ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction A merger is a business expansion strategy in which two or more companies combine to form one new company. On the other hand, an acquisition is a business venture in which one company purchases another one without formation of a new company. In general, a merger and an acquisition entail consolidation of two or more corporations to form a competitive joint synergy. In this paper, McDonald and Carl’s Jr. Corporations have been chosen to illustrate the effectiveness of mergers and acquisitions as business expansion strategies. McDonald’s Corporation is one of the leading fast food restaurants that have gained global competitive advantage through acquisitions. Unlike McDonald’s, the competitive advantage of Carl’s Jr. is product differentiation and effective customer service. Carl’s Jr. operates mainly in the United States of America. McDonald’s Corporation McDonald’s is the largest chain restaurant in fast food industry. The company started in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant in California. Its main products are hamburgers, breakfast items, cheeseburgers, and soft drinks. Today, McDonald’s Corporation serves over 65 million customers on a daily basis in 120 countries around the world. Its main expansion strategies are competitive customer service, high quality products at affordable prices, product differentiation, effective marketing and acquisitions (Mujtaba & Patel, 2007). During its initial business expansion phase, McDonald’s Corporation employed high quality customer service and product differentiation as strategic marketing tools to gain a strong market presence in the United States of America. By mid 1980s, McDonald’s was among the biggest fast food restaurants in the United States of America. This strong market presence prompted the need to explore overseas markets. A stronger domestic market presence was essential in propelling the fast food leader to the international scene. Acquisitions were among the effective strategies that would ensure quick expansion of McDonald’s Corporation. Acquisitions were also thought to be strategic management tools that would help McDonald’s overcome the challenges of new markets. McDonald’s Corporation hoped to use the already established market presence and successful business models of existing companies in new market environments (Mujtaba & Patel, 2007). In response to these needs, it acquired Donatos Pizza, Chipotle Mexican grill, and Boston Market between 1998 and 2000 (Derdak & Pederson, 2004). The above acquisitions made McDonald’s the biggest chain of fast food restaurants in North and South America. The acquisitions were strategic because they increased the product line and domestic market presence of McDonald’s
Types of labor utilized in the South For English colonists coming to the Southern lands of North America, the issue of labor was burning. To enrich themselves easily and quickly analogically to their Spanish “predecessors”, they needed a cheap labor force having no rights (O’Brien). Thus, colonists’ first steps were the attempts to the exploitation of the native population. However, these attempts were not successful, as the indigenous population was not willing to work and resisted exploitation; colonists had to look for other ways to get a “convenient” labor force. Gradually, another kind of labor took shape in the South: the institute of indentured servitude became the source of the labor force for colonists and the way to survive for numerous poor immigrants (ibid.). Indentured servants were young unskilled laborers coming to America who was not paid salaries; employers paid for their transportation, food, clothing, housing et al (ibid.). Unlike slaves, indentured servants worked under a 3-7 years contract, and an employer had a right only for their labor. Besides, when the term of a contract finished, an employer had to pay “freedom dues” to servants who became free members of the society (PBS). Gradually, indentured servitude became a source of problems and threats for the property-owning elite: firstly, servants were becoming healthier, and the mortality rates decreased, which meant that employers had to pay “freedom dues” in more cases (O’Brien); secondly, English servants claimed to have rights equal to English citizens (ibid.); besides, free former servants became competitors to the colonist elite (PBS). Moreover, as the demand for labor grew in England, labor cost increased, which was not beneficial for employers. Finally, the efficiency of the work of black slaves increased, as new generations knew English and had adjusted to the environment (Economic History Association). Thus, colonists needed a more “obedient”, “unproblematic” labor force, which caused a switch to the institution of slavery. Portrayal of Southern Society The watercolor painting dated c.1800 in (Freeman et al, p.93) is an example of valuable authentic fragments of the historical legacy that allow us to learn more about the events of the past centuries. The painting displays the ceremony (probably, the wedding) held by black slaves and demonstrates the way African and American cultures fused during the period of slavery. Despite colonists resisted to the advancement of African culture and suppressed it (ibid.), it did not disappear but evolved being enriched by American culture. We see the outfit that looks not like African traditional costumes, but rather like sla
