Entry into Chinese Market Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Entry into Chinese Market - Case Study Example When they decide to enter newer countries, firms have to analyze both the opportunities as well as challenges, so that those challenges can be effectively managed. The first aspect they will have to analyze is the entry mode, so they can pick the best entry mode which has minimal risks, and this applicable to retail firms as well. In addition, they have to focus on the economic and legal aspects that could aid as well as impede them. China is one country, which has optimal opportunities for all firms including the retail firms like the fictional firm of Pesco. This paper will discuss the advantages as well as the disadvantages of entering China by the firm Pesco, focusing on the feasible entry modes, and how Pesco can or have to manage the economic and legal aspects. With the onset of globalization and the opening of the Chinese markets in 1990s, foreign firms particularly retail firms are more than eager to enter to tap the large prospective customer base. China being a country whic h runs on Communist principles, for most part of the 20th century, China raised an â€Å"Iron Curtain† and restricted the foreign firms’ entry, thereby protecting the indigenous firms. However, with globalization providing more opportunities to firms, and with its entry into WTO, Chinese government started to allow foreign firms into its territory. â€Å"Indeed, if we can identify a single moment when the  ­Western- ­dominated Globalization 2.0 gave way to Globalization 3.0, it may have been when China acceded to WTO membership on December 11, 2001† (Walker, n. d). Due to these developments, China particularly started lessening its trade restrictions particularly in the retail sector. The foreign firms for their part are enticed by the huge population of China and how they can be tapped as a huge customer base. â€Å"Most of the world’s major global retail firms are desperate to grab a slice of the world’s largest and most rapidly growing emer ging market† (Gamble, 2006). In addition, the sizable sections of this population have high purchasing power. As the Chinese economy as a whole, is improving optimally, it has resulted in the accentuation of its citizens’ purchasing power, and for the retail firms including Pesco, this can be huge advantage. Because of this favorable business environment in China, Pesco can open its retail outlets. When it comes to the entry mode, Pesco can enter in the form of wholly owned subsidiaries. This entry mode can provide many advantages for Pesco, including in the economic and legal sphere. However, there are risks as well, when this mode is adopted. The first advantage Pesco can garner if it uses the wholly owned subsidiary option and not the joint venture option is the benefits from the new tax regime. The main feature of this new tax regime is that foreign firms as well as foreign firms having joint ventures with Chinese entities have to pay land-use taxes, which is equal and even more than the indigenous Chinese companies and foreign firms’ subsidiaries. That is, in under the earlier favorable tax regimes, the foreign firms including joint ventures were given exemptions from the land-use tax, and were also given permission to construct infrastructures on non-taxed lands and function in them. However, in the new tax structure, foreign firms’ tax payments have been even tripled from the old rate. That is, â€Å"in large cities the annual property tax rate will range from 1.5

