Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451

In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 the theme, man verse society is demonstrated by Bradbury’s character, Guy Montag by comparing the two different outlooks of society in the world he lives in. In this novel of a fireman, Montag faces society and must deal with it on his own. â€Å"Nobody listens anymore†(pg.82). The society does not listen to people only the television that controls society. The television turned into a brainwashing machine rather than leisure entertainment. â€Å" I just want someone to listen to what I have to say† (pg.82). Montag must deal against everyone because everyone thinks the same as one another. He has no one to turn to because no one will listen to him or agree with him besides the very few that are out there. Montag explains to Professor Faber how he has to deal with society. Nobody listens any more. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense. And I want you to teach me to understand what I read. (Pg.82) The whole society that Montag lives in is brainwashed by the television. The television has the control over the entire society, over everything and everyone. Montag starts to understand the world more than behind a screen when he meets a girl named, Clarisse. Since everyone is brainwashed and gullible to whatever is thrown at them Montag feels he is alone. Montag dealt with his problems and did everything he could including leaving his past behind. Montag must also deal with himself, which creates the theme, man verse self. â€Å"About what?, Me,? My house? (pg.135). This is when the police where after Montag because they know he knows how everything really is. Montag had to deal with secret information within him. â€Å" But I did not speak, and thus became guilty myself†(pg.82). He couldn’t deal with the things he knew and felt like some... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 Imagine a world where houses are fire proof, highways are ten lanes across, and firemen are called to begin fires not to put an end to them. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, all of these are a reality in everyday life. Each house in the novel is fireproof, bringing about drastic changes in the roles of firefighters. Firefighters now begin fires, rather than extinguish them as they do today. On a number of occasions throughout the novel, the mechanical hound appears. This is a robotic dog at the firehouse which takes the place of the common firehouse Dalmatian that today’s society is familiar with. In the world in this novel, if people were reported to have books in their possession, the books as well as the home in which they were being hidden would be destroyed by the firefighters. The views of society towards literature are the opposite of today’s society. Changes in technology, attitudes of people in society, partnered with many other events in the st ory contribute greatly to the science fiction theme in Fahrenheit 451. In the novel the role of firefighters has changed drastically. Firefighters are called to burn books, as well as the houses that the books are being stored in, instead of extinguishing fires. â€Å"And so when houses were finally fire-proofed completely, all over the world, there was no longer need of firemen for the old purposes.† Captain Beatty explaining to Guy Montag why the roles of firemen have changed. (58). On the wall of the firehouse is posted a set of rules of how firemen are now supposed to go about their jobs. â€Å"Answer the alarm, start fire, burn everything, return to firehouse, stand alert for other alarms.† (35). â€Å"Kerosene.† â€Å"They pumped the cold fluid from the numbered 451 tanks strapped to their shoulders, they coated each book, they pumped rooms full of it.† (38). After responding to an alarm, the men are drenching the house of an old woman with kerosene because the hou... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 FAHRENHEIT 451 Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 reflects Bradbury’s views on both censorship and conformity besides many other things. His opposition to both censorship and book burning is demonstrated through the characters feelings and thoughts. Originally written in 1951 as the Fireman (Beachams), Fahrenheit 451(symbolically named because that is the temperature at which paper burns) quickly became one of Bradbury’s best known and most acclaimed novels. In the novel the future is a lot different from the society we have come accustomed to and know well, books aren't read; they're burned. That's the premise of FAHRENHEIT 451(brookingbook). Guy Montag, a fireman who burns books (and the houses they're found in), loves his job - until he meets a young woman who causes him to start reading the books he once regarded as kindling. Full of surprises and brilliant insights on the importance of literacy, Bradbury's classic just might frighten you into reading more. His unique styles and artistic development keep the reader entertained and uncertain throughout the novel. The futuristic firemen seek out and burn books. It is a crime, in this society, to own or read books. Trivial information, in this culture, is good, and knowledge is evil. People receive all of their culture through television walls that are built right into their houses. Guy Montag is a fireman who loves his work. He likes nothing better than to spray kerosene on a pile of books and watch the pages curl and turn into flakes of black ash that flutter through the air. This is shown when the Montag said, â€Å" It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed†. (Bradbury 14) This statement shows how Guy was so sure of his feeling, until the day he meets Clarisse, a young girl who has been told about a world of books, thoughts, and ideas. Their conversations precipitate a crisis of faith in Guy, and he begins to s... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 (1.) Fahrenheit 451†¦The Temperature at Which Books Burn By: Ray Bradbury Copyright 1953 by Ray Bradbury 179 pages Fahrenheit 451 portrays censorship in the future through the fictional story of one man, Guy Montag, who undergoes an â€Å"awakening† by realizing the significance of his actions and the need to express the ideas that were bring oppressed by the future government. (2.) Guy Montag is a fireman who appears to be heartily supportive and contributive to the burning of books, which is normal because firemen in the conformist future burn books for a living. He meets Clarisse McClellan, a sixteen year old idealist with strong convictions against the social structure that oppresses individual thinking and demands conformity. Clarisse opens his mind to new concepts and from then on he begins to perceive the world differently. One day, Guy and the other firemen have to burn down the book-infested house of an elderly lady who refuses to leave her house and her books, s o she burns! to the ground with her books making Guy realize that â€Å"There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there.† (p.51) Guy sneaks two books from the lady’s home and as the time goes by, he secretly reads many books until his wife discovers his secret and turns him in. After that, Guy burns his firehouse and the men in it to evade being caught and as a result becomes the most wanted fugitive in his country. Guy escapes successfully and works with a small group of revolutionaries to restore the respect and circulation of books. (3.) The title of the book, Fahrenheit 451†¦The Temperature at Which Books Burn, is significant because it is a metaphor for real life and it is used as a prominent symbol in the book. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which books are burn. The firemen know this because they work with burning books everyday. The â€Å"Book People† dread this temper at... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 Fahrenheit 451 is a science fiction novel, but not all of its elements and messages are fictional. Some of them are very much at large in today’s world. The biggest example would be media’s control and influence over every society. Throughout history, and in every existent society, media has always played a key role in determining the norm of any given society. Among these similarities are the ways the media is able to censor what we see, the way media portrays and leads people into believing what the media wants them to believe, and the way the media is slowly turning society into mindless zombies. Fahrenheit 451 was written during a time when there was a widespread fear of communism, more commonly known as the Red Scare. During this time, anything that was thought to be a communist idea, or rather anything that was anti-capitalist was banned or confiscated. The same thing happened in Germany. Any book, any song, anything that was created by a Jew was banned. Only books that were supporting the ideas of Hitler were allowed, and in fact, it was a law to own the book, Mein Kamph, which was written by Hitler himself. To censor is to remove or ban anything regarded as harmful or of an offending nature. However, it is solely up to the authorities to decide what should be censored and what should not. This censorship is portrayed in the novel by the burning of books. At first it seems that the books are being burnt simply because they believe that knowledge is a bad thing, and the knowledge leads to conflicts and thus unhappiness. Even though this is part of the reason of the burning of books, it is not all of it. Captain Beatty explains that every book, in one way or another put down or insulted one of the many minorities, and the more power each minority gained, the more difficult it was for the author to please everybody: â€Å"Don’t step on the toes of the dog lovers, the cat lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, Mormo... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 The book entitled â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† was written by Ray Bradbury in 1953, to reincarnate the idea of fire men burning books in a futuristic society populated by non-readers and non-thinkers that he originally came up with in his previous work â€Å"The Fire Man.† Set in the 24th century, â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† tells the story of a man named Guy Montag who, at the beginning of the story, is content with his job as a â€Å"fire man.† In actuality of course, he is one of the men who burns houses and the books that occupy them. Shortly thereafter, however, Guy begins to develop a friendship with his 16 year-old neighbor Clarisse McClellan. She has such an outlook on human life as it is, and is so inquisitive, that Guy begins to examine himself. He realizes that he is unhappy in his marriage to his wife, Millie. He begins to wonder why books have been banned. Later, while at the scene of a book collection he is to burn, Guy steals a book for his personal use. The next day, Guy is visited by his boss, Captain Beatty. Beatty hints that he, somehow, knows that Montag is in possession of a book and lectures Montag about the offensiveness of books. Unsure as to what to do next, Montag recalls meeting a retired professor, Faber, a year earlier and discussing with the old man the value of ideas. He decides to visit Faber, who is at first afraid to speak with him, fearing that he will be the firemen's next victim. However, as the two men grow to trust one another, Faber becomes a mentor to Montag, sharing insight with the fireman and conspiring with him to have copies of his books made. Quickly though, the fire men are called to an alarm. Montag is stunned to find that it is his home that is to be burned. Beatty and Montag engage in a scuffle and Beatty is killed via flame-thrower. At once the Mechanical Hound, a computerized attack dog that can track down any human being, pursues him. It stabs him in the leg with a needle, before he is able to anni... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 The book â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† talks about a man, who is a protagonist. His name is Guy Montag, and he is a 30-year-old firefighter, who makes a living by burning books. Books to be in a house in the future are illegal. He loves his job, but later on in the novel, he feels that his life is empty, without meaning. He feels that everything has no meaning, his life, wife, and job. He realizes this when he meets up with a neighbor, a 16 year old girl. Montag steals a book from a house he is burning down, and keeps it and begins to read it, everyone that knows of this is frightened for him. Montag becomes close friends with a former English Professor, and begins to read. Montag’s boss gives him a hard time, and Montag resorts to murder. His wife is Mildred Montag, she has no meaning in life too. She forgot the meaning of happiness, and all day she sits and watches television. Mildred later tries to commit suicide by overdosing on pills. She later leaves her house, and her husband because of the book Guy Montag had brought home. The neighbor is Clarisse McClellan, and she is the one that opens up Guy Montag’s eyes to the world. She questions him, showing him that there is more to his life. She is later killed in the novel. Captain Beatty is the head of the fire department, his job is to destroy all books in sight. Montag later murders him, and he does not fight back against it either. Professor Faber is a former English teacher. He gives Montag inspiration to keep doing what he believes in. Montag later inspires him because how of he is daring to stand up against society. Guy Montag is a man who burns books for a living. He soon begins to question himself about his work, and his wife. He is saddened about his wife, who does nothing but listens to the radio and watch television. He becomes good friends with a 16-year-old girl, who shows him the way. He later wonders what makes a book so dangerous and illegal. Montag later steals a book... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 Set in the 24th century, Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of the central character, Guy Montag, who at the start of the story takes pleasure in his profession as a fireman whose job is not to put out fires - houses are now fireproofed - but rather to set fires to burn books, which are contraband, and the houses in which they are kept illegally. Montag soon begins to question the value of his profession and, in turn, his life. As he develops a friendship with his teenaged neighbor, Clarisse McClellan, the girl's humanistic outlook and inquisitive nature prompts Montag to examine himself. He realizes that he is unhappy in his relationship with his wife, Millie, who is unwilling to deal with reality and instead chooses to immerse herself in an addiction to tranquilizers the virtual world provided her by television and radio. He is unfulfilled by his occupation as a book burner, and discontent with his society, which seems unconcerned with reports of an impending war, he begins to wonder what it is about books that make them such a danger. Driven by his increasing uneasiness, Montag steals a book from a collection that he has been sent to burn. Soon after, he is shaken when the owner of the books, an older woman, refuses to leave her home, which is to be burned to the ground. Instead, the woman sets fire to her house herself, and remains there as it - and she - is destroyed by flames. That a person could feel so strongly about books and the information contained therein makes Montag realize that perhaps the key to the happiness he lacks lies in the written word. He returns home sick to his stomach, made so by the scene he has witnessed and the thought that he has been an instrument of destruction rather than service during his ten-year career. When he learns that Clarisse had been killed, hit by a speeding car his condition worsens. The next day, Montag is visited by his boss, the abrasive and patronizing Captain Beatty. Beatty hints th... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 the theme, man verse society is demonstrated by Bradbury’s character, Guy Montag by comparing the two different outlooks of society in the world he lives in. In this novel of a fireman, Montag faces society and must deal with it on his own. â€Å"Nobody listens anymore†(pg.82). The society does not listen to people only the television that controls society. The television turned into a brainwashing machine rather than leisure entertainment. â€Å" I just want someone to listen to what I have to say† (pg.82). Montag must deal against everyone because everyone thinks the same as one another. He has no one to turn to because no one will listen to him or agree with him besides the very few that are out there. Montag explains to Professor Faber how he has to deal with society. Nobody listens any more. I can’t talk to the walls because they’re yelling at me. I can’t talk to my wife; she listens to the walls. I just want someone to hear what I have to say. And maybe if I talk long enough, it’ll make sense. And I want you to teach me to understand what I read. (Pg.82) The whole society that Montag lives in is brainwashed by the television. The television has the control over the entire society, over everything and everyone. Montag starts to understand the world more than behind a screen when he meets a girl named, Clarisse. Since everyone is brainwashed and gullible to whatever is thrown at them Montag feels he is alone. Montag dealt with his problems and did everything he could including leaving his past behind. Montag must also deal with himself, which creates the theme, man verse self. â€Å"About what?, Me,? My house? (pg.135). This is when the police where after Montag because they know he knows how everything really is. Montag had to deal with secret information within him. â€Å" But I did not speak, and thus became guilty myself†(pg.82). He couldn’t deal with the things he knew and felt like some... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 Nobody likes to be told what to do. Censorship is not right we have natural rights and they should be honored. We shouldn’t be told what to do and our natural rights shouldn’t be violated. If so you should have the right to at least start the process of impeachment of the president or person in which ever political position. We do listen to our government for laws and we do follow what they say to a certain extent as long as are natural rights aren’t effected. We have natural rights in which we are granted when were born. These are now represented in the bill of rights and constitution, in which we didn’t always have. Also not all countries have these, but as for in the United States we have documents (constitution and bill of rights), to keep are government from having to much control over us. Not only this but we have put systems into play like checks and balance. In the book â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† the government tries to tell people what to do and it backfires. Since they tried to control the lives of people by basically brainwashing them. The government put advertisements all over on billboards, huge billboards. They made people rely on â€Å"the family† instead of actually interacting with other people. The â€Å"family substitutes all natural thinking, people are basically just told what to think; and aren’t encouraged to think elsewhere. They also banned books from anyone to further extend the discontinuation of thinking. There’s always a couple people who are different though and still think. These people, some at least create pockets of people that feel the same way. Gathered together forming a rebellion almost. People will stand up for what they believe in so you cant control people for good. With these pockets of people against the government it creates much disturbance. Rather then have the people create there government and everyone would be for it. The rebelling people basically want to overthrow it rather then ... Free Essays on Fahrenheit 451 An Overview of Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is the epitome of censorship in America. Guy Montag, the protagonist, is a fireman whose sole job is to burn books and the homes of people who harbor them. Montag’s life is unfulfilled and dictated by ignorance until he meets Clarisse McClellan, whose character is a catalyst. Clarisse’s ability to see the beauty of life around her awakens a sense of curiosity in Montag as well his ability for intellectual thought. It is through Clarisse that Montag begins to understand that books represent awareness and knowledge. The introduction of Professor Faber is also significant in that his character is well educated and ultimately believes that burning books leaves people less enlightened. The professor has memorized literary works in the hopes that one day he will be called upon to recite them so that they may be re-written. Captain Beatty is another essential character. While Beatty’s character vehemently detests books and those who read them, paradoxically, he is well educated and often includes literary references in each of his conversations with Montag. While the supporting characters such as Millie, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Bowels add dimension with their respective story lines, the exclusion of any of these characters would not detract from the story’s overall theme. These characters do not have the influence over the protagonist that Clarisse, Professor Faber and Captain Beatty have throughout the story....

Ethics Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Ethics Paper - Essay Example This paper will analyze the role of Ethics and social responsibility in developing a strategic plan while considering stakeholder needs and agendas, engaging an example that is taken from real life and discussion preventive measures that could have been utilized to avoid this kind of situation. Speaking of role of Ethics in creating a strategic plan, one might point out the following. First of all, the engagement of the above mentioned concept allows people to focus on achievements in the long terms perspective, avoiding actions that might bring benefits in the short run, but result in devastating consequences in future. In addition to that, Ethics makes sure that the corporate plans respect human rights of the employees and provides with reasonable conditions to work in. Finally, it helps the stakeholders to find a perfect balance between their goals and the available tools to achieve them. There is another concept that should be taken into account while considering the issue in question. It is called corporate social responsibility. One might suggest that the acknowledgement of it is relatively new since businesses in the previous ages did not pay enough attention to it; nevertheless, nowadays it is considered to be one of the pillars that hold the strategic development of a company. Another point that should be mentioned with regard to corporate social responsibility lies in the fact that only company with a developed corporate culture are able to take this concept into account. Indeed, the essential part of it focuses on the acceptance of influence that an organizations has on the environment, both social and natural, as well as readiness to be responsible for any changes that are introduced, positive or negative. So, corporate social responsibility makes sure that the way the stakeholders want to achieve their goals is a sustainable one. It may be particularly useful to

Greatest Communicator Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Greatest Communicator - Essay Example Bill Clinton is a notable personality whose skill communication make audience yearn to listen more from the personality. Bill Clinton was at some point the president of US and pulled crowd with how he presented his speech. Additionally, Bill had good leadership skills that made him unique. Leaders need to be multi-talented so as to be there for the people. Bill Clinton displayed all these characteristics making him one of the most prominent and notable leader of all time. Bill Clinton had the most impressive communication skills any leader would want to possess. When addressing the audience, Bill Clinton would use gesture sync with words to ensure that a given message is efficiently grasped by the audience (Marcus par 3). To guide audience’s emotion and attention, he would extend his arms facing up or out. Additionally, Bill Clinton overlapped arms across the chest to show emphasis on a given statement. Moreover, he used hard-stop pacing in his word to ensure that points mention got the stress required. Use of frequent pause in statements helped to gather the attention of the audience. Visuals enabled Clinton to pass information clearly. Policy used was fewer words but more visual to ensure that the audience enjoyed the speech. In most of Clinton’s speech, monotony breakage was fostered by the addition of a story in the middle of a speech. Excellent communication skills by Clinton impacts individuals on a significant margin. When presenting a speech, it is crucial that the audience needs to enjoy the speech. Use of gestures like Bill Clinton ensures that the audience gets information clearly as well as enjoys the speech. Moreover, involving the audience in the presentation of speech makes them ride along. Direct eye contact is vital in enhancing emphasis to a given statement or speech. Moreover, it ensures that the audience’ attention does not get diverted. Bill Clinton’s good communication skills influence individual’s speech

Customer Switching Behaviour for Mobile Networks

