Mncs in India free essay sample

MNCs in India By A V Vedpuriswar[1] Introduction With a GDP growth of almost 7 percent1, India is one of the most promising and fastest-growing economies in the world. But despite the huge potential of the country, the performance of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in India has been decidedly mixed. Many MNCs which have succeeded remarkably elsewhere in the world have yet to make a significant impact in India. The market entry and penetration strategies that have worked so well for these companies in other countries have been for less successful in India. Many MNCs have struggled to understand Indian customers and come up with suitable products and services. At the same time, some MNCs have done pretty well for themselves. Why have some MNCs done so well where others have failed? This article is an attempt to provide an intuitive explanation of what determines success in the Indian market place. Background Today, virtually all the big MNCs in the world have operations in India. We will write a custom essay sample on Mncs in India or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page These include Unilever, BAT, Colgate Palmolive, Procter Gamble, General Electric, General Motors, Ford, Pepsi, IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Oracle and Coca-Cola. India is now considered by many MNCs to be a strategically important market. Historically, the main reason for the entry of MNCs into India was to jump the tariff wall. High import duties made it difficult if not impossible to export finished goods from the home country to India. On the other hand, once they entered the country and set up operations, the countrys high tariffs guaranteed adequate protection. In some cases, the need to customise products necessitated a strong local presence. Unilever set up its Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Lever and gave it full freedom to develop various products to suit local tastes and usage conditions. This would obviously not have been possible if Unilever had only been exporting its products to India. In recent times, other reasons have made India an attractive destination for MNCs. India has emerged as a low cost back office, manufacturing and research base, thanks to its skilled but relatively cheap manpower. In the computer software industry, many MNCs are establishing offshore development centres to tap local manpower. IBM, Accenture, EDS and Computer Associates have all been strengthening their presence in the country. Not only are Indian software workers among the best in the world, when it comes to technical skills but they are also more comfortable with English, compared to their counterparts in countries such as China. Dell and Deloitte have major back office operations in the country. General Electric (GE) is looking at India as an important R base which can contribute to their global knowledge pool. GEs local outfit has filed for several patents in the last couple of years. Nokia has set up three RD centres that work on next-generation packet-switched mobile technologies and communications solutions. Texas Instruments is also doing cutting edge RD work in the country. Varying degrees of success While several MNCs have entered India, not all of them are doing well. This is evident when performances are compared across industries. However, even within a given industry, some MNCs seem to be doing better than the others. Consider the automobile industry. Here, Suzuki and Hyundai are way ahead of formidable rivals such as General Motors, Honda and Ford. Similarly in the FMCG sector, even after allowing for its relative late entry, Procter Gamble (PG) remains a marginal player compared to Hindustan Lever. In some industries, the MNCs have been left high and dry by the local players. In the paint industry, the local player, Asian Paints has beaten the MNCs by a huge margin. Then, there is also the unique case of an MNC, Indian Aluminium (Indal), actually being taken over by an Indian company, Hindustan Aluminium. One must be careful while explaining the good performance of some MNCs and the poor performance of others. An important point to note here is that different MNCs have entered India at different points in time and responded to the needs of the environment accordingly. For example, MNCs which entered India since the 1990s have in general been more aggressive and proactive in a liberalised business environment, than those which began operations during the license Raj. Hyundai, Samsung and LG are good examples. The older MNCs like Bata have also been handicapped by the baggage accumulated over a period of time. Such companies are often at a disadvantage due to their bloated manpower and inefficient manufacturing facilities. Of the 50-plus[2] MNCs with a significant presence in India, the nine market leaders, including British American Tobacco (BAT), Hyundai Motor, Suzuki Motor, and Unilever, have an average return on capital employed of around 48 percent. Even the next 26 have an average ROCE of 36 percent. The most successful MNCs in India have some common characteristics. Resisting the instinct to transplant to India the best practices of other countries, they have treated the country as a strategic market. These companies have also taken a long term view. They have invested time and resources to understand local consumers and business conditions. They have understood that the price points that matter in India are different from those in other countries. In a country where the middle and lower-end segments are critically important, affordability is a crucial factor. At the same time, some of the successful MNCs have also realised that price is not