Southern Luzon State

APPENDIX A Questionnaire Republic of the Philippines SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY Gumaca Campus Gumaca, Quezon Software Acceptability and Features| Rating| | 1| 2| 3| 4| A. Functionality of the Propose System| | | | | 1. The system can accept organized data| | | | | 2. The system has the ability to be used by the admin, manager and user| | | | | 3. The system operates in real time| | | | | 4. The system prevents unauthorized person to use the system| | | | | 5. The system is capable of communicating with other system| | | | | B. Usability of the Propose System| | | | | 1. The system can be learned easily| | | | | . The admin can manage through the system| | | | | 3. The system’s function can easily be determined by the user| | | | | 4. The system can be used even if the users don’t have technical expertise| | | | | 5. The system can saves time using it| | | | | C. Reliability of the Proposed System| | | | | 1. The system has the ability to resume works and restore lo st data when failure occurs. | | | | | 2. The system runs properly| | | | | 3. The system warned or alerts the user if there are errors| | | | | 4. The system’s faults in the software can be eliminated over time| | | | | 5.The system can maintain its functions even after failure| | | | | D. Efficiency of the Proposed System| | | | | 1. The system can utilize system resources efficiently| | | | | 2. The system responds to user command easily| | | | | 3. The system can process data rapidly| | | | | 4. The system utilizes IT equipment information effectively| | | | | 5. The system loads in a short period of time| | | | | E. Portability of the Proposed System| | | | | 1. The system can be deployed by other operating system| | | | | 2. The system can be accessed easily| | | | | 3.The software complies with portability standard| | | | | 4. The software can be alternative to other enrolment system| | | | | 5. The user can use the system anytime| | | | | APPENDIX B The design of Sout hern Luzon State University to be improved APPENDIX C The Proposed Design for the Data Base of The Administrator during encoding of teachers and students. APPENDIX D The proposed design for student to log in for Online Grades Inquiry. Not yet registered? Email us at [email  protected] com or visit us at School Registrars Office. Southern Luzon State University Gumaca campus

Abortion: Controversial Issues in Society Today Essay

One of the major controversial issues confronting the society today is abortion. I chose abortion as the topic of discussion since it contradicts my values and beliefs. Abortion is the extraction of the human fetus from the mother’s womb with an intention to end the life of that fetus prior to its natural birth. Most religious people believe that abortion should be completely banned. They agree with the idea that it is simply a type of murder and murdering a person is a crime and abortion is just a different type of killing. Some other, generally non-religious people believe that abortion should be not be banned and it should be a personal choice whether a women gets an abortion or not. There could be some cases where the women has no choice but to have an abortion and considering these circumstances some part of the population believe that abortion should never be banned. The controversy surrounding abortion is whether it should be legalized or not? In my opinion, bearing in mind the different views on abortion I cannot agree with a particular one.I chose this issue for discussion to bring to light many of the hidden facts and arguments, of which people are unaware and not very sensitive today. Abortion is a controversial issue lacking of humanity and moral value because of the various motives behind it. Article 1 â€Å"The more you relax, the less pressure and pain you will feel,† she says. Dr. Oyer dilates Anna’s cervix and turns on the vacuum aspiration machine. She inserts a tube through Anna’s cervix, and a gentle whirring sound fills the room. She barely has to raise her voice to explain, â€Å"The cramping you feel is totally normal.† Anna lets out a few gasps before Dr. Oyer clicks off the machine, signaling the end of the five-minute procedure. By: Liz Welch for Glamour magazine. P.O.V-In this article the author tries to convey abortion as a simple convenient procedure ignoring the stigma attached to it. The stating of the process as a five minute procedure clearly shows the way society has altered the sensitivity of abortion. Article 2 The GOP:Party of Quacks. â€Å"Out of the various layers of falsehoods contained in Todd Akin’s now-notorious claim that â€Å"legitimate rape† cannot end in pregnancy, one that caused many eyebrows to raise the highest was his contention that â€Å"doctors† had told him that the female body has a way to prevent pregnancy from rape through a vague mechanism he described as â€Å"shut that whole thing down.† Surely no actual doctor would say such a thing, many of us thought. But we underestimated the right’s devotion to creating their own set of â€Å"facts,† backed up by their own â€Å"experts.† Just as conservatives have been able to pay handsomely for people with impressive-sounding credentials to spread lies about everything from global warming to weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, so have they been able to build up their own little empire of medical doctors who will say any fool thing about women’s bodies and pass it off as science. If anything, the anti-choice movement was instrumental in shaping the conservative approach to science. Anti-choicers were among the first to realize that if the experts and the evidence counter your beliefs, you can simply make up your own claims and put them in the mouths of well-credentialed people. It’s just as good as the truth! Better, even, because it can be endlessly manipulated to meet new ideological goals.† By Amanda Marcotte. P.O.V: Amanda Marcotte is a Brooklyn based freelance journalist, grounded on the above article her main focus is on showing resentment towards the conservative party rather than the actual question of abortion. ARTICLE 3 MOSCOW ; â€Å"Every year, millions of Russian women undergo an abortion. Russia’s government is making free abortions available to women who fall into several newly defined categories, through their twenty second week of pregnancy. Critics of the free abortions blame Russia’s declining birth rate on cheap abortions. In the past six months, twice as many deaths as births have been recorded in Moscow. Of course it’s sad, said Vaganov. The whole story is sad, the number of abortions still being performed is sad, mortality figures are sad†¦. The thing is that you can just see more of what used to be hidden from the public eye he said. We are just trying not to hide the new realities of life, and we are not neglecting the old ones.; P.O.V; The journalist is trying to show that the united states is not the only one facing challenges in abortion and is possibly biased towards the united states. Source:Cable News Network, Inc.2011 Article 4. A pregnant leukemia patient who became a flashpoint in the abortion debate in the Dominican Republic died Friday morning, a hospital official told CNN. The 16-year-old, who had been undergoing chemotherapy, died from complications of the disease, said Dr. Antonio Cabrera, the legal representative for the hospital. Her case stirred debate in her country, as her life was potentially at risk because of anti-abortion laws in the Dominican Republic. Doctors were hesitant to give her chemotherapy because such treatment could terminate the pregnancy — a violation of the Dominican Constitution, which bans abortion. Some 20 days after she was admitted to the hospital, she finally began receiving treatment. The case sparked renewed debate over abortion in the Dominican Republic, with some lawmakers calling on officials to reconsider the abortion ban. From Rafael Romo, Senior Latin American Affairs Editor,CNN According to Article 37 of the Dominican Constitution, â€Å"the right to life is inviolable from the moment of conception and until death.† Dominican courts have interpreted this as a strict mandate against abortion. Article 37, passed in 2009, also abolished the death penalty. P.O.V: The author wants to identify the situations where abortions can be deemed necessary. He tries to convince the readers to see the two sides of abortion. He seems to support the notion of legalizing abortion in the Dominican republic. ARTICLE 5: â€Å"Legalized abortion is a national holocaust; an affront to our national character; a contradiction of established principles subscribed to from the beginning of Western Civilization; an insult to the principles of our Declaration of Independence; a bane of our national spirit; and a stench in the nostrils of Almighty God. That we have allowed it to continue for 37 years now stands as an indictment against this generation of Americans and bodes ominously for the well-being of our posterity.† By Pastor Chuck Baldwin P.O.V-The author is clearly against abortion .As a pastor he takes a religious stand on as he considers it to be unholy. Based on his article he tries to urge the readers to be against any form of abortion. CONCLUSION As said by former Surgeon General and a pediatrician Dr. C. Everett Koop, the most common reason for abortion is convenience. Only three to five percent of all abortions performed are for reasons of rape, incest, the possibility of a deformed child, or severe threat to the life of the mother. According to researchers at the Alan Guttmacher Institute, of those obtaining abortions in 1980, 30 percent were under age 20 and 79 percent were unmarried, which shows that abortions in the United States are most often sought as a â€Å"solution† to the problem of pregnancy outside of marriage. The major reason behind most of the abortions is mere inconvenience or unwantedness of the baby seems mean, insensitive and unreasonable .However the question of whether abortion is right or wrong will remain a controversial issue for everybody has their own point of view on the subject. The ultimate right of choice should lie with the woman who is undergoing the abortion. This remains one of the foremost arguments and is often stated by supporters to be as important as the basic right of survival.

