A working zone versus a distracting zone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A working zone versus a distracting zone - Essay Example I thought that I had done pretty well up till then, when I begand attending English 848 classes at the College of San Mateo. That was when I discovered, through the pie chart I had drawn up for my weekly activities in class, that I was actually spending a great deal of time procrastinating. This discovery led me to wonder as to what was causing me to procrastinate and what else I could do in order to use my time more effectively. It was around this same time that I began reading the book â€Å"Distracted† by Maggie Jackson. In the book Ms. Jackson writes; â€Å"attention is a process of taking in, sorting and shaping, planning, and regulates one’s impulses, which carries us towards our highest goals (24)†. It was the perfect accompaniement to my parents own beliefs about planning daily schedules in order to use time more efficiently. So I began to look to my past in order to explain why I was procrastinating in the present. I was led to the discovery that I spent too much time in my room, lying in bed either procrastinating or just being distracted. That was the main reason that I was now far from being an ideal student. Therefore, I needed to overcome this shortcoming somehow. Perhaps by spending more time at school studying. However, looking back on my planning methods, I found that I was mainly to blame when it came to falling short of performing my scheduled activities. Due to the distractions caused by my always wanting to relax in bed, I failed to develop my ability to concentrate on my planned tasks. Professor Christof Koch, an American neuroscientist known for his work on the neural bases of consciousness, defines attention as â€Å"the ability to concentrate on a particular stimulus, event, or thought while excluding competing stimuli.† Therefore, I needed to learn to stop distracting myself by going to bed everytime I had a task on hand. Looking back on my childhood experiences I knew that I did not always procrastinate in bed. In fact, I disliked my classmates and friends who spent more time in bed sleeping or relaxing when they could be doing more productive things with their time. Tracing back to my high school years, I could almost pinpoint the exact moment when I became what I despised the most. When I was in my senior year of high school, my parents and I had already set our sights on my coming to America to attend university studies at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). Since we wanted to ensure my acceptance to our university of choice, my parents developed a rigorous academic schedule for me. One that constantly left me physically and mentally exhausted every day. In an effort to help my body recover, I began to extend my leisure and sleeping time. I now realize that giving in to the whims and caprices of my body was the wrong thing for me to have done. My approach was a typical way of shifting stress on a new event. According to Amisha Padnani, an author of New York Times, c ites Dr. Teresa Lesiuk, an assistant professor in the music therapy program at the University of Miami, â€Å"When you’re stressed, you might make a decision more hastily; you have a very narrow focus of attention.† In this case, I chose relaxation time on my bed to shift my attention from the rigorous schedule that I had agreed to fulfill in the first place. But I began to enjoy relaxing to much and began to lose sight of my main goal, acceptance into UCLA. Needless to say, my lack of focus and other missteps resulted in my denial by UCLA. Having realized

Ethics and Justice in Criminal Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethics and Justice in Criminal Law - Essay Example Shantel should ethically not plead guilty to a crime she did not commit (Siegel & Worrall, 2011). This is however difficult given her past records of criminal offenses. In addition, her evidence may not be considered strong enough given she was staying together with a boyfriend who was a drug addict. Shantel is not the only one with such scenarios; fact bargaining, sentence bargaining and charge bargaining are also commonly used. For example, an individual who has been unrightfully charged for first degree murder may plead that the case be reduced to a man slaughter against the backdrop of the reigning laws and rules. Plea bargaining has been challenged for its using the game theory to analyze and decide on a plea bargaining process (Siegel & Worrall, 2011). In addition, crime victims do not have the ability to influence plea agreements. Defense Attorneys and the Ethics of Death Row Volunteering This presents both legal and ethical dilemmas in that I, as the defense attorney, am char ged with protecting the client’s interests and negotiating between my own personal values and the client’s wishes as pertains to the execution. This hence needs a balance between my personal values and professional standing. ... This in mentioning would mean revisiting past cases that turned out well. If Smith accepts another appeal, I could raise an appeal on the intensity of the punishment that has been raised against Smith and review the past evidences at length. Capital punishment is a great human rights violation since everyone has a right to life. Secondly, retribution results in massive killings of each other since it applies the eye for eye rule and lastly the proportionality of capital punishment has raised legal issues. In most cases, the punishment is not proportional to the offense that has been committed and hence needs a thorough evaluation of the intensity of the wrong that has been committed. I would hence appeal that if Smith be given a sentence, then it should be proportional to the offense that Smith has committed. Justice for All Justice ought to apply to all American citizens irrespective of age, social status and race. Marriott is already under probation for misbehavior and has a curfew of 11p.m. She has not finished the period yet has been found with another mistake which is even grosser; drunken driving past the curfews on the probation order. As the appellate judge, on the basis of the law, Marriott should serve her jail term. The final decision on Marriott’s case lies with the courts and not with the sheriffs. It is hence unlawful for the Sherriff to lift charges that have been placed on a citizen unless she/he challenges the verdict through a lawyer. Marriott’s due process rights have not been infringed into, because the law is clear on actions that are taken against individuals who deliberately break the law even after being served with a probation order.