Customer Switching Behaviour for Mobile Networks EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Consumers use services everyday, these ranges from taking the train or opening a bank account to talking on a mobile phone. Businesses also rely on a wide range of services on a daily basis, but on a much larger scale compared to consumers. However, customers are not always satisfied with a particular service that they maybe using and often resort to switching their service provider in order to resolve the issue or pursue better value from a less expensive service. The objective of this study is to investigate customer-switching behaviour in the mobile industry, why it takes place and what factors influence it. This topic area has been chosen, as customer switching and the mobile phone industry are contemporary and relevant to the present day and will continue to evolve overtime. Research has been undertaken using secondary and primary data collection methods. Secondary data provided a background to the mobile phone industry and an overview of customer switching behaviour in services. Primary data consisted of self administered questionnaires to a convenient sample of university students, this enabled data to be collected which would provide an idea of mobile phone users contemplation of switching and their understanding of why they believe they would switch from one service to another. Findings revealed that a majority of customer switching is due to high call and monthly charges and consumers trying to obtain more free minutes and texts. This contrasts with the literature and precious studies, which have found other reasons to cause customer switching, which illustrates how causes of switching differ in every industry according to the nature of the service. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Aims The aim of this project is to determine the reasons as to why consumers switch from one mobile phone network to another? The research objectives that arise from the aim will therefore be: 1 To evaluate whether competitors offerings are causing consumers to switch from one network to another 2 To evaluate whether retail offerings are causing consumers to switch to gain a better deal 3 What actions of the service firms or their employees cause customers to switch from one service provider to another The research will be UK based geographically using a convenient sample of university students and will be done using both primary and secondary research methods. The research may help managers and researchers understand service switching from a customers perspective in the mobile phone industry and the switching drivers may provides answers as to what has influenced customer behaviour. The results of the research will be analysed to provide recommendations. The reason for choosing this topic area is that there appears to be a lack of research on customer switching behaviour in the mobile phone industry. This study aims to explore this topic are further. 1.2 Background on Mobile Phones Service Mobile phones service refers to a service whose customer base includes firms using mobile phones for business and customers using it for their personal use. Mobile phones have become substitutes for fixed telephone lines and have led to the decline in calls made from fixed telephone lines. The take up rate of mobile phones is constantly increasing and over the years the growth in the use of mobile phones has been dramatic. According to EMC mobile user numbers reached the 1.5 billion mark in June 2004 and is set to reach 2 billion by July 2006 and 2.45 billion by the end of 2009. (http://www.cellular.co.za, 2005) Mobile phones today are not solely used to make calls, additional value added services such as Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), radio, internet access and so on. This means that the benefits and use of mobile phones is also expanding, which is also contributing to industry growth. This has become a focus point for the various operators as intense competition has led to increasingly lower voice call prices. SMS was first used in 1992 and is currently the fastest growing communications technology in history. Worldwide, 135 billion text messages were sent person to person in the first quarter in 2004 (http://www.cellular.co.za, 2005). Retail revenues from voice and data services (including MMS, SMS) account for 79% of the total revenue of the four main UK mobile operators (Vodafone, O2, Orange and T-Mobile), which accounted for  £13.6 billion in revenues in 2003, (see appendix 1). CEPG Research Company conducted a study of the mobile telecommunications industry in 2002, in which findings showed that turnover had reached  £32 billion a year, with the sector contribution to GDP being  £19.4 billion (2.2%), (ofcom.org.uk/research/telecoms, 2005). The demand for mobile phones has never been so great as it has become a must have for people of all ages; consumers are constantly exchanging their outdated phones for the latest colour handsets. The popularity of mobile phones is immense and it is perceived that this interest in mobile phones will continue to grow over the next decade or so, as demand increases and new models and technology is introduced to mobile phones. 1.3 Mobile Phone Service Industry The mobile phone industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the British economy, with the UK making up the second largest mobile market in Europe, with a share of 18% (Datamonitor, Nov 2004). This growth is due to factors such as changes in government policies towards communication (deregulation), economic growth and developments in information technology. The more recent growth has come from existing mobile phone users upgrading their handsets, which have led to mobile phone companies and network operators targeting first time buyers (Datamonitor, Nov 2004). Mobile phones are not only seen as a vital element for success in business but also as a much wanted item for social use. This is evident in the increasing number of individuals both young and old who now have at least one mobile phone. As indicated by an Oftel report, in Britain over one million people own a mobile phone instead of a fixed telephone line. 2.3 million UK residents live without a fixed line telephone at home. The popularity of the fixed line phone drastically declined after the mass introduction of mobile phones to the UK. It is worth noting however, that fixed phone line companies have not taken this lightly and have retaliated by introducing mobile phones linked to fixed home lines and companies such as BT setting up their own mobile networks i.e. BT until recently owned O2 and also offering special discounted rates to encourage customers to use their fixed lines. There are four main network providers in the UK; they are T-mobile, O2, Vodafone and Orange. In 2004 there were 342.43 million mobile subscribers, which is an increase of 8.54 percent from the previous year and a penetration rate of 87.63 percent. T-mobile UK accounted for 15.06 million subscribers, Orange UK had 13.75 million, O2 UK had 13.06 million and Vodafone UK had 12.98 million (mobile communications). Recently there have been changes in terms of ownership of the major mobile phone networks. T-mobile is now one of the three strategic growth areas of Deutsche Telekom, a German network provider and O2 is now owned by Spanish firm Telefonica. Orange was sold to German mobile phone network Mannesman, which was then taken over by Vodafone, who sold Orange to France Telecom. Orange has a strong network in the UK and overseas but recent management decisions by France Telecom have reversed their user growth and subscriber numbers, which has been partly due to customers switching to other networks. Customers can become concerned that, if their chosen network provider is owned by a firm overseas, their needs will not be met as well as they could by a UK owned provider. Additionally events such as these can contribute to switching behaviour through customer confusion, as found by Oftel (2003), where many consumers switched due to confusion over re-branding of the network. 1.4 Customer Switching Behaviour in the Mobile Phone Industry According to research by TNS Telecom Trak, consumers tend to use their handsets for about twenty months before upgrading to a new one. Telecommunications regulator OFTEL found that this is also the average amount of time that a majority of mobile phone users will stay with the same mobile provider for. Oftels research ascertained that 90% of consumers thought about changing their network when changing handsets. Oftel published a report in April 2003, which provided an overview of the key findings of trends in consumer behaviour in the mobile market based on a residential consumer survey conducted in February 2003. Research was carried out by Recom (Research in Communications) amongst a representative sample of 2,289 UK adults, 75% of who claimed to have a mobile. Findings revealed that 26% of mobile customers have switched network/ supplier. There was a strong indication that the rise in switching in the last quarter was a reflection of confusion over re-branding and rise in mobile penetration. One in ten (9%) of mobile customers were found to have switched network at least twice since owning a mobile, including customers switching back to a previous operator. Men (37%) and younger mobile users, 15-34 (38%) were found to be most likely to switch multiple times, which included returning to a previously used network. Although the switching differed according to type of package, 36% of contract customers had switched multiple times compared to those on prepay (33%). 24% of customers had switched once in the last 6 months, compared to three in ten (28%) of those that had switched twice and 43% that had switched more than 3 times. The same survey also revealed that in November 2002, 34% of consumers stated that they had switched mobile network, which was believed to have a result of customer confusion caused by the re-branding of O2 (formally BTCellent) and T-mobile (One2One). Yet this rise was temporary and soon returned to the previous level of 27%. In February 2003, 7% of T-mobile customers said that they had switched network having previously being with One2One, this was the same for O2 customers who had switched from BTCellnet. This accounted for 3% of all switchers who were confused by the re-branding during February. The current percentage of mobile consumers that have switched mobile network remains at 26%. When looking at multiple switching, two in ten (18%) of mobile customers had changed their network once, and seven out of ten claimed to have never switched network. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter will review all existing literature related to the mobile phone industry with a focus on customer switching habits and their surrounding elements such as consumer lifestyles, services themselves, competitor offerings and loyalty to help understand the research problem. This chapter will also review the contributions other researchers have made to the concepts of switching behaviour, yet it should be noted that literature on mobile phone choice is sparse and issues relating to why customers actually switch services remains unexplored in marketing literature which will be explored through this study. 2.1 Classification of Services There is no one single definition of services that is universally accepted, although many authors have attempted to define it. Yet very few products are 100% service or 100% tangible, they usually consist of a combination of both. Gronroos (1990) defines services as: â€Å"A service is an activity or series of activities of more or less intangible nature that normally, but not necessarily, takes place in interactions between the customers and the service employee and/or physical resources or goods and/or systems of the service provider, which are provided as solutions to customer problems†. This illustrates the fact that services can take place through physical form, for example this project is concerned with customers switching network provider service (which is intangible) but to have that service to begin with, customers need to purchase a mobile phone, which is a tangible product. Therefore switching behaviour in such a situation may differ from switching a service, which is not integrated with hardware; this may be due to the fact that when physical products are also involved, the costs and risk of switching is different to when there is just a service alone. Brassington (2003) acknowledged that most products tend to have a combination of both physical goods and service e.g. purchasing a gas appliance; this would require the professional fitting service as well as purchasing of the appliance itself. Kotler (1997) also recognised that some services are a combination of both a service and a product and has incorporated this in his definition of services: â€Å"Any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product.