International Business Essay Example for Free

International Business Essay Q.2 a) Evaluate the different ways in which Bata has interacted with foreign political systems in its investments and operations abroad. ANS Multinational enterprises (MNEs) like Bata must operate in countries with different political and legal conditions, so the political impact on the foreign investments is very important. This paper explains this issue based on the Bata case in three parts. The first part evaluates the different ways in which Bata has interacted with foreign political systems in its investments and operations aboard. In the second part, the advantages and disadvantages, which MNEs bring to their company and the host-country when doing foreign direct investment, are analyzed relating to the Bata case. And the last part gives a detailed analysis of the complex political impact on international business with reference to the political environment in general; also supply the way of formulating effective political strategy. * Batas effective organizational structure and managing style With activities in 60 countries, Canada-based Bata Shoe Organization has much operational experience both in developed countries and developing countries and can deal with different political systems. It has an effective organization structure, which consists of  · Bata Limited located in Toronto, Canada, acts as headquarters of the operating companies. Regional offices exist in Toronto, Mexico City, Singapore, Paris, Calcutta and Harare.  · The International structure: a decentralized organization, where operating companies are independent businesses, supported by a global management team.  · Private Ownership: Bata shoe organization companies have also entered into a number of joint ventures, retail franchising and brand licensing agreements [1]. By and large Batas operations are independent units established in each country where the firm does business. As such, Bata is able to decentralize control of its politica l strategygiving subsidiaries significant autonomy in managing relations with their respective government. b) Should Pizza Hut put more of its efforts in expanding in Brazil or somewhere in South East Asia? Why? ANS – Pizza Hut, one of the most popular food chains, opened their 10000Th shops in the Brazilian market in 1994. Pizza Hut’s parent company is PepsiCo. PepsiCo was trying to penetrate in Brazilian market in various ways. However, the path was not as easy as assumed. Pizza Hut faced decline in the Brazilian market. Experts said that there were two probable reasons for this. One is Pizza Hut’s less successful introduction of new products and the second is the low price strategy of the competitors. However, Pizza Hut had a high hope to make Brazils their second or third major market because Brazil had many location specific advantages like urbanization, size, population, Gross National Product etc. Brazil endured erratic political situations since 1964. After a long military dictatorship, a stable political reformation was done by the year 1997.Economically; Brazil has a mixed history as well. It has a very good economic potential. It has access to several natural resources and well knit infrastructures. However, inflation affected the economy very badly. Pizza Hut entered in Brazil in 1988, during the period of high inflation. It followed the practice of corporate franchise. Later, Pizza Hut bought some of the franchises. But still different problems arose like- difference in cultures, cost of maintaining large pool of employees and of course inflation. Gradually, the inflation rate of Brazil normalized. People made more informed decisions and Pizza Hut began to flourish. However, in 1995, sales of Pizza Hut dropped. As a mean of counterattack, Pizza Hut took two different strategies. One was to cut the price by 25% and another was to announce various sales related decisions by mingling with local cultures like Samba dance. But both of the plans failed miserably. In these ways, Pizza Hut struggled to succeed in the Brazilian market. Q.3 a) what factors threaten India’s future competitive positions in cashew nut productions? ANS – Since the opening of China’s doors to world trade in the late 90’s, it has become an emerging super power. Hence, China may be a threat to India’s current competitive position in the cashew nut production because it is also capable to support cashew processing with its abundance of human resources, low-wage rates, and possible training in the manual dexterity required in the premium cashew nut production. China is currently engaging in new markets and providing cheap manual labor to other manufacturing. With this, China can see that the increasing profitable cashew nut industry and decide to enter it because it has the capability to do so. Moreover, the current formulation of the European Union (EU) provides that its members eliminate trade barriers for imports and exports between each other may be a possible threat to India’s United Kingdom market. Since the UK can virtually import anything from its neighboring countries without any cost, it might affect the demand of cashew nuts –the Europeans may divert their attention from cashew nuts to other products popular in its neighboring countries. India’s competitiveness could also be threatened by the increased Research and Development improvement that countries worldwide are engaging in nowadays. Brazilians (India’s most prominent competitor in the cashew nut industry) may possibly find machinery that can be substituted for the needed hand dexterity for the flavor that India’s cashew nut has. b) Should the United States seek to tighten the economic grip on cube? If so, how should it be done? ANS – U.S. should not seek to tighten economic grip on Cuba as it is already a weak economy as compared to U.S. due to the political environment of the country for the past few decades. For U.S. industries and companies Cuba is a very potential market. Also the workforce is efficient, so there is a possibility of efficient labor at lower cost for U.S. industries. Also, other countries of the world started favoring Cuba and also doubted the rationale of U.S. on imposing the embargo. 