Unit 6 management of information systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Unit 6 management of information systems - Essay Example 3 years tracking duration, use two sales tracking methods, and promise being able to be part of an ‘exclusive group of affiliates’ so that affiliates can â€Å"be happy and earn money†. There is no cost to join, and participation is open to everyone but subject to review. Program Details: Monthly payments by paypal or wire transfer with a minimum payout of $100. Joining the program requires filling in a registration form, after which the website will be evaluated for suitability. No other promises are made. Program Details: Site promises to give 50% of any income it receives from visitors referred. Payment is monthly as long as the amount exceeds $25 otherwise it gets carried over to the next. No further promises are made. Choose a topic in which you are interested. Select three different search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo!, and MSN) and use them to look for information about the subject. Rank the performance of each site. A long list of sites that provide too broad a range of information is bad; a shorter list of sites that provide more narrowly defined information is good. Explain your ranking. The topic selected to test the search engines was ‘making a solar powered water heater’. The aim was to obtain detailed information with clear instruction on how to make such a device on one’s own. The search engines tested were Google, Yahoo and MSN accessed on 10 August 2009, and only the first page of results were analyzed. After entering the key terms ‘make’, ‘solar’, ‘power’, ‘water’ and ‘heater’, the following results were obtained: Google returned about 545,000 results displaying the first 10 (as standard) in 0.25 seconds, plus a further 11 sponsored links. The top link in the list was http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm. This is an excellent collection of copious information and links (with summaries) to other sites rightly deserving its position at no.1. Yahoo’s top result was at no. 2 on

Global Trade And The Opec Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Global Trade And The Opec - Essay Example World spare capacity fell below 1.5 mbd - the biggest since 1976. Looking ahead, crude oil will probably stay as a primary source of energy in and beyond the next three decades necessitating large upfront investments. Likewise, traditional non-OPEC production is expected to reach its zenith in 2010 due to depletion of current fields and net declines in proven reserves. As such, a substantial quantity of the incremental capacity will have to come from OPEC which today controls around 80% of proven oil reserves. OPEC stands for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a stable inter-governmental association composed presently of eleven oil generating and exporting nations from across three continents (America, Asia and Africa). The member countries are Algeria, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates & Venezuela. These nations have an aggregate population of about 545 million and oil is the most important commodity and foreign exchange earner. Therefore, for these countries, oil is the chief element for development - social, political and economic. The income derived from oil is used not only to spread out and inflate their economic and industrial base, it is also utilized to provide their people with jobs, education, health care and a decent standard of living. Primary objectives of the organization include: * the synchronization and bringing together of petroleum policies of member countries and ascertaining the most logical means for protecting their individual and collective interests; *the search for judicious methods to guarantee the stabilization of prices in global oil markets with the view to reduce and eventually do away with destructive and unnecessary fluctuations; and *the need to give an efficient economic and consistent supply of petroleum to consuming countries and a reasonable return of investment to those infusing capital in the petroleum industry. OPEC sets oil production quotas. For one, its Statute requires that it pursues stability and harmony in the petroleum market for the benefit of oil producers and consumers. In response to this, member countries take action on market fundamentals and forecast developments by organizing well and managing prudently their petroleum policies. One simple and probable response is production regulation. If demand increases, or some producers are producing less than what it is expected of them, OPEC can increase its oil production so as to prevent a drastic change/rise in prices. OPEC can also slow down on its production in response to market conditions. Does OPEC control the oil market or does it have the capacity to control the market and influence oil prices Member countries produce about 43% of the world's crude oil and 18% of its natural gas. However, in addition to that, OPEC's oil exports also represent about 51% of the crude oil traded worldwide. Hence, OPEC has a strong influence on the oil market, especially if it decides to reduce or increase its level of production. Crude Oil and Gasoline Prices Several significant components trigger and eventually cause the retail price of gasoline to change over different periods of time. First, price of gasoline strongly

