OM8025 final paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

OM8025 final - Term Paper Example Zaire is one such country. Through the creation of private-public partnerships and with some creative long-term strategic planning, Zaire has the potential and the opportunity to bridge the digital divide. This will enable Zaire to diversify its economy and to open new international markets to products manufactured locally. This study attempts to determine the level of interest among private sector firms and government agencies in Zaire in acquiring advanced telecommunications and internet capabilities. It also assesses what technology capabilities are most needed and what the impact of introducing these new technologies might have on the social, cultural and business practices of Zairians. The purpose of this study is to determine the degree to which public and private agencies in Zaire value the importance of having access to emerging telecommunications and internet technologies. If these technologies are made available, what affect do the agencies perceive these technologies to have on the manner in which they conduct their business activities? The lack of access to state-of-the-art telecommunications and internet technologies has represented a major constraint in Zaire’s efforts to diversity its economy. The country must show consistent economic growth in order to generate the revenues that it needs to develop new programs and businesses. In particular, Zaire must increase the volume of foreign direct investment in its economy in order to create the skilled jobs that Zairians require. There is a strong theoretical foundation in both economics and public policy that indicates a direct correlation between economic diversity and economic prosperity. Economic prosperity, in turn, provides countries with the resources that they need to develop strong social institutions (World Economic Forum, 2009). One of the distinguishing characteristics between

Venice and Belmont Essay Example for Free

Venice and Belmont Essay Compare and contrast the different worlds and different values of Venice and Belmont as presented in Act 1 of The Merchant of Venice Venice and Belmont are cities of contrast. Using examples of language, style of expression and characters I shall compare and contrast Venice as the centre of trade and wealth to the fictional Belmont, a fairytale place where love and happiness are the main concerns. I shall also consider the society that is depicted in each location and look at how this links to views of the audience both in Shakespeares time and in present day. The audience is introduced to the world of Venice in the first scene. Venice is concerned almost solely with wealth and trade, which mirrors the view the Shakespearean audience would have had of it at the time. The language used by Antonio, Salarino and Solanio is dominated with the subject of trade. Your mind is tossing on the ocean There where your argosies with portly sail The style of language Shakespeare uses varies between Venice and Belmont. The characters in Venice talk in verse using elaborate conceits to show their intelligence as was fashionable at the time. Even when attempting to cheer Antonio up, Salarino uses this as a chance to show off his wit and intelligence. This compares to the simpler but still humorous language used by the women in Belmont and suggest that perhaps it is not possible to be as open in Venice as in Belmont. I will do anything, Nerissa, ere I will be married to a sponge The merchants are more concerned with appearing successful then discussing their real feelings. A different interpretation of this is that as the first scene contains only men they are attempting to show off, as opposed to the women in Belmont who are happier to talk openly together. With speech full of references to business, Salarino and Solanio convey worry and anxiety towards Antonios ventures. This emphasises the fact that the main concerns of Venice are financial. My wind cooling my broth Would blow me to an ague when I thought What harm a wind too great might do at sea This preoccupation with wealth and trade is further established when the issue of Antonios sadness is discussed. The first reason for his melancholy that is immediately given, is the idea that he is concerned about his merchandise being lost at sea. Believe me sir, had I such ventures forth The better part of my affection would Be with my hopes abroad It is only after Antonio dismisses this as the reason for his sadness that the idea of love is put forward. This contrasts greatly with Belmont where Portias sadness is immediately explained as being down to the fact she cannot choose her husband. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one, nor refuse none? The main concern of Belmont is quickly established as not the qualms of merchants but of a fathers love for his daughter. Love is the governing factor in Belmont and dominates the conversation between Portia and Nerissa. But what warmth is there in your affection towards any of these princely suitors This emphasis on love rather than riches contrasts with the leading concern of Venice. Even when Bassanio and Antonio are discussing Portia as a potential wife they do so in terms of wealth. The first words that Bassanio uses to describe Portia are a lady richly left. He describes her worth in terms of merchandise, referring to her as the golden fleece, a risky venture but one that if he succeeds, will make him very wealthy. This attitude of love being reliant on wealth is mirrored in the loan that Antonio gives to Bassanio. In Venice it is only through lending him money that Antonio can express his depth of friendship with Bassanio while in Belmont love is discussed openly. A rather unpleasant comparison between Venice and Belmont is the racism apparent in both societies. The scene between Antonio and Shylock demonstrates the prejudice against Jews in the 16th Century. You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine This prejudice towards others of a different culture is continued in Belmont. Portia dismisses the Prince of Morocco before even meeting him saying she would never marry him if his skin were black. If he have the condition of a saint, and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me. The idea of risk plays an important role in both Venice and Belmont but there are differences between them which mirrors the attitudes of the two societies. In Venice the ventures that are made in Act 1 both concern money. The first deals with the risk Antonio has taken by tying up so mush of his wealth on merchandise at sea. The second risk that is taken in Venice is born of hatred and greed, when Shylocks dislike of Antonio leads him to make the bond of flesh Let the forfeit Be nominated for an equal pound Of your fair flesh, This differs from the casket test that suitors must take in order to marry Portia. Although it deals with a great risk, on choosing the wrong casket the man may never marry, being set in Belmont the venture deals with love rather than money. Despite this, money is still a factor as the test deals with the worth of Portia over the value of the casket. The distinctions between Venice and Belmont may have been viewed differently in Shakespearean times from present day. The casket test was a common myth in Shakespeares time and his linking this folk tale to Belmont emphasise it as a fictional, fairytale location detached from the rest of the world. A Shakespearean audience would have made this link but in the 20th Century this idea may not be understood. The idea of marrying for money rather than love as Bassanio intends to do in scene 1 would have been familiar concept in the 16th Century. Today this would probably looked upon with disapproval. This is also true of the treatment of Shylock in the play. Present day audiences would probably view this very much as an anti-Semitic play because they have been influenced by changing attitudes to religion and by the plays use as a propaganda tool in the Second World War. Mark you this, Bassanio. The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose A Shakespearean audience would have found this treatment of Jews as customary and would have been much more aware of the central theme of the play being love versus greed rather than just a display of anti-Semitism. The differences between the world of the Venice and Belmont are subtle but numerous. Through Shakespeares use of language and characters Venice is quickly established as the seat of the wealthy trading world. Belmont is seen much more as a fictional location more concerned with love and happiness then ships and trade. The varying styles in which Shakespeare writes emphasises these differences. The context in which the play is performed has greatly changed since the 16th Century. A present day audience would view this s a much more anti-Semitic play then a Shakespearean audience would have done. Likewise 16th Century spectators would have been much more aware of the differences between the two locations. Attitudes continue to change and Shakespeares plays continue to be performed. Undoubtedly interpretations and attitudes towards this play will continue to evolve.

Good vs. Evil in The Friars Tale :: essays research papers fc

Society has always judged a person on his level of morality. This level of judgment has been evident since the immoral acts of Adam and Eve were committed. Some of these acts are dishonesty, adultery, and ignorance. â€Å"The Friar’s Tale† makes these moral issues clear through various characters. The summoner and the Devil both show dishonesty, abuse of power, and mercilessness. In this short story, Chaucer illustrates the theme of immorality and how it affects the character of all the persons in the tale. .Characters display dishonesty in â€Å"The Friar’s Tale†. The summoner steals the money that he collects from peasants. Chaucer illustrates this act of immorality when he says, â€Å"Now truly†¦so do I. I never spare to take a thing, knows God, unless it be too heavy or too hot. What I get for myself, and privately, no kind of conscience for such things have I†. (170-174). The summoner is being dishonest to the people that he collects from by not telling him that he keeps the money. The summoner admits to the Devil that he steals. The summoner also says that he has no conscience. Therefore he can not be kept from evil. (Gray 115) Bowden addresses the summoner’s immorality when he states, â€Å"Fact and fiction both condemn him as especially licentious and dishonest. He also mentions how Gower writes of him as pretending to be poor but, in actuality, as being as rich as a king† (Bowden 55). Stealing is immoral, and Bowden reinforces that the summoner is immoral and steals beyond need. He is also being dishonest to his Archdeacon by not giving him the collections. The devil persuade the summoner into committing immoral acts. He makes the summoner believe that he himself is a thief as well. We see this happen when the devil says, â€Å"My wages are right scanty, and but small. My lord is harsh to me and niggardly, my job is most laborious, you see; and therefore by extortion do I live† (162-165). Hallissy agrees when he states, â€Å"When Geoffrey comments that the friar likes the company of such people better than that of lepers and beggars†¦such worldly values are inappropriate in a follower of Christ†. (Hallissy 33). By hanging out with those of higher status, the friar proves that he is not carrying out his vows. Hallissy suggests that the summoner, who should be a model for the community, is immoral.

