Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Impact of Globalisation on International Business

Impact of Globalisation on International Business Globalisation refers to the process of interconnection among firms, people and governments of different countries (Lechner, 2009); economies from every country will become closer and interrelated through globalisation as foreign countries are a source of both production and sales for domestic companies. It is obvious that the globalisation has linked with international business as international business consists of all commercial transactions that take place between two or more countries such as sales, investments and transportation. Globalisation is very common in today’s world. It enables people to travel around the world by improving the transportation and it also helps people to do business in terms of purchase or sell products and services as well as pursuit of business leads. Moreover, globalisation also allows the international communication by improving the technology and it helps businessman to communicate easier with their business partner from other countries. Globalisation brings both positive and negative impacts on international business. There are rise in competition and rise in investment levels; whereas, the negative impacts on international business are the culture effect and also create more social problems child labour and slavery as well as environmental issues. Firstly, globalisation leads to rise in competition. This is because when companies expand their business to different countries this creates competition for domestic businesses in terms of the price, cost and quality of goods and services. This type of competition act as an opportunity for domestic companies to manufacture good quality of products and services and work effectively and efficiently in order to conduct business on a global scale. This will not only benefit the international business by increasing its market share but will also benefit the host country (foreign country where the company invests) as now people will have variety of products and services of good quality and affordable price due to rising competition. The domestic market of the country will become strong due to foreign company establishing in the country and contribute to economies GDP rate and growth. One of the examples of company that establishes and contributes to economies GDP rate and growth is General Motors (GM). GM is a multinational company which produces vehicles in United States. They had expanded their business in more than 120 countries including China (General Motors, 2015). When GM expanded its business to China in 2010 and its sales had grown approximately 50 percent in China and 15 percent in United States (Ketchen Short, 2012). Secondly, globalisation also affects the investment level in both host countries and home countries. Foreign Direct Investment which is also known as FDI refers to the long term investment owned by investors which can show the flow of capital between countries (Economic Online Ltd, 2015). According to Graham Spaulding (2005), the definition of FDI refers to physical investment that made by a firm to another country for building factory purpose. FDI of both host countries and home countries will increase by expanding businesses to other country through globalisation. FDI gives positive effects to host countries in several ways such as technological effect, employment effect and income effect. With FDI, people able to conduct business with new technologies and management skills; this is because FDI enables technology to transfer from developed countries to developing countries. Besides, training will be provided to the domestic workers for operating business with the new technology which will improve their management skills. Moreover, FDI also contribute in the income of host country as earning of FDI will be counted in the corporate tax (Loungani Razin, 2001). On the other hand, FDI will benefit the home countries by increasing capital in the balance of payment account. Expanding business from one country to other countries, the revenue from the foreign direct investment of the firm will increase the capital of the home country (Hill, 2001). For example, Toyota expands their business to Malaysia and the profit that Toyota gains from the foreign direct investment in Malaysia will send back to Japan as a capital in balance of payment. However, globalisation also views as threats for international business. One of the reasons is because globalisation enables people to share their culture. It is crucial for international business to understand the culture of other countries so that they can increase the productivity of their business. However, it is very difficult for international business to understand every culture of different countries as it is too broad; for instance, in Malaysia, besides of Malaysian culture, there are also other sub–cultures as Malaysia have many ethics. Usually, people are used to their own cultures yet some of them not able to accept others’ culture. One of the examples is when a Swedish company dealing with suppliers in Brazil, the Swedish company is unsatisfied with the attitude of suppliers in Brazil as they always delay the delivery which is urgent for the company; at the end, the Swedish company had no choice, they have to give penalty to the supplier in Brazil so that they can be more punctual (Daeri, et al., 2008). Another difficulty that faced by global business is the communication style. Every country has different style of communication either direct or indirect (Salacuse, 2005). Scandinavia and United Kingdom is one of the examples that show different communication style. The communication style in Scandinavia is direct which means they talk openly and straight to the point in the business whereas the communication style in United Kingdom is indirect where they respect their business partners and they don’t reject obviously. Therefore, it is difficult for businessman to identify the disagreement among British partners. Moreover, globalisation also causes an increase in social problems such as child labour and environment issues. The main purpose of doing business is to gain high profit, some of the businessman doesn’t care whether it is ethical or not. In order to save costs, some of the international businesses will recruit young children as labour and slaves (Pillai, 2011). Child labour often occurs in countries with high poverty rates due to the bad implementation of child labour laws (Hunt, 2013). For example, there are many cases of children trafficking to work in the cocoa farms in order to help support family in the chocolate industry of Western Africa. Some of them even sell to the farm owners or traffickers to work in a bad environment which may causes disease among the children (Mills, 2014). Furthermore, international businesses also cause the environmental issues in the globe such as air pollution and water pollution. International businesses increase the world carbon dioxide emission. The demand for car industry around the globe increased as people want vehicles for transportation purposes (Lacey, 2011). When demand for car industry is high, international business will manufacture vehicles in order to fulfill the customer needs; the more vehicles being used in the road, the higher the level of carbon dioxide emission. Rise of the world carbon dioxide emissions will lead to the air pollution. Other than that, extracting the rare-earth by international business also causes serious environmental issue. The process of extracting the rare-earth will cause water pollution and also radioactive in that area as the water will contain all types of toxic chemicals which may cause cancers. For example, the town in Inner Mongolia named Baotou, used to have crops and plantation but when the producer of rare-earth Baotou Iron and Steel Company starts to produce rare-earth at that place, plants unable to grow due to the radioactive and water pollution (Guardian News and Media Limited, 2012). In conclusion, globalisation can be seen as opportunities as well as threats for the international business. International business able to expand their business in other countries around the world meantime they are helping foreign countries to improve their living standard by providing variety choices and enhancing the quality of goods and services. Moreover, international business also able contributes to home country by increasing the profit of inflow of foreign direct investment through globalisation. On the other hand, globalisation also causes the international business to face cultures issues in term of attitudes, personal styles and communications. Besides that, social problems are also one of the threats for international business. In order to gain higher profit, some of the international businesses will conduct illegal activities such as recruiting child labour or slavery to minimize costs. Not only that, international business also pollute the environment badly especially rare-earth company.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Gender Barriers inside Sports Essay -- Equality Feminism Athletics Ess

