Country Analysis Essay Example for Free

Country Analysis Essay India is the third largest economy in the world as regards to its purchasing power. If effective measures are taken it can be the third largest economy after the US and China. Although India has much potential in terms of economic advancement there are vital issues that need to be addressed for instance overpopulation, environmental degradation, ethnic and religious strife as well as extensive poverty. This paper will provide general information about the country for instance it’s political, economic, social and culture organization, economic and trade indicators, specific reasons why its market is attractive, potential and pitfalls in international management, and contemporary issues that may support-impede international management. A brief history. India is located in the southern Asia and it borders the Arabian Sea as well as the Bay of Bengal. It is between Burma and Pakistan. Its early history dates back to the 19th century when Britain had the political control of all the Indian land. During the first and the second world wars the Indian soldiers played a significant role. The Indians resisted the British control over their land and this led to their independence in 1947. Significant leaders that led in the non violent resistance include Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. (www. state. gov). The region was divided into two comprising of the secular Indian state and the Muslim state of Pakistan. The two countries went into war in 1971 and the Eastern Pakistan became a separate nation of Bangladesh. The state of Kashmir is however a cause of dispute between the two countries up to date. Political organization. India declared itself a republic in January 1950 and it set a constitution that would guide its undertakings. The constitution was keen in ensuring justice, liberty and equality. It was also made flexible enough to incorporate the social as well as economic changes should they arise. In ensuring democracy prevailed it first held its general elections in 1952 and since then election are held after every five years. India is a Union that comprises of 28 States and seven centrally administered Union Territories. (www. state. gov). Every one above eighteen years of age and is an Indian citizen has the right to vote according to the provisions of the constitution. Fundamental Rights of every Indian citizen include the freedom of speech, expression, belief, assembly and association, migration, and choice of occupation or trade. Discrimination on grounds of race, religion, creed or sex is consequently avoided through the above provisions. India has a form of parliamentary democracy, it has a bicameral parliament and the sovereignty rests ultimately with the people. The elected officials in the parliament are responsible in making important decisions regarding the country. India has a Council of States which consists of not more than 250 members. 12 members are nominated by the President of India while the rest are elected. The vice president oversees the Council of States which is also known as Rajya Sabha. An important aspect regarding the Council of States is that it is not subject to dissolution and a third of its members retire at the end of every second year. Nominated members have a special knowledge in areas for instance literature, science, arts as well as in social services. There is also the Lok Sabha or House of the People which consists of 545 members. 530 of these are directly elected from the 25 States and 13 are from the seven Union Territories. Two of the members are nominated by the President and they act as representatives of the Anglo-Indian community. The President of India is also the Head of the State and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. (www. state. gov). He is elected by an electoral college composed of members of both the Houses of Parliament that is the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha and the legislatures of the nation’s constituent States. The President holds office for five years term but he can be re-elected. However, the President does not on his own initiative exercise any constitutional powers. The Council of Ministers which is headed by the Prime Minister is the one responsible for that. Election of the vice president is between the members of both houses and the one with majority support in the Lok Sabha becomes the prime minister. The prime minister advises the president on the ministers to appoint and as long as the minister has support from the parliament he can continue to enjoy his term in the office. The judiciary is independent of the executive and it has the role of safe guarding the constitution of the land. The Supreme Court is the highest judicial tribunal but each state has its own high court. The current head of state who is also the president is Mrs Pratibha Devisingh Patil and the head of government or the prime minister is Manmohan Singh. (www. state. gov). Economic. The GDP or the purchasing power parity as at 2007 was at $2. 