Krushers Kfc

[pic] Report Title: â€Å"Krushers† – Marketing Strategic plan Submitted By: Group name: Date: 15 April, 2010 Submitted To: Dr Melodena Stephens Balakrishnan Assistant Professor, Faculty of Business and Management, University of Wollongong in Dubai Table of Contents 1. Background3 1. 1. Introduction and Objective3 1. 2. Situational Analysis3 1. 3. Constraints and Assumption. 5 1. 4. Product Need and Value. 7 2. Segmentation, Target & Positioning8 2. 1. Segmentation and Target8 2. 2. Positioning Map9 3. Marketing Mix10 3. 1. Product strategy10 3. . Pricing strategy10 3. 3. Place strategy11 3. 4. Promotion strategy12 4. Business Plan12 4. 1. Sales and Profits12 Bibliography13 Appendix14 Background 1 Introduction and Objective Introduction: KFC Corporation, also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants known all over the World since 1952, however the history of the company goes back to 1930. â€Å"KFC† is serving more than 12 million cust omers in 109 countries throughout the world every day. Company is actively franchising across the World during 58 years[1]. Loyal customers can find their favorite restaurant in almost every developed country across the Globe. â€Å"KFC† established strong position in the market place and recognized by millions of people in the World for its â€Å"finger lickin’ good† chicken. â€Å"KFC† is serving more than 12 million customers in 109 countries throughout the world every day. Currently, The Company is the most popular chicken restaurant chain in the entire Globe. This particular report is focusing on KFC Arabia, United Arab Emirates in particular. KFC restaurants introduced to the Middle East region by franchise partner Americana since 1973. Currently, there are KFC branches in over 70 different locations across United Arab Emirates. Menu offered to the Arab World is more focused on chicken sandwiches and Colonel’s Crispy Strips, and also includes side items that are suited to local preferences and tastes. [2] Product Portfolio: The fact that, â€Å"KFC† restaurants are associated by the customers with chicken, does not limit the range of products has been offered to the customers. Currently, more than 300 different types of products have been introduced by the company all over the World. World Famous menu contains of chicken pieces, salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, wraps, kebabs, snacks, sweets and sides, beverages. â€Å"KFC† Corporation constantly upgrades its menu with new innovative products in order to satisfy unmet needs of their current and future customers. KFC is introducing a new product called â€Å"Krushers† to the region; a new refreshing frozen drink. This new refreshing frozen drink first was introduced in 3 different flavors â€Å"Strawberry†, â€Å"Chocolate Krumble†, â€Å"Kookies N Kream†, followed by â€Å"Karamel Krunch† flavor that has been introduced later on in the Middle East. Objective: The objective of this report is to create strategic marketing plan for â€Å"Krushers† product and successfully launch it in the UAE. 2 Situational Analysis External environmental analysis: PESTEL Environmental (competitors): â€Å"Krushers† is introduced in a very competitive environment. There are several direct competitors in this product category, the biggest ones are MC flurry from MC Donald’s and Hand-Scooped shake from Hardees’s, these are traditional competitors for KFC in the fast-food segment and have similar products to the â€Å"Krushers†. Other competitors in this product category include Baskin Robins, StarBucks and Jonny Rockets as they offer frozen drinks as part of their product portfolio. Indirect competitors include Lipton’s Ice tea and Pulp Juice bar’s frozen drinks, they are considered as indirect competitors because they offer product replacements or substitutes to the â€Å"Krushers†. Sociological: The UAE population has higher levels of disposable income compared to the rest of the world, according to HSBC bank study, UAE is the fifth top country in the World in terms of disposable income. 3] As a result, eating out is almost a daily activity in the social life of UAE residents, which in turn produces a bigger market for restaurants and food outlets. In addition to that, In terms of age groups, the UAE has a dominant young population, with the 25-29 years emerging as the largest group of about 777,000 at the end of 2008. It is projected by the Ministry to peak at 830,000 at the end of 2 009. [4] This combination of high disposable income and young population makes the UAE a perfect market for KFC â€Å"Krushers† product which targets age group of 18-24. Technological: From a technological point of view, production of cold beverages relies heavily on the right equipment. KFC has state of the art production equipment. The company also utilizes advanced CRM solutions to gear its direct marketing efforts. Economic: â€Å"In the UAE over two-thirds of expats in the UAE stated that their attitudes to spending had changed as a result of the economic crisis, however over three-quarters of expats (82%) living in the UAE also said that they had not considered a move home. [5] Having said that, the UAE remains one of the strongest economies in the region (third in the region after Saudi Arabia and Iran). [6] As mentioned earlier, the disposable income in the UAE is cooperatively high, which makes it an ideal market for KFC and the new product â€Å"Krushers†. Industry Analysis: Porter’s Five Forces Market Rivalry: â€Å"Krushers† is a product category that faces high rivalry from various direct and indirect competitors. T hese competitors do not only include fast food chain restaurants with a similar product category, but also chains that focus exclusively on that market niche (frozen shakes and drinks). The fact that â€Å"Krushers† is a hybrid or mix of different products (i. e. ice cream, milk, smoothie, ice, fruits, juice, cookies, etc) makes it difficult to place it in a specific product category and thus exposes it to higher competition from those various product categories. In addition, competing products have been established in the market and have a healthy market share. It would be a challenge for KFC to strongly compete in this product category, partly because the product is new and partly because they are not strongly associated with frozen drinks like â€Å"Krushers†. Bargaining power of suppliers: KFC is one of the largest purchasers globally; all their suppliers go through a very rigid screening process to meet their quality standards. Having said that, KFC only uses high quality suppliers with which they have strong relationships, therefore, the threat of suppliers is minimized. Threat of Substitutes: â€Å"Krushers† falls into the frozen drinks category, due to this point, it faces a high threat of substitution from a number of relevant product categories including carbonated drinks, milk shakes, ice cream, ice tea, ice coffee, frapuccinos, fresh juice and smoothies. In order to offset this threat, KFC has to rely strongly on their established brand image and large customers base to market and sell the product. Bargaining power of buyers: As it mentioned earlier, the target segment(s) (18-24) are high in population, however, there is a large number of product substitutes available to them. Therefore, they enjoy a fairly high power of bargaining. Barriers to entry: The barriers to entry to this specific product market are relatively low. The investment needed is not very high and the health regulations can be met with reasonable effort. However, due to the size and the number of KFC branches across the UAE, it would be very difficult for new players to significantly compete with KFC’s market share unless they make significant financial investments, thus reversing the barriers to entry to very high. 3 Constraints and Assumption. Constraints: There are several constraints that KFC face in the introduction level of a new product â€Å"Krushers†. Customers are not aware of a new product that has been introduced by KFC. Lack of awareness can be explained by poor promotion and advertising, training of the employees. â€Å"Krushers† should be prepared within 1 minute, however, according to the survey, almost 95 percent of the consumers received their â€Å"Krushers† during the time frame 3 minutes to 6 minutes. [7] KFC is known all over the World for its â€Å"finger lickin good† chicken, it would be difficult for consumers to associate KFC as a place where they can purchase â€Å"Krushers†. The company didn’t define the product for the customers whether it is a milk shake or it is a desert, etc. However official launch of the product might solve these constrains. Assumptions: KFC does not publish any sales figures as a reference point; therefore the sales forecasts are based on an assumption that each branch will be able to sell 5 â€Å"Krushers† per hour on an average from their branch traffic. Assuming that branches operate from 10 a. m. to 3 a. m. that makes a total of 17 working hours a day. According to data published on the Americana website, they have 70 locations across the UAE, which equals total working hours of 1,190 per day (17X70). Assuming that the price of â€Å"Krushers† is at 9 drh per drink without a meal, and 4 dhs per a drink with a meal and based on the research conducted with consumers, 25 percent of the consumers will buy a â€Å"Krushers† with a meal and 75 percent of the consumers will buy it without the meal. [8] Based on these assumptions, we can conclude the following: Total number of â€Å"Krushers† sold per a day = total working hours X number of â€Å"Krushers† sold per hour = 1,190 X 5 = 5,950 â€Å"Krushers† per day across all locations. Therefore, total revenues per day would be calculated as following: Revenue of â€Å"Krushers† sold with a meal = (5,950 X 25%) X 4 = 5,950 dirham Revenue of â€Å"Krushers† sold without a meal = ( 5950 X 75% ) X 9 = 40,162dirham Total revenue of â€Å"Krushers† per day = revenue with meal + revenue without meal= 5,950 + 40,162 = 46,112 Monthly Total revenue of â€Å"Krushers† = total revenue per day X 30 days = 46112 X 30 = 1,383,375 dirham Annual revenue of â€Å"Krushers† = monthly revenue X 12 = 1,383,375 X 12 = 16,600,500 dirham Since KFC spends 6% of the total revenue on marketing and promotion, we can estimate the annual marketing budget for â€Å"Krushers† at annual revenue of â€Å"Krushers† X 6% = 16,600,500 X 6% = 996,030 dirham Due to the lack of information on variable or direct costs, we will limit our forecasts to only revenues. However there is more accurate way to estimate net profit of the company from â€Å"Krushers †. Target segment that has been chosen by the company is the youth in the age range 18-24 of UAE, which has been estimated to 1,417,300 people. It has been assumed that 60 percent of the total youth in the age range 18-24 would be a potential target of the â€Å"Krushers†, according to the chosen target segment â€Å"UAE explorers†, which is 850,400 people. [9] Penetration has been assumed according to seasonal demand, such as hot summer weather effect. Shopping festival was another reason to estimate increase in penetration in the month of December, and there is other reasons that has an effect on penetration percentages across the year, which is explained in the business plan section 4. 1 of the report. Revenue has been calculated according to the total users that would purchase the â€Å"Krushers† and the selling price. Expenses that would go on the marketing part of the â€Å"Krushers† have been assumed by the group and calculated in the business plan section 4. 1. Expenses have been estimated according to: Magazine = 150,000 dirham Newspaper = 168,000 dirham Facebook = 20,000 dirham In house AD: 30,000 dirham TV = 600,000 dirham Road signage = 200,000 dirham Billboard = 300,000 dirham Campaign = 50,000 dirham 4 Product Need and Value. |KFC’s value characteristics |Consumers need analysis | |KFC is a well known brand as a value for money all around the |Consumers would search for a reliable drink with no risk to | |world. |their health. |KFC has large number of branches, as well as big variety of |People living in gulf countries such as UAE would always search| |items, all delivered in a timely fashion, all of these give |for a drink which refreshes their feeling. | |high value of convenience. |Consumers would go for a product which is faster to be | | |delivered to them and easier t o carry with them while doing | | |their normal routines during the day. | | |Actually people are always after new things in their life. | |Those things could be a new product like â€Å"Krushers† or even its| | |new flavors to be introduced to the market in future. | | |There many other important factor in the consumers mind to be | | |considered as their needs of product such as pricing, great | | |taste and optional choice. | â€Å"Krushers† value analysis based on the mentioned needs above: †¢ â€Å"Krushers† is introduced as a smoothie drink that doesn’t have negative effect or risk on consumer’s health. It supposed being a drink to be alternative to those of energy drinks fulfilled of caffeine. â€Å"Krushers† came up with different flavors for variety seekers and those valuing a product based on optional choice. †¢ Offering â€Å"Krushers† as a value-added to meal as of satisfying perception of value for money p romised by KFC. They offer customers to add 4dhs to their meal and have â€Å"Krushers† with their meal in spite of soft drink or juice. †¢ Soon enough â€Å"Krushers† could be a replacement for cold drink at KFC by offering less than half the price if it is with any KFC meal. †¢ †¢ As of the discussed need of customer relating the weather of UAE then â€Å"Krushers† could be the best solution for relieving the thirst and the heat. Segmentation, Target & Positioning 1 Segmentation and Target Segment 1 â€Å"Academia’s† University students actively socialize in groups for many reasons, be it for regular chat ups between classes, for examinations studying or even group assignments etc. Therefore as the above points display that a â€Å"Krushers† will fit in perfectly with all three areas of a university student. Students usually have a red bull or a coffee or a milk shake etc with them while working on assignments with a group or while studying in order to keep them going. It’s become more like habit to do so. This is where we feel a â€Å"Krushers† can come in to play as it is a thick ice cream based shake with different flavors that will be able to fulfill a student’s need and want in terms of a having a drink that goes with what they do. Segment 2 â€Å"Beach & Shopping mall goers† (Fun) For this group what we really mean is the lifestyle of having fun and constantly active. We used the beach and shopping mall as examples of places where those who are in constant search of fun and activity can have a â€Å"Krushers†. The reason we used the beach and shopping mall as examples is due to the fact that a â€Å"Krushers† can be consumed in both situations / locations where on the beach it can be used as a refreshing cold drink to keep cool under the sun where as in the same time people don’t usually take food with them to the beach as it spoils under the sun and so having a â€Å"Krushers† on the beach is like a two in one feeling as it has real bits in some of its drinks like