Course Outline of Production Operation Management

ARID AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY, RAWALPINDI MGT- 696 â€Å"Operations Management† BBA–6 (A & B Sections) Spring 2013 Visiting Faculty Member:M. Javed Akhtar Ex- General Manager Training, OPF Ex-Director Gneral, NAVTEC Head Office Prime Minister's Secretariat [email  protected] com Office Contact/Timings: 051-2541041 (direct), 0300-5338951(Cell) (0800 Hrs. to 1500 Hrs. ) Course Coordinator Mr. Irfanullah Munir The Prologue This three credit Hrs. course is designed for services and manufacturing sectors, basically, meant for defining the real meaning of the Operations Management in any given organization.The primary objective of the course is to provide the students with an understanding of the theories, models, problems, issues, and techniques related to the management of operations both in manufacturing and service sectors. This includes analyses of various tasks performed and decisions made by operation managers, both tactically and strategically. The operations function plays a vital role in achieving a company’s strategic plans. Since the operations function produces the goods and provides the services, it typically involves the greatest portion of the company mployees and is responsible for a large portion of the firm’s capital assets. It has a major impact on quality and is often the visible face of company with which the customer must deal. Customer service, product/service, quality issues, and the effectiveness of many customer interactions are all operations activities. In the face of increased international competition, Pakistani firms have lost market share and have not responded by working to improve both their operating efficiencies and the quality of their goods and services.With this renewed emphasis on operations, it has become increasingly important that students have an understanding of operations management and its significance to the success of the companies where they will work. To gain a competitive edge, Pakistani organizations need sound production/operations strategies. This is particularly true today, given the pressures of global competition and the need to satisfy ever more demanding customers. Operations functions appear as a powerful tool for achieving organizational objectives and strategies. Learning ObjectivesThe aim of this course is to provide a clear, well-structured and interesting treatment of Production/Operations Management as it applies to a variety of businesses and organizations. The course is intended to provide both a logical path through the activities of operations management and an understanding of the strategic context in which operations managers’ work. †¢ Strategic in its perspective of operations management’s contribution to the organization’s long-term success. We are unambiguous in treating the operation function as being at the center to most organization’s drive to improve their competitiveness. Conceptual in the way it explai ns the reasons why operations managers need to take decisions in each activity. Although some quantitative techniques are included, their primary aim is to illustrate the underlying principles of operation decisions. †¢ Comprehensive in its coverage of the significant ideas and issues which are relevant to most types of operations. †¢ Practical in the sense that the issues and difficulties in making operations management decisions in practice are discussed, and generally the treatment of topics reflects actual operations practice.This course is practical also that Case Exercise illustrating the approaches taken by actual companies are used to illustrate operations issues. Attendance Policy As you may all know very well by this time that the University (FUU) adheres to very strict attendance policy (i. e. minimum 75% mandatory attendance). As usual roll will be taken at the beginning of each class meeting. No one will be allowed to enter the classroom five minutes after the class starting time since it cause interruptions in the class activities. Professional conduct is expected throughout the course.Besides this, It is assumed that you have read all the policies and guidelines of the University regarding attendance, academic dishonesty, deadlines and so on and so forth Team Work There will be substantial Team work in this class. This is the need of today’s corporate world, and we have to learn how to pull our right slack while working in teams. Instructor as well as fellow team members, at end of the course, will evaluate each team member. Part of the grade of the team project(s) will be dependent on peer evaluations which is only for the developmental purposes and will be kept strictly confidential.Unannounced Quizzes There will be minimum four unannounced quizzes taken randomly throughout this course. Three best will be considered for grading. These quizzes will be handed out in the beginning of the class meetings and if you are late in clas s, you will miss that quiz. There are absolutely no make ups for these quizzes. Case Studies There may be cases assigned to groups and these cases will be resolved in team efforts. A short written report will be required along with the presentation of that case.Presenters will play the role of Management Consultants and the class will act as Board of Directors and will interact with the consultants at the end of the presentation to express their concerns and opinions. Term Project or Book Review You will be given case study or in lieu thereof book reviews relevant to the field of OM, Subject to availability of time. When awarded, details will be discussed in the class. Industrial Visit/Seminar An industrial visit and/or a seminar relating to the subject matter would be arranged. Grade Allocation and Breakdown |Weightage suggested by DBA |Weightage suggested by Teacher| |Unannounced quizzes/Book Review |10% |10% | |Assignment(s) / presentation / participation/discipline |15% |15% | | Midterm Examination |25% |25% | |Terminal / Final Examination |50% |50% | Course Contours and Schedule ? Current Academic Session 4th March 2013 onward ? Class Work32 Lectures (16 weeks) Teaching Time 48Hrs. 1st Week: ? Production and Operations Management: An Overview 2nd Week: ? Production System : Issues and Environment 3rd Week: ? Total Quality Management 4th Week: ? Need and Importance of Forecasting 5th Week: ? Qualitative Methods of Forecasting 6th Week: ? Quantitative Methods of Forecasting 7th week: ? Capacity Planning 8th Week: ? Facilities Planning ? Mid-term Examination 9th Week: ? Work System Design 10th Week: ? Managing Information for Operations System 11th Week: ? Aggregate Production Planning 12th Week: ? Just-in-Time (JIT) 13th Week: ? Scheduling & Sequencing 14th Week: ? Issues in Materials Management 15th Week: Independent & Dependent Demand Inventory System 16th Week: ? Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)/Computers in OM ** ? Final Examination (date to be announc ed later on) Recommended Readings Supplementary Readings | | IMPORTANT NOTE: ? The course outline is subject to change to a tune of about 10% if need arise. ? ** Subject to availability of time, the topics of â€Å"Advanced Manufacturing Systems† and â€Å"Computers in Operations Management† will also be covered. ———————– Issues in Production/ Operations Management Forecasting Operations System Design Planning & Scheduling Materials Planning Emerging Issues in OM**

Philip Roth- writer of Defender of the Faith Essay

Philip Milton Roth was born on March 19, 1933 in Newark, New Jersey to a lower class middle-class Jewish Family novels and made it the scenes there. There are certain stories that he wrote which talks about his family members and his own life as well. His father was an insurance of Austro-Hungarian stock. When he wrote Patrimony in 1991, he wrote this for his dad who is still in his early eighties but in that particular story he portrayed his father as an eighty-six year old who suffered from a brain tumor. He loves his family so much. And that particular novel won the National critics Circle award in 1992.(Bloom, 2003) Experience is the best teacher and those experiences should be put into words to produce one magnificent work that will mirror the past. An excerpt from one of his book says â€Å"Between first discovering the Newark Bears and the Brooklyn Dodgers at seven or eight and first looking into Conrad’s Lord Jim at age eighteen, I had done some growing up. I am only saying that my discovery of literature, and fiction particularly, and the ‘love affair’ – to some degree hopeless, but still earnest – that has ensued, derives in part from this childhood infatuation with baseball. Or, more accurately perhaps, baseball – with its lore and legends, its cultural power, its seasonal associations, its native authenticity, its simple rules and transparent strategies, its longueurs and thrills, its spaciousness, its suspensefulness, its heroics, its nuances, its lingo, its ‘characters’, its peculiarly hypnotic tedium, its mythic transformation of the immediate – was the literature of my boyhood.† (Roth in ‘My Baseball Years’, from Reading Myself and Others, 1975) Here we can say that the place he grew up and the experiences made him what he really is and clearly shows the readers what kind of childhood he has. He attended Rutgers university from 1950-51 then transferred to Bucknell university where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with a major in English in 1954. Then he studied at the University of Chicago where he receives his M.A. in English then in 1955 he joined the army but sooner discharged because of a back injury. He then continues his study at Chicago and worked there from 1955 to 1957 as an English teacher. He then dropped out from the Ph.D. program in 1959 and started to write film reviews for the New Republic. Also in that year Goodbye Columbus won the National Book Award and was made into film here it was based on a family of a middle-class Jewish which clearly shows the author’s technique that is experience based and observations about the Jewish way of living Roth is fascinated by the idea of Jews behaving badly, but for him the physical deviance is sexual. He undermines the icon of the mensch, the Jewish good-boy (buzzle.com). Portnoy’s complaint is also his work which became the number one best seller in 1969 and made a turning point in his career. Here Portnoy’s approach to hedonistic Western culture is ironic. This work of Roth for most readers finds it offensive because of the sex scenes and the presentation of Jewish Mother was criticized. (Bloom, 2003) Jewishness is Roth’s major territory in examining American culture. Roth has more ironic and characterized as â€Å"less loving† views on Jews’ life. The readers can identify the writer with the obsession on fictional characters. In his works he increasingly wrestled problems of identity. Sometimes, he views his own life as part of his fiction. In his work The Plot against America (2004) an alternate history in which the famous pilot Charles Lindberg is the 33rd president of the Fascist U.S Philip Roth is one of the characters suffering from his Jewish Background. When he experienced separation from his wife whom he got married in 1990 distinguished actress Claire Bloom, their relationship wayback 1970 was ended in 1996 and made his wife publish a book for him entitled Leaving a Doll’s House. We can see here that even his wife is using experience as a good source of thoughts and ideas in writing a book to clearly express one’s emotion and point of views.(Bloom 2003) In his work Defender of the Faith (1959) the social and critical context shows us the passion of Philip Roth for his works. Here Roth shows us two stories at the same time, first is the story of Marx’s recovery from war experiences and the other is his conflict with Grossbart. The author explores the struggle one man goes through in order to discover which value outweigh others. Marx is in a dilemma which should be first, a good sergeant, a good Jew or a good human being. As the story progresses, Roth allows us glimpses into Marx’s recovery: the parade ground at dusk evokes childhood memories that reach deep into his heart to touch him; later, he begins to send for law school catalogs and to write old girlfriends. (ftp.ccccd.edu) From here we can see points of the author about the conflict between Marx and Grossbart. Although they are both Jews, Grossbart is trying to get a special consideration and privilege. What is difficult for Marx is that Grossbart raises questions that the army at that time never considers. Like why is it that Jews don’t go worship on their Sabbath. Then Marx just realizes that Grossbart is not really a serious Jew. He just wants to manipulate the system which on the later part made Marx fight for his own sake. We can see that this work of Roth is full of complex irony. Sgt. Marx is the defender of faith which in fact should suggest a staunch religious champion, but as far as Marxs role in the story he does it so against his will and against his intention but what made him motivated is to have an equal and fair treatment to all his men and not to be partial to Jews.where unwillingly he became defender of faith to Grossbart. At the end of the story, however, when Marx has Grossbart’s orders changed to the Pacific, the irony is that he becomes most truly a defender of his faith when he seems to be turning against it. â€Å"You call this watching out for me what you did?† asks Grossbart. â€Å"No,† answers Marx. â€Å"For all of us.† The cause of the whole Jewish faith is set back when Jews like Grossbart get special favors for themselves, for other people will mistakenly attribute Grossbart’s objectionable qualities to the Jewish people as a whole. (It’s called â€Å"stereotyping.†) Thus Marx is unwillingly a â€Å"defender of the faith† when he helps his fellow Jew, yet he becomes truly a defender of the faith when he turns against him (ftp.ccccd.edu). Roth justifies his social context about Jews in this story and made many people realize what the term â€Å"Defender of the faith† really means. Works Cited Bloom, Harold â€Å"Blooms Modern Critical Views† Chelsea House Publishers, Defenders of the faith Notes: â€Å"Defender of the Faith†by Philip Roth Roth, Philip â€Å"My Baseball Years† from â€Å"Reading Myself and Others Book†, New York Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975

