Investment Enhancement Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Investment Enhancement - Research Paper Example This type of investment strategy might be attractive for a senior citizen investor who is looking to minimize or eliminate investment risks since he will be retiring within a few years and needs to lock in his retirement’s benefits. For the typical investor there is variety of benefits to utilizing international investments to improve financial portfolio performance On the other hand most investors are looking to maximize their return on investment therefore are willing to accept an increased level of risk in order to benefit from the possibility of much higher returns. Although studies have shown that the benefits of direct international investments to achieve adequate international portfolio diversification are limited for U.S. investors partly due to the fact that U.S. investors can invest in domestic multinational corporations, country funds. Another reason is possibly because the U.S. both the economy and its stock market are much more developed and diversified than other countries. The benefits of international investments are more easily realized in underdeveloped countries than in developed countries. Investing internationally makes sense to a lot of potential investors since for example foreign investment mutual funds provide the opportunity for individual investors which typically lack the necessary financial resources to buy a large number of stocks on their own to benefit from the expertise of a professionally administered international investment mutual fund. Recently national economies have become more closely linked due to globalization, growing international trade, and investment capital flows. This might lead to realize that the benefits of international portfolio diversification might be overstated. Despite significant interdependencies between markets, there is still room for international diversification. A recent tendency has been for investors to look into emerging economies as good candidates for international diversification. Sinc e ongoing research suggests that since emerging economies are not closely correlated to industrialized there are still considerable opportunities to benefit from international diversification. There are various investment vehicles investors can use to build up a portfolio in the equity and money markets. The most popular form of investment is common stock. The price ticker investors’ track on Wall Street represents common stock investments. Common stocks are equity investment that represents a right of ownership. People that invest in common stock have voting rights over certain corporation decisions. There are different types of common stocks. Two types of common stocks are blue chip and penny stocks. Blue chip stocks are stocks that are issued by a well-known company with an established record of making money and paying dividends (Teweles & Bradley & Teweles, 1992). An example of a blue chip stock company is Microsoft Corporation. Within the category of common stock blue ch ips are considered the safest type of investment. On the other side of the spectrum are penny stocks. Penny stocks are can be defined as stocks that trade at a relative low price and market capitalization typically outside the major marketplaces (Investopedia, 2011). Penny stocks are very risky and on many occasion the stocks go into default as these penny stock companies run out of business. Another popular type of investment that is often

Conflict of cultures in the middle east Term Paper

Conflict of cultures in the middle east - Term Paper Example The Israel held the mentality that the Palestinian land belonged to them and were determined to repossess the land and demarcate boundaries. On the other hand, the Arabs were the original inhabitants and had occupied the largest portion of the land centuries before. The conflict emerged when Jews attempted to acquire the Palestine land and the Arabs were meant to believe that this was a dispossession process that aimed at eliminating them. From a critical point of view, the motive of the Jews was marred by aggressive selfishness and displacing the original inhabitants was inappropriate. Therefore, this essay seeks to reveal the origin of the conflict and to provide a recommendation for resolution of the conflict. The history of the Middle East conflict can be dated back to the colonial period when the Palestine land comprised part of the Ottoman Empire. At that time, the Arabs, who comprised of Muslims and Christians, occupied the land although there was evidence of existence of immigrant Jews who largely occupied Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tiberia, cities that had religious significance to this group. However, there was evidence that by the end of the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire would be collapsing and the colonial rule would melt away (Podeh, 22-37). At this time, most groups in the world were busy gathering together to establish states that they could live under self-rule. Majority of the people occupied the land that they possessed at that particular time, although expansionism was still evidenced as countries fought for the control of land. The Israelites were among â€Å"the landless people† who were also busy searching for a space that they could call their own (Tou val 8). Evidently, the Jews were dispersed across the Middle East and they risked losing their identity at a time when land was becoming an important issue across the world. Israel, just like any other group, decided to join in the search for an identity. During this

User Interface: Complexity, Types and Performance

User Interface: Complexity, Types and Performance User interface complexity A user interface is the means in which a person controls a software application. A user interface should provide the user with an easy experience, allowing them to interact with the software in a stress-free and natural way. The GUI (graphical user interface) is a program that contains graphical controls which the user can select with a keyboard or mouse. â€Å"The GUI complexity is the most important value to consider when selecting a technology for user interface classes. (Rayhan, 2003)†. To decide on the complexity of the user interface it is important to consider all possible user interfaces for the ePS system. We should also reflect on a variety of categories which include simple data input, static view of the data, customisable views, dynamic view of the data and interactive graphs. The simple data input allows the user to enter data into the system. The static view of data can be either a table, tree or graph that is not affected by the changes in the system data. â€Å"The customisable view allows the user to customise the appearance of static data without making a new request to the server. The dynamic view of data is automatically refreshed to stay current while the underlying system data changes. The interactive graphs are similar to dynamic views. The graphical view is automatically updated as the underlying system data changes (Rayhan, 2003).