â€Å"kookies n kream†. Where as in the mall those shopping around can have a â€Å"Krushers† as a drink to walk around with while shopping or/and even as a drink to just and relax with while taking a break or even while meeting friends for a â€Å"coffee†. Segment 3 â€Å"UAE Explorers† This is a group of people who are constantly out and about but don’t really engage in activity. They just simply roam around places such as the mall or the JBR walk etc. by just watching other people or ‘window shopping’ or even simply go for drives around the city in search of something to do. Basically they don’t have anything to do and just want to keep themselves busy. Generally they do this in groups of two or more. The reason why have inserted such a lifestyle in our segment is because a thick shake like â€Å"Krushers† can be very appealing to them in terms of keeping them busy with a drink in their hand. Not only do they have a choice from a variety of flavors but the fact that it takes only a minute to prepare the drink of their choice , thus allowing them to think â€Å"its quick, ill stop and get one on the way†. There is a KFC available in almost if not every mall in Dubai, as well as on popular roads such as the Jumeirah beach road where a drive through option is available. Target Segment & Justification (U. A. E Explorers) †¢ †¢ According to feedback, most people would consume a Krushers ‘on the move’. †¢ They look at it more of a milkshake like drink with pieces in it than anything else. Krushers drink does not fit in with the food served at KFC, and therefore existing KFC customers will not have one at a dine in time especially considering the y don’t see it as a desert either. †¢ Sports people have energy bars and drinks to consume. †¢ University students opt for a red bull or coffee based drink to keep them up and alert. †¢ The ‘fun’ group of people would not really consider having a Krushers as it is not suitable for them. They would not meet for a ‘coffee’ in KFC nor would they buy a Krushers and sit on a bench for a chat. †¢ Therefore the best group and lifestyle is that of a UAE â€Å"Explorer† as on a drive they can go to a KFC drive through almost anywhere in Dubai, Krushers is available at almost every mall in Dubai and at the famous JBR walk too. A Krushers fits in well with a UAE Explorers activities as it is packaged in a way that can be taken in almost any environment and placed almost anywhere easily without risk of leak or spilling over etc. 2 Positioning Map â€Å"Krushers† is perceived as a refreshing shake that you can have between your m ain meals. It can satisfy both thirst and hungers basic needs of a person. There are two main benefits which â€Å"Krushers† has over its competitors in relation to the target segment, such as Brand Image and Store Location K FC’s brand image in the UAE is stronger than that of McDonalds and Hardees. Therefore having a strong brand image is advantageous to the consumer in terms of trusting to try a new product and actually consuming it. Store location is a big factor to the target segment as KFC’s stores are more convenient in terms of reach and comfort. Basically this is because KFC is available at all leading malls in the UAE, but so are its competitors McDonalds and Hardees but what makes the difference here are famous roads and hang out spots such as JBR where there is a KFC restaurant but no McDonalds or Hardees. Not only that, in one of the most famous areas for food in Dubai, the Diyafah area there is no McDonalds yet there is a KFC restaurant there too. There is no McDonalds or Hardees in the Knowledge village area or the AUS (American University in Sharjah) food court but there is a KFC. UAE Explorers are on the go and so with KFC restaurants being on their ‘way’ (drive thru) Jumeirah Beach Road, which is one of the most famous cruising streets a â€Å"Krushers† will be just the thing they will go after as it keeps them busy through their drive or walk at JBR etc. Marketing Mix 1 Product strategy â€Å"Krushers† is a sub product that has been represented by KFC. Introduction of this product increases variety of the product line available in KFC Corporation. â€Å"Krushers† has been introduced in order to bring customers throughout the day. The drink is available in 4 different flavors in the region. â€Å"Strawberry†, â€Å"Chocolate Krumble†, â€Å"Caramel Krunch†, â€Å"Kookies N Kream† are the types of flavors that has been introduced by KFC. According to the survey, customers identified two most popular flavors which are â€Å"Kookies N Kream† and â€Å"Chocolate Krumble†. Currently it is represented in 1 size. It is advisable to add more size options to suit different needs of the consumers. KFC offers â€Å"Krsuhers† as a value-added to a meal by just adding 4Dhs by customer to their meals which is less than the real price of â€Å"Krushers† purchased separately. The promise of great and natural taste is given by KFC through their advertising slogan by saying â€Å"full of real bitZ†. This slogan says that â€Å"Krushers† contains real pieces of fruits and chocolates in it. Thus one of the other augmented products of â€Å"Krushers† is the stated promise. 2 Pricing strategy One of the most important factors that must be considered carefully by companies is appropriate price strategy. â€Å"Krushers† is a new product, due to this point it is recommended to follow penetration strategy while pricing process. However it must be based on â€Å"Krushers† demand, as the demand are more for â€Å"Krushers† it is more obvious that penetration might be superior strategy to follow. Beside they also can gain some market share in marketplace however the supplier of â€Å"Krushers† must be assure when they imply this strategy for their product , they are capable to handle demanders and distribution channels . After all consideration about KFC â€Å"Krushers†, it is better off if they follow penetration strategy. According to the survey, 23 percent of the respondents were dissatisfied, 40 percent were neutral, which makes it total of 63 percent of the respondents (which is more than a half), that were not satisfied with the current price choices. Cutomers are unhappy which means the price does not affect their objectives toward purchasing products. [10] Normally the fixed cost for supplier is 60% of variable cost of products, Krusher is 9 Dhs, 60 % of variable cost would be 5. 4 Dhs which is the fixed cost and the profit approximately might be 3. 6 Dhs on each â€Å"Krushers†. According to the interview made with one of the KFC stuff, assumptions were made as followed: Integrant of â€Å"Krushers† for each cup: 60 % of each cup contains ice cream (2Dhs for each cup) Because they purchase the ice creams in retail, it costs less than an ice cream that is selling in stores). 0 % Slash (blended water and sugar), (30 fils for each cup) Flavor (1 ounce), with consideration that the ba ttle is 30 Dhs but for each cup they use just one ounce), (Around 30 fels). These amounts of materials imply for the entire available flavor. All the calculation is Close to 3 Dhs and approximately 1Dhs or less for packaging; in overall it cost 4 or 5 Dhs for company. Option Price: There is just one size of krusher available in all of the outlets; however option price are as below: †¢ 9 Dhs for any flavor in regular cup size †¢ 5 Dhs for having a Krusher with the meal. 3 Place strategy KFC Corporation uses one channel distribution across the World, which is their network of restaurant outlets or branches. Krushers† are sold directly to the customers without having any middlemen. KFC branches are available almost in every neighborhood across the country. Restaurants spread out across 70 different locations in United Arab Emirates. Examples would be: †¢ Shopping mall food courts(Dubai Mall, City Centre) †¢ Close to schools and universities(knowledge village) †¢ Petrol stations (Emirates Petrol station) †¢ Office buildings (Sheikh Zayed Road) †¢ High traffic roads like (The Walk in Dubai)[11] Customers can dine in the branches of KFC that accommodate dining areas, as well as choose take-away option and consume their â€Å"Krushers† outside in any other location they would prefer to have it. In the Introduction stage of the â€Å"Krushers† Corporation did not represent delivery service for the product; these might be due to ice ingredients in it. Before opening any store KFC conduct market research to estimate and consider the population of that area, consumer’s demographic details and major streets which are close to that specific location. It is worth mentioning that the †Krushers† is not part of the home delivery service due to the physical nature of the product (is it cold and can melt). 4 Promotion strategy In promotion strategy there are some factors that can be used to promote the products base on MARCOM mix that is used for KFC â€Å"Krushers† promotional strategy. Direct marketing: As a direct marketing, KFC departments can hire some people mostly young girls and boys to promote the â€Å"Krushers† in a very small cup to let the volunteers just taste it and promoters can encourage and motivate the volunteers to go for the bigger â€Å"Krushers†, and the best place for this sort of promotion is in the malls, at the foot court entrance. Sales promotion: KFC already gives the customer this chance that if they want â€Å"Krushers† with their meal the price will be reduced for them to 4 Dhs, which the price is 9 Dhs regularly. While the loyal customers buy a combo from KFC outlet , as a promotion they can give the customers coupons with four blank checklist , that if they buy KFC combo meal for four times as a promotion they can get one free â€Å"Kruchers† with their flavor choice. Generally it can be profitable for Kentucky chicken part sales and for â€Å"Krushers†, and also that would lead to better result for KFC and keep the customer loyal to the brand. Advertising: Coupons are Another tools in sale promotion, KFC can sign contract with well known and famous companies or organization which stated whenever they have customer who purchase something from the companies or organization, they give the customers KFC voucher, the vouchers are for specified items but this sort of promotion can bring the customer to the outlet to use their voucher and make them to try new or their favorite products that are available in outlets. It is very important to use online marketing today. Print advertising is another way to market the product. Sample has been developed by the group. There are twelve pieces of ice, with person inside each of it. There is one person standing in it and one of the piece contains Kentucky in four of the ices the â€Å"Krushers† flavors are representing and in the other ice pieces there are all the smiley faces that is representing the , iciness ,freezes , tastiness and freshness of the â€Å"Krushers† and The people in the ice are young and fresh people because it is related to our target segment which is the youth from age 18 – 24 who are the young generation whenever you look at the advertising it gives a positive , delight feeling about the product and the taste, the choice of putting people in the ice pieces is showing the coldness and freezing feeling that â€Å"Krushers† can give the customers. â€Å"Krushers† has been displayed in the official website, however social networks should be taken into consideration as well as the popular search engines etc. Also it is advisable to use media advertisement, such as radio, tv, etc. Also print advertising like ne wspapers magazines etc. Business Plan, 2010. 1 Sales and Profits |Jan |Feb |march |april |may |june |july |Aug |Sep |Oct |Nov |Dec | | |potential segment |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 |850 400 | | |heavy user |3% 5% |10% |13% |15% |30% |40% |50% |52% |55% |60% |65% | | | |25512 |42520 |85040 |110552 |127560 |255120 |340160 |425200 |442208 |467720 |510240 |552760 | | |moderate user |2% |4% |8% |10% |11% |25% |32% |40% |43% |46% |50% |57% | | | |17008 |34016 |68032 |85040 |93544 |212600 |272128 |340160 |365672 |391184 |425200 |484728 | | |Total user |42520 |76536 |153072 |195592 |221104 |467720 |612288 |765360 |807880 |858904 |935440 |1037488 | | |(SP=9) X 75%(users) |287010 |516618 |1033236 |1320246 |1492452 |3157110 |4132944 |5166180 |5453190 |5797602 |6314220 |7003044 | | |(SP=4) X 25%(users) |42520 |76536 |153072 |195592 |221104 |467720 |612288 |765360 |807880 |858904 |935440 |1037488 | | |total revenue |329530 | 593154 |1186308 |1515838 |1713556 |3624830 |4745232 |5931540 |6261070 |6656506 |7249660 |8040532 | | | expense: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |magazine | | | |150000 | |150000 | |150000 | |150000 | | | | |newspaper | |168000 | | |168000 | |168000 | |168000 | | |168000 | | |radio |135000 | |135000 | |135000 | |135000 |135000 | |135000 |135000 |135000 | | |facebook , |20000 | |20000 |20000 |20000 | | |20000 |20000 | |20000 | | | |In house Ad | | | |30000 |30000 | |30000 |30000 |30000 | |30000 | | | |Tv | |600000 | | |600000 | | | |600000 | |600000 | | | |road | | |200000 | |200000 | | |200000 | | |200000 | | | |billboards |300000 | | | | |300000 | | | | | |300000 | | |campaign | | | |50000 | |50000 | | | |50000 | |50000 | | |total |455000 |768000 |355000 |230000 |1153000 |500000 |333000 |535000 |818000 |335000 |985000 |653000 | | |profit/loss |-125470 |-174846 |831308 |1285838 |560556 |3124830 |4412232 |5396540 |5443070 |6321506 |6264660 |7387532 | | |total profit | | | | | | | | | | | | |40727756 | | Bibliography KFC official website, 2010, URL: [www. kfc. com], [last accessed April 6, 2010] KFC Locator, 2010, Americana group official website, URL: [ http://www. americana-group. net/Default. aspx? Id=1207 ], [last accessed April 7, 2010] KFC, 2010, Wikipedia, URL: [http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/KFC],[last accessed April 4, 2010] KFC Arabia official website, 2010, URL: [http://www. kfc-arabia. com/new_products. html#Krushers],[last accessed April 8, 2010] Annual report, 2008, Americana group, URL: [http://www. americana-group. net/Default. aspx? Id=1316], [last accessed April 14, 2010 ] Annual report, 2008, Yum, URL: [http://www. yum. com/annualreport/docs/annualReport08. pdf], [last accessed April 4, 2010 UAE population to exceed five million by year’s end, 2009, UAE Interact, URL:[ http://www. uaeinteract. com/docs/UAE_population_to_exceed_five_million_by_years_end_/37085. htm], [last accessed April14,2010] Appendix Graph 1. [pic] Graph 2. [pic] Graph 3: [pic] Graph 4: [pic] Based on: 1. Strongly dissatisfied 2. Dissatisfied 3. Neutral 4. Satisfied 5. Strongly satisfied ———————– [1] KFC corporate website (2010) 2] Americana group website (2010) [3] AMEinfo press release, June 24-2009. http://www. ameinfo. com/201597. html [4] Ministry of social affairs, annual statistic, 2008 [5] AMEinfo press release, June 24-2009. http://www. ameinfo. com/201597. html [6] Wikipedia, 20 10 [7] Appendix, Graph 1, page () [8] Appendix: Graph 2, page ( ) [9]URL:[http://www. uaeinteract. com/docs/UAE_population_to_exceed_five_million_by_years_end_/37085. htm] [10] Appendix, Graph 4, page () [11] Americana group website (2010) ———————– High Brand Image KFC Krushers McDonalds Shake High Store location convenience Low Store location convenience Hardees Shake Hardees Shake Low Brand Image

