Habitat fragmentation Essays

Habitat fragmentation Essays Habitat fragmentation Essay Habitat fragmentation Essay Three different attacks to understand worsening population : the instance of home ground atomization Introduction The IUCN Red List indicates that over 6000 species of craniates are threatened ( IUCN 2009a ) . The most important factor of endangering species is habitat atomization ( Caughley and Gunn 1996 ; Hanski 1998 ; IUCN 2004 ) , which is defined as an agent of decline in the declining-population paradigm ( Caughley 1994 ) . Although species-specific attacks are employed to turn to the agent of diminution, the more theoretical attack should be developed to supply more efficient direction scheme of endangered species preservation ( Caughley 1994 ) . However, several methods associated with habitat atomization have been developed on classical attacks ( Fischer and Lindenmayer 2007 ) . Therefore, the purpose of this reappraisal is to analyze recent attacks to turn toing population diminution in disconnected landscape and if these attacks have been developed in the manner to understand population diminution. Approach to turn toing population diminution INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR Cardinal to this attack is that loss of nucleus countries, which are often used for single behavior such as forage or genteelness, is the key to an apprehension of the impact of habitat atomization on population. Case survey: Habitat choice of the Iberian Lynx ( Lynx pardinus ) at dispersion phase The Iberian lynx ( Lynx pardinus ) happening in the Iberian Peninsula ( Delibes et al. 2000 ) is a moderate-sized feline and the most threatened feline in the universe ( Nowell and Jackson 1996 ) . One of the major factors of diminution in the population is habitat devastation and atomization ( Rodriguez and Delibes 1992 ) . : Palomares et Al. ( 2000 ) behavior radiotracking research with 42 persons for 14 old ages in the Donana part. Their findings indicate that radio-collared Iberian lynxes at dispersal phase most often use the Mediterranean scrubland, where flora type is more suited for runing and engendering. Palomares et Al. ( 2000 ) found postdispersal persons tend to settle in lower quality home ground compared to habitat at predispersal phase. In decision, it is suggested that the nucleus country for the Iberian lynx might hold already reached transporting capacity, therefore, to keep population, the Mediterranean scrubland should be protected. The major strength and failing of the single behavior attack This paper focuses on persons in a disconnected home ground with the accent on behavior at a critical phase for endurance, where single dispersion behaviour is critical for population kineticss ( Bowler and Benton 2005 ) . The advantage of attack might be elaborate description of the relationship between home ground and species by radiotracking. Based on single behavior, Palomares et Al. ( 2000 ) highlights the importance of a specific flora type. Although this attack is similar to the behaviour-based theoretical account ( Norris 2004 ) , which is based on single behavior scheme with evolutionary theory, the attack on here is non complete plenty to include evolutionary However, the strength of the behaviour-based theoretical account might be able to partly use since both attacks are developed from behavioural ecology. From this point of position, the strength of this single behavior attack is that a plausible premise of population response to habitat atomization can be established based on single behavior, as Norris ( 2004 ) supposes. On the other manus, this attack could be criticized as an deficient method to understand population diminution theoretically owing to complexness. This expostulation is hard to counter, since this attack tends to be species-specific and case-by-case on the land that single behavior is influenced by assorted factors such as fittingness, intra- or interspecies competition, resource handiness, or environment ( Begon et al. 1996 ) . Therefore, the failing of the attack must be trouble in using consequences to other species. METAPOPULATION APPROACH Metapopulation kineticss is frequently considered as a sufficient tool to understand theoretically the impact of habitat atomization ( Hanski 1998 ) . This attack is derived from island biological science, therefore, it is possible to understand the impact of habitat atomization by incorporating a spot construction with well-established little population theory ( Hanski and Gilpin 1997 ) . Case survey: Metapopulation kineticss of the Iberian lynx ( Lynx pardinus ) Gaona et Al. ( 1998 ) characterizes the spacial constellation of Iberian lynx population as the metapopulation construction in the Donana part, and conducts patterning and simulation research of metapopulation kineticss with demographic parametric quantity based on field informations gathered from 1983 to 1992. Harmonizing Gaona et Al. ( 1998 ) , Iberian lynx metapopulation has a beginning and sink construction, and the survival rate of territory-holding grownups in beginnings play a premier function in the metapopulation kineticss. They conclude that increasing transporting capacity in the beginnings and diminishing mortality rate in the sinks are effectual in keeping the population of lynx. The major strength and failing of the metapopulation attack In the instance survey, it is assumed that population diminution of Iberian lynx cased by habitat atomization in the Donana part depends on the balance between beginnings and sinks. In add-on, the metapopulation theoretical account shows several possible determiners of population kineticss. Therefore, it could be argued the metapopulation theoretical account has three strengths to understand population diminution by habitat atomization. First, the theoretical account could heighten theoretical apprehension of the impact on population kineticss at regional degree ( Hanski 1998 ) . Second, conjectural scenarios of population kineticss can be proposed for future direction ( Gaona et al. 1998 ) . Third, metapopulation theoretical account can incorporate the chief two models for research in habitat atomization ; one is species-oriented ( e.g. demographic or familial ) , another is pattern-oriented ( e.g. connectivity or inch consequence ) ( Fischer and Lindenmayer 2007 ) . However, the two cardinal jobs of metapopulation theory for the impact of habitat atomization can be identified. One is an equivocal definition of atomization in metapopulation theory. The term of atomization originally means the procedure of home ground alteration, therefore, it is hard to see that a spacial construction of disconnected landscape is the standards to understand population diminution ( Fahrig 2003 ) . Another is deficient parametric quantities for demographic and environment in the theoretical account due to either oversimplifying of or deficiency of ecological informations and environmental factors ( Harrison and Bruna 1999 ; Bowler and Benton 2005 ) PHYLOGEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH Phylogeography can lend to placing geographic barrier and the impact of scattering on familial fluctuation ( Freeland 2005 ) . Therefore, it assists to understand the impact of habitat atomization on species dispersion and familial diverseness. Case survey: Phylogeography and preservation familial of Jaguars ( Panthera onca ) Although Jaguar one time ranged from south portion of US to Argentina, current scope is restricted from Mexico to south portion of