Introduction To The James Bond Character

Introduction To The James Bond Character James Bond was born by the hands of English writer Ian Fleming, father of the world most famous secret agent novels. Codename 007, double 0 for the license to kill, James bond is a charming British special agent with the talent to solve the twisted machination of rich and powerful evils minds. HISTORY OF THE CHARACTER After rising to the rank of commander in the British navy, Bond Joined MI6, becoming one of the few agents licensed to kill. His role is to track down those who seek world domination and the destruction of Western civilization. Nothing stops him in battle with ultimate evil. (2) Inside the MI6, who occupies a bureaucratic office is designated by a letter; among all, M is the direct boss of James Bond, Q is the technological section and is involved in the creation of all the essential gadgets for James Bond missions. At last but not least miss Moneypenny, James Bonds secretary, and all the so called bond girl that are one of the fundamental feature for the series (feature also accused of sexism and machismo) THE AUTHOR Ian Lancaster Flaming was born in Mayfair, London, May 28, 1908. His family was part of the English aristocracy: his grandfather was the wealthy scottish banker Robert Fleming and his father, Valentine Fleming, was a conservative member of parliament, service-oriented land owner in Oxfordshire. Ian was only 9 years old when the father was killed in the first world war. He begins his studies in 1921 at Eton college, and complete them with some difficulties, but he was one of the best athletes of the institute. Young Ian is exuberant, loves beautiful women and sports cars, and is not ashamed to be seen as a heavy drinker. To correct the behavior of the boy, the mother enrols him at the military academy. Disappointed, his mother sends him in Austria, in a British family who runs a guesthouse for students. In a free and stimulated environment, different from the English one, Ian improves his profits. Thanks to this environment Ian become passionate about climbing and skiing; and this same panorama, recurs in his novels. He continued his studies by attending courses in Foreign Policy at the Universities of Geneva and Monaco. Undertake the profession of journalist for the Reuters agency. His eccentric passions are reflected in the founding of the club Le Cercle, dedicated to the cult of gastronomy and gambling; (in the movie license to kill, the first appearance of James Bond is right inside the club The Cercle). In the 1939 he joined the secret service of the British Navy: spending those years conducting a series of operations that will form the basis of the experience that give credibility, life and substance to the character of James Bond. In 1952 he married Geraldine Anne Rothermere, Countess of Charteris. During the Honeymoon he wrote Casino Royale, his first book with James Bond. Will end up writing a total of twelve novels and two collections of shorts stories on 007, a book inquiry on the international traffic of diamonds and a surreal novel titled Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In the sagas most famous secret agent in the world, Ian Fleming used many episodes of his personal and professional life. In 1964, Fleming suffered a severe debilitating chest cold, which combined with pleurisy, forcing a slow recovery. That summer his mother died, leaving behind her small fortune from Valentine Flemings trust. By this time, Fleming had already earned his own fortune, created his own identity, and ruled his own literary empire. His doctors advised him he was too ill to attend his mothers service, but he went anyway. Fleming tried to force his recovery, dictating letters in protest of his condition, as if by sheer will, Fleming could regain his health. In August went to St. Georges to meet with the golf committee. His heart failed him, and the night of August 11, Ian Fleming began to bleed to death from within. At 1 a.m. on August 12, 1964, Ian Fleming died at the age of 56. He is buried in Sevenhampton, near Swindon not too far from the Welsh border. His wife Anne died in 1981. Flemings only child, Casper, died from a suicidal drug overdose in 1975. Both are buried beside Ian beneath a simple obelisk monument in the shadow of the local stone church. (3) THE ARMY TODAY Royal Navy The United Kingdom is an island nation. The sea has always been a vital factor in its history. It has been a means of people arriving from overseas, a barrier to invaders, a highway for trade and the basis for a once global empire. After the second World war the Royal Navy sees a great transformation in technology, roles and society. The strategic impact of the