Marketing Environment Essay Example

Marketing Environment Essay | 2012/13| | Id: 1180654 Allan raisin | [Firms can do more than simply anticipating and responding to both macro and micro environment:-]| Market research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information | â€Å"Marketing environment includes all the forces that directly or indirectly influence marketing operations by affecting an organization acquisition of inputs/creation of outputs such as human, financial and natural resources and raw material, information, goods, services or ideas. Sometimes a distinction is more between macro and micro factors of environment† The Structure of the Marketing Environment The consumer occupies the core/central position of all business activities and hence occupies the Centre of the marketing environment. The organization with its resources and having a policy and structure surrounds the consumer with its particular market offering as do its competitors, suppliers and other intermediaries. This microenvironment of marketing is again affected by the macro environment, which consists of the government, technical, political, social, economic factors. This is graphically represented by below 1. The major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organizations decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. These factors include the economic factors; demographics; legal, political, and social conditions; technological changes; and natural forces. 2. Specific examples of macro environment influences include competitors, changes in interest rates, changes in cultural tastes, disastrous weather, or government regulations. PESTLE Macro Environmental Analysis PESTLE We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Environment specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The PESTLE Analysis is a framework used to scan the organization’s external macro environment. The  letters stand for Political, Economic  Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental. Some approaches will add in extra factors, such as International, or remove some to reduce it to PEST. However, these are all merely variations on a theme. The important principle is identifying the key  factors from the wider, uncontrollable external environment that might affect the organization. The PESTLE Factors We start with the Political forces. First of all, political factors refer to the stability of the political  environment and the attitudes of political parties or movements. This may manifest in government  influence on tax policies, or government involvement in trading agreements. Political factors are  inevitably entwined with Legal factors such as national employment laws, international trade  regulations and restrictions, monopolies and mergers’ rules, and consumer protection. The difference  between Political and Legal factors is that Political refers to attitudes and approaches, whereas Legal  factors are those which have become law and regulations. Legal needs to be complied with whereas  Political may represent influences, restrictions or opportunities, but they are not mandatory. Economic factors represent the wider economy so may include economic growth rates, levels of  employment and unemployment, costs of raw materials such as energy, petrol and steel, interest rates  and monetary policies, exchange rates and inflation rates. These may also vary from one country to  another. Socio-cultural factors represent the culture of the society that an organization operates within. They  may include demographics, age distribution, population growth rates, level of education, distribution of  wealth and social classes, living conditions and lifestyle. Technological factors refer to the rate of new inventions and development, changes in information and  mobile technology, changes in internet and e-commerce or even mobile commerce, and government  spending on research. There is often a tendency to focus Technological developments on digital and internet-related areas, but it should also include materials development and new methods of  manufacture, distribution and logistics. Environmental impacts can include issues such as limited natural resources, waste disposal and recycling  procedures. Additional Considerations A newer force which is gaining in importance is ethics. These can be defined by the set of moral  principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group. Ethics and morals  serve as guidelines on how to act rightly and justly when individuals are faced with moral dilemmas. This force could include corporate social responsibility, fair trade, affiliation between corporations and  charities. A particular problem may exist with how ethical factors relates to legal forces as they may be  at different stages in development. Something may be ethical but not protected by law, whereas other activities may not be ethical, but are legal. A PESTLE analysis should feed into a SWOT analysis as it helps to determine the threats and  opportunities represented by macro-environment forces that the organization usually cannot control. On an international basis, it is best to perform the analysis on a country-by-country basis because  factors can differ greatly between countries (or even regions). Marketing Environment – Micro Marketing Environment – Micro The micro marketing environment consists of certain forces that are part of an organizations marketing process, but remain external to the organization. This micro marketing environment that surrounds organizations can be complex by nature; however the company has an element of control over how it operates within this environment. Marketing helps you to manage and make sense of this complexity. The illustration above summarizes the order of the immediate external marketing environment that businesses operate in. Current and Potential Customers Your customers are vital to the growth and sustainability of your company. In order to grow you must locate customers, understand their needs and then satisfy those needs both efficiently and profitably. Competitors Your competitors however have the same remit as you when it comes to sourcing and satisfying the needs of the customer. They will make it difficult to liaise with customer groups, as by definition they are largely pursuing the same sets of customers as you. As a marketer, you must therefore not only monitor what competitors are doing in the external marketing environment today, but to also anticipate their likely response to your campaigns and to predict what they will do tomorrow. Intermediaries (Distributors/Wholesalers/Retailers) Your business may require a network of wholesalers, distributors and/or retailer. These ‘intermediaries’ provide an invaluable service in getting your products to the customer. You must therefore think carefully about how best to distribute your goods and build relationships. This area can be fierce in competition as not everyone can get access to the channels of distribution that they want. Suppliers One other important area to consider in the external marketing environment is your suppliers. A key supplier can be an important part of your business and may even attribute to your competitive advantage. Losing important suppliers can interrupt production flow or your competitive edge and prevent you from getting your product to your customers. Choice of suppliers, negotiation of terms and relationship building all become important tasks of the marketer. The wider marketing environment, discussed in a separate knowledge sheet, covers all other influences that might provide opportunities or threats to the organization. These include technological development, legal constraints, the economic environment and sociocultural changes. This brief overview of the world in which companies operate in demonstrates that there are many relationships that matter. These need to be managed if the company is to conduct its business successfully. The main responsibility for managing these relationships lies within the marketing department. Using a SWOT SWOT is an important tool in auditing the external and internal environment of the organization. A SWOT Analysis should be more than a basic listing of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Most organizations have the same, common-sense type of threats, such as competitors, technological changes, regulation and deregulation, or weaknesses such as high price, but these are all very general, hard to control elements meaning the utility can be quite limited. As Cranfield’s Professor Malcolm McDonald puts it, real SWOTs should be more concise and specific. STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND THREATS Strengths, in the SWOT analysis, are a companys capabilities and resources that allow it to engage in activities to generate economic value and perhaps competitive advantage. A companys strengths may be in its ability to create unique products, to provide high-level customer service, or to have a presence in multiple retail markets. Strengths may also be things such as the companys culture, its staffing and training, or the quality of its managers. Whatever capability a company has can be regarded as strength. A companys weaknesses are a lack of resources or capabilities that can prevent it from generating economic value or gaining a competitive advantage if used to enact the companys strategy. There are many examples of organizational weaknesses. For example, a firm may have a large, bureaucratic structure that limits its ability to compete with smaller, more dynamic companies. Another weakness may occur if a company has higher labor costs than a competitor who can have similar productivity from a