Inernationalization of UK Businesses in Brazilian Market Essay

Inernationalization of UK Businesses in Brazilian Market - Essay Example As the discussion highlights  many companies adopt different strategies in order to grow in the Brazilian market and to successfully achieve the goal of improved bottom line. Brazil is a country which cannot be avoided to do business because of the huge market size. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, and it is one of the most populous countries, as well. It has high GDP and legal system, which encourages international companies to tap this market. However, not every company can be successful in the Brazilian market. Size of the country market does not guarantee success in that market. There are many factors, which play a role in the success and failure of international companies. Among such factors, culture has a crucial role. Not only in Brazil but also in every country, culture plays a vital role for success and failure of international companies.  This study stresses that  globalization is growing becoming an integral part of the business in the business world . It has changed the competitive landscape for doing business in local and international markets as a matter of fact that competitive pressures arise not only from local players but also from the international players. On the other hand, in contrast to the pace of globalization, the success rate of businesses in the international market remains under constant challenges.  It is practically a sin for business operating in today’s competitive landscape if it ignores internationalization of business.

The human sexuality for women in Middle East Essay

The human sexuality for women in Middle East - Essay Example This partly explains the strong dominance of men over women in Islamic societies as a form of social hierarchical structure that needs to be maintained at all costs. Presently, there is considerable debate among both academics and religious scholars whether Islam has managed to keep pace with changes in modern life just the way Western civilization changed during the Renaissance period. Women in the Middle East lead lives controlled by men such as when they are can go outside of the house, whom to talk to, what to wear, what parts of the body should be covered and what topics they can discuss openly. There is considerable suppression of women’s rights in which women are viewed as chattels and not in control of their sexuality. They are not considered worthy to be in positions of political, economic or social power. There is great importance attached to female chastity and any doubts on it resolved through honor killing or the suspected women forced or pressured to commit honor suicides. When human sexuality is discussed within the context of the Middle East, it should always be viewed within the confines of religion, primarily either Islam or Hinduism. The two religions condition and define the sexual beliefs and practices of their faithful in this region. It is useful to bear in mind that certain basic cultural attitudes in the Middle East are primarily influenced by Islam which is the dominant religion in this part of the world. As such, it helps to explain a lot of things observed in the Middle East today such as a fatalistic view of life, a candid and realistic feeling about sex in general, the view that sexuality, pleasure, abstinence self-restraint and continence are matters of degree and personal taste. Additionally, women are viewed as inferior human beings that partly explain the debauchery, intolerance and cruelty observed in some Middle Eastern societies as

Ethical Issues Of Internet Privacy Media Essay

Ethical Issues Of Internet Privacy Media Essay Privacy is a status wherein an individual can work on his/her information in seclusion, resulting in a selective revelation of ones identity and information. Privacy can mean anonymity in case a person wants to remain unidentified. Privacy can also be related to the security aspect of an individual or information. The definitions of privacy can differ across individuals and cultures. The invasion of privacy can be avoided by the issue of privacy laws.  Ã‚  [1]   Internet, which hosts an enormous information base, has given rise to the concept of information privacy. The vast information on the Internet faces security needs. Unauthorized access to the information is undesirable. Data privacy refers to the association between the technology and the legal rights related to it. Whenever any information about a person or a persons data is stored, privacy needs arise. Internet privacy is the control one has over what information about oneself, the person wishes to disclose. Internet privacy refers to having control on the access to information over the internet.  [2]   Ethical Issues concerning social networking sites: facebook. Internet privacy comes on the scene when it comes to website users giving out their personal details on the Internet. There are several issues about whether third parties should be allowed to store or read emails without informed consent. One of the main privacy concerns is that the third parties should be allowed to track visitors on a website or not.   Facebook have very few ways to protect and restrict the outside developers of games, quizzes etc. from accessing users profile information.  [3]   The other important Internet privacy issue concerning facebook is whether it is okay with the usersas they allow it to gather personally identifiable information on them and then display in public or give their contact information to others. An article, intelligent life on the web posted at Buzzle.com identifies two schools of thoughts on these issues. One school of thought denies the existence of Internet privacy while the other advocates the necessity of the Internet privacy. Complete anonymity is not the intent of Internet privacy. It rather intends to achieve a controlled disclosure of ones personal information. Internet is a network of networks and when a person uses the Internet, he/she connects to it and is identified by an address. In technical terms this address is known as an IP address. For security reasons, a website may wish to track these addresses of its users. Websites may collect the non-personally identifiable information of their users.  [4]   Such information is the one, which in no way can be used to uniquely identify a person. The disclosure of these forms of information is acceptable. It is actually the means by which websites track the users Internet activities. There is a controversy going on the privacy issue concerning these social networking sites.there are users who are unaware that their profiles, documents, pictures,etc are being marketed by such sites.there are people who afre confused whether or not to give their contact information,upload their photos: whether facebook abides by its privacy policy and if it does then why is there an argument.social networking sites especially facebook has become a ground where the boundary line between private and public is becoming blurred.By hacking ones account and gaining access to all the information posted by one can be gained.This poses threat as well as fear for the users.Some people fear the fact that they have a visibility over the Internet for such reasons. Its clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates, says Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart in an article posted on office of the privacy commission of Canada website. The investigation, prompted by a complaint from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, identified several areas where Facebook needs to better address privacy issues and bring its practices in line with Canadian privacy law. It directs attention to the problem that when the user deactivates his account from facebook.it does not delete it.the information is still contained on the page although it may not be visible to the user. A special issue of the Journal for Computer-Mediated Communications was dedicated to studies of social network sites.  [5]   it is need of the hour that these sites rise to action.facebook needs to define the trade-of demarcating line between whats public and whats private. Internet privacy is indeed important in case of the revelation of personally identifiable information on facebook. THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: SNEAK PEEK. Social networking has always been exisiting.however, online social networking came to the surface in 1995 when the first social networking site was established.Ever since, the number has been increasing at a pace that is unimaginable. According to Wikipedia there are around 200 social networking sites in existence today.these sites offer different features and are of various types and dedicated to different groups like affinity groups, etc We can take a sneak peek into the future of social networking sites like facebook by looking at the pace at which facebook has been growing.initially, the social networking site which started off for the university students to interact with each other began to grow and today has a population that would form a number greater than that of india and china, says a BBC documentary Constant innovation is needed in every business.the social networking sites which are innovating,offering entertaining services to the users are the ones who have the users addicted to them. facebook is one of them. These social networking sites are forming a platform for marketing where the marketers can display their advertisements and help gain access to interested customer information to contact them. This allows them to do target marketing and is becoming a leading substitute to offline advertisement as it is cheaper and considered more effective However, there are others who say that this is not the case. Some analysts point to the fact that with an aging group of people using the social network technology and less young people wanting to make facebook pages (as well as pages on other networks) the fate of the social networking site is to fade away.the younger generation according to them is more directed towards offline world and offline social interaction. All of this concludes to the fact that the future of social networking is gloomy and grim because now it is not thought out to be as a cool place among younger groups. Still others see the future in social networking sites as something that depends on technology. If the technology used for the networks changes and becomes even more powerful and full featured, more young people will want to use the networks. This will increase the amount of people on the social sites, and increase revenue and customer base for those who own them. These people do not see the social networking craze as having peaked yet, because there is always the potential for better technology. However, whatever school of thought we consider and whatever imagination we hold at the back of our mind, we simply cannot deny the impact that these networking sites are having on our daily lives. Facebook is undergoing a huge period of growth. With more than 150,000 new users signing up daily, it is growing three times as fast as rival MySpace. Mac Zuckerberg in his interview to the TIMES magazine describes Facebook as a social utility rather than a social network? RECCOMMENDATIONS: No matter how successful a business gets, it needs to constantly change, innovate, bring in new stuff for its target users. The facebook webpage should be made more interactive. It should include features like: user friendly tools, details about the privacy to help the first users gain trust and confidence in it. It should include more content on the help tool like google does.this could help ease the users and they would begin using facebook as a search site instead of google The search tab should be made more usable by including more content to it It should focus more attention on the privacy policy.The information of a person should be strictly confidential to that person and that person alone unless he aims to make it private.it should not be marketed by giving it to other search softwares like google It should also ensure that developers can only access the user information actually required to run a specific application,e.g: games,quizzes,etc It must not also disclose information of the users who are only browing through the application and not actually using it Adding an additional feature like picture rating scale as used by major social networking sites can help it gain more attention of users.the users can rate the pictures.it can alsouse this feature to generate revenue In order to stand different from its competitors it should adopt easily accessible softwares that can help users build their own blogs on facebook Since many young users are into editing photos.it can capitalize on this interest by adding simple, light load and easy to use photo editors As soon as a person deactivates his account from a group, his information should be immediately removed from the page FEATURES The basic purpose of a soial networking site is to provide a platform where different people of same interest, gendre,affinity,culture, or at least having something in common can come together and share their views, ideas and in this way make new friends.This like that of all other social networking sites forms the core product for