the only factor driving purchase decisions. Value conscious consumers, will pay a premium if the benefits of superior features and quality are seen to far outweigh their cost. LG for example, has reengineered its TV product specifications in order to develop three offerings specifically for India, including a no-frills one to expand the market at the low end and a premium 21-inch flat TV for the middle segment. By keeping the price of the premium offering to within 10 percent of the price of TVs with conventional screens, LG has persuaded many consumers to buy it. These innovations have helped the company to establish a very strong competitive position in the countrys consumer durable-goods and electronics appliances market. The story of Unilever, Bata and Alcan Consider three of the earliest entrants into the Indian market Unilever, Bata and Alcan (India’s parent). The company which demonstrated the highest degree of early commitment to the Indian market was obviously Bata. The shoe major invested in a fairly elaborate distribution network with company owned retail shops in even small towns. Bata also took the bold step of targeting the mass markets instead of just milking the premium segments. It targeted middle class Indians with value-for-money products. Indeed, many Indians do not know that Bata is an MNC. In targeting up-market segments, however, Bata began to deviate from this strategy in the late 1980s. And even as it struggled to deal with the labour problems in its Calcutta factory, Bata saw its market share being rapidly eroded by nimble footed local players such as Liberty. Like Bata, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) also displayed a clear intention from early on to take the Indian markets seriously. It set up a huge distribution network and developed a wide product range. HLL’s efforts to penetrate the rural markets have only taken off in recent times. Compared to local competitors like Nirma and Cavinkare, some of its products look overpriced. Yet, HLL has a strong presence in India that has inspired the awe of other MNCs. Despite struggling to grow in recent years, HLL dominates most of the product categories in which it competes. To give a comparative perspective, global rival Procter Gamble is way behind. HLL also continues to attract the best talent in the country. Today, HLL finds itself at a cross roads. To generate further growth, HLL will have to design from scratch, value-for-money products for the rural markets and further strengthen its rural marketing efforts. But there are signs that under new chairman, Harish Manwani and a new expatriate CEO, Douglas Baillie, HLL is poised for a rebound. Growth is back on top of the agenda. The case of Alcan is even more interesting. Unlike Bata and HLL, Alcan showed little inclination to invest and build its business in India. Essentially, Alcan looked at India as a cheap source of bauxite, the main raw material used in the manufacture of aluminium. It did not build captive power plants, despite being fully aware of the pitfalls involved in depending heavily on the countrys poorly managed State Electricity Boards. Alcan depended heavily on outsourced aluminium metal, having decided not to invest adequately in smelters and power plants, the heart of any aluminium manufacturing process. No wonder Hindustan Aluminium, the leading private sector player in the Indian aluminum industry, through its vertical integration strategy was not only able to maintain its competitiveness but even managed to take over Alcan. Today, HLL, despite its recent growth problems is one of India’s best managed MNCs and one of the star performers in the Unilever group. However, it is facing a distinct threat from cheaper brands. On . the other hand, Bata is attempting a turnaround, trying to regain its focus on the mass markets. This is a major correction from the misplaced strategies of the late 1980s and early 1990s. And Indal, no longer exists, having been taken over by Hindalco. The story of the three MNCs offers useful lessons which we shall summarise at the end of the article. Hyundai’s success If Unilever, Bata and Alcan represent the story of MNCs which entered India very early on, the Koreans symbolize the picture in case of companies which have entered the country in the post reforms era. Take the case of Hyundai, which chose to enter the Indian market, with a small car (Santro) which offers value for money to the countrys price sensitive consumers. Hyundai has also made very heavy investments in manufacturing facilities. After its initial success, Hyundai has started to widen its product range. Hyundai is one of the few MNCs to have established meaningful volumes in India in quick time. The company is among the top three car manufacturers in the country and is now emerging as a real threat to the market leader, Maruti in which Suzuki of Japan has a major stake. There are many lessons to be learnt from Hyundai. The company spent several months customizing Santro. Realising that Indian consumers attach much importance to lifetime ownership costs, Hyundai reduced the engine output of the Santro to keep its fuel efficiency high, priced its spare parts reasonably, and made various changes to the product specifications to suit Indian market conditions. In contrast, other global automakers have entered the market with vehicles with low gas mileage and high repair rates and after-sales service costs. Unlike many of the global auto manufacturers in India which source only about 60 to 70 percent of their components locally, Hyundai buys 90 percent. Hyundai has also plans to make India a global manufacturing hub that can serve other countries as the local market matures. Contrast Hyundai