MBA Management course -'Business in Society' Essay

MBA Management course - 'Business in Society' - Essay Example eading partnerships of the world are currently extending their supportability activities to concentrate on responsibility and limit hazards by expanding benchmark desires for financial specialists and guaranteeing their techniques are in accordance with the venture communitys destinations. This would exhibit corporate duty towards the financial specialists and investors who eventually will bolster the companys versatile maintainability endeavors.1 At IKEA, we have consistently had confidence in incorporating manageability procedures to help our workplace through materiality and activities based activities. We have been in front of our rivals in supportability activities. A portion of our striking ventures during 2006 had been making home outfitting items alright for natural impacts; support for mindful ranger service dependent on set up prerequisites for wood providers; support for feasible cotton creation; and worthy working conditions. In 2007 we have presented IWAY (IKEA Way on Purchasing Home Furnishing Products) which urge shoppers to assist us with accomplishing maintainability objectives. Our present activities incorporate progressing in the direction of decrease of youngster work, commitment towards atmosphere sway; and going towards sustainable power source by supporting economical vehicle; and working with networks towards sustainability.2 These angles exhibit that however, an exceptionally earth cognizant organizati on, IKEA’s methodologies in the past has been centered around material and tasks solely. For the future, we have to grow increasingly tough techniques which Tomorrows Value report demonstrates as, financial specialists points of view of manageability. At IKEA, we have just had the option to accomplish this through exchanges with associations, providers, organizations and related associations. So far IKEA has had the option to build up a procedure for supportability and systems for observing it.3 We have to tailor our maintainability techniques to line up with tomorrow’s qualities and manageability to expand advertise openings.

DYADIC RELATIONSHIPS and (B) CHARISMATIC AND TRANSFORMATION LEADERSHIP Case Study - 1

DYADIC RELATIONSHIPS and (B) CHARISMATIC AND TRANSFORMATION LEADERSHIP - Case Study Example e to share their piece of form over a specific issue; this gives subordinates certainty and feeling of proprietorship that they are a significant piece of the association. What's more, simultaneously, this brings all out and viable as opposed to shallow interest in dynamic, in addition, this trade relationship propels them to profit increasingly subordinate self-rule. During circumstances such as the present, many would not differ that associations succeed when they permit their authoritative initiative to expand self-governance and guarantee the idea of decentralization aggregately. 2. Remark on â€Å"Dyadic connections normally progress through a progression of good and bad times with shifts in mentalities as the two gatherings endeavor to accommodate their longing for self-governance with their craving for nearer involvement† The LMX hypothesis is immature. It presently can't seem to completely characterize the all territories and way trade connections advance after some time (Yukl, 2010, p.239). This hypothesis recommends that trade connections develop and advance in a smooth yet ceaseless manner, taking their base from the underlying impressions. In any case, some longitudinal investigations fight that the LMX connections grow quicker and stay stable. Be that as it may, different explores don't concur with this case, they fight that dyadic connections experience a progression of good and bad times, where jobs of practices can't be subverted. The closer elaboration surfaces a few realities. Most assuredly, discernments assume a crucial job in creating or dissolving any trade connections. Many further investigations inside this region would incredibly be useful in breaking down and understanding the each party’s impression of the connections. Alluring pioneers are ordinarily transformational (Lussier, 2010, p.349). In any case, not all transformational pioneers become fruitful in accomplishing their changing outcomes by means of the appealling of their characters. Charming pioneers like to advance their own picture and ID rather than transformational

Wooga

Wooga Entrepreneurial insights team visited the Wooga office in Berlin, the mobile and social game developer. In the interview with Wooga COO Jan Miczaika, Jan shares his opinion on the very competitive gaming industry and provided some insights on following:(1) Introduction and Jans background (2) The business model of Wooga (including games, revenue model, marketing strategies) (3) Corporate strategy (4) Market development and trends in gaming industry (5) Advice on creating a good corporate culture and on how to perform well as an indie game developer.Martin: Today we are in the office of Wooga, a Berlin company. Next to me is sitting Jan. Jan, who are you and what do you do?Jan: My name is Jan Miczaika, and I am the COO at Wooga, that’s the official title. If you look at Wooga, Jens â€" our founder and CEO â€" is responsible for deciding what games to make; Philip â€" our CTO â€" how to make them; and then once those two have made a great game I try to make it as big as possible, whi ch involves being responsible for things like marketing, PR, localization, community management, customer care, everything you need to make a good game really large.Martin: What did you do before you started at Wooga?Jan: I’ve been at Wooga for three and a half years now, and before that I had started my own company Hitmeister in Cologne. So I worked in e-commerce before coming into gaming.Martin: Let’s briefly talk about the business model of Wooga. Can you briefly explain the major model drivers and how you think you tried to improve on them?Jan:  Wooga develops games for smartphones, for iPhones, iPads, Android devices. We originally started making social games for Facebook on the PC, but that has shifted quite strongly over the past years. We believe this year about 70-80% of our revenue will be on mobile. So Wooga is a mobile games company. The way we earn money is through in-app purchases, a bit of money also through advertising, but it’s 90% in-app purchases. So what pe ople can do is play our games for free â€" and the vast majority plays our games for free â€" but then in the app you can buy upgrades, boosts, etc. to advance faster, and that’s how we earn our money.Martin: Why did you shift the platform, just for diversification purposes?Jan: Facebook at the time was still growing, as it is today, so Facebook has always been a very good platform for us to develop games. But the growth of mobile has been much much faster in the past few years. So we saw that it really made sense for us to develop mobile first, and then if the game is successful on mobile we will bring it to Facebook as well. So ‘Jelly Splash’ is a good example, which is available on iPhone, Android and Facebook. What we did is we changed the order.Martin: In terms of the revenue model that you use, can you tell us whether you’re doing only advertising or in-app purchases?Jan: Advertising is a small part of our revenue. The vast majority is in-app purchases. What people typ ically do is they spend small amounts of money on in-app purchases like boosts and upgrades.Martin: Let’s take a step back to a smaller Wooga, because you’re quite big right now. When you started off, how did you acquire the first customers? You said that you were using Facebook, but how did you acquire the critical mass so you can grow based on this network effect?Jan: The first Wooga game was ‘Brain Buddies’, some people may remember it. ‘Brain buddies’ was a viral hit. There was no money spent on advertising, it was a great game, and I think it satisfied one core human need, which is to figure out who is smarter, you or your friends? And that led to a really rapid viral growth. In the beginning Wooga very consciously decided to not include any monetization features but to simply grow the audience. I think it was quite smart to say, okay this is the growth phase, and then this is the monetization phase, and not limit your initial growth by immediately charging money fo r everything.Martin: How did you determine the switching point between growth and monetization?Jan: That’s a good question. I think there are games like ‘Brain Buddies’, where monetization just doesn’t work very well, because if we’re trying to figure out which one of us is smarter, then by introducing an element which allows me to pay more and it looks like I’m smarter than you, then that would break the game. So the shift came with new games, like ‘Diamond Dash’, ‘Bubble Island’, or ‘Monster World’, where paying for items was part of the core game mood.Martin: Let’s switch corporate strategy. In terms of the gaming industry, what do you think are the major drivers for being competitive in this industry?Jan: The gaming market is very very difficult, because there’s estimates â€" it’s hard to get exact numbers â€" but let’s assume there are around one thousand new games launched every week, obviously the vast majority are not very good, but there are very good games coming up