Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Going global means new frontiers Essay Example for Free

Going global means new frontiers Essay Introduction On the 19th Sep. 2014, the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO) was successfully completed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), U.S., and the total IPO amount has reached up to $25 billion (Chen. Mac. Solomon. 2014). Alibaba, the miracle creator, used only 15-year’s development to take the seat in the Wall Street and build an e-commercial empire. The NYSE’s IPO is the signal to tell global investors and competitors that Alibaba is ready to join the global market competition. For Alibaba, going global means new frontier, however, the new frontier could be either a barren cliff or cornucopian grassland. In this essay, we will mainly discuss that why Alibaba want to expand global markets, and how Alibaba is going to make the global strategies to against global competitors in overseas market. by avoiding direct competition, targeting similar market as China and increasing firm size in the global market environment to step into a â€Å"grassland† market for persistent development. Alibaba the world’s largest online and mobile commerce company, was established in 1999 by the group of 18 people led by Jack Ma in Hangzhou, China. There are three main sites in Alibaba China, including T-mall, Taobao and Alibaba.com along with numbers of other companies to support Alibaba’s ecosystem development. Moreover, Alibaba also has Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com to provide worldwide online shopping services (Pressman 2014). Until 2013, Alibaba has more than 2 million merchants across more than 190 countries and regions. In 2013, there was amount of $248 billion transactions went through Alibaba’s online sites which is more than the total of eBay and Amazon. Furthermore, after the NYSE’s IPO, Alibaba’s market cap has reached up to 215 billion dollar, which only followed behind Microsoft, Google and Apple among the global tech firms (Lajoie Shearman. 2014). Global Market Expansion (convention path: from domestic to overseas) Why Alibaba want to expand global market?  Alibaba is a typical Multi-national corporation, since Alibaba set up the headquarter in the China and operate e-commerce businesses in other  countries. in As a typical multi-national corporation, going global to exploit new distant market, to merge into larger and more efficient units and to exploit better social capital is an irresistible process for Alibaba. As the dominator in the China’s online shopping market, Alibaba has already controlled 80% of the market share, thus Alibaba needs new distant markets for persistent development. Moreover, For Alibaba, both the internal capabilities and external environment allows Alibaba to make the global market expansion decision. For the internal capabilities, Alibaba is a mature Internet corporation, which has controlled 80% of the China’s online shopping market. China’s market profits could constantly provide enormous capital support for Alibaba’s long-term market expansion. Moreover, after the NYSE’s IPO, Alibaba has won the trust from global investors and acquired sufficient capital for early market expansion. However, the challenges always exist during the process of the market expansion, especially from the local e-commercial corporations. Despite of the competition, high cost for setting up facilities, cultural shock, and different government policies would also be main concerns before the decision was made. Thus, I have listed three main strategies below to demonstrate Alibaba’s global market expansion. Avoiding direct competition Instead of â€Å"face to face† competition with those locally dominant e-commercial corporations, Alibaba decided to operate their business around the market edges and move partial of e-commercial businesses to cross-country trade. In 2004, The America’s largest e-commercial corporationeBay entered the Chinese market by merger with a Chinese e-commercial corporation—EachNet. In order to against eBay, Alibaba decided to launch Taobao, one of the main sites under Alibaba for C2C (customer to customer) business model, compete with eBay. Because of Taobao’s preponderant business model and domestic advantages, eBay finally failed in China’s e-commercial market expansion (Wang, 2010). Right now, Alibaba faced the same challenge in the America’s market, but Alibaba will not make the same mistake as eBay did. In order to avoid direct competition with eBay and Amazon, Alibaba has launched AliExpress for cross-country trade wholesale by offering quality products at factory prices. As the advantages, Chinese  products have unbeatable prices to attract American customers; also Chinese customers have strong demands for American high quality products (like Cherry Farmers and Fisherman). Although it’s too earlier to claim the final result of Alibaba, to avoid direct competition is always a good way to enter a new market without too much pressure from local competitors. Finding similar market as China Alibaba’s global strategies are more