Focal Spot, Spring 1993

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/focal_spot_archives/1063/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, February 25, 1969

Volume 56, Issue 71https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/5211/thumbnail.jp

Identifying critical service issues in the service encounter – a first step in the development of a conceptual model for the shipping industry

Title Identifying critical service issues in the service encounter – a first step in the development of a conceptual for the shipping industry Author Claas Boomgaarden Key Words Service Quality, Service Encounter, SERVQUAL, INDSERV, PDSQ, LSQM, Shipping Industry, Service Science, Service Dominant Logic, Relationship Marketing Purpose The purpose of this research is to provide a first step in the development of a conceptual model for service quality in the shipping industry. Theoretical Perspectives This study is embedded in the theoretical field of service quality. Due to the lack of applicable models for the shipping industry, the existing literature of service quality for the business-to-consumer as well as business-to-business sector where combined to provide the theoretical framework for this study. Even though other models were analysed and considered in the theoretical background, eventually models like the SERVQUAL model, the INDSERV model, as well as the Physical Distribution Service Quality (PDSQ) model and the Logistics Service Quality (LSQ) model built the guideline for the data collection process. Methodology In accordance with the explorative purpose of this research, a qualitative case study, with German freight forwarders as the unit of interest, was set up. The collection of empirical data and their analysis followed the abductive hermeneutic approach. Empirical Data The empirical data for this study was derived from eight semi-structured interviews with industry experts, which lasted between twenty minutes and one hour. Conclusion The study has shown that critical service issues are depending on the value and the implied requirements of the shipped product. Nevertheless, availability, time and price as well as a flawless and fast service and good contact to contact personnel were identified as critical service issues. In order to provide a first step in the development of a conceptual model for service quality in the shipping industry, the dimensions of responsiveness, reliability/discrepancy handling, flexibility and contact to contact personnel are proposed. Further, the study shows the interconnectivity of these dimensions and proposes enabler dimensions in the form of contact person quality and process quality. By identifying these critical service issues as well as the service dimensions and their interconnectivity, the partial adaptation of established service quality measurement systems is confirmed. However, also their shortcomings are presented and this gap is closed through modification or adaptation of new dimensions

Selling Beauty : A Linguistic-Communicational Investigation of the Female Beauty Ideal in Advertising in an International Comparison

The advertising campaigns of large international beauty companies greatly influence the perception of beauty. They promote beauty ideals in their campaigns - which easily spread worldwide thanks to the mass media - and offer solutions on how to achieve them. The use of language and persuasive communication is a crucial tool in this process. By using language and communication strategies, marketers actively manage the perceptions of their target groups. In my work, I examine 493 advertisements as well as 153 international and 711 country-specific websites of international beauty companies to find out what the beauty ideal they promote worldwide looks like. In particular, the Western world's idea of female beauty influences global perceptions. Scientists refer to this phenomenon as the Western or the global beauty ideal. I examine what is meant by the term Western in this context and whether beauty companies tend to show the global, Western or a local ideal in their advertising. I also look for answers to the questions: how do the companies use communication measures and language to promote the beauty ideal? Do they design individual campaigns for their target markets with different local ideals, or do they apply the same approach globally? Is English the lingua franca for the campaigns or are local languages used? The results of my research show that the characteristics which attractiveness research and social science refer to as the global ideal of beauty are identical to the ideal of beauty promoted primarily in the United States and Northern Europe. The Western ideal thus includes the beauty characteristics of a few countries in the world. The global promotion of this ideal leads to the spread of North American and Northern European beauty standards throughout the world. The principles of persuasive communication, rhetoric, and advertising language are used in the design of marketing campaigns. In my study, I first analyze the advertising material from different regions to determine how the companies interpret the respective local beauty ideal. Based on this analysis, I then examine the dominant beauty ideal in all advertising materials belonging to the object of study and assess which linguistic concepts and communicative appeals are used to convey it. In doing so, I analyze, among other things, the rhetorical figures used - the communicative appeals of ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), or logos (logic) - the use of English as a lingua franca, the differences in the beauty ideal and language use between print and online, or the interplay of text and image. The scope of 493 ads as well as 153 global websites and 711 country-specific websites is necessary for representative results, as I conduct a majority analysis based on percentages. The results of my study show that overall, the Western ideal is predominantly promoted. Online, this is done through the use of English as the lingua franca on the international websites and through the use of local languages on the country-specific websites. In the ads, English is also the language of choice to promote the Western ideal. The exception is the ads from countries that historically have a very strong national identity; here, the local beauty ideal is predominant. For this reason, it is also not possible to determine an exclusive marketing of the Western ideal for the advertisements, as is the case with the websites, but rather a distinction must be made based on the regions. For both the printed ads and the websites evaluated, the most common communicative appeal is the emotional one (pathos), followed on the websites by the one to logic (logos) and the one to the credibility of the sender (ethos). The communicative appeals and linguistic features used in both the ads evaluated and on the websites are not country-specific, but are used worldwide. The ideal of beauty is promoted through a sophisticated interplay of text and image, with targeted use of rhetorical figures and linguistic patterns to convey the intended message. The language and communicative appeals used to promote the ideal and the products are the same worldwide. Of course, my study only provides a snapshot. In the fast-changing advertising business, where new campaigns are reworked within a very short time and current as well as future megatrends always have a strong influence, a follow-up study will provide interesting insights into further developments. In my study, I already touch on the topic of the body positivity movement and diversity, which will play an important role in the representation of beauty in advertising in the future

