This Blessed House

For example, In today's society we can clearly see that there are many objects geared towards men that are not geared towards women and vice versa. Earrings is an example of this About half of the United States population wear earrings. From day to day I see men,women, teenagers and even babies wearing them, and it is clear to see that some are made for women and not made for men. The earring itself can be used to define a persons sexuality; wearing certain types of earrings could affect the way society looks at you. The general public is programmed to believe objects are gendered.Without these preconceived beliefs objects would Just be objects and would not be used as a determination of human characteristics. From the readings that were assigned from my Gender Women's Studies class and my personal experiences, I learned that objects can be gendered by color, shape, size, and even texture. This lead me to the conclusion that objects have no meaning until society gives it an irrelevan t and often sexist generalized meaning. Gender can come unexpected at any time in life. The situation is that you have to know how to handle it when it sneaks up on you, like it did me.I went to Walter one day, going to look for a pair of earrings, I was stuck in the isle for a while, contemplating on which pair of earrings I should buy. I was torn between two similar types of earrings. Although they were different prices I was still cautious on Just buying the less expensive pair. One pair were studs that had pink rhinestones on It and It was medium sized, while the other pair was less expensive and was also some studs that were medium sized as well. Pasting back and forth in the isle for almost an hour. I decided to call over a consultant.This person was a male employee I ask him which pair of earrings did he prefer to buy and he said the pair that was the cheapest. I was very stunned that he chose the cheaper pair because those were the ones that had the pink rhinestones embedded in them. Thanking him for his assistance and moving on to ask a female consultant about which pair would she prefer to buy and she pick the pair that looked the best and also the pair that happened to be much more expensive. However, after getting their advice I was still puzzled about which pair to buy because I had gotten two totally different opinions.Deciding not to buy any pair, I went home and thought about why was It so difficult for me to choose a simple pair of earrings. It finally donned on me that men and women were confronted with different obstacles. Men are constrained by things that women are not constrained by and women are constrained Day tongs Tanat men are not constrained Day. History Itself shows this For example, women are expected to be the homemaker and the nurturer in contrast with men who are expected to be the bread winners. Americans have been programmed so well that their beliefs become innate. Its similar to Pavlov's experiment with the salivating dogs. He would ring the bell whenever it was time for the dogs to eat and the dogs became so used to it that they would start to salivate whenever they heard the bell ring because they knew it was time to eat. Humans have been trained the same way. We have been programmed since birth to follow these ideals. Even newborn babies are dressed in either blue or pink blankets to display their gender. Courageousness becomes a sign of femininity and muscularity becomes a sign of masculinity. Humans becomes so well trained that muscular or on-curvaceous women are considered to be unfeminine and less attractive to men.The ideals set by society start to control are beliefs and in turn start to control are actions. While sitting at home I stumbled across a book entitled, Introduction to Women's Studies, written by Internal Grew and Careen Kaplan; it had several articles relating to the roles of men and women in human society. There was an article called â€Å"Gender and Consumption,† composed by Bruce Babcock, and it spoke about how men were the production; the ones who produce the money and the women were the consumption; aid to spend up all the money.There was a part in the article where is stated that â€Å"Production was active, led men earning money, and provided them with some form of power exercised through newly created trade unions, for instance† (329). However, it also implied that â€Å"Consumption was more passive, involved spending money, and did not lead to any publicly recognizable forms of power† (329). After reading this article, it had me thinking about the pair of earrings that I left in Walter It left me with the question of what makes men and women different. Men do not care about assign, but when they do it seems that they are categorized as being gay.In this case the government has manipulated the citizen's minds in society to have them think that certain looks are only for certain types of people. But most times men tend to Just buy what every appeals to them the greatest. This is why the male employee chose the cheap pair of earrings, not because he liked pink, but because they were cheaper. Women on the other hand are expected to like more expensive things, so society would refer to them as â€Å"gold diggers. † A lot of advertisers target women cause they know how to manipulate women into buying the most expensive merchandise.A piece called, â€Å"On Gender and Things,† by Newly Dishonor is located in the Gender Women's Studies reader. What Dishonor expresses in this piece is that â€Å"objects can become gendered because innovators anticipate the preferences, motives, tastes, and skills of the potential users, and the cultural norms in society at large† (Reader:65). Dishonor also implies that, â€Å"due to the norms values that are inscribed into a technical artifact, objects can attribute and delegate specific roles, actions, and responsibilities to their users† (Reader:65).Anot her article in this book, called, â€Å"Woman is an Island,† written by Judith Williamson, sells a product, which is pond's cream cocoa butter, and it is made for women only. This product and the earring is related to one another by directing their viewing to a specific audience. For example, in the text of the article, it says that it is meant Tort women to prove teen wilt n ten smoothest Ana sorest silk ever. As Tort a certain type of earring, like the hoop for example, is meant for women only.Men were not looked at in this case because they are looks as being masculine, which means that it is mandatory for their skin to be so called â€Å"rough. † Well, that is what the government says, and the society Just feeds in on this nonsense. For instance, in the article it states that, â€Å"with colonial economies as with the family, capitalism feeds on different value systems and takes control of them, while nourishing their symbolic differences from itself† (314). This again leads me back to earrings because earring type wore can also be based on culture.I wonder if the consultants at Walter knew that the earrings were gendered and that each pair was meant for a man and a women I believe that things like this often go unnoticed. We often fail to notice the sexism involved in the things we do not even realize we believe in. In this 21st century, femininity and masculinity is greatly support by what the government proclaims. Humans constantly let society define what they believe This can all be seen through a simple pair of earrings. Objects are just objects you ultimately decide what they mean for you; they do not have meaning unless you give them meaning.

Economic Growth in Korea

The rapid growth and development in the newly industrialising economies (NIE†s) in recent decades has been nothing short of spectacular. Now among the world†s most dynamic industrialised economies, the NIE†s of Singapore, Taiwan Hong Kong, and South Korea which will be the focus, stand as perhaps the best examples of successful economic development. The economic development of South Korea, which has been among the most rapid in the world is typical of the ‘miracle† that is the NIEs. Korea has come far since the days it was ‘a nation of hungry rice farmers†, by pursuing an industrialisation-led development commitment since 1961, which has since produced annual GDP growth of 8.4% per annum, second only to China. The success of South Korea, has been identified by a number of factors including the shift away from import substitution strategies towards export orientated industrialisation, and the effective managing of the economy and authoritarian rule adopted by the government in order to accelerate the pace of capital accumulation, technical progress and structural change to produce economic growth beyond what could possibly occur in a free market economy. NIEs, South Korea, are now recognised as ‘export machines† boasting some of the highest trade/GDP ratios in the world. International economic relations began in 1964 with the recognition of these limitation of the domestic market and the ineffectiveness of pursuing substitution industrialisation strategies. As part of its new strategy for export expansion the South Korean government introduced new measures which included the devaluation of the won, which improved the competitiveness of its exports and introduced incentives designed to channel resources into export-orientated industries. Exporters were also supported by direct cash payments, permission to retain foreign exchange earnings for the purchase of imports, and the exemption from virtually all import controls and tariffs. The government in consultation with firms, set up export targets for industries as well as individual firms. These targets appeared to have influenced firm behaviour and supporting this claim was from between 1961 and 1973 the volume of exports increased at an annual rate of 35% and today continues to consistently rank in the top twenty trading nations. Over the last 30 years the share of manufactures in total exports has increased from 12% to 95%. Furthermore the manufactures exported have themselves changed with more advanced products, led by electronics dominating the list of major exports and hence the importance of the Samsung and Lucky Goldstar to the Korean economy. The direction of trade has also changed somewhat, where South Korean exports went largely to the USA and imports came from Japan, Asian countries excluding Japan are now South Korea†s major trading partners. The importance of China is also becoming of increasing significance. South Korea†s economic success as noted can also be contributed to the high levels of savings and investment. South Korean†s save about 35% of GNP and thus sustainable economic growth has been driven by capital stock accumulation and expanded productive capacity. Indeed some figures show up to 60% of economic expansion in South Korea is a result of capital accumulation and increase infrastructure. Undoubtedly one of the most important rationalisations for economic success is effective government intervention. Selective government intervention has promoted the development of new industries, many of which have become internationally competitive and also supported and advanced the growth of the private sector. The main aim of the government in South Korea has been to ensure that the behaviour of individual business accorded with the long term interest of the business class as a whole, and while applying authoritarian rule recognising when it was time to allow the market to operate on its own. Apart from the macroeconomic management, government in the NIEs have also sought to accelerate the pace of capital accumulation, technical progress and structural change beyond what would have resulted from â€Å"laissez-faire.† All NIEs pursued trade policies, supporting industrial deepening and the development of national firms with selective incentives to promote exports. In South Korea for example, the government gave Chaebols preferential access to bank loans, relying on them to develop heavy and chemical industries capable of competing internationally. Indeed four decades of industrial development in South Korea have been marked by what have been marked as ‘incestuous ties† between big business and government. In recent times government has been hostile to the conglomerates but the appointment of Mr Kim Suk Won to the ruling party has reopened an old wound over the role of big business and politics in South Korea. The role of the Chaebols in the Korean economy was a substantial reason for Korea†s success over the last 40 years. The Chaebols are the large multi-company family owned business entities which are both horizontally and vertically integrated. Examples include Samsung, Hyundai, Lucky Goldstar and Daewoo, which together account for over half the total output. The Chaebols have played a major role in the economic development of Korea. They were given preferential access to bank loans and were relied upon to develop the HCIs (as they had the resources and ability to compete in foreign markets). Indeed, the period of the HCIs drive marked the most rapid expansion of the Chaebols. The Chaebols engaged in fierce and even ruthless competition with one another on the many fronts of industry, with at least 4 or 5 competitors in each industry, which all contributed to the economic expansion of the economy. The government in South Korea, as well as other NIEs has supported a technology policy. By providing a favourable tax environment, government has indirectly encouraged business research and development expenditure. The Korean government for example grants a tax credit equal to 10% of capital expenditures. Current policies are aimed at achieving a 5% share of research and development expenditure in total GNP by 2001. The government has also aided fundamental technological development in advanced materials, advanced vehicle technology, bio materials and nuclear reactors. The role of the government in South Korea was also to provide these financial incentives to promote the development of particular industries. Interest Rates for example were kept generally low and stable in order to reduce the cost of investment. Designated industries received priority in allocation of bank credit, state investment funds and foreign exchange, The government in South Korea deliberately distorted prices and incentives as to improve the market outcome and accelerate economic growth. The government in South Korea also actively pursued competition policies. This intervention works both ways. In other words competition policy restricted the competition or promoted competition policy in the areas depending on the circumstances. In South Korea the government granted exemptions to conglomerates from laws governing monopolistic practices. Competition policy has been married with industry policy. In this the role of government has been limited with government policy interacting with the competitive strategies of private firms. Governments in the NIEs have been remarkably stable. This has had obvious benefits on the economy. There is no standard formula for government in the NIEs and there are differences between them across nations. Singapore for example has a paternalistic government whilst Hong Kong is essentially â€Å"laissez-faire† Stability is the only real link between governments of the NIEs. As the South Korean economy reached a more mature stage of economic growth problems regarding the structural change in the economy began to surface. The agricultural sector in South Korea for example is now only a third of its original size. Most notably there has been a marked shift to the tertiary sector. There has been obvious problems and challenges resulting from this. Most notably rapid growth has brought about labour shortages in key sectors such as electronics, heavy machinery and shipbuilding. Such shortage of labour in which employers have noone to fill vacancies made by expanded productive capacity will threaten South Korea†s booming exports, which is seen as the vehicle for growth in South Korea. The problem is further compounded by an increasing reluctance among school leavers to ‘dirty their hands† in industry and the inability and unwillingness to attract foreign labour. After growth and development in South Korea for so long was driven by government intervention one of the most important challenges facing the matured economy was for the government to relinquish much of its influence over the economy and to allow market forces to operate effectively. If South Korea is to continue to growing as a truly advanced industrialised nation then obviously the market mechanism will have to be let to operate freely. This will take time and cause and also cause relative social unrest. As the South Korean economy has reached a mature stage, it has recognised the old regulatory environment that led to high levels of inputs especially in manufacturing sectors but low levels of productivity must change. In manufacturing, Korea has massively invested in the best available technology but because of protectionism and poor corporate governance in banks and companies, it was not forced to adopt the best managerial practices. As a result labour and capital productivity are in most manufacturing sectors less that 50% of US levels and thus must be one of the challenges for future success of the Korean economy. Other challenges that Korea has had to face, continues to face, and must overcome are the consistent current account deficits (CADs) and foreign debt which may put a constraint on South Korea†s future economic performance. South Korea†s economy relies heavily on high exports and thus is susceptible to global fluctuations. Secondly there is a pressing need in South Korea to use imports more efficiently. Furthermore, the greatest of the challenges Korea has had to face to date was the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. Up to this point in time many economists looked favorably upon the economic fundamentals of Korea. However, due to excess short term debt over the long term debts, excess debt over equity and the generating of wealth through asset price bubbles, which was clearly unsustainable, these vulnerabilities only required a small shock which was initiated by the devaluation of the Thai baht in July 1997. As an advanced economy, South Korea now needs far more than simply hard work and determination to succeed in this new century, Companies in South Korea need to keep ahead of the profound social, economic and political transition. It is the inherent need for human capital that drives much of South Korea†s business and government spending. Many would agree that a well educated workforce is paramount to future success. In the future, South Korea will need to reform its financial sector, remove the burden of excessive business regulation, provide a more favourable environment for foreign investment and restructure its economy away from declining manufacturing and agricultural industries towards services and sophisticated manufacturing. The prospects for continued economic growth hinge on the success of the aforementioned drivers for economic growth. Deregulating services in addition to lowering barriers to imports, allowing FDI (which can reduce the risks of future financial crisis in the medium and long term) and improving corporate governance would be the key to restoring strong growth in Korea. This reduction would come mainly because fair competition with best practice together with more careful bankers and demanding shareholders would force Korean manufacturers to improve their return their return on investments. In an increasingly globalised economy higher productivity in manufacturing and low import barriers would allow domestic competition to increase due to lower prices. Opening the domestic market would not lead to an increase in the trade deficit or external debt as higher capital productivity would reduce the need to import capital. In overall terms, prospects for South Korea†s economy are favourable, but the high rate of success from the growth performance in the 1980†³s will be difficult to replicate. The next phase of the Asian miracle that will involve China emerging as the world†s largest economy within 10 years and the re-emerging Japanese economy will provide substantial benefits for the Korean economy. Some important strengths of the economy include: a well educated and motivated workforce, a growing level of R&D, continued rates of high savings, greater regional trade links and potential for domestic growth through increased infrastructure investment, housing and personal consumption. In summation, South Korea is an economy which initially through selective government intervention and now through domestic and international reforms, sped to economic might. Although there are many challenges in the longer term making South Korea†s future uncertain, (including the reunification with the ailing, unstable North) the fact South Korea has come so far argues well for the future. If South Korea can make the necessary changes to its economy to become a sustained industrialised nation then it will certainly take its place as an economic leader in the near future.

