Teacher That I Like Essay Example for Free

Teacher That I Like Essay Friendly short Pay attendant with students Kind Handsome Knowledgeable Good solving the problem Funny Good explaining Good manner Implement High education entire The teacher that I like is teacher Don Sarom. I’m a student at Kids international school. At there I have a teacher. His name is teacher Don Sarom. He is the teacher that I like very much. He is very handsome but he is shorter than me and fatter than me. He is very friendly and funny also. When he is explaining he always has a fun that make we want to study with him. He always pay attendant with all the student in the class. When have some students that don’t understand he will explain them again and again until they understand clearly. And when he explains, all the students are tried to listen to him altogether. He is very kind also. When I have some problem that I don’t know how to do I always call to ask him and he always tell me all the time although hi is studying or busying also. He always has enough implement to teach. When have some problem that happen in the school or in the class he always find the good solving. And he is the good manner person also. When he speaks is make all the student listen to him and always think what that he speak because he is a high education person. I’m very like him he is always helping me all time that I have problem or also the entire student in the class. I will remember all the things that he has done to me. If the entire teacher is as same as him I think all the students are very happy to study.

The Dangers Of Cyber Bullying

The Dangers Of Cyber Bullying Todays children and young people have grown up in a world that is very different from that of most adults. As mobile phones and internet use become increasingly common, so has the misuse of technology. Many young people experience the internet and mobile phones as a positive, productive and creative part of their activities and development of their identities; information communication technologies support social activity that allows young people to feel connected to their peers. This research will explore the various ways that cyber bullying has become prominent in todays youth. Bullying does not only prevail in schools now, but also in the Internet. Todays technology and internet play a major role in cyber bullying. Every day of our lives we are exposed to the benefits of technology; innovations such as mobile phones enable us to communicate, and collaborate more effectively than before. However, in the possession of those who wish to inflict harm upon others, these inventions can be leveraged for nefarious purposes. One severely dangerous and unfortunately obscure application of technology is cyber bullying. Cyber bullying is when a child or teen is threatened, humiliated, or harassed by another child or teen using the internet, mobile phones, or any other digital technology. Cyber bullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, intended to harm (Belsley). Cyber bullying has been used to augment bullying that is occurring in school. The major differences between cyber bullying and traditional bullying are that the bully does not have to see the victims reaction to the harassment, the victim can remain anonymous, the harassment can occur at anytime, and the audience has the potential to be worldwide. Parents are not currently familiar with cyber bullying, but this aspect of cyber bullying will change with time. Many of the strategies that were successful with traditional bullying could be applied to cyber bullying. If adults become involved in this kind of behavior, it is called adult cyber-harassment (YoungWomensHealth). This is a far cry from the bullying behavior from days gone by. I interviewed people from two different generations. Carrie was in high school in the late 1940s. Alana: Was your school setting similar to that of today? Carrie: No, we were all taught in a one room schoolhouse. Grades one to seven learned lessons together. Alana: Was there any bullying going on back then? Carrie: No. Just chiding or what some folks call doing the dozens. Children were accustomed to behaving. They cared about what their parents thought. They never wanted to embarrass their parents. It was respectful almost all of the time. Alana: Did any child kill themselves over being picked on? Carrie: No. Never. Alana: Thank you for your input. Aishah was in high school in the 1980s. Alana: How were children bullied when you were in school, and was there a lot of it? Aishah: Oh yeah. There was bullying back in those school days. It wasnt viscious like it is today, though. Alana: What did children do or say? Aishah: They would write ugly messages on bathroom stalls and student desks or pass ugly notes in class. Alana: Did anyone fight over rumors and name-calling? Aishah: They fought and were friends the next day. Alana: You all used computers. Who was bullied by computer? Aishah: Please, not too many people had a home computer. They were kind of expensive back then, and we played Space Invaders and one other game on them. Thats it. Alana: Did teens and pre-teens have cell phones or other electronic communication devices at that time. Aishah: Oh absolutely not. Those were very expensive back then, as were the charges. Only doctors, lawyers and drug dealers carried cell phones and pagers. Alana: Does it seems as though all of the new electronic forms of communication have contributed to cyber bullying. Aishah: I do. 100 percent! Numerous physical and mental ailments can ensue from online harassment in youth and adults all over the world. Whereas traditional bullying is confined usually within school boundaries, cyber-bullying can take place at any time or place, even in the privacy of ones home. Therefore, students who are electronically engaged can be cyber bullied at any time. Options for escape are extremely limited, with the principal options being either to cease using the Internet or ignore the harasser. Preliminary research by Willard suggests cyber-bullying may produce even more damage to youth, with such consequences ranging from low self-esteem, anxiety, anger, depression, school absenteeism, poor grades, an increased tendency to violate against others, to youth suicide (Willard). Examples of cyber bullying are sending threatening or offensive e-mails, instant messages, or cell phone text messages directly to the victim (WiredKids). Some cyber bullies berate their intended victims by sending mass e-mails, or text messages, to a large group of their peers to humiliate them. The appeal of using instant messaging, email or other communication platforms for bullies is the advantage of covert humiliation. Users can hide behind their IP address, which is little accountability for their actions, and the probability of the abuse being traced to an individual culprit being slim to none. Temporary email accounts and pseudonyms in chat rooms, instant messaging programs, and other Internet venues can make it very difficult for individuals to determine the identity of aggressors. The nature of much of this of this cruelty also prevents blame from being duly laid. The phenomena deals more with the ability to reach such a wide audience and humiliate, threaten, or virtually destroy the reputation of another with a single click of a mouse or the send button on a mobile phone. Although rumors spread fast with word of mouth, they are