The Prince Essay -- Essays Papers

The Prince The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli provides an analysis on how to govern and maintain power in a principality. In the first five chapters, he defines the three ways a monarch can acquire his dominion: either he inherits it, whether he creates a new one, or annexes territories, and further discusses how to govern them. Machiavelli states that hereditary principalities are less problematic than the mixed ones since newly acquired dominion tend to be more rebellious. The ruler must therefore colonize them and allow citizen to keep their laws or annihilate the governmental structure. In order to illustrate his point, he analyses the success of Alexander the Great conquest in Iran. He then considers five possible ways to acquire power and become a prince (Ch. VI-XI). First, a private citizen can become a ruler due to his own qualities or virtues, like Cyrus or Romulus. A second way to become a ruler is through other’s power or favor. Hence a man like Cesare Borgia gained power due to his father support, but lost it when the latter died. For Machiavelli, getting power so quickly can be dangerous since the new monarch might lack knowledge on how to govern. In the third case, he uses the example of Agathocles of Sicily to illustrate power gained through murders. In his opinion, the conqueror must decide if his crimes will help him establish power and then commit them all at once so that he can later reestablish the confidence of his subjects. The fourth method is called civil principality, people basically choose the ruler, and this enables him to maintain power. The last possibility is to be elected pope and Machiavelli provides a brief overview of the religious order. Next, he explores (Ch. XII- XIV) which arms are best to defend a principality and states that a ruler can chose to use â€Å"his own, or mercenaries, or auxiliaries or a mixture of all three.† From Chapter XV throughout Chapter XIX, Machiavelli proposes to describe how a prince should behave and tells the truth about surviving as a monarch, rather than recommending moral ideals. He describes the virtues commonly assimilated with a prince and concludes that some "virtues" will lead to a prince's destruction, whereas some "vices" will enable him to survive. He describes the advantages of being generous or greedy, merciful or severe, deceitful or honest. Machiavelli... ...d not suffer from bad consequences on the long run. On the other hand, the Exxon-Valdez oil-spill case is an example of deceptive PR. Indeed, not much was done for the Alaskan community and the corporation ended up being perceived in a very negative way by the general public. These two crisis communication cases show that people and mechanisms of power have things in common with Machiavelli’s times, but society has become less tolerant of evil strategies. Rulers or corporations still have the means to deceive, but people are no longer subject to an authority considered divine. Therefore, the ones who govern are exposed to feedback and can hardly avoid the consequences of their acts. A counter example, of course, would be the one of President Clinton as he voluntarily lied in court about his relation with Monica Lewinsky. He put on the face of virtue to deceive his citizens and in so doing manipulated the perception they had of him. In fact, Clinton’s communication specialists probably advised him to use this strategy, which follow the Machiavellian precepts. Although power might not exactly be the same anymore, principles on human natures are constant throughout time.

Managing People Essay

Introduction Hiring employees is a crucial task for any company, since every employee has a significant role within the firm. It is for this reason that the recruiter(s) must make the right choice while selecting the candidates and make sure that the future employee fits the best the job offer. In order to achieve this essential task, most companies use the selection interview which is a method that allows the recruiter or manager and the candidate to meet each other in order for the recruiter to evaluate the different candidate’s aspects. The selection interview method is the most frequently and extensively used approach for employment selection. However, despite its universality, it has raised numerous issues regarding its reliability especially the perceptual errors involved in the evaluation process. Throughout this document, the general selection interview’s benefits and issues will be mentioned in order to justify its popularity in comparison to other selection methods and identify its main pitfalls. The next part will aim to underline the relation between the selection interview and the eventual perceptual errors engendered during the recruitment. Finally, the legal implication of the selection interview will be discussed with regard to government policy and legislation. The selection interview Torrington and Hall (1995) describes the selection interview as a controlled conversation between one or many interviewers (managers) and one or many candidates with a purpose of: * Gathering information in order to predict how well the candidates would perform in the job offered, by measuring their abilities according to predetermined criteria established by the interviewers. * Facilitating the candidates’ decision-making by providing them with full details of the job opportunity they have applied for and information about the organisation. * Giving each candidate an equal opportunity or a fair hearing. Benefits In an interview, both parts meet each other. This allows a certain assessment to be made that can not be established in any other way (Torrington and Hall, 1995) such as the compatibility of two parts and their ability to work together, or the aptitude of someone to perform efficiently within a team without altering the whole group performance. Moreover the selection interview gives the candidates the ability to ask the interviewers any questions, such as information about the working hours, contract negotiation and so forth, in other words, it creates a public relation between both parts. In a second hand, it allows the recruiter to answer the candidates’ questions, and often to increase the perceived attractiveness of the job (Barclay, 1999) such as high salary etc†¦ In addition, the selection interview costs much less than the other methods such as testing and consultants use. Problems with using selection interview The major issues concerning the selection interview are related to its unreliability, invalidity and subjectivity (Torrington and Hall, 1995), although Webster (1964) conducted research that allowed identifying the following problems: * If the interviewers make their decision very early in the interview’s progress, they will deceive their final decision to the candidate. * Interviewers tend to find out the evidence that the candidate is unfavourable rather than favourable which can be called as overweighting negative information. * Most interviewers make their choice within the first three or four minutes of the interview, and then spent the rest of the time looking for evidence to confirm their first impression. * Primacy and Recency which is the tendency to recall the first few candidates and the last few. Therefore those in the middle of the queue become forgotten by the interviewers. * All the perceptual errors made in the interview selection, which include, stereotyping, Halo effect, discrimination and so forth. The next part will entirely be focused on those major issues with significant examples regarding the selection interview’s situation. The perceptual errors in the selection interview According to (Rollinson, 2002:110) who defines the perception as: â€Å"A mental process involving the selection, organisation, structuring and interpretation of information in order to make inferences and give meaning to the information† Perception plays a significant role