Small Family Owned Business

My assignment for the presentation on (small) family owned businesses was to research and share an organized piece on the international studies of the subject. After several days of searching the internet for appropriate studies, I had gathered enough data to put together a three part report. The three parts consisted first off of an intro, which I believed was enough to be considered its own part, just because of the extremely interesting point that family owned businesses are such a widespread commonality.Second came the bulk of my research, the description of small family owned businesses under the laws of different countries, specifically those belonging to countries in Europe. Last but not least, I followed up with the importance of small family owned businesses’ impact on the overall economy of Europe, and how they applied. When you think of a small family owned business, you usually think of at least one local business you have known and have used your whole life whethe r a gas station, kebab imbiss, cafe, restaurant, or car dealership, etc. However, think about if everyone in the world named at least one such business.Many people would name the some of the same enterprises, but now you can imagine just how many small family owned businesses there are across the world. Because there are so many, not many reports exist that can contain the entire scope of every kind in every country, therefore, my report covers information regarding largely to european studies. Across Europe and in the United States, there is no widely accepted definition or legal description of a â€Å"family business†, however there are many criteria that if met by a small business, can be used to classify a business as such.Although each country has its own list of indicators, some countries use â€Å"common knowledge† to decide what constitutes a family business. This means that most countries simply use perception to differentiate a family business from a non-fami ly business based on the interrelationship between family and enterprise that can obviously be observed like the active involvement of family members in the enterprise’s everyday activities.Few countries legal codes actually mention regulations in which small businesses are referred and partially defined, but can vary easily from each other such as the Austrian regional agricultural legislation stating â€Å"a family business defined as any autonomous economic entity regularly and sustainably providing for the farming family’s income† to the Italian Civil Code which describes family businesses as â€Å"enterprises in which members of the family unit work and have ownership.For most cases, instead looking for derelict, briefly mentioned bits of code referring to family business, a group of common â€Å"soft† and â€Å"hard† criteria has been identified(#3). Soft criteria includes: o family relations affect the assignment of the management o family indirectly runs the company o â€Å"major family influence/dominance† of the management (in terms of strategic decisions) o â€Å"significant proportion† of the enterprises’ senior management o â€Å"most important decision† made by the family o â€Å"family control† of the management of the enterprise at least 2 generations having had control over the enterprise Hard criteria includes more legitimate and quantifiable proof such as: o CEO has to be a family member o 1 family member is actively involved in the operative management of the company o More than 1 family member in the management o CEO and at least 1 management team member stems from the family o At least 2 directors/board members stem from the family o At least 3 board or staff members stem from the family o Majority of the management team stem from the familyOr, in the case of Denmark, a family has control over the company: †¢ if it has 50 % of the shares, or †¢ if it has 50 % of the shares and a member of the family is the CEO In regards to impact on economy, although small family owned businesses seem like only a small part of the world economy, they actually make up quite a large percent of all enterprises. It is estimated that about 70-80% of businesses across Europe are family businesses, and of those, about 50% are small family owned businesses.Over all, small family owned businesses also contribute to about 40-50% of employment in Europe(#3). The following table(#3) shows elements of the definition of family business by country, gathered by several international studies on family business. What the previous table shows, is cross-national (European) minimum criteria for the ownership, control, or management of a company by a family according to FBN International 2007, Les Henokiens, European Group of Owner managed and Family Enterprises (GEEF), and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP. 2007.Under FBN International 2007, and also according to the European Gro up of Owner managed and Family Enterprises, ownership is described as the direct or indirect majority of votes held by the founders, spouses, parents, children, heir, or persons having acquired the shares; control/management is described as at least one representative of family or kin present in the management. In contrast to those studies, Les Henokiens suggests that in order to hold ownership, a company must own the majority of shares for more than two hundred years; in regards to control/management the enterprise must be managed by a direct descendant of the founder.Another contrasting opinion to FBN International 2007 and the European Group of Owner managed and Family Enterprises, but perhaps not as extreme as Les Henokiens, is the study performed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP. 2007 which defines ownership as simply at least fifty-one percent of shares held by a family or related families, and control/management as a majority of the senior management team and the owners having a day to day responsibility for the management of the business.In conclusion, we can see that (small) family owned businesses are a huge contributing factor to the economy worldwide, but still remain a mostly ignored topic by most countries and their legal systems, which is interesting because one would think something so important would be more tightly regulated. I would like to thank my hard working group, and Ms. Fink for the opportunity to present this topic. Works Cited (I have numbered my sources to make identification easier within the report) 1. D, Jamie. â€Å"Running a Family Business Within the Law | SBA. ov. † Running a Family Business Within the Law | SBA. gov. U. S. Small Business Administration, 4 May 2010. Web. 5 May 2012. . 2. Elliott, Larry, and Julia Kollewe. â€Å"Germany's Smaller Firms Emerge Intact from the Recession. † The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 Mar. 2011. Web. 5 May 2012. . 3. Mandl, Irene. â€Å"Overview of Family Business Relev ant Issues. † Ec. europa. eu. European Commission, Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General, 2008. Web. 5 May 2012. . 4. Winslow, CJ. â€Å"Welcome to FoodTronix. † Welcome to FoodTronix. Web. 5 May 2012. .

Agricultural Tools Essay

Farmers in Medieval times did not have tractors or farm machines as we do today. All that a farmer needed was a horse or ox, a wife and a plough. The mould-board plough was invented after the fall of the Roman empire by Slavic tribes. This complicated device was made out of metal and wood. The design allowed six or more oxen to pull the plough which was used to break up ground, or heavy, clay burdened soils. The second invention was the horse collar. The old horse tackle was useless because an animal could not use its full strength. The new horse collar did allow horses to use their full strength when pulling a plough, or heavy loads. This created a big increase in the horse population, as the horse was more versatile a beast of burden than the ox. In later years people discovered the 3 field system from trial and error. The 3 field system was the system where a field was left fallow for a couple of years, depending on the quality of the soil, while two other fields were planted with crops. Farmers would then rotate fields leaving a different field fallow so that it could rebuild its fertility.

Mother Earth

No matter where you live In this world, we are all sisters and brothers In humanity. All people In the world whether rich or poor, whether of different color, religion, culture or political conviction, we are all residents on this one planet, our home – Mother Earth. The time is now for us to carry her as she has carried and provided us through all times. It is time for us as human beings to give something in return.If we really don ‘t want to give our next generations a planet in such a condition that there will not be any hope for survival then, each and one of us should dig deeper to ourselves o the pros and cons to happen in the future to come. In our heart lies what we want to enjoy like peace, happiness, love and a healthy planet. We cannot stop the changes In our world but we can change Its direction, and we can change our ways.To make this happen, to make humanity and Mother Earth smile again, we must unite In a universal one. When we find love towards ourselves we will be able to love what is around us both people and nature. Mother Earth is crying. It is the heartbeat of Mother Earth. It is our heartbeat, from each and every one all over the world. It is the heartbeat of life itself. Let us make this heartbeat be able to continue.Let us Join hand in hand together in the call of Mother Nature to take care of her, preserve and nourish her in a way that we will benefit for our actions. Save before it's not yet too late for us to realize our mistakes. By chides We are all human beings. No matter where you live in this world, we are all sisters and brothers in humanity. All people in the world whether rich or poor, whether of We cannot stop the changes in our world but we can change its direction, and we can again, we must unite in a universal one. Mother Earth No matter where you live In this world, we are all sisters and brothers In humanity. All people In the world whether rich or poor, whether of different color, religion, culture or political conviction, we are all residents on this one planet, our home – Mother Earth. The time is now for us to carry her as she has carried and provided us through all times. It is time for us as human beings to give something in return.If we really don ‘t want to give our next generations a planet in such a condition that there will not be any hope for survival then, each and one of us should dig deeper to ourselves o the pros and cons to happen in the future to come. In our heart lies what we want to enjoy like peace, happiness, love and a healthy planet. We cannot stop the changes In our world but we can change Its direction, and we can change our ways.To make this happen, to make humanity and Mother Earth smile again, we must unite In a universal one. When we find love towards ourselves we will be able to love what is around us both people and nature. Mother Earth is crying. It is the heartbeat of Mother Earth. It is our heartbeat, from each and every one all over the world. It is the heartbeat of life itself. Let us make this heartbeat be able to continue.Let us Join hand in hand together in the call of Mother Nature to take care of her, preserve and nourish her in a way that we will benefit for our actions. Save before it's not yet too late for us to realize our mistakes. By chides We are all human beings. No matter where you live in this world, we are all sisters and brothers in humanity. All people in the world whether rich or poor, whether of We cannot stop the changes in our world but we can change its direction, and we can again, we must unite in a universal one.

