ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
USA has held more elections than many other countries in the world. Nonetheless, some of these elections record a low voter turnout. It has also had weak political parties with many political offices to fill. There are two political parties that fill all office vacancies. Voter participation has been high in parliamentary democracies where few elections have taken place. The question arises on how best people can achieve democracy. This is possible through limiting the number of elected offices, focusing voter attention and increasing political participation or keeps the wide range of elected offices with a correspondingly lower rate of political participation. This paper seeks to give views on how the government can increase participation in elections. USA has many elective offices; on estimation there are about 521,000 posts filled through the election process. As a result, there are many names for voters to familiarize themselves with, which largely de-motivates voters. The mechanics of voting procedures also are another reason for low voter turnout. To increase voter turnout, government needs to reduce offices to be filled in the elective process. This will reduce the names the voters need to know before the election date. Reform programs can play a
A functional strategy is defined as an organization’s plan of actions aimed at optimizing the use of resources and improving its overall performance. According to Hajar (2016), functional strategy alongside corporate and business strategy is one of the strategic management levels. Usually, a company is divided into different functional departments, each of which executes plans that contribute to achieving the overall goals. The broad concept of functional strategies is comprised of production, marketing, human resources, financial, and research and development strategies. Google’s production strategy is based on the employment of technical development to solve issues in unprecedented ways. Besides, Google also focuses on optimization for the sake of growth, not for the sake of revenue. Instead, the increase in revenue is viewed as an outcome of the company’s development. In terms of marketing strategy, the most important one is that everyone could use Google services for free. Undoubtedly, Google has some paid services; however, this brand became popular mainly because every person could freely use Google search, drive, email. Particular attention should be paid to Google’s human resources strategies. First of all, Google is famous for its creative tasks for job seekers. This strategy allows Google to choose the most qualified people thinking outside the box. Additionally, Google is concerned with creating a working environment in which employees would feel comfortable and happy. This attitude to employees allows Google to optimize their productivity. Finally, Spector, Norvig, and Petrov (2012) claim that the decision to couple research and development was a breakthrough since it eliminated the technology transfer process’s problem. This means that the same specialists work with technology from the stage of research to the final product stage. To conclude, other companies could learn a lot from the strategies utilized by Google. Its experience shows that a business should prioritize growth over revenue, attract consumers via free and unique services, and focus on creating a pleasant working environment. Still, even though Google is one of the most successful IT companies in the world, it is necessary not to forget that other companies should not blindly copy its strategies. Instead, Google’s ideas should be adjusted to the needs and specia
In recent years, researchers and human resource practitioners have taken an interest in examining ways to enhance employees’ performance through engagement. The link between genuine engagement and outstanding work performance is evident, for engagement is characterized by an individual’s investment and proactive behavior in the workplace. It is crucial to identify the factors that predict engagement both on the individual and organizational levels. In their study “Is competition engaging? Examining the interactive effects of goal orientation and competitive work environment on engagement”, Jones, Davis, and Thomas investigated the said contributors’ impact on employees’ involvement. Seeking to establish a correlation between the presence of the said factors and the level of engagement, the authors put forward some hypotheses. They assumed that learning and proving goal orientation, in which an individual finds gratification in finessing their skills and in demonstrating competence respectively, enhances engagement (Jones et al., 2017, p. 393). On the contrary, avoidant employees that approach tasks with apprehension are less engaged (Jones et al., 2017, p. 393). The authors speculated that a competitive work environment has the potential to balance out both learning proving goal orientation and engagement; however, the effect is likely to be prominent solely in highly competitive environments (Jones et al., 2017, p. 395). Thus, the study reasoned that the impact of competitiveness should be investigated in conjunction with individual predispositions. As for the research design, the authors elaborated a survey comprised of three scales on engagement, competitive work environment, and goal orientation. The item count of each scale varied from 12 to 20; response options ranged from 1 for “strongly disagree” to 7 for “strongly agree” (Jones et al., 2017, p. 396). The number of participants was 440, all of them older than 21 and with work experience of two years or more (Jones et al., 2017, p. 396). The researchers took into account whether a participant had supervisory responsibilities and the length of time that they had been in the current position (Jones et al., 2017, p. 397). A possible study’s limitation was that a considerable share of the data drawn is subjective and perceptual. In conclusion, the authors acknowledged the potential of competitive environments to be engaging; however, they attributed a more significant role to individual dispositions
