Cultural Difficulties of Joint Venture in China

Cultural Difficulties of Joint Venture in China The benefits in Joint Venture: JV gives more resources, greater capacity and increased technical expertise. It acts as a representative for marking the companys entrance to a new market when still it is at its learning stage. The mutual trusted partnership and co-operation will lead to its success. It strengthens the long term relationships or it may also collaborate on short term projects which lead them to access a new market and access to new technologies and they can also learn how to tackle the cultural difficulties if they are successful. The risks in joint venture: partnering with another company in an entirely new market is a bit risky. It takes more time and effort to build the right relationship. the problems will likely arise if the objectives of the JV are not clearly mentioned and explained or communicated. Normally the companies have their own objectives which will be different than the JV objectives. Imbalance in levels of expertise, assets and investments will lead to a poor integration and co-operation. Different culture and management styles will also lead to poor performance and co-operation. If both the companies doesnt provide necessary leadership support in early and developing stage of the JV it will also lead to disaster like dissolution. Cultural difficulties may occur for a global company in JV follows below: Understanding the cultural environments is critical to the success of the organisation or a company. Culture is important and it makes difference in the management. Variable  culture and different management styles will lead to dissolution of the venture.   Cultural differences always influence the way of making decision and solving problems. this also may lead to disaster. Unmanageable complexity, loss of autonomy, information  uncertainty and long term orientation will lead to failure of the venture. Human resource management plays a vital role in the Joint venture. Poor human resource  management will lead to ultimate failure of the venture. The companies on their own have different structural style but in a joint venture there is a  different style. It has been learnt in early days the Chinese use so called shame technique. The Chinese do not regard people as mature until they are at least 40yrs old. Most of the Chinese companies are part owned by the GOVT so the business decisions  making are done or influenced by govt burucracies and this will also consume more time  so this may also lead to impatience of global company. Within the advertising industry in China, advertisements have also not been spared from  controversy and national debate. With a strong influence of multi-ethnic Chinese culture  and history, companies are constantly challenged to convey their messages to potential  consumers effectively, accurately, and yet not appear offensive. While the Chinese  embraces globalization, they are not a least hesitant from voicing their dissatisfaction  when the contents of advertisements threaten their strong Chinese values. Western expatriate managers in JVs could be extraordinary. This could make an  expatriate assignment to JV in China and it will be a very frustrating experience. Presumably, cross-cultural training may be particularly helpful for the adjustment of westerners encountering the frustrating work environment in JV. In comparison, the  adjustment of Western expatriate executives in other types of organisations may not be  facilitated as much by cross-cultural training. Senior managers in China have good technical training, but it is not common for Chinese  managers to have formal management training. Besides, they may have little  international experience or understanding of a free-market economy. Such differences  may create substantial problems for expatriate managers in China. Disparity in education  and background may result in lower affinity on an interpersonal level. Differences in age  and experience may lead to further complications. A negative circle can easily take hold,  creating a considerable amount of stress. Unaware of the finer nuances of the local  cultural and social context, Western expatriates may quickly attribute their inevitable  business difficulties to the ineptness of their Chinese JV partners. This attribution could  be reinforced when they are reminded that they have been invited to China to improve on  the business deficiencies of their Chinese counterparts. To the Chinese, the word  contract means only a commercial agreement, not a legally binding document. Signing  a contract is a formal confirmation that they intend to do business with you, not an  indication of how they are planning to conduct business. It is well known that real  negotiation in China begins only after the contract is signed. Any problems arising  there from are due to the fact that the officials in the negotiation process have limited  authority and also tend to interpret the provision of the contract from their own cultural,  political and economic viewpoint. Also, the government frequently changes the  laws; hence, parties to the contract try to keep the arrangements as open and flexible as  possible. Recommendations to enable a joint venture: China is booming market which has  more than 1.3 billion of consumers and it has retained a considerable attraction for  international business. Initially, the Joint Venture law from 1979 only allowed foreign  companies to invest in joint ventures (JVs), but from 1987 onwards they could also form  wholly foreign-owned enterprises. Although the number of wholly foreign-owned  enterprises are increasing at a faster rate. So if a global company wants to market their  products in the Chinese market pyramid then the best option to attain their goal is to  make a JV and reach their goal in china while still in the developing process. China  is distinctly different from most other countries and would be a challenging destination  for Western business expatriates. Their need for effective cross-cultural skills appears to  be substantial, as they have to adjust to a fundamentally different