not able to reach as many people in such a short period of time as they would with text messaging. It is very difficult to defend oneself from cyber bullying when the audience is vast, and the perpetrator is often anonymous. Those who bully others seek to establish power and control over others that they perceive to be weaker than them (Belsley). The motivation of bullies is sometimes due to a lack of confidence and a desire for control. Bullying on the computer is quite cowardly, because the perpetrator wont confront their victim in person. The lack of face-to-face interaction in cyber bullying, reduces empathy in bullies and the fear of getting caught. Cyber bullying is strange thing. Although there is no physical violence, cyber bullying can be more frightening to the targets because there are, potentially, an unlimited number of witnesses. When bullying is anonymous, targets are unaware of whom to watch out for or respond to attacks; which can lead to feelings of helplessness. Over half of teenagers who are targeted by cyber bullies never actually report it. Cyber bullying often occurs away from adults. Therefore, witnesses or bystanders to cyber bullying have a very important role to play when it comes to putting an end to it. They represent social consensus and in this capacity, have an important role to play in stopping or supporting cyber bullying (BeWebAware). The latest technologies used by cyber bullies are camera phones, built-in digital cameras into the phones, add new dimensions to the problem. Cyber bullies use them to take pictures of a victim in the restroom or locker rooms and post them on the web or send them to others through e-mail or picture messaging on a cell phone. Violent fights at schools are captured by students on their mobile phones and then sent to others or posted on websites like YouTube, MySpace, or Face book for others to view and comment on, causing harm to the victims. Now school administrators and teachers are being asked to oversee students in cyberspace, which anyone can access just about anywhere, anytime, day or night (Franek). If the offending media is a video file of a schoolgirl in a compromising situation that is being shared from phone to phone, is everyone who has a copy of the file worthy of punishment? It is these issues, and many more that have prompted a timely increase in the awareness of cyber b ullying. On social networking sites, they allow you to tag the names of people who appear in a photo. This simple act can lead to cyber bullying, as these photos will appear in any search engine under the persons name, allowing the victims to be exposed. Children and teens write messages for all of their friends to see in blogs. However, kids sometimes use these blogs to damage one anothers reputations or invade their privacy (WiredKids). Sometimes teens set up fake profile pages, impersonating others, degrading them and saying things designed to harm and humiliate them. MySpace is the number one social networking site for high school age students and younger. Most kids use MySpace to set up profiles and share information about themselves, their favorite music, Hollywood stars and other interests with kids in their school or neighborhood. For most, MySpace represents a fun form of self-expression that utilizes the latest online technology. However it is executed, cyber bullying on MySpace remains a significant problem. While many chalk it up to kids being kids, more and more are starting to realize that a nasty post on someones MySpace page is as bad or worse that a taunt yelled across the schoolyard. Facebook is similar to MySpace except that it is geared towards a slightly older audience, the music and customization functionality is a lot less robust than found on MySpace, but is still being used by cyber bullies to harass their classmates and ex-friends. The rules of engagement are similar to those found in MySpace. People will either use their own profile to harass others, or create fake identities and build profiles to harass other people or dupe them into thinking another person is interested in them, romantically or as a friend. When on Facebook, sometimes you get requests from people you dont know through your friends. Many teens want to seem popular so they accept the unknown people, to expand their friends to try and get as many as possible. When a friend doesnt like something youve said or done, they can bad mouth you to the people that are on your friends list. One of the fastest growing social media enterprises, Twitter, allows people to follow one another by posting regular updates about their activities. Twitter is seeing a growing number of cyber bullying incidents as more and more kids figure out how to post hateful, harassing information about their friends and deliver it via Tweet to as many followers of the site as they can. In the most extreme cases of cyber bullying, many kids are going to the trouble of building entire websites from scratch in order to use them to humiliate another individual. A common method for doing this is to buy a URL from godaddy.com that humiliates the target such as: www.ambersisugly.com, then fill it with unkind postings and photos. Photoshopping a person into uncompromising positions is a highly used form of cyber bullying, then spreading word about the site to others via email, social networking, etc. Many kids today are playing interactive games on gaming devices such as X-Box Live and Sony Play Station 2 Network. Multiplayer online games and virtual worlds can be venues for harassment and cyber bullying. These gaming devices allows teens to communicate by chat and live Internet phone with anyone they find themselves matched with in an online game. Sometimes the kids verbally abuse the other kids, using threats and crude language. Sometimes they take it further, by locking them out of games, passing false rumors about them or hacking into their accounts (Willard). Yet, interactive gaming is what kids and teens enjoy the most. And what used to be a solitary and isolating activity is now a community and social activity. As entertaining as interactive gaming is, parents should be aware that their children can speak, using their own voice, with strangers online. Xbox comes with built-in parental controls, which prevent the child from using voice chat until the parent feels they are able to handle it safely. They need to be aware that networked gaming devices offer voice chat (WiredKids). They also need to understand that many other interactive voiced games can be accessed online using an ordinary headset. Some teens who get involved in cyber bullying dont realize the impact or consequence of what they say online or in a text message. They may feel that saying something online or via a text message is not as bad as if they said it in person. The bully then sits back and gains gratification from seeing others engage in destructive behavior towards each other (Field). It may even start out as a joke. Others use cyber bullying because they dont have the courage to say something face to face. Either way you look at it, cyber bullying is wrong because the remarks are usually untrue, very hurtful and can be damaging to the victim. If educators and administrators could create and use blogs to educate students about cyber-bullying in language that students can understand and to which they can relate, it may be a more appropriate medium for implementing