Analyzing the impact of Confucianism on customer behaviour and Essay

Analyzing the impact of Confucianism on customer behaviour and perception of western brands - Essay Example 150). There were attempts to eliminate Confucian thinking in China during the periods of Cultural Revolution, but these attempts were not successful. Confucian thinking and doctrines have profoundly impacted today’s China to have had resurgence and to become very important part of Chinese persona. Chinese culture has been influenced by the Confucian thinking about leading a virtuous life. Confucian thoughts are basically built on three principles; 1) humaneness and loving an individual’s personality, 2) morality and uprightness, and 3) rites and ritual propriety. These three principles are complemented by the five pairs of social roles that are recognized as the basic cultural relationship between individuals. These relations are; between father and son, between the ruler and the subject, between the older and young, between spouses and between friends (Gallo, 2011, p. 43). Confucianism perceived family as the centre of all relationships and the family has been viewed a s the basic unit. In contrast to the Western business culture that is either fact-based or transaction-based, Chinese business culture is based on valued relationship and personal networks. Guanxi- the Chinese term used by Confucianism literature to denote relationship- gave greater emphasis on friendly relation between two persons based on favour-exchange, and therefore, literatures stressed that the exchange of favour is at the heart Guanxi. (Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes, 2010, p. 150). Confucianism’s principles of interpersonal relationship and other doctrines are perceived to impact the consumer behaviour of Chinese people and their attitude towards western brands too. Impact of... As China has become an attractive and emerging marketplace and that it consist major portion of world’s total population, the Chinese consumer and his behaviour have been major focuses in the literature of international consumer behaviour. Culture is regarded as a significant determinant of consumer behaviour and cultural values are found to play vital roles in influencing consumers in their buying behaviour. China is a rapidly emerging market and global brands are studying about the potentiality of Chinese market in terms of investment, consumption, employment, and attitude and buying behaviour. Chinese culture is mainly influenced by Confucianism. This piece of research paper has analyzed the impact of Confucianism on the buying behaviour and perception about foreign brands. Various literatures stressed that Confucianism has profoundly impacted the buying behaviour because Confucianism emphasized harmonious relationship between different people and this caused people to show different attitudes toward different products. This paper concluded that Chinese people are quite thrifty and are found to show prestige since men have to strongly impress wives to maintain better relationship.

The financial ratios of Rolls Royce and its major competitors Essay

The financial ratios of Rolls Royce and its major competitors - Essay Example According to the research findings every business, no matter small or large, constantly evaluates its company’s performance by comparing it with competitors, industry and its own past performance. In order to do so, businesses not only look at the figures of sales, profit and costs but also prepare other criterion for measuring performance which helps in reading between the lines of financial statements. The most widely known and reliable approach of evaluating a firm’s performance is by calculating and comparing its financial ratios. The basic reason for doing so is because this information is understandable for every person who has some level of knowledge of financial concepts. By comparing the ratios with the competitor of the firm or with its past performance, a clear idea can be obtained. For this purpose, the company which has been chosen is Roll Royce. It is a diversified company having its operations in the field of aerospace, nuclear market, civil defense and m arine and energy. It was founded in 1971 and has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. Activity Ratio also called as Liquidity Ratio helps a firm in determining the ability of a firm to meet its current liabilities. Activity Ratio is that investment or cash which is used to pay off the short term debts as well as expenses. Current Ratio is determines whether the firm has enough liquidity to pay off its expenses and short term debt. Theoretically, if current ratio is around 2.00 then it is considered as the most preferable. This ratio possesses huge consideration because if this ratio is declining it means that the cash position of the company is getting eroded. For that reason, the quickest way which can increase cash is increasing the amount of sales. Quick Ratio This ratio is also known as Acid Test Ratio. This ratio determines that if inventories are excluded, then is the firm able to pay off its short term expenses? Quick ratio is usually preferable if it is 1 or near to 1 . If this number is decreasing, then it means that enough sales are not being generated to pay off the short term debt or day to day expenses. In order to improve such situation, intervention regarding Quick Cash Management is required. Net Working Capital to Sales This ratio determines the company’s performance in relation to its sales, after meeting the short term obligations or liabilities, Efficiency Ratio Efficiency ratio determines the efficiency of a business or in other words, how well the business operations are conducted. These ratios determine how well and quickly the company collects its accounts receivables, how quickly the inventory moves and how much sales are generated by the company’s assets. Efficiency ratios include: Inventory Turnover Receivable Turnover Payable Turnover Days Inventory in hand Debtors Collection Period Creditors Payment Period Inventory Turnover Inventory turnover ratio determines the total turnovers of inventory. This ratio determi nes the efficiency of inventory management. If inventory turnover ratio is higher, then it means that firm is really efficient in rolling over its inventory. However, in some cases high inventory turnover ratio also means that firm doesn’t have enough inventories on its hand and therefore losing its sales.

