Knowledge Representation in Travelling Texts: from Mirroring to Missing the Point!

Today, information travels fast. Texts travel, too. In a corporate context, the question is how to manage which knowledge elements should travel to a new language area or market and in which form? The decision to let knowledge elements travel or not travel highly depends on the limitation and the purpose of the text in a new context as well as on predefined parameters for text travel. For texts used in marketing and in technology, the question is whether culture-bound knowledge elements should be domesticated or kept as foreign elements, or should be mirrored or moulded—or should not travel at all! When should semantic and pragmatic elements in a text be replaced and by which other elements? The empirical basis of our work is marketing and technical texts in English, which travel into the Latvian and Danish markets, respectively

When Humanity Meets Technology: Contemplating Neil Postman\u27s Critique of Advertising

This project aims to contemplate Postman’s critique of advertising and offer insights to understand Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in today’s mediated environment. As an essential component of IMC, the history of advertising demonstrates and documents that the medium of communication has an extensive influence on IMC practices. The concern about how communication media affect human perception, understanding, and behavior, resides within the central claim of the study of media ecology. Thus, this project investigates IMC through the lens of Postman’s media ecology perspectives, and argues that Postman’s prescient ideas provide both hope and constructive insights. Moreover, Postman’s thermostatic perspective, rooted in media ecology, offers a functional and creative approach to understanding IMC and seeking improvement of IMC practices in today’s mediated environment

“Terra Incognita in the heart of Europe” : representation of Belarusian national identity in tourism advertisements

Due to historical and political reasons, a lot of Belarusians face a challenge regarding the understanding of their national identity. This thesis aims at analysing the ways tourism advertisements contribute to the nation’s representation to Belarusians. The study’s objectives concentrate on the formulation of the most recurring cultural representations of Belarusian nation portrayed in the advertisements and evaluation of their contribution to nation-building processes. In the following thesis, I am answering the research questions regarding the markers of cultural representation (e.g., signs, symbols) seen in tourism advertising contributing to Belarusian identity, their cultural connotations, and the differences in the representation of such symbols in governmental and private Belarusian tourist advertisements. Since the thesis is analysing Belarusian national identity features, I also provide a historical and political background of the republic since the thirteenth century. By doing so, the reader gets a comprehensive picture of the events that influenced the problem of national identity and the topicality of this issue nowadays. The data consist of 44 images and snapshots taken from Belarusian online travel resources. As a rule, these images have a direct connection to traditions, myths, and national heritage of the republic. The materials were classified according to their references to geography, leisure practices, cultural heritage, and social relationships. Such references facilitate the classification of the data and allow to identify the national identity markers in a structured way. In this research, I applied the semiology analysis method that analyses denotative and connotative meanings of an image. This method helps to identify “symbols” depicted in the tourist advertisements regarding Belarusian national identity which involves reading between the lines and understanding the historical and cultural “baggage” of the nation in question. This study demonstrated the most representative markers of cultural representation used in the tourist advertisements of Belarus, the way they “speak” to the citizens, and shape Belarusian national identity in the modern context

The impact of culture on advertising appeals in mobile phone industry: a study of social video advertising in UK, Brasil, India and Poland

International social media advertising research in emerging markets is called for investigation. Thus, this study explores the impact of culture on advertising appeals in mobile phone industry via social video channel in UK, Poland, Brazil and India. Hofstede model (1980, 2001), Pollay model (1983) and social video users & gratifications are used as primary theoretical frameworks. The exploratory research approach is utilized. More particularly, semiology and content analysis research methodology are employed. The empirical data is based on advertisements of the main channels of Samsung and Nokia in YouTube. The findings indicate that culture does influence on advertising appeals in social video channels. However, the results do not support Hofstede cultural framework assumptions. It shows more correlation with Okazaki’s view about desired and desirable value paradox. This requires further research. Moreover, social video channel plays significant role because the most frequent appeals in four countries are linked with this channel. The study also sheds light to managerial implications for international social video advertising. It suggests that advertiser should establish contingency between emotion and brands. Advertisers should highlight emotional appeals but also nourish brand memory. Information is integrated to describe product functions and benefits in mobile phone industry and in emerging markets where consumers are still unfamiliar with new mobile phone characteristics and advantages.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Fundraising: Keys to the Cashbox

This special fundraising report for performing arts organizations discusses a variety of nonprofit trends. Articles cover the use of social media, competitive fundraising using games, data usage, kickstarter, legal issues in fundraising, and individual giving

