Chinese differences; cultural and institutional profiles compared to the United Kingdom.

A Chinese employee is coming to work in your organisation in the United Kingdom, you are a manager of your organisation in the United Kingdom.

A. Put together a report advising about cultural differences that they may have coming to work in the United Kingdom, and the differences in the institutional business environment.

B. What challenges will be had as a manager in the United Kingdom, dealing with a Chinese employee?

Please read the article below: This article is a few years old. However, it captures the ongoing issue (within various countries) as to how confederalism might be the proper structure of government for Iraq, a country with large sectarian divisions and conflict. Only a few years ago policy analysts were suggesting Federalism as the proper form and structure of government for Iraq. After you read this article, click on the link to the accompanying Discussion Board and answer the following questions:

1. How does confederalism differ from federalism?

2. Do you agree or disagree with the author? Why or why not?

3. In what context might one of those forms of structured government be preferable to the other?

Respond to at least one other post by a classmate. In that response, please critique the other student's opinion regarding the author's thesis.

Not ready for nationhood; A confederation model of government makes sense in Iraq.
Author: Ellis, Joseph J.

The year the American war for independence ended, 1781, the United States adopted the Articles of Confederation as its preferred form of government. Even a cursory glance at the Articles reveals that the first clause in the most famous speech in American history is incorrect.

At Gettysburg in 1863 Lincoln began as follows: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation." No, they did not. They established a confederation of sovereign states, loosely bound together in a diplomatic alliance that vested only limited power in the central government. No American nation was possible at the time because allegiances remained local and regional at best, so a confederation acknowledging that political reality offered the only kind of union acceptable to all its constituents.

We all know that the confederation model was short-lived, replaced by the nation-state in 1788 with the ratification of the Constitution. But the Articles of Confederation served the useful purpose of sustaining some semblance of political unity for seven years after the Revolutionary War. As transitory as the confederation became in America, it provides the proper model for Iraq and, in fact, for other currently combustible countries in the Middle East, including Syria.

Our fundamental mistake in Iraq also has its origins in America's founding era. Thomas Jefferson believed there was a natural law governing all societies that tyrannical rulers (read King George III) violated. Once you removed such rulers, for instance Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the natural order of peace and harmony would be restored.
If there is any place on Earth designed to expose Jefferson's utopian vision as an illusion, it is the Middle East today, where the removal of autocratic governments have produced sectarian chaos, civil wars and horrific bloodletting. All the national borders in the Middle East are arbitrary lines in the sand drawn by European powers after World War I, in effect an Eurocentric grid imposed on a Muslim mosaic of Sunni, Shiite and minority sects, along with Kurds, Turkmens and other ethnic minorities.

As a result, the very idea of such a thing as "the Iraqi people" is a Western delusion and a geographic fiction. Once the United Stated toppled Hussein, it lifted the lid on Pandora's box, and we are now witnessing the political chaos that has inevitably ensued. We have spent 4,500 American lives, with more than 30,000 wounded, more than 100,000 Iraqi lives and nearly $1 trillion on a cause that was always a fool's errand.
The only way to salvage any semblance of honor from our misguided policy is to recognize that primal allegiances in Iraq remain sectarian, tribal and ethnic rather than national, thereby making our goal of a democratic Iraqi nation inherently impossible. Recent statements by President Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry claiming that an "inclusive government" is taking shape in Baghdad are almost certainly wishful thinking.

Which brings us back to the confederation model. In post-revolutionary America it performed the essential task of providing enough political coherence to bridge the gap between state sovereignty and a nation-sized republic. In Iraq, confederation would allow Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds to live apart in separate provinces, each with a measure of political and religious autonomy. Unlike what happened in the United States, an Iraqi Confederation would probably lead to partition rather than nationhood, but in the current context, it remains the best outcome we can hope for.

It is also the only way for the president's strategy against Islamic State to work. That strategy requires Iraq to provide the ground troops in the campaign against the Islamic extremists, and the Sunnis will join such an effort only if they can foresee a secure homeland for themselves in a reconfigured Iraq. Without Sunni participation, the deployment of U.S. air power will mean that we are taking sides in what is, in effect, a civil war between Shiite and Sunni factions. We obviously do not want to do that.
It does seem clear that at some time in the foreseeable future, that is within the next several decades, the map of the Middle East is going to be redrawn. This is likely to be a messy and often bloody business that all Western countries, including the United States, would be wise to avoid, thereby allowing the Islamic world to fashion its own fate. No matter how ingenious the future architects of the new Middle Eastern geography prove to be, crisscrossing sectarian and tribal allegiances will make it impossible to align national borders with one preferred version of Islam.

As a result, the confederation model, rather than the nation-state, could serve a useful purpose until that distant day when Islam embraces Jefferson's version of a secular society.

