Essay on Utilitarianism And Kantian Ethics - 1178 Words

Utilitarianism and Kantian Ethics nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Ethics is one part of philosophy that will always be studied, and like most subjects in philosophy, will never be viewed the same by everyone. There are so many cultures that have so many different beliefs about the way a persons life should be lived out. Things like religion, poverty, and mental health all contribute to our beliefs in ethics. Some people believe that the mental state of a person or the motive for that person committing a crime should be factors when sentencing time comes. Others think that no matter the situation, a crime is a crime, and no compassion should be felt for the guilty. In the studies of philosophy these beliefs are put into two categories:†¦show more content†¦You decide how you feel about what you think you saw. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;.Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) had an interesting ethical system. It is based on a belief that reason is the final authority for morality. Actions of any sort, he believed, must be undertaken from a sense of duty dictated by reason, and no action performed for expediency or solely in obedience to law or custom can be regarded as moral. A moral act is an act done for the quot;rightquot; reasons. Kant would argue that to make a promise for the wrong reason is not moral - you might as well not make the promise. You must have a duty code inside of you or it will not come through in your actions otherwise. Our reasoning ability will always allow us to know what our duty is. Kant described two types of common commands given by reason: the hypothetical imperative, which dictates a given course of action to reach a specific end; and the categorical imperative, which dictates a course of action that must be followed because of its rightness and necessity. The categorical imperative is the basis of morality and was stated by Kant in these words: quot;Act as if the maxim of your action were to become through your will and general natural law.quot; Therefore, before proceeding to act, you must decide what rule you would be following if you were to act, whether you are willing for that rule to be followed by everyone everywhere. If you are willing to universalize the act, it must beShow MoreRelatedOn Utilitarianism and Kantian Ethics 1681 Words   |  7 Pages1. Introduction There is little doubt that Utilitarianism and Kantian Ethics are by far the two most important ethical theories throughout contemporary philosophy. Though both attempt to answer questions about morality and behavior, the two theories have many fundamental differences: one evaluates actions in terms of the utility they produce whereas the other considers whether actions fulfill duty; one emphasizes consequence where the other highlights intentions; one sees desire as essential whileRead MoreUtilitarianism And Kantian Ethics Analysis786 Words   |  4 Pagesadhere to. Utilitarianism and Kantian ethics are two systems that provide a way to approach life decisions, big and small. Utilitarianism, nicknamed â€Å"The Greatest Happiness† states that the ethical choice is the choice that yields the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people. Kantian ethics, also called duty ethics, explains that for any action, people must act according to common principles, with no significance placed on the outcome. The ethical theories, utilitarianism and KantianRead MoreCorporate Welfare And Utilitarianism : Utilitarianism And Kantian Ethics914 Words   |  4 PagesCorporate Welfare and Utilitarianism Case one proclaims that the American economy is failing millions of Americans. In today’s day in age, having a full time job does not guarantee an income above the poverty line. Currently, there are â€Å"80 government assistance programs† which provide working families the means to survive. It is important to note that these programs cost $153 billion annually, and these costs are covered by the government from the tax revenue they receive from hard working AmericansRead MoreKantian Ethics vs. Utilitarianism1714 Words   |  7 Pagesmorality such as John Stuart Mill’s theory of Utilitarianism. In teleological approaches to morality, questions of right and wrong, or the notion what an individual ought to do, are determined by the consequences of a given action. One thinker to reject this idea of consequentialism was Immanuel Kant. In his Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant endeavors to establish a system of ethics that has no trace of the empirical nature of utilitarianism. To him, â€Å"the moral worth of an action doesRead MoreKantian Ethics vs. Utilitarianism Essay1190 Words   |  5 Pages 1.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Explain Onora O’neil’s argument for preferring Kantian ethics to Utilitarianism. 2.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;How would Richard Taylor respond to O’neil’s defense of Kantianism? In the following questions, Onora O’neil defends Kantian ethics while Richard Taylor agrees more with the Utilitarian ethics view. To fully understand both views and why each author defends their view, a brief introduction of each author and who they are is necessary. Onora O’neilRead MoreKantian Deontology, Utilitarianism, And Virtue Ethics1606 Words   |  7 PagesOver the course we’ve studied three ethical theories, those theories are Kantian deontology, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics. These theories focus on different philosophies or views that are used to either explain or make a judgment in regards to what is considered right or wrong in a given situation. To begin with, ethical theories help explain why an individual believes that an action is right or wrong. It gives one an understanding of how an individual chooses to make ethical decisions. WhichRead MoreThe Ethical Theories Of Utilitarianism And Kantian Ethics Essay1650 Words   |  7 PagesIn this essay, I will be discussing an article about a woman who starved her two horses. I will address the issue about whether or not the woman’s action was ethical. I will use the two ethical theories of utilitarianism and Kantian ethics to support my argumen t. I will also suggest a different course of action the woman could have taken to be justified, through both ethical theories. The article follows the story about an Australian woman who breached her duty of care to two horses that she ownedRead MoreThe Schiavos, Rule Utilitarianism, and Kantian Ethics Essay1269 Words   |  6 PagesRui Chaves The Schiavos, Rule Utilitarianism, and Kantian Ethics The case of â€Å"The Schiavos† is focused primarily on one member of the family, which is Terri Schiavo. Terri had been in a coma for 13 years. Although, â€Å"no one is completely sure what happened but the best guess is she suffered a heart attack† (Pierce, 64) presumably caused by her bulimia. Due to the severity of her heart attack, it left Terri with severe brain damaged which in turn left her in a persistent vegetative state which leavesRead MoreKantian Ethics And Utilitarianism Are At Variance On Issues Of Morality1992 Words   |  8 PagesKantian ethics and utilitarianism are at variance on issues of morality and do share a similar end goal on what general ethical outcomes in solving the ills of the world. These two philosophical thoughts examine nature of morality with variant theories. As Kantian ethics are based on the theories propagated by German philosopher Immanuel Kant, utilitarianism on the other hand as has been projected by Jeremy Bentham and John S tuart Mills and many others who share in this school of thought. In thisRead MoreDifference Between Virtue Ethics, Kantian And Utilitarianism977 Words   |  4 Pages258). Virtue ethics then is concerned with what makes a person virtuous versus vicious when it comes to making moral decisions, with emotions playing an important role. In this paper, I support Aristotle’s emphasis on emotions as a key to being virtuous, especially since emotions tell us what is important and motivate us to act (Shafer-Landau, 2015, p. 257-258). Before we get to the premises of my argument, I would like to distinguish the difference between virtue ethics, Kantian deontology and

Chinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart - 1696 Words

Feminism Introduction Things Fall Apart is Chinua Achebe’s first novel published in 1958. Achebe lived from 1930 to 2013. Things Fall Apart was written as a rejoinder to European works of fiction that portrayed Africans as savages in need of the white man’s enlightenment. Chinua presents his history to the reader, highlighting both the strengths and the weakness by describing, for instance, the Igbo cultural festivals, their devotion to their gods, and their ritualistic ceremonial practices that supplemented their culture. The novel therefore guides the misleading European works of fiction that presents Africans as mere savages into a brand new light by portraying the Igbo society. It also scrutinizes, from the perspective of an†¦show more content†¦These definitions describe campaigns for the rights of women spearheaded not only by other women but also individuals having specific concerns such as the better positioning of civil rights as well as equal opportunities for both the gi rl-child and the whole women folk. Feminism Background By the end of the 19th century and the dawn of the 20th century, feminism had become quite an activity agitating over women’s right to vote as well as be voted for. It marked the historical era considered as the â€Å"First Wave or the First Phase of Feminism.† Women’s rights were disregarded to the degree that they could neither vote nor be voted for. This initial phase helped in restoring the women’s rights and left them franchised. As time elapsed, feminism commotions began to gain grounds evolving into another phase termed as the Second Wave. The second period featured the implementations of the ideas in connection to Women’s Liberation Movement, a movement that crusaded for women’s social and legal equality during the late 1960s. The third wave that popped up in the 1990s ensured the continuity of the second feminism wave of the 1960s, in addition to reactions against its professed failures. However, the agitation for feminism or the rights of women continues to have pre-eminence in today’s societies as females’ importance in the societies hardly goes unnoticed or unmentioned. The primary emphasis of this paperShow MoreRelatedChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1719 Words   |  7 PagesThings fall apart is a classic novel written around the turn of the century, the novel focuses on the protagonist who we can also call a hero, Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected leader within the Igbo tribe of Umuofia in eastern Nigeria. Strong individual with a passionate belief in all the values and traditions of his people. Chinua Achebe presents Okonkwo as a particular kind of tragic protagonist, a great man who carries the fate of his people. Okonkwo is a man who is inflexible andRead MoreChinua Ach ebe s Things Fall Apart1033 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Chinua Achebe is a famous Nigerian novelist in worldwide. Things fall apart is Chinua Achebe’s first novel published in 1958, the year after Ghana became the first African nation to gain independence. And this novel is one of the first African novels to gain worldwide recognition. (Phil Mongredien, 2010) This novel presents people a story of an African Igbo tribal hero, Okonkwo, from his growth to death. The fate of Okonkwo also indicates the fate of Africa caused by the colonizationRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart883 Words   |  4 Pagesdehumanize the native population and convince themselves that they are helping. Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart attempts to correct these misguided views of African societies by portraying a more complex culture that values peace, and the art of conversation. Achebe also tries to portray the idea that not all European people they come in contact with are aggressive, and misconstrued in their view of the African societ ies. Achebe tries to show us the value of his society through repeated views into conversationsRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1410 Words   |  6 PagesTeddy Manfre Ms. Blass ENG 209-001 April 24, 2017 Things Fall Apart In 1958, Chinua Achebe a famous Nigerian author publishes one of his most famous novels Things Fall Apart. The novel takes place in a Nigerian village called Umuofia. During the time that this novel is published Nigeria is being criticized by the Europeans for being uncivilized. In response, Achebe uses his brilliance in this novel to express the valued history of his people to his audience. His focus in the novel is on the pre-colonizedRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1015 Words   |  5 PagesIn his novel Things Fall Apart, author Chinua Achebe utilizes his distinctive writing style in order to accurately capture the culture and customs of the Igbo people despite writing his story in a foreign language. Five aspects of Achebe’s style that make his writing unique is the straightforward diction present in dialogue, the inclusion of native parables convey Igbo life authentically, the inclusion of native Igbo words and phrases, detailed descriptions of nature and the usage of figurative languageRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1702 Words   |  7 PagesTitle: Things Fall Apart Biographical information about the author: Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He had an early career as a radio host, and later became the Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nigeria. After moving to America, he became an English professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Achebe has won numerous awards for his poetry and fiction, including the Man Booker prize and Commonwealth Poetry Price. He currently teaches at Bard College. Author: Chinua AchebeRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart Essay1347 Words   |  6 PagesCulture is an Important Element of Society Chinua Achebe is the author of when Things Fall Apart while Joseph Conrad authored Heart of Darkness. Conrad and Achebe set their individual titles in Africa; Achebe is an African writer whereas Conrad is Polish-British. The authors draw strength from their backgrounds to validity the authenticity of their fictional novels. Conrad writes from his experiences in the British and French navies while Achebe uses his African heritage. The theme of culture isRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1248 Words   |  5 PagesChris Lowndes Ms. Cook A.P.L.C. 21 October 2015 We Are Family: Hardships in One s Family in Things Fall Apart Specific attributes correlate with each other to help create or not create the ideal strong family. However, through those attributes arise conflicts and major disputes. This issue of trying to achieve and create a strong family is of immense importance in one’s life, especially in Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, a milestone in African literature. For instance, the father leaves his legacyRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart Essay1682 Words   |  7 Pagescertain degree of the priest class, libation, holidays, creation stories, divine systems of punishments and rewards. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, is a story of tragic fall of a protagonist and the Igbo culture. Achebe demonstrates different examples and situations of where an African culture, in the instances of tribal religions, did certain things because of their tradition is and the way they developed into. African cultures pondered life mysteries and articulated theirRead Mo reChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1314 Words   |  6 PagesChinua Achebe masterpiece â€Å"Things Fall Apart† (1959) is the classic story of Okonkwo, a young man who strives to be revered by his village and family but because of his own internal character flaws meets his own demise. In the Igbo culture, family traditions are an important narrative throughout the novel. Okonkwo, the protagonist character of this story, begins with many attributes of what would be concluded as a hero with his cultural society. He is hard working, a material provider, feared and