Trouble in Paradise with Comments Essay Example for Free

Trouble in Paradise with Comments Essay Company joint venture in China is one of the regions shining success stories. So why is generai manager Mike Gravesthinking about pulling the plug on it? ROM Mike Gravess tall windows, which were draped in red veivet, the view of Shanghai was spectacular: the stately old Western-style buildings, the riot of modem skyscrapers, the familiar needle of the TV tower. But today Mike barely noticed it. Clenching a copy of his Chinese partners proposal for another acquisition it would be the companys fourth he paced the floor and replayed in his mind that mornings unsettling phone call. He had called his boss. Bill Windier, at headquarters in Ohio, hoping to get a nice quote to inject into the brief remarks he was to make at that days banquet celebrating the joint ventures tenth anniversary. But as he gave Windier a quick rundown of what he intended to say mostly about the joint ventures progress toward world-class qualityMike could sense his bosss growing frustration. Aboutfiveminutes into the call. Windier cut Mike off in midsentence. saying,Dont throw your shoulder out patting yourself on the back. Windier reminded Mike about the margins he was looking for across all of Heartland Spindles businesses. A 4% ROI is pathetic, Windier said. Weve been in there ten years, Mike. The numbers shouid look better by now. He said he was looking for a 20% ROI, adding that such a number could surely be achieved through greater efficiency and more automation. And in Windlers view, the company had at least 1,200 employees too many. That needs to be fixed, fast, he said. Mike knew his boss wouldnt take no for an answer, but he had also learned that his Chinese partners would never agree to drastic moves such as the layoffs suggested by Windier. It was beginning to look as though the five good years he had spent here as general manager might be destined to come to a pairrful end. Mike couldnt help but HBRs cases, which arefictional,present common managerial dilemmas and offer concrete solutions from experts. A CHANGED WORLD AUGUST 2003 H B R CASE STUDY †¢ T r o u b l e in P a r a d i s e wonder if those harsh v^ords from Ohio were a warning that his contract might not be renewed in six months. Then, to top things off, just as Mike had extricated himself from the phone conversation, this latest acquisition proposal had arrived from deputy general manager Qinlin Li. The top executive on the Chinese side of the joint venture, Qinlin had been with the JV since its inception. As before, there would be almost irresistible pressure to go along with the deal. The Chinese side would make it clear yet again that the delicate partnership depended on Mikes support for continuous expansion and protection of jobs. The timing couldnt have been worse: The last thing Windier would want was more growth initiatives eating into the profits. A knock on the heavy teak door snapped him out of his musings. Feng Chen, Mikes assistant and translator, informed him that his car was waiting. nior executives, Qinllns immediate subordinates, stood up and nodded their greetings. There was a burst of excited applause, and cameras flashed. Qinlin was accompanying three important government officials into the room. They approached Mikes table and politely bickered for several minutes over who should enjoy the most prominent seat at the table, as required by Chinese custom. At last, the eldest and most highly placed official accepted the seat of honor. Qinlin stepped up to the podium, above which hung a huge Chinese knot of red silk, the symbol of cooperation. There was an expectant hush as he tapped the microphone. Ladies and gentlemen Qinlin began,thank you for joining me to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Zhong-Lian Knitting Company Limited. Those who were vwith the company at the beginning remember the hardships we endured and the hard work we put in. Since the establishment of Zhong-Lian as a 50/50 joint venture between Suzhou First Textile Company and our U. S. partner. Heartland Spindle Company, Zhong-Lian has faced many difficulties and obstacles. But we succeeded Mike was listening to the translators words, but he could hear the passion in Qinlins voice. We turned a money-losing company into a money-making company, and we made great headway as a result of support from our government, efforts on the part of both parent companies, and all our managers and employees. Mike hadnt been there during the early days, but he knew the stories. He was the fourth GM sent by Heartland in ten years. His two most recent pre- Enhance Friendly Cooperation As the car pulled up outside the ShangriLa Hotel, Mike forced himself to smile at the red carpet lined with dozens of lavish flower baskets sent by local government officials, business partners, suppliers, customers, and even competitors. A marching band in full uniform stood at the hotel entrance, and above it stretched a bright red banner that said, in Chinese and English: Enhance Friendly Cooperation and Ensure Mutual Growth and Celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of Zhong-Lian Knitting Co. Ltd. Mike exchanged greetings with Qinlin, who had been there for an hour already and was still seeing to last-minute details. In the ballroom, an elegant young woman in a red silk qi-pao, a traditional dress for formal celebrations, escorted Mike to the round table that was front and center. Tvo Chinese se- Katherine Xin is a professor of management and holds the Micheiin Chair in Leadership and Human Resource Management at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai; she is also the editor in chief of HBR China. Vladimir Pucik is a professor ofinternational human resources and strategy at the International Institute for Management Development (lMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland. 28 decessors had left before their threeyear assignments were complete, one for family reasons his wife couldnt adapt to China-and the other for a better job offer (allegedly). Mike, a veteran manager with 20 years of international experience, had lived and worked in Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia before Heartland sent him to Shanghai. Mikes toughest challenge at tbe outset was the language barrier. He wouldnt have survived without Feng Chens help. It didnt take long for Mike to learn what cha-bu-duo meant: almost okay. He hated that word! It was baffling to him: Even though his Chinese partners were intelligent and willing to work hard, they werent exactly obsessed with quality. They cut corners and hardly ever followed operating procedures to HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW Trouble in Paradise †¢ H B R CASE S T U D Y It didnt make sense to him until months later, when Mike heard someone say, Keeping silent in a group is safer. You wont get in trouble if you dont do anything. But you will get in trouble if you make a mistake. We are experienced under this system, and we know how it works. At any rate, Mike was relieved when the equipment was set up even though it took two years and outside pressure from the provincial Environment Protection Bureau to make it happen. There was another burst of applause. Qinlins voice reverberated through the room. We have acquired three moneylosing state-owned enterprises and managed to earn an annual profit of between 5% and 6%, he said. The number of employees increased from 400 to 2,300 in the past decade. Given the slump of the textile industry in these years, Zhong-Lians achievement is remarkable. In the coming years, we will further enhance the company and maintain our growth momentum. Qinlin paused, and his eyes sparkled. Let me tell you another piece of good news, he said. We are preparing our fourth acquisition, which is expected to raise our production capacity by 40%. The number of our employees will grow to nearly 3gt;5oo. And all this will help us launch our next initiative: building our own national brand. An elegant young woman in a silk qi-pao escorted Mike What little appetite Mike had for the celebration vanished. He had long been to his table. But he was preoccupied by the Chinese executives trying to quash that kind of talk. Heartplans and what they would mean for profitability. land, he knew, would never support launching an apparel brand that would the letter. Buttons often fell off sweat- sewage disposal three months after he eat up resources and limit profits for ers before the garments were even started (he was astonished that his Chi- years. Qinlin knows this well, Mike shipped out of the factory. Cha-bu-duo nese partner hadnt updated it already), thought, so why is he raising expectais why Mike insisted on introducing his counterparts said, Okay, yan-jiu- tions in such a public way? Total Quality Management to Zhong- yan-jiu. Tvo months