Credit: Joseph J. Ellis' book on the era of the Articles of Confederation in the United States, "The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution," will be published in the spring.

Cutco Cutlery Corporation: Direct to Consumers for Over 60 Years! CUTCO Corporation, the largest manufacturer and marketer of high-quality kitchen cutlery and accessories in the United States and Canada, celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2009. With the design and manufacture of the highest-quality product as its primary objective, over 100 kitchen cutlery products are sold under the CUTCO name. The company also carries a line of cookware, sporting/pocket knives, and garden tools. The CUTCO corporate family consists of several companies. CUTCO Corporation—parent company CUTCO Cutlery Corporation—manufacturer of CUTCO products since 1949 Vector Marketing Corporation—exclusive marketer of CUTCO products, which are sold direct to consumers CUTCO International, Inc.—marketer of CUTCO products internationally KA-BAR Knives, Inc.—maker of quality sporting knives Schilling Forge—manufacturer of precision forgings All businesses within the corporate family, except for Schilling Forge, are located in Olean, New York (USA), where the company has over 700 manufacturing and administrative employees. Schilling Forge is located in Syracuse, New York. Only a very small percentage of the company’s items are manufactured outside the United States and that is only when the company cannot find a partner in the United States that meets stringent quality standards while simultaneously meeting the pricing needs of the company and its customers. The quality built into a CUTCO product at the point of manufacturing is reinforced by the company’s direct-to-consumer channel of distribution, which enables high-quality consumer engagement during the selling process. The Producer CUTCO’s commitment to quality and innovation is evident throughout every step of the manufacturing process—from the selection of steel to final inspection. The company stands behind each and every product with a FOREVER satisfaction guarantee. The guarantee has four components: FOREVER Performance Guarantee FOREVER Sharpness Guarantee FOREVER Replace Service Agreement for Misuse or Abuse 15-Day Unconditional Money-Back Guarantee CUTCO Cutlery’s American-made products and the hard-working craftsmen and women dedicated to creating this high-quality kitchen cutlery were featured on the Travel Channel’s John Ratzenberger’s Made in America program. With its reputation for high quality, accompanied by a FOREVER satisfaction guarantee, CUTCO Cutlery Corporation distributes its products direct to the consumer via its Vector Marketing sales force. The Consumer CUTCO Cutlery Corporation has approximately 18 million satisfied consumers in North America. Customer response to CUTCO research directs the development of new products and services and the sharing of personal stories about special times with family and friends serves as an inspiration to everyone in the company. Thousands of customers have written letters telling the company about the role the company has played in their lives. These customer letters tell how CUTCO has helped them slice and dice fruits and vegetables for weeknight dinners, create weekend party fare, and chop and carve food for holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries. CUTCO cutlery is given as gifts to newly married sons and daughters and is handed down from generation to generation as a family heirloom. The customers praise the quality of CUTCO and offer thanks for the comfort of the ergonomically designed handles and the CUTCO FOREVER Guarantee. Product to Consumer Direct Channel via Vector Marketing Corporation Unlike many competitive cutlery products, CUTCO cutlery products are not available in mass merchandise or specialty stores. Boasting annual sales of over $200 million, Vector Marketing Corporation is a direct sales firm and the sole distributor of Cutco Cutlery. The independent sales representatives of Vector Marketing Corporation are largely college students from campuses across the nation. According to a company spokesperson, Vector Marketing’s sales force is a group of dynamite individuals who represent the company to the consumer in the same high-quality fashion as the CUTCO product. The sales representatives contact potential consumers via referrals, referred to as the “friends of friends” approach. Conversely, consumers can contact the company directly and be connected to a salesperson in the same geographic region. Divided into six regions (northeast, Midwest, eastern, central, southwest, and western), Vector Marketing has over 300 offices across the United States and Canada. Regional headquarters are in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Dallas, Texas; Austin, Texas; San Diego, California; and Toronto, Canada. Vector Marketing Corporation belongs to the Direct Selling Association (DSA), whose members are leading companies engaged in direct selling in the United States. All DSA members adhere to a strict code of ethics and promote a high standard of integrity in direct selling. From production through sales, the CUTCO Corporation takes ownership of its products. Using this direct-to-consumer channel enables the company to guarantee quality from production to consumption. Sources: CUTCO website, www.cutco.com (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Accessed February 28, 2011); Vector Marketing website, www.vectormarketing.com (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Accessed February 28, 2011). Case Analysis Questions Why would a company such as CUTCO Cutlery opt for the direct channel instead of the retailer channel for its consumer products? Please be specific. What other companies are similar to CUTCO Cutlery in its approach to direct retailing? Please be specific.

