Crash, Boom, Bang

Crash, Boom, Bang Janie Bunce Abstract The movie â€Å"Crash† was voted the best movie of 2005 for good reason, it deals with subjects that others were probably afraid to tackle. As the name implies it starts with a car crash, but in doing so reveals only one of the metaphors used in the movie. Other metaphors used in the movie allow us to view the culture shock that many people see on a daily basis, especially when dealing with different ethnicities, religions and races.Los Angeles is shown in its true colors where people live in a fast paced city where more than the cars move at a faster pace. These characters speed through their lives without notice of other people around them. It is as if some of them have blinders on that only allow them to see what they want to see. Until they â€Å"crash† into one each other. Crash is the kind of movie that makes you think twice about your actions, asking yourself tough questions, not just of yourself, but of those that are aroun d you; could I have said that differently?Was I acting racist? Do I discriminate against those I do not understand? This is the sort of movie that has us looking deep into ourselves to do some much needed soul-searching. Crash, Boom, Bang Paul Haggis directed â€Å"Crash† with an idea that it not only exposes multi-social, but multicultural differences in order to give us a small window into a few of the interactions and how these interactions, good or bad, affect behaviors and lives, in a relatively small group of individuals.We are allowed to see how this group deals with situations that may be considered to be racially stereotyped and outright prejudiced. Voted the best movie of 2005, by the Academy Awards, â€Å"Crash† as the title implies starts with a crash, but that is only one metaphor for the culture shock that many people have when they ‘crash’ into people from different races, religions, and ethnicities. The city of Los Angeles is shown as a fas t paced place where everything from the people involved in the first interaction to very last gasp of the movie, move faster.The characters seem to speed through their lives, almost unaware and certainly most times without considering the connections and consequences of their daily actions. This is a candid film it clearly shows how a diverse group of individuals when pushed into one another’s lives can leave painful scars in their wake. When you watch Crash you begin to see just how much of what one feels, says, and does can impact so many others around them. There were those however that were shocked by the material covered in it.It can be denied as much as anyone wants to deny it, but the movie is meant to be racist. It was made to make us think about our actions before we open our mouths and insert a foot into it. Some of the aspects in this movie are intended to remind us that no matter how we would like to think that America is a post-discrimination country, the sad tru th is that discrimination and prejudice are far from gone in America. Although this movie opened in 2005, we still have the same problems today.Young Black men are still being stereotyped, as are those of Islam and Latino heritage. Prejudice and discrimination are but two subjects that are covered in this movie. We see from the social stereotyping to the outright racism how painful it must have been for the actors to reach down into themselves and find the emotion needed to do their scenes and do them well enough to make us believe that they were real. Paul Haggis, allows us to see the different layers of the characters as if peeling an onion.Many of us may have pre-assumptions about people from different cultures and how we interact with those people, often under stressful situations. The movie for me was a re-affirmation that all people must be treated with respect at all times. After all it is not their fault that you may be having a bad day, or vice versa. Crash had and has the ability to draw large audiences of different ethnicities, bring them together in one room without fear of arguments. This is partly due to the undercurrents of unacknowledged racism that occurs in American life on an everyday basis.It is the kind of movie that can lead to some soul-searching from its lingering emotional potency. It remains one of the best movies I have even seen. I have always believed that the two most powerful characters in the movie are portrayed by Matt Dillon (Officer John Ryan) and Ryan Phillippe (Officer Tom Hansen). Officer Ryan is not only jaded and abusive, but a racist as well, this is later shown to be because of an ordinance passed by the city of Los Angeles. Officer John Ryan's father loses his business, because most of his employees were working minorities.From that one action we can determine the reason why John becomes a racist individual. This may also be the reason he blames minorities for the closure of his father’s business, thus influenc ing him to mistreat people of other races. This comes to light as Officers Ryan and Hansen pull over a vehicle that is only vaguely similar to the carjacked vehicle that the police are looking for. Officer Ryan mistakenly believes that it is a mixed couple, with the beautiful woman being white; he soon learns that the beautiful woman is in fact a light skinned black woman.The young couple in the vehicle can only wonder what is happening as they see the lights flashing signaling them to pull over. Their confusion turns to fear as Officer Ryan begins to harass them. Instead of speaking up and doing the right thing, Officer Tom Hansen looks on, says nothing to stop it and becomes more dismayed by his partner’s actions by the minute. Officer Ryan, realizing he is in control and that no one is going to stop him; he begins to enjoy his power trip as he roughly handles the slightly tipsy woman.As things progress he does almost everything to Mrs. Thayer except have sex with her as he checks her for weapons as her angered husband can only stand by and watch. Mrs. Thayer’s eyes beg her husband to do something, she sees the anger in his eyes but she also sees fear in his eyes as well. He feels helpless as he sees the fear in hers. These are two white men, two white police men that are in control, however badly, of the situation. He understands the consequences if he makes a move to assist his wife, at best he could be arrested, at worst killed.Another powerful example of poor judgment on Officer Ryan’s part is to never get into a relationship at work is shown when Officer Ryan goes to see Shaniqua Johnson in her office, and has an ulterior motive for seeing her, he wants to enter into a relationship but only to help himself and to possibly get a favor or two later on down the line. From what we have seen so far, we can safely say that Officer Ryan is used to getting his way, becoming angry when he does not, and having his way when it comes to the hav ing the balance of power.However, here we find Officer Ryan in a predicament where, a powerful woman, a powerful black woman, has the upper hand over Officer Ryan. He knows she welds the power as well as she knows who is in control of this situation. She likes being able to give orders and withhold what she knows he wants. It is her choice to make and he does not like it, he can see in her eyes and hear in her tone that this is a futile situation. When she tells him that she will not be able to help his father, he begins his other strategy.Pleading his father’s case and outlining what her actions might cost her in the end; she takes him by surprise and throws him out of her office without helping him. The last time we see Mrs. Thayer she is upside down in a car, having just had an accident and has found herself to be trapped in a vehicle that if she cannot get out of is going to explode and more than likely kill her. Officer Ryan comes upon the accident and calls in for help; meantime he has to get this woman out of the car. Mrs. Thayer recognizes him but the recognition is not mutual. Why this man? She wonders.Is he here just to molest me again? Will he even try to help me out or will he only taunt me as I die? As she begins to weigh the costs and possible benefits of this exchange and what is about to happen she is at once adamantly opposed, and rightly so, to being rescued by a person who, twenty-four hours earlier, had molested her smiling as he did it in from of her husband and not caring who he is as long as he helps her get out of that car. As we look further into this we can see that at first Ryan does not immediately understand why she is so reluctant for him to help her.Slowly recognition kicks in as he recognizes the woman. He does his best to calmly reassure her that he is here to help her that he is the only one here to help her, and the he will not harm her. Again he reassures her that he is only there to help save her and he does finally pull her from the wreckage. We then see as he holds her gently as he calms her that he is not entirely a bad man and that it is possible that his frustrations over not being able to help his father overcame him and turned him into a racist at least up until this point in his life.The most powerful scene that I felt was shown, happened between Officer Hansen and Peter Waters, for me it clearly showed that the balance of power was ambiguous for them both. In this scene we see Officer Hansen, a cop, although an off duty cop, and he feels he holds the balance of power. However Peter Waters does not know that the man he is speaking to is an officer of the law. He believes that he has been picked up by a regular Joe, not a member of the LAPD. It is made clear that Officer Hansen has sized up Peter and made his own observations based on the manner of dress or lack thereof considering the current weather conditions.Officer Hansen’s assessment allows him to correctly assume that this man was up to no good. However, what Officer Hansen does not correctly assess is that Peter is of no threat to his safety. Thinking that he is about to be threatened affects Officer Hansen’s judgment and he mistakenly assumes that Peter is pulling a gun, a tragic mistake that will affect Tom Hansen for the rest of his life. The action also affects Peter’s family as well, they have lost him forever and, in doing so the effect was that Peter, unarmed, was shot and killed.Officer Hansen’s decision was to shoot. But, why would he do that? Police officers are trained to observe minute situations, determine from those observations what their actions and reactions should be. Tom felt that this guy was a bad guy from his observations. If Peter Waters had been pulling a gun out of his pocket, as Officer Hansen mistakenly assumed, then he would definitely benefit the most by acting first. The cost of not acting first could mean death, or at the very least being injured.Re gardless, of the outcome, Officer Hansen correctly identified Peter as a criminal, but his misinterpretation of the situation cost him everything. Although the movie does not tell us what eventually happens to Officer Hansen, we can use our imagination, and assume that his life would have been be changed forever. References: http://academic. udayton. edu/race/01race/whiteness19. htm Crash, DVD, Catalog #17938, Lions Gate Entertainment, 2004, ApolloProScreen GmbH ; Co. http://www. crashfilm. com/ http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Crash_(2004_film) http://www. imdb. com/title/tt0375679/fullcredits#cast