Do Extracurricular Activities Help Students Excel in School? Essay

Extracurricular activities have a positive effect and help students improve their academic performance. The positive effect that extracurricular activities have on students are improvements in behavior, better grades, and provides students with a social outlet. Students who participate in extracurricular activities have to always keep up a positive attitude and become a better student, and a better player and performer. Students who participate in extracurricular activities are better behaved. During sports they must show discipline in drills, practices, and games. They have the responsibility to perform the task the right way. Behavior in sports is important because misbehavior can lead to disqualification. People are able to make decisions on there own and control the way they behave. During sports, under supervision of coaches and parents the athlete must behave with honor. Doing so can show self-discipline and demonstrate a serious athlete or performer. During extracurricular activities students are more motivated to succeed because students want to continue to do the sport or activity they love. Students doing extracurricular activities need to keep their grades up. Students have to work really hard to maintain good grades or their coach, parent, or guardian may have to instruct them to bring their grades up or they will have to quit. When participating in extracurricular activities, school and grades are always the student’s number one priority. The final effect is the social aspect. While doing a sport or activity students meet new people. While doing a sport, an athlete may meet people with a common interest. The people that the athlete or student meets during activities can become a long time friend of theirs. Extracurricular activities contribute to students working better together and teach patience in dealing with different people. Extracurricular activities play an important role in a student’s everyday life. They have positive effects on student’s lives by improving behavior, grades, and provide students with a social outlet. Extracurricular activities are a part of childhood memories and help shape the student’s life as well as education. Both education and extracurricular activities play a huge contribution to one another.

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Discussion - Essay Example Bazarov is a nihilist and believes that everything in this world is only true on the basis of basis of scientific proof. He only believes that everything that is old and traditional has no meaning in it until and unless it is proved scientifically. According to the words of Uncle Pavel in chapter 5, Bazarov is a nihilist â€Å"who respects nothing†. In responding to his uncle, Arkady, Bazarov’s friend informs his uncle, The personality of Bazarov that is explicit from this introduction about his being a nihilist shows him as a person who keeps faith in nothing and believes on experimentations and scientific results. Pavel’s idea that Bazarov respects nothing is somehow right as one who shows distrust in everything will have no reverence for it. Therefore, Bazarov is critical about the things and believes around him. He regards art as somewhat time wastage, which shows that he lacks the sensuousness of life. Bazarov is a character that is somehow ironic about everything around him. He believes in nothing. He is himself a doctor and feels that his profession and work is far more effective than the work of a poet. He also shows disregard for many concepts as he says, According to Bazarov, aristocracy, liberalism and other concepts are of no meaning as they are not useful in any aspect. He regards all these words as a waste of time. He is not a Russian but considers himself such because of his negligible linkage to Rome. He further explains himself, Hence, according to Bazarov, usefulness of objects and principles is an important aspect that cannot be negated. He feels that he is in benefit by negating the existence and reality of everything. Bazarov informs that Romans do something by recognizing its importance. As related to Romans, he also keeps acceptance for performances that are useful. He even negates any feeling for his country. When

Letter from birminghan jail Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Letter from birminghan jail - Essay Example King uses logos for explanation or rational presentation of the case directed toward the intellect of the auditor. During this period of time, the main driven forces of equal rights movement included new perception of the world and self, new interpretation of freedom and humans rights. The historical evens changed political viewpoints on the notions of freedom and diversity of blacks and minorities. King states: "In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action" (King 221). Using dramatic descriptions, King vividly portrays that racial relations and racism causes labor division and class struggle. This universal process contains for America a special problem: the proletariat is largely black, and its demand for inclusion thus threatens the political control of a white minority. Using vivid examples, King states: "It is even more unfortunate that the city's white powe r structure left the Negro community with no alternative" (King 221). It is not surprising, therefore, if leading Black intellectuals attack the notion of racial democracy and seek to provide a new narrative which offers a central place to those of African descent. The enslaved African became a 'citizen' as stated under the law, but he also became a 'nigger', cornered from all sides. Through vivid examples, King appeals to the audience stating that this was made apparent in the ways in which ethnic identities were subsumed, and still are, within and between economic identities, a political-economic class identity with the ethnic referent made invisible (Lischer 23). Ethoc (ethical appeal) is founded on the moral character of the speaker as presented in Letter. The first and most important part of ethical appeal is the moral character of the speaker which persuades when his Letter is delivered in a manner rendering him worthy of belief. This confidence is established in and by the speech itself and not through previous notion the audience may have of the speaker. To win trust, confidence, and conviction, the speaker exhibit intelligence, good sense, virtue and goodwill. " Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal"(King 224). King demonstrates his the way he exercises his moral choice. For King, this part is very important because it helps the speaker to establish his ethical values as sensible, virtuous, and trustworthy. Also, King gives special attention to the character of his audience to which he suits his Letter. Kings appeals to the audience stating: "We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal" (King 228). As it is essential to impress the audience favorably with his own character, so it is important for him to adapt his tone and sentiments to the audience (Overton 34). Emotional appeal is produced when King places his listeners in a particular state of mind and makes them feel emotion. It induces belief in an audience and appeals to their inner feelings. On the other hand, rights are

Surface engineering technology used in industry for surface Essay

Surface engineering technology used in industry for surface modification( i.e surface treatment-surface thermo-chemical tratment - Essay Example This has been made feasible because steel is strong, flexible, and durable, thus, making it a suitable material for construction. However, there are instances where some modifications have to be made to the metal to make it suitable for some types of construction. The resolve to have steel that is strong, tough, wear, and shock resistant leads engineers to manipulate the surface of the metal, leaving its inner core intact (Davis, 2003). This process is called surface hardening of steel, and it can be done in many ways. Surface hardening techniques can be grouped into two main categories; local thermal treatment and thermochemical processes. The choice of treatment to be used depends on engineering requirement s as well as commercial competition. In this section, this article presents an overview of the procedures used to harden the surface of steel. Each describes the procedures involved in the two categories. 1.1 Thermo-Chemical Processes Engineers modify the local chemical composit ion of steel at the surfaces by induction of nitrogen, carbon or both. Sometimes they may also use boron. The techniques used in this category depend on the method of heat treatment applied and can further be broken down into four subcategories: i. Pack processes such as metalizing and pack carburizing ii. Salt-bath processes such as carbonitriding (cyanide hardening) iii. Gaseous processes such as gas nitriding and gas carburizing iv. Vacuum based processes including ion nitriding, carburizing, and plasma nitriding The most salient features of these processes are the processing temperature, mechanical properties and depth of the case, as well as the service behavior of the case’s core composite. Temperature is particularly significant because it affects the level of distortion directly. 1.1.1 Nitriding This can only be done on materials that have already been hardened and tempered. It produces better results when used with a range of alloys of steel that form stable nitrides such as vanadium, aluminium, tungsten, chromium, and molybdenum. The resultant nitrides are dispersed evenly throughout the surface of steel. Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a nitriding process. The process occurs at around 540 degrees Celsius where distortion does not take place. The nitride layer on the surface of the metal makes it expand, thus creating large, compressive stresses that in turn increase surface hardness and improve fatigue strength. In addition, the process also results in steel that has a reduced friction coefficient. Nitriding is, therefore, the best method to use when developing surfaces that are intended to minimize friction such as crank shafts and ball bearings. Advantages of Nitriding 1. It is easy to control the nitrogen

Critical Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical Summary - Essay Example But these feelings of human beings cannot be regarded as emotions. Feelings can be necessary but not crucial component of emotions. Despite notifying that feelings are not sufficient component, it can be regarded as contingent components. Lastly, feelings are not components but can be detecting emotions. The author reveals that the views of Fundamental Axiom on feeling can be right and wrong. From author point of view,emotions can be felt without any other components. Some of the strategies implemented for the explanation of feeling are Contingent Part View and Non-Part View. Jesse Prinzbelieves that defenders of these strategies have right to state that there can be emotions without feelings. But author is not supportive on the views of defenders (Prinz, 2005). Emotions of any individual can be unconscious. Whenever emotions are felt, then emotions can be regarded as the part of feelings. Emotions can be viewed as unconscious when emotions are interoceptive states. The evidence of a necdotal also proves that emotions can be unconscious. Experimental, theoretical and anecdotal reasons prove that emotions are not always felt. Sometimes emotions can be felt and then it is the time to suggest that feeling is emotions. The patterned change in human body can create conscious perception. This can eventually lead to emotions. I strongly support on the qualified version of emotion theory provided by Jesse Prinz. Extensive evidence on article indicates that emotions are feelings. Emotions can be experienced by the result of bodily changes. When perceptions of the bodily changes are conscious, then feelings can be regarded as the components of emotions. Bodily changes can occur unconsciously and then emotions are not felt. Emotion of an individual can be characterized by the mental stateand psychological experiences. Emotions help other to understand our feelings. It is easier to communicate with other people with

Project and homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project and homework - Essay Example > 30. Under the assumption that the population is distributed normally a two sample z test for independent samples with unknown ÏÆ'1 and ÏÆ'2 is suggested. The above mentioned test is used to test the difference between the means of two populations. The standardized test statistics is, The computed T-statistics and p-value with 5% level of significance and critical value t(0.05, 82) = 1.98, are exhibited in table 1.1. The computation is done under the assumption of unequal variances due to the observed difference of respective values in descriptive statistics (table 1.0) between both the samples. 2) Columns containing data are OLD, NEW. This data contains information showing the amount of sales for 15 stores both before and after new shelf facings were installed. You suspect and wish to prove that the mean sales with the new facings is different from the mean sales under the old facings. The samples are considered as dependent due to the fact that they are related to same population. The population standard deviations of the both the samples are unknown. The sample sizes are considered to be small i.e. < 30. Under the assumption that the population is distributed normally a paired sample t-test is suggested. The above mentioned test is used to test the difference between the means of two dependent samples. The standardized test statistics

Gender in the Colonial period Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gender in the Colonial period - Essay Example For instance, mothers were trusted and expected to pass along the teachings of the Puritans and Christianity to the children. Husbands could, and often did, entrust their wives to handle various legal and financial matters of the household or family farm but the extent of power the wife possessed always remained at her husband’s discretion. Wives that happily accepted their role and conformed to Puritan societal standards were openly referred to and addressed as ‘goodwife.’ However, the authoritative figure in the family and throughout all facets of Puritan society was clearly the man. The only role that wives served in the male dominated public psyche was caring for children and completing household chores, at all times subordinate to their husbands. Though it was customary for Puritan men to show a general respect for women and they were thought of as handy helpmates in the household, the majority of men were deeply suspicious of women. Thought of as the physica l, intellectual and emotionally weaker gender, they were thus more likely to give in to the temptations of the Devil. Women were the images of Eve, lustful for sexual gratification, power and money. This common view of Puritan men â€Å"made women susceptible to charges of witchcraft, particularly those who stood to inherit large estates that would have endowed them with uncommon economic influence† (Karlsen, 1987: 52). The Puritan ideology included an intense belief that the devil endeavored to tempt Christians from following God’s laws. According to Puritanical beliefs, they are responsible to observe and then eliminate the presence of evil in society. â€Å"The problems that the first... This research paper tells us about the role of a woman during the period of Puritanical system. The authoritative figure in the family and throughout all facets of Puritan society was clearly the man. The only role that wives served in the male dominated public psyche was caring for children and completing household chores, at all times subordinate to their husbands. Thought of as the physical, intellectual and emotionally weaker gender, they were thus more likely to give in to the temptations of the Devil. Women were the images of Eve, lustful for sexual gratification, power and money. The Puritan ideology included an intense belief that the devil endeavored to tempt Christians from following God’s laws. According to Puritanical beliefs, they are responsible to observe and then eliminate the presence of evil in society. In the early days, immediately following the Puritans’ arrival in America, women exercised some considerable freedom, especially if unmarried, to take up professional positions among the colonies. As the educational requirements for these types of positions increased, women’s inability to obtain the proper education prevented them from entering these fields. Because women were not generally sent to higher education centers, typically obtaining only the ability to read among their other subjects which rotated around becoming a good housewife and mother, most women were forced to work in professions that consisted of factory labor, home maintenance (maids), seamstresses or other menial tasks.

