Counterfeit Merchandise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Counterfeit Merchandise - Essay Example The global market for counterfeit goods has been increasing rapidly. Counterfeited goods accounted for 3-4% of the global trade in the past while according to recent estimates of the International Chamber of Commerce it has increased to 7% and is worth around US$350million (Vagg & Harris, 2000, p.108). The problem is extensive in proportions with the US and EU confiscating around US$94million worth goods and 85million counterfeit products respectively in the years 2002-2003(Hilton, Choi & Chen, 2004, p.345). Counterfeiting is prevalent in many sectors such as software, video, music, toys, aircraft spare parts, medicines, perfumes and fashion merchandise such as handbags, watches, textiles (Vithlani, 1998, p.8). Counterfeiting in the software, music and motion picture industry has been on the increase over the years due to technological innovations, reduced costs of counterfeiting and the ease with which the products can be counterfeited (Vithlani, 1997, p.10). Counterfeit spare parts in the aviation industry and fake medicines have serious and far reaching consequences on the health and safety of the people (Vithlani, 1998, p.15). The fashion industry has been plagued by the problem of counterfeit products for many years now. Replicating designs and trademark infringements have become a routine occurrence in the industry causing substantial losses in profits and loss of reputation for the original manufacturers. Fashion counterfeiting is especially rampant in UK and Italy. Counterfeits in perfumes are also common and perfume manufacturers spend around 1-2% of their annual revenues to combat counterfeiting. Many reasons can be cited for the prevalence of counterfeits in the fashion industry. One of the main reasons is that in many countries the trademarks are protected against counterfeiting however, the designs are not protected and don’t come