in organisations, since it is used by individuals to make judgements, inferences and interpretations. Moreover it reflects how the people respond to what we do and what we say. However the differences in perception result for people seeing different things and inferring different meaning to same stimuli. The manner that people perceive things differs from one individual to another, therefore perception becomes a person’s reality and this can lead to misunderstandings (Mullins, 2001). The selection interview has raised several concerns regarding to its validity and reliability, those issues has been directly associated with the perceptual errors that may occur in a selection interview. The main areas where problems are encountered are: * Stereotyping: This is where people are regrouped in a same category according to various criteria such as their age, gender and race (Racial stereotyping). Stereotyping is also attributing a person with qualities supposed to be general of members of a particular group (Rollinson, 2002). In our selection interview context, a female candidate who applies for a building site engineer job would not get the offer because the interviewer might thing that all females are weak and fragile, even thought the candidate has got better knowledge and education than any male candidate. Another example could be a small computing business ran by young managers supported by young computer engineers. If an older candidate applies for an engineer job, the interviewers might discriminate he or she because of his or her age, in the fear that he/she would not fit into a young working team and that might affect the entire group’s overall effectiveness. A number of studies concluded that interviewers are more likely to give higher ratings on some traits to candidates who are more similar to themselves. For example a study demonstrated that females were generally given lower ratings than that of males by male interviewers (http://www.shlusa.com/litigation/BestPractice/bpg_selectioninterviewing.pdf). * The Halo Effect: This is the assumption that a person has a certain characteristic, therefore he or she will have other characteristics (Rollinson, 2002). If a candidate has good communication skills. This does not mean that he or she will perform effectively as a manger or a group leader. It can happen that the panel member is impressed by one candidate’s criterion, and then the interviewers will give him/her positive evaluation for all other criteria regardless the performance. * Self-fulfilling prophecy: in our selection interview perspective, the Self-Fulfilling prophecy can be thought as the interviewer’s feelings regarding the interviewee. If this first person feels negatively about the candidate, he or she might ask more difficult questions in order to confirm his/her first assumptions. Therefore the candidate will feel uncomfortable when providing. This concern is also valid in the other sense which is the positive interviewer’s positive feeling and the straightforward questions to candidate in order to confirm it., The interviewers will basically tend to confirm their first impression whether it is positive or negative. This issue has a relevant impact on the validity and reliability of the selection interview in the sense that the interviewer’s first impression has a considerable effect on both candidates’ self-confidence and interviewers’ final result. * Attribution Theory: The attribution can be internal or external to a person, i.e. people attribute causes to other people’s behaviour. The internal attribution can be the person’s abilities; intentions etc. whereas the external attribution is the environment, luck etc. To simplify this theory throughout an example, a candidate is sweating during a selection interview, the deduction the interviewer might have is: Does this person sweat because the room is hot (External attribution) or because the candidate is nervous and struggle to answer the question (Internal attribution)? In fact there is a significant difference between those two factors that affects the interviewer’s perception and therefore his/her decision making. Government policy and legislation While organisations are totally free about how they choose their employee, legislation has a significant role in the recruitment and selection methods, especially in attempts to prevent different discriminations such as ethnic origin, sex, age and disability and to guaranty equal opportunities in recruitment (Beardwell and Holden, 2001). The first act was elaborated in 1974 and concerned the discrimination against people with criminal records (The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974). This stipulates that after a certain time, the offender has the right to not reveal his or her sentence to any organisation, and should have the same recruitment chances that everybody else has. Followed by that, sex discrimination Act 1975 (including marital status) and race discrimination Act 1976 were introduced in the United Kingdom in order to protect people from direct and indirect discriminations. Since those acts, women and people from different origins have taken important part within organisations; however the evolution has been done relatively slowly according to national statistics (EOC Annual Report, 1998 and IDS 1997) which indicate the distribution of employment on the grounds of gender and race has slightly changed since those acts; for instance, people from ethnic minority are two and a half times more likely to be unemployed than white population. More recently, the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) was enforced in order to protect people with physical or mental impairment that affect them carrying out normal day-to-day activities and tasks. National statistics (Sly et al.; 1999) reveal that the unemployment rate for disabled people is almost twice that the non-disabled people for the working age. Conclusion We have seen that the reliability of the selection interview is affected by perceptual errors. However it this issue that can be overcome by using a structured interview, which makes the interviewer more involved in the job analysis. It is important to remember that the validity of the interview is improved by building a strong relationship between the content of the job and the structure of the selection method. The questions are relevant to the job requirements, and candidates are assessed according to a unique and specific scoring procedure in other words the same questions are asked to each candidate and rated according to pre-elaborated rating scales (Barclay, 1999). Moreover, the interviewers should have special trainings and practices in order to let them know the various pitfalls met in selection interview and overcome their weaknesses regarding the different aspects of the interview. Despite the existence of other recruitment methods such as testing, group selection, assessment centres, and consultant agencies which reveal to be more expensive and less accurate; the selection interview approach remains the most popular and flexible method used by organisations. Bibliography Barclay, J. (1999) â€Å"Employee Selection: A question of Structure†, Personnel Review, 28 (1/2): 134-151. Barclay, J. (1999) â€Å"Improving Selection Interview with Structure†, Personnel Review, 30 (1): 81-101. Beardwell, I. et al. (2001) Human Resource Management, Edinburgh: Prentice Hall. Mullins L. (2001) Management and Organisational Behaviour, UKPrentice Hall. Rollinson, R. (2002) Organisational Behaviour and Analysis-An Integrated Approach, Edinburgh: Prentice Hall. Thair, T. and Risdon, A. (1999). Women in the labour market: Results from the spring. 1998 labour force survey. Labour Market, March. The Office for National Statistics. Torrington, D. et al. (1995) Human Resource Management, Edinburgh: Prentice Hall. SHL Group plc (2000) http://www.shlusa.com/litigation/BestPractice/bpg_selectioninterviewing.pdf 7/11/2003.

