Cross-ultural Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Cross-ultural Management - Essay Example The opportunities presented by globalisation are immense. The access to a global marketplace has been a big boost to companies’ efforts to expand their business empires. However, aside from the consumption side with access to more buyers, companies are also benefitting on the production side with regards to their capabilities to produce at lower costs. This has been made possible by their access to cheaper labor in the developing economies. This, however, presents companies with more challenges since these are people who, although like machineries are inputs for production, are much more difficult to handle. Hence, Mendenhall, Oddou and Stahl (2007) emphasizes the need to be able to handle the challenges presented by having a global workforce for managers in firms that operate globally. Companies must be able to face up to the challenges presented by the different culture of the different people that will be working with them. More so, the concept of having global operations in different countries will present HR practitioners with an array of culture and people necessitating the capability to be able to handle the different issues that will arise from such workforce diversity. This, however, is easier said than done for Hofstede (2001) warns that there are more chances for conflict than synergy when different cultures are mixed. Cross-cultural management therefore is very important since this is a pressing reality that companies wanting or are operating globally must face and succeed if they are to survive and thrive in the global business environment. Cultural Challenge According to Hofstede (2004), there are five cultural dimensions that HR practitioners and managers faced with cross cultural challenges can use to somehow understand the differences that are characteristic of their global workforce. One of the possible sources of conflicts that must be understood properly is the way people may view how p ower is distributed. Hofstede calls this the Power Distribution Index (PDI) whereby there is a bottom to top view of the inequality of the distribution of power. Hence, usually easterners identify strongly with their ethnic groups meaning they find power in their groups or by being collectively identified with each other while westerners are more individualistic. Thus, this shows that these people must be treated differently. Also, there are the poles of masculinity and femininity which reflects to a person being assertive or modest. Looking at a countrywide perspective, there is a significant difference among men towards women. Thus, companies operating globally ought to be sensitive to the inclination of their employees towards power as well as with the actuations associated with the poles of masculinity and femininity. The myriad of personalities that they will be handling can spell the difference between the success and failure of their global endeavor since these employees are central to their business successes. It would be unwise to hire cheap labor if the company cannot get them to work harmoniously raising the risk of attaining poorer quality and even defects on their products. When conflicts abound in an organization, the results are seldom fruitful. Also, there is the tendency to be risk averse or to be cautious and avoid uncertain situations. Hence, for cultures that have these tendencies, there are usually stricter laws and regulations in order for them to mitigate such risks and uncertainties. On the other side, there are cultures that are more lenient who are generally more relaxed and displays a high level of tolerance. Finally, there is the long term orientation (LTO) vis-a-vis short term orientation displaying the various tendencies of

Nationalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Nationalism - Essay Example This can only be successful if conducted in the local vernacular of the country. This thus raised a need for cultural homogenisation and its offshoot- the political doctrine of nationalism, 'which holds that the political and the national unit should be congruent'.4 Nationalism can be characterised as 'the organisation of human groups into large, centrally educated, culturally homogenous units'.5 Gellner put it thus: modernisation brings about nationalism and nationalism establishes nations, and not vice versa. Nationalism may manifest itself as part of state ideology or as a non-state movement and may be expressed along civic, ethnic, cultural, religious or ideological lines. These self-definitions of the nation have been used to classify types of nationalism. These categories are not mutually exclusive and many nationalist movements combine some or all of these elements to varying degrees. Nationalist movements have also beeen classified by other criteria, such as scale and location. With all the disagreements about the true nature of nationalism, most analysts today view it as a hindrance to the development of a liberal democracy.6 Some like Beiner, Habermas and Hobsbawm say that this hindrance has to be superseded altogether; others like Dahrendorf, Kymlicka and Tamir see how democracy and nationalism can be reconciled. Civic and Ethnic Nationalism The liberal defenders of nationalism owe mostly, the original Enlightenment ideal of the nation as an agency of democratic power that was able to challenge the old suppressive order of the 'ancien rgime' (Rousseau). This made French and American nationalisms to be traditionally regarded as the epitome of civic nationalism. They were based on the political ideas of revolutionaries who fought for the 'sovereignty of the people'. The membership of the community was thus defined primarily in political terms; civic virtues were more important for the new republic than ethnicity, common culture, or even common language. This voluntaristic notion of national identity is usually contrasted with ethnic nationalism, which is exclusionary, since the belonging to a nation is in this case defined by birth, blood and ethnicity. While the former conception of a nation is ideally conceived of as a voluntary association, the latter is seen as a community of fate.7 Ethnic nationalism emerged in the la te nineteenth century and is said to be pertinent to the people of Central and Eastern Europe