Business Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business Logistics - Essay Example Among its many achievements, the company boasts of being the largest employer in the industry it operates in besides being a leader in the area of research and development judging by the nature of investment it has made in the recent past. Moreover, Jaguar is also one of the leading exporters of manufactured vehicles from the United Kingdom with the company claiming an 80% stake in the country. Some of the major world destinations its brands have been exported to include China, the United States, Germany, Russia and Italy. The company has seen many changes and since the year 2008, it has come to be owned by Tata Motors Limited. Its strategic approach has been based on a sustainable development policy, which has meant that the company has to integrate its strategic decision making with the goal of remaining responsible and ethical to all stakeholders and the society as well as the environment affected by its operations. On the financial front, the company’s overall results have remained impressive with the group announcing a pre-tax profit of  £ 1,507 million in March 2012 (Jaguar Land Rover 2012). In the area of logistics, the company has been on a massive expansion and therefore the scope of its operations has diversified in the recent years. To sum up the extent of its operations, the automotive giant has three manufacturing plants in the United Kingdom in addition to its two product development sites. The company’s investment portfolio therefore requires that it is able to appropria tely manage its process flows and integrate modern logistic concepts in its day-to-day operations so that it remains to be a leader in the industry. To begin, it is important that we examine the existing operational flows in the company. With competition and technological advancement the key drivers, most manufacturing firms in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the

MOVE Philadelphia Bombing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

MOVE Philadelphia Bombing - Research Paper Example in the world, and the means through which these are reported, ultimately have a profound and lasting impact with regards to the awareness of society, understanding of class, differentiation of race, and ultimate understanding of self worth. As such, the impact that the news media has with regards to helping an individual understand each of these complex interpersonal and societal dynamics is profound. Due to the unique history that the United States has thus far exhibited, a unique current of racial tension and undercurrent of strife exists at almost every level of society. This is partly due to the fact that racial perceptions of African-Americans and black activism’s are inherently stronger as compared to those that exist within white communities and individuals. The MOVE bombing in Philadelphia shows the disparity in treatment of black activists, both for their tactics and the representation. In the aftermath of the MOVE bombing, those responsible downplay the racial undert ones of the decision to bomb the activist; however, scholars and researchers note the fact that even when political projects, â€Å"Overtly claim to hold colorblind views, (they) covertly manipulate racial fears in order to achieve political gains†. (Omni & Winant 58). . As a means of understanding the way in which media and society effectively redefined a particular issue as a means of making it more palatable, this particular analysis will focus upon the 1970s and 1980s with respect to activism, black militant activism, and the microcosm of understanding is that the MOVE bombing of Philadelphia can help the reader to achieve. It is the further hope of this author that such a level of understanding will be useful with regards to not only understanding the unique dynamics of societal and racial tensions that helps to define the era in question, it is also the hope of this author that the MOVE bombing will help to shed a level of light and understanding with regards to the way in which

