Career pathway planning

1. What is career pathway planning?

Career pathway planning can be defined as a process that the person does in order to choose a real career for future, choosing the most proper method for reaching it and then beginning in applying this method. To plan for a career pathway as an employee, many things can help me as the importance to have objectives for this plan, a time period and strategies to achieve the objectives. The person should plan for realistic goals and objectives which are not impossible to be achieved. Skills should be identified within the plan, interests and goals in life. Programs and educational courses should also be stated within the plan. The job types should be identified with various alternatives according to the education and the qualifications. There should be a strategy to find work and the needed training scope then steps should be written regarding how to carry out the plan through putting things into action.  

2. Identify career options available for you as a chemical engineer.

A lot of promise is waiting the chemical engineer regarding the future career as there are many career options such as the following:

-Being a chemical processor in a factory or in a laboratory is a good option for chemical engineers as it provides the chance to use the skills in an interesting job.

-Working as a chemical plant operator in a big company is a good choice as a chemical plant operator can control equipment systems which work with the chemical substances and ensures the systems and equipment work properly.

-A chemical engineer in a factory to design and perform the chemical processes of manufacturing products.

-Manufacturing engineer.

-Process engineer.

-Chemical mechanical planarization development engineer.

-Patent attorney to apply chemical engineering information and experiences in an intellectual property.

3. Identify the career option that is best suited to you.

The best suited career option to me is being a chemical processor in a private industry food and beverage factory as I prefer working within a big company or factory as those of the private sector, I prefer to work in a laboratory which is big as the private sector ones, I wish to get high salary, I wish to leave the job easily at any time and join another company as this is available in private sector and I am good in working with chemical substances which are used to manufacture goods and several products.

4. Which is the organization you wish/want to work for? Why?

I would like to work for an organization that manufactures food and beverage as a chemical processor or as a chemical engineer as I like the study of food components and I am interested in formulating new products that meet the demands of customers or change in a product for getting new flavors or qualities of food and beverage products. I also like working with systems of equipments used for tackling medical operations and substances.

5. What is the entry position that you expect to join? Identify the qualification, skills/aptitude, training and required in entry level.

I expect to join as a chemical equipment operator that requires the qualifications of a chemical engineer such as a certificate of chemical engineering, skills of operating equipment used in chemical processes and to be trained on the basics of the job such as working in a team, doing the tasks in time, working according to a schedule and writing reports.

6. Mention other promotion positions (job titles) available with the same employer between the entry position and the five year goal position. Write the relevant qualification/experience, skills/competencies and training required for these promotion positions.

A chemical processor can begin the work as a chemical equipment operator who can operate the equipment to control the chemical operations and changes in making and processing products for industrial organizations. Then he can work harder and be promoted as a project manager then he can be a safety and risk manager or environmental manager. A chemical equipment operator needs some qualifications, experiences, skills, competencies and training in order to be promoted to a project manager such as having the needed experience years with high efficiency reports that show excellent performance, being skilled in managing team work, doing research on chemical projects, develop chemical processes properly and deal with chemical equipment and perform the duties assigned to him that are related to chemical quality control. He also should be able to oversee the required industrial operations related to equipment maintenance and food processing plants. He should also prove to be a good leader within the work environment and adequate in performing any task with the accurate deadlines. Then to specialize as a risk manager or environmental manager he should have certain skills and training in the specialized job such as being trained on how to manage risks within the work environments, having additional training courses in management and having a job competency that tells he is superior than others in this specialization.

7. Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? Write the position that you can obtain on completion of five years with the same employer. Besides write the relevant qualifications/experience/ knowledge, training and any other relevant courses required to take up this higher position.

  In five years time, I see myself as a project manager in a big company for manufacturing food and beverage who is able to manage chemical operations , manage projects regarding the new chemical products and check equipment needed for the chemical processes, monitor the work and be able to make decisions regarding the chemical operations of producing new flavors and new food products. I will be able to master the management skills such as monitoring the work and employees, writing reports regarding the work flow and be able to provide advice when needed. I would also be able to do research in order to be promoted. I will be able to analyze problems related to chemical engineering.

Air cooled heat exchangers CPU of computers

Description

Koplow, (2009) reported that in modern computing systems, CPUs are usually confronting a problem of having big amounts of heat and as the CPU is the responsible of systems data processing, it generates heat and when the amount of generated heat is excessive, risk of damaging CPUs or causing them to malfunction is very high. Overheating thus can be tackled and overcome by equipping these working systems with cooling systems such as the air cooled heat exchangers which can help managing temperature and regulating it for keeping CPUs working properly.

The CPUs which are based on air cooled heat exchangers which are based on using fans in CPUs are free of tubes, pipes or cables and have low noise levels. Fans pump air and heat is taken away from the CPU. The discharge pressure is increased via the serial set up and the area coverage is enlarged by the parallel set up. Cool systems enhance the efficiency of the device and ensure desired conditions for performing data processing in the CPUs processors. They improve the system life cycle. CPU cooling systems should be based upon the law of Moore which suggests that the transistors' number lying on the integrated circuits is increasing to the double every two years. This principle should be used with any type of cooling systems used for electronics.

The Process equipment

Construction and principles of working

Heat Sink

According to Dai et al, (2013), CPU cooling systems are having solutions such as using a heat sink which is an assembly of some components prepared for reducing heat via certain operation which is transferring the generates heat by a solid material that takes heat to a medium of fluid which is air. The heat sink has a vast surface which is called the fins and it is extended for extending the surface of the contacted material with air. The heat sink works according to its thermal performance which is affected by some factors such as the material type, the air velocity and the design of the fins. An example of a heat sink is figured in Figure 1.

Figure.1 Heat sink

Heat Pipe Radiators

Heat sinks capabilities can be enhanced by using the heat pipe radiators which are proved to add extra professionalism to the heat sinks that have fins as a heat sink can be used added to head pipes instead of the fins. Heat pipes are different from fins as they are hollow for the heat sink but the fins are a material which is solid. These heat pipes are the same as the solid pipes if analyzed geometrically but they have a coefficient which is stronger in heat transferring. Figure 2 is showing a heat sink with the addition of heat pipes instead of using fins.

Figure 2 : A heat sink with heat pipes

Heat Pipe

The heat pipe is a pipe which is both sealed and evacuated and inside it, there is a small amount of the fluid needed for the heating transfer process and a wick structure. A heat sink can use a heat pipe as an additional tool. Its design can vary and differ to many designs. In figure 3 there is a model of the layout of a heat pipe and figure 4 provides a real figure for a real heat pipe. The presented design in the figures is expressing a very simple design as additional tubes can be added for the liquid as well as some moving elements. The current example represents a heat pipe that doesn't need a source of power due to the use of the liquid for natural convection in order to distribute the heat. 

Figures 3 -4

There are main advantages for heat pipes as they can enhance the ability of heat sinks according to their designs and performance and among them are three major ones which are:

1. The ability of the heat pipes to provide help for heat distribution by raising the thermal conductivity.
2. The heat pipes are working as a heat conductive path that can take the heat from down to anywhere in order to use small CPU packages for managing heat.
3. Heat pipes raises conductivity and efficiency of the heat sink.