likely targeting the large and potential e-commercial market as China’s market. For instance, Brazil, as one of the largest developing economy in the world, the economy status and e-commercial structure in Brazil is really similar as in China. ALthough, eBay and Amazon has already settled down in the Brazil’s market, it’s always not too late for Alibaba overtakes the dominance. In 2013, Alibaba set up a Portuguese e-commerce site to allow Brazil buyers directly purchase goods from Chinese wholesalers. Just in a year, Alibaba has became the third largest e-commercial website and took 20% of market share after Ebay and Amazon. In this July 12 millions of Brazilian customers visited the Alibaba.com, which is ten times than last year (Sciaudone, 2014). Moreover, in Brazil’s market, Alibaba wisely used the local sub-contractor to reduce investment and improve service quality, which subcontracted the online payment services to Boleto and delivery services to Brazil’s state-owned postal service (Pressman, 2014). To make it even better, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Chinese President Xi Jingping have signed the agreement to open the â€Å"Green Channel† to support Alibaba’s business between two countries (Chao, 2014). All in all, the success in the Brazil’s market indicated that to find the similar market is a feasible strategy for future development. Increasing the firm size As a typical multi-national corporation, Alibaba effectively applied the law of increasing firm size, ‘which have rapidly growth in the representative size of the firm, culminating in the MNC, and the parallel growth in organizational complexity’ (Hymer, 1970). E-commercial is the fundamental business for Alibaba’s long-term development, but not the only business Alibaba does or will do. As the range of investments show below, Alibaba  made plenty of investments in smart phone, video websites, telecommunication and so on. Some of them are complement businesses to support Alibaba’s e-commercial, like Juhuasuan, Alipay and Alibaba pictures; and some of them are potential businesses for long-term development, like Kabam, Peel, and Tango. Like Jack Ma has said in the Stanford Business School’s presentation, Alibaba would always follow the market’s path, where is the market, where is the Alibaba. Alibaba believed those investments are the future market and opportunities. On the global market expansion, Alibaba’s strategy is to pursue dynamic, diversified, sustaining development. Impacts on global market and host region With the development of Alibaba, the global e-commerce businesses will absolutely more competitive than before. There will be more and more cheaper and quality products flow into global market from China. Other e-commercial corporations, like eBay and Amazon, have to find the way out to against Alibaba’s expansion. On the other hand, Alibaba’s global market expansion will provide more opportunities and channels for China’s manufactories and factories to enter into a larger market. As Alibaba’s mission said, ‘to make it easy to do business anywhere.’ Alibaba help China’s merchants to do business much easier and more efficient. Conclusion It is indeed that Alibaba made a great success in 15-year development, but some concerns still exist from investors. Some investors even thought it’s possible that Alibaba is too big to be expropriated by Chinese government (Crovitz, 2014). However, It’s a totally misunderstanding, Chinese government always encourage and support China’s corporations to exploit overseas market and welcome foreign investment. Furthermore, investors also consider the instability to an Internet company. Unlike other industries, such as auto or manufacture industry, Internet Company is highly volatile. Internet Company could create billions of fortunes overnight, but also could lose everything instantly. In this case, it’s a significant mission for Alibaba to keep investors’ trust and faith. Up to now, Alibaba’s steady-state growth and expansion is the best response to investors’ trust and support. For 15-year development, Alibaba completely followed the conventional path from serve domestic market to operate businesses overseas. Eventually, Alibaba has successfully built an e-commercial businesses bridge between China and overseas market. Alibaba will continue to grow, and it will continue to change China and change the world. As William Kirby, and expert on Chinese business in Harvard’s business school, demonstrated that Alibaba is ‘a private company that has done more for China’s national economy than most state-owned enterprises (Economist, 2013).’ References Chen, Liyan; Mac, Ryan; Solomon Brian. Alibaba Claims Title For Largest Global IPO Ever With Extra Share Sales. Forbes. Web. Available from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2014/09/22/alibaba-claims-title-for-largest-global-ipo-ever-with-extra-share-sales/ [Accessed on: 14/11/2014] Crovit, Gordon L. 2014. Alibaba: Too Big to Expropriate? The Wall Street Journal. Web. Available from: http://online.wsj.com/articles/gordon-crovitz-alibaba-too-big-to-expropriate-1411339239 [Accessed on: 14/11/2014] Hymer, Stephen. 