guidelines as opposed to the more traditional and older-fashioned approaches. Web blogs represent a new medium for computer-mediated communication that may offer discernment into the ways of young peoples self-expression and relationships in peer groups. Schools need to educate students and parents about cyber bullying. They need to inform parents and students of acceptable computer use policies in writing at the beginning of the school year and strictly reinforce these policies throughout the school year. It is recommended that there be a clause in the policy allowing school officials to discipline students for violating the acceptable use policies when not using school computers under certain circumstances (COPS). The policies should be posted visibly in areas where computers will be used by students. A penalty for students violating any acceptable policy should be suspension of their computer privileges. All children and teens have a way of showing their emotions or signs that something is wrong. Parents and teachers sometimes mistake these signs as normal behavior. It is not until this behavior gets out of hand or creates problems, that someone grows concerned and begins to ask questions. Signs that a child is being cyber bullied can vary. A few things to look for are: signs of emotional distress during or after using the internet, withdrawal from friends and activities, avoidance of school or group gatherings, slipping grades and acting out in anger at home, or changes in mood, behavior, sleep, or appetite (KidsHealth). Children who are victims of cyber bullying normally do not tell anyone, because they feel afraid or are embarrassed. There have been many high profile and tragic incidents in the media in recent years which have linked adolescent suicides to experiences with cyber bullying. The connection between suicide and interpersonal aggression is certainly nothing new, as a number of studies have documented the association between bullying and suicide. Those who experience bullying, and those who bully, report higher levels of suicidal ideation and are more likely to have attempted suicide. Some people who end their lives or attempt suicide might be trying to escape feelings of rejection, hurt, or loss. Others might be angry, ashamed, or guilty about something. Some people may be worried about disappointing friends or family members. And some may feel unwanted, unloved, victimized, or like theyre a burden to others (KidsHealth). The following is an account of real-life examples. Thirteen-year-old Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri was, by all accounts, a sweet, loving young lady. Megans parents vigilantly monitored Megans Internet use, going so far as refusing to give Megan access to her own MySpace account unless one of them was there to input the secret password. Shortly before her fourteenth birthday, a cute boy name Josh sent Megan an electronic request to be added as a friend to her MySpace account. For the next six weeks, Megan and Josh exchanged on-line correspondence and Megan began to have a rosier outlook on life as there was now a cute boy who thought she was pretty; Megan had suffered for years with weight issues and depression. Suddenly, and inexplicably, Megan received a message from Josh ending their on-line relationship because he had heard that she was not nice to her friends. Josh had also shared some of the private content of their prior conversations with other classmates on MySpac e which led those classmates to launch an online attack against her, calling her vicious names. Later that evening, Megans mother found her hanging by a belt in her bedroom closet; she died the next day. Sadly, Megans story gets much worse. Weeks later it would be revealed that Josh was an imaginary persona, allegedly created by the mother of one of Megans former friends. The mother, the former friend, an eighteen-year-old employee of the mother, and several other of Megans classmates all took turns pretending to be Josh, writing messages and causing Megan to reveal personal and private information to an audience that she believed was a cute boy that liked her (Pokin). Eerily similar, is the story of thirteen-year-old Ryan Halligan of Essex Junction, Vermont. Ryan had struggled during his early years in school and had self-esteem issues as a result. Beginning in the fifth grade, he was bullied by another boy in school. The bullying persisted until seventh grade when Ryan was able to fend for himself during a physical altercation with the bully. After that, Ryan and the bully became friends and Ryan revealed potentially embarrassing confidences to the boy. The boy then revealed these stories to classmates via the Internet, starting rumors about Ryans sexual orientation. Later that summer, Ryan began chatting on-line with one of the most popular girls in school. Like Megan Meier, he felt comfortable enough with the girl to discuss topics that he would not necessarily want others to know about. When the school year began, Ryan approached the girl only to be rejected in front of her friends. She informed Ryan that the on-line relationship had been a joke, and that she had shared the contents of their chats with her friends. Unable to deal with the humiliation, Ryan committed suicide (Halligan). These are extremes but far from unique examples of devastation wrought by cyber bullying. Since Halligan and Meierss death, more and more children are logging onto the internet, so its likely that online bullying, including sending threatening messages, displaying private messages and posting embarrassing video and photos online, is also increasing. There are no laws that specifically address cyber bullying. Cyber bullying offences can fall under other laws depending on the state. Victims of cyber bullying should not respond to the cyber bully, as the situation can escalate into serious incidents offline. Keeping electronic and printed evidence to document incidents and reporting serious incidents to law enforcement officials is recommended. What can you do to protect yourself and your family from the consequences of cyber bullying? First, get involved with your childs online activities. Require that all passwords be divulged to you, and make it a policy to audit regularly. If your child has an online web page, such as those on MySpace, visit it often to see what he or she is posting. This includes both the parents of the bullies and the victims. Next, there needs to be frank talk to other parents about what is going on in your childs online life. You would be surprised how much other parents could tell you about your own child. Finally, if your child is bullying someone, make sure he knows the potential educational, criminal or financial consequences of such behavior. If you discover that your child is a victim of bullying, consider having her see a counselor to ensure that there are no issues that would cause her to crack under the pressure. Although most kids are able to live through the ordeal, there are some kids such as Megan and Ryan who may have underlying issues that need to be addressed (Curier). Finally, if your child is being ridiculed for an issue that could be easily improved with the proper attention, parents should not delay in getting help for the youngster. This issue is not going away, and begs for much more attention and a host of solutions to cease what is definitely one of the most troubling trends of our times.