Introduction The need to improve educational outcomes of learners in a bid to match the contemporary professional demands and current challenges associated with socioeconomic changes is augmenting. Without the proper knowledge economy and the required proficiency in the industrialised world, the future generation will face great challenges in coping with the expected harsh economic realties. Education is currently one of the most integral development strategies with the main purpose resting upon investing in children and youth education. As professionalism becomes a key economic and social aspect in the modern world, complex industrialised societies are calling for improved educational systems. Ylimaki (2012) notes, “Curriculum leaders who are grounded in understandings of cultural politics and curriculum theory recognise curriculum as complicated conversation and complicated decisions as political acts…they must have such understandings to navigate within a broader and increasingly conservative political sphere” (p.305). This essay seeks to discuss this statement with reference to contemporary issues across the United States. Curriculum leadership as a complex matter Literature indicates that curriculum leadership has become one of the convoluted issues that seem to attract controversial debates in the U.S. (Ylimaki 2012). Educators in the American education system continue to believe in the presence of a great disparity in curriculum development and management, which has resulted in intense confusion. The U.S. educational system should be guided by modernised content standards, but the system has not granted a standardised and mutually accepted norm on educational practices (Spillane et al., 2001). In the present-day United States, developing a standardised curricula accepted by all operatives in the education sector has been confronting following a mixture of ideologies, principles, and perceptions on what seems essential to incorporate in the curricula. As Schmidt et al. (2005) postulate, “defining what it is that students should be expected to know or do” (p.526) has been one of the controversial issues within the U.S. curriculum realm. Several issues have protracted in the American elementary school curriculum development and management practices, thus making the competency of the education itself questionable as cultural, political, and social influences result in regular discourses (Spillane et al., 2001). Despite having a long convention of shared responsibility in matters pe
The modern world could be characterized by the growth of the level of interest to the Eastern Region of our planet. The fact is that the given region has a very good strategic location which makes it important for the international relations and world policy. It should also be noted that the area could be characterized by the existence of developing states which have very good perspectives and could become one of the most important actors of the world policy. India and the UAE belong to this sort of states. Having good perspectives, they are nowadays analyzed by a great number of scientists in order to realize some possible ways of their evolution. It should be said that nowadays the UAE is one of the richest states in the world with the great level of incomes and welfare. The given country is rather young and the periods of its blistering development are determined by the evolution of oil industry. Nowadays, the UAE is one of the main oil suppliers and the given branch of industry influences the whole state, forming the character of the industry of a state and its society. Thus, the incomes are divided not equally and citizens of the UAE obtain the greater part. The state is ruled by the President, which is chosen among the rulers of Emirates which form the country. The given peculiarity determines the structure of government, power and society. Nowadays, India is also taken as a very powerful state with the developing economy and good perspectives which await it. It is characterized by the developed large-scale industry and agrarian sector. That is why, the Indian society could be characterized by the existence of close relations between people who work in the same field and belong to the same social class. However, there is a great power distance which shows that people are not equal and there is a strict hierarchy within the Indian society (Sheerasi, 2014). It is determined by the peculiarities of the historical development of the given state. That is why, nowadays, power-privileged people in India have more rights and use their status to make their position stronger. Comparing the UAE and India, it is possible to outline several common traits. First of all, it is the power distance which is still rather high. If to compare, the UAE has even more threatening showings, as its power distance is 90, while in India it scores 77 ( United Arab Emirates in comparison with India , n.d.). The UAE is an absolute monarchy and, that is why, the strict hierarchy is traditional to it. That is why, people in both these countries are not equal and their life is determined by their social status which has the great impact on all spheres of their activity. Nevertheless, the UAE has the collectivistic society which means that people prefer to belong to some groups based on kinship or some other aspects. The Indian society is mixed and there are manifestations both of the individualism and collectivism. With this in mind, it is possible to make a conclusion that India and the UAE have a great number of common traits determined by the peculiarities of their development. Both countries have high scores on the powe