George Washington Biography Essay Example for Free

George Washington Biography Essay George Washington (1732 1799), the First President of the United States, is a prominent individual of the American history. He was commander in chief of the victorious Continental army of the American Revolution and won many important battles that helped the Americans defeat the British. During his presidential terms, he set many important precedents for the following Presidents, such as having Presidential Cabinet Members. He was nicknamed for his accomplishments as the Father of His Country. George Washington was born on Feb. 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia on an estate along the Potomac River. He was the oldest son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington. When Washington was eleven, his father died and left only himself, his mother and his five other brothers and sisters. After the his fathers death, Washington could not go to school because he needed to help at the family farm to acquire enough money for his family to live. In his free time he practiced land surveying for fun with his fathers tools. Later, Washington started his occupation as a surveyor. When Washington turned 16, he surveyed lands of the Shenandoah for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. After his half-brother, Lawrence, had died, Washington inherited the farm and large amount of land at Mount Vernon, Virginia. Also, Lawrence was adjutant of the colony so Washington took over this responsibility. As district adjutant, he was referred to as Major Washington and was had trained the militia in the quarter he was assigned to. He first gained public awareness by being adjutant of Virginia and was sent off to warn the French to stop additional intrusion on the land of the northern colonies. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1754 to carry out this task and he departed to the North. Washington found out that the French already had a set up a fort and had a large number of soldiers camped, so he quickly built Fort Necessity. However, the French surrounded and attacked Fort Necessity. The French captured Washington in this attack. Luckily, Washington was released based on the earlier agreements of the British and French. These first several battles fought were the beginnings of the French and Indian War. The next  year, Washington volunteered to be the aide of General Edward Braddock because he was discouraged and angered by the defeat. At that time, Washington tried to convince Braddock to use the style of fighting of the Native Americans, but Braddock disagreed and used the regular fighting technique. Braddock was mortally wounded in this battle and Washington was nearly injured because of four bullets that ripped his coat and two horses that were shot from under him. After the French and Indian War, Washington was 26 years old and fell in love with Martha Dandridge Custis. She was a wealthy widow with her two children, Martha Patsy and John Parke. They married and moved to Mount Vernon where Lawrence once lived. Washington was very successful in farming there. While they lived in Mount Vernon, Washington was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1759 to 1774 and he strongly against the British Stamp Act and the Townsend Act which set taxes on many products. Washington like many others did not buy these taxed products and boycotted them. In the middle of 1774, Washington thought that the many British laws were striving to stop self-government within the colonies and were attempting to have tyrannical rule over the colonies as the King had over England. Washington was one of the few that proposed of a continental congress to be held to govern the colonies. He was elected to be a delegate of Virginia for the First Continental Congress. The Congress created a new government devoted to overthrow unfair rule of Britain. The Second Continental Congress joined together on May 10, 1775, after the fighting of Lexington and Concord had took place. Surrounded by almost 14,000 of Massachusettss soldiers, the British army was trapped in Boston. The British government announced that Massachusetts had committed treason after this rebellion, and were trying to take over MA. Washington appeared at the Second Congress in full uniform conveying the message that he was in support of Massachusetts. Congress created the Continental Army for this reason to fight the British. Washington was unanimously elected as general and commander in chief of the army. As commander of the Continental Army, Washingtons actions were left to him because the Congress could not provide laws to help. Washington was given  full power to do anything with authority to improve the service. As General, Washington lost many battles such as the Battle of Long Island but Washington learned from his many experiences and he began to have many successes such as the Battle of Saratoga which was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. The colonies in this war had a great number of help from other countries, such as France, and Washington became good friends with Marquis de Lafayette. This war was won by the help of the French and Washingtons expertise. After the war, Washington left the power of general and returned back to Mount Vernon to be with his wife. Washington became President on April 30, 1789. Washington did not have any examples to follow of previous Presidents since he was the first. One of the first precedents that Washington set was to have only two terms in office. This precedent was followed until 1940. Another was to have the Cabinet contain two leaders of different ideas to balance the Cabinet. Washington appointed John Jay as the Chief Justice because Washington felt he was most suitable. In the Whiskey Rebellion, Washington sent many soldiers to stop the farmers from revolting and the farmers instantly stopped. Washington also pardoned the farmers for their actions because the governments strength was already shown. This event is very similar to Shays Rebellion, but the swift ending of the Whiskey Rebellion showed that the Constitution worked well and strong. In the Spirit of Cincinnatus, Washington left his power after being the General of the Continental Army, and after the Presidency to go back to his farm at Mount Vernon. Each morning he rode his large farm on horseback. Sometimes he rode fifteen miles north of Mount Vernon to watch the building of a new city. The city would be the capital of the United States, named after him, as Washington D.C. Washington died at Mount Vernon of a throat infection in December 14, 1799, after he made his last tour of his property on horseback in the winter weather. It has been said that George Washington was, First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.