Tok Knowing a Friend and Swimmin Free Essays

TOK 11 summative assessment quarter 2 Jacqueline Blok 21/11/11 Compare and contrast knowing a friend to knowing how to swim, knowing a scientific theory and knowing a historical period. What conclusions about nature of knowing can you reach? Thinking I knew how to swim I jumped into a pool and nearly drowned. The one friend who was always there for me, who I thought I knew, left me without a goodbye. We will write a custom essay sample on Tok Knowing a Friend and Swimmin or any similar topic only for you Order Now Thinking that a light year was a measurement of time, until I had a physics class. I though Pearl Harbor was just a movie, until we were learning about World War 2 in humanities. With asking these questions, to be certain in the world we live in today might be a challenge. Knowing a friend would require a bond, which is created through experiences with each other, a perception of the feelings of that friend and thoughts that run in a deeper level. One might think he/she knows someone very well, because of a long-term close relationship or similar interests or tastes. However no one other than himself or herself would understand their own way of thinking, the workings of their own mind, it is impossible to know why certain actions are performed by someone else. Only glimpses and insights may be picked up of the complexities of the mysterious mind and personality of oneself. My best friend dislikes exposing her legs, because she doesn’t feel confident enough to show them. This seems like a reasonable excuse, if she is uncomfortable with her body, it would be her choice to expose it or not, however deeper psychological factors are involved and countless other reasons which I would not be able to think of nor comprehend. The knowledge of another person would be mainly created out of language, perception and emotion. A knower’s perception of a friend’s action would be affected by emotions; hence the knowledge of a friend will be affected too. A perception of a friend may be altered when the emotions of a friend affects their actions in certain situations. Language has complexities too, language can make an attempt at describing feelings, however this doesn’t provide a complete understanding of one and another. The best way to communicate feelings would be to let one experience another’s events and create their own feelings; an example would be the expression â€Å"you can’t possibly imagine what I have been through†, â€Å"Imagine yourself in some one else’s shoes†. Considering the history of one, would affect their ways of acting upon situations, all humans think and act differently according to personalities, which have been shaped by all sorts of experiences in their own past. Swimming is an action which requires a structured breathing pattern and a well timed combination of limb motions, allowing you to travel through water, the important key words here that I found through my observations are that knowing â€Å"how† is not the same as knowing â€Å"of† nor is it close to knowing â€Å"that†. Knowing how to swim is quite similar to knowing a friend. Because one cannot possibly learn how to swim by reading instructions, someone could read all the documents and articles available on how to swim, and jump into a pool and drown. For example at one particular time I developed liking in ‘parkour’ I watched all the youtube videos that I could find on ‘how to parkour, read many articles and tips and tricks. So one day I felt I gained enough knowledge about this acrobatic sport and decided to try it out. And what I learnt was that I could not even jump over a simple bench. I am able to read and apply concepts that I have gained through reading, however in this case I was not able to apply the information fast enough of â€Å"how† to parkour. Even though I had a sophisticated amount of knowledge on how to parkour, I was unable to convert this knowledge and understanding into reality. According to my research these two actions swimming and parkouring require ‘bodily-kinesthetic intelligence’ which is the ability to control to control the movements of a body and skillfully interact with a variety of objects. Scientific theories have been made through observations of the world, creativity and of course imagination. They can be known through reason, language and perception. A scientist can propose a theory purely upon perception and reasoning and justify this theory with evidence that shows how this particular phenomenon follows the predicted theory. For example in chemistry we did a set of experiments on how different metals when heated in a flame would give out a color. A hypothesis was provided and from that I knew that the flames indeed would change color. I know for a fact that when Copper Chloride is heated it will give out a green color, I saw this through my own eyes and as the experiment was repeated several times with the same results. Seeing out of my own eyes is proof. Through being taught by my teacher means I am relying on a higher authority’s knowledge. Also the lack of a language can prove a theory, for example every one dies, this is a fact because by using deductive reasoning there is no one here to tell us otherwise. The problem with knowing a historical period is that it is in the past and we are in the present, the knowledge of a historical period is transferred from the past into the present through language and documentation. If we have not been informed about these periods, the present day people would never had known it existed. The knowing of a historical period is based upon accepting certain events through evidence from the past. It is unfortunate that historians cannot directly â€Å"test† the past whereas a scientific theory and swimming can be tested. This suggests that testing is thus an important factor in determining the nature of knowledge. The claim of knowing a historical period can be justified by looking at pictures or a documentary, technology over the years has improved significantly the knowledge we know today about the past. Unlike a scientific theory here we can rely on perception, observation and interpretations. To know a historical period we must have either been there or rely on a higher authority to inform us. I however ponder on the possibility of the authority being fooled by perception. This is where logic and reasoning comes in to decide whether or not something has happened. If something hadn’t happened, then why can we see evidence of the consequences, for example when I visited Cambodia the Angkor Wat temples I saw evidence of historical artifacts of the monks, and until the present monks still live among there. With this I can deduce that these temples must have come from somewhere, and it is definitely a sacred place. With this we are knowing â€Å"that† something happened instead of knowing â€Å"of† a friend. By identifying and considering the four concepts that were provided we can conclude that the main difference in the nature of the four knowledge claims are the way you know them; knowing â€Å"how to† and knowing â€Å"that something is† are completely different. A knower will never be able to know a friend than himself or herself, exact feelings and emotions cannot be communicated directly and as detailed through perception and language. Swimming can only be learnt through perception, this ability is not able to be transferred linguistically, but must be learnt first hand through training. A historical period in time can be known by a person who has lived through that time and has transferred the knowledge gained through linguistical means, however the knowledge could be misleading due to perception or the facts of the period are incomplete providing only one side of the story. A scientific theory may be discovered and proven through various tests and observations via perceptions and reason. However communication of this particular theory via language does not have the same effect as the perception of it. Emotions can affect perception language cannot transfer precise meanings and assumptions to generalize from specific points can be found through inception. Due to these ways of knowing being limited, complete knowledge is unable to be attained. Different claims requiring different ways of knowing to justify them, they have all have one thing in common; their nature: they are based on premises that we accept in every day life as being ‘true’ and therefore deduct that based on these premises, they are equally true. We know something as far as we are willing to accept it into our world. How to cite Tok Knowing a Friend and Swimmin, Papers

Controversial issues free essay sample

The media has an enormous Influence over the public agenda by selecting what Issues to focus on (the controversial Issues). The media defines the most controversial topics and thereby determining the political priorities of the public. i. e. the media tells the people what to focus on. The media is also a watchdog by forcing the government to reluctantly answer the people. Role of media in protection of human rights? Answer: Around the world, the media is the most effective avenue for spreading human rights wareness and acceptance. While spreading messages through schools and community forums can be effective at reaching dozens or even hundreds of people at the time, they cant match the reach and scope of the media. For Instance, one radio station in the Congo can reach hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously with information about womens rights. A website featuring photographs of rights abuses In North American Aboriginal communities may get millions of hits a day. We will write a custom essay sample on Controversial issues or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Increased awareness about human rights Is the first, and most necessary, step to ending human rights abuses. The more people know and care about human rights standards: The more people are empowered to defend their own rights (think FGM victims in the DRC) The more people are inspired to come tothe defense of others (think of Interventions In spousal abuse situations In North America) The more governments and civil society leaders are forced to improving their practices (think of he improved government rights record in Ghana or the US under Obama) The more human rights norms are injected into the fabric of society, the less likely rights abuses will be committed or tolerated when they do occur. Other methods of Improving human rights-namely creating legal frameworks (united Nations) or sparking international public pressure (Amnesty International)-can be effective, but only when the general public in the countries in question understand, accept and embrace their human rights first.

AIDS In Detail Essays - HIVAIDS, HIV, Kaposis Sarcoma,

AIDS In Detail Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Today, despite the continuing production of better antibiotics since the discovery of penicillin, we are facing an infectious disease against which all these drugs are virtually powerless. This disease is spreading inexorably, killing more people and more people each year. AIDS does not know no national boundaries and does not discriminate by race or sex. It is rampaging not only throughout the United States, but also through Africa, India, China, Russia, Europe, South America, and the Caribbean countries. Even infants and children are at risk. AIDS is similar to the bubonic plague or the "BLACK DEATH" that killed perhaps one-third in Europe in the 14th century. Yet, the difference from the "Black Death" and AIDS is that it is in slow motion because the infectious agent that causes AIDS can remain dormant in a person's body for several years before it causes illness, and because death from AIDS can be slow and drawn out once symptoms appear. AIDS is essentially a disease of the immune system. The body's defenses are destroyed and the patient becomes prey to the infections and cancers that would normally be fought off without any trouble. In 1984 it was proved that AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A virus is a minute infectious particle that enters and kills the immune cells, or lymphocytes. Because it destroys the very mechanism humans rely on for protection, prior to 1996 contracting Aids was considered a death sentence. For many years, 85 to 90 percent of all AIDS patients died within three years. They might have recovered from one infection only to succumb to another a few months later. Between infections they remain weak, emaciated and unable to work or carry on normal activities. In late 1996, almost 15 years after the first reported AIDS cases, researchers made the discovery that a certain combination of newly developed drugs could substantially prolong life in some AIDS patients. But AIDS is a fiendish virus. When researchers cleared it out of a patient's bloodstream, it hid in the lymph nodes. Scientists, figured out how to banish it from the lymph nodes, they found the virus lurking in the brain. Although, there is hope for a cure because they have done some experiments isolating a gene and it has had good results in some people infected with AIDS. The area that many people are concerned is with Southeast Asia-particularly India. At 900 million, India's population is almost double that sub-Saharan Africa, which, with 13.3 million HIV-positive adults, accounts for 60 percent of the world's total adult infections. The major reasons for such spread in India and following Africa is the high rate of their population, poverty rate, and other risk factors all point to a likely explosion. The number of HIV infections worldwide doubled between 1991 and 1996-and that number is expected to double again by the year 2000. By the turn of the century, about 44 million people will have fallen victim to the virus that causes AIDS. The signs of hope do not stop by the reason of Prevention Programs which they have succeeded in reducing HIV-infection rates dramatically among young men in Thailand and young women in Uganda-two of the countries hit hardest by the3 disease. The rate of new infections have also dropped sharply among gay men in the United States, Australia, Canada, and western Europe. However, many ingredients of the AIDS epidemic are still mystery. The cause of AIDS remained uncertain for several years after its discovery. Even now, there are questions about how efficiently the AIDS virus spreads, whether it will kill everyone who gets it, and why the virus is do devastating to the immune system. It's initial spread was in the United States was among groups that are frowned upon by society-homosexuals and intravenous(drug users)- AIDS has a stigma associated with it. This makes the disease difficult to confront rationally. However, people are terrified even by the word of AIDS. The virus does not get transmitted by any body contact neither through the air. However, the disease does not pass from one person to another through the air, by sneezing, on eating utensils, by shaking hands, or through body contact in sports. There are only four ways it can be spread: through injection with a needle contaminated with HIV, which it can happen when drug addicts share needles; by receiving a transfusion of contaminated blood; or-in the case of infant with an HIV-positive mother-having the virus transmitted through the placenta before birth, or the mother's milk

Your Resume on Google Docs... and other recommendations for posting your resume online

Your Resume on Google Docs... and other recommendations for posting your resume online Everyone is saying to post your resume to Google   so how do you do it? I received this question from one of my subscribers, and will answer it soon.   But first, are you an online job seeker?   If so, I have some important recommendations for you.   Seriously   keep reading! Here are my top 4 recommendations: Have a 100% complete profile on LinkedIn.   If you need help, contact The Essay Expert. Fill out all the information on your Facebook profile completely, and post only professionally appropriate photos. Maintain a Twitter account with your first and last name as your Twitter handle (eg. @BrendaBernstein). Post your resume on line and link to it from all the above accounts. Who recommends this four-pronged strategy? At least one highly successful recruiter, Shally Steckerl of Arbita, Inc. EVP, who presented to a group of career professionals at the Career Directors International annual conference in Savannah, Georgia on October 21, 2011. I was there and I was convinced. Issues to Consider When Posting an Online Resume Before posting your resume on line, consider privacy issues. You probably do not want to post your home address details to the entire world. City and state will suffice. You may or may want to make your phone number available to the public. (In my opinion, a public phone number is a relatively low risk and will allow recruiters to contact you.) For an email address, consider creating a designated email for your job search and use that one on your resume. You will then cut down on any spam and youll be able to keep all your job-search related emails in one place, with a low risk of having them get lost amongst other messages. How do you post your resume on line?   The answer is coming very soon There are many ways, and I will suggest just a few here: Post it on Google docs. Heres an article from SimplyBlog that does a great job of explaining how to do that! How to Post Your Resume with Google Docs You might need to change your Google Docs view to the old version of Google Docs if you cant figure out some of these instructions, or you might be able to translate the instructions to the new version. I went ahead and published my resume to Google Docs. See Brenda Bernsteins Resume! Post it on indeed.com. Indeed is a highly recommended job posting site, free to both you and employers who post jobs there. If you post your resume, you will be given a URL for your resume page. The cool thing about indeed.com is that you will get a resume Applicant Tracking Systems (ATSs) can read! You can then save it as a pdf and use it to apply to other jobs that use ATS software. Create a website. The Essay Expert can help you with this. You can have a page with your resume and link to it from your other social media profiles.   BTW, everyone reading this article, if you havent done so already, should go ahead and purchase the domain name for your first and last name or some version of it!   Be ready with the domain so when you want to create your website you can do it. Attach it to your LinkedIn profile.   First download the application Box.net and then you will be able to upload your resume.   The resume will then be available to people who visit your LinkedIn profile. Following the above recommendations will set you up to be successful with your online job search.   Stay tuned for more tips and tricks for online job searches coming up in the next few weeks! Were these tips helpful?   What other questions do you have?   Please comment below! 🙂 Log in to Reply The Essay Expert says: November 3, 2011 at 7:31 pm Thanks for the question Larry. Both forms are acceptable, and while (not whilst) among is more common, sometimes amongst simply sounds better to me. I play this one by ear. In my opinion, either choice is acceptable in a blog, essay, resume or any other document! Log in to Reply