every week. At the same time, you have a small set of games, for example most people know ‘Candy Crush’ or ‘Clash of Clans’, which have been successful for quite a long time. So on the one hand you have a ton of new games coming up, and on the other hand these very long, evergreen titles. And that makes gaming a very competitive market.Martin: If you would like to split the portfolio of Wooga in terms of long usage games and shorter period usage games, how would you put a percentage on them?Jan: If you look at our current games, we have a certain set of casual, arcade-style titles, for example, ‘Diamond Dash’, ‘Bubble Island’, ‘Jelly Splash’, these are games which people play for long periods of time, but often just a few minutes every day, or once a week or something. And then we have games like ‘Monster World’, or ‘Pearl’s Peril’, which was one of our big hits last year, where we see much heavier usage, because ‘Pearl’s P eril’ has weekly content, episodic story-telling, and if you get pulled into the story you really want to know what happens. So there we see higher usage patterns. And for this year we will have a number of launches, some of which will be in the genre that we know very well, and some will be for us new genres.Martin: If I am looking at this gaming portfolio, and you have these low engagement games and then there are high engagement games, my hypothesis would be that you acquire customers for the low engagement games in order to convert them to the high engagement games to earn money off them, or is this something else that you’re trying to do in having this kind of portfolio of games?Jan: There are a number of reasons. One could be that once you have people in your network, you can of course promote your games. But even the casual games can be run profitably as the monetized ones. So it’s not only for that. For me the portfolio approach is also important, because the gaming in dustry is young but it’s constantly changing. And if you focus too much on any genre or any kind of game you could be hit, because our games can take one to one and half years to develop. If we said let’s only build gem swapping games because they’re successful now, who knows how the market will be in one and a half years?Martin: Also the games look quite easy or simple, and you tell me that it takes one to one and half years to develop. Why does it take so long?Jan: It’s one of the big things, they’re easy to learn, hard to master. And if you look deeper, there is a lot of complexity which goes into a making a game. It starts with the product design, for example, the level design, the difficulty, balancing, frustration â€" which can be fun if it’s a challenge â€" but it can’t be too frustrating, or else you stop playing. So you have the whole product design complexity, art, graphics, music, all this has to be done. And you have to make a game which is playable all ove r the world for a huge number of people, which involves a lot of user testing and so on. So the games are actually pretty complicated, even if they don’t look that way sometimes from the outside.Martin:  Sure, because you internationalize them and you have to address them to maybe regional types of players, for example?Jan: Yes, that’s it.Martin: Let’s talk about the market development for the gaming industry. How did the gaming industry develop over the last years, let’s say five years or so? And which segments grew and which regions grew in terms of sales?Jan: You have a number of shifts going on. The first ship is the platforms. It used to be all about consoles and PC gaming, but that was heavily focused on a certain demographic, typically predominantly male, 15 to 35 group, and that’s what traditional gaming companies focused on, and they were also very good at making games for this type of group. Then, especially as Facebook gaming came up, suddenly you have all the d emographics and you have more females, slightly older, and not only this 15% to 20% of the population, but a lot more. That was also the original idea for Wooga to focus on people who are currently underserved or were by gaming companies. So that was the first big shift. And then what people started noticing was that in this new demographic the gaming patterns are different. People play less and they play shorter sessions and so on, and then the idea was why don’t we bring that to cellphones or to smartphones, which people have in their pockets and can playing the subway, in the supermarket cashier line. So that’s the second shift to take gaming out of the computer into the device people have in their pocket the whole time.Martin: What do you think would be the third shift that could appear?Jan: I don’t think it will be device based. Obviously we are experimenting as everybody else. You have the next generation of watches and glasses, I’m not sure gaming on these devices wil l be the next big thing. I think on mobile there are still a number of genres which are not there yet, which are open for exploitation.Martin: If you core capabilities are designing and distributing games, have you ever thought about virtual gaming, like this Oculus deal from Facebook, for example. Would this be something that you think is really the shifting phase?Jan: By the way, the device is really cool to wear to and try it out, but I think that’s for core gamers, because our usage scenario is someone who has two to five minutes to play a bit, he wants a bit of distraction, or she wants to get out of the stress of everyday life, and wearing a headset you can’t do that for just a short gaming session while you are in the subway. So I think that’s a very cool device for gaming for more traditional core companies.Martin: Next we would like to share some insights with our audience from Entrepreneurial Insights, and we have two topics that we would like to talk about with Jan. First one is how to create a good corporate culture, and the second one is how can you create and distribute games with a low budget? So the first one, everyone knows that Wooga has a great corporate culture. For first-time entrepreneurs, what advice can you give them in how to create their own corporate culture?Jan: I think corporate culture is extremely important for any founder or CEO, and it requires time and effort to be put into it, so it’s not something you can delegate. I don’t believe you can say this is employee number 10 and he’ll start building the culture. I think it has to start with the first employees and at the very beginning. And it requires an investment of time and attention, and maybe money as well, but definitely time and attention.Martin: What type of tools could they use to do so?Jan: I would be very â€" I don’t want to say opportunistic â€" but experimental in trying out things, because I believe there is no such thing that fits everyone, so just be cause, I don’t know, Google gives 20% time, I don’t believe every startup should do that and copy that. And especially it doesn’t mean if you copy everything Google does that you will have the same corporate culture. To me these corporate culture tools are like the toolbox you can pick from. For example, we do mystery lunches, so everyone in the company once a month goes out to lunch with a group of five other people, six in total, and we have a little software algorithm which mixes up people to make sure it’s different teams, different roles, different countries, and so on, so it’s random, and Wooga pays for the lunch, it’s like 10 Euros per person budget. So it’s not a huge financial investment, but for example there the feedback we get is extremely good, because it really fosters collaboration and contact within the company. And there are more tools like this. So what I do is I look, listen, learn, read blogs, and think about these tools and think which ones work fo r a company and which ones don’t, try it out, tell people we’ll be doing this twice and then we will evaluate. And then also don’t be afraid of stopping projects. If you say this doesn’t fit us, then don’t be afraid to stop it. So copy, copy wisely, and then evaluate.Martin: The second things would be, imagine a young programmer knocks on your door and says, “I’ve got $5,000 in my pocket and I would like to spend two or three months building a small kind of game.” What would you advise them?Jan: I think you have indies who are very successful. Once in a while you have the â€" I can’t remember his name â€" the ‘Hill Climb Racing’ guy from Finland, or ‘Tiny Wings’ or things like that. So once a while you have an indie in it, but they’re completely unpredictable, I believe. An indie developer, especially with a small budget, really needs to have a unique combination, not only of gameplay, but also of timing, PR, buzz, everything around that, and that’s ver y difficult to achieve. But there are always examples of successful indie developers. But if you are asking about the $5,000, I’d invest them into a product, because there is no way you can do a large marketing campaign with that kind of money. So I’d invest them into product, try and get bloggers, the industry, Apple interested, and launch it that way, or speak to a publishing partner. We do that with a very small number of games we really like, so we are open to publishing deals, and then there are other companies who do that as well.Martin: Thank you very much Jan. That’s it from Entrepreneurial Insights.