Introduction The Wide Range Achievement Test 4 is the test that is aimed at testing students’ basic academic skills, the competency in reading, spelling, sentence comprehension, and mathematics. The test is directed at people from 5 up to 94 years old. The WRA has two forms Blue and Green, pretest, and posttest. The possibilities to report the results, organize those in a form of a table or chart are useful (Hebben & Milberg, 2009). The WRAT 4 is the test which helps quickly check students’ academic knowledge. This test is simple, but its usefulness should not be underestimated. It helps to diagnose learning disabilities if any and check students’ progress in studying. Moreover, teachers may use this test to determine which skills they should pay more attention to. Getting down to the researched-based critique on the Wide Range Achievement Test 4, the following information should be considered, norms, reliability, validity, properties of the test instrument, history, and practical utility in detail. The Wide Range Achievement Test 4 Developmental norms The developmental norms of WRAT 4 are based on age and grade scores, as well as “percentile ranks, as well as optional stanines, normal curve equivalents (NCEs), grade equivalents, and Rasch ability scaled scores” (Makray, C., & Hope, 2009, p. 50). The standardization procedure is considered to be the most important part of the development of the test. To follow this procedure, about 3,000 people were used as samples for collecting necessary information. The subjects of the standardization were from different age groups (from 5 to 94), of various gender, race/ethnicity, and level of knowledge. The main purpose of the appendices in the test devoted to Blue, Green, and Combined forms is to make the test more universal, without the dependence on geography or students’ age. Due to those the test is able to measure the individual performance of each student separately (Makray, C., & Hope, 2009). Reliability The test is reliable as it covers not only the data considered from the competencies tests, but it also calculates the standard error of measurement, including internal consistency. Moreover, the test covers immediate and delayed retest stability as well as the standard score confidence intervals. All this information helps the test to be reliable. Table 1. Median Consistency Reliability Coefficients of WRAT 4 (Wilkinson & Robertson, 2010a). Turning to the close consideration of each measure, it is possible to state the following r
Although, it now became a commonplace practice among particularly ‘progressive’ social activists to blame Western civilization on account of its environmental unfriendliness, the objective analysis points out to the fact that it is namely in Western societies, where people have traditionally been concerned with trying to preserve nature. The soundness of this suggestion can be well illustrated even today. For example; whereas, in Nigeria it is being considered absolutely normal by the residents of country’s even biggest cities to dump garbage onto the street, right in front of their shabby houses 1 , in such Western countries as Britain, Sweden and Germany, one may very well end up facing administrative charges for even as little as throwing a cigarette butt anywhere else but into specially designed garbage bins. And, the reason why, as compared to the people from Third World countries, Westerners appear to grow ever more environmentally aware is simple. As history indicates, the more a particular society is being affected by scientific progress, the less its members require natural resources to sustain their physical existence, which in its turn creates objective preconditions for them to consider adopting friendly stance towards the nature. In other words, the notions of environmental friendliness and scientific progress are very much. 2 This is precisely the reason why it is specifically Anglo-Saxon societies, which have traditionally been considered the most technologically advanced, that continue to feature world’s highest environmental standards. In our paper, we will aim to substantiate the full soundness of this suggestion by exploring how creative writings and visual artworks from Anglo/Germanic authors, concerned with popularizing the objective essence of natural laws, contributed towards increasing the extent of public’s environmental awareness in 19th and 20th centuries. When we assess the qualitative subtleties of Western civilization’s socio-cultural and scientific progress, from the time of antiquity until today, a very striking picture will emerge – the pace of this progress appears to have been gaining exponential momentum during the time of antiquity (5 th century B.C. – 5 th century A.D.) and during the time of comparatively modern era (15 th -20 th centuries). However, during the course of so-called Dark Ages (6 th – 14 th centuries), the pace of Western socio-cultural and scientific progress came to virtually a complete stall – all thanks to Catholic Christianity. 3 Therefore, it comes as not a particular surprise that it was specifically the exposure of Biblical fables’ anti-scientific essence, on the part of European most prominent intellectuals, which created the initial preconditions for Western civilization