1970. Lecture notes distributed in Global Business Environment at The University of Birmingham U.K. on November 2014. INC. 2014. How Alibabas Jack Ma Conquered China. INC. Video. Web. Available from: http://www.inc.com/jack-ma/alibaba-jack-ma-reveals-his-global-strategy.html [Accessed on: 14/11/2014] Osawa, Juro. Alibaba Isn’t the Amazon of China. The Wall Street Journal. Web. Available from: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/10/16/alibaba-isnt-the-amazon-of-china/ [Accessed on: 15/11/2014] Pressman, Aaron. Alibaba a threat to eBay, Amazon outside the U.S., not within. Yahoo Finance. Web. Available from: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/alibaba-aims-at-ebay-and-amazon-outside-of-the-united-states-173757037.html [Accessed on: 14/11/2014] Sciaudone, Christiana. 2014. Alibaba in Brazil Challenges EBay-Amazon Market Grip. Bloomberg. Web. Available from: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-05/alibaba-in-brazil-challenges-ebay-amazon-market-grip.html [Accessed on: 14/11/2014] Shearman, Nick; Lajoie, Marc. 2014. What is Alibaba?. The Wall Street Journal. Web. Available from: http://projects.wsj.com/alibaba/ [Accessed on: 14/11/2014] The Economist. 2013. The World’s greatest bazaar. The Economist. Web. Available from: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21573980-alibaba-trailblazing-chinese-internet-giant-will-soon-go-public-worlds-greatest-bazaar [Accessed on: 20/11/2014] Wang, Helen H. 2010. How eBay Failed in China. Forbes. Web. Available from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/china/2010/09/12/how-ebay-failed-in-china/ [Accessed on: 20/11/2014] http://www.cnbc.com/id/102008330#.

Monday, January 20, 2020

The Funding of Making Chemical and Biological Weapons :: Chemical Biological Weapons War Essays

The Funding of Making Chemical and Biological Weapons Will the human race still be in existence in fifty more years? Although likely, there is a very real possibility that we will not be here. For example, after the Gulf War, we found Saddam Hussein stockpiling Weapons of Mass Destruction. Did you know that he had enough weapons to kill every single human, dog, and cow on the face of the earth? When I found that out, I thought it was very interesting, so I decided to do a report on it. If you keep reading, you’ll find out what I’ve found out. Who funds the making of chemical or biological weapons? The answer is many people. However†¦ the government is the main source of money. For example, they make labs built to find defenses against new chemical or biological weapons. The catch is that in order to find new defenses, they must first build new weapons. That brings us to terrorists. Government officials make the information on how to make these weapons of mass destruction too accessible to terrorists, which eventually results in successful terrorists attacks that injure or harm many people. An example of this was in the spring of 1995 when a Japanese mafia gang set off sarin gas and killed 12 people in a subway, while injuring over fifty. Now, you might be asking yourself, what’s the difference between chemical and biological warfare? Some major differences are when each has been used in history and / or what makes up a chemical or biological weapon. First, there’s the obvious difference of what makes up a chemical or biological weapon. Chemical weapons use chemical agents while biological weapons use bacteria from the earth and weaponizes the bacteria. While biological weapons have never been used for a modern war, they were once a very common weapon. You see, biological weapons were used for centuries in such ways as throwing dead bodies into their enemies’ water supply to sabotage it. Chemical weapons were never used in ancient times, as they didn’t have the technology. They have however found much use in our modern world. In fact, during World War I, chemical weapons found more use than ever before. The main weapon was mustard gas, it was responsible for two percent of the total deaths during that period. The next time chemical warfare was used on a large scale was during the Vietnam War. The Funding of Making Chemical and Biological Weapons :: Chemical Biological Weapons War Essays The Funding of Making Chemical and Biological Weapons Will the human race still be in existence in fifty more years? Although likely, there is a very real possibility that we will not be here. For example, after the Gulf War, we found Saddam Hussein stockpiling Weapons of Mass Destruction. Did you know that he had enough weapons to kill every single human, dog, and cow on the face of the earth? When I found that out, I thought it was very interesting, so I decided to do a report on it. If you keep reading, you’ll find out what I’ve found out. Who funds the making of chemical or biological weapons? The answer is many people. However†¦ the government is the main source of money. For example, they make labs built to find defenses against new chemical or biological weapons. The catch is that in order to find new defenses, they must first build new weapons. That brings us to