Marie Antoinette: History as a problem in film

When one thinks of the Coppola, one inevitably thinks of the great Francis Ford, whose striking Godfather movies have set the bar for dramatic storytelling and cinematography for generations of filmmakers to come.   However, recently, the younger Coppola, Sofia, has taken over the moviemaking role, and has sought to reinvent the historical story of Marie Antoinette, the infamous French queen beheaded at the start of the French Revolution.   However, for those expecting a serious, dour, and historically play by play rendering of the tragic (some say scandalous) life of the queen, they are in for somewhat of a surprise.Indeed, the intentionally contemporary, visually stunning twist on the well-known tale is jarring in its departures from traditional historical thought.   So, too the visual liberties do much to literally force the audience to see the young queen from a different perspective.   The problem is, however, although Coppola can assert that her attempt is an artistic o ne, it is also one of manipulation.That is because in the end, the audience is fully aware of the juxtaposition of their new, interpretation of Antoinette as delivered by the film, with the overwhelming force of historical fact (in as much as we are aware).   This departure from reality eventually leaves the audience feeling a bit cheated, as if the visual, auditory, and even literary ministrations of Coppola on the story have been nothing but a cheap trick—a meandering of whimsy intentionally downplaying the legitimate tragedy of Antoinette’s death and the serious principles behind the French Revolution.To be sure, Coppola’s Marie Antoinette is beautiful.   Released in 2006, the film is set and filmed in Versailles.   The audience meets the young queen as a new bride, delivered from her native Austria to the bosom of the French court.   From the beginning, Antoinette is presented as gentle, almost simple, and kind hearted—concerned with leaving h er family and her beloved pet dog behind to start a new life of duty and service at the behest of her family.Almost as striking as the gentleness of the queen, the visual imagery of the film is without par.   The colors are as vibrant as any 50’s Technicolor dream, and the screen is consistently resplendent with bright pinks, blues and pastel wonders beyond imagination.   This is particularly true of the costuming, which is rendered in striking richness both in color and texture—helping to evoke the extravagant luxury of the French Court and the life of the queen.In addition to the visually descriptive nature of the film, Antoinette’s relationship with her husband is portrayed as amazingly genteel, with her displaying endless patience for her husband’s quirky ways and obvious lack of sexual prowess.   Further, her important role as a mother and bearer of heirs is portrayed convincingly, with visual (only) mention of the death of one of her children in infancy.However, apart from this reflection of historical trivia, the film does little to delve deeply into any of the issues of the time, or of Antoinette’s life.   Further, even the casting of American’s Kirsten Dunst and Jason Shwartzman seems to function as a way to move the film away from historical accuracy, if only in the audience’s mind.   This is particularly true when one hears the somewhat jarring sound of Dunst’s and Shwartzman’s flat American accents against the stylized French-accented comments of the Mistress of the Court.Although one could say that Coppola’s portrayal of Antoinette in such a candy-pink, innocent and accommodating fashion (perhaps more devoid of malice due to her â€Å"straight forward† and simple American twang) could be authentic in that some of it describes the queen’s relative youth and innocence as she entered the court.  Ã‚   However, this does not progress to increased complexity, and the audience does not see her increased politicialization that by all historical accounts marks the last years of her life.Indeed, as historians point out, Marie Antoinette was political, some say a bit of an activist, determined to resist the changes brewing in the midst of the growing revolutionary fervor in the country.   In fact, the movie seems to curiously, if perhaps, intentionally stay away from any true politicalization, â€Å"ugliness,† unrest or upheaval.   Apart from one or two references to the â€Å"people† being hungry and their not being enough bread, one simply does not see the common people or their plight at all.â€Å"What revolution?,†the audience may wonder (perhaps more so amongst today’s less educated tween moviegoers).   Indeed, as the film closes, we are left with nary a glimpse in to the tragic fate of the queen.   Further, one would not imagine too horrible a fate, after all, according to Coppola’s portrayal, Antoinette would never have been so callous as to have said, â€Å"Let them eat cake!†Ã‚   Certainly she was too good for that!   After all, didn’t she give up getting new diamonds so that the people may eat?In addition to the creative storytelling that Coppola entertains throughout the film, the music, itself sets the soundtrack as a kind of point-making device to further help the audience to identify with the kind queen.   Strains of largely upbeat popular music (Bow Wow, Cindy Lauper) make everything seem more innocent, and heck, can’t the audience see they are â€Å"just like us,† not so foreign, not so historic!Yes, it could have been any wealthy American or European girl in her shoes.   One can even see Paris Hilton in Versailles.   Under this treatment, Antoinette seems less distant, complex, serious, and significant in history.   Indeed, all of the messages gleaned from her experiences and narrative seem to melt away to the tune.   Ye s, some classical music is incorporated into the film, but only after the jarring point of the modern has been thoroughly made.Although the cinematic techniques utilized by Coppola definitely lead the audience to reinterpret history, several of the references to historical fact are accurate.   After all, the French did help the young America against Great Britain, and they did deplete sizable financial stores from France (exacerbating the plight of the poor) (Brinton, 1963).   However, by the time these historical points are made in the film, the other visual, dialogue, and tonal points have been made. Historical errors and downright tragedies of perception seem insignificant, just another point of verbal backdrop rather than pivotal junction.In addition to the twisting of the audience’s perception of Antoinette as a function of tone (visual, dialogue, etc), Coppola also departs from historical fact to presumably make the movie â€Å"more interesting† to its audien ce—who are perhaps used to a â€Å"Dangerous Liaisons† kind of film.   Indeed, in departing from established historical fact and blithely embracing a supposed extramarital affair between Antoinette and the Count von Ferson, Coppila goes out of her way to add to history, simply for the entertainment value.Although one cannot defiantly prove that such an affair did not occur in reality, historical sources do not indicate that it did.   This is hardly a trivial point in that it further contemporizes Antoinette, implying that such matters were commonplace (as they are today), and carried little consequences.   The historical and religious reality of Antoinette’s times were all to different, with serious consequences for both royal and common wives who strayed from the marriage bed. Of course none of these issues are dealt with and the whole â€Å"affair† is portrayed as just one more pleasant visual interlude among many, without meaning or serious inter pretation.Given all this, if one were to accept that Coppola did in fact deliberately attempt to use cinematic devices and storytelling in order to create a new version of the story, is this problematic?   If such a film were simple entertainment the answer would be no.   However, the difficulty that comes along with dealing with a historical subject is that there is some expectation from the audience that an attempt toward accuracy be made.   Yes, costumes in the Antoinette court were probably very pretty.The queen might have been innocent, kind, sweet even.   Perhaps she never did say â€Å"let them eat cake.†Ã‚   Such an assertion would not be new (1963).   However, using technique to reframe the events of the movie, be it through music, cinematography or dialogue creates either a problem with history itself—in essence changing it for the audience if they are impressionable, or though creating frustration or even anger in those who know better—and p erhaps feel more than a bit cheated that the association of the character with the defining event of her times (the Revolution) was all but overlooked in film.Although Coppola, herself has stated that it was not her intention to deal with politics or the political reality of her subject (Dudec, 2006), she does—if by omission.   In fact, her infamous statement, â€Å"Marie Antoinette was not interested in politics, so why should I be?† (2006) is problematic on many levels.   First, in its erroneous assumption that Antoinette was not interested in politics, she indicates a real unfamiliarity with her protagonist which is troubling.   Second, by â€Å"not being interested in politics,† one has to wonder at the appropriateness of Coppola dealing with the subject matter at all.   Can one imagine, for instance, Frances Ford Coppola asserting, â€Å"I am not interested in organized crime.†?Coppola’s troubling attitude and treatment of the subject matter was so striking when the movie was screened in Cannes that the audience actually booed the film.   This may be in part due to the fact that Coppila did not take her information from respected historical sources.   Instead, she almost exclusively drew from Antonia Fraser’s contemporary biography, which itself is rife with similar flaws and omissions to the movie.In the end, the audience is never privy to the â€Å"meat† of the Antoinette story—a story that the young female audience members that Coppila obviously targets could only learn from.   For example, she never showcases her strength, intelligence, or real power.   She does not take time to fully draw the immense political opinion and pressures against her as a â€Å"foreign queen,† nor does she deal with the complex nature of her death, the differences between rumor and political reality.Of course, this is not to say that the film does not have its fans.   In fact, even among French audiences some appreciated the way in which Marie Antoinette was played outside of the norm.   Although some might argue that some French critics may be pleased that a large Hollywood producer would deal with the subject at all, one can assume that some found genuine satisfaction in the portrayal—puzzling or no.Thus, the problems with the film hinge directly on the historical material.   Given any other non-historical subject matter, the same story might be just fine.   An afternoon of entertainment and â€Å"lavish visual effects.†Ã‚   However, by choosing a historical subject—and an emotional one at that, Coppila evokes much more than she may intend.   Further, the reactions of audiences must be interpreted in the context of the subject matter, not simply on the basis of film quality, direction, art or sensibility.Audiences either like the film or hate it—and each opinion carries with it serious implications.   After all, if one likes the fil m what does that say about one’s view or knowledge of history?   Has the â€Å"magic† of film influenced that opinion, and by continuation, one’s historical view?   Conversely, should one hate the film, would that person lack the ability to appreciate the â€Å"beauty† of the visual art in the film?   Or, instead, does one’s consciousness of the subject matter as history prohibit any such appreciation?In the end, Coppola’s decision to use history as her muse may be the downfall of the film.   This because history demands a certain treatment in order to be molded into entertainment.   One cannot mould entertainment into history—it simply smacks of hollowness and superficiality—two of the most common criticisms of the film.Worse, one can see that (as in the case with this film), even in the presence of some truly spectacular cinematography and visual beauty—not to mention some pretty significant financial investm ents, it is not enough to overcome the historical liberties taken with the film.   It is as if her subject matter has become her stumbling block.   To be sure, one can assert that the film is great in part.   However, in part is not enough for true greatness.   No, Marie Antoinette will be no Lawrence of Arabia, enjoyed for generations to come—and isn’t that the true test of a film’s merit?Works CitedBrinton, Crane. A Decade of Revolution 1789-1799. Harper and Row, 1963. Dudec, A.   Cannes reality check. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 25, May 2006.   Retrieved on April 23, 2007, from, http://findarticles.com/?noadc=1

