CSR Implementation - Long Term Plans - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2271 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Thirdly, UVN and TMV are among typical successful examples of business firms that pursue a long-term plan for their CSR implementation. This can be seen in Unilever Sustainable Living Plan launched in 2010 which specifies the direction and sets out primary objectives to be achieved by the company up to 2020. In this plan, UVN not only sets clear targets but also presents major areas of CSR to be addressed as well as detailed action plans for each area. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "CSR Implementation Long Term Plans" essay for you Create order USLP is a comprehensive and useful guide for all of its CSR activities towards Vietnamese community. With regard to the case of TMV, the giant company also develops a CSR plan which is presented in Toyota Global Vision 2020 introduced in 2011. Through this plan, Toyota Global in general and TMV in particular include the rights of the communities (Enriching lives of communities) as one of the three ambitious goals across its entire business. In addition, TMV also incorporate social contribution and environmental protection into its business philosophy which is to be followed in its day-to-day operations. Thanks to the establishment of long-term plans with respect to the conduct of CSR, UVN and TMV have been enjoying great success. These long-term plans function as helpful and detailed guidelines for the two companies to effectively plan and manage their CSR activities. Fourthly, UVN and TMV both direct their CSR plans through specialized divisions: Unilever Vietnam Foundation and T oyota Vietnam Foundation. These special foundations are the strategic movements of the two corporations towards more effective and successful CSR programs. Well established in 2004 and 2005 respectively, UVF and TVF have been effectively functioning as a key channel between their companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s CSR activities and the community as well as related agencies and organizations. With their existences, UVN and TMV can not only reap huge benefits from better CSR planning and management but also develop and maintain stronger relationships with stakeholders of their CSR activities Last but not least, by constantly striving to acquire more certifications and integrate CSR-related standards into their operations, UVN and TMV have successfully proven their ongoing efforts in performing CSR. Many certifications and standards relating to quality management, environment or occupational safety such as ISO 9001 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2000, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 have been effectively emplo yed by both UVN and TMV. Besides, UVN and TMV also develop and ensure the compliance with their own CSR policies throughout their entire operation. Unileverà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Highest Nutritional standards; Toyota CSR policy; Toyotaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Environmental Protection Handbook or Toyotaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Health, Safety and Environment Policyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ are all great examples of corporate policies towards a successful CSR. Recommendations to Vietnamese firms Raising awareness about CSR among company leaders and employees As mentioned earlier, lack of proper understanding about CSR is one of the major barriers to CSR performance of Vietnamese firms. Thus, raising awareness about CSR among both managers and staff is the top priority of any business wishing to pursue CSR. Raising awareness about CSR must firstly aims at the managers or leaders since their decisions have a huge impact on the production and business strategy of the company, particularly in small and medium companies. Company leaders will be the driving force behind the implementation of CSR; hence, promoting their participation in several courses and seminars on how to conduct and manage CSR is essential to the success of the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s CSR plan. Besides, as the implementation of CSR requires the collective agreement from workers and employees in the company; it is also important to disseminate helpful information about CSR to these groups. Some recommended methods for educating company staff about CSR include integratin g CSR into companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s regulations and policies or organizing educational workshops on CSR, etc. Establishing specialized agencies to manage CSR activities Since CSR requires long-term financial investment as well as a great amount of time and efforts to be conducted, there is an urgent need for the formulation of specialized agencies which will be accountable for the planning, implementation and management of corporate social responsibilities activities. Just as UVN manages its CSR implementation through Unilever Vietnam Foundation and TVF through Toyota Vietnam Foundation, Vietnamese firms can follow these two pioneers to set up their own specialized divisions to take charge of the whole CSR plan in general and community-related CSR in particular. By having special agencies to prepare and carry out their social activities, businesses can not only save time and efforts to focus more on their business operations but they can also gain more benefits from increasingly effective CSR programs. Furthermore, these agencies may serve as useful intermediaries between CSR performing businesses and the public, government as well as internationa l organizations, which are the greatest sources of support for businessesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ CSR implementation. Closely collaborating with companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s brands and specialized organizations when implementing CSR Another recommendation for Vietnamese businesses when executing CSR is to closely cooperate with their sub-brands and governmental agencies as well as international organizations. By jointly working together with its brands, especially those well-known ones, businesses can enjoy the benefit of increasing popularity among the public. The fact is that for some multinational companies operating in FMCG industry, their sub-brands (or private product brands) are even more familiar to the public in general and consumers in particular. For example, many Vietnamese consumers may know very well about such brands as P/S, OMO, Vim, etc. without any reference to the parent brand Unilever. Thus, by closely collaborating with famous sub-brands, businesses can broaden the reach of their CSR activities as well as receive more supports from these brands both in terms of money and effort. On the other hand, implementing CSR activities in close conjunction with governmental agencies and specialize d international organizations is also of strategic importance to CSR practicing firms in Vietnam. While governmental agencies can facilitate the communication of their CSR programs among the public; international organizations and NGOs, especially those focus on improving communityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s well-being, can provide local businesses with good advices regarding the implementation of CSR. These assistance and support not only help businesses successfully run and develop their CSR projects but also generate a powerful source of motivations for their CSR performance. Maintaining and expanding the application of CSR standards and policies Among the biggest drivers behind CSR performance is the adoption and various CSR policies and standards. These policies and standards will provide Vietnamese firms with useful guiding principles when implementing CSR. Above all, at the core of their CSR implementation plan, Vietnamese firms should set out and integrate their own Code of Conduct and CSR policies into their business strategies. These policies should be designed to govern such CSR issues as production standards, labor, environment, etc. as well as point out clear goals to be achieved in each aspect of CSR. In addition, they should also acquire certifications and adopt international standards to ensure effective CSR performance. Some example of these universally accepted CSR standards include Quality Management System ISO 9001 2000, Environmental Management System ISO 14001 or Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Service OHSAS 18001, Good Manufacturing Practices à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" GMP or Worldwide Responsible Ac credited Production à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" WRAP, etc. By successfully developing and ensuring the compliance with these CSR-related policies and standards throughout their entire operation, Vietnamese firms are getting one step closer to a sustainable CSR implementation plan. Recommendations to policy-makers Enhancing awareness about CSR implementation among Vietnamese enterprises As mentioned in previous sections, lack of proper understanding about CSR is among the toughest challenges to the implementation of CSR by local enterprises. Thus, having the right perception and deep awareness of social responsibility is essential for any business wishing to perform CSR successfully. In raising and enhancing the awareness of the businesses about this issue, the role of the government is of great significance. There are numerous measures for the government to adopt such as organizing more frequent CSR discussion forums and conferences; raising awareness through propagandas; integrating CSR into university programs or granting good CSR performers with prestigious awards. Some of the above solutions have been addressed by Vietnamese governments such as awarding socially responsible businesses with the annual CSR Award since 2005. However, these awards have just been granted for responsibilities towards the environment and labor forces. It would be better if the y are expanded into other areas of CSR such as community involvement or consumer protection in order to inspire more comprehensive CSR implementation among businesses. Regarding the organization of CSR forums and conferences, some initiatives by the VCCI have been mentioned earlier. Since these conferences provide a good opportunity for businesses to discuss and exchange ideas about CSR; broadening the scope as well as maintaining the continuity of these meaningful meetings is of great importance. It would be better if the government also encourages the dissemination and sharing of valuable CSR experiences, especially from some corporations well-known for their CSR practices such as UVN or TMV, etc. through those forums and meetings Currently, in universities, students are only provided with technical skills and professional trainings with little or even no official programs about business ethical behaviors or CSR performances. As theses business behaviors play a key role in d etermining the success of any business, the integration of such knowledge in the teaching syllabuses is really necessary. By integrating CSR as a subject in the curriculums of some major universityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s programs, the government can help raise the awareness about this crucial business issue among Vietnamese youngsters. Through these programs, they can discover the important roles of CSR in business, while at the same time, recognize the long-term benefits from the undertaking of such responsibilities. As the young generation will become future leaders of the national economy, shaping their understanding about CSR plays a key role in the promotion of CSR activities in particular and sustainable development the country in general. Providing more support and incentives to encourage CSR implementation For CSR activities to be performed more frequently and widely, the government should employ more effective incentive policies. With regard to those who have been implementing good CSR policies, more incentives and motivations should be provided such as tax reductions, CSR awards or other business priorities, etc. At the same time, to facilitate enterprises in implementing CSR for the first time, the government should develop and establish a sample model for CSR implementation or take examples from some major businesses representative for good CSR practice. Additionally, the government can further support local enterprises in performing CSR by guiding them on how to apply environmental protection standards, clean production measures or worker safety requirements, etc. in their businesses. Meanwhile, for those enterprises what violate the laws and cause great harm to consumers, communityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s well-being and the environment, the government should take stronger meas ures to handle their violations. Competent agencies and authorities at all levels should also firmly say à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“noà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  to those businesses that solely pursue profitability aim without care for the rights and health of consumers and the community. In addition to the reinforcement of business behaviorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ monitoring, heavier punishments and penalties should be imposed on irresponsible businesses in order to discourage similar behaviors from others. Since the majority of local enterprises are small and medium-sized, the greatest challenges to these enterprises when conducting CSR is lack of financial capability. Thus, Vietnamese governments can better assist by providing them with financial supports to carry out and sustain their CSR programs. These financial supports can be establishing funds to provide firms with access to capital; giving preferential loans or providing consultation services to local firms regarding the conduct of CSR, etc. Besid es, the government can also launch some joint projects between government and business firms; promote the involvement of NGOs; encourage and create favorable conditions for the implementation of international projects on CSR in Vietnam. Revising the legal framework and regulations The legal framework is the basic foundation and guideline for businesses to implement CSR. However, the current legal framework of Vietnam is still exposed to some shortcomings and inadequacies. These weaknesses have created legal loopholes for many businesses to take advantage of in order to evade their social responsibilities. Therefore, revising and strengthening the legal system and law enforcement are among the overriding needs. Specifically, the legal framework should be amended in the following ways: The first recommendation is to issue the law articles in more details. Most of the current laws and legal documents relating to some issues such as the protection of workers, consumers, food safety standards or environmental pollution are still very generic. In addition, the objects which are directly subject to these regulations are often not aware of or only vaguely understand. Thus, the legal documents should be adjusted to become more detailed, specific and easier to appl y as well as enforce. Secondly, since most of the current legal documents have contradictions and often overlap each other, they cannot serve as helpful guidelines for businesses. Thus, there is a pressing need for a unified and consistent legal framework. High consistency and unity will help create a safe legal environment for enterprises when doing business as well as performing CSR. In order to achieve and maintain this consistency, the government should follow a longer-term vision when passing laws and legal documents to avoid frequent revisions and adjustments. Thirdly, in the context of increasing openness and deeper integration into the global economy, Vietnamese governments should also take into consideration international laws and regulations concerning CSR. The reason behind this is simple: greater economic integration requires local firms to do business with foreign partners more frequently, which results in increased exposure to international standards and policies in respect of labor, environment or community, etc. Thus, national laws and policies should be built based on these international foundations to avoid misunderstanding and ensure effective domestic à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" foreign cooperation.