The way of the gods in Japanese culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The way of the gods in Japanese culture - Essay Example The Shinto religion suggests that the departed soul of ancestors and man flows into nature to create a unified power which is mystic in nature. Generally speaking, this religion considered that death and its forces has a polluting affect to the environment and purity of nature. The Shinto religion considers their hierarchy emperor has the offspring of Sun goddess. But in many cultures Sun is believed to be a male God and this fact is contradictory to the age old belief of Japanese population. Moreover, the grand ancestor of Japanese culture is the high priest of Shinto who guides the rituals of their religious procedures. They culture also believe that death, diseases and menstruation as a taboo knows as mono –imi ,which means the flow of impurity and negative energy. This religious thought is identical with the universal religious concept as most of the cultures regard this bodily process as negative and impure. In later times, there occurred some major transformation in the Shinto religious concept with the arrival of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism through the countries China and Korea. Even though Confucianism shaped the bureaucracy and capital of the country it had less effect on the ritual practices of the country. It could be due to the fact that Confucianism in real sense was not a religion and had no deities to be prayed to and this contradicted with the age old Shinto rituals. Only the resembling feature of Confucianism of loyalty and honesty to the family adjusted with the belief of Shino religion and made some influence in the Japanese culture. The second religious practice called Taoism was very similar with Shinto religion and it compelled the latter to adopt the former’s yin and yang concept. Frankly speaking, it is the great religion called Buddhism form China which has transformed the entire nature of Shinto religion of Japan. As per (Chapter 2,pg.37)â€Å"While Shinto had almost a phobia about death and decay, Buddhism seemed

Classical music Essay Example for Free

Classical music Essay It is Saturday March 1 2008 and I have woken with an excited feeling in my stomach. Today, I am being treated to something I have never experienced before and I am looking forward to what is in store. My father, is taking me to a classical concert. I am 18 years old and big band music is not really my style, I appreciate music but of the modern variety rather than the old school kind. My father loves classical music and plays it constantly in his study. His favourite composer is Leonard Bernstein so it is today, with great animation, he is taking me to encounter his love of this music. We are attending the Waukegan Concert Chorus which is at 624 Douglas Ave, Illinois, the concert is a tribute to Bernstein Williams; namely, In Remembrance of Bernstein Williams. My father assures me that although my liking of music may not be to his taste, I will go away from the concert feeling uplifted and appreciative of what I have heard. Our journey takes us to Waukegan during the early evening and as we approach the venue I can feel a buzz in the air. Other attendees are heading towards the seating area and as my father and I locate where we are sitting, I am somewhat satisfied that we have seats near to the front. My father explained in the car, on the way, even though it is the music you are listening to, it is also just as important to watch the performance. Before me is a huge orchestra; perhaps the biggest I have ever seen, not that I have seen many. There is a plethora of various noises coming from the ensemble and as each musician tunes in their instrument and plays small excerpts from their music stand, it is perhaps unbelievable that any kind of harmony will occur at all. However, the moment the conductor enters the room, there is an eerie silence, almost as if someone had turned the musicians off by a control button. The conductor is a gentleman who turns to his audience and bows his head, turning and repeating this gesture to his orchestra. As the first piece of music is played I feel myself vibrating with the enormity of the noise. For many years I have heard my father’s classical records being played from behind the study door but to be present at a live performance was truly exhilarating. One of my favourites in terms of familiarity was West Side Story. The introduction sounded amazing; upbeat and vibrant, the instruments seemed almost alive. Even closing my eyes, which I actually did, I could hear each piece of equipment as it was used. The brass and woodwind instrumentalists brought intrigue and manoeuvre to the story of the piece being played whilst the drums added the extra element of spirit in the arrangement. Despite the variety of instruments played and the different roles they played within the piece, the unity came together with such an intensity, I was taken aback by its impact. The formation and structure of the concert allowed me to lose myself within the music, it was almost as if I were watching the musical itself. This perhaps was the purpose of the concert itself, it worked with an effortless outcome. As the flutes and violins played ‘I Feel Pretty’, I felt almost compelled to stand up and sing as the notes poured through the air. The tempo was light in places and amplified in others; the exaggeration of drama was as apparent as the subtlety of tenderness applied to the nature of the story. Its volume was deafening yet tolerable as each instrument alerted itself naturally within the composition. On occasion I did look around at other spectators, like moths to a flame, transfixed faces and total satisfaction and appreciation of what was before and around them. I did relate to this. As the concert came to an end, I did feel somewhat saddened that it was all over. The climax of the music was a crescendo of brilliance and I am pleased to say, my father’s original prediction of how I would feel, was absolutely correct. I felt euphoric and inspired by such a performance. I had attended the concert with an open mind and allowed myself to absorb the instruments intentions; I felt all the raw emotions of West Side Story and even the pieces of music played I had heard for the first time, still brought me a sense of appreciation.

Classify attachment type Essay Example for Free

Classify attachment type Essay Van Iljzendoorn Kroonenberg researched different databases for studies on attachment that had used the strange situation to classify attachment type. They conducted a meta-analysis on 32 of these studies. They were the first researchers to carry out a thorough Meta analysis to consider all cross culture findings using the Strange Situation Test.  The Strange Situation Test is the only test of infant attachment that has been used in several countries. It could be argued that findings from test could be used to understand some of the main sub-cultural differences found within any given country. There have been many key findings as a result of the test. The most important was that the variation in attachment within cultures was 1-1/2 times greater than the variation between cultures. However, the Strange Situation procedure was carried out in the laboratory and therefore it has a fairly artificial approach. Also, the infants attachment behaviour is much stronger in the laboratory than at home. Additionally, the Strange Situation Test was carried out in the USA so it may be culturally biased. Therefore the ecological validity of the Strange Situation must be questioned. The Strange Situation measurement assumes that the behaviour of all children in all cultures means the same thing. The Strange Situation Test is based on cultural assumptions, this technique is called imposed etic -where a process is devised in one culture to study other cultures. This questions the validity of the Strange Situation Test as a measuring tool for attachment between cross culture variation. Cross-cultural variation has been well tried and tested and is one of the most popular measures of attachment. It is also possible to see the value of such a measure; there are some real practical applications from being able to assess a childs security. However, all the limiting factors mentioned in the above paragraph contribute to the fact that we cannot be sure either way about cross-cultural similarities or differences, because of these limitations. Additionally we have to be careful in drawing conclusions, regarding a culture from such a limited sample. The conclusions regarding the Chinese children are based on one study. We cant make generalisations regarding a population the size of China, on the results of just a handful of children. I feel there are many similarities across cultures for instance there was a considerable amount of consistency in the overall distribution of attachment types across all cultures and secure attachment was the most common type of attachments in all 8 nations researched in Van Iljzendoorn Kroonenbergs study. Also the Western cultures dominant insecure type is anxious/avoidant and the non-western cultures dominant insecure type is anxious/resistant. However, there are of course differences, which are not accounted for in the Strange Situation Test. For instance China was the exception as anxious/avoidant and anxious/resistant were distributed equally. This shows that it is wrong to make such generalisations on the basis of the techniques used, as there are not just variations between cultures but within cultures also.

Swot And Marketing Analysis Of Philip Morris International Marketing Essay

Swot And Marketing Analysis Of Philip Morris International Marketing Essay SWOT analysis helps one to fine out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization or a company. Strength and weakness are internal to organization whereas opportunities and threats are external. Strength and weakness both related to internal environment of organizations but opportunities and threats are the outsiders and can be evaluated using PESTLE analysis. The followings are the Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Philip Morris International. Strengths: Strong finance: The Company has a base of strong financial situation. According to its corporate website, its operating income in 2008 was $10,284 million, and its net earnings were 6,890. There was an increase as the same for the year 2007 was $8,894 and 6,038 respectively. Well established Brands: The Company produces famous brands like Marlboro, LM, Chesterfield, Philip Morris, Parliament and Virginia Slims. When the product establishes itself as a brand there is a less need of spending money on its promotion. Strong manpower and employees: The Company boasts of more than 75,000 employees throughout the globe from different culture and ethnicity. With the variety in their workforce there is a variety of ideas and concepts, which can be beneficial for the survival in the global environment. Strong Management team: the company under the chairmanship of Mr. Louis C. Camillieri has a strong and efficient management team. David Bernick , a senior Vice president and General counsel is university of Chicago, law graduate, Andrà © Calantzopoulos , chief operating officer ,Kevin Click, chief information officer and Doug Dean, research and development make the strong management team of the company. Leading Markets: The Company boasts of leading 11 markets out of the top 30 international markets. That is equivalent to occupying 33% of total top market shares. This is one of the strength of the company. These are the basic strengths of the company, a strong financial condition with plummeting profits, well established brand names of the product, skilled, well trained and diverse work force, a strong leading management team and the huge share in top international markets. Weaknesses: As far as a weakness of the company is concerned the litigations seem to be the only weakness. Government policy on the promotion and sale of tobacco related product stops the company from aggressive marketing and promotion of its products. It is the weakness of the company. Opportunity: Increasing tobacco market: Although anti tobacco activists are raising their voices against the production and distribution of tobacco, the tobacco market is still lucrative. It raises billions of pounds as revenue to the government as well as the producers. Advantage of globalization: Globalization offers the company an opportunity to take an advantage of cheap labour cost and cheap production cost offered by third world countries. Factories established in China, Nepal offers the company cheap production of its products hence huge profits. Mergers and collaborations: The Company tied its knot with Altria and it recently announced its partnership with fortune Tobacco Corporation. These kinds of mergers and collaboration offer the company an opportunity to expand its market share. Threats: Anti Tobacco activists: The Company has remained a most controversial company because anti tobacco activists have always criticized the tobacco company for being responsible to the death resulting from smoking. For example, activists in Philippines raised their voices against the merger of fortune Tobacco Corporation with Philip Morris. They have feared this merger can draw more smokers in Philippines. (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/25/10/anti-tobacco-group-expects-intensified-marketing-philip-morris-deal 25/03/2010) Government legislations: The governments rule of banning the sales of tobacco related products to people below certain age limits and other rules related to smoking ban on public places can reduce the sales of tobacco. For example research in UK shows that number of smokers has reduced after smoking ban in public places and after the age limit for the sale of tobacco has been set. Public Awareness: People are more aware about the consequences of tobacco consumption because of the advertisement of anti tobacco activists. This has resulted in the reduction of sales in many markets. Strength and weaknesses are considered as internal factors whereas opportunities and threats are considered as External factors. Basically strengths and weaknesses of an organization are related to people, resources, innovation and ideas, marketing, operation and finance, whereas opportunities and threat are associated to the factors that organizations find hard to control sometimes. They are political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental environment in which the organization exists. Now lets examine the external factors of Philip Morris International. Political environment: (http://www.executivehm.com/media/media-news/infographics/091117-EHM-Smoking.png, on 25th April 2010) The details above show that by the year 2009 there are 44 countries with active smoking ban. The data also shows that more than 1 billion people are protected by smoke free laws. These laws mean reduction of sales for the company. The company can either promote its products in these markets or have their sales restricted by severe laws. For example, they do not allow people below 18 to buy cigarettes in England and Wales. They have increased the age limit from 16 1st of October 2007. Politicians are always trying to seek public favour and by introducing laws like smoking ban and binge drinking ban or increasing tax for products like these they are trying to catch public sentiment. These kind of political activities are although favourable to general public, they are not at all favourable for a company like Philip Morris, whose revenues are based on the sales of its tobacco related products. Economical: There is not much difference to Philip Morris International due to the recession. Its profits did not plummet heavily even though the world was hit by economic downturn. Following table show its financial data. (in millions of dollars except per share data)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2009   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2008 %  Change   Net revenues   $62,080   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  $63,640   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (2.5)% Cost of sales   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9,022   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   9,328   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (3.3)  Ã‚   Excise taxes on products     Ã‚   37,045   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  37,935   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (2.3) Gross profit   Ã‚   16,013   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   16,377   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (2.2)   Operating income     Ã‚   10,040   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   10,248   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (  2.0) Net earnings     Ã‚  Ã‚     6,342   Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   6,890   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (8.0) Basic earnings per share   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3.25   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      3.32   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (2.1) Diluted earnings per share Source: Philip Morris Webpage Sociological: Being criticized as a main contributor of smoking related deaths in the World, Philip Morris International has to do a lot to cope up with the sociological issues. Therefore their social responsibility activities are directed to these five areas of society, extreme poverty and hunger, environmental sustainability and living conditions in rural communities, domestic violence, and disaster relief. The company has spent billions of pounds for charity purpose to restore its tarnished image. Legal: Philip Morris had to suffer heavy loss due to several legal proceeding that it had to go through as people blamed of killing people. It has a history of being sued by people, distributors or companies. For example, 16 wholesalers filed legal action in a federal court in Tennessee claiming that Philip Morriss wholesale leaders program 2003 constitutes price discrimination and attempts to monopolize. (Financial Times of London, 8th July 2003.) To cope up with these kinds of legal issues, the company has its own legal department that deals with all the legal issues associated with the company. Environmental: Environment is a hot topic in present day world. The problem of thinning of ozone layer or the global warming draws the attention of each and every organization. Most of the organizations have designed their social responsibility programme associating themselves with the environmental issues. Philip Morris international too has done the same. They have set up performance goals for their energy use, water use, and waste water discharge, waste to be sent to landfills and waste to be recycled. The following table show their goals. Source: Philip Morris website can be accessed at http://www.pmusa.com/en/cms/Responsibility/Reducing/Reducing_Our_Environmental_Impact/default.aspx, on 26th March 2010. Competitive analysis using Porters 5 Forces model. Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School developed a framework for the industry analysis and business strategy development. According to him an attractive industry has all the forces he has developed works for the overall profitability of the industry. The five forces of Porter are, Competitive rivalry Threat of substitute products Threat of new entrants Bargaining power of customers Bargaining power of suppliers In case of Philip Morris, he too has competitive rivalry. He occupies 15.6 percent of the total market share. The rest is occupied by his competitors. It is for the same reason, Philip Morris is focussed on promoting new products. To beat its competitors, it has developed a strong social responsibility plan along with modification of its products. The launch of smoke free cigarettes can be considered as a product of competitive rivalry. Threat of substitute products: Philip Morris is quite free from the threat of substitute products. It has always maintained the standard of its products and priced them reasonably. This has lessened the chances of acceptance for the substitute products that are available in the market. Threat of new entrants: Philip Morris is famous for its cigarettes. No one in the world is unaware about Marlboro. It is a reputed brand name in the field of tobacco industry. But a reputed brand gives Philip Morris an advantage. It is almost free from the threat of new entrants. The reason for this is, cigarette smokers have a strong loyalty to their brands. So, although there is a constant arrival of new products, they do not affect the market share of Philip Morris as it has endorsed its product with heavy promotions and established all of its products as a Brand. Bargaining power of the customer: Bargaining power of the customer does not seem to affect the company. The reason behind it is, the perceived value of Philip Morris products is quite high because they are heavily promoted through media. They have a brand image and are free from the bargaining power of the customer. Moreover most of the customers of tobacco trade are loyal to the products they are used to, and are ready to pay whatever amount of money they are asked to pay. So Bargaining power of the customers doesnt seem to affect the company. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Bargaining power of supplier affects every company. Philip Morris too is affected by it as it follows strict rules concerned with Fair trade. Moreover it has launched special benefit package to its suppliers. It helps the children of its tobacco supplier with education facilities and other general benefits. It is doing this just to reduce the effects of bargaining power of its supplier. Conclusions: Whatever progress the company made is not just a coincidence. The company did not lose much of its profits even in the economic downturn. The reason behind this can be summarised as the proper knowledge of the strength and weaknesses of the company and summoning all pertaining questions related to its external environment. Its commitment to follow all legal requirements of the government, introducing chewable tobacco instead of smoking ones, commitment to environmental conservations and billions of pounds spent on charitable purposes are activities to keep the external environment favourable for the company. Task 2 Phillip Morris and global political change: Any multinational company that has operations throughout the world has to acclimatize themselves with the political scenario of the concerned country. Politics is stable only in few countries that too limited to the few developed countries. Moreover, as Philip Morris is concerned with producing tobacco related products, it is affected by any kind of political change that occurs in the country. By global political change we understand the political changes that occurred in the world. For example, the First World War, when ended in 1919 brought a lot of changes in the world. Similarly the end of Second World War too brought a lot of changes. One of the biggest changes was the start of cold war between the USA and the Soviet Union. The cold war divided the world into two halves, the capitalists and the socialists. Socialists denied the products of capitalist world to enter their countries, whereas the same thing applied to the capitalists world. Philip Morris thus could not expand his business to Russia and other socialist countries until the cold war was about to end. Philip Morris was able to penetrate the Russian market in 1977 when the socialist country was about to accept some change. Similarly, global terrorism has also affected the policy and decision making of the company as tobacco can be smuggled to developed countries where they have higher prices from the least developed or developing countries. It is said that terrorist have sometimes made tobacco as one of the source of funding to backup their activities. Philip Morris thus has set strict restrictions so as it products are not smuggled. Moreover its factories located in different part of the world restrict its products from being smuggled as they have their own identification number on them. Recession that recently occurred in the world can be the after-effects of the political upheavals in the world. Or economic activities and political change have interdependence. So recession in a way can be seen as an effect of wrong political decisions in terms of economic activities. Philip Morris dealt with it quite perfectly. According to statistics, ongoing earnings of Philip Morris rose by 11% as it coaxed solid grains in its food business and continued to find new market for its cigarette. (http://www.thestreet.com/storycomments/10007704/1/philip-morris-ignores-recession.html, on 27th March 2010) Question that present days political leaders are raising is the phenomenon of climate change. Global warming is a big problem and politicians throughout the world are trying to solve it out through joint efforts. All the countries are imposing their own kind of rules and regulations to reduce carbon emission and help in the reduction of global warming. Philip Morris can help in the reduction of carbon emission by investing in third world developing countries for example in the generation of electricity, or other sources of energy which can reduce deforestation and emission of carbon dioxide in the air.

