Martinez Construction Company in Germany

MARTINEZ CONSTRUCTION COMPANY IN GERMANY 1. General presentation of the case study (Summary) Martinez Construction is a well-established construction company in Eastern Spain. Because of a recent decline in contracts in the Spain society, Martinez Construction Company needed to expand to international market in order to survive (expand and grow). After a survey in the international market, the newly formed Democratic Germany seemed the perfect place. Furthermore, the best solution was to acquire an existing firm with the help of Treuhandanstalt (privatization agency).This was a result of the lack of liquidity of the Martinez Company. Therefore, an alliance with another German company would not allow it to establish itself as a serious competitor on the international market. The intermediary for Martinez Construction was THA (Treuhandanstalt), a company created in the former German Democratic Republic, whose main purpose was to find private buyers for some 13 500 business and 15 000 p arcels of real estate that had been owned by the former German Democratic Republic.Their primary job was to sell the companies and match existing companies with buyers. That’s why Martinez Construction used THA’s services to find a new German company to acquire. From the time of his arrival in Germany, Juan felt that he was having a difficult time just getting acquainted with the Germans. . They didn’t seem to have time to get to know Juan personally: rush and urgency to complete the sale was the focus of their approach. Thus, THA found Konstruktion Dreizehn, based in Leipzig.Juan Sanchez was sent to handle the negotiations part of the acquisition in Germany. Juan was accompanied by Diego’s nephew and projected manager of the new German acquisition, Miguel Martinez. His background includes a business degree from a university in the United States, as well as years of employment in the family business, although lacking in practical managerial experience. Du ring the negotiations, there were noticed strong discrepancies between the business styles of the two representatives of the companies, the cultural barrier between the two being noticeable.However, they managed to arrive at a common point by modifying the initial contract, after Juan insisted. The final contract stated that the original price would be reviewed in two years, and the contracted parties would recalculate it based on new and presumably more reliable data concerning the true value of the firm. The company had employed approximately 350 workers inside the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The THA had reduced the workforce to 100. Miguel and his team estimated that 50 employees would be sufficient.Miguel was frustrated by the unwillingness of some employees to actively participate in the formulation of ideas and implementation of new procedures and policies. Six months after Miguel’s triumphant arrival, his optimism was fading fast. He had just received the latest report concerning the company’s financial position, and it was clear that the figures were far from what Martinez Construction had been led to believe. Cash flow problems were beginning to arise, and this threatened the very existence of the company. . Identification of the problem(s), causes and negative effects: 2. 1. Identification of the problem(s): The main problem of The Spanish Company consists of the fact that they were not prepared for the acquisition of a foreign company and further more for the negotiations with the German THA. Companies which operate only in one country are not familiar with all the economic, cultural and political differences between societies because they are not confronted with them on daily basis.In order to do successful business, it is of major importance to acknowledge this differences and to take it into consideration when doing business. A second problem will be that the manager of Martinez Construction Company choose the wrong people in order to complete the negotiations and after words to develop the new business in East Germany. 2. 2. Identification of the causes that led to the appearance of this/these problem(s): The problems arise mainly because the CEO of the Spanish company made his decisions of expansion in Germany on a blue-eyed approach.The idea occur to him when meeting German tourists in Spain that were relax and happy without taking into account that the East Germans were not allowed to travel so far and there are important differences between the mentality of Western and Eastern Germany. Another cause is represented by the Manager’s idea that he can develop a well-established business in the Eastern German because of cheap labor and raw materials. His choice to expand on German marketplace was not based on rational facts or clear developed objectives.Despite the fact that the management of Martinez Company conduct a series of research regarding the different market entry strategies into German markets which ended with the solution of acquiring a company from THA, a market selection can not rely only on information based on secondary sources. There are always certain information that can only be found when visiting the potential marketplace (distributors, suppliers, the existing management and employees). 