† Below is a list of user interfaces for the ePS system: Login user interface: The login user interface allows the user to enter their username and password to gain access to the system. Create E-Prescription user interface: The Create E-Prescription user interface allows the general practitioner user to create an E-Prescription for a patient, view their personal details and view their medical history. Dispense medicine user interface: The dispense medicine user interface allows the pharmacist user to view the patients E-Prescription, check if the medication is in stock and dispense the medicine. Manage ADR report user interface: The manage ADR report user interface will load a ADR report form on a web page for the user to enter in their adverse drug reaction to a particular medicine. Deployment constraints for user interfaces The deployment constraints are as imperative as the complexity of the user interface. When considering deployment constraints it is essential to have categories in which to compare. The following deployment constraints can occur within our ePS system: Any web browser on the internet: This deployment constraint must allow the user interface to perform on any web browser on any computer. The web browser Opera does not support Java which means that all images and much less dynamic HTML, so the user interface would be presented in text form only. Late-Model web browser on the internet: If each web browser is no more than a few generations old then we will also know that the computer is also no more than a few generations old. Number and types of users The number and type of users influence the technology selection in two ways. One influence being that a large number of users can force the technology for the entity, control and lifecycle classes to balance well. A large number of users can also encourage the selection of user interface technology. A larger audience makes straightforwardness of deployment and maintenance costs major factors. Small number of dedicated users: These are a small group of users who can help to outline the system and who profits from the system. Since these groups are willing to invest their own time to learn the system, functionality is the main priority. General use within an organisation: In regards to the system, this group of users are generally much larger, but they can be less motivated. These types of systems tend to support the organisation rather than contributing to the business. For example time tracking and benefits management. Large audience with high interest: The ePS system must have a large audience that are extremely involved. These users may be unconnected from one another. The users may log on to the system to exchange information e.g. the E-Prescriptions or to collaborate information about the patients and the medicine. Huge audience with low interest: In terms of the ePS system, it must attract and serve indecisive audience. If the ePS system runs slowly and wastes the audiences time it will cause the audience to be disengaged. Available bandwidth The bandwidth available is also another crucial factor when selecting technologies. Certain groups of technologies can allow developers to meet low bandwidth restrictions. However, other technologies make bandwidth constraints worse. The categories for bandwidth restrictions are as follows: Dial-Up connection: The dial-up connection is now the least common type of connection to the internet. However, Dial-Up connection is suitable for systems that let users view text, images and to enter data. This would be suitable for the ePS system when the user logs in and loads the ADR report form. The ADR report will load up on a web page. Fast internet connection: Fast internet connections consist of digital transmissions over phone lines, cables and satellite transmissions. This is mainly to enable a quicker internet connection. Dedicated network between client and server: This type of connection will allow the client and serves to exchange data at considerably high speeds. Types of System interface The technology for a system interface is determined by a current outer system. If an external system is not available, you must describe the system interface and then select an applicable private technology. System interfaces are divided into the following three categories: Data transfer: Many system interfaces exist merely to transfer large lumps of information from system to system. These interfaces are referred to as electronic data interchange. Services through a protocol: This system interface will allow a system to make requests through an agreed protocol. The server will allow a system to validate itself and request data by sending predefined codes. Direct access to system services: This system interface will allow a client system to directly call selected methods in the server. The server exposes these certain methods for remote access. Performance and Scalability The performance and scalability requirements are becoming one of the most important features in the selection of technology. Performance must be balanced against data integrity and any multiuser system and there aren’t many single user systems left. The performance and scalability factors are usually found by inspecting the class diagrams and sequence diagrams from the analysis model. The following are the three main categories that may affect the performance and scalability: Read-only: Certain systems only allow the user to view system data, but do not allow them to update it. Isolated updates: In most systems the user is allowed to change the systems data and the changes do no conflict with one and other. Concurrent updates: In some systems many users change the systems data, but with some changes affecting the same data. The following sections below describe the performance and scalability factors for each use case in the ePS system: Create E-Prescription use case: In the Create E-Prescription use case the system retrieves and displays the patient’s record. After the user enters the diagnosis and the system must update the current data with the new data. This use case is described as â€Å"Isolated updates† or â€Å"Concurrent updates†. Dispense medicine use case: In the dispense medicine use case the system retrieves and displays the patients E-Prescription. After the user checks the stock levels and dispenses the medicine the system must update the status to â€Å"Complete†. This use case is either described as â€Å"Isolated updates† or â€Å"Concurrent updates†. Record ADR use case: In the record ADR use case the system retrieves and displays the ADR entity objects. After the user updates the entities the system must update the data with the new data. This use case is either described as â€Å"Isolated updates† or â€Å"Concurrent updates†. Login use case: In the login use case the system locates the user entity object that corresponds to the actual user. Once the object is located, the system must determine whether the username and password is valid. The means the systems needs to read the username and password from some sort of persistent store. No data will be updated therefore the â€Å"Read-only† description is appropriate. Macro and Micro Environmental Analysis: Proton Macro and Micro Environmental Analysis: Proton Macro: Macro environment refers to the overwhelming and external factors that the firms cannot have the influence on which can affect its business if not addressed. The economy of Malaysia has been in a healthy growth, however it the year of 2012 has dropped. In addition, the inflation rates of the year 2012 have dropped from a whopping 2.7 to satisfactory 1.3 during a year. These factors have directly affected the inflation and unemployment rates of Malaysia, this is because the inflation rates have fallen and the unemployment rated have fallen as well. Micro: Micro environment refers to the internal factors that relates to a business environment which can affect the business’ operation. These factors are suppliers, shareholders, competitors, customers and distributors. These factors have played a very big rule in the performance of proton, where proton has a big problem with their suppliers, as well as a drop in its market shares, as they have a big competitor in the market which