The Art World Is A Forever Changing System - 1614 Words

The art world is a forever changing system, with new ideas and concepts constantly emerging. Marcel Duchamp, working in a world where art was focused heavily on pleasing the eye, is seen to emerge with a new idea that aimed to challenge this ‘retinal’ approach that was expected of art during this time. Duchamp would call this new approach ‘the readymade’.†¨This essay will discuss how Duchamp used the readymade, specifically his 1913 piece Bicycle Wheel, to move away from the focus on the visual and shift attention to a focus on the conceptual. Likewise, this essay will explore how Duchamp’s readymade has influenced artists such as Jeff Koons, who similarly incorporated the conceptual focus of the readymade within his own 1981-87 readymade†¦show more content†¦Duchamp is seen to use the word ‘retinal’ as a means of critically referring to avant-garde painting, as it was apparent to him that the modern artist was becoming too immersed in a focus of pleasing the viewer on a visual level, that they had neglected to stimulate the mind. As stated by Duchamp himself, he â€Å"wanted to put painting again at the service of the mind†, and thus his creation of the readymade emerged. The readymade consisted of a simple, unaltered, everyday object(s) that was presented as a work of art. Through the creation of the readymade, Duchamp undermined these pre-determined aesthetic expectations of art as he started to exhibit his readymade pieces in high-art exhibitions. From this point onwards, Duchamp’s artistic approach was changed via his re-development of common, everyday items and through the means of choosing and repositioning an object, Duchamp was able to transform an everyday item into a work of art. Thus, the readymade can be seen to be driven by Duchamp’s interest in shifting attention away from the object itself, and instead refocusing this attention on the creative relationship that he recognised between the artist, the work, the world and the audience. Duchamp was strong in his belief that â€Å"The creative act is not performed by the artist alone. The spectator brings the work into contact with the external world through interpretation†. Duchamp’s

Music Concert Paper Free Essays

Emily Scott Music Appreciation 28 Feburary 2013 West Michigan Concert Winds Concert On February 24th, I attended the West Michigan Concert Winds â€Å"Winner and Winds† concert. West Michigan Concert Winds is a volunteer group that performs instrumental music to the community. This ensemble contains a wide range of musical talents from all different backgrounds. We will write a custom essay sample on Music Concert Paper or any similar topic only for you Order Now Some members are college students, some teachers. There was also many current or retired band directors apart of the ensemble. They performed all different genres of music from a Sousa march to an Irish wake by A. J. Potter. There was also a scholarship acceptance performance by a local high school junior who was amazing at the clarinet. The first song was titled â€Å"Fanfare for Saint Cecilia. † This piece was composed for Saint Cecilia on a special occasion called â€Å"Three Countries Day. † This is an example like we talked about in class where a composer had a job of composing music for a certain event because prerecorded music wasn’t available at that time. The song had a magnificent and triumphant feel to it with many brass heavy parts specifically trumpet. Woodwinds played the accompaniment underneath but were not heard exclusively. Some parts I liked about this piece was the overall excitement that it had and the energy that the ensemble put into it. It was very easy to tell that the instrumentalists enjoyed playing the song. Polka and Fugue from the Opera â€Å"Schwanda, The Bag Piper† was another piece I found fascinating. It was a Chek Folk tale which told the story about the lonely bag piper and his adventures. It started out with the woodwinds playing the theme of a cheery thrill note and triplet. The feel of the music was cheery and you were almost able to hear the story being told. I also enjoyed hearing the Fugue part of the song because that was also something we discussed in class. The fugue was characterized by imitation and variation on the imitation by different sections throughout the band. The band also played a Sousa but surprisingly this piece was not a march but a waltz. Although this song was characterized as a waltz, I felt like it had the elements of a march in it like clearly defined beats and ascending and descending full ensemble runs. The music was very bouncy and you could almost picture the dancers waltzing on stage. I was very impressed with the brass section because of their strong tone and intensity. I throughly enjoyed my experience of listening to The West Michigan Concert winds. I was impressed with the talent of the ensemble and the professional way they looked on stage. They provided a wide variety of music compositions and kept me entertained throughout the concert. How to cite Music Concert Paper, Papers

What Ails India free essay sample

The word democracy stands for peoples rule. This implies that the people in question are capable of ruling, or, in other words, capable of voting for the right people to rule. Proper voting requires a certain minimum level of social awareness and sense of responsibility. If the vast majority of a population is illiterate and uneducated, social awareness is poor, and elections have little meaning. Also, if the vast majority of a population is poor, social responsibility is low. When a person does not know where his next meal is coming from or when, he can hardly be expected to understand or worry about his vote. Votes are therefore cheap in India. Anyone can buy them. The right price could be as little as a food packet or a pair of thongs (footwear) on election day. We will write a custom essay sample on What Ails India or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Truckloads of such items can be seen moving around towns and villages in India on election day. Democracy in India is therefore a game that is all about numbers; about getting a majority vote in elections. It is not about HOW these votes are obtained. How does democracy destroy a country if introduced prematurely? Lesson 1: If a country adopts democracy before it is ready for it, its infrastructure will suffer badly. Lesson 2: If a country adopts democracy before it is ready for it, its society will get heavily divided along every possible division (including language, caste and religion). Lesson 3: If a country adopts democracy before it is ready for it, its population will grow very rapidly and out of control. Lesson 4: If a country follows democracy before it is ready for it, its society will be highly corrupt. Introduction – visit to a country of paradoxes Let us take you on a visit to a large and interesting country. While visiting this country, we are especially interested in understanding the health system prevailing there.