International Management Essay Example for Free

International Management Essay Q.1. Good governance is one of the qualifying features for attracting inward investment. What ways in which governance can be improved to help countries benefit from foreign investment? Globerman and Shapiro (2002) studied the effects of governance quality on Foreign Direct Investment inflows and outflows, by using a sample of developing and developed countries between 1995-1997. They applied HDI (Human Development Index) and ESI (Environmental Sustainability Index) along with Kaufmann’s six governance indicators which include: voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption) to assess the impact. They found that good governance had a strong positive relationship with FDI inflows. Thus, countries can benefit the most from inward investment by improving on the six dimensions of governance suggested by Kaufman et al (2009). Inward investment generates job opportunities for local people and increase the level of economic activity in the host country. It also raises competition in the domestic market and the standard of living of people by improving the quality of products/services being offered, reducing prices and giving more value for money. With FDI inflows, developing countries benefit from transfer of technology and management practices. Many MNCs (Multi-national companies) drive research development, innovation and are responsible for training the human capital of a less developed host country. Labor productivity and increase in real incomes of citizens of a country are important benefits of FDI inflows into a country. Countries must encourage economic freedom and liberalize trade in order to benefit from FDI inflows. A sound financial system including banks, stock markets and bond markets attract foreign investors. A strong financial system allows MNCs to expand and reach their expected potential and does not limit their growth due to capital constraints (Alam, Mian Smith). When MNCs get opportunities to expand their operations, they make investments in the host country. This additional investment from foreign investors and companies drive economic growth and development in the host country. Governments must develop secure property rights, put in place an efficient public sector and limit regulatory bans and restrictions on foreign companies. Governments must take measures to improve the investment climate (by offering incentives, tax holidays, reduce import duties) to attract and retain foreign investment. Also, governance should be made transparent and free of corruption to gain maximum benefit from FDI inflows (Globerman, Shapiro, Tang, 2004). Â  Government regulation should only aim to correct market failure and protect the welfare of the consumers, environment, employees and society. Bureaucracy, red tapism, complex documentation and regulations should be eliminated to attract more foreign investment and derive maximum benefits from it. Corruption not only deters foreign investors but also limits the spill over effects of economic growth and development to the masses. To reap the maximum benefit out of inward investments is to improve governance in the areas of human capital development. An educated and healthy workforce not only attracts foreign investors but also facilitates quick and effective knowledge and skills transfer. A less skilled and physically weak human resource of a host country starts to rely on the foreign investors and learn nothing from them. Thus, governance and budget allocations in the areas of human capital and infrastructure development must be improved. Such effective governance that protects local interests from unwarranted exploitation but also at the same time creates a conducive environment for foreign investment benefits the most. Q.2. Is sustainability a new meaning? Discuss the extent to which businesses and government have joined up to sustainability? Sustainability was well defined in a 1987 UN Conference as ‘meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’. This encompasses ecological sustainability and human sustainability. Ecological sustainability refers to ‘redesigning organizations to contribute to sustainable economic development and the protection and renewal of the biosphere’ (Dunphy, 2000). Human sustainability means ‘building human capability and skills for sustainable high level organizational performance and for community and societal well-being’ (Dunphy, 2000). Many businesses and governments did not include sustainability as one of their primary objectives to achieve. Business organizations focused all their efforts and strategies on maximizing profits, even if that entailed exploiting the environment and depleting natural resources to obtain short term financial benefits. Governments too ignored this important issue. However, this widespread ignorance and disinterest towards sustainable development that prevailed ten years ago has been reversed. The awareness about the issue has increased now but a lack of cooperation and understanding between the businesses and governments has limited the success of initiatives towards sustainable development. There is a battle between voluntarism and compulsion going on between governments and businesses (Cowe Porritt, 2002). According to Cowe and Porritt, prominent businesses understand their responsibilities, but governments have not taken up their share of responsibilities, suggesting that voluntary business action towards sustainable development is better as compared to government intervention that ultimately has a negative impact. Government policy makers wrongly believe that attaining sustainability just involves devising environmental controls or employee protection laws to reduce exploitation while the businesses hold that by increasing the efficiency and productivity of their existing production systems they can prevent wastage of resources and environmental degradation. Sustainability actually involves developing whole new business models and incorporating organizational cultural change. It is the job of the governments to create awareness and give incentives for businesses to change their policies, procedures and incorporate sustainability in their vision and mission. U.S department of Commerce presents an example where a government department has increased the awareness sustainability. U.S Department of Commerce has encouraged U.S. firms to implement sustainable manufacturing practices. Instead of creating environmental and employee laws and levying tax charges on firms, the U.S Department of Commerce has spread the perception that firms that adopt environmental and economically sustainable manufacturing processes are able to reduce their cost of doing business and gain competitive advantage. U.S Department of Commerce’s Manufacturing Services unit has introduced a Sustainable Manufacturing Initiative (SMI) and Public-Private Dialogue with the aim of outlining U.S. industry’s most pressing sustainable manufacturing challenges and coordinating public and private sector efforts to address these challenges (International Trade Administration, 2010). Q.3. Using familiar case study, apply and critically evaluate the strategies for expansion into emerging markets? In recent times China and India, the two most fast emerging markets in Asia, have presented great opportunities and large market segments to be explored by foreign multinational companies. These countries not only have large consumer bases for products of international companies but also provide highly talented, educated yet less costly human resource (Van de Kuil, 2008). Taking the case of India, we understand that various MNCs have used different expansion strategies to enter the Indian market. Licensing and franchising is an effective expansion strategy. Licensing refers to an arrangement by which the licensor or the international company gives the right to the licensee to use patent rights, trademarks, copyrights or product or processes know how (Levi, 2007). Franchising refers to an arrangement or relationship whereby a franchisor provides a license to the franchisee to use the franchisor’s brand name, production techniques and management techniques in another geographic market. Franchising was used by McDonalds to enter the Indian market. The advantage that McDonald’s had by using franchising to expand into the Indian market was that it did not have to invest large sums of money in India and so did not face any financial risks and development and set up costs of business. It was not only a cost effective way of expansion but it was a quick way to expand. Franchisor (McDonald’s) has considerable control over the management and processes of the franchisee and at the same time benefits from the local knowledge of customer behavior and market trends that the Indian franchisee possesses. The Indian franchisee benefitted as it did not have to develop brand identity or brand positioning. It simply had to leverage the already established brand name and equity of McDonald’s. However, a major challenge that McDonald’s had to face in India was that of maintaining quality standards that it has internationally. In developing countries, it is difficult to find employees that are already trained to carry out the standard services. Strategic alliances and Joint Ventures are other important expansion strategies used by foreign companies to enter the Indian market. Strategic alliance refers to an agreement between two companies in order to combine their value chain activities for the purpose of competition advantage (Levi, 2007). Joint Venture occurs when one company has enough stake in another company that gives it a right to voice opinions in management issues but does not allow it to dominate. When the international retail giant – Wal-Mart wanted to expand its business to India, it formed a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises, Inc in 2006. Wal-Mart benefitted immensely from this joint venture to establish itself in the Indian market. Both Wal-Mart and Bharti Enterprise were able to form a working business unit (Fea, 2009). Wal-Mart was able to mitigate reputational and legal risks as it had a local partner involved. It was able to comply with all the Indian government restriction for foreign investors. The only likely threat to both the parties of this joint venture is that conflict of objectives and strategies may create rift between the two partners and raise risks for both.

