Sunday, December 29, 2019
Ratio analysis is a technique of quantitative analysis - Free Essay Example
Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1263 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? The first limitation of the ratio analysis is information problems. Ratio analysis is a technique of quantitative analysis and thus ignores qualitative factors such as management skills, track record and the rate of change in the market which may be important in decision making. (Universal teacher publications). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Ratio analysis is a technique of quantitative analysis" essay for you Create order The ratios are seen as red flags as they do not provide answers to questions raised by the users of an organisations accounting information. They only provide a trend indication and basis for comparison. For example, if the return on capital employed at Kidds plc is 20.9%, the potential yield of the business cannot be derived and clearly cannot be achieved. (Benedict Elliot 2008). The limitations of information problems arises because ratios are not definite measures as they only provide clues to a companys financial situation thereby, not reflecting the performance of the company. Also out-dated information is likely to be presented in the financial statement which does not give a proper reflection of the organisation current financial position. Furthermore, where historical cost convention is used, valuation of asset could be misleading. Hence ratio based on the information is not good for decision making, and because of the reluctance of companies to divulge information which may be beneficiary to their competitors, they tend to provide dubious and obscure information which has little or no use. (Geoff 2009:225). The need for comparison: Ratio analysis is a useful tool in analysing the performance of a firm, but would have no usefulness if there is no element of comparison. Ratios need comparators to be meaningful because a ratio in isolation would be of little use, unless the ratio has a norm with which it can be compared or a standard against which it can be judged. (Benedict and Elliot 2008:541). Comparisons can be made on the basis of past relationship and statistics within the firm by comparing its achievement to that of its competitors in accordance to the norms and customs of the industry. Though problems are bound to arise because of the unique nature of the business, coupled with the difficulty in finding a similar firm for the comparison purpose. A typical inter-firm comparison report calculates the companys own ratio and a quartile analysis of all members so a company can see how it compares with the average in the industry. (Benedict and Elliot 2008:541). 3. Ratios can be manipulated: The third limitation of ratio analysis has to do with the deliberate manipulation of ratios by organisations, so as to present its accounts in a more attractive proposition. The accounting ratio which allows for flexibility in its rules and regulations encourages companies when faced with this problem to come to differing solutions. (Black 2009:225). This flexibility is seen by some as strength of accounting procedures where the requirements of specific companies allow individual accounting treatments to be adopted where appropriate. (Black 2009:225). A typical example is when borrowings of a firm are excluded from its capital so as to eliminate any form of bias its inclusion in the financial statement may produce. To cover up its poor financial position, some organisations may resort to window dressing which takes the form of sen ding customers faulty goods at the year-end and treating them as sales knowing that they will be returned in the following financial period.(Benedict and Elliot 2008:543). 2. CURRENT RATIO AND ITS IMPROVEMENT Current ratio can be defined as the relationship existing between the current assets and liabilities of a business organisation. It is a measure of general liquidity and it is used to make an analysis for the short term financial position or liquidity of a firm. (Accounting for management 2011). It gives an overall indication of the performance of a business organisation and how it is able to meet its debt obligations. The current ratio is also known as working capital ratio. (Benedict and Elliot 2008:532). It can be calculated using the formula below:             Current ratio =     Current assets      Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Current liabilities (Benedict and Elliot 2008: 532) The current ratio consists of two fundamental elements which are: 1.      Current assets 2.       Current liabilities. 1. Current assets: These are assets which are held for the short term and primarily for trading and constitutes of stock, cash @hand, cash @bank, prepayments, sundry debtors, bills receivable, and other assets that can be converted easily to cash. (Atrill and Mclaney 2011:44). 2. Current liabilities: These are basically amounts due for set tlements in the short term. (Atrill and Mclaney 2011: 47). This comprises outstanding expenses such as bills payable, overdraft, creditors, accruals, dividend and tax payable. (Accounting for management 2011). An example of current ratio can be illustrated below:  Example: If the current asset of larsol store is  £40,000 and its current liability is  £28,500 then the current ratio can be calculated as:                   Current ratio =     Current Assets           =      40,000                   Âà ‚                             Current Liabilities                    28,500        = 1.4  Hence, our current ratio gives 1.4 which can always be expressed as times cover. (Benedict and Elliot 2008:532). SIGNIFICANCE OF CURRENT RATIO The current ratio gives an overall insight of an organisations financial stability. It is a quick measure of an organisations liquidity position and it represents the margin of safety or cushion available to the creditors. (Accounting for management 2011). It also acts also as an index of technical solvency and an index of the strength of working capital of a firm. (Accounting for management 2011). A high current ratio gives an understanding of how a business organisation is able to pay off its debts (current liabilities) in time and when due. This indicates that the business organisation financial position is liquid and solid. (Accounting for management 2011).Also, when the current ratio of the business organisation is low, it gives us an indication that the firm would not be able to pay its liabilities in time without experiencing difficulties. This demonstrates a weak liquidity position. (Accounting for management 2011).  LIMITATIONS OF THE CURRENT RATIO The Limitations of the current ratio are: The problem of assets valuation and window dressing tends to exist It is a crude ratio because it ignores the quality of the current assets. (Accounting for management 2011).  Â IMPROVEMENT OF THE CURRENT RATIO RETURN ON CAPITAL EMPLOYED (ROCE) Benedict and Elliot (2001) defined return on capital employed as the ratio that shows the relationship between the profit for the year (before deduction of interest on loan capital and taxation) and the capital employed in the business. The return on capital employed can also be referred to as the primary ratio. It is a focal point in the determining of business profitability. (Benedict and Elliot 2001). The ratio usually expressed in percentage can be calculated using: ROCE= Operating profit x 100 Share capital + Reserves + Non-current liabilities (Atrill Mclaney 2011)   The return of capital employed ratio is one of the major ratios frequently used by business organisations when establishing or setting profit targets. A viable business should generate a considerably higher return that that available by investing in a bank or other similar interest-bearing deposits. (Black: 212). The return on capital employed is also vital in the assessment of the performance of funds deployed in an organisation. (Atrill Mclaney 2011:195). An example of the return on capital employed (ROCE) can be seen below IMPROVEMENT OF THE RETURN ON CAPITAL EMPLOYED The Return on capital employed (ROCE) is an important measure of performance of input and output of a firm in the form of profit. (Harvey et al 2001:376). It can be improved by through the following: 1. The return on capital employed can be improved by reducing asset level of a business organisation. 2. It can be improved by also increasing the level of sales. 3. ROCE can also be improved by increase in an organisations annual earnings. 4. By reducing capital employed. 5. By increasing its production and revenue, the return on capital employed (profit) can also be improved. (Palmer 2000)  Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Zeitoun, By Dave Eggers - 1699 Words
In the novel, Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, the main character, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, is an immigrant of Syria who stays in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and is arrested due to the suspicion of looting, but really is arrested because of his race and how he looks. Zeitoun’s faith and loyalty to his community and home is tested through the many obstacles of Hurricane Katrina and including his religion, racism, and his very own dignity. The author, Dave Eggers who is also the speaker in novel, proves all examples of Zeitoun’s challenges credibly in the text. Quote 1: â€Å"Zeitoun s grandmother had stayed put during countless storms in her home on Arwad Island, and he planned to do the same. A home was worth fighting for.†(Eggers, 70) Eggers shows in this quote how Zeitoun refuses to leave his home of New Orleans with his family. Eggers portrays that even though a house may seem replaceable, Zeitoun still chooses to not leave his home like his family who did not leave their home land of Arwad Island. The author also shows the symbolism of Zeitoun’s refusal to leave is like his assimilation coming to America. The symbolism of Zeitoun’s refusal to leave also shows how dedicated he is to his new country of America and refuses to give up when faced with discrimination. Eggers proves that Zeitoun continues fighting for his home in the United States. Quote 2: â€Å"Look above you, at the stars and moon. How do the stars keep their place in the sky, how does the moon rotate around theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book Zeitoun By Dave Eggers988 Words  | 4 Pagessummer assignment, we were assigned to read Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, which recounts the story of a Muslim-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun who remained in New Orleans during 2005’s deadly Hurricane Katrina. While trapped in the city, Zeitoun paddles in his canoe in the flooded streets aiding those who are in danger; however, Zeitoun is suddenly arrested under accusations of being affiliated with an Al-Qaeda Terrorist Cell. Throughout the novel, Zeitoun is portrayed as a gentle and compassionateRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Zeitoun By Dave Eggers978 Words  | 4 Pagesassignment, we were assigned to read Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, which recounts the true story of a Muslim-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun who remained in New Orleans during 2005â €™s deadly Hurricane Katrina. While trapped in the city, Zeitoun paddles in his canoe in the flooded streets coming to the aid of those who are in danger; however, Zeitoun is arrested under accusations of being affiliated with an Al-Qaeda Terrorist Cell. Throughout the novel, Zeitoun is portrayed as a gentle and compassionateRead MoreSummary Of Dave Eggers s Zeitoun 1028 Words  | 5 PagesAmerican author, Dave Eggers, addresses the endeavors of Zeitoun during and after Hurricane Katrina in his book â€Å"Zeitoun.†His goal is to educate the audience about the prejudices and troubles experienced during the disaster. A formal, yet sympathetic tone is used in the book to not only inform the audience about the hardships experienced by Zeitoun, but to also encourage sympathy among the audience. One struggle he focuses on is Islamophobia and how it negatively affects Zeitoun and his family. HeRead More`` Zeitoun, By Dave Eggers : Rhetorical Appeals, Ethos, Logos, And Patho s1583 Words  | 7 PagesDave Eggers is the author of many common read books. One of his known reads is a true story titled Zeitoun, about a Syrian-American living in New Orleans, Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina. Eggers uses many strategies throughout this story to involve the audience and get a sense of how people lived through Hurricane Katrina. Consequently, he narrowed into one particular family’s tribulations, and that family happened to be the Zeitouns. Many times throughout the book, Zeitoun, Eggers exhibits theRead MoreThe Mistreatment Of The Zeitoun Family1493 Words  | 6 Pagesjournalist and author, Dave Eggers, in his famed novel, Zeitoun, recounts the mistreatment of the Zeitoun family in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina based on their racial and religious profiles in a post-9/11 America. His purpose is to reveal the unwarranted injustices faced by Muslim-American Hurricane Katrina victims through a description of the Zeitoun family’s experience s, in order to educate his readers of the impact discrimination has on emergency response. Eggers adopts a sympathetic toneRead MoreKaren Eggers s Zeitoun Essay938 Words  | 4 Pages121 19 October 2016 ZEITOUN-KATHY In Dave Eggers nonfiction novel Zeitoun, Kathy is an American woman who converts from Christianity to Islam before marrying her Syrian-born Muslim husband, Abdulrahman Zeitoun. Together, they have three daughters and own and operate a painting company in New Orleans. In her earlier years, Kathy found herself divorced with an infant son working fifty hours a week. â€Å"†¦.her life was a struggle, and she was looking for some order and answers.†(Eggers 61). Kathy startedRead MoreZeitoun Rhetorical Essay1440 Words  | 6 PagesCortnie Schierman Fijacko English 111 5 October 2012 Rough Draft: Rhetorical Analysis Essay David Eggers, in Zeitoun, shows a story of a Muslim American family living through many challenges. After 9/11 Muslim families, like the Zeitouns, face many problems living in America. Eggers wants to inform other Americans on the situation of Muslim living in the United States, present day. People who are uneducated about the Muslim religion need to be informed on how similar lives are of other people allRead MoreIslamophobia Essays1853 Words  | 8 Pagesthat continued a half decade later†(The New York Times). In his book â€Å"Zeitoun†Dave Eggers, a national bestseller and well respected poet, analyzes the dramatic dialogue and action of the Zeitoun family during the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. For long time New Orleans resident Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun were dragged into an unexpected struggle with forces far beyond wind and water. We Learnt from Eggers novel, that Zeitoun and others are forced to get in a boat, then taken into custody and areRead MoreThe B ias and Suffering after Hurricane Katrina: Trouble The Water, and Zeitoun1450 Words  | 6 Pagesignoring residents during this time period is in the book Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. In this novel, a Syrian-American man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun, decides to stay in New Orleans, while his family flees from the storm, during the hurricane, in order to look over the various properties that he owns and takes care of throughout the city due to his career of being the founder of a contracting company. In the book, after the levees break, Zeitoun begins traveling the streets of his neighborhood by a canoeRead MoreThe Destruction Of Dignity By Dave Eggers1757 Words  | 8 PagesDignity Acclaimed writer , Dave Eggers, in his riveting novel Zeitoun retells the story of a New Orleans painter as he finds himself in the city following Hurricane Katrina. Throughout his harrowing journey throughout the aftermath, Eggers exhibits the horrifying results a disaster can have on the dignity of victims. There are countless examples throughout the novel of those who have been dispossessed of their dignity and humanity, and there is no better example than that of Zeitoun himself. Egger’s portrayal
