Transnational Mgt. Case Analysis :: essays research papers

Problem Statement   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McKinsey & Company is a highly successful consulting firm worth over 1.8 billion dollars. However, its leader Rajat Gupta wondered if the company could better utilize the knowledge of its employees to better serve its worldwide clients. It was obvious that McKinsey & Company had a strong base of core competencies among its employees, but Gupta was unsure if knowledge development was meeting its clients’ needs in an information and knowledge driven age. Clients hired McKinsey & Company expecting leading edge information from to assist them in their decision-making processes. Gupta felt a process was needed to develop, capture, and leverage this information which he considered an asset to the company. So, the task lay before them on how to accumulate and store the information quickly and make it readily available to consultants on a global scale. List of Symptoms †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McKinsey & Company desired to provide state-of-the-art knowledge to its clients but currently had no means of measuring exactly how well they were doing in developing their knowledge. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Employees were not being properly developed for the new direction of the McKinsey & Company. McKinsey & Company still had the ability to provide excellent advice to its Clients. However, they were not as prepared as their competitors for dealing with the upcoming technologies of the future. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McKinsey & Company had experienced rapid growth. McKinsey & Company had 3,800 consultants in 69 offices worldwide. In its present state, the large number of employees and offices it managed actually hindered McKinsey from effectively performing its operations worldwide. Essentially, McKinsey & Company had become too large for itself under its current architecture. Alternative Solutions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McKinsey & Company did not desire to rest on its laurels and remain content with the status quo, rather they aggressively sought out to find answers to their dilemmas. They realized that being a 1.8 billion dollar company did not come easily and also that without modifications they would not remain in their top position in consulting. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (1) McKinsey & Company must implement a system of knowledge management in which the entire organization is able to benefit from the sharing of knowledge between employees. This will allow the company to benefit internally. Alternative Solution One: (2) In order to measure the results McKinsey & Company must revisit their goals to develop, capture, and leverage their knowledge to better serve their clients. Alternative Solution Two: Know the audience to be measured and what benefits they seek from their relationship with McKinsey & Company.

U.S. Attacked :: essays research papers

America was attacked Tuesday September 11th, 2001. How could we be attacked we are the strongest countries in the world? We have one of the world's strongest economies in the world. We have a massive army with equipment to destroy a whole country. Why would someone do this? Who would do this? Who ever did this doesn't value life. They actually made four of our own planes filled with fuel into bomb. They crashed into three buildings. Attacking a military base is bad enough, but to attack innocent people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I think that this could have been prevented. We should have been expecting this. We bombed other countries before killing innocent people. Our atom bomb did not distinguish between military, and civilian personal. We, America, did this to end the war to ensure our freedom. I think we could have been prepared a lot more than we were.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Should we seek justice or revenge? Justice would be to kill who ever did this so anything like this can never happen again. Revenge would be to kill who ever did this and who ever harbors the terrorist. I think that we should seek justice so this can never happen again to us or anyone else. We have to be careful though because this could be the start to world war3. This time if a war breaks out life with have a lesser value than it ever did. There are so many nuclear and biological weapons that nobody life would be safe from side effects. Many more people are going to die in the process of seeking justice. Talk of sending ground troops I think would be one of the worst things that could be done. The only people that win from a war are the people that make military equipment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I don't want a war to start because I know people that are in the are and the

