Student enterprise leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Student enterprise leadership - Essay Example sier to create the required platforms that boost the relationships with the rest of the students, and that step towards making a shift in the way other people relate to the group is vital. The afro-Caribbean society has to feel loved by the rest of the students who will assist in pushing the members to higher levels of interaction for the sake of meeting their general needs (Sheldon 2010: 162). The important thing as students is to grow each other and ensure that the steps made towards a better community at school all start from the realisation of a better people in the future. Incidentally, the goals noted within the school will assist in making it easier to lift the society higher while at the same time associating success to individuals rather than holding it back because it is not what people expected. The society is currently in disarray. The leadership is not working towards the wellbeing of al members. Most complain that the society is being held back by the fear that they could all succeed and make better choices towards generating greater motivation for the sake of all (Carr, Light & Woodhead 2014: 105). The society has not held any meeting to discuss its welfare for the past few months, and that has led to the discontent that could lead to further cracks in the group. A few people are holding the group back because they want their feelings and actions to be the main determinants of the whole group of more than 1200 students, while that could be disastrous because everyone has a different way of looking at things. The important thing is to straighten the way things are carried out in the society while making better choices that will boost the way people operate and interact within the society (Dunne 2013: 139). Importantly, people need to know that their thoughts, feelings and wellbeing count when their representatives go ahead and make choices on their behalf. This could be difficult to ascertain but the reasons for growth could be derailed by the lack

How dividend signaling changes market valuation in UK Dissertation

How dividend signaling changes market valuation in UK telecommunication industry - Dissertation Example As a financial consequence of increasing the dividend payout, the telecommunication company will have lesser available fund to invest in research and development (R&D) and upgrading its existing telecommunication technology and infrastructure. Therefore, the future profitability of the company could suffer. Increase in the dividend payout could signal temporary positive changes in the market valuation of telecommunication industry in UK. Although increasing the dividend payout could temporarily improve the market valuation of the company, public investors should be aware that a high dividend payout could deprive the company from being able to increase its competitive advantages as compared to its competitors. Eventually, decision to increase the cash dividend payout could significantly decrease the company’s future cash dividend payouts. Table of Contents Executive Summary †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ... 7 d. Rationale for Choosing the Research Topic †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 8 e. Scope and Limitations †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 9 II. Literature Review †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 11 a. Impact of Dividends in Large Business Organization . 11 b. Dividend Policy †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 12 b.1 Historical Developments of Dividend Policy .. 12 b.2 Dividend Policy – Asymmetric Information Model †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 15 c. Relationship between Dividends, Future Earnings and Business Profitability †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 16 d. How Dividends could Signal Changes in Market Valuation †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 17 e. Other Factors that could Affect the Increase or Decrease of Corporate Earnings, Business Profitability, and Market or Common Stock Valuation in the case of Vodafone †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 19 e.1 Foreign Direct Investment or Business Expansion in International Markets †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 20 e.2 Investment on Research & Development (R&D) and Technological Innovations †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 21 III. Research Methodology †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 23 a. Research Framework †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 23 b. Research Hypothesis †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 24 c. Research Survey Questionnaire Design †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 25 d. Target Population, Sample Size and R esearch Venue †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 27 e. Research Evaluation Method †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 28 f. Ethical Considerations When Going through the Primary Research Study ..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 28 IV. Research Findings and Analysis †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 30 a. Demographic Analysis

Role of MIS in Market Research Essay Example for Free