The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Eight

From where Bonnie and Meredith sat in the car, they could just see Vickie's window. It would have been better to be closer, but then someone might have discovered them. Meredith poured the last of the coffee out of the thermos and drank it. Then she yawned. She caught herself guiltily and looked at Bonnie. â€Å"You having trouble sleeping at night too?† â€Å"Yes. I can't imagine why,† Meredith said. â€Å"Do you think the guys are having a little talk?† Meredith glanced at her quickly, obviously surprised, then smiled. Bonnie realized Meredith hadn't expected her to catch on. â€Å"I hope so,† Meredith said. â€Å"It might do Matt some good.† Bonnie nodded and relaxed back into the seat. Meredith's car had never seemed so comfortable before. When she looked at Meredith again, the dark-haired girl was asleep. Oh, great. Terrific. Bonnie stared into the dregs of her coffee mug, making a face. She didn't dare relax again; if they both fell asleep, it could be disastrous. She dug her nails into her palms and stared at Vickie's lighted window. When she found the image blurring and doubling on her, she knew something had to be done. Fresh air. That would help. Without bothering to be too quiet about it, she unlocked the door and pulled the handle up. The door clicked open, but Meredith went on breathing deeply. She must really be tired, Bonnie thought, getting out. She shut the door more gently, locking Meredith inside. It was only then that she realized she herself didn't have a key. Oh, well, she'd wake Meredith to let her back in. Meanwhile she'd go check on Vickie. Vickie was probably still awake. The sky was brooding and overcast, but the night was warm. Behind Vickie's house the black walnut trees stirred very faintly. Crickets sang, but their monotonous chirping only seemed like part of a larger silence. The scent of honeysuckle filled Bonnie's nostrils. She tapped on Vickie's window lightly with her fingernails, peering through the crack in the curtains. No answer. On the bed she could make out a lump of blankets with unkempt brown hair sticking out the top. Vickie was asleep too. As Bonnie stood there, the silence seemed to thicken around her. The crickets weren't singing anymore, and the trees were still. And yet it was as if she was straining to hear something she knew was there. None of her ordinary senses told her this. But her sixth sense, the one that sent chills up her arms and ice down her spine, the one that was newly awakened to the presence of Power, was certain. There was†¦ something†¦ near. Something†¦ watching her. She turned slowly, afraid to make a sound. If she didn't make any noise, maybe whatever it was wouldn't get her. Maybe it wouldn't notice her. The silence had become deadly, menacing. It hummed in her ears with the beat of her own blood. And she couldn't help imagining what might come screaming out of it at any minute. Something with hot, moist hands, she thought, staring into the darkness of the backyard. Black on gray, black on black was all she could see. Every shape might be anything, and all the shadows seemed to be moving. Something with hot, sweaty hands and arms strong enough to crush her- The snap of a twig exploded through her like gunfire. She spun toward it, eyes and ears straining. But there was only darkness and silence. Fingers touched the back of her neck. Bonnie whirled again, almost falling, almost fainting. She was too frightened to scream. When she saw who it was, shock robbed all her senses and her muscles collapsed. She would have ended up in a heap on the ground if he hadn't caught her and held her straight. â€Å"You look frightened,† Damon said softly. Bonnie shook her head. She didn't have any voice yet. She thought she still might faint. But she tried to pull away just the same. He didn't tighten his grip, but he didn't let go. And struggling did about as much good as trying to break a brick wall with bare hands. She gave up and tried to calm her breathing. â€Å"Are you frightened of me?† Damon said. He smiled reprovingly, as if they shared a secret. â€Å"You don't need to be.† How had Elena managed to deal with this? But Elena hadn't, of course, Bonnie realized. Elena had succumbed to Damon in the end. Damon had won and had his way. He released one of her arms to trace, very lightly, the curve of her upper lip. â€Å"I suppose I should go away,† he said, â€Å"and not scare you anymore. Is that what you want?† Like a rabbit with a snake, Bonnie thought. This is how the rabbit feels. Only I don't suppose he'll kill me. I might just die on my own, though. She felt as if her legs might melt away at any minute, as if she might collapse. There was a warmth and a trembling inside her. Elena wouldn't like it, she thought, just as his lips touched hers. Yes, that was it. But the problem was, she didn't have the strength to say it. The warmth was growing, rushing out to all parts of her, from her fingertips to the soles of her feet. His lips were cool, like silk, but everything else was so warm. She didn't need to be afraid; she could just let go and float on this. Sweetness rushed through her†¦ â€Å"What the hell is going on?† The voice broke the silence, broke the spell. Bonnie started and found herself able to turn her head. Matt was standing at the edge of the yard, his fists clenched, his eyes like chips of blue ice. Ice so cold it burned. â€Å"Get away from her,† Matt said. To Bonnie's surprise, the grip on her arms eased. She stepped back, straightening her blouse, a little breathless. Her mind was working again. â€Å"It's okay,† she said to Matt, her voice almost normal. â€Å"I was just-â€Å" â€Å"Go back to the car and stay there.† Now wait a minute, thought Bonnie. She was glad Matt had come; the interruption had been very conveniently timed. But he was coming on a little heavy with the protective older brother bit. â€Å"Look, Matt-â€Å" â€Å"Go on,† he said, still staring at Damon. Meredith wouldn't have let herself be ordered around this way. And Elena certainly wouldn't. Bonnie opened her mouth to tell Matt to go sit in the car himself when she suddenly realized something. This was the first time in months she'd seen Matt really care about anything. The light was back in those blue eyes-that cold flash of righteous anger that used to make even Tyler Smallwood back down. Matt was alive right now, and full of energy. He was himself again. Bonnie bit her lip. For a moment she struggled with her pride. Then she conquered it and lowered her eyes. â€Å"Thanks for rescuing me,† she murmured, and left the yard. Matt was so angry he didn't dare move closer to Damon for fear he might take a swing at him. And the chilling darkness in Damon's eyes told him that wouldn't be a very good idea. But Damon's voice was smooth, almost dispassionate. â€Å"My taste for blood isn't just a whim, you know. It's a necessity you're interfering with here. I'm only doing what I have to.† Contemptuously he said, â€Å"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size, then?† Damon smiled and the air went colder. â€Å"Like you?† Matt just stared at him. He could feel muscles clench in his jaw. After a moment he said tightly, â€Å"You can try.† â€Å"I can do more than try, Matt.† Damon took a single step toward him like a stalking panther. Involuntarily, Matt thought of jungle cats, of their powerful spring and their sharp, tearing teeth. He thought of what Tyler had looked like in the Quonset hut last year when Stefan was through with him. Red meat. Just red meat and blood. â€Å"What was that history teacher's name?† Damon was saying silkily. He seemed amused now, enjoying this. â€Å"Mr. Tanner, wasn't it? I did more than try with him.† â€Å"You're a murderer.† Damon nodded, unoffended, as if he'd just been introduced. â€Å"Of course, he stuck a knife in me. I wasn't planning to drain him quite dry, but he annoyed me and I changed my mind. You're annoying me now, Matt.† Matt had his knees locked to keep from running. It was more than the catlike stalking grace, it was more than those unearthly black eyes fastened on his. There was something inside Damon that whispered terror to the human brain. Some menace that spoke directly to Matt's blood, telling him to do anything to get away. But he wouldn't run. His conversation with Stefan was blurred in his mind right now, but he knew one thing from it. Even if he died here, he wouldn't run. â€Å"Don't be stupid,† Damon said, as if he'd heard every word of Matt's thoughts. â€Å"You've never had blood taken from you by force, have you? It hurts, Matt. It hurts a lot.† Elena, Matt remembered. That first time when she'd taken his blood he'd been scared, and the fear had been bad enough. But he'd been doing it of his own volition then. What would it be like when he was unwilling? I will not run. I will not look away. Aloud he said, still looking straight at Damon, â€Å"If you're going to kill me, you'd better stop talking and do it. Because maybe you can make me die, but that's all you can make me do.† â€Å"You're even stupider than my brother,† Damon said. With two steps he crossed the distance to Matt. He grabbed Matt by his T-shirt, one hand on either side of the throat. â€Å"I guess I'll have to teach you the same way.† Everything was frozen. Matt could smell his own fear, but he wouldn't move. He couldn't move now. Damon's teeth were a white glitter in the dark. Sharp as carving knives. Matt could almost feel the razor bite of them before they touched him. I will not surrender anything, he thought, and closed his eyes. The shove took him completely off balance. He stumbled and fell backward, his eyes flying open. Damon had let go and pushed him away. Expressionless, those black eyes looked down at him where he sat in the dirt. â€Å"I'll try to put this in a way you can understand,† Damon said. â€Å"You don't want to mess with me, Matt. I am more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. Now get out of here. It's my watch.† Silently, Matt got up. He rubbed at his shirt where Damon's hands had crumpled it. And then he left, but he didn't run and he didn't flinch from Damon's eyes. I won, he thought. I'm still alive, so I won. And there had been a kind of grim respect in those black eyes in the end. It made Matt wonder about some things. It really did. Bonnie and Meredith were sitting in the car when he got back. They both looked concerned. â€Å"You were gone a long time,† Bonnie said. â€Å"Are you okay?† Matt wished people would stop asking him that. â€Å"I'm fine,† he said, and then added, â€Å"Really.† After a moment's thought he decided there was something else he should say. â€Å"Sorry if I yelled at you back there, Bonnie.† â€Å"That's all right,† Bonnie said coolly. Then, thawing, she said, â€Å"You really do look better, you know. More like your old self.† â€Å"Yeah?† He rubbed at his crumpled T-shirt again, looking around. â€Å"Well, tangling with vampires is obviously a great warm-up exercise.† â€Å"What'd you guys do? Lower your heads and run at each other from opposite sides of the yard?† asked Meredith. â€Å"Something like that. He says he's going to watch Vickie now.† â€Å"Do you think we can trust him?† Meredith said soberly. Matt considered. â€Å"As a matter of fact, I do. It's weird, but I don't think he's going to hurt her. And if the killer comes along, I think he's in for a surprise. Damon's spoiling for a fight. We might as well go back to the library for Stefan.† Stefan wasn't visible outside the library, but when the car had cruised up and down the street once or twice he materialized out of the darkness. He had a thick book with him. â€Å"Breaking and entering and grand theft, library book,† Meredith remarked. â€Å"I wonder what you get for that these days?† â€Å"You mean you found it? You figured it out? Then you can tell us everything, like you promised,† Bonnie said. â€Å"Let's go to the boarding house.† Stefan looked slightly surprised when he heard that Damon had turned up and stationed himself at Vickie's, but he made no comment. Matt didn't tell him exactly how Damon had turned up, and he noticed Bonnie didn't either. â€Å"I'm almost positive about what's going on in Fell's Church. And I've got half the puzzle solved, anyway,† Stefan said once they were all settled in his room in the boarding house attic. â€Å"But there's only one way to prove it, and only one way to solve the other half. I need help, but it isn't something I'm going to ask lightly.† He was looking at Bonnie and Meredith as he said it. They looked at each other, then back at him. â€Å"This guy killed one of our friends,† said Meredith. â€Å"And he's driving another one crazy. If you need our help, you've got it.† â€Å"Whatever it takes,† Bonnie added. â€Å"It's something dangerous, isn't it?† Matt demanded. He couldn't restrain himself. As if Bonnie hadn't been through enough†¦ â€Å"It's dangerous, yes. But it's their fight too, you know.† â€Å"Darn right it is,† said Bonnie. Meredith was obviously trying to repress a smile. Finally she had to turn away and grin. â€Å"Matt's back,† she said when Stefan asked her what the joke was. â€Å"We missed you,† added Bonnie. Matt couldn't understand why they were all smiling at him, and it made him feel hot and uncomfortable. He went over to stand by the window. â€Å"It is dangerous; I won't try to kid you about that,† Stefan said to the girls. â€Å"But it's the only chance. The whole thing's a little complicated, and I'd better start at the beginning. We have to go back to the founding of Fell's Church†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He talked on late into the night. Thursday, June 11, 7:00 a.m. Dear Diary, I couldn't write last night, because I got in too late. Mom was upset again. She'd have been hysterical if she'd known what I was actually doing. Hanging out with vampires and planning something that may get me killed. That may get us all killed. Stefan has a plan to trap the guy who murdered Sue. It reminds me of some of Elena's plans-and that's what worries me. They always sounded wonderful, but lots of the time they went wrong. Anyway, we're going to do it after graduation. We're all in on it except Damon, who'll be watching Vickie. It's strange, but we all trust him now. Even me. Despite what he did to me last night, I don't think he'll let Vickie get hurt. I haven't had any more dreams about Elena. I think if I do, I will go absolutely screaming berserk. Or never go to sleep again. I just can't take any more of that. All right. I'd better go. Hopefully, by Sunday we'll have the mystery solved and die killer caught. I trust Stefan. I just hope I can remember my part.

