International assignment training for Pakistan Term Paper

International assignment training for Pakistan - Term Paper Example It is not difficult to distinguish between the people of Pakistan from a large number of Americans. The reason is their different and unique cultures. Pakistani people have distinguishing dressing patterns, living style and traditions which are not present in the American culture. Pakistan is one of the biggest Islamic countries and hence, Islamic teachings are reflected in every way of their life (Abbott, 1968). In Pakistan, male children are given priority over the females. This discrimination among the children covers a vast area of their lives. Male members are given priority when it comes to the availability of education, financial support, dressing and entertainment stuff (like toys, games, Computers, cell phones etc.), food etc. Brothers, fathers and husbands are normally considered as the head of their families. Head of the family takes all important decisions about the house and lives of the family members. Pakistani children are taught to respect their elders and women are strictly directed to follow the decisions and respect the opinions of the head of their families. Religious strictness forces the Pakistani women to stay out of sight of male counterparts of the society (Bano, 1994). Men are supposed to help their families financially. They are given proper guidance since their childhood about their responsibilities to the family. It can be said that when Pakistani children grow up they are fully aware of the fact that it is their duty to support their family financially and morally. However, on the other hand, American people face less or no discrimination on the basis of gender as Shelly’s Frankenstein suggests in the portrayal of the monster’s desire to have an opposite sex companion. Children are given proper education, food, opportunities to grow confidence and are provided with the sense of independence. They are taught to distinguish between rights and wrongs of the society. Females are not forced to adopt and accept the decisio ns of their male counterparts. As they grow up and enter their teenage life, they start feeling and using their independence. However, they may misuse this freedom by adopting negative attitudes of the society. American teenagers are more likely to involve in alcohol misuse, drug addiction, smoking etc. Youngsters drink alcoholic beverages for fun and fashion purposes but afterward they get addicted to it. The exposure of alcohol and drinking to youngsters and young adults is evident in their literature as Hamlet’s refusal to kill his step father suggests when he was praying. His revenge wanted him to kill his father’s murderer when he was busy in negative or prohibited activities like drinking, sexual relationships and so on. These habits change their attitudes towards their family, friends, studies and responsibilities. They create a severe risk to their lives and future. However, once they enter their adulthood, normally they are not answerable to their elders unlik e Pakistanis. However, it always depends on the way they are brought up. There are no restrictions on the American women to keep themselves away or hidden from the male counterparts of the society. They have equal rights to employment, education, health facilities and career selection. American culture and laws are strict against

Financial Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Financial Management - Assignment Example The merger will help reduce the cost of production of coffee, which is the main reason why the Burger King Company lagged behind in the industry. To illustrate further on this synergy, the BKW has found an already established partner in the field of coffee, which is a vital breakfast menu in America. The Burger King Company does not need to establish its own coffee brand from scratch since it now has a partner in that field. The partner already enjoys economic of sale from the massive client base it serves thus transferring the same to Burger King Worldwide. The merger will help BKW develop and strengthen the brand appeal to compete with McDonalds McCafe. The merger presents an opportunity for BKW to benefit from additional resources from Canada. This is because Tim Hortons highly dominates Canada’s market share of baked goods (with more than 70%) in comparison to other American companies. Tim Hortons also has 75% of the coffee market, which is much more than the combined mark et shares of Starbucks and McDonalds in Canada. Burger King can take advantage of Tim Hortons lead and use it to enhance its dominance in the country. Looking deeper into growth and Revenue enhancement, the merger presents better opportunities for expansion. Having recorded annual sales of at least 3 billion dollars last year, Tim Hortons enjoys an impressive growth rate and steady margins. On the other hand, Burger King has kept on struggling against domestic companies, despite its major presence of in the country. The company is more likely to experience growth by venturing outside the U.S. In terms of revenue enhancement, the merger will enable tax inversion, thus allowing Burger King to enjoy lower corporate tax in Canada. Tim Hortons enjoys a 15% federal tax rate and a 11.5% corporate tax rate in Ontario. These rates in Canada are significantly lower that the tax rates in America. A combined tax rate of 26.5%