lower labor cost. The characteristics of an organization that can be strength, as listed above, can also be a weakness if the company does not do them well. Opportunities provide the organization with a chance to improve its performance and its competitive advantage. Some opportunities may be anticipated, others arise unexpectedly. Opportunities may arise when there are niches for new products or services, or when these products and services can be offered at different times and in different locations. For instance, the increased use of the Internet has provided numerous opportunities for companies to expand their product sales. Threats can be an individual, group, or organization outside the company that aims to reduce the level of the companys performance. Every company faces threats in its environment. Often the more successful companies have stronger threats, because there is a desire on the part of other companies to take some of that success for their own. Threats may come from new products or services from other companies that aim to take away a companys competitive advantage. Threats may also come from government regulation or even consumer groups. A strong company strategy that shows how to gain competitive advantage should address all four elements of the SWOT analysis. It should help the organization determine how to use its strengths to take advantage of opportunities and neutralize threats. Finally, a strong strategy should help an organization avoid or fix its weaknesses. If a company can develop a strategy that makes use of the information from SWOT analysis, it is more likely to have high levels of performance. Nearly every company can benefit from SWOT analysis. Larger organizations may have strategic-planning procedures in place that incorporate SWOT analysis, but smaller firms, particularly entrepreneurial firms may have to start the analysis from scratch. Additionally, depending on the size or the degree of diversification of the company, it may be necessary to conduct more than one SWOT analysis. If the company has a wide variety of products and services, particularly if it operates in different markets, one SWOT analysis will not capture all of the relevant strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist across the span of the companys operations. LIMITATIONS OF SWOT ANALYSIS One major problem with the SWOT analysis is that while it emphasizes the importance of the four elements associated with the organizational and environmental analysis, it does not address how the company can identify the elements for their own company. Many organizational executives may not be able to determine what these elements are, and the SWOT framework provides no guidance. For example, what if a strength identified by the company is not truly strength? While a company might believe its customer service is strong, they may be unaware of problems with employees or the capabilities of other companies to provide a higher level of customer service. Weaknesses are often easier to determine, but typically after it is too late to create a new strategy to offset them. A company may also have difficulty identifying opportunities. Depending on the organization, what may seem like an opportunity to some may appear to be a threat to others. Opportunities may be easy to overlook or may be identified long after they can be exploited. Similarly, a company may have difficulty anticipating possible threats in order to effectively avoid them. While the SWOT framework does not provide managers with the guidance to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it does tell managers what questions to ask during the strategy development process, even if it does not provide the answers. Managers know to ask and to determine a strategy that will take advantage of a companys strengths, minimize its weaknesses, exploit opportunities, or neutralize threats. Some experts argue that making strategic choices for the firm is less important than asking the right questions in choosing the strategy. A company may mistakenly solve a problem by providing the correct answer to the wrong question. USING SWOT ANALYSIS TO DEVELOP ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY SWOT analysis is just the first step in developing and implementing an effective organizational strategy. After a thorough SWOT analysis, the next step is to rank the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and to document the criteria for ranking. The company must then determine its strategic fit given its internal capabilities and external environment in a two-by-two grid (see Figure 1). This fit, as determined in the grid, will indicate what strategic changes need to be made. The quadrants in this grid are as follows: * Quadrant 1 —internal strengths matched with external opportunities; * Quadrant 2 —internal weaknesses relative to external opportunities; * Quadrant 3 —internal strengths matched with external threats; and * Quadrant 4 —internal weaknesses relative to external threats. Quadrant 1 lists the strategies associated with a match between the companys strengths and its perceived external opportunities. It represents the best fit between the companys resources and the options available in the external market. A strategy from this quadrant would be to protect the companys strengths by shoring up resources and extending competitive advantage. If a strategy in this quadrant can additionally bolster weaknesses in other areas, such as in Quadrant 2, this would be advantageous. Quadrant 2 lists the strategies associated with a match between the companys weaknesses with external opportunities. Strategies in this quadrant would address the choice of either improving upon weaknesses to turn them into strengths, or allowing competitors to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. Quadrant 3 matches the companys strengths and external threats. Strategies in this quadrant may aim to transform external threats into opportunities by changing the companys competitive position through use of its resources or strengths. Another strategic option in this quadrant is for the company to maintain a defensive strategy to focus on more promising opportunities in other quadrants. Quadrant 4 matches a companys weaknesses and the threats in the environment. These are the worst possible scenarios for an organization. However, because of the competitive nature of the marketplace, any company is likely to have information in this quadrant. Strategies in this quadrant may involve using resources in other quadrants to exploit opportunities to the point that other threats are minimized. Additionally, some issues may be moved out of this quadrant by otherwise neutralizing the threat or by bolstering a perceived weakness. Once a strategy is decided on in each quadrant for the issues facing the company, these strategies require frequent monitoring and periodic updates. An organization is best served by proactively determining strategies to address issues before they become crises. An example of how a firm can develop strategies using these quadrants is as follows. Generic Corporation produces high-quality; high-priced specialty kitchen items in a catalog and in stores and is known for their excellent customer service. This strength has been able to offset its major weaknesses, which are having few stores and no current capabilities for Internet sales. Its major opportunities come from the explosion of Internet shopping, and its threats are other more high-profile competitors, operating primarily on the Internet, and the concerns of identity theft in Internet sales that many customers ha ve. Matching Generics strengths to its opportunities (Quadrant 1), the firm may choose to enhance its Internet site to allow online purchases, still providing its excellent 24-hour telephone customer service. Ideally, this strategy will offset the weakness of not having an Internet presence, which addresses the concerns of Quadrant 2. Additionally, by bolstering the strength of excellent customer service by applying it to the online shopping site, the company may be able to alleviate customer concerns about identity theft (Quadrant 3). A strategy for Quadrant 4, which matches the companys weaknesses and threats, is that Generic may consider selling its online business to a competitor. Certainly, the Quadrant 4 strategy is the least preferred, but a proactive strategy that plans for managing such a situation is favored over a crisis situation in which the company is forced to sell with no planning. A SWOT analysis is a first, but critical, step in developing an organizational strategy. By examining the companys internal capabilities—its strengths and weaknesses and its external environment—opportunities and threats, it helps to create strategies that can proactively contend with organizational challenges. The changing and uncertain marketing environment deeply affects the organization, instead of changing slowly and predictably, the environment can produce major surprises and shocks, how many managers at â€Å"Heinz† foresaw that the baby-boom numbers would fall so rapidly? How many were able to predict that the Internet will enable not only real-time personal communication but that will also provide a way for business process improvement and new industries would be formed. How many were able to predict that mobile phone SMS and MMS services would add significant value for the customers, some said ‘who would want to type text on the phone or even snap pictures , telephone are only for talking’ To conclude I would say that Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information – these information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications. †