Gender Barriers inside Sports Throughout the history of sports, there has always been a gender barrier. There are certain sports that are aimed towards females and others that are directed towards males. When men or women enter a non-traditional sport for their gender, it is not widely accepted. However, there are those few athletes that pave the way for the rest and eventually our society will change and accept the new ideas in sports. Some people will always make judgments about the athletes who cross that gender barrier. At the same time there are others who will respect and look up to these athletes as role models who they will someday follow. In the movie Pumping Iron II, women bodybuilders are faced with judgments about their sexual orientation just because of their physical appearance. There is one character, Carla, who is always shown with her mother and sister, but never with a boyfriend or husband like the rest of the women. She does not feel the need to defend her sexuality and the audience never questions it, because she is more feminine than the other competitors. She wears girlish clothes and has a feminine face and hairstyle. Carla is also shown as a synchronized swimmer, which is an elegant and graceful sport. The manner in which she moves and her body frame differ from the rest of the women. One of the more "mannish" looking characters in the movie is Bev. Bev is the competitor with the most muscle. Her features, her hairstyle and her clothes are not as feminine as Carla's. Therefore, her sexuality is questioned. It is unfortunate that society links women's sports with mannishness and mannishness with lesbiani sm (Cahn 328). There are not only stereotypes of women in sports, but also of men. What is you... ... the future, sports will not be deemed male or female and athletes will be truly free to participate in whatever they love to do. Until then, athletes are still fighting with society and making breakthroughs everyday, creating an easier path for the generations to come. Works Cited Arnold, Gina. Synch Different. www.metroactive.com Cahn, Susan. "Crushes, Competition, and Closets: The Emergence of Homophobia in Women's Physical Education." Sexual Orientation. A.Dalke. Hult, J.S. "The Story of Women's Athletics: Manipulating a Dream 1890-1985." Women and Sport: Interdisciplinary Studies. Costa, M and Guthrie, S.R. Humant Kinetics Publ, 1994. Newberry, Paul. Sydney-Martin Short, Olympian? Associated Press, Sept.14, 2000. www.canoe.ca/2000GamesSynchro/sep14_fin.html-29k "Stereotypes are often overrated". http://idsnews.com/features/msjocks/page2.html

Remoteness and Loneliness in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Essay

