National Security Strategy Bill Clinton vs. George Bush Essay

National Security Strategy Bill Clinton vs. George Bush - Essay Example In contrast, President Bush provides the policy of national power maximization and international cooperation against terrorism as a major threat of contemporary world order and peace. His national policy reflects the events and the threats America now faces (terrorism). In general, Bush's policy is more radical in comparison with American foreign policy tradition. In contrast to Clinton, Bush supports pre-emptive military action against hostile states and terrorist groups seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction. As well as Clinton, Bush calls for engagement, but in the way of cooperation especially marked that the USA "will not hesitate to act alone, if necessary" (2002) to defend national interests and security. The major difference is that Bush reject the single-minded approach, adopted by Clinton, of multilateralism for its own sake. The similarity of both strategies is that they calls for spreading democracy and human rights in other countries, but Bush underlined that this is especially important for Muslim countries today. Both of them are aimed to protect American nation creating strong foreign security policy, but Clinton and Bush employ different doctrines to support their foreign policies. Also, the similarity is that Clinton and Bush view U.S.

Nowadays, Food Has Become Easier to Prepare Essay Example for Free

Nowadays, Food Has Become Easier to Prepare Essay Man, through the ages, has undergone many changes, from a period when he hunted for his food to the present era when man is dependent on preprocessed foods. During this period not only has man changed his mode of eating but his whole lifestyle as well. In pursuit of more in this competitive world, man no longer has time as he once had. He is caught in a race against the clock. A person who finishes more in lesser time is considered more efficient. This pressure to do more in less time has affected his eating habits as well and, as a result, man no longer has time to cook food. Early mans only objective was to seek food to sustain him and his family. Nowadays finding food has taken a back seat to other priorities, such as career and education. Food is no longer of that importance. This is not an encouraging trend. People are too dependent on preprocessed or precooked food, which no longer has the freshness it once had. Such foods loose their mineral and vitamin content and are not as healthy as fresh food. That is why the number of diseases is also rising. People have also shifted to high calorie content food like French fries, pizzas, and ice cream, etc., which is causing obesity, fatigue, etc. As man is becoming busy and too involved in his busy schedule, he has no time even to take care of his own personal needs. Furthermore, cooking is an art which is dying out. People once enjoyed cooking . It was a means of eliminating stress and tension. People were once able to relax during this time and reflect on their lives. People may tend to argue that by using precooked and preprocessed food they are efficiently using time and can use this precious time saved for other purposes. But is it really worth it? This is a question whose answer can invite much speculation about whether by saving this little time we are inviting lots of other problems, which could easily be avoided. It is actually making our lives not simpler but more complicated. We have lost many of the simpler things in our lives, like the simple acts of selecting our evening meal, preparing it, and enjoying it with our loved ones, and we are worse off for it.

A Case Study Of Uninor

A Case Study Of Uninor As the centre of economic activity shifts towards east, Multinational corporations are increasingly adopting the inorganic route to growth in these markets. Mergers Acquisitions, Joint ventures and strategic alliances are becoming the vehicle for establishing presence in markets like India, China and South Africa. Fascinating as they may seem, Mergers Acquisitions and Joint Ventures have also been the most complex transactions involving financial, business and cultural issues. Through this project, we intend to understand the motives which drive such transactions. Also, we intend to understand the parameters which are crucial to make any JV work. We have chosen to study the fiercely competitive Indian Telecom market for our study as it has seen numerous International players entering the lucrative market through Joint Ventures. Our company for the study is Uninor, which is also one of the fastest growing new entrants in the sector. What makes the case of Uninor more interesting is the unique combination of Indias second largest real estate company, Unitech Ltd and Norway-based Telenor, the 6th largest mobile communications group in the world. The top management is drawn from Telenors global telecom specialists as well as Indians who have local expertise in developing telecom services in India. In this context, the cultural dimension to decision making in Uninor assumes enormous importance. Through the course of this study, we shall first look at mergers and acquisitions as a means to expand for companies. The key drivers, the specific motives as well as the examples related to situations which may mandate an MA transaction instead of growing organically. In the next section, we shall look at the Indian telecom industry and its future potential for growth, major trends and the government regulations which have defined the industry and catalyzed Joint Ventures among foreign and Indian firms. Then, we shall move over to the analysis of India according to Porters Diamond model and the cultural synchrony between India and Norway according to Hofstedes cultural dimensions. These analyses shall enable us to evaluate the paradigms of this Joint Venture. Subsequently, we shall analyze key components of Uninors Strategy in India and also its performance in the past year. We shall also look at its future growth strategy and the hurdles to achieving its targets. We shall conclude our study by looking at the transformative effect of strategic alliances and the Uninor case in India. Introduction