Ikea Enntering the Russian Market Essay

The best way to search for viable alternative entry strategies is to watch the mistakes IKEA made and the problems they had by entering the Russian market. But first there are several company related attributes to mention. IKEA is a company which is highly related to their Swedish tradition and origin as this is a basically part of their marketing strategy and corporate identity. Many people are connecting IKEA’s Swedish image with the way IKEA is communicating their product range: Cheap, easy and yet reliable and stylish. Because of these conditions given, IKEA is forced to make sure that they are able to transfer these elements of their corporate idea into the Russian market. Of course there always are slightly differences from country to country in the way IKEA communicates to their customers, but adoptions should be limited to executive marketing decisions and not interfere with IKEA’s basic business idea. These previous points are strongly limiting any kind of indirect entry strategy. IKEA needs to keep the conceptional differences between their home markets and the Russian points of sale as small as possible. That means as further the gap is between the original shops and the ones in Russia, the bigger is the chance of a flawed identity. Therefore entry strategies like franchising, licensing and indirect export over all could not be an opportunity to enter the Russian market. The reason is simple: It will get quite hard to find a Russian businessman who is familiar enough with Swedish culture. The franchise guidelines IKEA would be forced to give out would probably fill up thousands of pages and even then, Russian IKEA franchise businesses would communicate anything else but Swedish family piece to their customers. IKEA remains facing the more viable entry strategies of a direct export in terms of opening their own stores in Russia as they did, or to start an alliance as a strategica lly partnership or joint venture. The major problem they IKEA faced by choosing the direct export as an entry strategy was the missing knowledge and experience about the Russian market, its further development, the people and the Russian culture as well as Russian living conditions. The arrangement and adaption of the communication strategy and the product range took place steadily and needed time. Therefore, even if the Russian market potential was still growing and expanding IKEA lost market share and sales power because of wasted resources and by performing a not optimally adjusted marketing strategy. A solution to face these problems from the start of the market  entry would have been to search for a Russian partner company that is capable of IKEA’s missing knowledge. The different opportunities in here are based in the shaping and the form of alliance. IKEA can be sure that they have got a very well working business model. They don’t want to share their success even if a deeper alliance would probably allow them to share loss as well in case of failure. IKEA wants to keep control of the company as it is still private hold and they want to keep it that way in Russia. In addition a joint venture alliance usually is kind of a long term relationship. IKEA indeed just needs a partner to get started in the market Russia. Once they catch on they might want to quickly quit former alliances. In my opinion the best solution would have been a strategic alliance with a possibly quite small partner as the object of trade for IKEA is just knowledge. A small, traditional company that enables IKEA the transfer and arrangement of their culture and company politics into the Russian market by providing all the information IKEA needs to prevent the above-mentioned mistakes. The partner company is not needed to perform in any physical goods business as their relationship to IKEA will only be based on information access. After the successful market entry, the strategic, information based alliance could be quit quickly and easy or getting changed into a usual business relationship, depending on the need of future information supply of IKEA.

Letting Go

Letting Go In each and every one of us, there lies a fear. There are lots of fears in this life but what we're talking about is a fear that dwells inside of us, where mostly we do not tend to reveal it outside. That fear has the potential to eat us up slowly from the inside till it consumes our whole being. This fear is there in each and every single human being no matter how he strong he may be both on the core and the outside. These fears are but many and differ from person to person but I choose to be specific here and that is the fear of letting go.People come and people go in our lives but what hurts the most than letting go of the one you love the most in your life, the one whom you once chose to never leave through thick and thin. People hurt us from time to time. Of course that's Life, No doubt about it, but HURT sometime can leave wounds in our hearts where scars left never seem to fade away. There are some things that time does not seem to mend. Hard to accept but true. But here's the funny part, No matter how or to what extent these people hurt you, yet you still love them.You still chose to be patient. One of the Laws of Nature is the ‘Limits of Tolerance'. There is a certain climax where one can bear a certain kind of pressure. When the â€Å"limit of tolerance† has been reached, the nature provides a feedback mechanism. We rise from dust, nature itself, and back to dust. These laws dwell In all of us. That's when we choose to stay away and give up every virtue of love. Yes. Maybe we've had our closures with them. Maybe we've given a good ending. But the worst comes into the picture when we still think of changing the past.Still wishing sometimes you were a better person, a stronger person to bear hurtful things that the one you love does. Wishing you had done things differently. Wishing â€Å"had they only changed† and what not. This Is when that fear, the fear of letting go grows In our hearts. It consumes our thoughts Like a fire and rages our mind. It freezes our heart cold and turns It like a stone. Here's when we really make a real CHOICE. The choice to let go forever. To stop worrying what the consequences of our actions could be.This fear is, In fact, against the attitude of love (which always bears and stays). Life Is governed by choices and the choice to let go of someone Is the hardest In life. It questions the attitude of love as In ‘Yes I would bear, but even If I did, would It be worth It? † This question Is, again hard to accept, but a fear of letting go. But Life never gives us many choices and the beauty of this fear Is that the questions that It puts In our mind are only answered sometimes by gluing Into the fear Itself and choosing to let go because sometimes that Is the only way we can find out.Kampuchea Deletion By Kampuchea mechanism. We rise from dust, nature itself, and back to dust. These laws dwell in all Maybe we've had our closures with them. Maybe we've given a good ending. But the only changed† and what not. This is when that fear, the fear of letting go grows in our hearts. It consumes our thoughts like a fire and rages our mind. It freezes our heart cold and turns it like a stone. Here's when we really make a real CHOICE. The choice This fear is, in fact, against the attitude of love (which always bears and stays).Life is governed by choices and the choice to let go of someone is the hardest in life. It questions the attitude of love as in miss I would bear, but even if I did, would it be worth it? † This question is, again hard to accept, but a fear of letting go. But Life never gives us many choices and the beauty of this fear is that the questions that it puts in our mind are only answered sometimes by giving into the fear itself and choosing to let go because sometimes that is the only way we can find out. – Kampuchea Dingdong Letting Go Letting Go In each and every one of us, there lies a fear. There are lots of fears in this life but what we're talking about is a fear that dwells inside of us, where mostly we do not tend to reveal it outside. That fear has the potential to eat us up slowly from the inside till it consumes our whole being. This fear is there in each and every single human being no matter how he strong he may be both on the core and the outside. These fears are but many and differ from person to person but I choose to be specific here and that is the fear of letting go.People come and people go in our lives but what hurts the most than letting go of the one you love the most in your life, the one whom you once chose to never leave through thick and thin. People hurt us from time to time. Of course that's Life, No doubt about it, but HURT sometime can leave wounds in our hearts where scars left never seem to fade away. There are some things that time does not seem to mend. Hard to accept but true. But here's the funny part, No matter how or to what extent these people hurt you, yet you still love them.You still chose to be patient. One of the Laws of Nature is the ‘Limits of Tolerance'. There is a certain climax where one can bear a certain kind of pressure. When the â€Å"limit of tolerance† has been reached, the nature provides a feedback mechanism. We rise from dust, nature itself, and back to dust. These laws dwell In all of us. That's when we choose to stay away and give up every virtue of love. Yes. Maybe we've had our closures with them. Maybe we've given a good ending. But the worst comes into the picture when we still think of changing the past.Still wishing sometimes you were a better person, a stronger person to bear hurtful things that the one you love does. Wishing you had done things differently. Wishing â€Å"had they only changed† and what not. This Is when that fear, the fear of letting go grows In our hearts. It consumes our thoughts Like a fire and rages our mind. It freezes our heart cold and turns It like a stone. Here's when we really make a real CHOICE. The choice to let go forever. To stop worrying what the consequences of our actions could be.This fear is, In fact, against the attitude of love (which always bears and stays). Life Is governed by choices and the choice to let go of someone Is the hardest In life. It questions the attitude of love as In ‘Yes I would bear, but even If I did, would It be worth It? † This question Is, again hard to accept, but a fear of letting go. But Life never gives us many choices and the beauty of this fear Is that the questions that It puts In our mind are only answered sometimes by gluing Into the fear Itself and choosing to let go because sometimes that Is the only way we can find out.Kampuchea Deletion By Kampuchea mechanism. We rise from dust, nature itself, and back to dust. These laws dwell in all Maybe we've had our closures with them. Maybe we've given a good ending. But the only changed† and what not. This is when that fear, the fear of letting go grows in our hearts. It consumes our thoughts like a fire and rages our mind. It freezes our heart cold and turns it like a stone. Here's when we really make a real CHOICE. The choice This fear is, in fact, against the attitude of love (which always bears and stays).Life is governed by choices and the choice to let go of someone is the hardest in life. It questions the attitude of love as in miss I would bear, but even if I did, would it be worth it? † This question is, again hard to accept, but a fear of letting go. But Life never gives us many choices and the beauty of this fear is that the questions that it puts in our mind are only answered sometimes by giving into the fear itself and choosing to let go because sometimes that is the only way we can find out. – Kampuchea Dingdong

