My Ideal Government System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

My Ideal Government System - Essay Example For example, monarchy system will lessen quarrels of its people since there is only one person ruling such as a king. There will be an ideal government system if people can just forget the disadvantages of each system. My ideal system will be the making of a system that does not have rebellion, conflict, crime, corruption and discrimination. By only then it can be called the ideal government system. An ideal government system ensures that the aspects of discrimination conflicts discrimination rebellion and crime are absent (Behrouzi 10). In discrimination, the people face prejudice due to their gender, race, or sexual orientation. An ideal government looks into these issues, and makes sure that every citizen lives a comfortable life (Behrouzi 12). An ideal government should be a democratic government that respects the ideas of citizens. All citizens regardless of race or gender should be allowed to participate in matters that concern the government. For example, the regime that allows voters to elect leaders without the presence of election anomalies is an ideal regime. Looking into the platforms of Obama and Romney; it is evident that Obama supports gay marriages thus; the government that Obama intended to form does not discriminate the gay community (Behrouzi 15). The platform respects abortion rights. The platform is in line with the Supreme Court ruling that declared abortion as a legal right. In contrast, the Romney platform abhors gay marriages. This is evident as the party platform gives the rights to states plus the federal government to decline same sex marriages. Romney’s platform supports constitutional changes that would refer the aspect of marriage as unification between a man and woman. The aspects found in Romney’s platform cannot lead to an ideal regime (Becker and Michael 23). This is because the platform discriminates gays plus lesbians and fails to respect the decision of a woman concerning abortion. Obama’s

Security Threats In Cloud Computing

Security Threats In Cloud Computing What is cloud computing? To explain Cloud computing in simple words, lets just say it is Internet computing, if we observe closely the internet is basically the collection of cloud; thus, the cloud computing word can be elaborated as using the internet, to its full potential, to provide organization and people, technology enabled oriented services. Cloud computing let consumers access, by the help of the internet, resources online from any corner of the world without the need to worry about physical/technical maintenance and management issues of the real original resources. What is cloud computing security? To keep it in simple words, cloud security actually points out to a broad set of rules/regulation or policies, maybe set of technologies, or controls deployed solely for the sake of, to protect application data, and the linked infrastructure of cloud computing from the malicious intruder. If all seems good how come security threat became an issue? The cloud computing technology is on the verge of peak. Its really a wonderful news for enterprises and organization who want to get things done with more quickness and easiness as compared to past times but one need to keep their vision open to the possibility of data hijack. The famous Company IBM lies on top of companies providing cloud security with many options in hand to reduce risk. The 9 biggest threats right now according to a report that was released, on 29 February, from the Cloud Security Alliance are: Security Breach in terms of data The companies providing cloud environment face more commonly the same threat i.e. traditional corporate, yet due to the huge amount of data stored on their private servers, they are more vulnerable to the eyes of hackers or intruders. The information being leaked from their servers or exposed becomes headline showing the drawback of the security area. Disaster occur when information such as trade secret, health information or intellectual property data are breached If such event occurs in which hacker or intruder outrun the security checks of cloud environment and data breach occur, then the organization providing the facility may end being washed up on the shore just like a broken ship because they may be filed or sued by the potential customers. To protect their environment, normally cloud owners, deploy security protocols in their services field but in the cloud organizations are responsible for protecting their own data Broken authentication Compromised credentials The most common reasons for data breach are weak passwords, poor key lax authentication or certificate management. Companies often strive with identity management, as they try to give or deny permissions as defined to the users job role. More important, keeping in view, they sometimes dont or forget to remove access of user when a job function changes or when a user leaves the environment of organization. The ways of multifactor authentication systems such as phone-based authentication, one-time passwords smartcards tends to protect cloud services because this make it quite harder for attackers, hacker to log or go in to access with stolen passwords. Many developers dont realize the danger of embedding credentials in source code and make such mistake and upload the source code on famous site where source code is easily accessible such as GitHub and bit bucket. APIs Hacked interfaces Normally every cloud application and service now gives APIs access to its users. IT teams use APIs and interfaces to organize and connect with cloud pool, including those that offer cloud management, provisioning, monitoring, and orchestration. The availability and security of cloud services from authentication to encryption and access control and activity monitoring depend on the security level of that particular API. Risk level increases with commonly third parties that tends to rely on APIs and build an infrastructure on these interfaces, as organizations may feel the need to expose or portray more credentials or service, the CSA warned. Weak APIs and interfaces expose company to security concerns related to integrity, confidentiality, accountability, and availability. APIs and interfaces are the most exposed and weak part of a system because theyre usually accessible and easily gained access from the open Internet. Misuse system vulnerabilities Exploitable bugs, or system vulnerabilities in application and programs, are not new, but theyve become rapidly a huge problem with the inclusion of multitenancy in cloud computing services. Organizations handshake databases, memory and other resources in close range to one another, giving chance to new possible attack surfaces. Hijacking of Account Software exploits, fraud and phishing are still the most successful way for intruders for back door gain access. Above all that, cloud services add a whole new level of dimension to the possibilities of threat because hackers can eavesdrop on various activities, modify data and manipulate transactions. Not only that, hackers may also use cloud application for their advantage to launch various other attacks. Cloud service provider should prohibit user from sharing of account security credentials between services and users Malicious insiders The threat from inside has many faces: a former or current employee, a contractor, system administrator, business partner or a contractor. In a cloud system scenario, a malicious insider can destroy or burn the whole infrastructures to ground or manipulate system data. Systems that solely depend on the various cloud service provider for security implementation, such as data or key encryption, are at huge risk. The parasite Advantage persistent threat (APT) APTs normally and blend in normal traffic move through the network, so it becomes difficult to detect. The major cloud service providers make sure to apply advanced encryption techniques to prevent threat such as APTs from infiltrating or entering their building infrastructure. Common points of entering in the system include direct attacks, spear phishing, USB or pen drives loaded with malware injection, and third-party compromised software networks. Totally Permanent loss of data With the day to day enhancement and cloud services of getting matured, reports of permanent loss of data due to error from provider have vanished into thin air. But intruders or malicious hackers are famous to white wash cloud data just to harm businesses and bring the service provider to ground, and cloud data provider centers are at risk to natural disasters as any common facility. Cloud service providers advice or recommend their user to distribute their data and applications across various multiple layers of zones for much more added protection. Abuse of cloud service power The disaster that can occur from the misuse of cloud service power can never be mapped of any graph scale. It has the tendency to supportÂÂ   various criminal activities such as using the resources of cloud technology to break in to gain encryption key in order to launch various attack such as sending phishing email, messages or filling mailbox with spam mails, launching famous DDoS attack to shut down server or hosting malicious content.