is Perodua, the other factor that has affected proton is the customs, where Proton is facing difficulties in dealing with their customers, in fact proton is losing its customers due to the lack of service and lack of trust. Cross Culture and Global Issues: Being an automobile industry, this firm has to deal with other cultures on a daily basis. Cultures are hard to define values, norm, and traditions. Understanding culture is an extremely complex concept. Various theories have been made on culture but the most projecting perhaps is of Greet Hofstede’s. Hosfsted’s Cultural Dimensions: Collectivism and Individualism: This refers to the extent to which people of a country a willing to work together. In collectivistic societies people tend to better put the groups needs first eliminating personal goals, whereas countries with invidualistic culture have follow personal or individual attainment over the groups. Power Distance: this refers to the extent to which people accept the hierarchal position to be authority in the business environment. Meaning in high power distance societies like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, people tend to respect the authority because of their hierarchal of social status other than personal achievement like that in the low power distance societies like France, Italy. Uncertainty Avoidance: Refers to the extent to which people accept change in the society. Countries like Indonesia, North Korea, and Japan represent a high uncertainty avoidance whereby they dislike change. Masculinity and Feminism: relates to the role of women in different cultures, masculine culture believes Male to be the dominant part of the family and the only one allowed to support the family financially. Cultures with low masculinity dimension show females to be an important part of the workforce. Global issues: When it comes to addressing global issues to and automobile industry (Proton) most of the issues are relevant, whether it is of rising cost, taxation, global financial crises, regulations safety and health issues, all of the issues can be tracked back to an automobile industry (proton). There are many factors that Proton has to constrains before going overseas, for example, the tax fees is different in different countries, as well as the economic condition which will affect the sales, these are some of the issues that have to be addressed from Proton. Business volatility and risk Management: Considering the automobile industry (Proton), it took thousands of failed attempts before finally making a plane that could’ve worked. With every attempt being shot down, the amount of risk involved kept increasing but it was a necessary evil to reach to the point now where cars are made with perfection and counter abilities to have a safe driving. In the case of Proton, there are a number of risks involved which the mangers in charge have to think about. Initially, since the automobile industry is a huge business, the risk of investing enormous capital is the prime risk which decides the fate of the operation. Secondly, there is the risk of economic decline or inflation to sweep over which would directly affect the businesses in the service industry such as carmakers. Thirdly comes the cost of the fluctuating cost of material steals globally which has been increasing. The point is not to note out the risks involved the point is to manage risks relating to the merger effectively. Branding Success and Challenges: Branding is a concept originated for as far back as the 1200 in Sweden, where they used to burn insignia’s on a horse to differentiate it from others. For a company that wants its name out in the market, it takes extensive marketing, heavy funds, and a lot of patience because it takes a while. Reaching brand awareness is only the first step, and then the company needs to reach its target market, once it’s done then it comes Brand loyalty, whereby customers prefer choosing a brand they have become loyal to. If the brands present a particular negative perception of the company then it may take a long time and efforts to change the perception of the masses. For example, when Lexus was first revealed and appreciated by the masses, it was unknown that it belonged to Toyota, because of Toyota’s perception of being an economical and affordable automotive vehicle. Business Sustainability: It is one thing to start a business but it is another to sustain it. By sustaining it doesn’t always mean running it profitably, it also include social and environmental obligations, risk and opportunities it has. There are a number of ways in which companies can ensure their business sustainability which would be as follows; Shareholder engagement. Environmental management system. Reporting and disclosure. If proton implements these sustainable strategies into their operation and monito the quality, sustainability can be expected. Tuckman theories on teamwork: Introduction For the subject of Business and Commercial Awareness, we got an assignment to make a business plan for Proton. According to Dr Mahathir’s statement â€Å"our immediate plan would be to change its strategy from being a maker of cheap cars to become a world standard car manufacture†. Stage one: Forming The class was divided into a group of five members, each of the members was giving a department to work on, and these departments are Finance, Operation, Human Resource, and marketing. Unfortunately I was given Finance department, where I have to analyse the current situation of Proton’s finance performance. However, before the assignment my knowledge of finance was substantially lower than an average final year student of Business Administration, but I have had a mind-set to not pay attention to things that do not interest me for as far back as I can remember. Stage two: Storming Then we moved into the second stage which is storming, in this stage we started to push against boundaries. We have many conflicts between us in the nature of our working style, where each of the members has a different working style, for example in marketing department, where Amir and Khider were handed this part, they had many issues in solving the problems which cause frustration to the entire group, as well as I was giving Finance department, which was a big challenge for my authority. As the team work wasn’t clearly defined, which cause us to feel overwhelmed by the workload. I believe that it was mission impossible for us to overcome the issues we were facing in this stage; we could not even come up with the framework for our strategies, which was a big disappointment. We end up working these issues out with Dr Tan, and finally we could move to the next step. Stage three: Norming In this stage we finally identified our goals, and each of the members is fully aware of the methods and the strategies which should be adopted in order to achieve our goal. As well as trust and apperception was built between us, where the leader of our group Ben was a big motivation for us, he has helped each of us to take responsibility for progress towards achieving the goal. As most of the discussions were conducted through a facebook page. Stage four: Performing In this stage we solved all the problems and issues by using appropriate controls, and we have achieved and effective and satisfying result. It was amazing that we worked collaboratively to achieve our goal, as there was caring from the members towards each there. For example Brain Scot was very helpful in helping me with my part in Finance department, he recommended me on how to finalize my part. In addition to, the commitment from the group members increased positively towards the group work comparing to the first stage.

