Are you doing Hard work or Smart work?

Dr. S. B. Kishor and Swapnil M. BhagatThese days, working smart is a talk of town. If you only work hard, you may not land where you want to be always. If you want to achieve success, you need to work ‘Smart'. So, isn't it important to work hard?A story of two woodcutters arguing which of them will cut more woods during a day is pertinent to explain the above point. First they worked at one speed. But in an hour one of them has heard, that the other one stopped cutting trees. They were working almost synchronously, when the first woodcutter heard that his opponent has stopped again. The first woodcutter continued working, feeling the smell of victory. This lasted all day long. Each hour one of the woodcutters stopped for ten minutes and the other one continued to work. When time expired, the first woodcutter, who worked without any stopping, was absolutely sure that he won the prize. He was very surprised to know that was mistaken. How did that happen? He asked his partner. Each hour I heard that you have stopped the work for ten minutes. How could you cut more trees than I? It's impossible! It is very simple, in fact, answered the second woodcutter. Each hour I stopped the work for ten minutes. And when you were cutting the trees, I sharpened the axe.The gist of above story is simple, smart workers always take small pauses but they use these pauses to sharpen their axes. Working hard and working smart are two different things. Smart work teaches you to be more productive with your time. If you are happy with your current level of success, then smart work will surely allow you the luxury of not having to work as hard as you otherwise would. But if you want to reach the pinnacle of success in your chosen field, then smart work alone won't really help. Many people think that hard work goes largely unnoticed. They believe that unless you are ‘smart' about letting others know that you are working hard, you remain a drudge. They call hard work a kind of drudgery. They are more interested in letting the ‘boss' know that they are working hard.Hard Work is when one does some work dedicatedly. Smart work is when someone does the same amount of work, but faster and more efficiently. You must give it your all from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep. While this is true, it can also be said that someone might be able to do the same amount of work in less amount of time, by working smarter and more efficiently i.e. the most important trait of the smart worker is his ability to do work differently. And working differently means working smart. Rightly said by Shiv Khera:†Winners don't do the different things but they do the things differently.†Smart workers believe in Specific, measurable, attainable, result oriented and time bound work and therefore they are called smart as they believe in doing the things differently as compare to normal approach followed by most. In short, Smart workers use new techniques and tools in order to improve productivity. Many people work hard, but only a few become really successful. This clearly tells that smart work really makes the difference.Smart workers do believe more in creative work. They can manage and handle even the worst situations bravely and always follow never to give up attitude. Hard workers believe in doing their work without any complaints. Smart workers always look at the brighter side of life. Smart workers are experts in managing time. And as someone said rightly that a person, who can manage time, can manage everything very well. Smart workers do create the opportunities not only for themselves but also for the others. Smart workers are innovative and bold. They believe in accepting new challenges and accomplishing the tasks skilfully. Smart workers have control over themselves and so they can control the external world. If you fail to control yourself then you will be controlled by others. One has to be mentally strong enough to control oneself to do this diligently. Hard workers get mentally strong by doing their work regularly and earnestly. Smart workers never wait for the right time to come rather they make the best use of everything at every time. To succeed in life, one has to always keep moving forward. How apt it is to quote Martin Luther King Jr's thought provoking words: â€Å"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.† Smart workers do follow this mantra of moving forward in spite of all the hurdles they face on their way. This positive attitude of moving forward makes smart workers in real sense smart. If you really want to succeed in life then do not forget that there is no short cut to success. No doubt you will have to be work harder but smart worker is the one who will be able to achieve more within the limited time and resources at his disposal. Few tips to become a smart worker:Have a Definite Goal and Narrow Down on Your Focus until achieved.Have Frequent Appointment within YourselfBuild only on your strength and Work around Your Weaknesses.Go on vacations and Practice giving yourself RewardsDo not procrastinate your responsibilities as every new responsibility gives an insight to do the things in a rejuvenated manner. Start observing the things how people are doing each work and think the way you can have done the same work in a better manner. Create a Good Working Space around You.ConclusionRemember, we can't do smart work without doing hard work at same time. Of course, you have to be ‘Smart' about working hard especially in Corporate life and in all strategic decision making processes, but at the same time one should not also forget the importance of hard work in our life. Just being smart or working smart is only half of the real story. Smart work is about making the right strategy, about following a disciplined work culture. Hard work translates your vision and ideas into results. The fact remains that hard work and smart work must go hand in hand to be successful.Dr. S. B. Kishor ; Swpanil M. BhagatSardar Patel Mahavidyalaya, [email  protected]@gmail.com

Corporate Espionage

Because products tend to become obsolete much faster today than they did thirty or forty years ago, research and development are among the most important activities in modern business. However, it is an expensive activity. Some companies try to save money by paying people to conduct corporate espionage, that is, to spy on competitors' research and development operations. Is such espionage ever morally justifiable?The temptation to spy on competitors' is completely Justifiable, but the fact that its alled espionage, a word that connotes amorality any way you read it, shows that acts of corporate espionage are not Justifiable or moral. It's also illegal. There's a fine line between competitive intelligence and corporate espionage. Competitive intelligence is an ethical and legal business practice, it's the action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and mana gers in making strategic decisions for an organization.This equires that risks and opportunities be identified in a market before they become obvious and also requires extensive competitor analysis. These analyses are taken from market statistics, financial reports, newspaper clippings, and other information released from the company. Corporate espionage on the other hand, includes that acquisition of intellectual property such as information on industrial manufacturing ideas, techniques and processes, recipes, or formulas.It often includes activities such as theft of trade secrets, bribery, blackmail, and unwarranted technological urveillance. The morality of this issue can be broken down into a simple example using the children's show Spongebob. Spongebob Squarepants works at the Krusty Krab, home of the Krabby Patty, the most popular burger in all of Bikini Bottom. The Krabby Patty recipe is secret and its secret is what makes it so popular.The Krusty Krab's rival, The Chum Bucke t is a significantly less successful undersea fast food restaurant (mainly because they serve chum). The owner of The Chum Bucket, Plankton wants his restaurant to be as successful as The Krusty Krab and there are multiple episodes hroughout the Spongebob series that involve Plankton trying to steal, finagle, coerce, or even brainwash Krusty Krab employees into revealing the secret ingredient in Krabby Patties.Plankton is recognized as one of the main antagonists in the show for this reason, for his attempted acts of corporate espionage. Even children understand what's he's doing is wrong. As silly as this example is, it's the simplest way to think about the morality of corporate espionage, and any way you try to spin it, what Plankton is doing is wrong. Corporate espionage is amoral. Corporate Espionage By rflzese

The Coach and Horses Guest House Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Coach and Horses Guest House - Case Study Example The long-term objective of The Coach and Horses Guest House (Coach and Horses), is to become the finest preference on Paradise Bay, Sydney, for temporary lodging, through the creation of a differentiated experience that capitalizes on personal service, the historical British nature of the Coach House's construction, and its unique location in one of Australia's most cosmopolitan cities. We plan to create something more than just a guesthouse. We are determined to establish an environment that is dedicated to pampered luxury, and which vastly surpasses the standard fare for Paradise Bay. The Coach and Horses Guest House is an established guesthouse, which has been operating throughout the past five years as The Ploughman's Bed and Breakfast. After its possession, and after a short period of establishment, the Coach and Horses will diverse into a variety of other business ventures that will guarantee a steady flow of patrons, both locals and tourists, through its doors. Originally built in the 1860s, and believed to have been one of the first coach stations to carry the Royal Mail, the Coach and Horses has a deep historical history that is clearly evident within the construction of the building and the magnificent gardens that surround it. The structure has benefited from a major restoration program, which has effectively re-established the building's original composition, thus creating the potential of six large rental units, and four smaller units, with owner-occupancy in a separate unused building. The creation of a "home away from home," which is often far more palatial and beautiful than a

Outsourcing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Outsourcing - Essay Example In addition, rapid changes in technological advancements force the healthcare organizations pace with the latest changes. Outsourcing is a better way to minimize risk factors in terms of technology evaluation and result accuracy. Many healthcare professionals believe that the outsourcing approach in the healthcare sector would deliver quality services to beneficiaries and thereby improve patient safety. This paper will discuss several aspects of the outsourcing practice in healthcare industry and suggest best practices that can make outsourcing effort successful. Prevalence and Trends The practice of outsourcing is extremely prevalent in the healthcare industry and admittedly, this trend is growing dramatically. US healthcare system is the most expensive in the world. As Pear (2004) reports, the US’ healthcare spending accounts for nearly 15% of its GDP whereas most other developed nations spend only 7-10% of their GDP in healthcare. The increased healthcare expenditure forces the country to adopt low cost and efficient options like outsourcing in order to cut down its spending. An aging population in the US not only increases the demand for healthcare but also leads to a paucity of available experts. In addition, the medical transcription (MT) industry has undergone tremendous changes over the past few years. As a result, the scope of MT jobs has increased and MT professional are expected to undertake additional tasks such as editing, checking, and supervision in the near future. Therefore, the US healthcare organizations increasingly and extensively follow the outsourcing approach so as to reduce healthcare expenses and to deliver better services to clients. Today, it is widely seen that healthcare firms outsource their administrative processes that require high degree of expertise and huge resources. By practicing this approach, healthcare organizations can focus more on service quality and patient safety. The services such as billing, coding, staffin g, and information technology are greatly outsourced by hospitals and other healthcare institutions. â€Å"Modern Healthcare’s annual Outsourcing Survey found that the top 20 outsourcing firms, based on the number of national healthcare clients, reported 13.1% growth between 2010 and 2011† (Expertise on call, n. d.). Staff shortage is growing to be an immense challenge in the modern healthcare environment because of a number of socio-economic factors. As staff recruitment is an expensive and time consuming task, today many of the healthcare organizations outsource this task to external agencies (American Healthcare Outsourcing, n. d.). Since this approach would assist the health organizations to enhance staff retention, more and more firms tend to outsource staff recruiting and training activities to outside agencies. Health care technologies and practices are advancing everyday and firms perceive outsourcing as a better way to take advantages of the potential innovati ons and to reduce unproductive work time. It is found that the outsourcing practice is more common in large sized health organizations because those firms need to manage troublesome administrative and operational activities. Successes and Failures While evaluating the experience of healthcare organizations that have tried outsourcing, it seems that majority of those firms could attain competitive advantages while some others failed to achieve the desired benefits. Generally, the