Alcohol and Its Effects on Children

Andrelea Foerster Marriage & Family Dr. Ekechukwu 4/12/13 The Impact on Children of Alcoholic Parents The significant and detrimental impact on family life and child development caused by parental alcohol use cannot be underestimated, often putting children in danger. Alcohol use and disorders are a major public health problem. Alcohol abuse in poor and deprived communities is particularly deleterious as the scarce financial resources of the family needed for food, health care, and education are diverted to alcohol. Pinto, Violet) It rarely exists in isolation as a problem and is commonly intertwined with mental health, bereavement, family breakdown or domestic violence. Children are impacted in a number of different ways: parental alcoholism affects them financially; it affects their home environment; they may be exposed to unsuitable care and care givers or inadequate supervision, poor role models and inappropriate behavior; and their physical/emotional development and school atten dance can suffer.Many children whose parents drink at a significant level can often find themselves having to take on the role of care giver, both for their siblings and their parents. Approximately 5-10% of the country's population suffers from DSM-IV alcohol abuse, and this figure appears to be growing. Alcohol use problems affect spouses and children, unfortunately, in addition to the heavy substance users themselves. A recent study estimated that one in four American children have a parent who meets criteria for DSM-IV alcohol abuse. Brennan, Patricia) It is important to understand the feelings a parent will be experiencing in relation to their alcohol use and to recognize that just because a parent may or may not have disclosed that they have an alcohol problem, it does not necessarily mean the problem is not there. In practice, most standard policies and procedures are reactive to the parent admitting they have a problem. Consequently, workers from universal services often foc us on gaining evidence and then initiating procedures, which is a difficult balance to strike as workers often have to make social services referrals when disclosures are made. If you do not know what the problem is you cannot fix it' is a good place to start. In fact, it is difficult to meaningfully help a parent before they have accepted there is a problem; you cannot force change or engagement. From both sides, this can be difficult to manage as the positivity of a parent's disclosure can be overshadowed by a reaction to the referral to children's social care. Understandably, this can cause a dilemma for the professional and a great deal of anxiety for the parent. Encouraged by the disinhibiting effects of alcohol, they find it easier to enter the world outside their family borders in search of relief and self-assertion. † (Tomori, Martina) Professionals often worry about immediate safety when a parent has a drinking problem. Because they did not have an example to follow f rom their childhood and never experienced â€Å"normal† family relationships, adult children of alcoholics and addicts may have to guess at what it means to be normal. They sometimes can't tell good role models from bad ones.Some are not comfortable around family because they don't know what to do or how to react. Many adult children of alcoholics or addicts find it difficult to give themselves a break. They do not feel adequate, and feel that they are never good enough. They may have little self-worth and low self-esteem and can develop deep feelings of inadequacy. Because they judge themselves too harshly, some adult children of alcoholics may take themselves very seriously. They can become depressed or anxious because they have never learned how to lighten up on themselves.They can get very angry with themselves when they make a mistake. Many adult children of alcoholics find it difficult to let them have fun. Perhaps because they witnessed so many holidays, vacations and other family events sabotaged by the alcoholic parent, they do not expect good things to ever happen to them. In order to have an intimate relationship, one must be willing to look to another person for interdependence, emotional attachment, or fulfillment of your needs. Because of trust issues or lack of self-esteem, adult children of addicts may not be able to let themselves do that.They don't allow themselves to get close to others. After growing up in an atmosphere where denial, lying and keeping secrets was the norm, adult children of alcoholics can develop serious trust problems. All the broken promises of the past tell them that trusting someone will backfire on them in the future and because the alcoholic parent was emotionally unavailable or perhaps physically not around, adult children of alcoholics or addicts can develop an absolute fear of being abandoned. As a consequence, they can find themselves holding on to relationships they should end just because they don't want to be alone.If their alcoholic parent was mean or abusive when they were drunk, adult children can grow up with a fear of all angry people. They may spend their lives avoiding conflict or confrontation of any kind, thinking it could turn violent. Because they constantly judge themselves too harshly, many adult children of alcoholics are constantly seeking approval from others. The can become people-pleasers who are crushed if someone is not happy with them. They can absolutely fear criticism. Many children who grow up with an addicted parent find themselves thinking they are different from other people and not good enough.Consequently, they avoid social situations and have difficulty making friends. They can tend to isolate themselves as a result. Perhaps to avoid criticism or the anger of their alcoholic parent, many children from alcoholic homes become super responsible or perfectionists. They can become overachievers or workaholics. On the other hand, they can also go in the oppo site direction, becoming very irresponsible members of society. Handling disclosure is the key to being able to start to support a parent and get them the help they need.Listen to what the parent is saying and recognize that by starting to talk about the alcohol problem they are acknowledging it exists. This is the first step and can be a very vulnerable time; parents can become distressed at this stage. The parent is usually in a very negative space and it is important that this is a positive interaction where they feel supported and have hope. If this is handled badly their defenses usually go up and they disengage. Ideally, parents should be listened to and reassured that they have done the right thing in acknowledging they have a problem and that they will be given the right support.Stay with them until they have finished saying everything they want to–they will usually indicate why drinking became a problem. End by reassuring them and explain what you are going to do to try to help them. This might involve referral to your local alcohol service, providing them with printed information or calling someone else to look after the children. It is a good idea at this stage to give them a diary sheet to keep track of what they are drinking, when and why. You can now also draw up a safety plan or contingency plan with the parent.This is important as it empowers the parent to take control of the situation, even while the problem drinking continues, and it is something they can immediately succeed at. It should prioritize the child's needs and safety, which will also help the parent deal with feelings of guilt. We have all been in a room or meeting with a parent where we have suspicions of parental alcohol use. It is really important not to ignore this, but ‘say what you see' and offer help. Don't add a judgment, an assumption or interpret; simply say to the parent what you see.Examples of this could be: ‘I smell alcohol on your breath–if you need support with that we can help' or ‘you seem unsteady on your feet, your speech seems slurred'. This is an important process for the parent even if it does not lead to a disclosure as it forces them to face some of their own denial. If this is not done they may convince themselves everything is fine. Fundamental to working with parents is accepting that it takes time to change. Goals need to be pragmatic, realistic and timely, with a focus on finding solutions rather than obstacles.Sometimes you have to accept that it may only be possible to put a simple routine in place and that the parent will need support with anything that needs longer-term planning. A useful tool is a basic wall chart, which does actually need to go on the wall so it can be checked. The chart should outline tasks to be completed each day. Allocate a specific day for household tasks; for example, laundry on Mondays and food shopping on Tuesdays. This is useful as it enables the parent to have some basic structure to their time.They can also tick things off as they are completed, which will increase their confidence and make day-to-day life seem more manageable. It is also not reliant on the problem behavior changing immediately. Things often get worse before they get better–be prepared initially for the parent to deteriorate before they improve. It is a process and parents need to learn new coping mechanisms; support networks can help. Think about things that can be changed and what can be put in place to support parents and their children through the period of change.Accepting and anticipating a realistic timetable is crucial. For example, when a child has had little or no supervision and a parent then starts to put boundaries in place the child will react negatively, especially if the parent is still drinking. Putting this part of the program in place will increase parents' stress levels and could result in further drinking and disengagement with services. Therefore, think about support plans you might need for both parent and child. If the parent is still drinking they will find it difficult to maintain the changes.The situation could be handled by addressing the drinking first and ensuring the parent is engaged with an alcohol service that can provide relapse prevention support. Next, introduce intensive parenting support so the family has the maximum chance of benefiting from the intervention and maintaining the changes by using this support network to protect the family against wobbles. Think about the family as a system and look at what works well within it and ways other areas can be improved. This needs reviewing constantly, as if one factor changes the family dynamics will change.For example, if a parent's alcohol consumption changes, the family system will change and these periods of adjustment are stressful for all involved. Sometimes you have to accept that the parent's alcohol abuse might not improve immediately. However, the situat ion may change and, importantly, things may improve for the child over time–don't give up. Children will record their parent's actions at their worst. When Mom and Dad are most out of control, they are the most threatening to the child's survival. The child's survival alarm registers these behaviors the most deeply creating shame.Any subsequent shame experience, which even vaguely resembles that past trauma, can easily trigger the words and scenes of said trauma. What are then recorded are the new experience and the old. Over time an accumulation of shame scenes are attached together. Each new scene potentates the old, sort of like a snowball rolling down a hill, getting larger and larger as it picks up snow. As the years go on, very little is needed to trigger these collages of shame memories. Shame as an emotion has now become frozen and embedded into the core of