‘Management At Work Essay

1. According to a major economics consulting firm, Fiat’s â€Å"South American operations are the jewel in the Italian company’s global operations.†* Fiat has plants in Brazil and Argentina, and Brazil is its biggest market, well ahead of its home-country market. In 2011, with the Chrysler venture taking up more and more of the firm’s attention—and as European sales suffered a steep decline rumors began to circulate that Marchionne might move Fiat headquarters from Italy to the United States. Discuss Fiat’s takeover of Chrysler as part of a strategy to transform itself from an international business into a multinational or global business. 2. What benefts does Fiat hope to gain from its arrange- ment with Chrysler? What potential drawbacks does it face? Judging from your analysis of benefts and draw- backs, explain why the Fiat–Chrysler arrangement might best characterized as a strategic alliance? In what sense is it best characterized as a direct investment? 3. What challenges in the U.S. cultural environment do you expect Fiat to face as it uses its Chrysler connec- tion to compete in the American car market? What management challenges will Marchionne face in the areas of planning and decision making, organizing, and leading? 1. Fiat has established it self as quality product. Bringing their reputation and business skill will attract American consumers. Having their attention and possibly blending the product they can conquer the America market for cars as well as Italy, Europe and other country markets. Being based in the US they can now claim Fiat as a US product and use all the tax cuts. Making it more affordable, now it has exotic looks without the exotic prices! If manufacturing is domestic with the Fiat cars as well as Chrysler I think it will be good for the US economy, providing more jobs on a middle class level. 2. The tax breaks as a US company for Fiat will be very beneficial as far as marketing/advertisement but a major draw back will be the high cost in labor as opposed to the labor cost in countries such as Mexico. Fiat will also have a situation of dealing with new labor laws. American labor laws are more stringent than other companies. This is also power tolerance country. Employees are not as submissive as those of other countries. Americans are considered lazy. Fiat bringing their CEO (Marchionne) to America to directly handle the merger will make the transition a lot soother for the company. When first appointed to Fiat CEO he laid off 10% of white collard employees and 20,000 labor employees, restructuring with fresh new talent, he will follow do the same plan with Chrysler. But bringing in his own people proven to be valuable. 3.This merger can be characterized as a direct investment because Fiat is take a chance a moving there location to the US. Fiat is dealing with this merger on a first hand basis. They are not operating business threw a third party. Americans are use to large cars. The idea of driving a smaller car, to a lot of Americans will socially awkward. They may need to find a social common ground with the American people make their car appear attractive as well as economical. As I said previously management American are considered lazy. Management may have difficulties with the competency of the American employees. They may have to find new way of encouragement to employees. Research: Fiat and Chrysler Fiat is now waiting for court verdict from the Delaware court before purchasing the remaining 41.5%. Fiat has a difference in value with VEBA ( U.S. healthcare trust) of the $2 billion. VEBA values the remaining 41.5% at $4 billion. Fiat wants to purchase the remaining 41.5%, merger the 2 companies then list them on the New York Stock Exchange by 2014. That will make them the 7th largest car manufactures in the world. Verdict is expected to continue until the end of July, 90 days from the last hearing on April 25. Until then Chrysler is at a stand still while Fiat must continue to sell car to buy the remainder of Chrysler. Source: Fiat awaits court verdict ahead of Chrysler merger http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/30/us-fiat-chrysler-elkann-idUSBRE94T0GA20130530

East and South East Asia Differences Term Paper

East and South East Asia Differences - Term Paper Example The Asian Economic Miracle: Asian "Tigers" According to Chong (284), the Southeast Asian "tigers" is terminology whose usage is in reference to the Southeast Asian economies such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia. Chong (284) elucidates that the term economic miracle has found usage in the definition of the speedier growth amid these nations within the past decades reaching its heights in the 1990s and culminating into the fiscal crisis of 1998. Reportedly, this era of economic augmentation brought with it an appreciable modernity as well as superior living standards amid their populace. Chong (284) observes that the accelerated development is traceable back to the sixties when the East Asian wealth grew at a miraculous rate given the slower over global rates. The subsequent decades witnessed similar growth rates that were far better than any other nation across the globe. According to Chong (284), none of the nations within this matrix experience wealth appreciation lesser than the highest values re corded else where within the globe. According to Cardarelli & Vivek (64) the developments witnessed in the south east and Southeast Asia are the results of two principal wealth creation strategies. Firstly, the considerable state involvement and secondly is the design and implementation of a successful export orient wealth augmentation base. ... According to Chong (284), China bears considerable resemblance to its southeastern neighbors with a characteristic strong aristocratic leadership and dependence on export-oriented growth model for its fiscal and wealth creation enhancements. Additionally, the wealth expansions in china have appreciably enhanced the modernity with observable increment in the overall living standards. Nonetheless, the nations persist to experience principal environmental predicaments which are inclusive of huge floods, extreme weather situations as well as recent life fatal accidental incidences within its rapidly progressing transport section. In spite of the closed up political system, China enjoys considerable levels of interactions with the rest of the globe. Cardarelli & Vivek (79) observes that such interactions are evident in its massive exports and enormous foreign exchange preserve. According to Cardarelli & Vivek (80), Chinese exports in the preceding year totaled about 1.5 trillion dollars with an overall global ranking of number two. Similarly, its imports were a considerable 1.3 trillion, which was third globally, while attracting massive foreign preserve of close to 2.6 trillion fiscal units. This massive reserve ensures China ended the preceding year as the leader in the foreign deals. Similarly, the past year saw Chinese external investment increment to about 279 billion dollars while the unswerving foreign deals reached an unbelievable 578 billion dollars. Cardarelli & Vivek (80) believe that these massive exports are confirmation of the presumed excessive dependency on exports.

