Case Assignment: Disney the Happiest Brand on Earth

REPORT 1 CASE ASSIGNMENT: Disney The Happiest Brand on Earth In 2006, Disney’s Pixar released the hit movie Cars, which grossed $462 million worldwide. Since then, Cars merchandise has generated over $2 billion in sales each year. Pixar has since created a series of Cars shorts to be aired on the Disney Channel with a subsequent DVD release. A Cars sequel is in the works for 2011, and an online virtual gaming world is set to release 2009. In 2012, Disney’s California Adventure theme park will open its 12-acre Cars Land attraction.At Disney, the brand is the name of the game, and cross-platform success of the Cars franchise is by no means the exception to the rule. Disney also has the Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, High School Musical, the Disney Princesses, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the list goes on and on. The man behind the magic is Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, who has lead a dramatic revitalization of the Disney brand since succeeding longtime head Michael Eis ner in 2005. When he first took the post, his strategy shifted Disney’s focus around its stable of â€Å"franchises. These franchises are distributed across Disney’s multiple company platforms and divisions, such as Disney’s various television broadcasts platforms (the Disney Channel, ABC, ESPN), its consumer products business, theme parks, Disney’s Hollywood Records music label, and Disney’s publishing arm in Hyperion, just to name a few. Iger’s franchise strategy has been supported by the other major move he made upon first becoming CEO. On his first day on the job, Iger told the board that revitalizing Disney’s animation business was a top priority, which would be improved through the purchase of Pixar.As part of Iger’s franchise strategy the deal made perfect sense, as many of Disney’s latest TV shows, Disneyland rides, and merchandise were based on Pixar characters. Finding a new market to push the Disney franchise became a priority as well. With the Disney brand growing flat, it was becoming evident that Disney had missed some opportunities for broader success due to a narrowing of its target market, which was at the time largely associated with younger children.Iger’s first move was to broaden Disney’s viewership by moving the Disney Channel from premium to basic cable and launching local versions in key global markets. Then, Disney began pushing franchises to capture the rapidly growing tween market. Putting its support behind the Disney channel’s High School Musical and Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers, who were emerging out of Disney’s music label, Disney quickly generated a series of franchise juggernauts in the tween girl market.Though Disney’s focus has remained on family-friendly fair, Iger has shown a new willingness to look to even broader markets if they fit with the Disney brand. Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, the first Disney fi lm with a PG-13 rating, based off the classic theme park ride, played a major role in refocusing the brand, and it also helped expand the Disney appeal to older kids and even adults. The Pirates and Cars franchises also provided preliminary steps for Disney’s latest endeavors to crack the tween boy market, one traditionally difficult for media companies to sustainably capture.Their efforts focus around the new Disney XD channel, which has a broad range of offerings, such as potential new franchises like the science fiction action-adventure show Aaron Stone and showcases of new musical talent. Disney will also be able to leverage ESPN to create original sports- based programming. The channel will be accompanied by a Disney XD Web site, which will promote the channel’s programs, as well as offer games and original videos, social networking, and online community opportunities.As it continues to expand and provide new franchise offerings, Disney looks to have relatively st rong momentum, even in the midst of rising economic challenges. As Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and Disney board member, puts it, â€Å"Family is a renewable resource,† and right now, Disney is making the most of it. SOURCES: Richard Siklos, â€Å"Bob Iger Rocks Disney,† Fortune, January 19, 2009, 80–86; Peter Sanders, â€Å"Disney Focuses on Boys,† The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2009, available at ttp://online. wsj. com/article/SB123137513996262627. html (accessed January 14, 2009). 1. Do a brief market opportunity analysis for Disney, identifying the major markets that Disney has expanded into. 2. How does Disney’s cross-platform franchising help create sustainable competitive advantage? 3. Describe the marketing mix for one of Disney’s franchises. 4. Describe the major components of Bob Iger’s strategic plan when he first became CEO.

