Strategic Management and Strategic Planning Essay

Strategic Management and Strategic Planning - Essay Example The aim of the paper is to analyze and evaluate how the Gillette Company responded to just such a set of circumstances and introduce change management into practice. The Gillette Company is a leading division of Proctor and Gambler specialized in personal care and household products. In this company, creative management consists of new ideas, new directions, new methods, and new modes of operation (Gillette Home Page 2008). Innovative management is much the same as the second element of creative and innovative activities--better results. Innovative management is involved with those innovation processes that implement creative ideas and move successfully in new directions. "The concepts "planned change" and "managed change" refer to changes that are deliberately shaped by the organization members (managers, consultants, groups). What distinguishes between the two concepts is the type of people they refer to (Hage, 1999). "Planned change" usually refers to how experts, outside or inside the organization, can help the organization cope with difficulties, and to plan and implement desired changes" (Levy and Merry 1986, p. 3). The Gillette Company op erates in turbulent environment marked by increased competition. The need for change is caused by new economic and social conditions, technological improvements and innovations implemented by direct competitors of Gillette. In order to remain competitive, Gillette has to respond to market changes and meet demands and expectations of diverse customers. The aim of change process is to restructure the company and introduce technological innovations and IT into everyday practice. These changes will cover organizational structure, climate, morale and culture (Mclagan 2002; Gillette Home Page. 2008). Strategic Planning Defined Strategic planning has many definitions. It basically answers the question of what will be done. Strategic planning is a leadership instrument and a process. It begins with establishing organizational aims and purposes, followed by formulation of ways and means to achieve those purposes, and provides direction for implementation of operational or tactical planning (Senior 2001). Strategic planning is a process for setting future direction, a means to reduce risk, and a vehicle for training managers. It is also a process for making strategic decisions, a way to develop consensus among top managers, and a means to develop a written long-range plan. Another definition of strategic planning is "that element of a manager's job and of the organization's function that deals with the contrivance of change, rather than the simple reaction to it" (Senior 2001, p. 54). Strategic planning involves those choices related to overall organizational purpose, oriented towards the future. Strategic pla nning/thinking entails operational (tactical) planning--the planning of those actions to be taken to put strategies into effect. This type of planning answers the question of how to get the job done. It often consists of specific objectives accompanied by short narrative action plans (Gillette Home Page 2008). Strategic management may have two diametrically opposed definitions. One is that it is the overall encompassing effort for total management of an

Persuasive reseach paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Persuasive reseach paper - Essay Example If a person goes against the nature or predetermined notions linked to the dog’s breed, it is an obvious phenomenon to face the negative reaction from that creature. In this context, judging the dog or any other animal as vicious or even dangerous does not qualify. The owner is somehow responsible for the dog’s negative reaction and not the guiltless animal. Before keeping a dog as a pet, the owner must read and research about that breed of dog. If there are certain factors which may hinder with the natural priorities of the dog, the owner should dismiss the idea of keeping it. The food requirements, living requirements, taming needs as well as attention requirements differ from one breed of dog to the other. Pit Bull dogs are not born to fight but they are tamed and motivated to do so. The recent incident where owner was accused of malnourishment of the Pit Bull dogs is linked to the NFL star Michael Vick. Vick has been found guilty of being cruel with animals when Pit Bull dogs were observed to be mistreated in his territory. The pit Bull dogs are observed to be wounded by fighting and were found to be half-starved. They were not taken care as was observed by their health and apparent condition. Vick was also accused of burying Pit Bulls on his property that lost their lives due to extremely violent fighting wounds. The example of Vick’s cruelty is evident in explaining how dogs are misused and misguided to perform cruel acts. It is obviously not the dog’s will to fight and get those serious wounds but for the entertainment and pleasure of the owner, the dogs are tamed to do such vicious acts. It should be noted that 47 Pit Bulls were saved from Vick’s property and 45 of them were rehabilitated effectively. One of the remaining 2 was euthanized for health risking factors and the other because of

Aluminum smelter in South Africa Essay Example for Free

Aluminum smelter in South Africa Essay We recommend you do not build this new Greenfield primary aluminum smelter in South Africa. In order to achieve a 15% ROI on your investment, you require a long-term average price of $1500 for aluminum. We have estimated that demand for primary aluminum in 5 years will be at $20bn, which will support a market price of around $1490. This heavily builds on the assumption that aluminum inventories will be zero by that time, which depends on a successful implementation of the international Memorandum of Understanding. Historically these non-binding agreements have been very hard to enforce, and so a scenario where supply is far greater than demand is likely, leading to large inventories and lower prices. It is because of this uncertainty that we recommend you do not build the plant. Back-up calculations: 1.ROI calculation: Given investment costs of $1.6bn, full capacity of 466,000 t/year and an ROI requirement of 15%, we calculated that you require a price of $1,500 per ton of aluminum. 2.In the short run, all smelters need to cover variable costs, which include electricity, alumina, other material costs and freight cost. In the long-run, they need to cover total costs. a.The current price ($1,100) covers variable costs for 20 million tons of capacity; the long-run price will have to be higher. b.Smelters may hesitate to scale down production of individual pots, as this will still incur costs of labour or other non-material costs, as well as additional costs in having to rebuild and reline the pots. c.Not all producers are subject to the same pressures, e.g., variable costs differ significantly between different smelters (different size, efficiency, tax breaks, power agreements). Government-run facilities may have more financial support due to their social role in addition to pure production, such as securing raw materials supply for domestic industries, as well as providing jobs for local communities. 3.Given a CAGR of 2% per year, we estimate total aluminum demand to be 27 million tons in 1998. Assuming that inventories are zero, and primary demand accounts for 74% of total supply, this would imply primary demand of 20 million tons. 4.To produce 20 million tons, the price would be around $1,490 per ton. 5.The reduction in inventories and stabilization of the price level depends on the success of the MoU. Other producers may not look favorably on you opening a new smelter when they have had to cut down on production.