Lactose Tolerance

Lactose is the most important carbohydrate in milk. It cannot be absorbed in the intestine, but needs to be split in two molecules by the enzyme lactase. In newborns the (very rare) absence of the enzyme is lethal unless special food can be provided. Until fairly recently it was considered normal by Western medicine that in older children and adults the activity of lactase was maintained. We now know that this is the rule among west Europeans and their descendants in other countries. In many other populations the continuation of lactase excretion in older children and adults is virtually absent, leading to lactose intolerance (Dobzhansky et al., 1997). Lactose intolerance is manifested by diarrhea, abdominal pain, and flatulence after consumption of, let us say, half a liter of cow's milk (Braly, 1992). This holds for many East Asian groups, Melanesians, Native Americans and for most Africans. Groups of nomadic pastoralists in Africa, such as the Fulani, form a notable exception with high prevalence of lactose tolerance. In southern Europe and in certain regions of India intermediate values (from 30 percent to 70 percent) are found lactose tolerance, a biological, genetic adaptation that is commonly found in populations with a long history of dairying (www.vegsource.com). Populations with this genetic trait have the ability to digest lactose, a sugar found in milk. The intestinal enzyme lactase breaks down lactose into simpler sugars that can be absorbed and metabolized as a source of energy. Lactose also plays a part in the absorption of the calcium in milk. This is especially important when Vitamin D deficiency is present ( Durham 1991:226-228). Durham (1991) has pointed out that the full story is more complicated than was originally supposed, since it involves calcium as well as lactose absorption. Nevertheless, the result is the same. Today, between 70 and 100 per cent of human adults whose ancestors came from long-term dairy-farming areas are lactose-tolerant, whereas the great majority of those who stem from non-dairy-farming areas remain lactose-intolerant. This differentiation must have occurred within the last 10,000 years, and must have been induced by human phenotypes changing their own environments. When the body is functioning normally, lactase breaks down lactose into two simple sugars, glucose and galactose, which are used by the body. But when there is a lack of sufficient lactase, the unabsorbed lactose migrates to the colon, where it becomes fermented by intestinal bacteria and causes gastrointestinal problems. In most humans, lactase activity disappears after infancy. That is, they become more or less lactose intolerant after they are weaned. Although they may be able to drink a small glass of milk without much trouble, if they drink large amounts the undigested lactose gives them diarrhea, bloating, and gas. Even though they do not absorb the lactose in milk as an energy source, they may be able to make use of the protein, calcium, and fat in milk, if they drink small enough amounts to avoid distress and the nutritional losses incurred with diarrhea. Alternately, cultural adaptations such as making cheese or yogurt reduce the lactose content. Presumably, the reason lactose intolerance occurs early in life has to do with the process of weaning. Some children are genetically programmed to stop being able to handle milk once they pass the age of breastfeeding. Although there is no perfect correlation the relationship between lactose tolerance in adults and animal husbandry is striking. Two explanations have been suggested, one cultural, and the other referring to physical qualities of the environment (Flatz & Rotthauwe, 1977). In the cultural explanation it is postulated that the consumption of milk, because of its nutritional value in proteins, should give a selection advantage. Once there were a few individuals who can tolerate milk, this trait could slowly spread through the population over a large number of generations. The fact that there are cattle farming populations with a low frequency of tolerance weakens this hypothesis. In addition, when milk has fermented it is low in lactose content and is digestible in the absence of lactase in the consumer's intestinal tract. The second hypothesis postulates an advantage of lactose tolerance in areas with relatively little ultraviolet sunlight, such as northern Europe. Sunlight plays a role in the production of vitamin D which is needed for calcium metabolism. A too low level of vitamin D leads to rickets, a bone disease. It has been suggested that lactose is an alternative substance to vitamin D in the metabolism of calcium. Another version of this hypothesis bears on the direct absorption of vitamin D contained in milk and milk products. In practical terms, knowledge of lactose tolerance and intolerance is important when proposing food aid programs. Knowing that milk can cause digestive problems helps us understand why recipients of powdered milk as emergency aid have used the milk to whitewash their buildings and have even accused aid programs of being U.S. plots to poison them ( Lerner and Libby 1976:327). Health educators also need to be cautious about over-promoting milk products to ethnic groups, such as Asian Americans, who do not tolerate them well. In evolutionary terms, farming is quite recent on the human scene, and most of the adaptations to it have been cultural rather than genetic. Lactose tolerance is particularly interesting because it shows the coevolutionary interaction between biological and cultural adaptation to the farming way of life. References Attwood, Charles R. Calcium Without the Cow. Retrieved on January 29, 2006 Braly, James, M.D., and Torbet, Laura. (1992). Dr. Braly's Food Allergy and Nutrition Revolution. New Canaan, Conn.: Keats Publishing, Inc. Dobzhansky, T., Ayala, F. J., Stebbins, G. L., & Valentine, J. W. (1997). Evolution. San Francisco: Freeman. Durham, William H. (1991). Coevolution: Genes, Culture, and Human Diversity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Flatz, G., & Rotthauwe, H. W. (1977). The human lactase polymorphism: Physiology and genetics of lactose absorption and malabsorption. Progress in Medical Genetics, 2, 205–49. Lerner, Michael, and William J. Libby. (1976). Heredity, Evolution and Society. Second ed. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman. Â   Â  