2. 3. Identification of the potential negative effects that will appear if the problem(s) is/are not going to be solved:Negative effects on the short-run: * Lack of experience in managing a portfolio of business in another market than Spain as well as the lack of knowledge about the personality of German employees and the already existing procedures and policies * Different developed management information systems, governance structures, managerial skills and corporate processes * Lack of initiative coming from the employees because of fear and distrust of management due to the cultural differences between Spanish and German business practices. Exposure to unfamiliar busi ness practices such as strict environmental and employee protection regulations that forced unexpected large investments in plant modifications. * Other costly projects that have not been foreseen during the negotiations process that would have required attention. * Cash flow problems The negative effects in the long run: * Cash flow problems that finally may threaten the existence of the German company or even of the whole company’s * Closing the German enterprise would mean losing the whole investment (money invested in research, development, implementation, the price itself paid to THA and other costs hat incurred over the time). * Inability to achieve the forecasted figures 3. Identification of alternative solutions for identified problems Solution 1: Joint – Venture with a company from Western Germany Joint ventures are the most common method of entering the market, especially in Europe, because it allows companies to gain competitive advantage through access to a partner’s resources, including markets, technologies, capital and people.International Joint Ventures are viewed as a practical vehicle for direct investment along with knowledge transfer, such as technology transfer, from multinational expertise to local companies, and such knowledge transfer can contribute to the performance improvement of local companies. Advantages: * Access to local know-how which will help the company to evolve faster * Sharing development costs and risks, along with   technology and complementary IP assets for the production and delivery of innovative goods and services * Cheaper than acquisition   Reduce political friction and improve local/national acceptability of the company. Disadvantages: * A joint venture would not allow the company to establish itself as a serious competitor * Lack of control over technology * Many joint ventures fail because of a conflict in tax interests between the partners. Solution 2: Licensing Another solution to the above identified problem would be a method whereby Martinez Constructions would agree to permit a company in another country to use the manufacturing, processing, trademark, know-how or some other skill provided by the company.This method may also be used to gain access to new markets that otherwise are inaccessible. Advantages: *   Good way to start in foreign operations and open the door to low risk manufacturing relationships * Provides additional profitability with little initial investment * Low costs to implement * It has an attractive return on investment * A license agreement allows the licensor to retain ownership of the IP and at the same time to receive royalty income from it, in addition to the income from its own exploitation of it in products and services that it sells. Enables a business to reach customers that it normally wouldn’t be able to do on its own. Disadvantages: * A licensee can become the licensor’s competitor. The licensee may â€Å"canni balize† sales of the licensor, causing the latter to gain less from royalties than it loses from sales that go to its new competitor. * The licensee may suddenly ask for contribution, such as technical assistance, training of personnel, additional technical data etc. All this may prove too expensive for the licensor. * Limited participation * Requires considerable fact finding, planning, investigation and interpretation. 4.Selection of the optimal solution: 4. 1. Identify and choose the optimal solution among those presented above We have decided that the optimal solution for Martinez Construction Company to enter the German market would be to form a joint venture with a company from West Germany. 4. 2 Demonstration that the chosen solution is the optimum one. A joint venture is considered to be one of the easiest and safest methods a company could adopt in order to enter on a foreign market. In our case, we consider that the optimal solution would be for Martinez Construction Company to form a joint venture with a company rom the Western part of Germany because this part of the country was not under the communist regime, it is more developed and receptive to changes. In what concerns solution no 2, it suggests that licensing would be the best way for Martinez Construction to expand its business in Germany. Sometimes there are cases where licensing and joint venture methods are similar. They both allow companies to reach customers that it couldn’t reach otherwise; they save market research spending and present an attractive return on investment.By following licensing model, Martinez company can easily and quickly penetrate the German market, using