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Attempt to diagnose the condition from which the protagonist of “The Yellow Wallpaper” suffers. If she were a real human being, what diagnosis would most suit her set of symptoms?

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Composition II Section 80443

Research Paper Topics

Directions: Choose one of the topics below, and write a 5 page research paper on the topic.  You must use at least 2 print sources and 2 internet sources, one of which MUST be an online journal such as Jstor.  Your textbook does NOT count as a print source.  Paper must be double-spaced in 12 point, Times New Roman font (no Courier New font).  Number your pages; construct and include a relevant title.  Compose a “Works Cited” page in MLA format (See the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers or use one of the many online applications for help such as Purdue OWL, Easybib., Bibme etc.).  Consult the chapters from our textbook entitled “Writing a Research Paper” (Chapter 43) and “Writing about Literature” (Chapter 39) for help with the process of research and writing.  Please have a thesis statement in bold at the end of the first paragraph.

Construct your own topic which must deal with at least one of the works with which we have dealt over the course of the semester.  Work must appear on the syllabus or appear in one of the chapters we have covered for this class.  If you are choosing your own topic, please consult with me so we can be sure that it is suitable for this assignment.

  1. Formulate an argument about the moral or message of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story “Harrison Bergeron.” You may find it helpful to use the “Sociological Criticism” section as your guide (Chapter 45).  How does this work deal with themes of class, inequality, and ability?  Where does the work stand on these issues, or in other words, what is its message on these themes?  To what historical situations might Vonnegut be referring?  Try to employ the terminology that we have been learning in class.
  2. Attempt to diagnose the condition from which the protagonist of “The Yellow Wallpaper” suffers. If she were a real human being, what diagnosis would most suit her set of symptoms?
  3. Research the literary movement known as Naturalism. Your assignment in this paper is to find sources that discuss Naturalism and to, first, explain to me the most important tenets of Naturalism.  Do not just directly copy this definition even if you cite it.  Rather, compose a description of Naturalism in your own words.  Next, find selected passages from the works that we have covered in class, and use them to demonstrate the tenets of Naturalism that you lay out. You must do BOTH of these things to do well on this paper. Try to employ the terminology that we have been learning in class.
  4. Compare and contrast Robert Frost’s narrative poem “Mending Wall” and the drama “Fences” by August Wilson. You may want to consider how the wall and fence function in the two works and the significance of each.  What does each say about community and the importance of human contact?  What problems do the wall and the fence solve or create?  Consider any other relevant similarities and differences between the two works.

 

. Is it right to call what the German wears a uniform of power, the words that Breward chose to describe his suit?

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The Quasi-Uniform of Angela Merkel: Impact, Intension and Public Perception of the German Chancellor’s Sartorial Choice in the Reflection of its Problematic Nature

One could argue that the variety of political women who shine in today’s spotlight is wide regardless of the fact that often, referring to their position in power, they play very different roles.

From former First Ladies Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy who ‘regularly make the news’ to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, celebrity turned politicians are a popular choice for gossiping (Behnke, 2017).

What they do have in common is that they attract the people’s attention and fascinate with the way they look. Their fitness, their health, their overall appearance and in addition, the way they dress – or are being dressed – is both commented on and judged, interpreted immediately for commercial purpose. Connotations are born that echo within society. Drawn is a picture that per se is usually black or white. Positive, critical or even cynical voices make their way after public performances and exposure. Regardless of their appearance, arguably each of these women gets the plenty of attention because society still seems to be very surprised, stuck with outdated, yet specific gender stereotypes that define what a women should and should not do, confused by seeing an authoritarian, liberated and outspoken female sex at the forefront of world politics in the 21st century. Whereas there are women indeed, who embellish their seemingly dominant, male counterpart – that happens to be a political leader or women, who decorate a whole country performing a predominantly representative role such as Queen Elizabeth II, now there are women who are active political leaders and sit at the ultimate positions of state control.

Angela Merkel is only one of them and her choice of clothing often consists of a classical two piece suit that reflects on formal, male dress. Since clothing ‘may be a means by which women are able to externalise their intensions in order to impact the will of others’ (Woodward 2007, p. 82), this body of work has the aim to enlist a variety of possible and likely reasons as to why the German Chancellor choses to wear what she wears and to research what influences her decision to select a specific attire.

As Christopher Breward depicts in his book The Suit, a ‘suit is usually characterised by a long-sleeved, buttoned jacket with lapels and pockets, a sleeveless waistcoat or vest worn underneath the jacket (if three-piece) and long trousers’ (2016 p. 10).

It is quintessential to take a brief look at the suit itself and some corner stones along its history, since it ‘is a complex, enduring vessel of meaning whose form raises questions about identity’ and secondly, because it is in ‘association with particular social groups and forms of labour’ (Breward, 2016 p. 35).

Even though the focus lies on women and their relationship with the suit, it is necessary to look at both sexes to draw a justifiable conclusion and interpret the results for the protagonist Angela Merkel in hindsight.

Gender has always played a predominant role in allocating garments to their wearer. After dressing up effeminate  and exuberant has been popular in England from around 1666 for both sexes, it became more fashionable for British men to dress modest , sober and develop a taste for classical, uniformly clothing, such as the original three-piece suit of 1666, after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. By doing so men formed a polar opposite to the still accepted luxurious female clothing standard. It was argued that whilst men have the chance to prove themselves and their values working in ‘employments by which honour is usually gained’ such as politics, women ‘needed to achieve honour by other means’ and  hence dressed to impress – which was seen as legitimate (Kuchta, 2002 pp. 121-126).

It can be noted that dating back as far as the 17th century, gender roles were bipolar in fact and clearly defined with the authoritarian man performing the administrative, political role and the  self-embellishing women practicing domestic work, both sexes attached firmly to a specific dress-code. The concept that gender determines, justifies or prohibits a certain way of dressing and ultimately living, is deeply rooted in our history and may still resonate within conservative societies that celebrate the past.

Traveling further in time to the end of the 19th century, Breward writes about characters such as Oscar Wilde or Max Beerbohm. He briefly reflects on their dandyesk way of dressing in direct relation to their eccentric, queer lifestyles, in contrast the ‘sober suit, in this context, signifie[s] adherence to the rules and values of the mainstream’ and is furthermore described as a ‘badge of conformity at Court and in business’ (2016 p. 116-118).

On the same note, he stresses how this ‘uniform of power’ served as a ‘vehicle for dissidence and disruption’ for people who life on the edge of the patriarchal centre – which did include women at the time (Breward, 2016 p.116). This point is revisited later, when the German Chancellor surprises the public by choosing an unexpected colour for one of her suits indeed.

It is crucial to observe the original associations that came along with a traditionally worn suit in order to comment on the latter in modern day and age, with the goal to analyse it’s deeper meaning and wordless, intuitive communication with the spectator.

Of course, originally the suit was introduced as a menswear garment. But it has been appropriated by women since early on, and ‘[t]ailored garments fashioned for the needs of newly active women, but adapted from the cut of men’s military and sporting costumes, had been a familiar part of the affluent Western woman’s wardrobe since the 1860’s (and could be traced further back, to the riding habits of the late seventeenth century)’ (Breward, 2016 p. 158).

But whereas, as the above passage indicates, this use of menswear clothing as an early form of activewear was fairly conventional, some women did ‘adopt masculine styles not for the reasons of disguise or functional ease, but as a means of asserting a counter-cultural identity and deriving pleasure from the resulting dissonance’ (Breward, 2016 p.161).

Concluding from this excerpt, along with the masculine style seems to go an identity which stems from certain characteristics that are associated with the idealised wearer of the suit, who is a man. Which is a phantasy in its own right.

However this identity seems to be subverted and used for an act of quiet, intellectual rebellion against the male dominated, patriarchal centre and for gender equality, when a women makes it her own. It comes as both a surprise and shock when it happens for the first time, for this very centre, because the female sex is naively expected to ‘share[ ] in a ‘primitive’ fascination for bright, ephemeral and intricate surfaces’. On the contrary, ‘men’s suits provide[ ] a rational and ordered metaphor for stability and civilisation’, but are now picked up by women (Breward, 2016 p. 170).

An early example for a women who appropriated men’s dressing habits for the sake of the style and vessel-effect, rather than the functionality, is Radclyffe Hall, a queer author and ‘pioneer of the tailored look for women’ – who can be seen in the photograph in Fig. 1, which dates back to 1928 (Breward, 2016 p. 160 – 161):

‘The man’s suit, in all of its supposed solidity, provided a remarkably unstable and thus suitably malleable vessel for such incendiary developments, which continued to smoulder through out the remainder of the twentieth century’ – writes Breward, summarising the retrospect of the 20th century in reference to the uniform of power (2016 p. 162).

On top of that, in the second half of the 20th century designers such as Yves Saint Laurent helped to promote the image of the suit for women within mainstream society and made the latter more acceptable, as his work was published in the popular fashion magazine Vogue. With an interpretation of the men’s formal dinner suit as a womenswear look in 1966, named Le Smoking, the lines between gender-stereotypical dress-codes began to blur even more. A development that asymptotically continues to this day. In addition, Christopher Breward explains figuratively, that ‘postmodernism exploded the sense of a situated identity and rendered the agency of dandyism obsolete’. Which, to sum up, made room for a new, reformed and more liberal chapter of dressing   (2016 p.162).

A chapter that witnesses the career of 1954 born Angela Dorothea Merkel and with that her rise as a politician, becoming Germanys first female chancellor at the head of a grand coalition indeed, that consisted of the centre-right Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union plus the  centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany following the 2005 federal elections (‘Angela Merkel’, 2019).

In fact, coming back to Angela’s suit, she is seen in a specific outfit throughout her public life in a repetitive manner that reminds of a uniform. More precisely, the trousers of choice are  interchangeable and primarily black with straight legs. The jacket however, that has been created by German designer Bettina Schoenbach when Angela became Chancellorette initially, comes in more variations but is based on one very pattern regardless. In the course of the years, it developed from a straight contour with a single breasted three-button fastening to a slightly shorter, more bulky version, sometimes even collarless. There are other minor differences in details that do occur, but on the whole the changes are so minimal that the according “signature-silhouette” is striking and ever persistent (Böker, 2018).

Because ‘the influence of [ ] uniforms on civilian fashion has been “back and forth”’ as an excerpt from the book Uniforms Exposed, composed by Jennifer Craik, highlights – here referring especially to military uniforms – it is inevitable to analyse uniforms in the broadest sense. They are historically interwoven with the suit (2005, p.48).

To begin with, it is questionable whether the term uniform is justifiable for this study. Is it right to call what the German wears a uniform of power, the words that Breward chose to describe his suit?

Taking a brief look at the explanations of Nathan Joseph, who is referenced in Uniforms Exposed,

it is hinted by the former that ‘[u]niformed and quasi-uniformed bodies (people dressed individually but in similar ways – e.g. business people, clubbers, sports spectators) constantly proclaim a uniformed self (Joseph, 1986 cited in Craik,  2005 p. 4)

Since Joseph summarises that both uniformed and quasi-uniformed human beings convey a very similar picture of themselves, this allows to name what the Chancellor wears a uniform or more fittingly a quasi-uniform. Similar to somebody who works in the field of business or finance, a suit worn by a politician is perceived as a quasi-uniform and succumbs the codes of uniforms and their effects on the public in a very similar manner – in this body of work without further need for a deeper-rooted differentiation. After all a suit is the attire of choice for most male politicians at work who dress in similar ways, even though there might be minor differences in colour or cut.

In addition, Lawrence Langner, who himself is cited in the book, refers to individuals when he talks about uniforms. Uniforms which, according to Jennifer Craik, often are associated with quantities of people, where they ‘embody[ ] sameness, unity, regulation, hierarchy, status, roles’ which again makes the reference of Angela’s individual outfit as a quasi-uniform passable (2005 p. 5).

Langner notes that uniforms are tools to ‘demonstrate the authority of individuals or groups and [ ] transform this authority into the power of government’ – a statement that coincides fittingly and chronologically with the events of the election night of 2005, another point that is revisited later in the text (Langner, 1965 cited in Craik, 2005 p. 5).

It is striking how the suit itself is a vessel filled with information due its history and heritage, but that on top of this, it functions as a quasi-uniform. A quasi-uniform that standing alone is a very impactful, meaningful device and that ‘refer[s] to modes of dress that are consensually imposed as appropriate’ (Craik, 2005 p. 17).

Merkel’s outfit translates to a complex brace of information in disguise that becomes even richer in content, because she is a women.

Even though a suit on the body of a women, worn in traditional fashion, is by no means unexpected or shocking anymore, in the 21st century of central Europe and western society, one could argue that there are garments more suitable, more comfortable, more feminine, more individual and at the same time not less acceptable. For example the Kostüm – a coordinated combination of coat or jacket and skirt that is popular amongst business women.

So why is Madam Chancellor opting for the two-piece suit as a quasi-uniform? Uniforms in  general are strongly linked to attributes of the wearer and undoubtedly she takes advantage of this certainty.

Being a persona that operates under the public-eye and that is subjected to a positive resonance of votes, voters and the people, it makes sense that she ad hoc aims for the optimum in self-representation. In parts, this can be achieved by a specific look that comes with positive connotations. The outfit may represent ‘control not only of the social self but also of the inner self and its formation’ and in her position, Angela is a women who has to handle a lot of control (Craik, 2005 p.4).

Likewise, she is somebody with lots of responsibilities and consequently needs to come across convincing and trustworthy in order to be and remain successful.

After all, which other options are there? Dressing feminine and potentially more fashionable could be ‘labelled frivolous, (…) seem to … downplay the life of the mind’ (Steele, 1991 cited in Behnke 2017 p. 1)

But why are uniforms as well as quasi-uniforms communicating specific, appreciable character traits of the wearer? ‘Almost all uniforms we see nowadays in whole or part derive form traditional military or ecclesiastical uniforms and dress’ and now there are countless designs of uniforms in today’s society that reflect on their military heritage. Looking at quasi-uniforms, examples include ‘men’s “white-collar” suits; white or khaki “safari” suits in subtropical and tropical colonies; professional photographer’s multi-pocket vests and trousers; and professional women’s suits’ (Craik, 2005 pp. 21-22).

The answer to this question seems to lie in the following example: taking a look back at the Thirty Years’ War between 1618 and 1648, where France undoubtedly stood as the victorious nation, this desirable connotation of success that came along with the victorious uniform, a long woollen coat, the justaucorps, in effect made soldiers in the whole of Europe appropriate the latter (Bleckwenn, 1978 cited in Craik, 2005 p. 27).

So distinguishable elements of military uniform were picked up because they became a symbol for achievements in war thus everybody wanted to be associated with the latter, in a time where this success translated to the epitome of power.

But not only could military clothing symbolise success, besides it covered a trained body and mind, and ‘signified attributes of discipline and reliability’, when worn by ex-soldiers in civilian life, looking for new employment (Craik, 2005 p. 29).

To conclude, throughout the years of history, military uniform has also been described as a ‘link between masculine ideals and military power’, subjected to specific codes, after Britain responded to Napoleons introduction of military look-alike court-dress from the early 19th century,

establishing a modern hero cult through the likes of Nelson and Wellington that revolved around perfect masculinity (McDowell, 1997 cited in Craik, 2005 p. 35).

Moreover, Colin McDowell, another reference of Mrs Craik, argues that ‘this love affair with the spectacle of uniform and display of masculine attributes stemmed from the heady alignment of heroism, muscularity, sexual prowess and titillation’.

Craik summarises similarly, that ‘[o]f all the uniform “looks”, the military one remains the most desirable perhaps because of the heroism associated with war and the acts of soldiers’ (2005, p.48).

Looking back at Angela’s suit, we can see how it has been influenced by the history of military clothing and is hence charged with meaning. Of all the uniforms, the impact of the military uniform on the public has been the most distinct, which traces back from the late 18th century, when there was, according to Christopher Breward, an ‘increasing[ ] military appearance of elite masculine dress’ (Breward, 1995 quoted in Craik, 2005 p. 31).

Elements we can find in the modern suit as displayed by the German chancellor partially have their origin in military uniform. More specifically, the latter had an impact on elements such as ‘lapels, cuffs, straps, pocket flaps, extra buttons, buckles and sometimes rings’ as Anne Hollander depicts in Uniforms Exposed (1987, quoted in Craik, 2005 p. 31).

Besides the example of Angela Merkel, in the past other political leaders made the decision to appropriate military uniform more directly and without compromise, merging militaryesk elements with classical suit details. Such as Chinese revolutionist Mao Zedong, who can be seen in Fig.   2, when there was a ‘sharing of dressing practices between the Red Guards and their ‘great commander’’. In parts, Mao intended to symbolise his communist agenda of equality by dressing similarly to his student-led, paramilitary backers (Li, 2019 pp. 49 – 62).

Speaking of Merkel’s look as a quasi-uniform, one can’t help but notice how strongly her persona is linked to the latter, a fact that is highlighted by the following example:

In an edition of the weekly published, German news magazine, Der Spiegel from September 2018, a politically charged caricature can be found on the cover-page. It is illustrated under the art direction of Katja Kollmann and shows nothing but a red suit jacket on a coat-hanger that dangles from a rack with hooks, next to an easily recognisable necklace – which is known under the name of “Deutschlandkette”, the “Necklace of Germany”.

However, especially the red garment is used as a surrogate for the whole persona of Angela Merkel, being recurrent on another level. Since, apart from variations in colour and fabric, the base of the suit is mostly the same.