School Conflict Case Study Essay Example for Free

School Conflict Case Study Essay This case study examines the conflict over whether public schools in the United States of America should teach biology from the viewpoint of evolution or of creation, according to the Christian Bible. Although this battle has raged for several decades, it is still an emotionally charged, often-debated issue. Through research on this subject, one finds the term â€Å"intelligent design,† and while this initially sounds like there may be a third contingency in this debate, upon closer examination, one finds that â€Å"intelligent design† is tantamount to creationism. Likewise one finds the term â€Å"environmental creationism,† which is also a pseudonym for creationism. Those who believe in evolution contend that their view is the result of scientifically verifiable non-biased information. Those who believe in creationism contend that the Christian Bible is a book written through divine inspiration and therefore, whatever is written in the Bible is the ultimate authority. Basically the evolutionists believe they are correct because their information can be proven scientifically, while the creationists believe that their information is from an infallible source that is more certain than the evolutionists’ scientific data. Since public schools are supported by public taxes, some believe that church and state must be kept separate. This is supported by the fact that, â€Å"the federal government has repeatedly denied the introduction of creationism into public schools as it is a direct violation of the separation of church and state (Lac, Hemovich, Himelfarb, 2010, p. 253). Yet, it is also believed that the preferences of the local citizenry should be consulted in deciding which theory or theories should be taught in public school biology. Currently local school boards actually seem to hold sway over what type of orientation their local schools will use in biology. Even when there are state or local rulings favoring one side or the other, some classroom teachers include their personal preferences (or those of their supervisors) in choosing which orientation is taught in their classrooms. For example, â€Å"in Dover, Pennsylvania, the school board adopted a general policy endorsing â€Å"intelligent design† and district administrators composed the statement that was read to high school biology classes as they began the evolution unit† (Lerner, 2002, p. 287). Some attempts toward reconciliation of these viewpoints have resulted in having both viewpoints presented in the biology classrooms of certain districts. This idea was condoned by the George W. Bush administration in 2005, stating that â€Å"children should be exposed to multiple ideas in school† (Warmick, p. 305). Another problem with presenting both evolution and the creationism in the classroom occurs when one tries to qualify which type of creationism is to be taught. The most commonly known creation story from the book of Genesis in the Christian Bible; however, there are actually 3 different versions of creation within the book of Genesis, some resembling the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian creation stories, with a substitution of one God for many gods (Carson-Newman University, 2013). Another Christian variant of creationist theory is that of â€Å"intelligent design† which argues that Darwinian science does not contradict the Bible, while maintaining that a super-being planned transformation of species (Johnson, 2011, p. 15). Lastly, there is the version called â€Å"environmental creationism:† in which â€Å"the use of creationist language is employed without the explicit Christian context† (Nelson, 2010, p. 513). What can be done as the battle over creationism versus evolution rages on in courtrooms and at state and local school board meetings across our nation? As mentioned previously, some localities have settled on including both sides’ viewpoints; however, it is difficult to present both possibilities without bias because they come from different schools of thought. The evolutionists believe scientific fact to be ultimate truth, yet the creationists consider the word of God to be the ultimate truth. Is there a way to honor the U. S. Constitution and the taxpayers simultaneously, some of whom believe in creation and some of whom believe in evolution? If we decide to include both creationism and evolution and to consider the debate rhetorical, we run the risk of neither side being satisfied because there are those on both sides who believe that their way is the only way and who want to â€Å"win† the battle. If traditional approaches have not settled this issue, then perhaps it is time to try alternative dispute resolution measures, the attempts to present both evolution and creationism in the classroom, not-withstanding. Peter Tolman ( 2006, p. 544) writes that â€Å"intractable conflicts are rooted in the ways we make sense of the world and are not solvable in the traditional sense. † He further states that, â€Å"It is primarily through assumptions about what is unquestionably â€Å"right,† in a given context that different groups develop and maintain incommensurate worldviews and conflicts persist (Tolman, 2006, p. 545). † Our issue here is obviously one of intractable conflict. Our issue is not one in which both sides desire to reach a win-win solution; however, productive outcomes will depend on introduction of the principles of negotiation, beginning with the foundational abilities for conflict resolution.

Frankenstein: Victor :: essays research papers

Frankenstein: Victor   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Victor Frankenstein has always been fascinated by nature. By the time he was in his late teens he was at a school of science. This school sparked his obsession with recreating human life. This was not an easy task because of the minuteness of the organs, etc, which forced him to design an oversized human, about eight feet tall. After many unhealthy months of labor, he finally achieved his goal. The hideous creature sat up and grinned at Victor. Victor fled immediately. When he returned to his chamber he was happy to not find the monster. Two years passed and he got a letter from his father telling him his youngest brother, William, had been murdered. He began his miserable trip back home. On the way home he saw a giant beast running from a barn. He realized this was his creation and he was the murderer. An innocent woman (framed by the Monster) and a great friend of Elizabeth (Victor's cousin and future wife), was executed for the murder. This devastated the family (especially Victor, who accused himself). He set of to put an end to this creation. Victor finally met up with his monster in the mountains near a glacier. Here he listened to the monster's story. How he studied and grew to love this family living in a cottage. He wanted so immensely to be a part of their love and smiles. He learned their language and how to write (by listening to them teach an Arabian relative). After a very long time he walked into the cottage when only the blind old man was there and tried to befriend him. He was very persuasive until the children and the woman returned. The boy attacked the Monster. He could have killed the boy, but, out of love, ran. The family soon moved leaving the Monster so incredibly depressed and heart-broken that he suddenly hated the human kind. But, most of all, he hated his creator for making in the first place. He set out to Geneva, where he know Victor lived. He was almost there when he found a little boy. He thought he could make friends with him (because of his young, unprejudiced mind) until he discovered he was the son of his hated creator. He murdered him, and took the boy's locket and put it in the pocket of the soon-to-be-executed woman sleeping in a barn. At the conclusion of his story he persuaded Frankenstein to create a female for him. In the middle of Victor's progress of making the female he stopped,