Legal Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions in Business Research Paper

Legal Aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions in Business - Research Paper Example If ABC wants to acquire Smith Bicycle Company, a private seller, it is vital to consider the two ways of acquiring the company. The first way of acquiring the business is by buying shares in the company that owns the business (Gole & Morris, 115). The second way of acquiring the company is through purchasing the assets of the company, which comprises the business. It is imperative to state that in this situation, the company is the seller, and it will thereby sell some or the entire assets to the buyer. It is worth denoting that share sales structure the majority of the acquisitions. A variety of factors may affect the structure used. Occasionally, it is vital to restructure the business or company before its sale in order to allow for proper acquisition. In the case of Smith Company, it is imperative to state that tax implications tremendously determine the structure of a transaction for both the buyer and sellers. Their interests may conflict particularly when achieving the vast be neficial tax outcome. Moreover, where sellers are individuals, there is a likelihood that the sellers will favor a share sale in order to circumvent a latent double tax charge (Gole & Morris, 116). This tax charge comprises of an initial tax charge on the company during the sale of assets to the buyer, and an additional tax charge on the shareholders of the company, when they pull out the sale profits from the company. Since tax immensely proves as a critical determining factor towards the structure of a deal, it is vital for the buyer and seller to obtain specialist tax advice. Based on the share sale, the buyer acquires the company together with all its â€Å"assets, liabilities, and obligations† (Gole & Morris, 118). This offers the sellers a suitable break, as, after the sale of the company, they will cease to have direct conscientiousness for the company. The buyer will thus owe any prevailing liability under the terms of warranties and indemnities agreed upon in the sal e and purchase agreement. Based on business sale, there is only an acquisition of assets and liabilities purchased by the buyer, implying that everything else remains with the company (Gole & Morris, 118). If the buyer suspects of unknown liabilities within the company or troubled by any business aspect, the buyer prefers to structure the deal as a business sale. It is worth denoting that there exist more realistic and marketable issues to assert on a business sale other than on share sale. Based on the share sale, there is an only a transfer of ownership of the company shares. It is imperative to state that while there is a change on the shareholders of the company, the assets that are inclusive of business contracts and licenses remain with the company. From the outside, there is minimal change as customers and suppliers will continue dealing with the company. However, certain contracts such as financing contracts in conjunction with other long-term agreements at times require the consent of the other party after planning of change of company’s ownership (Gole & Morris, 120). It is critical to identify such contracts earlier in the acquisition process.

Term paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Term Paper Example Next, the paper briefly discusses Rome’s founding and the Emperor Octavian’s accomplishments. The Romans were threatened by the Celts led by Charlemagne the great, whose reign coincided with the Carolingian renaissance. From the Celts, we jump to the Americans who have gone through the declaration of independence, a civil war, end of slavery, women suffrage, and the civil rights movement. Finally, there is a comparison of three major religions in Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Mesopotamia is considered to be the birthplace of many things because it is the civilization’s birthplace. It was in Mesopotamia that the first cities were built. The first utilization of writing was also in Mesopotamia, as well as the first use of state control with state-funded projects, such as infrastructure and irrigation systems. It was also the first civilization to divide the state into provinces helmed by governors, as well as the first civilization to introduce laws and government (Braudel, 2009). Sargon was a conqueror and the emperor who came to power in Kish around 2270 BC, reigning for fifty-five years. During his reign, he fought a series of major battles that saw him conquer surrounding city-states. Eventually, he ruled over all of Mesopotamia in the region of the Fertile Crescent. Sargon is considered to be the stylistic and political forbear of the Babylonian and Assyrian kings that ruled over the succeeding 2000 years. Both characters in the epic of Gilgamesh and the Christian mythos were depicted as semi-divine and had reputable wisdom. Both characters are also endowed with superhuman power, with both stories leading to dramatic conclusions where the heroes have their hopes dashed. The Akkad was the city that the Akkadian empire centered on, including the surrounding Mesopotamian region. It was important because it was the first city to be fed by

ICT E-commerce business analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

ICT E-commerce business analysis - Essay Example Swift flow of information allows organizations to excel in their respective businesses and gain a competitive edge over the competitors. In today’s age, there are seldom any organizations that can avoid the use of technology in their business. It has become an integral part of every activity and the point of differentiation is now determined by the efficiency of the system involved. The more efficient the system, the better the operations and this reflects in the overall success of the business and its standing in the market. An appropriate and successful e-business plan can not only assist and compliment the business but also create growth opportunities in the long run. The availability of reliable and low-cost communications through the use of technology is providing new challenges and opportunities to every industry, especially the airline industry (Jiang, 2014). Relevance of technology to a business determines the effectiveness of its existence on the web. Airline industries over the world have accepted technology as an integral and unavoidable aspect of their business. Travelers require convenience and service along with information and timeliness. Use of the internet to obtain travel packages, flight information, itineraries, ticket booking and boarding details have revolutionized travelling and the airline industry greatly. Whether it’s advertising, being more mobile friendly, having an efficient response system at hand or merely being ranked above all as a result of search engine, the competitive e-business environment has had its due effect on the airlines industry too. With the shift in power from the companies to the customers, now they are at the liberty to research several options and opt for the one they find feasible for themselves (Lankes, 2008, pp. 667--686). For air travel, several website offers services like comparing rates and getting the best deal. In these circumstances, an airline company has to focus on

The Image Of Woman's Life In Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Image Of Woman's Life In Literature - Essay Example Suppression of the private ambitions of womenfolk has been unavoidable, for the so-called larger interests of the family and the society. Menfolk utilized the institution of marriage to their advantage. In the stories â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†, by Ernest Hemingway elaborate articulation has been made by the authors as to how the women, whether traditional or modern, have always been at the receiving end and menfolk are not willing to give her space and do not realize the damage they cause to her psyche due to over-protectiveness or outright suppression of her rights and individuality. She has no life of her own and it is linked to the interests of others. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is concerned with the age-old traditions of unequal status of women in the society that has a direct bearing on the institution of marriage. Women are forced into solitude as per the prevai ling conventions of the society. The suffering of women is the theme of the story and as such how the institution of marriage can command respect? The traditional woman has always been at the receiving end and at every stage of her life, the domineering influence of her father first and later that of her husband impacts her life. The narrator suffers from the inferiority complex as her psyche is controlled by her overbearing husband due to which she almost loses her independent thinking power. All avenues for the growth of her personality are barred from her physician husband who firmly believes that he has the panacea for all her ills. She is diagnosed as ill, even though she is not! Illness is forced upon her to subdue her independent spirit. She lives the life of enforced solitude and that is not the fault of any individual, but the societal conventions demand the same. Husband has his own procedures to deal with his wife. The narrator articulates, â€Å"It is so hard to talk wi th John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so.† (81)After marriage, her over-protective husband is not willing to allow the sapling of her individuality to grow. She bemoans, â€Å"John is a physician, and perhaps—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind--) perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster.† (74) Her God-gifted creativity is not given an opportunity to grow. She laments, â€Å"It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work.† (77) She turns cynical. The two important metaphors in the story relate to the feminist interpretation. The yellow wallpaper itself is a metaphor that articulates the subjugation of women by the male fraternity. The irregular pattern of the paper indicates the inconsistency in the life of a woman, and how she is unable to find the proper balance in her life due to circumstances forced upon her by the male-dominated society. The second important metaphor also relates to the wallpaper, but from a different angle. The women remain trapped in the wallpaper. The narrator wonders whether she alone is trapped thus, but immediately reverts to the universal generalization of women and reflects that there are others suffering like her. In â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants,† Ernest Hemingway creates character development through actions and dialogues instead of descriptions and allegories.