Argentina ( Nowell and Jackson 1996 ) . The population tendency is worsening ( IUCN 2009b ) caused by chiefly habitat atomization ( Nowell and Jackson 1996 ) . Eizirik ( 2001 ) et Al. examines mtDNA control part and microsatellite venue from 44 Jaguars. They point out that panther may hold high cistron flow across their scope, because 22 different haplotypes and the 4 haplotype subgroups do non bespeak a historical-geographical barrier for subspecific distinction. However, their mtDNA and microsatellite analysis shows considerable distinction between subgroups. Eizirik et Al. ( 2001 ) assumes that some dispersion of Jaguar is limited by Amazon River and the Darien Strait, and perchance by the recent geographical barrier. Added to this, they besides find low degree of familial diverseness from mtDNA analysis while high degree of single fluctuation is found from microsatellite loci analysis. Although Eizirik et Al. ( 2001 ) see trying prejudice, they conclude that it is necessary to maintain high cistron flow and familial diverseness for Jaguar preservation. The major strength and failing of the phylogeographical attack The major strength of phylogeography may be supplying penetration of the distribution procedure from persons to population and species. Sing persons, the instance survey reveals that some panthers have a high ability to scatter within the scope, although major geographical barriers exist. This serves as grounds of long-distance dispersion because the survey of long-dispersal has been superficial, even though much research has done for short-distance dispersion ( Waser et al. 2001 ) . In add-on, phylogeography shows familial diverseness, on which dispersal/gene flow has the important impact, at population and species level ( Frankham et al. 2002 ) . Therefore, the phylogeographical attack may be a sufficient tool for understanding the impact of habitat atomization by placing single dispersion and familial diverseness in population and species. However, this attack might non be suited to acknowledge possible indicants of diminution such as high mortality rate in a home ground which are unseeable in familial analysis. Discussion It was observed in old portion of this reappraisal that the three attacks show the different dimensions and the advantages and disadvantages. To compare all of these distinctions is beyond the range of a brief paper. Therefore, the cardinal difference, spacial and temporal graduated table, in the three attacks is focused on here. Sing spacial graduated table, the first attack focuses on single behavior, while metapopulation attack efforts to understand population diminution at regional degree. However, phylogeographical attack allows consideration from single to species degree. Phylogeographical attack is besides able to see the impact of habitat atomization within a wide temporal graduated table. Compared to phylogeographical attack, the temporal graduated table in other two attacks is comparatively little. Having noticed this implicit in distinction, it could travel on to see how they complement each other with their strengths and failings. We shall concentrate on the single behavior attack to analyze how to incorporate attacks. When incorporating it with metapopulation theoretical account, it might non be effectual. The ground is that the theoretical account simplifies single behavior ( Heinz, et Al. 2006 ) , even though the metapopulation theoretical account allows spread outing clip graduated table by imitating scenarios. Namely, the metapopulation theoretical account may cut down the advantage of single behavior attack. On the other manus, uniting with phylogeographical attack has high potency for understanding the impact of habitat atomization on population kineticss. Since phylogeographical attack provides grounds of historical and current scattering, integrated attack can maximise the ecological information of species by comparing historical scattering and present dispersion behavior. In add-on, familial diverseness revealed by phylogeographical attack can track the effects of behavior scheme on population kineticss. Therefore, it seems sensible to say that incorporating single behavior and familial analysis is sufficient for future apprehension of the impact of habitat atomization. This incorporate attack has already started to develop ( Gebremedhin et al. 2009 ) . In decision, even though this integrated attack has started to develop and several attacks including a theoretical theoretical account have emerged, our understanding for population diminution might non be beyond Caughley s declining-population paradigm in the sense of species-specific and individual attack. The chief ground is that elaborate ecological informations of the mark species is indispensable to utilize theoretical accounts or an incorporate attack efficaciously for understanding the impact of habitat atomization, which is a major menace for most species and the agent of diminution. Literature Cited Begon, M. , J.L. Harper, and C.R. Townsend. 1996. Ecology: persons, populations and communities. 3rd edn, Blackwell Science, Cambridge. Bowler, D.E. , and T.G. Benton. 2005. Causes and effects of carnal dispersion schemes: associating single behavior to spacial kineticss. Biological Review 80: 205-225. Caughley, G. 1994. Direction in preservation biological science. Journal of Animal Ecology 62: 215-244. Caughley, G. , and A. Gunn. 1996. Conservation biological science in theory and pattern. Blackwell Science, Cambridge. Delibes, M. , A. Rodriguez, and P. Ferreras. 2000. Action program for the preservation of the Iberian lynx in Europe ( Lynx pardinus ) . Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, France. Eizirik, E. , J.H. Kim, M. Menotti-Raymond, P.G. Crawshaw, S.J. OBrien, and W.E. Johnson. 2001. Phylogeography, population history and preservation genetic sciences of panthers ( Panthera onca, Mammalia, Felidae ) . Molecular Ecology 10: 65-79. Fahrig, L. 2003. Effectss of habitat atomization on biodiversity. Annual Review of Ecological Evolution and Systematics 34: 487-515. Fischer, J. , and D.B. Lindenmayer. 2007. Landscape alteration and habitat atomization: a synthesis. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16: 265-280. Frankham, R. , J.D. Ballou, and D.A. Briscoe. 2002. Introduction to Conservation Genetics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Freeland, J. R. 2005. Molecular Ecology. Willy, UK. Gaona, P. , P. Ferreras, and M. Delibes. 1998. Dynamicss and viability of a metapopulation of the endangered Iberian lynx ( Lynx pardinus ) . Ecological Monographs 68: 349-370. Gebremedhin, B. , G.F. Ficetola, S. Naderi, H.-R.Rezaei, C. Maudet, D. Rioux, G. Luikart, O. Flagstad, W. Thuiller, and P. Taberlet. 2009. Uniting familial and ecological informations to measure the preservation position of the endangered Ethiopian walia ibex. Animal Conservation 12: 89-100. Hanski, I. 1998. Metapopulation kineticss. Nature 396: 41-49. Hanski, I. , and M.E. Gilpin. Editors. 1997. Metapopulation Biology: Ecology, Genetics, and Evolution. Academic Press, London, UK. Harrison, S. , and E. Bruna. 1999. Habitat atomization and large-scale preservation: what do we cognize for certain? ECOGRAPHY 22: 225-232. Heinz, K.S. , C. Wissel, and K. Frank. 2006. The viability of metapopulations: single dispersion behavior affairs. Landscape Ecology 21: 77-89. IUCN ( the International Union for Conservation Nature and Natural Resources ) . 2004. Species Extinction The Facts. Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/species_extinction_05_2007.pdf [ Accessed: 8th November 2009 ] IUCN ( the International Union for Conservation Nature and Natural Resources ) . 2009a. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Speciess: Table 1. Numbers of threatened species by major groups of beings ( 1996-2009 ) . IUCN ( the International Union for Conservation Nature and Natural Resources ) . 2009b. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Panthera onca. Available from: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/15953/0 [ Accessed: 8th November 2009 ] Nowell, K. , and P. Jackson. 1996. Wildcat wells: Status study and preservation action program. IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group, Gland, Switzerland. Palomares, F. , M. Delibes, P. Ferreras, J. M. Fedriani, J. Calzada, and E. Revilla. 2000. Iberian lynx in a disconnected landscape: Predispersal, dispersion, and postdispersal home grounds. Conservation Biology 14: 809-818. Norris, K. 2004. Pull offing threatened species: the ecological tool chest, evolutionary theory and declining-population paradigm. Journal of Applied Ecology 41: 413-426. Rodriguez, A. , and M. Delibes. 1992. Current scope and position of the Iberian lynx Felis pardina Temminck, 1824 in Spain. Biological Conservation 61: 189-196. Waser, P.M. , C. Strobeck, and D. Paetkau. 2001. Estimating interpopulation dispersion rates. Pages 484-497 in J. L. Gittleman, S. M. Funk, D. Macdonald and R. K. Wayne, editors. Carnivore Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Sales Management Plan - IT company - Background and headings provided Term Paper

Sales Management Plan - IT company - Background and headings provided - WRITE ONLY HEADINGS 7,8,9 - Term Paper Example The sales force that is highly motivated will have more sales. The sales force is also critical in the company’s profitability as it increases sales, maintain prices and control the expenses. Secondly, it is possible to measure and compare the output of an individual. Costs, sales and other result oriented metrics can be tracked by the company. The results of the territory can be benchmarked against the previous year, territory goal, and market potential. The company can; therefore determine the salesperson that is performing better. Also, the job of the sales person involves rejection and lack supportive social interaction. Most of their jobs are unsupervised. Therefore, an incentive payout is a reward and a measure for the success of the salesperson as this job attracts risk takers who require relent incentives for a high level of performance (Andris A. et al. 2001). Incentive plans have impacts that are immediate on the sales force which is felt in either of two ways includ ing it influences the kind of person that is attracted to the organization and also affect the behavior and activities of the salespersons. The compensation framework for a sales incentive has three constituents. First, company that decides on the compensation plan the sales force, which decides on, the compensation plan and the customer who decides whether to take on the products or services of the company. Customer results may include the satisfaction they get from the products and services and also the relationship with the company’s selling organization (Andris et al. 2001). Staffing Recruiting involves finding quality people who can see things through the eyes of the customer and then interface with the people of marketing. To maintain its relevance, it is also important to ensure that the recruited personnel are maintained. There are several skills that may lead to success in sales. These include innate desire to serve, integrity, willingness to listen, strong work ethi c, effective communication skills and ability to put others at ease. The role of the hiring process will involve the location of individuals with core characteristics and the values that lead to sales success. There are six steps important in the hiring process: First is the job definition where the job requirements are developed. Companies have different requirements depending on the industry they are in. these requirements change over time and, therefore, need to reevaluate them and the activity priorities as the market conditions and competition changes (Andris et al. 2001) The second is the candidate profile which should be checked for successful traits of a sales person. A candidate may not have all the required traits, but others are essential and should be present. These include the ability to communicate effectively and a certain level of competence. The third is the applicant pool which determines the quality of the candidate. Recruitment is more successful when the reliabl e information about a candidate is known by the recruiter. The sources of applicants involve Fairs, Web (I.E. Career Builder) and Connect with Career services at Universities. The staff can be recruited either internally or externally. Internal recruiting develops a pool of job applicants that are qualified form the people who are working in the company. This is sometimes referred to as promotion as it is used to motivate employees. This also reduces the start

Reflections on Contemporary Leadership Issues and Strategies Essay

Reflections on Contemporary Leadership Issues and Strategies - Essay Example The application of various concepts in the practical world allows one to understand the functionality and dynamic nature that leadership requires, in order for this subtle art to be effective. The class boasts of a plethora of different nationalities and backgrounds that have made me appreciate key ideologies like teamwork, motivation and appreciating diversity amongst many other. Leadership is not merely about managing people and increasing productivity to generate higher profit levels. It is an amalgamation of various personal, social and strategic skills. True skills promoted by leaders are developed over a period of time, and are evolved through regular use in all aspects of the daily routine of an individual. This by no means implies that the same skill set will apply and work in all situations. While certain individuals possess inherent leadership qualities and abilities, others will need to perfect their skills through learning and practicing. One feature which must be remembered by all is that true leadership values can never be taught; they must be groomed through use. The feedback provided by my fellow colleagues was an enlightening experience that allowed for an understanding from a different perspective. Conversations and discussions allowed everyone to contribute to the matter in an open environment, with each individual able to discuss their views and experiences of leadership. This provided a more comprehensive outlook of the subject, with examples of various industries and sectors like information technology (IT), health care, hospitality, human resources (HR) and construction; from the public and private aspects, with global and local perspectives. Everyone has a different way of relating to/with leadership. I believe that my personal reflection varies from most of the generic scenarios. Most of the course text assigned to us provided detailed discussions on leadership from a business outlook. While these harnessed ideas and

Joint Venture in the Construction Industry in Spain