† This emphasises two key elements: 1. Intangibility A Service cannot be experience before it is purchased, 2. Lack of ownership there is no ownership in a pure service as there is no physical product involved. This is further illustrated in the Figure 1 below which illustrates Kotlers (1997) four categories of products, which are: 1. A pure service 2. A major service with accompanying minor goods/services 3. A tangible good with accompanying service 4. A pure tangible product New services are being introduced on a daily basis to satisfy and meet all customer needs from individual consumers to business consumers. The service industry comprises the majority of todays economy. In 2001, it represented 80 percent of the GDP of the USA (U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis). Keiningham et al (2003) said â€Å"there is a growing recognition among managers of the importance of measuring the share of business a customer conducts with a particular service provider (share-of-wallet) as opposed to simply repurchasing a product or service at some point in the future or continuing to keep a business relationship with a service provider†. This indicates the importance of retaining and maintaining customers and the importance of the relationship with them. Research carried out by Bitner (1990); Boulding at al, (1993) looked at service quality in service organisations, Crosby Evans and Cowles (1990); Crosby and Stephens (1987) researched relationship quality and Cronin and Taylor (1992) looked at overall satisfaction with regards to the issue of customer retention in service organisations. These researchers all agreed that service organisations could improve the likelihood of customers intention to remain with a particular service organisation, as it is these features that contribute to customer satisfaction and the growth of the organisation. The above studies all illustrated strategies relating to customer retention in services. Yet issues relating to why customers actually switch services remain unexplored in marketing literature. 2.2 Characteristics of Services When describing the main characteristics of a service, it can be depicted as being intangible, as a service has no physical dimension but can take place through a tangible product as is the case with mobile phones and network providers, as discussed earlier. A service can also be described using a tangible noun as Shostack (1987) exemplified that an ‘airline means transportation and a ‘hotel means lodging rental. Berry (1980) described a good as ‘an object, a device, a thing in comparison to a service which is ‘a deed, a performance, an effort. This further illustrates the fact that consumers cannot see, touch, hear, taste or smell a service; all they can do is experience the performance of the service as said by Carman and Uhl, (1973) and Sasser et. al, (1978) but, the experience may not be possible in all cases without some form of hardware in addition. Because services are delivered by individuals, each service experience will differ from another; as a result each purchaser will receive a different service experience. Additionally, when a consumer purchases a good, they own it, yet with a service the consumer only has temporary access or use of it, as the service is not owned, only the benefit of it is. Wyckham et al (1975) and Kotler (1986) defined this concept as ownership. 2.3 The Services Marketing Mix As previously discussed above, many features separate services from tangible products, yet the marketing principles remain the same for both. One particular difference is that there is close contact between individual employees from the supplier organisation and the customer themselves. Because of this, the traditional marketing mix needs to be re-evaluated in terms of the 7ps. Product: This refers to the features of the product or surrounding it, which in this case would be a good service or supplementary services surrounding it. These features should be benefits, which the customer would desire, and the surrounding features would be competing products performance. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Place and Time: Delivering a service to customers involves place, time of delivery and distribution channels used. Delivery can be done both physically and through electronic distribution channels according to the nature of the service being provided. Services can be delivered directly to customers or through intermediary firms, e.g. rental outlets. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Promotion and Education: these are three fold, firstly information and advice needs to be provided to customers, target customers need to be persuaded towards a product, and they need to be encouraged to take action. Service promotional communication are usually educational, informing potential customers of the benefits of the service, where and when to obtain it and how. These communications are delivered through individuals (sales people) or media (TV, radio, newspapers etc.). (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Price and Other User Outlays: In services monetary values refer to rates, fees, admissions, charges, tuition, contributions, interest etc. (Gabbott and Hogg, 1997). Physical Environment: A firms service quality can be perceived through the appearance of buildings, landscaping, vehicles, interior furnishing, equipment, staff members, signs, printed materials and other visible cues. These are physical evidence and impact customer impressions. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Process: A service is delivered to a customer through a process, which is the method and actions in the service performance. Poor processes can result in slow and ineffective service and unsatisfied customers. Front line staff may also find it difficult to do their jobs well as a result of poor process, which can again lead to service failure. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). People: Services tend to involve direct interaction between customers and firms employees. The experience of the interaction, for example talking to call centre staff, can influence the customers perceptions of service quality. The implication is that firms need to train and motivate their employees to ensure good service quality. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). 2.4 Marketing in Services Image is often a key factor in differentiating a service from its competitors. Marketing is therefore important in service because it enables the customer to link an image with a brand. Examples of these can be seen on delivery vehicles, which are painted, hotel soap and shampoos etc. When consumers have no experience with a product, they tend to ‘trust a favoured or well-known brand name; therefore service marketers need to build a favourable brand image. Some consumer theorists have linked service quality with consumer behaviour intentions, in that the quality of the service will determine whether the consumer remains with that particular provider or defects to a competitor. When consumers perceive high service quality, the behavioural intentions will be positive, as they will remain with the service provider. In contrast, poor service quality will lead to the relationship with the customer weakening resulting in defection to a competitor. Financially the firm will benefit more by retaining customers through increasing service quality; this is demonstrated in the figure 2 below. The figure above shows that the more favourable a firms service quality is, the more likely the customer is to remain with the firm, benefiting the firm. But when the service quality is poor, the customer will show unfavourable behavioural intentions, which will result in defecting/ switching. This highlights that in order to prevent customers from switching and to enable the firm to continue making profits, the firm needs to retain customers through good service quality. Service firms and service marketers need to recognise the significance of these reasons as they can lead to negative effects on share and profitability as noted by Rust and Zahorik (1993). This can arise from negative word of mouth, which will in turn deter potential customers. These reasons can also help markets to plan their promotional campaigns according to the aspects that are causing customers to switch. As maintained by Reichheld and Sasser (1990) companies can boost profits by almost 100% by retaining just 5% more of their customers. 2.5 Marketing in the Mobile Phone Industry As the market becomes more competitive, firms will endeavour to maintain their market share by focusing on retaining their current customers. It can be said that recent competition amongst mobile phone networks has become aggressive, especially with all the competitive price plans and handsets on offer, which are being promoted by the networks. More recently a ‘camera wars are taking place between mobile brands as consumers are considering this an important feature when purchasing mobile phones, Marketing magazine (2004). When network 3 entered the market, they were able to encourage many consumers to switch mobile networks from their existing providers to 3. this was done using challenging and direct advertising comparing brand and product features with those of competing networks. Marketing magazine (2004). As a result of this, 3 were able to reach the one million-customer mark faster than any other network since launching. It is evident that mobile phone networks are being innovative in their marketing tactics in the aim of securing higher customer bases. Much of the marketing the mobile networks today to do this are directed towards consumer confusion tactics. Consumer confusion tactics are where consumers are provided with large amounts of decision-relevant information, in regards to mobiles, this is seen in the form of deals, discounts, leaflets, newspaper adds and television advertising line rentals from as little as 99p per month. Confusion marketing and overload aims to confuse consumers into a state of stress and frustration, resulting in information overload and sub-optimal decisions. Price confusion is the most common confusion marketing tactic used in the mobile telephone market today in order to assist companies to gain a competitive advantage. It has been found that this tactic of confusion marketing appears to work and confuses customers to such an extent that they end up being persuaded b y this marketing literature and the information overload that they are provided with that they purchase the plan that is sold to them without investigating it further as they feel that they have all the information that they need and have made an informed choice. Confusion usually arises from 3 main sources: i) Over choice of products and stores there are independent mobile phone shops opening up regularly, and new mobile phones are being introduced to the market every month. ii) Similarity of products all the price plans available are very similar in terms of price as well as network call charges. iii) Ambiguous, misleading or inadequate information conveyed through marketing communications For example, many retailers are offering line rental for 99p per month, what consumers are not aware of is that they have to pay the full line rental for the first six months and then they claim their cash back. But using confusion marketing can have adverse effects on consumers. The ‘information overload can cause consumers to shop around, which can reduce brand loyalty towards the firm. 2.6 Decision Making Process for Mobile Phones When customers purchase a product or service they go through a complex process of three stages: the pre purchase stage (decision to buy), the service encounter stage and the post purchase stage. This can be applied to the purchasing of mobile phones. The post purchase stage will determine the customers future intentions on whether or not to remain loyal to that service provider or to switch service. During the post purchase stage, customers evaluate service quality and their satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the service experience. This is done by comparing what was initially expected with what they perceived they received from a particular provider. If expectations are met, customers are likely to be satisfied and therefore more likely to make repeat purchases and remain loyal. If customer expectations are not met, customers may complain about poor service quality, suffer in silence or resort to switching service provider. It has become evident in recent years that customers no longer â€Å"suffer in silence† with bad service to the extent that they previously and if they experience service that they are not satisfied with then are more likely to switch in order to receive a better service/better value for their money. When considering the purchase process of mobile phones, again there are complex factors, which influence the decision the decision process which include both macro and microeconomic conditions, but it generally tends to follow the traditional buying process. When faced with the problem of whether or not to purchase a mobile phone, consumers will initially take part in an information search before choosing which one to buy. The consumers decision-making process is directed by preferences that the consumer has already formed regarding a particular brand. Beatty and Smith (1987) and Moorthy et al (1997) argue that this means the consumer is most likely to make a choice based on a limited information search and without evaluating fully all the alternative brands available. As indicated by Dhar and Wertenbroach (2000), limited information search and evaluation of alternatives can result in a situation where the consumers choice is driven by hedonic considerations. Utilitarian