cultural and social  context than their own. That adjustment may be facilitated by means of cross-cultural  training, there is inconclusive evidence of its effectiveness the impact of such training  may be contingent on circumstances at the host location. Hence, the challenges  facing Western expatriate managers in JV could be extraordinary. This could make an  expatriate assignment to a very frustrating experience. Presumably, cross-cultural  training may be particularly helpful for the adjustment of westerners encountering the  frustrating work environment in JV. In comparison, the adjustment of Western expatriate  executives in other types of organisations may not be facilitated as much by cross-cultural training. In organisational settings totally dominated by the foreign parent,  Western expatriates may encounter a less frustrating internal work environment. It is best that the global and foreign company both should seek due representation in the  top management group. They both should offer enough leadership to provide a better  developing process. Human resource management plays a vital role in joint venture before starting the  process for the joint venture they should go for look see process in which they analyse  the key factors like how they are going to train and employ staffs from china with the  help of the JV company, by studying the cultural advantages and disadvantages and what  are the resources they will be needed from the parent company and from the foreign  company. Next the key task should be picking the right person for the right job and they  should also keep in mind that in china they consider the person is mature when at least  they are 40 yrs old others will be considered as kids, so they should keep the age in mind  when they are appointing key persons in the company. Language training may vary from brief survival language instruction to extensive,  immersion training, aiming for complete spoken and written fluency. Host language  ability may serve several purposes. Besides facilitating communication with locals, it  may also demonstrate an attitude of attempting to learn about the host culture, enabling  one to be polite, and permitting cultural understanding not otherwise possible. They three key dimensions of in-country adjustment: (1) adjustment to work; (2) adjustment to interacting with host nationals; and (3) adjustment to the general non-work environment. For a successful company it should establish a good relation with the partner company to learn the cross culture and what are the key tasks they should concentrate to acquire the required knowledge for implementing the process to form a greater JV company. They should provide training for the people in the organisation to understand basic tenets of Chinese values, norms, and behaviours through cross-cultural training may facilitate the daily work routines of the Western expatriates increasing their work adjustment. In a Joint venture both the companies should learn their foreign languages in order to improve the communication and share information which will lead them to success in the joint venture. Both companies should share their resources, technology and analyse the aims and objectives of the company to succeed in the JV. Marketing is one of the major tasks in the joint venture company are any company. Marketing: Marketing, among all business functions, is most down-to-earth in terms of dealing with customers. As ordinary customers, every one of us already knows about  marketing. After all, it is all around us. Many people may be under the impression  that marketing is only selling and advertising, but it is actually only the tip of the  marketing iceberg. There exists a massive network of people and activities, competing  for customers attention and purchases. In todays marketplace, marketing must be  understood in the new sense of satisfying customer needs. They define marketing as  the process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer  relationships in order to capture value from customers in return. The company has to understand the marketplace and customer needs and wants. Therefore, the company needs to research its customers and the market place in order to collect and manage marketing information and customer data. The second step, designing a customer driven marketing strategy, takes place once the market place and customers are fully understood. The company will select which customers to serve through market  segmentation and targeting. A value proposition will also be decided through  differentiation and positioning. After deciding on its overall marketing strategy, in the  third step, the company is ready to construct a marketing programme, which  transforms abstract strategies into real value for customers. The programme is also  known as the marketing mix which consists of 4 elements (the 4Ps)-product, price,  place and promotion. The fourth step, which is actually throughout the whole  marketing process, is to build profitable relationships and create cu stomer delight. To  achieve the goal, the company must establish strong relationships with marketing  partners as well. The fifth step is when the company can finally reap the fruits of its strong customer relationships by capturing value from customers in return. Once the  company has created satisfied and loyal customers, it can capture customer lifetime  value with a result of increased share of market and customer. The marketing mix starts with product strategy. Product covers more than the physical goods the company wants to sell. It is the goods-and-service combination the company offers to the target market. The company has to be aware of the advertisements which they produce this may also incur some problems because within the advertising industry in China, advertisements have also not been spared from controversy and national debate. With a strong influence of multi-ethnic Chinese culture and history, companies are constantly challenged to convey their messages to potential consumers effectively, accurately, and yet not appear offensive. While the Chinese embraces globalization, they are not a least