Protecting our Boaders Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Protecting our Boaders - Term Paper Example In a 2010 CBS poll, a plurality of 32% of Americans graded the US with a â€Å"C† in its ability to protect against terrorist attacks. The same poll found that 55% of Americans thought that more comprehensive screening procedures in airports would be â€Å"Somewhat Effective† in stopping future terrorist attacks on airplanes. Furthermore, 74% supported the use of full body scan machines in airports (PollingReport.com). These polls show that Americans are concerned with how the government handles security in airports and are indeed supportive, in general, of increasing that security in order to reduce the overall threat of terror attacks to American travelers. The overall issue is that airports serve as one form of US borders, and Americans are aware of the threats posed from outside US borders by those traveling alongside US citizens. Americans see it as a basic function of their government to secure their borders in this arena through airport security. According to a R AND Corporation report, the relationship between airports and borders is extensive. This report notes that the US has more than 100 international airports, and they see a great volume of activity as over 88 million passengers pass through these points of entry each year. Airports have a number of stakeholders involved, including government agencies such as the TSA as mentioned, along with the Department of Homeland Security as well as the financing provided by state and local governments. Other stakeholders include the private companies that are responsible for ticketing, transportation, and those companies whose employees travel using airlines. In this sense, American interests in international airports are at the government level, in the private sector, as well as at the personal level for each individual who chooses to fly. Thus, security or a lack thereof in airports can affect citizens economically, as well as create personal conveniences or conflicts, and can affect citizens p olitically in their approval of political parties’ stance on airport security and how effective those in office are at handling it. (Riley) The importance of airport security to Americans also is a social issue, as it demands a political correctness and sensitivity to the rights of citizens and even non-citizens who pass through security checkpoints. There is often a delicate balance in providing staunch security while respecting travellers, and this is where the debate primarily rises. Government agencies produce long lines, are accused of profiling, and tend to invade what is usually considered personal space, yet also strive to avoid such results in order to satisfy travelers (Roston). As stated, these practices affect Americans daily as they travel, and help shape public opinion on the necessity and effectiveness of increased security. When these invasive measures become better-known for their inconvenience then for their utility, debates rises on what changes are needed and whether security is more important than privacy. Both security and privacy are valued by Americans on a personal level and as a political value, and thus a conflict is born. The specific approaches to security come in many forms. The U.S. Federal Air Marshall Service was instated in 2003, and places trained agents on

An essay developing the depth of critical analysis of one particular

An developing the depth of critical analysis of one particular theoretical approach in which the student will reflect on how the concepts can be related t - Essay Example However, the key point is the assumption that the person already has the solution to virtually any problem: the therapist’s task is to guide the client toward that solution (McMillan, 2004). Developed in the 1930s by Carl Rogers, person-centred therapy partially evolved from the psychoanalytic theories that had dominated the psychological science in the beginning of 20th century. However, the new approach also departed substantially from the classical psychoanalysis. Thus, Rogers did not accept the detached role of the therapist conducting the therapy; the emphasis on maintaining a supportive environment, coupled with the need to establish closer personal relationship between the therapist and client were other innovative features of the new approach. Even Roger’s use of the term ‘client’ pursued the goal to eliminate the traditional perception of the highly hierarchical patient-doctor relationship: in PCT, it was precisely the client, not therapist who determined the overall direction of treatment, while the therapist guided the client with the help of questions (Bruno, 1977). These basic principles of PCT are similar to those that shape the core of the original psychological theory of Carl Roger. Rogers’ humanistic theory developed as an offshoot of his method of client-centred (later called person-centred) therapy. The fundamental of personality is psychological reality, the subjective experience according to which the reality is interpreted by human beings, and any person is an integrate unity that can never be divided into separate part: Rogers’ view of human behaviour is ‘exquisitely rational’. Humanistic perspectives actively criticized psychoanalytic theory for portraying people as being directed only by their unconscious wishes and irrational forces. They also did not support the behaviourist school because the latter viewed people as biological robots â€Å"†¦who are mechanically programmed

Extra Credit Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Extra Credit Assignment - Essay Example Instead of relying on these three surefire ways to get elected into office, Smith relied on a grassroots-based campaign, largely relying on a multitude of youths and many others who shared his political ideals and fervor for honest-to-goodness civil service. Due to his lack of resources, especially on the financial aspect, Smith relied heavily on campaign contributions in order to try and keep his campaign going. Unlike his opponent, he barely had deep-pocketed colleagues who could do him a favor in exchange for a future favor that he would be returning to them. Instead, Smith literally walked the extra mile as he conducted his door-to-door campaign on foot. Smith further battled his disadvantage of lack of name-recall by packaging himself as an extreme underdog. It was through this packaging that people started to notice him and took him seriously. This same tactic allowed him to gain more followers even if he barely had any initial political

Coach Variables Effect on Motivation and Performance

Coach Variables Effect on Motivation and Performance An Experimental study of the Independent and Interactive Effects of ‘Coach Variables’ on the motivation and performance of Rugby ‘Forwards’ INTRODUCTION Rugby is a hugely popular international sport (UKRFU[1], 2006; USARFU[2], 2006). Two teams of 13 players each, play the sport by kicking, passing, or carrying a ball. In order to win a team must score more ‘points’ than its opponent. Points can be achieved by a ‘try’ (5 points) or a ‘goal’ (3 points). The former entails touching the ball to the ground beyond a line in the opponents half (more points can be earned by performing a ‘place kick’ or drop kick’ conversion). A goal involves kicking the ball over the opponents cross bar (in the form of a penalty kick or drop kick). It is essential that the players are motivated. Research has shown that player motivation is partly dependent on coach variables (Tammen, 1997; Allen Howe, 1998; Cumming, 2002; Reinboth et al, 2004). In particular player aggressiveness, an important aspect of rugby, is influenced by coach input (Abd-Aziz, 1998; Guivernau-Rojas, 2001). Certain coaches are better able to ‘drive’ their players to victory than other coaches, for example by providing better feedback, frequent praise and encouragement, tactical advise, and corrective information. How players perceive their coach is critical (Mavi, 2004). Social psychological on literature (Norman, 1976; Lui Standing, 1989; Aronson, 1995; Eagly Chaiken, 1993; Pornpitakpan, 2004) suggests that characteristics such as credibility, likeability, and trustworthiness, may significantly determine a coaches’ motivational effectiveness. For example, a likeable coach may be more effective at encouraging his ‘forwards’ (‘tight-five’/’front five’ and ‘loose forwards’) to achieve successful try’s and goals. A review of the relevant literature (e.g. ‘PsychINFO’, ‘Academic Search Premier’), revealed a paucity of rugby research in this area. AIMS/HYPOTHESES The study proposed here aims to evaluate the effects of coach variables – credibility, likeability, and trustworthiness – on the performance of rugby players, particularly the ‘tight-five’/‘front-five’ and ‘loose forwards’. Consistent with previous research on communicator variables (e.g. Pornpitakpan, 2004), the following hypotheses are proposed with respect to player/team performance: A credible will achieve more try’s/goals than a non-credible coach. A trustworthy coach will achieve more try’s/goals than an untrustworthy coach. A likeable coach will achieve more try’s/goals than a disliked coach. Interactions (two-way and three-way) between these coach characteristics will influence the achievement of try’s/goals. METHODOLOGY Setting The study will be set up as a field experiment. The setting will be the premises of several local rugby clubs. Design The study will be based on a between-groups experimental design. There will be three independent variables: coach expertise (high/low/placebo/no treatment control), likeability (high/low), and trustworthiness (high/low). This will translate into a 4 x 2 x 2 between groups factorial design, using multivariate analysis of covariance (Coolican, 1994). Thus, in effect, there will be 16 experimental conditions. The dependent variables will consist of players reported motivation (after a match) and the number of successful try’s and goals during a match. Attempts will be made to control for important background variables, including player experience, weight, height, and, baseline motivational levels, and score history. Sample The sample will comprise several different teams of rugby players, recruited from schools, universities, and clubs in the local area. The target (i.e. minimum) sample size is 160 players, with at least 10 players per factorial cell. Stimulus Materials Prior arrangements would have been made with team officials to substitute the original team coaches with a stooge coach. Players will be informed that a new coach will temporarily ‘substitute’ their regular coach, who is unable to attend due to a prior family engagement. Two or three stooge coaches will be used, one for each team. Manipulation of independent variables will occur as follows: (Expertise): players will be informed by the researcher that their new coach is an ex-rugby player with either ≠¥10 years coaching experience or a newly qualified coach with (Likeability): Each stooge coach will act in either a friendly fashion (e.g. smiling, encouraging players), or an unfriendly manner (frowning, denigrating players). (Trustworthiness): Players will be informed either that the stooge coach is getting paid a substantial amount of cash for this one-off job, or is working for free (Aronson, 1995, pp.80-81). (Placebo): Players will receive irrelevant information about the stooge coach (e.g. where they live and marital status), who will act in neutral fashion (i.e. neither friendly or unfriendly). (Control): No information will be provided about the stooge coach, who will try to act in a neutral fashion. A self-report questionnaire will be used to collect baseline data from players on the following: perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and likeability of the stooge coach, and background variables including prior rugby experience, weight, height and score history. This questionnaire will also be used to assess current (i.e. pre-treatment) motivational levels and perform manipulation checks for each coach variable (i.e. expertise, likeability, trustworthiness). The study will be carried out during a series of rugby matches played in the local area. A ‘Game Day Check List’ (USARFU, 2006) will be used to work out the most appropriate time to brief players. Prior to each match each participating rugby team will be randomly assigned to one experimental condition. Particular attention will be paid to the ‘forwards’ or ‘pack’ (i.e. players 1-8). Players will be asked to complete the baseline questionnaire, as part of a general survey on the profile and interests of rugby players in the UK. They will also be informed about the use of a substitute coach, and given the appropriate background information regarding expertise and trustworthiness. After each match players will complete the baseline questionnaire, and then be debriefed. Data will be analysed using a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), performed on SPSS (Field, 2002). Background variables will be treated as the covariates (i.e. control variables). A local Ethics Committee will review this project. It will conform to ethical guidelines of the British Psychological Society (BPS, 1993). Thus, the study will not involve any unnecessary deception, invasion of privacy, pain, injury, or discomfort, or violation of any legal requirements. Furthermore, all information collected from subjects will be strictly confidential. TIME SCALE The study will be conducted over a 12 month period. Month 1: Pilot study Month 2 to 3: Administration of Stimulus Materials Data Collection Month 4 to 5: SPSS Data Entry, Editing, and Analysis (MANCOVA) Month 6 to 8: Write Up Month 9 + : Dissemination of Findings DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS Findings will be disseminated through conference presentations and Journal publications. It is planned that a paper will be presented at the 12th European Congress of Sports Psychology (4-7 September, 2007, Halkidiki, Greece). A paper will also be submitted to the Journal of Applied Sports Psychology or British Journal of Sports Medicine or International Journal of Sports Psychology, all of which are particular useful outlets for targeting academic audiences. REFERENCES Abd-Aziz, S.B. (1998) Aggressive tendencies in Malaysian youth soccer: an  examination of individual and contextual factors. Dissertation Abstracts  International: Section A:- Humanities and Social Sciences. 59 (5-B), 2480. Allen, J. Howe, B.L. (1998) Player ability, coach feedback, and female adolescent  athletes’ perceived competence and satisfaction. Journal of Sport Exercise  Psychology 20, pp.280-299. Aronson, E. (1995) The Social Animal. New York: Freeman. BPS (1993) Code of Conduct, Ethical Principles and Guidelines. Leicester: British  Psychological Society. Coolican, H. (1994) Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology. London: Hodder   Stoughton. Cumming, S.P. (2002) A bio-psychosocial investigation of self-determined  motivation in recreational and travel youth soccer programs. Dissertation  Abstracts International: Section A:- Humanities and Social Sciences. 63 (5-A), 1765. Eagly, A.H. Chaiken, S. (1993) The Psychology of Attitudes. Fort Worth, TX:  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Field, A. (2002) Discovering Statistics using SPSS for Windows. London: Sage. Guivernau-Rojas, M. (2001) The impact of motivational and moral variables on  aggressive tendencies in sport. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section  A:- Humanities and Social Sciences. 62 (6-B), 2990. Lane, A.M., Rodger, J.S.E. Karageorghis, C.L. (1997) Antecedents of state anxiety  in rugby. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 84, pp.427-433. Lui, L. Standing, L.G. (1989) Communicator credibility: trustworthiness defeats  expertness. Social Behaviour Personality. 17, pp. 219-221. Mavi, H.F. (2004) The relationship among dispositional, contextual variables, and  intrinsic motivation in high school teams sports. Dissertation Abstracts  International: Section A:- Humanities and Social Sciences. 65 (3-A), 876. Norman, R. (1976) When what is said is important: a comparison of expert and  attractive sources. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 12, pp.294-300. Pornpitakpan, C. (2004) The persuasiveness of source credibility: a critical review of  five decades’ evidence. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 34, pp.243-281. UK Rugby Football Union (2006) Play [online] RFU Official Site,  http://www.community-rugby.com/communityrugby/index.cfm/Fuseaction/Home.Home/StoryTypeId/98/SectionId/575.cfm [Accessed 31 July 2006] USA Rugby Football Union (2006) USA Rugby [online] Rugby Channel,  http://www.usarugby.org/collegiate/manage/gameDayChecklist.html  [Accessed 1 August 2006]. Tammen, V.V. (1997) Coach and athlete goal orientations: congruence of orientations  and affects on athlete satisfaction and commitment. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section A:- Humanities and Social Sciences. 57 (11-A), 4687. Footnotes [1] UK Rugby Football Union [2] USA Rugby Football Union

Themes of Hope and Failure in The Awakening and The Outcasts of Poker F

To Fail or not to Fail The characters of Edna, Mr. Oakhurst, The Innocent, Piney, Mother Shipton, and The Duchess all face different forms of failure in their respective stories, The Awakening and â€Å"The Outcasts of Poker Flat†. Each character has a unique response to failure; some bend, while others break. Though at times people fall short of their goals, it is not necessarily the human lot to try and fail; sometimes people make the choice to fail by losing hope, or by viewing death as failure, or by having a negative outlook on life, but it is essentially they themselves who allow the failure- it all stems from the person’s perspective and individual choices. Even though humans don’t always succeed in their endeavors, humans are not predestined to fail. Hope is arguably the one thing that keeps humans moving forward. Without it, there is no motivation, no reason to wake up in the morning. When people start to lose hope, they start to lose a part of themselves, and are driven toward despair. In The Awakening, the protagonist, Edna, says over and over again how despondent she is, which leads to her eventual suicide. It has been said that â€Å"There is no failure except in no longer trying,† and sadly, Edna gave into despair and lost the will to keep going. She felt as though life was no longer worth the effort, and decided death would be better than living a lie. And yet, there’s always more than one door to take. Edna didn’t search for other options- for her, it was either be untrue to her feelings, live without Robert, or death. She was too strong to pick the first, but too weak to consider the second; she was awakened to her feelings, but blind to alternatives. Dorothy Thompson once said, â€Å"Courage, it would se... ...e Billy’s â€Å"failure† to do the right thing probably wasn’t much of a failure to him. Perspective defines failure, not some outside force. What exactly is failure? It is, according to the dictionary, â€Å"Lack of success.† Many people say that â€Å"failure isn’t the falling down, but the staying down.† But who are we to say? Lack of hope, the thought that death and failure are one and the same, and a pessimistic outlook on life can cause someone to fail, but thankfully not everyone falls victim to these. Failure is always controversial, because people view things and events differently. As Elaine Maxewell once said, â€Å"My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.†