A Comparison of Freedom in Secrets and Lies, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and Beloved :: comparison compare contrast essays

Freedom in Secrets and Lies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Beloved      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     The word freedom has a different meaning for everyone based on their individual circumstances. Webster's Dictionary also provides many definitions for freedom, the most   relevent to this paper being: a) the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action; b) liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another. I believe that Webster's Dictionary explains freedom the best when it states that "freedom has a broad range of application from total absence of restraint to merely a sense of not being unduly hampered or frustrated." Since it is really a philosophical question whether a total absence of restraint is really possible, or even desirable, I think mine and most people's general use of the word tends to be more on the side of not being unduly hampered or frustrated.      The two movies Secrets and Lies and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Toni Morrison's novel Beloved all deal with different types and degrees of freedom and the lack there of. Secrets and Lies is about a middle-aged woman who had to grow up at a very young age and never had the freedom to enjoy, or even have, a childhood. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the story of a group of patients in a mental hospital who's routine lives are forever changed by a newly committed patient who's life is anything but routine. Beloved follows the shattered lives of the family of an ex-slave living in Ohio after the end of the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery. Even though each deal with very different circumstances, by comparing the lives of each set of characters in these three stories many parallels can be drawn between them. The freedom restrictions imposed in each story are all different, yet the characters' actions are similar. The characters go to drastic lengths when there freedoms are infringed upon, the most drastic occuring when a newly achieved freedom is lost. Before understanding a new freedom the characters have no problem living without it. However once new freedoms are realized the characters are unrelenting in their fight to preserve them.

The Biological and Psychological Drives Behind Consumerism Essay

Most of us like to think that we are reasonable, rational, and independent thinkers and actors. Thus, we believe that we have a good enough reason for our choices. However, we often erroneously buy products succumbing to strange compulsion. It is a power of consumerism. The term consumerism is defined as the tendency of people to identify strongly with products they consume, particularly of name brands and status-enhancing appeal. Then, how does the power of consumerism win over our rationality? In this situation, we pretend to regard the primary cause of the impulse consumerism is the commercial seductions. The truth, however, is that the shopping indulgences does not originate from a manipulation of the commercial advertisements, but rather a biological and psychological drive planted in every one of us. The biological and psychological drives for our consumerism are evidenced by: in order to show off, to get rid of stress, and to follow the fashion. Virginia Postrel explains about a reaction of Afghans when they get liberated after the Taliban fell. Although they are not been exposed of any â€Å"ubiquitous advertising or elaborate marketing campaigns† at all, consumerist impulses expressed as if they were â€Å"celebrating the end of tyranny by buying consumer electronics† (301). This reaction well shows the human desire aesthetic value and also the power of consumerism. In my case, the power of consumerism comes to the surface when I get to choose a product of between famous brand and no-name. I often make a decision to afford the cheaper one; and then with the profit –actually not a real profit– that I earn from buying the cheaper one, I tend to make a reasonable excuse to spend the remained money for the rest of the shopping. It i... ...ver us than we realize. I think this quotation strongly describes beyond what I have said about the internal drives of people: "I can imagine it, therefore I want it. I want it, therefore I should have it. Because I should have it, I need it. Because I need it, I deserve it. Because I deserve it, I will do anything necessary to get it." Before your consciousness being attacked directly by "imagin[g] it," first try to recognize what your internal needs are and set your limits rationally. Wanting things is perfectly human desire. However, buying material things doesn’t lead us to have a happier and more fulfilling life. The more you rely on superficial things to satisfy your needs for belonging and identity, the more dissatisfied you’re likely to be over the long run. If we cannot control ourselves, we can easily surrender to worship of consumerism and materialism.

The Importance of Character in Le Colonel Chabert :: Le Colonel Chabert

The Importance of Character in Le Colonel Chabert      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Le Colonel Chabert exhibits the relationship between strong and weak characters. The degree of strength within a character reflects how well the character survives in society. In society, weak characters often have no identity, profession or rank. Stronger characters have power to succeed from inner confidence, motivation and ambition. Any drastic changes brought to the body or soul by the environment corrupts that person's strength thereby affecting their ability to function properly in society. This comparison of characters gives an understanding of Balzac's pessimistic view of nineteenth century society. A character's strength and energy in the novel determines their survival in society. Colonel Chabert has been known to be a courageous hero in the past, "... je commandais un r‚giment de cavalerie †¦ Eylau. J'ai ‚t‚ beaucoup dans le succÃ…  es de la c‚lÃ…  bre charge..." Once he returns to Paris after his injury, he loses his identity and becomes the " weak character " of society. This is a rapid decline down the "ladder of success" and Chabert tries desperately to climb back up to the top, where he had been before. At the beginning of the novel, there is a vision of a slow non-energetic man walking progressively up the stairs to lawyer Derville's study which contrasts the boisterous energy of the clerks. Chabert reaches Derville's study and is determined to find the lawyer to help him find justice for his infortunes, "... me suis-je d‚termin‚ †¦ venir vous trouver. Je vous parlerai de mes malhers plus tard." Chabert demonstrates some energy left in him by his will to retrieve everything that he lost. This energy to gain back his power changes to furious and revengeful energy upon learning what his wife had done, "Les yeux de l'homme ‚nergique brillaient rallum‚s aux feux du d‚sir et de la vengeance." After a period of time, Chabert loses hope and bids farewell forever. He gives up his identity to become an unknown person as he realizes that his strength of character is not enough to keep him alive in this society. He sees himself weakening when seeing his wife and her children as he does not have the heart to break up her family. He tells his wife, "Je ne r‚clamerai jamais le nom que j'ai peut-ˆtre illustr‚. Je ne suis plus qu'un pauvre diable nomm‚ Hyancinthe.

Business Environment Hnd

Marketing is a process used to satisfy and consider what products or services are needed by the consumers. There are many alternative definitions of marketing such as the charted institution of marketing â€Å"Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably†. The American Marketing Association believe that â€Å"Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organization goals†.Philip Kotlerinterprets that marketing is ‘satisfying needs and wants through an exchange process the common interest in all three definitions is fulfilling customer needs and providing benefits The small business enterprise that I have chosen to discuss is called ‘Hair Today ‘this is a professional hair salon that is situated in the heart of Kentish town for over 30 ye ars. Hair today has a total of 20 employees, including hairstylists, hair washers and administration staff, including a cashier.The salon offers many services such as styling hair, men haircuts, colouring, perming. The marketing process consists of four elements Situation Analysis, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Mix Decisions and Implementation ; Control. Situation analysis is when through an analysis the company finds the customer needs but in order to do this the company must recognise its own potential and the environment in which it is managing.Situation analysis should look at all the factors of the company such as the past where the company is now and where it should be in future. This analysis provides problems there are frameworks which help the situation analysis such as SWOT and PEST analysis. SWOT analysis refers to the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing a business The marketing strategy is to ensure the target market is being pursued. The strategy con sists of segmentation, targeting and positioning the product within the target market.Marketing Mix Decisions at this stage detailed decisions are being made such as the development of the specific product, designing and producing the first pieces of the product and also pricing decisions Implementation and Control is the final stage of the marketing process the results of the marketing progress should be monitored when the market changes the market mix can also change to adapt to the consumer needs as time goes on a new product can even be produced although this is the last tage of the marketing process changes will always occur to satisfy different consumer needs Companies continue to exist by achieving their long-term goals. Market orientation helps to achieve the business goals and objectives a business which adopts market orientation thinks that it’s most important resource are its customers. The benefits of adopting market orientation for ‘Hair Today’ is th at through market research the hair salon will have a strong understanding of the needs of the customer.Customer feedback is vital to the company companies tend to be too involved with the product that they forget about the general customer satisfaction for example hair salons have a wide variety of market reach and also a great deal of competition. The costs of adopting marketing orientation for ‘Hair Today’ would be the high costs for the market research this the constant internal change as needs of the customers are met. Macro environment are the outside uncontrollable factors that may affect a managers decisions this can have an effect on the company the PESTEL model framework is used.Political factors such as government policies and the economy also new laws on small businesses Political factors can have a huge effect on many areas for business like education and the quality of health care. The hairdressing industry is having difficulties recruiting although some g overnment funding policy has helped it has a vacancy rate of 20% also the government increased the taxes for businesses this has had a huge effect. Economic factors influences marketing research such as interest rates also the changes in the economic growth and exchange rates.All businesses go through an economical ups and downs in an economic boom all businesses will benefit although if can go down and businesses can lose out. Currently hair treatment products are not considered a necessity more of a luxury so this market is dependent on how strong the economy is. Cheap credit and interest rates benefited the hair industry in the past. Social factor refers to behaviour patterns and lifestyles. Changes in consumer behaviour can also have an effect on changes in fashion . Currently we have an ageing population. Social change gives companies a understanding for the future market situation. Hair Today’ will have to keep up with the latest fashion and styles which may vary betwee n ages. . Technological changes are the amount of new technology that is increasing electronic communications has made it easier to distribute information. Hair salons must keep up with the new trends and technology as this helps develop the company and make them more successful Employees will research the newest technologies in the market do some experiments use models try new haircuts if the experiments turn out to be a success it will apply to salon.Micro environment are factors which are internal this affects the business performance such as customers, competition, suppliers, public, employees and stakeholders. If a company decided to move to a public ownership they list their business in the stock market so the public can invest in the company although share holder relationships must be professionally managed to succeed long term goals. Identifying the stake holders Potential stakeholders at ‘Hair Today’ Your boss | Shareholders | Government |Senior executives | Al liance partners | Trades associations | Your co-workers | Suppliers | The press | Your team | Lenders | Interest groups | Customers | Analysts | The public | Prospective customers | Future recruits | The community | Your family | | | Some stake holders are more interested and involved than others to narrow down the people a power/interest grid is used. The grid shows that the people that have the high power and are more interested in my company these are the people who I will engage with and make great efforts to satisfy.Corporate culture determines how the employees and higher management interact these transactions occur over time. ‘ Hair Today’ has an employee friendly corporate culture it is shown by the company’s dress code, flexible working shifts , employee benefits such as employee discounts the treatment of the clients and overall client satisfaction. Porters five forces was first introduced by Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School in 1979 the five forces are a framework to help businesses determine the rivalry intensity and industry profitability of a market.The five forces consists of threat of mew entrants to a market, the power of buyer, the power of the suppliers, the threat of substitute products and the competitive rivalry between already existing companies as shown in the diagram below. Segmentation is the process where larger markets are broken down to smaller segments this will make it easier to understands the wants and needs of the customers the overall outcome would be creating a marketing mix that is suited or the customers in the target segment. The four main factors of segmentation are behavioural, demographic, psychographic and geographical.Geographical segmentation is segmented by country, city or neighbourhood. Age, family size, income, occupation, education, ethnicity and religion can all be segmented demographically. Lifestyle, interests refers psychographic segmentation. Behaviour segmentation refers to customers buying behaviour, product mix also frequency of purchase the best form of segmentation is using all four factors as they all are very helpful. Hair salons have a wide variety of customers to attract therefore segmentation is very vital for this business to succeed in the future.The two products or services that Hair today will provide a bridal service to attract female customers where they will be pampered and receive a makeover the target market for this service is female aged 20-35 with a balanced income also the other product I will be proposing hair is extensions this will attract the teenage customers and women. The marketing strategy I have chosen for Hair Today is concentrated strategy focussing mainly on only one segment this can be positive for the salon because the business will have more knowledge on the particular segment.Females aged 13-19 there are many teenagers in this area which the salon is situated this is due to the schools in the area. Hair Today belie ve that the target segment will benefit from the service of hair extensions as this is a growing fashion although there can be a lot of competition which leads to Threat of intense segment rivalry. New salons may decide to open up this refers to the threat of new entrance also there are many products already provided in the market that teenagers can use themselves so the salon is not needed this is known as threat of substitute product.The threat of growing bargaining power of buyers is very important because the higher the charges the more likely the customers are to move to a cheaper salon. Buyer behaviour is attitudes of the customers and how often they purchase. Buying behaviour involves the process in which a customer finds a product studies the product and makes an overall decision on whether the product meets the customer’s needs and wants.The main types of buyer behaviour are consumer and industry two types of buying behaviours are   impulses purchases refers to whe n a purchase is made with no plan this purchase is associated with items of lower prices. Extensive decision making these are products which are higher priced such as TV and cars when customers research as much as they can they may also ask family and friends for advice or read reviews this decision making takes up a lot of time because the customer is purchasing a product that is high priced Buyer behaviour stimulus response modelBuyer behaviour is essential because it makes you understand what your customer. Market research and producing surveys will help you find the customers’ needs and requirements. Social media sites are the most popular process in business marketing this allows customers to interact online and new products can get instant feedback. Many businesses introduce discounts to maintain loyal and consistent customers. Companies determine how much customers spend the products which are being sold and judging on how often customers are spending helps introduce a pricing policy for ‘Hair Today'.Hair extensions portray varied opinions some customers keep up with new trends and may want a different look however other members of the  community might find it doesn’t fit their customer needs. Hair today will start this positioning process by advertising on the internet and offering hair treatment for all types of hair also free samples of exclusive hair products. The hair industry are forever striving to keep up their image and keep their product current a change in positioning can attract new target market. References Assael, H. , Reed, P. nd Patton, M. (1995) Marketing: Principles and Strategy Harcourt-Brace, Sydney Business study guide edexcel marketing principles pp. 479-659 Habia (standard information solutions) Skills Foresight for the Hair and Beauty Sector 2007 http://www. habia. org/uploads/Skills_Foresight_2007_v. 4_-_2. 07. 07_Final. pd Lamb, W. , Hair, J. , McDaniel, C. (1998), Marketing, (4th), South-Western College P ublishing, Cincinatti. Kotler, P. , Armstrong, G. , Brown, L. , Chandler, S. A. (1998), Marketing, (4th), Prentice Hall, Sydney www. businessdictionary. com