fewer financial resources. But if we take into account the other problems encountered in this case, namely cultural differences between German and Spanish, and lack of knowledge of international management, such a purchase would be a disadvantage. Nevertheless, the licensee can become the licensorâ€℠¢s competitor and the license agreement doesn’t always guarantee the necessary know-how for the licensee who might need technical assistance provided by the licensor. . Implementation of the solution When trying to expand globally through a joint venture strategy, Martinez Corporation must take into consideration three important elements: choice of partner, establishment of a strategic fit and the design of the joint venture organization. As prior mentioned, Martinez Company should choose a partner from the Western Germany as they are more accustomed to the Western style of doing business than the former German Democratic Republic. Thus, the negotiation could be more transparent and easier for the firm.Furthermore, the most important thing that has to be taken into consideration is the field in which the firm with which the joint venture is going to be performing activates. This is because a classic joint venture is the merger of two companies which usually have complementary products or services in order to cover a larger part of the market share. As a result, Martinez Corporation should apply the joint venture strategy by making a partnership with an architecture firm. By joining these two kinds of companies two business segments will be covered.This is a very good strategy because the future clients will have to sign only one contract and not waste time between two or more similar companies. Concerning the strategic fit and the joint venture organization, both the Spanish and the German companies will have to share the same vision in order to make the newly formed company to be profitable. The companies have the major advantage that they can complete each other in the sense of the business environment. This means that the German company will have the experience of working in the German business environment.Furthermore, it could find cheaper and more qualified personnel (as the labor force in Western Germany is more expensive than that in GDR). The jo int venture should be staffed by a full-time joint venture coordinator and other staff – designated by the 2 companies, as may be necessary to carry out the mission of the joint venture. On the other hand, Martinez Corporation comes with the know- how of production and the actual construction knowledge. This way, the structure of the new company shall follow that of the Martinez Company and similar technical prerequisites will be required for hiring of employees.The capital for the new joint venture shall be provided by the two companies in equal shares, as to ensure limited risk exposure and possibilities for further investments. This is also due to the fact that Martinez should vote for an equity joint venture in order to be equal partners and share the same amount of risk. Concerning the organizational structures, this should be a mix between the two companies because, being two companies in two separate business areas, new departments shall arise. In addition, for the com mon departments they should choose the best people after a careful analysis of their skills.

“Fair Game” Film Review Essay

Born in New York City in 1965, director Doug Liman is known for producing multiple things from the T.V series the â€Å"O.C† (very successful) to another T.V series that flopped in â€Å"Mr. and Mrs. Smith (which only aired the pilot). He is most known for his work with â€Å"The Bourne Identity† saga. Which leads us to one of his most recent works â€Å"Fair Game†. When talking about what particular â€Å"genre† this movie possessed, we will have to quote â€Å"IMDB† and use the words Biography, drama, and thriller. As Haas would protest when the controversial conversation would come up about if it fits the political â€Å"genre†. He would simply break movies into four categories, which fits into â€Å"Politically Reflective Films†, â€Å"Socially Reflective Films†, â€Å"Pure Political Films†, and â€Å"Auteur Political Films†. I would actually put this somewhere around the â€Å"Pure Political Film† cate gory in my opinion. It opened in October 2010 and starred Naomi Watts (Valerie Plume), Sean Penn (Joe Wilson), and Sonya Davison (Chanel Suit). Watts is known for her busy career including movies like â€Å"21 grams†, and the two â€Å"Ring† movies. Penn has been just as busy performing in classics such as â€Å"Fast Times at Ridgemont High† to teaming up with Watts in â€Å"21 grams†. â€Å"Fair Game was nominated for 6 awards, taking home two victories. It was the 2010 â€Å"Best Narrative Feature† at the Mill Valley Festival Awards. It also claimed the â€Å"Freedom of Expression Award† at the National Board of Review. With top-notch actors, and an experienced aggressive director, â€Å"Fair Game† set out to become a memorable film and a must see. Did it succeed? Let me start critiquing the empirical (content) part of the film as mentioning the character Joseph Wilson, who served as a U.S ambassador to Gabon, San Tome, and Principe in previous duty. He was a diplomat with a very heavy opinion and was also