The phrase mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling and combining of different companies that can aid, finance, or help a growing company in a given industry grow rapidly without having to create another business entity. An acquisition is also known as a takeover or buyout, in which one company buys the other (target company). When two companies come together and form a new company altogether, it is known as merger. On the contrary, an acquisition can be friendly or hostile depending on the size of the players involved. Acquisition usually refers to the takeover of a smaller firm by a larger firm. However, one can notice sometimes an acquisition of a larger company by a smaller one. This phenomenon is known as a reverse takeover. The acquisition process is very complex with many dimensions influencing its outcome. There are many reasons why a company seeks acquisition. One is that some vital resource may be otherwise difficult to obtain for the firm, especially if the resource is necessary to adapt and function successfully within the local environment. The following list, not an exhaustive one, gives few motives for company seeking International expansion. Geographic and Industrial Diversification Accelerating Growth Industry Consolidation Utilization of Lower Raw Material and Labor Costs Leveraging Intangible Assets Minimizing Tax Liabilities Avoiding Entry Barriers Fluctuating Exchange Rates Following Customers For instance, an existing company may have personnel that the investor cannot easily hire at a good price on its own. By buying an existing company, the buyer gets not only labor and management but also the organizational structure of the target company. In addition, a company can also gain the good will and brand identification the local company has which is important for marketing mass consumer products, especially in a new market. One can also find financial considerations in few cases. For example, if a company depends substantially on local financing rather than on the transfer of capital may find it easier to gain access to local capital through an acquisition. Local suppliers find it relatively easy and are more comfortable interacting with an already existing company rather than a foreign enterprise. In few cases, companies find acquisitions as a means to reduce costs and risks compared to setting up a fully owned subsidiary. A company may be able to buy facilities, particularly those which are performing poor for less than the cost of new construction. This saves a lot of money to the company. If an investor has a fear that a market does not justify added capacity, the risk of depressed prices and lower unit sales per producer occurs if it adds one more producer to the market is avoided by acquisition. A company may choose to build if No desired company is available for acquisition Acquisition will lead to carry over problems Acquisition is harder to finance Strategic Alliances Alliances can be described based on their objectives and where they fit in a firms value chain. In terms of objectives, one can assume that scale alliances aim at providing efficiency through risk pooling i.e. pooling of similar assets so that individual partners can carry out business activities in which they already have good experience. On the other hand, link alliances make use of complementary resources to expand into new business areas. Each organization entering into a cross-border alliance has its own objectives for operating internationally. Further some alliances take place between partner entities functioning on a different level of value chain, known as vertical alliance, and sometimes on the same level of value chain known as horizontal alliance. On a broader scale, the objectives for cross-border mergers can be divided into the following three categories which were refined earlier. Sales expansion Resource acquisition Risk minimization The following section describes in detail the influence of each of these objectives on the decision of a merger. General Motives: To Spread and reduce costs: To manufacture or sell in foreign countries, any company must incur certain fixed costs. If the volume of business is small, it is cheaper for the company to outsource the work to a specialist rather than handle it internally. The outsourcing agent can spread the costs to more than one company and thus reap the benefits of economies of scale. If the business increases, then the company can rethink its plan of outsourcing and produce everything internally. The company handling the production or sales can lower its average costs by covering its fixed costs more fully. On the other hand, the outsourcing company does not have to incur the fixed costs that otherwise be charged to a small amount of production volume thus overburdening the customers in turn. To Specialize in Competencies: Each company has a unique combination of competencies. It is better for a company to concentrate on those activities that best fits its competencies and improve its performance and leaving out the other activities in which the core competency of the firm does not lie. This concentration can be horizontal as well as vertical. To Avoid or Counter Competition: It is not common to notice few markets that are not large enough to hold many competitors. ITC, for example, observed this phenomenon and pre-empted the competition to emerge as a big player in the Indian industry. Any potential threat should be nipped in the bud itself. Sometimes companies also combine resources to fight a market leader and share the profits jointly. For example, Coca-Cola and Danones joint effort to challenge PepsiCo and Nestle can be viewed as one such strategic move. To secure Vertical and Horizontal Links: It is clear that there are numerous potential cost savings and supply assurances in case of a vertical integration. However, sometimes companies lack the competency or the resources necessary to manage the complete value and supply chain. In these instances it is common to notice a merger. For example, LUKOIL has abundant oil reserves but as it lacked final distribution skills, in addition to making acquisitions abroad, it also made arrangements in countries that ensure a good market for its