Royal Navy was transformed introducing nuclear power and nuclear armed submarines that changes the strategic nuclear deterrent of Britain; ships design was transformed; the Navy first guided missile armed destroyer was completed in 1962; officer entry at schoolboy age was replaced by the mid-1950s, by entry at eighteen. (4) Royal Marines Ethos The ethos of the Royal Marines refers to our role and the way we fulfil it. Since the Second World War, we have developed a specific function as a commando and amphibious force, undertaking operations in harsh environments be they mountain, jungle, cold weather or desert. This difficult and unique task requires certain personal characteristics, which are nurtured at the Commando Training Centre during training and then maintained and developed during our subsequent service. It is because of these individual qualities that we are able to fulfil our collective role successfully; combined, these two key elements form our ethos. (5) MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), is the espionage agency of Great Britain. Its more commonly known as the Military Intelligence section 6 (MI6). It was founded in 1909 as the foreign section of the Secret Service Bureau. It provides the British Government whit a global covert capability to promote and defend the national security and economic well being of the United Kingdome. Ian Fleming worked for the MI6 during the second world war, for the secret services of the Royal Navy. (6) WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM JAMES BOND James Bond Movies and novels, changed the collective imaginary He is the central character in one of the best-selling series of popular novels in literary history, and the hero of the most successful and enduring cycle of films ever produced. His critics accused him of racism, sexism, and snobbery. His fans see him as cultured, seductive, and discerning. He is agent 007, licensed to kill. First appearing with the publication of Ian Flemingsngs Casino Royale in 1953 and crossing over to the big screen with the film adaption of Dr No in 1962, James Bond emerged at a turning point in British post-war history, a moment of profound cultural change that saw Britains decline as a superpower and its reinvention as a swinging mecca for music, fashion, shopping and youth culture. As a fictional character who perpetuated British fantasies of global influence while simultaneously glamourizing an affluent lifestyle based on brand-name consumerism, exotic travel, and sexual conquest, bond novels and films have reminded at the forefront of popular culture, continuously modernizing the 007 formula to reflect and often anticipate changing social attitudes, major developments in world politics, and shifting trends in popular fiction and cinema culture. (1) ( The James Bond phenomenon, A critical reader; Christoph Lindner; Univerisity of Wales, Aberystwyth; Manchester University Press; 2003) The bond look: The way James Bond present himself to the world his look provides a number of telling insights his personality. As befits his public persona of a successful businessman for Universal Exports, his style is undemonstrative and classically tailored, suggesting a man at ease with himself and in control of his life. He favors lightweight suits in muted shades for most occasions, and a tuxedo for formal events. Shoes, shirts, and ties are of the best quality. Everything fits, nothing is left to chance he transcends the whims of fashion. Bond in love: For James Bond a beautiful woman, especially in independent, free-spirited woman, is an irresistible challenge the ultimate prize of a life lived as if there were no tomorrow. Love never lasts long in Bond World. As Paris Carver, a former lover, once remarked with tragic foresight: this job of yours its murder on relationship. So Bond keeps moving, from romance to romance. Yet one name will always linger his memory the name of his murdered bride, Tracy di Vincenzo. ( James Bond the secret world of 007; Alastair Dougall; Dorling Kindersley Publishing, London, New York, Munich, Melbourne, and Delhi; 2006 ) ( http://www.klast.net/bond/flem_bio.html; Jhon Cork ([emailprotected]); Ian Fleming Foundation, 1995 [online]; accessed on 03/05/2010 ) (3) ( http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/history/historical-periods/1945-2000/ [online] accessed on 04/05/2010 ) (4) (http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/royalmarines/history-and-ethos/ethos-beliefs/ [online ] accessed on 04/05/2010) (5) ( http://www.sis.gov.uk/output/sis-home-welcome.html; [online]; accessed on 04/05/2010 ) (6)

Urban Sprawl and Motorization

