AT&T’s Resources and Capabilities Essay

AT&T is one of the largest telecommunication network provider in the world and they are a market leader in United States. Besides the traditional forms of communication like local and distance telephone services through mobile lines or landlines, AT&T’s primary business is to provide a diversified of telecommunication services to American customers and their services includes: Wi-Fi, high speed internet, internet TV, fiber optics, satellites, voice and cloud services with a whole suite of IP-based business communication services. They were established back in 1876 when Alex Graham Bell first invented telephone. Together with the group of AT&T subsidiaries, they have over 105 million subscribers in 225 countries and close to 250,000 employees worldwide (AT&T, 2014). According to the (Plunket Research, 2013), the market value worldwide for telecommunication industry in 2013 was USD 5 trillion and the market value for United States alone was USD 1.2 trillion. Technology has been an integral part of our daily life; and it is widely used in all business organizations. 91% of adults in United States owned a cell phone (Pew Research, 2013) and the telecommunication industry may seems to be an attractive industry with the increase demand of such product and services. However, due to the rapidly technological evolution, this is a highly competitive market to sustain competiveness in the market. For example, AT&T’s business evolves around technologies, there is shift of demand in the consumer market; consumers have switch to use instant messaging services like ‘whatapps’ instead of talking over the phone or short messaging services. AT&T must be able to implement alternate strategies to meet customers’ need before competitors. Though there are four major players in the telecommunication industry, AT&T’s main competitor is Verizon; they have similar financial strength and market share while Sprint and T-mobile hold a very small percentage of the market share. When firm resources in an industry are homogenous, competitive advantages cannot exist (Bain, 1956). To continue as the market leader, AT&T needs to have sustainable competitive advantages against competitors. According to Barney (1991), a firm is said to have a competitive advantage when it is implementing a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors. And to sustainable competitive advantages firms have to analyze their internal environment and implement  strategies that will exploit their strengths by exploring the external opportunities while neutralizing external threats and avoid internal weakness. Porter (2005) reinstates that firms will attain competitive advantage by developing a strategy that enable them to have a unique marketing position. Kanter (1999) also argue that to sustain competitiveness in the market, firm must innovate in an accelerating rate. Resources and Capabilities Leading AT&T the Market Leader The resource-based view (RBV) strategy analyzes a firm’s internal resources that may potentially be the key resources that can have a competitive advantage. And in order to sustain a competitive advantage, a firm must have unique resources (Barney, 2004). RBV strategy is used to evaluate the internal capabilities on an organization – resources and competences (Barney, 2001). Resources are productive assets owned by the firm; capabilities are what the firm can do (Grant and Jordon, 2012). By applying Barney’s (1991) VRIN framework, we can determine whether the internal resources will contribute to the firm’s strategic capability. They four key attributes of the VRIN framework are: (1) Valuable; exploits competitive opportunities (2) Rare; they must be rare in the competitive environment (3) In-imitable; competitors cannot duplicate the sources (4) Non-substitutable; must not be easily replaceable by alternate products. The key resources AT&T possesses are t he strong financial resources, extensive network infrastructure, research and development facilities, human resources, unique culture, brand image and intellectual properties. Resources are then classified into tangible assets or intangible assets and they must be heterogeneous and immobile to have sustainable competitive advantages. For AT&T to achieve strategic capability, we need to evaluate AT&T internal resources and their capability to perform well with those resources. Just resources alone or capability alone will not lead to strategic capability. Over the decades, AT&T has built different network platform worldwide to support a range of wireless voice and data capabilities. They have the widest network coverage, with more than 18,000 WiFi hotspots in 42 countries. In the United States, AT&T’s customers can access to free WiFi services at many popular hangout places like Starbucks, Borders and McDonalds. AT&T is also financially strong to invest of their network  infrastructure. They have invested billions of dollars to install fiber optic cable nationwide to provide customer a much faster and stable network connection. Lieberman and Montgo nmery’s (1998) first-mover theory state that firm may have competitive advantages through new innovations. AT&T was the first to introduce 4G networks in the nation and they are the first and only company who has the resources and capability to restore the network issue in the event of natural disaster. They have built their reputation and brand in the industry over the years and are known as a technology leader with new innovations. Being the first-mover, AT&T has built customers’ confidence by being perceived as the industry leader who can deliver additional values to consumers thus reduce rivalry competition. For example, AT&T was certified by Department of Homeland Security for their Network Disaster Recovery program and US Navy awarded them a 10.4 million contract for the cloud-based voice-over IP recently. Financial and network infrastructure are key tangible assets to AT&T, they are extremely valuable to AT&T as these primary resources integrating with their intangible assets to achieve competitive advantage. Physical resources as such may confer little advantage to company for long term. For example, rival like Verizon, who has the similar financial capabilities may soon acquire similar assets. Verizon has already starting building the 4G networks. Acquisitions and me rgers are often strategies in big firm. Strong financial resources give AT&T the capability to acquire other companies to strengthen their portfolio by leveraging on external capabilities. AT&T has announced to acquire DirecTV, the biggest cable television provider to strengthen their portfolio. Though AT&T provides cable television services, they have less than 6 million subscriber in their ‘U-Verse’ bundle package, which include Internet, landlines and cable TV. The merger of DirecTV increase AT&T’s cable television subscriber four time more than their U-Verse and an additional 18 million cable television subscriber in South America (Forbes, 2014) by leveraging on the DirecTV’s existing network infrastructure and customer data based. There are high risks in every merger, many firms failed because company are unable to integrate. I believed that AT&T will successfully integrate these businesses together and will be able to deliver additional value to the customer by providing an integrated solution and extend to more subscribers. Unlike tangible assets, intangible assets like  human resource, branding, intellectual properties, research and developments do not have a financial value and often the intangible assets are undervalued and yet contribu te much more than the tangible assets. AT&T is the most valuable brand in Texas, with a value of 45 billion (Jean, 2014). Through various strategies, they have built a great reputation and brand recognition in the United States over the century. AT&T has the exclusivity distribution of Iphone when Apple first launched them in the market. AT&T has the upper hand in terms of business negotiation and bargaining power of suppliers are low due to the AT&T’s extensive customer base and their brand. Porter (2005) argues that differentiation strategies give the firm competitive advantages against rivals. Being unique and different will also lead to higher profitability by demanding higher price. AT&T differentiates them from rivalry by highly focusing on research, development and customer-centric approach. AT&T has invested heavily in their research and development lab and they have 1300 of the world’s best scientist and engineers. AT&T’s researcher has contributed to the industry with many new inventions since 1901 and they made major technological inventions like communication satellite and solar cell that changes the way technologies work. According to Barney (1999) ‘A firm obtains valuable and rare resources because of its unique path through history, it will be able to exploit these resources in implementing value-creating strategies that cannot be duplicate by others’ and ‘A firm with scientists who are uniquely positioned to create or explo it a significant science breakthrough may obtain an imperfectly imitable resource from the history-dependent nature of these scientist’s individual human capital’. Since AT&T is a network company, research and development will be one of the most valuable resources to the firm. Besides new innovations, understanding customers’ need is equally important. Some other key development focus includes increase process automation and consolidation, improve and enhance customer experience. Ability to deliver new technology and offer alternate products and services that better suit the customer needs is the key strategy to stay ahead of competitors. AT&T is rated as the company with the best customer service experience in the industry and AT&T’s customers are the first in the industry to have e-commerce services; they are able to view their bills online and also have  added features like bill sorting by categories, request service updates and many more. Intangible assets like intellectual property, trademarks, copyrights and patents do not have an asset value, but they extremely valuable, rare, in-imitable and non-substitutable. Having heavily invested in research and development, these patents give AT&T the exclusive right to protect their innovation s. AT&T has more than 5,000 registered patents and trademarks; they have 3 patents registered averagely per day. Grant (2005) describes human resource as the productive services offered to the firms by human being through their skills, knowledge, reasoning and decision-making abilities. Besides the scientist and engineers in the AT&T Lab, AT&T has employees from a diversify background that has different potential to contribute to the organization in different business function. Continue training and education will ensure that employees will have the essential knowledge, and the capability to perform their jobs. There are a variety of training programs specially designed for the employees of all level and functions. For example, AT&T University provides leadership training to managers at different level, skills development program design from retail sales to engineers. In 2012, AT&T spent 250 million dollars for employees’ training and development and 28 million for tuition reimbursement to increase the employees’ knowledge and skills, which can in return transform into the human resource capabilities. It is very difficult to find a right candidate for the right position and it is even harder to retain talent in an organization. AT&T has one of the best compensation packages to retain talent, to increase employees’ loyalty and decrease employee turnover rate. Barney (2005) recognized that a firm’s culture is one of the most valuable resources. Culture is the work routines and how organization operates; every organization has their own mission, vision, strategies, values, beliefs and behavior. AT&T has a unique culture, they are highly focus in technology, leadership innovation, customer-centric focus, possess high integrity and believe in collaborative teamwork. Embedded capabilities are very likely part of the organization culture and AT&T’s unique culture contributes to the strategic capabilities on the firm. Both human resource and company culture are valuable resources, rare, in-imitable, and non-substitutable. Conclusion A&T is a differentiation leadership, who has superior customer service with the most reliable and fastest services; customers are willing to pay a premium price for the best provider. Their core competencies are: ability to scale the business, creation of new innovations ahead of competitors, integration of network components, integration of software components and network integration. AT&T has sustainable competitive advantages in the telecommunication industry because they possess inimitable strategic capabilities through complexity of internal and external linkage, with their achievements and past experience in the telecommunication industry, they are able to innovate and stay ahead of competitors. The organization has accumulated knowledge through both formal system and shared experience of people and they are able to integrate into organization capabilities. Due to the complexity of the resources, another firm will able to achieve sustainable competitive advantages with the same kind of resources. For example, Continental Lite tried to imitate Southwest’s budget airline, they failed and suffered heavy losses. Similar, even if Verizon have some of AT&T’s employees like the engineers, senior management, and including the same network infrastructure, Verizon will not have able to achieve competitive advantages as AT&T because they do not know the linkage of all the core competencies which will lead to failure. References AT&T (2014) Investors Relations. Available from: http://www.att.com/gen/investor-relations?pid=5711%5B [Accessed 8 June 2014] Bain, J. 1956. Barriers to New Competition. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Barney, J.B. (1991). Firm’s resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17: 99-120 Barney, J.B. (2001)‘Resource-based theories of competitive advantage: A ten-year retrospective on the resource-based view’ Journal of Management December 2001 27: 643-650, Bloomberg Businessweek (2014), AT&T Inc (T: New York). Available from: http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=T [Accessed 21 June 2014] ‘AT&T-DirectTV Merger Shows Telecom And Television Are Now The Same Business’ 2014, Forbes.Com, p. 1, Business Source Premier, EBSCO host, viewed 3 June 2014. Jean, S. (2014) Dallas News. Ranking: AT&T is the most valuable bank in Texas. Available from http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/03/ranking-att-is-the-most-valuable-brand-in-texas.html/ [Accessed 25 June 2014] Grant, R. and Jordan, J. (2012) Foundation of Strategy. 1st edn. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd Grant, R. (2005) Analyzing Resources and Capabilities. Contemporary Strategic Analysis. Volume 5 p.130-185 Kanter, R. M. 1999. From spare change to real change. Harvard Business Review 77 (3): 122–32. Lieberman M.B. Montgomery D.B (1988), â€Å"First-Mover Advantages†, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 9, 41-58 Market Watch. (2014) AT&T Inc. Available from http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/t/financials/cash-flow [Accessed: 8 June 2014] Porter, M. (M 2005) ‘Michael Porter on Str ategy’, Leadership Excellence, 22, 6, p. 14, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 23 June 2014. Porter, M. (2008) M. E. Competitive Strategy, Free Press, New York, 1980. Porter, M 2005, ‘Michael Porter on Strategy’, Leadership Excellence, 22, 6, p. 14, Business Source Premier, EBSCOhost, viewed 23 June 2014. Pew Research. (2013) Cell phone ownership hits 91% of adults [Online] Available from: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/06/06/cell-phone-ownership-hits-91-of-adults/ [Accessed: 10 June 2014] Plunket Research. (2014) Telecommunication Industry Market Reseach [Online] Available from: http://www.plunkettresearch.com/telecommunications-market-research/industry-and-business-data [Accessed: 10 June 2014] The Wall Street Journal (2014), AT&T Enhances Mobile Internet Coverage in Bud Walton Area At The University of Arkansass. Available from: http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140603-905535.html# [Accessed: 8 June 2014]