Role of MIS in Market Research Essay Introduction: The changing market environment has given rise to the needs of update information more than ever in the past. The markets have transformed to international from local. With the increase in the exposure to masses and increased geographical market coverage, the need of quick and up to date information has also increased. With the changing business environment the buyers are also changing. With the increasing incomes the buyers have become more selective. For a company to launch a new product it has become important to have the information from the buyer needs to buyer wants. On the other hand it is also important to have the knowledge of how to present the product in effective manner in order to reach the customer in an effective manner. With the changing business needs the new marketing techniques such as product differentiation, branding and advertising are also gaining immense importance. The successful product positioning and promotion is only possible if all the required information in this lieu is gathered and used in the right direction. In order to fulfil modern information needs, new information technologies have also been evolved. The information regarding the buyer preferences and behaviour plays an important part in helping the management to take important decisions regarding the product such as pricing, promotion, competition etc.   It is important for the company to establish a system in order to acquire a large amount of information for the marketing managers. â€Å"Competitive companies study their managers’ information needs and design marketing information systems (MIS) to meets these needs. A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyse, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision markers. To carry out their analysis, planning, implementation, and control responsibilities marketing managers need information about developments in the marketing environment. The role of the MIS is to assess the manager’s information needs, develop the needed information, and distribute that information in a timely fashion, the information is developed through internal company records, marketing intelligence activities, marketing research, and marketing decision support analysis.† (Kotler, 2000) An effective MIS will also help in enhancing the exposure level of the company from local market to national market. It is important for the company to design the MIS system in an effective manner. In most of the cases the companies lack information sophistication. Some of them collect a large amount of information but the data is not stored in a proper way to be handled easily. The MIS will help the company in understanding the customer’s perception, taste, needs and desires regarding the new product. Without the proper MIS the investment in the production and innovation will not be of any use. â€Å"The MIS represent a cross between what managers think they need, what managers really need, and what is economically feasible.† (Kotler, 2000) The MIS will provide support to the management in the areas of reduction of price risks, planning for an effective and cheap marketing strategy with technology assessment and development, particularly in evolving and popularising food product offered by the company. An effective Marketing information system can help in the company in motivating distributors, retailers, and other intermediaries to pass along important intelligence. Through the components of MIS the Company will able to collect information regarding order-to-payment cycle and sales reporting system. The mangers will be able to get the information about the developments in the marketing environment. The MIS will also assist the managers in collecting, analysing and reporting data relevant to the market situation. The decision support system will help the managers to take important marketing decisions by interpreting the gathered information. Hence MIS is the most important instrument without which the Company cannot market its product successfully in market. 1.Objectives: The main objective of the study is to find out the role of marketing information system in the effective and successful promotion of product of a company. Research Design: Research is a fact finding activity (Dominowski, 1980). The aim of primary research is to make known something previously unknown and to advance human knowledge by making it more certain or better fitting; the aim is discovery (Elias and Dunning, 1986). In this case it is required to find out the perceptions of the customers regarding the desert the Company is going to launch nation wide. The primary research design will provide a structure for the collection and analysis of data. A preference of research design reflects decisions about precedence will be given to a scope of dimension of the research process (Bryman, 2001).    Easterby-Smith et al (1997) identify three reasons why the exploration of philosophy may be significant with particular reference to research methodology: Firstly, it can help the researcher to refine and specify the research methods to be used in a study, that is, to clarify the overall research strategy to be used. This would include the type of evidence gathered and its origin, the way in which such evidence is interpreted, and how it helps to answer the research questions posed. Secondly, knowledge of research philosophy will enable and assist the researcher to evaluate different methodologies and methods and avoid inappropriate use and unnecessary work by identifying the limitations of particular approaches at an early stage. Thirdly, it may help the researcher to be creative and innovative in either selection or adaptation of methods that were previously outside his or her experience. Two views about the research process dominate the literature: positivism and phenomenology which have an important part to play in business and management research (Saunders, 2000). Positivism is founded on the belief that study of human behaviour should be conducted in the same way that as studies conducted in the natural sciences. On the other hand phenomenology is concerned with the understanding human behaviour from the participant’s own frame of reference (Hussey and Collis, 2003). Positivistic paradigm Phenomenological paradigm Tends to