Anorexia Nervosa Essay - 2607 Words

Introduction Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder in which a person has an abnormal eating behavior, to be able to lose weight. The word anorexia nervosa was first used in 1873, by one of Queen Victoria’s physicians known as Sir William Gull. There are two types of anorexia which are the restricting type and the binge-purge type. According to the medical term, this disorder is said to be lack of appetite (Kaye, 2009, p.450). A person who is suffering from anorexia has a fear of gaining weight. This prompts them to do whatever it takes to lose weight. Anorexia is mostly experienced among girls and some men. In general, adolescent girls usually look at their figure more and that is why they are the ones who are mostly affected. By†¦show more content†¦Anorexia can also be prevented by doctors, they can educate the public about this disorder and how to avoid it. Anorexia has many signs and symptoms which could be identified and treated. History of anorexia Anorexia might have begun during the Hellenistic era when religious fasting was introduced to the people. Some of the well known historical figure women, who are believed to also have had this disorder are Mary queen of Scots and Catherine of Siena. Fasting was first practiced for religious purposes by women to maintain their purity. In the 13th century, the Catholic Church was the one that experienced many women starving themselves so that they can be claimed saints. In the case of Catherine Siena in the 14th century, the church began to worry over her extreme starvation. This made the church ask her to pray to God so that she would be able to eat again. In 1689, anorexia was first used medically by the physician Richard Morton. One of the patients of Richard who had this disorder was an 18 year old girl who died 3 months later from starvation (Friedman, 1984, p.702). One of the first male patients was Noah Webster who was a student at Yale College. His reason f or not eating was because he thought that by eating his mind would be dulled. In the 19th century, is when anorexia was proclaimed as a medical condition. William Gull published a paper which detailed about the disorder and how it should be treated. In the 20thShow MoreRelatedAnorexia Nervosa1947 Words   |  8 Pagespeople who do. If we were to look the world as a whole, we would realize that from every 100 teenage girls, 1 to 5 suffers from Anorexia(EDV). As defined by the National Eating Disorders Association, â€Å"Anorexia Nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss.† (NEDA). The term â€Å"Anorexia Nervosa† literally means â€Å"neurotic loss of appetite†, and could be more generally defined as the result of a prolonged self-starvationRead MoreEssay on Anorexia Nervosa 1763 Words   |  8 PagesDavis 1 Anorexia nervosa is defined as a refusal to maintain a minimally normal body weight, in addition to a disturbance in perception of body shape and weight( DSM-IV-TR, 2000). In this paper we will examine Carolyn Costin’s battle with anorexia nervosa from a biopsychosocial perspective and what reinforced her disorder. This will be followed by diagnostically using the DSM-IV-TR in Carolyn’s case and conceptually using the sociocultural dimension. The implications for both Carolyn,Read MoreUnderstanding Anorexia Nervosa1008 Words   |  5 PagesAnorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, with more than 10% of those that suffer from it will die. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is categorized by severe food restriction, excessive exercise and body dysmorphia, which leads those that suffer from it to believe that they are overweight. Anorexia nervosa is commonly misunderstood by the general public. Research has disproved many of the previous thoughts about anorexia nervosa. According to the scientificRead MoreAnorexia Nervosa Essay1392 Words   |  6 PagesAnorexia Nervosa I have chosen to study about Anorexia Nervosa because I would like to know more about this topic and why people do it to themselves. I wonder why young people in particular feel that they need to be so thin. In this assignment I would like to study mainly on why teenage girls feel so conscious about their bodies, what they feel about the way that women are portrayed in the media and the effects of Anorexia Nervosa. To be able to cover thisRead More Anorexia Nervosa Essay1568 Words   |  7 Pages Anorexia nervosa is a life threatening eating disorder defined by a refusal to maintain fifteen percent of a normal body weight through self-starvation (NAMI 1). Ninety-five percent of anorexics are women between the ages of twelve and eighteen, however, â€Å"†¦in the past twenty years, this disorder has become a growing threat to high school and college students†(Maloney and Kranz 60). Anorexia produces a multitude of symptoms, and if not treated, anorexia can lead to permanent physical damage or deathRead MoreAnorexia Nervosa Essay2312 Words   |  10 PagesAnorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that is most prevalent in adolescent girls and young women. It is distinguished by the loss of at least 15% of the expected body weight (Long). The disease is characterized by the obsessive fear of gaining weight; through this fear, the person engages in dangerous dieting habits that prevent weight gain. According to statistics in 2011 anorexia is categorized as the third most common chronic disease among adolescents, in addition, eating disorders also haveRead MoreAnorexia Nervosa Essay1758 Words   |  8 Pagesare either overweight or just not good enough. With implying that it might result in some type of eating disorder, such as anorexia nervosa. This obsession of being thin has rapidly increased over the years and is still accelerating.(DSM) This type of disorder, mainly appearing in females has over five million cases and one million in males.(family dr) Most kids with anorexia are usually perfectionist, or the kids who do extremely well in school and focus on pleasing others. (guide) Most people denyingRead MoreThe Trauma Of Anorexia Nervosa953 Words   |  4 PagesThe trauma of anorexia Let’s start saying that in my family two of them had or still have anorexia: my cousin and my aunt. It has been a pain in the heart. For years, I was afraid of the magnitude of this mental disorder. Anyway, this disorder is something that intrigued me for a long time, so I am going to try to transmit the pain it can release this disorder to the family and mainly to the person who actually has it. The mental disorder, called: anorexia nervosa, is a disorder characterized byRead MoreBackground History of Anorexia Nervosa1452 Words   |  6 PagesHISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ANOREXIA NERVOSA Anorexia nervosa’s (AN) first descriptions began during the twelfth and thirteenth century with the historical Saint Catherine of Siena (Deans, 2011). It is related to participating in religious functions and medieval practices of self-starvation (Deans, 2011). Furthermore, the death of popular singer, Karen Carpenter in 1983 created the societal awareness about the effect of anorexia nervosa and become widely known at the end of the twentieth century (RaderRead More Anorexia Nervosa Essay examples657 Words   |  3 Pages Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by a refusal to maintain a minimal normal body weight. A disturbance in perception of body shape and weight is an essential feature of anorexia nervosa. It appears to be far more present in industrialized societies, in which there is an abundance amount of food and in which being considered attractive is linked to being thin. The disorder is most common in countries like the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and Japa n. More than 95% of cases of anorexia nervosa

Social Issues Of The Community And One Of Them Is Poverty

There are many social issues in the community and one of them is poverty. In 2013, fourteen and a half percent of the people in the United States were in poverty (Feeding America). Poverty tends to result from unemployment, low income, or a lack of education (Poverties.org). To begin with, Poverty is a big social issue that needs to be stopped as it leads to crime, hunger, and homelessness. It can rot communities from the inside out. If people could tackle this at home then they could more easily help with global issues. People should get involved in helping these people. Poverty can be felt everywhere whether a person is rich or poor. People should help those in poverty after being fortunate to have what they have (NIV Bible). The first†¦show more content†¦Education is a great way to counteract this as it give people better chances of getting good jobs (Ward). It is actually cheaper to send someone to college than a youth correctional facility (Ward). Education can help the next generation do what the last generation did not. Additionally, crime affects real-estate values as it creates bad impressions leaving the people trying to sell their houses unable to sell them and get out of the situation. This shows that crime has a domino effect on neighborhoods. Local businesses suffer decline as a result of crime again showing a domino effect (Ward). A second effect of poverty is hunger. In 2013 nearly sixteen percent of Americans lived in households that were insecure on food (Feeding America). People throw away so much food that could feed so many people who are hungry today. Further, parents end up passing on their meals so that their children can eat. Hunger is bad physically as it is a long term way of suffering that can eventually lead to death. Just going a few hours without food is not comfortable for people. It is hard to imagine being in this kind of situation. Additionally, with hunger comes a better chance of getting diseases due to the lack of nutrients to build up immunity (Poverties.org). It leaves people weak making it even harder for people to work when they are already in poverty. It makes it harder for children to learn with the lack of nutrients (The

Global Strategy of Lg Electonics Free Essays