The Overhead Projector (Ohp)

The Overhead Projector (OHP) August 24, 2012 Introduction Overhead Projectors are still being used in a lot of schools, like in the Philippines. It is not as modern as other equipments, but it still serves its purpose which is to show enlarged images on screen. I. Description The Overhead Projector is an optical device for showing images on screen, usually for group viewing. The OHP is mainly used for projecting charts, sketches, and other material prepared on sheets of transparent plastic. II. Techniques You can show pictures and diagrams, using a pointer on the transparency to direct attention to a detail. The silhouette of your pointer will show in motion on the screen. †¢ You can use a felt paper or wax-based pencil to add details or to make points on the transparency during projection.†¢ You can control the rate of presenting information by covering a transparency with a sheet of paper or cardboard (opaque material) and then exposing data as you are ready to discuss ea ch point. This is known as the Progressive Disclosure Technique. You can superimpose additional transparency sheets as overlays on a base transparency so as to separate processes and complex ideas into elements and present them in step-by-step order. †¢ You can show three-dimensional objects from the stage of the projector-in silhouette if the object is opaque or in color if an object is made of transparent color plastic. †¢ You can move overlays back and forth across the base in order to rearrange elements of diagrams or problems. †¢ For special purpose, you can simulate motion on parts of a transparency by using the effects of polarized light. You can simultaneously project on an adjacent screen other visual materials, usually slides or motion pictures, which illustrate or apply the generalization shown on a transparency. Other reminders on the effective use of the OHP are: †¢ Stand off to one side of the OHP while you face the students. †¢ Don’t ta lk on the screen. Face the students when you talk, not the screen.†¢ Place the OHP to your right, if you are right handed, and to your left if you are left handed. †¢ Place the OHP on a table low enough so that it does not block you or the screen. Have the top of the screen tilted forward towards the OHP to prevent the â€Å"keystone effect† (where the top of the screen is larger than the bottom). †¢ Avoid the mistake of including too much detail on each image. A simple layout makes an effective slide. If an audience needs to be given details, provide handouts to be studied later. †¢ Avoid large tables of figures. Come up with graphic presentations. †¢ Don’t read the text on your slide. Your audience can read. †¢ Avoid too much text. Rely sparingly on printed text. Come up with more graphs, diagrams, or pictures. †¢ Your presentation must be readable from afar. Simple use of color can add effective emphasis. III. Advantages †¢ Th e projector itself is simple to operate. †¢ The OHP is used in the front of the room by the instructor who has complete control of the sequence, timing, and manipulation of this material.†¢ Facing his class and observing student reactions, the instructor can guide his audience, control its attention, and regulate the flow of information in the presentation. †¢ The projected image behind the instructor can be as large as necessary for all in the audience to see; it is clear and bright, even in fairly well-lighted rooms. Since the transparency, as it is placed on the projector, is seen by the instructor exactly as students see it on the screen, he may point, write, or otherwise make indications upon it to facilitate communication. †¢ The stage (projection surface) of the projector is large (10 by 10 inches), thus allowing the teacher to write information with ease or to show prepared transparencies.†¢ It is especially easy for teachers and students to create t heir own materials for use in the OHP. †¢ An increasing number of high-quality commercial transparencies. Brown, 1969) IV. Limitations †¢ It requires a constant power supply and a white flat surface on which its image can be projected. †¢ If the surface is not suitably inclined at the correct angle, the image will suffer from a phenomenon called â€Å"keystone effect. † †¢ Handwritten material can look sloppy if not pre-prepared. †¢ Presenter and audience can be distracted by the light's glare. †¢ Lamps can burn out and interrupt a presentation. Summary The Overhead Projector is indeed a very versatile equipment. With prepared materials, we can do so much in a short time.We can save much time when we present our lectures on transparencies instead of writing notes or drawings naively on the chalkboard. Also, by learning how to use it properly, we are able to realize our instructional objectives, and adopting them in teaching ensures a lasting lear ning for our students. Sources: †¢ Educational Technology 1 by Brenda B. Corpuz ; Paz I. Lucido †¢ http://www. safetyxchange. org/training-and-leadership/part-3-overhead-projectors †¢ http://www. buzzle. com/articles/what-is-an-overhead-projector. html †¢ New Standard Encyclopedia (Volume 13) pp. 592-593

The Role of Strategic Groups in Understanding Strategic Human Resource Management