goods are co nsidered to be instrumental and functional whereas hedonic good are seen as being fun and exciting, but some goods can have both features, as stated by Barta and Ahtola (1990). With relation to mobile phones the choice has both utilitarian (e.g. communication, SMS, planning) and hedonic (e.g. games, music, camera) features. Wilska (2003) believes the younger the consumer gets, the more they value the hedonistic features in their mobile phones. The mobile phone market is a technology driven market, therefore products are created based on consumers possible future needs which tend to be hedonistic features. Riquelme (2001) explored the level of knowledge consumers have when choosing between different mobile phone brands. The study focused on main factors, which were: telephone features, connection fee, access cost, mobile-to-mobile phone rates, call rates and free calls), which respondents had to rate according to importance. Findings revealed that respondents with previous experience about products predicted their choices well, although they over-estimate the importance of features, cal rates and free calls and under-estimated the importance of the monthly access fee, mobile-to-mobile phone rates and the connection fee. 2.7 Customer Switching Behaviour There is no one clear definition of customer switching, due to the lack of research into this area, although very few authors have attempted to define it. According to Brassington (2003) customer switching refers to â€Å"consumers who are not loyal to any one brand of a particular product and switch between two or more brands within the category†. Switching behaviour has also been referred to as defection or customer exit (Hirschman, 1970; Stewart, 1994) and refers to a customers decision to stop purchasing a particular service or patronising the service firm completely as agued by Bolton and Bronkhurst (1995) and Boote, (1998). Yet it can be argued that this is not a valid definition of customer switching as this definition refers to the consumers behaviour as abandonment of the use of a product/service although, whereas switching is concerned with consumers using one product/service provider and then deciding to switch to another. Many models have attempted to portray customer switching behaviour in services yet they all imply that switching derives from a gradual dissolution of relationships as a result of multiple problems encountered over time as found by Bejou and Palmer (1998) and Hocutt (1998). 2.8 Causes for Dissatisfied Service and Switching Bitner et al (1994) has looked at the events that lead to satisfying and dissatisfying service encounters for customers from an employees point of view. Bitner et als (1994) study found that employees were inclined to describe the customers problems with external causes such as delivery system failures as the most prominent followed by problem customers. A small percentage of dissatisfactory incidents were classified as spontaneous negative employee behaviours such as rudeness or lack of attention. It was evident that the employees were biased in terms of not blaming themselves for failures. Past research associating customer and employee views on critical factors compelling customers to switch offers assorted assumptions. Schneider and Bowen (1985) and Schneider, Parkington, and Buxton (1980) found a strong relationship between employee and customer attitudes regarding service quality on the whole in the banking service. The results from their study contradicted those of a study carried out by Brown and Swartz (1989). Data was collected from patients based on experiences with their physicians and were compared to what physicians perceived of the experiences of their patients. Results showed large differences inversely associated to patient satisfaction in general. Thus researchers have different views regarding customer and employee attitudes on service quality. When considering switching in the financial service, Mintel International Group believes the critical factor causing consumers to switch providers is price. Price is a sensitive issue and one that is close to th e heart of customers so it is perceived that they may consider switching on the basis of this if they are not satisfied with the service they are receiving. But it can be concluded that the customers view holds greater value, as it is their opinion that brings in business for a firm. Bolton Brankhurst (1995) and McDougal (1996) have looked at customer switching behaviour in relation to complaints, which they believe leads up to the defection. They suggested, that this field should be further explored, as there is a lack of research that tries to investigate the correlations between the factors that influence service switching and those that influence complaints before switching. Complains are again another major area of concern. The first Customer Switching Behaviour for Mobile Networks Customer Switching Behaviour for Mobile Networks EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Consumers use services everyday, these ranges from taking the train or opening a bank account to talking on a mobile phone. Businesses also rely on a wide range of services on a daily basis, but on a much larger scale compared to consumers. However, customers are not always satisfied with a particular service that they maybe using and often resort to switching their service provider in order to resolve the issue or pursue better value from a less expensive service. The objective of this study is to investigate customer-switching behaviour in the mobile industry, why it takes place and what factors influence it. This topic area has been chosen, as customer switching and the mobile phone industry are contemporary and relevant to the present day and will continue to evolve overtime. Research has been undertaken using secondary and primary data collection methods. Secondary data provided a background to the mobile phone industry and an overview of customer switching behaviour in services. Primary data consisted of self administered questionnaires to a convenient sample of university students, this enabled data to be collected which would provide an idea of mobile phone users contemplation of switching and their understanding of why they believe they would switch from one service to another. Findings revealed that a majority of customer switching is due to high call and monthly charges and consumers trying to obtain more free minutes and texts. This contrasts with the literature and precious studies, which have found other reasons to cause customer switching, which illustrates how causes of switching differ in every industry according to the nature of the service. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Aims The aim of this project is to determine the reasons as to why consumers switch from one mobile phone network to another? The research objectives that arise from the aim will therefore be: 1 To evaluate whether competitors offerings are causing consumers to switch from one network to another 2 To evaluate whether retail offerings are causing consumers to switch to gain a better deal 3 What actions of the service firms or their employees cause customers to switch from one service provider to another The research will be UK based geographically using a convenient sample of university students and will be done using both primary and secondary research methods. The research may help managers and researchers understand service switching from a customers perspective in the mobile phone industry and the switching drivers may provides answers as to what has influenced customer behaviour. The results of the research will be analysed to provide recommendations. The reason for choosing this topic area is that there appears to be a lack of research on customer switching behaviour in the mobile phone industry. This study aims to explore this topic are further. 1.2 Background on Mobile Phones Service Mobile phones service refers to a service whose customer base includes firms using mobile phones for business and customers using it for their personal use. Mobile phones have become substitutes for fixed telephone lines and have led to the decline in calls made from fixed telephone lines. The take up rate of mobile phones is constantly increasing and over the years the growth in the use of mobile phones has been dramatic. According to EMC mobile user numbers reached the 1.5 billion mark in June 2004 and is set to reach 2 billion by July 2006 and 2.45 billion by the end of 2009. (http://www.cellular.co.za, 2005) Mobile phones today are not solely used to make calls, additional value added services such as Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), radio, internet access and so on. This means that the benefits and use of mobile phones is also expanding, which is also contributing to industry growth. This has become a focus point for the various operators as intense competition has led to increasingly lower voice call prices. SMS was first used in 1992 and is currently the fastest growing communications technology in history. Worldwide, 135 billion text messages were sent person to person in the first quarter in 2004 (http://www.cellular.co.za, 2005). Retail revenues from voice and data services (including MMS, SMS) account for 79% of the total revenue of the four main UK mobile operators (Vodafone, O2, Orange and T-Mobile), which accounted for  £13.6 billion in revenues in 2003, (see appendix 1). CEPG Research Company conducted a study of the mobile telecommunications industry in 2002, in which findings showed that turnover had reached  £32 billion a year, with the sector contribution to GDP being  £19.4 billion (2.2%), (ofcom.org.uk/research/telecoms, 2005). The demand for mobile phones has never been so great as it has become a must have for people of all ages; consumers are constantly exchanging their outdated phones for the latest colour handsets. The popularity of mobile phones is immense and it is perceived that this interest in mobile phones will continue to grow over the next decade or so, as demand increases and new models and technology is introduced to mobile phones. 1.3 Mobile Phone Service Industry The mobile phone industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the British economy, with the UK making up the second largest mobile market in Europe, with a share of 18% (Datamonitor, Nov 2004). This growth is due to factors such as changes in government policies towards communication (deregulation), economic growth and developments in information technology. The more recent growth has come from existing mobile phone users upgrading their handsets, which have led to mobile phone companies and network operators targeting first time buyers (Datamonitor, Nov 2004). Mobile phones are not only seen as a vital element for success in business but also as a much wanted item for social use. This is evident in the increasing number of individuals both young and old who now have at least one mobile phone. As indicated by an Oftel report, in Britain over one million people own a mobile phone instead of a fixed telephone line. 2.3 million UK residents live without a fixed line telephone at home. The popularity of the fixed line phone drastically declined after the mass introduction of mobile phones to the UK. It is worth noting however, that fixed phone line companies have not taken this lightly and have retaliated by introducing mobile phones linked to fixed home lines and companies such as BT setting up their own mobile networks i.e. BT until recently owned O2 and also offering special discounted rates to encourage customers to use their fixed lines. There are four main network providers in the UK; they are T-mobile, O2, Vodafone and Orange. In 2004 there were 342.43 million mobile subscribers, which is an increase of 8.54 percent from the previous year and a penetration rate of 87.63 percent. T-mobile UK accounted for 15.06 million subscribers, Orange UK had 13.75 million, O2 UK had 13.06 million and Vodafone UK had 12.98 million (mobile communications). Recently there have been changes in terms of ownership of the major mobile phone networks. T-mobile is now one of the three strategic growth areas of Deutsche Telekom, a German network provider and O2 is now owned by Spanish firm Telefonica. Orange was sold to German mobile phone network Mannesman, which was then taken over by Vodafone, who sold Orange to France Telecom. Orange has a strong network in the UK and overseas but recent management decisions by France Telecom have reversed their user growth and subscriber numbers, which has been partly due to customers switching to other networks. Customers can become concerned that, if their chosen network provider is owned by a firm overseas, their needs will not be met as well as they could by a UK owned provider. Additionally events such as these can contribute to switching behaviour through customer confusion, as found by Oftel (2003), where many consumers switched due to confusion over re-branding of the network. 