Thesis Requirements - Essay Example

?Thesis Requirements This analyses is of a thesis, therefore there needs to be a ment regarding what the requirements are of a thesis, then determine if this particular paper meets all these stated requirements. First of, a thesis needs to have an introduction. An introduction will briefly state what the literature is surrounding the issue, what the research questions are, what the methodology is, and what the theoretical framework is for the overall thesis. A thesis also must have a literature review – a literature review will review the journals and books that give the background to the research questions which are presented, while opening up areas which need more study or questions which are not yet answered by previous studies. A thesis also must have an explanation of the methodology – how was the information gathered to answer the research questions, how many participants, and what is the theory behind the methods? Another section which is a part of a thesis requirements is the research findings, which explain what the data was, and interprets the data so that the research questions are answered. Conclusions and recommendations are another necessary section, in which the thesis is explained in a nutshell, and the recommendations are areas for further study, as well as recommendations on how to apply the information that was gathered in the study. Therefore, if these basic requirements are met, then the thesis is complete. This thesis will be analyzed for these basic requirements, as well as being analyzed for how completely these requirements are met. Part 1 - Introduction The first part of the paper is the Introduction. The function of the Introduction is to introduce the problem, outline the promotional strategy, and give an outline of the research objectives, questions, structure, and theory behind the dissertation. Moreover, the introduction also provides a brief chapter overview, in which the introduction chapter is synthesized. The good was that the Introduction was well thought-out and well-organized. The introduction was superior in giving an overview and preview of what was ahead in the rest of the dissertation. What a good introduction does is whet the appetite – it is supposed to give brief synopses of all the different parts of the structure of the paper, and give a brief reason for the dissertation itself. This introduction did this very well, in that it was broken down into discrete parts that explained each of the sections of the thesis that was to come. Moreover, it outlined the research objectives very well – the objectives were concise and pinpointed, and gave a good framework for the rest of the dissertation. The reader knows what issues will be presented by looking at the objectives. There were also problems, in that the research questions were not as aligned with the research objectives as they could have been. The research objectives were very specific, and they encompassed much of what the research questions would not answer. Of course, it is possible that, through inquisition by the research questions, the dissertation could still answer and meet the objectives, but the questions should be more pinpointed to answer what the objectives of the research are. Therefore, the research questions probably should have been reworked so that they would more closely answer the issues which were presented in the objectives. Either that, or the objectives should be reworked to fit the research questions. Another section of the Introduction is the theoretical framework. This was a concise statement that gave the overall dissertation some theoretical heft, but examining in brief the literature that is focused upon the dissertation’s subject. While much of this would also be in the literature review, it is still advisable to put this information also in the introduction so that the reader can have a brief explanation for what the literature is on the subject, and how this literature shows that the question that is presented is a pertinent one. It also gives a rationale for focusing the dissertation on the issues that it is focusing on. Part 2 – Situation Analysis This section presents success determinants in building brand awareness and engaging German fashion consumer digitally, by examining the micro, macro and meso environments of Delphine in the German market. This is actually a verbatim quote from the actual text, and it is a good one, because it briefly gives the reader a sense of what is to come in this section. This section is also organized very well, into the micro, macro and meso environments that were to be studied, as promised by the first sentence of this dissertation. This section is very thoroughly researched, and the information that is presented is organized in such a way that it is very easy to follow. It presented the brand information with good examples of what products are integral to the Delphine brand. The criticism of this section is that it could have been expanded a bit to include more examples of what the brand is all about – as it was, it only provided one example of a product that represents the Delphine brand, and two examples of special attributes of the brand. There are other products that are a part of the brand, other than the SmartLittleBag, so these other products should have at gotten a mention. The organization section of the second part of the dissertation did a good job of presenting the information about the brand and organization in a little flow chart. This gives the information that is necessary about the hierarchy of the organization, including brief information of what functions go with which part of the organization. The marketing communications strategy portion of the second part of the dissertation was also very easy to understand, because the information is provided in a handy table that delineated the main target groups. This was probably one of the most effective parts of the dissertation, simply because it broke down the characteristics in such a way that they were easy to read and understand, and did not take a lot of effort to digest. Whenever information can be divulged in this way, it is good for the reader, because the reader can see, right away, what the gist of the section is. Moreover, this section expanded upon the consumer characteristics which were the target of this section, by actually going into depth about what Delphine’s current strategy is. However, there was a way to make this section even more powerful – that would be to put the demographics in a separate section, and labeling it “target demographics,” then putting the strategy into another section. That way, there is no confusion about what this section is about. The next part of the second section is the macro environment. While the micro environment detailed the information that is necessary to convey about the Delphine brand itself, the macro environment encompasses the environment that surrounds the brand. Included in this section are the demographics, economic situation, socio-cultural situation, and technological, ecological and political situation of Germany, because this is the where the dissertation is targeted. Again, this is a good section, in that the information is brief and gives the most important aspects of Germany right at the fingertips of the reader. This section could have been improved and made even better with some charts, because visuals are often the best way to convey information to the reader, because sometimes readers are visual like that. Therefore, a combination of charts plus text is the ideal way to convey information of this type. This section did not have any charts, so this is the main thing that was lacking here. There was also some information that was possibly irrelevant in this section. For instance, in the political section, there is information about Germany shutting nuclear plants. However, it was tied in, in that the section talks about how eco friendly the country is becoming, and this is why Delphine might want to pursue a green strategy as well. Moreover, it is unsure why this information is political. It probably should be included in ecological, which is the subject