Comparing Creation Myths of Ancient Egypt and The Christian Bible Essay

Comparing Creation Myths of Ancient Egypt and The Christian Bible Creation in Ancient Egyptian religion can be much different than the creation account taken from The Bible. Genesis has a set description of â€Å"The Beginning† while there are several different versions and variations in Egyptian mythology. The versions range from a â€Å"one god† myth (Ptah; see picture) to the more common creator out of Nun, which in itself has several derivations. The Ogdoad is a grouping of eight gods that existed before the creator and formed him. This version is taken from Middle Egypt at Hermopolis. The eight gods consisted of Amun, Huh, Kuk, and Nun and their counterparts (i.e. Nun and Naunet). They came together to create an egg that contains the creator (Baines, 1991). This is the point at which variations will occur. Inside the egg there could be gods (Re, Atum, or sometimes even Thoth) or a Blue Lotus. This Lotus would come forth from the egg and rise high into the darkness to a young god, Amen-Re. (The egg was surrounded by Nun which contained the Ogdoad. The Ogdoad consisted of four serpents and four frogs.)(Egyptian Creation Story, pg. 1) The child radiates light and banishes the darkness. He destroyed the silence with his Word and thus creation began. He then constructed a mound for which he could sit upon. (The Benben Stone, which was kept in Heliopolis, was said to have been the mound upon which the creator god, in this case Re, sat.(Redford)) In a different account the mound came forth from the waters of Nun bearing the egg and a falcon emerged. This falcon soared into the air and took its place as the sundisk (Redford). The falcon could also be represented by a winged insect such as a beetle or as a golden falcon. Another variat... ... is reality. If this type of thinking were to be followed one would come to realize that all the gods and goddesses did exist and so did the events told time and again in story. They were alive in the conscience of society. Creation did begin with Nun, yet it also began with God creating the heavens and the earth. Everything depends on time, place, and perception of reality. WORKS CITED Holy Bible. New International Version. Zondervan. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1984. Genesis Chapter 1. John Baines, Leonard H. Lesko, David P. Silverman. Religion in Ancient Egypt. New York Cornell University Press 1991. Pages 92-100. Ancient Egyptian Religion. http://www.egypt-tehuti.com/religion.html. Pages 2 and 3 of 5. Egyptian Creation Story. http://members.aol.com/kheph777/mideast/mythos/egyptcrt.html. Page 1 of 3. Redford, Professor Donald. Oral Communication

Comparing the treatment of outsiders Essay

   In The Outsiders, the book is constantly written in a first person perspective, where Ponyboy Curtis is telling the story. Unlike in Frankenstein, it is written in a far more informal manner and uses a lot of modern American slang. This because this book was written in the late 1960s whereas Frankenstein was written in the early 1800s. An example of the different styles of language from Frankenstein is, â€Å"I resolved to quit the place that I had hitherto inhabited†. A typical line from The Outsiders is, â€Å"Man, I though New York was the only place I could get mixed up in a murder rap†. This language is far more informal and ‘chatty’ compared to Frankenstein. Ponyboy Curtis reports first-hand experiences, and some times reports on events that occurred without him being there. In both books, the reader feels many emotions that the character is feeling. It is usually the outsider who is the victim of such bad emotions. In Frankenstein, I felt emotions for Frankenstein when he about to be married to his fianci e but the monster waits until Frankenstein is gone, and then the monster murders Frankenstein’s wife. At this moment, a lot of tension builds up as the wife begins to shriek and wail as she is being murdered. The monster runs away from the dead bride and Frankenstein returns to the room, finding her dead. Frankenstein immediately knew the monster has killed her. Another incident where the reader is meant to feel pity for Frankenstein is when he creates the monster and gives it life. When he created the monster he realised what a vile mutant he had created. When the monster was given life, he was treated very poorly by Frankenstein, which reflected on his future crimes. Frankenstein stated in the book how he felt about his creation by saying, â€Å"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch to whom with such infinitive pains and care I had endeavoured o form? † At this point, Frankenstein is almost feeling sorry for himself as he is so depressed about putting time and effort into a creation which took him two years to create, and it ended up as a catastrophe. There us also a scene of emotion aroused in The Outsiders. This emotion is aroused when Darry, the brother of Ponyboy and Soda Pop was shot after robbing a grocery store. Dally was so upset and depressed about the death of Johnny (a very good friend of Ponyboy) who had died from being burned and drastically injured from saving a group of small children who were on a filed trip to a church, which set alight because Ponyboy and Johnny didn’t put out one of their cigarettes properly. Dally was so depressed he went and robbed a grocery store, and shortly after the police were in point blank range with him and demanded for him to hand himself in to the police. He decided not to hand himself in and pulled out a gun that was not loaded, but the police did not realise this, and shot him, thinking he had a loaded gun. At this point, the reader’s emotions are aroused because a key character that the majority of the reader had probably started to ‘bond’ a relationship with had been shot and died shortly after. The main characters in both books are usually the victims of an unfortunate event. The main characters in Frankenstein were Frankenstein and the monster. These two characters played the largest role in the book as it mainly revolved around them. There were other sub-characters such as the captain and the wife of Frankenstein whose role became quite important in areas of the book. In The Outsiders there are quite a lot of characters in the book who all play quite a large role. The main character is Ponyboy, however the sub-characters are Soda Pop, Dally, Darry, Johnny and Cherry – these roles are not as important as Ponyboy however they do build a ground for the story line to run along. Also, most of these characters, except for Cherry are outsiders and are part of the greaser gang. Both books have a purpose for the reader to think about. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley had written the novel to warn scientists about going too far with their projects and should never take their work as far as â€Å"playing God† as it most probably end up as a catastrophe. The key plot that links to two novels together is the fact that you should never judge people by appearance. Both plots focus on this social matter but have expanded on it and created a story that has a subtle background revolving around this matter. In Frankenstein the monster is rejected from society because of his appearance, he doesn’t look appealing so people immediately conclude that he is evil or means harm to them. This prejudice matter also is linked to The Outsiders. The greasers are a gang who are from the very poor side of town. Because they dress cheaply, most people immediately assume that they are hooligans and are going to harm them. This was not true as they were humans, like everyone else and never really intentionally meant harm, but the only reason they fought was because the Socials (the richer gang) started to intimidate them first. The obvious difference is that the language used in Frankenstein is far more complex because it was written so long ago. Frankenstein is aimed at an audience of greater intelligence, whereas The Outsiders uses a very laid-back language. The common usage of slang makes the book more authentic to the 1950s America, but is aimed at an audience of a lesser extent of knowledge. Personally, I found Frankenstein more interesting as it has a far more exciting story line than The Outsiders as it’s story line is far more ‘moving’ and the emotions expressed by the author affect the reader well, whereas in The Outsiders, I didn’t really find the story line all that compelling and thought that the American slang made it authentic but ran very thin and lost it’s originality after a short period. I felt that both books had a fair amount of originality, but Frankenstein’s originality was far greater than The Outsiders. I would only criticize Frankenstein because some of the language used was a little too complex for me. The Outsiders provided simple, ‘easy-to-understand’ language, which allowed the reader to comprehend the story. I thought that, despite the slightly difficult language used in Frankenstein, I believe that Frankenstein had a far greater ethical background which allowed the story to have several ethical meanings, as well as the good story line surrounding the messages.

Komatsu Case Study Analysis

Komatsu Case Study Contents Executive Summary2 Evolution and Strategic Drivers of Komatsu (EME)3 Organizational Culture4 Five-Force Analysis: The EME Industry:5 SWOT Analysis8 Resource Based Competitive Advantage8 Financials & Future Course9 Company on The Right Path11 References12 Executive Summary Komatsu, the Japan based earth moving equipment taking on Caterpillar manufacturer has been studied by management students around the globe for years now. This story of David vs Goliath provides us an insight about the strategies followed by David in bringing down Goliath.Komatsu’s evolution and its strategies were studied in comparison with that of Caterpillar. Responses to each other’s moves in the global earth moving equipment industry have been analysed in the context of their international business strategies. An industry to analysis was done to understand the environmental factors that affected the competition between the giant and the emerging. A SWOT analysis identif ied the internal resources and capabilities of Komatsu that aided it to develop its distinctive competitiveness.How Komatsu achieve a sustained profitability, higher than the industry average despite the volatile international EME market was studied under the financial analysis. The role of organizational culture in enabling Komatsu to succeed in the highly competitive industry was also studied in the case analysis. Through all the above mentioned analysis, it was found out that the company was in the right track. Measures to ensure that the company continues to stay in the high profitability section have been discussed in the concluding part of the report. Evolution and Strategic Drivers of Komatsu (EME)Komatsu Limited  or  Komatsu  is a multinational corporation that manufactures construction mining, and  military  equipment, Industrial equipments such as press machines, lasers and  thermoelectric generators. Komatsu is the world's second largest manufacturer of  con struction and  mining equipments  after  Caterpillar. However, in some areas (Japan, China), Komatsu has a larger share than Caterpillar. It has manufacturing operations in Japan, Asia, Americas and Europe. Komatsu was especially dangerous to Caterpillar due to the fact that it was the second largest EME company worldwide.The 1920s to the 1930s marked major developments for Komatsu and prominent growth. The company stressed that the management should have two important perspectives * Overseas orientation * User orientation During World War II, Komatsu thrived by producing for the Japanese military surplus of products (military tractors,  bulldozers,  tanks,  howitzers etc. ). After the war, the company introduced commercial bulldozers and forklifts to its equipment line up meanwhile experiencing exponential growth precipitated by strong market demand in a post-war construction era. The company brought a wide range of new products to market by the late 1960s.The company c ontinued to expand through the 1970s but sales began to steadily decline as early as 1982. Komatsu now understood the competition it faced but still held a 60% market share within Japan. With the threat of the Caterpillar/Mitsubishi venture taking place Komatsu decided to attempt a revitalization of the company. Since Komatsu mainly exported whole machines, the company soon realized that needed to also expand into other markets