1.4 Customer Switching Behaviour in the Mobile Phone Industry According to research by TNS Telecom Trak, consumers tend to use their handsets for about twenty months before upgrading to a new one. Telecommunications regulator OFTEL found that this is also the average amount of time that a majority of mobile phone users will stay with the same mobile provider for. Oftels research ascertained that 90% of consumers thought about changing their network when changing handsets. Oftel published a report in April 2003, which provided an overview of the key findings of trends in consumer behaviour in the mobile market based on a residential consumer survey conducted in February 2003. Research was carried out by Recom (Research in Communications) amongst a representative sample of 2,289 UK adults, 75% of who claimed to have a mobile. Findings revealed that 26% of mobile customers have switched network/ supplier. There was a strong indication that the rise in switching in the last quarter was a reflection of confusion over re-branding and rise in mobile penetration. One in ten (9%) of mobile customers were found to have switched network at least twice since owning a mobile, including customers switching back to a previous operator. Men (37%) and younger mobile users, 15-34 (38%) were found to be most likely to switch multiple times, which included returning to a previously used network. Although the switching differed according to type of package, 36% of contract customers had switched multiple times compared to those on prepay (33%). 24% of customers had switched once in the last 6 months, compared to three in ten (28%) of those that had switched twice and 43% that had switched more than 3 times. The same survey also revealed that in November 2002, 34% of consumers stated that they had switched mobile network, which was believed to have a result of customer confusion caused by the re-branding of O2 (formally BTCellent) and T-mobile (One2One). Yet this rise was temporary and soon returned to the previous level of 27%. In February 2003, 7% of T-mobile customers said that they had switched network having previously being with One2One, this was the same for O2 customers who had switched from BTCellnet. This accounted for 3% of all switchers who were confused by the re-branding during February. The current percentage of mobile consumers that have switched mobile network remains at 26%. When looking at multiple switching, two in ten (18%) of mobile customers had changed their network once, and seven out of ten claimed to have never switched network. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter will review all existing literature related to the mobile phone industry with a focus on customer switching habits and their surrounding elements such as consumer lifestyles, services themselves, competitor offerings and loyalty to help understand the research problem. This chapter will also review the contributions other researchers have made to the concepts of switching behaviour, yet it should be noted that literature on mobile phone choice is sparse and issues relating to why customers actually switch services remains unexplored in marketing literature which will be explored through this study. 2.1 Classification of Services There is no one single definition of services that is universally accepted, although many authors have attempted to define it. Yet very few products are 100% service or 100% tangible, they usually consist of a combination of both. Gronroos (1990) defines services as: â€Å"A service is an activity or series of activities of more or less intangible nature that normally, but not necessarily, takes place in interactions between the customers and the service employee and/or physical resources or goods and/or systems of the service provider, which are provided as solutions to customer problems†. This illustrates the fact that services can take place through physical form, for example this project is concerned with customers switching network provider service (which is intangible) but to have that service to begin with, customers need to purchase a mobile phone, which is a tangible product. Therefore switching behaviour in such a situation may differ from switching a service, which is not integrated with hardware; this may be due to the fact that when physical products are also involved, the costs and risk of switching is different to when there is just a service alone. Brassington (2003) acknowledged that most products tend to have a combination of both physical goods and service e.g. purchasing a gas appliance; this would require the professional fitting service as well as purchasing of the appliance itself. Kotler (1997) also recognised that some services are a combination of both a service and a product and has incorporated this in his definition of services: â€Å"Any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product.† This emphasises two key elements: 1. Intangibility A Service cannot be experience before it is purchased, 2. Lack of ownership there is no ownership in a pure service as there is no physical product involved. This is further illustrated in the Figure 1 below which illustrates Kotlers (1997) four categories of products, which are: 1. A pure service 2. A major service with accompanying minor goods/services 3. A tangible good with accompanying service 4. A pure tangible product New services are being introduced on a daily basis to satisfy and meet all customer needs from individual consumers to business consumers. The service industry comprises the majority of todays economy. In 2001, it represented 80 percent of the GDP of the USA (U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis). Keiningham et al (2003) said â€Å"there is a growing recognition among managers of the importance of measuring the share of business a customer conducts with a particular service provider (share-of-wallet) as opposed to simply repurchasing a product or service at some point in the future or continuing to keep a business relationship with a service provider†. This indicates the importance of retaining and maintaining customers and the importance of the relationship with them. Research carried out by Bitner (1990); Boulding at al, (1993) looked at service quality in service organisations, Crosby Evans and Cowles (1990); Crosby and Stephens (1987) researched relationship quality and Cronin and Taylor (1992) looked at overall satisfaction with regards to the issue of customer retention in service organisations. These researchers all agreed that service organisations could improve the likelihood of customers intention to remain with a particular service organisation, as it is these features that contribute to customer satisfaction and the growth of the organisation. The above studies all illustrated strategies relating to customer retention in services. Yet issues relating to why customers actually switch services remain unexplored in marketing literature. 2.2 Characteristics of Services When describing the main characteristics of a service, it can be depicted as being intangible, as a service has no physical dimension but can take place through a tangible product as is the case with mobile phones and network providers, as discussed earlier. A service can also be described using a tangible noun as Shostack (1987) exemplified that an ‘airline means transportation and a ‘hotel means lodging rental. Berry (1980) described a good as ‘an object, a device, a thing in comparison to a service which is ‘a deed, a performance, an effort. This further illustrates the fact that consumers cannot see, touch, hear, taste or smell a service; all they can do is experience the performance of the service as said by Carman and Uhl, (1973) and Sasser et. al, (1978) but, the experience may not be possible in all cases without some form of hardware in addition. Because services are delivered by individuals, each service experience will differ from another; as a result each purchaser will receive a different service experience. Additionally, when a consumer purchases a good, they own it, yet with a service the consumer only has temporary access or use of it, as the service is not owned, only the benefit of it is. Wyckham et al (1975) and Kotler (1986) defined this concept as ownership. 2.3 The Services Marketing Mix As previously discussed above, many features separate services from tangible products, yet the marketing principles remain the same for both. One particular difference is that there is close contact between individual employees from the supplier organisation and the customer themselves. Because of this, the traditional marketing mix needs to be re-evaluated in terms of the 7ps. Product: This refers to the features of the product or surrounding it, which in this case would be a good service or supplementary services surrounding it. These features should be benefits, which the customer would desire, and the surrounding features would be competing products performance. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Place and Time: Delivering a service to customers involves place, time of delivery and distribution channels used. Delivery can be done both physically and through electronic distribution channels according to the nature of the service being provided. Services can be delivered directly to customers or through intermediary firms, e.g. rental outlets. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Promotion and Education: these are three fold, firstly information and advice needs to be provided to customers, target customers need to be persuaded towards a product, and they need to be encouraged to take action. Service promotional communication are usually educational, informing potential customers of the benefits of the service, where and when to obtain it and how. These communications are delivered through individuals (sales people) or media (TV, radio, newspapers etc.). (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Price and Other User Outlays: In services monetary values refer to rates, fees, admissions, charges, tuition, contributions, interest etc. (Gabbott and Hogg, 1997). Physical Environment: A firms service quality can be perceived through the appearance of buildings, landscaping, vehicles, interior furnishing, equipment, staff members, signs, printed materials and other visible cues. These are physical evidence and impact customer impressions. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). Process: A service is delivered to a customer through a process, which is the method and actions in the service performance. Poor processes can result in slow and ineffective service and unsatisfied customers. Front line staff may also find it difficult to do their jobs well as a result of poor process, which can again lead to service failure. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). People: Services tend to involve direct interaction between customers and firms employees. The experience of the interaction, for example talking to call centre staff, can influence the customers perceptions of service quality. The implication is that firms need to train and motivate their employees to ensure good service quality. (Lovelock and Wirtz, 2004). 2.4 Marketing in Services Image is often a key factor in differentiating a service from its competitors. Marketing is therefore important in service because it enables the customer to link an image with a brand. Examples of these can be seen on delivery vehicles, which are painted, hotel soap and shampoos etc. When consumers have no experience with a product, they tend to ‘trust a favoured or well-known brand name; therefore service marketers need to build a favourable brand image. Some consumer theorists have linked service quality with consumer behaviour intentions, in that the quality of the service will determine whether the consumer remains with that particular provider or defects to a competitor. When consumers perceive high service quality, the behavioural intentions will be positive, as they will remain with the service provider. In contrast, poor service quality will lead to the relationship with the customer weakening resulting in defection to a competitor. Financially the firm will benefit more by retaining customers through increasing service quality; this is demonstrated in the figure 2 below. The figure above shows that the more favourable a firms service quality is, the more likely the customer is to remain with the firm, benefiting the firm. But when the service quality is poor, the customer will show unfavourable behavioural intentions, which will result in defecting/ switching. This highlights that in order to prevent customers from switching and to enable the firm to continue making profits, the firm needs to retain customers through good service quality. Service firms and service marketers need to recognise the significance of these reasons as they can lead to negative effects on share and profitability as noted by Rust and Zahorik (1993). This can arise from negative word of mouth, which will in turn deter potential customers. These reasons can also help markets to plan their promotional campaigns according to the aspects that are causing customers to switch. As maintained by Reichheld and Sasser (1990) companies can boost profits by almost 100% by retaining just 5% more of their customers. 