Friday, December 13, 2019
E-bay Case Study Free Essays
At least 30 million people will buy and sell well over $20bn in merchandise (in 2003) – more than the gross domestic product of all but 70 of the world’s countries. More than 150,000 entrepreneurs will earn a full-time living selling everything from diet pills and Kate Spade handbags to  £30,000 BMWs and hulking industrial lathes. More automobiles, of all things, sell on eBay than even no. We will write a custom essay sample on E-bay Case Study or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1 US dealer AutoNation. So what does this add up to? ‘This is a whole new way of doing business,’ says Whitman. ‘We’re creating something that didn’t exist before. It wasn’t planned, but as users plunged into consumer electronics, cars, and industrial gear, eBay followed. Today, eBay has 27,000 categories, including eight with gross sales of more than  £1 billion each. eBay’s business model Value in eBay is created by proViding a virtual world ¬wide market for buyers and sellers and collecting a tax on transactions as they happen. The business model of eBay relies on its customers being the organisation’s product-development team, sales and marketing force, merchandising department, and the security department. The organisation, headed by Meg Whitman, was founded in 1995, when Pierre Omidyar launched a basic site called Auction Web. His girlfriend wanted to trade her collection of Pez dispensers, but Omidyar had a broader vision in mind, namely empowering everyday consumers to trade without the need for large corporations. He even wanted traders to be responsible for building the community and deciding how to build the website. It worked; soon he found himself answering e-mails from buyers and sellers during the day and rewriting the site’s software at night to incorporate their suggestions, which ranged from fiXing software bugs to creating new product categories. Some 100,000 messages from customers are posted per week in which tips are shared, system glitches are pointed out and changes are lobbied for. The COO, Brian Swette, is quoted as saying, ‘The trick is to keep up with what buyers and sellers want. We’ve had to constantly change how we run. We start from the principle that if there’s noise, you better listen.’ Currently the technology allows every move of every potential customer to be traced, yielding rich information. Structurally, the business model is realised through 5,000 employees, roughly half of whom are in customer support and a fifth in technology. A key role in eBay is ‘category manager’, a concept Whitman brought to eBay from her days in marketing giant PG. Category managers direct the 23 major categories as well as the 35,000 subcategories, from collectibles to sports gear, to jewellery and watches, and even jet-planes. Conventional companies might spend big money on getting to know their customers and persuading them to provide feedback, but for eBay such feed ¬back is often free and offered without the need for enticement. Even so some of the company’s most effective ways of getting user input do not rely on the Net and do not come free. eBay organises Voice of the Customer groups, which involve flying in a new group of about 10 sellers and buyers from around the country to its San Jose (Californian) every few months to discuss the in depth. Teleconferences are held for features and policies, however small a change involve. Even workshops and classes are held teach people how to make the most of the site. Participants tend to double their selling activity on after taking a class. The company is governed from both outside and The eBay system has a source of automatic control in the form of buyers and sellers rating each other on each transaction, creating rules and norms. There’s an educational system that offers classes around the country on how to sell on eBay. Both buyers and sellers build up reputations which are valuable, in turn encouraging further good behaviour in themselves and others. When that wasn’t quite enough, eBay formed its own police force to patrol the listings for fraud and kick out offenders, the Trust and Safety Dept, now staffed by several hundred eBay employees worldwide. They do every ¬thing from trolling the site for suspicious listings to working with law enforcement agencies to catch crooks. eBay also has developed software that recognises patterns of behaviour common to previous fraud cases, such as sellers from Romania who recently started selling large numbers of big-ticket items. eBay’s management Meg Whitman’s style and past has heavily influ ¬enced the management of eBay. When she joined the company in 1998, it was more of a collection of geeks, handpicked by the pony-tailed Omidyar, than a blue-chip – something which underpinned Omidyar’s recruitment of Meg. Meg, an ex-consultant, filled many of the senior management roles includ ¬ing the head of the US business, head of interna ¬tional operations and vice-president of consumer marketing with consultants. The result: eBay has become data and metric driven. ‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t control it’, Meg says. Whereas in the early days you could touch and feel the way the organisation worked, its current size means it needs to be measured. Category managers are expected to spend their days measuring and acting upon data within their fiefdom. Some measures are standard for e-business and include how many people are visiting the site, how many of those then register to become users, how long each user remains per visit, how long pages take to load and so on. A measure Meg likes is the ‘take rate’, the ratio of revenues to the value of goods traded on the site (the higher the better). She meas ¬ures which days are the busiest, directing when to offer free listings in order to stimulate the supply of auction items. Noise on the discussion boards is used to understand whether the community is in ‘supportive’ or ‘ready to kill you mood’ on a scale of 1 to 10. Normal for eBay is around 3. Category managers in eBay, unlike their counter ¬parts in Procter and Gamble, can only indirectly control their products. They have no stock to reorder once levels of toothpaste or washing-up liquid run low on the supermarket shelves. They provide tools to buy and sell more effectively. ‘What they can do is endlessly try to eke out small wins in their cate ¬gories – say, a slight jump in scrap-metal listings or new bidders for comic books. To get there, they use marketing and merchandising schemes such as enhancing the presentation of their users’ products and giving them tools to buy and sell better.’ Over and above this unusual existence, the work envir-onment can be tough and ultracompetitive, say ex-eBayers. Changes often come only after PowerPoint slides are exchanged and refined at a low level, even ¬tually presented at a senior level and after the change has been approved in a sign-off procedure which includes every department. An advance in the ways shoes could be searched for took ten months to happen. Aware that analysis can mean paralysis, Meg commissioned consultants (who else) to benchmark the rate at which change is indeed implemented in eBay. eBay was rated as average amongst the com ¬panies surveyed. Over time eBay has upgraded its ability to ensure the technology does not rule. Until the late 1990s, the site was plagued with outages, including one in 1999 which shut the site down for 22 hours courtesy of software problems and no backup systems. Former Gateway Inc. Chief Information Officer Maynard Webb, who joined as president of eBay’s technology unit, quickly took action to upgrade systems. Now the site is down for less than 42 minutes a month, despite much higher traffic. Meg is a leader who buys into the company in more ways than one. Having auctioned some $35,000 worth of furnishings in her ski condo in Colorado to understand the selling experience, she became a top seller among the company’s employees and ensured that her learning from the experience was listened to by fellow top execs. Meg is also known for listening carefully to her employees and expects her managers to do the same. As the business is as much, if not more, its customers, any false move can cause revolts within the community that is eBay. Most of all eBay tries to stay aware and flexible. Nearly all of its fastest-growing new categories emerged from registering seller activity in the area and quietly giving it a nudge at the right moment. For example, after noticing a few car sales, eBay cre ¬ated a separate site called eBay Motors in 1999, with special features such as vehicle inspections and shipping. Some four years later, eBay expects to gross some $1 billion worth of autos and parts, many of which are sold by professional dealers. The democratic underpinning of eBay, whilst easily embraced by customers, can, however, take some getting used to. New managers can take six months to understand the ethos. ‘Some of the terms you learn in business school – drive, force, commit  ¬don’t apply’, says former PepsiCo Inc. exec William C. Cobb, now senior vice-president in charge of eBay’s international operations. ‘We’re over here listening, adapting, enabling.’ How to cite E-bay Case Study, Free Case study samples
Thursday, December 5, 2019
Celebrity Endorsement in China free essay sample
The percentage of television commercials worldwide featuring a celebrity has increased to 17% during the past decade (White, 20014). Researches indicate that celebrity endorsements occur in greater frequencies in some Asian countries including Japan, Korean and China (Choi, Lee, amp; Kim, 2005). Celebrity endorsements in china Even though most of the modern advertising and marketing for consumer goods in china has a short history of only 25-30 years, celebrity branding becomes prevalent in the country (ref 2). China is an emerging market with many brands at its developing life-cycle targeting new markets and customers. So, strategy of targeting new customers has a huge impact on the nature of marketing communication. Some researches indicate that ads in developing markets focus on product attributes where a lot of consumption is still driven by the desire to acquire the biggest, brightest and most popular ( Ref 2). However, in a developing market with limited choices for many of the new product categories, brand awareness is also very important. A lot of researches have proven the effectiveness of using celebrity to enhance brand awareness. So, celebrity endorsements are somewhat powerful to drive new customers trying new things in emerging markets like China (Ogilvy, 2011). ACEs in China: celebrity endorsements are commonplace in China with many of these featuring athlete celebrity endorsements (ACEs) and 3 of top 5 ranked celebrities in China were athletes. For example, Yao, former Houston Rocket basketball star reported to have endorsement deals with Reebok, Apple, VISA, TAG Heater, Gatorade and McDolnalds’ (Ref 6). One research found that Chinese customers are considerably more receptive to ads featuring athlete celebrity celebrity endorsers, especially toward the information contained in these advertisements (Ref 6). Actually, China is home to one of the fastest growing sport industries in the world. One reason behind the rapid growing sports industry is the massive government funding and supports. Over-Exposure of Celebrity Endorsers in China: in China, those â€Å"hot celebrities†can accrue numerous, simultaneous endorsements. This over endorsements confuse consumer about which brand is endorsed by which celebrity (Ref 2). The movie star Jackie Chan has endorsed tons of products, some of which fail spectacularly. One Chinese newspaper called him a man who can destroy anything. Chan is believed to have at least two dozen endorsement contracts at present from an anti-hair-loss shampoo which allegedly contained carcinogens to even frozen dumplings. Although the Chan name has translated to big bucks at the box office, not every product he touches turns to gold (Ref 7). Many people question the effectiveness with over endorsements. Celebrity who endorse more than one product tend to decrease the impact and distinctiveness of each product relationship (Garland and Ferkins, 2003) there is another over-exposure Chinese ACE- Liu Xiang. Ogilvy tested consumer recall for Liu’s dozen endorsements including Nike, VISA, YiLi Diary and so on. They found that people could connect Liu with the product of Nike but they had single and low-double digit recognition rate with other endorsements (Ref 1). Some U. S. elebrities limit their product endorsements to enhance their aura of exclusivity, but experts said Chinas media market is still too small, and the country too big, to worry that Chan will suffer from overexposure. Generally, in a country of 1. 