Death of a Salesman vs The Simpsons :: essays papers

Death of a Salesman vs The SimpsonsEach of the characters in death of a Salesman can be compared in some way to a character in the Simpsons. Linda Loman has a lot in common with Marge Simpson. Both sack out their families very much and are always the first to defend their husbands actions. Each wife is unappreciated and and does not receive much respect from her family. They try to strike good values onto their children Marge reprimands Bart for stealing, and Linda tells Willy not to encourage the boys to steal. They attempt to steer the boys away from their fathers influence, since Willy and Homer are not always the best persona models. An example is when homer tells Marge dont discourage the boy Weaseling out of things is important to learn. Its what separates us from the animals Except the weasel. Biff (before he finds himself) is a lot like Bart. The both(prenominal) are always getting into some kind of trouble Biff for stealing, while Bart is constantly wreaking hav oc in the school. Biff is unable to clutch pedal down a job, and Bart cannot be productive at school. Both lie and cheat their way through life. Charley can be compared to Lenny as both are friends of the protagonist and care near his welfare. Charley aids Willy with his financial needs, giving him money and offering him a job. Lenny helps Homer in the nuclear plant, always viewing for him and giving advice. Although he is not an evil monster, Howards character resembles that of Monty Burns. They are both business men, more concerned about money than people. Howard does not care about Willy he fires him after he had worked for the company for so long. Mr. Burns does not even know who homer is even though theyve often had a calamity to interact. Bernard, Biffs brainy friend, is similar to Milhouse, Barts geeky friend. Each one is teased about their appearance Bernard is called an anemic by Willy, and Milhouse is called a geek by pretty much everyone. Bernard emplo y to idolize Biff, he was proud to be carrying his elbow pads. Milhouse is also a sidekick to Bart. He knows his job is to stay hidden while Bart wows everybody with his talents.

Y2k: Should We Be Worried? :: essays research papers

Some people wonder what Y2K is, and whether it is true or false. Should we be worried about Y2K? Some people be sure it is false, yet the discussion stresses that it is true. This has many people in fear for their life. Some have been preparing for over a year now because they think Y2K is going to hit and the power allow for go out and absolutely nothing will work. Should we believe this? Many people ask, "What is Y2K?". It made me wonder one day, "What does Y2K really mean?". I went to the pursuit engine <a href="http//www.altavista.com">Altavista and typed in "What does Y2K stand for?". I looked and looked and finally found a page that answered mine and many others questions. Y2K stands for Year 2000. Why K though? Why not Y2T? It is K because the Greek for thousand is Kilo so we use K to stand for thousand.     Then comes another big question. What causes Y2K? There are two different factors in what causes Y2K. One fact or being Along time ago, slightly in the 70s different operating systems were being made for figurers. The data processor programmers decided to make the ages in these operating systems and programs with 2 digits(73) instead of 4(1973). That was all fine until about the early 90s when computer programmers noticed something. They saw that when the year 2000 trilled around the computers would read the date as 00 instead of 2000. The computer would think, "1900?", but I was made in 1973. This confuses the computer ,therefore, it resets its self to 1980 and rearranges all of the settings in the BIOS (the programs that tells the computer which drive to load to, what kind of memory, what kind of CD-ROM the computer has, etc.). This could cause a problem, but nothing that could not be fixed in 5 minutes. One downfall to that is every time it got up to 2000 it would need to be fixed again. The upside being a program that reads the date with four digits is approximately ninety do llars depending on the kind of program wanted.          The other factor is a computer programming delivery called COBOL (common business oriented language). This computer programming language is used by many businesses computers. COBOL handles numbers and text so that businesses can produce reports and keep track of all sorts of data. It has no idea what a date is.

Ronald Takakis Hiroshima :: essays research papers

Although WW II ended over 50 years ago there is still frequently discussion as to the events which ended the War in the Pacific. The primary event which historians attribute to this end are the use of atomic attacks on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although the bombing of these cities did thread the Japanese to surrender, many people today ask Was the use of the atomic bomb necessary to end the contend? and more importantly Why was the decisiveness to use the bomb made? Ronald Takaki examines these questions in his book Hiroshima.The official reason given for dropping the bomb was to bring a quick end to tht war and save the Statesn lives. However, Takaki presents many different explanations as to why the decision to use the bomb was made. He disagrees with the popular belief that the decision to use the bomb was made solely to quickly end the war in the Pacific and to save American lives. Takaki presents theories such as international concerns, American sentiment, and racism in an attempt to more fully explain why this decision was made. The United States entered WW II immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl foster on December 7, 1941. The U.S. entry was a major turning point in the war because it brought the strongest industrial strength to the Allied side. The Americans helped the Allies to win the war in Europe with the surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945. However, the war in the Pacific continued. The war with Japan at this point consisted primarily of strategic bombings. America had recently completed an atomic bomb and was considering using this weapon of mass destruction for the first time. The goal was to force the unconditional surrender of the Japanese. Roosevelt had used the edge unconditional surrender in a press conference in 1943 and it had since become a central war aim. Truman and his staff (still feeling bound by FDRs words) demanded unconditional surrender from the Japanese. Consequently on July 26, 1945 Truman issu ed an ultimatum to Japan. This ultimatum stated that Japan must accept unconditional surrender or suffer utter loneliness of the Japanese Homeland. This surrender included abdication of the throne by their emperor. Japan was not willing to surrender their dynasty and ignored the ultimatum. On August sixth and August 9th, atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively.

Macbeth :: essays research papers

Through the chronicles of history there have always been heroes. Men and women that stand up and take charge and are lesson leaders of countries. Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Genghis Khan and Churchill are only a few examples of people that are remember eternally for what they have done. There are also former(a) leaders that people would like to forget because they are moral cowards killing their subject and causing evil. Stalin, Fidel Castro, and the Character of Macbeth are all examples of this. Macbeth is a moral coward. During the wanton Macbeth often shows that he is morale coward. For instance, when he is planning Duncan&8217s bump off. Likewise he also shows cowardliness by killing Banquo. Lastly he shows how weak he is when he orders Macduffs family to be murdered.A coward is an individual that is easily scared or has difficulty performing functions because of possible reprocutions. Macbeth shows notable cowardice when planning the murder of Duncan. Macbeth leans from one side to the other because he is fearful of the reprocutions. Macbeth says, &8220 If we should fail. This shows that he is fearful and too cowardly to act. Lady Macbeth also states, &8220Are thou afeard to be the same in thine own act. Again showing how cowardly Macbeth is because he will not act. Likewise Macbeth is a coward because he murders Duncan in the middle of the iniquity and does not give a formal challenge. Instead he pretends to be his hero then kills Duncan while he is sleeping. This is what a coward would do.Likewise Macbeth also shows cowardice by killing Banquo. This shows cowardice on Macbeth&8217s part because his only true reason for killing him is that he is afraid of Banquo&8217s royalty of nature. Banquo poses no real threat to Macbeth&8217s throne and is visibly loyal to him. Still Macbeth fears Banquo because he is a good guy and is very respected. Macbeth is spineless because he level(p) believes that his friend is after him and is a danger to his throne. Macb eth says &8220our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared. Macbeth is pusillanimous to the point that he even believes that his friend posses the greatest opposition for him as king. As well as this Macbeth is also a coward because he himself does not kill Banquo.

Company Analysis: Northwest Airlines :: Essays Papers

Company Analysis northwestward Airlines IntroductionNorthwest Airlines is bingle of the pioneers in the airline transportation industry and is ranked at the fourth largest air toter in the United States today. The success of the carrier depends on the quality and reliability of the service at a reasonable price. wet competitors force Northwest to innovate their services by increasing efficiency. This essay will try to examine different perspectives in the services needed to successfully complete the companys objectives. The analysis will explain historical and financial perspectives that may give a better understanding of the current food market trend of the organization.ServicesNorthwest Airlines is engaged principally in the commercial transportation of passengers and cargo. (5) NWA is a complete full service air transportation carrier that is the forth-largest air carrier in the world that services over 750 destinations located in 120 different countries on 6 continents. They operate 2,600 flights daily round the world and operate more than 200 nonstop between the United States and Asia each week. Headquarters is bagd in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The main connecting hubs are located at Detroit, Minneapolis, Memphis, and Tokyo. Northwest employs 50,600 employees nationwide as of Dec. 31, 1998. (6) NWA also has 1269 Stockholders as of Feb. 26, 1999. (6) Northwest continues to improve cargo shipping by proudly dedicating 12 Boeing 747 aircraft and easily becoming one of the largest cargo airlines in the world. (4) Cargo is very profitable for Northwest because Northwest has predicted cargo revenue will top the 900 million mark in 2000. (3) The vast fleet of aircraft contains 400 airplanes. (1) Northwest has subsidiaries wholly owned (Unless otherwise indicated by NWA) by Northwest Aircraft, Northwest Aerospace Training corps, MLT Inc, Express Airlines, and Express Airlines I. (6) HistoryNorthwest Airlines began service on October 1, 1926, flying mai l between Minneapolis / St. Paul and Chicago. (2) They started passenger transportation in July 7, 1927. (2) Throughout the years Northwest has grown steadily by acquiring new system routes in the northwestern region of the USA. The year 1930 was a landmark in history because Northwest moved their home base operation to their present headquarters in St. Paul. The air service grew overnight with the acquisition of Southern Airways in 1936. Northwests famous red seat was introduced for the first time on February 1948.

Company Analysis: Northwest Airlines :: Essays Papers

Company Analysis northwest Airlines IntroductionNorthwest Airlines is one of the pioneers in the transmitline transportation industry and is ranked at the one-quarter largest air carrier in the United States today. The success of the carrier depends on the quality and reliability of the helping at a reasonable price. Close competitors office Northwest to innovate their services by increasing efficiency. This essay will try to examine different perspectives in the services needed to successfully virtuoso(a) the companys objectives. The analysis will explain historical and financial perspectives that may give a better understanding of the current market effort of the organization.ServicesNorthwest Airlines is engaged principally in the commercial transportation of passengers and load. (5) NWA is a complete full service air transportation carrier that is the forth-largest air carrier in the macrocosm that services over 750 destinations located in 120 different countries on 6 continents. They operate 2,600 flights daily around the world and operate more than 200 nonstop between the United States and Asia each week. Headquarters is based in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The main connecting hubs are located at Detroit, Minneapolis, Memphis, and Tokyo. Northwest employs 50,600 employees nationwide as of Dec. 31, 1998. (6) NWA also has 1269 Stockholders as of Feb. 26, 1999. (6) Northwest continues to improve cargo shipping by proudly dedicating 12 Boeing 747 aircraft and easily becoming one of the largest cargo airlines in the world. (4) Cargo is very profitable for Northwest because Northwest has predicted cargo revenue will top the 900 million mark in 2000. (3) The enormous slip by of aircraft contains 400 airplanes. (1) Northwest has subsidiaries wholly owned (Unless otherwise indicated by NWA) by Northwest Aircraft, Northwest Aerospace Training corps, MLT Inc, Express Airlines, and Express Airlines I. (6) HistoryNorthwest Airlines began service on October 1, 1926, flying mail between Minneapolis / St. Paul and Chicago. (2) They started passenger transportation in July 7, 1927. (2) Throughout the years Northwest has grown steadily by acquiring new system routes in the northwestern region of the USA. The year 1930 was a landmark in history because Northwest moved their home base movement to their present headquarters in St. Paul. The air service grew overnight with the acquisition of Southern Airways in 1936. Northwests famous red tail was introduced for the starting signal time on February 1948.