Increasing urban sprawl and motorization have become leading causes of environmental and social problems in recent years throughout the world, particularly in cities of developing countries. Urban sprawl is the disorderly expansion of urban areas, especially resulting from real estate development on the out skirts of a city. Motorization, which is linked to urban sprawl, can be defined as the increasing use of motor vehicles. Although motor vehicles offer some benefits such as convenience, their use results in environmental and social problems. All sorts of people are concerned about this issue, and making some suggestion to solve these problems. This essay will describe six solutions for the environment and social problems, and demonstrate that land management, reducing car use and using hydroponics or aeroponic technology are more effective way to confront these issues. Climate change, which is caused by motorization and urban sprawl, is one of the most significant problems. Urban sprawl results in more energy use in transportation, and it also use in large homes on the urban fringe which leads to more heating and cooling. This creates global warming gases such as carbon dioxide into the air. There are two solutions that offer different degrees of effect for the problem of climate change. Nuclear technologies are one solution. In Gonzalez’s article, two international business organizations named the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) recommend using new technologies such as new renewable energy and cleaner fuels helps to reduce global warming. However, Gonzalez (2005) explains these technological solutions can only shift the ecological pressure and cut down the global warming problem in the short term. For instance, nuclear energy emissions will cause other major environment problems (Gonzalez, 2005). Another shortcoming about nuclear technologies from Gonzalez (2005) is that now no technology are able to effectively reduce climate change problem, and allow present percentage of economic increase and consumption to keep going meanwhile decreasing global warming. Then the author highlight that environmental issues will become more serious before the success of the new technologies. Another solution of climate change is environmentally sensitive land management. Gonzalez (2005) suggests regulating the distances of residential and work places, and creating these places smaller. As a result, although nuclear terminologies can reduce climate change problem in a short term, land management is the most effective means. Urban sprawl results in the dramatically increasing use of automobile. Frumkin (2001) notes that motorization causes a numerous greenhouse gas emissions into the air, and physical health problems, such as worse lung function, and the mental health issues that affect local communities, especially the elderly and the very young. Living in suburbs, where is peace and quiet, provides benefits for human’s health (Frumkin, 2001). Thus, it increases the rural population. Gonzalez (2005) urged that people should get rid of dependence on cars, and spend more time on walking, biking and public transit. This solution seems to create the best effects to decrease the gas emissions to solve health problems. Another social problem is loss of farm land. Kenworthy and Hu (2002, 5 cited in Martin , 2007) explains that the percentage of urbanized land in China is growing, but the land use per capita has declined from 164 to 146 in six Chinese cities in five years. Yardley (2004 cited in Martin 2007) states that more than 2 per cent of farmland was replaced by urban areas in 2003. There are two solutions that offer different benefits. First, for this problem, McCartney (2010) suggests that people who live in the city are able to grow food in their private gardens or on balconies. Moreover, the author points out that people can grow food in a large-scale by using hydroponic or aeroponic technology in the future. This technology reduces vehicle CO2 emissions and people do not need to worry about the impact of droughts or floods to crops. Therefore, using hydroponics or aeroponic technology offers more. In conclusion, urban sprawl and motorization brings a variety of environmental and social issues namely climate change, health problem and loss of farm land. In this article, providing a number of methods to solve these problems. While some ways of approaching this problems including nuclear technologies, moving to suburbs and planting food in people’s private gardens or on balconies are able to help to decline damage of problems, these solutions still have some drawbacks. Accordingly, more effective and long method to resolve these problems are land management, reducing car use and using hydroponics or aeroponic technology.

