School of Management and Economics Essay Example for Free

School of Management and Economics Essay During this work, we experienced how to manage the relationships within our work group in order to be efficient. Trust and collaboration have been the prerequisites for the formation of this team. We considered this bachelor thesis as an ongoing process, where all the parts of the paper have been rewritten many times. This work enables us to see marketing from a new perspective, more complex, maybe closer to the reality of companies. We would like to thank the managers from L’Orà ©al, Edouard Laclavià ¨re, Valentin Guillois, the manager located in Honk Hong, Ivan Coste-Manià ¨re, Iku, Aico, Mayumi, Ying, Sun-Young, Ahra and Katrin that dedicated time to answer to our questions. We are grateful to all these persons as they made the writing of this thesis possible. We would like to thank our tutor, Christine Lundberg that helped us finding our way in this process by providing us with good advice. We would like to thank also Marie Thuriot and Isabelle Petit, from IPAG, Nice, who answered from France to our emails and helped us in our researches orienting us to the right websites and to the right persons. Finally, we would like to thank our friends and relatives for their support, comprehension and criticism. Và ¤xjà ¶, May 25th 2006 Emilie, Lauranne and Tytti EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Bachelor thesis in Economics at Và ¤xjà ¶ University, 2006 Authors: Lauranne Fina, Tytti Luc and Emilie Venezia Examiner: Jerzy Kociatkiewicz Tutor: Christine Lundberg Title: The Role of Cultural Differences in the Product and Promotion Adaptation Strategy: A L’Orà ©al Paris Case Study Introduction: Nowadays, firms are becoming more and more global. However, are consumers becoming global too? Therefore, the challenge for the firms consists in determining if they should adapt their products or if they should consider the consumers as being global, and keep their product standardized. The purpose of this paper is to investigate adaptation strategy in South Korea, Japan and People’s Republic of China (PRC) for make-up products and its promotion considering the influence of culture on the consumer behaviour. This is studied referring to the European market. L’Orà ©al Paris is used as an example to illustrate the study. Methodology: This study is a case study about L’Orà ©al Paris. To conduct it, we chose to use qualitative interviews and document analysis. Different kinds of interviews have been done in order to know more about the company adaptation strategy, the culture and the consumer behaviour in Asia. Written sources as external documents from L’Orà ©al Paris, websites, press articles, scientific articles and literature have been used to complete the primary data. Theoretical framework: Culture is a system of meanings shared by members of a group. It is an important part of marketing because it influences the consumers’ wants and needs and because it impacts on the interpretations of products’ communication. This demonstrates that the culture impacts consumer behaviour. The study of the consumer behaviour conducts companies to adapt their products features, their packaging, their symbolic attributes, their service attributes and their promotion. Empirical data: The empirical data comes from various sources. We interviewed three managers from L’Orà ©al Paris and as well girls from the following nationalities: three Japanese girls, one Chinese girl and two Korean girls. We also interviewed a specialist of cosmetics. All these interviews were conducted in order to answer our objectives. The interviews with the Asian girls and with the specialist of cosmetics were conducted in order to collect data on the culture and on the consumer behaviour. The interviews with the managers of L’Orà ©al Paris were conducted in order to collect data on their adaptation and standardization strategies on the studied markets. Analysis: Cultural aspects impact directly or indirectly on the consumer behaviour. The culture diversity creates the consumer behaviour diversity as it can be noticed in South Korea, Japan and PRC where the culture and the behaviours are very different than in Europe. L’Orà ©al Paris is trying to know more about these consumer behaviour differences in order to answer the consumers’ demands and to adapt its products and promotion strategy. Conclusion: L’Orà ©al Paris is adapting some elements of its product range and its promotion. The three countries studied are very different culturally speaking. However, the adaptations on products and promotion made by L’Orà ©al Paris do not take fully into account these cultural and consumer behaviour differences. Moreover, many promotion and products aspects are standardized. Thus, the L’Orà ©al Paris adaptation strategy in the Asian zone is a mix between standardization and adaptation. In its adaptation strategy, the firm considers some elements of the consumer behaviour therefore of the culture. To conclude, the cultural differences may influence the make-up products and promotion adaptation strategy.