Analyses the leadership of Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation Essay

Introduction This paper analyses the leadership of Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan Motor Corporation. Carlos has been recognised as a successful leader whose leadership managed to rescue Nissan from its financial crisis in the late 90s. His contribution to the company, industry and society is significant. I will start by giving an idea about the history of Nissan followed by introducing Carlos Ghosn as an individual and analysing his leadership style using various leadership theories and models. We will also assess the effectiveness and efficiency as well as the business value added to Nissan through his leadership. The Company Nissan company was established in Yokohama in the year 1933 to take over the manufacturing of Datsun Ltd. It was renamed as â€Å"Nissan† the following year. In 1935, the company started to produce sub-compact cars, named Datsun and started exporting to Australia. In the year 1936, Nissan bought a new production line which was intended for small passenger cars but because of  the war, the company had to shift to military vehicles and ships (The Short History of Nissan Motor Company, 2013). The war had a huge impact on the company as half of the plant was taken by the occupation forces for a decade which delayed the company’s growth and by the time war ended; many customer had already switched to Toyota. To recover from that, Nissan collaborated with Austin Motors and launched a new car in the year 1958 which lead them to win The Deming prize in 1960. Nissan launched two manufacturing operations in the United States and in the United Kingdom in the years 1980, 1984 res pectively. It also established new headquarters in North America and Europe with a vision to make the decisions of design, production and marketing locally. The company which had been under debts for the previous seven years signed an agreement with Renault in the year 1999 and both companies formed an alliance for mutual benefit and growth for both. Nissan Revival Plan (NRP) for restructuring which was announced in 1999 aimed to reaching sustainable and continuous global growth. The objectives of this plan were met by the end of 2001. The company currently manufactures cars in twenty locations globally. Worldwide number of sold units in 2011 exceeded 4.800 million. In addition to cars, Nissan develops and produces marine equipment as well (The Short History of Nissan Motor Company, 2013). Carlos as a person Carlos Ghosn was born in Brazil in 1954 to Lebanese-Brazilian parents. The family moved to Lebanon in 1960. He completed his secondary school in Lebanon before travelling to France for university study. He got his engineering degrees from the École Polytechnique in the year 1978. After graduation, Carlos worked for Michelin & Cie. for eighteen years. At the age of thirty, he became the Chief Operating Officer of Michelin’s South America’s operations which operated at a budget of $300 Million. He succeeded in turning over the South American operation from losses to profits. After that he became the Chief Executive Officer of Michelin in North America. Carlos joined Renault in 1996 as an Executive Vice President for advanced research. Renault purchased 36.3 of Nissan’s shares in 1999 and Carlos MOVED TO Japan and joined Nissan as a COO and was named CEO two years later (Millikin, J and Dean, Fu, 2004: 121-125). Carlos and Nissan When Carlos joined Nissan in 1999, the company was suffering from losses and it had large debts which represented high risks for the investors. It was clear that the company could not have sustained in the market for long with this operating rate. Moreover, it appeared that Renault’s future is dependent on Nissan’s recovery from this bad position after the acquisition of a large portion of Nissan. Carlos realised that a radical change had to happen and he proposed a three-year revival plan which was later known as â€Å"Nissan Revival Plan†. â€Å"When the NRP was first announced, Nissan’s executive committee announced three bold commitments; if any of these were not met, the members promised to resign: †¢ A return to net profitability in fiscal year 2000 †¢ A minimum operating income to sales margin of 4.5 per cent by fiscal year 2002 †¢ Consolidated net automotive debt reduced to less than  ¥700 billion by fiscal year 2002† (Nissan Revival Plan, 2013). In his revival plan, Carlos identified the root cause for the poor performance of Nissan in the past years. These were: â€Å"1) Lack of profit orientation 2) Not enough focus on customers 3) Lack of cross-functional, cross-border, intra-hierarchical lines work 4) Lack of a sense of urgency 5) No shared vision or common long-term plan† (Nissan Revival Plan, 2013). Carlos believed that the opportunity to improve did actually exist. He identified some success factors that would allow Nissan to recover from its crisis and occupy a high ranking in the automobile market. Nissan had a global presence. It had markets in different continents with a diverse customer base. The company also excelled in its manufacturing system and the quality of the products was never a subject of a complaint. He believed in people of Nissan as a key asset in addition to other organizational assets such as know-how, policies, procedure, customers and partners. Nissan had a leading edge in some field of the technology and its new alliance with a big and reputable company like Renault represented- according to his vision- a further success factor. All of that made Carlos believe that his  plan would succeed and that he could lead Nissan back to retain its ranking in the industry. The Revival Plan: The revival plan was based on cross-functional groups. These groups were formed by the executive committee and they included two hundred people from Japan, The United States and Europe. The cross functional teams focused on different areas. These areas were: â€Å" Business Development Marketing & Sales Purchasing SG & A Manufacturing Financial Management R & D Product Phasing Out Organization & Decision Making Process â€Å"(Nissan Revival Plan, 2013). The cross-functional teams assessed two thousand ideas and proposed four hundred proposals to the executive committee. The plan aimed at growth with increased profits and reduced debts. Business development portion of the plan aimed at developing new products and models, reducing the lead time which could be achieved by reducing the product development cycle and order delivery periods as well as the time to start selling in new markets. The plan had to target twenty per cent reduction in costs by the end of the third year. The plan suggested to centralize procurement and to shorten the list of suppliers as well as including services as a buying strategy. The plan also suggested increasing the utilization of the manufacturing capacity by shutting down three assembly plants and forcing the rest to work in two shifts. The industrial organisation was also changed into a simpler and more efficient way. Cost reducti on was an important aspect of the plan and for this purpose several action were made such as reducing incentives and emphasising more on the power of the brand name, closing 10% of retail outlets and opening for longer hours, utilizing the alliance with Renault and employing E-commerce. R&D costs were cut down by leveraging with Renault as well. Carlos has changed the model of the company from being  multi-regional to being a global organisation. That required a global head quarter, worldwide strategy, centralized planning and the global control of several function of the Nissan. Carlos realized that this could not have been achieved without the key asset of the company, its people. For that, he empowered the directors for cross-functionality and orientation towards profit. He also introduced compensations for performance which included bonuses and shares options. The opportunity for career promotion existed for those as well (Nissan Revival Plan, 2013). By implementing this plan, Carlos achieved the goals a year earlier than what was initially proposed. He managed to save the company two hundred billion Yen. On the other hand, the plan had an impact on people. Twenty one thousand people lost their jobs as a result of the cost headcount reduction he embraced and t herefore, Carlos was subject to criticism by media in Japan and worldwide. Nevertheless, Carlos has been recognized as a leader of change whose leadership and management not only turned losses back into profits but also contributed to a structural and cultural change within the company. His method and vision has been adopted by many leadership schools. Therefore, his contribution exceeds Nissan to other businesses and fields worldwide (Nissan Revival Plan, 2013). Carlos the leader Carlos’s personal and career profiles allowed him to be a successful leader. This can be illustrated by analysing different dimensions as suggested by Kotter (1990). Carlos learned from his experience with Renault as a vice president of advanced research to keep looking at the horizon while creating and executing strategies. An example of this visionary leadership is his empathy to the new generation of cars which runs on electric power as he anticipated that this is the future trend of the industry and wanted Nissan to lead it. He managed to have his followers share his vision and opened the door for them to grow and advance in their career. His revival plan relied on having the cross-functional teams brainstorm and share thoughts away from the bureaucracy and structural limitations. The plan also suggested a large number of thoughts to be assessed and presented to the board which reflects his openness and willing to listen to others’ thoughts rather than directing the m to adopt his own (Nissan Revival Plan, 2013). One of the success  factors for Carlos is that he believes in having no perception of the organisation or the culture before he actually gets exposed to it. He wanted to learn by experience: â€Å"†¦I asked people what they thought was going right, what they thought was going wrong, and what they would suggest to make things better. I was trying to arrive at an analysis of the situation that would not be static but would identify what we could do to improve the company’s performance. It was a period of intensive, active listening. I took notes, I accumulated documents that contained very precise assessments of the different situations we had to deal with, and I drew up my own personal summaries of what I learned. In the course of those three months, I must have met more than a thousand people. During that time I constructed, bit by bit, my image of the company based on hundreds of meetings and discussions† (Ghosn C , 2006: 93-94). His leadership created a radical change to the company that lead the company towards restoring its position in the market, a mission that would have seemed to be impossible to many. Carlos also believes in sharing knowledge and experience that may help other firms grow and succeed. This is clearly depicted by the new service introduced by Nissan, the consulting services which allow the transfer of Nissan’s Production Way (NPW) which relies on Kaizen (improvements) to other firms. â€Å"Nissan Production Way is a key ingredient of our success. I hope that you will make it part of yours† (Nissan production way, 2013). Nissan consulting services also represents a radical change from a company that adopts continuous improvement theories to a consulting company that help others adopt them. Theories of leadership vary in their approach toward the analysis of a leader’s style. Some of these theories emphasise on the behaviour of the leader. In other words, they suggest that individuals are