Descriptive Paper About Memphis

â€Å"THE CITY OF MEMPHIS† The city of Memphis is located in the western corner of the state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis is the biggest city in Tennessee, and the third largest in the United States. The residents of Memphis are referred to as â€Å"Memphians†, and the Memphis region is known as the â€Å"Mid-South†. Downtown Memphis sits along the banks of the Mississippi River. Several large parks are scattered throughout the city, the most popular one is called the Overton Park. Also located in downtown Memphis is the Mud Island Monorail. It is used to transport people from the streets of downtown, across the Mississippi river to Mud Island Park, which is a park that sits in the middle of the Mississippi river and is completely surrounded by water. Memphis has humid subtropical climate. The summer weather is so hot that sometimes it’s hard to catch your breath, it gets very unbearable. The fall and spring are very nice weather wise. The winters are cold but not as cold as Iowa. During the winter it may snow just enough to cover the grounds. Many musicians grew up in and around Memphis. These included such musical greats as Elvis Presley, Three 6 Mafia, Jerry Lee Lewis, Muddy Waters, Carl Perkins, W. C. Handy, B. B. King, and many more. Memphis is full of talent, It is known for everything such as singing, dancing, acting, raping, writers and athletes. Memphis has one of the nicest Triple A baseball stadiums in the country. Memphis is also known for its cultural events. The largest celebration the city has is Memphis In May. The month long series of events promotes Memphis’ heritage. The four main events are the Beale Street Music Festival, International Week, The Sunset symphony, and The World Championship Barbecue Cooking contest, which is the largest pork barbecue cooking contest in the world. In April there is an event in downtown Memphis called Africa In April. Africa in April as a three-day long festival with vendor’s markets, fashion showcases, blues showcases, and international diversity parade. The festival was designed to celebrate the arts, history, culture, and diversity of the African diaspora. Memphis is such a large city that it is broken down into small areas such as South Memphis, Whitehaven, Westwood, Orange Mound, North Memphis, and East Memphis just to name a few. Memphis is a very exciting place to live. There is always something to do or some were to go.

Airline Marketing Plan

Executive Summary 1. 0 Executive Summary Puddle Jumpers Airlines, Inc. is a new consumer airline in its formative stages. It is being organized to take advantage of a specific gap in the short-haul domestic travel market. The gap exists in low cost service out of Anytown, U. S. A. The gap in the availability of low cost service in and out of the Anytown hub coupled with the demand for passenger travel on selected routes from Anytown indicates that a new entrant airline could be expected to capture a significant portion of current air travel business at that hub. The management of Puddle Jumpers is experienced in airline start-ups. Previously management grew Private Jet Airlines from a single Boeing 727 to a fleet of 16 MD80 series aircraft. Revenues grew to $130 million in a two year period from 1992 through 1993. Our research and projections indicate that air travel to and from Anytown is sufficient to provide a new carrier with revenues of $110 million dollars in its first full year of operations, utilizing six aircraft and selected short-haul routes. These sales figures are based upon load factors of only 55% in year one. Second year revenues are expected to exceed $216 million dollars with additional aircraft and expanded routes. Load factors for year two are 62%. The Puddle Jumpers plan has the potential for a more rapid ramp-up than was the case with Private Jet due to the nature of the routes and the demand for travel currently in the targeted markets served. In short, the frequency of flights needed to serve Puddle Jumperss target market exceeds the demand that dictated Private Jets growth. These sales levels will produce net profit of just over $1 million in the first operational year and $21. 4 million dollars in flight year two. Profits in year one will be 1% of sales and will improve to 10% of sales with the economies gained in year two. The over-all operational long term profit target will be 16% of sales as net profit in years three, four, and five. The companys long term plan is part of the due diligence package. The first operational year is actually fiscal year two in this plan. The first year of formative operations will burn cash until revenue can commence. This is due to the organizational and regulatory obligations of a new air carrier. Investment activity is needed to handle the expenses of this phase of the business. The following chart illustrates the over-all highlights of our business plan over the first three years. Gross Margin here is approximately 87% of sales since the only costs included in this calculation are travel agent commissions, credit card discounts, and federal excise taxes. Travel agent commissions are calculated on 30% of sales even though management feels the actual number will not exceed 10% of sales. NOTE: For display purposes in this sample plan, numerical values in tables and charts are shown in thousands (000s). Highlights 1. 1 Objectives The Company has the following objectives: 1. To obtain required D. O. T. and F. A. A. certifications on or before March 1, 1997. 2. To commence revenue service on or before July 1, 1997. 3. To raise sufficient seed and bridge capital in a timely fashion to financially enable these objectives. 4. To commence operations with two McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 series aircraft in month one, four by end of month four, and six by end of month six. 5. To add one aircraft per month during year two for a total of 18 at year two end. 1. 2 Mission Puddle Jumpers International Airlines, Inc. has a mission to provide safe, efficient, low-cost consumer air travel service. Our service will emphasize safety as its highest priority. We will operate the newest and best maintained aircraft available. We will never skimp on maintenance in any fashion whatsoever. We will strive to operate our flights on time. We will provide friendly and courteous no frill service. 1. 3 Keys to Success The keys to success are: Obtaining the required governmental approvals. Securing financing. Experienced management. (Already in place). Marketing; either dealing with channel problems and barriers to entry; or solving problems with major advertising and promotion budgets. Targeted market share must be achieved even amidst expected competition. Product quality. Always with safety foremost. Services delivered on time, costs controlled, marketing budgets managed. There is a temptation to fix on growth at the expense of profits. Also, rapid growth will be curtailed in order to keep maintenance standards both strict and measurable. Cost control. The over-all cost per ASM (available seat mile) is pegged at 7. 0 cents or less in 1996 dollars. This ASM factor places Puddle Jumpers in a grouping of the lowest four in the airline industry within the short-haul market. (US Air, the dominate carrier in the Anytown market, averages 12. 0 cents per ASM by comparison). The only three airlines with lower operating costs also operate older and less reliable equipment, and even then the lowest short-haul cost in the airline industry is currently Southwest at 6. 43 cents per ASM. Company Summary 2. 0 Company Summary Puddle Jumpers International Airlines is being formed in July, 1996 as a South State Corporation. Its offices will be in Anytown, Georgia. The founder of Puddle Jumpers is Kenneth D. Smith. Mr. Smith has extensive experience in consumer aviation. His bio as well as the backgrounds of all the members of Puddle Jumperss management team are enclosed herein. 2. 1 Company Ownership Puddle Jumpers International Airlines, Inc. will authorize 20,000,000 shares of common stock. 1,000,000 shares are to be set aside as founders stock to be divided among key management personnel. It is also expected that management stock options will be made available to key management personnel after operations commence. It is expected that founders stock plus option stock will not total more than 15% of authorized shares. Initial seed capital is to be attracted via a convertible debenture sold by Private Placement. This round of funding will have premium conversion privileges vs. later rounds and bridge capital.