Lowering the minimum legal drinking age to 18

There has been a lot of discussion about whether or not that lowering the minimum legal drinking age to 18 would help reduce the amount of binge drinking among people under age 21. The evidence from recent history and research do not support this change. Some have argued that lowering the drinking age will reduce the allure of alcohol as a â€Å"forbidden fruit† for minors. In fact, research suggests that lowering the drinking age will make alcohol more available to an even younger population, replacing â€Å"forbidden fruit† with â€Å"low-hanging fruit. The practices and behaviors of 18 year-olds are particularly influential on 15 to 17 year-olds (Bonnie, p. 38-58, 1980). If 18 year-olds get the OK to drink, they will be modeling drinking for younger teens. Legal access to alcohol for 18 year-olds will provide more opportunities for younger teens to obtain it illegally from older peers, making enforcement that much more difficult among high school students. For this reason, parents and schools strongly supported the age-21 MLDA (Bonnie, p. 38-58, 1980). Finally, the following is a response from U. S. Surgeon General RADM Steven K. Galson, about lowering the drinking age. â€Å"We all should be very concerned about the extent and consequences of underage drinking. The fact is when youth drink, they tend to drink heavily. Today, we know more about the effects of underage alcohol use on health than ever before. For example, the science tells us that underage drinking can have serious health and safety consequences, such as motor vehicle crashes and sexual assaults. New research is also emerging on the potential harm alcohol may have on the developing brain which continues to mature well into the 20s. So based on the most recent research and the information contained in the Surgeon General's Call to Action to prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking, I believe that drinking under the age of 21 is not worth the risk. †(Bonnie, p. 38-58, 1980) The next topic that I am going to explain is that why do violent video games lead to an increase in crime. This article presents a brief overview of existing research on the effects of exposure to violent video games. An updated meta-analysis reveals that exposure to violent video games is significantly linked to increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, and cardiovascular arousal, and to decreases in helping behavior. Experimental studies reveal this linkage to be causal. Correlational studies reveal a linkage to serious, real-world types of aggression. Methodologically weaker studies yielded smaller effect sizes than methodologically stronger studies, suggesting that previous meta-analytic studies of video games underestimate the true magnitude of observed deleterious effects on behavior, cognition, and affect (Anderson, 2004). Of course, anecdotal accounts of such incidents do not provide a solid scientific basis for public policy decisions or for the testing and development of relevant scientific theories of aggression. But there is considerable theory and research on both the immediate impact of a single brief exposure to media violence and the long term impact of repeated exposure to such violence (e. g. Donnerstein, Slaby, ; Eron, 1994; Huesmann ; Miller, 1994; Anderson ; Bushman, 2001; Bushman ; Huesmann, 2001; Anderson ; Bushman, 2002a; Anderson et al. , in press; Anderson ; Huesmann, 2003). Three findings are particularly important. First, as more studies of violent video games have been conducted, the significance of violent video game effects on key aggression and helping related variables has become clearer. Second, the claim (or worry) that a poor methodological characteristic of some studies has led to a false, inflated conclusion about violent video game effects is simply wrong. Third, video game studies with better methods typically yield bigger effects, suggesting that heightened concern about deleterious effects of exposure to violent video games is warranted. Three major types of studies have clearly and consistently linked media violence to aggressive and violent behavior: experimental, cross-sectional (correlational); and longitudinal. Social-cognitive models of human aggression clearly link exposure to media violence to subsequent aggressive and violent behavior at both the theoretical and empirical levels (e. g. Huesmann, 1988; Anderson ; Bushman, 2002a; Anderson ; Huesmann, in press). Lastly, I am going to discuss why that Social networking is a healthy activity and is largely harmless. Everyday a teenager gets on the computer to log on to Facebook, to check emails, to see what everyone else is doing, and sometimes they are getting bullied on the computer. Social networking can have its pros and cons when dealing with everyday life. Social networking can be very dangerous to our youth and here is a couple of inserts that prove my analysis. You have pedophiles stalking young children because they have an illness. You also have males pretending to be females, because they are hiding their infatuations about the other person behind the computer. In the case involving the 15-year-old girl, police said the man met the girl online in November, when he contacted her through her profile at MySpace, and they later exchanged cell phone numbers. Police said they met face to face for the first time at a military installation and from there began to have a consensual sexual relationship. The suspect did not have a home of his own and arranged meetings with the victim at his friend's home or in his friend's vehicle unbeknownst to the girl's parents, police said. Police learned of the case in January when the girl was identified as an unescorted minor by security at the front gate of the military installation. She told military investigators that she was having a sexual relationship with the man, who worked until then as a civilian employee for the Department of Defense. As a result of the investigation, the man was barred from the base, and he has since been terminated from his job (Rod Antone, 2006). Fifteen percent of all of the youth reported an unwanted sexual solicitation online in the last year; 4% reported an incident on a social networking site specifically. Thirty-three percent reported an online harassment in the last year; 9% reported an incident on a social networking site specifically. Among targeted youth, solicitations were more commonly reported via instant messaging (43%) and in chat rooms (32%), and harassment was more commonly reported in instant messaging (55%) than through social networking sites (27% and 28%, respectively)( Ybarra, M. L. , & Mitchell, K. J. , 2008). This is only a couple scenarios that I have listed to prove that social networking can harm our youth so let’s protect our youth and monitor what they do on the computer. References Anderson, Craig A. (2004). â€Å"An update on the effects of playing violent video games,†Journal of Adolescence 27, 113–122. Bonnie, RJ, â€Å"Discouraging Unhealthy Personal Choices through Government Regulation: Some Thoughts about the Minimum Drinking Age,† In Minimum-Drinking-Age Laws, Wechsler, H (Ed.), Lexington, MA: DC Heath Co., p39-58, 1980.) Donnerstein, E., Slaby, R. G., & Eron, L. D. (1994). The mass media and youth aggression. In L. D. Eron,J.H. Gentry, & P.Schlegel (Eds.), Reason to hope: A psychosocial perspective on violence and youth (pp.219–250).Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Rod Antone, 2006. â€Å"Another isle man allegedly baits teen victim on MySpace,† Honolulu Star Bulletin (9 March), at http://starbulletin.com/2006/03/09/news/story05.html, accessed 21 March 2006. Ybarra, M. L., & Mitchell, K. J. (2008). How risky are social networking sites? A comparison of places online where youth sexual solicitation a nd harassment occurs. Pediatrics, 121(2), e350-e357.

Launch of Cosmetic Industry in Dubai Case Study

Launch of Cosmetic Industry in Dubai - Case Study Example The total personal care market in the Emirates alone was higher than $414.2 million in 2005 as compared to $382.5 million in 2002. One of the leading retailers of cosmetics in the UAE told Khaleej Times1, "The demand for various brands, especially herbal cosmetics has surged in the UAE as customers have become more conscious regarding skin care products and moisturizing products as the weather conditions in the Gulf harms the skin. Consumption of cosmetics and fragrances in the Gulf states is one of the highest per capita in the world with the average purchase estimated to be in the region of $334 per head." This indeed is true because people will not normally forget the hospitability offered at the service based organization like restaurant, beauty parlor, consultancy firm etc and especially the cosmetic industry. Dubai can be chosen because the increasing urbanization and a growth in the number of office workers have resulted in a strong focus on grooming. The Terpstra and Sarathy Cultural Framework2 helps marketing managers to assess the cultural nature of an international market. The Eight categories are Language, Religion, Values and Attitudes, Education, Social Organizations, Technology and Material Culture, Law and Politics and Aesthetics. 1. 1. Language: - Arabic (official), English, Hindi, Urdu, Persian are the languages in UAE. The ethnic groups in UAE- Emirati 19%, other Arab and Iranian 23%, South Asian 50%, other expatriates (includes Westerners and East Asians) 8% (1982) and less than 20% are UAE citizens (1982). 2. Religion: 96% of the total population of UAE is Muslim with 16% Shia Muslims3. It also consists of religions like Hindu, Christian but in very small numbers. Muslims are forbidden by God to eat the meat of the pig (pork). Eating the meat of the pig is said to contribute to lack of morality and shame, plus greed for wealth, laziness, indulgence, dirtiness and gluttony. In the country, one hears the regular prayer calls five times a day and sees all the people sincerely observe the religion. 3. Values and Attitude: Generally people in UAE have a high regard for their elders. Although traditional roles are changing, especially in urban areas, there are important values shared by most of the families. Normally, UAE people hold family progress, unity and support in high regard throughout their lives. Mostly people live in an extended family, in which every member has their own role, often determined by age and gender. There is typically a head of the family who takes the major decision with respect to the family and his decision is respected by everyone in the family. Elders are supposed to use their experience and wisdom to help guide younger members of the family. Unlike the tradition of portraying the human figure in Christian art, Muslim art is always devoid of depictions of the animate, especially human beings according to the dictates of Islam or Muslim religion.

Employment Problems in India Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employment Problems in India - Assignment Example This is contrary to the country’s projection and its perceived international image of an intellectual force and companies such as 24/7 Customer are forced to hire and manage their labor force from outside India. The country’s experience is also contrary to objectives of its economic revolution that aimed at offering quality education for the job market. Such a level of quality has not been achieved and business professionals blame the government for the poor education system that is too bureaucratic and lacks resources. This has led to poor quality and a sharp increase in a number of graduates but most of them cannot find jobs. Engineering faculties, for example, trains more than four times their previous capacities the general literacy levels in schools are very poor with the trend indicating a threat to the country’s ability to sustain its achieved economic growth rate (Anand, 1). Many education stakeholders acknowledge the problem, and the government has attempted to pass a bill for remedy. Students particularly recognize the problem with irrelevant academic units, lack of commitment from both students and lecturers, and cheating as some of the factors to the poor quality. Students have also reported bribery as a strategy to acquiring good grades in cases where they had failed their examinations. Graduates poor analytical and communication skills that many managers have reported from their experience in interviewing recruits further identify weakness in the education system. The students may sometimes know answers to interview questions but are too nervous to formulate and communicate the correct answers, a fact that is also reported in their schools, as lecturers are not keen to facilitate interactive learning processes. This poor system has forced some organizations like Tata to establish parallel training for their employees (Anand, 1).

Visual Rhetoric of 'One Water Film Documentary' Essay

Visual Rhetoric of 'One Water Film Documentary' - Essay Example While the visual scenes and the verbal accompaniments present water as physiologically and spiritually significant, the depletion, improper use, and poor development of the commodity spells a crisis that needs urgent attention. On the whole, the documentary employs one of the most innovative cinematic--visual and verbal--strategies to reach a wider view and attract an appeal to its thematic significance. It opens with the scenes of several people coming together in front of screens to watch awareness-raising movie on the importance of water conservation and how safe-drinking water is crucial (Travis 2). In this Scenario, the cinematic visual expression sets the psychological stage for the viewer to significantly open up to the following scenes. It captures and captivates the audience attention (Dwyer 1).In other scenarios filmed in different countries, the scenes indicating the differences of clear crystal clean water to dripping in some taps in a country and showing over-exploited d irty water in other countries show the differences in how water is a commodity in some regions and a human right in others (Dwyer 1). This is further compounded by the narrator’s exposition that while water is misused in affluent quarters, it is struggled for in other places (Travis 2) Moreover, there are scenes where images on how people use or misuse water which further deals with the dilemma of water in development as well as disease acquisition. Some scenes show human populations using various public water points for bathing, going for calls, as well as drinking. Besides, there are scenes where various other pollutants and thrown into water bodies, all which shocks the audience (Travis 2).Over-exploitation of water is additionally portrayed in other scenes showing the dried out lands bordering the over-exploited Colorado River, which has changed the water movement path (Dwyer 2). The statistical figures showing the urgency with which the death tendency of children in rela tion to the availability of water in the developing world vis-a-vis the developed nations shows that water crises need to be addressed urgently. It reveals a lack of understanding that many people across the world need to know that usage of polluted water should not be the rule, but the exception (Garcia 1). In an Indian Desert, Rajasthan, a woman and her child are shown carrying water pots crossing a seemingly dry lake, and a picture of winds transmitting salt onto some agricultural land. This ushers the notions of the extent to which agricultural productivity is enormously affected by lack of water. In Kenya and indeed the entire Sub-Saharan Africa, the picture of how unsafe water causes Malaria, diarrhea and other water born diseases introduces the viewer on the relationship of severity between water and disease micro-bills (Garcia 2). Indeed, the visual images that illustrate poverty and diseases unfold in various countries as the movie progresses (Dwyer 3). The picture of India n women carrying pots and fetching water from hand pumps is one such. Then there a scenes indicating that the use of under ground water, leads to sickness, as ground water deficits are characterized with ‘arsenic seepage into wells.’’ What is more, there are scenes showing women walking and crossing through and muddy and sewage-full streams while struggling to protect that precious commodity that

