Class Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Class Discussion - Essay Example There is no other better way that could explain of economic globalization that this. According to Mittelman (53), globalization goes through macroregionalism supported by economic and states forces that seek to open larger markets as a way towards greater competitiveness. This is certainly true. Others have referred to the process of continental globalization in line with North America indicating that regionalism is the force through which globalization is conveyed (Scholte 7). Likewise, Mittelman’s analysis points to the emergence of global regions as the key factor leading to globalization. Take Europe for instance. The continent houses a majority of the world’s economic giants because of its regionalism policy advocated by the European Court for Human Rights. This body advocates for a ‘Social Europe’, the proposal of a federalist post-national Europe, which a majority of European nations have embraced, (Scholte 7). In these, the countries see the likelih ood of a non-neoliberal, progressive regional system of authority in which the freeing of the markets for capital, goods, and labor occurs in the context of a rights-based, progressive, social system. These regional financial arrangements are rather different and range from foreign exchange reserve pooling and government financing to currency swap arrangements. What is widespread to all these schemes, in spite of their intrinsic variety, is that they all wish to promote regional integration along with financial and macroeconomic stability. Even though, there is a considerable stream of academic contributions on economic regionalism, people’s understanding of financial regionalism is fairly limited, despite its potentially wide-ranging effects in shaping the global financial structures (Veseth 40). Take for instance a continent like Europe, where the newly projected European Stability Mechanism is projected to be a legal tender union lending arrangement to offer direct assista nce to countries in Europe and other regions. In Europe, just after the Second World War, the interdependence of the continent’s economies led to the formation of the European Payments Union, a forerunner of a much advanced framework, which culminated with the creations of the currency union in 1999. The organizations have been able to influence globalization all through Europe (Scholte 7). Latin America, on the other hand, boasts the oldest, even though less renowned tradition of regional assimilation efforts among the developing nations. These economic relations, in South America, also go as far back as the 50s. Hoping to produce a regional common market for countries in South America, lawmakers, in the region, have succeeded in setting up clearing arrangements for intraregional expenses, FLAR and two development banks. FLAR refers to a small and cozy membership of seven small, as well as medium-sized, economies with strong traditional ties. They also portray a wide set of common interests (Veseth 50). In reality, FLAR offers a direct proof to the potential of regional associations to offer greater ownership to member countries that would otherwise put a lot of efforts to be heard in the international, 188-member IMF. The search for alternative futures for the region, in the Americas, in many ways, reflects the talks taking place within the broader "anti-globalization" movement. They perceive

Alexander the great Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Alexander the great - Assignment Example Within his lifetime as king of Macedonia, Alexander the Great was the one person who was able to build and reign over among the greatest empires and kingdoms in the history of mankind. He was only a young man of when he inherited his father’s kingdom, yet he became greater than many of the kings and emperors combined. â€Å"Thus, at the age of twenty Alexander inherited the kingdom of Macedonia, beset as it was by great jealousy, bitter hatred, and dangers on every side. (Freeman 39) Although immediately faced with troubles from every aspect, he was able to, at a young age, rule his kingdom wisely, powerfully and effectively. The size of his empire is evidence enough to prove that Alexander indeed was a force of greatness and good, yet his character also provides proof of his genius, intelligence and powerful command over his subjects. He had the great capacity and skill to gather power and overthrow a much stronger force. This strength and intelligence was greatly influenced by the teachings of Aristotle that prepared him to become the great king that he was. â€Å"To those who lived to see Alexander in Asia, this event foreshadowed many occasions on which his independence, intelligence and courage brought triumph after triumph.† (Hammond 146) Aside from the massive empire that Alexander ruled before he even reached the age of 33, he was also the catalyst of the conglomeration of the Greek culture and the other cultures in other nations such as Persian, Indian, and Egyptian cultures. This conglomeration of different cultures is known as the Hellenistic culture. During the Hellenistic Period, there was an outpouring of developments in the arts including literature, sculpture, architecture, music, theater and stage play. It also encompassed advancements in science, astrology, cosmology and mathematics. This era also underwent a time of heterogeneity. In place of considering and