Revisiting the Eclectic Theory of the Choice of International Entry Mode

Theoretical Issues on Marketing UIBE PhD Program Juan Pablo Dominguez Fall 2012 Final Examination for Theoretical Issues of Marketing (Doctoral Course) Nov. 28, 2012 Essay questions for â€Å" An Eclectic Theory of Choice of International Entry Mode † 1. What are the major variables that affect the decision of entry mode? Should they be weighted equally? Why yes or why no? 2. Given that different variables may pull the MNC in the different directions, what approach is suggested by the authors? 3. What theories have been taken as the basis for conceptualization? 4.Considering the nine propositions, do they all make sense to you? In case you find any fault with them, state it with your arguments. 5. Review the methodology adopted by this paper and make your comment on its appropriateness. 6. Discuss briefly what contributions this thesis has made to the theory of international entry mode choice. 7. What do you think of the limitation of this thesis? Revisiting the Eclectic Theor y of the Choice of International Entry Mode During the internationalization process of a company, the decision of entry mode to a particular market is determined by a set of different considerations.The paper â€Å"An Eclectic Theory of Choice of International Entry mode† is a theoretical approach to answer the questions of which factors are relevant and which are not. It reflects on how contemporary studies (particularly, Transaction Cost Theory) had a limited view of the problem by not including a globalstrategy factor in the analysis, therefore the authors try to advance the discussion by enriching the construct of additional variables that were disregarded by economical orthodoxy at the moment. This short paper is aimed to introduce in part the aforementioned document and present more recent findings in the topic.In that fashion I have divided the paper into 4 main parts besides this short introduction. The first section is a brief literature review of the theoretical bac kground behind the understanding of entry mode in the internationalization process given that the paper was published more than two decades ago. The second section aims at synthesizing the main propositions of the paper and what I consider its limitations and contributions. The third section displays empirical evidence that aimed to negate or confirm the different propositions of the authors and finally, the fourth and last section is a set of concluding remarks. Literary reviewThere is no short list about existing research regarding the internationalization process of MNEs?. When focusing on the entry mode (or ownership strategies), one can begin to see that there are three different streams of thought: one stream of research has often framed such a choice as determined by the need for control to minimize transaction costs arising from asset specificity and potential partner opportunism (Anderson & Gatignon, 1986; Williamson, 1985). According to transaction costs theory, for invest ments characterized by high asset specificity, integrated ownership structures, such as whole owned subsidiaries (WOSs), should be sed to enhance MNEs? strategic and operational control over the assets (Anderson & Gatignon, 1986) and to protect MNEs from the risk of knowledge dissemination to their partners (Davidson & McFetridge, 1985; Hill, Hwang, & Kim, 1990). Thus, transaction costs theory advocates the use of ex ante control mechanisms to minimize transaction costs arising from asset specificity and potential partner opportunism (Williamson, 1985). Another stream of research has suggested that the institutional environment shapes such a choice and proposed that MNEs may exchange ownership for legitimacy in the host country (Chan & Makino, 2007; Yiu & Makino, 2002).When foreign ownership is not prevalent or well accepted in the host country industry, MNEs can partner with local firms or keep the ownership level lower (Chan & Makino, 2007). By doing so, MNEs can show the local co mmunities that their activities are not ethnocentric or harmful to local firms, and they also obtain the local identity and legitimacy to acquire the resources that they need in the local environment (Xu & Shenkar, 2002). On the other hand, when FDI is well accepted in the local market, MNEs can pursue integrated ownership structures and high equity shares.Choice of an ownership structure thus does not necessarily reflect MNEs? deliberate efforts to economize on transaction costs for an efficient governance mechanism but may rather be a response to pressures from the institutional environment (Yiu & Makino, 2002). The third stream is as in the case of Hill et al. which posits that in addition to control and legitimacy, MNE ownership strategy is also fundamentally concerned with the choice between flexibility and commitment (Buckley & Casson, 1998; Chi & McGuire, 1996; Kouvelis, Axarloglou, & Sinha, 2001). More recent papers have taken again the same question.Li & Li in 2010 resuscit ated the topic and made a contribution by not only providing a theoretical background proposing similar hypothesis as in the case of Hill, Hwang and Kim in 1990 but also by analyzing the ownership structure and equity shares of over 5,000 new foreign investments in manufacturing industries in China during 2000 to 2006. Explaining the contents of the paper is outside of the objectives of this short essay, but the Li & Li? s took Hill et al style of theoretical constructions one step further and provided stronger empirical evidence (outside the realm of mall sample surveys) that supports the logic behind such framework. Empirical tests of MNEs' initial entry modes are rather limited, even though existing theoretical research has elaborated on the options features of JVs compared with other investment modes (Buckley & Casson, 1998; Chi, 2000; Lee, 2004; Pennings & Sleuwaegen, 2004). Cuypers and Martin (2010) observed that foreign investors are inclined to take a smaller equity share in a JV when they face strong exogenous uncertainty (e. g. , exchange rate uncertainty) rather than endogenous uncertainty (e. . , cultural uncertainty). Brouthers et al. (2008) showed that, in choosing international entry modes, MNEs tend to adopt JVs (over WOSs) under high demand uncertainty. Synthesis What are the major variables that affect the decision of entry mode? Given that different authors have considered variables like country risk, country familiarity, country development stage, technology, and transaction costs, Hill et al. begin their work with a vision to unify the framework and analyze how different factors affect the decision.The first attempt to create a unified framework was carried out by Anderson and Gatignon in 1986 through the use of transaction cost theory. I believe that the authors see the shortcoming of this initial unified proposal in the Ceteris Paribus assumption of Economics that is used only as a theoretical tool to analyze relations among events or va riables. Any theory that treats related events in isolation will be insufficient and that? s why the authors propose the strategic relationship as another vital element of the decision.Their proposal includes the following factors: !†#$%   ! â€Å"#$! ,! = ! (! â€Å"#$%†&, ! â€Å"#$%&'†   ! â€Å"##$%#&'%, ! â€Å"##$%†&'(â€Å")&   ! â€Å"#$#) Should they be weighted equally? Why yes or why no? Different factors in the decision often suggest different entry modes, it is according to the particular weights each company puts in this factors that the final choice of entry is done. In other words, when deciding entry mode different factors have different weights and according to each company’s strategic considerations, such weights will have different magnitudes.Given that different variables may pull the MNC in the different directions, what approach is suggested by the authors? The authors suggest that instead of focusing in a single var iable, the company will have a set of strategic constraints that will limit their decision options. They focus their attention on how much control the company wants, according to the resource commitment they will provide and taking into consideration the dissemination risks of their knowhow. This can be formulated as the following: ! â€Å"#$%   ! â€Å"#$! ,! = ! !†#$%†&, ! #$%&'†   ! â€Å"##$%#&'%, ! â€Å"##$%†&'(â€Å")&   ! â€Å"#$# !†#$†%&'(   ! â€Å"#$†%&'( = ! !†#$%! â€Å"&   ! â€Å"##$%$&'$(, ! â€Å"#$%   ! †   ! â€Å"#$#%&! ‘, ! â€Å"#$%†   ! â€Å"#! $%&'%(â€Å"# !†#$%&†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(â€Å")*+   ! â€Å"#$†%&'( = ! !†#$%&'   ! â€Å"#$, ! â€Å"#$%&†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ   ! â€Å"#$%$†&$'(, ! â€Å"#$%! !†#$%&%†#', ! â€Å"#$%&#&%'   ! †   ! â€Å"#$%&'&'†( !†#$%#&'()$   ! â€Å"#! â€Å"#$%& = ! (! à ¢â‚¬Å"#$%   ! †   ! â€Å"#$ ? !†#$%&%$   ! â€Å"#$ ? ?! â€Å", ! â€Å"#$! !†#$%&   ! †   ! â€Å"#$ ? ?! â€Å") These factors come from previous research and theoretical constructs. One important analysis that needs to be done is how these factors correlate to each other.One factor that I? m not sure if it? s included in any of these variables is regulation. For example, many automobile giants in the world wanted to enter the Chinese market as WOSs but because of regulation they are forced to enter as JVs. This makes me believe that there is an unspoken assumption that the markets the authors were conceiving in their constructs were open markets with little participation of the government (maybe they include it with country risk? ). What theories have been taken as the basis for conceptualization? This heoretical construct is a criticism to the Transaction Cost analysis to the entry mode decision, but in the words of Hwan, the theoretical heritage of the Eclectic Theory can be traced in part to the seminal work of Perlmutter [1969], which acknowledged the increasing existence of geocentric approaches to multinational management. The geocentric approach outlined by Perlmutter provided a succinct explanation for the existence of and benefits attached to managing subsidiary units not as a portfolio of independent units but as an interdependent network.Another foundation, upon which their argument rests, is the rich body of literature on global strategy (e. g. , Hout, Porter and Rudden [1982]; Hamel and Prahalad [1985]; Kogut [1985a, 1985b]; Kim and Mauborgne [1988]; Yip, [1989]), which has either explicitly or implicitly built upon Perlmutter's geocentric conception. I believe that the biggest theoretical difference from this global-strategy construct and classical economics theory within the entry mode decision is that the overriding objective is overall corporate success, not the maximization of each individual subsi diary unit's efficiency.The second is that in achieving this objective, interdependencies across subsidiary units must be actively managed, meaning that sometimes it would mean that in order to maintain global strategy, some SBUs might even be required to operate at a loss (which is a rationale outside the boundaries of traditional economics). Considering the nine propositions, do they all make sense to you? In case you find any fault with them, state it with your arguments. The first thing I noticed is why are they called propositions instead of Hypothesis? Any theory is based in hypothesis because its aim is to provide chances for something to be proved or not.The second thing I notices is that the propositions are not â€Å"symmetrical†. By this I mean that when you make such kind of propositions, in order to fully understand the relationship of the explanatory variables with the dependent variable, the author must not only look at one side of the coin but at both. For exa mple, Proposition 1: Other things being equal, firms that pursue a multi-domestic strategy will favor lowcontrol entry modes. That is one side of the coin, the other side would be: Other things being equal, firms that do not pursue multi-domestic strategy will not favor low-control entry modes.The value of such construct is that it gives a more robust base for empirical testing. Each proposition is set to analyze the validity of each factor within the whole unified framework, so its validity remains to be tested empirically. Review the methodology adopted by this paper and make your comment on its appropriateness. This paper is a theoretical construct based upon the works of others with the addition of new factors, it does not apply specific methodological tools for testing its validity. In terms of epistemological value, the theory is constructed in the same fashion as Falsificationism (Popper? ) would propose because the validity of the theory that was accepted previously was put into question by the authors and therefore they provided a new set of hypothesis that should accommodate more accurately to reality than Transaction Costs theory. To discuss the appropriateness of such construct without empirical evidence would be to begin an epistemological debate about the validity of theories and their validity into describing â€Å"Truth†. If it were me who wrote the paper I would have not done a theoretical construct without any experimental study about its validity. I believe that? why some of the authors (specifically Hwan) wrote another paper a couple of years later were with the use of surveys they tried to analyze the validity of such constructs. Methodologically speaking, I believe that is a much more fruitful contribution to science than providing list of propositions that may or may not be of use. Discuss briefly what contributions this thesis has made to the theory of international entry mode choice. The biggest contribution of this paper was th e search of different factors that could explain the decision of mode of entry for the internationalization process of a company.Previous studies at the moment had already identified a diversity of variables that influence the entry mode decision decision, and the authors grouped them into one of two categories: environmental or transaction specific factors. Furthermore, according to the theoretical constructs of the time, the studies of the factors had an underlying assumption that each entry decision is made in isolation and is driven essentially by efficiency considerations at the level of the individual entrant or subsidiary unit.This paper made a case directed towards establishing the importance of a third group of factors: global strategic, namely the strategic relationship it envisages between its operations across borders, in reaching its entry mode decision. For a business manager who is in such internationalization process, this theoretical construct can provide him a road map to which variables he/she should pay attention to in order to make the decision of entry.In my opinion, managers tend to first see how other companies enter the market in their initial stages and see if that would be a viable choice and such â€Å"contextual† approach is not included in the factors. What do you think of the limitation of this thesis? The biggest limitation of any theoretical construct is that it remains just a theory and not be applicable. That? s why I took it upon me to see if someone had tried to prove or deny the Eclectic Theory. The results of that search are shown in section three of this paper.Empirical evidence 2 years after the publication of Hill et al. Eclectic Theory, one of the co-writers, Peter Hwang along with W. Chan Kim published the paper: â€Å"Global Strategy and Multinationals? Entry Mode Choice†. The main objective of the paper was to provide empirical tests to the propositions made by the Eclectic Theory. They used a survey f rom ninety-six multinational managers and had a fundamental result that an express incorporation of global strategic variables into an analysis of the entry mode decision is warranted. DataThe survey was a mail questionnaire composed of four parts: modes of entry, global strategic factors, environmental factors, and transaction-specific factors. It was distributed to 629 U. S. based MNE, mostly from the manufacturing sector and targeted senior-level management. 137 questionnaires were returned (22% response rate), of which 41 were disregarded because of incomplete answers. Another 18 were disregarded because respondents provided a positive response to the control question of whether government regulations imposed restrictions on the mode options available.The respondents operations were geographically wide with 25 located in Asia Pacific, 17 in South America, 25 in Europe, 16 in North America, 4 in Africa and 9 in the Middle East. One big methodological problem to measure the validi ty of the propositions is that such variables are not easy to measure. This translates that the nine key variables recognized to influence the focal decision of foreign entry mode are linked to the empirical world only through indicators.Moreover, they appear to be wide-ranging, multifaced constructs. As such, psychometric measurement based on multiple items rather than a single-item proxy seemed a more fitting approach [Peter 1979; Fomnell 1982; Churchill 1979], and was used in the analyses. I personally believe that psychometric variables do not fully reflect the necessary information, but that is just because I am biased towards more robust statistical data and believe that what people think they know is not actually what they know.Continuing with the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to evaluate the foreign venture under discussion across each of these items on a 7-point Likert-type scale. After data collection, an iterative procedure was employed to refine the set of in dicators for each construct. The item-to-total correlation, i. e. , the correlation between the score of each indicator and the total score of those indicators used to capture each construct, was then examined. Following the steps suggested by Nunnally [1978], those indicators with a low correlation with the total score (i. e. , r Revisiting the Eclectic Theory of the Choice of International Entry Mode Theoretical Issues on Marketing UIBE PhD Program Juan Pablo Dominguez Fall 2012 Final Examination for Theoretical Issues of Marketing (Doctoral Course) Nov. 28, 2012 Essay questions for â€Å" An Eclectic Theory of Choice of International Entry Mode † 1. What are the major variables that affect the decision of entry mode? Should they be weighted equally? Why yes or why no? 2. Given that different variables may pull the MNC in the different directions, what approach is suggested by the authors? 