the person's identity.Children of alcoholics grow up trying to control their parents drinking by hiding or throw ing away the alcohol. Then they try the use of guilt control – (If you really love me you'll stop), or (You care more about that bottle than you care about me). They don't realize that you cannot control or reason with a disease. Some try to cure the disease by being the perfect child; by keeping perfect grades, always being good, being responsible and trying to cure the illness, while keeping the path smooth for the drinker.To an outsider looking in, they are the perfect child. The truth of the matter is they are. People just don't see the whole picture. Other children may choose to be the scapegoat, the one in trouble all the time. They are the family's way of not looking at what's really happening. Then there are those who become the class clown, making everyone laugh and all the while knowing that life is not really that funny. And then there is that little child off in the corner; the withdrawn child who never gives anyone any trouble and feels like he/she is invisible.A ll of these children look like a child, dress like a child, to some degree they behave like a child, but they sure as hell don't feel like a child. Children of alcoholics grow up and become adults quickly. But underneath the mask of adult behavior there is a child who was neglected. This needy child is insatiable. What that means is that when the child becomes an adult, there is a hole in his/her soul. They can never get enough as an adult. An adult child can't get enough because it's really a child's needs that are in question.Growing up and not having your needs met as a child creates many scars; co-dependency being one of the most serious. Much has been written about co-dependency. All agree that it is about the loss of selfhood. Co-dependency is a condition wherein one has no inner life. Happiness is on the outside. Good feelings and self-validation lie on the outside. Children of alcoholics, learn to be care takers or rescuers early in life. They've developed a mechanism that h elped in coping with fear, pain, insecurity and growing up in an abusive alcoholic family.Usually this is how the child copes with not being able to get their own needs met. â€Å"Self-confidence and readiness to accept different, sometimes negative views and responses of others, coupled with the ability to cope with occasional refusals or failures, are the key characteristics that help adolescents adopt healthy patterns of social behavior. † (Tomari, Martina) But later in life, as an adult, those well learned habits imprison them in frustrating, painful, co-dependent relationships, at home and at work.Some of the most common side effects are guilt; the child may see himself or herself as the main cause of the mother's or father's drinking. Another is anxiety; the child may worry constantly about the situation at home. He or she may fear the alcoholic parent will become sick or injured, and may also fear fights and violence between the parents. Then the embarrassment; parents may give the child the message that there is a terrible secret at home. The ashamed child does not invite friends home and is afraid to ask anyone for help.Then comes confusion; the alcoholic parent will change suddenly from being lovey to angry, regardless of the child's behavior. A regular daily schedule, which is very important for a child, does not exist because bedtimes and mealtimes are constantly changing. And then the anger; the child feels anger at the alcoholic parent for drinking, and may be angry at the non-alcoholic parent for lack of support and protection. Inability to have close relationships because the child has been disappointed by the drinking parent many times, he or she often does not trust others.Although the child tries to keep the alcoholism a secret, teachers, relatives, other adults, or friends may sense that something is wrong. Child and adolescent psychiatrists advise that the following behaviors may signal a drinking or other problem at home. Failure i n school, lack of friends, withdrawal from classmates, delinquent behavior, such as stealing or violence, frequent physical complaints, such as headaches or stomachaches, abuse of drugs or alcohol, aggression towards other children, risk taking behaviors, depression and suicidal thoughts.Some children of alcoholics may act like responsible â€Å"parents† within the family and among friends. They may cope with the alcoholism by becoming successful â€Å"over achievers† throughout school, and at the same time be emotionally isolated from other children and teachers. Their emotional problems may show only when they become adults, but in fact they have been â€Å"adult children† their whole lives. â€Å"Adult Child† carries a double meaning: the adult who is trapped in the fears and reactions of a child, and the child who was forced to be an adult without going through the natural stages that would result in a healthy adult.When the adult child of a dysfuncti onal family begins to enter the â€Å"real world† schools and the workplace they discover their family system is not the reality shared by their classmates and co-workers. Many adult children become loners or form tight, unhealthy relationships with other children of dysfunctional homes. These relationships actually re-enforce their dysfunctional view of the world by â€Å"finding another person who really understands. † The tightness of the bonds created in these relationships is accented by the child's lack of an individual sense of identity.They do not yet know where they stop and someone else begins. As a result they are unable to define their limits and begin to take on other people's opinions, defects and needs. If the adult child is able to form lasting friendships (some never do), it is usually with other adult children who provide familiar characteristics similar to the family's dysfunction. Adult children can be very slow to recognize the patterns of family p roblems. They spent their lives being trained by the family to not see the problem, even when they are re-created in friendships, marriages and work relationships.Whether or not their parents are receiving treatment for alcoholism, these children and adolescents can benefit from educational programs and mutual-help groups such as programs for children of alcoholics, Al-Anon, and Alateen. Early professional help is also important in preventing more serious problems for the child, including alcoholism. Studies from the US and Australia have shown that easy local alcohol access is associated with adolescent alcohol consumption and alcohol abuse. Dale, Richard) Child and adolescent psychiatrists help these children with the child's own problems, and also help the child to understand they are not responsible for the drinking problems of their parents. The treatment program may include group therapy with other youngsters, which reduces the isolation of being a child of an alcoholic. The c hild and adolescent psychiatrist will often work with the entire family, particularly when the alcoholic parent has stopped drinking, to help them develop healthier ways of relating to one another.One very successful form of recovery for adult children involves acknowledging the existence of an inner child. The child, who was small, lost and without hope never really went away, but froze. Recovering adult children can find that inner child and resume the process of nurturing to allow him/her to complete the job of growing into a healthy adult. Many counselors, therapists and psychologists have been valuable to many adult children in the process of recovery. Growing up in an alcoholic family is certainly traumatic, and it seems there are no positive aspects involved.The fact of the matter is these children will be scarred for life and most likely need some kind of counseling in the future depending on the severity of the abuse. Too many children in America have lived through this dre adful lifestyle. Alcohol simply should never be abused, neither should the children. One misconception that many alcoholics and addicts seem to have is that their drinking or substance abuse is not affecting anyone else. Many times they will make statements like, â€Å"I'm not hurting anyone but myself! † Unfortunately, there is a great deal of research and a vast amount of anecdotal evidence that this is simply not the case. Hurt people . . . hurt people. † The behavior of addicts and alcoholics can affect everyone around them, including family, friends, employers and coworkers. Perhaps those most vulnerable to the effects of alcoholism or addiction are their children. If you have a drinking or a drug abuse problem and you have children in your home, they are being affected, sometimes so profoundly that the effects last their entire lifetimes. Children of alcoholics and addicts can have deep-seated psychological and emotional reactions to growing up with an addicted pa rent. Emergent from an alcoholic family is harrowing.In these homes, children experience a daily environment of inconsistency, chaos, fear, abandonment, denial, and real or potential violence. Survival becomes a full-time job. While most of us know that alcoholism is a disease, too few recognize it as a family disease, which may emotionally, spiritually and often physically, affect not only the alcoholic but each member of the family. Little emotional energy remains to consistently fulfill the many needs of children who become victims of the family illness. For many years, professional psychologists were barely aware of the vast pool of suffering of the family of alcoholics.They concentrated on healing the alcoholic and felt that it solved the problems of the family as well. Today they realize that the whole family suffers this sickness and all must be made well. By looking at what it is like to live in an alcoholic's home, the side effects, and how to cope with the problem there is conclusive evidence to see how the disease negatively affects the children. Dale, Richard A. , et al. â€Å"Alcohol environment, gender and nonfatal injuries in young people. An ecological study of fourteen Swedish municipalities (2000-2005). †Ã‚  Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy  7 (2012): 36.Academic OneFile. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. http://proxy01. nwacc. edu:2076/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA307422823&v=2. 1&u=nwestakcc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w Tomori, Martina. â€Å"Personality characteristics of adolescents with alcoholic parents. †Ã‚  Adolescence  29. 116 (1994): 949+. Academic OneFile. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. http://proxy01. nwacc. edu:2076/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA16477257&v=2. 1&u=nwestakcc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w Brennan, Patricia A. , Emily R. Grekin, and Constance Hammen. â€Å"Parental alcohol use disorders and child delinquency: the mediating effects of executive functioning and chronic family stress *.   Journal of Studies on Alcohol  Jan. 2005: 14+. Academic OneF ile. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. http://proxy01. nwacc. edu:2076/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA132050571;v=2. 1;u=nwestakcc;it=r;p=AONE;sw=w Pinto, Violet, and Rajan Kulkarni. â€Å"A Case Control Study on School Dropouts in Children of Alcohol-Dependent Males Versus that in Abstainers/Social Drinkers' Children. †Ã‚  Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care  1. 2 (2012): 92. Academic OneFile. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. http://go. galegroup. com/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA313826180;v=2. 1;u=nwestakcc;it=r;p=AONE;sw=w