facebook. However in order to stand out different from the crowd such site must offer more than just the basic tools.these are the supplementary services and tools that augment the core product. The producers of facebook augment the core product by providing supplementary features, the most important of which include: Quizzes Music player Games Social interviews Games groups events Sales discussion boards Quizzes poker Social interview network directory favourites news storage News New events Poker Platform for Social interaction : coresales profiles friends network network directory favourites e-mail storage chat message boards groups discussion boards membership management tools TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGES: Facebook has started to make a series of evolutionary moves over the recent past times.technolofy keeps evolving since it is human need to see and experience change in its life. Facebook ,like most other social networking site has been free for its users.the revenue model is based on advertisements and the users are not charged for the service.however, it is expected that since facebook has built its large userbase, it might shift to a fee based model. But since most other sites and even its competitors like twitter,etc are not charging its users,this might pose a threat to its established user base and brand name. The source for this cannot be quoted since its a discussion that is surrounding and is circulating on the web. CHALLENGES Although facebook has a large population of users around the world, it is still facing challenges going global. Last year,  Facebook  sued German social network  StudiVZ  for violating copyright laws, mimicking its logo, features and service, according to German website,  The Local. The two companies are currently battling out of court, but will begin trial in July if an agreement isnt met. Also an investigation was carried out by Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart on ethical issues concerning facebook.the details of which are posted on office of the privacy commission of Canada website. The investigation, prompted by a complaint from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, identified several areas where Facebook needs to better address privacy issues and bring its practices in line with Canadian privacy law The privacy issue concerning it has been brought to the surface and institutions are looking into this matter Facebook in reaction to it has although improved on its privacy policy but still it is claimed that the issue has not been fully resolved and it needs to further provide safety to the users. Apart from these legal and social challenges, facebook also has to deal with the challenge of competition.its direct competitors which include twitter,linkedin,etc are also rising above the surface with their increasing userbase and offering more services. In recent news reported in US magazine, Pakistan,published on April 30,2010 ,it is reported that twitter has announced a new service called promotd tweets which would allow businesses to buy keywords that would let them show advertising messages in search results,and will help turn the service intoa profitable business. This might be a major threat for facebook.the response for this can be taken by giving more opportunities to capitalize for the businesses so that it does not lose the base of users from business sector. Also, If the competitors offer more privacy or come up with some more innovative tools, itd be threatening for it. Face book must therefore constantly innovate to keep its users glued to its services. At the end of the day we all understand that no competitive advantage is sustainable. Anything can be imitated. so we cannot sit back and think of capitalizing on established user base and differentiated services for long. constant innovation and rapid response to change is the key to success for all businesses.

Significant Monarchs in the History of Westminster Abbey :: Westminster Abbey Architecture Monarchs Essays

Significant Monarchs in the History of Westminster Abbey   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Westminster Abbey, an architectural accomplishment from the thirteenth century on, gives an illustrative display of British history. While daily worship still exists, it isn’t a cathedral or a parish church (Internet Westminster). The elaborate Lady Chapel, the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, as well as tombs and memorials for kings, queens, the famous and great, allow the Abbey to be considered a â€Å"Royal Peculiar†, which means that it falls under direct control of the British monarch (Internet Westminster). While every king or queen is significant, a small number have made an impact on the Abbey. Nobility of which include St. Edward the Confessor William the Conqueror Henry III, Richard II, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Mary I, Elizabeth I, James I, Charles I, George VI and Elizabeth II.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With minimal amounts of historical documentation, it is difficult to determine whether a church survived prior to Westminster Abbey (Internet Chronology). While the Venerable Bede provides no records of a pre-existing church, folklore attributes the establishment to King Serbert of the East Saxons (Internet St. Edward). He is also recognized for founding St. Paul’s Cathedral in London (St. Edward). King Serbert built the Benedictine church in 616 AD, after a fisherman is said to have been on the Thames river when he witnessed a vision of St. Peter (Internet Saint Peter). St. Peter is given credit for allegedly consecrating the church himself (Internet St. Edward). One of the Twelve Apostles, the Gospel mentions that he was the first to profess his faith believing Jesus was the Son of God (Internet Chronology). Charters found in the Abbey support the existing folklore (Chronology). Records prove that King Offa made a grant for the monastery in 785 ‘to St. Peter and the needy people of God in Thorney in the terrible, awful place which is called â€Å"act Westmunster†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Chronology). The charter was also significant in first naming Westminster, setting it apart from its brother to the east, St. Paul’s Cathedral (Internet St. Edward). From Glastonbury to Westminster, St. Dunstan, Bishop of London, brought twelve monks to the Abbey around 960 AD (St. Edward). A charter granting land to the church in 961, by King Edgar, refers to a church existing in the area (Internet Chronology). However a place of worship originated there, it is Edward the Confessor who is credited with the establishment of Westminster Abbey.