Joint Venture in the Construction Industry in Spain An estimated 20,000 joint ventures have been formed worlwide over the past two years. Such strategic alliances can provide business owners with long-term security, new revenue channels, and , often, the anchor needed to maintain stability in otherwise turbulent waters. A successful joint venture can open the door to a wold of future partnership opportunities (Robert L.Wallace 2004) Factors now at play in our economy make it more feasible and more critical than ever for small business owners to leverage the power of joint venturing. These factors include: The emergence of the customer economy Advances in technology that have neutralized time and space contraints Change brougt on by shifting demographics More entrepreneur- and more oportunities- as a result of downsizing In the midst of these world-changing trends, what is often missing from a succesffull business strategy are the critical alliances and strategic partnerships that will help leverage the strenghts and minimise weaknesses. Forging joint ventures and strategic alliances will allow business to win millions contracts as the partner with large companies to offer with, breadth, and depth demanded in the marketplace. Done well, joint ventures provide both participating businesses with a chance to learn and benefit from each other, and to achieve results neither could achive alone. In this dissertation will be explained- how to enter into joint ventures well so a company can prosper in ways it never could by doing it alone CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii CONTENTS iii LIST OF TABLES v LIST OF FIGURES vi INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Objectives of Dissertation 2 Contents 3 JOINT VENTURE EXPLAINED 2.1 Joint Ventures Explained 2.2 The Rationale of Joint Venture Formation 2.3 Joint Venture Formation 2.4 Management and Implementation LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Forms of Joint Venture 3.2 Motives of forming a Joint Venture 3.3 Selection of Partners 3.4 Preliminary Agreement and Negotiation Research Methodology 4.1 Research Approach 40 4.2 Research Ethics 41 4.3 Interviews 42 4.4 Survey 46 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 5.1 Basic Conflicting Interests 5.2 Loss of Autonomy and Control 5.3 Findings CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES Chapter One Introduction and Objectives of Dissertation Introduction Business once grew by one of two ways: grass roots up, or by acquisition. Today business grow through alliances- all kinds of dangerous alliance, joint ventures, and customer partnerign, which by the way, very few people understandà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Peter F.Drucker 2007) Experiences of joint venture management in the construction industry traced back to the early 60 ´s. It appears that characteristics of this industry favor the proposition of joint ventures formation. Although statistics are not available, this is obviously true in relation to the infrastructure development of Spain at the present moment The determination of the . 1.1 Objectives of Dissertation This paper attempts to review the existing literatures on management of joint ventures its merits and problems, particular issues arisen and suggested management techniques to cope with such obstacles in operating a joint venture. Interviews were conducted with two senior staffs of one of the partners of a joint venture formed by four construction firms. The joint venture is currently undertaking one of the Train Station Core Projects to be completed before July 2011. It is hoped that hand-on experiences of these senior staffs, at the level of Management Committee of the joint venture, as well as the operational level of the joint venture, would provide us valuable insight and opinion on the art of joint venture management, as a reflection and complement to the general review of the literatures. The key objectives are: To critically appraise the existing literature to Corporative alliances issues and the role of International Strategy in applying these issues. To establish the importance Strategic alliances with competitors in the international market. To evaluate the purposes of strategic alliances as well as to what extent might be successful a company. To determine other factors that influences companies in seeking Joint Ventures. To assess the sources of value creation. To study possible pitfalls in doing a Strategic Alliance. To draw conclusions upon a joint venture in a case study. 1.2 Contents In Chapter 2, the organization of interest is described in detail along with an explanation of its forms. In Chapter 3 the literature in relation to joint venture and strategic alliances in general and its application within the company is critically reviewed. Chapter 4 describes and justifies the research methods employed and includes a section on the ethical considerations of the project. In Chapter 5 the findings of the one-to-one interviews, In Chapter 6 the findings are analyzed and evaluated in relation to the published research literature. In Chapter 7 a joint venture framework for the SMART Services is presented along with a plan for its implementation. Finally, in Chapter 8 conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made for future work. A list of references is provided and the appendices contain pertinent information, documents (including, the survey questionnaire) and collated data. Chapter Two Joint Venture Explained 2. Joint Venture Explained A joint venture is the coming together of two (or more) independent business for the sole purpose of achieving a specific outcome that would not have been achievable by one of the firms alone. (Source: Wallace 2004) 2.1 The Rationale of Joint Venture Formation The form of joint venture provides benefits and a skeleton, based on which the management philosophy of the joint venture builds up. . (See Figure 1) Figure 1: Joint Venture. Business Benefit Source: Trendsetter Barometer, PWC In respect of share of management, there are dominant parent ventures, share management ventures and independent ventures. Degree of involvement of parents in these types of joint ventures differs, and in turn these joint ventures face different types of nature and management problems. At operational level, there are approaches of integrated structure and non-integrated structure. The nature of the business and the share of responsibilities in various aspects of the business will be the determination factors of choice Generally speaking, the choice of form of joint venture should be made in accordance to what contributions are required of the parents in order to achieve the purpose of forming the joint venture. Companies forming joint ventures basically intend to develop markets and products. Common reasons are: to suit government policies, pooling resources, risk sharing, building business relation and to reduce competition. The first step to form a joint venture, after realizing that such tactics is desirable, is to select a partner. Consideration on selection of partners concentrates on three major themes: shared objectives, mutual trust and co-operation, and abilities of the potential partners. Appropriate partners should be compatible in their objectives of forming the joint venture and their expertise/Knowledge on the business. Right partners also should possess similar management styles normally. Lastly it is important that potential partnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s real intention is realizes, to avoid future major disagreements. 