Why Renault entered into joint venture with Mahindra

Why Renault entered into joint venture with Mahindra Internal Benefits: Joint ventures are formed in quest of managing companys resources in efficient manner. This includes techniques to reducing cost and risk that the firm faces, obtaining scarce resources, obtaining cheap factors of production (land, labour and capital), to include new information and increase the managerial know how so that productivity can be increased and to retain innovative employees of the firm. There are many capital intensive techniques followed by companies in oil and gas exploration, metals processing and mineral extraction. Internal benefit include building companys core strengths  Ã‚   Helps in to develop economies of scale by gaining access to other financial resources Joint venture help company to acquire new technologies and customers and gives access to knowledge, skills and better management Competitive Benefits: Joint venture helps companies to restructure their organisational structure. Competitive advantage is achieved by vertical integration or consolidation of the firms. This also helps the firms to have an influence on industry structure and competitors. Responding to the new globalisation trend this approach may help in creation of more effective competitors. Some other benefits are: Joint ventures are helpful in building competitive barriers against the new entrants. They act as a defensive strategy in response to the converging markets Helps in creation of small and competitive units of the firm in various geographical locations It also helps in reducing the time cycle to the market they are involved in Strategic Benefits: Joint ventures help in companies to implement change in their strategic position. This helps in better creation and exploitation of synergies among the two companies. Joint venture facilitate in the transfer of technology and diversification of the firm. Technology transfer helps in building knowledge to expand into key markets It also helps to develop new products and improve productivity by shared expertise and lower costs because indulging in research activities to develop new products can be time-consuming and costly. Small businesses also gain lead-time In the total number of joint venture formed, many were international joint ventures. Many of them were due to the cost involved in the operations. Companies in some industry depend on the technology to reduce costs. Joint ventures are favourable for them because they help them in accumulating money and people to work in short time, with not much time wasted in training and later to develop specialisation in a specific activity. This all leads to reduced exploration and production costs and thereby increase in the profit margins. Joint ventures are not as easy to manage as we are talking about. Sometimes companies are forced to follow a joint venture strategy because of the host countrys business regulations. For example China does not allow outside company to own a majority of domestic business. Mexico requires the companies for any foreign company which is operating in the country to have a joint venture with a domestic company. In addition to government regulations, other reasons f or multinational joint ventures as mentioned above are cutting the costs of doing business, sharing risks with acquiring technological information and management expertise from other companies. Kogut (1988) gave 3 different reasons for the existence of joint ventures. They were: Transaction cost approach: The cost aspect of a transaction in joint ventures helps in explaining joint ventures in terms of market failure for intermediate inputs in the production, various asset specificity, and high uncertainty over specifying and monitoring performance. As inspired by Penroses (1959) work, it is specified and shown in recent development in management research that to one should analyze and develop a firms strategy by focusing on its resources instead of the external environment. Two key behavioural assumptions of TC theory are opportunism and bounded rationality (Williamson 1991a). The transaction theory suggests that if firms with complementary resources try to produce individually then they will have to fight for the scarce resources and acquire them at greater cost. Another major motive behind joint venturing is the possibility of creating Ricardian rents. A Ricardian rent means the presence of scarce resources which generate higher profits than other resource s of the same type. Strategic behaviour approach: A joint venture addresses the difficulties faced by the organisation by providing a superior alignment of incentives through the mutual dedication of resources and by sharing the residual value of the venture. Joint venture is established in a spirit of mutual trust and commitment to its long-term success, the potential threats posed by opportunism and a small-numbers condition can be reduced. Organisational learning approach: Joint Ventures help in organisation learning Williamson (1991b) extends his analysis to strategic alliances, which is said to have the hybrid mode of governance, which are considered to occupy positions between the two ends of the market-hierarchy continuum. These hybrids in joint ventures are said to have stronger incentives and adaptive capabilities than hierarchies, which helps in providing more administrative control than markets. In global industries with globalisation there is higher need for organisational learning. This asks the firm manager to look for global efficiency, which later plays an important role in resource based theory. In a joint-venture setting, there is interaction and communication between the members of different firms. This information flow increases the boundary permeability with respect to the partners resources. This helps in offering an opportunity for learning. A popular example of this is ToyotaGM joint venture, in wh ich both partners had clear learning objectives (Adler and Cole 1993). Another use of joint ventures is to get rid of a business unit, that is, disposal of resources. Nanda and Williamson (1995) have argued that converting the business unit into a joint venture between the parent and buyer helps in selling of the unit. The joint venture operates for several years during which buyer learn about the operations of the unit is going to acquire and slowly resources will be integrated with those of the buyer. By initially running the business as a joint venture, the buyer in benefit of obtaining hands-on management experience and an insiders s view of its operation. Seller also has interest to teach the skill and tricks to buyer of business, since the price that the buyer is willing to pay when buying out the business depends on the joint ventures performance. Firms often go for the local partners in the domestic market in which they want to mark a presence, these are because of the following reasons: Items readily capitalised Human resource needs Government regulations and incentives Market access needs and speed of entry Knowledge needs and learning of new marketing