with players like Honda and Ford who have been very tentative about setting up full-fledged manufacturing facilities. The importance of commitment Commitment is important while competing in India. Commitment is often reflected in the entry strategy. Multinationals entering emerging markets often form joint ventures with local partners for a variety of reasons. These include their ability to influence public policy, to leverage existing products as well as marketing and sales capabilities, and to comply with regulatory requirements when foreign participation is restricted to less than 50 percent of a business. While joint ventures can facilitate quick access to important assets, especially in â€Å"strategic† industries like metals and mining and oil and gas, they often run into problems, down the line. As a recent McKinsey article[3] has mentioned, of the 25 major joint ventures established from 1993 to 2003, only 3 survive. Most ran into problems because the local partner couldnt invest enough resources to expand the business as quickly as the multinational had hoped. As a result, most of the multinationals that initially entered the market through joint ventures have disbanded them and pursued independent operations. The Korean multinationals, such as Hyundai and LG, have bypassed joint ventures entirely. They have retained management control and closely monitored the operations, making bold investments when the situation has demanded. By being on its own, LG has been able to move at a fast pace. After starting its operations, within a space of five months, it was able to complete its nationwide launch. Almost all companies took up to two years to complete their all-India launch. LG has the support of its parent not only for technology, but also for financial help. For instance, a substantial portion of the bill for sponsoring the 1999 World Cup cricket tournament was picked up by the parent company. The second aspect of commitment is the investments MNCs make in manufacturing facilities and other infrastructure such as distribution. LG has not hesitated to pump in money. By early 2000, it had invested almost $300 million with plans for investing another $100 million. In recent times, LG has been increasing its production capacity in India, for most products including colour televisions, washing machines, air conditioners, microwave ovens and refrigerators. Nokia is another MNC which has shown strong commitment to the Indian market by making necessary investments. From setting up a manufacturing base for handsets in India to creating financing options for cellphones, to working with cellular operators to reduce airtime costs, Nokia has launched various initiatives to lower the cost of owning and using a mobile phone. Nokia has also established a formidable distribution network that reaches over 25,000 dealers, a network that is about three times the size of Samsungs, six times that of Sony-Ericssons and one-fourth of Hindustan Lever’s (India’s largest fast moving consumer goods company). Nokia has built up this network from scratch by focusing on dealers of fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) and consumer durables. Many of Nokia’s regional distributors are former FMCG middlemen who find the margins in the mobile phones business more attractive. In the infrastructure business, Nokia Networks has become a key supplier to all five GSM operators in the country; Bharti, BSNL, BPL, Hutchison, and IDEA. Nokia works closely with the operators to lower the total cost of ownership and usage for consumers. A third aspect of commitment is the amount of time and effort spent on understanding Indian consumers and then meeting their needs. LG has worked hard to understand Indian customers and identify features which appeal to Indian customers. LG televisions incorporate golden eye[4] technology and multilingual on-screen displays; refrigerators use preserve nutrition technology and washing machines the chaos punch plus three†[5] technology. LGs commitment to the Indian market can also be judged from its wide product range. In the case of washing machines, LG has been offering 6-kg equipment instead of its usual 4. kg models, to take into account the requirements of large Indian households. Such efforts have paid rich dividends for LG. The company ended 2004 with market shares of 24 % for color televisions, 33 % for washing machines, 41 % for microwave ovens, 26 % for refrigerators and 35 % for air conditioners[6]. With such high market shares, the company looks well placed to consoli date its presence in the country. A vast segment of India’s population resides in rural areas. So understanding the needs of rural customers is a huge issue. This argument is especially applicable to companies marketing consumer goods. But serving rural markets requires plenty of commitment in terms of understanding customer needs, developing products from the ground up and putting in place the necessary infrastructure especially distribution. LG is trying to build on its early success by aggressively penetrating the rural markets and by offering more value for money items. For the rural market, LG has launched a stripped down range of television sets called Sampoorna. Another company which has taken the rural markets seriously is Coca Cola. In the rural areas, Coca Cola has used a three-tier hub-and-spoke distribution model to ensure deeper penetration. The company depot supplies twice a week to large distributors who act as hubs. These distributors in turn supply goods to smaller distributors in adjoining areas. Large trucks are used to move stocks from the bottling plant to the â€Å"hubs†. Medium commercial vehicles are used to move stocks from the hub to the spokes. The small distributors have their own low-cost means like auto rickshaws and cycles, to reach the product to every nook and corner. Coca Cola provides retailers thermo-cool boxes while others with power connections have been offered cold storage facilities under an ‘own-your-asset’ scheme. The company has negotiated big discounts from refrigerator manufacturers and supplied 2. 