Hofstede?s Value Dimensions Essay -- essays research papers

Hofstede's value's system Dimensions of Values The affect the four dimensions, Power Distance, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculine/femininity and Individual v. Collectivism have on organzational behavior shows in all cultures and cross cultures. As with power distance when dealing with other cultures you have to adapt your company values to that of the society in which you live and the people that you employ and the public that you deal with. In organizational behavior you have to be able to adapt or willingly participate and follow through on those culture beliefs of society. So your management structure has to follow the structure of that society while understanding uncertainty avoidance knowing that certain cultures like to have rules stressed, want work regulated and are willing to work hard, conform to standards and are very secure in their jobs. While some other cultures don't have as many rules or less conforming, security is not as stressed and hard work is not seen as normal life, although if you are willing to stand out by doing a job that is not expected or coming up with an idea this is more valued because it is seen as taking a risk. In addition to power distance and uncertainty avoidance affecting organization behavior there is also the Masculinity/Femininity cultures. In this area you will find certain cultures that are clearly masculine, where the dominance of men is supported and economic success is based on the men being in charge while at the same time so...

Terry Gilliam

To tell you the truth, last Friday I really did try to watch the movie and keep myself awake but no matter what, I still kept on dozing off. Although I was able to understand a bit, I still had to watch It again for me to have a better and deeper feel of the story. Knowing that It was produced In 1985, I would say that the plot and setting was pretty genius. The lead actor had to be really good to pull It off or else everything would have been so awkward.Well actually, the movie did not Interest me t all, I got really bored watching It, not because It Is badly written nor directed, It Is Just that It Is not my kind of movie but I really did appreciate Brazil; Its story, actors, direction, technique, script and everything else, I find It really brave of them to produce a movie such as that. I think it was really risky since not everyone can grasp the full implications of satire movies. L, too, had a hard time understanding everything: I had to read articles online just so I could full y get it.The message that the film wants to convey to the viewers is really extreme, to the point that not everyone can get it since some would think that it is only mere entertainment. I think it was creatively presented but it did not have any impact on me. There are those movies that would make you realize stuff about life, there are those that will make you cry and sad, there are those that will make you want to fall in love but Brazil, well it is imaginative but it really is not my kind of movie.

Analysis of the Unforgiven

Analysis of Unforgiven Brenda J. Thompson ENG 225: Introduction to Film Nathaniel Millard October 5, 2009 Summary While the movie Unforgiven (1992) directed and starring Clint Eastwood, as William Munny, is in the genre of a western in the late 1800’s. It has a basic theme that we are still making movies about today, justice and what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in our search for it. It is a story of a journey that one man has to make in order for him to care for his children but it ends up being so much more of a journey than he anticipates. This movie is the ultimate of good versus evil on a couple of different levels. It is good guy versus bad guy and it is the evil within fighting the good within and the constant battles that both of these different levels bring to the main character and the other characters of this film. Does justice prevail in this film? Level of Ambition This movie’s level of ambition was that of a typical Clint Eastwood film, straightforward, deep and controversial. Clint Eastwood is known through his characters as the hard, smart talking, no nonsense, afraid of nothing type casted actor and so his films that are directed by him bring a whole new level to that type of character. He brings the softer side to these characters that we do not expect to see. He reveals the inner dilemma within his character to show that just because someone has done some really horrible things in their lives that does not mean that they do not have internal struggles between what is right and what is wrong. The consciousness of the guilt, the validation, and the justification of what he is doing, eats at him and his inner struggles that come with knowing what he has done but seems to diminish over the length of the movie. It seems to get easier for him to accept what needs to be done and just does it even though he no longer wants to do it. Thematic Elements The central idea of this film is injustice and what can happen when an injustice is made right in the eye of the beholder. This movie had hit on several different perspectives regarding its focus and was dependent upon which character it was highlighting at the time. One of those perspectives being from that of the main character William and his constant battle within himself to stay true to his goodness and not to allow the old evil side out. Another perspective is that of the working women who just want to be respected and not feel as though they are personal property. The Sheriff, Little Bill, who was