965 trillion while the GDP per capita was at $2,700. The composition of the GDP according to the sectors was as follows; agriculture contributed to 16. 6%, industry 28. 4% and the services sector was 55%. The labor force was 516. 4 million with agriculture registering the highest percentage at 60% the service sector was second at 28% and industry contributed 12%. The unemployment rate in 2007 was 7. 2% and the population below poverty line was 25%. The inflation rate or the consumer prices in 2007 was 5. 9%. The government budget was as follows; revenues were $145. 2 billion while expenditures were at $182. 4 billion. The public debt both the federal and state debt accounted to 58. 8% of GDP. Agricultural products that are produced in India include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry and fish. Relevant industries include textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery and software. (CIA). In terms of trade India has been fluctuating for instance from 2005 to 2008 goods and services in terms of the percentage of GDP has shifted from 20. 2, 22. 7, 21. 2 to 20. 6. Likewise the inflation in this period was 4. 2, 6. 2, 6. 4 and 5. 2. Australian trade relationship in 2007 was as follows; exports to India accounted to a tune of 5. 5% of the total share recording a growth of 5. 4. Imports from India were 0. 8% of the total share which was a 14% total growth. In total the trade accounted for 3% of the total share with a growth of 6. 5%. Major exports to Australia include non monetary gold, coal, copper, ore and wool. India imports pearls and gems, electric plants, jewels and medicaments. The services exported to India from Australia include education related as well as personal travel and they attribute to 3. 8% of the total share while the imports are 0. 9% of the total share and the include computer services and personal travel. Other export destinations include the US which account for 15. 4%, United Arab Emirates 9. 5% and China 6. 4%. (CIA). India can increase its GDP by increasing the production of the goods and services that it has a competitive advantage in. The population as at July 2008 according to CIA was at 1,147,995,898. The age structure was as follows 0-14 years attributed to 31. 5% of the total population with 189,238,487 males and 172,168,306 females. 15-64 years were 63. 3% of the total population of which there were 374,157,581 males and 352,868,003 were females. Those aged 65 years and over comprised of 5. 2% of the total population with 28,285,796 males and 31,277,725 females. The population growth rate is 1. 578% with a birth rate of 22. 22 births/1,000 and a death rate of 6. 4 deaths/1,000 population. The total infant mortality rate was 32. 31 deaths/1,000 live births with males comprising 36. 94 deaths/1,000 live births as females comprised of 27. 12 deaths/1,000. Life expectancy at birth for the total population is 69. 25 years and males register a life expectancy of 66. 87 years as that of females is 71. 9 years. The total fertility rate is 2. 76 children born per woman. (CIA). Among the significant activities that have an impact in the country’s economy is agriculture which is both traditional as well as modern. The service sector and modern industries also have a significant impact on the country’s economy. A large proportion of the labor force is in the agriculture and this is risky as the sector is prone to many fluctuations in the market. To make India attractive to foreigners as an effort of boosting its economy the government has reduced unnecessary controls that would hinder foreign trade and investment. Allowing foreign investment on key areas like the telecommunications will be critical in promoting economic advancement in India. For the sensitive sectors like agriculture imposition of tariffs has the effect of reducing the number of people venturing in it. The country’s economy has registered a 7% growth within a decade and it has been able to reduce the poverty levels. In 2006 it was able to achieve an economic growth of 8. 