Saturday, May 23, 2020

How to Talk About Fractions in Chinese

Know that you know your whole numbers in Chinese, you can talk about rational numbers in decimals, fractions, and percents with the addition of a few more vocabulary words. Of course, you can read and write numbers—like 4/3 or 3.75 or 15%—using the universal numerical system in Chinese-speaking regions. However, when it comes to reading those numbers out loud, youll need to know these new Mandarin Chinese terms. Parts of a Whole Fractions can be expressed either as parts of a whole (half, quarter, etc.) or as decimal fractions. In English, parts of a whole are stated as â€Å"XX parts of YY,† with XX being the parts of the whole and YY being the whole. An example of this is saying two parts of three, which also means two-thirds.   However, the phrase construction is the opposite in Chinese. Parts of a whole  are stated as YY 分ä ¹â€¹ XX. The pinyin of 分ä ¹â€¹ is fÄ“n zhÄ «, and is written the same in both traditional and simplified Chinese.  Note that the number representing the whole comes at the beginning of the phrase.   One-half can be stated as either ä ¸â‚¬Ã¥ Å  (yÄ « bà  n)  or using the phrase construction mentioned above:  Ã¤ ºÅ'分ä ¹â€¹Ã¤ ¸â‚¬ (à ¨r fÄ“n zhÄ « yÄ «). There is no Chinese equivalent to the term one-quarter besides  Ã¥â€ºâ€ºÃ¥Ë†â€ Ã¤ ¹â€¹Ã¤ ¸â‚¬ (s à ¬ fÄ“n zhÄ « yÄ «). Examples of Parts of a Whole three-quarterssà ¬ fÄ“n zhÄ « sÄ n四分ä ¹â€¹Ã¤ ¸â€°eleven-sixteenthsshà ­ lià ¹ fÄ“n zhÄ « shà ­ yÄ «Ã¥  Ã¥â€¦ ­Ã¥Ë†â€ Ã¤ ¹â€¹Ã¥  Ã¤ ¸â‚¬ Decimals Fractions can also be stated as decimals. The word for decimal point in Mandarin Chinese is written as é »Å¾ in traditional form and ç‚ ¹ in simplified form. The character is pronounced as diÇŽn.   If a number begins with the decimal point, it can optionally be prefaced with é› ¶ (là ­ng), which means zero. Each digit of the decimal fraction is stated individually just like a whole number. Examples of Decimal Fractions 1.3yÄ « diÇŽn sÄ nä ¸â‚¬Ã© »Å¾Ã¤ ¸â€° (trad)ä ¸â‚¬Ã§â€š ¹Ã¤ ¸â€° (simp)0.5674ling diÇŽn wÇ” lià ¹ qÄ « sà ¬Ã©â€º ¶Ã© »Å¾Ã¤ ºâ€Ã¥â€¦ ­Ã¤ ¸Æ'å›› (trad)é› ¶Ã§â€š ¹Ã¤ ºâ€Ã¥â€¦ ­Ã¤ ¸Æ'å›› (simp) Percents The same phrase construction used in expressing parts of a whole is also used when talking about percentages. Except for when talking about percents in Chinese, the whole is always 100. Thus, XX% will follow this template: ç™ ¾Ã¥Ë†â€ Ã¤ ¹â€¹ (bÇŽi fÄ“n zhÄ «) XX.   Examples of Percents 20%bÇŽi fÄ“n zhÄ « à ¨r shà ­Ã§â„¢ ¾Ã¥Ë†â€ Ã¤ ¹â€¹Ã¤ ºÅ'Ã¥  5%bÇŽi fÄ“n zhÄ « wÇ”ç™ ¾Ã¥Ë†â€ Ã¤ ¹â€¹Ã¤ ºâ€

Monday, May 18, 2020

Business Valuation Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 10 Words: 2868 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Formerly called Trinity Labs, Torrent pharmaceuticals is one of Indias leading pharmaceutical companies with an annual turnover of about 930 crores worldwide. It is now a fast-growing company after shaking off the sluggishness of past few years. It has recently established a new manufacturing facility in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh both as a means of expanding production and to take advantage of its low-cost production environment by shifting existing production capacity. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Business Valuation Example For Free" essay for you Create order Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is one of the most renowned companies in the Indian pharmaceutical market. It is considered to be one of the foremost companies in the pharmaceutical company. The Companys major sources of revenue are mainly from manufacturing services and sale of branded-generic drugs in India and unbranded-generics pharmaceutical products abroad. A further classification of these pharmaceutical sales can also be done as, Domestic formulations which basically comprises of branded pharmaceutical formulations sold in the domestic or the local market, Contract manufacturing which is generally comprised of sourcing, producing and supplying insulin formulations to Novo Nordisk (India) Ltd. under their brand name and International operations which encompasses sales outside the country of branded as well as unbranded-generic pharmaceutical formulations to foreign subsidiary companies and third parties. Torrent Pharma has also made significant inroads into the internati onal generic drugs market. Over the last few years, the Company has built up a strategy and infrastructure along with the capabilities focused on tapping this productive opportunity. The production facilities are improved to meet stringent and strict quality assurance standards of the highly regulated and developed countries (like fulfilling or satisfying the USFDA norms); and along with it maintaining the competitive cost advantage. Torrent Research Center (TRC), the research development facility, is upgraded to develop international generic versions of selected molecules in the required time frame and prepare the necessary regulatory dossiers for obtaining timely marketing approval in regulated markets. Company has sought to establish a strong RD outlook in this field by investing over 12% of its net sales in RD. As per the mentioned or discussed strategy, their current international operations are focused on five key or major areas: Brazil Latin America, Russia CIS countrie s, Europe, North