American History Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American History Analysis - Assignment Example The assignment "American History Analysis" talks about the American history study that was captured by the ideas of President Eisenhower and General Marshall who noticed the ill-preparedness of the America’s military armed forces which led to the considerable loss. Fulfillment of the task of protecting the nation required the projection of the army’s preparation past the immediate prospect. They advocated for military preparedness through establishing and maintaining a good defense policy. Modern warfare requires proper planning if the war was to bring forth peace. They both noted the need for peace which was the main objective of the war or conflict. General Marshall came up with ideas which if implemented could help in their defense strategies. He supported President Washington’s program which was for the peace time training or the universal military training of the citizens. The essence of this training was to ensure that in the case of an emergency, the train ed citizens could be recalled to help in the forces. The idea behind this was to create employment opportunities to the trained citizens directly or indirectly in fields related to security. It was noted that technology could not be relied on solely in times of war as the machines required people to operate them. The Axis powers used the strategy of imposing an invisible unpleasant force to win any biased row and to their disadvantage brought out their weaknesses. Marshall also noted that there was a misunderstanding of military preparedness.

Commercial law case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Commercial law - Case Study Example If the defendant fails to come up to the customary, this will be a violation of the duty of care as judged by reference to the following factors: What did the defendant know? This is to say that, the defendant will only be legally responsible if the reasonable person would have foreseen the loss or damage in the circumstances prevailing at the time of the alleged breach of duty. Secondly, the degree of jeopardy of the situation. The bigger the risk that severe harm can be brought by, the greater the safety measures that the defendant will be required to take (Jance, 1999). This is to say the when the risk involve is of little magnitude, the plaintiff is required to take his or her own precautions and any claim of breaching of duty that will be presented by the plaintiff will be overlooked. However, when the risk is of greater magnitude, the defendant will be liable. Thirdly, is the communal significance of the defendants doings. If the defendants actions give out a socially useful function then they may have been justified in taking greater risks. Lastly, a defendant complying with a general practice in his area of activity w ill usually be well thought-out to have met the standard of a reasonable man, except the court judges the practice itself to be negligent (Bradgate & Savage, 1991). In order for John to establish a breach of duty by the Willow Council, carried out himself as a responsible and reasonable person. However, John, who had drunk too much champagne, was conducting his activities in an open space where everyone could see him. He got out of a car and dared his to friends, Mason and Janice, to climb over a two meter fence, that prevented people from going beyond it, and walk to the edge of the cliff. His friends refuse but John climbs over the fence and walk to the edge of the cliff. He loses balance, fall off and breaks his leg. A court analyzing these particulars will apply the

Monetary Unification in Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Monetary Unification in Europe - Essay Example Critics were so skeptical on the Europe’s idea of monetary unification claiming that Europe was not close to optimal monetary union. This idea was just a mere political project, which did not give into account economic fundamentals and was doomed to fail the single currency, and Europe’s failure to see monetary unification as an evolutionary process. Over the past few years, the Euro has tremendously challenged the US dollar, which is globally reserved currency, and within a very short period, it has transformed economic and political landscape in Europe. Monetary experiments has never been such an exciting history as there have been no any sovereign state surrendered its currency to a common central bank currency restraining from monetary sovereignty (Charles, 2010:176). Although the need to unify European currency started a long time ago, we begin to review its recent attempts to attain that goal. Prelaunch, which took place in late 1989, witnessed France extract German commitment to monetary union in favor of German reunification. The same year, Jacques Delor, filed a report introducing European Monetary unification in three stages. It comprised of creation of institutions like European System of Central Banks charged with the responsibility to formulate and implement monetary policies. The phases between 1989 and 2002 gave a name to the common currency that was to unify the European states â€Å"euro†, which replaced the old currency unit, the ecu. The institution laid down steps to accomplish monetary unification first of which was abolishing exchange controls that saw capital completely liberalized in European Economic Community on July 1, 1990. On 7 February 1992, leaders from different European countries signed the Maastricht Treaty with the aim of creating a single common currency but without United Kingdom participating by January 1999. Having the treaty approved proved a challenge since countries such as Germany, France, and Denmark were reluctant (Evgeny, 159). Another attempt derived from Stage II of Delor’s report that led to the creation of European Monetary Institute in 1994 that replaced European Monetary Cooperation Fund with Alexander Lamfalussy as the first president. After sometime, there rose a pool of disagreements that led to adoption of euro as new currency on December 1995 doing away with the name ecu previously used as the accounting currency. Theo Wagel suggested the name. He was by then the German’s finance minister. Date 1 January 1999 was set for the launch of the currency name. With the launch of euro in the European Union, credit institutions were able to process real-time payments. This supposedly helped in serving monetary policy needs of Euro system as well as harmonizing business practices in the EU and promoting money market integration(Gertrude and Peter, 2003:13). Owing to the total number of states, the Euro bloc designed and produced new 7.4 billion notes and 38.2 billion coins for issuance to consumers and business operators on 1 January 2002. This attempt displayed some obsolete results with tasks set to educate European people on the new currency and finally on 15 December 2001 banks commenced exchanging euro starter kits. As a matter of encouraging continuous effectiveness and integration of European currency, banks all over Euro zone, offered same high quality services, interfaces, and single price structure irrespective of their location. Such policies facilitated unification of currency across Europe as banks and other financial institutions operate under similar conditions. In the wake of

Riordan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Riordan - Essay Example nformation, and products over the internet and includes aspects like establishment of new markets, money transfer, and ordering of products, services or information. For Riordan, E-business considerations include identifying organizational requirements which in this case include reduction of costs and to promote growth and profits. The company also focuses on exceeding ISO 9000 standards and leading in R&D while offering innovative solutions and establishing long term relations with customers. In establishing long term relations with clients located in different geographic locations like Vancouver and New York where the company is not present, long term relationships with this customer and others will be required (Yasin, Czuchry, Gonzales, & Bayes, 2006). Additionally, having introducing e-business will mean creation of new markets since the company already has a strong brand in the manufacture of medical supplies and stents, bottler and beverage containers, airplane parts, automotiv e part s and others. The presence of the right professionals is needed such that the right implementation taskforce of experts is present and representing all company departments. Given that the bottles are to be delivered long distances from the manufacturing facility, e-business consideration needed is to ensure that customer is well informed about production and delivery at all times. Riordan also needs to collect information from the customer about potential markets in Canada and New York while gathering information about other similar manufacturing companies in the regions (Yasin, Czuchry, Gonzales, & Bayes, 2006). This way, Riordan will develop the ability to sense and respond to market needs, as well as stimulate market demand and search for new markets. For customers located far and wide, the manufacturing process of the organization will shift to customized just-in-time manufacturing or demand-driven production. This way, Riordan will manage to provide customers with

How strategy maps could be a useful management tool and system to Essay

How strategy maps could be a useful management tool and system to monitor and control the performance of organisational or business units - Essay Example Strategy maps could effectively be used as a management tool and system to monitor and control the performance of business or organizational units (Meyer 202, p. 184). In the current business environment, strategy maps do have an immense advantage in the sense that they help in a systematic organization of strategy and the commensurate allocation of budgetary resources, they help in capturing and conveying the quintessential crux of the contrived business strategy, help elevate the overall business discussion in an organization from the level of operations to strategy and they facilitate a better management of business performance. Strategy maps allow the managers to contrive a visual and structured organization of the contrived business strategy and help the managers decide as to in a given strategic scenario, what are the actual drivers of performance in a business or organizational unit (Ward, Tripp & Maki 2013, p. 227). Strategy maps help in the identification of objectives imminent in a business strategy and thereby they allow the managers to decide as to which objectives need to be optimally developed before the salient business measures are taken. Using the strategy maps in the management of a business or organizational unit assures that the concerned managers will chose only those measures that happen to be optimally appropriate and that are poised to aid the achievement of salient business goals. Strategy maps do assure the success of any contrived strategy as they help the managers to capture, convey and manage the overall strategy to the salient stakeholders in a business or organizational unit in an optimal and better way (Fitz-enz 2010, p. 27). A well contrived strategy maps is an effective tool in the sense that it immaculately captures the thought process and vision of a management team in any viable business or organizational unit. Strategy maps help the managers effectively convey to the incumbent stakeholders as to how an envisioned