Wal-marts foreign entry

Wal-marts foreign entry WAL-MARTS FOREIGN ENTRY IN GLOBAL MARKETS The phenomenon of globalization has determined many firms to spread out to overseas markets. The purpose of this paper is to examine the firms strategies for new market entry and the major issues they need to deal with while entering into new foreign markets and Wal-Mart is utilized as an example. During this expansion, some firms succeeded and some failed also. Wal-Marts entry into the foreign market and its operations in the China and U.K where it was successful are examined and it can be inferred that the cultural differences and the political influences play a vital role in selecting entry mode and setting operational strategies. Also, In order to understand the failure in German retail market amongst many, the following influential factors will be considered that Germany has different culture and consumer behaviour, oligopoly market environment, unfavorable legislation and influential labour union. Additionally, this entry and exit of Wal-mart affected, inevitably, other countries and most of the competitors in many aspects. In the domestic market of U.S, Wal-Mart has a considerable success. Since Wal-Mart began international operations in Mexico in 1991, it has violently expanded foreign investments all over the world, including Canada, Latin America, Europe, and the Far East. Wal-Mart expanded its international operations such as in the United Kingdom, South America and China where its going highly successful, whereas in South Korea and German markets its operations were unsuccessful and it was forced to pull out of these markets mainly due to sustained losses in an incompatible culture and highly competitive market. However, Wal-mart failed to position itself when trying to penetrate the German retail market through replicating its US strategies. Initially, firms should have a clear purpose for expanding overseas. Firms tend to go international for many different reasons, for example, firms may be interested in structuring a global brand image, the home market may be saturated, external initiatives to spread the product, or grabbing more market share etc. Prior to entering a particular foreign market, firms need to look upon the consumer purchasing power, market size, entry barriers, political stability and cultural and language differences. Culture plays an essential role in shaping whether a firm can last in a foreign market. Consumers in different cultures may have different attitudes toward the same product and may value things differently. Therefore, international managers should take into account the cultural factor carefully in decision-making. Furthermore, Psychic distance also requires being carefully addressed in the market selection stage. Psychic distance is defined as factors precluding or disturbing the flows of information between firms and markets in terms of differences in culture, language, political systems, levels of industrial development, etc (Johanson and Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975). Theoretically, firms have a tendency to penetrate the psychically close market to moderate risk. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart) is the worlds biggest American retail corporation in the world. Wal-Mart is a company which is renowned for its influence on US government. Wal-Mart has a friendly legislature and government policy in accordance to its company policies and method which indeed helps them to achieve goal such as limiting port security, the elimination of the estate tax, restricting tariff protections and obtaining lucrative subsidies. According to survey Wal-Mart has received 1.2 billion from US government in form of subsidies, grants and fund. Following are few examples that shows how US government helped Wal-Mart in US: More Than $1 Billion from tax-payer funded Subsidies. A May 2004 report analyzed how more than $1 billion from over 244 taxpayer-funded subsidies status, general grants and job training/recruiting funds is received by Wal-Mart. Millions To broaden the Street to its Headquarters. In2005, to broaden Eighth Street in Bentonville which goes to Wal-Marts corporate headquarters, a federal highway bill was signed by President Bush of $35 million. Employing Teens in Unsafe Conditions. An agreement was signed by the Wal-Mart with the Departments Wage and Hours Division about future child labor conditions that the teens aged 16 and 17 are prohibited to participate in activities Negotiating for Weak Enforcement. The conduct of an audit by the (OIG) of the child labor found an agreement among Wal-Mart and the Department of Labor that prove serious collapses in the WHD [Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division] process for approving, developing and negotiating such agreements. These consequences in the WHD gave substantial concessions to Wal-Mart, while entering into an agreement. In the early 1990s, Wal-Mart was enforced to expand its business into the new foreign market due to critical U.S market conditions. Firstly, In the US it faced market saturation. Wal-Mart comes up with 200 new stores each year and this fast expansion results in the short distance between its old stores and new stores. Further, the retail price difference between Wal-Mart and its key competitors has been lessened so consumers had little incentive to go to Wal-Mart. Therefore, rather than summing up the market share from its competitors, the new stores in fact gained the market share from its old stores. Finally, the progress in demand was declining because of the decreasing family sizes in the U.S. (Kim 2008) . Taking into account, all these factors, the international expansion appears as a prior strategy for Wal-Mart to promote its business growth. Wal-Mart initiated to expand internationally in 1991 with the creation of a joint venture with Citra, S.A. de C.V, Mexicos largest retailer. According to the Wal-Mart they promote its growth internationally because â€Å"We need to be the growth of Wal-Mart some day when the United States slows down† (as cited in Molin, 2004). The company feels the international market as a alternate when there was limited growth in the US. After creating a joint venture in 1991, Wal-Mart came out as a large international player and within one and half decade it expanded its operations in globally in many countries. Wal-Mart did not use single strategy to enter in different countries. They decide on the basis of the business, competitive and economic environments that exist in. Wal-Mart made its presence in local markets by first considering the uniqueness of each market, and then by altering its business model to suit that market. After choosing the country like China, the management makes the decision after analyzing the environment that seemed to be positive in China. The China is a country with a history of tremendous level of 1.3 billion population. In China , the governments liberalization initiative and its open policy increased disposable income of consumers because of limited competition offered by similar business models its high constant economic growth and. The retail sale in China is $1.2 trillion in 2007 and the growth of market is expected $ 2.4 trillion by 2020, which indicates that there is a big opportunity for the company. These factors attracted the Wal-Mart company to research and make their presence in China. In 1996,Wal-Mart entered China and it grew slowly. Some people pointed out on its slow growth, but according to me, the strategy of slow growth helps the Company to examine the environment in a completely different culture with regard to US. Wal-Mart had taken up those merchandising and store designs that suits the Chinese consumer requirements best. The company also tries to adopt the local culture and sourced the products from local manufactures who are familiar with the local taste of the people. Company also met the government trade