Literary Review: Hedda Gabler Essays -- essays research papers

Title: Hedda Gabler Author: Henrik Ibsen Setting: Un-named city in Norway (probably Christiania - the Norwegian capital then) Time Period: 1890 Major Characters Hedda Gabler - (married name: Hedda Tesman) Daughter of an aristocratic general who spoiled her. She’s used to a life of luxury in which she gets anything she wants. She is bored with her life because there’s nothing new for her to see or experience. She marries George Tesman so that she won’t be an oddball in society. She’s nearly thirty and realizes that she’s not getting any younger or desirable. He’s the only one of her suitors who grovels for her hand in marriage, so she chooses him. She immediately sees that she will be able to manipulate him into giving her anything she wants. She puts up with the fact that he’s only interested in past civilizations and he doesn’t satisfy any of her needs. She wants the power to shape the lives of others, and her obvious ennui wrecks not only her life, but the lives of all who come in contact with her as well. George Tesman - very kind and intelligent man. He was raised by his aunts, Juliana and Rina. He remains devoted to them, even though Rina is an invalid. He does everything in his power to give Hedda the life she’s used to. He annoys not only characters in the story, but readers as well. After almost all his sentences he asks the question â€Å"Eh?† (or â€Å"What?† depending on the translation). He is a gentleman and serves Hedda as if he were her slave and not her husband. He even accepts financial support from his aunt Juliana so that he can provide the kind of life Hedda is used to, and to pay for the house he though she really wanted. He even depends on becoming the professor of history so that she’ll be proud of him and they’ll have more financial security. He doesn’t realize Hedda is manipulative, despises him, and doesn’t even want to have their child. He believes her lies that she burnt the manuscript for him as an act of love. Judge Brack - likes to gossip and be know everything going on in people’s private affairs. He has connections around the city and uses that to provide information to Tesman about his candidacy for professorship in history. He informs them of the competition from Eilert Lovborg for the professorship, and also of his death. Brack shares an intimate relationship with Hedda, and she confides in him about her boredom she has with he... ...straight ahead of her and comments, â€Å"So that pretty little fool has had her fingers in a man’s destiny.† Lovborg asks Hedda, â€Å"Was there no love in your friendship for me either? Not a spark--not a tinge of love in it?† In this he expresses that he truly felt love for her, and that is what gave her power over him. Hedda asks herself, â€Å"Oh, why does everything I touch become mean and ludicrous? It’s like a curse!† This comment emphasizes the fact that her ennui is affecting all of those around her. It has caused her to become nihilistic and wreak havoc on the lives of others for her own amusement. Hedda comments, â€Å"I think I have a natural talent for boring myself to death.† She realizes that much of her boredom is self-inflicted, just like when she told Judge Brack that â€Å"as you make your bed so you must lie†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lovborg tells Hedda, â€Å"It wasn’t secret knowledge you wanted. You wanted life.† They were discussing her curiosity in the past about his sinful life. She replies, â€Å"I want to have the power to shape a human being’s destiny.† Hedda says, â€Å"Yes, there’s something in [the house] of the odor of death†¦Oh, my dear Judge--you can’t imagine how horribly I’m going to bore myself here.†

Colgate-Palmolive International Business Strategy Essay

1. Introduction What a â€Å"Colgate Smile† is a phrase commonly used as a compliment about one’s smile. It has been popularized throughout the whole world, due to Colgate’s good reputation as a successful business. Colgate, today being one of America’s most successful Fortune 500 companies, has a long history of evolution and complex adoption of various business strategies, which led to its current solid powerful position. As representatives of the Colgate-Palmolive Company, we are pleased to tell you more about the success story of our company through this report. In the first part, we will show how CP slowly internationalized and expanded globally by adapting various strategies to become one of the most powerful MNC’s, to then in the second part, give you details from an academic point of view with regards to the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s transnational strategy framework which the firm ended up adopting in order to most efficiently survive in and take over t he very competitive market. 2. Internationalization Strategy of Colgate-Palmolive 2.1 The assesment of the internationalisation of the company In 1806, William Colgate started a starch, soap and candles company in New York City and, after 207 years, Colgate-Palmolive stands as one of the oldest and truly  global consumer product company. Colgate-Palmolive owns 75 wholly owned subsidiaries in 75 different countries, and operates in more than 200 (Colgate.com, 2013). Colgate had a slow start – after founding the company in 1806 they remained in the American market for more than 100 years. During that time, they were expanding their operations and developing their strategies for the local market, and then in 1914, Colgate opened their first international subsidiary in Canada, a neighboring country, with both geographical proximity and cultural similarities. The company’s international growth was slow during the 1800’s but with all the technological developments that took place during the 1900’s and with the need to enlarge their global market share, Colgate went on its internationalization process. To mention briefly; in 1920 Colgate established operations in Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America, eight years later, Colgate merged with Palmolive-Peet, and became Colgate-Palmolive-Peet, thus joining forces with another company aspiring for global dominance. In 1985, Colgate-Palmolive entered into a joint venture with Hawley & Hazel in Hong Kong, and ten years later, in 1995, after the end of the communist regime, Colgate entered Central Europe and Russia, thus expanding its operations into the fast growing countries of the region (Colgate.com, 2013). Figure 1. The expansion and internationalization timeline of Colgate-Palmolive As we can see from Figure 1., Colgate internationalized slowly at the beginning, but picked up a faster pace in the following years. Penetrating geographically close regions or markets that have similar culture and then expanding within that region identifies the company’s pattern for internationalization. First, they