3. What theories have been taken as the basis for conceptualization? 4.Considering the nine propositions, do they all make sense to you? In case you find any fault with them, state it with your arguments. 5. Review the methodology adopted by this paper and make your comment on its appropriateness. 6. Discuss briefly what contributions this thesis has made to the theory of international entry mode choice. 7. What do you think of the limitation of this thesis? Revisiting the Eclectic Theor y of the Choice of International Entry Mode During the internationalization process of a company, the decision of entry mode to a particular market is determined by a set of different considerations.The paper â€Å"An Eclectic Theory of Choice of International Entry mode† is a theoretical approach to answer the questions of which factors are relevant and which are not. It reflects on how contemporary studies (particularly, Transaction Cost Theory) had a limited view of the problem by not including a globalstrategy factor in the analysis, therefore the authors try to advance the discussion by enriching the construct of additional variables that were disregarded by economical orthodoxy at the moment. This short paper is aimed to introduce in part the aforementioned document and present more recent findings in the topic.In that fashion I have divided the paper into 4 main parts besides this short introduction. The first section is a brief literature review of the theoretical bac kground behind the understanding of entry mode in the internationalization process given that the paper was published more than two decades ago. The second section aims at synthesizing the main propositions of the paper and what I consider its limitations and contributions. The third section displays empirical evidence that aimed to negate or confirm the different propositions of the authors and finally, the fourth and last section is a set of concluding remarks. Literary reviewThere is no short list about existing research regarding the internationalization process of MNEs?. When focusing on the entry mode (or ownership strategies), one can begin to see that there are three different streams of thought: one stream of research has often framed such a choice as determined by the need for control to minimize transaction costs arising from asset specificity and potential partner opportunism (Anderson & Gatignon, 1986; Williamson, 1985). According to transaction costs theory, for invest ments characterized by high asset specificity, integrated ownership structures, such as whole owned subsidiaries (WOSs), should be sed to enhance MNEs? strategic and operational control over the assets (Anderson & Gatignon, 1986) and to protect MNEs from the risk of knowledge dissemination to their partners (Davidson & McFetridge, 1985; Hill, Hwang, & Kim, 1990). Thus, transaction costs theory advocates the use of ex ante control mechanisms to minimize transaction costs arising from asset specificity and potential partner opportunism (Williamson, 1985). Another stream of research has suggested that the institutional environment shapes such a choice and proposed that MNEs may exchange ownership for legitimacy in the host country (Chan & Makino, 2007; Yiu & Makino, 2002).When foreign ownership is not prevalent or well accepted in the host country industry, MNEs can partner with local firms or keep the ownership level lower (Chan & Makino, 2007). By doing so, MNEs can show the local co mmunities that their activities are not ethnocentric or harmful to local firms, and they also obtain the local identity and legitimacy to acquire the resources that they need in the local environment (Xu & Shenkar, 2002). On the other hand, when FDI is well accepted in the local market, MNEs can pursue integrated ownership structures and high equity shares.Choice of an ownership structure thus does not necessarily reflect MNEs? deliberate efforts to economize on transaction costs for an efficient governance mechanism but may rather be a response to pressures from the institutional environment (Yiu & Makino, 2002). The third stream is as in the case of Hill et al. which posits that in addition to control and legitimacy, MNE ownership strategy is also fundamentally concerned with the choice between flexibility and commitment (Buckley & Casson, 1998; Chi & McGuire, 1996; Kouvelis, Axarloglou, & Sinha, 2001). More recent papers have taken again the same question.Li & Li in 2010 resuscit ated the topic and made a contribution by not only providing a theoretical background proposing similar hypothesis as in the case of Hill, Hwang and Kim in 1990 but also by analyzing the ownership structure and equity shares of over 5,000 new foreign investments in manufacturing industries in China during 2000 to 2006. Explaining the contents of the paper is outside of the objectives of this short essay, but the Li & Li? s took Hill et al style of theoretical constructions one step further and provided stronger empirical evidence (outside the realm of mall sample surveys) that supports the logic behind such framework. Empirical tests of MNEs' initial entry modes are rather limited, even though existing theoretical research has elaborated on the options features of JVs compared with other investment modes (Buckley & Casson, 1998; Chi, 2000; Lee, 2004; Pennings & Sleuwaegen, 2004). Cuypers and Martin (2010) observed that foreign investors are inclined to take a smaller equity share in a JV when they face strong exogenous uncertainty (e. g. , exchange rate uncertainty) rather than endogenous uncertainty (e. . , cultural uncertainty). Brouthers et al. (2008) showed that, in choosing international entry modes, MNEs tend to adopt JVs (over WOSs) under high demand uncertainty. Synthesis What are the major variables that affect the decision of entry mode? Given that different authors have considered variables like country risk, country familiarity, country development stage, technology, and transaction costs, Hill et al. begin their work with a vision to unify the framework and analyze how different factors affect the decision.The first attempt to create a unified framework was carried out by Anderson and Gatignon in 1986 through the use of transaction cost theory. I believe that the authors see the shortcoming of this initial unified proposal in the Ceteris Paribus assumption of Economics that is used only as a theoretical tool to analyze relations among events or va riables. Any theory that treats related events in isolation will be insufficient and that? s why the authors propose the strategic relationship as another vital element of the decision.Their proposal includes the following factors: !†#$%   ! â€Å"#$! ,! = ! (! â€Å"#$%†&, ! â€Å"#$%&'†   ! â€Å"##$%#&'%, ! â€Å"##$%†&'(â€Å")&   ! â€Å"#$#) Should they be weighted equally? Why yes or why no? Different factors in the decision often suggest different entry modes, it is according to the particular weights each company puts in this factors that the final choice of entry is done. In other words, when deciding entry mode different factors have different weights and according to each company’s strategic considerations, such weights will have different magnitudes.Given that different variables may pull the MNC in the different directions, what approach is suggested by the authors? The authors suggest that instead of focusing in a single var iable, the company will have a set of strategic constraints that will limit their decision options. They focus their attention on how much control the company wants, according to the resource commitment they will provide and taking into consideration the dissemination risks of their knowhow. This can be formulated as the following: ! â€Å"#$%   ! â€Å"#$! ,! = ! !†#$%†&, ! #$%&'†   ! â€Å"##$%#&'%, ! â€Å"##$%†&'(â€Å")&   ! â€Å"#$# !†#$†%&'(   ! â€Å"#$†%&'( = ! !†#$%! â€Å"&   ! â€Å"##$%$&'$(, ! â€Å"#$%   ! †   ! â€Å"#$#%&! ‘, ! â€Å"#$%†   ! â€Å"#! $%&'%(â€Å"# !†#$%&†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ(â€Å")*+   ! â€Å"#$†%&'( = ! !†#$%&'   ! â€Å"#$, ! â€Å"#$%&†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ   ! â€Å"#$%$†&$'(, ! â€Å"#$%! !†#$%&%†#', ! â€Å"#$%&#&%'   ! †   ! â€Å"#$%&'&'†( !†#$%#&'()$   ! â€Å"#! â€Å"#$%& = ! (! à ¢â‚¬Å"#$%   ! †   ! â€Å"#$ ? !†#$%&%$   ! â€Å"#$ ? ?! â€Å", ! â€Å"#$! !†#$%&   ! †   ! â€Å"#$ ? ?! â€Å") These factors come from previous research and theoretical constructs. One important analysis that needs to be done is how these factors correlate to each other.One factor that I? m not sure if it? s included in any of these variables is regulation. For example, many automobile giants in the world wanted to enter the Chinese market as WOSs but because of regulation they are forced to enter as JVs. This makes me believe that there is an unspoken assumption that the markets the authors were conceiving in their constructs were open markets with little participation of the government (maybe they include it with country risk? ). What theories have been taken as the basis for conceptualization? This heoretical construct is a criticism to the Transaction Cost analysis to the entry mode decision, but in the words of Hwan, the theoretical heritage of the Eclectic Theory can be traced in part to the seminal work of Perlmutter [1969], which acknowledged the increasing existence of geocentric approaches to multinational management. The geocentric approach outlined by Perlmutter provided a succinct explanation for the existence of and benefits attached to managing subsidiary units not as a portfolio of independent units but as an interdependent network.Another foundation, upon which their argument rests, is the rich body of literature on global strategy (e. g. , Hout, Porter and Rudden [1982]; Hamel and Prahalad [1985]; Kogut [1985a, 1985b]; Kim and Mauborgne [1988]; Yip, [1989]), which has either explicitly or implicitly built upon Perlmutter's geocentric conception. I believe that the biggest theoretical difference from this global-strategy construct and classical economics theory within the entry mode decision is that the overriding objective is overall corporate success, not the maximization of each individual subsi diary unit's efficiency.The second is that in achieving this objective, interdependencies across subsidiary units must be actively managed, meaning that sometimes it would mean that in order to maintain global strategy, some SBUs might even be required to operate at a loss (which is a rationale outside the boundaries of traditional economics). Considering the nine propositions, do they all make sense to you? In case you find any fault with them, state it with your arguments. The first thing I noticed is why are they called propositions instead of Hypothesis? Any theory is based in hypothesis because its aim is to provide chances for something to be proved or not.The second thing I notices is that the propositions are not â€Å"symmetrical†. By this I mean that when you make such kind of propositions, in order to fully understand the relationship of the explanatory variables with the dependent variable, the author must not only look at one side of the coin but at both. For exa mple, Proposition 1: Other things being equal, firms that pursue a multi-domestic strategy will favor lowcontrol entry modes. That is one side of the coin, the other side would be: Other things being equal, firms that do not pursue multi-domestic strategy will not favor low-control entry modes.The value of such construct is that it gives a more robust base for empirical testing. Each proposition is set to analyze the validity of each factor within the whole unified framework, so its validity remains to be tested empirically. Review the methodology adopted by this paper and make your comment on its appropriateness. This paper is a theoretical construct based upon the works of others with the addition of new factors, it does not apply specific methodological tools for testing its validity. In terms of epistemological value, the theory is constructed in the same fashion as Falsificationism (Popper? ) would propose because the validity of the theory that was accepted previously was put into question by the authors and therefore they provided a new set of hypothesis that should accommodate more accurately to reality than Transaction Costs theory. To discuss the appropriateness of such construct without empirical evidence would be to begin an epistemological debate about the validity of theories and their validity into describing â€Å"Truth†. If it were me who wrote the paper I would have not done a theoretical construct without any experimental study about its validity. I believe that? why some of the authors (specifically Hwan) wrote another paper a couple of years later were with the use of surveys they tried to analyze the validity of such constructs. Methodologically speaking, I believe that is a much more fruitful contribution to science than providing list of propositions that may or may not be of use. Discuss briefly what contributions this thesis has made to the theory of international entry mode choice. The biggest contribution of this paper was th e search of different factors that could explain the decision of mode of entry for the internationalization process of a company.Previous studies at the moment had already identified a diversity of variables that influence the entry mode decision decision, and the authors grouped them into one of two categories: environmental or transaction specific factors. Furthermore, according to the theoretical constructs of the time, the studies of the factors had an underlying assumption that each entry decision is made in isolation and is driven essentially by efficiency considerations at the level of the individual entrant or subsidiary unit.This paper made a case directed towards establishing the importance of a third group of factors: global strategic, namely the strategic relationship it envisages between its operations across borders, in reaching its entry mode decision. For a business manager who is in such internationalization process, this theoretical construct can provide him a road map to which variables he/she should pay attention to in order to make the decision of entry.In my opinion, managers tend to first see how other companies enter the market in their initial stages and see if that would be a viable choice and such â€Å"contextual† approach is not included in the factors. What do you think of the limitation of this thesis? The biggest limitation of any theoretical construct is that it remains just a theory and not be applicable. That? s why I took it upon me to see if someone had tried to prove or deny the Eclectic Theory. The results of that search are shown in section three of this paper.Empirical evidence 2 years after the publication of Hill et al. Eclectic Theory, one of the co-writers, Peter Hwang along with W. Chan Kim published the paper: â€Å"Global Strategy and Multinationals? Entry Mode Choice†. The main objective of the paper was to provide empirical tests to the propositions made by the Eclectic Theory. They used a survey f rom ninety-six multinational managers and had a fundamental result that an express incorporation of global strategic variables into an analysis of the entry mode decision is warranted. DataThe survey was a mail questionnaire composed of four parts: modes of entry, global strategic factors, environmental factors, and transaction-specific factors. It was distributed to 629 U. S. based MNE, mostly from the manufacturing sector and targeted senior-level management. 137 questionnaires were returned (22% response rate), of which 41 were disregarded because of incomplete answers. Another 18 were disregarded because respondents provided a positive response to the control question of whether government regulations imposed restrictions on the mode options available.The respondents operations were geographically wide with 25 located in Asia Pacific, 17 in South America, 25 in Europe, 16 in North America, 4 in Africa and 9 in the Middle East. One big methodological problem to measure the validi ty of the propositions is that such variables are not easy to measure. This translates that the nine key variables recognized to influence the focal decision of foreign entry mode are linked to the empirical world only through indicators.Moreover, they appear to be wide-ranging, multifaced constructs. As such, psychometric measurement based on multiple items rather than a single-item proxy seemed a more fitting approach [Peter 1979; Fomnell 1982; Churchill 1979], and was used in the analyses. I personally believe that psychometric variables do not fully reflect the necessary information, but that is just because I am biased towards more robust statistical data and believe that what people think they know is not actually what they know.Continuing with the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to evaluate the foreign venture under discussion across each of these items on a 7-point Likert-type scale. After data collection, an iterative procedure was employed to refine the set of in dicators for each construct. The item-to-total correlation, i. e. , the correlation between the score of each indicator and the total score of those indicators used to capture each construct, was then examined. Following the steps suggested by Nunnally [1978], those indicators with a low correlation with the total score (i. e. , r