considered leaders when they act as such rather that by their personal characteristics. This is a more realistic approach than trait theories which assume that leaders are born not made (University of Leicester, 2011: 247-254). Lewin et al (1939, cited in University of Leicester, 2011:250) identified three styles of leaders, autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire. We can think of Carlos as a democratic leader who demonstrated a sound level of engagement to the team during critical decision making. The cross-functional teams were asked to  think, discuss and assess ideas and present a reasonable number of thoughts to the management. This level of engagement to the team boosted their spirit and improved the quality of the decisions made. Fleishman’s (1953 cited in University of Leicester, 2011:251) two factor theory of leadership emphasises on two dimensions, consideration and initiating structure. Carlos managed to achieve efficient balance between these two dimensions, allowing employees to communicate their thoughts and ideas and respecting them without losing the lines of responsibilities which are required to manage such a multi-cultural and a multi-national organization. In other words, he stands in the middle between being people-centred and task oriented; this is referred to by Blake and Mouton (1964 cited in University of Leicester, 2011:253), as â€Å"Middle of the road†. Carlos believed that the solution for the company’s problems existed within the cross-functional teams and he shared this with them. On the other hand, he set the process, targets and timelines for his plan which represented a high level of task-orientation. Contingency theories suggest that leadership style may vary based on the situation in which the leader works (University of Leicester, 2011:255-262).They also relate to various parameters such as the leader, his/her followers and the nature of the tasks which the leader is trying to complete. It is clear that Carlos possessed many characteristics that allowed him to lead efficiently. He is Lebanese by origin, was brought up in Brazil, got educated in France and has worked in different countries. All of that enhanced his capability to lead in a diverse environment and overcome the challenge of being one of few non-Japanese leading a Japanese company. His work experience gave him exposure to various areas of the business ranging from business development to top level management including research. This allowed him to bring back Nissan to its financially healthy position and- at the same time- make advancements in other business areas. Carlos believed in Nissan as a company, in its people as assets and in Japan’s culture as a platform. For him to succeed, he had to secure the cooperation of those under his leadership. He had to make them see him as an efficient leader. He believed that this cannot be achieved without bridging the cultural gap between his origin, experience and the new environment he had to work within. He started learning about Japan, its culture, language  and even the food. He believed in respecting and understanding the culture of these people while trying to make a contribution. â€Å"I would say even though the term today is not very popular, love the country and love the culture in which you are in. And try to learn about its strengths, don’t focus on the weaknesses, and make sure that all the people you are transferring with you are of the same opinion† (The transcultural leader, 2013). Carlos benefitted from the culture of Japan. In an interview with MTV channel, he s tated that the commitment he and the committee will resign if the revival plan objectives were unmet, had been inspired by the culture of the Samurai who would defend his land and would kill himself in case of failure. He realised that importance of commitment to Japanese (Interview with Carlos Ghosn – MTV Lebanon, 2012). One of the reasons for his effective leadership in Nissan relates to the nature of his mission. It was obvious that the future of the two allied companies depended on his success in leading Nissan out of its crisis. He also tried to use urgency as a motivation factor therefore; he committed dates for his tasks to be accomplished and held himself as well as the team accountable for achieving them. The Path-goal theory of Robert House(1971 cited in University of Leicester, 2011:259) suggests that a leader can motivate his/her subordinates towards reaching the goals by helping them draw a clear path to those objectives and by giving more recognition to members who achieve those goals. When Carlos first formed the cross-functional teams, the team felt lost as of what is required from them and how to achieve it. Carlos realized this and he invited them to a meeting in which he explained the purpose of forming these teams and his expectations from them. He also promised his directors rewards and incentives for achieving the goals of his plan. In fact, before Carlos came up with his revival plan, he spent some time meeting with people at different levels of the organisation in order to understand the culture and the challenges he was going to face. The establishment of the cross-functional teams allowed him to engage large number of the company’s staff in idea generation, ref lecting a participative leadership style. As a Chief Executive Officer of the two companies, Renault and Nissan Carlos  enjoyed a high level of authority on his subordinates which allowed his ideas to be easily adopted. The leadership of Carlos during crisis is seen as a good example of what Bass (1985 cited in University of Leicester, 2011:264) identified as â€Å"Transformational Leader†. He managed to raise the awareness, commitment and enthusiasm among his team. He envisioned a new future of Nissan, broke the frame that existed before him and personally committed towards this new vision. Carlos emphasised on team diversity and gender equality. Under his leadership, Nissan reached twice the rate of competitors in terms of number of female managers within the company. â€Å"On gender equality, the CEO says that when he started at Nissan, only one per cent of the top management at Nissan were women. While that was twice as good as his competitors, he was determined to increase the number of women in management still further. Today the number of women in management is five per cent, and the objective is to raise that figure to ten per cent. Ghosn says that although such targets are good, it’s more important to set a lasting, achievable trend for women that will prove that diversity delivers.† (The transcultural leader, 2013). Transactional leadership is based on transactions and exchange. It usually occurs in stable and predictable situations (Bass 1985, cited in University of Leicester, 2011:263-265). Carlos’s style is more transformational than transactional due to the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the industry as well as his personal characteristics. We can think of few people who are willing to relocate to a new country whose language and culture were totally new to him and lead a crisis recovery. The notion of a transformational leader has been criticised by Khurana (2002) who believed that transformational leaders can become over convinced of their charisma and may drive the company towards instability in order to allow a room for radical changes. However, these concerns seem to be invalid in the case of Carlos Ghosn whose interviews and public speeches show a greater emphasis on skills and techniques rather than personal charisma. Although he believes in changes and he directs his team to keep an eye on the horizon, he makes decisions based on rationality. Summary In this paper we have analysed the leadership of Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault and Nissan companies. Having joined Nissan in the year 1999, when the company was suffering from a severe financial crisis, Carlos managed to rescue the company and turn it back into a profit generating firm. Carlos presented a successful leadership based on vision, participation, and passion about his employees as well as contribution to the culture of Nissan. We have used different theories and models for this analysis including behavioural theories, contingency theories as well as transformations theory of Bass. In my opinion, these theories and models are complementary rather than exclusive. They can all be used to analyse the leadership model and obtain a better understanding as of what made Carlos a successful leader of a change. Carlos’s leadership has been the subject of many researches in management and his method has been adopted by many schools. Cross-cultural dimensions have a high im portance in leadership. Carlos succeeded in leading people in different countries and organizations that varied in power distance, uncertainty avoidance and differed from his own culture, overcoming what was identified by Hofstede (1992, cited in Linstead et.al, 2009: 254) as challenges. Carlos managed to cut the costs by shutting down plants which made many people redundant. Some analysts argue that he could have achieved his goals by a different strategy. The fact that Carlos enjoyed high power being the CEO of both companies raises a question as to whether he would have succeeded had he been the CEO of Nissan only. Wouldn’t he have faced additional challenges from the main shareholder of Nissan, Renaut. References Bass, B. (1985), Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, New York: Free Press Burns, J.M. (1978), Leadership, New  ­York: Harper & Row 278 Organisational Behaviour Fielder F.E. (1967), A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness, New York: McGraw-Hill Fleishman, E.A. (1953), The Description of Supervisory Behaviour, Personnel Psychology, 37, 1–6 Ghosn, C. 2006, Shift Inside Nissan’s Historic Revival. Crown Business. Hofstede, G. (1980/1992) ‘Motivation, leadership and organization; Do American theories apply abroad’, in Lane, H.W. and Stefano, J.J. (eds) International Management Behavior, Boston: PWS/Kent. House R.J. (1971), A Path Goal Theory of Leadership, Administrative Science Quarterly, 16 (2), 321–338 Interview with Carlos Ghosn – MTV Lebanon, 2012. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_1Dc7VDQ3yw; accessed 29 April 2013. Kotter, J.P. (1990), What Leaders Really Do?, Harvard Business Review, May–June Lewin, K., Liippit, R. and White, R.K. (1939), Patterns of Aggressive Behavior in Experimentally Created Social Climates, Journal of Social Psychology, 10,271–301 Linstead, S et.al.(2004), Management and Organization: A Critical Text ,Palgrave Macmillan Limited Millikin, J., Dean, Fu. 2004 The global leadership of Carlos Ghosn at Nissan, Thunderbird International Business Review, 47(1):121–137 Nissan production way, 2013.Nissan production way. Available at: http://bcove.me/pm3yqd9c; accessed 29 April 2013. Nissan Revival Plan, 2013. Nissan Revival Plan. Available at: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/DOCUMENT/PDF/FINANCIAL/REVIVAL/DETAIL/1999/fs_re_detail1999h.pdf; accessed 29 April 2013 School of management (2011), Organizational Behaviour, University of Leicester, 1:241-279. Stephen Linstead, Liz Fulop and Simon Lilley, 2009. Management and Organisation: A Critical Text, Second Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. The Short History of Nissan Motor Company. Available at: http://www.nissan-global.com/GCC/Japan/History/history/index-e.html; accessed 29 April 2013. The Transcultural Leader: Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault, Nissan Available at: http://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-management/operations-management/the-transcultural-leader-carlos-ghosn-ceo-of-renault-nissan-1904; accessed 29 April 2013.