SUSTAINABILITY AND PROFITABILITY OF MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS IN Thesis

SUSTAINABILITY AND PROFITABILITY OF MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA - Thesis Example Such organizations are able to grant small micro loans to members of the lower class who can both demonstrate a need and a means to pay back the loan. In addition, the findings of this report indicate that microfinance institutions are beginning to provide needed financial services to help individuals begin to save and get themselves on the path towards financial independence. At the same time, microfinance institutions in Nigeria are facing difficult challenges to their own sustainability and profitability moving forward, so the recommendations contained in this study are designed to push the institution in a more successful future. Throughout the world, it has become increasingly noticeable in recent decades that the gap between the developed and developing nations of the world continues to widen to an almost unfathomable proportion. This truth is not only been seen from an individual wage earner’s perspective, as it is truly a regional and global economic phenomenon1. In an increasingly competitive, modern, and globally connected society, developing nations are often left behind in the movement towards progress and economic expansion. With this reality in mind, it can be seen that the gap is now increasing almost exponentially, with individuals and businesses in the poorest regions of the world left wondering how they will ever find the financial and human capital necessary to improve upon and provide for their own eventual economic freedom2. It is no secret that much of the world has been concerned over the course of the past century with the amount of poverty that is existent in various parts of the globe, and how the rate of poverty seems to only be increasing. Consider the abject poverty and poor economic infrastructure that has been endemic to the countries of West Africa for all of the modern era. One of the primary reasons limiting economic expansion in countries such as Nigeria is that basic lack of access

The financial ratios of Rolls Royce and its major competitors Essay

The financial ratios of Rolls Royce and its major competitors - Essay Example According to the research findings every business, no matter small or large, constantly evaluates its company’s performance by comparing it with competitors, industry and its own past performance. In order to do so, businesses not only look at the figures of sales, profit and costs but also prepare other criterion for measuring performance which helps in reading between the lines of financial statements. The most widely known and reliable approach of evaluating a firm’s performance is by calculating and comparing its financial ratios. The basic reason for doing so is because this information is understandable for every person who has some level of knowledge of financial concepts. By comparing the ratios with the competitor of the firm or with its past performance, a clear idea can be obtained. For this purpose, the company which has been chosen is Roll Royce. It is a diversified company having its operations in the field of aerospace, nuclear market, civil defense and m arine and energy. It was founded in 1971 and has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. Activity Ratio also called as Liquidity Ratio helps a firm in determining the ability of a firm to meet its current liabilities. Activity Ratio is that investment or cash which is used to pay off the short term debts as well as expenses. Current Ratio is determines whether the firm has enough liquidity to pay off its expenses and short term debt. Theoretically, if current ratio is around 2.00 then it is considered as the most preferable. This ratio possesses huge consideration because if this ratio is declining it means that the cash position of the company is getting eroded. For that reason, the quickest way which can increase cash is increasing the amount of sales. Quick Ratio This ratio is also known as Acid Test Ratio. This ratio determines that if inventories are excluded, then is the firm able to pay off its short term expenses? Quick ratio is usually preferable if it is 1 or near to 1 . If this number is decreasing, then it means that enough sales are not being generated to pay off the short term debt or day to day expenses. In order to improve such situation, intervention regarding Quick Cash Management is required. Net Working Capital to Sales This ratio determines the company’s performance in relation to its sales, after meeting the short term obligations or liabilities, Efficiency Ratio Efficiency ratio determines the efficiency of a business or in other words, how well the business operations are conducted. These ratios determine how well and quickly the company collects its accounts receivables, how quickly the inventory moves and how much sales are generated by the company’s assets. Efficiency ratios include: Inventory Turnover Receivable Turnover Payable Turnover Days Inventory in hand Debtors Collection Period Creditors Payment Period Inventory Turnover Inventory turnover ratio determines the total turnovers of inventory. This ratio determi nes the efficiency of inventory management. If inventory turnover ratio is higher, then it means that firm is really efficient in rolling over its inventory. However, in some cases high inventory turnover ratio also means that firm doesn’t have enough inventories on its hand and therefore losing its sales.