As the according, leading article by Markus Feldenkirchen – in the magazine – depicts, her time as a dominant figure as the German federal chancellor is due to come to an end. ‘The Madam Chancellor should plan her resignation – as long as she can still take part in decision-making about it’. Feldenkirchen suggests just below the headline (2018 p. 6).

Figuratively, this decay is strongly hinted with different faults of the illustrated jacket. Such as a patch at the right sleeve that seems to cover a hole, frills coming off the hem at the other or a  smudge below the left breast. The best days of the garment seem to be count. The cover page with the very caricature can be seen in Fig. 3.

The Der Spiegel is a very popular magazine. The fact that the creative direction takes the risk to work with mentioned symbols, rather than feeling the need to be more obvious and addressing the punchline “What comes, when Merkel goes?” – that embellishes the cover page of the magazine in bold black letters, with a cartoon that features the actual persona non grata, indicates that the average reader is likely to identify Angela Merkel with this specific piece of clothing.

The exact jacket which is worn by Madam Chancellor on many occasions, which is used as a means of communication between the women and the outside world and supposed to signify positive features since, as analysed above, there is a historically rooted, positive connotation to the suit in general and secondly, because there is a connection to military uniform and its impressive attributes, has now become a medium to ridicule herself – in her function as a political leader. Unmistakably, Angela’s weakness is visualised in red.

Red, a colour that Angela wore several times, but that has been possibly most striking on the night of her re-election at the federal elections in October 2009. As opposed to the previous example, back then the red jacket worked as a very effective and successful medium. As Manuel Kaufmann, the author of the academical writing The Blazer-Colours of Angela Merkel points out, most striking, because the colours of her suit jacket at other occasions, for example  in the election night of 2005, were ‘very expectable and not spectacular’ (Kaufmann, 2010 p.10).

Back in 2005, these rather dull colours indicate, according to Kaufman, both the conservative direction of Angela’s grand coalition union parties and conventionalism. Conventionalism, since ‘the conventional colours of suit jackets over the past decades have been black and dark-blue’ (Kaufmann, 2010 p.10).

Even Christopher Breward points out that the ‘dark and restricted colour palette’ of a suit make it ‘appropriate as a symbol for the dominant concerns’ when he is analysing its history with a  prospect of the future (2016 p.46). After all it is the politicians who are supposed to deal with the people’s concerns. Figuratively speaking, this closes the circle to the assumption that Merkel’s wardrobe is subjected to social structures that make her wear this one quasi-uniform, a quasi-uniform in amongst many.

Manuel Kaufmann notes that, looking at women, these rules regarding the colour of clothing may not apply as precisely as to men, but certainly there’s a tendency ‘at least for the contexts work-life, politics, publicity’ (2010 p.10).

As mentioned briefly before, the 2005 federal elections turned out to be successful and Angela was appointed the first female chancellor of Germany. In sharp contrast and referring to colours, in October 2009 the Madam Chancellor surprised with a red suit jacket. Whilst Breward would very likely call the colour red of a suit inappropriate, Kaufmann summarises that this is an unexpected move, because both the colour red is widely associated with another political party, the SPD, the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany plus not a conventional colour (2010 p.10). It is a necessity to add that opposed to 2005, when Angela’s parties formed a grand coalition with the SPD, in 2009 these parties are no longer tied together (‘Angela Merkel’, 2019).

Is Merkel using the ‘uniform of power’ like Oscar Wilde and Max Beerbohm, or like any of the people who subverted the patriarchal centre by the end of the 19th century according to Breward, ‘including women, ethnic minorities, gay men and criminals’ since she arguably uses the red suit jacket as a tool, ‘as a vehicle for dissidence and disruption’ (Breward, 2016 p.116), too? Whereas this question might be hard to answer, certainly the choice over the colour of a garment opens up a window of opportunity as a means of communication here, at public or publicly broadcasted performances.

On the other hand there’s Jennifer Craik who argues that the actual meaning of a uniform often only comes to show by uniform “failures” – counterexamples, when the clothing is not set-up in an appropriate, corresponding manner. But was it all just a mistake, a failure to chose an atypical colour way? Kaufmann suggests, underlining his own interpretations with words of Jörg Meibauer,  that the shift to red, metaphorically, indicates that the future political program of the Christian Democrats approaches the one of the Social Democrats (Meibauer, 2001 cited in Kaufmann, 2010 p. 11). In other words, the choice is likely to be no coincidence, Angela’s aim is to reach out to another group of voters. SPD voters.

Nevertheless, the chosen colour could almost be described as a “failure by design”. Consciously, clothing rules, uniform rules are broken to surprise the audience, which in effect works subconsciously amongst the voters, opening doors for future opportunities.

The tactics go to plan and through both the intelligent use of symbolism and a speech, that sees the Madam Chancellor highlighting her party as a “Volkspartei”, a “people’s party” for the broad centre of society, an astonishing 870.000 voters shift their vote from the SPD to the CDU (Kaufmann, 2010 p. 11).

Without failing to impress, the above example shows how clothing in the face of it’s own history, can become an opportunity, a useful medium to get information across. Which happens on a conscious or subconscious level, when words would potentially fail to convey the message in an acceptable manner. Representing a conservative party, Merkel would not ask the people literally, luridly, to not vote for the SPD but her party instead. However the seemingly sensible topic can be approached and communicated subtle, partially with the help of a tailored jacket.

In accordance with the fact that both the uniform’s and suit’s history influence what we see, or are supposed to see in the attire of Angela Merkel today, we have to take note that the two originate from a hierarchical power system that revolves around the male sex. That’s why it is important to take a closer look at the latter and especially at Merkel’s male colleagues. Colleagues who are visualised as hungry sharks in Fig 4. with helpless Angela finding herself surrounded by water with an angst-filled facial expression, still dressed in a tailored jacket (‘Im Haifischbecken der Macht’, 2005 pp. 6 – 9):

Freya Jansens, the author of the article Suit of power: fashion, politics and hegemonic masculinity in Australia analyses the correlation between dress and medial coverage referring to Australia’s female politicians, such as Julie Bishop, Quentin Bryce and Julia Gillard in juxtaposition with male politicians. Although her conclusions refer – as the title does suggest – primarily to Australia, she is pointing out that this consequent tension, this problematic imbalance between female and male politicians is both present ‘in Australia and abroad’ (Jansens 2018, p. 202). On top of that, she uses a lot of more general references that allow us to take her thought further and out of this more intrinsic context, interpreting it for our scenario and protagonist.

One of these references is Kathleen Hall Jamieson who in her book Beyond the Double Bind: Women and Leadership examines how women can struggle between two choices, ‘appearing competent or appearing feminine’ (H. Jamieson 1995, cited in Jansens 2018, p. 204).

Certainly appearing indicates the fact that there’s a second party involved, a spectator, which in the context of female politicians in their job positions means: male politicians plus a society that is subjected to ‘the male aesthetic norm’ (Jansens 2018, p. 202).

This also explains, why these two characteristics, being competent, being feminine, are allocated on polar opposites of a twisted spectrum that is a construct of bias in itself. Within this construct moreover, being female means not to be male, not to be male means not to be competent. And because arguably gender determines certain dress-codes, a correlation between dressing female and coming across less competent – and vice versa – seems to exist. With her choice of clothing, Angela Merkel clearly opts towards the one end of the spectrum by appearing competent, whereas arguably, Australia’s first female, former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who was often seen in a skirt-jacket combination, dressed more feminine when she was in office, and would be situated towards the other end of the spectrum which can be observed in Fig 5.

 

Interestingly, also the political success of both women is much different with Julia Gillard on the one hand, being Prime Minister for only three years between 2010 and 2013, and the German Chancellor on the other hand, reigning since September 2005, which equals almost 14 years to this day. This might indicate that exposure and public perception influences otherwise similar careers to the one or the other extreme.

Ms Jansens seeks an answer in further social structures and identifies hegemonic masculinity at the source of the problem. As a start, hegemonic masculinity is subject of many publications by authors such as Carrigan, Chapman, Cockburn, Connell, Lee, Lichterman, Messner and last but not least Rutherford, as Mike Donaldson summarises in his work What is Hegemonic Masculinity? (1993, p. 4). Collectively, they describe the latter as:

 

[T]he dread of and the flight from women. A culturally idealised form, it is both a personal and a collective project, and is the common sense about breadwinning and manhood. It is exclusive, anxiety-provoking, internally and hierarchically differentiated, brutal, and violent. It is pseudo-natural, tough, contradictory, crisis-prone, rich, and socially sustained. While centrally connected with the institutions of male dominance, not all men practice it. though [sic] most benefit from it. Although cross-class. it [sic] often excludes working-class and black men. It is a lived experience and an economic and cultural force, and dependent on social arrangements. It is constructed through difficult negotiation over a life-time. Fragile it may be, but it constructs the most dangerous things we live with. Resilient, it incorporates its own critiques, but it is none the less “unravelling” (Donaldson 1993, p. 4).

 

Here we can filter a couple of points that are relevant for our example and to begin with, politics have been a male dominated domain for a long while, with the quota of women on the rise only ever so slightly and erratically for the last century with people such as Angela Merkel making their way through to where they are now. Even though most of the parties have now introduced internal gender quotas, according to a fairly recent analysis of author Emily Schultheis, at the end of the year 2018 ‘Germany’s share of women in politics is only middling, and the percentage of women in the German Bundestag has reached a 20-year low’ (2018). A low that is visualised by following Fig. 6 to be more specific:

 

 

In fact, out of 709 elected parliamentarians there are only 218 women, which translates to 31 percent – this data has been identified after the 2017 federal elections (Schultheis, 2018). The accomplishment of being a politically successful women may in parts be due to Angela’s way of dressing, adapting to male clothing standards, rather than questioning or challenging them to another scale which in theory gives her a much higher chance of being accepted as a leader, hinting there’s an ability to perform just like a man would, leaving her beyond possible doubt in a system that pretends to be neutral when in reality there’s the potent accusation that it’s not.

 

Here, the ‘importance of the workplace and other organizations [sic] in the fashioning and display of masculine and feminine bodies’ has to be highlighted as a stand-alone point (De Casanova, 2015 p.3). This suggests that working at the German Bundestag or any other political stage implies a defined dress-code per se.

 

Referring to male politicians and the gender quota, Schultheis adds yet another angle to the conversation by introducing the theory that men prefer somebody that they feel comfortable around and can identify with, which potentially and unsurprisingly translates to yet another man as a successor or colleague who would be chosen for a certain job over a women. A theory that is backed by the opinion of female politicians and connects to the last passage when we make the assumption that by dressing man-like, the German Chancellor might grant the men she works and interacts with and possibly even voters, a common ground which makes them feel comfortable in the first place and hence wins their affection (Schultheis, 2018). Along the same lines, Freya Jansens declares:

‘The aesthetic elements that do not seem to comply with the hegemonic masculinity will not be seen as legitimate’  (Jansens, 2018 p. 205).

 

On top of linking the entire political sphere of Australia to the problematic behind hegemonic masculinity, she finds signs of this outdated social construct in gender specific, different portrayal of politicians in the media. Here this gender inequality translates to: Australian female politicians have been criticised over their choice of clothing and attributed a deprecative connotation whereas their political agendas have become secondary (Jansens, 2018 pp. 202-218).

Indeed these observations align with what can be observed with Angela Merkel: whether it’s the replacement of her whole persona by just her outer shell in the cover page of Der Spiegel in 2018 or the press meltdown at the opening of the Oslo Opera House in 2008, when Angela surprised in an atypically feminine dress that didn’t fail to polarise with a deep cut décolletage. The similarities to the casus Ms Jansens criticises are obvious: All of a sudden it seemed to become irrelevant that there was an opera-opening, the journalists and photographers focused on the Chancellorette, her physicalness and dress rather than the actual event (Riekel, 2008 p.7).

Although the choice of attire has been positively recognised by many within Germany, where the bravery and self-confidence of Merkel were praised amongst few critical voices, there was an outcry after this night on international level when especially the British and Turkish press reflected on the incident without hiding their disapproval. For instance, the British Daily Mail wrote about “weapons of mass-distraction” regarding Angela’s cleavage, whilst the Turkish newspaper Radikal appeared to be “shocked”. Even though the Chancellorette attended the opening in a representative and rather léger role than a political one, both reactions can indicate why most women in the political spotlight prefer to dress understated compromising their freedom of choice due medial pressure (Jäckel, Raagaard, 2008 p. 32).

 

To conclude, let’s draw a line to the concept of democracy and it’s key values, a democracy like the German, parliamentary one, where votes don’t determine the best possible, perfect political outcome – no, in fact they determine a fluid result with the one carrying column: self-determination for the German people.

For specification: the one best possible outcome does not exist, it would always be subjected to the singular opinion and standpoint of the beholder asked, yet it is a struggle to find two people who share the exact same opinion especially in regards to politics. With the judgement over an outfit it behaves similarly and Jennifer Craik stresses referring to uniforms, that “it is essential that the wearer and onlooker share a common code about the meaning of the item and how to wear it’ (2005, p.8) – which may be the case in a perfect world. This means, that any German national could analyse the outfit of Angela Merkel and come to a very different conclusion than a third person who is close to the Madam Chancellor, possibly a party colleague or a political insider. Regardless of Angela’s actual intention, the synopsis of the German national would not be wrong per se and mean something to that very person because it is highly unlikely that everybody shares a common understanding. Consequently, the one best possible outfit for a female politician does not exist, or does exist, depending on individual perception. And this broad spectrum of individual perception also distorts the message that only Angela knows for certain, sending it out wordlessly but non the less similarly to a game of Chinese Whispers. Whatever Merkel choses to wear and communicate, she will always be understood and misunderstood, always gain malice and praise from the public. The ironic contrariness of this fact has been expressed by medial expert Jo Groebel who states, regarding Merkel’s sartorial choice at the opera-opening: ‘Like any other women, our Madam Chancellor has the same right on a fashionable dress. It is false to criticise her for not being sufficiently fashionable and womanly dressed – and to now argue exactly the other way round’ (2008, quoted in Jäckel, Raagaard, 2008 p. 32).

 

No matter what any person interprets into the look of Germany’s politically most powerful woman, ‘Clothes are not just body coverings and adornments, nor can they be understood only as metaphors of power and authority, nor as symbols, in many cases, clothes literally are authority …. Authority is literally part of the body of those who possess it’ (Cohn, 1989 cited in Craik, 2005 p.41). Willingly living in a democracy and by doing so presume it’s amenities, the people has the potential to embrace a more liberal view and ‘the possibility of generosity in […] relations with others’ (Scarth 2004, p. 86), their way of dressing, their right on self-determination. Whilst judging Angela for her political performance is healthy, the decisions that she makes as a women regarding her wardrobe should be accepted.

 

By choosing to represent Germany in public, Merkel has become ‘vulnerable to penetration by the anticipated gaze of others’ (Woodward, 2007 p. 82) – to exploit this vulnerability distracts from what actually matters, which is neither the gender nor the clothing of a person, but their performance in office.

Bibliography:

 

Books:

 

  1. Behnke (2017) ‘The International Politics of Fashion’, Abingdon and New York: Routledge, p.1

 

  1. Breward (2016) ‘The Suit – Form, Function & Style’, London: Reaktion Books Ltd., pp. 10-35

 

  1. Kuchta (2002) ‘The Tree-Piece Suit and Modern Masculinity’, Berkley, London and Los Angeles: University of California Press, Ltd., pp. 121-126

 

  1. M. de Casanova (2015) ‘Buttoned Up – Clothing, Conformity and White-Collar Masculinity’, New York: Cornell University Press, p. 3

 

  1. Scarth (2004) ‘The Other Within – Ethics, Politics, And the Body in Simone de Beauvoir’, Lanham and Oxford: Rowman & Litterfield Publishers, Inc., p. 82

 

  1. Craik (2005) ‘Uniforms Exposed – From Conformity to Transgression’, Oxford: Oxford International Publishers Ltd., pp. 4-50

 

  1. Tynan, L. Godson, L. Li (2019) ‘Uniform: Clothing and Discipline in the Modern World’, London and New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

 

  1. Kaufmann (2010) ‘Die Blazer-Farben der Angela Merkel’, Norderstedt: Grin Verlag, pp. 10-11

 

  1. de Beauvoir (1953) ‘The Second Sex’, London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., p. ???