America and Rest of the World comprising less regulated countries of Africa and Asia. DIRECTORS REPORT: SIGNIFICANT EVENTS ISSUE OF BONUS SHARES: During the year, equity shares of the Company of face value Rs.10 each were sub-divided into two new equity shares of Rs.5 each and bonus shares were issued on post-split basis in the ratio of one bonus share for every existing share held. Dividend recommendation of Rs.2.50 per equity share on the expanded capital post issuance of bonus shares (50 % on fully paid up face value of Rs.5) (previous year Rs.8 per equity share, 80% on fully paid up face value of Rs.10), amounting to Rs.21.15 crores (previous year Rs. 16.92 crores). The stock-split allowed the Company to unlock the value for shareholders. CAPITAL AND BORROWINGS: During the year, the Company split the face value of its equity shares from Rs. 10 to Rs. 5 and also issued bonus equity shares in the ratio of 1 bonus share for every share on a post-split basis by way of capitalization from Capital Redemption Reserve.The paid up share capital of the Company increased from Rs.21.15 crores to Rs. 42.31 crores as at 31-Mar-06 on account of the same. It allowed company to retain cash to fund the capital expenditure program mainly comprising of formulation manufacturing facility at Baddi, API upgradation and expansion project at Indrad, (both completed during the year), expansion of research development (under execution) and other maintenance capital expenditure were funded mainly from the term loans and internal accruals. NEW PRODUCTS A pharma company has to continuously search for new products to survive in a market that makes old products obsolete very fast. Torrent launched a number of products that protected its market-share by replacing the obsolete products. UPGRADATION OF RESEARCH CENTER Torrent Research Center (TRC), the research development facility, has seen increasing investments mainly to develop generic formulations of drugs going off-patent. Since Torrent doesnt have the scales to fund original molecule research, this is a prudent approach. In a market where a number of blockbuster drugs will go off-patent in near future, it is possible to create value with this strategy. However, decline in capital funding for research as a percentage of sales is a matter of concern. ACQUISITIONS Torrent acquired the German firm Heumann Pharma that has boosted its balance-sheet for overseas operations. It has allowed them to gain foothold in German market. Torrent India Analysis Asset Efficiency The overall efficiency of Torrent India has decreased from 1.27 to 1.14 in 2005-06. This could be attributed to the significant decrease in Working Capital efficiency from 5.20 in 2005 to 3.11 in 2006. This decrease in working capital efficiency is due to an increase in cash and bank balance by 634.3% and sundry debtors by 85.78%, which is indicative of slackening in collection from market. Working Capital Cycle Efficiency of inventory has increased substantially in the year. However company seems to have lost some of its bargaining power with both its suppliers and customers as evident in decreased credit facility available from suppliers and increased credit facility being given to its customers. The change to VAT regime may have led to thinning of pipeline in the first quarter leading to loss of market power but there is no reason for this phenomenon to make impact for the entire year. Cash flow analysis The net short-term debt taken by the company in 2004-2005 was Rs. 2966.81 lakhs, which was completely repaid in 2005-2006. In 2005-2006, however, they have taken a lot of long-term loans. The company took a net long-term debt of Rs. 6283.50 lakhs, which put its total net long-term debt on 31 March 2006 at 24408.50 lakhs. During this period, Torrent Limited has purchased fixed assets that have a long gestations period worth Rs. 11440.64 lakhs. Last annum they had purchased fixed assets worth Rs. 9563.21 lakhs. Their long-term investment in subsidiaries was Rs. 3555.13 in 2005-2006, compared to Rs. 530.10 lakhs last year. This can be explained by their huge investment in their German subsidiary, Torrent Pharma GmBh, for acquisition of Huemann Pharma GmBh, and to meet the working capital requirement of Huemann, post acquisition. The cash and cash equivalents of Torrent have decreased substantially, by Rs. 9429.39 lakhs, compared to a corresponding increase of Rs. 12429.59 lak hs last year. It seems that the entire capacity expansion has been funded by internal accruals and the long term debt has been utilized to retire short-term debt as well as to pay for the acquisition in Germany. Yet, Torrent enjoys a comfortable cash position. Long term solvency The interest coverage ratio has declined sharply to 4.97 from the corresponding figure of 9.76 last year. However, the firm is stable to meet its interest payment needs and this change is due to the increase in long-term loans. The company is in comfortable position in terms of Debt Equity ratio and Debt service coverage ratio. Torrent remains an eminently lend-able company. Profitability Ratios Net profit margin has declined from 11.21% in the previous year to 9.71% in the current year because of the impact of writing off losses on account of closing of a subsidiary, and decline in non-operating income since surplus funds were withdrawn from