The Alcatel Lucent Merger

Running Head: THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! The Alcatel-Lucent Merger-What went wrong? American Public University 1 THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 2 The Alcatel-Lucent Merger-What went wrong? Referring to the case and this chapter, discuss what conditions and negotiation factors pushed forth the merger in 2006 that were not present in 2001. In 1999, as the Internet boom was approaching its apex, Lucent Technologies was the world’s largest telecommunications equipment company (Lazonick & March, 2011). With revenues of $38. 3 billion, net income of $4. billion, and 153,000 employees for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999, Lucent was larger and more profitable than Nortel, Alcatel, and Ericsson, its three major global competitors (Lazonick & March, 2011). Unfortunately for Lucent, as quickly as it rose to the top, it began to fall to the bottom. Lucent recognized, and so did its competitors, that something had to be done to sustain profitability in its market. In 2001, Alcatel of France, the communications equipment maker in Paris, and Lucent Technologies, the U. S. telecommunications giant, began negotiations for a merger of the two companies (Deresky, 2011, p. 76). In 2001, many communications companies began to see a fall in sales due to an internet crash. Companies like Lucent that were just years prior at the top of its game in the market were now quickly loosing sales and on the brink of bankruptcy (Lazonick & March, 2011). Creating a merger was a choice that Lucent had to again gain power and profitability, but mergers rarely go easily. As in this case there are two competitors attempting to come together and negotiate for a mutually acceptable agreement that affects the future of both companies and the employees.THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 3 By the mid-2000s it became evident that Lucent was faced with the choice of becoming merely a â€Å"niche† player in the communications technology industry or finding a partner to supplement its resourc es so that it could compete once again as a â€Å"full line† supplier. In May 2001, Alcatel and Lucent held initial merger talks with a view to creating a $50 billion global firm. A year earlier Lucent would have dominated such a combination. By May 2001, however, Lucent had already been severely damaged by the downturn in the telecommunications industry.In contrast, Alcatel sales and profits remained strong at the time of those merger talks. If the merger had gone through, Alcatel shareholders would have owned 58 percent of the combined company. It had been agreed that the new headquarters would be in Murray Hill, New Jersey and that Alcatel Chairman Serge Tchuruk would run the company. In the end, the 2001 merger failed when Alcatel insisted that because of its stronger position it would select 8 of the 14 board members, while Lucent Chairman Henry Schacht insisted that his company send two more members for an even split (Sorkin and Romero 2001).The 2001 merger was not succ essful because negotiations were not successful. For longterm positive relations, the goal should be to set up a win-win situation-that is to bring about a settlement beneficial to all parties concerned (Deresky, 2011, p. 152). Unfortunately, that was not the case with this merger. The two companies could not agree on how much control the French company would have. Lucent’s executives apparently wanted the deal as a â€Å"merger of equals,† rather than a takeover by Aslcatel (Deresky, 2011, p. 176).Furthermore, according to Deresky (2011), the negotiation process should encompass fives stages: preparation, relationship building, exchange of task-related information, persuasion, and concessions and agreement (p. 153). The entire negotiation process in 2001 had flaws. THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 4 Research the status of the merged company at the time of your reading this case. What has happened in the industry since the merger, and how is the company faring? In 2006, Alc atel was almost twice the size of Lucent in terms of revenues and employes when the merger that created Alcatel-Lucent took place (Lazonick & March, 2011).Since then, the merger has proven to be successful overall. To support this, in February 2013, a five year managed services agreement was announced by Alcatel-Lucent with KPN, the leading telecommunications service provider in the Netherlands (Mena Report, 2013). According to the report, Alcatel-Lucent will plan, design and implement an end-to-end solution to provide KPNs network with increased capacity, upgraded equipment, and best-in-class customer service processes.Alcatel-Lucent will also help KPN transform its existing multi-vendor voice and core networks enabling its customers to access and share multimedia content from wherever they are or using the device of their choice be it a smartphone, computer or tablet (Mena Report, 2013). Two years after the merger, Alcatel-Lucent University received a certificate of quality from t he European Foundation for Management Development, an honor bestowed on only 14 corporate universities throughout Europe (Alcatel-Lucent University, 2010).Evaluate the comment that the merger is â€Å"a giant transatlantic experiment in multicultural diversity. † What evidence is there that the company has run into cross-cultural problems since the merger took place in 2006? THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! The comment was made because there were so many multicultural and diversity issues surrounding the merger. While Lucent was an American company that conducted its business within the borders of the United States, Alcatel was already a global business before the merger.Alcatel â€Å"already operated as an international company with a wide mix of nationalities† (Deresky, 2011, p. 176). The question was raised by many during the merger, â€Å"how will the merged company deal with cross-cultural conflicts? †, but Tchuruk said that, while cultural issues could arise, e verything is under way to make sure this human