Willie Mays Or Say Hey Kid Essays - Greeters, Willie Mays

Willie Mays Or Say Hey Kid 1. The correct name of my person is Willie Howard Mays Jr. 2. His nickname was "The Say Hey Kid". 3. Mays was born May 6, 1931. 4. He was born in Westfield, Alabama., just outside the major city of Birmingham. 5. The names of his parents were not known, but his father's nickname was "Kitty Kat". 6. He was the oldest of twelve in his family. 7. The name of the town he lived in as a child was called Westfield. 8. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mays were athletic. Mr. Mays played baseball on the all-black teams of the segregated south, as had his father before him. Mrs. Mays had been a champion sprinter in her school. When he was growing up, his father worked in a steel mill, and played on a semi-professional team sponsored by the mill. He began teaching young Mays to catch a ball even before he could walk. By 14, he had joined his father on the mill team. 9. His high school had no baseball team, so he played basketball and football, but before he finished high school, it became clear that baseball would be his career. 10. No information given. 11. He graduated high school in 1950. No information given on the name of the school. 12. No information given. 13. No information given. 14. No information given. 15. This promising career of a professional baseball player was briefly interrupted when Mays was drafted into the Army. His team failed to win the pennant during the two seasons he was absent, but he returned to the Giants in 1954 to lead them into the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. Other than that he never had to work. 16. He lived in many different areas, because he played baseball. Westfield, near Birmingham was the place where he grew up in Alabama. He was moved from Trenton, New Jersey to New York City also. Mays had traveled from Chattanooga, Memphis, and had been through all parts of the country. In New York, he had played with the New York Cubans. Mr. Mays had played against Philadelphia, and in Pittsburgh, against the Newark Eagles. He had been to all the big cities. 17. In 1956, he married a divorced woman two years older than he was. 18. The name of his spouse was Marghuertie Wendell Kennedy Chapman. He later, remarried, in 1971, to social worker Mae Allen. 19. No information given. 20. No information given. 21. No information given. 22. They adopted a three-year-old boy, Michael, in 1959. Although the couple divorced in 1961, he and his son remained close. 23. No information given. 24. No information given. 25. He played for the New York and San Francisco Giants; and briefly at the end of his career, for the New York Mets. 26. Mays made a great contribution to his occupation, by setting records, winning games, and earning awards and titles. 27. With his batting average of .345 and his 41 home runs, he led the league in 1954. Awards and honors were showered upon him. He was voted the National League Most Valuable Player in 1954, named Player of the year by The Sporting News, and voted Male Athlete of the year by the Associated Press poll. He also received the Hickok Belt, studded with diamonds worth ten thousand dollars, as the professional athlete of the year. 28. His impact on society was large. He greatly influenced anyone who watched him. 29. With his 660 home runs in twenty-two years of playing ball, Mays ranks third, behind Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth, on the all-time list. He seemed destined to play baseball from the age of six months, when his father tried to get him to walk by getting him to chase a ball. His record-breaking achievements as well as his entertaining autobiographies show how well he used talents to raise the status of the game he loved. 30. His contributions were mainly in baseball and setting records. Mays played in every All-Star Game from 1954 through 1973. 31. He is still alive today. 32. He is still alive today. 33. He is still alive today. 34. He was not the first black ballplayer, but he had his own barrier to break through. A kind of gentle, good ?natured racism, but racism none the less. 35. In one of the four games against the Indians, Mays made such a superb catch that it was widely talked about in public and was considered

Free Essays on Music At The Eva B. Dykes Library

After visiting The Eva B. Dykes Library, I’ve found out that there are many musical resources available. Books, magazines, and computers are the typical means for information, however, not only does the library offer these assets but it also provides a Media Resource Center. The research center provides students with cassette tapes and cassette players, television’s, VCR’s and video’s. In addition, many activities are available for students while working in the library. Students might surf the internet, watch video’s, listen to tape cassette’s, read a wide range of books and magazine’s, study, or in most cases do research. When searching for a book, or magazine, a call number is displayed, each call number contains a specific meaning. The following call numbers meanings are as follows: ML (Literature of Music) MT (Musical Instruction and Study) M (Instrumental Music). A bibliographic citation for each of the following would go accordingly: The Broadway Song Companion, DeVenney, David P. ML128. M78 D48,  © 1998 Study & Listening Guide for a History, Burkholder, J. Peter MT6.5 .B92  © 1996 The Comprehension Study of Music, Brandt, William E. M2 .C67 V.  © 1996 After researching a â€Å"Slit Drum† in both, The Harvard Dictionary of Music and The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the musical term’s meanings differ. According to The Harvard Dictionary, a slit-drum is â€Å"A length of wood or bamboo hollowed out through a slit on one side and beaten with a stick. In America, the slit is often cut in the form of an â€Å"H† to make two tongues of different pitch.† The New Grove, definition of a slit-drum is â€Å"A percussion tube used for musical or signaling purposes. Made by cutting, burning or gouging a slit in the wall of a hollowed-out tube. On most slit-drums the wall of the two sides of the slit are carved to different thickness so that at least two different pitches can be produced. Whe... Free Essays on Music At The Eva B. Dykes Library Free Essays on Music At The Eva B. Dykes Library After visiting The Eva B. Dykes Library, I’ve found out that there are many musical resources available. Books, magazines, and computers are the typical means for information, however, not only does the library offer these assets but it also provides a Media Resource Center. The research center provides students with cassette tapes and cassette players, television’s, VCR’s and video’s. In addition, many activities are available for students while working in the library. Students might surf the internet, watch video’s, listen to tape cassette’s, read a wide range of books and magazine’s, study, or in most cases do research. When searching for a book, or magazine, a call number is displayed, each call number contains a specific meaning. The following call numbers meanings are as follows: ML (Literature of Music) MT (Musical Instruction and Study) M (Instrumental Music). A bibliographic citation for each of the following would go accordingly: The Broadway Song Companion, DeVenney, David P. ML128. M78 D48,  © 1998 Study & Listening Guide for a History, Burkholder, J. Peter MT6.5 .B92  © 1996 The Comprehension Study of Music, Brandt, William E. M2 .C67 V.  © 1996 After researching a â€Å"Slit Drum† in both, The Harvard Dictionary of Music and The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the musical term’s meanings differ. According to The Harvard Dictionary, a slit-drum is â€Å"A length of wood or bamboo hollowed out through a slit on one side and beaten with a stick. In America, the slit is often cut in the form of an â€Å"H† to make two tongues of different pitch.† The New Grove, definition of a slit-drum is â€Å"A percussion tube used for musical or signaling purposes. Made by cutting, burning or gouging a slit in the wall of a hollowed-out tube. On most slit-drums the wall of the two sides of the slit are carved to different thickness so that at least two different pitches can be produced. Whe...

Merger of Everything Everywhere, T-mobile & Orange Essay

Merger of Everything Everywhere, T-mobile & Orange - Essay Example The new company would have 28.4 million subscribers (T-mobile UK, 8 September 2009). Another benefit of the merger would be the improvement of the network coverage but also of the network quality (T-mobile UK, 8 September 2009). According to Gervais Pellissier, the CFO of France Telecom, the merger would help both firms to increase their competitiveness in the UK market, but also ‘to develop new services and technologies’ (T-mobile UK, 8 September 2009). In the long term, the merger would result to the decrease of the firms’ operational costs, at least by ?445m annually (OFCOM 2010). The merger was set under examination aiming to ensure that it does not violate the British and the European laws on competition. The case was brought before the European Commission, which decided, in the 1st of March 2010, that the merger would be permitted (Orange Newsroom March 2010) since the terms that the European Commission had set were met. In accordance with OFCOM European Com mission allowed the merger mostly because of the commitments of the firms in terms of ‘spectrum and network sharing’ (OFCOM 2010). ... he specific name was chosen in order to highlight the firm’s potential to offer to its customers ‘instant access to the world around them, to everything everywhere’ (T-mobile UK, 1 July 2010). In practice, the specific strategy, i.e. the use of a new name for the firm resulting from the merger, can be characterized as rather risky, taking into consideration the similar practices of other competitors in the UK mobile industry, which tend to use their own brands. On the other hand, the customers of the new firm, Everything Everywhere Ltd would have the chance to use the mobile networks of both brands, being significantly benefited compared to the customers of other mobile operators in UK (Meyer 2010). At this point, it would be necessary to check whether the merger actually benefited Orange and T-mobile. At a first level, it seems that T-mobile has been more benefited from the specific initiative, compared to Orange, which is already well established in the UK marke t. Indeed, the performance of T-mobile across UK can be characterized as low (BBC News 2010); the merger with Orange would help the firm to improve its market position ‘overnight’ (Shaun Collins in BBC News 2010). After the merger, the position of the two brands in the UK industry is still different; indeed, Orange is still more powerful than T-mobile, with a network of about 17 million subscribers, compared to the 13 million subscribers of T-mobile (Meyer 2010). Moreover, Virgin mobile offers to its customers the potential to use the network of Orange, when being in areas where the Virgin mobile network is not available (Virgin Mobile 2011, Mandalia 2011). The firm that resulted from the merger, Everything Everywhere Limited has a key share in the UK mobile market, reaching ‘the 28 million

Water, Flexibility and the Tao Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Water, Flexibility and the Tao - Essay Example This verse of the Tao Te Ching holds up water as a model for human flexibilty and adaptiveness. Water, it says, is softer than any elements in its way, and yet it dissolves those elements with its very gentleness. This is true in nature, of course. Water turns rocks into sand, making soft what is hard. Many things dissolve in water, when all the water is able to do is flow around those elements. Water yields to anything in its way, a phenomenon easily seen by any mountain stream. Water yields to a rock in its way, flowing around it. In this way the â€Å"gentle overcomes the rigid,† and the water finds its way to the sea without being stopped by boulders or fallen trees. As the Tao says, everyone has seen this, but few are able to make this truth work for themselves, in their own lives. This difficulty stems from the human tendency to direct our own actions, and can be solved by an understanding of the Tao as the natural state to which things can return. In a commentary by the Center for Taoist Thought and Fellowship, the writer suggests that people misinterpret this verse, thinking that being flexible like water means being weak. However, most people do not see the small bits of hardness that are in water. â€Å"It is not the water which attacks the hard and strong, it is the little tiny bits of hard and strong suspended in the water which do the job.† This suggestion gives the verse a new meaning, allowing the reader not to be solely soft but to allow his or her softness to surround a powerful hardness.