Talent Management in Hype Center

Talent Management in Hype Center Introduction Hype Center is a marketing firm that undertakes marketing of domestic items such as perfumes, lotions, and medicated soap. Since the center is a small marketing firm that started its operations on July 2013, then it still requires more employees. Recently, the firm embarked on a search for qualified employees. The firm then put the candidate under a three-month probation period.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Talent Management in Hype Center specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More During the probation, the intern would work with three other employees of the center as a team. The firm hired the intern because the marketing project aimed at increasing sales. Therefore, the center examined qualities of the intern. The psychometric indicators employed include expertise, professional qualifications, abilities, and attitudes. As a human resource officer, the firm tasked me to review staff performance and compil e a report. Therefore, the report examines the skills and competencies of the intern in the field of marketing. Literature Review Human resource managers usually examine a number of qualities and attributes that potential employees have before recruiting them. Among other attributes, human resource managers expect an employee to have the ability of working with others in a productive and harmonious manner. Furthermore, the human resource department expects individuals to demonstrate good self-monitoring abilities. The abilities enable employees to regulate their behaviors and effectively accommodate different social challenges that individuals comes across in the workplace (Bikhchandani, 2002). Thus, the individual can adapt and work harmoniously and productively with other team members who have different personalities. Talents are essential in the marketing aspect of the company. According to Terracino (2005), employees should also have the social intelligence as it enables them to respect the opinions of other employees. In addition, Marchioni (2009) states that a candidate must be goal oriented, very thoughtful of others, have good self-control on impulses, be organized, and mindful on the marketing details as demonstrated in conscientiousness personality trait.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The conscientiousness personality trait is one of the big five personality traits also known as the big five locators. This makes it easy for individuals to influence other team members, as well as target consumers assertively. Competent marketing skills enable marketers to convince customers on the validity of the products, and increase sales. Additionally, the human resource department expects an employee to have intrinsic style of interaction, which is one of the four styles of interactions styles. Berens (2008) notes that the interaction sty le enables individuals to understand and work with teams and perform well. The individual value contributions enable employees make consultations before deciding on a course of action (Snyder, 2000). Moreover, team members amass information and other points of view so that they can use them to make informed decisions. In this style of interaction, the individuals are calm, patient, and quiet, and thus can produce, sustain, define, and clarify issues objectively. Consequently, these indidviduals believe that for a project to succeed, it should take a reasonable period of time. Therefore, the interaction style enables an individual communicate ideas, opinions, and suggestions using clear and appropriate way inline with the relevant audience or authority. Data Self-monitoring Results Your score is 50, on a scale of 0 (low self-monitor) to 100 (high self-monitor). You are neither a high nor low self-monitor. Big Five Locator Results Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Talent Management in Hype Center specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Interaction Styles Based on the results of the ISAT, you are an energizer! Full of persuasive energy, energizers are natural people. You know how to strike up a conversation and keep it going. Jung Type Results You are a natural leader. You are a confident and original thinker, and believe strongly in yourself. You are a strong individualist who seeks new angles or novel ways of looking at life. In general, you are an extremely capable and intelligent individual who strives to do their best and continue to move in a positive direction. Findings On the results of the self-monitoring test, the intern neither scored 50%, which means that the intern is neither low nor high self-monitor. Since the intern possessed such self-monitoring skills and social intelligence, then the intern was able to respect the opinions of other team members and react in a suitable manner to different workplace challenges. The individual was also able to employ self-control, organization, and marketing skills on the team members, as well as target consumers. Regarding the big five locator, the results show that the intern scored 68, 83, 60, 45, 45, and 18 in extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness respectively. The high level of extraversion and conscientiousness implies that the intern is outgoing and conscious of what is happening in the workplace.Advertising Looking for assessment on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Furthemore, the intern demostrated high levels of understanding on matters concerning production, sustainability, difinition, and clarification of marketing issues. The intern also valued consultation, this was evident from the intern’s nature of asking for the opinions from other team members before making a decision. While working with the team of four members i noticed that the intern synthesised opinions and suggestion from the team members before using the information to make a wise decision. Consequently, the intern was determined that in the firm would achieve the required targets in terms of growth and sales. The intern also demonstrated good communication and interpersonal skills evident from the manner in which the individual presented opinions, ideas, and issues to team members and superiors. In the interaction style results, the intern demonstrated energizer style of interaction of the persuasive energy. The persuasive was evident from the cheerful and welcoming n ature of the intern. Additionally, the intern was outgoing and valued teamwork in the acheivement of positive results. In other words, the intern was goal oriented and objective. Moreover, the individual possesed patience and was calm at all times irrespective of the team and workplace challenges. The intern appeared as having natural abilities of leadership as demonstrated by the Jung type indicator. Moreover, the Jung type indicator showed that the intern is a great thinker with intelligent abilities to move in the positive direction. The intern can easily adapt to the workplace, and thus able to work well with other team members who have different personalities in a creative and pleasant way. Furthermore, the individual had social intelligence and good self-monitoring abilities. Conclusion Hiring the right person is vital for any organization. However, many organizations are not effective in hiring employees, and thus, they end up hiring wrong employees. Hiring of wrong employeer s lowers the perfomance of the firm. According to this context Hype Center should employ good and qualified individuals who have the relevant competencies. When the right person is hired for the job, the firm will have little time and resources spent on the indidividual in the aspect of training. Therefore, it is fundamental for the firm to put the right policies and practises in place. The policies help the firm employ the right individuals who are productive and useful. It is important that the firm gets individuals who have good interpersonal skills and good working skills. Give that the firm is a marketing firm, potential employees should have the right skills required in persuading and influencing target clients so that the firm can grow and increase its sales. Reccommendations Policies should be instituted by the center because it enables the firm get the right people for the right job. If the center employ incompetent individuals, it will incur huge losses due to poor perform ance. The instituted policies should ensure that only employees who have essential knwoldge and skills serve the center. Among other skills, good interpersonal skills are fundamental as they enable individuals to work well with employees and clients. Moreover, they enable individuals to understand and appreciate various personalities of other employees. Additionally, the firm should use the policies in the recuitment of employees who understand the significance of self monitoring and social intelligence. Self-intelligence makes the employees have good communication and interpersonal skills. Thus, self-intelligence is key in acheivng growth of the firm as it makes employees respect other employees and target consumers, as well as overcome workplace challenges. Furthemore, the firm should hire individuals who can persuade and convince customers to buy products, and thus increase the volume of sales. Employees who have the right qualifications and personalities quickly adapt new challe nges of the workplace. Therefore, it is important for the firm to have the right employees who can work collectively with other employees and achieve the objectives and goals of the firm. The right individuals are beneficitial to the center because the human resource department will just regulate and accommodate different temperaments. In addition, it is important for the firm to hire right idividuals who have self-control, organization skills, and good marketing skills. Moreover, the firm should hire individuals who can consult before making decisions,and those who have relevant styles of interaction. Since good interaction styles enables individuals to produce, sustain, define, and clarify issues, it is essential for the center to hire employees with these skills. References Berens, V. (2008). Understanding Yourself and Others. New York:Telos Publishers. Bikhchandani, S. (2002). A Theory of Fashion,Custom ,and Cultural Change as Informational Cascades. Journal of Political Economy , 100(5), 992-1026. Marchioni, M. (2009). The Self Monitoring Scale.London: Macmillan Publishers. Snyder, M. (2000). Self Monitoring Appraisal and Reappraisal. Pyschological Bulletin,  126(4), 530-555. Terracino, A. (2005). Universal Features of PersonalityTraits from the Observer Perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Pyschology, 88(6), 547-561.