entered into Canada. Canada is the closet country to the USA, which is very similar culture wise. In addition, after the Canadian market, Colgate went to Europe and Australia. Europe presented a challenge since each country there had a completely different cultural preference. Thus, Colgate went on with the strategy of â€Å"think global, act local†. This gave the company an added advantage, thus enabling Colgate to understand the market needs, and therefore develop suitable products, different logistics/distribution chains, and different production systems than what originally they founded in their home country. Moreover, Colgate was acquiring different companies that presented a competitive advantage, or had products that Colgate thought were innovative and had a selling potential in different global markets. In addition to mergers and acquisitions, Colgate went for joint ventures, especially in the countries to Far East; these countries are China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and India. Therefore, Colgate-Palmolive has slowly progressed in its internationalization process, starting from neighboring countries, moving to farther geographical locations that had similar cultural preferences, and expanded accordingly. 2.2 The assessment of geographical characteristics of internationalisation Colgate-Palmolive’s geographic segmentation is formed mainly on the basis of each region’s economic, cultural and climatic conditions. Approximately 75% of Colgate-Palmolive’s sales derive from international operations; therefore succeeding in markets outside of the United States is of great importance. The first country outside the US borders, where CP decided to launch their operations and sales was the closest, both geographically and culturally, Canada. The next step in their internationalization process was to reach more distant countries, yet still of cultural and economic similarity – Australia and Western European countries, such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom (Colgate.com, 2013). After acquiring a strong market position in these markets Colgate recognized that the competition between the three main business actors in the field, which are Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Colgate (Hauser Furstace, Inc., 1994), is becoming extremely fierce, that is why CP decided to shift the focus of their competitive advantage and target the, internally so called, ‘high growth markets’ (CP Annual Report, 1996). High growth markets, according to CP’s understanding, are the developing countries that possess a potentially high customer base. Colgate-Palmolive decided to enter Latin America (Mexico, as the geographically closest high growth market), expanding then to Asia (India in 1937, after the country’s independence from the colonization by the UK in 1930s, and Philippines – currently the 5th biggest Colgate market in Asia), Africa and Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Baltic States). Colgate was one of the pioneers in recognizing that following the multi-domestic or international strategy of internationalization is not enough to maintain  their competitive advantage and that the company has to allow a certain degree of adaptation in order to comply with each country’s customer needs. Colgate-Palmolive is extremely dedicated to their worldwide brand, and does broad research in order to introduce the most accurate products into the right countries. For instance, in the 90s Polish CP product developers came up with the idea of the Colgate Herbal toothpaste and the Palmolive Naturals series after finding out that Polish customers prefer more natural cosmetics – after a successful introduction to the Polish market, CP decided to expand these lines of products further internationally (Broniewicz, 1997). Currently CP sells sixteen different kinds of toothpaste in the US, while in the UK they are selling twenty-two distinctive varieties (Colgate.com, 2012 ). 2.3 The outline of the main foreign market entry modes employed by the company As mentioned in previous paragraphs, after developing the business into a successful one in the US, Colgate decided it is time to become a MNC and conquer the market internationally. The first international cooperation was made in 1914 (Economictimes.indiatimes.com, 2013), over a hundred years after the company was first established, with a neighbor country, Canada. The choice was a safe one given the fact both countries are very similar culturally, politically, and are known to have the largest trade relationship in the world, hence there wasn’t much risk in this move (Kafchinski, 2013). Next, after the company’s first successful installation in a foreign (although similar) country, they got hungry for the success and wanted to continue the expansion. However this time, given the present strong competition in the industry in North America, CP decided to target other, mostly less developed countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa in order to take advantage of the â€Å"new entrant’s† position (New York Times, 2013). The 20’s were the years of considerable expansion into other continents. The first country was France, oldest ally of the US to its role in the American Revolutionary War, plus presenting an attractive and economically similar market. Perhaps the Canadian experience with Quebec, which is a French speaking/cultural province, enticed Colgate to move to France, where the firm’s second subsidiary was opened in 1920. Further that year, now having  the courage to enter further (for the moment westernized) markets, CP expanded to Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Mexico (Answers.com, 2013). We can observe that Colgate opted in expanding in culturally or economically similar countries in the first place (which reflects the Uppsala Model) to then have the strength and courage to enter further countries lik e Mexico. After the successful moves, they finished the year by expanding to more distant (physically/economically/culturally) countries: the Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, and waited till 1937 to move to India. It is clear to see that location, culture and economy, were essential criteria in deciding which countries CP would enter. In addition, Politics have also played its role as one of the main determinants of entry choices. For instance, Poland and other eastern European countries have been entered in the late 80’s, due to political reason that strongly affected the market’s availability in previous years. In 1995, CP entered Russia and other central European/fast growing markets (Colgate.com, 2013). Taking the example of Poland, Jerzy Starak, an energetic entrepreneur played a key role in developing the business in that new part of the world. He agreed to set a Joint Venture with CP (Starak initially owned 49% of shares, whereas CP owned 51%) as he thought th e business had a huge potential. Colgate-Palmolive chose to set a JV in Poland as it didn’t have much knowledge and social ties in the eastern European market, rather than going for a WOS, which would have been risky due to the lack of familiarity with the market, lack of information about the cultural and business practices, and very different turbulent, still communistic political and economic system. This strategic move allowed CP to gradually attain the necessary skillset to further penetrate the CEE countries – when CP decided to enter the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the company was able to establish a wholly owned subsidiary in Riga, Latvia and then export CP products to Estonia and Lithuania through local distributors – all this could be possible due to the learning process of operating in the eastern European region (Ludzie.wprost.pl, 2013). 