John Locke Vs Thomas Hobbes

John Locke Vs Thomas Hobbes Free Online Research Papers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were some of the most influential political thinkers of their times. Living during different times, their contrasting views were influenced by what they experienced. Thomas Hobbes lived through one of most bloodiest wars ever, the â€Å"English Civil War†; and making him view mankind and evil and beastly. On the other hand, John Locke lived through the â€Å"Glorious Revolution†, one of the most bloodless and peaceful wars ever fought; thus viewing humans as nonviolent. Hobbes and Locke are renowned philosophers for their firm believes in their thoughts and views about the nature of mankind. Thomas Hobbes was a very accomplished writer. In 1651, the English Civil War inspired Hobbes to write is famous, â€Å"Leviathan†. It studied physical bodies and human nature. Hobbes viewed people and society as materialistic and mechanical. He defined human will as, â€Å"the last appetite before choice†. Although he viewed mankind as unthinking, he did believe that man can prosper from the use of science. Hobbes viewed mankind in a very negative way. He claimed that people had a strong desire to attain power. Hobbes saw the original human state as corrupted and evil. He saw people as self-centered monsters without a master. In his view, the only way to prevent people from acting out of sorts was to impose a tightly ruled government, known as absolutism. He thought that a strong ruler could control the negative aspects of man. He believed that absolute rulers should have complete unlimited power. Hobbes did not care who was in power, as long as it was an absolute ruler. John Locke also was a renowned writer. In 1690, he wrote, â€Å"Essay concerning Human Understanding†. Unlike Hobbes, Locke described the human mind as a blank tablet at birth. He said that no one was born good or evil, but that the society people grow up in influences their morality. Locke showed his disapproval with Hobbes’ claim that rulers were absolute in power when he wrote, â€Å"Two Treatises of Government†. Locke believed that an absolute monarchy was inconsistent and no form of civil government. He believed that the best form of government was a limited constitutional monarchy. In contrast to Hobbes, Locke believed that it was important to protect the rights of life, health, liberty, and possessions. Locke has five main points concerning the rights of the people. First; all men are born with certain undeniable rights concerning life, liberty, and property. Second; the purpose of the government is to protect those rights. Third; the purpose of society is to protect those rights. Fourth; the rights of people can not be denied without due process. Lastly; if any government fails to protect these rights or denied these rights, people have the right of revolution. His last point is the most revolutionizing one of all, because for the first time in European history, someone claims that people have the right to rebel if treated unjustly. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke had very different views when it comes to the state and right of mankind. Hobbes viewed mankind as inherently evil and as savage beasts. While Locke claimed humans were born clean and pure, but it is society that influences the evil. Hobbes wanted an absolute monarchy to control the wild nature of man. On the other hand, Locke wanted a limited monarchy and the preservation of mans rights. In Hobbes view, the greatest good was law and order, while Locke believed in maintaining the rights owed to man. Research Papers on John Locke Vs Thomas HobbesQuebec and CanadaAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeCapital Punishment19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraBringing Democracy to AfricaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionRelationship between Media Coverage and Social and

Briefs Bank and American Express Essay

Briefs Bank and American Express Essay Briefs: Bank and American Express Essay Better Briefs â€Å"It is the miracle and magic of advertising that a structured formal document can produce communication that touches people emotionally.† Shane Weaver Better Briefs Objectives Understanding what is a good brief How to create them everyday The information you need Interpreting the client brief and turning it into a good creative brief Tips, wisdom and practice Exercise 1: Common pitfalls Individually, write the most common pitfalls you see when writing briefs. Think about briefs you write as well what you see in others’ briefs. You will discuss with the group in 5 minutes. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Exercise 2: Guess the proposition In pairs, write down what you think the proposition (the single most important think you want to convey) for this work was. Be ready to share with the whole group in 10 minutes. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A Good Brief Energises creatives Is an enabler, not instructions Concise, distilled, tight Includes briefing as well as the document Your own notes :- ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Exercise 3: What is difficult about the briefing process Work with a partner. Write down the things how find most difficult about briefs and briefing. Think through the whole process from taking a brief to finalising work, not just writing the document. Be ready to share with the whole group in 10 minutes.