A Quit Smoking Education Program For Parents Assignment

A Quit Smoking Education Program For Parents - Assignment Example Instead, what works for one may not work for another user, and vice versa. Nonetheless, certain key factors (a ‘best-practice’ process) assist most people to quit: the user should make the decision to quit; set a quit date; prepare on how to react to quitting obstacles; getting support family, friends or even successful quitters; if necessary, get medication; and finally stay quit by finding ways to deal with relapse and sustaining the quit status (Stead et al., 2008). In order to generate a cost-effective delivery model, and eventually succeed in implementing an improved curriculum, a healthy canteen, a staff exercises group and a school vegetable garden. For an improved curriculum, a number of decisions and planning steps need to be followed when preparing each aspect. The instructors should equip themselves for the challenge, without continuous training ensured to equip them with the necessary skills; both in helping the users opting out of smoking as well as those in need for advice against the practice. Once the course has been developed, assessment instruments should also be generated in form of checklists, objective tests, or rubrics (Jarvis & Wardle, 1999). However, for the medical attention that might be required by the smokers battling with relapse, the medical staff should ensure availability, sustainability, and continuity. As such, patients can benefit from ‘walk-in’ sessions, appointment and patient-follow-up system, and availability regardless of pharmacist workload. Jarvis, M, & Wardle, J. (1999). Social patterning of individual health behaviors: the case of cigarette smoking. In Marmot M, Wilkinson R, editors Social determinants of health. Oxford: Oxford University  Press.

China Unicom's entrance in Brazil for mobile network Essay

China Unicom's entrance in Brazil for mobile network - Essay Example China Unicom’s Entry Strategic Plan 12 5.1 Product Segmentation 12 5.2 Customer Behaviour 13 5.3 Distribution Channel 13 5.4 Risk Mitigation 14 5.5 Political Implementation 14 6. Conclusion and Recommendations 16 References 17 1. Introduction 1.1 Background In relation to the recent phenomenon of the unconventional business environment, organisations are often recognised to expand their business subsidiaries across different foreign business markets. Moreover, the rapid pace in economic stabilisation of the global countries has long been witnessed to motivate the global marketers for implementing aggressive expansion strategy in order to strengthen their global presence and sustainability in any business industry. In this similar context, Brazil can be duly considered as one of the major and highly preferred business locations for the global marketers while intending to expand their respective business subsidiaries (Rugraff & Hansen, 2011). According to the present day context , Brazil has been identified to attain greater interests of the global marketers to extend their business locations. ... Aims and Objectives Emphasising the increased level in business expansion by the international marketers, the essay intends to critically understand the rising opportunity and develop an effective country analysis for China United Network Communications Group Co. Ltd (China Unicom) in the Brazilian telecom business industry. In this regard, the aims and objectives of this research are to analyse the economic environment and also the current trend of the telecom industry prevailing in the respective business location. Moreover, the identification of certain specific issues along with challenges persisting in the respective industry as well as in the country or the business market is also the other aim and objective of this research. Moreover, the essay would also focus on demonstrating the current political environment of Brazil and prepare a relevant entry strategy for China Unicom. 2. China Unicom 2.1 Introduction Officially established in the year 2009, China United Network Communi cations Group Co. Ltd (China Unicom) is regarded as one of the leading and dominant telecom service providers across the globe. The organisation is recognised as the merger of the leading telecom service provider of China Netcom and previously developed China Unicom. The organisation is widely renowned as one of the dominant telecom service providers in terms of providing an extensive fixed-line network across its widely accessed global subsidiaries. Moreover, China Unicom is also observed in offering its range of high-speed along with higher-capacity based transmission networks to its global customers. During the year 2008, the company was able to gain its assets beyond 5 hundred billion Yuan and also recorded to incorporate in excess of 460,000 global employees across its different

Strategies Unit-5DB Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategies Unit-5DB - Essay Example A virtual retailer must find companies which will supply the necessary commodities that it sells online. Though inventories are significantly lower than that of traditional retailer, internet retailers also need to have its warehouse. Virtual retailers also need to forge partnerships with logistics companies in the delivery of their products. Online operation must also backed by support staffs which are committed in delivering a excellent customer service. In terms of physical resources, online retailers less resources than a brick and mortar which operates on an international level. One virtual store is needed for an international internet retailer to serve all its global customers. A dot-com retailer also requires fewer inventories but it should be noted that companies must heavily invest in computer hardware and software to support processes. Financially, an online operation requires smaller cash outlay to finance physical resources and overhead. It should also be noted that e-commerce necessitates lower levels of working capital and telecommunication costs. In terms of human resource, an international internet retailer needs to deploy more employees who will man order taking and after-sales support. However, the total number of an international internet retailer is significantly lower than its brick and mortar counterpart. According to AC Nielsen, Google, Inc.