Regional Economic Integration (BLOBAL BUSINESS) Essay

Regional Economic Integration (BLOBAL BUSINESS) - Essay Example Custom unions are similar to free trade area, but differ in the idea of treating non-member states. Unlike free trade area where each member nation has the autonomy to decide how to deal with non-member countries, custom unions promote uniform treatment of non-member nations by all member countries. A perfect example of common union is the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Common market on the other hand permits for the development of economically incorporated markets between member nations. It involves the abolition of trade barriers, capital and labour flow limitations and promotes the formation of common trade policies for dealing with non-members. Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) (Kyambalesa and Houngnikpo 79) is an epitome of common market. Lastly, an economic union refers to an economic agreement formed between countries that involves abolition of trade barriers and implementation of common trade policies, for example the European Union (EU). Regional integration creates trade and employment opportunities for member states and also promotes cooperation between them. However, regional integration may also jeopardize national sovereignty, leads to shift in employment and thwarts diversification in

The develoment of Arab Nationalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The develoment of Arab Nationalism - Essay Example Arab nationalism called for a political and cultural rejuvenation of the Arab world, an intense celebration of the Arab civilization and the Arab literature and language, and called for a political unification of the Arab world (Dawisha, 2005). The premise that encouraged the Arab nationalism was the firm belief that the Arab people tended to share a common linguistic heritage, cultural values, historical past and religious belief system (Dawisha, 2005). Genesis of Arab Nationalism In that context it is imperative to unravel the genesis of Arab nationalism. Since the 16th century the Ottoman Empire exercised a formal sovereignty over the Arab lands (McCarthy, 2006). For quiet a time the Ottoman Empire tended to be cautious in its approach towards the Arab tribes, choosing to garrison the key ports and cities, exercising little influence in the local Arab politics and tribal affairs (McCarthy, 2006). The Arab residents of Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Palestine appreciated this arrang ement and actually started dominating the local Ottoman administration (McCarthy, 2006). However, as in 1914 the Ottoman Empire entered the I World War, it no more afforded to take the Arab loyalty for granted. It was first owing to the rise of a nascent Arab nationalism that drew inspiration from the Western ideas (McCarthy, 2006). Many Arabs started to appreciate the nationalist Slavic movements of the Balkans, most of which managed to secure independence from the Ottoman Empire (McCarthy, 2006). The other factor was the rising clout of the educated Arab elites, which included former or serving officers affiliated to the Ottoman administration and army, Arab civil servants and intellectuals (McCarthy, 2006). The completion of Hejaz railway in 1908 was the other bone of contention for the Arabs who believed that it tightened the Ottoman stranglehold on them (McCarthy, 2006). This particularly enervated the Hashemite clan that claimed descent from the Prophet and was led by Sharif H ussein ibn Ali in 1914 (McCarthy, 2006). The disgruntled Arab tribes of the interior resented the stringent approach of the Ottomans and gradually started to enter arrangements with the British, to initiate a revolt against the Ottomans (McCarthy, 2006). This revolt was further incited by the nationalist al-Fatat movement in Syria (McCarthy, 2006). In the post World War I period, the establishment of the French and the British mandate saw varied Arab uprisings like the uprisings in Iraq and Syria (Jankowski, 2002). Besides the relative independence of North Yemen, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq incited the Arab nationalists in the neighbouring regions to overthrow the imminent Western colonial powers (Jankowski, 2002). The ensuing anti-Zionist uprisings in Palestine and anti-colonial activities in Syria further encouraged the nationalist movements in Iraq and Egypt, which gave way to the modern Arab nationalism that led to the independence of varied Arab nations in the period followin g the World War II (Jankowski, 2002). The Role Played by Intelligentsia There is no denying the fact that Arab intellectuals do played a pivotal role in the genesis, encouragement and dissemination of Arab nationalism. Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi was a prominent Syrian intellectual

Business in UAE and GCC Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business in UAE and GCC - Assignment Example UAE, which was the initial UAE, has contributed highly on the growth of UAE through its oil and gas production. ENOC has achieved impressively due to its customer satisfaction, promotion of Emiratisation, enhancement of equipped effectiveness and promoting business diversification that includes geographical development. The geological development is achieved through BSC, which is a strategy implementation and management of the performance aspect embraced internationally (ENOC 2014). Through embracement of BSC, ENOC has been able to set transparent goals and also focus on key areas of business. ENOC has also been able to maintain good customer relation through sustaining promotion, CSR and maintaining quality and also embracing teamwork. By doing this, the ENOC Company has enabled the UAE to develop (Behind Every Successful Journey n.d). ENOC has also started programs in which they maintain and enhance UAE citizens ’skills. ENOC Company achieves this through broad Development program. The program consists of five professional stages namely: Tadreeb, Ajyaal, Imtiaz,Mawaheb, and Tatweer. The program’s main objective is to enhance their employees’ practical, performance, proficient, administrative and guidance skills. By doing this ENOC company ensures the employees’ suitability in the company thus enhancing the growth of the company and UAE in general. ENOC also hires its employees on the basis of competency and their careers undertakin g (Behind Every Successful Journey n.d). ENOC company also embraced the expansive learning in the organization and development which they achieved by progressed administration of knowledge and information organizations. Through diversification and extension of business, ENOC has been able to maintain this through establishing a transparent market administration in the trade region (Behind Every Successful Journey n.d). ECON Company has also

Internet Survey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Internet Survey - Essay Example Therefore, students of this particular educational institution are meant to be participants of the survey. The latter is evidently meant to provide a fuller view of the situation with smoking and smokers within the campus and probably serve as a helping tool in reformation of smoking regulation policy there. The survey consists of 14 questions of different types, including multiple-choice questions, yes-no questions and free-answer questions. While some questions are not compulsory for answering, others require the answer (which are marked by asterisk). The question implies multiple choice: the recipient is expected to choose an option. However, it is somewhat double-barreled, for it is not quite clear whether the participant is to choose one or more variants (regular smoker, occasional smoker, social smoker). Moreover, the flaw of the question lies in the fact that it doesn’t consider the possibility that the participant has already quit smoking. Being a logical continuation of the previous question, this one is aimed at obtaining further information from the participants, who have chosen the option ‘regular smoker’. The variety of answers eliminates any double-barreled implications or confusion while answering this question, for the options are quite clear. Here, we see the survey being narrowed down to the issue directly related to the policy of the campus. The question is unbiased, with no double negations or ambiguity, though â€Å"very specific areas† is a rather confusing phrase. The question implies multiple choice out of four options. However, there is certain bias that might raise ethical concerns, for answering this compulsory question presupposes giving information about other people rather than about the respondent him/herself. Moreover, the word ‘substances’ might be confusing, for it isn’t clear what is meant by it. In this step of the survey completion, the respondent is offered a free-answer question,

Immigration law (international study class) Essay

Immigration law (international study class) - Essay Example t under the American immigration law immigrants can take part in jury services only when deciding the fate of other immigrants that have been charged with crimes and this shows how the jury displays an in genuine part of the community. Immigrants can be deported or banished from the United States denied working, having a family and taking part in community activities but United States citizens can take part in them comfortably. For example, if a United States immigrant is caught stealing, one can be deported but for a United States citizen charged with murder the citizen can only be imprisoned and not deported. According to the United States immigration law there is a classification of two types of immigrants which are, legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. Legal immigrants are allowed to stay in the country for a number of years and could be studying or working and could even have families. Legal immigrants are those who have legal papers showing their legality of being in the United States whereas illegal immigrants are those that have fake or no documents to confirm that they are legally in United States . Though at times it becomes difficult to differentiate the two types of immigrants, illegal immigrants can have children in the country who are citizens and become lawful permanent resident (LPR) under the fourteenth amendment (Bray 60). According to Phelan and James (136), the Mexico – America immigration law is very unique as it involves two countries that share a two thousand mile border where each country has very different living standards. During the nineteenth century, movement between the two countries was very easy and was termed as local since places had single and undivided communities compared to the present where one has to have the required documents in order to cross the border. The Mexico – America border was strengthened due to social construction as there were a number of cases in illegal smuggling of goods. It is also after the