and set up assembly plants. Unable to persuade dealers to sell its equipment, the company set up its own branch sales offices and authorized small repaid shops to be Komatsu service agents.The company set two goals during the 1960s. * The acquisition of the necessary advanced technology from abroad * The improvement of product quality within the company. In the early 1970s, Komatsu started to recognize its distributor network worldwide, aiming to supplement the direct sales offices with more servicing dealers (similar to CAT’s). The company entered lic ensing agreements with two major EME manufacturers in the United States – International Harvester and Bucyrus-Eric. They also launched quality upgrading programs in its factories.The program was used to reflect the Total Quality Control (TQC) concept. All personnel were expected to strive for TQC. In 1964, the company started Project A which aimed to upgrade the quality of the small and medium-sized bulldozers. In 1972, the company launched project B which focused on exports. In 1979 the company launched Project called â€Å"F and F† which stood for â€Å"Future and Frontiers† and its objective was to develop new products and new businesses. The project encouraged suggestions from all its employees by asking them to consider both the need of society and the technical know-how of the company.The company also began to focus more towards its Research and Development during the early 1970s. Efforts continued with some attention to basic research as well as product d evelopment. It had the distinction of introducing the world’s first radio-controlled bulldoze, amphibious bulldozer and remote-controlled underwater bulldozer. The management decided to focus on improving the competitiveness of its products. A four- part cost reduction plan was initiated. During the same time the company also accelerated its product development program.In 1981, they launched EPOCHS (Efficient Production Oriented Choice Specifications) whose main purpose was to allow the company to respond to the diverse market needs without compromising its cost position. Also, by the end of 1983, the company’s manufacturing had become fully integrated, producing all of its parts in-house. Komatsu has been a leader in innovative quality-control initiatives ever since President Yashinari Kawai decided to leverage MITI’s opening of the EME industry in 1963, and fight back in the face of the Caterpillar/Mitsubishi joint venture.The company had managed to overcome v olatile market fluctuations over the last few years, particularly in key construction markets, as a result of aggressive organizational restructuring and corporate mergers and joint ventures. Organizational Culture We can analyze the organizational culture on the basis of the following parameters: 1. Strength/Weakness of the Culture: Komatsu’s culture can be classified as a strong culture because of their strong alignment to organizational values, which makes them respond to stimulus and help the firm operate in a highly efficient manner. 2.Power Distance: Due to hierarchy being a very important aspect of the culture in Japan, the power distance is quite high in Komatsu with a well defined hierarchy though the interactivity between different levels of the organization is also fairly high. The power is also mainly concentrated in the hands of the chairman who maintains a tight control. 3. Individualism vs Collectivism: Again in line with Japanese culture, the organizational cu lture is more collectivistic with every employee striving towards a common goal. Yet certain individualistic natures are also encouraged to satisfy the intrinsic needs of the workers. . Goals and Objectives: The culture of Komatsu underlines the clear goal it has, i. e. beating Caterpillar and becoming the number one in the EME industry. In fact Komatsu’s internal slogan is Maru-C, which when roughly translated means encircle Caterpillar. 5. Employee relations and empowerment: Komatsu maintains very strong employee relations and ensures that each employee has satisfaction in terms of work, cooperation with colleagues and winning approval from others, making them feel that they’re contributing to the organization greatly while ensuring that they’re in line with the organization values and goals.Five-Force Analysis: The EME Industry: I. Threat of New Entrants| 1| 2| 3| Remarks| 1. Economies of scale is low | X| | | The industry is based on ‘Build to Orderâ⠂¬â„¢ and the machine specs differ from customer to customer. | 2. Experience effects are high; therefore| | | X| Experience in running the business in this industry is vital because huge capital is invested. | 3. Product differentiation is medium| | X| | Differentiation in the product quality and the customer requirements is moderate during the time of sales but the differentiation factor lies in the after sales service & availability of spares| 4.Brand identification is high| | | X| Customers blindly rely on branded equipments. E. g. Caterpillar (55% market share)| 5. Capital requirements are very high| | | X| Because of the capital intensive nature of the product/ industry, new entrants would stand weak comparatively| 6. Incumbents control of distribution channels is high| | | X| Access to distribution channel for new entrants is difficult because the branded players maintain strong relationship with the partners| 7.Incumbents proprietary knowledge is high| | | X| Ease of startin g business in this industry is low for an individual. It demand high degree of prior knowledge| 8. Incumbents control of access to raw materials is low| | X| | Procurement of raw material (basically steel) is not too difficult as there is cut throat competition in the steel industry| Overall Threat of New Entrants| Low| | 6. II. Bargaining Power of Buyers| 1| 2| 3| Remarks| 1. Buyer concentration is low | X| | | Not many are involved in buying these equipments. Even the amount is high but the distribution is concentrated. 