OBSERVE PAPEER OF OBESITY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

OBSERVE PAPEER OF OBESITY - Essay Example Observing these factors during my obesity study, I observed that even the eating habits, food choices, dressing and physical wellbeing is important nowadays when choosing friends. I have observed that obese people generally have obese friends and feel more comfortable with them. It was also observed that their sitting, eating and body movements are also similar. For the matter of fact, I bind obese people as a distinct group having similar habits, behaviors and characteristics. To understand the behavioral characteristics and needs of this group, I decided to conduct an observational study which was not longer but interesting and informative. In order to understand the factors for the observation purpose, I visited KFC being one of the largest fast food chains. During my 6 hours stay at KFC, I observed that around 65% of people (including males and females both) visiting KFC were either obese or overweight. Obese people with children were more likely to carry obese children. This may be due to genetically transferred obesity or due to the transference of the same eating habits from parents to the children. Obese children, during the study, were observed to opt for cold drinks and French fries usually. They were found to have candies, chocolates or some sort of dessert when they entered. This showed their inclination towards sugary food which may be linked to heir obesity. It was also observed that obese people mostly checked in with people of similar body structure. They felt more comfortable with their company and showed greater satisfaction during their stay as compared to those with slimmer companions. The observable difference between them lied in the meal they ordered, the way they ate and the pace of their eating. Obese people with similar companions showed more informal manner of sitting and eating. They took lesser time on ordering meals and chose different drinks and meals as per

History shows us that attempts to fix exchange rates or create Essay

History shows us that attempts to fix exchange rates or create monetary unions between different countries usually end in failur - Essay Example While there are certainly several similarities between these experiences, the European experiment must be viewed in its broader political and administrative context to see that such pessimism is not entirely warranted. The failure of monetary cooperation was partly due to the loss of autonomy countries face when they agree to fix exchange rates or participate in a union. This loss of autonomy means that a country has fewer tools at its disposal to reach its internal and external balance. Different countries define the term â€Å"balance† differently with respect to their internal and external balance goals – for instance, the German Bundesbank has historically been considered very inflation-averse, while the central bank of Italy has generally seemed comfortable with higher inflation rates1. In normal economic times, this divergence in goals is not a problem and countries find their fiscal tools sufficient to address short- and medium- term deviations from their interna l and external balance goals. In times of crises, however, countries with a lower tolerance for deviation from goals may find that they require more than just their fiscal tools to address the crisis. This is particularly true under fixed exchange rate regimes. When a country is facing unemployment, in addition to fiscal measures, monetary authorities might want to stimulate investment by increasing the money supply and lowering interest rates. However, the Mundell-Fleming model shows us that under a fixed exchange rate regime (unless the nation imposes restrictions on capital mobility, such as China did until recently)2, such a move would be ineffective because a lower interest rate would cause a capital outflow, which in turn would apply depreciating pressures on the domestic currency. To maintain the exchange rate, the central bank would then be obliged to buy back the very same currency that it initially supplied to the economy to encourage investment.3 Where the costs are deeme d to outweigh the benefits, countries are left with three options: (i) Continue to remain within the arrangement, but act autonomously (ii) Continue to remain within the arrangement, but renegotiate the terms to address the crisis, or (iii) Cease to remain within the arrangement Examples of these options being exercised are numerous. For example, under the Gold Standard, which was a fixed exchange regime between 1870 and 1914, central banks were required to adhere to the â€Å"rules of the game,† when there were disturbances in the price-specie flow mechanism that held the Gold Standard in place4. These â€Å"rules† meant that central banks would sell domestic assets while experiencing a current account deficit and buy domestic assets while experiencing a surplus. However, the urgency to bring about an external balance was felt more sharply by countries facing deficits, so countries often exercised the first option - which meant that the â€Å"rules† were freque ntly violated or ignored5 although to all appearances, the system was not overthrown. The second option, often takes a form that either returns a degree of autonomy to the member countries or enhances the power of a third body to address the crisis. Examples of the second option being exercised can be found in both the history of the Bretton Woods System as well as the European Monetary System (EMS). Under the Bretton Woods System, countries were required to peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar while

Segmentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Segmentation - Essay Example The alternate subgroup requires packaging services for their shipping items. The items are usually large or fragile, and they require expert packaging services to clear them from any liability. Shipping customers are mostly those buying or selling items through the internet. Those who require packaging, additionally, most likely are too busy to spare some time and would rather pay for the packaging service. The Mail Box customer segment involves those customers who require Private Mail Boxes. This need for Private Mail Boxes can be brought about by different reasons. They include legality issues, convenience of location, hours of operation, amongst others. Mail Box Customers also prioritize convenience over most other things. Mail Box shipping station services use real street addresses and deliver and pick up mails right at the customer’s doorstep as opposed to the Post Office. Additionally, those who move around a lot are offered a permanent mail address at the shipping stations to avoid the loss of their mails. This customer segment involves customers who require a fax transmittal service, for receiving or sending a fax but do not own or are unable to access a fax machine to meet their service requirement. This segment maintains a stable demand for fax transmittal services even with the advent and development of the email