Managing Across Culture

{draw:rect} {draw:rect} 000579613; 000573398; 000573202; 000583118;000527971 {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} {draw:frame} Managing Across Cultures- Group Report on Case Study Analysis of Alcatel-Lucent BY TEAM: Meenak*shi Mukherjee* 000579613 Carlos Andres Serna 000583118 Quasirat Hasnat 000573202 Sangeet Premkumar 000573398 Imran Shahzad 000527971 Executive Summary This paper examines a case study sprouting mergers of two firms Alcatel and Lucent technologies. This paper provides an insight into the French and American cultures taking into consideration the parent company cultural imbroglio. Alcatel, an American company, was previously owned by the technological giant, the AT&T group. However in the year 1996, the company parted ways from the group of AT &T and merged with the French company, Alcatel. Alcatel, headquartered in France, provides hardware-software services to the telecommunications sector involving service providers and enterprises. On the 1st December, 2006, Alcatel- Lucent merged to explore greater productivity by utilizing jointly owned resources, products and services. Cross-cultural barriers hindered Alcatel-Lucent’s strategic advantageover its competitors. In this paper, the Alcatel- Lucent merger will be critically analysed with help reference frameworks and cultural tools such as Hofstede’s dimensions, Trompenaar’s theories on culture and related articles from newspapers. In the recent years, companies have been adopting the strategy to expand their markets globally with different strategies such as mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, licensing etc. However, companies trying to achieve synergetic benefits often fail in their process of expansion due to the cultural problems revolving between the host and home countries. Introduction Alcatel-Lucent, headquartered in Paris, France, is the Telecom giant with over 77,000 employees in its payroll a with annual revenue generated as reported in the financial report standing at a staggering 16. 98 billion Euros. The merger of parent companies Alcatel and Lucent was anticipated to be the ‘shining star’ of mergers and was aptly phrased as a merger of equals (Sutherland, 2006). This paper discusses the importance of cultural differences and indicates the problems that can be create when different cultural interaction occurs between different strata’s of organizations. Short Brief about different cultures Culture can be considered to be a vast word having no unified idea that can summarize the true essence of it. Some scholars and researchers define Culture as a part of our environmental conditioning, usually distributed among members of similar nations, regions and areas (_Sorensen_, 1984). This case study is used to communicate the study of cross culture and its related problems. In regards to job environment, the French Culture believes in providing security for the members of the society. The Culture is competitive yet assertive but however is risk averse and consumes too much time to take decisions to deal with a situation. On the contrary, the American Culture is easy going and flexible. Americans believe in quick decision making with a â€Å"win-lose† approach and as a result accept uncertainties in a positive manner. In a recent article, Holstein (2007) stated, that the two parent companies addressed the issue of crisis taking measures differently. In times of crisis, the Americans believe in reducing costs through scaling down job opportunities whereas the French have a supportive approach towards their employees with the government acting as the back bone to resolve such issues making the process of decision slow but unaffected by the crisis piling on the company with additional operational costs. The inclination of the American Culture is towards achieving short term goals such as profit making, however, the French culture denotes a negative aspect of doing business with haste. The French decision making processes are long and tend to measure each step taking important aspects into consideration. Literature review The Dutch anthropologist, Trompenaars , conducted a research over 10 years and eventually publishing his work in 1994. Expatriates in an organisation can benefit from his dimensions by having knowledge on the managing tasks in different cultures (Trompeenars et. al. , 1997). Universalism Vs Particularism: According to Trompenaars , Universalism and Particularism are terms used to denote a culture which is governed by rules and relationships. In the words of French (2007), rules are flexible in particularistic societies and relationships are given more importance than rules. Trompenaar’s classifies of USA as aUniversalistic society bound by rules. Hence, Lucent as a company believes in developing rules, codes and standards that can be applicable to everyone in every situation without any modification. In USA, negotiation takes place in written agreements, shows that a formal procedure is to be followed to do business. However in a particularistic culture, the type of relationship determines the business. Whereas the French culture is average in Universalism indicating Alcatel, the French company is neither too particularistic nor too universalistic and rationally develop inter personal relationship and trust bearing in mind the expected standards (Gesteland, 2005). Affective/ Emotional Vs Neutral: Affective and Neutral are terms used to represent