produce quantitative data Tends to produce qualitative data Uses large samples Uses small samples Concerned with hypothesis testing Concerned with generating theories Data is highly specific and precise Data is rich and subjective The location is artificial The location is natural Reliability is high Reliability is low Validity is low Validity is high Generalises from sample to population Generalises from one setting to another Figure 1: Features of the two main paradigms  (Hussey and Collis, 2003) The design to be used for this research would be the utilisation of the survey and interview questions in an electronic form which were sent to the respondents a couple of days before the formal computation of the results. We will conduct cross-sectional design which â€Å"entails the collection of data on more than one case and at a single point in time in order to collect a body of quantitative or quantifiable data in connection with two or more variables†(Bryman Bell 2003:48). The said design of research is indeed applicable for this study and would be able to provide the necessary details for the completion of the research. The reason behind this is the fact that the respondents themselves are capable of giving the necessary answer for the needed data in this case. Hence, the results of the study are expected to give accurate details for the research procedure. Data Collection – methodology:    It is better to use effective and authentic ways of research so that the investment of the management can prove fruitful. We will consider two research methods Interview Questionnaire Interviewing: Interviewing is a data collection method in which the researcher asks for information verbally from the respondents (Jennings, 2001). It is the way to access people’s perceptions, definitions, meaning, situation and construction of reality, where it involves discussing or questioning issues with people to collect data unlikely to be accessible using techniques such as questionnaires or observation (Punch, 1998). The interviewing research method can be successfully followed in this project. Generally speaking, an interview is a social interaction between two people, with one person gathering information from the other. The interaction is what differentiates the interview from the questionnaire, even when the questions posed are identical. Thus structured interviews give the researcher specific answers as opposed to narrative response to questions gathered from semi-structured in-depth interviews (Gubrium and Holstein, 2002). Structured interviews enable the interviewer to ask each respondent the same questions in the same way. A tightly control structured schedule of questions and format is used, very much like a questionnaire. Interviews must be well prepared and must have clear objectives for each interview. Interviews can be conducted after the team has established the topical areas to be covered in the interviews and after the lead investigator has reviewed with the board the objectives of the interviews and strategies for obtaining useful information. In many research situation permission requests should be received before the interview takes place. The interviewer should consider the length of the interview to cover his aims, normally between 15 minutes to an hour. Provide contact information of the interviewer and it must be determined who to interview, in what order, what interviewing techniques to employ and what method of record to use (Denscombe, 2003). The following aspects should be considered when defining a strategy for the interview (Mason, 1996): The questions should make sense and be meaningful to the interviewee. The questions should be related to the interviewee experiences based on what is already known about them. The interviewer must take care to be sensitive to the needs of the interviewee. The interviewer should be aware of the flow of the interview interaction by attempting to move seamlessly between topics and questions. The interviewer needs to focus on issues and topics that are relevant to the research problem and questions. Choosing interviews for this stage of this part of the research was in order to get as much information as possible from the few people that will be interviewed. Interview questions will be compiled from the existing literature and detailed in relation to the research topic, aim and objectives Questionnaires: In the questionnaires method of data collection the researcher can precisely obtain the information that he asks for and these information can be analysed in an easier way than if choosing another method. In addition to that questionnaires are not an expensive method of data collection, and they don’t take long time to fill in. On the other hand questionnaires have some disadvantages such as: they do not have a high response rate, the wording of the questions can cause bias to the client’s responses, and the questions might not be designed correctly, which will result in collecting unneeded answers   (McNamara, 1999). Choosing questionnaires for this step was due to the relatively large sample size that the researcher intends to include in his research, and for the cheap cost of this method comparing with other data collection methods. Effective sampling design: Sample is a subset or subgroup of the population, while the sample size is the actual number of subjects chosen as a sample to represent the population characteristics. Sampling is the process of selecting items from the population so that the sample characteristics can be generalised to the population (Jennings, 2001). Simple Random Sampling Design: In case of simple random sampling there is a higher expectation of each and every element of being selected from all the target population. Most of the surveys are aimed to get information about the inferences of target population. In