Do my assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Do my assignment - Essay Example rage American are their security and country’s economics that directly affects the amount and quality of food on their table, their shopping habits, their selection (most of the times it is the availability/affordability) of college/university, savings/investment and health. Obama might not have been the best when it comes to taking care of all these matters but he sure is a person that keeps things under budget. In my observation and from what I have learnt from my American friends, (I’m a student from the Middle East) the majority considers Romney a Neocon. He would probably waste precious resources of the US citizens in engaging unnecessary battles and wars. Americans don’t want their money to be spent on military ventures, painfully, outside the US soil. The Americans have their own battles to fight on their own soil. Being a military superpower doesn’t mean that each of its citizens is fed properly and sleeps in a warm

Charles Dickens Essay Example for Free

Charles Dickens Essay Dickens starts his story with a funeral to present a dark and gloomy theme to this Victorian society. The main character is man named Ebenezer Scrooge. Stave 1 starts off with Scrooges partner, Jacob Marley. Marley has recently passed away and Scrooge is the person who signed for his funeral. From this stave he presents Scrooges character with puns such as sole executor or sole administrator. It continues on about Scrooge and his soul and of how External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. Scrooge is described as a cold and frosty man, whose heart was so black and filled with greed. The language used in Stave 1 for Scrooges character and attitude to Christmas and other people portrays him as a cold-hearted man, chilled to the very core of his heart. No room for emotion and just greed and gold instead. Dickens shows Scrooge art the start of stave two, three, four as a gradual change of heart. In the second stave Dickens introduces the reader to Scrooges sadder part of life, the part of Scrooges life which he regrets. The third stave shows Scrooge to the present and current people he is affiliated with and about ignorance and greed, shown as two pitiful children; the Ghost of Christmas Present leaves Ebenezer Scrooge and the third Ghost comes; The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The fourth stave shows Scrooges end in life. How he fatefully dies and nobody cares for him or his grave. He learns that he can change the future and swears to do so, thus changing his greed and ignorance forever. Scrooge becomes so happy on Christmas morning of Stave 5 because he is glad he is given the chance to change. A second chance at life where he can repent from his sins of greed. He feels a sudden change of heart from his dark demise and sees the light. Dickens shows the reader the different ways that Scrooge has changed by the acts he commits in Stave 5 compared to Stave 1. He buys the biggest turkey for the Cratchit Family for their supper on Christmas, compared to Stave 1 where he didnt even bother with Tiny Tim who was waiting for his father Bob Cratchit outside Scrooges work. I think Dickens wrote this story about a man as rich and greedy as Scrooge because of the social injustice and poverty of the society Dickens had lived in, the Victorian era. He wrote this because of the causes and effects of between the two and how they correlate in the Victorian society. I think Dickens wanted to teach the Victorian people the actual meaning of Christmas and the spirit of good will that goes along with it. I also think he wanted to show the poverty and injustice in the society during that time. I think the reasons why is because Dickens felt he needed to share his pity and sorrow for the people in poverty, and their side of things and how the greedy and rich ignore the poor people without a sign of pity to them.

Charles Dickens The Signalman and A Birthday by Karen Mansfield Essays

Charles Dickens' The Signalman and A Birthday by Karen Mansfield A signalman is a short story written by Charles Dickens. This is a story about a signalman who is driven â€Å"mad† by the environment of his work, away from sunlight and people. But he was not alone; a supernatural ghost decides to accompany him too. He has a lot of responsibilities to shoulder. There are only two characters that really are prominent in the short story. In fact in the story, there are only about three to five characters. The important characters are the signalman and the narrator. Charles Dickens uses dialogue to make the characters more appealing and easier to understand. He has written exactly what was need to understand the story, nothing less or nothing more. The characters are described physically briefly but Charles Dickens has described their attitude, nature, thoughts and character to a great deal. Through out ‘The Signalman’ the signalman’s name is not mentioned which seems quite awkward. The signalman tells the narrator about his worries and still they do not ask each other their names. It seemed a little strange! The signalman was troubled but it did not seem so if a person who would have seen him for the first time and judged him by his appearance. The signalman’s appearance described in the story as, â€Å"†¦he was a dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows.† He seemed to look perfectly reasonable and normal but you should never judge a book by its cover. You cannot tell his problems merely by his appearance! (Proved by the short story) The signalman is a very peculiar man. When the narrator called him from the top of the steep cutting he did not seem to reply and walked down the railway li... ...is short story is written by a woman it seems to be more descriptive. If ‘A Birthday,’ and ‘A Signalman,’ were compared Andreas Binzer’s character would be unquestionably more descriptive than that of the signalman. Karen Mansfield described everything from his teeth, attitude and nature in greater detail. Meanwhile, Charles Dickens just wrote what was needed exactly. The way people see each other seems to differ so drastically. In one short story you try to understand a person’s problems and situation whereas, the other shows how inconsiderate a person can be and still be blessed with great people around them. I spent a long time writing this essay and I believe that if I take the time I would really show what people are like. It amazed me how realistic the characters in these short stories are and that many people like those can be found in the world.

New Belgium Brewing Company Essay -- Business Analysis

Belgium is known for a culture of high-quality beer and this concept was formulated by an electrical engineer from Fort Collins, Colorado. The electrical engineer, Jeff Lebesch, was traveling through Belgium on his fat-tired mountain bike when he envisioned the same high-quality beer in Colorado. Lebesch acquired the special strain of yeast used in Belgium and took it back to his basement in Colorado and the experimentation process was initiated. His friends were the samplers and when they approved the beer it was marketed. In 1991, Lebesch opened the New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB) with his wife, Kim Jordan, as the marketing director. The first beer and continued bestseller, Fat Tire Amber Ale, was named after the bike ride in Belgium. The operation went from a basement to an old railroad depot and then expanded into a custom-built facility in 1995. The custom-built facility included an automatic brew house, quality-assurance labs and technological innovations. NBB offers p ermanent, seasonal and one-time only beers with a mission to be a lucrative brewery while making their love and talent visible. In the cases presented by the noted authors (Ferrell & Simpson, 2008), discusses the inception, marketing strategy, brand personality, ethics and social responsibility that New Belgium Brewing Company has demonstrated. The key facts with New Belgium Brewing Company are the marketing strategy, promotion, internal environment and social responsibility with the critical issues of the public, brand slogan, growth and competition. First, there was a key fact in the marketing strategy. In 1996, there was a turning point in the area of marketing for NBB when Greg Owsley was hired as the Director. Owsley developed a team tha... ...rase on every six-pack of beer that informs the public the product is a labor of love and have created something superior it to improve people’s lives. NBB has a brand identity of quality, responsible with a concern for society. NBB went from an operation in a basement to a custom built factory. The custom built factory has efficiencies that are cost effective and environmentally safe. NBB originally distributed to Colorado and has expanded to sixteen states. References Ferrell, O. C. (2008). â€Å"New Belgium Brewing Company(A)† in Ferrell, O. C., and Hartline, Michael D., Marketing Strategy, Fourth Edition, Mason, Ohio: Thompson Southwestern Publishing, pp. 463-470. Simpson, B. (2008). â€Å"New Belgium Brewing (B)† in Ferrell, O. C., and Hartline, Michael D., Marketing Strategy, Fourth Edition, Mason, Ohio: Thompson Southwestern Publishing, pp. 1-5. New Belgium Brewing Company Essay -- Business Analysis Belgium is known for a culture of high-quality beer and this concept was formulated by an electrical engineer from Fort Collins, Colorado. The electrical engineer, Jeff Lebesch, was traveling through Belgium on his fat-tired mountain bike when he envisioned the same high-quality beer in Colorado. Lebesch acquired the special strain of yeast used in Belgium and took it back to his basement in Colorado and the experimentation process was initiated. His friends were the samplers and when they approved the beer it was marketed. In 1991, Lebesch opened the New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB) with his wife, Kim Jordan, as the marketing director. The first beer and continued bestseller, Fat Tire Amber Ale, was named after the bike ride in Belgium. The operation went from a basement to an old railroad depot and then expanded into a custom-built facility in 1995. The custom-built facility included an automatic brew house, quality-assurance labs and technological innovations. NBB offers p ermanent, seasonal and one-time only beers with a mission to be a lucrative brewery while making their love and talent visible. In the cases presented by the noted authors (Ferrell & Simpson, 2008), discusses the inception, marketing strategy, brand personality, ethics and social responsibility that New Belgium Brewing Company has demonstrated. The key facts with New Belgium Brewing Company are the marketing strategy, promotion, internal environment and social responsibility with the critical issues of the public, brand slogan, growth and competition. First, there was a key fact in the marketing strategy. In 1996, there was a turning point in the area of marketing for NBB when Greg Owsley was hired as the Director. Owsley developed a team tha... ...rase on every six-pack of beer that informs the public the product is a labor of love and have created something superior it to improve people’s lives. NBB has a brand identity of quality, responsible with a concern for society. NBB went from an operation in a basement to a custom built factory. The custom built factory has efficiencies that are cost effective and environmentally safe. NBB originally distributed to Colorado and has expanded to sixteen states. References Ferrell, O. C. (2008). â€Å"New Belgium Brewing Company(A)† in Ferrell, O. C., and Hartline, Michael D., Marketing Strategy, Fourth Edition, Mason, Ohio: Thompson Southwestern Publishing, pp. 463-470. Simpson, B. (2008). â€Å"New Belgium Brewing (B)† in Ferrell, O. C., and Hartline, Michael D., Marketing Strategy, Fourth Edition, Mason, Ohio: Thompson Southwestern Publishing, pp. 1-5.