Study of Anti-Dumping by a Regional Trade Agreement Dissertation

Study of Anti-Dumping by a Regional Trade Agreement - Dissertation Example Anti-dumping policies are typically rationalized on the basis that they are necessary for eliminating harmful dumping practices by exporters and to promote fair competition in trade (Davis, 2009). Even so, research demonstrates that despite the fact that the WTO’s anti-dumping policies are intended to protect the interests of domestic producers and to promote fair competition and trade, the frequent use of the WTO’s Anti-dumping Agreement by some regional actors such as the EU, the USA and China demonstrates that the WTO’s Anti-Dumping Agreement is exploited for unnecessary protectionisms and retaliatory measures. Moreover, Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 allows the creation of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) and thus together with the Anti-Dumping Agreement exacerbates the WTO’s liberalized multilateral world trade system and particularly its goal of indiscriminate trade. This research study examines the use of the WTOâ₠¬â„¢s Anti-Dumping policies in RTAs and demonstrates exploitation via unnecessary protectionism and retaliatory measures. It is concluded that the trends in regional trade agreement anti-dumping policies and practices fully demonstrate that WTO members are free to exploit the Anti-Dumping Agreement contained in Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT) for excessive protectionism, retaliatory measures and for discriminatory trade practices contrary to GATT’s non-discrimination trade policies.... Table of Contents Abstract 3 Table of Contents 3 Chapter One 5 Introduction to the Study 5 I.Background to the Study 5 II.Research Questions 9 III.Aims and Objectives of the Study 10 V.Significance of the Study 11 VI.Research Methods 11 VII.Organization of the Study 12 Chapter Two 12 A Review of the Literature 12 I.Introduction 13 II.RTAs 13 A.Definition 13 B.Typologies of RTAs 14 D.Conclusion 23 III.Conceptualizing Anti-Dumping 24 A.Definitions 24 B.The Advantages and Disadvantages of Anti-Dumping Policies and Measures 26 C.Conclusion 30 IV.The WTO’s International Trade System 31 V.Conclusion 33 Chapter Three 34 Regional Trade Agreements Within the World Organization’s Multilateral System 34 I.Introduction 34 II.Snapshot of the WTO’s Legal Regime Facilitating RTAs in the WTO’s Multilateral Trade System 35 III.The WTO’s Legal Framework for the Formation of RTAS 36 A.Customs Unions 45 B.Free Trade Arrangements 47 VI.Conclusion 49 Chapter Four 49 The WTO’s Anti-Dumping Legal Framework 49 I.Introduction 49 II.Anti-Dumping Under the WTO 50 III.Conclusion 56 Chapter Five 57 Findings/Conclusion 57 Chapter One Introduction to the Study I. Background to the Study Dumping occurs when products or goods are sold on the global market or exported to a domestic market at a relative low price compared to like products or goods (Raju, 2008). According to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT) 1994, dumping refers to the sale of goods and products at a price lower that its ordinary value (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994, Article VI). According to GATT (1994: Article VI) the ordinary value of goods and products is the price at which those goods and products are

Guidance and Support to Meet Learning Needs Term Paper

Guidance and Support to Meet Learning Needs - Term Paper Example The difficulties that such students experience in learning is normally not associated with mental disability. The students possess a certain degree of intelligence, but their brain may fail to register information in the desired manner, thereby making it difficult for them to grasp information fast especially in learning institutions. Nevertheless, they are capable of studying and succeeding in academics. There are many characteristics that are exhibited by students with learning disability. These can be helpful to the teachers while trying to identify the students with special needs. The students occasionally fail to pay attention for a long period and are easily diverted by external occurrences beyond the classroom. They are normally forgetful and have problems of time consciousness. It is therefore difficult for them to make a proper time plan. The problem can also be exhibited in their inability to write legible handwritings and their reduced capacity to read. They usually omit some words while reading as well as pronouncing some letters incorrectly. This may be attributed to their inadequate coordination of the eyes and the hands. Understanding and adhering to instructions is usually difficult with a poor reasoning capacity, and therefore they fail to make sensible objectives. Such students are irritable and always require to be recognized, while on the other hand, they are quite disorganized and constantly mess up with procedures. There are various types of learning needs. Many are not known because they do not exhibit notable physical characteristics. The most common learning need is dyslexia. It is a problem that is associated with difficulties in understanding. Writing problems occur in some learners, reducing their capacity to spell and write words correctly. It hampers the student’s ability to write a coherent composition or piece of academic writing. This problem is known as dysgraphia.  

Final Review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Final Review - Assignment Example a. In his book, Momaday has brought up a unique platform and from this one can view the cultural history of the Kiowa people. Through this book, Momaday has been able to bring out his own sense of background. The book has been structured to bring out a sense of purpose for Momaday who is a Kiowa Indian in the sense that he was born of that origin. Though he was born into that culture, he received his education in the American way. The book is structured to bring out the ancestral heritage of the Kiowa Indians, and in his own way he has constructed this in his book through the dominant culture, his own memory of the events and also, his imagination so that the structure of the book can come out right. He has managed to bring out the origin of the Kiowa people, their development of their own culture and how they still exist up to date. He has managed to carry on the mantel of their tradition (Momaday, 45). b. The way to the rainy mountain is a book written by Momaday who tells of his a ncestor’s, the Kiowa Indians and their origin, their cultures and tradition and also how they still exist today through imagination and through writing about them (Momaday, 12). The genre of this book is Folklore, which basically means that it mainly consists of legends, oral history, jokes, proverbs, popular beliefs, stories and customs. The absolutely true diary of a part time Indian is a book about a young Indian who grew up on a reservation and decided to go to a white school where he starts being treated as an outcast. The book tells of his struggle to gain his status both in school and at the reservation. The genre of this book is young-adult fiction in that it is one targeted for adolescents and young adults (Sherman, 14). c. Wampum can be described as the sacred shell beads that were traditionally used by the Eastern Woodlands tribes. These were the indigenous people of North America. They were at times used as currency during the colonist’s period. They were s ignificant in terms of being used as a symbol for tradition like in marriages. Some of the uses include being used to mark exchanges such as in marriages, engagements and also agreements in terms of betrothal. Question 2 Historical events would likely to have been interpreted from a Native American point of view rather than an Anglo American point of view because in the real sense, Native Americans were the initially the inventors of most traditions and those traditions still exist and thus, their experience is much more exhibited. Native Americans and their history have become the interest of many people, both Indians and non-Indians alike. There is an interesting fact about discussing the history of Indians and thus it brings out an informative and appealing manner to their history (Mary, 22). a. When the congress unilaterally decided to stop making treaties with the Native Nations and forced assimilation, there were many effects and affects that followed. There was the assassinat ion of resistance leaders and also some of the leaders were separated from their people and imprisoned in certain remote facilities like Fort Marion. Geronimo was among those imprisoned (Geronimo, 45). b. The Native Americans would classify the

Connections Essay Example for Free

Connections Essay The overall connection that I chose to analyze in this report was the importance of marriage, as it is an idea that is present in almost everybody’s life, and it is something that heavily impacts the nature of a society. Marriage is seen in society in both positive and negative ways, involving emotions from true love to bitterness. In the texts A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, The Ballad of Calvary Street by James K Baxter, The Silk by Joy Cowley and Atonement directed by Joe Wright, this idea of the importance of marriage is clearly present in all of them, yet they are all shown so differently (negatively and positively) as to give examples of the ways that it is interpreted in different societies, and allow me to deduce the importance that this idea holds on a global scale. Romantic love is recognized in most societies by the practice of marriage. This is a prominent symbol in all the texts I have covered except for Atonement, where the absence of marriage is used to show the couple’s true love. In this film, we see that Cecelia and Robbie are in love, however a misunderstanding on the part of Cecelia’s sister, Briony, means that Cecelia and Robbie are prevented from marriage or even being together. This is shown as a particularly tragic incident, which shows the importance that society places on the process of marriage. This is also a very prominent idea in the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which is set in Afghanistan. We see two women, Laila and Mariam, who are owned and controlled by their shared husband, and their lives literally rely on him, because as women, they are unable to attain independence due to their country’s beliefs. In Afghan society, marriage is a sacred business, and any sexual relations outside of marriage are greatly looked down upon, and the punishment for a female offender can be as severe as torture or death by the girl’s family or husband. This also shows the idea of the importance of marriage that is shown in Atonement, as marriage is seen as the pinnacle of happiness in both texts, However in A Thousand Splendid Suns it is shown in a more negative manner, with marriage being shown as an essential burden rather than a desire. Marriage is also shown as a necessity in the poem, The Ballad of Calvary Street, but for different reasons. In this poem, a poorly suited elderly couple stay together, to prevent the disruption of their family. This shows that even New Zealand society can view marriage as an important action, and a obligation in functional family life. This shows a similar idea to that in A Thousand Splendid Suns and Atonement, that marriage is a necessary action. In the short story The Silk, we see an elderly married couple, of which the husband is nearing death. The woman in the relationship is finding it hard to come to terms with her husbands impending demise, as she has a set routine which revolves around her and her husband’s relationship. This presents the idea that is shown in A Thousand Splendid Suns, Atonement and The Ballad of Calvary Street, that marriage is a prerequisite for a happy life, and it is a tragedy to be without it. In the Silk, we can tell that this married couple are truly in love from quotes such as, â€Å"she guarded him so possessively that she even resented the twice-weekly visits from the district nurse,† which shows the devoted way that they take care of each other, presenting the traditional idea of marriage. In Atonement, when childhood sweethearts Robbie and Cecelia are prevented from being together, we are struck by the tragedy of the fact that they will never be able to get married, and live out their lives together. This portrays the aspect of marriage that is shown in The Silk, that marriage is a symbol of the love between two people, and that it is a contract which binds the two people together for the rest of their lives, as we see Robbie and Cecelia denied of this entitlement. In today’s society, a happy couple who are in love are expected to get married. This relates to both The Silk and Atonement, as in both texts marriage is seen as a necessity for the happiness of the people involved, which further supports the idea that society regards marriage as particularly important. From these texts, society may be able to reassess its outlook on the controversial matter of gay marriage. The tragedy of Cecelia and Robbie’s separation that is shown in Atonement and the portrayal of the happiness involved in marriage that is shown in The Silk could be enough to convince the large portion of society that is against gay marriage that they are wrong, as in both texts marriage is shown as a component of happiness that should not be denied of anyone. The relationships and situations that are shown in the texts are not exclusive to heterosexual couples, and would translate just as well to homosexual relationships, meaning that the ideas attached to the texts can be applied to same-sex couples as well, and could have an influence on the opinion that people hold towards gay marriage. Unfortunately, marriage is not always a happy affair, as it is intended to be. This is plainly shown in the text The Ballad of Calvary Street, as we see an unfortunate couple who are forced to remain together due to the stigma attached to divorce. Quotes such as â€Å"Mum takes down the family files,† suggest that family is not an important thing to the couple, since they have fallen apart, but that they continue to treat it as such, as they consider it their duty as parents to remain married. This idea that marriage is a compulsory task is also shown in A Thousand Splendid Suns, as we see protagonist Laila is forced into marriage, for her own survival. Her husband knowingly takes advantage of her vulnerable situation, saying, â€Å"These days, times being what they are, a woman needs a husband,† showing that marriage can often take place for reasons other than love (as was shown in The Ballad of Calvary Street), and that this can easily be taken advantage of. This presents the idea that in many different societies, (New Zealand and Afghan), marriage is seen as an essential measure, even when one or both of the people involved in the relationship are unhappy. Although this is an unfortunate truth, it is one that must sometimes be accepted, as it is often present in today’s society. These texts could help people come to terms with the idea that marriage is not always a representation of love, as they show legitimate alternative reasons for marriage, (the stability of family life or the safety of a person in a certain community. ) This could benefit society as it would create an understanding and acceptance of the reality of marriage today. In conclusion, the idea of marriage is a common theme in many texts, including Atonement directed by Joe Wright, The Silk by Joy Cowley, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and The Ballad of Calvary Street by James K Baxter. Although marriage is not always the quintessential act of love and can sometimes tell a tragic story, it is important that it is expressed in forms such as these texts so that society can reflect on its faults and hopefully improve its approach on the subject.