The International Strategy of TESCO PLC

Abstract This study explores the different theories of international entry strategies and then analyses the international strategy of Tesco Plc. Firms can enter the international markets through different strategies, including licensing technology abroad, direct investment acquisition, exporting, strategic alliance in foreign market and establishing joint ventures. The findings of this study indicate that Tesco Plc uses international joint ventures, acquisitions and Greenfield investments to enter into foreign markets. However, Greenfield investments have led to failures and as such it is recommendable that the company explores international joint ventures and acquisitions as part of its future entry strategies. Introduction International strategy is very important for all business organisations operating in the international market. This is because the strategy plays an important role in determining the opportunities present in the international market and how to exploit them (Hensmans et al., 2013). Tesco Plc. is one such company with significant development in the international market. The supermarket chain has managed to expand its operations across Europe, Asia and North America with huge success. This international expansion has affected all the facets of the company like business structure, financial status, corporate culture and organisational structure (Ryans, 2013). This study looks at different international strategies, why they are important to Tesco Plc, related theories and their applications. International Strategies The current business environment is very competitive and as such companies need to venture into the international markets in order to generate more profits (Hitt et al 2008). However, choosing the right international strategy is never easy; whether it is licensing technology abroad, direct investment acquisition, exporting, strategic alliance in foreign market, or establishing joint ventures. This study will focus on a few of these strategies that are of importance to Tesco Plc. These strategies are joint ventures, foreign acquisitions, and Greenfield investments. All these strategies have their own benefits and risks arising from the products or services being offered and the cultural, economic and political environment of the target market (Sternquist & Witter 2011). However the choice of the choice of international strategy is highly dependent on organisational resources, commitment and the extent of risk that it is willing to incur. Joint ventures involve cooperation among different companies. The partners often come together to consign risks, allocate resources and delegate responsibilities (Krafft & Mantrala 2010). These ventures are often disbanded once the project is completed. Joint ventures can enable an organisation to market its products or establish its manufacturing plants in a foreign country with the assistance of the local foreign partners. These local partners equip the foreign organisations with the relevant knowledge on government regulations, workings, local markets and the available channels of distribution. Joint ventures are ideal for Tesco Plc. as it will help it in understanding the foreign markets and mitigate risks (McLoughlin & Aaker 2010). In foreign acquisitions a foreign organisation acquires an interest in a local firm through foreign direct investment (Hensmans et al 2013). In most cases foreign acquisitions occur only in proven markets after years of exporting or success experienced through existent joint ventures. Once an organisation has obtained controlling interests, it attains full authority over policies regarding aspects like quality control, finance, production, marketing strategies and expansion programs. Foreign acquisitions are ideal for Tesco Plc. as it will help it acquire other companies that are already performing well in foreign markets. The last strategy is Greenfield investment which is a type of foreign investment that entails investing in foreign markets by starting new subsidiaries and then fully owning them. This is a strategy that is suitable for Tesco Plc. because it allows it to venture into new unexploited markets and exploit the opportunities present. Theories of International Strategies There are different theories that explain the reasons why an organisation opts to pursue a specific international strategy in a specific target market. This is the reason why organisations pursue different foreign markets using different strategies depending on their unique characteristics (Hitt et al 2008). These theories are monopolistic advantages, transaction cost, internalisation, strategic behaviour, internationalisation, bargaining and eclectic theories. These theoretical perspectives at times hold divergent perceptions on the relative importance of the different factors that influence choice of entry into foreign markets. The monopolistic advantage theory was proposed by Hymer and represented a major shift from the previous theories of capital investments and international trade (Sternquist & Witter 2011). The previous theories like that of Heckscher and Ohlin had restrictive assumptions on the immobility of the factors of production. Hymer argued that organisations could use their firm-specific advantages or monopolistic advantages that other organisations do not have to expand into foreign markets. These advantages are things like superior technology, economies of scale, superior knowledge in finance, marketing or management (McLoughlin & Aaker 2010). Therefore foreign direct investment was made possible by product and market imperfections. These market imperfections are structural and are as a result of control ownership advantages like proprietary technology, economies of scale, special access to inputs, product differentiation and gathered managerial expertise. According to this theory, the dir ect investor is often a monopolist or an oligopilist in product markets. Therefore these organisations pursue market power and monopolistic advantages in the foreign markets leading to the increased growth of international trade. Internationalisation theory builds on the monopolistic advantage theory and it holds that firms often expand into foreign markets whenever there are market imperfections and they can gain advantage by internalising markets across countries (Seth & Randall 2011). This results to the growth of the firms as they increase their operations across the borders to take advantage of the existent opportunities. As the organisations increase their efficiency through internalisation of transactions, the vertical integration of operations across the world lead to efficiencies and economies that include long term contracts, opportunity to exploit tax differentials and better quality control. The theory perceives the internalisation process and entry strategies as being products of series of incremental decisions that result in increases involvement in international operations (Alexander & Doherty 2009). Therefore firms move from exporting to foreign production as they continually gain internatio nal experience. This experience enables the firms to build their knowledge and developing deeper understanding of the foreign markets. The transaction cost theory holds that firms try to minimise the costs associated with exchanging resources with the environment and the bureaucratic costs of exchanges within the firm (Krafft & Mantrala 2010). Therefore they weigh the costs of exchanging resources with the environment against the bureaucratic ones that arise from performing the same operations within the firm. It perceives institutions and markets as possible forms of organising and coordinating economic transactions. Firms grow whenever the external costs exceed the internal bureaucratic costs because they are able to operate more cheaply compared to performing the same operations in the market (Seth & Randall 2011). However, the firms should be downsized whenever the bureaucratic costs exceed the external transaction costs. Therefore the firms will keep expanding for as long as they can perform their operations cheaply within the companies compared outsourcing them to external market providers. The bargaining theory was advocated by Fagre and other scholars and holds that the choice of entry is a function of the bargaining processes between the firm and the host countries (Ryans 2013). The interaction between the host country and the firms is often characterised by power struggles. Although the host country can exercise its bargaining power through controlling market access, the