5 lakh refrigerators to retail outlets in 2003. Finally, commitment is also reflected in the way MNCs deal with local government regulation. In emerging markets like India, where deregulation is still in progress in many industries and the regulatory authorities are themselves often not clear about what needs to be done, companies must be flexible and patient. Regulations governing the India mobile-telephony sector, for example, have been amended several times since 1994. The government had two licensed operators per region back then and now has as many as six. Although most multinationals left the sector when the regulations changed, Hutchison Whampoa continued to invest in India. Today, Hutchison Essar is one of the top three mobile services companies in the country in terms of market share. The most successful MNCs have invested much time and energy to identify and understand the key policy makers and even to suggest regulatory changes. They have resisted the temptation to appoint agents or joint venture partners to liaison with the bureaucrats involved in policy making. Conclusion The above experiences clearly bring home the point that success in the Indian market depends crucially on commitment. This implies a willingness to set up a fully owned subsidiary as opposed to a joint venture, in full fledged manufacturing facilities as opposed to the assembly of completely knocked down kits, in a widespread distribution network as opposed to a limited presence in the major cities and in customised products as opposed to standard offerings from the parent companys product range. It also implies an ability to work patiently within the constraints of the local regulatory framework. Commitment must be backed by flexibility. MNCs must keep fine-tuning their strategy till they have a winning formula in place. It is MNCs which show both commitment and flexibility that are most likely to succeed in India. References 1. â€Å"Hyundai Motors launches multifunctional small car ‘Santro,’ www. ipan. com, 13 January 1998. Mukerjea, BDN. â€Å"The GE  Juggernaut,† www. businessworldindia. com, 22 March 1999. 2. Chhaya; Radhika Dhawan, â€Å"Levers Millennium Project,† Business Today, 7 August 1999, pp. 59-71. 3. Gupta, Indrajit. â€Å"Price of Success,† Business World, 31 January 2000, pp. 20-26. 4. Bhandari, Bhupesh, â€Å"LG pumps up the volume,† www. businessworldindia. com, 6 March 2000. 5. Karmali Naazeen, â€Å" Keki’s legacy,† Business India, 6th March 2000 – 19 March 2000. pp. 85-87. 6. Narayan Sanjay; Jayakar Roshini, â€Å"Lever’s new adventure,† Business Today, 7 June 2000 – 21 June 2000. pp. 72-79. 7. â€Å"Hyundai to invest $ 400 million in India, to unveil Sonata next year,† www. expressindia. com, 9 August 2000. 8. Narayan Sanjay and Jayakar Roshni, Levers new adventure, Business Today, June 7-21, 2000, pp 72-79. 9. Chowdhary Paroma Roy, â€Å"The Unbottling of Coke,† Business Today, January 6, 2001, pp 66-67. 0. Dubey Rajeev and Surendar T, â€Å"The Coca Cola blood bath,† Business World, February 12, 2001, pp 38-41. 11. Lalitha, Srinivasan. â€Å"Hyundai Motors rolls out multi-media ad blitz to relaunch Santro,† www. financialexpress. com, 14 August 2001. 12. â€Å"LG to expand manufac turing capacity in India,† www. prdomain. com, 7 November 2001. 13. Carvalho, Brian. â€Å"Lever – Has Chairman Vindi Banga brought it back on track? † Business Today, 25 November 2001, pp. 50-56. 14. Butler Charlotte and Ghoshal Sumantra, â€Å"Hindustan Lever Limited – Levers for change,† INSEAD case, 2002. 15. LG sees rural markets as thrust areas,† www. blonnet. com, 15 February 2002. 16. Jacob, Anil G. â€Å"Picking rural pockets,† www. business-standard. com, 22 April 2003. 17. Basu, Indrajit. â€Å"Coke bubbles after a decade in India,† www. atimes. com, 26 April 2003. 18. â€Å"Hyundai rolls out Santro Xing — Eyes more exports with `global car,† www. blonnet. com, 23 May 2003. 19. Sengupta Snigdha and Singh Shelly, â€Å"GE India: Captive No More,† www. businessworldindia. com, 29 September 2003. 20. Karmali Nazneen, â€Å"GEs Indian marathon,† Business India, 29 February 2004, 63-38. 21. Swami Parthasarathi, â€Å"In high places,† Business India, 26 April 2004 – 9 May 2004, pp. 44-50. 22. Lancelot Joseph, â€Å"LG No. 1,† Business India, 18 July 2004. 23. Charubala Annuncio; Srinivas Alam,. â€Å"Levers to Rescue Goliath,† Outlook, 13 September 2004, pp. 50-53. 24. â€Å"LG targets Rs. 9000 crore revenue in ’05,† www. economictimesindiatimes. com,5 January 2005. 25. Kohli, Khandekar Vanita, â€Å"The Big Finn,† Businessworld, 7 March 2005, pp. 36 – 42. 26. â€Å"Hyundai to make India production base for Getz,† www. finance. indiainfo. com, 15 May 2005. Mitra, Arnab and Rahul Sachitanand, â€Å"GEs Indian Summer,† www. usiness-todaycom, 5 June 2005. 27. Archna, Shukla. â€Å"The LG juggernaut,† Business Today, 6 November 2005, p- 92. [1] Asst. Vice President (Knowledge Management), Satyam Computer Services. [2] Kuldeep P. Jain, Nigel A. S. Manson and Shirish Sankhe. â€Å"The Right Passage to India,† The McKinsey Quarterly, March  08,  2005. [3] Kuldeep P. Jain, Nigel A. S. Manson and Shirish Sankhe. â€Å"The Right Passage to India,† The McKinsey Quarterly, March  08,  2005. [4] Golden eye technology is meant to reduce the strain on the eye. [5] To facilitate more vigorous agitation. [6] According to ORG GFK data.