Three Major Issues Faced By Companies Going Overseas Marketing Essay

Three Major Issues Faced By Companies Going Overseas Marketing Essay The chapter begins by looking at the concept of market entry strategies within the control of a chosen marketing mix. It then goes on to describe the different forms of entry strategy, both direct and indirect exporting and foreign production, and the advantages and disadvantages connected with each method. The chapter gives specific details on countertrade, which is very prevalent in global marketing, and then concludes by looking at the special features of commodity trading with its close coupling between production and marketing. Basic issues An organisation wishing to go international faces three major issues: i) Marketing which countries, which segments, how to manage and implement marketing effort, how to enter with intermediaries or directly, with what information? ii) Sourcing whether to obtain products, make or buy? iii) Investment and control joint venture, global partner, acquisition? Decisions in the marketing area focus on the value chain (see figure 7.1). The strategy or entry alternatives must ensure that the necessary value chain activities are performed and integrated. Table 7.1 Examples of elements included in the export marketing mix 1. Product support Product sourcing Match existing products to markets air, sea, rail, road, freight New products Product management Product testing Manufacturing specifications Labelling Packaging Production control Market information 2. Price support Establishment of prices Discounts Distribution and maintenance of pricelists Competitive information Training of agents/customers 3. Promotion/selling support Advertising Promotion literature Direct mail Exhibitions, trade shows Printing Selling (direct) Sales force Agents commissions Sale or returns 4. Inventory support Inventory management Warehousing Distribution Parts supply Credit authorisation 5. Distribution support Funds provision Raising of capital Order processing Export preparation and documentation Freight forwarding Insurance Arbitration 6. Service support Market information/intelligence Quotes processing Technical aid assistance After sales Guarantees Warranties/claims Merchandising Sales reports, catalogues literature Customer care Budgets Data processing systems Insurance Tax services Legal services Translation 7. Financial support Billing, collecting invoices Hire, rentals Planning, scheduling budget data Auditing Details on the sourcing element have already been covered in the chapter on competitive analysis and strategy. Concerning investment and control, the question really is how far the company wishes to control its own fate. The degree of risk involved, attitudes and the ability to achieve objectives in the target markets are important facets in the decision on whether to license, joint venture or get involved in direct investment. Cunningham1 (1986) identified five strategies used by firms for entry into new foreign markets: i) Technical innovation strategy perceived and demonstrable superior products ii) Product adaptation strategy modifications to existing products iii) Availability and security strategy overcome transport risks by countering perceived risks iv) Low price strategy penetration price and, v) Total adaptation and conformity strategy foreign producer gives a straight copy. In marketing products from less developed countries to developed countries point iii) poses major problems. Buyers in the interested foreign country are usually very careful as they perceive transport, currency, quality and quantity problems. This is true, say, in the export of cotton and other commodities. Because, in most agricultural commodities, production and marketing are interlinked, the infrastructure, information and other resources required for building market entry can be enormous. Sometimes this is way beyond the scope of private organisations, so Government may get involved. It may get involved not just to support a specific commodity, but also to help the public good. Whilst the building of a new road may assist the speedy and expeditious transport of vegetables, for example, and thus aid in their marketing, the road can be put to other uses, in the drive for public good utilities. Moreover, entry strategies are often marked by lumpy investments. Huge investments may have to be undertaken, with the investor paying a high risk price, long before the full utilisation of the investment comes. Good examples of this include the building of port facilities or food processing or freezing facilities. Moreover, the equipment may not be able to be used for other processes, so the as set specific equipment, locked into a specific use, may make the owner very vulnerable to the bargaining power of raw material suppliers and product buyers who process alternative production or trading options. Zimfreeze, Zimbabwe is experiencing such problems. It built a large freezing plant for vegetables but found itself without a contract. It has been forced, at the moment, to accept sub optional volume product materials just in order to keep the plant ticking over. In building a market entry strategy, time is a crucial factor. The building of an intelligence system and creating an image through promotion takes time, effort and money. Brand names do not appear overnight. Large investments in promotion campaigns are needed. Transaction costs also are a critical factor in building up a market entry strategy and can become a high barrier to international trade. Costs include search and bargaining costs. Physical distance, language barriers, logistics costs and risk limit the direct monitoring of trade partners. Enforcement of contracts may be costly and weak legal integration between countries makes things difficult. Also, these factors are important when considering a market entry strategy. In fact these factors may be so costly and risky that Governments, rather than private individuals, often get involved in commodity systems. This can be seen in the case of the Citrus Marketing Board of Israel. With a monopoly export marketing board, the entire system can behave like a single firm, regulating the mix and quality of products going to different markets and negotiating with transporters and buyers. Whilst these Boards can experience economies of scale and absorb many of the risks listed above, they can shield producers from information about, and from. buyers. They can also become the fiefdoms of vested interests and become political in nature. They then result in giving reduced production incentives and cease to be demand or market orientated, which is detrimental to producers. Normal ways of expanding the markets are by expansion of product line, geographical development or both. It is important to note that the more the product line and/or the geographic area is expanded the greater will be the managerial complexity. New market opportunities may be made available by expansion but the risks may outweigh the advantages, in fact it may be better to concentrate on a few geographic areas and do things well. This is typical of the horticultural industry of Kenya and Zimbabwe. Traditionally these have concentrated on European markets where the markets are well known. Ways to concentrate include concentrating on geographic areas, reducing operational variety (more standard products) or making the organisational form more appropriate. In the latter the attempt is made to globalise the offering and the organisation to match it. This is true of organisations like Coca Cola and MacDonalds. Global strategies include country centred strategies (highly decentralised and limited international coordination), local market approaches (the marketing mix developed with the specific local (foreign) market in mind) or the lead market approach (develop a market which will be a best predictor of other markets). Global approaches give economies of scale and the sharing of costs and risks between markets. Entry strategies There are a variety of ways in which organisations can enter foreign markets. The three main ways are by direct or indirect export or production in a foreign country (see figure 7.2). Exporting Exporting is the most traditional and well established form of operating in foreign markets. Exporting can be defined as the marketing of goods produced in one country into another. Whilst no direct manufacturing is required in an overseas country, significant investments in marketing are required. The tendency may be not to obtain as much detailed marketing information as compared to manufacturing in marketing country; however, this does not negate the need for a detailed marketing strategy. The advantages of exporting are:  · manufacturing is home based thus, it is less risky than overseas based  · gives an opportunity to learn overseas markets before investing in bricks and mortar  · reduces the potential risks of operating overseas. The disadvantage is mainly that one can be at the mercy of overseas agents and so the lack of control has to be weighed against the advantages. For example, in the exporting of African horticultural products, the agents and Dutch flower auctions are in a position to dictate to producers. A distinction has to be drawn between passive and aggressive exporting. A passive exporter awaits orders or comes across them by chance; an aggressive exporter develops marketing strategies which provide a broad and clear picture of what the firm intends to do in the foreign market. Pavord and Bogart2 (1975) found significant differences with regard to the severity of exporting problems in motivating pressures between seekers and non-seekers of export opportunities. They distinguished between firms whose marketing efforts were characterized by no activity, minor activity and aggressive activity. Those firms who are aggressive have clearly defined plans and strategy, including