Computer-aided learning within education

Computer-aided learning within education CAL stand for Computer Aided Learning and in many cases referred to as Computer Aided Instruction as well [Bachman, 1998]. An in depth review of the literature suggests that there is no concrete definition of CAL as such. Many researchers have explained what can be achieved by CAL and how it can be done but no one has really tried to define CAL. Computer Aided Learning in simple terms can be described as an aid or assistance towards the learning process using a computer. It is very important to note here that we are using the word aid. Here aid is important because while using computers in the learning process no attempt is being made to replace the teacher or lecturer and the computer is used as an aid only. Computer aided Learning has been promoted in a number of ways for teaching and learning purpose. Some of these include Problem Based Learning [Schor et al, 1995], teaching basic anatomy [Stanford et al, 1994], supplementing lectures and tutorials [Shannon, 1990] etc. It is important to note that CAL should not be considered as a single program or application that fulfils a certain task as desired by the user. CAL can be a single or series of programs or application which acts as an aid to the overall learning process. Historically, it was in the early fifties during the last century that human beings used any kind of electronic device to perform a mathematical calculation. As soon as this was realized a series of developments took place and soon the computer came into being. People realized the immense potential computers had and started to use it in almost every field. Researchers openly stated that the use of computer for educational purpose would change the face of education in a very short span of time. Schittek (2001) points out that it was not until august 1981, when IBM presented the microcomputer IBM PC (personal computer) that the use of computers for educational purpose started to develop. Researchers like Papert (1994) then suggested the use of classroom computers and abandon the worksheet curriculum. As a common belief the researchers in favor of CAL believed that computer had the potential to stimulate and support various educational goals. The crucial question at that time and even n ow is that which goal/s should be selected? It was very important to select the goals appropriately as the choices made would have an immense effect on the childrens minds, their learning styles and on the education process overall. The educational goals that could be achieved using computers 20 years back were limited due to technological barriers. With an exponential growth in technological breakthroughs and growing experience in using these computers for education the statements made during the last quarter of the 19th century makes a lot of sense now. Technology is no more a barrier today and it is up to the academicians to use it appropriately to meet the desired educational goals.There were many detractors for the use of computers in education as well. One of the primary reservations was the concept that computers will eventually replace the traditional teacher or lecturer. Other reasons include the reluctance to change their mindset to accommodate something new in the curricu lum. These researchers felt that computers were a challenge to the existent educational practices at the intellectual, social, economic and pragmatic levels and hence favored the traditional methods over the use of computers. The supporters of CAL argue that we never questioned the fact that blackboard or books will replace the teacher then why are we so opposed to the use of computers in education? Even today these groups of people are outnumbered by the detractors and are continuing their effort to justify the numerous advantages that computers can bring in to the educational curriculum. This is even more evident from the fact that there are today a number of CAL programs available on the market, However it seems that the development of CAL is based on the work of very few individuals rather than being a part of the facultys ICT strategies [Plasschaert et al, 1995] 1. Game-based learning: Generally, games satisfy the basic requirements of learning environments identified by Norman (1993) and can provide an engaging environment for learning. Games should provide possibilities for reflectively exploring phenomena, testing hypotheses and constructing objects.2. Computer simulations: Grimes et al.(1988) studied the effects of a textbook-based software package in two classes of the Introductory Macroeconomics course. Their results indicate no statistically significant difference in learning between the experimental (software users) and control (non-users) groups. Finally, Grimes and Wiley (1990) conducted an experiment using a textbook-based simulation package in the Introductory Macroeconomics course. Their results indicate a statistically significant difference in overall attitude and performance between students who did and did not use the simulation software.3. Animations: One particularly promising capability of computer based learning is the a bility to integrate animation as part of instruction. Authoring application programs have made animation readily accessible to any educator who has the patience to learn how to use the application (Sturman, 1998).Some other forms of Computer based instruction include Virtual Seminars/ Video conferencing, Drill and Practice and Problem Solving. The role of CAL in education is recognized and appreciated by more and more people as time passes by. CAL has taken several forms depending on the available technology available as described earlier. Hence its role in education has also varied over time. In its infancy CAL was used as a knowledge bank of questions and the students could self-assess themselves. Apart from this other computer related activities were not really adding to the learning process of the students. With the advent of multimedia the role of CAL was extended and it was used to display simulations and animations to the students which were otherwise not possible for the students too see in real-time. This was seen as one of the most important reason to include computers in the classroom lecture as far as the teachers were concerned. Apart from this the teachers and the lecturers are generally very reluctant to incorporate CAL due to several reasons as discussed by Heywood and Norman (1988). First of all they feel that the available software does not match their exact criteria to meet specific curriculum goals. Secondly it is very time consuming process for them to learn the technology first and then convert the existing material they have in CAL format. Heywood and Norman (1988) found that the second factor was not a result of added workload but was more due to the confidence in their own abilities in the use of the technology. This essentially means that while the government is actively promoting the use of CAL in the curriculum it should also lay the guideline on how to do it and train the educators in the first instance.There is little doubt about the growing importance of CAL in education as research shows that CAL can have positive influence on the student learning [Devitt and Palmer, 1998]. Devitt further added that providing study material in computer format can improve knowledge on the subject. Ideally the role of CAL in education lies in the hands of the academicians. The role that these Educators give to CAL will determine the limits of its achievement. What makes a successful CAL?Some of the main pedagogical and economical forces that have driven the push for universities and schools to adopt and incorporate computer aided learning include:Greater information access The World Wide Web has made it possible for people to access primary sources of information on demand. Mastery of this tool has become essential in order to gain access to an ever-growing body of recent and up-to-date knowledge available electronically.Greater Communication facilities Interaction between academic staff, colleagues and students can be structured and managed through electronic communications to provide greater access and flexibility (Bates 2000)The quality of teaching New technologies have gained much attention from academic staff as they perceive their use will lessen their problems of high workloads, increased student to teacher ratio and use of inexperienced staff to teach (Bates 2000). There is ample evidence that well designed multimedia software can be more effective than traditional classroom methods, where students are able to interact with the software and learn at their own pace. Integrated effectively into the classroom environment, ICTs can facilitate higher order thinking skills and develop new ways of learning (Barron Ivers, 1996; Bates, 2000)Asynchronous learning This initiative has enabled institutions to cater for a variety of students by removing the barriers of time and distance. Students who are normally geographically disadvantaged have access to a variety of resources not usually at their disposal (McNaught et al., 1999; Bates, 2000).Pedagogical Improvement and staff renewal Teaching staff are able to preset information using a variety of tools in order to better relate to the content to the concrete realities of a given field of study. Innovative hands-on learning experiences are also made possible for students through computer simulation software. Advantages of CALOne of the main advantages of Computer aided learning concerns the time, the place and the pace with which one can learn. A few more advantages of CAL identified by other researchers and authors are listed below:1. Provision of alternative teaching techniques. The computer can utilize a number of teaching methods and materials that may not be viable to use in a traditional setting. For example, a graphics display terminal using animated characters on a screen is a stimulating tool [Deaton, 1991].2. Individualized instruction. Learning is significantly more effective and efficient when instruction can be tailored to the unique needs of each learner. CAL enables students to go through specific lessons at their own pace [Semb et al, 1991].3. Ability to conduct simulations. In a national survey on the use of CAL in Dutch institutions of higher education, de Jong et al (1992) found that the most popular form of CAL was simulation. One of the reasons that simulation is so popular could be that it is the only type of CAL in which the program adds something to the curriculum that a teacher cannot offer.4. Providing instructions on demand. The computer can provide virtually unlimited accessibility to educational material. The computer’s availability is not constrained by the same factors that place a limit on a teacher’s time. Whereas a teacher is available only during specific hours, in a specific place, and usually for group lessons, a computer is available for use at all times and on an individual basis and in many places [Stern and Stern, 1983; Telfer and Probert, 1986].5. Flexibility is another reported strength of CAL (Petrides, 2002; Schrum, 2002). Petrides (2002) stated that participants reported it was easier to work in collaborative groups in an online course without rearranging everyones schedule as one might do in a traditional face-to-face course.In a study conducted by Coyner and McCann (2004), learners feedback on four cours es was taken and different advantages and challenges associated with learning and teaching online were noted. Computer-aided learning can be considered as a part of online learning. The acronym ACCOMMODATE signifies the advantages identified (Coyner and McCann, 2004).A Accessibility. Computer aided learning provides the students with access to the material 24 hours a day.C -Convenience. Students can work and study according to their own time schedule and their convenience.C Critical Thinking. Critical thinking techniques are enhanced as the students have the associated data and information available to them 24 hours a day.O Offers. Students are aware of all the components of the course and they can compare themselves with others.M Model. Future use can be enhanced with CAL.O Organization. Course can be organized much before the starting of the particular course.D Dependence. All the necessary resources are available to the students and sot he dependence on the teachers is decr eased.A Accountability. Any online course provides a lot of information about the users and so the students accountability can be checked easily.T- Technology. Students acquire good technological skills.E Encourages. Students can work in teams and it encourages more participation. Some people feel that if students spend the bulk of their time interacting with a terminal, rather than with people, they can lose touch with what others are doing and feel isolated and alienated [Telfer and Probert, 1986; Chambers and Sprecher, 1990]. Even though the costs of hardware and software have significantly decreased in the last few years, an extensive capital investment is still required for implementing and using CAL [Shlechter, 1991]. The results of several studies have shown that teachers lack time to get to know CAL programs [Cox et al, 1988], prepare and integrate CAL [DAmico, 1990], develop software, and set up or maintain equipment [Hammond et al, 1992]. Inadequate training of teachers has contributed to a lack of computer use. Training should not be about computer or technology alone but about how computers can help in teaching the subject matter [Brancum, 1992]. A survey conducted by Plomp et al (1990) revealed that the resistance of teachers against computers was a constraining factor to implementing CAL. Participants in Hara and Klings (1999) qualitative case study of a Web-based course at a major U.S. university reported lack of immediacy in getting responses back from the instructor, and as a result they felt frustrated. Recent studies indicate similar results. For example, in Vonderwells (2003) study, one reported disadvantage of an online course was the delay of immediate feedback from the instructor. Comparison of traditional learning skills and CAL skills What traditional classroom learning achieves: The teaching strategy that has been used for centuries is lecturing an expert telling the students what they should know. A teachers personal enthusiasm for a subject can be transmitted through non-verbal behaviors such as eye contact with students, voice projection, body language and story telling (Stephenson, 2001). The physical presence of the lecturer in the classroom creates a sense of responsibility to the students towards the subject and they can be provoked and stimulated by observing an expert teaching and demonstrating them. One of the major advantages of lectures is that the learners can get response to their queries there and then. While in Online learning this is not the case. Some studies have shown that students complain about the workload required by self-study in the Web-based instruction (Nachmias et al, 2000). What Computer-Aided Learning achieves Generally classroom teaching has a high teacher-to-learner ratio which leads to less interaction between teacher and learner. One to one relationship is emphasized more in Online learning than in classroom lectures. According to Tiffin Rajasingham (1995), the traditional classroom teaching means that besides organizing a place for learning, it is necessary to organize when teachers and learners meet and how they use their time. Typically, classroom instruction provides a set group of students with a set chunk of instruction on set sates for set period of time. Here one can visualize the importance of online learning by comparing the efficiency of this scenario with providing the information the individual learner wants, when the learner wants, at the pace the learner wants, for the length of time and with the frequency that suits the learner. In a study conducted at the University of Akron (Coyner McCann, 2004), several advantages of conductin g an online course were analyzed. According to their study, the learners can access the online course information at any time of the day and they can work at times/locations convenient to their lifestyle. They are no longer instructor dependent for information, resources and materials. Emphasis on threaded discussions, chats and forums encouraged learners to work together. According to a study on improving online learning (Song et al, 2004), participants reported that it was helpful not to have to travel to the campus. The ability to complete assignments and tasks at anytime was another reported strength. The benefits of CAL are many including cost-effectiveness, enhanced responsiveness to change, consistency, timely content, flexible accessibility, and providing customer value (Rosenberg, 2001). Most of the studies on the assessment of students attitudes towards online computer-aided instruction have concluded that such courses compare favorably with classroom-based instruction and enjoy high student satisfaction (Phipps Merisotis, 1999). Also some potential value can be added to online learning by providing the opportunity for guest experts from around the world to share and contribute to a class by posting excerpts of articles, statements and so on (Paulsen, 1995). According to a study conducted by Ross and Schulz (1999), it was concluded that computer aided instruction is not suitable for all learners. Studies show that some learners have difficulty adapting to computer aided learning. Hoffman and Water (1982) stated that computer aided learning is suited for individuals who have the ability to quietly concentrate, are able to pay attention to details and have an affinity to memorizing details. According to Gregorc (1985), a computer cannot represent a teacher who may be able to troubleshoot and modify the lesson according to the students needs. He adds that students who cannot meet the demands of the system are denied access to the content and goals and are vulnerable to possible psychological damage. Children can therefore become victims of a medium which is offensive to them. They are at the mercy of the machine. Also Regular lecture meetings provide structure to the working day, and some implicit information about the rate at which factual material can reasonably be covered and assimilated.Advocates of CAL claim it gives students control over when and where they learn and the pace of their learning (Smart, 1997; Adnanes Ronning, 1998). One of the main features of computer-aided Learning is its capacity to individualise instruction to meet the specific needs of the learner (Rasmussen and Davidson, 1996). According to a study conducted by Dewhurst et al (2000), Students moved more towards agreeing with the proposition that the Computer aided learning would allow them to work at their own pace, perhaps favouring their own particular learning style, and that it offered greater flexibility, enabling them to choose where and when they studied. CAL constitutes an appropriate and acceptable alternative to conventional classroom learning and the students having little previous practical experience with such learning and study approach can appropriate it readily.Whether CAL is better than traditional classroom learning is a d ebatable question. According to a study conducted by Tjaden and Martin (1995), it is important to get direction from and interact with an instructor for introductions to topics and question-answer periods. But some phases of the learning process could be carried out more efficiently, at least time wise, with the aid of a computer program, whether it be hypermedia, multimedia or simpler tutorials. Many studies have shown that many students retain a preference for a `mixed economy’ in which the CAL plays a part alongside more conventional approaches. This is called Blended Learning which is discussed in detail in the next section. A variety of teaching methods exist in this society, (lectures, audiotapes, purely online, a mixture of both online and traditional classroom teaching) and it may be possible that students choice of the best teaching method varies with their personality differences. In such a case, the teachers should use a variety of methods to cater for the differences between the students. This is not easy but it is one of the strong reasons of supporting a mixture of both computer-based and traditional classroom teaching. There is no doubt that the physical environment has a surprisingly powerful influence on teaching. But, sometimes, lectures are relatively ineffective to inspire interest in a subject and are relatively ineffective for personal and social adjustment (Bligh, 1998). Thus, it has given way to blended environment in which the large lecture theatres are equipped with networked computers through which vast range of digitized information can be accessed. Even online learning environmen t is just another physical environment with more complexity and with more use of technology. But learners are not able to accept this environment fully because apart from making possible some kinds of activities like one to one communication with many different people it also restricts some activities like spontaneous spoken conversation.At its simplest, blended learning is the integration of traditional classroom face-to-face teaching with online computer based teaching. At the same time, there is considerable complexity in its implementation with the challenge of virtually limitless design possibilities and applicability to so many contexts (Garrison Kanuka, 2004). Rosenberg (2001) emphasizes that people learn more effectively when they interact and are involved with other people participating in similar endeavors. CAL is powerful when both training and knowledge management are integrated, but even more powerful when integrated with classroom training in a learning architecture ( p. 117). He defines a learning architecture as the design, sequencing, and integration of all electronic and non-electronic components of learning to derive optimum improvement in competence and performance. Cross (2000) reports the learning process breaks down when untouched by human hands. CAL is not training by robot. Till now we have discussed about the existing technologies and its application related to CAL and how they are affecting or changing the process of education in general. In order to predict the future of CAL we need to look back at the past with two different view points, namely technological and educational. As far as technology is concerned, it is far ahead of the educational developments in terms of pedagogy. Today technology is talking in terms of virtual Universities and will soon be ready for deployment but development in educational policy to incorporate such technology is moving at a snails pace. There are many institutions that still use computers in education because they are supposed to do so as per the national curriculum. This by no means is of any help for the future of CAL and education in general. This can be primarily attributed to the difference of opinion that still exists between the educators in the use of CAL.The author of this report feels that technology is at a point where it can deliver most of the educational requirements but the problem lies in the educational process. Presently CAL is undergoing a transition from the acceptable state to the accepted state. In order to be referred as widely accepted and successful in the future, CAL has to be actively incorporated and effectively used in the curriculum to benefit and enhance the overall learning process. In February 2004, HEFCE (Higher Education funding Council for England) commissioned Glenaffric Ltd e-Learning consultants to undertake an initial analysis of the responses to consultation on the HEFCE (2004) e-learning strategy and produce a summary report. This report says: There is an overwhelming request for the strategy to emphasize blended learning approaches rather than wholly e-based learning, as this remains the most appropriate use of technology for learning in campus-based institutions. However, one response urges caution about the assumption that the currently fashionable term blended learning will be a long term concept of any value. There is still much debate about whether wholly computer aided learning will replace blended learning. Cross (2000) notes that the magic is in the mix but blended learning still has some aspects of traditional classroom learning which is often viewed as old fashioned, static and expensive to deliver.This research and discussion shows that not only is CAL of benefit to the students, but it can be used as a vital source of feedback to the lecturers if they are willing to accept it. Also CAL programs can be modified to provide greater assistance in the understanding of particular problems. CAL will definitely form an integral part of the education process in the future. Adnanes, M., Ronning, W. M. (1998). Computer-networks in education à  a better way to learn? J. Computer. Assisted Learning, 14, 148 157.Bachman, M. W. Lua, M. J. Clay, D. J. Rudney, J. D. (1998) Comparing traditional lecture vs. computer-based instruction for oral anatomy. J Dent Educ 1998: 8: 587-591.Barron, A., Ivers, K. (1996, June). An Internet Research Model. 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J., Three lessons I learned from a year of computer-based instruction. J. Comput.-based Instruct. 17, 103 109 (1990).de Jong T. et al., Computer-assisted learning in higher education in the Netherlands: a review of findings. Computers Educ. 19, 381-386 (1992).Deaton W. L. CBT and high education: issues, barriers and solutions. In Problems and Promises of Computer-based Training (Edited by Shlechter T. M.), pp. 215-231. Ablex, Norwood, N.J. (1991).Dewhurst, D. G., H. A. Macleod and T. A. M. Norris (2000). Independent student learning aided by computers: an acceptable alternative to lectures? Computers Education 35(3): 223-241.Gregorc, A. (1985). Inside Styles Beyond the Basics. Columbia, CT: Gregorc Associates.Grimes P. W., Krehbiel T. L. and Ray M. A., Microcomputer tutorials and student learning in the principles of economics course: an empirical experiment. Coffegiarr Microcompurer 6, 247-252 (1988).Grimes P. W. and Wiley T. E., The effectiveness of microcomputer simulations in the principles of economics course.Computers Educ. 14, 81-86 (1990).Hammond et al., Blocks to the effective use of information technology in higher education. Computers Edue. lg, 155-162 (1992).Hara, N., Kling, R. (1999). Students frustrations with a web-based distance education course. First Monday, 4(12). http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue4_12/index.htmlHara, N., Kling, R. (2000). Students distress with a web-based distance education course. Information, Communication Society 3(4): 557-579. [Online]Available at: http://www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/WP/wp00-01B.htmlHeywood, G. Norman, P. (1988) Problems of educational innovation: the primary teachers respo nse to using microcomputers, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 4, pp. 34-43Hoffman, J. L., Waters, K.(1982).Some effects of student personality on success with computer-assisted instruction.Educational Technology, 22(3),20-21.Nachmias, R., Mioduser, D., Oren, A., Ram, J. (2000). Web-supported emergent collaboration in higher education courses. Educational Technology and Society, 3(3), 94-104.Norman, D. A. (1993). Things that make us smart: Defending human attributes in the age of the machine. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.Papert, S. (1994) The Childrens Machine: rethinking school in the age of the computer. London: Harvester WheatsheafPaulsen, M. F., (1995). The online report on pedagogical techniques for computer-mediated communication. Available at: http://www.hs.nki.no/~morten/cmcped.htm#bPetrides, L.A. (2002). Web-based technologies for distributed (or distance) learning: Creating learning-centered educational experiences in the higher education classroom. Int ernational Journal of Instructional Media, 29(1), 69-77.Phipps, R., Merisotis, J. (1999). Whats the difference? A review of contemporary research on the effectiveness of distance learning in higher education. Washington, DC: Institute for Higher Education Policy [On-line]. Available at: http://www.ihep.org/Pubs/PDF/Difference.pdfPlasschaert, A. J. Wilson, N. H. Cailleteau, J. G. Verdonschot, E. H.Opinions and experiences of dental students and faculty concerning computer-assisted learning. J Dent Educ 1995: 5:1034-1040.Plomp T., Pelgrum W. J. and Steerneman H. M., Influence of computer use on schools’ curriculum: limited integration. Computers Educ. 14, 159-171 (1990).Rasmussen, K., Davidson, G.V. (1996). Dimensions of learning styles and their influence on performance in hypermedia lessons. Proceedings of the World Conference on Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, USA, 800.Rosenberg, M.J. (2001). E-Learning: strategies for delivering knowledge in the digital age. New Yo rk, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.Ross, J. L. Schulz, R. A. (1999). Can computer-aided instruction accommodate all learners equally? British Journal of Educational Technology, 30(1), 5-24. Schittek M, Mattheos N, Lyon HC, Attstrom R. (2001) Computer assisted learning. A review. 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(1997). Educational implications of the web. Life Sciences Educational Computing, 8(1), 13 14 (Newsletter of the CTI Centre for Biology).Song, L., Singleton, E.S., Hill, J.R. Koh, M.H. (2004). Improving online learning: Student perceptions of useful and challenging characteristics. Internet and Highe r Education 7 (2004) 59-70Stanford, W. Erkonen, W. E. Cassell, M. D. Moran BD, Easley G, Carris RL, Albanese MA (1994) Evaluation of a computer-based program for teaching cardiac anatomy, Investigative Radiology 1994 Feb;29(2):248-52.Stephenson, J. (2001). Teaching Learning Online Pedagogies for new technologies. Stylus Publishing, Sterling, USA.Stern N. and Stern R. A., Computers in Society. Prentice-Hall, En

