We used two metrics, occupancy and relative abundance, to study forest stand characteristics believed to be important to a threatened seabird that nests in old-growth forests, the Marbled Murrelet ...(Brachyramphus marmoratus). Occupancy refers to murrelet presence or absence based on observed bird behaviors, while relative abundance refers to categories of low, medium, and high numbers of bird observations per survey in a forest stand. Within the murrelet's nesting range in California and southern Oregon, we measured habitat and climatic variables in all old-growth stands surveyed for murrelets between 1991 and 1997. The two bird metrics produced similar results. In California, murrelets most often occupied, or were abundant in, redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) stands with large trees (>100 cm diameter at breast height) located on gentle, low-elevation slopes or on alluvial flats close to streams. In stands of the less flood-tolerant Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in southern Oregon, murrelets most often occupied, or were abundant on, gentle, low-elevation, west-facing slopes that were not close to streams. Murrelets tended to use areas farther from roads. The important climatic requirements for murrelet stands in both states were cool temperatures and high amounts of rainfall.
Corporate Branding Melewar, T. C; Alwi, S. F. Syed
2015, 20150410, 2015-04-10
eBook
A strong corporate image has power in a competitive marketplace. Its influence on reputational value and customer decision-making is only now beginning to be understood. Interest in corporate ...branding is exploding as marketing academics and professionals begin to realize how it can boost business performance in measurable ways. For example, it promotes customer patronage without expensive advertising and raises profitability by enabling companies to leverage their brand image when buying from particular sources.
Yet there are few empirical studies available to clarify its basic tenets and fewer still that help us understand corporate branding in different parts of the world. Existing books focus mainly on conceptual ideas and real-life examples. Corporate Branding: Areas, arenas and approaches is a unique take on corporate branding that provides a global overview through rigorous research of different geographical areas across industries. An international range of leading scholars contribute their coverage across three clear themes:
Area: geographical areas across the globe including the UK, USA, Europe and Asia;Arena: a variety of commercial and not-for-profit sectors, both B2B and B2C;Approach: methodological approaches to brand research design, including qualitative, quantitative, case studies, interpretivistic and social narrative.
These three themes enable the reader to consider corporate branding from more perspectives and in more ways than any other corporate branding book. The result is an understanding of this strategically important, growing subject that cannot be found anywhere else. This book is an essential read for any branding student or interested professional.
Despite recent phenomenal growth of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the developing world, especially in the field of primary health care (PHC), their performance currently witnesses many ...paradoxes. For example, a paradox between their growth in size and diversity, yet increasing concerns about their impact; another paradox is that of the intense questioning of their performance in development and health, and yet the increasing flow of support from most international agencies; and, a third paradox, is that of the increasing pressures for, and acceptance of the need for, performance evaluation, and yet a lack of institutionalisation within NGOs themselves, and the scarcity of models that can guide/help NGOs in that direction. Many explanations have been suggested for these paradoxes, and are likely to include the following: first, an NGO may lack the performance system which enables it to look at its own performance and analyse in a systematic way; second, an NGO, when undertaking a selfevaluation exercise, may confine itself solely to the project level (for accountability reasons) and overlook the other levels of analysis (namely, the organisation, service delivery, and individual levels); and, third, an NGO may not hold an holistic view as to what areas should be analysed, nor may it have the analytical tools readily available which help it to undertake such an analysis. Evidence from different literature supports each of these possible explanations. Accordingly, within this thesis, to help an NGO self-analyse its performance, a performance analysis framework (PAF) has been developed. This framework is structured to analyse the performance of an NGO service provider at three main levels: organisational; project; and, service delivery. Each level addresses an area for analysis, drawing upon a set of criteria for each area, raising a group of relevant questions for each criterion, and casting light on a cluster of possible investigative tools largely, but not exclusively, qualitative in nature. Theunderlying hypothesis of this framework is that the performance of an NGO in health and social development is the outcome of an interaction of many factors within both its external and internal environments. Hence, in the PHC setting, an NGO is confronted with an external environment composed of contextual elements (political, economic, legal, and socio-cultural), as well as a cluster of relationships with different stakeholders (donors, beneficiaries, government bodies, and other NGOs). On the other hand, the internal environment of an NGO is formed of a four-fold set of