Internal combustion engine Essay Example for Free

Internal combustion engine Essay An electric car is a vehicle which is driven by electric engines. The engines use electrical energy which is usually stored in batteries. Electric car is a variation of electric vehicle (EV). EV speaks of any vehicles which are propelled by electric engines. â€Å"Electric car† is a general term for high-speed vehicles which are powered by electricity. In the United States, low-speed vehicles which are powered by electricity are known as neighbourhood electric vehicles (NEVs), and as electric motorised quadricycles in Europe. Electric cars which are powered by different energy sources are also referred to by different names: if they are powered by sunlight, they are called solar cars. If they are powered by gasoline generators, they are called hybrid cars. The term â€Å"electric car† is usually referring to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which are powered by on-board battery packs. Advantages of Electric Cars The first thing which comes to people’s mind when we talk about the advantages of electric cars is usually on pollution. Electric cars do not cause pollution related to internal combustion engines. The electricity used to recharge electric cars obviously has to come from somewhere, and most of the electricity is produced by burning fossil fuels. Yes, this causes pollution for sure, but there are also other methods to produce electricity. Hydropower and nuclear plants have helped in cutting the carbon emissions. Despite all the electricity production, the carbon emissions produced by electric cars is said to be half of what gas-powered cars produce. Another major advantage is you do not need gas anymore. In a year, an average American spends around $2,000 to $4,000 on gas only. Although electricity is not free, the fact that you do not have to pay so much for gas is relieving. The third advantage which needs to be stressed on is the batteries. Though you cannot drive many hundred miles with an electric car, you can still travel a rather long distance. An electric car can travel up to 100 miles on full battery. The distance it can provide is perfect for you to travel from your home to your workplace, and vice versa. Also the batteries recycle well. Almost 100 per cent of the batteries can be recycled; this helps preventing it from causing disposal problems. Electric cars are more efficient compared to gas-powered cars, in terms of energy and maintenance. Electric engines use 75 per cent of the energy from the batteries to run the wheels, while internal combustion engines only use about 20 per cent of the energy from fuel. Electrical engines also require less maintenance compared to internal combustion engines. You no longer need oil to lubricate the engine. The brakes would not wear off as quickly as gas-powered cars. You do not need belts in the engines, which will wear out due to overuse, in electric cars. Disadvantages of Electric Cars The major disadvantage of an electric car is the batteries. Electric car batteries are not cheap. They can cost around $5,000, and the better the batteries, the more expensive they are. Not only are they expensive, but you will also need to change them more than once, as the batteries have a limited lifetime. The time required for recharging the batteries is also very lengthy. To fully charge the batteries, you need 4 to 8 hours. This is a very serious disadvantage, as most people need to have their cars ready 24/7. With gas-powered cars, you just need a few minutes to fully refill the tank. Still on the batteries, another disadvantageous factor is their size and weight. Batteries used for electric cars need to be linked together into arrays, which form battery packs. Battery packs are bulky and heavy. They take up a significant amount of the vehicle space. Given the heavy weight, they battery packs can reduce the distance of how far the car can travel. Another disadvantage is the silence of electric cars. Yes, it can be soothing for some people, but it can also be dangerous for others. People usually listen to the sound of the revving engines when cars are coming up behind or beside them. When it is silent, they might not notice the cars and they can end up in an accident. Bibliography Bhat, N. (n. d. ). The Future: Our Planet in 2050 | Electric Cars. Retrieved November 05, 2013, from ThinkQuest: http://library. thinkquest. org/C008050/ecars4. html CarsDirect. (2012, January 27). Advantages and Disadvantages of Electric Cars. Retrieved November 05, 2013, from CarsDirect: http://www. carsdirect. com/green-cars/electric-cars-advantages-and-disadvantages Demuro, D. (n. d.). Electric Cars: Benefits and Disadvantages. Retrieved November 05, 2013, from AutoTrader: http://www. autotrader. com/research/article/car-tips/208155/electric-cars-benefits-and-disadvantages. jsp Enterprise Industry magazine. (2012, July 13). Automotive Industry. Retrieved November 05, 2013, from European Commissions Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry: http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/sectors/automotive/index_en. htm Fix, L. (n. d. ). Advantages and Disadvantages of Electric Cars. Retrieved November 05, 2013, from Lauren Fix, The Car Coach, Automotive Expert: http://www.laurenfix. com/Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-Electric-Cars Khan, A. (2012, November 25). Advantages and Disadvantages of an Electric Car! Retrieved November 06, 2013, from Tune Article: http://www. tunearticle. com/article-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-an-electric-car-. html Lampton, C. (2008, August 18). How Electric Car Batteries Work. Retrieved November 05, 2013, from HowStuffWorks: http://auto. howstuffworks. com/fuel-efficiency/vehicles/electric-car-battery. htm National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT. (1998, June 17). Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Retrieved November 05, 2013, from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): http://www. nhtsa. gov/cars/rules/rulings/lsv/lsv. html#lsv48 Pedrovsky. (2012, February 24). The Advantages and Disadvantages of Electric Vehicles. Retrieved November 06, 2013, from HubPages: http://pedrovsky. hubpages. com/hub/The-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-electric-vehicles Zak, B. (2011, April 04). Advantages and Disadvantages of Electric Cars. Retrieved November 06, 2013, from Goal for the Green: http://www. goalforthegreen. com/2011/04/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-electr.

New Product Questionnaire Essay Example for Free

New Product Questionnaire Essay As a woman you are created with a special gift, it’s like little extra ingredients that all women have within them. The poem â€Å"Phenomenal Woman† by Maya Angelou, she speaks about the elegance of a woman, her inner being the way she glow without saying a word Maya expressed how men are amazed by her presence â€Å"men themselves have wondered what they see in me† (line 31-32). It’s hard to put your finger on it all women were born with the power. In the poem â€Å"Still I rise† by Maya Angelou she described the struggles of life trials and tribulations you face in society and the way people may judge you. As if she was writing about a woman â€Å"does my sassiness upset you? †She also wrote in another stanza â€Å"does my sexiness upset you? †She used this comparison to show she is a sexy woman who demands respect. Maya’s attitude in this poem is portraying a confident black African American woman. She is really laughing at men challenging them. They cannot stop her from rising above all expectation. This poem gives you not only inspiration encouragement to be fearless; to the end of it all you must believe you still rise above it all. The title gives a sense of entity and power. This masterpiece the poem â€Å"phenomenal woman† has also empowered women to get more in touch with their inner beauty. Maya describes in great detail the mystery of women and the behavior of men and their reaction. It shows women to not only love your-self but to embrace every aspect of your mind, body and soul. Maya show that sexuality isn’t only related to outer beauty, or by the way you dress it more about how you feel within your own skin . she shows you instead of hating your body love it from the crown of your head to the sole of your feet. In society today women enhances their body by doing plastic surgery to feel accepted. She feels inferior clearly stating that every part of a woman is beauty. In comparisons to â€Å"Phenomenal Woman† and â€Å"Still I Rise† both poems Maya speaks about not bowing to the â€Å"oppressor†. You can feel her compassion in every word in Phenomenal Woman â€Å"now you understand why my head’s not bowed† (lines 47). Still I Rise forth stanza â€Å"with head bowed and eyes lowered? †Within these lines she stresses that she will not conform to what society made her out to be, that she will soar above and beyond everyone expectations. The little gives a sense of entity and power. In conclusion these two poems have few similarities; Maya characterized the strength of an African American woman. By using powerful words she described the emotional aspect of inner beauty, standing proud professing no one will ever bring her down not by the color of her skin nor the fact of being a woman that there’s more within.