Business Strategies of the USA and UK concerning Iraq and Afghanistan Essay

Business Strategies of the USA and UK concerning Iraq and Afghanistan - Essay Example The banks faced the consequences of believing that the credit boom will go on forever which resulted in banks giving more and more â€Å"suicide loans† ranging to 120% of the house value (Macwhirter, 2008). The regulators like Financial Services Authority (UK) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (US) were unable to track the situation. They were in the awe of the banking sector and interpreted they knew what they were doing but their interpretation received a jolt as soon as the financial world was engulfed by the web of recession.The Banking crisis affected almost all the countries in the world but there were some exceptions like, if we look at the Indian Banking Sector, we will see it crunched a bit at the time of the crisis, but it stood firm after that. Indian financial sector’s huge dependency on US was evident that it would be largely affected by the crisis. Many were of view that the effect would be huge. It was told that the banking sector would suffer , as the companies and the household sector in India definitely felt the pinch of the crisis in the US. (Rammohan, 2010). But unlike the US and UK the Indian banks were stronger in dealing with the situation and succeeded in it. Firstly, it was due to the ability to maintain spreads- return on advance minus cost of funds. The Indian banks have been able to do so because of the high proportion of current and savings account (Casa) deposits. The current accounts have zero interest payment and savings account has a low interest payment on them. This way the banks have been able to minimize the cost. Secondly, the banks have been able to generate income from fee-based services such as sale of mutual funds and insurance products. The large untapped customer base helps to increase the income of the banks. Thirdly, the slowdown has not resulted in the increase of provisions in the rising NPAs. The deceleration of growth rate of 9% to 7% is not a disaster. The Indian companies entered the s lowdown with solid financials, which was not a bubble like that of the US. It was more of a genuine case of higher growth and demand. Fourthly, the Indian banks invested in Government securities in good proportions, which helped in maintaining profit levels at the times of crisis.

Imagine you are Directing Essay Example for Free

Imagine you are Directing Essay Introduction I intend to study the Crucible by Arthur Miller. I will be looking at act 3, through the eyes of a director. The character I will mainly be focusing on is Abigail Williams, a late teen who had committed adultery with the well thought of, John Proctor. The play was written in 1952 and was an allegory of the political state of America under the supervision of Senator Joseph McCarthy. The play was set in 1692 in a god-fearing, puritan village that was isolated in the east of Massachusetts. This play is based upon the Salem witchcraft trials, two centuries before the book was written and therefore the location of the play was thought of to be masking the anti-communist message it was portraying. The basis of the play is of a group of young female teens that had danced in the woods within the hours of darkness. Yet because of the beliefs that these acts were closely related to witchcraft, the readings of the bible would instruct them to hang all those who participated. Yet to avoid their own prosecution the blame was passed to many innocent people, including a West Indian slave, who because of her colour and belief in spells was an easy target and another was the wife of John Proctor. John himself then becomes the main suspicion of practicing witchcraft after the tables are turned once again. He was asked to give names of those he knows of having connections with the devil to save his own life, he refused to answer their questions as did Miller when he was summoned before McCarthys House Un-American Activities Committee. This was very similar to the condition of America around the early 1950s when the country was in a situation of corruption. Many innocent people had come to a gritty end, after scapegoats that were part of McCarthys House Un-American Activities Committee, could prove them guilty on the flimsiest of evidence. Stage Design I have chosen the below layout because I believe it gives the best possible chance for all of the characters to be seen and heard clearly throughout this act. Dramatic Techniques As a director the dramatic techniques of Miller Display complete essay The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Concepts and Definitions in Operational Management

