Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Importance of The Management Decisions in Every Business

Introduction Management as a business concept refers to the â€Å"on going process that evaluates and controls the business and the industries in which the company operates†. This means that management is undertaken by both the government and the industries or firms operating in a given economy in order to ensure overall economic growth or success.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Importance of The Management Decisions in Every Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the firm level, the managers must evaluate their ability to compete existing and potential competitors. They must also set achievable goals, given their resources and potentials. At the government level, management involves planning for economic development, regulation of industries and supporting emerging industries in order to ensure success. The management decisions made by both the government and individual firms have a great impact on international business strategy development. This paper is a reflection on the course on management with a focus on international business strategy. Learning Outcomes Management is an integral part of developing international business strategy since it determines the approaches used to make decisions, allocation of resources and the ability to achieve the organizational goals and objectives. In regard to the course, learning about the significance of globalization, integration of emerging markets and industrial distributions and their significance on firms was the most appealing aspect of the course. In particular, the knowledge I gained from the course can be explained as follows. To begin with, globalization has become a key aspect of business environment and will continue to influence critical decisions made by businesses. As the world economy develops, the decisions made by individuals are highly influenced by global trends. For example, as free trade and open market systems em erge, firms must focus on producing products that meet international standards in order to maintain their competitiveness.  One of the major factors that have contributed to globalization is the rapid integration of emerging markets. As countries integrate their markets in order to maximize their synergies, opportunities arise for individual firms. Such opportunities include a large market, access to cheap labor and raw materials as well as limited regulation. However, integration of markets is also associated with challenges such as high competition and unpredictable business environment. This means that firms must understand the dynamics of the international markets and evaluate their ability to compete in such markets effectively in order to succeed.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Globalization and market integration has led to the rapid growth of multinational corpora tions. The multinational corporations focus on operating in several countries. This helps them to achieve economies of scale, increase their market shares and profits. However, they also pose high competition especially to the small and medium sized firms at the domestic market. In many cases, the small and medium sized companies fail within five years of their inception due to their inability to compete in the market. Consequently, internationalization as an expansion strategy is being witnessed as an emerging trend among the small and medium sized firms. The strategies used by governments to ensure economic growth include industry cluster programs as well as direct financial and nonfinancial support to industries that make significant contributions to economic growth. Such support enables local firms to compete effectively. Key Trends in International Business Competition International business is characterized by intense competition as more and more forms join the international m arket. The presence of cut throat competition is a direct threat to the survival of businesses. Thus managers must be able to evaluate existing and potential competition. In response to the intense competition, most firms are focusing on internal reorganization as a strategy of creating competitive advantages. Internal reorganization does not only involve changing the management and leadership styles but also involves making significant changes to production methods. The aim of such reorganization is to reduce costs and improve product quality. Most firms are currently focusing on flatter organizational hierarchies in order to improve efficiency in regard to decision making and strategy development. The customers have become the focus of most business strategies since close relationships with clients helps in overcoming the competition. Basis of Competition Owing to the intense competition associated with most markets, firms have found it worthy to focus on a unique way of productio n that will increase their competitiveness. Besides, each firm normally chooses a strategy that determines the way it will act in the market with the aim of improving its competitiveness.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Importance of The Management Decisions in Every Business specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Firms normally adopt one or a combination of the following strategies at the international market. First, a firm can adopt a differentiation approach to guide its behavior in the market. In this case, the firm targets several market segments with differentiated products. The differentiation helps the firm to position itself as the best in the market. Second, a firm can adopt a cost based approach. This means that the firm will focus on reducing its production costs with the aim of reducing the price of the final product. By selling at a lower price, the firm will be able to penetrate the market and increase its market share and profitability. Finally, a focus or niche approach can be adopted to enhance the competitiveness of a firm. It involves concentrating on a particular segment of the market and satisfying the existing needs. These trends indicate that a manager must know the appropriate behavior to adopt for its firm in order to succeed. Information and Technology Having the right and accurate information concerning the market and the customers’ needs is a key determinant of the success of a business. Thus future managers need to know how to adopt organizational learning and appropriate technology in order to get the correct information to anchor their strategies. An effective organizational learning must promote continuous expansion of both the managers’ and their employees’ knowledge. New and better patterns of thinking should be encouraged in the process of strategy development. This will enable managers to develop strategies that are unique in the internat ional market. The manager should also encourage collective aspiration inline with the overall international strategy. Such shared inspirations help in achieving success. The use of advanced communication and information technology leverages organizational learning. Currently, the use of e-commerce is a common trend in international business. Most multinational corporations use ecommerce to execute activities such as marketing, sales, and customer service. The main advantage of technologies such as e-ecommerce is that they help in gathering first hand information about the market within a very short time and in a cost effective manner.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Regulation Regulation refers to the â€Å"administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities†. Managers need to know the regulation trends in the markets in which their businesses are operating. This is due to the fact that regulation dictates the quality of products to be maintained, ownership of businesses, the rights of foreign and domestic firms as well as the level of competition. Despite the fact that integration of markets and formation of free trade agreements focus on liberalizing markets, regulation is still high in various industries at the international level. It is likely that high regulation will continue to influence international markets in the foreseeable future. Even though regulation focuses on promoting healthy competition and best practice in international business, it also constrains the expansion capabilities of firms. The emerging economies such as China and India for instance are using protectionist policie s to protect their domestic firms from intense competition from their foreign counterparts. Such policies represent entry barriers to foreign firms since they limit the abilities of the foreign companies to join international markets.  