Week 4 Discussion Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Week 4 Discussion - Coursework Example Clear accountability and responsibility of members of the team; all team members should have an apparent understanding of their roles in the project (Kerzner, 2013). There should also be frequent monitoring as well as measurement of milestones, time, equipment and people schedules. Correctly done schedule control as well gives the primary hint that initial planning might not be going as per the schedule. The initial step is to identify as well as engage with the main stakeholders. Have talks, an official stakeholder consultation or a problem definition seminar, but it is important to begin the hunt for extra data on the business need. Secondly, after gaining a grasp on what the business need entails, begin to translate and construe that need into a structured problem or explanation of the scope. More importantly at this phase is to write down the business need into an understandable language (Kerzner, 2013). Thirdly, after clarifying and agreeing on what the existing business need is, the process of brainstorming ideas of how the need can be addressed begins. Another very crucial part of this task on any project is to deal with the change of business needs right from the beginning of any business project. Building firm relationship with stakeholders is the final phase. Lack of good relationships amid the business stakeholders and the project team stakeholders, as well as the supporting technical members, can make the project fail. b. Obstacles and how to overcome Communication and Language: The prioritization and precise nature of needs usually differ with a projects stakeholders. Diverse interpretations are usually discovered very late in the development cycle, when alterations entail a lot of effort and cost. Creating a prototype all through requirements gathering can assist to settle any disparity in understanding. Overbooked

Managing Information Technology Essay Example for Free

Managing Information Technology Essay Question #1: What would be your prioritized list of IT investments? Four IT investments need to be prioritized; 1. 2. 3. 4. Ecommerce Web sales Aligning the various systems (legacy, SAP, ERP) together. Hire relationship managers Make IT a â€Å"partner† 1. After only 3 years, KL’s Web sales have reached $156M, equalizing its in store sales, and now represent 15% of total sales. This is very encouraging and exciting. KL needs to continue to invest in Ecommerce Web sales in order to continue this great growth. Selling via the Internet should be a priority because it’s cheaper than your ordinary brick and mortar sales points, there is less overhead expense, and this market is growing exponentially. The company should work towards gaining the most market share possible developing an industry leading website, timely and dependable delivery, and customer service. Accomplishing the above means getting all the company sharing information and data more efficiently (see point #2). 2. KL has a complex IT infrastructure with various systems in use around the world. The result is a frustrated bunch of employees upset with the fact that communication data sharing is awful. To remedy this the company needs to invest more in training to get the whole company, including the USA, to use SAP as soon as possible. 3. Assign/hire relationship managers to improve information sharing, facilitate plans, priorities, communications, and relationships, and in turn get the whole system to work together. 4. To avoid such problems in the future, KL needs to make IT a â€Å"partner† in the decision making process. In other words, the company needs to better involve IT in company strategy and tactical planning. With the IT team, the company needs to develop and define an Enterprise Operating Model and Architecture that include business strategy, current IT assessment, IT strategy and IT plans. Question #2: Would your colleagues on the executive committee agree with your selection and prioritization? The above priorities should be well received because they solve or improve many of the frustrating employees around the company. This answer will look at each division (upper management, sales marketing, order fulfillment and distribution, and ITS) and see why the four IT priorities should be well received by the executive committee. The KL upper management is on record stating that the company has IT challenges â€Å"†¦around coordinating the various, and at times conflicting, business priorities across the enterprise. We sure could use better IT tools for this as well as ready access to timely performance data.†, CEO Joseph Campbell. In addition, COO Jens McCreary stated that the company needs to improve global supply-chain management and leverage the expertise to outpace out competitors and cut our operating costs†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Considering these quotes it’s safe to assume that the CEO and COO should be accepting of these four IT priorities because will want to see IT provide better services in order to reach their goals. The products, manufacturing and distribution divisions of the company want to see SAP standardized and compatible across the company in order to better share information. Priorities #2 and 3 should please this division. Sales marketing hope to see inter-operating unit and communications and coordination issues to be resolved and they need real-time data. Priorities #1, 2 and 3 should encourage the sales and marketing team. The order fulfillment and distribution divisions need capabilities to forecast sales and manage our product and cash flows need to be more competitive. They want to be able to deliver in a J.I.T. basis (optimize effectiveness) and have data integration between the legacy systems, SAP, Oracle, etc. These issues should improve with priorities #2 and 3 and this making these priorities acceptable to this division. Finally, the information technology services (ITS) claim that not spending enough on IT (more spent on production and sales), and Web and ecommerce should be priority. Priorities 1 to 4 all favor the ITS team, and therefore should be well received.