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/0048-3486. htm The role of strategic groups in understanding strategic human resource management Judie M. Gannon Oxford School of Hospitality Management, Faculty of Business, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK The role of strategic groups 513 Liz Doherty Business School, Shef? eld Hallam University, Shef? eld, UK, and Angela Roper School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK AbstractPurpose – This article aims to explore how understanding the challenges faced by companies’ attempts to create competitive advantage through their human resources and HRM practices can be enhanced by insights into the concept of strategic groups within industries. Based within the international hotel industry, this study identi? es how strategic groups emerge in the analysis of HRM practices and approaches. It sheds light on the value of strategic groups as a way of readdressing the focus on ? rm and industry level analyses.Design/methodology/approach – Senior human resource executives and their teams across eight international hotel companies (IHCs) were interviewed in corporate and regional headquarters, with observations and the collection of company documentation complementing the interviews. Findings – The ? ndings demonstrate that strategic groups emerge from analysis of the HRM practices and strategies used to develop hotel general managers (HGMs) as strategic human resources in the international hotel industry. The value of understanding industry structures and dynamics and intermediary levels of analysis are apparent where speci? industries place occupational constraints on their managerial resources and limit the range of strategies and expansion modes companies can adopt. Research limitations/implications – This study indicates that further research on strategic groups will enhance the theoretical underst anding of strategic human resource management and speci? cally the forces that act to constrain the achievement of competitive advantage through human resources. A limitation of this study is the dependence on the human resource divisions’ perspectives on realising international expansion ambitions in the hotel industry.Practical implications – This study has implications for companies’ engagement with their executives’ perceptions of opportunities and threats, and suggests companies will struggle to achieve competitive advantage where such perceptions are consistent with their competitors. Originality/value – Developments in strategic human resource management have relied on the conceptual and theoretical developments in strategic management, however, an understanding of the impact of strategic groups and their shaping of SHRM has not been previously explored.Keywords Strategic groups, Strategic human resources, Strategic human resource management , International human resource management, Hotel and catering industry, International business Paper type Research paper The authors would like to express their thanks to the organisations who participated in the research and the reviewers and Editors who provided insightful and excellent feedback on early drafts. Personnel Review Vol. 41 No. 4, 2012 pp. 513-546 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0048-3486 DOI 10. 1108/00483481211229401 PR 41,4 14 Introduction Most developments in strategic human resource management (SHRM) and international human resource management (IHRM) have drawn heavily on the strategic management literature (Becker and Huselid, 2006; Schuler and Jackson, 2007). Some of the earliest models associated with SHRM (such as Fombrun et al. , 1984; Beer et al. , 1984; Hendry and Pettigrew, 1986 and Guest’s (1989) model) provide insights into how leading HRM thinkers have approached the strategic dimensions of HRM. Such insights have focused on the links or ? be tween strategy and HRM, environmental analyses as the basis for strategic management informing (and in some cases informed by) HRM, and borrowing concepts and theories with their origins in the strategic management literature, such as organisational and product life cycles, and competitive strategies (Schuler and Jackson, 1987; Sanz-Valle et al. , 1999; Miles and Snow, 1984). Despite the advances made in both areas there has been minimal consideration of the ways that strategic groups, not only industries and ? rms, in? ence HRM strategies and practices in the pursuit of competitive advantage (Boxall, 2003). Strategic group research identi? es how groups of ? rms engage in similar strategies in order to compete effectively within industries and shape industry structure and competition. Panagiotou (2006 p. 440) de? nes strategic groups as: [. . . ] those groups of ? rms within an industry, which are characterised by similarities in their structure and competitive beliefs as well as t heir tendency to follow similar strategies along key strategic dimensions in a speci? operating environment. The performance differences between strategic groups are the focus for much of this research, but mobility between groups and the structural dimensions of industries have also received attention (Ferguson et al. , 2000; Leask and Parker, 2006; Porter, 1980; Reger and Huff, 1993). As such strategic group research has developed as a central research theme in strategic management. One of the most notable aspects of strategic groups research is that it highlights and reinforces the importance of particular industry contexts.This is an important consideration for the development of SHRM research as there is now growing recognition of the value of industry and sector speci? c SHRM research where the nuances and structural dimensions of industries are emphasized (Boselie et al. , 2009; Paauwe, 2008; Paauwe and Boselie, 2008; Tyson and Parry, 2008). The aim of this study is to explor e how the strategic group concept can inform SHRM approaches. Speci? cally it sets out to identify how strategic groups can help us understand why companies struggle to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.This aim is achieved by initially investigating the strategic group literature and evaluating where it adds insight and value to the SHRM approaches literature. Thereafter the ? ndings from an in-depth empirical study of the HRM practices and strategies deployed across a global industry are used to highlight the role of strategic groups in constraining companies’ capacities to differentiate their SHRM approaches and practices. Accordingly this article also satis? s the demand for more sector led SHRM research (Paauwe, 2008; Paauwe and Boselie, 2008; Tyson and Parry, 2008). This article unfolds as follows. Initially an evaluation of the strategic group literature is provided followed by an analysis of the contemporary debates in SHRM (Boxall and Purcell, 2000, 2003, 200 8; Boselie et al. , 2002, 2003). The limitations of the SHRM literature are re? ected on in light of the strategic group literature and the potential contribution this ? eld towards a more nuanced understanding of SIHRM approaches and practices.The research design for the study is subsequently outlined alongside an overview of the context of the research, the global hotel sector. The qualitative data analysis is then considered with the HRM practices and approaches which are found to be common across the whole industry, similar across particular strategic groups and distinctive to speci? c companies explored sequentially. The implications of these various layers of HRM practices and strategies, and speci? cally the strategic group dimension, are then discussed in relation to the extant research. Of speci? c note is the way such ? dings reinforce the challenges companies face when pursuing competitive advantage through human resources and how the national, industry and strategic grou p pressures for assimilation limit opportunities to develop idiosyncratic and integrated HRM interventions and strategic human resources. Literature review: building bridges between strategic groups and SHRM approaches Strategic groups The strategic group concept emerged within strategic management as an attempt to better understand the competitive backdrop and demands faced by companies operating in an industry (McGee et al. 1995; Porter, 1980; Short et al. , 2007). Strategic management analysis has typically taken place at the level of the ? rm and the industry, and has omitted the interface of ? rm and industry competitor behaviour. Originating from the broader ? eld of industrial organization economics in the 1970s, strategic groups were identi? ed as clusters of companies within industries (Porter, 1980). Such divisions arise because industries are not collections of heterogeneous companies but subsets of ? ms separated by mobility barriers limiting movement between groups (Fer guson et al. , 2000; McGee et al. , 1995). Strategic group research has facilitated a better understanding of how group structure can shape rivalry and ultimately performance, as well as group identities and reputations. It has also illustrated how strategic group reputations serve to reinforce mobility barriers to other industry competitors (Dranove et al. , 1998; Ferguson et al. , 2000; Leask and Parker, 2006; Peteraf and Shanley, 1997).The analysis of the business environment as an objective reality, achieved classically through cluster or factor analysis of company data (Reger and Huff, 1993), drives most investigations in this area. However, Panagiotou (2006, p. 441) summarises the problems of this prescriptive approach as leading to: [. . . ] a preoccupation by managers that strategic management is all about prescribing strategies for positioning a business in a particular industry structure, having ? rst carried out a thorough economic analysis based on the implicit notion th at industry structures are relatively stable and easily identi? ble. The role of strategic groups 515 More recently a cognitive approach to strategic group research has emerged based on the argument that managers’ simpli? cation of their complex competitive environments and perceptions of similarities and differences among their rivals will shape strategic decision-making (Panagiotou, 2006, 2007; Reger and Huff, 1993). Such managerial insights into competitive groupings offer clearer conceptions of the way decision-makers perceive their own organisations and their rivals and therefore how these determine and implement strategies.These arguments suggest that strategists’ PR 41,4 516 understand (and approach) their competitive environments in similar ways, and are related to the ideas of institutional assimilation and isomorphism (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Powell and DiMaggio, 1991). Therefore, the capacity of ? rms to pursue distinctive practices for competitive advant age may be limited by constraints, such as organisational inertia and forms of isomorphism (Reger and Huff, 1993; Boon et al. , 2009). Strategic groups are then another important aspect of the structural dimensions which foster this organisational sluggishness.These are critical insights where the pursuit of competitive advantage through human resources, HRM practices and strategies has gained substantial support in recent years (Becker and Huselid, 2006; Boxall, 2003). However, this quest for distinctive or idiosyncratic HRM practices and strategies to attain competitive advantage needs to be resolved against the pressures to conform and achieve social legitimacy within sectors. The next section evaluates the contemporary SHRM approaches and highlights where the strategic group literature contributes to their enhanced understanding.The strategic HRM approaches Three main SHRM approaches have emerged as the keystone for understanding and achieving sustained corporate success through human resources (Purcell, 1999, 2001; Boxall and Purcell, 2003, 2008). While the opportunities for simultaneously enacting these approaches are now well-rehearsed it is useful to revisit them brie? y as part of developing the theoretical connection with the strategic group literature. The best practice SHRM approach encourages companies to adopt sophisticated or â€Å"high performance† practices across their human resources in order to achieve competitive advantage (Pfeffer, 1998; Huselid, 1995).Considerable criticism of the best practice SHRM approach occurs in relation to what actually represents â€Å"sophisticated† HRM practices and the empirical basis on which these practices are suggested (Marchington and Grugulis, 2000; Boxall and Purcell, 2003, 2008). Furthermore, the conventional best practice SHRM approach suggests that these superior HRM practices should be adopted regardless of different industrial and national boundaries (Marchington and Grugulis, 2000; B oxall and Purcell, 2003, 2008).Recent evaluations of the â€Å"best practice† SHRM approach have emerged recognising that within industries there may be certain HRM practices and approaches which are obligatory (Boxall and Purcell, 2003, 2008). The â€Å"table stake† concept suggests there are established (HRM) practices adopted by all businesses in an industry which serve to legitimise their position in that industry. This concept has thus been recognised as an adaptation of the â€Å"best practice† SHRM approach (Boon et al. , 2009; Bjorkman, 2006; Boxall and Purcell, 2003; Paauwe and Boselie, 2003).The â€Å"table stake† version of best practice SHRM approach is based on the institutional assimilation literature where organisations struggle to distinguish themselves from their industry associates while simultaneously achieving legitimacy (institutional ? t) in their sector (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Powell and DiMaggio, 1991; Oliver, 1997). Isomorphis m is the process which constrains organisations’ attempts to differentiate themselves within the same institutional context (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983).Isomorphism emerges in two broad variations; competitive isomorphism where market pressures and performance targets are emphasised and institutional isomorphism where institutional factors associated with socio-cultural, technological and economic parameters are highlighted. The adoption of best practice SHRM approach across an international setting has also been roundly critiqued (Brewster, 1999, 2006; Sparrow et al. , 2004) due to the ingrained national institutional and cultural conventions, which are seen to regulate the value of various high performance HRM practices in other countries (Brewster, 1991, 2006; Sorge, 2004).However, this does not mean that across a country all industries have the same HRM practices. Much of the IHRM literature could be seen as disproportionately focused on the parent and host country culture s and systems in light of the evidence on SHRM approaches and practices in hospitals, local government and hotels (Boselie et al. , 2002, 2003). Such studies indicate that institutional and competitive isomorphisms differ across industry contexts creating distinct table stake HRM practices in different industries within the same country (Boon et al. , 2009; DiMaggio and Powell, 1983).Furthermore, such evidence recognizes that national institutional dimensions may have less of an impact than competitive institutional dimensions on some industries and their resulting people management practices. This level of industry interplay on the best practice approach is valuable but in light of the strategic group insights it is clear that companies do not compete directly with every other company in their industry. Instead they are likely to have particularly close rivals whose practices, products, managers, innovations and initiatives will be of speci? interest to them (Panagiotou, 2006; Pete raf and Shanley, 1997). As such there may be another layer of consistency and similarity in HRM practices due to the close rivalry of strategic groups, in addition to those identi? ed by the â€Å"table stake† version of the best practice SHRM approach across an industry. The â€Å"best-? t† SHRM approach suggests a ? rm’s market position and strategies drive and shape its HRM policies and practices. Within the â€Å"best ? t† SHRM approach a range of theories have emerged from those that more simplistically link speci? strategy choices to HRM practices and policies (Delery and Doty, 1996; Miles and Snow, 1984; Schuler and Jackson, 1987) to more complex models (Fombrun et al. , 1984; Hendry and Pettigrew, 1986) which envision a range of corporate characteristics (strategies, positions, portfolio characteristics) determining people management practices. Within the IHRM area, much of the research has also focused on the in? uential nature of national differ ences as well as strategic models (Perlmutter, 1969; Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989, 2000; Edwards et al. , 1996).For example: the models of international orientation (Perlmutter, 1969; Heenan and Perlmutter, 1979); product life-cycle phases (Adler and Ghadar, 1990); and international responsiveness versus integration (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989, 2000; Edwards et al. , 1996) are all based on strategic choice arguments derived from the strategic management ? eld. The main thrust of the strategic dimension to IHRM has revolved around the question of whether HRM practices are determined by corporate or business strategies and customised or standardised across national boundaries with many authors providing detailed analyses of the contingency of speci? factors (Boselie et al. , 2002, 2003; Coller and Marginson, 1998; Easterby-Smith et al. , 1995; Ferner, 1994, 1997; Ferner and Quintanilla, 1998; Hannon et al. , 1995; Newman and Nollen, 1996; Rosenzweig and Nohria, 1994; Rosenzweig, 2006; T hompson et al. , 1998). The weaknesses of the â€Å"best ? t† SHRM approach are its distorted attention on the external context as determining strategies and practices based on market positioning, cultural and institutional factors; and its inability to secure competitive advantage where several companies within the same sector pursue similar strategies and marketThe role of strategic groups 517 PR 41,4 518 positions (Boxall and Purcell, 2003, 2008; Kamoche, 2001; Wright and Snell, 1998). Such criticisms are similar to those voiced by contemporary strategic management researchers on the objective and prescriptive versions of strategic management being the primary in? uence on strategic thinking and decision-making at the expense of managers’ and executives perceptions of positions and rivalries (Reger and Huff, 1993).Indeed Panagiotou’s (2006, 2007) research on executives’ perceptions, as opposed to the economic analysis of the competitive terrains, compe titor strategies and industry dynamics shaping strategic groups, highlights that executives whose ? rms belong to the same strategic groups react to events and market factors in similar ways. This suggests, that not only are companies constrained by the suggested strategies and market positions they develop, but that there are limitations to the options they can take to distinguish themselves because of the added level of similarity strategic groups create.Finally, the resource based view (RBV) SHRM approach has been proffered as an alternative to the best practice and best-? t approaches due its internal focus based on creating competitive advantage through the leverage of valuable, rare, inimitable, non-substitutable and rent achieving (human) resources (Morris et al. , 2006; Wright et al. , 1994, 2004). The empirical research supporting the RBV SHRM approach (Boxall and Steeneveld, 1999; Leonard-Barton, 1995; Marchington et al. , 2003) clearly highlights that human resources can ful? l the criteria of resources which deliver competitive advantage.The most valuable human resources are those identi? ed as the â€Å"strategic human resources† or â€Å"rainmakers† who ful? l the RBV criteria of adding exponential supplementary value to companies. By developing HRM practices, which are idiosyncratic and interdependent, the RBV approach argues that companies can capitalise on their proprietary knowledge and transfer it creatively and effectively across its workforce. Several authors (Bonache and Fernandez, 1999; Harvey et al. , 1999, 2000; Taylor et al. , 1996) have adopted this approach and identi? d that capitalising on internal resources to achieve competitive advantage is quite different from the best-? t SHRM approach because it surmounts the external views of the best-? t approach. This view is neatly outlined in the frustrations of Cappelli and Singh (1992 in Wright et al. , 2004 p. 11): [. . . ] many within strategy have implicitly assumed t hat it is easier to rearrange complementary assets/resources given a choice of strategy than it is to rearrange strategy given a set of assets/resources, even though the empirical research seems to imply the opposite.The RBV SHRM approach offers speci? c insights into