inter-related elements: its identity, its strategy, its operations, and its resources. Thus, the kinds of interactions taking place in both these environments are key determinants of the overall performance of the NGO. The PAF was then field tested in Egypt through a series of investigations, including focus group interviews as well as instrumental case studies. Four cases were selected from a pool of Egyptian NGOs (ENGOs) with different histories and geographic locations, but all being Community Development Associations (CDAs); participants in umbrella capacity building (CB) programmes sponsored by intermediary NGOs and funded by one bilateral donor; and, having service provision in the area of Maternal and Child Health (MCH). While the PAF was applied at the project level, the four PHC/MCH projects have also served as entry points to the analysis of the four organisations through a participatory self-assessment approach. The PAF, therefore, served as both research tool and conceptual frame of reference against all four cases, relying upon various triangulation techniques, in pursuit of research validation and quality control. The outcome is that of robustly testing the framework: by so doing, important lessons and insights have emerged both about the external and internal environment of ENGOs; and about the levels and kinds of performance CDAs operating in health currently attain, and can attain in the future. The research concludes with recommendations for a proposed capacity-building programme for CDAs guided by the PAF
Despite recent phenomenal growth of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the developing world, especially in the field of primary health care (PHC), their performance currently witnesses many ...paradoxes. For example, a paradox between their growth in size and diversity, yet increasing concerns about their impact; another paradox is that of the intense questioning of their performance in development and health, and yet the increasing flow of support from most international agencies; and, a third paradox, is that of the increasing pressures for, and acceptance of the need for, performance evaluation, and yet a lack of institutionalisation within NGOs themselves, and the scarcity of models that can guide/help NGOs in that direction. Many explanations have been suggested for these paradoxes, and are likely to include the following: first, an NGO may lack the performance system which enables it to look at its own performance and analyse in a systematic way; second, an NGO, when undertaking a selfevaluation exercise, may confine itself solely to the project level (for accountability reasons) and overlook the other levels of analysis (namely, the organisation, service delivery, and individual levels); and, third, an NGO may not hold an holistic view as to what areas should be analysed, nor may it have the analytical tools readily available which help it to undertake such an analysis. Evidence from different literature supports each of these possible explanations. Accordingly, within this thesis, to help an NGO self-analyse its performance, a performance analysis framework (PAF) has been developed. This framework is structured to analyse the performance of an NGO service provider at three main levels: organisational; project; and, service delivery. Each level addresses an area for analysis, drawing upon a set of criteria for each area, raising a group of relevant questions for each criterion, and casting light on a cluster of possible investigative tools largely, but not exclusively, qualitative in nature. Theunderlying hypothesis of this framework is that the performance of an NGO in health and social development is the outcome of an interaction of many factors within both its external and internal environments. Hence, in the PHC setting, an NGO is confronted with an external environment composed of contextual elements (political, economic, legal, and socio-cultural), as well as a cluster of relationships with different stakeholders (donors, beneficiaries, government bodies, and other NGOs). On the other hand, the internal environment of an NGO is formed of a four-fold set of inter-related elements: its identity, its strategy, its operations, and its resources. Thus, the kinds of interactions taking place in both these environments are key determinants of the overall performance of the NGO. The PAF was then field tested in Egypt through a series of investigations, including focus group interviews as well as instrumental case studies. Four cases were selected from a pool of Egyptian NGOs (ENGOs) with different histories and geographic locations, but all being Community Development Associations (CDAs); participants in umbrella capacity building (CB) programmes sponsored by intermediary NGOs and funded by one bilateral donor; and, having service provision in the area of Maternal and Child Health (MCH). While the PAF was applied at the project level, the four PHC/MCH projects have also served as entry points to the analysis of the four organisations through a participatory self-assessment approach. The PAF, therefore, served as both research tool and conceptual frame of reference against all four cases, relying upon various triangulation techniques, in pursuit of research validation and quality control. The outcome is that of robustly testing the framework: by so doing, important lessons and insights have emerged both about the external and internal environment of ENGOs; and about the levels and kinds of performance CDAs operating in health currently attain, and can attain in the future. The research concludes with recommendations for a proposed capacity-building programme for CDAs guided by the PAF
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