string(80) " its biggest challenge during the dispute between labor and management in 1989\." Chapter 1 AN INTRODUCTION AND COMPANY BACKGROUND LOOK AT LG ELECTRONICS LTD Consumer electronics are irresistible, there is nothing quite fascinating than to see someone use an electronic gadget for the first time. There is absolutely no question that consumer technology sparks imagination like nothing else. The Consumer-Electronics industry is the world of entertainment, communication and office products. We will write a custom essay sample on Global Strategy of Lg Electonics or any similar topic only for you Order Now Currently, the global consumer electronics industry is dominated by the South Korean, Japanese and American companies. One of these South Korean companies is LG Electronics Inc. Originally being established in 1958, LG Group is the merger of two Korean companies, Lucky and GoldStar, hence the acronym LG. Its current slogan, â€Å"Life’s Good† is the bacronym. LG Electronics is the flagship of LG Group, one of the world’s largest electronics conglomerate. The company is the world’s second largest manufacturer of television sets and third largest producer of mobile phones. Being its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, LG currently employees 95,000 people worldwide with 75 subsidiary companies globally. The main area for production division lies in mobile communication, digital appliances, digital display and digital media. In terms of distribution networks and worldwide sales, LG stands highest in the consumer electronics industry. Being a good control over the white goods market, LG has the highest market share in the home appliances. The company’s desire to create a happier, better life has always surrounded its history. It has unveiled many new products, applied new technology in the form of mobile devices and digital television in the 21st century and continues to reinforce its status as a global company. A BRIEF LIGHT INTO CONSUMER ELECTRONIC INDUSTRY: From the early 1900’s till late 1980’s and 90’s, consumer electronics, computers, and telecommunications have developed as separate industries. Then came the era of digitalization and it changed the rules of the market by knocking down the walls between and making these industries one as the Consumer electronics industry. Now the consumer electronics market is an industry of $2 trillion. We can segment the consumer electronic industry into entertainment, productivity and communication. The growth opportunities for this industry include mobile devices, personal era, networks and designing smart homes. There exist many investment opportunities in this industry. The convergence of the three separate industries into one is brewing up the perfect storm. And as it was quoted, â€Å"where there’s chaos, there’s opportunity. On November 4, 1959, the Kookje Daily News, one of the most influential newspapers in Korea, published the story of the first Korean-made radio developed and manufactured by LG Electronics (the company was then known as Goldstar). By introducing all the different kinds of appliances produced by LG, the newspaper projected that â€Å"In the near future, we will be using these devices in our daily lives. † In June 1959, LG Electronics embarked on an ambitious project – the first-ever Korean-made radio. Th company’s lack of experience made many industry observers to doubt the company’s success, aside fro the fact that the task itself was a historical challenge. The local production of component parts was also problematic. Nevertheless, LG Electronics succeeded in producing component parts in local regions, such a switches, sashes, and transformers. Finally, the first domestic radio (Model Name: A-501) in Korea came of the assembly line in November, only five months after the project started. A-501 marked a new era in the history of Korean electronics industry, as more than 60% of the product was made with locally produced parts. The development of the first domestically produced radio clearly shows the entrepreneurship of LG Electronics. The company steadfastly upheld its pioneering spirit and willingness to take on challenges to overcome the hardships it faced. In doing so, LG has succeeded in laying down the foundations for the Korean domestic electronics industry. LG Electronics today embodies the same old pioneering vision, which serves as the engine that propels the company toward the future. In 1958, painful memories of the Korean War still smoldered in the hearts and minds of the Korean people when LG Electronics began to lead the Korean electronics industry. Befitting its reputation as the ‘First Korean Electronics Company’, the words such as ‘The First’ and ‘The Best’ have always accompanied LG Electronics. The history of LG Electronics is deeply embedded in the history of Korea’s electronics industry, and the company’s achievements are milestones that brought up the level of the nation’s electronics industry one stage after another. After succeeding in locally producing its first radio, LG Electronics wrote its own chapter in the history of Korean electronics industry with the company’s bold, pioneering spirit. LG Electronics developed many of Korea’s first products, such as telephones, refrigerators, TVs, air conditioners, and washing machines. Today, LG has consolidated its position as Korea’s leading electronics company. In 1962, the radio developed by LG Electronics became Korea’s first electronic product to be exported to the USA. The company also further developed various electronic products using proprietary technologies and exported these products to numerous nations in the world, achieving the nation’s goal of ‘Export Korea’. In 1978, these efforts led LG to reach the goal of earning 100 million dollars in export revenues, the first company in Korea’s electronics industry to do so. This feat inspired confidence in the slogan, ‘We can do it’ among Koreans who believed that exporting is the only way to develop Korea’s economy. â€Å"We made it! † On October 8, 1982, LG Electronics reached an important milestone as its manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama, USA (LGEAI; then GSAI) completed the company’s first ‘Made in USA’ product. In the early 1980s, LG Electronics began to expand its overseas manufacturing plants. The first overseas manufacturing corporation was established in 1982 in Huntsville, a city in northern Alabama, USA. It was soon followed by a string of other overseas manufacturing and sales outposts in Europe, Central and South America and North America. LG Electronics has now become a global corporation with over 76 overseas subsidiaries and over 50 branch offices. LG Electronics faced its biggest challenge during the dispute between labor and management in 1989. You read "Global Strategy of Lg Electonics" in category "Papers" However, the incident led the company to strengthen the relationship between labor and management and tobecome the No. 1 Company in terms of labor and management relationships. In the late 1990s, LG Electronics, with its new Digital LG slogan, officially announced its goal of becoming a world-class electronics corporation. Since then, LG Electronics has introduced many of the world’s groundbreaking products such as IC sets for Digital TV Receivers, 60-inch PDPs, and Internet-capable refrigerators. With these achievements, the company was able to dominate the world’s CD-ROM drive market in 1998, aside from establishing a very strong market position for its TFT-LCD for monitors, shadow masks, air conditioners, CDMA WLL devices, home theaters, and other household electronic appliances. As a result, the words describing LG electronics, such as ‘the first’ and ‘the best’ are no longer merely applicable in Korea, but are now recognized to be true aroundthe world. In January 2004, LG Electronics set the goal to become the Global Top 3. This move defines the company’s resolve tobecome the world’s top company in field of consumer electronics and mobile communications with the awareness that to get No. 1 position is the only way to survive. To that end, LG Electronics implemented a strategy to become the leader in the highly competitive sectors of home appliances, next-generation digital displays, and mobile communications. LG Electronics continues to blaze the trail in new businesses and ventures into uncharted territories. The company has been able to lead the Korean electronic industry and grow into a global player with its own place among the world’s leading corporations. By taking on new challenges and progressing forward with the frontier spirit, the ‘Legend of No. 1’ of LG Electronics will continue in the global market where infinite potentials are present. THE RECORDS OF BEING ‘THE FIRST’ 1958 Korea’s first electonics corporation established 1959 Korea’s first radio produced. 1962 Korea’s first company to export radios to the USA. 965 Korea’s first refrigerators produced. 1966 Korea’s first black ; white TVs produced. 1967 Korea’s first air conditioners came off the assembly line. The first Korean corporation to establish an overseas branch office in New York, USA 1969 Korea’s first washing machine produced. 1970 K orea’s first electronics corporation to go public 1975 Korea’s first corporate Central Research Center established. 1978 Korea’s first electronics corporation to earn 100 million dollars in export 1981 Korea’s first home appliance corporation to introduce a customer service center. 982 First Korean corporation to establish an overseas manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama, USA. 1983 First Korean corporation to establish an Integrated Design Research Center. 1997 Korea’s first company to develop 40-inch PDPs using proprietary technology. The world’s first company to develop IC Chipsets for Digital TV reception. 1998 The world’s first company to develop 60-inch PDPs for HDTVs. Korea’s first company to develop organic EL for next-generation displays. The company’s CD-ROMs ranked No. 1 in the world 4 years after their introduction to the market. 