1. Attitude: An attitude may be defined as a learned disposition to behave in a consistently favourable or unfavourable way with respect to a given object (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000). Stated differently, it positions people into a frame of mind of liking or disliking things, of moving toward or away from them‘ (Kolter and Armstrong, 2008: p144). It is acknowledged that people have attitudes toward almost everything religion, politics, clothes, music, food (Kotler, 2003). For instance The demand for life insurance in a country may be affected by the unique culture of the country to the extent that it affects the population‘s risk aversion (Douglas and Wildavski, 1982). Henderson and Milhouse (1987) argue that an individual‘s religion can provide an insight into the individual‘s behaviour; and understanding religion is an important component of understanding a nation‘s unique culture. Also, Zelizer (1979) notes that religion historically has provided a strong source of cultural opposition to life insurance as many religious people believe that a reliance on life insurance results from a distrust of God‘s protecting care. But historically, some form of social insurance existed in Nigerian and Africa society long before the introduction of the modern insurance in Nigeria (Osoka, 1992). These social schemes evolved through the existence of extended family system and social associations such as age grades, and other unions. The simplest form of the â€â€"social insurance‘ was practiced by means of providing cash donations, materials or sometimes organized collective labour to assist members of extended family and members of social or communal associations who suffer a mishap. 2. Lack of Knowledge of Insurance Culture: In a recent study of quality of life in developing countries with reference to South Africa (Moller, 2004), income and social security (own wages, ability to provide for family, insurance against illness/death and income in old age) have been treated as one of the major indicators of quality of life. This standpoint stresses the significance of insurance to human life. Ironically, insurance services seem not to have been so accepted enthusiastically in developing countries. The abysmal level of insurance culture in developing economies has attracted relative interests among researchers and practitioners alike. Risk has been identified as a central fact of life in the rural areas of less-developed countries (Udry, 1994). Some of the problems associated with this have been marketing. For example, Omar (2005) assesses consumers‘attitudes towards life insurance patronage in Nigeria and found out that there is lack of trust and confidence i n the insurance companies. Other major reason for this attitude is lack of knowledge about life insurance product. 3. Low Level of Education: Educational status of Nigerians has significant influence on their attitude towards insurance. Educated people have more positive attitude to insurance than less educated ones. In a recent insurance conducted in Lagos, Nigeria. The choice of Lagos is due to its nature as a metropolitan city where most Nigerian ethnic groups are largely represented. Fact shows that respondents with higher education outperformed others even though no statistical significant difference was observed with vocational education. 4. Unemployment Issue: Employees working status has a significance effect on Nigerians attitude towards insurance. Retired and Employed Nigerians with means attitude scores of 28.50 and 28.14 respectively outperformed their competitors. No significant difference was observed between retired, employed and Self-employed respondents. On the other hand, self-employed people have significantly higher attitude towards insurance than unemployed, student and part time workers. This result is quite similar to findings in most developed world. In Conclusion, The findings of this study suggest some major implications for marketing of insurances services in Nigerian businesses environment which is a big market. Given that attitude is strongly linked to behaviour, marketers of insurance services targeting Nigerians are confronted with the challenge of encouraging people to embrace insurance institution and its associated benefits. Based on the findings, this article confirms negative attitudes of Nigerians to insurance services further. But apart from this broad finding in respect of the negative attitudes to this line of business, this study suggests some specific findings based on different demographical factors of the respondents. The findings serve as inputs to marketers of insurance services on how they formulate and implement relevant marketing strategies towards addressing the nonchalant attitude of Nigerians to insurance. For instance, specific marketing strategies are required to encourage the young generation below 46 years of age, the divorced/separated, and the less-educated to embrace and appreciate the role of insurance. Since, the basic issue associated with this lack of interest rests mainly in their lack of appreciation of the roles of benefits of insurance services; it is recommended that significant marketing communication activities with instant compensation to both marketers be targeted more at this set of people highlighted. This will help to kindle their interest in the business and brings the insurance institution to the highly exalted position it belongs in their perception.