The Ceo’s Decision-Making Process Model on Service Offshore Outsourcing: Using Theory of Reasoned Action (Tra)

THE CEO’S DECISION-MAKING PROCESS MODEL ON SERVICE OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING: USING THEORY OF REASONED ACTION (TRA) Mark Yang Department of Information, Operations and Technology Management College of Business Administration The University of Toledo 2801 W. Bancroft St. Toledo, Ohio, USA 43606 Phone: (419) 787-3453 Fax: (419) 530-2290 E-mail: [email  protected] utoledo. edu Jeen Lim Department of Marketing and International Business College of Business Administration The University of Toledo 2801 W. Bancroft St. Toledo, Ohio, USA 43606 Phone: (419) 530-2922 Fax: (419) 530-4610 E-mail: jeen. [email  protected] du ABSTRACT This present study attempts to fill the gap through providing the CEO’s decision-making process model with regard to service offshore outsourcing activities which becomes important strategy to maintain firm’s competitive advantage. Arguably, the CEO is the main domain of decision making authority on such important agenda of the firm as service off shoring. The research model includes 1) key antecedents of service offshoring deriving from various outsourcing literatures, 2) CEO’s propensity (attitude and subjective norm), intention and behavior, and 3) regulatory environmental factors.As a theoretical base, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) will be used. Managerial implication as well as future research direction will be provided. Keywords: Offshore outsourcing, Key Antecedents of Service offshoring, Decision-making process, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) INTRODUCTION Recently, service offshoring has brought the tremendous increasing attention and concern to both practitioners and researchers due to the rapidly-changing structure of the U. S. mployment and the growing importance of its significant impact on the U. S. economy. This trend has been more and more visible due to â€Å"the rise of globally integrated knowledge economy†, which has both good and bad impact on the U. S. econo my: it may be good because U. S. firms may enjoy the cost benefits, utilizing large best pools with relatively low cost; it may be also bad because they are likely to lose control of their core businesses or lose white-collar jobs of the U. S. counterpart.Up to now, large body of research has addressed the various issues of service offshoring. However, current scholarly works tend to be fragmented and especially, few attempted to examine inside of firm’s decision-making process with regard to service offshore outsourcing. Such decision-making process model may be useful to contribute to the previous – 4491 – body of research on service offshore outsourcing in that to my knowledge, very few papers produced from top management perspective (except [47]) and this process model may help top management, esp.Chief Executive Officer (CEO) avoid to make hasty decision, resulting in saving huge economic losses. This paper is organized as follows. The following section pro vides literature reviews. The third section presents the research model which includes such variables as 1) key antecedents which are major criteria for determining service offshoring drawn from the extant literatures on outsourcing activities; 2) CEO’s propensity; 3) CEO’s Intention and Behavior; and 4) regulatory environment (moderating variable). Series of research propositions are developed.The conclusion section provides the managerial implication as well as future research direction. LITERATURE REVIEW The role of top management on affecting firms’ strategy choices and performance has been well-documented [13] [14] [40] [9] [15]. Quality of leadership of top management, esp. CEO, determines the fate of the firm. For example, under Jack Welch’s leadership General Electric Company (GE) within 20 years has been drastically transformed into one of the largest and most admired company with $ 500 billion’s market value from a market capitalization o f $12 billion.It shows the critical role of CEO in advancing the firm in terms of organizational performance. Excellent outcomes start with wise and prudent decision-making. In that regard, CEO is considered the main domain of decision-making authority on important agenda of the firm such as offshoring service. Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) [12] [2] is a general model that does not specify the beliefs that are operative for a certain behavior [8]. The TRA postulates that one’s behavior is determined by his /her behavioral intention (BI) to perform the behavior.BI is divided into two conceptually distinct variables: 1) one’s attitude (A) toward performing the behavior, and 2) one’ subjective norm (SN) about performing the behavior. Once attitudes and subjective norms are formed, CEO may have inclination whether or not to make certain choices. Actual behavior is the transmission of such intention into action. Significance of the role of environment on the strate gy formulation and organizational outcome has been extensively examined [25] [29] [16] [24]. The CEO’s decision to offshore services will be greatly contingent on the regulatory environment a firm faces.The regulatory environment can, to some extent, act to facilitate or hinder offshoring. Regulation environment becomes a moderating variable that can weaken or enhance the