Tesco Value Proposition

Tesco Value Proposition INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report was to critically evaluate the value proposition of Tesco Plc to its customers. Given information about the target customers of Tesco and even a PEST analysis of the company was done. Tesco Plc competed with big supermarkets to become one of UKs best supermarkets ever. 1. DISCUSSION 1.1 Tescos Value proposition to its customers Companies that offer outstanding value turn buyers (tryers) into lifetime customers ( Weinstein and Johnson 1999,p.4). Some of the value driven strategies are Understanding customer choices Identifying customer segments Increasing competitive options(for example, offering more products) Avoiding price wars Improving service quality Focusing on what is meaningful to customers Improving brand success and (Weinstein and Johnson 1999,p.5). Tesco Plc is worlds third biggest super market (Sky news 2008). What would have made them reach this position? To compete the supermarkets like Sainsbury and Morrisons , there must be some talent behind. Tesco Plc which started its life in 1919 when Jack Cohen started selling surplus groceries from a stall in the East End of London. By 1970s, Tesco was building a national store network to cover the whole of the UK, which it continues to expand to this day, while also diversifying into other products (Telegaph 2008). As if now Tesco continues to dominate in UK. Why many customers turned to Tesco when they were happy shopping in Sainsbury and Morrisons ? How Tesco stole these customers from these supermarkets? The answer to these may be value proposition of Tesco Plc to these customers. Understanding customers is what the most important thing in business today. As in the lecture of adding value on week seven by Prof.Phillip Mutter, value proposition is how we intend to create value for our customer? Value of one customer may not be valuable to another customer. The impact the suppliers offer has on the customers own value chain. Customers do not buy features, products or services but solutions to their problem. May be this is what Tesco Plc is being doing. They might have understood customers more than Sainsbury and Morrisons do. How Tesco offer value to customers? Tesco in 1997 developed certain values some of them were: No one tries harder for customers. Understand customers better than anyone. Be energetic, be innovative and be first for customers. Use our strengths to deliver unbeatable value to our customers. Treat people how we like to be treated (Tesco Plc 2009). Cutting down the price Tesco studied that price can be one of the important factors which could bring customers to them. Tesco also maintained quality as the price cuts. Tesco made sure that no one could beat them in price. We have introduced bigger packs, representing even better value, on products like coffee, tea and bread and have also added 60 new products to the Value range, bringing the total to over 200. On Tesco Value, we promise customers that our prices wont be beaten (Tesco 1999). Use of ClubCards Using clubcard was one of the top strategies used by Tesco in 1995 to understand their customers. As for most other companies, did not realise the importance of Tesco using the clubcards. By the use of clubcards Tesco was actually stealing customers from other supermarkets. Tesco gave clubcards to frequent shopping customers. With the clubcard, Tesco got every information they wanted. Tesco stored all the information about customer in the customers clubcard. Like what did they shop? How much they use to spend in a day? What product they purchase etc. Tesco then sends special offers to them. Internet capture By seeing that many customers were shopping online, Tesco also used to give values through internet. Delivering products to the customers door. Customers used to visit the website and order things like groceries, books, cds, furniture, videos and other items and also arranging personnel finance. All in all great value. (brandingasia). Private label success In the idea of increasing sales, Tesco thought to give more to existing customers in existing stores. Tesco started using private labels to sell the product with which they tried to give almost same quality of top brands with cheap price. Tesco labels it as Tesco value. Items which they sold using private labels were bakery, meat, ready meals, deli, dairy, HBC, wine and non foods. Many others too (corioliosisresearch 2004,p.20). Porters value chain on Tesco Plc As in the lecture discussed by Prof. Phillip Mutter, Porters value chain consists of five activities which are inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, service activities(Lysons and Farrington 2006,p.102). Inbound logistics include receipt of goods from suppliers, storage, handling and transportation and stocking. Tesco always tried to keep the customer choice in store. In Tesco, there is an opportunity to reduce the cost unfairly incurred by company and therefore preventing the cost being passed on to the customer. In operations, Tesco maintains the tasks such as opening every day in accordance with trading hours, maintaining the shelves, and the stocks. In outbound logistics, Tesco has home delivery service and also they increase the number of staffs at till to save the time of customers. Trolleys are arranged such a way that they are easily accessible. In marketing and sales, Tesco issues clubcards as discussed above and advertise in news papers, radio, national TVs etc Service activities include human resource and technological activities. In human resource management, Tesco trains the staff to do the job.There are a number of ways we support our people to achieve this, be it through an Options Development Programme, offering an Apprenticeship or encouraging the studying for a qualification whilst at work.(Tesco 2009) In the technological, Tescos brand name gives the product vitality and with the start of internet shopping, Tesco can be the best to shop. 1.2 PEST Analysis on Tesco Plc Political, economical, sociological and technological (PEST) analysis on Tesco Plc gives out the following results. Political Credit crunch usually leads to unemployment. As, Tesco being one of the largest and fastest growing supermarkets, more jobs are expected to be available in Tesco. Tesco politically, is facing a charge of driving out other retailers out of the competition. But under EU law, if an organisation has large market share can be dominant. Tesco to date has no charge legally of exploitation. Economical Economically, Tesco has not been badly affected when compared to others. Tesco has the brand name and all products cheap for all segments of the market. So whatever happens when Tesco opens the door, customers are ready to flow in. Sociological Sociological aspects for Tesco have also helped a lot. As the number of career minded persons like students from abroad are increasing in UK, ready meals are in demand to make the cooking easy. Tesco has also understood this segment too. Tesco has variety of products for such students. Technological Technological factors like internet are also friendly to Tesco. Customers can go online shopping in Tescos site. Tesco has also started carbon reduction programme. Customers are also encouraged to make low carbon choices. 1.3 Tescos Value proposition on Target customers The Clubcard database is helping us to give customers an even better and more focused offer: the mail-out at the end of February 1999 contained 80,000 variations of letter, offer and magazine, and issued  £50m-worth of reward vouchers, together with  £25m-worth of product coupons. By understanding customers shopping habits, we are now even better at targeting our offers to them ( Tesco 1999). Tesco created a student card and a card for mothers in 1996 which suited their needs. In 1997, Tesco direct service and financial services were added. Adding value also became mandatory, like expectant mothers were given the priority of parking outside the store, even personnel assistance to help them. In 1998, Tesco began to offer electricity and telecommunications products and services. By this time, Tesco had identified 108 customer market segments (brandingasia). For middle-income with young children, Tesco has opened bank with jargon-free, customer friendly approach, coupled with its perceived low prices, has obviously proved a winner (guardian 2005). Market share rose tremendously even customers are happy. Making nice use of technology, provided customers with great experience (brandingasia). CONCLUSION By looking into the value proposition of Tesco, it is for sure that it is going to be very difficult for any other supermarket to emerge. PEST analysis shows the company is still strong to compete politically, economically, socially and technically. Also Tesco is well aware of its target customers and doing well to them too. REFERENCES: Branding Asia. (). Tesco The brand experience is everything. Available: http://www.brandingasia.com/cases/tesco.htm. Last accessed 2 Jan 2010. Clark,T. (2008). A history of Tesco: The rise of Britains biggest supermarket. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2788089/A-history-of-Tesco-The-rise-of-Britains-biggest-supermarket.html. Last accessed 1 Jan 2010. Coriolis research. (2004). TESCO: A CASE STUDY IN SUPERMARKET EXCELLENCE. Available: http://www.coriolisresearch.com/pdfs/coriolis_tesco_study_in_excellence.pdf. Last accessed 2 Jan 2010 Lysons,K.Farrington,B (2006). Purchasing and supplychain management. 7th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. P102. Sky News. (2008). Tesco Sees Huge Jump In Profits . Available: http://video.news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Tesco-UKs-Biggest-Supermarket-Chain-Unveils-Profits-Of-145-Billion-Pounds-For-First-Six-Months/Article/200809415109917?lpos=Business_Article_Related_Con. Last accessed 1 Jan 2010. Tesco. (2009). Company Information: values and cultures. Available: http://www.tesco.com/recruitment/html/careers/compInfo/values.htm. Last accessed 1 Jan 2010. Tesco. (1999). from pennies to pounds. Available: http://www.tesco.com/investorInformation/report99/content/value.html. Last accessed 1 Jan 2010. TESCO. (2009). Training Development. Available: http://www.tesco-careers.com/home/working/training-and-development. Last accessed 3 Jan 2010. The Guardian. (2005). Every little helps so forget those Tesco quotes. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/sep/24/insurance.moneysupplement. Last accessed 4 Jan 2010. Weinstein,A.Johnson,W,C (1999). Designing and delivering superior customer value: concepts, cases, and Applications. United States of America: CRC Press LLC. p4.