Assyrian Warfare :: essays research papers fc

Assyrian Warfare During Mesopotamian times, wars were what divided ruling periods. There were many different peoples that dominated Ancient Mesopotamia and the Assyrians were one of them. The Assyrians prospered mainly because of their divine talent to defensively resist and offensively overwhelm their enemies. At no point of Assyrian rule was there ever a time without conflict of some sort. The Assyrians were known to have a powerful, ruthless army. The army was the largest Middle East or Mediterranean fighting force that had ever been seen. It is believed that God himself promised the Israelites that if they disobeyed Him he would allow them to be taken up and carried away to foreign lands. His promise is explained in Isaiah 5:26-29. It reads, â€Å"He will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. No one weary or stumble among them No one will slumber or sleep Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, Nor the strap of their sandals be broken; Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses’ hooves will seem like flint, And their wheels like whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion, They will roar like young lions; Yes, they will roar And lay hold of the prey; They will carry it away safely, And no one will deliver.† Israel’s rebellion angered God and it led to war with the invincible Assyrians. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was wiped out. â€Å"Why were the Assyrians at war so much?† is a likely question to arise when discussing these people. And in my eyes the answer is simple. For land and power. The map of the beginning of the Assyrian empire compared to the end of the Assyrian empire shows great difference. It is obvious that much expansion took place during this rule. Like the Chinese Han dynasty, there was an explosion of territory growth in the Assyrian time period. Not being able to control all the land and people was the Hans’ weakness and led to their downfall. The Assyrians had an interesting policy that eliminated this problem. They would deport defeated nations and led them to captive lands. This would destroy the individuals’ sense of nationalism and would cause them to be much more willing to submit to Assyrian rule. They figured that the less people would resist, the less problem they would have with their captives and it worked well for them. Assyrian Warfare :: essays research papers fc Assyrian Warfare During Mesopotamian times, wars were what divided ruling periods. There were many different peoples that dominated Ancient Mesopotamia and the Assyrians were one of them. The Assyrians prospered mainly because of their divine talent to defensively resist and offensively overwhelm their enemies. At no point of Assyrian rule was there ever a time without conflict of some sort. The Assyrians were known to have a powerful, ruthless army. The army was the largest Middle East or Mediterranean fighting force that had ever been seen. It is believed that God himself promised the Israelites that if they disobeyed Him he would allow them to be taken up and carried away to foreign lands. His promise is explained in Isaiah 5:26-29. It reads, â€Å"He will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. No one weary or stumble among them No one will slumber or sleep Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, Nor the strap of their sandals be broken; Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses’ hooves will seem like flint, And their wheels like whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion, They will roar like young lions; Yes, they will roar And lay hold of the prey; They will carry it away safely, And no one will deliver.† Israel’s rebellion angered God and it led to war with the invincible Assyrians. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was wiped out. â€Å"Why were the Assyrians at war so much?† is a likely question to arise when discussing these people. And in my eyes the answer is simple. For land and power. The map of the beginning of the Assyrian empire compared to the end of the Assyrian empire shows great difference. It is obvious that much expansion took place during this rule. Like the Chinese Han dynasty, there was an explosion of territory growth in the Assyrian time period. Not being able to control all the land and people was the Hans’ weakness and led to their downfall. The Assyrians had an interesting policy that eliminated this problem. They would deport defeated nations and led them to captive lands. This would destroy the individuals’ sense of nationalism and would cause them to be much more willing to submit to Assyrian rule. They figured that the less people would resist, the less problem they would have with their captives and it worked well for them.