Visual Molecular Dynamics VMD :: Computer Programs

VMD or Visual Molecular Dynamics is a computer program that can be used to design, animate, and model molecules especially organic molecules so that they can be visualized in 3-dimensional graphics for analysis and better understanding of their molecular structure and components. For the most part VMD is used to view and analyze the molecular stimulations, but the program also contains rendering tools that can be used to modify the dimensional and sequential data of the molecules. The data can be applied in various ways. Biochemists can rearrange and form amino acids to observe mutagenesis or functions of the proteins, it can also be useful to predict and understand catalytic mechanisms stimulated by proteins. VMD can be useful to a range of audience, molecular structural data obtained from VMD can be integrated with bioinformatics, which will then provide useful information to researchers of biological system, not only individuals involved with the field of biological science, but also theoretical and experimental researchers of chemical science can utilize the information to scrutinize the chemical structure of molecules. It can also be used in educational institutions to display molecules in a very descriptive manner to students, to give them a broader idea of the structural function. On the organic level VMD is most likely used to model proteins, nucleic acids, and lipid bi-layer assemblies, VMD can also read Protein Data Bank (PDB) files so any protein structures can be found in the VMD database, VMD can create very detailed graphic of molecular dynamics stimulation, then using the variety of tools that are included in the program structures of these organic molecules are then modified and analyzed to view the experimental molecule. One of the major molecule structure created and analyzed in VMD by biologists is the molecule of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is an essential element of an animal body, iron containing oxygen transport protein in red blood cells, it transports oxygen from lungs to the rest of the body of animals, so it can be used by cells. Hemoglobin plays a significant role in function of an organism, likewise deficiency of hemoglobin causes severe damage to the body. So modeling, and animating hemoglobin molecule structure in 3-D graphics, the diseases and problems caused by decrease of hemoglobin can be discussed and explored more thoroughly, for cure or other diseases that can be caused from the absence of sufficient hemoglobin in the body. The molecular dynamic stimulations of hemoglobin can illustrate the mutations in the genes of hemoglobin proteins, which then can be examined, and modified in order to study the cause, also to predict future possible mutation in hemoglobin genes and their effect.