very blunt. He was sent to Niger to investigate the situation of the White Houses suspicion that Iraq was buying Uranium from the African country for Nuclear power. Wilson who was approached because his wife Valerie Plume was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency (who’s character we will get into later), accepted to her approval. As Wilson came back from his endeavor he heard the famous speech that Bush gave when he addressed the Union. He became very prideful and stubborn with what he knew. He simply thought that it was untrue in every way possible. He went on to submit a piece in the â€Å"New York Times† claiming these reports to be false. Not only does this strike outrage with his stance with the White House, but it puts his wife’s job in jeopardy. This ultimately causes his wife’s identity as a CIA officer to leak (only Wilson and parents knew before this). This puts an end to Valerie Plume’s operations in which she had been helping a family of 15 get out of Baghdad during war, which caused a great deal of stress and trust being broken. Then both started receiving death threats and could not be seen in public without getting ambushed by reporters, taxi drivers, among others. The once happy marriage was being put to the test as Valerie takes the kids to her parent’s house searching for answers. Eventually as time passes by, Valerie realizes that he was right to fight the â€Å"wrong fight† (Valerie was also considered as â€Å"Fair Game† as one quote in the movie indicated.). She then proceeds to show up back at their home with a quote I loved from the dialogue, â€Å"Are you ready to fight?† Plume finally decides to back her husband and goes in front of congress to tell the truth and everything she knows about the situation. She says she does her best as a covert operational officer and it’s because she loves her job and her country. This ends with National Security adviser Scooter Libby being charged with perjury and obstruction of justice. One thing that I was appreciative of was the way director Doug Liman set the stage from the beginning in how he wanted you to portray this movie. He took you into the behind the scenes of the White House after September 11, 2001. He showed you what kind of pressure was on not only the president and White House, but also all of the related institutions including the CIA. The biggest threat to America was Iraq and Suddam Hussein. As America eagerly waited a rebuttal or response from Bush and company, the president came up with a game plan. That game plan set the pitch for the rest of the movie. In justifying taking action against Hussein and Iraq, Bush addresses the State of the Union in 2003 alluding to Uranium’s use in building weapons of mass destruction. Was this true? This is only up to ones opinion at this time. My take on what a good movie needs to do is to ultimately grab the viewer right from the start. This sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Most audiences (which James Combs quotes â€Å"A film participates in a political time not in how it was intended, but how it was utilized by those who saw it.† ) feel bored and robbed when movies sometimes do this, but it is necessary to get the full effect at the end. â€Å"Fair Game† simply did a fairly decent job setting up the viewers by telling Valerie’s character story first, this makes most appreciate her, so it kind of puts you in her shoes when she awakes one day and her husband’s opinion is in the paper (something that would forever change her life). I like how it put my mind to a critical thinking stage. What would I do in her situation? This in my eyes makes a great film. There were also parts of the film that I did not care so much about and I will explain why. First if Iraq and Suddam Hussein were the main threats as terrorist to the United States, doesn’t that give us enough justice to go to war with them as it is? Why need to make up something about nuclear power (if that was the case) in order to get the ok. This is a true example of what I do not like about â€Å"biographies† that relate so much into the current events. Something to this nature (even though it is fiction) bothers me in the slight est. The second thing was the story of Hammad and his 15 family members waiting to get to safe territories out of Baghdad because of Valerie’s word. It simply turns a huge story which kind of dominated most of the movie, into â€Å"Hammad and family are missing†. I was just hoping for a better conclusion to that story. This seemed to get the director to his main message no matter the case. Overall I believe the main point of this movie was to give you the overall behind the scenes look at the political side of things after a recent tragedy such as September 11, 2001. It shows you every angle that’s involved including the White House outlook to the CIA, to every one person being affected by these situations. It discusses that there are a ton of things that go on behind the scenes that not many people ever get to see. Things like this beg you to ask the question every time there is a current event situation. Is it true? Along with discussing and analyzing it. The one thing you do not do is write a post to the newspaper questioning the president, because we all know (quote from movie said to