Music in electronic markets: an empirical study

Music plays an important, and sometimes overlooked part in the transformation of communication and distribution channels. With a global market volume exceeding US$40 billion, music is not only one of the primary entertainment goods in its own right. Since music is easily personalized and transmitted, it also permeates many other services across cultural borders, anticipating social and economic trends. This article presents one of the first detailed empirical studies on the impact of internet technologies on a specific industry. Drawing on more than 100 interviews conducted between 1996 and 2000 with multinational and independent music companies in 10 markets, strategies of the major players, current business models, future scenarios and regulatory responses to the online distribution of music files are identified and evaluated. The data suggest that changes in the music industry will indeed be far-reaching, but disintermediation is not the likely outcome

Representation and symbolic politics in Indonesia : an analysis of billboard advertising in the legislative assembly elections of 2009

The overarching characteristic of the 2009 legislative elections lay in the legislative candidates’ politics of image. It stemmed from the amendment to the election Law no. 10/2008 article 214 that ostensibly cut off the parties’ power in determining their candidates without the public’s “direct” consent. The public was then given a direct opportunity to choose and vote for their preferred candidates in the 2009 elections. This marked the emergence and proliferation of the candidates’ image construction, especially in the “outdoor” political arena. Billboards were chosen as the most effective outdoor advertising medium to introduce the candidates and propagate their slogans and platforms. However, at the same time, this mode of introducing and propagating reveals itself as an ideological map that demonstrates the contestation and synthesis of the two major ideological camps in the Indonesian political arena, i.e. the nationalist and Islamic. The candidates were coopted into and by this framework. They themselves could not escape as their political dispositions were unconsciously defined by this framework. Their billboards speak loudly the ideological contestation and synthesis. The investigation of the contestation and synthesis needs Bourdieuan analytical tools, such as capital, dispositions (habitus) and field. These are used not merely to show how the mechanism of the contestation and synthesis operated and was defined by the rules of political “game”, but also to show how this mechanism involves the intricate inter-relationships of various capitals, such as the political, social, economic, cultural and symbolic, that reflect the candidates’ (read also: the parties’) dispositions within the field of Pancasila discourse. Pancasila becomes not only an ideological basis for the state but also the bastion of the contestation and synthesis. The twin roles arguably derive from the dominant cultural root (Javanese) that highly values the concepts of harmony, tolerance and appropriateness as the essences that allow the ideological contestation and synthesis of the nationalist and Islamic strands as the dominant ideological markers in the Indonesian political arena. This thesis aims to demonstrate how the candidates’ billboards represent ideological contestation and synthesis as the billboards can also be perceived as the candidates’ visual “responses” which reflect their political dispositions and the process of taking stances amidst the contestation and synthesis. Therefore, this study was conducted in the form of a layered case study. Using a Bourdieuan lens, the first layer explores the historical background of the contestation and synthesis, their proliferation in the political arena and the mechanism of deploying these strands in the political parties’ branding. Using a social semiotic lens, the second layer investigates how the billboards as the products of the candidates’ political articulation represent not only these contestations and syntheses but also their dispositions. I found that the system of representation (on the candidates’ billboards) operates within the Javanese ideals of “equilibrium” in Pancasila discourse. These ideals frame the power relations between the nationalist and Islamic factions in an ostensible “consensus” in order to maintain the harmony and dilute ideological friction

Corporations and the 99%: Team Production Revisited

This Article explores the legal manifestation of the interaction between the general public and the public corporation. Revisiting team production analysis, this Article redefines the corporate team and argues that while several constituencies indeed form part of the corporate team, others are exogenous to the corporate enterprise. Employees, suppliers and financiers contribute together to the common corporate enterprise, enjoying a long-term relational contract with the corporation, while retail consumers contract with the corporation at arm’s length, and other people living alongside the corporation do not contract with it at all. Under this organizational model, the general public may participate in the team forming the corporate enterprise by providing public financing. Indeed, corporate law was developed to protect public investors. However, evidence shows that most of the listed equity is no longer held by the general public directly; the new shareholders are institutional investors. This Article analyzes the impact of institutionalization on the interaction of corporations with the general public, outlining spheres of potential divergence between institutional and retail investors and raising the timely concern for the agency costs embedded in the relationship between the general public and institutional investors. First, not all institutional investors are investing on behalf of the public. Shareholder empowerment platforms are frequently mobilized by intermediaries representing only the wealthiest 1%. Second, when shareholders are mostly institutional investors, the likelihood of distributional conflicts between various stakeholder groups is higher because the institutional thought and decision-making patterns do not match those of the general public. The objectives of institutional investors are significantly narrower than, and potentially divergent from, those of the general public. Third, the technology used for trading by institutional investors, algorithmic trading, potentially imposes externalities on retail investors, and ultimately widens the gap between corporations and the general public. It may often be the case that the institutional interests align with those of the general public, but the law does not necessitate it. This Article further discusses converse trends towards convergence, including socially responsible investments and impact investments, corporate social responsibility, sustainability reporting, and customer voice. This Article ultimately suggests policy implications. When shareholders’ interests are not necessarily aligned with those of the general public, we have reason to revisit the axiom of shareholder value as the underlying purpose of corporations, the boundaries of fiduciary duty, and the limited platform and audience for sustainability reporting

