Lincoln Electric Company Case Essay

After reviewing the case I feel that the main reason of Lincoln’s foreign operation dilemma was because of its unique corporate strategy, which was the similar strategy that made Lincoln so strong in the United States. Lincoln’s competitive advantage in the United States was based in its unique culture and incentive system (Anthony and Govindarajan, 2007). A corporate culture that emphasized open communication and trust began with its top management. Lincoln’s leaders used an approach that encouraged all employees to share their thoughts not only with their managers but also with the CEO (Anthony and Govindarajan, 2007). This corporate wide approach to management, encouraged by the company’s incentive system, created an exceptionally committed and skilled workforce. Lincoln thought that its management style and incentive system would work to regenerate the foreign operations performance by energizing and committing its workers (Anthony and Govindarajan, 20 07). But Lincoln did not realize was that its corporate culture had been created and confirmed for over almost a hundred year and took time to build such a successful corporate culture (Anthony and Govindarajan, 2007). By 1993, Hastings realized the mistakes they had made (Anthony and Govindarajan, 2007). The corporate culture of European countries would not be compatible with their programs. For example, German workers were highly skilled and Germans worked fewer hours a week than Lincoln’s U.S. workers did (Anthony and Govindarajan, 2007). The U.S. workers frequently worked overtime and usually on short notice, which helped to make the incentive system work successfully (Anthony and Govindarajan, 2007). German workers were not as productive as Lincoln’s U.S. workers (Anthony and Govindarajan, 2007). Donald Hastings began to become conscious of what the company was up against. For the first time Lincoln evaluated the projects that it was undertaking with the view of what th e company was facing and what it could actually accomplish (Anthony and Govindarajan, 2007). Lincoln Electric would have to cut back on almost all of the operations it had invested in just a few years prior. Lincoln was forced to begin restructuring plan for all of its foreign operations to go outside the  company to find innovative top management (Anthony and Govindarajan, 2007). In order to improve global operations, I recommend that Lincoln Electric must improve its company relations, its production systems, and its placement in the global community. Lincoln Electric should concentrate on developing and manufacturing inventive products. This action will help Lincoln Electric achieve a competitive advantage to its competitors. Furthermore, contracts should be set up with Lincoln’s supplier and buyers. By creating contracts with the suppliers, Lincoln can lessen material costs and price its products competitively. Additionally, I think that they should have partnerships with great buyers will help in the creation of new products, as well as securing a contractual agreement. Given that Lincoln Electric has gone beyond its experimental global expansion stage, it should carry on such opportunities in profitable and a cost-effective environment. Lincoln should attempt to only come into new markets when it has a firm partner that currently operates in the market. Lincoln’s incentive system should only be put into practice in operations where the workforce and its culture are compatible with their program. This case did alter my viewpoint regarding managing foreign operations. I think that in order to pursue business in another country you must have knowledge of the international markets or cultures. What may work in one country may not work in another country. I think that when deciding which countries to decide to expand in, that all factors regarding culture should be considered. Lincoln Electric Holdings has proven to be a successful, innovative company that holds a immense leadership position in its industry. References: Anthony, R. N., & Govindarajan, V. (2007). Management control systems (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Childhood by Alice Walker

In Alice Walker’s essay â€Å"Childhood† she tells her daughter about traditions. Traditions are defined as the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc. , from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice. Walker uses the harvest to tell the story of traditions, and how she learned the traditions. She was taught traditions by her family trough their work habit. Her family worked on a farm when she was a child, and passed those traditions on to her. Walker uses potatoes as an example of the harvest. She asked her daughter if â€Å"she knew what potatoes looked like when they were dug out of the ground†. Walker’s daughter was unsure what the potatoes looked like, so Walker decided she would show her the next morning before heading back to the city. Her daughter thought that watching her mother dig the potatoes out of the ground was extraordinary. Then Walker started thinking of her childhood, and the enthusiasm that went along with what she is teaching her daughter. She says â€Å"When I think of childhood at its best, it is of this magic that I think†. She then goes on to talk about how amazing her family was by saying â€Å"Of having a family that daily worked with nature to produce the extraordinary†. She puts a lot of emphasis on the word â€Å"magic† and how being in the country is magical. I can relate with Walker when she says that the country is magical because I too am from the country. Being in the city I don’t feel as free as I want to. In the country I am able to do more of what I want. In the country, everything is fresher, I can see the stars, and everyone around me is friendly. I think Walker wants to pass on the traditions that she learned from her family on to her daughter, so she can pass them on to her children.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car A Market-Driven Company Case Study