Difference Between Gift Exchange and Market Transactions

Difference Between Gift Exchange and Market Transactions What is the difference between gift exchange and market transactions, and how do they both relate to gender relations? Introduction Karl Polanyi (1968), in his critique of the principles that underlie the formalist approach to economic analysis, attempted to define the tools by which the economies of ‘traditional’ societies could be analysed. Central to the substantivists’ claims was the understanding that the introduction of money destroyed indigenous social relations by introducing the notion of ‘equivalencies of value’ where none had previously existed. In this approach, the substantivists were following the legacy of Marcel Mauss,[1] who, in his seminal The Gift (1954), had argued that in contemporary and archaic societies as widespread as North America, Polynesia and Ancient Rome the assumptions of economic analysis, as used in explaining market transactions, were not relevant as these societies were gift economies. In this essay, I will first examine what Mauss meant by the term gift economies, before providing a contemporary example from the work of Usula Sharma (1984) who demonstrates how a gift exchange may be instrumental in the subordination of women. In the second section, I then look at market transactions and, by drawing on the work of Maria Mies (1998), I reveal the gendered nature of the market. In the conclusion, I problematise the division between ‘gift’ and ‘market’ economies, suggesting that both are weberian ‘ideal types’ and that neither is fully adequate to account for the complexity of both market transactions and gift exchanges, as both are deeply embedded in social relations and thus in relations of power. Gender and Gift Exchange Marcel Mauss argued that in contemporary western society we make a distinction between gift exchange and market transactions, and that in the west we presume the former to be free of obligations (Douglas in Mauss, 2000: vii). However, Mauss argued that the gift in fact entails an obligation to reciprocate[2] and thus creates ties between individuals and/ or groups. For Mauss, this form of economy differs from the ‘disinterested’ and ‘self-interested’ exchange of modern societies (Mauss, 2000: 75-6) and he believed that all economies were originally gift economies: ‘[t]he system that we propose to call the system of ‘total services’, from clan to clan [†¦] constitutes the most ancient system of economy and law [] forms the base from which the morality of the exchange-thorough-gift has flowed’ (Mauss, 2000: 70). An example of gift exchange is that of Northern India, and the Dowry system as described by Ursula Sharma (1984), compl ete with mutual obligations and the creation of lasting ties. Sharma describes a marriage system whereby the family of the bride must pay a dowry to the family of the groom, creating lasting ties between the two families, premised on the ability of the brides’ family to give: when they arrange the marriage of a son, parents do not just look forward to the dowry they will receive at the wedding. They look forward to the bride’s family’s general capacity to give (Sharma, 1984: 64). Although, if asked, most participants would describe the dowry as ‘freely given’ in fact behind the scenes ‘explicit bargaining’ takes place (Sharma, 1984: 64). In a society sharply divided, not only by gender but also by age and caste, control over what is given and what happens to these gifts once received is subject to division along lines of gender and age. Senior women in the household are responsible for ‘seeing that obligations are met and proper relations maintained’ (Sharma, 1984: 65), but when the gifts are of cash, then it is the senior men who are most in control (Sharma, 1984: 66). The ties created by the dowry may have severe consequences for the dis-empowered bride: ‘[d]owry favours and is favoured by a cultural ethos in which brides can be viewed as objects to be passed from one social group to another’, further, ‘in India the rapid inflation of dowries [†¦] has led to a situation in which brides are more controlled by than controllers of property’ (Sharma, 1984: 73). Finally, ‘dowry deaths’ may occur when the grooms’ family is disappointed with her dowry and hope to negotiate a better one for a second marriage (Sharma, 1984: 71). However, her powerlessness is eased by time, as she moves to being a ‘dowry-taker’ on the marriage of her sons (Sharma, 1984: 72). Thus, we can see that in the gift exchange lasting relationships are created, and that these relations are differentiated according to age and gender. Gender and Market Transactions In this section I examine the ‘market transaction’ through the work of Maria Mies (1998), revealing the gendered nature of the supposedly ‘disinterested’ market. In a market transaction, rather than the exchange of gifts which then creates lasting ties between people, it is presumed that in the exchange of commodities only a relationship between things is created: ‘the transactors are strangers in a state of reciprocal independence which persists after the transaction’ (Thomas, 1991: 14). Such an understanding is supported by our ‘common sense’ understandings of the different spheres of exchange: for example, Paul Bohannan (1968), in his discussion of the ‘spheres of exchange’ among the Tiv of Northern Nigeria, identifies a similar division in Tiv ideology between the ‘gift’ and ‘markets’. The former representing the formation and continuation of social relationships, while the later ‘cal ls up no long-term personal relationship, and which is therefore to be exploited to as great a degree as possible’ (Bohannan, 1968: 300); in this set of relationships, all items have an exchange equivalent. After all, when I exchange cash for a commodity I do not feel myself to be tied into a reciprocal relationship with the shopkeeper. However, Mies argues that rather than the formally free, atomistic individuals, engaged in disinterested exchange (Polanyi, 1968) of theoretical liberalism, and therefore of much economic thought, instead we find that actors are no less entwined in power relations than in the gift economies outlined above. Indeed, she argues that ‘the exploitative sexual division is the social paradigm upon which the international division of labour is built up’ (Mies, 1998: 4, emphasis added). First, many have debated the way in which the public sphere is dominated by men, but Mies argues that it is in fact the unpaid work of the housewife, of caring and nurturing within the domestic sphere (Mies, 1998: ix), or ‘women’s work’, that allows men to be free to enter the public realm (Mies, 1998: 31). Next, Mies argues that the ‘housewifization’ of labour[3] not only naturalizes women’s restriction to the private realm, but also means that her paid wor k is considered ‘only supplementary’ to that of her husband (Mies, 1998: ix): ‘[t]he process of proletarianization of the men was, therefore, accompanied by a process of housewifization of women’ (Mies, 1998: 69). Finally, Mies argues that third world women are valued by capitalism as producers due to their ‘nimble fingers’ and as they are ‘considered to be the most docile, manipulable labour force’ (Mies, 1998: 117): in short, due to ascribed gender stereotypes. The symbolic hierarchy of gender thus has material effects as women are placed in an economically vulnerable position and are concentrated in low paid, part-time employment: women and their children are the most economically disadvantaged group across the globe. Further, women are locked into an international division of labour whereby the ‘third world women produce not what they need, but what others [first world women] can buy’ (Mies, 1998: 118, original emp hasis). Thomson echoes this argument: ‘[e]veryone is now tied up in a historical network of global relations [] we are all caught up in international relations of production and appropriation which stretch across the spaces separating us’ (Thomas, 1991: 8-9) and this international relation of production is gendered. Conclusion Nicholas Thomas rejects Mauss’ argument that the economies of Melanesia and Polynesia can be regarded as ‘gift economies’, which are thus opposed to the market economies of Europe. He argues that this division misses the way that these ‘traditional’ economies are in fact deeply entangled with the global capitalist trade (Thomas, 1991: 4): ‘a wider range of evidence from indigenous Oceanic societies suggests that there is a broad continuum between systems in which it is possible to substitute only people for people, or food for food, and those in which a wide range of expansive conversions are permitted’ (Thomas, 1991: 4). Divisions, such as Mauss makes, between ‘gift exchange’ and ‘market transactions’ are part of the reification of difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’ (Thomas, 1991: 34), further, ‘the grand polarities almost always turn out to be implausible’ (Thomas, 1991: 2 7). Thomas argues that by scrutinising our concepts via the lens of gender we can reveal the theoretical flaws or weaknesses that we might otherwise miss (Thomas, 1991: 2) For Polanyi, the economic sphere as defined by the discipline of economics is based on a conflation of two distinct meanings: the ‘substantive’ and ‘formal’. ‘The formal meaning of economic derives from the logical character of the means-ends relationship [†¦] it refers to a definite situation of choice’ (Polanyi, 1968: 122), whereas in the substantive definition ‘the economy here is embodied in institutions that cause individual choices to give rise to interdependent movements that constitute the economic process’ (Polanyi, 1968: 125). In short, formal economics is based on the notion of formally free individuals, making rational economic decisions and which create no lasting ties, whereas substantive economics views all economies, whether regarded as gift economies or those based on market transaction, as embedded in social relations. Thomas concurs: ‘[e]xchange is always, in the first instance, a political process, o ne in which wider relationships are expressed’ (Thomas, 1991: 7) for exchange relationships are always differentiated by power (Thomas, 1991: 22), by race, class, gender and age. Thomas would not have us abandon the distinction between gift and commodity entirely (Thomas, 1991: 29), perhaps it would be better to view them as points along a continuum, with each ‘ideal’ type at the opposing ends but the majority of actual cases lying somewhere in between; further it is necessary that we recognise the coexistence of both types (Thomas, 1991: 33). Whether or not the introduction of money destroyed indigenous social relations, by introducing the ‘equivalencies of value’, as the substantavists claimed, the ties that are created by contemporary commodity exchange may be less evident, but Maria Mies reminds us that nonetheless the global division of labour links third world producers to first world consumers in an asymmetrical power relationship that makes a lie of the supposed disinterestedness of market transactions. Bibliography Bohannan, Paul (1968) ‘Some Principles of Exchange and Investment among the Tiv’, Economic Anthropology: Readings in Theory and Analysis, LeClair Schneider (Eds.), London: Holt, Rinehart Winston, pp 122 – 143. Levi-Strauss, Claude (1969 [1949]) ‘Nature and Culture’ ‘The Problem of Incest’, The Elementary Structure of Kinship, London: Eyre Spottiswoode, pp. 3-25. Mauss, Marcel (2000 [1954]) The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies, New York: W. W. Norton. Mies, Maria (1998 [1986]) Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale: Women in the International Division of Labour, London: Zed Books. Polanyi, Karl (1968 [1957]) ‘The Economy as Instituted Process’, in Economic Anthropology: Readings in Theory and Analysis, LeClair Schneider (Eds.), London: Holt, Rinehart Winston, Inc. pp 122 – 143. Sharma, Ursula (1984) ‘Dowry in North India: Its Consequences for Women’, Women and Property: Women as Property, Hirschon, R. (Ed.), London: Croom Helm, pp. 62-74. Thomas, Nicholas (1991) ‘Introduction’ and ‘Objects, Exchange, Anthropology’ in Entangled Objects: Exchange, Materialism and Colonialism in the Pacific, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 1-34. 1 Footnotes [1] As well as that of Bronislaw Malinowski, who in his influential (1922) Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea, (London: Routledge) closely described the Kula exchange of the Trobriand Islanders. [2] Levi Straus, following Mauss, argued that the exchange of women (exogamy) provided the basis for ties between different groups (Levi Strauss, 1969: 14) via the incest taboo (Levi Strauss, 1969: 9-10) and thus provided the basis for culture (Levi Strauss, 1969: 24-5). [3] The defining of women as homemakers, and then relying on this definition to characterise their work outside of the home (Mies, 1998).