Has the increase in trade in developing countries increased wage Essay

Has the increase in trade in developing countries increased wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers in the develop - Essay Example inequality and unemployment can be observed in developed countries leading many to think that a connection between the two developments exists. The Increasing Trade in Developing Countries Table 1 shows a comparative illustration of the growth rates in export between developed and developing economies between the periods 1980 to 1990 and 1990 to 1999. Note that the start of the rise in world trade, especially in developing countries, is not shown and instead started two decades later. The growth rate in export rose by more than twice for developing countries and almost doubled that in import rate. On the other hand, the rates for both export and import decreased in the second period for the developed countries. There are two explanations of the current rapid trade growth: technological and political. Technocrats believed that advances in transportation and communication made the world smaller and trade and easier, whilst political scientists believed that political factors such as th e GATT and efforts of developing countries at self-liberalisation in trade explain the growth. Krugman contends, however, that the current rise in global trade is simply a self-correction after it went down during the two world wars implying that the current level is comparable to that prior to said wars. 3 Table 1 Comparative Export/Import Growth, 1980-90, 1990-994 Growing Wage Inequality in Developing Countries Parallel to the rise in global trade particularly involving in developing countries is an observable growing wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers in developed countries. In a data compiled by OECD, some highly industrialised countries showed a rising wage inequality from 1980 to 2005. Figure 1 shows the comparative rise of income inequality in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. The USA income data particularly shows a steep rise in income inequality. The UK, Canada and Australia also revealed a rising pattern but not as pronounced as that of the US. The re are developed countries, however, that do not exhibit this phenomenon such as in the cases of Nordic countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark and some continental countries such as France, Italy, Germany and Netherlands. Figure 1 Income Inequality in Continental and Anglo Countries5 Income Inequality as a Consequence of Trade Growth in Developing Countries Some quarter hold the view that the rising income inequality in developed countries is underpinned by the trade growth in developing countries. This is purportedly because the rapid movement of goods and capital in the global market favour those who are in a position to use such opportunity whilst undermined those who are not. The expanding global trade has presented high capital entrepreneurs a wider field with which to expand their business whilst low income group who cannot compete are left behind.6 Relative to this, two theories are used to explain the impact of trade liberalisation on wage inequality in the indus trialised world. The Heckscher-Ohlin theory suggests that

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THE IMPACT OF THE TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP STYLE ON EMPLOYEE TURNOVER WITHIN A RETAIL ENVIRONMENT - Essay Example The study will measure quantifiably by use of assessment tools. The research question is: Transformational Leadership: Transformational leaders are able to inspire followers to by granting individualized attention to their followers, considering their needs and abilities, playing an especially important role in the followers† growth and development (Robbins & Judge, 2005; Zacharatos, Barling, & Kelloway, 2000). Idealized influence: A form of leadership behavior that results in leaders becoming role models for their followers. The leaders are admired, respected and trusted. Followers identify with the leaders and wish to emulate them (Bass & Avolio, 1993) In idealized influence, behaviour of the leaders is very influential and it makes the followers to walk on the path chosen by the leaders. Thus the leaders are followed willingly by the people. Inspirational motivation: Leadership behaviors that motivate and inspire followers in their work by providing a challenging work environment. Leaders provoke followers to imagine an attractive future for themselves (Bass & Avolio, 1993) Intellectual stimulation: Strategy the results in followers becoming more innovative and creative within an organization. (Bass & Avolio, 1993) The characteristic of Intellectual Stimulation in the leaders exposes his or her ability to stimulate the intellectual capacity of the people. Those who are really genius and their intellectuality and knowledge is definitely a blessing for the attainment of the organizational goals then the leaders motivate such people to use their intellectual potentials for the growth of the organization. Individualized consideration: Individualized consideration is also one of the characteristics of the transformational leaders. It is the leadership strategy that empathizes an individual employee’s needs. It concentrates on individual’s achievement by positioning them as mentors and coaches to help them realize their potential. The

The Experience Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Experience Economy - Essay Example The importance of themes can be seen in the success that businesses that have identified a right theme for their business activity have attained. It is this right theme that gives customers something to associate with the business activities of the business enterprise. Very common examples of this are eateries that have identified a theme and built their business activities around such a theme. Customers coming to such eateries attracted by the theme put out like Hard Rock Cafà © or the House of Blues and continue coming there because the experiences there have appealed to all the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. Chapter One on â€Å"Welcome to the Experience Economy† attempts to convey the message or argument that experiences are a clear and distinct economic offering and provides the means for future economic growth against stagnation since the agrarian economy and the scale economy of industrialization. The book starts with these words â€Å"Commoditized. No company wants that word applied to its goods or services†. (p.1). However, that is exactly what has happened. With the sole concentration on price there is hardly any differentiation between products and services and so margins crash. Coffee is a true commodity. Yet, it also offers to be a commodity, good, or service depending on the how customers can be made to attribute value to it. Sold as coffee beans it remains a commodity, but as coffee powder it becomes a good. However, sold in a restaurant the value of ambience lifts the value of a cup of coffee sold and provides a sensation of experience to the cup of coffee thr ough teasing the senses, through theatre experience or the like and thus the value of the cup of coffee rises even further. This is the economic offering that experience offers and the basis of the experience economy of the authors. In Chapter Two on â€Å"Setting the Stage† the authors try to reinforce this message by taking and demonstrating with examples

Business plan Miami Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business plan Miami - Essay Example With a good distribution of the medicines in the city hospitals and pharmacies, a new company can eye the fierce competition that is being faced in the industry. Baptist hospital is an important part of the health care system in Miami and is given the favorable demographics of the area. The hospital treats more than 75,000 patients every year and has more than 550 beds. There has been a high demand for aged care services in the hospital because of the change in demographics. The patient population comprises of 60% adults and 40% pediatrics. The average length of stay in the hospital is 3.4 days. There are 412 beds in Columbia Kendall Medical Center, 37 respiratory therapists and 561 other full time employees. Most of the patients arriving are of the age 55 and above and the child patients are about only 20 percent of the total patients arriving. The Mercy Hospital with 221 certified beds and employs 230 registered nurses, 27 respiratory therapists and 857 other full time employees. Significant number of patients arriving at Mercy Hospital is self-pay patients and many arrive without a proper documentation. The average length of stay in the hospital is 3.5 days. From 1993 onwards, there has been a decrease in the trend of hospitalization in the age bracket of 15 to 34 in Miami. However, the trend for the hospitalization of the older people has been significantly rising since the past several years in Miami. In 1993, the hospitalization rate of the age bracket of 45-54 was almost 8,000 and in 2002, it was roughly 11,500. The median age of the population has been almost 38 years. Elderly individuals make up a significant portion of population, as the number of people above the age of 60 is 80,000, which is 23% of the total population in Miami. The population has been getting more and more diverse with increasing

What you feel is the most Significant Constitutional Amendment Essay

What you feel is the most Significant Constitutional Amendment - Essay Example It is worth noting that all ideas, whether good or bad, are protected under the first amendment (Bird 56). As an American citizen, I have been able to enjoy the right to free speech and freely expressing my ideas and opinions. However, there are other countries where citizens do not enjoy the same right. I travelled to Ethiopia a couple of years ago, for a vacation and to view the beautiful scenery. Before I embarked on the journey, I was thoroughly briefed regarding the stringent rules of law in Ethiopia. At the embassy, citizens were constantly reminded to be careful of what they expressed to avoid being detained by the police. In addition, once we were outside the embassy and into the city of Addis Ababa and its environs, we were to avoid expressing any views against the regime; lest we be imprisoned. Unlike in America, citizens have to be mindful of what they express to avoid being imprisoned. As a tourist, I found these unfamiliar and confusing due to my perception that all citizens in the world enjoyed similar rights like other Americans did. The experience was an eye-opener and since then, I have appreciated the right conferred on me by the Constitution; to express my thoughts freely. In Ethiopia, for instance, there are hundreds of journalists and other perceived dissidents who have been detained illegally by their government, as political prisoners. Fortunately, I was not imprisoned in Ethiopia, and I continued expressing my thoughts, regarding Congress on Twitter, once I was at the United States Embassy. Through research, I have been able to identify the importance of the first amendment through critical analysis of world politics and political journals. I identified the primary reason as to why the Arab Spring uprising broke was due to the atrocities committed by the regimes in North Africa and the Middle East. The atrocities are

Emerging markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Emerging markets - Essay Example Emerging markets are becoming the fastest drivers of global development. These markets are expected to grow twice or thrice the number of developed countries like the United States. The public investor continues to underweight these developing markets in their collections. Corporate profits seem to grow rapidly when there is a higher economic growth. One of the reasons why developed markets like the U.S have been ranked high is because of the development of markets outside the country. Some nations are borrowing a leaf from the U.S and are performing well as emerging markets. They include Brazil, Indonesia, Chile, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Russia, Peru, and Korea. In this context, Turkey and Peru are the markets discussed, putting in mind that some of the factors that have contributed to their emergence are: The significance of trade, the role of the government, investments and savings, and education among others (Larrain, Helmut &Maltzan 67). Factors that have allowed Turkey to move up the development ladder Importance of investments and savings Historically, Turkey has been dependent on developed markets for a huge portion of its investments and savings. However, the country is now focusing to engage in more business with other regions of the world, with the Middle East, Asia, and Africa included. It is this shift in focus that is accelerating the growth and investment of Turkey. In addition to this, Turkey has in recent years overcome a sequence of economic and political challenges and is now benefiting from a period of solid and stable economic growth, which enables it to grow at least five percent yearly. Its world class characteristics include the strategic position at the crossroads of the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. To add on these strategic positions, the huge size of its domestic markets also attracts some investors, who remain confident about the country’s features. The goods market below shows relationship between the savings and in vestments of Turkey at equilibrium. The role of the government, its policies and programs The structural transformation of Turkey was generated by political stability and economic reform. First, the newly implemented FDI frame law by the government marks the foremost instalment of this economic reform to alter the investment setting in the country and make it attract global investors. The FDI frame law ensured equal treatment to all investors regardless of the initial authorization request to move dividends freely, to be guarded against expropriation, to get access to real estate, and to hire emigrants. Turkey reduced corporate tax from approximately 33% to 20% for each company. The reason for doing these was to make Turkey one of the leading liberal nations worldwide in terms of the investment environment and for FDI framework. The consequence of this transformation have been promising and significant, since the country started to grow at a faster rate after 2001 and it now has the utmost industrial power as well as the one of the leading free-market economies. The economic programs were founded on a powerful macroeconomic policy framework. Some of the broad-ranging structural government reforms are a key renovation of the banking system. A liberal foreign investment government, a better investment atmosphere, and privatization are the major pillars of government reform. The economic programs joined with supervisory and regulatory reforms improved the Turkish economy’s toughness to shocks. Consequently, Turkey emerged from the international crisis to be among the globe’s fastest-growing economies (Aguiar, & Gopinath 23). Educational level The availability and access of highly learned personnel is a position-specific element that has made Turkey emerge economically. High educated person are highly required by businesses that invest in technological businesses and have assets in skills like the capabilities to develop intangible or differentiated products. The presence of elites in interaction with labour