19-64 underinsured final paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

19-64 underinsured final paper - Essay Example ublic policy must take account of these cultural sensitivities, a willingness to recognize priorities and set limits seems to be proportional to the level of frustration with ever-increasing costs. A much-cited example of rational priorities for medical care comes from the state of Oregon, where a commission was appointed in 1989 to make recommendations to the state legislature on how to expand coverage and set priorities in the Medicaid program. Underinsured people were to be added to the Medicaid list to cover every resident whose income was below a certain level, but this could be afforded only by reductions in the benefit package. After much consultation with health professionals and public hearings and community meetings held throughout the state, the commission produced a list of almost 700 condition-treatment pairs grouped in 17 categories and ranked according to priority. According to the plan the Medicaid program would pay only for items above a certain cutoff point on the l ist, to be determined from time to time by the legislature. The plan was implemented in 1994 and has been politically popular among the general public and with Medicare recipients. As of 1998 it is limited to relatively poorer persons eligible for the state Medicaid program, and has not been extended to the general public. â€Å"Managed care has been the single most dominant force which has fundamentally transformed the delivery of health care in United States since the 1990s† (Shi, L. & Singh, D., 2004, p. 324). Once each year there is a major conference of representatives of the funds, the regional associations of physicians, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies, to work out the contribution rate and other details for the underinsured. The government does not provide any funding to the system but is very active in regulating and monitoring it. The basic features of the social-insurance-based health system have been adopted in many parts of the country. The welfare-oriented

Gender discrimination and women's promotion in workplaces Research Paper

Gender discrimination and women's promotion in workplaces - Research Paper Example hrough participation in the civil rights movement and as advocates for the community based groups that grew up around that movement and President Johnson  War on Poverty. The ideas were an attempt to make sense out of the labor market problems as the people in these communities experienced them (or at least described their experiences) and to describe the labor market as these people saw it.  1. As Blau and Jusenius have pointed out, because structured internal labor markets treat workers as members of groups and tend to treat workers within these groups consistently, differentiation between women and men is likely to take the form of segregating women and men into different jobs, rather than paying them unequally for the same job.  17.  In general, in structured internal labor markets, all individuals in the same job are likely to be equally paid, except for performance or seniority differentials. This leaves open the reasons women and men are likely to be differentiated, but it does suggest that entry-level jobs are likely to be different for men and women and arranged in different job families so that segregation will be maintained throughout ones career in the firm. This is precisely what  Kelley  found. Beyond that, womens job ladders may be shorter, and other ways of maintaining differentiation in the firm may exist. For example, Osterman suggests that in a pu blishing firm he studied differential opportunity was maintained by keeping women in the lowest grade levels of various occupation groups.18.  Institutionally, that type of differentiation could be aided by placing women in job titles that differ from related jobs that men hold or possibly by locating them in different departments. Such observations suggest that the effects of internal labor markets differ for men and women, despite their emphasis on consistent rules. The rules of the game are neutral on their face but disparate in their impact. The rules may also differ in different parts of the