Tescos strategy of expansion into China

Tescos strategy of expansion into China Present an insightful evaluation of the general strategy and one specific aspect of its international strategy. To do this you should analyse the financial strength of the business. You need to use recent data. You need to draw on an appropriate literature. Key issues for managers need to be clearly identified. You need to show how the specific strategy fits into the global plan. You need to set your report against the background of current global business challenges. You need to provide and evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the strategy. For example, Tescos strategy of expansion into China This report outlines the opportunities facing Tesco as a result of its international expansion strategy in Asia focussing on its current expansion in China. Layout Start with an executive summary. e.g. This management report sets out to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats associated with Tescos strategy of developing a strong presence in the retailing market in China. The specific strategy that is explored is that of developing four storey shopping malls. The move into China is part of a generic growth strategy by Tesco, particularly focussing on large emerging markets. The report shows that there are significant opportunities in a market that was worth  £600 billion in 2010. Challenges facing management involve making sure that all of the primary activities in the value chain are efficient and effective, and developing ongoing relationships in China to ensure a cultural fit between Tescos objectives, and strategies and those of stakeholders in China. Next introduce your organisation. 1.Tesco as an organisation Tescos scope Today Tesco is an international retailer of household goods, food, and clothing, as well as providing a delivery service and banking service in some markets. Tescos home market is the UK, but since 2005 the company has increasingly been developing its presence in new markets particularly continental Europe, the United States and Asia (including Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and China). Tescos competitive strength Tesco is currently the worlds third largest international retailer after Wal-Mart and Carrefour. However, a recent report (2008, Global Retailing: Preparing for Change, IGD) forecasted that by 2012 Tesco will be in second position with an estimated growth rate of 12% compared with Carrefours 7%. Tescos strength rests in providing value for money offers supported by strong partnerships, and an effective supply chain. 2.Tescos strategies Tescos generic strategy Tesco has five main elements to its strategy. It is the first of these elements that this assignment focuses on in particular. The five areas are: 1.To be an international retailer 2.To maintain a strong core UK business 3.To be as strong in non-food as in food 4.To develop retailing service 5.And to put the community at the heart of everything we do. The retailing market in the UK has become saturated. Tesco is the leading player in this market account for  £1 in every  £7 of grocery sales. However, the potential to increase growth in the UK is limited faced by increasing saturation of the market and intense competition. Tesco is therefore increasingly focussing on the development of new international markets. This includes the development of Fresh n Easy stores in the US, and a range of new hypermarket formats in Asia. 2.2 Tescos strategy for China Tesco has targeted China as a particularly important growth opportunity. Tesco entered the Chinese market in 2004 by forming a 50:50 partnership with Ting Hsin Internal Group (with existing retailing outlets). Shenkar and Luo (p.319) argue that partner selection is widely recognised as a vital factor in Global Strategy Alliance success. They believe that benefits will only accrue through the retention of a partner that can provide the complementary skills, competencies, or capabilities that will assist the firm in accomplishing its strategic objectives. Ting Hsins competencies included existing experience in the Chinese market, and strong links with local and regional government. Ting Hsin was able to provide Tesco with know how in relation to local operating conditions (include local laws, and customer patterns). By 2006 Tesco was able to increase its stake in the partnership to a 90:10 relationship. In 2008 Tesco rebranded its stores as Tesco Legou (Happy Shopping) to localise the branding of the product. Fateh, K (2008. p.355) identifies the value for multinationals of developing hybrid international strategies combining global integration with host country focus. Tescos rebranding and focus on meeting the needs of local customers in China makes it possible to support locally developed products with the vast marketing and financial resources of Tescos headquarters office. 3 Tesco in China 3.1 Features of the market in China Currently grocery sales in China are worth  £600 billion (2010). There are 221 cities in China that are predicted to have more than one million inhabitants by 2025 compared with 35 in Europe now. It is urban dwellers in large cities that provide the target market for Tesco in China. In urban areas in China shopping malls have become particularly popular locations for supermarkets. In China there are fewer cars than in the UK (2 per 100 population). Tesco has already opened four lifespace shopping centres. A lifespace shopping centre is made up of four floors. The first floor contains the Tesco hypermarket. The other floors contain other shopping premises that may be leased to other companies to sell their goods often clothes and household items such as furniture. 3.2 Expansion in China Tesco is expecting to quadruple its annual sales in China between 2010 and 2015. The current strategy is to build 50 shopping malls in China by 2015 and to develop a further 30. 3.3 The advantages of the joint venture format Tescos partnership with Ting Hsin took the form of a joint venture set up for the purpose of ongoing cooperation (Stonehouse, G p.271). Ting Hsin already had 25 up market mall type stores in 25 locations. Tesco was therefore able to benefit from this substantial presence in the market in China. The benefits for Ting Hsin related to Tescos global buying power, reputation and the strength of finance that Tesco could bring to the table. 4.Tescos financial strength 4.1 Sales and profits Tescos 2010 Income Statement showed a sales revenue of  £57 billion from which it generated operating profits of  £3.4 billion. Tescos current strategy is that of growth. This growth strategy is built on sales growth. For the last ten years Tesco has generated operating margins in the UK of roughly 6%. However, sales growth in the UK is relatively slow. In the second quarter of 2010 sales growth in the UK was 5.3% (Tesco Income Statement, October 2010). 4.2 Tescos financial strength in Asia The first two Asian markets that Tesco entered since 2000 were Thailand and South Korea. Tesco is currently making operating margins in these countries of 5%. The table below highlights Tescos financial position in Asia: Sales and profits 2010 (Source: Tesco: Operating Report 2010) Asia Sales  £5,725m Asia trading profit  £228m Asia trading margin 4.6% Tesco is particularly interested in developing its presence in Asia. In the most recent annual company review (2010), the Chief Executive stated: Our important Asian markets in particular are emerging strongly from recession. In contrast, he pointed out that economic recovery in the UK is slow and steady. In the second quarter of 2010 Tesco reported the following figures for sales growth: UK 5.3% Group 8.8% Asia 27.7% 4.3 Tescos financial strength in China In 2010 Tescos sales in China were worth  £848m. The company reported that it was on the verge of breaking even in China. Tescos current strategy in China is to build 50 shopping malls in China by 2015 and to develop a further 30. 5 Tescos operations in China 5.1 Tescos focus areas Tescos original strategy involved focussing on three regional areas. These were city areas in which average incomes were relatively high and in which consumers were already exposed to international influences. The three areas were Shanghai as a hub for operations in Eastern China, Beijing in the North and Guangzhou in the South. 5.2 Core competences in China Tesco already source many products which go into its stores across the globe from Chinese manufacturers. It sources $1.1 billion of products from China a year. Tesco therefore has built strong relationships with local suppliers in China. Tesco has had many years of experience as a large retailer in developing supply contracts with suppliers in the UK. This is thus a core competence (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990) of the organisation. Core competences are those attributes of an organisation that give it a distinct advantage over competitors. Other core competences that Tesco has built in China include centralised distribution centres. These reduce the numbers of deliveries required to individual stores, thus resulting in substantial cost savings. Tesco has also developed own brand products for China the value brand, and Tesco Legou. Another core competence is that of developing relationships. This fits in with Tescos strategy of putting the community at the heart of everything we do (Tesco Strategy document). Tesco has 58 stores in 22 cities in China. The company employs 17,600 staff, 99% of whom are local to the store. Tescos experience of driving value through all aspects of the value chain (Porter, 1974) in the UK have been applied to its operations in China including the organisation of inbound and outbound logistics, supermarket operations, market research and customer service. 6 Management issues facing Tesco 6.1 Cultural complexity A key issue facing Tesco management in developing operations in China relates to levels of cultural complexity. Fateh (p.132) distinguishes between countries with low context cultures like the United Kingdom and countries with high context cultures such as China. The difficulty facing British managers in working in China is that some meanings and interpretations of events are not explicitly stated. This was an important reason for Tesco to create a joint venture partnership as a market entry strategy. By working with Chinese partners and Chinese managers Tesco has been able to deal with issues associated with cultural complexity and to develop strong networks of relationships within the local communities in which its stores have been sited. 6.2 Potential areas for difficulty Carrefour and other international supermarket chains operating in China have had difficulties in some areas with regards to gaining planning permission and licences to operate from local authorities. Initially Chinese government policy was to only allow Foreign Direct Investment in the sector in collaboration with a local partner. Although this requirement has since been relaxed Tesco has chosen to work closely with its local partner in order to develop strong community relationships and thus an ongoing licence to operate in the regions were its malls are cited. 7.Evaluation of the strategy 7.1 Break-even point Tescos has announced that it is currently at the point of breaking even in China (Financial Times, 2010). Today, Tesco recognise Asia as being the major area for its international growth strategy. This compares with ten years ago when the company was almost exclusively a UK retailer. The position is quite different today as shown by Tescos presence in Asia: Number of stores (2010) UK 215 Asia 186 Sales area space (ooo square feet) UK 31,285 Asia 28,838 Operating margins are slightly higher in the UK when compared with Asia (about 1p in the  £ higher), however, sales growth is much faster in Asia. Thailand and South Korea have already proved to be profitable markets for Tesco. 7.2 Competitive challenges The challenge facing Tesco in China is that it is a highly competitive market. Tesco is not the only company developing local partnership arrangements. Tesco has committed a substantial portion of its cash reserves and profits into investing in China. As shown in this report there are substantial economies of scale to be achieved by operating in central locations in Chinas thriving city areas. Key issues that managers need to face include ensuring ongoing strong relations with local partners and employees. Tescos competitive success rests in providing value for money products with relatively cheap prices. These competitive strengths go down well with Chinese consumers looking for value for money. 7.3 Credibility challenges Developing links in China requires working closely with local government authorities, and construction companies to develop new malls. It is essential that Tesco makes sure that the quality of workmanship on these new malls is to the highest planning and safety standards. It is essential in sourcing products from local suppliers to ensure that all products meet the same levels of safety standards that Tesco employs in its other outlets across the globe. The market in China is potentially the most substantial on the globe. Tesco already sources substantial quantities of its supplies from Chinese manufacturers. There is thus every possibility that Tescos international strategy of growth will yield high sales revenues and profits in China. Exemplar references. You need to reference all of the texts that you include in your work. E.g. Fatehi, K, (2008) Managing Internationally, Succeeding in a Culturally Diverse World, Sage, London. You also need to reference any information you get directly from company reports and websites. E.g. Tesco, 2010, Annual Report and Financial Statements.

Buddhism in the West Essay -- essays research papers

Albert Einstein once said, â€Å"the religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal god, avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all natural and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.†# Many great minds like Albert Einstein have converted or become Buddhists. Many people from the west are turning their attention towards Buddhism because of the Buddha’s simple way to life and the lack of worship or prayer to a divine being. Buddhism has a fascinating history. Like most religions, you must first understand the background to practice the religion. Buddhism started with a young prince named Siddhartha Gautama, he was born in Nepal#. He was born around 563 B.C.# as a young prince his father suddhodana (ruler of the sakya) kept him from the pain and suffering that can occur in life. All of his childhood life he was kept inside palace walls. Until one day he joined a parade to the city. He wondered of into the city streets and got lost. He found himself in an old village. In this village he saw everything his father had kept him from, he saw pain, suffering, old age and death. After this experience he decided to leave his life of riches and high living. At the age of 29 he left his newborn son and wife. He ventured off into the jungle and began to meditate with a group of extremists, who did nothing but meditate. He stayed there for six long years. One day he realized that he was looking in the wrong directi on to end suffering. So he decided to go the middle way. He went all over teaching ... ... is growing in the west he answers, â€Å"it is not difficult to understand why Buddhism should appeal to Americans at this junction of our history. Theistic religions have lost their hold on the minds of many educated Americans and this has opened up a deep spiritual vacuum that needs to be filled. For many, materialistic values are profoundly unsatisfying, and Buddhism offers a spiritual teaching that fit’s the bill. It is rational, experimental, practical and personally verifiable. It brings concrete benefits that can be realized in ones own life: it propounds lofty ethics and an intellectually cogent philosophy. Also less auspiciously it has an exotic air that attracts fascinated by the mystical and esoteric#.† Many people like Bhikkhu Bodhi think these same things about Buddhism, because of its simple way to life without suffering and the lack of a divine being. Buddhism in the West Essay -- essays research papers Albert Einstein once said, â€Å"the religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal god, avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all natural and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.†# Many great minds like Albert Einstein have converted or become Buddhists. Many people from the west are turning their attention towards Buddhism because of the Buddha’s simple way to life and the lack of worship or prayer to a divine being. Buddhism has a fascinating history. Like most religions, you must first understand the background to practice the religion. Buddhism started with a young prince named Siddhartha Gautama, he was born in Nepal#. He was born around 563 B.C.# as a young prince his father suddhodana (ruler of the sakya) kept him from the pain and suffering that can occur in life. All of his childhood life he was kept inside palace walls. Until one day he joined a parade to the city. He wondered of into the city streets and got lost. He found himself in an old village. In this village he saw everything his father had kept him from, he saw pain, suffering, old age and death. After this experience he decided to leave his life of riches and high living. At the age of 29 he left his newborn son and wife. He ventured off into the jungle and began to meditate with a group of extremists, who did nothing but meditate. He stayed there for six long years. One day he realized that he was looking in the wrong directi on to end suffering. So he decided to go the middle way. He went all over teaching ... ... is growing in the west he answers, â€Å"it is not difficult to understand why Buddhism should appeal to Americans at this junction of our history. Theistic religions have lost their hold on the minds of many educated Americans and this has opened up a deep spiritual vacuum that needs to be filled. For many, materialistic values are profoundly unsatisfying, and Buddhism offers a spiritual teaching that fit’s the bill. It is rational, experimental, practical and personally verifiable. It brings concrete benefits that can be realized in ones own life: it propounds lofty ethics and an intellectually cogent philosophy. Also less auspiciously it has an exotic air that attracts fascinated by the mystical and esoteric#.† Many people like Bhikkhu Bodhi think these same things about Buddhism, because of its simple way to life without suffering and the lack of a divine being.