and business guidelines, by adopting such type of the environment it helped the company to grow and launch its expansion plans in China. Wal-Mart is getting involved in the local community such as by participating in CSR- corporate social responsibility .It is also participating in the society by donating the funds and providing the kind support of $ 8 million over the past 13 years. All such awards achieved by the company itself show its achievement in China. Another issue that contributed to Wal-Marts success in China, was labour unionization. At first, Wal-Mart was reluctant to support the idea of unionization, but the constant efforts of All-China Federation of Trade Union led to formation of union amongst Wal-Mart employees, which has contributed positively to its success. Currently, Wal-Mart carries on 7,873 stores worldwide in 15 countries among which 3,615 stores in the foreign countries and remaining in the US. Moreover its international segment gives 24.6% of the companys total revenue in 2009 fiscal year. (Global Market Direct, 2009) However, even with such enhanced international sales, Wal-Marts international division is still far away from its one-third of total sales goal, which it was essentially expected to achieve by 2005. (1999 Annual Report) If we analyze Wal-Marts international business, we will find out a mixed story. It had substantial success in Canada, China, Mexico and the United Kingdom, but it was unsuccessful to place itself in Germany and South Korea. Wal-Mart was leading retailer and employer in US for last decade. There were more than 5000 stores in US itself. This made easier for the firm in structuring a good brand image in spite of offering cheap products. Due to its knowledge, low pricing, strategic resources, geographical presence, strategic investment, product differentiation and managerial excellence, the firm constantly had an upper edge on its competitors and generally drives them out of the business. Further reasons for Wal-Marts success was its elite relations with bureaucrats and government. Government policies usually were in harmony to Wal-Mart business and strategies. Wal-Mart had many weaknesses and pit holes also despite of being worlds no. 1 company. Wal-Mart was always criticized for poor labour practices by labour unions. In US the average salary per hour is $ 13 where as in Wal-Mart the lowest salary rate is US$ 9 per hour. Employees have prolonged working hours around ten hours a day. Further Wal-Mart is charged for adopting the tax avoidance schemes. It has also build a great reputation for destroying small and medium business. Therefore its never greeted in any society. The main weakness of Wal-Mart has been its international operation. It struggled to create a great mark in international market especially in Germany unlike America. It has been losing money from the year it penetrated German market. It has also been found that in some cases those inferior quality products are being sold because of discounted price. As a result consumers who are not price elastic have a preference over other brands. It also bears the huge labour turnover, about 44% employees leave Wal-Mart every year according to the national survey. These were some major weakness that the firm desires to come up in near future for its survival and sustenance. A number of factors that resulted Wal-Marts failure in Germany are such as different corporate culture, political influence, stiff competition and inefficient management and marketing strategies. Firstly, David Wild CEO in 2004, believed that cultural differences between American and German consumers were considerable challenges to Wal-Mart. Debby CEO in 2006 concluded that German shoppers are accustomed to shop at small scale discount stores such as Aldi and Netto that provides a limited range of products with special offers each week and no customer service, unlike US customers. In addition to different corporate culture, the competition has become gradually more intense between Wal-Mart and domestic retailers. The price difference has so lessened that sometimes even Wal-Mart had a higher price than their competitors. Consequently, consumers had little incentive to visit Wal-Mart Germany because of no obvious price advantage. Some other factors that lead to Wal-Marts failure in Germany were, their strategy of acquiring the top competitor did not work, as the German government did its best to ensure the welfare of the domestic players. Also, due to wage restrictions, Wal-Mart could not practice wage bargaining, as it did back in U.S, this was a huge, uncommon expenditure for the company. Its American strategy of restricting employee freedom and forcing them to work extra hours, brought up problems of high labour turnover and a negative image as an employer. Wal-Mart failed to have an effective management at the top level. Its CEOs changed every year,this in an obvious way effected the companys performance. Wal-Mart constantly ignored the strictness of German laws, and was charged heavy penalties for doing so. One of the most challenging thing for Wal-Mart was capturing the market- share. As per German legislation it was illegal to sell products below cost,because of which Wal-Mart could never achieve the à ¢â‚¬ËœLow price leader tag. It is impossible to smoothly run any organization, until there is co-operation between the employees and the employer. Wal-Mart faced a severe labour unrest,which hampered its brand-image. Kay Hafner,CEO of Wal-Mart reduced the wages to cut cost, this negatively influenced individual behaviour , as an anti-union decision. As suggested by Arndt and Knorr, a firm needs to understand the specifications when indulging in global expansion.Out of all the CEOs, only David Wild has been sensitive to cultural difference.He did bring about changes based on this understanding,which had some positive results,yet not profitable enough to impress investors for future investments. Moreover,as per German legislation their were some specific retail related laws,such as, limited legal working hours (80 hours/week) which were way less than the other European countries and had strict rules governing closure on Sundays and holidays. Wal-Mart repeatedly infringement German laws but were able to do away with it mainly because of global presence and influence on the government of US which played a major role in global politics. Some of incidences where the company broke few laws and was able to get away are summed up below:- ‘unfair trade practices such as selling goods below the cost price was prohibited in Germany but Wal-Mart was found violating these laws as it randomly sold some product below cost. German law required a company to disclose it financial statements annually, Wal-Mart seldom did that and was spared without any fine or legal proceedings at number of occasions. Obligatory Deposit Regulationdings law stipulated the retailer to provide deposit-refund-system on few products like metal beverages, cans etc. But Wal-Mart never followed this law. Thus from the above incidences it can be concluded that Wal-Mart used its global influence to refrain from some of the German laws. However, because German culture is quite different from American culture and because of unfamiliarity with the legislation, it would be difficult for Wal-Mart to make marketing and promotion right. And in fact these difficulties had been proved in Wal-Mart Germany. Consequently, rather than choosing Germany as the gateway to Europe, virtually after two years of operating in Germany it had entered in U.K .Even though U.K is not in the Euro zone and its geographic location is less favorable than Germany, it has a similar culture and legal environment as U.S. which makes it easier to operate the companys business and strategies. It has considerable success in the UK market which is called by as a ‘Wal-Mart-ready market[palmer 2005] .Therefore, the lessons learned from from Germany has proven