played by Gene Hackman had of course another perspective on the whole situation which was to play off the entire ordeal by fining the two culprits instead of arresting them. With that being said, this film covered several categories regarding a central idea and subordinate ideas. Although I found injustice to be the central idea, I also felt that there were other categories that were touched on. Truth of human nature (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, pg. 26) and how even though this took place in 1880 you could still feel the injustice today and feel those feelings that were portrayed by the characters wanting to make this right although not all the characters wanted to make it right for the same reasons. The social problems that were in this film, which were the crimes against women, social acceptance and the draw that money has always and forever will have on us as a society are still prevalent today therefore we can understand and appreciate what is happening. We know now as a society that we cannot take the law into our own hands but in 1880 it was prevalent and more acceptable therefore we can relate as maybe we wish he could sometimes take the law into our own hands and make an injustice right when one has been wronged. Setting and Set Design The filming took place in the wilderness of Alberta, Canada and one scene (the train scene) in California. The majority of the scenes were either out in the wilderness or within the small town of Big Whiskey’s saloon and the adjacent main street during the fall and winter season of 1880. The buildings were dark, small and gloomy on the inside and due to the fact that the majority of the movie took place in the nighttime hours and it was stormy more than not, the outside was just as gloomy as the inside. The lighting was minimal as it would have been back then bringing mood with it. The foreshadowing of the stormy weather worked in making this movie what it was, the rain seemed to let you know when something was coming. As much as the wilderness scenery was beautiful, I found it downplayed by the drab colors of the costumes and the non use of color throughout the entire film. It seemed as though the only time color was used was determined by what that particular scene was about. For instance, as English Bob came into town the only item of color was the drab red of the stagecoach, so we knew whoever was in that stagecoach was going to become an important character to a scene coming up, everything else was a muted earth tone of tan, brown, green and blue. As stated in our text a director may simply let their settings just be a backdrop and let the action of that scene take over. (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, pg. 74) This was exactly how this movie was told; it focused on the story instead of glamorizing it with colorful costumes and scenery. We needed to see the drabness of the subject in the muted colors of the movie. Another scene that showed a pop of color was that of William (Eastwood) and Ned (Freeman) were having a conversation where William was trying to make himself and his friend believe that he was no longer an evil person, he no longer drank and no long er killed and at that point their horses walked past some very bright yellow colored trees which just brought a sense of hopefulness to that section of the movie. As if by justifying his goodness it truly made him a good man, the validation from his friend was needed by him as a reminder that he really was a good man, that this couldn’t make him a bad man again because he had been good for so long. Sound and Score The first scene of the movie was that of William Munny in the distance tending to his farming as the sun set on the other side of him. The only sound at that time was that of a very soft playing guitar that had the feeling of a ballad, soft and gentle. For the remainder of the movie the sound and scores were very minimal. Natural outdoor sounds, animals, the breeze, rain were the sounds heard most of the time. Music was minimal and was used for dramatic pauses when no words were necessary and the message needed to sink in or to build up to an upcoming scene. The softness of the music was calming and not too overbearing especially in the action parts of the movie when some directors scream music. Clint Eastwood in this movie chose to use music to â€Å"reinforce the rhythms of the action† (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, pg. 375) instead of making it a priority. He used music the same way he used his colors. I found that during the soft reflective moments of the movie that the music was that of a sole guitar or very soft music and when it involved a little more action an orchestra was involved. The most profound sound of all was that of the rain. Depending upon the message coming through made the difference between how hard it was raining and how loud it was heard. Not only was the rain foreshadowing but also the sound of the thunder and lightning that was used. It was letting us know that something was coming, something was going to happen and it was an integral part of the film. Casting and Acting Performances As it is explained in (Boggs & Petrie, 2008, Introduction to Film) â€Å"In the choice of actors, one director may take the safe, sure way by casting established stars in roles very similar to roles they have played before. † Clint Eastwood is well known for his hardened characters and his experience in westerns. I could not imagine any other actor portraying William Munny. Clint Eastwood brings to the table a hardened character that transforms himself from an uncaring murderer