3 billion people, celebrities want as much exposure as possible, said Tiger Hou, an analyst for Entrgroup. com. Reasons behind the Greater Frequency of Celebrity Endorsements and Over-Endorsements in China: In dividualism VS collectivism: In china, the culture value of collectivism remains strong in people’s ideology (ref, 3). Zhang and Gelb found Chinese consumer prefer collectivistic appeals. Someone argues that a match between ads appeals and culture values can bring favorable attitudes toward the advertisements (Ref 5). So, the selection of celebrity endorsers may mirror the fundamental cultural orientations and values; On the other side, people with collectivistic background tends to use relationships with peers and superiors to avoid uncertainty and risks (Ref 4). Many customers view celebrity endorsements as a way of reassurance especially when many products and services qualities are still in doubt; Today, like never before, individualism and collectivism co-exist in china through different channels and across different age groups. During the widespread social, economic and cultural flux, celebrity endorsements serve not only for awareness and uncertainty avoidance, but bring alive some modern values. Actually, some celebrities are valued as aspiration role models for people to express and experience individualism in those collectivistic societies. High level power distance amp; cultural context: according to Hofstede’s power distance dimension theory(level of people’s acceptance to the unequal distribution of power including social status, prestige and wealth), the US represents one of the lowest scoring countries on Hofstede’s power distance index, while China rates higher (Hofstede, 1980). Consequently, Chinese respondents would more unquestioningly listen to the product opinions from celebrities. However, it by no means indicates Chinese will listen to the advices of all kinds of celebrities. Actually, china has a long history of looking down to those entertaining celebrities. So, people would accept some hot celebrities’ attractiveness but not their expertise. When it comes to the concept of cultural context, china belongs to the countries with high context culture comparing with most English speaking countries. Eastern advertising tends to be less direct and contain more soft sell appeals feature emotional image of persons because indirect, implicit and nonverbal communication styles. Beside the higher frequency and over-exposure with Chinese celebrity endorsements and the cultural values behind them, Chinese consumer’s perception of the effectiveness differs from the other countries. Many researches have revealed that the attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise would not drive purchase intention in many conditions. Only expertise had a critical impact on purchase intention using a US sample ( ). However in collectivistic countries like Singapore and China, all three sources have significant impact on purchase intention (Pornpitakpan, 2003). Theory and concept with celebrity branding: Researchers continued to examine the effectiveness of celebrity branding at enhancing consumer’s attitudes toward advertisements and brand as well as purchase intent. However, most results are inconclusive and not correctly toward Chinese part. Source Credibility Model amp; Source Attractiveness Model. Celebrity will generate some trustworthy, attractive and likable feelings than an unknown people (Friedman, Termini, Washington). According to source credibility model, the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements depends on the â€Å"expertise†and â€Å"trustworthiness†of the celebrity (Dholakia amp; Sternthal, 1977). Trust is reflected in the confidence in the general believability of the endorser and message. But some results also indicate that 90% of those respondents felt that financial and publicity reasons drive celebrity to appear in advertisements (Abhilasha Mehta Ref 8). The source attractiveness model argue that the physical appeal of a celebrity influences the effectiveness of a advertising message (Baker amp; Churchill, 1976). But Ohanian pointed out most celebrities were attractive and hence the overall impact of this variable may be weak. Also, attractiveness may be only relevant for categories that are related to attractiveness (Ref 9). Still, many researches argue that credibility amp; attractiveness of celebrities can generate some favorable attitudes toward advertisements and brands. However, this effect can be a double edged sword in marketing. The prominence credibility and attractiveness decreases, the attitude towards the product suffers as well. Purchase Intent. It might be possible that â€Å"attractive†, â€Å"trustworthy†or â€Å"credible†source can facilitate the message-learning and acceptance process. But even highly credible sources have not been found to be that â€Å"influential†. So, even though attitude toward the products is more favorable, overall advertising effectiveness and purchase intent mixed (Ref 8). Actually, there are a lot of researches found no difference in purchasing intent between celebrity and non-celebrity branding. Petty, Cacioppo and Schuman found that the product was liked better with sports star endorsers, but intention to buy did not differ. As the above discussion illustrates, the findings related to purchase intent are inconclusive. So, someone argues that â€Å"appropriateness of celebrities†, â€Å"involvement levels†and even â€Å"cultural meanings†will also influence the persuasion of celebrity endorsements. Match-Up Hypothesis amp; Level of Involvement. It is not enough to know the degrees of â€Å"attractiveness†and â€Å"credibility†, kinds of â€Å"attractiveness†and â€Å"credibility†should also be measured. The product match-up hypothesis suggests that the higher the perceived fit between the celebrity’s image and the endorsed brand, the more persuasive the celebrity and the ad will be (Erdogan, 1999). According to the theory of â€Å"extended self†, consumer tends to consider their possession as reflective and as part of themselves. So, consumer compare perception of brands to their own value perception, then selects the brands that match the closest (Ref 9). Especially with a high-social-consequences-context, image congruence will have greater effects (Ref 10). Now, it’s an environment where consumers are increasingly cynical toward marketing messages. So, badly match-up lacking authenticity can only alienate the target audience (Ref 11). Level of involvement will also influence the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements. Theories related to â€Å"central route†and â€Å"peripheral route†indicate that the influence of celebrity is minimal under condition of high involvement when consumer will consider information diligently. However, in most purchasing situations, consumer followers central route as well as peripheral route (Ref 8). Both peripheral and central-route processing can be monitored by â€Å"means of capturing the thoughts and feelings†. The author argued that feelings and thoughts generated from the celebrity exposure in the ads would directly go to â€Å"intention to buy†(Ref 8) The differences in response to celebrity endorsement also vary across cultures, so a careful match between celebrity characteristics and cultural values can bring more favorable attitudes. Identification theory†is another critical element underlying celebrity endorsers. According to the identification theory, the individual might develop a sense of closer relationship with the endorser sharing racial similarity and ethnic identification and he or she will be more likely to adopt the attitude or behavior advocated by the celebrity (Ref 12). For example, consumers with various cultural backgrounds might identify with athlete spokesperson at different levels. n individualistic culture, consumers have higher levels of identification and greater levels of source credibility as athletes who has individual personality and compete in individual sports (eg, golf player). While people from collectivistic culture have higher levels of identification towards athletes who has many collectivistic characteristics(eg, cooperation, self-sacrifice for group profit, interdependence) (Ref 3). Problems with Celebrity Branding Celebrity has long been examined about its effectiveness on advertising ttitude, brand awareness and purchase intent because considerable amounts invested on celebrity endorsement. There are a lot of researches found no difference in buying intention between celebrity and non-celebrity branding. Even though celebrities can enhance brand awareness and bring favorable attitudes, but non-celebrity endorser’s image are easily created to fit with the brand’s imag e (Ref 13). On the other hand, the brand â€Å"owned†live or animated non-celebrity is nearly impossible for to endorse other brands, and thus avoid over-endorsements. Moreover, celebrity can transfer negative information to brand with negative publicities, so some company even use dead celebrities to endorse their brands. Besides above discussion, using celebrity also has certain risk of â€Å"Brand Eclipsing†, â€Å"Over-Endorsements†as well as â€Å"Transferring Negative Information†. â€Å"Brand Eclipsing†Ads featuring celebrities will also have risk of paying less attention to the brand. One problem is that many ads emphasize too much on celebrity rather than product. There are potentially other factors that affect the impact of timing, visibility and alchemy on the probability of eclipsing. So, media that have a time and audio component such as audio amp; video has greater possibility for brand to eclipse, because the inanimate of brand. Advertisers should measure the conditions under which eclipsing occurs, which may focus on the celebrity and his or her fame, visibility of focal brand, interaction between celebrity and the brand and the media as well (Ref 13). Over-Endorsement of Celebrity (Case Study of Chinese Hurdler Liu) Nowadays, those â€Å"hot celebrities†can haphazardly accrue numerous, simultaneous endorsements and some even go to competitors’ brands. The over-exposure of celebrity confuses consumer even makes them confused which brand is endorsed by which celebrity. However, celebrity who endorse more than one product tend to decrease the impact and distinctiveness of each product (Garland and Ferkins, 2003). On the other side, the effect of a celebrity endorsing multiple products is to reduce the celebrity’s credibility and likeability (Tripp, Jensen, and Carlso, 1994). In China, 40% of advertisements geared toward youths feature at least one celebrity. Personalities, such as former NBA basketball star Yao Ming, actor Jackie Chan and Olympic gold medalist Liu Xiang, are frequently featured in advertisements for a wide range of products and services as diverse as soft drinks, credit cards and life insurance (Ref 14) With the creation of 12 econds and 88 miracle in Lausanne in July 2006, Liu Xiang with healthy image of the sun, naughty, cheerful personality has become the darling of the sports sector the most sought after by the advertisers to become one of the Chinese sports with the highest income movement (Ref 17). until 2008 before the Beijing Olympics, Liu Xiang, the four years the endorsement of the brand 14, and most international brands, including cars, clothing, beverage, a nd communications, Liu Xiang’s advertising is full of our life’s basic necessities. The world-class hurdler Liu Xiang has a representation deal with Nike, so Nike tried nail down any issues related to the â€Å"Liu Xiang†name in or out of China. Nike filed for trademark protection in China for the â€Å"Liu Xiang†name but was rejected by the China Trademark Office. Nike then filed an appeal of the rejection with our old friends the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB), which upheld the decision (Ref 16). Ogilvy and Millward Browns new findings arent entirely surprising, in this regard. As early as 2009, the China Market Research Group found similar results in a study. Looking at celebrity Liu Xiang, a Chinese star hurdler, the group set out to test consumer recall for Lius dozen or so endorsements. Results did not speak well to Lius partners: Nike was a lock, since people could make the connection between a star athlete and Nike products, but Visa, Cadillac and Yili, among others had single- and low-double-digit recognition rates as brands Liu Xiang represented. Furthermore, fewer than 20% said that an endorsement by Liu Xiang would make them buy products from any of the companies except Nike. Celebrity Endorsement in China Advertising, Brand, Brandmanagement, Celebrity, China, Endorsement, Liu, LiuXiangIntroduction The history of celebrity endorsement of products can date back to the 1760s in the western countries. In the US, 25% of all advertising features a celebrity (Shimp, 2003), which is an increases from the late 1970s, when 17% of advertising featured celebrities (Howard, 1979). Because there is an increasing realization of the high costs and risks with celebrity branding, advertisers begin to quantify and qualify the use of celebrities by evaluating their effectiveness under different conditions. Actually, celebrity endorsements are not just an American phenomenon. The percentage of television commercials worldwide featuring a celebrity has increased to 17% during the past decade (White, 20014). Researches indicate that celebrity endorsements occur in greater frequencies in some Asian countries including Japan, Korean and China (Choi, Lee, amp; Kim, 2005). Celebrity endorsements in china Even though most of the modern advertising and marketing for consumer goods in china has a short history of only 25-30 years, celebrity branding becomes prevalent in the country (ref 2). China is an emerging market with many brands at its developing life-cycle targeting new markets and customers. So, strategy of targeting new customers has a huge impact on the nature of marketing communication. Some researches indicate that ads in developing markets focus on product attributes where a lot of consumption is still driven by the desire to acquire the biggest, brightest and most popular ( Ref 2). However, in a developing market with limited choices for many of the new product categories, brand awareness is also very important. A lot of researches have proven the effectiveness of using celebrity to enhance brand awareness. So, celebrity endorsements are somewhat powerful to drive new customers trying new things in emerging markets like China (Ogilvy, 2011). ACEs in China: celebrity endorsements are commonplace in China with many of these featuring athlete celebrity endorsements (ACEs) and 3 of top 5 ranked celebrities in China were athletes. For example, Yao, former Houston Rocket basketball star reported to have endorsement deals with Reebok, Apple, VISA, TAG Heater, Gatorade and McDolnalds’ (Ref 6). One research found that Chinese customers are considerably more receptive to ads featuring athlete celebrity celebrity endorsers, especially toward the information contained in these advertisements (Ref 6). Actually, China is home to one of the fastest growing sport industries in the world. One reason behind the rapid growing sports industry is the massive government funding and supports. Over-Exposure of Celebrity Endorsers in China: in China, those â€Å"hot celebrities†can accrue numerous, simultaneous endorsements. This over endorsements confuse consumer about which brand is endorsed by which celebrity (Ref 2). The movie star Jackie Chan has endorsed tons of products, some of which fail spectacularly. One Chinese newspaper called him a man who can destroy anything. Chan is believed to have at least two dozen endorsement contracts at present from an anti-hair-loss shampoo which allegedly contained carcinogens to even frozen dumplings. Although the Chan name has translated to big bucks at the box office, not every product he touches turns to gold (Ref 7). Many people question the effectiveness with over endorsements. Celebrity who endorse more than one product tend to decrease the impact and distinctiveness of each product relationship (Garland and Ferkins, 2003) there is another over-exposure Chinese ACE- Liu Xiang. Ogilvy tested consumer recall for Liu’s dozen endorsements including Nike, VISA, YiLi Diary and so on. They found that people could connect Liu with the product of Nike but they had single and low-double digit recognition rate with other endorsements (Ref 1). Some U. S. elebrities limit their product endorsements to enhance their aura of exclusivity, but experts said Chinas media market is still too small, and the country too big, to worry that Chan will suffer from overexposure. Generally, in a country of 1. 