Barclays Plc and Abn Amro Case Study

[pic] London School of Commerce MBA E BARCLAYS PLC AND ABN AMRO CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT London UK As one of the world’s leading banks, with 135,000 employees in more than 50 countries, Barclays plays a significant role, from working with governments on major infrastructure projects to bringing banking to customers in emerging markets. Barclays is made up of two major businesses: Global Retail and Commercial Banking (GRCB) and Investment Banking and Investment Management (IBIM). There strategy is to achieve growth through time by diversifying their profit base making their growth relevant to their customers at all times. This case study will seek to examine the bid and intended acquisition of ABN AMRO, and the early acquisition of Banco Zaragozano by Barclays, the differences in performance of these two banks based upon the strategic a economic motives, focusing on the merger acquisition, and strategy implemented to effect improvements to reflect the results from 2002- 2006. 1. Evaluate Barclays strategy over the period of the case and prior to the ABN bid, paying particular attention to the global industry drivers and the group? s performance from 2002-2006. In order to understand the context that helps to formulate the strategic performance changes at Barclays PLC over and prior bid for ABN AMOR. Barclay? s’ origins can be found back in 1690 to John Freame and Thomas Gould. The named changed to its present form when James Barclay became a partner in 1736. Presently, Barclays is the third largest bank in the United Kingdom. The institution’s primary focus is in retail banking, investment banking as well as investment management. Barclays operates in 60 countries with major point of interest in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa. Barclays is one of the ten largest banks global when measured by market capitalization (Barclays PLC, 2004). The institution’s core business revolves around retail and investment banking, and it is the later that is being impacted by forces acting upon liberal market economies in varied European Union member states as a result of the aforementioned introduction of the Euro as well as globalization. As a result of the preceding, Barclays services the United Kingdom market as well as providing services to multinational companies located in differing market models. Barclays strategy. The bank’s strategy is to offer a full portfolio of services worldwide, providing a wide range of cross-selling opportunities, in order to achieve good growth through time by diversifying its business base and increasing its presence in markets and segments that are growing rapidly. This is driven by the Group’s ambition to become one of a handful of universal banks leading the global financial services industry, helping customers and clients throughout the world achieve their goals. Moreover, the strategy of the bank is based on the principles of earn, invest and grow. Aligning business drivers with strategic options. The strategic options examined by Barclays were further direct investment or outsourcing to a ‘partner’ bank and these were considered in the context of the bank’s key business drivers. These were:improving their operating model for trade processing; reducing the costs of their trade business in relation to people, infrastructure and services; improving their trade service capabilities and establishing a workable, non-competing, long-term ‘partnership’. After considering all of the options, including a Joint Venture partnership, Barclays decided to outsource the processing aspect of its trade services offering to ABN AMRO and to focus on delivering enhanced client service. Performance Nowadays, the proliferation of banking consolidation within the industry is and has created a new era of international banking conglomerates in the global industry. The preceding is causing European based banks to appear small in terms of relative comparison. Barclays? peration in a liberal market economy means it competes with equity financing for corporations and as such, this does not represent a strength concerning its overall performance base. According to group? s performance from 2002-2006 identifies that Barclays? performance underpinnings are represented by its strategy of acquiring other banking (such as ABN Amro and Banco Zaragozano) concerns to expand its retail as well as other banking services through representation in international marke ts as represented by the bank’s presence in 60 countries. This provides Barclays with the means to sell its highly profitable investment banking services as well as be positioned to service the cadre of multinational companies that utilize its diverse banking financial service packages. On the other hand, ABN AMRO bank has a presence in 76 countries and territories. Using its worldwide network the bank provides universal banking services consisting of commercial and investment banking products to corporate nationally and internationally operating clients as well as personal and private banking customers. In 2007, Barclays announced the proposed acquisition of ABN AMRO bank, in order to expanded their distribution base. The deal was valued at â‚ ¬67 billion. On October, the RFS consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland, bidding for control of ABN AMRO, formally declared victory after shareholders, representing 86 percent of the Dutch bank’s shares, accepted the RFS group’s â‚ ¬70bn offer. Barclays is known a consistent performer delivering steady profitability results, 20% increase in profit before taxes in 2003, and again in 2004, and one of the lowest cost to income ratios with regard to banks in the UK. The preceding indicates that Barclays is well managed. Barclays? focus on internal administrative consolidation as well as the acquisition of banking concerns represents its recognition in order to maintain growth in revenues, return on equity, dividends and profits in response to maintaining a high market capitalization that tends to make it a relatively unattractive takeover target as a result of the high premium required to acquire it Barclays? retail banking arm is clearly supported by the huge success of its Barclaycard division that has set industry standards in terms of innovations in customer utility. Barclays? resence in 60 countries further strengthens the utility of this card providing business and retail customers with access to their financial accounts globally (Barclays PLC, 2004). The aforementioned diversity in operations is a result of the economic strength of global industry market based economies that have fully recovered from the global recession events of 2002. B arclays? banking acquisition strategy is a direct outgrowth of the foregoing in keeping with the consolidation mania initiated by U. S. based banks. According to ABN AMRO bank performance, financial results in 2006 added to concerns about the bank's future. Operating expenses increased at a greater rate than operating revenue, and the efficiency ratio deteriorated further to 69. 9%. Non-performing loans increased considerably year on year by 192%. Net profits were only boosted by sustained asset sales. From 2002 to 2006, the further progress being made as a result of understanding the corrective measures that were and are needed to be taken. Barclays ? performance throughout this period has remained consistent and steady as the bank has not lost sight of the competencies that helped it achieve acceptable historical performance. . Compare and contrast the intended acquisition of ABN with that of the earlier acquisition of Banco Zaragozano, paying particular attention to the merger rationale and the motives in each case and the likely synergy gains resulting from the integration of ABN. According to the drivers of the bidding war that preceded the intended acquisition of ABN AMRO bank and the acquisition of Banco Zaragozano by Barclays in 2003, it is important to understand why merger and acquisition (M) take place and the potential gains of doing so. But first some definitions. Mergers and acquisitions. Mergers and acquisitions (M) are considered as consolidation strategies where a change of control takes place through a transfer of ownership. A merger is the combining of two or more companies into a single corporation. This is achieved when one company or business purchases the property or some other form of assets from another company. The result of this action is the formation of one corporate structure. This new corporate structure retains it is original identity. An acquisition is a little different from a merger n that it involves many problems being dissolved, and an entirely new company being formed. The main theory of merger and acquisition is synergy, that is, one and one makes three. Through synergy, managers create greater value with the integration of two companies, rather than that of their individual parts. Strategic and economic motives. The strategic of Barclays with the intended acquisition of ABN AMRO bank was to created a big opportunity with the purpose to deliver a new period of faster growth for shareholders in general. Moreover the intended investment would be implemented at a reasonable price slightly below the recent market trading price. The merger for Barclays was focused in a strong financial performance provides clear strategic advantages as well as stature on the world business state. The proposed merger with ABN AMRO, offered a unique opportunity to become a leading force in global retail and commercial banking with an stimate 47 millions customers, in order to increase financial returns to their owners beyond the rate of the stand-alone entities. And the fact that this merger, combining the strengths and values of both businesses, gives them confidence in delivery, both in terms of synergies, and determined in considerable detail by ABN AMRO bank and Barclays, in terms of a clearly defined and transparent management structure that we are putting in place. In terms of growth for shareholders, the combined entity would offers a diversified portfolio, both by geography and by business. Exposure to high-growth developing markets represents about a quarter of the enlarged pro forma profit base. Business segments such as investment banking and investment management, which have as we know strong growth opportunities driven by demographic trendS represent about half of profits For Global Retail and Commercial Banking, the merger would create the fourth largest retail and commercial bank worldwide by market share, and in a world where the needs and buying behaviours of retail and commercial customers are growing more similar, this will create economies of scale. Furthermore, the benefits generate by the merger between both banks would be: complementary networks, a strong presence in attractive European markets; significantly enhanced positions in high-growth developing markets; a much larger distribution network; and the opportunity to deliver considerable economies of scale. The main reason behind Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has trumped Barclays? offer for ABN Amro. The for each ABN AMRO share, 79 per cent of which will be in cash, with the remainder in RBS shares. The cash element was higher than expected and the bid, valuing ABN at E71bn (? 8bn), beats Barclays? agreed all-share offer, worth E64. 5bn. The deal offers better value for ABN AMRO bank shareholders. And price is not the only factor, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) also combined cost savings would reach E4. 23bn by the end of 2010, easily beating Barclays? estimated savings of around E2. 8bn. In essence the driving force behind the success of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) bid over Barclays was in fact the higher share price expectations offering the perfect icing. That partly reflects the radically difierent strategic visions of the two banks. Barclays is looking to build a huge universal bank where cross-border synergies could be limited. But the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) consortium wants to generate a type of â€Å"in-market synergies†, by breaking-up ABN AMRO. On the other hand, in 2003, Barclays announces the completion of its acquisition of Banco Zaragozano, at a cost of ? 788 million which fit nicely into Barclays' strategy to grow its business in Europe. Barclays has been present in the Spanish market for 25 years and it the most profitable foreign-owned bank in the country. The acquisition of Banco Zaragozano to its arsenal makes Barclays the sixth largest private bank in Spain (much of the market is dominated by publicly-owned banks) and triples Barclays customer base and branch network. Barclays aimed to be one of the top five banks in the world and for that it would consider acquisition to achieve the goal. Further, Barclays believes that a physical retail and commercial banking presence is a significant enabler of investment banking growth. The acquisition of Banco Zaragozano, shows that strong retail presence generates ood new business opportunities for global businesses such as investment banking and credit cards. The success or failure of a deal also depends on the time horizon over which evaluation is done. Normally, in the short term, stock reactions to merger announcements tend to raise the target's stock price, while the stock of the acquirer stays about the same. This is normally attributable to the expectation that there will be a bid that is successful and involves a premium above the current market price of the stock. Acquirer prices stay the same, in general, as the market reacts conservatively, depending on the specifics of the deal. 3. Identify what you believe to the key success factors necessary to sustain competitive adavantage in the global financial services industry and briefly discuss the implications for the firm? s competencies, structure, and ehical/corporate governance. Critical success factors (CSFs) have been used significantly to present or identify a few key factors that organisations should focus on to be successful. As a definition, Critical success factors refer to â€Å"the limited number of areas in which satisfactory results will ensure successful competitive performance for the individual, department, or organisation† (Rockart and Bullen, 1981). Identifying CSFs is important as it allows firms to focus their efforts on building their capabilities to meet the CSFs, or even allow firms to decide if they have the capability to build the requirements necessary to meet Critical success factors (CSFs). The main keys success factors for Barclays in the case study are, with over three hundred years of history and expertise in banking Barclays has seen and has gained a reputation for being a trustworthy and a reliable institution to bank and invest with. This reputation has seen it grow into over 50 countries and become truly universal bank providing loans, investments and protecting the money of over 42 million customers and client worldwide. Another reason for the success of Barclays would be that it follows a simple strategic premise; ‘anticipates the needs of customers and clients and serve them by helping them achieve their goals. Part of Barclays recent success has been their ability to target and identify upcoming emerging markets for example: India, parts of Asia and Africa, namely South Africa, expanding its retail network and cash machine availability. Despite being a truly global corporation from a basic bank account to funding Governmental projects, Barclays focus ha s always been to meet the needs of the individual customer. Furthermore, competitive advantages are difficult to create. It is even more difficult to sustain. Community banks usually can not achieve a cost advantages, especially in head-to-head competition with larger, high-volume institutions. That leaves differentiation as their primary method for creating Competitive advantages. But that approach is also problematic. It is clear that technology is playing a bigger and bigger role in banking. But today most banks are using functionally identical systems to develop and deliver products and services. This uniformity of technology has resulted in commoditized banking – the antithesis of differentiation. So while emerging technology can create a temporary advantage, sustainable differentiation based solely on technology is virtually impossible. To make matters worse, technology has actually eliminated some of the historical advantages enjoyed by community banks. Thanks to CRM, personalized service – once the sole province of community banks – is now possible for even the largest institutions. Sustainable Competitive advantages is created by leveraging organization’s unique blend of attributes – brand equity, reputation, geographic footprint, specialized knowledge – and articulating it clearly and consistently to your market. Barclays is an excellent example of a bank that has achieved Competitive advantages through specialized knowledge. On the other hand, on the global financial services industry corporate governance is essential to the wellbeing of an individual company and its stakeholders, particularly its shareholders and creditors. But sound corporate governance is not just a vital factor at the level of the individual corporation. It is also a critical ingredient in maintaining a sound financial system and a robust economy. And that is why governments have taken such an interest in recent examples of corporate governance failures. It is also why banking supervisors are placing greater emphasis on the role that corporate governance can play in promoting financial stability. In the financial system, corporate governance is one of the key factors that determine the health of the system and its ability to survive economic shocks. The health of the financial system much depends on the underlying soundness of its individual components and the connections between them – such as the banks, the non-bank financial institutions and the payment systems. In turn, their soundness largely depends on their capacity to identify, measure, monitor and control their risks. Barclays have designed good corporate governance policies and practices in order to ensure that they are focused on their responsibilities to shareholders and on creating long term shareholder value, and ensuring that behaviour is ethical, legal and transparent. In firms, structure is basically the best way to organize it, in order to accomplish it is objectives. It acts as the medium that facilitates the accomplishments of the organizational goals. It also helps to identify the key activities of the organizational processes and how they are coordinated. Moreover, successful strategy implementation depends to a large extent on the firm’s primary organizational structure. A primary organizational structure comprises the firm’s major elements, components, or differentiated units. Other means of getting organized are through reward systems, coordination terms, planning procedures, alliances, information, and budgetary systems. Geographical structure It is common in firms that have grown by expanding the sale of their products of services to new geographical areas. In these areas, they frequently encounter differences that necessitate different approaches in producing, providing or selling services or products. The key strategic advantage of this structure is responsiveness to local market conditions, a clear example of that is the intended acquisition of ABN AMRO and the early acquisition of Banco Zaragozano. To conclude, after being satisfied with its progress in the United Kingdom, Barclays decided to make its name international by going abroad which was another great move. In the United Kingdom, Barclays had acquired many other small banks, such a Banco Zaragozano, gained large market and profits with each acquisition. As a result of this growth, this company had reached its maturity stage within UK itself; it has reached its peak of growth. Further, Barclays, performance throughout 2002-2006 has remained consistent and steady as the bank has not lost sight of the competencies that helped it achieve acceptable historical performance. Bibliography †¢ Barclays PLC. 2004. Annual Report. Barclays PLC, London, United Kingdom. †¢ Calmfors, Lars, Driffil, John. 1988. Centralisation of Wage Bargaining. Vol. 6. Economic Policy Dammann, N. 2008. The Bidder Competition for ABN AMRO: A Strategic Analysis and Implications †¦Bachelor tesis. †¢ Esping-Anderrsen, Gosta. 1990. Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, United States. †¢ Foster, S. Reed A. , & Nesvold P. 1999. The art of M & A: a merger, acquisition, buyout guide. Fourth edition. †¢ Friedman, Thomas. 1999. The Lexus and the Olive Tree. P 105. Anchor Books, New York, New York, United States †¢ Hall, Peter, Soskice, David. 2001. Varieties of Capitalism: The Insitutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom. Ireland, D. , Hoskisson, R. , & Hitt, M. 2008 Understanding Business Strategy: Concepts and Cases. Second edition †¢ Monks, R. , & Minow N. 2008. Corporate Governance. Fourth edition †¢ Rockart, J. & Bullen, C. , 1981. A primer on critical success factors. Center for Information Systems Research Working Paper No 69. Sloan School of Management, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts. †¢ Tibergien, M. & Pomering. 2005. R. Practice made perfect: the discipline of business management for financial. Bloomberg.