Heat pipes designs are varied according to what is required for performance improvement. Measures of pipes diameters can vary from 3mm to 4mm and 6mm. (Fbo.gov, 2015)

The Applications of the equipment in the industry

Air cooled heat exchangers CPU of computers are widely used in computers industry as they are used to remove the waste heat in order to preserve the efficiency of the device. In computer industry, there are many applications for these devices such as using them to reduce heat from integrated circuits, hard disk drives, CPUs chipset and graphic cards. In computer industry, cooling can be made by many techniques in protecting desktop computers, servers, rack mounted and laptops with differences in each application according to its needs and the level of performance. There are many designs for the device in the industry. (Computercool,  2015)

The heat transfer processes in the equipment

The equipment uses its parts to transfer the thermal energy from a device which has high temperature to a medium that is characterized with lower temperature which is air. The air cooled heat exchangers CPUs of computers have cooling systems which are based on elements which are a reservoir and an air cooling heat exchanger. Heat is transferred from the CPU into the cooling air then the air cooled heat exchanger cools the processors using the fins or the heat sinks.  

The impact of students activities on the academic performance of the students at Sohar University

Positive Impact of Activities

According to (Zacherman and Foubert, 2014)when students are engaged in university activities, they are trained on techniques of critical thinking and innovation. Skills of critical thinking are gained through students' involvement in activities resulting from their own desires to do this activity that raises their readiness for engagement with others in doing specific tasks and in operations that need team work and cooperative work. The interaction that occurs during university activities raises the student liability to share in social events and provide the expected tasks by the society elements. College students' development is encouraged when they do various activities either within the curricular environment or outside it as this leaves great impact on the performance of students. Activities can be curricular or co curricular and each activity can measure specific strengths in the student. Time management skills are approved to be enhanced by the college activities as there are start and finish timing and the importance of doing the tasks by themselves in specific periods of time and according to a deadline, all these factors can help the student to raise his or her performance. Activities provide students with the chance to make friends within the university as the interaction that happen through mutual cooperation within doing an activity encourages building positive relationships with other students which leads them to be friends. This enables student to have social adjustment that helps students in their academic performance by exchanging the important information about the subjects and studied modules with other friends easily and get more information about methods to study. Students feel more integrated with the society of the university, its rules, its main culture and this helps them a lot in dealing with the way exams and tests go on which also helps in raising their adherence to university classes and raises their performance.  

Mull, (2014) referred to physical activity and how it affects students' performance in universities as he asserted that voluntary activities which are done using the body such as sports and competitions that involve body exercises encourage students on doing more hard work and reducing their levels of stress, anxiety and worry through affecting the body muscles as they help the body relax its muscles and this then help the mind to think better and provide effective solutions for different problems. Physical activities such as sports activities are better in achieving results when they are done voluntary and not to be forced on students, they also should be timed and assessed before applying as not all students can practice physical activities especially when they are hard. Hard sports such as athletics require students to be healthy and have no health problem that may be affected by these difficult sports. They shouldn't be intensive to the extent that they may negatively affect the health and the time of students. Exercise was found to affect cognitive abilities positively and lead to students' fitness and makes them achieve more classroom success. It was affirmed that the student who spends some time exercising, achieves better results in exams. Yet exercises should be regular and estimated in time in order to achieve the required results.  He added that many researchers found a correlation between physical activities and success in classrooms as there are factors that are connected with exercise and can raise the students' classroom success such as muscular strength, cardicrespiratory endurance and the ability to sleep well. Health of students who don't at all follow any physical activity such as sports usually suffers things such as obesity or diabetes and then such students should be educated by teachers regarding how to engage within the physical activities in order to be better in sport and in achieving high performance level in all university subjects.

 According to Franz and Feresu, (2013). physical activity is related to academic success as sport activities lead students of colleges to have adequate and suitable body mass index which results in their fitness and not suffering any diseases related to obesity such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension or fatigue resulting from any physical effort. When students' health are sable and fit, they are more active and they can be organized in the way they study and attend lectures at the university. Students then don't waste a lot of time going to clinics and following strict diet which may affect their concentration and in turn their academic performance. Healthy students who follow organized physical exercises usually feel more satisfied with the food they eat as they eat the main required food elements and this provides their bodies with all needed vitamins, protein and minerals needed for making their minds more energetic and more able to perform well in tests, quizzes and examinations.

   

Mental activities are also important to be done especially before exams as according to Rhoads and Healy, (2015), mental activities that university students do before exams can help a lot in raising the readiness of the mind to answer questions easily and quickly as the answer is in a place which is reachable by the memory which has been activated by the activities. Mental activities can be either involved with the subject curriculum such as the exercises and practices teachers involve students within or to be outside the classroom such as chess competitions and mathematics competitions. Instructors, teachers and tutors are responsible to some extent for encouraging students to use their minds in doing the activities related to the college subjects as these activities are moving the mind towards better thinking. Prior to exam activities are found by the researcher to enhance the ability of the mind to remember information and relate them to each other. Cognitive abilities are awakened by such activities that the university students can do before the exams so they can choose the most suitable exercises according to the college subject and then apply them before the exam. The researcher found out that the exams that are in subjects that depend mainly on activities in laboratories or on computers are better to be studied using activities that urge the mind to work in order to reach solutions for the difficult problems instead of rehearsal exercises that exhaust the mind and lead the students to have poor performance and achieve less than expected. Activities that are related with the university subjects can lead students to achieve high marks in exams, in experiments and in online examinations that depend on mind tools in solving various problems which require creativity and innovation in relating ideas and processes with each other.

According to Parikh, (2008), students who engage in university activities are developing their cognitive growth easier and quicker than others who are not well engaged within university activities such as intellectual activities associated with some subjects as these activities are provided within the university seminars and they are intensive and require students to cooperate with their mates in order to produce a project or a research that depend on deep understanding for a problem, applying a theory and make personal critical thinking in order to analyze the problem and reach a reasonable conclusion or a solution to it. Such activities develop the students' skills of mind and abilities to analyze and deduct. Another thing is the team work principles involved within these activities as the group of work has to have a level of mutual understanding and awareness of roles and responsibilities. Competency is also involved within these activities as they motivate groups to compete in order to get better results and higher marks. There are many factors that determine students' attraction to such activities such as the teachers' roles in encouraging the students to work and the environment such as family encouragement as the lack of two factors such as the previously mentioned can lead to negative effects of activities and low academic performance.    