to a loving husband and father back to his hardened man that has to make justice where there was none. Little Bill (Hackman) was a typical sheriff of the time where he laid that law with an iron fist and was going to lay that law any way that he could. In the film you want to believe that Little Bill is one of the good guys but in the end he is no better than the men he was trying to run off. In one scene Hackman was explaining that he did not like men of no character or assassins but in true life really was no better than them but justified it to himself with his badge. Morgan Freeman played Ned, William Munny’s old partner in crime. He had also retired from the killing fields and was now a farmer married to his Indian wife, Sally Two Trees. Ned truly believed he could help his old partner but by the end of the film had realized that he could no longer kill someone and chose to return to his wife but not before being captured by Little Bill’s crew and ultimately killed. Freeman brings a sense of calmness, stability and outright warmth to the film and breaks up the stark harshness of William Munny’s character and the haracter of Scolfield Kid, played by Jaimz Woolvett, a young man looking to make some money but has no experience with that of a paid assassin or of life experiences in general. He was a simple character but one that grew throughout the film to make a realization that his view point on a glorified act has sharply turned and took another route. As the characters seem to complement each other and all of the actors seemed to fit each character to a tee, there are not too many actors in my m ind that could have lived up to the actors that were chosen for these roles. I found one character flat but only because she was written that way, I do not blame the actress as I think she did a great job, it was the character as a whole. Screenplay and Narrative Structure Clint Eastwood, as the director, chose to tell this story very simply by filling the audience in with a written narrative in the first scene. It tells you about the main character prior to this time in his life without taking up more time than was needed. It was straightforward and simple. It was not told through any one character but you could feel the story through each of the characters it was focusing on in that scene. As there is no way of knowing how the screenplay was written it is hard to tell if Eastwood followed what the screenwriter had envisioned or what he envisioned but for what it is worth, Eastwood brought himself to this film in a way that shows not only the hard side of a prior life of killing but the softer side of a man that chose the good of a woman and wanting to please her. There is also a narrative at the end of the film that lets us know that William Munny chose in the end, his children and his wife’s goodness. He chose to leave and moved himself and children to Los Angeles and works productively in dry goods. We know that not only did he make it through that darkness but came full circle twice. He started out killing, bettered himself with the help of his late wife, killed again when his friend was killed because of the act that he committed and then went back to the goodness when he felt as though justice had been served. Once his friend was killed and he took a drink of the alcohol, he lost himself in his old ways as the anger and guilt came bubbling out. Once he felt as though he had righted a wrong, he took his children away from all of the bad and started anew. Objective Evaluation Overall this film was successful in bringing to an audience a western drama with compassion, with ignorance, with greed, with honesty. It showed the softer side of a killer, one side we don’t normally see in a film, we saw the journey of a man trying to find who he is without being defined as an assassin and the struggles within that journey. By suppressing the colors and tones of the film and leaving the lighting at a minimal it really focuses on the feelings and the story as a whole. It wasn’t about the actions but about how people react to certain situations (especially when information is misconstrued) for an example, this all started by a whore getting cut in the face but by the time the information was received by William Munny, the crime had more than doubled in severity. If the story of the cutting had stayed true would this story ever had happened? Would the characters have wanted to kill those men if they had known she still had her fingers and such? Maybe that was what William Munny’s inner struggle was about once he had met the cut woman. The story was easy to follow and William Munny’s character was easy to like, he had been trying to live right for 11 years but when he realized he couldn’t provide for his children because the pigs were getting sick, he had to resort to what he knew he was good at. Only problem was that he found that he was extremely rusty at it, from his shooting skills to his eyesight, he wasn’t the same at it and it didn’t feel good to do. The emotions in this film were portrayed wonderfully from Alice the fiery working girl to the laid back calm character of Ned. You could feel their emotions and understand them and connect with them as people. Final Analysis In closing, the movie Unforgiven was a great movie filled with emotion and heroism. Although this movie was about injustice and human nature, it was also about healing, renewing and hope. As gloomy as the subject matter was, it was also about hope and realizing that no matter what you have done in the past you can make a choice or choices and make a new life that doesn’t have to involve criminal