emotions with in a culture. In affective cultures individuals tend to show their emotions explicitly in public like the American culture. However Neutral cultures believe in implicit behaviour towards their emotions. According to French (2007), different cultures exhibit different behaviours when it comes to emotions. American people tend to deliver their disgust spot-on using verbal communication where as the French do so with sign language such as frowning and smirks. The US and French cultures are both alignedvery close to each other in terms of how emotional or neutral they are. Both of them are moderately average, which means people working in Lucent as well as Alcatel neither express their feelings too enthusiastically nor do they try to hide their feelings (Gesteland, 2005). Specificity Vs Diffuseness: According to Hampden (1998), Specificity is a term used to represent cultures where difference between work life and personalised life are applicable. In diffused cultures, the society is non- segregated as work and personalised life are closely interlinked. According to Guirdham (1999), the French are diffused in their cultural believes hence personal and professional life is considered to be a part of the culture whereas the Americans believe in keeping the two separate. Achievement Vs Ascription: Trompenaar describes cultures which believe in achieving status through performance with a generic belief that status can be gained and lost if performances are not measured accordingly. Ascribed status is where people believe that status is gained through inherent right and not according to what they perform in everyday life(French,2007). Achievement oriented societies formed by individuals who believe in achieving goals independently. For example the reigning President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama is an individual who became the president with his qualities and perseverance. In Ascribed societies, people believe in the status and the background of individuals. This juxtaposes the idea that in France one can participate in politics only if their family has been inclined politically in the past. The American culture is achievement oriented thus at Lucent, social status or position of an employee is derived from his/her achievements. The employees in Alcatel could grow only if their business links with the superiors are concrete (Guirdham, 1999). Sequential Time vs. Synchronisation: The word, sequence, is used to describe time where events follow one another whereas in synchronised time, events are arranged at a parallel basis. Multi-tasking is the main feature of synchronisation. Lucent being a North American company follows monochromic time that is tangible and divisible. They view time as a narrow spectrum of distinct, consecutive segments. Hence they perform only one activity at a time with greater focus, keeping a strict schedule of appointments and showing a strong resistance from deviating their plans (Gesteland, 2005). Whereas Alcatel being a Mediterranean country follows Polychromic time, for them time is indivisible and flexible. Time is viewed as a norm and people perform multiple activities simultaneously which makes them distracted very easily. For them appointments are approximate and can be changed at any point of time, schedules are not as important as relationships are. Future Vs Past Orientation: Lucent focuses more on the present and the immediate future than what has happened in the past. They concentrate on achieving result within a short span of time. In Alcatel, the present and future are valued by looking at events that occurred previously. Any given situation is compared to the previous happenings. Time orientation does matter a lot when companies operate in different cultures. It creates chaos specially in taking long term decisions. High Vs Low context cultures: Lucent (USA)- as a company possesses the attributes of a low context culture where it relies on information explicitly provided, detailed communication and even higher detailed instruction at workplace. However at Alcatel (France), employees practice moderate levels of cultural context interms of communication, information and even instruction at workplace. Alcatel being a French company practices very high power distance, which means a wide gap exists between leaders, subordinates and management decisions are made at the top level only without the consent of fellow employees. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Dutch Anthropologist, Geert Hofstede defines culture as â€Å"The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another† (Hofstede, 2001). Using his survey at the IBM involving employees from world over, he formulated the cultural dimensional framework. High Vs Low Power Distance: Power distance is related to a society which is divided into classes and ranks. In USA, ranks are least important to individuals as they believe in Equality. Organisational ranks often make employees feel uncomfortable and are not practiced widely. In France such distinction between classes and ranks are acceptable. Though high organisational ranked employees believe in respecting employees of lower ranks but make sure that the distinction is clear. In such countries it is wise for a subordinate to use terms such as ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’. Whereas, at Lucent- a US based company, power distance is relatively low. The gap between superior and subordinate