Geely Automobile Essay Example for Free

Geely Automobile Essay In the first part, the ECLIPTER factors including econography, culture, legal system, income profile, political risk, tax regime, exchange rate and restrictions, together with the multilateral institutions such as WTO, EU and ASEAN will be examined by using UK and Malaysia as examples. Then based on this analysis, it will provide an assessment of the company‘s overall international expansion strategy and process. In the second part, legal system and income profile, the two most important ECLIPTER factors on Geely‘ overseas operations, will be evaluated. Furthermore, the scheme which Geely used to deal with the impact of these two factors and leverage the multilateral institutions will be shown. Finally, this report will analyze whether the company‘s international adaptation of the business function is effective, and then give some recommendations and lessons. 2. ECLIPTER Factors Analysis 2. 1 Econography Econography refers to physical and human assets including distance from major markets, and natural resources of nations that affect industry performance. In the first, the close distance between parent company and foreign subsidiary can help the company to reduce the transport costs and overhead expenses; it also can improve the connection between them. If the parent company is in China, it is better to build a subsidiary in Asia such as Malaysia. Secondly, the natural resources used for making cars mainly include steel, copper, and aluminum. If the country owns rich mineral resources, it can greatly provide benefit in the production of automobiles. One of the major purposes for many multinational corporations establishing overseas subsidiaries is to exploit the foreign natural resources. This is good for companies to 5 International Business Environment II reduce production costs and get competitive advantages. As World Steel Association reported in 2009 that the crude steel production of United Kingdom is 13. 5 in 2008, whereas the crude steel production of Malaysia is 6. 1 in 2008. 2. 2 Culture This paragraph will analyze the effects of culture on auto industry through power distance index and saving rate. Firstly, power distance index measures the degree of inequality exists in a society (Hofstede, 1997). The power distance index is 80 in Malaysia whereas it is only 35 in UK (Hofstede, 2008). The unequal distribution of wealth makes most Malaysian citizens prefer to hold a commercial auto. So the inexpensive Geely auto could be a good option for them. Secondly, saving rate could be a standard to show the attitude of citizens. The saving rate of Malaysia was 47 per cent in the year 1998 which ranks second in Asia (Azia, 2004). In contrast, the saving rate in UK was significantly low, which was less than 10 percent in the past ten years. For instance, the saving rate of UK household in 2008 was only 1. 7 percent (chart 1)(Presser, 2008). So UK citizens are apt to consume a relatively high price car. Chart 1 Resource from Posser (2008) 6 International Business Environment II 2. 3 Legal system The auto industry has been affected by laws and government regulations since the 1960s. The first safety act passed in 1966 by Congress and was called the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Highfill, 2004). This act forced manufacturers to improve the safety for the passengers, the driver visibility, and the braking of the car. Not only safety, but also environment is being growingly concerned even before the oil crisis. The Vehicle Air Pollution and Control Act passed in 1965 was the first act to set standards for automobile pollution. Then in the 1970s, Congress passed the Clean Air Act that led to a 90% decrease in automobile emission within the next six years (ibid). In the 1970s the oil crisis led to the approval of The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 which stated that all automobiles must meet a certain mileage per gallon. The act required that all automobiles had to meet a standard of 20mpg by the 1980 model and then 27. 5 mpg for the 1985 model (ibid). EU 2020 growth strategy also emphasizes the importance of low carbon automobile (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, 2010). There are also many special laws for auto industry in different countries, such as Malaysia, which has built a free trade area for production and assembly of products for export-oriented enterprises. Companies can enjoy the minimum tariffs, raw materials and simplified mechanical equipment import formalities. Nevertheless, the Malaysia government regulates that more than 80% products should export to other countries (Daily News, 2006). Furthermore, the UK Byers Acts Measures to cut the average price of a car by ? 1,100 and save private car buyers around ? 1 billion a year. Although it may lower the profitability of auto industry, the number of consumers will increase gradually (DTI, 2000). 2. 4 Income profile Since automobile is not inferior goods, the demand of automobile would rise when income increases. In the economic aspect, income could be an indicator of the purchasing power of individuals and nations. Data from UK national statistics office (2010) demonstrated that despite the contracted 4. 9 percent of GDP in the whole year, the GDP increased 0. 4 percent in 7 International Business Environment II the fourth quarter of 2009. Furthermore, Household expenditure also rose 0. 4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 in UK (chart2). For Malaysia, the GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2009 was 4. 5 though the figure was negative in the whole year (chart 3) (Malaysia statistics, 2010). It can be observed that the economy of both UK and Malaysia seem to recover from the global financial crisis. This positive signal predicts the growing demand and distensible market for Geely in both countries. Chart 2 Resource from UK statistics 2010 Chart3 Resource from Malaysia statistics 2010 8 International Business Environment II The core competitiveness of Geely automobile relies on its high performance-price ratio. Per capital GNI (Gross national income) in Malaysia was 25784 RM in 2008. By analyzing the 2004 United Nations Human Development (UNHDP) report, except the 20% population of richest and poorest class, Geely will be a better choice for the rest citizens in Malaysia(chart 4) (Lumpur, 2004). In comparison, the young people account for a great amount of population in UK. A source from HMRC shows the average income of under 20 years is ? 9,570 and 20-24 years is ? 13,200 which is below the average (chart 5). It implies that when young generation decide to buy a car, price is the first consideration factor. For medium quality car manufacture companies, young population in UK could be a potential group of customers. Chart 4 9 International Business Environment II Chart5 Median Age Band Under 20 years 20 – 24 ? 11,800 years 25 – 29 ? 17,000 years 30 -34 ? 19,500 years 35 – 39 ? 20,100 years 40-44 ? 20,200 years 45 – 49 ? 20,300 years Resource from Lumpur (2004) ? 28,600 ? 24,800 ? 35,400 ? 15,200 ? 20,100 ? 28,100 ? 24,600 ? 34,600 ? 14,900 ? 19,800 ? 26,800 ? 23,600 ? 31,700 ? 15,500 ? 20,100 ? 23,900 ? 21,600 ? 26,700 ? 16,400 ? 20,100 ? 19,300 ? 17,800 ? 20,600 ? 15,900 ? 17,800 ? 13,200 ? 12,400 ? 13,800 ? 11,200 ? 12,300 ? 8,130 ? 9,570 ? 8,490 ? 9,810 ? 7,990 ? 9,250 Median Income Mean Income Income (Men) (Men) (Women) (Women) Income Income Income Mean Median Mean 2. 5 Political risk According to Guinger (2001), political risk describes the stability of government institutions. It can be measured in a variety of ways such as likelihood of foreign aggression and civil insurrection. The Transparency International (2009) showed that UK and Malaysia both face some problems of political corruption, which adversely affects the efficiency of economic operation. World Bank estimates that corruption could cost Malaysia as much as RM10 10 International Business Environment II billion a year – an amount equivalent to 1 or 2 per cent of GDP. The corruption in the UK is lighter than Malaysia, which ranked 17, whereas Malaysia ranked 56 in world in 2009 based on Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. But the corruption in UK is not unheard. Surveys by Control Risks and Simmons Simmons show that the awareness of UK laws against foreign bribery may be decreasing over time. In 2002, after the act came into force, 68 percent of respondents said they were familiar with its main points. But in 2006, 48 percent people said that they have totally ignored it (Global Corruption Report, 2009). 2. 6 Tax Regime Tax regime refers to the tax instruments that governments use to raise revenues from multinational firms, such as corporate taxes. The tax of Malaysia is transparent, the multinational corporate must be taxed 30% of the corporate income which is just the same as Malaysia companies Marketing directory, 2005) According to the tax incentive treaties, auto ( . industry may be eligible for pioneer status which is given by the way of an abatement of 70% of the profits for five years (ibid). The remaining 30% of the profits will be taxed at the prevailing corporate income tax rate. The profits abated are exempt from tax and will be available for distribution as tax-free dividends. In UK the resident corporate tax is the lowest in Europe, even the tax is zero for the small companies in 2002(Lawandtax-news, 2010). According to the tax treaties, multinational corporate which set up, purchase or control the companies in UK can follow the resident tax (Navstar, 2009). In the ordinary course of events, foreign companies cannot follow the low corporate tax, but with regard to double taxation and the agreement between UK and China, Chinese multinational corporates in UK now pay the low tax (ibid). 2. 7 Exchange rate Stable trade policies are extremely important for both the economic welfare of the countries and the multilateral trading system. Unfortunately, the liberalization measures were adopted by many countries. As Dornbusch‘s 1976 analysis has pointed out that when the exchange rate is used to provide protection for domestic firms, it is through undervaluation. An undervalued 11 International Business Environment II exchange rate protects domestic firms from imports and gives domestic firms greater incentives to export. For example, the Balance of Payments Committee of the WTO has received 39 requests from member countries for derogations from their international obligations and for a temporary increase in temporary protection. Moreover, several developing countries, such as Malaysia, have recently increased tariffs in response to financial crises even though the higher rates remain below the rates these countries bounded in the WTO. Moreover the analysis said China has become a great auto exporter, as a result of the huge subsidies, an undervalued exchange rate and dirt-cheap credit (Swaminathan, 2009). 2. 8 Restrictions Restrictions refer to the taxes and limitations that host governments place on foreign products and services or on foreign firms themselves when they enter or leave the host economy. Because of the policy of protecting their national automobile industry, the import tax of automobile is relatively high in Malaysia. Since 2004, Malaysia began to reduce the automobile import tax: for the import components the tax is reduce from 25% to 10%, and for the whole automobile the import tax is drop from 130% to 30% for the companies outside of Southeast Asia (MEI, 2009). In 2010, according to the agreement of ASEAN, the automobile import tax will be zero to all the regions of ASEAN. UK is a member of EU, it followed the economic agreement of EU which sets no import or export tax between members of EU and they must charge the same tax when they have business with the third country (European competitiveness, 2009). 12. International Business Environment II Scoring Analysis of UK and Malaysia Country Score Econography Culture Legal System Income Profile Political Risk Tax Regime Exchange Rate Restrictions Total (10) (10) (20) (20) (10) (10) (10) (10) (100) 8 7 18 8 8 8 7 7 71 7 6 16 15 5 9 8 9 75 UK Malaysia 3. Institutions 3. 1 WTO The major objectives of WTO‘s roles are ? the creation of a common automobile market through the elimination of barriers to intra-Community trade; the maintenance and expansion of a competitive world automobile industry; the use of voluntary import restrictions to prevent cheap imports and to maintain competitiveness? (European Commission, 2006). For example, in 2006, WTO announced the establishment of a panel to examine whether Chinas tariffs on imported auto parts violate WTO trade rules, following a joint complaint made by the United States, the European Union and Canada, who accused China for its discriminatory charges on imported auto parts. After examining China‘s related regulations, WTO panel declared that Chinas regulations are inconsistent with Chinas WTO obligations. China has agreed to make the necessary regulatory changes by September 2009 (Herd, 2006). 13 International Business Environment II. WTO facilitates Geely‘s international expansion since the elimination of trade barriers has cleared its path to world market and made it integrated to the world economy. In 2002, after China joined into WTO, 100 automobiles of Geely exported to Syria (Luo, 2005). 3. 2 EU EU functions as a rule-imposer. It sets strict requirements and institute rules and regulations to improve vehicle safety. Besides the vehicle crash tests executed by Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Program backed by European Commission), there are also some regulations set to protect the environment. First, in order to respond to the gradual aggravation of greenhouse effect, the European commission developed a mandatory emission standard to limit the emission of one major kind of greenhouse gas, CO2. The regulation set a fleet-average CO2 emission target for passenger cars, which is 120 g/km to be reached by 2015 (European Commission, 2010). The vehicle manufacturers must reach the CO2 emission target of 130g/km, with an additional reduction of 10 g/km to be provided by supplementary measures, such as the use of hydrogen fuel. A long-term target of 95 g/km to be reached by 2020 is also established by the regulation (ibid). This regulation will take effect in 2012. From 2012 onwards, vehicle manufacturers who do not meet this target will have to pay penalty for their excess emissions. According to DieselNet (2010), from 2012 to 2018, the penalties are â‚ ¬5 per vehicle for the first g/km of CO2; â‚ ¬15 for the second gram; â‚ ¬25 for the third gram; â‚ ¬95 from the fourth gram onwards. From 2019, manufacturers will pay â‚ ¬95 for each g/km exceeding the target. Another congressional mandate imposed by European Commission requires tire pressure monitoring systems on all new cars in 2012. According to Europe‘s Information Society (2010), many road accidents resulting in fatalities and physical injuries are linked to tire defects. Furthermore, under-inflated tires can result in severely inefficient use of fuel and cause an extra two million tons of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere per year. So this mandate enhances vehicle safety and protects the environment. 