Monday, September 30, 2019

International Business in Japan

Abstract Capitalist and mostly single family centered, Zaibatsu led to a static system with weak competitive forces resulting in what is known as ‘cordial oligopoly’. (Niciejewska, 2007, pg 17) Keiretsu networks on the other hand, with its cross stockholdings is more dynamic and provided a more competitive business economy that continued to drive the Japanese economy during the post war period. The high cohesion that existed between the participating firms in the vertical keiretsu resulted in production and operational efficiency that gave Japanese manufacturers significant advantages in international markets. The impact of information technology and the internet in particular enabled the western countries implement modular production strategies and improved value chain management with setting up of contracted production centers across the globe. The japans keiretsu firms struggled to fight the American companies that specialized in single core functions leading to what is known as the mega competition. Keiretsu networks are unsuitable under modern, globally competitive, and technologically advanced market conditions. There is definitely a shift towards a more western centric business organization. Introduction Japanese corporate governance has undergone a lot of change since the Meiji restoration in 1868. It was during this time that the industrial revolution flourished across the world. The Zaibatsu originated when the Meiji government sold out certain government undertakings to a select few private and influential families namely Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Yasuda and Sumitomo. These government controlled firms slowly developed into different industries that helped Japan grow economically strong. During this period Japan practiced a closed economic system and foreign technology was totally shunned except in areas concerning domestic development (Thorson & Whitney, 2003). The Zaibatsu which could be loosely translated as monopolies emerged as the corporate structure that underlined the Japanese economy from this time till the end of the Second World War. In particular, the Zaibatsu or the industrial and financial conglomeration of the Japanese empire controlled a large percentage of the national economy during the first few decades of the twentieth century. In the aftermath of the World war 11 and the occupation of Japan by American forces, the Zaibatsu system was broken down and this gave rise to what is what is known as the Keiretsu system which is nothing but a group of companies with cross shareholdings and preferential business practices. Though the American government was bent on totally destroying the protectionary policies that the Zaibatsu system represented and proceeded with the dissolution of many Zaibatsu such as Asano, Furukawa, Nakajima, etc they stopped short of complete dissolution owing to fear of the intrusion of China’s communist practices into Japan. The formation of Keiretsu was an attempt to democratize the Japanese economy and to eliminate the restrictive policies (Thorson & Whitney, 2003). A brief overview of the firm structures in the Keiretsu and flourishing of Japanese economy between 1950-90, and its implications to the current Japanese economy would be discussed in this paper. Zaibatsu (Upto 1945) As briefly mentioned above, the Zaibatsu promoted a strong monopoly with holding companies at the top of the pyramid controlling all the operations between the various enterprises within the pyramid. Holding companies typically enjoyed the majority of the stocks of these businesses and more than 50% of the overall stocks of all the small companies that constitute the Zaibatsu were owned by its members (Thorson & Whitney, 2003). Stock options were never sold out to any third parties not connected with the zaibatsu making it a totally closed economic structure. The Zaibatsu was in short, a government led economic drive with strategies as well as resources provided for by the government. Japan’s industrial growth witnessed a rapid upswing under the Zaibatsu system. Buoyed by it success at home, the Japanese government forced the Zaibatsu system in Korea when it colonized the country (Shim & Lee, 2008, pg 49). The Zaibatsu enjoyed complete domination with Mitsui, Sumitomo and Mitsubishi, enjoying as much as 28% of the assets in Japanese companies by 1929. Just when the World War II was about to finish the Zaibatsu had 22.9% of the Japanese company stocks. Thus a handful of Japanese families had control over a vast majority of the Japanese enterprises under the Zaibatsu system. The structure of the Zaibatsu changed very quickly and soon there was intense diversification. For instance the single Mitsubishi Corporation rapidly diversified its business in to mining, shipping, insurance, trading, etc in a very short period of time and soon transformed into a holding company that was at the top of the Pyramid controlling a range of individual yet affiliated businesses. The Iwasaki family owned and controlled the entire business network of Mitsubishi (Lincoln & Shimotani, 2009). Keiretsu Keiretsu represents a cluster of enterprises that are linked to each other by way of cross shareholdings and preferential trading practices creating mutual interests in the business progress. Keiretsu are basically divided into two main types’ namely Vertical keiretsu and horizontal keiretsu. However there are also other keiretsu such as the distribution keiretsu that relate to the distribution networks of big manufacturers. For instance the distribution networks of Matsushita, Fuji Photo Film, etc come under the distribution Keiretsu (Shimotani, 1995). Keiretsu emerged as a protective response to the dissolution and distribution of the largely family owned stocks of the Zaibatsu. When hostile companies were taking over the zaibatsu firms the three main Zaibatsu leaders convened and arranged a solution of cross shareholding and preferential trading policies that enabled them to retain the overall control of the enterprises among themselves. For instance the Mitsui, Sumitomo an d Mitsubishi zaibatsu formed this strategic pact of cross shareholdings to maintain their stronghold in the business. This is how the Keiretsu emerged from the Zaibatsu. Soon by the 1960’s a few big financial institutions in Japan such as Dai-Ichi Kangyo, Fuji and Sanwa joined with the Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Mitsui to constitute what was popularly known as the six horizontal Keiretsu (Lincoln & Shimotani, 2009). Periodic meetings between the president’s council (shacho-kai) members and executive exchanges and cross share holdings formed the glue between these six Keiretsu. The horizontal Keiretsu is centered around a large bank. On the other hand, the vertical Keiretsu are the large manufacturing companies and supply chain companies, the distributors etc. Unlike the Horizontal Keiretsu there is no president’s council in the vertical Keiretsu but the groups of suppliers of a manufacturing firm represent that role (Miwa and Ramsayer, 2006). Similar to the horizontal Keiretsu, the firms in the vertical keiretsu are also linked together by share holdings across firms and preferential business policies. In vertical Keiretsu there is improved knowledge sharing by way of business transfers including exchange of experts and technical staff members across the vertical network. Overall, vertical Keiretsu promotes improved cohesion among the network firms. In fact, the increased dependence of main firms on the supplier firms in the vertical Keiretsu even lead to large scale investments by these ancillary Japanese firms in US following the footsteps of the Japanese automobile manufacturing firms setting up their FDI in that Country (Banerji & Sambharya ,1996). In technology intensive industries of Japan vertical Keiretsu has greatly improved their international competitiveness by facilitating rapid knowledge sharing across the partnership firms. Empirical studies that measured the effects of such knowledge sharing across the firms in the vertical Keiretsu clearly suggest positive productive gains (Branstetter, 2000). One of the important advantages of the vertical keiretsu is the improved coordination between the suppliers and the assemblers. In the keiretsu automotive industries the suppliers receive plenty of support in products manufacturing , processing and people management. This is distinctly different from the US approach where the suppliers and the assembly line operate entirely independently. This model of operation facilitates both the parties as it helps to reduce the overall risk for either party. (Lincoln & Shimotani, 2009) Thus the Keiretsu improved knowledge transfer among t he networked firms, improved productivity, reduced risk for the firms and gave the Japanese companies clear advantage in the international market. Furthermore, Gerlach (2004), also notes that the Keiretsus were particularly important due to their one-set principle and networking. For instance, synergies were achieved in input and output, especially in the case of manufacturing. Centralized systems and departments were used in conducting basic support operations, which helped all subsidiaries in cost savings (Lincoln & Shimotani, 2009). Also, profit-trapping mechanisms were used in place, by distributing them effectively through subsidiaries (Lincoln & Shimotani, 2009). Cross shareholdings were also particularly important as it helped avoid takeovers, encouraged risk taking amongst companies, and had a long term outlook on strategy (Sturgeon, 2006). One of the important examples of the vertical Keiretsu is the Toyota group. In fact, Toyota has a unique distinction of being both a horizontal keiretsu as well as a vertical keiretsu. They key difference is that the massive size of the Toyota organization makes it possible to exist without being controlled by a central bank as is the case with horizontal keiretsu. Toyota with more than $72 billion in annual revenue has the financial might to stand for itself without the dependence of any major funding source. However, it is associated with the Mitsui group horizontally. Toyota is also widely diversified like a horizontal keiretsu company with its firms representing industries as varied as real estate, computer development, aircraft development, nonlife insurance, etc. The disintegration of the Keiretsu (Why keiretsu failed?) The keiretsu system started to decline slowly by the early nineties and one study by Gerlach (2004) that analyzed the cluster networking pattern of 257 Japanese organizations between 1978 and 1998 found clear evidence indicating this shift away from the Keiretsu. Analysis of cross shareholdings further confirmed the decline of the keiretsu structure (Lincoln & Shimotani, 2009). By the late nineties many major banks that were previously the core of the Horizontal keiretsu had already sold off major portions of their shares to international financial institutions (Ahmadjian and Robinson, 2001). Several Bank mergers further shook the keiretsu structure. Starting with the Mitsui and Taiyo-Kobe Bank merger in 1990 to the 1998 merger of Industrial Bank of Japan, Fuji and Dai-ichi Kangyo bank the largescale mergers of Japanese financial institutions led to consolidation of the related keiretsu firms (Lincoln & Shimotani, 2009). Globalization and technological changes further led to the withering of the Keiretsu. The numbers of board of directors were reduced and many foreign personals took up the position. International investors further demanded the selling off of the stocks in supplier firms and other affiliate firms. Furthermore, the global shift towards modular production system and the production efficiency that it gave rise to, along with a degree of independence between the firms that are involved, kind of eroded the production line advantages that Japanese firms specialized in mass production under the keiretsu system had enjoyed for a long period. The growth of information technology and the adaptation of computer simulation technologies in production testing and experimentation and swift data exchange between the firms reduced the need for physical communication (which was key in Keiretsu) and drastically improved value chain management.(Sturgeon, 2006) Modular production is propelled by ease of systems integration facilitated by information technology. By the 1990’s modular production system was already in place in the US electronic industry with its contract manufacturers spread across the globe. While the American firms capitalized on the internet enabled modular production systems and dominated the electronics industry and related computer hardware industry, Japanese electronics industry was still sticking to the ‘components plus products’ strategy. Cisco systems for instance enjoyed total domination in the network routers market enjoying as much as 80% of the market share while simply outsourcing its device production to contracted producers such as Solectron and Flextronics. Often the production centers are located in low cost regions such as China giving a distinct advantage for the modular production strategy. This contrast between the modular production strategies of the American firms and the in house à ¢â‚¬Ëœintegrated production system’ of the Japanese keiretsu firms gave a clear advantage to the American firms. In other words, the Japanese keiretsu firms could not handle the ‘mega competition’ from the American firms which specialize in single core functions or narrow core competencies. The following figure 1 illustrates the loss suffered by the Japanese keiretsu electronic industries in the early years of the new millennium. (Sturgeon, 2006) Another factor that accompanied global trade is the fluctuation of the exchange rates and its influence on the profit margin. Furthermore, the expansion into international markets and the associated transportation costs motivated many of Japan’s manufacturing firms to move their production facilities abroad as a cost effective solution. Though some suppliers too moved and invested in these new countries, in most cases the central firms such as Toyota started building trust and relationships with the local suppliers. Furthermore, changes in Japanese economic reforms including the Tax policies did not tolerate risk sharing measures as they used to before which clearly undermined one of the key Keiretsu principles. Conclusion The Large capitalist and mostly single family based zaibatsu companies flourished during the early twentieth century creating industrial monopolies that were closely controlled by the government. Zaibatsu led to what is known as a static system as most of the stocks are retained by the family that controls the business. Furthermore Zaibatsu promoted weak competition leading to what is known as ‘cordial oligopoly’.) Keiretsu on the other hand with its cross stockholdings is more dynamic and provided a more competitive business economy that continued to drive the Japanese economy during the post war period. The high cohesion that existed between the participating firms in the vertical keiretsu resulted in production and operational efficiency that gave Japanese manufacturers significant advantages in international markets. However, the Keiretsu principles of ‘preferential business’ affected foreign companies from entering the Japanese markets. Globalization and increasing pressures from international organizations to sell off stocks in affiliated firms affected the cohesion that previously existed between the participating firms in the keiretsu network. Furthermore, the successful integration and mass production strategies of the keiretsu networks that helped Japanese manufacturing firms flourish were soon affected by the shift in global production strategies. Particularly, the concept of modular production where product design could be isolated from its manufacture and the shift towards outsourcing in the western world created a dent in the Japanese manufacturing sector which was still stuck with the ‘in house production’ policies. The impact of information technology and the internet in particular enabled the western countries implement modular production strategies and improved value chain management with setting up of contracted production centers across the globe. The japans keiretsu firms struggled to fi ght the American companies that specialized in single core functions leading to what is known as the mega competition. These fundamental shifts in organizational structure and strategies in the West have made the Keiretsu networks unsuitable under modern globally competitive and technologically advanced market conditions. There is definitely a shift towards a more western centric business organization. Bibliography Ahmadjian, Christina L and Patricia Robinson. (2001). Safety in Numbers: Downsizing and the New Political Economy of Structural Adjustment and Globalization, New York: M.E. Sharpe. Jae Seung Shim & Moosung lee, (2008), The Korean Economic System, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. England. James R Lincoln & Mashiro Shimotani, (2009), Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper series, [online] University of California, viewed Mar 9th 2012, Katharina Niciejewska, (2007) The Influence of Social networks in Japanese business. Keiretsu as a Japanese Network. Auflage , Germany. Kunal Banerji PhD & Rakesh B Sambharya, (1996), Vertical Keiretsu and international market entry: The case of the Japanese automobile ancillary industry, Journal of international business studies. Vol 27, No 1. Lee Branstetter (2000), Vertical Keiretsu and Knowledge Spillovers in Japanese Manufacturing: An Empirical assessment, Journal of Japanese and International Economies , Vol 14, Issue 2, pg 73-104 Miwa, Yoshiro and J. Mark Ramsayer. 2006. The Fable of the Keiretsu: Urban Legends of the Japanese Economy. University of Chicago Press, 2006. Thayer Watkins, The Toyoto Group: The One and Only Horizontal and Vertical Keiretsu, [Online] San Jose State University, viewed Mar 9th 2012, Timothy J Sturgeon, (2006), Modular Productions Impact on Japan’s Electronic industry, MIT, IPC Working papers series. Viewed Mar 10th 2012,