Horace Miner – Nacirema Tribe Location

â€Å"Body Rituals among the Nacirema† is an article written by Horace Miner about a group of people, the Nacirema, and their everyday functions or rituals. Miner relates the culture, practices, values, and beliefs of a seemingly exotic and strange tribe. He vividly and descriptively describes behaviors and activities that are interpreted as unusual and strange. The tribe Miner depicts seems primal and uncivilized, and yet somewhat familiar. They are a â€Å"North American group living in the territory between the Canadian Creel the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles† (Miner).This area is the United States of America and upon recognizing the location, the reader starts to become cognizant of the presence of an ulterior message. Miner’s depiction draws us in but shortly, we realize he is referring to American society; read backwards, Nacirema spells ‘American. ’ Instead of describing a far-away and exotic tribe, a s the reader first expects, the article describes very ‘normal’ aspects of American life, such as dental hygiene and medicine. The use of language like â€Å"mouth-rite,† â€Å"holy-mouth-men,† and â€Å"medicine men† frames these aspects in a very abnormal way.Miner does an exceptional job of disguising the American culture as ‘Nacirema. ’ Once unveiling this disguise, many references can easily be seen and the article is interpreted in a whole new way; for example, the â€Å"cleansing shrine† as the washroom, â€Å"magical potions† as medicine, and â€Å"latipso† as hospital. This article is written as an observation on American society but could be generalized as ‘North American’ practices. The article demonstrates that attitudes about the body have a widespread influence on many social institutions.Many of the rituals that we have in North America involve manipulating our image and this value contra dicts the enlightened and rational creatures we sometimes imagine ourselves to be. Miner effectively convinces the reader of the somewhat ridiculous nature of (North) America’s obsession with health and visual appeal. This is accomplished by provoking readers to form an outside opinion of themselves before realizing they are their own subject. His analysis portrays himself and the reader as superior, civilized beings studying this tribe, which creates a distance and differentiation leading to comparison.By describing American culture from the perspective of an external observer, we can realize how a different perspective or standpoint can perceive our rituals as quite strange. As such, Miner’s article can be seen as speaking to how other cultures could view our own, and shows how ethnocentrism can affect how we see and interpret culture. Miner uses his style of writing to prove his apparent point that Americans are ethnocentric. Furthermore, the tone of the article dis plays how this ethnocentrism can lead to judgment of other, unknown cultures.A resonating point for me throughout this article is Miner’s success in translating Peter Berger’s concept of the sociological perspective, making the reader see the strange in the familiar. By thinking of these familiar rituals as strange, a new perspective is formed and our regular, ‘normal’ world can be seen in a fresh, unique way. Importantly, the sociological imagination begins to engage and develop as we recapture the ability to be astonished by what we normally take for granted.This broadening of perspective and how we look at ourselves can lead us to think beyond our standpoint and better understand someone of a different background. Upon first reading, the rituals/institutions described have a familiarity, but in everyday life we have become socialized so as we do not see the odd and sometimes illogical actions we perform. As Miner begins, â€Å"the anthropologist has be come so familiar with the diversity of ways in which different people behave in similar situations that he is not apt to be surprised by even the most exotic customs. I believe Horace Miner wrote this piece to touch on all of these points; to make us see the familiar as strange, to develop the sociological imagination, and to bring awareness to the ethnocentrism of our culture/society. The targeted audience may be fellow anthropologists, sociologists, scholars/ students, or even the general public. Miner challenges all North Americans to look at themselves in a new light, to look critically upon our own society. He is effective in conveying his messages through his unique approach to the idea, and ability to re-arrange our thought process.He seems to challenge the way cultures, and American culture in particular, may have been previously represented or misrepresented. Furthermore, the article breaks the barrier of viewing American culture as ‘normal’ and that which othe rs may be measured against; he breaks the barrier of ethnocentrism. Another reason to comment on these points may have been to try to stimulate better, less biased research and inspire colleagues, students etc. to consider the existence of perspective and potential for ethnocentrism in all that they do.I find the article relevant, personally, as a student studying sociology and business, and as a North American. Our society is continually becoming more culturally diverse, and international interaction (whether in business, academics or elsewhere) is becoming commonplace. Therefore, it is increasingly important to learn to step outside of our accustomed perspective and to be aware of others we interact with, as well as of our own biases, viewpoints, and barriers.The clever way Miner provokes looking at the familiar as strange lead me think of the many ways we view the ‘familiar,’ having become accustomed to our social norms and values. I have begun to see these in a new way, and will further keep in mind the sociological perspective and presence of potential ethnocentric views when evaluating situations. We naturally look at other cultures or societies through the lens of our own but if we are able to understand our own culture – our social context – the water in which we swim, we can develop our relationships and interactions with those from other waters.

