Saturday, February 29, 2020

A Dream To Work In A Multinational Company Commerce Essay

A Dream To Work In A Multinational Company Commerce Essay it has always been a dream to work in a multinational company such as an oil and gas companies after my M.sc program in other to apply my skills learnt to the sector regarding business unethical practices and negligence of corporate social responsibility(CSR) by this companies in this sector. firstly it would be necessary to define CSR which is a situation where a company provides social benefit to the public which are required by law(Mc William and siegel 2001); while business ethics can be defined as† the study of business situation activities, decisions where issues of right and wrong are addressed † (Crane and Matten 2004;8) CSR is highly required all organizations to fill in the short coming of government and provide needs of a community. The aim and objective of this write up is to point out the unethical practices, negligence and ineffective deliverance of CSR by the MNCs focusing on oil companies in Africa to their host communities. Analysis Despite some positive influence of oil companies through CSR like increase in developmental funding in 2001 by $500m(Frynas 2005) previous studies has shown that there are still cases where CSR has not had effect on the required beneficiaries through ineffectiveness , negligence and unethical practices by the companies. This can be proven through various situations in Africa has discussed it the course of this report , it can be seen that most CSR embarked upon by the MNCs are due to public and global pressure such case is that of shell and Ogoni , when visited by observers it was seen that the lack social amenities like Roads and electricity e.t.c.( World Business Council for Sustainable development 2008) despite this protest oil producing regions have not yet benefited from the wealth and are still left in poverty. In a statement by president of movement of survival of Ogoni people (mitte 1995) he says that the communities where not getting enough required social and infrastructures development, he al so pointed out that the companies are taking from the communities and not putting back into it and left in total neglect. this shows a great cases of negligence of CSR to their host environment which they are benefiting from financially, there also citing of abandoned projects which are meant to serve as CSR to the community example is an hospital abandoned by shell in Okoroba village Bayelsa for many years bust was completed due to pressure(Fryans 2005) this suggest that they don’t have good management or department to ensure that project that have been embarked upon by them are not left alone, some previous events indicates that CSR was adopted not for the benefit of the communities but for that of the companies so has to have competitive advantages and get favors from government representatives, In a report ChevronTexaco made a partnership deal of $50million with Us Agency For International Development (USAID) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Angola to coin cide with negotiations for it block O (Fryans 2005) another example is in Ughoton Nigeria (SPDC) built roads and also provided funds for schools and youth empowerment in the village but as soon as it well stop producing oil they also stopped their various projects (okunmadewa et al 2002,p 63) . it shows that it was not meant to benefit to society but the company because it made them look like a company that support development and if the negotiation did not fall through they might have withdrawn their partnership another case is of shell who grant development fund to it managers to put up projects in regions which it has activities so has to maintain peace between them and the communities once this activities are complete it development account is closed and the project are left alone which ever stage it has gotten too. evidence of non functioning project like that of shell which one-third of it project in Nigeria not running or are in operation(Nigeria and shell 2001) duo they are trying to help there is no sign if development due to the lack of smooth operations of this projects. lack of trained managers in CSR has made it difficult for most developmental plans see the light of day Frayans(2005) also confirmed this saying † major contract managers are not development specialist† and even if trained might be wrongly trained for instance British petroleum sent it managers to acquire skills on development in a business school instead of a development school Fraynas(2005) which would put them through all the stages of development , failure to have specialist and conduct investigation relating to what is required could make the aim of CSR not to be achieved e.g. in Angola BP donated condoms during a campaign for AIDS but without adequate investigation and consultation the aim of CSR was not met because the condoms where too small for African men (Fraynas 2005). There has also been cases relating to un ethical practices by the oil companies causing har m and increase level of poverty in the regions which they operate such as Niger Delta according to Eyina and Ukpo(2006) they state that † it will be correct to indicate that the greatest environmental problem with petroleum industry in Nigeria result from spillages†; In the early part of 2008 alone Nigeria recorded 418 spills(Vanguard Oct.29,2008) which affects the ecosystem and increases poverty due to the fact that most people in that region are farmers and fishermen. Further evidence of unethical practices can be seen in the technological method of production adopted by them which releases poisoned gas like CO2 and CO into the atmosphere(Aigbedion et al 2007) also Eyinla and Ukpo(2006) supported this by saying that the †soil ,rivers and creeks are now acidic†. which had influence the people indirectly because there drinking water and fishing occupation have been destroyed impact of oil exploitations has caused the soil not be good for planting and the wate r is contaminated with oil (Adepelum et al 2006).A report by Niger Delta Environmental Survey indicates that drilling activities in Niger delta has negative impact both † socio-economically and ecologically† (Nigeria Sunday Times 1998), Aigebedion(2005) also confirmed this that oil spillages has caused †ecological disturbance† .