L’oreal’s Way to Success in the European Haircare Products Industry Essays

L’oreal’s Way to Success in the European Haircare Products Industry Essays L’oreal’s Way to Success in the European Haircare Products Industry Essay L’oreal’s Way to Success in the European Haircare Products Industry Essay L’oreal’s Way to Success in the European Haircare Products Industry Introduction: L’oreal, the name of the cosmetics giant, appears with high frequency in nearly all world-class newspapers and magazines in recent times. There is a striking headline in the Independent (London, England) on Feb 21, 2004 p54, â€Å"LOreal builds on two decades of growth as profits soar. † The news is â€Å"Loreal has set its sights on notching up two decades of consecutive annual double-digit growth after reporting a 13. 5 per cent rise in profit last year. † Lindsay Owen-Jones, chairman, showed his confidence for the rate of internal sales growth next year. Maybe it is not too difficult for a company to rank first of its annual sales growth. But it seems a mystery for a company to keep its position of market-leader in the world with annual double-digit growth for 19 years and even more enigmatical for a company in the cosmetics industry. How can L’oreal compete against its rivals and gain today’s success? Let’s go back to 1997. At that time, L’oreal was the market leader in France and at the end of June, after considerable coordination between company headquarters and subsidiaries, Lindsay, stated the company’s new mission : Make L’oreal Elseve a leader throughout Europe. Though shampoo was used by 83. 5% of the population, there was little brand loyalty and it was extremely difficult to create any. A widespread belief in Europe is that changing shampoos frequently was good for the hair because otherwise it would get used to a particular shampoo and the result would not be so satisfactory. The important reason is that shampoo is a product which can help L’oreal penetrate into all households by all kinds of people. Leadership in the shampoo could give L’oreal a considerable boost in its brand recognition and make it accessible to the young customers and males. The ardousness ahead of L’oreal was obvious. This article will base on L’oreal, the pilgrim’s progress, to analyze what critical success factors of L’oreal are to create its competitive advantage and how L’oreal has successfully sustained its advantage with the marketing strategy to underpin its position step by step in the European haircare market. Critical Success Factors of an Organization Critical Success Factors in General Johnson Scholes states (p. 151) that critical success factors (CSFs) are those product features that are particularly valued by a group of customers and, therefore, where the organization must excel outperform competition. † Hooley et al (1998, p. 45) thought that â€Å" The essential factors in choosing how to create the competitive advantage are that it must be on a basis of value to the customer (lower prices, superior quality, better service). ?Core Competences: Hamel and Prahalad (cited Lynch 2003, p. 235) said t hat â€Å"Core competence are a group of production skills and technologies that enable an organization to provide a particular benefit to consumers †¦. hey act as a fundamental resource of the organization. † Johnson Scholes (2002, p. 156) thought that the most important feature of core competence is robust, i. e. being difficult to imitate. The aim can only be obtained through the constant innovation. The following is the analysis of L’oreal’s critical successful factors. ?Resources Creating Competitive Advantage 1. Processes, Products, Services 2. Human Resources 3. Information 4. Financial Resources Porter (1985) suggests that the above four kinds of resources can create a competitive advantage and that cost leadership and differentiation strategies could be adopted. The analysis of L’oreal’s success will be illustrated as follows. L’oreal’s critical successful Factors ?Core competences: Constant research and innovation- the determinant of L’oreal’s competitive position 1. Historical analysis: L’oreal was founded in 1907 by the chemist Eugene Schuller, since then the Group carried on the tradition that put research at the centre of his development strategy. From the review of L’oreal’s history, it is obvious that result of research and innovation is the determinant of its competitive position. . 978: Elseve had a positioning as a shampoo for damaged hair and was seen as too rich, too nourish and too heavy to be used on a daily basis. But at this time, the frequency in the use of shampoos increased dramatically and shampoos which has the hasteristic of being gentle and mild enough to be used every day became more appealing to consumers. Timotei, Ultra Doux and MIxa baby a baby shampoo became the market leader because it was as so mild that it can be used every day. When planning Elseve’s brand extension, L’oreal decided to offer separate products for frequent and less- frequent shampooing. This gave rise to products such as Elseve Baslsam, Elseve Frewuence, Elseve Volume Nd Elseve for oily hair. But the positioning has not made much improvement. 1987: Following a new product launched by Timoei, the market had its new trend: active ingredients were in fashion and products started to introduce natural ingredients. The Elseve products were renewed and L’oreal decided to target new market segments. The idea was to offer products for all types of hair, enriching the formula with a different active ingredient for each type of hair. 994: L’oreal developed a silicone-based formula which treated each stand of hair individually, leaving it very soft and easy to comb as it was thoroughly detangled. Consumers noticed this immediately and Elseve successfully enter the normal hair segment of the market. Thereafter, L’oreal profited from the advantage of polyesters and silicone. The successful combination of the two ingredients in the shampoo formula gave Lâ€⠄¢oreal a major advantage over its competitors and escalated its competitive position. 1995: The company launched Elseve Multicitamines and added the Technicare line to the Elseve product range. Elseve Multivitamines used a silicone-based formula that tested better than the composition of Procter Gamble’s silicone-based Pantene which at the time was the European market leader. Launching Elseve Multivitamines enabled Elseve to increase its target segments, addressing not only consumers with damaged hair or other hair care problems bur also people with normal hair. The new formula was the milestone of L’oreal’s shampoo battle. The innovation of research brought a series of good results: increase of sales and so did prices. The high revenue made it possible to increase the advertising budget, further increased its market share. Since then, with the leading position of the new skills and constant development as well as successful implementation of marketing strategy, L’oreal went steadily towards its No 1 position. 2. Panorama of Research Development in today’s L’oreal: The continuous innovation has helped L’oreal gain its competitive advantage and kept on escalation of its competitive position, from a French leader to be a European Leader and now the world leader. L’oreal regards research as the heart of the business. The investment in research is much higher than that of its rivals. 1)Delicate combination of Research and Marketing: a)A balance between the creative RD and marketing-led RD has kept L’oreal launching new viable products continuously. i. Advanced research: this is a long-term research with the aim of developing new ingredients, better understanding and improving the effectiveness of new ingredients and products as well as better understanding its toxicological effects. For example, marketers wanted a natural fruit-based shampoo range for the European market. It took 10 years of hard RD to develop the formulae for the Fructis range. L’oreal is reasonable to give scientist freedom to work on their long-term ideas. Ultimately, in July 1996 in France tests showed spectacular results of the Fructis range on the quality of hair. Within the first six months alone, it had sold nearly 5 million units and since then it has helped L’oreal capture 28 percent of the European shampoo market by being rolled out into not only European market but also in Scandinavia, Russia and Chile. On the health front, an International Safety Assessment Department of L’oreal looks in-depth at the toxicological profile of all the ingredients used and assesses the safety and tolerance of all formulations before they are used and put on the market. ii. Applied research: this level takes over ideas from both L’oreal’s own advanced research and from what has been done outside the company to refine new materials and put them into practice. It will take a long time to evaluate its effectiveness, its acceptance in use. For example, Research Institute in Chicago is dedicated to advanced research to improve understanding of the properties and specific requirements of the skin and hair of people of African descent.. 2)During the development work of new product, it is quite important of the researchers not lose sight of industrial reality. There more formal contacts between scientists and marketers which is unusual in other companies. Some formal meeting held usually including the contents such as: one day per month to discuss the progress of current projects; two or three meetings per year for the scientists to reveal their goodies to the marketers. )Renovating faster than competitors: In the hypercompetitive market conditions, it is no longer enough to plan for sustainable positions. In order to gain advantages, firms must be prepared to pre-empt imitation by others. With continuous launch of new products and brands, L’oreal hopes to make a strong and immediate impact on the market. ?Resources Creating Competitive advantages: Companies can add value by creating competitive advantage through the incremental management of the following resources. 1. Processes, Products , Services: )Selecting Raw materials and close relationship with suppliers: L’oreal pay much attention on the selection of the raw materials. With the aim of product safety and effectiveness, all the 2,800 raw materials used are continuously being renewed at a rate of 150 a year. The suppliers all over the world manage L’oreal to obtain the highest natural ingredients. L’oreal set out to promote and develop the use of raw materials from natural, renewable sources. In 2002, 39. 7% of their raw materials in volume terms came from plants. These new raw materials are the product either of LOreal Research or of research carried out by suppliers. A constructive ongoing dialogue with its suppliers plays an important role during the process. Using this diversified approach, progress has already been made in raw material selection. Partnerships allow them to establish a close, long-term relationship with suppliers based on innovation, safety and quality. 2)Reducing operating cost of products: It streamlines packaging, gains economies of scale in the aggressive management of the top performing brands. Elseve (Elvive, ElVital) shampoo bottles have been improved and now require almost 25% less material, which equates to almost 450 tons of polyethylene a year saved. In addition to this reduction, the indirect effects on transport and recycling are also minimized. 