bargaining power of the firms lie in the ownership advantages that they have (Hensmans et al 2013). Therefore the relative power determines the entry strategy of a firm into a foreign market. The last theory is the strategic behaviour theory and it is based on the premise that firms derive comparative advantage from the resources that contribute towards giving them the advantage over the others (Thain & Bradley 2012). This is particularly true when some resources are worth more to an organisation owing to the special linkages between the firm and such resources. When the firms have such resources, t hey are more likely to opt for high control strategies for instance wholly owned subsidiaries. This decision is mostly made with the assumption that such linkages will be influential in enhancing the relative position of the firm in the new foreign market. In addition to the highlighted theories, the integrative theoretical perspective on foreign market entry holds that the firm’s decision to enter into a foreign market and its choice of entry are functions of multiple factors that arise from location and ownership-specific advantages (Alexander & Doherty 2009). Although these theories differ in many important aspects they allow for broad generalisations on the factors that influence an organisation to enter into a foreign market and the entry strategy. The next section analyses the international strategy of Tesco Plc based on the integrative framework. Tesco Plc International Strategy The company enters foreign markets mainly through joint ventures with local firms, acquisitions and Greenfield investments (Mosley & Barrow 2013). The company aims at being the market leader in the foreign country it enters within a period of five years. It has registered huge successes in Asia and most of the European markets. However, the situation in America has been different because the company has struggled to gain market control (Harrison 2013). The success of Tesco Plc in the international market has been aided by its sensitivity to the local culture of the host countries and the market environment. This has mainly been done through partnerships, mergers and acquisitions which have made it easier for the company to offer the local markets with what they want by serving their unique needs. This has been particularly helpful in high context cultures like in the Asian market. The global expansion and diversification of Tesco Plc are based on the long-term desire for the company to develop sustainable growth and development. Morschett (2011) claims that one of the main reasons why the company decided to pursue the international market was that the local UK market had reached saturation and maturity making it very difficult to grow without exploiting overseas opportunities. This was therefore the only viable solution for the company if it was to remain relevant for the economy in the long run. The main factors influencing the choice of entry for Tesco Plc are the different threats that it may encounter in the international markets. Some of the common threats are industrial structures and cultural factors. Nonetheless, the primary influencers of the choice of entry for the company are based on cultural factors (Harrison 2013). Tesco Plc has consistently preferred to use international joint ventures as an entry strategy in the Asian market. This is partly because these countries have high context cultures that require organisations to build interpersonal relationships (Alexander & Doherty 2009). In these cultures, relationship networks among business associates, colleagues and even clients tend to be close and personal. As a consequence, it is important for firms to build trust and relationships during business interactions. The importance of these relationships arises from the fact that they have high uncertainty avoidance levels; therefore relationships and trust reduce the level of uncertainties, risks and ambiguities (McLoughlin & Aaker 2010). For instance in South Korea, the international joint venture with Samsung helped the company establish contacts with the local suppliers and manufacturers. This was very important in penetrating the market in South Korea because the customers there often shop freq uently as they prefer fresh and quality products like vegetables and meat which is different from the customers in the UK who like piling stock. Based on the internalisation theory, Tesco Plc gained advantage by internalising the market in South Korea. This was done through building local networks to ensure that the company sales remain as high as possible. Therefore it employed all the employees of Samsung to ensure that the normal operations were not interfered with. The local managers were also given the authority to make decisions on behalf of the company because of their experience with the local market. Additionally, this was part of the company’s plan to deal with the challenges associated with the competitive environment by positioning itself using localisation and decentralisation while the other players in the industry pursue globalisation strategies (Hitt et al 2008). According to the bargaining theory, localisation and decentralisation gives the company a local im age thus making it highly responsive to the tastes and lifestyles of the local consumers. This gave Tesco Plc a competitive advantage in the South Korean market compared to the other foreign firms like Wal-Mart and Carrefour. The entry strategies of Tesco Plc have also been shaped by cultural factors like psychic distance. Psychic distance refers to the extent to which a firm is uncertain on the nature of the foreign market (Thain & Bradley 2012). Acquisitions and international joint ventures with the local businesses in the high context cultures are important in reducing risks, adaptation costs, psychic distance and cultural barriers. The acquisition of the local distribution channels gave the company a huge advantage over the other multinationals like Wal-Mart which were struggling because the Korean market is characterised by a strong nationalist outlook. The company pursued the same strategies in Thailand and China and this enabled it to penetrate the market with ease compared to other multinational companies. Therefore international joint ventures and acquisitions enabled Tesco Plc. to succeed in markets where Carrefour and Wal-Mart had failed eventually being forced to exit the market in 2006 (Mosle y & Barrow, 2013). In Thailand for instance, after the acquisition of Lotus, Tesco Plc has managed to grow and is currently the market leader as it has pumped huge investments into organic management. The company also diversified its operations in Thailand to include smaller express stores so as to reach more customers. Tesco Plc has made huge successes whenever it chose to enter foreign markets through strategic alliances and acquisitions; however Greenfield entries have proved to be costly and inappropriate. Although Greenfield entries provide the company with full control and ownership over its operations, it has proved to be unsuitable because of the dismal results. Despite the extensive research that the company made prior to joining the US market, its failure there demonstrates that the research was either flawed or inadequate (Krafft & Mantrala 2010). Additionally, its operations in the US were an attempt to duplicate its operations in the UK because it tried to standardise instead of localising them. Part of the problem with the market research was that it only concentrated on the buying behaviour of the Americans and ignored other important variables like shopping experience, value, aesthetics, store atmosphere and quality. This was a great mistake because corrective investments should have been made in response to these marketing aspects (Morschett 2011). For instance the Tescosells pre-packaged fruits was a big mistake because Americans prefer selecting their own fresh fruits. Tesco failed to appreciate the US customer base because it underestimated it. This is the reason why the company handled its operations in the US as an extension of the UK market. The company was attracted to the US market by the booming economy and the ever rising property value (Ryans 2013). These are the factors that prompted it to go for Greenfield investments in US. This was a viable option; however the company failed to account for the deeper financial dynamics that could have saved it from the 2009 financial crisis. In addition to this, the choice of Tesco Plc to enter the US market through Greenfield investments was partly influenced by managerial short termism and