3 billion people, celebrities want as much exposure as possible, said Tiger Hou, an analyst for Entrgroup. com. Reasons behind the Greater Frequency of Celebrity Endorsements and Over-Endorsements in China: In dividualism VS collectivism: In china, the culture value of collectivism remains strong in people’s ideology (ref, 3). Zhang and Gelb found Chinese consumer prefer collectivistic appeals. Someone argues that a match between ads appeals and culture values can bring favorable attitudes toward the advertisements (Ref 5). So, the selection of celebrity endorsers may mirror the fundamental cultural orientations and values; On the other side, people with collectivistic background tends to use relationships with peers and superiors to avoid uncertainty and risks (Ref 4). Many customers view celebrity endorsements as a way of reassurance especially when many products and services qualities are still in doubt; Today, like never before, individualism and collectivism co-exist in china through different channels and across different age groups. During the widespread social, economic and cultural flux, celebrity endorsements serve not only for awareness and uncertainty avoidance, but bring alive some modern values. Actually, some celebrities are valued as aspiration role models for people to express and experience individualism in those collectivistic societies. High level power distance amp; cultural context: according to Hofstede’s power distance dimension theory(level of people’s acceptance to the unequal distribution of power including social status, prestige and wealth), the US represents one of the lowest scoring countries on Hofstede’s power distance index, while China rates higher (Hofstede, 1980). Consequently, Chinese respondents would more unquestioningly listen to the product opinions from celebrities. However, it by no means indicates Chinese will listen to the advices of all kinds of celebrities. Actually, china has a long history of looking down to those entertaining celebrities. So, people would accept some hot celebrities’ attractiveness but not their expertise. When it comes to the concept of cultural context, china belongs to the countries with high context culture comparing with most English speaking countries. Eastern advertising tends to be less direct and contain more soft sell appeals feature emotional image of persons because indirect, implicit and nonverbal communication styles. Beside the higher frequency and over-exposure with Chinese celebrity endorsements and the cultural values behind them, Chinese consumer’s perception of the effectiveness differs from the other countries. Many researches have revealed that the attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise would not drive purchase intention in many conditions. Only expertise had a critical impact on purchase intention using a US sample ( ). However in collectivistic countries like Singapore and China, all three sources have significant impact on purchase intention (Pornpitakpan, 2003). Theory and concept with celebrity branding: Researchers continued to examine the effectiveness of celebrity branding at enhancing consumer’s attitudes toward advertisements and brand as well as purchase intent. However, most results are inconclusive and not correctly toward Chinese part. Source Credibility Model amp; Source Attractiveness Model. Celebrity will generate some trustworthy, attractive and likable feelings than an unknown people (Friedman, Termini, Washington). According to source credibility model, the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements depends on the â€Å"expertise†and â€Å"trustworthiness†of the celebrity (Dholakia amp; Sternthal, 1977). Trust is reflected in the confidence in the general believability of the endorser and message. But some results also indicate that 90% of those respondents felt that financial and publicity reasons drive celebrity to appear in advertisements (Abhilasha Mehta Ref 8). The source attractiveness model argue that the physical appeal of a celebrity influences the effectiveness of a advertising message (Baker amp; Churchill, 1976). But Ohanian pointed out most celebrities were attractive and hence the overall impact of this variable may be weak. Also, attractiveness may be only relevant for categories that are related to attractiveness (Ref 9). Still, many researches argue that credibility amp; attractiveness of celebrities can generate some favorable attitudes toward advertisements and brands. However, this effect can be a double edged sword in marketing. The prominence credibility and attractiveness decreases, the attitude towards the product suffers as well. Purchase Intent. It might be possible that â€Å"attractive†, â€Å"trustworthy†or â€Å"credible†source can facilitate the message-learning and acceptance process. But even highly credible sources have not been found to be that â€Å"influential†. So, even though attitude toward the products is more favorable, overall advertising effectiveness and purchase intent mixed (Ref 8). Actually, there are a lot of researches found no difference in purchasing intent between celebrity and non-celebrity branding. Petty, Cacioppo and Schuman found that the product was liked better with sports star endorsers, but intention to buy did not differ. As the above discussion illustrates, the findings related to purchase intent are inconclusive. So, someone argues that â€Å"appropriateness of celebrities†, â€Å"involvement levels†and even â€Å"cultural meanings†will also influence the persuasion of celebrity endorsements. Match-Up Hypothesis amp; Level of Involvement. It is not enough to know the degrees of â€Å"attractiveness†and â€Å"credibility†, kinds of â€Å"attractiveness†and â€Å"credibility†should also be measured. The product match-up hypothesis suggests that the higher the perceived fit between the celebrity’s image and the endorsed brand, the more persuasive the celebrity and the ad will be (Erdogan, 1999). According to the theory of â€Å"extended self†, consumer tends to consider their possession as reflective and as part of themselves. So, consumer compare perception of brands to their own value perception, then selects the brands that match the closest (Ref 9). Especially with a high-social-consequences-context, image congruence will have greater effects (Ref 10). Now, it’s an environment where consumers are increasingly cynical toward marketing messages. So, badly match-up lacking authenticity can only alienate the target audience (Ref 11). Level of involvement will also influence the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements. Theories related to â€Å"central route†and â€Å"peripheral route†indicate that the influence of celebrity is minimal under condition of high involvement when consumer will consider information diligently. However, in most purchasing situations, consumer followers central route as well as peripheral route (Ref 8). Both peripheral and central-route processing can be monitored by â€Å"means of capturing the thoughts and feelings†. The author argued that feelings and thoughts generated from the celebrity exposure in the ads would directly go to â€Å"intention to buy†(Ref 8) The differences in response to celebrity endorsement also vary across cultures, so a careful match between celebrity characteristics and cultural values can bring more favorable attitudes. Identification theory†is another critical element underlying celebrity endorsers. According to the identification theory, the individual might develop a sense of closer relationship with the endorser sharing racial similarity and ethnic identification and he or she will be more likely to adopt the attitude or behavior advocated by the celebrity (Ref 12). For example, consumers with various cultural backgrounds might identify with athlete spokesperson at different levels. n individualistic culture, consumers have higher levels of identification and greater levels of source credibility as athletes who has individual personality and compete in individual sports (eg, golf player). While people from collectivistic culture have higher levels of identification towards athletes who has many collectivistic characteristics(eg, cooperation, self-sacrifice for group profit, interdependence) (Ref 3). Problems with Celebrity Branding Celebrity has long been examined about its effectiveness on advertising ttitude, brand awareness and purchase intent because considerable amounts invested on celebrity endorsement. There are a lot of researches found no difference in buying intention between celebrity and non-celebrity branding. Even though celebrities can enhance brand awareness and bring favorable attitudes, but non-celebrity endorser’s image are easily created to fit with the brand’s imag e (Ref 13). On the other hand, the brand â€Å"owned†live or animated non-celebrity is nearly impossible for to endorse other brands, and thus avoid over-endorsements. Moreover, celebrity can transfer negative information to brand with negative publicities, so some company even use dead celebrities to endorse their brands. Besides above discussion, using celebrity also has certain risk of â€Å"Brand Eclipsing†, â€Å"Over-Endorsements†as well as â€Å"Transferring Negative Information†. â€Å"Brand Eclipsing†Ads featuring celebrities will also have risk of paying less attention to the brand. One problem is that many ads emphasize too much on celebrity rather than product. There are potentially other factors that affect the impact of timing, visibility and alchemy on the probability of eclipsing. So, media that have a time and audio component such as audio amp; video has greater possibility for brand to eclipse, because the inanimate of brand. Advertisers should measure the conditions under which eclipsing occurs, which may focus on the celebrity and his or her fame, visibility of focal brand, interaction between celebrity and the brand and the media as well (Ref 13). Over-Endorsement of Celebrity (Case Study of Chinese Hurdler Liu) Nowadays, those â€Å"hot celebrities†can haphazardly accrue numerous, simultaneous endorsements and some even go to competitors’ brands. The over-exposure of celebrity confuses consumer even makes them confused which brand is endorsed by which celebrity. However, celebrity who endorse more than one product tend to decrease the impact and distinctiveness of each product (Garland and Ferkins, 2003). On the other side, the effect of a celebrity endorsing multiple products is to reduce the celebrity’s credibility and likeability (Tripp, Jensen, and Carlso, 1994). In China, 40% of advertisements geared toward youths feature at least one celebrity. Personalities, such as former NBA basketball star Yao Ming, actor Jackie Chan and Olympic gold medalist Liu Xiang, are frequently featured in advertisements for a wide range of products and services as diverse as soft drinks, credit cards and life insurance (Ref 14) With the creation of 12 econds and 88 miracle in Lausanne in July 2006, Liu Xiang with healthy image of the sun, naughty, cheerful personality has become the darling of the sports sector the most sought after by the advertisers to become one of the Chinese sports with the highest income movement (Ref 17). until 2008 before the Beijing Olympics, Liu Xiang, the four years the endorsement of the brand 14, and most international brands, including cars, clothing, beverage, a nd communications, Liu Xiang’s advertising is full of our life’s basic necessities. The world-class hurdler Liu Xiang has a representation deal with Nike, so Nike tried nail down any issues related to the â€Å"Liu Xiang†name in or out of China. Nike filed for trademark protection in China for the â€Å"Liu Xiang†name but was rejected by the China Trademark Office. Nike then filed an appeal of the rejection with our old friends the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB), which upheld the decision (Ref 16). Ogilvy and Millward Browns new findings arent entirely surprising, in this regard. As early as 2009, the China Market Research Group found similar results in a study. Looking at celebrity Liu Xiang, a Chinese star hurdler, the group set out to test consumer recall for Lius dozen or so endorsements. Results did not speak well to Lius partners: Nike was a lock, since people could make the connection between a star athlete and Nike products, but Visa, Cadillac and Yili, among others had single- and low-double-digit recognition rates as brands Liu Xiang represented. Furthermore, fewer than 20% said that an endorsement by Liu Xiang would make them buy products from any of the companies except Nike.