Enterprise Rent-A-Car A Market-Driven Company - Case Study Example In order to ensure that it meets it aim, the Enterprise relates to other institutions such as insurance toward providing proper services to its customers. The case analysis makes use of customer value funnel in order to realize the way the company relates to its macorenvironmental and microenviromental. The company acts as the biggest company offering the rental cars to the public. The macroenvironmental drivers include Society and subcultures, Demographics and Psychographics, Economic Factors, Natural-Physical Factors, Political-Legal Factors, Technological Factors while the microenviromental drivers include, Collaboration, Competition, Suppliers and Regulators.The company must always put proper strategies towards manipulating the macroenvironmental factors to help in delivering continuous value to the customer.Society and subcultures.The society and the existing subcultures is important when studying how the Enterprise strive towards ensuring continuous value to the customer. The E nterprise have to consider the essential needs of the society, which always affect the taste of the individuals about the product or service they consume. For instance, the company maintain the need for a friendly environment to ensure that it does not interfere with everyday activities of the residents. The company has established a fuel efficient rental car opportunity which is a step towards offsetting the amount of carbon released in the atmosphere. Demographics and Psychographics Study of demographic is significant since it helps in showing how the company is striving to serve its potential customers in a given geographic location. The company also consider the need to reach a wider part of the market in order to provide services for all their potential customers. The case study shows that the enterprise has established branches and is in the process of increasing its size in order command larger part of the market (Weinstein, 2012). This have allowed the company to offer local ized response to its potential customers. Economic Factors This refers to how the company relates to the global economy towards achieving profits. The case analysis shows that the Enterprise has been able to gain control in the North American rental car industry. This is a step towards enlarging the market share of the company which ultimately led to improvement in the profit. Technological Factors This refers to how the company is striving to improve its services to the customers through application of technological advancements. Technological advancement is significant for every contemporary firm especially when there is need to avoid becoming obsolete (Weinstein, 2012). The company looks forward to develop iPhone application

Interactive Interface Technology (DHTML based widgets) Essay

Interactive Interface Technology (DHTML based widgets) - Essay Example Widgets created in DHTML can take the form of various on-screen tools such as event countdowns, clocks, auction tickers, daily weather, stock market tickers and flight arrival tickers (Teague, 2007). There are some web page effects that are normally hard to achieve. DHTML, however, makes it possible for the page author to create a wide variety of effects as he wishes. DHTML based widgets eliminate many kinds of limits for enhanced client functionality (Teague, 2007. This technology makes it possible to perform on any kind of application such as audio playing, on-screen drawing. It also makes access to hardware such as the mouse and keyboards much easier (Singh and Gupta, 2009). One of the main disadvantages of DHTML is its difficulty in developing and debugging (Goodman, 2002). This may be attributed to the fact that there are many different degrees of support that are available among different web browsers. This combined with the fact that there are different screen sizes for different computer models makes it hard and sometimes impossible for the end look to be in tune with a certain browser or screen size (Barron and Barron, 2000). This means that certain DHTML based widgets can only be used or fine tuned on specific combinations of browsers and screen sizes. My evaluation criteria for this technology will be based on efficiency in terms of ease of development and efficiency. The primary use of widgets in interactive interface technology is to enhance personal web experiences for both the developer or web owner and the end user or visitor to a website (Barron and Barron, 2000). The functionality of any technology determines its efficiency. For the Interactive Interface Technology (DHTML based widgets), there is a high level functionality that enables the web author as well as the end use to use multiple applications interactively. Since DHTML does not rely on a single type of technology, I can say that development should not be