Jollibee Case Analysis Essay

Executive Summary Jollibee Food Corporation is a Filipino fast food brand that opened in 1975 and has been on the path of expansion since then. IT capitalised on the changes that came its way to fight the competition from brands like McDonalds and KFC. The case highlights the global expansion strategy that they followed backfired due to which they had to consider revamping their strategies. The company has an opportunity in Papua New Guinea, California and Hong Kong but before taking that decision they need to work upon their previous issues to ensure the success in these countries. Till now the firm is being operating in two parallel organisations with no cooperation and coordination among the two which has resulted in chaos and a strained relation between the two. We have through this case analysis provided a complete picture of the Jollibee operations along with the strategies and the way ahead. An analysis presented that the company is currently in between the internationalization and localization strategy. We have recommended the company to follow transnational strategy that would help them achieve an advantage over the competitors. Industry and Firm level Analysis * INDUSTRY LEVEL ANALYSIS The fast food industry is basically a very highly competitive market that strives on cost leadership. The industry is faced by both international players who have huge finances The industry faces low margins and experiences profits on the basis of the economies of scale. The key to achieve economies of scale is selecting the right location to attract traffic and a highly efficient operation management. In the fast food industry the product offering are almost the same. So what make a difference are the things like the service, providing extra drinks / any other supplementary product with your main product. The profitability depends on the customer traffic, location, operation management. Expansion happens mostly through Franchisees and Joint Ventures, it is very important to attain Economies of Scale to do well in this kind of industry as the cost of all other things as we all know is just increasing manifold. And even then the consistency in the food quality is one of the major area s of concerns. * POTTER’S FIVE FORCES i. Rivalry Among The Competitors: High * As explained in the case the competitor had an advantage in terms of brand name, the profitability, the customer base they had . Also high because of the high standardization in terms of quality, quantity, price, procedures and processes which are similar and there’s competition to get better in these aspects. ii. Threat Of New Entrant To Industry – Low * Due to the high tariff barrier and the advantage of economies of scale, differentiation that a firm gets over time. Also in this industry people mostly don’t shift easily due to the taste adaptation and the ability to trust any other brand quality is low. iii. Threats Of Substitute Product– Low * Jollibee managed to serve their customers at affordable price, good service and the hence gained a brand name eventually, so the threat of a new substitute is low , again because of the ability or nature of consumers to shift to other brand easily is low. iv. Bargaining Power Of The Suppliers- Low * The raw material required for food industry could be sourced from multiple suppliers and the shifting costs are less. v. Consumers Bargaining Power- High * Company depends on the consumers for its profitable business and the company needs to adhere to the consumer’s tastes, preferences and prices as there are many competitors to whom they may shift to. Also the entrants are expected to be less in number, so it is better to suit the needs of the existing buyers than to stand different from them. * FIRM LEVEL ANALYSIS Values: The firm puts the customers as the base of all their operations. The customers should be kept in the minds first and then only any further decisions should be made keeping their needs in mind. The co-ordination between the different teams and the different levels also is considered to be very high. High operational efficiency and a well laid out plan with honesty, integrity as a part of their value system. Feeling of one unit and one family is considered to be their priority as they expanded immensely into various countries and regions. Employees have the art of listening and communicating everything that the customers want. Mission: The mission statement of â€Å"we bring great taste and happiness to everyone† showcases its brand as quality based and high in consumer utility. They stand by their tag line and portray their brand in this context. Vision: 1) Their aim to become the most dominant, quality oriented, quick service restaurant, the most endearing brand that has ever been. 2) They provide FSC excellence in every moment 3) They will lead in product sales all time 4) They will be within the reach of every Philippine Thus the 3 B’s helped attain these strategies which are, boost the standards of fast food industry, build brand satisfaction and broaden their reach to customers. SWOT Analysis: Where the opportunity and threats talk about the external factors affecting the firm’s performance and the strengths & weakness about the internal factors of the organisation. STRENGTHS: * Understanding about the local tastes and preferences * First mover advantage in the home market as they were well established before the entry of McDonalds. * Highly motivated people in the organisation, they were all ready to take up the risk. * High domestic market share due to selection of the best location that is a result of first mover advantage. * The ability to innovate given the understanding of the local people but only in their domestic markets. * Power to give the competitive fight to the other organisations in the same industry. * Good operations management. * Diversity in product offering (after the acquisition of Greenwich pizza) WEAKNESS: * No consensus between the international division and the home division. * Lack of communication between the departments * Bureaucratic structure * Financial condition for expansion. * Lack of R&D before expanding internationally along with the fact that the R&D rested with the parent company. * Biased towards local friends and family while selecting franchisees * Lack of global brand recognition. OPPORTUNITIES: * Acquisition with a brand to get their brand also known amongst people. * Hiring non Philippines managers to get the sense of local adaptation. * Create differentiation by cost advantage or customer experience. * Tap the market with lesser or fewer competition. * Increase the product line to favour the taste of local consumers. THREATS: * Big giants like Mc Donald’s and KFC in the foreign markets. * Increased in the transportation cost and the raw materials cost ‘* Political instability * Mismatch in the ideas of the various divisions * So many failures in the foreign market like that in Singapore , Taiwan * Catering to a fast food joint as it is needs a very strong convincing power due to the shift to healthy food by many people. * Entry barriers for them in some countries * Reduction for barriers in the home country which enabled other big fast food giants to enter into the market. Change Drivers Jollibee’s strategies were derived from a lot of change drivers that the company faced. 1. The first change driver that brought Jollibee Foods Corporation into proper incorporation was the realization that prices of ice cream would double due to the oil crisis of 1977. This helped them start their own food outlet with homemade hamburger recipe of the Tans’. 2. Kitchner felt the need to increase the pace of the global expansion projects as he felt that visibility was the only way to bring Jollibee into top ten fast food brands. He decided to go about a variety of strategies to do so. He started his plan with targeting the expatriate Filipinos in the Middle East, Hong Kong, and Guam etc. But this strategy failed as he realized that not all Filipinos had same tastes. When this strategy failed Kitchner used the â€Å"plant-the-flag† strategy as a part of which he wanted to mark his presence in as many countries as possible. As a part of this they started opening outl ets in every country they felt an opportunity. 3. They realized the failure of their joint ventures was due to the lack of support from the parent company. Tony Kitchner implemented a strict control process of the franchises. He appointed Franchise Service Manager’s (FSM) who were the point of contact between the Jollibee and their international partners. He started collecting their sales data everyday not only to analyze the traffic in the outlets but also to provide consultancy to these franchises on how they could improve. For this they also implanted frequent checks that ensured that the standards, quality, hygiene, customer satisfaction etc was maintained. 4. After the criticism of Jollibee’s operations in Indonesia they realized that they need to act as a world class company and not a local company. They started changing the ambience of the outlets in the host country according to the tastes of natives of the host country people. They realized that not all countries like the same type of outlets and services a s the Filipinos. 5. One of the elements of their 5F’s was flexibility which seemed to be missing in their operations. Their â€Å"proven concepts† of Filipino food in every country seemed to trigger a huge controversy. Kitchner realized the mistake and immediately sorted to rectify it. They started with local adaptation as a part of which they introduced a rice dish in which the gravy changed according to what the people wanted like in those countries like in Hong Kong they served their dish with hot and sour chicken while in Vietnam it was served with chicken curry. This accounted for a very small part of their revenue but this was their stepping stone towards localization. Issues Faced The key issues faced by the company are listed as follows: * Strained relation between the domestic and international wings resulting out of their differing opinions. * Following the â€Å"planting-the-flag† strategy that led to opening up of more and more of outlets to increase visibility even if they were running huge losses. This involved a huge investment that affected the other markets. * Lack of proper research about the market needs, the type of local needs, the potential market, the customer base and the competition level and their reach. * Inability to attract local managers due to the fact that the brand was less recognizable and also as a result of aversion from the international firms. * Difference in the management style and culture lead to a failure of plenty of Joint Ventures. The main problem was the model followed by them. * Inability to transfer its success factors in Philippines to other countries. The reason Jollibee was successful in the Philippines was due to the following reasons: * Catering to the local needs by supplying hamburgers that were spicy. * The commendable operational efficiency it practiced in Philippines that require keeping close tab on operations. * Consistent high quality products and maintaining its share in the market. * Its skills in site selection because of its excessive familiarity with the place. * The large number of stores in Philippines enabled it to achieve operational efficiency through economies of scale. * The case makes it evident that there is less market for Filipino-style food that Jollibee has failed to understand. It needs to localize its menu to attract the local customers. Later Jollibee realized the problem and started catering to the local needs for e.g. their rice dish in Indonesia to suit their tastes. Strategies Suggested The firm as mentioned in