useful for U.K. In the United Kingdom, Wal-Mart operates under its distinct organizational culture ‘the Wal-Mart Way, where executives act as servants and employees are known as ‘associates. Associates are empowered to adapt to local culture and are encouraged to try out new ideas. Consequently, associate cohesiveness is strengthened, and they are willing to work hard to achieve the best results. In addition, satisfying customer needs is always placed as main goal of the company. The company aims to offer British families the things they need at affordable prices, as well as providing superior customer service and convenience. Needless to say, Wal-Mart did face challenges initially even in U.K. The British Planning Policy(PPS6) has clearly limited the construction of huge retail outlets on the outskirts of a town, which was one of its most effective strategy in the U.S According to PPS6,the local governments were required to do so until there was a call for .Wal-Mart responded to this situation by protesting the restrictive policies to the top government officials. Eventually, Wal-Mart acquired an existing retail chain ASDA, and this proved to be fruitful as it served as the best strategic fit between the companies. In the UK, ASDA was the only operator with a consistent non-food offer and Wal-Marts organisational culture had already incorporated into ASDAs management principles before the acquisition taken place. Based on the above examination of Wal-Mart, it can be concluded that Wal-Mart possessed a great influence on the US government and it used its great influence to get various tax reliefs, subsidies etc and when it entered other countries like UK, China and Germany etc, it followed the same policy to influence the government and capitalize on these relationships. Besides that there were few incidences in which the US government helped Wal-Mart in its international operations and having good relations with the foreign government which brings about the companies involvement in global politics, which is the essence of the report. However,while expanding globally Wal-Mart besides carrying all these good relationships still had to confront with the cultural, political and the other economic factors when it entered in the foreign markets because Wal-Mart to be successful only transports its domestic policy to global markets. No such one strategy or model is applicable which is appropriatefor all the markets. Consequently ,Wal-Marts US model cant be consistently applied in other countries, even in UK whose culture is very alike to that of the US. Hence, adaptation to local culture and familiarity with its legislations is a crucial step for Wal-Mart or any firm while entering to the global markets. Therefore, Firms should always make cultural and political considerations as a part of strategic planning, and locating activities in countries that possess these attributes necessary for competing in these activities of foreign entry. REFERENCES IGO Retail Analysis. (2009). â€Å"Company Summary-Introduction: Wal-Mart.† [Online] Available from: http://www.igd.com/analysis/channel/profile_detail.asp?channelid=1channelitemid=27profileid=1541 [Accessedï ¼Å¡2 November 2009] John Robin, Cox Howard, Grazia Letto-Gilles, Grimwade Nigel, Allen Michael, Finn Edward (2002), Global Business strategy. Thomson Ricker (2007) â€Å"Internationalization Theory†, http://www.studentbibliotek.se/doku.php/internationalization_theory Problems in international market, patiporn kitlertphiroj, University college of denver) Landler, M. and Barbaro, M., (2006). â€Å"Wal-Mart finds that its formula doesnt fit every culture.† The New York Times, August2.2.pp.1-3[online] Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/business/worldbusiness/02walmart.html?_r=1 Wal-Mart (n.d.): 3 Basic Belief Value,[online] Available from: http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/321.aspx [Assessed: 25 October 2009] Eurofood (1999), Wal-Mart buys Asda in UK retail shock, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DQA/is_1999_June_17/ai_55041044/ Knorr, A. And Arndt, A. (2003), â€Å"Why did Wal-Mart dail in Germany†, available at: http://www.iwim.uni-bremen.de/publikationen/pdf/w024.pdf(accessed November 3, 2009). IGD Analysis (2005): Chinese Wal-Mart chant gets louder. [online] Available from http://www.igd.com/analysis/news/index.asp?nid=2094 [Accessed online: 2 November 2009] Christopherson, S. (2007). â€Å"Barrier to ‘US style lean retailing: the case of Wal-Mart failure in Germany.† Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 4, No.7, pp.1-19 http://walmartwatch.com/blog/archives/secret_meeting_details_confirmed_wa_mart_lobbied_uk_government/ http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/4737/ http://joeg.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/7/4/451 http://walmartwatch.com/issues/political_influence/ http://www.examiner.com/x-21521-Huntington-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m11d28-Wal-Mart-does-again-this-time-in-Canada (http://www.themanagementor.com/kuniverse/kmailers_universe/mktg_kmailers/wal-mart.htm) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wal-Mart) http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/WalMart-Stores-Inc-html)

Exploration Of The Matthew Shepard Event Essay -- Homosexuality Crime

Exploration Of The Matthew Shepard Event The human body is an object in which one lives and the medium through which one experiences oneself and the world. Claims on ideology and space are ultimately vested in the human body, and thus conflicts about belief systems and territory are often contested violently on physical bodies. Gay bodies become entangled in violence when they enter into arenas that combat certain ideas. Gay bashing illustrates incidences all in which bodies experience physical injury. In modern U.S. communities various militant conservatives target homosexuals in "gay bashing." Mathew Shepard's brutal murder in 1998 illustrates a relatively recent incident in which the human body becomes politicized. What is the process by which the pain and death of Shepard's body transform the personal to the political? What does "gay bashing" mean to attackers, victims and their communities? If gay bashing is about violence and being gay is at least partially about sex, then what is the relationship between them? What framework attends to both the sexual and nonsexual activities among contemporary American males? In Between Men, Eve Sedgwick sleds light on the boundaries separating sexual and nonsexual male relationships. According to the author, homosocial and homosexual do not necessarily have to occupy two different, non-overlapping spheres. " 'Homosocial desire', to begin with, is a kind of oxymoron. "Homosocial" is a word . . . [that] describes social bonds between persons of the same sex; it is a neologism, obviously formed with analogy with "homosexual," and just as obviously meant to distinguish from 'homosexual'" (Sedgwick 1985:1). Sedgwick contends that it would be more useful to view homosocial and homosexu... ...riarchy is the right of men to "hit on" women while remaining safe from not being "hit on" by anyone else, especially another man. Patriarchy, imbued with hierarchical meanings, gives heterosexual men something to loose. As practiced in contemporary America, patriarchy uses homophobia as structural support. Gay bashing exemplifies homosocial behavior's contribution to US patriarchy. The human body is both an object in which one lives and a site of political articulation. The struggles within many societies begin and end within the terrain of the human body, which though has no referential meaning becomes embodied by meaning within context that ultimately has a stake in the body. . Works Cited: 1. Kaufman, Moises. 2001. The Laramie Project. New York: First Vintage Books. 2. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. 1985. Between Men. New York: Columbia University Press.