My Personal Thoughts on God, Ethics and Knowledge

The three components that make up my Christian worldview are God, ethics, and knowledge because they have molded my thinking, life experiences, accompanied with a wealth of knowledge through education and life decisions. Experience God and doing the will God is one of those components. Because of my faith in God I have learned how to trust and depend on him unconditionally for everything. In addition; being grateful for the trials and tribulations where miracles had the opportunity to be birthed into manifestation. For example, when my mother was hospitalized and my pager went off twenty times God was warning me that trouble was ahead. I had cried for two weeks earlier before the incident and I thought I was mourning for my friends mother, who was hospitalized and in reality I was mourning my own mother’s death. One of the greatest decisions that I ever made was when I turned my life over to God and allowed his perfect will to come into my world. By doing that it gave me the chance to gain a Christian education and teachings throughout the bible. Because without those teachings and understanding it would be impossible to understand things that happen in life otherwise, but he equips you at all times. The word of God has given us the road map to ethics, and the consequences for doing the right and wrong things in life. Ethics plays a vital role in this because it is the principle of dealing with what is right or wrong, and the morals that one possess. When you obey God he blesses you; however if you disobey him he will allow a curse to come upon you. The obedience opens up doors that otherwise would have been closed. People tend to give you favor in life, and they don’t even recognize why they are doing what they are doing at the time. I call this walking in the Fog or walking in the favor of God. When God tells you to give a person something and you don’t even know why you are doing it. Like when I purchased a car to run around and do errands, but after I had done the repairs on the car God told me to give the car away. This was a car that I had paid for with cash, and God instructed me to just give it away and don’t look back. I did it because I am crazy for Jesus, and I don’t need any explanations, he is always there, just pay attention. The word of God is knowledge that can change your life as you get to know the word and doing the will of God. This knowledge is very important for your educational growth, and spiritual well being. God wants you to have a personal relationship with him, and wants us to open our hearts and converse with him. He knows your story and how it will end up, your job is to just trust and depend on your heavenly father. He will reveal himself, his purpose for your life, and instructions once you invite him into your thoughts. God says to have faith the size of a mustard seed, and faith without works is dead. I have learned to take him at his word and life will become a dream turned into reality. Without any knowledge it is impossible to please God, and there is not anything to base your beliefs and values on in life. Which is where you knowledge comes from, and there are different types of knowledge. For example, knowledge that you acquire in a career, or the knowledge of God from spending time with him in the word. My beliefs are based on the word of God, and the way he wants me to live. Because of me paying attention to the word of God I have made better decisions in my personal, academic and business life. The Word of God is the best teaching that anyone can receive when the mind opens up to receive the directions. By allowing God, his knowledge, and teaching me how to live an ethical lifestyle my life has become very fulfilling and broader. God’s Holy Spirit is our personal teacher to educate us on how to treat people, and live a life peacefully. You know do unto others as you would have them due unto you. He also wants us to love Him and confess our sins when we have committed one. The only way to know this for one self is to open your heart and mind and invite the Holy Spirit into your temple so that one can have a life changing experience for the good. My three components that make up this Christian worldview are God, ethics and knowledge because they have molded my thinking, life experiences accompanied with a wealth of knowledge through education and life decisions.