5%. The high population can be of positive effects to the economy in the sense that it can be exploited as potential labor that is an important factor of production. By using the educated labor force it has risen to become a major exporter of software services as well as software workers. Through the economic expansion the country has been able to reduce its federal deficit at a remarkable rate. However the strong growth blended with easy accessibility to credit as well as a booming real estate precipitated inflation that was a cause of inflation. To control the inflation the central bank applied monetary policies like hiking the interest rates to slow down the credit growth. Social and culture organization India’s culture is unique although it is very diverse for instance there are over 40 languages. Indians are very friendly and this is good as it can have a positive effect on the manner at which they relate with foreigners. They are also very respectful to all and employers have good relationships with their employees. India is a resourceful country especially as it is known to provide its expertise regarding the construction of cement plants to the airports as well as to the railway systems. It has programs geared to ensuring that developing countries are provided for with feasibility and detailed technical evaluation studies. The program is effective in the sense that it provides support in training personnel in areas like agriculture as well as small scale industries. India is also very committed to ensuring that it promotes unity between the developed as well as the developing countries towards the new economic order. (www. dfat. gov. au). India has been firm in its stand of not interfering with internal affairs of other countries or nations. It however advocates for the adherence of the dignity of human beings. Regarding its position on disarmament it is highly committed to ensuring that the horrors of terrorism do not cause harm or destruction to mankind. To this effect it has joined other countries in banning nuclear weapons. Potential and pitfalls in international management and solutions. Major pitfalls in the country’s economy include the lack of privatization of government owned industries as that would increase efficiency and accountability. The populist pressures from the government are a major reason behind the lack of privatization of state owned industries. Major steps should also be taken so that the number of people living below the poverty line is reduced. The issue of unemployment is also an important one that should be well addressed. Encouraging people to be self employed as well as providing the appropriate tools will be a step forward in eradicating unemployment. Another critical issue that should be well addressed is the issue of a balanced rural urban divide. There is a problem in India where by approximately 70% of the population live in the rural areas or villages and this affects the pace by which rural urban growth takes place. (Panda and Gupta, 2004). A balanced development is what will see the Indian economy thrive. To be successful in business it will be appropriate to enhance the education system in India. This will be a step forward in ensuring that there is improved skill development. It is also critical to focus on skills development, improved governance as well as forging partnership in the private as well as public sector in the provision of infrastructures. Water is very essential and its scarcity ought to be effectively addressed. The biggest challenge that India faces is the population growth which will have a stressful impact on the countries infrastructures. There is an urgent need to control the population growth as an effort of trying to reduce the adverse effects that it would bring to the economy. To promote sustained growth economic reforms ought to be put in place so that the challenges can be well addressed. Fiscal discipline will be vital. International business is affected negatively by the fluctuations in the markets. The government ought to focus on those sectors that the economy is worst fairing in like health as well as in education. To further address the issue of unemployment it is critical to reform the labor laws so that more job opportunities are created. (Phansalkar S. 2005). Although agriculture plays an important role in the countries economy there is need to reduce over dependence. Reorganizing it in a manner that will promote the introduction of new technologies that would reduce the over reliance on climate for instance irrigation would also be vital. In an effort to reform the financial sector it will be appropriate to privatize some public sector banks as such a move will encourage efficiency and effectiveness. (Leung K and White S, 2004). To attract and retain Australian investors in India it has to ensure that its political system does not jeopardize with the investors activities. There have been cases where other foreign investors like US companies have preferred to close down instead of fighting in courts over legal requirement issues. Enhancing the structural systems will be a necessary step if investors are to be preserved in the country. Irrational tax policies as well as other forms of trade barriers need to be addressed as they act as a disincentive to trade and investment. (timesofindia. indiatimes. com). Advancing the level at which the infrastructure