Abstract The Asian market presents tremendous potential for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). The report evaluates the feasibility of South Korea, Vietnam, and China as a new market for personal beauty, body lotion product. The Asian region is a good market to consider for the organization as it seeks to expand revenue from retail sales. Introduction The Asian market presents a tremendous potential for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) healthcare and specialty chemical products with the growth rate being about 7.4 per year. Therefore, the region is a good market to consider for the organization that is seeking to expand its retail sales for the newly launched body lotion product targeting the FMCG market. An attractive feature of the market is the high population growth rate and a large existing population. Global sales for FMCG sales online are expected to reach about $130 billion over a decade, by the year 2025. Therefore, the organization is seeking to be part of the growth by expanding into a country in South East Asia, and it has considered the three options being reviewed in this feasibility report. Methodology Three options have been selected for expansion, and they are Korea, China, and Vietnam as the country markets for the company to enter. The options are analyzed neutrally irrespective of the eventually market entry mode that the company decides to use. Some entry options are available such as joint venture and foreign direct investment in a fully owned subsidiary. The company may also opt to be an exporter to the markets with a business partner serving as its distributor. The other option is to license a local company that is already in the country to carry the new body lotion brand and share the proceeds of sales at an agreed percentage or submit royalty payments to the organization. Criteria The analysis has been looking at key economic performance indicators for the countries analyzed. It has also focused on the FMCG trends in those countries. Another category looked into was the retail landscape and opportunities for market entry that are available. Under this category, the analysis considered geographical distance, cultural distance, economic distance and administration distance characteristics of the market considered for expansion. Responses to the concerns have been used to verify the lucrativeness of a particular location over another, and this helped to inform the recommendations of this feasibility report. The size of the market has been reviewed according to performance in previous years. Here, the key concern is whether the market is growing at a sufficient rate that would provide adequate room for a new entrant to
Culture is a broad term that generally refers to the practices, beliefs and perceptions in a particular setting. However, with the current trend of globalization in the business there has been a surge in international mergers and acquisitions and cultural variation is a major challenge that should be adeptly addressed. Cultural variation is a very sensitive issue that should be dealt with when organizations are merging together. These cultural as well as other associated differences call for appropriate integration approaches for mergers and acquisitions. Depending on how well the cultural differences are addressed, mergers and acquisitions can be successful. Leadership is of key essence where mergers and acquisitions are involved and therefore, appropriately integrating culture is very important. The term culture has been deemed an arduous concept hence the numerous definitions associated with it. The different definitions clouding the term culture are as a result of the different national cultural frameworks. This paper therefore, is a detailed discussion of cross-cultural variation with reference to mergers and acquisition. Culture is perceived to be a very difficult construct that cannot be easily defined. This is due to the fact that Kroeber and Kluckhohn identified more than 164 definitions of the term culture as defined by anthropologists (Dickson, Ram and Jagdeep 9). According to Hofstede (1-3), culture is “the collective programming of the mind” which is applicable to some but not all humankind. Hofstede’s definition of culture draws a boundary between the various types of culture like national culture, societal culture, organizational culture, and any other kind of culture due to the collective aspect contained in the definition. Therefore, societal culture can be looked at as the collective programming within a society while organizational culture is within an organization, and so on. Fiske (85) defines culture as “socially constructed constellation made up of practices, symbols, ideas, institutions, competencies, goals, norms, schemas, artefacts, constitutive rules, and changes of the physical environment”. Foreign direct investment has taken a new turn with regard to the economic and financial world. This is due to the fact that it has recently adopted the form of international mergers and acquisitions. The execution of mergers and acquisitions plays a key role in shaping the world’s economic boundaries. As such there are a lot of international mergers and acquisitions between developing and developed countries. However, the expectations in financial benefits are not realized as indicate by Auster and Sirower as cited by Majidi (2). Bijlsma-Frankema (192) suggests that these benefits are not realized because mergers and acquisitions are created without placing much attention on deserving issues such as cultural and psychological ones. Instead, financial and business elements are given more priority. There is a wide gap