terrorists. Government officials make the information on how to make these weapons of mass destruction too accessible to terrorists, which eventually results in successful terrorists attacks that injure or harm many people. An example of this was in the spring of 1995 when a Japanese mafia gang set off sarin gas and killed 12 people in a subway, while injuring over fifty. Now, you might be asking yourself, what’s the difference between chemical and biological warfare? Some major differences are when each has been used in history and / or what makes up a chemical or biological weapon. First, there’s the obvious difference of what makes up a chemical or biological weapon. Chemical weapons use chemical agents while biological weapons use bacteria from the earth and weaponizes the bacteria. While biological weapons have never been used for a modern war, they were once a very common weapon. You see, biological weapons were used for centuries in such ways as throwing dead bodies into their enemies’ water supply to sabotage it. Chemical weapons were never used in ancient times, as they didn’t have the technology. They have however found much use in our modern world. In fact, during World War I, chemical weapons found more use than ever before. The main weapon was mustard gas, it was responsible for two percent of the total deaths during that period. The next time chemical warfare was used on a large scale was during the Vietnam War.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Econ103 end term paper Essay

1. In your own words and in a maximum of 250 words for each concept, briefly explain the essence of each of the following emerging economic ideas. Imagine explaining them to someone who has not studied economic history. What are they really about? (20 points) A. Perlas’ 3-Folding Concept as applied in Philippine Agenda 21 B. Caring Economics C. Conscious Capitalism D. Natural Capitalism E. Sacred Economics 2. Still in your own words, accomplish the following summary table about the emerging economic ideas studied. Use easily understandable key words/phrases. You may further explain below the table if necessary (25 points): Idea Definition Key Principles/Elements & Framework Key Strategies (How the Idea will be Accomplished) A. Perlas’ 3-Folding Concept as applied in the PhilippineAgenda 21 An action for a sustainable development where the civil society, the government and businesses help each other to reach a certain goal. Cooperation among sectors of the society. B. Caring Economics Caring economics deals with giving importance to human beings and the environment as a part of the society and development. Human rights and other rights should be implemented and punishment among those who does not care for the life of human beings and the environment. C. Conscious Capitalism A type of capitalism where there is no self – interest instead the conditions of others or employees and other people are not being for granted but always take in to consideration. Employees should be given equal rights like the owners and observe right mind setting in making decisions. D. Natural Capitalism  In natural economics, capitalists are being reminded to also invest in natural resources so that there will still be source of raw materials and in times of calamity, the environment would be protected. Restrict and not allow businesses that would not agree on investing a portion of their income for reserving the environment. E. Sacred Economics Sacred economics state that true happiness is not having a lot of money. It is explained that money is man- made and what is more important are those things created by God that can give us real happiness. Having the mentality that above everything else, happiness is what we want and being contented with what we have is already enough. Having a lot of money will not make us very happy. 3. Always in your own words throughout the rest of your paper, compare and contrast the emerging economic ideas you’ve just explained in No. 1. What are their similarities and differences? Discuss in detail. (15 points) 3. Analyze how EACH of the emerging economic ideas fulfill (or not fulfill) the goals and criteria of development according to: I. the Catholic Church’s AUTHENTIC DEVELOPMENT concept, II. the United Nation’s SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT, and The criteria of development according to the UN’s Sustainable Development concept, Development is the capability to improve without sacrificing or compromising what is there for the future. Development is like having freedom, there is no servitude, a person is able to do something because he/ she knows that he/ she can, there is self-confidence within himself/herself. In addition, development is when there is respect in the society , when there is  sustenance that each person can say that â€Å"I’ve had enough and I am contented†. This criteria of development is somehow like the Sacred economics, there is real happiness when people are contented and live in an environment where there is respect and freedom. III. PEACE AS DEVELOPMENT. Discuss in detail. Use the â€Å"Lenses of Development† lecture