egoism. As a consequence, several mistakes can be pointed out from its entry and post entry strategies. The first mistake that the company made at the point of entry is that it increased its exit barriers by aggressively increasing more stores despite the fact that it was making huge losses. Secondly, the company may have been driven by managerial subjective interest for power emanating from the previous international successes. This led to overconfidence therefore blurring the vision of the managers to see that they were driving the company in the wrong direction (Morschett 2011). However, the biggest mistakes that Tesco Plc made was that it failed to plan and strategize for post entry and this led to flaws in its quest to compete in the home market of the world’s largest retailer. As a result the company made huge loses in the US and was eventually forced to exit without ever recording any profits. In Taiwan, the situation was the same as that of the US; Tesco entered the market in 2000 without partnering with the local companies. The company was able to establish six hypermar kets through organic growth. However, just like in the US the Taiwanese retail market was hugely dominated by Carrefour which had the advantage of having all the strategic positions. Just like in the US, the company was unable to attain the market scale necessary for building central distribution centres. Therefore in 2005, it was forced to exit the market through a divestment deal with Carrefour. Recommendations Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations can be made for Tesco Plc for it to succeed in its quest to establish its presence in other international markets. First off, the company should abandon Greenfield investment strategies because they have proved to be very costly in the past. The company struggled in the US and Taiwan and was eventually forced to exit because lack of local partners made it very difficult for it to succeed in markets that are dominated by the two retail giants. The company should have strategies that fit into the culture of the target market like it did in South Korea. The retail industry is very sensitive because it represents the daily necessities of the consumers and as such must be responsive to their cultural habits. For a multinational company to succeed in a foreign market it must have strategies that are responsive to the needs and culture of the local people. Therefore Tesco Plc. should continue incorporating localisation strat egies and respond to the culture of the local markets. It should be more innovative and proactive in its marketing strategies in the international markets. For instance the company should enhance its market intelligence and customer database in order to be able to customise service delivery to the customers. References Alexander, N., & Doherty, A. M. (2009). International retailing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cunningham, J., & Harney, B. (2012). Strategy & strategists. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Harrison, A. L. (2013). Business environment in a global context. Oxford: Oxford university press. Hensmans, M., Johnson, G., & Yip, G. S. (2013). Strategic transformation: Changing while winning. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2008). Strategic management: Competitiveness and globalization. Mason, Ohio: South-Western. Krafft, M., & Mantrala, M. K. (2010). Retailing in the 21st century: Current and future trends. Heidelberg: Springer. McLoughlin, D., & Aaker, D. A. (2010). Strategic market management: Global perspectives. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Morschett, D. (2011). European retail research: Volume 25, Issue I. Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag. Mosley, R., & Barrow, S. (2013). The employer brand: Bringing the best of brand management to people at work. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Ryans, A. (2013). Beating low cost competition: How premium brands can respond to cut-price rivals. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Seth, A., & Randall, G. (2011). The grocers: The rise and rise of the supermarket chains. London: Kogan Page. Sternquist, B., & Witter, G. (2011). Retail strategic international expansion (SIRE?) theory and cases. Haslett, MI: BSC Publisher. Thain, G., & Bradley, J. (2012). Store wars: The worldwide battle for mindspace and shelfspace, online and in-store. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Greed Triggers Fraud And Corruption Essays

Greed Triggers Fraud And Corruption Essays Greed Triggers Fraud And Corruption Essay Greed Triggers Fraud And Corruption Essay Abstraction Purpose Greed triggers fraud and corruptness which is one of the biggest jobs we are confronting in our state as its increasing tremendously instead than diminishing. The intent of this survey is to measure the different types of fraud and corruptness and because it is such a wide subject we will concentrate on a life state of affairs which highlights how greed plays a immense function in the creative activity of fraud and corruptness. Design/ Methodology/ attack in deepness interview are conducted with a senior measure surveyor who has been working for a catching company for the past six old ages and has allowed me to be portion of the probe procedure that is being conducted. The ground behind the probe is to happen out how come they owe such a great sum of money for revenue enhancement but money had been deducted from their wages since they started working and grounds of being below the belt dismissed. : Findingss The employer of the catching company seems to be subtracting money from his employee s wages but non paying the revenue enhancement company without the cognition of his employees utilizing it for his ain private usage. Extra information was found that all his workers have nt been registered under the section of labor and the company has been running for a figure of old ages now and unjust dismissal was practised in this company. Originality/ Value The concluding consequences of this paper will assist us understand and mind that there are all sorts of corruptness in the industry. Ms Anonyms will manus over all her payments slips to the probe officers to turn out that she has been working and paying for her revenue enhancement over the past old ages while working and to besides open a instance of unjust dismissal and take it to the Commission for Conciliation Meditation and Arbitration ( CCMA ) . Footing OF REFERENCE PROPBLEM DESCRIPTION Fraud and corruptness play a large function in the building industry which this consequences in the hindering of development in our state and the state non traveling frontward. Purpose The Aim of the research is to convey the affair of fraud and corruptness to attending of the reader. To observe hazards in the industry and to supply users with relevant anti- corruptness resources. Aim To happen out what triggers fraud and corruptness To what extent is an single willing to lift out low to acquire what they want and non be caught How corruptness affects the Construction industry How it hinders development. Proposal Chapter one 1.1 Introduction Greed is a critical issue impacting the building industry and state as a whole as it leads to fraud and corruptness which plays a immense portion on the hindering of development in our state. Chapter 2 2.1 Greed The selfishness of an person of desiring more and non being satisfied of what they already have. 2.2 Fraud A condemnable offense done deliberately because of personal motivations which the person will derive that could impact another person. Corruptness Chapter three 3.1 Case survey Ms Anonymous finds herself in the center of a fraud and corruptness state of affairs that she was non cognizant off. 3.2 Tax invasion CONTENT Page PGE NO. Acknwoledgements Abstraction Footings of mention Chapter 1 Introduction Fraud and Corruption are wide and complex issues but their roots are embedded in a states societal or cultural history, Political and economic development and it includes both these committed by the authorities, employers, employees, direction staff, persons or a group of people who have come together with one docket merely and these committed is motivated by Greed. Greed tips and single into fraud and corruptness which besides triggers the power of the head, when a individual starts stalling about the benefits and what one shall derive they get down to get down plotting ways in doing these ideas into world and one time these ideas become world and the result is greater than expected they start mistreating the state of