Alex Cross Book Review Essay

How would you react if you found out that a mass murderer you have been trying to capture and arrest for over a few months was hiding in your cellar waiting for the perfect time to crawl out and kill you? In the book Cat & Mouse by James Patterson, these are the type of people Homicide Detective Alex Cross has to deal with on a daily basis. Alex Cross, who lives in Washington D.C. and works for the FBI, is going throughout his daily life of solving small murder cases and living with his family. When Gary Soneji, one of the men he got convicted to jail for kidnapping a few years back, is released, Soneji seeks out revenge of Alex. Soneji pulls off a brutal string of murders leaving behind small clues for Alex to find and use to figure out Soneji’s ultimate plan. Soneji isn’t the only one carrying out murders at the time, though. All over Europe, a man known as Mr. Smith has been abducting citizens of several countries and mutilating the bodies. Now not only does Alex have to figure out what Soneji plans to do, but he also has an extremely brutal man on the loose in Europe he has to catch before his rampage goes on any longer. Remarkably, even through all of these murders and investigations Alex is able to pursue his love interest and the outcome of the story is one you won’t ever expect. Will Alex catch the two murderers or will he end up as one of their victims? You’ll have to read to find out. I recommend this book to anyone he enjoys a suspenseful, thrilling, and overall interesting book. It didn’t take too long to read and it was really hard to put the book down once you get reading. There was, however, some tough dialogue in the book.