High end wedding Business Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

High end wedding Business Plan - Assignment Example The proposed business is unique in terms of meeting the needs of its clients. The proposed business firmly ensures to provide unwavering attention to its clients. The proposed business further focuses on the needs and expectations of the clients and work according to the requirements of the clients so that highest level of customer satisfaction is provided. The services of the proposed business include weddings, honeymoons, receptions, anniversary, wedding hair makeup, special event make up, musicians, entertainers and budget planning. The proposed business aims at providing the best service to each time to the clients of Houston, Texas. The objective of the proposed business is to provide top class services to clients whether it is wedding, anniversary or any other special events in order to make the experience of the clients pleasurable and memorable. Thus, the proposed business is committed towards offering services that are specially tailored according to the needs of respective couples and their families. In order to achieve the broad objectives of the proposed business, special attention will be focused upon the quality and timeliness of the services offered to the clients. The proposed business will thus, ensure that services are promptly and efficiently offered in accordance with the needs and expectations of the clients. ... The wedding industry in the United States can be recognized as an important industry that has a major impact on almost 100 other industries. The portion of contribution made by the wedding industry to the national economy is constantly increasing. Over the last few decades, the industry has witnessed significant growth in the country. However, the recent economic crisis situation in the US has dramatically influenced the growth rate of the industry. It is expected that the wedding industry in the coming years will again be able to touch new heights with rising revenue. Nonetheless, it is firmly advocated that the proposed business is required to formulate and implement suitable strategies in order to efficiently meet the rising demands of the customers. It has been ascertained that despite the recessionary situation, there has been slight increase in the number of couples getting married. It has been projected that this increasing pattern will continue in the coming years thereby pro viding significant opportunity for the wedding industry to earn and expand the proposed business. At the same time, it has been observed that the guest attending the wedding has also affected by the recession which has caused a slight reduction in their numbers. However, it is estimated that in the future years the figure shall improve. The spending of couples is also estimated to increase in the coming years. During the year 2011, it had been reported that there was slight positive shift of 1% in the total spending made by the customers in the wedding industry of the USA. At the same time, it has been ascertained that the couples in the recent times are inclined towards planed weddings as well as more couples are observed to prefer outdoor ceremonies rather than indoor

Proposal for Fish Farm in Yellow stone National Park Essay

Proposal for Fish Farm in Yellow stone National Park - Essay Example The non-native species will be advantageous in attracting more people looking to know more about the different variety of fish that exist. The fish farm set up in Yellow Stone National Park can be used for recreational purposes. A fee can be charged for anyone looking to visit the fish farm. The fee charged can differ between adults and children. However, it should not be so expensive as to deter people from visiting the farm. The fish farm management can work in collaboration with educational institutions as a way of earning money by bringing the children to visit the farm for educational purposes from time to time. In addition, the fish being reared at the farm can be sold to any prospect fish owners looking to start their own aquariums at home (Mosig, 32). The fish reared at the farm can also be sold for domestic purposes, as this can be the quickest source of income for the farmer. The workers at the fish farm need to be well trained on how best to handle the fish in order to ensure that the fish are safe for human consumption. Small shallow ponds make fish easy prey for the predators. However, most predators are less likely to venture into ponds where fish have enough room to escape or go into hiding as this makes their hunting rather difficult. It is recommended that the fish farm be large and as deep as possible, with steep sides. The recommended depth for the fish farm especially for someone looking to keep a variety of fish is of about three to four feet. In addition, it is recommended that the fish far, be strategically located at a point where one can easily view it in case predators choose to attack the fish. Netting can additionally be used to guard the fish farm, especially during the night when the predators are most active. It can also be used during spring and fall since most animals are most active during these seasons. Alarms that can detect animal movement can be set up around the farm with

Internet Technology and Social Media Solutions for Business Essay

Internet Technology and Social Media Solutions for Business - Essay Example Internet and Social Media have brought a revolution to the business world in the ‎recent past and proved to be an efficient online mode to imply various marketing strategies for ‎enhancing new business developments. Nearly all forms of businesses attained sustainability, ‎visibility and brand attention to nominal face with such online marketing tool over the years. This ‎platform gives up-to-date knowledge of any services or products, enhances online traffic and ‎create sound awareness (Norman 25).‎ There is a number of effective social media networks like YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, ‎various blogs and Twitter available to facilitate the online business activities for building state of the art ‎solid customer base. This could be carried out by effectively marketing and advertising the ‎products through the adoption of interactive plans and strategies, for instance conducting online ‎polls, webinars, contests and e-books etc. The most important factor for online business through ‎social media is the engagement of accurate target audience so that the customers remain loyal to ‎respective brands or services for longer period of time.‎ Social Media’s Benefits to Business There are countless benefits of conducting business through an effective use of ‎technological internet tools. ... It also brings ?new job openings worldwide which tends to decrease the unemployment rate. The marketing ?tool also brings new investment to the business which is the best way to grow. It totally depends upon the way social media is used for business. It can be used for obtaining several objectives. Most ?common foreseeable objectives include fresh business contact, search new potential clients, ?obtaining prompt feedback, suggestion and positive criticism from the customers, conduct online ?marketing research and so on and so forth (Norman 54).? Internet and Social Media’s Applications in Business: ? †¢ It could be essentially import for gaining sizable profits in business through effective online ?marketing and publicity.? †¢ The medium of marketing could marginalize all hurdles in the business and put on the path of ?success.? †¢ It could identify target respondents of the products and services to build loyal and long term ?relationship with the clients.? â₠¬ ¢ A type of bonding is formed between buyers and sellers through social media.? †¢ It also tends to make new contact with different communities around the world of identical ?interests.? †¢ Experiences are shared with eventually lead towards building high credibility.? †¢ Through all time interaction, a consultation and advice can be given without any hidden cost.? †¢ Social Media creates a pool of like-minded people and builds strong ties for business prospective. ? †¢ It also helps to evaluate the weaknesses along with the competitor’s strategies (Stephen, 2011).? Evaluation of Business through Different Social Media and Internet Tools This paragraph clearly indicates the results which recently obtained by the companies using

Nationhood and Nationalism in Henry V Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nationhood and Nationalism in Henry V - Essay Example The literary work is about a king with a common touch in a war situation in which the French greatly outnumbered the English. It depicts a king who is a great war time leader, who, during war, exhibits patriotism - Henry V. Nationalism comes to the fore during wartime, in which participants are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice - giving one's life to one's country. Henry V is all about English nationalism, its very own diversity of love for country and fighting for its glory. Henry V, told entirely from the English point of view, is an almost complete study of the war with France in 1400s, in which the first part looks at the causes of the war, the preparation for it, and the people on the English side. England, led by Henry V was fighting an aggressive war against France for certain territories it wanted to obtain on its side, and staging such war with such intention was the very essence of this English nationalism in this period. During the time of which Henry V lived and reigned, dominant countries like England staged and fought aggressive wars in order to further a certain purpose and sacrificed lives of men to this end. The play's theatrical elements convey a political act, while theatrical interventions are traced in its substantial introduction into conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to Vietnam and the Falklands.2 Henry V is an epic of English nationalism, considered a knowing and cynical piece of power politics to which its nationalism is primari ly based. One might argue that nationalism and power politics cannot go together, but the very essence of the literature on Henry V shows this distinct character of English nationalism in 1600s. The invasion of territory in order to herald a country as glorious and powerful is what characterised Henry V's nationalism. This nationalism was undertaken by Henry V as a king of the English throne, reaping victories for Her, and Her alone. Due to the emergence of international organizations and laws regarding warship, such the United Nations, today's purpose and conduct of fighting a war have long left the kinds that Henry V launched and fought. Hence, such war depicted in the epic seems to be confined only in movies nowadays, made into an entertainment or a historical saga. The Hollywood uses it as a film genre that expects to target a general patronage and show a historical drama and/or a documentary film, which learning institutions might use for visual aid in literature. Hollywood might be using it also as a heritage film, depicting the previous century in which England was often in a nostalgic approach, such as filming Shakespeare plays like this one and using splendid landscapes.3 They have been criticized for presenting 'heritage' in the background, such as presenting a stately home in the background and using this genre as both a marketable commodity and a romanticized portrayal of the past. 4 However, as pointed out a while ago, Henry V is not in any way an expose' of Hollywood fiction, but is rather a paean to English nationalism, amidst an almost power politics involved in the intent of staging the war. It is based on the life of King Henry V of England, focusing on the events following the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War. Shakespeare was able to convey truthfully the events that transpired in