Macroeconomic Aims of a Government Essay

The government and policymakers of a country intervenes in the economy in order to achieve economic growth, price stability, and low rate of unemployment. First and foremost, economic growth can be defined as an increase in the country’s output over a period of time. This means there is an increment in her productive capacity hence a rise in national income. A high economic growth is desirable as it represents an improvement in the material standard of living of the society. A rising real income per head brings about more and better quality goods and services, which are available for consumptions of individuals. However, an improvement in the case of consumer welfare due to economic growth is highly doubtful if the growth is accompanied by undesirable side effects such as negative externalities, leisure time forgone or even a dilution in the society’s tradition & custom. Through redistribution of income, economic growth can eliminate poverty. A higher output allows households to enjoy more goods and services thus generating higher income and through the multiplier effect increases national income by folds. Besides that, the government’s tax revenue will rise too, leading to more benefits for the poor such as education and training. This may even help curb the problem of poverty. The authority also highly regards sustaining a stable price level as a primary objective of economic policy. This is because inflation, defined as a sustained and inordinate increase in the general price level, could have harmful effects both socially and economically. A rising price level creates uncertainties and complicates decision-making, thus may hamper economic growth. Fluctuations in the level of prices makes information conveyed by prices harder to interpret. Consumer, firms, and the government may face a tough time in allocating funds or resources for the future in an inflationary environment. Furthermore, as the society strives to maintain its real value of income by keeping up with rising price level and competing with other social classes, the country’s social fabric could be severely strained. The mere existence of inflation means that the real value of money is falling. Thus, it will be necessary for the government to intervene in  the economy in order to prevent hyperinflation from happening. The countries that experienced the most extreme examples of trotting inflation are Argentine, Brazil and Russia. The slow growth brought about eventually crippled virtually the entire economic system. Every government places a low rate of unemployment at the top of its priority. The percentage of total labor force unemployed makes up the rate of unemployment. Economic costs of unemployment can be devastating, as it could mean a lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to loss of potential income to factors of production, whilst social costs such as increased poverty, personal hardships to individuals, decay of unused skills, raise in crime rates and family disputes prove the worthiness of the goal of achieving high employment. On the other hand, stability of a country’s exchange rate in the foreign exchange market (FOREX) is vital, as fluctuations of the exchange rate create adverse effects to the economy. There are mainly two cases which are prevalent in most economies. Firstly, an appreciation of the exchange rate may cause exports to become relatively dearer, and lead to loss of competitiveness (comparative advantage) to a country. Secondly, a depreciation of the exchange rate brings about serious domestic inflation, encourages exodus of capital and thus puts the country under stress of lack of investment and unemployment. On the external aspect, the government aims to achieve equilibrium in the balance of payment, especially the current account. A deficit in the current account drains the savings and reserve of a country significantly, leading to a chain effect of higher national debt and burden to future generations. In view of the above objectives, the government is needed to regulate and rectify situations. Therefore, the conclusion can be arrived that government intervention is fundamental to every economies in the world.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Budgeting Is Useless on Managers Essay

I disagree that budgeting is an unnecessary burden on many managers to a large extent. This isbecause budgeting provides an opportunity to reevaluate existing activities and evaluate new ones. Compel managers to think ahead and estimates of unit and sales during operating period as well as selling expenses, so as to estimate the profit target. Once the budget is set, region, product groups and/or account types can break it down. Also, budgeting talks about the optimum profitability in a given period; since firms typically look for profit maximization in the long term; while it seeks sales maximization in the current period. By providing and opportunity to reevaluate existing activities and evaluate new ones, managers are able to get a further understanding of the sales, production, distribution and finance on their current activities. Hence with the above that they have found out they are able to enhance and create new ones. In additional, budgeting compel managers to think ahead as they have to consider factors when forecasting sales. This factors include: past patterns of sales, market research studies, advertising and sales promotion plans, competitors’ actions and general economics conditions. While considering these factors, managers will have to do a research studies on the past and present and make a comparison on these and estimate sales in the future. In order for a company to have a good budgeting or performance, manager will need to foresee what will happen in the future and engages it’s staffs on the budget processing, creating and environment where there is a true two-way flow of information. Example from the top down, the top management gives sales and profit targets to various organization units and unit heads make plans to achieve the objectives. From the bottom up, Unit heads and their subordinates team up in the setting of the sales and profit objectives and also plan to meet them. As from the example above, top management is away from the realities in the field; but at the same time, juniors may tend to understate what they can achieve in the period. However, budgeting takes up too much time of all managers. As they have to stay focus on their current project and to make sure that is an active participation of all the employees. Reason why the failed to budget can be due to an error in the message conveyed by the budgeting system that maybe misaligned with incentives provided by the compensation system as budgeting is a detailed and comprehensive analysis upon any miscommunications it may result in more time spend by the managers. In conclusion, I do disagree to a large extent that budgeting is an unnecessary burden on many managers as they can provide good analysis while ensuring of all participation of the management be it the employees all the managers despite the risk.