Impact Of Technology On Architecture Essay

What impact has technology had on architecture of the 20th century? Throughout the nineteenth century, architecture refused to have anything to do with industry; it had been concerned solely with monumental projects glorifying the state and giant civic structures expressing the pride of its people. This however, all changed with the dawn of the twentieth century. Industrial production became an integral part of modern society and a new relationship was forged between man and machine. From the nineteen hundreds on, architecture was viewed in this new light. Modernism and the optimistic belief that architecture could change the future of society through a synthesis of science and technology was the result. It reflected a new ideal for humanity – one that linked man to a new rational culture in tune with mechanization and efficiency. Technology directly affected architecture by facilitating the creation of new materials with which to build. These new materials freed the architect from engineering limitations of the past and allowed for new rational designs based on a buildingOs function. But most importantly, these designs were given form by a new optimistic ideal – that rational design would make for a rational society. Technology transformed architecture into a tool for social and cultural reform. The industrial revolution gave three new materials to the architect of the 20th century: reinforced concrete, steel and glass. The new materials were inexpensive, mass produced and flexible to use. These affected American cities profoundly by allowing greater density through higher buildings. Imagine the typical office floor plate as we know it: open space with a few columns. You couldn’t go as high or have such long spans between columns with timber frame. Chicago is a great example of the kind of boom that occured with this kind of new building technology. One need only to look to the Carson Pirie Scott Building built by Loius H. Sullivan in 1906 to understand the effect that new materials had on architecture of that era (fig.#1). With its wide spans, large horizontal windows and non load-bearing walls, the building has a much lighter and more open feeling than that of  its predecessors. The Carson Pirie Scott buildingOs elevation is expressive of the Chicago Steel frame s tyle made possible by industry. Another example of how new materials affected architecture is the Apartments at 25 bis Rue Franklin in Paris designed by August Perret (fig. #2). He used reinforced concrete for the skeleton of this building , which is visible on its exterior, and which gives it an overall impression of lightness. This also allowed Perret to open up his floor plan in ways that were previously restructed in wood frame construction; the size of the windows was only limited by Paris bye-laws. Structure became expedient, quick to build and flexible to use. Along with Elisha OtisOs electric elevator, these materials – as a direct result of technology – gave birth to the sky scraper and changed the face of architecture forever. Major new buildings projects churches. But more fundamental was the recognition that a new free architecture was neccessary because of the emergence of new building types for which there was no provinance in the history of styles. There were a vast programme of building types – schools, collages, libraries and above all offices. Idealization of industry: > -elimination of ornament > -reduction of form to function(same as elimination of ornament, but > including function also as how space is used) > -expression of ‘essentials’ i.e. structure, skin, floorplate (see > Corb’s Domino house diagram) > -new kind of ethic in architecture-truth, honesty- to the point often of > puritanical fanaticism > -importance of light-almost as if it could cleanse (could make claim > about a purge of the post-grungy workshop industrial world of 19th > century, turning to ordered rationality of production) Lots of white > cleanable surfaces, emph on air and ventilation also. see Corb again > Villa Savoye: Raised off the ground (no dirt), white walls, open spaces, > fluid circulation(curved ramp), roof garden, ribbon wondows > -ideal of universality in architecture: modern materials coming from > industry prodused a standardization that was envisage to be applicable in > any climate and culture. Corporations naturally picked up on a universal > architectural culture (see â€Å"the International Style† by Johnson) > An > anecdote I heard from a visiting architect > who once had a beer with Mies van der Rohe. Asked Mies â€Å"What materials > would you use to build in Africa ?†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ Glass and Steel†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. â€Å"What materials > would you use for a project in Finland ?†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ Glass and Steel† †¦ â€Å"But > how would you account for the diffecences in climate†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†Proportion† > (This is totally hilarious to architects or anyone who knows Mies well) > > Role of the car: > -look at FLWright’s Broad Acre City schemes- Utopian stuff about the role > of the car in the American landscape. His utopia of the 1930’s is > frighteningly close to what has actually happended to suburban†citie† > like Phoenix > -suburbs > -post-modern architecture emphasis of the legible image of the > architecture- simplified enogh for a building to be read at a glance from > behind the wheel of a car. See Robert Veturi’s ‘Learning From Las Vegas’ > a fun little book full of great insites that unfortunately spawned every > piece of tacky post modern architecture ever made. See Michael Graves > Portland Building for a dumb box with decoration aimed at communicating > mere image to the post modern eye dulled by the assault of T.V. and used > to the speed of a car Social engineers Yet, underlying all the vitality in all the continents was a theme that reflects the need to find something fundamental in architecture, something so real that from it a new style could be rationally developed. Buildings designed with a view to asthetic appeal.

Managerial Accounting for Decision Making Essay

Managerial Accounting for Decision Making - Essay Example Horngren and Sundem, 1990. P- 4’ (MACINTOSH & QUATTRONE. 2010) Management accounting system is a part of the larger control system in the organization used to measure, monitor and motivate the managers and employees in the organization and also to coordinate with the other components of the organization like machine, information, material and technologies etc. For a robust control system it is necessary for the entire control mechanism to support each other, management accounting system can play a great part in coordinating and controlling all the activities in the organization. (MACINTOSH & QUATTRONE. 2010) Management accounting system not only helps in planning and coordinating activities of the organization but also plays a vital role in performance measurement and decision making by providing information for managers to make timely decisions, to be effective and efficient in the execution of the business and to improve overall performance of the organization. ... between financial and management accounting for which one thinks that they both perform the same function like both are used in the reporting purpose and helps managers in analyzing the company’s performance and take action for control. But it’s important to mark the differences and benefits that management accounting can solely provide to the organization. Financial accounting is used at the end of the financial year when auditors come for the audit. They work on the historical data that how company performed during the year and prepare their report for the shareholders confirming company’s accounts give a true and fair view. Management accounting however is used to provide information for managers only on a continuous basis that is it doesn’t wait for the financial year to end. It is forward looking and focuses on information that managers can use to make decisions for the future. Therefore if company has issues and loopholes in the control and informati on systems it can be corrected right on time. Management accounting system in short makes the managers adopt a more forward looking approach for the business. (NEEDLES, POWERS & CROSSON .2010) Part A. 2. Identify from the case study the reasons why Tania thinks that Nosystem Limited should install a management accounting system Analyzing the case given it could be argued that Nosystem needs to install management accounting system. As Tania emphasized that Nosystem is a growing organization now there is a growing need for the planning, control and coordinating activities. By installing management accounting system Nosystem can plan its activities at all levels that is strategic, tactical and operational levels to achieve the ultimate goal and objective of the company mentioned in the mission statement. Further

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

Rumi - Essay Example Rumi’s influence is to be counted on religion in general as Rumi’s mysticism can be applied to the notion of God and human soul in most of the religions of the world. The mystic tradition itself does not adhere to any particular institutional and formal features of a religious system. Though mystic traditions differs from each other based on various features of the notion of God and the relationship of human beings with God, these traditions are stitched together with the thread of spirituality of human being. In the same manner, Rumi also defies the materialistic and the traditional institutional approach of Islam and stresses on the fact that the ascendance to God is only possible through spirituality and devotion to God. In this regard Rumi’s Sufism often resembles to Dante and Whitman. In the mystic tradition of Islam Rumi’s concept of love is the most influential aspect that tends to validate Sufism as an essential part of Islamic theology, in Chittick’s view the Sufi concept of love is to be characterized as ‘gnosis’ in other words, â€Å"wisdom made up of knowledge and sanctity† (Chittick 18). Rumi asserts that man is essentially a theomorphic being, â€Å"a being created in the image of God and therefore as possessing the three basic qualities of intelligence, free-will and speech† (Chittick 7). Here the intelligence of a human being reveals the existence of God before him and free-will enables to take the initiatives to be united with God. Finally Speech provides a man with the means to bridge the illusory gap between man and God. In Rumi’s Sufi doctrine, human speech that serves as the means towards the intimacy of God appears in the form of prayer or invocation. A man can transcend himself to a state -where he feels the presence of God as a real being- though spiritual realization. â€Å"Therefore attainment of metaphysical knowledge† as Chittick says in

IDEO case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

IDEO case study - Essay Example And the project manager would ensure their concepts could be achieved within budget and timeline. Set up large â€Å"Tech Box†, contain the curiosities and interesting gadgets to inspire innovator. Designers could rummage through the stuffs and play with the switch, bottom on them. This motivates their creativity of putting the old things in new use. Built the culture that â€Å"High performing employees were rewarded by being given more challenging projects to lead† , this way encourage them to contribute more in every project as they always have the chance of being group leader once they have high ability. Organizational culture is an essential tool for innovation in any business setting. Consequently, it is true that in order to innovate there is a need to invest in building a strong culture that gives the right atmosphere to the employees and management to get involved. Mutual helping in workplace is a crucial aspect that foresees the success of businesses that depend on creativity in executing all the underlying projects. Encouraging-business culture enables workload sharing and collaborative help coming to the fore; lending expertise, experience and perspective that improve the quality and the execution techniques of different innovation ideas. For instance, IDEO has proved to have achieved a more impressive business culture. The IDEO’s culture has been able to build a help-friendly environment within its premises. The firm has employed more than 300 employees al with engineering educational backgrounds including its founder. The number is sufficient in the execution process of different processes within the stipulated budgets and timeframe. Additionally, as the firm deals with technical products they have introduced employee-customer interaction meeting to ensure their customers are satisfied. Such an aspect allows for acquisition of feedback from the product user, an aspect that is crucial for innovation and product improvement

Human Resource Management Assesment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Resource Management Assesment - Essay Example From this study it is clear that  work-life balance is one of those activities which pursue the objective of reducing stresses in employees work environment. This is to create a balance between employee personal life aspects and work activities, to come to better performance and appraisal respectively. This report is about such social HRM norms, in order to access and judge that how such norms are adaptable in organization systems. The primary objective will be to access two of beyond contract activities, first is the work-life balance and second the stress management policy.This paper outlines that  work-life balance is one of social HRM policies which supports employee’s will to manage his or her time in work and in the daily life activities. The concept relates to employee’s participation in work by providing them moral support and enthusiasm towards personal life activities. Such activities may include social networking, joining friends and family, giving suffic ient time at home, self-care and personal health development. When HR managers adapt policies of work-life balance at the work place, their motive is to organize and develop employee’s mental health and behaviour. When the employee becomes mentally stable (stress reduced), he or she is able to create a balance between work and life acting affairs.  The culture of social policies (work-life balance) adaptation comes right from the top, like from the senior HR managers.