is being developed by increasing the finances put aside for the same will be critical in encouraging Australian investors. Enhancing the political reforms geared towards improving stability, privatization and deregulation as well as land reforms. An Australian based company can find the Indian market attractive or one with many opportunities. India is modernizing its infrastructure especially the transportation sector like the airports. This implies that there will be huge opportunities in infrastructure development like in roads, constructions, power plants, nuclear plants and air modernization. There is a considerable stable political environment that will not have adverse effects on businesses in India. (Phansalkar S. 2005). It also has a stable currency and the market is one of the biggest democratic markets with a huge middle class and this will be necessary for the company as it will provides for labor as well as potential market. The skilled labor can be tapped or exploited to provide labor for the foreign based company. There are minimal restrictions of entry to the Indian markets and the Australian based company will not face many challenges when trying to venture. References: CIA. The World Fact Book. India. Retrieved on 31st May 2008 from https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in. html Kwok Leung and Steven White. 2004. Handbook of Asian Management. Birkhauser Publishers. Panda and Gupta. 2004. Mapping Cultural Diversity within India: A Meta-analysis of Some Recent Studies. Global Business Review. 5: 27-49 Phansalkar S. 2005. Opportunities And Strategies In Indian Business: Preparing for a Global India. Sage Publishers. India. Recent economic indicators. Retrieved on 31st May 2008 from http://www. dfat. gov. au/geo/fs/inia. pdf Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar. 2001. What makes MNCs quit India? Retrieved on 31st May 2008 from http://timesofindia. indiatimes. com/articleshow/1602986123. cms Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. 2007 Background Note: India. Retrieved on 31st May 2008 from http://www. state. gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3454. htm

Human Factors Issues of Glare :: Optometry Vision Glare Essays

Human Factors Issues of Glare The problem of glare affects all individuals. Although it is usually only a fleeting annoyance, glare can have grave consequences. For instance, problems caused by glare from computer screens account for 10 million optometrist examinations per year (Berman, 1998). There are two types of glare: discomfort glare and disability glare. The types of glare are distinguished by their origin. Discomfort glare comes from an external source; it is the physical sensation one experiences in the presence of a light source that is too bright. An example of discomfort glare is the experience of stepping outside on a bright day just after leaving a dark movie theater. Surfaces such as snow and sidewalks can cause discomfort glare (Ludt, 1997). Discomfort glare affects everyone. Disability glare, however, has an internal source. It is intrinsic to the individual due to aging or disease. Disability glare refers to intraocular scattering of light that interferes with normal visual functioning by decrea sing image contrast on the retina. These individuals have a debilitating sensitivity to high levels of illumination. Streetlamps, floodlights, and the sun are examples of everyday encounters that can induce, and require recovery time from, disability glare. The pervasive and insidious nature of glare demands additional research. This paper examines discomfort glare, disability glare, the reasons why they warrant further research, and the direction of this research. Because discomfort glare refers to reflection sources in the field of vision, the most simple way to guard against discomfort glare is to modify the environment. Some of the sources of discomfort glare are the sun, unshielded streetlamps, floodlights, computer screens, and parabolic luminaires. When the sun is low on the horizon, early in the morning and at dusk, discomfort glare peaks because the sunà ­s illumination is much brighter than other objects and these objects become difficult to see. (Ludt, 1997). Protective gear may be sufficient to counteract the overhead rays of the sun in between dusk and dawn. A remedy for discomfort glare caused by the sun is simply to wear a visor while outdoors. A brim that extends 3 inches forward should block light from entering the pupil. Sunglasses with yellow, orange, or red tinted lenses may decrease discomfort glare (Ludt, 1997). Unshielded streetlamps, or semi-cutoff luminaires, fail to make streets safer because their high-wattage bulbs shine light throughout the entire surrounding area. Full cutoff optics are a less bright and ultimately safer alternative.