methods A joint venture is formed only when all the organizations involved individually arrive at a positive net benefit calculation. For example, one partner considers the joint venture as an opportunity for learning a new technology while the other uses the venture to further exploit the technology. When two firms have had a great deal of experience of working together, they get to know more about one anothers culture and management style, and adjust their own accordingly thus the two firms are in a better position to explore collaborative opportunities compared to other firms which dont form any alliance with other firms. This all leads to identify ways of complementing joint venture their resources effectively for creating rents. This involves the proper analysis of costs involved in different companies. For example If there exist two oil companies which want to set up a new drilling platform in ocean areas, and neither one has capability to finance the project on its own, so the simple solution to them is to look for joint venture. That way, they share the costs of setup of drilling platform and other projects which later helps them in reducing their individual risk should they find no oil. That is a decided advantage to many business people. A complete study of operation, management and finance has to be done to successfully implement the joint venture. Joint ventures are quite helpful to some companies in gaining access to foreign markets. Sometimes both the firms forget the primary objective of their operation and just form joint venture to come into foreign market. These products bring in the foreign domestic investments in the host country through the firm with which joint venture is formed. So many governments give incentives for joint ventures. Joint ventures are a sometimes used to boost up the creeping sale. This can be the first step in acquisition of a business. It can also be used to act as catalyst for change, which is by bringing in a partner one, can stimulate more entrepreneurial activity in a particular area of a firms business. Joint venture also helps in expansion of customer base by expanding the scope and utilising other firms strength in different geographic market, using its distribution or sales network International joint ventures have also been pushed by international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, who have given incentives by forming policies to eliminate trade barriers and deregulate foreign ownership restrictions and the international flow of capital. This helped in creating a climate in which international investment and partnerships have become increasingly attractive. In new scenario joint ventures have become means by which companies seek to expand profit margins and market share. In addition, regional trade areas such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the European Union (EU), and the Association of South and East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have worked to establish favourable conditions for joint ventures within specific, relatively localized regions. Why Renault entered into joint venture with Mahindra Mahindra? As told by the CEO of Renault Mr. Carlos Ghosn this joint venture was seen to be useful to mark a new step in Renaults global expansion strategy. The joint venture has started the Renault operation in the Indian market which is highly emerging market with respect to automotive sector. As Renault had no experience with the needs of Indian customer joint venture with MM was seen to help to create the first right hand drive version of Logan created to meet the needs of our Indian customers. Renault was also eyeing to mark its presence in Indian market in short period of time, Mahindra and Mahindra gave them that adequate platform. In the beginning of 2005 Renault designers visualized a low-cost car that was to retail for under Euro 5000. The car had quite good features however it looked robust and trustworthy compared to the sleek beauties manufactured by the Japanese and the Koreans. The car became a big hit and enjoyed pampering from buyers in most parts of Europe. Europeans liked the cars no-frill appeal. Renault thought of entering into Indian market, when it analysed the companies it sought upon Mahindra and Mahindra which was the main force behind the Tata Group. Mahindra and Mahindra helped Tata Motors for over ten years helping them build the modern day passenger vehicle. Mahindra also in seeing the future prospects of snatching the opportunity and mark its presence in Indian market started working in unison with Renault and started building and selling the Logan in India. Both Mahindra and Renault shared the profit of gaining knowledge and expertise. MM would get all important expertise needed to build monocoque or unitary construction. Renault, on the other hand, would gain direct knowledge of the cost-effective supplier base that Mahindra enjoyed in India. A labour-intensive car plant was established as against a fully automated one to analyze the quality and cost-effective work force available in India. The two groups concluded a framework agreement for setting up a joint venture in India with Mahindra retaining a 51 per cent share and Renault 49 per cent. The JV will be called Mahindra Renault Ltd. The estimated project amount was 125 million Euros. With other European automotive counterparties like Fiat and Skoda had little presence this venture was also seen a major competition to them. Mahindra did a customer research in Logan segment and found strong response for this C-segment car. Renault was looking for major global expansion; along with India it was also starting its operations in Romania, Russia, Morocco, Colombia and Iran. Renault was looking for a long term relationship with Mahindra and Mahindra and was looking for greater prospects in coming years of 2010 to 2012. Renault chose Mahindra and Mahindra because of the following reasons: Mahindra Group a US $ 2.5 billion company is the market leader in multi-utility vehicles and tractors in India. Mahindra and Mahindra had 55 years of manufacturing experience MM had built its high network of distributors and suppliers in India efficiently Mahindra group had built a strong base in technology, engineering, marketing and finance (Mahindra intertrade and MM financial services Ltd.). It also has a significant presence in key sectors of the Indian economy High presence in automotive components, information technology telecom (Mahindra British Telecom), and infrastructure development (Mahindra GESCO, Mahindra Holidays Resorts India Ltd.) Mahindra had a reputation of providing TATA Motors the platform to harness the automotive growth in India MM had not much presence in Sedan segment i.e. C-segment so Renault had no fears of having conflicts of interest Mahindra as a brand was a trusted brand in India. With the leverage of Mahindra as a brand Renault was also leveraging its own brand in Logan, as the joint venture was called Mahindra-Renault The transfer of knowledge and technology was mutually beneficial for Renault and Mahindra, it was good symbiotic relationship