14 International Business Environment II These regulations have incurred a rise in car prices since vehicle manufacturers are forced to increase price to offset the cost of upgrading. These regulations put Geely in an unfavorable position. Since Geely is better known for making low-tech and cheap cars, making eco-friendly cars is not included in the competencies of the company and huge RD spending is inevitable for nurturing this competence. They set a high bar for the competition and limit Geely‘s ability to expand market in Europe. 3. 3 ASEAN ASEAN – Association of South East Asia Nations is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia. China and ASEAN are both newly-emerged, rapidly-developing auto markets. Cooperation in auto industry between China and ASEAN will bring a win-win situation for the two sides and make their cars more competitive in a global competition. For instance, according to Xinhua News Agency (2006), a report released by the Ministry of Commerce Indonesia has announced that compared to the expensive Japanese sedans, the China-made ones gradually gain popularity for more favourable price-performance ratio. ASEAN country also needs investment from Chinese carmakers to expand local employment and for more price-favourable cars, said a Germany auto expert at the China-ASEAN Expo, 2006. Consequently, in general, ASEAN opens its gate to Chinese car companies including Geely to achieve a win-win situation. 4. Assessment of Geely’s overall international expansion strategy Geely‘s current international strategy is to produce affordable automobile, so the market size and consume power of a foreign market are highly valued by Geely. Malaysia automobile market resembles China more than UK, in the aspects such as the people‘s income, the similar culture, and the similar geographical position, etc. As by now most cars have been exported to some developing countries like South-East Asia, Ukraine, Russia, and Mexico, Malaysia will be good choice. Meanwhile, although UK does not represent a neighboring or ? home‘ market, 15 International Business Environment II as markets in South-East Asia do, UK could be seen as an interesting market with a potential for higher margins, higher price levels and a more mature market for branding, technology, etc, as the UK‘s income per capita, and the automobile sales volume are higher than that of Malaysia. Considering the future international development, Geely should focus on UK. Therefore, at first, it is better for Geely to develop its ? producing automobile which most of people can buy‘ strategy in Malaysia, and when Geely is able to enter high-end automobile market, UK will be a better choice. In terms of multilateral institution, after evaluating the influence of international organizations, we suggest that Malaysia is a better choice for Chinese car companies to exploit new markets. Firstly, a win-win situation guarantees a favourably corporate relationship between Geely and ASEAN (Eichengreen, 2006). Secondly, there are various quality-related requirements and constraints in EU and probably NAFTA, which puts up a strong challenge for those Asian auto makers. Moreover, by far, there is no evidence to prove the acquisition of Manganese Bronze and Volvo have considerably increased Geely‘s sale in developed nations. Thus considering the opportunities and threats faced by Geely, it is recommended that the company emphasizes on developing nations‘ markets, rather than the developed markets. 5. Marketing analysis 5. 1 Legal system According to Alistair Darling‘s pre-budget report, UK will bring new opportunities for the low-carbon industries. Through the Innovation Investment Fund and the Carbon Trusts Venture Capital scheme, UK will invest at least ? 160m in low carbon projects (Guardian, 2009). They will also invest ? 90m in the European Investment Banks new 2020 fund, which will put 6. 5 billion Euros of finance in green infrastructure projects. In this report, there are alterations to the climate change levy, company car tax, and fuel benefit charge (ibid). This is good news for Geely because now it dedicates itself to produce high-tech and eco-friendly automobile. In 16 International Business Environment II UK the amount of car tax depends on the price and the discharge amount for carbon, which is from 9% for electric motor car to 10%-35% for petrochemical car. UK also has a successful car scrappage scheme, which gives consumers a ? 2,000 discount off. If they scrap their old vehicle, it will help up to 125,000 families replace their inefficient boilers with new models (Julia, 2009). Through the government‘s support of low-carbon industry, Geely has more opportunities to innovate high-tech and eco-friendly automobile. Furthermore, because of the low tax and car scrappage scheme, customer is inclined to buy or change an electric motor car,. In 22nd March 2006, Malaysia published the new automobile policy (MEI, 2009). Since that day, the import taxes of CBU (Complete Built Unit) are reduced from 20% to 5% for the ASEAN members and 50% to 30% for other countries. The import taxes of CKD (Completely Knock Down) are 10%. In 28th October 2009, Mustafa Mohamed announced many new policies for auto industry which will give much more preferences and subsidies for the new energy automobile companies (ibid). 5. 2 Income profile It is known that the success of Geely relies mostly on keeping low cost and offering the affordable cars. For instance, Geelys best-selling four-door sedan, the King Kong, has been sold 6127 in April 2010 and the retail price is between 47,800RMB 58,800RMB (Jiang, 2010). Geely sold 329,014 passenger cars in 2009, making it is the third largest domestic car producer (Zheng, 2010). However, Geelys winning formula is under pressure in china because Chinese consumers are becoming wealthier; the higher-end models will gradually be affordable for them. Meanwhile, brands such as the Chery QQ, Ford Fiesta, and Honda Civic are threatening Geely‘s current market position. Geeky‘s winning formula is also challenged at the oversea markets like UK and Malaysia. Date from HMRC (HM Revenue Customs) indicates that nearly 50% of the population in UK earns ? 16400 annually which is much higher than the middle class income of Malaysia. This group of population could be a dominant power in the automobile market in UK. It is not a wise choice to sell its inexpensive cars in UK considering that low price would not be 17 International Business Environment II attractive for these relatively rich citizens. The similar situation also happened in Malaysia which made Geely‘s low price cars less competitive. This is because that the predicted real GDP growth in 2010, 2011 and 2015 are 4. 7%, 5. 0% and 5. 0%, Malaysian people are becoming richer than before(IMF, 2010). Their increasing incomes will directly affect their car buying choice. People nowadays prefer the higher-end models and the market share of Geely‘s lower-end models are estimated to reduce gradually. 6. Geely’s reacts to the impact of the ECLIPTER First, since the middle of 2009, the sales of car exports decreased from 37940 in 2008 to 6297. Furthermore, although Geely exports to more than 50 countries, most of them are developing countries which are not so effective in the promotion of the brand image. In order to get rid of low-end image, Geely changed its strategy from ?produce automobile which most of people can buy‘ to ? do not produce cars which price is below 40000 Yuan‘ (Fang, 2009). Besides, Geely take over Volvo which also expressed its desire to promote the brand image. Geely‘s strategy changes starts in May 2007, which is focus on transforming its competitive advantage from price to technology. In 2007, Geely used three new motorcycle type—Yuan Jing, King Kong and Zi You Jian, which have relatively higher value added to substitute the Haoqing, Meiri and You Liou. For doing that, Geely scraped its old molds, jigs and production line which worth up to 8 billion Yuan. In 2008, the sales of these three new auto types grew 12% without discount marketing strategy (Geely annual report, 2009). Furthermore, in 2010, Geely will market 21 new auto types, and some of them were designed by Fabrizio Giugiaro, the Italy‘s famous auto manufacturer. Moreover, the new energy auto will also be produced in 2010, which will include Panda and DiHao (Wenqing, 2010). These new energy auto types have been showed in the Beijing car exhibition 2010 (Phoenix auto, 2010). In order to deal with these two factors, Geely also has a complementary strategy: cooperate or takeover other well-known international auto manufacturers. It will not only help Geely to promote its auto manufacture technology, but also improve its brand image. Geely has already cooperated with 18 International Business Environment II Britain‘s Manganese Bronze to produce luxurious brand-named taxi (China car Times, 2010) and assembled cars with Information Gateway Corp Sdn Bhd (IGC) in Malaysia, 2006 (Tan, 2006). 7. Leverage the multilateral institutions 7. 1 ASEAN One of the stunning news in 2005 was the political barriers Geely met in Malaysia, which was considered as the biggest challenge for its overseas expansion so far. Geely‘s President Li Shufu described Malaysia as ? an unexpected trap? because of Malaysia government‘s rejection on fulfilling the contract. After examining the ECLIPTER factors of Malaysia market, Li Shufu and his team regarded Malaysia as the first pillbox and cornerstone of its expansion to ASEAN countries. He believed the learning in Malaysia could be helpful. Therefore, in May 2005, Geely has made a joint contract with Malaysia IGC group for building CKD factory in Malaysia. However, Malaysia government denied the contract after a new document on automobile being published. According to the document, all cars made by foreign automobile manufacturers were prohibited to sell in Malaysia. Then the situation in Malaysia went against its expection of getting a huge sale. However, according to Geely officials, to some extent, ASEAN agreements have made Geely to reconsider the importance of Malaysia (Harwit). In South East Asia nations, there are some strict tariff-related regulations for automobile industry. Contrarily, tariff among ASEAN countries is in a minimum rate. According to an inner-ASEAN agreement, from 2003 to 2009, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippine, Singapore and Vietnam exempted auto import tariff for each other. From 2010, all ASEAN countries will implement zero auto import tariff for each other. At the same time, Indonesia, Thailand and some other ASEAN nations‘ demand of cars is increasing considerably (JAMA, 2008). Especially after an impressive increase in 2007, the car-sale in Indonesia becomes significantly dazzle. Therefore Geely 19 International Business Environment II planed to only manufacture cars in Malaysia and then export cars to other ASEAN countries, which seems like a forward-looking plan in a long-term development. Finally, Geely decided to move its Malaysia CKD manufacture center to Indonesia. However, its vision of leveraging ASEAN to pursue a sale performance in all ASEAN nations has not changed. 7. 2 EU In terms of EU regulations, since Geely has acquired 100% ownership of Volvo, the Sweden‘s company, Geely is no longer an outsider of European market. According to the EU Single market concept (European Commission, 2010), a free circulation of capital, labor, goods and services between EU members is granted. Geely now have got over tariff barriers and competes as an insider. 8. Implications and Recommendations One of the strategies of Geely is to promote new energy automobile, there are two advantages for this strategy: Firstly, Geely can get powerful support from government since the development of new energy is encouraged by the government. Secondly, since new energy automobile is environmental friendly goods, it not only reduces the carbon emissions, but also decreases the expenses on routine maintenance (Bond newspaper, 2010). However, there are also drawbacks, such as the inadequate facilities. Acquiring other world famous bands is the other strategy of Geely, which facilitates the company‘s global expansion. For instance, Volvo is well-known by its safety, which could provide Geely with a competitive advantage on its brand trust. It also provides a valuable, more upscale user image. Therefore, through merger or acquisition of international well-known brands, Geely can get greater international fame and advanced technology, integrate into the world market and attract more consumers. However, certain risks should be considered when Geely acquires Volvo. The first risk is that the culture conflicts between two countries. It has been reported that one of the hindering factors is that the union of Volvo in Sweden disagrees the acquisition for their reduced 20 International Business Environment II welfare and unemployment (Gasgoo, 2009). The second risk is that the value of acquired equity. It has been said that Volvo‘s vaunted reputation for safety has been challenged by other manufacturers which can also provide automobiles with same safety standard. In this case Volvo‘s ? safe? advantage may not be as competitive as before. 9. Conclusion To sum up, this essay has analyzed the ECLIPTER factors of Geely‘s two overseas markets, Britain and Malaysia, and examined influence of the related multilateral institutions. According to this matrix analysis, legal system and income profile have the most important impact on the auto industry. For multilateral institutions, ASEAN and WTO generally promote the Geely‘s international expansion strategy, while EU regulations are less favored in its expansion. Considering both ECLIPTER factors and related multilateral institutions, it is suitable for Geely to enter developing nations to acquire market share at its initial development. But for long-term development, Geely need to pay attention to research and develop higher-end models. With the development of Geely Company and the overall auto industry, Geely‘s focus will shift from developing countries to developed countries. Currently, Geely‘s low price strategy is challenged by the legal system and income profile of developed countries. Therefore, Geely is increasing its efforts in releasing new model cars and tapping into developed countries through merger or acquisition. Geely intends to promote its brand image and enlarge its market share through these strategic moves, although it has to face the risk of culture conflicts and the uncertainty of acquisition value. 21 International Business Environment II 10. References: Azia, A. Z. (2004) Malaysia-Encouraging Saving in a Dynamic Economy [Online]. Available at: h.

