Creating strategy for company Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Creating strategy for company - Case Study Example Acquisition-led growth strategy This is one of the major strategic issues stated in the case which was said to be suited in a widely globalizing market. Prior to digging on this issue further, let us examine first other important strategic issues. ABB tried to adapt certain capacity to be global in coverage and this resulted to its strategic move to optimize resources in order to have competitive edge in cost leadership. For instance, the company tried to improve its economies of scale and scope by specializing in the production of major product’s components around the world. Not only that, ABB also tried to come up with feasible cost saving measures such as component outsourcing and overhead cuts. Based on the idea of Levitt (1984) on globalization, the idea of ABB to go global is therefore a matter of necessity. The very reason is the fact that in globalization, there is an attempt on the part of an organization to come up with goods of the best quality and reliability yet a t the lowest price possible in order to compete. This is the very reason why ABB needs to consider two important dimensions in its structure: products and region just prior to be highly competitive in the global setting. It is implied that in order to obtain competitive advantage according to Porter (1998), the two factors that need to be taken into account are attractiveness of industries and relative competitive position. According to Porter, it is not an assurance that certain competitive advantage can be achieved if only one of these two factors is considered. In other words, certain firm aiming to reach its competitive advantage needs to be certain about the competitiveness of industries and its relative competitive position. This is also the very reason why ABB eventually needs to consider operating local. The local presence of a certain company contributes to its potential to top in the competition especially in the industry where ABB belongs. Thus, ABB finally decided to con sider an acquisition-led growth strategy, a sort of its focus competitive strategy based on Porter’s generic competitive strategies (Porter, 1998). ABB believes that with this strategy while it stays in its goal to be global, it can also increase its local presence in order to enhance its competitive advantage. However, there is basically a contradiction in this. ABB aiming to go global needs also to stand local is a form of contradiction at some point. Levitt (1984) pointed out that poor execution may be a significant problem in this situation due to the fact that what exists in the local trend may not be what is in the global setting and vice versa. This is a potential reason why ABB failed with its acquisition-led growth strategy and to some extent, the management considered having incurred bad purchases of some of its acquired companies. In this case, Porter and Levitt’s theories of competitive advantage and globalization proved to be highly significant in understa nding the success of ABB in the midst of ongoing competition in the global setting. The very proofs are specific situations just presented earlier in this section. In fact, based on these theories, ABB’s success can be significantly assessed and the reasons of its failures may be substantially explained. This proves further that the theories of Porter and Levitt are useful in formulating future strategies for various firms in both local and global context. Novel structure Another issue facing ABB is its ability

Describing a situation where leadership was properly exemplified or Essay

Describing a situation where leadership was properly exemplified or not - Essay Example Ethical issues / Behavior The leadership style of Nelson Mandela is exemplified in the way he handled ethical issues that came his way. Mandela had a strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. He did not let societal prejudices and his former experiences determine how he handled things. He was a man of high ethics, and that is why he fought against the social injustices that were being meted out against South Africans. His belief in doing the right thing landed him in jail, but even this did not stop him from fighting for the rights of others (25). His ethical leadership is also seen in the way he handled the AIDS scourge in South Africa. While many leaders chose to not talk about the topic, Mandela took the bull by the horns. The death of his son that was caused by AIDS did not stop him from speaking about the disease and this not only helped reduce stigmatization of people suffering from the disease, it also helped create awareness (Limb 46). Political Perspective The leade rship qualities that Mandela possessed enabled him to steer a country torn apart by racial segregation to prosperity. He was a well loved figure among the African majority who had suffered a lot under the apartheid regimes. He could have used his power and his popularity to avenge himself and his people. However, he had the insight of a great leader, and so this is one path that he avoided. Instead, he decided to use his political clout to unite the people of South Africa. His political legacy speaks for itself. Though he had the power to ‘punish’ the whites in South Africa, he chose the path of humility and forgiveness (Boehmer 41). His decision to keep South Africa politically stable by avoiding any activities that could have given rise to racial tensions may have saved the nation from political turmoil. Many African leaders are known to hold on to power even when their time to give it up has come and gone. For Nelson Mandela, he did not hold onto power for longer tha n was necessary. He was ready to give others a chance to lead South Africa, even though he was still popular enough to continue being the president. It could be said that Mandela showed a level of political maturity that is very rare in the African continent. He paved the way for a peaceful transition of leadership and this put him up amongst the most respected politicians not only in Africa, but in the whole world as well. His exemplary political leadership is not only appreciated in South Africa, Mandela has proved to be a reliable and respectable statesman in his international missions (58). Economical Perspective When South Africa gained majority self rule in 1994, many pundits thought that the country would suffer economically. Their opinions were shaped mainly by what had occurred in many African countries where poor leadership had disintegrated the economy. However this was not to be during Mandela’s tenure as president (Limb 87). He was a focused leader who did not le t little matters of perceived racial discrimination affect the way he run his country. This way he was able to retain the investments that had so far made South Africa the economic powerhouse it was. His leadership was also very clean and open, in that he did not condone any form of corruption. He was an honest individual and he led using an honesty policy (Boehmer 94). Social