 

  1. Woodward (2007) ‘Why Women Wear what they Wear’, New York and Oxford: Berg, pp. 6-82

 

 

 

Figures:

 

Fig. 1.  Getty Images (s.d.) ‘Radclyffe Hall, author of the novel of lesbian love The Well of Loneliness (1928) and pioneer of the tailored look for women’, The Suit – Form, Function & Style, 2016, London: Reaction Books Ltd., p. 160

 

Fig. 2. M. Riboud (1957) ‘The Consolidation of Power’, China – A Photohistory 1937-1987,  1988, London: Thames and Hudson, p. 82

 

Fig. 3. K. Kollmann, J. Unselt, S. Barrett, I. Kuhlmann (2018) ‘Was kommt, wenn Merkel geht?’, Der Spiegel, no. 40, 29 Sept 2018, Cover page

 

Fig. 4. A. Funke (2005) ‘Im Haifischbecken der Macht’, Super Illu, no. 41, 6. Oct 2005, Cover page & pp. 6-7

 

Fig. 5. C. Jackson, Getty Images (2012) ‘Frank O’Shea: Aussie ‘sheila’ culture drove Gillard from office’, Irish Independent, [Internet],  16 Dec 2019, Available from <https://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/frank-oshea-aussie-sheila-culture-drove-gillard-from-office-29382028.html> [Accessed 16 Dec 2019]

 

Fig. 6. bundestag.de, EAF Berlin (s.d.) ‘Development of proportion of women in the German federal parliament in percent’, In German politics, women still have a long way to go, Deutsche Welle, [Internet], 12 Nov. 2018, Available from <https://www.dw.com/en/in-german-politics-women-still-have-a-long-way-to-go/a-46226146> [Accessed 19 November 2019]

 

Magazines:

 

Jäckel K., Raagaard I. (2008) ‘Was für ein Auftritt! Große Oper in Oslo’, Bunte, no 17, 17 Apr. 2008, p. 32

 

  1. Feldenkirchen (2018) ‘Es ist Zeit’, Der Spiegel, no. 40, 29 Sept. 2018, p. 6.

 

Riekel P. (2008) ‘Mit den Waffen einer Frau’, Bunte, no. 17, 17 Apr. 2008, p. 7

 

 

Online Sources:

 

‘Angela Merkel’ (2019), Wikipedia, [Internet], 27 Oct. 2019, Available from <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel> [Accessed 4 November 2019]

 

  1. Böker (2018) ‘Jacke mit Hose’, Zeit Magazin, [Internet], 10 Nov 2018, Available from <https://www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin/mode-design/2018-11/angela-merkel-uniform-kleidung-stil-mode-aufmerksamkeit> [Accessed 4 November 2019]

 

Dr. T. Körner (2016) ‘Merkels sagenumwobene Deutschlandkette’, Arte,  [Internet], 2 Dec. 2016, Available from <https://info.arte.tv/de/merkels-sagenumwobene-deutschlandkette> [Accessed 18 September 2019]

 

  1. Schultheis (2018) ‘In German politics, women still have a long way to go’, Deutsche Welle, [Internet], 12 Nov. 2018, Available from <https://www.dw.com/en/in-german-politics-women-still-have-a-long-way-to-go/a-46226146> [Accessed 19 November 2019]

 

  1. Jansens (2018) ‘Suit of power: fashion, politics and hegemonic masculinity in Australia’ , Australian Journal of Political Science, [Internet], 12 Dec. 2018, Vol. 54, No. 2, 202 – 218, Available from <https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2019.1567677> [Accessed 8 December 2019]

 

  1. Donaldson (1993) ‘What is Hegemonic Masculinity?’ Faculty of Arts – University of Wollongong, [Internet], 1993, Available from <https://ro.uow.edu.au/artspapers/141/> [Accessed 8 December 2019]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based on the studies outlined above, what is your research hypothesis for the relationship between perceived social support and Facebook use?

/in /by

Seminar 10: Lab Report 1 – Data Analysis A

Theoretical background: A meta-analysis conducted by Song et al. (2014) tested two models of the relationship between perceived social support and Facebook use Based on their findings, the model postulating that a perceived lack of social support leads to more intense Facebook use seems more likely. However, not all studies have come to the same conclusion. For example, Lönnqvuist et al. (2016) tested this relationship using a diverse set of social well-being questionnaires and found no relationship between perceived social support and the size of the Facebook network (quantified as the number of Facebook friends). They did not test other aspects of Facebook use. More recently, Brailovskaia et al. (2019) highlighted that when people perceive a lack support from their ‘offline’ social network, they tend to increase their Facebook use in order to compensate for this lack of support by receiving social support from their ‘online’ social network.

Brief description of the current study: You conducted a study to test this relationship using the following questionnaires (specific items can be found in the SPSS dataset and in LabReport1_Questionnaires_2019.docx uploaded to the Moodle folder):

1) Facebook Intensity Scale (FIS): to assess the intensity of Facebook use

2) Interpersonal Support Evaluation Scale (ISEL): to assess the perceived offline social support

3) Online Social Support (OSS) Scale: to assess the perceived online social support

STEP 1: Hypotheses

  1. A) Based on the studies outlined above, what is your research hypothesis for the relationship between perceived social support and Facebook use?

You will need to include this hypothesis in the Lab report.

  1. B) What are the statistical hypotheses to test the relationship?

No need to include these in the Lab report.

STEP 2: Descriptive statistics

You will need to describe your sample.

  1. A) First, explore whether all participants use Facebook. This is important because the questionnaires focus on Facebook use and online social support, and you want to test this relationship in a sample that uses Facebook. To do this, use the ‘FIS_7’ variable in SPSS. This variable shows how many Facebook friends they have (‘zero’ here means they do not use Facebook at all).

Click Analyze à Descriptive à Frequencies. Add variable ‘FIS_7’ to the Variable(s). Make sure that the ‘Display frequency tables’ is ticked. Click OK.

Are there participants in the sample who do not use Facebook? __________

If yes, how many? _______

Are there missing values? (Participants who did not answer this question?)  _________

If yes, how many? _______

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you will need to include these numbers in the Lab report (‘Participants’ section).

  1. B) You will want to focus your analyses on those participants who use Facebook. To do this, you can select this sub sample by using Data à Select cases… In the dialogue box select ‘If condition in satisfied’.

Click on ‘If…’ and in the next box, type: FIS_7 > 0

Click ‘Continue’ and ‘OK’. Now go back to the SPSS data file ‘Data view’. In the first column you will notice that a diagonal line appeared for some rows. Data from these rows will be excluded from all further analyses as these are the participants who do not use Facebook.

Remember: If you close your SPSS data file and then open it again later, you will need to do these steps again starting with ‘Data > Select cases…’. This is important because otherwise you may unintentionally run your analyses on the whole sample instead of on this selected sample.

  1. C) Now it’s time to describe your sample. Using the Analyse à Descriptive Statistics à Descriptives tool, you can calculate the mean age and standard deviation of age for the current sample.

Number of participants in the current sample__________

Mean age of participants __________

Standard deviation of age ___________

You also need to report how many of your participants were male/female/other. To do this, select Analyse à Descriptive Statistics à Frequencies, and move Gender into the variables box.

Number of males ______            Number of females ______

Number of other/prefer not to say: ______

You will need to include these details in the Lab report’s ‘Participants’ section.

Step 3: Check normality

To check the normality of your key variables, the total scores on the Facebook and online and offline social support questionnaires, go to Analyze à Descriptive Statistics à Explore.

Add the three composite scores (FIS_score, ISEL_score, OSS_score) to the ‘Dependent list’.

Click ‘Plots’, select the ‘Histogram’ option and the ‘Normality plots with tests’ option.

Check the ‘Tests of Normality’ table in the SPSS output. This table include both the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and the Shapiro-Wilk tests of normality. Since the Shapiro-Wilk test is recommended for smaller samples, we will use this one in the Lab report. However, you can compare the results of the two normality tests to see whether they show similar results.

Null hypothesis of the normality tests: There is no deviation from normal distribution (i.e., the data are normally distributed).

Alternative hypothesis of the normality tests: There is deviation from normal distribution (i.e., the data are not normally distributed).

What are the p-values of the Shapiro-Wilk normality tests?

Facebook use (FIS): _____    Offline social support (ISEL): _____     Online social support (OSS): _____

Are these results significant?

Facebook use (FIS): _____    Offline social support (ISEL): _____     Online social support (OSS): _____

How would you report these results? (it is enough to use p-values here to support your claims)

Include these results in the ‘Results’ section of your Lab report.

Data analysis will continue in Seminar 11.

How has the experience of pilgrimage in the MENA region changed over time?

/in /by

You are required to choose and write on two of these questions. The maximum combined length of the two essays is 3000 words.
1. Explain how history can help us understand the contemporary MENA region. Answer with reference to at least two weeks of the module.
2. Compare and contrast the importance of oral/aural and written forms of expression in the MENA region. How has their relative importance changed over time?
3. How has the experience of pilgrimage in the MENA region changed over time?
4. Assess how the importance of Sharia to the peoples of the MENA region has changed over time.
5. “The MENA region would not be what it is today without its minorities.” Discuss.
6. Explain how and why the status of Muslim women in the MENA region has changed over time.

key concepts and ideas
major questions or debates
examples or evidence — ideally that supports arguments related to these questions and debates
Where relevant include reference to historiography, i.e. ‘Author X argues Y’ about a given topic. Revise these notes to identify a small number of key analytical points that you could use in support of arguments in your discussion.

Would Islamic finance reduce systemic risk?