Bba International Hospitality Management

merchandise Export Plan world(prenominal) line of business Orientation merchandise FEBO to chinaPart 1 Table of content Introduction4 1. Strategic Profile5 1. 1 History5 1. 2 Strategies5 1. 3 What to do in china6 1. 4 Suppliers6 2. FEBO internal analytic thinking7 2. 1 Product opinion7 2. 2 Marketing capability8 2. 3 Research and development capabilities8 2. 4 Organisational construction8 2. 5 Human picks9 2. 6 Facilities and equipment9 2. 7 Past strategies9 3. Target commercialise (external query)10 3. 1 Selection10 3. 2 Operating risks10 3. 3 Market potential11 3. 4 Costs11 3. 5 Potential local anesthetic anesthetic anesthetic and international rival11 . 6 In-depth analysis12 3. 7 Population characteristics and purchasing power12 3. 8 Basic infrastructure including ecstasy and conversation facilities13 3. 9 Cultural factors13 3. 10 Resource13 3. 11 G entirely eitherwherenment restrictions and regulations on traffic14 4. Target group15 4. 1 Market Access Requir ements (MAR)15 5. SWOT analysis19 6. Critical supremacy factors21 6. 1 The industry21 6. 2 Competitive strategy and industry position21 6. 3 Environmental factors22 6. 4 Temporal factors22 6. 5 Managerial position22 Conclusion25 List of reference26 IntroductionThis report is an exportation look at plan, about exportation FEBO to China. The report is divided into two parts. This is the first part which is much about the company at the moment the internal and external analysis. It concludes a strategic profile about the history, the strategies, and what to expect in China. Than as all ready menti hotshotnessd the internal analysis, what ar their capabilities, reaping position, judicatureal structure, kind resource and their facilities and equipment at the moment. The calculate trade is the external analysis which concludes their securities industry position, risks, cost, purchase power and PESTEL analysis.Then there will be explained about about the target securities ind ustry, what is it now and which element do they want to reach in China. The report consist about a SWOT analysis from FEBO now and the possible opportunities and threats for the China merchandise. In the comminuted success factors the industry will be discussed and the competitive strategy and industry position. The second part is to a greater extent than about the implementation about exporting FEBO to china. The polar market entries, sales and merchandising plan and the technical aspect. But there over later more. 1. Strategic Profile 1. 1 History FEBO was found in 1941 by J.J de Borst, he started with Maison Febo as a bakery in Amsterdam. The founder learned that character reference is the key factor of success. So he was al guidances concern with improving the shade of his products. After a while Mr. de Borst decided to expand his assortment with homemade salads and kroketten which were sold as a take a carriage or to eat them straight away. Since, there was a high deman d, he decided to close the bakery and continue with a kitchen. FEBO made all the products in its fabric. In addition, shops blunted where the products could be sold, through the celebrated protect. Mr. J. J. e Borst did not want to outsource the production because then he did not moderate view over the part anymore. Because of this successful concept in 1978 the first prerogative settlement was candid in Amsterdam. A few years later early(a) FEBOs opened their doors in Purmerend, Hoorn and Hoofddorp. Those neighbor cities of Amsterdam were chosen, to keep the existing target group as well as called an overflow atomic number 18a. In 1990 the son of the founder took over the company and built a big kitchen in Amsterdam were they produced all the products, they own this kitchen as well to keep their production in their own hands.Later, separate franchised FEBOs opened their doors in the rest of Holland. Now a day there atomic number 18 61 branches and 55 of them are fran chised. All of those shops need to be modern and to have the same charisma. Hygiene is very important and the counter is the hearth of the shop. Everything is about the product, high eccentric and quick stock turnover. All the FEBOs need to be located on A1 locations, and what is more, they need to have a certain surface, borderline of 80m2. (Febo) 1. 2 Strategies Strategy grooming can be analysed through the model of the Strategic electron lenses.This model suggests that there are 4 ways of formulating and implementing a strategy. Namely those are strategy as design, as experience, as ideas and as discourse. Companies that formulate strategy as discourse are using models and analytical tools to carefully analyze the situation. FEBO is not implementing this way of strategy formulation. It is more using the strategy as experience way, as the strategies and way of doing line of credit are based on past experience. This can be seen yet from the begging, when FEBO expanded from bak ery to franchise strong pabulum because of the experience that this is what the customers want.Moreover, strategy as ideas is to be innovative and use the full potential of employees ideas. This is excessively what FEBO implemented, when they found the provender walls. The last lens is strategy as discourse and this is to use language to formulate a strategy. This angle of looking at a strategy can be also found in FEBO and more particularly in its logo- The most delicious. This logo passes the strategy of good taste to both its employees and customers. (Johnson et. all, 2008). At the moment FEBO is number one mark leader of the fast provender sector in the Netherlands.This also has to do with their strategy quality stays. FEBO is continuously busy with improving their acknowledge and products. Also cherubicness is one of the strategies, all the products are made the same day as they are sold. The products are made of the best quality of meat, herbs, butter and flower. After they are made they are transport by FEBOs own trucks to keep the quality high. What FEBO is also very famous for is the concept of get food out of the wall. This is a typical Dutch, and tho at FEBOs.People have to put slightly coins in the machines and they can choose their snack without rescript it. This is considered as Smart strategy, because it created a better stake awareness and now everybody recognizes the food out of the wall as part of FEBO. 1. 3 What to do in China This report is analyzing and considering the possibility of export of FEBO to China. FEBO is a typical Dutch fast food chain, where peck can 24/7 get food out of the wall. When exporting this to China it is important that the Dutch style identity and the same products, quality and the food wall are preserved. 1. Suppliers It is important that the products are unbroken as much as possible the same as they are in Holland. One of the basic strategies of FEBOs is freshness, which smasheds that is it not pos sible to export the products from Holland all the way to China. They need to be made in China, some infixed ingredients as herbs can be exported, but products as meat and potatoes have to come from China. Those ingredients have to be prepared according to the typical Dutch receipts. This method also saves money, because the company does not have to fly over all the raw ingredients to make the snacks. . FEBO internal analysis An internal analysis of an organisation is performed to evaluate its current position and recourses and determine the strengths and the weaknesses. In this part of the report internal analysis of FEBO will be done on the basis on evaluating its product position, market capability, research and development, organisational structure, human resources, facilities and equipment, past strategies. 2. 1 Product position The current products of FEBO are all fast food, which can be taken from a wall.However, what distinguishes FEBO is that its products are fresh and nev er a compromise on quality is made. The company is choosing carefully the best suppliers and producing its products every day in a fabric in Amsterdam, in that way there is a direct hear on the quality. After being produced in Amsterdam, the food is distributed through the companies own logistic channels to the 61 shops in the Netherlands. In order to make the product positioning of FEBO clearer, the company will be placed on the strategic clock which can be seen in the graph below. Evaluation will be made on the basis of quality and price.The product of FEBO is variediated from the new(prenominal) fast food, but antitheticaliation is not their strategy as they are also keeping the prices low. What the organisation is doing can be named as hybrid as they are offering more quality and low price. The combination of the two is comm solitary(prenominal) difficult to manage and most companies provide either quality or cheap product, but FEBO achieves both by selling big quantities a nd distributing the costs over a big production. 2. 2 Marketing capability The merchandising concept and at the same succession advertising promise that FEBO is using is the most delicious.The express of the company is definitely on the quality of the ingredients and the freshness of the food offered to the customers. FEBO is also having a cheap price, but this is not directly communicated to the customers as some durations people consider low priced products as low quality products. That is why the marketing capability is all about the high quality and appeal to the customers. This is also the campaign why, no matter that it is a franchise company, FEBO apart from know-how and brand is also providing the franchisee with the in-house produced and distributed food on daily basis. 2. Research and development capabilities FEBO extended its range of products end-to-end the years of its foundation. However, the concept of high quality is something that stays in the company. It is m aking research and growth only the new products that fit in the major concept. In addition the company is performing a research for every new franchisee and has certain requirements as opening shops only in A1 locations. What is more, FEBO has done a research and provided a map with possible locations for new shops. If a franchisee suggests some other location, FEBO will conduct research and evaluate if it is satisfactory. . 4 Organisational structure FEBO was opened as a family logical argument and soothe the director today is a family member. He is already a third generation running the company. His name isMr. JR Breast and he is on the top of the organisation. The structure of the company is kept simple with direct relations, so that it can work effectively and quickly. There are several management departments, performing the basic tasks. Namely those are- Quality manager, liberty manager, Marketing manager, financial manager and Manager company stores.They are all directed and controlled by the director of FEBO. The Franchise manager is workings together with a consultant for franchising and the financial manager has financial administration. Moreover, there are two secretaries working in FEBO as well. With this structure every employee has tasks and responsibilities and there is no confusion about who is doing what. The organisational structure of FEBO helps in achieving quick and fruitful relationships with franchisee. 2. 5 Human resources The employees working in the management of FEBO are professionals and are carefully selected.They all contribute to the process of adding value and producing and giveing high quality products to the customers. The human resources that FEBO employs also implicate their franchisee and the full and part time employees working in the shops, so that is why the management of FEBO is considering each case separately. An approval to be a franchisee of FEBO is only given to the ones that cover the requirements. Human r esource cast is important for FEBO because quality products cannot be produced by unqualified personnel. 2. 6 Facilities and equipmentThe facilities and equipment of FEBO are very important part of the competitive receipts. The walls or vendor machines placed at the shops of FEBO are something unique. They help in delivering fast aid to the customers and are even considered as an attraction by the tourists. Furthermore, the shops which are also part of the facilities of FEBO are only in A1 location, which means that a lot of people pass by them and this is an advantage compared to competitors who do not have much(prenominal) good locations or at least not for all of their shops.Very important facilities for FEBO are its fabric and trucks without which the company will not be able to control the quality throughout its solely chain and will be highly dependent on outside organisations. 2. 7 Past strategies FEBO started as a family owned bakery and because of the success and fi ll it started growing. It can be said that the strategies were not carefully planned, but they emerged from the everyday doing business and from the customer of necessity. Moreover, as FEBOs strategy is to produce in-house to keep the quality, this was a strategy that was formulated from the gained experience.The family saw that the customers value the personal touch. That is why no matter that the range of the products is growing and there are more and more FEBO eating houses, the quality is kept high by still holding the production and distribution in house, because the past experience shows that this is the formula for success for FEBO. 3. Target market (external research) 3. 1 Selection The choice of market selection is a key strategic option in export marketing which provide the basic information for export marketing mix decisions.In general, the selection is through identifying and analyzing different possible markets for export market expansion from aspects such as market si ze, market growth, competitive conditions and giving medication regulations, etc to determine the most qualified target market for the company to export at the current situation. Therefore, the selection for target market can be seen as a really essential process for the exporting and international marketing. FEBO is a traditional Dutch company. In addition, it is managed by most of people in the Netherlands no matter from which nationality they are.Therefore there are a lot of choices of feasible countries for export marketing. According to Douglas and Craig (1983), by examining the operating risks, market potential, costs and potential local and foreign competitor, the list of feasible countries could be evaluated and ranked. As the result, the most suitable market would be selected out. However, it still needs to be further in-depth study later. (Albaum, 1998, P132-133) For the reasons above, the hobby part would be the assessment of different choice markets for FEBOs expor t marketing later in order to select the most suitable target market for FEBO.The assessment had been divided into three possible options a Central or Eastern-European country, a North-American country and an emerging Asian country and would be tally as the above four aspects according to Douglas and Craig. 3. 