   

Negative Impact of Activities 

According to Shiveley and Wang, (2015) students activities in universities may have positive effects and at the same time they may affect students negatively as some students suffer fatigue and tiredness from the physical exercises they do and waste a lot of time doing sport which makes them. Students who spend long hours in athletic exercises are found to be more violent within the university and not accepting any direction from their teachers and they may have social interaction within the sport teams they are engaging with but outside the sports team, they have poor social interaction and they neglect attending their lectures and forgetting some quizzes or providing their assignments later than the due dates of them. Students who are more engaged in sports activities than others usually show low class attendance and low adherence to orders and rules of the university. This refers to the need for having a balance between following university activities and university courses and classes in order to achieve good level of academic performance. Although such students are fit and more energetic then others. This sometimes leads them to be conceited and forget that they have to act as students and not as sports champions. Students who always follow physical activities programs tend to be isolated from everything but sport as they are only interested in news relevant to such sports and how to upgrade their level in a special game or in a certain sport which makes it important to study how to follow university sports activities and not to be away from other important activities. Engaging in university activities sometimes force students to have more work in these activities than they can bear as their schedules become overloaded with activities especially when these activities are imposed on them by their teachers and they feel that they have to do them, then the main aim of having university activities which is enjoying the subject disappears as students lose the enthusiasm needed to begin such activities. Students who are having many activities neglect their main studying and in turn achieve poorly in their tests and exams which results in a decline in their academic performance. Some students who are forced to follow a physical spots program which involves lots of exercise may cause themselves to have injuries in order to take a rest for mind and body relaxation even if this period was at home or in hospital under special nursing care. Intense athletic training can also cause students to have injuries which lead them to be deprived from taking their exams or attending their class lectures and the important discussions with teachers and then their academic performance becomes poor and they also may fail at all. This means that university students need to be discussed about the type of activity they have to be engaged in and not to be threatened with marks if they don't join a sports program or any other activity that they may feel boring or not interesting. Joining activities must be a loved thing by students who will perform them or they will be an extra burden over students. (Wilson, 2009) 

According to Stuart et al, (2011),some universities add extra fees over activities if students need to join them as they try to make financial revenues out of these activities and when the activities are compulsory, then activities become a burden over students and their families and this also affects students' performance as the students bear passive feelings towards the university and towards the educational process as a whole then their performance is negatively affected by following unwanted activities or paid activities and then marks become lower and students' class involvement decreases till students get bored of the university system and this also can affect the general performance of the university students' who will not share in most activities as a result of this aggressive act practiced by the university. When university activities are compulsory, they lose the real intention from involving them within university programs as they become no different from any other subject as they then represent an obstacle against students' fun and entertainment within the university. Students at the university are completely different from students at school as activities in the university shouldn't be compulsory because the nature of the university students and the age stage they are in requires higher levels of treatment and more options to choose from.    

CHAPTER THREE ( THE THEORICAL FRAMWORK)

This chapter is made for purposes of declaring how this research is going on and what theories are used to interpret the used literature within it as the research is discussing the impact of activities on university students' performance with reference to students of Sohar university as activities have been discussed to be of great importance in universities as international universities use them in order to achieve many goals and reach specific results regarding the students' performance. Activities were found highly in the literature to cause positive results which can be easily measured through the high development in students' performance but they are said also to cause defects in the students character if they were misused, overused or used in the improper time. There are many factors that affect activities and challenges faced by universities when enrolling students within their activities and there are many relevant theories that discussed the relationship between activities and students' performance.

There are many involved variables that affect students' activities such as the environments where activities are going in regarding the country, the family, the university and the community, other variables are the amount of activity, timing of doing the activities, types of activities, those who provide the activities to students such as teachers and tutors, the physical condition of the student and the student's desire in taking an activity. All these variables affect the level of success with using activities to enhance university students' academic performance. Among these variables there are dependent variables such as people who provide the activity, students' desire in taking the activity and the physical condition of the students taking the activity. Independent variables are the environments of the activity, types of activity, amount of activity and timing of the activity. According to (Zacherman and Foubert, 2014) when students have the desire for taking an activity, they are involved within it and this helps them to cooperate with others in order to perform a task, this in turn can affect their performance and lead them to be more socially engaged within an environment that encourages taking activities with good teachers who help students to take activities.

Mull, (2014) asserted the importance of assessing the students' physical condition before engaging them within a physical activity as physical activities are a special type of activity that depends on engaging the proper students in the proper sport as, for example, sick or very weak students cannot be enrolled within hard physical activities such as athletics. He also referred to the timing variable which is important for raising the students' performance, for example, it is not a good idea to provide students with sports activities during examination period as this will never raise their academic performance so timing is a very important variable too. Franz and Feresu, (2013) referred to the physical conditions of students after having sports activities and how they help students be fit more in order to have self confidence that can help them achieve higher performance levels, Healy, (2015) asserted that the teachers and tutors in the university are responsible for students enrollment within activities, those teachers are considered a very effective variable that lead to results which can be good or bad according to the methods and types of activities they choose for each student as the type of activity is another important variable that can be changed according to each student and what suits him or her of activities.

Performance theories deal with the factors that affect performance such as any collaborative effort exerted by a person or a group of people, for example, the university activities students follow as they can be considered among these factors. According to Elger, (2015), humans can do many extraordinary tasks that are not expected by them and they can face any challenges if they want to. Performance can be enhanced and improved according to what a human being is able to do for improving this performance. He added that there are many areas for performance such as the cognitive area, the social area, the affective area and the psychomotor area. A human being can work on a specific area and raise his or her performance. Parikh, (2008) refers to cognitive growth and university activities as he correlates them to each other which provides a result of raised performance through this cognitive growth associated with activities. He refers to the type of activity as a main variable that controls the cognitive growth of university students as those intellectual activities can directly lead the students to have raised performance. 

Shiveley and Wang, (2015)referred to how the type of activity can affect students' performance and how this can be a negative effect when they do something by force but what if students are really forced by their universities to do certain activities they don't like? Is the answer that they have to get low performance and bad marks? According to the performance theory, a person can deal with such a problem by working on his affective area of performance in order to confront such a difficult situation and not to fail in dealing with it. A student then may find something interesting in the activity to enjoy it or to refuse taking the activity at all or to do the activity in a new way which means to create something new while doing the activity. Improving the performance using the activity is a very crucial matter that is connected with many variables such as choosing the time for the activity, students should choose the activity according to their own desires, ambitions, feelings or any other relevant factors and then they can choose its time and its program from the beginning of the year with the help of teachers who are another important variable that should be carefully chosen in order to raise the students' performance by choosing the most suitable activity for each student, then discussing it with the student and after that evaluating the students' level of performance after having these activities and measure if the performance has really improved or not. 

GET Enterprise test

Result of the test was 63% for the whole test; the results refer to many important points relating to the enterprising characteristics that I currently have and what needed for me in the future. The score tells that I need to develop my own enterprising features in order to have more strengths if I want to start a special business and succeed in it. The results make me think that I should develop my enterprising abilities in order to reach better levels of professionalism. I should train myself more and practice more work in order to maintain stronger enterprising abilities and skills. Regarding my achievement; I think I need to be more independent and work in projects that can represent me rather than others. I think I am imaginative and I have a creative tendency. I need to be able to take more risks when needed and don't depend on luck in finding good opportunities. My autonomy seems to be low which tells that I should engage in team works more than currently because team work can improve my ability to work in teams; the fact is that I prefer working within teams than being alone but I still don't have a specific role within the team. I am a person who can accept managers' orders and instructions but I need to be more adequate. The score tells that I prefer the entrepreneur ideas that are ready and I need to be more risky; this is to some extent true as although I can take risks; I prefer well studied ideas and perhaps this reduces the opportunities I can meet if I tried new ideas. The test tells that I have a quite good level of creativity but I need to develop it and try more entrepreneurship experiences. Generally I have creative and innovative lifestyle as I prefer trying new travelling experiences, camping trips and I like to try new games and new adventure but perhaps at work, I am a bit that creative person because sometimes I prefer the well thought ideas than new ones as I fear of failures and try to be secured a bit. The test results explain that I really own some different entrepreneurial advantages but they are not enough for me to lead a successful and great business as results show that need to take more risks, be more creative, have more self confidence and be more independent, results also tell that I should take more roles working within teams as this can improve my self confidence and can also add many experiences to me. My ideas development needs to be strengthened as ideas have to be supported by researches and analysis as well as experiences in different project management areas. Results give some opinion about me that are really identical and make me rethink in the way I mean to follow when running my own business but they are not very exact or accurate in some specific areas such as working with teams as I like team work greatly and regarding creativity as I prefer to be creative but perhaps I can't find the opportunity at work or the encouragement from my leaders to be creative as failure there means severe punishment. The test was a good experience that can help me develop my own skills and abilities in order to get better career 
opportunities.   