Immanuel Kant Essay

Introduction 1What does philosophy mean? -Everyone has a philosophy -We have ideas concerning things, people, the meaning of life, death, God, what is good and bad. -We may have certain attitudes to life, certain ways of looking at things. -For example: -I am an optimist. I can always see a positive side to most unhappy situations. -I don’t believe in worrying too much. I think about today. Tomorrow can take care of itself. -Although an individual claim this to be his philosophy and rightly so. But this is not philosophy as a discipline. It is too broad, vague, superficial, impersonal and unclear. It does not adequately describe the work of a philosopher. -We need to define philosophy more specifically. 2The word â€Å"philosophy†. -The Word â€Å"Philosophy†. -Philia (love) + Sophia (wisdom) = the love of wisdom. 3Definitions of philosophy a. The study of the nature and meaning of the universe and of human life Online Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. b. Philosophy is a rational attempt to look at the world as a whole. 4What does philosophy seek to do? -Philosophy seeks to examine fundamental questions about the universe and about ourselves with the hope of coming up with consistent principles by which we can understand and live. 5Human beings have always sought answers to certain fundamental questions – What are these fundamental questions? -What makes an action write or wrong? -What is my purpose in the world? -What is truth? -What makes a good life? -Is God important in our lives? -Where does knowledge come from and how do we know that our knowledge is true. -What is the relationship between mind and body? 6Why do we need philosophy? Why do we need philosophy when we have science and technology? -We have advanced so much in science and technology -We live in cities, we have conquered the air and have ventured into space? -Communication is so developed that distance no longer matters -We have immense power over nature -We are able to produce more goods and services than ever before -So, why do we still need philosophy? 7Yet all these advances cause us to be disturbed and anxious -There is a danger that the very technology we have developed could destroy us. -For example nuclear technology. -We seem to be unable to deal with the problems of war, famine, terror, distribution of wealth, pollution, the threatened extinction of wildlife, exploitation and oppression of the weak . -Knowledge and values appear to be divorced. -This is where philosophy comes in. It helps us to examine our lives as individuals and groups. -Philosophy may not be able to provide solutions to all the world’s problems. But it helps to examine issues clearly, consider options and help us to make informed decisions. -With poor, incomplete and shallow reasoning we cannot build an enlightened society -If we are unable to distinguish between valid and invalid reasoning, then we become victims of persuasive orators, cult leaders and unscrupulous political leaders. -Philosophy helps us to see more deeply and clearly into an issue. It helps us to question traditional and outdate beliefs so that we can make informed choices -Knowledge of ethical systems help us to live ethical lives at the personal and communitarian level. -Knowledge of what constitutes beauty helps us to appreciate and respect differences in individual and cultural concepts of beauty and art. -Being able to think critically will help us to be aware of any irrational and oppressive beliefs in religion. 