petroleum. Horizontal links provide finished products and components. For such kind of finished products, economies of scope can be achieved in distribution by having a full line of products to sell thus increasing the sales per fixed cost of a visit to potential customer. To Gain Knowledge: In the present competitive world innovating new ideas to develop products and deliver them is necessary to gain an edge over the rival. Many companies go for a merger to learn about a partners technology, operating methods so their own competencies will broaden and deepen, making them more competitive in the future. We can consider the example of Chinese government that allows foreign companies to tap the Chinese market in exchange for their transfer of technology. Specific Motives To gain Location-specific Assets: The following factors create barriers for companies that want to operate abroad. Cultural Political Competitive Economic differences Going for a merger or an acquisition equips the company to handle these differences and thus providing profitability. For example, Walmart first tried to enter Japanese market but withdrew its operations only to return with a Japanese partner, Seiyu, which is more familiar with local tastes and rules for opening new stores. To Overcome Governmental Constraints: Few nations require compulsory presence of a domestic player as a partner in the operations of a foreign company while few dont. In this case a merger is more favorable. The legal factors which constraint may be Direct prohibitions against certain operating firms Indirect prohibitions (regulations affecting profitability) Mergers and Acquisitions that take place across countries allow for greater spreading of assets among the partner nations. To Diversify Geographically: Operations in many countries (diversification geographically) can smoothen the companys sales and earnings as the business cycles occur at different times within different countries. Though this might not be the actual reason for diversification this does play a minor role in decision making. Mainly, if a product conditions favor a diversification rather than a concentration strategy, due to product life cycle etc, then there exists a strong reason for establishing foreign presence by collaborative arrangements, mergers. The higher the risk managers perceive in a foreign market, the greater their desire to form collaborative arrangements in that market. Problems with Mergers and other alliances Having discussed in detail the reasons why a company goes for a cross-border merger, it also makes sense to highlight the difficulties that arise while collaborating with another company. Each of the above factors is very important while considering a decision to acquire or merge with another company. The stake involved, the management attention, cultural differences, contribution to the merger etc play a key role in its success. Telecom industry in India Introduction Telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India and also one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. Telecom Industry is evaluated with the following parameters: Number of subscribers: According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the number of telephone subscriber base in the country reached 653.92 million as on May 31, 2010 Growth rate: An increase of 2.49 per cent from 638.05 million in April 2010.   Teledensity (Telephones per 100 people): Overall teledensity in India has reached 55.38 Some major investments The attractiveness of the telecom market has resulted in high investments from across the world which was the reason for entry of numerous foreign players and introduction of new services. Recent bidding for 3G network spectrum allocation was one of the most followed biddings due to the high stakes involved for some of the best players in telecom industry. According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the telecommunications sector which includes radio paging, mobile services and basic telephone services attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) worth US$ 2,554 million during 2009-10. The cumulative flow of FDI in the sector during April 2000 and March 2010 is US$ 8,930.61 million. The Merger and Acquisition deals in telecom industry were worth US$ 22.73 billion during April-June 2010, which represented 67.19 per cent of the total valuation of the deals across all the sectors during the period analyzed.   Some of the recent Mergers and Acquisitions include: Reliance Communication Ltd that merged GTL infrastructure Ltd, its telecom tower business, for US$ 11 billion Other major MA deals included acquiring of Kuwait-based Zain telecoms African business for US$ 10.7 billion by BhartiAirtel   Acquisition of Infotel broadband for US$ 1032.26 million by Reliance Industries Norway-based telecom operator Telenor has bought a further 7 per cent in Unitech Wireless for a little over US$ 431.3 million. Telenor now has 67.25 per cent hold of the company New trends- The Gamechangers 3G services Public sector companies namely BSNL and MTNL have already launched their 3G services across India in all 22 circles. The other companies (All of them were private entities) took part in a 3G auction process that was held to give 3G licenses in all the 22 circles. The bidding started after numerous political interventions stopped it for almost 2 years. The process started with a lot of media attention mainly due to the delay in the process and the amount of investments that were expected, especially for all India license. The process was completed using an e-bidding process that was held simultaneously with broadband wireless auctions for a period of 34 days. The auction prices went beyond expectations. A pan-India bid for third generation spectrum stood at US$ 3.6 billion. However no operator could bid and obtain the pan India license. The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communication bagged the highest number of 13 circles at a cost of US$ 1.9 billion, followed by BhartiAirtel in 12, Idea in 11 and Vodafone and the Tatas in nine circles each, according to the Department of Telecommunications. Rural telephony One concern that remains in the telecom industry is the penetration to rural India that has not been up to the expected levels till now. Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh opined, Although the growth in the last few years has been truly impressive and our tariffs are among the lowest in the world, vast stretches of our rural population have little or no telecom penetration. Rural tele-density is still in single digits. I had heard of plans for a Phone in Every Village some twenty years ago. We have not yet reached that goal. This is why we have emphasized telecom connectivity in our Bharat Nirman programme. TRAI suggested the following in 2008-09 report: It has been observed that despite several attempts over the last ten years, telecom infrastructure in rural areas is lagging behind the expected levels. There has been a phenomenal spurt in the growth of tele-density in the country with the evolution of new wireless technologies, but the gap between the urban and rural teledensity has been increasing. As can be seen in the figure the growth of telecom in rural India has been lagging and hence the government and TRAI are giving stricter guidelines to telecom companies about the rural penetration. Hence telecom penetration would play a vital role in telecom operators strategy for the coming years. Mergers and Acquisitions in Telecom in India As already discussed there are many reasons for a company to pursue the path of Mergers and Acquisitions. In telecom industry in India some of the reasons why companies take up M A are: General motives To spread and reduce costs To specialize in competencies To gain knowledge Specific motives To gain location-specific assets To overcome governmental constraints To diversify geographically One reason that stands out the most in these set of factors is the governmental constraints. The governmental constraints in telecom industry are laid out through Department of Telecom and they are monitored by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The constraints on foreign investment in India are as follows: FDI upto 100% in Telecom manufacturing ISPs without gateways Infrastructure provider (IP) I Call Centres IT enabled services FDI upto 74% in ISPs with gateways IP II Radio Paging FDI upto 49% in other telecom services Cellular Basic NLD and other services Expected strategy path in Telecom sector in India Following graph shows the Price sensitivity of the market versus the cost leadership that a company should achieve: India Price Sensitivity Cost leadership Differentiation Any company that wants to enter the Indian market should look at attaining cost leadership as the market is highly price sensitive. Cost leadership can be achieved through economies of scale if the partnering firm is an existing telecom player with established network resources. Motives for going Global for any company Uninors motives for going Global Spreading costs Achieving specialization Avoiding competition in domestic market Securing Vertical and Horizontal links Gaining technical expertise Increase revenue to sustain growth Tapping new markets due to saturation of domestic market Diversifying geographically i.e. International presence Hofstede cultural dimension differences between India and Norway Country PDI IDV MAS UAI India 77 48 56 40 Norway 31 69 8 50 PDI Power Distance Index IDV Individualism MAS Masculinity UAI Uncertainty Avoidance Index Source: Greet Hofstede Scores -ITIM International Hofstedes cultural Dimension INDIA NORWAY Power Distance Very High. In India the level of inequality is endorsed by the followers as well as the leaders Low. The inequality in power distribution in Norway is very less Individualism Moderately high. Collectivism is expected to the levels of family ties to a very large extent and has no political sense Very High. The relationships between individuals are weak limited to his/her immediate family Masculinity High. More preference is given to the materialistic gains in India Low. In Norway feminine values such as quality of life are given more preference Uncertainty Avoidance Low. Opinions are subjected to change. More oriented towards the acceptance of uncertainty Moderately High. People in Norway are less likely to accept uncertainty According to the survey conducted by Hofstede among IBM employees India has power distance index as the where as in Norway Individualism is ranked higher than the other cultural dimensions. From the above figure it is clearly evident that there are significant cultural differences between India and Norway. The western management theories and practices that are successful in Norway may not work well in India. Indians hold different cultural core values than their western counter parts. The Indian culture is hierarchical where the cultural norms have changed the way of thinking which affects various management operations, which Norwegian firms may find it difficult to understand. There is a huge difference between Indian and Norwegian work culture. In India a little authority is given to the middle management or lower management in decision making, in general top management beholds the full authority to make decisions. Whereas in Norway decision making process in a conflict situation involving individuals of different levels of seniority. The management style in India is less aggressive in comparison with Norwegian style. Indians prefer male values such as competitiveness, assertiveness, ambition and the accumulation of wealth and materialistic possessions whereas in Norway people prefer female values such as relationships and quality of life. In Norway people are more oriented to develop and display their individual personalities and to choose their own affiliations than in India. Porters Diamond Model for India Demand: India consists of a population of 1.14 billion, 17.31% of the worlds population. It has around 300 million population of highly consumable middle class status. India is ranked second in the world in terms of having the largest telecommunication network, after china with more than 653 million subscribers. The telecom market in India has been growing by 20 to 40 percent every year since past 3 years. And is expected to grow with a CAGR of 11% in the coming next 10 years. The Indian telecom market is estimated to be $8 billion in 2010. 