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Catcher In The Rye Essays (1463 words) - J. D. Salinger,
Catcher In The Rye Innocence, Compassion, and some ?Crazy' Cliff A novel, which has gained literary recognition worldwide, scrutiny to the point of censorship and has established a following among adolescents, The Catcher in the Rye is in its entirety a unique connotation of the preservation of innocence and the pursuit of compassion. With certain elegance the writer J.D. Salinger, substantiates the growth and perils, which lie between childhood and adulthood. Embellishing the differentiation between innocence and squalor in the grasps of society. The bridge that lies between these contrasting themes are personified through the novel's protagonist, Holden Caul-field and his visualization of a cliff, which depicts a dividing point between the evident beginning and end. The connection, which binds this gap in reality, was made clear through a new found compassion, consummating Holden's place in society through the realization of his surroundings from which he successfully crosses over. Focusing on the rebellious and confused actuality of adolescents stuck between the innocence of childhood and the corruptness of the adult world, this novel strikes a cord, which most adolescents can relate. The essence of the story The Catcher in the Rye follows the forty-eight hour escapade of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, told through first person narration. After his expulsion from Pency, a fashionable prep school, the lat-est in a long line of expulsions, Holden has a few confrontations with his fellow students and leaves shortly after to return to his hometown, New York City. In the heart of New York City, Holden spends the following two days hiding out to rest before confronting his parents with the news. During his adventures in the city he tries to renew some old acquaintances, find his significance in the adult world, and come to grips with the head-aches he has been having lately. Eventually, Holden sneaks home to visit his sister Phoebe, because alone on the streets he feels as if he has no where else to turn. Children are the only people with whom Holden can communicate with throughout the novel, not because they can help him with his growing pains but because they remind him of a simpler time (his inno-cence), which he wishes he could return. The trials of the adult world wear down Holden's vision of a place in society, portraying innocence as a form of retreat from a confusing world. On the subject of innocence and symbolism there of, which is repre-sented through Holden's thoughts and actions, S.N. Behrman writes: "Holden's difficulties affect his nervous system but never his vision. It is the vision of an innocent. To the lifeline of this vision he clings invinci-bly, as he does to a phonograph record he buys for Phoebe (till it breaks) and a red hunting cap that is dear to him and that he finally gives to Phoebe, and to Allie's baseball glove." Understanding Holden's notion of innocence and the role it plays throughout the novel helps to put in tune the underlying message found in Holden's description of the catcher in the rye. "I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around--nobody big, I mean- except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff--I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all." (Pg. 173) The princi-ple of the catcher in the rye is a means for Holden to devote his life to the protection of innocence. The significance of the catcher image lies in three areas of thought as implied by B. Ramachandra Rao: "First of all, it is a savior image, and shows us the extent of Holden's re-ligious idealism. Secondly, it crystallizes for us Holden's concept of good and evil; childhood is good, the only pure good, but it is surrounded by perils, the cliff of adolescence over which the children will plunge in the evil of adulthood unless stopped. But finally, the image is based on a mis-understanding. The Burns poem goes ?If a body meet a body' not ?if a body catch a body,' and the fact that Phoebe is aware of this and Holden is not, plus the manner in which these two words (?catch' and ?meet') are re-examined and re-interpreted by Holden at the end of
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Buying A Computer essays
Buying A Computer essays Buying a Computer today is much more complicated then it was ten years ago. The choices we have are abundant, and the information we must gather to make those choices is much greater. The average consumer is a more educated buyer; they at least have some ideas of what they want in a computer. Yet, we must still ask ourselves these significant questions; such as: What will the primary function of my computer be? What computer components should I consider at the time of purchase? How much money do I have to spend? Where should I go to purchase my computer? For this report, I will consider the requirements of a typical family: using a mini-tower PC with the Windows 95 operating system, word processing, and entry-level publishing programs; as well as, an anti-virus package, games with high-level graphics and sound, and the internet. I will also consider the following components; those essential for the computer to work faster, and more efficient. They are as follows: Central Processing Unit (CPU) System Memory (RAM) Storage Device(s). The following is a detailed look at the CPU, RAM, and Storage devices; the important components that you should consider when purchasing a PC. Computer systems, particularly the higher-end models, come in several Configurations: desktop, mini tower, or tower. The configuration you chose should depend - to some extent - on the amount of expansion, (if any) you may want to plan for in the future. Most tower configurations have a greater amount of expandability than mini tower and desktop models. Also, the amount of space that you have in your home for the system should be taken into consideration. Tower configurations are usually placed on the floor; (however, not the mini tower models) whereas, desktop models are made to sit on the surface where the keyboard and monitor are located. The first consideration is the CPU. Today, the Intel Corporation is still the leading manufa...
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Cost Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Cost Concepts - Essay Example That is why HMO plans are cheaper than other plans. However, it is noteworthy that the added control over cost is achieved on the cost of quality of the health care. In this type of managed care organization, physicians offer their services at a cheaper rate. This is a mutually beneficial practice in which physicians earn more because of increased business while the patients get the services at a significantly lower cost. The FFS plans provide patients with maximum freedom in terms of choice of physician. Patients can use these plans to select a health care professional of their own choice whom they feel satisfied served by. However, the freedom amplify the cost of service they are given. In many ways, POS resembles HMO. Health care providers have the capitation arrangement for the people enrolled. However, in this type of managed care organization, there are no specific hospitals for doctors to work in. They are compensated annually for every patient they check. â€Å"Increasing the percentage of the patient population in lower-reimbursed, managed segments†¦ [and] †¦changing practice patterns across all patient populations, including higher-utilization unmanaged segments†(Majkowski, 1997). Ways in which physicians may be reimbursed in managed care organizations are numerous and vary from type to type. For example, in HMOs, physicians receive fixed salaries while in POS, the â€Å"network providers are compensated on capitation basis, however the enrollees can choose a provider outside the network, who is reimbursed on fee-for-service basis†(Virk,
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Design a Pay for Performance Incentive Awards Program Assignment
Design a Pay for Performance Incentive Awards Program - Assignment Example program that will run for five years within the organization seeks to maximize productivity besides developing an appropriate mindset among the employees. This way, the program is not only a short-term project but also a long-term motivational project. As discussed, the program will incorporate all the employees within the company including the top-level managers to the junior employees. In order to implement the program appropriately, the implementation will therefore vary depending on the employees. Just as the title suggests, the program seeks to reward productivity. Each level of employee has specific goals that the program will strive to achieve. In the top-level management for example, the program seeks to enhance creativity, intuition and management prowess. In middle level management, the program seeks to enhance both obedience and problem solving skills while in the junior employees of the organization the program seeks to enhance both competition and hard work. This way, the program enhances the overall productivity of the entire organization. Preliminarily, the program will ensure that all the employees within the organization are capable of undertaking their different roles. This complements the objective of the program since it seeks to reward productivity. The employees must therefore meet the qualifications set for their different roles a feature that ensures that they are capable of undertaking their roles within the organization. Furthermore, qualifications ensure that the employees are capable of meeting the obligations of their respective positions besides enhancing the ease of management. Top-level management must have appropriate qualifications. Managers make decisions daily operations within the organization through the formulation and implementation of policies. As such, they must have both the appropriate education and professional training to enable them make such appropriate decisions. The performance reward program will acknowledge the
Monday, November 18, 2019
English class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
English class - Essay Example It should be noted that Bush won that election only because of some of the loopholes in the American presidential election system. Even though Al Gore won majority of the popular vote, Congress and Supreme Court decided that Bush should be the winner since he had more Electoral College votes than Gore. The essence of democracy is a government elected by the majority of the people. In other words, those who were able to capture majority of the public votes should be declared as the winner; then only we can say that the election was fair under the norms of democratic principles. If I had power, I would have definitely changed the constitution to cancel the presidential election of Bush. In my opinion, the cancellation of Bush’s presidential election and the declaration of Al Gore as the winner would have changed American history in many ways. Bush is actually responsible for some of the most unfavorable incidents happening at present. It was because of Bush’s decision to attack Iraq in order to take revenge upon Saddam for humiliating his father Bush Sr, majority of the recent terrorist incidents occurred in this world. Bush’s decision to attack Iraq forced Arab world and the Muslim world to think that America is against Islam. This belief actually forced them justify terrorist attack as a mean of self-defense. In fact 9/11 was the outcome of Iraq war.