Summarise the main criticisms that Jane Jacobs levelled at urban Essay

Summarise the main criticisms that Jane Jacobs levelled at urban planning thought at the beginning of the 1960s, and discuss whether her criticisms are still relevant to planners today - Essay Example Jane Jacobs was particularly active in her role against the surge of urban renewal politics that emerged in the past-war period. She was of the view that modernist urban renewal measures destroyed cities rather than improving the social and economical conditions that needed to be addressed. In the post-war period, that is the period after the Second World War, there arose a need for the redevelopment of bombed cities. It was decided to rebuild them on an organized framework and proper planning. However, there arose many criticisms to the approach adopted by architects and engineers. The critique that Jacobs leveled at the renewal plan was normative in nature, emphasizing on the values of the planning rather than the physical design. One of her significant contributions is her perception of cities as â€Å"problems of organized complexity,† which entail â€Å"dealing simultaneously with a sizeable number of factors which are interrelated into an organic whole† (Jacobs 1992). One of the criticisms that Jacobs put across was the ideology of utopian comprehensiveness. In plan cities effectively and sustain the development plans, Jacobs saw the need to have an acute understanding of the way cities function. If city planners did not understand the lifestyles and needs of the residents, they would not be able to devise a plan that incorporated the needs of the community. Therefore she rejected the ideal models that emerged during post-war planning of towns and cities. According to Jacobs, Howard’s garden city model, and Le Corbusier’s vision of the city of the future and his radiant city did not explicitly illustrate a framework that fulfilled of the needs of the community and led to a more functional urban setting. Her argument was that modern city planners had little insight into the functioning of cities, their models can not

Materialism and Social Well-Being Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Materialism and Social Well-Being - Essay Example Just like any other issue within society, the issue of materialism faces both negative and positive criticism as will be revealed as we proceed by my research. Social well-being on the other hand is an end result state, in which human needs are met, most especially the basic human needs, bearing in mind that the not so wealthy also make up a considerably huge portion of the entire population. Social well-being also considers a fact that the people involved, even in the wider picture, are able to coexist peacefully and harmoniously in the community tending to even show signs and opportunities of the general public growing. It is common to hear or maybe participate in debates arguing upon how materialism in society affects the social wellbeing of the same. I set out to research a much similar case in which the main argument covered is whether or not materialism or what would in other terms be considered as income inequality in a country would or wouldn’t bring down and deteriora te the social well-being level of persons in the same country. It’s a common scenario to see a variation in individual’s lifestyles throughout the society. ... It came out clear that in the western countries, as well as in the UK and its environs, social well-being has faced increased collapse of intergenerational mobility. It is proven that, in developed countries such as the U.S. and the United Kingdom, the young youth, as well as children live a totally contrasting life to that of their parents and grandparents. It is evident that these children grow with very little expectation to improve from the condition in which they were born. In this case, the poor stay poor and the trend continues. Those individuals whom we could refer to as financially stable are in most cases ruled by materialism. This escalates to levels that, it comes a point when every decision they make is materialistic in nature at least to a certain extent. This only results to further degradation of the morals in society, as social well-being is given less consideration every time. Social well-being is best showed when members in a society or an entire community show emp athy towards their fellow members. In view of the current life styles as mentioned above, it is only true to say that there is an inverse relationship between materialism and social well-being. This is in that, individuals who have very high regard for material wealth or else those individuals and parties whom are considered to be materialistic in nature, tend to have little or no regard for social well-being on the other hand. They view with less regard issues concerning others and could at times be deemed to be selfish. It also works vice versa, that individuals who treasure and have high regard for social well-being, have little or no interest in material wealth. Social well-being also sees to it that the general state of affairs meets the basic needs of the populace.

Retaining and Attracting Staff in Organisation Research Proposal

Retaining and Attracting Staff in Organisation - Research Proposal Example Key lessons and findings would be summarised and compiled to provide a useful reference that would be of benefit for any company of any size and in any part of the world in the task of facing this global challenge. First, the characteristic of the workplace is constantly changing because of the increasing globalisation of firms, which has affected firms in several ways such as raising the level of competition, demanding better performance and productivity from employees, and requiring higher standards of innovativeness, work values, skills and attitudes. This increased competition amongst firms has been extended from the marketplace for products and services and into the market for talented employees who need to be attracted and retained with the use of increasingly innovative and effective strategies. Second, the characteristics of the workforce -current, long-term, and incoming - are changing due to several factors, such as demographics, academic and professional qualifications, and job-related expectations. As companies compete and grow, they are increasing the demand for workers in a world where the population of talented workers is not growing as fast as the rise in demand. To take an example, companies need to attract and retain the highly educated Generation Y and the highly mobile Generation X (post-baby boom) and aging baby boomers. The research study will consider these two issues using updated findings based on primary and secondary research data as explained in the next section. The basic foundational materials for the study will be four of the latest research sources on the topic of attraction and retention of staff in organisations. The first is the latest Human Resources Salary Survey 2006/2007 conducted by the Tokyo (Japan)-based global recruitment and consulting agency Michael Page International (Leithead 2007) based on their experiences in global hiring and retention with a

United States History Essay Example for Free

United States History Essay The political, economic and social background of English colonialism during the period of 1603-1763 in North America envisions the great thought of European period of exploration because of its ever-forgotten influence in the New World. In early sixteenth century, many colonies were established in North America and among them the Southern and Central areas of English settlement were discovered to benefit more profit from their landlords of English kingdom. As the colonies maintained the international plan of trade extraction, they have close allegiance with indigenous population. The importance of changing economic and political relationships between the Indians and Englishmen seemed to be an essential issue in the history of North America. It created a sensation to develop the growth of awareness in both Whites and Indians because of their business contacts. To protect themselves and to maintain the business of commercial extractions and to maintain the freedom of religious beliefs, the colonies were established a democratic government during their ruling time period in England. Because of close contact with indigenous population of North America, colonists were faced with varied set of societies who were fundamentally different from the societies in Europe. Most of the colonists treated the native people as ferocious and envisioned them as an icon to structure the society. In a work, The Rediscovery of North America (1990), Lopez says, †¦ the physical destruction of a local landscape to increase the wealth of people who dont live there, or to supply materials to buyers in distant places who will never know the destruction that process leaves behind . The main feature that resulted by English colonization was massive immigration, which brought out the concept of multiculturalism. Broadly speaking, colonialism forms the economic and political strategies of domination with the principles self-government over the population. The other essential feature of English colonization in North America in the period of 1607-1763 was the European global expansionism, which was treated in late fifteenth century with an emphasis on English expansionism in North America. Basically, the European immigration to the America had been studied in histories, diaries and classics. The main purpose of European immigration to America may be to get freedom from religious discrimination and to develop economic strategy. The negative aspect, by the European settlers when entered the America during fifteenth century was lose of population by dreadful diseases like small pox, measles. Because of this reason, European settlement drastically reduced the North America population. As the colonists brought a wide range of deadly diseases from European cities and spread in North America, most of the people of North America were suffered, as they had no immunity to protect from dreadful diseases. Because of the European settlement, the North America faced many critical situations by colonization. Thus the struggle between European imperial powers and the social, economic, and political issues of late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in North America were remained as the memorable milestone in American history. On the other side, the invasion of European global expansionism brought out the Western civilization in the New World, by the introduction of four major common languages. 1) English 2) Spanish 3) Portuguese 4) French. The colonies introduced many European concepts to the Americas such as European written form of communication, their form of government, and European technological knowledge of science, medicine and art to develop the world to a great extent. Hence the English colonization in North America was placed a dynamic position into the global political economy in the period 1603-1763 and became as a source of narrative to many authors to portray the ever last moment of American history. References: Lopez, Barry. The Rediscovery of North America. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1990. Marx, Leo. The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral ideal in America . New York: Oxford University Press, 1964. McCall, Barbara. The European Invasion. (Native American Culture. Jordan E. Kerber, series editor. ) Rourke Publications, Inc. , 1994. Roger L. Nichols. The American Indian: Past and Present, 4th Edition. McGraw-Hill, 1992. Wood, Marion. DOttavi, Francesca, illus. Myths and Civilization of the Native Americans. Peter Bedrick Books, 1998.

Mobile phone and Landline phone Essay Example for Free

Mobile phone and Landline phone Essay Phones are important because we rely on them to communicate with other people. Despite the cell phone cannot give you a clear, crystal clear connection as a landline phone. Landline phone is a device which we connect to the output of our homes and businesses. On the other hand, cell phones and mobile have the capacity and advanced technology. While they both perform the same basic function, there are significant differences between landline and mobile phones. There are many differences between landline and mobile phones. Convinces of having a cell phone is that you can have it on hand where ever you go. As for a landline you cannot take it with you. Cell phone have a GPS technology that can find your exact location or where you trying to go. Cell phone also can give you the chance to take live pictures or video camera whereas landline cannot. Cell phone has great features such as watch TV, MP3 players, can store all our contact information, keep track of our appointments, and important dates. The most important advantage of landlines for cell phones that 9-1-1 operators can better determine your location in an emergency. When you call 9-1-1 from a landline phone, the operator can find the exact address where the call originated. When you call 9-1-1 from a cell phone, on the other hand, the operator only receives information about your approximate latitude and longitude, which can be from 50 to 300 yards. If you are in an emergency and cannot speak to give 9-1-1 operator your location, have stationary can save your life. The similarity of landline and cell phone is the fact that they are both used for communication. One quality of the technology they are good for emergencies, for example, if you just need to call a friend or family, as the technology can do this. Both are good and reliable person depends on your needs. In conclusion, we know that cell phones are more comfortable and fashionable than landline. Phones have improved over the year; we have gone from the house phone to cell phones. Cell phones and home phones are similar in a couple of ways, but very different in many ways. Nowadays we see people on the streets with their cell phones, as many people know that its easier and cheaper

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL)

Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) ORIENT OVERSEAS CONTAINER LINE (OOCL) 01.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF OOCL. Container shipping is most popular types of merchant shipping over the world. Due to size, use, and accessibility, it is famous and convenient for transporting from one place to another place to all customers from small trader to big trader. OOCL is the leading container main line operator in shipping industry having own information technology facilities. OOCL is a wholly-owned subsidiary company of OOIL (Orient Overseas International Limited) group which listed on Hong Kong Stock exchange as a public limited company. OOCL is one of the worlds largest integrated international container transportation, logistics and terminal companies having global brand images in container shipping (OOCL, 2010a) The founder of OOCL is CY Tung who dreamed to create Chinese merchant fleet in international shipping. In 1947, he succeeded when first ship with all Chinese crew reached in USA and Europe under the name of his company Orient Overseas Line (OOL). Due to the demand of container vessel and age of containerisation in shipping, OOL renamed to OOCL in 1962. Today, it has more than 230offices in 58 countries around the world and the present Chairman is CC Tung. OOCL Mission Statementis â€Å"To be the best and most innovative international container transport and logistics service provider; providing a Vital Link to world trade and creating value for our customers, employees, shareholders and partners† ( OOCL,2010b). The core values of OOCL for people or employee of the company, customers and wants to maintain high standard of services through community responsibilities. OCCL is a renewed container carrier who has own mother and feeder vessel, rail track, containers, trailers and terminals. In December 2008, OOCL awarded â€Å"Best of the Best† ocean career by World Trade Magazine of USA (Shister, 2008).All vessels of OOCL achieved the quality certificate of QUALSHIP 21 issued by US Coast Guard. However, recent world recession covered OOCL also and its container traffic fell 17.2 per cent compared with the first half of 2008, while revenue fell 37.2 per cent to $2.05bn and operating loss for the half of $197m, against a $216m profit in the first half of 2008 ( Lau and Wright,2009). United Nations Conference on Trade and development- UNCTAD positioned OOCL within the leading container transport operators of 20 MLO (Main Line Operators). Year Position Number Of Vessels TEU Capacity (TEU-Twenty feet Equivalent) 2008 11 90 364384 2007 09 84 351542 2006 12 71 275057 2005 11 68 236018 2004 11 63 216527 Figure 1 (Table) Performance of OOCL in world container trade 2004-2008 (UNCTAD,2010) The position of the OOCL is world container industry is fluctuating highly year by year. There is no constant improving that means growth in performance indicator by UNCTAD. However, they are increasing the number of vessel and container capacity (TEU capacity) in every year. Within 5 years they increased the number of vessels approx 50% and capacity over 68%. As a total logistics service provider, OOCLs international freight consolidation and logistics service unit, OOCL Logistics, provides its customers with innovative freight management services and leading-edge IT solutions. OOCL China Domestic Ltd. offers extensive domestic distribution services and supply-chain management to customers in China, the growing market which OOCL has been serving for over 50 years ( OOIL,2010 ) OOCL is renowned for its pioneering approach to developing intermodal connections. All means of intermodal transport are carefully integrated with trunk ocean services to offer seamless connections across continents using feeder services, barges, trucks and block trains (OOCL, 2010c) 02.STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT People have different views for understanding, developing and implementing strategy economically and timely to gain special advantages in business. Before taking any strategy, need to justify and assess the organisations present situation especially internal environment of the organisation. After that, external environment will help to set a preliminary plan for going forward. This is very important to assess the situations by marketing mix and political factors also. In a study (Johnson et all, 2005) of strategic exploration found that, there are three strategy lenses: design, experience and ideas which are useful to develop a strategy in a organisation. Model of Strategic Management (Johnson et all, 2005) The above model indicates that strategic management indicates the strategic position of a organisation depends on the environment and its capabilities to adapt also its expectations. The choice of strategy may be in business level or corporate-level; it may be internationally for the development of the organisation by following the strategic direction or methods. Furthermore, need to organise, enable the strategy into action to get competitive advantage. The research and development of the strategy based on the some environment analysis such as SWOT, PESTLE , value chain , Porters Five forces mode and etc. By applying these organisations can find the position where it placed and take effective measure to correct modify for developing the situation. 03.SWOT ANALYSIS FOR OOCL In a study Stacey (2000) stated that â€Å"SWOT analysis is the list of an organisations strengths and weaknesses indicated by an analysis of its resources and capabilities, plus a list of the opportunities and threats that an analysis of its environment identities. Strategic logic obviously requires that the future pattern of actions to be taken should match strengths with opportunities, ward off threats, and seek to overcome weaknesses.†(P-5). In addition, Strengths (Koch, 2000) can serve as a foundation for building a competitive advantage, and weaknesses may hinder it. By understanding these four aspects of its situation, a firm can better leverage its strengths, correct its weaknesses, capitalize on golden opportunities, and deter potentially devastating threats Container Shipping is the most complicated globalized industry which has to compete with internal competitors like other container operators also homogenous business like dry bulk or tanker operators. Moreover, it has a big competition with air transportation. Customer always wants to know the good and bad matters of the company before stuffing his cargo. By SWOT analysis of a company we can easily find out the negative and positives of an organisation. So, SWOT analysis is very important for developing company profile by correcting present weaknesses and aware the threats internally, externally and environmentally. OCCL has huge competition with other operators nationally and internationally and need to manage small shipper or big customer, moreover, fluctuation of international trade create the environment to forecast its all sight. Furthermore, it is a customer focused organisation. SWOT analysis will help to attract the customer for better business also develops the organisation economically and socially. 04.SWOT ANALYSIS A. STRENGTHS OF OOCL OOCL is a subsidiary of a global group of company OOIL group, Hong Kong. They can take any organizational or financial help from the group even from the government. Offering quality services in Asia, Europe, America and Australasia where container service is highly demanded as quick ocean transportation and easy access to shipper or consignee premises. Quick and speedy service, transit time is less, easy connection, global service network Pioneer in IT (Shipping).Very strong in information technology. Vendor services are performing by specialized software â€Å"Operationsmart†, â€Å"Depotsmart† and â€Å"Schedulesmart†. Vendor can easily log on and contract with OOCL from anywhere by using this facilities. Any customer can know his cargo position by this link. All vessels are handling by using information technology. Has own carriers (Mother and feeder vessels), rail track ( Owned in China and partnership in America Europe) Global brand image identification to trader, importer and exporter. Trained and skilled employees whos are really professional devoted in their jobs. Market leader in refrigerated container trade and temperature -controlled environment over ocean, rail and load line. Strong intermodal network in Asia, Europe and America. â€Å"DGsmart† which cares the dangerous goods customer. OOCL provides training for all for handling these types of cargo B. WEAKNESSES OF OOCL High competition and market fluctuation. Insignificant market growth of the line. No constant business growth in the industry. High freight costs. Peak season surcharge on service routes. Limited allocation of container in various routes and country GSA trade in maximum country. No direct trade for maximizing profit and mass customization. Imbalance of equipment. Huge lease container. Africa service is not available. C. OPPORTUNITIES OF OOCL OOCL can increase the number of vessels and container as world demand is increasing day by day. Introduction of Africa and South American services and intermodal connection there. Increase market share in Asian region by direct business. Introduction of feeder service in south Asia and investment in terminal business. More investment in port and terminal business. D. THREATS OF OOCL World recession which may be incurred huge loss which will impact to the share market and shareholders view to divert from their position or sell the share. Due to surcharge or extra payment, customer may divert to other operators. Heavy competition with national and international carrier. Globalization of the industry. May loose domestics cargo. Limited Feeder Vessel allotment from hub port to spoke port in Asian market 05.BUSINESS STRATEGY Business strategy is the key component of developing the organisation as reputed organisation of the world. In addition, it will help to establish the operational guidelines by which company can proceed step by step. This good plan may help to reach the target point for achieving the desired outputs. It will help to make plan, revision, control and implementation of the project. In a study Lasserre ( 2007) argued that a company business strategy is a set of fundamental choices which defines its long-term objectives, its value proposition to the market, how it intends to build and sustain a competitive business system and how it organises itself. He added that a business strategy will generally cover the followings for getting the maximum outcomes:- Ambition. This will help to set a long-term objectives of the company by which it is possible to create a target especially increasing the size of the organization economically, nationally and internationally. Positioning. It will add the value proposition to customer. Branding the product and service, customer segmentation, preference of customer choices will set a standard of the company and good position on the market. Investment. Business strategy will help to create the environment of investment for going very near of the customer. Also create a system that is able to deliver value to customers competitively. Organization. The profound beliefs of the organization will add value to the employee and long-term working facilities will develop a good structure of human resources management. From human resources to the production, everywhere will be a process and will maneuver the organization in a system. The business strategy of an organisation may be different in different location or region. The company business strategy may be FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), MA (Merger and acquisition), Diversification, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) or Global Strategy or any corporate strategies that will dominate or indicate how the company will bring competitive advantages to do business. 06.DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY OF OOCL a)Diversification Diversification (Johnson et all, 2005) is a strategy that takes the organisation into both new markets and products or services and be undertaken for a variety of reasons, value creating than others. It may gain the economies of scope by organisations existing facilities also corporate managerial capabilities. Keeping the product is the main challenge of diversification. Instead of increasing growth, it sometimes is a burden for the organisation. The growth of the core business of the organisation may create the financial or distribution channel strength to expand the business in related or unrelated function. Sometimes managers or employee motivates the owners to engage in new business. In addition, the good brand value may attract to diversify the product or introduce new product by which company can give additional customer service. Furthermore, offer from government to do business in a new area or product for protecting the national interest towards a strong position of the compa ny also financial stability in a country. In a research of diversification , Reed and Luffman ( 1986) argued that basic strategic aims can only be decided after deliberate concentration on the companys present limitation and future needs which helps to survive, growth , use of resources or adapting to customer then diversification is one alternative in several option available to the company. They also added that analysis of market; material supplies, technological development and production process are required before moving to the decision of diversification. Where the opportunity is available but risk to develop, organisation may not diversify from their core business. The assessment to expand the business in various ways can help to take a decision in what way they will look forward towards existing or new customer but offering the qualitative product or service depends on the customers desire and availability of channel by which they can promote the product or service. Otherwise, risk will be increased and core business may be hampered by the new one. Grant (2008) argued that diversification strategy or decisions by the company involves for two issues: attraction of the industry and output by competitive advantages. The economics of scope can be tangibles or intangible resources of the company even organisational capabilities can also be transferred within the diversified company. OOCL had competitive advantages by its diversified products like information systems and terminal business. The group business expanded business in related and unrelated industry for getting the logistics support for its core business ocean shipping. He prescribed that diversification motivates the organisation for growing, reducing risk and making profit to create inconsistency of shareholder view. OOCL diversified in both concentric and conglomerate to develop their organisation economically also creating brand value. But they highly focused on concentric diversification because shipping is the derived demand and highly globalized business where customer needs all kind of logistics support. Providing the logistics support they made strong information systems from the origin of transport to the final destination which one is the full version of logistics. The OOIL group diversified in container business by creating the OOCL logistics which helps to add value in their core business ocean shipping. In addition, they involved in port terminal business in Kaoshiung (China) and Long Beach (North America) which form an integral part of international containerised transport business ( OOIL,2010a). The cargo smart is the innovative software of OOCL by which they can keep relation with their clients in 24 hours. Preliminary it is developed for their own organisations but now using by most of the logistics company of the world. It ( CargoSmart,2010) is a Software as a Service (SaaS) global shipping and logistics solutions provider that enables companies to lower transportation management costs, streamline operations, and reduce the risk of late shipments. For getting the domestics cargo, they established OOCL china domestics limited for getting the domestics cargo which also add value in their business. Due to heavy industrialization in China and having competition with national and international shipping company, OOCL diversified in their product to create a good marketing approach to the local trader. Kaoshiung port terminal is supporting them by giving logistics centre facilities to the shipper and consignee in China. Furthermore, road and rail transportation also help to attract the customer as it is the multimodal facilities for transporting the cargo at carriers risk. Enhance, they structured intermodal service in China, Europe and North America In conglomerate diversification, they established property business in two countries ( China and USA) as OODL which helps to increase the shareholder value and future of the company for any crisis or recovery of their core business. b) Vertical Integration in OOCL There is a vertical integration in OOCL diversification as they set a list of product and service in front of their clients. The core business of OOCL is ocean shipping that means selling the vessel space to the customer and providing the facilities of instrument container for caring the cargo. Along with this business they integrated the services by backward and forward integration. The backward facilities are the information facilities by which customer can log on from any place of the world. In addition, Logistics Company like OOCL logistics, intermodal systems also added in backward integration. The forward facilities are port and terminal business which added value to attract the customer for clearing the cargo easily and economically. C) Performance and Outcomes. Diversification and performance are correlated in their potential activities but depends on the acceptance of the customer. Grant (2008) believes that diversification has the potential to create value for shareholders where it exploits economics of scope and where transaction costs in the market for resources make it inefficient to exploit these economics of scope through market contracts. The shipping market depends on its cycles from the ship building to scrapping and mid times using facilities. Moreover, its perishable service where customization is very important to use its all cycles. As a container service main line operator, it is very difficult to run the business by only its vessel performance but also need connecting facilities to keep the customer. Diversification in OOCl helps to create logistics products or service like Cargo Smart, Intermodal, Port Terminal and catalyst their core business ocean shipping. The conglomerate diversification of OOCL in property business he lped to survive in recession. Due ( Reuters,2010) to global economic downturn and company huge loss in this downturn , OOIL group has sold $2.2 billion in Chinese property to raise cash and focus on its core shipping business. 07. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The diversification strategy of OOCL is partially failure. Due to economic downturn, group is unable to sustain and sold their unrelated property business OODL. It will be impacted to their core business because shareholder will not be influenced to keep their share. In addition, they had opportunity for developing their business in port terminals but sold two terminals out of four. Port terminals are big access of a shipping company. However, their present terminal is using by their own and grand alliance vessels. The best option for container shipping in strategic management may be in global strategy because this is the highly globalised industry. They can choose the strategy for increasing their services in all over the world. Some companies are very successful in MA like MAERSK. They merged with Sealand firstly and finally acquired PO Nedlloyd which one is the great and highly capitalized acquisition in shipping industry. OOCL has great opportunity to merge with some African or South American container line to diversify their business in these regions. It will bring more customers. In addition, their core competence of HR policy indicated that CSR may be the best strategy to develop the business. The Grand Alliance ( Hapag-lloyd,2009) formed in 1998 is the leading integrated consortium in global container shipping by the leading main line operator in container shipping Hapag-Lloyd (Germany), MISC Berhad (Malaysia), NYK (Japan) and OOCL (Hong Kong). Jointly they are introducing shipping rout es and new services day by day to extend the container shipping. 08.CONCLUSION Lasserre (2007) stated that managers, politicians, journalists and academics are commonly using the concept of globalization along with global industries, competition, or corporation or strategies to globalize or die. Container shipping industry is highly globalised as it is the derived demand of world trade. Moreover, it has to fight with same line industry like dry bulk or tanker shipping. The business rivalry among the main line container operators is very high. In addition, world alliance by some companies that making groups and start consolidated business is the new dimension to minimize the loss or maximizing the profit. Strategic alliance between two or more firms like the grand alliance of OOCL with other operators brought competitive advantages in business. OOCL is the family business organisation and featured the core competency of human resources. SWOT analysis of the organisation and diversification strategy may show the ways to face the global economic downturn and be mo re strategic in their business.

Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin In The Sun :: Essays Papers

A Raisin In The Sun "A Raisin in the Sun" was written by Lorraine Hansberry. It has won her an award in 1959, at age 29, the youngest American, the fifth woman, and the black playwright to win the Best Play of the Year Award of the New York Drama Critics. This book of the play has been put in its entire form. The original play did not include some scenes. This book has been an inspiration to a lot people. In my personal opinion, the central message is to show how the value systems of black families are. In some ways they are unique, but most ways are exactly the same as white families. In most white and black families, God is the center and heart of the family. An example of how strong an influence on families is when Beneatha and Lena argue about God's existence. "Beneatha: Mama, you don't understand. It's all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don't accept. It's not important. I am not going out and be immoral or commit crimes because I don't believe in God. I don't even think about it. It's just that I get tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no blasted God-there is only man and it is he who makes miracles!" After Beneatha had finished her argument, Lena slapped her across her face and made Beneatha say, "In my mother's house there is still God". Lena stressed out her points that she will not tolerate any ideas like that in her house, or as long as she's around. Black families have a huge sense of pride of where they come from. For example, Asagai always talked about Africa and how it will be good for him if he goes there. He even asked Beneatha if she would go with him. ''Asagai: Nigeria. Home. (Coming to her with genuine romantic flippancy) I will show you our mountains and our stars; and nice you cool drinks from gourds and teach you the old songs and the ways of our people-and, in time, we will pretend that- (Very Softly)-you have only been away for a day. Say that you'll come- (He swings her around and takes her full in his arms in a kiss which proceeds to passion)"

Pro Legalization of Marijuana Essay examples -- essays research papers

Cannabis has been illegal since the Marijuana Tax act of 1934. Yet out of a population of 284 million American citizens, 70 million Americans claim to have smoked cannabis at some point in their lives. Prohibition of cannabis is therefore apparently ineffective at changing the habits of a population, just as prohibition of alcohol was ineffective in 1919-1933. Making otherwise law-abiding citizens fugitives does nothing more than fill the prisons and alienate the populace from their government. In fact the total cost to taxpayers of solely marijuana-related incarceration (in local, state, and federal prisons and jails) of 15,400 people exceeds $1.2 million per year. There have been many studies performed to try to prove that the effects of marijuana are worse than other medications. Unfortunately, 9 out of 10 of the studies found that marijuana is in fact safer than many of our everyday prescription and over the counter drugs. Never in United States history has their been even one case of someone dieing or being injured from the use of marijuana an illegal drug. But every year many people die from use of Americas popular legal drugs. A combined 50,000 plus people die a year from use of over the counter drugs. 90 percent of these deaths are caused by aspirin and caffeine pills. 150,000 plus people die a year from over use of alcohol. Not including the fact that alcohol is the main reason for 50 percent of all motor vehicle accidents and the cause of 60 percent of all murders in the United States. Tobacco, another of Americas highly used legal drugs kills close to 500,000 people per year. If the government did legalize marijuana the National debt would be greatl... ...have found evidence that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and other cannabinoids have a direct effect on pain signals in the central nervous system, by tracing the biochemical pathway that pain signals follow from the site of an injury, through the spinal cord, to the brain. How can you ignore a drug that aids in the relief of these terminal diseases? Marijuana is more effective than conventional drugs in many instances. Denying cannabis treatment to the sick and dying is cruel and unnecessary. Marijuana has and will drastically help the people of our country in many ways. The terminally ill patients and anyone that uses marijuana does not pose a threat to the public in any way shape or form and there for, with all these facts stated the United States clearly needs to rethink there marijuana laws and legalize this drug of wonders for public use.

Fanons The Wretched Of The Earth and Foucaults Discipline and Punish :: Wretched Of The Earth Essays

Fanon's  The Wretched Of The Earth and  Foucault's Discipline and Punish Fanon's book, "The Wretched Of The Earth" like Foucault's "Discipline and Punish" question the basic assumptions that underlie society. Both books writers come from vastly different perspectives and this shapes what both authors see as the technologies that keep the populace in line. Foucault coming out of the French intellectual class sees technologies as prisons, family, mental institutions, and other institutions and cultural traits of French society. In contrast Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) born in Martinique into a lower middle class family of mixed race ancestry and receiving a conventional colonial education sees the technologies of control as being the white colonists of the third world. Fanon at first was a assimilationist thinking colonists and colonized should try to build a future together. But quickly Fanon's assimilationist illusions were destroyed by the gaze of metropolitan racism both in France and in the colonized world. He responded to the shattering of his neo-colonial identity, his white mask, with his first book, Black Skin, White Mask, written in 1952 at the age of twenty-seven and originally titled "An Essay for the Disalienation of Blacks." Fanon defined the colonial relationship as one of the non recognition of the colonized's humanity, his subjecthood, by the colonizer in order to justify his exploitation. Fanon's next novel, "The Wretched Of The Earth" views the colonized world from the perspective of the colonized. Like Foucault's questioning of a disciplinary society Fanon questions the basic assumptions of colonialism. He questions whether violence is a tactic that should be employed to eliminate colonialism. He questions whether native intellectuals who have adopted western methods of thought and urge slow decolonization are in fact part of the same technology of control that the white world employs to exploit the colonized. He questions whether the colonized world should copy the west or develop a whole new set of values and ideas. In all these questionings of basic assumptions of colonialism Fanon exposes the methods of control the white world uses to hold down the colonies. Fanon calls for a radical break with colonial culture, rejecting a hypocritical European humanism for a pure revolutionary consciousness. He exalts violence as a necessary pre-condition for this rupture. Fanon supported the most extreme wing of the FLN, even opposing a negotiated transition to power. His book though sees the relationship and methods of control in a simplistic light; he classifies whites, and native intellectuals who have adopted western values and tactics as enemies.