999 Korea’s first company to develop the synchronous IMT-2000 System . LG’s Whisen Air Conditioners ranked No. 1 in the global market. Korea’s first company to develop Korean standard Digital TVs 2002 The world’s first company to release Synchronous IMT-2000 Color Phones with Integrated Digital Camera The world’s first developer of the â€Å"23GB HD VDR† The world’s first company to release a DVD Combo for the Home Theater 2003 The world’s first company to release Intelligent Digital TVs The world’s first company to develop Integrated Synchronous and Asynchronous IMT-2000 Phones. World’s largest 76-inch PDPs produced 2004 The world’s largest integrated 55-inch LCD TVs released. Korea’s first company to release a 12X External Super Multi-DVD Writers 2005 The world’s first company to release Terrestrial DMB Notebooks Mission statement LG Electronics pursues its 21st century vision of becoming a true global digital leader who can make its customers worldwide happy through its innovative digital products and services. LG Electronics set its mid- and long-term vision anew to rank among the top 3 electronics, information, and telecommunication firms in the world by 2010. As such, we embrace the philosophy of â€Å"Great Company, Great People,† whereby only great people can create a great company, and pursue two growth strategies involving â€Å"fast innovation† and â€Å"fast growth. † Likewise, we seek to secure three core capabilities: product leadership, market leadership, and people-centered leadership LG Electronics Vision. LGE’s mission statement explains that its goal is to become a top innovative electronics company in the world. It takes pride in its company and mployees and believes that this is what will make it into one of the most innovative companies of the 21st century. Marketing Management Philosophy LGE’s operates under the product concept of marketing management. From 52†³ Plasma Flat Panel televisions to thin, sleek mobile phones that also store and play music, LGE is a company that is devoted to â€Å"fast innovation and fast growth† (LG Electronics Vision). It has focused on â€Å"d eveloping new products in winning and key businesses, and securing technology leadership. It provides high quality and constantly updated products to further ensure its success as a top electronics manufacturer. Its research and development efforts are specifically concentrated in the area of technological capabilities and developing new growth products (LG Electronics Technology Strategy). As a worldwide corporation, LGE strives to â€Å"make its customers happy through its innovative digital products and services and in doing so operate under the product concept† Chapter 2 LG’s Global Strategy Since its inception in 1958, LG expands its global operations through the historical patterns of growth in the form of (1)import substitution, (2)export to advanced nations, (3)production in advanced nations, (4)production in developing nations, (5)global production and marketing (Lee, 2000; Sue et al. , 2004). In its very first few years LG received loans and technology assistance from Germany and Japan. It produced electronic products that reached the maturity stage, took the role of providing inexpensive import substitute products to Korean domestic market. In this way, LG laid the ground work for the further growth. In 1970s LG was benefited from Korean government’s export drive and built the major export centers in Gumi and Changwon area of Korea and established massive scale of export production system. By the late 1970s LG engaged in vigorous expansion strategy of the oversea market—particularly targeting USA and Western European markets. However, in the 1980s the growing protectionist move in USA and Western European countries stifled its export volumes. In response to these market hanges LG targeted these advanced markets by building color TV factory at Huntsville, USA in 1981, established another TV and VCR factory at Bromes, Germany in 1986 and microwave oven factory in Great Britain in 1988. Starting from 1988, with the wages increases in Korea, LG secured color TV and refrigerator manufacturing facilities in Thailand and Indonesia and started localization policies. From the middle of 1990s LG expanded its manufac turing facilities in Eastern Europe and South American regions in keeping up with the growing market opportunities in Eastern European and South American counties. At the same time period LG actively positioned itself for global competitive system structure. From 1993 LG implemented strategic initiatives for the emerging markets in China, CIS and India. In 1995 LG changed its existing Gold Star brand to LG brand and based on sports marketing, it expanded to FPD TV/ Monitor market. As of 2009, LG Electronics have four business units that include Digital appliance, Digital display, digital media, Mobile communications. Its global operations has the total 114 overseas business units including many manufacturing units, marketing units, research and development centers and logistics and service units. In Europe and China LG maintains regional business headquarters. However, 70% of manufacturing units are in Asia including China and India. 70% of marketing units are in North America and Europe. Based on 7 marketing organizations that cover the whole world LG engages in global strategic management. Its major products are TV, VCR, refrigerators, air conditioners, home appliances, display such as CPT/CDT, monitor, LCD/PDP TV, multi-media products such as CD-ROM drive and PC, information communication products such as handsets and IMT-2000. Particularly, after the middle of 2000s LG rapidly moving toward the position of one of the global top three. Within three years after announcing its goals to become a producer of high premium products with its own unique global brands, LG successfully penetrated North America and European markets. LG is also marketing the emerging markets in South America, China and India with high premium product strategy. Thus, LG Electronics dare to battle in global premium markets because of its blue ocean technologies and differentiated design capabilities Global strategy of LG Electronics as a leading Korean company Economic recovery in advanced countries including Japan is still sluggish, although corporate financial performance has been recovering gradually. And companies whose business activities in emerging countries experiencing an economic boom account for a larger proportion tend to show better financial performance. Leading Korean companies have a larger presence in the world market and attract considerable attention. I will focus on LG Electronics, Inc. A leading company ranking with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in the world’s electrical and electronics industries, with the largest market share in home appliances markets in important emerging countries, such as India, Brazil, and Indonesia, and relatively advanced management methods including corporate governance, which are highly valued, and will discuss features or important points of its global management and personnel strategy . Leading Korean zaibatsu—The L G group The Korean zaibatsu (chaebol), a unique large companies group, is very influential in Korea’s corporate sector. Top 28 companies by market capitalization other than public corporations account for 58 percent in the aggregate market value (Korea Composite Stock Price Index: KOSPI) at the end of 2009 and most of those companies belong to zaibatsu company groups. Striking features of the zaibatsu are as follows: 1. Many zaibatu started as a family company. 2. Zaibatsu leaders and their relatives and affiliated companies are major shareholders. 3. Share holding relationships are complicated. 4. Zaibatsu companies are engaged in businesses in diversified business areas. hows changes of companies groups and the LG group has occupied a higher position, although some groups failed or are downgraded due to the Asian currency and financial crisis in 1997 and 1998. Also its LG’s leader is in the third generation ahead of other major zaibatsu and he introduced a holding company system, aiming at clarifying the structure of owning and controlling group companies. Total assets of the LG group with 53 affiliated companies reach 78. 9 trillion won, the fourth largest in Korea’s private sector and combined market capitalization of the group’s leading our companies (LG Corp. , (a holding company), LG Electronics, LG Display, and LG Chem. ) accounted for approximately seven percent of the aggregate market value at the end. LG Corp. , a group’s core company, controls three large segments, that is, â€Å"electronics,† â€Å"chemicals,† and â€Å"telecommunications and services†. Among these, LG Electronics plays a central role in the â€Å"electronics† segment. However, the group expects LG Chemistry to play a heightened role in its battery business, one of the most important and promising business areas. Features of LG group’s management policies are as flows: 1. Relatives including the zaibatsu leader, large shareholders, carried out corporate management in collaboration 2. Its extent of diversification of business lines is relatively limited and electronics and chemicals businesses have grown mainly. 3. The group’s management has abided by its management policies of â€Å"considering human beings first† and the group was the first zaibatsu to start recruiting employees publicly. Thus it has actively wrestled with the appointment and training of promising staff to be professional managers. . The group is said to have fewer relationships with politicians and less reliance on them. As a result, it managed to grow its businesses and concentrate management resources by its own policies and strategies. In Korea, many companies face difficulties in dealing with unions and labor strikes. However, â€Å"both employers and employees agreed on a pay increase for 20 years in a row without any offensive negotiations† in LG Electronics. The situation is different from Samsung Electronics which does not have a labor union. The February 26, 2005 issue of the Toyo Keizai describes corporate culture of the leading zaibatsu as â€Å"Samsung’s management, Hyundai’s guts, and LG’s harmony and solidarity. † 2 LGE ranked fourth in its industry in Global 500 LGE has five segments: Home Entertainment (TVs and audio products), Mobile Communications (cellular phones and handsets), Home Appliance (home appliances), Air Conditioning, and Business Solutions (monitors, commercial displays for hotels, equipment for automobiles, and security solutions). LGE has expanded into approximately 80 countries and the number of employees exceeds 80 thousand. Its consolidated financial results (FY 2009) and position in the industry are as follows: ? Sales: 73. 0 trillion won (a 15. 3 percent increase year over year) ? Operating profit: 4. 2 trillion won (a 3. 6 percent increase y-o-y), operating profit margin: 5. 8 percent ?Net profit: 2. 8 trillion won (a 145. 0 percent increase y-o-y) ? Total assets: 44. 8 trillion won (equity capital: 17. 2 trillion won) ? LGE was ranked fourth in its industry in 2009 Fortune Global 500 in terms of sales volume, behind first-place Siemens, second-place Samsung Electronics, and Hitachi and ahead of Panasonic and Toshiba, which were ranked fifth and sixth, respectively. ?LGE’s TVs or cellular phones market share and respective position in terms of sales volume in 2009 in the world. LGE had the second largest market share in terms of TV sales (the same 12. 