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Callbration of air sampling pump - Lab Report Example The volume flow rate, in this case, was a concept introduced to determine the volume of a fluid flowing past a given cross sectional area per second. In which case, the air sample is collected with a vacuum pump thereby allowing for determination rate of flow and time. The product of the sampling rate and sampling time gives the volume of air sampled. This hints on the importance of determining the volume rate at which the air pump is sampling air. The formula normally used for determining the volume flow rate is as follows: The concept of volume flow rate of air formed the basis for this lab, whereby an air sampling pump used. Soap solution is used and the time it takes a soap bubble to rise in the air sampling pump is recorded. Finally, the volume of the air is divided by the time taken to give the flow rate. An air sampling pump was obtained from the lab technician. The air sampling pump was calibrated against a 250 ml calibrator. Clamp and stand was set and burette fixed in place. 250 Ml burette was then obtained and filled with soap solution. A soap solution was prepared in a petri dish and then 250 ml of the solution was transferred into the burrete. With the 250 ml calibrator, the rise of the bubble through the 250 ml volume was timed using the stop watch. The time was recorded for trial 1. The whole procedure was repeated 4 more times with consistency for trial 2 to trial 5. The average for the consistent times was then computed and the result converted to liters per minute. The experiment was successful in achieving the objective previously stated thereby proving the validity of calibration of air sampling pump. The calibration process, during the experiment, paved way for obtaining the variables required in calculating the volume rate of air. The volume of the sample air was determined and the rise of the bubble timed. From the calibration, the experiment was

Health promotion pressure sores among elderly clients in a nursing Essay

Health promotion pressure sores among elderly clients in a nursing homes - Essay Example It also focuses on the causes or the determinants of health that ensure that the total environment is beyond the control of individuals and is appropriate for their health. The other principles of health promotion are communication, education, legislation, fiscal measures organizational change, community development as well as the local activities that are aimed at avoiding hazard from occurring within an organization (Naidoo, and Wills, 2000:91). The elderly persons are considered to be persons that do not fully participate in the growth and development of a country. They use up the resources and perform no useful function within their organizations. However, the elderly persons are not always in the homogeneous group in the society. These people can be assisted by nurses to accept their situation and also maintain their dignity and independence as they live in the community. ... As people age, their body parts tend to deteriorate due to factors such as pathological status that exist within the body and the lack of use of particular systems within the body. The rate of deterioration of the body organs can be reduced by doing regular exercises and changing eating habits such as avoiding smoking and drinking alcohol (Squire, 2002:75). Pressure sores are some of the medical problems that affect the elderly persons. These people develop sores that are very painful that result from prolonged pressure on an area on the body that have got bony prominence and thin convening of the flesh. The pressure sores results from the breakdown of the skin that results from the exposure of toxic physical forces such as pressure and shear. This problem is described to be one that is associated with the persons that have complicated body parts that are frail and immobile. The major pressure sores are the tailbone, heels elbows and the shoulder bones sores. The factors that lead to the development of the sores include the presence of moisture that results from unchanged adult diapers, wet sheets, malnutrition and dehydration. Other factors include being immobile, and the failure of giving the patients proper nursing care to provide proper reposition of the bedridden patients regularly. The persons that are likely to suffer from this medical problem are the residents who are over the age of 75 years and above, persons needing help while feeding and those who are completely unable to feed themselves. It also affects people who are underweight, those that suffer from decreased mental status, have dry skin and those who suffer from special medical

World Culture Music - Dangdut (Music of Indonesia) Research Paper

World Culture Music - Dangdut (Music of Indonesia) - Research Paper Example Some forms of music are common and recognized everywhere in the world. Examples are music from The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Luciano Pavarotti and, more currently, PSY, Justin Beiber or Beyonce. On the other hand, there are some types of music which are associated with a certain country. Dangdut, for instance, is specifically Indonesian. The term dangdut, pronounced as ‘dang – doot’, comes from how the Javanese people in Indonesia called the sound coming from the tabla drum. The drums come in pairs, one big and one small, and varying pitch. The smaller drum can be set to a specific tone range while the big one has a bass tone. (Courtney) Dangdut is only one of the many genres one can find in Indonesian music. In colonial times, people in the country employed Indonesian, Arabian and Dutch musical instruments to create a unique blend of beat. During those times, Indonesian music, especially the instruments used, was influenced by its visitors from other countries. E ventually, the native sounds combined with Malay modern music and Malay orchestras started to be popular. Melayu music or the music from Malay orchestras was a mixture of Indonesian, Middle Eastern, Indian and Western music. (1 Gorlinski) Melayu music employed a variety of instruments dependent on the group playing. The most commonly used were the flutes, tambourine-style frame drums (tabla), violins and assorted plucked lutes. Later on, artists incorporated music from Indian films, Bollywood specifically, adding a touch of modernism to the beat. Instruments such as electric guitars, electric organs, trumpets, saxophones, oboes and percussions were added. The combined sounds of the various musical influences created a beat that became recognized as Indonesian. Melayu music was for the lower class, played while slaves entertained their masters. (Arsip) It had coarse lyrics and sexually suggestive dancing. It was eventually adapted to appeal to the middle and upper class by Rhoma Iram a. He made the lyrics â€Å"safe† for the society. (Walsh) In the late 1960’s the band OM Soneta and its singer Rhoma Irama started playing around with melayu music. Irama wanted a new and distinct sound. He added a touch of Western rock music to the existing euphony of melayu music and called it dangdut to break away from the traditional melayu sound. (Gorlonski) Singing with Elvy Sukaesih in his band, Irama made dangdut very popular because of its throbbing beat and lyrics. His song Terajana is one of the most-renowned dangdut song that introduced the name ‘dangdut’ in Indonesia’s music scene. A. Rafiq, another dangdut artist, made the people love the new genre in the 1970’s. A. Rafiq was Indonesia’s own Elvis Presley, complete with the hip-gyrating movements. These three artists started the dangdut pop culture. In converting the traditional dangdut sound into a more contemporary music, Irama added electric guitars, synthesizers, dru ms, a flute or a mandolin. The Indian tabla was a main stay instrument, providing any song with that distinct Indonesian sound. Although dangdut was a welcome addition to the diverse music of Indonesia, it has presented a moral issue for the predominantly Muslim society because of its suggestive lyrics and dance moves. Already, several songs have been banned from being played because of its vulgar lyrics. (Vaswani) One singer in particular has been the object of the criticism from conservative dangdut artists and supporters. The musician, the group says, has taken dangdut to a level that is erotic and corruptive the youth. (Vaswani) Her song Jupe Paling Suka 69 translated in English reads Jupe Likes 69 Best. The song contains â€Å"lustful sighs and†¦lyrics which portray intimate relations and the singer’

Your pick of this week's news Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Your pick of this week's news - Assignment Example She taught in various places including at Tufts, New England College and the Bread Loaf Writers’ conference. She was good in memorizing and encouraged her students to follow suit. She did her Bachelor’s degree in history and literature and later masters in comparative literature at Radcliffe. Her career began in the late 1950’s after enrolling at a local poetry-writing workshop where she met Ms Sexton who was very influential in her works. This article carries information about the late Maxine Kumin who was an award-winning author and poet. It breaks the news of her demise as well giving further analysis of her legacy. In support of the ideas presented, the article writer has quoted some of the works that Kumin did and their significance. For example, she uses her poem â€Å"Almost Spring, Driving Home, Reciting Hopkins† to demonstrate that she was a star swimmer. Her other works that the newspaper writer cites include; â€Å"How It Is,† â€Å"Highway Hypothesis,† and â€Å"Homecoming.† However, Fox has also mentioned quite a number of her works. Fox has given some information about her background but lacks adequate information as concerns the career path. There is a missing link of what she was up to in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s. The quality of writing is quite impressive but the quotations have occupied a big chunk of the work. Generally, the information provided is relevant tough it wo uld have been enriched further. Fox, Margalit. Maxine Kumin, Pulitzer-Winning Poet with a Naturalist’s Precision, Dies at 88. The New York Times. Web. 8 Feb 2014.