Drug Control

We Must Do Better About Drugs As we know, all countries in the world prohibited hard drug, but it means that we are safe and far from drugs? Definitely not! Drug eliminated from aboveboard; still lived under the night. Prescription drug abuse is the Nation’s fastest-growing drug problem; smuggling of drug can never disappear (2011 National Drug Control Strategy 4). By the way, women’s involvement in drug trafficking in recent years has expanded dramatically (Campbell 233). Spreading of Drug decreases a nation’s physical quality, psychological condition, and life expectancy.Because no country could afford those integral losses bring from pressure of public medical benefit, no one open hard drugs. Drug is the demon, which come in from crack of door, continue his villainy that should be bar out. We cannot wait to raise awareness of drug control; we cannot wait to improve our tactics; we cannot wait to arrest more loss happen. Executions of prohibitions, living examp les of suffering, and confirmed side-effects warn us must focus on the issue. Prohibition in worldwide was actually helped. Making a general survey of our history, people have experienced full of wound bring by drug abuse.In 1840, opium was used by British government as weapon to raise the certain of invasion in China. The plentiful opium destroyed Chinese army, caused factory deficit of labors, and induced a mass of sliver outflow. The nightmare had drop away already. Today, smuggling of drug are still rampant. The grim axiom defining today's Afghanistan, 85 percent of whose citizens are farmers, farmers who cultivate fields of poppies, is that its economy relies on two dueling revenue streams (Draper 58). At May 2, 2011, United States Government Accountability Office acted Office of National Drug Control Policy.The document focused on three areas where substantial short-term progress can make a significant different in people’s lives—prescription drug abuse, drugged driving, and prevention. The document points out that whether struggling with an addiction, worrying about a loved one’s substance abuse, or being a victim of drug related crime, millions of people in this country live with the devastating consequences of illicit drug use. Overall the economic impact of illicit drug use on American society totaled more than $ 193 billion in 2007, the ost recent year for which data are available. Drug-induced deaths now outnumber gunshot deaths in America, and in 17 states and Washington, D. C. , they now exceed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of injury death. In addition, 1 in every 10 cased of HIV diagnosed in 2007 was transmitted via injection drug use, and drug use itself fosters risky behavior contributing to the spread of infectious diseases nationwide. Furthermore, studies of children in foster care find that two-thirds to three-quarters of cases involve parental substances than high-achieving students.Finally, Americans with drug or alcohol use disorder spend more days in the hospital and require more expensive care than they would absent such disorder. This contributes to almost $ 32 billion in medical costs per year—a burden that our communities, employers, and small business cannot afford to bear. This document planed to achieve two goals in 2015. The first one is curtail illicit drug consumption in America; the second one is that improve the public health and public safety of the American people by reducing the consequences of drug abuse. 2011 National Drug Control Strategy 1) Still nowadays, some individual continues the tragedy about drug abuse. Bad trip is generic name of symptoms after taking hallucinogen. They start small and can snowball into anxiety, fear, paranoia, and paralysis. People experiencing a bad trip may appear withdrawn and silent or visibly upset, scared or wild. They may curl up into fetal position. Sufferer may feels like his is going insane, or losing control or dying. And he may get caught in circular thoughts, like a hall of mirrors.The anxiety may trigger breathlessness or even a full-blown panic attack (Lawrence 28). K3 is a kind of hallucinogen, which just is ban in Kansas for only one month. Before its ban, so many people experienced bad trip from it. After the poor nice feeling, billowy terrible emotions will come. Some people may black out when they driving or do something, the disruption would cause accident. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roughly one in eight weekend, nighttime drivers tested positive for illicit drug. Wu et al. 358) In 2009, drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes (and subsequently tested and had results reported), one in three tested positive for drugs. One in eight high school seniors self-report that in the last 2 weeks they drove a car after using marijuana( Lu et al. 111). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claimed that more than 27,000 people died from drug overdose death in 2007. Drug is the Dementor, a kind of monster in Hurry Potter, which living relys on people’ blessedness and soul.Apiate caused low physical quality, dysendororisiasis and anaphrodisia; ice and other amphetamine would lead to over exciting, which likely cause violence crime, also make permanent physical injury to brain; taking heroin may live in 20 years, however, taking ice must get mad in five years; also, marijuana increase lung cancer rate; LSD, Lysergids may caused schizophrenia (Jafari 373). According to a survey of Addiction Treatment Centre in Yunnan China, rate of drug relapse closes to one hundred percent (Zhu et al. 641).Drug and alcohol use affects health outcomes, job opportunities, family life, military preparedness, and academic outcome. It is necessary for us to raise awareness against any kinds of drugs. Also government should improve job market to ensure the livelihood of poor people, thus they did not have to plant or charge drug for money, expressly in some barren regions. At the same time, strong policy is important for drug control. Prescriptive drug use should be limited and customers have to register their name and information. Severe punitive measures will be effective, and powerful immigration control will be helpful.Government and school have responsibility to let students know how bad drug is. Milton Friedman, Noble Prize in Economic Science owner in 1976, had claimed that â€Å"Reason with the potential addict, yes. Tell him the consequences, yes. Pray for and with him, yes. But I believe that we have no right to use force, directly or indirectly, to prevent a fellow man from committing suicide, let alone from drinking alcohol or taking drugs. † (Thompson 546) He believed that we seem decided to make the same mistake as Alcohol ban in early 1920. Is that true?The right way to reduce suffering drug brings to us is making drug legal? Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. Spreading of D rug decreases a nation’s physical quality, psychological condition, and life expectancy. Because no country could afford those integral losses bring from pressure of public medical benefit, no one open hard drugs. It’s not true that drug control leads to high price of it; it’s not true that drug control cause poor quality drug which more harmful to physical; it’s not true that drug control convenient people â€Å"plant† charge of concealing drug to others.This monster breaks up happiness family, rein people’ life which should have bright light, destroy a nation doomed eternally. That’s drug’s truth. People need control themselves away from drug, human also do. Prohibition of drug is an effective way. Some people consider that drug control already start an end of drug age. The fact is that although sun was here, the dark still remain in nook. Human became stronger because of our reason and automatic control. However, drug could broke our magic clear brain, let us mad or decadence and lose our brave emotions and logical.As we cannot sure to control us from nerve disturb, far away from drug is the most sensible choice. Before we try it, we can choose take it or not, however, after taking, reason and knowledge and intelligence forfeit their power to stop calamity happening. So, just take care! ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Hypophora. This sentence asks a question that will be answered immediately after. [ 2 ]. Antithesis. Expresses opposite concepts to highlight emphasis on the topic. [ 3 ]. Parallelism. The state of being parallel or of corresponding in some way. [ 4 ].Metaphor. The sentence in order to show that the two things have same qualities. [ 5 ]. Anaphora. The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. [ 6 ]. Parallelism. The state of being parallel or of corresponding in som e way. [ 7 ]. Parallelism. The state of being parallel or of corresponding in some way. [ 8 ]. Oxymoron. Apparently contradictiory terms appear in conjunction. [ 9 ]. Metaphor. The sentence in order to show that the two things have same qualities. [ 10 ]. Parallelism. The state of being parallel or of corresponding in some way. 11 ]. Hypophora. This sentence asks a question that will be answered immediately after. [ 12 ]. Parallelism. The state of being parallel or of corresponding in some way. [ 13 ]. Anaphora. The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. [ 14 ]. Parallelism. The state of being parallel or of corresponding in some way. Metaphor. [ 15 ]. Oxymoron. Apparently contradictiory terms appear in conjunction. [ 16 ]. Metaphor. The sentence in order to show that the two things have same qualities. [ 17 ]. Analogy. Comparision between one thing and another.