behavior. People like to think that justice always prevails so this movie provides that. It provides justice for the girls but at the same time caused a ripple effect and they got more than what they had bargained for, not expecting as much bloodshed as this one incident had caused. Clint Eastwood and the other cast members made this story a believable one. Not only is Munny (Eastwood) a somewhat cold type of character you end up seeing sides to him that make you like him as a person. Not only are we willing to forgive his past, we want to see him succeed whereas Little Bill (Hackman) was in a position of superiority and used it to intimidate and manipulate his way of running things. I found this character to be arrogant which showed when in building his home, asked no one to help him. Clearly it was needed. The only character I found to be flat was that of Delilah (Anna Levine), victim of the cutting. I can understand that her character might be a little timid after the ordeal but found her to be flat throughout the rest of the film and wish she had more of an impact. Overall this movie was a nice movie to watch. Not only was it easy to follow it made you want to continue watching to see what happens. The characters are believable and the storyline tells an entire story. The use of muted colors and natural sounds lent to the mood and tone of the entire movie. The focus is of the story neither the scenery nor the costumes but was strong enough to stand on its own without going over the top. Not only was this film a western but a drama as well, great for men and women as it touches emotions and evokes emotions on both sides of the gender box. References Boggs, J. , & Petrie, D. (2008). The Art of Watching Films (7th Ed. ) with tutorial CD-ROM. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. ISBN: 9780077282301   Peoples, D. W. & Eastwood, C. (Writer/Director). (1992). Unforgiven [Motion Picture]. Hollywood: Warner Bros. Pictures

Poe’s “The Black Cat” as an Example of Gothic Story

Poe's â€Å"The Black Cat† as an Example of Gothic Story Edgar Allan Poe, who lived a short and tragic life, was mainly known for his gothic stories embedded in the atmosphere of terror and suspense, with insane protagonists placed in gloomy settings. He is considered to be a horror-master and his literary output renders him a father of the detective story and one of the most prominent gothic story writers (Fisher 2004: 81). The Black Cat, first published in 1843 in The Saturday Evening Post (Sova 2007: 35), is one of many visible instances of Poe’s talent in writing gothic fiction.Beyond the shadow of a doubt, it is an excellent example of a gothic story due to its numerous features characteristic of this genre (Hayes 2004: 85). Although gothic fiction is a genre which was born in England at the end of the 18th century, it was soon well-received in the United States, where it influenced a wide array of writers. It was primarily based on the European Romantic Movement b ut over the course of time, tragic and supernatural dimensions were added to these stories as the leading themes in America. The genre has a number of characteristics, one of which is the setting.Main protagonists are usually placed in an old, abandoned castle, with secret chambers and passages. The action of gothic stories take place in dark, spooky and dismal places. The plot is very often mysterious and some unexplainable events occur on regular basis. Gothic authors try to produce an atmosphere of suspense in their works by creating unpredictable characters, who struggle with madness, anger and acts of panic, in order to threaten the readers. The characters’ state of mind, their feelings and emotions, frequently take precedence over the plot.Ghosts and supernatural events are more than common in gothic texts and so are the tormenting visions and unlucky omens that often haunt the main characters. What is more, female characters who appear in such stories, for instance, ar e often put in distress, threatened and dominated by enraged males (Childs and Fowler 2006: 99-100). The Black Cat is a story narrated by an unnamed storyteller who at the very beginning, claims to be totally sane and rational and states that he is sentenced to death and will be killed the following day.Thus, he wants to reveal his dark secrets and make a confession to unburthen his soul (Badenhausen 1992: 487). From the start, the reader is made to perceive the narrator as an average man who loves his wife and is a great admirer of animals. The story, set in an ordinary house with nameless characters, changes over the course of the action into a thorough description of the narrator’s mental state and his acts of madness. Still, no further details on the lives of the main protagonists, including their profession or age, are provided as the story unfolds.The storyteller, due to his addiction to alcohol, becomes an abusive monster who ends up murdering his wife while attempting to kill the cat (Fisher 2004: 209). The narrator’s wife is a character whose love to animals, as opposed to her husband, is unconditional and unwavering. By following the gothic convention of literature, The Black Cat can be read as a story of the clash of masculinity and femininity (Fisher 2004: 86). One of features of the gothic fiction, as mentioned above, is presenting the female character in distress.Gothic writers very often try to present the relations between the tyrannical and impulsive male and a feeble and helpless female. The narrator in The Black Cat was, as a young boy, a very tender and delicate man (Stark 2004: 260). Nonetheless, his behavior over the course of