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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Analysis Essay Example for Free

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Analysis Essay In the book, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, the main character is the author as a young girl growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. She starts off as an incredibly positive child with enormous faith in herself and her relationship with G-d. Through her experiences, especially when she was in her crucial, early teenage years, she completely loses her faith in G-d and also rebels against her environment. The author wants to show the Western world that there are many people in Iran, like Marjane, that are no different than Westerners. She does this by describing her childhood teenage conflicts with her parents, with oppression and with her faith in G-d, all of which most Western teenagers could easily relate to. Marjane’s conflicts prove that she is not just a spoiled teenager, rebelling for no other reason than just being a teenager, but that the environment she was in would make most teenagers rebel. Two of Marjane’s conflicts with her parents come from her strong desire to participate in the public protests against the Shah. Marjane has a close relationship with her parents, whose activism against oppression influences her greatly. She sees her parents go to protests against the Shah and she desperately wants to join in and be a part of it. On panels 16.9-17.6, Marjane is begging her parents to allow her to join them in the next day’s protests. She says to them, â€Å"For a revolution to succeed, the entire population must support it.† They tell her she can’t go yet because it is too dangerous. She is very upset with them for not letting her go. Later, on panels 38.1-39.5, Marjane defies her parents’ authority by attending a demonstration with her maid, Mehri. The author narrates, â€Å"When I finally understood the reasons for the Revolution I made my decision.† Marjane is referring to her decision to go to a protest against the Shah. This is after her maid’s heart is broken because the boy she is in love with dumps her when he finds out she is below his social class. Marjane believes that the Revolution will abolish the social class system. These two examples of conflict with her parents show that Marjane is not just acting out against her parents, but cares deeply for the future of her country and those closest to her, like her maid. The Islamic Fundamentalists’ new rules and laws also create conflicts for Marjane because of the influence from her parents’ secular beliefs and her previous secular schooling. On panels 96.1-98.7, the author describes Marjane’s new school environment after her secular French school is shut down. The students are forced into Islamic schools where the girls and boys are separated. They have new rituals to perform, like hitting themselves to honor the Iran-Iraq war casualties. Almost immediately, the students begin to make fun of the rituals and the new teachers enforcing them. The school is so upset with the students’ behavior that the parents are called in for a lecture as well. At the end of the lecture, Marjane’s father says to the teacher, â€Å"If hair is as stimulating as you say, then you need to shave your mustache!† This shows Marjane’s parents’ rebellion against the Fundamentalism, which heavily influences Marjane. It also shows that Marjane, and her fellow students in this case, are not doing anything wrong in their parents’ eyes, but simply having a tough time adapting to this completely new set of beliefs, rules and laws. A similar conflict for Marjane revolves around the new, strict rules on what women can wear in public. On panels 130.1-134.4, Marjane’s parents return from a trip to Turkey with gifts of Western clothing for her. She immediately puts them on, gets a compliment from her mother, and goes out to buy some black market rock and roll tapes. She is confronted by the Guardians of the Revolution for wearing the Western clothing and almost gets arrested. Like any teenager who receives cool, new clothes from their parents, she wants to immediately enjoy wearing them. Also, she has only known freedom and has been taught by her parents that it is OK to express herself with clothing. Rather than being a spoiled teenager, rebelling against the Fundamentalists, she is simply a teenager expressing herself and trying to enjoy herself in her new clothes. Marjane’s environment also causes her to have a major conflict with her faith in G-d. As a young girl, Marjane truly believes that she will be the Last Prophet. (6.3-9.6) She feels so strongly about this and her relationship with G-d she even endures ridicule from her classmates for saying she will be a Prophet. But, as her environment changes, and the Revolution starts to build, she shows signs of conflict with her faith in G-d. On Panel 10.1 she says, â€Å"My faith was not unshakable.† On 10.2 the author narrates, â€Å"The year of the Revolution I had to take action. So I put my prophetic destiny aside for a while.† The fact that she truly believed she would become a prophet, to the point of enduring ridicule, showed that she was very serious about her faith in G-d. Then her environment changes so much due to the building Revolution and the terrible things happening in Iran under the Shah’s government that she takes her emotional energy away from her f aith in G-d and starts to put it towards the Revolution. Her once strong relationship with G-d ends completely when her uncle Anoosh is falsely accused of being a Russian spy and executed. (70.1) On panel 70.4, Marjane tells G-d, â€Å"Get out of my life! I never want to see you again!† Throughout the rest of Persepolis, Marjane never again mentions G-d. She went from believing she is a prophet, and talking to G-d regularly, to completely rejecting Him. This profound change shows that Marjane’s life was deeply affected by her environment. When the tough environment Marjane grew up in is considered, her conflicts with her parents, with oppression and with her faith in G-d seem understandable. Her conflicts with her parents arose mainly from her desire to protest because that’s what she thought she should be doing. Her conflicts with her oppressive, Islamic Fundamentalist school are understandable because it was all new for her and her classmates. And finally, her conflict with her faith in G-d was due to the overwhelming circumstances of the Revolution and the oppressive, Islamic Fundamentalist regime. Her reactions to her environment seem completely normal and justified. She is not a rebellious child and teenager, but is just very committed to whatever she believes in, and conflict almost always comes with commitment.