Performance Management And Learning And Development Essay Example for Free

Performance Management And Learning And Development Essay Introduction In the 19th   century university was meant to be a theoretical theatre, while the factory was the place for formal training and learning. Education is broader in scope than training and it has a less specific application than training, as it is delivered in educational institutions. As a result, there has always been a tension between the needs of industry and the educational requirements of the individual, as society needs people who can contribute in a comprehensive way (Wilson, 2005). A century later, West moved beyond the factory and manufacturing as the basis for economic wealth have been achieved. Compared to earlier centuries now this century is able to demolish the   trading, political and economic   barriers, which hampered the progress in the old days. The arrival of mass media and technology is re-shaping our lives at a breathtaking speed; the concept of learning is now not a stagnant process, but in a flux and evolving every day (Beckett, 2000). The nature of work is changing with the knowledge economy in boom, giving rise to unparalleled demands for learning in work settings through consistent training. Enterprises need integrated approach to possess knowledge workers, which is the right prescription for businesses today. It is hard to create effective employment and training based policies which give high priority to education and training-both at a time. Countries like Korea and Singapore are seriously investing in their human resources, while the poor countries do not have sufficient funds to meet their growing needs. The overall goal of the global economy is provide opportunities to people and obtain productive work with dignity, which requires a framework to address worker and producer needs. To meet such requirements, the new millennium needs a shift from traditional approach and demands new human resources development and training policies. Learning and Training Learning can take place either in formal settings, such as school/university or in less formal organizational settings. Possessing knowledge is different from learning, as learning has limited value and is not a guarantee of being skillful, until   put to practice in real world. Wilson (2005) has defined learning as â€Å"a permanent change of knowledge, attitude or behaviour occurring as a result of formal education or training, or as a result of informal experiences. Learning, education and development are often muddled together, however   they carry specific meanings as explained below: Training = learning related to present job; Education = learning to prepare the individual but not related to a specific present or future job; Development = learning for growth of the individual but not related to a specific present or future job. It has been recognised by the enterprises that passive learning cannot not ensure an accurate developmental process necessary in the business world. The managers find it hard to believe, that, seminars and workshops can teach management. It is argued, that case methodology, lectures, discussions and theories are useful, but they never find its way into the corridors of business world. As a result, managers and educational theorists suggest experiential learning, which trains workers in work place more effectively. According to the Glossary of Training Terms (2005), training is â€Å"a planned process to modify attitude, knowledge or skill behaviour through learning experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities. Its purpose, in the work situation, is to develop the abilities of the individual and to satisfy the current and future needs of the organisation†. Rothwell (2003) mentioned that, training equips individuals and groups in an organisation to improve their work performance. However, training alone cannot alleviate a poor work, which may be due to the lack of rewards and incentives. Training is put into practice for a variety of reasons, such as orientation training for new workers or sending employees for special assignments and preparing employees to support critical activities (Wilkinson, 2005). The HRD equips people with necessary skills in three ways (McGoldrickand, 2001). .Individual Development   addresses broad areas and addresses, such as skill development, interpersonal skills, career development, etc.   Occupational /Group Development occurs among the groups through a team building programs. It also applies to specific occupational groups, such as implementation of new legislation. Organizational Development covers the whole organization. It can be defined as a â€Å"collection of planned change interventions, built on humanistic-democratic values, that seek to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being†(Wilson and John, 2005). The well-known examples are; the introduction of a customer care programs across the organization; and the introduction of total quality management, which requires all individuals and groups to become involved. Mumfords (1995) mentions that, an organization where people continually expand their capacity to create the results- truly invent patterns of thinking for collective learning. This process can be defined as following:   Personal mastery, ensuring individual motivation to learn; mental models, creating an openness to misconceptions;   shared vision, building long-term commitment in people; team learning, developing group skills like cooperation, communication and so forth;   systems thinking, which constitutes   integration with other disciplines the other four. All these disciplines are to be practiced together to create an impact and must be practiced by all the members of organization to work together. Each problem and dilemma is crisis and workers learn from crisis and difficulties together and try to development process, where all workers profit from each other’s experiences. Shift of Training in Knowledge Economy Drucker (1993) has mentioned that, Every few hundred years in western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself its world view; its basic values; its social and political structure; its arts; its key institutions. The shift   from industrial-based economies to enterprises   started 20 years ago, moving to market share and hierarchical management focusing on a knowledge   based economy. If the industrial economy was driven by cheap energy; today’s knowledge economy is driven by inexpensive microchips and knowledge management enabling businesses to take benefit of the new knowledge (Trask, 1996). The modern corporation is over and the postmodern corporation is different. Today companies may look the same from outside—but behind the faà §ade, everything is different. They are no longer connected to the boiler or routine machines, but now in the business of knowledge creation. The activity of knowledge-based organization is not producing machine or power toys, but producing and managing knowledge. The knowledge economy differs from the old one, as the new economy is ever-increasing in information intensity and packed with more knowledge, data, and ideas. Now knowledge resides in the magnetic strip, not the plastic. The knowledge-based economy has new rules and standards, which require new ways of living and working, business, which do not acquire knowledge workers, are destined to die.   Wolfensohn (1999) has mentioned that, the knowledge-based economy relies on ideas and applications of technology rather than physical strength, which was done on the exploitation of cheap labor. In this new economy knowledge is created, acquired, transmitted, and sold by individuals, enterprises, organizations, and communities for the promotion of economic development. In the industrial world, knowledge-based industries are growing fast, while labour market demands are also changing. The new technologies insist on highly skilled workers, diminishing demand for the low skilled workers.   One of the key factors that distinguish intelligent business enterprise of the 21st century is emphasis on knowledge and information. Knowledge management is an important means by which organizations can better manage information and knowledge. Knowledge management encompasses a range of concepts, ranging from management tasks to technological practices, all come under the umbrella of the management of knowledge (Gupta, 2003). The successful organizations are aggressive, fast paced and have the ability to create  Ã‚   knowledge to maximize organizational strategic success. In today’s world, knowledge is a resource, which is critical to an organization’s survival and success in the global economy.   As the nature of work is changing, knowledge is regarded as a primary resource-giving rise to the unprecedented demand for learning in the working environment. Enterprises need to offer this new learning at work and create knowledge workers, which have become inevitable part of the corporate world. The workplace has become a site of learning associated with development of the enterprise through contributing to production and innovation. Thus the development of the individuals by providing training to create new knowledge is the most wanted asset of the enterprises today. The knowledge economy has four basic features as described below (Trask, 1996). Knowledge developed and applied in new ways, especially through information revolution, which has provided not only new opportunities to access information, but it is also creating new opportunities for swift transfer of the knowledge speeding up the process of worldwide change. Today product cycles have become shorter due to growing demand for innovation. In 1990s, it would take six years from concept to production in the automobile industry; now it takes only two years. Worldwide trade is increasing with increased competitive demands on producers. The countries, which are able to assimilate into the world economy, will achieve higher economic growth. Small and medium-size enterprises in the service sector have become significant players, in terms of both economic growth and employment. In the industrialized countries the employment has risen, but the patterns of employment are changing. The employers have re-organized workers into fixed and variable categories, while the fixed workers are career-oriented, the variable have little career progression and low access to education and training. These trends show that labour markets are becoming ruthless in their treatment of un-skilled workers and these low skilled workers stand at an edge. As a result working poor have grown in number and those working are underpaid and forced to work in miserable working conditions. The speed of change in the knowledge economy depreciates much more quickly compared to the past. In order to compete effectively in this changing environment, organisation need to   upgrade their workers skills continuously. This rapid change in the knowledge economy is so swift that firms can no longer rely longer rely on fresh graduates. In order to meet such need, lifelong learning and training is crucial to enable workers to compete in the global economy. Formal education and training includes programs which are recognized by the    Universities and institutes and lead to approved certificates and degrees.   Non-formal education and training includes programs, which are not formally recognized by the national system, such as apprenticeship training programs and structured on-the-job training.   Informal education and training includes unstructured learning, which can take place almost anywhere, home, community   or workplace.   It includes unstructured on-the-job training, the most common form of workplace learning. This improvement in people’s ability will allow them to be not only useful for their organisation, but it will also enable them to function as a useful members of their communities.   