Campus News November 22, 1996

https://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/campus_news/2218/thumbnail.jp

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Strategic Corporate Research Report

[Excerpt] Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (hereinafter Wal-Mart) is the second-largest company in the world. It has more annual revenue than the GDP of Switzerland. It sells more DVDs, magazines, books, CDs, dog food, diapers, bicycles, toys, toothpaste, jewelry, and groceries than any other retailer does worldwide. It is the largest retailer in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the second-largest in the United Kingdom, and the third largest in Brazil, With its partners, it is the largest retailer in Central America. Wal-Mart is also the largest private employer in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and it has 1.8 million employees around the globe. Wal-Mart is so huge that it effectively sets the terms for large swaths of the global economy, from retail wages to apparel prices to transoceanic shipping rates to the location of toy factories. Indeed, if there is one single aspect to understand about the company, it is the fact that Wal-Mart is transforming the relations of production in virtually every product category it sells, through its relationships with suppliers. But its influence goes far beyond the economy. It sets social policy by refusing to sell certain types of birth control. Its construction of supercenters molds the landscape, shapes traffic patterns, and alters the local commercial mix. The retail goliath shapes culture by selling the music of patriotic country singer Garth Brooks but not the critical (and hilarious) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (the Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction. It influences politics by donating millions to conservative politicians and think tanks. Wal-Mart is, in short, one of the most powerful entities in the world. Not surprisingly, Wal-Mart has developed a long list of critics, including unions, human rights organizations, religious groups, environmental activists, community organizations, small business groups, academics, children’s rights groups, and even institutional investors. These groups have exposed the company’s illegal union-busting tactics, its many violations of overtime laws, its abuse of child labor, its egregious healthcare policies, its super-exploitation of immigrant workers, its rampant gender discrimination, the horrific labor conditions at its suppliers’ factories, and its unlawful environmental degradation. They have also chronicled the deleterious effect Wal-Mart has on the public coffers and the quality of community life. New Wal-Mart stores and distribution centers often swallow up government subsidies and tax breaks, take public land, create more congestion, reduce overall wages, destroy retail variety, and increase public outlays for healthcare. To its critics, Wal-Mart represents the worst aspects of 21st-eentury capitalism. Wal-Mart usually counters any criticism with two words: low prices. It is a powerful mantra in a consumerist world. The company does make more products affordable to more people, and that is nothing to sneeze at when wages are stagnant, jobs insecure, pensions disappearing, and health coverage shrinking. With low prices, Wal-Mart helps working men and women get more from their meager paychecks, more necessities like bread, and more luxuries, like roses, too. It is a brilliant and incontrovertible argument, and Wal-Mart’s most ardent defenders take it even farther. They say its obsession with low prices makes the entire economy more efficient and more productive. Suppliers and competitors have to produce more and better products with the same resources, and that redounds to everyone. In the micro, it means falling prices and rising product quality. In the macro, it means economic growth, more jobs, and higher tax revenues. To its defenders, Wal-Mart represents the best aspects of 21st-century capitalism. Despite their radical opposition, critics and defenders of the world’s largest corporation agree on one thing: Wal-Mart represents 21st-century capitalism. It symbolizes a system of increasing market penetration and decreasing social regulation, where more and more aspects of life around the world are subject to economic competition. Wal-Mart’s success rests upon the ongoing destruction of social power in favor of corporate power. It takes advantage of the conditions of the neo-liberal world, from the availability of instant and inexpensive global communication to the continuing collapse of agricultural employment around the world to the rapid diffusion of technological innovation to the oversupply of subjugated migrant labor in nearly every country to the continued existence of undemocratic and corporate-dominated governments. For some, this is as it should be, all part of capitalism’s natural and ultimately benign development. For the rest of us, Wal-Mart is at the heart of what is wrong with the world