United States Governments False Portrayal of Marijuana :: Government Marijuana weed Drugs Essays

United States Government's False Portrayal of Marijuana Abstract I believe that the government’s handling of marijuana has been unethical because they used propaganda and lies to misinform the American population about marijuana. In my casebook, I address how the government made propaganda films and other media to misinform the American population. Some powerful evidence that I used is from the book, On the Trail of Marijuana, in this book the authors illustrate their eight stages of marijuana intoxication: Stage One: Characteristic euphoria, or feelings of unnatural well-being and lightheadedness. Stage Two: Intellectual excitation, dissociation of ideas, and exaggeration of emotion. Stage Three: Illusion in regard to time and space. Stage Four: Intense auditory sensibility, where every musical sound is distorted. Stage Five: Fixation of ideas, which are derived by the suggestibility of near-by stimuli. Stage Six: Overbalancing emotional disturbances. Stage Seven: Culmination of the sixth stage, where the overexcited and distraught subject may commit violent irresponsible acts due to irresistible impulses of suggestive origin. Stage Eight: Hallucination, varied and often terrifying. The opposing argument is supported not by opinion, but by scientific proof. There have been many studies done on the effects of marijuana, but I chose On Being Stoned because the author realized that the effects are only â€Å"potential†. Marijuana is illegal in the United States and in the past, there have been many changes in legislation regarding marijuana possession, production, and use. The knowledge of marijuana usage has been warped and twisted by the American government beginning in the early 1900s. According to the Webster’s Dictionary definitions, ethics are principles of right conduct or a system of moral values, morals are the lesson or principle contained in or taught by a fable, a story, or an event, and government is the act or process of governing, especially the control and administration of public policy in a political unit. It bothers me that neither ethics nor morals were included in the definition of government.

Goals of Financial Management Essay

Money required for carrying out business activities is called business finance. Almost all business activities require some finance. Finance is needed : †¢To establish a business , †¢To run it †¢To modernize it †¢To expand it or diversify †¢It is required to buy whole variety of assets, they may be tangible like machinery ,factories,building,offices or intangible like patents, technical expertise etc. Success of business depends considerably on how well the funds are deployed in assets Financial management is concerned with optimum procurement as well as usage of finance. The financial management has to take three important decision viz. (i) Investment decision i. e. , where to invest fund and in what amount, (ii) Financing decision i. e. , from where to raise funds and in what amount, and (iii) Dividend i. e. , how much to pay dividend and how much to retain for future expansion. In order to make these decisions the management must have a clear understanding of the objective sought to be achieved. It is generally agreed that the financial objective of the firm should be maximization of owner’s economic welfare. There are two widely discussed approaches or criterion of maximizing owners’ welfare – (i) Profit maximization, and (ii) Wealth maximization. Profit maximization would probably be the most commonly cited business goal, but this is not a very precise objective. Do we mean profits this year? If so, then actions such as deferring maintenance, letting inventories run down, and other short-run, cost-cutting measures will tend to increase profits now, but these activities aren’t necessarily desirable. The goal of maximizing profits may refer to some sort of â€Å"long-run† or â€Å"average† profits, but it’s unclear exactly what this means. First, do we mean something like accounting net income or earnings per share? As we will see, these numbers may have little to do with what is good or bad for the firm. Second, what do we mean by the long run? As a famous economist once remarked, in the long run, we’re all dead! More to the point, this goal doesn’t tell us the appropriate trade-off between current and future profits. Profit Maximization: Maximization of profits is very often considered as the main objective of a business enterprise. The shareholders, the owners of the business, invest their funds in the business with the hope of getting higher dividend on their investment. Moreover, the profitability of the business is an indicator of the sound health of the organization, because, it safeguards the economic interests of various social groups which are directly or indirectly connected with the company e. g. shareholders, creditors and employees. All these parties must get reasonable return for their contributions and it is possible only when company earns higher profits or sufficient profits to discharge the obligations to them. As long as we are dealing with for-profit businesses, only a slight modification is needed. The total value of the stock in a corporation is simply equal to the value of the owners’ equity. Therefore, a more general way of stating our goal . Finally, our goal does not imply that the financial manager should take illegal or unethical actions in the hope of increasing the value of the equity in the firm. What we mean is that the financial manager best serves the owners of the business by identifying goods and services that add value to the firm because they are desired and valued in the free marketplace If we assume that stockholders buy stock because they seek to gain financially, then the answer is obvious: Good decisions increase the value of the stock, and poor decisions decrease the value of the stock. The goal of maximizing the value of the stock avoids the problems associated with the different goals we listed earlier. There is no ambiguity in the criterion, and there is no short-run versus long-run issue. We explicitly mean that our goal is to maximize the current stock value. Because the goal of financial management is to maximize the value of the stock, we need to learn how to identify those investments and financing arrangements that favorably impact the value of the stock. This is precisely what we will be studying. In fact, we could have defined corporate finance as the study of the relationship between business decisions and the value of the stock in the business. Wealth Maximization: The term wealth means shareholder’s wealth or the wealth of persons who are involved in business concern. this is also known as value maximization or net worth maximization The wealth maximization (also known as value maximization or Net Present Worth Maximization) is also universally accepted criterion for financial decision making. The value of an asset should be viewed in terms of benefits it can produce over the cost of capital investment. †¢Wealth maximization is based on the concept of cash flow . cash flow are a reality and not based on subjective. †¢It considers time value of money.