In a modern economy, the production of goods and services still relies on workers despite machine revolution. The need is to develop learning and training strategies, which allow these workers to learn new skills for new working conditions. It is crucial for the organisation to prepare workers for this new environment, which requires a new mode of education and training ­. This lifelong learning framework encompasses learning throughout the life cycle, from early childhood to retirement. It includes formal, non-formal, and informal education and training. In traditional industries most jobs require employees to learn how to perform routine functions, which, for the most part, remain constant over time and most learning used to take place when a worker started a new job. In the knowledge economy, change is so rapid that workers constantly need to acquire new skills. Firms need workers who are willing and able to update their skills throughout their lifetimes. Enterprises and organisation need to respond to these needs by creating education and training systems that equip people with the appropriate skills. The new millennium main challenge is to be employable and contribute to the economic growth in the global economy. This novel approach has set new rules for education, training and strategies in the organisations. The reason is that training not only advances interests of the individuals and enterprises, but it also augments the economic development of the nations. These new skills formation leads to equity in employment and society at large and allow the enterprise to reap the fruit of this human resources development. Performance Management According to Bacal (2004) â€Å"performance management is about creating relationships and ensuring effective communication and focusing on what organizations, managers, and employees need to succeed.† It is a   strategic approach to manage the business and improve organisational effectiveness with existing capabilities. Performance management provides development specialists with an opportunity to be   innovative in influencing corporate strategy and contribute to the results. The goal of performance management is to ensure that the organization departments, teams, and employees are working in an optimum fashion to achieve the organization objective. At the end of twentieth century new performance management systems were born and cannibalizing the old systems, due to the presence of the technological expansions. Management in the twenty-first century faces the challenge of creating and re-creating effective performance systems and requires a unique understanding of this process. Performance management process is about professionalism and continuous learning and development. The overall goal of performance management is to ensure that the organization and all its subsystems departments, teams, employees are working together in an optimum fashion to achieve the results desired by the organization. According to Bacal (2004), performance management is based on the following beliefs. Optimism: Performance management is based on the belief that improvement is possible, and that the human and organizational conditions can be improved. Performance management is the view of the possibility that performance improvement is always there and change is possible as long as people are willing. A Pragmatic View: Performance management is keeping the optimistic view, but it does have realistic view of improvement, understanding the possibilities for improvement and recognizing the  Ã‚   barriers to success. Performance management addresses various threats in the system and try to solve it, rather than kill it A Balanced Approach: It is natural to resist change in any organisation as change means changing habits. Performance management design strategies, which are part of organizational decision-making processes to build greater support for the change. It capitalizes on the opportunity for further improvement and success. Leadership. Performance management is built on the ethical knowledge. The true leaders determine promote best practices in their organisation to further the success. Such practices require courage to bring change, yet adhering to professional ethics ensuring that the change is consistent with legal requirements. Performance management is meant to establish a shared understanding about what is to be achieved and how it is to be achieved for an organization. To improve performance, individuals need to have a common understanding about what performance (and success) in their jobs looks like. It can be a list of tasks, objectives, or results or it can also be a set of behaviors or both. These goals need to be defined clearly with the jobholder so that people know what they are working toward? And what is expected from them to increase the probability of success (Lance, 1999).   A continuous management process delivers clarity, support, feedback, and recognition to all staff. Performance Management Process Performance management process is a communication process between an employee and his or her immediate supervisor with established expectation and understanding. This process is not meant to threaten or intimidate employees into neither being more productive nor does it mean to attack the personality of the employees, but it is a broad set of tools used to optimize the success of each employee for the larger interest of the organisation. The smooth functioning of performance management depends on the developmental activity and management control. A developmental push is essential to motivate workers and let them concentrate on work and commitment towards their respective organisation. Performance Management process is meant to measure the employee performance. It involves the following steps (Handbook for the Core Performance Management, 2005). Performance planning The workers performance is recognized through employee performance plans. They are clearly told, what are the expectations? And what are the set standards. Thus it is essential to develop such standards, which are realistic and attainable. Individual at the level of induction stage clearly need understand their role in the organisation. Employee/Team Performance In many organizations, employees work together to achieve the organizational objectives. The difference between group performance and an individuals contribution is that, the group performance is measured aggregately, while an employees performance is measured individually. Monitoring performance After the assignment of job the progress of the workers are monitored by the manager/supervisor, to check how much they are really working. Employee development Mentoring is essential process of employee development, the example can be set either by showing a high performer or by leader/manager, which helps the employee to overcome the difficulties. A frank discussion is essential to focus on employee areas of excellence, identifying the barriers to performance. Multiple Source of Feed back It is a process, which provides employees with performance information to enhance managerial feedback. It includes comments from various sources, such as collogues, supervisor report and direct reports as well. Figure: 1.1 Performance Management Process Source: Handbook for the core performance management, 2005 Evaluating Evaluation is a two-way discussion in the form of written documentation to concentrate on employee areas of excellence, and identify the areas for improvement and further development needs. Stupak and Leitner (2001) warns that performance management measurement should not be punitive, but should be positive and should help the organisation, what the work do and what they should not and continue for organisation improvement. It should not be as a tool to punish the guilty, but emphasis should be on finding the right direction for the organisation. Linkage of Learning and Development and Performance Management The learning and development and performance management have been discussed separately earlier. Recent studies have shown, these processes are interrelated and are linked (Harrison, 2005). For example, in small firms, resources are stretched and workers have to switch roles, it becomes crucial to train and develop these workers, as they often have switch tasks. Following are the essential points in case of training in the small firm scenario: A well-focused induction program. Basic training in firm unique systems. A probation period to evaluate the performance. Post confirmation development for further development. Badger (2001) has mentioned that in a situation where products and processes can be easily imitated, the only source of competitive advantage is to stimulate employee to learn.   Organizations always seek to reduce cost increase efficiency and productivity. Today’s enterprises have started to evaluate learning and training programs to achieve higher performance from their workers, as they understand that learning and performance management are interrelated and inevitable to achieve competitive advantage. This competitive advantage can be achieved through the development of human resources by deploying a strategy to support its workers and enhance the organizational performance. The performance management process can positively develop the workforce self-esteem and keep them motivated, thereby giving them job satisfaction, to let them focus on the job. However its not mere training which can bring result, employee participation in decision making is essential as noticed by Peon and Ordas (2005), that organizations need to provide individuals with enough incentives and allow them to participate in the decision-making process to achieve higher performance. The ability of nations and organizations to enhance the standard of living of the growing population depends on sustained increase in the productivity of the systems. In the inter-dependent global economy, productivity is essential to maintain economic advantage for individuals and societies. People and institutions are inter-connected, and today countries have mutual interests in the game of higher productivity of other nations. A nation may gain short-term advantage from a lesser productive contributor, but in the long term lower productivity is a bad omen for all the nations. Conclusion According to Business Intelligence Board (2005), enterprises need to formally link learning and performance management process to measure the employee performance, as this can explain, weather learning has really resulted in higher performance. This link between learning and performance management is clear and the ultimate objective of learning management is to have an educated workforce, which can sustain the competitive advantage in the cutthroat corporate world. Learning and development are essentially related to performance management process, same as performance management process is not complete unless it embrace learning and development  Ã‚   to fill the skill gaps identified in the workers. Various amounts of efforts have been done to linkage learning with performance, Thomson and Mabey  (2001) mentions, many organisations failed to have higher performance from their workers, despite enormous amount of training. It has not yet yielded enough clear evidence of a direct link between learning and performance management. However, learning and development activity does consistently emerge as a crucial intervening factor. LD alone is not enough-it has to be an integral part of a cluster of appropriate HR strategies. Reference Thomson.A and Mabey.C, Changing Patterns of Management Development, Blackwell Publishing. Marchington, M. and A. Wilkinson (2005), Human Resource Management at Work, London, CIPD   Stupak.J and   Leitner.P (2001), Handbook of Public Quality Management, Marcel Dekker Publications Harrison R (2005), Learning and Development, 4th edition, London. Workplace Learning, Culture and Performance, London, IFTDO. Badger,B (2001),Organizational Learning: An Empirical Assessment of Process in Small U.K. Manufacturing Firms, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 39. Drucker.P (1993), The Practice of Management Quorum Books Business Intelligence Board, www.businessintelligence.com (2005) . Wilson, John.P (2005), Human Resource Development: Learning and Training for Individuals and Organizations, Kogan Page Limited. Rothwell.J (2003), What CEOs Expect from Corporate Training: Building Workplace Learning and Performance Initiatives That Advance Organizational Goals, Saranac Lake, NY, USA. Mumford.M (1995), Intercultural Sourcebook: Cross-cultural Training Methods, Intercultural Press Inc. Beckett.D (2001) Life, Work, and Learning: Practice and Postmodernity. Florence, KY, USA.   Trask.L (1996), Building New Skills for the Knowledge Economy,   Business Communications Review, Vol. 26.   Lance.Berger (1999), Compensation Handbook, McGraw-Hill Professional Book Group, USA. Glossary of Training Terms (2005) http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ Bacal.R (2004), How to Manage Performance. McGraw-Hill Companies, USA. McGoldrickand.J (2001),Understanding Human Resource Development: Philosophy Processes Practice, Routledge Publisher. Peon.J and Ordas (2005), The Learning Organization,   International Journal World Bank Staff (2003), Lifelong Learning in the Global Knowledge Economy: Challenges for Developing Countries, World Bank Publications.    James D. Wolfensohn (1999), World Bank Publications Gupta, Jatinder (2003), Creating Knowledge Based Organizations. Idea Group Publishing,USA. Handbook for the core performance management (2005) Ohio State University, USA.