The concern about environmental degradation has also led to intense regulation of businesses especially in the manufacturing sector. Companies are not only expected to avoid polluting the environment but are also expected to participate in its conservation. This represents an increase in the overall costs of operating in a given market. In some industries such as aviation, firms are charged regular fees for the pollution resulting from their operation. Failure to adhere to the rules used to regulate the industries normally result into severe consequences such as fines. Thus managers must take into account the level of regulation associated with the markets they intend to join in order to develop effective strategies. Interpretation of the Environmen t Interpreting the business environment involves evaluating the significance of both internal and external factors affecting the performance of a business. Prior to interpreting the business environment, the firm must conduct an environmental analysis in order to understand the environmental factors accordingly. The most commonly used tools in the analysis include SWOT analysis, Porter’s five forces analysis and PESTEL analysis. The SWOT analysis focuses on evaluating the strength and weaknesses of the firm. It also helps in determining the threats and opportunities available to the firm. The Porter’s five forces analysis involves evaluating the competition associated with a particular market. The PESTEL analysis helps the firms to study the factors associated with the macro-environment and their effects on businesses. The results of the analysis obtained using the mentioned tools can be interpreted in the following criteria. Suitability The environment can be interpre ted as either suitable or unsuitable. The interpretation depends on whether the environmental factors make any economic sense or not. For example, availability of good transportation infrastructure is suitable for business success. Suitability is also determined by the economies of scale or economies of scope associated with the environmental factors. Finally, the environment will be considered suitable if the organization is capable of operating in it with the available resources. Feasibility Joining or operating in a given business environment is associated with some costs. For example, joining the international market through foreign direct investment requires the capital to establish new branches. The costs involved in operating in a given market are justified by the expected returns and the available resources. Thus operating in a given market will be considered feasible if the existing resources will be sufficient and the expected returns will cover the costs and other revenue needs of the organization. Acceptability This refers to the possible reactions of various stakeholders such as the workers, customers, community and the shareholders. Acceptability can be interpreted in terms of the expected returns to shareholders’ investment, the overall performance of the business and the risks associated with the environment. The expected returns are the benefits that will be available to various stakeholders as a result of operating in a particular business environment. For example, shareholders will accept an environment that will enable them to increase their wealth. The employees on the other hand will accept an environment that will guarantee them career progression and job satisfaction. The risks refer to the â€Å"financial and nonfinancial consequences associated with operating in a given business environment†. The financial risks for instance include the chances of incurring huge loses while nonfinancial risks include natural disasters su ch as floods which can adversely affect businesses. This discussion indicates that analyzing the business environment alone is not important if the results of the analysis are not interpreted correctly. Thus managers must know how to interpret the environment in which their businesses operate in order to make the right decisions. The Course and my Future Career This course will help me in my future career in the following ways. First, the concept of globalization and integration of markets will help me in developing strategic plans. Having understood the significance of globalization in terms of its merits and demerits in a business environment, I will be able to make the right decisions in regard to strategic planning. Second, the course will help me in evaluating business opportunities as well as developing effective strategies of exploiting such opportunities. By being able to evaluate and interpret the business environment correctly, I will be able to choose the right business o pportunities. Besides, I will be able to make the necessary trade-offs in regard to resource allocation in an attempt to achieve the business objectives using the available resources. Finally, the course will enable me to understand the role of government intervention in the economy through programs such as industry clusters. Thus I will be able to indentify the benefits and risks associated with the government’s role in the economy. Conclusion The above discussion indicates that development of international business strategies is influenced by the management decisions made by both the firms and the governments. The main futures that managers need to know in developing strategies in future include technological advances, competition, the basis of competition and regulation. Managers usually interpret the business environment in terms of its suitability, feasibility and acceptability. Correct interpretation of the business environment helps in making the right decisions. This course will thus help me to evaluate the business environment and develop effective strategies. References Akoorie, M., Scott-kennel, J. (2005). International business strategy: a new Zealand perspective. New York: Pearsons. Chen, X. (2009). State intervention and business group performance in China. New York: ProQuest LLC. Choi, H., Clarke, J., Ferris, S. (2009). The effects of regulation on industry structure and trade generation in the US security industry. Journal of Banking and Finance,33(8), 1434-1445. Diego, Q., Claver, E. (2009). Types of diversification and firm resources: new emperical evidence from the Spanish tourism industry. International Journal of Tourism Reserach, 23(1), 35-46. Disney, R., Haskel, J. (2003). Restructuring and productivity growth in UK manufacturing. Economic Journal, 113(489), 666-694. Filip, A. (2009). the effect of globalization in union bargaining and price-cost margins of firms. Review of World Economics, 145(1), 13-36. Hargrous, k., Smith, M. (2008). The advanateg of nations. London: Earth-Scan. Hunter, J. (2010). Determinats of business success under hypocapital. Journal of Business Research, 56(2), 113-120. Kahai, S., Simmars, W. (2005). The impact of globalization on income inequalities. Global Business and Economic Review, 7(1), 1-15. Kent, G. (2009). The importance of internal integration for a successful external integration of the supply chain. Business Logistics in Modern Management, 9(1) , 45-54. Lee, K., Olekalis, N. (2010). Nowcasting bsuioness cycle dataing and the interpretation of new information when real time data are available. Economics Review, 10(1), 17-23. Machkova, H. (2005). Actual trends in international marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 20(2), 47-70. Upmann, T., Stahler, F. (2008). Market entry regulation. Review of International Economics, 16(4), 611-626. Wright, R. (2000). Trends in international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 1(1), 109-123. Xie, W .-J., Gu, G.-F., Zhou, W.-X. (2010). The growth of primary industry and the population of China’s counties. Statistical Mechanics and its Applied, 389(18), 3876-3882. This essay on Importance of The Management Decisions in Every Business was written and submitted by user Harmony J. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Raiders of the lost ark essays