An Analysis of the 2011 England Riots The WritePass Journal

An Analysis of the 2011 England Riots Abstract An Analysis of the 2011 England Riots . BBC News. (2011b).  England riots: Maps and timeline.  Available: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10321233. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Bolesworth, S, Neild, B, Beaumont, P, Lewis, P Laville, S. (2011).Tottenham in flames as riot follows protest.  Available: guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/06/tottenham-riots-protesters-police. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Euronews. (2011).  Behind the London Riots: A Multitude of Causes. Available: euronews.com/2011/08/09/behind-the-london-riots-a-multitude-of-causes/. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Joyce, J Wallis, H. (2011).  England riots: Days of looting, arson and violence.  Available: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17522870. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Laville, S, Lewis, P, Dodd, K Davies, C. (2011).  Doubts emerge over Duggan shooting as London burns.  Available: guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/07/police-attack-london-burns. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Lewis, P, Newburn, T, Taylor, M Ball, J. (2011).  Rioters say anger with police fuelled summer unrest.  Available: guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/05/anger-police-fuelled-riots-study. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Peralta, E. (2011).  Who are the London Rioters and Why are they Rioting.  Available: npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/08/10/139490519/who-are-the-london-rioters-and-why-are-they-rioting. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Press TV. (2011).  Media misled on Mark Duggan death.  Available: presstv.ir/detail/193718.html. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Riddell, M. (2011).  Rioters say anger with police fuelled summer unrest.  Available: telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8630533/Riots-the-underclass-lashes-out.html. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Smith, M. (2011).  Young people and the 2011 riots in England – experiences, explanations, and implications for youth work.  Available: infed.org/archives/jeffs_and_smith/young_people_youth_work_and_the_2011_riots_in_england.html. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Taylor, Rogers Lewis. (2011).  England rioters: young, poor and unemployed.  Available: guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/18/england-rioters-young-poor-unemployed. Last accessed 5th December 2012. The Australian. (2011).  Mark Duggan did not fire his weapon at police. Available: theaustralian.com.au/news/world/mark-duggan-did-not-fire-his-weapon-at-police/story-e6frg6so-1226111938756. Last accessed 5th December 2012. The Guardian. (2011).  Reading the Riots: Investigating Englands Summer of Disorder.  Available: guardian.co.uk/uk/series/reading-the-riots. Last accessed 5th December 2012. The Week Editorial Staff. (2011).  What caused the London riots? 5 theories.  Available: http://theweek.com/article/index/218125/what-caused-the-london-riots-5-theories. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Travis, A. (2011).  UK riots analysis reveals gangs did not play pivotal role.  Available: guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/24/riots-analysis-gangs-no-pivotal-role. Last accessed 5th December 2012. Vasagar, J. (2011).  Mark Duggan did not shoot at police, says IPCC. Available: guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/mark-duggan-police-ipcc. Last accessed 5th December 2012. White, M. (2011).  Is Rioting Revolutionary.  Available: adbusters.org/blogs/blackspot-blog/rioting-revolutionary.html. Last accessed 5th December 2012.

Industry report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Industry report - Essay Example The term petroleum industry refers to all industrial activities associated with exploration, mining, refining, transporting, and selling of petroleum products. This paper will present an overview of the petroleum industry giving specific focus to the evolution of the current trends in the industry, key players and their strategic objectives, the scope for new entrant. This will also analyze the demand and supply ratio of the fuel and major challenges the industry is facing today. This report will help one understand how complex the operating environment of the petroleum industry is amidst the growing economic uncertainty, regulatory pressures, and commodity price instability. 2. Industry overview As mentioned in the introduction, numerous activities from exploration to marketing constitute the modern petroleum industry. Although fuel oil and gasoline are the major products of the industry, it involves other chemical materials like pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, a nd plastics. Petroleum is a natural but complex liquid mixture of hydrocarbons and several organic compounds found underground in geologic formations (Petroleum and Petroleum Products). Although the fossil fuel in the natural form was used by humans before around 5000 years, it evolved to be an important industry in the world economy by 19th century. The history of commercial oil wells and refineries could be traced back to 1800s when imperial Russia emerged as the largest producer of oil. By the beginning of the 20th century, Apsheron Peninsula became the hub of oil from which Russia drilled out half of the world’s total oil production and became the leader in international oil markets. Industrial revolution played the key role in enhancing the petroleum industry. The invention of fuel run machines and transportation intensified the demand for fuel, and thereby the developing world’s exploration for oil. The result was that several economies across the world discovere d their own oil fields. By 1850s both Canada and the United States developed their own oil wells and refineries, and the continued exploration in the industry enabled the US to outsmart Russia by becoming the largest producer of oil by the first quarter of 20th century. The industry has been amazingly vulnerable to change and instability that by the World War II US lost its leading position in the market to the new entrants of the industry, Middle East. Subsequently, the industry underwent tremendous changes. Huge oil tankers, pipelines, deepwater drills, drillships etc became the major characteristics of the petroleum industry, and multi-governmental organizations like OPEC and OAPEC emerged to be the most powerful bodies that cold control the oil prices and policies. Concerns over environmental issues related to oil and gas operations are also increasing across the globe as new projects have adverse impacts on the earth, water, and air due to the possibility of oil spills and the effect of pollutants such as CO2. 3. Key players Petroleum industry has turned to be a great phenomenon that the number of players and their positions in the market is highly subject to change. Although in general sense, international oil companies are perceived as the main players who determine the oil prices and