Aqr Delta Strategy Essay

DANIEL BERGSTRESSER LAUREN COHEN RANDOLPH COHEN CHRISTOPHER MALLOY AQR’s DELTA Strategy In the summer of 2011, the principals at AQR Capital Management met in their Greenwich, CT, office to decide how best to market their new DELTA strategy. After launching in the late summer of 2008, the DELTA strategy had compiled an excellent track record, but David Kabiller, a Founding Principal and the Head of Client Strategies at AQR, was frustrated that the fund had not grown faster in light of its exceptional performance. In Kabiller’s experience, the combination of a solid track record plus an innovative product usually led to explosive growth in assets under management (AUM), but that had not been the case so far with DELTA. The DELTA strategy was a product that offered investors exposure to a basket of nine major hedge fund strategies. The DELTA strategy was innovative in two ways. First, in terms of its structure, AQR implemented the underlying strategies using a well-defined investment process, with the goal of delivering exposure to a well-diversified portfolio of hedge fund strategies. Second, in terms of its fees, the new DELTA strategy charged relatively lower fees: 1 percent management fees plus 10 percent of performance over a cash hurdle (or, alternatively, a management fee of 2 percent only). This fee structure was low relative to the industry, where 2 percent management fees plus 20 percent of performance, often with no hurdle, was standard. These features, while distinct relative to other related â€Å"hedge fund replication† products, had yet to fully resonate with investors, and Kabiller needed to decide on a more effective marketing approach given the large number of competitors entering this space. AQR AQR was established in 1998 and headquartered in Greenwich, CT. The founding Principals of the firm included Clifford Asness, David Kabiller, Robert Krail, and John Liew, who had all worked together at Goldman Sachs Asset Management before leaving to start AQR. Asness, Krail, and Liew had all met in the Finance PhD program at the University of Chicago, where Asness’ dissertation had focused on momentum investing. AQR’s over 200 employees managed $24.0 Billion in assets. A large amount of these assets were invested in hedge fund strategies. Professors Daniel Bergstresser (HBS), Lauren Cohen (HBS), Randolph Cohen (MIT), and Christopher Malloy (HBS) prepared this case. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. Copyright  © 2011, 2012 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-5457685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to www.hbsp.harvard.edu/educators. This publication may not be digitized, photocopied, or otherwise reproduced, posted, or transmitted, without the permission of Harvard Business School. 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Hedge funds Voor- en nadelen Hedge Fund: While open-end mutual funds had to register with the SEC, calculate and publish daily net asset values (NAVs), and provide investors with daily liquidity, hedge funds were not automatically regulated by the SEC and enjoyed as much flexibility as they could negotiate with their clients with respect to liquidity. In exchange for this light-touch regulation, hedge funds were restricted in their marketing: only high net worth and institutional investors could directly invest in these funds. Nevertheless, academic work had by the late 1990s established that hedge funds offered a risk exposure that was less correlated with broad market indexes than most mutual funds, and potentially offered high risk-adjusted returns. The performance of the hedge fund industry during the 2001-2002 recession was  particularly good; Exhibit 1 shows that while stock market indices (S&P and NASDAQ) fell dramatically during this period, broad hedge fund indices (e.g., DJCS_Hedge and HFRI_FW, which were designed to track the overall performance of the hedge fund industry) rose. In response to the perception that hedge funds truly offered outperformance, institutional money flowed into hedge funds during the late 1990s and 2000s, and the size of the industry grew rapidly. Exhibit 2 charts the growth in the number of funds and total AUM (assets under management) in the hedge fund industry since 1997. With this growth in assets and managers, questions began to surface about the role of hedge funds in a portfolio and whether there were other ways to capture those returns without being exposed to some of the negatives of hedge fund investing. Alternatives to hedge funds Although many investors were attracted to the possibility of obtaining high returns and/or low covariance with other investments in their portfolio, many still found hedge funds themselves to be unappealing. Among the reasons for their distaste were: a) illiquidity, b) minimum investment requirements, c) high fees, d) the difficulty of selecting the right hedge fund manager, e) the inability to gain access to high quality funds, and f) the lack of established benchmarks in the industry. Most hedge funds only allowed redemptions on certain dates – often at the end of each quarter. Additionally many funds had an initial lockup – that is, investors could not redeem from the fund for a set period after investing; the period was often one year though some funds had no lockup and others had locked up investors for as long as five years. Most funds also had a minimum investment size of at least $1 million. In addition, many investors found the fees charged by hedge funds, which often amounted to 2% of assets under management (some funds even charged the full cost of their operations to their funds, amounting to more than 2% management fees) plus an additional 20% of profits generated by the fund, to be excessive and hoped to obtain similar benefits at a lower cost. Some investors also found the idea of selecting a portfolio from the many thousands of available hedge funds to be an intimidating task, especially given the lack of transparency (both as to investment process and holdings) that was common among hedge fund managers. And of course even if  an investor could identify a set of funds that made up an attractive portfolio, the managers of those funds might not accept an investment at that time or from that investor. Finally, in contrast to the mutual fund industry, there was a lack of established benchmarks fo r hedge funds, making it difficult to assess skill versus luck and idiosyncratic versus systematic returns. While hedge fund indices existed, these were just peer groups, not true benchmarks, and were biased by a number of things, including style drift and survivorship bias. In response to these criticisms, alternative products were soon introduced into the marketplace. 2 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Funds of Hedge Funds (FOFs) One popular alternative to direct hedge fund investing was the funds of hedge funds (FOFs) structure. FOFs aimed to take investors’ money and allocate it among a select group of hedge funds – sometimes among a small number (even in the single digits in some cases), and sometimes among hundreds of funds. onerous= burdensome/ heavy This approach solved a number of the issues facing hedge fund investors, especially those with modest capital. FOFs had less onerous liquidity rules than individual hedge funds, and FOFs were less likely to encounter liquidity problems than individual funds since they could obtain liquidity from a number of underlying funds. Still, FOFs were ultimately subject to the underlying liquidity (both with respect to liquidity terms and underlying holdings) of the funds they were investing in. In addition, a single minimum investment bought a portfolio of many funds, and an experienced and hopefully expert financial professional, or team of such professionals, selected the funds, and chose allocations among them that (presumably) produced a well-optimized portfolio. Finally, FOF managers  claimed that their experience and connections provided access to hard-to-enter funds. Thus FOFs presented an appealing package, and indeed close to half of all money invested in hedge funds came through F OFs. However, many investors were put off by FOF fees, which historically included an additional layer of fees often as high as half the level of hedge fund fees themselves (thus making total fees paid about 1.5 times higher than for direct investing). Multi-strategy Funds Another approach to obtaining an alternative-investment portfolio while avoiding some of the challenges of one-strategy-at-a-time creation was to invest in multi-strategy hedge funds. Such offerings were often made by large hedge fund firms that offered a variety of individual strategies. Investors might have the option to invest in a multi-strategy fund that allocated assets across the different silos within the firm. One major advantage of multi-strategy funds over FOFs was fees: multi-strategy funds typically did not charge an additional fee layer over and above the hedge fund fee (as FOFs did). Further, multi-strategy funds only charged performance fees when the total investment was in the money; whereas, in the case of FOFs and direct single strategy investments, an investor could be subject to performance fees even if the net, aggregate performance wasn’t positive. A second potential advantage of multi-strategy funds was in portfolio construction. Not only was the allocation among strategies performed by professionals, those professionals likely had a high level of insight and visibility into the opportunities available to the individual silo managers. Multi-strategy funds generally offered as good or better liquidity than individual-strategy funds, and of course there was no trouble gaining â€Å"access† to the underlying managers. Multi-strategy funds appeared to offer strong diversification, although in the famous case of the hedge fund Amaranth, investors thought they were investing in a diversified portfolio of strategies. However, extreme losses in one of the portfolio’s silos led to the loss of approximately 75% of total portfolio value. Consequently many investors felt they were not truly diversified if they had a large allocation to a multi-strategy fund, but this could be potentially mitigated through the right amount of transparency into the positions and  risks of the portfolio, or, of course, through diversification among several different multi-strategy funds, thereby minimizing single firm risk. silos= opslagplaatsen 3 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy One potential concern with multi-strategy funds from the investor’s point of view was the question of portfolio manager quality. Although it was possible that a single firm could gather under one roof the very best managers in a variety of specialties, some investors found this implausible. Hedge fund replication Starting in 2006, a number of investment management firms also introduced â€Å"hedge fund replication† products. These strategies, implemented using liquid instruments, purported to give investors a ‘top-down’ exposure to the broad risk exposures of the hedge fund industry. These products could be viewed as an effort to provide ‘hedge fund beta,’ or the systematic part of hedge fund performance. The rationale for these products originated from studies of hedge fund returns that highlighted the idea that the line between ‘alpha’ and ‘beta,’ was potentially fluid. The alternative systematic exposures of hedge funds could be viewed as a kind of â€Å"exotic beta.† If hedge fund returns could be approximated with dynamically traded portfolios of liquid assets, then investors attracted to hedge fund returns, but potentially looking for a liquid or low-fee alternative to actual hedge funds could invest in a ‘hedge fun d replication’ product that attempted to mimic hedge fund returns using liquid assets. These top-down approaches aimed to use statistical methods to create a portfolio of liquid assets that had similar performance to hedge funds as a class. One top-down approach was to use linear regressions, or optimizations, to build a portfolio that had high correlations to historical hedge fund returns. An example of this  approach consisted of three steps. First one would obtain a long-run time series of returns on a diversified portfolio of hedge funds (e.g., the HFRI monthly hedge fund indices were commonly used). Then one would obtain returns on a large number of liquid investments-these could be indexes of stocks (e.g., S&P 500, MSCI EAFE, MSCI Emerging, Russell 2000, etc.), bonds (e.g., US 10-year government bonds), currencies (e.g., EUR-USD Spot Exchange Rate), etc. () Finally, one would use a standard statistical optimizer, or linear regression, to find the portfolio of liquid investments (either long or short and at weights implied by the statistical analysis) that most closely replicated the statistical characteristics of the hedge fund portfolio. Exhibit 3 presents the monthly returns from a set of indices that were commonly used for hedge fund replication purposes. 