The Real Country Way of Doing Things

The short story how I learnt to be a Real Countrywoman is written by Deborah Mocha in England 1995. It is told by a first person narrator, and it is told In flashback. The short story deals with a modern housewife, who is moved from London to a little town long away from London. They moved on the country because her husband Edwin got fired, when the school he taught on was dissolved. Another quite Important reason for moving was that the government was brutish and philistine, and London was full of fumes and pollution, so Edwin said they should move.But the point In the story starts after they were moved In to the country. They are slating In the kitchen and were opening Christmas cards. Edwin opened the last one, It was a brown envelope, and It contains a letter from their local council. They wrote that they were going to build a two-lane dual carriageway through their local wood. The local Inhabitant were going to campaign against the ring road, but the only alternative was through their member of parliaments daughters rolling school, so It was not a possibility.But the narrator will not let all this spoil her loving wood. So she starts to plant preserved and rarely plants to the wood. She doesn't tell anybody about this, even not Edwin. In the end the wood got designated as a site of Outstanding Scientific Interest. So the ring road is built through the riding school instead of through the wood. The narrator has a quite complicated relationship whit her husband, Edwin. In the start of the text the nearly even speak to each other, and they heaven had sex for the last two years.They are very different; the narrator is a modern housewife, who likes being in the city, shopping and being at cocktail parties. And Edwin is more a country man; he likes the nature, the peace and fresh air. In the first time since they have moved to the country the narrator misses her busy life in London very much. The narrator thinks it is boring living in the country, and she has a very debilitate attitude of the new lifestyle, she speaks also bad about it. They have total different values. The narrator likes the stores right around the corner, her friends and shopping.Edwin is more shut in, and he emphasizes a calm family life and nature. In the beginning of this short story they were opposites and their preferences made them divided, but in the end they get interested in one other and reunite and started speaking with each other. The narrator feels very alone In the country in, but when she starts saving the wood, she has something to do, and spent her time on. The gets very interested In plants, and she gets happy to have a little secret; â€Å"l hadn't felt so happy since I was pregnant†.All through this short story the narrator Is quite ironic and sarcastic; this makes the story a bit funny In spite of the fact that It Is a sad story for her In the beginning. The narrator entrust her to the reader, and makes the reader feel Like a friend or somethi ng Like that, because she tells her deepest feelings to us. It can make us feel quite accessory, because we know about her plans. We are also told a lot of details about the narrator and Dawdles love life, which also Is quite personal. The mall themes In this short story are marriage, family life, countryside of doing things vs.. City side and personal values.In the end the narrator starts liking nature, and get interested in the plants and trees in the local w en also Tina It quilt stimulating Tanat seen could set a goal, Ana rater all she could finally reach it and see that what she have done has made a difference. She feels finally important on the country when she saves the wood. She also enjoys all the people who come to see the new wood, and she likes that people all over comes and knock on their door and ask the way and admire their cottage. Another thing that tells us that she likes their new lifestyle is, that she is started to sell eggs.She is absorbed in this egg-sale, an d we gets to know that their eggs is guaranteed almoner-free because she feeds them with her organic bread. Sometimes people even leave their children to play with the narrators children, while they walk through the field to look at the orchids. And after all this wonderful experience with the wood and all the nice people, she doesn't miss Camden Town at all. Finally she decides to do teas. She is going to buy Old-style spiced buns, and throw away the packets. She has learnt a lot these past years, and she found â€Å"the real country way of doing things. †