BIM and Construction management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

BIM and Construction management - Assignment Example The models created through BIM can be accessed by all concerned sides in the construction process for any adjustments or decision making in regard to how the construction work is to continue, how the building or facility will be used and if need be how demolition for the same will be done. It goes beyond the 2 dimensional representations of buildings on paper as plans, sections and elevations; and gives information about a building in three dimensions in addition to other details like light analysis, building components and their properties, quantities of building including excavation and spatial relationships (Kymmell, 2008). In order for information developed through this process to be useful, a BIM manager is contracted to advice contractors at every critical stage of a building life cycle. The roles of the BIM manager majorly revolve around collecting information on the whole process of construction and determine whether the work was accurately predicted in the BIM and points out what was not accurately presented in the models created. He is consulted in cases where actions or decisions contrary to what is on the models are advisable in order for the construction work to be completed in a manner that will not compromise the quality of a premise. Engineers or whoever is assigned the role of managing projects embrace BIM as it gives them many opportunities of illustrating to the funders of a project on the various options of doing work and the various implications for each alternative to help customers easily make decisions they are best comfortable with in regard to their financial capabilities. In addition through BIM the project managers are able to make accurate financial requisitions periodically as required. This is very helpful for subcontractors, or when finance is controlled from a central unit to avoid overspending. When a project adopts BIM in their work, there are so many benefits which come with it. Since the process emphasizes on information sha ring it becomes easier for managers to track the progress of the work as documented from time to time. The use of BIM helps mangers to make appropriate adjustments while the work is ongoing as it is able to reveal weakness within the structure that can make the building not to last for long. Since the purpose for which a building is constructed is the basis for determining accurately the various features in the building suitable for that purpose, it is possible to be able to design a structure that is ideal for maximum performance for the intended purpose. It is easy to control expenditure of resources throughout the project cycle since everything is budgeted for in advance and money for that particular purpose released in a timely manner for easy accountability. Any changes which contractors and subcontractors might consider necessary must be calculated and its appropriateness determined. Some of these measures, especially those being made in enhancing stability and durability of a building, are usually detected early and budgeted for through BIM. Therefore, any new requests for additional facilities must be weighted carefully because it is possible that what is

Discuss the positive and negative aspects of an ageing population,with Essay

Discuss the positive and negative aspects of an ageing population,with particular reference to your country - Essay Example Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly the largest oil producer in the world and the biggest company in the Middle East. It performs fairly well in other economic areas; for instance, its tourism sector flourishes with millions of tourists flocking some of its resorts for vacation and water sports especially due to the clear waters of the red sea. Their real Estate and construction sector is attractive as renting is becoming fairly rampant; the country owns gold mines in the South along the red sea and Bauxite and Phosphate in the North (Oxford Business Group 170). All the same its government’s major priority is to diversify its economy as it is currently heavily dependent on oil and gas. An ageing population consists of those 60 years and above.The huge gap between supply and demand initially in Saudi Arabia could be explained by the high population growth that took place in the country; in fact, it was at the time ranked to have a 46% higher birth rate than the world’s usual average population growth. This high population in Saudi Arabia was represented by an extremely young population; it is estimated that 70 % of its population were less than 30 years with 45% of this given bracket being under 15 years (Oxford Business Group 138). This translated into around 30% of the older population quite a small number; Initially between 2000 and 2005 the ageing population of 60 years and above declined in most Arab countries, Saudi Arabia Included; due to the high birth rate. However, recently there was a huge shift in events when in Saudi Arabia and other oil exporting countries such as United Arab Emirates such that the fertility and birth rate greatly declined resulting in an increase in the number of the ageing population (Gopal and Tikhvinsky 104).it is now estimated that by 2045, 15 % of the population will be aged as from 60 years and above due to the decline