Kant Theory and Justice Essay

Immanuel Kant concerns himself with deontology, and as a deontologist, he believes that the rightness of an action depends in part on things other than the goodness of its consequences, and so, actions should be judged based on an intrinsic moral law that says whether the action is right or wrong – period. Kant introduced the Categorical Imperative which is the central philosophy of his theory of morality, and an understandable approach to this moral law. It is divided into three formulations. The first formulation of Kant’s Categorical Imperative states that one should â€Å"always act in such a way that the maxim of your action can be willed as a universal law of humanity†; an act is either right or wrong based on its ability to be universalized. This belief is part of the â€Å"universal law theory† and states that to determine if an action is essentially â€Å"good† or â€Å"bad,† one must essentially imagine a world in which everyone performed that same action constantly, and imagine if this would be a desirable world to live in. If not, then it is not okay to perform the action. He believes that this â€Å"universal law† lives within us; it is not something that is imposed on us from the outside. For example if one kills oneself out of self-love, it is logically contradictory because self-love refers to respect for one’s self as a rational being and rationality is based on objective (undistorted by emotion or personal bias). So, one can never justify suicide. The maxim of killing oneself cannot possibly exist as a universal law. The second formulation states that one must â€Å"treat humanity whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as means only. † For example, if I were to lie to a girl so that she would choose to go out with me then I, in effect, use her. Kant would say that I treated her as a means to achieve my end, and he specifically prohibits manipulating or deceiving a person for the purposes of achieving a personal end. According to Kant, only people are valuable as ends. Any action that disregards this is in clear violation of Kantian morality, and purports to reduce an individual’s autonomy; this consequently undermines a person’s rational capability and reduces him/her to a thing. This implies that if someone robs you and takes your wallet, he is treating you as a thing and not as a person. The third and last formulation requires that one sees oneself as the source of all moral law. This simply emphasizes the fact that the moral agent is the one who chooses to act morally. This third formulation tells us to imagine ourselves as the sole lawmaker in a society, and to choose the best possible set of laws that the society of rational beings would live by. Kant believes that we all have reason within us, but some choose to respond and act upon it while others do not. We can reason the way things ought to be, and based on that is how we should act, which explains Kant’s view that a moral action must be chosen through moral reason. For example, one does not cheat on a test because one’s reason tells him or her that it is wrong, not the consequences that follow if one gets caught. Another example is that we do not need the law to tell us not to steal because it is immoral; we simply have to access our ability to reason to rationalize this. In a world where each individual recognizes his/her moral dignity and freely chooses to adopt the same universalizable moral law, all actions become good. In opposition to the Categorical Imperative is Kant’s Hypothetical Imperative, which states that a particular action is necessary as a means to some purpose. Kant believes that these actions are not always moral because they are not performed out of â€Å"pure good will† (pure duty), which is the only thing in the world that is unambiguously good. In the case of the ethical credibility of the principles of affirmative action, Kant’s Categorical Imperative provides for the basis of approval. It is primarily out of a sense of duty that a society would seek to assist its struggling members who are in need of help. The action so far seems good, but we must test its universality. Can we imagine ourselves living in a world in which all societies seek to aid the underprivileged and the disadvantaged at the slight expense of others? Absolutely yes. It is important for one to bear in mind, however, that it is the very action of helping that is being judged as inherently good or bad, and not the action’s admirable or overbearing surrounding consequences. Secondly, we must test that the action is regarding everyone involved as ends and not as means to any particular purpose. Since the aim of affirmative action is to help the current predicaments of those people who were victimized in the past, focus is placed on respecting every individual’s autonomy. In this way, we can see that affirmative action is not a devious plan that seeks to manipulate, but one that seeks to compensate by adjusting the means (circumstances) and not the ends (individuals). Lastly, we must see if the action is establishing a universal law governing others in similar situations; one should behave as if one is the absolute moral authority of the universe. Is completing this action consistent with the application of moral law? If so, the affirmative action passes these three tests and the action is good. In his â€Å"Objections to Affirmative Action†, James Sterba talks about why he believes that Affirmative Action is morally wrong. He argues that a person’s race shouldn’t control his or her point of interest. Sterba argues that Affirmative Action leads to injustice and it is unfair to the white nonminority males because â€Å"it deprives them of equal opportunity by selecting or appointing women or minority candidates over more qualified nonminority male candidates. † He believes that the job of the government is to eliminate all kinds of discriminatory policies. He thinks that â€Å"alternative programs are preferable. † Thus, the government should instead promote equal opportunities through programs within agencies and departments instead of through Affirmative Action which he believes is a fancy word for discrimination. He argues that it is not fair to those who are more qualified for certain opportunities and cannot receive them either because they are not women or because they are not part of the minority. In his First Objection, he argues that Affirmative Action â€Å"is not required to compensate for unjust institutions in the distant past. † He talks about Morris’ argument that what occurred in the past is not the primary issue that puts all present-day African Americans at an unfair disadvantage; it is more about the issues of more recent origin. He makes a point that discrimination today could very well be the source of the disadvantaged disposition of African Americans and other minority groups, and it is certainly something that society could do without. The question remains that in attempting to â€Å"level the playing field† and eliminate present-day discrimination in America, is Affirmative Action a practical approach and should such a program be endorsed? The Fourth Objection goes on to say that Affirmative Action â€Å"hurts those who receive it† because in many ways the people benefitting from it would not see the need to work as hard, and it places â€Å"women and minorities in positions for which they are not qualified. † Sterba proposes that one of the solutions to this problem could be the installation education enhancement programs to compensate for any lack of skills. He believes that this will in a short time ensure that minorities are appropriately qualified for a position. In response to Sterba’s First Objection, Kant would agree that the rightness of Affirmative Action should be based upon the circumstances of the present situation and not what had occurred in the past; this is evident mainly through his a priori form of philosophical deductive reasoning that judges an action before the experience, or â€Å"in the moment. † However, Kant would disagree with Sterba’s Fourth Objection because in my opinion, Kant’s deontological theory correlates with the correctness of the affirmative action in its very aim toward helping â€Å"the right† people. Affirmative action has not significantly diminished gender, racial, and all other forms of discrimination, but the action has promoted equality and diversity to a large extent. In a world where everyone performs the â€Å"good will,† there is justice; and the installation of this program only serves to come closer to this justice. Discrimination is wrong because it violates a person’s basic and intrinsic moral rights. Thus, in itself the adoption of this program is an action that is good because without Affirmative Action it is true in many ways that minorities would remain at a disadvantaged position in the educational system and not be allowed the opportunity to exercise their true potential. Kant would argue that it is a duty out of â€Å"good will† to treat people equally. The concepts of equality and autonomy are emphasized in the nature of this program because it strives to treat everyone as a free person equal to everyone else. According to Kant, one should be treated as ends not as mere means. It can be argued that African Americans at a disadvantaged position were being treated as means by the dominant culture to achieve its own ends in the system. Discrimination cannot exist as a system of nature because those who discriminate would not want to be similarly discriminated against if things were reversed, and so Affirmative Action is justified because it aims to open the door of opportunities to those who have been oppressed for years. That being said, Kant would examine the action itself and not the consequences of the action. When making decisions, one has to put oneself into other people’s shoes and see if one wants to be treated the same way others have been treated; it is a duty to treat others as we ourselves want to be treated. Affirmative Action not necessarily needed in this society to reduce the inherent inequalities that are still existent, but it can certainly be used to assist in leveling the playing field. Affirmative Action has been successful on a short term basis, that is, in increasing the representation of minorities (including women) in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded. However, on the long term basis it can be argued that the program only serves to perpetuate a cycle of need. Kant advocates the idea of equality through his deontological theory by saying that all people deserve equal treatment as rational ends in themselves and that this should never be compromised by the flaws in any social system.