83% of market share comprises of basic service providers and only 17% value added service providers. Emerging technologies like 3G and penetration of internet in telecom sector are going to be growth drivers in the Indian telecom industry because of increase in demand for latest technologies. Supporting Industries: The Indian telecom industry has vast range of state of the art telecom equipment manufacturers. The production of telecom equipment is valued at $12.3billion in 2010. Indian imports of telecom equipment accounted for 21% of US equipment production in 2009. Further Indian mobile companies strengthened their market position by launching various handsets. Indian mobile phone brands consists of 14% markets share. Telecommunication equipment major Nokia Siemens is planning source components worth $28.5 billion from India in 2010-11. In 2009 it sourced components worth $20 billion. Indian telecom equipment production is estimated grow at a CAGR of 17.1% to reach $25 billion by 2014. India is fast emerging as a hub for global telecom Manufacturing and the production and exports of telecom equipment in the country have been on a steady rise. Leading global players have made significant investments in setting up manufacturing and RD facilities in India, with many more being planned. Resource Endowment India is a knowledge pool with cheap labor. Indian telecom industry has skilled labor available at low cost. With abundant skills availability, there are large swathes of lower tier vendors who can still compete on costs. Industry Structure and Firm Strategy Indian telecom industry is the worlds cheapest service provider. Indian telecom market has viewed a tremendous average growth rate of 40% for the last 3 years. It has become very competitive recently with advent of global players after the government made a policy change allowing FDI up to 74% in telecom industry. Major players are rapidly increasing their market share by continuously improving their network coverage, technology, customer relations by offering their services at significantly lower prices. New entrants like Virgin mobile, Aircel etc. are trying to position themselves as low cost value added service providers focusing on emerging technologies. Telenor is the worlds 7th largest telecommunications service provider and it aims to be a leading global mobile operator by leveraging on its international experience and technological expertise. It wants to achieve its goal by focusing on three regions Consolidation of its position in the voice market through global expansions, acquisitions, mergers and JVs/partnerships Mobile to Mobile communications and financial services Telecom/media/IT convergence, primarily through third-party applications and services UNINOR- The Genesis Unitech Wireless won a wireless services licence for all 22 Indian telecom circles in2008. In early 2009, Unitech Group and Telenor agreed on a majority take-over by Telenor of Unitechs wireless business. Telenor acquired a 33%, 49% and 60% stake in the company in March, May and November 2009, respectively. In September, the mobile operation changed its name to Uninor. On October 19 2009, the Cabinet Committee (CCEA) announced approved Telenors acquisition of up to 74% in Unitech Wireless. UNINOR Presence Uninor launched its service in India in December in 8 telecom circles. It turned out to be the speediest telecom roll-out in India. Within 5 months, it entered five more circles including the metros of Mumbai and Kolkata. Uninor has its headquarters at Gurgaon and 11 regional headquarters in the following cities: Kolkata Kolkata, West Bengal Orissa Circle Delhi / Noida (NCR) Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand Rajasthan Circle Patna Bihar Jharkhand Circle Mumbai Mumbai, Maharashtra Gujarat Lucknow Guwahati Chandigarh Indore Ahmedabad Chennai Chennai, Tamil Nadu Bangalore Karnataka Circle Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh Circle Kochi- Kerala Circle Uninors Strategic Alliances Uninor has outsourced its major operational functions to established players with proven expertise. The operational model is based on low-cost operations with a gradual network-build up, infrastructure sharing, comparatively cheap GSM equipment sourced from international markets, and IT-outsourcing. Uninor has entered into network and base station service agreements with partners with expertise in given areas like- Wireless-TT Info Service Limited for Tower sharing agreements Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei Technologies India, Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson Telecommunications for network and radio equipment. Wipro Technologies for integrated IT services. UNINORs Strategy in India Uninor based its growth model in the fiercely competitive Indian market by providing value to the customers through a new tariff, called Dynamic Pricing. Dynamic Pricing is an innovative pricing strategy that Uninor has pioneered in which the customer is charged different charges depending on the location and the network to which the call is made. Going by the maximum discount offered by the company, a one-minute call could cost as low as 24 paise compared to 60 paise charged by other operators. UNINOR- Performance in India In the month of June, Uninor topped the list of new mobile operators by adding maximum connections to the tune of 1.01 million. The new mobile service providers together accounted for 1.65 million which was 13.5% of the total mobile subscriber additions during this period. Source: Share Khan Brokerage report on Telecom sector, 16th July 2010 Uninor had added just 2.1m active subscribers i.e. just 50% of the reported 4.3m as of Mar-10. The company defines active subscribers as those that used network during last 30 days. Even on active subscribers, ARPU at ~Rs 86 suggests low usage especially given that mobile revenues could have a higher contribution from activation fee during the launch period. The tariff cuts aimed at increasing the user might be a reason for the low ARPU. The new mobile operators including Etisalat DB, Loop , Uninor, Videocon, and STel added just 1.7 million new users in June 2010. Uninor added 10 lakh subscribers during this period. It is around 15 