time changed drastically. Heavy drinking alters his life as well as the lives of his nearest ones including his wife and pets. Still, no information on why the narrator hits the bottle is given in the text (ibid: 260-261). The shift in his behavior is very abrupt and unexpected.The plot progresses so q uickly that it is hard to see when exactly the storyteller becomes a mad man. â€Å"I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others†. The bullied wife faces the acts of violence of her husband tacitly and she seems to be subordinated by him, perhaps even afraid of rebelling against him. The couple does not have any children and the wife has no one who would support her and stand up for her in front of her cruel spouse (Bliss 2009: 97; Badenhousen1992: 493; Sova 2007: 36). The narrator bluntly says, â€Å"I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas!Was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers†. Pluto, the animal from the title and, simultaneously, the object of the narrator’s madness, is a key character in the story. In the narrator’s mind, his favorite pet turns all of a sudden from a lovely little friend into a beast which frightens him. â€Å"A faithful and sagacious cat†, as descr ibed at the beginning, used to be the best playmate of the narrator. For many long years, they enjoyed spending time together. The horror of the pets and the wife begins when the narrator starts to drink alcohol.Nevertheless, he admits that he is aware of the dramatic change in his behavior caused by the addiction and he sees that he has started treating his wife and his pets badly (Sova 2007: 36). One night, after returning home drunk, the narrator gouges the cat’s eye out using a pen knife. A horrible deed, described in one sentence, is followed by a paragraph starting with â€Å"When reason returned with morning† in which the narrator describes his internal feelings after committing the act and the feeling of guilt which vanishes as soon as he starts drinking again.The above cited sentence proves the narrator’s awareness of the brutality of his actions, but the subsequent events show that at the same time, he does not feel any remorse (Bliss 2009: 97). Still, one morning, not long after cutting out the eye, the narrator, on a spur of a moment, hangs the cat on a tree in the garden. His explanation is utterly illogical: with tears in his eyes he says, â€Å"Hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; – hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin† (Sova 2007: 35).The latter citation clearly proves the Gothicism of the story. A mad man murders an innocent cat only because it was good. A deed so illogical that it cannot be explained rationally. One bloody act, aimed at playing on emotions, giving a thrill, kindling the feeling of terror and cruelty in readers, is just a beginning of the murdering path that the narrator takes (Bliss 2009: 98). The night after committing â€Å"the deadly sin† the fire breaks up, burning down the dwelling place of the storyteller, destroying his fortune, and leaving him in despair.The next day, a strange figure, a n apparition of a gigantic cat, appears on the wall, the only wall that survived the fire. To explain the strange figure on the wall, the narrator suggests that the cat was thrown to the room by someone at the night of the fire and as he puts it, â€Å"the falling of other walls compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, had then accomplished the portraiture as I saw it†. Not long after killing Pluto, the narrator finds another cat during one of his bar crawls.The cat looks surprisingly familiar: it has similar fur in dark color and it lacks one eye, just like Pluto. There is, however, one significant difference between these two cats. The second one has a white spot on its fur which at first sight, according to the narrator, is just a spot, but with time, it starts to look like gallows to him (Bliss 2009: 97). The spot on the cat’s fur, as well as the sign on the wall after the fire that occurred the night after hanging the first cat, can be perceived as an omen – a supernatural element in the story.The fate of the second cat is also different than Pluto’s. Another day, the narrator together with his wife are in the caller doing some housework, an ordinary situation that ends in a dramatic way. The cat, all at once, appears under his owner’s feet nearly tripping him over. In the act of an unrestrained rage, the narrator takes an axe attempting to kill the cat- the beast. His wife prevents him from committing the murder and in consequence, the killing punch strikes her head (ibid: 98). (†¦) I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan†. The narrator in only two sentences describes the killing of his own wife. Not only is he imperturbable after perpetrating the brutal murder, but he also becomes preoccupied with the problem of how to get ri d of the body instead of showing some grief after his wife’s death. He considers several possible ideas, even â€Å"cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire†.The husband, and from now on also the coldblooded killer, considers defacing the body of his once beloved wife just to cover up the entire murder of his. The idea of burying the body in the wall of the cellar is a recurring theme in gothic stories. Poe used this idea also in The Cask of Amontillado, for example (Badenhousen 1992: 490). â€Å"I had walled the monster up within the tomb! † The last sentence of the story emphasizes the gothic mystery visible in the work. An act of burying the wife in the wall must have taken the narrator some time.How could he miss