hesitant from voicing their dissatisfaction when the contents of advertisements threaten their strong Chinese values. Chinese culture at the level of national culture, which is best embodied in the values held by its people. A value system is seen as a relatively permanent perceptual framework that influences an individuals behaviour. Chinese cultural value system is so unique that it distinguishes Chinese culture from Western cultures and the other Eastern cultures. Chinese culture is composed of traditional culture, communist ideology. The key to understand the traditional Chinese culture is Confucianism. Having competed with the other schools of thought in history, such as Taoism, Buddhism, etc., Confucianism is undisputedly the most influential thought, which forms the foundation of the Chinese cultural tradition and still provides the basis for the norms of Chinese interpersonal behaviour If the HR department and the operations department are clear with the Chinese culture and able to differentiate between them then it will reduce the risk variable culture organisation. The first key and method to market a product is to adopt cultural approach in marketing. Culture penetrates our inner being subconsciously and at a deep level. World cultures  share many common features. it is highly risky to ignore the potential influences generated by distinctive Chinese culture on marketing outcomes. It can lead to embarrassing mistakes, or more importantly, little rewards after all the efforts on marketing. Strategic management has to be global, whereas marketing management largely needs to be tailored to local contexts; therefore, an intercultural orientation to marketing best serves a global strategic view. Product is the central element in the market offering. localization in China is to appeal to Chinese customers taste. The production department should always keep in mind that brand new designs for a single market may be very effective in terms of delivering customer value for a specific market. Whereas, it cannot be applied to a wide range because the costs shoot up. Price is a significant element of communication and a decisive element in the social interaction between buyer and seller. It endorses their agreement and shapes their relationship, immediately and in the long term. For customers, price is a means of evaluating products in terms of social representations strongly akin to culture. The major priority lies in capturing the most customer value at the lowest cost, which is achieved by sourcing locally. cultures influence on pricing seems a little weak. Pricing is a big problem facing many marketing executives. The rest of the marketing mix must be taken into account while marketers decide how to price. The choice of place or distribution is one of the two elements of the marketing mix, which are essential in pushing the product towards the customer. Due to that reason the distribution forms subtle relationships with consumers by means of direct contact, it also plays a role as a cultural filter. Companys promotion mix also called its marketing communication. Mix consists of the specific blend of advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and direct-marketing tools. The company uses the set of tools to persuasively communicate customer value and build customer relationships. Ideally if the company carefully coordinate these promotion elements to deliver a clear, consistent, and compelling message about the organization and its products then it can capture the market. And there are situation like you can only appoint Chinese officials only for certain market strategy and product developing, if the necessary steps had been taken by both of the companies then the JV will lead to great success. And there are necessities to have a relation ship in Chinese govt bureaucracies to have better understanding and learning of laws. Multinational companies or global company face more complicated marketing environments when dealing with customers cultivated in different cultures in the times of globalization. The JV helps in these situations so it is best to become a JV and focus on the market after studying the cultural differences thoroughly. There exist other concerns apart from culture, such as the local marketing environment, the companys long-term strategic plan. The marketing should be culture conscientious, they should perform locally as well as be customer value oriented, holding a global view. The key to success in joint venture is  the global company and the foreign company should have mutual understanding and trust on each other. In organizational communication, people are mainly to express him self through language to express ideas, concepts and facts. Language is the foundation of effective communication So it is best to keep a common language to communicate between the people. To improve cross-cultural communication skills as an effective measure is to develop cross-cultural training programs. These training programs should focus on training efficiency and effectiveness, avoid engaging in forms of training objectives and training should be based on object-choice training content, training content selection based training methods. These methods will help the organisation to run in smoother way. It is true that global companies cannot impose their ways of doing business on China. On the other hand, China actually wants and needs overseas firms to introduce more modern practices as a way of whipping domestic businesses into shape. So there will be success for the joint venture firms if they focus in the right direction at the right time. They should always analyse their aims and objectives it will lead them to success. Even though they are from different cultural backgrounds they should exceed in visualising their goal by communicating each other and passing through to even the lowest grade staffs. This reduces misunderstanding and their performance improvement can be seen. Due to the globalisation even the Chinese also try to keep up with the current trends in the market to survive so this will also help in a matter of fact for the joint venture company.