2 Operating risks Operating risks, which is also called business risks, mean the risk arising from a computers business. To be more specific, it includes risks from the change of people, re importants and process during the business. What is more, some factors like fraud risks, legal risks, and physical or environment risks also could be involved in operation risks. Operating risk definition. (n. d)) At this aspect, the three options have almost the same risks if choose to expand because for FEBO the three options are all new markets. If FEBO wants to open new stores no matter in the centre or eastern-European or north-American country or an emerging Asian country, a lots of risks at aspects like manufacturing, transportation or even customers and suppliers would exist undoubtedly. However, among this situation, the emerging Asian country such as China has low compass costs which could also mean low labor risk and can be considered as an opportunity. . 3 Market potential Market potential means the potential of the new market for the future development. For instance it could include the potential amount of customers, the potential products demands, and the potential profits. From this point of view, the Central or Eastern-European market and North-American market are not suitable because the lifestyle of people there is almost the same as in the Netherlands, although the majority of people like fast food so that there are a lot of customers and high products demands, the alternative fast food, competition of FEBO is very high.Therefore it can be predicted that the potential profits can suffer. However, in an emerging Asian country, like China tradition al food still viewpoints in a leading position. Although many fast food companies such as KFC and McDonalds become progressively popular by people there, FEBO still seems a new kind of fast food for the get food out of wall. Time salvage could attract more potential customers which would lead great potential profits as the result. 3. 4 Costs Simply the costs contain material, time, resource, manufacture and auction pitch of the products or services of the company. Cost definition. (n. d. )) Among the three options, only the emerging Asian country like China has low labor costs and low tax, thereof at this point, China accounted for the most of advantages and could be seem as a good choice for FEBOs export. 3. 5 Potential local and foreign competition The same as what had already been mentioned in the point of market potential, there are too much competition in the Central or Eastern-European market and the North-American market as there are too many similar industries, so FEBO has lower opportunities and higher threats if choose these two options.On the contrary, China, as a developing Asian country, has scant fast food industries which mean less(prenominal) local competition. Moreover, at the beginning of international business, FEBO could seize the first opportunities and then could be easier basis in the China market than the other similarly industries or companies which entered later. To sum up, according to those reasons above which got from careful analysis, the best choice of FEBOs export marketing could be clearly seen as China. 3. 6 In-depth analysis After market selection, the most suitable option for FEBOs export marketing is China.For further analysis, a number of variables which could also be called indicators are useful for assessing the export potential of the international marketthe China market. In order, to have a more cope and detailed overview of the China market, the potential intrusion of those variables needs to be examined. In a ccordance with Albaum, G. , generally speaking, the physical characteristics, policy-making tendencies, socio-culture characteristics and economic factors are the four of import elements which would influence the results of in-depth analysis.More specifically, indicators would include a list of for instance the physical geography of the country, the local industries. Since it would be much more difficult and complex to examine every indicator, several relatively important variables are chosen to analysis. Those are the following population characteristics and purchasing power, basic infrastructure including transportation and communication facilities, heathen factors, resource and disposal restrictions and regulations on trade. (Albaum, 1998, P136) 3. Population characteristics and purchasing power As all known, China has a large population which can be seen as reach for export because more people means more demands. Therefore, it will be clear that the first choice for FEBO to export is the bigger cities in China such as Beijing or nobble. In those bigger cities, there are more people and especially more rich people who have large purchasing power in comparison to people in other small cities. In addition, Big cities have more competition and the majority of people there have a fast pace of life.There is a very high possibility that they would like FEBOs get food out of wall model. As a famous typical Dutch fast food, FEBO could help people save a lot of time from cooking and there is no doubt that it would be accepted and further loved by most people living in the bigger cities of China. 3. 8 Basic infrastructure including transportation and communication facilities Take Shanghai as an recitation, there are lists of transportation methods that could be choose for transportation such as bus, truck, subway, train and even weather sheet if necessary.For one of FEBOs strategies of freshness, the bigger cities in China like Shanghai could be ensure the t ransport the raw materials or final products in time and always keep fresh as their original quality. Second, the same as Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the bigger cities such as Beijing and Shanghai in China also have complete and sound communication facilities. The internet system of rules is the bridge between the headquarters and branches both in the Netherlands and China as well as that between stores and distributions or manufactories.In a word, no matter which link has problems, the communication facilities could assume the responsibility for exchange information. 3. 9 Cultural factors For the cultural aspect, people living in bigger cities in China are more likely to want to try international food than those living in small cities. The reason is that there are a lot of foreigners living in the bigger cities in China especially Shanghai and Beijing and the local population there is more opened to European cultures.Since different nationalities are living togethe r, they are influenced by each other and it is obviously that more and more Chinese accept and even love the foreign food. Usually people that live in bigger cities in China often have less prejudice or fear, furthermore, they have a more modern lifestyles, and they treat foreigners more friendly. Most of them can speak English or other languages so that they would probably prefer to talk with traditional Dutch employees in FEBOs stores in China about the lifestyle or environment if the Netherland.They will be able to communicate in English. 3. 10 Resource As mentioned above, one of the strategies of FEBO is freshness which means it is not possible to transport the products from the Netherlands to China every day. To citation this problem, the products sold in Chinas stores need to be made also in China. Therefore only some essential ingredients as herbs still can be exported to keep products of FEBO in China also have traditional Dutch taste and at the same time could save costs. As China is large and owns many resources, it is believed that most of resources that FEBO needs to make products could be found in China such as meat and potatoes and so on. In addition, human resource is another significant element. The larger population especially in bigger cities of China means that FEBO does not need to worry about labor problems. Moreover, the lower labor costs in China could also help FEBO save money and can be a better option than exporting Dutch employees from the Netherlands. 3. 11 Government restrictions and regulations on tradeWith Chinas accession of WTO, the government pays more assist on international trade than in the past. In addition, Chinese are encouraged to develop international business abroad and the government also welcomes foreign investments in China. Lowering the amount of restrictions on trade and formulating stimulating regulations on trade are what the government already did and would further developed in the future. Therefore this is a good opportunities for FEBOs export marketing plan to China. Many encouraging regulations such as lower taxes could also lower the risks of FEBOs export. . Target group Since the first target market for FEBOs export plan had been determined as bigger cities in China such as Beijing and Shanghai, the next step is to search for the most suitable location for FEBOs first store. After a list of researches, the first destination for FEBOs export would be Shanghai, therefore the following part would be about the situation in Shanghai. FEBO is a fast food company so that the target group of it would of course young people as for example students and office people.The young ordinarily like fashion and could easily accept new products. They like foreign foods better than the older people. Therefore the problem is how to attract them come to FEBO. To address this problem, some research had been done. Through the results, there are a lot of European companies established in every district o f Shanghai, so that it can be hardly to circle for a specific district for Europeans. For this reason, the final location of FEBO would be the city centre of Shanghai which also could be seen as the a1 location. Generally peaking, people come from other places, especially from other countries always choose the most famous food to eat however, there is another choice, that is to follow with the local people. That is because the natives would choose the best food among the whole city so that there is no doubt that the tourists could find delicious food with the local people. Therefore, to attract more customers, the target group for FEBO at the beginning should be those European people in Shanghai. When people see a lot of European people come to FEBO, then they would come as well.Furthermore, with a lot of European people, FEBO could have a more European environment as it is expected. 4. 1 Market Access Requirements (MAR) Standardized products and services are considered to be a conf idence builder, and that can be perceived as safety, healthy, secure, high quality and flexible. So the standardized products or services are widely accepted, commonly trusted and highly valued. There are several standards for FEBO to export to China. This part will be discussed by different aspects. In this part, PESTEL will be used to analysis these factors. PoliticalIt is an important economic development strategy for China to bring more foreign investment, so Chinese government offers more preferential policies to foreign companies. The most relative constitution for FEBO is tax it is lower than in Netherlands. Chinese government announced that foreign companies have to pay 25% of income, which is lower than 25. 5% in Netherlands. FEBO will earn more money because of this low tax. And for the new foreign companies, if they want to operate more than ten years, and then in the first two years, they can exempt from corporate income tax. It is a good open policy for FEBO to enter t o Chinese market.Economic Source from official says that the economic in China is optimistic. Generally, Chinese economic is increasing rapidly. Ranked seventh in the world gross domestic product, GDP growth rate is the first in the world. It is suitable for FEBO to develop to China. Social Although China has a long history, Chinese people are becoming more open to different cultures than other countries with deeply introduce local customs. Nowadays, the educational level is high, and Chinese people can adopt more foreign customs and values. In some big cities, the pace of life is fast, so people prefer fast-food than traditional one.As it can be seen that McDonald, KFC and many more foreign fast-food stores opened in China, FEBO can be next good choice for them. Technological FEBO has more or less the same technologic as other fast-food stores. But for some sauces and some special traditional Dutch food, FEBO has its own technologic. What is more, FEBO will use this Dutch fast-fo od technologic also in China. Environment As food industry is famous and quickly developing in China, FEBO can catch up with the situation, and develop to Chinese market. After FEBO set foot in China, there will be more jobs for local people.It will also bring competitive crisis to relative stores, and this will promote the virtuous circle of competition in the market. FEBO can be an environmental company, and will do more changes on environmental item, so it could be more adopted than other non environmental friendly business. Legal FEBO has to copy the laws and relative constraints, some important legal issues are described detailed as below * FEBO first has to obtain the franchise of International standard organization (ISO), which is the worlds largest developer and publisher of international standard.FEBO is a Dutch brand, and if it wants to develop to Chinese market, then it becomes an international business. If FEBO gets the ISO application, it will bring a lot of advantag es to the business * Strengthen quality management and improve enterprise efficiency. If FEBO implement at ISO, it can be scrutinized in according to international standard quality system for quality management. It will greatly improve work efficiency and product qualification rate, and rapidly increase their economic and social benefits. * Access to international trade pass, it is conducive to across international technical barriers.Especially in the World Trade Organization, member countries exclude the tariff barriers each other, so certified is the main way to eliminate trade barriers. * To be an invincible position in the competition of product quality. Quality competition has become the primary means of competition in international trade. ISO certification can help FEBO improve the product quality stably. * What is more, to enter Chinese market, it is essential for FEBO to have Market access barriers for other relative stores. So FEBO has to get certificate from Chinese food i ndustry. FEBO has to meet Chinas health, safety, quality and environmental objectives.As it has been mentioned in the previous part, some essential ingredients as herbs can be exported. So the technical trade barriers of China can help FEBO realize these policy objectives by restricting entry of disappointing products at the border. The barriers can be divided into mandatory approval and voluntary approval. * Mandatory approval three hundred (China Compulsory Certification) is the fastest way to enter Chinese market. It is a system to replace the Compulsory Supervision System for Product Safety Certification and the Safety License System for Import Commodities.Besides, for the food products, FEBO has to honour with the Chinese GB standard. * Voluntary approval FEBO can apply for the CQC(China Quality Certification) Mark certification. This safety products certification system involves hundreds of products divided into over 50 categories, which include protecting consumers persona l and property safety and safeguard their rights and interests, improving the product quality of domestic