Teodoro Moscoso :: Essays Papers

Teodoro Moscoso Teodoro Moscoso and Puerto Rico’s Operation Bootstrap by Alex W. Maldonado tells us about the life of Teodoro Moscoso, the architect of the â€Å"economic miracle† which most experts did not believe could happen in Puerto Rico. Teodoro Moscoso was born in Barcelona on November 26, 1910. His mother, named Alejandrina Mora Fajardo, was a Spaniard from the Balearic island of Majorca. His father, also named Teodoro, was a pharmacist. He wanted to have a son that could help him accomplish, a branch of pharmacies through Puerto Rico. Moscoso attended school in New York and became a good English speaker. He graduated from Ponce High School; soon after this, he was attending the Philadelphia School of Pharmacy. After studying there for 3 years he insisted to his father, to transfer him to the University of Michigan. He wanted to go there because it offered liberal arts courses which he wanted to study. After graduation in 1932 Moscoso returned to Ponce to work at his father’s pharmacy. He married Gloria Sà ¡nchez Vilella, sister of future Puerto Rico governor Roberto Sà ¡nchez Vilella (1965-1969). Pharmacy work bored Moscoso, and in the mid 1930’s when the Ponce Housing Authority (PHA) was about to lose a two million dollar grant, Pedro Juan Rosaly, a PHA board member approached Moscoso’s father and asked if his son could help. Moscoso’s command of the English language was what drew the interest of PHA officials. Moscoso saved the grant and from 1937 to 1941 he build nearly one thousand housing units, clearing many Ponce slums in the process. It was Moscoso’s work at PHA which captured the interest of the newly appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Rexford G. Tugwell. Tugwell was a member President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s brain trust, a group of well educated, committed Americans who went to Washington during the Great Depression to try to lift the nation out of the economic crisis. After a chance meeting when Tugwell visited Moscoso’s pharmacy in Ponce, Teodoro went to work in La Fortaleza as assistant for housing. The title was a formality in order to get Moscoso a salary for his work, but the actual duties were far broader. Another important event in Teodoro Moscoso’s life occurred in the summer of 1940 when Moscoso met Luis Muà ±oz Marà ­n.

Great Leaders: Are They Made or Born? Essay

Skills such as communications skills, strategic and leadership skills are often questioned whether they are learned or naturally born within a person. These debates are caused by the bipolar opposition of an individual’s growth as influenced by nurture and nature. Human behaviors are studied by psychologists and sociologists to explain the phenomena whether those behaviors are innate or learned and acquired. One of those phenomena is a person’s success in terms of leadership abilities. Leadership skills are enhanced and developed through performance, actions and experiences; thus, triumphant and great leaders are made, not born. Leadership is defined as â€Å"working with and through others to achieve objectives† (qtd. Goldsmith). It means that any person who is in a position and whose success and achievement entails the support of others, can play the role of a leader (Goldsmith). Leaders make possibilities (Avolio 3), so the belief of most psychologists then that leadership qualities are innate are now being debated because of several researches that show the other possibility: leadership skills can be mastered and developed (Avolio). It is not enough to believe in the â€Å"Great Man† theories, which assume that the ability for leadership is inherent and inborn–that great leaders are born, not made. The theories most of the time illustrate leaders as heroic, mythic and fated to ascend to leadership when needed (Wagner). However, it is important to note that it is misjudged and underestimated if people fail to gather and learn from life and personal experiences, which are said to have an impact on developing leadership skills (Avolio 3). Great leaders emerge in a number of forms; however, there are particular characteristics that are common to the quality of leadership–a process of influencing members of the organization to commit and to work hard towards achieving the organization’s goals. Leaders can either be task-oriented–leaders who are interested most in directing behavior, training, performance and winning–or person-oriented, leaders who are enthused more on the interpersonal relationship of the organization (Sugarman 1). On the other hand, in order for a person to be addressed as a â€Å"great† leader, he or she must be both task-and-people-oriented so that every aspect of the organization will be given focus. The quote â€Å"great leaders are people persons† (Banescu), implies that a great leader is someone who likes to be with people, listens to them, relates to them, knows how to communicate well, and speaks their language and does not talk down to them. Moreover, great leaders are knowledgeable and efficient administrators. It means that the leader comprehends the works that are being done in all the areas of the organization: how the areas and the people collaborate. The leader possesses a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the people he or she administers. He or she devotes resources and time to correct the weaknesses and reinforce the strengths (Banescu). It is also essential to take into consideration that a leader needs to have the qualities that the organization is incorporating. For instance, if a leader desires his or her members to be confident and be disciplined, it is essential that he or she must first possess those traits. In order for a person to be called as a leader, he or she needs to lead by example. A leader serves as an influential model for all his or her members, so everything he or she does will be watched and looked at (Sugarman 1). Basically, the skills of a great leader revolve on his or her capacity to manage and lead the members of his or her organization, as well as to fulfill and do his or her own tasks while making sure that the organization functions well in achieving its goals and objectives. Great leaders’ qualities and abilities center on action rather than position. Leaders are in the position to supervise the organization and its members and to make sure that every aspect performs well. Leadership is not primarily about exercising one’s power and extending his or her dominion by abusing his or her authority and manipulating the members of the group. Thus, a leader guides the members of the organization, not rules them. He or she draws a course, bestows direction and enhances and develops the social and psychological milieu (qtd. Sugarman 2). Given the aforementioned