/in /by

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means –electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise –without permission in writing from the author.
M Minhat (2019) 1
ISLAMIC FINANCE
Current Issues in Finance
Readings
•Seminar
–Farooq, M. and Zaheer, S. (2015). Are Islamic banks more resilient during financial panics? Pacific Economic Review20, 101-124.
•Additional
–Minhat, M. and Dzolkarnaini, N., 2019. Digital assets, cryptoassetsand cryptocurrencies. The Malaysian Reserve,25 February.
–Minhat, M. and Dzolkarnaini, N., 2018. Islamic finance: risk sharing as sustainable risk management. Islamic Finance News, 15 (8) Feb. Also available at this link.
–Minhat, M. and Dzolkarnaini, N., 2018. Has the Islamic finance industry prospered with integrity? The Malaysian Reserve, 27 Aug.
–Minhat, M. and Dzolkarnaini, N., 2017. Corporate governance in the Islamic finance industry. Islamic Finance News, 14 (49) Dec. Also available at this link.
–MinhatM & Dzolkarnaini N., 2017. Which firms use Islamic financing? Economics Letters, 150, pp. 15-17. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2016.10.036
–Minhat, M. and Dzolkarnaini, N., 2016. Islamic corporate financing: does it promote profit and loss sharing? Business Ethics: A European Review, 25(4), pp. 482-497.
–Minhat, M. and Dzolkarnaini, N., 2016. Islamic Finance (Chapter 14) in Brigham, Ehrhardt, and Fox. Financial Management: Theory and Practice(EMEA Adaptation), Cengage Learning. M Minhat (2019) 3
Contents
•Islamic finance in the UK
•Profit-loss or return-risk sharing (PLS) theory
•The prevalence of non-PLS instruments
–Moral hazard-risk avoidance theory
–Camouflaged interest theory
–Camouflaged leverage theory
•Would Islamic finance reduce systemic risk?
M Minhat (2019) 4
Islamic finance in the UK
•The UK has been positioned as the leading Western country and Europe’s premier centre for Islamic finance (TheCityUK, 2015)
–The Islamic Finance Development Indicator (IFDI) for the UK was the highest amongst other Western countries
–Five licensed Islamic banks (e.g. Al Rayan), and over twenty banks offering Islamic financial services
–The first Western country to issue sukuk(i.e. £200 million ijara-based sukukwith five years to maturity)
–Emerged as a key global venue for sukukissuance, whereby a total of 57 sukuk, amounting to USD51 billion, have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE)
M Minhat (2019) 5
Islamic finance in the UK (cont’d)
•Islamic finance contributes to and aims to increase investment in the UK’s infrastructure development
–This includes financing for The Shard, Battersea Power Station regeneration, London Gateway, the Olympic Village, the redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks, and over 6,500 homes in the North West and the Midlands (TheCityUK, 2015)
•The UK government established an Islamic Finance task force in March 2013 to work towards raising London’s profile as a centre for Islamic finance
•All-Party ParliamentaryGroup on Islamic Finance (APPGIF) was also established to give the Islamic finance industry a voice in Parliament
M Minhat (2019) 6
All-Party ParliamentaryGroup on Islamic Finance (APPGIF)
•To address issues as they arise such as Sukukissuances, inclusivity, regulation and taxation whilst positioning the UK as the European hub of Islamic financial services, and also to play a wider role in promoting ethical finance.
•Held its inaugural stakeholder meeting in November 2017.
•The latest meeting was in March 2019. It was attended by stakeholders from Edinburgh Napier University.
M Minhat (2019) 7
Co-chair of APPGIF, Lord Sheikh, with stakeholders at a meeting held at the UK’s House of Lords
Profit and loss sharing (PLS) theory
•Islamic finance promotes profit-loss sharing (or risk-return sharing)
•Islamic finance permits equity financing that is consistent with fair dealings and promotes risk-sharing and consistent with Shariah(Islamic law)
•Fixed return (e.g. interest-based) debt financing is prohibited because it discourages risk-sharing
•It is predicted (or believed) that:
–a proper and widespread implementation of PLS will create a fair and stable financial system
–the interest-based credit-led financial system has fuelled systemic risk; ‘risk-shifting’ is not sustainable because default is contagious in the web of interconnectedness
M Minhat (2019) 8
Prohibition of riba
•Ribarefers to ‘exploitative addition’
–any additionto, or an increase of, a thing (money or goods or other form of instruments) over and above its original size or amount lent, in which involved an exploitationof the economically weak by a strong and resourceful entities
•Examples of riba:
–fixed return e.g. interest on debt (borrowing/lending)
–premium over spot price due to deferred payment
–excessive/unfair or unjustifiable profit in trading
•Trading is permitted but ribais prohibited
M Minhat (2019) 9
Why interest on debt is prohibited?
•Interest on debt financing is prohibited because:
–money is viewed as medium of exchange, therefore, not to be traded
–money does not create a surplus value by itself
–income or return to be derived from real effort or activity rather than mere exposure to credit risk
•No free lunch, except in the case of genuine gift or donation (e.g. zakat received)
M Minhat (2019) 10
Musharakah
•Promotes ‘partnerships’ between stakeholders
–firm’s shareholders, managers with ownership stakes and other suppliers of financial capital
–each partner/counterparty (rabbul-mal) contributes financial capital and can choose to contribute human capital (i.e., management skill/expertise) to actively manage the underlying investment activities
•Profits are shared according to pre-determined ratios, and losses are shared according to capital contributions
•Musharakahis apreferred Islamic financing instrument because it is consistent with the Islamic concept of fairness (Ayub, 2007)
•Key difference between musharakahand conventional equity financing: equities are more liquid
M Minhat (2019) 11
Musharakahpartners
M Minhat (2019) 12
Musharakahentity
Banks
Other financiers
Managers with financial capital
$Equity
Moral hazard-risk avoidance theory
•Practical issues associated with musharakahfinancing from conventional lens
–Agency problem: suppliers of financial capital (i.e., non-managing partners) will expose to greater asymmetric information environment and potential moral hazard of the managing partners (Ayub, 2007)
–Risk aversion: not economically feasible for non-managing partners (e.g., banks and bond investors) to actively engage in managing or monitoring the underlying activities because they conventionally require returns lower than those demanded by equity investors. Return on debt is always set to be lower than the return on equity (Modigliani and Miller, 1958)
•The popularity of non-PLS instruments (e.g., murabahah)
–a rational response to risk-averse financiers’ contracting environment in the presence of severe agency problem or moral hazard (Aggarwal and Yousef, 2000)
M Minhat (2019) 13
Murabahah
•‘Cost-plus sale’ trading contract whereby, at least in theory, counterparties to the contract bargain on a margin of profit over known cost (or principal amount) of an underlying item
•Similar to conventional debt, the payment of the principal plus agreed mark-up is made on a deferred basis as in murabahah-mu’ajjal
•Murabahah-mu’ajjalwith long-term maturity is known as al-bai-bithamanajil(BBA)
•A financier such as an Islamic bank will finance a specific investment or purchase intended by aconsumer
•The financier’s exposure to the consumer’s default risk is minimised if the underlying asset or investment is also viewed as a collateral
M Minhat (2019) 14
Al-Bai-BithamanAjil(BBA)
•This shows BBA from theoretical perspective: assumes no legal requirement for the bank’s consumer to enter into Sales & Purchase contract with the property developer
•A financier buys the underlying property and sell it to the consumer at a cost plus mark-up for a deferred payment
Islamic Bank
Consumer
Property developer
Cost
Cost + mark-up (deferred)
Tangible underlying (e.g., property)
M Minhat (2019) 15
Tangible underlying (e.g., property)
BBA -Example
•On date 0:
–The consumer has commissioned the property developer to build a property
–The developer needs £2.7m today from the consumer to finance the construction
–Therefore, the consumer enters into a BBA contract with the Islamic Bank:
•Islamic Bank disburses £2.7m on spot to the developer
•The consumer agrees to buy forward the property at £2.7m plus 10% mark up (£270k) which is to be paid on date T M Minhat (2019) 16
BBA -Example (cont’d)
•On date T (long term):
–The consumer buys the property from Islamic Bank and pay £2.97m
–The title deeds is transferred from Islamic Bank to the consumer
M Minhat (2019) 17
Murabahahas practised
M Minhat (2019) 18
Islamic bank purchased the property from the consumer and sell it back at a much higher price (mark up contains interest?)
Camouflaged interest theory
•A financier’s mark-upin BBA can be justified for the:
–Liabilities associated with ownership of the underlying until resale (e.g., consumer’s inability to fulfil buying obligation)
–After resale risk in case the underlying itemis defective whereby consumer may claim for loss from the financier as a seller
•However, murabahahas practised is often viewed as “back-door” ribaor “disguised interest” and, hence, not Sharia-compliant (Khan, 2010)
–A mark-up or profit charged by an Islamic financier tends to mimic the interest rate charged by conventional financiers on identical conventional debt
–According to the IFRS, profit earned by a bank under murabahahcould be viewed as being akin to interest, and therefore would be accounted for as interest revenue (ACCA, 2012)
–Absence of genuine trading?
•Practical or economic issues associated with musharakahpaved way to ‘abuse’ murabahah?
M Minhat (2019) 19
Global use (or abuse?) of murabahah
•Empirical evidence of murabahah’spopularity amongst Islamic banks:
–Murabahahbank financing around the World (2006): Al RajhiBank (42%, ), Kuwait Finance House (62.7%), Dubai Islamic Bank (55.6%) and Bank Islam Malaysia (89.7%); Ijarahbank financing of Al RajhiBank (57.5%) [Khan, 2010]
–Islamic bank financing around the World (1995):): Murabahah(45.1%) and ijarah(10.7%), musharakah(16.3%) and mudarabah(6.5% ) [Aggarwal and Yousef, 2000]
–Islamic bank financing in Malaysia (2004): Murabahah-mu’ajjal(56.9%) and Ijarah(24%), musharakah(0.4%) and mudarabah(0.1%) [Chong and Liu, 2009]
M Minhat (2019) 20
Sukuk
•Scientific evidences gathered from Islamic banks by studies shown on the previous slide did not incorporate non-bank Islamic financing such as sukuk
•Since bank financing is not the only means of corporate or government financing, the evidence gathered did not fully capture the extent of Islamic financial instruments (IFIs) used by borrowing entities, especially since growing of sukukissuance in later years (Wilson, 2008)
•According to the Central Bank of Malaysia, by the end of 2007, Malaysiaproduced the world’s largest sukukmarket, accounting for 68.9% of the world’s Islamic bonds (Rating Agency Malaysia, 2009)
•The UK has emerged as a key global venue for sukukissuance, whereby a total of 57 sukuk, amounting to USD51 billion, have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (TheCityUK, 2015)
•The first sukukissued in the UK was ijara-based sukuk
M Minhat (2019) 21
Sukuk
•Basic IFIs as musharakah, murabahahand ijarahhave been utilised to form various complex sukukstructures
•There are at least ten types of sukukrecognised by theAccounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI).
•In theory, sukukcan be viewed as PLS instruments
–AAOIFI defines sukuk(derived from the word “sakk,” the singular form of sukuk), as a certificate, stating that, “investment sukukare certificates of equal value representing undivided shares in the ownership of tangible assets, usufructs and services or (in the ownership of) the assets of particular projects or special investment activity” (para 2, AAOIFI, 2008).
M Minhat (2019) 22
SukukAl-Ijarahtransactions
M Minhat (2019)
23
Originator
(As Seller)
Originator
(As Lessee)
Originator
(“Potential obligation to repurchase underlying”)
Issuer SPV
(As issuer and Trustee)
Investors
(in the capital market)
Originator
(As Put option seller)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
9
11
12
Description
M Minhat (2019) 24
No.
Transactions
1
Sukukissued to the market by theissuingentity (SPV)
2
Sukukinvestorsinvest the amount required
3
Originator sells to SPV the underlying asset to be financed through sukuk
4
SPV buysthe underlying asset
5
Originator sells a put option to SPV (i.e., right to sell the underlying assets at anexercise price in the future, defined as during the duration or upon the expiry of the sukukcontract)
6
SPVbuys the put option from the originator
7
Originator leases back the underlyingasset from SPV
8
Originator pays rental/leaseto SPV on regular basis
9
SPV distributesthe rental/lease payment to sukukholders
10
SPV exercises the put option, hence selling the underlying backto the originator
11
Originatoris obliged to pay the exercise price when buying the underlying back from the SPV
12
The proceed from sellingthe underlying asset is distributed to sukukholders
Sukukas practised
•In reality, the PLS feature introduced in sukukmay not materialise whilst its arrangement tends to mimic the arrangement of conventional bonds:
–Some sukuksseem to provide sukukinvestors a put option (i.e., right to sell the underlying assets) which could give rise to an obligation for the originator to repurchase the underlying asset upon either default payment or maturity (Jobst, 2007) [i.e. investors do not share risk]
–Such a ‘repurchase undertaking’ by the originator exposes it to an obligation to pay back the agreed exercise price of the underlying [i.e., redemption of a bond in conventional sense]
M Minhat (2019) 25
Sukukas practised (cont’d)
•In some cases, the ownership of the underlying assets were not normally even transferred from the originator to the financiers (i.e., sukukinvestors), which raised the question of who actually exposed to the risk associated with the underlying asset
–This means sukukinvestors have no recourse to sukukunderlying assets in the event of the originator’s default [e.g., Investment Dar (Kuwaiti’s firm)]
•The guaranteed nature of return from investing in sukukis contrary to PLS because sukukinvestors do not share the downside potential of the underlying assets
•It was reported that 85 per cent of sukukhad breached sharia principles (Oakley, 2008)
M Minhat (2019) 26
Case study -example
•Nakheelsukukwas issued in 2006, listed on the Dubai International Financial Exchange and expired in December 2009. The sukukwas issued via a special purpose vehicle, NakheelDevelopment Limited, to finance a property development project (i.e., Dubai Waterfront) of NakheelHoldings. A fixed return on the certificates was calculated on the basis of 6.345 per cent per annum to be paid semi-annually on 14 June and 14 December. The bursting of Dubai’s real estate bubble in 2008, coupled with the global recession and financial market crisis contributed to the inability of the underlying project financed by Nakheelsukukto generate the expected income (IMF, 2010). Despite the underlying project’s failure to generate income, NakheelHolding used liquidity from other sources to honour returns to Nakheel’ssukukholders. Later, when Nakheel’sliquidity worsened, outright default was prevented through a bailout by Abu Dhabi’s government, and all the sukukholders were paid out. This case clearly illustrates that sukukinvestors did not share the downside potential of the underlying projects, which is more consistent with conventional bonds than with PLS theory.
M Minhat (2019) 27
Camouflaged leverage theory
•Sukukis viewed as a less obvious method of increasing corporate leverage or ‘camouflaged debt’ especially for firms with less ability to access conventional bond markets
•Godlewski, Turk-Arissand Weill (2013)
–The presence of a strong demand for sukukfrom Islamic financial institutions, coupled with the limited supply of sukuk, signifies supply shortages that could make this instrument easier to sell as compared to conventional bonds
–Therefore, financially weak firms that are no longer able to issue conventional bonds might still have access to sukukfinancing, and less efficient market may be expected to overvalue sukuk
M Minhat (2019) 28
Is Islamic financing ‘abused’ by risky firms?
•Minhat& Dzolkarnaini(2016):
–Less profitable and/or highly levered firms (i.e., risky firms) are more likely to resort to Islamic financing.
–PLS instruments are negligibly used amongst corporate firms
–The economic significance of murabahahas an alternative to PLS is indisputable. 30% of IFIs used by sample firms was in the form of murabahahfinancing.
M Minhat (2019) 29
IFIs in corporate financing
M Minhat (2019) 30
Islamic financial instruments (IFIs)
MYR billion
%
Musharakah
4.1
7
Murabahah(including BBA)
17.6
30
Ijarah
5.8
10
Islamic term notes and commercial papers
5.9
10
Unclassified sukuk*
21.3
36
Others
4.0
7
Total
58.7
100
M Minhat (2019) 31
M Minhat (2019) 32
Would Islamic finance reduce systemic risk?
•“Such a crisis would not have occurred under an Islamic financial system—due to the fact that most, if not all, of the factors that have caused or contributed to the development and spread of the crisis are not allowed under the rules and guidance of Shariah. The current global financial crisis is largely seen as a real test of the resilience of the Islamic financial services industry and its ability to present itself as a more reliable alternative to the conventional financial system” (Kayedand Hassan, 2011)
•Do we have empirical evidence?
•If IFIs substantially similar to interest-based instruments, and are abused by firms to camouflage (increasing) leverage, would this not creating another form of credit bubble?
M Minhat (2019) 33
What about cryptoassetsand cryptocurrencies?
•Scholarly views about the permissibility of the above mentioned assets are rather mixed
•Arguments against the use of these assets are based on the prohibition of gharar
–Ghararis excessive level of uncertainty (or information asymmetry) caused by lack of clarity in transaction
–Maysir(gambling) is an extreme form of gharar
•Islamic finance promotes real productive effort (trading) rather than pure reliance on chance (speculating) to generate income
•Read further: Minhatand Dzolkarnaini (2019)
M Minhat (2019) 34
References
•Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) (2012) Global alignment: bringing consistency to reporting of Islamic finance through IFRS.
•Ayub, M., 2007. Understanding Islamic Finance. John Wiley & Sons: England.
•Chong, B. S. and Liu, M., 2009. Islamic banking: interest-free or interest-based?, Pasific-Basin Finance Journal, 17, 125-144.
•Financial Times, 17 June 2008. Sukukmarket: clarification of rules does market a favour.
•Financial Times, 26 May, 2014. By the Book.
•Godlewski, C. J., Turk-Ariss, R. and Weill, L. (2013). Sukukvs. conventional bonds: a stock market perspective. Journal of Comparative Economics 41, 745-761
•Kayed, R. N. and Hassan, M. K. (2011). The global financial crisis and Islamic finance. Thunderbird International Business Review 53, 551-564.
•Khan, F. (2010). How Islamic is Islamic banking. Journal of Economic Behavior& Organization 76, 805-820.
•Oakley, D (2008) Sukukmarket: clarification of rules does market a favour. Financial Times, 17 June.
•Presley, J.R., Sessions, J.G., 1994. Islamic economics: the emergence of a new paradigm, The Economic Journal, 104, 584–596.
•Rating Agency Malaysia (2009). The truth about sukuk. Jan 1.
•TheCityUK(2015) The UK: leading Western Centre for Islamic Finance, November.
•Warde, I. (2000). Islamic finance in the global economy. Edinburgh University Press.
M Minhat (2019) 35

Explain how a Private Equity (PE) firm such as 3M could align their interests to the managers of Bottomline Technologies.

/in /by

BPP Coursework Cover Sheet
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be before the cover/title page of your submission.
Programme MSc Management
Module name Financing Business Initiatives
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BPP School of Business and Technology
Msc Management with Finance
Financing Business Initiatives
Coursework Assessment Brief
Autumn Term 2019
Submission mode: Turnitin online access
1. General Assessment Guidance
 Your summative assessment for this module is made up of this Coursework submission which
accounts for 100% of the marks