Wall-Mart Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Wall-Mart - Case Study Example Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart are the top retailers in the present American market. Each of them is having more than 1000 stores. Wal-Mart is the king of the ring. It's the number one retailer in United States of America. Target is slowly moving closer to Wal-Mart and has become a tough competitor to Wal-Mart. Kmart has a long history; recently it is trying to emerge from bankruptcy reorganization. Kmart is slowly losing its customers to Wal-Mart. Their strategies include low price and highly qualified customer care service. This factor played an important role in the long-term development of the Hotel. The cheaper prices with high quality service and further free goodies attracted many. Another factor is the customer service. Customer plays an important role in the development of the company because it is the customer who uses the product that was developed by the companies was good at it. Before being bankrupted Kmart was the second best retailer after Wal-Mart. Both companies used different strategies to outsmart each other. They tried different strategies to woo the customers. After coming out from bankruptcy Kmart found that it has lost most of the customers to Wal-Mart and other retailers like Target. Its total net profit also declined considerably. Target took this opportunity to its full advantage and started aggressive campaigning. Though the think tank of Target knew that most of Kmart's customers would go to Wal-Mart rather than coming to Target's stores, they started slashing the prices of the products and announced heavy discounts on them. They used innovative ideas to woo the customers. To maintain its top position Wal-Mart used to slash the rates so that when customers come to purchase the items would buy other products also. These items were termed as loss leaders. Most of the middle class families are Wal-Mart's customers. Target aimed at upper middle class. Because of this stiff competition between Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, Costco, etc., customer has wide range of choices to choose. Customer can buy products at discount rates. The companies are employing every possible method to woo the customers to their stores. Due to the bankruptcy Kmart lost its most of the investors to other retailing companies. The company that largely profited by this was Wal-Mart that was so much preoccupied of defeating Kmart. Most of the investors purchase bonds. A bond is nothing but a promissory note that the company would repay the sum over a certain period at a certain interest rate. Bonds are also called as debentures. If the company is in trouble and has to be dissolved, bondholders must be paid in full before paying the stockholders.Experts advise the investors to buy both Wal-Mart and Target stock. Both the companies had seen upswing of their net profit in the recent past. In the present market everything sells by brand names, the marketers are expected to put up good brand name products for sale. The purchaser desires to have or own a good brand name product and material with good quality at reasonable and cheaper rate. If the marketers were able to meet this demand of people of the society, definitely there would be a souring business for their product. Wal-Mart from its good service,

Information Technology Enhanced Management of Schools Dissertation

Information Technology Enhanced Management of Schools - Dissertation Example What is necessary to overcome the aforementioned obstacle may be roundtable discussions at many of the nation’s schools, where committee members meet to identify and discuss the issues at hand. Among things to consider is what is and what is not doable at the hands of a particular school, a definition of what it means to be productive in an academic sense, and a definition of how information technology may enhance that definition (Massy and Zemsky, 2008). â€Å"First, the demand for IT-based teaching and learning programs will grow substantially, probably exponentially, over the next decade. In an economy that is itself increasingly knowledge-based, the new information technologies offer an economical means of providing the continuous education the U.S. now requires as well as a more readily accessible form of post-secondary education and credentialing. Second, IT will change teaching and learning profoundly, no matter what the response of traditional higher education institutions. Just as the development of the printing press forever changed the teaching enterprise, IT represents a fundamental change in the basic technology of teaching and learning† (Massy and Zemsky, 2008, pg. 1). Information technology itself offers a large amount of potential, but it requires a fundamental shift in the way institutions operate. It is essential, then, that those who wish to implement information technology within an institution understand what changes must take place on levels that are practical to that institution. The first step is to take a look at the pros and cons of the integration of information technology into a school, including both administrative and teaching processes. Then, any barriers the school may face when integrating that technology must be considered on both an internal and external level (Massy and Zemsky, 2008; Armstrong, 2007; and Estabrooks, 1995). Schools across the nation are encountering many difficulties when they attempt to adopt a variety of new technologies. First of all, should information technology comprise the primary means of teaching students in today's elementary schools Second, should entire school systems be technologically enhanced Third, how is all of this going to be paid for (Kumpulainen and Wray, 2002 and Olson, Malone,

McDonalds Marketing Strategy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