Short Essay - Drugs Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Short - Drugs - Essay Example It has been suggested, and in some cases demonstrated, that legalizing or at least decriminalizing less harmful drugs, such as marijuana, can help to reduce the violence, significantly decrease the numbers of people incarcerated for drug use, allow more individuals to remain a contributing member of society and free up funds and manpower to combat against more harmful substances. Although marijuana was included as a restricted substance as early as 1937, there has never been sufficient evidence to support claims that the drug causes widespread violence and destruction all by itself. â€Å"There never was any scholarly evidence that the [anti-drug] laws were necessary, or even beneficial, to public health and safety and none was presented when the laws were passed.† (Schaffer). With the number of Vietnam vets returning from war addicted to narcotics, President Nixon officially declared the opening of the War on Drugs in 1971, primarily directed against heroin addiction. The positive effects that were seen coming out of this early stage in the anti-drug movement has been attributed to the fact that a larger proportion of the funding available for this struggle was directed toward treatment, rather than law enforcement. (Thirty Years, 2006). Throughout these early years, marijuana was seen as a low-level drug until a group of mothers, concerned at findin g marijuana at a 13-year-old’s party, founded the Families in Action anti-drug group in 1976. The movement gained strength and direction under President Reagan in 1981 after the drug cartels in Colombia had violently made their presence known in Miami. While Nancy Reagan’s â€Å"Just Say No to Drugs† campaign included marijuana as one of the drugs to avoid, the focus of the war on drugs remained targeted on cocaine as the cartels gained increasing power and organization. The focus was finally turned to marijuana smugglers

Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Report - Essay Example It also plays its fair portion in UK’s violence and crime too. Therefore, understanding football culture in Britain is a sure way to understand the British culture and a fitting approach to recognize the significance of a sport to a country, especially with the 2018 World cup and London Olympic 2012 in site. The purpose of this report is therefore to understand how the football culture has influenced the society of Britain and British people. England is considered as the ‘mother of football’. This is not surprising when considering the fact that the world’s oldest association football club (Sheffield F. C.), the oldest national football governing body (The Football Association), the first National football team and the oldest national football league (The Football League) have all raised in England There are many football clubs in UK at national, regional and local levels and all the home nations (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish) have separate teams and domestic competitions. Currently, the Premier League, UK’s topmost domestic league, is one of the wealthiest and most popular sports league in the world (Football in England, 2011). British football fans consider playing football as a social event and will travel greater distances to participate in their favored sport, made more enjoyable with an occasional visit to a pub before and after the game and meeting old friends. They may also have a sentimental attachment to the location or the ground where the game is played. The high ticketing costs of the Premier League matches have not discouraged the loyal fans away from their beloved sport and as reported by Guilinotti (2005), ‘some estimates value soccer- related business at over ? 250 billion in 2003’ Rise of the future football talents are encouraged by means of football scholarships given by universities, colleges and charitable trusts (eg. Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, Youth Sport Trust) and children of all ages play football in UK and get trained in football clubs. All these factors points to the fact that football is an important issue in cultural, social and economical aspects of Britain. Why the sport football happen to be a great event in Britain? That is because this game has been able to interwoven into the British culture as no other game could. There are British football magazines and papers, television and radio channels competing with each other to provide the British people with latest football news and events, it is in arts, music, films and books and there are many football souvenirs like shirts and caps and even sticker books for children. Talented football players have become role models, especially to young children. Football has the capacity to change people’s mood, according to the victory or defeat of their supporting team. No other sport has this level of influence upon the British society or the people in UK. The football culture is the cultural aspect s surrounding the game of association football. Thus, it is worthwhile to discuss the manner in which this simple game has diffused into the British culture, its people and their lives. Generally, ‘culture’ is defined as a set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or a group (Culture, 2011) and ‘Culture of UK’ refers to the patterns of human activity and symbolism associated with UK and its people (Culture of the United Kingdom, 2011) ). Presence

Philadelphia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Philadelphia - Essay Example During the Gettysburg Campaign of 1863, numerous other battles were fought in Pennsylvania. A cavalry raid 1864 ended with the flattening of Chambersburg. The Confederate States Army occupied the city of York, which was the largest city in the North they had occupied. Pennsylvania also contributed quite a number of generals and politicians during the war; some of them include George G. Meade who was the victor of Gettysburg, Winfield S. Hancock, Simon Cameron John F. Reynolds and Thaddeus Stevens who among the Radical Republicans was prominent and outspoken(Wikipedia, n.d., para. 4). Ways in which the commemoration of the civil war can be carried out would be at the Gettysburg National Military Park. Here there can be rangers to stage a living history camp with demonstrations and programs for adults and children. There can be battalions of both Union and Confederate forces complete with artillery. Re-enactors can gather so as to reflect the actual history with all the features such as battle re-enactments, demonstrations and encampments, civilian interpreters and horses and cannons. one event that could be a highlight of the event would be a ceremony to commemorate the †Gettysburg Address† by Abraham Lincolnat the Soldier’s National Cemetery. There can be events at Harrisburg which is just a short stretch from Gettysburg where we have The State Museum of Pennsylvania. This contains collections which before had been displayed at the Civil War Road-show that has now been retired. Also contained in the museum is the infamous epic painting by Peter Frederick Rothermel â€Å"Battle of Gettysburg: Picket’s Charge†. It also contains a collection of swords used during the Civil War acquired recently which are objects linked with The United States Colored Troops (Klein, 1980). The National Civil War Museum, also located in Philadelphia, contains rare artefacts and archived pieces from the South and North with recent sesquicentennial