affairs into their ain advantage. The building industry sector is recognised as transporting the highest hazard of corruptness, the rate of corruptness and fraud in the industry is increasing tremendously instead than diminishing which is decelerating down the economic system and surprisingly it has become an ordinary and normal wont that is being practised. It is about like a swimming pool which everybody now wants to leap in and swim in the deep terminal non bearing in head that non everybody can swim. Chapter 2 History Greed Greed is that utmost desire to achieve or posses more than what one has such as stuff wealth which is normally more than what one needs and deserves. It besides involves utilizing being affluent to derive power over others besides denying others of wealth and power. It is fundamentally being selfish, thought of one s ego while at the same-time affecting other people negative manner. For illustration if a edifice inspector would accept a payoff from a contractor to O.K. and province that all work done is of good quality and status while that is non true than that is an act of being greedy because looking at the state of affairs the lone people deriving here are the edifice inspector and the contractor while in the long it will negatively impact the community as a whole or the people who will be in usage of the premises that is being built. Fraud In the state we live in fraud is a condemnable act that would disfavor an person or a group of people and it is besides a civil jurisprudence misdemeanor. Fraud is done deliberately which involves dishonesty for personal addition or harm to other persons. Fraud can be categorized into many signifiers for illustration larceny and peculation. In a instance of fraud you would hold for illustration a individual such an Alien ( non belonging in the industry ) who knows nil about the building and the whole background of it holding certifications measure uping him in raising undertakings in a instance that he does nt flush how foundation is done. Corruptness Corruptness in any instance is the act of being dishonest and mistreating power or the individual s place. Corruptness can go on anyplace and is normally committed by an person or a group of people such as functionaries or private individuals. Corruptness comes in many signifiers such as graft, nepotism, cheating, ballot tackle and extortion. An illustration of corruptness would be paying off kickbacks to acquire multi million rand contracts for doubtful grounds, holding to regularly donating immense amounts of money to possibly political parties or purchase expensive gifts such as autos deserving 1000000s rands in-order to acquire something in return. Corruptness and fraud come in with greed because they are actions stem from the deficiency of moralss and undermine human establishment and human dealingss. Chapter 3 CASE STUDY Ms Anonymous and Contracting Company. Ms Anonymous has been working for a catching company for the past 3 old ages as a senior measure surveyor for this company. She did more than merely her employed place where she besides worked in the civil side of the work and any other work that needed attending she would be lief to help in other words she was more of an plus to the company and they had mentioned that to her every bit good. The job started when Ms Anonymous received a missive that she needed to travel kind out her revenue enhancement returns. When she went to pay a visit at the revenue enhancement company ( SARS ) . S he was informed that she owes a batch of money and was asked why she has nt been paying for her revenue enhancement? She was shocked and told them that she has been paying for her revenue enhancement of all time since she started working for her recent company the past three old ages. They told her to bespeak and RIP5 signifier from her employer and besides to maintain all her wage faux pass as cogent evidence of payments for revenue enhancement when needed to look into her history and besides that her company was one of the companies that were chosen for audits in 2012 so they would be an probe with respects to her affair of non paying revenue enhancement and would take things from at that place. Audited accounts where subsequently on done of the company and it revealed that they owe a great trade sum of money and that they have non been paying whatsoever. They told Ms Anonymous to convey all grounds as cogent evidence that money has been deducted from her history for revenue enhancement and they had promised that no information sing with her history would he linked to the proprietors of the company and had assured her that she did nil wrong as they had called in her to question her about her revenue enhancement figure. Investigations continued as the revenue enhancement research workers kept coming into the office to make Company Audits and since they had no fiscal and bank statements and how much is being charged from the workers it pin pointed that they have been non paying such as VAT and PAYE. Thingss started to be small offish at work where they were all panicking and looking for fingers to indicate as they were non cognizant how and what had led SARS to come and scrutinize the company with gaining that SARS had chosen them themselves than rumor went out the Ms Anonymous had went to SARS. Subsequently on they made false wage faux pass stating as he was paid more than she was being paid so that it will demo as if she was the 1 who was non paying Tax but so Ms Anonymousness Payslips had proven all of that incorrect. A month subsequently Ms Anonymous was called into the Bosses office and was told that due to fiscal restraints they will hold allow her travel because they will non be able to afford and they will be giving her 3 months to look for her occupation and are willing to give her good recommendation. Tax The importance of paying revenue enhancement Cipher wants to pay revenue enhancement which is extremely apprehensible but that money is the lone money raised through revenue enhancement that the authorities relies on to bring forth public gross to pay for public disbursals that provide goods and services to the populace. Without revenue enhancement and people non paying it becomes hard for the authorities to seek run intoing the basic demands of the state. Both the province and the local authoritiess are imposed in roll uping revenue enhancement. There are different types of revenue enhancements that need to be paid which are: Income revenue enhancements Payroll revenue enhancements Gross saless revenue enhancements Excise revenue enhancements Wealth revenue enhancements Article I, Section 8, says: The Congress shall hold Power to lie And roll up Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and supply for the common Defence and general Welfare of the state Benefits and utilizations for revenue enhancement As mentioned above that revenue enhancement pays for goods and services for the populace such as: Education Public lodging Public public assistance such as security Unemployment benefits Highwaies and public transit Health Polices Fire protection Tax besides includes day-to-day runing disbursals of the authorities and besides wages of the authorities employees and besides involvement on debt owed by the authorities. It is extremely of import as the benefits of revenue enhancement keep the state in topographic point and running and besides making out to the people who are unable to afford from themselves. The roads we walk and drive in everyday is because of the revenue enhancement that is being paid, the public clinics and infirmaries that help our people to acquire intervention and be attended to when they can non afford when they are ill is because of revenue enhancement and the list goes on but all in all it is good for the state for revenue enhancement to being paid. Duties of income revenue enhancement remunerators The income revenue enhancement system is a voluntary act and conformity but it does non intend that revenue enhancement remunerators can merely pay revenue enhancement when they want to or non pay revenue enhancement when they besides do nt desire to. In other words everybody who is working must pay revenue enhancement and in order enemy people to follow with the legal duties the revenue enhancement jurisprudence must be just and house. When looking at being just, the authorities must be just plenty as to the people paying revenue enhancement habit resent him as the authorities and the leader of the state and besides resent paying revenue enhancement at the terminal of the twenty-four hours and doing certain that everybody