product, price, promotion, distribution and research elements. Passiveness versus aggressiveness depends on the motivation to export. In countries like Tanzania and Zambia, which have embarked on structural adjustment programmes, organisations are being encouraged to export, motivated by foreign exchange earnings potential, saturated domestic markets, growth and expansion objectives, and the need to repay debts incurred by the borrowings to finance the programmes. The type of export response is dependent on how the pressures are perceived by the decision maker. Piercy (1982)3 highlights the fact that the degree of involvement in foreign operations depends on endogenous versus exogenous motivating factors, that is, whether the motivations were as a result of active or aggressive behaviour based on the firms internal situation (endogenous) or as a result of reactive environmental changes (exogenous). If the firm achieves initial success at exporting quickly all to the good, but the risks of failure in the early stages are high. The learning effect in exporting is usually very quick. The key is to learn how to minimise risks associated with the initial stages of market entry and commitment this process of incremental involvement is called creeping commitment (see figure 7.3). Exporting methods include direct or indirect export. In direct exporting the organisation may use an agent, distributor, or overseas subsidiary, or act via a Government agency. In effect, the Grain Marketing Board in Zimbabwe, being commercialised but still having Government control, is a Government agency. The Government, via the Board, are the only permitted maize exporters. Bodies like the Horticultural Crops Development Authority (HCDA) in Kenya may be merely a promotional body, dealing with advertising, information flows and so on, or it may be active in exporting itself, particularly giving approval (like HCDA does) to all export documents. In direct exporting the major problem is that of market information. The exporters task is to choose a market, find a representative or agent, set up the physical distribution and documentation, promote and price the product. Control, or the lack of it, is a major problem which often results in decisions on pricing, certification and promoti on being in the hands of others. Certainly, the phytosanitary requirements in Europe for horticultural produce sourced in Africa are getting very demanding. Similarly, exporters are price takers as produce is sourced also from the Caribbean and Eastern countries. In the months June to September, Europe is on season because it can grow its own produce, so prices are low. As such, producers are better supplying to local food processors. In the European winter prices are much better, but product competition remains. According to Collett4 (1991)) exporting requires a partnership between exporter, importer, government and transport. Without these four coordinating activities the risk of failure is increased. Contracts between buyer and seller are a must. Forwarders and agents can play a vital role in the logistics procedures such as booking air space and arranging documentation. A typical coordinated marketing channel for the export of Kenyan horticultural produce is given in figure 7.4. In this case the exporters can also be growers and in the low season both these and other exporters may send produce to food processors which is also exported. Figure 7.4 The export marketing channel for Kenyan horticultural products. Exporting can be very lucrative, especially if it is of high value added produce. For example in 1992/93 Zimbabwe exported 5 338,38 tonnes of flowers, 4 678,18 tonnes of horticultural produce and 12 000 tonnes of citrus at a total value of about US$ 22 016,56 million. In some cases a mixture of direct and indirect exporting may be achieved with mixed results. For example, the Grain Marketing Board of Zimbabwe may export grain directly to Zambia, or may sell it to a relief agency like the United Nations, for feeding the Mozambican refugees in Malawi. Payment arrangements may be different for the two transactions. Nali products of Malawi gives an interesting example of a passive to active exporting mode. CASE 7.1 Nali Producers Malawi Nali group, has, since the early 1970s, been engaged in the growing and exporting of spices. Spices are also used in the production of a variety of sauces for both the local and export market. Its major success has been the growing and exporting of Birdseye chilies. In the early days knowledge of the market was scanty and thus the company was obtaining ridiculously low prices. Towards the end of 1978 Nali chilies were in great demand, yet still the company, in its passive mode, did not fully appreciate the competitive implications of the business until a number of firms, including Lonrho and Press Farming, started to grow and export. Again, due to the lack of information, a product of its passivity, the firm did not realise that Uganda, with their superior product, and Papua New Guinea were major exporters, However, the full potential of these countries was hampered by internal difficulties. Nali was able to grow into a successful commercial enterprise. However, with the end of the internal problems, Uganda in particular, began an aggressive exporting policy, using their overseas legations as commercial propagandists. Nali had to respond with a more formal and active marketing operation. However it is being now hampered by a number of important exogenous factors. The entry of a number of new Malawian growers, with inferior products, has damaged the Malawian chili reputation, so has the lack of a clear Government policy and the lack of financing for traders, growers and exporters. The latter only serves to emphasise the point made by Collett, not only do organisations need to be aggressive, they also need to enlist the support of Government and importers. It is interesting to note that Korey (1986) warns that direct modes of market entry may be less and less available in the future. Growing trading blocs like the EU or EFTA means that the establishing of subsidiaries may be one of the only means forward in future. It is interesting to note that Korey5 1986 warned that direct modes of market entry may be less and less available in the future. Growing trading blocks like the EU or EFTA means that the establishment of subsidiaries may be one of the only ways forward in future. Indirect methods of exporting include the use of trading companies (very much used for commodities like cotton, soya, cocoa), export management companies, piggybacking and countertrade. Indirect methods offer a number of advantages including:  · Contracts in the operating market or worldwide  · Commission sates give high motivation (not necessarily loyalty)  · Manufacturer/exporter needs little expertise  · Credit acceptance takes burden from manufacturer. Piggybacking Piggybacking is an interesting development. The method means that organisations with little exporting skill may use the services of one that has. Another form is the consolidation of orders by a number of companies in order to take advantage of bulk buying. Normally these would be geographically adjacent or able to be served, say, on an air route. The fertilizer manufacturers of Zimbabwe, for example, could piggyback with the South Africans who both import potassium from outside their respective countries. Countertrade By far the largest indirect method of exporting is countertrade. Competitive intensity means more and more investment in marketing. In this situation the organisation may expand operations by operating in markets where competition is less intense but currency based exchange is not possible. Also, countries may wish to trade in spite of the degree of competition, but currency again is a problem. Countertrade can also be used to stimulate home industries or where raw materials are in short supply. It can, also, give a basis for reciprocal trade. Estimates vary, but countertrade accounts for about 20-30% of world trade, involving some 90 nations and between US $100-150 billion in value. The UN defines countertrade as commercial transactions in which provisions are made, in one of a series of related contracts, for payment by deliveries of goods and/or services in addition to, or in place of, financial settlement. Countertrade is the modem form of barter, except contracts are not legal and it is not covered by GATT. It can be used to circumvent import quotas. Countertrade can take many forms. Basically two separate contracts are involved, one for the delivery of and payment for the goods supplied and the other for the purchase of and payment for the goods imported. The performance of one contract is not contingent on the other although the seller is in effect accepting products and services from the importing country in partial or total settlement for his exports. There is a broad agreement that countertrade can take various forms of exchange like barter, counter purchase, switch trading and compensation (buyback). For example, in 1986 Albania began offering items like spring water, tomato juice and chrome ore in exchange for a contract to build a US $60 million fertilizer and methanol complex. Information on potential exchange can be obtained from embassies, trade missions or the EU trading desks. Barter is the direct exchange of one good for another, although valuation of respective commodities is difficult, so a currency is used to underpin the items value. Barter trade can take a number of formats. Simple barter is the least complex and oldest form of bilateral, non-monetarised trade. Often it is called straight, classical or pure barter. Barter is a direct exchange of goods and services between two parties. Shadow prices are approximated for products flowing in either direction. Generally no middlemen are involved. Usually contracts for no more than one year are concluded, however, if for longer life