Groupon Essay

1. Introduction Groupon is a deal-of-the day Internet start-up company that was launched in 2008 in Chicago. The website offers discounted deals for local as well as national companies. Now operating in more than 150 markets as diverse as the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Brazil, Europe, South America, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, China, Russia and many more. Consequently there is no doubt that this company is a multinational enterprise (MNE). Groupon had 35 million registered users by October 2010 and thus has been one of the fastest growing businesses in the world (Lacrote, 2011). According to Andrew Mason, founder and CEO, Groupon was founded to be the first company to offer the very best deals available. This could only be done by contacting local merchants directly which gave Groupon its competitive advantage. Using this local responsiveness Groupon is able to offer the best deals every day within 24 hours (Cutler, 2010). The aim of this paper is to analyze how successful Groupon’s global strategy can be implemented worldwide. Firstly an overall impression of Groupon’s  business model and organizational structure is given. Secondly a deeper insight in the corporate strategy as well as the global strategy is provided. Furthermore the unsuccessful entry to China is analyzed and evaluated. Finally this paper conducts to what extent Groupon can be considered socially responsible before a conclusion is drawn in the last section. 2. The Business Model Groupon is a multinational start-up company that offers one â€Å"Groupon† per day in each of their markets (Deborah, 2009). In the beginning of the process Groupon congregates with another business to set up a deal for a certain product or service. As a next step, both parties  negotiate a minimum number of participants, which have to sign up for a deal to become available. In the end the price discount of each voucher has to be identified. This price is paid by the end consumer and is usually split equally between Groupon and the merchant. The reason why merchants are attracted to Groupon’s business model is that the high quantity sales of each voucher are very beneficial. In addition, merchants profit from several marketing channels, which are used by Groupon. Thus a win-win situation is created. 3. Organizational Structure Groupon’s top-level corporate management is based in Chicago. CEO, Andrew Mason and the most important worldwide functional managers navigate the global coordination from the headquarters. Top-level corporate managers provide direction and purpose, leverage corporate performance and ensure continuing renewal (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008). Hence, the most important strategic decisions are to be made in the headquarters. Groupon’s Geographic subsidiary Managers are established for certain geographical areas (Organizational Chart Groupon, 2012). Those managers have to interpret cultural differences on the one hand and implement the corporate strategy on the other hand (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008). In order for Groupon to be locally responsive the company is providing small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) from which they can manage their subdivisions in different geographic areas. For Groupon it is important that geographic subsidiaries have a high degree of freedom and thus react quicker and respond to local demand. As a result, Groupon’s subsidiary orientation can be considered geocentric because geographic managers make decisions about local responsiveness while headquarters decide on the overall corporate strategy (Perlmutter, V. 1969). 4. Groupon’s corporate strategy As Groupon is established in many countries of the world, a global strategy has to be pursued on the one hand. This leads to a gain in brand equity, brand awareness and global efficiency. On the other hand Groupon offers national as well as local deals, which caused the business to act locally responsive as well. Groupon, for this reason, can be considered transnational, as the company acts â€Å"more responsive to local needs while capturing the benefits of global efficiency† (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008, p13). Today’s MNEs compete in highly complex, diverse and constantly changing business environments. This is due to globalization of markets as well as acceleration of product and technology life cycles. Most importantly however is the intensification of global competition for Groupon. Most online services are easy to imitate. Therefore it has been of utmost importance that Groupon’s managers take the right actions and develop appropriate strategies. Groupon has access to highly educated international managers that sense and interpret complex and dynamic environmental changes. These managers have developed and integrated multiple strategic capabilities in order to cope with today’s business world. As it was very hard for Groupon to enter foreign markets, Groupon identified several companies that were interested in forming joint ventures. An important part of their global expansion strategy that was centrally managed from Chicago, was developing five pronged strategies that led to global efficiency and competitiveness. First of all, Groupon has introduced a coordination strategy that focuses on an analysis of various goods and services that would be engaging and appealing to the subscribers. Once