the fact that the cat hid itself in the gap while he was immuring his wife? How did the cat manage to survive four days behind the wall without the fresh air and any food? The questions to which answers remain shrouded i n mystery are major characteristic of this genre. To recapitulate, the story of the cat and its mad owner is undeniably a masterpiece. Each sentence in the text is meaningful and each needs a scrutiny to properly interpret the whole work. The gothic literary convention is mostly visible in the main character, who happens to be the narrator of the story.He scares the reader by being unpredictable, rage-driven and unreliable. Moreover, the pace of the story, keeping the reader in a lasting suspense, and the presence of numerous omens make The Black Cat one of many very elaborate examples of Poe’s gothic stories. References Badenhausen, Richard. 1992. â€Å"Fear and Trembling in the Literature of the Fantastic: Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat†, Studies in Short Fiction 29, 4: 486-498. Bliss, Ann V. 2009. â€Å"Household Horror: Domestic Masculinity in Poe's The Black Cat†, The Explicator 67, 2: 96-99.Childs, Peter and Roger Fowler. 2006. The Routledge Dictio nary of Literary Terms. London: Routledge. Fisher, Benjamin Franklin. 2004. â€Å"Poe and the Gothic Tradition†, in: Kevin J. Hayes (ed. ), The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. London: Cambridge University Press, 72-91. Sova, Dawn B. 2007. Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File. Stark, Joseph. 2004. â€Å"Motive and Meaning: The Mystery of the Will in Poe's The Black Cat†, The Mississippi Quarterly 57, 2: 254-263.

Compliance and Financial Regulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Compliance and Financial Regulation - Essay Example Whilst being not able to set out required decision taking details the Government’s strategy for administrative reconstruction it probably added some more twists to the pre said regulatory base which was explained inside Chancellor’s Mansion House lecture on June 16, 2010. Unavoidably the proposals from the Government need to dissolve the FSA and replace it with: (Norton Rose pp.2-3) †¢ Brand new macro-prudential controller, the FPC, made inside BoE. †¢ A new economical policy, known as PRA, created as a helpful of BoE. †¢ One fresh conduct of trade regulator, regionally named as Consumer Protection as well as Markets Authority (CP MA). The intrinsic rearrangement on April 4 is the opening move although the FSA clarified that at a point like this it will be stagnant and immobile to â€Å"twin peaks† administration. Instead of that little initiative moves in eventual manner prepare it till 2012 approach towards twin peak. The FPC’s suggested s tatutory target is summarized here. ... Summary of proposals for the Bank’s and FPC’s objectives The target of FPC is structured to connect to the Bank of England aims subsequently: †¢ The FPC has to be exercising its works with a motive to helping to the goals by the Bank of England of the economical Stability Objective. †¢ Liabilities of the FPC related to the getting the goals related fundamentally to the recognition, monitoring, and action taking to amputate or decrease, schematic risk factors with a motive to guard and enhance the flexibility of the United Kingdom economical system. †¢ These schematic risks include, particularly – systemic risk factors attributable to conformational features of commercial markets or may be to the administration of risk in the financial zones and destabilizing levels of influence, debt or capital outlay increment. †¢ It does not need or authorizes the FPC in exercising its works in a process that would be in its say similar of having a distincti ve adverse impact on the capability of the economical sector to help in the development of the United Kingdom finance in the long run. †¢ â€Å"Systemic risk† speaks of a risk factor to the balance of the United Kingdom economical regulation as a total or maybe to an important part of the system. (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee, House of Commons Treasury Committee (COR) pp. 10-13) PRA’s objectives Conference of the Government in July, it was adduced that the FCA along with PRA should function to their individual strategic and functional targets. The PRA would be having a strategic target concentrating on financial balance, with a regulatory objective that emphasizes the promotional part of PRA for soundness of the firms in a mode that never rules out the chance of firm

STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGEMENT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGEMENT - Assignment Example In consideration to the importance of technology in our daily lives, the industry, I have selected for Marketing Research and Planning is ‘Education IT products’. The company that has been selected is Lenovo. Lenovo is a manufacturer of PCs, laptops, desktops and other computer accessories. The history of Lenovo dates back to 1980s (Lenovo Website). Lenovo is operating in UK as well and it is considered as one of the top manufacturers of notebooks in the UK market (Schofield, 2010). The annual report 2009/2010 of Lenovo has revealed that shares of company in the mature markets including UK have declined as compared to its shares in China. Therefore, in this report strategic management analysis of Lenovo has been done and a new product plan has been proposed based on chosen future growth strategy. 