Friday, November 15, 2019
Computer Simulations to test Projects
Computer Simulations to test Projects The idea of describing a physical phenomenon using mathematical models/computational tools is not a new one. About 430 years ago, Galileo Galilei exhorted that it is imperative to describe the results mathematically once a certain number of experiments sensate esperienze have been performed. If one succeeds in illustrating the physical phenomenon using the mathematical equations, then the response of the system of interest can be predicted for a broad range of conditions, including the ones for which conducting the experiments are very difficult, too costly, or not possible at all. In the recent years, the use of computational studies in materials research has been fueled by the drastic increase in the available computational power, resulting from the development of advanced computers with parallel architecture tuned for computationally intensive tasks. Nowadays, the leading engineering companies, such as GM, Ford, GE, Airbus and Boeing use computer simulations to model and test mechanical and aerodynamic characteristics of their products such as automobiles, jet engines and aircrafts before manufacturing the final product or even before testing a prototype in a wind tunnel or crashing them into a wall e.g. Figure 1. shows the deformed shape of the body of a truck body after it is crashed into a rigid wall simulated using a software. Among the numerous benefits of the simulation/computational tools in materials research, one is that if any problems are found in the design during modeling, it can be fixed before sending the technical drawings to the manufacturing unit of the company. Figure 1. 3D simulation of a truck crashing into a rigid virtual wall[1] Now, if we are going to predict the material behavior using the software/computational tools, then the accuracy of the software comes into limelight. The accuracy of these predictions depends on: 1. The accuracy of the adopted numerical solvers (e.g. a very popular scheme known as FEM), 2. The accuracy of the mathematical models that describe the materials behavior (i.e. constitutive laws). In addition to above, different mechanisms occur at different length scales that govern the macro behavior of the material. Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy of predictions of the software, information of these mechanisms happening at different length scales is also required, which lays down the need for a multi-scale model. In science and engineering, nearly all problems are multi-scale in nature. For example, multi-scale modeling of cancer cells is now being considered as an indispensable tool to enable more accurate predictions of growth of cancer cells (reference). Now, in context of modeling behavior of metals, different mathematical models that describe the physics of deformation at different length scales are used and are shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Overview of length scales involved in metals[2] At atomic scale, the interaction forces between neighboring atoms are calculated using the First-Principles Density Functional Theory (DFT) but the computations are limited to a few hundred atoms, which is too small to study the macro behavior of a material. To model the mechanical behavior of a material using molecular statics / dynamics several million atoms must be considered that involves days / weeks of computations. (Reference)Moreover, characteristic length that is accessible using molecular statics / dynamics modeling is very small than the mean free path of the motion of dislocations (defects in regular atomic lattice). Dislocations are the critical elements in a microstructure of a polycrystalline solid to accommodate the plastic deformation and to analyze the behavior of a material at a length scale, where the material hardening is controlled by the interactions of dislocation, discrete dislocation framework is used. However, due to the large amount of degree of freedoms r equired to analyze interactions of dislocations, the discrete dislocation framework is limited to model a material with volume up to 10 microns. Continuum mechanics / Peridynamics employ the phenomenological laws of motion and of deformation energy to describe the mechanical behavior of a material at macroscopic length scale neglecting any phenomena that occur at smaller length scales which leads to a deficiency in the accuracy of the predictions. Nevertheless, there exists a framework at an intermediate scale (meso-scale) that models dislocations behavior in terms of slip and considers some vital microstructural features providing a very close estimate of real-word phenomena within reasonable computational time, known as crystal plasticity. Crystal plasticity-based models work at a length scale where the groups of crystals i.e. grain in a material becomes evident. In crystal plasticity models, usually a representative volume element (RVE) of the actual component is analyzed that yields a value which represents the behavior of the whole material. Hence, using crystal plasticity alone, one cannot simulate the actual lab scale (at macro-scale) component. Therefore, in order to accurately describe, to fundamentally understand, to reliably predict, and to eventually control the behavior of a material under different conditions, it is of tremendous importance to develop novel approaches that investigate the multiscale nature of met als. In this research work, a new multi-scale framework is proposed that incorporates physics of fine scale phenomena using crystal plasticity-based modeling approach with a Peridynamics-based coarse scale modeling approach. In addition, an attempt is made to enhance their existing modeling capabilities both in term of accuracy as well as computational speed with an interest to study effects of microstructure on: instability, localization and formability in aluminum sheets at meso-scale, crack initiation and crack propagation in a lab scale component made of aluminum. [1] http://www.mscsoftware.com/product/dytran [2] http://www.kochmann.caltech.edu/pics/scales0.gif  Â
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay -- John Steinbeck Mice Men Ess
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck John Steinbeck was born on 27 Feb 1902 in Salinas, California, not far from the area where Of Mice and Men is set. He attended Stanford University, but never settled to one area of study and left without obtaining a degree. In his twenties, he pursued a varied working life, including that of an itinerant ranch worker, similar to the characters portrayed in the novel. His early writings had some success, and established him as an author interested in social problems. 'Of Mice and Men' was first published in 1937, and was immediately successful, earning Steinbeck a wide reputation. Steinbeck enjoyed even greater success with the full-length novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), which won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. He wrote a number of other novels such as Cannery Row and In Dubious Battle, as well as Short Stories such as The Red Pony and The Pearl. The latter two stories are frequently studied as school texts. However, most critics agree that Steinbeck's later works don't quite match up to his earlier efforts. Nevertheless, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 "...for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humour and a keen social perception.". Steinbeck died 20 Dec 1968. Overall Plot. George and Lennie are two migrant American labourers, who share a dream; that one day they may buy a farm, and Lennie will be able to take care of the rabbits. Although Lennie is physically very strong and has the body of a man, he has the mind of a child. The two men arrive on a ranch near the town of Soledad, where they are about to start work as barley buckers. On arriving there, they meet Candy, an old o... ...il the 'sof' things' that Lennie pets in the novel, showing that the petting grows more serious as the novel goes on. Describe in some detail the incident where Lennie crushes Curley's hand. What does this incident reveal about each of these two characters? While Curley is physically aggressive towards Lennie, his wife is sexually provocative. Show how these two characters create trouble for Lennie, and combine to cause his death. Many people in the novel suffer from disappointment. Choose any three of the following characters and discuss what reasons they have to be disappointed about their life: Crooks - Curley - George - Candy Which character do you feel most sorry for in this story? Explain your choice by referring closely to the events of the novel. Slim is the only character in the novel who is not handicapped in some way. Do you agree?
Sunday, November 10, 2019
The Cultural Anchoring Of Leadership Styles
With globalisation and related intensification of trade and commerce effective leadership has become indispensable in the business world. Where traditionally the business leader took the role of commanding â€Å"the troops†towards effectiveness and efficiency this has changed dramatically over the last decades. The service industry rise, knowledge management trends, increased workforce diversity combined with international trading and global sourcing of talent, has considerably reshaped the role of the leader in the contemporary organisation.Numerous firms are in global alliances depending upon flexibility/adaptability to local markets, requiring their managers to possess appropriate leadership styles to cope effectively with different value systems and cultures (Fahy, 2002; Coviello et al. , 1998). 2Arguably, the flattening of hierarchical structures has also contributed to this reshaping process as traditional sources of authority, upon which leaders have built on for years , have been diminished.Combined with the rise of new trading powers such as the â€Å"Asian Dragon†, business leaders, especially in international MNEs do not only face domestic multiculturalism and diversity but are also increasingly expatriated. Consequently completely new cultural pitfalls and challenges are faced requiring understanding of cultural values as well as quick cultural adaptation to transfer domestic leadership abilities into foreign markets. Combined with steadily rising competitive pressures, the contemporary business leader in a role not easily filled.Despite leadership being a universal concept (Bass, 1990), with most literature anchored in the (individualistically oriented) US, it has been questioned to what extend western leadership styles are cross-culturally transferable (Dorfman, 2003). Resultantly, debate has sparked over how far leadership is culturally contingent, if universal leadership qualities and tactics exist and what the explanatory variable s are (Scandura & Dorfman, 2004).This assignment aims at contributing towards this debate by exploring leadership disparity and possible congruence between the UK and Japan using academic measurement of national culture; Hofstede’s framework respectively. The next section will give an overview over the concept of leadership followed by an in-depth cultural comparison and concluding section. 4The term leadership incorporates some elements of controversy over its meaning and practices. Different cultural gist or terminology or in cross-cultural contexts makes a universal definition difficult (Yukl, 2002).This seems unsurprising as the understandings and expectations of authority roles differ between cultures. Nevertheless, despite cultural differences the majority of leadership definitions reflect some basic elements these manly being â€Å"group†, â€Å"influence†and â€Å"goal†(Bryman, 1992). Keeping this in mind, leadership can be seen as the â€Å"pr ocess of influencing others towards achieving some kind of desired outcome. †(De Jong & Den Hartog, 2007, p. 44) or bluntly spoken â€Å"leadership is the ability to get [people] to do what they don’t like to do and like it†Whilst this is a very basic attempt of a definition it allows for easier application in a cross-cultural context and highlights an important point: In order to lead one needs followers (Drucker, 2007). It is here where the inseparable link to power emerges whereby the power of leaders is largely dependent upon the perception of others (Hollander & Julian, 1969; Maurer & Lord, 1991; Pfeffer, 1977) but nevertheless forms the basis of leadership authority.It appears that only effective use of this power, combined with â€Å"leading by example†(Pfeffer, 1981) will result in positive and proactive guidance fostering creativity, innovation, commitment and long term organisational development. 6However, this is questionable and it seems that far too often in academic literature the terms â€Å"manager†and â€Å"leader†are merged giving a blurred picture of what each role actually entails. Readers should be reminded that leaders, unlike managers, do not have to rely on forms of power to influence subordinates, often actually relinquishing formal authoritarian control.This is due to the idea that to lead is to have followers, and following is always a voluntary activity. Nevertheless, it can be argued that even leaders need some foundation of authority; may it only be their charisma (Weber, 1968). This has been manifested in the participative, charismatic or transformative styles of leadership (Den Hartog & Koopman, 2001) as oppose to the transactional style more related to operational, task focused managers.Especially in western economies with predominant service industries, innovation and knowledge management, the former have been the focal point in recent years as autocratic leadership styles do no lon ger seem sufficient to extract the full potential of an increasingly knowledgeable, highly skilled and demanding workforce. Such, arguably â€Å"softer†approaches fostering employee involvement and participation have nevertheless been proven to result in increased organisational performance (Bass, 1996; 1997; House & Shamir, 1993) and are arguably more â€Å"ideal†forms of organisational leadership (Bass & Avolio, 1989).This might be applicable to western societies yet a cross-cultural generalisation might be prejudiced and the influence of personal values and cultural influences upon leadership styles should not be ignored (Byrne & Bradley, 2007). Rather, culture, an essential component of which is personal values (Kroeber, 1952; Kluckhohm, 1949), is to be seen at a centre stage when analysing leadership differences (George et al. , 1998; Nakata & Sivakumar, 1996; Steenkamp et al. , 1999; Cadogan et al. 2001), as t is â€Å"the collective programming of the mind wh ich distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another†(Hofstede, 1980, p.260) and shape leadership preferences.Culture hereby should not be limited to national culture but has to be extended to incorporating organisational as well as political culture (Schein, 1985), the latter two arguably being extensively shaped by the former. Democratic or authoritarian political systems, national values regarding sex differences and ethical behaviour as well as organisational attitudes towards factors such as centralisation and work attitude, undoubtedly influence leadership styles.Not only will such factors shape leadership approaches, but with regard to cultural differences these will often even stand in conflict to each other. Consequently domestically implemented leadership approaches might not be applicable in other cultural settings and render ineffective in maintaining firm sustained competitive advantage and superior international performance (Kimber, 1997 ; Jackson and Aycan, 2001; Pfeffer, 2002).The next section will investigate the effect of cultural values upon leadership styles in detail using the U and Japan as examples. 