these goods and services have been identified, Groupon’s managers start the process of initiating, negotiating, arranging, and executing. As soon as the coordination strategy is in place, Groupon discovers a pricing strategy. Due to the high discounts for  customers on the one hand and the provision of highly effective marketing instruments for comp anies on the other hand a win-win deal is created. Groupon sets a fixed price and a fixed deadline when the deal  ends. By doing so, the target group has limited time to purchase the offerings and is therefore under some pressure to buy the product instantly. In Addition, the deal only takes place when a minimum number of buyers are reached. This way the seller obtains full planning certainty for the particular deals. Another important part of Groupon’s strategy is advertisement. Many companies find it interesting to offer products via Groupon because of their heavy marketing activities they undertake. By advertising and selling the company’s products, companies benefit of free marketing as Groupon only charges a fixed percentage of the selling price. Product offering is the fourth of the five strategies they came up with. In this section, they identify possible highly demanded products and undertake a lot of research and carefully examine the preference of the people catering to the local market. Finally, Groupon added a special features strategy in which they market their service as we ll as the products in a unique way. 5. Groupons Global Strategy Joint ventures play an important role for Groupons expansion strategies. As Groupon has successfully started and expanded their business in the United States they quickly realized that there is a high demand for deal of the day business overseas as well. One of the first market entries outside the United States was entering European market. Although well-established companies were already the deal of the day their business model, Groupon was eventually able to benefit from those competitors. Oliver Samwer, founder of Citydeal was the first competitor who interacted with Groupon. Andrew Mason described this meeting as follows: â€Å"After a few days with Oliver [Samwer] and the rest of the Citydeal management team, we realized that they were among the best operators we’d ever metâ€Å" (Chan & Lee, 2011). Afterwards Groupon analysed the situation and realized that Citydeal was already dominating the European market. Competing with them would have been extremely difficult and risky as opening own facilities all across Europe  would have been a substantial investment. As a  result, Groupon was rather interested in a acquisition and bought Citydeal in 2010 for 126 million dollars. This investment enabled Groupon to instantly gain access to the European market. Groupon was providing their experience from America, whereas they received local marketing expertise and well educated employees. When engaging in cross-border collaborations MNEs try to overcome any protectionist barriers as well as overcoming national regulations by having good political contacts. (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008) Nevertheless, those relationships often involve great risk as a substantial amount of capital investment is required. It is often uncertain whether companies can actually benefit from economies of scale and scope as well as arbitrage opportunities. To illustrate the source of forming competitive advantage more precisely this paper introduces the AAA-Framework by Ghemawat, 2005 (Appendix 1). In this model Groupon can be placed close to adaption as they attempt to act locally responsive by supplying their customers with national as well as local deals. Aggregation also plays a vital role because Groupon â€Å"attempts to deliver economies of scale by creating regional (†¦) operations; it involves standardizing the product (†¦) offering and grouping together the development and production processes.† (Bartlett & Beamish, 2011). Moreover, Groupon is trying to make use of arbitrage opportunities, which â€Å"is the exploitation of differences between national and regional markets, often by locating separate parts of the supply chain in different places (†¦)† (Bartlett & Beamish, 2011) However, arbitrage takes an inferior position as Groupon is providing a service and does not have production facilities. 6. Groupons entry to China After successfully expanding business into many markets before, Groupon ran into some difficulties when starting a joint venture in China. Groupon’s general strategy when entering  new markets is aggressively penetrating the market to gain market share very quickly. As competition in the market was a lot more intense than expected, this strategy did not work in China (Chao, 2012). Using a unified entry  strategy in every country without adapting to the differences, which are present in each market, is known as the United Nations Model (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1986). When Groupon entered the Chinese market they were proclaiming to become the biggest online shopping site right from the beginning. This arrogant attitude did not take any strong competitors in the Chinese market into account (Chao, 2012). Competitors knew exactly how to treat customers and vendors according to the Chinese circumstances. One example is that Groupon tried to split the profits with vendors equally. Local competitors were used to charging only ten percent, which gave