8The traditional divisions of philosophy. a. Logic b. Metaphysics c. Epistemology d. Value Theory LOGIC aLogic. -The systematic study of rules to distinguish or recognize good arguments from bad. -In an argument, groups will give opposing views. -How do we know which argument is good and which is not good. -Logic helps us to do so by providing rules to recognize right argument from wrong argument. -It is concerned with tests to find out which arguments are valid. -Logic runs through all the other branches of philosophy. METAPHYSICS -bMetaphysics The study of the nature of being and of the world. -It is concerned with the fundamental nature of all reality, both visible and invisible. -It asks what reality is, why it is, and how we can understand it. Ontology That part of metaphysics that studies being or existence. EPISTEMOLOGY cEpistemology The study of the sources, nature and validity of knowledge. -It deals with issues like: -What are the sources of knowledge? (Origin of knowledge) -Where does genuine knowledge come from? -How do we know? -What is the nature of knowledge? (Appearance and reality) -Is there a real world outside the mind? -If so, can we know it? -Is our knowledge valid? (Truth/Verification) -How do we distinguish truth from error? Two traditional schools of thought have sought to answer the questions above: -Rationalism -Human reason alone can discover the basic principles of the universe -Empiricism -All knowledge ultimately comes from sense experience, and therefore our knowledge is limited to what can be experienced. There is a relationship between metaphysics and epistemology. Our understanding of reality (metaphysics) depends on our understanding of what can be known (epistemology). Our theory of knowledge (epistemology) depends on how we understand ourselves in relation to the whole of reality (metaphysics). VALUE THEORY dValue Theory The branch of philosophy that studies values. -It can be subdivided into ethics, aesthetics, and social and political philosophy. iethics: is concerned with morality; right or wrong behavior. -the three areas of ethics are : descriptive, normative and metaethics. -descriptive ethics (what is ) identifies motives, desire and intentions of human conduct and acts. It describes moral actions. -normative ethics (what ought to be) proposes the principles by which people ought to act and live. These are called ethical theories. – – -Meta-ethics(analysis) on how we understand, know about, and what we mean when we talk about what is right and what is wrong. It deals with the meaning of key concepts, techniques of reasoning and analysis, and linguistic conventions It deals with matters like what do moral terms mean? What sort of mental state is involved in accepting a moral claim – a belief, an emotion? Is there any sort of moral reality or facts? Is ethical knowledge attainable? If so, how? In fact, drawing the conceptual distinction between Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics is itself a â€Å"metaethical analysis. † ii. Aestheticsis concerned with the theory of art and beauty. -Many philosophical problems in aesthetics involve critical judgements.? -It deals with concepts of concepts of beauty. Is beauty subjective or objective? iii. Social and political philosophyisconcerned with value judgments concerning society, the state and the individual’s relation to these institutions -It deals with issues like -Why should individuals live in society? -What should be the social ideals of liberty, rights, justice, equality and responsibility -Why should anyone obey any government? -Why should some individuals or groups have political power over others -Who should have political power over others? -What should the scope of political power be? -What are the goals of government? Glossary 1philosophyphilia (love) + Sophia (wisdom) = the love of wisdom 2logicThe systematic study of rules to distinguish or recognize good arguments from bad 3metaphysicsThe study of the nature of being and of the world 4epistemologyThe study of the sources, nature and validity of knowledge 5value theoryThe branch of philosophy that studies values. It can be subdivided into ethics, aesthetics, and social and political philosophy. 6rationalismHuman reason alone can discover the basic principles of the universe 7empiricismAll knowledge ultimately comes from sense experience, and therefore our knowledge is limited to what can be experienced 8aesthetics Is concerned with the theory of art and beauty.