How does Baz Luhrmann interpret Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Essay

How does Baz Luhrmann interpret Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Baz Luhrmann’s reinvention of Shakespeare’s classic Rome and Juliet depicts the classic tragedy through a visual kaleidoscope of Hong Kong action picture paradigms of chaos and color. The Luhrmann production is unconventional, moving the location to Verona Los Angeles.   The trademark use of color is juxtaposed against the bleak backdrop of gang warfare, which permeates throughout the film.   At the beginning of the film, Luhrmann opens with the prologue. In stark contrast to the well known Zeferelli version of the tragedy, Luhrmann’s conveys the prologue as a newsreel on the television as a news report. The opening sequences and title scenes of the film plays a vital role in engaging the audience and preparing the audience as to what to expect from the movie with great effect.   This places the audience at ease. The opening sequences and title scenes of both films play a vital role in engaging the audience a nd preparing the audience as to what to expect from the movie with great effect.   Moreover, Luhrmann uses quick flashes of the prologue at the beginning of the film either as newspaper headlines or in bold writing. Lurhmann’s visual narrative mirrors Shakespeare’s use of symbolism in the opening scene as there appears a broken ring on the screen. This symbolizes the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’s love story and further mirrors Shakespeare’s lexical technique of dramatic irony in his prose.  

Subsidiary Perspective of a Mobile Phone Service Company

Subsidiary Perspective of a Mobile Phone Service Company Global Integration Background The literature review looks into the various resources related to the study on the subsidiary perspective of a mobile phone service company towards MNC global integration. This would justify the significance of the study in terms of the clarification and application of concepts as well as contribution to knowledge or research gaps. The literature review is structured to start with a clarification of the research issue for purposes of determining linkages to available literature before moving on with the identification of the parent, intermediate and immediate literature. Afterwards, debates or differences in perspectives based on various literatures, together with the gaps or unresolved questions follows. The literature review ends with a summary of developments in literature pertinent to the research topic. The Research Issue Investigating the subsidiary perspective of a mobile phone service company on MNC global integration has a number of research implications. One, the subsidiary perspective of firms on global integration determines the success of the global business operations through value chain configuration and marketing standardization. Another, the subsidiary perspective of a mobile phone service company on global integration also provides a contextual basis of the issues and problems experienced by the subsidiary and the mother company in achieving value chain integration and marketing standardization for its entire global operations. Integration and standardization are important to successful international business operations. Concurrently, it becomes important to clarify the concepts of global integration and subsidiary relations together with the sub-concepts under these general principles to provide a sufficient framework for the study. Categorization of literature covering these concepts an d sub-concepts fall under parent, intermediate or immediate literature with most of the literature constituting parent and intermediate literatures. This implies the need for empirical research investigating the application of these concepts and sub-concepts to actual business contexts, which the present study attempts to fulfill. The Parent and Intermediate Literature This section covers the parent literature, specifically those explaining the basic concepts involved in the study especially global integration and organizational structures of multinational corporations involving subsidiaries. Existing literature sufficiently covers the definition of global integration as well as the organizational structure that involve business operations in various markets through subsidiaries. Definition of Global Integration Existing literature on global integration have not been able to arrive at a consensus on the definition of global integration. Haspeslagh and Jemison (1991) explained that global integration actually carries a different meaning for various parties involved in different situations. This means the possibility that a subsidiary, operating on a distinct market environment, can develop a different perspective and understanding of global integration relative to the mother company or other subsidiaries operating in different markets. Although, there is no clear consensus on the definition of global integration, Schweiger and Goulet (2000) stated that the different perspectives commonly revolve around the combination of the assets and human resources of the target and the buyer or the subsidiary and the mother company. The concept of coordination has found close links to global integration. Mintzberg (1983a; 1983b) stated that coordination constitutes a fundamental element of management and since the management of global operations involves coordination, then integrating the operation of subsidiaries with the operations of the mother company necessitates coordination. However, even with the close links between global integration and coordination, there are distinctions between these two concepts, with the extent of difference covered by various perspectives. On one hand, Martinez and Jarillo (1989) described the close links between the global integration and coordination by using these two concepts as synonyms describing the same situation. The authors also defined coordinative mechanisms as administrative tools used in developing integration of the various business units of a business organization. On the other hand, Kobrin (1991) provided a clear variance between global integration and coordinati on. Global integration also meant transnational integration that involves the processes of product standardization, technology development centralization, and manufacturing linkages that is either horizontal or vertical. As such, global integration was characterized as a change process involving centralization, combination, concentration, and standardization. Coordination also meant cross-border coordination that pertains to the business efforts directed towards the alignment of the operations of various business units to ensure the completion of the tasks of these units in contributing to aggregate productivity. Global integration has also found links to value creating activities at the level of the business headquarters. Goold, Campbell and Alexander (1994) and Burgelman and Doz (1996) stated that global integration pertains to the manner that headquarters creates value encompassing its international operations. This definition of global integration provides a limit to the scope of the concept to cover only business units forming part of a multinational corporation. This means that global integration does not involve business units considered as external to the firm. In addition, existing literature also discussed the definition of global integration by looking at its opposite or contrast concepts. Through the process of contrasting, these resources have been able to determine the areas not covered by global integration (Hambrick Finkelstein, 1987). Bartlett (1986) considered local autonomy as the opposite of global integration with local autonomy referring to the independent management of the operations of different business units under a single multinational corporation so that decision-making in the local level is made without need of consulting the other business units or headquarters. Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989) identified local responsiveness as another opposite of global integration. This is similar to independent decision-making exclusively based on the particular context of the local market without need to consult decision with other business units or the corporate headquarters. However, Prahalad and Doz (1987) explained that business f irms could achieve high levels of responsiveness and integration. As such, the more rational opposite of global integration is local autonomy. Based on existing literature covering the definition of global integration, the definition used in the dissertation is cross-border integration, encompassing value-creating activities and marketing standardization, arising between business units operating in different markets but falling under a single multinational corporation. This definition limits the scope to business units forming part of a multinational corporation but operating in particular markets. This definition fits the requirements of the study in investigating the perspectives of subsidiaries on global integration that involves a subsidiary and headquarters as the units of data collection and analysis. Elements of Global Integration Based on the definition of global integration, this has two specific elements, which are the configuration and coordination of the multinational corporation’s value change and the standardization of marketing strategies. Existing literature have differentiated the configuration and coordination. Porter (1985) explained that configuration of the value chain pertains to the spatial decisions of the multinational corporation covering the location or site of business units together with the number of business units within the multinational corporation and in the different sites. Lim, Acito and Rusetki (2006) developed the concentration-dispersion perspective to encompass decision-making on spatial issues. Porter (1985) stated explained that coordination refers to the manner and extent that the activities of the different business units are combined as opposed to being autonomous. Lim et al. (2006) introduced integration-independence perspective as the concept that covers the combination of activities of various business units forming part of a single multinational corporation. The configuration and coordination of value chain processes of business units belonging to a single multinational firm includes t he sourcing of raw materials and basic service components, production processes and linkages, marketing strategies, distribution networks, and support activities encompassing the operations of business units located in different countries but comprising the sub-units of the multinational firm. Available literature also covered marketing standardization, which Jain (1989) describes as the extent of the uniformity in the experiences of customers of the different business units operating in various countries. Here, classification of literature depends on internal and external focus. Literature on strategies focus on business activity as the core basis of analysis so that these looks into the manner that business units apply uniform policies given specific