the value of internal resources in securing successful international operations (Bonache and Fernandez, 1999; Harvey et al. , 2000). Speci? cally particular groups of human resources are seen to have an honoured position within companies where they transfer tacit knowledge to new markets and provide sustainable competitive advantage (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990; Scullion and Starkey, 2000). Taylor et al. ’s (1996) study used the RBV approach to identify the critical role of HRM competence within international ? ms, the part senior management play in identifying the company’s potential to develop HRM competence and the different groups of human resources who constitute ? rm strategic human resources. However, the weaknesses of this SHRM approach are its omission to clearly depict the interplay between internal resources and environmental factors, and the recurring evidence that ? rms struggle with the challenges of their competitive sector to achieve distinctiveness and success through their human resources and HRM practices (Boxall and Purcell, 2003, 2008). Once again the strategic groups literature provides speci? insights here in querying whether the pursuit of competitive advantage through the leveraging of the ? rm’s distinctive resources is restrained by the in? uence of their closest strategic group (Panagiotou, 2006, 2007). Clearly each of the SHRM approaches (table stake best practice, best-? t and RBV) have some resonance and these perspectives are summarised in Table I in terms of their initial focus and the levels of context where their attention is directed. There is an overall tendency across the SHRM literature for tensions, contradictions and imbalance (Boselie et al. 2009) as evidenced in the overly prescriptive best practice approach, the highly contingent best ? t approach (focusing on speci? c market or national context factors) and the RBV’s spotlight on the internal resources of the organisation. Individual adoption of these approaches is unlikely to provide a meaningful depiction of how companies might pursue competitive advantage via their human resources or HRM practices. Instead it is argued that companies can use a combined and simultaneous version of the three SHRM approaches in an attempt to balance the external and internal perspectives adopted by the best-? and RBV approaches, while also recognising the important in? uence industry isomorphism (table stakes) has on the creation of a set of HRM practices (Boxall and Purcell, 2003, 2008). Even where such a combined and simultaneous model of SHRM has been advocated (Boxall and Purcell, 2003, 2008) there appears insuf? cient understanding of, and insight into, the industry or sectoral level of analysis (Boselie et al. , 2009; Boxall, 2003; Paauwe, 2008; Paauwe and Boselie, 2008). By exploring SHRM practices and approaches across an industry, rather than across speci? national or company contexts, a better understanding of the internal and external challenges faced by competing organisations to achieving distinctive HRM strategies and practices becomes manifest. Alongside this evaluation of the SHRM approaches, the strategic groups literature highlights that these clusters of close rivals may compound the SIHRM approaches Primary focus Level Company/? rm The role of strategic groups 519 Resource based view (RBV) Competitive advantage achieved through developing resources Internal which are Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, Non-substitutable and Rent achieving Best ? Based on crafting HRM practices tied to strategic management External models – typically through strategic analyses tools of market position Based on aligning HRM practices to different in ternational and domestic cultural and institutional contexts and company demand for standardisation Best practice Originally identi? ed as sophisticated practices capable of External achieving competitive advantage Now associated with HRM practices which are â€Å"table stakes† essential for operating with social legitimacy within an industry Competitive market National contexts and competitive market Industry Table I.The initial focus of SIHRM approaches PR 41,4 challenges ? rms already face in realising differentiation through their human resources and HRM practices. Indeed where industry analyses highlight the importance of conformance of industry members, to particular HRM practices and systems, strategic groups suggest another layer of orthodoxy among closest rivals which limit the pursuit of distinctive competitive advantage by ? rms. Research design Analysis of strategic groups requires an industry focus and this research was undertaken within the context of the intern ational hotel sector.This sector has been identi? ed as international by nature (Litteljohn, 2003; Litteljohn et al. , 2007) with companies achieving growth through a range of market entry modes, typically engaging with different equity partners (Whitla et al. , 2007). Managing portfolios of hotels with diverse ownership arrangements (such as the asset light options of management contracts, franchises and part equity agreements) has created challenges for international hotel companies (IHCs) (Beals, 2006; Eyster, 1997; Gannon et al. , 2010; Guilding, 2006).Traditionally hotel general managers (HGMs) have been seen as strategic human resources (Boxall and Steeneveld, 1999; Marchington et al. , 2003) responsible for creating pro? table hotel units through their leadership and operational expertise in the hotel industry (Forte, 1986; Kriegl, 2000; Ladkin and Juwaheer, 2000). However, the asset light market entry modes developed more recently as a result of IHC portfolio expansion have resulted in managers and executives experiencing different challenges and requiring enhanced skills sets.At the heart of this study was the aim to explore how IHCs have developed IHRM strategies and practices to manage their international managerial resources within the broader context of the sector’s competitive forces, growing industry concentration and in the presence of strategic groups (Curry et al. , 2001; Litteljohn, 1999; Roper, 1995). Any attempt to capture people management strategies and practices across an industry, as well as at the ? rm level, involves the adoption of a comprehensive sample of organisations. This study used an industry de? nition of global operations based on companies operating hotels across ? e out of the six economically viable continents, as a purposive sample technique (Saunders et al. , 2000). This research stage comprised substantial secondary data collection on the broader international hotel industry with information on service levels, ownership modes, brands, portfolios and geographical penetration and the information is captured in Table II. Only nine companies met these global criteria and eight of these nine companies granted access to their senior human resource executives (typically Vice Presidents of Human Resources) and administrative teams, and HR systems and materials.The ? eldwork interviews took place at the European corporate headquarters, regional of? ces and in hotel units for the eight companies. Interviews with the senior HR executives for each of the eight companies form the main part of the data. These interviews lasted around four hours on average. In addition, time was also spent with administrative teams, reading documentation and observing meetings. A checklist was developed to complement the interview questions and data, and to systemise the collection of company documentation, observations and interactions with the administrative teams (Robson, 2002).Documentation included HRM policies, pe rformance appraisal forms, training manuals, organisational charts, company communications, job descriptions, succession plans and demonstrations and hard copies of HR databases. The interview 520 International hotel companies Suggested strategy and methods of growth Differentiation strategies – based on the power of the company’s hotel brand name. Expansion in prime city centre and resort locations and the development of hotel clusters in countries or regions achieved through management contracts and joint ventures Various strategies deployed at the different market levels.Budget brands operate on a no frills strategy. International luxury properties follow a differentiation (premium price) strategy. One third of properties are owned and two-thirds are management contract arrangements. Growth through management contracting, franchising or marketing agreements and some ownership Focused differentiation strategy based on distinctive design and architectural features ass ociated with properties and attention to detail service style. Grows solely by securing management contract agreements with select investors Differentiation strategy based on developing modern and ef? ient ? rst class hotels. Growth achieved through management contracting, rather than ownership, and a global partnership with one of America’s largest international hotel corporations Operates at different market levels – particularly concerned with distinctiveness and value for money and therefore a broad hybrid strategy is identi? ed Mixed type of operation is used across portfolio; approximately 46 per cent owned, 21 per cent leased, 22. 5 per cent management contracts and 10. 5 per cent franchised (continued) 150 ? Prestige international brand National UK mid-market brand 48 Number of hotelsBrands Number of countries Anglo-American Premium Britbuyer 900 Nine brands at international and domestic levels: Upscale Mid market Budget 50 Contractman International 200 Four lu xury or upscale brands 35 Euroalliance One upscale brand 16 50 * Euromultigrow 2,500 ? Seventeen brands split into: Upscale and midscale Economy and budget Leisure hotels 73 521 The role of strategic groups Table II. Pro? les of global hotel companies in sample PR 41,4 522 International hotel companies 2,300 ? Five brands: two at mid market Prestige brand Budget brand Holiday resorts 63 FranchiseKing GlobalallianceUSBonusbranda 700 Seven brands Two at both mid market and budget levels Prestige brand Suites Holiday resorts Prestige brand Mid-market brand – North America 63 35 USmixedeconomy Note: a This company did not participate in the ? nal stages of the research Table II. Number of hotels Brands Number of countries Suggested strategy and methods of growth Hybrid strategy based on presence across a range of market sectors but competitively priced in each sector. Company documentation states the aim as â€Å"To be the preferred hotel system, hotel management company, and lo dging franchise in the world.To build on the strength of the FranchiseKing name utilising quality and consistency as the vehicle to enhance it’s perceived ‘value for money’ position in the middle market. † Focused differentiation strategy based on international exposure and expertise in the luxury hotel market. Growth through management contracting, franchising or marketing agreements and some ownership Deploys several strategies including a hybrid strategy for its domestic units and a differentiation (with premium price) strategy for most of its international properties at the prestige level.Growth through management contracting and franchising, with limited ownership Adopts a variety of strategies including a hybrid strategy for its domestic units and a differentiation (with premium price) strategy for most of its international properties. Growth through management contracting some ownership and franchising 190 Prestige brand Mid-market brand – Nor th America 70 460 transcripts, ? eldwork notes and documentation allowed cases to be written for each company which were sense-checked by industry informants and against the research team’s notes and observations.Access was granted to the eight companies on the basis of offering con? dentiality to participants and organisations. Each company was protected through the allocation of pseudonyms and all data and notes collected removed company names and trademarks to provide con? dentiality. This is in keeping with the widely acknowledged dif? culties of gaining access within this industry (Litteljohn et al. , 2007; Ropeter and Kleiner, 1997). The cases built on the interview transcripts, observations and company documentation data meant that ualitative analysis was achieved through the tools and computer aided techniques recommended by key authors (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Silverman, 1997, 1999). The process of initial coding identi? ed HRM practices, management criteria and co mpany strategies and characteristics. Descriptive coding was then used to highlight speci? c activities and relationships between HRM practices and approaches, and company characteristics. Further interpretive coding and analytic coding were highlighted through the themes presented by the respondents and the theoretical relationships arising from the data and initial coding (Silverman, 1997, 1999).Of particular importance were the themes of similar and distinctive HRM practices deployed by the companies, strategic groups and across the sample. Results Across the sample of eight IHCs evidence of common HRM interventions deployed included: a reliance on strong internal labour markets for unit management positions; training programmes with universal components; the use of performance appraisal as a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating human resources talent, the deployment of speci? c contractual agreements and conventions; the recurrent use of corporate communications channels; and speci? HRM responses to cultural and international challenges. The shared aims of these practices indicated that the IHCs were adopting the table stake version of the best practice SHRM approach across their international portfolios (Boxall and Purcell, 2003, 2008; Boselie et al. , 2003, 2009). The next stage of data examination involved the identi? cation of company speci? c HRM practices based on the best ? t and RBV SHRM approaches. However, subsequent analysis of the qualitative data began to identify another layer of similar HRM interventions centred on the appearance of strategic groups within the sample.There appeared to be similarities between the companies based on strategic variables such as parent company ownership, the scope of the hotels organisations’ activities (levels of internationalisation, geographical coverage, and market segments); resource commitments (including size, brands and market entry modes); and centric and transnational orientations. As a resul t the sample was demarcated into three strategic groups. These are labelled the Multi-branders, Mixed Portfolio Purchasers and Prestige Operators.Table III summarises the strategic similarities and differences between the three groups and their IHC members. Patterns of HRM interventions across the three strategic groups are apparent from the data supplied by the executives, their teams and the documentation. These patterns focus around six areas: The role of strategic groups 523 PR 41,4 Similarities Differences 524 Table III. International hotel company strategic groups Strategic Group 1 – The Multi-branders (two companies) National cultural origins FranchiseKing and Parent companies – related horizontally Euromultigrow diversi? d Mid-market brand dominates in Large size – 2,000 ? hotels one company while distinct High levels of internationalisation but brands used for different market strong domestic base (French and USA) segments by other Multiple brands (luxu ry to budget) Dif? culties aligning parent company, brand One company uses more names and operations franchising Hybrid strategies Range of market entry modes Ethnocentric orientation Global organisation Strategic Group 2 – The Mixed Portfolio Purchasers (two companies) Britbuyer and Similar size (between 400 and 1,000 hotels) Diversi? ation of parent companies is different USmixedeconomy Mid-position in internationalisation index Strong domestic presence and distinctive One company has more international operations ownership/partial ownership of Range of market entry modes hotels Acquisitive growth of European prestige brands One company has much smaller Brands offered at similar market levels Challenges of aligning disparate domestic budget brand domestic interests and international portfolios, corporate strategies and new acquisitions Ethnocentric orientation but with some geocentric aspirations Multinational rganisation Strategic Group 3 – The Prestige Operators (f our companies) Two companies have separate Parent companies – related diversi? ed Anglo-American domestic operations Similar size (between 50 and 202 hotels) Premium Similar levels of low internationalisation Contractman Two companies have grown Focus on luxury, ? st class hotel market International through strategic partnerships (resort and business) Euroalliance Strategies broadly differentiation and Globalalliance One company uses a broader focused differentiation range of market entry modes Growth primarily through management contracting Broadly geocentric but with some aspects of ethnocentrism Transnational organisation (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) the levels where HRM is focused; different views about management skills and transferability across brands; how international and domestic operations function; extent of owner in? ence and cultural differences; how and where managerial talent is found; and where speci? c career interventions emerge. Table IV captures some of the co mments from interviews across these six levels and the three strategic groups. The HRM interventions and features developed by the three strategic groups are outlined in Table V along with the strategic variables which distinguish the groups. Strategic group 1: Multi-branders The sheer size and scale of their multi-branded operations indicated parallels between the HRM approaches taken by the Multi-branders (see comments in Tables IV and V).Both companies boasted a critical mass of hotels in key countries or regions of the world resulting in more localised recruitment and development approaches. For example, they operated â€Å"UK only† management training schemes and then speci? c recruitment initiatives tailored to educational systems, notably the French training and German apprenticeship schemes. The size of these two companies also meant they allowed their distinct brands to develop individually which had apparently resulted in some speci? brand HRM practices. Both compan ies recognised there were few opportunities for managers to transfer between the different brands leading to bottlenecks in internal labour markets, where some brands grew more quickly and offered extensive transfer and promotion possibilities. The Multi-branders had attempted to deal with these issues in slightly different ways, though both now had structures, enabling moves between managerial levels across brands to achieve some overall parity across their company.In one company (Euromultigrow) there was a guide to the different positions within each brand to encourage internal brand transfers of human resources. This guide was based on extensive negotiations with managers across the company’s brands, although parent country nationals (PCNs) dominated among these managers and the company’s University was responsible for the roll-out training for this guide. Franchiseking had developed a competency-based HRM system designed to identify common areas of expertise across its brands and as one HR executive identi? d all managers with line responsibilities had to attend and use this framework. The competencies were developed in accordance with a HRM consultant ? rm and used existing and future â€Å"high potential† managers across the company’s portfolio to identify appropriate behaviours of successful managers. Competencies were heavily in? uenced by the company’s existing management team comprising mainly PCNs. The company then ran a series of training sessions for its senior managers so the competencies formed the basis for all selection, performance appraisal, promotion and training decisions and activities.These attempts to closely manage their large portfolios of standardised brands across geographically disparate locations meant the Multi-branders adopted an ethnocentric orientation to internationalisation with PCNs dominant in subsidiary management positions, which runs somewhat counter to their critical mass of units and attempts to localise too. The Multi-branders commented less extensively, compared with the members of the other two strategic groups, on the level of interference from property owners where management contracts were used.They argued this was probably because their highly standardised brands, even at full-service levels, meant owners knew what to expect, and they did not attempt to interfere in the day-to-day management of hotels. The selection of managers for managed properties was also less troublesome for