3)Address possible segments: L’oreal has made an elaborate and deep study so as to address possible market segments. It has divided up the total European market according to the geographic segmentation, age, gender, typology, nature of hair, washing frequency, and amount used (See Appendices 1 to 4). The aim of L’oreal is to â€Å"seeks to make accessible to women and men all over the world†. L’oreal launched the brand L’oreal’s Studio Line for men and P’tit Dop for children. 4) Market Targeting: L’oreal makes deep and thorough survey about the people’s attractiveness of different European countries. For example, Germany was more price-oriented than other countries, so using the strategy of price reduction can increase Elvital’s market share increased significantly. Another example is that Spain was the European country with the most greasy and least straight hair. The market accepted the introduction of new products that contained technological innovations. Natural ingredients were very well accepted. 5)Umbrella brand strategy: Competing with a number of different L’oreal brands enabled the company to position its products in more market segments and compete for market leadership by adding all together sales for its different brands. At the same time, product cannibalism was avoided by designing different positioning strategies: every single product invested in creating its own personality. )Broadest Distribution channels: L’oreal is able to make its most advanced technologies available to a large number of people. All the Group’s brands, particularly those whose purpose is to provide a wide group of people with the most innovative products at affordable prices, make the latest discoveries more accessible. 7)Communications Srategy: L’oreal’s communications strategy involves signing contracts with major intern ational stars from the world of show business and fashion to make them the spokespersons for specific items. In the UK, Jennifer Anniston, an actress on the leading TV sitcom â€Å"Friends† was chosen as the brand spokeswoman. Jennifer Anniston transmitted a modern, powerful image because she was a famous actress and very popular among generations aged 15 to 35. She was also very admired for her beautiful, stylish hair. The Ceramide R molecule , which was able to â€Å"Wash the strength back into your hair. † , was claimed by its advertising for the entire range in the UK. Delicate design of the advertising helped Elvive capture more than a 6% market share in 1997, and rose to 8% in the following year, making it the second –ranked brand on the market. Another example is about the leading brand Elvive. Elvive tries to capture the essence of pleasure using advertisements that sound tempting: â€Å"Because I’m worth it. †, says L’oreal. (Principle, Kotler, p. 459) 2. Human Resources: 1)Implement the best possible working conditions and try to make employee relations as personal as possible. 2)Recruit talented people from multicultural backgrounds and develop diversity. 3)Offer Sharing achievements: In 2003, LOreal paid a total of â‚ ¬43 million in bonuses under the WPS scheme for the 2002 financial year, equivalent to an average of two weeks salaray. 4)Motivate people, particularly through a highly dynamic approach to remuneration and mobility. )Promote personal and professional development through the training programs offered by the Continuing Education and by comparing experiences. 6)Developing partnerships with Universities: The Groups involvement with universities has been stepped up and it now maintains 120 close partnerships all over the world. These ta ke different forms, including: financial backing for chairs, such as those at Oxford (Business School) 3. Information Resources: Information is one of the most basic ingredients of a successful marketing strategy. (Keegan, p. 189) Another job for applied research mentioned above in L’oreal is to watch the competition. About 20 people in L’oreal do nothing else but surfing the web and getting hold of 1,000 new products of other companies. Between 700 and 800 of them are examined in minute detail. 4. Financial Resources: Strategy is influenced and constrained by the financial resources of a company. John Scholes said (p. 348), â€Å"The advantage of ‘deep pockets’ is that a competitor can withstand an intensive competitive war. The organizer can gain competitive knowledge worldwide and also move resources wherever they are necessary either to preserve their own interests or to tackle competition. L’oreal’s success in the European started after it created its competitive advantage in its financial resource. In 1995, the success of new formula allowed L’oreal to increase the price of Elseve products by 20%. Increased revenue meant that Elseve could spent more on advertising. This enabled Elseve to address more segments with differentiated messages, thereby further increasing its market share. The Marketing Environment Kotler et al (1997, p. 64) stated that â€Å"Managing the marketing functions would be hard enough if the marketer had to deal only with the controllable marketing-mix variables. The company operates in a complex environment (macro- and micro- )which consists of uncontrollable forces and actors which affect the company’s ability to perform well. Successful company is able to analyze its environment and so that it can avoid the threats and take advantage of the opportunities. ?The Macro-Environment This consists of a number of broader f orces that affect the company, which are largely uncontrollable, a new product or marketing program is likely to be more successful if it is in-line with strong macro environmental trends rather than opposing them. 1. Political: Political changes in the 1990s meant that almost all trading nations function with market –based economies and their trade policies have tended to encourage free markets between nations. (Johnson , p. 105) Governments are breaking up monopolies and introducing more pro-consumer legislation concerned with making the customer the ultimate decider on what will and will not to be produced. (Wright, p. 5) 2. Economical: With the adoption of the euro as a standard currency, many political boundaries will fall. By removing currency conversion hurdles, the switch will likely increase cross-border trade. (Kotler, et al , p. 59) 3. Social cultural/Natural: There is an increasing convergence of markets world. In some markets, customer needs and preferences are becoming similar 4. Technological: The fast development of technology is the key characteristic of environmental turbulence. It brings the high innovation turbulence. New technology creates new markets and opportunities and also ma kes markets and companies obsolete. ?The Micro-Environment: It includes the company itself, suppliers, customers, and competitors as well as public. The above analysis of L’oreal’s critical successful sectors has made relevant detailed statement. SWOT Analysis: Understanding the environment, taking good advantage of the opportunities and avoiding the threats are important elements of L’oreal’s success. SWOT analysis is useful for a good understand of L’oreal. Strength: L’oreal’s high speed of renovation (over 3,000 new formulas) and the absolute competitive advantage of technology provide solid barriers for the potential entrants to entry. Its products cover all possible segments. The aim of L’oreal is to â€Å"seeks to make accessible to women and men all over the world†. L’oreal is able to make its most advanced technologies available to a large number of people in all areas of products. All the Group’s brands , particularly those whose purpose is to provide a wider group of people with the most innovative products at affordable prices, make the latest discoveries more accessible. It can be said that L’oreal has managed to satisfy the desire of different segments of buyers. All these strength made it quite difficult to be substituted, at least provide the delay of being substituted. L’oreal is adept at continuously bringing innovation to the marketplace and maximizing the use of established brand names with new products targetd at these subsegments and niches. The advanced research result make many promising question marks become stars. Based on the solid financial resources, the stars will become cash cows as their markers mature. So many stars and cash cows of L’oreal shine actively in the world. Every product’s advantage is temporary, and will be eroded. However, long-term advantage of L’oreal maybe sustained through a series of temporary advantages. Weakness: L’oreal is present in 130 countries, has 290 subsidiaries. Because of social and cultural difference, it is not easy to make the management is efficient in each subsidiary. The large distribution may meet unexpected trade trouble because of political risks, such as loosing all control, ownership of assets and market access. (Bradley, p. 133) Opportunities: In 1995, the French haircare products market was saturated at that time. The success of the new fomula made L’oreal occupy the capability to enter the European market. The opportunities to enter the European market gave L’oreal a shot in the arm. Globalization and deregulation as well as the emerging of European Union speeded up the entry. In haircare industry product, customers’ needs and preferences of different countries are becoming more similar. The trend of healthy and shiny hair has gained popularity. All these opportunities offered L’oreal more space to develop. Threats: Facing powerful threat from world famous brands of Procter Gamble, Unilever etc, L’oreal has had to invest heavily in innovation. The Group has 3 percent of consolidated sales devoted to research, 2823 people engaged in cosmetics and dermatological research, 501 patents registered in 2002. By comparison, Procter Gamble, Unilever, spend only 1. 7 percent and 1. 5 percent respectively of their cosmetics turnover (which is 20 percent lower than that of L’oreal in any case. The threat can be low if L’oreal can keep on developing patents and launching new formulas faster than other Group. (Brassington Pettitt, p. 385) Conclusion: L’oreal’s opportunities outperformed the rivals’ threats and its weakness seemed much less important than its strength. The whole trend of environment is in favor of L’orealâ €™s progress. It can be convincible that L’oreal’s powerful core competence of constant innovation and flexible, efficient marketing strategy has forged and sustained L’oreal’s success and bring it a bright future. References: . Kotler, P. , and Armstrong, G. , 1997. Marketing: an Introduction. 4th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall. 2. Wright, R. , 1999. Marketing: Origins, concepts, Rnvironment. 1st ed. London: Thomson Learning. 3. Doyle, P. , 2000. Value-based Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Corporate Growth and Shareholder Value. 1st ed. Chichester: John Wiley Sons, Ltd. 4. Keegan, W, J. , 2002. Global Marketing Management. 7th ed. Person Education, Inc. 5. Bradley, F. , 2002. International Marketing Strategy. 4th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall. 6. Brassington,F. , and Pettitt, S. 2003. Principles of Marketing. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson education limited. . 7. Kotler, P. et al . 2001. Principles of Marketing. 3rd European ed. Harlow: Pearson education limite d. . 8. Johnson, G. , and Scholes, k. , 2002. Exploring Corporate Strategy. 6th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall. 9. Hooley, G. J. , et al. 1998. Marketing Strategy Competitive Positioning. 10. Porter, M. E. , 1985. Competitive Advantage. Free Press. 11. Prahalad, C. K. , and Hamel, G. , The core Competence of the Corporation. Harvard Business Review (May/June 1990), p. 79-91.