JetBlue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

JetBlue - Essay Example This organization’s goals have been achieved through effective leading, controlling, planning and organizing functions; the study of the individuals and groups in JetBlue which brings the organization behavior known as JetBlue experience (Schermerhorn, 2012). To achieve a wide application, a behavioral science approach was applied by JetBlue by planning and re-enforcing of organizational strategies, process, and structures in order to improve the effectiveness of JetBlue. For this, JetBlue developed a System Operation Center to become an organ for making decisions, teamwork, communication and offering leadership to crewmembers in order to offer excellent services to customers. This has been done through total utilization of the process of change in behavioral science technologies, theory, and research. The long-term strategy of JetBlue has been to change attitudes, cultural values, attitudes and organization structures. To achieve this, JetBlue had to renew its capacity and transform itself into a learning organization (Kondalkar, 2009). To change the operating environment, JetBlue had to reorganize itself to fit in the modern environment. Change had to be managed from the top by Senior Vice President (Operations) (Organization Development Network, 2015). Change is part of the organization culture at JetBlue; thus the department within the organization must help SOC in improving JetBlue and directors always lead the crewmembers. This is espoused in the values and beliefs of JetBlue with clear enshrined goals, aspirations, rationalization and ideologies (Schein, 2010). SOC develops goals and objectives, trains and develops crewmember skills at JetBlue University. This is done by developing complete HR training modules suited for each department and as per the requirement of the director. Surveys are done in order to measure the level of achievement of success in JetBlue. This has also been made possible through applying basic assumptions and

CELL BIOLOGY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

CELL BIOLOGY - Essay Example Cholera toxin alters the ÃŽ ± subunit such that the G protein becomes constitutively activated. The result is an increase in cAMP and associated kinases that would amplify the cascade effect and therefore enhance the effect of norepinephrine. If the weaker interaction is still sufficient to activate the receptor but also allows for a faster exchange rate for norepinephrine molecules, then the result would be to enhance the effect of norepinephrine. If, instead, the interaction was not sufficient to activate the receptor, then the effects of norepinephrine would be inhibited because the inactive receptor would not respond to the norepinephrine signal. This will likely inhibit the effects of norepinephrine, because although binding of norepinephrine will still activate the receptor at the same rate, the receptor would no longer be stably associated with the G protein, and the signal will not be transduced from activated receptor to inactive G protein as efficiently. If the ÃŽ ± subunit is responsible for activating adenylate cyclase and signaling an increase in cAMP and activation of resulting cAMP-dependent kinases, then altering the interaction between the ï  ¢Ã¯  § and the protein kinase will have no effect. If instead, the ï  ¢Ã¯  § - protein kinase interaction is necessary for amplification of the norepinephrine signal, then weakening the interaction will have the effect described above (i.e. it will depend on whether or not the weaker interaction is still sufficient to activate the kinase.) ⇒By inhibiting protein phosphatases in general, protein kinases—activated by phosphorylation— and their downstream targets will have longer half lives because phosphatases won’t be available to hydrolyze their phosphate groups. If these kinases and downstream targets are required to potentiate the norepinephrine signal, then the effects of norepinephrine would be enhanced. 2. Receipt of extracellular signals can cause changes in cellular physiology. Some changes

Social media - internet forum,email and picture sharing Term Paper

Social media - internet forum,email and picture sharing - Term Paper Example At the present, almost all the business organizations are well aware of the fact that the use of the Internet can be very helpful for better serving customers and reaching into the international markets. When the size and business of a company expands the need for the distribution of these products to their target customers also increases. In this scenario, the Internet marketing is the most excellent way that offers higher potency and access to international markets for the marketing of products. On the other hand, traditional marketing and its techniques have turned out to be less efficient to defeat the need for more targeted and wide marketing. In addition, with the emergence of the Internet, the techniques of marketing not only have changed but also improved amazingly, and at the present business organization are more talented in telling their stories and carrying out their marketing communications out there (Rao, Salam and DosSantos; Summers, Gardiner and Lamb; Watson, Zinkhan and Pitt). This paper presents an overview of some of the important marketing and advertising techniques such as email, internet forums and picture sharing. The basic aim of this research is to show how these marketing techniques can play a significant role in business marketing. Changing Trend in Advertisement and Promotion As discussed in the above section, in the past few years the majority of business organizations have started making use of the Internet to reach worldwide customers and access international markets without spending a lot of money.... In addition, the Web-based nature of social networks allows the business organizations to make use of this modern tool in different forms that can take benefit of the users' personal and social data. In fact, these social networking websites have a great effect on the social life of a lot of people, even more than millions of people that make use of these web sites directly (Golbeck; Conti, Hasani and Crispo). Keeping the numerous benefits of social networks in mind, Sony Corporation took a great advantage of this wonderful technology, which has proven to be successful and effective for its business marketing. According to information given on (Facebook), â€Å"the creation of this Facebook page was aimed at allowing the consumers to engage with the product. Additionally, this advertising campaign attracted more than 173,000 Facebook users that straight away linked to the Sony VAIO Page since September 24, 2010, approximately doubling the objective of catching 90,000 users, also unt il 2011, above 380,000 people had connected to the Page† (Facebook). Figure 1Example of Social Media based Adverting, Image Source: http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/Sony_Vaio_CaseStudy.pdf Online Advertising and Promotion The cost of web based marketing and advertising depends on the experience that a company is looking for. However, the standard cost for per click is about a quarter. In fact, the majority of small size businesses are spending extremely little by performing associated marketing, with other websites to bring traffic to their website. In this scenario, they just pay the host website a proportion of their corporate based on the

Sentence fluency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Sentence fluency - Essay Example Contextually, it is these aspects that represent the important ideas of sentence fluency (Timothy, â€Å"Guided Fluency Instruction: Moving Students to Independence†). GOAL STATEMENT The fundamental goal of the curriculum will concentrate on critically evaluating knowledge gained by the learners with respect to planning, evaluation and editing of the writings by learners. In this regard, applying brainstorming sessions, group discussion and peer review will be taken into account strategically. The application of this curriculum is likely to enhance the understanding capability of the learners with respect to their ideas related to the usage of detailed information along with application of apt words. It is expected that with the assistance of this curriculum, learners will be able to easily identify and rectify their syntax mistakes, which they used to be ignorant towards in prior instances. This curriculum will also act with the aim to fortify the quality of the sentences fra med by the learners (Timothy, â€Å"Guided Fluency Instruction: Moving Students to Independence†). This curriculum has been specially designed to initiate the need for sentence fluency among the domestic and the international students. This curriculum will assist the learners throughout their developmental course, generating a sense of need and importance for this particular subject, as it has a strong hold with respect to communicative competencies in the international plethora. DISCUSSION In precise, this curriculum will assist the learner to have a better insight about the importance of applying facts and figures within the informational article. It is worth mentioning in this context that there exist a generalized six kinds of writing traits viz., idea and concept, organization, voice, sentence fluency, usage of words and conventions. In consideration with the curriculum, it will enhance the ideas and the conception of the learner with regard to writing a sentence or sent ence fluency. Furthermore, this curriculum will be intended towards assisting the learners in organizing sentences in order to develop their abilities to convey the concerned ideas maintaining consistency in the flow of information. It is in this context that voice frames an important part in the formation of sentences accelerating sentence fluency in turn. The curriculum designed will therefore foster understanding of the learner concerning smooth and harmonized flow of ideas and objectives with respect to the sentences. Moreover, this curriculum will also intend to assist the learners concerning the importance of words choice in maintaining and grooming sentence fluency (Timothy, â€Å"Guided Fluency Instruction: Moving Students to Independence†). Instructional design will also be regarded to hold considerable importance in the success potentials of the curriculum. Instructional design comprises a series of procedures, which aim at assisting in the development of the qualit y aspects and evaluative efficiency of the curriculum being designed. Instructional procedure comprehensively builds up with the requirement of sentence fluency for individual development. Furthermore, the instructional content of this curriculum will entail an objective-oriented approach in its designing. Fluency within the sentences, in this context, imposes a greater impact on the listeners and the readers too. The

IMPROVING BUSINESS Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

IMPROVING BUSINESS Performance - Essay Example The research in this case targets the improvement of performance of the company. The main activity in this case would be the analysis of the current performance of the company to determine the current performance, requirements and the challenges (Maginn 2007, p, 288). The solution of the challenges will result following the formulations of means to transform the challenges into opportunities. The exercise targets the division of the company into sectors of performance. The difficulties will then be determined in regards to the company’s performance. Recommendations for the solution of the problems in every perspective will then be made. Eventually, assessment will be made on the recommendations to pride from more efficient mechanisms for improving the business. Introduction The fact that PIPEWORK plc is an old established UK company, it is not at its performing at its best due to various reasons. The company has challenges with lack of a succession plan that makes it look visi onless. Lack of morale is a characteristic of many stakeholders hence hindering performance. Computerization of functions and departments is lacking leading to discrepancies in accounting and delivery delays. All these would be best addressed using the Business Process Reengineering. Moreover, there exist challenges with status quo who wish to maintain their status hence hindering the capacity of the company to get new technologies and managerial skills. Most of the staff and heads of department are untrained and incompetent leading to low quality products and poor service delivery. These challenges can only be best addressed by the Kaizen approach PIPEWORK plc is a UK based company that is a market leader in the pipework sector. PIPEWORK plc is divided into three divisions namely the Drainage Division, Do-it-yourself (DIY) Division and Boilers Division. Though they are operated as independent business units, with individual balance and profit sheets that are later amalgamated, the company has recorded losses with respect to the previous year’s performances (Patterson et al 2012, p, 624). This year’s turnover was ?700m with a pre-tax profit of ?35m though it is a loss compare to last year’s which was at ?900m with a pre-tax profit of ?50m. The average age of senior management staff being 56 years implies the company lacks in new managerial skills methods in the market. Lack of a succession plan by the Head of Human Resources and Divisional directors is clear indication for lack of a vision in the company. Only two divisions have staff and management appraisal procedures which are long overdue in terms of re-evaluation. In order to have a deeper establish the context for evaluation of PIPEWORK plc, it is vital to consider the vital sections considered for its maximal performance. Drainage Division Overreliance on the olden traditional way of making clay pipes using kilns leads to wastage rates due to fractures and malformation. The fracture s and malformations are as a result of long time the clay takes in the kiln and the fire used. Though the engineers have recently introduced PVC pipes, PIPEWORK lacks the internal resources to develop brand new products. This has made the company incur extra costs to suppliers to help them develop a new plastic pipe making machine to facilitate the division create newfangled products appropriate for present day market. It is expensive to produce the PVC pipes alongside the clay ones. In as much as PIPEWORK has opened a major manufacturing plant in Germany