Wilson â€Å"The White House men are the most powerful people in the world†.) how that ends up. My rating for this movie was 3 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed most of it, especially the plot. I also thought the acting had a big affect on turning a good movie to something more. I enjoyed going back a few years and remembering exactly what I was doing during the time of these current events. Only a few nitpicks that I didn’t like which could’ve had my rating go even higher, which I discussed earlier. When suggesting this film to others, I would only recommend if politics were at a interest in you. If not the case, I could think of other films instead. I have friends that are both. I am going to conclude this review with a quote from the movie. Jack replies to Valerie when she is questioning his actions. I thought of it as being very deep, â€Å"Do you want to be loyal to your husband or to the CIA?† The following were used as resources for my work: 1. IMDB.com 2. Political Matinee: Hollywood’s Take on American Politics, edited by Richard Herrera

Different Cultures That We May Encounter As Therapists

Thus far in the course we have learned how important it is to have basic knowledge on various cultures that we may encounter as therapists. According to Choudhuri, Santiago-Rivera, Garrett (2012), culture is defined as the personification of a worldview through learned and transmitted beliefs, religious and spiritual traditions, psychological processes, values, and practices. Moreover, it is a way of life that is shaped by ecological, historical, economic, and political factors on a specific group of people (Choudhur et al., 2012). I have learned culture goes beyond just race and ethnicity. Culture can be seen in the way people dress, the type of food they eat, the medicines they use, their religious practices, the people they chose to†¦show more content†¦In fact, there were only Spanish supermarkets, which are different than a Mexican market, which I was interested to explore. From my understanding, in Philadelphia people of Spanish culture are considered Dominican, Cuban , Puerto Rican, and other countries of Spanish decent. There are Puerto Rican neighborhoods and Dominican neighborhoods but they all consider themselves part of the same culture, which was interesting to me because in Texas, Mexicans were part of the Mexican culture and Dominicans were a part of the Dominican culture. Sources In terms of sources, I happened to find two interesting articles exploring cultural components of a Spanish supermarket. The first article I looked at was one that was a study of that what Spanish consumers think about organic food. I choose this article because I was interested in exploring if Spanish food can be healthy or organic. While I was in the market, I saw plenty of vegetables and produce, but I was unsure if there were any organic products. The article explored the view of organic food on the Spanish culture (Vega†Zamora, Torres†Ruiz, Murgado†Armenteros, Parras†Rosa, 2014). It was viewed as higher value and more expensive product. Due to this view of organic food, consumption is greatly impacted in the Spanish culture. Similar to the article above, I found another article about Spanish culture and food,

Hamlet As The Tragic Hero Of The Play Hamlet - 1314 Words

In order to better understand Hamlet one must first asses, and define man. According to webster dictionary a man is a male often having the qualities associated with bravery,script or toughness(site webster dictionary www.define a man.com here). We know the male figure is known to exhibit distinctive male traits such as strength, dignity, courage and be a provider and supporter. As seen in Hamlet one must understand the male figure to better understand Hamlet and why the male behave in such ways, is it the male ego, personality, or just the male gender. Hamlet has many character flaws that interferes with his loyalty to his country, father,mother, and response to duty. Shakespere diplays Hamlet as the tragic hero of the play, he†¦show more content†¦Hamlet struggles with decisiveness. He dislike his uncle Claudis . The marriage of Hamlets mother to Claudis angers Hamlet, this plays a significant role in the character tragic flaw. This create a trust issue between Gertrude and her son Hamlet, does her loyalty lies to her husband King Claudis or to son Hamlet. Hamlet feels a lack of trust this establish a hostile relationship towards his mother now his auntie. This behavior is displayed in Act 3 scene 4 lines 10-15 Gertrude tells Hamlet fear me not, thou hast thy father much offeneded. Hamlet answers back saying mother you have my father much offended , Getrude states Have you forgot me? Hamlet responses by saying No, by the rood, not so you are the queen, your husbands brother s wife, And-would it were no so-you are my mother.Everyone knowns that mother and son bond is stronger than any bond, the conflict between mother and her child is revealed in this scene. Hamlet heart begins to hearten towards his mother the bond mother and son once shared has been destroyed by the monster Claudis refer to as a Vililian in the play by the ghost. 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Tying Homers Iliad to Virgils Aeneid Through the Theme...

