important characteristics of todays consumer culture. Masses of consumers enjoy leisure away from home and work in these so-called â€Å"third places†. Nowadays there are many different cafà ©s, all with different styles. Some are global-branded like Starbucks, while some are more local. Most local coffee houses are defined as either being anti-corporate, or are a hybrid of multiple local and global traditions, such as our own business case example, the Dutch coffee house Doppio-Espresso. The origin of Starbucks Several factors contributed to the opportunity for Starbucks to develop a new, successful retail chain, with the most important one being the fact that founder Howard Schultz had an insight that the other players in the coffee market did not. He realized that Americans were lacking a relaxed, social atmosphere where they could savor a good cup of coffee. After a trip to Italy in 1987 he purchased Starbucks, because he was convinced that Americans were ready to embrace the Italian coffee house culture. Prior to that time, coffee consumption in the US was gradually declining, while the three major coffee manufacturers, Proctor Gamble, Nestle, and Kraft, fought for market share in a saturated market, all the while decreasing the quality of the beans in their blends in order to maintain profits (Berry et al., 2006). The Starbucks brand has since then become ever-present, so much so that it may be hard to remember a time when coffee houses were not part of every major city in the world. Even though coffee houses existed in abundance before Starbucks came along, the quality of both the coffee and the customer experience has never been as consistent as today. Since the beginning, the company aimed at offering a better experience for coffee lovers. They did this by brewing coffee of uniform quality and developed the idea of charging premium prices for coffee drinks. But most importantly, they focused on creating a relaxing atmosphere for the customer. Tables were purposely spaced apart in order to ensure the customers their privacy. More specifically, round tables were used since research indicated that a person can sit alone at a round table without having to feel secluded or awkward. Furthermore, Starbucks aimed at opening as many stores as possible as a way to make each new store just a few steps more convenient for new customers. The stock value of Starbucks has since then increased by more than 3,000% (Berry et al., 2006). The origin of Doppio Chapter 5: Experiential Services Incremental improvements are added to services all the time, but few companies succeed in creating service innovation that create new markets or convert existing ones. To move in that direction, it is important for companies to embody the capacity to successfully implement the nine drivers of successful service innovations as can be seen in figure 2. In the case Starbucks, one of the most important success factors, which aided in creating a new service market, is their comprehensive customer-experience management. According to Zomerdijk Voss (2010), services differ from manufactured goods, because they generally offer many more distinct experiences to the customer. These experiences are called â€Å"touchpoints†, and they depend on three â€Å"experience clues†. The first one are functional clues, which point to the technical quality of the offering; the second being mechanical clues, which relate to nonhuman elements such as the design of the store; and the third being human clues, which come from the behavior and appearance of employees.When these three clues are combined, a total experience is created that has direct influence on how the customer will assess quality and value. The reason that Customer Experience Management is so crucial to the success of inseparable services, is due to the fact that with these kinds of services the customer is directly exposed to the production as well as the delivery of the service, and can thus experience everything that occurs there (Berry et al., 2006). Therefore, the success of Starbucks has to depend the quality of the product (functional clues), a relaxing atmosphere in the store (mechanical clues), and service-oriented employees (human clues). To implement its core strategy, Starbucks must therefore excel in managing all of these customer experience clues. In addition to serving sit-down coffee drinkers, Starbucks also serves another big market segment, namely, takeout customers who want fast service. In order to cater to both consumer groups Starbucks is constantly trying to find new ways to reduce the average waiting time without reducing quality. Some of the companys timesaving innovations are providing customers with special paying cards for fast transactions, more efficient coffee machines, and creating a way for employees to able to shift through the store to wherever he or she is needed at that time (Berry et al., 2006). Some Starbucks shops are also strategically located in areas where there are a lot of potential takeout customers. When Starbucks first started out in The Netherlands they focused solely on placing small shops located near public transportation areas, such as train stations, to cater almost exclusively to these takeout customers. Customers visiting a Starbucks store, however, do not only buy coffee, but they also buy the company brand. The way they experience the service has direct influence on how they perceive the brand. Starbucks founder Howard Schultz quickly realized that in order to achieve brand power in a service business, the employees must take center stage. When a product is sold in a supermarket, there is no personal interaction, but in a Starbucks store, you are presented with real people who produce and deliver the product as a service in a friendly and exclusive manner. As was explained in Chapter 4 with the Zomerdijk Voss (2010) model, employees are thus utilized at the frontstage of the experience. Starbucks success proves that a multimillion-dollar advertising program isnt a prerequisite for building a national brand; it can be done one customer at a time, one store at a time, one market at a time (Berry, 2000). Values-based Service Quality The four dimensions of the Values-based Service Quality model proposed by Enquist et al. (2007) are the technical, functional, experiential, and the human resources (HR) corporate climate dimension. According to the model Starbucks is a values-based company becomes it encompasses a strong commitment to all its stakeholders; customers, shareholders, employees, its suppliers, strategic partners, local communities and global society in general. The four dimensions can also be seen through the strong Starbucks concept, which relies on the premium coffee, and the â€Å"Starbucks experience†. More specifically, the first two dimensions technical and functional quality relate to the quality of processing and producing the coffee bean. High-quality coffee beans are purchased, roasted, and sold as fresh, richly-brewed, Italian-style espresso beverages. Starbucks also offer a variety of foods, and coffee-related accessories in its stores. They also ensure that all parties in their value chain are operating at optimal quality, and sometimes even take over some of the manufacturing duties, such as roasting plants (Enquist et al., 2007). With Starbucks expanding throughout Europe and Asia, the company has strategically chosen Amsterdam for building a roasting plant, since the industrial area is relatively small and self-contained, providing specialized service. The facility houses equipment and operations to receive, roast, package and ship Starbucks coffee to retail stores in current and emerging markets. As with all Starbucks roasting plants, the Port of Amsterdam Roasting Pla nt also has a tasting room, which serves as the main center where Starbucks coffee experts taste and test the Starbucks coffee (Burnson, 2002). This further stresses the importance and commitment Starbucks places on innovating and improving its products and services throughout the value chain. The experiential quality dimension can be symbolized by the concept of the Starbucks experience, which amounts to more than just the store. It provides the customer with a â€Å"Third Place†, where he or she can relax away from home and work, and enjoy the services offered. The fourth and final values-based quality dimension HR corporate climate is related to workplace and society. One of the main goals of Starbucks management is to maintain a safe, productive and diverse work environment for its employees, and to provide them with opportunities for training and career growth. Starbucks also provides incentives for its employees to become shareholders of the company, and thus introduced the title of ‘partner instead of employee. Starbucks has also ventured into the sustainable service business by introducing a code of conduct in 2001, labeled C. A. F. E. Practices (Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices), which promises to â€Å"deliver a premium coffee farmed, distributed and cultivated in an ethical, social and environmental way† (Enquist et al., 2007). The Future of Starbucks Starbucks led by the visions of Howard Schultz, has revolutionized the coffee industry and the perception of coffee when they first introduced their coffee experience concept, and has since then been setting industry standards. However, this radical way of offering coffee has in general become so widely accessible and common to consumers, that it no longer seems special. Furthermore, some strategic decisions made by Starbucks have caused the brand to become less flexible, and more standardized, compared to smaller, local and independent competitors. Aggressive expansions, and attempts to deal with intensified competition from the fast-food sector, have created negative associations with the Starbucks brand. This has caused Starbucks to be perceived by some as a mainstream and standardized brand, which no longer possesses the distinct character of a local authentic coffeehouse.