Brand contraction and Marketing constitute a new challenge in the 21st century¡¦s business development. The Smile Curve Theory provided by the founder of Acer Group, Mr. Stan Shih Z.R, who once stressed that value added manufacturing being low, the future development in Taiwan should focus on research/development and brand marketing. Due to the advancements in science technology and the keen competition among enterprises, many similar products can be found in the market. In general, branding is the motive that encourages producers to create unique products while stimulating customers to pay higher prices for what they want. Brand is an important asset to the enterprise; it not only brings profits under excellent quality control but also offers a convenient identity and enhances a company¡¦s growth. The well-known strategy of brand extension helps to reduce risks while promoting a new product in the market. However, the cost of promoting a new product into the market is higher than the cost occurred in the strategy of brand extension. For instance, the cost of promoting a new product into the market is about 50-100 million US Dollars in the American market (Brown, 1985). As a result, the advantage of applying the brand extension strategy lies in the promoting of new products and increasing the chances for success. The study aims at understanding the evaluation of brand image perception and brand extension from the viewpoint of consumers, and the study object was the package of aquatic products from Taiwan Water Corporation. The brand image perception and its image after extension constitute the independent variable. Consumers¡¦ high or low evaluation of brand image perception and the related extension were analyzed and examined to determine whether there was any significant correlation after extension. Furthermore, comparison of brand image was made between the new mineral water of Taiwan Water Corporation and others from the leading companies. The high or low brand image was sorted out in sequence and its relation ship with the brand extension evaluation was compared. Questionnaires were sent to 386 interviewees and the statistics were examined, the conclusions were drawn. Results: 1. There¡¦s significant correlation between the original brand and brand image perception after extension; if the similarity of brand extension is high, the correlation of the original brand image perception is higher than for products which have low similarity. 2. Between the original brand image perception and brand extension evaluation, the high brand image perception achieved higher brand extension evaluation than did the low brand image perception. The evaluation of brand extension with high similarity is also higher than that of brand extension with low similarity. 3. There¡¦s no interactive effect in ownership between the brand image perception and brand extension evaluation. The owner of the original brand gives a higher evaluation to brand extension with high similarity, than do non-owners. There¡¦s no significant variation between owner and non-owner to brand extension with low similarity. 4. If the similarity of brand extension is high, consumers often focus on the transferred perception of the functional image of the IT commodity. The value, function and reliability will be appreciated after brand extension. The brand extension with low similarity should emphasize the functional image and the transferred perception of the symbolized image from consumers. The fashionable image, personal style and outstanding reputation should also be formed so that a better evaluation of brand extension with low similarity can be made afterwards. Due to customers continuing to value the original brand image after brand extension of cross-classification, enterprises should treasure the influence of the original brand image and the compatible category on brand extension, as well as the variation resulting from different perceptions.

This thesis examines how the lifestyles of the middling sorts evolved during the period 1660 and 1760 as reflected in their relationship to material goods in three contrasting, but geographically near towns. The towns are similar to the degree that their history and circumstances led to them being viewed as backwaters, and this may have influenced consumption practices. Ludlow had lost its importance as the Capital of Wales; it stagnated until its fortunes began to be revived by achieving leisure town status. Hereford was a cathedral city and a county town, but was mainly poorly built and congested. It was locally, rather than nationally important. Tewkesbury was an inland port and a manufacturing centre, but it had been eclipsed by the larger and more successful cities of Bristol and Gloucester. This study of household goods in the middling interiors of Ludlow, Hereford and Tewkesbury between 1660 and 1760 set out first to investigate the extent to which the possessions of the middling ranks reflected their social status. The second aspect is to analyse the geographical spread of new goods in the three towns to determine the extent to which economic circumstances and location influenced consumption. Thirdly, the intention is to determine how status and politeness was expressed in the early modern home. Finally, this study aimed to ascertain what these factors could tell us about early modern consumers in the three towns. A sample of the domestic goods of the middling ranks from Ludlow, Hereford and Tewkesbury is examined and compared. The material culture of the three towns has previously attracted little academic interest. It is my intention that this thesis on the three towns complements and contributes to the existing bodies of work on early modern regional culture studies.

Many firms attempt to ensure the success of new product introductions by applying an existing, well-known brand name to the product. The strategy, known as brand extension, has become commomplace. In recent years, the strategy has been used in media industry. Especially, since the Internet started gaining in popularity in the mid-1990s, the newspaper industry has started applying brand extensions to online markets. For example, United Daily News, Chinatimes, and so on has developed websites of various types. However, we doubt whether it¡¦ll affect consumers¡¦ attitude toward the parent brand. For this reason, we attempt to figure out consumers¡¦attitude toward the newspaper brand when a newspaper office has introduced extensions with good or poor fit. Besides, in this study, we also propose that three factors including ownership status, product attributes, and dominance of the parent brand will influence consumers¡¦s evaluation of the parent brand. Previous research have provided mixed evidence about the reciprocal effects of a brand extension on its parent brand and rarely studied the impact of these four factors on parent brand evaluation, especially in media industy. As a result, we select United Daily News and Appledaily as two objects of the study and find out the extensions (websites) with good and poor fit of these two newspaper brands through group discussing. After T-test analysis, we have some findings as follows: 1.There¡¦s no significant effect of fit on parent brand attitude toward United Daily News, but there¡¦s significant difference for Appledaily. 2.The consumers who think of the newspaper brand as more dominant have higher evaluation of attitude toward the parent brand than those who think of the newspaper brand as less dominant, whether extensions with good or poor fit introduced. 3.The owners of newspaper brands have higher evaluation of attitude toward the parent brand than nonowners, whether extensions with good or poor fit introduced. 4.The product attributes of newspapers brands will affect consumers¡¦s attitude toward the newspaper brands.