2.2 Joint Venture Formation When the partners have reached initial agreement to form a joint venture, often a preliminary agreement is signed. It forms a basis for the drafting of the detailed agreement, and provide framework for the partners to work together and proceed to more detailed planning works. But subsequent negotiations following for the preliminary agreement often provide good chances for the partners to understand more thoroughly the expectation of potential partners. It is not uncommon that a final agreement cannot be reached because major conflicts are revealed in the process of subsequent negotiations after preliminary agreement. It is always intended to write agreements to cover all contingencies. But some managers consider that it is not so practically possible in view of the rapidly changing environments nowadays. Instead, emphasis should be placed on building up mutual trust and thus it is important to incorporate a sense of fairness into the joint venture agreement. Generally defined, well understood mutually, and respectful to each other ´s rights in return to their contributions committed. It is suggested that the best solutions should be an agreement covering all possible contingencies, together with the design of a flexible mechanism allowing changes to be agreed between efficiently while promoting cooperation and mutual trust. A very important aspect in drafting the joint venture agreement is the design of reward system for the partners. Pay-off in the form of product flow between the parents and the joint venture is often the source of major management problems and conflicts. Such product flow diverts attention of the parents from the joint venture ´s benefits. Again, fairness and willingness to co-operate are the keys to resolving such problems. If at all possible, market comparison is a useful guide to fix the transfer price in a fair sense. The primary concern of a partner in forming a joint venture is probably the degree of control over the business. In respect of split of ownership, majority-minority shares are sometimes preferred, as the majority of partner can act as leader for the joint venture and thus gives direction in a less ambiguous manner for the operation of the joint venture. On the other hand, come companies prefer equal shares to ensure willingness of all partners to contribute efforts as required and they may also feel more comfortable that all partners have equal statusà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in the joint venture. Ownership distribution is less important than how operation control is actually apportioned. There is no rule on thumb on allocating operation control. General guidelines are that each parent should be motivated to make necessary commitments continuously in accordance to their abilities, and that each parent should be protected in its interests. To enhance long term co-operation, exploitation of other partner ´s interests must not be attempted. It must be emphasized that full equality in operating control requires much more efforts from all partner, and the joint venture would have to be operated in day-to-day on-going negotiations and compromise among the partners. 2.3 Management and Implementation Standard joint venture organization consist of two components the management board and operation organization. The management board is the highest authority of the joint venture. The composition of the board and jurisdiction of the board determine largely the share of power among the partners. To build an effective board, board members should be delegated enough and necessary authority by their own companies in making decisions and vote in the board. They should endeavor to maintain mutual trusts among the partners, to sustain the common goal and objectives of the partners and to the exercise effective control over the joint venture. This is better to clearly separate the operation organization independently from the management board, to avoid biases or perceived biases towards one particular partner. As mentioned earlier, staffing is a possible and often effective way of controlling the joint venture operations. But overact may generate resentment from other partners. It will be extremely difficult to build up cohesiveness of the operation organization from all the partners. The organization will possibly segregate into groups of their own companies. Theoretically, secondly is desirable only if considered necessary for the needs of the joint venture. Otherwise recruitment from outside can more easily maintain the independence of the operation organization. The joint venture manager is an important role, as the leader for the operation organization, the bridge between the child and the parents, and sometimes as the mediatorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? for the parents if disputes arose among them. He has to possess negotiation skills, people skills, and selling skills to bring together mutual co-operation form all parties concerned. He is often found to be involved in ambiguous relationship, with his sub-ordinates and supervisors, and wit the parent companies. In order to achieve his task of pleasing everybody and avoiding conflicts and tension between the parties concerned, he has to be highly tolerant and ambiguity. The joint venture manager should be loyal only to the joint venture, not to any of the parents. He has to be perceived as neutral, otherwise his opinions will never be convincing to other people. Biased loyalty of the joint venture manager will arouse other parents taking harmful measure against smooth operations of the joint venture. Being neutral is an important qualification of the joint venture manager in order to gain autonomy and trust, which in turn makes the joint venture more likely to succeed. The joint venture agreement implied an independent operation organization separated from the parents to be fully responsible for daily management of the business and that the operation organization enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. In practice, the independence and autonomy were granted to the operation organization, only if all parents, in particular the joint venture manager, will act truly neutral. Without such belief, parents were able to exercise disruptive negative measures to hinder the normal implementation of management for the joint venture operations. The case also supported that the quality if the joint venture manager in negotiation skills and human relations, and its relationship with the parents was a paramount importance of the success of the joint venture. A strong leader might be harmful for a joint venture, but a practical and flexible manager surely is very useful. Chapter Three Literature Review 3.1 Forms of Joint Venture 3.3.1 Share of management The fundamental question in management of joint ventures is the degree of involvement of partners in decision making processes on major policies as well as day-to-day operations of the joint ventures. In this respect, joint ventures are often categorized into three types: (Stephen I. Glover and Craig M. Wasserman 2003) Dominant parent ventures: in which management decisions are dominated by one parent, either formally by majority voting rights in all major aspects or informally by management settings to control key decisions makings without significant involvement from the other party. Shared management ventures: in which management of joint venture operations are shared between the parents, either shared by each providing resources in certain functional areas or shared by pooling resources at most levels of the joint venture operations. Characteristics of this type of