E-Collaboration for E-Businesses

E-Collaboration for E-Businesses 1. Working Title How does the development of e-collaboration provide e-businesses with a competitive advantage? 2. Introduction E-Collaboration, a relatively new concept that is shaping the way we do business. The development of this model has seen recent advances in inter-enterprise software and communication technologies which are shaping the way for digitalisation, mass communication, and globalisation. This emerging business tool has the ability to change the traditional foundations of business relationships. This report explores the concept of developing e-collaboration for e-businesses and the competitive advantage it provides to B2B (Business to Business), through the means of secondary qualitative research, books, journals, the internet and shared company information. 3. Literature Review 3.1 Defining E-Collaboration Goonatilake et al. (2009) state that e-collaboration is the use of internet and related technologies to assist distant clients in exchanging information for interactions between suppliers and customers, and everyone in between to move trade forward. Kock (2002) supports the aforementioned definition by identifying e-collaboration at an operational level as being a collaboration utilising electronic technologies amongst different individuals to achieve a common goal. E-Collaboration is a tool that breaks the boundaries of activities involving buying and selling. As cited in Samtani (2002, p.8) The Gartner Group believed that by 2005 nearly half of all Web-based commerce would be collaborative. Not only has collaboration become firmly established within many businesses it has changed many business models to incorporate B2B (Business to Business) integrations. The reasons for companies utilising e-commerce are mainly driven by the need to share resources and information. Wanga, Y. (Unknown, p.3) states that in collaborating the participating companies are sharing the supply chain the cost reduction, JIT process automation, increased potential opportunities on partnership, and the flexibility and adaptability. Samtani (2002, p.9) concurs with the above reasons for collaborating believing that it leads to shared databases, open tracking systems, enhanced inter-enterprise visibility and cooperation, streamlined business processes, new cost efficiencies and an expanded customer base for every collaborative partner. 3.2 B2B Model IPC E-Business Supply chain committee (2000) state The business-to-business (B2B) model is much more complex compared to the business-to commerce (B2C) model, which is more prevalent today. B2B spans the full spectrum of business processes, from raw material to the consumer. IPC E-Business Supply chain committee (2000) The diagram visualises the key elements of an e-collaborated e-business and its ability to manage end-to-end business transactions. As the trend towards outsourcing in the electronics industry continues to develop it is essential that all the main components are interlined: OEMs, EMS Providers, PCB Fabricators, Raw Material Suppliers and Component Suppliers to allow for automated processes. 3.2 Extranet Extranet is the term used for a private network within an organisation and other clients/suppliers who have access rights. Extranets have the ability to automate processes improving the business relationships. Businesses are currently more pressured into online ordering and inventory management because of their attractive benefits. Information is freely available 24/7 making communication easier between suppliers. Any changes needed to be made are simple in comparison to the traditional slow paper form saving time. Inventory and order processing can be easily changed without the delay of the post. Another added benefit of utilising an extranet is a much more effective collaboration and synchronization between clients. (Benefits of intranets and extranets, 2009) Business becomes more flexible with negotiable working hours because of their ordering system being connected 24/7. 3.3 EDI and API EDI is a tool that can be used by business to communicate with other businesses or suppliers. It reduces the need for paper documentation and reduces cycle time dramatically. PCMag.com, (Accessed November 2009) define it as being the electronic communication of business transactions, such as orders, confirmations and invoices, between organizations. API is the application that enables EDI. It is a platform that connects the companies together and standardises the layout of the data being transmitted so that it becomes meaningful to both parties involved. 3.4 Outsourcing Outsourcing is defined as the process of shifting/delegating/transferring a service/process/function to a third-parties/external service provider which would otherwise be an in-house function/service/process.'(CyberVillage.com, Accessed November 2009). Utilising outsourcing can be a crucial advantage to companies such as Dell, Nissan and Cummins. If the companies can source another company to make a component needed for the end product at a price that allows them to still have a viable profit margin, then this prevents the need to buy in the equipment and the expertise to do so. 3.5 The use of Web 2.0 Web 2.0 can be used as a means of selling products to customers and suppliers. This can be split into two categories of selling B2B or B2C. Websites such as eBay and Amazon.com can be used by businesses to sell directly to customers using a B2C model. Other websites such as nationalrail.co.uk can be used by 3rd party companies to sell train tickets on behalf of many train providers such as VirginTrains and the Eurostar. 3.6 Output of developing E-Collaboration for E-Businesses E-business collaboration allows businesses to have an active role in all aspects of its customer sales and marketing experience, from shopping and product configuration to fulfilment and feedback. Internet-enabled collaboration is creating a fundamental divide in the practice of global business and the management structures that guides it. http://www.industryweek.com/articles/e-business__e-collaboration_674.aspx Collaborated e-businesses pose the risk factor for many managers of organisations who have not adopted the collaboration phenomenon as old strategies do not constitute a sustainable competitive advantage. The managers of e-collaborated businesses are achieving industry advantages by adhering to two main characteristics (1) lowering interaction cost with the use of the internet and (2) they are primarily focused on the part of the value chain where they have a prominent advantage. With the business focused on the prominent advantage of creating an effective demand-driven (or customer driven) supply chain, e-collaboration has aided in providing the necessary tools and processes needed to manage the large of amount of information being shared throughout the cycle. Cost Reductions Globalisation Joint product development Another strategic imperative for collaboration is emerging from a basic transformation in discrete manufacturing. As the build-to-demand model replaces yesterdays build-to-stock paradigm, the ability to collaborate with customers and suppliers at a product engineering level becomes a primary competitive tool. It is a need that has been transforming the product strategies of companies that were once known only for their ability to deliver CAD/CAM solutions. This online collaboration will allow your active participation in all aspects of your customers sales and marketing experience, from shopping and product configuration to fulfillment and feedback. Short-term rewards include reduced costs through process automation and efficiencies. Long-term rewards include increased revenue, greater customer and partner loyalty, and the ability to create strong sell-side partnerships that help differentiate products E-business offers the opportunity for businesses to establish new competitive standards by expanding distribution channels, integrating external and internal processes, and offering a cost-effective method of providing products and services. The Internet provides online businesses with the ability to reach a global audience and to operate with a minimal infrastructure, reducing overhead, and providing greater economies of scale, while providing customers and businesses with a broad selection, increased pricing power, and unparalleled convenience. Impact On Key Value Drivers These changing economic assumptions within the context of the electronic economy have direct impact on economic value-add for manufacturers. Three primary value levers are exercised through the adoption of e-business. The associated value propositions can be quite compelling and span many of the key dimensions of business performance and success. In this context, e-business is clearly much more than just an electronic sales channel or an MRO procurement alternative, as many have defined it to be. Those who have been willing to adopt an e-business perspective are seeing tangible economic results. 15 All of the new tools of collaboration promote a model for manufacturing in which an enterprise is no longer inhibited by size or lack of it. And the collapsing of time and distance means that many of the old rules for corporate structure and strategy are being rewritten. Teresko, J. (2000) Aims Objectives To investigate the available tools to develop e-collaboration for an e-business, in order to achieve a competitive advantage. In order to achieve this aim the following objectives will be met: Investigate the use of e-collaboration for e-business Investigate the tools used to collaborate e-businesses API EDI Extranet Web 2.0 Understand the use of e-collaboration in small B2B and large B2B Explore the use of e-collaboration for Nissan and Renault and Google and Microsoft Case Studies Amazon.com   case study? Alliance between companies. For example Microsoft and Google. Are they going to buy out Google or collaborate to provide a better service to their customers? Effect on travel and transport? Retailers being able to provide train times from national rail through ADI. Analysis Successful example of E-Collaboration Nissan and Renault Nissan and Renault are one of the most formidable e-collaborations. Beginning in 1999 when Nissan UK was facing financial difficulties, Renault bought out 44.3% of the shares in Nissan. Nissan bought 15% of Renault shares but hold no voting rights. They also created the Renault-Nissan Alliance team, with both parties owning a 50% share. The two companies share their purchasing and information services as shown below. This partnership is successful due to many factors. Nissan are one of the leading petrol car manufacturers and Renault specialise in diesel. The Alliance have together co-developed common engines and gearboxes. These include a six-speed manual gearbox and a new V6 diesel engine. The Alliance also interchanges existing engines or gearboxes. For example, the Nissan 3.5-litre engine is used in the Renault Laguna and Renault 1.5 litre diesel engine is used in the Nissan Qashqai. In total, the Alliance share eight engines that are commonly used throughout the range of Nissan and Renault cars. Renault originally had no plant in South America, however from day one of the merger Renault have been able to utilise Nissans plant in Aguascalientes Mexico. Renault now produces the Clio for Mexico and Latin America. The Clio can be produced along side Nissans Platina as they share a similar architecture which drives down production and inventory costs. Nissan and Renault still however remain distinct recognisable brands which appeals to the customers. Nissan and Renault share their purchasing and information services. Within the RNIS (Renault-Nissan Information Services) the companies share a WAN, service providers and hardware. They also share systems e.g. Packaging Visibility System (PVS) that standardises the return of returnable packaging between shared suppliers, thus saving money. Outsourcing Dell spend a minimal 1.1% of their annual revenue on research and development, preferring to outsource various components to suppliers they collaborate with. They collaborate rather than compete with companies to provide customers with innovative ideas. This is vastly different to the methodology adopted by HP who invest 4.6%.of their annual revenue in research and developing components. This has previously given Dell the competitive advantage and enabled Dell to dominate the computer market. Outsourcing can be beneficial to companies who focus on other areas of production rather than research and development of specific components. Companies who outsource may pay a premium for buying in ready made components for their end product; however they compensate for that area of expenditure by ensuring they produce a very high quality end result that will attract customers. Outsourcing saves production time. If the business and their suppliers can successfully implement JIT (Just in Time) and components are delivered as per demand for the manufacturing line this will drive down product time. The increased number of products being manufactured within the same company in the same plant also increases the possibility of delays in such cases as a mainframe failures and machinery malfunctions. Out of house outsourcing can eliminate such problems. Nissan outsources to both in-house and out of house suppliers. They have improved their logistics by relocating many of their suppliers in-house, saving the time taken to get the components to the line and reduced the cost of transportation. To successfully outsource companies need to have confidence and trust in the suppliers. Nissan for example has implemented SAIS (Supplier Appraisal and Improvement System). This awards the suppliers demerits for mistakes such as parts mislabelled and accuracy percentages for delivery times. This allows Nissan remain in control over its suppliers and with the control reoccurring mistakes can be highlighted so that action can be taken. Nokia have recently published a press release in November 2009 to recall its mobile phone chargers that are produced by a third party supplier. The charger has a fault which can result in an electric shock. This can severely affect the client base of Nokia due to the inefficiencies of their supplier, customers may lose faith in Nokia and question how much of their outsourced components are quality assured by Nokia. Therefore ultimately meaning Nokia lose their competitive advantage in the mobile phone market. EDI and API Nissan Case Study Utilising EDI for communication between collaborated companies can provide numerous advantages. Sending an electronic message cross-country or globally requires only seconds or minutes instead of days. It can be agreed between the companies for the data to be sent in a certain format that can be instantaneously uploaded on the receiving companys system. Data files can be frequently communicated throughout a day between a company and a supplier via EDI; this is advantageous to a company dealing with a rapid stock turnover like manufacturing companies. The sending and receiving of information electronically can be of great benefit to a supplier too. The suppliers of NMUK (Nissan Manufacturing UK) will receive much earlier notification of NMUKs delivery requirements. This can be used by the supplier to enable them to minimise their inventory holding, improve their production scheduling and prepare in advance for logistics collections if necessary. NMUK also use EDI transmissions for the Self-Invoicing System. The objective is to have all suppliers who receive orders from Nissan by EDI to also be active for self-invoicing. This is saving Nissan money as they are not physically sending out the invoices. It is also reducing the possible errors caused by manual intervention may have when data needs to be input from one system onto another. Bibliography The effectiveness of using e-collaboration tools in the supply chain: an assessment study with system dynamics Oscar Rubiano Ovallea, Adolfo Crespo Marquezb,* a Escuela de Ing. Industrial y Estad!Ä ±stica, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia b Industrial Management, School of Engineering, University of Seville, Seville, Spain Received 1 February 2002; received in revised form 21 October 2002; accepted 18 January 2003 Goonatilake, R. Herath, S., Hearth, A., Tyska C.K. (2009) E-collaboration issues in global trade, transactions and pratices, European Journal of Scientific Research, 34 (3), p.326 [Online]. Available at: http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr_34_3_04.pdf (Accessed: 02 December 2009). Samtani, G. (2002) B2B Integration A practical guide to collaborative E-commerce. London. Imperial College Press. IPC E-Business Supply chain committee(2000) The myths of E-commerce. An IPC White Paper Report p.5. Open Access [online] Available at: http://www.ipc.org/4.0_Knowledge/4.1_Standards/E-CommerceWhitePaper.pdf (see page 5) (Accessed : 29 November 2009). Teresko, J. (2000) Internet tools allow manufactures to join forces to enhance individual strenghts, Industry Weekly, 12 June [Online] Available at: http://www.industryweek.com/articles/e-business__e-collaboration_674.aspx (Accessed: 29 November 2009). Wanga, Y. (Unknown) A literature review. p.3, Open Access [online] Available at: http://conference.iproms.org/sites/conference.iproms.org/files/PID172674.pdf (Accessed: 27 November 2009).