later, after Mikes Qinlin thanked the vice mayor and Lian and TQM was probably why the repeated prodding, the proposal made the other government officials without jV had been so successful. Mike had also it onto a meeting agenda. But at the whose wise supervision, in his effusive felt a small sense of satisfaction when meeting, the Chinese managers seemed words, the joint venture would not have he taught his Chinese colleagues a new reluctant to discuss the matter, and no made such great progress. The vice term: Six Sigma. one wanted to assume responsibility for mayor rose to speak and returned the Cha-bu-duo wasnt the only expres- solving the problem. When Mike asked compliments, praising Zhong-Lians consion Mike heard all too often. He also managers for feedback individually, tribution to the local economy esquickly got used ioyan-Jiu-yan-Jiu, which they all had ideas, many of them excel- pecially to maintaining employment means Lets review and discuss. When lent. He couldnt imagine why the man- levels and calling the joint venture a he proposed a new system to deal with agers hadnt spoken up at the meeting. flagship among the citys enterprises. A CHANGED WORLD AUGUST 200^1 H B R CASE S T U D Y †¢ Trouble in Paradise When it was Mikes turn, he too voiced the expected praise for the officials it was a ritual whose airy forms and steely seriousness had become almost second nature to him. But throughout his little speech, he felt he was hardly doing more than going through the motions. He was preoccupied by Qinlins plans and what they would mean for profitability. Later, the lazy Susan at each table was filled with eight cold dishes, eight hot dishes, and two showpiece dishes: a whole suckling pig and a whole braised mandarin fish in the shape of a squirrel. Qinlin, as the host of his table, proposed hildrens education at Concordia International School (the best in Shanghai). Life here was easy and comfortable a world away from what it would have been like back in Ohio. But Mikes tension returned when he thought about his meeting the next morning with the people at Hua-Ying, the potential acquisition. He wouldnt be living in Green Villa much longer if he signed off on that deal. Over dinner, Mike told Linda about the conversation with Windier. Dont they understand that the Chinese way of doing business is different from the American way? Linda asked create another one: Many jobs would disappear. The Chinese partners were much more concemed with creating jobs and keeping govemment ofificiaJs happy than with improving quality. They wanted to keep growing into new provinces and buying up unprofitable companies, even if turning them around took years. But expansion would require significant additional resources that Heartland Spindle clearly wasnt ready to commit. And now there would be pressure to create a new company to market a national brand, again a drain on cash. So what do you think youre going to do? Linda asked. Im meeting with executives from Hua-Ying tomorrow morning. Maybe theyll surprise me with an operation that wont take forever to turn aroundthatd be the best case, Mike said. After that, Ill have to talk to Qinlin and the others about Heartlands concerns. But I know how that conversation will play out. Theyll say Heartland is being shortsighted and that the JVs history of turning around money-losing businesses should prove that we just need to be more patient. I wish Bill and the rest back in the States had a better understanding of how things work here. I was skeptical myself at the beginning. Remember when wefirstgot here and 1 was fuming at the business expenses? Seemed like every executive on the payroll was wining and dining some key partner or contact. And Robert OReilly, our controller, came to me shouting that our Chinese partner spent money like water. But, gradually, we both figured out that those expenses were paying off for us. The Chinese ritual of sharing food-nurturing ^i/anx(-is so powerful in making deals that it became one of our hidden assets. Im afraid we wont get those kinds of results if we focus only on cutting costs and laying off workers, as Ohio wants us to do. Life here was easy and comfortable-a world awayfrom what it was like back in Ohio. But Mike knew he wouldnt be here much longer if he signed off on that acquisition deal. a toast. Then he emptied his glass as a sign of his sincerity and joy. Glasses clinked; champagne and Coke bubbled. But Mike had become so attuned to the subtleties of these gatherings that he immediately noticed the response of the officials: Instead of emptying their glasses, they merely took sips. Mike supposed that they must have heard about his opposition, muted though it had been, to the expansion ideas. him sympathetically. Its not all about squeezingthe most out of your workers here. They value stability and long-term employment. Youd think Heartland wouldVe been prepared for this sort of performance. Its not like youre losing money, like so many JVs here do. Just last week on the course, Christie and Maya told me that their husbands businesses hadnt turned a profit yet I know, but that doesnt seem to be good enough any more, Mike said. He recounted Bills suggestions about layoffs and investing in more automated equipment. He knew that he would soon have to broach these subjects with his Chinese partners. Mikes biggest problem was that he could see both sides. Heartland wanted to reposition itself in the U. S. arketselling at discount stores wasnt profitable enough. But to enable Heartland to make the jump to high-end retailers, the joint venture would have to meet much higher standards of quality. Those old dyeing machines, for instance, would have to go; they had cost the company a lot of money over the last few years, not just in shipping and handling charges for returned products but also in terms of the companys reputation. New machines would fix that problem, but theyd Living in Style sitting in the backseat of the company car, Mike felt his tension ease when his driver, Lao Li, turned into his neighborhood. The car slipped by a row of cypresses and passed a perfectly manicured golf course. Designed in European country style, the elegant Green Villa was an ideal residence for expatriates. Mike loved this village its extensive recreational amenities, itsfirst-classservice. At very little cost, for example, Mikes family had hired a live-in domestic helper who happened to be a superior cook. His wife, Linda, played golf three times a week with her friends in the village, and she had recently taken up yoga. The company paid $7,800 a month to rent the familys home; it also paid for a chauffeur, a nanny, and the PowerPoint and Green Tea The chief executive of Hua-Ying, Genfa Wang, sent his own limousine to pick up Mike and Qinlin as a symbol of his HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 30 Trouble in Paradise †¢ H B R CASE S T U D Y sincerity and hospitality. Genfa and his top managers were waiting at the gate when the car pulled up, and one of the men stepped forward to open the car door. Genfa greeted Mike, Qinlin, and Feng Chen with,My honor! IVlyhonor! It is a great pleasure to have you here with us. Thefirstbuilding they entered looked fairly clean, but the conference room carpet was pocked with cigarette bums. Not exactly a high-class operation, Mike thought. Up on the third floor, there was a disagreeable odor-no flush. He could just imagine the state of the plumbing. And hadnt leaky pipes been responsible for the initial spread of SARS into cities in Hong Kong? He was sure he had read something like that. His unease grew. What other hidden risks were lurking in this facility? There was no way he was going to be able to agree to this acquisition, he thought. But he was pleasantly surprised to see seven cups of Bi Luo Chun tea, one of the best Chinese green teas, on an ele- ant redwood table. And a minute later, Genfa pulled out a laptop and began making his presentation using PowerPoint slides. Mike was shocked. He hadnt expected such sophistication from a company this size, especially a company that seemed to lack modem sanitary facilities. Genfa, sensing Mikes reaction, said proudly,My nephew gave me training on this high-tech stuff. He is a college graduate, a vice GM of our company in charge of technology and engineering. Great, Mike thought with exasperation. There were probably a few relatives on the board, too. But his mood swung back during Genfas 40-nunute presentation as the CEO spoke precisely and clearly about the numbers-it was obvious he was shrewd about the market. Mike was intrigued. At the second building, his earlier impressions were reinforced: The machines in here looked old and shabby. Some workers were busy, but others were idly waiting for a product deliv- ery. Bales of goods were stacked high in one comer, and Mike stumbled over a box as he picked his way