Labor History in the United States Of America

Labor History in the United States Of America After the American Civil War that lasted from 1861 to 1865, American industrial workers wanted to enlarge their rights at workplaces and be able to create strong labor unions to improve the quality of the work.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Labor History in the United States Of America specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the beginning of 1990s, a considerable part of workers died each year because of poor working conditions: accidents at factories and mines, constant injuring, and inconveniencies with work. Industrial workers hoped that numerous labor unions would provide them with safety at working places and the families of killed people with the necessary financial support and other benefits. The international influence of the United States started rising at the beginning of 1910s and lasts until now. Rising of American impact considerably influenced the vast majority of American industrial workers; the processe s of mobilization, liberal consensus, and nationalism affected American labor unions in different ways: on the one hand, these changes advanced workers’ rights by providing the benefits, and on the other hand, they hurt workers’ interests and cause numerous misunderstandings. The influence of America has been powerful for a long period of time. It is a nation full of immigrants and industrial workers from the whole world. The United States opens its gates to lots of people and provides them with an opportunity to earn for living. However, at the beginning of 1900s, the situation was a bit different: people, who came to the United States faced lots of problems, Asian and Mexican workers had to pass a strong control to visit the country and start working. Some people just had no chance but accept all the conditions offered by the American government in order to find some job; usually it was work at factories and mines including running the machines. Native American indus trial workers faced certain problems with work as well. For the government, it was easier to hire people from other countries in order to pay less money and use the same labor force. This is why rising of the international influence of the United States attracted too many people from different countries, and Native American industrial workers got less opportunities to get good jobs. â€Å"The use of undocumented workers as a highly exploited or reserve labor sources† (Ngai, 58) – this is what was inherent to those times and was the major obstacle for American workers.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More At the beginning of the 20th century, one of the most significant conflicts in the labor movement was a conflict between the representatives of craft unions and industrial unions. Craft unions, also known as trade unions, restricted the membership in unions to specifi c traders: shoemakers, plumbers, etc. In their turn, industrial unions were such organizations, which were eager to accept the workers of any ranks: skilled and unskilled. The representatives of the Knights of Labor and the Industrial Workers of the World may serve as the best and well-known labor union organizations, which made a certain impact on the rising of industrial workers in the United States. The conflict between those labor organizations was considerable, and in order to smooth it, John L. Lewis decided to organize the Committee for Industrial Organizations (C. I. O.) and tried to organize all unskilled workers into one group. Black workers were also eager to join this organization in order to have more or less stable position at the labor-markets. After all, the industrial workers won their independence by means of violent fights and mobilization of their memberships. Mobilization is a process of gathering people into the certain groups with common interests and purposes . Lewis chose one of the most effective ways to achieve the desirable results and created a membership of works of different levels. Because of its simplicity and clear marking of the purpose, lots of workers started joining that union. Nationalism is one more factor that influenced the development of American labor. Nationalism is defined as an ideology that focuses on the interests of the nations. It is probably one of the strongest phenomena inherent to each country. National flags, armies, and anthems – all this is a banal example of nationalism. The idea of one race, ethnicity, and even one language was also crucially important to the American industrial workers. As for nationalism of American industrial workers, one the one hand, it advanced their interests and helped to achiever the set purposes and achieve the equality in the labor market. One the other hand, the idea of nationalism was not the only leading factor in the development of American labor. In fact, the ide a of mobilization was the initial one, and in order to win craft unions, industrial unions had to be united without taking into account the ethnicity factor. Due to this simple fact, Native American industrial workers should put aside their personal preferences and use as more people as possible to gain the desirable recognition.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Labor History in the United States Of America specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the most important ideologies, which played the final role in the development of the American industrial labor, is the idea of the liberal consensus. Cold War and liberalism that was one of this war’s main objectives turned out to be the dominant paradigm in the United States. â€Å"At times, a confluence of economic, social, cultural, and political factors has impelled major shifts in societys understanding (and construction) of race and its constitutive role in nat ional identity formation. The Civil War was obviously one of those times; the present multicultural moment is another.† (Ngai 7) In general, the rising of the international influence of the United States considerable affected the vast majority of the American industrial workers. The process of mobilization of both skilled and unskilled workers of different race and gender advanced the interests of American labor and encourage them to work and present more effective production. The war between craft unions and industrial unions, described in the works by Mae Ngai and Eileen Boris, the liberal consensus, which put the final full stop in the labor conflict, and American workers’ nationalism – this is what was crucially important during the 1910s till the 1990s. Between 1924 and 1965, the times analyzed by Ngai, the restriction policies did not concentrate on exclusion of the unskilled workers. Their major purpose was to determine geographical and racial gaps between the workers in order to abolish the rights of the illegal aliens and underline the importance of the national origins of the workers. Civil War was rather predictable, taking into consideration the situation between the unions and inhabitants. â€Å"Cold War liberalism’s emphasis on America’s image abroad narrowed the concept of immigration reform to a question of formal equality.† (Ngai 245) The results of that war put the end of the war for independence, equality of rights, and freedom. Boris, E., Lichtenstein, N. Major Problems in the History of American Workers: Documents and Essays. D. C. Heath, 1991.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Ngai M.M. Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America. Princeton University Press, 2004

External Environmental Analysis of Hallensteins

External Environmental Analysis of Hallensteins External Environmental Analysis of Hallensteins Hallensteins operates in an industry which is highly competitive. The performance of the market is highly affected both internal and external environmental factors. However, macro-factors have the potential of affecting the economic productivity of the firm (Dun Bradstreet, 2007). These external factors can be analyzed using the porters fives forces model. This model is essential in conducting an industrial analysis of the clothing market of New Zealand. Using this model, Hallensteins economic and industrial performance can be analyzed as discussed below. Competitive Rivalry Just like the rest of the firms, globalization has affected the clothing industry of New Zealand. Using the porters model, competitive rivalry in the clothing industry (especially mens wears) affects the profitability and economic potentials of growth and development of Hallensteins. Amid this intense competition, Hallensteins has remained profitable over time. As noted by the CEO, the changes in the fiscal and monetary policy adopted by the government of Australia and New Zealand had impacted on the purchasing power of the consumers (Bollard, 2002). Hallensteins faces still competition from fashion and clothing firms such as DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship. The clothing industry of New Zealand is a perfectly competitive industry with free entry and exit. The fashion and mens wear traded in this industry have close substitutes which are highly differentiated. This allows for stiff and fair competition in the industry. The power of suppliers The suppliers determine the success of an industry. This is the same situation in the fashion industry where Hallensteins operates. Hallensteins depends on both imports and exports as their main suppliers. This implies that the industry operates in a fairly competitive industry with respect to supplies (Roy, 2009). Therefore, suppliers determine the success of Hallensteins through manufacturing quality products for both men and women and at the same time ensuing study supply of the much needed fashion and clothing essentials. The power of buyers A market only exist where there are willing and able buyers. Buyers are highly sensitive to price, quality and taste and preferences. For Hallensteins, the main group of customers is men. Given the competitive nature of this industry and the free accorded to the buyers, Hallensteins success rests on how well it match the changing needs of the customers in the fashion industry. Hallensteins target men as the most potential group of consumers because of their relatively higher purchasing parity and economic dominance (Rutland, 2005). Threats of substitutes Customers in the fashion and clothing industry of New Zealand have a variety of products and clothes to independently choose from. This gives them a chance of satisfying their diverse interests and preferences. For instance, there are range of mens shirts, coats, trousers, and shoes which consumers can choose form. Substitutes become a threat when their prices are relatively cheaper, and the consumers are ready to make a product switch. New Entrant Threat Since Hallensteins operates in a perfectly competitive industry with no legal barriers to entry or exit, other international fashion firms are free to enter the clothing industry of New Zealand. The entry of new firm or manufacturers is a big threat to the future success of Hallensteins as this would imply stiffer competition for the limited resources (Roy, 2009).