Dell Computer Corporation †Share Repurchase Program Essay

1. Why do companies use stock options to compensate employees? What are the advantages of stock options relative to cash compensation? What, if any, are their disadvantages? 2. What, if any, risks do Dell’s shareholders face from Dell’s stock option program? Draw terminal payoff diagrams to illustrate the risk. Is this risk something that shareholders of Dell expect to bear when investing in Dell? 3. How does Dell remove, or hedge, the perceived risk of the stock options program for shareholders? Draw terminal payoff diagrams to illustrate. 4. Why does Dell transact in both call and put options? Use put-call parity to reformulate the put and call positions that Dell takes in terms of Dell’s stock and borrowing. What effectively does Dell’s call and put positions accomplish? Is risk management the primary motivation for Dell’s actions? A stock option is an offer by a company that gives employees the right to buy a specified number of shares in the company at an agreed upon price (usually lower than market) by a specific date. The benefit of granting options to employees is viewed as a good thing because it (theoretically) aligned the interests of the employees (normally the key executives) with those of the common shareholders. If a material portion of a CEO’s salary were in the form of options, she or he would be incited to manage the company well, resulting in a higher stock price over the long term. The higher stock price would benefit both the executives and the common shareholders. Substituting options is supposed to keep executives eyes on the long term since the potential benefit (higher stock prices) would increase over time. Also, options programs require a vesting period (generally several years) before the employee can actually exercise the options. This is in contrast to a â€Å"traditional† compensation program, which is based upon meeting quarterly performance targets, but these may not be in the best interests of the common shareholders. For example, a CEO who could get a cash bonus based on earnings growth may be incited to delay spending money on marketing or research and development projects. Doing so would meet the short-term performance targets at the expense of a company’s long-term growth potential. Stock options creates a financial stake of employees in the firms growth. The executive stock options allows the employees to participate in the upside performance of the firms, incenting them to work harder. Although there is a cost associated with the use of employee stock options. The equity holders do not earn same level of returns as they would have if the firm would not have issued executive stock options to its employee. This loss of return in the form of dilution is the cost that equity holders have to pay for having the employee stock option program. However, this cost is mitigated by the fact that if the market value of the firm’s asset decreases, the employee shares the downside as well, thereby absorbing some of the impact of the market value decrease from equity holders. Another cost that the equity shareholders bear is the liquidity cost. The employees are usually paid a higher market value of stock options then they would otherwise receive solely through wages due to the fact that the options they received cannot be traded or realized until a particular date. The use of executive stock options transfer some of the market risk from the equity holders to the employees thereby reducing the beta of the equity. At the time of case, companies are not required to report any compensation expense in their publicly filed financial statements when they grant stock options. However, when certain options are exercised, companies receive a tax deduction, which can provide significant income tax savings. There are two arguments that you’ll commonly find against the use of stock options: Dilution of ownership and overstatement of operating income. When an employee exercises her stock options, the company has to either issue new shares or go out on the open market and purchase shares. If new shares are issued, then your ownership is diluted. If the company purchases shares on the open market, then the company, which only receives the exercise price from the employee, has to pay market price for the shares it purchases. This results in a net cash outflow for the company. Since the impact of the compensation deduction that a corporation can claim for tax purposes is not included in a company’s GAAP income, many take the view that using options enables the company to overstate its income. Risks to Dell shareholders: Dell Share holders bear the risk in the form of cost of potentially issuing the stock at below market values if the employees do convert the options into stock when the options are in-the-money. However, if the options expires out of the money, the shareholders realize equally better benefits. In this case, the firm obtains labor from employees without having paid for the labor by issuing shares. The employee stock options provides a cushioning from the full burnt of the downside of a firms poor performance while taking a share of the upside benefits also. There is essentially a risk transfer from shareholders to employees through the use of employee stock options. The share holders pay a fair cost to incent employees to be more productive. The executive stock options seem to counteract some of the risk that shareholders naturally bear when they buy a stock. Hedging the risk of Stock options: By issuing employee stock options, Dell presumably takes a short call position on its stock thereby creating a liability to be paid in future. (Appendix shows the payoff diagram of Dell’s liability because of the employee stock option program.) To hedge the risk associated with the liability Dell is purchasing a 2.8 M call options. This effectively hedges the risk of the executive stock option program back to the shareholders. Dell by engaging in the put and call options is basically equivalent to buying a forward contract on its own stock. With the share repurchase program, Dell is also pursuing a strategy of having long call and short put position. Using the put-call parity, (Appendix) the long call and short put transaction is equivalent to buying stock by borrowing money. So dell’s long call and short put transaction is equivalent to a levered share repurchase. As a result of the above transaction the risk of having a combination of long call and short put is higher then that of just having a long call position (employee stock option program), which is transferred to dell shareholders. In this case dell is hedging the risk in the same way as a levered share repurchase program would work by creating more value to the shareholders by increasing the risk borne. I had completed the analysis of the Dell’s proposed stock repurchase program for upto 12 Million shares and the use of the equity options as part of the repurchase. As per the information available the put-call transactions along the share repurchase program being employed by Dell would create substantial value for the firm and the shareholders only if management has private information that Dell stock is undervalued and would perform above expectations in the coming months.