This test gave me a score of 59.19 % and its typical score is 63.48%. The score I got explains that the score got on the GET test was right to a great extent. The Aluive test explains that I possess a medium abstraction level which refers to the abstraction of concepts gained from ideas added to a good level of making connections for things connected naturally; this part tells that I am in a strong need for being engaged within teams and team work tasks in order to be able to make better connection relationships and to be able to have better communication skills and abilities and this can be done via training and real team work experiences. The test represents me as having 50% ability for changing my own perspectives in different situations which differ depending on some certain circumstances such as time, space and others and this gives an idea about me that I am not flexible enough when it is related to change my own opinion or view which is related to the results of the GET test that confirms that I have to work more with people and accept their ideas in some times. Concerning curiosity; the test explains that I need to be more curious in order to reach higher levels of creativity and innovation; this result differs to some extent of the results of the GTE result that showed low levels of creativity and these results explain that I need to apply my own creativity that I really have at real work experience and to have the courage that enables me to present the creative ideas I have and let them be applied. Regarding boldness; the test tells I have some boldness but not to the extent that gives me the opportunities of making successful business myself and this tells that the GET test results were right and makes me eager to develop my abilities in expressing myself, my ideas and having more self confidence that can enable me to be more successful in enterprising business. The paradox ability represents my skills in doing coordinated business and contradicted jobs and this was also mentioned in the GET test made before so the opinion is true and this makes me very interested in developing my team work abilities and reevaluate them in order to work better with others, discuss their ideas and accept them in team works. Complexity level I have based on this test tells that I am good enough in managing data and dealing with information that is very large and this is identical with what was suggested about me in the GET test yet I also need to train myself on working with very advanced information systems. The test also explains that I possess persistency skills which explain what was not mentioned in the GET test that said I lack enough presentation for innovative solutions.

My life actions, my career and my business world have affected my skills, experiences and abilities a lot as I have faced different situations that made me identify a defect in my character and in the way I follow to deal with business matters, for example, I am very creative when I am with family and friends; I always suggest crazy ideas and new suggestions that everyone appreciate and prefer as they can save time and effort and provide pleasure to others in addition of being practical, useful and successful. This is different from the way I do at work as when I have some new innovative ideas, I don't have the full courage to present them to my boss or my team work and I think this is due to my shyness as I was brought up in a social way that gives much interest to family life rather than social life with strangers; I think I have to train myself to be more dare at work and be able to accept criticism better in order to make use of the creative ideas I really have at work and the innovations that I think sometimes they are silly but others present them and succeed. According to Treffinger et al, (2002) creative thinking should be aligned with courage to apply creative ideas and make them successful, openness is also needed because it enables the individual to discuss different ideas bravely and accept different opinions and make decisions easily.

Regarding my leadership abilities, I am good at leading teams as I listen to the team members, motivate them to work and encourage their ideas but I need to make more research about different entrepreneurship skills that can enhance my own independence as those discussed by Rudmann, (2008) as he affirmed that the entrepreneurship skills can help the employee face the changing environment and maintain better leadership opportunities and cope with the increasing complexity related to work environment. The influences that affected my character throughout my life are many such as my education as I used to follow orders and instructions without discussing my bosses or presenting any new ideas as I was educated in Arabic Omani schools that didn't focus too much on creativity, discussions and innovations. This affected my own abilities to be courageous at work and discuss my innovations and creative ideas to my bosses and also reduced my ability to work within teams as team work wasn't found in my education. Another factor is the experience I had during work as it changed my shyness to some extent and enabled me to take leadership positions and engage with team work, I received different training programs in leadership, leading teams and present unique ideas that are practical and useful. I also took roles within group work projects that enabled me to accept criticism to some extent and be a good listener but I need to have more experience in this regard. 

Within the family, I was encouraged and loved and many members of the family encouraged me especially my uncle who is a successful business man as he gave me much advice about business and was always telling me that I need to be more dare and creative at work but I usually took his advice for fun; now I think I have to take his advice more seriously and begin to build up my entrepreneurship skills. My father also encouraged me to begin my own business and gave me lot of motivation and advice about the importance of communication with work mates.   

Improving my character traits are very important to establish a new own business as I should give much more importance to projects' deadline, working with teams and leading teams. I really have good and strong leadership skills but I need to do more research to add to my skills and develop them as well as being trained on working more with teams and groups. Shared leadership is according to Mielonen, (2011) is important for enhancing team work and cooperative business in addition to its role in enhancing communication and problem solving. I have to make evaluation for my own traits in order to find out what I really need and how to develop my own abilities, skills and experiences. I need also to join training courses in different areas of business in order to develop my experience and enterprising skills. I have to work hard in order to train myself be better regarding the shortage in dealing with mates, discussing opinions and suggestions and working within teams in a cooperative work environment; I have also to be a listener for the advice told to me by others such as my boss, my family members and this shouldn't make me lose my self confidence because I know that I really master good leadership skills with a reasonable level of entrepreneurship that needs to be developed. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the tests I made and the evaluation process I applied on my own business and entrepreneurship abilities were very useful to me and made me discover many things about my character and business traits; I realized some strengths that I really have such as my leadership abilities and also discovered some weaknesses I have such as my ability to work within teams and the initiation of being creative and innovative as I usually felt that my boss should encourage me more although he always does but my shyness has lead me to lose many good work opportunities and many benefits from the teams I joined and worked for. I have to make good use of such experience by adding experiences and developments to my business traits and to face the challenges I face at work bravely.

International Marketing Coca Cola Cast Study

Introduction about the company and its products

The Coca-Cola company is an international beverage company based in the USA. It is a manufacturer for soft drinks and syrups and it has many branches and subsidiaries all over the world but its headquarter is found in Atlanta, Georgia. The main product of the company is its fizzy drink, Coca-Cola which was made by John Stith Pemberton who was a pharmacist in 1886. The company followed a franchised system of distribution that began in 1889 as the company used to distribute its concentrate to other worldwide bottlers. Coca –Cola company acquired lots of brand throughout time such as Minute Maid, Thums Upin and Barq's. Coca-Cola had made its first try to manufacture a diet soft drink which was Tab in 1963. There are many soft drinls produced by the company such as Fanta andSprite. In South Africa, there is Valpre which is a sparkling and Stillwater. The company also produces healthy products such as minute made juices, Dasani mineral water, Fruitopia fruit drink and Nestea which is a favored ice tea. Coca-Cola is considered a bestselling company for soft drinks internationally and it almost shares the market with Pepsi in addition to other minor competitors. There are other products for the Coca-Cola company such as its green tea called Enviga issued in  2006 and Glaceau which was bought by the company in 2007 and produced flavored water and burn energy drinks. The current research is discussing how Coca-Cola company used internationalization in all its business operations and an evaluation and analysis for its strategies and the impact of social and cultural factors on the target market. (Wirtz and Dominguez, 2013)       