4 percent share as SONY. Samsung Electronics had the largest share of 23. 3 percent. ) and the third largest share in cellular phones sales(10. percent. It was behind Nokia (38. 3 percent) and Samsung (20. 1 percent)). The company is one of the companies with the largest market share with respect to refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, microwaves in the world and is the leading home appliance supplier in growth markets including India, Brazil, and Indonesia. Its overseas sales account for 88 percent in its overall sales and is at a higher level in comparison to competing Japanese manufacturers (SONY: 74 percent, Panasonic:47 percent, and Sharp:48 percent). This is largely because Korea’s domestic market is not large enough for the company to expand its businesses. Chapter 3 Strategic features of its global management are as follows: 1. Selection of growth markets based on long -range plans 2. Prompt and bold decisions to expand into new markets and concentration of management resources 3 3. Decisions by local offices on development, locally designed products, building a sales network and internationalization of headquarters 4. Effective sales promotions with emphasis on its brand name I would like to examine those points by citing concrete examples and touch upon its expansion into India, a typical success case in an important market. Expansion into India with can-do attitudes Its main markets targeted for growth have been those of emerging countries with large potential for growth and fewer strong rivals. LGE expanded into India with the second largest population in the world and a younger age structure and longer population bonus period in 1997 (establishment of LG Electronics India, LGE’s fully owned subsidiary). Although many of its rival companies including Japanese companies exported their products from home countries to India at that time, LGE started producing products at its factories ahead of the rivals and acquired a competitive advantage. LGE placed a priority on strategic advantages of taking the lead and determined it without hesitation, despite insufficient infrastructure with respect to operations of the factories, product distribution, or representatives’ daily lives. The company has marketed a series of products, fully taking into accounts consumers’ tastes and regional needs or features, including TVs which work in an unstable voltage situation, various kinds of colorful and flowery and lockable refrigerators with large crispers for vegetarians and cooler cases for women’s cosmetics, TVs with on-screen display options in ten regional languages, washing machines with a â€Å"sari† (a national female costume) cycle, and microwave ovens with cooking menus including 77 kinds of Indian dishes. Its products attract customers’ attention. Also it markets low-end products, while marketing high-end products at the same time in order to increase brand images, in relation to its brand strategy. Furthermore, it has made efforts to establish sales and service offices, building a network of offices across India. Expatriates dispatched from Korea (around 30 people) are mainly involved in the strategic matters or so ,and it has employed many talented local employees who knew markets and consumers since its start of local production. The company has actively made use of such local human resources with respect to sales of products and customer service, or development and design of products. The organization has been operated by local staff over a long time and heads of personnel and sales and marketing divisions are Indians. The company has introduced an evaluation system on a performance basis which is understood and acceptable by local employees and welfare program including welfare facilities trying to motivate such employees. On the other hand, there are some points to be noted with respect to representatives dispatched from Korea. First of all, the head of the local subsidiary has held the position since the creation of the subsidiary over a long time and made efforts to enable the company’s business to take root and expand from a longer point of view. Secondly, many Korean representatives are accompanied by their families and it appears easier for them to commit to their work, unlike Japanese representatives, many of whom are employees working away from their families in Japan. Furthermore, when it comes to marketing methods on raising company’s awareness or corporate image, LGE places more emphasis on concentration and efficiency effects in each market than Samsung Electronics which seems to address the methods worldwide. As a result, it becomes a sponsor for cricket events which is very popular in India, as sports marketing rooted in the region. Additionally, LGE has two factories (It will start another new factory shortly. ) and one R D center in India. Although the company’s total investment amounts to approximately 13 billion rupees, it plans to spend 15 billion rupees to expand its production as a production and export base in accordance with its worldwide strategy, not just for sales in India. Sales in its Indian business stood at 130. 9 billion rupees in 2009, accounting for approximately six percent in LGE’s total sales. It plans to increase the percentage to 12 percent in 2015, which will exceed the proportion of Korea. Making use of local human resources and â€Å"inner internationalization†on a HQ basis I would like to pay attention to features of LGE’s personnel strategy. First of all, making use of foreign human resources (local human resources and those without Korean nationality). The company tries to cut the number of representatives dispatched from Korea in various overseas offices considerably and employs many local staff members and promotes some of them to a higher position. Furthermore, capable officers and employees without Korean nationality are recruited in its headquarters positively. Seven out of 13 executive officers, the highest level of officers, who are in charge of material business operations including marketing, procurement, supply 5 chain, HRM and strategy, do not have Korean nationality. This shows that its personnel system has been internationalized to a large extent. It is often said that how foreigners can show their abilities is closely connected with internationalization of headquarters (internationalization at home) and therefore it is important and necessary. It appears that the company’s method is advanced on this point. That is, the Company employed many translators in order to support Korean employees who were not good at preparing English documents, when it made English its common language in the company. This was a measure to help the system to take root. Also the company says that employees’ average TOEIC score is said to be over 900 (excluding R D staff who is required to have technical expertise, rather than language expertise), although high TOEIC scores of new employees of the company are often talked about. The average score including such R D staff is between 800 and 850. ) It is said that there is a rule inside the company that there is no need to reply if an e-mail message in Korean is sent to an overseas office from its headquarters. It is reported that Rakuten and FAST RETAILING will make English the common language and I consider it important for those companies to create a mechanism to pay close attention to or support employees in order to help the system to take root and f unction efficiently, like LGE does. LGE and other leading companies including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor have taken similar measures, including targeting emerging markets with large growth potential and fewer strong rivals ahead of them and concentrating management resources on its business there, launching products timely, taking into accounts consumers’ tastes and regional needs or features, valuing a brand image, and making good use of foreign human resources, despite differences about where to place emphasis on or which method to take. Especially features or strength of Korean companies lies in their can-do attitudes of cultivating a new market ahead of others, despite adverse conditions of insufficient infrastructure. On the other hand, companies utilize and maintain their strength, when responding to changes in their business environment properly. It is impossible to continue success by using the same business model and method. On this point, skillful responses of such Korean companies, which are â€Å"sandwiched† between companies of advanced countries including Japan and those of China, may not function properly and they may face a difficult situation in the future. Actually LGE’s operating profit plunged in the second quarter of FY 2010 due to intensified competition in the world’s smartphone industry. I consider it necessary to watch responses of LGE and Samsung Electronics, while Japanese major companies start making more efforts to cultivate emerging markets. Also the corporate culture of â€Å"Samsung’s management and LG’s harmony and solidarity† and any changes in their culture in the future, Chapter4 Initial Business Operation in India LG India is established in 1997 as a 100% subsidiary of LG. It currently positions as the global No. market share firm in the areas of color TV, microwave oven, washer, airconditioner . LG India operates new manufacturing facilities in Noida, New Delhi and Pune in the region of Mumbai. LG aligned with an Indian company and supply 70% of its total component parts. Particularly, the second factory in the Pune region around Mumbai produces GSM mobile phones, TV, refrigerators , air conditioners and washers. With its increasing production capabilities LG now expands its target market areas to Southwest Region beyond the current North East Region market. Noida factory at the India’s northern area of New Delhi produces TV, refrigerator, air conditioners and microwave oven. Besides, LG operates software R D Center in Bangalore from 1998 to utilize excellent pools of research resources. LG’s strategic vision is to make India with 1. 1 billion people as the second global production base and achieve 10 billion . LG also plans to produce 20 million mobile phones by 2010 through utilizing production base in Pune . LG occupies #1 market position in home appliances including color TV, refrigerator, washer, air-conditioner, microwave oven, DVD players. LG also ranks # 3 in PC, monitor and mobile phones. In 2005 LG’s PC market share was fifth but customer preference rank was #1. Indian customers’ trust and preference of LG products are quite absolute. Within seven years after LG India started its operation the total sales of household electronic goods reached up to one billion dollars. The 2005 sales figure was 1. 