Proposal To Reduce Unemployment Essay examples -- Economics, Unemployme

In the past fifty years the economy of the United States has changed dramatically, whether it be the social or economic status. What can be said is that with the current recession that has taken place the lives of millions of Americans are being affected everyday. More jobs are being cut, and newer job opportunities are being taken away because of insufficient funds or lack of education. What I am planning to propose is a budget that will drastically change the way the economy has been looked upon in the last century. More so I plan to introduce a way to fit a newer form of a capitalist economy into the government system, mainly to increase the percentage of American work force between seventy-five percent to eighty-five percent to preserve better living conditions. First thing that has to be looked upon when we think of unemployment are the unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits can be described as a back door for employees in the situation that they lose their jobs. The unemployment benefits provides temporary financial assistance to eligible workers who are unemployed through no fault of his/her own. Under this, each state administers a separate insurance program to provide financial service to those qualified under state law. In order to meet these requirements an employee must have a base period, or wages earned during a certain time. The base period is usually the first four out of all five calendar quarters prior to the time a file is claimed. Now there are two ways of filing a claim. One is filing a claim in the state that one resides in. the other would be to file a claim in a non-residential state. Shortly after two to three weeks of filing a claim, an unemployed worker should rec... ... for retirement. After a six month period, the workfare laborer is allowed to apply for a minimum wage job in regular workforce and leaves his/her workfare job that is passed on to another person in need. In a recap, the three policies introduced, the Unemployment Reformation Act of 2059, the Infinite Education Opportunities Program Act, and the Unity Tax, will be a vital part in restoring and surpassing expectations for decreasing the percentage of Americans unemployed by ten to fifteen percent within the next six to eight months. I believe that with these policies the chances of a recession will not occur for a long period of time. For that matter, a recession may not occur again depending on how successful the unemployment plans develop. Nevertheless, I predict that by the year 2109 the employment rate for Americans will reach eighty-three to eighty-five percent.

Organizational Culture and Heinz Australia

1. Draw on each of the elements of the cultural web to discuss how the culture at Heinz Australia has changed and is continuing to evolve under Widdows’ leadership. The Paradigm: ‘Going backward’, unprofitable business, very negative, low-risk, ‘punitive’ culture, lack of nurturing and support of staff, little encouragement of new ideas, and a complex organizational structure. Are the Assumptions/core beliefs of Heinz Australia before. Myths and Stories: staff morale was low and turnover unacceptably high, very negative, low- risk, and ‘punitive’ culture.Symbols Aspects: Heinz Logo is known all over the world for their condiments and other food products. Mission and Vision statement that gives direction and goal in the businesss. Power Structure: It shows that Widdows have gained respect from the staffs, that which follows his authority. Organisational Structure: its hierarchical structure Control System: With the changes have made for th eir corporate culture, through being flexible by given the mutual respect and trust to the staff.It shows that it doesn’t have to monitor every time. Rituals and routines: Showing an initiative concern for their staff, such health and wellbeing, giving free membership to the gym, health care programs and such. 2. Based on your cultural web audit, identify the key forces for and against change. The key forces against change is staff turnover unacceptably high, low risk and punitive culture. With this culture, it will be difficult for the new management to adopt to changes.Moreover, Widdows as he pursued for transformational change when he became a Managing Director. It has change from negative to positive culture. 3. What appear to be the key strengths of the new culture? After the Widdows taking over as the new leadership, it helps the staff to enjoy by flexible working hours, have mutual respect and trust, ‘great place to work’ environment. Instead of being afra id to give new ideas, staffs are encouraged to share. 4. What aspects of the organization need to be monitored and sustained to nsure the organization does not slide back into the old ways of thinking and working? Continues providing of the new rewards and benefits system. Such as flexible working hours, free membership to the gym, health care, and others. More importantly the leaders of the organization should be in lined their purpose and objective with one another. Reference: Graetz, F. , Rimmer, M. , Smith, A. , & Lawrence, A. (2011). Managing Organisational Change (3rd Edition). Milton, QLD, John Wiley & Sons