CONTRACT LAW - Consideration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

CONTRACT LAW - Consideration - Essay Example In accordance, with the principle of promissory estoppel, Peter cannot go back on his promise to Rapid Builders and thereby causing a loss to the latter1. The realisation of a practical benefit to the promisor can be treated as consideration for the extra bonus or incentive offered by him. In CTN Cash and Carry Ltd v. Gallaher Ltd, the Court held that the promisor had received the practical benefit from the promise. The Court further opined that this practical benefit constituted the consideration for the additional payment promised by the promisor2. The reasoning of the Court in Williams v. Roffey suggested that if one party to a contract had promised to perform the existing contractual duty, and if there had been no detriments to the other party, and if the promisor had benefitted, then it could be said that there had been good consideration3. Promissory estoppel can be used as an instrument of defence and not as a cause of action. It was first employed in Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees Ltd4 and the ruling in Coombe v Coombe5 relied upon it. Due to financial setbacks and the Yuletide season not proving to be as lucrative as Peter had hoped that it would; he was unable to pay Keg Ltd the agreed upon amount of  £8,000 for the supply of champagne. As per the extant case law, a part payment of a debt cannot be considered as full settlement of the outstanding debt. Hence, Peter has to pay Keg Ltd the remaining  £2,000. The relevant case law has been discussed in the sequel. In D & C Builders v. Rees, the plaintiff sustained substantial financial loss. The defendant agreed to pay just  £300 towards the complete repayment of her debt. The plaintiff accepted this lesser amount due to financial duress. Later on, the plaintiff company sued the defendant, in order to recover the remainder of the amount due from her. The Court held that the plaintiff was

HR Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

HR Plan - Essay Example This false gesture of making the workers feel important can motivate them to work more efficiently. Human relations (HR) theory needs also to focus on retention of skilled employees for the benefit of the organization. In order to maintain satisfaction within employees and to make the organization attractive for potential employees, management must provide them employment benefits like health benefits. In many organizations, there is a one person HR department in which a solo individual is given the responsibility of performing all aspects of human relations management. It is up to the efficiency of that person which determines how well he can face the challenges and takes advantages of the opportunities to prove himself as a strong leader (Brady, 2006, p.1). For an effective human relations management, the strategy is to learning how to balance different aspects of the departments. Working tirelessly for long hours will reduce the efficiency of the manager as he will lose focus on h is critical responsibilities. In this paper, a HR program is created for a retail business firm that sells variety of products ranging from beauty products to apparels. It has over 1,000 stores in several U.S. states with over 120,000 employees. The retail organization has set up a one person HR department, and the new HR manager has designed and initiated a program for the benefit of the employees. The next section will talk about this program. Recruitment is the â€Å"process by which prospective employees are located and they are encouraged to apply for the job† (Khurana et al., 2010, p.65). There are several internal factors that determine the recruitment and selection process in an organization. First, salary and other benefits direct affect the recruitment of efficient employees. The promise of high salary in this competitive market can attract

Introduction to vodafone organization

Introduction to vodafone organization Answer 1: Introduction: Our chosen organization is Vodafone. Vodafone is in existence from 1984. At that time it was formed as a subsidiary of Racal Electronics Plc. In 1991 it completely demerged from its parent company i.e. Racal Electronics Plc then it got its present name as Vodafone Group Plc. At present Vodafone is the worlds leading telecommunication organization, with a mark able presence in countries around the world, whether it is Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific or United States. Lonely it has 323 million customers (www.vodafone.com) all around the world. Why Vodafone: I Choose Vodafone because its large geographic area of operation provide diversity to its operation process, activities in the organization, culture at organization and on as a whole completely different entities existing all together. It gives a good blend of maintaining Brand Image and organizational values along with the localization of the products services. This gives us chance to have a look upon different kinds of cultural leadership traits in the same organization. This kind of organizations gives us a perfect example of unity in diversity. Now coming upon different kinds of traits found in the organization, we have many traits being followed in Vodafone such as Autocratic, Bureaucratic, Democratic, Charismatic, Transformational and many more. These all have their importance in their desired positions and timings. But among these there are four majorly popular leadership styles which are more prominent in Vodafone Group Plc. These leadership styles are given ahead. Transformational Leadership: This is a kind of leadership in which the leaders are highly and spend very much time in communication with their team members. The Transformational leaders always lead from the front just delegate the roles and responsibilities among team members. A Transformational leader is a leader in true sense as he/she inspires the other team members with his leadership skills, vision and enthusiasm. In Vodafone all the executive and top management staff personnel are example of this style of leadership. They inspire their sub-ordinate staff to perform better and better. Democratic Leadership/Participative Leadership: This type of leadership is style is usually found in Vodafone particularly at sub-ordinate staff level. At that level there are many decisions which affect the larger number of peoples. In these kinds of situations this type of democratic leadership style becomes must for the betterment of the organization. Task Oriented: This kind of leadership helps the Vodafone in usually marketing department where the managers are more concerned with the sales and targets achieved. This leadership style has helped Vodafone to acquire a customer base of 323 million users as taking the user-base of the subsidiaries in the proportions of their stake. Situational Leadership: Although all other type of leadership styles have been and are being proved beneficial for the organization, but these all styles have something or other lacking. So, the best leadership style applied is the Situational Leadership as it takes benefits and traits of all other leadership styles as according to the situation. This style removes all lacking from leadership style. The only cause of concern in this leadership style is this that all the decision of traits altering would be dependent on leaders discretion. So here the actual leadership skill takes most from any manager or an executive.