Implementation of Global Strategy

Manag Int Rev (2011) 51:179–192 DOI 10. 1007/s11575-011-0071-6 R e s e a R c h a Rt i c l e Effective? Global? Strategy? Implementation Structural? and? Process? Choices? Facilitating? Global? Integration? and? Coordination Attila? Yaprak?  ·? Shichun? Xu?  ·? Erin? Cavusgil Abstract:? 0 0 this article offers a contingency framework of global strategy implementation effectiveness on firm performance. The research question we seek to address is what the structural and process requirements are for MNEs to successfully implement global strategy through increased efficiency and effectiveness of integration and coordination across world markets.Our central premise is that MNEs’ capabilities in establishing supporting structural and process mechanisms will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of implementing their global strategies which would, in turn, lead to better firm performance. Keywords:? Integration and coordination  · Global strategy  · Firm performance  · contingency framework Received:? 25. 12. 2009 / Revised:? 15. 08. 2010 / Accepted:? 11. 10. 2010 / Published? online: 02. 04. 2011  © Gabler-Verlag 2011 Prof. A. Yaprak (? ) Department of Marketing, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA e-mail: Attila. [email  protected] edu Asst. Prof. S. Xu Department of Marketing and Logistics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA Asst. Prof. E. Cavusgil Department of Marketing, University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, USA 180 A. Yaprak et al. Introduction The globalization of the world economy and markets has given rise to the growth of multinational enterprises (MNEs). With the expanded geographical scope and dispersed operations across national borders, managing MNEs effectively has become a challenging task for managers.As such, numerous studies have been conducted to understand what contributes to the success of MNEs in the global market. Many studies have adopted the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm as the theoretical basis of s uch an exploration, arguing that the competitive advantage of MNEs is sourced primarily in their ability to access and acquire rare and inimitable resources that create better value for customers around the world (e. g. Peng et al. 2008). These resources are considered indicators of firm performance levels in the global market (Lu et al. 010; Peng et al. 2008). While RBV has been instrumental in explaining the performance differences among MNEs, arguments have been advanced that the mere possession of resources is insufficient to generate superior performance (Sirmon et al. 2007). For instance, Barney and Arikan (2006) state that assuming appropriate strategic action will automatically follow from the recognition of valuable resources within the firm is an intellectually naive assumption.Specifically, how resources can be used through strategic actions to create superior value to create a competitive advantage for the firm remains unclear (Priem and Butler 2001). While firm resource s have a more or less direct impact on the strategic courses of action a firm may pursue, implementation of such strategies to realize value creation potential remains an under-researched topic (Barney and Arikan 2006). This deficiency in the literature has led to the distinction between resources and capabilities. Lu et al. (2010) propose that resources and capabilities are clearly distinguishable from each other.While Grant (1991) defined resources as stocks of tangible and intangible assets which firms use to convert into products and services while capabilities are viewed as intermediate goods generated by the firm to enhance the productivity of resources (Amit and Schoemaker 1993). As such, capabilities are different from resources since they act as enablers for firms to create value more effectively from the resources they possess. This distinction between resources and capabilities has encouraged researchers to examine the effect of MNEs’ capabilities on firm performan ce.Research regarding the capabilities of MNEs has mostly focused on those that facilitate global strategy formulation. For example, Elango and Pattnaik (2007) propose that networking capabilities have a direct impact on the internationalization strategy of the firm. Peng et al. (2008) articulates a framework in which firm resources and capabilities are viewed as one of three antecedents of a firm’s international business strategy (the other two being industry based competition and institutional conditions and transitions).Thus, the current literature sheds light only on how the capabilities of MNEs enable them to formulate appropriate strategic choices that match their resources with opportunities in their external, that is, their global, environment. However, mechanisms that ensure successful implementation of the chosen strategies remain unclear. While we assume that MNEs should be able to establish appropriate structures to match their strategies, research has shown that there is a lot of incongruence between MNE strategy and structure (Duysters and Hagedoorn 2001).Effective Global Strategy Implementation 181 Based on this backdrop and drawing from the strategic fit literature, the purpose of this paper is to offer a contingency framework of global strategy implementation effectiveness on firm performance. The research question we seek to answer is what the structural and process requirements are for MNEs to successfully implement global strategy through increased efficiency and effectiveness of integration and coordination across world markets.Our central premise is that MNEs’ capabilities in establishing supporting structural and process mechanisms will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of implementing their global strategies which would, in turn, lead to better firm performance. That is, we argue that firms need to achieve a harmonious configuration among strategy, structure, and process to better deliver superior value from the res ources they possess. The remainder of this article is organized as follows.After reviewing the literature and presenting a comprehensive picture of the integration and coordination dimensions of global strategy, we offer propositions for future research. We discuss the merits of exploring each of these and conclude with suggestions for managerial practice. Conceptualizations? of? Global? Strategy The globalization of the world economy has pushed many organizations, particularly those MNEs with abundant resources, to rethink how they compete in this expanded market.The increasingly interdependent financial, product, and labor markets are all advancing at different paces towards a â€Å"globalized† system (Buckley and Ghauri 2004). As the political, economic, and cultural forces increasingly promote a global environment, many industries have become global in nature (Morrison and Roth 1992; Kim et al. 2003). Such global industries are largely driven by three structural forces: e conomies of scale, comparative advantage, and standardized markets (Birkinshaw et al. 1995).Firms competing in such industries have gradually been adopting a global strategy in which they no longer view their subsidiaries located across the world as independent subunits, but as a highly interdependent network (Kim and Hwang 1992). Global strategy is thus characterized as developing competitive advantage through operating in interdependent national markets by exploiting differences in national resource endowments, the flexibility of MNC networks, and economies of scale and scope, as well as learning (Malnight 1996).Extant literature suggests that the strategic choice of a firm competing in global markets is a function of firm traits and aptitudes and market contexts (Peng et al. 2008). The positive relationship between financial and market performance and global strategy is also well documented in the literature (Roth 1992; Kim et al. 2003). We further argue that these relationships are mediated by the interplay among strategy, structure and processes of the firm (Fig. 1). We now discuss these, in turn. Firm Traits and Aptitudes Firm traits and aptitudes refer to the resources and capabilities that a firm possesses to compete in the global marketplace.These resources and capabilities can take on different forms such as culture, knowledge, orientation, experiences, and learning capability. 182 A. Yaprak et al. Firm Traits Aptitudes Innovative Culture Firm's strategic creativity in its marketing strategy making Latitude in autonomy vs. control Local Embeddedness Depth in local market knowledge Local market orientation International Embeddedness International Orientation International Experience Firm Capabilities in Cross-subsidization (Leverage) Organizational learning Market Contexts Degree of international integration Degree of similarity with the primary international marketProcesses Degree of integration of strategic design and implementation [Integration vs. Independence] Configuration Perspective Strategy Degree of standardization . n marketing strategy [Standardization vs. Adaption] Coordination / Integration Strategy Performance Structure Degree of Concentration of value chain activities [Concentration vs. Dispersion] Contingency Perspective Fig.? 1: Strategy, structure, and processes as mediators of the firm, market and performance relationship. (Source: Constructed by the authors from Lim et al. 2006), Menon et al. (1999), Ozsomer and Prussia (2000), Solberg (2000), Xu et al. (2006), Zou and Cavusgil (2002)) Studies suggest that a fundamental antecedent to superior performance is the corporate culture of the firm, particularly those associated with innovation capabilities. They show that innovative culture, reflected by the firm’s creativity in its marketing strategy making, is a key ingredient in influencing strategic performance. They further show that focus on effective se of the firm’s marketing assets and capabi lities and prudent resource commitments across markets will upgrade its cross-market integration skills, and thereby enhance its market performance (Menon et al. 1999). The firm’s ability in reverse-innovating products, distributing them globally, and its skills in expanding opportunities in difficult markets and pioneering worthy segments in different types of market settings, all manifestations of creative strategy making, will also upgrade its market performance (Immelt et al. 009). A second key firm trait involves local market embeddedness. Local market orientation underscored by increasing depth of local market knowledge will lead to higher levels of global market penetration. When coupled with the ability to adapt to cultural diversity and affinity to the local market intermediaries’ aspirations to extract common denominators for many markets, this will likely lead to higher degrees of strategy effectiveness (Solberg 2000). Equally important is international embe ddedness.International orientation, bolstered by previous international business and/or marketing experience in the major markets of the firm will give the firm latitude in integrating and coordinating its competitive moves across world markets and thus lead to network-wide efficiencies, effectiveness and synergies. This valuable organizational resource will also help simplify worldwide planning and help establish the firm’s brands with a consistent image across markets; thereby enhancing the firm’s marketing strategy performance (Zou and Cavusgil 2002). Effective Global Strategy Implementation 83 Firm capabilities in organizational learning and cross-subsidization will affect global market performance positively. The firm’s ability to learn more and faster than its competitors and from its alliance partners in foreign markets will advance its marketing capabilities. Its skills in leveraging resources, information, experience, and ideas across markets and affili ates, sacrificing competitive gains in some markets for the benefit of other markets, and sharing organizational learning gains across its affiliate network will help the firm maintain a strong configural advantage, nd will improve the firm’s marketing strategy performance (Craig and Douglas 2000; hamel 1991; Lim et al. 2006). In light of these arguments, we propose that: P1: Firm traits, such as innovative culture and strategic creativity and firm aptitudes such as local and international embeddedness, along with capabilities in organizational learning and cross-subsidization, will enhance the adoption of a global strategy, which in turn, will positively influence firm performance. Market Contexts Porter (1990) suggests that the industry in which a firm finds itself competing largely determines its strategic choices.Market contexts specifically examine the external environment and the opportunities it presents to the firm. Market contexts, such as global industry and the fir m’s global orientation and international experience, will also give firms an incentive to adopt a global strategy which will, in turn, enhance marketing strategy performance. One argument here is that global strategy seeks benefits from both comparative and competitive advantages by leveraging economies of scale derived from common market demand and dispersion of operations across world markets to benefit from factor cost differences (Kim et al. 003). The degree of similarity among markets will incentivize firms to adopt a globally-integrated strategy which will lead to efficiencies and strategy effectiveness, and this will improve performance (Zou and Cavusgil 2002). Participation in multiple markets offers the firm the ability to identify different opportunities with which to exploit its resources. For example, the firm can extend its product life cycle by launching products with different pacings across global markets. Market contexts offer greater flexibility in implement ing global business battles against competitors.Participation in multiple markets also helps firms identify different value chain activity locations based on the unique comparative advantages of each location. The degree of integration in the firm’s markets will foster easier leveraging of resources and capabilities and will ease learning from these. As the firm expands increasingly into dissimilar markets, however, it will be inspired to develop creative solutions, innovative marketing mix adaptations, and imaginative strategies.The degree of coordination and differentiation in marketing strategies the firm is able to implement in global markets and its ability to harmonize competitive tactics across regions will also improve performance (Lim et al. 2006; Schilke et al. 2009). Since markets are dynamic, their changing nature will require emerging strategic mechanisms, inspiring the firm toward developing creative market-based learning, rather than deliberative solutions (Ozs omer and Prussia 2000; Vorhies and Morgan 2005). Thus, we propose that: 184 A. Yaprak et al.P2: Similarities and dissimilarities among the firm’s market contexts will move the firm toward adopting a global strategy, which in turn, will enhance marketing strategy performance. Integration and Coordination in Global Strategy and Implementation As the competitive advantage in adopting a global strategy lies in the firms’ ability to effectively link competitive actions across national markets, global integration becomes a critical task in coping with the challenges posed by the integrated global competitive arena (Kim et al. 2003).Thus, firms adopting a globally integrated strategy seek to integrate their globally-dispersed activities in a manner that will help them develop combinations of comparative (that is, location-specific) and competitive (that is, firm-specific) advantages that will foster more effective responses to cross-national competitive forces (Roth and Schwe iger 1991). Global integration, that is the coordination and control of business operations and functions across national borders (Cray 1984), is viewed as the ideal indicator of the degree of comparative and competitive advantage combinations within the firm (Kobrin 1991; Rangan and Sengul 2009).Roth and Schweiger (1991) describe these two sources of advantage in a global strategy as that developed through international scale economies and economies of scope (competitive), and that which results from exploiting the differences in factor costs across country locations (comparative). Comparative advantage arises from the geographic configuration of location choices while competitive advantage resides in geographic coordination or organization (Rangan and Sengul 2009). Thus, integration allows the firm to disperse its value-adding activities across national markets while integrating some of these within the firm’s own boundaries.Two major activities in achieving global integrat ion goals are coordination and control (Kim et al. 2003). The purpose of coordination is to achieve concerted action among the subunits and functional areas toward a unified organizational goal (Roth and Schweiger 1991). Coordination is essential in managing the interdependencies across the subunits of an organization. As coordination effort in an international business organization can range from low to high, the demand of a global strategy puts its coordination effort on the high end.A high degree of coordination implies that functional activities are tightly linked with one another and that these are tightly-integrated across geographic locations (Roth 1992). This integration leads to configural advantage (Craig and Douglas 2000). Thus, we propose that: P3: Superior performance of the MNE’s global strategy will be positively linked to increased integration and coordination of its value chain activities; that is, to the degree of its configural advantage.Structural and Proc ess Requirements for Global Integration and Coordination Even though MNEs enjoy the benefit of abundant resources and capabilities coming from firm traits and aptitudes and the opportunities their environments present, designing the organizational structures and processes that best support the strategies they deploy that Effective Global Strategy Implementation 185 use the resources and capabilities that suit the demand of their external opportunities is mandatory in realizing superior performance.In fact, the task of management is to formulate strategies based on the resources and capabilities of the firm and match them with identifiable opportunities in the external environment by selective market entry. Strategy, as such, is seen as an outcome of the process of identifying the alignment of the resources and capabilities of the firm and the opportunities present in the environment. Implementing such a strategy relies primarily on supporting the organizational structures and proces ses that are in place.Without the appropriate strategy, processes and structure, firm traits and aptitudes and market contexts may each present benefits by themselves, but they may also lead to