The banking sector is the one traditionally carrying many risks for all parties engaged in its operations. Thus, companies in this industry must maintain a good public image that will assure potential customers of safety. It may seem logical that in countries with high corruption levels people will choose foreign banks over the local ones since the former has a proven international reputation. Nevertheless, small domestic institutions often appear to have more advantages in developing regions. At the same time, large foreign players try to modify their existing business models to suit the local culture. Advantages of Local Banks Despite the possibility of lacking a credit of trust from the population, small domestic banks have several advantages that allow them to compete against foreign companies. Firstly, they benefit from the relationships with customers that were created over the years (Vu, Do, & Skully, 2015). It is especially important in the loans sector, as potential borrowers suffer less from the asymmetric information. Studies suggest that it helps to reduce costs on monitoring, as well as decreases customers’ exposure to credit risk (Vu et al., 2015). As a result, people may expect to receive loans on better terms than those offered by foreign banks. Secondly, a geographical position also plays an important role in collecting soft information. Banks that are closer to their customers are more likely to gather private information about their potential customers. This, in turn, allows financial organizations to impose fewer restrictions on non-price terms, as well as to give lower loan spreads (Vu et al., 2015). It takes more time for foreign banks to build the same relationships. When entering a new market, large international banks often face the problem of regulations imposed on them by a government. Various rules restrict foreign companies from executing certain operations or significantly limit their extent. Nevertheless, the issue of low recognition for international banks is much greater. For instance, China is a challenging place for foreign players to operate due to the absence of relationships with customers, low informational support, and legal restrictions (Avkiran, Zhu, Tripe, & Walsh, 2017). In addition, the low level of transparency in this country prevents international banks from effectively competing with local organizations. Foreign Banks and Development Now
Introduction The process of developing and launching a new pharmaceutical product entails a series of steps aimed at improving the therapeutic range of products offered by a given company while observing the regulations stipulated by regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As a result, successful development and launching of a new pharmaceutical product enables a company to; gain a competitive edge compared to different brands falling under the same therapeutic category, increase its market share, enhance its value, create an identity, supplement revenues, and to improve its overall productivity (Itkar, p. 12). In this essay, we will look at the steps involved in introducing a new pharmaceutical product into the market including the clinical trials involving human subjects, the role of FDA in approving the new molecule, and the cost incurred by the company in developing and launching the new product. Steps involved in bringing a new pharmaceutical product to the market Clinical trials New pharmaceutical drugs also referred to as investigational drugs before approval, are subject to a four-phased clinical trial before marketing. Phase I trials, which involve healthy volunteers, aim at investigating the safety of the new molecule and its interaction (concentration and duration in blood) with various physiological systems in the body. Subsequently, in Phase II trials, patients showing symptoms of the disease meant to be cured by the new product are recruited to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the new pharmaceutical product. Conversely, Phase III trials are initiated in case the Phase II trials provide promising results. Here, Phase III trials involve a large population of human subjects whereby the clinical investigations aim at providing substantial evidence relative to the efficacy and safety of the new molecule. This evidence gives the regulatory agency the opportunity to approve the new product for marketing. Finally, subsequent trials may continue after product approval whereby the Phase IV trials entail further evaluation of the side effects of the new molecule on the users besides assessing additional uses of the new product (Itkar, p. 10). Steps in launching the new product It is obvious that after the Phase III trials, the new pharmaceutical product is ready for clinical usage. However, it is not automatic that the new product will enter the market and fetch the required returns on investments. As a result, the company needs to analyze, plan, implement, and monitor the entry of the new product into the market. Here, studies show that the process of launching a new pharmaceutical product follows a series of steps including market assessment, competitive assessment, assessing the market potential, product positioning and pricing, product promotional strategies, and monitoring product performance. Sometimes, market analysts recommend that the compan