Environmental Regulation And Western Food Culture In India Commerce Essay

Environmental Regulation And Western Food Culture In India Commerce Essay Environmental regulation and western food culture in India was almost non-existent. In pursuit of economic development, the Government of India liberalised the economy in food sector and kept environmental regulation of multinational corporations to a minimum in order to attract foreign direct investment. Multinational corporations have often been blamed for taking advantage of weak enforcements in India; however, in recent years, many of them have started to self-regulate and often set their environmental standards above the minimum compliances enforced by the Government of India. Advancement of foreign culture in India in the food industry has given many multinational companies (MNCs) an opportunity to grow and flourish. MNCs that set up operations in India or do business with Indian companies find that managing Indian workforce requires understanding Indian work culture that has evolved over several centuries. Thus there is a need to study the difference in the culture of Indian food industry. Many socio economic factors and other influencing factors are responsible for setting a new trend. These factors form the independent variables on which the preference of selection of food will depend i.e. dependent variables. These literatures are classified based on:- (a) Studies corresponding to major influencing factors governing selection and demand of ready-made food items. (b) Studies corresponding to the socioeconomic factors affecting the demand for ready-made food items. (c) Framework for examining the environmental management of MNCs The conclusion expected from the research is that the socio economic factors and other influential factors play an important role on consumers preference in food industry. Based on the finding, few suggestions and limitations affecting influential factors to Indian food industry for future research will be provided. And  my research will also investigate the change in environmental management  in food industry. Globalisation and the Indian food Industry A study into the key factors influencing consumer behaviour in the Indian food industry. A comparative study of past and present culture and environment in Indian food industry By Rounak Goenka G0759654K Project submitted to University of Bradford School of Management In partial fulfilment of the requirements For the Degree of BSc. (Hons.) in Business Management BBMD20932A CONTENTS: Page No. Abstractà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦1 Chapter 1 Introduction : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..4 Objective of the Researchà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦4 Approach to the Researchà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦5 Chapter 2 Literature Review:à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦6 Influencing factors affecting choice and demandà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦6 Influence of Socio-economic factorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦9 Influence of Global flowsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..11 Framework for examining the environmental management of MNCsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..13 Chapter 3 An overview of culture in Indian food industryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦14 Chapter 4 Study of globalized food culture evolving in Indiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦16 Chapter 5 PepsiCoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦18 Chapter 6 KFCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦21 Chapter 7 McDonaldsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.22 Chapter 8 Analysis and Conclusionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.24 Referencesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦26 Chapter 1 Introduction : Objective of the Research Fast-food is not an alien concept to Indians; roadside shops have offered snacks-to-go since time immemorial and the country has a long tradition of indigenous fast-food served by a variety of street vendors.  With the rapidly growing middle class population and changing lifestyle, India is blessed with one of the fastest growing fast food markets in the world. The fast food industry in India has evolved with the changing lifestyles of the young Indian population. There are many factors that make  India an attractive market for Western consumer goods. With one-sixth of the worlds population,  India is the second most populous country  in the world, following China. The purposes  of this research is to compare the attitudes about  new food purchases between innovators/early  adopters and non-innovators and also is to empirically substantiate if the forces of globalization are impacting consumer culture and behavioural traits in a developing country (India). The Indian fast food market has been witnessing rapid growth on the back of positive developments and presence of massive investments. Currently, market growth is largely fuelled by the rising young population, working women, hectic schedules, and increasing disposable income of the middle-class households. Some of the unique properties of fast food like quick served, cost advantage, etc are making it highly popular among the masses. Thus, India offers enormous opportunities for both domestic as well as international players. In the past, the overwhelming majority of Indian consumers had little purchasing power, and spent almost all of their income on the basic necessities. Industrial growth and increasing affluence of the middle classes, however, have led to important increases  in consumer demand and spending power. Regardless of this compulsory Indian input, as yet, these western companies cannot match the popularity of local Indian chains such as Nirulas or the corner shops selling indigenous  foods. To compete, they are not only changing their business models but also their identity. There has been a drastic change, as seen in past, in taste and preferences of the consumers in India. India has taken a step forward in adopting western culture. Thus foreign firms have been adapting Indian culture while running their business here. In past there were many restrictions in the culture of consumers in India, but now many of them has moved forward with the taste of new generation. But some of them are s till very conservative towards the food sector. Approach to the Research On the back of rising disposable income, changing consumer behavior, huge population base, India is witnessing a tremendous growth is its fast food industry over the past few years. Other reasons like rising number of nuclear families, exposure to western cuisine and increasing number of employed women are also having a significant impact on the eating out trends and growth of the fast food industry in the country. As a result, all the international players like Pizza Hut, Dominos, McDonalds and KFC, etc. are investing huge amount of money to grab a share of this highly lucrative market.   Three big food companies have been taken in consideration for this research. And their case studies are been discussed below, which shows us how did the company manage to change its cultural environment to adjust with the country requirements and ethical issues. This paper focuses on determining a  food  choice model in wake of changing  food  and eating habits in India, using literature reviews, exploratory surveys and reliable data sources.  This case study focuses on growing trends towards organic  food  and green consumerism in view  of  rising global obesity with fast  food  consumption in Western countries and significantly very less in India despite obesity being an epidemic in India. Literature review used in this research is:- Influencing factors affecting choice and demand Influence of Socio-economic factors Influence of Global flows Framework for examining the environmental management of MNCs With the help of above literature review we can discuss how the taste of Indian consumers has been changed and also we can analyse how the companies by changing its strategy has achieved their goal in Indian market. Findings Based on literature reviews and exploratory surveys, the key determinants impacting consumers  food  choice are passion for eating out, socialize, ambience and taste for school and college goers and convenience for dual-income families in urban India. Findings indicate that fast  food  companies can no longer rely on convenience as USP in India, unless the implications  of  same on consumers health are given equal importance in the years to come. Chapter 2 Literature Review: Influencing factors affecting choice and demand :- A households demand for food away from home also may depend on the ages of family members. One reason is that the tastes may change as people progress with their age. The empirical study conducted by Byrene et al, (1998) observes that the households with younger members tend to spend more money on fast food restaurants, while households with older people tend to spend more money on full service restaurants. In this context, Blisard (2001) while, stating the significance of age in the demand for food items prepared outside home, observes similarity in the behaviour by the members of different generations at the same points in their lives. According to Friddle et al., (2001) the sensitivity of taste buds diminishes with age and hence, they observe that the older people may demand foods with bolder flavours. In addition to the taste factor, certain textural properties are also intrinsic in judgments of qualities like crispness, crunchiness, and freshness all of which are important in the selection of food items. Barthes (1975) has suggested that there is a general symbolic opposition between crisp, brisk, and sharp foods and soft, soothing, and sweet foods in Western cultures. Texture and flavour may also be associated with palatability and digestibility. Firth (1966) observed that people sometimes use these descriptive characteristics to distinguishing between preferred and less preferred foods and those consumed under normal or starvation conditions. The theory of household production proposed by Becker (1965) explains how prices, income, demographics, and time constraints can all influence a households purchases of items like food. He extended the classical demand theory to explain these aspects more elaborately. According to this economic model, the cost of food purchased includes the cost of consumption, cost of preparing the equivalent food in the home and also the cost of cleaning up after a meal or snack. In the context of the Beckers model, a household manager can be defined as the person primarily responsible for shopping, cooking, cleaning, and other household chores. In the study of food choices on Native Americans Galloway and Gibbs (1976) concluded that inadequate nutrition levels were the result of lack of purchasing power rather than the lack of nutrition knowledge. Similarly, DeWalt and Pelto (1976) conducted a study on food rating with factor analysis- as the basis for analytical construct. In the context of this study, the respondents in a Mexican village were asked to rate food according to taste, healthfulness, and economic value, and found that people had accurate notions of nutrition. Also, this study found that people chose food mainly on budgetary considerations. The factors related to food choice in this study were identified through factor analysis from sets of food choices provided by respondents. In similar line of thought Schuftan (1979) stated that the real problem in malnutrition is lack of food-purchasing power from the buyers and hence, he suggested that the nutrition programs should address malnutrition in economic rather t han nutritional terms; that is, they should measure deficits in the purchasing power of the households and give priority to nutrition programs that generate income, new employment opportunities in food production, and food-related services. The impact of specific economic and demographic characteristics of a household, in its demand for ready-made food items are considered very important. In this context, McCracken and Brandt (1987) analyzed the relationship between some key household characteristics and expenditure at different categories of restaurant. The empirical analyses of their study have shown the influencing pattern of economic and demographic characteristics of households in their demand for restaurant made food items. Also, they stated that an inverse relationship could be observed between the number of people in the household and its requirement for food prepared outside home. The significant finding indicated in the above study observes decrease in the expenditure of large households for food items prepared outside home. This is understandable for the simple reason that cost of cooking in terms of fuel expense is less, if food is prepared for more number of people. Based on the household survey data from t he year 1970s and 1980s, Nayga and Capps (1994) studied the relationship between a households characteristics and its frequency of dinning at each category of food selling enterprises. Hiemstra and Kirn (1995) analyzed the impact of household characteristics on expenditure by eating occasion and market segment. A specific household may demand more restaurant made food items if both husband and wife work outside. In such situations food prepared outside home will form a convenient meal option if the sellers are reasonably accessible. Two studies conducted by Popkinn and Solon (1976) and Popkin (1980) identified deficiencies in the food intake of children who have their mothers with employment. Further, these studies confirmed no such deficiencies in the food intake of the children who have their mothers without employment. According to Byrene et al., (1998) the spending for fast food is increasing along with the number of hours, the household manager works in the labour force. In this context, Rajmohan and Panchanatham (2002) reported that the female employment in IT jobs makes women to struggle a lot in terms of fulfilling the domestic responsibilities like preparing food items at home. This practically means that more office responsibilities for women will cause increased demand for ready- made food items in the market. Influence of Socio-economic factors The booming Indian economy (Lenartowicz and Balasubramanian, 2009) and the huge Indian consumer market (Enderwick, 2009) is encouraging many researchers to study the various socio-cultural dimensions influencing the Indian consumers behaviour (Kopalle et al., 2010). Another stream of study that is luring leading researchers (Craig et al., 2009; Yaprak, 2008) is the influence of forces of globalization on the changing consumer culture of a society. Such influence, according to Ger and Belk (1996), would be more intensive on the consumers in the developing economies of the world, India being one of them. In fact, Durvasula and Lysonski (2008) and Mathur et al. (2008) have empirically shown how forces of globalization are bringing in changes in the culture of Indian consumers. One such culture based dimension of consumer behaviour is materialism. The current work studies materialism, a construct defined by Belk (1984) and Richins (1987) giving importance/being attached to worldly possessions, and its influence on consumer culture, which encompasses the prevalent cultural influence among consumers, in the Indian context. Extant research suggests that globalization is rapidly influencing consumer culture in India with people showing increasing predisposition towards foreign