Factors that influence choice of leadership style

Factors that influence choice of leadership style Identify factors that will influence your choice of leadership styles and explain why your leadership styles are likely to positively affect your team In todays business world, leadership is more important than ever and while organizations have focused on identifying leadership competencies as a means of gaining competitive advantage, the quality of leadership is still a concern. Typically organizations identify a number of leadership competencies of behaviours that are important to leading the business effectively. Naturally with any developmental experience offered, the organization would like to see its leaders improve in as many competencies as possible. This is where the enhancement of Emotional Intelligence skills can provide significant leverage and value. Any team develops into an effective unit in a number of stages and over a period of time. The form of leadership required from the leader has to be appropriate to the stage of development of the team. In the 1960s Bruce Tuckman published a model for developing team effectiveness, identifying four stages; Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. This has close parallels with Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership model where the leadership style changes from telling, through selling and participating and on to delegating as the team becomes more mature.   It also fits with the Tannenbaum and Schmidt continuum which describes initial use of authority by the leader developing into greater freedom for team members as the team develops. The models all tell the same story; the leadership style has to change depending on the situation and different leadership behaviours will come into play. While leaders may well consider themselves to be just human beings, or another cog in the great organisational machine, this is not how their team members see them. For them, the leader is the organisation, and they are looking for answers as to what the organisation is about. The most known leadership styles are as follow autocratic, democratic and bureaucratic. In my opinion the most effective is democratic, although in some situation the best solution is autocratic. Leaders using autocratic leadership style dont give a chance for their subordinates to express their ideas or disagree with the leaders opinion and vision. As a result of fact the team become a group of people just mechanically implementing the leaders instructions what is good only for emergency situation. While emergency no time for disputes and asking for suggestion, the decision should be accepted immediately and autocratic style is a brilliant for that type of situation to lead people. Democratic style of leadership is more fruitful and promotes the sharing of responsibility. Such a techniques as consultation, effective delegation of tasks, encourage becoming a leader and being involved in leadership development determined my choice. So the main factors that influence to my choice of leadership are positive work environment where junior employees are given a possibility to challenge themselves, successful initiatives when the process of consultation and feedback naturally results in better decision making and more effective operations. The next factor is encouragement of creative thinking, because creative thinking is required to solve problems in every single organisation, whatever its nature. Reduced employee turnover is the last of the factors. When employees feel empowered through leadership development, a company will experience lower rates of employee turnover which has numerous benefits. Further I try briefly state why democratic leadership styles are likely have a positive effect of individual and group behaviour. Democratic leadership is allowing employees to give their ideas on how processes become leaner and more efficient and effective in organisations where training, professional leadership development and quality of work performed are very appreciated. Organisations are benefit from drawing upon the creative energies of all their staff to bring about cost cutting techniques or fund raising ideas, from the free flow of ideas that democratic leadership brings. ( Review of own leadership behaviour Assess your own leadership behaviours and potential by referring to a relevant leadership model, your organisations working practises, and by collecting feedback from others. Describe what actions you could take to improve as a leader Most people are naturally anxious about change and it doesnt take a lot for the pessimist in all of us to emerge. The individuals response to change is heavily influenced by the response of the people round about them, and key among those influences is the reaction of the leader. If the leader displays a negative reaction then so too do many members of the team. The leader needs to be aware of the impact that their behavior has on other people. The leaders own behavior is then a key influence on the outcome of the change process and the leader needs to behave appropriately, if the change is to be managed successfully. Ability to communicate is to be ready to answer to the questions such as Why are we doing this?, What do we do?, How do we do it? in the new world. Communication is a two way process. Instant answers are not good in new world better to discuss and to gradually understand what will be required of from the team in the future. Change leadership is enhanced when leaders communicate a little at a time, as often as possible, in as many different ways as possible, and providing as many different perspectives as possible. Once team members have built their own personal model of the future and have checked it out against the reality of what is happening on the ground, so that they can once again begin to make their own decisions, the communication process will have served its purpose. For the  second leadership behaviors is ability to support the members of the team. Support in this context is very much about the individual. Leader need to make time available for each individual, need to make himself accessible and need to be prepared to listen. Answers can come in due time, but the leader needs to provide active support to each individual. The next of the leadership behaviors is independence. Leaders need to retain a degree of independence from members of the team all of the time, but at a time of change it becomes even more crucial. Leader have to be able to make the correct decisions, and even begindisciplinary process if some team members refuse to respond appropriately to a new environment. If they dont deal with an individual who is being obstructive, they risk alienating others who respond appropriately. Independence is also important to separate the leaders behaviour towards the team from the way that the leader behaves as an individual. The next step of the leadership behaviours is the ability to develop others. At a time of change everyone has to learn to do things differently. A good leader is working with their team to help them discover first of all what they need to be able to do, and secondly to learn how to do it. Coaching will probably be a key activity at this time. By helping team members to achieve new skills the leader not only enables the team to do its work, but increases the confidence of the team member and reduces any concern about the change stemming from their ability to learn new skills. Leadership style is how you relate to subordinates. Assessing my way of leadership I came to solution that mostly I use democratic leadership style behavior to motivate employees to work harder, involve employees for more participation in the decision-making process. Opinion of personnel is much appreciated and leads them to be motivated especially when their ideas were used in the work processes. As a result work environment become healthy and employees feel good about it.   Workers feel that their opinion counts, and because of that feeling they are more committed to achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. The collaborative environment created by this style often results in more thorough solutions to problems. I realize that sometime the democratic style could be no effective as take time when I ask people about their opinion, while they explaining what they think and other understand what they are saying. Efficiency is in right assessment of the knowledge and exp erience of subordinates. If they are not quite qualified this will be just waste of the time. So when is situation critic and I need to make urgent decision I switch the style. Even the most successful team will need help from its leader when faced with major change in its environment. For change leadership to be successful, certain leadership behaviors need to be used more regularly until the team has taken the impact of the change on board, and has learned how to be successful in the new environment