spans, provisions are included to handle exchange ratio fluctuations when world prices change. Closed end barter deals are modifications of straight barter in that a buyer is found for goods taken in barter before the contract is signed by the two trading parties. No money is involved and risks related to product quality are significantly reduced. Clearing account barter, also termed clearing agreements, clearing arrangements, bilateral clearing accounts or simply bilateral clearing, is where the principle is for the trades to balance without either party having to acquire hard currency. In this form of barter, each party agrees in a single contract to purchase a specified and usually equal value of goods and services. The duration of these transactions is commonly one year, although occasionally they may extend over a longer time period. The contracts value is expressed in non-convertible, clearing account units (also termed clearing dollars) that effectively represent a line of credit in the central bank of the country with no money involved. Clearing account units are universally accepted for the accounting of trade between countries and parties whose commercial relationships are based on bilateral agreements. The contract sets forth the goods to be exchanged, the rates of exchange, and the length of time for completing the transaction. Limited export or import surpluses may be accumulated by either party for short periods. Generally, after one years time, imbalances are settled by one of the following approaches: credit against the following year, acceptance of unwanted goods, payment of a previously specified penalty or payment of the difference in hard currency. Trading specialists have also initiated the practice of buying clearing dollars at a discount for the purpose of using them to purchase saleable products. In turn, the trader may forfeit a portion of the discount to sell these products for hard currency on the international market. Compared with simple barter, clearing accounts offer greater flexibility in the length of time for drawdown on the lines of credit and the types of products exchanged. Counter purchase, or buyback, is where the customer agrees to buy goods on condition that the seller buys some of the customers own products in return (compensatory products). Alternatively, if exchange is being organised at national government level then the seller agrees to purchase compensatory goods from an unrelated organisation up to a pre-specified value (offset deal). The difference between the two is that contractual obligations related to counter purchase can extend over a longer period of time and the contract requires each party to the deal to settle most or all of their account with currency or trade credits to an agreed currency value. Where the seller has no need for the item bought he may sell the produce on, usually at a discounted price, to a third party. This is called a switch deal. In the past a number of tractors have been brought into Zimbabwe from East European countries by switch deals. Compensation (buy-backs) is where the supplier agrees to take the output of the facility over a specified period of time or to a specified volume as payment. For example, an overseas company may agree to build a plant in Zambia, and output over an agreed period of time or agreed volume of produce is exported to the builder until the period has elapsed. The plant then becomes the property of Zambia. Khoury6 (1984) categorises countertrade as follows (see figure 7.5): One problem is the marketability of products received in countertrade. This problem can be reduced by the use of specialised trading companies which, for a fee ranging between 1 and 5% of the value of the transaction, will provide trade related services like transportation, marketing, financing, credit extension, etc. These are ever growing in size. Countertrade has disadvantages:  · Not covered by GATT so dumping may occur  · Quality is not of international standard so costly to the customer and trader  · Variety is tow so marketing of wkat is limited  · Difficult to set prices and service quality  · Inconsistency of delivery and specification,  · Difficult to revert to currency trading so quality may decline further and therefore product is harder to market. Figure 7.5 Classification of countertrade Shipley and Neale7 (1988) therefore suggest the following:  · Ensure the benefits outweigh the disadvantages  · Try to minimise the ratio of compensation goods to cash if possible inspect the goods for specifications  · Include all transactions and other costs involved in countertrade in the nominal value specified for the goods being sold  · Avoid the possibility of error of exploitation by first gaining a thorough understanding of the customers buying systems, regulations and politics,  · Ensure that any compensation goods received as payment are not subject to import controls. Despite these problems countertrade is likely to grow as a major indirect entry method, especially in developing countries. Foreign production Besides exporting, other market entry strategies include licensing, joint ventures, contract manufacture, ownership and participation in export processing zones or free trade zones. Licensing: Licensing is defined as the method of foreign operation whereby a firm in one country agrees to permit a company in another country to use the manufacturing, processing, trademark, know-how or some other skill provided by the licensor. It is quite similar to the franchise operation. Coca Cola is an excellent example of licensing. In Zimbabwe, United Bottlers have the licence to make Coke. Licensing involves little expense and involvement. The only cost is signing the agreement and policing its implementation. Licensing gives the following advantages:  · Good way to start in foreign operations and open the door to low risk manufacturing relationships  · Linkage of parent and receiving partner interests means both get most out of marketing effort  · Capital not tied up in foreign operation and  · Options to buy into partner exist or provision to take royalties in stock. The disadvantages are:  · Limited form of participation to length of agreement, specific product, process or trademark  · Potential returns from marketing and manufacturing may be lost  · Partner develops know-how and so licence is short  · Licensees become competitors overcome by having cross technology transfer deals and  · Requires considerable fact finding, planning, investigation and interpretation. Those who decide to license ought to keep the options open for extending market participation. This can be done through joint ventures with the licensee. Joint ventures Joint ventures can be defined as an enterprise in which two or more investors share ownership and control over property rights and operation. Joint ventures are a more extensive form of participation than either exporting or licensing. In Zimbabwe, Olivine industries has a joint venture agreement with HJ Heinz in food processing. Joint ventures give the following advantages:  · Sharing of risk and ability to combine the local in-depth knowledge with a foreign partner with know-how in technology or process  · Joint financial strength  · May be only means of entry and  · May be the source of supply for a third country. They also have disadvantages:  · Partners do not have full control of management  · May be impossible to recover capital if need be  · Disagreement on third party markets to serve and  · Partners may have different views on expected benefits. If the partners carefully map out in advance what they expect to achieve and how, then many problems can be overcome. Ownership: The most extensive form of participation is 100% ownership and this involves the greatest commitment in capital and managerial effort. The ability to communicate and control 100% may outweigh any of the disadvantages of joint ventures and licensing. However, as mentioned earlier, repatriation of earnings and capital has to be carefully monitored. The more unstable the environment the less likely is the ownership pathway an option. These forms of participation: exporting, licensing, joint ventures or ownership, are on a continuum rather than discrete and can take many formats. Anderson and Coughlan8 (1987) summarise the entry mode as a choice between company owned or controlled methods integrated channels or independent channels. Integrated channels offer the advantages of planning and control of resources, flow of information, and faster market penetration, and are a visible sign of commitment. The disadvantages are that they incur many costs (especially marketing), the risks are high, some may be more effective than others (due to culture) and in some cases their credibility amongst locals may be lower than that of controlled independents. Independent channels offer lower performance costs, risks, less capital, high local knowledge and credibility. Disadvantages include less market information flow, greater coordinating and control difficulties and motivational difficulties. In addition they may not be will ing to spend money on market development and selection of good intermediaries may be difficult as good ones are usually taken up anyway. Once in a market, companies have to decide on a strategy for expansion. One may be to concentrate on a few segments in a few countries typical are cashewnuts from Tanzania and horticultural exports from Zimbabwe and Kenya or concentrate on one country and diversify into segments. Other activities include country and market segment concentration typical of Coca Cola or Gerber baby foods, and finally country and segment diversification. Another way of looking at it is by identifying three basic business strategies: stage one international, stage two multinational (strategies correspond to ethnocentric and polycentric orientations respectively) and stage three global strategy (corresponds with geocentric orientation). The basic philosophy behind stage one is extension of programmes and products, behind stage two is decentralisation as far as possible to local operators and behind stage three is an integration which seeks to synthesize inputs from world and regional headquarters an d the country organisation. Whilst most developing countries are hardly in stage one, they have within them organisations which are in stage three. This has often led to a rebellion against the operations of multinationals, often unfounded. Export processing zones (EPZ) Whilst not

Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers

Citizen Service Centres (KEP): Perceptions of Customers 1. Introduction 1.1 Importance of the Research According to the philosophical bases of marketing customer wants satisfaction. As the consumer is the key for a firm, the voter is the central element for a government or party (Lock and Harri,1996).In this context the citizen voter wants satisfaction and searching his satisfaction from the services that are offered to him is ‘‘ a lens through which government and public managers can gain a better perspective on how citizens respond to the performance of public services, (Van Ryzin , 2004) and offers important findings for the policy makers. Citizen satisfaction surveys are frequently used by U.S. local governments and public administration researchers in order to measure the quality of local government services (Hatry et al., 1992; Miller and Kobayashi, 2000). A big number of U.S. cities use surveys regularly (New York , San Francisco, Phoenix etc.),in order to analyze in a descriptive and unvaried way , the level of perceived quality of services ,within a locality and over time (Van Ryzin et al., 2004). Recent studies have compared citizen satisfaction with benchmarks that were developed from data collected across many localities (Miller and Miller 1991; Miller and Kobayashi 2000), and have focused on the individual, jurisdictional, and city-specific determinants of citizen ratings of service quality (De Hoog, Lowery, and Lyons 1990; Hero and Durand 1985),like taxes and expenditure ,and also on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents such as race (Schuman and Gruenberg, 1972). Other investigations have negotiated the citizen satisfaction from the police according to their ethnoracial characteristics (Brad W. S. 2005), or satisfaction from the education system or from hospitals (Amyx,Bristow ,2001, Suda Anita D.,1998). The importance of the public services quality became popular in the United Kingdom at 1990s when the political parties put an emphasis on the subject ,but even in our days the need for quality services that meet â€Å"customer† citizens needs and expectations, is more and more obvious .This need for quality public services is even expressed by the European Social Fund, as the implementation of the strategy and policies of the European Committee at Member States ,is strongly related with the public service organizations, which many of them are responsible for (ESF,2009). And although, in the marketing research exist a number of well-developed models of approaching customer satisfaction, there has been little development of a model that would test citizens satisfaction. As a result, it would be valuable to test such a model in the framework of Greek public services. 1.2 The Research Objectives The overall objective of this research is to examine the Greek citizens perceptions and expectations of service quality concerning the Citizen Service Centres (KEP) -a Greek public service based on servqual model. From this overall objective a number of more specific aims can be identified: Investigate consumer expectations towards the service offered from public services Examine citizen perceptions about Citizen Service Centres(KEP) Asses the factors that play an important role in the service quality of Citizen Service Centres (KEP) 2. Literature Review 2.1 Politics and the marketing concept It has often been argued that the application of ‘marketing tools and instruments in politics is nothing new (Perloff, 1999; Baines and Egan, 2001).In the last twenty-five years what have changed about the political marketing is not just the size of political marketing management but also the belief that political actors act and think in political terms. Political actors are them that they try to do marketing management in a frame of integration of marketing instruments in a coherent marketing strategy (Newman, 1994a; Dermody and Scullion, 2001). It is supposed that the selling of politicians and the selling of a product is linked (OShaughnessy, 2001) and that commercial and political contexts are essentially similar (Kotler, 1999). Many marketers believe that the tools and concepts of marketing can be transferred directly to the political arena (Lock and Harris ,1996) .The applications of political marketing are used as a tool of managing politics, developing policy (Nimmo, 1999), or even governing (OShaughnessy, 2003). The marketing concept in commercial terms is based on the principle that all company planning and operations will be customer oriented. As such the philosophical basis of the marketing concept is that customer want satisfaction (OCass, 1996). When a political party or candidate applies this concept to the political process, they must be in a position to adapt to and satisfy voters needs (Mauser, 1983; Newman and Sheth, 1987; Reid, 1988). For major mainstream parties, the overriding objective is to attract voters, win elections and hold power (Lock and Harris, 1996).In this extent knowing the degree of satisfaction of citizens seems to be important. 2.2 Citizen Citizen is every person of a state that has the citizenship of it (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). According the place and the time different criteria were used to define the citizen .The genealogical criterion, which is the oldest, the legal criterion and the economic (taxation) criterion .According to the first, citizen is the son of citizen that hasnt lost his rights. This definition was used in the ancient cities in order to distinguish the mass from the public. According to the second criterion citizen is each one that is recognized like that from the law. And finally, according to the last , citizen is each one that owns property or a quantity of goods and contributes to the governmental budget (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica, 1992).Citizens have some rights and obligations .Their rights are political such as the right to vote, to be member of the jury or public servant , and personal such as the right to live ,to have free speech , to work, to live in freedom ,etc . ,that are protected from the state and are given to everyone. Citizens obligations such as taxation are set in order to protect the privileges that are offered to citizens from the government and they emerge from the need of the States existence (New Encyclopaedia, 2006). One of the governmental works is the provision of goods and services. All the modern governments take part directly to the economy by providing goods and services , organising industrial enterprises I promoting economic activities .Providing sanitary, education, and social insurance services , is one of the modern states concerns (Heinz Eulau ,1992). 2.3 Citizens as Customers, Customers as Citizens The classic definition of customer is â€Å"one who purchases or receives a product or service† (Carlson, 1997). The concept of customer is often more complicated in the public sector. For example, the city of Coral Springs in Florida, refined the idea by considering two distinct categories of external customers. Moreover, a building permit applicant is a direct customer while the applicants neighbors are among the indirect customers who will benefit if the decision helps to ensure a safer city and more appropriate land use and construction practices. But even with these refinements, â€Å"citizen† sometimes has a broader meaning. Citizens enjoy rights and take on responsibilities that extend well beyond those commonly recognized to customers (Popovich, 1999). Despite the passage of generations, the fact that government cannot succeed without the peoples trust and support, is a true even today. These essential elements of civil society shape the capacity and help determine the actual performance of government. Societys efforts to accomplish its highest priority and most practical goals are likely to fall short in the absence of the peoples agreement in the functions of government. As the customer is the key for a firm, the citizen -voter is the central element for a government. 2.4 Public services A service is a non material product (education, health safety etc).The meaning of public services isnt constrained in the area of Public and Αdministrative law .The public service is a known significance in the economy, as an appropriate tool of the states expansion in the social relations, for the preservation of stabilized provisions for the welfare state. Beyond the needs of the of practical policy, the interest of the political science with the expansions of the political philosophy is expressed , as the public service is characterized as the expansion of the state in its social activity . In other words , it is the way by which the state contacts the citizens in order to cover their direct needs .After the two World Wars this phenomenon is observed in the European area .In Germany , this works as ‘‘Anstalten (institutions) and the ‘‘ offentlichen Unternehmungen (public enterprises) . The administration (the welfare state) undertakes and guarantees ben efits even for the preservation of life of human who live massively in big cities such as transportation ,cleanliness , water , electricity etc. ÃŽ ¤he principles of function of the public services are connected with the needs and social aims that are tended to fulfil. Therefore, services are provided to everyone in the same way in order to cover the needs, under conditions that change from time to time (Encyclopaedia Papyrus Larousse Britannica ,1992 ). According to the Europa Glossary that is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon ,the concept of public service is >. At the same time the Europa Glossary defines that continuity of service quality security of supply equal access affordable prices social , cultural and environmental acceptability Article 16 of the EC Treaty, introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam, confirms the role of public services in the European Union. The EU policy on operators of public services is still shaped by the desire to liberalise network public services and to widen the scope of competition on national markets, be this, in the areas of rail transport, postal services, energy or telecommunications>>. 