Discrimination of black people and white people Essay

This story, Black Boy is a great book that describes how the author, Richard Wright, suffered in the South of the United States during the time when there was still a lot of discrimination throughout the country. Since the author explained many of his horrible experiences in the past, this book cannot be written in a thin book. This thick book is full of his great experiences that wanted to be read by many people in the world in order to let everybody know the disasters of racism. This racism affected Richard Write a lot and he had to adapt to the environment that he was in, although he didn’t know how he should act in front of white people in the beginning of the story. There are not many examples in the beginning of the story since Richard was a little boy, and he still didn’t know about racism. He did know that something was different between black and whites, but he wasn’t able to understand it since he was too young. He even talks to himself in Pg. 49 that â€Å"I had heard that colored people were killed and beaten, but so far it all had seemed remote. There was, of course, a vague uneasiness about it all, but I would be able to handle that when I came to it. It would be simple. If anybody tried to kill me, then I would kill them first. † After this, he realized the harshness of racism around his society when Uncle Hoskins got shot by a white man when he was at the saloon. And the reason is just because a black man was earning a lot of money and the white man became jealous. Also after this scene, there is an another example in Pg. 172 where he met his classmate, Ned Greenley who had lost his brother since the whites shot him for a specific reason. Ned said, â€Å"Th-they said he was fooling with a white prostitute there in the hotel. † Richard was shocked since he could be in those kinds of situations at any time. Richards starts to think of really going to North soon as possible now. In Chapter nine, there is a scene that is really harsh where Richard sees it, but could do nothing. This scene is at the clothing store for black people where Richard worked. The black employees were treated like slaves in the store; the white owners would push, kick, or slap the blacks. Although Richard saw this scene many times, he never got used to it. Another big thing is the time when Richard sees a black woman getting raped by two white men. This is a part from the book that describes how evil this time of period was. On Pg. 179, it says, â€Å"White people passed and looked on without expression. A white policeman watched from the corner, twirling his night stick; but he made no move. I watched out of the corner of my eyes, but I never slackened the strokes of my chamois upon the brass. After a moment or two I heard shrill screams coming from the rear room of the store; later the woman stumbled out, bleeding, crying, holding her stomach, her clothing torn. When she reached the sidewalk, the policeman met her, grabbed her, accused her of being drunk, called a patrol wagon and carted her away. † When I read this scene, it really hurt my heart. I couldn’t believe that the police didn’t do anything at all and although the policeman knew that the black woman was raped, he accused her of being drunken. Richard could have thought of saving the woman, but if he did something to the whites, he could be killed. Therefore, Richard wasn’t able to do anything. All he could do was to feel sorry for the lady. This doesn’t mean that Richard didn’t worry about the woman, it was the way how he had to act in the South. After Richard realizes the social cycle between the whites and the blacks at his work place, he sacrifices his morals to save more money. He begins to bootleg liquor to sell to white prostitutes in the hotel that he worked at. After that, he involves in a ring for scamming tickets. Then, he quickly amasses enough money to move out to the North. Although Richard was working earnest, he quits it because it was very hard to collect money if he had worked earnestly. Since Richard Write had an experience that he does not want to experience anymore, he was able to write this book, which would tell all the readers that discrimination or racism is not a good thing to do. He explained how he had to act as a black man; if he didn’t act like a black man, he might have not gotten the chance of writing this book. Richard Write had explained how blacks should act as a black, and although many horrible things were occurring around him, he wasn’t able to change it since he was just a black man. I feel that Richard really wanted to resist against the white men but if he did, he knew that he was going to be dead. Although in the beginning of the story, he said that, â€Å"If anybody tried to kill me, then I would kill them first†, as a result he wasn’t able to disobey the whites because he was scared of death. Since he was able to adapt to the society that he was in, he was able to earn money and was able to go to the North to have a better life.