Implementation of Global Strategy

Manag Int Rev (2011) 51:179–192 DOI 10. 1007/s11575-011-0071-6 R e s e a R c h a Rt i c l e Effective? Global? Strategy? Implementation Structural? and? Process? Choices? Facilitating? Global? Integration? and? Coordination Attila? Yaprak?  ·? Shichun? Xu?  ·? Erin? Cavusgil Abstract:? 0 0 this article offers a contingency framework of global strategy implementation effectiveness on firm performance. The research question we seek to address is what the structural and process requirements are for MNEs to successfully implement global strategy through increased efficiency and effectiveness of integration and coordination across world markets.Our central premise is that MNEs’ capabilities in establishing supporting structural and process mechanisms will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of implementing their global strategies which would, in turn, lead to better firm performance. Keywords:? Integration and coordination  · Global strategy  · Firm performance  · contingency framework Received:? 25. 12. 2009 / Revised:? 15. 08. 2010 / Accepted:? 11. 10. 2010 / Published? online: 02. 04. 2011  © Gabler-Verlag 2011 Prof. A. Yaprak (? ) Department of Marketing, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA e-mail: Attila. [email  protected] edu Asst. Prof. S. Xu Department of Marketing and Logistics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA Asst. Prof. E. Cavusgil Department of Marketing, University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, USA 180 A. Yaprak et al. Introduction The globalization of the world economy and markets has given rise to the growth of multinational enterprises (MNEs). With the expanded geographical scope and dispersed operations across national borders, managing MNEs effectively has become a challenging task for managers.As such, numerous studies have been conducted to understand what contributes to the success of MNEs in the global market. Many studies have adopted the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm as the theoretical basis of s uch an exploration, arguing that the competitive advantage of MNEs is sourced primarily in their ability to access and acquire rare and inimitable resources that create better value for customers around the world (e. g. Peng et al. 2008). These resources are considered indicators of firm performance levels in the global market (Lu et al. 010; Peng et al. 2008). While RBV has been instrumental in explaining the performance differences among MNEs, arguments have been advanced that the mere possession of resources is insufficient to generate superior performance (Sirmon et al. 2007). For instance, Barney and Arikan (2006) state that assuming appropriate strategic action will automatically follow from the recognition of valuable resources within the firm is an intellectually naive assumption.Specifically, how resources can be used through strategic actions to create superior value to create a competitive advantage for the firm remains unclear (Priem and Butler 2001). While firm resource s have a more or less direct impact on the strategic courses of action a firm may pursue, implementation of such strategies to realize value creation potential remains an under-researched topic (Barney and Arikan 2006). This deficiency in the literature has led to the distinction between resources and capabilities. Lu et al. (2010) propose that resources and capabilities are clearly distinguishable from each other.While Grant (1991) defined resources as stocks of tangible and intangible assets which firms use to convert into products and services while capabilities are viewed as intermediate goods generated by the firm to enhance the productivity of resources (Amit and Schoemaker 1993). As such, capabilities are different from resources since they act as enablers for firms to create value more effectively from the resources they possess. This distinction between resources and capabilities has encouraged researchers to examine the effect of MNEs’ capabilities on firm performan ce.Research regarding the capabilities of MNEs has mostly focused on those that facilitate global strategy formulation. For example, Elango and Pattnaik (2007) propose that networking capabilities have a direct impact on the internationalization strategy of the firm. Peng et al. (2008) articulates a framework in which firm resources and capabilities are viewed as one of three antecedents of a firm’s international business strategy (the other two being industry based competition and institutional conditions and transitions).Thus, the current literature sheds light only on how the capabilities of MNEs enable them to formulate appropriate strategic choices that match their resources with opportunities in their external, that is, their global, environment. However, mechanisms that ensure successful implementation of the chosen strategies remain unclear. While we assume that MNEs should be able to establish appropriate structures to match their strategies, research has shown that there is a lot of incongruence between MNE strategy and structure (Duysters and Hagedoorn 2001).Effective Global Strategy Implementation 181 Based on this backdrop and drawing from the strategic fit literature, the purpose of this paper is to offer a contingency framework of global strategy implementation effectiveness on firm performance. The research question we seek to answer is what the structural and process requirements are for MNEs to successfully implement global strategy through increased efficiency and effectiveness of integration and coordination across world markets.Our central premise is that MNEs’ capabilities in establishing supporting structural and process mechanisms will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of implementing their global strategies which would, in turn, lead to better firm performance. That is, we argue that firms need to achieve a harmonious configuration among strategy, structure, and process to better deliver superior value from the res ources they possess. The remainder of this article is organized as follows.After reviewing the literature and presenting a comprehensive picture of the integration and coordination dimensions of global strategy, we offer propositions for future research. We discuss the merits of exploring each of these and conclude with suggestions for managerial practice. Conceptualizations? of? Global? Strategy The globalization of the world economy has pushed many organizations, particularly those MNEs with abundant resources, to rethink how they compete in this expanded market.The increasingly interdependent financial, product, and labor markets are all advancing at different paces towards a â€Å"globalized† system (Buckley and Ghauri 2004). As the political, economic, and cultural forces increasingly promote a global environment, many industries have become global in nature (Morrison and Roth 1992; Kim et al. 2003). Such global industries are largely driven by three structural forces: e conomies of scale, comparative advantage, and standardized markets (Birkinshaw et al. 1995).Firms competing in such industries have gradually been adopting a global strategy in which they no longer view their subsidiaries located across the world as independent subunits, but as a highly interdependent network (Kim and Hwang 1992). Global strategy is thus characterized as developing competitive advantage through operating in interdependent national markets by exploiting differences in national resource endowments, the flexibility of MNC networks, and economies of scale and scope, as well as learning (Malnight 1996).Extant literature suggests that the strategic choice of a firm competing in global markets is a function of firm traits and aptitudes and market contexts (Peng et al. 2008). The positive relationship between financial and market performance and global strategy is also well documented in the literature (Roth 1992; Kim et al. 2003). We further argue that these relationships are mediated by the interplay among strategy, structure and processes of the firm (Fig. 1). We now discuss these, in turn. Firm Traits and Aptitudes Firm traits and aptitudes refer to the resources and capabilities that a firm possesses to compete in the global marketplace.These resources and capabilities can take on different forms such as culture, knowledge, orientation, experiences, and learning capability. 182 A. Yaprak et al. Firm Traits Aptitudes Innovative Culture Firm's strategic creativity in its marketing strategy making Latitude in autonomy vs. control Local Embeddedness Depth in local market knowledge Local market orientation International Embeddedness International Orientation International Experience Firm Capabilities in Cross-subsidization (Leverage) Organizational learning Market Contexts Degree of international integration Degree of similarity with the primary international marketProcesses Degree of integration of strategic design and implementation [Integration vs. Independence] Configuration Perspective Strategy Degree of standardization . n marketing strategy [Standardization vs. Adaption] Coordination / Integration Strategy Performance Structure Degree of Concentration of value chain activities [Concentration vs. Dispersion] Contingency Perspective Fig.? 1: Strategy, structure, and processes as mediators of the firm, market and performance relationship. (Source: Constructed by the authors from Lim et al. 2006), Menon et al. (1999), Ozsomer and Prussia (2000), Solberg (2000), Xu et al. (2006), Zou and Cavusgil (2002)) Studies suggest that a fundamental antecedent to superior performance is the corporate culture of the firm, particularly those associated with innovation capabilities. They show that innovative culture, reflected by the firm’s creativity in its marketing strategy making, is a key ingredient in influencing strategic performance. They further show that focus on effective se of the firm’s marketing assets and capabi lities and prudent resource commitments across markets will upgrade its cross-market integration skills, and thereby enhance its market performance (Menon et al. 1999). The firm’s ability in reverse-innovating products, distributing them globally, and its skills in expanding opportunities in difficult markets and pioneering worthy segments in different types of market settings, all manifestations of creative strategy making, will also upgrade its market performance (Immelt et al. 009). A second key firm trait involves local market embeddedness. Local market orientation underscored by increasing depth of local market knowledge will lead to higher levels of global market penetration. When coupled with the ability to adapt to cultural diversity and affinity to the local market intermediaries’ aspirations to extract common denominators for many markets, this will likely lead to higher degrees of strategy effectiveness (Solberg 2000). Equally important is international embe ddedness.International orientation, bolstered by previous international business and/or marketing experience in the major markets of the firm will give the firm latitude in integrating and coordinating its competitive moves across world markets and thus lead to network-wide efficiencies, effectiveness and synergies. This valuable organizational resource will also help simplify worldwide planning and help establish the firm’s brands with a consistent image across markets; thereby enhancing the firm’s marketing strategy performance (Zou and Cavusgil 2002). Effective Global Strategy Implementation 83 Firm capabilities in organizational learning and cross-subsidization will affect global market performance positively. The firm’s ability to learn more and faster than its competitors and from its alliance partners in foreign markets will advance its marketing capabilities. Its skills in leveraging resources, information, experience, and ideas across markets and affili ates, sacrificing competitive gains in some markets for the benefit of other markets, and sharing organizational learning gains across its affiliate network will help the firm maintain a strong configural advantage, nd will improve the firm’s marketing strategy performance (Craig and Douglas 2000; hamel 1991; Lim et al. 2006). In light of these arguments, we propose that: P1: Firm traits, such as innovative culture and strategic creativity and firm aptitudes such as local and international embeddedness, along with capabilities in organizational learning and cross-subsidization, will enhance the adoption of a global strategy, which in turn, will positively influence firm performance. Market Contexts Porter (1990) suggests that the industry in which a firm finds itself competing largely determines its strategic choices.Market contexts specifically examine the external environment and the opportunities it presents to the firm. Market contexts, such as global industry and the fir m’s global orientation and international experience, will also give firms an incentive to adopt a global strategy which will, in turn, enhance marketing strategy performance. One argument here is that global strategy seeks benefits from both comparative and competitive advantages by leveraging economies of scale derived from common market demand and dispersion of operations across world markets to benefit from factor cost differences (Kim et al. 003). The degree of similarity among markets will incentivize firms to adopt a globally-integrated strategy which will lead to efficiencies and strategy effectiveness, and this will improve performance (Zou and Cavusgil 2002). Participation in multiple markets offers the firm the ability to identify different opportunities with which to exploit its resources. For example, the firm can extend its product life cycle by launching products with different pacings across global markets. Market contexts offer greater flexibility in implement ing global business battles against competitors.Participation in multiple markets also helps firms identify different value chain activity locations based on the unique comparative advantages of each location. The degree of integration in the firm’s markets will foster easier leveraging of resources and capabilities and will ease learning from these. As the firm expands increasingly into dissimilar markets, however, it will be inspired to develop creative solutions, innovative marketing mix adaptations, and imaginative strategies.The degree of coordination and differentiation in marketing strategies the firm is able to implement in global markets and its ability to harmonize competitive tactics across regions will also improve performance (Lim et al. 2006; Schilke et al. 2009). Since markets are dynamic, their changing nature will require emerging strategic mechanisms, inspiring the firm toward developing creative market-based learning, rather than deliberative solutions (Ozs omer and Prussia 2000; Vorhies and Morgan 2005). Thus, we propose that: 184 A. Yaprak et al.P2: Similarities and dissimilarities among the firm’s market contexts will move the firm toward adopting a global strategy, which in turn, will enhance marketing strategy performance. Integration and Coordination in Global Strategy and Implementation As the competitive advantage in adopting a global strategy lies in the firms’ ability to effectively link competitive actions across national markets, global integration becomes a critical task in coping with the challenges posed by the integrated global competitive arena (Kim et al. 2003).Thus, firms adopting a globally integrated strategy seek to integrate their globally-dispersed activities in a manner that will help them develop combinations of comparative (that is, location-specific) and competitive (that is, firm-specific) advantages that will foster more effective responses to cross-national competitive forces (Roth and Schwe iger 1991). Global integration, that is the coordination and control of business operations and functions across national borders (Cray 1984), is viewed as the ideal indicator of the degree of comparative and competitive advantage combinations within the firm (Kobrin 1991; Rangan and Sengul 2009).Roth and Schweiger (1991) describe these two sources of advantage in a global strategy as that developed through international scale economies and economies of scope (competitive), and that which results from exploiting the differences in factor costs across country locations (comparative). Comparative advantage arises from the geographic configuration of location choices while competitive advantage resides in geographic coordination or organization (Rangan and Sengul 2009). Thus, integration allows the firm to disperse its value-adding activities across national markets while integrating some of these within the firm’s own boundaries.Two major activities in achieving global integrat ion goals are coordination and control (Kim et al. 2003). The purpose of coordination is to achieve concerted action among the subunits and functional areas toward a unified organizational goal (Roth and Schweiger 1991). Coordination is essential in managing the interdependencies across the subunits of an organization. As coordination effort in an international business organization can range from low to high, the demand of a global strategy puts its coordination effort on the high end.A high degree of coordination implies that functional activities are tightly linked with one another and that these are tightly-integrated across geographic locations (Roth 1992). This integration leads to configural advantage (Craig and Douglas 2000). Thus, we propose that: P3: Superior performance of the MNE’s global strategy will be positively linked to increased integration and coordination of its value chain activities; that is, to the degree of its configural advantage.Structural and Proc ess Requirements for Global Integration and Coordination Even though MNEs enjoy the benefit of abundant resources and capabilities coming from firm traits and aptitudes and the opportunities their environments present, designing the organizational structures and processes that best support the strategies they deploy that Effective Global Strategy Implementation 185 use the resources and capabilities that suit the demand of their external opportunities is mandatory in realizing superior performance.In fact, the task of management is to formulate strategies based on the resources and capabilities of the firm and match them with identifiable opportunities in the external environment by selective market entry. Strategy, as such, is seen as an outcome of the process of identifying the