Introduction The Business has experienced a healthy growth for the past few years. The owner, her husband and all the employees (both the permanent and casuals) has done a great deal in ensuring that the firm achieves the best. This has seen The Business expand to capture a larger market area. The firm now needs to employ a larger workforce because it has ventured into new territories which have greater needs. The security system it has employed is also fairly good. Both the physical security- in terms of physical structures- and the security on the computers data is fairly strong because as at current, only the owner of the business and the permanent employees can access the data on the computers. This means that the data on the computers are safe from intrusion by unwanted individuals. This is a clear demonstration that the owner of The Business is conscious of security issues and is determined to ensure that as the business expands, so does the security measures that would help protect business data. However, there are various obvious security loopholes that the owner and her team has left out that can cause serious threat to the firm. The Business therefore needs some security measures improved on its system to achieve the maximum in its quest for growth. Type and Layout of the Equipment The company has been operating from home. However, the growth of the firm has forced the firm out of the house and therefore the firm needs to develop the type and layout of the equipment in its new facilities. The type of layout within the new location should be in a ways that would ensure that the firm is safe from the possible intrusion by unwanted individual. There is need for improved security because the Business is moving from the house where maintaining security was relatively easy, to a leased premise in a business park. The Business should take a Simple Office Layout in its new premises. Because it is coming into a new environment, the firm may not be in a position to hire larger space for its operations. For this reason therefore, the office plan should assume the open office system with only the owner and the computer server that have their offices partitioned from the rest. The computers should be properly arranged on the open office with each employee assigned a computer and a specific role to play, like monitoring customer tenders or responding to the questions that customers may pose online. Other employees, especially the casuals should mainly be based at the stores. The moment the employees at the desk receives an order and it gets approved, the system should allow for a possibility to pass an instruction to the employees in the stores to package the approved purchase. The stores should be located, and if possible, in the same building as the office. The movement within the office should also be made easy. The owner should be in a position to monitor th
Introduction Sarah has been training as an assessor in one of Greenline Bus Company’s assessment centres, the company’s effective way of recruiting and selecting drivers. Here in the assessment centres, applicants undergo psychometric tests and interviews. Sarah has some problems as an assessor. She fails to meet the required standard of interviewing. Because of some lapses, her trainers could not award her the required certification as an assessor. And she could not just be redeployed by the company because of the investment already made on her. The trainers however say that Sarah is successful sometimes in the interviewing process but also forgets her past lessons. She can give direction to the interviews and cannot just be led astray by the applicants. Sometimes she can build a rapport with an applicant, but sometimes not. Sarah feels she does not deserve a failing mark. Her manager also feels she is adaptable and can easily adjust with her superior. She needs to be given another chance. The Problem This paper asks: why is Sarah having difficulty with learning the skills required for the type of interview in the assessment centre? Why are the rest of the trainees getting the lessons correctly, but she does not? In analyzing and determining the underlying reasons regarding Sarah’s difficulty in her training as an assessor, we have to consider several factors, for example, Sarah’s physical condition, psychological state, and other environmental factors that contribute to a person’s accommodation and assimilation of new knowledge. Klein (1987, quoted in Klein and Mowrer 1989, p. 1) defines learning as “a relatively permanent change in the ability to exhibit a behavior; this change occurs as the result of successful or unsuccessful experience”. Klein’s definition stresses that the experience can be successful or unsuccessful. Sarah’s