business contexts. Literature on international marketing carries an external focus by considering the uniformity in the marketing mix applied across the business units. (Yip, 1997) The extent of uniformity in the aspects of price, product, place and promotion determines the level of uniformity in the experiences of the firm’s customers in different countries. Rationale for Global Integration After identifying the definition of global integration as limited to cross-border decisions encompassing business units belonging to the same multinational firm and covering the areas of value chain configuration and marketing standardization, the next area that involves clarification is the rationale for engaging in global integration. Available literature provided two distinct perspectives, which are environmental contingency and strategic choice, explaining the rationale for global integration. While the distinctions between these two perspectives is theoretical, these determines the driving factors for global integration as either industry forces and other factors in the external environment or firm-specific capabilities and other factors within the internal environment of the multinational firm. The distinctions reflect similar characteristics as the debates on environmental determinism as against strategic choice (Astley Van de Ven, 1983; Hrebiniak Joyce, 1985). In addition, the distinctions between the two perspectives are parallel to debates involving the positioning-oriented view (Porter, 1985) as opposed to the resource-based view (Barney, 1991) or the dynamic capabilities view (Eisenhardt Martin, 2000). These perspectives highlight one aspect or more reasons for engaging in global integration so that focusing on only one perspective would provide the study with a limited theoretical foundation (Morgan, 1997). As such, these perspectives require consideration to allow the study to gain insight on the multi-dimensional reasons of justifications for global integration. Advocates of the environmental contingency perspective propound the basic assumption that industries hold different potential for globalization. As such, firm strategists play the important role of identifying the trends and influencing factors affecting the industry as bases for the determination of the appropriate strategy addressing the needs and demands of the industry (Bartlett Ghoshal, 1989). In application, a number of best practices have emerged as generic strategies for various industry trends found to lead to positive performance (Prahalad Doz, 1987). This implies that the environmental contingency view favors the development of contingencies (Galbraith, 1973) that considers the alignment or congruence of the structure of the firm and the strategies implemented by the organization with the environment within which the business firm operates. These contingencies find expression in the different types and levels of structures and corresponding strategies that have evolved. A simplistic typology is the description of global firms as evolving from ethnocentric to polycentric before finally becoming geocentric (Perlmutter, 1969). This means that the structure of multinational firms evolves according to this evolutionary process and the strategy of multinational firms depend on the best practices determined for the different evolutionary stages. Another simplistic structure and strategy is one determined by technological drivers (Levitt, 1983) so that the organizational structure revolves around the enhancement of technological capabilities and the strategies involve the standardization of products through a uniform technological capability in order to enhance the homogeneity of customer experiences. However, the simplistic perspectives received criticisms for not being able to cover other important business factors. An alternative perspective involves mixed strategies (Douglas Wind, 1987) so that standardization occurs for some products and product components become while differentiation occurs for others. In application, the mixed strategy involves standardization marketing mix aspects in a given region, market or market segments and differentiation for one or more of the marketing mix components for different regions or markets. The rationale for the mixed perspective is that achieving a universal strategy is not possible since some strategies receive rational support in some market context but not in others even if the same products, brand and company is involved but operating as different business units (Ohmae, 1989). This implies that the purpose of global integration is not really to derive a universal structure and strategy but to provide a way for the multinational corp oration to rationalize its mixed strategies across regions or markets and tie these efforts to address common goals. Most of the typologies that emerged later on found basis on mixed strategies. One manner of classifying multinational firms is through worldwide integration, national responsiveness, and administrative coordination (Doz, 1980). This developed the concept of transnational firms and propounded the important role of administrative coordination to facilitate administrative and structural shifts directed towards the achievement of the benefits of integration on a global scale and responsiveness on a national level. This manner of classification revolves around firm level analysis. Another typology, which considered the industry perspective, distinguished industries as either multidomestic or global (Hout, Porter Rudden, 1982). This means that the structure and strategy selection of business firms depend on the characteristics of the industry within which the firm belongs, which is either multidomestic or global. Another typology that considered the industry level perspective distinguishes strategy selection based on whether the firm falls under multinational or transnational industry (Bartlett, 1986). The author explicitly developed the transnational concept. This means that integration and responsiveness act as the forces that pressure firms to move towards the transnational model. Hedlund (1986) further expanded this typology by introducing the concept of heterarchy to describe the business units of international firms organized into non-hierarchical networks moving toward the goals of integration and responsiveness. The characterization of international fi rms as networks was carried by other literature through the development of the concept of independent network (Bartlett Ghoshal, 1990) and differentiated network (Nohria Ghoshal, 1997). Another typology emerged as the alternative by combining the firm and industry level perspectives to come up with four distinctive strategies of multinational firms, which are purest global, export-based, high foreign investments together with extensive subsidiary coordination, and country-centered (Porter, 1986). Purest global and export-based strategies are variants of global strategy; country-centered strategies are similar to the multinational concept; and high foreign investment with extensive subsidiary coordination is similar to the transnational concept. Another alternative emanates from the integration and responsiveness factors to influence the introduction of the types of strategies into global, multifocal and locally responsive. Integration on a global level considers multinational customers, multinational competitors, intensity of investment, intensity of technology, cost reduction pressures, universal needs, and raw materials and energy access. Local responsiveness pres sures the firm to consider variations in customer needs, variances in the distribution channels, existence of substitutes and adaptations, market structure, and regulatory demands. These pressures then comprise the areas of strategy determination for international business firms. In addition, another strategic area that considers the factors of integration and responsiveness revolves around knowledge and capabilities sharing between corporate headquarters and the various business units (Bartlett Ghoshal, 1989). Based on the development of various typologies, three general structural and strategic distinctions emerge, which are the multinational, transnational and global configurations. These types involve different integration strategies. The global configuration involves the strategy of tight integration of the value chain processes of the different business units resulting to a high level of centralized strategic resources including knowledge and research and development (Bartlett Ghoshal, 1987a; 1987b). This means that the activities of the business units are likely to revolve around the utilization of raw materials and application of service policies instead of focusing on activities that promote the independence of the business units. Moreover, the business units under the global configuration are unable to function without consulting company headquarters. As such, the high level of centralized control leads to the importance of a strong centralized leadership and decision-making. This would likely involve limited development and innovation from the business units operating in the peripheral markets. The network flows between corporate headquarters and the business units revolve around products. Thus, firms adhe ring to the global configuration tend to achieve high levels of integration because of centralization but low levels of responsiveness on a national level because of the lack of development and innovation coming from the business units operating in various national contexts. The multinational or multidomestic configuration pertains to the fostering of high levels of autonomy on the part of the subsidiary units because of the corresponding high degrees of decentralization in decision-making (Roth Morisson, 1990; Harzing, 1998; 2000). This means that the business units or subsidiaries are self-sufficient in their operations on a national level. As such, the subsidiaries enforce value chains that can stand alone in their country of operations (Leong Tan, 1993). Corporate headquarters manage this situation by considering the business units as independent firms but manages the productivity of the subsidiaries through output controls, especially financial measures. The output controls comprise the integrating factor for the different subsidiaries since this measures their adherence to overall firm goals (Muralidharan Hamilton, 1999). Moreover, an informal network exists between the top managers assigned in the corporate headquarters and the expatriates serv ing as representatives of the headquarters in the subsidiaries (Gupta Govindarajan, 2001). Multinational business units exercise relatively high levels of independence because of the minimal intervention and interference from the corporate headquarters except only the application of output controls. The derivation and enhancement of knowledge occurs locally instead of coming from headquarters for dispersion in the different business units. Concurrently, the flow that involves corporate headquarters and the business units encompasses financial resources. Thus, the application of the multinational configuration leads to a high level of responsiveness on a national