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Life of John Adams Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Life of John Adams - Research Paper Example His father was a man of simple origins, but his mother Susanna Boylston Adams hailed from a very prestigious and elite family. As a bright and hardworking boy, he managed to enter Harvard in 1755. He started his career as school teacher and switched to study law under James Putnam. He served as successful lawyer in Boston for a decade. John Adams married Abigail Smith (1744-1818) and fathered four, the eldest of whom is John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States of America. The couple shared a unique intellectual companionship and the letters exchanged between them are preserved till date as a strong proof for lovable camaraderie. Contribution to the American Revolution John Adam plunged into politics angered by the oppressive acts of the British government like many other young men of his time. The Stamp Act of 1765, which ordered every legal document used in America should use only a stamped paper, produced in London, triggered wide spread agitations. A three membe r team including John Adams petitioned against the act and made it repealed in 1766. Adams rose in popularity when he defended Captain Thomas Preston in the Boston Massacre case. Adams influence grew with time and he became an important delegate of Continental Congress. At 1776, he became the chairman of the Continental Board of War and Ordnance. He travelled to Paris in 1778 where he aided Benjamin Franklin in pursuing France to help America fighting against Britain. He came back in 1779 and started writing the Boston state constitution very famous for its Bill of Rights. Adam travelled to Netherland and stayed there for nearly two years. He managed to raise a loan of one millions four hundred thousand dollars to support the revolution back home. This funding played a prominent role in the success of the revolution. He acted as the main instrumental diplomat in faming the Treaty of Paris (1783) which officially ended the American Revolution. Adams made sure the United States held t he rights for North Atlantic fishing during the treaty negotiations. He was influential in raising a huge amount of Dutch loan which helped the country face its first elections. He also framed various trade treaties with European countries other than British to maintain steady economy in the new nation. John Adams Presidency John Adams returned back to the new nation of his dreams the Independent United States of America nearly after ten years of staying abroad. He was made the Vice President of the country in honour of his service. He published several works during this period including Thoughts on Government, Discourses on Davila and many other newspaper articles2. After George Washington served two terms as President John Adams succeeded him as the second President of America. The White House was in its initial stage of construction then. John Adams became the first President to reside there with his family. John Adams term of Presidency posed enormous challenges. The French Revo lution was viewed upon as a great progressive step in the history of mankind by the Republicans and Thomas Jefferson. But, John Adams just viewed it as "a mob rule, violence and terror and eventually the establishment of a despotic government ruled by a single person".3 As a result John Adams sent two commissions to France to work out a treaty with the French known as the XYZ affair, causing great displease among his colleagues. The Alien and Sedition

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Sustainale management futures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Sustainale management futures - Essay Example Apparently, the author argued that business and ethics are two contradictory notions that have been brought together. Nonetheless, growing corporate malpractices has highlighted demand of corporate or business ethics significantly. Crane and Matten (2010) defined business ethics as assessment of a particular business situation or activity or decision that involve moral dilemma related to right and wrong. In business ethics, moral correctness is stress upon instead of commercially, strategically and financially correctness. Although there are several instances of violation of business ethics, one of the greatest scandals from gas and oil industry has been selected for evaluation with respect to two ethical theories. The paper will evaluate incident of Gulf Oil Spill by British Petroleum (BP) in the lights of Utilitarianism theory and Kant’s Ethics of duties or deontology theory. The oil and gas industry has been considered for evaluation of ethical crisis in business because this industry is one of the essential sectors from the perspective of economic development and environmental impact. The United States alone consist of 24.7 percent of global oil share while accommodating other subsectors such as exploration and production of oil and gas. Significant oil and gas reserved in the nation has attracted several global players such as British Petroleum (Marketline, 2012a; Marketline, 2014). Oil spill is often considered as an unavoidable situation in the process of drilling and extraction but the situation can cause havoc if goes uncontrolled. Two such critical examples are spill by Exxon Valdez in the gulf coast of Alaska and BP spill at the Gulf of Mexico. Prior to discussing the spill and its ethical consequences, brief introduction regarding BP Plc has been provided in the following section (Hanson, 2014). BP Plc was founded in 1901 and currently, it is considered as one of the largest oil and gas

Choose a critical perspective to analyse a current approach to Essay

Choose a critical perspective to analyse a current approach to leadership and present an argument to justify your choice - Essay Example Good leadership is likely to inspire others to take on attitudes, values, goals and make them behave in such a way that is good for the wellbeing of the group. In other words individual action could be transformed into group action with help of effective leadership (Zanna, 2003). As far as the definition of leadership is concerned different experts have defined leadership differently. According to John C Maxwell leadership is nothing but influence. On the other hand Warren Bennis said that "Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential."(Oklahoma State University, n.d.). In a broad perspective it can be said that leadership is essential for directing a team or management towards the accomplishment of objectives and goals. So a generally accepted definition would say that leadership is the ability of influencing a team or group in the directi on of accomplishing a set of objectives or goals. There could be several approach of leadership such as charismatic leadership, transformational leadership and transactional leadership. This paper provides an in-depth critical analysis of transformational leadership approach. The paper includes a critical perspective of the chosen approach as well as the main reasons of choosing this for analysis over the other approach. Transformational leadership is one of the most popular and most recent approaches of leadership. It has been a common topic of leadership theory. Since 1980 it has been researched by the management experts. Transformational leadership is an important part of the paradigm of â€Å"New Leadership†. According to Bass and Riggio the main reason behind the popularity of transformational leadership is its emphasis on the follower development and intrinsic motivation. Transformational leadership is the most relevant leadership approach in today’s uncertain

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Declaration of Independence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Declaration of Independence - Essay Example There is no big difference between the initial Declaration and the final version. Most of the wording was retained as it was in the initial document. Very minimal alterations were made on the document. In comparing Jefferson’s initial Declaration with the final version, it can be noted that most of the alterations made were on the wording in the document. This was more for the purpose of clarity than for alteration of meaning of the words in the Declaration. Of the draft presented to Congress, only two passages were rejected directly by Congress. One of the passages referred to the English people in an inappropriate manner which did not go down well with congress since even the Americans were of British roots. The other passage which denounced slavery and slave trade did not please Congress as many members owned slaves and were not willing to set them free. The alterations of the wording in the document was to give the document a more personalized feel as will be explained by the following examples. Some of the alterations for example at the start of the Declaration where the article â€Å"of† is changed to â€Å"by†, was intended to bring out the aspect of personalization. The alteration of the words â€Å"sacred & undeniable† to read â€Å"self evident† may have been done to avoid the statement a religious feel. Some alterations were made for grammatical purposes to avoid unintended meanings from statements. This is evident in the second paragraph where the article â€Å"in† was deleted before the word â€Å"rights†. It is clear from this example that inclusion of the article would have given the statement a different meaning that was not intended by the drafters of the declaration. Other alterations may have been made to correct human error as in the case where Jefferson deletes the words â€Å"he has dissolved† from the beginning of a line he was writing. It is clear that this was because he was repeating the previous line and on

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

International Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

International Marketing - Essay Example The country of origin has been traditionally considered as a major criterion in the development of consumer choices within the international marketplace. It should be noticed that consumer opinions regarding a specific product/ service cannot be precisely estimated and evaluated because they tend to change continuously. Regarding this issue it is stated by Hall (2002, 24) that ‘consumers "change their minds" about a product, then they change their attitude, and then they act’. In other words, marketers cannot rely on the consumer preferences for a particular product/ service in a specific period of time. They would rather have a series of elements that present the trends of consumers within the particular market in general terms (i.e. not specifically at a particular time point). If the above issue is not taken into consideration, the marketing strategy based on the consumer choices made during a specific period (or under a specific social, financial or political framewo rk) are very likely to be proved inappropriate after a specific time period will be differentiated. On the other hand, the introduction and the application of a specific marketing strategy within the international marketplace should be combined with the appropriate research. If not, the marketing strategy attempted to be implemented will be led to a failure. The above issue has been examined by Diamantopoulos et al. who stated that ‘the methodological pitfalls of international research often lead to questionable research results’.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Colonialism. Ottoman Empire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Colonialism. Ottoman Empire - Essay Example mpire, the ideas is to trace the history of the Ottoman empire and link it with colonialism, thus trying to understand the impact of colonialism through the example of the Ottoman empire. Colonialism is defined as the process of acquiring a foreign territory. The art of acquiring a foreign territory along with maintaining the territory without treating the people as equals has been the pattern of colonization throughout history. It has led to many bloody battles, while the Europeans have been at the centerfold of colonizing the entire world, from the Americas to Africa, Asia and the new worlds. It has been the practice of domination and was mastered by the European for ages. It involves political and economic control over a country, while the people are treated as second-class citizens. The European masters would extract the last bit of money from the controlled territories and it involved utter domination over the natural citizens of the country. The Ottoman Empire has been recorded in the history as one of the most significant and dominating empires of all time. The timeline of the empire ranges from 1301-1922. The empire was at its peak in the medieval ages and continued to thrive for six centuries. The empire has been a long lasting legacy of the Mediterranean countries. Islam and the Islamic philosophy heavily influenced it. The Ottoman Empire started during the 13th century AD. The ruler Osman 1 was the man who initiated the conquest of the Ottoman Empire. The name ‘Ottoman† comes from Osman, who was the founder of the empire. The Ottoman Empire at its heights was considered as one of the most powerful empires of all times. There are three significant periods in the timeline of the Ottoman Empire. The first is the ascendancy and rise of the empire, which took place between 1299-1453. The second and the most significant period of the empire then come between 1453-1683. This is the time when the empire was growing rapidly and made huge strides. This