per cent of 12.29 million new subscriber base added during this duration by the industry. As a result, barring Uninor, none of the other players has managed to get even 1% market share of the 456-million subscriber GSM mobile market. According to the TRAI licence conditions, new operators are required to complete roll out in all the circles within three years and that deadline is fast approaching. CAPEX Guidance Lowered by TELENOR Telenor cut back its India capex guidance by 25% i.e. Rs5.5bn for FY10. Uninor reasoned this to a combination of lack of spectrum, the stringent security clearance process for equipments and the need to adjust roll-out speed for distributors. Uninor may find it tough to retain traffic beyond 1-2 quarters given the low level of tariffs already. Uninor has rolled out 18,000 cell sites (which was around 13,300 at end-Dec 2009). Uninor is currently operating in 13 circles with subscriber base of 43 lakhs (which was 1.2 million at December end 2009). Conclusion Through the course of the study, we assessed the reasons which make MA and other means of inorganic growth, the preferred route to enter a market for international corporations. We tried to list down the motives and the vision behind such cross border transactions. We realized that a diverse range of parameters drive MAs globally. They can range from getting around government regulations to gaining a first mover advantage in a growing market. As more global corporations try to establish their foothold over the emerging markets, we witness interesting new trends. Their entry into emerging markets is increasingly by partnering with the local companies. This is perhaps also catalyzed by government regulations which stipulate maximum FDI limits for multinational corporations from abroad. We also looked at factors which contribute to the decision to enter/not enter a particular market for a corporation including the competitive advantage to the corporation and the cultural synergies between the parent market of the company and the new prospective market. We chose the extremely dynamic telecom sector for our analysis as it has seen numerous international players enter through the JV route. We analysed the dynamics of the telecom sector and the fallout of the recent 3G spectrum allocations on the sector. Uninor is the case we took for analyzing the actual details of an existing JV. We chose Uninor as its unique in the way that unitech wireless had no pri

The Brains of Violent Males Essay -- Compare Contrast Suicide Homicide

The Brains of Violent Males "It becomes increasingly evident that some of the destruction which curses the earth is self-destruction; the extraordinary propensity of the human being to join hands with external forces in an attack upon his own existence is one of the most remarkable of biological phenomena." -Karl Menninger (1). Violence is everywhere in our society- in movies, television programs, video games, and professional sports such as boxing and wrestling. In 2000, 28,663 deaths were related to firearms. 58% were reported as suicides and 39% were reported as homicides (2). The objective of this paper is to qualitatively evaluate and compare the brains of male murderers and male suicide victims. Even though more females attempt suicide, males are used for comparison because males are four times more likely to die from a suicide attempt (3). Male suicidal individuals have a higher success rate because they are more likely to kill themselves in a violent manner (i.e. using a gun). At first glance, most people would argue that homicide and suicide are opposite behaviors, yet the relationship may not be that straightforward. If it is assumed that the brain dictates behavior and that suicide and homicide are independent behaviors, one would expect that researchers would find differences between the brains of suicide victims and murderers. At the other extreme, suicide and homicide can be considered similar behaviors because in both cases an individual engages in killing someone, the only thing that differs is where the killing impulse is directed. Homicide is directed towards the external world, whereas suicide is aggression turned inward. When the cause of unhappiness can be attributed to an external s... ...robiology of suicide. http://www.afsp.org/research/articles/Mann/mann1.htm 8) Decision-making processes following damage to the prefrontal cortex, Article from Brain (2002). http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/125/3/624.pdf 9) "What's different about a Killer's Brain?" Whitley Strieber's web page http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=2085 10) Why? The neuroscience of suicide: Physical clues to suicide , Scientific American article. http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000D8D31-6937-1E1B-8B3B809EC588EEDF 11) Paxil & murder/ suicide. A story about how the maker of Paxil held liable in murder/suicide. http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/media/ssri/Paxil_murder.htm 12) The mind of a killer. ABC news web page which contains pictures of normal brain and a murderer's brain http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/killer_brain021023.html

Customer Relationship Marketing Essay

To understand CRM (Customer Relationship Marketing) in hotel industry (Millennium Seoul Hilton), and focus on the importance of loyalty guests who bring on most of organization profit by developing of guest recognition and rewards program. Introduction Background The growing realization that keeping the customers you have is as important as customer acquisition, has come about because of the cost involved in attracting new customers. This realization has evolved into understanding a customers lifetime values (F Buttle, 1996).   By doing this, you can be selective about who you try to keep as well as who you want to attract. Some scholars maintain that customer retention affects the bottom line. They further suggest that a 5% increase in customer retention would create a 125% increase in profit (F Buttle, 1996). Customer relationship management can be regarded as the art of employing rhetorical, experimental and personal information in order to personalize customers’ stay while creating incremental revenue opportunities (F Buttle, 1996). So for example, knowing that a customer had a less than memorable experience in the hotel provides the hotel manager with a chance to win them back the next time they are in town. Objectives By use of customer relationship management, the hotel can develop a comprehensive guest profiles for reservation information. This demonstrates to guests that the hotel is in touch with their needs.   