detrimental performance when inappropriately combined. As such, firms need to examine both their internal strengths and the external opportunities they face and attempt to achieve the best synergy between these two. While strategy is mostly focused on identifying market opportunities that best utilize the resources of the firm, the reverse is also possible; the firm may identify opportunities in the environment but find that it lacks the resources to exploit these.Unique combinations of these structure and strategy elements will yield unique levels of strategic performance (Olson et al. 2005). Interrelationships among the internationalizing firm’s strategy, structure, and processes are positively associated with market performance and will lead to strategy implementation types that can serve as major sources of sustainable global competitive advantage (Xu et al. 2006). Structure A critical determinant of success in implementing a global strategy is the development of effective structures that will carry firm strategy toward superior performance.Organizational structural forces are crucial to effectively deploying and integrating firm resources (Fang and Zou 2009). One element of this effort is the global configuration of value chain activities such that achievement of the firm’s objectives is rationalized. Sourced in competitive advantage theory (Porter 1990), this effort involves selectively concentrating and dispersing activities across the firm’s global network so that it can differentiate, pursue cost efficiencies, focus on market niches, and achieve economies of scale in doing so (Roth 1992).It also involves assigning various roles to the firm’s affiliates so that they will serve the firm’s objectives in the most effective manner. For instance, subsidiaries might play such roles as strategic leader, implementer, and contributor, depending on their level of local competencies and the strategic importance of their markets to the firm or can be early or late movers in carrying the firm’s products throughout its network, depending on their special strengths and competitive advantages (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1989, 1992).The firm’s aims with regard to each local market as it incrementally internationalizes, and its desire for control over affiliates vs. encouragement of autonomy in local markets, can lead to subsidiary roles as local barons or implementers of headquarters strategies (Solberg 2000). These roles can then create internationalizing networks modeled as federations, confederations, and the United Nations (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1989; solberg 2000). Of the different dimensions of organizational structure, three dimensions are recognized as the most influential on global integration and coordina tion: formalization, departmen- 186A. Yaprak et al. talization, and centralization. Formalization is defined as the degree to which organizational norms are defined explicitly (Hall 1982). It essentially prescribes the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors within an organization. Roth and Schweiger (1991) argue that formalization boosts integration and coordination efforts by decreasing the discretion of the managers at both the headquarters and the subsidiary levels. Formalization reduces the direct involvement of the headquarters in subsidiaries by offering rules and procedures that fertilize the emergence of dominant logic within the organization.This dominant logic fosters similar actions from managers at different geographic locations. In addition, firms also increase integration efficiency by formalizing the ways functional activities are performed across units. By establishing standardized procedures, policies and rules, the effectiveness of integration will increase as the p rocess of conducting activities is codified, a form of coordination by standardization (Kim et al. 2003). Centralization is concerned with decision making authority and is regarded as an important means of reaching coordination goals within an MNE (Roth and Schweiger 1991).A global strategy leads to higher levels of interdependencies among the subunits within a global organization. This would require a higher level of coordination among the functional activities. Adopting a centralization structure in an MNE means that critical decision-making lies at the top management level because better understanding of the various activities and units scattered around the world is possible there (Kim et al. 2003). It could be argued that while formalization facilitates coordination of global integration, centralization plays more of a role in the control of global integration.The assumption here is that with a decentralized structure, each subunit will focus on achieving its individual goals an d tasks resulting in the sacrifice of the overall goal of the organization. Formalization and centralization along the firm’s value chain configuration will also affect its strategic behavioral orientations, such as customer, competitor, and innovationorientation, and by extension, the firm’s strategic performance. Departmentalization is defined as the degree to which the tasks are confined to a predetermined domain and members of departments are isolated from cross-functional interactions (Mintzberg et al. 1976).Departmentalization is believed to be detrimental to the integration and coordination effectiveness in business. It is argued that resource integration, especially as it involves knowledge integration, is an essential way to generate new ideas, particularly for new product development purposes. By isolating the subunits or functions from each other, members of the organization lose sight of the overall picture and the unique goals of the organization. Thus, we propose that: P4: Formalization and centralization of structure will positively influence integration and coordination effectiveness in firms that adopt a global strategy.P5: Departmentalization of structure will negatively influence integration and coordination effectiveness in firms that adopt a global strategy. Processes The major characterization of global strategy is focused on the integration of the firm’s global network of activities and the coordination of functions and resources that will yield enhanced strategy performance. This perspective is concerned with whether subsidiaries Effective Global Strategy Implementation 187 are standalone profit centers or parts of a more holistic design of deliberately integrated units (Lim et al. 2006).Its focus is on the dependence of affiliates on the headquarters and the interdependence among the subsidiaries for materials, resources, learning, efficiencies, and company-wide decision-making (Bartlett and Ghoshal 1989; Lim et al . 2006). When combined with the market offering and the concentration dimensions of strategy (Lim et al. 2006), and under the umbrella of contingency theory (Van de Ven and Drazin 1985), this perspective provides a window into our understanding of the spread of strategic autonomy, functional and operative control over affiliates, resource sharing, and cross-market consultation in he internationalizing firm. Dependence of the firm on its local affiliate or subsidiary for market knowledge due to lack of its own proficiency would lead the firm, for instance, to nurture interdependencies with its affiliates and strategic control over them. Low dependence of the subsidiaries on the headquarters, along with low interdependence among subsidiaries and high subsidiary autonomy are associated with worldwide mandates assigned to subsidiaries (Lim et al. 2006). The organizational processes of MNEs largely involve the control aspects of organizational activities.Gencturk and Aulakh (1995) classi fy formal control mechanisms as market-based and hierarchy-based. Birkinshaw and Morrison (1995) add the heterarchy model as an alternative control process. While the market-based control process intuitively works against the goal of integration and coordination, the hierarchy- and the heterarchybased control mechanisms facilitate integration and coordination to a greater degree. We argue, however, that the heterarchy-based control process is more appropriate for a global strategy.First, the hierarchy concept is incongruous with interdependence among the various regional and strategic business units that make up the global enterprise. Second, the hierarchy model implies unidirectional control, imposed by the headquarters over the subsidiary units, a notion incompatible with global integration. Finally, global integration requires stability and instrumentality to succeed and at least one of these, instrumentality, is less present in the hierarchy model than the other models of contro l.The heterarchy control model, in contrast, is based on three characteristics that global integration requires: dispersion of resources and capabilities; existence of lateral relationships among subunits; and coordinated activities. We feel that all three of these are consistent with the coordination and integration efforts of an MNE and foster greater integration. Thus, we propose that: P6: Adoption of a heterarchy-based control model will positively influence the integration and coordination effectiveness of firms that adopt a global strategy.The Interaction of Strategy, Structure, and Process While each of strategy, structure, and process may have a direct impact on firm performance, the interaction among the three may exert even greater influence on that performance. Viewing strategy as matching resources with the environment focuses essentially on strategy formulation. This relies largely on the fit of the external environment with the firm. However, strategy implementation re quires achieving the firm’s intended benefit. It relies more on the internal fit within the organization; that is, the fit between structure and processes (Venkatraman and Camillus 1984).Venkatraman and Camillus (1984) argue 188 A. Yaprak et al. that effective implementation of any strategy requires congruence among a large number of internal elements. This implies that the supporting role of structure and process cannot be separated from each other. In addition, the dominant logic in the strategic management literature is that strategy is the overriding concern, while structure and process are derived from strategy. Strategic performance is determined by how effectively the firm’s strategy is implemented, and by extension, how marketing objectives are accomplished (Olson et al. 2005).While there are many dimensions to performance measurement, financial and non-financial measurement metrics are typically used in strategy performance contexts. Among these are profitabil ity, ROI, and sales volume, as well as the strategic position of the firm relative to its most relevant competitor, its relative market share in key markets, and expectations compared to relevant competitors and satisfaction with achieved expectations (Olson et al. 2005; Zou and Cavusgil 2002). We argue that a holistic view should be used in measuring strategic performance; a measure that would incorporate both financial and non-financial considerations.We also argue that, all things considered, the strategy, concentration, and integration/coordination conceptualizations of global strategy will mediate the relationship between the firm and market antecedents of performance and strategic performance itself. This is evidenced by recent research which shows that the interplay of strategy, structure and processes lead to higher levels of performance when they are mediated by co-alignment of strategy with the market context (Xu et al. 2006). Thus, we propose that: P7: Firm and market ant ecedents of firm performance will be mediated by the interplay among the strategy, structure, nd process components of internationalizing firms. The Capability of Configuring Strategy, Structure, and Process The capability of an MNE to successfully configure a harmonious strategy, structure, and process could be a source of competitive advantage. Unlike the tangible resources such as plant and raw materials, intangible resources and capabilities such as the ability to align structural and process dimensions with the chosen strategy cannot be easily copied or substituted. When skillfully leveraged, these capabilities offer bases of competitive advantage and increase the effectiveness and efficiency in implementing a chosen strategy.Capability development is viewed as path dependent (Nelson and Winter 1982). Firms accumulate knowledge and capabilities by learning by doing. Dosi et al. (1990) views the firm as a historic entity in which repetitive activities offer the opportunity to le arn and form routines and search processes. In this perspective, capabilities are viewed as emerging from the past history of learning by doing. Firms may also actively invest in organizational structures and processes to make constant improvements of routines and practices (Ethiraj et al. 2005).As such, capabilities are a combined result of passive learning by doing and active investment in learning. MNEs with extensive internationalization experiences would have the opportunity to nurture the capability to align their structure and process with their strategies. As such, we propose that: Effective Global Strategy Implementation 189 P8: The international experience of an MNE will be positively associated with its capabilities to configure organizationally effective strategy, structure, and process combinations. Discussion? and? Suggestions? or? Future? Research The relationship between global strategy making and its performance outcomes has generated a rich stream of research in th e extant literature during the last few decades. This interest was heightened recently with the explosive growth in international business activity, especially by internationalizing firms from the emerging economies. This recent interest has resulted in conceptual developments attempting to explain the roles of various antecedents in explaining strategic performance and empirical testing of these frameworks (e. . , Katsikeas et al. 2006; Lim et al. 2006; solberg 2000; Zou and Cavusgil 2002). More recent work has explored the significance of the roles played by various moderators in explaining the strength of the antecedents-performance relationship (Schilke et al. 2009). All of these studies have deepened our understanding of the strategy making-performance relationship, but we do not yet have a comprehensive picture of many of the actors that might mediate this relationship. In this paper, we attempt to contribute to this void by developing one such picture.We propose that firm tra its and market contexts will positively affect strategic performance, but this relationship should be enhanced when mediated by the interplay among the strategy (standardization vs adaptation), structure (concentration vs dispersion), and process (integration vs independence) dimensions of strategy making (Lim et al. 2006). We offer propositions about each of these dimensions and the interface they have with the antecedents and outcomes of strategy formulation. Our work is exploratory and thus aims at offering a conceptual framework that should lead to empirical research.Some empirical questions that future research might explore include the following. First, what are the theory bases that might give us a better understanding of this relationship? The extant literature is full of studies that are anchored in the contingency and the configurational theories, but other theories/paradigms, such as agency theory, transactions cost economics, the resource based view, and social exchange theory might be fruitful avenues of inquiry in explaining the strategy making-strategic performance relationship.For example, agency theory may shed greater light on the impact of principal-agent relationships on product introduction rollouts in international markets and how these might shape the strategy formulation-strategic performance linkage. Social exchange theory might explore the significance that such constructs as trust, commitment, forbearance, and lack of opportunism might render on this relationship. The resource based view might explain the significance of the role played by the interdependence among the firm’s affiliates as they share certain types of esources; participate in decision-making contexts; and leverage capabilities across the firm’s network in the strategy making-strategic performance link. Second, what is the role of culture in defining and predicting the outcomes of the strategy-performance link? Culture, for instance, might influence conce ptualizations of the degree of control desired, what it means to be autonomous or interdependent, what kinds 190 A. Yaprak et al. f gains autonomy and interdependence might bring to subsidiaries and how desired these might be, and how norms and values might shape value chain configurations and levels of adaptations needed in different markets. Third, what role does time play in the shaping of this relationship? Longitudinal studies might show, for example, that the strategy making-strategic performance link changes in short time frames for some products, medium time frames for others, and long time frames for still others.Finally, are there other dimensions of strategy and/or performance that should be considered and how might these interact with the three discussed in this paper? For example, the firm’s position along its internationalization path or the level of its participation in its global markets might be dimensions that need to be considered more formally to better un derstand the strategy-performance relationship. The interactions among these and the dimensions already considered in the literature are also worthy of further study.Our purpose is to depict a more comprehensive picture of the strategy formulationstrategic performance relationship in international business and to suggest that the interplay among strategy, structure, and processes of the firm mediates that relationship. We also aim to offer questions for future research. We hope that our work will provide a deeper and broader picture of that relationship and the questions we ask will inspire future research in this interesting domain of research. References Amit, R. , & Schoemaker, P. (1993). Strategic assets and orgizational rent. Strategic Management Journal, 14(1), 33–46.Barney, J. , & Arikan, A. (2006). The resource-based view: Origins and implications. In M. Hitt, E. Freeman, & J. Harrison (Eds. ), The blackwell handbook of strategic management (pp. 124– 186). Oxfo rd: Blackwell. Bartlett, C. A. , & Ghoshal, S. (1989). Managing across borders: The transnational solution. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Bartlett, C. A. , & Ghoshal, S. (1992). What is a global manager? Harvard Business Review, 70(5), 124–132. Birkinshaw, J. M. , & Morrison, A. J. (1995). 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The Distance Between Two Leagues