the case of dairy products limited simple random sampling can serve the purpose well. Since it is the case of desert, which can be liked by all the customers from different social, economical, and age groups. There are not any specifications regarding age, sex, social and ethical point of view. It has been found that Probability sampling, for instance simple random sampling can provide more is more competent results than that of non-probability sampling designs. The simple random sampling has also some drawbacks attached to it. In case of random sampling if the population does not reflect the correct representation of the target population the results will not serve the purpose of survey. It is possible to select the non-representing population because as we know that in the case of random sampling design each and every sample has an equal chance of being selected. So it can be stated that probability sampling is more effective in presenting more accurate results than that of non-probability sampling. Although in some situations simple random sampling is not also feasible. Additional survey sampling designs are also required to find the most correct results. To guarantee the representativeness of the sample, the researcher must make sure that it is random. In random sampling all members of the population have an equal chance of being included in the sample (Veal, 1997). In qualitative research sample size are in general small, thus probability theory and notions of statistical representativeness do not apply. The sample might choose to encapsulate a range of characteristics relevant to the subject under study, or provide a detailed view of behaviour, events or experiences that are seen in the wider population (McGivern, 2003). Another way of sampling the population is to use stratified random sampling design in order to avoid the complications regarding the large-scale sampling. In the case of stratified sampling the samples are chosen as the representatives of different subgroups from the target population. It should be kept in mind that all the participants are chosen in a way that they effectively represent the subgroups. If the stratified sampling is effectively undertaken it can find out more competent inferences than that of simple random sampling. In order to get a deeper insight of the population subgroups within a target population that are likely to have similarities –attitudes or tastes– within a stratum but differences among strata, stratified sampling is the best choice. (Brightman, Schneider, 1994) In the case of surveying customers needs for Dairy products Limited to introduce new product focus group samples can be divided into different strata regarding their age, tastes, income and class. Selecting Stratified Random Sample: The first step in the process of selecting a stratified random sample is to determine the total size of sample population. In case of Dairy products limited the sample size will be larger. In order to achieve the inferences about the tastes, choice and economic inferences focus groups should be undertaken at all the local outlets of Dairy products limited. The large sample size will decrease the margin of error although costly. In this lieu it is the decision of management to keep a balance in precision and cost. Secondly, the sample size with in a stratum is determined. There are several factors, which determine the sample size in each stratum. These factors also effect the results acquired by the allocation of sample population in different strata. The factors are as follows: Total sample size in each stratum; The degree of variability in different stratums. The cost of obtaining observations from each stratum. â€Å"Use proportional allocation sampling when sampling costs are the same for all strata and when all strata exhibit the same variability.† (Brightman Schneider, 1996) As discussed above stratified random sampling is effective in providing the accurate precise estimates than simple random sampling regarding the population but the case can be reverse if the target population is not correctly stratified. â€Å"Stratifying works best when the variability of the variable of interest is low within each stratum and high between different strata.† (Brightman Schneider, 1996) For the purpose of this survey we will use stratified random sampling in order to gain knowledge about the different factors effecting the tastes of the customers. This way the author is able to narrow down the results easier than handling the sample population from a bigger scope of computations. The results are merely based upon the journals done by other researchers and their comparison with the results of this study’s completion. The Variables:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The questionnaires shall be expected to give exact results regarding the satisfaction that the consumers or the clients receive from the provided services. This way, the variable which includes the satisfaction level of the client and the performance capabilities of the company providing the services are to be evaluated through the questionnaire and interview results. Data Analysis: On their own, data are rarely used in their original form. Through the process of data analysis, value is added to the data to turn them into information. It is information rather than data which users especially policy and decision-makers are interested in (Uganda bureau of statistics, 2005). However this will be a very sensitive and critical stage in my research process as misinterpretation or over-interpretation is always a potential risk.