through the dim light. When he noticed that the record sheets on the desk and walls were handwritten, his heart sank: So much for high tech. On his way home that night in his own companys car, Mike gazed out the window, trying to figure out what to do next. Should he recommend the acquisition to Bill? Should he propose rejecting the deal and thus probably bring an end to the partnership? The idea of buying out the JV had occurred to him, but it clearly wouldnt work, not with the Chinese partner dreaming of a national brand. When the Audi came to a stop outside Mikes house, he hadnt reached any conclusions. He knew he was going to have another sleepless night at Green Villa. Can Mike keep the joint venture from unraveling? Four commentators offer expert advice. Right now, youre reading about the newest Spend a few weeks with us, and youll be creating Ready to find your edge in the world of business? Executive Education programs at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills Kenan-Flagler Business School provide you witfi skills that quickly translate to your everyday work environment from creative problem-solving to d eveloping globally competitive strategies. The following General Management Programs ate now enrolling: CALL TODAY FOR A GENERAL MANAGEMENT BROCHURE. Executive Development Institute {EDI) Senior Executives Institute (SEI) Global Executives Institute (GEI) PUT YOUR CAREER ON THE FA5T TRACK. Call 1-919-962-1531 or visit www. exed. uncedu/gm today to receive a brochure outlining our open enrollment and custom program offerings. UNC Business. Shaping leaders, driving resulU. UNC KCNANFLAGLER H B R CASE C O M M E N T A R Y †¢ Can Mike Keep the Joint Venture from Unraveling? Mike must reach out to political officials and understand their goals. I cannot overstress how crucial relationships are in China. M I ike Craves needs to do four things, and quickly. First, he needs to develop a clearer vision of Heartland Spindles-and its partners-strategic goals in China, Second, he needs to assemble a much stronger team for the company. Third, he needs to consider alternatives to the traditional 50/50 joint venture. And, finally, he needs to move outside his personal comfort zone as a manager. The lack of a clear, shared strategy is the most glaring problem in this case. Is Heartland chiefly interested in China as a low-cost production baseforU. S, exports? Or is it hoping to win a share ofthe domestic market? If so, which segment is Heartland focusing o n a n d based on what competitive edge? Without a clear strategy, its impossible to choose the right structure for and extent of cooperation with a foreign partner. Conversely, when your intent is clear and reasonable, you can get past a surprising number of obstacles. When Michelin started discussions in Shanghai with Chinas largest tire manufacturer, we were clear that we intended to develop a major center there for the world tire industry and that we would therefore have to bring our best technology. To protect that technology, we would need control ofthe venture, which initially seemed impossible to achieve from a legal standpoint. As it turned out, we got control because the municipality shared the goal and recognized the necessity. Perhaps there once was a clear strategy that has been forgotten overthe course often years and several changes in management. Mike should study the contracts and, more important, have discussions with the original sponsors ofthe deal. If he can learnthe initial intentions, he might find a positive starting point for rebuilding a spirit of cooperation vwith his partner. This brings me to my second point: the importance of mobilizing a team of people to further the JVs strategy. Political officials are going to be a big part ofthat team; they have a stronger influence on economic life in China than Mike might realize. He must reach out to them and understand their goals. It is not a matter of good dinners and dubious expenses left to the Chinese staff. Success will depend on the personal involvement of top executives. I cannot overstress how crucial relationships are in China, Only when individuals know and understand each other can they develop the level of cooperation required for success, Mike should convince his boss to be the one who owns the relationship with a key officiai-the vice mayor, say. Yes, this will add a layer of complexity, but success in China is as much about time as it is about money. This is the most important fact for Mike to impress upon the leadership back at headquarters. Our CEO, Edouard Michelin, is in the habit of coming to China two or three times a year, with a flexible agenda, and that does a great deal to develop and support our operations here. Mike also needs to think creatively about alternatives to the traditional 50/50 joint venture. For instance, if Heartland Spindle is focused on exports and profitability, it might make more sense to have a minority share in the venture. Heartland would bring knowhow to the table and would purchase the export production, leaving the Chinese partner to manage productivity and profit levels. That would protect Heartlands margins and reduce its investment, yielding a higher return on assets. The point is that this situation might require a creative solution, and that brings me to my final concern. Mike needs to move out of his comfort zone and learn to strategize and negotiate in a highly dynamic environment. He should be the one taking the initiative, not reacting in surprise to the ideas and actions of others. Ericjugieris the chairman ofMichelin (China) Investment in Shanghai. 32 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW Can Mike Keep the Joint Venture from Unraveling? †¢ H B R CASE COMMENTARY I ts never easy making joint ventures work, especially when the strategic objectives of the partners diverge. Zhong-Lian Knitting has had a very successful ten years, during which the partners have been able to work out their differences. But this jV may well have outlived its usefulness. land Spindle is focused on short-to mediumterm financial returns and on transforming Zhong-Lian into a high-quality manufacturer. No amount of discussion is going to reconcile their differences. If he concludes that the status quo is not viable, Mike must ask himself a second question: How can he restructure or exit the JV in a way that makes sense for Heartland? To answer, he must take into account any termination or exit clauses in the joint venture agreement He must also determine whether Heartland needs to have an ownership interest in the JV to continue the commercial relationship with it and whether Suzhou is financially able to buyout Heartlands interest in the JV Mike would be well advised to investigate several options in parallel. They could include selling some or all of Heartlands interest to Suzhou. A phased exit in which Heartland reduces its ownership stake overtime could make sense if Heartland wants to minimize disruption in the relationship; it might also make it easier for Suzhou to raise capital (if this is a constraint). AIternatively, Mike could explore the sale of Heartlands interest to a more compatible third party. The partners might also wish to consider an IPO, assuming that Zhong-Lian is sufficiently developed to make this option realistic. An IPO would give Heartland an exit while providing the joint venture access to capital to continue its growth. A third question Mike should be asking is. What is Heartlands overall joint venture strategy, not just in China but also in other markets? Heartland should consider establishing a portfolio of joint venture relationships in China and other low-cost regions. That would allow the company to diversify its sourcing relationships, reducing the risk associated with any one partner. It would also allow Heartland to upgrade its skills in establishing and managing international joint ventures. Perhaps if Mikes boss became involved in negotiating a few international jVs, he would acquire a better appreciation for the challenges involved in managing such relationships. Zhong-Lian is similar to many other joint ventures in that its problems are partly due to its success. I am reminded of the jV created in the early 1980S by Merck and the Swedish pharmaceutical company Astra to help Astra enter the U. S. market. It operated successfully for more than a decade; by the late 1990S, various analysts estimated it to be worth up to $10 billion, largely because of sales of the blockbuster drug Prilosec. But the parties increasingly found that their objectives were incompatible. Merck wanted to continue benefiting from Astras current products and RD pipeline, but Astra needed control over its U. S. operations to pursue its vision of becoming a leading global pharmaceutical company. The partners eventually agreed to restructure the venture so that Dieter Turowski Is a