factor is dealt with (Deresky, 2011, p. 176). This statement of confidence was actually part of the reason why the merger was actually somewhat ironically poised with problems because there were indeed many problems related to multicultural diversity.Some of these problems included language barriers between members of the merged companies, their stockholders, and other stakeholders. Analysts quickly suggested that the corporate culture of Lucent clashed with Alcatel’s French business model (Deresky, 2011, p. 177). This was coupled with Russo’s inability to work well with Tchuruk and it soon became clear that it was a poor decision to appoint leaders based on their nationality rather than their skills. Russo was also the first woman to run a company listed on the CAC 40 in the male dominated world where French business and politics overlap (Deresky, 2011, p. 77). Chinese rivals were also at Alcatel-Lucent’s doorstep providing similar service and technology for less money. According to Deresky (2011), a Barron’s article in August 2008 noted that â€Å"while it might have been helpful if outgoing CEO Patricia Russo had spoken French, that’s not why she and Chairman Serge Tchuruk failed to make a go of the 2006 merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies (p. 177). 5 THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 6 How much of the decline do you attribute to leadership problems, as opposed to industry factors?I think the majority of the decline was attributed to leadership problems. The structure of the organization is only effective if the leaders within it are committed to achieving company objectives and working with each other as a team. They must perform their roles and responsibilities knowledgeably and creatively when necessary. The cultural change that was required to create an entrepreneurial sprit throughout the company began with executives being willing to relinquish some of their existing co ntrol to drive decision making downward through the organization.The purpose was to enable faster and better decisions and more competitive responses to market conditions and customer desires (Lazonick & March, 2010). What, if any, factors should have been negotiated differently? Just about everything should have been done differently during the attempted first merger in 2001, but both companies did learn a lot from that merger and they were better prepared in 2006, although still a far cry from being as ready as they should have been.The executives of both companies really did not take cultural values and differences into consideration as much as they should have and as it turned out they had a difficult time communicating with each other, not only due to language barriers, but also just because business was conducted so differently between the French and American cultures. THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 7 References Alcatel-lucent to transform KPN s fixed network operations in the ne therlands over next five years. (2013). MENA Report, Retrieved from http://search. roquest. com/docview/ 1313279184? accountid=8289 Alcatel-lucent university. (2010). Development and Learning in Organizations, 24(2), 31-32. doi: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/14777281011019515 Lazonick, W. , & March, E. (2011). The rise and demise of lucent technologies. Journal of Strategic Management Education, 7(4), 201-270. Retrieved from http:// search. proquest. com/docview/1015336210? accountid=8289 Sorkin, Andrew Ross, and Simon Romero, 2001, Alcatel and Lucent call off negotiations toward a merger. New York Times, May 30. The Alcatel Lucent Merger Running Head: THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! The Alcatel-Lucent Merger-What went wrong? American Public University 1 THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 2 The Alcatel-Lucent Merger-What went wrong? Referring to the case and this chapter, discuss what conditions and negotiation factors pushed forth the merger in 2006 that were not present in 2001. In 1999, as the Internet boom was approaching its apex, Lucent Technologies was the world’s largest telecommunications equipment company (Lazonick & March, 2011). With revenues of $38. 3 billion, net income of $4. billion, and 153,000 employees for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999, Lucent was larger and more profitable than Nortel, Alcatel, and Ericsson, its three major global competitors (Lazonick & March, 2011). Unfortunately for Lucent, as quickly as it rose to the top, it began to fall to the bottom. Lucent recognized, and so did its competitors, that something had to be done to sustain profitability in its market. In 2001, Alcatel of France, the communications equipment maker in Paris, and Lucent Technologies, the U. S. telecommunications giant, began negotiations for a merger of the two companies (Deresky, 2011, p. 76). In 2001, many communications companies began to see a fall in sales due to an internet crash. Companies like Lucent that were just years prior at the top of its game in the market were now quickly loosing sales and on the brink of bankruptcy (Lazonick & March, 2011). Creating a merger was a choice that Lucent had to again gain power and profitability, but mergers rarely go easily. As in this case there are two competitors attempting to come together and negotiate for a mutually acceptable agreement that affects the future of both companies and the employees.THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 3 By the mid-2000s it became evident that Lucent was faced with the choice of becoming merely a â€Å"niche† player in the communications technology industry or finding a partner to supplement its resourc es so that it could compete once again as a â€Å"full line† supplier. In May 2001, Alcatel and Lucent held initial merger talks with a view to creating a $50 billion global firm. A year earlier Lucent would have dominated such a combination. By May 2001, however, Lucent had already been severely damaged by the downturn in the telecommunications industry.In contrast, Alcatel sales and profits remained strong at the time