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Migration Definition Essay Example for Free

Migration Definition Essay MIGRATION: Migration is a world wide phenomenon that can be viewed in either a modern or historical perspective. Historically speaking, migration has been happening for hundreds of years for various reasons such as racism, war invasions, search for a better life, famine, and poor weather conditions. Modernly speaking, in a great majority of cases, people have poor and developing countries that cant provide good conditions for living and raising a family causing them to migrate to another location to in search of a better life style. Sometimes, in search of better education, one would migrate to another location to fulfill their destiny. Some even migrate in need to find unknown relatives that share the same bloodline as them due to fact there was a disconnection in where the family split through migration. But there are plenty of reasons for migration in where a person just wants to relocate for their specific reasons. Migrations even plays a role in population, and even bringing in a new culture. Today, I will enlighten you about this topic by discussing the migration that occurred through out Barack Obamas and his families life. Also, I will speak upon the Dust Storm that played a role in migration. To add on, I will inform you about he migration that occurred through out my relatives lives. And finally, I will speak upon the migration that occurred through out the movie Scarface that starred Al Pacino that played Tony Montanas role. My parents werent born in the United States, but they were looking for better lives and opportunities, so they migrated from Haiti to the United States. My parents growing up in such a poor country that didnt provide much opportunity for them to be able to live a decent lifestyle forced them to migrate. In search of education, jobs, money, and opportunity, they decided to start a new life in the united States. When waking up not knowing when you or your family are going to have the next meal, are you going to find the money to pay the landlord, can you pay your childrens education, afford medicine for when someone in your family that is severely sick, or any specific cause that revolves around unobtainable cash, can drive a person a stress level very high. In desperate need to escape hardship, hearing about the United States and what it had to offer such as opportunities, free education, and work, it was a done deal, they moved on forward. It was a every day struggle in Haiti for my parents, and they thought leaving Haiti coming to America was the only solution to end the struggle and give them a better life to live. Due to difficult times and hard measures, sometimes it is inevitable to stop yourself from migrating to another location hoping for the better. And also, in search of better education, giving you chances to better opportunities in life, will persuade you to migrate to another location that is willing to provide that. There are various reasons in which someone can migrate and through out reading Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama, Ive consumed particular reasons. In this book, Barack Obama explains his life and the life of his parents. Through out the reading, he elaborates on all the various migrations he has done along with his parents. In Dreams from My Father, President Obama informs us on plenty of migration that occurred through out his family. Barack Obama, the son of Barack Obama Sr. who is from Kenya, and Ann Dunham who is from Kansas, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father and mother had divorced and his mother met Lolo Soetoro, a javanese surveyor from Indonesia. Both Lolo and Baracks mother attended the same university. His mother and Lolo ended up getting married together and his new stepfather moved to jakarta, Indonesia shortly after graduating from the University of Hawaii. Obamas mother graduated from the university as well and decided to move also to go join her new husband. Obama moved to Indonesia leaving Hawaii to live with his mother and he spent ages six to ten there attending school. As years went by, he moved back to hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. He had earned a scholarship which enabled him to attend a college preparatory school from fifth grade till he graduated high school. His mother got a chance to stay with him for three years along with his sister but he wanted to return to Indonesia to do her anthropology field work, but Obama decided to stay in Hawaii with his grandparents for high school. After graduating high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental college. During that period of time, he decided to visit his mother in Indonesia, and then after travel to Pakistan and India to visit college classmate families. Later, Obama decided to transfer to Colombia University in New York City where he majored in political science. he graduated from there with a bachelor and received two jobs in New York while he stayed there for a year. he later received a job in Chicago where he moved there and was a director of the Developing Com munities Project. Obama wanted to connect with the black community more due to him being confused growing up half white and black. After, Obama travelled to Europe for the first time for a period of three weeks and then decided to travel to Kenya for five weeks to meet unknown relatives from his fathers side to bond. Later, Obama then decided to attend Harvard Law School moving to Massachusetts. After graduating, he left and went back to Chicago. He later got a job again in Chicago where he got a book deal with the University of Chicago Law School. He later ended up becoming a teacher at the University. With him being a civil rights attorney and all the extracurricular activities he was involved in, that lead him to being state senator. Obama travelled back one to Kenya to trace his fathers foot steps. Through out reading chapter 11: Dust Bowl Odyssey from the book called After the Fact: the Art of Historical Detection written by James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle, this chapter enlightened me a lot about the topic of migration showing me how poor weather conditions can play a big role in causing people to migrate. The dust storms caused people to migrate because of the fact that it brought in famine and unemployment. The poor weather conditions in that area were so horrible, it just caused poor living conditions, which made people have to leave their current location in search of a better life. The Dust storm began May 9, 1934, and by May 11, the dust shifted down to South Atlanta and Boston. Every year on, the storms blew in worst. There were 22 dust storms in total in 1934 and it grew to 72 storms by 1937. The storms were so intense, people thought it was the wrath of god in where when the rain failed them, the crops withered, and the winds hurdled the loose soil across the nation. The crops kept falling, the farmers debts kept growing, and soon the banks repossessed the farmers farms. Several farming states felt the wrath of the storms coming in. After watching the storms effects, statistics showed how California gained more than a million new residents in the 1930s. Mostly affected by the bad weather and the Great Depression was the south west plains. Unemployment in the region hit one-third of all workers. People started assuming moving to California was the answer to everything at the moment guessing that the state could be helpful at the crisis moment. 43% of California which is nearly half of California, were now farmers and laborers. Families walked to California in search of a better life. 95% of all southwestern migrants to California were white. The population in California was growing fast and California didnt know how to control this migration, so billboards started to come up saying things such as no jobs in California, 6 men for every job, no state relief available for non residents, and keep out. Although Californias economy suffered and unemployment,remained serious, the state of california was much better off than most of the nation. The economy of California actually grew during the 1930s. Good Highways, bus routes, and railroads linked the southwestern plains to California. Because the trip was was so manageable, most families did not necessarily see their move as permanent. By 1940, 83% of all men in the city were eligible to wok had found jobs. Only 28% of the dust bowls refugees found their way. Migration was causing farmers to make deficit in profit. This migration caused regular farmers from California to complain about farmer migrators and made foul remarks towards them. The United States has been transformed by a civil rights revolution ever sine the dust storms swept across the south western plains. It has been reminded of its diversity by the renewed tide of immigration in the wake of the Immigration Reform Act of 1964. For example, in the 1983 film called Scarface directed by Brian DePalma which starred famous actor Al Pacino who played the lead role character of Tony Montana in the movie, migration played a major factor in why Tony Montana reached the success he did in he film. Tony Montana was from Cuba and after departing from there in search of his American Dream , he tried to migrate to the United States but was denied by INS officials who seemed to believe he was involved in political criminal activities . So, they detained him and sent him to a camp called Freedomtown under a expressway with other fellow Cubans while the government reviewed their visa petitions. While incarcerated in that camp, Montana was offered a deal to kill a former aide of Fidel Castro called Rebanga for a visa by Frank Lopez (a wealthy, political astute man who dealt cars and was involved in the drug trade) for the simple fact Rebanga tortured Franks brother to death. But in desperate need of that visa, to escape the poor life in Cuba, he murdered Rebanga, and then departed to come to Florida. In Florida, he got involved into the drug trade and got into certain situations which lead him to meeting a drug lord called Sosa. By Tony Montana migrating to Bolivia for Franks personal business purposes, Montana and Sosa make friendship, which leads to Tony taking over the cocaine business in Florida. Even though the story ends very brutal with the death of Tony, migration was the cause of why Tony reached his success illegally due to the fact of him trying to escape poverty and search for his American Dream. As you can see, migration plays a big role in the world that we live. Migration is the cause of population increase and decrease. People migrate in cause of chasing a better life style in which they are trying to escape the bad living. People migrate in search of education, jobs, family, opportunities, escaping poverty, famine, and poor living. Migration is the key to success in some cases, in where finding another location to live can branch them off into great possibilities. Migration can cause reduction in money that used to be obtained regularly due to increase in venture. Migration basically has its ups and downs, should be controlled due to population increase which may have its consequences. But, migration has its pros and cons where it could be beneficial for the migrator or not be beneficial for the people of origin in the location the migrator moved. Work Cited: DePalma, Brian Stone, Oliver. Scarface Obama, Barack. Dreams From My Father 1995 West, James Mark Hamilton. After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection : chapter 11

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Critique Of Difficulties For Students Studying Abroad English Language Essay