Warfare is a common thread that ties Homers Iliad to Virgils Aeneid. However, the way warfare is treated in the two epics is different. This can be attributed to many factors including the time between the composition of the pieces, the fact that pieces were written by different authors, and the fact that the pieces were written in different places. We can use these pieces to get a view of what the society that produced them thought about war and how the view of war changed as time went on in the ancient world. The Iliad is a poem of war. The entire narrative takes place at or near a battlefield with men who had been fighting a seemingly never ending war for over nine years, and portrays many many battles great and small. At the†¦show more content†¦An example of this is in Book IV when Ajax kills Simoisius. Homer says â€Å"Telamonian Ajax struck Anthemions son, the hardy stripling Simoisius, still unwed... His mother had borne him along the Simois banks when she tra iled her parents down the slopes of Ida to tend their flocks, and so they called him Simoisius.†(4.547-51) In a war that has lasted nine years where untold numbers of men have died, why would Homer take such care to tell his audience about someone like Simoisius? Perhaps because if the listener knows something about the vanquished opponent, that gives more glory to the conquering hero. Another reason could be that for the vanquished in death they receive some measure of glory for fighting bravely against a famous hero like Ajax. Another place we see this emphasis on glory when Hector returns to Troy in Book VI. Hectors wife Andromache begs him to take his armies and make his stand near a fig tree close to the walls of Troy.(6.511-20) While Andromaches advice may be tactically sound, Hector refuses her by saying â€Å"Ive learned it all too well. To stand up bravely, always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers, winning my father great glory, glory for myself.à ¢â‚¬ (6.527-29) The overwhelming desire for glory takes precedence over proper military tactics in this situation. While Homer gives great weight to the

Strategy Formulation Organizations that Would Benefit

Question: Discuss about the Strategy Formulation and the Organizations that Would Benefit from the Idea. Answer: Introduction: The world of business comprises multiple organizations that are given the responsibilities of executing their strategy. However, most organizations lack an understanding of what are strategies. Most of the strategies statements by these groups are the organizational goals, objectives, tactics and even descriptions of the organizational task. (Grant Jordan, 2015) Strategies are often confused with goals. However, strategies could refer to the means by which to achieve the goals. A plan involves coordination of the various resources in the right place all to work towards achieving the set goal. The most organizations are in the process of formulating the policies. A good strategy for any organization is one that analyzes the business environment which the company is developed (Geneva, 2015). Once the situation is examined there is the recognition of a gap in the firm line that would lead to the development of some uniqueness from the competitors. The business resources are then analyz ed and used to measure the capability of the company to sustain the new business strategy. The policy should be aimed at producing a continued uniqueness throughout the lifetime of the firm. Therefore, it should be sustainable within the available resources. This means in the strategy development there has to be a plan that will ensure that the business will be able to maintain the uniqueness in the years to come. For a strategy to be termed as sound, the role of time is very crucial. The correct timing is required to ensure that the strategy is working in the best way possible. Wrong timing would be fatal to the whole idea. Strategies can take different forms depending on how they are formulated and the stage at which they are formed. Others are established during the time of operation; others forecast events to be done in the future while others are realized during the brainstorming of ideas (Slack Lewis, 2015). The organization that would benefit from this idea of strategy formulation is those organizations dealing with the massive production of goods (Ghemawat Siegel, 2014). This could include an organization like the General Motors which is involved in the mass production of cars. The information about the formulation of a long-term strategy would be of benefit. Taking the case study of IKEA, the General Motors Company can borrow the strategy and employ it in their organization, and this will help in reducing the shipping cost of the products. The development of a sound strategy by this company would mean that the organization will be able to save much of its costs, and this will be reflected in the profits. A business strategy should also be guarded against the competitors. Therefore, a sound strategy will help the organization to be placed in a better position in the phase of the competition. The strategy should be difficult to imitate and should be kept along with the major trade secr ets of the organization (Tracy, 2015). The plan is developed internally and should remain internal to the business. This will help General Motors company to have protection over their products and prevent the loss or leakage of this information to other organizations. CAGE Framework CAGE framework of evaluation of international trade defines the business relationship between two