8 billion ($) and its employees are 2,800. As of 2008, its employees are 3,000. The number of its branches is 125. All the dealerships are 18,200 and service centers are 1,100. In this way, LG established sales and service network throughout India. By 2010 LG will increase sales by 6 billion ($) and the amount of additional investment is 150 million ($). Presidential Leadership of LG India Mr. Kim started LG India . His career advancement details include operation manager of electronic division of Changwon LG, Korea (1994~1996). Since then, his mostly oversea work experiences include Chicago, USA (1981~1984), Germany (1996), Dubai (1977~1980), Central America (e. g. , Panama 1988~1994). In November 1996 he agreed to work for LG India, and after one month of preparation and training he arrived in January 9th, 1997. He assumed the position of the president of LG India in 1997 and since then he made it grow to be No 1 global firm of home appliances market. In recognition of his outstanding performance in LG India he was promoted to the senior executive president of Southeast Asia Division in 2005. In January 2008 he concluded his work at LG after completing his work as the president of LG India. Since 1997 the annual growth rate of LG 9 India was 25-30%, which is the result of continuous innovative thinking for localization, brand building with new product ideas and ever changing marketing strategy including sports marketing. Some of his leadership elements are summarized as below (Kim, 2009). (1) Openness and Transparent Management Mr. Kim asserts importance of openness in localization. This openness is based on understanding of local workers and beliefs on them. Without transparent management, however, this openness is not attained. Mr. Kim really tried to make management transparent in localization of LG. For example, he had corporate meeting with more than 150 mangers at 9:00 A. M. of every 2nd Saturday of each month. Here, all the cost information, profit and loss statements are disclosed to all the participating managers. In this way all the mangers understand the overall operational status. Outsiders are allowed to visit and observe the factory operations. Mr. Kim says, â€Å"Positive thinking enhances the meaning of this life. If you have such positive view of work and India, then you will experience quite different results compared to those who regard India as a place of endless sufferings. Positive thinking, optimistic perspective and open management are quite important. † Such mindset also relates to the motivation of employees in India. (2) Emphasis on Empowerment For localization, beliefs in local workers have connection to empowerment. Mr. Kim always puts this credo into practice. For example, he says, â€Å"The great power is in entrusting others†. Many Korean executives ask, â€Å"Are Indian managers trustworthy? † Mr. Kim always replies, â€Å"Yes, I trust them. To the extent I trust them, they display their loyalty. Ordinary people trust others no more than 50%. However, we expect others to trust ourselves 100%. 99% of people want that. Empowerment transforms people. If you cannot trust others, then don’t demand their loyalty, either. Although you may experience undesirable results later, it is better to trust people first. â€Å"For example, at nine o’clock there is no Korean manager and yet many Indians work here and there. Indian managers work on their own initiatives. Compared to India LG, Mr. Kim comments on a factory of LG China, â€Å"At night many Korean mangers stay in the factory and supervise Chinese workers. This is not effective. If so, they do not regard it as their own company. They only regard it as Korean company and instead keep resentful feelings inside. † 10 (3) Systematic Discipline of Management Mr. Kim implemented empowerment and at the same time strengthened organizational disciplines. Mr. Kim used the term, â€Å"discipline†. Noida factory director said, â€Å"Mr. Kim never cancels any meeting that he chairs. He hardly misses work because of sickness. † Empowerment requires systematic construction of work structures. Mr. Kim closes the book twice a month. At that time, CFO of LG Korea even did not understand the rationale of such practice. With empowerment based on trust Mr. Kim successfully implemented systematic management structures. As the result, LG India mangers took every 15th of each month same as the last day of the month for performance evaluations of each functional units. (4) Innovation based on localization of RD and customer-focused strategy For the success of localization, Mr. Kim emphasizes continuous innovation based on localization of RD and customer-focused strategy. Through localization of RD, products which fit local customers come into existence. This credo relates to customer-focused strategy, as localization of RD is necessary for satisfaction of local customer. For example, the total number of R D personnel of LG India is 150, which is the largest among MNCs. India LG has the large number of R D personnel comparing with ration of total employees. Mr. Kim comments, â€Å"Localization is about independence from the Korea Head Offices. This must include R D’s independence as well. † (5) Market and Field-Based Leadership Mr. Kim visited almost all parts of India on foot. In the course of building nation-wide marketing network he visited all the important places of India. LG India has 46 marketing centers and 70 other remote area offices are in operation as well. 6) Rapid Decision Making Mr. Kim’s speed of decision making is very fast. The style of his decision making is, â€Å"clear, simple and precise†. He rarely says, â€Å"Let me think over and talk about this later†. Chapter 5 Localization Strategy in India This section summarizes localization strategy and a few success factors of LG India (Park, 11 200 9). LG Korea points three factors for LG India’s superior performance outcomes. First, production of high premium quality of products, Second, localization policy efforts, Third, strong distribution network for vast rural areas. Among these three, localization policy initiatives are the most critical of all. LG India employs unique marketing practices with right products that fit to Indian market requirements (SERI, 2007b). In 1997 LG India deployed 70 product lines all together and started establishing LG brand power in Indian market. For new product development LG India became successful to plant the brand awareness among Indians that LG products reflect Indian tastes with Korean technologies. For example, Indian traditional costumes are quite thin and therefore quite sensitive for slight pressures. LG India developed washers that do not use circulating wing in the center and accordingly they were a huge market success (SERI, 2007a). Initially, LG India produced products in the form of OEM through strategic alliances with Indian local suppliers (Park, 2009). However, with slow productivity progress in Indian suppliers, LG senior production manger started working together with Indian workers in the factory floor. He ate with them and discovered the practical problem areas. In this way, there was drastic change in work attitude and habits among Indian workers and accordingly noticeable productivity improvement became a reality. Since more than ten different languages are spoken among workers, LG India devised a system through which workers may choose production instructions in their own languages. The primary reason why Japanese electronics firms were unable to capture Indian market was their failure in local accommodations. Because of unstable electric supply in India, accidents occur in relation to uneven flows of electricity. LG India investigated the causes of this accident and subsequently developed condenser that is capable enough to function under unstable electrical flows. In this way, component parts were newly developed according to the local conditions. LG India boldly transferred almost all of decision making powers (up to 99%) to local experts who would devise effective marketing campaigns to handle changing customer requirements in India. LG India also introduced drum washer and dish washer product lines that have direct drive functionality. At the first year LG India sold 4,000 units of dish washers whose components are imported from Korea and then assembled in India. The retail price range was 40,000 to 80,000 rupees. Drum washer is produced in LG-owned factory nearby of Pune area. LG emphasizes the functional advantages of its washers in terms of substantial reduction in 12 washing time and water usage. LG India also extends the period of free warranty of its new products from two years to seven years. Even in mobile phone development, LG India considered the local conditions. For example, in view of high noise level, the bell sound of the Indian phones is much louder than that of other advanced countries (Chosun, 2008. 9. 