2.4 The overview of the enterprise structures and controls used by the company Colgate-Palmolive has a hierarchical organizational structure. In the top of this organizational structure is the chief executive officer, Mr.  Ian Cook, who has a bird eye view of the organization in all parts of the world. Five continental senior executives follow the CEO. These executive officers are in charge of different continental block Market, which are European, North American, African, Asian, and South American. Below the continental managers are the country managers who are in charge of respective countries in which Colgate-Palmolive has a presence. The company’s organization structure has also the human resource managers and the information technology executives. The justification that Colgate-Palmolive has a hierarchical organization structure is that all decisions are made by the strategic managers at the top of the organizational structure. The graphical analysis of CP’s organizational structure is presented below. Figure 2. Colgate-Palmolive’s Organizational Structure Colgate-Palmolive has a divisional organizational design. The international divisions of Colgate-Palmolive face diverse legal and cultural constraints in different continents of the world. Grouping international divisions develops specialized skills and abilities for dealing with international questions that do not arise in domestic operations. This divisional organizational design helps Colgate-Palmolive respond and adapt to differences in product types, product marketing and cultural differences of its various international locations. Divisional organizational design emphasizes people’s decision-making autonomy throughout the organization. An individual at various levels can become more involved in organization’s basic activities. Organization by following this structure puts more demands on individuals to deliver the highest level of business performance. On the other hand, the divisional organizational design has its shortcomings – it very often leads to repetition of services like local marketing and international marketing, local finance and international finance. This puts more financial pressure on the organization as it leads to greater operational costs and higher complexity of the entire system within the company. Based on the internal materials from CP’s employee workshop on the company’s strategy it can be stated that Colgate-Palmolive has harnessed a control analogy in five main areas, which can be further divided into two parts namely Strategic Thrust and their Management Process. The depiction of CP’s control structure is presented in Figure 3. below. Figure 3. Control Structure of Colgate-Palmolive 3. Evaluation of academic strategy frameworks for Colgate-Palmolive 3.1. Overview of the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s generic strategies framework In order to facilitate the understanding of the internationalization strategy of Colgate, it is essential to get oneself familiar with the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s generic strategies framework. According to the theory, in order to survive firms must do all that they can to respond to cost pressures affected by global integration and to the diverse customers needs which affect the demand for a greater degree of the local responsiveness. Bartlett and Ghoshal emphasize that the core competencies and skills of a company do not necessarily have to reside within the company’s home country; instead, multinational enterprises should develop their strategies from any of the worldwide operations (Hill, 2011). The two scholars developed four distinct strategies of entering a foreign market, which are: multidomestic, international, global, and transnational. Multidomestic strategy focuses on high level of local responsiveness and low level of global integration, whereas the global st rategy has an opposite approach of focusing on maintaining high level of global integration without taking into account the local responsiveness aspect. The international strategy does not require a great need for neither global integration nor local responsiveness. International strategy can bee seen mainly in the paper, textiles and machinery industries (Hill, 2011). Figure 4. Bartlett and Ghoshal’s generic strategies framework (Hill, 2011) Part of Bartlett and Ghoshal’s theory on multinational enterprises strategies, which we would like to focus on is the transnational strategy model. This model is an organized approach to internationalize into global markets while the firm works very hard to be responsive to local demand  while holding necessary central control over the global operations to ensure efficiency and learning within subsidiaries (Hill, 2011). 3.2 Evaluation of the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s framework on the company’s example After a thorough analysis of the internationalization process of CP, it has been found that the company followed in overall three out of four generic strategies, namely international, multidomestic, and transnational. At first, CP operated within the international strategy. CP entered markets which were of geographic or cultural proximity (Canada, France, Australia, etc.) in order to reduce the cost pressures, benefit from adapting and leveraging parent company competencies and have greater control over the foreign subsidies. The level of local responsiveness was relatively low, since the foreign customer base had similar taste and preferences, as well as the economic, legal and political structure of the host countries did not differ significantly from the ones in United States. As the competition in the industry was growing, CP realized that in order to maintain their strong position on the market they had to tap the market of high growth countries instead of focusing only on the developed ones, thus the shift of strategy towards greater localization and adaptation