the executive summary was in between the internationalization and localization strategies. We have drawn this inference from the case which mentions that what Jollibee wanted previously following international strategy as they thought they can sell Filipino cuisine in all parts of the world targeting the expatriates. Therefore they felt they were faced with very low pressure for local responsiveness. They failed to realize that this strategy works only in case of MONOPOLY but not in case of firms having strong competition like Jollibee. This strategy failed as Filipino food was not perceived the same way in every country and the pressures for local adaptation increased. Jollibee failed to keep in mind the key â€Å"Driver† in the fast food sector is local responsiveness and low cost. Later in the leadership of Tony Kitchner they felt the need for local adaptation and realized that international strategy would not work for them. Low cost pressure was always there as they were faced with heavy competition. Tony Kitchner bought about localization in their offering thereby forcing them to follow Multi Domestic (localization) strategy but the case mentions they were over-shadowed by local competitors who were providing food for lesser cost and better local adaptation. Therefore looking at the above mentioned points we would recommend that the company should follow a transnational strategy given that they face high pressures of both cost reduction and local adaptation. The following grid gives a diagrammatic representation of the strategies mentioned. Implementation Plan When going for multi-domestic as a strategy only a certain amount of flexibility and autonomy be provided to partners. This becomes more of an arm’s length dealing, trust was lacking in the relationships. A holistic coordination is required to transfer core competencies or to pursue experience curves and location economies. This is possible only in a transnational entity. This smooth transition can be enabled by inter unit cooperation, decentralizing the organizational structure and following a geocentric approach. Also to implement this strategy and carry out expansions following schemes of actions must be taken in various functional departments. 1. Operations Plan * Waste reduction (TQM) and Standardization of food items will further help in cost reduction. * Smooth supply chain management system should be put in place to increase efficiency and productivity. * The flag can be planted in regions where people have similar taste buds as strategic business units. So that the menu can be varied according to regional taste. * Once the company starts to follow transnational strategy, location economies and operational efficiency should be taken into consideration so as to reap the benefits of both cost structure and differentiation. * Lessons learned should be internalized, so that lack of operational efficiency problems as in Singapore, transparency issues as in Taiwan can be avoided in the future international expansion. 2. Financial Plan * The relations with franchisees and other associates should be clearly defined and the degree of control of the financials should be clearly defined to avoid future confusions. The ramifications of poor relations are clear in the closing down of many franchisees abroad. * The financial management should be done effectively so as to provide enough budgets for the R&D and associated activities that are needed for the global expansion. * Sufficient funds should be made available for the marketing and positioning activities. * Opening multiple stores at the same time will hurt the bottom line and will increase debt. A Cost benefit analysis approach should be used. 3. Marketing plan * Market research prior to entering new markets will help in avoiding the unprofitable ventures as in the Middle East. In order to compete on the level with multinationals, rather than just being a first mover, Jollibee would have to take its performance to the next step and prove that it could continue to build its competitive advantage. * The focus target segment in every country has been expats from Philippines which has been largely successful. But it should not exclude the local populace of the host nation. Its marketing initiatives should target the local populace and it should position itself as a global fast food brand which offers â€Å"exotic Filipino cuisine† for everyone. * Its core competency should be â€Å"authentic Filipino fast food with good service and quality† * The menu of Jollibee should have a mix of standard food items as well as items specific to a host nation. To achieve this, they should set up R&D divisions in each country and come up with new dishes to cater to local consumers like McDonald’s which came up with vegetarian burgers for India and which was a big hit. * For expanding the menu, economies of scale and operational efficiency should be kept in mind. Items which increase inefficiency should be removed from the menu. * Jollibee should follow a differentiated strategy wherein it should target those markets with high potential with an economy similar to that of Philippines like Papua New Guinea and observe the first mover strategy to capture these markets first. 