Philosophy of Education Examples for Elementary Teachers

Philosophy of Education Examples for Elementary Teachers A philosophy of education statement, sometimes called a teaching statement, should be a staple in every teachers portfolio. For elementary school teachers, the statement is an opportunity to define what teaching means to you and allows you to describe how and why you teach as you do at the early stages of learning. The following tips and philosophy of education examples for elementary teachers can help you write an essay that youll be proud to have. A philosophy of education statement is an opportunity to define what teaching means to you, and to describe how and why you teach as you do. Articulating this statement in the first person and using a traditional essay format (introduction, body, conclusion) will help you craft an enduring and inspiring personal statement. Structure of a Teaching Philosophy Unlike other kinds of writing, educational statements are frequently written in the first person because these are personal essays on your chosen profession. In general, they should be one to two pages long, though they can be longer if youve had an extensive career. Like other essays, a good educational philosophy should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Here is a sample structure. Introduction Use this paragraph to describe your views on teaching in a general sense. State your thesis (for example, My philosophy of education is that every child should have the right to learn and get a quality education.) and discuss your ideals. Be brief; youll use the following paragraphs to explain the details. Think about aspects of early education that are unique to elementary teachers, and introduce these ideals into your writing. Body Use the following three to five paragraphs (or more, if needed) to elaborate on your introductory statement. For example, you could discuss the ideal elementary classroom environment and how it makes you a better teacher, addresses student needs, and facilitates parent/child interactions. Build on these ideals in the following paragraphs by discussing how you keep your classes aware and engaged, how  you facilitate age-appropriate learning,  and how you  involve students in  the assessment process. Whatever your approach, remember to focus on what you value most as an educator and to cite examples of how youve put these ​​ideals  into practice. Conclusion Go beyond simply restating your educational philosophy in your closing. Instead, talk about your goals as a teacher, how you have been able to meet them in the past, and how you can build on these to meet future challenges.   Philosophy of education documents for elementary teachers are very personal and unique to the individual. While some may have similarities, your own philosophy should focus on your personal approach to pedagogy and classroom management. Focus on what makes you unique as an educator, and how you wish to advance your career to further support elementary education. Writing Prompts As with any writing, take the time to outline your ideas before you begin. The following tips can help you craft your teaching philosophy statement: Brainstorm about  your educational philosophy and your  views of education, making notes on those principles you value most. This can help you articulate your philosophy as you organize your essay.Demonstrate how you have put your educational philosophy into practice in the classroom by citing specific examples and outcomes with students, parents, or fellow teachers and administrators.  Reflect on your experience over your career. Most likely, your teaching philosophy has changed over time. Reflect on the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead, and how you intend to meet them.Connect with others and talk to your peers in the field, as well as mentors. Ask them about how they crafted their essays and ask them to review yours once you complete it. Having people who know you and your teaching style well review your work can help you craft a truly representative statement.Review a few sample essays to help you as you begin writing your own. Career Advancement Applying for a brand new job isnt the only time you need an educational philosophy. If youre seeking a promotion or are applying for tenure, youll need to craft or update your educational philosophy statement. As time goes on, your approach to education and classroom management will likely evolve, and so will your beliefs. Updating your philosophy allows you to articulate your professional motivations and goals, as well as your approach to educating others so that observers can have a better sense of who you are, even without observing you in the classroom. Consider reviewing your philosophy every few years.

Putting the Puzzle Together Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Putting the Puzzle Together - Term Paper Example The secretary writes the minutes and keeps all the records for the group. The records are useful for future reference and assessing the group’s progress. Most important, the secretary distributes resources to group members that are relevant to the project area. The spokesperson is charged with making presentations that comprise of progress reports as well as the final report of the group’s project (Carleton College, 2013). A monitor evaluator is a knowledgeable person who is charged with double-checking work done for accuracy. Moreover, he/she makes recommendations on the way forward. The resource investigator gathers information and all relevant resources for the project at hand. He/she has to identify current and reliable information that comprises of scholarly journals, the latest book editions and credible web sources. The specialist is an expert on the group’s project area. He/she is also essential in gathering information and critiquing the group’s p rogress (Skills You Need, 2013). A group member can fulfill more than one role in the group. For instance every member should be proactive in searching for relevant information. It should not be the sole responsibility of the resource investigator. This aspect of research is a valuable learning opportunity for all members. All the information gathered can be forwarded to the resource investigator. ... Leaders should be endorsed by the majority of group leaders, and all group members should support their leader. All roles are essential and it is difficult to rank them in order of importance. However it is important for a group to have good leadership. The group’s progress and punctuality in meeting deadlines is dependent on leadership. In essence good leadership is reflected on the quality of work done by the group. Poor leadership and coordination by a leader is likely to lead to a group’s downfall. The input by each member is also essential and all members should be committed towards realizing the set objectives. Aside bad leadership, individual members can also contribute to the group’s downfall. The need for individual members to cooperate cannot be overemphasized. A student fulfills several roles in groups. In each student group, it is essential to have a leader, monitor evaluator /advice seeker, secretary/summarizer, and resource investigator/observer. Th e leader sets the pace for work and guides the group until the project is complete. He/she also oversees the individual contribution of members. The leader motivates members and ensures that everyone is on the right track. A monitor evaluator asks questions and seeks guidance from the instructor. This is after the group encounters some difficulty that cannot be resolved by members. This member familiarizes the members with solutions and any emerging information. The secretary compiles a report of the work completed by the group at each stage. Extensive research for the project should be conducted by the resource investigator/observer. He/she is also charged with availing all resources for the project and ensuring that all borrowed material such as books is returned (APH, 2007).

Circular Distributors Marketing Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Circular Distributors Marketing Services - Essay Example Now a days with the easy availability of information, companies generally wishes to target individual customers rather than going for a mass population. Therefore it has provided a huge opportunity for the firms indulged in supplying of services. Apart from providing information about the consumers to their clients these organisations on behalf of the client also communicates the messages to the target consumer group. The report is principally focused on the market analysis of Circular Distributor’s Ltd. In this process the report will try to make an analysis of their service offerings and portray it in a meaningful way. The report will also try to put out a new service development strategy for the company. Apart from this the dissertation will also highlight some of the ways to implement the newly developed strategy. Circular Distributor’s Ltd: A Brief Overview Circular Distributor’s Ltd. is an organisation which is considered as the pinnacle of information prov iding service industry. The company is in business for more than 50 years. The company mainly work as the supplier of services to the target consumers of their clients. ... Therefore it is highly recommended that that service organisations should constantly keep an eye on the turbulent marketing environment and take necessary steps in order to respond quickly to the demanding situations. The company is mainly in the business of providing direct marketing services for its clients. These include selling of informational services, door to door delivery and later came up with different publications. The company is also in a strong association with its client Lever brothers, for them the company has delivered around 10 million free samples to different households throughout the United Kingdom. The important and noticeable publications of the company include Emma’s diary, one step-ahead publication, Emma’s diary pre-school guide and married life. Each of the variants was meant for different segment of customers. For example Emma’s diary was only intended for pregnant women (Emmasdiary, n.d.). Since the company is associated into diversifi ed business lines there will be availability competitors from different segments, but the major competitors of the company are Claritas, ICD and Experian. Market Analysis: Circular Distributor’s Ltd. Circular Distributor’s Ltd. started its marketing operations in the form of scatter gun approach but later changed to distribution mode. The company generally delivered promotional leaflets as well as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) like soaps, shampoos and tea bags among others to the households of different consumers. But such system is considered quite one-dimensional in current scenarios and therefore some new techniques were necessity for the company to survive in the long run. And with the course of time industries like FMCG had more exciting