Siemens Violation of Ethics

Volume 12 Issue 13 Version 1. 0 Year 2012 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA) Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853 Global Journal of Management and Business Research A Case Study of Siemens’ Violation of Business Ethics in Argentine Based On Stakeholder Theory By Zhu Wenzhong & Fu Limin Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS) Abstract – Hand in hand with prosper of International business brought by globalization, many ethical problems have been surfacing in the past decades: bribery, corruption, human rights issues, etc.Business ethics, as an academic discipline as well as a business practice, is becoming the focal point of waged and animated debate. The increasing attention on it generates many relative theories, among which Freeman’s stakeholder theory stands out. This paper, backed by Freeman’s stakeholder theory, conducts a case study of Simens’ violation of busi ness ethics by analyzing its recent bribery scandal in Argentina. After a detailed analysis of the interests of Siemens’ stakeholders, it draws a conclusion of Siemens’ severe violation of business ethics, and thus suggests some solutions.Keywords : Simens Telecommunication; Business Bribery; Stakeholder Analysis. GJMBR-A Classification : FOR Code: 150303,150301 JEL Code: M21 A CaseStudyofSiemensViolationofBusinessEthicsinArgentineBasedOnStakeholderTheory Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of:  © 2012. Zhu Wenzhong & Fu Limin. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3. 0 Unported License http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc/3. /), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A Case Study of Siemens’ Violation of Business Ethics in Argentine Based On Stakeholder Theory Zhu Wenzhong & Fu Limin Abstract – Hand in hand with prosper of International business brought by globalization, many ethical problems have been surfacing in the past decades: bribery, corruption, human rights issues, etc. Business ethics, as an academic discipline as well as a business practice, is becoming the focal point of waged and animated debate.The increasing attention on it generates many relative theories, among which Freeman’s stakeholder theory stands out. This paper, backed by Freeman’s stakeholder theory, conducts a case study of Simens’ violation of business ethics by analyzing its recent bribery scandal in Argentina. After a detailed analysis of the interests of Siemens’ stakeholders, it draws a conclusion of Siemens’ severe violation of business ethics, and thus suggests some solutions. ? ? Keywords : Simens Telecommunication; Business Bribery; Stakeholder Analysis.II. Literary Review usiness ethics is a form of applied ethics or professional ethic s that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. To put it in a simple way, business ethics involves the application of standards of moral behavior to business situations. Despite the fact that the concept â€Å"business ethics† was firstly proposed in 1970s and hailed as oxymoron, it witnessed a waged and animated debate as well as increased public awareness ever since.On one hand, there is a huge growth of number of businessmen who realize that pure profit-oriented corporate operation can not stand permanently in a global market where customers’ ethic awareness is increasing; on the other hand, more and more companies find themselves time and again stuck in ethic dilemmas. For instance, bribery, as one of the notorious business ethical problems, has surfaced as important issues in an increasingly interdependent world economy. The increasing attention on business ethics not only takes place in business practices, b ut also in Author ? PhD, Professor of School of English for International Business, research member of Research Center for International Trade and Economics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), No. 2, North Baiyun Avenue, Guangzhou 510420, China. E-mail : [email  protected] com Author ? : Student of School of English for International Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), No. 2, North Baiyun Avenue, Guangzhou 510420, China. B I. Introduction a) Concept of Stakeholder The term â€Å"stakeholder† was first used in a 1963 internal memorandum at the Stanford Research Institute.It was originally detailed by R. Edward Freeeman in the book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach in 1984. What is a stakeholder? The earliest definition offered by an internal report of Standford Research Institute in 1963, they define it as those groups that directly influence the organization’s existence. Freeman continues to employ this term by further defining it as those groups that are so vital to the organization that they dominantly affect the organization’s survival and success and can also be affected by the actions of the business (Freeman, 1984).The term â€Å"stakeholder† is a variant of the familiar and traditional idea of stockholders—the investors in or the owners of business. It has experienced an evolution and progress in its scope and range. In the traditional view, the stockholders or the shareholders are the owners of the firm, therefore, a firm has binding fiduciary duty to give the top priority to stockholders by satisfying their needs in the first place and increasing their output. It is based on the inputoutput model in which firms have to only address wishes and benefits of parties closely pertinent to its operation: investors, mployees, suppliers, and customers (Donaldson and Preston, 1995). However, along with the growth of corporation, the scope and range of stakeholder also expand, w hich  © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XIII Version I academic fields. Scholars’ study on business ethics also gave birth to a famous theory: stakeholder theory, put forward by R. Edward Freeman, which in turn serves as the theoretical foundation of business ethics study. The theory attempts to address the â€Å"Principle of Who or What Really Counts† by identifying the stakeholders in business ethics practices.Based on business ethics and stakeholder theory, this paper proposes to conduct a case study by analyzing Siemens’ latest business ethics violation—the Bribery Scandal in Argentina. Following the analysis, suggestions pertinent to this issue are also put forward. 75 Year 2012 A Case Study of Siemens’ Violation of Business Ethics in Argentine Based On Stakeholder Theory is typically presented in Freeman’s stakeholder theory. 76 theory of organizational management and business ethics that addresses morals and values in managing an organization.It identifies and models the groups which are stakeholders of a corporation, and both describes and recommends methods by which management can give due regard to the interests of those groups. In short, it attempts to address the â€Å"Principle of Who or What Really Counts. In Freeman’s stakeholder theory, stakeholder are not only those people who have direct stakes in the firm but also those who are equivalently influential as well, especially in affecting reputation and public image, but their stake is more representational of public than direct.Stakeholder theory argues that every legimate person or group participating in the activities of a firm do so to obtain benefits and that the priority of the interests of all legitimate stakeholders is not self-evident. From this perspective, the groups of stakeholders expand to government and social institutions etc. In his book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, Freeman outlines groups of stakeholder in both internal and external environment. Internal stakeholders are as follows: employees, managers, and owners.External stakeholders are: suppliers, customers, society, government, creditor, shareholders, competitors, communities, academics, NGOs or activists, environmentalists, media, etc. As in Freeman’s Strategic Management: a Stakeholder Approach, the stakeholder theory is a theory of organizational management and business ethics that addresses morals and values in managing an organization. It identifies and models the groups which are stakeholders of a corporation, and both describes and recommends methods by which management can give due regard to the interests of those groups.In short, it attempts to address the â€Å"Principle of Who or What Really Counts. In Freeman’s stakeholder theory, stakeholder are not only those people who have direct stakes in the firm but also those who are equivalently in fluential as well, especially in affecting reputation and public image, but their stake is more representational of public than direct. Stakeholder theory argues that every legitimate person or group participating in the activities of a firm do so to obtain benefits and that the priority of the interests of all legitimate stakeholders is not self-evident.From this perspective, the groups of stakeholders expand to government and social institutions etc. In his Strategic Management-Analytical Methods for Stakeholder Management, Freeman (1984) clearly comes out with the stakeholder management theory which refers to the management activities  © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) b) Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory As in Freeman’s Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, the stakeholder theory is a Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XIII Version I management of an enterprise carries out to balance the stake requirements of stakeholders.Compar ed to the traditional shareholders supremacists, this theory holds that the development of any enterprise is closely related to the investment and participation of each stakeholder and the pursuit of an enterprise is the entire stake of all stakeholders instead of some major stakes. Stakeholders not only include the shareholders, creditors, employees, consumers, suppliers etc. of the enterprise, but also pressure groups such as government, local residents, local communities, medias, environmentalists etc. even the natural environment, future generations etc. who may be directly or indirectly affected by the operation of the enterprise.These stakeholders are closely related to the development of the enterprise, they share the operation risk of the enterprise, some pay a cost for the operation of the enterprise, some supervise and constrain the enterprise, and the decisions of the enterprise must take their stakes into consideration and accept their constraints. In this sense an enter prise is the institutional arrangement of intelligence and management professionalization investment, the development of an enterprise relies on the quality of responses to the requirements of each stakeholder instead of only shareholders.This corporate management idea explains the corporate performance appraisal and the core of management, which lies foundation for the later theory of performance appraisal Year 2012 c) Stakeholder Theory and CSR CSR The Effect of Stakeholder Theory in the Study of The are many common grounds between CSR and stakeholder theory as both are concerned about the relatioship between the enterprises and their shareholders and the enterprises and individuals and social group apart from their stareholders; however the two are different concerpts. What they study and care are problems of different levels and categories.CSR considers the influence of enterprises on society from the perspective of the whole society and care the relationship between enterprises and the society; while stakeholder theory care more about the relationship between enterprises and stakeholders from the perspective of the enterprises. Ever since the establishment of CSR its supporters spread from various institutions, scholars and ordinary people, which helps in the development of CSR. However this theory encountered lots of problems in practice, and needs further study and improvement.In the process of seeking solution to these problems, we usually introduce stakeholder theory to help to resolve those problems. i. Modification of Shareholder Primacy Theory by The biggest barrier to the implementation of CSR is the Shareholder Primacy rule to some extent, Friedman et. holds that the only purpose for the Stakeholder Theory A Case Study of Siemens’ Violation of Business Ethics in Argentine Based On Stakeholder Theory Economic Social Quality Investors Social Welfare Suppliers Legal Customers Enterprises Moral Environment Resources EmployeesWorld Sustainable Development Cultural Figure 2 : 1 Theoretical Model of CSR Source : Freeman, R. E: Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach [M]. Boston, Pitman Press, 1984  © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XIII Version I existence of enterprises is to maximize the profit and shareholder benefits. Their three interrelated propositions are a. shareholders should reserve the right to control the enterprise; b. managers are entrusted the responsibility to singley serve the interest of shareholders; c. he object of enterprises is to maximize the wealth of shareholders; while stakeholder theory holds that i, stakeholders who are affected by the enterprise have the right to participate enterprise decision-making; ii, managers are entrusted with the responsibility to serve the interests of all stakeholders; iii, the object of enterprises is to enhance the interests of all stakeholder not just shareholders’. Stakeholder theory holds that enterprises are ‘contract unities’ consisted of many a stakeholders and the investment comes not just shareholders but also employees, suppliers and creditors of the enterprise.Shareholders provide the material captial and other stakeholders provide not only material capital but also human capital which is equivalent to material capital in term of significance particularly in today’s knowledge economy. And in some aspects the siginificance human capital exceeds the siginificance of material capital. Enterprises are not simply the ‘aggregation’ of material capital any more but a kind of ‘institutional arrangement of goverance and management of professional investment’ and in essence they are the aggregations of various contracts.The risks of enterprises should not just be bore by shareholders ii. Indentification of Subjects for Shouldering Social Viewing from the various definitions of CSR, it is easy to conclude that the benef icaries of enterprises’ shouldering social responsibilities are people of the society including investors, employees, clients, creditors and beneficiaries of environement and resources, social security and welfare etc. Through shouldering corresponding social responsibilities and taking social benefits as target range, enterprises can maximize their contributions to the sustainable development.And the responsibilities they take are legal, economic, moral, cultural aspects, however today there still lots of people stand against CSR. Responsibility and Defining Responsibilities 77 Year 2012 and other stakeholders should also share the risks, as a result the owners of enterprisers should not be confined to shareholders and all the stakeholders are the owners of enterprises. The rights of stakeholders are equal and independent, they jointly own the enterpises.While challenging the shareholder priamcy principle, stakeholder theory clears the way for the development of CSR theory i n that CSR theory has long been holding that the only mission of enterprises to increase shareholder interests should be changed and thinks that enterprises should view problems from a higher ground and consider their relations with all the stakehoders, the entire society and shoulder some social responsibility. A Case Study of Siemens’ Violation of Business Ethics in Argentine Based On Stakeholder TheoryYear 2012 They start from the point where the subjects and contents of obligations of corporate social responsibility are vague and think that enterprises should not shoulder social responsibilities. Some business and law scholars even think there is not subjects for corporate social responsibility in that there are no satisfactory answers for questions such as the whom should enterprises responsible for, whom can be the subjects that urges enterprises to shoulder responsibilities?To vaguely say that customers, ordinary people and the social communities these enterprises belo ng to is not enough because the groups can hardly be obligees to exist meanwhile they also hold that the content of social responsibilities is also vague. Currently the understanding of stakeholders generally include the first class stakeholders that affect the existence of enterprises, and the secondary stakeholders who do not affect the existence of enterprises or are affected by the enterprises.Though the definition is extensive, it indentifies stakeholders as shown in the following basic framework: investors, employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, trade associations, local communities, political groups etc. Government Investors Creditors 78 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XIII Version I Suppliers Customers Enterprises Trade Associations Employees Communities Figure 2 : 2 Theoretical Model of Stakeholder Theory Source : Freeman, R. E: Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach [M].Boston, Pitman Press, 1984 Many foreign scholars studying CSR and stakeholder theory holds that stakeholder theory can be introduced to the study of CSR, Carroll (1991) thinks that stakeholder theory should be applied to the study of CSR and it can be used to identify the orientation of CSR, and by the identification of each relevant stakeholder group the range of CSR can be identified. Clarkson (1995) stakeholder theory can provide a ‘theoretical framework’, in which CSR can be identified as the relations between enterprises and stakeholders, for the study of CSR.Just as Evan and Freeman (1993) had it that ‘though it cannot replace CSR, stakeholder theory can be regarded as an important condition for the study of CSR and it can specify the subjects the enterprises should be responsible for’. In this stage when the theoretical research of CSR still needs to be carried further, we can adopt stakeholder theory to  © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) define the range of responsibilities enterprises should carry. This is both possible and necessary and enterprises can be responsible for each stakeholders in the framework of stakeholder theory. ii. Case Description Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Siemens and its subsidiaries employ approximately 420,800 people across nearly 190 countries. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company with activities in the fields of industry, energy and healthcare. It is organized into six main divisions: Industry, Energy, Healthcare, Equity Investments, Siemens IT Solutions and Services and Siemens Financial Services (SFS).A Case Study of Siemens’ Violation of Business Ethics in Argentine Based On Stakeholder Theory For government, iv. Case Analysis Bribery has been defined as â€Å"the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of something of value for the purpose of influencing the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or legal duties. â⠂¬  (Fritzsche, 1998). The bribe is the gift bestowed to influence the recipient's conduct and the outcomes of decisions wherein the nature and extent of the influence are not made public. The item of value may be direct payments of money or property.It may also be in the form of a kickback after a deal has been completed. It may be any money, good, right in action, property, preferment, privilege, emolument, object of value, advantage, or merely a promise or undertaking to induce or influence the action, vote, or influence of a person in an official or public capacity. Based on Freeman’s stakeholder theory, the first step in the analysis of this case is to identify the a) Stakeholders of Siemens Firstly, the bribery would reduce freedom of choice by altering the conditions under which a decision is made.Its appeal of additional gains for some government officials would lure them to select the less attractive alternative which provides less total satisfaction. By doing so, i t adversely would disrupt the official’s decision and undermined fair competition among the industry. If the De La Rua administration’s doubt that the cost of each electronic ID reported by Siemens was twice what the government estimated is true, then the government has to pay the price for the hidden payment with more governmental expenditure, which leads to a greater loss of money of the government.Secondly, it would damage the authority, prestige and force of laws and regulations. The bribery circumvented the legal system and obtained illegal interest, which is a contempt against laws and is detrimental to the implementation of laws. Thirdly, it would undermines attempts by governments to improve the overall wealth of the nation, diminish the image of government and governing party, and further lose people’s trust.  © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XIII Version I On Dec. 3, 2011, The Securi ties and Exchange Commission charged seven former Siemens executives with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for their involvement in the company's decade-long bribery scheme in Argentina to retain a $1 billion government contract to produce national identity cards for Argentine citizens. According to the SEC's complaint filed in U. S. District Court in Manhattan, the scheme lasted from approximately 1996 to early 2007. Initially, in the 1990s, Menem government planned to implement all national electronic ID cards, known as Documentos Nacionales de Identidad (DNI) for every Argentine citizen.In order to obtain the contract which is total of 1. 26 billion U. S. dollars, Siemens bribed Argentine government officials with 70 million U. S. dollars through intermediary. Menem government finally signed the contract with Siemens in 1998. But a change in Argentine political administrations foiled the contract: after the next President Fernando De La Rua came into office, som e officials questioned the contract on the ground that the cost of each electronic ID reported by siemens was twice what the government estimated. Therefore, the government announced the suspension and cancellation of the contract.In a political change and economic crisis, Duhalde succeeded De La Rua as the president. During his term of office, Simens was told by the intermediary that a 27 million U. S. dollars bribery could â€Å"resurrect the contract†. In order to revive the contract, Siemens paid additional bribes in a failed effort to Kirchner government until 2004. When the company later instituted an arbitration proceeding to recover its costs and expected profits from the canceled contract, Siemens paid additional bribes to suppress evidence that the contract originally had been obtained through corruption. elevant stakeholders and determine the positive and negative impacts on the stakeholders. The stakeholders affected by Siemens’ bribery in this case include Simens’ stockholders; Siemens’ employees; Siemens’ supplier; Local community; the Argentine government; Argentine community; Simens’ competitor; Siemens’ competitors’ employees and stockholders. For Siemens’ stockholders, the contract with the Argentine government would increase profit and gain market share for them. Even though bribery was needed to win the contract, the profit yielded in the contract can not only cover the bribery but also trigger more.For Siemens’ employees, the profit yielded from the contract would also benefit themselves a lot. It is likely that their pay got increase, bonus and allowance met a growth, working environment had much improvement etc. For Siemens’ suppliers, the growth of Siemens means the growth of themselves as long as they are in a cooperative business relationship. The increase of Siemens’ business would lead to more orders to Siemens and more profit for them. For the local community, the contract would bring cascade effect: it would create more jobs for local people.The local community would benefit from the employment of its citizens which would bring money into the community and provide additional tax revenues. The prosper of Simens’ business can also cast a positive influence to relative industries. b) Impact on stakeholders 79 Year 2012 A Case Study of Siemens’ Violation of Business Ethics in Argentine Based On Stakeholder Theory For Argentine community, 80 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XIII Version I From the perspective of whole economy system and environment, it would: ?. inder fair and just competition and disrupt the order of the whole economic system. Instead of gain market share with quality, businesses would turn to shortcuts like relationship with government officials ?. Result in allocating more resources to a less desirable alternative. The failure of the allocation system would lead to stagnation of technology, service and the whole industry structure. ?. Increase the cost of transaction, and do harm to public’s interest. The higher cost would result in higer prices or even monopoly. From the whole society, it would: ?. Cast damage to social redit and rot the social conduct. On one hand, the prevalence of bribery destroys the mutual trust and equity of businesses; on the other hand, businesses with good compliance to laws are suppressed and discouraged. ?. Violate code of ethics. ?. Breed more and more relative crimes. Bribery is always accompanied with business secret theft, deception and evasion of taxes. For Argentine people, the greater expense on the ID project would result in more outflow of taxpayers money from their pocket in that the misconduct and wrongdoings of officials would be shared by all the community.The bribery would harm taxpayers as well as undermine public support for governments. For Siemens’ competitors, Siemens’ bri bery would deprive them of fair competition in this project, and further distort trade The loss of the competitors is invisible, though, but solid. For Siemens’ stockholders, employees and local community, the loss of the contract would provide lower profits for the stockholders, fewer jobs for the employees and less money in the competitors’ local community.Taking the interest of all stakeholders into account, Siemens violated business ethics seriously, even though it brought some illegal benefits to its own stockholders. V. different actions of organization. The four stages are: ethical awareness, ethical reasoning, ethical action, and ethical leadership. i. Ethical awareness Ethic Awareness is the foundation of an ethical climate. Through ethical awareness, employees learn how to identify problems and how to resolve them. In this stage, code of conduct must be established to support ethic awareness.Formal statement that defines how the organization expects and requi res employees to resolve ethical questions must be delivered. A code of conduct typically addresses issues pertaining to; preferred style of dress, avoiding illegal drugs, following instructions of superiors, being reliable and prompt, maintaining confidentiality, not accepting personal gifts from stakeholders as a result of company role, avoiding racial or sexual discrimination, avoiding conflict of interest. ii.Ethical reasoning Since codes of conduct cannot detail a solution for every ethical situation, so corporations provide training in ethical reasoning. Courses in Ethical Reasoning teach employees to reason in a principled way about moral and political beliefs and practices, and to deliberate and assess claims for themselves about ethical issues. Students examine the competing conceptions and theories of ethical concepts such as the good life, obligation, rights, justice, and liberty with a focus on developing the ability to assess and weigh the reasons for and against adopti ng them to address concrete ethical dilemmas.Employees in these courses may encounter a value system very different from their own that calls attention to their own ethical assumptions. iii. Ethical action Ethical action involves helping employees recognize and reason through ethical problems and turning them into ethical actions. It takes preparing, assessing, deciding, implementing, and reflecting. Whenever employees encounter ethical dilemmas or problems, Siemens should help them out by applying their code of conduct to practice: identifying the issues, assessing them, deciding solutions, implementing solutions and reflecting them.The current Siemens’ bribery scandal is good example for its employees to review and retrospect the ethical problems concerning bribery, and encourages them to probe into the hidden reasons and seek more proper solutions. iv. Ethical leadership In this stage, executives must demonstrate ethical behavior in their actions. Leaders are first and for emost members of their organizations and stakeholder groups. Since they hold most of the senior positions and are decision makers, their values, vision and ethical standard case great impact on subordinates and thus impact the whole organization. To shape Year 2012 Suggestion organizational ethicalSiemens’ bribery scandal is by no means the first violation of business ethics. Back to 2008, its decades-long bribery scheme with 1. 3 billion U. S. dollars shocked the world. Subsequently, it was accused of posting business secret of competitors. Its continuous scandal is an indication that Siemens fails to form an ethical corporate culture and ethical environment. To make a change of the current scandal and prevent any further ones, shaping organizational ethical environment should be Siemens’ top priority. Shaping organizational ethical environment goes through four stages, each of which demands  © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) ) Internally: shaping environment A Case Study of Siemens’ Violation of Business Ethics in Argentine Based On Stakeholder Theory ethical conduct in an organization, leaders’ behavior, actions are needed to demonstrate their support and determination. In Siemens’ bribery scandal, most of the unethical behaviors were conducted by senior executives, which attribute the frequent news of its violation of business ethics. Thus, in Siemens, to shape ethical conduct and maintain ethical culture, leaders must firstly own their ethical criteria and behave ethically accordingly. Apart from the internal improvement, external supervision is also in need.The external supervision involves first and foremost the initiatives aiming to combat bribery. These initiatives include: †¢ Foreign Corrupt Practices Acts †¢ The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention †¢ The UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) †¢ Transparency International To counter bribery, wider cooperation must be conducted between countries and these conventions and organizations. Under the globally accepted guidance and principles, Signatories countries must adopt national legislation to fight against bribery. Government should take regular review of business’ and officials’ compliance to these laws by establishing stricter supervision system.Secondly, external supervision involves power of media. Media is the oral power of reining any unethical behavior. Thus, media should pay more close attention on business ethical issues, track and make more exposure of unethical firms, and encourage those ethical ones. Thirdly, the whole society should also participate in this campaign. When the whole society establish a common principle of â€Å"zero tolerance† to bribery, and monitor it ceaselessly, businesses dare not commit bribery because of their consideration of corporate image.The more and more serious social attitude towards bribery would make businesses think twice before they leap. VI. References Refer ences Referencias 1. Carroll, Buchholtz (2002). â€Å"Business& Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management†. Mason. Thomson Learning. 2. Freeman. R. E (1984). â€Å"Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Theory†. Boston, MA: Pitman. 3. Freeman. R. E (1991). â€Å"Business Ethics: The State of The Art†. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4. Fritzsche. D. J (1998). â€Å"Business Ethics: A Global and Managerial Perspective†. New York: McGrawHill. 5. Li, Y.H (2011). China Coporate Citizenship AntiCorruption and Anti- Bribery Research Report. The Coporate Social Responsibility. 6(1), pp. 42-51. 6. Mitchell. C (2009). â€Å"Internatinal Business Ethics†. Petaluma: World Trade Press. 7. Mitchell. C (2000). â€Å"Internatinal Business Cultures†. Petaluma: World Trade Press. 8. Weiss. J. W (2003). â€Å"Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach†. Beijng: China Renmin University Press. Conclusion This paper conducts a case study of Siemens’ violation of business ethics by employing Freeman’s stakeholder theory.Based on Freeman’s theory, stakeholders of a firm should not only include its stockholders, instead, it covers a wide range from its internal employees to external suppliers, government, society, and even competitors. In the case of Simens’ bribery scandal in Argentina, the present author outlines its stakeholders and conducts a detailed analysis of the impact of Simens’ bribery on each stakeholder. The conclusion follows the analysis is that Siemens seriously violated business ethics by terribly detrimenting the interest of its stakeholders.  © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US)Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XII Issue XIII Version I Year 2012 b) Externally: strengthening supervision The analysis of Siemens’ unethical bribery scandal also triggers the author’s further discussion about an international issue: bribery Bribery, as one of the notorious business ethical problems, has surfaced as important issues in an increasingly interdependent world economy. No longer seen purely as a morality play, the accepted world view of corruption and bribery today is that they hinder competition, distort trade and harm consumers and taxpayers as well as undermine public support for governments.Therefore, to fight against bribery, suggested solutions are also provided. On one hand, internal ethical environment shaping is of urgent need; Simens should immediately follow the four stages of the structure of ethical environment from ethical awareness to ethical leadership to improve its current ethical predicament. on the other hand, external supervision and cooperation from international and 81 national community to media is also in demand. Although business ethics is in an actual fact as old as business, however, it didn’t got enough attention until 1970s.As the ethical problems keep surfacing and disrupting the b usiness order, business ethics, as an academic discipline as well as a business practice, is on its way of gaining momentum. To probe into it and make this oxymoron a better guide of business code of conduct, more and more efforts are still in much need. 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Columbia Business Environment