directly above it. The other sections were relevant and pertinent, and did not veer from the questions that were presented in the first part of the dissertation, so they were pinpointed very nicely. The meso analysis was the next section. This is an analysis of the fashion world in Germany. It consists of market analysis, which is the growth of fashion in Germany; consumer analysis, which analyzed the fashion consumer in Germany; trends analysis, which looks at German trends, such as blogs, social networking and website, and how these trends affect the fashion world in Germany; and competitor analysis, which looks at different competitors in the fashion market. These sections are well-rounded, which succinct information that is valuable. The improvement that would be recommended here is that the competitor analysis section could have been expanded a bit more. It focused on only one competitor, Liebeskind, after naming two other competitors – Chi Chi Fan and Coccinelle. The section probably should have mentioned something more about those other two competitors, before focusing on Liebeskind. It is doubtful that Liebeskind is the only true competitor for the brand, so the authors should have went into this section in more depth. A SWOT analysis was next. This section marked a return of the visual, in that in that there was a chart in the middle of this section that put, into succinct categories, all the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the organization. This was probably one of the most valuable visuals in the entire section section, as it was easy to read, comprehensive, and short. It gives a perfect snapshot on the SWOT of the company, and gives the reader a jumping off point for the rest of the dissertation. Chapter 3 – Literature Review This was the literature that helps analyse the objectives of the study. As such, it needs to closely track what the objectives are and not get too far afield from the objectives, while ensuring that the objectives are met. The first objective was German culture and lifestyle, and there was a section on culture and lifestyle in the literature review, so this objective was closely met with literature. The next part of the literature review is brand identity and positioning, which closely aligns with another objective, which was reviewing the literature of fashion marketing and digital branding to identify the success determinant of engaging the consumer. The third part of this section is digital communication strategy, which aligns with the objective of observing the online fashion media trends in Germany which may impact Delphine’s communication strategy. The next part is key satisfaction factor of website and social media, which goes along with understanding main success factors of engaging the German fashion consumer digitally. Social media optimization is the next part, which aligns with the analysis of Delphine’s digital communication strategy. Finally, measuring consumer engagement is aligned with analyzing the characteristics of Delphine’s target consumers. This last section was less closely aligned than other sections were , because this section has to do with consumer engagement. The topic of consumer engagement, per se, was not really addressed in the objectives section of the dissertation, therefore this part of this section could have been more tightly written with more of a pinpointed alignment with the objective of “understanding the characteristics of the Delphine German consumer and the fashion purchasing and online behavior.” As it is, this particular section is only tangentially related to this objective, so this is probably the weakest link of the literature review. Part 4 – Research Methodology This part of the dissertation explains who the data was collected and who participated. It also explains how the content was analysed. This section was very comprehensive, in that it explained who was sought, and how the data was analysed. As a note for improvement, were some key pieces of information which were missing here – namely, how were the respondents found? It stated that the participants were found on the street, but how were they selected? What attributes did they have that made the interviewer want to approach this person or that person? This needed to be explained, and it wasn’t really explained much at all. Moreover, there wasn’t an explanation on why these particular participants were recruited for the study – what characteristics of these consumers set them apart, and how were each consumer unique from one another. What does each consumer participant bring to the study that is unique from all the others? This is important as well. Part 5 – Research Findings Here is where some of the questions were answered as far as what are the unique characteristics of each of the women who participated in this study. There still wasn’t a good explanation for why each of these women were recruited, so the explanation for the characteristics were after the fact. Despite these flaws, this was a well planned section, due to the graphs and tables which were used throughout. The conclusion was also complete, in that it summed up the findings in a very succinct manner which was separated by bullet points. As a criticism, this entire section could have been made much more powerful with actual quotes from the participants. This is usually key in any dissertation –putting the participants actual words into the text. Moreover, this section definitely should have been expanded. The results section is much too short for the reader to ascertain if the questions presented were answered effectively. Also, there should have been a larger section on the characteristics of the participants, as one of the research objectives was that Delphine’s consumer characteristics would be examined. Thus far, this topic has not been adequately addressed in the research, so it should be more addressed in the results section. Section 6 – Conclusions and Recommendations In this section, there seems to be many recommendations, but the conclusions are lacking. The conclusions should be a reiteration of some of the findings that were in the original paper regarding the literature and the research participants. This was not adequately addressed in this situation. However, the recommendations are outstanding. The recommendations cover everything from interpersonal communication strategies to recommendations for upgrading the websites and social media strategies. It also gives a recommendation for measuring the progress of the upgrade recommendations, which is very helpful. As an improvement recommendation, the measurement section only focuses on measuring the effectiveness of Facebook, but not the other media that is recommended, so this should also be expanded. Finally, there is a section in the conclusions and recommendations for limitations. This section is misplaced, for it represents neither a conclusion nor a recommendation. It really needs to be in the description of the methodology, or, if not, it should have its own section at the end of the dissertation. Part 7 Appendices This is a vital part of the paper, for it gives interview transcripts of the participants, word for word. What is recommended here is that more than a few of these quotes be excised and put into the results section to beef up the results section. Conclusion While this report was thorough, it was also missing some key elements. One of the most glaring omissions was that there were no actual quotes from the participants in the results section. This is key to any thesis, so these definitely need to be added in. Moreover, the objectives were not as closely aligned with the literature review and the research questions as they could have been. Therefore, the objectives need to either be changed, so that the research questions and the objectives are more closely aligned, or the research questions should be changed to reflect this. However, since the data has already been analyzed, it would not be practical to change the research questions at this time, so the objectives should be changed. The positive parts of the thesis are the use of graphs and the overall succinctness of the language. Read More