Spartan Daily, December 3, 1982

Volume 79, Issue 61https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/6977/thumbnail.jp

First-Year Law Faculty are Uniquely Poised to Mentor Stellar Students for Elbow Employment with Judges

Judicial clerkships are in high demand for new law graduates. In this tight job market, applicants must possess outstanding applications. Applicants must be not only practice-ready, but also clerkship-ready. They must be people-oriented, with superb oral communication skills. They must be outstanding researchers and writers. And they must have a passion for discovering truth and promoting justice. Students should embark on a clerkship-ready path during their first year of law school. First-year faculty members are uniquely poised to identify students with skills and traits inherent to successful clerks. Such students demonstrate intellectual excellence, superior work habits, and an ability to get along well with others. Professors mentor interested stellar students through the clerkship application process. Mentoring begins with developing strategies for obtaining interviews with judges. Next, professors coach applicants on handling interviews and post-interview follow-ups for accepting clerkship offers. Finally, professors maintain post-clerkship contacts with graduatesand judges to facilitate future elbow clerkships

Volume 26 - Issue 16 - Friday, January 25, 1991

The Rose Thorn, Rose-Hulman\u27s independent student newspaper.https://scholar.rose-hulman.edu/rosethorn/1624/thumbnail.jp

US poverty studies and poverty measurement: the past twenty-five years

This paper discusses the contribution made by American social scientists to the study of poverty in the past twenty five years. It has three parts. The first concentrates on the measurement of poverty and the fact that the US poverty line remained unchanged in that period despite its increasingly important deficiencies. Proposals to produce a revised poverty line and an Annual Poverty Report are advanced. The second part traces the change of emphasis in US writing about poverty both in terms of academic emphasis and prescription. The final part considers the policy impact of American work on poverty policy beyond America. This paper has been published as: "US Poverty Studies and Poverty Measurement: The past twenty-five years", Social Service Review, March 200

Thinking Like Non-Lawyers: Why Empathy is a Core Lawyering Skill and Why Legal Education Should Change to Reflect its Importance

This article is an exploration of some of the issues raised by the recent Carnegie Report on legal education, and contains a recommendation that law schools change the way they teach especially first year law students in order to make them more empathetically aware of the circumstances by which the court opinions they study arose and the effects those opinions will have on others. This recommendation is made not just because it will make students better people, but also because it will make them better lawyers; the article analyses in depth the dangers inherent in an overemphasis on the “logical” form of analysis taught in law schools, especially when lawyers attempt to communicate with non-lawyers, something they do all the time. It also offers specific proposals to help ameliorate the dangers of an over-emphasis on “thinking like a lawyer.” Although the article is written primarily from a litigation perspective, it makes clear that these dangers arise in all branches of lawyering practice

Flawless devices, faulty users: Finnish young adults’ representations of smartphone usage

Finnish smartphone users lead the global statistics of data usage. This makes them an ideal consumer group to research technology consumption practices. It has been estimated that consumers use their smartphones as much as one third of the time that they are awake. The device has become essential in everyday life as consumers have it always with them and it is always on. Smartphone usage has been researched for example in terms of technology adaptation and desired functionalities, but the research on consumers’ emotions towards technology is limited. The focus of this study is especially in the contradictions and paradoxes that Finnish young adults express in their narratives of theirsmartphones and smartphone usage. Past research on technology paradoxes, information technology development, postmodern consumption culture and social constructivism on technology serve as theoretical background for the study. This study has been done by using qualitative research methods. The data consists of ten interviews and projective techniques including sentence compilations and autodriving. Young Finnish adults who live in big cities and have high education were selected for the interviews, as statistically they are heavy users of smartphones, thus making them interesting subject of technology paradox research. The findings of this study outline the major mismatch in consumers’ narratives: they perceive their smartphones as useful and capable devices but consider their own smartphone consumption as incapable and counterproductive, which results into feelings of distress, anxiety and guilt. This misusage appears in multiple forms, interpreted in four themes of guilt: using smartphones to procrastinate, damaging meaningful social relations with smartphone usage, misusing or overdosing the massive amount of content and not meeting the expectations to be available. The narrative of flawless device and faulty user has implications both for consumer research and for management. The main contribution of this study is to widen the focus of academic legacy from the paradoxes of technology to the paradoxes of technology consumption. The study portrays the shift from consumers’ perceptions of their smartphones as devices to perceptions of themselves as smartphone users. This offers a fruitful basis for further research on technology consumption, which is an inseparable part of postmodern life