1 Specifically, the goal was to create a portfolio that historically moved as close to one for one with the hedge fund portfolio, so that it had high correlation with the hedge fund portfolio, and yet also matched other â€Å"statistical moments,† such as volatility, skewness, and kurtosis. Historically, and ideally on a forward-looking basis as well, this portfolio would fulfill a role in the diversified portfolio similar to the role that hedge funds would play. Exhibit 4 plots the recent return performance of a few commonly used hedge fund indices (e.g., DJCS_Hedge, HFRI_FW, and HFRX_Global), which represent composite indices of individual hedge funds and were designed to track the overall return performance of the industry; as well as a fund-ofhedge funds (FOF) index (HFRI_FOF) designed to track the overall return performance of funds of hedge funds. Exhibit 5 presents the return performance of four popular hedge fund replication index products, produced by Merrill Lynch, G oldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Credit Suisse. Exhibit 6 presents the return performance of the overall hedge fund indices alongside the performance of these hedge fund replication products. 1 This is an excerpt of the data. The full data series is in the Spreadsheet Supplement to the case. 4 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 AQR’s approach For years, the principals at AQR had been working on understanding the underlying nature of hedge fund returns and exploring the possibility of being able to capture them in a transparent, liquid and cost effective way. Thus, they were initially intrigued by the introduction of these hedge fund replication products, but very soon came to the conclusion that an entirely different approach to delivering exposure to the systematic risk factors of the hedge fund industry was needed. Whereas AQR’s competitors focused on the ‘top-down’ products described above, AQR focused on creating a ‘bottom-up’ approach that sought to deliver significant risk-adjusted returns instead of simply replicating an index by: capturing classical, liquid hedge fund strategies that were uncorrelated with traditional markets, implementing them at low cost, and then bundling these strategies into a wellconstructed single portfolio focusing on portfolio construction, risk management and trading. Origins of AQR’s approach The idea of direct, simplified implementation of core hedge fund strategies was hinted at by the pioneering work into merger arbitrage of Mark Mitchell and Todd Pulvino. Mitchell and Pulvino were both former academics (at Harvard Business School and the Kellogg School of Management, respectively) who subsequently teamed up with AQR in 2001. A simple merger arbitrage strategy, for example, worked as follows: after the announcement by Firm A of a desire to acquire Firm B, the merger arbitrageur made a purchase of the target Firm B shares while shorting the acquirer Firm A’s shares (if the acquisition was to be made in cash, the arbitrageur merely purchased Firm B shares without shorting Firm A). Typically upon the announcement of the merger, the price of the target shares would not rise all the way to the price that would be appropriate if the merger were sure to be completed. When Mitchell and Pulvino studied the merger arbitrage industry, they found that merger arbitrage strategies did deliver substantial risk-adjusted returns. Specifically, the expected returns of putting merger arbitrage  investments into place was high, and while the risk was higher than one might naturally have expected — because mergers tended to break up exactly at times of market stress, and therefore the merger arbitrage strategy had more beta, or market exposure, than might be presumed — nevertheless they found that even accounting for this risk, the performance of a naà ¯ve merger arbitrage strategy that invested in every deal was substantial. Mitchell and Pulvino also looked at the performance of actual merger arbitrage funds. A merger arbitrage fund would be expected to add alpha by correctly identifying which mergers were more or less likely to achieve completion than the market anticipated. So, for example, if the market pricing of a deal was such that the expected return would be zero if the merger was 90% likely to be completed, the merger arbitrageur’s job was to try to figure out whether in fact the merger was substantially more than 90% likely to go through, substantially less than 90%, or about 90%, and then invest only in those deals that were substantially more than 90% likely to go through. What Mitchell and Pulvino found was that merger arbitrage funds made money, but that they did not show an ability to forecast which mergers would close over and above the market’s ability. That is, the outperformance that merger arbitrageurs were generating was no greater than the outperformance that would be generated by a simple strategy that bought every target and shorted every bidder, particularly net of fees. 5 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy This opened the door to a potential strategy for the replication of merger arbitrage: simply participate in every merger arbitrage deal that met a set of basic screens (e.g., size and liquidity). The benefit to investors would be a potentially more diversified portfolio of merger deals than would be obtained from a fund manager who only selected a subset of the deals, and also potentially far lower fees, because there was no need to pay an analyst  to determine which mergers were more or less likely to succeed. With this as a template, one could easily imagine a whole roster of potential hedge fund strategies that could be captured in a systematic way (e.g., long value stocks and short growth stocks, convertible arbitrage, carry trades, trend following trades and trades exploiting other wellknown empirical asset pricing anomalies). Since the early work into merger arbitrage, AQR had spent years researching these other classical hedge fund strategies that could be captured from the bottomup. Bottom-Up versus Top-Down AQR preferred their bottom-up approach for a variety of reasons. First, they felt that many hedge fund strategies earned returns for bearing a liquidity risk premium, which you could not earn by trading solely in liquid instruments as in the hedge fund replication methods. For example, in order to capture the returns from a convertible bond that traded at a discount to fair value because of a liquidity risk premium, you needed to own the convertible bond, not simply liquid assets that were correlated with the convertible bond. Second, since top-down methods aimed to maximize correlations with recent past hedge fund performance, these approaches were necessarily backwardlooking and based on what hedge funds were doing in the past. By contrast, if you ran the actual strategies, one could respond to market opportunities immediately. Finally and perhaps most importantly, AQR felt that the hedge fund indices upon which most top-down replication strategies were based had a variety of biases (e.g., survivorship bias), had too much exposure to traditional markets (i.e., equity and credit beta) and also tended to reflect the weights of the most popular strategies. Since these popular strategies were crowded with many trades, the expected returns on these strategies going forward were potentially lower. In short, while they shared the noble goals of top-down replication products (i.e., attempting to provide liquid, transparent exposure to hedge fund strategies at a lower fee), AQR felt that the approach had fundamental flaws or, as Cliff Asness put it in a speech in October 2007 on hedge fund replication, â€Å"Not Everything That Can Be Done Should Be Done.† AQR’s DELTA Strategy In late 2007, AQR decided to focus their years of research on capturing the classical hedge fund strategies in a systematic way from the bottom up by â€Å"creating our own product that would seek to deliver these strategies in a risk-balanced and efficiently implemented way.† AQR viewed their â€Å"DELTA† product as superior to the newly-introduced replication products that were being marketed as offering ‘hedge fund beta.’ In fact, AQR staff bristled at comparisons between the existing hedge fund replication products and their DELTA product. To ensure that AQR was taking a broad approach and to avoid being insular, they formed an external advisory committee made up of some very seasoned hedge fund investors to help guide the development of the product. The DELTA name was an acronym that reflected the product’s characteristics: ‘Dynamic, Economically Intuitive, Liquid, Transparent and Alternative.’ The portfolio was designed to be uncor related with the overall stock market, and would be diversified across nine broad strategy classes: a Fixed Income Relative Value strategy, a Managed Futures strategy, a Global Macro strategy, insular = bekrompen 6 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 an Emerging Markets strategy, a Long/Short equity strategy, a Dedicated Short Bias strategy, an Equity Market Neutral strategy, a Convertible Arbitrage strategy, and an Event Driven strategy. Performance AQR decided to go ahead with the creation of the DELTA strategy in the late summer of 2008. By October 1, 2008, the portfolio was fully invested and had begun to compile a track record. At the time, the staff at AQR had worried that this might be â€Å"the worst possible time to be launching a product designed to capture classical hedge fund strategies.† Nonetheless, the DELTA  portfolio performed well in the fourth quarter of 2008 immediately after its launch, an impressive feat given the turbulence in the market. Exhibit 7 charts the monthly performance of the DELTA strategy since inception. Exhibit 8 shows the raw monthly returns of the DELTA strategy, compared to the raw monthly returns of stock market indices (S&P and NASDAQ) and broad hedge fund indices (e.g., DJCS_Hedge and HFRI_FW, which were designed to track the overall performance of the hedge fund industry). Exhibit 8 also presents the â€Å"beta† of the DELTA strategy with respect to these various market and hedge fund indices, while Exhibit 9 graphs the cumulative return performance of the DELTA strategy relative to these indices. Marketing DELTA Although DELTA was off to a great start, Kabiller felt like it was underperforming its potential. By the summer of 2011, despite its excellent performance, growth in DELTA’s AUM had been modest. After giving it a lot of thought, Kabiller identified three primary challenges AQR faced in convincing investors to allocate capital to DELTA. First, many of his institutional clients had grown very comfortable selecting a set of hedge funds and paying them both management and performance fees. Exhibit 10 presents the recent annual returns of some of the largest U.S. hedge funds, many of whom had delivered stellar returns over time. Kabiller was convinced that one of DELTA’s major assets was its ability to deliver hedge fund returns with a significantly lower fee structure. But many of his institutional clients had difficulty assessing just how large an advantage this provided DELTA. For instance, if a client selected the two percent management fee with no performance fee struct ure, how much higher could they expect their after-fee returns to be? Given that performance fees were typically only paid on returns in excess of a cash hurdle, was a twenty percent performance fee really that costly to fund investors? Related considerations applied to investors that invested primarily through Funds of Hedge Funds. These investment vehicles typically added a layer of fees on top of the after-fee performance of their hedge fund investments – typically a one percent management