is minimal likewise salary and decisions are made consulting with everyone, though organizational hierarchy exists but for convenience. High Vs Low Uncertainty Avoidance: The term Uncertainty denotes societies that are risk averse and risk takers. In US, the culture believes in taking risks and with France, risk taking is not a wise decision and is often followed with monotonous long-term decision making. The French are known for high uncertainty avoidance. Hence at Alcatel people prefer not to take risks unnecessarily, they usually are loyal to their employers and have long work records. The organization is structured with explicit rules and regulations with the employee (French, 2007). Therefore, Lucent as an organization is not well structured and people are eager to take risk, thus being flexible that makes them not loyal enough and are clear indicators of short term employees. As France is extremely cautious about uncertainty decisions, thus employees at Alcatel are extremely concerned about job losses. In a recent article Sutherland (2006) stated that: â€Å"About 10 percent, or 8,800 employees, will be laid-off. Lucent could not answer which percentage of the job losses will be borne by the U. S. Company, but French laws tightly control when employers can fire workers† (Cited in, Sutherland, 2006). Individualism Vs Collectivism: In Individualistic societies, individuals tend to look after their family and themselves. Organisational goals are based on individualistic performance and not on the group effort. Team works are performed with individual rewarding system. Collectivist countries believe that the essence of good performance is based on team work. Individuals must sacrifice their personal interest for the benefit of the team. Rewards and bonuses are according to the team’s performance on activities. The French and American individualistic characteristics are common, causing a clash of cultures while working in conglomerate companies such as Alcatel-lucent. Individualism evolved when the two companies merged because the people started thinking of their own self interests instead of considering the company on the whole. This leads to chaotic asynchronous processes that are disruptive for productivity (French, 2007). Masculinity Vs Femininity: Masculinity and femininity are characterized by behaviours such as assertiveness, competitiveness, caring and loving. Masculinity is a composition of tough values whereas Femininity shows tender traits. Both the nations are masculine in nature but the roles of women in the two societies are very different. In USA, Women can reach the top layers of the organisation whereas in the France it is the other way round and men are given more precedence as the society male dominant. In an article Holstein (2007) stated that: â€Å"One is that there is confusion about who’s in charge. Russo became CEO of the combined entity and Tchuruk became chairman. In American cultural terms, that means Russo runs the company. After all, she’s the CEO. But in a European context, and particularly a French setting, the chairman is the boss. Confusion at the top is deadly† (Cited by, Holstein, 2007). Masculinity is relatively high in Alcatel compared to Lucent. At Alcatel, people believe in competition, performance and male dominance. Whereas at Lucent ,people seek equal opportunity, better quality of work, solidarity over other factors including competitive behaviour. Patricia Russo, a successful business entrepreneur from the USA is an example of a Masculine dominant society where women scale the height of opportunities. According to Verwaayen (2008), decisions making in Alcatel-Lucent remains a crucial factor as the two companies have different reporting standards. In Alcatel the Chairman is the head who takes the final decisions relating to a company and in Lucent the CEO is the person who delegates decisions. The two different distinct approaches have clearly confused the role of employees in both the companies. Verwaayen (2008) also stated that in mergers, long distances usually creates trauma as processes cannot be co-ordinated hence provides freehand edge to competitors. According Gubbins (2007), it is important for the government to have a top- bottom flat structured system so as to make the operations of the company smooth and efficient to survive the competitive environment. Cultural clashes were so evident that Patricia Russo, the chief executive decided to leave the company and stakeholders expected changes after his reign. This can be analysed from the newsfeed of Alcatel-Lucent (2009) stating that: â€Å"We hope that a new CEO will be able to bridge the cultural divide between the Americans and the French and get all sides pulling together† (Cited in, Windsor, 2008). Analysis of Opportunities, *Challenges,* Considerations Opportunities Alcatel-Lucent partners a project phrased as the â€Å"Cercle Passeport Telecoms†,in France, which is a business program for corporate mentoring of multicultural students from humble backgrounds in their pursuit for higher academic opportunities (Alcatel-Lucent,2008). As a part of the recruitment opportunities, Alcatel Lucent revamped its business training programs into sessions that integrated technical training with hands-on experience on security products and data transmission . Further emphasis on sales methodologies, reaching out to partners to engage with the end-users and to carve out solutions to address their needs. In order