2.0 CORPORATE OBJECTIVES The mission statement of Lenovo has been given below: â€Å"Lenovo strives to be a new world company that makes award-winning PCs for our customers. We operate as a company uninhibited by walls or organizational structures using world-sourcing to harness the power of innovation across our global team. We design innovative and exciting products and services to meet our customers’ needs.†(Lenovo Website) As mentioned in the annual report 2009 of Lenovo, the future corporate objectives of Lenovo are given below (Lenovo Website, 2010): Focus on maintaining its growth momentum in its core PC business whereas, exploring new opportunities. Reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency is another corporate objective and to achieve this objective, company has announced a global resource restructuring plan. To expand leadership position in China and to improve profitability in China To return to profitability and maintain and grow shares in the mature markets like UK, US etc To ensure faster end-to-end management in the mature and emerging markets To simplify the business model for global commercial accounts To explore n ew opportunities in mobile interest by coming up new products and through Lenovo Mobile unit 3.0 MARKET OVERVIEW 3.1 Products The current products of Lenovo have been classified into three categories including Professional Grade products, Lifestyle products and Accessories. Professional Grade Lifestyle Accessories ThinkPad Laptops IdeaPad Laptops Monitors ThinkCentre Desktops IdeaCentre Desktops Batteries & Power ThinkStation Workstations Essential Laptop/Desktop Storage ThinkServer Systems All Accessories Source: Lenovo Website The following figure shows sales of Lenovo’s products in 2009 and 2010. Figure shows that notebook computers contribute to the major chunk of the sales with 58 percent and 63 percent in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Figure 1: Sales Analysis by Product, 2009 Source: Lenovo Annual Report 2009/2010 3.2 Target Markets The company has categorised its markets into three groups including China, Mature Markets and Emerging Markets. The Executive Headquarter of Lenovo is in Morrisville, USA whereas, the Principal Operations are in Morrisville (targeting mature markets), Beijing (targeting China) and

International Research Practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Research Practices - Essay Example Considering budget, it would be more practical to just select a local firm that can be the company's partner who will be able to make the company's goal of expanding internationally possible. Finding the right partner, though, is an additional task to the company as it is not that easy to find the right partner to do business with. This paper tries to answer particular questions raised with regard to expanding business internationally and business research practices for the coffee brewing systems company, JavaJoy. Since it is too tasking to conduct the research as an employee of the company, a third-party company is contracted to conduct the research on potential international markets. As mentioned above, expanding business globally is a big decision to make and before making the decision, there is lots of work needed to be done. It is not easy to find a country that can be a potential market, more so, find a business partner to represent the company. Extensive research should be done in order to make a sound decision. The research to be conducted is not as simple as it sounds. The tasks can be daunting and time consuming for an inexperienced company. Thus, it is better to just designate the work to a third-party research firm to be the company's partner in making the right decision. With the nature of the tasks to be done, this research firm partner should be well-experienced when it comes to conducting international business researches. They should have a proven track record in terms of making businesses going international successful. The company can seek referrals from other companies who have worked with research firms. One other thing to consider is the services the research firm offers. It is best to have one specific point person who is in-charge of all the transactions of the company and who will be able to answer all queries by the company. It is also best if the research firm can provide different options and suggestions in order to come up with the right decision. The research firm should indeed act as a partner or an ally of the company in making its goals of going global come true. What would you expect of them The partner in conducting the research should be able to understand how the entire business works. It may not be able to determine the right type of market or find the right local company to work with if it does not fully understand the missions and visions of the company. The first thing that I would expect them to do is to take time in understanding and learning the processes of the company, JavaJoy, what types of market does it cater to and what are the goals of the company. They should be able to show an effort that they need to know these things. One other thing that I would be expecting of them is a regular progress report of their research findings as the company, being the customer, should be well informed all the time. They should also be able to provide the company with a detailed breakdown of all the expenses made in order to gather all the information and research data needed. Overall, I would say that these would all sum up to professionalism. The partner to conduct inte rnational market research should be professional enough in the services they render. How would you go in finding such a partner and what would your selection criteria be Before starting to look for the right partner, there should be