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The process of data analysis in this research will include the following steps: Indicate the date of the questionnaires. Who completed them, and the number of returns? Categorise the data collected. This can be done according to gender, origin, age etc. Reading through the questionnaires and interviews carefully and coding them after the event in relation to the types of answers, themes and issues, and then  categorising of response (keeping a note of what the codes refer to). Then by asking some questions like what are the answers that keep repeating, what are the deviations from these answers, and Are there themes emerging? Contradictions? Then it would be possible to draw some relative generalisations. Timetable and Budget The research will be finished in three months starting on 1st April and ending on 1st July. In the following month, I would carry out the plan and I hope that some improvement would be made in holiday in particular. We think that the earlier the research finishes the better, so that one could take action earlier. Time table Week Tasks   1 Project start meeting , identification of   research problem 2 Research design 3 Interview preparation 4 Start interview 5   Interview in process 6 design   and agree questionnaires 7 Identify respondents email addresses   and send questionnaires 8-9 Analysis of interview data and write up 10-11 Questionnaires analysis 12-13 Prepare final report, informal discussion of findings 13-14 Delivery of   summary report and presentation, Follow-up queries references: Bryman A., and Bell. E., (2003) business research methods 1st ed.  Ã‚   OXFORD Donald r.    Bryman, A., (2001). Social research methods. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Brightman, H., Schneider, H., (1994). Statistics for Business Problem Solving, (2nd ed.). SouthWestern Publishing Co., Ohio. Denscombe, M. 2003. The good research guide: for small-scale research project.   2nd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press Dominowski, R.L., (1980). Introduction to logic, 6th ed., New York: Macmillan. Elias, N., and Dunning, E., (1986). Quest for excitement: Sport and leisure in the civilising process, oxford: Basil Blackwell. Gubrium, J.F., and Holstein, J. A., (2002). Handbook of interview research, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Jennings, G. (2001). Tourism research, Milton, Qld.: Wiley Australia Kotler, P., (2000). Marketing Management, Millenium Edition, Prentice Hall, United States. Mason, J., (1996). Qualitative researching, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. McGivern Yvonne, (2006). The Practice of Market and Social Research. 2nd ed. Prentice Hall. McGivern, Y. (2003). The practice of market and social research: an introduction. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall Stallings, W. Slyke, Richard, V., (1998). Business Data Communications. 3rd ed. Prentice Hall Punch K. (1998). Introduction to social research: quantitative and qualitative approaches.   London: SAGE Veal, A. J., (1997). Research methods for leisure and tourism: A practical guide, 2nd ed., London: Pitman Publishing.

Culture Sources Of Conflict Than Of Synergy Cultural Studies Essay

Culture Sources Of Conflict Than Of Synergy Cultural Studies Essay Cultures can be high context or low context depending on the ways of communication. Low context culture is the one which is more explicit, communication is direct and things are fully but concisely spelled out. People dont think about what other people are going to think of them if they behaved in a particular way. A high context culture is the one in which the communicators assume a great deal of commonality of knowledge and views, so that its less explicit. People act according to the situations in this culture, there is more emphasis on gestures. One has to read between the lines. Cultures can also be monochronic or polychoronic, monochronic is when the managers like to do one thing at a time, they value orderliness and sense of there being an appropriate time and place for everything on the other hand polychronic culture encourages multitasking and doing multiple things at a time. Then there is future, present and past oriented cultures. Past oriented societies are more bound by the traditional values and ways of doing things. These cultures tend to be more conservative in management and less adaptive. Present oriented societys focuses on the present, they prefer short term benefits over the long term goals. Future oriented societies have a great deal of optimism about the future. They focus on long term benefits, expansion and growth. Discussion: Communication can be greatly affected by the difference in cultures and the languages spoken, or unspoken? Well yes, we are talking about the silent language here which can impact international business. There are different languages which are non-verbal and are not communicated directly but communicate up to ninety percent of the meaning in the high context cultures, like the language of time, space, friendship, business patterns, etc. There are different unspoken languages just like there are different spoken languages. The unspoken languages are informal yet they can have a great impact. There is language of time which is different for people belonging to different cultures. For example, In the U.S. a delay in answering a communication could be because of the backlog of work, and a large volume of business causing the request to be postponed, but on the other hand, the person awaiting response might think that the matter has low priority on the part of the other person -lack of interest. A similar kind of delay in another foreign country may mean something altogether different. Like time, language of space has a different meaning everywhere too. Americans measure their importance or position in the organization according to the size of their offices. The president or the chairman has the biggest office, and so on down the line. French on the other hand are more likely to layout space as a network and often