Raiders of the lost ark essays The film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the greatest films of all time every aspect of filmmaking in it is superb. The theme the plot the script the acting, all of it is great including the setting the costumes the makeup the direction the photography editing and sound is fabulous. Everything that makes a good movie a good movie is present in this film. Theme- The theme of the movie is about courage, triumph over good and evil in the quest to find the mystical Ark of the Covenant. The director Steven Spielberg did not use any motifs to convey the theme but the director did use the reoccurring symbol of the headpiece to the staff of Raw. Whenever you saw it you get the feeling that time is running out or it is in the wrong hands. Spielberg did use a metaphor to strengthen the theme it also ties in with the symbol of the movie. When you see the German professional and he has the headpiece burned into his hand it symbolizes it falling into the wrong hands. Plot- The plot of the movie is not profound but it is great the film is about Dr. Jones a professor of archaeology who is asked by the United States Military Intelligence Agency to beat the Germans in the race to find the lost Ark of the Covenant first. His journey takes him to Nepal, the dangerous market places of Cairo, and a top secrete submarine base in India. To complete his task Jones must survive poison, traps, snakes, treachery, and a division of the Nazi army. The plot is very good but it is somewhat unbelievable, first of all the movie is about the recovery of a religious artifact, which many people dont believe in any way. Secondly the fact that a college professor of archaeology is risking his life every minute doing amazing things like taking down an entire force of Nazi soldiers with his six shooter and his trusty whip. This makes the plot seem very surreal. Script- The script of the movie is very good the dialogues of t...