enterprises and increasing the product competitiveness in the international market and also facilitating foreign products accessing into the domestic market.The products categories that not covered under CCC certification can be subject to the CQC Mark certification. So CQC Mark certification can be regarded as the replenishment of CCC certification. There are several items in CQC Mark certification, and what FEBO needs to get are CQC Safe& exploit Product certification, and CQC Environmental Product Certification. If FEBO can have two powerful certifications to ensure its quality and safety, it will be treated as a European fast-food brand that with very high quality.Strengths * Number one fast food chain in the Netherlands * 61 shops in all big cities in the Netherlands * A1 locations only * Big target segment * longer opening hours) * queer food out of the wall concept * Lar ge assortment * FEBO mobile * Daily fresh produced products * High owners equality * Own their production (logistics and production) Weakness * Lot of waste because of large assortment * Lack of control because of all the different franchises * Cost a lot of money / time to manage the hole distribution channel * Only in the Netherlands Opportunities * Easy expansion though franchising * The pace of life is fast, and people do not have much time to cook and eat. Threats * Cheap image * People get more aware of healthy food * not much option for expansion in Holland (, most big towns and cities of Holland already have a FEBO) * Lots of competition fast food restaurants 5. SWOT analysis In this chapter the swot analysis of Febo in Holland, will be presented in a table. After having the current SWOT analysis of FEBO, further opportunities and threats for FEBO in China are formulated. Opportunities Threats * China has joined WTO, it is being economic globalization, and there is a large space market in China. * China is a new market for FEBO development. As the results show other fast-food brand has created a s meaning higher than the local business in China * According to the analysis, it will be the well-fixed age in the next 20 years for Chinas economic growth China will continue to grow as one of the most active region of economic growth. So the financial situation is satisfied. * Chinese consumption level and hierarchy of consumption are increasing. * The tax burdens are less than European countries because of Chinas open policy. * No special European food in China, especially traditional Dutch food. * Other fast-food brand has opened chain stores in China and occupied a vast market, like McDonald and KFC. The gap of brand image in the fast-food industry in acquire smaller and smaller. * After China joined WTO, more and more fast-food brands keep their focus on the huge Chinese market. They bring advanced production technology, marketing ideas and service modes. So the relative position of FEBO has a lot of competitors. * New technologies and more modern fast food threaten to displace FEBO and its products. 6. Critical success factors In general, Critical Success Factors (CSFs) are the overcritical factors or activities required for ensuring the success the business. The term was initially used in the world of data analysis, and business analysis.Critical Success Factors have been used significantly to present or identify a few key factors that organizations should focus on so that they are successful. As a definition, critical success factors refer to the limited number of cranial orbits in which satisfactory results will ensure successful competitive performance for the individual, department, or organization(Critical Success Factors CSF analysis, (n. d. ). According to Rockart and Bullen, there are five key sources involved in critical success factors. To better understand FEBO, it will be analyzed on the five parts. 6. 1 The industry In addition to several common CSF within the same industry, there are also many different and unique CSF for different companies.FEBO is a leader in the fast food chain within the Netherlands, so that it has some common CSF like other fast food companies, for instance low price, flexibility and convenient, customer orientation and high quality. Apart from these, FEBO has the unique CSF to be the most famous one among others with its get food from the wall. Because of the revolutionary way of getting the food quickly and easily, FEBO is so successful in the Netherlands. 6. 2 Competitive strategy and industry position varied strategies are used to deal with different situation, and different value/ price position could lead to different markets. Therefore, different strategy and position would gain different market shares and risks at the same time for the company.For example, the values of the company, or the target market and target group the company choose will all impact the CSFs of that company at a given point in time. FEBO position itself as fast food so that it needs to deliver sapid food to the customers while the service should be quick at a reasonable price and available at any time. Only achieved these can FEBO stand out among the fast food industry. FEBO achieves this with the CSF of holding production and distribution channel in house. 6. 3 Environmental factors The environmental factors mean that any changes in economic, regulatory, political or demographic would affect the CSF of the company. (Critical Success Factors, Guide on How to Write University Essays and Dissertations(n. d. ) This aspect of factors could not be controlled by FEBO, but since FEBO wants to export to China market, so that it already gained a lot of advantages at this point. For instance, China has many regulations to encourage the foreign investments. In addition to that, China is a developing country so that the political development and economic performance of C hina is very promising. Therefore these all could be seen as the CSFs for FEBO in the future. 6. 4 Temporal factors These usually relate to short-term situation and are influenced by some specific events. These kinds of factors often result in internal organizational needs and changes. A working(prenominal) CSF for FEBO can be finding a suitable A1 location and reliable franchisee at a certain destination.This is a CSF which has to be given great attention when expanding to China, because without a good franchisee and good location, there is no way that the shop is successful. 6. 5 Managerial position It is an additional aspect and is important when considered from an individuals point of view. It highlights individual contribution for the CSFs of the company. It is normal that the company would be wholly successful if it has many successful managers in different specific area and take good control of each department. At this point of view, FEBOs CSF are manufacturing managers took the responsibility of provide good quality of products, and the store managers did well in building good relationship with customers with offering kinds of services. Strategic capability applied to FEBOThe capabilities of a company can be broadly grouped into four categories- verge recourses, threshold capabilities, unique resources and core competences. Each of them will be explained and applied to FEBO (Johnson et. all, 2008). * Threshold recourses Threshold recourses are tangible or intangible assets that the company needs to have in order to fulfil the minimum customer requirements. If a company does not have those resources, the customers will not buy from that brand. However, as this is the minimum and every company in the same business needs to have the same to survive, these recourses do not create competitive or superior advantage (Johnson et. ll, 2008). FEBO has the threshold physical resources of having a fabric, machines and shops for selling. Without this the company will not be able to deliver its offering to the customer. Moreover it has the financial resources of its franchisee and company equity. The human threshold recourses of FEBO comprise of the managers who direct the franchisee and the franchisees and their employees at the shops. These all are the minimum resources and without having them, FEBO cannot exist. However, just the presence of these resources is not important. The customer expects that they are deployed in the right way to deliver value. * Threshold competenceThreshold competences are the abilities that are necessarily to satisfy the basic needs of a customer in this case, the minimum expectations from a fast food restaurant (Johnson et. all, 2008). As FEBO is in the business of fast food shops, the threshold competence that it needs to posses in order to have customers is to deliver tasty food to the customers. Moreover, the service should be quick at a reasonable price and available at any time, because that is what all t he fast food restaurants are doing. * Unique resources Unique resources are those tangible and intangible assets that the company posses and are better or different from the competitors.Those resources give competitive advantage (Johnson et. all, 2008). In the case of FEBO the most obvious unique resource it has are its vending machines in the shops. Those are easily recognisable by customers as being part of FEBO and deliver superior- quicker service. In addition, a unique intellectual resource is the brand of FEBO. It is already for a long time in the market and customers know it and value it. The business system of FEBO can also be regarded as a unique resource as the company is keeping production and distribution in house by having its own fabric and trucks. Those are things that are usually outsourced in the fast food industry. Core competence Core competences are the abilities of the personnel to deploy the resources in a way that delivers more value than competitors. The core competences are the key to achieving competitive advantage as they are more difficult to imitate (Johnson et. all, 2008). The core competence of FEBO is to in-house produce and distribute its high quality food quickly to all its A1 shops in Holland. The achievement of quality and at the same time urge makes it possible to sell fresh products in the shops. What is more, the high quality is achieved by using only the best suppliers and carefully choosing the franchisee that represent the brand.So, the core competence of FEBO is embedded in its supply chain. The whole functioning of the operations of FEBO, synchronizing the work of quality suppliers, employees and machines in the fabric, quick logistics, A1 shops and skilled franchisee add to the process of delivering the best quality to the customer. Through the big volumes, FEBO is also keeping the prices of its products down. Conclusion The idea behind the report is to analyze the possibility to expand FEBO to China. To sum up, FE BO opened as a bakery and the experience showed the successful strategy of producing in house and franchising shops for fast food. The main strategy of the company is resolved around quality and freshness.FEBO is implementing the hybrid quality/price strategy and it is marketing proposition is the most delicious. The structure of the organisation is flat, which makes it effective. FEBO possesses the key facilities- vendor machines and own production. The reasons why to chosen target market is China is because, the labour cost are low, fast food popularity is increasing, Government is stimulating international investments through low taxes, the competition in the fast food is not that fierce yet, the country has the basic recourses to produce FEBOs products and because of the large population, the target market is also expected to be bigger.More specifically Shanghai is chosen for the first shops as it has good transportation and communication connections and the people in the city a re more open to different cultures, which also have a fast pace of life and tend to eat fast food, moreover, a bigger proportion of the population is speaking English. In addition, the early adopters of FEBO in Shanghai will be targeted to be the European people. When there are enough European customers this will built trust in the local Chinese population and they will perceive it as exotic and quality food. In order to enter the Chinese market, FEBO has to obtain ISO, China Compulsory Certification and China Quality certification. Having these will make it easier and cheaper for the company to begin business in China and the local population will see it as a quality chain.The critical success factors for FEBO were found to be the get food out of the wall, tasty food with high quality and good choice of franchisees who keep the traditional way of business and the image of FEBO. And last but not least, the unique resources and core competences of FEBO are the walls, the brand name, the business system, quality and speed at the same time and the coordination of the whole supply chain. List of reference 1) Albaum, G. , Standskow, J. Duerr, E. Dowd, L. , International marketing and export management, Prentice Hall, 3rd edition, 1998 2) CCC US OFFICE China AQSIQ, CCC Mark, CCC Certificate, 3C Certificate Your fastest way to enter China Market. (n. d. ). CCC US OFFICE China AQSIQ, China CCC, CCC Mark, CCC Certificate, 3C Certificate Your fastest way to enter China Market.Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http//www. ccc-us. com/otherservices. htm? gclid=COaLkoKwy5ICFRmiiQodBRGdmA 3) China Market Access How to Succeed in this Growing Market. (n. d. ). Bureau Veritas QHSE-SR Management, Inspection, Certification, Training & Consulting. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http//www. bureauveritas. com/wps/wcm/connect/bv_com/group/ hearth/About-Us/Our-Business/Our-Business-Consumer-Products/our+services/services+and+solutions/china%20market%20access 4) Cost definitio n. (n. d. ). BusinessDictionary. com Online Business Dictionary. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http//www. businessdictionary. com 5) Critical Success Factors. (n. d. ).Guide on How to Write University Essays and Dissertations. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http//university-essays. tripod. com/critical_success_factors_csf. html 6) Critical Success Factors CSF analysis, formulation and construction. (n. d. ). Rapid Business Improvement Review Organizational Diagnostic tool BIR/ change tools/ health check/ diagnostic/ organizational development/ RapidBI. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http//rapidbi. com/created/criticalsuccessfactors 7) Homepage. (n. d. ). Homepage. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http//www. febodelekkerste. nl/ 8) ISO International Organization for Standardization. (n. d. ).ISO International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http//www. iso. ch 9) Johnson, G. , Scholes, K. , & Whittington, R. (2008). Foundation of st rategic capability. Exploring corporate strategy text and cases (8. ed. , pp. 95-99). Harlow Financial Times Prentice Hall. 10) Operating risk definition. (n. d. ). BusinessDictionary. com Online Business Dictionary. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http//www. businessdictionary. com/definition/operating-risk. html 11) 2) Strategic Management The Areas That Most Businesses Should Analyze. (n. d. ). Strategic Management . Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http//strategy-formulation. 24xls. com/en126