Company's rational behind internationalization

Internationalization is a basic goal that the company worked to achieve since its beginning and to achieve it, it followed global diversification. Internationalization was a major goal for the company to achieve for various reasons such as building a strong background of customers and fans all over the world, raising its share in the global market and increase the profits of the company, stressing the importance of the brand and having different subsidiaries all over the world in order to affect national life and be a part of everyone's life and shares in the happiness of the whole world. Internationalization has been a major target for Coca-Cola so as it could enable the company to control the global market and business of beverage and drinking all over the world. Internationalization was to raise the chances of Coca-Cola to have a worldwide impression and prevail in all countries of the world as a formal drink for occasions and happy times. Internationalization was a way to connect the whole world via a drink that can express the feelings and desires of worldwide nations and cultures. Internationalization was meant to enhance the company's image among other companies and competitors. (Vrontis, 2003)         

Mode of entry

Some strategies the company uses to invade global markets in different areas and countries of the world such as:

1. Licensing

Franchising was a major strategy to be followed by the company as many countries around the world have subsidiaries for Coca-Cola with its brand, experience and concept. Turnkey contracts were also used by the company as large factories were built in different countries for Coca-Cola and their employees were prepared to represent the company internationally. 

2. International agents

Agents were used in the different countries where the company's products were used globally as there are agencies and individuals that the company made deals with in order to distribute its products locally. Distribution using agents is a good strategy the company follows because it is cheap and practical as those agents work hard in order to receive a omission for the distributed number of products and at the same time Coca-Cola still has the control over those agents.  

3. Joint Ventures

The company made very good joint ventures with other companies in order to produce new products that can find popularity among the customers such as that joint venture made with Nestle in order to produce the company's Nestea which is a tea with flavors and iced.

4. International Subsidiaries

Coca-Cola company has many factories in different countries all over the world as this policy was used since the beginning of the company's history in order to establish subsidiaries that work for the company's welfare and make more profits and increase the popularity of Coca-Cola around the world. 

5. Exporting

There are many subsidiaries related to Coca-Cola and there are other places where there aren't subsidiaries for the company so exporting strategy is followed there as the main company sends them readymade drinks and juices and water in order to keep its nationalization there where the people should be well acquainted with Coca-Cola brands and products.  (Mok et al, 2002)

Evaluation for the marketing mix strategies adopted by the company 

Coca-Cola has a distinguished marketing mix strategy that depends on many factors related to demographics and geographic elements related to the company and the areas where it manufactures, produces and distributes its products such as the following evaluated ones:

 Product

The company concentrates on its main products in a way that can produce a diversity of outputs that can be easily marketed and can suit all types of consumers as the company has about 3500 types of products such as 1000 types of juices that come in different brands such as Hi, C, Odwalla, Fuze, Simply, MinuteMaid  and Fruitopia. There are a variety in fizzy drinks such as Cock Zero and Fanta and Sprite. Mineral water is also produced such as Dasani and flavored water. The company also produces ice teas with fruit flavors and power drinks. The great variety made by the company lead to its success as an international beloved company. 

Price

Coca-Cola is a leading company in providing suitable prices and sales and offers that attract its customers to more purchasing processes and raises the brand's name among consumers of different nationalities all over the world. Prices are set according a pricing strategy depends on matching prices with products and keeping a competitive advantage over other market rivals.

Place

Coca-Cola tends to keep its existence in most countries of the world and trying to be the best and participate in worldwide actions and events such as the World Cup for football and others. Distribution depends on targeting the most crowded areas in the world and assigning agents there who are able to reach as many places as possible and distribute as many products as possible and get commissions for this.

Promotion

The company is following a policy of advertising which is very successful as it chooses the beloved local land international actors and singers in order to make them provide its products professionally and bring in more customers through the commercials and other advertisement ways.  (coca-colacompany, 2015)

Coca-Cola Brand positioning and advertising strategy

Coca-Cola has been originating its brand in the global society by being an international company that depends on producing the best drinks all over the world and it insisted on raising a value of the product in order to position its brands at top of all soft drinks all over the world. It has been even used as a mix with wines to make different tasty cocktails. The brand was strengthening through advertising which was effectively used by the company. Since its beginning the brand of Coca- Cola was the most common in American movies and cinemas all over the world. During time periods the company has evolved from simplicity to comprehension as a global brand.  Advertising in Coca -Cola has followed a smart strategy of advertising and promotion which depended on spreading everywhere, realizing people's needs, desires and ambitions. This strategy depends on studying each market and discussing its main components as a community and a society at first. There were worldwide commercials that depended on making the brand strongly affecting the global world and sharing its events and festivals. The company used to put big budgets to be spent on advertisements as, for example, in 2013, the company spent about 7% of its annual revenues estimated with 3,37 billion dollars on advertisements which included loyalty points programs, in store activation and point of sale marketing. (Bailey, 2014).

Competitor analysis

Coca-Cola has been always a major competitor to Pepsi as the market is almost divided between them with a little share to other companies such as Schweppes. Coca-Cola has many competitive advantages such as the delicious taste, original shape of the bottle, different tastes and different products. An example is the company's products in a country such as India where Pepsi and Coca-Cola are the most sold products of fizzy drinks and juices. The company was founded in India in 1886. The company has lots of products in India such as coke, diet coke, thumps up, sprite, limca, maaza, fanta, Georgia and Kinley. The two companies can be compared as follows:

Feature	coke	Pepsi
Parent company	Coca-Cola company	Pepsi company
Sales	450 globally	324 million globally
Distribution	Retailers, stores	Retailers, stores
Market share	57,8%	35,6%
Number of bottles plants	26 owned by the company and 16 franchised	15 owned by the company and 28 franchised

Table 1 Coca Cola Pepsi Competitor Analysis

It is clear that the company has a competitive advantage over its main competitor Pepsi and this makes it having very good chances there to increase its sales and profits. (Shinde, 2013)

Social and cultural factors impact on the target market in an international environment

The market is usually affected by social and cultural factors that international companies target in order to market their products in these markets and reach internationalization easily. Different markets in different places affect the process of products marketing as there are different in each market which could be social or cultural such as religion, traditions, norms, economies and languages. Competitiveness is based on realizing such differences and considering methods to deal with them in order to understand the nature of customers and the way they think of products and what the best ways to reach them as a brand through recognizing the local nature of the people. Coca-Cola was successful in doing this as the company understood the nature of each people it deals with and this is clear in the commercials and advertisements which differ from a country to another. (Writers, 2012) An example on this is avoiding using wines and alcoholic substances to be produced in any country that rejects them such as Islamic countries and avoiding commercials that may be rejected there. Another thing is that the company considers differences in languages so each product is advertised in the language where it is distributed. Religion is also considered in the way the products are served and distributed and marketed as the company for example presents special offers for the customers in Islamic countries in Eids and shares the happiness of people in their Eids with new promotions and offers.  Language is considered highly in Coca Cola's innovation ideas for bringing more customers such as the idea of writing names of people on the cans as the names are written both in English and in the language of the area where the cans are produced and distributed and the nature of names are also regarded as names found on cans in the Gulf area differ from names on cans in Egypt or Tunisia for example. This shows how Coca-Cola was intelligent and still is in its methods of distribution and marketing for its products to apply internationalization effectively.(Umar, 2015)             

The factors that influence the decision in developing distribution channels internationally

1. Factors related to the products' features

Features of any product can decide the market that needs development by the company to work as an international distributor so the product should be well analyzed and studied by the company in order to recognize its main merits and demerits. This can help for choosing the channels of distribution, the types of advertisements, the suitable services that should be chosen to be presented for the customers and if the product fits those customers or not. For example a product such as Coke zero which is made for those who suffer obesity should be presented in the areas that have high obesity numbers of people such as the Gulf area where this product is well welcomed and preferred by most people. (Dent, 2012)

2. Factors related to the company's features

The company has certain main features such as production size, reputation, policy and strategy and these factors affect the decisions took about the channels used for distribution internationally. The strong reputation and good name of the company helps it reach any area that it seeks. Although Coca-Cola is common in more than 200 countries around the world, the company can use its name and strong brands to market them in other areas around the world. 