2.5 Citizen Service Centres (KEP) The institution of KEP was founded in 2002, based on an idea of the Deputy Minister Mr Beno. The KEP were founded according to the article 31 of law 3013/2002 and were staffed with short term labour agreement workers, according to the processes of article 6 of law 2527/1997. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), over 60.000 of citizens visit every day Citizen Service Centres (KEP) for certified or not processes, ratifications of registrations, certifications of genuine signature and every kind of administrative information. The last three years 40 new KEP were founded and now they are 1035 at their total. The centres are open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 20:00, and Saturday, 8:00 to 14:00. At Citizen Service Centres (KEP) citizens can:  · obtain information on what they need to do in order to manage their transactions with the municipality * submit applications for the processing of matters that involve the City that the KEP is registered and state agencies in accordance with joint decisions issued by the Interior Minister or other competent Minister >(City of Athens ,2007). Some of the procedures (about 1.014 at total) that Citizens can carry out at Citizen Service Centres are the following:  · The registration or transfer of registration of a passenger vehicle or motorcycle  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate  · The issuance of a criminal record duplicate for general or legal use  · The issuance of a marital status certificate  · The issuance of a birth certificate duplicate for those registered with the City of Athens  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organisation beneficiaries (former recipients)  · The issuance of a registry birth certificate duplicate for an adult or minor  · The issuance of a public transport pass for individuals with disabilities  · The application for the seasonal unemployment benefit in accordance with Article 22 of Law 1836/89 OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organisation)  · The issuance of a marital status certificate for individuals registered with the City of Athens (online)  · The application for a rent subsidy for the year 2006 to Workers Housing Organization beneficiaries (new recipients)  · The issuance of a marriage license duplicate  · The application for the OAED (Greek Manpower Employment Organization) family subsidy  · The issuance of a drivers license  · The issuance of a Type A military status certificate (full)  · The renewal of a drivers license  · The issuance of a registry death certificate duplicate  · The application for change in passenger vehicle or motorcycle ownership  · The issuance of a permanent residence certificate  · The issuance of a judicial interdiction certificate See Appendix 1 Progressively KEP were transformed to Centres of Completed Transactions, bringing the Public Administration more near to citizen. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (2007), citizens trust KEP and are in general satisfied from them. Nowadays they have permanent staff which possesses about 2588 positions. The number of affairs that KEP handled the last years is presented at the table below: PERIOD NUMBER OF AFFAIRS SERVED CITIZENS 2006 3.042.509 1.154.554 2005 2.305.195 1.527.516 2004 1.643.313 1.316.505 2003 423.759 356.872 Medium number of affairs per day from Monday to Friday: 11.805 Medium number of affairs per day (Saturday): 821 According to the Ministry KEP are recognizable from about the 80% of citizens. Equally big are the visits to them that they exceed 60%, since they were enriched with new, more attractive for the citizen processes. But more interesting are the numbers linked with the subject of satisfaction of citizens, which according to the ministry exceeds the 90%. The problems that the Public Administration was facing when KEP were created were multiple. The most serious of them were the bad organization and the centralism of public services, lack of confidence in the government owned services, lack of evaluation, lack of meritocracy, weakening of ASEP, fragmentary, and consequently unsuccessful, efforts of application of Electronic Governing, absence of controls and sanctions and finally inflation of bureaucracy and corruptness. For this reason in 2007 a number of regulations of the article 15 of the law for Citizen Service Centres (KEP) were introduced, in order to fight the difficulties and dysfunctions of citizens service (Ministry of Internal Affairs, 2007). Some of the regulations were the following:  · The foundation of the Direction of Organization and Operation of KEP in the General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing. The Direction was founded in order to guarantee the proper operation of KEP, but also their evolution in Centres of Completed Administrative Transactions, and the resolution of problems that emerges, because of their big number, the crowd of subjects and processes that they realize and the recent enlargement of their competences. The monitoring and the co-ordination of the operation of KEP is practiced , up today, at fragmentary way from the existing Direction of General Secretariat of Public Administration and Electronic Governing, fact which creates difficulties as far as it concerns the united confrontation of problems.  · The regulation of subjects of mobility of permanent personnel. The employees will stay in the KEP of their placement, for at least a five-year period, so that the experience, which has been acquired in the particular KEP, not to get lost.  · The simplification and acceleration of processes  · The restriction of joint responsibilities between the Ministries. It is indicatively reported that Minister of Internal Affairs does not act jointly in more than 25 different regulatory actions  · The obligatory deadline of 50 days for the transaction of the affairs of citizens  · The payment of complete compensation in the citizen in case of delay  · The self appointed search of supporting documents from the service on behalf of the citizen. 208 certificates can be requested from the service without the citizens presence, for 18 of them the self appointed search is obligatory. Indicative is the progress that took place in the case of self appointed search of certificates of birth from KEP, where, while in 2005 they had 231.327 certificates and medium time of transaction the 8 days, in the end of 2006 the transaction reached 432.188 certificates, that is to say almost double, with medium time of transaction the 5 days. Same is the acceleration as far as it concerns the certificates of familial situation, where while in 2005 were published 253.071 certificates, in 2006 until 2007, 373.219 certificates have been published  · The suppression of submission of supporting documents and their replacement with a personal declaration form for 7 cases  · The videoconference of administrative bodies  · The generalization of electronic communication and exchange of documents between the services. The network â€Å"SIZEFKSIS† ensures 50.000 digital certificates (under form of card) in civil servants equal in number. With this way is provided the possibility of electronic distribution of document, with simultaneous place of signature on this, with electronic way, without a problem of genuineness, after the distribution becomes from the above permitted employees with the use of digital certificate of (card). This electronic distribution involves big acceleration of process of publication and mission of document and contributes considerably in the fighting of bureaucracy.  · The application of a plan of restriction of state expenses and the enlarged public sector, by reforming the public services, so that they become more functional and effective  · The promotion of a regulatory reform, with the establishment of rules of good legislation as well as a system of evaluation of the results of legislative regulations in the competitiveness and the entrepreneurship The City of Athens operates a total of seven (7) Citizen Service Centres (KEP), one in each City District. Citizen Service Centres provide an online service for Athens citizens with regards the following: * City of Athens municipal roll certificates * Permanent residence certificates * Certification TAP property fee payment (in cases where agreement exists on the number of square metres registered with the Public Power Corporation and the contract of purchase) The Citizens Helpline 1595 provides information on documents required for all procedures processed by Citizen Service Centres. 