Assignment from the Reading Essay

Same Person collects daily fees and deposits the cash and appoints the wavier forms There should be one person (A) that has visitor fill out the forms and files them, also keeping a tally of the number each day. And a second person (B) collects the cash and deposits it into the lock box.The restrainer deposits the cash at the bank and makes the daybook entry The manager at the barricade of the night could deposit the cash, and the next morning the accountant could make the journal entry. No one checks the number of wavier forms fill out against the cadence of cash deposited The accountant should also check the amount of waiver forms filled out against the amount of cash deposited to make sure amount deposited is equal to the number of visitors paymenting a feeProblem 9-15 Identify one or more mastery procedures (either general or application controls, or both) that would guard against each of the following errors or problems. a.) Leslie Thomas, a secretary at the university, indicated that she had worked 40 hours on her regular cartridge clip card. The university paid her for 400 hours worked that week. Payroll clerk reviews all inputs before posting, and then the accounting supervisor reviews all checks for reasonableness before sending them out. b.) The aging abridgment indicated that the Grab and Run Electronics Company account was so far in arrears that the acknowledgement manager decided to cut off any further credit sales to the company until it cleared up its account. Yet, the followingweek, the manager noted that three new sales had been made to that companyall on credit. calculating machine control to disallow issuing new sales on credit to customers should be programmed into the system of rules. c.) The Small Company employed Mr. Fineus Eyeshade to perform all its accounts receivable data processing. Mr. Eyeshades 25 years with the company and his unassuming appearance helped him conceal the fact that he was embezzling cash collections fro m accounts receivable to cover his gambling losses at the race track. Employees are required to take vacation and they should be cross-trained to cover each others jobs when they are out. d.) The Blue gage Utility Company was having difficulty with its customer payments. The payment amounts were entered directly into a terminal, and the transaction file thus created was used to update the customer master file. Among the problems encountered with this system were the application of customer payments to the wrong accounts and the creation of multiple customer master file records for the same account.They should be matching the invoice number and account add up this review should catch the error. Another control is the customers reviewing their statements to make sure that they are not being over charged, ect. e.) The Landsford brothers had lived in Center County all their lives. Ben worked for the local manufactory in the accounts payable subdivision, and Tom owned the local hard ware store. The sheriff couldnt believe that the brothers had created several dummy companies that sold fictitious merchandise to the mill. Ben had the mill pay for this merchandise in its usual fashion, and he wrote off the missing goods as damaged inventory. Access control to create new vendors, and vendor approval procedures is a good control. Problem 9-16 Identify one or more control procedures (either general or application controls, or both) that would guard against each of the following errors or problems. a.) A bank deposit transaction was accidentally coded with a withdrawal code. Having an input that verified what type of transaction was being inputted by personal. Also, at the end of the night count would reveal this problem because there would be extra money from the deposit in the drawer.b.) The key-entry operator keyed in the purchase secernate number as a nine-digit number instead of an eight-digit number. Input controls through the database form thatlimits the numbe r of digits of 8 that can be keyed in by the operator. c.) The date of a customer payment was keyed 2001 instead of 2010. Input control that checks the validity of the data keyed in. If the proper perimeters where set with the application anything that overleap short would not be processed until the problem was resolved. d.) A company employee was issued a check in the amount of $135.65 because he had not worked a certain week, but most of his payroll deductions were automatic each week. Edit programs could perform edit checks that would result in an error for negative amounts before issuing checks to employees. This is through by test of sign and the system would kick back the transaction for correction before issuing the check. Payroll deductions should never be programmed to a particular number each week because this does not allow for changes in the number of hours worked and will always result in a mistake.e.) A patient filled out her medical insurance number as 123465 inste ad of 123456. Edit programs could detect this input error by matching the information with the master file if the correct perimeters were set. f.) An applicant for the company stock option plan filled out her employee number as 84-7634-21.The first two digits are a department code. There is no department 84. Edit programs could detect this input error by matching the information with the master file if the correct perimeters were set. Once its noticed the employee would not be able to continue until they inputted their correct employee number.g.) A high school student was able to log onto the telephone companys computer as soon as he learned what telephone number to call. There should be a user name and password to feeler any companys computer. h.) The accounts receivable department sent 87 checks to the computer center for processing. No one regardd that one check was dropped on the way and that the computer therefore processed only 86 checks. Set up a checksum to check the numb er of checks sent against the number of checks received. They would then realize that they are missing a check and can look for it or get another one and void out the one that was dropped.

Big Time Essay

Today, more and more researchers argon interested in estimating the absolute contrariety in income distribution in developed and growing countries. And Lant Pritchett is no exception. In his Divergence, Big Time he shows that actual historical statistics are not needed for estimating the ratio of income in the richest and the poorest countries. As far as researchers pay unadulterated attention to literature on economic growth, Pritchett finds it important to discuss the phenomenon of conditional convergence.The key argument is that economies with low-level incomes have the t sackency to develop faster than economies with higher-income levels. Pritchett argues that lack of reliable historical data on per capita income hinders estimations of long-run convergence. Nonetheless, in his research his proves that divergences can be estimated without historical data. Development of modern economic history is attributed to estimations of divergence in productivity and living standards ac ross the countries.I agree with Pritchett that the tendency has gained wider attention as economists and analysts should be provided with proper knowledge of wherefore the poorer countries grow faster, why they recover faster from crisis, etc. Economists should be provided with full scene of what is happening globally, why growth rates are different and what constitutes economic development. Pritchett argues that income in ontogeny countries has fallen, whereas the income in developed countries has significantly increased increasing the gap between the rich and the poor.In particular, long-run economic growth has increased in developed countries, their growth rates remain similar to developing countries, whereas developing countries have the tendency to grow faster to balance convergence in absolute income levels. Interestingly, developing countries are often referred to as the other set of countries, but I cant agree with such definition because some of the East Asiatic countrie s as, for example, China and Japan are swiftly developing and they are very likely to replace the most developed countries within the next years.Of course, in the end of the 19th century economic development in less developed countries was significantly lower, but today the situation has changed. Pritchett notes that, on average, the growth rates in developing countries are slower contributing to divergence in relative incomes. Nevertheless, Pritchett is right when stating that developed countries are marked by different patterns of growth. Further, Pritchett cites one of the modern economists, Gerschenkron, who argues that the idea of advantage of backwardness stimulates developing countries to experiences episodes of rapid economic growth driven by increased productivity.I agree with researchers as there are many examples of individual developing countries that have illustrated rapid growth as China, for example. Of course, the most of the backward countries have practically no ch ances to become world leaders. historical researches claim that such cases are rare. Nevertheless, poorer countries are provided with the potential of economic growth, but strong forces of doldrums and lack of proper resources hinder economic development.Implosive decline is observed in countries, where society is disintegrated failing to gather economic statistics. Pritchetts claim that backwardness carries disadvantages is valid. The key challenge is how to overcome disadvantaged posted by stagnation and backwardness. Pritchett concludes that growth theories try to related economic growth to worlds experience. Economic growth in developed and developing countries depends on the level of proficient progress, per capita growth, and other internal and external factors.The author is interested in revealing why some countries are developing rapidly, whereas others are fading and loosing rapid growth. In my opinion, the issues raised in the article are important for modern economic history as the author contributes to understanding the reasons of economic growth. He says that divergence in income levels contributes to hindering economic development. However, the key finding is that the poorer countries have the tendency to grow faster.Works CitedPritchett, Lant. Divergence, Big Time. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11, 3 (1997) pp. 3-17.

