Essay on Movie Review of Tshirt Travels - 1297 Words

Amrit Kulasekaran Professor Kornelly Nov 26 2012 Anthropology 101 Salaula: Charity or Exploitation The documentary â€Å"T Shirt travels† follows a young Zambian named Luka through his daily life as a second hand clothes seller. We are taken on a journey through the struggles and issues from both a micro and macro level. We learn about issues facing the country as a whole such as rampant poverty, to an economy destroyed by slavery and further setback due to larger nations dictating economic policy for Zambia. To the smaller scale with individual families such as Luka’s trying to make ends meet in a hand to mouth industry and shows how hard it is for them to succeed. The whole film gives us a deeper understanding of how Zambia is being†¦show more content†¦Oddly enough people who had steady paying jobs just a few years ago now sell second hand clothes, due to the decision to allow for privatization of Zambian government run companies. Many of whom just liquidated the company’s assets and let them go bankrupt. After Zambia gained political independence their economy was doing better. Their economy was surrounded around their primary natural resource, copper. As copper sales went up, new medical buildings and schools were built, they had a promising textile industry and things were looking up. Until an unexpected rise in the price of oil in tandem with the dropping prices of copper forced Zambia to borrow from the IMF and world banks at extremely high interest rates. Soon Zambia found itself in a mountain of unpayable debts and to repay creditors, spending was cut to education and health and other infrastructure projects. Eventually all of the progress they have made goes to waste as it can not be maintained. Foreign countries currently dictate the economic policy via structural adjustment, i.e. policies that â€Å"should† increase revenue and allow them to pay the loans off. This inevitably leads to a country that is so dependent on foreign aid because their own industries have been destroyed by foreign influences. The dependence on foreign aid and a westernization of culture that happened to Zambia has happened to indigenous people across the world. This is similar to the Tiwi who were usedShow MoreRelatedProduct Placement12588 Words   |  51 Pagesmerchandise is inserted into and used contextually in a motion picture, television, or other media vehicle for commercial purposes. In product placement, the involved audience gets exposed to the brands and products during the natural process of the movie, television program, or content vehicle. (Panda, 2004; Cebrzynski, 2006) That is, product placement in popular mass media provides exposure to potential target consumers and shows brands being used or consumed in their natural settings (Stephen andRead MoreStarbucks Case Study11295 Words   |  46 PagesMBA Graduation Paper Starbucks Corporation Case Study A) Introduction - An unusual coffee encounter On a sunny Wednesday morning of April, my customer visit was scheduled for 10 am. As usual, I was early and decided to get a cup of coffee and review my presentation material. I pulled into the parking lot of the first mall, and walked into what I thought was a regular coffee shop; I was in for a surprise. At first, I went back to my car with my cup, and as I was going to turn on my laptop computerRead MoreStarbucks Case Study11286 Words   |  46 PagesAmbaiU MBA Graduation Paper Starbucks Corporation Case Study A) Introduction - An unusual coffee encounter On a sunny Wednesday morning of April, my customer visit was scheduled for 10 am. As usual, I was early and decided to get a cup of coffee and review my presentation material. I pulled into the parking lot of the first mall, and walked into what I thought was a regular coffee shop; I was in for a surprise. 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The 1940’s as The Most Influencing Decade in the United...