Genetic Testing - Are the Benefits Worth the Risks? Essay -- Explorato

Genetic Testing - Are the Benefits Worth the Risks? In 2001 The Human Genome Project was completed giving us the make up of the entire human genome. Science can now tell what color your eyes are, what gender you are, and what diseases you have just by extracting one strand of DNA. The question I propose to you now is; do you really want to know? Is it a good thing to know that you will get a disease that will eat away your mind, and cripple you till you wither away at the early age of 43 (Huntington Disease)? Genetic testing is the new wave of the future. Geneticists can now tell possible carriers of the gene for Huntington’s disease their true fate, not just give them odds. Now that we can tell people what genes they will or do have, do we allow people to selectively decide when and whatever they want to know? Do we test the unborn, and if so, then can the parents abort if they are unhappy with the results? How far do we let things go? Is genetic testing really a good ethical procedure? But what if it could also prevent and he lp cure disease? There are many issues involved with genetic testing. I will discuss the reasons the medical professions are for and against genetic testing also the concerns bioethicists have in that testing could be used for inappropriate reasons. Interest in genetics has grown universally, and with good reason. For me it is very personal. As a biomedical engineering major at State University, I could one day be behind genetic developments and I will want to know the ethical concerns with it. As for other students, it is just as important they keep up to date with what is going on because they could very well be faced with the decision of whether or not to take a genetic test. It coul... ...cal Journal 325.7368 (2002): 784-784. Chapman, Audrey R... "Genetic Engineering and Theology: Exploring the Interconnections." Theology Today 59.1 (2002): 71-86. 2/24/04. http://rapid.library.../>. Greengard, Samuel. "Genetic Testing." Workforce 76.7 (1997): 38-44. 3/22/03. http://0-web4.epnet.com.catalog.library.colostate.edu/>. Hensrud, Donald D. "Genetic Effects." Fortune 145.11 (2002): 194-194. 2/21/03. http://0-search.epnet.com.catalog.library.colostate.edu/>. Johnson, Dan. "Ethics in the Genetic Age." Futurist 34.6 (2000): 13-14. Parker, Michael, Anneke Lucassen. "Working towards ethical management of genetic testing.." Lancet 360.9346 (2002): 1685-1685. Vastag, Brian. "Experts Wrestle with Social, Ethical Implications of Human Genome Research." JAMA 285.6 (2001): 721-722. 3/15/2003. http://0-jama.ama-assn.org.catalob.library.colostate.edu/>.

An Indian Farmer Essay

* Introduction- India is an agriculture country. It is a land of farmers. They live in village and die in village. They lead a very simple life. Their houses are made of mud and straw. They are very small and simple. The farmers are the true sons of the motherland. Gandhiji said India lives in village. * His Dress- the farmers do not wear fashionable dresses. They wear simple clothes. Generally they wear dhoti, kurta and a cap. The women wear cheap and simple dhotis. * His food- The food of the farmers is also very simple and cheap. They eat rice, pulses, green vegetables and chapaties. Very poor farmers get only dry bread and mirch-masala. A few rich farmers take sufficient milk curd and butter. * His work- The work of a farmer is very hard. They have to work in their fields in all the seasons of the year. In rain or sunshine they must work. They work from morning till late in the evening. They plough fields, sow seeds and raise crops. Their woek is really very hard but very useful. Our farmers provides us food, vegetable and oilseeds. * Fairs and festivals- farmers take part in fairs and festivals with full enthusiasm. They wear colorful dresses, take rounds in merry-go-round, and buy some fancy goods and toys. * Bad habbits- some farmers have bad habits also. They drink wine. They are superstitious. They have bad customs. They are illiterate as well. We must try to remove their bad habits. * Politics- previously there was no politics in village. The life of villagers was simple. They loved and co-operated with each other. The elders of the village were the punches who settled their disputes. But now the politics of the cities has reached the villages too. It has spoiled the atmosphere of the villages. The elections of the punchayats are contested with much bitterness and quarrels. This situations needs reformation because villages are the roots of nation. If they are poisoned the whole of our nation will be destroyed.

Seinfelds Impact on American Culture Essay - 2273 Words

Seinfelds Impact on American Culture Jerry Seinfelds television sitcom, Seinfeld, which went off the air in 1999, is still one of the most culturally pertinent shows today. The show dealt with little nuances of American society. A puffy shirt, for example, could be the main subject for an entire show. This show, which was derived from Jerry Seinfelds observational humor, was voted as the Greatest Show of All Time by TV Guide in 2002. According to the shows official website, the ratings for the syndicated version of Seinfeld are ahead of many of the current primetime comedies (Seinfeld 2/5). Seinfeld was always present in my home during its nine-year run on Thursday nights as Must See TV, and the social†¦show more content†¦Of his obsessive nature his mother said: He never wanted just a piece of chocolate cake, it was the whole cake. And he always waited until he got what he wanted (Jerry Seinfeld 1/7). Soon Seinfelds easy-to-relate to humor gave way to regular appearances on The Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman. Other more gimmicky comedians failed the test of time, but Seinfelds steadfast style made his popularity bloom. Despite national exposure, Seinfeld still stayed close to his roots, continuing to play at small venues as well as on television. With jokes like: They say Tide cleans bloodstains. I say if youve got a T-shirt with bloodstains, then maybe laundry isnt your biggest problem (Jerry Seinfeld 3/7) its not hard to see why Seinfeld caught on. In 1990, Seinfeld, a sitcom based on Seinfelds humor, debuted as a summer replacement show. Seinfeld allowed characters on the show to embody some of the idiosyncrasies his stand-up comedy had observed. Seinfeld played himself on the show, and the other characters on the sitcom were based on friends and acquaintances in Seinfelds real life. The show was set in a recognizable Manhattan with specific storefronts and locales in the cut scenes and dialogue. The plot of an episode of Seinfeld usually centered on the daily menial tasks of the characters and the little quirks that they observed along the way. Seinfeld, widely