to convert innovative ideas into reality products or services, Alcatel-Lucent launched the Entrepreneurial Boot Camp housed in Belgium in the spring of 2006. Aimed at a constructive build of a global knowledge base where creativity blossoms, a business foundation like the Boot Camp is a grooming factory for all the budding business developers of the next generation. Alcatel-Lucent’s strategic security partnership with renowned financial sector reseller Abraxas Partners paves wave for new job opportunities showering prosperity in the near future (Alcatel-Lucent, 2008). Considerations The primary objective of a merger is the integration of skills, resources, and business networks and their harmonic implementation. Taking into account Cultural differences, mergers are drafted, and contingency plans are prepared in order to tackle such differences. When cultural differences arise at higher level of the organizational hierarchy, the execution of these pre planned contingencies become haphazard(Turner & Trompenaars, 2000). The analysis of this uber-merger case study has given us a clear insight in to the detrimental situations aroused by unsuccessful execution of mergers. The cultural differences seem irrelevant considering the fallacies involved with it are not redundant while assessing shifts in fiscal trends. The persistent pressure enforced a moral obligation, convincing the American chief executive, Patricia Russo and the French Chairman, Serge Tchuruk to step down. (Ruitenberg,2008). The ignorance of demographic and geographic interests might have had a negative impact on the merger. Previous acquisitions and mergers may have misunderstood the merger as a change in organizational goals. According to Jolly (2008) ,Alcatel-Lucent’s current vision can be quoted as â€Å"CSR is about being a value driven company, where values are not words on pieces of paper but things we do automatically . It’s about being a company that is inclusive and has respect for the individuals, respect for differences and respect for cultures â€Å". Challenges Mergers and Acquisitions have a tendency to confront various issues and involve constant reframing of policies. Differences can be resolved at the nascent stages of the Merger or Acquisition only. Alcatel-Lucent faces a challenge in restoring their longstanding relation with their previous collaborators like Bell Labs, Packet Engines and Xylan who might have experienced difficulties while the management underwent changes, so that they may continue providing and developing their services. They also face the challenge of retaining existing customers especially those who might have endured inept services while the organization resolved its differences. The merger of the parent companies has taken a toll of time and the company has experienced positive development in turnovers, cultural integration thus reoccupying the held market share and brand goodwill. Internal Organization Alcatel-Lucent’s design and consultancy service convolutes the vital processes necessary to ensure an integration of cost-effective, flexible network infrastructure. Business Consulting, Operations Consulting, Applications Consulting, Security Consulting, Network Consulting & Design, Network & Service Optimization are Business units and processes that constitute this esteemed organization (Alcatel-Lucent,2008). Conclusion and Recommendation Complications usually occur when two companies from two different countries merge to benefit synergetic effects. In terms of Alcatel- lucent, the two parent companies follow an individualistic approach which motivates employees to work towards individualistic goals and often the objective of the company is not taken into mere consideration. The essence of good successful business is to adopt a collectivistic approach giving the goal and the mission of the company at the top priority. Team work will motivate employees of Alcatel- Lucent to take decision jointly (Alcatel-Lucent, 2008). To bridge the gap between America and the France, it is important to reduce the distance by sending employees of each company onto expatriate missions. To understand a culture, it is important to stand in the threshold of the other. Managers in expatriate missions will gain better understanding of the French and the American cultures thus adjusting to the new inter-cross culture. Leadership should be vested in hands of one and not many, therefore confusion at the top should be avoided by integrating processes with clear objectives. Employees should be made to report to only one superior. It is important for the company, Alcatel- Lucent, to use new technologies such as video conferencing to reduce communication barriers between the employees of the two countries. In this time of financial crisis, it is important to cut costs to sustain in the global business market. Top heavy structures in the company with higher pay packs to the employees could create operational loss. In the reduction of financial position, the competitors would benefit by reaping advantage of the situation and overlapping it by way of acquisition. As the French are more protective about the job loss scenario, the company should take effective measures such as putting employee rolls stagnant thereby reducing its financial cost. References French, R. (2007),â€Å"Cross Cultural management in work organizations,† Kerry Press LTD, London. Hofstede, G (2001) â€Å"Cultures and organizations: software of mind† McGraw Hill, New York. Turner,C. H. & Trompenaars,F. 2000) â€Å"Building Cross cultural Competence,† John Wiley &Sons Inc, USA. Alcatel-Lucent, (2008) â€Å"Alcatel-Lucent launches new channel recruitment drive in UK and Ireland and announces security partnership with Abraxas† [Online] Available at: http://www. subtelforum. com/articles/? p=190 (Accessed on 2nd Dec. 2009). Alcatel-Lucent, (2009) â€Å"Alcatel-Lucent announces Chairman Serge Tchuruk a nd CEO Pat Russo to step down† [Online] Available at: http://www. alcatellucent. com/wps/portal/! ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4x3tXDUL8h2VAQAURh_Yw!!? LMSG_CABINET=Docs_and_Resource_Ctr&LMSG_CONTENT_FILE=News_Releases_2008/News_Article_001159. xml (Accessed on 2nd December 2009). Fons,T. , Turner,H. , Charles, (1997), â€Å" Riding the waves of culture†, Gardners [Online] Available at: http://www. businessmate. org/Article. php? ArtikelId=5 (Accessed on 10th Nov. 2009). Gubbins,E. (2007), â€Å" UBS: Alcatel faces mobility decline, culture clash† telephony online: Penton media online press [Online] Available at : http://telephonyonline. com/wireless/news/alcatel_mobility_revenue_121907/ (Accessed on :23rd Nov 2009). Hall,E. T. and Hall,M. T. (1990), â€Å"Understanding Cultural Differences, Germans French and Americans† , USA, pg 129;130. Holstein,W. J. (2007), â€Å"Lucent-Alcatel: Why Cross-Cultural Mergers Are So Tough†New York Times [Online] available at: http:// www. nytimes. com/2007/11/01/business/worldbusiness (Accessed on 10th nov. 2009). Jolly,D. (2008), â€Å"Culture clash hits home at Alcatel-Lucent† New York Times [Online] available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2008/07/29/business/worldbusiness/29iht-alcatel. 4. 14867263. html? pagewanted=1 ( Accessed on 1st December 2009). Ruitenberg,R. 2008),† Alcatel-Lucent's Russo, Tchuruk to Quit; Loss Widens† Bloomberg[Online] Available at: http://www. bloomberg. com/apps/news? pid=20601085=a6fn02kzojwE=europe (Accessed on, 20th November 2009). Sorensen,G. (1984) â€Å"How much Poison is Another Man's Meat? † Notes on the Logic of World Systems Analysis, page 29. Sorensen,O. J. (1984) â€Å" Marketing Systems a nd Economic Development. An Institutional-Structural Approach† page 41. Sutherland,E. (2006), â€Å"Lucent Brushes Up on French With Alcatel Merger† Internetnews [Online] Available at: http://www. internetnews. com/bus-news/article. hp/3596246 (accessed on 23rd Nov 2009). Verwaayen ,B. (2008), â€Å"Alcatel-Lucent: New CEO, Same Three Problems† The Wall street journal. Windsor. R(2008), â€Å"Alcatel-Lucent confronts its cross-cultural challenges† BBC News[Online] available at: http://leaderswedeserve. wordpress. com/2008/07/31/alcatel-lucent-confronts-its -cross-cultural-challenges (Accessed on 5th Nov. 2009). Managing across Cultures, INDU 1033 – Team Reflection – Questions to guide the Team Presentation and Written Report Draw on your experiences: how would you qualify the teamwork in terms of {text:list-item} Keeping in mind the scarcity of information available in journals and online web content a strategic plan was devised to search online material using key trigger words that would facilitate in text referencing. The presentation time being short was a challenge for me in my role( Meenakshi Mukherjee) as group leader to define specific roles to my team mates to quantify the case study of Alcatel –Lucent keeping in mind the cultural heritage both companies’ native countries share. A well defined work with ample support from team members in way of skills and research makes me happy and feel good as a budding manager graduating from this esteemed university. {text:list-item} I would like to reflect on the fact that our team being truly multicultural, representing various nations of the world knit as family segregating this task into sections of expertise . Taking the reference frame work set forth by the respected lecturer and tutors, each subtopic in the case study was carefully classified and analysed. Disputes about the content were usually friendly group discussions in a professional manner. How much could difficulties be related to national variations in approaches to group work ? Multicultural teams like ours have different rational thinking capabilities . Innovative ideas streamlined. But the pipeline for these ideas was the standards we must set . Work can be left to interpretation. A consensus of the group eradicated doubt and hesitant notions. What elements of the process would you do differently next time. NB various approaches may exist among the different members of the team The data collection was done in large qualities from various limited resources. The case of Alcatel Lucent is primarily neglected in the business world. Careful selection of the company of reference could have been more articulate and the constrains of time and word limited was a real burden . Optimum utilization of resources can be improvide in future. The following members of the team declare to have fulfilled a

Introduction to China Essay