alignment of the resources and capabilities of the firm and the opportunities present in the environment. Implementing such a strategy relies primarily on supporting the organizational structures and proces ses that are in place.Without the appropriate strategy, processes and structure, firm traits and aptitudes and market contexts may each present benefits by themselves, but they may also lead to detrimental performance when inappropriately combined. As such, firms need to examine both their internal strengths and the external opportunities they face and attempt to achieve the best synergy between these two. While strategy is mostly focused on identifying market opportunities that best utilize the resources of the firm, the reverse is also possible; the firm may identify opportunities in the environment but find that it lacks the resources to exploit these.Unique combinations of these structure and strategy elements will yield unique levels of strategic performance (Olson et al. 2005). Interrelationships among the internationalizing firm’s strategy, structure, and processes are positively associated with market performance and will lead to strategy implementation types that can serve as major sources of sustainable global competitive advantage (Xu et al. 2006). Structure A critical determinant of success in implementing a global strategy is the development of effective structures that will carry firm strategy toward superior performance.Organizational structural forces are crucial to effectively deploying and integrating firm resources (Fang and Zou 2009). One element of this effort is the global configuration of value chain activities such that achievement of the firm’s objectives is rationalized. Sourced in competitive advantage theory (Porter 1990), this effort involves selectively concentrating and dispersing activities across the firm’s global network so that it can differentiate, pursue cost efficiencies, focus on market niches, and achieve economies of scale in doing so (Roth 1992).It also involves assigning various roles to the firm’s affiliates so that they will serve the firm’s objectives in the most effective manner. For instance, subsidiaries might play such roles as strategic leader, implementer, and contributor, depending on their level of local competencies and the strategic importance of their markets to the firm or can be early or late movers in carrying the firm’s products throughout its network, depending on their special strengths and competitive advantages (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1989, 1992).The firm’s aims with regard to each local market as it incrementally internationalizes, and its desire for control over affiliates vs. encouragement of autonomy in local markets, can lead to subsidiary roles as local barons or implementers of headquarters strategies (Solberg 2000). These roles can then create internationalizing networks modeled as federations, confederations, and the United Nations (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1989; solberg 2000). Of the different dimensions of organizational structure, three dimensions are recognized as the most influential on global integration and coordina tion: formalization, departmen- 186A. Yaprak et al. talization, and centralization. Formalization is defined as the degree to which organizational norms are defined explicitly (Hall 1982). It essentially prescribes the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors within an organization. Roth and Schweiger (1991) argue that formalization boosts integration and coordination efforts by decreasing the discretion of the managers at both the headquarters and the subsidiary levels. Formalization reduces the direct involvement of the headquarters in subsidiaries by offering rules and procedures that fertilize the emergence of dominant logic within the organization.This dominant logic fosters similar actions from managers at different geographic locations. In addition, firms also increase integration efficiency by formalizing the ways functional activities are performed across units. By establishing standardized procedures, policies and rules, the effectiveness of integration will increase as the p rocess of conducting activities is codified, a form of coordination by standardization (Kim et al. 2003). Centralization is concerned with decision making authority and is regarded as an important means of reaching coordination goals within an MNE (Roth and Schweiger 1991).A global strategy leads to higher levels of interdependencies among the subunits within a global organization. This would require a higher level of coordination among the functional activities. Adopting a centralization structure in an MNE means that critical decision-making lies at the top management level because better understanding of the various activities and units scattered around the world is possible there (Kim et al. 2003). It could be argued that while formalization facilitates coordination of global integration, centralization plays more of a role in the control of global integration.The assumption here is that with a decentralized structure, each subunit will focus on achieving its individual goals an d tasks resulting in the sacrifice of the overall goal of the organization. Formalization and centralization along the firm’s value chain configuration will also affect its strategic behavioral orientations, such as customer, competitor, and innovationorientation, and by extension, the firm’s strategic performance. Departmentalization is defined as the degree to which the tasks are confined to a predetermined domain and members of departments are isolated from cross-functional interactions (Mintzberg et al. 1976).Departmentalization is believed to be detrimental to the integration and coordination effectiveness in business. It is argued that resource integration, especially as it involves knowledge integration, is an essential way to generate new ideas, particularly for new product development purposes. By isolating the subunits or functions from each other, members of the organization lose sight of the overall picture and the unique goals of the organization. Thus, we propose that: P4: Formalization and centralization of structure will positively influence integration and coordination effectiveness in firms that adopt a global strategy.P5: Departmentalization of structure will negatively influence integration and coordination effectiveness in firms that adopt a global strategy. Processes The major characterization of global strategy is focused on the integration of the firm’s global network of activities and the coordination of functions and resources that will yield enhanced strategy performance. This perspective is concerned with whether subsidiaries Effective Global Strategy Implementation 187 are standalone profit centers or parts of a more holistic design of deliberately integrated units (Lim et al. 2006).Its focus is on the dependence of affiliates on the headquarters and the interdependence among the subsidiaries for materials, resources, learning, efficiencies, and company-wide decision-making (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1989; Lim et al . 2006). When combined with the market offering and the concentration dimensions of strategy (Lim et al. 2006), and under the umbrella of contingency theory (Van de Ven and Drazin 1985), this perspective provides a window into our understanding of the spread of strategic autonomy, functional and operative control over affiliates, resource sharing, and cross-market consultation in he internationalizing firm. Dependence of the firm on its local affiliate or subsidiary for market knowledge due to lack of its own proficiency would lead the firm, for instance, to nurture interdependencies with its affiliates and strategic control over them. Low dependence of the subsidiaries on the headquarters, along with low interdependence among subsidiaries and high subsidiary autonomy are associated with worldwide mandates assigned to subsidiaries (Lim et al. 2006). The organizational processes of MNEs largely involve the control aspects of organizational activities.Gencturk and Aulakh (1995) classi fy formal control mechanisms as market-based and hierarchy-based. Birkinshaw and Morrison (1995) add the heterarchy model as an alternative control process. While the market-based control process intuitively works against the goal of integration and coordination, the hierarchy- and the heterarchybased control mechanisms facilitate integration and coordination to a greater degree. We argue, however, that the heterarchy-based control process is more appropriate for a global strategy.First, the hierarchy concept is incongruous with interdependence among the various regional and strategic business units that make up the global enterprise. Second, the hierarchy model implies unidirectional control, imposed by the headquarters over the subsidiary units, a notion incompatible with global integration. Finally, global integration requires stability and instrumentality to succeed and at least one of these, instrumentality, is less present in the hierarchy model than the other models of contro l.The heterarchy control model, in contrast, is based on three characteristics that global integration requires: dispersion of resources and capabilities; existence of lateral relationships among subunits; and coordinated activities. We feel that all three of these are consistent with the coordination and integration efforts of an MNE and foster greater integration. Thus, we propose that: P6: Adoption of a heterarchy-based control model will positively influence the integration and coordination effectiveness of firms that adopt a global strategy.The Interaction of Strategy, Structure, and Process While each of strategy, structure, and process may have a direct impact on firm performance, the interaction among the three may exert even greater influence on that performance. Viewing strategy as matching resources with the environment focuses essentially on strategy formulation. This relies largely on the fit of the external environment with the firm. However, strategy implementation re quires achieving the firm’s intended benefit. It relies more on the internal fit within the organization; that is, the fit between structure and processes (Venkatraman and Camillus 1984).Venkatraman and Camillus (1984) argue 188 A. Yaprak et al. that effective implementation of any strategy requires congruence among a large number of internal elements. This implies that the supporting role of structure and process cannot be separated from each other. In addition, the dominant logic in the strategic management literature is that strategy is the overriding concern, while structure and process are derived from strategy. Strategic performance is determined by how effectively the firm’s strategy is implemented, and by extension, how marketing objectives are accomplished (Olson et al. 2005).While there are many dimensions to performance measurement, financial and non-financial measurement metrics are typically used in strategy performance contexts. Among these are profitabil ity, ROI, and sales volume, as well as the strategic position of the firm relative to its most relevant competitor, its relative market share in key markets, and expectations compared to relevant competitors and satisfaction with achieved expectations (Olson et al. 2005; Zou and Cavusgil 2002). We argue that a holistic view should be used in measuring strategic performance; a measure that would incorporate both financial and non-financial considerations.We also argue that, all things considered, the strategy, concentration, and integration/coordination conceptualizations of global strategy will mediate the relationship between the firm and market antecedents of performance and strategic performance itself. This is evidenced by recent research which shows that the interplay of strategy, structure and processes lead to higher levels of performance when they are mediated by co-alignment of strategy with the market context (Xu et al. 2006). Thus, we propose that: P7: Firm and market ant ecedents of firm performance will be mediated by the interplay among the strategy, structure, nd process components of internationalizing firms. The Capability of Configuring Strategy, Structure, and Process The capability of an MNE to successfully configure a harmonious strategy, structure, and process could be a source of competitive advantage. Unlike the tangible resources such as plant and raw materials, intangible resources and capabilities such as the ability to align structural and process dimensions with the chosen strategy cannot be easily copied or substituted. When skillfully leveraged, these capabilities offer bases of competitive advantage and increase the effectiveness and efficiency in implementing a chosen strategy.Capability development is viewed as path dependent (Nelson and Winter 1982). Firms accumulate knowledge and capabilities by learning by doing. Dosi et al. (1990) views the firm as a historic entity in which repetitive activities offer the opportunity to le arn and form routines and search processes. In this perspective, capabilities are viewed as emerging from the past history of learning by doing. Firms may also actively invest in organizational structures and processes to make constant improvements of routines and practices (Ethiraj et al. 2005).As such, capabilities are a combined result of passive learning by doing and active investment in learning. MNEs with extensive internationalization experiences would have the opportunity to nurture the capability to align their structure and process with their strategies. As such, we propose that: Effective Global Strategy Implementation 189 P8: The international experience of an MNE will be positively associated with its capabilities to configure organizationally effective strategy, structure, and process combinations. Discussion? and? Suggestions? or? Future? Research The relationship between global strategy making and its performance outcomes has generated a rich stream of research in th e extant literature during the last few decades. This interest was heightened recently with the explosive growth in international business activity, especially by internationalizing firms from the emerging economies. This recent interest has resulted in conceptual developments attempting to explain the roles of various antecedents in explaining strategic performance and empirical testing of these frameworks (e. . , Katsikeas et al. 2006; Lim et al. 2006; solberg 2000; Zou and Cavusgil 2002). More recent work has explored the significance of the roles played by various moderators in explaining the strength of the antecedents-performance relationship (Schilke et al. 2009). All of these studies have deepened our understanding of the strategy making-performance relationship, but we do not yet have a comprehensive picture of many of the actors that might mediate this relationship. In this paper, we attempt to contribute to this void by developing one such picture.We propose that firm tra its and market contexts will positively affect strategic performance, but this relationship should be enhanced when mediated by the interplay among the strategy (standardization vs adaptation), structure (concentration vs dispersion), and process (integration vs independence) dimensions of strategy making (Lim et al. 2006). We offer propositions about each of these dimensions and the interface they have with the antecedents and outcomes of strategy formulation. Our work is exploratory and thus aims at offering a conceptual framework that should lead to empirical research.Some empirical questions that future research might explore include the following. First, what are the theory bases that might give us a better understanding of this relationship? The extant literature is full of studies that are anchored in the contingency and the configurational theories, but other theories/paradigms, such as agency theory, transactions cost economics, the resource based view, and social exchange theory might be fruitful avenues of inquiry in explaining the strategy making-strategic performance relationship.For example, agency theory may shed greater light on the impact of principal-agent relationships on product introduction rollouts in international markets and how these might shape the strategy formulation-strategic performance linkage. Social exchange theory might explore the significance that such constructs as trust, commitment, forbearance, and lack of opportunism might render on this relationship. The resource based view might explain the significance of the role played by the interdependence among the firm’s affiliates as they share certain types of esources; participate in decision-making contexts; and leverage capabilities across the firm’s network in the strategy making-strategic performance link. Second, what is the role of culture in defining and predicting the outcomes of the strategy-performance link? Culture, for instance, might influence conce ptualizations of the degree of control desired, what it means to be autonomous or interdependent, what kinds 190 A. Yaprak et al. f gains autonomy and interdependence might bring to subsidiaries and how desired these might be, and how norms and values might shape value chain configurations and levels of adaptations needed in different markets. Third, what role does time play in the shaping of this relationship? Longitudinal studies might show, for example, that the strategy making-strategic performance link changes in short time frames for some products, medium time frames for others, and long time frames for still others.Finally, are there other dimensions of strategy and/or performance that should be considered and how might these interact with the three discussed in this paper? For example, the firm’s position along its internationalization path or the level of its participation in its global markets might be dimensions that need to be considered more formally to better un derstand the strategy-performance relationship. The interactions among these and the dimensions already considered in the literature are also worthy of further study.Our purpose is to depict a more comprehensive picture of the strategy formulationstrategic performance relationship in international business and to suggest that the interplay among strategy, structure, and processes of the firm mediates that relationship. 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The impact of Information Technology on Transportation system and Research Paper