Macbeth And Lady Macbeth Essay Essay

Complex relationships between main characters are often crucial to our understanding of a plays core issues. â€Å"Macbeth† by William Shakespeare is a play that features a breakdown in the relationship between two main characters. Macbeth and his wife begin the play with a desirable relationship but as the plot progresses, his ambition pushes him to commit regicide and many other murders so their relationship dissolves and disintegrates. The breakdown of their relationship has a significant impact on the play. At the beginning of the play Macbeth and his wife are loving to each other: when Macbeth writes a letter to Lady Macbeth and calls her his â€Å"dearest partner in greatness†. This shows he sees her as his equal. The breakdown of their relationship is caused by many things, the most obvious is the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth react in very different ways: Macbeth is overwhelmed with guilt and regret â€Å"Sleep no more: Macbeth has murdered sleep† this shows how uncomfortable he feels with the crime he has committed as he won’t be able to sleep because of the guilt he is experiencing. Lady Macbeth reacts completely opposite to Macbeth. She is calm and practical, telling him to wash his hands â€Å"A little water clears us of this deed† this shows how optimistic she is to think that water can wash away the guilt. Lady Macbeth takes control in their relationship as Macbeth is very weak and she questions his bravery and manhood, therefore they are no longer affectionate towards each other. The mental suffering they both go through after the murder is another factor that contributes to the breakdown of their relationship. After being crowned King, Macbeth confesses he is discontented. â€Å"To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus†. He has the idea that Banquo will become King and fears it will come true. At the same time, Lady Macbeth is feeling a similar disappointment: â€Å"Nought had, all’s spent when our desire is got without content†. Yet the pair are not communicating at this point. Lady Macbeth has to ask her servant to tell Macbeth she wants to speak with him and he is plotting to have Banquo disposed of but keeps this information from her.

Political Action Committee Definition and Examples

Political action committees are among the most common sources of funding for campaigns in the United States. The function of a political action committee is to raise and spend money on behalf of a candidate for elected office at the local, state and federal levels.   A political action committee is often referred to as a PAC and can be run by candidates themselves, political parties or  special interest groups. Most committees represent business, labor or ideological interests, according to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C. The  money they spend is often referred to as hard money because it is being used directly for the election or defeat of specific candidates. In a typical election cycle, political action committee raise more than $2 billion and spend nearly $500 million. There are more than 6,000 political action committees, according to the Federal Election Commission. Oversight of Political Action Committees Political action committees that spend money on federal campaigns are regulated by the Federal Election Commission. Committees that function at the state level are regulated the states. And PACs the operate at the local level are overseen by county election officials in most states. Political action committees must file regular reports detailing who contributed money to them and how they, in turn, spend the money. The 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act FECA allowed corporations to establish PACs and also revised financial disclosure requirements for everyone: candidates, PACs, and party committees active in federal elections had to to file quarterly reports. Disclosure — the name, occupation, address and business of each contributor or spender — was required for all donations of $100 or more; in 1979, this sum was increased to $200. The McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Reform Act of 2002 attempted to end the use of non-federal or soft money, money raised outside the limits and prohibitions of federal campaign finance law, to influence federal elections. In addition, issue ads that do not specifically advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate were defined as electioneering communications. As such, corporations or labor organizations can no longer produce these ads. Limits on Political Action Committees A political action committee is permitted to contribute $5,000 to a candidate per election and up to $15,000 annually to a national political party. PACs may receive up to $5,000 each from individuals, other PACs and party committees per year.  Some states have limits on how much a PAC can give to a state or local candidate. Types of Political Action Committees Corporations, labor organizations and incorporated membership organizations cannot make direct contributions to candidates for federal election. However, they may set up PACs that, according to FEC, can only solicit contributions from individuals associated with [the] connected or sponsoring organization. The FEC calls these segregated funds organizations. There is another class of PAC, the non-connected political committee. This class includes what is called a leadership PAC, where politicians raise money to — among other things — help fund other candidate campaigns. Leadership PACs can solicit donations from anyone. Politicians do this because they have their eye on a leadership position in Congress or a higher office; its a way of currying favor with their peers. Different Between a PAC and a Super PAC Super PACs  and PACs are not the same thing.  