IntroduMing emperor Yung-lo and commander in chief of the Chinese expeditionary fleet to the South Seas in the early years of the 15th century. Born into a family named Ma, presumably of Mongol- Arab origin, In central Yunnan Province, Cheng Ho was selected to be castrated by the general In charge of recruiting eunuchs for the court In 1381, when he was about 10. Assigned to the retinue of Chu Tl, who later became emperor, Cheng accompanied him on military campaigns, culminating in the usurpation of the throne by Chu Ti in 402. Ma Ho proved himself to be an exceptional servant to Prince Zhu Di. He became skilled in the arts of war and diplomacy and served as an officer of the prince. Zhu Di renamed Ma Ho as Cheng Ho because the eunuch’s horse was killed in battle outside of a place called Zhenglunba. (Cheng Ho is also Zheng He in the newer Pinyin transliteration of Chinese but he’s still most commonly called Cheng Ho). Cheng Ho was also known as San Bao which means â€Å"three Jewels. † Cheng Ho, who was said to have been seven feet tall, was given greater power when Zhu Di became emperor in 402. One year later, Zhu Di appointed Cheng Ho admiral and ordered him to oversee the construction of a Treasure Fleet to explore the seas surrounding China. Admiral Cheng Ho was the first eunuch appointed to such a high military position In China. Because of a report that the former emperor Hul-tl had fled overseas, but probably with other good reasons, such as promoting Chinese influence or trade opportunities, Yunglo sent out expealtlons overseas unaer cneng’s command. In a perloa 0T 2 years, from 1405 to 1433, Cheng directed seven expeditions and visited no fewer than 7 countries, stretching from Champa in the east to the African coast in the west. In preparation for these expeditions, some 1,180 ships of various types and measurements were constructed. The size of the fleet varied from voyage to voyage. The first expedition consisted of a 27,800-man crew and 62 large vessels and 255 smaller ones carrying cargoes of silk, embroideries, and other valuable products. Cheng took personal command of each voyage, but he often entrusted his lieutenants to undertake side trips away from the main itinerary. The countries visited ranged rom the nearby states, such as Champa, Sumatra, and Java, to the faraway lands to the East, including Arabia and places on the east African coast, such as Mogadishu and Brawa. The purpose of these trips was to assure foreigners of China’s friendliness, extend imperial gifts and greetings to the chiefs of the foreign kingdoms, and report the conditions of these distant lands to the court. But at the same time, Cheng’s fleet also managed to annihilate a powerful Chinese pirate, interfere in a Javanese war, and reinstate a legitimate ruler in Ceylon. Yielding loads f exotic native products, the expeditions were often followed by tribute-bearing envoys from across the sea. Nonetheless, these voyages were criticized by Chinese officials as useless and wasteful of resources. After Yunglo’s death in 1424, the expeditions were suspended, and Cheng was made a garrison commander of Nanking. The last voyage (1432-1433) took place under the auspices of Emperor Hs?an-te. Cheng is customarily said to have died in 1435/1436, at the age of 65, but one source holds that he died early in 1433. Cheng’s expeditions, undertaken almost century before those of Christopher Columbus and Vasco de Gama, not only strengthened China’s influence over its neighbors but also marked a unique achievement in the history of maritime enterprise. A navigational chart attributable to the expeditions has been preserved and translated into English. First voyage (1405-1407) The first Treasure Fleet consisted of 62 ships; four were huge wood boats, some of the largest ever built in history. They were approximately 400 feet (122 meters) long and 160 feet (50 meters) wide. The four were the flagships of the fleet of 62 ships assembled at Nanjing along the Yangtze (Chang) River. Included in the fleet were 339-foot (103-meter) long horse ships that carried nothing but horses, water ships that carried fresh water for the crew, troop transports, supply ships, and war ships for offensive and defensive needs. The ships were filled with thousands of tons of Chinese goods to trade with others during the voyage. In the fall of 1405 the fleet was ready to embark with 27,800 men. The fleet utilized the compass, invented in China in the 1 lth century, for navigation. Graduated sticks of incense were burned to measure time. One day was equal to 10 â€Å"watches† of 2. 4 hours each. Chinese navigators determine latitude through monitoring the North Star (Polaris) in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere. The ships of the Treasure Fleet communicated with one another through the use of flags, lanterns, bells, carrier pigeons, gongs, and banners. The destination of the first voyage of the Treasure Fleet was Calicut, known as a major trading center on the southwestern coast of India. India was initially â€Å"discovered† by Chinese overland explorer Hsuan- ‘sang In tne seventn century. I ne meet stopped In Vietnam, Java, ana Malacca, ana hen headed west across the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka and Calicut and Cochin (cities on the southwest coast of India). They remained in India to barter and trade from late 1406 to the spring of 1407 when they utilized the monsoon shift to sail toward home. On the return voyage, the Treasure Fleet was forced to battle pirates near Sumatra for several months. Eventually Cheng Ho’s men managed to capture the pirate leader and take him to the Chinese capital Nanjing, arriving in 1407. second voyage (1407-1409) A second voyage of the Treasure Fleet departed on a return trip to India in 1407 but Cheng Ho did not command this voyage. He remained in China to oversee the repair of a temple at the birthplace of a favorite goddess.