of offerings became inevitable. At that point CP focused on developing a more multidomestic approach to sense and exploit the local opportunities by building flexibility through resourceful and adjustable national operations. At the same time, Colgate-Palmolive never resigned from their international approach and headed slowly towards being a truly transnational business entity. After Colgate’s initial development in foreign markets through the international and multidomestic strategy, they eventually followed the transnational strategy where the company tried to achieve low costs through location economies, economies of scale, and learning effects, thus differentiating their products within different geographic markets and supporting the flow of information and skills between subsidiaries within the firm’s global network (Hill, 2011). CP recognized that entering the high growth markets is more challenging and simply replicating the company’s  products will not suffice, but a huge MNC like Colgate-Palmolive could not allow a complete shift from international to multidomestic strategy, that is why in order to develop global efficiency Colgate-Palmolive had to adapt the transnational model. We can observe that strategy in the degree of flexibility given to country managers and the fact that the company is always encouraging employees to share their ideas. A good example of that are the Colgate Herbal toothpaste and the Palmolive Naturals series introduced by Polish specialists on the Polish market and then introduced further worldwide. Figure 5. Bartlett and Ghoshal’s strategy framework of Colgate-Palmolive To conclude this part, in Bartlett and Ghoshal’s model the transition of expansion theory is basically from multidomestic to transnational OR international to transnational or global. In Colgate-Palmolive’s case the situation presents itself differently. The transition of CP’s internationalization strategy started from the shift from international strategy to the multidomestic one and then transformed naturally to the transnational strategy. Even though the company did not follow exactly the same scheme as presented in the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s framework, we can still assume the validity of the theory and present Colgate-Palmolive as one of the best examples of how to pursue the idea of ‘thinking globally, acting locally’ through the implementation of the transnational strategy. 4. Conclusion Colgate-Palmolive can’t be seen as a simple business, but more as a symbol of a successful MNC, where generations have struggled throughout history with changes in the market, politics, and different economies, in order to adopt the most suited strategy that permitted the company to get where it is now. We saw that Colgate didn’t just apply one model and succeeded straight away, but started by developing a solid base for the company in the US, and then slowly expanded internationally to similar countries where they could replicate their initial western products, to then expand further into other countries and continents by adopting a more locally aware strategy. After the second expansion phase, the company couldn’t just replicate it’s  products internationally as the cultures, and political systems of the other nations were too different; CP had to sense and exploit local opportunities. The production and management demanded more local awareness, hence the shift towards a multinational strategy. After over almost 200 years of developing the business and taking over the market internationally, CP seems to have found the â€Å"golden strategy†; Transnational. The national units contribute to the world wide integrated operations, and knowledge is developed by all actors, and shared amongst them. Global efficiency has been slowly but safely reached by Colgate thanks to its flexibility and reflex in capturing the market’s demands and opportunities, while staying cautious about cultural and political risks throughout history. 5. List of Figures Figure 1. The expansion and internationalization timeline of Colgate-Palmolive (page 4) Figure 2. Colgate-Palmolive’s Organizational Structure (page 7) Figure 3. Control Structure of Colgate-Palmolive (page 8) Figure 4. Bartlett and Ghoshal’s generic strategies framework (Hill, 2011) (page 9) Figure 5. Bartlett and Ghoshal’s strategy framework of Colgate-Palmolive (page 10) 6. Bibliography 1.Answers.com. 2013. Colgate-Palmolive. [online] Available at: http://www.answers.com/topic/colgate-palmolive-company#ixzz2l6GNWWiX [Accessed: 19 Nov 2013]. 2.Broniewicz, M. 1997. Nowe Szampony Palmolive Naturals. [Internal Memo]. Colgate-Palmolive, Pl. Inwalidà ³w 10, 01-553 Warsaw, Warsaw. 3.Colgate-Palmolive. 1994. Colgate-Palmolive: New Product Finder, GBD Report – 2nd Quarter 1994. [report] New York, New York: Hauser Furstace, Inc., pp. 30-35. 4.Colgate-Palmolive. 1996. Annual Report ‘Growing Everywhere’. [report] New York, New York: Colgate-Palmolive Company. 5.Colgate-Palmolive. 1998. Annual Report ‘Colgate’s Growing Success’. [report] New York, New York: Colgate-Palmolive Company. 6.Colgate-Palmolive. 2012. Annual Report ‘Growing in a Fast-Changing World’. [report] New York, New York: Colgate-Palmolive Company. 7.Dividendmonk.com. 2013. Colgate-Palmolive: A Strong International Position. [online] Available at: http://dividendmonk.com/colgate-palmolive-a-strong-international-position/ [Accessed: 19 Nov 2013]. 8.Letto-Gillies, G. 1996. Global Business Strategy. Cengage Learning EMEA. 9.Information, C. 2013. Colgate-Palmolive Company | Company Profile from Hoover’s. 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[online] Available at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/colgate-palmolive-(india)-ltd/infocompanyhistory/companyid-13873.cms [Accessed: 20 Nov 2013]. 16.Kafchinski, J. 2013. Foreign Trade: Data. [online] Available at: http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/top/dst/current/balance.html [Accessed: 20 Nov 2013]. 17.Unknown. 2013. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/08/business/company-news-colgate-to-expand-into-developing-countries.html [Accessed: 20 Nov 2013]. Published: May 08, 1992 18.Answers.com. 2013. Colgate-Palmolive. [online] Available at: http://www.answers.com/topic/colgate-palmolive-company [Accessed: 20 Nov 2013]. 19.Company, T. 2013. HISTORY OF BUSINESS: The History of Colgate Company. [online] Available at: http://historyofbusiness.blogspot.com/2011/06/history-of-of-colgate-company.html [Accessed: 20 Nov 2013]. 20.Ludzie.wprost.pl. 2013. Ludzie Wprost – Jerzy Starak. [online] Available at:

Impact of Globalization in Africa Essay