For many years there has been a discussion about the best decade and the best era in the United States of America. People are convincing each other that twenties were the Golden Age or 1990’s were the most influencing but there is no clear and nationwide agreement in that case. In fact, according to different authors and publishers there was no year that actually resolved all problems in the United States. From some people’s point of view, however, it is not a matter of which decade end all problems but rather a matter of which decade influenced the most areas of Americans’ lives. Although 1940’s have not resolved all America’s problems, those years did the most to influence contemporary America in areas such as the economic leadership of†¦show more content†¦More workers and growing war industry caused the U.S. to eventually take the economic lead over the world. According to Michael French, â€Å"the wartime expansion of the US industria l base, coupled with devastation in Europe and Japan placed the US economy in an extraordinarily powerful position. US industrial production was 45 per cent of world output in 1948 and its national income and productivity, especially in manufacturing, far outstripped other economies† (French, 197). Michael French also mentioned in his book, US Economic History Since 1945, establishing International Money Fund in 1944. IMF, along with Marshall Plan from years 1948-1951, placed US dollar as a reserve currency for other nations around the world. Yet, all of this would not have happened if the World War II have not erupted. Orson Welles, an American director and producer said about the industrial and technological progress during wartime, â€Å"in Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed--they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. 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The Alcatel Lucent Merger Free Essays

Running Head: THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! The Alcatel-Lucent Merger-What went wrong? American Public University 1 THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 2 The Alcatel-Lucent Merger-What went wrong? Referring to the case and this chapter, discuss what conditions and negotiation factors pushed forth the merger in 2006 that were not present in 2001. In 1999, as the Internet boom was approaching its apex, Lucent Technologies was the world’s largest telecommunications equipment company (Lazonick March, 2011). With revenues of $38. We will write a custom essay sample on The Alcatel Lucent Merger or any similar topic only for you Order Now 3 billion, net income of $4. billion, and 153,000 employees for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999, Lucent was larger and more profitable than Nortel, Alcatel, and Ericsson, its three major global competitors (Lazonick March, 2011). Unfortunately for Lucent, as quickly as it rose to the top, it began to fall to the bottom. Lucent recognized, and so did its competitors, that something had to be done to sustain profitability in its market. In 2001, Alcatel of France, the communications equipment maker in Paris, and Lucent Technologies, the U. S. telecommunications giant, began negotiations for a merger of the two companies (Deresky, 2011, p. 76). In 2001, many communications companies began to see a fall in sales due to an internet crash. Companies like Lucent that were just years prior at the top of its game in the market were now quickly loosing sales and on the brink of bankruptcy (Lazonick March, 2011). Creating a merger was a choice that Lucent had to again gain power an d profitability, but mergers rarely go easily. As in this case there are two competitors attempting to come together and negotiate for a mutually acceptable agreement that affects the future of both companies and the employees. THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 3 By the mid-2000s it became evident that Lucent was faced with the choice of becoming merely a â€Å"niche† player in the communications technology industry or finding a partner to supplement its resources so that it could compete once again as a â€Å"full line† supplier. In May 2001, Alcatel and Lucent held initial merger talks with a view to creating a $50 billion global firm. A year earlier Lucent would have dominated such a combination. By May 2001, however, Lucent had already been severely damaged by the downturn in the telecommunications industry. In contrast, Alcatel sales and profits remained strong at the time of those merger talks. If the merger had gone through, Alcatel shareholders would have owned 58 percent of the combined company. It had been agreed that the new headquarters would be in Murray Hill, New Jersey and that Alcatel Chairman Serge Tchuruk would run the company. In the end, the 2001 merger failed when Alcatel insisted that because of its stronger position it would select 8 of the 14 board members, while Lucent Chairman Henry Schacht insisted that his company send two more members for an even split (Sorkin and Romero 2001). The 2001 merger was not successful because negotiations were not successful. For longterm positive relations, the goal should be to set up a win-win situation-that is to bring about a settlement beneficial to all parties concerned (Deresky, 2011, p. 152). Unfortunately, that was not the case with this merger. The two companies could not agree on how much control the French company would have. Lucent’s executives apparently wanted the deal as a â€Å"merger of equals,† rather than a takeover by Aslcatel (Deresky, 2011, p. 176). Furthermore, according to Deresky (2011), the negotiation process should encompass fives stages: preparation, relationship building, exchange of task-related information, persuasion, and concessions and agreement (p. 153). The entire negotiation process in 2001 had flaws. THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 