2. Buyer purchase in small volume, and less frequently| | X| | The number of transactions is low (non-recurring) but post-sales the dependence on the vendor increases due to spares & support| 3. Buyer switching costs are high| | | X| Because of the huge initial investment, high life span of the product & the dependence for the after-sales support makes the buyers immobile| 4. Buyers have good information| X| | | The buyers are well experienced in their particular b usiness and hence have full knowledge of the product| 5.Buyers’ ability to integrate backward is low| | | X| It is almost impossible for a retail customer to start up such a business (capital intensive, knowledge based)| 6. Close-substitute products are rarely available| | | X| A tractor cannot be replaced by other equipments or a bullock-cart| 7. Product differentiation of suppliers is low| X| | | Players tend to match the product quality is very low because of the cut-throat competition| 8. Buyers’ profitability is very high| | | X| EMEs in these industries (mining, forest, agriculture) holds high importance | Overall Bargaining Power of Buyers| Medium| | . III. Bargaining Power of Suppliers| 1| 2| 3| Remarks| 1. Concentration of suppliers is low | X| | | The number of suppliers is less. | 2. Availability of substitute products is moderate| | X| | Raw Materials involved are normally irreplaceable except in highly innovative product. | 3. Importance of customer to the supplier is moderate| | X| | Steel industry has other customers also (automobile, real estate/housing, other mfg. industries) but due to lower margins the volume is also important for them. Thus, moderate. | 4.Differentiation of supplier’s product & service is low| | | X| Basic raw materials required are almost of equal quality from other suppliers. | 5. Switching costs of the buyer are moderate| | X| | Due to strong relationships and credit dependence, the buyers would resist switching very often. | 6. Threat of forward integration by the supplier is low| | | X| A steel supplier is least likely to start the EME business. | 7. Importance of the input to the quality of the buyer’s product is high| X| | | The quality of the raw materials determines the quality of the final product. 8. Cost of the input, relative to the total product cost is high| X| | | The raw material contribution to the final product comprises of ;50% of the total cost| Overall Bargaining Power of Su ppliers| Medium| | 8. IV. Threat of Substitute Products| 1| 2| 3| Remarks| 1. Profitability of industry producing substitute is NA | | | X| There seems to be no substitute industry for EMEs| 2. Rate of improvement in price-performance relationship of substitute product is NA| | | X| NA for the same reasons as above| 3. Buyers switching costs are high| | |X| As mentioned earlier, dependence for after sales support and big life span of the product makes it difficult for the buyers to switch| Overall Threat of Substitute Products| Low| | 9. V. Competitive Rivalry & Barriers to Exit| 1| 2| 3| Remarks| 1. Concentration of competitors is high | X| | | There is close competition among the existing players. There are around 10 competitors in the industry. | 2. Industry growth rate is moderate| | X| | The growth rate of the industry is moderate (6%-7%) because of maturity in the industry (more competitors coming in and depleting margins)| 3.Fixed Costs are high| X| | | The CAPEX involved in setting up facilities is high and this is lowered by JVs to an extent. | 4. Product differentiation is low| X| | | There is not much difference in the main equipments the competitors make except the after sales service| 6. Switching costs are high| | | X| Because of the huge initial investment, high life span of the product & the dependence for the after-sales support makes the buyers immobile| 7. Exit barriers are high| X| | | Asset specialization is high & huge investment makes it difficult to quit| 8.Strategic stakes are high| X| | | Caterpillar was exposed to loss in Europe due to Komatsu eating up its market share. | Overall Intensity of Competitive Rivalry| High| | 10. *1-High 2-Medium 3-low 11. SWOT Analysis STRENGHTS * Wide range of products – Full Line offered * Excellent quality levels in terms of products and processes with Total Quality Control (TQC) being adopted for all practices and supplemented by the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle. * Price advantage with r espect to major competitors. Large international presence and market leaders in its home country as well as a few other countries, especially in the eastern bloc. * Low cost and highly productive nature of the labor force. * Excellent R & D facilities and development of breakthrough and specialized products and adaptation of products to suit user requirements in various countries. * Able to respond to diverse market needs without compromising on the cost position (EPOCHS project). * Fully integrated manufacturing with production of all components and parts in house. WEAKNESSES * Centralized production system which will lead to less flexibility on account of changing competitive factors like protectionism, exchange rate fluctuations etc. * Logistical difficulties in shipping and high landed cost. * Weaker sales and distribution network as opposed to that of Caterpillar. * CAT still has wider brand recognition and a larger brand value * Product range still smaller than that of Caterpi llar. | OPPORTUNITIES * Increase in infrastructure development in developing countries in Asia and Latin America. * Mining boom in Australia. A number of unique products in its kitty like amphibious and remote controlled bulldozers which can be used for specialized purposes such as working at toxic dump sites and underwater mining. * Ever increasing usage of robots in manufacturing will give a large market share for its industrial robots. | THREATS * Reduction in demand for EME equipment due to the decline of the construction boom, especially in developed countries. * Fluctuating nature of the Yen. * The rise of trade frictions between the US and European Community and Japan. The rise of smaller domestic companies in the international market. | Resource Based Competitive Advantage Let us now analyze Komatsu on the basis of its Physical, Reputational, Organizational, Financial and Intellectual resources. 1. Physical: The physical resources of Komatsu are quite valuable and some of it is quite rare such as its unique products such as the amphibious bulldozer but is not hard to copy and is substitutable. In fact CAT still has advantages over it in terms of sales and distribution and factory locations. 