Major Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Major Paper - Essay Example It all began with a group of girls who were exhibiting strange behavior. When doctors were unable to explain their behavior, the people of Salem began to panic and quickly assumed their behavior to be indicative of the devil’s presence. This small town’s hysteria resulted in the deaths of dozens of individuals. Sadly, many formal accounts of history have not even kept thorough record of all those who died, having been sentenced by the courts of the times to mostly, cruel and unusual forms of execution. This is but one recount of important, historical events which can teach us today; how not to repeat our mistakes. American literature which I have covered in my recent literature class, proved to be much more exciting and engrossing than I could have ever imagined! I recently read Edgar Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado which is a gothic, fictional classic! Incidentally, the short work by Poe is not lengthy at all, it was actually a quick read and therefore got strait to the point. Poe’s works are classic examples of an authro who depicts a strong sense of duality throughout his works. There is always the normal or the protagonist if you will, in Poe’s work; foiled against the dark side represented usually by either the same character or a very similar character. Poe is genious at illustrating the good and evil lingering in everyone. Similarly, I found the reading of Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving to be nothing short of brilliant! The fairytale styling of the work is entirely fictional but at the end, one can derive the ‘take home message’ that our past does come back to haunt us. This is exactly why Early American history was so educational for me, as I realized that even today, the facts of the past help to inform us as to what can occur when costly mistakes and misjudgments are made.

Persuasive Paper Part 3 Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Persuasive Part 3 - Research Paper Example In the United States, as per the Federal legal provisions, every state is required to maintain a sex offender registry. The purpose of this law was to extend the identity, names and addresses of the proclaimed sex offenders to the public so as to empower the common people and enable them to protect themselves and their children from possible sex offenses. However, in a practical sense, the sex offender registry happens to be quiet exhaustive and bulky and it is not possible for the people to commit to memory the names and addresses of all the sex offenders. Thereby extending to the people an exhaustive list of sex offenders replete with the name of people who got involved in varying gravity of sex offenses is not likely to protect the masses against sex offenses (Paludi, 2008, p. 178). Yet, on the other side, having one’s name in the sex offender registry could much harm the life of an individual. ... Hence, it will be totally unreasonable and farfetched to enter the names of such people in the sex offenders list. On the one side such an approach will do no practical good to the people, and on the other side such an approach will only make it difficult for the redeemable sex offenders to enter the social mainstream (Yessine & Bonta, 2006). People are bound to be unsympathetic towards the individuals whose name is in the sex offender registry. Hence, the contemporary sex offender registration laws need to be changed so that only those sex offenders who are liable to indulge in sexual offenses in the future get listed in the registry and the individuals who got listed by indulging in some momentary public indecency could get a chance to lead a normal life (Sullum, 2003). The existing sex offender registration laws happen to be counterproductive in their scope and intention because they are punitive in their spirit (Hodgson & Kelley, 2002, p. 225). The very objective of saving the ci tizens from sexual offenses gets overlapped by the act of labeling people who indulged in varying degrees of sexual offenses in a generalized category of sex offenders. It will be reasonable to conclude that not all sex offenders are beyond rehabilitation. There is a category of sex offenders which is open to social rehabilitation. Thereby, making an individual open to stigmatization by placing one’s name in the sex offender registry and pushing one into isolation is certainly not the right way to rehabilitate a sex offender (Wilson & Petersilia, 2011). In fact it increases the likelihood of a registered sex offender further engaging in sexual offenses. Simply speaking, compiling a long list of sex