Critique Of Difficulties For Students Studying Abroad English Language Essay Introduction The article, Cultural Variations: Difficulties for Students Studying Abroad, was written by Ballard and Clandchy, in 1984. The authors describe three kinds of difficulties which students studying abroad have to face, different styles of thinking, learning, writing and presenting ideas. They also point out that if overseas students want to have a good studying and living condition, they must try to change their thinking, learning and writing style into critical and analytical approach in order to adjust to the western country. Generally the viewpoints are good, but there are some weaknesses about examples which should be re-evaluated. Summary To the first question-different style of thinking, the authors observe that culture variation lead students with different context think for different purposes. This phenomenon is not only for the different languages, but also culture background. An example about a Japanese student studying at Australia is given to support this view. He was a good student who had studied Economics for two years in Tokyo before coming to Australia. However he even could not pass the exam and mistook the meaning of his essay question because of different thinking style. When he was able to see the problem and adapted to the Australian thinking pattern, he became a promising student again. The authors second main point is different styles of learning. They present three kinds of learning method: reproductive approach, analytical approach and speculative approach. Different students from different culture background are used to their own ways of learning. When they come to a new academic environment, it is hard for them to develop a critical and hypothesising attitude towards tasks. A Singapore undergraduate, a Japanese MA student and an Indian PhD students comments proved that the variety of learning style make them unfit. An Indonesian postgraduate also suffered with the studying problem when she moved to Western university. Once she switched her thinking and learning approach and began to ask questions, she was successful. Moving on to the third style main pointstyle of writing and presenting ideas, the authors refer to Kaplans research. He argues that there are five independent patterns for writing: English pattern, Romance and Russian pattern, Semitic pattern and Oriental pattern (cited in Kaplan). Each pattern has its own characteristic. For example, English pattern is a linear one, moving from main opinions directly to examples, which is totally different from Oriental pattern, indirectly, circling round the main ideas for avoiding making an ultimate conclusion. Critique In the article, Ballard and Clanchy point out that Asian student should exert critical thinking to adjust to the Western learning system. Though the authors viewpoints were raised in 1984, I agree with it to a large degree. But there is no example about Chinese students in the article and many examples are not powerful enough to support their view. Overseas students lack critical thinking, even today Though the article was written in 1984, generally its views are good, many of which are still valid today. Back to Chinese traditional culture, the thinking and learning style are different from that of western countries. In China, we were used to absorb what teacher said, and never doubted whether it was right or not. Because in our eyes, teachers duty is to preach, teach and disabuse, so they must be exactly right (Patrick Huang, 2009). If someone is doubtful of teachers words or theories on the book, he will be regarded as not respecting teachers or crazy. When I came to the UK, what I felt on the lectures made me to recognise the learning style is different from China. Whenever, British students feel a question got them, they would put up their hands, though in my mind, the question was easy. On the lectures, it is can be often heard from a teacher: Are you all happy with that? It is the time that the teacher wants to get some feedbacks from his students, whether they understand his lecture or not. Most of the time, some British student will shout out what make him confused. But to our Chinese, though the question is really hard, we would read some reference books rather than to raise it up on the lecture, because there is a high-self-esteem ideology in our mind. I will feel shame if all of the other classmates understand the question, but me. Examples are not powerful enough As mentioned above, the authors ideas are generally good, but the examples used in the article are not convincing evidence to function as the authors expect. Firstly, the examples in the article are not enough in quantity and quality. In my opinion, a questionnaire about whether different culture context have different learning style and comparison between Asian students and Australian students should be done in Ballard and Clanchys investigation. An example like Biemans and Mil raised in their research is expected: 25 Chinese students and 16 Dutch students were divided into two groups respectively. Most Chinese students have the characteristics that reflect a reproduction-directed and an undirected learning style, while the Dutch students as a group do not demonstrate any one particular learning style (Biemans and Mil, 2008). In addition, the evidence is not relevant to Chinese students. According to Ku at el, the most common difficulties For Chinese students are associated with language ability, academic performance, and social adjustment (Ku at el. 2001). It is thus clear, besides critical thinking and learning strategy, language ability is another obstacle which limits Chinese students progress. Another weakness is the analysis Ballard and Clanchys did is not deep going. To the Chinese style of learning, it must be retrospect to the fundamental education for children. I have read a funny story about a Chinese couple, taking 3 year-old son, visited their American friends who had 3 children. When these children played the building block, the Chinese child often asked his mother to help him, while these American children never did that. Oppositely they were happy to help their new friends solve the problem. At dinner, these American children were happy to see the guests using chopsticks, so they copied the actions to eat food. Whereas the Chinese kid did not want to eat by himself, just shouting: mom feed me, mom feed me The Chinese lady had no choice but feed him. It is an example in our daily life, yet we can get more information and think deeply rather than the superficial meanings. Sometimes we consider kindergarten or primary school is where fundamental education begins. W ell actually parent is childrens first teacher whose teaching style effects initiatory learning style of the kids. In my opinion, most Chinese parents like to teach their children hand by hand. Just like my parents, when I was young, they checked up my homework every day and told me to remember the equations or formulae time after time. Western country parents will not do that, because they think that is the teachers work. They just tell the children to learn by themselves. So when children step in schools, they would be used to the ways of learning from their parents. And also the teachers, under different culture context, teach their students with different ways. These factors lead students to form the habit of how to learn and not adapt to other style of learning. Just like the authors mentioned, we cannot say which learning method is superior to the others. Reproductive style lay emphasis on memorisation and imitation, which, I think, is suitable for primary schools study, not for high school or university, because it prepares students for bigger tasks ahead. But when they go to study abroad, normally western countries, the speculative style of learning, such as, group discussion, questionnaire, makes them uncomfortable. Otherwise, with the combination of eastern and western culture, more and more universities of the eastern countries have begun to attach importance to analytical and speculative learning style and encourage students to ask questions. Conclusion When a western university takes over an overseas student, I think, his marks and English level must be both good enough. Maybe only the way of learning and thinking is different from that he acquired in his country. What he needs to do first is to learn how to ask questions. Never be shy! And then try to use critical and analytical views to do the different tasks. When he breaks through these main points, everything will go well. He can prove he is excellent both in his country and abroad.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Development of an Electronic Car