The Distance Between Two Leagues The Distance Between Two Leagues The Distance Between Two Leagues By Mark Nichol What does league, meaning â€Å"alliance,† have to do with league, meaning â€Å"a few miles†? An attempt to find kinship between these words by positing the notion of linking several similar entities or units is futile: The identical formation of the words is coincidental. The first sense of league stems from the Latin verb ligare, meaning â€Å"bind† and the basis of ligament, meaning â€Å"band† or â€Å"bond,† and ligature, which means, among other things, â€Å"something that binds or connects.† League originally referred to a confederacy of geopolitical units (such as the Achaean League of classical Greece and the Hanseatic League, an economic alliance established in the early Middle Ages, as well as the League of Nations of the early twentieth century) but later came to apply as well to political associations and athletic organizations. People or organizations that conspire are said to be in league with each other, and when someone outclasses someone else in terms of some characteristic, the first person is said to be out of the other person’s league, while â€Å"in a league of (one’s) own† means â€Å"superior skill or status.† By contrast, â€Å"in the same league† means â€Å"of comparative skill or status.† On a related note, the expression â€Å"Ivy League,† from the name of the collegiate athletic league populated by eight of the nation’s most prestigious universities, by extension denotes the schools themselves as well as high social and cultural status and elitism. (The reference to ivy pertains to the walls of venerable school buildings being covered in ivy over the years.) League is also a verb meaning â€Å"unite,† but the verb beleaguer, meaning â€Å"besiege,† is unrelated. Idioms pertaining to the â€Å"confederation† sense of league include â€Å"major league,† originating in the term for the highest level of professional baseball but by extension alluding to significant actors or entities in a realm of human endeavor (â€Å"in the big leagues† has the same sense); â€Å"minor league,† denoting something of inferior status (from the lower caliber of play in baseball’s minor leagues); and â€Å"bush league,† which, based on the slang term for semiprofessional baseball (from the expression â€Å"the bush,† referring to a rural area) suggests petty, unprofessional behavior. (The last term was not always pejorative, however.) The sense of league of a measure of distance derives from the Latin noun leuga and is primarily understood to refer to a distance of three miles, though it has applied to measures ranging from about two and a half to approximately four and a half miles. (It can also apply to a square measuring about three miles on a side.) A league, thought to originate as the distance traveled on foot in one hour, it is no longer an official distance. The French term banlieue, meaning â€Å"suburb† but increasingly connoting low-income housing projects (though banlieues diverge widely in economic status), is a geopolitical term, but it is distantly related to the latter sense of league: It is a compound ultimately derived from the Germanic terms ban, meaning â€Å"proclamation,† and leuca, meaning â€Å"league,† with the connotation of â€Å"area outside the city but within its legal jurisdiction.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:35 Synonyms for â€Å"Look†What to Do When Words Appear Twice in a Row50 Synonyms for "Song"