managing director in Mergers Acquisitions at Morgan Stanley in London. Heartland should consider establishing a portfolio of joint ventures. That would reduce the risk associated with any one partner. Astra had control, and Merck would receive payments based on the sales of future products. Zhong-Lian and its Chinese parent, Suzhou First Textile, may be at a similar crossroads. To determine his next step, Mike Craves needs to answer a fundamental question: Have the partnersstrategic interests moved so far apart that the JV no longer makes sense in its currentform? The answer apDears to be yes. Suzhou is focused on expansion within China and on developing a national brand; this strategy will continue to put pressure on the ventures financial performance. Heart- A CHANGED WORLD AUGUST 2003 3 H B R CASE C O M M E N T A R Y †¢ Can Mike Keep the Joint Venture from Unraveling? H eartland Spindle entered the China market at the same time many multinationals did, about a decade ago, seeing the same enormous opportunity. The market was huge and there was undercapacity in many segments and industries, so high margins seemed assured. But that was a shortsighted and static view of the ma rket. As the multinationals rushed in and productivity quickly improved, the immediate result was a dramatic expansion of capacity, and margins deteriorated. In very short order. he companiesexpectations about revenues and profits became obsolete. and products with very strong brands. My first advice to Mike Craves would be to study the industry structure closely and determine whether a 20% return on investment is theoretically possible for Zhong-Lians products. The nextquestion is whetherthis joint venture is in a position to capture the highest margin in its industry. Does it have a unique business model, perhaps, based on some core competence? Maybe it can leverage its channel or its brand back in the United States or in other developed markets. Or perhaps Heartland can make the venture a bigger part of its global strategy, exploiting the regions labor costs and productivity edge to reconfigure its worldwide production strategy. If Mike doesnt discover a unique business model that will generate a 20% ROI, he needs to inform his boss that its time to exit. But if he believes such a return is achievable, he needs to restructure the jV to get there. If Heartland doesntwantto make any more of an investment in the venture, it could bring in a private shareholder or other marketdriven companies to buy the governments shares. Mike also needs to ensure that he is linking compensation packages to performance. Ive observed that employees in China-especially senior managers-respond very,very wellto pay-for-performance plans. Its been my experience that Chinese organizations are quite adaptable to other cultures. The problem here, and perhaps for many companies, is that real assimilation cantoccurunlessthe two partners are working toward the same goals. Zhong-Lian is under the strong influence of the government, and, as a result, it is doing exactly what should be expected: creating jobs and boosting revenue rather than profits. The minute Mike starts to create a market-driven and value-creation-driven connpany-largely by rewarding senior managers for gains in those directions-things will start to change. The joint venture is already one of the success stories on the Chinese business landscape. Ifthe venture is restructured and incentives are aligned with higher performance, it might even meet the expectations Heartland has set for it. Manyforeign executives said that if they were to move into China again, they would do so through a solely owned business, not a joint venture. Heartland also went the usual route of entering China by means of a joint venture. Many multinationals chose this path because of regulation requirements, others because of their unfamiliarity with the Chinese business landscape. Many of them have come to regret that decision. In a McKinsey survey of executives of foreign companies in China three years ago, a great number of respondents said that if they were to move into China again, they would do so through a solely owned business, not a joint venture. The main reason was that the partners often dont share the same vision or philosophy, and the disparity in the viewpoints hampers performance. The survey also found that morethanhalfofthejointventures in China are not working properly. David Xu is a principal In Zhong-Lians case, the problem does not seem to be the cultural difference so much as the difference in the two partners* visions and definitions of success. One question, then, is whether Heartlands high-margin vision is sensible. The textile industry in China is extremely competitive and will be for the foreseeable future because the entry barriers are low. The margins in textiles are therefore typically very low, except for special textiles at management consulting firm McKinsey ; Company in Shanghai. HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW Can Mike Keep the joint Venture from Unraveling? †¢ HBR CASE COMMENTARY ment unless it improves the bottom line, wants to improve quality, and sees no benefit to creating a Chinese brand because it views China as a low-cost manufacturing platform rather than a market. In the absence of congruent performance objectives, the joint venture has no underlying strategic logic. Thus the partners immediately need to Lets look atthe Chinese marketfirst. Many revisit both their older and continuing reaforeign companies are finding it tough to sons for staying together. Ifthe partners cangenerate acceptable profits there. Even the not agree on a minimally acceptable ROI or Japanese, historically the biggest investors, that such a goal is a top priority, they should are seeing their lowest returns in China. (And think about exiting the venture. when the Japanese do invest, the size oftheir Finally, Mike is part of the problem. It is subsidiaries tends to be smaller; they dont absolutely stunning that he learned on the employ anywhere near the number of people day ofthe anniversary banquet that his partZhong-Lian Knitting does. ner wanted to make another acquisition. EiChina is also becoming a more expensive place to do business. Betweeni992 and 2001, the consumer price index in the United States increased by 1. 27times; in Shanghai, it went up 2. 21 times. Wage rates in Shanghai more than tripled between 1991 and 2000. Its not surprising that more and more competitive Japanese corporations have begun to pull out of the market-they are a ther the Chin ese partner is out of control or Mike is out of touch. How much time is Mike spending with the partner? Has he grown too comfortable in paradise? Mike needs to be proactive. Rather than simply waiting for his Chinese partner to hand him the names of acquisition candidates, for instance, he could develop specific acquisition criteria with his partner or even M ike Craves needs to start by acknowledging that his boss is correct: A 4% ROI is not enough for most foreign investors after ten years. So where is the problem? Is it in the Chinese market itself? Is it with the partnership agreement? Or is it with Mike? Id argue that all three contribute to this dilemma. Paul W. Beamish is the director ofthe Asian Management Institute at the Richard Ivey School of Business ofthe University of Western Ontario in London, Oritario. One ofthe largest costs in many joint ventures is the expatriate manager package. Perhaps he could save by reducing the number of expats. little further along the exit curve than Bill Windier is. Next,the partnership. In any international joint venture, the partners must share congruent performance measures. That is certainly not the case here. While both partners have an explicitgoalthattheJV be profitable, they differ widely in terms of what constitutes an acceptable financial return. Furthermore, some oftheir nonfinancial goals forthe JV seem to have evolved and have only now become explicit. The Chinese partner is happy with achieving a 5 to 6% profit and % being viewed asa local hero. It wants togrow the scope of the jV and establish a national brand. The U. S. partner wants a 20% ROI, will consider growth only if it improves profitability, has no interest in creating employconduct some investigations himself He should also look for additional ways of improving the JVs profitability. One of the largest costs in many joint ventures in China is the expatriate manager package. He could save money by reducing the number of expats, perhaps by promoting local managers. Lots of smart people are available. Various factors have contributed to the current situation, some of which such as the condition ofthe Chinese market-Mike cannot control. He needs to concentrate on the things he can change: the relationship between the U. S. and Chinese partners and his own managerial behavior.