Evaluate the following article; discuss the research methodology and Assignment

Evaluate the following article; discuss the research methodology and implications for research in homeopathy - Assignment Example lbum 200, which are both collectively referred to as â€Å"verum† in the study, actually proved to be therapeutic only when â€Å"the volunteers [from the observed situation] were advised strictly to take arsenic-free water during the course of investigation† (Belon et al. 2007, p. 142). This therefore means that â€Å"some doubt was expressed as to whether the improvement noticed was actually due to their intake of the arsenic-free drinking water or†¦the homeopathic remedies† (Belon et al., p. 142). The study being analyzed right now was based on this idea that is why the 2007 study did not try to use any arsenic-free water for the purpose of avoiding the same confusion as the first studies that used such homeopathic remedies. However, the constant use of arsenic-contaminated water may have actually interfered with the expected results of the study since the subjects kept on taking arsenic-contaminated water at the same time that they were taking homeopathi c remedies. Thus, there could have been a sort of constant progression of the diseases brought about by arsenic contamination at the same time that the individual is being treated using homeopathic remedies. The efficiency of the remedy could have therefore been affected by the continuous supply of the cause of the disease. Furthermore, since the arsenic levels in every individual is not accounted for or that there is no way they could possibly be accounted for, then the study is therefore not entirely controlled. Some individuals may obviously be receiving relatively more arsenic levels than others, thus the effects of the homeopathic remedies on them may be different. In fact, this could have been the reason for the withdrawal of many of the respondents from the study who claimed that they did not experience ameliorating changes in them. Another problem with the research investigation was that 39 subjects of 20 males and 19 females may not have been enough as a particular sample size to represent the whole

Summary Workshop - Research Method Class Coursework

Summary Workshop - Research Method Class - Coursework Example Critical discourse analysis incorporates linguistic and critical theory concepts. The investigation has increasingly been centralized to the task of understanding the society and the human behavior. Discourse analysis has become an essential element in various fields of study due to its feature characterizing post- modern features (Somekh and Lewin 2011). According to Seale (2004a), methods of textual analysis are relevant to a variety of research projects. There has been greater urge for understanding the origin of knowledge, and its presentation mode. Further, with global development, societies and economies become increasing taking a bearing towards global production and incorporation of information, knowledge and human services. Therefore, Social Studies try to understand the changes and projected outcomes in the future by undertaking research studies incorporating discourse analysis. From the researcher’s point of view, using disclosure analysis, a number of compelling po ints can be outlined regarding the kind of practical research devised (Seale 2004b). Disclosure brings out a variety of statements of consideration providing a language for presenting certain mode knowledge. Seale (2004a) explores disclosure analysis in relation to three main stages of the process of the research study. The first one involves data collection, which is a quantitative method of studying textual data. Content analysis incorporates a standard model of research design. Starting with the topic of research formulation, the researcher seeks to establish a given population of interest for a study and outlines a considerable sample from it (Seale 2011a). In this regard, the data to be analyzed is based on a sample of texts, rather than sample of people. Secondly, the research proceeds to coding and analysis of data collected. The relevancy of data coding comes in the sense that it incorporates coming up with data representation to enhance analysis. This eases organization dat a; a large number of data gets organized into a manageable form (Seale 2004a). Data coding is objective in helping to answer unclear queries about the content analysis thus, reinforcing and instilling confidence in the research method (Seale 2004b). Lastly, we have the presentation of analyzed research findings. This involves giving out findings based on researchers’ perspective on the research topic and the outcome of the study analysis. Critical approach to discourse research aims at linking the textual data, with the underlying power structures in the society through discursive practices, from which the text of the study was drawn. The researcher’s aim lies in identifying categories, themes, ideas, roles and views in the text under study. Discourse analysis finds it importance in understanding the social interactions though the objective of the research varies from one investigator to the other. This depends on the aim of investigation with regard to an individual r esearcher. References Seale, C. (ed), 2004a. Social Research Methods: A Reader. (eBook). London: Routledge. pp. 226-228. Somekh, B. and Lewin, C. (Eds), 2011. Theory and Methods in Social Research. (eBook). (2nd ed.) London: Sage. pp. 34-40. Seale, C. (ed), 2004b. Researching Culture and Society. (eBook). London: Sage Publications. pp. 207, 241- 242, 397, 406-407 2. Ethnography According

Leader ship 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leader ship 4 - Essay Example Given the responsibility charged to our leaders, morality and ethics are two aspects that they should really observe. They act as an example, and it is from the leaders that the society will derive their actions and intentions. However, most leaders especially from the financial fields are usually obsessed with financial gains than any other achievement. It is always about profit making even if it means subjecting the workers to bad and unhealthy working conditions such as what happened in the Manchester during the Industrial revolution. However, leaders like these have always responded to this point by quoting purpose; that the purpose of business is to make a profit. What really drive leaders to put social responsibility and ethics second to profit is usually greed and selfness. They seek self-fulfillment that is always hard since wants are insatiable. Successful leaders like Shackleton ensured that profit is used for social security and promotion of ethics in the society (Mackay & Mackay n.p). Proper leaders would otherwise seek to do something more to the society, and if money comes, so be it. The team members should take the responsibility of making ethical moves when a leader behaves unethically. This does not entail whistle blowing, but they should approach the matter more subtly as they seek to make the leader understand. Otherwise, moral responsibility of the team members should not be compromised, as well as their right to make things right (Mackay & Mackay n.p). Adequate measures should be taken, in accordance to the law, if the leader fails to obey the subtle call made, by the team members, to review his or her habits. This could be seeking the intervention of a more senior authority or the law which is usually the utmost leader in our societies. As a leader, serving a team is usually a challenge. A team involves a group of people who have come together in order to

An American President and Its Political Themes Movie Review

An American President and Its Political Themes - Movie Review Example Wade for the passage of her environmental bill. The film showed that each of the Congressmen and the President himself plays a vital role in the passage of a bill whether it is beneficial to the people or not. The President in the movie along with his representative has to confer with the Congressmen to get their votes for the passage of the crime bill. According to Article II, Section I of the American Constitution, the president has the power to appoint high positions such as ambassadors and court judges but only after he has consulted with the Senate. The President has the power to make treaties with other nations but only after seeking advice and consent 2/3rds of the Senate. The constitution also stated that the President may recommend legislative measures he believed to be important in advancing the interest of the country and may veto bills from Congress but still he is subject to 2/3rds of the Congress. President Obama himself had a hard time convincing the Senate and the Con gress on the approval of the Recovery Bill or the stimulus fund. According to Herszenhorn in his article â€Å"Recovery Bill Gets Final Approval† for The New York Times, there was not a single House Republican who voted for the bill and that the bill’s passage itself was largely partisan in nature. ... fluences within their the political circle but also have the privilege to shape or destroy the future of the citizens under the guise of law and partisan loyalty. Another political theme showed in the movie is on the role of media in politics. The mass media in all its forms is very valuable to people who live a public life like the politicians and artists. The media is long known to either break or make a person’s career. In the movie, the media was seen as a tool that did both favor and misfortune to the President and his love interest. When the main antagonist in the film denounced the President and made an issue with his personal affairs, the media took the reign and published the criticisms which contributed to the rise and fall of the approval ratings. On the other hand, Sydney Ellen Wade, the love interest of the President suffered from the publicity which contributed to her loss in congress votes for the environmental bill and ended to her unemployment. Even if the med ia reports are unbiased it can change the perception of the public. Thus, it is very important that the general public should be equally proactive in determining whether the news feeds are unbiased, credible, and true. Bob Rumson, the Republican political rivalry of the President was seen in the movie to have made an effort to destroy the President’s credibility. When he discovered that the President was having an affair with Ms. Wade, she used it as a tool to create bad publicity against the President. Kaplan in her article â€Å"Perry dodges again† on CBS news revealed that GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry questioned again the citizenship of President Obama and the authenticity of his birth certificate. The issue on the authenticity of President Obama’s birth certificate was a

2012 London Olympic Games Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

2012 London Olympic Games - Case Study Example Among these broad categories that were considered is the sporting events that will be in and around London, the global appeal of individual sports, local appeal of a particular sport that is influenced by UK’s past success on the sport, and event stages where awards will be issued. In addition, influential teams or athletes that have a lot of influence also impacted on the pricing for particular events they were participating in and lastly, the pricing strategies for past Olympics was also considered during the pricing for London Olympics (Gourville and Bertini, 8). Based on the experience that Williamson had on pricing for events, he knew that it would be easy to sell highly priced tickets during the opening ceremony, finals for particular events, and during the closing ceremony. However, the biggest headache was selling tickets for ‘not-so-popular events’ such as handball, archery, and table tennis, especially during the preliminary rounds. Besides this fact, Williamson was also faced with the challenge of setting prices for individual sports (Gourville and Bertini, 1). However, it is important to note that the severity of the challenge varied with nature of the sport, for example, it was not challenging task to set the prices for swimming events as compared to handball events. For the most popular events, which comprised of swimming, artistic gymnastics, and athletics, the prices of the tickets during the preliminary rounds was expected to remain at a high level during the entire period but they were expected to be at their peak (highest price) during the finals and award ceremony of the sport. Additionally, ticket prices for individual sports also varied depending on the seating arrangement i.e. seats that were close to the playing field were highly priced than seats at the far back end of the playing field. Sports that had influential personalities who were widely known across the World