Strategic Operations Management Som Marketing Essay

Strategic Operations Management Som Marketing Essay Strategic operations management (SOM) isnt only about how an organisation manages effectively its day-to-day activities. Furthermore, it provides the organisation with long-term objectives as well as strategic decisions and actions to achieve those objectives. (Slack et al., 2007, p.63) SOM is vital to any organisation. It is the core determinant for the organisations success because it involves every part within the organisation. Moreover, it helps organisations to achieve organisational goal and gain competitive advantages. The four advantages of operations management (Slack et al., 2007, p.22) emphasise the importance of SOM: Helps organisations reduce cost and increase the efficiency in product/service production. For Toyota case, we all recognised one its vital competitive advantage is cost; this is the evidence that SOM helps Toyota reduce cost, increase efficiency. Increases revenue by increasing customers satisfaction through good quality and service (we can find Toyota also focuses on customers satisfaction and quality) Reduces the amount of investment required for increasing operations capacity and innovative resource deployment. In a competition world, a heavy industry like automobile always has to invest on discovering the new techniques to improve and hasten production processes. Being able to reduce these costs will help Toyota give competitive price. Provide the basis of future innovation through building a strong base of skills and knowledge inside the company. This is also important, because it will motivate Toyota to develop the capability in order to adapt with possible change in the future. Besides, SOMs importance can be clarified by the Top-down perspective of the four perspectives model: Slack et al., The four perspectives on operations strategy. Operations management, 5th ed., p.64 Top-down Perspective: the starting point of operations strategy. It supports corporate, business and functional strategies of an organisation. At corporate level, we can see Toyota positioned itself to global, economic, political and social environment (Slack et al., 2007, p.63). Itll help Toyota decide: The type of business they want to do The markets in which they will operate Allocation of cash between different businesses At business level, strategic decisions helps Toyota create business strategies that related to individual business units within the organisation. The business strategy will support these business units to focus on particular customer, markets and competitors. For example when we analyse the Toyota Corporation, we find this description: Toyota runs by 3 segments: The Automobile segment designs, manufactures and sells automobiles; The Finance supports relevant financial data; and the other is responsible for housing, information and communication. (The New York Times, 2012) So, we can see SOM in Toyota attaches individual business units to the corporate strategy by formulating the goals for individual business units. At functional level, SOM make different departments recognise and hence support the business strategy. Different departments such as: operation, marketing, RD would be managed to adhere to the business objectives. Generally, lets simplify the whole points by analysing Toyota Global Vision (Toyota-Global, 2012). Here, the corporate level decision focuses on: quality, innovation and human resources. Pass to the business level, business goals and strategic decisions are formulated, then Toyota will the specific performance objectives (quality, flexibility, cost). Finally, at functional level, different departments and functions will act accordingly through various techniques (JIT, TQM, JIT) and continuous process improvement, to meet the objectives given in business level. b) To understand Toyota from different perspectives, we should use Stakeholder Analysis to identify Stakeholders expectations in associated with 5 performance objectives (Slack et al., 2007, p.39)This table describe Toyotas 5 main stakeholder groups (Toyota-Global, 2012) and their expectation. Performance objectives Stakeholder types Stakeholders expectations Quality Customer Shareholders Society Quality of product/service, safe vehicles Speed Customer Shareholders Reduce throughput time and waiting time Dependability Customer Business partners On time delivery Flexibility Customer Suppliers Toyota Availability of different models to choose from Cost Customer Toyota Lower price and superior performance Lets analyse each group in detail: Customers: Customers expectation How Toyota addresses? Meet customers expectations? Quality Toyota strives to do thing right at the first time. With Total Quality Management (TQM) Toyota controls the quality from development, procurement, production to after sale service, while focusing on continuous improvement. Yes Opportunity to feedback and receiving of the information Listening to customer, giving timely supports. Yes http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/stakeholders/customers/quality.html Safety and reliability Offering modern technologies and information to prevent accidents such as: virtual human model, navigation system, audible system Recent recalls of 7 millions of cars because of faulty window switches may oppose this statement (Kollewe, J., 2012) http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/stakeholders/customers/safety.html Low price By applying effective techniques on processes, Toyota can lower the costs, thus giving low price to customers. (JIT, Jidoka, Lean manufacturing) Yes Dependability Toyota production system (TPS) helps on-time delivery Yes Flexibility Toyota offer a wide range of product Yes http://www.toyota-global.com/company/vision_philosophy/toyota_production_system/ Employees: Employees expectation How Toyota addresses? Meet employees expectation? Safety health Creating safe and healthy working environment Yes Pride Motivate and inspire the employees to work with full energy. Yes Confidence Guarantee a stable career and secured working conditions Toyota has sacked 350 workers in Australia (OConnor, P., 2012) this may cause some tensions for current employees. Equality in all aspects Emphasize mutual respect and harmony in work place. yes Opportunity Continuous develop HR yes http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/stakeholders/employees/ Business partners: Partners expectations How Toyota addresses? Meet partners expectations? Equal opportunity Giving equal opportunities for all suppliers, providing clear guidelines to potential supplier. Yes Fairness in receiving information All partners are well informed Yes Long term procurement Open-door policy to encourage fair competition Yes Stable relationship Mutual benefit based on mutual trust Yes Trust Unified cooperation with partners. Yes http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/stakeholders/partners/#policy Society/Communities: Society/communitys expectations How Toyota addresses? Meet societys expectations? Environment preservation Development of eco-friendly models. Reduce amount of CO2 in product, manufacturing, production process Develop recyclable material, resource and product Yes Safer vehicle Produce safe vehicles to prevent accidents Not really, because of the recent recalls. Innovation in life style Motivate activities concerned in environment preservation Yes. Other automakers (Honda, Ford, Mitsubishi) are influenced to produce this kind of product. (Schulte, M., 2012) http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/stakeholders/society/mobility.html Social welfare Social welfare programs Yes Jobs Provide employment opportunities to unemployed. Yes Infrastructure Infrastructure development activities Yes Traffic safety Education and training Yes http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/stakeholders/society/contribution.html http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/stakeholders/society/environment.html Shareholders: Shareholders expectations How Toyota addresses? What Toyota prioritises? ROI Sustainable profitability Respect for the agreements Respect and follow the laws Support the long-term vision for management Dividends and shares Dividends based on investment plans, business results, cash revenues http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/stakeholders/shareholders/ In addition, Globalisation has considerable influence on Toyota strategic operations management activities. Globalisation comes with plenty of opportunities as well as challenges (Slack et al., 2007, p.680). With the help of internet, Toyota can easily be available to worldwide customers, procurements and other transaction activities will become internet-based, which helps reduce cost and enhance quality control. Lets identify what challenges and opportunities of globalisation for Toyota: Greater competitions, wider range of customers demands, and partners around the world. Higher customers awareness and expectations Global value chains increasing complexity competition Higher knowledge of culture, behaviours is required Higher requirement of technology applications. Continuously increase of product standards Require more efficient and effective supply chains Require continuous improvement and innovation Having a clear view on the influences of stakeholders and globalisation to Toyota, we can clarify the SOM in different perspectives: Product/service perspective SOM in Toyota focus on transferability of products/services (Slack et al., 2007, p.681). This means Toyota guarantees their design compatible with different hobbies and attitude of customer throughout the world. Here, Toyota considers widening range of options to cope with different cultures and customers, the RD department will be commanded to design according to the customers expectation. The five performance objectives should be focused at the business level of strategy to gather and maintain customers loyalty. Toyota guarantees a reliable quality in every product with competitive price in order to satisfy customers expectations. Provide safety and reliable vehicles that inspire enthusiasm at affordable prices. (Toyota-global, 2012) Relationship with suppliers and other partners is important. Since its establishment, Toyota has sought to work closely with its suppliers in its manufacturing activities (Toyota-Global, 2012) Hybrid car is a good innovation and should be developed as it meets both customers and societys demand. Toyotas unique hybrid system combines an electric motor and a gasoline engine in the most efficient manner. It saves fuel and reduces emissions while giving ample power. (Toyota-Global, 2012) Manufacturing perspective Toyota should emphasize the quality in every product to enter global market. The TQM at Toyota is to ensure this. To compete with other automakers around the world, Toyota always find the ways to reduce costs, yet guarantee an acceptable quality. Again, the importance of partnership is justified, in associated with continuous development on: waste reduction, stock control, human skills, capacity planning and control, process improvement, etc. For example, Toyota pioneers the Lean manufacturing concept, a production method that focuses on reducing waste. Specifically, Toyota use common parts and designs for multiple product lines and reducing the number of suppliers, so that Toyota can buy parts and components at greater number, with lower cost. (Ann All, 2010) Localizing manufacturing makes Toyota effectively deal with different markets around the world. Now there are 51 bases in 26 different countries and regions. In addition, there are design and RD bases in nine locations overseas (Toyota-Global, 2012] Toyota should always make continuous improvement. Flexibility and dependability should be noticed in the manufacturing arena. Layouts of facilities need to be adjusted properly with the culture of particular region. Process technology development should be emphasized. Here availability of skills, serviceability and maintenance options can be exploited (Slack et al 2007 p681) Capacity and inventory planning and control are other areas to consider. Here Toyota JIT is helpful Administrative perspectives Toyota respects the different cultures and beliefs. Toyota is establishing a corporate culture with abundant vitality by fostering human resources that include a diverse range of individuals. (Toyota-global, 2012) Job design should be considered in globalisations. Here cost of labour, skill availability, cultural should be considered. (Slack et al., 2007, p.681) Business recovery plan should be developed to minimize the damage on reputation caused from risks. Supplier management should be considered to increase quality, and reduce cost. Toyota may develop knowledge management to increase knowledge base within the organisation. Environmental-friendly is highly considered in Toyota Because of the globalisation, Toyota may face the increases of new competitors, new products, low pricing, better quality. So, its important to promote continuous improvement principle, whilst avoiding errors (quality problem, employee sacks) as these will damage companys reputation. Task 02 For big organisations, global capability mostly came from their capability in manufacturing (Pepsi, Coca-cola). Then, Toyota would be also such case, as their success has been considerably contributed by manufacturing functions. (T., Ohno, 1988) shared a story about the strange growth at Toyota though many companies were suffering the economic recession. The operation way of manufacturing function was included in TPS. The two main concept of this system include Jidoka and Just-in-Time: where Jidoka guarantees of product quality through the prevention, in-time correction, and Just-in-Time is about reducing waste and speed enhancement in work processes. (Toyota-Global, 2012) Generally, Toyotas global capability came from the continuous development of various long-term objectives: TPS, efficient use of resource, human skills, waste reduction, customer focus, supplier network improvements, emphasis on quality and customisation, inbound logistic management, inventory control For clarifying the Toyotas competitive advantages, lets analyse through the five performance objectives (Slack et al. 2007, p 39) Performance objectives Competitive advantage How Toyota did it? Quality High quality The Jidoka helps prevent possible errors of product. The Lexus series are carefully done from the design, production, procurement, to the service delivery for customers. Good quality helps reduce the re-works, lessen the confusion, thus increase dependability, efficiency and reduce cost(Slack et., al, 2007) Speed Quick delivery Toyotas JIT principles, inventory control and inbound logistics management helps enhance the speed of production and delivery. The speed emphasis helps Toyota reduce inventories and risk (Slack et al., 2007) Dependability Reliable delivery Again, the JIT, planning and control systems help Toyota to provide on-time delivery, both to internal production process and customers. This helps Toyota increase efficiency operation, saves the time, money and gives stability to the company.