Remoteness and Loneliness in Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Emily Bronte loved nature and spent most of her childhood on the remote Yorkshire Moors near her home in Haworth. Emily found that the Moors were a place of peace and sanctuary where she could retreat to relax and follow one of her most favourite past times, which was writing. However she knew that in a matter of seconds the Moors could change into a wild and savage wilderness. Emily chose this ever-changing setting for her only novel "Wuthering Heights". "Wuthering Heights" tells the tale of two families living in and around the bleak Yorkshire Moors near a small village, very similar to Haworth, called Gimmerton. This setting mirrors the personalities of the savage and brutal characters. These characters live in a remote and weather ravaged working farmhouse called Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights acquired it's name due to the, "atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather" The inhabitants of Wuthering Heights need to be tough to survive and only those characters born in Wuthering Heights are able to survive within it. When Hindley returns from University with his wife Frances she dies rather quickly as she cannot survive the savage weather conditions. We do not expect Hindley to die but as he has been away from Wuthering Heights for so long he also cannot survive. However there are other reasons for his death. When Heathcliff returns from his absence he stays with Hindley, and gets his long awaited revenge by slowly luring Hindley into gambling and alcoholism. This is the main cause of his death. If Wuthering Heights was not set in such an isolated place Heathcliff would not have been able to torture and... ...alanced and would not have been as successful with Victorian audiences. Imagery using nature was not seen or heard of very much in large industrial cities such as London or Liverpool so a novel set in the remote Yorkshire Moors was inevitably going to be interesting for the inhabitants of the city to read. "Wuthering Heights" would be neither realistic nor interesting and would not have the excitement that it is famous for without it‘s setting. It would become boring and average and would not have made such an impact with its new ideas and scandals such as Catherine falling in love with her adoptive brother Heathcliff. However perhaps with a less savage and remote setting the characters would have been happier and most importantly the tragic yet futile love of Catherine and Heathcliff could have continued not only in their deaths but also in their lives.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Medicinal Value of Yoga Essay -- Health Medicine Exercise

Medicinal Value of Yoga What most Westerners picture when you say Yoga, is an Indian guru in cloth shorts or a long flowing robe, twisted up in a some sort of a pretzel pose. You may picture the Yoga practitioner in peak physical shape, as well as, being a very peaceful human being. It is attaining this goal that is the aim of Yoga, but what most of people don't realize, is exactly how much goes into achieving this state. Yoga time honored teaching on how to achieve physical health, psychological well being and spiritual peace. This can be achieved by concentrating for hours in a state of complete focus, know as meditation. While mediating, the practitioner assumes various body positions known as asanas, that allows for maximum circulation of the body. By quieting the mind and placing attention on the breath and on the movement (and stillness) of the body the idea is to achieve a state of mind where he experiences total health and feeling of well being. The word Yoga as a term, literally means "union", the aim of Yoga is to integrate and harmonize all the various human faculties--mind, emotions, body, and spirit. In India, where it originated, this process of harmonization takes many forms: the yoga of devotion, of meditation, or selfless service, of knowledge and study. Although are advantages and disadvantage to all types of Yoga the scientific community maintains a belief through many years of study that Yoga has definite medicinal value in the maintenance of health and treatment of disease Overall benefits of Yoga The practice of Yoga encompasses many different forms--e.g. Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, Raja, Hatha, Kundalini and Tantra). As Sri Krishna Prem so eloquently stated, Yoga is not a synthesis of a... .../item,45098.asp 7. B. K.S. lyengar, "The Tree of Yoga" 8. http://www.holistic-online.com/Yoga/hol_yoga_pos_intro.htm#Introduction 9. Sahay, Sadasivudu, Yogi, Bhaskaracharyulu, Raju, Madhavi, Reddy, Annapurna, & Murthy, 1982 10. http://www.healingyoga.com/ 11. Monroe, R., A.K. Ghosh, and D. Kalish. 1989. Scientific Studies on Yoga and Meditation, Yoga Biomedical Trust, Cambridge, England. 12. Schell, Allolio, and Schonecke (1994) Scientific Studies on Yoga and Meditation, Yoga Biomedical Trust, Cambridge, England. 13. Wood, 1993, Scientific Studies on Yoga and Meditation Biomedical Trust in Cambridge, England, Yoga Biomedical Trust, Cambridge, England. 14. http://www.chennaiwebsites.com/html/yoga/ 15. Monroe, R., A.K. Ghosh, and D. Kalish. 1989. Yoga Research Bibliography, Scientific Studies on Yoga and Meditation. Yoga Biomedical Trust, Cambridge, England.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Disguise in Twelfth Night Essay