Social Media: Bane or Boon?

SOCIAL MEDIA BOON OR BANE? Roberto M. Macatuggal, Ph. D. meshing 2. 0 has enab lead web-based services, such as affectionate intercommunicateing sites, wikis, communication tools, etc. , that emphasize collaboration and sharing among examplers. This plat level (Davis, 2012), described simply as the read/write web, allows users to be some(prenominal) consumers and producers of online electrical capacity. It is an interactive two- mood web a place where everyday folks with Internet rile basis create and edit stuff. Davis comp bes Web 1. 0 and Web 2. 0 Web 1. 0 was a place to go and get, while Web 2. 0 is a place to be and do.Gregory (2011) clarifies further that Web 2. 0 allows for participating and sharing in the production of resources. It is about communities, participation, and peering. A companionable network (Wikipedia) is a theoretical construct that is used to study the relationships amidst and among individuals, social units, or even whole societies. Georg Simmel pi oneered in early structural theories in Sociology and Jacob Moreno is credited for having developed the first sociograms in the 1930s to study inter personal relationships. Web 2. 0 social networking working capabilities look at spawned the development of social media tools.What is social media? fit in to Parker (2011) social media are the uses of Web technology to spread messages by dint of and through social interaction that happens online. Rean John Uehara (Webdesigner. com) defines social media as a combination of human interaction through web applications where people produce their own content, take form their own experience, and define their online front man. A loose definition of social media is that its like a country, people gather and interact with massive amounts of people from their sphere of influence and abroad. Its really a broad place, both wonderful and terrible depending on its use.Two of the most touristed social media are Facebook (visited at http// blog. facebook. com/blog. php? post =287542130) which claims to have more than 400 billion users and Twitter (http//blog. twitter. com/2010/02/measuring-tweets. html) receiving around 50 million updates a day from users, which is an average of 600 tweets per second. Parker (2011) differentiates the undermentioned social media tools 1. Blogging an informal conversational intermediate for writing and publishing content online on regular basis. (e. g. , Blogger, Typepad, WordPress). 2. Microblogging a short form of blogging where posts are usually limited in length and format. e. g. , Twitter, Friendfeed) 3. Social Networking a way to engage and interact with a specific online community by way of a fan or profile page. 4. Social Bookmarking a substitution location for posting links to useful resources which bay window be seen and contendd by other users. (e. g. , Digg, Stumbleupon, Delicious). 5. Multimedia Sharing rich media such as video, images, and founding online. (e. g. , YouTube, SlideShare, Flickr). 6. Reviews and Opinions a way for customers to share opinions and reviews of products and services online. (e. g. , Yahoo Answers, Epinions, eHow). 7.Wikis a central repository designed to be edited by a group quite than one person. (e. g. , Wikipedia, Wikia, Wikitravel, Dealipedia, Wikimapia). What are the benefits of social media? Nakul Arora wrote in his blog that in todays fast growing world, social media is the latest thing which has made its presence felt virtually across all the sectors. Facebook and Twitter are two big players having majority control within social media. thusly, it becomes very important for whatsoever organization today to be present in some form or the other on these networks so as to connect with the wide future(a) these networks have.These networks have in addition taken individualism to a nonher level altogether with each person having a considerable say over his friend group. Thus if any educational administration at all succeeds in winning over a student to avail of its educational services, the chance of influencing his friends also increases. According to Arora, there are 5 things that educational institutions can do to tap into the students on Facebook and Twitter 1. Forming a utilize team. This aspect involves creation of a dedicated team for the sole purpose of managing the social media setup for the institution.This is very important in the present environment there creation more than one section in an institution. It is also important to ensure the smooth functioning of the online groups with the social media team managing and ensuring a proper sync between all the different aspects of the institution. An practice session here to show the need of such a team would be to simply take a case wherein an ex-student of the university sends out a job fortune to a group of present students online. Now, the social team would keep track of this and forward it to the respective department w hich an then ensure that the opportunity is properly utilised by the students. This dedicated team would also ensure that the institutions updates are substantially planned and organized instead of doing them at random. This would thus, cater well to the different groups of ex, current and prospective students. 2. Giving before receiving. A common rule of the internet is that you have to first give before you receive. Any person would only follow a particular group or institution if they are sharing things that are unique and beneficial in some way for the person.This is not a tough thing to attain, for every institution is unique in its own aspect and thus, creation and sharing of unique things wouldnt poke out such a big problem. Also, the university can utilize its previously existing case-studies, problems, etc. for the purpose of engaging the prospecting and other interested students. It can also share newsletter articles about happenings in the institution with the people w ho are interested in keeping updated with the affairs of the school. 3. Forming and coordinating student online groups.Students are any institutions biggest asset and can be the best people to spread the message of the happenings and current life of the institution. Thus, any institution should maintain an online students group where it should form a dedicated team of student volunteers to share the latest things from the campus. This would give the prospective students a real glimpse of the actual life in the campus and also help them connect with the current students. The ex-students can also use this group to remain connected with their Alma Mater.Such groups can also be formed for specific purposes a group can be formed solely for the purpose of sharing internship opportunities by the alumni with the current students. Another such group can be solo for the alumni and staff members to reconnect and be in touch. Also, smaller groups can be formed to influence students who have ne gative attitudes and perceptions about the school. 4. Presence of influential personalities on the networks. any college has its heroes professors or teachers who are famous for their service in a particular field of study.These are people who have a huge fan following and thus, any update that they make will be followed by a large number of people. The university has to ensure that professors of such repute have their presence in the social world as well and they also communicate on a regular basis with their followers. Many institutions have already initiated this with their chancellors and heads having an active Facebook or Twitter account. They can actually hold open forums, discussions or simply answer some queries occasionally on the social media. 5. Trying to create a better world.The institutions can also use the social media for their aims towards providing a good education to all. This can be done with the creation of free online courses which can be taken by anyone and e veryone. The world has been propelled in that direction with the introduction of Apples iUniversity which gives the universities an opportunity to provide a host of courses, either free or paid. This will go a long way in developing the reputation of the university while benefiting in the process due to development of good content and new courses.This will help towards creating a better world where quality education will be free and available to all. As the prevalence of social media continues to rise, organizations of all types and sizes are recognizing the ways in which social media can help them better understand, respond to, and attract the attention of their calculate audience. As a result, businesses are now jumping on the social media bandwagon at a rapid pace, embracing blogs, social networks, wikis, and other vehicles to achieve their marketing and public relations goals.The types of benefits that corporations achieve with an effective social media strategy (http//shiftcom m. com/social_media_benefits. html) are the following 1. Get the message out faster and to more people. Social media enables more rapid sharing of information. It may take hours, or even days, for a new announcement to reach the end consumer through traditional channels. Why? Because when a press release is issued, a journalist or writer moldiness first wade through all the sales and marketing lingo to find the distinguish points.Then, the content must be re-purposed in article format, and sent to an editor or proofreader before it is published. Social media vehicles, on the other hand, allow for instantaneous dissemination of not just news, but images, audio, video, and other multimedia content as well. And because releases geared toward social media outlets take for only key highlights, pertinent facts, and hyperlinks to related statistics and quotes, the information they contain can be immediately picked up and posted by bloggers and other online journalists.Social media also provides more widespread coverage, enabling breaking news to reach a much larger and broader reader base than standard media outlets alone. While magazine readership and the number of available print publications continue to decline, the number of consumers using the Internet to access and share information continues to rise sharply. For example, one recent study showed that almost one out of every four Internet users over 41 million people total in 2006 visits MySpace on a regular basis. 2. Improve branding.Social media, and blogs in particular, can be a highly useful tool for enhancing both awareness and image. Blogging can help spread the word about a company, its products, and its services to more people, dramatically increasing brand recognition and awareness. Additionally, social media can enable executives to gather input and feedback directly from their target audience, and use that intelligence for more effective reputation management. Insight into why people like or ha te a brand is needed to help dislodge and control audience perceptions and preferences. 3. Boost the impact of direct marketing.Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a key component of todays direct marketing and lead generation strategies, and social media has proven its ability to significantly complement SEO initiatives. Many social media techniques such as frequent use of common jargon and key phrases, title tags, ticker symbols, and links to blogs and other relevant Web content can dramatically improve search engine rankings. Additionally, while SEO relies on just a handful of popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo to drive target prospects to a site, social media expands the potential audience by creating alternate channels.For example, when content is published to a site, and that content is then linked to delicious or reddit, it can generate a tremendous boost in Web traffic. Many companies also find it much easier to generate compelling content that is likely to be picked up by bloggers, than it is to keep up with the rules required to rank high in todays popular search engines Parker (2011) suggests five (5) steps in the effective use of social media in business 1. Think of the bigger picture. Be consistent with the message you wish to convey across various tools. 2. employment less rather than more media tools.It is important to consider your objectives as a basis for selecting the appropriate media tool. 3. Appoint a social media champion. The person would be prudent in engaging the clients / customers regularly develops strategies to promote the business through social media. He/she would also be responsible in coordinating employees personal and social media activities. 4. Tracking the effect. Track the impact of social media efforts on the business such as increased traffic to the website of your business. 5. Take action. Retain the social media tool that gives you more business.Schools have likewise taken advantage of social media to reach out to as many students as assertable. For universities competing to attract top students, its no longer abundant to have a glossy brochure and a sleek website. Schools like Johns Hopkins are reaching out to engage with applicants on Facebook and Twitter. Theyre also finding that a robust social media campaign, along with such creative features as student-run blogs, can lure prospective students while a stale online presence can make for them off. College admissions officers are indeed learning to interact with students where they hang out online.According to a recent study by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, degree Celsius% of universities surveyed use social media to communicate with students, up from 61% in 2007-08. The study found that 98% of the responding colleges have a Facebook page and 84% have a Twitter account. What are some of the misuses of social media? Social media, according to Prateek Shah, is as prone to m isuse as your computer is to virus. One of the misuses of social media is defaming people/groups/religions/communities. This is possible because of the anonymity of the person posting the derogatory statements.Celebrity fake accounts are being made and untrue stories about them are being spread. Hacking at home has led to stealing of passwords and accessing the private lives of others, leaders to relationship woes and even divorces. A survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) revealed that four out of five lawyers describe a growing number of divorce cases that cited evidence derived from networking sites. What is at stake when social media is misused and abused? Because of social media misuse and abuse, Uehara (posted at Webdesigner. om) says that you as a social media user may lose 1. Your soul. If you have a huge audience and you make one little blunder, people will strike you with their pitchforks. 2. Your integrity. gigantic claims, especially in public, c an easily be cross-examined. 4. Your privacy. Often, people would share snippets of their personal lives on social media sites which is tantamount to loss of privacy. 3. Your job. People have deep in thought(p) their jobs because of a single tweet 4. Your future. People remember. What you share now with people can haunt you several years from now.The future of social media Gregory argues that social networking through the web with sites such as Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, Second Life, YouTube, and Flicker is becoming a widespread if not dominant form of communication among Internet users, and most popular phenomena prognosticators forecast that this type of collaborating will continue and grow exponentially. Prateek Shah warns that regular attempts at curbing the freedom of social media will be made, but the truth is that it is leading us towards a new world where the lies will be trashed and the guilty will be charged.He says that It will not happen overnight but change has begun and it is for the common good. In the Philippines, our legislators have crafted House Bill 3732, otherwise known as the granting immunity of Information Bill. Social Media and the Internet will be among the enablers of the Freedom of Information Bill, which will boost transparency and minimize graft and corruption in the government. Maintaining ethics in the hyper-networked world of social media Tyler Pennock, Director of Social Media, crude Finn Creative Edge formulated the following ethical guidelines in the use of social media 1. Honesty State nly what you know to be true and be agnize about opinion or conjecture vs. fact. 2. Transparency Be straightforward about who you are and who youre representing online. 3. Respect Respect for yourself, your peers, and even your adversaries. 4. Privacy perform the intimate details of others as you would your own personal information. 5. Relevance Ensure that the content youre posting is relevant to the audience and the venue where its being posted. 6. Responsibility Take ownership of your online activities, the content youve created, and any missteps youve made along the way.Conclusion Social media is mans creation to respond to a need for expanding the network of social relationships, towards the realization of a real global village. However, the effectiveness of such social media depends on the selection of the tools that suit ones purposes and objectives, including their proper use through the observance of ethical practices that respect the rights and uphold the dignity of the human person. References Arora, Nakul. 5 Ways Educational Institutions Can Use Facebook and Twitter For Studies And Coordination.Davis, Cheryl Ann Peltier. (2012). The Cybrarians Web. capital of the United Kingdom Facet Publishing. Gregory, Vicki L. (2011). Collection Development and Management for 21st Century Library Collections An Introduction. New York Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. Parker, Catherine . (2011). 301 Ways to Use Social Media to Boost Your Marketing. New York McGraw-Hill. Prateek, Shah. Use, Misuse and nuisance of Social Media. Posted at http//greensmyles. com/2012/06/the-use-and-misuse-of-social-media/ Uehara, Rean John. Social Media Misuse That Could Cost You Big Time. Webdesigner. com.

Movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” Essay

An amazing photographic film, The Pursuit of Happiness illustrates through the examples of Chris Gardeners life that any one and only(a) has the probability to achieve their own pursuit of happiness, if they construct self-motivation and determination. Happiness is non something that can be pursued. We already have all the capacity for happiness that we need. Happiness go downs from within, and from be content with oneself. People can choose to be happy or choose to be miserable. But to be happy or to be pitiable they need to have particular motivation or self-determination for it.Motivation is defined as a desire or need which directs towards a intention or something that someone wants. Motivation is an inherent response it comes from inside and cannot be imposed from the outside, and comes from wanting to do something of ones own free will. A motivating condition may be defined as an emotion, desire, physiological need, or similar impulse that acts as an animating to proce eding and is the set of processes that moves a person towards a goal. Motivation consists of five basic theories. The last theory is called humanist theory and this is perhaps the most important of all. According to Abraham Maslow, an inventor of humanistic psychology, humans are driven to achieve the maximum point of goal at some point of their lives regardless of any obstacles and hindrances. Maslow developed a gain called Maslows Hierarchy of Needs and it argues about five levels of needs beginning with physiological needs and ending with our need for self-actualization.In the movie Pursuit of Happiness, the important character Chris Gardner was played by Will Smith, who had lost everything in some financial crisis. He ended up living in homeless cherish with his kid. He was jobless to support his kid and his wife, so his wife leaves him. Motivation drives him to struggle until the very end to get rid of this situation. Chris had motivation, he had to feed and wish well for his child. To feed your child and raise them properly is probably about the strongest motivation a person could have. Chris son reminded him daily of his need to succeed and get ascendancy of his life. Not only did Chris have motivation, he had anincredible attitude and was confident in himself. If not for his confidence and attitude he most likely would have never become the successful stock broker he ended up being, much less even made it into the internship.Chris, after falling on hard financial times his son was left homeless. Chris manipulates working a full time unpaid internship, bringing his son to daycare, and finding a love to sleep each night in Church. Chris and his son are not leading an easy life. One day, Chris finds some free time and decides to play basketball game with his son. Where he tells his son that his dream to play basketball as an NBA player will never become true, and he can never be a level-headed player, so he should stop playing. Yet Chris has a su dden change of heart and gives his son a speech to encourage him to always travail his hardest and not let anyone shuts him down. Chris tells his son, Dont let anybody tell you, you cant do something. Even me, You gotta dream, you gotta protect it You want something? Go get it. stoppage (_The Pursuit of Happiness.)_ In first Chris decreases his sons expectancy by telling him that he wouldnt be able to play as a basketball player.In this movie the character of Chris is shown an extremely determined person. According to psychology, in order to be determined you have to let your mind bugger off the decision that you have to get to the very end. Its like a goal that you have to achieve it. Its the end of your work. It could be either good or bad. A very good example which proves that Chris Gardner is determined person is when Chris did not have any money left to pay for his rent. He didnt just say I dont have any money and give up on everything, he rather told his land proprietor tha t he will pay him the money and so he did, he was so determined to pay for his rent, so determined that he painted the walls of his apartment to make money so that he could pay off his rent.The another great example of being determined is when Chris trusted the hippie girl with one of his bone scanners and when the hippie ran away with the scanner, he did not just sit back and lose his faith. He runs after that lady and finally gets his scanner back. The trine example of being determined is when Chris kept calling although many people such as his manager keep distracting him from his work and turned him down, but he never gives up and ended up getting business from a CEO of a big company whichshows that what determination brings to him.Chris Gardner had hope and motivation not to give up. He was very hopeful and optimistic individual and never gave up throughout his life. He decided what he wanted to do and he actually went for it. Even though his motivations for being in the stoc k market were not the correct ones, but it still even didnt drag him to despair. An admirable illustration that proves Chris Gardner really is a hopeful and Optimistic person is when Chriss wife had left him and he did not break down.He in feature was totally optimistic and did as far as conceivable to take care of his child as a single parent. Further example for Chris Gardners optimistic nevertheless hopeful individuality is when he took a chance of an internship that offered no salary, and he took that job even though he was literally broke. The tierce impressive example would be when one of his scanners that Chris was selling got broke. He did not get disappointed and lost his hope. He actually took some notable action and donated blood to the hospital so he could get paid for that. With that money in his hand he bought the bulb for his machine and repaired it.According to Maslows gain Chris was hanging on the very bottom of it, because he did not have a permanent shelter whe re he could live with his son, and he has very slight money for the food. Since he had no job so he was not secured either. With all these negative things Chris self-esteem was very high as is shown in the movie when he showed up into interview with no shirt on and paint all over his body and hair and he still gets selected. The reason why, is because he was very and confident and he had firm belief in himself, so he gets respected by others too. They didnt just judge him the way he looks but how well he can perform his job and they offered him the internship job. Even though the job was no salary based he still original it and worked very hard till the end to get the actual job at same place.In the end, your motivation to change something about yourself may come from a variety of sources, perhaps a little because of pain, a little because youre inspired to be a better person, and a little because your married personwould like you to stop a habit thats driving both of you crazy. Becoming aware of your primary motivation to change is the best source for cathode-ray oscilloscope off a new path, a new direction of life. No matter who or what the circumstances are, every person who is considering changing something about her or himself has a reason a motive to change that can reinforce and strengthen the resolve to change when change becomes difficult.WORKS CITEDMotivation in psychological science 101 at AllPsych Online. _Psychology Classroom at AllPsych Online_. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .Literature Class Ppt. _Google_. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .Motivation in Psychology. _Encyclopedia of Psychology Psychology Websites_. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .

Building a Company Without Borders

HBR. ORG Bart Becht is the CEO of Reckitt Benckiser, headquartered in Slough, England. Building a Comp every Without BordersAn Italian Is Running The Uk Business A Dutchman Is Running The U. S. Business An American Is Running The German Business By Bart Becht A Frenchman Is Running The Russian Business An Indian Is Running The Chinese Business A Belgian Is Running The Brazilian Business T The IdeaYou may neer hurl heard of Reckitt Benckiser, barely in the bygone few years the company has outperformed its rivals P&G, Unilever, and Colgate in suppurationeven during the downturn. Heres how. ey say you cant go home again. If you give way for Reckitt Benckiser, you can go homebut you may not want to, and you certainly wont have to. Many companies, when they describe themselves as spherical, blotto they have operations around the world, they work virtu on the wholey and in all time zones, and their key community are developed through stints in otherwise grocerys. Our version is much comprehensive. Most of our top managers havent held jobs in their countries of origin for years and view themselves as global citizens quite than as citizens of any given nation. We have operations in more than 60 countries.Our top 400 managers represent 53 di erent nationalities. Weve spent the past 10 years expression this culture of global April 2010 Harvard Business Review 103 This name is provided compliments of Reckitt Benckiser Group. HOW I DID IT mobility because we think its one of the best ways to generate new minds and constitute global entrepreneurs. And it has paid o . Products launched in the past three yearsall the result of global cross-fertilizationaccount for 35% to 40% of our sack revenue. For example, Finish, an all-in-one dishwasher tablet you drop into your machine, is now the leader in its market category.Recently we successfully introduced QuantuMatican automatic dispenser of dishwasher detergent that doesnt need to be re lled for up to a month. W ith constant innovation like this weve enjoyed steady, pro table growth, even during the downturn. Since 2005 weve outpaced all our big competitors. During the recession weve invested more than ever in marketing, and we grew at a rate of 8% (at constant exchange rates) in 2009. A Company Without a Country The RB Powerbrands Though the companys corporate brand recognition is very low, its products are well-known. RB focuses on 17 powerbrandsAir Wick Calgon (water softener) Cillit Bang Clearasil Dettol Finish Frenchs previously ELECTRASOL Gaviscon AMERICA IN NORTH Harpic Lysol Mortein Mucinex Nurofen Strepsils Vanish Veet Woolite 104 Harvard Business Review April 2010 Reckitt Benckiser resulted from a amalgamation in 1999 of Reckitt & Colmana British purveyor of household cleaning products with a salient stable of brandsand the Dutchlisted Benckiser, a much smaller but betterperforming consumer goods company. precisely we dont want to be known as an AngloDutch enterprise, or by any other label based on our operations or history.Were not any countrys companywere a unfeignedly multicountry company. That is by design. Postmerger we mixed the national cultures quickly in every corner of our operations. Premerger many of the local businesses had been running themselves more or less independent of the suspire of the world and without regard to overall corporate precedentities. We transferred people who embodied RBs values into key positions in new markets. Managers from one side of the merger were purposely moved to another territory, and then moved again. Now in every country we have people of many nationalities as well as local citizens.Today an Italian is running the UK business, and an American is running the German business. A Dutchman is running the U. S. business, an Indian the Chinese business, a Belgian the Brazilian business, and a Frenchman the Russian business. Its not that you cant advance at RB in your local company. You can. But we also offer uniq ue global mobility and experience to people who want to grow their careers on a world stage. To facilitate this mobility, we established compensation rules that apply equally to our top 400 managers in all markets, making international transfers easy.We have just one employment contract, and our salary ranges were developed with global benchmarking. Our annual cash bonus structure and long-term incentive plans are the same for everyone, as are our pensions, medical plans, and other benefits. We have no expatriates in the traditional sense, no tax equalization or guarantee of a job back in ones home country. When employees take up jobs in other countries, theyre transferred as local hires. Weve strengthened in standard protocols to light upon it easier for people with families to move.For example, we fund whatever school the employee chooses for his or her children because we understand how important that is to a familys adjustment. That way, we can instantly implement a transf erwe dont have to negotiate a lot of convoluted contractual nonsense. We have moved people to new countries in as little as two days. We also do something pretty rare with graduates. In some markets we help foreign students to get work permits in the countries where theyve been studying. The very fact that they have traveled to study means they are internationally minded and thus likely to be keen to work in other countries as well.At a lot of companies its assumed that employees, having seen the world, will sooner or later return to their home countries to continue their careers. Our idea is that you focus primarily on the best job possible for you, regardless of country. That kind of life isnt for everyone, and not everyone has to follow that path. But those who love it sincerely love it. Its exciting, and it gives pace, challenge, learning, and a buzz to peoples careersalong with the satisfaction of being able to be entrepreneurial and innovative. We try to put our richly poten tials in stretching situations around the globe.For example, we had one excellent employee who wanted to be moved to an international marketing job. We had an opening in India, but that would have been a poor choice for himhes Indian. Our previous three marketing people in India were German, French, and British. If this employee wanted to grow, he needed to acquire different experiences and learning, so a better development opportunity would be for him to work in Brazil or Mexico. Our high potentials have to find their footing very quickly, and most(prenominal) of them grow tremendously when we take them out of their familiar zone.This article is provided compliments of Reckitt Benckiser Group. HBR. ORG Reckitt Benckiser at a Glance A DECADE OF GROWTH , MILLIONS , ?, ? Total , crystallize Revenue (? M) , , , , , , , OPERATING PROFIT , Operating Pro? t (? M) NET REVENUE , Employees ?, ? , Total , Net Revenue (? M) Operating Pro? t (? M) Employees start RECKITT BENCKISER Even their failures in new markets are important learning experiences for our high potentials. One of our top managers, who is Dutch, still talks about the hard lesson he in condition(p) when we transferred him to Turkey.In The Netherlands, where he had worked before, billing and receivables were predictable and orderly. In Turkey the currency suddenly collapsed by 70%while he was focusing on market share rather than on delinquent receivables. As he puts it, theres nothing like a currency failure to change your views on tight financial management. If you dont express your opinion, you dont have an opinion, and thats a fatal weakness for people who want to do well at Reckitt Benckiser. That means our meetings are a bit chaotic. Everybody wants to be heard, so its more like an Italian family dinner than a nicely organized board meeting.What takes over in our meetings is an intensity and a feeling that we have to ght for better ideas. Con ict is good. We dont care about consensus. non having i t doesnt slow us down and doesnt mean that people arent aligned. We make purposes fast and then all stand behind them. What isnt tolerated is conflict that simply slows down decision making or is for political or personal gain. Almost every key decision is made in the meeting at which its rst discussed. We expect people to come armed with facts, be prepared to argue their point of view, and be willing to live with the decision we ultimately make.Get 80% alignment and 100% agreement to implement. And move quickly. But I also dont believe in devastating minority views. If we have 10 people in a room, eight of them agreeing on one thing and two passionately believing something else, we dont try to resolve it to everyones satisfaction. We allow those two to experiment with their ideaseven if everyone else thinks theyre wrong. At the end of the day, what counts is not what the 10 people in that room think, its what the consumer thinks. So we let them run maverick smallscale experiment s to get consumer feedback. Sometimes our biggest ideas come that way.About six years ago we had a huge internecine debate about a product called Air Wick Freshmatic, which automatically releases freshener into the air on a schedule. It originated when one of our brand managers in Korea observed a new kind of automatic scent dispenser in stores there. In his opinion it was not a well-designed product, but he thought the idea was intriguing, so he brought it to a group meeting at our headquarters. Vigorous debate ensued. April 2010 Harvard Business Review 105 With so many different native languages in our company, it was necessity to make English the official language for all meetings.Im Dutch, but I dont speak Dutch with any of my Dutch colleagues, because if others are around, it excludes them. We are one team with one language. English isnt most peoples native language, and often our English isnt pretty. But the way we see it, it doesnt matter as long as you give a view. If you dont express your opinion, you dont have an opinion, and thats a fatal weakness for people who want to do well at Reckitt Benckiser. You have to stand for something, no matter how bluntly you transmit it. Con? ict Is Good This article is provided compliments of Reckitt Benckiser Group.HOW I DID IT HBR. ORG RBs Performance-Based Remuneration Reckitt Benckiser believes it has designed a compensation plan to foster its innovative and entrepreneurial culture. The company has touted performance-oriented pay in its annual report as key to RBs strong growth. According to a 2006 Harvard Business School consequence study, the plan, which applies to the companys top managers (including the CEO), consists of three parts base salary, short-term incentives, and long-term incentives. Base salaries are set near the median for competitors pay. The real bene? comes in the form of bonuses. A manager who meets all targets will typically receive 40% of his or her base salary as a bonus that year. A m anager who blows the targets out of the water A manager who blows the targets out of the water can earn a bonus of up to 144%. (usually that means stunt man the target numbers) can earn a bonus of up to 144%. Long-term compensation, in the form of options and performance-related restricted stock, depends on meeting three-year corporate growth targets for earnings per share. New long-term goals are put into place each year. Karen Dillon A couple of our managers believed it should be a consumer product in Europe, but a lot more thought that made no sense it might work in Korea on a very small scale, but it would never work in Western markets. For one thing, it would have to be priced well above the standard air freshener, and it wasnt clear that the market would support that. Also, this would be our rst foray into something electronic, with wires, batteries, interval switchesa complex technology combination. The product would require new manufacturing facilities if it went to any sca le.But two people meant we had to source materials we had no prior experience with. Today Air Wick Freshmatic is sold in 85 countries, with a wide range of options for consumers. It generates well in excess of ? 200 one million million annually. That product had the most successful launch in our history. Of course, things dont always work out that well. Weve launched some beautifully thought-out products that we were passionate aboutbut consumers werent. A few years ago we introduced a wonderful product to clean your microwave You put a little sachet into the oven and start it. WhileIf soul wants to stand up under stress and say, No, I passionately believe in this, then Im willing to take a chance. maxim the potential and were willing to ght for the chance to prove it. If somebody wants to stand up under stress and say, No, I passionately believe in this. You kats are all wrong Weve got to do this, then Im willing to take a chance. So in this case I said ne, heres the money go g ure it out, but do it on a small scale. And thats what they did. In January 2004, initial testing of the idea with consumers in the UK produced extraordinary results.By the end of the year the product was in more than 30 other countries, and wed overseen the building of a new factory in China to make itwhich 106 Harvard Business Review April 2010 the oven is heating, the sachet pops and spreads cleaner around. When its nished, the sachet has become a cloth to wipe your cleaner away. It was a beautifully designed product. But it turns out that people dont actually want to clean their microwaves all that often, so we pulled it from the market. If we are going to fail, we want to fail small and quickly.Failure is actually a huge incentive for the kind of people who fit well with our company, because theyre so personally competitive that theyll work even faster for the next success. Everyone wants to do something to get on the map. I just moved one manager from Chile to Turkey. He earne d that move because he had done something very intriguing in his markethed launched one of our powerbrands, the sanitizer Dettol, in Latin America. It wasnt the biggest success weve ever had, but the point is that he did it. He was the guy who brought Dettol to Chile and created a platform for its growth.Thats his mark on the business. That kind of thing earns you a promotion in this company, and the promotion will probably take you to another part of the world. Some people look at us and think theyd have to be nuts to work here. Were expression for people with a certain level of maturity, intensity, and competitiveness. If you bring all of that to Reckitt Benckiser, it will be rewarded. (See the sidebar RBs Performance-Based Remuneration. ) As the CEO who has guided the company for more than a decade, Id like to take credit for having a brilliant strategy or unique insights into the global marketplace.But in humans the vision slide we use today is the exact same one weve used si nce the merger. We have a very simple approach to the business focus on 17 powerbrands in fast-growing categories, innovate and invest behind themand do so in every market. At the end of the day, what is most hard-hitting about Reckitt Benckiser is its people and culture. I can tell in three minutes if someone would be a good t for our company. Wed rather have a position open for a long time, if necessary, than put the wrong person in place. Its that important. HBR Reprint R K This article is provided compliments of Reckitt Benckiser Group.