4. Human Resource plan * Jollibee needs a strong corporate culture, and informal management networks to assist in coordination and control. It also needs to understand local cultures before expansion. All this can be achieved through a proper emphasis on Management Development. An effective MDP can build a unifying corporate culture by socializing new managers and partners into the norms and value systems of the firm. * Jollibee should allow certain level of decentralization of authority for its franchises in other countries for operating decisions related to product, marketing and human resource management. Also certain number of R&D centers could be opened in other countries to facilitate localization of some products. * In order to facilitate cooperation among units the staff members who are required to coordinate with other units must be given training on cultural differences and adaptability in workshops. By adopting this practice Jollibee would support its staff to understand the cultural diversity among nations and different market needs. * Jollibee should communicate the company culture through company conventions to ensure that the company interests are achieved. * Localized training approach should be used to make employees outside Philippine as part of the organization. New Decisions At the end of the case we see that currently they are faced with three key decisions about venturing into three different markets. We give our viewpoints as to which markets would be feasible for entry and on what scale. I. Papau New Guinea: The market as described lacks a decent outlet to eat at. Given the opportunity described by very low or probably nil competition it is recommended that Jollibee open an outlet there. It will advisable for Jollibee to open a few outlets in order to test the feasibility and the demand in the market. If the response of the local public is positive they can slowly increase their outlets. II. Hong Kong: According to exhibit 10 we can see that Hong Kong is second in terms of the per store sale value ($ 571120). This reflects that there exists a huge market for Jollibee in Hong Kong but before setting up another store at Hong Kong they need to resolve their issues there. Their main problem there is inability in attracting local managers. They need to resolve their manpower issues before opening another outlet to ensure that their brand name does not get spoiled because the managers had to pay more attention to the quality issues in the dearth of labour which of the lack of quality which left them less time to concentrate on formulating short term. These factors could tarnish their image in the market. Therefore, first step would be to rectify these problems and then improving the status of the existing outlets. When they feel demand is rising tremendously they can set up more outlets there. III. California: Their venture in Guam was a success showing that the food was liked more by Americans based there. Their work at Guam gave them an idea of how to work in America. They can use their learning’s from Guam and implement them better in California to be successful. A small market research before the venture would be suggested to get an idea of the local needs and the potential in the market. Their plan of entering a market with high Filipino population with less number of competitors, Daly City, could be advantageous for them. From that market they would slowly venture into other areas after gaining a share in Daly City.

English Literature Commentary Essay

‘The Crystal Cabinet’ is an outstanding example of Blake’s use of an alternative reality to evoke readers to contemplate the boundaries of their society in light of knowledge about another world where these boundaries do not exist. Through the poem which was written just after the French Revolution, Blake offers the extreme of human experiences; as the central metaphor of the poem symbolizes a deep human truth which can be adopted with his poem, ‘London’. The poem’s simple goal is to tell a story and share a wisdom. The poem contains seven stanzas, several stanzas containing a different world and a different boundary; within each stanza one is able to find a rhyme scheme which closely follows a broken dactylic tetrameter. The Crystal Cabinet’s seven stanzas forms a superstructure upon which the story elements can be intertwined, and imagination can be overlaid as deeper themes of Blake’s philosophy can be also be embedded. The first stanza is the main and central metaphor which one should focus on as it unfolds line by line before connecting with the second stanza to further evoke readers on the different dimensions and boundaries. The first two lines in the first stanza seemingly represent’s a form of innocence, a new born into a new world that deserved a celebration which is where and why Blake uses the term â€Å"merrily†. However, one notices the semi-colon after the â€Å"merrily† as it drifts further away from the supposed celebration, as the narrator’s ‘Maiden’ puts the persona into a cabinet and â€Å"lock’d me up with a golden key†; the poems happiness and joy thus comes to a dramatic halt. The broken dactylic meter in the first stanza seems to be contradicting, as ‘merrily’ representing a form of happiness and freedom, is partnered with ‘key’ which in terms symbolizes a place where freedom is lacked and limited, where one is locked. The cabinet in which the narrator/Blake finds himself in is â€Å"form’d of gold, and pearl and crystal shining bright†, a contrast to the large and dull world of nineteenth century London. The second stanza, from lines 5-9, Blake is using the cabinet for which the narrator is locked in to emphasize an escape to a different world as opposed to a world for which he lives in, a dull and fearful nineteenth century world, in London. The second stanza contains two broken rhymes/dactylic meters as Blake rhymes â€Å"gold† and â€Å"world†, and â€Å"bright† and â€Å"night† together. Inside the cabinet is where we find â€Å"another London with its tower† – Blake uses to represent a temporarily forgotten evil of which the real city contained and the imaginary one within the cabinet was freed from. The cabinet that is described through the second stanza is a cabinet full of dreams and light, of beauty and no fright. A â€Å"world† that is surrounded by â€Å"gold†, a â€Å"night† that has a â€Å"crystal shining bright† light; this as opposed to a world where the narrator/persona is captured dancing merrily and locked up into a world of limits. The images inside this crystal cabinet â€Å"translucent, lovely, shining clear†; all of the people and places are presented in their perfect forms. Here, Blake comes to an agreement with Plato’s philosophy ‘that a world of ideal forms only exists beyond our perception’. His poem presents an encounter with the world, as the fourth stanza seems to be Blake pleading in hope that his readers will one day realize the possibility and potential which one can escape from their repressed society. â€Å"O, what a pleasant trembling fear!