fee and a ten percent performance fee. Due to DELTA’s multi-strategy investment approach, its after-fee performance should perhaps be benchmarked against those of fund-of-funds alternatives. Conveying to such investors the fee advantage of DELTA in simple terms – for instance, how much better their competitors’ pre-fee returns needed to be than those of DELTA to offset the fee differential – would go a long way in convincing them that DELTA was the superior approach. A second challenge in marketing DELTA was the emergence of the so-called hedge fund replication strategies. These strategies were almost the polar opposite of the fund-of-funds – they had modest fees and, because they replicated hedge fund returns using highly liquid indices, they faced little in the way of liquidity risk. Institutional investors interested in low-fee exposure to hedge fund returns found these products attractive, and Kabiller found it challenging to convey the advantages of the DELTA approach. His inclination was to focus on two key limitations of hedge fund replication. First, he felt they relied heavily on the historical relationship between hedge fund returns and major stock and bond market indices. To the extent that the relationship was not stable, 7 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy or to the extent that a large fraction of hedge fund movements could not be captured by an appropriate combination of these indices, the replication approach would be limited in its ability to truly deliver in real time the actual returns being earned by the average hedge fund investor. Second, even if the strategy could replicate a large fraction of the monthly fluctuations in performance of the average hedge fund, Kabiller felt it was likely that a â€Å"top-down† approach would be limited in replicating the actual edge, or â€Å"alpha,† of the average hedge fund. Even if much of the risks to which hedge funds were exposed could be found in broad stock and bond market indices, it was unlikely that any of the informational or liquidity edges they possessed would appear in the returns of these indices. A final challenge Kabiller faced in the marketing of DELTA was its track record. Although it had outpaced the broad HFRI index since its inception in the fall of 2008, th e track record was still a fairly limited one. Moreover, since the central appeal of the product was its ability to match average hedge fund returns  with modest fees, the outperformance ironically posed something of a challenge for DELTA. Kabiller felt it would be critical to understand its source before determining whether it was an aberration or whether they possessed a sustainable edge relative to the index of hedge funds. As Kabiller looked out beyond his infinity pool and into the calm waters of the Long Island Sound, he worried that without a proper grasp of these issues, many rough sales meetings lay ahead for him and his DELTA team. 8 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Exhibit 1 Cumulative Return Performance of Hedge Fund Indices versus Stock Market Indices, since 1996. Cumulative Return Performance of Hedge Fund Indices Versus Stock Market Indices 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 199601 199609 199705 199801 199809 199905 200001 200009 200105 200201 200209 200305 200401 200409 200505 200601 200609 200705 200801 200809 200905 201001 201009 201105 NASDAQ S&P_Index DJCS_Hedge HFRI_FW Source: Bloomberg. 9 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Exhibit 2 Total Number of Hedge Funds and Total AUM (Assets Under Management) for the Hedge Fund Industry, since 1997. Growth in Hedge Fund Industry (1997-2010) 12,000 $2,500.00 10,000 Number of Hedge Funds 8,000 $1,500.00 6,000 $1,000.00 4,000 $500.00 Hedge Fund AUM (in Billions $) $2,000.00 Number of Hedge Funds Hedge Fund AUM 2,000 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 $- Source: Created by casewriters using data from Hedge Fund Research, www.hedgefundresearch.com, accessed August 2011. 10 212-038 -11- Exhibit 3 Excerpt of Monthly Returns on Indices Commonly Used for Hedge Fund Replication (1996-2011). The full data series is contained in the Spreadsheet Supplement to the case MSCI EM 7.6% -0.6% 1.1% 5.2% 0.1% 0.9% -6.2% 2.6% 1.4% -1.4% 1.7% 1.0% †¦ -2.1% -1.4% 4.3% 0.8% -1.6% -1.9% -0.9% -7.3% -7.4% 9.1% -3.8% 0.0% 7.4% 3.9% 7.0% 6.2% -2.5% 0.5% 15.0% -0.5% 0.5% 10.9% -0.2% 1.0% 4.5% -8.7% -4.3% -8.8% -11.4% -5.4% -7.0% -1.3% -1.2% -3.5% -2.0% -2.5% -3.7% -1.1% -1.7% -2.0% 0.4% 0.1% 0.2% 0.4% -0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% -2.8% 2.0% 2.4% 2.6% 0.0% 3.0% -0.1% 0.5% 1.6% 2.4% -0.3% 5.4% 2.4% 3.4% 0.2% -0.1% -0.4% 0.0% 0.0% 1.6% 2.7% -0.7% 3.3% 5.7% 2.8% -2.0% 1.3% 2.0% 0.8% 4.0% -0.7% †¦ 4.0% 2.4% †¦ 7.6% -2.0% †¦ 0.8% 0.0% †¦ 2.8% -2.1% †¦ 4.6% -1.2% 3.7% -1.7% 5.6% 2.8% 0.9% 1.2% 2.2% 2.9% 0.9% 4.1% 0.4% 0.0% †¦ -0.7% -0.2% 1.1% 1.7% -0.9% -0.8% 0.6% -1.2% 1.4% 0.0% 1.0% 0.3% 0.0% 1.0% -4.9% 0.9% -4.2% -8.8% 5.7% 0.4% -4.4% 2.1% 0.8% 0.4% 0.4% 1.5% 0.0% -0.5% -0.3% -1.0% -1.4% 3.5% -1.2% 5.3% 3.9% 1.5% 2.6% 0.0% 0.2% -1.7% -0.6% 4.5% -1.4% -1.0% 2.8% 3.0% 1.8% 0.9% 1.0% -0.5% -0.2% -3.6% -1.1% -3.7% -0.3% 3.7% -0.2% 3.4% 0.9% 0.4% 5.1% MSCI EAFE RUSSELL 2000 S&P 500 US TREAS 2YR US TREAS 10YR CURRENCY HFRI HFRI FOF HFRI FW 1/31/1996 1.1% 2.7% 2.9% 2/29/1996 3/29/1996 2.8% 1.9% -0.6% 1.0% 1.2% 1.5% 4/30/1996 5/31/1996 5.3% 3.7% 3.1% 1.5% 4.0% 3.1% 6/28/1996 7/31/1996 8/30/1996 -0.7% -2.9% 2.6% 0.4% -1.9% 1.5% 0.2% -2.1% 2.3% 9/30/1996 10/31/1996 2.2% 1.6% 1.2% 1.6% 2.1% 1.0% 11/29/1996 12/31/1996 †¦ 1.7% 0.8% 2.3% 0.7% †¦ 2.1% 1.3% †¦ 1/31/2011 2/28/2011 0.4% 1.3% 0.1% 0.8% 0.4% 1.2% 3/31/2011 4/29/2011 0.5% 1.3% -0.1% 1.2% 0.1% 1.5% 5/31/2011 6/30/2011 7/29/2011 -1.3% -1.3% -0.3% -1.1% -1.3% 0.4% -1.2% -1.2% 0.2% 8/31/2011 9/30/2011 -4.9% -6.0% -2.6% -2.8% -3.2% -3.9% 10/31/2011 11/30/2011 12/30/2011 4.9% -2.0% -0.9% 1.1% -1.0% -0.4% 2.7% -1.3% -0.4% 1/31/2012 3.8% 1.9% 2.6% Source: Thomson Reuters Datastream. 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Exhibit 4 Cumulative Return Performance of Overall Hedge Fund Indices, since June 2007. Recent Performance of Hedge Fund Indices 120 110 100 DJCS_Hedge 90 80 70 60 200706 200708 200710 200712 200802 200804 200806 200808 200810 200812 200902 200904 200906 200908 200910 200912 201002 201004 201006 201008 201010 201012 201102 201104 201106 HFRI_FW HFRX_Global HFRI_FOF Source: Bloomberg. 12 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Exhibit 5 Cumulative Return Performance of Hedge Fund Replication Indices, since June 2007. Recent Performance of Hedge Fund Replication Products 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 200706 200708 200710 200712 200802 200804 200806 200808 200810 200812 200902 200904 200906 200908 200910 200912 201002 201004 201006 201008 201010 201012 201102 201104 201106 ML GS JPM CS Source: Bloomberg. 13 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Exhibit 6 Comparison of Cumulative Return Performance of Overall Hedge Fund Indices versus Hedge Fund Replication Indices, since June 2007. Comparison of Recent Performance of Hedge Fund Indices Versus Hedge Fund Replication Products 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 200706 200708 200710 200712 200802 200804 200806 200808 200810 200812 200902 200904 200906 200908 200910 200912 201002 201004 201006 201008 201010 201012 201102 201104 201106 DJCS_Hedge HFRI_FW HFRX_Global HFRI_FOF ML GS JPM CS Source: Bloomberg. 14 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Exhibit 7 Monthly Return Performance of AQR DELTA strategy, Since Inception. AQR DELTA Return Performance 5.00% 4.00% 3.00% 2.00% 1.00% 0.00% -1.00% -2.00% -3.00% -4.00% Source: Company documents. 15 212-038 AQR’s DELTA Strategy Exhibit 8 Monthly Return Performance (and Beta) of AQR DELTA strategy compared to Market Indices (S&P, NASDAQ) and Hedge Fund Indices (DJCS_Hedge, HFRI_FW), since October 2008. Date 200810 200811 200812 200901 200902 200903 200904 200905 200906 200907 200908 200909 200910 200911 200912 201001 201002 201003 201004 201005 201006 201007 201008 201009 201010 201011 201012 201101 201102 201103 201104 201105 Average DELTA 1.22% 1.72% 4.05% 2.79% -0.10% 2.32% 3.09% -0.35% 1.78% 1.93% 4.48% 2.70% -0.31% 0.96% 0.55% -0.66% -0.27% 2.23% 2.18% -3.37% 1.39% 1.62% 2.02% 3.33% 2.47% 1.03% 1.93% -0.41% -0.45% 0.92% 2.31% -0.84% 1.32% NASDAQ -17.73% -10.77% 2.70% -6.38% -6.68% 10.94% 12.35% 3.32% 3.42% 7.82% 1.54% 5.64% -3.64% 4.86% 5.81% -5.37% 4.23% 7.14% 2.64% -8.29% -6.55% 6.90% -6.24% 12.04% 5.86% -0.37% 6.19% 1.78% 3.04% -0.04% 3.32% -1.33% 1.19% 0.09 0.25 0.28 S&P_Index -16.94% -7.48% 0.78% -8.57% -10.99% 8.54% 9.39% 5.31% 0.02% 7.41% 3.36% 3.57% -1.98% 5.74% 1.78% -3.70% 2.85% 5.88% 1.48% -8.20% -5.39% 6.88% -4.74% 8.76% 3.69% -0.23% 6.53% 2.26% 3.20% -0.10% 2.85% -1.35% 0.64% 0.09 0.28 0.32 DJCS_Hedge -6.30% -4.15% -0.03% 1.09% -0.88% 0.65% 1.68% 4.06% 0.43% 2.54% 1.53% 3.04% 0.13% 2.11% 0.88% 0.17% 0.68% 2.22% 1.24% -2.76% -0.84% 1.59% 0.23% 3.43% 1.92% -0.18% 2.90% 0.69% 1.38% 0.12% 1.80% -0.96% 0.64% 0.25 HFRI_FW -6.84% -2.67% 0.15% -0.09% -1.21% 1.66% 3.60% 5.15% 0.25% 2.50% 1.30% 2.79% -0.20% 1.52% 1.28% -0.76% 0.66% 2.49% 1.19% -2.89% -0.95% 1.61% -0.13% 3.48% 2.14% 0.19% 2.95% 0.41% 1.23% 0.06% 1.45% -1.18% 0.66% 0.25 DELTA’s Beta with: DJCS_Hedge’s Beta with: HFRI_FW’s Beta with: Source: Company documents. 16 AQR’s DELTA Strategy 212-038 Exhibit 9 Cumulative Return Performance of AQR DELTA Strategy versus Market Indices (S&P and NASDAQ) and Hedge Fund Indices (DJCS_Hedge and HFRI_FW), since October 2008 Cumulative Return Performance of DELTA versus Market and Hedge Fund Indices 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 DELTA NASDAQ S&P_Index DJCS_Hedge HFRI_FW Source: Bloomberg and company documents. 17 212-038 -18- Exhibit 10 Annual Returns of Largest Hedge Funds (%) Fund Name Winton Futures USD Cls B Millennium International Ltd Transtrend DTP – Enhanced Risk (USD) The Genesis Emerging Mkts Invt Com A Aspect Diversified Programme Aurora Offshore Fund Ltd. Permal Macro Holdings Ltd USD A Canyon Value Realization Cayman Ltd A Permal Fixed Income Holdings NV USD A Absolute Alpha Fund PCC Diversified Caxton Global Investments Ltd GAM U.S. Institutional Trading K4D-10V Portfolio K4D-15V Portfolio Orbis Optimal (US$) Fund GAM Trading II USD Open Double Black Diamond Ltd (Carlson) GoldenTree High Yield Master Fund Ltd Bay Resource Partners Offshore Fund Ltd GAM U.S. Institutional Diversity Firm Name Winton Capital Management Millennium Intl. Management Transtrend BV Genesis Investment Management Aspect Capital Aurora Investment Management Permal Asset Management Canyon Capital Advisors Permal Asset Management Financial Risk Management Caxton Associates GAM Sterling Management Graham Capital Management Graham Capital Management Orbis Investment Management GAM Sterling Management Carlson Capital Goldentree Asset Management GMT Capital Corp GAM Sterling Management Size ($Bil) 9.89 8.84 8.38 6.70 5.71 5.56 5.35 5.21 4.51 4.47 4.40 3.57 3.54 3.54 3.43 3.09 2.98 2.65 2.45 2.43 2001 7.11 15.26 26.36 4.62 15.79 9.82 14.66 12.69 11.50 9.33 31.41 16.34 6.45 39.31 29.01 14.78 11.94 18.30 29.32 9.56 2002 18.34 9.61 26.26 -1.77 19.19 1.31 8.03 5.21 10.47 6.36 26.44 10.69 18.76 43.71 12.15 10.55 2.12 6.24 0.03 4.95 2003 27.75 10.89 8.48 61.98 20.59 13.58 12.56 21.87 17.59 8.07 8.09 14.74 8.46 21.60 10.84 14.49 7.62 31.42 23.24 14.60 2004 22.63 14.68 12.82 31.53 -7.72 8.15 4.86 13.56 9.37 4.06 9.97 3.55 5.56 -0.43 2.25 3.84 4.70 9.89 27.97 6.14 2005 9.73 11.31 5.99 37.86 12.01 9.47 10.65 8.35 7.69 7.00 8.03 4.98 -7.52 -16.97 8.60 4.80 5.08 13.35 30.95 10.48 2006 17.83 16.43 12.04 30.22 12.84 10.95 9.48 14.08 10.48 8.94 13.17 8.68 5.02 6.64 4.95 7.44 21.12 13.21 21.65 16.74 2007 17.97 10.99 22.38 31.68 8.18 13.14 8.90 7.52 8.42 16.33 1.06 9.48 11.62 16.57 6.98 7.93 15.96 4.60 19.84 7.76 2008 20.99 -3.04 29.38 -49.30 25.42 -21.69 -5.16 -28.36 -18.40 -23.02 12.96 7.57 21.82 35.67 -2.49 5.78 -12.40 -38.60 -20.88 -13.96 2009 -4.63 16.28 -11.27 90.44 -11.24 21.26 9.83 55.20 27.32 10.51 5.83 8.32 1.41 3.11 9.92 6.55 28.34 69.94 56.60 6.78 2010 14.46 13.22 14.89 25.06 15.36 7.31 6.38 13.46 10.40 5.36 11.42 7.80 2.46 4.58 -3.93 5.97 9.30 23.61 15.90 -1.14 2011 6.29 8.39 -8.65 -15.29 4.51 -6.01 -3.27 -4.66 -5.28 -2.06 -2.40 -2.32 -4.11 -2.67 -4.19 -2.79 Source: Morningstar Hedge Fund Database, accessed January 2012.