3. Factors depending on the characteristics of the customers

The successful business should study the features off consumers who are the customers in order to choose international channels easily and correctly. Location of the market and amount of purchasing can decide the channel where the products can be served.

4. Middlemen considerations

Middlemen characteristics should be well studied by the company as they should be recognized and the company should set a policy for dealing with them in each channel and each channel should have a different plan with middlemen.

5. Factors depending on characteristics of the environment.    

The environment can decide what the best channels are and what strategy should be used in each environment as each channel can be included under environment's circumstances such as laws, government taxations and legislations that should decide the easiest and most convenient circumstances to decide the channel. (Scribd, 2015) 

Conclusion and findings of framework analysis

Coca-Cola is a company that sells its products of beverages and soft drinks products all over the world for many countries all over the world as it is among the best sellers in the world in many areas. Internationalization is a major concept that the company considers a great interest in order to vast its prevailing around the world. There are many factors decide the process of internationalization. The company’s mode of entry depends on many major points such as licensing, pricing and others. These main points decide the mode of entry the company follows. The company is competing with other companies such as Pepsi in many points. There are factors that decide the channels the company choose for distribution and these factors should be carefully chosen in order to raise the company's profits through internationalization.

Tracheostomy Nursing Case Study

Many nurses see that tracheostomy care is difficult and frightening but it only needs to be well understood to be managed. Caring for patients with chest tubes needs confident nurses who realize the proper use and conditions relevant to it. Chest tubes are usually used for helping patients who suffer disrupt in their pleural space. Small amounts of fluids can be absorbed by the body and this can occur to air as well over time. Lung expansion can be limited by larger amounts and this can cause respiratory distress. When the patient suffers a tension pneumothorax, it is important to insert a needle to reduce pressure and insert a chest tube. (RCH, 2015)The current assignment is a case study of a patient who entered to the critical care unit after having a heart surgery as the patient had a history of obstructive pulmonary and he needed to have a tracheostomy as a decision made by him and his physician. The assignment will critically discuss the nursing care the patient needs and a nursing diagnosis with its related goal and nursing intervention, the assignment also includes a personal reasoning for choosing me for dealing with this type of care with an evaluation for the relevant literature.

Mr. X ,  a 60 years old patient who suffered a chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, was admitted at the critical care unit for having a tracheostomy as he made an open heart surgery and after the operation, the patient was in need for prolonged mechanical ventilation as the first week after the operation was for recovery and the second week he tried to wean from the ventilator but he was suffering from the endotracheal tube (ET) so his physician decided to use a tracheostomy. The patient was in need for removing and checking the inner cannula as a first step of the nursing care. According to the MOH nursing clinical practice guidelines, (2010) the nursing care can include many care areas such as preventing any problems that may associate tracheostomy such as infection; this is really proved within the critical care unit experiences as I found this occurring many times and in some cases, infection can lead to the death of patients. Cleaning the tube is a very important matter as according to many researchers such as Timby, (2009) cleaning means cleaning the skin that surrounds the stoma, making sure the inner cannula is clean and cleaning the dressing; this view lacks some important procedures such as changing the dressing as according to (NHS, 2009)changing the dressing regularly ensures that the patient is away from infections by maintaining a clean and dry tracheal stoma. From my own experience, changing the dressing can also keep the patient's tissue from damage. Norton, (2009) added to the previous views that there are many types of nursing care that can be presented to a patient who has tracheostomy and this is observed through my experience in the critical care units as there are a variety of nursing interventions that are relevant to tracheostomy such as monitoring the airway to check the nutrition process and its safety, monitoring the way the patient is coughing, breathing and checking if the patient is suffering pains. Secretions should also be monitored to ensure the safety of suctioning process. Nursing care should include the cleanliness of the nurse such as using gloves that should be sterile when providing care of suctioning and  inner cannula. Norton, (2009) also focused on more important care aspects that other researchers neglected which are the emotional and communicational care as the patient should have a pen and a paper to write when possible or even charts that contain alphabets. What was previously mentioned is very useful when a nurse is delivering care for a patient with tracheostomy but there are cases that the patient needs more nursing care that can be urgent and well chosen, from my experience, the case of having tracheostomy is surprising and needs continuous monitoring. Friedman, (2009)discussed the complications that can associate tracheostomy or follow it and they need nursing care regularly to prevent them; examples are bleeding, stomal infection and accidental decannulation. 

Tracheostomy is a care procedure that is usually made in the intensive care unit for patients staying in hospital for treatment. It is a stoma that is done under the larynx in the trachea for reasons such as overcoming the obstruction of the upper airway, making the mechanical ventilation easy or for removing the secretions. (Brower and Cohn, 2012). This can be done for the patient as an emergency condition or permenantly and it is using a plastic tube which is hollow. Treatment and care for a patient with a tracheostomy should be planned and with the help of a multidisciplinary team that includes efficient nurses. There are different individual needs for each patient that should be considered when using tracheostomy by nurses and other caregivers in order to ensure the patient's safety and better outcomes and prevent any complications that can be resulting from tracheostomy. (Morris et al, 2013).  