learning seems to be a difficult task despite the fact that she has to adjust and adapt to the new knowledge. Her job as an assessor is new although she has been training for a year. She has been with the company for fifteen years as a driver, and a year as an assessor, although her being an assessor is still in question. Her age is around thirty plus something, or early 40s. And the reason why she has ‘retired’ from driving in Greenline is because she has complained of back trouble. That seems to be not a good state of health. There is more than the psychological aspect, though it is a major factor in her learning difficulties. Moreover, management should consider that they are into a different kind of learning involving adults: adult learning. The assessors are not really that young, and the company accepts mostly experienced dri
Organizations are currently affected by many issues that have rendered them less effective and efficient to cope with today’s market demand. It has been pointed out that the nature of operations entirely contributed to that. Beitler points out that “top management creates anxiety among their juniors with unplanned changes” (56). First, the growth in technology has improved the qualitiy of goods and services in terms of relevancy, cost effectiveness and satisfaction of societal needs. However, the cost of installation, maintenance and operational limits the use of technology among various competitors. As a result, technological innovation and creativity are not realized. In today’s market taking into account varied taste, preference and demand, organizations are striving to capture a fair share of it. Various market researches have been carried out to outline need of the consumers and their preferences. Fashion and lifestyles are some of the factors that keep changing with time. The generation gap has made it difficult to predict consumer behavior in an era of technological diversity, especially the y-generation’s one (Burke 87). Economic instability has derailed the running of the organization. Most countries are experiencing a poor exchange rate in the world market and unfavorable balance of payment. In addition, political instability has negatively influenced international relations causing import and export oriented organizations alarm. Today, most organizations are affected by the global economic breakdown, and this has consequently resulted in laying off of many workers (Kotter and Dan 57). Many organizations have condemned theft, fraud and errors within the company amongst its employees during normal business operations. With increased cartels and formal agreements among business organizations, cases of fraudulent behavior have evidently been pointed out strongly as the ones affecting the organizational policies. Therefore, it has resulted in leakage of important and confidential information to non-authorized people. There i
Five Industry Issues The following are the five main industry issues that affect Suzlon. This report further analyses them in the section below under the PESTLE analysis. The first issue is political; the existence of positive policies for encouraging the growth of renewable energy section. This is a positive aspect that ensures continuous growth of the market. The second issue is economic, which is about the increased competitiveness of wind energy compared to other sources of electricity in developed and developing countries. The third decisive issue is increased stakeholder involvement in the ownership and development of wind energy infrastructure. It arises due to the collaborative nature of establishing wind farms in private lands across the world and sufficient government involvement to facilitate private firms’ deployment of wind power solutions. The fourth issue negatively affects the cost of production because technology advancements force manufacturers of different components to keep investing more in research and development, which reduces the overall positive margin for the sector. The last issue is bureaucracy, which negatively affects the time taken to approve and complete projects. It makes companies suffer opportunity costs. Industry Analysis: PEST Political Most of the global markets where Suzlon is focusing on have an accommodating political climate. In addition, they have constructive policies for promoting renewable energy. As a result, Suzlon has a high potential for growth in the markets where it is targeting (Prdhan 2008). Economic The wind energy market is increasing in size. There is a positive focus on the wind energy market, with a forecasted increase of 155 percent as of 2012 (Pradhan 2008). The trend will continue as more countries embrace renewable energy. Wind as a resource is available for free, which ensures companies investing in the sector only have to consider the costs of equipment and limited running costs (Balogun & Hope Hailey 2008). Social There is an increased appreciation of wind energy as a clean form of energy that enhances the sustainability of environments. However, installations of wind turbines in rural areas face an uphill task of convincing residents to allow their placement in their farms. The presence of turbines with smaller generating capacities makes it possible for institutions to generate their power, instead of relying on grid electricity. This trend will continue to support the increase in the overall demand for wind turbines across the globe (Pradhan 2008). Technological There are sufficient developments in technology by the companies se