Research Methods For Hospitality And Tourism

Research Methods For Hospitality And Tourism Set above the market town of Otley, in West Yorkshire, you will find unspoiled woodlands, secluded accommodation and glorious fishing lakes. With 49 recently refurbished hotel rooms and log cabins- you will feel a million mile from it all. However you will also find bustling markets, fine dining restaurants, bars, galleries and shopping just minutes away. Eating at our beautifully extended lakeside Restaurant is a must. Whether you are here for business or pleasure, you will leave refreshed and totally relaxed. A HOTEL WITH HEART AND SOUL A RENOWNED AREA OF SCENIC BEAUTY, The Yorkshire Dales is a landscape brimming with history, tradition and nature. Situated on the very southern edge of the Dales, Chevin Country Park Hotel Spa sits within 44 acres of silver birch woodland on the brow of the Chevin forest. The unique timber buildings of the hotel and lodges sit naturally amidst this seclusion. The hotel takes its name from the wooded hillside overlooking the mediaeval market town of Otley. This offers stunning views of the wharfe vally and surrounding countryside. Our ambition for Chevin is for it to remain as the Hotel of choice in West Yorkshire, At the same time preserving the beauty of the natural environment and the character of the original building. At Chevin Country park hotel Spa we will put our heart and soul into giving you a great hotel befitting of such a great location and promise to make your visit as special and unique as the setting itself. PADDY CRERAR. Aims Objectives: The aim of this research is to investigate the factors affecting implementation plans of management which has affected loss of business and profit. Objectives: To investigate concept of management based on literature review. To establish theoretical background to changing management. To investigate factors that affect implementation of plan by management. To clarify recent conditions with help of hypothesis. Analyses the data collected and give evaluation. PROBLEM ACCORDING TO MANAGEMENT: In Chevin Country Park Hotel, these are different types of problems according to management: Problem is about service. Guest has not given nice feedback, most of them are complaining about service. They are saying that, every time they have to wait for food. Management doesnt want to hire more staff for Kitchen as well as Service. Hotels dont have enough machinery. Rules marketing strategies laid by new management. Staff turnover RESEARCH: Research is defined as, any gathering of data, information facts for advancement of knowledge. Research is discerning pursuit of the truth Today there are thousands of companies, whose primary activity involves providing research services that helps business key strategies, tactical and operational question. Research has become more formalized technical. But its purpose remains much the same as enquiries undertaken by the Phoenician merchants. How do I find answer to improve my performance and make life better for customer, employees, and owner? Business research is design to answer these questions. OBSERVATION Due to shortage of time I couldnt be part of staff or cannot be employee of hotel, so method I chose was direct observation. I started my observation at reception as checking in the hotel. I was standing at reception as walking guest. I observed following facts: About Staff: Staff was not up to the standards. Were confused and less experienced. Were delaying check-in process were annoying customers standing in queue. Were talking to themselves in their native language Were rude to customers. They were confused with issuing of keys to the customer creating panic among themselves. Were not properly dressed. Were creating a chaos. Were not attending guests requests, which were living in the hotel. Were confused while attending call and guests simultaneously. Proper coordination between staff was missing. 2. At Reception desk: At the reception, the flowers used for decoration were not fresh.. Bell boy were not available, as a result guests had to carry their own luggage. Keys were placed in haphazard manner, which was confusing the receptionist while assigning it to the guests. Three telephones were placed on reception desk but only one receptionist was responsible for attending all three telephones, and she was not able to manage them. Ringing other two telephones while attending one call , was making that receptionist and guests annoyed. The floor near the reception was not cleaned regularly ,as a result many footprints were printed near the lobby, making floor dirty. 3.In Hotel Room: When I entered my room, I observed following things: The floor of the room was not properly cleaned; I could sense the dust on the floor as my shoes were leaving footprints on the floor. In refrigerator, I could see some empty cans, which projected that it was not restocked. There were some fingerprints on the mirror, which showed mirror was not cleaned regularly. The bed spreads also had some marks. Dusting was not done properly, as there was dust on the table. Towels in the bathroom were not up to the standards. It seemed like used before by someone else. The mattress outside the bathroom was stinky. Toilet tissues near the WC were not assembled in the tissue holder. AC in the room was not working properly. Also Wi-Fi signal in the room was very poor. One of the bulbs in the room was not glowing. There was no instruction manual for using electronic equipments. There was no instruction manual for operating AC. TV was not connected to DVD player and it was mentioned no where how to connect TV and DVD player. There was no manual for how to operate a washing machine. 4. In Hotel Restaurant : About restaurant, the service of food was very slow. Staff didnt have enough knowledge about food and wine. Service staff couldnt even explain to guest what were the ingredients in dishes, like what kind of sauces served with pork or beef? Even staff didnt know that which wine goes with specific dishes e.g.: red wine goes with red meat. Management had changed the menu staff was not briefed properly. There was no sufficient place between two table, making it uncomfortable for people to move to and from the aisles. Cutlery which was used on table which was not polished. Also table cloths on the table, were having food stains mark. Staff used to speak their native languages loudly standing behind the counters. Also there was loud sound of glasses, cutlery coming from service area behind. It seemed like they were not able to make proper atmosphere in restaurant. Restaurant Manager was very rude while handling guest complaints. 5. About Hotel Infrastructure: Infrastructure of the restaurant was one of the important problems of this hotel. Hotel is having 2 floor restaurants. Upstairs floor having lake view balcony. So guest will prefer to sit upstairs. But its very difficult for staff to give proper service to guest. Also bar is not situated near restaurant, so that each and every time they have to go to bar to take drinks for guest. HYPOTHESIS: Hypothesis can be defined as observable phenomena or experimental observation. It guides the direction of research. If it seriously conducted, it helps to know what shall be done and what shouldnt. Co relational Hypothesis: Co relational hypothesis occurs together in some specified manner without implying that one cause another. In this case management is independent and all staff, machinery, rooms, services etc are dependent. According to the Hypothesis and my observation the results which I found are: Hotel staff is not maintaining proper grooming standards like hair cut, wearing jewellery etc. Front office staff is not much capable to handle guest. Also not having enough experience to handle situation. Food service very slow in restaurant, because of that guest has to wait long for every course. Also staff not having enough knowledge about food and wine. Staff attitude towards guest is not good. Manager behavior towards guest as well as staff is very rude. Quantity of food is less Hotel rooms are not clean properly, when I entered in room, that time I saw that dusting in room not done properly. Direction signs are not accurate Infrastructure of the restaurant, some of the facilities in the hotel are not working properly. Casual staff is working , most of the all department,. Actually management get casual staff on more cheaper rate who are not trained. CASE STUDY: A case study at the Front desk: NANCY SWANGER, Morgan Black appointed as researcher by corporate office. The Coug Inn is a 150 rooms full serviced property with several medium sized banquets. it caters mostly to business travelers and visitors affiliated to local university. Hotel is very busy between august and may, with periods classes are not in session being extremely slow. Occupancy has been declining for the last year or so. Since arriving at The Coug Inn, Morgan made several observations about hotel situation. It seems that most of the problem with front desk. After reviewing comments card from last month, Morgan has sensed real dissatisfaction with the check-in process. Paper work at check in is perceived as lengthy and hard to fill out. Guest has been checked into rooms that were not clean. After discussing problem with front office manager, front office manager complaints that reservation staff does not always submit the days reservation to the front desk in a timely manner. So when guest arrive, desk further with over 65 % of the hotel staff speaking first language other than English. So communication is difficult. Front office manager further told that, the new hotel in town, the suit to sleep inn. Has an earlier checked in time and it seems to work ok for them. Morgan asks front office manager how the staff might respond to moving to a fully automated property management system. The respond was not favorable. Also corporate office had not put any money into the place in years. In attempt to reach a compromise, Morgan considers changing the check-in time in exchange for the front desk managers support of the conversation to an automated system. What must Morgan take into consideration before final decisions are made to adjust checked in time and install fully automated property management system? How should Morgan proceed in resolving the communication issue? Who needs to be involved in the final decisions? How might Morgan present the case to the corporate office? (Hotel Management and Operation By Michael J. Ofallon, Denney G. Rutherford, Page no:162) RESEARCH METHOD USED TO RESOLVE PROBLEM: Research: After reviewing the assessment form, I would like to use Evaluation Research. This will help hotel to get profit. There are three types of research: Descriptive Is finding out describing what it is Explanatory Explaining why or how things are there. Evaluation In process of Evaluation research participant contribution plays important role. Participant contribution term means manager should specify their problem provide the researcher adequate background information relating to them. As manager explained the entire situation about hotel. As