Virtual Police Department Case Study Essay Example for Free

Virtual Police Department Case Study Essay Introduction This paper will consist of an overview of the Virtual Police Department, the history of that department and where it is today. I will analyse the different issues within the department and set a constructive path for the department so that it may benefit fully from all the resources that it has available. The Virtual Police Department is a medium sized department with 155 sworn officers. The department has a long history of hiring from a â€Å"good ole boy† system. The criteria for being hired at this particular department is minimal and their turnover rate for personnel is often and all at once. The current department leadership has been around for no more than 15 years and most of the staff have been hired within the last 5 years. Because of the turnover rate, experience is lacking. All of the seasoned officers have â€Å"phased out† and promotions were required, however, not necessarily earned or deserved. I have identified several areas that I would recommend immediate attention to. However, I have highlighted four of these for the purpose of this case study. Firstly, I would look at the hiring process within this department and make some much needed changes. Next, I would revisit the budget. Then, I would restructure the four organizations into functioning efficient groups. Lastly, I would establish connections within the community and neighbouring police departments and community agencies to ensure a close knit, positive, supported network. I recommend that this department begin with a change to its hiring process. Many of the employees have no more than a high school diploma. I feel there should be a set standard of education and experience to become the Chief of Police. Not just family relations or friends. The community of VPD are losing faith and confidence in their police department and one way to begin the change is to start from the inside. Once the Chief of Police is in  office with a Bachelor or higher, then they may start enforcing their own officers to at least fulfil an associate’s degree in Criminal Justice. I understand that in the past, looking for personnel who had a Bachelor’s degree rendered many from w ithin the department ineligible, however, maybe this is a beginning to the change. The department needs to start looking outside of their town for personnel to police the area. According to the department demographics chart, the department has never had the full authorized members. From 2009-2012, the average number of actual sworn employees was 140. The authorized number rose in 2011 to 145. The current year, there are 155 sworn officers which is 10 over authorization. The history of the making of this police department has seriously perpetuated the situation the VPD is facing today. From the initial hiring in 1950, the Mayor and City Council hired their friends as the initial department members. In the beginning, this had no effect on the department and it actually solidified a great relationship within the community. However, as times have changed, the department itself has grown, the community has grown as well, this kind of hiring process has taken its toll on the department, authority, and the community. The department has a significant repetitive issue which is the consistent bulk hiring and retiring of its officers. There really isn’t a phase out process in place whereby rookie police officers train and learn from the more experienced ones before they retire. It seems a common theme within this department is a lot of running from fire to fire. It appears the department spends more time playing defence as opposed to offense. Instead of the department spacing its personnel who are looking at retirement out, they all seem to retire at the same time. This is yet another impact of the hiring of friends and family. Although it worked well in the 1950’s, the city and its inhabitants are far different than they were in the 1950s. There also appears to be a significant amount of complaints from both internal and external sources; as well as decreasing percentage of crimes solved and/or successfully prosecuted. Based on these issues, I would phase the retirement and hiring proc ess. It may initially create a few headaches, however, I believe those will be fewer than the continual spiral out of control the department is currently facing. I believe that if some of those that are close to retirement were promoted to other positions within the force, they would stay around a little longer.  Eventually, there will be a good mix of longevity within the police department. Ensuring that junior officers receive proper training from the more seasoned officers is extremely important. According to the crime statistics provided by the scenario, there appears to be a lot of burglary, robbery, and theft in the Part 1 Offences. Personnel should be dedicated to these areas to ensure the crime is attacked BEFORE it occurs. The Broken Windows theory is epic when considering the transformation of a community. Showing the community that the police want to be proactive as opposed to reactive is certainly a good start. In the proactive article titled â€Å"Broken Windows: The Polic e and Neighborhood Safety,† James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling argued that policing should work more on â€Å"little problems† such as maintaining order, providing services to those in need, and adopting strategies to reduce the fear of crime (1982:29). Their assumptions were based on three reasons: Areas with street people, youth gangs, prostitution, and drunks are high-crime areas. Neighborhood disorder creates fear. (1982:30) Another issue with the current hiring process is there is no hiring board or public announcements made. The police department likes to hire from within and have kept to hiring friends and family to, â€Å"keep all the undesirables off the police force.† I would announce any upcoming vacancies state wide and set up a hiring process based on qualifications. The hiring would not be concurrent with the Mayoral elections and the police department will break from the political tie it currently has. As the police department and the mayoral council run so tightly together, it is impossible for the VPD, state police, and county sheriff to communicate with each other. Communication between police departments is crucial for the VPD to survive. The process of socialization seems to be missing from the Virtual Pol ice Department. Although they are close because of the internal hiring, it does not lend credence to learning the ropes by doing as much as by the rule-book. As the experienced officers phase out, there is not a lot left for the younger inexperienced officers to learn the valuable on-the-job lessons with. George, C., Smith, C. (2004). With the changes to the hiring and retiring process, the budget obviously needs to be revisited. The first thing I would do is look at the average starting salary for the police and drop it to $32,000 $35,000 annual. Starting rookie police officers out at $45,000 doesn’t give room for promotion with pay increase, time on  department increases, and doesn’t encourage members within the department to further their education or strive for a better position. Pay should increase as positions and responsibility increase. If 75 of the 155 police officers are within their first 5 years on the force, their pay should be $35,000 annual. The budget would need to be met to cover the cost of each police officer with a buffer of 15% for over time. If the starting salary for the VPD force was $32,000, the total for the rookie officers would be $2,400,000 annual. That would be a savings of $975,000 a year. Police departments should have a program and promotion rate for their officers to strive toward. According to George Cole and Christopher Smith, â€Å"The average starting salary in 2001 was more than $32,000†. (2004:173). Pay increase should come with responsibility and job knowledge and time on the force. I also think the police department needs to compare the pay of their officers and commanders to other neighbouring departments and base the starting pay on those. An extremely important aspect has been overlooked within this department due to budget cuts. Training has obviously suffered greatly. I do not believe that training should ever be jeopardized for the sake of saving a few pennies. Train the trainer programs are a great way to maximize training the cheapest way. Sending one or two individuals to receive training that will certify them to conduct the training within their department is gold. Once the rapport is established with the other departments within the area, then the trainer can also train those departments. Essentially, each department would send someone to receive specialized training and share that training throughout the departments. This way, each department will save money and not have to forego the training. Another area that is concerning is firearm qualification training. This is a major mistake to allow officers to continue to carry their firearms when they are not qualified. If they had to use their weapon and during the course of the investigation, it is determined that they were not qualified, the repercussions would be immense, not just for the department, but for the other departments, the city, and the state. Also of great importance in the training area is ET not keeping up with law updates, changes, and recent court rulings. Training can be conducted on the job and any additional training can be completed during one of the 8 hour shifts if the s chedule can be made to allow a training day. That way, the officer  isn’t on the road, isn’t side-tracked, isn’t in court, or isn’t unavailable. If training day was a â€Å"duty day† then training can be maintained. â€Å"Recruits need formal training in order to gain an understanding of legal rules, weapons use, and other aspects of the job.† (2004:179). A positive approach to establishing a budget within the jurisdiction would be to evaluate the cost of crime. According to Mark Cohen, â€Å"taking a â€Å"bottom-up† approach to crime aids in breaking them down.† (2005: 84). Breaking the crimes down on a per-crime basis will give the planners assistance when looking at the statistics of their community crimes. In doing this, it would be beneficial for the courts to readdress the cost of fines paid, fees and offence times, etc. The courts would essentially be assisting the police department in policing their community. Possibly, stiffer sentences, stiffer fines, and attention to the crimes will be a significant deterrent. Let those who choose to break the law pay the price for it. The best way to reasonably ensure that training is being conducted is to organize the department a bit better. The department does seem to be organized well. It has the typical four separate commands; Patrol, Investigations, Special Operations, and Support Services. Each of these departments has a commander. The departments are organized by talents, friendships, and skills. The department seems to be extremely mismanaged as they currently have 155 sworn officers, however they are only authorized 145 by 2012. Along with the sworn officers, they are also extremely overstaffed with civilian employees as well. According to the table, they are authorized 17, however, they currently employ 70. On top of the overstaffing issue, the department has a history of hiring predominately Caucasian male police officers (70%), and only 11% Caucasian female officers; which has held pretty steady over the last four years. According to Wilson and Kelling, â€Å"For most of the nation’s history, almost all police officers were white men.† (2004:174). The Civilian Personnel demographics are not much different. The department has a high number of Caucasian men and women employees. The African-American male employees estimate at 10% of the police force ov er the last four years. The African-American female police officers sat at 3.7% estimated over the last four years. As the community has grown in size, it appears the police department has maintained a consistent employee demographic base. The last recorded census was from 2000. Based on that census, the population  consisted of the following; 50.9% male, 49.1% female, 60.1% Caucasian, 16.7% black or African American, 11.4% Hispanic, 7.0% Asian, Other 0.2%, some other race 1.7%, two or more races 2.9% and foreign born 16.2%. The median age was 37.9 years of age. Not only has the ethnic population changed, but the median income average has as well. The median has dropped by 13% which should alert the surrounding agencies that their citizens are not as wealthy as they once were and most of the time, this also incites criminal activity. The demographic differences in the community and police department is wide. It may have been the same demographics at one time, however, the police department hasn’t seemed to change much since the 1930s in that aspect. As the department still chooses to hire friends and family, this is not expected to change anytime soon. I would argue that the change needs to happen immediately. I think a new census should be taken or at least have patrols identify areas within the community that have changed drastically with ethnicity. A new census would also assist the budget and the jurisdiction boundary and also allow the bigger picture to be evident to the Mayor. Most cities have a natural cultural divide. It is important for the police department to recognize this and adjust their manning accordingly. If there is an increase of crimes against women, it would be important for the department to look at hiring more women onto the force who can deal with the more sensitive areas. If there are race issues within the community, it wouldn’t be a good decision to send a police officer into that area knowing it could potentially escalate a situation. The department should have more diversity amongst the officers. To start this, I will go back to my earlier statement on hiring outside of the police force family. Try and appeal to the other ethnic backgrounds that the community can relate to and hopefully start to trust. Next, I would re-evaluate the shift work. If the area of responsibility has grown, and the number of citizens within the community has grown, it is imperative that the police are able to respond and react to calls appropriately. Because police work doesn’t end at the scene, officers must have time to go back to the station and complete their required paperwork. Twelve hour shifts make it virtually impossible to complete paperwork and get enough rest before the next shift. I would break the shifts up into 8 hour shifts and apply the greater amount of officers to the busiest time of the day or night. Taking a look at the criminal statistics, I initially notice that due to the unplanned city demographic changes, the department is currently suffering a set back with a larger than projected area of responsibility and more citizens within their jurisdiction. The number of lower income families has risen, and the average age of the community dropped to 34.7 which means more children are attending the local schools. Looking at the Statistics of Crime in VPD area, there has been a significant increase in Part 1 and Part II Offenses. Part II Offences have seen the most increase over the last four years with drugs, disorderly conduct, and burglary topping the list. It is scary to note that although crimes in almost every offense is up, arrests are down significantly from 2009-2011 and 2012. Over the last four years, the city has seen a steady increase in crime and antisocial activity. Also, Use of Force, conduct, and performance complaints have drastically increased against the police, hi ghlighting a possible stressed, stretched thin police department, and frustrated community. It also appears that the adult offences are higher than the youth offenses. This could be as a result of the closure of the neighbouring city’s high rise public and subsidized housing causing its residents to relocate. Due to this, a 10% increase in low income residents are now a part of the VPD community. Larry Bennett, Janet Smith, and Patricia Wright wrote about Paul Fischer of Lake Forest College. In a 2003 study, â€Å"most families relocated from CHA housing are re-segregated into other very low-income, majority African-American neighborhoods where housing conditions are not appreciably better than those they left.† (2006: 219). Along the lines of changing 12 hour shifts into 8 hour shifts, I would also start communicating with the surrounding police departments. I would establish a rapport – even if it is to my departments sacrifice at first. I would be interested in any training opportunities, their demographics for their area, any areas that may â€Å"overlap† with jurisdictions, and I would start an interagency database so the surrounding areas demographics may be included in it. One thing that would have assisted the VPD before the buildings were torn down in the neighbouring areas would have been the communication between departments. Having a good working relationship with them would have potentially avoided all the chaos that was created by the influx of lower income families. I would also have my  Patrol Commander to establish a Community Oriented Policing task force to get out into the community and get some insight to what the citizens would like to see. If the department takes a step in the right direction and shows the community that they know there is a problem and they want the community’s help to fix it then it may generate a lot of interest. I am sure that if the community pulls together to start paying attention to vandalism, prostitution, drugs and disorderly conduct, then hopefully the homicides, rapes, burglaries, motor vehicle thefts and aggravated assaults would decrease. I would also incorporate an operation similar to â€Å"Operation Condor† which was highlighted by Howard Safir and Ellis Whitman. According to Safir and Whitman, Condor was an extension of the Broken Windows effec t. This operation had significant impact on homicide and crime rates and eliminated signs of lawlessness. (2005: 198). Based on the positive outcome of Operation Condor, VPD may benefit significantly with something like this. The police department has a bad reputation responding to calls. In 2012, there were 163,433 calls for police service and units were dispatched to only 131,548. That means that 31,885 calls for assistance were unanswered. This is not acceptable. According to James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, â€Å"Untended disorderly behavior is a signal that the community does not care. This leads to worse disorder and crime. If police are to deal with disorder to reduce fear and crime, they need the community for assistance.† (1984:29) The new acceptable standard of bending the rules and the code of silence is inexcusable. The VPD has had a longstanding reputation for integrity. However, over the last several years, it has become accepted to bend the rules and violatio ns, and is overlooked by supervisors. The Virtual Police Department is in great need of a complete overhaul. Unfortunately, the department does not have its priorities correct. In my attempt to fix the VPD, I would call in Police Officer Standards and Training Commissions POST Commissions to evaluate and train the department on the critical issues of police officer standards. As this is a state function, the county, Mayor, and others will not be able to influence the training or decision making. According to Sullivan and Simonetti Rosen, â€Å"These state-level commissions provide law enforcement agencies with guidelines, established by administrative regulations or law, and require compliance by all municipal, county, and state law enforcement agencies, to maintain a baseline for  police officer standards and training.† (2006: 350-351). I honestly feel an â€Å"audit† would benefit the department on so many levels. Finally, I would appoint a Human Resource Manager to ensure that the needs of the personnel are met and a Safety Officer to ensure that regulations are being followed appropriately. The hiring process, budget, structure of the department, and community relations are what I see to be the weakest areas within this department. Fortunately, they feed off of each other and adjustments in one area will affect the others. It will be a process, but a greatly needed process none-the-less. References Cohen, M. (2005). The Costs of Crime and Justice. New York: Routledge. George, C., Smith, C. (2004). The American System of Criminal Justice (10 ed.). Belmont: Thompson Learning, Inc. Howard, S., Whitman, E. (2003). Security: Policing your Homeland, your State, Your City (1 ed.). New York: St Martins Press. Larry, B., Smith, J., Wright, P. (2006). Where are poor people to live?. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Larry, S., Simonetti Rosen, M. (2005). Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement (Vol. 1). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc. Virtual Police Department Case Study Paper