Globalization is the global interconnectedness of economic activities. It is characterized by new technologies, new structures, new economies and new cultures. All these are structured around global financial flows that are based of computer simulations and speculations. The resulting global economy is very turbulent due to non-linear feedbacks and it is easily influenced by political events and influential analysts’ projections. These is seen when there is instability in the stock markets in certain countries like the United States of America. The instability affects all other stock markets in the world. But is globalization global? The global economy sees some areas as invaluable and politically irrelevant and often such areas are excluded from this global economy. The idea of globalization was conceived by leading capitalist countries, global financial institutions (World Bank, International Monetary fund (IMF) and World Trade Organization (WTO)) and transnational co-operat ions. The minds behind this idea of globalization thought that this was one way of improving the livelihoods everybody in the globe but as we shall see later on, the models used to come up with globalization had major loop holes. Global information communications and new technologies have played a big role facilitating globalization. This is through the computers, Internet and mobile phones. This has made business transactions easy such that by the click of a button, a lot of money circulates around the globe. New innovations have resulted in increased productivity and competition. These technological advances have lowered the costs of transport and communication. Computers have made it possible to handle large amounts of data in a short time and information storage and retrieval has been made very easy. On a positive note, the new technologies have in one way or another helped in growth of economics  through sharing of ideas. On the other hand, these advances in technology have led to homogenization of cultures. Globalization has increased the profits and productivity of multinational corporations. With free trade rules, some few people, the global elite has become richer and others who are the majority have become poorer. The free trade rules has enabled multinational companies invest their money in emerging economies and removing their money once they speculate that that economy is not doing well. This has wrecked the economies of many countries. Another issue is that this big multinationals have swallowed the small companies leading to losses of jobs. Capra, 2002, in his book ‘hidden connections’ says that most of these multi national companies always try to evade taxes and benefit from subsidies. As a result, their products are cheap and this outcompetes the local companies, which can result in more job losses. But on the other hand, globalization can become a scapegoat for failed national policies. Embezzlement and mismanagement of public resources and corruption deeply rooted in some countries should not be blamed on globalization. In any case, a government should be able to provide the needs of its people. According to the 2002 report on the international forum on globalization, the free trade rules set by the World trade organization consolidate power to a small corporate elite. Globalization has erased political and economic boundaries such that power has shifted from the people and communities to financial speculators, global corporations and leading capitalist countries. As a result, currency markets have made governments unable to control their economic policies because it is this markets that determine the values of national currency. According to Capra 2002, large economies are able to absorb these turbulences but for developing countries, this is a big problem. This financial crisis has led to developing countries to seek for aid and as a result, they have sunk to end less debts. It is important to note that aid is basically a tool for manipulating developing countries. It is important to note that in globalization, capital is global while  labour is local. This means that the globalized capital has the economic power leaving labour disintegrated. Labour itself can be divided into professionals and unskilled workers. Globalization seems to favour the professional laborers while the unskilled laborers can be fired anytime. This has led to social inequality and polarization. Many jobs nowadays are on contract basis and forming labor organizations to bargain for better working conditions is not easy because of fear of loosing jobs. People working in multinational companies operating in their countries fear bargaining for better terms of employment because they fear loosing jobs as the company can move to another country. As a result, people have to put up with poor working conditions and wages. Increased trade as a result of free trade by the World Trade organization has led to increased pollution of the environments. Trade has also resulted to introduction of invasive alien species to new environments. From the ecological perspective, trade, which has increased in the recent past, is the major route in which invasive alien species are introduced to new environments. According to the Convention for Biodiversity, invasive alien species are the major causes for the loss of biodiversity. The environmental impacts are heavily felt in the countries in the south. The free market idea by the World Trade Organization has resulted in constant search for access to natural resources, and this has led to so much pressure on the Earth’s limited natural resources. Another bit is the destruction of the environment, which has led to floods, droughts and other catastrophes. Increased shipping has lead to pollution of waterways. Globalization has also favored monoculture to enhance a nation’s competitiveness in the global market. This has put more pressure on the limited natural resources and use of chemicals to enhance production, which further exacerbates the problem of pollution. Globalization has also penetrated into power and politics. Most of these multinational companies and lobby groups normally finance political candidates in countries of interest  so that if the person gets into power, he/ she may create favorable conditions for their activities. So in a way, these companies and lobby  groups control a country’s economy. Rise of globalized criminal gangs is another problem that stems out of globalization. Boosted by easy communication networks, criminals have found it easy to conduct their businesses. Recently, a drug cartel involving Mexicans, Kenyans and the Dutch was uncovered and this is a classic example of criminal gangs operating on a global scale. WAY OUT. With Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) press release of 2010 estimating that 925 million around the globe are undernourished, something must be wrong somewhere. As already noted, globalization is to blame social inequalities which can be seen from the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Borrowing from