Compulsive Buying Behavior as a Lifestyle

Compulsive Buying Behavior as a Lifestyle Introduction On April 1900, Paris held a world trade fair, which brought together people from different consumer markets to celebrate past technological achievements and gain an insight into potential futuristic developments.Advertising We will write a custom dissertation sample on Compulsive Buying Behavior as a Lifestyle specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The trade fair portrayed the potential of the then and future civilizations to deploy technology, creativity, and innovation to create more consumables to better the life of the future generations. The trade fair set the foundation for availing more products and services in the marketplace. Primarily, products are availed in the markets for consumers to buy and the buying behaviors are subject to various factors. The organizations’ ability to generate sales revenue is greatly influenced by their capacity to influence the consumers’ buying behavior. However, Grant, Clark e, and Kyriazis (2013) affirm that the consumer buying behavior is complex because it is influenced by internal and external factors. The academic trend in studying buying behaviors views them as personality disorders. This approach holds that consumers purchase products compulsively due to anxiety or depression associated with not buying the same products. This research takes a different approach of studying the consumers’ buying behaviors from what is in the current academic trend. Rather than studying buying behaviors as compulsive disorders, it studies them as lifestyles driven by societal pressures. Without these behaviors, people are rejected from a given societal class. Compulsive behavior varies according to various demographic differences. For example, women are highly compulsive buyers as opposed to men. However, this conclusion is based on what the society considers as abnormal or normal.Advertising Looking for dissertation on psychology? Let's see if we ca n help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For a considerable duration, some societies have conceptualized normality in terms of men’s behaviors. This perspective suggests that if compulsive buying behavior is more prevalent amongst women as compared to men, it is considered abnormal. This paper refutes such as a conclusion. This paper’s aims and objectives are three-fold. It conducts a systematic review of the current literature on personality and personality disorders literature coupled with how they contribute to the compulsive buying behaviors. The second objective entails an investigation of whether compulsive behavior is a personality disorder. Thirdly, it studies the possibility of compulsive behavior being a lifestyle as opposed to a personality disorder. The study has significant contributions to the academic research on consumer buying behaviors. The dissertation overlooks different factors increasing the prevalence of compulsive buying behavior (CBB) or aggravating it. Stressing on some of these factors is necessary since it has not been projected in previous studies of compulsive buying behavior. Therefore, it sets forth a different paradigm of understanding CBB. This aspect offers a different way for formulating policies and programs for industries for promoting their products by designing and marketing products and services to meet the lifestyles leading to purchases. Shopping is an essential component of daily life (Li, Unger Bi, 2014). However, purchasing without considering its consequences is impulsive, which may lead to anxiety and unhappiness. The main challenge arises when it becomes frequent and uncontrollable. The paper is organized into four sections. Section 1 reviews the available literature on compulsive buying behaviors and their association with personality and personality disorders. Section 2 discusses the research methodology. Section 3 presents the results and findings of the research study.Advertising We will write a custom dissertation sample on Compulsive Buying Behavior as a Lifestyle specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Literature review Compulsive buying behavior Shopping entails an important aspect of all people coupled with the economy. While this aspect is a normal behavior, challenges emerge when people overindulge in it without paying attention to its consequences. More focus in buying behaviors has been on compulsive purchasing as it has negative consequences for individuals. Neuner, Raab, and Reisch (2005) support this assertion adding that more focus on research on compulsive purchasing behavior is due to the view that it is more prevalent among consumers of all demographic differences. Marketing research focuses on understanding the people’s shopping culture and sought after products and services so that its research and design can focus on these attributes to attract high sales. Indeed, much of the work on this topic has been conducted from marketing research perspective. Dittmar, Long, and Bond (2007) suggest that people having compulsive purchasing behavior have high probabilities of experiencing strong buying desire, which overcomes the harms of the compulsion on financial coupled with social aspects of life. Faber and O’Guinn (1992) add that such people do not possess the mechanism for differentiating between abnormal and normal buying behaviors. The question then remains as the origin of such behaviors. Some studies cite compulsive buying as a psychological problem. Traditionally, psychologists have viewed personality as a distinction criterion for people’s behaviors. Behaviorism encompasses one of the important schools of thought explaining why people engage in some behaviors and not others. The big five traits theory also explains the differences among people indecision-making.Advertising Looking for dissertation on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Experimental analysis of people’s behaviors suggests that interactions with the environment influence one’s personality. However, Goodstein and Lanyon (2009) argue that internal thinking processes coupled with feelings are critical in influencing and structuring of people’s personalities. Studying compulsive behavior from the perspective of behavioral psychology introduces some challenges depending on the psychological theoretical arguments used. For example, traditional psychologists tested how behaviors influence personality through animal experimentation. They believed that animals and people shared similarities in terms of the learning process. However, as Goodstein and Lanyon (2009) argue, human learning processes are progressive. The psychological behavioral theory explains the dynamic process of obtaining the new learning, which shapes one’s personality. After learning behaviors, Goodstein and Lanyon (2009) suggest that before inflexibility of the personality, people can experience emotional responses towards a given situation, thus causing a personality change. However, as learning continues, it slows down the personality, thus causing stabilization. This assertion implies that people experience stable responses towards a give environmental stimulus (Stricker, Widiger Weiner, 2003). Influenced by this pedagogy, marketers deploy classical conditioning to enhance the consumption of their products. This aspect explains the divergent views on how conditioning influences behaviors. Neuner et al (2005) argue that emotions do not affect operant conditioning (behaviors). Behaviors should be studied from paradigms of environmental influences. Psychological behaviorism holds that classical coupled with operant conditions play significant roles in influencing people’s behaviors (Pachauri, 2001). Several factors may contribute to people’s emotional responses. These constitute the thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions affecti ng people’s emotional responses to the specific stimulus. Physiological behaviorism links emotions demonstrated by individuals with responses to the biological and environmental stimuli. These emotions can be affirmative or negative toward different stimuli. For example, a positive pulse to a food stimulus or a negative emotion in response to the stimuli causes dislike and unwanted feeling. This aspect suggests that microtonal responses can help in increasing a purchasing behavior of a given products. Li et al. (2014) define compulsive buying behavior as chronic tendency for purchasing products and services in response to negative conditions and feelings. The behaviors encompass an unconditioned response towards desires for goods or services and feelings of depression due to anxiety. This aspect implies that the desire to purchase specific types of services or goods leads tithe development of compulsive behavior. The absence of these products or services induces stress or anx iety, which induces the compulsive buying behavior. The five-personality dimension theory may also influence people’s behaviors, viz. the compulsive purchasing behavior. Indeed, Mueller, Mitchell, Claes, Faber, Fischer, and De Zwaan (2011) believe that personality plays important roles in influencing compulsive buying behavior. Personality refers to â€Å"the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others† (Goodstein Lanyon, 2009, p.291). It is measured by the traits that people exhibit. Research on personality in an organizational context has focused on labeling various traits, which describe employees and customer behaviors. Some of the personality traits that have been established by various researches as having the ability to influence the behavior of people include ambition, loyalty, aggressiveness, agreeableness, submissiveness, laziness, assertiveness, and being extroverted among others. Kihlstrom, Beer, and Klein (2002) posit,  "Neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness comprise the big five personality traits† (p. 84). These traits can define factors characterizing consumer behavior as a personality type. Literature considering roles of big five-personality traits theory in compulsive buying theory depicts incompatibilities in their results. However, consciousness encompasses an important trait, which can explain the differences in compulsive behaviors among different consumers. Mueller et al. (2011) argue that although consciousness may be important in explaining differences in consumption behavior, which is important in predicting compulsive buying behavior, neuroticism does not relate to the behavior. Borrowing from the work of Otero-Là ³pez and Pol (2013), consumers fall into three groups, viz. high, medium, and low propensity in terms of their buying behaviors. According to Kihlstrom et al. (2002), the group â€Å"having the highest propensity possesses the hig hest levels of neuroticism and lowest consciousness† (p. 85). The group also features the highest level of neuroticism, which includes anxiety, depression, and impulsiveness. Conversely, the group has relative to medium and low compulsive buying behaviors. Propensity groups have the weakest extraversion assertiveness, positive emotions, and self-consciousness. Compulsive buying behavior: a personality disorder Compulsive purchasing behavior encompasses an excessive dysfunctional consumption behavior, which aggravates people’s lives emotionally, financially, and mentally (Koran, Faber, Aboujaoude, Large Serpe, 2006). Compulsive buying behavior manifests itself through psychological problems like depression and anxiety. This aspect makes theorists like Faber and O’Guinn (1989) to consider it as a personality disorder. Personality disorder describes perennial maladaptive ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving amongst individuals. However, Dittmar et al. (2007) arg ue that in defining compulsive buying behavior, it is critical to recognize that all disorders and perceptions of abnormality have cultural norm influences apart from considering disorders, which can be managed clinically. The 2013 version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) classifies disorders into five annexes. Personality disorders fall under annex 2 in cluster C. This group comprises disorders like depression and schizophrenia. It also entails less maladaptive disorders characterized by anxiety and dependent personality or obsessive-compulsive disorders. In the manual, compulsive buying behavior does not appear. Despite the non-inclusion of compulsive buying behavior in the list of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, many psychologists contend that it should fall under the anxiety personality category due to its characteristics of anxiety coupled with negative feelings amongst people suffering from it. However, this contention attracts controversies. For example, Li et al. (2014) argue that the behavior encompasses an obsessive-compulsive disorder since it has symptoms similar to it. Black (2001) suggests that it becomes compulsive due to lack of impulsive control. Studies like Faber and O’Guinn (1992) attempt to highlight the relationships between compulsive buying behaviors and personality traits coupled with family lifestyles. This aspect suggests that the literature on compulsive buying behavior mainly focuses on analyzing it as a personality disorder. An important gap exists in the attempt to relate the behavior with people’s lifestyles. The current research approaches the problem of compulsive buying behavior as a lifestyle problem rather than a personality disorder. In achieving this concern, it is also important to study it from the pedagogy of obsessive compulsion. Indeed, studies based on self-reports indicate that compulsive buyers experience similar symptoms to people with obses sive-compulsive disorder. This aspect includes high anxiety and stress that eventually lead to buying unneeded goods with anticipation for the reduction of negative feelings. The satisfaction of desires influences anxiety and stress levels for a limited period so that compulsive buying becomes a repeated action. This aspect suggests relationship between compulsive buying behaviors with obsessive-compulsive behaviors. People suffering from compulsive disorders have possibilities of having experienced situations in life, which led to mistrusts of their priorities coupled with their abilities. The obsessive-compulsive disorder is conceptualized from the paradigms of pursuance of eliminating the anxiety and stressful thoughts in executing certain individual acts. Similarly, experiencing anxiety, depression, and stress are typical symptoms of compulsive buying behavior leading to the development of the urge to engage in compulsive buying. Faber and O’Guinn (1992) argue that this b ehavior is an abnormal consumption behavior. It is abnormal to the extent that after purchasing to reduce stress and negative experiences, people often regret due to its repercussions like ensuing financial challenges. Black (2001) suggests that for persons with the compulsive behavior disorder, their attention and thoughts give rise to anxiety and compulsions to reduce discomforts associated with failure to purchase products and services they desire urgently. Obsessions entail negative feelings experienced by people before they engage in compulsive behavior in a bid to reduce anxieties, which encompass feeling of guilt for not engaging in a given act. Amid the established relationship between obsessive behavior and compulsive behaviors including compulsive buying behavior, Koran et al. (2006) classify it under impulsive control disorder. People become susceptible to impulsive control disorder when they cannot control different urges. Koran et al. (2001) assert that people with comp ulsive buying disorder often think about shopping as opposed to thinking about its consequences or the objective of purchasing products and services. For example, if a woman purchases cosmetics and clothing in a bid to satisfy her self-esteem, she may do so without thinking about this objective. It is also impossible to recognize that the buying behavior subjects her to vulnerabilities of suffering from compulsive buying. This aspect suggests the importance of developing an appropriate scale for measuring compulsive purchasing behavior so that individuals can know when developing the problem. Faber and O’Guinn (1989) made one of the earliest attempts to develop a scale for measuring compulsive buying behavior. The scale aimed at differentiating compulsive buyers from non-compulsive ones. Attempts have been made to improve on the scale by incorporating mechanisms for identifying the attitudes toward product categories, processes of acquisition, and post-purchase feedbacks like positive or negative emotions as remorse after spending. The most recent edition of the scale assesses the spending patterns coupled with behaviors, emotions, and feelings of people towards the desired products and process of acquisition. Indeed, finance management through cash or credit cards constitutes some of the good examples of progressive precision in conceptualizing the compulsive buying disorder. The Faber and O’Guinn (1989) scale for differentiation of compulsive buyers from non-compulsive buyers has some limitations. It entails a binary approach to measurement, which introduces challenges of measuring the propensity of the behavior. However, the scale is crucial as it forms the foundation for the development of scales for measuring people’s compulsive buying behavior. For example, Edwards (1993) developed a scale for measuring the behavior based on Faber and O’Guinn’s scale. Through the incorporation of spending behaviors as the dependent vari able, the scale permits researchers to rate compulsive buying behaviors depending on their propensity. It classifies consumption behaviors into non-compulsive, low compulsive, medium compulsive, and high compulsive (Edwards, 1993). The compulsive spending model identifies five factors related to compulsive purchasing behaviors. These are the â€Å"tendency to spend, compulsion to spend, feeling about shopping and spending, dysfunctional spending, and post-purchase guilt† (Koran et al. 2006, p. 1810). From the 1980s, there has been an incredible scholarly research on compulsive spending behavior among consumers. For instance, Koran et al. (2006) argue that more than 5 percent of Americans are dealing with compulsive purchasing behavior. Kukar, Ridgway, and Monroe (2009) reckon that the trend has now increased by about 4 percent to stand at more than 8.5 percent. However, there is no scholarly contention on factors leading to the increasing compulsive buying behavior among the Americans and other people across the globe. Almost all researches on this subject deploy personality disorder to construct their hypothesis. This aspect excludes many other factors like lifestyles, which may account for the increasing behavior. Irrespective of the improvements in the mechanisms of detecting mental disorders, the conceptualization of the disorder is incomplete (Li, Unger Bi, 2014). For example, the definition of normal and abnormal behaviors is not straightforward. Gaps remain on what amounts to a normal consumption behavior (Freshwater, Sherwood Drury, 2006). Parts of these gaps are due to the view that people’s behaviors are subject to culture and living styles, but not necessarily a mental disorder. The latest edition of the DSM-IVTR is composed of five axes for diagnosis based on the Western masculine ideals for a ‘healthy† person. It is likely to define the normal typical behavior of people, especially women, from other cultures as the abno rmal behavior (Neuner, Raab Reisch, 2005). In such cultures, their behaviors are considered as normal in all aspects as they fit within their norms and cultural value systems. This aspect suggests that what amounts to a normal behavior in a multicultural context is a contentious issue. Compulsive buying behavior varies with respect to different demographic characteristics of people. For example, it varies according to gender with women having high prevalence levels for the behavior (Maraz et al., 2014). This assertion confirms the validity of an earlier study by Neuner et al. (2005), indicating higher prevalence levels for the behavior among women as compared to men. However, Koran et al. (2006) hold that compulsive purchasing transcends gender and it can be viewed as a common personality disorder affecting women and men in equal thresholds. These discrepancies may be accounted for by the perceptions of normal and abnormal behaviors. For example, masculine purchasing behavior may b e labeled normal while feminine purchasing behaviors are labeled abnormal. Methods and theories for measuring prevalence may also have prejudices in terms of what amounts to a normal behavior. Amid the discrepancies of the prevalence of compulsive buying disorder, an important interrogative explains the different prevalence levels. Eren, Eroglu, and Hacioglu (2012) suggest that women are one and a half times more likely to experience anxiety disorders as compared to men. The comorbidity of the disorder arises due to the women’s position in society, which is characterized by power imbalances. For example, discrimination against women exposes them to threats of chronic anxiety disorders. Apart from gender, inconsistency in research on compulsive buying behaviors exists based on other demographical dimensions like age and income levels. For instance, Black (2001) found a negative correlation between income and compulsive buying density. Conversely, Mueller et al. (2011) found â €Å"no relationship between income and compulsive buying behavior† (p. 1310). Compulsive buying behavior varies according to the state of people’s development. For