Entrepreneurship in the Brazilian offshoring industry Essay -- Brazil

Case 1: Entrepreneurship in the Brazilian offshoring industry Brazil is one of the nations included in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). In the past, Brazil’s outsourcing industry has been the smallest of the four BRIC nations. This is very surprising due to the close proximity to the United States and the current trend of â€Å"near-shoring†. However, due to recent governmental backing and inflows of capital Brazil has begun to improve and could possibly overtake Russia, India and China in the offshoring industry. The most promising sector in Brazil is their IT sector. Capital Access Index 2009 Access to Capital Brazil is the fourth-best country in Latin America for access to capital for entrepreneurs. Much of this improvement can be seen from their significant advances in bond market development and alternative sources of capital[1]. At the end of 2008, local and foreign investors had committed $28 billion in venture and private equity capital to Brazilian companies. That's up from $6 billion in 2004, amounting to a hearty 50% compound annual growth rate over the last four years[2]. On June 25 2009, Brazilian stock exchange Bovespa hosted the world’s largest IPO, a $4.3 billion offering by Brazilian credit-card processor VisaNet. Conditions in Brazil have been improving steadily. The country has achieved macroeconomic stability and institutional maturity and is now undergoing broad and fast-paced expansion, driven by an increase in income and social ascension as well as an increasingly important position in international trade. As well, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will reach an a nnual record of US$60 billion in 2011[8]. Even though entrepreneurs are currently enjoying easy access to capital, it is a concern that co... ...et and Trade Profile, December 2011, Visit Britain. http://www.visitbritain.org/Images/Brazil_tcm29-14673.pdf [10]Nes, Egil, May 23, 2011, The Brazil Business. http://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/trends-of-doing-business-in-brazil-in-2011 [11] Brazil Economic Outlook At A Glance, June 26, 2011, Finance N Investment.com. http://www.financeninvestments.com/economics/brazil-gdp-growth.html [12]Background Note: Brazil, November 30, 2011, U.S. Department of State. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35640.htm [13] Baby Steps, September 17, 2011, The Economist. http://www.economist.com/node/21529045 [14] Comparing Exports of Goods Among BRIC Nations, November 8, 2011, Seeking Alpha. http://seekingalpha.com/article/306378-comparing-exports-of-goods-among-bric-nations [15]Underwood, Graham, 2012, sourcingfocus.com. http://www.sourcingfocus.com/site/opinionscomments/757/

Marketing Plan of Nike Essay

The world has a long, rich history of international trade among nations. Most international trade dates from the prevailing age of mercantilism. However, objecting mercantilism is the common idea of trade philosophies proposed by Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Both of them advocated free international trade. The rule of the zero-of-sum game was the core of mercantilism. One country increased the wealth must cause another one decreased from trade. Only one could be beneficial. They thought exports could bring inflows of wealth from and imports could lead outflows of wealth to other countries. It was this thought that each country encouraged exports and restricted imports. 1? The Classical Trade Theory (1) Theory of Adam Smith: Absolute Advantage Adam Smith set himself against the mercantilism. He advocated free trade and proposed the absolute advantage theory. In his theory, each country had its own advantage for producing goods which other country did not possess. It was this that stimulated countries to participate in the international trade by exerting the absolute advantage to obtain more benefits. Adam Smith made two assumptions: First, trade only existed between two countries. Second, each country produced only two products, one product must have absolute advantage, and the other product must have absolute disadvantage. Therefore, each country should concentrate on producing the product with absolute advantage, and then trade the absolute disadvantage product to the other country with the absolute advantage product. After trading, the disengaged, surplus resources and products of each country could be used completely reasonable. Thus, both countries can be beneficial from the trade, not just one. This pulled down the rule of zero-of-sum game and created the rule of n-of-sum game. Adam Smith’s absolute advantage theory successfully promoted the international trade. However, this theory did not deal with the problem that for both two products, one country had absolute advantages and the other country had absolute disadvantages. (2) Theory of David Ricardo: Comparative Advantage Fortunately, another famous economist David Ricardo succeeded and developed Adam Smith’s theory. Just like Adam Smith, David Ricardo also was an opponent of protectionism for national economies. He created his comparative advantage theory. The theory dealt with the problem that could not be dealt using Adam Smith’s theory. The economic motives and causes international trade. According to Ricardo’s theory, even if a country has no absolute advantage in any product, the disadvantaged country can still be beneficial from specializing in and exporting the product for which it has the lowest opportunity cost of production. Though the two theories were proposed hundreds of years, they still play important influences on international trade. Each trading country can improve productivity and the world economic is promoted. The two theories will contribute to world prosperity in the future. 2? The Modern Trade Theory Comparative advantage based on opportunity cost forms the basis of modern trade theory. The theory shows that after comparing, when the country decides to produce its advantage product, it needs to give up the other product that can come forth during the period. The benefit form the product it gives up is its opportunity cost. Here I take a simple example to illustrate this theory. The land for planting rice or cotton, the output of rice is 500 kilogram or 100 kilogram of cotton. If we choose to plant rice, the 100 kilogram of cotton we give up is our opportunity cost. Today, the practice of trade among nations is growing by leaps and bounds. There is hardly a person on earth who has not been influenced in some way by the growing trade among nations. The theories stimulate trade between developed and developing countries that avoid the autarky. International trade increases trading countries’ wealth and world output. That is because with trade, the resources are allocated rationally, job opportunity increase, products quality and variety increase and so on.