title of the first annual World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre in Brazil, another world is possible. First, change should first start with the ruling elite. With the help of international nongovernmental organizations there should be a power transformation from the global elite to the human society. These global elites together with World Bank, IMF and World Trade Organization should be more transparent in decision-making. In is also very important to include various non-governmental organizations representing interests of social justice, human rights environmental interests and democracy in the decisionmaking processes. Most of the countries affected by globalization are developing countries and most of these countries have very huge debts. It seems impossible for these developing countries to put tight rules on international organizations in order to protect the local companies. But with the help on lobby groups, it is possible for government to remove subsidies and exemptions offered to these multinational corporations. These multinational corporations should also be held responsible for any wrongdoing like destruction of the environment. Cancellation of debts will help developing countries grow economically but these countries too should have leaders who are accountable to the citizens. On that note, corruption and lobbying should be dealt with at every level. This is to ensure fair competition of business deals. It is important to empower workers so that they can bargain for better working conditions. National governments can also protect their people by defining working conditions to investors setting up enterprises in the country. Finally, it is important we practice ecological sustainability. Proper waste disposal, use of alternative fuel sources (scientifically proven to be sustainable), efficient and ecofriendly technologies, sustainable farming practices and strict environmental practices are some of the ways of making the world sustainable. The most important part of sustainability is educating everybody on the importance of conserving the environment so it’s important to take environmental movements deep down to the grass roots. Remember, it starts with me and you and the future generations will be thanking all of us. REFERENCES A better world is possible: Alternatives to Economic globalization Report summary 2002 International forum on Globalization. Capra fritjof, 2002. The hidden connections Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations: Economic and Social Development report, September 2010 http://anticap.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/what-globalization-paradox/ (Website I downloaded the cover picture).

The US Ethnic Groups the Hispanic Americans

The US Ethnic Groups the Hispanic Americans Currently, the total number of Hispanic Americans is about 41 million, which is approximately 15 percent of the total US population. There are several ethnic groups which constitute the Hispanic Americans including Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans among others.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The US Ethnic Groups: the Hispanic Americans specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More All the Hispanic ethnic groups are linked by a common language and a unique culture. Of all the Hispanic Americans ethnic groups in the US, the Mexican is the largest, followed by Puerto Ricans, and then Cubans. Different ethnic groups of Hispanic Americans came to the US in varied ways. The Mexicans for instance, came to the US as immigrants and were the first Hispanic group to cross the US border. The American Southwest was part of the Mexico territory before the battle of 1848. After the war, the Mexicans who were living in that regio n were absorbed into the US. Puerto Rico became a territory of the US in the year 1898 following a war and the dwellers were absorbed in the US. The Cubans have come to the US as legal immigrants during the past four decades. On the other hand, Dominicans have also migrated to the in the last two decades. The population of the Hispanic Americans has increased rapidly and is now the fastest growing minority groups in the US. In addition to the increasing population, the Hispanic Americans have a high number of its population comprising of the young people. The current statistics reveal that the number of middle-aged Hispanic is approximately 27 percent compared to the 40 percent of the white population. However, despite of the growing numbers of Hispanic Americans, most of them are concentrated in only a few states. In terms of social status, the Hispanic Americans occupy the middle position. They are slightly below Euro-Americans, but above African-Americans. Lower education level, discrimination in the work place, and working in least-skilled and low paying jobs are some of the factors that have caused Hispanic Americans to have low income wages.Advertising Looking for essay on ethnicity studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, the Cubans have adapted well and are placed at a better position than any other ethnic group of the Hispanic American. Cubans are more educated and their income is relatively high. The reason for their success is because some of the Cubans who came earlier to US were skilled and well educated. The government should encourage equal distribution of resources. In terms of politics, the Hispanic Americans have not acquired strong influence in the society. With the majority of the population being under 18 years, they cannot vote and, therefore, have less say in the political arena. As such, the political power of the Hispanic Americans has not been realized. The go vernment should set aside certain posts for minority groups so that they can exercise their democratic rights. Because the Hispanic Americans are a minority group in the American society, they continue to face discrimination in the society. However, they do not receive a lot of discrimination as compared to African-Americans. Definitely, the future survival and success of Hispanic Americans will fully depend on the kind of adaptation this group will make so that they can easily be integrated in the American society. It is clear that Hispanic Americans population is growing rapidly in the US. Although this group is, it is slowly adapting into the American system and is now trying to establish itself in the social, economic, and political spheres. However, lack of education, discrimination, and issues of immigration have continued to affect this group negatively. The Americans should embrace culture diversity to comfortably live with others regardless of race or ethnicity. The governm ent should develop strategies of empowering minority groups so that they can easily be assimilated in the system. This will promote social change in America.