relationship between (1) the drivers of offshoring and top management’s propensity; and (2) top management’s propensity and intention and actual behavior. RESEARCH MODEL The research model is about the CEO’s decision making process on service offshore outsourcing. It includes four key antecedents (i. e. , decision-criteria) of service offshore outsourcing and the CEO’s propensity, intention and behavior.This model also attempts to examine the moderating role of regulatory environment between (1) the key antecedents and the CEO’s propensity; and (2) the CEO’s propensi ty and the CEO’s intention and behavior. Cost Advantage ([18] [19]) Cost advantage refers to the extent to which a client firm can achieve cost reduction, productivity or profitability through service offshore outsourcing activities. One of the most commonly quoted reasons is that managers feel that they can gain cost advantages by employing – 4492 – outside suppliers to perform certain services and produce certain products.Cost reduction remains the major explanation for the drivers of outsourcing. Some researchers argue that an important foundation of cost reductions is the outsourcing firm’s access to economies of scale and the distinctive know-how or expertise that a large outsourcing vendor (i. e. , supplier) can bring. [4] [32] Nohria and William [30] discovered that to be a steady industry winner, a firm must increase its productivity by around twice above than the industry’s average. There are a number of studies that focus on explaining th e relationship between outsourcing and productivity growth.Today’s knowledge and service-based economy offers numerous opportunities for wellrun companies to increase profits through outsourcing [30]. When used properly, outsourcing can boost profitability to the firm in many ways (i. e. , staffing, capabilities, facilities, and payroll, etc). The most obvious reason why a firm offshores services is also for cost advantage. In regard to offshoring activities, wage differential (i. e. , lower labor cost with comparable quality of work) between U. S. and other developing countries motivates top management to offshore. Risk Control ([17])Risk control refers to the degree to which a client firm control the risk such as amount of involved outsourcing value (i. e. , scale of the contract), outsourcing complexity (i. e. , level of contract difficulty) and outsourcing duration (length of the contract) that might occur through outsourcing. Management needs to assess and evaluate the r isks and their impact at various levels such as strategic, tactical and operational levels [43]. The level of contract complexity also can influence on the level of risk. Complexity refers to the degree to which activities are diversified with the outsourcing function.The more complex a contract is, the more risky its implementation is. Length of contract duration [19] can affect the complexity of an outsourcing relationship. When an outsourcing contract’s duration requires a longer period of time, both diversity of business relationships and complexity of contract management increase. As a result, longer duration contracts expose the outsourcing company to greater level of risk due to managerial uncertainty. Infrastructure Maturity ([17] [23]) Infrastructure maturity refers to the degree to which both firms (i. e. , client and vendor) have developed telecommunications (i. e. Internet and mobile telecommunication) and transportation (i. e. , logistics, 3PLs) infrastructure. T echnology advancement makes organizational and national borders less significant when it comes to the decision regarding relocation of service functions. Telecommunication infrastructure is essential for electronically transmitted services. Lack of telecommunication system will be a hurdle for trade with U. S. Transportation infrastructure refers to the availability of logistics. The increase in competition and growing awareness of the role of logistics lead more companies to exploit the potential of outsourcing.Cultural Compatibility ([20]) Cultural compatibility refers to the degree to which both firms (i. e. , client and vendor) can interchangeably accept cultural dissimilarities including language (i. e. , English), ethnic linkage, or cultural difference. In the context of a firm’s offshoring decision, language similarity between a client and vendor firm is important. Language similarity is measured by the extent to which a vendor firm is exposed to English (i. e. , Engli sh fluency). Ethnic linkage is also important for offshoring outsourcing service activities. Ethnic linkage between the managers of both firms (i. . , client and vendor) in origin and destination countries increases cultural compatibility. Such – 4493 – linkage improves social capital [45]. Cultural difference refers to the degree to which firms may not accept a counterpart’s culture. These cultural differences may increase difficulties associated with managing employees. We propose that four factors that have influenced firms’ outsourcing decision will affect to some extent firms’ service offshoring decision. Therefore, we regard these four factors as the key antecedents of the CEO’s decision for service offshore outsourcing.Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) In firms’ decision-making for service offshoring, CEO is the key person who actually involves in that process with collaborative effort of top management and board of directors. Ac cording to TRA, attitude toward offshore outsourcing services is generated by the individual’s salient belief about the consequences of adopting service offshoring practices (behavioral beliefs) and evaluation of these consequences (i. e. , positive or negative outcomes). Positive feelings toward offshoring will lead top management to form optimistic attitude, in turn intention to behave (i. e. willingness to offshore outsourcing services). After careful examination of the four key antecedents, i. e. , cost advantage, risk control, infrastructure maturity, and cultural compatibility, the CEO forms positive or negative attitude toward offshoring. Subjective norm is generated by the normative beliefs that the person attributes to what relevant others (i. e. , social referents) expect her to do with respect to adopting offshoring services as well as her motivation to comply with those beliefs. Social referents possibly include firm’s board of directors, stockholders, firm ’s customers, or CIO [47].The strength of social referents’ normative belief and motivations will actually determine the CEO’s final decision to offshore services. Once attitudes and subjective norms are formed, the CEO may have inclination whether or not to make decision for offshoring services. In turn, actual behavior will be transmitted from such intention. The above discussions lead to: Proposition 1: The key antecedents of service offshore outsourcing, (a) Cost Advantage, (b) Risk Control, (c) Infrastructure Maturity, and (d) Cultural Compatibility will have a positive impact on top management’s attitude and subjective norms to offshore outsourcing services.Proposition 2: Top management’s positive attitude and norms that was formed through careful assessing key antecedents of service offshoring will have a positive impact on top management’s actual behavior (i. e. , both intention and decision to offshore services). Moderating Effect: Regulatory Environment ([17] [20]) Regulatory environment refers to explicit regulative processes, existing laws and rules that influence offshoring outsourcing [49]. In this case, government plays a major role.For example, in case of offshoring software industry, government can affect restrict or facilitate the import and export of equipment, software, or data across the country. Government is also the main enforcers of intellectual property laws (i. e. , patent, copyright) 36]. Companies in the U. S. will not choose to offshore key functions if they are concerned about the security of key processes or products [37]. Generally, three types of regulatory factors can be categorized: 1) Tariff/ Non-tariff barriers; 2) privacy laws and 3) rule of law.We propose that above regulatory environment factors will play moderating roles in affecting the relationship between the key antecedents and the CEO’s final decision to offshore outsourcing services. Proposition 3: The relationship between (1) the key antecedents and the CEO’s propensity and (2) CEO’s propensity and intention and behavior for offshore outsourcing services will be moderated by regulatory environment. – 4494 – Table 1: Key constructs (Definitions and Supporting Literatures) Construct Definition Literature Cost Advantage (CA) The degree to which a client firm can achieve cost reduction, operating efficiency (i. . , productivity) or profitability that is related to economic benefit through service offshore outsourcing activities Smith et al. , 1998; Jiang et al. , 2006; Jiang et al. , 2007 Risk Control (RC) The degree to which a client firm controls the risk that might occur through service offshore outsourcing activities, risk such as amount of involved value (i. e. , Scale of the contract), complexity (i. e. , Level of contract difficulty) and duration (Length of the contract). Smith et al. , 1998 Stremersch et al. , 2003; Carson, 2007; Jiang and Qureshi, 2006; Jiang et al. , 2007 Infrastructure Maturity IM) The degree to which both firms (i. e. , client and vendor) have developed telecommunications (i. e. , Internet and mobile telecommunication) and transportation infrastructure. Cultural Compatibility (CC) The degree to which both firms (i. e. , client and vendor) can interchangeably accept different cultural backgrounds including language (i. e. , English), ethnic linkage, or cultural difference. Kshetri, 2007 Regulatory Environment (RE) Explicit regulative processes, existing laws and rules such as trade barriers, privacy laws and rule of law that influence service offshore outsourcing activitiesScott, 1995; Jahns et al. , 2006; Kshetri, 2007 Jahns et al. , 2006; Metters and Verma, 2008 Figure 2: Theoretical Model Key Antecedents Cost Advantage (CA) Risk Control (RC) Infrastructure Maturity (IM) H1 The CEO’s Attitude and Subjective Norms toward offshoring Hservices 3 (PROPENSITY) Cultural Compatibility (CC) H3 Regulatory Environment (RE) – 4495 – H2 The CEO’s DecisionMaking to offshore services (INTENTION) (BEHAVIOR) CONCLUSION Nowadays, outsourcing and offshoring decision is not an alternative option to choose but a mandatory passport to lead firms to sustain competitive advantages over rivals.In this regard, this paper seems to be of less value because many firms offshore service jobs anyway. However, the key antecedents that were shown in present study may help management as useful decision tools and become critical in succeeding