Mr. X remained in the hospital for 15 days, his wife was with him, during this period, a multidisciplinary team was responsible for him, I was asked to provide him with interventions related to the diagnosis of his anxiety and communication level because my preceptor reported that the patient refuses to receive tracheostomy care and this can affect the patient physiologically and psychologically as this is able to delay the healing and may also lead to complications. (Tate et al, 2013). The patient was anxious since the first day of having the tracheostomy tube and he refused to communicate with me at first, then I tried to assess how far he understands the care required for the tracheostomy tube by monitoring the symptoms of fear and nervousness of the patient and I tried to ask his wife to get his consent on the intervention. His wife convinced him to receive the intervention and I tried to inform him simply about the importance of the care and how it can reduce any infections and complications. His blood pressure was measured and his heart rate and slightly higher rates were found so it was important to inform him how to keep relaxed. I informed the patient about the importance of the treachestomy care and the problems he may suffer if he refuses it, the patient was relaxed and expressed his fears using cards and paper and pens. I tried to reduce his anxiety by telling him all information he needed to know about his condition and how to care for himself after discharge. On the discharge day, I informed the patient and his wife about basics of changing the cannula and the way of cleansing the stoma, redressing it and how to flush water into the feeding tube as well as telling them about the means of Jackson-Prat drain emptying. I assured to them that there is a home nursing care as there are special nurses authorized by the hospital to visit the patient at home for the purposes of tube feeding. I taught the patient how to cough correctly and I taught the patient basics of self suctioning to avoid infections resulting from sputum that hinders the work of the tube.  In a study made by Breckenridge et al, (2014) tracheostomy placement impact on patients' anxiety was discussed and they reported that many of the study participants suffered before the trachesostomy as the mechanical ventilation was tiring to them but using tracheostomy didn't relieve them as they also suffered verbal communication, pain, fatigue, difficulty in coughing and being thirsty; the study reports that there aren't many patients reported feeling comfort after having the tracheostomy while other studies such as that conducted by Silveira, (2009) reported that most patients stated that they felt more comfort after having tracheostomy especially with the nursing interventions meant to relieve their fears and anxiety as well as the education they received during the nursing interventions as the information they had helped them feel more confident in the medical procedures they should receive during other care interventions for tube care. Anxiety is referred to as a condition that is characterized with an increased tension activity and prolonged apprehension case that makes the patient have fears and hypertensive attitude. Anxiety is said to accompany many illnesses and medical conditions such as tracheostomy and the relevant care procedures. (Myers and Gulanick, 2010).

Crosby, (2012) evaluated trachesostomy care anxiety relief and how it can occur via nurses who are well trained on informing the patient's family and carers about the right home care procedures for helping the patient get rid of his anxiety, he stated that it is not good to wait till the day of discharge in order to inform the family about the care procedures required for helping the patient as this raises the anxiety of the patient and makes him worry about the care he will receive at home but it is better to provide families with training and involve them into programs for relieving the anxiety of the patient using many ways; in my care experience for Mr. X, I didn't follow this step but I waited till the day of discharge and provided the wife with a paper that includes instructions for care which may not be very helpful for the patient as the study confirms that the families who were engaged in training courses for relieving anxiety reported that their patients were very comfortable and got rid of their fears and anxiety better than other families who received the education and training very late. Hughson et al, (2012) discussed how patients lose the ability to talk with the use of tracheostomy so it is important for the nurse to focus on means for communicating with the patient, the nurse should provide the patient with cards to use when they need something such as pictured cards with water, toilets, family members, noise or others. They also referred to anxiety and that there is a nursing intervention for managing it which is providing the patient with privacy and informing the patient about the side effects that suctioning may lead to such as coughing but during my nursing experience with my patient, I found this may increase the patient's anxiety and he may refuse the nursing interventions for tracheostomy as the culture of the patient plays a role, instead I decided to tell the wife of Mr. X about coughing effect and she in turn told her husband and relaxed him but Murr et al, (2014). Asserted on informing the patient with all side effects and not informing him that everything is ok or let family tell him as the information may be changed by the family members and it is the nurse responsibility to relieve the patient's anxiety and to choose the correct simple words that don't bear scientific terms to inform him.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is necessary to focus on the learning I gained from the nursing experience with the patient with tracheostomy as I learnt that it is important to provide the patient with the proper education needed for managing any problem resulting from the tube and I learned to provide the information for the patient with myself. Another learnt experience is to informing the patient's family with information about home care since the admittion day of the patient and it is wrong to wait till discharge day and give the information as instructions only because this may increase the patient's anxiety. Relieving the patient's anxiety can also be done by using music as a therapy that is able to reduce the patient's anxiety and help him get relaxed sleep and overcome his stress as it is recommended that music becomes a part of the care provided within the critical care unit and to equip it with musical instruments. (Ciftci and Oztunc, 2015). Music interventions are proved by many researchers to provide the patient with more opportunities for healing faster than traditional techniques and music therapy can be associated with relaxation exercises to fasten healing and improving patient's outcomes. (Miller, 2009). 

Business Administration Luxury Brands

Introduction

Luxury brands are attracting people from all over the world to possess them and boast owning them today. The industry of luxury branding is widely known nowadays as it is the emerging result of communication, mutual trade policies and a variety of business techniques that depend on globalization and information technology in order to reach the greatest number of consumers internationally. Purchasing luxury products began as a type of complements as these products used to be very fine mostly handmade pieces of art to be bought by only very rich socially distinguished people. It turned within ages of time to be a great industry purchased by many types of people. Luxury brands industry can be affected by many factors that can control it such as cultural factors, consumer behaviors and other factors. In this assignment, luxury brand will be discussed as an industry through reading, analyzing and discussing an article related to it, then the assignment will discuss the strengths of the article besides its weakness regarding its method in discussing luxury brand industry. The impact of the luxury branding on worldwide consumers will be discussed in addition to discussing the value in use in relation to the luxury brands.

Summary

In past years, only high class families tended to purchase the luxury goods as it was a sign of superiority in the society as the high quality goods were expensive and sold among limited numbers of people, this concept has been subject to many changes as time passed so many people were attracted to luxury goods and that was the start of brand building. There were certain companies that gave much interest to the luxury brands as their customers were attracted by the appreciation of society to them when they possess such goods. Stories and drama were the tools used by companies to add mystery effect to the products which lead to forming the brand identity. Today, the luxury brands are affected with macro environmental trends that are numerous as the internet, globalization and e-commerce. There are also social, cultural besides the external trends. Globalization is an example for the cultural trends because cultures are affected with it through the exchange of concepts and beliefs it leaves over worldwide peoples. People learned to love the brands as they represent a prestigious state all the world aspire to have. There is a difference in the way consumers purchase luxury goods and this is caused by market segments. Luxury products have characteristics that affect the way people buy them. The luxury brand then can be recognized by these characteristics as all luxury goods are having a high level of uniqueness, quality and pricing. There are sets of conditions distinguish the existence of luxury products and they form a consumer perceived value for certain features such as the product's quality, conspicuousness, hedonism, uniqueness and others. According to cultural differences between nations, consumers' perceptions for the luxury brands differ. Luxury brands value can be enhanced through many ways such as experiencing the luxury products and using them by the consumers who can realize the product in different ways. Brands are usually produced aligned with a story of love, success or creativity and this effect is what gives the products the brand meaning which is essential in realizing the relationship that connects a consumer with a certain brand. Consumers of the luxury brands are affected with the prestigious impact the brand leaves over their lives as the product's value in use affect them. The recent international marketplaces specify the characteristics of the luxury brands by the demands of firms and consumers. 

Evaluation

The article writers was good when he referred to the luxury branding start and how it began since the beginning of man civilization and its changing into brand building that focuses on a dramatic events to attract consumers as Ghodeswar, (2008) confirmed that brand building is a long life process and a life way which takes time to be made.  The people are affected with the luxury brands and they have relationships with them as the story related to the brand can leave its impact on their souls which make them purchase the product whatever expensive price it has. The article writers Oliver and Seo,(2015) discussed the brand identity and explained how it is formed with a cultural effect as the dreams of people in a place are not the same dreams of other people in different places. The country's heritage is the factor that decides the type of brands people are attracted to as in India people's preferences in brands differ from the preferences of Indian. Ghodeswar, (2008) referred to brand identity and related it to brand associations that bear promises of quality to their customers, he referred to what he called the core identity which is the service and product performance the brand is focusing on. Oliver and Seo,(2015) discussed that the brand identity can be formed according to the consumers it is addressing because globalization and travelling lead to a change in the way people consider brands as education for example affected the worldwide students to love the international brands even if the history of their countries doesn't support brands, they also discussed macro environmental trends' impact on the luxury branding industry and they defined luxury as the consequences of a relationship that occurs between cultures and it is based on a socio-psychological perspective. Ghodeswar, (2008) defined brand by being a symbol such as a trademark or a logo that is set for identifying a product or a service of a seller and can bring certain qualities to the customers. This definition was good and the article of Oliver and Seo,(2015) lacked such a definition which is a weakness in it. Ghodeswar, (2008)stated that brand identity is built on a deep understanding for the company manufacturer's competitors, customers and the general business environment and this was also missing from the article of Oliver and Seo,(2015) as it focused on people's dreams and requirements with relation to the needs of the company.   

