Academic Writing

Discussion and Conclusion
IKEA’s product policy in China has been to successfully standardise products as
much as possible, but also customise as much as needed. But it has learned that
service is also vital: free delivery and installation are the perceived rules in the local
market which it needs to follow. It has further found that it is better to locate in a
downtown area, easily accessible with public transport, when free delivery is not
provided.
International companies that operate in China, such as IKEA, face more complicated
marketing decisions than local companies. They must become culture-conscious and
thoroughly research local requirements rather than simply introduce a standard
model of business.
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Part 4:
Writing Models

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1 Literature reviews
Occasionally, the whole focus of an essay may be a lengthy literature review, but in most student
writing it will only form a relatively short section of the paper. Only a minority have a separate
section headed ‘The Literature’ or ‘Literature Review’. In all cases, it is necessary to show that
you are familiar with the main sources, so that your writing can build on these.
A literature review is not simply a list of sources that you have studied. It can be used to show
that there is a gap in the research that your work attempts to fill:
This article has a different standpoint from other studies, because it believes that the influence
of the state on the market has structurally increased since the neo-liberal era.
This article focuses on information production, not information accessibility. That is the
difference between this research and previous studies . . .
It is also common to use the literature section to clarify the varying positions held by other
researchers:
The political competition literature comprises two main strands – voter monitoring and political
survival.