KM Tutorial Ans

208KM Tutorial 5 Ans Question 1 Ans Show why R&D management is dependent on industrial context. Answer: This question explores the extent to which students understand the importance of industrial context. R&D operations in the industrial chemical industry will be completely different from those in the food industry. For example, R&D managers in industrial chemicals companies may not have to deal with brand managers, whereas in the food industry brand managers will be very influential. Similarly, consumer research scientists will have a significant influence on decision making in consumer markets but not in industrial markets.Question 2 Discuss the range of operational R&D activities. Answer: Figure 8. 1 illustrates the R&D operations commonly found in almost every major research and development department. They may have different labels, but within Siemens, Nokia, BMW and Shell such operations are well documented. In smaller organisations the activities are less diverse and may inclu de only a few of these operations. This section explains what activities one would expect to find within each type of R&D operation. To help put these activities in context, Figure 9. shows how they relate to the product life-cycle framework. They are: Basic Research Applied Research Product Development Technical Service Question 3 What was the traditional view of R&D? Answer: After the Second World War, research and development played an important role in providing firms with competitive advantage. Technical developments in industries such as chemicals, electronics, automotive and pharmaceuticals led to the development of many new products, which produced rapid growth. For a while it seemed that technology was capable of almost anything.The traditional view of R&D has therefore been overcoming genuine technological roblems, which subsequently leads to business opportunities and a competitive advantage over one's competitors. Question 4 Not all firms invest in R;D. What should be th e level of expenditure on R;D for a firm? Answer: One of the most useful guides is to look at industry average expenditure. This will provide a guide to what a firm in a particular industry probably an annual budgetary basis. It requires a longer-term approach enabling knowledge to be acquired and built up over time.This often leads to tensions with other functions that are planning projects and activities. It is unusual for unlimited funds o be available, and hence business functions usually compete with other departments for funds. A great deal depends on the culture of the organisation and the industry within which it is operating (see Chapters 3 and 6). Pilkington, for example, spends proportionally large sums on R;D -many say too much – especially when one considers its more recent performance (Financial Times, 1998). Other companies spend very little on R;D but huge amounts on sales and marketing.This is the case for the financial services industry. So, one of the most difficult decisions facing senior management is how much to spend on R;D. Many companies now report R;D expenditure in their annual reports. It is now relatively easy to establish, for example, that Rubbermaid spent 14 per cent of sales on R;D in 1994; however, exactly how the company arrived at this figure is less clear. Question 5 What are the main strategic activities of R;D? Answer: The management of research and development needs to be fully integrated with the strategic management process of the business.This will enhance and support the products that marketing and sales offer and provide the company with a technical body of knowledge that can be used for future development. Too many usinesses fail to integrate the management of research and technology fully into the overall business strategy process (Adler et al. (1992)). A report by the European Industrial Management Association (EIRMA, 1985) recognises R;D as having three distinct areas, each requiring investment: R;D for e xisting businesses, R;D for new businesses and R;D for exploratory research (see Figure 8. ). These three strategic areas can be broken down into operational activities: 00 defend, support and expand existing businesses; drive new businesses; and broaden and deepen technological capability. Discuss some of the strategic pressures on R;D. Answer: In virtually all R;D functions there is a trade-off between concentrating resources in the pursuit of a strategic knowledge competence and spreading resources over a wider area to allow for the building of a more general knowledge base. Figure 8. 5 shows the demands on technical resources.The growth of scientific and technological areas of interest to the firm pressurises research management to fund a wider number of areas, represented by the upward curve. The need for strategic positioning forces the decision to focus resources and build strategic knowledge competencies, represented by the downward curve. Question 7 What is meant by technol ogy leverage? Answer: While it is tempting to say that technology influences the competitive performance of all businesses, in reality some businesses are more heavily influenced than others.In many mature and established industries, the cost of raw materials is much more of an influence on the competitive performance of the business than are technology developments. For example,the price paid for commodities like coffee, cocoa and sugar can dramatically influence profits in many food industries. Even if the business was to substantially increase the level of R;D nvestment, its competitive position would still be determined by raw material prices.Several attempts have been made by industry to quantify this factor when considering the level of R;D investment required. Scholefield (1993) developed a model using the concept of technology leverage. This is the extent of influence that a business's technology and technology base have on its competitive position. In general, technology le verage will be low when the influence of raw material and distribution costs and economic growth is high. High-volume, bulk commodity products would fall within this scenario.