Analysis Music Project Chopin Nocturne Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis Music Project Chopin Nocturne - Essay Example â€Å"Music is what feelings sound like,† this quotation from an unknown author says it all. Just as Gustav Mahler once said, â€Å"If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.† One of the most distinguished composers of the 19th century is Frà ©dà ©ric Chopin. Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist, and is considered by many as the epitome of the Romantic style in classical music. Regarded as a child prodigy pianist, I look up to him, as my model and inspiration, since I too, play the piano. Chopin’s works are masterpieces and mainstays of the Romanticism in the 19th century. One of the major innovations in forms of music that he was responsible for is the nocturne. The nocturne is basically a work of art dealing with evening or night, usually a dreamy pensive piano composition. Having written 21 of these, Chopin’s nocturnes are written in a somewhat melancholy style, with an expressive dreamy melody, over broken-chord accompaniment. The major of Chopin’s nocturnes adopt a simple A-B-A form, wherein the A part is usually in a dreamy style, and the B style is a part of a more dramatic content. Considering the melody, harmony, and originality of piano style, Chopin’s nocturnes leave other composers behind, although his style is very much similar with Bellini’s cavatina.

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING - Essay Example external and internal factors. These factors have redefined how management practices or functions are performed across business organizations. In the writings by Burgstahler et al. (2007), they stated that the transformations have largely affected the decision making process since there is a change in the management structure, which has integrated new roles as well as position holders. In addition, technology is also been increasingly applied in performing management functions. Despite the continuous transformation in the field of management, the constant variable has been the fact that accounting figures have consistently played a key role in the decision making process or rather they have consistently been used to decide the direction that the company should take. The strong reliance on accounting figures to perform management functions has led to the development of management accounting or control systems that were specifically designed to help the management of business organizat ions in the process of control, product costing and evaluation of management’s performance. However, in a seminal article, published by Johnson and Kaplan (1987) they both argued that management accounting systems had lost their relevance since they were inadequate for the modern accounting environment. In particular, they succinctly summarized the inadequacy of management account systems to cope with the demands of modern management by stating the information they generated was â€Å"too late, too aggregated, and too distorted to be relevant for managers’ planning and control decisions (Ezzamel et al. 1990). This present study mainly seeks to discuss the above statement in relation to today’s environment. It will begin with a literature review of the main topic of discussion and even a review on Johnson and Kaplan’s criticisms. Secondly, it will state the methodology that was applied in collected secondary data that were used in this study. In the third part before concluding, the study will conduct a critical analysis on the Johnson and Kaplan’s argument. 2.0 Literature review 2.1 Accounting With reference to the writings by Alkaraan and Northcott (2006), they stated that accounting as a practice focuses on recording, measuring, and communicating financial facts to concerned parties who use the facts for varying reasons. Roslender and Hart (2003) noted that in the present business environment, accounting largely focuses on the preparation of accounting reports and less on bookkeeping, which has been reduced to fairly a routine process because of the increased computerization and introduction of more effective systems of internal control. The users and uses of

Can ethics constrain and improve politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Can ethics constrain and improve politics - Essay Example hics of democracy argues that the greatest divide in ethics comes between action centred views, practical ethics, ethics of character and being ethical. What he referred to in simple terms was that the moral uprightness should be as a means of doing or being good. As an answer to this critical question philosophers used the question of; what was the centre of moral discourse, evaluation of morality and justification of one’s morality. He further on went to quiz what the primary concern was or end of a moral activity. Dewey in his book refers to democracy as a moral upright which is a clear opposite from his moral thought.Dewey’s ethics is as a resource for tackling difficult questions regarding the justification of democracy from his radical view of democracy. In Dewey’s ethics we find specific virtues, relationships and experiences. He went ahead to (Dewey, 2008). Dewey feels that one should advocate individualism in their political administration of public affairs with a little consideration for honour and self-esteem. He further argues that politicians in their administrative roles should consider what benefits them most then the society. He further feels that morality can be but instead advocates for the reflexive morality by observing and understanding the circumstances surrounding a course of action. (Dewey, 2008) Charles R. Beitz in his book â€Å"Political theory and international relations† feels that changes in international relations have led have a clear exhibition to his political theory. He further states that Nations are not interested in promoting human welfare. Since nations are longer as self-sufficient, its global image no longer gives an accurate picture of the morality inside a state (Beitz 2008). In the book the key concept of politics by Andrew Heywood, it can be observed that Realism as a political theory in which he finds a man as egocentric hence using egoism to define human nature. On the Liberal theory, Heywood believes man is a