The Smbolisms of the Name, Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire :: Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire

In the first few scenes of "A Streetcar Named Desire", Tennessee Williams shows us a complex woman, named Blanche Dubois. This paper will explore the symbolisms of her name. The name Blanche is French and means white or fair. Her last name DuBois is of French origin as well and translates as â€Å"made of wood†. The name suggests that Blanche is a very innocent and pure person. When she appears in scene one, â€Å"she is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and a hat†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Sc.1 p. 2073). White is also the color of light and represents perfection and virginity but throughout the play it becomes obvious that Blanche cannot call any of the traits of her name her own. She is a seductive and promiscuous woman. Only the illusory image, which she tries to create for herself, suggests these traits, but her true nature is not like that at all. She constantly tries to hide her embarrassing past from her new acquaintances, because she fears that they might not accept her anymore. In order to maintain her apparent social status among her new neighbors and friends, she builds an intertwined net of lies, which creates a false image of her. She believes in this imaginary world, and as soon as there is the slightest sign of destruction, she seems to be lost, and her nervous condition worsens. Therefore all she cares about is to keep that image alive. Her first name is therefore quite ironic since it means the exact opposite of Blanche’s true nature and character. Her last name, however, stands in contrast to her first name. Made of wood suggests something solid and hard, which is the exact opposite of her fragile nature and nervous condition. Wood can also be associated with forest or jungle, and regarding her past, the connection becomes clear. Blanche indulges in a rather excessive lifestyle. She has sex with random strangers and is known throughout her hometown of Laurel for that. Her former life is more like a jungle or a forest, because it is hard to see through all this and detect the real Blanche. As in a jungle, Blanche cannot find a way out of this on her own. The term jungle appears in the play as well. In scene ten, when Stanley is about to rape Blanche, â€Å"the inhuman jungle voices rise up† (Sc.10 p. 2130). The jungle can be associated with wildness, brutality and inhuman behavior. As mentioned about, wood represents something hard, or hard working. The Du in front of that however, suggests something