Monday, February 24, 2020

Ecology (task 5) Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ecology (task 5) - Coursework Example Other people enjoy seeing the pets on their sofa as they speak with their visitors. This issue is popular in the internet where we can see ads offering animals for sale. It threatens the survival of the animals. The capturing of wild animals is exploited by humans while this has lead to the extinction of some species. In addition, the animals are harvested from their natural habitat through painful methods. This can be considered a severe lack of animal welfare. This denies the animal its natural habitat and it is captivated at homes. Owners of the exotic animals may at some point feel bored with the animal and leave them to suffer from lack of water and food. The animal may finally die in a painful way. This means that the tiger is a tertiary carnivore and the main predator. This is also used to mean that no animal eats the tiger in the forest ecosystem. While the other animals feed on one another, the tiger rules the food chain and appears at the top whereby, no animal comes above it as its predator. The tiger keeps the populations of wild bore, deer and sambar as well as the other predators in balance. If the tiger is not present to control them, they would greatly expand. Their excessive population would therefore ravage their food source which is basically the vegetation. If the vegetation is overwhelmed, the smaller animals would not survive in the forest. If the small animals moved to the crops in farmlands, some basic food sources could be lost (Slade & Schwartz, 2011). This would cause serious impacts on human population. If plants stop growing in the jungle, soils become infertile and eventually the entire jungle fades away. These are the direct or the indirect contributions of the ecosystem to the well-being of human beings. Ecological services are therefore the benefits human beings obtain from the ecosystem. These may include fresh water, wood, food, medicines, pest control,