market instruments for capital expenditure. The summary of reported operating profit margin movement for the year is as under: Operating profit margin for FY 2004-05 15.6% (Loss) / Gain in margin on account of: Raw and packing materials consumed 1.9% Manufacturing cost 1.5% Staff cost 1.0% Increase in stock-in-trade (4.7%) Selling cost 2.4% RD cost 2.1% General and administration cost (2.6%) Operating profit margin for FY 2005-06 17.1% The operating profit margin before tax of the company has increased from 15.55% to 17.11%, but at the same time, ROTA and ROCE of the company has decreased from 14.48% to 12.27% and 19.77% to 19.47% respectively. Though ROTA and ROCE has dec lined, RONW has shown an increase from 15.53 to 17.21. The Du Pont analysis indicates a decrease in assets turnover and leverage impact. The decrease in ROTA, ROCE and Assets turnover ratio could be attributed to the fact that company has been spending heavily in capacity building and acquiring new subsidiaries. Since the returns expected from such expansions is yet to be realized in substantial measure, decline is understandable. Cash/bank balance They wanted to go for capacity expansion. So they sold all their relatively risky investments aggregating 14695.34 lakhs and put them into relatively safer instruments like fixed deposits. This led to an increase in the cash and bank balance by 634.3% and complete knocking-off of outside investments other than those in subsidiaries. Torrent Consolidated Analysis Profitability Operating profit margin before tax has decreased from 13.47 in 2005, to 11.13 in 2006. Similarly, the net profit margin has also decreased from 8.90 in 2005 to 5.25 in 2006. Though net profit margin for Torrent (India) also declined during this period, the operating profit margin has increased from 15.55 to 17.11. The decrease in operating profit margin of Torrent (consolidated) indicates that subsidiaries are making losses. Long term solvency The debt service coverage ratio has significantly decreased from 4.13 to 1.93 during the period 2005-06. For Torrent (India), these figures were 5.3 and 3.15 respectively. This decrease in debt service coverage ratio of Torrent (consolidated) can be attributed to the fact that during 2005-06 the cash flow from operating activities for Torrent (consolidated) increased by 36.38%, whereas its interest paid increased by 190.8%.The high interest paid also has an effect on interest coverage ratio which declined from 8.99 to 2.37. Though the figures are still in the acceptable region, a further decline in cash flow from operating activities and an increase in interest paid will have an adverse effect on the long term solvency position of torrent consolidated. Market Position Since consolidated figures show decline in reserves lying with the Company as compared to figures for India operations, book value declines marginally. The majority shareholding in Torrent is by its promoters, thus there is no significant threat of a takeover. Asset Efficiency (consolidated) One significant difference that can be seen between Torrent India and Torrent Consolidated is that overall efficiency ratio decreased fro Torrent India in 2005-06 whereas it increased for Torrent Consolidated. A possible reason is that sales for torrent consolidated increased by 76.5% whereas its capital employed increased by 63.3%. On the other hand increase in sales for Torrent India was 39.1% and increase in Capital employed was 55.5%. The huge increase in capital employed of torrent India was because of the loans given by torrent India to its foreign subsidiaries. Comparison between Domestic and International operations International operations of Torrent still have a pull down effect on the consolidated performance of the company because they have not yet started generating returns. Most of the subsidiaries are still in the investing phase and have a very low turnover denying efficiency scales to the company currently. However their continued improvement indicates that company should be able to build scales in its international operations too in the near future. Torrents stock performance: Bonus Issue: The bonus issue decision taken by the board of directors was well accepted by the shareholders. The share price jumped from a mere 168 to 192 in a single day. The bonus issue was finally approved on Jan 25th by the company shareholders. Performance vis-Ã  -vis Market Torrent share price has largely mirrored the movement of BSE index, but has shown a sharp jump between November and February on account positive market response to share split. However, in the period after Mar 2006 Torrents performance has declined vis-Ã  -vis the stock exchange. While the BSE index has given returns of close to 50%, the stock has gone up by round about 39%. The beta value of the stock lies close to 0.7657. It indicates a declining enthusiasm for the scrip in the stock market. Shareholding Pattern The company is a very closely held company with close to 74.9% under the promoters. Foreign institutional investors have also shown significant interest in the stock with holding s of nearly 11%. Other financial institutions carry another significant chunk of the shares. This means that very little is in the hands of the retail investors. In comparison, the industry leader, Dr Reddys has only 24% under promoter holding. The