An American President and Its Political Themes Movie Review

An American President and Its Political Themes - Movie Review Example Wade for the passage of her environmental bill. The film showed that each of the Congressmen and the President himself plays a vital role in the passage of a bill whether it is beneficial to the people or not. The President in the movie along with his representative has to confer with the Congressmen to get their votes for the passage of the crime bill. According to Article II, Section I of the American Constitution, the president has the power to appoint high positions such as ambassadors and court judges but only after he has consulted with the Senate. The President has the power to make treaties with other nations but only after seeking advice and consent 2/3rds of the Senate. The constitution also stated that the President may recommend legislative measures he believed to be important in advancing the interest of the country and may veto bills from Congress but still he is subject to 2/3rds of the Congress. President Obama himself had a hard time convincing the Senate and the Con gress on the approval of the Recovery Bill or the stimulus fund. According to Herszenhorn in his article â€Å"Recovery Bill Gets Final Approval† for The New York Times, there was not a single House Republican who voted for the bill and that the bill’s passage itself was largely partisan in nature. ... fluences within their the political circle but also have the privilege to shape or destroy the future of the citizens under the guise of law and partisan loyalty. Another political theme showed in the movie is on the role of media in politics. The mass media in all its forms is very valuable to people who live a public life like the politicians and artists. The media is long known to either break or make a person’s career. In the movie, the media was seen as a tool that did both favor and misfortune to the President and his love interest. When the main antagonist in the film denounced the President and made an issue with his personal affairs, the media took the reign and published the criticisms which contributed to the rise and fall of the approval ratings. On the other hand, Sydney Ellen Wade, the love interest of the President suffered from the publicity which contributed to her loss in congress votes for the environmental bill and ended to her unemployment. Even if the med ia reports are unbiased it can change the perception of the public. Thus, it is very important that the general public should be equally proactive in determining whether the news feeds are unbiased, credible, and true. Bob Rumson, the Republican political rivalry of the President was seen in the movie to have made an effort to destroy the President’s credibility. When he discovered that the President was having an affair with Ms. Wade, she used it as a tool to create bad publicity against the President. Kaplan in her article â€Å"Perry dodges again† on CBS news revealed that GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry questioned again the citizenship of President Obama and the authenticity of his birth certificate. The issue on the authenticity of President Obama’s birth certificate was a

Celia Cruz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Celia Cruz - Essay Example She was a Cuban singer who came from a humble background until she rose to fame in the US. It is through her music that she encouraged the conservation of marginalized people, as well as, promoting a world Latin American identity, principally utilizing the different syncretic threads of Salsa, originated from Cuban. By doing so, she was able to make a huge contribution to the Cuban music. By doing so she made Salsa a highly historical genre, by using her influence of musical aspects from different countries. Salas is defined by ethnomusicologists, as a genre that has Cuban traditions, mixed with guaracha in addition to rumba (Abreu 96-100). Moreover, salsa also has a huge influence of Colombian cumbias, and merengues from the Dominican Republic in addition to Puerto Rican bombas, (Abreu 105-107). However, the final form of this genre was developed by Latin musicians in the US by combining all the named contributions with aspects of American rock and jazz (Brill 2011). Nevertheless, S alsa contains some African melodious elements, apparent in the principal percussive instrumentation especially the drums, as well as, the call and response approach which is used to improve the vocal layers. Additionally, there is a Spanish influence that can be identified in some instrumentation of the genre. In general, salsa’s structure is in a pattern of the main body piece followed by the call-and-response aspects (Brill 120-126). This is what offers Salas a rhythm which is fast and lively which is valued in its performance. This can be depicted in some of the famous Cuban music. For instance, â€Å"Flor de Mayo,† starts with the clear guitar timbre. Chord strumming is fast in tempo, with slight tension between notes. The melody’s structure is followed by guitar notes that can only best described to have a Spanish style. These are some of the aspects that are identified in Salsa music that are in Cruz songs. Therefore, one can say that her songs contributed a lot in the invention of Salsa music and mostly because she made it acceptable to different people of diverse origins and culture. This does not mean that the genre was accepted by all genertons. In the 1960s, the trending music was the American rock and pop and many Lation youths did not accept the Salsa rhythm as expected. The genre was associated with the old generation and termed as outdated. This is attributed to the fact that many of them wanted to assimilate into the prevailing American culture. However, decade later, there was an overwhelming popularity of Salsa with the emergence of Celia Cruz as the most popular artist and she was ready to satisfy the transformed enthusiasm portrayed by the Latin American music. Cruz was born in Barrio Santos Suarez in Havana, which was a black neighborhood of Cuba in in October 21, 1924 (Ortiz 5-7). She had 13 siblings but she is the only ones that showed interest in singing. This is because as a child, one or her key chores was singing to her younger siblings to sleep. This encouraged her to sing as a child and in her first appearance, she was able to earn a pair of shoes given to her by some tourist that were watching. She developed to a teenager and performed in numerous talent shows in the community and also at school. Her aunt took her to cabarets and nightclubs. She was supported by her family but the

The development of relationships is communication Essay Example for Free

The development of relationships is communication Essay One of the most vital componentsin the development of relationships is communication. It remains as one of the most important factors in people’s relationships, helping them develop in the attainment of their desired objectives as they form their own unique relationships. Similarly, it has been seen as a qualifying factor in the success of many important personalities. Thus, the process in which individuals communicate to one another is a critical process in determining sustenance and improvement in environments. I had always envisioned a borderless world, one where people will not be hindered by boundaries, language and color, without the presence of discrimination and prejudices. Despite the difficulty in tfulfilling this perspective, I know that by understanding and advancing our communication processes, such an instance can be possible. With these views and desires in mind, I would like to express my intention to apply for a communication major at the University of California. Given these facts, I will try to convince the admissions committee on the merits of my application. Given that there is a large number of applicants seeking acceptance in this prestigious learning institution, it is important for me to lay out good reasons how I can contribute and serve the purpose of the University, particularly in my relevant objectives and my short long term goals. All of this corresponds on the idea of what can reciprocate. My first interest in the communication process began in my early years in high school at the East Coast. Being an international student, I was faced with the everyday challenges that I have to deal with. New people, policies, environments, languages and cultures were all alien to me as I adjusted to my new surroundings. It was hard to learn when things just seemed to line up, waiting to be solved by a person who nary knew anything about them. By learning languages and cultures, communicating with people from different countries got easier, and from my first experience in resolving communication situations, the interest in the process of communication grew. I would like to seek admission to further develop my longstanding interest in the realm of communication. I consider it an amazing experience to know people from different cultures and languages. This was my same situation in my stay in the United States, dealing with different nationalities and a foreign language. As an international student living in the United States, a place with different kinds of people, learning their traditional cultures and styles is necessary to communicate with them. My wish is to gain the ability and knowldege to communicate with every single person. In my native Hong Kong, the relationships I had with friends and peers clearly established my intention to further grasp the process of communication, needing to understand the importance of both verbal and non-verbal styles. Similarly, I wanted to see how people’s behavior manifested in their interaction with others. This wide diversity of people’s attitudes and perceptions has given me the initiative in understanding their relationship with each other, kindling my interest in communication. Likewise, the numerous ways people engage with each other fascinates me. This setup, unique only to humans, has been the integral part in the formation of several communication and language theories. All of these are focused on one important goal – promote better understanding. With the development of new technologies, there are various methods and practices that can be exhausted in the process. Chatting, web conferencing, and emails has given the art of dialogue a new direction. Due to this, human beings have become closer amidst the presence of intangible and tangible boundaries. On the other hand, my academic study has given me substantial theoretical anchors essential to my understanding of the subject. Also, the relevant subjects that were facilitated during my academic years have been instrumental in giving me the necessary tools to accomplish my tasks, developing the training and enhancement of my personal capabilities and skills. With this, I can say that my study at Santa Monica Community College has given me the needed exposure to create my own interpretation of communication and dialogue. This understanding of communication has enabled me to create better and harmonious relationship with my peers. My inclination to both volunteer and civic activities clearly became a benchmark for creating my individual interpretation of dialogue. Also, being part of sports related endeavors, I understood the magnitude of communication. The thing about athletics is that it does not only focus on the values of sportsmanship and discipline. As a member of AGS at Santa Monica Community College, I saw the need to seek better opportunities. First of these was the value of service among different cultural and racial backgrounds. Back then, I only had to settle with a few minorities, our type t being the dominant one. Here at Santa Monica, I had the experience of being exposed to a wide array of cultures and beliefs. All these became integral to my overall perception of defining communication. Having said these, I feel that I am qualified to be included in the applicants list. I want to learn the knowledge of acquiring and learning new ideas and concepts. I feel the need to remove barriers within my personality and in others. From my expeience, it is to hard to talk to strangers. People think Im weird when I talk to them. But if given this degree, I can acquire the confidence and self esteem I need to convey my message. In the end, this communication degree is only a stepping stone of what I want to be as part of my goals in attaining my long term plans. Despite the challenges and hurdles that may come, I feel that I am ready and equipped with the necessary values and credentials to withstand everything.