Human Communication Essay

In order to discuss fully the concept of cultural differences in human communication, it is important to tackle this in light of Latin communication. Aside from the fact that the United States and several Latin countries are geographical neighbors, it is undeniable that the American society of today is very much diverse. There are a growing number of Latin populations in the American society, thus interacting and communicating with one is inevitable. This topic is very interesting because we are not only looking at the idea of cultural differences, but we also apply it to the aspect of Latin communication. Communication is an integral part of the society, and with the Latin demographics to consider, it really deserves to be studied and be understood. In a reference used for this research, it was found out that the difference between Latin and other languages used for communication is crucial because it may be misinterpreted or be inappropriately used in communicating between cultures. A Latin word inappropriately used by an American speaker may be offensive, and vice versa. Even actions or behavior could also be misunderstood, or be considered impolite if not done properly. A concrete example would be kissing and hugging (U. S. Institute of Languages, 1995). In Latin, these are acts of simple communication as a greeting. Men and women alike do this, purely a friendly gesture with no romantic meaning being attached. Another reference focused on cultural differences in Latin communication when it comes to the workplace (Wederspahn, 2001). It focused on various concerns like communicating with bosses, peers, and subordinates, as well as dealing with people from other cultures. This research is important in communication because it helps in bridging the gap between different cultures. Knowing about a different culture like Latin is a big step in understanding it. If it is properly understood, then a good communication may proceed. The person communicating would know the boundaries and limits to the Latin communication process. He knows what should be and what shouldn’t be done, as well as what the other person might think with his actions. This improves the flow of communication, thus helping destroy the cultural barrier in communication. References: U. S. Institute of Languages. (1995). Spanish Culture and Nonverbal Communication. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www. spanishprograms. com/spanish-culture. htm Wederspahn, G. M. (2001). Cross-Cultural Communication Between Latin American and U. S. Managers. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www. grovewell. com/pub-Latin+US-mgrs. html

Compare and contrast Essay

F. Scott Fitzgerald, a well-known writer of Jazz Age, wrote fictitious stories but most of them were based on his real life experiences. His wild and tragic experiences and struggles of life are clearly reflected in his stories. Even the reader understands the sequence of the story and clearly imagines the time period in which it must have occurred. The border between a real life experience and a fictitious story completely vanishes while reading Fitzgerald’s stories. Fitzgerald tried to use experimental techniques in his fiction through his two stories, ‘May Day’ and ‘The Diamond as Big as he Ritz’ and that helped him in his later works as well. ‘May Day’ is one of the best examples of his realistic stories. The story takes place after World War II and has many artistic visual descriptions that make the reader imagine the whole situation and surroundings. In chapter 1 there is description of Gordon when he enquires about Phillip Dean in Biltmore Hotel. The enquirer was dressed in a well-cut, shabby suit. He was small, slender, and darkly handsome; his eyes were framed above with unusually long eyelashes and below with the lue semicircle of ill health, this latter effect heightened by an unnatural glow which colored his face like a low incessant fever. (Chapter – 1, May Day) Fitzgerald makes the reader view New York City as on May Day in 1919. Here the readers could experience everything like the society dance, scene that includes a disorderly crowd of war veterans and also office of a socialist newspaper. The protagonist in this story of Fitzgerald prefers to suicide rather than marry a lower-class woman who tried to seduce him. In 1922, Fitzgerald wrote another short story ‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz’ which ould be referred more accurately as a fantasy. In this story refined vindictiveness of the Washingtons, who live on the top of a diamond mountain and want to murder their guests to keep up the secret of the place. Fitzgerald, in fact wants to make the reader get aware of the situation in United States at that time along with its capitalism with the help of Washingtons and this story can be best termed as a political metaphor. The time when this story was written, the economy was flourishing and the political system was full of suspicion and sense of isolation. The Washington’s country was depicted as complete in itself with natural resources, political prisoners, own defense system and so on. The writer artistically visualizes the situation and the reader is left spellbound with it. Washingtons even tried to bribe God, which shows that they had taken their isolated country to an extreme, which could be symbolic for United States. This unique style of Fitzgerald of relating present symbolically through his fictions was quite admired by his critics too. The time when he was writing was very sensitive and ny kind of direct attack on politics or prevailing situation would create lot of problems for him. So this was the right and matured style of writing to approach target readers. This is the reason why most of Fitzgerald’s stories are favorites among readers specially ‘May Day’ and ‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz’. Both the stories are different when plots are considered but the style and artistic visualizations used in both are remarkable. The characters and their feelings shown are quite natural and reader immediately gets into it.

MLK and Thoreau

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Henry David Thoreau were two very different individuals that lived in two very different times, but each one of them contributed to history in substantial ways. In addition to their work in adding to progressive thought, each man left behind a document that expressed revolutionary ideas that should be followed by all people. For King, his literary moment in the sun happened amongst the worst of circumstances. He sat down in the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama to pen a brave work that would become known as Letters from Birmingham Jail. For Thoreau, his piece was known as Civil Disobedience. The two works came about in response to different events, but both represented an idea that can still be studied today. Both writers took a significant, individual view on whether or not it was alright to use one’s conscience to disobey unjust laws. Both men stand by their position that following the law is only the right thing to do if the law is the right thing. In Letters from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. is writing specifically to the leaders of the city of Birmingham. Those men had locked him up for leading a rally for Civil Rights, but King was not going to be silenced while sitting in jail. In fact, his voice rang loud and clear in his letter. King was not happy with the situation in the Deep South and particularly, in Birmingham. When the leaders of Birmingham heard that King was coming to town, they chastised King and the other â€Å"outsiders† for invading their space. In his letter from the jail, King writes, â€Å"I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham† (King 1963). To King, action had to be taken, even if that was illegal action. For him, it was much more important for a man to let his conscience guide his decisions about the law. After all, it was man’s responsibility to decide what law is just and what law is not just. In describing his reasoning for breaking some laws, while obeying other laws, King does not waver. He clearly indicates that a man must let his conscience lead the way when he writes, â€Å"One may well ask, â€Å"How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?† The answer is found in the fact that there are two types of laws: there are just laws, and there are unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that, ‘An unjust law is no law at all’† (King 1963). King’s position on the issue is one that may have been lambasted by the leaders of that time, but it holds up in history’s eyes. To him, laws were only to be followed if they had been written in a way that was right according to man. For Henry David Thoreau, his writing did not come as a result of being locked up, but rather as a commentary on the state of government and man. He wrote Civil Disobedience in 1849, during a time when many governments around the world were changing. For Thoreau, a major problem existed in the way that people went about following laws. He had little patience for folks that blindly listened to what governments had to say without first thinking about those things for themselves. It was his position that this sort of blind acceptance was both irresponsible and downright dangerous for human beings. If they were going to protect themselves against unfair and unjust governments, men had to have a mind of their own. In his work, Thoreau writes, â€Å"Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right† (Thoreau 1849). This single quotation is one that basically sums up what he thought about following unjust laws. He was a thinker by nature, which meant that much of his theory was given with a broad scale approach. Still, it does not take much to understand where Thoreau was coming from. He feels it an absolute waste for man to be given such a good brain and a good conscience and not know how to use it for the better. He feels that it is not only the responsibility of man to protect himself from wrongdoing, but to also protect his government from wrongdoing. If a man does not think for himself about the rightness or wrongness of a law, then he is giving up that right and forfeiting that responsibility. Later in his work, Thoreau goes on to write, â€Å"The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation on conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience† (Thoreau, 1849). The viewpoints of these two men are in accordance on this issue. Though they did not have to go through the same trials and tribulations in their respective lives, both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Henry David Thoreau had to face moral questions within themselves. For King, his mission was one that was laid on his heart to both his help his people gain Civil Rights and to protect the nation from falling into a backwards way of thinking. Though Thoreau’s viewpoint is taken at a much broader level, he feels the same way about how a man should think. Just because the legal code that was written by men says that something is illegal does not mean that it is wrong. This is the basic dichotomy that each man presents in his argument. Legality and rightness do not always have to coincide, though they sometimes do. Though it is sometimes difficult for human beings to get around following laws in order to stick strictly to their conscience, this is what both men feel is necessary for the advancement of society. According to the writings of both men, no greatness or progressive movements can ever be accomplished by men that are willing to blindly accept what they know in their soul is the wrong thing to do. It takes bravery and guts to stand up to the law in defense of the conscience, but this is something that both men had to do at one point during their lives. That obligation is reflected in their writings.