Use the Bureau of Labor Statistics website to search for income data on the occupation of 15-1212 Information Security Analysts. The BLS has wage information for hundreds of jobs and data can also be found by state.

Once you arrive at the site, complete the following steps to gather the data you need to answer the questions.

Step 1

• Search for information on the occupation (15-1212 Information Security Analysts) by clicking on national wage data 800 occupations. This will take you to the Occupational Employment Statistics page.
• Scroll to the bottom of that page for a table listing the major and sub-job categories. Note in the first column there is an occupation code. For example, accountants and auditors have the code 13-2011 and are listed under banking and financial operations.
• Click on the job title to find earnings information. There you will find mean wages as well as percentiles and the 5-number summary.
• Compare the mean and median pays. For example, the mean pay for accountants was $78,800 and the median was $70,500.
• Record the information on percentiles, the 5-number summary, the mean and the median.

Step 2

Include the following in your discussion post:

• Discuss your interpretation of the statistics you recorded in Part 1.
  • Percentiles
  • Mean
  • Median
• How different are the salaries shown in the map of states?
  • What is the range for your state?
  • Would you move to another state based on this data?
  • What other statistics would you want to know before making that decision?
• What effect do the lowest paid and highest paid states have on the calculation of the mean and median for the United States?
• Suppose you were asked by a potential employer to request a salary. Which is the best measure to use to find “average” earnings for your occupation? Explain your answer.

case study question

Miss Yinnary is one of the many women who own their own businesses and her experience is not very different from others, who must contend with being a mother, a spouse and a family cheerleader in addition to owning and operating a business.

She is the owner of the famous Y-Hotel. It was her first business, though she had some family background in this business. Her two sisters were also in the same line of business. But she borrowed some money, put in some of her savings and started her own venture. She was the first woman ever to enter into this business, most of her clients could not understand that a woman could be interested in the hospitality industry. To Step up her game in the hospitality Industry , Miss Yinari is seeking someone who understands innovative entrepreneurship to assist her.

During her rise to success and in management of her hotel business, she also needs to manage a family, stay teaching in university and dealing with community affairs. In her mind, there is nothing more exhilarating than owning her own business, and for her, the fun is in facing the challenges of turning the hotel into a first ever hotel that provide customers an unforgettable experience with innovation

In the present time, more women are making this choice, pursuing entrepreneurship rather than staying as housewives or traditional careers. For the past few years, the number of women starting new ventures is three times as large as the number of men. There are several good reasons for this trend. Some women find that owning a business is the only way to combine a decent income with time for their children by having the flexibility to control their schedules. Others see themselves as unlikely corporate managers and recognizing the gender problem that exists for achieving success, they choose the entrepreneurial route. Still others see entrepreneurship as a way of controlling their lives, pursuing interests that would be impossible in a corporate job.

The dual roles of mother and entrepreneur often conflict, and husbands and wives

tend to develop separate career tracks that often cannot be reconciled. Women can

also find it lonely in a business world, especially if clients are predominantly men,

this was a problem for Yinari too.

Many women, however, have businesses that fit well with their interest and with

women customers. These include services in beauty care, nutrition, education,

entertainment etc. Nevertheless, being in business often exacts a double price for

women, yet for those with determination like Yinari, the rewards are always waiting.

Your Task as Business Consultant , Prepare a report regarding the following issues below :

a.Find a profile of successful Local and International Entrepreneur Women in the hospitality industry and explain the factors that drive their success !

b. As a business consultant, what is the Innovation that you will suggest to miss Yinnary for her hotel? Explain

The number of defects after a hotel room cleaning (sheets not straight, smears on mirror, missed debris on carpet, fresh towels not folded, etc.) should be measured using what type of process control chart?

Modern Visionary Hotel Chain has $1,000 face value bonds outstanding. These bonds pay interest semiannually, mature in six years, and have a 5 percent coupon. The annual yield to maturity is 12.6%. What is the bonds current price? (round to the nearest penny)

N:

I:

PV:

PMT:

FV:

1. Indicate on a graph of the circular flow model, the real or money flow in which the following items belong:

• You pay your tuition.
• The University of Texas buys some Dell computers.
• A student works at FedEx Kinko’s.
• Donald Trump rents a Manhattan building to a hotel.
• You pay your income tax.

A geographer and social worker are teaming up to investigate whether population density, average distance to a large grocery store, and proportion of park/playground area has an impact on community ‘wellness’. What will these researchers need to do to measure wellness? Why? Use research/statistical terms covered in this course in your explanation.

Where do you want to go? Mountains? Ocean?... What do you want to see? Landscapes? Wildlife? What do you want to do? Hiking? Biking Kayaking?.. Where do you want to sleep? In a hotel in a tent?... How long do you want to stay? A day? A week?