2.6 Service marketing Usually marketing had been seen as having dual dimension.On the one hand, there is the notion which supports that the existence of an organization in economical and social content is based on the satisfaction of customer needs and wants, and on the other hand there is the â€Å" set of activities † which serve this philosophy in order to be implemented (CromptonLamb,1986). The marketing of services is a sector with particular characteristics .The expenditure on services is growing in most industrialized economies. According to the European Commission , â€Å"the percentage share of gross domestic product attributable to the services sector rose from 38 per cent in 1970 to almost 50 percent by 1990†. Crowell supports that â€Å"what is significant about services is the relative dominance of intangible attributes in the make up of the service product†. Services as a special kind of product usually they do not result in ownership but they can be linked to a physical good require special treatment. According to Jobber, as many offerings may combine tangible and intangible characteristics the distinction between them is >. For example, a marketing research study provides a physical good, which is the report that comes out, but also is the result of a number of service activities such as interviews with respondents, analysis of results, designing of the research, etc. Products such as a skirt or a pair of socks usually are not accompanied by a service so they can be characterised as pure goods, but also a visit to a doctor or psychotherapy can be regarded as a pure service as there is nothing tangible that the client receives. 2.6.1 THE NATURE OF SERVICES Service characteristics can be summarised to the following four: intangibility, variability, perishability and inseparability. 2.6.1.1 Intangibility As intangibility can be characterised the fact that services cant be smelled, touched, tasted or seen. Service is â€Å"a deed, performance or effort and not an object device or thing† (Berry, 1980). In other words customer cant evaluate a service before buying it and sometimes cant evaluate it even after consuming it. For this reason the challenge for the service providers is to prove the quality of the service by communicating tangible benefits to consumers. Another characteristic of intangibility is the fact that the service cant be owned so customers pay for the use of product or the performance. 2.6.1.2 Variability The provision of service quality may vary depending to the person who provides it. In other words important factors are the capabilities the person has, his physical and mental situation (tiredness, attitude etc.) the location the service is provided .So, in order to control quality variation , methods such as evaluation systems , tight quality controls and service standardization methods are necessary (Jobber,2004). 2.6.1.3 Inseparability In contrast with physical goods services cant be stored in order to be used later. Services are characterised by the â€Å"simultaneous production and consumption.† Because of this characteristic service providers role is very important to the satisfaction of consumer, as many times he is supposed to be himself the company in the eyes of customer (Berry, 1980). For this reason â€Å"the importance of service provider is an integral part of the satisfaction gained by the consumer†. The behaviour of the service provider is also important for the experience that the customer has for the provided service .So, great importance must be given to the training and rewarding of the staff and its selection (Aijo,1996). Another element that is connected to inseparability is the fact that the customer may experience the service in combination with other customers because of the nature of the service and the place it is offered. At this case marketing managers should take into consideration the role of customer interactions between them, but also the inter customer conflicts and nuisance (Barron et al., 1996). 2.6.1.4 Perishability Unlike the physical goods, services cant be stored in order to be used in the future or at peak times. So service providers should take into consideration the combination of demand and supply and use methods such as multi-skilling of the staff in order to be used at peak seasons or part time employees, supply flexibility, differential pricing and reservation system in order to minimize time waiting (Jobber, 2004). Today one of the greater challenges that the sector of services has to face is the increasing competition in combination with the growing expectations of customers and the developing demands of customers as service improves (Joseph Walker, 1988). 2.6.2 SERVICE MARKETING MIX Models had to explain the relationship between the market and the organisation in order to maximize the seconds performance (Gronrooss C, 1982). To certain extent managing services are more complicated than managing products, as products can be standardised. The standardisation of a service is far more difficult as there are more input factors i.e. process, people, physical evidence, to manage than with a product. The service marketing mix consists of the 7Ps model. These include except from the classical 4 Ps that stands for: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, three more Ps which are People, Process and Physical evidence. 2.6.2.1 People People participate and deliver the service experience, the efficiency and effectiveness, the availability and capability, the customer interaction and the internal marketing. Any provision of service includes as an essential part the use of appropriate staff and people. In order to gain an organisation competitive advantage it is important that it recruits the right staff that is well trained in the delivery of service. Usually consumers perceptions and judgements are affected by the employees they interact with. Consumers wait from the staff to have the appropriate attitude, service knowledge and interpersonal skills that they are paying for. So many organisations train their staff to certain standards. Physical Evidence Physical evidence concerns the place where the service is delivered, infrastructure, facilities, surroundings, essential evidence and peripheral evidence ,equipment and premises. It is an element of the service mix that contributes to the formation of the opinion of the consumer about the organization .So the judgments and the perceptions of the consumers are formed by the sight of the service provision .For example if you walk in an office you expect a friendly environment neat and tie. Process The systems used to assist the organisation in delivering the service, constitute the process. So process refers to the operating process that takes the customer through ,from the initial contact till the service experience and evaluation , database management, service delivery, queuing systems, ordering ,standardization .The customer usually expects efficiency and quickness at the process of the service delivery and this fosters consumers loyalty and confidence in the organization. 2.6.3 Quality Quality is important to business organisations and their consumers, because quality products or services can and will secure consumers business. In addition, linking quality with expensive spending is not absolute, as price will not determine always quality. The high or low quality of a product or service is usually determined, â€Å"by how it made the consumer feel and whether consumer expectations were satisfied or exceeded† (Kotler P. et al, 2008). Quality was very popular in the marketing literature,  « where the notion of satisfying the customer was a dominant model of quality of service provided and consumer satisfaction  » (Raftopoulos V., 2005). The US Strategic Planning Institute in 1972 developed the concept of relative perceived quality (RPQ),  «that is the perception of quality as defined by customers, relative to the offerings of competitors. In other words quality is what a customer perceives it to be and this is a dynamic and complex notion.  » 2.6.3.1 Public service quality The need for quality public services is also expressed by the European Commission through the European Social Fund in its program for 2007-2013.The reason is that the quality of public services affects the implementation of policies and the strategy design as public sector organizations are responsible for them at a big degree at the Member States ,e.g. government ministries , local authority departments and special agencies (ESF,2009). The fact of how important is the quality of public services and the need to be improved, became popular, in Britain, at 1990s when the Government gave clear > on the subject, by the proposal of the Conservative Prime Minister John Major enclosed in his Citizens Charter White Paper (Prime Minister, 1991). The issue faced great consensus from the political parties as the same year both Liberal and Labour parties published their own citizen charter proposals. The citizen driven improvement of the quality of public services was a fact (Black et al., 1994). This policy which faced the citizen as user and needed the reporting of performance from the service providers was continued for a long period it was enriched with best value new policies and was popular as>.According to this concept public services is better to be managed than administrated (Black et al.,2001). At the same time another reason that public service quality is important is that the needs and expectations of the users change and increase. Service quality and how to measure it developed to be a critical issue ,so during the 1990s performance measurement techniques developed as a result of >such as government legislation ,regulatory activity by industry keepers and major policy initiatives, as Black St. et al. , characterize them, and not as a result of the needs of the service provider. Meanwhile , all the efforts of understanding and measuring public service quality where characterized as weak and an increasing interest for quality improvement models techniques , certification and awards developed .So a number of new significances appeared such as total quality management and continuous improvement, process mapping techniques, Institution Standards and Charters. The revolution of the commercial service sector that took place the previous decades influenced also public sector organizations that faced the need to provide quality services that meet ‘customer needs and expectations. As Wisniewski remarks, > (Wisniewski, 2001). The notion of treating the customers has started to change as they dont receive passively uniform services without their voice or influence being considered (Skelcher, 1992). At the opposite side, the adoption of traditional methods may lead to the delivery of a service distant from customer needs. So organizations many times, after a more profound search, discover that the needs and values of customers are different from what they assume before searching (Farquhar C.R. ,1993). In order to discover customer perceptions and collect data concerning the attitudes o