How Do I Answer SAT Sentence Completion Questions Without Knowing Vocabulary

How Do I Answer SAT Sentence Completion Questions Without Knowing Vocabulary SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Imagine you’re taking the SAT Critical Reading, when all of a sudden you come across a sentence completion question that completely stumps you. What are strategies you can use to help with this situation, and what are some ways to avoid this situation altogether? The College Board’s advice is helpful, but only goes so far. Keep reading for solutions to this issue. I'll go over ways to avoid sentence completion questions entirely, common wisdom advice, and what I think really works. NOTE: This article discusses a type of question that no longer appears on the SAT. For more information about what is included in the SAT Reading section, read this article.

the feminization of poverty essays

the feminization of poverty essays The Origins of the Feminization of Poverty The United Nations Development Fund for Women reports that women are still the poorest of the worlds poor, representing 70% of the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty. They also estimate that nearly 900 million women in the world have incomes of less than $1 a day. In the United States alone, women are about 50 percent more likely to be poor than men. The feminization of poverty in America has steadily increased since the 1950s. Researchers have investigated the reasons for this increase, citing everything from teenage pregnancy to the rise in deadbeat dads. Over the last thirty-five years there have been several trends in our society that have contributed to the feminization of poverty. In 1978, Diana Pearce published a paper citing that poverty in America was becoming more and more feminized. She cited that almost two-thirds of the poor over the age of 16 were women. Pearce also claimed that even though there were more women entering the labor force between 1950 and the mid-1970s, womens economic status had declined. She argued that the blame for this feminization of poverty belonged to the government because of their lack of support for divorced and single women. She argued, for many the price of that independence has been their pauperization and dependence on welfare (McLanahan 1). Further examination of the issue has shown that various changes in the family have contributed to the feminization of poverty. The last thirty years has seen a steady increase in the amount of children born outside of wedlock. In 1960, about six percent of all births were to unmarried couples whereas by 1996 over a third fell into this category (McLanahan 5). This influx of births to single mothers has weighed greatly on women in poverty. The statistics of children born to unmarried black couples is even more dramatic in...