Development of an Electronic Car Group number 5 Krunal Pathak C0690657 Jayanth Siripireddy C0684870 Unnati Varma C0689270 Sagar Kaklotar C0686834 Venkateswarlu-C0691743 Vikas Rathod-C0684723 The production and use of traditional gasoline-powered cars have a huge environmental negative impact. The pollutant emissions from our cars contribute to unhealthy air and are the major cause of global warming by trapping solar energy in the atmosphere. In addition, these vehicles affect the environment by creating noise, which can disturb work, relaxing and sleeping. In this context, electric vehicles represent the future they can be powered by electric energy produced from many different sources and dont have a combustion engine that burns gasoline and produces CO2. Tesla Motors company was founded with the mission of accelerating the worlds transition to sustainable energy. The companys main purpose is to prove that electric cars can be better than powered-gasoline cars. Tesla Model-S projects objective is to develop a premium electric sedan vehicle that competes with brands like BWM, Mercedes, and Audi. The Model-S should prove that an electric car can have, at the same time, electric powertrain, attractive design, and high performance. This project follows Tesla Motors business plan to expand downmarket from the high-performance Tesla Roadster sports car. Total project planning will be divided into 9 subsidiary plans, as detailed below. This planning will be initiated on October 24th, 2016, and its expected to finish on March 03rd, 2019. The total budget allocated for covering all planning activities is $ 30,000,000. Â   Â   Â   Tesla model-S Interior 17 inch touch screen is the most attractive feature tesla is including in Model-S car(contract administration build below for the touch screen procurement) CONTRACT SUMMARY: Contract awarded based on the following: Comparison of outsourced cost and in-house course Compulsory requirements Financial documents for vendor Experience and general qualifications Technical qualifications for past performance Quality Cost Vendor ability to provide all items on required date Contract Name Firm Fixed price All the items that are procured for the project will be under FFP (FRIM FIXED PRICE). For each item to be procured concerned person is responsible for making the purchase per the FFP contract type since the manager has a limited budget we are adopting FFP contract type now the seller is responsible for product submission within the limit of time and cost. The manager must ensure the correct scope of product achieved or not. Start and Finish Dates March 2017 to December 2017 Contract Value $1,000,000 Owners / Key Representatives Nominated contact Role Sagar kaklotar Procurement manager Kunal Pathak Project manager Supplier details Infosys Contract Objectives Item/Service Justification Category Needed By Software for 17-inch screen Software needs highly skilled labors, servers, and equipment that we dont have it. Software January 2018 The manager must identify the risk involves in the procurement of the product or service. for each identified risk the manager should make a mitigation plan by taking the expert legal judgment and make a proper documentation of each identified risk add it to risk management log. This project involves multiple contracts so the manager should do check for interdependencies of activities so one risk response plan might not trigger the other risk. Contract and Supplier Management Plan: Contract Name: Firm Fixed price Contract No: 11 Contract Manager: Jayanth Siripereddy Legend: CM Contract Manager PD Procurement Department RM Risk Management Department Con Contractor Pre-Commencement Stage Actions Who Completed Yes No Date Completed Comment 1. Contract Documents Prepare and send letter of acceptance Procurement department yes 17/01/2017 Once the bidder is confirmed send the formal letter of acceptance, and invite them for negotiations. Prepare contract documents and arrange signing and sealing Procurement department yes 20/01/2017 Awarded contract firm fixed price to the Infosys, and explained more about contract and claims Read and understand both specification and terms and conditions of contract Contract manager Yes 22/01/2017 Held a meeting with Infosys business analyst, explained each other term and conditions of contract and project requirements. 2. Transition Plan Prioritize all transition activities and confirm timeframes and milestones with all parties Contract manager Yes 23/01/2017 List of activities and time frames mention in the procurement management plan given to the contractors. Involve and communicate with all relevant parties as per nominated transition activities Contract manager Yes 24/01/2017 Procurement department contract manager, project manager, and Infosys must follow the given communication management plan. 3. Contract Management Plan [CMP] Prepare CMP, sign off and file Contract manager Yes 29/01/2017 Contract management plan prepared by the project manager signed off by the Infosys Inc. 4. Insurance Obtain all required Insurance Certificates. Procurement department Yes 31/01/2017 For the identified risk, insurance obtained from TD bank per the budget. 5. Security / Retention Obtain updated Irrevocable Bank Guarantees for amounts as per tender document Contract manager Yes 02/02/2107 A bank guarantee obtained from the Infosys in the case of irrevocable payment due. Confirm retention amounts and set up in payment schedules Contract manager Yes 04/02/2017 All payment schedules and retention amount details documented in the procurement management plan and signed off by Infosys 6. Key Performance Indicators [KPIs] Develop auditing system using KPIs and measuring matrix Contract manager yes 05/02/2017 Auditing dates are planned and updated to the quality management plan, manager should commence them on date without delay Ensure staff are familiar with system and auditing process Contract Manager Yes 06/02/2017 Auditing date and systems clearly explained to the technical staff working on touch screen activity 7. Risk Assessment Plan Use risk management system to develop a contingency plan based on nominated and other risks Contract Manager/Risk Manager yes 17/02/2017 For all the nominated and identified risks, contingency plan and risk response strategies were prepared and updated the risk management plan. Ex: The main risk for touch screen task is end user bugs, hiring automation tester is the contingency plan for this. 8.Contract Meeting Facilitate a contract management meeting to discuss all pre-commencement requirements Contract Manager/ Business analyst (Infosys) yes 22/02/2017 Facilitated a pre-commencement meeting and handed over all risk, quality, scope and contract document. Future meeting schedule also submitted. Ensured the contract is beginning on time Document all agreed outcomes of the contract management meeting Contract Manager/ Business analyst (Infosys) Yes 26/02/2017 After meeting facilitated on 22nd February BA gone through all the documents Tesla produced and agreed on 26/02/2017. Post Contract Commencement Stage Actions Who Completed Yes No Planned Date Comment 1. Contractor Performance Audit Forward copy of audit results to Contractor and record any non-conformances Contract Manager No 04/04/2017 The audit will be performed by Teslas audit committee to confirm that all the standards procedure agrees on followed and the result of it will be sent to Infosys. Notify Risk Dept. of any breaches and determine appropriate actions Contract Manager/ Risk Management Department No 01/05/2017 During the audit, if any new risk identified or any breach of the agreed terms in contract found, it must be communicated to risk department. Meet with contractor to discuss non-conformances and agree on remedial actions Contract Manager/ Risk Management Department No 04/05/2017 All the deficiencies and defects found must be discussed with Infosys to agree on to fix the issues found in software. 2.Contract Meetings Prepare agenda and forward invitation and agenda to contractor Contract Manager No 06/06/2017 Contract manager should be prepared the agenda of the meeting and must inform Infosys with the invitation. Record minutes of meetings including any subsequent actions to be carried by either party Contract Manager No 26/08/2017 If any actions required by Tesla or Infosys, it should be recorded in the minutes of meetings. Forward copy of minutes of meeting to contractor Contract Manager No 27/08/2017 A copy of minutes of the meeting must be forwarded to Infosys prior of meeting and should one week ahead. 3.Payment Claims Upon receipt of claims ensure that works completed are in accordance with claims. Contract Manager No 31/09/2017 Contract manager will ensure all work completed is either meets contract requirement or not in accordance with the claims of the Infosys Make payment adjustment for defective deliverables Contract Manager No 2/10/2017 As per the quality testing report, the defective screen will be taken into consideration by contract manager before moving further towards financial department procedures Actions Who Completed Yes No Date Completed Comment 4.Performance Auditing Conduct regular contractor performance audits in accordance with specification Contract manager No 5/05/2017 Contract manager will check performance and standards of each product. Record audit results and provide a copy to contractor Contract Manager No 6/05/2017 Recording of audit results to be done in order to keep the results for future reference. As an agenda item for Contract Meetings discuss outcomes and how any under-performances may be improved Contract Manager No 31/05/2017 Meetings discussion will help to improve the quality of product and its performance. Conduct annual review of nominated KPIs with Contractor to ensure continued relevance to the delivery of services including any changes to scope etc. Contract Manager / Contractor No 5/10/2017 It will be useful to keep a record for future procurement that the KPIs for the product is are always matched or implemented without any exclusions. 5.Contract Extensions With service contracts, be aware of nominated notification periods to the contractor as to Councils intentions to extend or not. Contract Manager No 01/12/2017 Contract manager will decide through current report whether to continue with this vendor or not Notify contractor in writing of Councils intention regarding extension Contract Manager No 02/12/2017 As per agreement contract manager will notify to the vendor before 3 months if they require extending procurement. Actions Who Completed Yes No Date Completed Comment 6.Contract Expiry/Transition Out Develop transition out plan in conjunction with contractor Contract Manager / Contractor No 25/12/2017 Teslas contract manager should plan with the involvement of Infosys that how and when the expiration of contract will take place. Conduct contract meeting to consolidate actions, responsibilities, and timeframes Contract Manager / Contractor No 27/12/2017 This meeting will be held by Tesla to combine the actions of Infosys with them before closure of the contract. Take receipt of all intellectual knowledge belonging to Council Contract Manager / Contractor No 28/12/2017 Tesla must be verified that all the intellectual properties of the software must be transferred to them by Infosys as per the contract. Conduct exit audit with outgoing and incoming contractors to identify outstanding work and overall standard of relevant assets Contract Manager / Contractor No 30/12/2017 It is the duty of contract manager to make sure that Infosys finished all the work as per the contract and nothing is outstanding before moving to closure. Negotiate any final payments based on incomplete or sub-standard works Contract Manager / Contractor No 31/12/2017 As per the contract established with Infosys, any work found below standards or incomplete, there will be a deduction in payment. Contract Variation Form Variation number: 1 Date: 01/ 04 /2017 Description of proposed variation and reason: Variation: Tesla motors asked for separate application within the android that could support the 17inch touch screen. For this task, Infosys is awarded FFP contract, now after all negotiation and contracts signed. Now, Tesla proposed the new operating system for the same time and cost instead of the android application. Reason: For the android application, the end user may need extra security to protect the application. It may crash because of malware. Will the variation be at an additional cost to original contract amount? Yes No If yes date quotation for variation is to be received by: 04/04/2017 Contractors Response: Infosys agreed to the change, but the production cost increased as per their quotation. Costings: *Remove whichever does not apply Original contract value $1,000,000 *Time/*Works Variation cost $50,000 Other variation adjustments to cost $30,000 Revised contract Value $1,080,000 Contract Dates: Original Practical Completion 31/12/2017 Additional time required due to variation 4 months New Date of Practical Completion 31/04/2018 Signed on behalf of the Contractor: Date 7/04/2017

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Cause and Effect in David Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understand

Cause and Effect in David Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume states, â€Å"there is not, in any single, particular instance of cause and effect, any thing which can suggest the idea of power or necessary connexion† (Hume, 1993: 41). Hume establishes in section II that all ideas originate from impressions that employ the senses (11). Therefore, in order for there to be an idea of power or â€Å"necessary connexion,† there must be impressions of this connection present in single instances of cause and effect; if there are no such impressions, then there cannot be an idea of â€Å"necessary connexion† (52). To illustrate his statement, Hume examines four situations: bodies interacting in the world, mind causing actions of the body, mind causing ideas of ideas, and God as the source of power. I will highlight Hume’s reasons and outline his arguments to establish that there is no â€Å"connexion† between cause and effect on the basis of singl e instances. Hume’s first reflection focuses on worldly bodies. Assuming that a â€Å"necessary connexion† exists between cause and effect, this effect could be determined, without prior experience, through reasoning, upon observation of the cause alone. We, however, observe the body and we observe the effect on the body or system but â€Å"the power or force, which actuates the whole machine [universe or chain of effects] is entirely concealed from us, and never discovers itself in any of the sensible qualities of body† (42). Hence, this situation demonstrates no impression of, and therefore no idea of, â€Å"necessary connexion† in â€Å"single instances of their (bodies) operation† (42). The second reflection in... ...out being ever able to comprehend any thing like connexion between them† (46). He expresses that this conjunction through similar experience is what allows us to relate cause and effect relatively accurately. On the other hand, Hume entertains the situation that â€Å"it is God himself, †¦ which we erroneously attribute to our own power and efficacy† (47). Hume argues that â€Å"there must arrise a strong suspicion †¦ (when we arrive at) conclusions so extraordinary, and so remote from common life and experience† (48). Further, Hume illustrates that no matter how ignorant we are â€Å"of the manner in which bodies operate on each other† we are equally ignorant of the supreme mind; we should reject the more unintelligible prospect (48). Works Cited Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. 2nd edition. Hackett Publishing: Indianapolis. 1993. Cause and Effect in David Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understand Cause and Effect in David Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume states, â€Å"there is not, in any single, particular instance of cause and effect, any thing which can suggest the idea of power or necessary connexion† (Hume, 1993: 41). Hume establishes in section II that all ideas originate from impressions that employ the senses (11). Therefore, in order for there to be an idea of power or â€Å"necessary connexion,† there must be impressions of this connection present in single instances of cause and effect; if there are no such impressions, then there cannot be an idea of â€Å"necessary connexion† (52). To illustrate his statement, Hume examines four situations: bodies interacting in the world, mind causing actions of the body, mind causing ideas of ideas, and God as the source of power. I will highlight Hume’s reasons and outline his arguments to establish that there is no â€Å"connexion† between cause and effect on the basis of singl e instances. Hume’s first reflection focuses on worldly bodies. Assuming that a â€Å"necessary connexion† exists between cause and effect, this effect could be determined, without prior experience, through reasoning, upon observation of the cause alone. We, however, observe the body and we observe the effect on the body or system but â€Å"the power or force, which actuates the whole machine [universe or chain of effects] is entirely concealed from us, and never discovers itself in any of the sensible qualities of body† (42). Hence, this situation demonstrates no impression of, and therefore no idea of, â€Å"necessary connexion† in â€Å"single instances of their (bodies) operation† (42). The second reflection in... ...out being ever able to comprehend any thing like connexion between them† (46). He expresses that this conjunction through similar experience is what allows us to relate cause and effect relatively accurately. On the other hand, Hume entertains the situation that â€Å"it is God himself, †¦ which we erroneously attribute to our own power and efficacy† (47). Hume argues that â€Å"there must arrise a strong suspicion †¦ (when we arrive at) conclusions so extraordinary, and so remote from common life and experience† (48). Further, Hume illustrates that no matter how ignorant we are â€Å"of the manner in which bodies operate on each other† we are equally ignorant of the supreme mind; we should reject the more unintelligible prospect (48). Works Cited Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. 2nd edition. Hackett Publishing: Indianapolis. 1993.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Four Key Steps In Hiring And Keeping Top People :: essays research papers