to reap the full benefits of the offshoring activities to the firm. This is a meaningful attempt to go inside of firms’ decision-making process though it may not be perfectly useful for managerial decision. It is primarily because through this model, management can rethink before they launch the service offshoring activities, asking themselves â€Å"why we pursue† and â€Å"then, how we can reap the full benefits. This present study attempted to c onsider four key antecedents of service offshoring which are important decision-credentials for top management, esp. CEO to offshore. Although these are not direct determinants of service offshoring decision, they are the ones in which firms need to consider before actual decision is made in that they encompass different aspects. Cost advantage and risk control are considered economic aspects. Since cost elements are always one of the most important reasons for firms’ decision of certain activities, cost advantage and level of risk control needs to be carefully examined before initial launch is kicked off.Infrastructure maturity is considered environmental or infrastructural aspect. Availability and development of telecommunication and transportation infrastructure is critical for service offshoring—its fast and reliable delivery. Lastly, cultural compatibility is considered cultural aspect. Language (i. e. , English) fluency, ethnic linkage, or cultural difference wil l actually determine long-term relationship between a client and vendor firm across the country.These decision-criteria will help top management to consider the different aspects of offshoring activities, which are economic, environmental (infrastructural) and cultural dimensions. This present study also identified three different aspects of regulatory environment which are trade barriers, privacy laws, and rule of law. Trade barriers are associated with a relation-type regulatory factor in that they determine the magnitude of relationship between countries which are involved in offshoring activities.Privacy laws are coupled with a risk-type regulatory factor in that lack of privacy laws will make a client firm to be exposed to information (data) loss. Rule of law such as political institution, court system or sound citizenship is linked with security-type regulatory factor in that poor rule of law (i. e. , vendor firm) is regarded as major obstacles to offshoring and cause to criti cal security problems. For future research, three major works need to be done. First, to make empirical study possible, measurement items for each key antecedent and CEO’s propensity, intention and behavior need to be developed.For operationalization of key variables, more refined work should be continued. In this case, both secondary data and survey method may be appropriately used. Second, for completeness of the model or further analysis, outcome and performance measure might be added. Third, for extension of this paper, it might be an interesting attempt if general decision-making process model which includes other top management teams and board of directors is provided. * References Available Upon Request (Mark Yang: [email  protected] utoledo. edu) – 4496 –

Wwii And The War Of Iraq Essay - 1093 Words

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Thesis: Abstract: Introduction: To look at the change in economic relations between the netherlands and the U.S. on either side of WWII it is hard to not mix in some politics and military theory as it is a world war, arguably the biggest conflict in the history of the world (that we know of). Pre-WWII: The U.S.’s economic partnershipRead MoreThe Soviet Revolution Of Ussr872 Words   |  4 Pagesisolationists until after 1945. In WWII the US fought alongside Russia. Russia, however, was communist ever since the Russian Revolution in 1917. The Russian Revolution also brought to the surface USSR (United Soviet Socialist Republics). The USSR was the only real controlling party of Russia from 1917-99. Because of the anti-communist tension of the US, the US did not recognize the legitimacy of the USSR until 1934. So even though the US fought alongside USSR in WWII, there was always a sort of mistrustRead More`` Questing For Monsters `` By John Mueller, An American Political Scientist Essay1592 Words   |  7 Pageswhich resulted in the U.S. spending money and troops to fight wars they should have never been involved in. In the Communist invasion of Korea in the summer of 1950, Stalin believed North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung when he said he was â€Å"absolutely certain of success.† However, Stalin made it clear the USSR would not be footing the bill for a war in Korea if Sung was wrong, and he was. Once the United States sided with the South Koreans, the war became a fiasco instead of the quick, easy, and cheap spreadRead MoreThe Politics Of Power By Ira Katznelson1315 Words   |  6 Pagestransition into the globalization era, and environmental problems. From the beginning of the exploration era, to the globalization ear, foreign policy never escaped existence. The use of foreign policy continued into the beginning of World War II, after the war, and through present day. Between each date in history, foreign policy increasingly has played a major role in the turning tides within each event. The importance of foreign policy instructed the world into what it is today and has continued