file found in the egroup Lectures> Current Material folder (also in http://www.slideshare.net/gracewithfire/lenses-of-development) as well as any additional research you might want to make. (30 points) 4. Given your preceding discussion and analysis, what are your conclusions (CONCLUDING REMARKS) about these emerging economic ideas? (10 points) In my own opinion, the emerging economic ideas would be successful fully if only people especially business owners , the government are willing to cooperate by doing those. Indeed, real happiness is when you can say that I am really happy and contented of what I have. In fact, there is no need for money to be happy but all we need is love, if we have the love of the people around us, we could say that we are happy. The emerging economic ideas are primarily concerned about the real wealth of the society, human beings and the environment. If people would only think of these two things and how will their decisions affect the human beings and the environment, probably there would be no extra expense for them especially for those who are in the government and owners of businesses because if they would only invest in protecting and preserving of the natural resources and environment, there would probably no destructions brought by calamities such as floods and landslides that destroyed their businesses. 5. Please also attach your individually accomplished 21st Century Skills updated survey form at the end of your paper. The form is found in the Assignments> Current Material folder of the egroup, the same folder where this instructions file is found. Format: Letter-sized bond paper, double-spaced, with pagination at the upper right hand corner, 1-inch margins all around, with cover page showing contributing members’ names and individual contributions and class schedule,  and References page (if you used additional researched references) in APA Style , 6th edition. SUBMIT IN HARDCOPY BY OCTOBER 14, 2013, 5PM , AT THE CBA FACULTY OFFICE, VIA THE SECRETARIES. PLS. HAVE YOUR COVER PAGE STAMPED WITH RECEIVED DATE AND TIME BY THE SECRETARY.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Metaphysical Studies Of The Self And Personal Identity

Metaphysical studies of the self and personal identity were near non-existent prior to Renà © Descartes’ â€Å"Meditations on First Philosophy†. While â€Å"Meditations† was not written with the main focus on personal identity, Descartes makes assertions regarding the subject through the possessive voice. Most of the assertions regarding personal identity materialize in Mediations two and six. By using â€Å"I† in his essay, his epistemological paper is turned into a paper that also concerns self, consciousness, and identity. A writer that focuses more specifically on personal identity in his book titled â€Å"Concerning Human Understanding† is John Locke. The twenty seventh chapter in book two of Concerning Human understanding has a very explicit focus on†¦show more content†¦He claims that the two are inseparable when he claims that â€Å"thought is an attribute that belongs to [him]† and that he exists within his soul (10). As l ong as Descartes is thinking, the self exists, â€Å"for it might possibly be the case if [he] ceased entirely to think, that [he] should likewise cease altogether to exist† (10). Through this claim, Descartes makes it clear that the ability to think is the greatest factor of the self, for if thinking no longer takes place, neither does the existence of the self. An issue that Descartes encounters however, is that it is implied that it is possible to differentiate one consciousness from another, since we can only be sure of our own consciousness. Later in the sixth meditation, Descartes attempts to answer if material things can exist. In this, he explores the idea that body can in fact exist, and that body has an impact on how will view the self. He writes that he is not in his body as a â€Å"pilot in a vessel† but instead, is â€Å"very closely united to it, and so to speak, so intermingled with it that [he seems] to compose with it one whole† (29). This demonstrates that while the body is not necessary for personhood to exist, one’s body is very connected to the person. He uses the example of experiencing pain to further demonstrate the correlation between the two. When he experiences a pain that is not visible to his sense perceptions, or feels hungry or thirsty, it is his thinking faculties that present him withShow MoreRelatedThe Theory Of Self And Memory1598 Words   |  7 PagesPersonal identity has been, and will arguably remain, a major area of debate and discussion amongst philosophers, both i n Western and Eastern branches of academia. Indeed, this idea that personal identity- more commonly referred to as â€Å"the self†- remains constant, despite any and all qualitative changes that can occur to a person, has left many philosophers ever so puzzled. Nevertheless, four main theories have been developed in an effort to best explain both the existence of the self and how itRead MoreExplanations of the Branches of Philosophy1358 Words   |  6 PagesExplanations of the Branches