find a supervisor in the middle of his subordinates. Also body distance is very important factor of language of space, in countries like middle east, people get to o close ,crowd the physical being whereas in, UK people prefer being a little cold and distant. But at the same time it is important to know the extent to which people are acceptable about the distance. Though Saudi-Arabia is a high touch culture inappropriate use of touch in advertising messages may cause problems. For example, Drakkar noir perfume advert in Europe is a mans hand clutching the perfume bottle and a womans hand seizing his bare forearm, whereas in the Saudi-Arabian version a mans arm is clothed in a dark jacket sleeve, and woman is touching the mans hand only with her fingertip. The sensuality is toned down and made less explicit in the Saudi-Arabian version (Hollensen, 2007). So though these countries are high touch cultures, we should also remember that these cultures are also high-context cultures. Then there is also language of agreements between people in various countries wherein rules are legally bound and the executives are expected to have a basic awareness of the rules. These rules can be laws and regulations of a country or maybe a moral practice that is followed in that country as a tradition or the informal customs to which everyone confirms without being able to state the exact rules. (Hall, 1960). Culture influences various attitudes towards food, health, media, consumption, country of origin, lifestyle, values, sex and love related attitudes, etc The factors are very closely related and in turn affect the marketing strategies a company adopts like pricing of a product, advertising and promotions, choosing a target market, product adaptation (Hollensen, 2007). For example, In India, The Hindu religion doesnt permit to eat beef. Therefore McDonalds in India doesnt serve the big Mac, instead the product has been adapted to suit the Indian consumers renamed as the maharaja Mac consisting of lamb (Harding, 2000). These aspects influence the consumer behaviour. In many countries, colors represent various holidays; they are also used to express feelings. The language of colour can influence international business, if its not promoted properly. One example of this can be Pepsi, Pepsi cola lost its dominant market share to coke in south-east Asia when Pepsi changed the colour of its v ending machines and coolers from deep regal blue to light ice blue as light blue is associated with mourning and death in south east Asia. There also a need to be careful with the brand designs, product and package design, colour, brand name and symbols because the attitudes of people towards these symbols or names could be different in different countries. Some conventional brand names that communicate positive messages in one country might have a totally different meaning in another which may substantially damage the corporate image and marketing effectiveness. When Pepsi was expanding in china a few years ago, the slogan Pepsi brings you back to life was literally translated in Chinese which meant brings your ancestors back from the grave. The above mentioned parts of a culture are the most fundamental ones, yet other parts also have a large impact on the culture. Things such as tradition, customs, humour, and education are all components of a culture that, if studied and understood, will reduce potential misunderstandings. It is important for companies to engage in business abroad in order to stay competitive. Even though the decision to start trading with foreign countries may seem rational and unavoidable, for many companies there are obstacles that could and will affect the business Outcome. It is important to have a thorough understanding of all impacts the international Trade will have on the business and its performances and there are several ways to overcome these obstacles. One way is to educate and inform the workers about the cultural differences and the specific business procedures in the countries. Managers should also try to make use of the local employees that possess valuable knowledge about the market that is adopting a regiocentric approach. Also the managers should be less ethnocentric and more polycentric towards the foreign culture. A deeper economic integration through EU and ASEAN and other such trade agreements will eliminate tariffs among the member countries and harmonize business procedures and regulations. With this free trade liberalization, non-tariff barriers to trade will also be reduced as countries and cultures become more unified (Kogut Singh, 1988). For companies doing business overseas it is crucial to not only know your own companys Customs, but in addition compare these with the honouring countrys customs of behaviour. This applies, in particular, to companies which operate in countries where the home culture is that of a complete different nature. In order to understand different peoples behaviours it is imperative to look at the different levels of culture and how these affect the individuals in different scenarios. The different levels are national cultu re, business culture, organizational Culture and individual behaviour. The countrys national culture is directly impacting the business culture in the country. In turn, the business culture will have an apparent influence over each and every company within that country. All of these levels will ultimately affect the individuals behaviour. In countries where religion has a major impact on the business procedures, managers should prepare themselves and their personnel by collecting information about the religion and the typical behaviours and manners that are incorporated. By increasing the knowledge and familiarity with the specific religion, it will become easier to accept and understand why certain procedures