It can also drive customer-centric data down to the transaction level, thereby allowing the workers and the guest-facing technology to deliver greater value to the customers (F Buttle, 1996).   Further, customer relationship management can create a realistic profile on the spending and stay patterns of the guests, thereby allowing the hotel to formulate guest-centric marketing for increased loyalty and spending (F Buttle, 1996). The idea of ‘cherry picking’ valuable clients and directing more resources to these clients has gained tremendous significance in the hotel industry.   Clients communication are such that account managers regularly network on the clients to ensure that they are happy in the way contracts are proceeding, and close relationship are build up. Therefore, my research objective is â€Å"to understand the significance of customer relationship marketing† in hotel industry, with criteria as follows: †¢ To examine customer relationship marketing. †¢ To evaluate the importance of loyalty guests who brings on most of organization profits. †¢ To illustrate the importance of developing of a guest recognition and reward programs in hotel industry. Aims This research paper will aim to identify and critically review the theories of customer relationship marketing in a hotel industry.   It will also aim to critically evaluate procedures of customer communication instruments used in the Millennium Seoul Hilton.   The paper will further examine the limitation of communication of customers’ relation tools used as well as providing the recommendation and acknowledging the advantages of employing these customer relationship marketing tools. Literature Review The main idea behind relationship marketing is to build a strong relationship with customers in order to retain them instead of concentrating efforts on recruiting new one.   There are various factors which influence customer retention.   They include high quality products in order to encourage repeat purchase and valuing customer’s needs with loyalty, which can be generated by excellent customer service (F Buttle, 1996).   Moreover, taking long-term marketing decisions for instance, continuous improvement or innovation to keep ahead of customer’s needs is important in retaining customers.   Further, frequent customers contact to establish their profiles in order to ensure accurate customer targeting of goods, services and information, can be of a great help in creating customer loyalty (F Buttle, 1996). For this dissertation, the main areas which need to be focused on are marketing process, situation analysis, marketing strategy, marketing mix decision, and implementation and control, whereby the works of many authors in these fields will be explored. Studies and researches which has been done by these authors brings great literature resources to the   importance of relationship marketing focus on customer, which constitutes customer relationship marketing, customer trust and commitment, customer loyalty as well as guest loyalty program approaches and general frame work for developing and managing a good customer base.   For example, there are literature studies and/or research made on hotels Intercontinental, Meritus Mandarin, Holiday Inn, and Norfolk hotel among others which allows this dissertation to represent the model group. This dissertation will be explored on the themes of the importance of customer relationship management as it affects customer loyalty by developing of guest recognition and rewards program.   Another important theme which will be investigated in the dissertation is how a hotel can utilize relationship marketing to retain its customers.   These main themes will be explored by use of works written by scholars and all that in the field of customer service and customer care. Methodology My dissertation will apply both qualitative and quantitative research methods.   A comprehensive literature review and depth interviews will be carried out as part of my quantitative research. For primary research, depth interview is selected for my study, as it focuses on hotel industry where emphasize should be placed on people’s values and attitudes.   Therefore, it is a good way to explore the importance of customer relationship management, and understanding the process of implementing strategies to build a strong customer base in a hotel industry. This would also bring more intensive understanding to my research, and the required respondent(s) should be specialists in customer relationship marketing in hotel industries.     Moreover, surveys/questionnaires will also be carried out to understand the significance of customer relationship marketing in creating a strong customer base, according to different people from different background in today’s world. A case study of Millennium Seoul Hilton will be researched. This is because it is a well known hotel by many travelers, and therefore will provide travelers and business customers for me to obtain different perception according to different backgrounds, age and gender. Moreover, the staff of the Millennium Seoul Hilton will also be part of sample population   There will be four age groups that is 17–26, 27– 6, 39-46, and 47-56 with a total of 200 respondents. Secondary research data will be collected through different established resources, such as textbooks, journals, articles and internet in the way of literature review. This is because secondary research will validate my dissertation and support to justify my reasons and findings. Secondary data will be used first to conduct the research, before conducting primary research. This will be done because secondary data may contain information that is essential for conducting this research. Secondary research can allow collection of general information such as overview of Renaissance Seoul hotel, service to guests, guest room department, GRO for receiving VIPs, Marriot Rewards, Westin Chosun Hotel, and outlook of Intercontinental Hotel among others, which can be difficult and expensive to gather via primary research. Limitations The main practical difficult in this research will be the challenge to find the right person for depth interview.   