Enhanced Entity Relationship Model Information Technology Essay

Enhanced Entity Relationship Model Information Technology Essay Database is very important for any application in the real world. In modern days companies are looking for cost cutting, if they apply cost cutting process in the database design stages then there will be modifications or rebuilding the database after implementation. They will leave with high budget for the company. To create an efficient and appropriate database for an application it should be a good idea for any developer to follow certain database design steps. Bad database design will lead company to losses as well as client un-satisfaction. In present days many of the database designs are failed because of wrong user requirements. Collection of user requirements is main and first step in the database design process. If a developer took wrong assumption on the requirements then it results a bad database design. So the developer should be well experienced in database design. In this report I am going to explain about the importance of standard database modelling tools such as ER, EER and Use case modelling, quality of the database design and the factors affecting quality of a database design. Many of the examples which I am going discuss in this report are from the given scenario to me namely The Stanwell Parish Register. Database design: In any application building there are two main steps first one is database design and other is front end design. First step is to build database, based on this design developers will build front end design. So the database design is pillar for any application. In these days we can hardly see the applications without databases. Now I am going to discuss about the concepts in database design process. For the successful creation of a database there are three concepts to follow. They are Conceptual data model: This is the initial and important step in the database design process. This will represent all the business rules applied for the particular database. Conceptual data model is a diagram which shows the flow of business among all the important entities involved. It doesnt show any relationships and constraints. Logical data model: Logical data model is the other step in database design which comes after conceptual data model. According to Shelley Doll (2002) The logical design of a database involves taking the business information discovered in a conceptual data model and translating it into an empirical layout of the data, usually in a relational style. It deals with the relations among the entities and attributes as well as the constraints. It doesnt bother about the implementation of the database design. Physical data model: This is the final step in database design process. Physical data model deals with the implementation of the logical data model and also about the data in it. Each concept stated above is important for any database design. Some experts may skip one or more steps in design process; they will repent about it later. My intention here is not to explain and show the process of database design whole. Before going in detail about my task I would like to say about the scenario given to me. The given scenario is about the villages of Great and Little Stanwell in Derbyshire Peak District. They are small communities which have about fifty houses each but they have lot of voluntary activities. Recently they gained broadband access to the internet. Now they planned to implement Parish plan in a way to develop specialized services. They formed some communities to organize these implementations. They dont bother about the logical and physical data model because they are too technical but committee members are non-technical so they need conceptual data model only. In those my scenario is to produce a plan for Stanwell Parish Register. This is a database which stores all information about the residents and the assistances they many provide or avail. Coming to database design there are some standard tools for this purpose. They are ER, EER and use case diagram. In the remaining part of this report I am going to write about the contribution and importance of each of these standard designing tools in database design. Entity Relationship model: As the name implies Entity Relationship Model is a diagram which shows the relationships between the entities involved in the business. An entity is a real world thing it may be a person or car or house etc. Relationship tells us how one or more entities are related to each other. ER model is a part of Conceptual data model. In the views of Peter Pin-Shan Chen (1975) The Entity Relationship Model adopts the more natural view that the real world consists of entities and relationships. It incorporates some of the important semantic information about the real world. The model can achieve a high degree of data independence and is based on set theory and relation theory. In ER model entities are represented with rectangle boxes, attributes are represented with ovals and relationships are represented with rhombus type boxes. For the given scenario residents and assistance are the main entities. Following diagram will clearly explain the ER model for given scenario. Figure 1: ER diagram for Stanwell Parish Register (It is just a part) From the above diagram it is clear that Resident and Assistance are the main entities. R_name and A_name are the attributes where as provides/avail tells us how those two entities are related. One to many and zero to many are the relations between resident and assistance. It means one resident can provide or avail zero or many assistances and one assistance can be provided or avail by one or many residents. There is nothing technical in this diagram but it represents all the business flow. So any non technical member can also understand the business flow by having a look at this diagram. As I said earlier here committee members are non technical so for any scenario ER diagram will help them to understand the flow of design. Enhanced Entity Relationship Model: There is no prize money for guessing Enhanced Entity Relationship Model is the extension for ER model. Each model will have some limitations. In the same way ER model also has some limitations. In a way to overcome those limitations EER model was found. It is very difficult to represent complex applications through ER model and it is hard to represent the relationships which are more than binary. According to Connolly (2004) Semantic concepts are incorporated into the original ER model and called the Enhanced Entity Relationship (EER) model. Examples of additional concept of EER model are called specialization/ generalization. Those concepts are also called as abstract concepts. In the words of Irwin Levinstein (2001) Specialization defines SETS of subclasses on a class. Each set called a specialization. Generalization unites several entities into a set of sub-classes, making a new class. This model works mainly with super class and sub-class concepts as well as with is a kind of and is a part of relationships. To explain this model clearly I would like to give an example from the given scenario. Figure 2: Example for EER model from given scenario The above figure is just an example for the semantic concept specialization. From that diagram it is clear that permanent resident and contract resident are a kind of residents. All the rules applied for the resident are applied for those two also. This is is-a relationship example. If we consider assistance then shopping or teaching are a part of assistance. Use case modelling: Use case modelling is one more standard tool in database design. The main components of use case modelling are use cases and actors. This model was invented by Ivar Jacobson in early 1990s. According to an Oracle white paper (2005) A use cases are fundamentally a text form and are used to specify the functional requirements of a system, primarily as a scenario. The scenario describes how the system should respond to a request of a primary actor to deliver a specific goal of that actor. In the given scenario resident is an actor and providing or availing an assistance is a use case. The following diagram shows how use case modelling works in the given scenario. Figure 3: An example for use case modelling Each model stated above has advantages and disadvantages. So the choice of model is fully dependent on the type of scenario as well on the organization members and business requirements. Quality of a database design: As we all know database is an important asset for any application in the real world. So it is important for any developer to aim at efficient database design. Here the word quality plays a vital role because by measuring the quality of a database one can say that the database design is efficient. With an immediate affect one question will comes in to our minds is How can we measure the quality of a database design? There are many ways to measure the quality of a database design. Some authors followed some metrics and semantics to measure the quality of a database design. John A. Hoxmeier (1998) proposed a framework for database quality. He classified all the database quality factors into four categories. They are Process, Data, Model and Behaviour. Total Quality Management (TQM), Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Capability Maturity Model (CMM) are used to measure the process quality. Data quality depends on the factors such as redundancy, integrity and age of the data. These two measurements and behaviour quality are not important here because I am asked to write about quality of a database design. In the words of John A. Hoxmeier (1998) Data quality is usually associated with the quality of the data values. However, even data that meets all other quality criteria is of little use if it is based on a deficient data model. It means Data model quality has the highest priority when comparing with other quality criteria. Let us consider an example, from the given scenario one resident can avail or provide zero or more assistances. If the developer put this as wrong then however the data, process and behaviour is good there is nothing use with that database. Check points in data mode quality are Representation (flexibility and Interpretability), Semantics (content, scope and understandability), Syntactic (presentation and documentation) and Rules (ease of use and normalization). Apart from all these points client creates boundaries and set rules for the application. So it is very important to follow them. Answer for the question Is a correct database design necessarily a quality design? Is no. Because even the quality of a database design is good if there are any mistakes with data model then it will be wrong. In the same way correct database design also not a quality one. Development process of a quality application is not only depends on the type of application but also on the database design principles. Database design principles are applicable for all type of applications. But the choice is totally depends on the developers and users. In the given scenario it is not important to show all the models to the committee members only ER is sufficient. May be in other scenario EER is suitable. Conclusion: Producing an efficient database design is the ultimate goal for any database developer. Stanwell Parish Plan is not an exceptional here. So they formed certain groups to implement their plan on the given scenarios. Here my task is to explain them about producing a good quality database design. First and important step for any application is to create a database design. In creating a database design there are some standard modelling tools such as ER, EER and use case modelling. Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the type of application database developer wants to choose a particular model. Not only creating the database design is important but also maintaining the quality of a database design is important. I explained some quality criteria for this purpose. Finally it is a good idea for Stanwell Parish Plan to take the report from the different people for different scenarios. At the end of the day they will have many choices to pick up one.