Comparing Keats Odes Essays

Comparing Keats Odes Essays Comparing Keats Odes Paper Comparing Keats Odes Paper KEATS: COMPARITIVE STUDY OF THE TWO ODES: Keats’s odes, on the level of superficial reading can be seen as a brilliant rendering of a scene, a season or a mood; the final perfection of English landscape poetry. The two odes, namely, â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† and â€Å"Ode on a Grecian Urn† appeal directly to the physical senses through a recognition of the physical reality of experience. However, such simplified conclusion is misleading as it disregards the poet’s complex thought process- where sensuousness and contemplation get unified. The central themes of the two poems are neither a nightingale nor an urn, but, the poet’s eternal search for a center of refuge in a world of flux. It is through such a conception that Keats sets to resolve the dichotomy between the world of the ideal and that of reality within the order of experience. In â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale†, the poet addresses a bird which appeals to his physical senses and seeks to unite with it. In the beginning, the poet is seen in a state of trance, happy beyond human endurance in his empathy with the bird’s song. Yet, he oscillates between the world of imagination and reality unable to reconcile them. At this moment, the wine, â€Å"cool’d a long age in deep delv’d earth† becomes an agent to carry him to the platonic ideal state of perfection but ironically fails to make him win over his mortality. His desire to escape grows and seems almost fulfilled in the fourth stanza- he feels himself placed with the nightingale- amidst the forest which is so dark’ that even the presence of a throned moon is conjectural. â€Å"Already with thee†- he exclaims in recognition of an identification of himself with the spirit of the bird. However, the very same statement presupposes â€Å"I† and â€Å"Thee† and indicates that this is not a true union, since, in a perfect union, the individual entities fuse to form a whole. The poet fails to become one with the bird, he can only â€Å"accompany† the bird (be with it). He realizes, as he returns to reality and relates his enrapturing experience with it- that man with his quality of transience cannot participate in the world of Imagination forever. He mentions, â€Å"fancy† and calls it â€Å"deceiving elf†, perhaps as a foil to Imagination. The experience of merging with the nightingale is based on sensual physicality and lacks the elevation of spiritual awareness. He is left perplexed regarding his state of consciousness while the receding music discards him from the world of ideal at a moment when he is not ready to confront reality. This conflict is carried on to â€Å"Ode on a Grecian Urn†, where Keats acknowledges that â€Å"heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter†. In the beginning of this ode there is recognition of permanence in art. The poem is a sober and disciplined work of art, where passion and intellect fuse in a rounded perception, just like the urn which it talks about. He uses a series of imagery inspired by the carvings on the urn. Interestingly, he reflects on the presence of â€Å"absence†- the music unheard, the empty streets waiting for the people to return, the unfelt communion of the lovers who never unite. Thus, despite recognizing the superiority of Imagination over reality, he is troubled by the â€Å"cold pastoral† lifelessness of the moment frozen on the urn. In both the odes, Douglas Bush observes, â€Å"†¦ is a belief that whereas the momentary experience of beauty is fleeting, the embodiment of that moment in art, in song or in marble†¦ is an imperishable source of joy. † However, this embodiment is not infused with life. The beauty of the maiden is eternally true, but equally true is the lack of satiation of the lovers. Keats’ sensuousness reaches a greater level of perfection through this recognition of absence. Therefore, one might feel that it is easy to bring all the senses in ones poetry. However, as far as Keats is concerned it is not just how he mentions various sensations of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell- it is about the flowers that he â€Å"can not see†, the music that he can not hear, the mystery that he can not unravel. His negative capability does not remain just a means to achieve objective distance from his own self, by negating himself to experience the world from a different viewpoint, but also to attempt to understand these sensations that even the inhabitants of that â€Å"different† point cannot experience. This conflict between the present sensation and â€Å"absence†, fancy and imagination, transience and permanence is finally resolved in â€Å"To Autumn†. In this poem Keats understands that true fulfillment does not come from permanence but from maturation: â€Å"Ripeness is all†. However as he pens down the first two odes, this recognition does not dawn on him. He is still unable to solve the riddle of reality but his sensuousness makes him understand the disparity between the ideal and real and his contemplation makes him all the more eager to solve the riddle.