Free Essays on Weblogs And Emergent Democracy

Introduction Ten years ago, if someone told you that in 10 years there would be just shy of a billion Internet users, more than 100 billion Web pages, and trillions of dollars of commerce based on a globally connected network, you might have thought the person insane. It was difficult to imagine then, as it is difficult to imagine now. Internet is developing at an escape speed, millions of thousands of virtual communities such as online games, weblogs, social networks, mailing lists, Instant messaging, regular IRC channels, etc, established .Among them, weblog boosts in recent years. Replacing the high-cost, venture-funded Web site with one that is intensely personal and built around the connectivity between people and ideas, weblogs play more and more important role in today’s society. It's no accident that weblogs are increasingly turning up as the top hits on search engines, since they trade in the same currency as the best search engineshuman intelligence, as reflected in who's already paying attention to what. As Joi said developers and proponents of the Internet have hoped to evolve the network as a platform for intelligent solutions which can help correct the imbalances and inequalities of the world. however, the Internet of today is a noisy environment with a great deal of power consolidation instead of the level, balanced democratic Internet. In 1993 Howard Rheingold wrote[2], We temporarily have access to a tool that could bring conviviality and understanding into our lives and might help revitalize the public sphere. The same tool, improperly controlled and wielded, could become an instrument of tyranny. The vision of a citizen-designed, citizen-controlled worldwide communications network is a version of technological utopianism that could be called the vision of "the electronic agora." In the original democracy, Athens, the agora was the marketplace, and moreit was where citizens met to talk, gossi... Free Essays on Weblogs And Emergent Democracy Free Essays on Weblogs And Emergent Democracy Introduction Ten years ago, if someone told you that in 10 years there would be just shy of a billion Internet users, more than 100 billion Web pages, and trillions of dollars of commerce based on a globally connected network, you might have thought the person insane. It was difficult to imagine then, as it is difficult to imagine now. Internet is developing at an escape speed, millions of thousands of virtual communities such as online games, weblogs, social networks, mailing lists, Instant messaging, regular IRC channels, etc, established .Among them, weblog boosts in recent years. Replacing the high-cost, venture-funded Web site with one that is intensely personal and built around the connectivity between people and ideas, weblogs play more and more important role in today’s society. It's no accident that weblogs are increasingly turning up as the top hits on search engines, since they trade in the same currency as the best search engineshuman intelligence, as reflected in who's already paying attention to what. As Joi said developers and proponents of the Internet have hoped to evolve the network as a platform for intelligent solutions which can help correct the imbalances and inequalities of the world. however, the Internet of today is a noisy environment with a great deal of power consolidation instead of the level, balanced democratic Internet. In 1993 Howard Rheingold wrote[2], We temporarily have access to a tool that could bring conviviality and understanding into our lives and might help revitalize the public sphere. The same tool, improperly controlled and wielded, could become an instrument of tyranny. The vision of a citizen-designed, citizen-controlled worldwide communications network is a version of technological utopianism that could be called the vision of "the electronic agora." In the original democracy, Athens, the agora was the marketplace, and moreit was where citizens met to talk, gossi...