Business Strategy of MNC in Emerging Markets

Business Strategy of MNC in Emerging Markets The research aims to observe the different adaptive strategies employed by the multinational corporations (MNC) while it enters the emerging economies, analysing market potential, business growth, and the foreign direct investment in the country, with its effects on the (GDP) gross domestic product and corporate social responsibility of the emerging market. Objectives The objective of this research is to gauge in the success or failure of the difference in approach applied by the multinational corporations (MNC) to the emerging market how effective is the strategy and what scope and the way to enter the new market through a merger acquisition or its own subsidiary to function in those testing environment. Introduction Multinational enterprises (MNEs) need to adjust to the multifaceted business environment of each host country (Dunning and Lundan, 2008a)  [2]  . This challenge Increases with the differences between the foreign and MNEs home environment. The More distant is a host country from the organizational centre of the MNE, physically And in terms of mutual understanding, the more the à ¯Ã‚ ¬?rm has to bridge differences in Culture, in laws and regulations, and in human resources (Ghemawat, 2007)  [3]  ; Shenkar, 2001)  [5]  . MNEs must adapt their business strategies and organizational forms to manage these differences (Kogut and Singh, 1988; Kostova and Roth, 2002)  [6]  . With the development of the international business in the developed economies of the world, they faced saturation of their domestic markets which led them to search for alternate markets for their product and services. There was an immediate surge to cut down the cost of labour which was rising, forcing them to implement cost cutting strategy, which in turn led to the growth of international business, In the beginning the company would engage in export and import however with the change in the time, technology, availability of cheap labour and transport it has made it easier for these companies to target international shores for business Literature review This is research aims at formulating the scope of the international strategy in the emerging markets by analysing the current situation of the economys and the theories applied to the context of emerging nation in the past taking into consideration the degree of their effectiveness into account and postulating new perspective and dimension to it. The analysis of the early phase of the market emergence, Institutional theory helps in comprehending the impact on the enterprise strategies this is due to the strong influence of the government in the emerging economys to that of developed economies . The role of institutional theory is reviewed in context to the other theories and their interactions in understanding the emerged and the developed market economies. The International business strategy adopted by the MNC for the emerging markets has played a significant part for their market entry against the barriers to the host country. THREE PERSPECTIVES ON STRATEGY IN EMERGING ECONOMIES When we analyse the market in the emerging economies with respect to its earlier phase of emergence, it is the institutional theory which is the most significant in helping to explain the impacts on enterprise strategies. This is due to the influence exercised by the government and societal are stronger in these emerging economies as compared to the developed economies. As market matures, transaction cost economics and, subsequently, the resource-based view is more important. However, there is a fervent need to consider the importance of the interactions between institutional theory and other theories to increase our understandings of the emerging and developed market economies by drawing the differentiating between them. An Institutional Theory Perspective The role played by institutions in emerging economies. Institutional theory emphasizes the influences of the systems surrounding organizations that shape social and organizational behaviour (Scott, 1995)  [13]  . From a sociological orientation, Palmer, Jen-nings, and Zhou (1993)  [21]  discussed industrial reform in China and attributed its success to market-leaning institutional change, gradual relaxation of state owner-ship and control, and development of private prop-erty rights. Research implications The number of theoretical and empirical studies using an institutional perspective in emerging economies is limited, even though some theorists have argued that this perspective is the most applicable paradigm for explaining enterprise behaviour in emerging economies (Shenkar von Glinow, 1994)  [23]  pointed out, the process of institutionalization should be of interest in future theoretical and empirical work. A Transaction Cost Economics Perspective Transaction cost economics studies the firm-environment-ronment interface through a contractual or ex-change-based approach (Williamson, 1975)  [30]  . Limitation The criticisms and recent development in the literature which is identified above are apt in comprehending the strategy of the enterprise in emerging economies, as the transaction cost economics has been applied primarily to the developed market economies which are characterized by their strong legal regimes and binding social norms, less is known about governance structures for transaction cost in emerging economies. Choi, Lee, Kim (1999)  [32]  . High transaction costs would refer to a preference for hierarchical governance structures over the private market. Opportunistic behaviour, normally reduced by contract law, trust, or reputation, is also much more likely under such circumstances. As per the scholars the most efficient governance structure in emerging economies is hybrid structures dominating both markets and hierarchies is the solution. For example, Peng and Heath (1996)  [33]  argued that it is difficult for emerging market firms to grow internally or through mergers and acquisitions owing to lack of property rights and unstable political structures. They suggested us-in networks as a hybrid strategy. By pooling and coordinating resources, firms can achieve economies of scale and scope, and organizational learning can occur. Resource-Based Perspective The resource based view regarding the emerging economies, the central questions addressed by the re-source-based view concern why firms differ and how they achieve and sustain competitive advantage? Penrose (1959)  [41]  , who found that the Hollywood film industry pro-vided a context that changed over time and created different strategic assets as changes were made. To this point, little research using a resource-based-view framework has examined strategy differences in the social context of emerging economies. Adapting theses theories in the research for the thesis with a new perspective and dimensions the research on the international strategy of MNC in emerging market is further investigated to find the answers to certain question during the course of the research. A) What are the effects of strategy on the Mnc in respect to the modern times? b) How difficult is the task of MNC easy to settle down in a new country? c) What are the real barriers to the entry of these MNc? d) Does the strategy adopted really help with respect to CSR? e) Do the theories by scholar on emerging market have any positive inference on the MNC f) The role of govt in the smooth transition and policies g) Are the MNC a success or Failure with their normal global strategy h) How do the cultural differences is an obstacle in the way of MNC Challenges /Difficulties The MNC entering for the first time, may benefit from a relatively low informal distance which is most likely to increase their co-operation between with the local firms with respect to their understanding the barriers to communication, however with the difference of geographical distance there is a burden for the MNC to bear the cost involved in communication and co-ordination as cultural differences are most likely to hinder the smooth functionality and the firm may find it difficult to incorporate the existing operations with the local firm or they may establish a co-owner relationship with the local firm rather than functioning on their own, however to ease their functioning it has to co-operate with the local firms to resolve differences pertaining to the cross culture issues. Institutional differences may be reduced over a period of time by experimental learning, moreover it may benefit from the local firms contacts in the market like the local supplier distributor and the loca l authorities, hence it reduces the investors direct contact with the unknown local environment which is an added advantage and it gets the existing information of the market through the local firm The Research Methodology In this research would aim to use both primary and secondary method to go in-depth to have an insight of the emerging market what are the strategy barriers for foreign investors like an MNCs how could it be made smoother the support from the government, Primary source This method is applied to retrieve information by the researcher for the first time for a specific purpose of their field of studies. It constitutes Questionnaire Direct observation, Interviews and surveys, in this particular research the application of questionnaire and survey does exist however with the diverse field like a MNC which is in an emerging market hence it is too broad not required. Secondary Sources This method states the information is already compiled by someone who did a research prior to the current one in a similar field for some other objective, the secondary data is classified into two internal and external data, the information in the form of data compiled within the company is Internal and the information which may be retrieved from external sources like libraries, journals, websites, business magazines, articles. The main components of secondary data are Book review The books which are relevant to the thesis along with the articles and journals would be reviewed for data and theories for the research. Internet research This would give an insight to the markets past history and provide comprehensive data source for the research along with the articles that are available to browse useful for the research. Documents The documents published by the MNC in the emerging market would be used a useful literature for the research to draw a comparison from past performance and the transition into the new country in regards to the financial statements and distinguish it with other MNC on success and failure The advantages of secondary source of research is its availability and accessibility with the low cost involved to retrieve the information and another aspect of secondary data could be observed closely for a longer duration it is not time bound, although it does have its own share of demerits as the information pertaining to the current research may not have been collected or the other dimension or area or research could be extremely different with aim and objective contrasting each other with the region directed a specific population that may not be the researchers sphere of interest. Data collection The strategy employed for assembling data need to a multi-dimensional with a modern approach as data pertaining to market of emerging economies keep on changing on a day to day hence the conventional sampling approach can be difficult to implement for example the various sources of data like telephone directory, government data could become rapidly outdated. The data which may be collected from a company may not necessarily be consistent in comparison to the data possessed by the government authority hence it thus become a significant factor to collaborate the different studies to analyse and find the right method for data collection with questionnaire, surveys being dependent on the postal service. Hence Collaborative projects with local researchers using face-to-face interviews may be a key means of gaining access to data sources (Lee Miller, 1999)  [43]  used quantitative questionnaires, qualitative interviews, and multiple informants to increase the validity and reliability of their measures of organizational competence, variable measurement do pose a number of problems that present a difficulty in strategy research in emerging economies. The data collection is further classified into primary and secondary data source. Primary data source The data collected for the first time by the researcher applicable for the research purpose through a direct interview or questionnaire constitutes the primary data; however in the research we do employ the use of a questionnaire technique for the purpose of primary data collection. Questionnaire It is one of the most reliable means of credibly collecting data which has a reasonably low cost associated hence making it more adoptive for the research, the questionnaire is designed with multiple objective question for the managers of the MNC, to gauge the strategy which were adapted from their general course of business to meet the emerging markets. Secondary data The data collected by the prior researchers for their research in the similar field, are the alternate source for the current researcher to fall back on as it provides an insight to the data required, due to the difficulty in collecting data by means of primary sources secondary sources prove to be very useful. There are three secondary sources employed in the research. Book review The data collected through the literary sources like articles, newspaper, business magazines, and journals, regarding the strategy of MNC on emerging market, with the availability of most of the literary sources at the university library, business journals , electronic journals accessed through the university portal like Business source premier, Jstor, Emerald, and Google scholar helps in collecting data for the research. Internet Research Information retrieved from browsing the website of the MNCs which would give an insight to the existing market as well as the earlier market data for the past 5 to 10 years providing a new dimension to distinguish and collate data, the information in these website gets updated on regular intervals hence access date is mentioned along with the reference. Documents The data compiled from the companys published documents over the years do provide a fresh perspective to the research The problems of Data collections The topic of the research is broad and hence it expands in volume due to the vast field of emerging market and international business strategy employed by different MNC, hence collating data on the emerging market is primarily available in a secondary form of data is voluminous turning out to be a little difficult to narrow down, as the research aims to narrow its parameter of data collection and concentrate on the specific set of goals to imbibe a good quality. The secondary source of data available might not be applicable to research in a larger context and might not provide the answers to the objectives of the research, the other difficulty that might arise would be the response of the questionnaire as it is an uncontrolled variable hence the low response might pose a question on the reliability of the collected data through it and the quality as well, these are a few challenges that pose a formidable threat in the success of the research. Data Analysis The collected data through the above means would be aligned in a logical, synchronized and sequential, organizational frame to analyse it and evaluate the data so that the applicable information could be take out from the data, the data analysis would undertake both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative method This approach centres on numbers which are employed as characteristics to quantify data the outcome is numerical form of a recoded data which is further used for statistical analysis, this proves to be a reliable tools providing the numerical data for the empirical study and statistical analysis, this is further classifies into descriptive and inferential. Descriptive statistics It constitutes a measure of central tendency which are required in the research like mean median and mode and the measure of variability like standard deviation which would provide a numerical analysis of the research Inferential statistics This statistical tool helps to test the hypothesis and the similar findings of the data sample and eliminates unwanted data by means of deduction With the statistical inference which are drawn out of the questionnaires survey and interviews of the research; the data could be presented in a graphical form, histograms and pie chart, during the course of the research Microsoft word excel and spread sheet could be used for the purpose of diagram representation and these tools will help to evaluate the research. Qualitative Approach Qualitative research is explores the meaning rather drawing an inference based on the numerical statistical analysis, hence its approaches include case study interviews focus groups. Literary criticism The way the data has to be drafted for the research aiming at the content applicable for the research purpose taking the theory and literature into account and critically evaluating them. Thematic coding à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"The data collected is coded or labelled which is to classify data to gather relevant data making it more easily accessible and easy to understand as similar data is grouped in a thematic idea which makes comparison of different cases in respect to the research simpler for the researcher. Time scale and plan The research is planned in an organised framework, the planning and scientific collection of data using qualitative and quantitative method and evaluating it, filtering the required content and theories analysing the applicable data to the research, hence the time span is estimated to be 11 weeks , that is broadly classified as 1 weeks for data collection primary as well as 1 week for secondary data and then 1 week to evaluate the relevance then move on to the important part of literature review in the next 2 weeks , methodology of research would be aimed to completed in another 2 weeks data analysis 2 weeks and conclusion and 1 week to review and get peer review to get the better understanding the next week amend changes if required and finally submit within the week hence the research is completed in time and submitted in a effective and efficient manner. Conclusion The research topic gives food for thought, as the market is evolving hence it would highlight the changes undertaken by the MNCs over the period of time in their strategy as in the earlier years Corporate Social Responsibility was not a significant part of the policies and strategy however with the change in time it has been realised the crucial role it plays for every multinational entity and provide comprehensive insight in the functionality and approach, this research will be conducted evaluating the secondary data due to its high authenticity and availability drawing inferences from the different theory applied by the prior researchers and finding new dimensions that is applicable to the times of today as we are pulling out of recession, hence low income countries are the lucrative market and cheap labour source presents an opportunity for the MNC to reap profit and the share knowledge and the country too benefits with the inward Foreign Direct Investment bringing more employment and capital hence the topic of the thesis is dealt with a contemporary approach to provide a fresh perspective. Business