Asnwer the qutions for articel reading Assignment - 2

Asnwer the qutions for articel reading - Assignment Example They used indicators such as the rate of child death and the competition that children have in schools in assessing the extent to which the countries are achieving particular economic and social rights (Fukuda-Parr, Randolph and Lawson-Remer 4-48). They found out that increasing the amount of public spending, use of public policies and programs that are effective towards improving social and economic rights should be encouraged. They found out that in low-income countries, the donors should increase the amount of the financial aids they give, therefore, enabling those countries in financing those policies and programs that influence their realization. The problem with their estimation approach is that they only focused on the fulfillment of human rights and neglected the levels to which the rights are violated. They failed to capture and integrate some aspects of human rights that are being violated, such as high levels of discrimination, lack of transparency and freedom of participation. Some of the indices they used in their estimation failed to look at the right to health hence giving poor performances towards measuring the economic and social rights. Constitutional rules have always been acting as the devices towards ensuring that that there are greater provisions and commitments in the various aspects of the human life. However, some constitutions are interpreted and enforced differently to others while others undergo writings and publications and constructions have the image of an enforceable law. They used empirical studies in finding out the effects of constitutionalizing the rights. Here they tend to find the magnitude of the effects on following the constitution on both the economic and political basis. They compare the amount of spending in those governments that follow the constitution to the letter

Hero Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Hero - Essay Example Major Stryker approaches the two individuals and offers them to join his elite group of mutants, team X. After his first mission, James is not happy of the murders committed by his team-mates and he quits his commando job and falls in love with a local teacher, Kayla Silverfox. He works as a lumberjack and changes his name to Logan. After six years, Logan is approached to rejoin team X, but he declines the offer. In attempting to convince Logan, Stryker sends Victor. To seek Logan’s attention, Victor kills Kayla, and now Logan is seeking revenge. The protagonist in this film is James Logan. In the movie X-men origins: Wolverine, the vengeful and ferocious James Logan presents himself as a tragic hero. First, he was born of noble birth; he was the second son of a rich landowner. Furthermore, he lost his family in a tragic manner. Also, Logan made a poor choice by agreeing to work with Major Stryker. He was desperate to get better than Victor so that he can avenge Kayla’s death. The modification Logan had was definitely a flaw that led to his downfall. The end of this work brought about sympathy for Logan’s condition. The literary work X-men origins: Wolverine screenplay was written by David Benioff and Skip Woods. The plot revolves around the beginning of Wolverine and his driving force of vengeance which leads him to do terrible things like altering his mutation to become stronger and indestructible via a government squad weapon agency (X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer). The hero is Logan also known initially as James and later on as Wolverine. The three things that Wolverine does are all driven by emotion due to the life stress that he has gone through. In the movie, Logan does three things all driven by his emotions. They include: killing Thomas Logan; joining a government commando group and after a mission quits it, seeking Victor for revenge of Kayla’s death and allows Stryker

The social responsibility of engineers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The social responsibility of engineers - Essay Example Can a business really have responsibilities? It is only people who can be said to be either responsible or irresponsible. If a corporation is viewed as an artificial person, then it follows that its responsibilities are also artificial. Therefore we conclude that businessmen are the ones who should be responsible. Therefore when saying that businesses should have a social responsibility, implies that the corporate executives running these businesses are the ones to take up responsibility. Even if a corporate executive is an employee of the business owners, he still has direct responsibilities of running the business (Friedman). A businessman is said to be socially responsible if he/she were to act in a way that does not necessarily interest his/her employers. For example, a corporate executive may refrain to increase the price of certain products out of concern that doing this might lead to inflation. Such action could be contrary to the best interests of the corporation. The corporate executive could hire less qualified personnel in order to contribute to poverty reduction. In each of the mentioned cases, the business man would be spending either the employer’s or the customers’ money for a general social interest. His actions would therefore be evidence of social responsibility. If a businessman were to spend the stockholders’ or the customers’ money in a different way from that of his customers, he would be in effect imposing taxes on them. This process may lead to political questions since it is the work of the government to impose taxes and plan expenditures (Friedman). Social responsibility has its consequences. Let us take inflation for example, what if a businessman was told that he has to contribute in fighting inflation, what actions would he take? Lowering the price of the products could lead to a great financial loss. Reducing the rate of production would lead to shortages and if were to reduce the employees’ wages, these would

Attitudes Toward Autism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Attitudes Toward Autism - Essay Example The data available with the survey has made use of the one-way ANOVA test and compared the ethnicities of users with their responses to the question of whether they personally knew a person known to suffer from Autism. In this context, it is assumed that the respondents’ answers were considered with the assumption that personally knowing someone with Autism was equivalent to the presence of such suffering individuals within friends and family. The one-way ANOVA test presented the following outputs results. The purpose of the ANOVA test in this context is to identify variations over the extent to which different ethnicities are aware of the existence of Autism within their communities. The null hypothesis assumes that there is no difference amongst the various ethnic groups over the presence of Autism. However, the ANOVA analysis presents a significance value (0.000), which is less than the confidence levels of 0.05, leading to a rejection of the null hypothesis. This establishes that different ethnicities have different opinions and knowledge over the existence of Autism within their groups. The above tests still provide a significance value well below the confidence intervals ( The reason for choosing the Games Howell post-hoc test was due to fact that it does not rely on homogeneity of variance. SPSS marks significant differences with an asterisk as shown in the figure above. From the figure, it is clearly evident that the understanding of existence of Autism varies significantly amongst the different groups. Most importantly, there were significant differences observed between different groups including Afro-Caribbean &