brands (PTFB), a construct defined by Bandyopadhyay (2001), Batra et al. (2000) and Kinra (2006) as admiration of foreign brands and intention to purchase them vis- a`-vis home countrys brands. Such cultural influences are also likely to impact Indian consumers purchase behaviour, e.g. credit card usage (Chibber, 2010), impulse purchases (Datamonitor Report, 2010) and consideration of shopping as an enjoyable behaviour (Ghosh et al., 2010). Although marketing scholars (Cleveland et al, 2009; Richins and Dawson, 1992) have already established the impact of ma terialism on these important consumption traits, studying the same in the Indian context would provide interesting insights for both scholars and practitioners alike. The paper thus makes an effort to study extent of materialistic values (MV) amongst Indian consumers; differences in such values based on demographics; whether such values impact various buying behaviour traits of Indian consumers and are itself being impacted by the onslaught of forces of globalization. Materialism among Indian consumers has been studied by Chaudhuri and Haldar (2005) and Cleveland et al. (2009). These studies brought forth the relationship that materialism has with cultural adherence and regional differences with-in India (Chaudhuri and Haldar, 2005) and materialisms impact on various purchase behaviour like purchasing frequency of luxury products, etc. (Cleveland et al., 2009). Though Cleveland et al. (2009) also attempted to study the relationship between materialism and various demographic variables like age, income, gender and educational qualification for the Indian sample; they could not get significant results on any of the relationships. Both Cleveland et al. (2009) and Chaudhuri and Haldar (2005) used student samples in their study, which could limit the generalization of their findings. Further, neither of these studies attempted to operationalize globalization as an antecedent impacting the MV of Indian consumers. These studies also did not empirically s tudy the impact of other demographic factors (besides age) like income, educational qualification and gender on the MV of Indian consumers. The present study addresses these existing gaps in the extant literature. Pettys and Balagopal (1998) are of the view that since individual attachment in India is seen as temporary and as an illusion, Indians are very non-materialistic. They also believe that an inherent risk of westernization is that the Indian consumers might become more materialistic. On the other hand, Venkatesh (1995) states that Indians are not averse to materialism because in Indian culture spiritualism and materialism are not considered opposites, instead they belong to the same realm of experience and hence there is no confrontation of beliefs if both are adopted together. Still, compared to other developed nations like USA and New Zealand, Indians are relatively less materialistic (Ger and Belk, 1996). This might be due to conservatism preached by the Indian culture. The results of Chaudhuri and Haldars (2005), empirical study on Indian respondents showed that there is a significant negative correlation between the degree of materialism and the intensity of cultural adherence. In other words the more a person moves away from the Indian culture, the more are the chances that materialism will manifest itself in him. Influence of Global flows Globalization is leading to various types of global flows across the world. According to Appadurai (1990), there are five types of global flows mediascapes (flows of image and communication), ethnoscapes (flows of tourists, migrants and foreign Students), ideoscapes (flows of political ideas and ideologies), technoscapes (flows of technology and know-how) and finanscapes (flows of capital and money). Considering the influence of these global flows, Craig et al. (2009) observe that in todays world, cultural products and lifestyles from the developed world are spreading across developing countries. This is the result of contact through traditional media such as TV and films, as well as through new media such as the internet, electronic social networking, blogs, etc. (Craig et al., 2009). This phenomenon, according to Craig et al. (2009), is changing the cultural fabric and patterns of a society as products, icons, lifestyles and rituals of one culture are being adopted by another (Craig and Douglas, 2006). Further, its pervasive influence on consumer behaviour is affecting consumer tastes, preferences and purchase behaviour (Douglas and Craig, 1997). Venkatesh and Swamy (1994) state that Indian consumers, even if they have not travelled abroad, are still being influenced by the consumerism (or consumer culture) brought by foreign influence through media and products (foreign brands). Ger and Belk (1996) state that the reason for this is that with the coming of globalization and westernization, developing countries consumers emulate the lifestyles and consumption patterns of more economically developed nations. Many studies (Batra et al., 2000; Kinra, 2006; Maxwell, 2001) have shown that Indian consumers have a very high PTFB. According to Eckhardt and Mahi (2004), th ese foreign brands are also bringing foreign cultural influence with them in the Indian market place. Since 1991, India has witnessed a dramatic increase of multinational corporation activity, giving rise to tremendous economic development of the country (Emde, 1999). From provision of services to manufacturing, multinational corporations (MNCs) play a big role in almost all the economic sectors in India. Consequently, their business operations impact the physical environment of the country on a large scale. In the post-industrialized era, MNCs in the developing world are changing their environmental management in the context of various internal and external drivers. These changes often lead to an introduction of new strategies, systems, and practices across the environmental management of MNCs (Moser, 2001). Despite significant environmental policies introduced in India, such as the Water Act (1974), Air Act (1981), and Environmental Protection Act (1986), its environmental quality has continued to deteriorate (Reich Bowonder, 1992). Indias Industrial Policy of July 1991 radically pushed for an open economy by globalization, liberalization, and privatization. The policy opened up Indias economy to foreign direct investment by providing facilities to foreign companies to invest in different fields of economic activity (Goyal, 2006). The economic policy reforms of India removed constraints for entry of MNCs into India, allowed Indian companies to form joint ventures with the foreign companies, and encouraged a free inter-country transfer of technology and labor (Goyal, 2006).   An open economy, large manpower, and a weak environmental regulatory framework reduced the cost of doing business in India as compared to other developing countries such as Brazil, Mexico, China, and Indonesia (Jain et.al, 2006). Therefore, these factors made India a preferred destination of MNC activity from developed countries. Framework for examining the environmental management of MNCs The project draws from the framework within organization theory and specifically on Andrew Pettigrews famous work on the management of strategic change (Pettigrew, 1987).   His framework has been widely adapted to study how changes in the management of environmental and social issues by MNCs operating in less developed countries can lead to sustainable development (Moser, 2001). Pettigrew offers a framework -consisting of three dimensions: context, content and process. He suggests that organizational change process and decision-making can be understood in terms of these three inter-linked dimensions. The context of change is concerned with how an MNCs internal context and aspects of external environment promote or inhibit the change process.   Internal context refers to characteristics of the MNCs internal organization: its structure, culture, and politics, and how these have shaped/continue to shape its environmental management (Moser, 2001). The external context can be sub-divi ded into formal and informal components.   The formal or institutional component of context consists of factors such as headquarter policies, host countrys (India in this case) regulatory framework, investor pressure, standard industry codes of conduct, international regulations, international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and media comment. The informal or socio-political component consists of factors such as brand image, risk management, competition, eco-efficiency (cost effectiveness with reduced environmental impact), and pressure from local or domestic NGOs, public, and local communities. The content dimension of the framework refers to the economic, social and environmental impacts (both positive and negative) of current MNC practices and operations. The process dimension refers to how change within an MNC is effected over time.   The adoption of environmental management changes can also be understood in terms of the interrelated dimensions of context, content, and process. This research focuses on the content and context dimensions as they apply to the case study. In the context dimension, only the external aspects containing formal and informal institutions are studied.   These external aspects play the role of drivers that change the environmental management of MNCs. The content dimension is studied to direct the second research question about the implementation of new environmental strategies, systems, and practices to incorporate the changes driven or impeded by the contextual factors listed above. Chapter 3 An overview of culture in Indian food industry Due to the cultural and personal attitudes  of Indian consumers about food and the perceived importance of fresh food, processed food is a  new concept to this population, and thus should be viewed as a  new product and an innovation. Countless  new products are introduced on world markets only to fail and to be taken off the market within a few months. Usually, the failure  of a  new product is accompanied by substantial financial losses to manufacturers, middlemen, and retailers. Market researchers, therefore, need to examine carefully the relationship between  product and marketing innovation, and other important variables that make the introduction  of a  product successful  in new markets. Food diversity is an implicit characteristic of  Indias diversified culture consisting of different regions and states within. Indians like to have home-cooked meals a concept supported religiously as well as individually. However, with times due to increasing awareness and influence of western culture, there is a shift in  food  consumption patterns among many Indian families. It started with eating outside and moved on to accepting a wide variety of delicacies from world-over. Liberalization of the Indian economy in the early 1990s and the subsequent entry of new players set a significant change in lifestyles and the  food  tastes of Indians.   Fast food  is one which gained acceptance of Indian palate after the multinational  fast food  players adapted the basic Indian  food  requirements viz. vegetarian meals and selected non-vegetarian options excluding beef and pork totally from their menu. Multinational  fast food outlets initially faced protests and non-acceptance from Indian consumers. This was due to primary perception that these  fast food  players serve only non-vegetarian and do not serve vegetarian meals. In addition,  fast food  is perceived expensive besides being out-of-way meals in Indian culture. Today,  fast food industry is getting adapted to Indian  food  requirements and is growing in  India. It is gaining acceptance primarily from Indian youth and younger generations and is becoming part of life. Keeping in view the Indian habits and changing preferences towards  food  consumption, this study has its focus to understand the factors affecting the perception of Indian youth, in the age group of 20-30 years, towards consumption of  fast food  as well as towards making choice of  fast food  outlets. All the popular fast food chains  have chalked out massive plans for  expanding their  business and presence throughout the  country. Moreover, foreign fast-food chains are aggressively increasing their presence in the country. International fast-food chains such as McDonalds, Dominos, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) are doing brisk business  in Indias ready-cooked meal fast  food segment. Chapter 4 Study of globalized food culture evolving in India: Some traditional attitudes of Indians, however, have created challenges to foreign companies that attempt to make a successful entry into the country.  Food is believed to be an effective and tangible differentiator of consumer preferences among different cultures. Indian consumers tend to be traditional  in their approach to food products, thus, unlike many countries  in the developing world, Western  food is not widely consumed  in India. The highly distinct tastes of Indian consumers are a challenge for many multinationals seeking to enter the Indian  food market. Unlike citizens of other rapidly industrializing countries, about 40 per cent of Indians are vegetarian, according to reports  in The Economist (1997). Even among Indian meat eaters, many consumers have an aversion to beef and/or pork and dislike frozen meat and fish. Despite these challenges, the US International Trade Administration (2000) estimated that the processed food market  in India was worth over US$22.2 million  in 1999. However, marketers need to develop a very high level of expertise  in tapping into this potential market since imported  food products are not widely accepted by the general Indian population. Research has demonstrated that younger Indian consumers are more open to novel  food products and are more likely to perceive imported  food as high quality as compared with locally produced  products. Direction of business globalization it has to be not only about uniformed customization of the economies of the different countries and human need, but also about sensitive and understanding approach to local and national values and principles. In practise the most mistakes are made along  this chain of management processes. The success of the foreign business is not only determined by a good quality of the products but a solid preparation, search for adequate business  partners, market knowledge, attentive acquisition of local staff and a well-founded business concept. For success of fast food  restaurant the store image is  very important. Firstly, they are functional qualities of a store (assortment, store layout, location, price-value relation). Secondly, psychological attributes refer to the consumers perception of the store attributes, such as  friendliness, helpfulness of store personnel or attractiveness of decor. For kids market segment and market segment of young people students the emotional material as a part of store image is of great importance. Shoppers differentiate one store from another by the images of each project. The simplest approach to such image projection is likely to be based solely on  price-quality relation. After the liberalization policy that came in force in 1991, fast food industry grown in India as multinational fast food providers have set up their business either jointly with Indian partners or independently. From next chapters we will discuss about the companies environmental management and the cultural change. And we will see how companies adapt to these situations. Chapter 5 PepsiCo In this research we will discuss about the change in environmental manageme