Operations objectives at Penang Mutiara Essay

Qn 1a) Describe how you think Wernie will make sure that the way he manages the hotel is appropriate to the way it competes for business; Penang Mutiara, being one of the most prestigious hotels in Penang, have managed to secure a foothold in this lucrative and highly competitive environment. Wernie has the vision and very clear focused beliefs about the importance of running an effective operation where customers have every right to demand for first class service which they are obliged to provide for. Assuming neighbouring competitors such as Pelangi Beach Resort Langkawi and Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort who is adopting common strategies like pricing and product strategies, Penang Mutiara aim at providing impeccable quality and customer orientated strategy to provide a personal touch as part of its uniqueness to retain customers. In order to compete for business and to keep abreast with stiff competition in the hotel industry, currently, Wernie adopted impeccable quality strategy where he recognizes that â€Å"it is impeccable service which gives us our competitive advantage, not price.† Since it is cheaper to retain regular guests than to attract new ones, he understand the advantage of retaining regular guests through providing impeccable services which will in a way retain high occupancy rates to keep costs down while achieving reasonable profitability. To achieve that, he set basic standards for his staff to be well trained, knowledgeable, sensitive and anticipative to think ahead in order to provide basic and value-added services to satisfy customer’s needs. The ability to remember regular customer’s information and personal preferences can also add on to a personal touch upon their next visit. Additionally, quality services in terms of providing stylish design and top-class materials and being able to practise good preventive maintenance to the building structure and equipment is also another way of sustaining high class image and luxury atmosphere to create a comfortable feeling to welcome visiting guests. Wernie also measure the performance based on five performance objectives of Quality, Speed, Dependability, Flexibility and Cost. To conclude, even though Penang Mutiara managed to maintain its competitiveness with their current strategy in the short run, however it is not sufficient to remain competitiveness due to volatile market demand. Moreover, with the emergence of the global tourism, hospitality industry and globalization with competition from ubiquitously, the need to augment existing and new strategies need to be address speedily. Qn 1b) Describe how you think Wernie will implement any change in strategy; Wernie should introduce new strategies to supplement and implement further changes to enhance the existing strategy. To implement speedily new changes in the short term, supply chain management method can be used to improve internal processes rapidly can also be utilised to stay competitive. The strength of Penang Mutiara includes the strategic location of being secluded and tranquil and with Wernie who has vast experience at managing luxury hotel worldwide, he has the ability to lead and influence the staff to bring about better internal functions. To sustain existing quality strategy, Wernie can adopt proactive approach to enhance and maintain consistentancy in quality and level of services by conducting staff training, retrain and upgrading of skills to meet the volatile market demand and unpredictable customer expectation. He should always review and set new service standards for the staff for continuous improvement, conduct regular focus group studies to predict future customer requirements in terms of service and facilities, minimise and eliminate high employee turnover at the front desk by taking good care of staff welfare, and exercise job rotation of staff to promote innovation and creativity in the job. To supplement the informal channels of communication, regular consumer’s opinion surveys can be conducted for rating to monitor the quality of its services and quality and efficiency as part of the feedback method. With the target group of corporate businessman and to enhance its competitiveness, Wernie can adopt new flexibility strategy by utilisation of most advance reservations technology and internet for hotel reservations. He can also offer online competitive rates while ensuring complete security of customers’ personal information and credit card details and offer instant confirmation for hotel reservations to promote efficiency. Marketing strategies is an important vision for growing of the profitability and value of the hotel such as introduction of frequent user programme, loyalty card program with further savings for travel and vacation plans. Hotel can also host elite social and sporting events which include International wine and food festival, polo championship, international cup to provide a platform to showcase its various expertises in lifestyle creation which can help to boost high occupancy rates also. With business travel growing at a faster pace than leisure, Wernie should expand target group to include corporate, business travel package and tourist group to bring in more profits. New lifestyle experiences and F & B concept strategy can also be implemented to define the highest standards of service excellence. 1c) Describe how you think Wernie will develop his operation so that it drives the long-term strategy of the hotel. In 3 to 5 years time, operations challenge and threats which include globalization of markets, social responsibility, influence of new technologies and emergence of knowledge management will have an immense impact on Penang Mutiara. Since majority of the revenues in hospitality will be generated from the Internet. By 2006, the Internet will contribute over 24% of all hotel bookings which will be direct-to-consumer (i.e. via hotel-owned websites). To overcome the threats, Wernie can enhance the technology strategy, stay ahead of his competitors and capture new market share with an effective Direct Online Distribution Strategy with the advantages of having direct online distribution cuts costs, attracts affluent customers and lessens the dependency on online discounters and more traditional and expensive channels. It will also provide the hotel with long-term competitive advantages and lessen their dependence on intermediaries, discounters and traditional channels that are about to become obsolete. Wernie can also employ all Direct Channel strategies such as email and pay-per-click marketing, link creation, lowest price guarantee, loyalty and retention programs, and trust building to encourage, entice, and convert lookers into bookers on his website. Other measures also includes: re-evaluate his exposure in the Indirect Online Distribution Channel to avoid brand and price erosion with long-term negative repercussions ; limitation of exposure in the Indirect Channel to only a selected number of hotel-friendlier intermediaries ; institute a comprehensive Total Online Distribution Strategy, which turns the direct-to-consumer distribution model into the main focus of his Internet strategy and optimizes the Direct vs. Indirect Channel balance for the hotel ; subscribe competitive intelligence to allow him to help him to identify hotel pricing and positioning on major indirect channels throughout the Internet, and assure he maintain control of pricing with positioning without having to necessarily match lower competitive rates. He can also adopt further strategies such as Website Optimization Strategy, comprehensive Destination Web Strategy, perform a robust Search Engine Strategy and partner with an experienced eBusiness hospitality consultancy to help him navigate the Internet and utilize the Direct Online Distribution Channel to its fullest potential at reasonable cost, with quick turnaround. In the long run, Wernie should look into diversification and expand globally, divest non-core properties, target new source markets such as Southeast Asia, China and India. As part of human resource management, Wernie should encourage two way communications between higher management and staff. Participation by all levels of staff should be encourage to provide feedback and suggestions to improvise operations and services since they are the people who have the most contact and are in direct contact with the customers. They are the ones who knows customers demands and are able to receive immediate feedback and valuable responses which are necessary for continuous improvement. While implementing operation changes, Wernie must be able to deal with cultural changes and changes in mindset of the staff in order to succeed in any minor or major restructuring of operations management of the hotel As part of its long term strategy, Wernie can adopt performance management to achieve long term, strategic cost reduction. Secondly, Total quality management, which is concerned with the continuous improvement of all aspects of operations performance, can also be adopted to continually meet and exceed unanticipating expectations of customers. To conclude, achieving competitive advantage through achieving accolades by winning several prestigious international awards in the long run can also enhance the hotel name to bring in stable revenues and profits. Qn 2) The case describes how quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost impact on the hotel’s external customers. Explain how each of these performance objectives might have internal benefits. The five performance objectives of Quality, Speed, Dependability, Flexibility and Cost will have an impact and benefits on both internal and external customers of the hotel. Quality objective, which means doing things right can benefit external  customers by  delivering impeccable quality service to achieve service excellence. Internally, staff can achieve satisfaction by providing error-free goods and services to give quality advantage to the external customers. With the minimization of blunders, time and cost of rectifying the mistakes are reduced effectively. Achieving high customer satisfaction will lead to the likelihood that the customer will return. Dependability also increases as it leads to a stable and efficient organization. It also enables high motivation, high morale, and great satisfaction of staff. Staff will have a sense of belonging and security for being part of the organization. All these will lead to efficient organization. Speed objective which means doing things right, can benefit external customers by giving them a speed advantage to receive the services in the shortest possible time with minimum delay. Internally, it effectively minimizes the response time to deliver services to the customers which in turn reduce the labour cost and increasing the availability of services, allow speedy decision-making and speedy movement of materials and information inside the operation. It also reduces risks and inventories. Help to establish and maintain hotel’s image and reputation, reduce backlog since there won’t be much follow up. Reduce wastage of labour and can concentrate on providing good service to other guests. Dependability objective, which means to do things on time and to deliver timely promises made to the customers. External customers can gain a dependability advantage should operations staff are able to succeed this objective. Internally, it enables staff to win mutual trust and increases operational reliability of internal customers in delivering services thus saving time, money due to ineffective use of time. It can also achieve a high level of trust between departments and minimize disruptions. If all departments are  dependable and everything in an operation is perfectly dependable and in the case of any emergency or disruptions, each department knows what to do and their roles and duties of how to overcome the situation where everything will be predictable with no â€Å"surprises†. Flexibility objectives, with the ability to make changes to allow flexibility to vary and adapt the operations activities to cope with unforeseen circumstances. Externally, customers are able to enjoy the flexibility advantage to receive customised services according to their personal preferences should they have any. Internally, it can speed up response time, save time wasted in changeover and maintain dependability. Flexibility in deployment of staff who is able to multi task during emergency or peak season as extra help can help to avoid work overload by hiring temporary staff. Staffs enjoy the benefit of empowerment to make speedy decisions in order to achieve efficiency so as to reduce seeking high authority approval which take ages. Cost objectives by doing things cheaply, seek to influence the cost of the hotel’s goods and services. Externally, it can pass good value and savings to consumers. Internally, by allowing a good return to the organization, low operating expenses and low employment overhead by engaging temporary staff during peak period to avoid abundant staff after the season can achieve cost reduction which means more incentives, welfare and bonuses for staff (Total word count : 1957 words) BIBLIOGRAPHY 1) Operations management – 3rd edition, Nigel Slack 2) Cases in Operations management – 2nd edition, Robert Johnston 3) Business strategy in Asia (A casebook) – 2nd edition, Kulwant Singh 4) http://asiatravel.com/malaysia/penangmutiara/index.html 5) www.penang-mutiara.com.my 6) http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2004_1st/Feb04_OnlineStrategy.html