Intercultural Awareness essays

Intercultural Awareness essays This report provides an overview of different cultural challenges people encounter when their company sends them abroad to conduct business. It also conveys the importance of cultural training, which is necessary for a businessperson to be successful in another country. The report begins with cultural values in the areas of semantic differences, the importance of relationship building, and the different attitudes toward women. It continues with information on different types of nonverbal communication patterns and why it is important to recognize them and how they can impact business dealings abroad. The report also includes information on cultural etiquette, from exchanging a business card to giving gifts, and how the lack of proper etiquette abroad can make or break a business deal. The last topic reviews the stages of cultural shock and how it affects employees sent abroad without any prior intercultural training. The report concludes that there really is a different world out there and that adequate cultural training is needed for people traveling abroad to conduct business. Businesses today are conducting more business in other countries than ever before and their employees may be paying the price. To compete in today's global marketplace, companies and their employees must recognize that cultural differences do exist and understand what they are. Employers must ensure that adequate cultural training is provided to its employees before sending them abroad. This report outlines a sampling of cultural values and how they differ from ours. It also identifies the importance of providing cultural training for an organization that does business with diverse cultures. Businesses today are becoming more involved in global markets and their employees are traveling to countries outside of the U.S. more than ever before. Because of the lack of understanding of the culture, values, and customs to be encountered, a new enviro...

Stress and Strain Essay Example

Stress and Strain Essay Example Stress and Strain Essay Stress and Strain Essay Several mechanical properties of materials that are important in design are ascertained by applying tension, compression or shear load on the material.     Of the three, the most common mechanical stress-strain tests are performed in tension (Callister, 1997).   When performing tensile tests, the load and elongation are measured in relation to the cross-sectional area or original length of the material (before the elongation).   These geometric factors are normalized to the respective parameters of engineering stress and engineering strain.When a specimen has an original cross-sectional area Ao and original length lo is subjected to a uniaxial force F, engineering stress ? and engineering strain ? (which are subsequently referred to as just stress and strain) are defined as:   and   where l is the instantaneous length of the specimen (Schaffer, et. al, 1999).   For some materials, especially for most metals, subjected to low levels of tensile load, stress and strain are linearly related.   The linear relationship is referred to as Hooke’s law. As the stress is increased however, Hooke’s law ceases to be applicable as the linear relationship between stress and strain results to a curve.   At this instant plastic deformation occurs, which means that the deformation becomes permanent and nonrecoverable (Callister, 1997).   When stress is increased further, it will reach a maximum before resulting to fracture (the separation of the material into two or more pieces).   The maximum stress on the stress-strain curve is referred to as tensile strength and is the maximum stress that can be sustained by a material in tension.   When this stress is maintained, fracture will result.Compression tests are also done in almost the same manner as the tensile test except of course the force applied is compressive instead of tensile (Callister, 1997).   Compressive stress and strain are computed using the same formula presented above.   B y convention, compressive force is taken to be negative which results to a negative stress.   In compression, since lo will be greater than l, the strain will likewise be negative.   And just like tensile strength, compressive strength is the maximum compressive stress applied to a material which when sustained results to the material being crushed.

Post-acquisition cultural integration the case of Arcelormittal Essay

Post-acquisition cultural integration the case of Arcelormittal - Essay Example The purpose of the paper is to understand the findings of the previous researchers on the subject. Journals and papers from academic sources such as Emerald, PROQUEST and EBSCO Host have been sued for the study. The focus for this study on ArcelorMittal is justified in view of the numerous failures in international mergers due to cultural issues. The first stream of literature is based on understanding the concept of mergers and acquisitions. An overview of the terms, the motives for mergers and the outcome of such mergers have been discussed. The second stream of literature is on the role of culture in acquisitions. In this section, the definition of culture, the concept of national and organizational culture, including the country clusters and their value system have been discussed at length while providing the different theories. Under the same section the acculturation theory and the concept of cultural synergy has been highlighted. The third stream of literature deals with the m anagerial competencies and the linguistic issues in the context of international mergers. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is an expression of a strategy that pertains to the corporate sector. It is basically the management of different processes relating to different functions such as selling, buying or combining one or more companies towards a common goal. It helps to accelerate growth and achieve synergies.

Integrated Marketing Communication and Customer Satisfaction strategy Assignment

Integrated Marketing Communication and Customer Satisfaction strategy - Assignment Example Globaltechno marketing team is looking at growing globally and adding the Korea to their international market. The first task for marketing strategy would be to identify the target consumers which happen to be the large number of air travelers to Korea. A more focused approach will be to target a particular age group or a social class of people. The advertising should aim to recover the old loyal customer base. Next, promote awareness of Globaltechno watches, then stimulate sales directly and "attract competitors customers", and lastly modify its image. Once the business reputation is established and its products are positioned within the market, the amount of resources used for advertising will decrease as the consumer loyalty base expands (Shea, Barbara & Jennifer Haupt, 1995). Advertising mediums like the print media, television, and travelers’ guide map sponsorships, advertising opportunities in and around the airports will have to be effectively exploited. The Department for watch manufacturing in Korea estimates that it serves over 2 million customers a year which presents a large market that may be exploited for expanding Globaltechno consumer base. Demand for watches is projected to grow in the medium to long-term. The right artwork, promos and tag lines will be developed for which employing an advertising agency to create the art work is recommended. A systematic value network will provide a system of partnerships to distribute Globaltechno products as well as provide customer services. Globaltechno’s entry into Korea will definitely expose the brand to a larger marketplace. A number of parameters will be effective in determining the effectiveness of advertisement campaign. Number of enquiries received from an advert and how many of these actually converted into sales. It will be important to determine customer awareness both before and after the advertising campaign. The number of enquiries that an advert