Stress Differences between Rita Dove's Grape Sherbet and Jim Daniels Essay

Stress Differences between Rita Dove's Grape Sherbet and Jim Daniels My Father Worked Late - Essay Example Contrasting Rita Doves â€Å"Grape Sherbet† and Jim Daniel’s â€Å"My Father Worked Late† Rita Doves â€Å"Grape Sherbet† speaks about the memories of a father. The narrator together with their siblings spends time with the father who offers them grape sherbet. Later on, the narrator and the siblings learn that their father had taken them to a grave yard. The motive is to make the children learn to associate memories with positive experiences as opposed to mourning. The children quickly learn the importance of the day. Jim Daniels â€Å"My Father Worked Late† lays emphasis on the dilemma of a working father. The father who is the sole provider of the family had to put some extra effort and cope with stress to support his family. The working father utilizes most of his time to ensure that the family is catered for. He ends up spending little time with the family. The most dominant play of polarity is the narrators who give the memories of their childhood and fathers. The father in â€Å"Grape Sherbet† spends time and involves the children when conducting a memorial day at a graveyard. On the other hand, the father in â€Å"My Father Worked Late† utilizes most of his time at work to ensure that he provides for the family. The subject matter â€Å"Grape Sherbet† is about memorial. The narrator’s family holds a memorial where the father is participating. The children learn that the memorial is for the dead and the reality of life and death dawns to them. The subject matter in â€Å"My Father Worked Late† is a working father who works tirelessly for the family. He becomes overwhelmed by the work and has limited time to be with the children. He is stressed and sometimes causes tension in the family. The narrator in â€Å"Grape Sherbet† wants to highlight the importance of a memorial. Using the young children in the poem enables them to make known the reality of life and death. Children do not understand what death is. The poet may be implying that, creating memories enables those who are gone to live. The narrator in â€Å"My Father Worked Late† wants to recognize the effort of the hardworking father. He works late to support the family. Work is stressful and tiring, y et the acceptable behavior requires the father to provide for the family. The setting for â€Å"Grape Sherbet† is on Memorial Day while the setting for â€Å"My Father Worked Late† is on a regular working day in a rural setting. In â€Å"Grape Sherbet† there is a celebratory atmosphere where there is cooking and feasting in the occasion â€Å"The day? Memorial after the grill†¦ we cheer† (Righeto 54). The setting talks about a single day. The setting in â€Å"My Father Worked Late† narrates of the encounters of a hardworking father. The narrators capture experiences from many days (Daniels 5). In â€Å"Grape Sherbet† the role of a father as the source of affection and love for the children is revealed. The father spends time with the family on the Memorial Day. The children gallop in the graveyard in play. In â€Å"My Father Worked Late† the father is to provide the family with basic necessity and not to provide love. The father becomes detached from the family as a result of demanding work. The father shows distress from his work and becomes unfriendly to the family. Children rarely get affection from their father. The father’

The European Dimension Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The European Dimension - Essay Example Marks & Spencer was named as the leading UK retailer responsible for fish sourcing by Greenpeace, and Marine Conservation Society. Similarly, RSPCA recognised them for their animal welfare policy and launch of a range of clothing made from Fairtrade certified cotton in clothing. Marks & Spencer has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability and FTSE 4 Goods index. They converted all the roast, ground, and instant coffee to Fairtrade, and became the first major UK high street retailer to launch a range of clothing made from Fairtrade certified cotton (An extract from the Chairman’s speech on the occasion of CSR) (Marks & Spencer-The Company, www2.marksandspencer.com [Accessed 20 August 2006]). Marks & Spencer work to protect the environment and animal welfare, and have made huge contributions in the development of community services in countries where they have their presence. The company’s hard work has seen them included in the Dow Jones Sustainability and FTSE 4 Good Indexes and ranked equal 20th with a score of 95% in Business in the Community’s Corporate Responsibility Index (Marks & Spencer-The Company). They manage CSR under Product, People and Places. The United Kingdom, from the census gathered from 2001 showed the total population of the country at 58789194 of which, 28579869 were men, and 30209325 were women. At the same time London, based on data released on or before 13 February 2003 showed a population of 7172091.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Market Entry Strategy for SMEs Essay

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Market Entry Strategy for SMEs - Essay Example The risks associated with entry into a new and unfamiliar market can be reduced by applying pertinent market entry strategies. Under this strategy, exporting can be divided into two parts such as indirect exporting as well as direct exporting. Indirect exporting is referred as decreasing the producer’s risk by selling the manufacturer’s product in the foreign market with the help of others. On the other hand, direct exporting signifies that a company controls the export activities as well as sells the manufactured products directly to the foreign market. Therefore, in the direct exporting strategy producers have more control on the activities of a foreign market (Tielmann, 2010). In this paper, the benefits and the disadvantages of a foreign market entry approach about exporting of small and medium enterprises (SME’s) as well as multinational enterprise (MNE’s) are discussed. Evaluating the advantages as well as the disadvantages of market entry strategy is most important in order to develop SME’s exporting. Entry strategy of exporting for SME’s can be defined as sale of goods produced by the SME’s in the foreign market with the help of agents and distributors (Bendt & Skropska, 2011). The selection of optimal entry mode strategy is imperative for SMEs in the international marketing context in order to make their presence felt in the competitive foreign markets where there are a number of existing competitors present. SMEs have been observed to possess quite simple objectives as well as organisational structures. SMEs’ key aim is to make growth as well as development, which can be ensured by maximising the anticipated profit level. However, SME’s face resource and information constraints (Decker & Zhao, 2004).

Environmental Protection UK Essay Example for Free

Environmental Protection UK Essay Two lower primary boys died and their father and his girlfriend were equally hospitalized in coma after a terrible encounter with odorless, colorless and toxic fumes that leaked into their bungalow residence from a nearby hotel old and deteriorated boiler (Haines 2010). Carbon monoxide is a toxic and deadly gas that besides being odorless and invincible is quite light than air therefore rendering the gas more terrible in case of leakage. Mild exposure to the gas makes one get disoriented with dizziness and nauseating effect that render someone fatigued and sick. Continuous exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) leads to death within a short time for children while adults can pass out into a coma and if medical care is not guaranteed death is inevitable. Organically the gas contains oxygen molecule triple bonded with carbon and usually reacts with the body depriving the red blood cells ability from picking oxygen in presence of the lighter gas leading to cell suffocation due to lack of oxygen. Therefore the general public should be well familiar with the grave danger of CO that is usually liberated in partial combustion of petroleum products, gas, wood and coal that are used in boilers, engines, heaters and burners. Consequently it is important that the domestic home environment is sealed from dangers associated with CO gas leakages that are common due to presence of combustible materials in kitchen, garages and power generating equipment. Carbon monoxide in homes is as a result of partial combustion of fuels like gas, oil, coal or wood in various home appliances. This gas then leaks out into the atmosphere and inhaled by its victims unknowingly since it is odorless, colorless and very toxic to the thus calling for availability of first aid kits in all homes. Human efforts of preventing air leakage into the house especially during the cold season reduces the availability of fresh air into the house thus posing a threat of carbon monoxide congesting in the house especially when combustion activities are going on such as cooking or heating up the room. Use of unvented gas heaters and kerosene stoves can become a good source of carbon monoxide in homes since the fresh oxygen is inhibited from getting into the house or cooking room thus combustion is not fully achieved resulting into production of carbon monoxide. Worn out and poorly maintained devises that use combustion can lead to leakage of carbon monoxide saturation in homes due to untimely disconnections, blockage, wrong size of equipment that result from making use of unqualified personnel to install the house hold appliances or delay in replacing worn out ones . Such equipment includes boilers, heaters, generators and furnaces (EPA 2010). Blocked chimneys and poorly vented ventilations encourage accumulation of carbon monoxide in homes. Animal nests or thrown materials in chimneys always results into the carbon monoxide spilling back into the house thus leading to inhalation by any life animal and people found in the house or room. Further, blockages inhibit oxygen entry during combustion thus very little oxygen is made available for combustion which results into carbon monoxide production in the house thus posing a threat to lives. Storage of vehicles in attached garage leads to Carbon monoxide emission through the exhaust pipe especially during the warming up of the engine. Warming up of automobiles and other machines powered by gasoline like generators ,lawn mowers and grills in enclosed areas pose carbon monoxide poisoning hazard Use of charcoal burners, driers or ovens to heat up a poorly ventilated house leads to carbon monoxide build up and saturation in homes (NMGCO 1). Carbon monoxide is known to inhibit the capability of the blood carrying blood to major body most essential organs such as the heart, brain and liver. Upon inhalation, Carbon monoxide being a lighter gas than oxygen dissolves faster through the alveoli wall unto the red blood cells’ hemoglobin. The oxygen carrying protein has cooperatively ability such than it easily combines with large portions of available and lighter gas carbon monoxide thus forming a compound known as carboxyhemoglobin instead of oxyhemoglobin that is readily spent by the body cells (Robert 2010). Since carboxyhemoglobin is never used in the body, the blood is soon saturated with a foreign gas that cannot be easily removed thus depriving oxygen the hemoglobin transporting protein leading to oxygen deprivation that leads to headache, dizziness, fatigue, and chest pain to individuals with heart problems at lower concentration (NMGCO 2010). When the carbon monoxide concentration gets higher than the body immunity can handle it leads to poor vision and sensitization of the body cells in the victims leading to nausea, brain malfunction and mind confusion. At extreme concentration, carboxyhemoglobin is formed in the blood thus inhibiting the intake of oxygen in the body thus resulting into death of the victims (Bailey 2010). There are different measures that can be applied in order to reduce carbon monoxide poisoning accidents whose incidents are quite expensive to mitigate. Since the gas is tasteless, odorless and colorless, therefore carbon monoxide detectors can be installed in homes and domestic environments. Usually the accumulation of carbon monoxide can take place without notice in homes that use boiler, gas, kerosene and oil if the equipment is faulty. Regular checks should be organized by home-keepers by inviting qualified and focused technicians who can do professional repairs. Old burners, boilers, generators and CO producing equipment can be done away with in order to prevent unfortunate mistakes (CO 2000). According to US Environmental Protection Agency gas stoves can be done away with if the home environment is to be kept safe since though the equipment is cheap it pumps 5 to 15 parts per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide with the deteriorated ones scoring 30 ppm while the U. S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards advocates for outdoor air to contain 9 ppm and indoor a maximum of 35ppm of CO-thus the stove and coal appliances need to be used in open ground (Pollutte 2008). Meticulousness approach to usage of boilers and stoves can be achieved by usage of clear and dry fuel of the highest possible approved standards (Environment 2010). Other measures include having a Gas Safe Registered engineer to install gas appliances with annual checks. Bedroom heating material should avoid usage of gas and cabinet heaters. All homes that operate CO emitting appliances have to install chimneys and heat ventilations tat have to be checked frequently to clear blockage by cleaning (NHS 2009). In case of an emergence one should cut off the gas supply in the appropriate valve with immediate ventilation and urgent call to a medical facility and a qualified and certified technician to check on the leakage and report appropriately the cause with effective repairs to protect life and environment. Information dissemination to the community is quite vital if the health of the society is to be-held as a top priority. Carbon monoxide incidents can be compiled together to arouse the mind of the ignorant public about the ill effects of CO leakage and prove that all homes are at risk since gas and coal heaters are common cooking apparatus. Also the history brings in news about the colossal effects of accumulated amounts of carbon monoxide that affected legendaries as Allan Poe though during that time their generation attributed their deaths to sensitivity of the mind. Therefore if leaflets, magazines and other printed media forms of communication in conjunction with the internet, TV and other digital and analogue mass media the community can be reached and change can be effected bringing about both awareness and a social order that is organized to mitigating risks associated with carbon monoxide poisoning. Conclusively, carbon monoxide poisoning affects the body’s concentration of oxygen thus attacking the general health of the suffocated body parts. Since the gas is odorless, tasteless, and colorless makes it such a dreadful chemical gas that further enhances the fumes’ ability to sneak in and kill within a relative small span of time in high concentrations while causing detrimental body health deterioration that retards immunity leading to poor health and life. References: Haines, S 2010, Corfu â€Å"carbon monoxide death familys fight for justice†, BBC News Channel, accessed 5 May 2010 http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bradford/8497271. stm NHS, 2009, â€Å"What preventative measures can I take against carbon monoxide exposure? Gas safety Carbon monoxide awareness†. Health and safety Executive, accessed 5 May 2010 http://www. hse. gov. uk/gas/domestic/co. htm Pollette, C 2008, â€Å"Why is carbon monoxide poisonous? † Science, accessed 5 May http://science. howstuffworks. com/question190. htm Environment, 2010, â€Å"Using wood and coal for Home heating. Environmental Protection UK , accessed 5 May http://www. environmental-protection. org. uk/air-quality-and- climate/air-quality/solidfuel/ Robert, R 2009, â€Å"Is This Common Poison Carbon Monoxide Causing Chronic Illness? † Articles Directory http://www. articlesbase. com/alternative-medicine-articles/is-this-common- poison-carbon-monoxide-causing-chronic-illness-1433959. html CO, 2009, â€Å"A Guide to Prevent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning†, Carbon Monoxide, accessed 5 May http://www. carbon-monoxide-poisoning. com/ EPA 2010,An Introduction to Indoor Air Quality, Carbon Monoxide (CO), US Environmental protection Agency, Accessed 05 May 2010 http://www. epa. gov/iaq/co. html NMGCO 2010, Sources of Carbon Monoxide, New Mexico gas company, Accessed 05 May 2010 http://www. nmgco. com/Sources_Carbon_Monoxide. aspx Bailey, R 2010 Carbon monoxide,About. com Accessed 05 May 2010 http://biology. about. com/od/molecularbiology/a/carbon_monoxide. htm