2.Reputational: The reputation of Komatsu is quite valuable and is widely known as a maker of good quality EME machines at competitive prices but CAT still has a higher reputational advantage over it. 3. Organizational: The organizational set up of Komatsu is highly efficient and it is one of its most valuable resources. It has one of the best labor relations in the industry. 4. Financial: The financial position of the company is quite stable at the moment but is subject to a lot of risks on account of various factors like the fluctuating Yen, decreasing demand for EME equipment etc. . Intellectual: The intellectual resources of Komatsu is one of the best in the industry, making it highly valuable and rare, leading to the development of its excellent R & D infrastru cture and highly productive nature of its labor force. Financials & Future Course From the limited and abridged version of the financial performance of Komatsu, we can see that the company has shown consistent growth. Yet, there has been considerable fluctuation in the sales revenue and net income over the years. Plotting the data in a graph gives us a clear picture of this trend.The above three figures show that the market-share of Komatsu, in the global EME market, has steadily grown between 1978 and 1984. It is interesting to note that the net sales and net income of the company does not correspond to the steady growth in the market share. These ups and downs can be explained in a case by case basis. In the early 1970s, the company started focusing on upgrading the quality of its products to compete in the global market. MITI’s decision to open the EME industry to foreign investments led to an obsession for quality and acquisition of advanced technology.Licensing technolog ies from International Harvester and Bucyrus-Eric and implementation of quality improvement programs led to high costs but they started paying off in the late 1970’s in terms of increased market penetration and lower cost of manufacturing. Aggressive exports to Western Europe and other parts of the world in the early seventies led to the sustenance of growth in market share and sales. But poor dealer network and lack of global servicing facilities led to a overkill of inventories and parts in international subsidiaries that led to substantial decrease in net income.Pricing its products at 30-40% less than that of CAT’s products enabled Komatsu to sell high number in LDCs. Komatsu’s ratio of exports grew from 20 % to 55 % in 1975. Late 1970s saw an increased investment in R to facilitate the V-10 program to reduce cost by 10 %, reduce the number of part of by 20 %, focus on value engineering and rationalizing the manufacturing process. This dented the balance she et. Rapid appreciation of Yen against many major currencies led to further constraints. Though the engineers used pessimistic internal yen/dollar exchange rate, the volatile nature of Yen had an impact on the net income.Buying its way out of the licensing contracts between International Harvester and Bucyrus-Eric again led to a major expense in the early 1980s, but they saved the company a great deal of trouble and licensing fees. This led to the unrestricted introduction of products like hydraulic excavators and wheel loaders to the world market. This led to a spike in the net income and net sales of the company in early 1980s. The rise of trade friction between European community and USA on one hand and Japan on the other slumped Komatsu’s international sales after 1982.Subsequent freight costs from shipping heavy earth moving equipment with poor volume to value ratio, simultaneous initiatives such as EPOCH, PDCA and increase in R spending to 5. 8 % in 1983 pulled down the net income figures. These are temporary downtrends which will be turned in to rapid up swing once these efforts start to paying off. Company on The Right Path The company is on the right track. Results of R efforts like superior cast iron development, 1000 bhp bulldozer, and diversification to arc-welding robots, heat systems etc have ensure the future of the company.It has spread its risk and has capitalized on changing trends like the embargo by Reagan’s administration which got Komatsu the Siberian natural resource project. Through it initiatives like F, it has identified the future course of the organization with the participation of its employees. But a competitor like CAT will definitely bounce back stronger than ever. CAT has its distinctive competitiveness built through strong dealership, huge financial reserves, global learning and experience. Innovation, operational efficiency, quality and consumer responsiveness are the key factors in achieving distinctive competit iveness.Komatsu has already addressed the needs of innovation, quality and operational efficiency. But there is a big gap in the consumer responsiveness aspect. CAT offers service and spare parts in 24 hours in any part of the world. Inventory overkill is a not a sustainable solution, hence the company’s immediate concern should be of improving the consumer responsiveness to ensure repeat purchase and nurturing customer loyalty. Company’s internal exchange rate has kept it buoyed during turbulent times in the money market, but initiatives like hedging revenues from international business will reduce forex risk.Innovation is vital, but innovation should be backed by organization commitment. If these innovations are not deftly handled, the sunk cost in R will scuttle the company. Komatsu should hence avoid falling in to the ‘Chasm’ between the early adopters and early majority of its new products. This can be achieved by sensing the different needs of the ea rly majority and perfecting the design of the products, adopting the distribution network to commercialization and revamping its business model based on the new requirements.If Komatsu fails in these fronts, it will fall in to the ‘Pioneers’ category of the Icarus paradox Danny identified by Miller. References * http://www. cat. com/about-the-company * http://www. komatsu. com/CompanyInfo/profile/ * C. W. L. Hill & R. Jones, ‘Strategic Management- an integrated approach’(2009). Bizantra, New Delhi. * C. W. L. Hill & Arun. K. Jain, ‘International Business – competing in the global market place’ (2009). Tata McGrawHill, New Delhi.