complies. When looking at being steadfast, people who do nt follow with this jurisprudence and seek to duck it must be punished and made seen that they are perpetrating a condemnable offense and should pay in a heartfelt way for such action. Punishments for Tax Fraud In most instances people who do nt pay revenue enhancement are due to carelessness or negligence or normally done deliberately and happen ways to avoid paying revenue enhancement which is seen as revenue enhancement fraud and these people are faced with revenue enhancement involvement or revenue enhancement punishments. Tax fraud is when people who avoid paying revenue enhancement and are non honest to the authorities about their monthly/annually incomes so they can be taxed reasonably with respects to how much they earn and they lie in-order to pay small revenue enhancement which becomes unjust to the authorities and all other revenue enhancement remunerators. Tax fraud is a offense and people who commit such offense face high effects near to about 75 percent fiscal punishments. There is no manner of ducking and concealing from paying revenue enhancements because finally everybody is caught merely that it might non be now but when it comes to fraud and corruptness person ever slacks up and leaves foot prints. LABOUR RELATIONS ACT ( LRA ) The labour dealingss act is the relationship between people who work and those who they work for. The labour dealingss act was reshaped and implemented to make a good and working-full environment in the workplace. To give an employer and a employee to work under good and just rules cognizing their rights and restrictions and which lines non to traverse. To protect the employee against the employer and to besides protect the employer against the employee but in most instances employees are opening instances against their employers. it is hoped that democracy in the workplace will convey industrial stableness, economic growing, and labour peace. Judgment of dismissals of the Labour dealingss act Chapter VIII of the LRA concerns unjust dismissals. Section 185 records that every employee has the right non to be below the belt dismissed. The term dismissal is examined in the subdivision 186 and includes: A expiration effected by an employee with or without notice. An employer s failure to regenerate a fixed term contract when an employee has a sensible outlook Refusal of an employer to let an employee to return to work after pregnancy leave. Retrenchment When retrenchment is introduced it is normally when a company is confronting some fiscal troubles and is done for the followerss grounds, economic, structural or proficient grounds and before retrenchment takes topographic point a proper process needs to be taken in-order to let for retrenctment which is as follows: Consultation Immediately when the employer has no other options but to use retrenchment, he has to inform his employees buy keeping up a mass meeting where everybody is present or he could keep single meetings with the persons who will be involved in the retrenchment. Employees are allowed to interact with the employer and besides suggest other alternate ways which could be looked into such as cut downing working hours and besides workings yearss, the appropriate method to be used for the people are to be dismissed. Minutess can be taken in this instance as it would assist for misunderstood state of affairss and to protect both the employer and employees. When audience is taking place members of the trade brotherhoods can be present to protect their workers and all the committee for conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration ( CCMA ) can besides be present to step in in this affair. Unwraping of information in authorship When complementing retrenchment the administration or the employer should publish letters to the employees that will be affected because of retrenchment. The information should inform the employees of the pending and the day of the months of retrenchment, grounds why they will be intiating retrenchment, the servenrane wage that is proposed, the aid of the employer with respects with interviews and helping them in acquiring new employment if possible. Should at that place be any misinterpretation or any differences that could take topographic point than the employer shall mention to the written information to clear up any mis-understandingand these differences could be handled by the labour tribunal or the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration ( CCMA ) . Opportunity for feedback The employer should give employees the chance to give feedback with the proposed retrenchment that will take topographic point, give them a opportunity to do presentations and whatever is said and presented must be taken inot consideration by the employer and seek to negociate as so all paryies are happy. The last in 1st out regulation should be applied when covering with retrenchment as you ca nt compare a individual who has been working for a company for the past 3 old ages over a individual who has been around the company for 2months. If the company is traveling through fiscal restraints and they wish to allow travel a few staff than they should see the last late employed staff. Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Data aggregation With the information gathered with respects to Miss Anonymouses instance we can pull up the undermentioned checklist: The company has been subtracting revenue enhancement from her wage She received a monthly income She enjoyed one-year and ill leave, UIF and PAYE benefits She has been working for the company for the past 3 old ages She signed an employment contract of reinstatement in September 2009 There is no cogent evidence of her being registered by her employer under the Labour tribunal Datas analysis With the collected information it shows that Miss Anonymouses was a full employee of the company which besides makes her autumn under the people who should be paying revenue enhancement to the authorities every-month. Having a expression at her payslip it clearly shows that money has been deducted for revenue enhancement from her payslip and with her cognition she has been paying for revenue enhancement. Extra information has been found that she was has non been registered under the labour tribunal significance she ca nt be taxed as they may non be cognizant of how much she gets paid which is would do it difficult for the revenue enhancement adult male to revenue enhancement her properly. The company is at mistake for utilizing moneyof the employees for their ain personal usage and without their cognition and this drunkard of behavior does fall under fraud and corruptness and is a offense. She has been working for the company for over the past three old ages so if the company was traveling through any kind of fiscal jobs and they saw utilizing the retrenchment system as portion of covering costs than they did non follow the proper processs of dismissal, she was non even consulted decently or given a opportunity to discourse the affair and negotiate or think of other alternate ways to avoid such dismissal. Re-solutions, suggestions When mentioning to the instance survey, the best possible stairss that could be taken here is that Ms Anonymous keeps all cogent evidence of her payments that she can stand for to SARS, compose each and every individual thing said to her and if they is anything asked or told to inquire for it in composing and signed for because in the state we live in anything is possible and to do life easy is holding all cogent evidence and grounds merely to be on the safe side. With respects to unjust dismissal, she should take the affair to the CCMA and describe the act of unjust dismissal because no proper processs where taken so it is either they will hold to counterbalance her even more or giver her, her occupation back if she is willing to take it back. Each and every employee has a right to be treated reasonably in the on the job environment and legal action can be taken in state of affairss like this. Chapter 6 Decision Fraud and corruptness is everyplace and is triggered by greed of an person and it reduces economic growing, quality of life and undermines authorities creditability and reduces effectiveness. The battle against them should be presented in a short period of clip in order to contend corruptness. Every federal section and bureau should work together continuously. Audit and probe s could happen any corruptness or fraud instances, but the most of import thing is to specify how to forestall and observe them at the earliest phase possible.