FII is slightly higher at 15%. COMPARISON WITH SIMILAR COMPANIES Torrent pharmaceuticals performance with respect to the industry and a few similar companies of the pharmaceuticals sector is presented in the table below. The comparison of Torrent with the some of the pharma is done keeping in mind that the other three companies share almost same business model and are somewhat similar in terms of sales. The sales figure for Glenmark, Alembic and Torrent are 562.94Cr, 525.35 Cr, 691.96Cr respectively in FY2006. Aggregate Alembic Torrent Pharma Cadila Health Glenmark Pharma 2006 2006 2006 2006 Key Ratios Debt-Equity Ratio 0.81 0.64 0.63 0.6 1.06 Long Term Debt-Equity Ratio 0.56 0.31 0.59 0.43 0.88 Current Ratio 1.5 1.2 1.48 1.14 2.74 Turnover Ratios Fixed Assets 1.78 1.31 1.79 1.33 2.49 Inventory Turnover 4.87 5.12 1.92 6.43 5.55 Debtors Turnover 4.45 5.07 8.1 8.9 3.43 Interest Coverage Ratio 4 8.33 4.97 7.94 6.19 PBIDTM (%) 15.31 16.98 15.67 21.22 22.11 PBITM (%) 11.98 12.63 12.46 16.51 19.32 PBDTM (%) 12.32 15.46 14.48 19.14 18.99 ROCE (%) 11.64 17.02 19.47 20.11 19.31 RONW (%) 13.2 23.27 17.11 24.42 25.53 Â Ratios of other companies are sourced from https://www.capitaline.com Torrent seems to be servicing its debt pretty efficiently when seen in light of industry aggregate. The debt-equity and long-term debt-equity ratios for torrent are below the industry average. Torrent, Cadila and Alembic have around 60% debt with respect to their equity whereas Glenmark is above 100%. When seen this in the light of debt servicing (interest coverage ratio) capacity of the firm Torrent and other companies are doing a good job. They are above the industry aggregate of 4. The interest component for Torrent, Cadila, Alembic and Glenmark are approximately 25%, 14.4%, 13.6% and 19.2% respectively of their PAT. The short-term solvency of the Torrent and others is also above the industry average. Torrent is using its fixed assets more efficiently than Alembic and Cadila Health. Torrent, in most of the aspects, matches and at times is well above the industry aggregates of the key performance indicato rs. Torrent has one of the good sales credits to cash conversion among the others in the industry. One key area where Torrent needs to improve upon is Inventory Turnover. When it comes to efficiency in Inventory Torrent is not doing a good job with respect to Industry aggregates. Torrent has been managing its inventory very inefficiently (larger holding periods) even though it has improved on this count in the current year and hence in this aspect it is rated as one among the low in the industry. Du-pont Analysis Du-pont chart for Torrent India operations 2006/2005 RONW=17.21/15.53 Operating margin Asset Turnover Leverage Ratio Equity Ratio 14.7/13.99 1.14/1.27 1.54/1.315 0.63/0.87 There has been an upward swing in the RONW of torrent over the past year assisted mainly due to the improvement in the operating margin and the equity ratio. The operating margin has moved upwards mainly due to the sales push. Even though the costs have increased sales has cushioned the blow. The revival in sales is mainly due to the general growth in the pharma industry after the recovery from the slack caused by the implementation of VAT. Increase in the brand portfolio as well as an increase in the field force also assisted in the growth. The change in the equity ratio has been mainly due to strong performance that has increased shareholder wealth in the Company and pushed debt ratio down even when substantial amounts have been raised as debt from financial institutions. The fixed assets have grown because of the addition of the 2 new plants that have been commissioned which are still to make full impact on sales thus pulling down the overall asset efficiency. The cash in bank balance has seen a major increase due to the conservative investment strategy of torrent. However this hardly is a cause of concern because non-operating are not a major source of income in any case and withdrawing finds from the market have enabled funding for capacity expansion. Future Growth Prospects Torrent Pharmaceuticals is a company with conservative growth outlook because its scales donot allow it to play high-risk high-reward game of original research. In a market dominated by innovative companies, this can be a handicap. However, Indian companies barring the top 2-3 have hardly got the necessary resources for such business model. The old story of growth through branded and unbranded generics that catapulted some Indian companies into big league is likely to continue for a few more years. So, betting on this strategy is not such a bad idea. In recent times, pharmaceutical sector has faced uncertain regulatory environment and increasing pressures on margins. The recent move by the government towards a more comprehensive price control regime is likely to tighten the margins further. Under these circumstances, a brave investor would bet on a conservative strategy that Torrent follows. Torrent will have to find ways of tapping into the research pipeline to make its business m odel reflect current churning in the market. Since its balance sheet is not big enough to allow such strategy, one way out could be to open new revenue streams by hitching itself to research pipeline like contract research for a part of research supply chain. Torrents international strategy is also focused on generics which may have a better future given the thin penetration of healthcare in under-developed markets where Indias low-cost producers have a natural advantage. However, India has already moved to a regime that will lead to continuous thinning of generic pipeline. Its full impact is still a few years away so Torrent still has time to re-orient its business model to reflect market realities.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Debate Of The Tech Debate - 1789 Words