Antecedents and Consequences of Decline in Trade Union Density

'Trade Union Membership in Australia has Declined Significantly Since the 1980s.   As a result,  Unions are becoming an Irrelevant Actor in Australian Employment Relations'. Drawing on Academic Research and Commentary,   Provide a Response to this statement.   In framing your argument, Consider the Antecedents and Consequences of the Decline in Trade Union Membership and Trade Union Density. In reconnoitring the factors that led to the emergence and fall of industrial labour in Australia, the present paper contends that support for unions initially surfaced from a working class which was an outcome of the nation’s uncommon economic past. In the 20 th century the incorporation of systems of mandatory arbitration, formulated to mediate industrial disputes, strengthened the support for labour unions. In the year 1948, the support for unionism was at its pinnacle. A long process of its fall started as the working cadre constituency that had supplied its social anchor fragmented due to structural transformations in the economy. The collapse of arbitration post-1986 aggravated this declining pattern, as did a rise in unwarranted employment and anti-union tactics of the employers (Docherty, 2010). The present essay reviews the literature on the fall in union density in Australia. Germane studies are critically analysed and compared, and the review brings to light the co mplexity of the issue, the necessity to avoid simplistic responses, and makes recommendations regarding the areas of study that most likely augment the comprehension of the sharp decline in unionisation. As per the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures of 2000, the fall in union membership in the nation, despite the attempts made by the Australian Council of Trade Unions to prevent further decline. While it is apparent that there is a reduction in union density, it is critical to evaluate the reasons behind it and what are the unions doing for combating such downward trend. In striving to handle the issue, it is significant to understand the major objectives of the union that draws members and the antecedents of the decline (Abbott, MacKinnon and Fallon, 2016). Australian unions were set up in the initial half of the 19 th , with growth starting in the post gold-rush age. It is from then that the most rapid growth of the period appears to have been in the decade of the 1880s, wherein affluent economic conditions and a constricted labour market were drivers making for the development of unions. The main goal of a union is to enhance the well-being and promote the interests of its members. They were created to offset the higher financial power of the employers (Cooper et al., 2009). It has long been acknowledged that the dominance over the market by the employers could be countered by employees acting jointly and instituting organisations to negotiate on their part. The most crucial function performed by the union was to maximise the salaries and wages of its members. There are several reasons why employees might join a union. However, three factors are apparent. They are; sense the advantages of unionism surpass the likely costs; displeasure with financial aspects of their job; and an intention to impact those facets of the work environment via union means. Despite the evident benefits of the union, the membership of Australian union has declined. As emphasised by Kaufman, (2008) unionism harvested a core place in the Australian community between 1921 and mid-1950s. Even in the profundity of the Great Depression, the membership never plummeted below 42.5%. Moreover, with the recovery of the economy during World War II, it garnered unprecedented support. Times have significantly changed. Two decades ago 50% of all employees were part of the union. Currently, the rate of unionisation is only 23%. Even the public sector, which was once a mainstay of union power, has witnessed a sharp decline in the density. In the epoch of feminization, computerization and casualization, de-unionization is perhaps the most considerable change to have to strike the labour market over the years. A sign of fall in union strength is the rarity of strikes (Holland et al., 2011). The number of days lost to industrial conflicts is only one-fourth of its level during the early 1980s. To fathom the transition, Bashur and Oc, (2015) posit that it is helpful to discard two common elucidations for union decline briefly. The first is that the density decreased due to the increasing scepticism of workers toward it. In effect, attitude tends to reflect union power. When the membership increased during the 1970s, Australians were more likely to say, pollsters, that th ey believed unions had extreme strength and less likely to consent that unions had been a great thing for the country. Correspondingly, as they started waning during the 1990s, the portion of individuals who believed that unions carried too much power decreased steadily (Docherty, 2010). The second argument which is made is that de-unionization was an outcome of the fall in real wages which happened under the Accord. Yet as Leigh, (2011) points out in his study The Decline of an Institution, this statement means that unionisation must have fallen more during the 1980s (when there was a decline in real wage) than the 1990s (when there was a rise in real wages). However, the opposite is true – the most drastic decline in unionisation happened during the 1990s. If not the Accord and attitudes then what led to union density witnessing the downward trend? The fall narrows down to four major factors: changes to the laws regulating unions, higher product market rivalry, growing inequality, and structural changes in the labour market. The most substantial factor in de-unionization in Australia has been transitions in the legal system regulating the unions.   Hodder and Kretsos (2015) state that between 1990 and 1995, conformist governments in five out of six states brought into effect a legislation intended to prohibit mandatory unionisation, promoting individual bargaining, and introducing changes to non-award coverage easier. Paradoxically, this was similar to the process that took place in the 1920s, when a series of state Labour governments enforced law in favour of wage arbitration and mandatory unionism, resulting in an upsurge in union membership. During the later half of the 1980s, over 50% of the union members needed to be a union member as their employment condition. In the 1990s, not any longer bound to be a member, a huge proportion opted to give up their membership (Leigh, 2011). Expectedly, the unions that bore the biggest brunt were those that were highest dependent on mandatory union laws. The ne w law was enforced from 1996 when the then government virtually eliminated mandatory unionism and made it challenging for the unions to hire and strike. The second most significant driver of de-unionization has been increasing competition. Driven by microeconomic reforms, revived Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and tariff cuts, the market for purchasing most goods and services are now considerably more competitive than during the 1970s. When companies have an oligopoly or monopoly situation, it is convenient for them to pay higher salaries to their workers. Prices are greater in non-competitive markets, and in economics’ jargon, this produces â€Å"rents†. The employers then share such â€Å"rents† with employees (Grenfell, 2017). When monopolies are split, and the marketplaces become competitive, employers have to cut costs. This puts pressure on the companies to follow powerful anti-union strategies to minimise the wage bill. The third argument for declining union diversity is the increase in earnings inequality. To comprehend how this works, it is crucial to acknowledge that unions not only aim greater wages but also for higher pay compression (Heidecker, 2013). This happens through standardised wage schedules, and claims that ask for an equal increase for every worker. Less pay distribution within an organisation also renders it easy for unions to form, as employees are likely to have mutual cause with those who get similar salaries. Economists have in general focused on the manner in which de-unionization impacts inequality (Bray, Waring and Cooper, 2011). In Australia, Jeff Borland found that 30% of the rise in earnings disparity among permanent males between 1986 and 1994 can be elucidated by falling unionisation. However, the opposite can also be true. If disparity increased (owing to globalisation, technological change, or other factors), unions are likely to find it difficult to create an effectiv e coalition between highly-paid and low-paid employees. The probability of two employees both earning $20 per hour joining the union is higher than if one make $10 and the other $30 (Koukoulas, 2015). The last factor is structural labour market changes. Throughout the developed economies, unions have an easier time hiring in the public sector, the manufacturing sector, among permanent employees and in big companies. The emergence of the service sector, casualization of the labor force, downscaling of government and the surfacing of SMEs are all transformations that disadvantage unions (Forsyth et al., 2017). To examine the impact of the above-mentioned factors, Peetz, (2012) used a method called â€Å"shift-share analysis†, and concluded that they were responsible for nearly 50% of the fall during 1982-92, however, do not elucidate much of the decline since then. As the drop-in unionisation has been quicker in the 1990s as compared to the 1980s, this demotes structural changes to a minor role in describing the overall drop in unionisation in the last 37 years. Evidence propose that voting by union members is being done with their feet and that other systems are emerging to replace them. The proportion of companies with mutual consultative committees grew two times between 1990 and 1995, and the number of companies with ad-hoc employer-employee committees also increased considerably. Requirements that once only unions could meet are now addressed by new organisations (Davis, 2010). The macro and microeconomic impacts of the plummeting strength of unions have been debated by policymakers and economists. Nonetheless, the empirical evidence suggests that the effect of the drop on economic aggregates and company performance is not a devastating cause of concern. However, the relationship of falling union strength with increasing earning disparity and the minimising direct communication between employees and employers is potentially more troublesome (Kelty, 2011). For the period of 1995-2010, the coefficient estimate for the alteration in union strength is negative and insignificant statistically, proposing that transitions in union density were no longer connected to redistribution. It is reported by Toscano (2015) that union fall since the 1980s has been accompanied by alterations in the union members’ position in income diffusion. It is speculated that, since the position of an average union member has improved with a decline in density, union members are also no longer very supportive of redistributive policies and wage solidarity. Hence, the disparity issue might stay, but the role played unions is more controversial. Though companies in competitive labour markets might undersupply workers’ voice, but it does not mean that independent unionism is the solution, either from an employee standpoint, or the practicable interest of strengthening productivity. In fact, many researchers have identified that the drop in union voice has been coupled with a substantial growth in non-union voice, such that the total exposure of voice mechanisms has been stable and high (Furze et al., 2011). In short, Australian workers have selected non-union voice over no voice at all. In addition to this evaluating voice regimes, non-union voice overshadows union voice for a series of perceived result indicators – financial performance, productivity, and industrial relations climate – if not turnover. This provides credibility to the con cept that management has a motivation of investing in non-union voice, although such positive scene is muddled by comparisons between voice types (Schaper, 2014).    With the waning of unions, today’s labour markets of Australia are closer to the theoretical models of competitive markets than they were during the 1970s. This is mainly because of a succession of legal changes that have rendered it difficult for unions to organise, but also owing to higher competition in the markets, growing wage disparity and alterations in the composition of the workforce. It is extremely unlikely that any of these alterations will be inversed. More Australians are now employed in sectors that have always had less union strength. Employment in conventionally powerful union sectors like the public sector and the manufacturing sector are being substituted by jobs in service industries and community-based establishments that have low union density. Permanent employees are being substituted by casual and part-time workers, and such types of employment have lower rates of union membership. More of the labor force has become contractors, self-employed or employe d in small businesses and do not perceive union membership as important. Abbott, K., MacKinnon, B and Fallon, P. 2016. Understanding employment relations. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Addison, T. J. 2014. The consequences of trade union power erosion. IZA World of Labor. Bashur, M and Oc, B. 2015.   When voice matters: A multilevel review of the impact of voice in organisations.   Journal of Management, 41(5): 1530-54. Bray, M., Waring, P. and Cooper, R. 2011. Employment Relations: Theory and Practice. Sydney: McGraw-Hill. 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Young Workers and Trade Unions: A Global View. Springer. Holland, P., Pyman, A., Cooper, B and Teicher, J.   2011.   Employee voice and job satisfaction in Australia:   The centrality of direct voice.   Human Resource Management, 50(1): 95-111. Kaufman, B. 2008. Paradigms in industrial relations: original, modern and versions in-between.   British Journal of Industrial Relations, 46(2): 314-339. Kelty, W. 2011. The introduction of enterprise bargaining – a retrospective: Opening address. Enterprise Bargaining in Australia Workshop, Melbourne, Melbourne Law School. Koukoulas, S. 2015. The decline of union membership. 26 November. The Adelaide Review, . Viewed 29 March 2017. Leigh, A. 2011. The Decline of an Institution. Australian Financial Review: 21. Peetz, D. 2012. THE IMPACTS AND NON-IMPACTS ON UNIONS OF ENTERPRISE BARGAINING.   Labor and Industry, 22(3): 237-254. Schaper, T. M. 2014. A brief history of small business in Australia, 1970-2010. 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