9British leadership style has often been described as more casual in nature fostering teamwork and seeking group consensus (Lewis, 2001). As such, a more participative leadership style is predominant reflecting flatter hierarchical structures in UK organisations. So, hierarchical structures not primarily seem as means to establish authority structures (Laurent, 1983) but more as core administrative frameworks.This according to Hofstede (2001), is a reflection of the UK’s low association to Power Distance. Essentially, subordinates do not attribute much to position and title and leaders must â€Å"embody a collective will and take personal responsibility for it while continuing to communicate and co-operate with the team†(Mole, 1990, p. 105). Unsurprisingly, networking capability and people managem ent skills are highly valued in the UK (Stewart et al. 1994) as leadership qualities.Nevertheless, this (collectivist) team and people orientation is mainly seem as a path towards achieving organisational targets and innovation assuring individuals in team settings aggregate knowledge that has strategic relevance to the organisation (Miller &Morris, 1999). As such transformational leadership attitudes (Burns, 1978) can be seen where leaders are to create conditions under which subordinates devotedly contribute to the organisation yet this is done primarily through a strategic lens. (McCarthy, 2005).Nevertheless, the Anglo-Saxon system of shareholder satisfaction drives leaders towards task orientation often combined with a short-term outlook. As such quick, short-term organisational (financial) success is often more valued than long-term organisational success and relationship building, reflecting according to Hofstede, a culture of highly short term orientation and low uncertainty avoidance. Essentially, risks are seen as part of daily business practice and leadership approaches reflect that subordinates are given opportunity to implement potentially rewarding, but high risk, strategies.This shows that, despite team orientation and a one might say more relaxed, friendly and diplomatic leadership style, the British cannot deny their American leadership style influence, fostering structured individualism, speed and drive (Lewis, 2001). Falsely, m any authors seem to ignore this connection, even so influences of hire and fire mentality and the creating of specialist roles underlining a core individualistic attitude are undeniable reflecting British national, and interlinked to that, legal and organisational culture.Such individualistic attitude constantly resurfaces in leadership styles often portrayed through individual target setting, remuneration practices and shorter employment contracts. Employees do not look for lifetime employment and a steady career in o ne company resultantly British leaders are more reluctant to invest heavily in the training and education of subordinates (Schneider & Littrell, 2003). This continues to the often actively sought after and purposely created assertive and competitive environment amongst colleagues or departments reflecting a relatively high masculine attitude as Hofstede’s culture scale clearly outlines.While these attributes sketch general aspects of British leadership, styles will vary between organisations, industries and individuals. Service- or R&D intensive industries for example, will follow a more Theory Y (McGregor, 1960) approach fostering employee involvement and empowerment. Leadership on traditional manufacturing industries on the other hand due to their reliance on productivity and output combined with an often repetitive working atmosphere, might take a more Theory X attitude.In contrast to the UK, Japanese leadership, like many Asian countries, is grounded in Confucian principl es (Redding, 1990; Tan, 1986) and despite rising western influences, strong Confucian traits believing in moral, interpersonal relationships/loyalties, education and hard work still lurk beneath the surface (Lewis, 2001). Especially â€Å"taking the family as a model for society at large, Confucianism is basically authoritarian and stresses hierarchical and status differences†(Selmer, 2001, p.8).As such, through its vertically orientated hierarchies and rigid organisation (Chen, 1995) one would expect Japan to score higher than the UK in Hofstede’s power distance index, and so indeed it does. This offers leaders with traditional and legitimate power bases however, surprisingly not resulting in autocratic leadership styles as one would expect, but far more the association of assertiveness-authority and reason tactics (Schmidt & Yeh, 1992).As such, Japanese leadership style rewards subordinate respect and obedience with highly paternalistic attitudes, expressed by mendo u: â€Å"I think about your, I will take care of you†(Dorfman et al. 1997). Consequently, the Japanese leadership culture, despite placing emphasising hierarchy and status differences requiring full subordinate obedience, expects helping and caring for followers and being involved in their personal lives (Whitehall & Takezawa, 1968; Bass et al.1979).As a result the most powerful force of the Japanese leader is not autocracy but charisma combined with intrinsic rather than extrinsic (materialistic) reward mechanisms often predominant in the UK: bonuses, on-target-earnings, etc. (Maslow, 1943, 1954). This seems surprising considering the high masculine score, which, from a western perspective would result in autocratic, top down, assertive, tough and focused on material success (Hofstede, 1998) leadership.It is here where Hofstede’s framework seems to only partly explain the Japanese culture and low individualism but high masculinity and power distance stand in conflict with each other. 14Additionally, in such an environment more focus towards ascription rather than achievement would be expected (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1997, 2000). Nevertheless, the contrary appears in the Japanese context with leaders having to possess superior, often specific, (hard) knowledge supplemented by strong educational backgrounds (Nestler, 2008).Here another disparity to UK leadership emerges, where despite educational background being important for initial work placement, greater focus upon (soft) â€Å"people skills†and strategic directive is desired and ascription of leadership positions remains (Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars, 1994). 15The collectivist principles shape Japanese leadership style dramatically, requiring group consensus and decision-making despite extremely high masculinity and higher power distance.Essentially a â€Å"bottom-up†(ringsho) process of decision-making is chosen (Wu, 2006) with the leader granting independent decision making to the group generally letting subordinates use their own approaches to achieve overall collectivist objectives (Dorfman et al. 1997). This is surprising, as in western societies strong hierarchical structures often result in a â€Å"top-down†leadership approach but can be explained through high uncertainly avoidance collecting input and consensus from all parties involved before decisions are made.Even more so, the concepts of â€Å"wa†(maintaining social relationships) and â€Å"kao†(maintaining â€Å"face†) actually require the involvement of subordinates in the decision making process and the preservation of harmony rendering western leader contingent punishment behaviour inappropriate. It is here where Japanese leadership style diverts extensively from its UK (Anglo-Saxon) counterpart where public scrutinising is part of daily leadership practices reflecting a competitive and individualistic culture driven by short-term financial objective s with high-risk acceptance.Due to the collectivist environment and extensive future planning, Japanese managers on the other hand, do not view themselves as risk takers, despite this characteristic often being attributed to charismatic leaders (Bass, 1985). This is reflected in Japan’s extremely high uncertainty avoidance score and is further supported by strong long-term orientation valuing prevailing face and harmony. Unsurprisingly, life-long employment is desired, supplemented b continued job rotation aimed at developing employees.As a result leaders and subordinates enter into long and close relationships hardly ever interrupted contrasting the UK’s â€Å"burn out†environment fostering high staff turnover. Unlike in the UK, Japanese business leaders look for generalist employees capable of working in multiple levels of the organisation reflecting a society placing less value upon specialists than western cultures. 17Overall, Japanese leaders focus upon co llective (not individual) responsibility (Hayashi, 1988) and group harmony maintenance is usually considered more important than profitability and overall productivity (Bass, 1990).Nevertheless, also Japanese leaders have to drive performance resulting in somewhat of a trade-off situation between performance and collectivist harmony maintenance. According to the performance-maintenance theory (Misumi, 1990), Japanese leaders have to chose between goal achievement and the continuation of the group, preferably combining high levels of both (Misumi, 1995). If this is achieved, such supportive or participative leadership styles (Ouchi, 1981) are said to result in â€Å"higher levels of motivation, delegation of decision-making, commitment, and intrinsic job satisfaction†(Keys and Miller, 1982, p.6). This appears to be in line with the currently preferred leadership style in the UK.However, one should not forget that unlike the Japanese working environment, the UK has been subjec t to great inward as well as outward FDI flows resulting in a blending of many different leadership approaches. As such arguably UK leaders would find it easier to adapt to Japanese principles than Japanese leaders. This is due to the western â€Å"farce†of collectivist team working for individualistic goals and the limited respect paid to status differences.While Hofstede’s framework helps to understand the leadership differences between the two countries if fails to explain some factors. So for examples does high Japanese power distance explain hierarchical structures and respect to superiors but the theoretical assumptions of complete centralisation of power, low emphasis on developing the workforce and autocratic top-down contact initiation (Hofstede, 1991) do not fully reflect the Japanese working environment.On this note one should not forget that Hofstede’s framework is not free of criticism and arguably is outdated, limited in scope of methodology and m easurement (Dorfman and Howell, 1988; Roberts and Boyciligiller, 1984) and only reflects a blend of organisational (IBM) culture and national cultures (Hunt, 1983; Robinson, 1983). As such it is no surprise that other studies such as the GLOBE project have found differing or even contradictory results for similar cultural dimensions. The Cultural Anchoring Of Leadership Styles With globalisation and related intensification of trade and commerce effective leadership has become indispensable in the business world. Where traditionally the business leader took the role of commanding â€Å"the troops†towards effectiveness and efficiency this has changed dramatically over the last decades.The service industry rise, knowledge management trends, increased workforce diversity combined with international trading and global sourcing of talent, has considerably reshaped the role of the leader in the contemporary organisation. Numerous firms are in global alliances depending upon flexibility/adaptability to local markets, requiring their managers to possess appropriate leadership styles to cope effectively with different value systems and cultures (Fahy, 2002; Coviello et al., 1998).Arguably, the flattening of hierarchical structures has also contributed to this reshaping process as traditional sources of authority, upon which leaders have built on for years, h ave been diminished. Combined with the rise of new trading powers such as the â€Å"Asian Dragon†, business leaders, especially in international MNEs do not only face domestic multiculturalism and diversity but are also increasingly expatriated.Consequently completely new cultural pitfalls and challenges are faced requiring understanding of cultural values as well as quick cultural adaptation to transfer domestic leadership abilities into foreign markets. Combined with steadily rising competitive pressures, the contemporary business leader in a role not easily filled.Despite leadership being a universal concept (Bass, 1990), with most literature anchored in the (individualistically oriented) US, it has been questioned to what extend western leadership styles are cross-culturally transferable (Dorfman, 2003). Resultantly, debate has sparked over how far leadership is culturally contingent, if universal leadership qualities and tactics exist and what the explanatory variables a re (Scandura & Dorfman, 2004).This assignment aims at contributing towards this debate by exploring leadership disparity and possible congruence between the UK and Japan using academic measurement of national culture; Hofstede’s framework respectively. The next section will give an overview over the concept of leadership followed by an in-depth cultural comparison and concluding section.The term leadership incorporates some elements of controversy over its meaning and practices. Different cultural gist or terminology or in cross-cultural contexts makes a universal definition difficult (Yukl, 2002). This seems unsurprising as the understandings and expectations of authority roles differ between cultures. Nevertheless, despite cultural differences the majority of leadership definitions reflect some basic elements these manly being â€Å"group†, â€Å"influence†and â€Å"goal†(Bryman, 1992).Keeping this in mind, leadership can be seen as the â€Å"process of influencing others towards achieving some kind of desired outcome.