Nixon Essay -- essays research papers fc

NIXON Nixon had a difficult early life with many trials and hardships, which affected his character and way of thinking about the world and himself. The premature death of two of his brothers caused him deep-rooted trauma. He had a lifelong inability to trust other people. From the competition between his siblings, he got a keen sense of competition and struggle and a belief that in the end, he was alone against fate and his enemies. He believed vehemently that â€Å"The mark of the man is to be resilient and continually return after set-backs.† Nixon believed that the successful competitor never lets his enemies have the final say in a contest of will. Some of his cruel attempts to discredit his political enemies may have come from the regular beatings his father used to keep Nixon in line. Nixon’s ambition was the theme of his life story. Nixon was born in Orange County, California on January 9, 1913, the second of five sons of Francis A. and Hannah Milhaus Nixon. The Nixons were longtime members of the Society of Friends, more commonly known as Quakers. Nixon was nine at the time that his family moved to Whittier, California, where his father owned and operated a local gasoline station and country store. He attended public schools until the age of 17, when he entered Whittier Collage, a small local Quaker institution. Success in student politics and strong debating skills crowned Nixon’s collage years. Upon graduation in 1934, he won a scholarship to Duke Law School in Durham, N.C. Since his family was short of funds to pay for his lodging and books, he got a part time job. He graduated 3rd in his class and was elected president of the Duke Bar Association. Nixon looked forward to a career with the FBI in Washington, D.C., but returned instead to Whittier to join the town's oldest law firm. When the firm opene d a branch office in La Habra, he transferred there and got some excellent practical experience. Early in World War II, Nixon worked for six months in the Office of Emergency Management; an experience which he said disillusioned him with bureaucracy. At a play tryout during this time, Nixon met Thelma Patricia Ryan, a schoolteacher, whom he married on June 21, 1940. Though he wanted to move to a big city firm to be able to better support his new wife, World War II brought him to Washington, where he worked in the tire-rationing section of the Office of ... ...e American anti-hero. A self-made man, he achieved the American dream – he rose from humble roots to become president. He had the strength of will to hold on to his goal through many setbacks. But his ambition ultimately consumed him, and perhaps his mind. This may have created the paranoia that was his final undoing. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bernstein, Carl, and Woodward, Bob. All The President’s Men. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975. Nadle, Laurie. The Great Stream of History: a Biography of Richard M. Nixon. New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1991 Maroon, Fred J., Wicker, Tom. The Nixon Years 1969-1974: White House to Watergate. New York: Abbeville Press, 1999. â€Å"Richard M. Nixon.† Author Unknown. Date Unknown. â€Å"Richard Milhous Nixon.† Originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of American Political Parties. Date Unknown. â€Å"RICHARD M. NIXON.† Tom Wicker. Date Unknown. â€Å"Richard M. Nixon At a Glance.† Author Unknown. Date Unknown.