25). Even now, no more than twenty Korean managers work in LG India while the number of Indian employees is 3,000. For the good community relations LG India built public health center nearby of its manufacturing facility at Noida. It also employs doctors, pharmacists and nurses to serve the people in the community at no cost to the people. At the 2nd factory location of Pune area LG India is also in the process of building public health center. LG is not merely making money. Rather, it is establishing the favorable corporate image to the people in that it creates employment opportunities for the people and contributes to the overall wellbeing of the community. LG India also takes much effort in sports marketing. LG India sponsored Cricket National Championship for more than ten years and accordingly enhanced LG brand awareness Samsung engages in sports marketing in global scale while LG employs sports marketing in national or regional level. For example, Samsung implements brand promotion through its sponsorship of Chelsea Soccer Team for targeting the entire Europe. LG, on the other hand, focuses its sports marketing for particular nations. From 1999 LG has invested heavily on Cricket World Cup which South Africa, India and Thailand hosted respectively. LG is proud of sponsoring local and regional popular sports such as Cricket World Cup and promotes its products through direct and relational marketing strategy. This is quite different from Samsung’s global sports marketing based on its abundant financial resources (Park and Park, 2007). Since the most favorite sport of Indians is Cricket, LG also embedded Cricket game functions in its TVs sold in India as well. Another reason why LG India was so successful in India was its upper middle class strategy. LG India targeted upper 5% of Indians through high premium product strategy. These people have purchasing power for LG products. Besides, such brand image also allows other customers that join the upper middle classes prefer LG brands for the status symbol effect. Lastly, for localization strategy of LG India cobweb distribution and service strategy are important factors . LG India from its early pioneering years poured much of its resources to develop distribution and services networks which include 18 branches in major regions, 1,800 logistic centers and 85 service centers throughout the nation. While other firms 13 paid little attention to after services, LG India allocated almost half of its human resources for the after-services. LG India also adopted saleswomen system that utilized India’s vast pool of women workforce. LG India was the first that implemented the system of saleswomen in India. These saleswomen certainly contributed to the sales increase of electrical household goods. Conclusion The international economic crisis of 2008-2011 was changing both general environment and the LG Electronics’ growth. The consequence was a fall of the financial results: Table 1. LG Electronics in 2011: a crisis of the profitability (in % of total) Ratio 1= Net income Revenue | -0. %| Ratio 2= Net income Total assets | -1. 5%| Ratio 3= Net income Total equity | -3. 8%| Source: LG Electronics. But with around 91,000 employee’s en 2011, LGE remained the world’s second largest television manufacture and the fifth largest mobile phone maker. In spite of the world economic crisis, LG Electronics aims to make the company one global top 3 in terms of shareholder return, profitability, growth, sales and market share. In this way, the LG Group adopted, in 2007, three specific values and, consecutively, six strategies: Table 2. LG Electronics strategy task Vision| Global Top 3 in Electronics IT Industries| Three values| 1/ Creating customer values through innovations and differential designs2/ maximizing shareholder values3/ Building an organization worth benchmarking| Six strategies| 1/ Focusing on boosting ROIC51 instead of simple growth2/ Optimizing the portfolio3/ Counter measuring the market bipolarization4/ Technology innovation and design differentiation5/ Strengthening brand investments6/ Reinforcing global competencies| Indeed, the LG Group remains a strong economic actor. It controls very profitable subsidiaries. It is the case concerning LG Chem, LG display and, above all, LG Corp. , the LG Group’s holding: Table 3. The profitability of the most important LG Group’s companies in 2011 (in %) | LG Chem. | LG display| LG Corp| Ratio 1= Net incomeRevenue| 11. 3| 3. 1| 6. 5| Raito 2= Net incomeTotal Assets| | 4. 0| 9. 4| BIBLIOGRAPHY http://asiantalks. com/2012/05/16/globalization-at-lg-electronics/ http://cdn. intechopen. com/pdfs/12111/InTech-Globalization_of_markets_marketing_ethics_and_social_responsibility. pdf Values† , Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, p. 1. http:// www. business-ethics. org/corpadv. html , April 12, 2005. http://www. consumerpsychologist. com/intro_Social_Responsibility. html, June 08, 2010. http:// www. business. org/index. php? show , April 12, 2005. http:// www. csreurope. org ; and Howard Stock, Euro Funds Bank on Social Metrics,† Investor Relations Business, April 21, 2003, p. 1. http:// www. glo balpolicy. org/globaliz/define , April 23, 2005. http:// www. questia. com/popularSearches/ethics. jsp , May 2, 2005. http:// www. imf. org/external/np/2000 , April, 26, 2005. http://www. knowthis. om/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/, July 05. 2010 BARJOT (Dominique), (ed. ),  « Globalization-La Mondialisation  », Entreprise et Histoire, n ° 32, 2003. BARJOT (Dominique), PARK-BARJOT (Rang Ri) (eds. ),  «Aux origines du miracle coreen  », Conflits Actuels, n ° 22, 2008-2. BARJOT (Dominique), â€Å"South Korea’s Economic Development since 1950†, Les Cahiers de Framespa. Nouveaux champs de l’histoire sociale, n ° 8, 2011, http//framespa. revues. org/744. HAN (Woo Keun), translation LEE (Kyung Shik), Ed. Grafton K. Mintz, The History of Korea, The Eul Yoo Publishing Company, How to cite Global Strategy of Lg Electonics, Papers

Traditional Activism, free essay sample

Imagine the President of the United States creating a ban on something everyone enjoys like cookies. You may feel outraged and have two choices. On one hand you may find a page online and â€Å"like† the page or â€Å"follow† it for support. If you choose this route, the President may see the page and overlook it seeing no threat. On the other hand you could organize a group to protest outside of the White House to get the ban lifted. In this case the President may feel more threatened and may seriously rethink his law. Traditional activism is the best way to get results. Although it takes more work it provides a better outcome in the end. Traditional activism provides close friendships, it contains a hierarchical organization, and it is a legitimate way to earn respect for your efforts. Social media and networking is the exact opposite of these things. Half a century ago, four African American college students performed a sit in at a local diner. Soon, many other individuals across the country, especially the South, had joined in. It slowly became an important civil-rights movement. Back in the early nineteen-sixties, computers and the internet were not a factor in people’s everyday lives. Therefore, this big movement was created and spread by word of mouth. This experience shows that change always was and still can be achieved without the help of texting, Facebook, e-mail, etc. Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites offer one to have many â€Å"friends†. In reality, though, this amount of friends is extremely higher than the actual amount we have in our lives. Traditional activism has been proven to create many true friendships without the help of social media. While one may have never met over half of their online friends, they could have met many or all of their friends through the act of traditional activism. For example, in the case with the diner sit in, David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, and Joseph McNeil were all friends with each other and some were even roommates (Gladwell). Their close ties with each other started a civil-rights movement and other friendships with other people cause the movement to spread through other areas of the nation. With friendship comes courage and with courage comes change. This type of change would not have been as successful had it been started through social networking. Social media and networking lacks one important factor of activism, hierarchical organization (Gladwell). Within a hierarchical organization there is a single leader and everyone below him or her follows the rules. Without one every person has their own opinion and contribution which could cause the group or organization to fall apart. International-relations scholars Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni and Calvert Jones state a very good fact pertaining to Germany in the nineteen-seventies, the far more unified and successful left-wing terrorists tended to organize hierarchically, with professional management and clear divisions of labor. They were concentrated geographically in universities, where they could establish central leadership, trust, and camaraderie through regular, face-to-face meetings. qtd. in Gladwell) Whereas the opposite of these groups who lacked a hierarchical organization were not disciplined failed due to disloyalty and un-organization. When a person is a member of a group on the internet they are likely asked for donations. A lot of times one may not know who is really asking for their money. Clicking to give a donation is a â€Å"small change, is a movement and a piece of faith that contributes to a greater whole†¦a hell of a lot easier to do on the Internet† (Boyd). People see this as the easy way out to helping a cause however they are giving away a lot of personal information. How do we know if this person or group is legitimate and will not steal our information and money? In many cases we do not know. Identity theft is a big problem on the Internet today and people are too willing because they believe that donating to a group on Facebook is a legitimate substitution for traditional activism. Every time a person â€Å"likes† a cause or â€Å"follows† them on twitter, it shows up on their own page. The question here is, â€Å"are the groups causes? Or are they accessories—a piece of virtual flair that members could collect to show off their cultural sensitivity† (Hesse). While we may like to feel we have done something important it is human nature to want to be recognized and appear to be a â€Å"good person†. One day someone likes one cause and the next they forget about it and move on to the next one. Traditional activism, however, takes dedication and lacks the emptiness that social media provides. In her article Jennifer Preston writes about an incident of police brutality in Egypt. A man was beaten to death. Human rights advocates said he was killed because he had evidence of police corruption† (Preston). The article states that there were video tapings posted on YouTube and a Facebook page was created in honor of the deceased man. The Facebook page was created to give Egyptians â€Å"a rare forum to bond over their outrage about government abuses† (Preston). The death of this man and the publicity it created supposedly inspired the Egyptians to stand up against the government for doing such terrible acts. The article, however, has no proof of any action taking place. Traditional activism would have united the opposition and strengthened their ties to come up with a solution and to act on it. Once again, social networking as a form of activism had failed. In conclusion, traditional activism is the right approach to get results. It provides one with friendships not available online, it is organized, and it provides a person with the â€Å"flair† that they are searching for. Traditional activism is the right approach to a big issue and it provides people with a successful way of changing the world they live in while social media and networking does not.