Types of Cells in the Human Body

Types of Cells in the Human Body In this essay I will be looking at the human body and how it is organised, from the simple cell to how the body systems co-operate with each other and that everything functions properly. Firstly I will be looking at some simple cells that will group together to make up a tissue. The first cells I will be looking at will be the erythrocytes, the ova cells in women, the spermatozoon cell in men and the epithelial ciliated cells in the throat. The erythrocytes are made in the red bone marrow of short bones in the body such as the hip bone, breast bone, ribs etc . Red bone marrow can produce new erythrocytes at the rate of about 1 and half million per second to replace those destroyed . When first formed the erythrocyte has a nucleus, which when the cell matures the nucleus is squeezed out to make way for more haemoglobin to be stored inside the erythrocyte. The erythrocyte is very unique in size and structure; it has the look of a biconcave disk shape. These have inner components that allow the transport of oxygen and help the elimination of carbon dioxide. There are approximately 5 million erythrocytes per mmÂÂ ³ of blood. The redness of the red blood cell comes from the pigment it contains; it contains Haemoglobin which combines with oxygen easily to become oxyhaemoglobin there are 180 million haemoglobin molecules in one erythrocyte. Erythrocytes are about 7.8 micrometres in diameter. Erythrocytes can live up to 12 0 days inside the body, before they are broken down in the liver and the spleen by a macrophage. The function of the red blood cell is to primarily transport oxygen from the lungs around the body which can be used for many things, such as making amino acids, lipids and carbohydrates, Their second function is to get rid of carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs to be excreted out by the lungs. Oxygen carried by the red blood cells can bind with iron atoms in the blood meaning that haemoglobin can carry 4 oxygen atoms at its maximum capacity. The ability of oxygen to bind with haemoglobin depends on a few factors such as the acidity of the blood and also the temperature. Erythrocytes make up 45% of blood inside the body; the other 55% is plasma. THE OVA CELLS The ova cells are produced in the ovaries of women. This is the by-product of the ovaries which is the tissue that makes the ova. The ovum is a smaller version of an ovary which is small enough to pass down the fallopian tube. This cell is visible and does not need a microscope to see it. It measures in diameter 120um. Its almost a perfect circular cell which has tough follicle cells surrounding the egg to protect it. These cells are normally called ova and they ovulate once every 28 days. The function of ova cells is so that it gives the spermatozoon a chance to fertilise the egg and it has to contain nutrients and metabolites to help sustain itself in early development to hopefully create a human life, as you may well know it is a cycle where once a month a egg develops in the ovaries and is passed down the fallopian tube where it can be fertilised, if fertilisation happens the inside the ova cell, cell division occurs until it reaches the uterus, if unfertilised it will pass out of the body, but if it is fertilised the weight of the ova will imbed itself into the uterus cell wall where it will grow and develop, a successful fertilisation normally is when the woman uterus cell wall is at its highest which is normally the 14th day since the last ovulation. Its structure is perfect for its function, if it was any other shape it could get stuck in the fallopian tube. THE SPERMATOZOON Otherwise known as the sperm cell, this cell is made in the seminiferous tubules in the testes which are lined by germinal epithelial cells which divide repeatedly, forming cells called spermatogonia. The spermatozoon have many structural sections which make it agile and fast. This cell is very specialised and it has some of what most cells have like a head consisting of a nucleus, which contains DNA conjugated with protein in a highly condensed form, mitochondria, microtubules and an acrosome. The nucleus contains the highly condensed set of chromosomes. The condensed state of genetic material reduces the amount of energy needed to transport the sperm. The microtubules produce the whip like movement of a mature sperm, which helps its suspension helping towards the swim to the egg. The mitochondria give the sperm cell the energy it needs to swim, and the acrosome is the storage site of enzymes which help the sperm digest the layers surrounding the egg thus being able to penetrate it. Its primary function is to fertilise an ovum cell, its structure helps it achieve its goal. THE EPITHELIAL CELLS Epithelial cells are produced pretty much anywhere needed in the body where something needs to be protected as we have different types of epithelial cells, take for instance we have squamous epithelium which is also known as pavement epithelium which is found in the walls of blood capillaries and alveoli in the lungs, we also have cuboidal epithelium which is found in some kidney tubules, columnar epithelium which is found in the lining of the small intestine, we also have glandular epithelium which is found in the lining of the rectum, we also have ciliated epithelium, this is formed in the windpipe and Its structure is takes is more of a columnar shape, it has ciliated hairs which beat away from the lungs to move mucus or any other micro-organisms and dust away from the lungs. Smokers are known to have damaged the ciliated hairs by the tar in the cigarettes making the hairs sticky and rigid or they have burnt them. It also has a cytoskeleton called the axoneme, the hairs itself is made of microtubules allowing the hairs to move with more flexibility Its function is just to keep out any foreign tissue, keep micro-organisms out and keep the lungs dust free, its structure helps it as the cilia hairs are facing away from the lungs meaning it will try and keep it by forcing it upwards. TISSUES The epithelial cells will group together to make epithelial tissue which is found in all areas and surfaces of the body, it is specialised to form a covering and or lining of all internal and external surfaces of the body. Epithelial tissue regardless of what type it is, it is separated from a thin-underlying tissue by a thin sheet of connective tissue, the basement membrane, which provides structural support for the epithelium and binds to other neighbouring structures. The ciliated cells in the throat group together to make ciliated epithelial tissue which is formed in a lining normally of the windpipe to help clear mucus, micro-organisms and any foreign tissue a lot more faster and easier than one cell alone. This helps to form one part of the respiratory system. Connective tissue is used to support the body and can bind or connect all tissues together. I will talk about one type of connective tissue which is going to be the bones in our body can also be about the bones in our body. The bones primarily give us the support we need and also give us locomotion to move, it protects delicate organs such as the brain from damage, and is also the site for where erythrocytes are made. It also plays a part in homeostasis which controls the amount of calcium in the blood. Under a microscope the bone is arranged in concentrated layers (lamellae) around the small canals called a haversian canal which interconnects to a volkmanns canal which contains a blood vessel, a lymph and nerve cell. Muscle tissue allows us to be able to relax or contrast our muscles to for us to exercise movement or do some work which requires us to use our muscles, its structure depends on the muscles that come from different areas of the body. We have smooth muscle tissue, skeletal muscle tissue and cardiac muscle tissue. I will now relate to one example which I will look at the structure and function of the smooth muscle tissue. The structure of smooth muscle tissue is made up of thin elongated muscle cells or fibres, these cells are long and pointed to the end and each cell has a large oval nucleus. The smooth muscle tissue is involuntary and we no control over it, some places you will find this tissue are the walls of the bladder, the uterus and the walls of blood vessels, its function is to control, slow involuntary movements such as the contraction of muscle tissue in the walls of the intestines and stomach. Nervous tissue is made up of nerve cells, also known as motor neuron which makes up one part of the nervous system. The structure of a motor neurone is pretty complex, these are lay up and down the body almost touching one another, via the dendrites through the axon, to the synapse, to be dissolved in neurotransmitters to another dendrite, and the central nervous system has three components for it to efficiently work, the motor neurone, the spinal cord and the brain. All motor neurones are connected to the spinal cord and the brain is connected to the spinal cord. A motor neurones function is to detect stimuli and respond to it adequately, it does this by sending electrical messages via the motor neurones to the spinal cord, to the brain and from the brain back to the motor neurones to the connected muscle to react to the stimuli. Its structure means the surface area of motor neurone is big enough to send high powered electrical messages at very high speeds. ORGAN SYSTEMS Up to now we have named a few cells which have developed into tissues, I will now look at the organs from the tissues that come together. The red blood cells have grouped up with plasma to make the blood, the squamous epithelial cells have grouped together to make capillaries, capillaries have grouped and made veins and arteries. All this is has made the circulatory system. The heart is the main organ in this system which too was made of a muscle cell which then grouped to make muscle tissue, making it what it is, the heart is specialised as a muscle as it needs pressure to pump the blood around the body, also it is hallow on the inside which allows the blood to fill the heart and then pump it around the body again. It is made of four chambers, which fill with blood, but they work separately because blood pumped into the heart is deoxygenated and pumped out oxygenated. Together they operate to form the circulatory system. BODY SYSTEMS The systems eventually start working together as one, like the respiratory system works with the circulatory system, the endocrine system works with the whole body giving it hormones, the nervous system works with the brain and spinal cord using nerve cells. The digestive system works alongside the reproductive system. With this in mind we will look at how the body systems work as one entire unit. To ensure we have life, we must to be able to breathe and for that to happen we need our heart beating with blood. The oxygen we breathe in is absorbed into the bloodstream which circulates around our body, picking up glucose and urea from the liver and arriving back at the lungs, and the waste products, like carbon dioxide is excreted. Blood contains waste products such as urea which is given to the liver and bile is added to this ready for digestion in the form of urine but that is after it has passed the kidneys. This links, the circulatory system, the respiratory system and digestive sy stem together. The endocrine system also helps the digestion system by regulating the water balance and blood pressure with the use of very important hormones, such as thyroxin which controls the bodys metabolism. The endocrine system also works with nervous system as it regulates internal functions and maintaining homeostasis. The reproductive system is linked to the digestive system as waste water is excreted through the sexual organs. So the body is linked in many ways to help it function as one whole unit.