joint venture are the necessity of frequent negotiation and agreement between the partners at most all levels and aspects of the business management. Independent ventures: in which parent ´s involvements in the management of the joint venture is very little, as it is left almost entirely to an independent group of personnel employed under the joint venture. The roles of parents are not too much different from shareholders, except that they may be providing other distinct types of resources as well as capital and there are only a few shareholders. Dominant parent ventures and independent ventures are thought to be more trouble free, as they require less interaction and thus less potential conflicts between the parents. However, there are no concrete evidence to suggest that these two types of ventures will be more likely to succeed than shared management ventures. Obviously the choice of joint ventures types is dependent on the situation and nature of the business and the parentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s  ´characteristics. Circumstances often call for shared management but no other choices, simply because joint efforts are required to achieve what is intended. Pooling of resources, and thus a mixed input of management efforts from both parents, may be the fundamental desire of forming the joint venture. In such cases, dominance of one parent certainly cannot fulfil the purpose of the strategic alliance and the question is to overcome the difficulties of shared management on joint ventures operations. Legal Form In terms of the legal form of the joint venture, there can be three choices: (Dennis Campbell and Antonida Netzer 2009) Consortium: it refers to a grouping, formed on a one-off basis, which is governed by a contractual agreement. The contractual agreement is made to define clearly the position of each of the parents, including a specification of the authority, responsibility, liability and power of each party. Parnership: it can take a form of formal partnership. The parties are then effectively recognised in law as partners. The joint venture is considered as a business entity on its own, in legal terms, separated from the individual parties. As partners, each of the parties is legally liable for any debt or default committed by other partners on behalf of the joint venture, which may not be the case if formed as a consortium depending on details of the contractual agreement of constituting the consortium. Incorpotation: joint ventures which are intended to be a permanent business are usually constituted as an incorporate entity. This would enable the parties being insulated from the risks of the business of the joint venture, as a limited company. The major disadvantage is that the profit and loss sustained by the joint venture as incorporation cannot be set off against that of the parent companies for tax purpose. 3.1.3 Operational Structure The two extreme categories of operational structure of a joint venture are integrated joint venture and non integrated joint venture (Dennis Campbell and Antonida Netzer 2009) Integrated Structure: the parties agree on a certain proportion of capital and resources investment and a prescribed profit or loss sharing formula, and they both participate on every level of execution of the joint venture business. Non-integrated Structure: in such case, the joint venture usually provides for general management machinery, which looks after overall administrative and coordinative roles for the joint venture business. The whole business is then divided into packages or portions which are assigned to the parents to execute and operate such packages or portions as designated in the joint venture agreement (Appendix A) In practice joint ventures are usually a mixture of these two approaches. The question is the degree of integration to be adopted for the given set of circumstances faced by the joint venture. For that joint venture business that can be divided into clear cut portions and such divided portions will suit the capability and resources of different partners, non-integrated approach will usually be adopted. While the joint venture business is complex and it requires a centralised management of all aspects of the business, the management will be integrated. Integrated approach is more difficult to manage. Conflicting interests and ideas between the partners can arise more often than non-integrated approach. But it is often unavoidable as the nature of the joint venture business mar not is possible to be divided neatly into portions. On the other hand, for non-integrated approach, complicated contractual argument can arise between partners. In case of joint venture agreement in a basis of joint and several responsibilities, it is not uncommon that the partners lodge contractual claims against each other on non-performance or default of the other parties in executing their portion of the joint venture business resulting loss to the whole joint venture from third party claims. The Case Study The parents attempted to adopt a mixture of shared and independent management for the joint venture under study, as implied in the conditions of the joint venture agreement. The management committee of the joint venture, which was the highest level of decision making and policy setting, were composed of one representative each partner. In respect of operational structure, a mixture of integrated and non-integrated approach was adopted. While a separate joint venture organization supposedly independent from the partners managed and operated the whole joint venture business integrally, the project was divided into portions and packages which were then subcontracted back to the partners under the joint venture 3.2 Motives of forming a Joint Venture Companies forming joint ventures basically intended to develop markets and products i.e. to strength the firmsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ existing business, to take the firms existing products to new market, to obtain new products that can be sold in the firm ´s existing markets, and to diversify into new businesses (Mark de Rond 2003) These objectives can be achieved through various ways, as shown in figure 1.1 But why choose a joint venture to try to achieve these objectives? Common reasons are: (Das y Teng 2000) Government Policies: because of licensing requirements of the government for undertaking a certain type of business in a country, e.g. for construction works in Spain many foreign companies may wish to form joint ventures with local companies who have the required licenses at hand in order to enter the market first, while they at the same time apply for the necessary licenses which may take months or even years in some cases. Many governments, who attempt to protect the development of certain industry of their countries, establish regulations that prohibit foreign companies to set up wholly owned subsidiaries. If foreign companies wish to explore the market of those countries, they have no choice to form joint ventures with local companies. Risk Sharing: in very large and risky projects that companies feel uncomfortable to bear but unwilling to give up the business opportunity, several companies share the risk by undertaking the project jointly. These risk may be commercial risks (finance, source of materials, technical uncertainties, etc) or political risks (change un government policies, unstable political status of the country, etc) Figure 1: Motives for joint venture formation New Markets Existing Makets