the Multi-branders. In most cases executives could appoint whomever they wanted and The role of strategic groups 525 PR 41,4 526 The levels of focus for HRM Table IV.Responses from HR executives from the strategic groups Multibranders â€Å"Our area, regional human resource executives run national versions of our company University training and recruitment programmes to ? t with national vocational education. † Assistant HR director for Euromultigrow EAME â€Å"We have a critical mass of hotels in certain countries and have built real presence so we need to adopt some of their practices as long as they ? t now with our competences. † Corporate Training and Development Director FranchiseKing â€Å"In France, Germany, the UK and the Benelux and Scandinavian countries, where we have critical mass, they have some ? xibility for recruitment and training. It has been a bit of a struggle with our acquisition of M to get this right, though. † Britbuyer HR EAME director â€Å"Some areas, with more hotels, have a little bit more autonomy than others and we have them do their own management recruitment and training, based on our head-of? ce materials. † Vice President HR USmixedeconomy Mixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige Operators â€Å"We run a graduate management programme to ensure we have our next crop of managers waiting in the wings. We also have an executive management programme which includes an MBA – both are designed to g et us the GMs of the future. Corporate Director of Human Resources Globalalliance â€Å"Our graduate management programme is being revitalised for next year and we’ll be targeting the brightest from the hotel schools in Holland and Switzerland for EAME. All our graduates must have language skills and meet speci? c knowledge requirements. † Anglo-American Premium Vice President of HRs â€Å"I don’t think graduate management schemes per se work. Instead we recruit graduates, mainly from Switzerland and the Dutch schools, into real jobs and although they’re a hotel resource, we (headquarters) monitor their progress and target them with speci? courses to try and bring them on. † HR Vice President Euroalliance (continued) Multibranders â€Å"We had to respect what was there. The predominant national culture of the newly acquired company) meant that we had a lot of communicating and educating to do within our company and within theirs. We moved managers within (names the acquired company) between units to give them a fresh start and many of them are still with us. It worked out well really. † Regional HR director USmixedeconomy Mixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige Operators Views about management skills â€Å"No, not so many people transferred.It was and transferability across brands quite common between one brand and also quite common between (names two other company brands at the same market level) but not at all between the others. It was dif? cult, not good. Now we will have a stronger parent company from this new structure. † HR Vice President for Euromultigrow GMs skills needs â€Å"fall into four skill sets which†¦ one is managing myself based on the premise that if I can’t manage myself then I can’t really manage anybody else. Then managing others and then the third one is problem solving and decision making and the fourth one is pro-active achievement.Very dif? cult to measure, but the actu al achievement levels and the go for it and taking that extra risk, the entrepreneurial part. And then there is the languages and â€Å"We have been training them in the use of behavioural event interviewing to help them, â€Å"When we acquired company [M] there was cultural bit. † HR Vice President Euroalliance . . . to spot the competencies. This allows us a bit of a standoff basically because they to see where in the portfolio of brands they wanted to be acquired by somebody else†¦ It â€Å"It feels it is dif? ult to see where a young manager’s next move is in an international can move to† Corporate Training and didn’t help that the CEO of our company company without the right language skills Development Director FranchiseKing went ‘round their hotels saying ‘get rid of this’ or ‘do that’. Things have changed now, to allow widening of transfer options. †Anglo-American Premium Vice again. There’s more a ppreciation of what President of HRs [acquired company] does right on the international scene and we’re a lot more â€Å"There are core or critical parts to our open to learning from them.It’s now twobusiness; marketing and sales, managing way. † Britbuyer HR EAME director human resources, ? nancial management, creative decision –making and leadership. These need to be displayed across cultures across properties to make it as a GM. † Vice President HR Contractman International (continued) The role of strategic groups 527 Table IV. PR 41,4 528 How international and domestic operations function â€Å"For an international GM you need languages and international experience – that is why some managers from brands back home don’t make it. Vice President HR USmixedeconomy Table IV. Multibranders â€Å"Most of these potential GMs do tend still to be the same nationality as the company, but I don’t know why. We don’t necessarily want that, at all. † HR Vice President for Euromultigrow â€Å"All GMs are informed that the best way to read and become familiar with the (competency) guide is to read the English version ? rst – this is the authoritative version. † Corporate Training and Development Director FranchiseKing Mixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige Operators â€Å"Why the four different parts of the world?Well each one has some strengths. I mean that States you take marketing and very different human resources. Asia you still have the luxury of being able to have a lot of employees and a far bigger budget because costs are lower. Japan because the way, the mentality of the Japanese market and customer is different, and Europe to do same thing but with a very tight budget because costs are so high. † Vice President HR EAME Contractman International â€Å"Our domestic brand managers aren’t our international mangers. There is no transfer, well ok I can think of one or two. You need international experience which creates a bit of a catch 22 – because it is the old thing of ‘you can’t get the job without the experience and you can’t get the experience without the job’. † Britbuyer HR EAME director â€Å"A future GM must have worked outside his or her home country before they can be promoted to this level. It is important for managers to have language skills not only to help them operate in particular locations but also because there are far more career opportunities for those individuals who can demonstrate language pro? ciency. Transfers are then an important aspect of developing a career. Anglo-American Premium Vice President of HRs (continued) Multibranders â€Å"Well most of the time, it depends on the case of course, most of the time, the shareholder of the hotel will be an investor but he will not be an operational actor. He is interested in the bottom line, not what goes on inside the hotel. † HR Vi ce President for Euromultigrow Mixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige Operators â€Å"Usually owners interview the three candidates we put forward for each GM position and invariably, well they select the candidate preferred by the company, though Vice Presidents often have to use some powers of persuasion. Anglo-American Premium Vice President of HRs â€Å"We have to know our owners really well to give them the GMs they want and need. That’s a tough call when you’re growing so much. † Vice President HR Contractman International â€Å"Some owners are really dif? cult and have to be managed carefully. That’s where our Regional guys come in. Others are great and they are our business partners, with us for the long haul. â€Å" HR Vice President Euroalliance â€Å"Owners do have a lot of in? uence because if we give them somebody and they say ‘we don’t think this guy’s any good’, well!Although we could force them on them it isnâ⠂¬â„¢t a very sensible thing to do. So the owning company does have a big bearing on the GM slot. † Corporate Director of Human Resources Globalalliance (continued) Extent of owner in? uence and cultural differences â€Å"We have owners, for example, . . . but we have owners who are very, very clear about the people who we are likely, or more often than not, we can’t employ. Usually it’s in terms of nationalities and colours, race and sexual preferences they don’t like.It is their hotel and if they say ‘I don’t want somebody with red hair’ then you don’t put somebody â€Å"Owner interference depends on our brands, with red hair in, it’s as simple as that. † Britbuyer HR EAME director the more exclusive the brand the more in? uence but mainly we propose people ‘this candidate has our ? rm support’. â€Å"The frequency of moves our managers Obviously the quality of the relationship make are also driven by how tightly an with the owner is very important and you owner wants to hang on to them.So we’re must respect their wishes pertaining to GMs constrained by hardship factors, and but it doesn’t cause us much trouble really. † owner’s predilections and preferences. † Vice President for HR FranchiseKing Regional HR director USmixedeconomy The role of strategic groups 529 Table IV. PR 41,4 530 How and where managerial talent is found Table IV. Multibranders â€Å"We have our area, regional human resource people help our GMs identify their managers who might one day make it, who have the potential to be GMs too. The area human resource people then run some courses and do the training we have developed through our company university. HR Vice President for Euromultigrow Mixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige Operators â€Å"How do we manage our GMs? Well we include all managers here – well it’s a very integrated approach to career development , or management development and the annual appraisal and it all comes together with succession planning and the work we coordinate here (gestures to the corporate head-of? ce). † Corporate Director of Human Resources Globalalliance â€Å"We’re [the executive team] in the hotels a lot, and the President was really great, yesterday he was saying ‘You know everybody whether you’re ? ance or business development or marketing, when you’re in the hotels and you spot people who are really good, notice it, you know get a note of the name, make sure that we’re also all talent spotting our own people. † HR Vice President Euroalliance â€Å"We must therefore nurture excellence in every one of our employees, especially our local nationals – the people who live in the countries where we operate hotels. † Vice President HR EAME Contractman International â€Å"At the Vice President and divisional director levels we’re always trav elling, listening to what are people are saying and telling them about what’s happening across the company.And spotting talent too. † Anglo-American Premium Vice President of HRs (continued) â€Å"I mean I am very conscious from this conversation we are not doing all we could to develop the next generation of GMs. It is partly because the number two position in some units has disappeared. So there aren’t enough opportunities for heads of departments to move on and develop their experience. We haven’t had a problem so far but as we increase (grow) we might be struggling for the right calibre of GMs in a â€Å"Some of our approach to identifying GM few years time. Britbuyer HR EAME potential is systematic, some is opportunistic. We’re trying to become more director systematic, through the new competencies process. We’ve recognised we have to have â€Å"You must realise that traditionally we have more local nationals and fewer expatriates. â €  consciously developed very good resident managers/EAMs (Executive Assistant Corporate Training and Development Managers) so when these individuals took Director FranchiseKing over their own units there was a very low risk of failure.Since our purchases and down-sizing, however, there are now some properties that no longer have a number 2 manager. Thus we have effectively stopped developing this ‘almost’ risk free human resource – it may cause us problems in the long term. † Vice President HR USmixedeconomy Multibranders â€Å"Our restructuring of brands and growth in franchising means we have to be clear about what managers do to make the hotels successful. Our company university is critical for training to our brands so all our managers know. † Assistant HR director for Euromultigrow EAME Potential GMs . . â€Å"It’s very intensive (the assessment centre) with personal counselling, tests to see where their stresses and strains are, and management skills across the board, running from 8 in the morning to 10 at night. It’s really very intensive and we have people â€Å"When we go outside, well we steal from the from across the world, with different â€Å"Performance of our business is crucial and competition and just rely on the grapevine or languages and cultures, the mix of people is seen to be the best element of these maybe on-spec applications.There’s some that is why so much investment and events. †Anglo-American Premium Vice development had been made in this area of use of executive search but that’s very President of HRs expensive. † Regional HR director competencies and performance management. There’s been a clear growth in USmixedeconomy â€Å"For the assessment centre a report is pro? ts since the competencies were ? rst written on them based on what we feel they developed. † Vice President for HR demonstrated, in the way they acted during FranchiseKing th e course.What is okay and the right way, what’s to be demonstrated and what’s to be discussed, where they feel they need development in, and from that we can more or less determine the time span its going to take so that they’ll be ready to be a GM, and what has to happen in-between so the individual development is planned. † Corporate Director of Human Resources Globalalliance â€Å"In fact it is incredibly incestuous and people just seem to appear or materialise. We wouldn’t directly poach someone, well . . . , but if someone made it clear to us they’d be interested then we’d feel ? e about calling them up. † Britbuyer HR EAME director â€Å"They all go on a leadership development programme and I design and I teach those with a co-trainer, I like to see that I’m there with them for a full week and we run an assessment process with the leadership development programme. So they’re booked for tests and exercises ba sed on the four management skills areas and they have individual feedback during the brief to let them know how they’re doing. This sets them with an individual plan for the future. † HR Vice President EuroallianceMixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige Operators Where speci? c career interventions emerge The role of strategic groups 531 Table IV. PR 41,4 Strategic groups Strategic group variables HRM outcomes Brands and market segmentation Multi-branders Hard brands, serving several different market levels 532 Mixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige Operators Allows more localisation of management talent due to standardisation and clear criteria for operating brands Movement within and between brands facilitated to prevent career bottlenecks Some soft (international) and some Dif? ult to facilitate movement hard (domestic) brands between international brands due to recent purchases, no transfer between domestic and international brands due to skills mismatch Importance of comm unication to assimilate new acquisitions Softer brands Emphasis on transfers to develop managerial experience of different countries/markets, and types of hotels Encourages and facilitates employees at all levels to gain international experience Large diverse organisations, structured on the basis of brands and some geographical factors Critical mass of units in some locations Organised on International and domestic divisions.Slow assimilation of newly purchased international brand Some critical mass of units Companies have developed guides to articulate management positions and skills across brands Critical mass allows multi-unit UGMs and more local recruitment and selection activities Some local recruitment and selection, less development through strong internal labour market and more acquisition of management talent Critical mass allows more localisation of management talent but not co-ordinated effectively throughout the companies Regional of? es co-ordinate transfers and HRM pr actices but also learn from subsidiaries to pass experience, knowledge and expertise on across other regions. IT plays an important role here Across company recruitment and development schemes rather than localised versions. Provides single ports of entry at (sub) department management level to locals (continued) Structure and organisation Multi-branders Mixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige OperatorsSmaller portfolios organised on regional lines Limited critical mass of units Table V. The IHC strategic groups, their strategic variables and the HRM outcomes Strategic groups Centric orientation Multi-branders Strategic group variables Primarily ethnocentric HRM outcomes The role of strategic groups Mixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige Operators Highly standardised services seem to facilitate low reliance on PCNs at subsidiary level though they are prevalent at executive level Dif? ult to discern – bypassing of PCNs still mainly in place for acquired companies, some stages through acquisitions locations with HCNs (critical (McKiernan, 1992) mass) but dominated by Western nationals Aspiring geocentric Attempts to harness managerial talent from around the world regardless of nationality through co-ordinated and integrated HRM activities UGMs still primarily from Western (European and American) backgrounds, executives in particular 533 Methods of growth and market entry expertise Multi-branders Growth through hard brands and the development of suitable investors (master franchisees and owners)Mixed Portfolio Purchasers Prestige Operators UGMs have speci? c knowledge and skills in operating highly standardised hotel services and passing knowledge onto others (franchisees) HRM mechanisms de? ne performance and selection criteria for managers and employees Acquisition used alongside mixed UGMs are likely to have expertise methods of market entry (mainly in exploiting value from purchased properties management contracts) De-layering of organisational hierarchies (d isappearance of deputy UGM position) and local recruitment initiatives were seen to help realise returns on their acquisitions Managers demonstrate speci? Growth primarily through pro? ciency in managing more management contracting, some marketing agreements, and equity luxurious and culturally adapted hotels and their owners investment. Global but local More extensive and integrated outlook HRM interventions, which support extensive transfers and development opportunities, throughout human resources, not just managers Table V. PR 41,4 534 only in a few hotels or in speci? c countries and with speci? c types of owners (for example, governments) were there two or three managers presented to owners in a â€Å"beauty parade†.The Multi-branders were more concerned about the co-ordination of franchise operators and training and communication were seen to be vital mechanisms for managing these issues. These were the only companies who identi? ed mandatory training courses for manag ers and held speci? c courses that their franchise partners were obliged to attend. Constant travelling by corporate executives was seen to further reinforce company values and assist in harmonization between geographically disparate franchised, managed and owned units.Both companies showed evidence of strong similarities associated with managing their multi-branded, and multi-market entry strategies and large, diverse portfolios. Dividing their HRM interventions into areas or countries where there was a critical mass of units was appropriate given the scale of their operations. Strong values, often based on the origins of the company, ? were communicated through frequent communiques and training opportunities further reinforced the brand standards and achieved appropriate levels of corporate synergy in the face of competition from their smaller but potentially more nimble competitors.Strategic group 2: Mixed Portfolio Purchasers The Mixed Portfolio Purchasers had been through consi derable periods of change and growth prior to the researchers’ ? eldwork. In addition to acquiring smaller European hotel chains they had substantially expanded their domestic and international portfolios through other acquisitions and mixed market entry methods. Both had international and larger domestic sections which were managed almost completely separately, although