The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini - 929 Words

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a tragic tale of guilt and redemption. The book details the life of Amir as he wrestles with the guilt of seeing Hassan raped, and later redeems himself by helping Hassan’s son Sohrab cope with extreme abuse at the hands of Assef. While some would argue the main theme of the book is redemption, I believe that the theme is simple: the past does define us, but it is through the past that we find ultimate significance. Clearly through the journey of Amir, Hosseini shows how the past haunted him throughout the years. Amir starts off the story with â€Å"I became what I am today at the age of twelve†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1), this clearly shows how invested in the past Amir is. Amir dwells on his past frequently, and credits his past with making him the person he has become. While most people would let the past stay in the past, Amir welcomes the idea of his past being the forefront of his life. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years. (1) Amir establishes here that he constantly replays the horrible events of Hassan’s rape for the last twenty-six years. Clearly, the past defined Amir’s viewpoint on the world and how everything works. By looking through the past on a deeper level, Amir found that his distant father was not so distant after all. AmirShow MoreRelatedThe Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini883 Words   |  4 Pagesregret from past encounters and usually feel guilty and bitter about the situation. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, revolves around the theme of redemption. Redemption can be used as a cure for guilt. Throughout the novel, the author shows that redemption requires some sort of sacrifice and the only way that is possible is if you can forgive yourself from the mistakes you have made in the past. Khaled Hosseini effectively portrays redemption through motifs such as rape, irony and flashbacks, symbolismRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1651 Words   |  7 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚   The novel â€Å"The Kite Runner† by Khaled Hosseini describes the life of a boy, Amir. Amir’s best friend and brother (although that part isn’t known until towards the end), Hassan, plays a major role in Amir’s life and how he grows up. Hosseini portrays many sacrifices that are made by Hassan and Amir. Additionally, Amir seeks redemption throughout much of the novel. By using first person point of view, readers are able to connect with Amir and understand his pain and yearning for a way to be redeemedRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1655 Words   |  7 PagesSarah Singer Major Works Data Form Title: The Kite Runner Author: Khaled Hosseini Date of Publication: 2003 Genre: Historical Fiction Historical information about the period of publication: Since the September 11th attacks in 2001, the United States has been at war with Afghanistan. Their goals were to remove the Taliban, track down those in charge of the attacks, and destroy Al-Qaeda. Biographical information about the author: Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. HIs motherRead MoreThe Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini1098 Words   |  5 PagesIn The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, we learn a lot about Amir the main character, and Hassan his servant/brother. In the beginning Hassan and Amir’s relationship was one of brotherly love despite the fact that Hassan was a Hazara and Amir a Pashtun. Back in the 1970’s race and religion played a big part in Kabul and these two races were not suppose to have relationships unless it was owner (Pashtun) and servant (Hazara). Baba Amir’s father had an affair with Hassan’s mother, but it was kept aRead MoreThe Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini1313 Words   |  5 Pagesis not unique to just J.K. Rowling. Khaled Hosseini also incorporates life experiences into some of his novels. A prime example of this is The Kite Runner. The storyline of this novel reflects his past to create a journey of a young Afghanistan boy, whose name is Amir. This boy changes drastically throughout his lifetime from a close minded, considerably arrogant boy to an open hearted and minded man. This emotional and mental trip is partially based on Khaled Hosseini’s own life. Throughout Hosseini’sRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1908 Words   |  8 Pages​In the novel, â€Å"The Kite Runner†, written by Khaled Hosseini, was taken place in Afghanistan during the 1970’s to the year of 2002. Many historical events happened during this time period and Hosseini portrayed it into his novel. Kabul, the capitol of Afghanistan, was a free, living area for many Afghanistan families to enjoy the life they were given. Until one day, Afghanistan was then taken over and attacked. In the novel, Amir, the protagonist, must redeem himself and the history behind his actionsRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1050 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"There is a way to be good again.† (Hosseini 334). This quote given by Rahim Khan to Amir holds a great amount of force and symbolism. In theory, this quote symbolizes the beginning of Amir’s path to redemption. The eye-opening Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini tells about the struggles of Afghanistan before and during the Taliban, and one’s struggle for redemption and acceptance. With regards to the opening quote, some see Amir’s actions as selfish. However, others may believe that Amir truly changedRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1583 Words   |  7 Pagesnovel the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir, the main character, shares his thoughts and actions due to his poor decisions. The problems he encountered were all because of the sin committed in his youth. His sins taunted the beginning of his life and gave him a troublesome memory full of guilt. As the novel continued, Amir attempted to disengage the memory of his sin and forget about it. Amir then faced the long bumpy road to redemption. Khaled Hosseini’s novel the Kite Runner is about sinRead MoreThe Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini871 Words   |  4 Pagesthat person is trying to fix that mistake. This also applies to the novel The Kite Runner. The story revolves around the main character Amir, and his childhood friend, Hassan. After Amir came to America with Baba, his father, he still regrets the things he had done to his childhood friend. He left Hassan getting raped by Assef in a small alley in 1975. Thereafter, Amir always feel regret and seeks for redemption. Hosseini -the author, argues that redemption can be achieved by helping others, teachRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini3402 Words   |  14 Pagestitle â€Å"The Kite Runner† is symbolic as fighting kites and the kite runnings are impacting moments in the novel. Hassan was the best kite runner in Kabul, if not the whole country, after Amir won the kite fighting the running of that last blue kite triggered the monumental changes for Amir. For the beginning of the story the kite running was associated with Hassan’s rape and Amir’s grief. As kites appear throughout the story, they begin Amir’s story and also end it. Amir flying the kite with Sohrab