or local level but resulting to limited integration. The transnational configuration involves the creation of international business firms with the simultaneous capability for responsiveness on a local level, integration on a global level, and learning on a worldwide level. This configuration involves the ability to consider various areas of responsiveness or ambidexterity, which refers to the ability to target conflicting demands at one time (Birkinshaw Gibson, 2004). Nohria and Ghoshal (1997) described the transnational configuration as both differentiated and interdependent. As such, the transnational configuration involves greater integration relative to the multinational configuration but involves greater responsiveness relative to the global configuration. This means that the activities of the business units covering aspects of the value chain becomes integrated physically and coordinated strategically. The subsidiaries the play pre-determined roles within the context of the multinational goals instead of just focusing on the ma ximization of opportunities in the local level. Creation of knowledge involves a higher level of dispersion compared to the global configuration because the objectives are sharing of knowledge derived on level of the peripheral units. The manner of integration then involves mechanisms of socialization instead of output measures as in the multinational configuration. This means the development of standardized norms across the business units (Mintzberg, 1983a). Flow of resources is also expanded to encompass resources, products as well as knowledge across the various business units. Overall, the rationale for global integration based on the environmental contingency perspectives depends on the typology of the operations of business firms. The different typologies carry corresponding structural frameworks and strategic activities directed towards the achievement of the one or both objectives of integration and responsiveness. Proponents of the strategic choice perspective focus on internal factors and pressures in determining structure and strategy for international business firms constituting the rationale for engagement in integration. As such, the focal areas of the strategy choice view include resources, capabilities and processes (Ghoshal, 1987). Concurrently, available literature focused on the two concepts of strategic integration together with corporate parenting that provide distinct multinational firm capabilities. Strategic integration covers the manner that management develops value that encompasses value creation of the different business units forming part of the international firm. Moreover, strategic integration has links to the combination and cultivation of the different resources of the international firm such as the intangible assets together with capabilities in the long-term through the process of coordinated deployment from the corporate headquarters to the business units. However, the subsidiaries have room to enhance further assets and capabilities to respond to their particular business contexts. (Burgelman Doz, 1996) Another view of strategic integration is as pertaining to dynamic capability that is based on particular strategic and structural routine activities (Eisenhardt Martin, 2000). This means that integrating factors comprise the routine activities common in all the business units. Capabilities for strategic integration receives importance in the case when managers intend to shift from one configuration to another but there are variances in the levels of resource needs, strategic requirements, and structural frameworks involved in the configurations. Strategic integration as a capability is also important in situations involving the shift from a weak to a stronger implementation of a given configuration. (Teece et al., 1997; Eisenhardt Martin, 2000) This means that the international business firm employs various combinations of value chain integration and marketing standardization for particular configurations. To ensure integration and standardization, coordination mechanisms comprise important means of unifying processes and outputs across the different business units. Parenting theory evolved to apply to multi-business contexts, specifically the manner that corporate parents influence the operations of subsidiaries in order to add value to the operations of the business units (Goold, 1996a; 1996b; Goold Campbell, 1991; 2002; Goold, Campbell Alexander, 1998). The parenting theory does not particularly focus on integration. Nevertheless, the descriptions of the parenting strategies capture the situation of multinational firms and the manner that corporate headquarters affect the dynamics or workings of the subsidiaries. Since integration involves limitation on the freedom of operation of the business units, the role of the parent company becomes important in achieving effective integration. This means that according to the parenting theory, the rationale of engaging in integration lies in the significance of the role of the parent company in providing effective integrative factors intended to enhance the output and process outcomes across the diff erent business units. Parent firms can create value for the company in four ways. First, the parent company can apply a stand-alone policy, which means that the strategy and performance of the business units are affected minimally by the parent company. Integration at a minimal level of influence occurs through output standardization (Mintzberg, 1983a), which is implemented through financial rations serving as the targets of the subsidiaries. Second, the parent company can increase its influence on the subsidiaries by implementing synergistic practices and transfer of knowledge and best practices to the business units (Mintzberg, 1983a), specifically activities such as standard work systems, standard norms of practice, and training of workers. Third, parent companies can further enhance its influence on the business units by extending the reach of its central functions to the business units. This extent of influence is nearer integration as strategic change instead of coordination. Fourth, an even greater influence on the business units can be made with the parent company altering the corporate portfolio through the acquisition or removal of operations to facilitate restructuring. This also involves greater parallelism with integration as strategic change instead of a coordinative process. Fifth, parent companies can extend their influence to an extent that covers the influence of purchasing firms during post-mergers (Schweiger, 2002). These different extents of influence applied by the parent company translate into different rationales for integration given different multination firm contexts. Regardless of the extent of influence employed by the parent company, it is necessary that the parent company that constitutes the corporate center constitutes a resource in itself through varying levels of influence or provide alternative processes that derive resources for the business units in order for the level of integration to achieve value to the subsidiaries and justify the engagemen t in integration. In addition, there are also parenting styles (Goold, Campbell Alexander, 1994) that describe the manner that the parent company relates to its subsidiaries. First is the financial control style that involves decentralized decision-making of the business units that usually apply in small business firms (Hout et al., 1982). Second is the strategic planning style that involves an influential staff involved in a wide range of areas of operation in the business units (Hout et al., 1982). Third is the strategic control style involving top-down planning but bottom-up implementation that is achieved through the balanced consideration of financial objectives and strategic milestones. These parenting styles provide the factors that have to be present for parent companies to create value for the business units and provide a reason for the type of integration. Integration Challenges After discussing the definition and rationale for integration, the succeeding discussions look into the integration challenges experienced by the multinational firms. Existing literature classify these challenges into those experienced by corporate headquarters and those felt by the subsidiaries. Corporate headquarters experience a number of integration challenges. First is ensuring the creation of value to support the extent of integration. This means that the integration should create greater value compared to the previous status of the firm (Goold, 1996b). Second is preventing any misguided intervention that depend on the context of business units since excessive guidance can thwart much needed innovative action on the subsidiary level (Goold Campbell, 2002). Third is enhancing the quality of execution and support staff services of the company headquarters (Goold Campbell, 2002). Fourth is avoidance of multiple levels of parenting that could lead to redundancy and contradictions (Goold Campbell, 2002). Fifth is the management of various kinds of intra-firm reporting so that the type of reporting should match the simplicity or complexity of the multinational firm (Prahalad Doz, 1987). Sixth is the avoidance of the building of empires at headquarters by clearly establish ing the roles of top management in maintaining corporate entity and adding value to the subsidiaries (Goold Campbell, 2002). Subsidiaries also experience problems in integration. First is achieving structural and strategic fit (Jemison Sitkin, 1986a; 1986b; Olie, 1994; Carleton, 1997) given variances in administrative heritage (Bartlett Ghoshal, 1989) that requires the development of a common administrative infrastructure. Second is managing opportunism among the subsidiary managers within the context of agency relations (Jensen Meckling, 1976; Eisenhardt, 1989a; 1989b) through risk management and agency clarification. Third is ensuring the commitment of the subsidiary managers since commitment determines the success of the integration process (Kim Mauborgne (1991; 1995) by developing a perception of fairness of the integration (Greenberg, 1993). Available literature on the problems experienced by the subsidiaries provide significant foundational information for the study by providing concepts that relate to the study on the perceptions of subsidiaries, particularly the managers of the subsidiaries regarding the integration. The factors of attitudes, commitment and cooperative behavior are the problem areas of integration on the subsidiary side but these also comprise determinants of the perceptions of subsidiaries towards integration. Immediate Literature This section covers immediate literature since the integration capabilities and the modes of managing the subsidiary provide the determinants of the perspectives of subsidiaries towards integration, similar to the part on the problems experienced by the subsidiaries discussed in the previous section. Integration Capabilities A number of integration capabilities are important in the integration initiative. Since integration involves actions and responses not only from the company headquarters