To Take Existing Products To Foreign Markets Open Markets Closed Markets To Diversify into New Business Learning from your partner Learning with your partner To Strengthen the Existing Business Achieving economies of scale Acquiring technology Reducing financial risk To Bring Foreign Products To Local Markets Marketing and distribution Screwdriver assembly Developing local technology Technology flow back to parent Existing Products New Products Source: (Das y Teng 2000) Pooling of resources: companies often join to develop business that requires a combination of different resources (finance, technology, market access, local experience, etc) that none of these companies possess all of them, e.g. a combination of market access by one company and technical knowledge of a product by another, combination of different technical skills that are necessary to develop a product, or a combination of several companies à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"resources to achieve economies of scale. Building business relation: some companies form joint ventures with in order to build up wide business relations among the industry. They believe that this will enable them to widen their networks of business and that it may be helpful for their further business developments in long term. Reduce competition: joining with your competitor automatically reduce the degree of competition. This is particularly useful if there are only a few potential competitors only. It is not uncommon to find in certain industry that formations of joint ventures effectively create monopolistic or oligopolistic conditions. The Case Study In the construction industry inherent risks involved in the projects are the major concern of a company ´s business strategy. Sharing of commercial risks (financial burdens on the company, source of raw materials, technical uncertainty involved with the works) for large scaled projects is the major reason of forming joint ventures. Because of the huge amount of resources involved and the multi-disciplinary nature of the projects, pooling if resources from several companies is necessary to gain sufficient competence in order to tender for the works. Not a single company may have all the necessary skills and sufficient amount of resources that are required for those Train Station Core Projects. Formations of joint ventures become the most common tactics for the construction firms to undertake those projects. Political risk is also a major concern especially for foreign firms who are not familiar with the policies. Most foreign firms conceive that formation of joint ventures is an effective way of securing the safety of the business, particularly when undertaking infrastructure development projects of payment terms. Large construction firms (both local and international firms that were interested and had potential to undertake these large projects) gradually formed into groups of consortium to tender for these jobs. As a result, the industry transformed into competing allied groups, instead of competing among individual firms. Although such transformation might be unintentional at the time these companies first formed joint ventures, they now became aware of such advantage and might use this again as one of the useful tools in future when considering the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s strategy competitions in the industry. 3.3 Selection of Partners 3.3.1The Criteria of Choosing a Partner Considerations on selection of partners concentrate on three majors themes: (Lynn Krieger 1991) Shared objectives Mutual trust and willingness to co-operate and Having necessary skills/resources The task is to find a compatible partner in respect of these three major themes. The right pair or group of partners often implies an asymmetry of partners, i.e. the right partners often have different quality and characteristics so that they will complement with each others on the need of the business. Basic consideration is whether the potential partner can provide what you need and the confidence of the potential partner ´s willingness to co-operate. They may not have the same objective but their co-operation should fulfill each other ´s objectives. They may not have the expertise on the same area, and they should possess different knowledge so that when combined together their competence will be strengthened. In fact two partners having expertise on the same area often is the source of conflicts as both will consider their own approach is superior without due respect on the other partner ´s expertise on the field. But right partners should desirably have similar management styles and outlooks so that their overall business strategy would go along the same direction. Otherwise, conflict on major business policy that is originated from the incompatibility of the partners expectation on what the joint venture should achieve eventually arise someday Lyn Krieger put forward two prepositions: The more similar the culture of firms forming a shared management joint venture, the easier the venture will be to manage. The more similar in size are the parents of a shared management venture, the easier the venture will be to manage. A significant size mismatch between a venture ´s parents can create a lot of problems for the venture. Culture here refers to both corporate culture and the culture of the country from which the firms are based. These propositions are based on the principle that managers, to be effectively working together, need to be able to evaluate each other ´s judgment and the way of working before they can build up a cohesive team. The second proposition is an extension of the first one as size of the company can contribute to difference in corporate culture. One should also be alert on any hidden agenda of your potential partner (Kathryn Rudie 2003). Confidence on the observation of your potential partner ´s real intention and objective to form the joint venture is a pre-requisite condition before a decision can be made on the choice of partners. The classic tragic case of Beijing Jeep is a good example of hidden agenda. Both partners did not spell out clearly their real intention of what was to be achieved, and both partners did not understand thoroughly the other partner ´s real intention before signing the joint venture agreement. Unreasonable conflicts arose not long after formation of the joint venture, when both parties realized that they were expecting something beyond the wishes of the other party. The tragedy ought to be avoidable if both parties made clear of their expectations before signing on the joint venture agreement. 3.3.2 The Process Selection It is suggested that a step-by-step approach should be adopted to develop relationship with potential partners (Kathryn Rudie 2003): Prepare a checklist desirable quality of the partner Searching out for potential partners based on the checklist Prepare proposals and issues to study and negotiate with the potential partner If possible, try out a joint venture of small scale before committing long term and large scaled joint venture business Theatrically, this process enables the partners to develop faith and mutual trust and allows better mutual understanding before placing large financial stakes on joint ventures with unfamiliar partners. Obviously, this takes a long time and in practice the ever changing business environment often does not wait for such long process of partner selection. Business opportunities simply slip away before the good partner relationship can evolve in this way. In real life, it is often founded that good joint venture partner relationship is assumed at the time of signing the joint venture agreement, and the assumption is often based on personal relationship between the CEOs of the companies. The Case Study Major consideration in selection of partners was what resources the partner could bring in to supplement his shortages and strengthen the competence of the company to successfully tender for the job. Reputation and track record in the international construction industry was the first item to check on, particularly as the potential partner was new-comers to Spain. It was admitted that the other partnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s intention of choosing the company was not fully known at the time of forming the joint venture. At that time, it was only understood that the company was chosen by other partners because of its local experiences in Spain and the feeling of political security that the firm could provide as a whole owned company. It was now gradually revealed that