are taking place, especially when doing business. The culture of a host country is sometimes completely different to culture in the home country. Thus, when striving to recruit the right people companies need to focus on internal training and trying to shape the person in respect to the corporate culture instead of finding the perfect match in an interview process. It is absolutely crucial that the companies start looking beyond the persons abilities at the early stage and instead try to sell the corporate culture as an alternative to changing the personality. Since the national culture and as well the business culture are directly correlated to how the individuals act, it is crucial to understand the individual behaviours in the specific country that the company is operating in. Cultures are embedded in every conflict because conflicts arise in human relationships. Though conflicts cannot be completely eliminated in an organization it can definitely be minimized. Forcing 100% cultural assimilation of those who fall outside the cultural norm is one path as well, but it breeds resentment and ultimate conflict. Sometimes the cultural diversity in an organization is seen as having no impact at all and the diversity is ignored also known as the parochial philosophy, but this results in the marginalization of people who fall outside the cultural norm (Mooij, 2003). Therefore, it is important to implement useful strategies that would reduce the conflicts rather than instigating them. Managers must be skilled at resolving and understanding cross cultural conflicts so that if at all conflicts arise managers are able to resolve the conflict without affecting the productivity. Employ people from the host country so that they have adequate knowledge about the culture and the language of the host country, these regional managers can thus provide further training to the employees from home country. When a company relocates to a new site abroad, relocation services offered by organization should go beyond moving and new community information as employees require orientation to the realities and opportunities of the new cultural environment. When an organization moves to a new place, quickening of the work pace can result in resentment and burnout, therefore involving employees in co-operative efforts to regulate and monitor change in the work environment would be a good idea. There are various cross cultural approaches which can be used by the managers. Cultural dominance, when one organization is in a more powerful position than the other, the more powerful one dominates, insisting on doing things as they are done in the home culture. Cultural accommodation approach, this is opposite of cultural dominance, this is when managers tend to imitate the culture of the host country, attempting to blend in. Cultural compromise approach, this approach is a combination of the two approaches mentioned above, with both the sides conceding something to work together more successfully. This approach can be used by the managers to minimise cultural conflicts and function efficiently. Cultural avoidance, this approach emphasizes on working and managing as if no cultural conflict exists, most often used by managers when the unresolved issue is less important than the final outcome of the situation or the negotiation. Cultural synergy approach, this approach develops new solutions that respect all cultures involved and often increases the chances fo r working effectively in a transcultural environment. For example, if a French firm insists that negotiations with a German to be done in French it is an example of cultural dominance approach, if Germans agree immediately then it is an example of cultural accommodation. If both parties decide to get an interpreter, it is an example of cultural compromise. However, if both German and French agree to negotiate in a third language, it is the cultural synergy approach. This third language can be a language known to both the parties so that none of the parties have a language advantage over the other But we can end the topic saying, what comprises of conflict in one culture is daily difference of opinion in another. A serious insult in one setting -crossing ones leg -is a matter of comfort in another. An arrogant challenge in one culture -putting ones hands on hips -is a sign of openness in another. Human boundaries are cultural creations; social boundaries, legal boundaries and emotional boundaries are all drawn according to each cultures value (Mooij, 2003). So culture can act as a catalyst in bringing people together if used appropriately and to the organizations benefit, but if disrespected and ignored can also create major conflicts eventually leading to failure of the business.

Comparing Marting Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau Essay

Comparing Marting Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau were both people who were sent to prison for defying laws that they believed were unjust towards society. These two men were very different people but were very much the same. Each had his own theories and reasoning behind their acts, but their goals were always the same. Each man believed in standing up in what they believed in no matter what the repercussions. In Martin Luther King's letter he says and believes that everyone, no matter where they live are together in one community. You can't say that what ever happens in Atlanta does not affect you in Birmingham. If there is an injustice in Atlanta it affects you in Birmingham and is a threat everywhere no matter who you are. If you live in the U.S. you are never considered an outsider. King also believes that no one is weak and unimportant and that everyone has a role in the community. No matter how small of a job he has, if he doesn't perform his obligations the community c...