A super PAC is allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money from corporations, unions, individuals and associations to influence the outcome of state and federal elections. The technical term for a super PAC is independent expenditure-only committee.  They are relatively easy to create under federal election laws. Candidate PACs  are prohibited from accepting money from corporations, unions and associations. Super PACs, though, have no limitations on who contributes to them or how much they can spend on influencing an election. They can raise as much money from corporations, unions and associations as they please and spend unlimited amounts on advocating for the election or defeat of the candidates of their choice. Origin of Political Action Committees The Congress of Industrial Organizations created the first PAC during World War II, after Congress prohibited organized labor from influencing politics via direct monetary contributions. In response, the CIO created a separate political fund that it called the Political Action Committee. In 1955, after the CIO merged with the American Federation of Labor, the new organization created a new PAC, the Committee on Political Education. Also formed in the 1950s were the American Medical Political Action Committee and the Business-Industry Political Action Committee.

Using Drama Techniques in English Lesson Dissertation Chapter

Using drama techniques in English lesson to improve reading, writing, listening and speaking skills Drama is a specific fiction that is represented by a person in places like performances. This term is derived from the Greek word that means action that is also in other words ‘to do’ in theatre for instance, drama is performed on stage with an actor or a group of actors before an audience. Drama is a very powerful mode of indirect communication that sends directly the message from the actor’s artistically portrayed performance directly to the recipient’s eyes, then transferred to the brain. Drama not only amuses the recipient, but also educates them.   Dramas are very famous and helpful especially in learning institutions and in fact, dramas employ individuals whereby they get their daily bread from it apart from the fact that it is a powerful mode of communication. In schools as an example, drama is fictionally used to as a learning mode to convey some educational knowledge to learners. According to Duquette (1995) many theorists for the last twenty five years have been trying to specialize on a possible alternative communication tool or in other words a second language which more effective in all aspects as far as the positive communicative approach is concerned. Convincingly, both their contributions and arguments have been readily accepted by the majority except for most teachers and school boards who are still not sure as to how and where to commence from in the approach of classroom implementation since they don’t know the specific skills that they should develop, what strategies they should apply as well as the levels in which they should take effective leaps from. Duquette argues that experts have to see more continuity among their programs so as to relate their strategies and outcome expectations in order to observe and verify an increase in competence with time among their students so that they can be able to understand how an element in a program ca n relate to one another. Due to the fact that teachers are naturally more practical people, they require the publication that will feed them with ideas of how they can develop second language strategy in their students who are at different levels of development in competency. A good example of such publications is drama-teaching English as a second language. Almonds (1995) strongly recommend that teachers should embrace the drama approach completely through staging plays with their learners because; Drama is a whole-individual approach towards language teaching and it requires someone to look holistically at communication.   He also reiterates that creating characters to act in plays may be intellectual, visceral and an emotional experience that makes the learning session more meaningful and more memorable since it is more transferable to the original world. Also, acting helps a lot in confidence building since irrespective of the performance fact, as well as the rapturous applause from the audience, it is absolutely collaborative and also, mutually supportive since they rely on each other to produce something of quality and value successfully. Therefore as a group, students share mutual objectives by putting on plays that provide achievable target that is tangible to work towards. The production of plays allows learners to explore as well as develop the character of their lives that hardly see the part of the stage. As a result, they are provided with enormous scope for the improvising of scenes that are not in the play therefore generating discussions of thoughts, characters, words and actions. Almond, M. (1995) Brauer (2002) explains that the interplay between the language and the body References: Almond, M. (1995), ‘Teaching English with Drama’ United Kingdom, Collin Duquette, G. (1995), ‘Second language practice: classroom strategies for developing communicative’. New York.