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Military Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Military Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy - Essay Example This policy is unfair and unethical because there is no proof that gays cannot serve well in the military. When we think about the issue of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, it becomes clear that this is not just a homosexual issue. Instead, it is an issue about discrimination against people who have served the military well. A Short History of Gays in the Military Gays have been recorded as being part of the military as far back as Plato and the Greeks. They understand the value of having gays in the military. Although Plato's time accepted gays in the military, there were problems as time went on with each war. As far back as the Crusades, gays were persecuted when they were found to have same-sex affairs during the 14th Century. In 1816, during the Napoleonic Wars more gays were persecuted, hanged and whipped if they were found to have same-sex affairs (Webley, 2010). By 1778, George Washington discharged a soldier from his military command and by 1916, the U.S. Military prohibited homosexua lity in the Articles of War. There were many ways to screen out gays from the military throughout the years, and by the Vietnam War, homosexuality was seen by some as a way to get out of military service, especially during this war which was difficult for everyone to understand. However, one man, Perry Watkins, was discharged from the military after 16 years of service because he was a homosexual in 1984; he sued the military and won the case in 1990 (Webley, 2010). This short history shows that gays and lesbians have been serving in the military for probably every war that has ever been fought, and there has always been a concentration on whether they should be open or closeted while they were serving. The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy In 1993, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy was enacted to stop people who were homosexual from talking about their lifestyle or from practicing homosexuality while in the military. The reason this was enacted was because the military believed that if i t were allowed, it would "create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion which are the essence of military capability" (Burrelli, 2010, Summary). This was not a law, but rather a policy that was in place to make sure that service members did not talk about their sexual orientation and that they were not asked about it when they entered the service or as they continued. In other words, homosexual service members were to keep quiet about who they were and how they lived in order to serve next to heterosexual service members. In 2010, the act was repealed as unconstitutional and the military was ordered to stop enforcing it. It is the opinion of this researcher that this was the right thing to do because everyone should have the opportunity to serve in the military regardless of their sexual orientation. When this policy was put into place, thousands of military members had to leave the military based on their sexual orientatio n or live a lie in order to serve as those who were not homosexual served (Obama, 2011). In having this policy in place, it made many men and women have to hid who they were which made them feel isolated and afraid. President Obama acknowledged that this was another sacrifice that these men and women had to do that was not fair to them. The repeal of this policy will not happen quickly because the

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Frued’s Psychoanalytic Theory Essay Example for Free

Frued’s Psychoanalytic Theory Essay Legendary and groundbreaking psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud changed the way scholars and doctors alike thought about the nature of the brain. Freud’s insight created a new paradigm that focused future inquiries onto the functional aspects of the mind, rather than cerebral and somatic physicality. With this essay, I will begin by describing and defining the id, ego and superego while also discussing how they interact. I will conclude by examining the essential differences of the ego and superego and the implications these distinctions imply. According to Dr. Freud, the id is the part of the human mind that we are born with and it is primarily responsible for the instinctual drives of the individual (Sigmund). For Freud, the id is mainly motivated by libido, or the sexual instinct in its quest for pleasure and satisfaction. Further, the libido is divided into two parts: eros and thanatos. Eros is the drive to fulfill pleasure seeking actions and sexual desires while thanatos is an oppositional drive toward death that causes the aggression and destructive tendencies of humans (Freud’s). This is an important distinction that creates the impression and theory that the id belongs to the tension filled domain of the unconscious. It is the part of us that we can scarcely control, but can incite intense pleasure or aggressive destruction when these desires are fulfilled or denied. In opposition to the basic instinctual need to achieve pleasure or enact destruction lies the part of the brain shaped and defined by social and cultural influences. Freud defines this part of the brain as the superego. The superego in practical terms can be defined as the conscious mind that develops and manifests over time, beginning with inputs from parents and siblings, to schools, relationships and work. This part of the mind internalizes all of these inputs in its creation of consciousness while also being responsible for critiquing consciousness and counterbalancing the instinctual desires of the id in order to successfully navigate through society based on learned values and moral judgments. In between the id and the superego is the ego. The ego can be thought of as the part of the brain that mediates the tensions between the conscious and the unconscious; the id and the superego (Freud’s). In this capacity, the ego contains all objects of consciousness without the moralizing and criticism of the superego. In other words, the ego is the part of our minds that is aware of consciousness and the reality of other people’s consciousness. In this model then, the ego still wants to fulfill the id’s pleasure principle but it also realizes that in trying to accomplish this, the person may hurt other people in the process and must take this fact into consideration (Sigmund). The ego is also responsible for covering the impulses of the id through the development of what he called defense mechanisms. These are forms of repression and rationalization that lessen anxiety or cover troubling thoughts and memories. In addition to his personality theory, Freud also studied the psychosexual stages of development. His stages are organized chronologically beginning with the oral stage and moving through to the anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages. They all focus on the sexual pleasure drive on the psyche. Stage development can only be achieved through the resolution of the previous stage (Stevenson). The resolution or lack thereof, affects the psyche throughout life, especially when one becomes fixated at a particular stage. Each of these stages and the developing person’s id, ego, and superego are constantly mediating the latent pleasures of the psychosexual drive against societal norms. The Structural Theory proposed by Dr. Sigmund Freud has far reaching implications for the way we account for the actions and impulses of our minds. With this model, divided into the id, ego, and superego, we can explain how we can simultaneously harbor uninhibited desires in the unconscious pleasure and destructive tendencies developed by the id, but we can also mediate these instinctive drives through the self-conscious functions performed by the ego’s defense mechanisms, while in addition re-appropriating this tension through the role of the superego in order to live a morally responsible and hopefully well-balanced life. References Freud’s Personality Factors. (2008). http://changingminds. org/explanations/personality/freud_personality. htm Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). (2008). The Internet Encyclopedia of Psychology. Retrieved January 8, 2009 from. http://www. iep. utm. edu/f/freud. htm Stevenson, David. (1996). Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development. Brown University. Retrieved January 8, 2009 from http://www. victorianweb. org/science/freud/develop. html