China-ASEAN Relations Essay -- Foreign Policy

Despite its traditional mistrust of security regimes, China became one of the founding members of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1994 – the first region-wide multilateral discussion of peace and security issues in Asia-Pacific. Besides, Beijing established military links with Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Malaysia. This extends not only to military aid and loans, bilateral talks on military issues, and signing of defense memoranda of understanding, but also includes joint production of military equipment and joint training exercises. During the 12th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the ARF in 2005, Chinese Ambassador Liu Yongxing stated that deepening mutual trust, respecting diversity, handling relations with other institutions properly, maintaining vitality of the Forum and achieving continuous development should be the main goals of ARF looking forward. In 2006, China also signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), i n which China promised not to threaten the security of other signatory states (ASEAN), to express China’s intention of establishing a strategic partnership with ASEAN for peace and prosperity. China is also willing to support ASEAN’s declaration of Southeast Asia as a nuclear weapons-free zone. With continuing norm convergence and growing trust, ASEAN may be persuaded that the region’s strategic future could be codetermined with China. The China-ASEAN strategic relationship, however, is not always a bed of roses. There remain serious issues between China and Southeast Asia which affected their relationship in the 1990s and will continue to complicate their relationship. The most prominent of all is the South China Sea dispute. Beijing has maintained that it has f... ... Shishi chubanshe, 2003). â€Å"ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations†. David Arase, â€Å"Non-Traditional Security in China-ASEAN Cooperation: The Institutionalization of Regional Security Cooperation and the Evolution of East Asian Regionalism†, Asian Survey, Vol. 50, No. 4 (July/August 2010) (pp. 808-833), http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/as.2010.50.4.808, accessed March 22nd, 2012. China’s Foreign Affairs 2006 published by the Department of Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PRC (World Affairs Press, 2006), p.413-416. â€Å"Vietnam: Better Defense Cooperation to Help Build ASEAN Community,† Thai Press Reports, (April 30th 2010). â€Å"China’s National Defense in 2008†, Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, (Beijing, January 20th 2009) http://www.china.org.cn/government/whitepaper/node_7060059.htm, accessed March 22nd 2012.

Lady of the Manor Essay -- essays research papers

Andrew Pickett  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  May 31st 2002 Macbeth Ruthless Essay  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Period 2 and 3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To be ruthless is to act with malice regardless of the consequences. In the first two acts of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is clearly more ruthless than Macbeth himself. While when both characters are faced with the idea of murdering Duncan they appear equally as ruthless, it becomes clear as the scenes progress that ultimately, Lady Macbeth is the more ruthless of the two.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lady Macbeth and Macbeth appear equally as ruthless when faced with the idea of murdering Duncan. In an aside to himself Macbeth exclaims, â€Å"The Prince of Cumberland! This is a step on which I must fall down or else o’er leap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.† (1.4.55-59) When Macbeth learns of his new position his mind almost immediately thinks of what is now standing between him and the throne. His ruthless nature takes charge almost instantly as his mind turns toward murdering Duncan to secure the throne. Lady Macbeth’s ruthless nature also takes charge almost immediately after she learns of Macbeth’s new title. â€Å"†¦unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.† (1.5.48-50) Lady Macbeth calls on the spirits to strip her of her womanhood and fill her with cruelty and evil. With these new qualities she believes she will be able to take charge and through with the plan to murder Duncan. She is clearly passionate about securing the thrown for her husband, Macbeth. Both Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s ruthless personalities clearly take charge when they consider murdering Duncan. However as the time of the murder draws closer, Lady Macbeth’s ruthlessness will surpass that of Macbeth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prior to the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth is clearly more ruthless than Macbeth. In the last scene of the first... ...hat fears the painted devil.† Lady Macbeth offers no emotion or compassion for Macbeth and the murder he has committed. She even proceeds to call him childish for being sensitive to the fact that he just murdered. Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly more ruthless as she is cold to Macbeth and his feelings and only looks ahead to covering up the task. Her cruel, malice nature is most evident as she will not even comfort her husband when he is most panicked.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is clear that Lady Macbeth is more ruthless than Macbeth in the first two acts of the play. In the beginning, it appears that both characters are equally as ruthless, yet as the story progresses the true evil nature of Lady Macbeth is revealed. Her coldhearted ruthlessness is far beyond that of Macbeth both before and after the murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s ruthless personality clearly overpowers all the good in Macbeth creating an evil pair that will stop at nothing to achieve the throne.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lady of the Manor Essay -- essays research papers Andrew Pickett  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  May 31st 2002 Macbeth Ruthless Essay  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Period 2 and 3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To be ruthless is to act with malice regardless of the consequences. In the first two acts of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is clearly more ruthless than Macbeth himself. While when both characters are faced with the idea of murdering Duncan they appear equally as ruthless, it becomes clear as the scenes progress that ultimately, Lady Macbeth is the more ruthless of the two.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lady Macbeth and Macbeth appear equally as ruthless when faced with the idea of murdering Duncan. In an aside to himself Macbeth exclaims, â€Å"The Prince of Cumberland! This is a step on which I must fall down or else o’er leap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.† (1.4.55-59) When Macbeth learns of his new position his mind almost immediately thinks of what is now standing between him and the throne. His ruthless nature takes charge almost instantly as his mind turns toward murdering Duncan to secure the throne. Lady Macbeth’s ruthless nature also takes charge almost immediately after she learns of Macbeth’s new title. â€Å"†¦unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.† (1.5.48-50) Lady Macbeth calls on the spirits to strip her of her womanhood and fill her with cruelty and evil. With these new qualities she believes she will be able to take charge and through with the plan to murder Duncan. She is clearly passionate about securing the thrown for her husband, Macbeth. Both Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s ruthless personalities clearly take charge when they consider murdering Duncan. However as the time of the murder draws closer, Lady Macbeth’s ruthlessness will surpass that of Macbeth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prior to the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth is clearly more ruthless than Macbeth. In the last scene of the first... ...hat fears the painted devil.† Lady Macbeth offers no emotion or compassion for Macbeth and the murder he has committed. She even proceeds to call him childish for being sensitive to the fact that he just murdered. Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly more ruthless as she is cold to Macbeth and his feelings and only looks ahead to covering up the task. Her cruel, malice nature is most evident as she will not even comfort her husband when he is most panicked.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is clear that Lady Macbeth is more ruthless than Macbeth in the first two acts of the play. In the beginning, it appears that both characters are equally as ruthless, yet as the story progresses the true evil nature of Lady Macbeth is revealed. Her coldhearted ruthlessness is far beyond that of Macbeth both before and after the murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s ruthless personality clearly overpowers all the good in Macbeth creating an evil pair that will stop at nothing to achieve the throne.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