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You should include a completed copy of the Assignment Cover sheet. Any submission without
this completed Assignment Cover sheet may be considered invalid and not marked.
2. Assessment Brief
Your summative assessment for MSc Management with Finance, Financing Business Initiatives
has TWO elements and they MUST be submitted on the same document:
1. a Consultancy Report submission for 80% of your marks (excluding the title,
references and quotations).
2. a Reflective Statement on the top challenges facing the financing of new business
initiatives in a market of your choice for 20% of your marks (excluding the title, references
and quotations).
Any calculations in excel should be pasted into the document showing the Formulae AND the
values.
For coursework, please use font size 12 for body text and the typeface (font) should be Arial or
Times New Roman with minimum 1.5 spacing.
For headers and titles, please use font size 14. Your submission must have standard margins and
page numbers.
Please use English (UK) as your language in the submission.
You should include a completed copy of the Assignment Cover sheet. Any submission without
this completed Assignment Cover sheet will be considered invalid and not marked.
Student Guidance
In your answers, in addition to the information provided, please apply the concepts from the
appropriate areas of financial and economic theory discussed during this and all previous modules
during your course. Your answers should include appropriate numerical data and, if appropriate,
charts/graphs. You may use any appropriate data from the case study.
Consultancy Report (80% of module marks)
You are a recently hired Financial Analyst working on the Leveraged Buyout (LBO) deal desk
for 3M, a small Private Equity (PE) firm with a strategic investment remit for high growth
technology companies. Your first task is to review the case company Bottomline
Technologies as a potential investment and prepare a report addressing the following
requirements:
1. Using Exhibit 1 and other industry data, carry out a Porter’s Five Forces analysis on
the Cloud Computing Industry. (15 marks)
2. Identify and critically evaluate the characteristics of a company which would be
suitable for an LBO. (6 marks)
3. Explain how a Private Equity (PE) firm such as 3M could align their interests to the
managers of Bottomline Technologies. (6 marks)
4. Discuss the typical LBO sources of finance and a typical debt financing term structure.
(10 marks)
5. Based on the financial information and assumptions in Exhibit 2, undertake a DCF
valuation for Bottomline Technologies identifying the intrinsic equity value of a share.
Outline the assumptions used and explain your calculations and workings. (15
marks)
6. Based on the financial information and assumptions in Exhibit 3, undertake a LBO
valuation for Bottomline Technologies, identifying the IRR that will be generated on
equity assuming an exit in year 5. Outline the assumptions used in your calculations
and explain your workings. (10 marks)
7. Evaluate possible exit strategies for 3M if it was decided that the investment in
Bottomline technologies should go ahead. (8 marks)
8. For potential investors into the 3M fund explain private equity fund structures, fund
terms, economic terms and corporate governance terms used by typical PE firms. (10
marks)
Reflective Statement (20% of module marks)
Include a 500-word reflective statement on the top challenges facing the financing of
new business initiatives in a market of your choice for 20% of your marks. (20 marks)
3. Marking Guide
The assignment is marked out of 100.
Marks have been allocated against each question, and indications given in the model answers.
Assignment Part Mark Approach
Question 1
Using Exhibit 1 and other industry data, carry out a
Porter’s five forces analysis on the Cloud Computing
Industry.
15 marks
Using information provided on the
case company and other research
data undertake a Porter’s 5 forces
analysis on the Cloud Computing
Industry with specific reference to
Bottomline Technologies. Marks will
be equally allocated to each force.
Question 2
Identify and critically evaluate the characteristics of a
good LBO candidate company.
6 marks
Identify the characteristics of a good
LBO candidate. Your identification
should include both qualitative and
quantitative aspects.
Question 3
Explain how a Private Equity (PE) firm such as 3M will
align their interest to the managers of Bottomline
Technologies.
6 marks
You will be expected to identify how
directors of private equity firms
provide incentives to target company
managers.
Question 4
Discuss the typical LBO sources of finance and a
typical debt financing term structure.
10 marks
You will be expected to identify and
discuss the sources of finance used
on LBO deals with details expected
on the various types of Debt
structures typically used.
Question 5
Based on the financial information and assumptions in
Exhibit 2. Undertake a DCF valuation for Bottomline
Technologies identifying the intrinsic equity value of a
share. Outline the assumptions used and explain your
calculations and workings.
15 marks
You will be expected to use excel to
undertake the DCF analysis utilising
the assumptions provided in Exhibit
2. You must state all relevant
assumptions and show all your
workings.
Question 6
Based on the financial information and assumptions in
Exhibit 3. Undertake a LBO valuation for Bottomline
Technologies identifying the IRR that will be generated
on equity assuming an exit in year 5. Outline the
assumptions used in your calculations and explain
your workings
10 marks
You will be expected to undertake a
LBO analysis calculating the IRR
based on the assumptions in Exhibit
3 and conclude whether the
acquisition will meet the expectations
of 3M’s directors.
Question 7
Evaluate possible exit strategies for 3M if it was decided
that the investment in Bottomline technologies should
go ahead.
8 marks You will be expected to identify and
discuss exit strategies that can be
applied in a LBO scenario and
suggest which would be the most
suitable exit strategy for 3M.
Question 8
For potential investors into the 3M fund explain private
equity fund structures, fund terms, economic terms and
corporate governance terms used by typical PE firms.
10 marks
With reference to investors in PE
funds you will be expected to
provided information on:
– Fund structures
– Fund Terms used in practice
– Economic Terms
– Corporate Governance Terms
An identification and explanation of
each used is expected.
Include a 500-word reflective statement on the funding
options available for technology start-ups in today’s
business environment.
20 marks
Your reflective statement should
include any relevant practical
examples and conclude what’s the
likely impact on funding and the
industry in the coming years.
Total 100 marks
Generic Level 7 Grading Criteria
Criteria Pass Grades Fail Grades
High
Distinction
85-100%
Distinction
70-84%
Merit
60-69%
Pass
50-59%
Fail
30-49%
Low Fail
0-29%
The work
displays:
The work
displays:
The work
displays:
The work
displays:
The work
displays:
The work
displays:
Knowledge &
Understanding
(a) Systematic
Understanding
(b) Emerging
Thought
(a) Strong
evidence of a
comprehensiv
e and
systematic
understanding
of an
extensive
range of
appropriate
issues,
concepts,
theories and
research
(a) Clear
evidence of a
comprehensiv
e and
systematic
understanding
of a
considerable
variety of
issues,
concepts,
theories and
research
(a) Clear
evidence of a
comprehensiv
e and
systematic
understanding
of all major –
and some
minor – issues,
concepts,
theories and
research
(a) Evidence
of a systematic
understanding,
which may
contain some
gaps, of all
major – and
some minor –
issues,
concepts,
theories and
research
(a) Evidence
of an
understanding
of an
appropriate
range of
issues,
concepts,
theories and
research but
has significant
gaps or
misunderstand
ings.
(a) Evidence
of a limited
understanding
of issues,
concepts,
theories and
research either
major and/or
minor.
(b) Sustained
excellence in
the application
of thoughts
and practices
at the forefront
of the
discipline
(b) Precise
and welljudged
application of
thoughts and
practices at
the forefront of
the discipline
(b) Some clear
evidence of
the application
of thoughts
and practices
at the forefront
of the
discipline
(b) Clear
evidence of an
understanding
of thoughts
and practices
at the forefront
of the
discipline.
(b) Unclear or
imprecise
understanding
of thoughts
and practices
at the forefront
of the
discipline.
(b) Significant
gaps in the
understanding
of the debates
at the forefront
of the
discipline.
Argument
(a) Analysis,
Synthesis &
Evaluation
(b) Numerical
Analysis
(c)
Argumentation
(d)
Independent
Research
(a)
Consistently
precise,
accurate and
reasoned
analysis,
synthesis
and/or
evaluation;
addressing
issues with
insight or
originality
(a)
Consistently
precise,
accurate and
reasoned
analysis,
synthesis
and/or
evaluation
addressing all
issues, some
with creativity
(a) Precision,
accuracy and
clear
reasoning
throughout the
analysis,
synthesis
and/or
evaluation
addressing all
issues
appropriately
(a) Broad
levels of
precision,
accuracy and
reasoning in
analysis,
synthesis
and/or
evaluation,
and addresses
all key issues
(a) Errors
which affect
the
consistency of
the analysis,
synthesis or
evaluation
and/or key
gaps in the
issues
addressed
(a) A lack of
precision,
accuracy or
reasoning in
analysis,
synthesis or
evaluation with
significant
gaps in the
issues
addressed
(b) Numeric
analysis that is
complete and
free from
errors with
application of
methods that
may be
insightful or
original
(b) Numeric
analysis that is
complete and
mostly free
from errors
with fluent and
appropriate
application of
methods.
(b) Numeric
analysis that is
complete and
mostly free
from errors
with relevant
and effective
application of
methods.
(b) Numeric
analysis that is
mostly
complete and
free from
significant or
critical errors
with
appropriate
application of
methods.
(b) Numeric
analysis that is
mostly
complete but
contains errors
with significant
effect, or
methods that
are applied
inappropriately
(b) Numeric
analysis that is
incomplete or
contains errors
which have
critical effect,
or methods
that are
applied
inappropriately
(c) Extremely
strong and
consistent
argument
making a
convincing
whole with
evidence of
originality.
Impressive
dexterity in the
use of
information
gathered to
support the
argument.
(c) Extremely
strong and
consistent
argument that
convincingly
addresses
issues including
uncertainties and
conflicts.
Excellent use of
information
gathered which
to support and
further the
argument
(c) Evidence of
an argument
that is
generally
convincing
with a good
internal
consistency
and addresses
most issues.
Very good use
of information
gathered to
support the
argument.
(c) Evidence of
an overall
convincing
argument but
may have
weaknesses,
gaps or
inconsistencies.
Clear use of
information
gathered but
may have some
weaknesses in
the integration
into the
argument.
(c) Evidence of
a consistent
argument but
may have
weaknesses,
significant
gaps or be
unconvincing.
Clear use of
information
gathered but
may not be
sufficient to
sustain the
argument.
(c) Lack of
consistency or
structure in the
argument.
Serious
weaknesses in
the integration
of evidence
and/or no
awareness of
the limitations
or weaknesses
of the
research.
Argument
(continued)
(d)
Independent
Research
(d) Evidence
of an
innovative or
original use of
extensive
personal
research
which has
been
thoroughly
critically
evaluated both
conceptually
and
methodologica
lly
(d) Substantial
research and
evidence of an
innovative use
of a wide
range of
personal
research with
clear and
consistent
critical
evaluation
both
conceptually
and
methodologica
lly
(d) Clear
evidence of
considerable
personal
research and
the use of a
diverse range
of appropriate
sources but
may contain
problems with
consistency in
the conceptual
and
methodologica
l critical
evaluation
(d) Appropriate
use of a wide
range of
personal
research
which is
critically
evaluated for
key conceptual
and
methodologica
l issues
although this
may not be
consistent
throughout
(d) Evidence
of a range of
personal
research but
evidence of
methodologica
l or conceptual
evaluation
may be
limited,
inconsistent or
inappropriate
(d) Over
reliance on
very restricted
range of
personal or
secondary
research much
of which may
not be
evaluated and
may not be
directly related
to the question
or area
Presentation
(a) Structure
(b)
Referencing
(c) Use of
Language
(a) Excellent
structure and
presentation
(a) Excellent
structure and
presentation
(a) Good
structure and
presentation
(a) Adequate
structure and
presentation
(a) Adequate
structure and
presentation
(a) Poor
structure and
presentation
(b) Precise, full
and
appropriate
references and
notes.
(b) Precise, full
and
appropriate
references and
notes.
(b) Full and
appropriate
references and
notes with
minor or
insignificant
errors
(b) Good
references and
notes with
minor or
insignificant
errors or
omissions
(b) Competent
references and
notes but may
contain
inconsistencie
s, errors or
omissions
(b) Poor
references and
notes with
multiple
inconsistencie
s, errors or
omissions
(c) Subtle use
of language
expressing
highly
nuanced
thought with
clarity and
precision to a
level
appropriate for
submission for
publication.
(c) Precise use
of language
expressing
complex
thought with
clarity,
accuracy and
precision
which furthers
and enhances
the argument
(c) Clear and
precise use of
language
allowing a
complex
argument to
be easily
understood
and followed
(c) Generally
clear use of
language
sufficient for
arguments to
be readily
understood
and followed
(c) Generally
understandabl
e use of
language but
significant
errors in
expression
affecting
overall clarity
(c) Serious
errors in the
use of
language
which makes
meaning
unclear or
imprecise
–
Exhibit 1
Bottomline’s Technologies Case Study – Company Information
Our Company
We power mission-critical business transactions. We help our customers optimize financially oriented
operations and build deeper customer and partner relationships by providing a trusted and easy-touse
set of cloud-based digital banking, fraud prevention, payment, financial document, insurance and
healthcare solutions. We offer hosted or Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions, as well as software
designed to run on-site at the customer’s location. The majority of our revenues are derived from
offerings sold as SaaS-based solutions and paid for on a subscription and transaction basis.
We operate a cloud-based network that facilitates the exchange of electronic payments and invoices
between buyers and their suppliers. We offer hosted and on-premises solutions that banks use to
provide cash management and treasury capabilities to their business customers, as well as solutions
that banks and credit unions use to facilitate customer acquisition and growth. We offer financial
messaging solutions for banks and corporations around the world, via solutions that leverage the
SWIFT global messaging network. We offer legal spend management solutions that help manage legal
and claims vendor expenditures and that automate receipt and review of legal invoices for insurance
companies and other large corporate consumers of outside legal services. Our corporate customers
rely on our solutions to automate their payment and accounts payable processes and streamline and
manage the production and retention of electronic documents and our healthcare customers use our
solutions to streamline financial processes, particularly the patient enrolment process. Our document
automation solutions are used by organizations to automate paper-intensive processes for the
generation of transactional and supply chain documents. We also offer comprehensive cyber fraud
and risk management solutions that are designed to non-invasively monitor and analyse user
behaviour to flag behavioural and data anomalies and other suspicious activity.
Our solutions are designed to complement, leverage and extend our customers’ existing information
systems, accounting applications and banking relationships so that they can be deployed quickly and
efficiently. To help our customers receive the maximum value from our products and meet their
specific business requirements, we also provide professional services for installation, training,
consulting and product enhancement.
Our Products and Services
Payment Network
Paymode-X is a leading business-to-business electronic payment network. This hosted solution helps
organizations transition from paper to electronic transactions in order to streamline processes, reduce
costs and optimize working capital. With more than 300,000 enrolled vendors, new Paymode-X
customers gain immediate benefits because many of their vendors are already part of the Paymode-
X network. Our solution offers a lower cost settlement option than do traditional credit or debit card
payment methods. We continually invest in furthering the value and ease of use of Paymode-X, which
includes electronic payments and remittance delivery, online access to payment detail and reports,
online payment approvals and turnkey vendor enrolment and support.
Digital Banking
We offer payments, cash management and online banking solutions to financial institutions, including
banks and credit unions. Our solutions enable banks of all sizes to offer their customers a host of
capabilities including ACH and BACS payments, wires, international payments, check production,
customer acquisition, balance and information reporting and other features that facilitate enterprisewide
cash management and interaction with their customers. Our solutions allow our bank customers
to attract and service a full range of client segments from small businesses to multi-nationals. These
solutions feature an intuitive user interface designed to simplify all aspects of cash management for
customers of all sizes and sophistication, through both browser-based and mobile channels.
Legal Spend Management
Our hosted legal spend management solutions and services integrate with claims management and
time and billing systems to automate legal invoice management processes and to provide insight into
all areas of a company’s outside legal spend. The combination of automated invoice routing and a
sophisticated rules engine allows corporate legal and insurance claims departments to create more
efficient processes for managing invoices generated by outside law firms and other service providers,
while offering insight into important legal spend factors including expense monitoring and outside
counsel performance. We are continuing to expand the capabilities of these offerings to facilitate the
selection and retention of counsel, and the management and budgeting of litigation matters.
Cyber Fraud and Risk Management
Our cyber fraud and risk management solutions non-invasively monitor, replay and analyse user
behaviour to flag and can stop suspicious activity in real time. The solutions are highly configurable
and create accountability by recording and analyzing each application interaction and screen view,
reducing the risk of theft, information leakage, internal fraud and payments fraud, as well as
decreasing the cost of regulatory compliance. Case management capabilities centralize risk
management, speed investigations, and facilitate compliance with regulations pertaining to Anti
Money Laundering (AML), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Know
Your Customer (KYC).
Financial Messaging Solutions
Our cloud-based financial messaging solutions leverage the SWIFT global messaging network to allow
corporations to exchange financial information including payment instructions, cash reporting and
other messages related to financial transactions with their banks and counterparties around the
world. Our solutions allow banks and corporations to achieve lower costs, rapid implementation,
greater security and improved risk management while avoiding costly internal infrastructure.
Payment and Document Automation
Our payment automation solutions can generate a wide variety of domestic and international
payment instructions along with consolidated bank reporting of cash activity. Our solutions can reduce
administrative expenses and strengthen compliance and anti-fraud controls. Users are able to gather
and access data via the web on payment and bank account information, including account totals and
detailed transaction data, providing improved workflow, financial reporting and bank
communications.
To help augment financial document workflow and delivery, we also offer a number of solutions
designed to automate a wide variety of business documents and supply chain processes as well as
related web-based delivery and document archive. Our products offer advanced design, output
formatting and delivery capabilities to replace paper-based forms, as well as automating the labourintensive
accounts payable processing of invoices.
Healthcare Solutions
Our solutions for patient registration, electronic signature, mobile document and payments allow
healthcare organizations to improve business efficiencies, reduce costs and improve care quality.
Leveraging our extensive experience optimizing document-driven processes, our solutions are utilized
across the acute care hospital enterprise and broader healthcare systems, accelerating the paper-toelectronic
transition while helping our customers streamline data flows.
Professional Services
Our teams of service professionals draw on extensive experience to provide consulting, project
implementation and training services to our customers. By easing the implementation of our products,
these services help our customers accelerate the time to value. By improving the overall customer
experience, these services help us retain customers and drive future revenue-generating
arrangements from existing customers.
Our Customers
Our customers are in diverse industries including financial services, insurance, healthcare, technology,
retail, communications, education, media, manufacturing and government. We provide our products
and services to approximately 60 of the Fortune 100 companies and approximately 80 of the FTSE
(Financial Times) 100 companies. Our customers include leading organizations such as Bank of
America Merrill Lynch, BBVA Compass, British Airways, Catholic Health Initiatives, Cedars-Sinai
Medical Centre, Cigna Corporation, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Lloyds Bank, Capital One, Deere and
Company, Target Corporation, Johnson Controls, Inc., State Farm Insurance, Sutter Health, Vodafone
and Zurich American Insurance Company.
Our Competition
The markets in which we participate are highly competitive. We believe our ability to compete
depends on factors within and beyond our control, including:
 Our ability to develop new, innovative technology solutions that meet the evolving needs of our
customers and the shifting dynamics of the markets we participate in;
 Our ability to attract and retain employees with the requisite domain knowledge and technical
skill set necessary to develop and support our products;
 The performance, reliability, features, ease-of-use and price of our offerings as compared to
competitor alternatives;
 Our industry knowledge and expertise;
 The execution of our sales and services organizations; and
 The timing and market acceptance of new products as well as enhancements to existing products,
by us and by our current and future competitors.
For our Paymode-X solution, our competitors include SunGard and AvidXchange in addition to ACH
capabilities offered by banks.
For our digital banking payments and cash management solutions, we primarily compete with
companies such as ACI Worldwide, Fiserv and FIS that offer a wide range of financial services, including
electronic banking applications. We also encounter competition in our digital banking customer
acquisition offerings from MeridianLink and D&H Corporation.
For our legal spend management solutions, we compete with a number of companies, including
Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions, LexisNexis and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). Our cyber fraud
and risk management products compete with NICE Actimize, Norkom-Deitca, SAS, Fiserv, Guardian
Analytics and FairWarning.
For our financial messaging solutions, we compete with D+H Corporation, Eastnets, SunGard and
SWIFT.
For our healthcare solutions, our primary competitors are FormFast and iMedConsent.
Our payment and document automation products compete primarily with products from companies
that provide solutions to create, publish, manage and archive electronic documents and companies
that offer payments software and services. Our products also compete with companies that provide
a diverse array of accounts payable automation and workflow capabilities. We also compete with
providers of enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions and providers of traditional payment
products, including check stock and check printing software and services. In addition, some financial
institutions compete with us as outsourced check printing and electronic payment service providers.
Exhibit 2
Bottomline Technologies Case Study – Financials
Bottomline Technologies
Income Statement
(in millions) 2018 2017 2016
$’m $’m $’m
Net sales 15,516 15,797 16,435
Cost of goods sold 9,876 10,077 10,146
Gross profit 5,640 5,720 6,289
Operating expenses 4,449 4,196 4,206
Operating income 1,191 1,524 2,083
Interest expense 75 59 75
Interest income -8 -6 -5
Income before income taxes 1,124 1,471 2,013
Income taxes 448 551 751
Net income 676 920 1,262
Weighted-average number of shares—basic 399 411 435
Weighted-average number of shares—diluted 400 413 440
Earnings per share—basic 1.69 2.24 2.9
Earnings per share—diluted 1.69 2.23 2.87
Balance Sheet
(in millions)
2018 2017
ASSETS $’m $’m
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents 1,783 1,370
Inventory 1,830 1,873
Other current assets 702 742
Total current assets 4,315 3,985
Property and equipment, net 2,616 2,850
Other long-term assets 679 638
Total Assets 7,610 7,473
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Current maturities of debt 65 421
Accounts payable 1,243 1,112
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 1,113 979
Income taxes payable 32 23
Total Current Liabilities 2,453 2,535
Long-term liabilities:
Long-term debt 1,248 1,310
Lease incentives and other long-term liabilities 1,005 1,083
Total Long-term liabilities 2,253 2,393
Stockholders’ equity:
Common stock $0.05 par value 20 20
Additional paid-in capital 81 —
Retained earnings 2,749 2,440
Accumulated other comprehensive income 54 85
Total stockholders’ equity 2,904 2,545
Total Liabilities and Equity 7,610 7,473
Exhibit 2 (continued)
Bottomline Technologies Case Study – Forecast Assumptions for DCF
The current historical financial information is a good starting point for building your DCF forecast and
subsequent equity valuation. Knowing that you are new to the role your VP (Vice President) on the
LBO desk has sent you an e-mail with the following key points with reference to the forecast
assumptions for Bottomline Technologies.
The key points include:
 Although sales growth has been negative in the past couple of years it has been anticipated
that with the experience of the LBO team, new operational management for Bottomline
Technologies and access to wider markets, sales can now be expected to grow by 20% per
annum.
 The EBIT margin will maintain at the current 2018 level for the foreseeable future.
 The effective tax rate for 2018 can be applied in the calculation of all forecasted NOPAT
numbers (Net Operating Profit After Tax).
 Historically Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) has been $524 (2018), $726 (2017) and $ 714 (2016)
and will be expected to remain at the 2018 level as a % of Sales for the foreseeable future.
 Depreciation in 2018 was $593 and this is also expected to remain as the same relative % of
sales in 2019 and beyond.
 An anticipated 5% of sales for investment in working capital is expected annually from 2019
and beyond.
 Post the 5 year forecast period there is expected to be wider competition in the cloud
computing market and it is anticipated that Free Cashflows from year 5 onwards will at a rate
of 7% in perpetuity.
 For DCF valuation purposes 3M uses an initial WACC of 10% to evaluate potential target
companies.
Exhibit 3
Bottomline Technologies Case Study – Leveraged Buyout (LBO) Assumptions
The directors of 3M are keen to finance the acquisition of Bottomline Technologies with a large
proportion of debt and would like to model the expected IRR on initial equity assuming an exit after
year 5.
The following assumptions should be used in your LBO valuation:
 Transaction comparable information suggests that an entry multiple of 7 times 2018 EBIT
would be a good proxy valuation for the Bottomline Technologies on a LBO basis.
 The debt on the 2018 balance sheet of Bottomline Technologies will be refinanced on the
acquisition.
 Directors of 3M anticipate using 70% Debt and 30% Equity to finance the acquisition.
 The debt financing has been structured in a manner to achieve a repayment schedule of
$500m per annum from year 1.
 With the exit multiple not expected to expand and the earliest exit expected in year 5, the
directors of 3M would like to know whether the acquisition of Bottomline Technologies would
meet their expected 45% return on equity capital.

What is the relationship between internal record and business competitive advantage?