The impact of Information Technology on Transportation system and technolog - Research Paper Example So the transportation business and system is being basically changed through new evolutionary information systems and information technology. In the past airlines as well as big hotel chains, for instance, have been the untimely implementers of innovative and new technologies like that CRSs (Computer Reservations Systems). It is observed that new evolutionarily network system are offering sharing of data in addition to information being employed through the Transportation business and industry is in a lot of modes, depending upon 3rd parties like that Computer Reservations Systems dealers or else travel representatives who have customarily warranted their subsistence in the course of a dedicated technology arrangement as well as precise acquaintance (Ira, Semeijn, Talalayevsky, & Alexander, 1998; Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005) & (Nijkamp & Blaas, 1994; YOSHIMOTO & Toshinori NEMOTO, 2005 ). The main intention behind this research is to assess and analyze some of the main areas and impacts which have been brought by the innovative implementation of IT and IS technology at the transportation business industry. A generally mentioned influence of information technology is that the appearance of electronic marketplaces will encourage the evasion of mediators. The idea of this influence is mainly formed on the capability of IT to considerably decrease the costs of dealings. The technology also supported and facilitated the customers to have an easy access and competence to enjoy simple system that we reserve and manage for their travelling requirements (Ray, 2004; Laudon & Laudon, 1999). The arrival of the World Wide Web, Internet and other online operational management services, unified by extensive implementation of personal computers through businesses as well as customers, had directed to an increasing job planned for electronic commerce in the worldwide financial system. Here