The River Why - Eddy quotes Essay -- essays research papers

Eddy Eddy changes Gus in three different ways: when she directly interacts with him, by her absence and by her reappearance. On their first encounter with one another Gus is compelled by her differences in dress, techniques and gear. After she leaves, Gus feels a â€Å"need† to fulfill his empty life. Finally when she shows back up in his life, Gus then has everything he could ever ask for: a beautiful woman who loves to fish, just like him. Page 151: â€Å"A barefoot girl. A full-grown one. One who wore the top tenth or so of what had long ago been a pair of blue jeans. One who wore a short, skin-tight, sleeveless sky-colored t-shirt through †¦which revealed the shape of the†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Gus describes his first view Eddy, after having snuck his way up to the tree where she sat â€Å"motionless† not noticing him. His attention is soon diverted, if not completely towards her odd pole and gear. Lying to himself as he checked out this â€Å"research project† he notices how her gear is like nothing he had seen or used before, but his mind never full wonders from Eddy. (Page 151) Page 151: â€Å"Her fishing equipment was innovative also; she appeared to have no creel or equipage or container of any kind apart form her pole and line and whatever was on the end of it. There was the possibility of a few spare hooks or leaders in the pockets of the fraction of blue jeans †¦but the theory grew tenuous†¦As to the possibility of fishing tackle concealed with in the sky-colored t-shirt, this was even less likely. Nevertheless I considered the problem long and carefully, scanning every least curve of the thin material, reluctant to give up the search.† While Gus is checking her style out he realizes that Eddy was important and he needed to learn from her. He describes his sudden thirst for knowledge about Eddy as follows: Page 150: â€Å"She must be an extraordinary person, well worth watching, well worth meeting, well worth thinking about, an exceptional fisherman, and I was, what I was, I was learning, yes learning: I was learning like crazy. I’d never learned so much so fast before†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Watching Eddy fish, Gus absorbs a lot of information that before was totally unseen to him. Not only about fishing, but about this woman and about himself, needing to learn from her. He says on page 152 â€Å"I felt for the first time that I was in the presence of a fishing genius exceeding my own.† He is enthralled by her fishin... ... a mouse could sing I just might see Eddy again.† Along his journeys Gus comes across a writer for a newspaper article and made up a story to the over zealous, unskilled fisherman, who wrote about fishing. In the end of the article he put a note to Eddy. Page 217: â€Å"Will the girl who ran form the guy who recited Izaak Walton I the tree please contact Gus on the other river he named. He has your rod and fish and wants to return them. He is totally harmless, but urges you to bring a loaded fun if frightened, as long as you come. Thank you.† Through out his waiting and searching for Eddy he changes dramatically. He feels the need for his live to be fulfilled, and he strives for it by doing new things. He acquires a new load of friends and things from swapping, but he was sad for those who did not have what he could have and for other reasons. Page 221: â€Å"†¦also because I had so much to share, but nobody to share it with.† Then Gus goes into making her a rod like her old one, but with improvements. Like a 14 foot pole, belly reel with a waist strap and some good line in it. The hope still lives on to see her once again and he is striving to make a good impression on Eddy this time.

The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me Essay examples -- English Literat

The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me Commentary on â€Å"The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me† by Eavan Bolland The Black Lace Fan my Mother Gave me by Eavan Bolland reflects on the last of a love life of a couple during pre-war Paris using a symbol, a ‘Black Lace Fan’. Bolland achieves this through the use of weather imagery, the changing of his tense from past to present, and using literary features such as simile, metaphor, personification and repetition. In the first stanza of the poem, Bolland disconcerts the reader by using the diction â€Å"it† twice, though representing different things. The first ‘it’ represents the lace and the second ‘it’ is used to substitute the climate of the setting. â€Å"It was stifling. /A starless drought made the nights stormy.† This quotation starts building up the tension in the reader’s mind because of the suffocated feeling the poet creates by mentioning the word â€Å"stifling† in a short sentence that creates a frustrated tone. The metaphor describing the stormy night also produces a sense of insecurity through the weather imagery by expressing anxiety through contradicting dictions like â€Å"drought† and â€Å"stormy†. The first two lines of the second stanza have a repetition of the word â€Å"they† as the first word of each line. This repetition is used to create a rhythm and to describe the routine of the man and woman meeting in cafes and the woman always being early. â€Å"They met in cafes. She was always early. / He was late. That evening he was later. / They wrapped the fan. He looked at his watch.† The syntax of this quotation produces a tone that is frantic because the sentences are short and the reader tends to read that part of the poem fast, and with a jerk at the middle of each... ... express that the man was lost and was unheard of, though what happens to the man next is left to the reader’s imagination. The last stanza completely changes subject and describes the actions of a blackbird in a summer morning. The weather once again is a factor in this poem and the climatic conditions are described using the diction â€Å"sultry† and â€Å"heat†. The last sentence, â€Å"Suddenly she puts out her wing – the whole flirtatious span of it† is a personification that is used to express the symbolism of the black lace fan. Finally, this poem reflects upon the story of a loving couple and the significance of the black lace, in the woman’s life, who loses her man. The poem is expressed by the use of weather imagery, the changing of tenses from past to present, and also the use of literary features such as metaphors, simile, personification and repetition.

Examining Exclusivity in Mass Marketing

Explain why Sears or Wal-Mart cannot effectively create a trendy counterculture image. High volume and mass appeal are at the core of one-stop-shop retailers like Sears and Wal-Mart. These stores are the culture others are trying to counter. Wal-Mart relies on mass production of the products they sell to keep manufacturing and shipping costs down. This allows them to maximize profitability. Profitability is not at the core of counterculture; unique style and individualism are. Counterculture is the alternate of culture, even a subculture. For an active member of the counterculture to shop at a store that sells toilet paper a few isles down from their jeans defies the very image they are set to create or maintain. This is the same reason Urban Outfitters cannot sell Craftsman power tools. This would counter the counterculture image Urban Outfitters is built upon. Could the big box stores sell merchandise identical to Urban Outfitters? Explain your answer. Big box stores can sell merchandise identical to niche stores like Urban Outfitters to keep up with trends. Stores like Costco can produce, ship and stock merchandise on a large scale in hopes of increasing profitability. Seemingly exclusive products appeal to the masses that do not normally shop at, or cannot afford to shop at more exclusive retailers like Urban Outfitters. This in itself is a trend because once the product is no longer exclusive, it will eventually no longer sell as it did previously. Also if the once exclusive product sells at all is a gamble in marketing and sales. Matching the appeal of the original product, timing of launch so as to miss out on the value while it exists and availability to the masses can impact how well a trendy product will sell at a big box store. If it does, what is the effect on the exclusivity once offered by Urban Outfitters? Identify at least three reasons why exclusivity is valuable.

Ethics During Change Essay

As society has seen over the last few decades, ethics had non been at the principal of governmental decision-making and qualifying fermentes as it should rich person been. Unfortunately be grow of the actions or lack of actions by the few, many lives have been devastated and societys imbibe of incarnate organizations has been severely damaged. Between government interventions, and organizational realizations, ethics seem to have render a focal point during the decision making and pitch processes. Most organizations learn that tilts essential pass away to maintain, sustain, and grow, and the inclusion of estimable considerations is imperative to sound decisions and implementation. organizations must patch up a commitment to themselves and society, to uphold a high level of ethical standards and behaviors, to moderate the view of the organization remains positive. app arntly stated, ethics are beliefs individualistics and organizations have that watch out what standards or behaviors are deemed to be subdue or inappropriate.According to S starnshein (2009), there is a theory about the emergence of ethical issues during the counter lurch process (Sonenshein, 2009, p. 230). Sonenshein (2009) explains that the starting issues put together in change are, trigger points, ambiguity, and employee eudaemonia commit (Sonenshein, 2009, p. 230). Sonenshein (2009) further explains that the starting issues institute during the implementation of change, refer to an individuals find-making about the organizational change (Sonenshein, 2009). Sense-making, fit in to Palmer, Dunford, and Akin (2006) is a significant interrupt of wideness to understanding the change (Palmer, Dunford & Akin, 2006, p. 190). When one does not have a lite understanding of the changes occurring, and the effect or consequences the change will have on him or her and the position held within the organization, emotions tend to plump involved. One emotion described by Sone nshein (2009) is that an individual may perceive during the change process, is loss, which he explains may besides put out to an individual believing that he or she has been treated unfairly (Sonenshein, 2009, p.231).To further institute to ethical change issues, if the directives stimulated for the change are not clear and concise, the interpretation of what is to occur can have multiple meanings and cause confusion. Ambiguity occurs when, an organization has a mountain but is not prescriptively clear on how to achieve it (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2006, p. 268). Palmer, Dunford, and Akin (2006) explain the importance of communication during change implementation as well as factors that help to create a sense of confusion. The three factors mentioned are, depicted object overload, message distortion, and message ambiguity (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2006, p. 268). The drive of communication is to ensure each individual understands the changes to occur, the reasons for the chang e, and the effects expected from the change.The individual must have the ability to make sense of the change, understand the social impacts of the change, to ensure he or she is willing to buy-in to the change. The employee welfare frame is explained as a thought process some employees choose to use to look out the impact the organizations change will have on him or her, and any inherent rights that may be infringed upon because of the change (Sonenshein, 2009). As explained by Sonenshein (2009), sick managed change efforts erode organizations relational health (Sonenshein, 2009, p. 233). For an organization to achieve a booming change, the stakeholders must see the benefits associated with the change. The stakeholders must also have a clear view of the organizations vision and mission to accept and commit. approximately organizations may take short-cuts in efforts to speed-up the change process others may conceal schooling from employees and external entities that may be snap py to gaining acceptance and commitment, thus damaging how the organization is viewed by stakeholders. Ethics in vexation must remain at the forefront of any decisions or changes during discussions or implementations. As seen, ethics in business is not confined to simply financial report ethics encompasses every facet of organizational health and growth.ReferencesPalmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2006). Managing Organizational Change A Multiple Perspectives Approach, 1e. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database. Sonenshein, S. (2009,Jan/Feb). event of Ethical Issues during Strategic Change Implementation. Organization Science, 20(1), 223-239. Retrieved August 23, 2013 from http//sonenshein.rice.edu/uploadedFiles/Publications/Sonenshein_emergence%20of%20ethical%20issues%20during %20strategic%20change%20Org%20Science.pdf