The Four Key Steps In Hiring And Keeping Top People â€Å"When you hire the best, the rest is easy!† We have heard this phrase many times, but how do we put this concept into action? We know that hiring the best people is vital to the success of your business, especially for fast growing businesses. And certainly, your customers have high service expectations. So†¦how do you hire and keep top people? Let’s start from the beginning. The job description: Often overlooked, the job description sets the tone for success when hiring new people. Start by making certain your job descriptions are accurate, up-to-date and reflect your expectations. This is an important step, as it ensures consistency in your hiring practices and says your company is well run. Tip From The Coach: During the initial interview, be certain to present the job description, so the applicant will have a clear picture of your expectations if your company does hire them. This also helps to generate a more comprehensive conversation regarding the position being offered. The interview game plan: Prepare a detailed interview game plan, to be used by each person doing the interviewing for your company. This game plan must include: how to evaluate a resume, sample questions to be asked during the interview process, a detailed presentation of compensation, how to do reference checks, and any final hiring details (i.e. company benefits, policy and procedures, etc.†¦). Tip From The Coach: In addition to the in-person interview, consider the use of written tests and/or assessments to aid in your hiring process. This is key to hiring top people and will help to establish performance standards when hiring new employees. Fast-track training: Develop a detailed training checklist for all newly hired employees. This should include: an orientation for the first day, a plan for the first week, an outline for the first month, and a recap of the first 90 days that includes expectations for their performance. Tip From The Coach: By building a thorough and consistent training program, you will quickly develop top performers for your company, a â€Å"win-win† for all. Grow and groom: To hire and keep top people, you must provide a career path to help your best people grow and to be groomed for additional responsibility. This starts in the hiring process, so consider if the person you are hiring has the skills for the current position and might also have the skills for a next level promotion.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Project Manager Roles and Responsibilities Essay

The Project Manager is the person responsible for developing, in conjunction with the Project Sponsor, a definition of the project. The Project Manager then ensures that the project is delivered on time, to budget and to the required quality standard (within agreed specifications). He/she ensures the project has sufficient resources and manages relationships with a wide range of groups (including all project contributors). The Project Manager is also responsible for managing the work of consultants, allocating and utilizing resources in an efficient manner and maintaining a co-operative, motivated and successful team. Additional responsibilities include: managing and leading the project team,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   recruiting project staff and consultants, managing co-ordination between the partners and working groups engaged in project work, detailed project planning and control. Control would incorporate: Developing and maintaining a detailed project plan. Managing project deliverables in line with the project plan. Maintaining records of and managing project issues. Resolving conflicts at project level. Managing project scope and change control and escalating issues where necessary. Monitoring project progress and performance. Providing status reports to the project sponsor. Managing project training within the defined budget. Liaison with, and updates on progress to, the project steering board/senior management. Managing project evaluation and dissemination activities. Managing consultancy input within the defined budget. Final approval of the design specification. Working closely with users to ensure the project meets business needs. Definition and management of : â€Å"User Acceptance Testing† stage. Identifying user training needs and devising and managing user training programmes. As an illustration of the roles and responsibilities of a Project manager, I am going to use the simple example of changing the wheel of a car with one person in charge (project manager). In the exposition that follows, the steps followed will be under the headlines of the five essential ones outlined in the PMBOK: Initiating The initiating stage in replacing a punctured car-wheel is the process of preparing to replace the wheel. To begin with, the project manager, or whoever is overseeing the operation, ensures that all the tools necessary for the job are available. The tools necessary in this case would comprise the jerk, wheel spanner, the unique key-for some car models, maybe some props such as stones where there is a possibility of the car slipping downhill and finally, labor. Planning   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Once the initiating stage is completed, we move on to the planning stage whereby different strategies are proposed and quickly debated with one being agreed upon. The role of the project manager in this stage is to ensure that everyone is given an opportunity to express their opinions on how best to approach the problem. Then, he/she should harmonize every participant’s views and in cases if the group cannot reach a resolution unanimously, he/she should apply his/her critical thinking abilities and skills in choosing the most reasonable approach that would be most efficient, effective and feasible. The planning would entail deciding which nuts to unscrew first e.g. diagonally, where to place the jerk and the props and where to put the tools and nuts in such a manner as to ensure they don’t get lost or pose a hazard to any of the team members. The Plan will also incorporate delegation of duties amongst the team members i.e. deciding who will place the jerk, who will unscrew the nuts, who will carry the spare wheel, and who will screw the new wheel back. The delegation of duties should be fair such that no member feels exploited or alienated and it is the work of the project manager to study everyone’s character and tell who is suited best for what. The final parts of the plan involve training participants as necessary, scheduling everything, and monitoring progress. Executing or Implementation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After initiating and planning, finally the time comes to put the plan into action. During this stage, the team implements the strategy decided upon with a view to achieving the intended objective. The team removes the bad wheel and replaces it with one that is in good condition. The work of the project manager is to ensure that each participant plays his/ her assigned role and that the operation goes according to plan by correcting any digressions and getting rid of any impediments that might arise in the course of the implementation. Controlling and Monitoring   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As to controlling and monitoring, this entails putting measures in place in anticipation of pitfalls during the process of implementing the plan. Pitfalls to be anticipated might include: some members do not like the roles they are assigned and so they don’t play their roles with the necessary devotion. Also it is possible   that some members might want to sabotage the project for any of a number of reasons or one of the tools gets damaged and cannot be repaired in time for the work at hand. To avoid alienation, the project manager should make every member feel as though they own the project and when it succeeds the glory will be shared and the benefits mutual. In addition, the project manager has the responsibility of ensuring that, if a member were assigned a role he/she does not like, they are free to voice their concerns so that a speedy resolution is sought. The speedy resolution could be training or instruction where a member is assigned work they do not know how to do. Alternatively, members could swap roles to resolve any stalemates. Finally, a backup plan should be in place to cater for unanticipated hitches. Closing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In finishing up, the project manager should ensure the team tightens the nuts to the required extent and remove the jerk and props. He/she should also ensure that any member who sustains any injury should be attended to and all the tools-wheel spanners, jerk, props, key- together with the bad wheel are all returned and checked to ensure they are in good condition, then put in their respective places of storage. BIBLIOGRAPHY K. Bainey, The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), 3rd ed. Project Management Institute, New Jersey, 2004