Casablanca Essay example -- essays research papers

CASABLANCA Throughout history, the film industry has seen many directing styles and techniques. The early part of the 20th century saw a factory style of film production, but as the years went by, director's began to employ new and untried techniques in their pictures. One such technique which these director's implemented was a new approach to the use of the camera and camera angles. "Casablanca," an Academy Award winning film of 1942 saw director Michael Curtiz manipulate the camera in ways others had not. He uses the close-up, point-of- view, and creative shot motivation methods in his film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, to create an American cinema classic. The first camera technique Curtiz uses to help narrate the film is the close-up shot. The close-up can effectively convey the story to the viewer without the use of excessive dialogue. In this instance, the viewer is introduced to the main character, Rick, through the use of the close-up. The first scene in "Rick's Cafe," shows people gambling and making illegal deals to leave Casablanca. An employee of the cafe brings a check to a man seated at a chess table to sign. The signature reads, "OK. Rick." By using this shot, the director makes clear to the reader, without any dialogue, that the man signing the check is Rick. This technique, however, is just the first of many used by Curtiz. The point-of-view shot, also used by Curtiz was intended to place the audience directly ...

Bullying in School

Bullying: 1. I read the article, â€Å"Jury Orders School District to Pay $800,000 to Bullied Student. † This article was about a boy named Dane Patterson, who had been bullied all through middle school and his early high school career. He claims that the school failed to protect him from years of bullying, and it finally came to be enough when he was sexually harassed in the locker room. As a result to this, the Patterson family filed a lawsuit under Title IX of the Equal Opportunity in Education Act, using the sexual harassment story as the basis.This week, the jury ordered the school district to pay Dane $800,000 to make up for the damages and trauma caused by the ongoing situation. Anti-bullying experts argue that this verdict will send a clear message to schools that they are in fact responsible for sexual harassment and bullying, and that they must keep a constant eye out for such behavior. 2. In my opinion, I do not think schools should be held fully responsible for bul lying.I think that maybe they should make more of an effort to prevent it, but there is no way they can take care of all the bullying issues that happen in school. For example, some kids don’t even make an effort to ask for help, or let anyone know they are being bullied, so the school shouldn’t be held accountable for a situation they aren’t even aware is occurring to begin with. In Dane’s situation however, I believe the school should be held responsible because he clearly asked for help and didn’t receive any, and this had been going on since middle school!I think that schools should be fully accountable only if the child seeks out help numerous times and doesn’t receive it, or if the school doesn’t do everything in their power to make the bullying go away. On the other hand, there are some situations which the school cannot control, like I said in the first example; if that is the case, I don’t believe the school should be held responsible. 3. I believe that the parents of the bully’s should be held at least somewhat responsible for their child’s actions because then they could stop the bullying before it gets out of control.Ultimately, schools are responsible for keeping an eye out on bullying and regulating the behavior, but there are some cases in which they just cannot control, therefore they shouldn’t be held responsible. Obesity: 1. For obesity, I read the article, â€Å"Pepsi Initiates Move to Pull Sugared Soft Drinks from Schools in 200 Countries. † This article was about PepsiCo Inc’s announcement, as of Tuesday of this week, about how they planning to remove all of their full-calorie sweetened soft drinks from schools in more than 200 countries by the year 2012 to reduce the trend of obesity.The article also mentions that earlier this month, Coca-Cola made a similar announcement, but they feel they should only eliminate soft drink sales from schools only if parents make a request. Of course, both companies realize that eliminating soft drinks will not end the rising trend of childhood obesity, but they believe that learning better eating and drinking habits in schools are certainly a step in the right direction. 2. I don’t think that schools should be held accountable for obesity in any sense.Schools should strive to sell healthier food, but they are not the cause of obesity. The school is not responsible for the amount of food a child buys, so schools should not be responsible for obesity. 3. In my opinion, obesity is more caused by eating habits in life outside of school, such as home or going out and getting fast food all the time. It’s even genetic. I don’t believe schools should be responsible for obesity because the child controls their own eating habits, not the school. Bullying in School Bullying should be a crime. It is very cruel and unethical. â€Å"Each day an estimated 160,000 students miss school for fear of being bullied and 10 percent of students who drop out do so because of repeated bullying† (Dalton 1). The way it makes children feel isn’t fair. Imagine that happening to yourself. Bullying in schools presents problems to every age group therefore there should be more bullying prevention programs to help get rid of the problem. Younger age Bullying is a topic that needs to be talked about.Younger age is defined from kindergarten to seventh grade. Children bully because they feel they need to overpower people. They also bully because they think they are better than others or some people just have a low self-esteem. When Younger kids bully it is normally name calling, teasing, or making fun of them by the way they look, speak, or even how smart they are! Older age bullying is another one of my topics. Older age bullying is defined from the grade s of eighth to a senior in high school.People in the Older age group bully for mainly the same reasons. When older people normally bully, it is a lot more sever then younger age bullying. â€Å"Although most victims of bullying in schools are too meek to take matter into their own hands, a few of them can be pushed to certain critical limits. 60% of identified bullies during their grade 6-9 years eventually got involved in at least one criminal conviction by age 24. † Bullying in Schools (1). Older age bullying normally ends up violent and is a lot more severe then younger age bullying.They get into fights or harassment is filed, these are the main things that happen. People will take all of someones strength and will and harass or fight them just to make them feel better about themselves. This is bad because the children who are being bullied do not deserve what they are getting. Nobody deserves to be harassed and manipulated for no reason or any reason. Most of the time, th e people that are being bullied, it isn’t their fault at all. Prevention is another area of concern.According to the online article, â€Å"Bullying Academy,† every school needs a anti-bully website for students, educators, and parents. This world needs to realize what is going on with bullying in schools and take action(1). Every school should have monitors of bullying throughout the halls and classrooms all day long. This is just one thing you could do to prevent bullying. There are many things that you could do, depending on what one your school board would like the most. Every city or town should take money from their funds and put it into schools and bullying prevention programs.According to the online article â€Å"Caring School Community,† â€Å"prevention focuses on strengthening students’ connectedness to school—an important element for increasing academic motivation and achievement and for reducing drug use, violence, and delinquency. â⠂¬  Every school should have a bullying prevention program, where parents and students could come and learn about bullying. These programs could also talk about how it affects people. They should give statistics about what people who bully end up doing in their lives and what people that don’t bully end up doing in their lives. I also think we are making important progress towards discovering how successful anti-bullying programs can be† (Dr. Ken 1). Bullying in schools is wrong and we should have more bullying prevention programs. My main point in writing this paper is to inform people that bullying is wrong. Also I wish that everyone be more aware about the situation, and don’t deny it because it is happening whether you would like to admit it or not. People need to stand up and take charge and make a change in peoples lives. People who are being bullied would love if you took a couple hours of your week just to help them get over the struggles in life. Bullying in School Bullying: 1. I read the article, â€Å"Jury Orders School District to Pay $800,000 to Bullied Student. † This article was about a boy named Dane Patterson, who had been bullied all through middle school and his early high school career. He claims that the school failed to protect him from years of bullying, and it finally came to be enough when he was sexually harassed in the locker room. As a result to this, the Patterson family filed a lawsuit under Title IX of the Equal Opportunity in Education Act, using the sexual harassment story as the basis.This week, the jury ordered the school district to pay Dane $800,000 to make up for the damages and trauma caused by the ongoing situation. Anti-bullying experts argue that this verdict will send a clear message to schools that they are in fact responsible for sexual harassment and bullying, and that they must keep a constant eye out for such behavior. 2. In my opinion, I do not think schools should be held fully responsible for bul lying.I think that maybe they should make more of an effort to prevent it, but there is no way they can take care of all the bullying issues that happen in school. For example, some kids don’t even make an effort to ask for help, or let anyone know they are being bullied, so the school shouldn’t be held accountable for a situation they aren’t even aware is occurring to begin with. In Dane’s situation however, I believe the school should be held responsible because he clearly asked for help and didn’t receive any, and this had been going on since middle school!I think that schools should be fully accountable only if the child seeks out help numerous times and doesn’t receive it, or if the school doesn’t do everything in their power to make the bullying go away. On the other hand, there are some situations which the school cannot control, like I said in the first example; if that is the case, I don’t believe the school should be held responsible. 3. I believe that the parents of the bully’s should be held at least somewhat responsible for their child’s actions because then they could stop the bullying before it gets out of control.Ultimately, schools are responsible for keeping an eye out on bullying and regulating the behavior, but there are some cases in which they just cannot control, therefore they shouldn’t be held responsible. Obesity: 1. For obesity, I read the article, â€Å"Pepsi Initiates Move to Pull Sugared Soft Drinks from Schools in 200 Countries. † This article was about PepsiCo Inc’s announcement, as of Tuesday of this week, about how they planning to remove all of their full-calorie sweetened soft drinks from schools in more than 200 countries by the year 2012 to reduce the trend of obesity.The article also mentions that earlier this month, Coca-Cola made a similar announcement, but they feel they should only eliminate soft drink sales from schools only if parents make a request. Of course, both companies realize that eliminating soft drinks will not end the rising trend of childhood obesity, but they believe that learning better eating and drinking habits in schools are certainly a step in the right direction. 2. I don’t think that schools should be held accountable for obesity in any sense.Schools should strive to sell healthier food, but they are not the cause of obesity. The school is not responsible for the amount of food a child buys, so schools should not be responsible for obesity. 3. In my opinion, obesity is more caused by eating habits in life outside of school, such as home or going out and getting fast food all the time. It’s even genetic. I don’t believe schools should be responsible for obesity because the child controls their own eating habits, not the school.

Free Essays on Stereotyping

There is a tendency among many people to categorize individuals who look, act, and come from the same background as "us", and to categorize those who differ from this group of people as "They." However, people who are considered to be "they" in their perspective consider "us" as "they". This is an explanation of how stereotypes are created. Stereotypes affect the manner in which people interact with others of a different race or ethnicity, age group, religious background, or sexual orientation. Gender stereotypes are also prevalent within the mass media. A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a certain class of people. When people say that all members of a specific nationality, religion, race or gender are "cheap," "lazy," "criminal" or "dumb," they are expressing stereotypes. All groups have both cheap and generous individuals and those who commit crimes. To label an entire group based on the action of a few is to engage in stereotyping. The most common stereotypes t hat exist today have negatively impacted various groups of people In our society, there are many stereotypes created about nationalities that in return underestimate the power of each individual of a group. People from different nationalities are considered to be â€Å"they". For example, Asians may be stereotyped as being disciplined, hard-working people who excel in mathematics, while African Americans or Mexicans may be viewed in a more negative light. In "Mother Tongue", Amy Tan was trying to disprove the existing stereotype about Chinese people being good at precise science, so she went against the existing opinion and became a famous American writer. Richard Rodriguez in "Complexion," tried to prove that the Mexicans could excel in a field other than a physical labor; therefore, he became a highly intelligent person. The only way for Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez to destroy the myth about their national belonging was to successfully accomplish their own ... Free Essays on Stereotyping Free Essays on Stereotyping There is a tendency among many people to categorize individuals who look, act, and come from the same background as "us", and to categorize those who differ from this group of people as "They." However, people who are considered to be "they" in their perspective consider "us" as "they". This is an explanation of how stereotypes are created. Stereotypes affect the manner in which people interact with others of a different race or ethnicity, age group, religious background, or sexual orientation. Gender stereotypes are also prevalent within the mass media. A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a certain class of people. When people say that all members of a specific nationality, religion, race or gender are "cheap," "lazy," "criminal" or "dumb," they are expressing stereotypes. All groups have both cheap and generous individuals and those who commit crimes. To label an entire group based on the action of a few is to engage in stereotyping. The most common stereotypes t hat exist today have negatively impacted various groups of people In our society, there are many stereotypes created about nationalities that in return underestimate the power of each individual of a group. People from different nationalities are considered to be â€Å"they". For example, Asians may be stereotyped as being disciplined, hard-working people who excel in mathematics, while African Americans or Mexicans may be viewed in a more negative light. In "Mother Tongue", Amy Tan was trying to disprove the existing stereotype about Chinese people being good at precise science, so she went against the existing opinion and became a famous American writer. Richard Rodriguez in "Complexion," tried to prove that the Mexicans could excel in a field other than a physical labor; therefore, he became a highly intelligent person. The only way for Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez to destroy the myth about their national belonging was to successfully accomplish their own ...