MP 1.1 Rough Draft The tech debate seems to never have a victor because there seems to be unending points of view and evidence to support both sides. However, what seems to be true of those who support technology and its benefits is they each have something different to say about its positivity. Through Morozov we see the critiques of Carr and how the best way to view technology criticism is to do it in the perspective of the evolution of tech, which gives us a broader understanding. Through Crystal we see the benefits of technology and how it is far from causing a downfall of the english language. Lastly, Genevieve Bell, an anthropologist and current Vice President at Intel discusses how technology is a way to spread stories and give us a background into other people’s lives. Although technology has considerably changed multiple aspects of our society, it is not a detrimental piece of humanity, but rather something that has changed the way humans interact and still further our understanding of each other. By showing the multiple positions of Morozov, Crystal and a new source by Bell we can see that tech’s impact should be viewed through the multiple lenses, one of historical context, one of varying social/human context and one of its sharing of ideas, all of which show the benefits of tech. One of the lenses that gives us the most perspective about the technology debate is a historical one. When looking at the tech debate in a historical context, it seems to be true thatShow MoreRelatedPersonal Data Privacy . Frame Analysis And Advocacy Field1686 Words   |  7 Pagesof data used to increase security or convenience up against the idea that constant collection or surveillance without user permission is, or ought to be illegal. Millions of users and billions of dollars are implicated in the debate. The Pro argument is made by large tech companies, and government agencies like Dept. of Homeland Security. Con arguments are made by consumer protection groups, government agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, and civil rights groups. The bulk collection of dataRead MoreConcealed Guns On Campus : A Major Topic Floating Around Right Now Essay1509 Words   |  7 Pagesto. The second argument for concealed guns on campus was written by Hilton Collins writing for emergencymgmt.com. He starts off his argument by questioning the Virginia Tech shooting by asking if guns were permitted on campus would the shooting even had even happened. Collins says that mass shootings like the one at Virginia Tech do not happen often, but when they do they are severe. 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Masque of the Red Death Free Essays

While Most are familiar with the gruesome nature of Poe’s classic short story horror yarn â€Å"Masque of the Red Death,† most have a tendency to fixate on the action of the story and the grim proceedings that occur and do not carefully examine the role that nature plays in the short story and how the short story presents a cautionary morality tale warning people that no matter how they try, they can never escape the wrath of the natural world when it decides to wreck havoc. Poe and his contemporary authors of the 19th century presented a recurring theme in their work. This theme centers on the notion that society is inherently corrupt and that finding oneness with nature is a preferred choice. We will write a custom essay sample on Masque of the Red Death or any similar topic only for you Order Now Of course, this does not mean that it was suggested that people abandon their homes in urban areas and head out to live in the forest, but it was a call to look skeptically towards the structure that society provides to them as it is not as flawless as they assume. This is seen in symbolic terms in the â€Å"Masque of the Red Death† and the environment in which the masque actually occurs. In the short story, Prince Prospero and his cronies lock themselves up in Prospero’s mansion so as to hide from the ravages of the Red Death that has destroyed much of the population. In order to entertain themselves and hide their paranoia of death, they turn the event into a grand masque. In a way, this is a strange attempt at distract and distance themselves from the ravages of the world outside. Eventually, Prince Prospero notices a hooded individual who has snuck into Prospero’s home. (He is noticeable in the manner that his masque guise stands greatly out) When confronted, the stranger reveals himself to be the human embodiment of the Red Death and Prospero and his minions are doomed to succumb to the same fate as the common people they had mocked. There is great symbolism in this tale as Prospero represents the privileged upper class and the masque that he promotes within a sequestered location represents the great cities