countries that have similarity in the cultural, political, geographical and economic differences. (STOBER, 2014) In this framework, the distance is seen to be the primary factor influencing the trade between nations. This distance is measured in the four different perspectives and is used to define the interactions. The interactions are said to be influenced along the four top factors serving as necessary things to consider in trade. For instance, when two nations share a common border they are likely to purchase more, unlike countries that are located far away. When there are two countries with the same economic power such that the level of development is almost equal, then the standard of interaction in financial terms will be high. There is also a significant cultural interaction between the trading countries. There are some cultures consider other factors to be immoral or unethical. This will result in minimized interaction with those countries that are involved with the product. Political or administrative influence plays a significant role in international trade. Therefore, if there are understandings between the two nations that are trading then the business will be enhanced. This is opposed to the countries that are located in the same border and lack administrative stability (Miloloza, 2015). Traders tend to shy away from areas that are not stable due to the fear of the risk involved in the trade that could lead to significant losses. An organization that would benefit from the CAGE framework is the multinational corporations such as Holiday Inn; long chain hotels. It is because they conduct their business across the borders and therefore having an understanding of this framework will help in choosing the destinations in which to establish their branches. There is a need to understand the culture of the people for instance for them to accept the trade to be conducted in their region (Thomas Hutzschenreuter Affiliation: WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management Ingo Kleindienst Affiliation: Aarhus University, 2016). Introducing something foreign in a foreign destination will result in rejection of the business and lead to reduced performance. There is also need to understand the administrative requirements of the destination before establishing the new branch, and this will serve best to meet the trade regulations. The other important aspect to be put into consideration is the need to understand the location of the business. If the other nation is located far away, geographically there will be cost implications that will result from the distance factor, and therefore this will discourage the trade with that country. The cost implications are also dependent on the level of economic development, and therefore the trading interaction between two nations with the same economic development level will be more attractive to the traders than it would be in the case of differences in economic development (Geneva, 2015). This framework would work best for the long chains of hotels since they are expanding each day to new nations. There is need to know the levels of interaction between the two countries. References Ghemawat, P., Siegel, J. I. (2011). Cases about redefining global strategy. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Pub. Grant, R. M., Jordan, J. (2015). Foundations of strategy (2nd ed.). Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley. Miloloza, H. (2015). Differences between Croatia and EU Candidate Countries: the CAGE Distance Framework. Society for promotion of business information technology. Slack, N., Lewis, M. (2015). Operations strategy (3rd ed.). Harlow, England ; New York : Pearson,. Stober, E. O. (2011). CAGE Analysis of Chinas Trade Globalization. European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies , v6 (n1), 39-54. strategy, R. L. (2015). Robert Ludlum's the Geneva strategy (First edition ed.). New York : Grand Central Publishing. Thomas Hutzschenreuter Affiliation: WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, B. 2., Ingo Kleindienst Affiliation: Aarhus University, D. o. (2016). The Concept of Distance in International Business Research: A Review and Research Agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews , v18 (n2), 160-179. Tracy, B. (2015). Business strategy. New York : American Management Association.

Thursdays Concert Essays - Surf Culture, Ukulele, Pan Flute

Thursday's Concert Thursday we had an Andean concert. Condor Conspiracy, a five member group, played. Two of the members have played for us before. The group played a variety of instruments like the bomba, the flute, the armadillo ukulele and the pan pipes. The songs they played were very simple, and almost even boring. It was earthy sounding. The songs sounded a little like hippie music. However, I appreciated that they did tell us the name of each song, and provided background information, which keeps me interested and helps hold my attention. For example, the armadillo ukulele is the only instrument with a minor tuning. Also, the pan pipes are tuned by dropping lentils one by one in the pipes. My favorite part of the concert was the rain forest song. It imitated the rain forest throughout the day, starting out quiet, growing slowly, and ending quiet again. One instrument started, and they added more one by one, then back slowly to the original instrument. In conclusion, I enjoyed the concert. It wasn't as great as some of the other concerts we've had this year, but it was interesting. I guess I'm just not a big Andean music fan. Music Essays