example, Koran et al. (2006) estimated that 6% of the Americans are likely to consume compulsively. In Germany 5 to 7 percent of the population engages in compulsive buying (Mueller.et al., 2011). Does this suggest that in Eastern countries people do not buy compulsively? Arguably, inadequate research on such nations and cross-cultural differences among consumers may lead to the attribution of higher compulsive buying to Western nations than in Eastern nations like China. Indeed, the current literature on compulsive buying documents minimal research based on developing countries like those located in Asia. The few scholarly researches on this topic in developing nations deploy theories and scales used in similar studies in the Western nations like Germany and the US amid differing lifestyles and ways of doin g business. For example, Eastern nations and Western nations have differing methodologies for paying, differing approaches in making shopping decisions, and differing consumer cultures. Stemming from the arguments developed in this section, it is important to study compulsive buying behaviors depending on cultural characteristics of the population and using a specific methodology applicable to a given nation or region. Considering that the majority of the researches in this topic base their hypothesis on compulsive buying behavior as a personality disorder, this research seeks for an alternative explanation of the behavior. It studies it as lifestyle challenge facing consumers in China. Methodology Research design This research seeks to explore the compulsive buying lifestyle amongst consumers. The study’s findings will provide insight into the consumers’ purchasing behavior. Therefore, the research is exploratory in nature. Saunders, Thornhill, and Lewis (2009) accent uate that exploratory research design enable researchers to undertake preliminary investigations in areas that have not been characterized by intensive research. Subsequently, exploratory research leads to the generation of new insights on the phenomenon under investigation (Blanche, Durrhem Painter). The research study is based on a qualitative research design, which acts as the framework that guides the researcher in answering the research question. The qualitative research design was selected in order to generate adequate data from the field in order to support the research study. Moreover, the choice of qualitative research design was further informed by the grounded theory. Strang (2015) defines the grounded theory as ‘the discovery from data systematically obtained from social research with the aim of generating or discovering a theory’ (p.449). Alternatively, the grounded theory design involves a systematic and qualitative procedure that enables researchers to d evelop a practical theory that elucidates the phenomenon under evaluation at a conceptual level. By adopting the grounded theory design, the researcher will be able to understand the social and cultural factors associated with the research topic. Subsequently, the research study will be adequately enriched. Additionally, the choice of qualitative research design is further based on the need to generate gather relevant data from the field. Andrew (2004) content that ‘qualitative research process involves emerging questions and procedures, data typically collected in the participant’s settings, data analysis that builds inductively and interpretations of the meaning of the data’ (p.46). Therefore, the qualitative research design enabled the researcher to derive data from the natural setting hence improving its credibility and validity of the research findings. The concepts of validity and credibility are some of the critical determinants of the relevance of researc h findings. Population and sampling In order to improve the capacity of the research study to enhance the consumer behavior theory using the grounded theory design, the researcher appreciated the importance of effective identification of study population. The study population was comprised of individual consumers from cultural and social backgrounds. The study population was comprised of consumers of American, Iranian, Chinese and Italian consumers. The decision to select respondents from diverse cultural backgrounds was informed by the need to understand the variation with reference to consumer behavior across different cultural backgrounds. Consequently, the study’s capacity to further explain the impact of cultural and social dimensions between Westerners and Easterners consumers on compulsive buying behavior was improved considerably. The researcher recognizes cost as a major determinant in conducting the research study. In an effort to minimize the cost of conducting the research study, the researcher integrated the concept of sampling, which entails constructing a subset from the identified study population. The study sample was constructed using the simple random sampling technique in order to minimize the occurrence of bias in constructing the sample study. Using the simple random sampling technique, the researcher provided all the subjects in the identified study population an opportunity of being included in the research study. Thus, the sample was representative of the target population. Integrating the sampling technique made the study to be manageable by minimizing the amount of time and finances required to undertake the study. Furthermore, the simple random sampling technique made the study to be representative of the prevailing consumer behavior (Scott, 2011). The research sample was comprised of 14 respondents. Fourteen [14] of the respondents were Chinese, 6 female and 4 male respondents. Conversely, two of the respondents were America n men, while the others included one Iranian woman and one Italian woman. Data collection and instrumentation The researcher understands the fact that the data collected directly influences the research findings. Thus, to improve the research findings, the study is based on data collected from primary sources in order to generate research data from the natural setting. The primary method of data collection mainly involved conducting interviews on the respondents included in the study sample. The researcher selected the interviewing technique as the method of data collection in order to conduct an in-depth review of the compulsive buying behavior amongst consumers. Adopting the interviewing technique provided the researcher an opportunity to probe further on research topic hence improving the quality of the data collected. Interviews with the selected respondents were conducted through telephone in an effort to minimize the cost of the research study. The telephone interview was base d on a number of questionnaires were designed in order to guide the researcher in the interviewing process. The questionnaires were open-ended in nature. Adoption of the open-ended questionnaires provided the respondents an opportunity to answer the questions freely by providing their opinion. Moreover, the open-ended questionnaires limited the likelihood of the researcher influencing the response provided by the respondents. The researcher ensured that the open-ended questionnaires were adequately reviewed in order to improve the respondents’ ability to understand. The questionnaires acted as the data collection guide. During the interviewing process, the researcher reviewed the respondents’ demographic characteristics. This was achieved by evaluating their age, gender, disposable income, social status, and family and relationship aspects. Moreover, the researcher reviewed the respondents’ buying behavior such as their methods of payment on purchases, amount of their shopping, and the reason for shopping. In order to improve the relevance of the data collected, the researcher further assessed the respondents’ product usage behavior. This was attained by asking the respondents whether they used the products after purchasing and if not what they do with the product. By reviewing this aspect, the researcher was able to generate insight into the compulsive buying behavior amongst consumers characterized by diverse cultural and social backgrounds. For example, the researcher was able to evaluate the consumers’ decision to increase or decrease the purchase of a particular product and the motivation for such behavior. Integrating such aspects in the research process enabled the researcher to undertake an extensive comparison of the compulsive consumer behavior. A recorder was used in storing the responses obtained from the field. Data analysis and presentation The data collected from the field was analyzed qualitatively. However, t he researcher integrated different data analysis and presentation tools. The researcher adopted tabular data presentation by organizing the research data into rows and columns. The main data analysis and presentation tools adopted include graphs, charts and tables. Furthermore, the researcher also adopts the concept of textual presentation, which entails using statements comprised of numerals in order to explain the research findings effectively. By adopting the textual presentation technique, the researcher has been able to present the collected research data in the expository form. The researcher was of the view that integrating these tools would have contributed towards the effective analysis of the descriptive research data obtained from the field. Moreover, the aforementioned data presentation methods played an essential role in improving the target audience ability to understand and interpret the data collected. Ethical issues In the course of collecting data from the field, t he researcher took into account diverse ethical issues. The objective of taking into consideration such aspects was informed by the need to improve the rate of the selected respondents participating in the research study (Finlay, 2006). First, the researcher ensured that that the selected respondents were adequately informed that the research study was aimed at adding new ideas/insight to the consumer behavior theory. Thus, the purpose of the study is academically inclined. Therefore, the researcher was able to obtain informed consent in addition to eliminating any form of suspicion from the respondents. Moreover, the researcher provided respondents with an opportunity to pullout of the research study without any negative repercussions. Moreover, the researcher observed the participants’ privacy during the research. Additionally, the researcher desisted from any form of coercion during the study process. Consequently, the respondents contributed freely in the study. Results a nd findings The study showed the existence of significant differences in compulsive buying behavior amongst consumers of different cultural and social characteristics. One of the most notable issues on compulsive buying behavior is that it extends beyond culture. On the contrary, the study showed that the consumers’ compulsive buying behavior is greatly influenced by diverse demographic characteristics. Amongst the most notable factors that lead to the development of compulsive buying behavior entails the consumers age, gender, mood, and level of disposable income. The study further shows that these aspects influence the consumers’ compulsive buying behaviors irrespective of their cultural and social backgrounds. Moreover, the study showed that individuals characterized by compulsive buying behavior mainly indulge in such a behavior due to external pressures, such as the perception by the society and family members. Forty-five percent [45%] of the respondents of the re spondents interviewed were of the opinion that they engage in compulsive buying behavior in an effort to avoid being ignored and isolated by family members and the society. Conversely, 25% of the respondents were of the opinion that they engage in compulsive buying behavior in order to reduce work-related stress while 20% of the respondents said that their compulsive buying behavior has been motivated by the need to forget their financial loss or trauma. Moreover, 10% of the respondents were of the opinion that they engage in such behavior in an effort to compensate or cope with the feeling of being humiliated, powerless or having a faded role. The graph below illustrates the variation in the respondents’ opinion on their motivation towards compulsive buying behavior. Respondent opinion Rate of response To avoid feeling ignored and isolated 45% To reduce work-related stress 25% To forget financial stress and trauma 20% To cope with feeling of humiliation/powerless 10% Discussion Several studies confirm multi-dimensional aspects of compulsive purchasing behavior. Compulsive buying behavior is extensively influenced by personal and environmental characteristics. Faber and O’Guinn (1992) note that buyers can be grouped into different scales. A Canadian measurement scale for compulsive purchasing behaviors identified three main dimensions of the behavior, viz. spending tendency, reactive aspects, and guilt after purchasing. The findings of the study conducted affirm that the compulsive buying behavior is not subject to the consumers’ cultural backgrounds only. On the contrary, other individual traits are central determinants in the development of compulsive buying behavior. This shows that individuals’ personality is a critical determinant in the development of compulsive buying behavior. Traditional behavioral theories postulate that individuals’ personality is due to the interaction between an individual’s personal characteristics and the environmental influences. This finding is further supported by Faber and O’Guinn (1992) who affirm that compulsive buying behaviors mainly arise from five main personality dimensions. These dimensions include agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and imagination. The research study showed that all the respondents characterized by compulsive buying behavior have a common factor that motivates them to engage in such behavior. One of the most common factors entails avoidance. Therefore, consumers develop such behavior in an effort to avoid situations that are unpleasant to the customers. Some consumers engage in such practices in an effort to leave a potentially provoking situation. Williams (2009) emphasizes that ‘avoidance can also be a more subtle and include things like quickly leaving anxiety-provoking situations as soon as any anxiety is noticed’ (p.124). Therefore, some consumers engage in compulsive bu ying in an effort to avoid certain situations depending on their feeling. From the findings, avoidance can be categorized into three main levels, which include Active avoidance; this form avoidance is aimed at distracting an individual’s compulsive buying behavior. This form of avoidance mainly targets avoiding unwanted emotions, memories, failures, and experiences that stimulate the development of compulsive buying behavior. Compensate for control; this form of avoidance is aimed at limiting the development of compulsive purchasing behavior due to pressure from different sources such as family and workplace amongst other sources of pressure. Avoidance in an effort to cope with life problems Conclusion Understanding the consumer buying behavior comprises a vital element in organization’s marketing activities. First, understanding the buying behavior provides organizational managers insight on the most effective strategy to adopt in order to influence the consumersâ⠂¬â„¢ purchase decision-making process. Organization’s marketing managers should appreciate the existence of differences with reference to consumer buying behavior. The study shows the consumers’ buying behavior is a factor of the consumers’ personality and the influence of the external pressures. This phenomenon is well illustrated by the compulsive buying behavior. The behavior entails a compelling need to purchase a product or service in an effort to satisfy a particular need. The compulsive buying behavior may have a negative impact on the consumer’s purchasing power because the consumer engages in excessive purchase of commodities aimed at addressing psychological needs such as anxieties and avoidance of negative emotions such as humiliation and ignorance. Therefore, one can argue that the compulsive buying behavior is motivated by the need to entrench an individual’s social status or class. Compulsive buying behavior stimulates consumers to m ake purchases without considering the consequences of their behavior including post-purchase guilt. Past research conducted in Westerns nations’ settings like Germany, Canada, and the US considers it as a personality disorder. On the contrary, this research adopted a different paradigm. It studied the issue as a lifestyle problem. This goal has been achieved by comparison of purchasing behavior across consumers from Eastern countries such as China. The study underscores the existence of similarity with reference to the factors stimulating development of compulsive buying behavior across consumers characterized by varied cultural and social characteristics. One of the reasons for the existence of compulsive buying behavior entails avoidance. Consumers characterized by such practices are motivated by the need to avoid an unfavorable occurrence in their consumption patterns. In summary, understanding the compulsive buying behavior is a fundamental element in improving an organiz ation’s capacity to generate sales by exploiting the compulsive buying behavior. For example, organizations should consider integrating effective marketing strategies that influence the development of compulsive buying behavior amongst consumers. One of the fundamental aspects that marketers should take into consideration entails the consumers’ personality. References Black, D. (2001). Compulsive Buying Disorder: Definition, Assessment, Epidemiology and Clinical Management. CNS Drugs, 15(1), 17–27.835 Dittmar, H., Long, K., Bond, R. (2007). When a better self is only a button click away: associations between materialistic values, emotional and identity-related buying motives, and compulsive buying tendency online. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26(3), 334-361. Edwards, A. (1993). Development of a New Scale for Measuring Compulsive Buying Behavior. Financial Counseling and Planning, 4(2), 67-85. Eren, S., Eroglu, F., Hacioglu, G. (2012). Compulsive B uying Tendencies through Materialistic and Hedonic Values among College Students in Turkey. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 58 (1), 1370 –1377. Faber, J., O’Guinn, C. (1992). A Clinical Screener for Compulsive Buying. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(3), 459–469. Faber, R., O’Guinn, C. (1989). Compulsive Buying: A Phenomenon logical Exploration. Journal of Consumer Research, 16(2), 147–157. Finlay, L. (2006). Rigor, Ethical Integrity or Artistry† Reflexively Reviewing Criteria For Evaluating Qualitative Research. British Journal of occupational Therapy, 69(7), 319-326. Freshwater, D., Sherwood, G., Drury, V. (2006). International research collaboration: Issues, benefits and challenges of the global network. Journal of Research in marketing, 11(4), 295-303. Goodstein, L., Lanyon, R. (2009). Application of Personality Assessment to the Work Place. Journal of Business and Psychology, 13(3), 291-313. Grant, R., Clarke, R., Kyriazis, E. (2013 ). Modeling Real-Time Online Information: A New Research Approach for Complex Consumer Behavior. Journal of Marketing Management, 29 (8), 950-972. Kihlstrom, J., Beer, S., Klein, B. (2002). Self and Identity as Memory. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Koran, L., Faber, R., Aboujaoude, E., Large, M., Serpe, R. (2006). Estimated Prevalence of Compulsive Buying Behavior in the United States. American Journal of Psychiatry, 16(3), 1806-1812. Kukar, M., Ridgway, N., Monroe, K. (2009). The Relationships Between Consumers’ Tendencies To Buy Compulsively and their Motivations to Shop and Buy on the Internet. Journal of Retailing, 85(3), 298-307. Li, S., Unger, A., Bi, C. (2014). Different Facets of Compulsive Buying Among Chinese Students. Journal of Behavioral Addiction, 3(4), 238-245. Maraz, A., Eisinger, A., Hende, B., Urbn, R., Paksi, B., Kun, B., Demetrovics, Z. (2014). Measuring compulsive buying behavior: Psychometric validity of three different scales and prevalence in the ge neral population and in shopping centers. Psychiatry Research, 225 (2), 326-34. Mueller, A., Mitchell, J., Claes, L., Faber, R., Fischer, J., De Zwaan, M. (2011). Does Compulsive Buying Differ Between Male and Female Students? Personality and Individual Differences, 50(3), 1309-1312. Neuner, M., Raab, G., Reisch L. (2005). Compulsive Buying in Maturing Consumer Societies: An Empirical Re-Inquiry. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26(4), 509–522. Otero-Là ³pez, J., Pol, E. (2013). Compulsive Buying and the Five-Factor Model of Personality: A Facet Analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 55 (1), 585-590. Pachauri, M. (2001). Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review. The Marketing Review, 2(1), 319-355. Saunders, M., Thornhill, A., Lewis, P. (2009). Research Methods for Business Students. New York, NY: Prentice Hall. Scott, S. (2011). Research Methodology: Sampling Techniques. Journal of Scientific Research, 2(1), 87-92. Strang, K. (2015). The Palgrave handbook of res earch design in business and management. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Stricker, G., Widiger, T., Weiner, I. (2003). Handbook of Psychology: Clinical Psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Williams, C. (2009). Overcoming anxiety, stress, and panic; a five areas approach. New York, NY: CRC Press.