of Philosophy Jacqueline T. Ashley April 3, 2016 AIU Online Professor Ian McDougall Explanations of the Branches of Philosophy Philosophy is the study of the primary essence of knowledge, reality, and existence, mainly when viewed as an educational regimen. Philosophy includes an approach of questions and answers among a couple of individuals; this approach is referred to as a dialogue. In a dialogue, an individual is searching for a reasonable view and comprehensionRead MorePhilosophy : The Fundamental Nature Of Knowledge1461 Words   |  6 Pages Philosophy in my perspective is a study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, existence and the theory or attitude acting as a guiding principle for behaviour. The understanding that, philosophy is not just about a deep expression of our wonders and the search for knowledge is false from my views. Philosophy broadens our imagination and allows individuals to engage, analyse and criticize the wider world. Individuals have different thoughts, values reasons and method of communication suchRead MorePersonal Growth And Happiness : Positive Psychology1367 Words   |  6 Pages Growth and Happiness In considering personal growth and happiness we naturally connect with the concept of subjective wellbeing and also the positive psychology movement. Positive psychology, with its foundations influenced by Aristotelian ethics, concentrates on the elements of human behaviour that effect personal and community development. These are referred to as our universal character strengths and include the acts of integrity, forgiveness, kindness and gratitude (Peterson Webb, 2006)Read MoreExchanging Our Country Marks by Michael Gomez.1495 Words   |  6 Pagescombined with personal diaries, church records, and former slave narratives to provide a firsthand account of the African and African-American experiences during the eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. With this mastery of sources, Gomez challenges many of the prevailing assumptions about slavery-- for example, that the new condition of slavery superseded all others (48)-- and he advances intriguing new speculations about the dev elopment of a collective African-American identity. In GomezsRead MoreThe Comparable And Contrastable Philosophies Of Kierkegaard And Kant Essay1294 Words   |  6 Pagesemphasized the importance of subjective thinking and the self. Kierkegaard’s philosophical teachings did not end with the importance of being subjective thinkers but continued into his three stages of life theory. Kierkegaard’s philosophical perception on the self thus exemplified how individuals ought to transgress into ethical beings. His theory was sectioned off into three parts: the aesthetic self, the ethical self, and the religious self. Kierkegaard introduced his concept of ethics as the fundamentalRead More Meditation and the Brain Essay1538 Words   |  7 PagesMeditation and the Brain When discussing the relationship of brain and behavior, the materialist view of human experience runs into conflict with the historically dominant religious accounts. Recent studies, however, suggests that there may be a middle view between the two world-views. Religions, especially Buddhism, stress the role of meditation in ones spiritual growth. Meditation has tangible psychological and physiological benefits, though, which can be explained strictly in neurobiologicalRead MoreMy Own Beliefs About Teaching And Learning Essay1679 Words   |  7 Pagesthis type of educational philosophy because this is the way I learn best. According to my scores, Existentialism does not fit with my philosophy of education and learning. Existentialists focus on emphasizing the existence and responsibility of a self-defining individual. They believe that to exist is to choose, and the choices people make define who they are. Existentialists believe that people can either define themselves, or choose to be defined by others. They believe that the â€Å"truth† isRead MoreReview Asian 104 Essay5895 Words   |  24 Pagessubmissive, lower, passive, etc. c. yin-yang metaphysical vision-The yin-yang metaphysical vision concerning the relation between changing/becoming and unchanging/being, as delivered in the Yi-Jing (I Ching) text takes neither priority of changing/becoming over unchanging/being nor priority of unchanging/being over changing/becoming, but regards changing/becoming and unchanging/being as complementary yin-yang opposites in an organic unity. The yin-yang metaphysical vision has a strong methodological implicationRead More Frankenstein, Community, and the Individual Essay1697 Words   |  7 PagesFrankenstein. It is through these concepts that Shelley explores how society has changed during Romanticism and the Industrial Revolution, with lessening importance on shared knowledge and the public sphere and more emphasis on individual achievement and identity, leading to a fractured and isolated society. In this paper I argue that Mary Shelleys Frankenstein criticizes the impacts of Industrial Revolution and Romantic era- inspired individualism on the community and individual, using Victor Frankensteins