/in /by

Abstract
This study investigates the influence of Marketing Intelligence on Business Competitive Advantage:
A study of Diamond Bank Plc, Nigeria. Five objectives were identified and translated
into five research questions which aptly answered by subjecting them to a test of hypotheses. A
Descriptive research was used to survey 292 members of the staff of Diamond Bank in Lagos,
Central Regional branches and head office. Out of which 285 responses were obtained, while 6
responses were destroyed because they were not properly filled. Also, data was collected through
a self-administered questionnaire, as Pearson correlation, T-test and Regression were used to test
the hypotheses statements. However, the result of the findings revealed that marketing intelligence
sub-constructs such as internal records, competitor’s sales data, marketplace opportunity,
competitors’ threats and competitors’ risks have significant and positive influence on business
competitive advantage. Thus, it can be concluded that marketing intelligence as sensitive information
has enabled the bank to successfully acquire more profit, expand the branch network all
over the country, perform better than its rivals in the market and increase its business competitive
advantage.
Keywords: Marketing Intelligence, Business Competitive Advantage, Internal Records, Competitor’s Sales Data,
Marketplace Opportunity, Competitors’ Threats, Competitors’ Risks.
JEL Classification: L14, L25, M31, M38
1. INTRODUCTION
Today, the wave of the changes in the business world is developing, in which no doubt the
marketing intelligence is its base. Organizations are confronted with different environmental
changes. These changes take place so fast that, if organizations do not prepare themselves, their
survival will be in danger. Marketing intelligence is to prevent the astonishments and the employees’
inability against environmental changes and to reduce and minimize the company’s
exposure to danger (Johns & Van Doren, 2010). A new apparatus which helps the organizations
to reach a suitable place in today’s environment is the use of marketing intelligence. The concept
of intelligence is marketing information that is considered as an ongoing effort to increase the
competitive ability of the strategic programming processes. Marketing intelligence is the systematic
collection and analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors, and
developments in the marketplace (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013).
▪
Vol. 9, Issue 1, p���������p. 51 – 7��������������1, March 2017�
ISSN 1804-171X (Print), ISSN 1804-1728 (On-line), DOI: 10.7441/joc.2017.01.04
Journal of Competitiveness
52 Journal of Competitiveness
Igbaekemen(2014) noted that, successful companies take an outside-inside view of their business.
He recognize that marketing environment is constantly presenting new opportunities and
threats, which can only be detected, collected, analyzed and utilized through the use of marketing
intelligence and likewise an ‘organization’ should understand the importance of continuously
monitoring and adapting to that environment. Many organizations fail to see change as opportunity.
They ignore or resist changes until it is too late. Their strategies, structures, systems and
organizational cultures grow increasingly obsolete and dysfunctional.
(Igbaekemen, 2014) added that many factors have increased the need for more and better marketing
intelligence as companies become national and international in scope, they need more
information on larger, more distant markets as income increases and buyers become more selective
Therefore, marketing intelligence is important since the quality of the marketing information
affects the effectiveness of decision making in the banking sector, there is always a rivalry
among the various players in the banking sector, and each bank needs to device means of existing,
sustaining and becoming a mega force to be reckoned with in this sector. This research will
provide better information for organizations, particularly banking industry in Nigeria, about
how customers pay interest in their variety of products, appeals, cost data, market data and
competitor’s sales.
2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The major objective of this research is to examine the influence of marketing intelligence on
business competitive advantage. However, minor objectives of this study are as follows:
To determine the relationship between internal record and business competitive advantage.
To investigate the relationship between competitor’s sales data and business competitive
advantage.
To examine whether marketplace opportunity influences business competitive advantage.
To determine whether competitor’s threat influences business competitive advantage.
To investigate whether competitive risk influences business competitive advantage.
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
What is the relationship between internal record and business competitive advantage?
What is the relationship between competitor’s sales data and business competitive advantage?
Does marketplace opportunity influence business competitive advantage?
Will competitor’s threat influence business competitive advantage?
Does competitive risk influence business competitive advantage?

4. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
This is a statement proposing the directionality of relationship between marketing intelligence
and business competitive advantage. It is a tentative statement that is subjective to verification.
Thus, the hypotheses for this research work are as follows:
H01: There is no significant relationship between internal record and business competitive
advantage.
H02: There is no significant relationship between competitor’s sales data and business
competitive advantage.
H03: Marketplace opportunity does not significantly influence business competitive advantage.
H04: Competitor’s threat does not significantly influence business competitive advantage.
H05: Competitive risk does not significantly influence business competitive advantage.
5. LITERATURE REVIEW
5.1 Theoretical Framework
The theoretical underpinnings of this study are schema theory, congruence theory and resources
based view theory. The first theory discussed in this paper is a schema theory which is based on
the idea that humans use a categorical approach to organize and structure information contained
in memory. A schema is an “abstract or generic knowledge structure, stored in memory that
specifies the defining features and relevant attributes of some stimulus domain, and the interrelations
among these attributes” (Crocker, 1984). Schemas can be developed through exposure
to or experience of a stimulus domain (e.g., a situation, person, or object) and are believed to
guide perception, thought and action of consumers in subsequent instances (Speck, et al. 1988;
McDaniel 1999). From the marketing intelligence perspective, schema and congruence theory
aid the thorough, categorizing and systematic collection of vital information that is likely useful
for the organisation from the customers as well as the competitors. This information is centered
on various reasons relating to organization, product, price, promotion and distribution.
However, the congruence of information will foster the category under which information with
similar facts should be put. This is based on similarities, relevance and importance of information.
Meanwhile, the new information collected from customers and competitors may be similar
to the existing information. Therefore, in order to incorporate the schema information into
organisation data base, information congruence is an appropriate approach to categorize information
for effective decision, action, and assimilation or to serve as alternative if the information
is severe.
Also, resources-based view is the second theory discussed in this paper, which explains how marketing
intelligence as information could serve as resources to an organization. Ray et al (2004)
distinguished between tangible and intangible resources and posited that intangible resources
such as information are often the most important ones from a strategic point of view. They argue
that intangible resources are more likely to be a source of sustained competitive advantage
54 Journal of Competitiveness
rather than tangible ones. Priem and Butler (2003) confirmed that one of the most influential
articles ever published is Wernerfelt’s 1984 contribution entitled ‘A Resource-Based View of the
Firm’. In addition to Porter’s concept of five forces in designing strategy (Porter 1980), the article
opens ground for various strategy writers towards sustainable competitive edge, as the aim
of many organizations. Therefore, as managers strive to gain competitive edge, an environment
where organizational optimum performance can be increased should be arranged.
5.2 Empirical Review
The growth of internet has prompted online marketing intelligence activities; this was explained
according to Alamsyah, Rahmahand Irawan (2015) to determine sentiment analysis based on
appraisal theory for marketing intelligence in Indonesia’s mobile phone market using Bahasa
Indonesia to compare positive and negative sentiments of popular smart phone products in Indonesia,
which are Lumia and Xperia. After the calculation was performed based on target and
appraisal related in sentences and tweets levels, the results reveal that Lumia have more positive
results than Xperia.
Also, the study conducted by Freihat (2012) reveals the relationship between the major components
of marketing information system, and the decision-making in Jordanian shareholding
medicines production companies. In the study, 56 marketing managers and marketing information
system working staff were selected from 7 companies. The finding reveals that there is
a statistically significant relationship between internal records, marketing research, marketing
intelligence and decision-making. Therefore, the study suggested that, regular and continuous
training programs in and out of the company must be conducted for the marketing information
system companies employees in the areas of collecting, processing and manipulating of data, in
order to benefit from the experiences of others, exchange of experiences, expand their knowledge,
and increase their competences in the performance of their jobs.
Similarly, Alhadid, Al-Zu’biand Samer (2015) in their study conducted to investigate the relationship
between marketing the information system and gaining competitive advantage in the
banking sector in Jordan. Secondary data was obtained from documented sources and primary
data from the use of a questionnaire. The results of the analysis showed that there is a relationship
between the major components of marketing information system like internal records,
marketing research, and marketing intelligence towards achieving a competitive advantage in
the Jordan Banking sector. The results also indicated that only two traits; age and educational
level, had a relationship with marketing information system. However, there was no significant
relationship between gender, experience years of respondents and their perceptions of marketing
information system. Therefore, marketing intelligence explores the usefulness of the use of
information technology in achieving competitive advantage.
According to Venter and Rensburg (2014) in their study conducted to determine the relationship
between marketing intelligence and strategic marketing in South African organizations. In the
study, a quantitative survey was used among 166 South African marketing decision-makers. The
finding shows that the availability of various categories of marketing intelligence has an indirect
effect on strategic marketing.
55
Igbaekemen (2014) investigates the influence of marketing intelligence as a strategic tool in
achieving or attaining competitive edge’. In the study, the problems of competition was addressed,
marketing intelligence and the adoption of suitable marketing intelligence system for an
organization becomes imperative. The impact of competition in the business environment has
compelled many organizations to turn around and start scanning the environment for information,
so as to have competitive edge over other similar organization within the industry.
Hakkak and Ghodsi (2015) in their research conducted to introduce competitive advantage as
well as to assess the impacts of the balanced scorecard as a means to measure the performance
of organizations. 120 employees of the organizations affiliated to the social security department
in North Khorasan Province were selected as the participants in the research. And the results
indicated that there is a significant and positive impact of the implementation of the balanced
scorecard on the sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, the organizations should show a
high level of significance and sensitivity toward their clients and customers so that they will be
satisfied and have a good interaction with the organization.
5.3 Conceptual Framework
5.3.1 Concept of Marketing Intelligence
Marketing intelligence as Igbaekemen(2014) explained is everyday information about development
in the marketing environment that helps managers prepare and adjust marketing plans.
The marketing intelligence system determines the intelligence needed and collecting same by
searching the environment and deliver to the marketing manager who needs it. Marketing intelligence
comes from diverse sources such as: the company’s personnel executives, engineers
and scientist, purchasing agents and the sales force. But, company people are often busy and
fail to pass on important function. The Company must sell its people on their importance as
intelligence gathers, to spot new development and urge them to report intelligence back to the
organization. Sometimes, in wide networking companies, the intelligence information is usually
contracted to external agents or suppliers and at the extreme level ‘hidden hackers’ to break
and capture for the company all relevant information from their competitors for their effective
utilization. However, marketing intelligence as an organizational strategy can perfectly work for
a company as well against the company. Therefore, organizations must act fast and take every
necessary step towards protecting themselves from the snooping of competitors.
5.3.2 Internal Records
Internal records is an aspect of marketing intelligence that handle information about an organization
operation system, sales data, core competence and other strategies which include
their strength, weakness, opportunities and threat. Internal records are the data collected and
stored in a database which pertains to daily marketing activities. The information technological
changes are stored in a company’s database and only the assigned member of the internal
control unit has the relevant access to such information based on its sensitivity. The term ‘database’
as an internal record contains information about prospective customers which stored in
a computer with software to process the information. A significant technological innovation is
database marketing, the collection and use of individual customer- specific information to make
marketing more efficient. Computer technology provides the ability to pull apart and recombine
56 Journal of Competitiveness
information in ways previously impossible but which presently permit the company to identify
customers who are more predisposed to their products and to whom they can direct their marketing
efforts. This, however, is one of the objectives of marketing intelligence (Igbaekemen,
2014). It helps in planning so as to minimize the risk of uncertainty about the future. Marketers
use marketing intelligence for gathering and evaluating internal and external data during
processing phase, which later are used for evaluation through a management tool called SWOT
Analysis (Tan & Ahmad, 1999).Therefore, banks or organizations that are able to secure their
database from getting hacked by external agents or competitors and work on their information
effectively will have competitive edge over others in the same industry that are unable to secure
their internal records in a proper way. The competitive edge in this regard, enables results to be
higher in one company than another, in such areas as productivity, profitability, market share
and effectiveness, for a given firm competing in the same industry.
5.3.3 Competitors’ Sales Data
Competitor’s sales data is another component of marketing intelligence which could also influence
the competitive edge of an organization over another. Sales data is very sensitive as the
information can create competitions in the market settings. Sales data serve as a guide to firms
in identifying their strength towards increasing their sales volume in the market; it also helps to
identify weaknesses in some parts of the market where an adjustment is needed to be made. In a
segmented market where the market is saturated with many competitors, an organization needs
to access their sales data on day-to-day basis in order to boost their sales over their competitors
in the market. The example of Big-Cola in Nigerian market that came with a larger quantity of
cola drinks under which increase in their sales record were used as a strategy to strengthen up
and improve management confidence, through market segmentation to take over the market as
other competitors pretended not to have been sleeping. Meanwhile, competitors’ sales data as a
sensitive information could trigger or gear up the market competitors to stand on their toes and
act as fast as possible before their market will be taking from them. Many organizations keep
their sales information safe only for them to build their strength on, while on the other hand,
this information could be useful for the competing firms to know how their rivals are doing in
order for them to take the right strategy to outwit them in the market. However, competitor’s
sales data is information that covers sales records of a firm on a routine basis in a competitive
market. Such information is stored in the organization database which has been recorded by
salespeople on their devices from the field to keep the company’s sales transactions as well as
their competitors. Therefore, any bank or firm in the market settings that is able to identify this
gap and make an effective use of it as an opportunity will have a competitive edge over others in
the market which will tend to increase sales volume, market share, organizational profitability,
productivity and effectiveness.
5.2.4 Marketplace Opportunity
A marketplace opportunity according to Nwokah and Onduku (2009) is a strategy which is concerned
with creating and realizing new market place opportunities. Opportunities define new
ways of creating and developing value for customers: new products or solutions; extending existing
product lines, reconfiguring existing solutions. Also, Fahey (2007) noted that “the executive
team continuously addresses two types of new marketing opportunities:
57
Extending current opportunities: How can we extend opportunities that are the focus
of our current strategy?
Potential marketplace opportunities: What opportunities beyond the reach of our current
strategy should we be considering? What opportunities may be lurking but not yet fully
evident in market place change?”
Under the first opportunity as indicated above, short-term opportunities often centre on identifying
ways to modify the current strategy to add value for customers (Fahey, 2007). He added
using three industries as an example to highlight how intelligence created assessments leading
to new opportunities to extend and leverage the current strategy two key exchanges must occur
between strategy and intelligence professionals: First, the executive team must ‘challenge’ the
intelligence team to identify and develop the contours of new opportunities. Second, the intelligence
team must demonstrate that it is fully committed to learning about the firm’s strategy.
However, Nwokah and Onduku (2009) explained these exchanges as the framework for identifying
and shaping the extension of current opportunities under the first strategy, and the second
strategy input is the potential market place opportunities. He added that the executive team
needs to develop strategy where possible, that will be a winner strategy for the future.
5.3.5 Competitors’ Threat
In threats, opportunities would be much easier to realize where it is not for the presence of current
and potential competitors. Fahey (2007) identified competitors’ threats as “ways that a rival
can inhibit a company’s strategy from succeeding in the market place”. Nwokah and Onduku
(2009) added that “if threats are lately detected, resources tied up in supporting a strategy may
be substantially wasted, as strategy can be adapted to eliminate, ameliorate or avoid the threat”.
They, therefore, stated the following questions that the executives should pose:
“How might competitors most adversely affect our current strategy?
Which competitors are most likely to do so?
How might we best ‘handle’ these threats?”
This shows how effective information could serve in an organization’s current and future plan.
Every organization that sees the future from today and plays away the threat from the competitors
in the market settings will have a competitive edge over others. The marketing intelligence
unit must, therefore, assess current and potential competitor change for its strategy implications
for threats. And also, the executive team must be alerted to current or potential competitors’
threats (Nwokah and Onduku, 2009).
5.3.6 Competitive Risk
Competitive risk as a component of marketing intelligence is a strategy, and strategy is played over
time in a marketplace or competitive context that extends even beyond competitors. “Change
in and around the market place (being driven by customers, channels, suppliers, governmental
agencies, technology houses, political parties, etc.) is the source not only of marketing opportunities
and competitors’ threats but of competitive risks” (Nwokah and Onduku, 2009). The
competitive risks include any marketplace change that could negatively affects the firm’s current