Child Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Essay Example for Free

Child Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Essay CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study The Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography to the Convention on the Rights of the Child defines child prostitution as a commercial sexual exploitation of children whereby a child sells his or her body for sexual activities in return for remuneration or any other form of benefit provided to the prostitute or to another person (United Nations General Assembly, 2000). According to worldwide estimations by the International Labor Organization, out of the 12. 3 million people victim to forced labor, 1.39 million are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, 40-50% of who are children (ILO, 2004). Nowadays, we have an increasing rate of child prostitution that is still considered as the worst form of child labor in Asia. UNICEF estimates that 1 million children are lured into sex trade in Asia every year. These children are exploited by local men and foreign tourists having an average of 5 to 10 clients per day, generating $5 billion per year wherein 40% were sold by parents and 15% by their relatives (Willis, 2002). Japan and South Korea had been two of many Asian countries that currently face the problem of child prostitution. Together with its increasing trend, countries like Japan and Korea have been continually making its effort in solving this problem with a common goal in reducing and in a long run eliminate commercial sexual exploitation of children to protect their rights, welfare and create a better future for upcoming generatio ns. 1.2 Statement of the Problem This study is a comparative analysis on child prostitution in Japan and South Korea. This will provide data on the causes and forms of child prostitution within these countries and the laws and protocols implemented in both countries to fight against child prostitution. Moreover, this paper gears to answer some core questions: 1. What are the primary causes of child prostitution in Japan and South Korea? 2. What are the different forms of child prostitution in Japan and South Korea? 3. What are the laws and protocols signed in solution to fight against child prostitution in Japan and South Korea? Was it able to address the problems regarding child prostitution? 1.3Significance of the Study This study will give way for the analysis in  the difference on the condition of child prostitution in Japan and South Korea. In addition to that this would be able to differentiate how Japan and South Korea face this common problem of child prostitution that in turn will lay an overview of the prevalent obstacle almost all of the countries is facing and battling nowadays. This would lead to the identification of several factors that makes child prostitution very prevalent these days that is very important to be able to address these issues to secure children’s rights and welfare. This would identify specific actions and efforts of the government in both countries to solve child prostitution issues in their respective places that would somehow extend some concern towards the identification of important factors that is needed to be considered in solving this particular dilemma not only in the studied places but also to other countries as well. This study aims to lay possible strategies that must be implemented in other countries to solve this current problem regarding child prostitution. 1.4 Scope and Limitations of the Study The researcher aspire to have a comparative analysis of child prostitution in Japan and South Korea as a requirement on Political Science 60- Introduction to Comparative Government and Politics under Prof. Marilou F. Siton-N anaman and the Department of Political Science, Mindanao State University-Institute of Technology. This paper limits its study within the countries mentioned and this study is set to answer the ahead mentioned core questions pertaining to both countries involved. The study underwent a month of data gathering using books, newspaper and reliable internet sources such as e-books. Online sources for data were primarily used. 1.5Conceptual FrameworkCHILD PROSTITUTION JAPAN SOUTH KOREA CAUSES CAUSES FORMS FORMS LAWS LAWS IMPLEMENTATION IMPLEMENTATION EFFECTS EFFECTS Figure 1 – Conceptual Diagram of Child Prostitution in Japan and South Korea  Child prostitution in countries like Japan and South Korea are caused by several major factors that make it more prevalent these days. In order to take action with the said dilemma, the identification of the forms of child prostitution is very vital in order to formulate and develop laws that would identify grounds and address cases that violate the rights of the children. Through proper implementation of these laws child prostitution are being reduced to secure children’s welfare and rights. 1.6 Operational Definition of Terms Prostitution- the act or practice of engaging in promiscuous sexual relations especially for money or other benefits  Remuneration- payment or compensation received for services or employment  Sexual Exploitation- the use of a child for sexual purposes in exchange for cash or in-kind favors between a customer, intermediary or agent and others who profit from the trade in children for these purposes—parent, family member, procurer, teacher Forced Labor- is any work or services which people are forced to do against their will under the threat of some form punishment. CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE In this chapter, related studies and previous works pertaining to child prostitution in countries that discusses relevant major information related  to the comparative study of Japan and South Korea are discussed. The demand for sex drives child sex trafficking globally, while poverty, domestic violence and abuse, discrimination and the desire for a better life make children vulnerable. Children are especially vulnerable to being trafficked because they are often poorly educated, easy to overpower and easy to convince that they must do what an adult tells them to do. Children may also be in a position where they believe they must help to support their families and may be sold or sent abroad by family members to do so. Street children, children in refugee camps, children whose family and community life has been disrupted and do not have someone to look out for them are all especially vulnerable to human trafficking and prone to sex labor (http://ecpat.net/EI/Publications/Trafficking/Factsheet_South_Korea.pdf) Date Accessed: October13, 2011. According to the study conducted by the International Labor Organization through its Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children Programs in Thailand, Philippines, Colombia , Costa Rica and Nicaragua in 2001 that poverty is one contributing factor to the sexual exploitation of children and that is an increasing reality in both Latin America and Asia (ILO_IPEC, 2001). A series of Asian economic crises in the closing years of the 20th century have had a clear impact on the numbers of children being exploited both for labor in general and sexual exploitation in particular. Children living or working on the streets, young domestic workers and child workers in sweatshops and transportation sector—all â€Å"placed† in these vulnerable situations as a multi-faceted response to poverty – are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. In many countries including Thailand and Philippines, the movement of children from villages and rural areas to cities in the guise of earning money for the family is a major factor in trafficking and sexual exploitation (Thematic Evaluation on Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children, 2001). ILO-IPEC research report of August 1999 indicated that there was an increase of 20 percent in the number of minors working in prostitution in Thailand between January 1998 and January 1999. This coincides with the aftermath of the economic crises in Thailand (International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour,2001). This report has already touched the importance of trying to develop  qualitative indicators and impact measures for the specific needs of evaluating trafficking and sex exploitation-related programming. Child prostitution and pornography is viewed as an increasing serious problem in Japan. Shihoko Fujiwara, representative of Polaris Project Japan, a nonprofit organization that provides support to children and women who are victims of sexual abuse and trafficking, stated that child pornography and child prostitution cases detected in Japan exceeds 5,000 annually, and the number is rising year by year. One of the reasons for the increase,† she said, â€Å"is that a growing number of children have become involved in the business through the widespread use of the Internet† (Shimbun, 2010). In 1998, Interpol estimated that nearly 80% of the worlds Internet-based child pornography websites originated in Japan. Although the Japanese government passed legislation in 1999 that effectively cracked down on child pornography providers, Japan continues to be a major producer and patron of child sex tourism. In a recent press conference to announce the release of the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report which analyzes human trafficking worldwide and documents governments’ responses to it, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Director John Miller both expressed their particular disappointment with Japan – a country which, despite the immense resources available to it, was failing to take appropriate steps to end child sex tourism and other forms of human exploitation. As one of the largest economies in the world, Director Miller censured, Japan’s lackluster response is impermissible: â€Å"Japan does not comply with the minimum standards. We believe that there has been a tremendous gap in Japan that has a huge problem with slavery particularly sex slavery a tremendous gap between the size of the problem and the resources and efforts devoted to addressing the problem (Jordan,2004).† The Trafficking in Persons Report of 2010 indicates that the men of South Korea create demand for child sex tourism in their surrounding countries. Technology such as the internet has helped increase accessibility of child sex tourism in the Republic of Korea. Some South Korean men arrange for children from the Philippines, Thailand, and China as sources of sex (Trafficking in Persons Report, 2010). Prostitution in South Korea is a strictly controlled illegal industry, but according to The Korea Womens  development Institute, the sex trade in Korea was estimated to amount to 14 trillion Korean won ($13 billion) in 2007, roughly 1.6 percent of the nationsgross domestic product. The number of prostitutes dropped by 18 percent to 269,000 during the same period. The sex trade involved some 94 million transactions in 2007, down from 170 million in 2002. The amount of money traded for prostitution was over 14 trillion won, much less than 24 trillion won in 2002 (Prostitution in South Korea, 2010). In 2003, the Korean Institute of Criminology announced that 260,000 women, or 1 of 25 of young Korean women, may be engaged in the sex industry. However, the Korean Feminist Association alleged that from 514,000 to 1.2 million Korean women participate in the prostitution industry. In addition, a similar report by the Institute noted that 20% of men in their 20s pay for sex at least four times a month, with 358,000 visiting prostitutes daily (Stiephensoun, 2010). CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter summarizes and explains the methods used in the research which includes its design, setting and treatment of data.  3.1Research Design The research design used for this study is the descriptive-comparative design. The researcher employed a descriptive type of research using books and reliable online sources. This paper also employs a comparative analysis between the two countries being studied. 3.2Research Setting This comparative analysis study focuses in two countries namely: Japan and South Korea. Both countries are located in Asia. The two countries have certain distinction in economic status but both are considered as two of the countries in Asia that has a high rate of child prostitution. Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People’s Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The country is of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are HonshÃ… «, HokkaidÃ… , KyÃ… «shÃ… « and Shikoku. Japan has the world’s tenth-largest population, with about 127 million people. South Korea is located on the southern half of the Korean peninsula and lies in a temperate climate region with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It is neighbor to China to the west, Japan to the east and North Korea to the north. Its capital, Seoul, is the second largest metropolitan city in the world. South Korea has a population of over 48 million, making it the third most densely populated country in the world after Bangladesh and Taiwan. 3.3 Data Gathering Procedures The method used in data gathering was mainly book searching and online surfing. The data being gathered by the researcher are books with ISBN, books in PDF form with an author and websites form the internet, published on 2000-2011. Research was done from the month of July 2011-August 2012. 3.4 Treatment of Data The researcher purely gathered data from printed books, pdfs, e-books and online source. This research paper is a comparative study, has a qualitative presentation of data and descriptive type of analysis. CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS This chapter will discuss the condition of child prostitution problem in Japan and South Korea, identify and differentiate the strategies they are using to address and solve this problem. Furthermore, this chapter attempts to stress some analysis on child prostitution of the ahead mentioned countries. The discussions will be classified according to certain topics. 4.1Primary Causes of Child prostitution The principal cause of child prostitution is poverty, however extreme poverty isn’t a reason in itself, it operates in function of the imposition of other factors such as; economic, social and ethnic despair, discrimination against women and girls, massive urbanization, disintegration of the family and of traditional community systems, ignorance on the part of the majority of parents, commercialization of the status of individuals and more (How to fight the prostitution of minors, 2001). Japan, known to be one of the most developed  countries is a destination place for traffi cking women and children for sexual purposes. Children from Latin America, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are being transported to Japan to work as sex slaves (http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/japan) July 29,2011. In the other side, South Korea has also become a source, transit and destination country for women trafficked for sexual purposes from China, the Philippines, Russia and Thailand; it also experiences internal trafficking of Korean children. South Korean children are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Western Europe (Lee, 2005). Poverty is being identified as one of the major factors of child prostitution between countries. Japan and South Korea, both being considered as developed countries was more of being receiving regions in terms of child prostitution. Children mainly females mostly from neighboring developing countries such as Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and etc. are being brought to Japan to work in different entertainment bars. A very common factor other than poverty that makes child prostitution prevalent nowadays is the presence of internet which is very accessible anywhere and anytime. Thousand of sites catering sexual services from women and children are found to be growing rapidly creating a very harmful dynamic industry that contributes to the big problem both countries are facing. 