Teachers Education in Pakistan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Teachers Education in Pakistan - Essay Example Politics between staff members is a major concern; the social background of teachers is not taken into consideration since in a city like Karachi, the population is made of people from varying social backgrounds Time and again, the article refers to its concept framework and the advantages of its implementation, but it fails to go into further depths of the matter. In a progressive countr...y like Pakistan, there are more complex situations at the core of an educational system. Tensions in Teacher Training for School Effectiveness: The Case of PakistanLynn Davies &ZafarIqbal (July 1997) School Effective Research (SER) has emerged from virtual total obscurity to a now central position in the educational discourse that is taking place within countries (Teddies and Reynolds, 2000). In the light of this discourse, the article considered whether efficiency of schools is implicated by the influence of teacher training. Pakistan’s case study is exceptional since it continues teacher training, while increasing the autonomy of institutions. However, the inclusion may create strain and conflict to the research. The research is based on questionnaires answered by pre-service and in-service students and their tutors in a co-educational teacher training college. However, it shows that there were irregularities in the findings. The answers filled by the tutors did not match with those of the students. The problems highlighted were specific to the ones faced by the trainee in order to establish the relationship between the inefficiency of teachers’ training, and the mediocre performance of the trainee at work. It purposes to explain how teachers themselves are not 'autonomous learners' or 'reflective practitioners', and this particular attitude will trickle down to their students. Therefore, there is little or none evaluation of the current educational system and few propose to change it. The point that one particular case of training college cannot generalize t he effectiveness in other parts of Pakistan is good evaluation. If we understood how those effective teachers teach, and how they came to learn to

Media Literacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Media Literacy - Essay Example Greece’s economy suffered huge debts, subsequently making its budget inadequate to finance its operations. To solve the problem, Greece’s government applied a number of interventions, including a consideration to tax all the deposits in the country’s financial institutions. However, the most effective intervention of all the proposals made was the country’s financial bill out by different European countries and financial institutions. As the article reports, with the end of the financial crisis, Greece has the potential of going back to original status, or even better. Addressed audience in this artic le are the country’s policy makers, the government, especially in drafting the expenditure budgets, the investors (both operating or eyeing the country), multinational companies in the country or those hoping to take advantage of the end of the crisis and finally other countries that overspend in their budgets, relying heavily on borrowings. The signif icant information contained in this story is essential for the world, especially. As different countries develop their own policies, they are obliged to put into consideration the effects of economic recession. Additionally, countries strategically can plan on how to avoid a recession. If unavoidable, designing measures to avoid any country getting into the point Greece were in would help the country’s economy. Greece economy is a memorable event, not only in the European region but globally also, as no other country has ever gone through a debt crisis bill out. The media has covered the crisis since the start, progression to its present status. This is the biggest connection of the story to other stories related on the crisis. The story sensitizes the world on the best ways of financing an economy and the options available whenever faced by a crisis. Sources The article reports on the decisions arrived at after a meeting convened to strategize bon how to end the Greece finan cial crisis decided on a third bill out. The story quotes different government officials and foreign dignitaries present in the meeting. Particularly, the story quotes only four of the people in the meeting. The quoted individuals are the senior Finance Ministry official, a senior government official, Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and a former government official (Bouras, Granitsas & Stevis, 2013). These individuals represent the political sector and the business community. Despite the meeting having taken place between various individuals, the story quotes just a few. Among people whose quoted should have significantly featured in the article are the European central bank officials, the international monetary fund officials and senior finance ministry officials. Logically, their view would have played a considerable role in this story. Evidence There are different sources of evidence used in the story. The authors draw part of the information from Greece’s budget and financial reports, for instance the 2013 budget. The country’s growth data  also provides crucial evidence used in the story (Bouras, Granitsas & Stevis, 2013). The international monetary fund also indirectly provides evidence that backs assumptions in the story, especially on the amount of funds already injected in the economy and its impact in ending the crisis. Others, as sources are not clear come from the quoted individu

Understanding personal finance Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Understanding personal finance - Term Paper Example This reward will come under the personal finance category. Individuals are also made planning to invest their monetary resources in a proper place so that they can enjoy the maximum benefit. They can deposit in wide range of banking products or stock market instruments (bond, mutual fund, demat account etc.). Banking products include fixed deposit, current deposit, saving account, recurring deposit, many insurance scheme (life insurance, health insurance, medi claim, disability insurance etc). Maximum individuals are like to invest major % of their monetary resource in the banking products especially in the fixed deposit because in such case risk factors are very less and money is invested in secure place (especially public sector banks or government undertaking banking organizations). They also make strategic plans for proper pension scheme, retirement plans, income tax management, wealth tax management, property tax management and social security benefits. Financial planning is the most important part in the personal finance. This can be said that planning is the key component in this field. Without proper and effective planning enhance the amount of personal finance and monitor the flow of financial resources (both inflows and out flows) is very difficult. There are few steps involved in the financial planning. These steps are as follows. Assessment- Assessment is the 1st step of the personal finance planning. It is required to understand the actual situation and financial or monetary position of a person. Financial statements are required to assess the financial situation. The balance sheet will be prepared on individual person and not on the organization. So this is called personal balance sheet. Personal assets such as car, furniture, house, stocks, cash at bank, cash in hand will come under the asset side of balance sheet and personal