58 Journal of Competitiveness
or potential strategy” (Fahey, 2007). Fahey, 2007 supplied the three questions an executive team
should always pose to its intelligence team under competitive risk:
“What competitive risks does our strategy face?
What competitive risks might we face in the future?
How can we best manage these risks? “
In order to provide answer to these three questions stated above which seek to compels the
intelligence team to extend their perception beyond the competitive trends, patterns and discontinuities
to isolate and assess risks and demonstrate how they negatively affects the pursuit
of specific opportunities (Nwokah and Onduku, 2009). However, one of the top priorities of an
organization is to take advantage of product quality tailored towards satisfying their customers
and the assessment of the environment. The issue of marketing intelligence is as important as
these top priorities. The negligence of information in a competitive market could endanger an
organization to fold-up unexpectedly. Competitive risk as a component of marketing intelligence
needs more attention which required intelligence specialist to handle. Most successful organizations
in the competitive market valued the power and opportunities behind information either
for current or future purposes. These firms frequently assess their strategies, environments and
changes in technology. Any organization that failed to do this will experience a negative effect
of its current or potential strategy on the organization performance. Therefore, competitive risk
as an important aspect of marketing intelligence is a strategy which every organization competing
in the local or global market should take into consideration based on its influence in gaining
competitive advantage towards achieving an organization’s long term objective and survival in
the marketplace.
5.3.7 Business Competitive Advantage
Business competitive advantage explains the core strategy or unique resources by which an organization
sources and utilizes the same to achieve better results than the competitors in the
marketplace. According to Chern, Anthony and Chih-Ping (2014) in Igbaekemen (2014), firms
competing in a given target market, at any point in time, differ in their objectives and resources,
others are strapped for funds, some are old and established while others are new and fresh, some
strive for rapid market share growth, while others strive for long term profits. He further stated
that firms occupy different competitive position in the target market. In this study, the business
competitive strategies adopted in Nigerian banking industry to which Diamond Bank belongs
will be evaluated. This is based on the roles firms in this industry play in the target market which
includes; leading, following or niching and challenging. However, every industry market leader is
the firm in the industry with the largest market share. It usually leads other firms in price changes,
new product introduction, distribution coverage and promotion spending. Market leaders
use several defense strategies of maintaining their position and prevent followers or challengers
from talking over, such as; defense, pre-empire defense, counter offensive, mobile defense and
contraction defense. The market leader dictates the price and other market activities, while market
challenger is a runner-up firm in an industry that is fighting hard to increase its market share.
Also, a market follower is a runner-up firm in the industry that wants to hold its share without
rocking the boat, as market nicher is a firm in an industry that serves small segments that other
1.
2.
3.
59
firms overlook or ignore. Competitive advantage can be reflected in overall core competence in
essential marketing function.
5.4 Conceptual Model
In light of the foregoing, the study uses the model below to provide a further insight as to the
web of relationships between marketing intelligence and business competitive advantage.
Fig. 1 – Model of Marketing Intelligence and Business Competitive Edge. Source: Conceptualized by the Researcher,
2016
Figure 1 above shows the relationship between marketing intelligence and business competitive
advantage. The implication of the model as represented in the figure is that a web of relationship
exists among the components of marketing intelligence previously explained above like internal
record, competitors sales data, marketplace opportunity, competitors threat, and competitive
risk, on business competitive advantage like profitability, sales turnover, market share, productivity
and effectiveness.
6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
6.1 Research Design
A descriptive research design using cross-sectional survey method was adopted for a use in
this study. A descriptive research design involves the field enquiries by collecting data using
questionnaire or interview from the target population at a period of time. Therefore, the design
was considered as the most appropriate for this study because the variables of the research are
purely descriptive and can only be examined through primary data collection. The data generated
were then analyzed along with the research hypotheses leading to appropriate inferences
and generalizations.
6.2 Sampling and Data Collection Procedure
The data collection which was facilitated through the cross-sectional survey made use of a structured
questionnaire administered to 1,081 population of Diamond Bank staff in Lagos Central
Regional branches and Lagos Victoria Island headquarter. Using Yamane (1967) formula, a total
Business Competitive
Edge
􀀃
Marketing
Intelligence
Business
Competitive
Advantage
Internal Records
Competitors’ Sale Data
Marketplace Opportunity
Competitors’ Threat
Competitive Risk
60 Journal of Competitiveness
sample size of 292 was adopted and Bowley (1926) proportional allocation formula was used to
ensure that the sample represent the appropriate unit regardless of their population size. Therefore,
a stratified random sampling technique was used to divide the sample size into twelve
homogenous groups according to the branches and the head office.
6.3 Study Instruments
A research instrument is a device for collecting relevant data or measuring the variables which
are used for answering research question and/or testing study hypothesis (Dixon-Ogbechi,
2002). The study made use of a structured and self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire
was divided into two sections. The first section was developed based on the objective of
the research, while the second section captures demographic characteristics of the respondents,
such as sex, age, position, experience and highest academic qualifications. Also, a pilot study was
conducted to test the accuracy and the consistency of the research instrument. For the purpose
of the study, a data collection instrument was subjected to content, construct and face validity;
the result of the reliability test (in variables) obtained from the SPSS following a pilot study is
presented in the table below.
Tab. 1 – Reliability Test of Variables (Source: Pilot Study, 2016)
No Variables N Items Cronbach Alpha
1 Internal Record 40 6 .971
2 Competitor’s Sale Data 40 5 .952
3 Marketplace Opportunity 40 6 .972
4 Competitive Threat 40 6 .851
5 Competitive Risk 40 5 .929
6 Business Competitive Advantage 40 6 .922
As shown in the Table 3, internal record as the first variable with 6 items reveals Cronbach
alpha coefficient of 0.971 (N = 40), competitor’s sales data with 5 items measures 0.952 (N =
40), marketplace opportunity with 6 items measures 0.972 (N = 40), competitive threat with 6
items measures 0.851 (N = 40), competitive risk with 5 items measures 0.929 (N = 40), while
the dependent variable business competitive advantage with 6 items measures 0.922 (N = 40).
However, as explained in the work of Pallant (2001) when a Cronbach alpha coefficient value is
above 0.7, the scale is reliable and/or has a reliable internal consistency. Therefore, all the scale
items of the above six variables are strongly reliable and acceptable.
6.4 Procedure for Data Analyses
Data were statistically analyzed after being collected from the field. The descriptive statistics was
used for the analysis. The data generated from the field of study will be presented with simple
tables and for the purpose of the data analysis; both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques
were used. The frequency distribution and percentage were used to describe the aspect of
the data, where all the data will be presented in forms of tabulation, frequency and percentages.
In addition to this, hypotheses were tested through the Pearson Correlation and Multiple Re61
gression Analysis as the main statistical tools that explained the relationship between variables
under parametric test.
7. DATA ANALYSIS
The results of the data analyzed for the study were presented on the basis of the hypotheses
generated for the study.
Hypothesis One
H01: There is no significant relationship between internal record and business competitive
advantage.
Tab. 2 – Relationship between Internal Records and Business Competitive Advantage. Source:
Research Study, 2016
Correlations
SPSS Output Internal Records
Business Competitive
Advantage
Internal Records
Pearson Correlation 1 .968**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
Business Competitive
Advantage
Pearson Correlation .968** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
**. Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed).
The table showed the result of the hypothesis stated above. To test the hypothesis, the Pearson
correlation coefficient was carried out to show the relationship between internal records and
business competitive advantage. The relationship between the two variables produced a positive
correlation coefficient of 0.968** which depicted a strong direct correlation between internal
records and business competitive advantage. Also, the two-tailed test conducted to check the
significance level of the value of correlation coefficient yields a P-value of 0.000 which was
significant at 0.05 level. Therefore, the hypothesis that states there is no significant relationship
between internal record and business competitive advantage was rejected, as the result implied
that internal record was significantly related to business competitive advantage.
Hypothesis Two
H02: There is no significant relationship between competitors’ sales data and business competitive
advantage.
62 Journal of Competitiveness
Tab. 3 – Relationship between Competitors’ Sales Data and Business Competitive Advantage.
Source:Research Study, 2016
Correlations
SPSS Output
Competitors’
Sales Data
Business Competitive
Advantage
Competitors’ Sales Data
Pearson Correlation 1 .975**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
Business Competitive
Advantage
Pearson Correlation .975** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
**. Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed).
The table showed the result of the hypothesis stated above. To test the hypothesis, the Pearson
correlation coefficient was done to show the relationship between competitors’ sales data and
business competitive advantage. The relationship between the two variables produced a positive
correlation coefficient of 0.975** which depicts a strong direct correlation between competitors’
sales data and business competitive advantage. Also, the two-tailed test conducted to check
the significance level of the value of correlation coefficient yields a P-value of 0.000 which was
significant at 0.05 level. Therefore, the hypothesis that states there is no significant relationship
between competitors’ sales data and business competitive advantage was rejected, as the result
implies that competitors’ sales data is significantly related to business competitive advantage.
Hypothesis Three
H03: Marketplace opportunity does not significantly influence business competitive advantage.
Tab. 4 – Relationship between Marketplace Opportunity and Business Competitive Advantage.
Source: Research Study, 2016
Correlations
SPSS Output Marketplace Opportunity
Business Competitive
Advantage
Marketplace
Opportunity
Pearson Correlation 1 .965**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
Business
Competitive
Advantage
Pearson Correlation .965** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
**. Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed).
63
The table showed the result of the hypothesis stated above. To test the hypothesis, the Pearson
correlation coefficient was carried out to show the influence of marketplace opportunity on
business competitive advantage. The relationship between the two variables produced a positive
correlation coefficient of 0.965** which depicts a strong direct correlation between marketplace
opportunity and business competitive advantage. Also, the two tailed test conducted to check
for the significance level of the value of correlation coefficient yields a P-value of 0.000 which
was significant at 0.05 levels. Therefore, the hypothesis that, marketplace opportunity does not
influence business competitive advantage was rejected, as the result implies that marketplace
opportunity has significant influence on business competitive advantage.
Hypothesis Four
H04: Competitor’s threat does not significantly influence business competitive advantage.
Tab. 5 – Relationship between Competitors’ Threat and Business Competitive Advantage.
Source: Research Study, 2016
Correlations
SPSS Output Competitors’ Threat
Business Competitive
Advantage
Competitors’
Threat
Pearson Correlation 1 .977 **
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
Business
Competitive
Advantage
Pearson Correlation .977 ** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
**. Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed).
The above hypothesis was tested by the Pearson Product Moment correlation statistical tool.
On this note, the relationship between two variables (competitors’ threat and business competitive
advantage) was found to be positive with a co-efficient of 0.977 a very strong relationship.
Equally, the two tailed test conducted to check for the significance level of the value of correlation
coefficient yields a P-value of 0.000 which was significant at 0.05 levels. Therefore, the
hypothesis that states competitors’ threat does not influence business competitive advantage
was rejected, as the result implies that competitors’ threat has a significant influence on business
competitive advantage.
Hypothesis Five
H05: Competitive risk does not influence business competitive advantage.
64 Journal of Competitiveness
Tab. 6 – Relationship between Competitive Risk and Business Competitive Advantage.
Source: Research Study, 2016
Correlations
SPSS Output Competitive Risk
Business Competitive
Advantage
Competitive
Risk
Pearson Correlation 1 .959**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
Business
Competitive
Advantage
Pearson Correlation .959** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 279 279
**. Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed).
The table showed the result of the hypothesis stated above. To test the hypothesis, the Pearson
correlation coefficient was carried out to show the influence of competitive risk on business
competitive advantage. However, the relationship between the two variables produced a positive
correlation coefficient of 0.959** which depicts a strong direct correlation between competitive
risk and business competitive advantage. Also, the two tailed test conducted to check the significance
level of the value of correlation coefficient yields a P-value of 0.000 which was significant
at 0.05 level. Therefore, the hypothesis that state competitive risk does not influence business
competitive advantage was rejected, as the result implies that competitive risk has significant
influence on business competitive advantage.
Regression Analysis
To further test each of the hypotheses formulated in the study, a multiple regression analysis was
conducted to confirm the presence of relationship between the constructs of the study. The regression
analysis can be used to forecast the values of a dependent variable given value of one or
more independent variables by calculation of a regression equation. Therefore, a general model
of the regression analysis is given below;
Y = a + β1×1 + β2×2+ β3×3+ β4×4+ β5×5
Where:
Y = Dependent Variable
a = Regression Constant
β = Beta coefficient or intercept or slope (i.e. explains the actual effect of the independent variable
on dependent variable).
Xn = The Changing Variables (i.e. x1, x2, x3, x4, x5)
65
Tab.7 – Regression Model Summary and ANOVA to Forecast Marketing Intelligence Variables
on Business Competitive Advantage. Source: Research Study, 2016
R = .981a
R Square = .963
Adjusted R Square = .962
Standard Error = .06982
Model Sum of
Squares
Df
Mean
Square
F Sig.
1 Regression 34.420 5 6.884 1412.319 .000b
Residual 1.331 273 .005
Total 35.751 278
The regression ANOVA table above shows that the observed variance accounted for by five
predictors (internal records, competitors’ sales data, marketplace opportunity, competitors’
threat and competitive risk) is 96.3%. This connotes a strong and positive relationship between
marketing intelligence and business competitive advantage which also confirm the previously
tested correlation result of five sub-constructs of marketing intelligence on business competitive
advantage. The F-ratio is statistically significant as F (5, 273) = 1,412.319, P (0.000) < 0.05. This
means that the five predictors jointly contribute to the observed change in the dependent variable
(business competitive advantage).
Tab. 8 – Coefficient Table for Marketing Intelligence and Business Competitive Advantage
Source: Research Study, 2016
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
T Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1
(Constant) 1.763 .129 13.668 .000
Internal Records -.040 .051 -.078 -.797 .426
Competitors’ Sales
Data
.288 .044 .607 6.554 .000
Marketplace Opportunity
-.220 .046 -.496 -4.741 .000
Competitors’
Threat
.382 .061 .737 6.223 .000
Competitive Risk .216 .054 .213 4.025 .000
a. Dependent Variable: Business Competitive Advantage
Table 8 shows that four out of five predictor variables contribute significantly to business competitive
advantage. It is evident from the table that Competitors’ sales data: β = .607; t (279) =
6.554, P (.000) < 0.05; Marketplace opportunity: β = -.496; t (279) = -4.741, P (.000) < 0.05;
66 Journal of Competitiveness
Competitors’ threat: β = .737; t (279) = 6.223, P (.000) < 0.05 and Competitive risk: β = .213; t
(279) = 4.025, P (.000) < 0.05 contributes more significantly to business competitive advantage.
However, internal records: β = .078; t (279) = -0.797, P (.000) < 0.05 were not significant. This
implies that for every unit change in business competitive advantage, there is a corresponding
increase of .607, .737 and .213 from competitors’ sales data, competitors’ threat and competitive
risk respectively, as marketplace opportunity and internal records’ inversely contributed by -.496
and -.078 respectively. Thus, from the table, the regression equation is given below:
BCA = a + βMI
BCA = 1.76 – 0.4×1 + 0.29×2 – 0.22×3 + 0.38×4 + 0.22×5
Where:
BCA = Business Competitive Advantage
a = Regression Constant
β = Beta coefficient or interception or slope
MI = Marketing Intelligence
X1 = Internal Records
X2 = Competitors’ Sales Data
X3 = Marketplace Opportunity
X4 = Competitors’ Threat
X5 = Competitive Risk
Therefore, the summarized regression equation showed above reveals the test of relationship
between marketing intelligence (independent variable) and business competitive advantage (dependent
variable). The table reveals that there is a high level of fitness at R value of 0.981, R2
of 0.963 and F-value of 1,412.319. The R2 of 0.963 connotes that about 96.3% of the variation
in business competitive advantage can be explained by the sub-constructs of marketing intelligence,
such as internal records, competitors’ sales data, marketplace opportunity, competitors’
threat and competitive risk, while 3.7% remain unexplained by the regression model. However,
the R value of 0.981 in the table indicates that a strong and positive relationship is found between
the two variables (i.e. marketing intelligence and business competitive advantage), which also
helps to confirm the correlation results obtained from the test of the previously tested five (5)
hypotheses. Since the F-sig. (p-value) of .000 is less than α (0.05), it was found that there was a
significant influence of marketing intelligence on business competitive advantage, as the variation
explained by the regression model is not by chance.
7. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
With regards to the hypothesis one which states that there is no significant relationship between
internal record and business competitive advantage, the study discovered that internal record
is significantly related to business competitive advantage. This result is similar to the findings
of Freihat (2012) and Alhadid et al (2015) which reveals that there is a statistically significant
67
relationship “between internal records, marketing research, marketing intelligence and decisionmaking”.
Also, the second hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between competitor’s
sales data and business competitive advantage, the study found out that competitor’s
sales data is significantly related to business competitive advantage. This result is line with the
findings of Hakkak and Ghodsi (2015) which indicated that there is a significant and positive
impact of the implementation of the competitors’ sales record and balanced scorecard on the
sustainable competitive advantage.
Furthermore, with respect to the third hypothesis which states that marketplace opportunity
does not influence business competitive advantage, the result shows that a marketplace opportunity
has a significant influence on business competitive advantage. This result is corroborated
with the findings of Venter and Rensburg (2014) which revealed that the availability of marketplace
opportunity and intelligence (intelligence on customers, competitors and suppliers)
has the greatest direct effect on perception of the overall quality of marketing intelligence and
perhaps plays a mediating role, given its strong relationships with other categories of marketing
intelligence.
However, as touching the fourth hypothesis which states that competitors’ threat does not influence
business competitive advantage, the study discovered that competitors’ threat has a significant
influence on business competitive advantage. And the finding of the last hypothesis
indicates that competitive risk has significant influence on business competitive advantage,
which negates the null hypothesis which states that competitive risk does not influence business
competitive advantage. However, both competitors’ threat and competitive risk as indicated
by Nwokah and Onduku (2009) are significantly related to “customer philosophy, integrated
marketing efforts, marketing information, strategy orientation and organisations operational
efficiency in a competitive environment”.
Finally, the regression analysis shows that the observed variance accounted for by the five subconstructs
(internal records, competitors’ sales data, marketplace opportunity, competitors’
threat and competitive risk) jointly contribute to the observed change in the dependent variable
(business competitive advantage). Also, the result of the R2 of 0.963 from the findings connotes
that about 96.3% of the variation in business competitive advantage can be explained by the subconstructs
of marketing intelligence, such as internal records, competitors’ sales data, marketplace
opportunity, competitors’ threat and competitive risk, as the R value of 0.981 indicates that
a strong and positive relationship is found between the two variables (i.e. marketing intelligence
and business competitive advantage).
Therefore, since the F-sig. (p-value) of .000 is less than α (0.05), hence, a significant correlation
is found between marketing intelligence and business competitive advantage. This result is supported
in the findings of Queiroz, & Oliveira (2014) which indicated that marketing intelligence
and the systematization of information in the market settings “possess great importance for the
development of competitiveness, contributing to development of the operations and to promotion
of new business opportunities”.
68 Journal of Competitiveness
8. CONCLUSION
Marketing intelligence is considered a vital instrument for an organization that aims to survive
in the marketplace and has business competitive advantage. Thus, “marketing intelligence is the
systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors,
and developments in the marketplace” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013). However, the purpose
and objective of this study was to establish the influence of marketing intelligence on business
competitive advantage with reference to Diamond Bank Plc. According to the result from the
findings, there is a significant relationship between all the sub-constructs of marketing intelligence,
such as internal records, competitors’ sales data, marketplace opportunity, competitors’
threat and competitive risk on business competitive advantage.
Also, the result of the multiple regression analysis reveals that 96.3% of the variation in business
competitive advantage can be explained by the sub-constructs of marketing intelligence, such
as internal records, competitors’ sales data, marketplace opportunity, competitors’ threat and
competitive risk, as the R value of 0.981 indicates that a strong and positive influence is found
between marketing intelligence and business competitive advantage. Therefore, above average
returns can be maintained if a company gains business competitive advantage over time in the
market, and all these are attributed to the amount of market information and intelligence a company
can gather, store and utilize to the best of its advantage. Such information and marketing
intelligence had enabled the bank to successfully acquire more profit, expand its branch network,
perform better than its rivals in the market and increase its competitive advantage.
9. RECOMMENDATIONS
In the light of this study, the following recommendations are made so as to help the bank to
enhance its operation and be of great value to the firms. Firstly, it is recommended that the management
of firms should thus take keen interest in safe keeping all items of information about
the operation system, sales data, core competence and other strategies including their strength,
weakness, opportunities and threat. Also, organizations should prioritize and be proactive in information
collection pertaining to daily marketing activities to best support their business at low
cost as internal record may not necessarily contribute to business competitive advantage at the
long run. Secondly, competitors’ sales data as one of the components of “marketing intelligence
represents a continuous process of understanding, analyzing, and assessing the internal and
external environments associated with competitors”(Alamsyah, Rahmah, &Irawan, 2015)and
markets at large and then using the information acquired to enhance firms thorough operations.
Thus, competitor’s sales data should serve as an instrument which reveals the competitors’ weaknesses
and encourages the firms to utilize the opportunity towards increasing the organization
performance as well as profitability. Thirdly, marketplace opportunity as a factor is important
to firms that develop strategies and intend to outwit rivals by sustaining competitive advantage.
Due to its inverse relationship with the business competitive advantage as the findings revealed,
it is recommended that firms should reduce the cost of identifying market opportunities which
may negatively contribute to business competitive advantage in the long run. This will help to
avoid excessive cost on futile strategies and increase organizational profitability. Also, firms
69
should have an avenue or programs in the organization to deliberately plan on how competitors’
threats can be neutralized, through regular and continuous scanning of the external environment
and identifying major threat that may serve as an antagonism to the company in the marketplace.
The study also recommends that firms should frequently measure or assess the risk
of competing in a particular market, under which information should be gathered and proper
market research should be conducted towards assessing the implications of competing head to
head with major competitors in the marketplace.
Finally, information is a very crucial and sensitive tool that is useful for external bodies in competitive
environment. This has caused a lot of hackers’ sleepless night and timely stress to break
and unlock organizations database in order for them to assess both the organization and their
customers’ information. Meanwhile, customers’ negligence sometimes handles their account information
and passwords with levity under un-trusted sites and gadgets which helps the hackers’
to easily assess such accounts. Therefore, firms should recruit and train specialists in information
technology (IT) popularly known as anti-hackers or hack gurus to protect their internal database
from getting hacked, whilst customers should as well base the assessment of their accounts and
information on reliable gadgets and software such as Apple Mac Cloud, Google Drive, Kaspersky
and others to run their transactions and avoid third-party access to their personal accounts.
10. SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDIES
As an attempt to complement and enrich this study, it is suggested for future studies to conduct
and compare the level, flows and usefulness of marketing intelligence among existing firms in
Nigeria regardless of their regions, state headquarters and country wide towards achieving business
competitive edge over each other in the marketplace. Also, for future research, attention
should be paid to the variation in the sub-constructs of marketing intelligence, most especially
internal record and marketplace opportunity with inverse relationship with the business competitive
advantage.
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Contact information
Dr. Patrick, K. A. Ladipo (PhD)
Department of Business Administration
University of Lagos
Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.
Email: pkaladipo@yahoo.com
Dr. Mufutau Akanbi Awoniyi (PhD)
Department of Marketing
Lagos State University
Ojo, Lagos, Nigeria.
Email : mugafric2001@yahoo.com
Ismail Tubosun Arebi
Department of Business Administration
University of Lagos
Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria.
Email : arebi.ismail@gmail.com
23.
24.
Copyright of Journal of Competitiveness is the property of Tomas Bata University in Zlin,
Faculty of Management & Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to
multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission.
However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Describe the relationships between the variables. More specifically, do any of the variables appear strongly correlated? If there are correlations, is the relationship positive or negative?