Business Analysis of Southwest Airlines Corporation Essay

Business Analysis of Southwest Airlines Corporation - Essay Example While tangible costs can be indentified directly with a certain project and can be quantified, for example, by the cost of an asset, intangible costs are those that cannot be identified with any particular project, and their nature is not quantifiable, for example, by the value of goodwill in a business. 2) I was forced to decide on whether to enroll for a Master’s program or to take up a job. I sought the motivations behind each decision. In a scale of 1-4, where 1 represents the least important, 2 - important, 3 - more important and 4 represents the most important, I graded the motivation behind my selecting either of the alternatives. I finally decided to take up a job first and enroll for Master’s program at a later date, since there was a higher motivation towards taking a job as compared to Enrolling for Master’s program. Financial reasons Family Viewpoint Personal objectives Social considerations Total scores Enroll for Masters 1 3 2 4 10 Take a job 4 1 4 3 12 Executive Summary This paper is a study of challenges facing Southwest Airlines Co., an airline company based in Dallas, USA. The paper starts by introducing the company which was established in 1961. It has employed 33,000 employees since then. The Airline makes 3,300 flights a day to 72 destinations in 37 states of the USA (Larry). The mission of the company is to provide the best quality services to its customers with a spirit of friendship and respect. It also serves to provide its employees with a steady and conducive working environment. Though it is ranked as the best performing Airline Company within the framework of domestic passenger travels in the USA, the company experiences some challenges that are the basis of this study. The symptoms of these challenges which face the company today include loss of profits, retarded growth rate, cutting down in flights and a decrease in the share value of the company (Ragland, 1990). To accomplish this study, a problem statement w as designed to guide the research undertaken. The problem statement is the following: many analysts see the slumping of the fuel prices as the only cause of the Airlines’ great profit loss. However, they do not take into consideration how the general weakening of the global economy contributed to this scenario (Libby, 1998). Without such considerations the whole phenomena will never be fully understood. Slumping of the oil prices and the general weakening of the global economy are factors worth consideration in demystifying this occurrence (Bailey, 2011). The study is narrowed down to focus on the root causes of the loss in profits of the company. The root causes were found to be the plunging of the global fuel prices because of a general weakening of the global economy. The abovementioned causes resulted in increased operation costs of the company and a reduction in the customer base of the company. As a measure of averting these challenges the study recommends an increased funding of the operations of the company to serve its customers as before and retain their goodwill. A merger or acquisition is also recommended to strengthen the resource base of the company. However, it is feared that this might lead to the loss of identity by the company and a dilution of its customer focused value system (Libby, 1998). The recommendations can be implemented through selecting a company that has similar value system to merge with this company. A flexible fuel hedge program should also be established to eliminate the risks associated with global oil price fluctuations. The success of such recommendations can be measured on a quarterly basis, applying the customer base growth and the increase in revenues of the

Commodification of Rap by White Artists Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Commodification of Rap by White Artists - Essay Example Such people found discouragement in their early stages as some felt that they were not even a half black to do the rapping. Ideally, rap was a black thing. What matters in the context is how white rappers have fared in this field of music. Eminem has mastered his art far better than a number of his male counterparts. His lyrical flow, regardless of the content has been found more appealing than that of many rappers. But we should digress and consider the likes of Iggy Azalea who are not American in the first place but have seemingly been well treated in the light of rap awards.  Many other rappers in the likes of Azealia Banks feel that Iggy is not in to represent rap or hip hop as she barely understands black issues (Boom). This takes us back to what would otherwise inspire Iggy Azalea to get involved in rap. Is it about the multicultural nature of the society today? Is it about talent? Wait, we should look at what comes with music industry these days. Celebrities are racking mill ions of dollars overnight. This element, money, has set the whole industry in motion motivating many individuals to get involved. Organizations are endorsing rappers so as to have financial returns. These are not the days when radio hosts and programmers had no place for rap as they claimed it was fad. In fact, commercial hubs have reported of increased sales after playing more rap music in their stores.  The big issue is that rap has been transformed to a commodity in the market. It is being traded for money and fame.

STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

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How Can Chipotle enter Chinese Market - Assignment Example The researcher states that Chipotle should embrace the joint venture strategy to access the Chinese market since it allows more time for the establishment and launch of products. It involves identifying an established firm in China and increasing investment through the sharing of resources. The joint venture strategy is appropriate since it will enable Chipotle to gain knowledge of the local market. This takes place through the host firm’s ability to analyze competitive conditions, culture, language and political systems. Considering these aspects, it becomes easy to understand the preferences of the host clients and the competitive trends in the country. Another advantage of Chipotle using the joint venture entry strategy is that the costs and risks experienced in starting up a foreign market are shared between the partners. This is viable, especially if the host nation charges high duties on foreign firms or if the business will take longer to adapt to the new situations. Si milarly, through joint venture strategy, Chipotle can avoid the threats of nationalization or other unfavorable government hindrance that may arise. This implies that a government policy that may affect the entry of foreign firms is avoided through the collaboration with the local firms. However, this entry strategy may also attract challenges to Chipotle if appropriate measures are not put in place. For instance, the use of the joint venture may enable the host firm to control the production technology. It is also apparent that a firm may lose the tight control over subsidiaries, which it might require to actualize the location economies. This reduces the potential for the firm to expand to other markets across the host nation. There are also instances where joint ventures might lead to conflicts due to losses or control of resources.

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To what extent is migrant integration determined by formal and substantial citizenship - Essay Example Prior to an analysis of the subject, it is critical to describe the key terms in the paper. Literature defines migrant integration as the extent to which migrants are like the rest of the population. This may be seen through social economic indications like education, employment, housing and health. Alternatively, it may be manifested through cultural indicators like language, values, lifestyles and allegiances. Citizenship is the relationship one has between himself or herself and the state; it is political, civil, social, economic, cultural and symbolic. Formal citizenship focuses strictly on rights and duties that arise from one’s membership status within the state. Substantial citizenship refers to the economic, moral, and social resources to exercise rights .The phenomenon encompasses the lived experiences and the extent to which these rights are exercised. It is subjective and dwells on the social exchanges and interactions of people. These definitions thus indicate that having citizenship rights and putting into practice those rights enable social integration. If a migrant has access to citizens’ rights, they are more likely to bond with members of that community and demonstrate allegiance to it. Whether migrant integration is determined by formal and substantial citizenship Openness and inclusiveness as a precondition of migrant integration As mentioned in the introduction, formal citizenship encompasses the resources required to exercise citizenship rights. One dimension of these resources is the social dimension. A society’s value system can determine how effectively a migrant integrates with the larger society. If upon citizenship acquisition, they find that their society tolerates cultural diversity, then they are likely to deliberately choose integration (Berry, 1997). It should be noted that integration may be considered as one of four dimensions of migrant acculturation. Foreigners have the choice to assimilate, where they ab andon all their former cultures and adopt the ones in their host country. Conversely, they may choose to separate, where they hold onto their original cultures and ignore that of the dominant community. They may integrate by maintaining cultural ties in their native communities and adopting cultures from the receiving community. Alternatively, individuals in this group may lose ties with their former culture and also fail to adopt the culture of the dominant group; as such, they will become marginalised. Therefore, the degree of integration of immigrants in this sense can only occur if a society has values that encourage multiculturalism. The attitudes prevalent in the receiving country must be positive towards these groups. A person may have formal rights as a citizen but when they meet social characteristics that do not enable realisation of these rights then they will not integrate into society. Berry (1997) notes that sometimes these attitudes may stem from the physical features of the group or other characteristics. As such, even though Koreans may have acquired formal

Retail brands Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

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Samsung Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Samsung - Research Paper Example Samsung currently capitalizes on cheap technology to displace apple from the market. We witness the latest run ads of the Galaxy s II show Apple fans waiting in line in the cold while those for the perfectly content Galaxy S owners are living their lives freely. The ad further shows Gal Pals poking fun at fan boys who are waiting for a small-screened phone without 4G connectivity, while one dude gets a date by using Samsung’s Siri competitor, S-voice (Koekemoer, 2004). The current marketing strategy has made Samsung be the current king of the mobile holding majority of the market from the US throughout the whole world. The company has the technical knowhow of building the technology quickly and cheaply. They are also able to emulate the likeable competitor’s device given the top brains they possess. As a competitive edge Samsung uses product innovation as a strategy as another form of its latest marketing strategy. Its product range covered all the categories in the con sumer electronics and home appliances right from audio and video products, It products, mobile phones and home appliances (Koekemoer, 2004). Analysts felt that the wide product range of Samsung was one of main reasons for its success in the worldwide market. Samsung positioned itself on the technology platform through through advertising and sales promotion after they realized that in most of the world markets like India consumers were still not aware of them. Samsung latest marketing strategy being the use of K-pop Superstar as the face of their brand hence increased sales of the products. Body 2: Products and services that help the company be famous The products that have made Samsung become famous in the electronic industry range from mobile phones, televisions both audio and video, camera/cam recorder, home appliances and lastly we have the PC/Peripherals printers. The company keeps repositioning such products. The repositioning of these products take place in for of pricing aft er Samsung realized that they were always associated with bargains due to their extremely low prices (Koekemoer, 2004). They realized that the up market is associated with high price leaving the low prices for the low market. To Samsung higher price would bring more profit and at the same time it is the better imply of good quality. The strategy of reposition helps Samsung starting to build its noblest image. In its service provision, Samsung realizes the need for global competitiveness in the era of global competition and then argue that to remain relevant understanding of the clients is major through knowing who your customers are, what they need and the dynamism within them. In this way, the company is fully committed to understanding their customers throughout the world across all the functions of their products from development and production to the marketing and the after sales services. They also change their thinking and working procedures to serve the customers better throu gh innovative products and services such as the provision of the customer delight services, product quality and safety. Samsung provides these services through its numerous applications such video apps from Netflix, Vudu, or Hulu Plus, which are to be included on, network TVs.   However, the concept of other types of apps on our TV is still new and we may wonder why we would want applications on TVs.   Some of the applications are useful while others may be