( Slack et al 2007) Flexibility Production flexibility Mix flexibility Volume flexibility Delivery flexibility Wide range of product Toyota develops variety of attractive and practical models such as: Camry, Prius, Varis Toyotas R D division often design different models to satisfy different markets. Toyota is able to adjust the volume in production process. Toyota even can reschedule the manufacturing priorities. It would help the organisation to become agile, maintains dependability, and saves time. ( Slack et al 2007, p 47) Cost Low price Perhaps price is the strong competitive advantage of Toyota. Price is very important in automobile industry. However, effective cost reduction has been helping Toyota to provide favourable price. This make Toyota the leader producer in automobile industry. The performance objectives in Toyota could be illustrated by this polar diagram: Adapted from Slack et al., Operations management (2007), p.55 Besides, identification of the customers needs and expectations should be critical considered. Therefore, the order winning factors and qualifying factors could be appropriate to identify the competitive advantage of Toyota. Order winner is customers key reason for buying a product/service, while qualifying factor is the minimum competitive factors required to get the attention from customers (Slack et., al, 2007, p.69.). For Toyota the order winning factors include: standardized quality and design, low price, and dependability. Qualifying factors are: wide range of products, quick throughput-time and quick delivery to customers (speed) Adapted from Slack et al., Operations management (2007), p.69 In addition, different customers and markets have different expectation, so these factors would change according to that. For example, Lexus is a luxury series of Toyota, its target market is higher income people, therefore, the order winners would be: high quality, gorgeous design and qualifying factors are: acceptable price, quick delivery and reliable delivery. Task 3 Analysing the operation strategy at Toyota through Top-down perspective, we see that corporate level strategy lead the organisation to long-term objectives such as: innovation, waste reduction, continuous improvement Business level concentrates on performance objectives such as quality, cost, flexibility and dependability, and adapts the strategy according to the corporate objectives. And at functional level, different functions (manufacturing, RD, marketing) plan, execute and cooperate steps to achieve business objectives. These are evidences of how effective Toyota pursues its long-term objective: Toyota applies TQM, Kanban, JIT in production to achieve performance objectives. At the product/service segment, Toyota focus on innovation, quality and customer care (Toyota Code of Conduct, 2006, p.12) Finally, at administrative perspective, Toyota pays attention to: sustainable location decisions, long-term capacity management, continuous resource development and long-term supplier relations (Toyota Code of Conduct, 2006, p.12)). Here, we should notice that supplier relationship is important; Toyota should manage the first and second-tier suppliers effectively to work globally because advantages come from the close relationship with suppliers (Slack et al., 2007) These following concepts can be helpful to analyse Toyota Operation Strategy: Product Life Cycle (PLC) Product Life cycle Source: Marketing FAQ,What is Product Life Cycle(PLC)? 1. Introduction stage In introduction stage, when something new is introduced in the market, competitors will be few. Companies should develop flexibility to adapt with changes in the market (Slack et al., 2007) For example with Toyota case, a new great model Prius Hybrid has just entered the market. Assume it is in introduction stage, then customers who purchase this model would be innovators. This model seems to be well designed in shape and technology, so competitors are few, but may not exclude big competitors such as Mercedes, BMW, GM Then, the order winning factors here should be the design and qualifying factors should be quality, price. That means, Toyota should focus on design, and pay attention to quality and price. 2. Growth stage This stage is characterised by sales volume and competitors increase. The objective should be keeping up with demand expectations and ensuring the quality (Slack et al., 2007) Toyota will compete with competitors, order winners will be quality, speed and dependability (deliver according to the demand) to cope with increasing demand, and satisfying factors will be price and flexibility. We recognise that Toyota offers a wide range of product and price for different markets customers in order to attract different market segments. Lets take the case of Toyota Camry 2012, currently it is in growth stage and the target market is average income people. Its facing a rough competition with Honda Accord, both companies emphasize the quality. Though the quality, design, performance is somewhat similar, Honda is slightly better than Toyota. However Toyotas offering variety of same type products such as: Matrix, Sienna, Avalon providing more options for customers, which may yield more profits. (Halvorson, B., 2012) 3. Maturity stage In this stage, the demand has a sign to fall; some competitors withdraw from the market exclude big players. The concentration should be turned to price reduction. Here, company has to deal with cost, production and supply issues (Slack et al., 2007) Toyotas target customers now should be the mass market. Then, order winning factors will be low price, and dependability of supply. The qualifying factors are flexibility (various types of model) and quality. A wide range of product may bring some profits as Toyota already had different target markets. Consequently, Toyota should focus on cost reduction, dependability and expansion of market. We can see how Toyota applies this practice by the example of Lexus: Lexuss in maturity stage, which explains Toyotas efforts to offer a wide range of models: sedan, hybrid, SUVs which we can find in the link below: http://www.lexus.com/models/allVehicles/ 4. Decline stage Decline stage is characterised by: sales decline, more withdrawal, price competition and cost focus. (Slack et al., 2007). Here, customers are the people who follow new style late, and competitors will be less. Price war will happen and obviously, order winning factors will be low price, qualifying factors are dependability of supply. At this stage, Toyota should focus on reducing costs. Lets look at the Toyota Qualis model which had gone to the decline stage and it was replaced by the Innova. Toyotas trying to replace with Innova, probably they will sell the remaining Qualis with low price. (TNN, 2005. The Economic Times) Efficient frontier Toyota might use this approach to position its main performance objectives in order to achieve effectiveness in operation (Slack et al., 2007). With Toyota, the high variety will make the cost higher. There are some ways such as: innovation of sustainable products, increasing product life in the PLC, positioning of product at various stage in the PLC could help Toyota limit variety. In Toyota case, there are quality, cost and variety that need to be considered properly to increase the efficiency of product Adapted from Slack et al., Operations Management, 2007, p.78) Toyota can link the frontier approach with PLC to make rational decisions. Different PLCs stage requires different concentrations, Toyota may adjust its variety/quality/cost accordingly to adapt with the situation. For example, suppose Innova model reached Maturity stage in India, then Toyota would focus on cost reduction. Since Indians only prefer family car like Innova, variety should be ignored. Consequently, Toyota should sacrifice Variety to achieve cost efficiency. Toyotas competitive advantages overview Kanban System A unique method developed by Toyota. Here, JIT and Lean manufacturing are applied effectively. This method helps Toyota develop the production process speed and efficiency. Therefore they can avoid inventory, waste of resources, product error and other unwanted costs. Kanban system provides some benefits such as: waste reduction, inventory avoidance, error-free manufacturing, which help Toyota produce quality products with low cost, increase their competitiveness over other automakers. (Toyota-Global, 2012) Relationship with Suppliers Toyota understands the importance of having strong relationship with suppliers. As an integral part of Kanban system, suppliers are always up-to-date with new changes in Toyota. A lot of investments were done by Toyota to extend its supply network. As a result, Toyota is one of the organisations possess strongest supplier network in different areas of the world. The principal measure of supplier relations in the American auto industry is the OEM benchmark Survey that is published by John Henke of Oakland University. Suppliers rank auto manufacturers using 17 measures from trust to perceived opportunity. In the 2003 survey Toyota ranked first followed by Honda and Nissan, while Chrysler, Ford and GM were fourth fifth and sixth. The survey also showed that Toyotas scores had improved over 7% over 2002. Another automotive supplier survey published annually comes from J.D. Power. The 2003 survey found that Toyota, Nissan and BMW are the best North American automakers in promoting innovation with their suppliers. (David McBride, 2004) Valuable culture As a Japanese organisation, Toyotas management is highly concern with Japaneses culture. Here, the loyalty and pride is highly respected. Besides, Hofstedes 5 cultural dimensions shows Japanese is characterised by highly regarding hierarchy authority, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. This leads to these following results: Employees willingly follow the command from managers, so the decision making process and the implementation of decision will be faster. The employees strive to get to perfection due to the high uncertainty avoidance. Every worker has their pride of their work, so they wont damage their own credibility. Long-term orientation leads every individual in the organisations to continuous development and perfection. These cultural benefits made employees at Toyota continuously develop themselves thus get better performances. Because of this, the cultural value is considered one of Toyotas strongest advantages. Task 4 Lets apply the SWOT analysis for the overall review on Toyota Favourable Unfavourable Internal Strengths Strong global presence Strong brand image Strong financial performance Effective marketing and distributions to different market segments. Toyota production system Continuous improvement and innovation Strong relationship with partners Weaknesses Heavily relied on imports for inputs Heavily depends on Japan and U.S. market. Recent recalls in 2010 External Opportunities Increasing demand for hybrid electric vehicle Enough capability to produce more quality, green, fuel efficiency products. Opportunities in Asian market. Threats Increase competition from other automakers. Uncertain economic condition Usual demand is gradually changing, due to the environmental and fuel price issues. Recommendation Toyota should focus on their hybrid technology as the demand increases and pay attention to green technologies. Thanks to their reputation of quality and innovation, these concentrations can help Toyota get an additional competitive advantage. The Build your Toyota is a great innovation; customers can customize their own model. http://www.shopatgst.com/gstbuildyourtoyota/default.aspx?zip_code=70000Vehicle=nullYear The RD section should always be invested properly as it will keep Toyota up-to-date with modern technologies. Note in mind that now the green, fuel efficiency technologies are most concerned with the society. Keep promoting its brand in key markets, and in new-developed countries such as Russia, China, Brazil, and India. The demand in these markets is increasing due to the improvement of quality of life. Governments of China and India have reduced taxed for automobile, this may be the chance for Toyota. Keep observing the competitors, while focusing on the quality factors to avoid mishaps (2010 recalling) that damage their reputation and market share. Toyota should consider applying vertical integration in the growing markets and improve the management of different portfolios. Conclusion As the leading manufacturer of automobiles market, Toyota has all the required conditions to continue their successful journey in the future. Though there are currently some disadvantages, Toyota can still improve by taking more responsibility in community, environment and society. References: Ann All, (2010). Did Lean Manufacturing Contribute to Toyota Recall? IT Business Edge. 29th Jan., 2010. [online]. Available from: [accessed 5th Oct., 2012] David McBride, 2004. Toyotas Extended Lean Enterprise. EMS Consulting Group. 1st Dec., 2012. [online] Available from: [Accessed 5th Oct., 2012] Halvorson, B., (2012). Toyota Camry Vs. Honda Accord: Compare Cars. The Car Connection. 11th Sep, 201. [online]. Available from: [Accessed 4th Oct., 2012] Kollewe, J., (2012). Toyota recalls 7m cars worldwide over window fault. The Guardian. 10th Oct., 2012. [online]. Available from: [Accessed 12th Oct., 2012] OConnor, P., (2012). Toyota Australia sacks 350 workers. World Socialist Web Site. 17th Apr., 20