Oliver and Seo, (2015)discussed market segments and how they play a big role in controlling the behaviors of consumers towards the luxury brands as they referred to changes in the customer behavior resulting from the area where the customer comes from, this is completely true and real as according to a view by Husic and Mehmedovic, (2015) the regional approach in segmenting the market of luxury branding depends on the consumers' demographics in order to segment consumers such as consumers sharing certain social or cultural characteristics; they also focused on the lifestyles of consumers as they can decide consumers' perceptions to luxury branding but the writers Oliver and Seo, (2015) neglected other things such as the perceptions of consumers regarding the luxury brands as segmentation of consumers can be based upon the perceptions they have for each brand as this was confirmed by Teimourpour et al, (2012) as they confirmed on the segmentation which is based on perceptions of consumers in addition to the product's country of origin; this means that the product comes from USA for example has a different consumer perception from a product comes from Italy. The article writers Oliver and Seo, (2015) only focused on segmenting customers according to their culture which is another weakness in their article.

For evaluating the article written by Oliver and Seo, (2015), it is found that they were very strong in presenting the characteristics of the consumers' values about the sold luxury goods as they discussed these characteristics such as uniqueness, pricing and quality. Teimourpour et al, (2012) discussed the consumers' values to luxury brands as they discussed some value dimensions that can tell how the consumers regard the brands, be attracted to them and their perceptions to them; they referred to the quality value which should be better than any product in the market as it is expected to be received by the consumer, they discussed the uniqueness that the consumer purchases the product for as owning such a luxury product is not repeated by many consumers but some categories.  Teimourpour et al, (2012) added that there are other dimensions for the consumers' values such as the usability value which can refer to the usage of the product and that customers need certain usage conditions they need. They also added that there is the financial value as the consumers realize and expect that the luxury product is of high value so it is not reasonable to purchase a brand product which is very cheap as this will make consumers devalue the product and perhaps not buying it.

Oliver and Seo (2015) discussed how the cultural factors leave their impact on the consumers of the luxury brands, they also stated that there are other circumstances affect the consumers behaviors such as the geographical conditions or the social conditions as consumers' perceptions to luxury branding are highly affected by such factors which is globally regarded. Ghodeswar, (2008) also discussed these factors as he referred to the factors that play a role in positioning the product into the consumers' minds and this affects their perceptions in return; he referred to the social cause of purchasing a luxury product and mentioned that companies follow the social causes and build their brands on them. Mehmedovic and Husic, (2015)defined "luxury" to be a group of goods that brings in a type of prestige to its purchasers due to high quality that is well perceived by customers. They discussed the brand awareness people have and that consumers of luxury branding goods have high levels of customer loyalty. They stated how consumers can be motivated to buy the luxury products by an inner feeling of being unique, they referred to a luxury branding model that has some dimensions such as history, product integrity, value driven emergence, endorsement and marketing, they mentioned five values relevant to five motivations and this results in five categories of consumers of luxury branding including the perfectionists and hedonists. They discussed how luxury brands consumers are sophisticated in all details such as packaging or finishing of the product. Oliver and Seo (2015) mentioned three kinds of consuming attitudes such as the democratic, the elitist and the distant but he forgot to mention the type that has no idea about brands but can be urged when he owns the money to buy them and the desire and knowledge. This is a weakness as the article's writers didn't discuss how companies today are not only targeting the elite of the society but they may also target any category that has the money to buy their products even if they are not from a very high social class but they aspire to look like high class society. This assures the view that confirms on the importance of social effects on consumers' perceptions as many consumers of luxury brands are not in fact belong to an elite category of society but they wish to be so that's why they search for the best luxury brands products and boast they possess them in society.    

Application of the article evaluation to the Omani market

In Oman, people like to buy luxury products as it is a rich Gulf country which is characterized with the Arabian life features such as buying good and fine products in order to show how wealthy you are as well as buying luxury products such as clothes and perfumes as a part of the Arabian culture. Consumers' behaviors are that of the Arabian Gulf behaviors, they are very attracted to Western life as a result of the trade exchange occurring between Oman and America so people of Oman are good consumers of luxury brands. As a country of the Middle East, Omani people like to try new worldwide products and they send their young youth to countries around the world to educate and get high certificates, this results in acquiring good knowledge and information about brands and luxury products and this raises the consumers' purchasing rates for luxury products; for example, people in Oman prefer buying the most luxurious cars in the world such as Rolls Royce as the company has its branch in Oman Called Oman Rolls Royce and the people in Oman like to purchase accessories relevant to the luxurious care with high rates, according to the Times of Oman newspaper, rates of Rolls Royce sales in Oman increases with 27% which indicates how much the Omani people are interested in luxurious goods and luxury branding. (Omantimes, 2015). People in Oman like all types of art because they have a good artistic heritage, their women usually like to appear net and lovely as they prefer purchasing the very expensive brands of clothes, perfumes and make up. The Omani history is full of art and handicraft as these pieces of handicrafts used to be sold at very high prices for the elite of the society in old Oman and people used to buy them as a mark of being from the high social classes. Oman is a country that has rich oil product which makes it a country with a strong market that is full of business and attracts people from many destinations and countries all over the world which raises the market segmentation of Oman and results in a wide variety of consumers of different demographic features and this raises the consumers' purchasing rates for luxury products. Oman market is full of great malls that attract many consumers to purchase the luxury brands products these malls sell in addition to the big number of car shows, electronics shows and shows for different products and all of them are full of the best brands products from all over the world. According to what was discussed in the previous evaluation, Oman market considers a good place for marketing the luxurious brands for many international manufacturers due to the consumers' behaviors in Oman, their purchasing attitudes and their perceptions for the luxury brands and their products found in the rich Omani market. (Capstone, 2013).

Conclusion

Luxury branding is an industry that attracts many people of different social classes but it used to be specialized in attracting only rich people of the high classes in the past. Many factors today resulted in making luxury branding a common industry that attracts so many people all over the world through a dramatic effect. Globalization and communication are among these factors. Luxury branding has an identity that is built by many characteristics of the products these brands are issuing such as being of very high price, high quality and uniqueness. Consumers' behaviors and attitudes identify their perceptions of the luxury brands. Market segmentation can decide how consumers react to the luxury products according to the nature of these segmentations. The luxury brands' value in use is important for attracting many consumers as firms focus on what consumers really use for valuing the product and how important the product is to them and their prestige in society. Oman market is a distinguished rich market that is full of luxury brands all Omani people purchase.