Rio Grande Essays

Rio Grande Essays Rio Grande Essay Rio Grande Essay The chief of operations-Henry Dearer- fired a worker who had hacked into co-workers emails. There was a right for Henry to fire the employee but it seems that a consideration of her previous work performance was not included in his decision. There seems to be a lack of flexibility not to mention the hypocrisy about the decision as well. There seems to be many elements that show that there Is a disturbance In the corporate culture. Jasper saw an Importance In how each person respected their fellow workers which suggests that there Is an Involvement culture, though the employee that covertly spied Into anothers emails suggest suspicion In the culture. The act of spying can be seen as being aggressive, which Is one of the traits In a competitive culture. The lack of leadership In the Involvement culture may allow the corporate culture to lean towards the competitive type of culture. The values of integrity and honesty are judgment values and what they mean can change from person to person. They should be reworded so there is no misunderstanding to what is meant. For example, honesty should be changed to l ill always tell the truth. These values were not implemented by the management team and are evident by the way Henry misused the internet resource. There is a lack of transparency (corruption) as the employees know Henry breaks the rules and yet gets away with it but the employee gets fired when she breaks the rules. Management sets the rules but it is seen by employees that they can do and get away with anything. The employees see an inequality and it breeds distrust and resistance especially when working towards the corporate goals. The dishonesty that Dearer displayed has created a conflict of values. The employees see a double standard and this will create distrust, in turn this could increase staff turnover. This will result in highly trained personnel leaving the company, taking with them the expertise that the company relies on. The staff that chooses to remain will have a lower morale and will be disengaged from the company goals and values. In a situation that shows conflicting values, the values that the company wants to exhibit just come first. The company mission statement and vision should represent the values that are wanted. These values should promote positive outcomes for the company. Values that promote weak communication and hidden agendas give rise to chaos as compared to values that promote Indiscrimination and transparency give rise to harmony. ROI Grander By snobbier There seems to be many elements that show that there is a disturbance in the corporate culture. Jasper saw an importance in how each person respected their allow workers which suggests that there is an involvement culture, though the employee that covertly spied into anothers emails suggest suspicion in the culture. The act of spying can be seen as being aggressive, which is one of the traits in a competitive culture. The lack of leadership in the involvement culture may allow the corporate culture to lean towards the competitive type of culture.

Final project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final project - Assignment Example ective, this statement entails the improvement of social and cultural aspects of Terra Haute County by launching projects that preserve the environmental and by implementing apprenticeship programs that help prepare the young citizens in their future job applications. Looking at THDC’s organizational structure, its top management is comprised of senior planners and partner investors. Its middle management is made up of managers who lead THDC’s various business functions such as sales, marketing, and engineering. While THDC’s long-term and short-term corporate plans seem strategic, implementable, and results-driven, certain issues have arisen as regards its organizational development. Looking closely at the OD structure of THDC, it can be claimed that: (1) manpower pooling to fill in its sales department is relatively weak; (2) lack of competency development measures on middle management employees; (3) organizational unity and oneness has not been formed yet given the diversity of mindsets on the company’s culture and vision. Having a strong OD structure can influence the attainment of objectives set by any organization. Examining the current manpower pooling program at THDC, it seems obvious that the company emphasizes more on enriching its current business partnerships than investing in HR programs that encourage external job applications. Reviewing briefly the organization’s line up of offerings, it can be claimed that there is logic to this move. For one, THDC emphasizes on providing available commercial and industrial properties to business investors. The Vigo County Industrial Park, for example, features a 500-acre site with a functional underground power service, and ready-to-go services such as natural gas, sanitary sewer, potable water and fiber optic system (Terre Haute Economic Development Corporation, 2013). In addition to this, the Fort Harrison Business Park has greenfield sites that could be developed for new industrial

Developing a new set of performance appraisal processes and measures Essay

Developing a new set of performance appraisal processes and measures - Essay Example The senior management should as much as possible prevent unsatisfied employees after the performance appraisal process. There should be a good way to determine the best way how to let employees understand what the company exactly perceives about their actual performance. There should be correct and exact criteria for performance appraisal that are not susceptible to bias or one-sided in its approach when they are put into application. This is to ensure that the entire process of performance appraisal program is controlled by the management that is far beyond the issue of unfair treatment. Management should give skills empowerment program for its employees. This is one of the ways in which employees are set to another level of standard and this is also a way how the management expects them to achieve specific level or standard. Learning and growth strategy is another important goal of the management to be executed prior to the actual performance appraisal process. This is to ensure th at employees are given the exact idea that the management expects them to grow and thus performance appraisal is just one of the effective ways for such measurement. In this way, employees will not recent about how they are being evaluated considering that there is a significant basis why they should be evaluated. In fact, the management could express its learning and growth strategy as a way of investing in its human resource. The management should emphasised that investing in its employees and particularly in its human resource is a good start to emphasise the significance of performance appraisal. However, employees should not view this as only a way of maximising company’s profit or financial performance. Rather, it should be viewed as integral part of how an organisation should find for its corporate success. This should be widely understood by employees and that their performance is an integral part of the entire corporate performance in the achievement of goals. Finall y, the management should create a good working environment for its employees. In this way, there is always a good reason for its employees to believe that they are giving their time at the right place. This should be integrated in the performance appraisal system. This is one of the good ways to ensure corresponding success in any attempt to evaluate corporate performance as far as the human resource is concerned. B. Recommendations Success of new performance appraisal process should be evaluated based on the detailed concept of employee-employer relationships. There are many things that an employer should understand about employees because each one of them has specific needs that could motivate them at some point. Feedbacks should be given in a way that it promotes neutral impact on both the management and its employees. This is to ensure that the employees are able to grasp the genuine intention of the management for giving feedbacks. Employer must be able to create significant un derstanding about both external and internal factors of the business environment. In this reason, there is always a good chance to take a better look at how employees perform their tasks and manage to do them based on the firm’s expectations. Firm should be able to evaluate first its expectations. In this way, there is always a good chance to concentrate on what really benefits the organisation. However, this does not mean that the entire process

The Rise of China and the Subsequent Re-Shaping Of Business Essay - 1

The Rise of China and the Subsequent Re-Shaping Of Business Environment for MNEs (Multi-National Enterprises) - Essay Example The researcher states that modern era globalization has taken its present shape due to three primary reasons: technological innovation leading to worldwide networking and integration; global integration of emerging economies of developing countries; and opening up of by previously closed economies of countries like Brazil, India, and China. MNEs (Multinational Enterprises) are the product and the most visible aspect of globalization. A   MNE controls material  production  and/or provides services  to a large number of countries worldwide. MNEs conduct their operation (material production) in one country, which is generally termed as the ‘host country,’ while base their management activities in another country, referred to as the  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœhome country.’ Some of these MNEs are large and powerful, often operating with budgets that are more than the GDP of some of the developing nations in the world. The emergence of MNEs along with globalization is evident w hen we find that during the 1970s there were around 7000 MNEs, which at the turn of the century skyrocketed to around 60000. Around the same time, we find that the world’s largest MNCs and MNE’s (top 1000) accounted for almost 80% of the global industrial production, while the top 100 corporations and enterprises were responsible for 4.3% global GDP. At the core of globalisation and the rise of the MNCs and MNEs, is the emergence of China, as an economic power; and this article will examine the rise of Chinese economy and its particularly good relationship with various MNEs, and the recent break in this ‘good’ relationship leading to re-shaping of business environment for the MNEs in China.

Image of Filipino Women Essay Example for Free

Image of Filipino Women Essay Like in Estrella Alfon’s Magnificence; she illustrated that Filipino women are tough when it is for her children; while Lumnay was very weak and couldn’t accept her husband’s marriage to another woman. . Filipino women could stand and hold firm on her virtues and ideals. No matter what the consequences are, they stand for what is right. Sometimes they are mocked and insulted because of their ideals. But these women, like Miss Noel stood determined to continue what she has started and what she was fighting for. Esperanza is also a woman of virtue. She despises sleeping with a man to whom you’re not married. Some Filipino women are very innocent when it comes to hardships, emotions or other things surrounding them. Majority of these women were born or they belonged to middle class family. They haven’t experienced difficulties while growing up. While some women are oblivious to difficulties and hardships, some are introduced to it a very young age. They sacrificed their happiness for the sake of their family and loved ones. They think of everything as they’re responsibility and it affects their way of thinking, their social life and even their marital life. Filipino women are generous and very caring. They support their family through thick and thin. They will never let their family down especially when it comes to children. They are also very sweet and understanding, Filipinas are also very jealous, they are very possessive not only on the material things but also with their loved ones, especially the mothers. There are also this conservative God-fearing Filipinas. They have principles and won’t go against it. There are many more character traits a Filipina could have, but whatever the point is, Filipinas are raised differently and you could see it by the way they talk or move. Filipino women may look independent and wise but still, they need to feel deserve to be respected and cared for. They need to be loved and feel loved.