10 Habits of Happy Couples Essays - Couples, Marriage, Happy

10 Habits of Happy Couples Essays - Couples, Marriage, Happy 10 Habits of Happy Couples Mrs. Yates Peer Review 12-20-2013 10 Habits of Happy Couples In this article Dr. Mark Goulston explains to us 10 steps to make a more loving, stronger, and stronger relationship. The first one is go to bed at the same time happy couples resist the temptation to go to bed at different times. The second is Cultivate common interests if common interests are not present happy couples develop them at the same time. The third Walk hand in hand or side by side happy couples walk comfortably hand in hand or side by side they know its more important to be with their partner than to see the sights along the. The forth Make trust and forgiveness your default mode happy couples default to trusting and forgiving rather than distrusting and begrudging. The fifth is Focus more on what your partner does right than what he or she does wrong it all depends on what you want to look for happy couples accentuate the positive. The Hug each other as soon as you see each other after work Couples who say hello with a hug keep their skin bathed in the good touch, the seventh say I love you and Have a good day every morning this is a great way to buy some patience and tolerance. The eighth Say Good night every night, regardless of how you feel. The ninth do a weather check during the day call your partner at home or at work to see how his or her day is going. This is a great way to adjust expectations so that youre more in sync when you connect after work. The tenth is Be proud to be seen with your partner Happy couples are pleased to be seen together and are often in some kind of affectionate contact I feel that this article has some great ideas and is supported with strong facts. I believe if all couples practiced these ten steps the divorce rate in America would drop greatly. In conclusion this article help teach me that relationship takes two people who love each other very much and are willing to work hard to be with each other and with, and that is the only way two people can be happy together.

The natural 2

The natural 2 Only a few characters have the power to catch the reader's interest to the extent that they are unforgettable. In The Natural, Roy Hobbs proves to be a memorable character in many ways. His determination makes him to be noticed. His sense of honor and pride are part of his remarkable character. Ray is an athlete born with rare talents, abilities, and love for the game of baseball, which makes him unforgettable.Determination can influence many people to strive for goals. Roy Hobbs was determined to the best player in baseball. When he was just nineteen years old and had not played baseball for an organized team, he wanted to "break every record in the book for throwing and hitting." p.g.30 He had no previous experience of playing baseball, except with his dad and in high school. When Ray was in the hospital, he was resolute on getting out and playing in the playoff game.The Doctor told him that "it would be best for Roy to say goodbye forever to baseball, if he hoped to stay alive." p .g. 212 However, he could not conceive not playing baseball ever again. He even sneaked out of the hospital to practice "so, he would have his eye and timing alert for the playoff." p.g.214 He was determined to play baseball again, win the playoff game and, eventually, win the World Series.ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ ÂÆ'‚‚ Honor and pride was important to Roy Hobbs. Roy was proud of himself, before he became a professional player. He commented " when I walk down the street I bet people will say there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in the game." p.g.31 He was proud of himself which helped him to strive for his dreams. . He did not care much of the wealth; to him it...