† is not necessarily speaking of fear itself, but the fear that this translucent, lovely and shining clear world of his will dissipate and once again, be ruined by repression – in contrast to the French Revolution and its impact on England and the people of England. Here, Blake uses another broken dactylic meter of ‘clear’ and ‘fear’; the ‘clear’ representing/symbolizing a form of clarity, purity, innocence, and happiness and the ‘fear’ that represents the loss of that clarity. Thus, allowing one to see the desperate desire that the narrator must have towards a peaceful world, a peaceful life that is not full of danger and fearfulness. Through this poem which catapults the reader into a realm of the persona’s imagination, Blake description and different realm throughout the fifth stanza is a world containing ‘love’, for which was given and returned. This particular stanza differs from the first four as it is filled with joy, happiness and love, without having a halt. ‘O, the happiness and joy for which fulfilled my soul as though a flame being burnt, no composition, no question, I seek the love as I kiss the lovely ‘Maid’ and found that the love I seek was returned.’ Notice the ‘Maid’ in the third line of this stanza, is capitalized, which in terms represents something more than just a maid we understand in modern day, for this ‘Maid’ is not one who cleans up after our mess, but a context used metaphorically to describe a woman in particular, a woman whom the persona is trapped with respects and cares about, perhaps a lover. Linking to Blake as the poet of this poem, must represent a time in his human experience of a lover which made him burn like a flame and smile ‘threefold smiles’. Another point for which one notices while reading this poem is the broken rhyme of ‘burn’d’ and ‘return’d’; the burn’d here represents a fire (danger), a wrath, however symbolizing much more than just a fire object itself, as it symbolizes a warmth, the warmth of love, which in contrast was ‘return’d’. Here in this new world of The Crystal Cabinet, the persona trapped is happy and is in a world where his desires are fulfilled, as is the desire of his lover, his ‘Maid’. When the persona suddenly breaks the crystal cabinet in the fifth stanza, after having tried to â€Å"seize the inmost form†, the world was ‘fierce’ and shattered; and the reader is convinced that both imagination and reason are incompatible to one another. Here, the poem suggests that our lives have been so dominated by the doctrines of society that if we do try to find any reason in anything beyond the confines of the familiar lives for which we’ve been put in, we will not succeed, but will fail. In terms of Blake during his time, this particular part of the poem suggests that people during this time, their lives, are so dominated by not only the doctrines of society, but the doctrines of the Church, that if they do find reasoning and truth beyond those lines that have been drawn for them, they will die, and that truth does not prevail because of the imposed laws and rules. Therefore, the realm of the imagination that is transcended can not be quantified by either science or mathematics, nor can it be philosophized according to the laws of the State or the Church’s teachings, limiting the human minds, locking each human up with a golden key, only allowing the locked up humans to use their ‘alternative reality’ minds to go into other realms of the world. The last stanza, striking to the reader as to the narrator, basically states that ‘although one has been locked up into a crystal cabinet with a golden key, having experienced different realms of the world and having loved and loved back, one opens their eyes (†¦seize the inmost form†¦ but burst the Crystal Cabinet†¦) they break through the cabinet and once again, is back into the reality of fear and danger, back to the fearful nineteenth century world of London. As babies crying because their births are of no happy events as it only represents a continuation of this ‘woe’ (linking to ‘London’ as well as last line of ‘The Crystal Cabinet’), and ‘weeping Woman pale reclin’d’, representing the ‘plague’ from the Sexually Transmitted Diseases woman get from their husbands; there is no happiness, no other dimension that is capable of allowing one to escape reality forever, as the persona is born i nto a world ‘fill’d with woes the passing wind’. In conclusion, this crystal cabinet symbolizes a unique opportunity to unfold meaning and explore further into those minds of the nineteenth century. Using the metaphorical visionary/images to help set a stage for a greater understanding of the environment, situation and journey for which is also a realization of the philosophy of William Blake. This poem is independent, yet linked through the narrative, using color scheme and the re-use of objects and words from other narrative elements, these different realms of world’s and spaces produces a unique, harmonic, and fearful resonance to viewers. It is when the four-fold vision is sought as the Crystal Cabinet breaks, in the seventh and final stanza, summing up everything the poem means and has stood for, is returned back to the original place and location for which they had entered, in the town squares of London. Here, the readers experience has thus triggered a new perception of London, as this perception is the perception seen through the eyes of William Blake himself.