†(De Jong & Den Hartog, 2007, p. 44) or bluntly spoken â€Å"leadership is the ability to get [people] to do what they don’t like to do and like it†(Truman in Sadler, 2003, p. 5).Whilst this is a very basic attempt of a definition it allows for easier application in a cross-cultural context and highlights an important point: In order to lead one needs followers (Drucker, 2007). It is here where the inseparable link to power emerges whereby the power of leaders is largely dependent upon the perception of others (Hollander & Julian, 1969; Maurer & Lord, 1991; Pfeffer, 1977) but nevertheless forms the basis of leadership authority. It appears that only effective use of this power, combined with â€Å"leading by example†(Pfeffer, 1981) will result in positive and proactive guidance fostering creativity, innovation, commitment and long term organisational development.However, this is quest ionable and it seems that far too often in academic literature the terms â€Å"manager†and â€Å"leader†are merged giving a blurred picture of what each role actually entails. Readers should be reminded that leaders, unlike managers, do not have to rely on forms of power to influence subordinates, often actually relinquishing formal authoritarian control. This is due to the idea that to lead is to have followers, and following is always a voluntary activity.Nevertheless, it can be argued that even leaders need some foundation of authority; may it only be their charisma (Weber, 1968). This has been manifested in the participative, charismatic or transformative styles of leadership (Den Hartog & Koopman, 2001) as oppose to the transactional style more related to operational, task focused managers. Especially in western economies with predominant service industries, innovation and knowledge management, the former have been the focal point in recent years as autocrati c leadership styles do no longer seem sufficient to extract the full potential of an increasingly knowledgeable, highly skilled and demanding workforce.Such, arguably â€Å"softer†approaches fostering employee involvement and participation have nevertheless been proven to result in increased organisational performance (Bass, 1996; 1997; House & Shamir, 1993) and are arguably more â€Å"ideal†forms of organisational leadership (Bass & Avolio, 1989).This might be applicable to western societies yet a cross-cultural generalisation might be prejudiced and the influence of personal values and cultural influences upon leadership styles should not be ignored (Byrne & Bradley, 2007). Rather, culture, an essential component of which is personal values (Kroeber, 1952; Kluckhohm, 1949), is to be seen at a centre stage when analysing leadership differences (George et al., 1998; Nakata & Sivakumar, 1996; Steenkamp et al., 1999; Cadogan et al. 2001), as t is â€Å"the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another†(Hofstede, 1980, p. 260) and shape leadership preferences.Culture hereby should not be limited to national culture but has to be extended to incorporating organisational as well as political culture (Schein, 1985), the latter two arguably being extensively shaped by the former. Democratic or authoritarian political systems, national values regarding sex differences and ethical behaviour as well as organisational attitudes towards factors such as centralisation and work attitude, undoubtedly influence leadership styles.Not only will such factors shape leadership approaches, but with regard to cultural differences these will often even stand in conflict to each other. Consequently domestically implemented leadership approaches might not be applicable in other cultural settings and render ineffective in maintaining firm sustained competitive advantage and superior internationa l performance (Kimber, 1997; Jackson and Aycan, 2001; Pfeffer, 2002). The next section will investigate the effect of cultural values upon leadership styles in detail using the U and Japan as examples.British leadership style has often been described as more casual in nature fostering teamwork and seeking group consensus (Lewis, 2001). As such, a more participative leadership style is predominant reflecting flatter hierarchical structures in UK organisations. So, hierarchical structures not primarily seem as means to establish authority structures (Laurent, 1983) but more as core administrative frameworks. This according to Hofstede (2001), is a reflection of the UK’s low association to Power Distance. Essentially, subordinates do not attribute much to position and title and leaders must â€Å"embody a collective will and take personal responsibility for it while continuing to communicate and co-operate with the team†(Mole, 1990, p. 105).Unsurprisingly, networking cap ability and people management skills are highly valued in the UK (Stewart et al. 1994) as leadership qualities. Nevertheless, this (collectivist) team and people orientation is mainly seem as a path towards achieving organisational targets and innovation assuring individuals in team settings aggregate knowledge that has strategic relevance to the organisation (Miller &Morris, 1999). As such transformational leadership attitudes (Burns, 1978) can be seen where leaders are to create conditions under which subordinates devotedly contribute to the organisation yet this is done primarily through a strategic lens. (McCarthy, 2005).Nevertheless, the Anglo-Saxon system of shareholder satisfaction drives leaders towards task orientation often combined with a short-term outlook. As such quick, short-term organisational (financial) success is often more valued than long-term organisational success and relationship building, reflecting according to Hofstede, a culture of highly short term orien tation and low uncertainty avoidance. Essentially, risks are seen as part of daily business practice and leadership approaches reflect that subordinates are given opportunity to implement potentially rewarding, but high risk, strategies.This shows that, despite team orientation and a one might say more relaxed, friendly and diplomatic leadership style, the British cannot deny their American leadership style influence, fostering structured individualism, speed and drive (Lewis, 2001). Falsely, m any authors seem to ignore this connection, even so influences of hire and fire mentality and the creating of specialist roles underlining a core individualistic attitude are undeniable reflecting British national, and interlinked to that, legal and organisational culture. Such individualistic attitude constantly resurfaces in leadership styles often portrayed through individual target setting, remuneration practices and shorter employment contracts.Employees do not look for lifetime emplo yment and a steady career in one company resultantly British leaders are more reluctant to invest heavily in the training and education of subordinates (Schneider & Littrell, 2003). This continues to the often actively sought after and purposely created assertive and competitive environment amongst colleagues or departments reflecting a relatively high masculine attitude as Hofstede’s culture scale clearly outlines.While these attributes sketch general aspects of British leadership, styles will vary between organisations, industries and individuals. Service- or R&D intensive industries for example, will follow a more Theory Y (McGregor, 1960) approach fostering employee involvement and empowerment. Leadership on traditional manufacturing industries on the other hand due to their reliance on productivity and output combined with an often repetitive working atmosphere, might take a more Theory X attitude.In contrast to the UK, Japanese leadership, like many Asian countries, is grounded in Confucian principles (Redding, 1990; Tan, 1986) and despite rising western influences, strong Confucian traits believing in moral, interpersonal relationships/loyalties, education and hard work still lurk beneath the surface (Lewis, 2001). Especially â€Å"taking the family as a model for society at large, Confucianism is basically authoritarian and stresses hierarchical and status differences†(Selmer, 2001, p. 8).As such, through its vertically orientated hierarchies and rigid organisation (Chen, 1995) one would expect Japan to score higher than the UK in Hofstede’s power distance index, and so indeed it does. This offers leaders with traditional and legitimate power bases however, surprisingly not resulting in autocratic leadership styles as one would expect, but far more the association of assertiveness-authority and reason tactics (Schmidt & Yeh, 1992).As such, Japanese leadership style rewards subordinate respect and obedience with highly paternalisti c attitudes, expressed by mendou: â€Å"I think about your, I will take care of you†(Dorfman et al. 1997). Consequently, the Japanese leadership culture, despite placing emphasising hierarchy and status differences requiring full subordinate obedience, expects helping and caring for followers and being involved in their personal lives (Whitehall & Takezawa, 1968; Bass et al. 1979).As a result the most powerful force of the Japanese leader is not autocracy but charisma combined with intrinsic rather than extrinsic (materialistic) reward mechanisms often predominant in the UK: bonuses, on-target-earnings, etc. (Maslow, 1943, 1954). This seems surprising considering the high masculine score, which, from a western perspective would result in autocratic, top down, assertive, tough and focused on material success (Hofstede, 1998) leadership. It is here where Hofstede’s framework seems to only partly explain the Japanese culture and low individualism but high masculinity and power distance stand in conflict with each other.Additionally, in such an environment more focus towards ascription rather than achievement would be expected (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1997, 2000). Nevertheless, the contrary appears in the Japanese context with leaders having to possess superior, often specific, (hard) knowledge supplemented by strong educational backgrounds (Nestler, 2008). Here another disparity to UK leadership emerges, where despite educational background being important for initial work placement, greater focus upon (soft) â€Å"people skills†and strategic directive is desired and ascription of leadership positions remains (Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars, 1994).The collectivist principles shape Japanese leadership style dramatically, requiring group consensus and decision-making despite extremely high masculinity and higher power distance. Essentially a â€Å"bottom-up†(ringsho) process of decision-making is chosen (Wu, 2006) with the leader granting independent decision making to the group generally letting subordinates use their own approaches to achieve overall collectivist objectives (Dorfman et al. 1997). This is surprising, as in western societies strong hierarchical structures often result in a â€Å"top-down†leadership approach but can be explained through high uncertainly avoidance collecting input and consensus from all parties involved before decisions are made.Even more so, the concepts of â€Å"wa†(maintaining social relationships) and â€Å"kao†(maintaining â€Å"face†) actually require the involvement of subordinates in the decision making process and the preservation of harmony rendering western leader contingent punishment behaviour inappropriate. It is here where Japanese leadership style diverts extensively from its UK (Anglo-Saxon) counterpart where public scrutinising is part of daily leadership practices reflecting a competitive and individualistic culture driven b y short-term financial objectives with high-risk acceptance.Due to the collectivist environment and extensive future planning, Japanese managers on the other hand, do not view themselves as risk takers, despite this characteristic often being attributed to charismatic leaders (Bass, 1985). This is reflected in Japan’s extremely high uncertainty avoidance score and is further supported by strong long-term orientation valuing prevailing face and harmony. Unsurprisingly, life-long employment is desired, supplemented b continued job rotation aimed at developing employees.As a result leaders and subordinates enter into long and close relationships hardly ever interrupted contrasting the UK’s â€Å"burn out†environment fostering high staff turnover. Unlike in the UK, Japanese business leaders look for generalist employees capable of working in multiple levels of the organisation reflecting a society placing less value upon specialists than western cultures.Overall, J apanese leaders focus upon collective (not individual) responsibility (Hayashi, 1988) and group harmony maintenance is usually considered more important than profitability and overall productivity (Bass, 1990). Nevertheless, also Japanese leaders have to drive performance resulting in somewhat of a trade-off situation between performance and collectivist harmony maintenance. According to the performance-maintenance theory (Misumi, 1990), Japanese leaders have to chose between goal achievement and the continuation of the group, preferably combining high levels of both (Misumi, 1995).If this is achieved, such supportive or participative leadership styles (Ouchi, 1981) are said to result in â€Å"higher levels of motivation, delegation of decision-making, commitment, and intrinsic job satisfaction†(Keys and Miller, 1982, p. 6). This appears to be in line with the currently preferred leadership style in the UK. However, one should not forget that unlike the Japanese working e nvironment, the UK has been subject to great inward as well as outward FDI flows resulting in a blending of many different leadership approaches. As such arguably UK leaders would find it easier to adapt to Japanese principles than Japanese leaders. This is due to the western â€Å"farce†of collectivist team working for individualistic goals and the limited respect paid to status differences.While Hofstede’s framework helps to understand the leadership differences between the two countries if fails to explain some factors. So for examples does high Japanese power distance explain hierarchical structures and respect to superiors but the theoretical assumptions of complete centralisation of power, low emphasis on developing the workforce and autocratic top-down contact initiation (Hofstede, 1991) do not fully reflect the Japanese working environment.On this note one should not forget that Hofstede’s framework is not free of criticism and arguably is outdated, lim ited in scope of methodology and measurement (Dorfman and Howell, 1988; Roberts and Boyciligiller, 1984) and only reflects a blend of organisational (IBM) culture and national cultures (Hunt, 1983; Robinson, 1983). As such it is no surprise that other studies such as the GLOBE project have found differing or even contradictory results for similar cultural dimensions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)