premises, then, how great leaders are made? Being a leader especially a triumphant and great one is a matter of choice, a matter of priority and a matter of challenge. Of course, every individual desires to become a leader and sees him or herself as a catalyst of change. However, albeit the dreams and visions of becoming one, only those who follow their heart and who make the move have evolved to become leaders. Nevertheless, becoming a great leader is more challenging than just turning into an ordinary and usual leader. â€Å"Great† is a very powerful and strong adjective that describes the whole capacity and leadership abilities of a person. It is how a person makes use of his or her leadership capabilities as well as how he or she maximizes his or her strengths and potentials in order to manage and lead the organization properly. It is also about utilizing his or her leadership skills in order to create and discover new strategies and techniques. As what the old saying goes, â€Å"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trial;† this statement is very much suitable with regards to the explanation of making great leaders. It means that a person needs to learn from his or her personal experiences in accord to his or her leadership potentials. The acquired knowledge and experiences will definitely be of great help to an individual’s leadership development. So in order to become a great leader, a leader must first be beaten with a lot of trials and challenges during the process. Great leaders: are they made or born? That question has been commonly asked and has been studied for several decades. Psychologists then insist that great leaders are born because leadership skills are acquired from one’s ancestors. The leader’s abilities are intact on their genes. However, that notion with leadership is said to be dangerous because it promotes self-delusion and irresponsibility. It crafts an escape on one’s responsibility for taking action or for learning how to take action when he or she has seen the need of the organization or the community (Heifetz 20). On the other hand, current researches show and reveal that great leaders are made, not born. Because even though the person has been born with skills and abilities, but he or she fails to utilize them and fails to apply it in his or her experiences and leadership struggle, still, his or her innate capacities have no use. But if a person is already born with excellent skills on leadership and chooses to enhance and develop those skills, he or she has the power to transform him or herself into a person that he or she yearns for him or herself to be – a proficient leader. Great leaders are made because of several things that triumphant leaders accomplish. Such things involve getting 390 degrees feedback on his or her present effectiveness, picking the most essential behaviors for change, asking the members of the group for suggestions on how he or she can do a better job, listening to the members’ ideas, and following up and measuring change in efficiency over time (Goldsmith). Given that, an excellent leader provides a serene atmosphere where members can learn and grow. At the same time he or she gives responsibility to the group and fosters independence (Sugarman 2). Great leaders are made because they make use of their skills and abilities and apply what they have learned and what they have experienced in the course of their leadership process and development. They do not just sit on their table and order the members to do their jobs and to accomplish the organization’s goal; hence, triumphant leaders work together with their members. They motivate the group, not manipulate it. Great leaders are made because such leaders are open for crafting possibilities and achieving the unexpected. They make things happen by doing actions and taking responsibilities. They do not just allow a thing to materialize in itself; rather, they do something for it and they strive for it. Leadership is not a just a matter of choice; it is a matter of priority and willingness to act. Works Cited Avolio, Bruce. Leadership Development in Balance: Made or Born. London: Routledge, 2005. Avolio, Bruce. 1999. â€Å"Are Leaders Born or Made. † Psychology Today. 05 March 2009 . Banescu, Chris. 2007. â€Å"Key Characteristics of Great Leaders. † Orthodoxnet. com Blog. 05 March 2009 . Goldsmith, Marshall. 2008. â€Å"Great Leaders Are Made, Not Born. † Harvard Business Publishing. 05 March 2009 . Heifetz, Ronald Abadian. Leadership Without Easy Answers. United States: Harvard University Press, 1994. Sugarman, Karlene. 2008. â€Å"Leadership Characteristics. † Ottewell School. 05 March 2009 . Wagner, Kendra Van. 2009. About. com: Psychology. 05 March 2009 .

Easter in Ukraine

Easter (in Ukrainian: ‘Velykden’ or ‘Pasha’) is the most important holiday of the year in Ukraine. It’s celebrated on each first week after vernal equinox and full moon. Preparation for Easter starts seven weeks ahead of time with the advent of Lent. Believers don't eat meat and any animal products. Palm Sunday, the week before Easter, is known in Ukraine as Willow Sunday. People bring home willow branches which have been blessed in church and beat this willow of children that were not ill and were healthy. The week is dedicated to preparing for Easter. The Thursday before Easter is called Clean Thursday. During this time an effort is made to finish all field work before Thursday, since from Thursday on work is forbidden. Pure Thursday is connected with ritual of clarification by water. According to Ukrainian tradition one should bathe before sunrise on this day to be healthy all year. The house must be clean too. Good Friday is the day that the women of the family bake â€Å"pasha†, Ukrainian Easter bread. On Saturday children dye Easter eggs to add to the Easter basket which will be blessed in church. It also includes pysanka, salt, pasha, sausage, ham and most of the people also put in basket red sweet wine. In the evening people go to church for the Easter mass, which lasts all night. After that people go home to celebrate Easter with their families. If they meet other people on the way they say: â€Å"Christ is risen! † and these people should reply â€Å"Risen indeed†. All the people exchange Easter greetings and give each other painted eggs. On Easter day kids play their favorite Easter game: knocking the eggs. If you knock somebody’s egg and your egg is not broken than you are the winner. The Easter season in Ukraine comes to an end with the cult of the dead is observed. The dead are remembered during the whole week after Easter, especially on the first Monday following Easter Sunday. People gather in the cemeteries, bringing with them some food, candies and wine, which they consume, leaving the rest at the graves.