Strategy of MNC in Emerging Markets Business Strategy of MNC in Emerging Markets The research aims to observe the different adaptive strategies employed by the multinational corporations (MNC) while it enters the emerging economies, analysing market potential, business growth, and the foreign direct investment in the country, with its effects on the (GDP) gross domestic product and corporate social responsibility of the emerging market. Objectives The objective of this research is to gauge in the success or failure of the difference in approach applied by the multinational corporations (MNC) to the emerging market how effective is the strategy and what scope and the way to enter the new market through a merger acquisition or its own subsidiary to function in those testing environment. Introduction Multinational enterprises (MNEs) need to adjust to the multifaceted business environment of each host country (Dunning and Lundan, 2008a)  [2]  . This challenge Increases with the differences between the foreign and MNEs home environment. The More distant is a host country from the organizational centre of the MNE, physically And in terms of mutual understanding, the more the à ¯Ã‚ ¬?rm has to bridge differences in Culture, in laws and regulations, and in human resources (Ghemawat, 2007)  [3]  ; Shenkar, 2001)  [5]  . MNEs must adapt their business strategies and organizational forms to manage these differences (Kogut and Singh, 1988; Kostova and Roth, 2002)  [6]  . With the development of the international business in the developed economies of the world, they faced saturation of their domestic markets which led them to search for alternate markets for their product and services. There was an immediate surge to cut down the cost of labour which was rising, forcing them to implement cost cutting strategy, which in turn led to the growth of international business, In the beginning the company would engage in export and import however with the change in the time, technology, availability of cheap labour and transport it has made it easier for these companies to target international shores for business Literature review This is research aims at formulating the scope of the international strategy in the emerging markets by analysing the current situation of the economys and the theories applied to the context of emerging nation in the past taking into consideration the degree of their effectiveness into account and postulating new perspective and dimension to it. The analysis of the early phase of the market emergence, Institutional theory helps in comprehending the impact on the enterprise strategies this is due to the strong influence of the government in the emerging economys to that of developed economies . The role of institutional theory is reviewed in context to the other theories and their interactions in understanding the emerged and the developed market economies. The International business strategy adopted by the MNC for the emerging markets has played a significant part for their market entry against the barriers to the host country. THREE PERSPECTIVES ON STRATEGY IN EMERGING ECONOMIES When we analyse the market in the emerging economies with respect to its earlier phase of emergence, it is the institutional theory which is the most significant in helping to explain the impacts on enterprise strategies. This is due to the influence exercised by the government and societal are stronger in these emerging economies as compared to the developed economies. As market matures, transaction cost economics and, subsequently, the resource-based view is more important. However, there is a fervent need to consider the importance of the interactions between institutional theory and other theories to increase our understandings of the emerging and developed market economies by drawing the differentiating between them. An Institutional Theory Perspective The role played by institutions in emerging economies. Institutional theory emphasizes the influences of the systems surrounding organizations that shape social and organizational behaviour (Scott, 1995)  [13]  . From a sociological orientation, Palmer, Jen-nings, and Zhou (1993)  [21]  discussed industrial reform in China and attributed its success to market-leaning institutional change, gradual relaxation of state owner-ship and control, and development of private prop-erty rights. Research implications The number of theoretical and empirical studies using an institutional perspective in emerging economies is limited, even though some theorists have argued that this perspective is the most applicable paradigm for explaining enterprise behaviour in emerging economies (Shenkar von Glinow, 1994)  [23]  pointed out, the process of institutionalization should be of interest in future theoretical and empirical work. A Transaction Cost Economics Perspective Transaction cost economics studies the firm-environment-ronment interface through a contractual or ex-change-based approach (Williamson, 1975)  [30]  . Limitation The criticisms and recent development in the literature which is identified above are apt in comprehending the strategy of the enterprise in emerging economies, as the transaction cost economics has been applied primarily to the developed market economies which are characterized by their strong legal regimes and binding social norms, less is known about governance structures for transaction cost in emerging economies. Choi, Lee, Kim (1999)  [32]  . High transaction costs would refer to a preference for hierarchical governance structures over the private market. Opportunistic behaviour, normally reduced by contract law, trust, or reputation, is also much more likely under such circumstances. As per the scholars the most efficient governance structure in emerging economies is hybrid structures dominating both markets and hierarchies is the solution. For example, Peng and Heath (1996)  [33]  argued that it is difficult for emerging market firms to grow internally or through mergers and acquisitions owing to lack of property rights and unstable political structures. They suggested us-in networks as a hybrid strategy. By pooling and coordinating resources, firms can achieve economies of scale and scope, and organizational learning can occur. Resource-Based Perspective The resource based view regarding the emerging economies, the central questions addressed by the re-source-based view concern why firms differ and how they achieve and sustain competitive advantage? Penrose (1959)  [41]  , who found that the Hollywood film industry pro-vided a context that changed over time and created different strategic assets as changes were made. To this point, little research using a resource-based-view framework has examined strategy differences in the social context of emerging economies. Adapting theses theories in the research for the thesis with a new perspective and dimensions the research on the international strategy of MNC in emerging market is further investigated to find the answers to certain question during the course of the research. A) What are the effects of strategy on the Mnc in respect to the modern times? b) How difficult is the task of MNC easy to settle down in a new country? c) What are the real barriers to the entry of these MNc? d) Does the strategy adopted really help with respect to CSR? e) Do the theories by scholar on emerging market have any positive inference on the MNC f) The role of govt in the smooth transition and policies g) Are the MNC a success or Failure with their normal global strategy h) How do the cultural differences is an obstacle in the way of MNC Challenges /Difficulties The MNC entering for the first time, may benefit from a relatively low informal distance which is most likely to increase their co-operation between with the local firms with respect to their understanding the barriers to communication, however with the difference of geographical distance there is a burden for the MNC to bear the cost involved in communication and co-ordination as cultural differences are most likely to hinder the smooth functionality and the firm may find it difficult to incorporate the existing operations with the local firm or they may establish a co-owner relationship with the local firm rather than functioning on their own, however to ease their functioning it has to co-operate with the local firms to resolve differences pertaining to the cross culture issues. Institutional differences may be reduced over a period of time by experimental learning, moreover it may benefit from the local firms contacts in the market like the local supplier distributor and the loca l authorities, hence it reduces the investors direct contact with the unknown local environment which is an added advantage and it gets the existing information of the market through the local firm The Research Methodology In this research would aim to use both primary and secondary method to go in-depth to have an insight of the emerging market what are the strategy barriers for foreign investors like an MNCs how could it be made smoother the support from the government, Primary source This method is applied to retrieve information by the researcher for the first time for a specific purpose of their field of studies. It constitutes Questionnaire Direct observation, Interviews and surveys, in this particular research the application of questionnaire and survey does exist however with the diverse field like a MNC which is in an emerging market hence it is too broad not required. Secondary Sources This method states the information is already compiled by someone who did a research prior to the current one in a similar field for some other objective, the secondary data is classified into two internal and external data, the information in the form of data compiled within the company is Internal and the information which may be retrieved from external sources like libraries, journals, websites, business magazines, articles. The main components of secondary data are Book review The books which are relevant to the thesis along with the articles and journals would be reviewed for data and theories for the research. Internet research This would give an insight to the markets past history and provide comprehensive data source for the research along with the articles that are available to browse useful for the research. Documents The documents published by the MNC in the emerging market would be used a useful literature for the research to draw a comparison from past performance and the transition into the new country in regards to the financial statements and distinguish it with other MNC on success and failure The advantages of secondary source of research is its availability and accessibility with the low cost involved to retrieve the information and another aspect of secondary data could be observed closely for a longer duration it is not time bound, although it does have its own share of demerits as the information pertaining to the current research may not have been collected or the other dimension or area or research could be extremely different with aim and objective contrasting each other with the region directed a specific population that may not be the researchers sphere of interest. Data collection The strategy employed for assembling data need to a multi-dimensional with a modern approach as data pertaining to market of emerging economies keep on changing on a day to day hence the conventional sampling approach can be difficult to implement for example the various sources of data like telephone directory, government data could become rapidly outdated. The data which may be collected from a company may not necessarily be consistent in comparison to the data possessed by the government authority hence it thus become a significant factor to collaborate the different studies to analyse and find the right method for data collection with questionnaire, surveys being dependent on the postal service. Hence Collaborative projects with local researchers using face-to-face interviews may be a key means of gaining access to data sources (Lee Miller, 1999)  [43]  used quantitative questionnaires, qualitative interviews, and multiple informants to increase the validity and reliability of their measures of organizational competence, variable measurement do pose a number of problems that present a difficulty in strategy research in emerging economies. The data collection is further classified into primary and secondary data source. Primary data source The data collected for the first time by the researcher applicable for the research purpose through a direct interview or questionnaire constitutes the primary data; however in the research we do employ the use of a questionnaire technique for the purpose of primary data collection. Questionnaire It is one of the most reliable means of credibly collecting data which has a reasonably low cost associated hence making it more adoptive for the research, the questionnaire is designed with multiple objective question for the managers of the MNC, to gauge the strategy which were adapted from their general course of business to meet the emerging markets. Secondary data The data collected by the prior researchers for their research in the similar field, are the alternate source for the current researcher to fall back on as it provides an insight to the data required, due to the difficulty in collecting data by means of primary sources secondary sources prove to be very useful. There are three secondary sources employed in the research. Book review The data collected through the literary sources like articles, newspaper, business magazines, and journals, regarding the strategy of MNC on emerging market, with the availability of most of the literary sources at the university library, business journals , electronic journals accessed through the university portal like Business source premier, Jstor, Emerald, and Google scholar helps in collecting data for the research. Internet Research Information retrieved from browsing the website of the MNCs which would give an insight to the existing market as well as the earlier market data for the past 5 to 10 years providing a new dimension to distinguish and collate data, the information in these website gets updated on regular intervals hence access date is mentioned along with the reference. Documents The data compiled from the companys published documents over the years do provide a fresh perspective to the research The problems of Data collections The topic of the research is broad and hence it expands in volume due to the vast field of emerging market and international business strategy employed by different MNC, hence collating data on the emerging market is primarily available in a secondary form of data is voluminous turning out to be a little difficult to narrow down, as the research aims to narrow its parameter of data collection and concentrate on the specific set of goals to imbibe a good quality. The secondary source of data available might not be applicable to research in a larger context and might not provide the answers to the objectives of the research, the other difficulty that might arise would be the response of the questionnaire as it is an uncontrolled variable hence the low response might pose a question on the reliability of the collected data through it and the quality as well, these are a few challenges that pose a formidable threat in the success of the research. Data Analysis The collected data through the above means would be aligned in a logical, synchronized and sequential, organizational frame to analyse it and evaluate the data so that the applicable information could be take out from the data, the data analysis would undertake both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative method This approach centres on numbers which are employed as characteristics to quantify data the outcome is numerical form of a recoded data which is further used for statistical analysis, this proves to be a reliable tools providing the numerical data for the empirical study and statistical analysis, this is further classifies into descriptive and inferential. Descriptive statistics It constitutes a measure of central tendency which are required in the research like mean median and mode and the measure of variability like standard deviation which would provide a numerical analysis of the research Inferential statistics This statistical tool helps to test the hypothesis and the similar findings of the data sample and eliminates unwanted data by means of deduction With the statistical inference which are drawn out of the questionnaires survey and interviews of the research; the data could be presented in a graphical form, histograms and pie chart, during the course of the research Microsoft word excel and spread sheet could be used for the purpose of diagram representation and these tools will help to evaluate the research. Qualitative Approach Qualitative research is explores the meaning rather drawing an inference based on the numerical statistical analysis, hence its approaches include case study interviews focus groups. Literary criticism The way the data has to be drafted for the research aiming at the content applicable for the research purpose taking the theory and literature into account and critically evaluating them. Thematic coding à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"The data collected is coded or labelled which is to classify data to gather relevant data making it more easily accessible and easy to understand as similar data is grouped in a thematic idea which makes comparison of different cases in respect to the research simpler for the researcher. Time scale and plan The research is planned in an organised framework, the planning and scientific collection of data using qualitative and quantitative method and evaluating it, filtering the required content and theories analysing the applicable data to the research, hence the time span is estimated to be 11 weeks , that is broadly classified as 1 weeks for data collection primary as well as 1 week for secondary data and then 1 week to evaluate the relevance then move on to the important part of literature review in the next 2 weeks , methodology of research would be aimed to completed in another 2 weeks data analysis 2 weeks and conclusion and 1 week to review and get peer review to get the better understanding the next week amend changes if required and finally submit within the week hence the research is completed in time and submitted in a effective and efficient manner. Conclusion The research topic gives food for thought, as the market is evolving hence it would highlight the changes undertaken by the MNCs over the period of time in their strategy as in the earlier years Corporate Social Responsibility was not a significant part of the policies and strategy however with the change in time it has been realised the crucial role it plays for every multinational entity and provide comprehensive insight in the functionality and approach, this research will be conducted evaluating the secondary data due to its high authenticity and availability drawing inferences from the different theory applied by the prior researchers and finding new dimensions that is applicable to the times of today as we are pulling out of recession, hence low income countries are the lucrative market and cheap labour source presents an opportunity for the MNC to reap profit and the share knowledge and the country too benefits with the inward Foreign Direct Investment bringing more employment and capital hence the topic of the thesis is dealt with a contemporary approach to provide a fresh perspective.