vendors no incentive to consider Groupon (Chao, 2012). In addition to that, the world leader in the discount deal business did not consider hiring more than 2 Chinese managers in their senior management team. This resulted in very low local responsiveness, as western managers did not know the Chinese culture well enough (Chao, 2012). To overcome cultural difference Groupon startet a joint venture with the Chinese online deal website Tencent (Chan & Lee, 2011). This joint venture gave Groupon the opportunity to adapt a rather local strategy. It would have been easy to learn from Tencent and employ a more responsive strategy afterwards. Again, Groupon did not take notice of the need to learn from this locally established company and hired expats to run operations around the country (Zhu, 2011). Consequently, there is evidence that Groupon’s competence of local organization in China has been very low. Since the Chinese market provides a significant purchasing power, China can be viewed as an environment of high importance for Groupon. A subsidiary that can be characterized by a high strategic importance and a low competence of local organization is called a â€Å"Black Hole† (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1986). Managing once way out of a â€Å"Black Hole† is extremely difficult and Groupon would have to choose the right strategy to do so successfully. Bhattacharya and Michael describe in â€Å"How Local Companies Keep at Bay† that local companies can beat  multinational Enterprises by pursuing several distinguishing strategies (Bhattacharya & Michael, 2008). As strong competition has been one of Groupon’s main problems when entering the Chinese market, in order to gain market share against local companies the MNE has to analyze how locals are able to outperform their global strategies. Afterwards those strategies have  to be used against the local companies (Bhattacharya & Michael, 2008). In the case at hand, Groupon would have to adapt to the locally responsive strategies and pair them with their own expertise. More specifically Groupon would need to start by learning from its venture partner and hiring local managers who know how the Chinese market works. Besides choosing the wrong entry strategy, Groupon’s low local competence was caused by ethical differences. On the one hand Chinese employees felt like they were not treated fairly when Goupon fired around 400 people in 2011 (Chao, 2011). On the other hand Groupon ran an offending advertisement during the Super Bowl in the USA (Chao, 2011). A solution to such a conflict of cultural tradition is for the manager to ask oneself if the company’s practices would be acceptable if the manager’s country were in a similar state (Donaldson, 1996). If Groupon is able to successfully implement those changes the national subsidiary would take the new role of a â€Å"Strategic Leader†. A â€Å"Strategic Leader† is characterized by a high competence of local organization and a high strategic importance of local enviro nment (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1986). 7. An evolving global role Multinational enterprises are more and more responsible for the establishment of a tremendous gap between rich and poor all over the whole world. Using global strategies and exploiting economies of scale and scope can be viewed as very exploitative and irresponsible. To see if Groupon is acting socially responsible one can analyze the level of responsibility by  distinguishing between four MNE postures. Firstly there is the exploitive MNE, which is known to use socially irresponsible opportunities to maximize profits. An exploitive company might take advantage of the cheapest possible workforce it can find by employing children in unsafe environments working long hours. Secondly a transactional MNE is described. This posture is characterized by trying to maximize profits and acting socially responsible on the other hand. Those companies settle at the boarder to being socially irresponsible while not actively engaging in any social efforts. Thirdly there is the responsive MNE. In c ontrast to the transactional MNE the third  posture is characterized by an active engagement into corporate citizenship behaviour. Finally the transformative MNE defines itself by taking responsibility to solve the problems in less developed countries in the world (Bartlett and Beamish, 2008). Applying Groupon to the MNE types, they can be classified as a responsive enterprise. Even though Groupon was criticized by some companies for being harmful to certain industries, a large amount of social responsibility has been shown. Having noticed the ability to raise money from groups of people, Groupon has established charity deals on their website. When customers buy one of those deals Groupon will match the amount and donate everything for example to the Red Cross (Campbell, 2012). 