Twelfth Night is one of William Shakespeare’s so-called transvestite comedies that features a female disguising herself as a young man. This concept might be difficult to grasp by today’s audience but during Shakespeare’s time it was not unusual for female roles to be played by young boys. Every character in the play is involved in a situation where they think one person is someone else. These situations lead to turmoil and humor in the play. The many instances of mistaken identity and uncertainty of gender in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night contribute to the theme of confusion in the play. The first character in the play to introduce the theme of confusion is Viola. She is distraught after being separated from her twin brother, Sebastian, in a shipwreck. In hoping that he could still be alive, she is determined to support herself in an unfamiliar land by getting a job as a messenger in town. She says to the captain that rescued her, â€Å"conceal me what I am, and be my aid †¦ present me as [a male soprano] to him† (Shakespeare I.ii.49-52). Presenting her as a male soprano explains the high pitch of her voice. She decides to disguise herself as a young man named Cesario so she can work for Orsino, the duke of Illyra. Viola’s job is to be a messenger and after three days she becomes a favorite of Duke Orsino. He says to Cesario, â€Å"it shall become thee well to act my woes / She will attend it better in thy youth† (Shakespeare I.iv.26-27). The duke decides to send Cesario on the most important errand as messenger of his love letters to Olivia believing she will accept the letters from a youthful boy. This will eventually lead to trouble as a love triangle between Olivia, Orsino, and Viola†¦

Friday, August 16, 2019

Poetics in 330 BC. Shakespeare

Plays have been written ever since Aristotle discussed the origin and function of theater in his famous treatise Poetics in 330 BC. Shakespeare, William the supreme English poet and playwright, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists. He was also the first person to have a script for his plays, macbeth is thought to be the first, written in 1606 and published in 1623. As the play unfolds, Macbeth's ambition causes him to change his nature towards evil.At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was portrayed as a courageous soldier who fought for his King without mercy. But once the witches planted the seeds of greater things and Lady Macbeth fuelled his ambition, which lead him to become greedy and power hungry. What is ambition? Ambition is described as eager for success, power or fame. For Macbeth. Ambition was what drove him to become great, it forced him to change his nature towards evil. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was portrayed as a courageous soldier who fought for his King without mercy. But once the witches planted the seeds of greater things and Lady Macbeth fuelled his ambition, which lead him to become greedy and power hungry. Macbeth was led down to an unescapable road of doom by an outside force, namely fate in the form of the three witches. There was no supernatural force working against Macbeth, which therefore makes him responsible for his own actions and inevitable downfall. Macbeth is indeed responsible for his own actions, which are provoked by an unwillingness to listen to his own conscience, the witches, and his ambition. The witches tempted Macbeth with their prophecies, which made Macbeth ¡Ã‚ ¦s heart and mind slowly filled with ambition and his huger for power. The witches predicted, at the beginning of the play, that Macbeth would soon become the Thane of Cawdor and eventually the outright King. They tell Macbeth this, simply to ignite what would finally end up being a burning desire for success. Lady Macbeth then help Macbeth by inserting ill thoughts into his mind, and provided suggestions as to how to become King. At first, Macbeth rejects the horror in his mind but eventually he succumbs to evil for his ambition is far too great. The effect of the witches on the action of the play can be summarised by these words:  ¡Ã‚ §while the influences of the Witches' prophecies on Macbeth was very great, but it was quite clearly shown that it was only an influence and nothing more ¡Ã‚ ¨ (from a book called Macbeth Analyse). What I want to say was that Macbeth was just morally weaker than other normal human beings such as Banquo, who have very little ambition, Macbeth should been more responsible for his own actions and not blaming his downfall on the witches and his wife. Thanks to Lady Macbeth who acts as a ruthless, overpowering woman who dominates her husband and his actions. She makes Macbeth's decisions for him without giving him any say in his own actions, and she orders her husband to do what she determines to be best for him. It was Lady Macbeth who contrives the plan to kill King Duncan, because she knows that Macbeth would never commit such an act on his own without her prodding. At this present stage, Macbeth still has a conscience and he was very hesitant about killing the King but his weak nature over powers his conscience. Throughout the entire play Macbeth had by many imagination due to his guilt. Like seen the vision of the dagger, the ghost of Banquo, his vivid imagination and his constant worries also provokes him, this showed that he still has a conscience. This was also evident in his terrible dreams, which gives the solid theme that he has indeed â€Å"Murdered sleep†. Macbeth's personnel ambition and his insatiable lust for power drives him to his downfall. Although Macbeth's ambition was not in itself evil. Macbeth ¡Ã‚ ¦s new knowledge, which he obtained from the witches, makes him uncomfortable, as he realises the implications. His first thoughts considering murdering Duncan appeared, and he was scared. But his ambition, his desire for power over comes his fear, for him to pursue the murder. After he commits the murder, Macbeth Say,  ¡Ã‚ §The voice cried  ¡Ã‚ ¥sleep no more ¡Ã‚ ¦ to all the house  ¡Ã‚ ¥Glamis ¡Ã‚ ¦ hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more. ¡Ã‚ ¨ Knowing that has committed such a vile act makes him uncomfortable. It will be difficult to act innocent and to deal with his guilt. However when he reaches the kingship, his ambition grow like never before, with his new found power, Macbeth begins to gain strength which he never before possessed. He starts to take charge of his own actions, and Lady Macbeth loses control of him. He no longer needs her to make his decisions for him. This becomes evident, as he planned the murder of Banquo and hired the murderers himself without consulting his wife at all. In fact, Lady Macbeth urges him to forget what has happened in the past and move on. Macbeth, however, with his new sense of control, refuses to submit to her command. He goes on with his plans to kill Banquo because he was the only one that know about witch ¡Ã‚ ¦s prophecies other than himself and his wife, he was also scared that his later generations will become king at the same way that he become king (murdering Duncan). He later decides to kill Macduff's family as well, because he had decide from now oh he ¡Ã‚ ¦ll act whatever his heart told him to. Lady Macbeth was no longer involved in the decisions of Macbeth's life, decisions over which she formerly exercised total control. She was left behind with no part in his life, as Macbeth heads off with new plans of his own. Towards the end of the play when Lady Macbeth went insane and kills herself but still unable to remove the â€Å"damned spot† When she died, Macbeth shows some good which may have been. He wishes for a normal life for which he would have lived to an honourable age but he realised that can ¡Ã‚ ¦t be done. Even when Macbeth hears that the prophecy has become true of Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane, he rejects this idea and fights on until he realised that Macduff wasn ¡Ã‚ ¦t born in a natural birth but instead was â€Å"Untimely ripped† from his mother ¡Ã‚ ¦s womb. When Macbeth hears of this he realises what he has done and how the witches tricked him, he was absorbed in his own ambition and can not pull out of it. He realise it was too late so he fights on only to be slain by Macduff. Macbeth was a virtuous man, corrupted by power and greed. His ambitions led him to treason, murder and brutal killings by ordering the deaths of individuals, including his friends. The witches, to some extent are responsible for these temptations, as they had the power to provide temptation and to induce wrongful doings. His ambition grew within his head until his thirst for power caused him to lose it all to the blade of Macduff ¡Ã‚ ¦s sword It is my opinion; Macbeth is by no means but a butcher. Unfortunately his great ambition destroyed him and his relationship between his wife, friends (Banquo) and King Duncan. He was simply tempted by the witches to commit these acts with the only motive being personal glory and achievements. Usually, when not being manipulated, Macbeth was a good, loyal and courageous man, who was held by others of the community, in high esteem.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Breaking the Norm Essay