(University of Wales, library) Answer 2: Situational variables have influenced Leadership in every era in every part in every season to every possible extent. Now this is different thing that in some situations the impact seen is lower and in some situations it is more. In Vodafone also the situational variables have impacted the organization very much. So the different variables such as increasing environmental issues, growing powers of the different economies, Political relations, the inflation and deflation in different countries, GDP growth in countries, their exposure to external risks, culture of the different operating regions, current financial meltdown have also impacted the Growth of Vodafone Growth Plc. A brief description of these is given below. Growing Environmental Concerns All around the world the people are raising concerns over the environmental issues, whether be increasing global warming, depleting ozone layer, decreasing agricultural land or animals becoming instinct. Increasing wireless communication is concerned as a big cause of disturbing the natural life cycle. So, this has posed as a threat to the Vodafone as well being a mobile operator service provider. So, in these kinds of situations usually the bureaucratic leaders are preferred so that they may tackle the problem and may get a consensus on the issue. Only this would help in uninterrupted working of the organization and to maintain growth. Thus this situational variable has emphasized the presence of a bureaucratic leader in the organization. This may result in other leaders adapting the bureaucratic traits or recruiting new bureaucratic leaders. Growing powers of different countries. Now a day we all know that the developing economies are becoming stronger and stronger day by day. More and more powers are concentrating around them. So to grow with the time Vodafone also has to get presence in these countries. This is because these countries have great opportunities of growth and are providing resources to develop. So at this stage more and more transformational leaders are required, who must be adaptable to the conditions of the organization in new operating division. Only these transformational leaders can inspire the local talent to perform and to make them prosperous by making organizations growth faster. So this situation favors the Transformational Leaders. Political Relations In present scenario almost every country has hard feelings (if not exactly hard then at least non-supporting) feelings towards at least one other countries at the political level. We can take the example of any Islamic country. In present situation almost every Islamic country has non-supporting attitude towards the United States and its citizens. So Vodafone cannot take risk to send any of its staff people to move from US to any Islamic country. This situation favors the autocratic leaders as they can have work from the employees even at the cost of their desires. Current Financial Crises Current financial crisis has caused many job lost and losses of many billions to the organization. This has decreased the morale of the employees of the organization concerning about job security and financial soundness. This very position favors the transformational and charismatic leadership who may again raise the morale of the employees and fill motivation among them. So at different times different situational factors affect and favor the different leadership styles. But real leader are those who survive in every condition and sustain their organization throughout.|(Miintel),(Datamonitor,London) Answer 3: Like other multinationals Vodafone also faces problem in posing a single brand and culture along with accepting the locality in their products and services. To have a right way of communication they have to have a right culture in every subsidiary and operating sub-units. Every division must have traits like being a local company so that it may get confidence of the customers and would be able to grow further. Vodafone has also accepted the culture according to their operational base and according to the geographic area in which they are working. Although they have changed their HR activities in different countries, yet they have reserved their self challenging, inspiring, passionate traits within them. Few points from their success stories which came from their culture (either directly or indirectly) can be given as Promoting Leadership: Vodafone has always promoted in built leadership in their employees. It is due to their Natural talent that they are so passionate that they take their job as joy and perform really better than they usually had performed. Because of born talent they not only perform to their best rather they also inspire others to perform up to their maximum. They motivate them to such an extent that they make their unit performance felt apart from other divisions. Originating Passion: Vodafone has a history of inculcating passion in their employees. The culture prevailing in the organization makes the employees so passionate about their work that they not only work but they perform in and for the organization. It is a similar trait found in every business unit of the Vodafone Group Plc. Producing Energy: Vodafone Group Plc has always supported an energetic culture. In this kind of culture every employee himself/herself performs his/her job more sincerely and efficiently. In the work culture given by the Vodafone employees bound to give results and make it more successful day by day. Creative: Vodafone Group Plc has always been known for its innovation in the industry. It has been most innovative organization throughout the world. This is only the culture of the organization which supports the creative thinking of the employees and not only support but also appreciates their ideas as well. This innovation based culture has helped to a great extent to Vodafone Group to increase its customer base become number one in world in telecommunication service industry.