Ww2 Introduction

Introduction World War II began on September 3rd, 1939, two days after Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany because they promised to help Poland if anything happened. From the end of the First World War, the Germans carried hate in their hearts for all Allied country leaders. This was because of a peace treaty called, â€Å"The Versailles Treaty†. The Versailles Treaty blamed Germany for everything. It allowed them not to have submarines or an air force.Land was taken away from them, and they were only allowed to have a small army. On top of it all, the Germans had to pay for all damages the war had caused and take full responsibility for causing it. The Germans thought this was really unfair, and never forgave their government for this. Most of them joined new parties that promised to get revenge. One of the party leaders was an ex-soldier in the German army who swore to destroy both Weimar Republic and the Versailles Treaty. His name was Adolf H itler. A HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY-BRYN O’ CALLAGHAN) When Hitler came into power, he started with creating a stronger, new and improved German army. Although the Versailles Treaty said that Germany should refrain from all of this, he still went on. He made weapons, build warships and even a German air force. The treaty also said that the Rhineland should be ‘demilitarized’ by the Germans. But in 1936, they marched into the Rhineland expecting a fight from either Britain or France. But to Hitler’s surprise no one tried to stop them.This gave Germany a boost of confidence that lasted throughout World War II. The League of Nations tried to prevent World War Two from happening but couldn’t, only made matters worse. Firstly, they couldn’t prevent a country from doing what they wanted. Secondly, if countries fought, the league could not do anything about it. Thirdly, Germany never liked them from the beginning. So if the Versailles Treaty m ade up the League of Nations, it was destined to fail. The treaty couldn’t keep tabs on one country, so how was it going to on many countries?

Changing Landscape of Health Care Essay

Health care will always be a revolving door of change, and growth. With today’s voice in patient population it has been easier to guide where health care needs to fix itself. Technology and health care has been a positive collaboration thus far. This paper will discuss the shifts taking place in the health care market, the current and a potential challenge, how health care is handling challenges, and how has marketing changed? The major shifts that have been taken place are the hands on approach patients have with their own health care decisions and progress. With today’s health care challenges of managing electronic health records in the patients hands, many medical technology’s have been an interactive play ground in the digital health care age. This then allows the patient to gain and have more control in their health care process. Patients are able to see what they need to accomplish to better their health, and it allows for the patient to make the necessary changes to better their health care needs. The current changes are the interactive approach that the patient population will now have with their electronic health record. This allows the patient to see their history and what predisposed disease’s they should test for. Potential changes I can see coming is being able to pay medical bills through the patient’s electronic health care record. With the new addition of mobile phone applications this can help the patient to become more involved in their health care status. The challenges in electronic health care records will always be the concern of patient’s records being breached. This causes major red flags in electronic records software, with many firewalls and virus detectors in the previous medical records breach. These challenges will always be a concern in today’s digital age. The United States health care system has been prepared for any hackers and or system potential failures. Health care organizations have come to an understanding in making  electronics health records a number one priority today. In future years I see health care becoming a strong and efficient system, it will have its moments of pitfalls, but with consistency and determination as a country and health care system the United States electronic health care system can become a strong candidate for a great health care system.

Ethics Value Theory, Normative Ethics, And Meta Ethics

The topic of ethics has always been up for debate. Ethics as defined by Landau is, â€Å"moral philosophy that focuses on the branch of knowledge of answering question on how we ought to live. (Landau)† In order to grasp a deeper meaning of ethics Landau focuses , â€Å"questions about what our guiding ideals should be, in what sort of life is worth living, and how we should treat one another† (Landau). The purpose of these questions allows society to focus the key points of ethics, hedonism, physiological egoism, ethical egoism, and divine command theory. The questions above drive three main recognized points in ethics: Value Theory, Normative Ethics, and Meta Ethics. Value theory raises the question, â€Å"What is the good life?† The good life is driven by what it that people have an intrinsic value for in life. Intrinsically valuable components are, â€Å"something that in it of itself makes a person better off† (Landau). Some might challenge that havin g whatever makes a person happy is falls under the category of being intrinsically valuable, but this is not true. For example, happiness could be tied to a feeling or sensation that makes a person â€Å"happy†. This can be seen in the idea of providing free beer campus wide at all times of the day. While although the action could make a person temporarily â€Å"happy†; providing alcohol at any times of the day in not intrinsically valuable because the consumption of alcohol in it of its self is not something that will a person better off in life. ThisShow MoreRelatedNormative Ethics: Society Determines What Moral and Ethical Act or Action is Correct and Acceptable1446 Words   |  6 PagesNormative ethics are those ethical principles and values that are considered morally correct and express principles of good character, actions that are viewed as right rather than wrong and are commonly accepted and reasonable. 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