Camera Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Camera - Essay Example The high creativity and innovation of new cameras such as smart phones, which have numerous uses apart from taking photographs may lead to the decline of sales and profits reaped by camera companies (Kurtz 79). This indicates that the product has reached the decline stage, and it may become extinct if the innovation of new photo taking gadgets continues. Introduction Stage This is the stage when the product enters the market the first time, and firms reap low sales and profits because they conduct intense marketing to attract customers (Kurtz 30). The camera was first introduced in the market during the proto globalization period that began in the sixteenth century. Human intelligence increased during this period leading to the invention of various objects such as the wheel and the camera. The first camera, known as obscura, took inverted images that were not saved on any material. The object was as big as a house, and it allowed photographs of one person only. The camera had a hole through which light passed and formed inverted images of the objects in front of the gadget. The images taken by the camera were unclear and unattractive. The inventors of the product later developed portable cameras that increased the need for photography in the world (Joanne 65). Image of the first camera obscura (writtenshots.wordpress.com) Image taken using camera obscura (fineartamerica.com) Growth Stage The growth stage is the second phase of product development, which involves increases in sales and profits. Organizations reap higher benefits in this stage than in the introductory phase because of the incoming of new customers. During this stage, new firms begin producing the good so that they can reap the high profits and sales in the industry (Kurtz 84). In the introductory stage of the camera, Kodak was the only company that produced the product. However, new companies such as Nixxon and Sony entered the industry. The growth stage also involves the addition of features to the products to make them more attractive to existing customers. The additional features also help companies in attracting new users, and this enables them to recover they capital they invest in the production of the good. Eastman, the director of Kodak developed the camera by enabling the saving of images in films. The films were of limited length meaning that they would save a limited number of images. Users of the camera went back for film refilling to the companies where they bought the product when the existing space finished. The images saved on the films were also produced by the producing companies when there was no additional space in a film (Joanne 76). This meant that customers would wait for numerous days to view their pictures. The photographs taken using the film cameras were not also clear; although they were better than those of the obscura. The film camera (www.retrothing.com) Image taken using the film camera (www.shootingfilm.net) Instant cameras were also develop ed during the growth stage of the product life cycle. This is the camera that enabled consumers to recover their photographs immediately. Users did not have to wait for days or months to see their photographs like they did with the film camera (Joanne 93). The invention of this camera increased the sales of Kodak and other companies in the industry. This is because they attracted new customers and recovered sales from those who were dissatisfied by the extensive periods taken to produce

Strategic Human Resource Management Master Assignment

Strategic Human Resource Management Master - Assignment Example Stakeholders include employees, customers and the communities in which the organisation operates. Employees, customers and communities therefore have a significant impact on the success of the organisation and thus on the corporate strategy of the organisation. In formulating corporate strategy, organisations need to identify and priorities strategic issues, which involves scanning, selecting, interpreting and validating information. (Schneider, 1989) To properly formulate its corporate strategy, an organisation must assess its organisational strengths and weaknesses, as well as its environmental threats and opportunities, which will enable it choose among alternative courses of action. (Hofer and Schendel, 1984) cited in Schneider, (1998). This indicates that an organisation must perform a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis prior to formulating corporate strategy. ... A number of factors have been identified as having an effect on corporate strategy formulation: for example, Kets de Vries and Miller (1984) suggest that managerial personality and experience is an important determinant of the strategy formulation process; Janis (1972) considers group dynamics as an important factor affecting the formulation of corporate strategy while Frederickson (1984); Lyles and Mitroff (1985) suggest that organisational structure plays an important role in strategy formulation. Schneider (1998) citing Schein (1985) notes that National culture could play an important role in strategy formulation as it derives from assumptions regarding relationships with the environment as well as relationships among people. Schneider (1998) argues that these assumptions will influence how information is gathered and how that information is interpreted within the organization. The strategy formulation process can therefore not be considered 'culture-free' because information is embedded in social norms and acquires symbolic value as a function of a particular set of beliefs in a particular set of cultures. (Feldman and March, 1981). There are considerable differences in cultures across countries. Culture is defined as "a system of shared assumptions that has developed over time to solve problems of environmental adaptation and internal integration". (Schneider,, 1998: p. 152) citing Schein (1985); Van Maanen and Barley (1983). Culture is expected to affect the process by which the environment is known and responded to because it is thought to influence the way people perceive, think, feel and evaluate. (Schneider,, 1998). There are two sets of cultural assumptions that are thought to be specifically relevant to the

Macro Environment assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Macro Environment - Assignment Example o detect impact it will basically involve the use of transistors or other semiconductor components that involves the use of Silicon as the basic material for building the device. The technology also involves the use of mobile and other communication technology such as GPS. The mobile technology will be used to automatically dial 911 in case of accidents and GPS would be used to give the location of the accident site to the 911 operator so that help can arrive swiftly. The GPS technology is very much an essential component in this case as no human being might be present or the driver himself might not be in a position to physically communicate the occurrence of the accident or the place to the operator. All of the required resources are easily available in the US and non availability of resources won’t be a problem with regards to the manufacture of the device. The US is a country which has been a mixed breed of different cultures races and ethnicity. The country is a hot bed for migration and most of its population is made up of migratory people from different countries across the globe. This has led to a diverse and multifaceted cultural diversity in the country. The country has a population that is comprised of people of different age group but most of its population is of the older generation. The buyer for the new technology has been identified as Ford motor company. However the ultimate buyer of the new technology is likely to belong from every culture or races that are present in the country. Since safety is an issue that is seen as a major area of concern irrespective of the culture or religion or race or creed or sex to which one belongs. However, with aging population the concern for road safety and the likely adoption of this potential life saving technology is likely to increase. The America represents a country which is led by innovations. The American economy has been fuelled by innovations. There are large of new start-ups that are formed in