/in , /by

PSY 510 SPSS Assignment 3

Before you begin the assignment:

  • Review the video tutorial in the Module Seven resources for an overview of conducting correlational analyses in SPSS.
  • Download and open the Album Sales SPSS data set (this is the same data set that was used in SPSS Assignment 2). Data adapted from Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

 

An overview of the data set:

This data set contains data for 200 different rock albums (i.e., each row in the data set represents the data for one album). Specifically, the following variables are included:

  • AlbumNumber: This is the ID number of the album. There are 200 albums, so this variable ranges from 1 to 200.
  • RecordCompany: This is the record company that promoted the album. Values of “1” stand for Next Generation Records, and values of “2” stand for Worldwide Entertainment.
  • Adverts: This is the advertising budget of the album. The values are in thousands of dollars.
  • Sales: These are the sales of the album. The values are in thousands of sales.
  • Airplay: This is the number of times that the album was played on the radio in the last year.
  • Attract: This is the overall physical attractiveness of the band as rated by independent raters. The values for this variable range from 1 to 10.

Questions:

1a) Use a scatterplot to examine the relationship between Adverts and Airplay.

Paste your scatterplot below:

1b) From the scatterplot, does there appear to be a strong correlation between Adverts and Airplay? If so, is the relationship positive or negative?

Type your answer below:

There is a strong relationship between Adverts and Airplay and it appears to be negative.  It sits on the low end of the plot.

2a) Use a matrix scatterplot to examine all of the relationships between Sales, Adverts, and Airplay.

Paste your relevant output below:

2b) Describe the relationships between the variables. More specifically, do any of the variables appear strongly correlated? If there are correlations, is the relationship positive or negative?

Type your answer below:

Adverts and number of plays seem to have a negative correlation while album sales and adverts have a positive correlation.

3a) Examine the correlation between Adverts and Airplay.

Paste your relevant output below:

Correlations
Advertising Budget (Thousands of Dollars) No. of plays on Radio
Advertising Budget (Thousands of Dollars) Pearson Correlation 1 .102
Sig. (2-tailed) .151
N 200 200
No. of plays on Radio Pearson Correlation .102 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .151
N 200 200

 

3b) Describe this correlation. What is the r-value? Does the r-value suggest a positive or negative correlation? Is the correlation weak or strong? Looking at the significance value, is the correlation significant?

Type your answer in complete sentences below:

The r-value is .102 and it is a positive correlation. The correlation is strong because the p value is .151 which is greater than .05 which makes it significant.

4a) Create a correlation matrix that depicts the correlations between Sales, Adverts, and Airplay.

Paste your relevant output below:

Correlations
Advertising Budget (Thousands of Dollars) No. of plays on Radio Album Sales (Thousands)
Advertising Budget (Thousands of Dollars) Pearson Correlation 1 .102 .578**
Sig. (2-tailed) .151 .000
N 200 200 200
No. of plays on Radio Pearson Correlation .102 1 .599**
Sig. (2-tailed) .151 .000
N 200 200 200
Album Sales (Thousands) Pearson Correlation .578** .599** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000
N 200 200 200
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

 

4b) Are there any significant correlations between the variables? If so, explain which variables are correlated, and describe the nature of the correlation (i.e., positive or negative).

Type your answer below:

Album sales and Number of plays on have a significant correlation that are positive.  They are greater than .05.

5a) Create an example of two variables (unrelated to the Album Sales data set) that you think would be negatively correlated. Describe the variables below.

Type your answer below:

Two variables that I think would be negatively correlated are gender and age.  The gender of a person and their age varies.  It would be negatively correlated in dataset.

5b) Create a new SPSS dataset that includes the two variables described in 5a. Enter hypothetical data for at least 10 participants. Run a scatterplot and then calculate the correlation using SPSS.

Paste your relevant output below:

5c) Describe the correlation that exists in your hypothetical data. Is it positive or negative? Is it significant?

Type your answer below:

There is no correlation that exists in the hypothetical data.  The data is a more negative than positive it does not show that it is significant.

Apply the law of diminishing marginal returns to your studies, what is the implication of this concept to how you should spread your self-study across the modules? What other influences might change this conclusion?

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Economics essay

Introduction
The essay in Economics is an approximately 2,000 word document and forms 50% of your final mark.
The idea of having the essay (as opposed to, for example, an exam) is that it will allow you to engage
in a topic in Economics which interests you, and therefore, hopefully, you learn more about the
principles of economics. Remember the core principle of economics – the economic problem: there
are infinite wants but finite resources. Economics is the study of allocation, and specifically, the
allocation of resources which will generate the most utility (‘happiness’) in the world (or at least in a
specific context).
With this in mind, a number of questions have been written over the range of topics we discuss in
Economics. There are two objectives with this range of questions: first, they offer a choice so that
you can pick that which actually interests you; and second, each question has a specific discipline in
mind. Therefore, if you are an advertising student you might want to undertake a question more
orientated to this than a question more orientated towards an accounting student, for example.
If anybody has any suggestions for other questions, please let me know. I feel as though I may write
more, but for sure I will not remove from the list below. Therefore, please feel free to get going
whenever you can.
Questions
Note, I may add to these, and am willing to do so if you have any suggestions; however, I will not
remove from the list below.
Answer one of the following:
Q1. Use economics principles to discuss the role and operation of marketing.
Q2. Apply the concept of diminishing marginal returns to workers: what are the conclusions that you
obtain from this with respect to employment practices? What role might training and development
have for this problem?
Q3. From a classical analysis, what is the impact of a minimum or living wage on unemployment?
What are the counterarguments against this, and, is it possible for a minimum wage to reduce
unemployment rates?
Q4. Apply the law of diminishing marginal returns to your studies, what is the implication of this
concept to how you should spread your self-study across the modules? What other influences might
change this conclusion?
Q5. Apply the concepts of consumer and producer surplus to university education. What innovations/additional resources would increase your consumer surplus? Why do you feel that they
are not currently provided?
Q6. Pick one of the following markets: Auditing (financial accounts); Banking; Energy firms. In your
opinion, what type of market structure do they operate in? What are the problems with this operation?
Q7. Discuss the statement ‘through demand management policies, the government does more harm
than good’. What innovations in macroeconomics have occurred in order to try and improve policy?
Additional questions on discussion with students (these questions are open to all)
Q8. Discuss how fiscal policy can be used to effect economic output, and within this framework
evaluate recent fiscal policy actions within a given country or countries.
Q9. Are there financial returns to higher education, and if so, why?
Q10. A few weeks ago, the UK Government released the “Operation Yellowhammer” files, which
among other matters states:
“Certain types of fresh food supply will decrease. Critical dependencies for the food supply chain (such as key input ingredients, chemicals and packaging) may be in shorter supply. In combination, these two factors will not cause an overall shortage of food in UK but will reduce availability and choice of products and will increase price, which could impact vulnerable groups.” Gov.uk.
By using the law of supply and demand and by illustrating your points with graphs, explain this
prediction for an increase in prices.
How will you be marked?
I include a marking scheme below and this provides detail as to what to expect in general essay
based assessments. For more guidance around this scheme, specifically I will be looking for the
following items:
• The use of economic analysis: remember this is an economics essay and therefore the economic analysis and economic principles should come first. This is most easily demonstrated either through using graphs (as they stand out quite well) or through specifically making reference to economic principles (for example, allocation, demand and supply, diminishing marginal returns, etc.). All essays should at least make reference to some point of the textbook.
• The use of external resources: although the economic concepts are meant to drive everything, using external resources adds weight and empirical reference to your arguments. What I am really looking for is an application by you to analysing a specific issue using economic principles, and using external resources is a good demonstration of this.
Remember that academia is really a skill of ‘standing on shoulders of giants’ by which it is meant that the first thing you should do is understand what others have said and think.
• Structure: make everything clear and concise and have a clear narrative. The best way to do this is to have a clear structure from the outset. Although not prescriptive, and this will depend on the question you undertake, you might think of a structure similar to the following:
o Introduction
o Application of textbook economic ideas
o Empirical observations and external resources
o Conclusions
• Clarity of argument: in all your work, try and have one clear narrative running through your work. You do this by stating your argument in the introduction and then systematically returning to this throughout the main body. You may think that you are being clear and subtle, but often, this is not the case.
• There will also be 5 marks available for self-reflection. At the end of your essay (on the final page – after your references and any appendices you might have) you will be required to both give your essay a mark you would anticipate to receive and the reason for this. This is an exercise to engage and reflect on the quality of your work. Marks will be given for the depth of your reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of your essay and for how accurate these are. Note that the self-reflection does not contribute towards your word count.
Referencing
I include some slides on referencing in the Blackboard. As with all assessments, the Harvard referencing style will be used. To give some general advice (to add to the slides attached in the
Blackboard):
• Get a website you are happy with that tells you how to reference. A popular one nowadays is CiteThemRight (http://www.citethemrightonline.com/).
• Note that to cite something in the body of the text is different from your final references section. The idea is that you can read some general information in the body that does not upset the flow of the document [……., Smith (2014)] and then the interested reader can then go from that brief reference, to the references section to get the full details. With these, the reader can then go to the original source in order to see what this says. The idea is that there is a flow, or an ‘audit-trail’.
• All direct quotes should have ‘quotation marks’ and if you do a direct quote you should include page numbers of specifically where to find the direct quote.
• References of ideas (i.e. not a direct quote) do not need these page numbers but still need to be associated to where the idea comes from.
• The sign of a good essay is the size and diversity of the reference section. Those with the biggest reference section demonstrate they have done the most reading. However, only references one type of resource (e.g. websites) is not as good as referencing a variety of resources.

Discuss the impact macro environment had on the current situation faced by L’Oréal particularly the Social, and Ethical factors (500 – 750 words – 20%)

/in /by

Read the case study given below carefully and complete the tasks given at the end
L’Oréal is one of the largest cosmetic companies in the world and a well-recognized brand name in the cosmetics sector. Even though the brand is popular in over 130 countries with over 25 brands and number of sub-brands, the company recently been accused of number of unethical practices including airbrushing advertisements, misleading claims, animal testing and price fixing. In addition to L’Oréal, Nestle, which own over 29% stake in L’Oréal also been through negative publicity over animal testing, condoning child labour, unethical promotion and misleading advertising. In the recent years there has been growing concerns over environment friendly products particularly products that are purely based on natural ingredients. Public sentiments about ethical issues such as opinions against price fixing, child labour has resulted in drop in reputation on Nestle and L’Oréal.
In the UK, Body Shop had emerged as a popular brand famous for its core values including its support to human rights and environmental care as well as its stand against animal testing. The Body Shop on its own has presence in 33 countries with 2600 brands (Bronstein, 2004).
In 2006, L’Oreal made a bid to acquire Body Shop for £652 million. By acquiring the Body Shop, L’Oréal gets access to these outlets as well the supply chain which could help strengthen its own stores and supply chain. But according to the CEO of L’Oreal Jean-Paul Agon, “Body Shop brand could more than double the size of its store network “in a few years”, thanks to international expansion” (Hope, 2017).
Many critics argue that the main reasons for acquisition of Body Shop by L’Oréal is to correct their suffering as the result of poor reputation, and that L’Oreal wanted to use goodwill of Body Shop to limit damage to the reputation. The announcements that L’Oréal is willing to learn from the Body Shop’s practices is evidence that shows the intention of damage control as reason for this acquisition (Bronstein, 2004).
In 2017, L’Oreal sold Body Shop to a Brazilian company Natura Cosmeticos SA (Trefis, 2017).

Tasks to complete
1. Discuss the impact macro environment had on the current situation faced by L’Oréal particularly the Social, and Ethical factors (500 – 750 words – 20%)
2. What is the organisational culture at Body Shop and L’Oreal. In your view are they compatible and what are the likely benefits or challenges arising out of the compatibility of culture. (500 – 750 words – 20%)
3. Discuss any factors that L’Oreal would have considered before deciding to acquire Body Shop (500 – 750 words – 20%)
4. In your view what are the factors that had effect the L’Oreal acquisition of Body Shop resulting it the failure (500 – 750 words – 20%)
5. The second part of the assignment will involve writing a reflection report on your experience in writing this report. (250 – 500 words – 20%)

This assessment addresses;
LO1: Understand the dynamic and changing nature of business and the consideration of the future of organisations within the global business environment.
LO2: Identify the need for individuals and organisations to manage responsibly and sustainably and behave ethically in relation to social, cultural, economic and environmental issues.
LO3: Discuss leadership, management and development of people.
LO4: Discuss the development of appropriate policies and strategies within a changing environment to meet stakeholder interests.
LO5: Discuss the design and development of organisations.