2.5 Marketing in the Mobile Phone Industry As the market becomes more competitive, firms will endeavour to maintain their market share by focusing on retaining their current customers. It can be said that recent competition amongst mobile phone networks has become aggressive, especially with all the competitive price plans and handsets on offer, which are being promoted by the networks. More recently a ‘camera wars are taking place between mobile brands as consumers are considering this an important feature when purchasing mobile phones, Marketing magazine (2004). When network 3 entered the market, they were able to encourage many consumers to switch mobile networks from their existing providers to 3. this was done using challenging and direct advertising comparing brand and product features with those of competing networks. Marketing magazine (2004). As a result of this, 3 were able to reach the one million-customer mark faster than any other network since launching. It is evident that mobile phone networks are being innovative in their marketing tactics in the aim of securing higher customer bases. Much of the marketing the mobile networks today to do this are directed towards consumer confusion tactics. Consumer confusion tactics are where consumers are provided with large amounts of decision-relevant information, in regards to mobiles, this is seen in the form of deals, discounts, leaflets, newspaper adds and television advertising line rentals from as little as 99p per month. Confusion marketing and overload aims to confuse consumers into a state of stress and frustration, resulting in information overload and sub-optimal decisions. Price confusion is the most common confusion marketing tactic used in the mobile telephone market today in order to assist companies to gain a competitive advantage. It has been found that this tactic of confusion marketing appears to work and confuses customers to such an extent that they end up being persuaded b y this marketing literature and the information overload that they are provided with that they purchase the plan that is sold to them without investigating it further as they feel that they have all the information that they need and have made an informed choice. Confusion usually arises from 3 main sources: i) Over choice of products and stores there are independent mobile phone shops opening up regularly, and new mobile phones are being introduced to the market every month. ii) Similarity of products all the price plans available are very similar in terms of price as well as network call charges. iii) Ambiguous, misleading or inadequate information conveyed through marketing communications For example, many retailers are offering line rental for 99p per month, what consumers are not aware of is that they have to pay the full line rental for the first six months and then they claim their cash back. But using confusion marketing can have adverse effects on consumers. The ‘information overload can cause consumers to shop around, which can reduce brand loyalty towards the firm. 2.6 Decision Making Process for Mobile Phones When customers purchase a product or service they go through a complex process of three stages: the pre purchase stage (decision to buy), the service encounter stage and the post purchase stage. This can be applied to the purchasing of mobile phones. The post purchase stage will determine the customers future intentions on whether or not to remain loyal to that service provider or to switch service. During the post purchase stage, customers evaluate service quality and their satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the service experience. This is done by comparing what was initially expected with what they perceived they received from a particular provider. If expectations are met, customers are likely to be satisfied and therefore more likely to make repeat purchases and remain loyal. If customer expectations are not met, customers may complain about poor service quality, suffer in silence or resort to switching service provider. It has become evident in recent years that customers no longer â€Å"suffer in silence† with bad service to the extent that they previously and if they experience service that they are not satisfied with then are more likely to switch in order to receive a better service/better value for their money. When considering the purchase process of mobile phones, again there are complex factors, which influence the decision the decision process which include both macro and microeconomic conditions, but it generally tends to follow the traditional buying process. When faced with the problem of whether or not to purchase a mobile phone, consumers will initially take part in an information search before choosing which one to buy. The consumers decision-making process is directed by preferences that the consumer has already formed regarding a particular brand. Beatty and Smith (1987) and Moorthy et al (1997) argue that this means the consumer is most likely to make a choice based on a limited information search and without evaluating fully all the alternative brands available. As indicated by Dhar and Wertenbroach (2000), limited information search and evaluation of alternatives can result in a situation where the consumers choice is driven by hedonic considerations. Utilitarian goods are co nsidered to be instrumental and functional whereas hedonic good are seen as being fun and exciting, but some goods can have both features, as stated by Barta and Ahtola (1990). With relation to mobile phones the choice has both utilitarian (e.g. communication, SMS, planning) and hedonic (e.g. games, music, camera) features. Wilska (2003) believes the younger the consumer gets, the more they value the hedonistic features in their mobile phones. The mobile phone market is a technology driven market, therefore products are created based on consumers possible future needs which tend to be hedonistic features. Riquelme (2001) explored the level of knowledge consumers have when choosing between different mobile phone brands. The study focused on main factors, which were: telephone features, connection fee, access cost, mobile-to-mobile phone rates, call rates and free calls), which respondents had to rate according to importance. Findings revealed that respondents with previous experience about products predicted their choices well, although they over-estimate the importance of features, cal rates and free calls and under-estimated the importance of the monthly access fee, mobile-to-mobile phone rates and the connection fee. 2.7 Customer Switching Behaviour There is no one clear definition of customer switching, due to the lack of research into this area, although very few authors have attempted to define it. According to Brassington (2003) customer switching refers to â€Å"consumers who are not loyal to any one brand of a particular product and switch between two or more brands within the category†. Switching behaviour has also been referred to as defection or customer exit (Hirschman, 1970; Stewart, 1994) and refers to a customers decision to stop purchasing a particular service or patronising the service firm completely as agued by Bolton and Bronkhurst (1995) and Boote, (1998). Yet it can be argued that this is not a valid definition of customer switching as this definition refers to the consumers behaviour as abandonment of the use of a product/service although, whereas switching is concerned with consumers using one product/service provider and then deciding to switch to another. Many models have attempted to portray customer switching behaviour in services yet they all imply that switching derives from a gradual dissolution of relationships as a result of multiple problems encountered over time as found by Bejou and Palmer (1998) and Hocutt (1998). 2.8 Causes for Dissatisfied Service and Switching Bitner et al (1994) has looked at the events that lead to satisfying and dissatisfying service encounters for customers from an employees point of view. Bitner et als (1994) study found that employees were inclined to describe the customers problems with external causes such as delivery system failures as the most prominent followed by problem customers. A small percentage of dissatisfactory incidents were classified as spontaneous negative employee behaviours such as rudeness or lack of attention. It was evident that the employees were biased in terms of not blaming themselves for failures. Past research associating customer and employee views on critical factors compelling customers to switch offers assorted assumptions. Schneider and Bowen (1985) and Schneider, Parkington, and Buxton (1980) found a strong relationship between employee and customer attitudes regarding service quality on the whole in the banking service. The results from their study contradicted those of a study carried out by Brown and Swartz (1989). Data was collected from patients based on experiences with their physicians and were compared to what physicians perceived of the experiences of their patients. Results showed large differences inversely associated to patient satisfaction in general. Thus researchers have different views regarding customer and employee attitudes on service quality. When considering switching in the financial service, Mintel International Group believes the critical factor causing consumers to switch providers is price. Price is a sensitive issue and one that is close to th e heart of customers so it is perceived that they may consider switching on the basis of this if they are not satisfied with the service they are receiving. But it can be concluded that the customers view holds greater value, as it is their opinion that brings in business for a firm. Bolton Brankhurst (1995) and McDougal (1996) have looked at customer switching behaviour in relation to complaints, which they believe leads up to the defection. They suggested, that this field should be further explored, as there is a lack of research that tries to investigate the correlations between the factors that influence service switching and those that influence complaints before switching. Complains are again another major area of concern. The first

The Important Role of Water in Toni Morrison’s Beloved Essay -- Critic

Water has always been a source of life but many do not take into account it's strength and ability to kill. From its cleansing nature, it washes away dirt; from its’ powerful potency it holds total destruction. With its flowing characteristic, water is able to form to any shape and make its’ way around any object. The multiple possibilities water possesses, engages, while takes away the mystery. In Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, water manipulates many factors causing destruction in the community. The direction it leads Beloved in, takes her from the past into the life of society while altering the notions of the future. The water creates a portal for Beloved taking her through death and life to a sense of belonging because it holds life-giving vitality as well as the ability to take life allowing her to move back and forth through worlds as the past gives possibility to the future. The water yields a home for Beloved as she finds herself lost and confused. As Beloved emerges from the water, she searches for a place of belonging in the life she left behind. â€Å"I come out of the blue water†¦ I need to find a place to be (213).† Because she has been lost inside the spiritual world, she searches for a â€Å"home† after being reborn. Once she finds this home, she is able to accept herself and can begin taking revenge on Sethe for what she did to her. Her simple beginnings of praising and worshiping her mother, captures Sethe’s complete devotion and love. â€Å"Rainwater held on to pine needles for dear life and Beloved could not take her eyes off Sethe (57).† With Beloved constant flattering nature, Sethe handed herself over to Beloved and she became part of the family. Beloved’s evil ways of manipulating Sethe into caring more about her than Den... ...returns to help Sethe. â€Å"Stay there. Don’t move. Let me heat up some water. Is it all right, Sethe, if I heat up some water?† (272). Paul D gets rid of the frozen water in Sethe’s life. This paves the road for different possibilities in her and the rest of the townspeople’s lives. Although Sethe is devastated from Beloved’s disappearance, the melting of ice lets her change and focus on the future instead of the past. Beloved finds a sense of belonging in returning to life after searching through death as she moves through the portal created by water. Its soft nature cleanses and washes away the bad but also holds the capability to destroy life. Water eases Beloved’s transportation between worlds. It has always been a source of wonder and continues to amaze people. The passion of water alters anything in its path paving its own path regardless of its surroundings.