Theodore Roosevelt :: essays research papers

With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest President in the Nation's history. He brought new excitement and power to the Presidency, as he vigorously led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy. He took the view that the President as a "steward of the people" should take whatever action necessary for the public good unless expressly forbidden by law or the Constitution." I did not usurp power," he wrote, "but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power." Roosevelt's youth differed sharply from that of the log cabin Presidents. He was born in New York City in 1858 into a wealthy family, but he too struggled--against ill health--and in his triumph became an advocate of the strenuous life. In 1884 his first wife, Alice Lee Roosevelt, and his mother died on the same day. Roosevelt spent much of the next two years on his ranch in the Badlands of Dako ta Territory. There he mastered his sorrow as he lived in the saddle, driving cattle, hunting big game--he even captured an outlaw. On a visit to London, he married Edith Carow in December 1886. During the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment, which he led on a charge at the battle of San Juan. He was one of the most conspicuous heroes of the war. Boss Tom Platt, needing a hero to draw attention away from scandals in New York State, accepted Roosevelt as the Republican candidate for Governor in 1898. Roosevelt won and served with distinction. As President, Roosevelt held the ideal that the Government should be the great arbiter of the conflicting economic forces in the Nation, especially between capital and labor, guaranteeing justice to each and dispensing favors to none. Roosevelt emerged spectacularly as a "trust buster" by forcing the dissolution of a great railroad combination in the Northwest. Other antitrust suits under the Sherman Act followed. Roosevelt steered the United States more actively into world politics. He liked to quote a favorite proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick. . . . " Aware of the strategic need for a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific, Roosevelt ensured the construction of the Panama Canal. His corollary to the Monroe Doctrine prevented the establishment of foreign bases in the Caribbean and arrogated the sole right of intervention in Latin America to the United States.

Sophocles’ antigone

Oedipus meets all the criteria of a tragic hero.   He is of noble birth with a character that is consistent throughout as a truth-seeker, always in quest of knowledge, and a riddle-solver wanting to be a savior of people; yet as every other person, he had his flaws, which reversed his prosperity.His intelligence and stateliness is worthy of that of a king, so his doom fills the readers with pity and fear, which is the essence of a tragedy.Though Oedipus realizes that fate had a hand in his doom, he knew he had his own flaws.A woman can also be a tragic hero so long as she meets the criteria set for a tragic hero, and Antigone meets all the criteria. Yet I consider Oedipus to be the best tragic hero here, he being glorious and his fall, dramatic.To go by Aristotle’s view, Antigone, Oedipus and Creon, all   meet the criteria of   being tragic heroes in that all of them face disastrous consequences because of certain fundamental flaws common to humanity.(3)Antigone strongly felt Creon should not interfere in matters relating to religion, andleaving the dead unburied was against the divine law.   She defies Creon and does notever regret it even in the face of death. Thus her remark, â€Å"I do not think your edicts strong enough to overrule the unwritten unalterable laws of God and heaven, you being only a man.†Creon on the other hand respects the rules of the state, and though he could have changed them, if he so chose, remains adamant that Polynice, her brother, be left to rot.   Ismene does not act emotionally.   She thinks twice about dying for the dead.Antigone’s views clashed with that of the others in that she failed to see the impact of her action on those around her, for instance Haemon.(4)The Greek view is that a tragic hero should ideally be a king so that his people also experience his fall.   He should be venerable but imperfect so that the audience may associate themselves with him.As great as the hero is, they feel his fall should be as great too, a calamity worthy of their hero.  Ã‚   But modern-day hero is not necessarily of royal birth. He can rise to glory by contributing positively to the society or the world at large, and unlike the tragic hero, who often dies or survives only to suffer, may even be victorious, and his flaws are not fatal.To quote Duane Lowry, a member of the American Political Historians Association, an American hero is â€Å"someone who embodies popular values and is the driving force behind an important social, political, or scientific change or transformation that lifts the spirit of America and betters the situation of the country.†