Analysis of Marks Spencers International Strategy The WritePass Journal

Analysis of Marks Spencers International Strategy Introduction Analysis of Marks Spencers International Strategy IntroductionBackground to the Marks SpencerPast issues related to MSCurrent business climateReviewing its current international strategyRecommendations BibliographyRelated Introduction This report looks at the current international strategy adopted by MS, what are the past issues of the company, what steps it took during the time of downfall and how did it overcome its mistakes to bounce back in the global market with its new marketing strategy. The report is a mix of the academic research and the case study materials provided from which the final conclusion can be drawn as to the organization should proceed to internationalization or not during current market situations. Background to the Marks Spencer MS as a business organization came into existence in 1884 when it was just a penny bazaar. Today after 125 glorious years of growth and expansion, the company is the biggest retailer in the UK. Its product ranges from clothing, food products and household accessories etc. It entered the international market by franchising in countries such as Canada, USA, France, Belgium, and Ireland etc. By the end of 19th century, the international market was on the verge of collapse due to improper management by the senior management of the company. Thus the company decided to withdraw its presence from the international market and instead concentrate only on the home market. (MS company history 2011) Past issues related to MS MS first entered the global market by targeting Hong Kong and South Africa by exporting its products to these countries under the brand name of St. Michaels. Eventually it terminated its contract with Do dwells, which in turn proved to be a disaster for the company as problems related to the local retailers and franchise did not allow the company to build a strong base in the Asian market. (Bevan 2001). MS targeted the Canadian market through family tie-ups and was successful in operating 275 stores across the country. By the end of the 80’s it entered the US market through purchasing a retail market chain named King’s supermarket and Brooks brothers. But eventually the North American market did not accept MS as a competitive brand due to lack of clear branding and positioning of its products. It was unable to satisfy the customer’s demand; also a large number of competitors did not give MS a chance to sustain itself in the market. (Sparks 2005). MS did not offshore its productions to a different country due to quality concerns. This lead to increase in the cost of production which in-turn lead to charging higher price from the customers. On the other hand, the customers did not find the product that appealing so as to pay a premium price for its products. Similarly MS entered the European market without any strategy to be adopted and mainly on the belief that its current business techniques would hold good in catering these market as well. It started expanding its operations in a haphazard situation without a rational strategic approach to it.   (Mellahi et al. 2002) Current business climate By 2001 the company withdrew all its overseas operations and started concentrating in the domestic market. It is a good decision that they took, as there were many flaws that would have taken a lot of time to rectify along with huge losses to bear. The global market has currently undergone a recession stage where MS was deeply affected by decreases in profit margins by 11% from the year 2005 to 2007. Only during the year 2009 it had performed a profitable business with 17% and 5% increase in profits and market share respectively. Its time when the company is recovering and finding new opportunities to enter the international market with a planned and structured system to target the global consumer retail market. The company has carefully analyzed its past mistakes and then has structured its plans for the future.   The next three years is to concentrate mainly in restoring its stability in the market by improving the marketing of their products into various segments and classifications. At the same time it will set foundation for the future expansion through mediums such as space grows, improving multi-channel retailing and to built its capability further to become an international company. (Cameron et al. 1988) Reviewing its current international strategy On the basis of the past issues within MS and the steps taken to cater the current business climate, we have seen the changes related to the target market, mode of entry in the new market, benefits to enter new market, rectification of past mistakes and setting clear objectives for internationalization etc. MS has decided to stabilize itself from the recession and build up its market share in the UK for the next three years; simultaneously working on rational international decisions. These measures show that the company is clear about its vision and mission related to its future. The following points discussed below prove to satisfy me to go forward with the current international strategy, as they have understood the demand in the international market and should implement its strategy accordingly. The current major steps taken by the company are: To enter large markets such as India, China and Europe etc where there is already a demand for this brand. Concentration in one particular market and finishing