4.2Different Forms of Child prostitution In Japan, matchmaking or dating websites have become a well-known channel for commercial sexual exploitation of children in Japan. Many underage Japanese schoolgirls fall prey to ‘enjokosai’ (‘compensated dating’) by using ‘deaikei’ websites: through which they can make their contact details available, and use pagers, computers and mobile phones to arrange ‘dates’ with customers who are older and often married. Research has shown that many such girls do not engage in ‘enjokosai’ out of poverty, but rather to be able to purchase brand name clothes, bags, shoes, mobile phones, etc., which, according to them, boosts their self-esteem. They often come from dysfunctional families or experience problems at school (Liddy,2006). The form of child prostitution in Japan differs from that found in other East Asian countries since poverty is not  only the overriding factor. Child pornography is a notable problem. Japan is the most biggest producer of pornography in the world and the Parliament had refused a law banning the production of child pornography, citing â€Å"business reasons† (Antaseeda,1998). According to the Asia Pacific Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in Asia in 1996 the sex industry accounts for 1% of the Gross National Product and equals the defense budget in Japan. If matchmaking and pornographic websites are proven to be popular in Japan, in South Korea Saunas and Tea Houses are the main places of child prostitution. Serious intention to solve child prostitution should have banned all the pornographic sites and matchmaking dating sites long time ago. Conducting symposiums to teachers and parents in order to monitor the daily internet content their child or student had been grasping is a must. They could filter those sites with sexually suggestive content. Entertainment bars, saunas and tea houses that cater sex trade should be raided regularly by assigned proper government agencies. The biggest problem is that the business men that run this sex trade around the country are also the people behind the powerful illegal groups within Japan and South Korea. Even regular government police should be active enough to know and act when they notice something illegal going on when they do rounds on places at night. There are many ways to solve child prostitution; it just has to entail sincerity in implementation and consistency in acting against the problem. 4.3Laws and Protocols to fight Child prostitution In Japan, Law Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and for Protecting Children and its Supplementary Provision, 1999, 90 revised in 2004.Articles 4 to 7 punish acts related to child prostitution and child pornography. Trafficking of children for prostitution or pornography is punished under Article 8 with one to ten years’ imprisonment (Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in Japan,1999). In 2006, the Internet Association Japan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, the National Police Agency and information technology (IT) experts collaborated to draft guidelines on operating a hotline. The Internet Hotline Centre provides the public the opportunity to report illegal or harmful information found on the internet (Internet Association Japan, 2006). Japanese law now prohibits engaging in, facilitating, and/or soliciting the prostitution of a child; consistent with international law, a child is defined as a person under 18 years o f age.(Law on Punishing Acts related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and on Protecting Children, 1999). According to the 2003 Deai Kei Site Regulation Law,40 minors are prohibited from accessing ‘deai-kei’ websites (matchmaking websites that facilitate prostitution of children), however no penalties apply. The adults who send communications for this purpose are fined, up to one million yen (approx. US$8,550). Children are usually referred to a Family Court for counselling and protective measures, according to the provisions of the Juvenile Law. After the Deai Kei Site Regulation Law was enacted, access to the ‘deai-kei’ websites and obvious calls for compensated dating, especially those made by children, were drastically reduced for a while; but more disguised soliciting calls have appeared since (Ikemura,2005). A Cybercrime Task Force division was established in 2004 to improve action against online child pornography and online crime. Working in cooperation with the Office for Juvenile Protection, the Task Force acts as the contact point for international cooperation, advises the local police on investigations, prepares draft laws/amendments and policies on information technologies security and raises public awareness on the issue (National Police Agency of Japan,2005). In Korea, child protection issues are handled by the National Youth Commission, which has set up a number of committees to coordinate action against CSEC( Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children), comprising both government agencies and NGOs. An example is the Committee on Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children. In South Korea, many NGOs working on children’s rights rely on state funding to operate and their financial dependence on the government has prevented them from engaging in a more critical dialogue regarding the actions that need to be taken. In 2004, The South Korean government passed an anti-prostitution law, prohibition of prostitution in South Korea, made it illegal to buy or sell women. South Korea brought in a tough anti-prostitution law in 2004, punishing clients with fines and throwing pimps in prison. In 2007, courts prosecuted 35,000 clients, 2.5 times higher than the number of those who were caught buying sex in 2003 (Stiephensoun, 2010). South Korea developed a National Plan of Action on  Children, which is part of the Five-Year Social and Economic Development Plan (1998–2002)12 and the Five-Year Basic Plan forYouth Protection (2002–2006), which tackles crimes against children, including commercial sexual exploitation(National Youth Commission,2005). In March 2004, the Task Force for the Elimination of Prostitution completed the Sex Trafficking Prevention Plan, which includes measures to protect the rights of victims of forced prostitution and to tackle, through various routes, the facilitation of prostitution (for instance, through the use of the Internet and mobile phones). The Task Force introduced the‘John School’ system, where men who have solicited prostitutes (or are suspected of having done so) participate in rehabilitation programmes instead of receiving a criminal sentence (Jeong, Bong-Hyup,2005). The Illegal and Harmful Contents Report Centre – an independent legal institution that deliberates on reported illegal and harmful Internet content – cooperates with the National Police Agency, National Youth Commission, NGOs, Internet service providers and foreign organizations (Internet 119 Website, 2005). The Republic of Korea ratified the Act on Protection of Youth from Sexual Exploitation. This law defines â€Å"youth exploited obscene materials† as forms of pictures, such as film images, video, computer, or other communications media â€Å"with the appearance of youth,† and including sexual acts (The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,2006) Both countries have successfully formulated series of laws and protocols in order to act against rampant child prostitution. Japan and South Korea together with its government and non-governmental offices conducted successful conferences in order to draft laws that would possibly cure the problem on child prostitution. Looking into the deeper perspective, identifying the problem and formulating a plan on how to solve a certain social and economic issue are only the first steps to the real fight against child prostitution. Even a particular country formulated thousands of polices for a social or economic problem, if none of those polices or laws was implemented in an effective way then it would waste the whole effort laid to create those policies. Hence, the success of formulated laws depends not on the number of laws being formulated but on how it is truly and effectively implemented and the effects on those policies in a certain  country or society. Japan made its serious efforts of trying to eradicate child prostitution by raising public awareness by having symposiums and local and international conferences. Japan shared information and developed practical regional measures through the Bali Process, and hosted â€Å"The International Symposium on Measures to Prevent the Commercial and Sexual Exploitation of Children in Southeast Asia† in 2003 and many more. Japan integrated international cooperation by supporting projects under the United Nations that includes having such interagency collaborations and institutional arrangements with government organizations like the National Police Agency and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conducting investigations and took administrative measures for them to more effectively trac e illegal groups that runs bars and entertainment businesses on child prostitution. Japan also stressed out the protection of child prostitution victims by conducting a specific program which gives them shelter and protection. Government organizations contact private shelter to cater the needs of the victims and the government communicates with the country and return these victims to safe return in their respective areas (Paredes-Maceda,2006). By the end of 2008, the Government of Japan had demonstrated increasing commitment to take effective action against trafficking and child prostitution in Japan as a destination country. A watershed was the adoption in December 2008 of the National Plan of Action against Trafficking and Child prostitution. Other announced measures, including the tightening of visa controls and support for the repatriation of victims, may also lead to more controls against trafficking and child prostitution and to improved protection and rehabilitation of victims in their countries of origin (Jordan,2008). According to the CATW Fact Book, Kyodo News in 1998 trafficking and child prostitution laws exist but not enforced. In South Korea, government and non-government organizations as well went hand in hand in banning as much as possible all the pornographic sites. Even sites with suggestive content were banned. Though as recently as 2001 the government received low marks on the issue, in recent years the government has made significant strides in its enforcement efforts. Child trafficking was outlawed and penalties for prostitution increased; the 2004 Act on the Prevention of the Sex Trade and Protection of its Victims was passed,  toughening penalties for traffickers, ending deportation of victims, and establishing a number of shelters for victims. As of 2005, there were 144 people serving jail time for human trafficking (Scofield, 2004). Japan and Korea extended its efforts in solving child prostitution by collaborating through international organizations like the United Nations, as well as local governmental and nongovernmental agencies, but there had been a great discrepancy in the number of arrested individuals compared to the number of people that truly engages to the sex industry. The number of people that engages to child prostitution in Japan alone from entertainment bars, matchmaking websites to porn sites are counted as more than a hundred thousand employers with illegal child victims yet the number of individuals that are caught every year was only a little more than a hundred often times little less than a hundred, that also goes in Korea, there are a lot of people that is involve in child prostitution but the number of imprisoned employers are far little compared to the original number of involve individuals in child prostitution. In addition to that, as mentioned above Japan may have formulated laws and policies but it is rather suggested than imposed. It means whether the citizens follow or not the said law they wouldn’t be directly responsible for it, thus, the laws wouldn’t serve its ultimate purpose on solving the problem of child prostitution. Based on the gathered data, the two countries differed on the level of how they implement laws. Korea is observed to be more empowered and strict in implementing laws against child prostitution. Meanwhile, Japan also considers a lot of factors in implementing the laws. Japan is known to promote more the idea of growing population in solution to its current trend of decreasing population within years. Hence, as a realization we must take into consideration first wider contributing factors on looking how a country face and manage certain problems. Both countries successfully decreased the rate of child prostitution within years with its respective programs and policies. They have enforced laws and strategies that is designed not only to solve a particular problem but also to consider other related factors. CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1CONCLUSIONS As shown by the data and information gathered, it shows that the main root of child prostitution in Japan and South Korea is poverty that leads to unavailability of quality education for children and the urge to work in order to provide their own families daily income for basic necessities in everyday living. In both countries, Japan and South Korea, children were taken from different countries like Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Russia, China and other countries to work on the sex trade industry. Most of them are illegally trafficked from different neighboring countries in order to seek work. The wide use of internet also is a considered as a growing concern in dealing with child prostitution. There are different forms of child prostitution; from pornographic sites and matchmaking sites, child pornography, exploitation through saunas, tea houses and entertainment bars. In Japan and South Korea, there are a lot of laws formulated and signed in order to battle against the problem re garding child prostitution. Governments collaborated with international organizations such as the United Nations as well as nongovernmental and governmental local offices to effectively implement the laws created that would solve the problem regarding child prostitution. Japan and South Korea differs on the level on implementation on their policies. In Japan, the formulated laws are more suggested than imposed; while in South Korea they observe stricter rules and limitations entailed with higher penalties and responsibilities. Since South Korea was able to more effectively implement their policies compared to Japan their rate for child prostitution through years is going lower than of Japan. It might not solve immediately the problem regarding child prostitution but both countries had been successful in lowering their rates in child prostitution. Looking into the deeper perspective, efforts to eliminate child prostitution must entail proper implementation and assessment to provide an accurate picture of the situation so that effective policies and programs can be developed and appropriate solutions be enforced. In the other side, eliminating child prostitution may not solve the problem but may also lead to a more big dilemma as children may transfer to other activities that are just as harmful or perhaps more harmful work condition in order to still seek ways for living to be able to provide their own families basic necessities. 5.2Recommendations Having known through this study that proper implementation of laws plays a big role for a success  of a policy. The researcher would like to open some points for further study regarding with more appropriate laws be formulated in order to protect the interests and welfare of poor children who are always the victim of sex labor and also give way for a better procedure and methods in implementing such formulated laws for it to serve its ultimate purpose and since poverty is seen in this study as the primary cause of child prostitution the researcher would like to further suggest of creating or formulating programs in where the children or the youth would be appropriately given the equal chance to be given quality education for them to be informed with their own rights to avoid abuse. They should implement enforcement to continue to improve efforts against child trafficking, especially to strengthen their ability to identify child victims of trafficking in sexual exploitation and ensure investigation and prosecution of traffickers. Provide training to law enforcement, prosecutors and judges on th e issue of commercial sexual exploitation. Hence, there would be a need to conduct further researches on child trafficking for sexual purposes to identify the scope of the problem, current trends and provide information on traffickers and at-risk groups or victims this information will strengthen prevention and awareness. In addition, data collected should be disaggregated between children and adults and must include information on the child’s age, nationality and possible background information. The Agenda for Action against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children provides a detailed framework and categories of actions to be taken by governments in partnership with civil society organizations and other relevant actors for combating commercial sexual crimes against children. Broadly, these actions are focused on: 1) Coordination and Cooperation; 2) Prevention; 3) Protection; 4) Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reintegration; and 5) Child Participation. The Agenda for Action is thus the formal and guiding structure used by governments that have adopted it and committed to work against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (National Women’s Education Centre, 2005). Consequently, child prostitution may be reduced if there would be changes in economic development that would raise family incomes and living standards, every state as much as possible must provide widespread, affordable, required and relevant education, formulation and proper implementation of anti- child prostitution laws and most of all the need to change the public attitude  toward children that would elevate the view on the importance of educating the youth and giving also the importance of their individual rights for future generations to come.