A norm is something that is usual, typical, or standard of something in society. Some examples of a norm are going to school, taking a bath, sleeping at night, wearing clothes in public, and eating breakfast lunch and dinner. All those things are stuff we do in our everyday lives and don’t think about it, we just do it because it is normal and it has been taught to us since we have been very little. If you end up breaking the norm though, people will look at you differently and you could really stand out from everyone around you. I am going to challenge this and break the norm to see what other people do and think around me. What I am going to do to break the norm is go to the grocery store with my mom and instead of walking everywhere, I am going to skip. I am going to start skipping right when I get out of the car into the parking lot until the time I get back in the car after shopping. I am even going to skip when I am standing in the checkout line. When I do this I think people are going to give me really weird looks and look annoyed that I am skipping everywhere. I also think my mom is going to feel embarrassed to walk with me. When I broke the norm by skipping everywhere in the grocery store I got the weirdest looks from people, but some people smiled and laughed. I did not tell my mom that I was going to do this and I did not tell her that this was a project. At first my mom laughed, but then she got really annoyed and yelled at me and told me to stop but I didn’t listen to her and kept going. At one point she tried walking in front of me because she didn’t want to be seen with me. All the other people just stared at me with weird faces on and when I would look back I could see them laughing and talking about me. At first when I got out of the car I felt kind of embarrassed to do this because it is not the normal thing to do. As I proceeded to do it though it got easier and I knew I was going to be right about all the people looking at me with weird looks and my mom being annoyed of me and embarrassed to be with me. The lady in the checkout line looked very confused and uncomfortable when I was just skipping in place; she looked like she didn’t know what to do. I just kept skipping though and minding my own business and acting like nothing was wrong. People in today’s society do normal things every single day. When we see someone breaking the norm, like I did, you think twice about that person and wonder what they are thinking. If Americans see someone from another country wearing a turban, or seeing the Chinese foot binding, or seeing different tribes from Africa putting copper rings around the girls necks to make them longer we tend to judge them and wonder what they were thinking. Other Countries could think we are different and not normal too when they see us with mohawks or tattoos or piercings. Those things are normal to us but not normal to other people. When you break the norm you get a really good feel on how everyone does the normal things every day and doesn’t think twice about it until you see someone else breaking the norm.