Monday, September 16, 2019

Age of Imperialism

Imperialism (1850~1914) * Imperial refers to * Empire * Royalty * Extending powers * Age of Imperialism  (http://www. smplanet. com/teaching/imperialism/#SAW1) * Main Events * 1823 –  Monroe Doctrine reflected special U. S. interest in Americas * 1850 –  European trading with Africa becomes well established * 1852 –  Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon) proclaimed himself emperor of France * 1869  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  Suez Canal opens (Egypt) 1871  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  Bismark completed unification of German Empire * 1884~1885  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  Berlin Congress sets rules for African colonization * 1898 * United States acquired Philippines, annexed Hawaii * United States won Spanish-American War * 1899  Boer War began in South Africa * 1910 –  Mexican Revolution began * 1914 * Most of Africa is under European control * World War I began * 1918  World War I ended Industrialism  Imperialism  Nationalism Industrialism * Profit maximization England – Factory s ystem * Resources from colonies * Mass production goods = sell & export to the colonies * Profit maximization * Industrialization stirred ambitions in many European countries * Competed new markets for own goods * Saw Africa as a source for materials and a market * Colonial power seized lots of areas in Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries * Imperialism * Colonization * World market * England as the world power in the 1820s. * Power – World standing â€Å"the sun never sets on the England Empire† * Usually through military might and sometimes economics * Seizure of a territory by a stronger country * * Throughout out most Africa, stronger countries dominated in many areas * * Europeans ignored the claims of African ethnic groups, kingdoms, and city-states * * African nations continue to fell the effects of the colonial presence more than 100 years later * Europeans established colonies. * 1823  Monroe Doctrine A reaction to the independence Latin America+ Mexico +Central America    * * After 1823, only Bolivia is still under spanish control * It warned European nations that continuing to be in the Americas is going to be seen as an act of aggression    * Claimed to help the Latin Americas, but it actually restrained and threatened them to follow rules from the United States * The United States  had the right to intervene problems in the western hemisphere * White Man's Burden * Nationalism and social Darwinism Racist patronizing that preached that â€Å"superior† Westerners had an obligation to bring their culture to â€Å"uncivilized† people in other pars of the world   * Germany and Russia especially used imperialistic drives to divert popular attention from the class struggle at home and to create a false sense of national unity. Causes of Imperialism * Nationalism * British colonized Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland * Colonists wanted their freedom (1800s) * To gain power, European nations compete for coloni es and trade * European Migration Between 1815 and 1932 more than 60 million people left Europe * Migrants went primarily to European inhabited areas * North and South America * Australia * New Zealand * Siberia * European migration provided further impetus for Western expansion (Westernization) * More were poor from rural areas, though seldom from the poorest classes (due to oppressive land policies) * Economic Competition * Search for new markets and raw materials * Missionary works * more successful in African and Asian areas Europeans believe they must spread their Christian teachings to the world * New military and naval bases to protect one's interests against other European powers * British concerned by French and German land grabs in 1880s * might seal off their empires with high tariffs and restrictions * future economic opportunities might be lost * Increases tensions between the â€Å"haves† (British Empire) and the â€Å"have nots† (Germany & Italy) who cam e in latte to the Imperialist * Dr. David Livingston 1st white man to do humanitarian and religious work in south and central Africa Old & New Imperialism * Europe's influence continued to expand in the 19th century, and for all the same old reasons * European imperialism became global in nature, with Britain the world leader (â€Å"The sun never sets on the British Empire†) * Contradictory: Many European nations explored nationalism, liberalism†¦Ã‚   * Old Imperialism * 15th ~ 16th century * Didn't penetrate into Africa or Asia * No substantial influences on lives of people European powers did not usually acquire territory except for Spain in Americas and Portugal in Brazil, but rather built a series of trading stations * Respected and frequently cooperated with local rulers in India, china, Japan, Indonesia, another areas where trade flourished between locals and european coastal trading centers * New Imperialism * A policy in which one country seeks to extend its auth ority by conquering other countries or by establishing economic and political dominance over other countries. European nations conquers with armies * New military and naval bases to protect their interest * Raising taxes to restrain land grab * 18th ~ 19th century * Influences over economic, political and socials lives of people * People were used to benefit the European   economies * Forms of Imperialism * Colony * A country or territory governed internally by a foreign power * Protectorate * A country of territory with its own internal government but under the control of an outside power * Sphere of Influence An area in which an outside power claims exclusive investment or trading privileges * Economic Imperialism * An independent but less-developed country controlled by private business interest tauter than other governments   Imperial Management Methods * Indirect Control * Local government officials used * Limited self-rule * Develop future leaders * Government institutions are based on European styles but may have local rules * Direct Control * Foreign officials brought in to rule * No self-rule Paternalism – Europeans governed people in a parietal way by providing for their needs but not giving them rights * Assimilation – based on the idea that in time, the local populations would adopt French culture and become like the French * Government institutions are based only on European style * Legacy of Colonial Rule * Positive * Colonization * Europeans control lands and people in areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America * Reduced local warfare (variety in ethnic groups) * Humanitarians provided schools and hospitals (better living conditions) * Colonial Economics Europeans control trade in the colonies and set up dependent cash-crop economies * African products came to be valued on international market * Christianization * Christianity spreads to Africa, India and Asia * Negative * Africa lost its independence and its land * Contempt for the traditional culture and admiration of European life undermined stable societies and caused identity problems for Africans * Division of African continent * created problems that plagued African colonies during European occupation Africa 1880  Europeans controlled 10% of Africa (mainly on the coast) * Scramble for African Territory because of the discoveries of diamonds in South Africa * By 1914  Europeans controlled all Africa  except Liberia and Ethiopia * late 1860s  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Congo Sparks Interest * David Livingstone traveled with a group of Africans to central Africa to promote Christianity * 1871  Henry Stanley  found Livingston (whom westerners thought to be dead) * his newspaper reports created European interest in Africa * Stanley sought aid of king of Belgium to dominate the Congo region. 1879 ~ 1882  Ã‚  Stanley signed treaties with local chief of the Congo River Valley * Gave King Leopold II of Belgium the control of these lands * He claimed that his moti ve in establishing colony was to abolish the slavery and promote Christianity * But he exploited Africans brutally (collect sap from rubber plants) * At least 10 million Congolese died due to his abuses * 1908  Belgian Government took over power of the colony * Belgian Congo (80 times larger than Belgium) This action alarmed France * Soon Britain, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain claimed parts of Africa * Berlin Conference * 1884~1885 * 14 European Nations established the â€Å"rules† for conquest of Africa * PAPER PARTITION * Sponsored by Bismarck & Jules Ferry * Sought to precent conflict over imperialism * Coincided with German's rise as an imperial power * Agreed to stop slavery and slave trade in Africa * No African rulers were invited to attend these meetings * Factors promoting Imperialism in Africa European technical superiority * 1884  Maxim Gun (world's 1st auto machine gun) * Invention of steam-boat, made it easy to travel (for Europeans) * Susceptible to mal aria (disease carries by dense swarms of mosquitoes in Africa's interior * 1829  perfection of drug protected Europeans from malaria * Various languages and cultures in Africa * Discouraged the unity in Africa * Africans, Dutch and British  Clashed over South Africa for resources and lands * Zulus & British * 1816  Shaka, a Zulu chief created a large centralized state by isciplined warriors and good military organization * 1879  Zulu king Cetshwayo refused to dismiss the Zulu army * Not accepting British Rules * British invaded Zulu nation * July 1879  Battle of Ulundi * The Zulus lost the Battle and their Kingdom * 1887  Under British control * Boers & British in Cape * 1st Europeans settle in South Africa were the Dutch * 1625  Dutch came to the Cape of Good Hope * established way station for sailing between Dutch East Indies and the Netherlands * Those Dutch settlers were known as the  Boers 1880s  British took over the Cape Colony PERMANENTLY   * Boers clashe d over British policy (land & slaves) * 1830s  Great Trek * Boers moved to North in order to escape the British African Colonization & Independence * 1884  Western leaders met to divide Africa into colonial holdings * 1914  nearly all of Africa is under European controls * European imperial powers set national borders in Afirca without regard for local ethnic or political divisions 1898 Fashoda Incident * France & Britain nearly went to war over Sudan France backed down in the face of the Dreyfus Affair * Wanted to connect Cape to Cairo by railroads 1899 ~ 1902 The Boer War (South Africa War) * Boers blamed British bringing the â€Å"outsiders† into Africa (for minerals†¦ diamonds and gold) * 1st modern â€Å"total† war * British countered by burning Boer lands and imprisoning women and children * Black South Africans were involved in the war * British won * 1910  Boer republics joined Union of South Africa, which was controlled by the British * Cecil Rhod es * Prime Minister of Cape Colony Principal sponsor of the Cape-to-Cairo (British wanted to control over the continent) * Rhodes wanted to extend his influence there after the diamonds and gold were discovered in the Transvaal but rein controlled by Boers (Dutch settlers) * Kruger Telegram (1902) * Kaiser Wilhelm II (starter of WWI) * Congratulated Boers on defeating British invaders without need of German assistance * Anger swept through Britain and targeted at Germany Asia 1898 Spanish-American War * Mid-1890s  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the United States had developed substantial business holdings in Cuba. It had an economic stake in the fate of the country. * Objected to the Spanish brutality. * Helped Cuban war for independence. * Lasted about four months. * U. S. forces launched their first attack not on Cuba but on the Philippine Islands   * Unprepared for a war on two fronts, the Spanish military quickly collapsed. * U. S. defeated Spain (took Philippines, Guam, Hawaii & Cuba) * 1901   – Cuba became an independent nation * BUT United States installed a military government and continued to exert control over Cuban affairs. -; caused tensions * American had become the dominate imperial power in Latin America 1898 ~ 1901 Boxer Rebellion * Anti-foreign pro to nationalist movement by the Righteous Harmony in China * Took place against a background of serious drought and economic disruption in response to foreign influence * Opposing Imperialism and Christianity from the foreigners * June 20th  A German minister stationed in China (Klemens Freiferr von Kettler) represented various countries' going zongli yamen and demanded protection, is ambushed by the clear soldier on the way * Led to war 904 ~ 1905 Russo-Japanese War * Sino-Japanese War * Japanese Victory, China lost Manchuria * 1903  They had a war over Manchuria * Japan claimed they will recognize the right of Russian in Manchuria if Russian stayed out of Korea. Russian refused * Japan launched a surpris e attaching on Russian ships at Manchuria, which this action resulted in Russo-Japanese War