(The times) Knowledge Based: Vodafone has always supported and appreciated the knowledge in the employees. The top management of the organization is the proof of the knowledge assessment and support. The culture in Vodafone values the knowledge of a person in spite of their family background, their color, their gender, their religion or the region they belong to. They recruit they best suited people for the job and make no discretion in the compensation paid to them.(organizational Behavior) Overall the culture at the Vodafone takes best out of the employees and in return also makes them happy. Vodafone group believes in the basic human tendency that if you will care the people, they will return the same, i.e. because Vodafone takes care of their employees, employees in turn give their best make Vodafone to perform even better than the every time. Answer 4: At present the Vodafone Group Plc is the leading mobile operator in the world. It has been able to develop emerging leaders to successful businessmen. There are many stories which give validity to the same fact. On the other hand it has also one of the best employers in the world due to its culture and opportunities provided by them. The culture provided by the Vodafone Group Plc has been able to maintain its talent pool throughout the world. Although having many such successful stories in the Vodafone Group Plc, still it has many aspects which are still to be concerned in Vodafone Group. Some of these may be listed as follows. In Leadership: Promoting the new dimensions in leadership. Vodafone has always followed the existing leadership styles. New leadership styles may give more valuable outcomes than the traditional ones. New situational style of leadership has proved more effective as compared to others. Probably too much emphasis on Leadership. It is true that leadership development has proved fruitful for Vodafone Group Plc. But sometime, when the person does not possess leadership qualities, then wealth and time wasted in inculcating leadership qualities among in him/her may cause loss to the organization as a whole. May produce jealousy among employees The employees who dont possess leadership qualities may feel jealousy towards the employees who possess. It is because the persons with leadership skills would be promoted earlier and would also be benefitted more than them. In Culture: Easy acceptability The employees in the Vodafone Group are adaptable, but to a certain extent. This extent may depend upon their back ground, physical conditions around them, their culture, their religion etc. So, to make them easily adaptable to any kind of environment is a really difficult task to achieve. Discrimination Although Vodafone Group Plc has won many awards for its good culture in organization, yet there are some issues like discrimination, which are still there in the organization. These pose problems to the employees at many times. These issues are still to be tackled carefully because it is not only harming the organizational culture, but also encouraging the similar activities in the society as a whole (.www.12manage.com) So, Although Vodafone has emerged as global leader in mobile services operators developing great leaders and enriching the society by providing great place to work, yet there are some areas to look upon, which are deteriorating the organizations performance as well as the Brand Equity among its stakeholders. References: Foti, R.J., Hauenstein, N.M.A. (2007). Pattern and variable approaches in leadership emergence and effectiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 347-355. Zaccaro, S. J., Gulick, L.M.V. Khare, V.P. (2008). Personality and leadership. In C. J. Hoyt, G. R. Goethals D. R. Forsyth (Eds.), Leadership at the crossroads (Vol 1) (pp. 13-29). Westport, CT: Praeger. Kenny, D.A. Zaccaro, S.J. (1983). An estimate of variance due to traits in leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68, 678-685 Julian Steward 1955 Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution University of Illinois Press Hasell, Nick (1999-06-30). â€Å"Scramble for Vodafone as blue chips retreat†. The Times (Times Newspapers). Reguly, Eric (1996-11-20). â€Å"Vodafone pockets Peoples Phone†. The Times (Times Newspapers).

The Cold Embrace Essay -- Creative Writing Essays

The Cold Embrace The night in the city was going to be especially cold tonight. The sky had been overcast for almost the entire day, leading to a brief although torrential downpour in the mid-afternoon. The streets of the Bronx outside the third-story apartment window that Leonard Jefferson Bennings now looked out were saturated from the July rainstorm and shone with a glimmer he remembered seeing from his bedroom window in Massachusetts many years ago. He wondered if he would ever get to see his childhood home again, and, if he did, would the world of his youth still exist even there? Like the final beams of sunlight of the day, his hope was growing faint as he looked out on what had once been the metropolitan heart of his country. Leonard turned away from the window, looking back into his temporary residence. It was a simple apartment, three rooms, furnished with trappings of a world that now existed only in memory. Strewn about the living room were such memorabilia as a 1946 Bing Crosby Christmas album, a chess set that looked to be a family heirloom, an assortment of furniture and coffee tables, and a 1939 globe, showing the way the world had looked in simpler times. Leonard could easily identify each country on the globe, a skill greatly useful to a high school geography teacher, and could just as easily identify how few of those countries still existed. South America was still correct north of Brazil, and most of North America was still as the sphere portrayed it. Europe, Asia, and Africa, however, would require the globe to be completely redone. Leonard had studied the globe many times in his short stay in this house, and it never failed to bring him almost to tears. From the couch on the wall far... ...ump. And then, the infinite fall, broken only by the cold embrace of the Atlantic. Nineteen minutes since they had left the ammunition room. Leonard floated alone in the water. The other sister had been hit in the shoulder during the jump and had sunk when she hit the water. He was sure he had heard a small explosion on the deck as he fell; Christina was dead, as was everyone else by now. Leonard would join them soon. He could do little more than float with the wound in his side. If the explosion happened, he would be too close to escape. If it didn't, he would drown when he got too tired to float. He looked up at the ship one last time. As he did, a pillar of fire erupted out of it. In the light it cast, he could see the sky had cleared. The morning would have sunlight. He took one last, gasping breath, and sank beneath the waves forever.