Relating Of Finance Available For Marc Day And SwapgameCom Essay

Relating Of Finance Available For Marc Day And SwapgameCom - Essay Example SwapGame is famed for being the first company in the UK to offer video game rental online, as well as give customers the prospect, to retain the games they hire for low pre-played price. It is currently also the pioneer company, to offer online trade-in service, offering gamers with a suitable means to trade in their unwanted games for instant credit, to reduce the price they pay for fresh games. Throughout the UK, Swap Game service has evolved in the past six, and still aspires to offer the unlimited best worth gaming, and service to its customers. Conversely, Business Link is an online resource for businesses and is government owned. It holds vital information, support and services for people’s businesses both larger and smaller ones, established and starting ones. It involves useful online paraphernalia such as calculators and best practical case studies and also broad support. There are several sources that Swap Game can use to raise funds for its starting up as well as it s expansion. These sources can be either internal or external. Internal sources surface from retained profits while external sources are obtained from other outside sources. These sources include banks, owner’s savings, hire purchase, leasing and mortgaging when starting, in 2008, and the other forms such trade credits and sale and leaseback as well as grants for expansion, in 2010. Others such as debt collection and sale of assets are also suitable means to raise funds to begin the swap game business.... These sources include banks, owner’s savings, hire purchase, leasing and mortgaging when starting, in 2008, and the other forms such trade credits and sale and leaseback as well as grants for expansion, in 2010. Internal sources of finance The sources identified for 2008, are appropriate and easily achievable, as the funds such as savings come from the owner, and a viable business plan can earn the business loans from the banks, to start up. Others such as debt collection and sale of assets are also suitable means to raise funds to begin the swap game business. For expansion, in 2010 the sources identified are appropriate since they will need an established company so as to consider them for loans and funding. This includes companies such as Spong, game and eurogamer.net, who are partners and funders of SwapGame. Businesses need funds in order to operate. In some cases, the business cannot raise the required funds to satisfy it needs. It is crucial for businesses to have diffe rent sources, for raising income (Newman, 2010, 146). The advantage of using the internal sources of income is that, the business will be debt free, and will save money by avoiding the payment of interest required when external sources are used. Internal sources, however, are not readily available for the users, and in most cases, the funds raised internally are inadequate for the intended purpose. Internal sources also limit the business ion that the funds raised are not large amounts, which can satisfy the adequately cater for the business needs. In the case where internal finances are not sufficient, the business needs to employ external bodies to ensure that they rise the finances required

MGMT402 U2 IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MGMT402 U2 IP - Research Paper Example Consequently, the harassed victim is forced to file a complaint in the company’s grievance committee. Further, the victim’s not finding redress by submitting a complaint to the company’s grievance committee. The non-action or unfavorable action of the grievance committee may force the sexual harassment victims to file a harassment case in the courts of law. If the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigation shows the employer knew and did not prevent the supervisor’s harassment, the 1995 Auto Corp is has vicarious legal liability (Conte, 2010). In the case of Ellerth and Fargher labor case, the Supreme Court reiterated the company has vicarious legal liability for the supervisor’s harassment of the workplace victims if two conditions are present (Dale, 2005). First, the company knows of the sexual harassment acts and refuses to take the appropriate action to stop the sexual harassment acts. Likewise, The Code of Federal Regulations Pt 1604.11 states that management is liable it did implement reasonable care to prevent the harassment. Second, the victims sought the redress from the company’s grievance committee (GPO, 2007). Vicarious legal liability means the employer and the supervisor are liable for monetary damages. Further, the EEOC investigation team will implement the corresponding penalties on the guilty person and the employer, 1995 Auto Corp (EEOC, 2014). Similarly, management will be penalized for not doing its share to prevent workplace sexual harassment. Management is required to set into motion a grievance process for the abused employees. Likewise management must implement preventive measures to reduce future sexual harassment acts (Conte, 2010). Furthermore, the company must prioritize mediation over litigation (Conte, 2010). Mediation (amicable settlement) is less costly than litigation. Mediation may take possibly one or more meetings to

A decade of development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A decade of development - Assignment Example With the introduction of the Microsoft suite of products that were designed to be used on a license basis and the resultant need for patches and upgrades met only through paying for the same instead of having a way to program the upgrades by the users themselves. Particularly telling is the instance of how Richard Stallman could not insert his code into the working of the printer software thereby having to wait for the upgrade from the manufacturer. This example typifies the approach of free software activists towards the concept of paying for the software. They insist that the source code of the software must be made available to everyone and those additions and insertions to the source code should provide a way of customizing the software according to the needs of each individual. Similarly, Lessig’s approach of making the content free is discussed as well. Lessig’s approach is the backbone of what is called as the â€Å"creative commons† license. According to this paradigm, content should be free of commercial attributions and once the source code or the content is developed, anyone should be free to add his or her code or content to the existing base and use the modified version without paying any fees. Of course, the creative commons license specifies how the original developer needs to be acknowledged for his or her work and in the later years; this became a bone of contention as well. The most famous example of free content and one that can be editable by anybody is the case of Wikipedia. This is an online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit and add information to the existing body of knowledge. Considering the fact that this site is one of the most popular sites on the internet and the visitors to this site run into the millions, the concept of free content and open knowledge has indeed caught on. However, as the article points out, there were several hiccups along the way as evidenced by the