8. Conclusion The Internet deal company Groupon was established in 2008 and became a multinational company in a very short period of time. The corporate structure is made of the main functional managers in the corporate headquarters and geographical subsidiary managers in each location. The fast growing business can be characterized as transnational because it is pursuing a global strategy while having a great focus on being locally responsive. In order to expand as rapidly as Groupon did, the cooperation had to acquire businesses in some countries and start joint ventures in others. As mentioned before, in most European countries  this strategy worked out perfectly well. When Groupon decided to enter the Chinese market, however, some problems arose. Even though Groupon claimed to behave in a responsive manner they were reluctant to adapt locally responsive management practices in China. Consequently, the Chinese competition disabled Groupon from becoming market leader. To answer the problem statement if Groupon’s global strategy can successfully be implemented worldwide a conclusion can be drawn. While Groupon implemented the global strategy very successfully in the European market, there are some major difficulties when using the same strategy in China. To overcome those problems Groupon has to hire more Chinese managers in order to understand how the Chinese system works. Additionally, Groupon should use the  opportunity to learn from their venture-partner Tencent. Finally it is important for Groupon to analyze the competitive advantages of the competition in order to beat the local leaders by using their own methods. Coming back to Groupon’s overall strategy one can identify Groupon as a transactional company since it is actively engaging in corporate socially responsible activities. References Bartlett, C. & Beamish, P. (2011). Transnational Management. New York, USA: McGrawHill Bartlett, C. and Ghoshal, S. (1986) Tap Your Subsidiaries for Global Reach. Harvard Business Review. Bhattacharya, A. & Michael, D. (2008). How Local Companies Keep Multinationals at Bay. Harvard Business Review. Campbell, L (2012,November 18). How Groupon and LivingSocial Are Raising Millions for Charity Using Social Media. Socialmedia Today. Retrieved from: http://socialmediatoday.com Chan & Lee, (2011, February 28) Groupon Enters China, Teams with Tencent. Pedaily. Retrieved from: http://www.pedaily.cn Chao, L. (2012, August 24). Groupon Stumbles in China, Closes Some Offices. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from: http://online.wsj.com Cutler, K. (2010, May 7). Groupon CEO: Being in a band made my business rock. Social. Retrieved from http://venturebeat.com/ Deborah, C (2009, June 10). Virtual â€Å"tipping point† leverages group. Reuters. Retrieved from: http://www.reuters.com Donaldson, T. (1996). Values in Tension: Ethics Away from Home. Harvard Business School Press Lacrote , V. (2011, June 1). Groupon. Retrieved from http://digitalstrategies.tuck.dartmouth.edu Perlmutter H. (1969). The Tortuous Evolution of the Multinational Corporation. Columbia Journal of World Business Zhu, J (2011, November 4). 4 Mistakes Behind Groupon’s Failure in China. Tech In China. Retrieved from: http://www.techinasia.com

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay - 1393 Words

The roaring twenties was a time for happiness and celebration, but the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, shows a different side of this dynamic decade. Fitzgerald uses a poignant, yet hopeful tone to show the shadier side of the nineteen twenties most refuse to look at, while tying in the brighter side. In The Great Gatsby, the reader is sucked into a story of corruption, and empowerment by the rich hidden by extravagant parties and bright colors. Jay Gatsby, who only dreamt of wealth and love had an ideal dream life, that ideal life could be defined as his â€Å"American Dream†. His dreams were later crushed by very powerful people, careless people, people who used and abused others to get their way, no matter the consequences.†¦show more content†¦Gatsby dreamed this day would come. The day he would finally see his beloved Daisy, again, after all these years. He never lost that idea, even after he came back from war and found her to be married to Tom Buchanan. Gatsby loved Daisy and was optimistic about her still loving him too. â€Å"You never loved him.† (Page 139). Gatsby shows his optimism about he and Daisy, and their â€Å"undying love.† He believes telling her that she never loved the man she was married to would make it so. This detail of Gatsby telling Daisy that she never loved Tom, shows how his American Dream was for Daisy to have always loved him and never Tom. †You’d better come home and get some sleep.† He shook his head. â€Å"I want to wait here till Daisy goes to bed. Good night, old sport.† He put his hand in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house, as though my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil. So I walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight--watching over nothing.† (Page 153). Gatsby wants to stay at the Buchanan’s house, in eagerness that Daisy will come out of the house, and see him, run away with hi m, and do something romantic that involves the two of them wrapped up in forever love, but the reader can see that no such thing will happen. Gatsby is hanging back for false hopes and crushed dreams. This scene shows, no matter what, Gatsby still hopes to live happily ever after, with his beloved Daisy, who, no longer feels theShow MoreRelatedThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald1393 Words   |  6 PagesF. Scott Fitzgerald was the model of the American image in the nineteen twenties. He had wealth, fame, a beautiful wife, and an adorable daughter; all seemed perfect. Beneath the gilded faà §ade, however, was an author who struggled with domestic and physical difficulties that plagued his personal life and career throughout its short span. 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