In order to fulfill research objectives, the responder must be an individual who is a specialist in customer relationship marketing, specifically in the hospitality industry. This is because such individuals are familiar with the strategies, challenges and solutions which can help me go through my dissertation. However, such individuals have a higher reputation and usually have tight schedule and would be also be hard to each. Further, I am not familiar with specialists who are in the field of customer relationship management.   Another challenge is choosing Millennium Seoul Hilton as a place to conduct surveying and questionnaires.   This is because 200 sample is required to validate my research, and would be a great challenge to accomplish this myself due to concern of time, organizing and conducting this survey.   Moreover, it is also difficult to ask for help in conducting this research because the possibility in which I am able to hire few people to assist me will be costly. Additionally, individual who are asked may not be willing to respond according to the question asked, cooperates and/or even participate in this study.   Confidentiality issues for the respondents participating in the survey/questionnaire would be kept as anonymous due to Data Protection Act.   This is not required in this study. There are no specific ethical issues which need to be considered.   This is due to the fact that the survey/questionnaire is not targeting any groups and/or specific persons. Finding and Analysis The data which should be collected through survey/questionnaire for this research will be analysed and coded in SPSS system.   This is comprehensive statistical software that includes capabilities for data analysis, data management and programming (Malhotra N & Birks D, 2005).   Additionally, it enables analysists and researchers to uncover key facts, patterns and trends.   The interview would be assessed using analysis of verbal data, dividing the whole interview into section of main focused area along the answer from the respondents. The information collected through surveys/questionnaire will be used for descriptive purposes of identifying the relationship between customer relationship marketing and retention of customers according to age, gender and occupation, whereby correlation analysis and descriptive statistics would be utilized (Malhotra N & Birks D, 2005). Descriptive statistics is used to describe and summarize the basic features of data collection using a combination of techniques, such as graphical, tabular and summary (Malhotra N & Birks D, 2005).   In the findings of analyzed data through different analysis techniques, I would support my development of the dissertation.

Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches

Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches Breaking the Lockjam and Buttoning Down the Hatches By Maeve Maddox The President has invited some factions to Washington to break the lockjam. The copywriter who came up with this statement confused two common English expressions used to convey a state of of inaction: deadlock and logjam. The term deadlock refers to a stoppage brought about by the opposition of two forces, neither of which will budge. The term logjam comes from the practice of floating newly-cut trees (logs) down a river. When several logs become so crowded they can no longer move, the result is a logjam. I understand such idiomatic confusion in the speech of someone speaking off the cuff. We all come out with mixed-up speech from time to time, especially when were surprised or nervous. My examples are not from people responding to impromptu interview questions. They come from newspaper stories and the words of professional announcers or scriptwriters. I see the tendency to conflate idioms in this way as a result of limited reading. Others may disagree, seeing it instead as innovation, the deliberate altering of old expressions to avoid clichà ©. It may be the lattersome of the time. Idioms are something that have to be absorbed from immersion in the language. My own language patterns were set when English teachers corrected their students grammar every time they opened their mouths, and assigned book reports and summer reading. Back then, movie and radio scripts were written by men and women who observed not only pronoun case, but the subjunctive mood of verbs! Somewhere theres a growing disconnect between the usual sources of idiomatic language and the people who write for the media. I think that it is a problem and that the solution is close reading of the best authors. Here are some more examples: They took it in good stride. The context was a news story about a group that was dealing with disappointment. The two expressions mingled here are to take something in stride and to take something in good part. Both have the sense of dealing with something without making a fuss. if other airlines join suit and raise their fares. This is from a news story. The altered expression is to follow suit. It is an expression taken from a card game. One player leads with a heart and the next one must follow suit by putting down another heart. guess well have to button down the hatches. This was spoken by a Fox anchorman talking about a coming storm in Florida. The expression is to batten down the hatches. It refers to the act of nailing lengths of wood (battens) across trapdoors in a ships deck so they wont open during a storm. We use it in the sense of securing things before a storm, either a real storm or a metaphorical one. The present participle form is battening. Deliberately altering a familiar idiom for effect is one thing. The result can be witty and entertaining. Mixing them up out of ignorance is something to be avoided. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Program vs. ProgrammeThe Difference Between "will" and "shall"20 Ways to Laugh