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

I Want to Teach :: Teaching Philosophy Education Essays

I Want to Teach If you would have asked me two years ago what my feelings were about school, I would have told you that "I hated school". At that time I was 18 with no direction for my future and nothing seemed like it had any importance to me. The reason I decided to become a teacher is very complex because I never wanted to be a teacher until the end of 2003. What made me change my mind was a series of events and people in my life that impacted me both positively and negatively. This turning point in my life began in my senior year of high school. As I prepared for my senior football season I never took the time out to prepare for life after high school. The only thing that mattered was that I played good football and graduated so after that I could accept my full scholarship to the University of Illinois. I didn’t know at that time that life wasn’t that easy, but I was soon to find out. As the year went on I had more and more offers to play at different universities, but I was not paying attention to any of my mentors when they would tell me that none of these offers meant anything if I didn’t have the grades. I respect my mentors as if they were father figures because they have been where I want to go and have everything that I want, but I was too busy listening to family members who would tell me that I was going pro after my first year of college. As an 18 year old, you believe what your family tells you because you think it is right because they said it. Unfortunately, I found out that this was not always the case. The school year went on, and as others where preparing for the ACT and SAT, I was busy getting in trouble with the law and not going to class. No one cared about anything I was doing because I was a good football player and that was all they saw. They believed that any trouble I got in to, I could get out of, but that wasn’t true. I spent almost a month in the Wayne County Jail for armed robbery. It was there that I decided to turn my life around and do what was right.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Defense Spending and the Military-Industrial Complex

On December 7, 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This thrust America into World War II, and for the next four years it dominated nearly every aspect of American life [Bowles, 2011, 3. 7 The World at War (1941-1945)]. This greatly impacted Americans and had a significant impact on African Americans during this time. Although the attack on Pearl Harbor was a devastating period of time, it was a great time for African Americans to assert their independence.They fought in the war, defending their country after how they were treated. They demanded being able to have jobs that were considered â€Å"whites only†. In my belief, they deserved these rights. African Americans were treated unfairly for years and did not have rights but yet still strived to fight for their country. There is no reason why they should not have been treated fairly, if not more like heroes for how brave and noble they were. According to Bowles, â€Å"While t hese men were willing to die for the country, they were not eligible for many of the honors for their service.Though many deserved it, no African American could receive the Medal of Honor, the highest military award for bravery (2011, African Americans at war). This brings me to the long term effects WWII had on our country. Bill Clinton awarded men their gold’s that they deserved 50 years too late. Only one of the men was alive to even receive it. The long term effect is the regret of letting the people who were most brave, die for our country and not receive an award just because of the color of his skin. References: Bowles, M. (2011). A history of the United States since 1865 . (Ashford University ed. ) San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.