that have seemingly insulated themselves from the ravages of nature. The use of the masques can even hint that the people are hiding their true nature of paranoia and fear of what lies beyond the wall of the castle. The insolence of Prospero and his minions is seen in the following excerpt: But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince’s own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. In this situation, it appears that Prospero holds a bizarre arrogance that if he re-enforces his castle, then he can keep out the brutality of the Red Death. This is a small scale version of the use of society and urbanized areas to control, curb and detain the natural world. Of course, there are limits to society’s value in this regard as nature wields force that can easily overwhelm any city. The Red Death, while a disease, is a being of natural selection. Pestilence has one primary purpose: to thin the heard when the population of the heard grows to a dangerous extreme. When nature has decided on its course of action, often, it is unidirectional in its approach and next to impossible to deter. And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revelers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all. In other words, nature, taking the form of pestilence, will not be stopped nor will it be denied its primary purpose. To this end, Prospero is doomed as will anyone who believes they can curb or dominate or escape nature. How to cite Masque of the Red Death, Essay examples

Literature Review Cultures and Business

Question: Discuss about the Literature Review for Cultures and Business. Answer: Introduction The objective of this paper is to discuss the literature review for the article, Managing changes in globalizing business: How to manage cross-cultural business partners. In this article, authors have discussed the cultural impact on the business. It has been observed that various large organizations in the western countries like USA have been using the lean manufacturing system developed by Toyota. However, the establishment of this system depends on various internal and external factors of the organization that are determined by the cultural fit (Graen Hui, 1996). This article was published in the year 1996 but the learning of this article still holds true. In fact, with the forces of globalization and Internet, organizations have started to focus on international markets. Therefore, it is important that the organizations must have a clear understanding of the foreign markets and culture (Geringer, 1991). It would enable the organizations to conduct business swiftly in the interna tional markets. This article was published in the journal or organizational change management and in this article, authors argued that the organizations must analyze the external factors are the cultural factors before entering any new market. As a part of initial hypothesis, authors mentioned that a necessary but not sufficient condition for a successful transplant across vastly different cultures, such as from east to west, is the development over time of a third culture which is compatible with both of the original cultures, but transcends them to produce a unique venture culture(Graen Hui, 1996). Analysis Hunkeler, (2000) suggest that the cultural factors are the major driving factors that could define the critical success factors for organizations to operate and to succeed in the new and emerging markets. Authors highlighted that the cultural fit for organization would mean the integration of the financial, environmental and technological criterion to meet societal demands. The consequences of the decisions made will affect the micro and macro-economic environments. The use of standard measurements used by many organizations is often rolled up in the costs of the product. Henkeler, (2000) suggest what customers are willing to pay is a financial risk that organizations must take in order for long term survival in the new markets. In the article, authors mentioned that growth is a critical aspect of the organization when they enter the new markets. Looking at growth in the perspective of providing the needs of the organization, focusing on the roles management place in positively influencing the organization in efforts to provide a stable environment, and growing in a manner that considers placing the organization in a place where they can compete and adapt is an excellent perspective and certainly aids in the organization growing with efficiency. Another aspect of growth would be ensuring that the management of people is efficient in the organization in the new environment. This is know to be the stage in where the organization begins to groom its self for stability and success by placing the right people in the right places to establish and enforce organizational goals and initiatives that have been identified as critical factors of the organizations mission and vision (Phelps, et al., 2007). With this in pl ace the organization will be prepared to grown in all aspects that matter the most. The organization of people is also a very important aspect of growth in the multicultural environment. If a companys resources are mismanaged or inappropriately managed, a company will suffer from to crisis (Porter Steers, 1974). Such crises have plagued large companies such as the