Proteins Therapy for Drug Discovery

Proteins Therapy for Drug Discovery Proteins are most dynamic and diverse macromolecules in our body, thus numerous functionally distinct proteins hold enormous promise for the development of new therapeutics for a variety of human ailments which contain mutated or other abnormal proteins, or those in an abnormally high or low concentration. However, the clinical application of protein therapeutics is still in its infancy since the poor physicochemical stability of proteins in the circulation and their limited membrane permeability interrupt successful delivery to the target sites. This review discusses advantages and limitations of current strategies, as well as the recent developments in protein delivery using nanoparticles. We also highlight nanoparticle-mediated alternative administration routes to injection, including oral, nasal, pulmonary, and transdermal delivery. Keywords: nanoparticles, protein delivery, protein therapeutics, administration routes, drug delivery systems Introduction With the strong growth in biopharmaceuticals and advanced drug delivery technologies in recent years, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning toward protein therapeutics in the search for drug discovery targets. A study by BCC Research indicated that the global market for bioengineered protein drugs was valued at $151.9 billion in 2013 and the market is further expected to grow to about $222.7 billion in 2019 for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2% from 2014 through 2019 [1]. Compared with the conventional small-molecule drugs that currently make up the majority of the pharmaceutical market, protein drugs offer the advantages of high specificity and less toxicity, whereas the high specificity often requires structural complexity of the proteins which can make them difficult to formulate, as well as challenging to deliver proteins to target disease sites. Nanotechnology-based approaches, including drug delivery systems using nanostructures such as liposomes, polymer nanoparticles, metallic nanoparticles, stimuli-responsive nanoparticles, and nanofabricated devices, has improved therapeutics in the field of biomedical applications [2,3]. This review describes current protein delivery technologies including those in the market, recent progress, and unmet needs in the formulations and delivery of proteins. The advances in nanotechnology reviewed here highlight that major hurdles in protein delivery can be met even through the patient-friendly, non-invasive routes. Progress and challenges in protein delivery To achieve successful protein therapeutics, the intrinsic characteristics of proteins such as structural instability and short half-life should be improved by designing appropriate protein delivery platforms. Inadequate design or formulation of protein drugs can cause degradation, denaturation, and/or aggregation of the protein molecules, and these could potentially cause immunogenic side effects after administration as well as lead to a loss in pharmacological activity. Effective intracellular protein delivery also remains a challenge as hydrophilic and large sizes of proteins are hardly permeated through the cell membrane. In this section, current technologies to deliver proteins, including intracellular delivery strategies, and their limitations will be discussed. Current protein formulations and modifications Biodegradable microparticles (1-1000 à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ­m) are attractive parental depot formulations for long-term protein drug release (from week to month). They enable sustained release of the proteins by both the diffusion of proteins from the polymer matrix and the degradation/erosion of the polymer [4,5]. The most widely used material for the encapsulation of proteins is poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), as they are mechanically strong, biocompatible, biodegradable with favorable degradation rates, non-toxic, and approved for use in humans by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [6]. Encapsulation of proteins into the microparticles can be prepared by several methods such as double emulsion, which is most widely used technique, phase separation (coacervation), ultrasonic atomization, spray-drying, microfluidics, etc. [7]. Once the proteins are encapsulated into microparticles, their release kinetics depend on the microparticle size, molecular mass of polymer, ratio of hydroph ilicity/hydrophobicity, polydispersity of microparticle size, and loading amount of proteins. Generally, larger size of microparticles lead to more prolonged protein release, but they can cause potential blockage of the needle required for administration, also the stability and bioactivity of the released proteins in the physiological condition need to be considered for long-term delivery. Degradation and erosion of PLGA can lower the pH inside the microparticles, which can further bring denaturation of the protein as well as aggregate formation. Currently, there are few microparticle drug delivery formulations (e.g. Trelstar depot) on the market and various microparticles have been designed for therapeutic protein delivery such as bone morphogenetic protein-2 [8], insulin [9], recombinant human epidermal growth factor [10], and recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) [11]. Proteins smaller than 70 kDa are mostly cleared from the systemic circulation by glomerular filtration [12]. Chemical modification of proteins with hydrophilic polymers can reduce this renal clearance by increasing their molecular weight and/or hydrodynamic dynamic radius. The covalent attachment of polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains to proteins (PEGylation), as a typical example, enhances protein stability and pharmacokinetic (PK) properties, and the benefits of PEGylation have the PEGylated therapeutic proteins have reached the market with many examples on various stages of clinical development including Naloxegol (MovantikTM; AstraZeneca) which was approved by FDA in 2014 for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation [13,14]. Hyperglycosylation can also extend biological half-life and improve stability by improving solubility of proteins and reducing immunogenicity. The addition of sugar molecules to a protein is more natural process than PEGylation since it is already a part of endogenous post-translational enzymatic process as well as polysaccharides are readily degraded into native glucose molecules [15]. N-glycosylated EPO (Aranesp) is marketed by Amgen from 2001, and there are more glycosylated protein drugs under preclinical and clinical investigation such as polysialylated forms of EPO, granulocyte-colony stimulation factor (G-CSF), and insulin [16]. Although the chemical modification provides the prolonged circulation half-life of the proteins, this approach can result in unfavorable conformational changes, a loss of biological activity and binding affinity to their target due to steric hindrance, and heterogeneity [17]. This reduction in physicochemical properties leads to the systemic exposure of proteins to get enough pharmacological potency, but toxicities related to peak exposure can limit their clinical use. Various efforts aiming for the maintenance of protein activity are being made by designing site-specific modification. For example, chemi cal ligation of synthetic peptides including levulinyllysine to EPO indicated superior hematopoietic activity compared to native protein [18]. More recent advances in chemoselective targeting show that the incorporation of canonical and noncanonical amino acids can enhance the selectivity, while improving PEG architecture [19]. In addition to chemical modification, genetic constructs and fusion technologies have been intensively studied to elevate protein half-life and delivery efficacy. Fc-based fusion proteins that are composed of an immunoglobin Fc domain and genetically linked therapeutic protein to this domain are promising approaches as Fc-fusion can endow a protein with unique effector functions mediated by Fc receptor binding and complement fixation [20]. The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) mediated recycling and transcytosis process results in half-life extension (e.g. IgG: up to 21 days) and also the increased molecular weight of fusion proteins through the size of the Fc-domain (~50 kDa) reduces renal clearance [21]. A number of therapeutic proteins based on fusion with the IgG Fc domain are on the market for clinical use since Fc-fused tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-2 (Enbrel; Amgen/Pfizer) was approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and plaque psoriasis in 1998, and several candida tes are currently under clinical trials [22]. Recent Fc-fusion platforms focus on the ways to retain biological activity and binding affinity which can be commonly decreased after fusion process [23,24]. Jung et al. included a ‘chaperone’ protein in Toll-like receptor 4 Fc-fusion to stabilize the desired partner [25]. The development of heterodimeric Fc platforms based on strand-exchange engineered domain CH3 heterodimers consisted of alternating segments of human IgA and IgG CH3 shows multiple specificities within homodimeric Fc-fusion platform [26]. To utilize alternative backbones, such as IgA, IgE, and IgM, may also serve benefits to the activity of the fused partner [27-29]. However, concerns are ongoing about the immunogenicity of Fc-fusion proteins because interactions between the Fc domain and its receptors have multivariable immunological consequences, which can raise concerns in the treatment for chronic disease [30]. Other attempts to target FcRn including al bumin fusion which has direct interaction with FcRn and genetic engineering of Fc domains have also been reported. A glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) albumin fusion achieved ~ 5 day half-life and received FDA-approval (Albiglutide; GSK) for the treatment of type-2 diabetes [31]. A recombinant polypeptide fusion construct which consists of an unstructured polypeptide and protein drug is another example of generic fusion technology capable of extending plasma half-life. Schellenberger et al. developed an exenatide-XTEN fusion and demonstrated ~58 times increased half-life and a low rate of immunogenicity in animals, even in the presence of the adjuvant [32]. Still, issues remain in safety of fusion approaches, in particular in the case of fusions with native human proteins because of the cross-reactivity with endogenous homologues which can affect on a long-term safety and clearance of subsequent doses [33].