Influence on the General Motors Corporation Essay Example for Free

Influence on the General Motors Corporation Essay This report analyzes the primary internal and external influence on the General Motors Corporation and the influence of changing political environment on policy making and response of the corporation. Then the report discusses the changing political environment in and its influence. The influences of political environment on policies and decision making to the corporation are analyzed. The corporation response to the political environment changing is critically evaluated. At last, some improvement suggestion for the corporation in the response of the changing political environment is demonstrated. IntroductionGeneral Motors Corporation is the largest automobile manufactures in the world. The corporation, which is located in Detroit, employs more than 260 millions people and sells cars and trucks in about 35 countries. The corporation has a dominant influence in automobile market in the United States and other developed market such as the United Kingdom, Canada and so on. The corporation also enjoys a large market share in the rapid growing market of developing countries such as China and Brazil. However, the corporation is in face of changing internal and external environment. Discussion and AnalysisIn the first part of the report, the primary internal and external influence is analyzed following the SWOT Matrix, which is a modern tool for analysis of internal and external environment. In the SWOT Matrix, the S stands for strengths, W for weaknesses, O for opportunities, and T for threats. The strengths and weaknesses are the analysis of internal influence while the opportunities and threats stand for the influence of external environments. In the following part of the report, the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that have influence of the organization is discussed one by one. Internal influence: Strengths This section analyzes the internal strengths of the corporation. The General Motors are rich in brands and product lines. The General Motors Corporation acquired and mergers many brands and auto companies in the early stage of its history. The General Motors Corporation acquired Buick and Oldsmobile after it is founded. Then it brought Cadillac, Elmore and Oakland and so on. As a result, the corporation owns many brands  which are fit for different segmented markets. Comparing to Fords only providing black Model T cars in the early years the General Motors Corporation provides various models, colors and brands for different markets. For example, the practical and economical Chevrolet are designed for entry level consumers, the Buick are make for middle class buyer and luxury Cadillac for high end consumers. (Warell, 2008) The advantage of multi brands strategy is to satisfy the needs and wants of different group of consumers to enter more segmented markets. The multi brands make GM a giant automaker and enjoys large market share. The General Motors Corporation has the strength that it governs the advance technology and has an influencing power in the distribution channel. The General Motors Corporation has developed for a century since it is founded in 1908. During the time, the technology and channel influence is accumulating and increasing. The technology is of great importance in the motor industry, but the technology accumulating needs a long period. The General Motors Corporation now governs the advanced technology that it can make more sophisticated automobiles which are more durable, more safety, and have a rapider speed. On the other hand, the General Motors Corporation has a dominant power in the distribution channel. The General Motors Corporation has been the top automobile manufacturer for a long time accordingly it has a strong bargaining power in the distribution channel. The corporation can distribute it product in the United States and all around the world. The technology and distribution chan nel can be a great assistant in the further development of the organization. Internal influence: Weaknesses This section analyzes the internal weaknesses of the corporation. One of the most significant weaknesses is that the cost of production is too high. The Japanese automakers such as Toyota are dangerous competitors for the General Motors Corporation and the have scrambled for quite a large part of market shares if the GM in America and the global markets. The Japanese competitors cut down the cost tremendously by lean production. However, the production cost is still high in the General Motors Corporation. And the inefficiency of production cause the high price of its automobiles and the market share shrinks accordingly.  (Coffey, 2005) Especially in face of the financial crisis, the General Motors Corporation has much to learn form lean production to cut down its production prices. The bureaucratic culture is another weakness in the corporation. The General Motors Corporation employs more than 260 millions staff, which composes a huge and complex organization. The General Motors Corporation had taken the lead in organization. For example, the corporation had injected into matrix organization that combined the functional and project patterns of department in the same corporation in early years. The General Motors Corporation also organized with strategic business unit that classified products and product lines in the same independent business department in ahead of other corporations. The decentralization makes each department a profit centre. However, after ages of development the departments and business units concerns more on their own benefits and become bureaucratic. The well defined division of departments and united became deficiency and resistance to change. Formal and informal networks formed in the corporation. The bureaucratic culture is accumulating and hander the further development of the corporation. External influence: Opportunities This section analyzes the external opportunities of the corporation. The emerging markets of developing countries provide a great opportunity for the General Motors Corporation. The market of developed countries is fully covered and closed to saturation in the modern days. For example, in the United States there are two cars in a family in average so the market can not keep a rapid growing rate. On the country, market in developing countries shows their potential. The sales volume in China and Brazil is second only to the market of the United States. Many international automaker groups are scrambling for these markets. The large and potential markets of developing countries will provide opportunities for the corporation. The achievement in technology is a great opportunities for the General Motors Corporation. The technology makes breakthrough achievement in fields of information, manufacturing, fuel and so on. The advance of information  technology and implementation of management information system make it possible to collect and analysis accurate data and information all around the huge organization. The computers and instant communication tool help the corporation to organize and manage the supply chain. The new methods in manufacturing, such as lean production, can increase the efficiency of production while cutting down the cost. The leading edge achievement on fuel and new energy engine can promote the upgrade of automobiles. The General Motors Corporation is huge enough to afford the cost of RD center and the implement of new technology, which in turn can raise the competency of the corporation. (Sengi et al, 2004) External influence: Threats This section analyzes the external threats of the corporation. The increasingly growing price of petroleum is a threat to the General Motors Corporation. On the one hand, consumers turn to other transport tools when they can not afford the high petro price. On the other hand, they want to purchase energy saving automobiles. Many products of the General Motors Corporation are large in size and heavy in weight and they are high fuel consumption motors. The fluctuation of oil price has a negative effect on the sales volume of the automobile of the General Motors Corporation. Some political affaires such as wars and conflictions in the Middle East, the oil shock caused by OPEC with economic and political purpose, the environment protection organizations anti-automobile movement and so on, enhance the threats of oil price turbulence. The competition, both in the United States and the global market, is a vital threat to the General Motors Corporation. There are three automaker giants in the United States. They are the General Motors, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler. They compete fierce in the United States and in global market. In the Europe, there are strong competitors such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Peugeot etc. In the 1970s, with the raising of oil price, some Japanese automakers gradually seized the automobile market shares. The low cost and energy saving cars, such as Toyota, Honda and so on became world famous brands. More and more automobile brands enter into the United States and they also scramble the global automobile market. (Loomis, 2006) They compete and try to meet consumers different needs and wants with lower production cost. The competition in and abroad America is fierce and threats the  survival of the General Motors Corporation. The following is the second part of the report. This section of the report discusses the changing environment in and aboard the United States. First, the influences of political environment on policies and decision making to the General Motors Corporation will be analyzed. Second, the corporation response to the political environment changing will be critically evaluated. At last, some improvement suggestion for the corporation in the response of the changing political environment will be demonstrated. Influence on policies and decision makingThis section analyzes the influence of political environment change on the policies and decision making of the corporation. The political environment has great influence on the operation of the General Motors Corporation. One of the key political influences of the General Motors Corporation and automobile industry is the increased protectionism for fear of the decline of employment in the industry. The major automakers employ so many employees that the decline of automobile sales volume will cause the significant increase of unemployment in a country. As a result, many governments tend to support the automobile industry, no matter in the form of fund assistant, protective tariff or quota. The government of the United States has a tradition of protecting its automobile industry. For example, the America government used high protective tariff to protect the automakers from the competitors from Europe and Japan in the last century. The government also gave financial assistant to the automaker that is at the verge of bankruptcy such as Chrysler. In the modern time, the automakers fall into trap again and the financial crisis enhance the tendency. The America government aims to give a large quantity of money to the automakers and use other protection methods to protect the automobile industry. It can be seem that the changing of political environment has significant influence on the policy and decision making of the General Motors Corporation. (Bowler et al, 1996) However, different presents and its government in the United States may have different attitudes on the protectionism of the Automobile industry. The General Motors Corporation should take serious consideration on the change of political environment and make full use of it. The Country Alliances and Economic Blocs and other regional cooperation organizations are another main tendency of the political environment. The competition extends form national to blocs, even global. (Cho, 1998) The North American Free Trade Agreement, which including the United States, Canada, and Mexico, formed in 1994 with the