Classical Hollywood Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Classical Hollywood Cinema - Essay Example This style of filmmaking is based on an invisible style, where the camera and sound recording merge as one with the action taking place on the screen. Classical Hollywood Cinema was formulaic in nature and most movies made were musicals, cartoons, slapstick comedy, Westerns, epics or the biopic. In 1927, with the release of the movie ‘The Jazz Singer’ sound was introduced to the moving picture. The movie was made by Warner Brothers, one of the big five studios of the time, the other four being Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Loews (MGM) and RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum). These studios controlled filmmaking, from its creative to its financial and to its distributive process, which led to the creation of the classical film style. Movies were, â€Å"over determined,† a film jargon used to refer to the social, cultural and economic factors which determine the final product, and it was also derogatorily compared to Ford’s assembly line. The studio system solidified into a mammoth business undertaking prompted by the introduction of sound in films and the idea of vertical integration in its operations. The studio system could be compared to a factory and as such the products coming out of it had a standard look and feel and it is this which led to the many genres in addition to the identification of studios with particular features. MGM had a list of stars on its roster and thus created all-star productions like ‘Grand Hotel’ (1932). Warner Brothers indulged in social realism while Paramount created rib tickling comedies and 20th Century Fox created very great musicals and biopics. The studio system became what has been called â€Å"the genius of the system’, the title of Thomas Shatz’s study of this unique industry, a phrase borrowed from Andre Bazin, a critic and theorist who called â€Å"American cinema †¦ a classical art,

Should American Football be banned from Highschool Research Paper

Should American Football be banned from Highschool - Research Paper Example The issue has been met with opposing opinions from those who support the sport and want such an activity to continue, while there are those that strongly oppose the same. In this section, I shall discuss why school administration boards across the country have been considering the prohibition of the sport on their grounds. Unsurprisingly, supporters of the stand that American football should be banned come from adults who are mostly parents of the students. American Football as a Discriminating Sport According to David (105), American football is a gender discriminating sport. The parties particularly interested in playing the sport and those who enjoy the same the most are the males. The sport has been described as a â€Å"masculine† activity and female students are not likely to benefit from the sport in the same way that their male counterparts can. It is also thought that female students are not likely to benefit from the sport. They are not likely to hone any beneficial s kills from playing the game, at least not physically. The Injuries Suffered by Football Players One of the obvious injuries that may be suffered by American footballers would be head injuries. The seriousness of the risk faced by these players has lead the District of Columbia to ban sports that result in concussions, or at the very least, expose the youth to such threats (between 2009 and 2011). While suffering concussions may not seem to be that serious to some, because head bumps can be helped with a pack of ice, the threat of head injuries can definitely lead to really serious health conditions that can affect a player for life. The trauma however, can manifest later on in the life of the injured player and can be the explanation of â€Å"neurodegenerative disease similar to Alzheimer’s† (Trotta and Ingles). Health conditions related to head injuries include dementia and Alzheimer’s itself. Problems such as fractures to the skull are also highly likely and t he presence of the skull itself and its ability to cushion the brain from injury is not enough. Serious brain damage is possible (Reed). There has also been research to suggest that the more concussions a player suffers, the more likely would depression kick in. Other injuries to be suffered by such football players include â€Å"cervical spinal cord injuries.† It has been known that in the United States, players from Louisiana suffer mainly from this kind of injury (Lawrence et al) Because of the alarming health risks that football may bring, fifteen states have issued laws banning such dangerous sports (Trotta and Ingles). It has been suggested that the best way to deal with preventing such serious injuries would be to invest in the sports equipment. Supporters of the sport should look into providing improved designs of head and mouth gear for the players, to ensure that the players’ gear could withstand injuries to be encountered on the field (Trotta and Ingles). An other solution to the problem would be to educate the players themselves on â€Å"safe tackling† methods in order to prevent injury and how these players can best use their head gear in the safest way possible. Unfortunately, according to a study by Lawrence et al., a significant number of players use the top of their helmets in tackling their opponents. This is one of the most dangerous tackling methods, and is actually illegal. However, an alarming majority of player participants in the

Blog entry Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Blog entry - Article Example Other amazing architectures that I believe are related to expo Dubai 2020 include; ‘The Cloud’, ‘Dubai Hub One’, ‘Opus’, ‘Dubai Renaissance’, ‘Eta Hotel, Dubai Grand Pyramid, ‘The Arabian Blade, and ‘The Burj Al-Arab’ (BBC News, 2013). In my opinion, the architectures will play a big role in campaign for the expo in Dubai ‘architecture peace’ by promoting tourism department, boost business, attract investors and improve the lives of people living in the city. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the person in charge of the city has assured a tremendous surprise and innovation that will twist the minds of people globally in the coming occasion (BBC News, 2013). These high expectations are making the residents to work extra hard to ensure that the city is ready to host the historic event. Through this, I believe it will make the city to take risks and invest immensely, hoping that they will make huge profits through the selling of tickets, money collected from transport, the food the visitors would eat, and hotels where they will also sleep (BBC News, 2013). It is expected that expo 2020 will be make the city to cash in 23 billion USD, which is good money for the country’s

Define what art is Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Define what art is - Essay Example It is a weapon, a massive protest and a huge platform for revelation and revolution. Exploring the meaning of art as it appeals to a connoisseur is difficult but not always beyond comprehension. The essay attempts to identify, examine and explore few such intricate subtleties associated with the mighty term called â€Å"art†. In determining various approaches regarding the definition of art, first it is essential to judge the general view about the term. Generally, the term ‘art’ stands for a process or it can be denoted as a product which is intentionally arranged in an order with specific elements that will appeal and affect human senses or emotions. Art encompasses a diversified and a wide range of human activities pertaining to myriad creations and mode of expression. The canon of art includes many activities included in various spheres of artistry such as music, literature, film, sculpture and paintings among others. The definition of art has become considerably critical during the 20th century. Traditionally, art had been considered as a medium to make money or a device for amusement. Another traditional aspect of art is that the term exclusively refers to any â€Å"skill or mastery†. The concept of art transformed during the romantic period. During this period the perspective towards art completely changed and the term was viewed as â€Å"a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science† (The Gombrich Archive, â€Å"Press statement on The Story of Art†) The critical evaluation of art came into being during the Twentieth century. Scholar and artist, Richard Wollheim, envisaged three different approaches regarding the concept of art. Wollheim envisioned that art can be posited in three different paradigms namely ‘Realist Position’, ‘Objectivist Position’ and ‘Relativist Position’. These perspectives and distinguishing connotation undoubtedly helps in better understanding of the term.

Blog entry Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Blog entry - Article Example Other amazing architectures that I believe are related to expo Dubai 2020 include; ‘The Cloud’, ‘Dubai Hub One’, ‘Opus’, ‘Dubai Renaissance’, ‘Eta Hotel, Dubai Grand Pyramid, ‘The Arabian Blade, and ‘The Burj Al-Arab’ (BBC News, 2013). In my opinion, the architectures will play a big role in campaign for the expo in Dubai ‘architecture peace’ by promoting tourism department, boost business, attract investors and improve the lives of people living in the city. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the person in charge of the city has assured a tremendous surprise and innovation that will twist the minds of people globally in the coming occasion (BBC News, 2013). These high expectations are making the residents to work extra hard to ensure that the city is ready to host the historic event. Through this, I believe it will make the city to take risks and invest immensely, hoping that they will make huge profits through the selling of tickets, money collected from transport, the food the visitors would eat, and hotels where they will also sleep (BBC News, 2013). It is expected that expo 2020 will be make the city to cash in 23 billion USD, which is good money for the country’s

Free Market Economy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Free Market Economy - Research Paper Example In this respect, resources are allocated based on demand of those resources and their supply. More often than not, free markets are closely associated with capitalism with socialists advocating for it. This has made them, on many occasions, to utilized free markets in proposals where the capital allocation of the market is intertwined with self-management within the enterprises alongside the ownership of cooperatives owned by employees. According to Adman Smith, an invisible hand balances supply and demand forces and maintains equilibrium (Smith, 1776, Book IV). Invisible hand refers to the ability of the market to balance itself without government intervention, and which might occur in a free market system of resource allocation. Supply refers to the quantity of product that can be supplied by firms. Demand, on the other hand, refers to the quantity of product demanded by the consumers. Equilibrium occurs for cases where demand and supply curves intersect. This is illustrated in fig 01 below. Fig 01 shows equilibrium position of a demand and supply curve. Source: www.learngoldcoins.com This, if taken from this approach, implies that in a free market, monopolies and cartels cannot exist because monopolies are created mainly by government help and, therefore, are more likely to co-exist in a controlled economy than in a free economy. Monopolies and cartels thrive well when supported by governments. In such cases, the government notably, provide help to large firms in the form of lower tariffs or taxation. A free economy is characterized by tight competitions. For instances, where businesses sprout with maximum profits following the discovery of some thrilling items of demand, other firms often enter into that business driving the profits down. In this case,... There are various advantages attributed to the free market economy. First, free market economy is characterized by free resource allocation with lacking monopolies and cartels. Secondly, the free market system has improved efficiency, as opposed to controlled market system. It is quite apparent that whenever price setting is left to market forces, firms operate efficiently exhausting all their resources to produce at lowest possible prices. Firms in the free market system are often free to enter into any business while consumers access a wide range of products and services. In such a system, no government help or intervention exists. Firms work out a production system that maximizes output and lowers costs. Thirdly, in the free market system, consumers are made to access products and services. In such cases, the existence of demand necessitates the existence of supply. Occasionally, consumers are allowed to get a wide range of products and services. Research shows that when productio n and investment decisions are made by market forces instead of the government, resource allocation is done in a way that that benefits the whole society. Most notable is the fact that in the free market system represents economic freedom for all customers (Friedman & Friedman, 2002, 15). The chart below (chart 02) is the evidence for the worldwide support of the free market system. There are other market systems other than the free market system. They include mixed economy and command economy.