Financial liberalisation

Financial liberalisation Financial Liberalisation refers to deregulation of domestic financial market and liberalisation of the capital account that implies removing the ceiling on interest rates. When it is in a liberalised system the competition between the different lending institutions for the deposits will increase interest rates on deposits which will increase the deposits. The availability of credit will increase and this will cause an increase in investment growth. The stages of growth increases activity in the financial markets that makes the introduction and the development of financial institutions. It is argued that financial institutions, by gathering and evaluating information from borrowers, allow the allocation of funds for investment plans to become more efficient and therefore encourage growth and investment. Banks have a role in the process of development. These banks gives the chance for individuals to hold their savings in the form of deposits, so lowing the need to hold them in the form of illiquid unproductive tangible assets, as this increases liquidity in the economy. Banks could use the deposits to invest such as currency and capital etc. While an individuals need for liquidity remains unpredictable, banks, by law of large numbers, face a predictable demand for deposit withdrawals, and this in turn allows banks to invest funds more efficiently. The rate of growth reacts positively to the interest rate but investment reacts negatively to the interest rate. Higher interest rate discourage low return investment, investors will be induced to undertake high return investments, thereby bringing efficiency to investment, which in turn will improve the growth rate to a greater extent than that which is possible under financial repression. Interest rate does not affect of saving indirectly but it is instead a role of income. The relationship linking the availability of credit and investment growth can be about interest rates which play a role more in particular, lenders and borrowers. The theory is they can be sure about the loans being repaid. The problem is that borrowers can not guarantee their repayments. With this in mind uncertainty enters into the equation in to the loan repayment so lender take measures in case borrowers plans are unsuccessful and lenders try not to lose their loan capital. So in order to cover this they use the credit standard in the loan calculation. For borrowers that mean they will have to be able get the credit standard in order to receive a loan. If liberalisation happened and the reason was a rise in interest rate this will increase the deposit and increases in the availability of credit. But a rise in deposit will affect the loan rate by increasing but in relation with the size of the loan cause increase in the repayment rate. So credit standard is set on size of the loan and when interest rate increases it does not cover the banks loan capital. So if banks would want to be covered by the credit standard they like to have zero credit risk. To achieve this they would increase the credit standard to make sure that they zero credit risk. This will mean that borrower would take a large amount or unable to meet the demand they will not be allowed the loan. This means an increase in the availability of credit will not guarantee access to the loan market. When interest rates increases, investors who want to get high returns will be attain less than they paid for and they will lose if they sell. Therefore they do not sell. Investors who invest large amount take advantage of high interest rate; these investors have a high credit risk. So the greater flow of credit makes share prices to increase and they higher profits because of the price increase. Since profit from the acquisition and the sale of shares rises, loan capital will be further attracted to the stock market, so it increases the stock market activity. This introduces the possibility of attracting a substantial portion of the loan capital to move different parts of the economy in favour of financial assets. This evidently raises a concern about the efficiency gain by means of liberalisation. In this process them return on loans will no longer be linked with the yield from shares; rather it will be inter-locked with the return from the expected change in share prices when economic activities are falling. If bad news spread that will decrease share prices. So investors will not make profit from the change in share prices. Therefore investors will find it hard to keep their debt in order. This is where a serious problem arises, and that is, if the actual price falls short of the expected price and so borrowers wont be able to keep their word that they gave to banks. In this problem arises because the banks cannot maintain their credit standard requirements for these borrowers. In other words, banks have advanced loans which exceed the aggregate value of the borrowers assets. Thus the core problem lies with banks needing to take high level of credit risk from large loans because of liberalisation. As said before any bad news that will cause banks a lot of problem and this will lead to a financial crisis. Because of this reason the crisis happens since most of loans had high levels of credit risk. The credit crunch is what economist use it means a shortage of funds for lending, which reduce the availability of loans. The credit crunch can happen for several reasons because of a shape rise in interest rates and the government has direct money controls and also funds decreasing in the capital markets. The latest credit crunch happened because of a sudden increase in defaults on subprime mortgages. The Credit crunch started in United States and eventually spread across the world. The mortgage lenders sold lots of mortgages to customers who have low income and who are first time buyers and have not got a good credit rating these customers are the called subprime borrowers. They thought that house market would boom and mortgages still reasonable but they were lax lending of mortgages to subprime borrowers. The reason they were lax is because mortgage brokers got paid to sell mortgages. These cause for more mortgages to be sold, even though it was expensive and high risk of default. Mortgages companies wanted to make more money on the subprime mortgages and they put the debt into a package and sold it to other companies. This is how it turned globally because of â€Å"package sub-prime home loans into mortgage-backed securities known as CDOs (collateralised debt obligations).† [timesonlinea. 24 Feb. 2010]. They sold it to hedge funds and investment banks because they thought they would get high returns on it. They tried to spread the risk but made the situation worst. The rating agencies gave subprime mortgages a low risk rating but they are very high risk rating and this got transferred to the lenders. In the balance sheets the risk would not be shown. â€Å"Many of these mortgages had an introductory period of 1-2 years of very low interest rates. At the end of this period, interest rates increased.† [mortgagesguideuka, 24 Feb. 2010]. So this cause mortgages repayment to become expensive after the introductory period because interest rate increased from inflation. Also â€Å"Homeowners also faced lower disposable income because of rising health care costs, rising petrol prices and rising food prices.† [mortgagesguideukb, 24 Feb. 2010]. Homeowners found it difficult to hold their houses because it was getting repossess. Many Homeowners were not able to repay the mortgage payments and so this caused an increase in default on their loans. Because of the defaults it was one of the main reasons of the end of housing boom in the US. With housing prices falling this caused further problems with mortgages. â€Å"For example, people with 100% mortgages now faced negative equity. It also meant that the loans were no longer secured. If people did default, the bank couldnt guarantee to recoup the initial loan.