purpose of freeing the trade, eliminating tax barriers and promoting fair trade in the North America. The NAFTA also extended to Free Trade Area of the Americas, which including country in the North America, Latin America and Caribbean countries. Many European countries ally with each other to form the European Union. After years of development, the union own 27 membership countries and creates a common economic area, in which people move and trade freely. There are many other Country Alliances and Economic Blocs such as Association of Southeast Asian and so on. The political tendency of regional cooperation requires the top managers of the General Motors Corporation to consider and resolve the benefit conflicts between one power countries blogs and another when making decisions and policies. The Country Alliances and Economic Blocs and other regional cooperation organizations provide opportunities for the automobile manufacturers but the organizations in other area also became threat to the United States. The decisions and policies makers of the General Motors Corporation have to make strategy to cope with the tariff and nontariff barriers within and between the Country Alliances and Economic Blocs. The corporation should rethink its strategy. (Tay, 2007) The structure of the corporation according to different regional cooperation organizations should be considered when making decisions and policies. (Sastry, 1997) The new staffing and leading methods to deal with culture diversity also influence the policy and decision making of the Genera l Motors Corporation. The labor union, environmental organization and other political groups are gaining more and more power. The United Auto Workers is a key labor union in the automobile manufacturing industry. The union fights for the benefits of workers such as less working hours, more salaries, health insurance and pensions and so on. The labor union cause the high cost of the General Motors Corporation. The total expense on employees is almost twice as much as the workers in other industry in the United States, and much more than  the employees in competitors factories, such as Honda and Toyota. (Benders and Morita, 2004) The union is blamed as the reason of the uncompetitive of the General Motors Corporation and the crisis of the automobile industry. However, the methods to deal with the strong political power are the problem to the policies and decisions makers of the General Motors Corporation. In 2007, the United Auto Workers went on a strike against the General Motors Corporation, which causes tremendously negative effects on the General Motors Corporation. So the policies and decisions of the corporation should balance the interest of the employees. The environmental organizations are gaining more and more power. With the increasingly dangerous environment problems, many green groups, which become independent and influencing political power, claim for the protection of the earth. Motor vehicle exhaust is considered as the main effects of the greenhouse effect. Some green groups are against the using of automobiles, which cause the decline of the automobile sales volume. As the increasing of environment protection power and the widely acceptance of the green opinion, the managers should make new policies and decisions such as designing alternative fuels vehicles. Evaluation of GMs responseThis section critically evaluates the corporations response to the changing political environment. In face of the dynamic changing political environment, the General Motors Corporation makes some responses accordingly. The General Motors Corporation makes full use of the protectionism policies and financial assistance of the government to maximize its benefits. In order to be more influence in political, the General Motors Corporation spends a lot of money on political contributions. Statistics shows that the General Motors Corporation spent quite a lot of money as the political contribution for both the Democrats and the Republicans. The spending on lobbying the members of parliament is also quite large. Besides the political contributions, the General Motors Corporation also spends plenty of money on charities. For example, the General Motors Corporation is the exclusive financial source of Safe Kids Buckle Up program, which protect the children through ed ucation and inspection. The political and charitable contributions are positive and active response to the changing political environment. On the one hand, the General Motors Corporation strengthens its influence and enhances the  connection with the government. On the other hand, the corporation undertaken its social responsibility, which wins the corporation positive reputation so the General Motors Corporation can easily get the support when in crisis and consumers tend to purchase automobiles of the corporation. In the behavior of giving political and charitable contribution, the General Motors Corporation well response to the political change and gain more political influence, which helps the corporation get protection from the government. The Country Alliances and Economic Blocs and other regional cooperation organizations are a main political change these decades. In order to minimize the hindrance and the conflict between different Economic Blocs, the General Motors Corporation makes trade strategy, ally with other automaker group, and establish joint venture in some countries. For example, the United States and China have different ideologies and economic situations and they belong to different Country Alliances and Economic Blocs. The Chinese government forbids the wholly foreign owned subsidiary in the automobile industry. The China customs also charge tariff on the automobiles. In order to enter the market of other Country Alliances and Economic Blocs, the General Motors Corporation establishes joint venture with Chinese company. The Shanghai GM joint venture is created by the General Motors Corporation and a Chinese company, in which the automobiles of Chinas market were manufactured. The General Motors Corporation brings advance technology, operation experience to the venture. The joint venture employs local workers whose salaries are quite low comparing with the workers of the United Auto Union. The joint venture brings profits for both sides and the General Motors Corporation avoids the high tariff and nontariff protection between different countries and different Economic Blocs. The General Motors Corporation makes an effective response to cover the gap between the Country Alliances and Economic Blocs. The labor union and environmental organization become increasingly influencing political powers. The General Motors Corporation tries hard to response properly to the increasingly strong power of the labor union. The United Auto Union is blame as the cause of uncompetitive of the General Motors Corporation for the members salaries in the union are much higher than its foreign competitors. The General Motors Corporation tries to cut down costs of the workforces in face of the financial crisis and problem of the automobile industry. The General Motors Corporation makes a policy of eliminating the lifetime health benefits of the white collar retirees. It is a hard decision after negotiation to response the political environment change and the automobile industry crisis. The General Motors Corporation has a long way to go, but it has taken a constructive step to response to the changing of political environment. In response to the political force of green groups, the General Motors Corporation designs energy saving vehicles which implement alternative fuels and electric. The corporation researches and designs some alternative technology vehicles and some flex fuel burning vehicles. The General Motors Corporation also builds an automotive battery laboratory to research on battery for the electric vehicles. The hybrid electric vehicles are a more practicable automobile in the future. The General Motors Corporation introduced the hybrid concept vehicle in 2005. Up to now, the corporation owes several hybrid electric automobile models and even all electric vehicles. The General Motors Corporation does a good job in developing alternative fuels and electric vehicles in response to the environment protection political power. Areas for improvementThis section demonstrates some areas for improvement of the corporation. The General Motors Corporation does well in response to the challenge of changing political environment. However, there are still some areas for improvement for the corporation. The most important improvement area is to raise the manufacturing efficiency. The average cost of manufacturing in the General Motors Corporation is high comparing with its main competitors such as Toyota. The Toyota is scrambling the market share of the GM little by little in the United States and all around the world. The competitiveness of Toyota come form the low cost caused from lean production. The core spirit of lean product is more value with less work. The purpose of production is to provide value to the final consumers. The expense for other goals is considered as a waste, by which the waste of resource is eliminated and the manufacturing efficiency promoted. It can introduce advance assembly line and reorg anize the logistic department,  through which the supply chain is organized. (Kochan, 2003) The lean production and be combined with six sigma quality and total quality management to maximize the efficiency and cut down the cost. (Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 2006)The General Motors Corporation can make a reform on culture. It can build a harmonious culture as in Japanese automobile manufacturing factories to coordinate the relationship and benefits between managers and workers. On the one hand, the harm of the Union Auto Workers can be minimized and the cost of manufacture can be cut down. On the other hand, the harmonious culture can promote the efficiency of manufacturing. The General Motors Corporation also needs to fight against the bureaucratic culture. The organization structure can be reformed and reconstructed break out the barriers between different departments and stimulate the cooperation of different profit centers. Different methods can also be implemented to motivate confidence, communicate and collaborate between staff in different level. ConclusionThis report analyzes the internal and external environment of the General Motors Corporation in the first paragraph and then discusses the changing political environment of the corporation. In analysis, the strengths of branding strategy and advantage in technology and channel, the weaknesses of high production cost and bureaucratic culture, the opportunities of emerging markets and achievement of technology, and the threats of petroleum price fluctuation and strong competitors are analyzed with the SWOT model. In the second part of the report, the influence of political environment change is discussed in three perspectives. They are the protectionism from government, the tendency of Country Alliances and Economic Blocs, and the growing in strength of labor union, green groups and other political groups. Their influence on policies and decision making and the response of the corporation are analyzed and critically evaluated. Then some suggestions are given on several areas for improvement of the corporation. Recommendations As is analyzed in above, the General Motors Corporation can improve in two ways. First, the corporation can introduce new manufacturing methods, such as the lean production, the six sigma quality and total  quality management and so on. By implementing advanced manufacture methods, the corporation can promote its efficiency in manufacturing while reducing the cost. Second, the corporation can build a harmonious culture and fight against the bureaucratic culture, through which the barriers between different departments are broken while the staff in the corporation is motivated. 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