McDonalds Marketing Strategy - Case Study Example Shifting lifestyles, aging population and healthy food consumption trends hamper industry growth. Despite McDonald's many successes and long-standing position as a global industry leader, the golden arches are showing evidence of tarnish. Over the last years the company has shown signs of failure to identify with its customers and this has lead to retarded growth and unmet expectations. In this paper I will examine in greater detail latest industry trends and I will critically evaluate McDonald's marketing strategy. The final part of the paper discusses strategic alternatives and suggested strategies for McDonald's Corporation. The fast food market is dynamic and growing, it amounts to $99.6 billion and is expected to grow by 15% by 2009 (Datamonitor, Global Fast Food, 2005). To the west growth has been driven by changing consumer lifestyles. The restaurants segment benefits from the reduction of leisure time, accompanied by increasing trends away from preparing food at home (Datamonitor, Global Restaurants, 2005). The growth in the Far Eastern countries, on the other hand, is fuelled by growing population, economic development and rising purchasing power of local population (Datamonitor, Foodservice China, 2005). Still, the bright future of the fast food sector is not secur... The growth in the Far Eastern countries, on the other hand, is fuelled by growing population, economic development and rising purchasing power of local population (Datamonitor, Foodservice China, 2005). Still, the bright future of the fast food sector is not secured and it's again consumer trends that hamper its development. Aging population in US and Europe tends to favour more sophisticated food and service offers to fast-food restaurants (Datamonitor, Global Restaurants, 2005). A major threat to the fast-food industry is the trend towards healthy food that shifts consumption away from fast food market. Intense competition among fast food retailers has forced major chains to focus on value chain efficiencies in order to improve profits (Datamonitor, Global Restaurants, 2005). Additionally, local markets have put high legal and market-driven entry barriers for international retailers (Ball et al, 2005). Customer analysis All in all, the McDonald's fast food offer is attractive to people from all age groups. The company specifically targets children and middle-class households that are less demanding in their choice for sophisticated product offer. Rising incomes in developing markets make the McDonald's offer more feasible and better accepted even in places where the company has been regarded as rather expensive, one example is India. The American identity of fast food products in Japan and other countries in the Far East enhances their image. According to a survey by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, 50 % of teenagers prefer Western foods to traditional dishes. As a result, American companies in Japan account for half the business (Ball et

Chain and Gear Business Expansion Plan 2014 Essay

Chain and Gear Business Expansion Plan 2014 - Essay Example The expansion will include the development of an e-commerce website to increase sells and customer service, development of five new products. The services we currently offer are limited to Used bikes. The new products are new bikes (hybrid and Mountain) from various suppliers, cycling nutrition products such as energy drinks, body armor and Pads from Dainese and finally, accessories and spares. Servicing and maintenance will be offered free for all bikes bought at the shop for a period of 3months from the date of purchase. We expect a gross Margin of 46% on the new products and an expected 40% net margin. The Break-even point is estimated at 710 units. With the changing weather patterns in the UK, sales are expected to be at peak levels in the summer months. Tour De France’s influence on cycling will be important with many communities organizing small events. Chain and Gear will optimize these events to promote its products and increase revenue. The annual expected revenue for 2014 is approximately  £1.7 million, supported by high sales of nutritional products and body armor and pads. Chain and Gear is a sole-proprietorship operating in London’s High Streets of Fulham Road in Chelsea. The company has been in operation for one year and with the increased demand in bicycles, it intends to expand its operations from a small used bikes shop to a high-end value brand with over  £1 Million turnovers annually. This expansion will see an introduction of five new products and a capital injection of about  £70,000. The total cash requirements for the business expansion will be  £84,000. With a capital injection of  £70,000 and credit facility of 60% of start-up inventory, the business will have sufficient cash flow to start.The intended will be funded by a loan of  £60,000 sourced from banks and a  £10,000 cash injection from the owner.  

Primus Sales Force Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Primus Sales Force Case Study - Essay Example ases, the participant might not have received enough correct communication from their supervisor, colleagues or even their customers; however, one is left with the overarching question of what constitutes the right amount of communication. The question did not perform what the result indicated. The consequence was that participants had no idea what they were being ranked by or because misled by phony or inaccurate contents of the question. Otherwise, the question did not give enough information to define the alignment of correct versus incorrect. Due to the fact that different people would have their own judgment or personal value to treat similar issues, without a proper and well-explained definition about the right amount as the standard, every participant would make their own definition to consider about the right amount for them. As a result, the incorrect feedback only wasted valuable time and created corresponding costs. This ultimately led to the failure of the survey. Accordi ng to Baldwin & Garvey, â€Å"The essential information necessary to obtain a correct solution in these subtasks was comprised of four attributes. The communications were scored according to the presence of explicit encoding of this information† (1973, p. 44). If participants could not encode the information clearly, they did not get the correct information they should get. Hence they could not give the correct feedback from the survey questions. From the survey questions, the main focus was with regards to the attitudes that the respondents had. By seeking to engage this metric, the researchers were mostly interested in measuring the impact on attitudes and behaviors that were reflected on the employees after the survey questions. For example, a level of useful information for the sales work from company magazines and intranet portals was provided a level of importance as compared to the communication for the employees’ sales and level of satisfaction from communication within