LEssentiel - Essential French Phrases

LEssentiel - Essential French Phrases Even if youre just going to France for a week, you should know some survival French - a few essential words and phrases that youll use over and over. This is a somewhat miscellaneous list of the basics, so be sure to follow the links at the end for even more essential French like hello and please.Je parle (un peu de) franà §ais  Ã‚  Ã‚  I speak (a little) French.Parlez-vous anglais ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Do you speak English?Comment ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  What?Je ne comprends pas.  Ã‚  Ã‚  I dont understand.Que veut dire ___ ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  What does ___ mean?Rà ©pà ©tez, sil vous plaà ®t.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Repeat, please.Plus lentement  Ã‚  Ã‚  More slowlyEncore une fois  Ã‚  Ã‚  One more timeComment dit-on ___ en franà §ais  ?  Ã‚  Ã‚  How do you say ___ in French?Je ne sais pas  Ã‚  Ã‚  I dont knowJai une question  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have a questionJai un problà ¨me  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have a problemoui  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  yesnon  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  nosi  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  yes (in reponse to a negative question)daccor d  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  OKet  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  andou  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  orqui  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  whoquoi  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  what*quand  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  whenoà ¹Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  wherepourquoi  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  whycomment  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  how*Be careful, there are several ways to say what in French. Practice Essential French Vocabulary Essential French quizCrossword puzzleWord seek More essential French 100 essential French wordsEssential French gesturesEssential French grammarEssential French phrasesEssential French verbsEssential French for travelersHow to say ___ in French For more in-depth study, check out French for Beginners.

Biography of William Bligh, Captain of the HMS Bounty

Biography of William Bligh, Captain of the HMS Bounty William Bligh (September 9, 1754–December 7, 1817) was a British mariner who had the bad luck, timing and temperament to be aboard two ships- HMS Bounty in 1789 and the HMS Director in 1791- on which the crew mutinied. Accounted in his own time as hero, villain, and then a hero, he retired as a Vice-Admiral to the Lambeth district in London and died peacefully. Fast Facts: William Bligh Known For: Captain of the HMS Bounty during the 1789 mutinyBorn: September 9, 1754 in Plymouth (or perhaps Cornwall), EnglandParents: Francis and Jane Pearce BlighDied: London on December 7, 1817 in LondonEducation: Shipped as captains servant at the age of 7Published Works: The Mutiny on Board HMS BountySpouse: Elizabeth Betsy Betham (m. 1781–his death)Children: Seven Early Life William Bligh was born on September 9, 1754, in Plymouth, England (or perhaps Cornwall), the only son of Francis and Jane Bligh. His father was Chief of Customs at Plymouth, and his mother died in 1770; Francis remarried twice more before dying himself in 1780. From an early age, Bligh was destined for a life at sea as his parents enlisted him as a captains servant to Captain Keith Stewart at the age of 7 years and 9 months. That wasnt a full-time position, that meant occasionally sailing aboard HMS Monmouth. This practice was fairly common as it allowed youngsters to quickly accrue the years of service needed in order to take the exam for lieutenant, and for a ships captain to make a bit of income while in port. Returning home in 1763, he quickly proved himself gifted at mathematics and navigation. After his mothers death, he re-entered the navy in 1770, at the age of 16. William Blighs Early Career Though meant to be a midshipman, Bligh was initially carried as an able seaman as there were no midshipmans vacancies on his ship, HMS Hunter. This soon changed and he received his midshipmans warrant the following year and later served aboard HMS Crescent and HMS Ranger. Quickly becoming well known for his navigation and sailing skills, Bligh was selected by explorer Captain James Cook to accompany his third expedition to the Pacific in 1776. After sitting for his lieutenants exam, Bligh accepted Cooks offer to be sailing master aboard HMS Resolution. On May 1, 1776, he was promoted to lieutenant. Expedition to the Pacific Departing in June 1776, Resolution and HMS Discovery sailed south and entered the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope. During the voyage, Blighs leg was injured, but he quickly recovered. While crossing the southern Indian Ocean, Cook discovered a small island, which he named Blighs Cap in honor of his sailing master. Over the next year, Cook and his men touched at Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga, Tahiti, as well as explored the southern coast of Alaska and the Bering Straight. The purpose for his operations off Alaska was a failed search for the Northwest Passage. Returning south in 1778, Cook became the first European to visit Hawaii. He returned the following year and was killed on the Big Island after an altercation with the Hawaiians. During the fighting, Bligh was instrumental in recovering Resolutions foremast which had been taken ashore for repairs. With Cook dead, Captain Charles Clerke of Discovery took command and a final attempt to find the Northwest Passage was attempted. Throughout the voyage, Bligh performed well and lived up to his reputation as a navigator and a chart maker. The expedition returned to England in 1780. Return to England Returning home a hero, Bligh impressed his superiors with his performance in the Pacific. On February 4, 1781, he married Elizabeth (Betsy) Betham, the daughter of a customs collector from Manx: he and Betsy would eventually have seven children. Ten days later, Bligh was assigned to HMS Belle Poule as sailing master. That August, he saw action against the Dutch at the Battle of Dogger Bank. After the battle, he was made a lieutenant on HMS Berwick. Over the next two years, he saw regular service at sea until the end of the American War of Independence forced him onto the inactive list. Unemployed, Bligh served as a captain in the merchant service between 1783 and 1787. Voyage of the Bounty In 1787, Bligh was selected as the commander of His Majestys Armed Vessel Bounty and given the mission of sailing to the South Pacific to collect breadfruit trees. It was believed that these trees could be transplanted to the Caribbean to provide inexpensive food for slaves in British colonies. Departing on December 27, 1787, Bligh attempted to enter the Pacific via Cape Horn. After a month of trying, he turned and sailed east around the Cape of Good Hope. The voyage to Tahiti proved smooth and few punishments were given to the crew. As Bounty was rated as a cutter, Bligh was the only officer on board. To permit his men longer periods of uninterrupted sleep, he divided the crew into three watches. In addition, he raised Masters Mate Fletcher Christian to the rank of acting lieutenant so that he could oversee one of the watches. The delay off Cape Horn led to a five-month delay in Tahiti, as they had to wait for the breadfruit trees to mature enough to transport. Over this period, naval discipline began to break down as the crew took native wives and enjoyed the islands warm sun. At one point, three crewmen attempted to desert but were captured. Though they were punished, it was less severe than recommended. Mutiny In addition to the behavior of the crew, several of the senior warrant officers, such as the boatswain and sailmaker, were negligent in their duties. On April 4, 1789, Bounty departed Tahiti, much to the displeasure of many of the crew. On the night of April 28, Fletcher Christian and 18 of the crew surprised and bound Bligh in his cabin. Dragging him on deck, Christian bloodlessly took control of the ship despite the fact that most of the crew sided with the captain. Bligh and 18 loyalists were forced over the side into Bountys cutter and given a sextant, four cutlasses, and several days food and water. Voyage to Timor As Bounty turned to return to Tahiti, Bligh set course for the nearest European outpost at Timor. Though dangerously overloaded, Bligh succeeded in sailing the cutter first to Tofua for supplies, then on to Timor. After sailing 3,618 miles, Bligh arrived at Timor after a 47-day voyage. Only one man was lost during the ordeal when he was killed by natives on Tofua. Moving on to Batavia, Bligh was able to secure transport back to England. In October 1790, Bligh was honorably acquitted for the loss of Bounty and records show him to have been a compassionate commander who frequently spared the lash. Subsequent Career In 1791, Bligh returned to Tahiti aboard HMS Providence to complete the breadfruit mission. The plants were successfully delivered to the Caribbean without any trouble. Five years later, Bligh was promoted to captain and given command of HMS Director. While aboard, his crew mutinied as part of the greater Spithead and Nore mutinies which occurred over the Royal Navys handling of pay and prize money. Standing by his crew, Bligh was commended by both sides for his handling of the situation. In October of that year, Bligh commanded Director at the Battle of Camperdown and successfully fought three Dutch ships at once. Leaving Director, Bligh was given HMS Glatton. Participating in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen, Bligh played a key role when he elected to continue flying Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelsons signal for battle rather than hoisting Admiral Sir Hyde Parkers signal to break off the fight. In 1805, Bligh was made governor of New South Wales (Australia) and tasked with ending the illegal rum trade in the area. Arriving in Australia, he made enemies of the army and several of the locals by fighting the rum trade and aiding distressed farmers. This discontent led to Bligh being deposed in the 1808 Rum Rebellion. Death After spending over a year collecting evidence, he returned home in 1810  and was vindicated by the government. Promoted to rear admiral in 1810, and vice-admiral fours years later, Bligh never held another sea command. He died while visiting his doctor on Bond Street in London on December 7, 1817. Sources Alexander, Caroline. The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.Bligh, William and Edward Christian. The Bounty Mutiny. New York: Penguin, 2001.Daly, Gerald J. Captain William Bligh in Dublin, 1800-1801. Dublin Historical Record 44.1 (1991): 20–33. OMara, Richard. â€Å"Voyages of the Bounty.† The Sewanee Review 115.3 (2007):462–469.  Salmond, Anne. Bligh: William Bligh in the South Seas. Santa Barbara: University of California Press, 2011.