Concepts and Definitions in Operational Management Question 1: Answer: OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT Operational management refers to managing the operations of an organization. Managing the operations means to manage the resources and follow the policies and procedures of any organization. The basic and most important operation of management is to process the inputs into outputs to get desired results. The meaning of operational management contains words i.e. resources, systems, conversion or transformation and outputs. (Business) These words can be explained as :- RESOURCESResources are the man, material and money in the organization. Man or staff is the major or key requirement in an organization. Material is also very important because without availability of material production cannot be possible. And money or capital is required for hiring staff and for purchasing the raw material so that the raw material can be converted into finished products through production. SYSTEMS There is a system which every company has to follow. Every organization has some policies and procedures which helps the organization to achieve their goals and helps in profit maximization. If the work done in an organization is according to the plan then it helps in attaining the goal of the company. Planning is the first and important step of management. Without planning no other function can be performed in an organization. CONVERSION Conversion means converted the inputs (i.e. the raw material) into outputs (i.e. finished goods). In an organization raw material can be converted into work in progress and then into finished goods. When the material is transformated from inputs to outputs then this process is known as productivity. OUTPUTS Outputs are the final results which each organization gets after conversion of inputs into finished products. If the value of outputs is greater than the cost of inputs used then we can say that the value is added to product hence the output helps in increasing profits of company. (outputs) THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF OPERATIONS :- CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONThe basic objective of operating systems is to satisfy the customers by giving them better products at low cost and by giving them better services than other companies . Consumers can be satisfied if the products are not too costly and available on time. (Understanding operations management) RESOURCE UTILISATIONAnother major objective of operating systems is to utilize resources for the satisfaction of customer wants effectively. Customer service must be provided with the achievement of effective operations through efficient use of resources. Inefficient use of resources or inadequate customer service leads to commercial failure of an operating system. EFFICIENCY Another objective of operational management is efficiency. Efficiency is must in every organization .Higher efficiency helps in less wastage of resources. If the resources are not wasted then it will lead to less per unit cost of production. Efficiency helps in specialization of staff. QUALITY Quality is also another important objective of operational management. Every customer wants a product which is very good in quality and also with less cost. Quality helps in satisfying the customers and if the customer is satisfied then effective relation can be build between consumers and organization. ADAPTABILITY if the quantity and quality of the product is upto the mark and also the price of the product is affordable then that product is survived in long run that means the product helps for future survival of the company. Question 2: Answer:   Production means step-by-step conversion of raw material into work in progress and from work in progress into finished goods. Production is an important and essential function of any organization. Without doing production no organization can survive or remain existing. CLASSIFICATION OF PRODUCTION SYSTEMProduction systems can be classified as Job-shop, Batch, Mass and Continuous production systems. Job-Shop Production: When only one product or a few quantity of products are manufactured and the product which are produced is as per the specification given by the customers then that type of production is known as Job shop production. (products-services) Advantages: It helps in availability of more variety of products. It helps in improving the skills of the employees. More creative ideas of employees can be used in this method of production system. Limitations More staff is required as the productiin is few. High time consumed in less production. Production planning is complicated. More wastage of resources resulting in higher per unit cost of production. Batch Production : When the production is done in lots or batches then this productionis known as batch production. In this type of production the lots are not producing continuously but in limited quantity. (production-system) Advantages Cost per unit is low. Batch production helps in job satisfaction.   It helps in better utilization of resources. It requires low investments for production as the production is not done in bulk quantity. Limitations Handling of material is very difficult. More material is required hence more wastage of resources. Mass Production : When the production is done in bulk quantity and continuous then that type of production is known as mass production. In this type of production the machines are arranged in a line. Advantages Per unit cost of every production is low. Less time is consumed in producing bulk quantity. With less material quantity higher production can be done. Mass production helps in less wastage of resources.   