manager told, all problem which hotel is facing, needs to be solved as soon as possible. There are many problems with service, kitchen as well as infrastructure. Actualy all these problems are related to each other. DATA COLLECTION: The main step in Evaluation Process is Data Collection. Data Collection identify issues from the people directly involved in the program identify further issues from the programmed documents, observing how the program is actually working. Through manager, I got assessment forms, Restaurant Bar comment card given by guest, also appraisal form which is filled by employees. To solve these problems, we need to evaluate current employees to determine their productivity, job satisfaction and commitment. DIFFERENT RESEARCH METHODS USED TO REACH THE CORE OF PROBLEM: SELF APPRAISAL QUESTIONNAIRE: Employee Name: Department: Position: Start Date: How do you feel about the work environment at Chevin Park Hotel? How do you enjoy most about your position? What do you feel about strongest work areas? In what area do you feel you have made improvements or changes? In what areas would you like more training or more work experience? What are your goals for next years? COMMENTS: Thank you. Guest Comment Card: Chevin Country Park Hotel Spa Chevin country park hotel spa really care about what you think. Sending feedback help us to provide you better level of service on your next visit with us. Please feel free to to comment on our site, our hotel or any other matter on your mind. Rate us: Excellent Good Average Fair Poor Physical appearance of the hotel Check in process Cleanliness of hotel Quality of food Your overall experience Better: Is there an area where you think we could do a better job? Employee: Did you particular hotel employee make your stay with us especially enjoyable? Comments: Additional comments you wish to makeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Thank you. CASE STUDY: SAMOUELS GREEK CUISINE RESTAURANT; Samouels Greek Cuisine Restaurant is located in London. Phil Samouel, owner of the Samouels Greek Cuisine Restaurant, believes his profit are not as high as they could be. He wants to increase sale. He wants to attract new customer. He also wants to ensure that restaurant running smoothly. Phil Samouel is new to this business. So he decided to hire restaurant consultant. He contacted Ad mark International, ask them to conduct a preliminary assessment of his restaurant operations and prepare research proposal for him to review. After discussions with Phil Samouel and several of his employees, the account manager from the research firm conclude that the primary questions facing samouels restaurant are: Are employees being managed to maximize their productivity as well as commitment to the success of the restaurant? What are the different way to attract new customer? These are the two separate issues but they are related to each other. First project will evaluate current employees to determine their productivity, job satisfaction and commitment. Second project evaluate the survey of customer. The employee assessment project: How do employees feel about work environment? How committed are the employees to helping make the restaurant success? Do different group of employees have different feeling about working at samouels? Customer assessment project: What is the level of satisfaction of samouels customer? What factors contribute to restaurant customer satisfaction? Do customers rate Ginos more favorably than they do samouels? ( name of the book ) Solution: For rooms: There should be either permanent staff or contract staff for cleaning the rooms , proper cleaning equipment like vacuumed cleaner, glass wiper, all solutions etc. should be purchased to make cleaning easier and faster. A supervisor should supervise the rooms. The towels and mattresses , bedspreads in the rooms should be properly cleaned and dried. Laundry should take this responsibility. Maintenance persons, at least 2 should be hired as permanent staff for emergencies which will also save money of management to look after all the electronic equipments in the hotel. Staff should be given training before actual service briefing should be done by manager with the staff so the staff is aware of daily specials, soup of the day availabilities of the dishes from the menu. Restaurant: The staff should be given the training related to food and beverage prior to attending guests. Staff should be given training, for meeting greeting guests as per hotel standards laid by new management. Manager should have an idea of handling all the problems that may happen in the hotel. Fast and proper service should be given to the guests. Staff should be given knowledge about what are the ingredients of the served dish. Staff should be given training based on type of wine and the dish with which it can be served. The tables should be arranged properly prior to the party or the event organized. There should be proper spacing between the tables so that waiter can move freely for serving. The plates and cutlery should be properly cleaned and polished. A plate polished should be arranged by the hotel. Table clothes on the table should be cleaned, and the responsibility has to be taken by laundry team. They should ensure that there are no stain marks on the table clothes. Staff should use only English while in the hotel, conversation in native language should not be allowed, as it is confusing for the guests of the hotel. About Staff : There should be either permanent staff or contract staff for cleaning the rooms Staff should be provided proper training prior to joining job. At Reception desk: This is the most import place in hotel as all the guests are received at Reception. Flowers at the reception should be fresh and placed properly. Floor should be cleaned regularly. If there are more than two telephones at the desk, more than one person should be available at desk to attend the calls. A personnel should be appointed for handling only guest complaints, and should be handled carefully. Bell boy should be available at the reception to carry guests luggage. About Hotel Infrastructure: Infrastructure of the hotel is the major part affecting the service of the hotel. So infrastructure should be designed properly to meet the requirements. Bar should be situated near the restaurant, so that it will be easy to provide proper service to the guests. Infrastructure of the hotel is the major part affecting the service of the hotel. So infrastructure should be designed properly to meet the requirements. (FLOOR PLAN FOR RESTAURANT / BAR/ RECEPTION) As per shown in diagram, Restaurant is situated on lake. Bar is situated behind the Reception. Thats why distance between restaurant and bar is too long. So every time service staff has to walk through it. Also if you go from service area then also it takes time. Thats why guest are keep complaining about service, slow service. If you see in diagram, lounge is situated exactly besides of the restaurant on lake. If we make setup of bar in Lounge, and Lounge will goes instead of Bar. This will save lots of time, also because of this it will look nice. So guest can go themselves on Bar and have their drinks. That will useful for guest as well as staff. If management ready to change infrastructure, this will be the important change, which need to be done. Surely this will help to improve service quality. Cleanliness: Proper Cleanliness should be maintained. All the used utensils should be cleaned at the end of the day so that it can be used next day. Oven should be cleaned regularly so that it is free from any odor. Gas stove should be cleaned regularly so that there are no stain marks on it. planning : All the events should be planned properly so that there are no confusions at any events. All the tables should be arranged properly in the night, so that in the morning there wont be any wastage of time in arranging the table. Training: The staff should be given proper Behavioral Training so that they should know how to handle guests. The staff who is working in service section of restaurant should be given proper training on serving and should be given knowledge on ingredients of the dishes served. The staff should be given Meetings: Meetings for staff should be arranged regularly by manager so as to discuss the goals to be achieved and should also discuss what technique should be used for the same. Meetings should be arranged on daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. All the problems faced by staff should be discussed in these meetings. Feedbacks: There should be a personnel appointed for handling feedbacks given by guest. Proper measures should be taken to work on it. It should be discussed regularly with manager so that the areas where hotel need to be improved is highlighted. Manager Behavior: Manager should be experienced, should know how to handle all the situations that a hotel may face. He should be trained properly so that he can handle annoyed guests. He should offer some complimentary service to guests in case of any mistakes committed by hotel unknowingly. Advanced Equipment / Machinery: Hotel should buy advanced equipment in case of necessity so as to make all the processes fast. For example : Hotel should buy an automatic dish cleaners so as to make dish cleaning faster and effective. Hotel should buy number of vaccum cleaner so that cleaning of dust is an fast an easy procedure. Dish polisher should be bought to polish dish. Floor cleaning machinery should be bought to make floor cleaning faster. In laundry, no of washing machines should be present so that bed spreads, mattress and table covers should be washed regularly and kept clean. Driers should be available so that all the table covers and other clothes are dried and can be used for next day. Technical Problems: For handling technical problem a technical team should be hired. For example: To handle problems related to bulb, tube light fitting, a electrician should be available for hotel. To handle problems related to network, LAN, wi-fi, internet connection a technical personnel should be hired. 3. To handle defects in washing machine, oven, geyser, lifts, fans, TV, dvd players a technical team should be there. Supervision: A supervisory team should be assigned to do following things: To supervise room cleanliness. To supervise floor cleanliness. To supervise whether electronic equipments are working properly. To supervise whether cleanliness is maintained at kitchen. CONCLUSION As elaborated above, if the mentioned policies are implemented by the hotel management, the expected result would be: 1. Increase in staff skills 2. Rise in customer satisfaction 3. Rise in employee satisfaction 4. Increase in hotel profit 5. Improve in hotel standard The mentioned policies would help hotel to maintain its position in this competitive world of business and would help hotel to grow at a faster rate, improving its market standards and market values. This would even help hotel and its employees to be at a stronger position even when market is down. Would help them to handle all the situations that would be beneficiary for the organization.