example given of Dell where management has become over bureaucratized and departments find themselves being suffocated by red tape. Therefore, large companies have looked to become a hybrid of a big company/ small company hybrid such as Johnston and Johnston who is actually a group of 250 separate companies operating in 57 countries (Daft, 2015). Such other large companies as Lowes have allowed each individual store manager the autonomy to operate as a small, hometown shop (Daft, 2015). Vanguard, another company, requires all managers even their CEO to spend time each month manning the phones and directly talking to customers (Daft, 2015). This intervention helps to eliminate the problem of isolate top ma nagers from not knowing what goes in the trenches. Authors mentioned that monitoring growth is an important aspect of organizational development in multicultural environment and is necessary to understand how effective the organization is. Throughout the organizational life cycle stages leaders must be able to recognize when it is necessary to revitalize the organization and its processes. During the initial stages of entrepreneurship creativity and innovation are at the forefront of the operation because the organization needs to make a path for success. Ironically, older organizations in the formalization stage are also marked by the need to revitalize and spark innovation in order to prevent decline (Hamel Prahalad, 1989). At each stage it is necessary for the organization to assume an entrepreneurial culture to continue to survive and thrive. Entrepreneurial culture is noted as a key outcome and indicator of innovation in an organization. An important extension of monitoring is acting upon what is discovered through monitoring. It is imperative for managers to recognize the signs of crisis in each stage and take action to regain some semblance of control over the outcomes of growth. Understanding the frame of reference of the followers or to whoever the leaders works with is very critical not only in cross-cultural but within different departments of the same organization. In fact, there could be cases when the same organization has different cultures across its departments or the organization could have different cultures across different geographies. For example, the organizational culture of Google Inc. may not be same in the developed countries like Australia and the developing countries like India. Today, the marketing culture is driven by rapport-building practices that attach high values to relationships and these relationships vary across different cultures (Leong Tan, 1993). Conclusion The article is an interesting article to read. In the article, authors mentioned that, change is constant and continuous improvement becomes a requisite to meet the demands of stakeholders and maintain a level of profitability. Many initiatives such as the International standards Organization (ISO), Lean, Quality and environmental initiatives will have an effect on the profitability of an organization (Graen Wakabayashi, 1991). Technology is changing rapidly, and globalization is increasing. This results in rapid changes in most organizations. I can say that I would agree with the authors point of view that organizations must have a clear understanding of the foreign markets and culture. I would also agree that the analysis and the study of the foreign culture and international market would enable the organizations to take effective business decisions. The authors argument holds true, as the organizations method of conducting business would be different in different markets. The approach that Apple takes to sell its I-Phone in American market may not work in the Indian market (Hui Lin, 1996). It is important that this approach should be contextualized with the local markets and external factors. Therefore, the study and analysis of the culture would be an added advantage for the organizations. The system like Lean manufacturing works best for Toyota in Japan, as the management was able to get the support from hard working staff in Japan. The success of these systems in the foreign market like USA would also need the suppo rt from employees and other stakeholders. The authors argument holds true as the study of the international culture and environment would help the decision makers to negotiate better and negotiation is often required when the companies enter into new regions. Therefore, it can be said that the deep understanding of the culture would enable the businesses to conduct business effectively in the foreign and international markets. In my opinion and from my experiences, continual reflections are a necessary element that can provide the lessons learned of the things that worked well and what hasnt worked as expected. From the failures, organizations can change even in closed systems. As we know organizational dynamics are not static and continually evolve. Organizations must adapt to the external environments to stay one step ahead of its competition to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. References Daft, R. L. (2015). Organization theory and design (12th ed.) Mason, OH: South-Western, Cengage Learning. Graen, G.B. and Wakabayashi, M., 1991. Cross-cultural human resource development for transfer of management technology.International Business and the Management of Change, pp.147-69. Graen, G. and Hui, C., 1996. Managing changes in globalizing business: how to manage cross-cultural business partners.Journal of Organizational Change Management,9(3), pp.62-72. Geringer, J.M., 1991. Strategic determinants of partner selection criteria in international joint ventures.Journal of international business studies,22(1), pp.41-62. Hamel, G., Doz, Y. and Prahalad, C., 1989. Collaborate with your competitors.Harvard business review,67(1), pp.133-139. Hui, C. and Lin, Z., 1996, January. Regulating collective actions: A case of two cultural systems. InResearch Workshop on Global Organizations at Hong Kong University of Science Technology. Hunkeler, D. (2000). Life Cycle Profit Optimization of a Business Opportunity. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 5(1), 59-62. Leong, S.M. and Tan, C.T., 1993. Managing across borders: An empirical test of the Bartlett and Ghoshal [1989] organizational typology.Journal of International Business Studies,24(3), pp.449-464. Phelps, R., Adams, R., Bessant, J. (2007). Life cycles of growing organizations: A review with implications for knowledge and learning. International Journal Of Management Reviews, 9(1), 1-30. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2370.2007.00200.x Porter, L.W., Steers, R.M., Mowday, R.T. and Boulian, P.V., 1974. Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover among psychiatric technicians.Journal of applied psychology,59(5), p.603.

Friday, May 1, 2020

Free Siddharthas The River and the Mind/Bod Essay Example For Students

Free Siddharthas: The River and the Mind/Bod Essay y Dichotomy Hesse Siddhartha EssaysThe River and the Mind/Body Dichotomy in Siddhartha In Herman Hesses work Siddhartha, the primary physical symbol of division is the river. One side of the river represents geist, or a realm concerned with the spiritual world. The second side represents natur, the natural world where the flesh is engorged with pleasure and earthly satisfaction. Siddhartha begins on the spiritual side of the river. He is in training to become an excellent Brahmin like his father, much is expected of this intelligent and attractive young man. Yet Siddhartha feels a rumbling in his body and mind. His soul is not satisfied with the answers that he has received about problems in life. He feels the need to live his home in order to find these answers. He is willing to sacrifice security for insecurity and danger. His travels renew and strengthen his spirit. The structure of the story is centered around the apparatus of iterative-durative time, a technique in which the author follows a loose linear chronlogy, with each part covering approximately twenty years, while only about one or two of those years are described in any detail. The effect easily lulls the reader into a perception of the passing time. He first spends time with a roving band of asceitics, forest-dwelling nomads that prefer to live a life of extreme sacrifice and self-denial. Siddhartha masters their art and goals, but shortly decides to move on after only a few years. He is not able to find his quest for salvation and understanding on such a path. Throughout his journey, his friend Govinda stays by his side. He decides to leave the town with him, come with him and practice with the ascetics, and then agrees to leave with him to seek out the Illustrious One, Gotama. Siddhartha does not find the answers to his spiritual queries here either, and decides to move on again. This time Govinda, his shadow, decides to stay and make a niche for himself. Siddhartha strikes out on his own, crossing the center symbol of the river with the help of the boatman Vasudeva. After crossing the river he encounters an Indian woman who encourages him and allows him to kiss her nipple. His experience with the natur world has begun, his experiences of the sense being heightened and readied for a sensual deluge. He remains on the sensual side of the river for twenty years and in that time impregnates his seductive teacher and partner Kamala. Their child will later teach him many lessons. Siddhartha leaves the town he had been living in because he is disgusted with and tired of his lifestyle. He comes to the river and is so destitute that he is about to kill himself in it. Immediately before letting himself plunge to a watery death, he hears a sound emanating from the river. The riverno longer seen as divisive, it gives solidity and meaning to both banks. It combines elements of the spiritual world along with that of the flesh. The infinite and universal Om is emitted from the river and it saves Siddhartha. The now aging Siddhartha makes his life with Govinda the boatman. His life has finally come to the point where he had always been seeking to find himself. He is at the middle of the spiritual and natural world. A true synthesis is the key to his sense of peace. The river and Siddharthas perception of the harsh discordance between the spirit and natural self eventually culminate in realizing the importance of both. His life on the river, his constant journeying from one bank to the other, largely represent this realization and his discovery about life. This work can help teacher any young, idealistic, searching spirit about life and the necessity of synergy in ones philosophical and practical thought about life.