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Reed supermarket case analysis Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reed supermarket analysis - Case Study Example However, as the case highlights Reed Supermarkets is facing stiff competition from newer entrants which because of their nimbleness and ability to offer steep discounts (at a discount 1 to 5% from the prices at Reeds) combined with better management of logistics have ensured that the market share of Reed Supermarkets (currently at 14%) is steadily eroding. The point to note is that Reed Supermarkets has positioned itself to cater to quality conscious customer rather than cost a conscious customer which makes for eminent business sense given the demographics of Columbus where the number of people earning more than the national average income is high. Further, Reeds scores heavily in the quality index of consumer perceptions (consistently averaging around 8.3%) whereas it scores lower in the price index (averaging around 4.3%). This is the crucial aspect of the case i.e. Reeds is perceived as a place to get high quality goods but not at an attractive price. Though a combination of high quality and low price is something that is a bit of a paradox, the fact that other retailers have been able to wean away the cost conscious consumers with their discounts and bigger floor areas means that Reeds needs to seriously rethink its strategy as it is faced with the problem of holding on to its market share and worse, losing ground to other retail ers as well. The suggestion that is being offered is that Reeds can stock different varieties of products at all price bands and also ensure economies of scale which other retailers seem to be doing. In this way, it would be able to cater to all segments of consumers as well as derive savings in costs that accrue from leveraging upon economies of scale. As the statistics point out, price is the major determinant which is followed by range of products and location and ease of shopping. If Reeds is able to circumvent these factors, then it would be in a position to

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Cross culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Cross culture - Essay Example begin with, modern theories of management such as Transformational Leadership and Leader Member Exchange (LMX) identify and emphasize the relevance of cultural knowledge for successful management. These Transformational/Charismatic leadership theories that take into account aspects of local culture â€Å"offer the promise of extraordinary individual and organizational outcomes. Leaders motivate followers to perform beyond expected levels by activating higher order needs, fostering a climate of trust, and inducing them to transcend their self-interest for the organizations sake. Numerous investigations point to the robustness of the effects of such leadership on individual and organizational outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and performance† (Briscoe & Schuler, 2004) Further, the scope and applicability of Human Resource Management practices in a country whose culture is alien to the top management has transpired into a considerable debate across academia and industry. The issue is especially relevant to trans-national corporations when their operations are expanded to new locales as a result of neo-liberal economic outcomes. Performance Management is a strategic management process, which is purported to achieve the company’s bottom-line, â€Å"enables the MNC to continuously evaluate and improve individual, subsidiary unit, and corporate performance against clearly defined, preset objectives that are directly linked to company strategy† (Lindholm, 1999). Since this subject is not rigorously researched yet, the effects of culturally sensitive Performance Management on job satisfaction among staff in subsidiary facilities, which is comprised of foreign nationals and where cultural sensibilities may be very different from that of the offices at home country. On top of that, the inadequate research in this area is indicative of the scarcity of research regarding the attitudes of host-country staff, especially the blue collar workers