Christian Spirituality Essay

Christian Spirituality Essay Christian Spirituality Essay Allowing God in My Life Throughout this semester in Christian Spirituality, we had to read three books: God’s Joyful Surprise by Sue Monk Kidd, Reaching Out by Henri J.M. Nouwen, and Living the Wisdom of St. Francis by Wayne Simsic. I enjoyed reading all three of these books, although while reading each I had a hard time understanding some parts to them. My least favorite book was Reaching Out because it wasn’t an easy read for me. The other two books had specific people each author focused on and Reaching Out was a more general focus. Over all I have to say, Living the Wisdom of Saint Francis was my favorite book to read because I already had some knowledge of St. Francis coming from Catholic schools my whole life. Previous knowledge of Saint Francis of Assisi before this class was that he was the patron saint of animals and came from a wealthy family. After Francis had a vision one day he became the helper of all lepers for healing. I also know that St. Francis loved nature and singing. In grade school Francis’s singing was a big part of his life to him, and all his followers. With singing came joy and praise for Francis and the followers. Saint Francis’s father, Pietro, pushed him to follow in the footsteps of himself and carry on the family wealth. Now that this class has broadened my knowledge, I now know there is a much more greater story with more meaning behind it. Not only was Saint Francis’s father a wealthy, known man, but also the last thing he wanted for his son was to make him a follower of God and who lived in town knew it. Pietro Bernardone wanted his son, Francis, to become a merchant as he was so Francis could reflect his craze with France. Throughout his entire life, Saint Francis enjoyed the easy life with a rich father. The town loved Francis and his father and it was known because Francis was always a happy, joyful, singing man. As he got older he was a leader of the wild party people, bu t Francis knew this was going to change. One day Francis decided to carry on his dream of becoming a noble knight. One day while being a knight he always dreamed of, Saint Francis had another dream, and this time it was even bigger; a dream where God told him to return home. Because of this call from God, Francis’s village and even his father poked fun at them. One day Francis was riding through the streets on a horse and came across a leper and suddenly kissed his hand, and the leper disappeared. The people standing around watching this still did not believe Francis, especially the other lepers because he came riding in on a horse, and most people would not. None of the villagers or lepers took Francis seriously in his conversion. After his conversion Francis found himself at San Damiano, where an ancient church stood. While praying there Francis claims the cross-talked to him and told him, â€Å"Repair my church†. Francis took this literally and wanted to re build the structure of the church at San Damiano, but God was really telling him to rebuild the community with joy and praise. Because Francis mistook God’s word, Pietro Bernardone brought Francis before the bishop in front of the town and demanded Francis not rebuild the church with â€Å"stolen† money. Francis was told by the bishop to return all the money and God will provide. Francis gave the money back and stripped in his footsteps and said, â€Å"Pietro Bernardone is no longer my father. From now on I can say with complete freedom, 'Our Father who art in heaven.† Soon Francis started to preach; he preached about returning to God and obedience to the Church. Soon the Church was rebuilt. The theme that deals with this part of the book of Living the Wisdom of St. Francis is finding God’s calling. St. Francis goes from loneliness to solitude. His loneliness was when he was taken prisoner for being a rich knight and there, Francis had his dream o f God calling to him. St. Francis subverted everything he had and was supposed to be a

Market Research Report Example

Market Research Report Example Market Research Report Example Market research report example can be considered a difficult type of assignment due to a large number factors that must be properly described and assessed. A decent market research report must evaluate a given product’s market potential based on such factors as the size of the market, customers’ preferences, competition, and other factors. This market research report example represents the basic information that any work of this type should include. The researched area can be considered a suitable place for selling the company’s products because of its significant potential. Indeed, the statistical data show that the area’s population exceeds 0.8 million people with an average personal, disposable income exceeding $49,000. Furthermore, findings of the telephone survey, which covered nearly 2000 randomly selected households from this area, showed that more than 50% of respondents were interested in green technologies and products. Furthermore, 90% of respondents expressed readiness to spend at least $1000 on such products as energy-efficient equipment, insulation, and other solutions offered by the company. 18% of potential consumers confirmed their plans to spend no less than $10,000 on such products. Remarkably, 31% of respondents did not purchase any â€Å"green† products during the previous year while 43% even never heard or seen advertising of such products during the reported period. These factors indicate the existence of a significant market potential for a company with a projected break-even point, estimating around $7 million in annual revenues. Such factors as growing energy prices and uncertainty as well as rising popularity of green technologies will further stimulate the demand for the company’s products in the long-term perspective. However, while the market penetration level remains relatively low, findings of the research indicate that the competitive struggle is intensifying. Indeed, there are currently 22 companies with an annual turnover above $5 million that can be considered as the serious competitors based on their location and product range. Three companies with similar characteristics have entered the local market over the last year, and it can be reasonably expected that the number of competitors will keep growing. This factor is likely to contribute to a slower growth of prices and, hence, lower revenues and profits earned by the main market players. A more intense competition also might result in a higher spending on advertising, promotion, and PR for the purpose of attracting the potential consumers. Hence, the projected promotion costs might have to be revised. Another challenge is posed by the technological changes and the subsequent changes in customer preferences. The survey’s findings suggest that potential customers are generally aware of the rapidity of technological progress. 76% of respondents expressed the desire to purchase only the newest solutions while 65% stated that they would purchase products based on the obsolete technologies only at a high discount. This fact has serious implications for the company’s operations, involving solar panels and other products, competitiveness of which is highly sensitive to innovations. Hence, the company will have to regularly monitor the market for innovations and suppliers capable of delivering such innovative products to meet the high customers’ expectations successfully. These factors are likely to have serious implications for management. References Beall, A. E. (2010). Strategic Market Research: A Guide to Conducting Research that Drives Businesses. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, Inc. Bonita, K. (2008). Marketing Research: A Practical Approach. Cornwall: Sage Publication. Haarup, P. K. Hansen, K. (2010). Market Research and Statistics. Copenhagen: Academica. McGivern, Y. (2009). The Practice of Market Research: An Introduction (3rd. ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Sarstedt, M. Mooi, E. (2014). A Concise Guide to Market Research: The Process, Data, and Methods Using IBM SPSS Statistics (2nd ed.). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Wiid, J. Diggines, C. (2010). Marketing Research. Capetown: Juta and Company Ltd. At you can get instant Marketing research paper help from experienced writers.

Management Teamwork Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

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