it first and then moving to another area proves better positioning and marketing for the product. MS can change its marketing style from product driven to market driven. This helps the company to understand the regional demand of their products and to cater it accordingly. (J MS results and multi year strategy 2010) Franchising is a great option rather than opening their own store. Choosing the appropriate franchisee will improve market capturing and sales in that particular country. E.g. to cater the Indian market MS has tied up with Reliance group. On the other hand, the franchising schemes cannot be same in all the countries due to political, economic and social factors. This could create operational problem for the company in the long run. (Quinn and Doherty 2000) Concentration on brand positioning and brand awareness is been done so that the market is aware of the different products and brands the company is offering. Thus there will be no confusing in the mind of the customers related to brands. There can be a possible threat of not accepting a product by different markets or there can be a very low demand for the same. Also MS overseas do not keep food items and accessories unlike UK. Thus it creates huge difference in the brand positioning between two or more countries. (Eyring et al. 2011) The company never grasped the advantage of patented USP such as storm ware clothing range in order to distinguish itself from other company. Today they are looking forward for such restructured range. E.g. fusing storm ware technology into jeans, t-shirts etc. (J MS results and multi year strategy 2010) Flagship stores are to be placed in each region along with supporting stores such as smaller outlets and Internet channels so that the customer can feel a heavy presence of this brand in the market. Amazon platform is currently reliable for the company. (J MS results and multi year strategy 2010) It is practically not possible for the company to perform as planned in its international strategy. There would be uncontrollable factors, which may lead to variations from its objective. The degree of variation can also determine the success and failure of the company. Adequate financial back up is needed for research and development in each particular market. Thus the risk is also high which the company is taking, if not successful in sustaining in the new market there would be huge loss for the company. Recommendations The company should offshore its manufacturing units to different geographic regions so they can cater different markets well. This will change the British brand image to global brand image. Example: Apple Inc is an American company, which contains the software made in Hyderabad, India and the product manufacturing is done in Taiwan. Thus it contains a global brand image. Adopt decentralization system in the organization so that delegation of work can be encouraged, thus involving the regional departments to participate in the major decisions to be taken. Example: Toyota involves every subordinate to participate in the decisions to be taken so that they can receive more opinions before taking any decisions. MS in an umbrella company which involves different products such as food, GM clothing and accessories etc, it has to carefully balance the brand image of all these products simultaneously. It will be a challenge to the company to maintain all the demand in all the countries. Therefore the company should segment and position its products to the lowest possible level before entering that particular market i.e. appropriate portfolio management. (Eyring et al. 2011) MS is always special by taking a step forward at maintaining a high quality that reflects its brand image, thus the company can strongly capitalize on this image for future growth. (Bolland presentation 2010) For every market there should be a particular marketing style in order to attract more customers. The marketing can be through different medium such as Internet, radio, television, banners hording etc.   The marketing should be done keeping in mind the culture, traditions and lifestyle of different regions. The company should adopt the characteristics of a multinational company where the revenue generated should be retained in that department instead of transferring it to the home country. The benefit is that the company does not have to manage the foreign exchange from around the world plus these funds can be capitalize for further growth and expansion within that region. Bibliography Marks and Spencer plc. 2011. Company history. Available at: http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/ourhistory   [Accessed: 21st Mar 2011]. Bevan, J. 2001. The Rise and Fall of Marks and Spencer. Profile Books, London. Paul Jackson, Leigh Sparks, (2005) Retail internationalization: Marks and Spencer in Hong Kong, International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, Vol. 33 Issue: 10, pp.766 – 783 Mellahi, K, Cameron. et al. 2002. International Review Of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research. 12(2), pp 191-219. Eyring, M.J. et al. 2011. New Business Models in Emerging Markets. Harvard Business Review. Vol. 89. 2011. Quinn and Doherty. (2000). Burt et al.: Retail internalization and retail failure.(3), 207. _J MS results and multi year strategy_(video recording) 2010,London,UK. BOLLAND, M and STEWART, A. (2010, November 5th). MS Corporate Strategy.   [PowerPoint slides]. Presented at a conference in London, UK. WORD COUNT: 1602