The Value of a Human Life Essay Example for Free

The Value of a Human Life Essay We look at the words of one of the framers of our constitution, and we apply it to the concept of assisted suicide. This subject was one of the hottest issues of the late 20th century, but why was this issue so crucial? Why did it seem to have law writers and judges fumbling to grab for their red tape? There seems to be a more deep seated opinion on why the land that gives us the right to freedom of speech, expression, natural, and civil rights, can restrict the one right we should inherently have. The question I pose for you today isn’t to look at the morality of suicide, but rather look, and ask yourself, why don’t we have the right to die? This paper will be broken down into two sections, one will be the law, precedent, acts, etc. and the other will be the philosophy governing our actions as a collective body and why the ideals that the sound percentage of this united states are unrepresented. The Law There are many cases of assisted suicide, and legislation overseeing it, but the few examples I will give will show the stance that America has taken on the subject of assisted suicide. Jack Kevorkian was the front runner for euthanasia, advocate for a pro-choice death, and leader of one of the most controversial hot button issues of the late 1980s to 1990s. He fought for the legalization of assisted suicide in terminal patients and was known for saying â€Å"dying is not a crime†. He’s an important figure in this movement because he couldn’t be convicted until he was aired on 60 minutes as personally injecting the patient with the drug, instead of having them commit the suicide themselves. The importance of this distinction is that when Jack himself did not inject the patient, he was not found accountable, showing the importance of the word â€Å"assisted† in assisted suicide. [2] Secondly, the Terry Schiavo case was another landmark case pertaining to the death of a terminal patient. Theresa Marie Schindler (Terri) had entered a vegetative state and was comatose and on life support. Her husband had the power to order her feeding tubes removed, ultimately sentencing her to death, however, many people intervened and wouldn’t let her pass away, rather they kept her on feeding tubes for 15 years until she finally was taken off life support and passed 13 days after. During her life, the very controversial â€Å"Terri’s Law† was written up and gave the power to Florida’s Governor to put Terri back on life support. An interesting point in this legislation is that President George W. Bush flew to Washington just to sign this bill into action. â€Å"It should be noticed that this is the same George W. Bush who, as Governor of Texas, signed into state law the power of hospitals to remove a patient (in identical situations as Terris) from life support a critical factor being the familys ability to pay the hospital bills even if such removal was against the familys objections. †[3] This brings a completely different angle into the element of a patient’s death. From the parameters of this case it proves that the government will not intervene into the death of one of its constituents, unless of course that person is not financially able to keep living. I’ll explain this further, in the second section. Another fact to outline our government’s stand on suicide is the Washington v. Glucksberg case. In this case the Supreme Court agreed unanimously that the Due Process Clause of the Constitution did not protect the right to assistance in committing suicide. There was a previous case, Moore v.  East Cleveland, which decided that liberty interests cannot be protected if they aren’t deeply rooted in the nation’s history. Rehnquist wrote that it â€Å"furthered various compelling state interests, such as the preservation of human life and protecting the mentally ill and disabled from medical malpractice†. The Court also thought that protecting physician assisted suicide would create a â€Å"slippery slope† towards involuntary euthanasia. [4] Some things that must be discussed in this regard are as follows. The Due Process Clause protects the right to choice over abortion, which can be compared semi-closely in this case. 5] Why should those who are unborn have no say over their own demise, but yet someone who is suffering and wants to die with dignity cannot have the blessing and assistance of their physician? Furthermore, the slippery slope argument is not a logically proven one, it’s simply using something with shock effect and making it seem less distant than it really is, putting fear in those who notice nothing wrong with the argument. R. G. Frey, DPhil says it best in his book titled â€Å"The Fear of a Slippery Slope,† Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide: For and Against. Especially with regard to taking life, slippery slope arguments have long been a feature of the ethical landscape, used to question the moral permissibility of all kinds of acts The situation is not unlike that of a doomsday cult that predicts time and again the end of the world, only for fol lowers to discover the next day that things are pretty much as they were We need the evidence that shows that horrible slope consequences are likely to occur. The mere possibility that such consequences might occur, as noted earlier, does not constitute such evidence. [6] There’s no other way it can be put, the use of a slippery slope has no bearing on the actual case in front of the judges and should have never been allowed as reasoning for striking down the act. Another commonly cited document in this case is the Hippocratic Oath, the rule of law for doctors and alike as well as a document swearing in medical practitioners into the field. The cited phrase that those opposed to assisted suicide use is â€Å"I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone†. It seems that people are being too narrow-minded about the term, â€Å"harm†. As Philip Nitschke, Founder of Exit International, a pro-euthanasia group says, â€Å"The much-quoted reference to do no harm is also in need of explanation. Does not doing harm mean that we should prolong a life that the patient sees as a painful burden? Surely, the harm in this instance is done when we prolong the life, and doing no harm means that we should help the patient die. Killing the patienttechnically, yes. Is it a good thingsometimes, yes. Is it consistent with good medical end-of-life care: absolutely yes. [8] Another interesting quote in the Hippocratic Oath is the phrase, â€Å"I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion. †[9] This shows some contradictions in the Oath that the opposition has held so dear. The abortion line has since been removed, as well as the statement about a lethal drug, but in the updated version it also has no statement about â€Å"never do[ing] harm†. Some anti-euthanasia persons use an outdated version of the oath to make their points, but have neglected that there are also other statements in that old version that are no longer applicable to this day and age. [10] The last and final bit of information is the Death with Dignity Act, established in Oregon and Washington. It has been voted in by the citizens of each individual state by majority, challenged by the state legislature and rejected by voters, and even challenged by the Bush Administration and upheld in the Supreme Court by Gonzales v.  Oregon. The act establishes safe and enforceable guidelines to go through before the patient takes the life-ending medication. The guidelines include and enforce a waiting period, must be reviewed by two physicians, the patient must be free of a impairing mental illness, must be witnessed by two people, one of which isn’t family, and the request is voluntary and can be backed out of at any time. [11]/[12] This is the act we need established in the entire United States; one that gives patients the right to die with dignity. The point of this research is to show the clearly biased views of the American government; next, I’ll be demonstrating examples and reasoning for why we should be allowed the freedom to choose. Philosophy First, it must be said that to purely discuss the task at hand we must remove all prejudice about religion and morality. Those things can be used in one’s own personal value that they put upon this subject, but in front of us is the law, and it must be known that all religious aspects must be removed from government. Now, what we’re facing is the legalization and promotion of assisted suicide. Suicide is a non-punishable crime, so to speak. It’s not that they can convict a corpse, but in the attempt of a suicide attempt one can be taken into a mental institution to be assessed and treated. The first question posed is how can a crime that can’t be punished be illegal? How can we outlaw something that no government, law, or individual can persecute another for? Back in the earlier years of this country suicide used to be treated with a common law, governing all forms of the same type of suicide. However, the common law must always be updated in this ever changing society. Back when the precedent was decided there was no need so assisted suicide because the people with the illnesses would simply pass away, but today where there’s life support and other means of keeping sick patients alive, now we must choose where to draw the line in that individual’s suffering. There are different tiers of being â€Å"alive†. The fact that someone is breathing doesn’t mean that they’re alive. One may say that their life is running, playing with family, writing books, or painting pictures. This life is taken away from them when they’re sentenced to a hospital bed with tubes keeping them alive and no way to interact with others. They don’t want to ever let themselves get to the point where their family has to see them like that, and it’s an honorable, selfless thing to do. Human beings have certain unenumerated rights, sometimes known as natural rights, those not to â€Å"be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people†. Upon looking into the words of this phrase in the Ninth Amendment, we see that this amendment is plainly stating a sense of equality. If we apply this to the case of assisted suicide, the vast majority of Americans have the natural right that is life. If we were to break down the spirit of the word life, let it be seen that, as formerly stated, life has different acceptable meaning depending upon circumstances. The law cannot be taken at face value in this case and must be interpreted accordingly. Life, for one may mean freedom, and in this case the only freedom a terminally ill patient has is in death. The patient needs freedom, freedom from the constraints of suffering, freedom to move on to a better place than they are in now, whether that be a religious place, reincarnation, or a hole in the ground. As stated earlier there is a quandary in this argument when finance enters into play. We might ask ourselves why our government is so adamant on keeping us alive. Through legislation, passed by a man that became our president, it appears that a financially stable families can keep their loved ones alive even against the wishes of her husband who has the power of choice, while those not able to pay for life support must watch their loved one die as the feeding tube is removed against their will. The question of preservation of life is miniscule in this example. The real reasoning behind certain groups advocating for life is because of monetary gain, they force an individual who cannot communicate his wishes to continue living an unexamined life on his death bed, while the man who does have a say cannot choose his own path. This brings forward the one of the focal points of this paper; can and individual violate their own rights. The government is put in place to protect our individual rights and freedoms, and they use that title to protect our right to life by not letting us choose. Someone can violate the rights of another and be sent to jail in which their rights are revoked until their time is served, but are the consequences the same for one who attempts suicide? The answer is no, a human being may have the right to life, but that life cannot be violated by themselves. I can say this because of the inherent freedoms allowed by the Bill of Rights. In these, Americans are given freedoms to be their own person, to worship, and express themselves completely and fully within constraints of their own person. As long as the rights of other humans are not directly, or even indirectly, put at risk there is no fear of conviction. To explain further I must say that we cannot violate our own rights in the legal sense. If we are to take our own life, it is our right to, and one cannot be held accountable for their choices pertaining to themselves. This leads us to the discussion of positive and negative rights. Positive rights are those that permit or allow action, whereas negative rights are those who permit or allow inaction. For example, a person may want to be assisted in their suicide, and that should be their positive right to do so, but their physician, who may not morally agree with the procedure, has the negative right to refer the patient to a different doctor. This comes up most frequently in the case of abortion where the doctor may not want to go through with it for moral reasons, but the patient still has the right to have the procedure. This is important in the distinction because a person who does not agree with assisted suicide has the negative right not to have the procedure done on their death bed, and the fact that the wishes of other are not imposed on them is showing the freedom this country has not fully applied on both ends of the spectrum. They should have the right not to have the procedure done if they don’t want it, just as much as the person who wishes to have it should be allowed that right. Liberalist Thomas Szasz writes that, â€Å"If freedom is self-ownership—ownership over ones own life and body—then the right to end that life is the most basic of all. If others can force you to live, you do not own yourself and belong to them†. This is exactly what the framers of our constitution wanted us to believe in, self-ownership, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. What better way to prove that the individual purely owns himself than to be able to make his own decisions up until and including death. Conclusion In conclusion, the proof if right in our own Constitution, and in the precedent set in past court cases and actions of the government. The right to a physician assisted suicide should be a part of our freedoms just as much as abortion, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression. The Bill of Rights sets up certain unwritten rules that everyone should have equal access to, and it should be stated that the right to life can intrinsically be attributed to death as well. There are already states with legislation in order, but it will take an act of government to make it federally acceptable. The arguments against suicide either come from the slippery slope argument or from an argument from morality. As we can see, the slippery slope argument has no proof or rational acceptance, unless more proof from trial comes forth, and since there are already states which have enacted legislation on the subject, and no problems have arisen, we can justify the disregard for such an argument. The argument from morality also holds no grounds because morality is different in each individual being, and we cannot make another mistake in our practice of government such as letting the thoughts of the many outweigh the few who have a constitutional equality. It is stated that we all have our own freedoms, which cannot be violated either by ourselves or by our government. The protections that are placed upon us are inalienable by any means, and it is contradictory to say that we’re violating our own rights and should be held accountable by anyone except for ourselves. To finish, I hope I have shown enough research, and voided enough counter arguments, to show that and rational being must be able to accept the proposition of assisted suicide from the view of legal equality and representation. I’ll end with two quotes that speak volumes to the desires of these terminally-ill people.