Avoid Problems Of Cross Cultural Communication Commerce Essay

Avoid Problems Of Cross Cultural Communication Commerce Essay Cross-cultural communication exists when people from differing cultures have reached a certain degree of understanding regarding their differences. For understanding to take place, both people must have some form of knowledge or awareness regarding the norms or customs that exist in each others culture. Verbal and nonverbal communications can contain implied meanings, as well as certain degrees of symbolism. For successful communication to take place, background knowledge concerning values, norms and perceptions is necessary in order for clear, effective communication to take place. The key to effective cross-cultural communication is knowledge. It is essential that people understand the potential problems of cross-cultural communication, and make a conscious effort to overcome these problems and important to assume that ones efforts will not always be successful, and adjust ones behavior appropriately For example, one should always assume that there is a significant possibility that cultural differences are causing communication problems, and be willing to be patient and forgiving, rather than hostile and aggressive, if problems develop. One should respond slowly and carefully in cross-cultural exchanges, not jumping to the conclusion that you know what is being thought and said. Active listening can sometimes be used to check this out-by repeating what one thinks he or she heard, one can confirm that one understands the communication accurately. If words are used differently between languages or cultural groups, however, even active listening can overlook misunderstandings. Often intermediaries who are familiar with both cultures can be helpful in cross-cultural communication situations. They can translate both the substance and the manner of what is said. For instance, they can tone down strong statements that would be considered appropriate in one culture but not in another, before they are given to people from a culture that does not talk together in such a strong way. They can also adjust the timing of what is said and done. Some cultures move quickly to the point; others talk about other things long enough to establish rapport or a relationship with the other person. If discussion on the primary topic begins too soon, the group that needs a warm up first will feel uncomfortable. A mediator or intermediary who understands this can explain the problem, and make appropriate procedural adjustments. Yet sometimes intermediaries can make communication even more difficult. If a mediator is the same culture or nationality as one of the disputants, but not the other, this gives the appearance of bias, even when none exists. Even when bias is not intended, it is common for mediators to be more supportive or more understanding of the person who is of his or her own culture, simply because they understand them better. Yet when the mediator is of a third cultural group, the potential for cross-cultural misunderstandings increases further. In this case engaging in extra discussions about the process and the manner of carrying out the discussions is appropriate, as is extra time for confirming and re-confirming understandings at every step in the dialogue or negotiating process. The impact different cultures have on peoples behavior, emotions and thought processes are the focus of cross-cultural psychology. The norms and values within a culture go a long way toward shaping a persons psychological make-up and how she interacts with her environment. The social structures, manners and values within a culture determine what types of experiences a person has had. These experiences work to shape perceptions, expectations, as well as a persons sense of identity within the context of society. Cross-cultural research examines how different cultures compare in terms of human behavior. The purpose of this research is to address the growing conflicts and global concerns that arise as a result of cultural differences. Statistical data is compiled to determine how prevalent particular norms or customs are within a culture. This helps with determining how influential particular customs are within the workings of a society. Steps to bridge communication differences are addressed by understanding how customs develop and how they affect the behaviors that take place within a society. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES For understanding cultural issues in organizational setting against international perspective, it is essential to understand employee behavior. Five basic conclusions can be drawn about cross-cultural impact on employee behavior: First, individual behavior in organizational setting varies across cultures. Thus, employees based in India, Japan, U.S. and Germany is likely to have different attitudes and patterns of behavior. The behavior patterns are likely to be widespread and pervasive within an organization. Second, culture itself is an important variable for this variation. There are also other factors like differing standards of living and varied geographical conditions which cause variations in behavior. However, culture is a significant factor. Third, although behavior within organizational setting remains quite diverse across cultures, organizations themselves appear to be increasingly similar. Hence, managerial practices at a general level may be alike, but the people who work with in organizations differ markedly. Fourth, the same manager behaves differently in different cultural settings. A manager may adopt one set of behaviors when working in one culture, but may change those behaviors when moved into a different culture. Lastly, cultural diversity can be an important source of energy in enhancing organizational effectiveness. More and more organizations are realizing the virtues of cultural diversity, but surprisingly, little do they know how to manage it. Business Problems in Cross Cultural Communication Business is headed in a decidedly international direction and this means that there will be some changes. Corporations are looking to make doing business as easy as they possibly can, but this new move out multi-national business has created a new set of challenges. The most unavoidable of these new business challenges is a barrier in cross-cultural communication. When people do business, they need to be speaking the same language. Even if two folks are not naturals of a certain language, there must exist a certain consistency in the verbiage in order to avoid some potentially catastrophic circumstances. In addition, more and more managers are seeing problems within their own workplace because of a lack of understanding of other cultures. This problem is not an international one. It simply involves two people of a different ethnic background who do not understand the other culture well enough to effectively communicate with each other. This occurs most commonly because businesses do not emphasize this portion of their training. Before a business can take effective action to pre-empt the problems in cross-cultural communication, they must know exactly what these problems are. In general, they seem pretty obvious. On the surface, they seem like things that the businesses should never miss. Time and time again, businesses miss these things though and it contributes to their downfall. A complete lack of communication is the most common and damaging of all of these problems. This most often occurs when managers and upper level management do not feel the need to communicate with their workers because they do not know how. When your people are left in the dark, they do not perform well. This problem in cross cultural communication has as much to do with a lack of information sharing than it does the inability to get that message across. Obviously, choice of words and diction is important when speaking to people of a different culture. Not only must you be able to use the correct jargon in order to allow them to clearly understand your message, but you must also be careful not to use terms which might be offensive to that person. Generally, workers do not mean to harm anyone when they choose hurtful words, but the damage can often times be irreparable. In this case, it is always better to be safe than to be sorry. Problems in cross cultural communication will continue to plague businesses until they make a conscious effort to change some things. In general, people do not communicate well with each other because they are uneducated about the little things that a different culture might do. With some effort, this can be changed and corporate profitability can improve. CROSS CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Managers in todays multicultural global business community frequently encounter cultural differences, which can interfere with the successful completion of projects. This paper describes the most well-known and accepted theories of cultural differences and illustrates them with examples from international project management. Two leading studies of cross-cultural management have been conducted by Greet Hofstede [1] and Fons Trompenaars [2]. Both approaches propose a set of cultural dimensions along which dominant value systems can be ordered. These value systems affect human thinking, feeling, and acting, and the behavior of organizations and institutions in predictable ways. The two sets of dimensions reflect basic problems that any society has to cope with but for which solutions differ. They are similar in some respects and different in others. The dimensions can be grouped into several categories: 1)  Relations between people.  Two main cultural differences have been identified. Hofstede distinguishes between  individualism  and collectivism.  Trompenaars breaks down this distinction into two dimensions:  Ã‚  universalism versus  particularize  and  individualism  versus communitarians. 2)  Motivational orientation.  Societies choose ways to cope with the inherent uncertainty of living. In this category Hofstede identifies three dimensions:  masculinity  versus  femininity,  amount of uncertainty avoidance,  and  power distance. 3)  Attitudes toward time.  Hofstede distinguishes between  a long-term  versus  a short-term orientation.  Trompenaars identifies two dimensions:  sequential versus synchronic  and  inner versus outer time. How to Overcome Cross Cultural Communication Step 1 Run meetings to expose your employees to other cultures. Introducing employees who will be working together in a non-threatening environment enables a good working relationship long term. Learning about another cultures language, rules and norms for acceptable behavior helps prepare your employees to deal with situations as they arise. Changing preconceptions can lead to more conducive working relationships. Step 2 Conduct activities to demonstrate how dependent we are on language. For example, dedicate a day to being silent. Have each employee develop a contract stating what they hope to learn, how long they will remain silent (what exceptions can be made) and how they plan to cope without speaking all day. After experiencing a day with limited communication, participants can typically relate to being in a foreign environment more easily. Step 3 Provide workshops, tips and techniques for communicating effectively in cross-cultural work environments. People act according to the values of their own culture. Others from another culture might interpret behavior differently. Practicing such strategies as active listening (paraphrasing what is said to ensure understanding can be achieved) and using multiple forms of communication, such as written, audio and visual, can enhance employee involvement in assuring that conflicts do not arise because of cultural misunderstandings due to lack of awareness. Step 4 Coach employees to mediate conflicts related to cultural misunderstandings. Provide opportunities for employees to respond to situations from viewpoints different than their own. Divide a group of people into pairs to conduct role-playing exercises that allow participants to acknowledge culture difference exist. Encourage each pair to think about a conflict they have experienced recently due to cultural differences. Have each participant describe what they might find offensive or unusual. Let each participant suggest how the problem would be handled in their own culture. Together, have the participants develop a resolution to the problem. Have each pair report to the larger group on their experiences. Take it slow A common objection that non-native speakers raise is the speed with which native speakers tend to communicate. Whether youre speaking to someone who is just beginning to learn the language or a long-time English speaker who hails from a different culture, its helpful to modulate the pace of your speech. However, keep in mind that if you slow down too much, the effect may be insulting. Active listening An effective strategy for improving cross-cultural communication is what experts call active listening. This technique involves restating the other speakers statements to ensure you understand their meaning and asking frequent questions. This is a great way to ensure that important information doesnt slip through the cracks in a cross-cultural conversation. Group information in small size If you stop to think about it, even a single sentence in a conversation between two fluent speakers can contain a great deal of information. Thats why cross-cultural communication experts recommend limiting the amount of information you try to convey at one time. Stick to simple, direct instructions and explanations, and try to avoid complex, multi-part sentences. Cultural assumptions If youve ever traveled to a foreign country, you probably realize just how much of our verbal and non-verbal communication relies on a shared set of cultural beliefs and attitudes. When youre speaking to someone from another culture, try to avoid things like jokes, slang, or references that might be confusing or misleading to a non-native speaker. In doubt, adopt for friendly formality North American English speakers often adopt a casual, informal approach to conversations, even when they are addressing a stranger or a new acquaintance. This approach may be off-putting or unsettling to someone from a different cultural background. To ensure that youre conveying an appropriate level of respect, use a more formal mode of speaking and gradually scale back the level of formality as the relationship develops. Motivation and training of multi-cultural project teams Traditional projects, as national projects, may be affected by personality conflicts. Cultural differences among project team members may create additional misunderstanding throughout the project life cycle. The impact of cultural factors such as language barriers, time differences, and socio-economic, political, and religious diversity may result in a normative pattern prescribing a range of permissible actions so as to encourage self-interest. Motivating project team members may encounter significant barriers in multi-cultural project communications. The context of international projects includes cultural diversity, where participants are continuously learning. This fact influences training and educational approaches and has an impact on attitudes toward the use of technology, the amount of practice, reinforcement, and level of interaction with the instructor to which learners from other educational systems are accustomed. NEEDS of Cross-Cultural Communication Within the business context, cross cultural communication refers to interpersonal communication and interaction across different cultures. This has become an important issue in our age of globalization and internationalization. Effective cross cultural communication is concerned with overcoming cultural differences across nationality, religion, borders, culture and behavior. Cross cultural communication is critical to the business world. The diversity of people in cities and countries means an element of cross cultural communication will always be needed whether it is between staff, colleagues, customers or clients. Awareness of cultural differences can favorably impact the success of a business. Improved staff interaction, better customer relations and effective client management are all areas that will reap benefits through cross cultural understanding. Although cross cultural communication competency can only be truly achieved through cross cultural awareness training, language acquisition, foreign travel and cultural immersion there are some guidelines that can enhance your cross cultural communication skills. Speaking Skills Listening and speaking must work in tandem for effective cross cultural communication. Speaking well is not about accent, use of grammar and vocabulary or having the gift of the gab. Rather, cross cultural communication is enhanced through positive speech such as encouragement, affirmation, recognition and phrasing requests clearly or expressing opinions sensitively. Observation Large amounts of cross cultural information can be read in peoples dress, body language, interaction and behavior. Be aware of differences with your own culture and try to understand the roots of behaviors. Asking questions expands your cross cultural knowledge. Patience Man has been created differently and we need to recognize and understand that sometimes cross cultural differences are annoying and frustrating. In these situations patience is definitely a virtue. Through patience respect is won and cross cultural understanding is enhanced. Flexibility Flexibility, adaptability and open-mindedness are the route to successful cross cultural communication. Understanding, embracing and addressing cross cultural differences leads to the breaking of cultural barriers which results in better lines of communication, mutual trust and creative thinking. Following these five cross cultural communication needs will allow for improved lines of communication, better cross cultural awareness and more successful cross cultural relationships.