According to (Walter, J. (2006), any business worthy its salt must carry out a business analysis audit before venturing into expansion plans. This often saves an organization time and resources which would be lost if the decision to expand or relocate business is not based on sound business practices. The case below analyses the business environment in Colombia, by addressing the political, cultural, economic, and domestic and industry analysis of the country. Finally the paper gives a verdict based on the findings of the analysis which is basically a recommendation on the economic investment options for a business aiming at venturing into the Colombian market. Location. Colombia, neighbors Caribbean Sea, Panama, Venezuela, a well as North Pacific Ocean. With a population of about 40 million people, the country has a good domestic market. Colombia enjoys a mixture of climates such as coastal- tropic climate as well as in the eastern plains it also has cool highlands climate suitable for agricultural activities. Political environment Major political parties currently include, Democratic Alliance, Liberal Party, Patriotic Union, and Social Conservative Party (Kline, & Harvey, 1985). Political leaders include the president, Carlos Franco Echavarria, Antonio Navarro Wolff, Otty Patino, Carlos Alonso Lucio, Jose Fernando Bautista, Aida Abella and Dr. Eugenio Merlano de la Ossa. The country has democratic ties with the US and has ambassador in the US as well as hosts an ambassador from the US. In terms of religion the people are largely Roman Catholics, which constitute over 90% of the population with other religions forming the 10 percent. Currently the country is grappling with civil riots, poverty, lawlessness, depreciating currency as well as unstable political environment. The country has been faced with civil strife for the past 40 years something which has led to the displacement of over 200,000 people internally (Amnesty International, 2002). Currently, the presidency is from right –wing and many pundits have predicted that, as long as he continues to favor socialist ideals, the long waited reforms especially those addressing the plight of the poor in Columbia will continue unresolved. Economic conditions. The economy is predicted to grow at a rate of 6. 1something attributable to stable domestic consumption as well as favorable private investment situation. In the year 2005 the GDP was 5. 13 and a 6. 1 growth this year is appositive indicator of a favorable economic environment. The best performing sectors are trade, infrastructure and industry. Columbia’s GDP has been growing at a rate of 3. 1 to 3-6 in the last 3 years that is from the year 2004 to presently. Improved global economic environment is the reason behind a lot of economic activity being experienced in Colombia (Bagley, & Michael, 1987). In addition, the domestic market is growing in a sharp contrast to the impoverished people. The growth rate can be termed as encouraging with the country experiencing strong and predictable exchange rates, as well as low and favorable interest rates. On top of the above, the credit conditions have improved significantly as compared to the situation in the 90’s. Major economic sectors include textiles, oil exploration, beverages, chemicals, cement; as well as minerals like gold, coal, and emeralds (Thoumi, Francisco 1987). Labor conditions. The labor market in Colombia is ready and oversupplied. However major challenges lay ahead because of the deplorable labor movement conditions in that country. In a nut shell it is evident from the available literature that, labor organizations are non operational in Colombia, joining trade union is equitable to courting death something which has greatly affected the labor relations in the country. On top of that, employees’ morale in the country is on an all-time low due to the fact that, the workers in that country do not have a strong bargaining power (Peeler, &John, 1976). The situation becomes more complex due to the involvement of military groups which besides being armed, seem to operate undeterred by law enforcement agencies. There have been reported numerous abductions, threats and assassinations all directly related to labor issues something which calls for great planning on the side of a foreign company wishing to invest in Colombia. The above have had a negative effect on the economic environment of the country and have been the leading causes for investors shunning from investing in the country. Besides the above named conditions of crime, there has been of late a wave of economic crime such as hijackings of shipments, ransom demand kidnappings, counterfeit goods trade, all of which have made production costs to go up due to high risks. Colombia is active in regional and international organizations such as UN, Andean community, the Rio group and OAS (Martz, & John, 1962). The country’s political system is a democracy of bicameral congress and independent executive as well as judiciary. The biggest political parties are the Liberal and Conservative currently the president is, Alvaro Uribe. The people speak their ethnic languages of their respective ethnic groups but Spanish is the official and national language, such ethnic groups and languages include; Mestizo, Whites, Blacks, mulatto and Amerindian. The literacy level is very high with 91% of the population being literate which implies that skilled labor is readily available in the country. The people are known to be hospitable and rarely has there been reported animosity related to foreigners. Evidently, Colombia is not a politically stable country something which has resulted from continued guerrilla warfare as well as paramilitary activities. Urban crime rate is very high as well as the insecurity conditions in the whole country. Corruption is reported to be very high couple with drug trafficking and all other manner of social crimes. It is correct to say that Columbia is one of the most unsafe places to invest in and therefore the business should postpone its expansion plans in Colombia and perhaps relocate to other neighboring countries with same strategic business advantages as Columbia but less risks and therefore operational costs..