Overview Of Mergers And Acquisitions

Overview Of Mergers And Acquisitions The literature has observed and increasing investigation about MA in the las two decades Appelbaum et al., 2007 in response to a lot of MA activities along side with the complex situation that appear from the interaction of two parties (Gaughan, 2002). Definition of MA, in a broad sense, may be implied to many different type of transactions from alliences, purchase, cooperation, joint ventures, management buy-out nad buy-in, change of legal form and even restructuring (Picot, 2002, p.15). However, , Nakamura (2005) argues that using broad definitions could cause confusion and incorrectly comprehend everything from strategic alliances to pure mergers. Therefore, a narrower sense of MA definition is adopted as below. Merger is the creation of new holding company by combining of two firms (European Central Bank, 2000, Gaughan, 2002, Jagersma, 2005). Acquisition is purchasing shares or assets from another company in order broaden the influence of the management(European Central Bank, 200 0, Chunlai Chen and Findlay, 2003), when mutual agreement might not be necessary. Types of MA According to Nakamura (2005, p.18) Mergers are referred to as two types of merger by absorption or merger by establishment (Chunlai Chen and Findlay, 2003, Nakamura, 2005). The absorbing merger happens when one company buys all the stocks of another and the absorbed company stops from existing whereas Establishment merger happens when both firms merge to create a new one while the combined firms are dissolved (Chunlai Chen and Findlay, 2003). Moreover, Nakamura (2005) considered the merger by absorption as as de facto acquisition. Thus the term consolidation could also be used to refer to merger by an establishment (Gaughan, 2002). In acquisition, the acquiring company may try to acquire certain shares or assets of the target company. As a result, here are two type of acquisitions: Firstly, the assets acquisition (Chunlai Chen and Findlay, 2003) which occurs when a firm buys all or part of the target firms assets while the target firm stays as a legal entity after the process. Secondly, the share acquisition when a firm buys a significant share of stocks in the target firm which provides them managerial influence in the target company. Moreover, depending on the amount of acquired share of stocks then the acquisition is again classified into three types: (1) majority (50-99%), (2) minority (less than 50%) and (3) complete take over (100% of targets issued shares) (Chunlai Chen and Findlay, 2003, Nakamura, 2005). In fact, acquisitions and mergers are distinct with different outcomes regarding tax liabilities, legal obligations and acquisition procedures (Marren, 1993). However, there is not attempt to separate the acquisition transaction from the merger when speaking about the final outcomes when companies combine together. MA can be named Vertical, Horizontal o r Conglomerate (Gaughan, 2002, Chunlai Chen and Findlay, 2003). In horizontal mergers and acquisitions, the acquiring firms and the target firms are competing companies in the same field. Chunlai Chen and Findlay (2003) argues, because of the international restructuring of many industries, horizontal MA observed a rapid growth in recent years in response to liberalization and technological change. These figures are seen in industries like automobile, petroleum and pharmaceutical. A good example of mergers and acquisition in this category is the US76 Billion Dollars Merger between two enormous pharmaceutical companies, Smithkline Beecham and Glaxo (MANDA, 2007). Smithkline Beechams former CEO Jan Leschly, said, the aim of this transaction was RD synergy in order grab opportunities to drive high revenues since new technologies are emerging rapidly in this particular industry (Carey, 2000 in Harvard Business Review, 2001). However, the combination of companies in buyer-seller or client -supplier relationships is the Vertical merger and acquisition. Transaction cost and uncertainty is being reduced when the two involved firms downstream and upstream linkage within the value chain and to create benefits in the economic scope (Chunlai Chen and Findlay, 2003). Lastly, firms may try to reduce risks and achieve economies of scope by practicing conglomerate MA where the involving firms have different types of businesses. A good example is when General Foods in 1985 was acquired by Philip Morris for value of US5.6 Billion Dollars (Gaughan, 2002). Furthermore, Mergers and acquisitions can be called hostile or friendly'(Chunlai Chen and Findlay, 2003). The transaction is friendly when the board of executive of the target firm agrees to it. On the contrary, the transaction is considered hostile when it is done against the wishes of the target company board. Last but not least, MA can be also classified as cross-border or domestic with regards to where the involved firms are based or operate their work. In Domestic MA the involved companies come from the same country and operate within that same economical region or country. Accordingly, the cross-border MA are two companies are situated in different economies, or the two companies are working in the same economy but they belong to different countries (Chunlai Chen and Findlay, 2003). Appelbaum, S.H., Lefrancois, F., Tonna, R., and Shapiro, B.T., 2007. Mergers 101 (part two): training managers for culture, stress, and change challenges. Industrial and Commercial Training, 39 (4), 191-200 Gaughan, P. A., 2002. Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate restructuring. 3rd ed. New York: Picot, G., 2002. Handbook of international mergers and acquisitions: Preparation, Implementation and Integration Nakamura, H.R., 2005. Motives, Partner Selection and Productivity Effects of MAs: The Pattern of Japanese Mergers and Acquisition. Thesis (Ph.D.), Institute of International Business, Stockholm School of Economics. European Central Bank, 2000. Mergers and Acquisitions involving the EU Banking industry Facts and Implications [online]. Available at www.ecb.int/pub/pdf/other/eubkmergersen.pdf [Accessed 1 October 2007] Gaughan, P. A., 2002. Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate restructuring. 3rd ed. New York Jagersma, P. K., 2005. Cross-border acquisitions of European multinationals. Journal of General Management. 30 (3), 13-34 Chunlai Chen, Z., and Findlay, C., 2003. A Review of Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions in APEC. Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, 17 (2), 14-38. Marren, H., 1993. Mergers and Acquisitions: a valuation handbook, Business One Irwin, Homewood, Illinois Institute of Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances Research, 2007. Top Mergers Acquisitions (MA) Deals [online]. Available at http://www.mandainstitute.org/en/statistics-top-ma-deals-transactions.htm [Accessed 10 October 2007]. Investopedia ULD, [no date]. Advisor [online]. Available at http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/advisor.asp. [Accessed 15 October 2007] Harvard Business Review, 2001. Harvard Business Review on Merger and Acquisition. U.S.A: Harvard Business school Publishing Corporation Motives and objectives of MA: Understanding the objectives of an MA can be shown in two perspective. These objectives are to fulfill managerial influence or to maximize the shareholders wealth. In the perspective of maximizing the shareholders wealth, the main target behind the transaction between the two companies is to create a maximization of wealth for the shareholders. This happens when the net current value of the investment is in a positive trend. Thus, the other managerial perspective of the MA can happen in order to maintain growth, risk diversification, use of previous skills and abilities and to avoid being taken over (Sudarsanam, 1995). The literature on MA has a significant effort in analyzing the motive behind its transaction. ON the other hand Trautwein (1990) and later Cox (2006) they made a good summary with different theories that you can see in the table below. The suggested motive under different theories, Trautwein (1990) mentioned that MA creators refer to value creation and the synergy in order to justify the MA action. Trautwein (1990) also mentioned that is little evidence found about the implied motive in both research and practice by the raider theory process. He also taped into the disturbance theory but it has no consideration for this dissertation as it is on macro-economic level rather that micro-economic. However, Gaughan (2002) explains MA motives in a more practical way by referring many theories supported with multiple case studies. So Gaughan has four main motive for the MA: MA is a mean for the companies to grow rapidly. Economic gains and return are hoped to be achieved by the MA firms Creating a large firm with the MA to gain a better market access which can promise lower capital cost and other financial benefits. Creating gains by applying a more superior managerial influence on the target business. Thus, it can be concluded that all the authors had common sense that motives can vary between different MA deals and it is difficult to simply justify with a singe theory or approach. Sudarsanam, S. (1995). The essence of mergers and acquisitions. Hemel Hampstead: Prentice hall Cox, R. A. K., 2006. Merger and Acquisition: A Review of the Literature. Corporate Ownership Control, Spring, 3 (3), 55-59 Trautwein, F., 1990. Merger Motives and Prescriptions. Strategic Management Journal, 11 (4), 283-295 Gaughan, P. A., 2002. Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate restructuring. 3rd ed. New York C:UsersJohabDesktopimage.png Challenges and problems of MA: According to Smith (2003),after analyzing many cases he argues that many MA s fail to achieve their objectives. Every firm has a unique culture, but there can be similar things between two firms depending on the company management, vision, size and objectives. However, when two firms will merge under one management, the organizational culture becomes a serious problem that needs to be dealt with. Challenges arise in MA from leadership,communication and cultural differences and not only from legal or financial problems. However, tremendous studies suggest that the success factors of MA mainly depend on culture. Moreover, managers should have awareness about the difference in culture between organizations and avoid the problems by maintaining good communication with the employees, stakeholders and customers (Dell et al. 2001, Kelly et al. 1999, Kearney 1999, Booz-Allen Hamilton 2001 inPautler 2003). Thus, many mergers fail during the integration process. This normally results due to cultural differences, management, strategy, lack of clear vision and communication delays (Nguyen, Kleiner 2003). So the challenges can be in three different parts: 1-Individuals: Whatever is the change in a company like routine or drastic like a merger, is always about the people(Todnem, 2005). The human factor in mergers and acquisitions in recognized as a very important base for it success (Boaten, 2006). The reason is that these individuals are the breathing and living organisms who bring life and prosperity into the company. They create the firms unique culture which is in its industry, management and nationality etc. Thus, this is a reason why persuading these people is very important to achieve the organizational goals and the desired synergy by the MA. Accordingly, Individual face many challenges during the MA. Some of the staged based on Fishers work the personal transition curve can be identified as follows. A-Fear of the unknown and anxiety: When the the short-term plans for the future are not clear, that brings anxiety for the employees which creates the fear of the unknown. Therefore, they will try to resist the change. B-Stress and threat leading to the depression: The lack of communication makes the individual feel lost and makes it impossible for them to understand their standing. Feeling ill or doing it as an excuse for a long absence from the company. Fear of the change and the involved uncertainty makes the employees feel threatened from the future and their job security. This even makes the employee look for different jobs instead of focusing on their own. Eventually the production goes down rapidly and the synergies start to dissolve. c-Integration and Acceptance: When the employees start accepting the facts and change gradually, integration takes place incrementally. Thus, through the process there will be increasing in the employee turnover which also causes a decrease in the intellectual capital and can lead to MA failure. 2-Lack of effective leadership: Starting from top level management to lower level employees, they all become worried about their job security. This can cause a decrease in the employee commitment to their job and the company they work for and reduced satisfaction at work which leads to a weak performance. The managers also lose their trust and start hesitating to take decisions. Lack of trust leads to isolation from other teams and managers. This leads to breakdowns in communications and creating more anxiety for the employees who need a good confidence and leadership from the executives. Moreover, the doubt in the managerial abilities leads to more resistance to any change that happens during the MA. 3-Cultural clash: As mentioned above, the culture is a very important aspect in any MA.the cultural differences in managerial system and values cause many problems for the employee to adapt successfully which result a culture clash. The culture problem is a phenomenon that created the bases of all the resistance Nguyen and Kleiner(2003) from the commitment problems, increasing turnover of the staff, company structure and reduces productivity which ultimately leads to the failure of the MA. Pautler, P.A. (2003) The Effects of Mergers and Post-Merger Integration: A Review of Business Consulting Literature, Bureau of Economics Federal Trade Commission Nguyen, H., Kleiner, B.H. (2003), The Effective Management of Mergers, Leadership Organisation Development Journal, 24(8), pp. 447-454 Todnem, R. (2005), Organisational Change Management: A Critical Review, Journal of Change Management, 5(4), pp. 369-380 Londros, G., Boateng, A. (2006) The role of culture in the merger and acquisition process. Evidence from the European chemical industry, Management Decision, 44(10), pp.1405-1421 Banal-Estanol, A., Seldeslachts, J. (2011) Merger Failures, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 20(2), p.589-624