Limitations Mass production requires higher investments and resources. If the machine used in producing bulk quantity is damaged or breakdown then whole production line will be stopped. Continuous Production : When the production is done continuously   i.e. the production starts from using the raw material and ends with finished products. This type of production is done when the handling of material is fully automated. (continuous-production-system) Advantages Less time is consumed in producing more units. It helps in more utilization of available resources. It helps in less wastage of resources. Per unit cost is low in continuous production. Disadvantages It requires very high investment. If manufacturer want to do any change in any product then it is not posdible. Question 3: After critically evaluating the key operational levers, discuss which can be applied to management of service operations of Ryanair for the proactive management of customer experience. [ 15 Marks] Answer:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is a lever? levers are initiatives that a client can undertake in order to drive the desired impact.   There is usually a limitless number of things a company can consider trying in order to improve their business. (Industry week) Five key levers to productivity improvement every day There are Five key levers for every day improvement. These levers can be explained as : 1. Cost structure Cost structure is a method of determine how much it will cost a company to manufacture a product and how much profit will be recognized from manufacturing a product. It is very important to structure or manage the cost. So that the per unit cost of a product decreases and profit from that product increases. If the cost of the final output is more than the cost of the input then it can be said that the value is added to the product. 2. Organization of work In any organization if the working of the organization is according to the plans and policies then this also helps in better utilization of resources and helps in achieving of organizational goals. This helps in restructuring of an organization. (aggregate-sales-and-operations-planning) 3. Business processes Business process is a collection of related structured activities that produce a specific product for a particular customer. This lever contains work as a team and if the employees of the company are worked together without any chaos then it helps in improving the position of business because it is very important for every organization to work in cordinating with the employees. 4. Knowledge management Knowledge management means managing the knowledge and information of an organization. Knowledge management helps in improving the performance of the company. With this lever an organization can do more innovations results in providing better products to consumers than their competitives. It also helps in continuous improvement of the organization. 5. Information Technology (IT) It is the application of computers to store,study and manipulate the data or information of the business. Business need to take charge of this lever and starts IT in its process. IT helps in storing and saving the data or information of any enterprise and that information can be used whenever it is required. This will help in reducing paper work in the organization. CONCLUSION There are several levers which helps in improving everyday business works. These levers has to be integrated into business as soon as possible to drive the desired impact. These levers helps in achieving of organization objectives efficiently and effectively and improves the working of the organization. References aggregate-sales-and-operations-planning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://museum-madness.blogspot.co.nz/2011/12/aggregate-sales-and-operations-planning.html Business. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/operations-management-10/introduction-to-operations-management-69/a-study-of-process-328-7195/: https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/operations-management-10/introduction-to-operations-management-69/a-study-of-process-328-7195/ continuous-production-system. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://kalyan-city.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/types-of-continuous-production-system.html Industry week. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.industryweek.com/growth-strategies/levers-mastering-margins outputs. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/management/leadership-and-management/understanding-operations-management/content-section-3.3 production-system. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://kalyan-city.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/what-is-production-system-definition.html products-services. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.archives.gov/preservation/products/definitions/products-services.html Understanding operations management. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/management/leadership-and-management/understanding-operations-management/content-section-3.4