Social media as a distraction for African students Essay Example for Free

Social media as a distraction for African students Essay Social media as a distraction for African students social media has formed a massive part of our lives whether we embrace the concept or discard it. Social media is all around us; on all continents and in most countries. It can be likened to death, regarding its inevitable nature. Social media can be defined as the relationship that exists between networks of people. (Walter Riviera, 2004). We as individuals cannot imagine a world without social media, not to talk about the internet. The income or the earnings of some individuals actually come from social media as a result of the advertisement. One can confidently say that social media has been of immense benefit to the general public. It has helped to reduce communication barriers, it has helped us relate better with our friends and relatives, and it has created avenues for business opportunities, but like every natural phenomenon, it has a flip side as well. Social media has been and is still a major distraction for students in Africa and as young adults or students, we are mostly caught up in this web on countless occasions. This paper will talk about how social media has been and is still a distraction for students. Like stated earlier on, social media has been lauded for its benefits to the world. It has helped in terms of socialization, in that, it helps us rewire our relationship with our long-lost friends, it helps people to advertise their products which actually turns their business into a very lucrative one, it also creates avenues for business opportunities and so forth. We could sit and devote our time to describing how social media has been a blessing to this generation but as the saying goes every yin has its yang. Social media like every natural thing has its cons as well. It has become a major distraction for students in almost every country in Africa. According to a report by common sense media, 75% of African teenagers presently have profiles on social networking sites, of which 68% of them use Facebook as their main social networking tool. According to Sephora, a digital marketing website, studies have shown that 50% of 18-24-year-olds go on Facebook when they wake up (Noyes, 200 2). Most students in this modern era, cannot go a day without visiting social media websites, not to even talk about their phones. One major effect of social media on students is that there is no privacy in their lives. The figure below shows the kind of information people put on social media. Students of today find nothing wrong in sharing their personal information on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook because they see it to be the â€Å"new thing† trending or they try to stick to the status quo. Some students deliberately turn a blind eye to the consequences or the effects of putting such information out there, thinking that there are no harmful people in the world or thinking that it’s the status quo. All these information put out there can actually bring harm to the students because there are people out there who have bad intentions or who have the mindset of getting the information of people and blackmailing them. According to daily graphic, a 21 year old girl who always used to put her photos or what is going on in her life on social media was one time blackmailed by one criminal because she put an explicit picture of herself there thinking no one would see and was asked to pay a ransom of GHS100, 000 for the picture not to be leaked. She then h ad to appeal for funds just to be able to redeem herself. It sometimes would not be this easy to come out of blackmailing, so it’s better to avoid all these problems, as the saying goes â€Å"prevention is indeed better than cure†. In the same vein, social media is seen as the cause for the low grades some students get during the exams they take or the assignments they get from school. Most students when in class do not pay attention but rather use their phones with the excuse of â€Å"checking what new song Justin Bieber has released† or â€Å"what dress Serena Williams wore to her recent wedding†. Although it’s good to be up-to-date on the things happening around us, there is time for everything. Time magazine US edition, an article called Wired for distraction, conducted a research and realized that students who are seriously involved in social media have what we call â€Å"continuous partial attention†, which was said by Linda Stone, a Microsoft executive. This means, their attention to focus on one thing or person at a time is nearly impossible. Most students find it very difficult to pay attention in class because they are distracted by the least thing or noise they hear. The c onstant distraction of social media tends to affect how the students learn and absorb information. Students who try to multitask by using their phones to text and surf social networks while listening to the lecturer teach end up not using their brains to its full potential or capacity. According to the University of California, Los Angeles, there are two kinds of learning segments in the brain. The â€Å"focused learner† is one that pays attention and is not distracted by their phones, friends or their laptops. These people use the â€Å"hippocampus† region of the brain, the part of the brain used in long-term memory. And we have the multitaskers; these people try and perform one or more tasks at the same time. They use the part of the brain called the striatum; this part, on the other hand, is normally for those who try and study patterns or habits. Students of today are easily distracted and must learn to pay full attention in class in order to turn their dreams into reality. Social media takes a lot of time from students. Students normally have the intention of checking Facebook or Instagram for a specific amount of time. They plan on spending 5 minutes on social media but before they can say jack, they spend over 3 hours on it. In 2010, the Kaiser family foundation came out with a report that children between the ages of eight (8) to eighteen (18) use over 7 or more hours on social media sites. One research study done by Phil Smith was that once an hour, 9 out of 10 students are distracted by Facebook or Twitter. (Smith, 2011). References Noyes, D. (n.d.). Digital Marketing Consultants top 20 valuable facebook statistics 2017.https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/Sterling, G. (2014, July 22). Pew: 94% Of Teenagers Use Facebook, Have 425 Facebook Friends, But Twitter Instagram Adoption Way Up. https://marketingland.com/pew-the-average-teenager-has-425-4-facebook-friends-44847 Conley, D. (2011, 19 May). Wired for Distraction: Kids and Social Media. Time Magazine U.S. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article