Pride and Prejudice †review Essay

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 to the Reverend George Austen and his wife in Hampshire, England. The sixth child out of the seven, Jane was educated mostly at her home although she and her sister, Cassandra, were sent away to school for several years when they were young. Austen wrote several novels when she was in her teens, but her major works were written later on in her life. ‘Pride and Prejudice’, was first published in 1813. Austen began writing the novel in 1796 at the age of twenty-one. The first title was originally called ‘First Impressions’. Between 1810 and 1812 ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was rewritten for publication. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is usually considered to be the most popular of Austen’s novels. This novel is mainly about people expressing both pride and prejudice in their relationships. The main theme of the novel is marriage, which reoccurs throughout the story and it is marriage which attracted Lydia to run off with Mr Wickham. There is pressure on women of these times to marry properly this is because the women need to get financial safety, not for just themselves, but also for their families too. In this novel the most important cause of marriage for a woman were financially and a high social position. The first line of the novel justifies this and explains what the novel is about. â€Å"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife† (Chapter 1) This is a wonderful introductory line written by Jane Austen to introduce and outline much of this romantic novel. There are various reactions of Lydia going to Brighton by the Bennet family as they all have their own response and thoughts. Mr. Bennet is the husband of Mrs. Bennet and the father of Elizabeth, Jane, Mary, Kitty and Lydia. He is the master of Longbourn. He has a sarcastic humor intelligent and believes his two eldest daughters sensible, while he finds his wife and younger daughters silly. He does wants to be bothered as little as possible by his family. Even when Elizabeth warns him not to allow Lydia to go to Brighton, he does not listen to her because he does not want to be bothered with Lydia’s complaints. Mrs. Bennet is a different person does not really care about her daughter’s education. From the beginning of the novel her only obsession is to marry off her daughters to wealthy men, as she has a greed for wealth. Her only joys come from visiting others and gossip. She is a self-centered person and causes humiliation to the family due to her inappropriate behavior. Elizabeth Bennet is the second oldest of five sisters. Elizabeth is lively, smart, and intelligent. Her father and herself are not too different in their characteristics therefore she has a good relationship with her father and makes decisions wisely due to her intelligence. She is not scared to express her feelings and gets along with people very well except those who think they are far more superior to her, for example Darcy in the beginning but later on through the novel Elizabeth discovers Darcy to be a fine gentleman. Jane Bennet is the eldest Bennet daughter and is considered quite pretty by all has a good relationship with Elizabeth. She is Beautiful, friendly, sweet, sociable, humble and noble. Jane never thinks badly of anybody. Kitty Bennet is the third daughter in the family, and she is more under the influence of Lydia, Kitty follows what ever Lydia does. She effect by Lydia going off to Brighton. Mary Bennet The third oldest of the Bennet sisters, she is the most modest of the five daughters .She dislikes going out into the public, and uses her time studying instead. Lydia Bennet The youngest of the Bennet sisters, she is a self-centered girl who is the flirting kind. However she is the liveliest out of all the sisters. She is the first to get married despite her being a young teenager. She also has similar characteristics to her mother. She doesn’t really care about her family members after her marriage. The various reactions of Lydia going to Brighton are mainly negative. This is due to Lydia’s ridiculous thinking. She’s an extremely self-absorbed teenager. She has a great interest in men and particularly officers. She begins flirting with them once they have settled in the town and also admires and enjoys their presence, and exposes this in freely, in view of the fact that she has no shame. Due to her selfishness Lydia commits foolish acts which affect her and her reputation and mostly has an effect on her family. She shows a negative impression of her family by eloping with Mr Wickham mainly because she also has another four sisters who are keen to get married and their chances of doing so have diminished. She does what she likes without thinking of the consequences to come. It is like she is in a world of her own and doesn’t realise the bad reputation her family is developing because of her immature behaviour. Lydia is invited be her friend to Brighton by Mrs. Forster. Mrs. Bennet is extremely excited and pleased for Lydia’s trip to Brighton and wished all the best for her. â€Å"Mrs Bennet was diffuse in her good wishes for the felicity of her daughter and impressive in her injunctions that she would not miss the opportunity of enjoying herself as much as possible† (Chapter 41) Mrs. Bennet was totally trusting Lydia to go Brighton and thought she was old and mature to take care of her self, awareness to what the entire family is going to face shortly and how it will effect her sister’s chances of marriage. Lydia begins celebrating she is thrilled, perhaps because of the reason that she will be with the presence of the regiment. â€Å"Lydia Flew about the house in restless ecstasy, calling for everyone’s congratulations, and laughing and talking†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Chapter 41) She showed this excitement by roaming the house in happiness. She was awareness about her sister Kitty’s feelings and how degraded she feels, lonely and neglected. Kitty doesn’t understand why Mrs. Forster doesn’t ask her to come to Brighton too. â€Å"I cannot see why Mrs. Forster should not ask me as well as Lydia† (Chapter 41) Kitty as mentioned before follows Lydia in what ever she does and feels as though that she should be going as well due to her close relationship with Lydia. She becomes extremely upset, expressive and is envious towards Lydia. â€Å"The separation between her and her family was rather noisy and pathetic. Kitty was the only one who shed tears but she did weep from vexation and envy.† (Chapter 41) Kitty was mostly envious towards Lydia because of her trip to Brighton she was jealous and she wanted to go as much as her sister wanted to go. . She is saddened by the fact that Mrs. Forster requests Lydia to go and not her and can’t do anything about it. â€Å"Though I am not her particular friend. I have just as much right to be asked as she has, and more too, for I am two years older.† (Chapter 41) Kitty cannot accept the fact that she will not be going and exposes her frustration. Kitty gradually becomes resentful of Lydia’s attention. Lydia is unaware of Kitty because of her self-centeredness. Lydia and Kitty are very similar to one another when talking about their characteristics due to this, if Kitty would have gone she would have copied Lydia’s interest of men, and may have also began flirting just like her sister, and soon enough eloping with an officer and getting married just like Lydia. So by Kitty not going she may perhaps have been saved by the hazard she may have faced if she were to go. However, Elizabeth as the second oldest, was entirely aware of the situation and Lydia’s potential and capability, and is worried of what may occur if Lydia does go to Brighton. Mr. Bennet is a person who doesn’t not want to be bothered by his families problems so as a result he does not think about the damage Lydia may cause if she goes. Mr. Bennet just wants quiet and peace; by letting Lydia go perhaps he has the impression that there will be less botheration from his family. As mentioned before, Elizabeth has the same distinctiveness as her father and realizes that Lydia is not mature enough to go to Brighton so she tries and convince her father to think twice. â€Å"If you were aware.† said Elizabeth, â€Å"of the very great disadvantage to us all, which must arise from the public notice of Lydia’s unguarded and imprudent manner; nay, which has already arisen from it, I am sure you would judge differently in the affair.† (Chapter 41) Elizabeth is worried about Lydia going to Brighton and is trying her best to change her fathers mind and trying to stop her father giving Lydia permission to go. She also thinks that Kitty may be affected by this and points this out. â€Å"In this danger Kitty is also comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads. Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled! â€Å" (Chapter 41) Kitty follows Lydia in everything she does and Elizabeth realises this and is concerned, and mentions it. Elizabeth also expresses her frustration also by telling her father how the rest of the family can also be affected. Mr. Bennet is well aware of Lydia and her capabilities and her attitude towards men, especially officers, but simply doesn’t care and wants her to leave for the good of the town and possibly the family, as he mentions this to Elizabeth. â€Å"We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Lydia does not go to Brighton.† (Chapter 41) This quotation shows us that Mr. Bennet has no concern about his daughters and can’t be bothered. He fails to complete his duties as a proper father to the family. It may have been because of him not listening to Elizabeth that the bad reputation that Lydia soon gives to the family. This may have happened because of his immature behavior as a father. Despite the argument between Elizabeth and her father, Lydia is still sent to Brighton. After sometime the situation in Longbourn improves and Kitty overcomes her emotions. Later Elizabeth begins to have feelings for Darcy and is quite thrilled when she hears that she is going to meet him while on a trip with her aunty Mrs. Gardiner. Elizabeth arrives at Pemberley where Mr. Darcy was also. Her relationship with Darcy was improving on a regularly for the duration of her stay. She discovered what type of man Darcy actually is. She also gets to meet Georgiana Darcy the sister of Darcy. She is found very pleasant and charming to Elizabeth by surprise. While Elizabeth was on her trip she receives letters, one of them stating that Lydia had eloped with Mr. Wickham, she was shaken by the message and totally astonished that her sister had done such a thing. The emotions Elizabeth was going through made her burst in tears. â€Å"She burst into tears as she alluded to it and for a few minutes could not speak another word, (Chapter 46) Elizabeth is obviously in disbelief and in shock. She is worries about Lydia and the reputation and shame she have bought on the family, she must be also worried about her father feeling because it was his idea to allow Lydia to go in the first place. â€Å"Lydia-the humiliation, the misery, she was bringing on them all, soon swallowed up every private care. (Chapter 46) Jane expresses her devastation and requests that Elizabeth to return as soon as possible since there is disorder and astonishment from this shameless act by Lydia. The whole family regrets sending Lydia to Brighton. M r. Bennet is going through an immensely tense emotional situation. Mr Bennet on the other hand, handles the case with ease and isn’t extremely stressed compared to the rest of the family is. Kitty was told about the news and was not surprised at all, as if she was expecting it from her sister. â€Å"To Kitty, however, it does not seem so wholly unexpected.† (Chapter 47) Jane points out this in her letter. Kitty already has negative feelings about this matter and wasn’t really surprised. Elizabeth is totally overwhelmed by sad emotions mostly due to her absence and her concern for Lydia. Mr Darcy becomes aware of this situation and decides to think of a solution to the problem, as he is trying to build up a relationship with Lydia, this could be the chance to show he cares about her and her family and can feel the pain she is going through whilst thinking about the awful reputation that her family will have to face later on. The Bennets were completely disgraced by this and were mocked and looked bad upon by the community. However, there was still a way for the family to get rid of the reputation, which the family desperately hoped for that to happen was for Wickham to marry Lydia, as that was vital for a better future for the family, especially the sisters as they still have to get married. Mr Darcy shortly takes action and meets Wickham, and completes Wickham’s demands by paying off all his debts off which then soon encouraged Wickham to decide on marring Lydia. While everyone was miserable and disgusted by Lydia’s untrustworthiness and selfishness they were quite soon relieved, after hearing that Wickham was due to marry Lydia. Darcy’s attendance was very important in this and he also deserves an immense amount of praise for doing the right thing and sort out the problem in which Elizabeth was going through. . The matter is soon solved and Lydia is back together along with her family. She feel proud that she is the first out of the five daughters to get married and her parents are very proud too especially their mother as she was excited for her daughters marriages. Conclusion â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† is a book in which we can be taught that having pride and arrogance is not liked to have in your individuality as a person. It destroys your status inside a community an example of this from the book is Mr Darcy, who in due course shows his true qualities and changes from a disliked person to well-liked Lydia is a cheerful young lady after her wedding which Mr. Darcy showed by returning the Bennet’s family reputation the right way by speaking and encouraging his friend Mr. Wickham to marry Lydia as soon as possible On the other hand, her other sister Elizabeth finds herself a man who can become a great husband for her. Mr Darcy establishes this constantly because of his support to Elizabeth and his . Mr and Mrs Bennet, Jane, Kitty and Mary are all happy for Lydia after the family come together after her marriage ceremony. . The elopement of a woman with a man was very common at that time. As we can see from Mrs Bennet’s reaction it is a painful experience upon the mother as well as the entire family. The whole community changes their sight about the Bennet family due to a self-centred person mistake by Lydia. The story also gives us an image of how romance and relationships took place during that time enabling us to compare and contrast it with the present and we can see what sort of relationships went on between the men and women of the 19th century It all shows that how one person and by a mistake can destroy the family and effect everyone else in the family especially the parents.