† [mortgagesguideukc, 24 Feb. 2010]. Many US mortgages companies went bust because of the increase in defaults but mortgage lender were not only to suffer as banks lost money in mortgage debt because of the package they got from US mortgage companies. Now Banks had to write off big losses and made them unwilling to lend, mostly in the subprime sector. This was a domino effect and the affect the rest of the world for borrowing money and raising funds. â€Å"For example, biotech companies rely on ‘high risk investment and are now struggling to get enough funds.† [mortgagesguideukd, 24 Feb. 2010]. Since the borrowing was restricted this also affected the economy with a recession very likely especially in US. But In UK mortgage lender were more controlled in lending than the US. . In the UK many problems occurred with Northern Rock who invested in subprime mortgages. â€Å"Northern rock had a high % of risky loans, but, also had the highest % of loans financed through reselling in the capital markets. When the subprime crisis hit, Northern Rock could no longer raise enough funds in the usual capital market. It was left with a shortfall and eventually had to make the humiliating step to asking the Bank of England for emergency funds. Because the Bank asked for emergency funds, this caused its customers to worry and start to withdraw savings (even though savings werent directly affected).† [mortgagesguideuke, 24 Feb. 2010]. Also another banks HBOS having the same situation. This shows that word and mouth can cause total panic in short amount of time. The events in the US caused the same problems in the UK with mortgages being expensive and the market drying up and with high risk mortgages taken away. This cause house prices to fall and homeowner facing negative equity so they default on loan, which makes bank lose more money. For example â€Å"Bradford Bingley was nationalised because it couldnt raise enough finance. The BB had specialised in buy to let loans, which are particularly susceptible to falling house prices.† [mortgagesguideukf, 24 Feb. 2010]. This credit crunch may last for a while because house price in the US as well as UK is still going down which makes mortgage loans under valued. Also interest rates are soaring especially when the homeowner finish their inductor periods. If a recession happens in US it could make more bad loans. It will be hard to get more confidence in the financial markets. In conclusion credit crunch could have been avoided if banks had a tighter restriction on access to loans, especially in the US and making sure no bad news circulates as this make people panic and making the situation worst. As for financial liberalisation it is important to introduce an interest rate ceiling on deposit rates to reduce excessive competition among lending institutions for depositors, which may minimize the possibility of financial crisis. Bibliography Books Lecture notes Basu.S. Financial Liberalisation and Intervention: A New Analysis of Credit Rationing Peter Howells and Keith Bain. (2008) The Economics of Money, Banking and finance A European text Fourth edition, Essex, Pearson limited Web Page E. Murat Ucer. Notes on Financial Liberalization, [online] Available from: http://www.econ.chula.ac.th/about/member/sothitorn/liberalization_1.pdf [Accessed 24 Feb 2010] David Budworth, The credit crunch explained, [online] Available from:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/reader_guides/article4530072.ece [Accessed 24 Feb 2010] Credit crunch explained, [online] Available http://www.mortgageguideuk.co.uk/blog/debt/credit-crunch-explained/ [Accessed 24 Feb 2010] John Abbey, The credit crunch explained, [online] Available http://www.johnabbey.co.uk/wsb4919660101/creditcrunch.html [Accessed 24 Feb 2010]

QA Fred Smith CEO of the FDX holding company that includes FedEx :: GCSE Business Marketing Coursework

QA Fred Smith CEO of the FDX holding company that includes FedEx Federal Express Corp. started tracking packages electronically well before the commercial Internet emerged. Now, that infrastructure has been firmly plugged into the Internet, letting customers track shipments in real time and even pull reams of shipping data into their internal systems. Meantime, the shipping giant is taking those lessons into new territory. It has launched a consulting practice that helps manufacturers tighten their own supply chains and reduce inventory requirements by more closely tracking the movement of supplies and finished products. Related Story: FedEx Delivers On CEO's IT Vision Additional Transforming Business Strategy Stories Transformation Of The Enterprise Home Page Colleagues and outsiders say it was all part of founder Fred Smith's vision, well before the commercial Internet, that "the information about the package would become as important as the package itself." Smith, now CEO of the FDX holding company that includes FedEx, spoke with editor in chief Robert Preston and managing editor David Joachim at FDX headquarters in Memphis. Excerpts follow: InternetWeek: How hands on are you when it comes to FDX's Internet strategy? Smith: I'm very intimately involved with our strategies as they apply to information and telecommunications. I'm not an expert in them, but I think I have a very good understanding of what they can do and the respective trends under way in those fields. InternetWeek: How vital is CEO involvement in the Internet strategy of a company? Smith: I think it's vital in almost every industry I know of. I mean, I don't know many industries as well as I do my own, but I am constantly amazed at the profundity of IT and the Internet in almost every field and human endeavor, whether it's medicine, farming, the military, or any other thing that I brush up against. It's just all pervasive, it's changing the face of everything. And those that are not involved in it do so at their peril, in my opinion. InternetWeek: What advice do you have to IT executives who recognize their own company as an Internet laggard but have trouble convincing upper management that there will be serious consequences to that? Smith: I guess my advice to them would be to either convince them or get out. They're going to be toast if they don't. Big businesses, particularly big businesses that are involved in lots of different activities, have a very difficult time dealing with qualitative issues and, I guess as Wayne Gretzky would say, skating to where the puck is going to be rather than where it is now.

Ferm Life Cycle Essays -- essays research papers

Ferm Life Cycle Introduction:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This essay will discuss the fern life cycle as taught in biology lab. The essay will cover the basic process which we used to grow a fern. I will discuss the methods and the results of the lab exercise. Finally, I will discuss the evidence of the methods and results that were obtained . Methods and Results:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To begin our experiment we obtained a petri dish from our lab instructor which contained fern spores and the food they needed to survive. We then look at the spores through the micro scope. It was to soon to see anything but little green dots. We then put our petri dishes under a light until next week.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When we came in next week we observed our fern spores through the dissecting microscope. We looked to see if we could find anything germinating. We quickly noticed something that appeared like an air bubble squirting out something green. This was our fern spore which was germinating. Next, we removed a few of the germinating spores from the petri dish and put them under a compound microscope scope. We found the spore wall and observed how the developing gametophyte had broken through the wall, as instructed by our lab manuals. One could also identify the chloroplasts with in the cell. We then put up our dishes for another week.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The third week of our fern lab we identified the difference between male and female gametophyt...