Screening of Non Target Compounds in Wastewater Samples

Screening of Non Target Compounds in Wastewater Samples Report Since October 2012, I have worked in a special project about Elimination of pharmaceuticals and organic compounds: Development of concepts and novel, cheap cleaning procedures – Formation of metabolites by ozonoation. It was a kind of training for me and a special key for my PhD work. We are interested in screening of non target compounds in wastewater samples. Wastewater samples are collected from different wastewater treatment plants at different treatment points. For example: before ozonation, after ozonation and after biological treatment steps. These compounds are extracted by solid phase extraction (SPE) method using certain solid material (OASIS HLB). This kind of SPE is suitable to extract hydrophilic and lipophilic analytes. We did several steps to extract those compounds using different procedures and different analyzing tools. We used HPLC-UV, LC-MS and GC-MS to analyze the extracted compounds. The toxicological tests are achieved for each sample in order to discove r the efficiency of wastewater treatment and the effect of treatment to obtain new unknown transformation products. In this project, I learned so many things like: How to validate and develop a method to extract polar and non polar compounds from wastewater matrixes using certain SPE steps. How to choose the best solid phase materials to extract a wide range polarity of chemical compounds in wastewater matrixes. Getting the principles for handling of different analytical instruments to validate specific methods and to analyze the extracted compounds. Taking enough time to review the statistical principles which are necessary to find the optimum ways for treatment. Achieving the possibilities to analyze the output data and comparing different procedures to find out the best one for analysis. Combining chemistry with biology in order to evaluate the toxicological estimates and to know the best wastewater treatment step. Now, I am working on developing a method to extract the following six compounds from water matrix: Catechol, trans,trans-Muconic acid, p-Benzoquinone, 1H-Benzotriazole, p-Nitrophenol and 2,6-Dichloraniline. Catechol, trans,trans-Muconic acid and p-Benzoquinone are transformation products generated after treatment of the parent compound (Bisphenol A) with ozone in aqueous solution (water). Bisphenol A (BPA) belongs to the numerous anthropogenic compounds considered as endocrine disruptors. Although less estrogenic toward aquatic organisms than natural hormones, BPA has been reported to be able to induce feminization phenomena in various species of animals. BPA is commonly used for the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. It is also used as stabilizer or antioxidant for many types of plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). BPA is detected with a high frequency in surface waters. 1H-Benzotriazole has been found in wastewater and the subsequently impacted surface water. This compound is employed to prevent metal corrosion and as UV-inhibitors, and found to use in applications such as airplane deicing fluids, dishwashing detergents, and plastic formulations. p-Nitrophenol is degradation product generated throughout the ozonation process of the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole. Sulfamethoxazole in combination with trimethoprim is used to treat a wide range of human diseases, such as urinary and respiratory tract infections. There are many publications that have reported about the presence of this antibiotic drug in sewage treatment plants, hospital effluents and rivers. Besides, this compound might be expected to be present in groundwater, because the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole is also applied to animals as growth promoter. 2,6-Dichloraniline is a metabolite produced after ozonational step of the drug diclofenac in aqueous solution. Diclofenac is one of the most commonly used pain killers. It is used to treat painful conditions such as arthritis, sprains and strains, gout, migraine, dental pain, and pain after surgical operations. There are many articles that have reported about the presence of this drug in sewage treatment plants. First step, I prepared different standard solutions for each compound, then validated and developed a method to analyze these compounds by using HPLC-UV instrument. A mixture of methanol and water (pH=2) are used at certain progress time and different ratios to obtain the best LC chromatogram with good separation and resolution for each compound in the mixture. The maximum wavelength (ÃŽ ») for each compound is known by using UV-spectrophotometer. Table (1) summarizes the information obtained after analyzing my target compounds by HPLC-UV. Table 1 Substance Retention time tR (min) ÃŽ » (nm) Catechol (1) 26.35 278 t,t-Muconic acid (2) 28.43 278 p-Benzoquinone (3) 30.46 278 1H-Benzotriazole (4) 34.42 278 p-Nitrophenol (5) 39.89 228 2,6-Dichloraniline (6) 48.04 228 Figure (1) shows the HPLC-UV chromatogram (relative response in mV vs. tR) for a mixture of six compounds in one prepared stock solution. 5 6 Figure 1 2 4 1 3 In order to develop a method to analyze the target compounds; the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) should be calculated in order to know the sensitivity of HPLC-UV instrument towards each compound. The LOD value for each compound was calculated from a chromatogram on the basis of signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of 3. The LOQ value for each compound was calculated from a chromatogram on the basis of signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of 10. Table (2) shows the values of LOD and LOQ for each compound. Table 2 Substance LOD (ng/L) LOQ (ng/L) Catechol (1) 8.8 29.3 t,t-Muconic acid (2) 1.2 4.0 p-Benzoquinone (3) 6.3 21.0 1H-Benzotriazole (4) 8.5 28.3 p-Nitrophenol (5) 27.4 91.3 2,6-Dichloraniline (6) 18.0 60.0 For linearity and statistical evaluation, I prepared mixture solutions of six compounds at concentrations of 0.1, 0.25, 0.4, 0.55, 0.7, 0.85 and 1.0 mg/L. Table (3) shows the statistical data for the prepared stock solution of 0.7 mg/L. Table 3 Substance % Relative response Correlation coefficient (r) Catechol (1) 100 0.999 t,t-Muconic acid (2) 101 0.999 p-Benzoquinone (3) 106 0.999 1H-Benzotriazole (4) 100 0.999 p-Nitrophenol (5) 100 0.999 2,6-Dichloraniline (6) 104 0.999 The linearity at my working range is shown as follows: Now I am working in developing a preparation method to extract these compounds from water matrix by using different solid phase materials. Up to now, I tried two types of solid phase cartridges: OASIS HLB and SPEED DISK cartridges. It’s noticed that OASIS HLB gave higher recovery than SPEED DISK. In order to find out the best solid phase material, I will try many types of SPE. After finishing this step, I will develop a method to extract and analyze about 30 chosen chemical compounds which are produced after the ozonation process of pharmaceutical and parent compounds in water matrix. These compounds will be: Diclofenac, 2,6-Dichloroaniline, Metoprolol, Sulfamethoxazole, 4-nitrophenol, Bisphenol A, Catechol, trans,trans-Muconic acid, cis,cis-Muconic acid, p-Benzoquinone, Ciprofloxacin, Paracetamol, 1,2,4-Benzenetriol, Oxalic acid, Succinic acid, Malic acid, Malonic acid, Oxaloacetic acid, Hydroquinone, Maleic acid, EDTA, Glyoxylic acid, Formaldehyde, Carbamazepine, Glyoxylic acid, Oxamic acid and 1H-Benzotriazole.