4 Research the status of the merged company at the time of your reading this case. What has happened in the industry since the merger, and how is the company faring? In 2006, Alcatel was almost twice the size of Lucent in terms of revenues and employes when the merger that created Alcatel-Lucent took place (Lazonick March, 2011). Since then, the merger has proven to be successful overall. To support this, in February 2013, a five year managed services agreement was announced by Alcatel-Lucent with KPN, the leading telecommunications service provider in the Netherlands (Mena Report, 2013). According to the report, Alcatel-Lucent will plan, design and implement an end-to-end solution to provide KPNs network with increased capacity, upgraded equipment, and best-in-class customer service processes. Alcatel-Lucent will also help KPN transform its existing multi-vendor voice and core networks enabling its customers to access and share multimedia content from wherever they are or using the device of their choice be it a smartphone, computer or tablet (Mena Report, 2013). Two years after the merger, Alcatel-Lucent University received a certificate of quality from the European Foundation for Management Development, an honor bestowed on only 14 corporate universities throughout Europe (Alcatel-Lucent University, 2010). Evaluate the comment that the merger is â€Å"a giant transatlantic experiment in multicultural diversity. † What evidence is there that the company has run into cross-cultural problems since the merger took place in 2006? THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! The comment was made because there were so many multicultural and diversity issues surrounding the merger. While Lucent was an American company that conducted its business within the borders of the United States, Alcatel was already a global business before the merger. Alcatel â€Å"already operated as an international company with a wide mix of nationalities† (Deresky, 2011, p. 176). The question was raised by many during the merger, â€Å"how will the merged company deal with cross-cultural conflicts? †, but Tchuruk said that, while cultural issues could arise, everything is under way to make sure this human factor is dealt with (Deresky, 2011, p. 176). This statement of confidence was actually part of the reason why the merger was actually somewhat ironically poised with problems because there were indeed many problems related to multicultural diversity. Some of these problems included language barriers between members of the merged companies, their stockholders, and other stakeholders. Analysts quickly suggested that the corporate culture of Lucent clashed with Alcatel’s French business model (Deresky, 2011, p. 177). This was coupled with Russo’s inability to work well with Tchuruk and it soon became clear that it was a poor decision to appoint leaders based on their nationality rather than their skills. Russo was also the first woman to run a company listed on the CAC 40 in the male dominated world where French business and politics overlap (Deresky, 2011, p. 77). Chinese rivals were also at Alcatel-Lucent’s doorstep providing similar service and technology for less money. According to Deresky (2011), a Barron’s article in August 2008 noted that â€Å"while it might have been helpful if outgoing CEO Patricia Russo had spoken French, that’s not why she and Chairman Serge Tchuruk failed to make a g o of the 2006 merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies (p. 177). 5 THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 6 How much of the decline do you attribute to leadership problems, as opposed to industry factors? I think the majority of the decline was attributed to leadership problems. The structure of the organization is only effective if the leaders within it are committed to achieving company objectives and working with each other as a team. They must perform their roles and responsibilities knowledgeably and creatively when necessary. The cultural change that was required to create an entrepreneurial sprit throughout the company began with executives being willing to relinquish some of their existing control to drive decision making downward through the organization. The purpose was to enable faster and better decisions and more competitive responses to market conditions and customer desires (Lazonick March, 2010). What, if any, factors should have been negotiated differently? Just about everything should have been done differently during the attempted first merger in 2001, but both companies did learn a lot from that merger and they were better prepared in 2006, although still a far cry from being as ready as they should have been. The executives of both companies really did not take cultural values and differences into consideration as much as they should have and as it turned out they had a difficult time communicating with each other, not only due to language barriers, but also just because business was conducted so differently between the French and American cultures. THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 7 References Alcatel-lucent to transform KPN s fixed network operations in the netherlands over next five years. (2013). MENA Report, Retrieved from http://search. roquest. com/docview/ 1313279184? accountid=8289 Alcatel-lucent university. (2010). Development and Learning in Organizations, 24(2), 31-32. doi: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/14777281011019515 Lazonick, W. , March, E. (2011). The rise and demise of lucent technologies. Journal of Strategic Management Education, 7(4), 201-270. Retrieved from http:// search. proquest. com/docview/1015336210? accountid=8289 Sorkin, Andrew Ross, and Simon Romero, 2001, Alcat el and Lucent call off negotiations toward a merger. New York Times, May 30. How to cite The Alcatel Lucent Merger, Essay examples