of those merger talks. If the merger had gone through, Alcatel shareholders would have owned 58 percent of the combined company. It had been agreed that the new headquarters would be in Murray Hill, New Jersey and that Alcatel Chairman Serge Tchuruk would run the company. In the end, the 2001 merger failed when Alcatel insisted that because of its stronger position it would select 8 of the 14 board members, while Lucent Chairman Henry Schacht insisted that his company send two more members for an even split (Sorkin and Romero 2001).The 2001 merger was not succ essful because negotiations were not successful. For longterm positive relations, the goal should be to set up a win-win situation-that is to bring about a settlement beneficial to all parties concerned (Deresky, 2011, p. 152). Unfortunately, that was not the case with this merger. The two companies could not agree on how much control the French company would have. Lucent’s executives apparently wanted the deal as a â€Å"merger of equals,† rather than a takeover by Aslcatel (Deresky, 2011, p. 176).Furthermore, according to Deresky (2011), the negotiation process should encompass fives stages: preparation, relationship building, exchange of task-related information, persuasion, and concessions and agreement (p. 153). The entire negotiation process in 2001 had flaws. THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 4 Research the status of the merged company at the time of your reading this case. What has happened in the industry since the merger, and how is the company faring? In 2006, Alc atel was almost twice the size of Lucent in terms of revenues and employes when the merger that created Alcatel-Lucent took place (Lazonick & March, 2011).Since then, the merger has proven to be successful overall. To support this, in February 2013, a five year managed services agreement was announced by Alcatel-Lucent with KPN, the leading telecommunications service provider in the Netherlands (Mena Report, 2013). According to the report, Alcatel-Lucent will plan, design and implement an end-to-end solution to provide KPNs network with increased capacity, upgraded equipment, and best-in-class customer service processes.Alcatel-Lucent will also help KPN transform its existing multi-vendor voice and core networks enabling its customers to access and share multimedia content from wherever they are or using the device of their choice be it a smartphone, computer or tablet (Mena Report, 2013). Two years after the merger, Alcatel-Lucent University received a certificate of quality from t he European Foundation for Management Development, an honor bestowed on only 14 corporate universities throughout Europe (Alcatel-Lucent University, 2010).Evaluate the comment that the merger is â€Å"a giant transatlantic experiment in multicultural diversity. † What evidence is there that the company has run into cross-cultural problems since the merger took place in 2006? THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! The comment was made because there were so many multicultural and diversity issues surrounding the merger. While Lucent was an American company that conducted its business within the borders of the United States, Alcatel was already a global business before the merger.Alcatel â€Å"already operated as an international company with a wide mix of nationalities† (Deresky, 2011, p. 176). The question was raised by many during the merger, â€Å"how will the merged company deal with cross-cultural conflicts? †, but Tchuruk said that, while cultural issues could arise, e verything is under way to make sure this human factor is dealt with (Deresky, 2011, p. 176). This statement of confidence was actually part of the reason why the merger was actually somewhat ironically poised with problems because there were indeed many problems related to multicultural diversity.Some of these problems included language barriers between members of the merged companies, their stockholders, and other stakeholders. Analysts quickly suggested that the corporate culture of Lucent clashed with Alcatel’s French business model (Deresky, 2011, p. 177). This was coupled with Russo’s inability to work well with Tchuruk and it soon became clear that it was a poor decision to appoint leaders based on their nationality rather than their skills. Russo was also the first woman to run a company listed on the CAC 40 in the male dominated world where French business and politics overlap (Deresky, 2011, p. 77). Chinese rivals were also at Alcatel-Lucent’s doorstep providing similar service and technology for less money. According to Deresky (2011), a Barron’s article in August 2008 noted that â€Å"while it might have been helpful if outgoing CEO Patricia Russo had spoken French, that’s not why she and Chairman Serge Tchuruk failed to make a go of the 2006 merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies (p. 177). 5 THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 6 How much of the decline do you attribute to leadership problems, as opposed to industry factors?I think the majority of the decline was attributed to leadership problems. The structure of the organization is only effective if the leaders within it are committed to achieving company objectives and working with each other as a team. They must perform their roles and responsibilities knowledgeably and creatively when necessary. The cultural change that was required to create an entrepreneurial sprit throughout the company began with executives being willing to relinquish some of their existing co ntrol to drive decision making downward through the organization.The purpose was to enable faster and better decisions and more competitive responses to market conditions and customer desires (Lazonick & March, 2010). What, if any, factors should have been negotiated differently? Just about everything should have been done differently during the attempted first merger in 2001, but both companies did learn a lot from that merger and they were better prepared in 2006, although still a far cry from being as ready as they should have been.The executives of both companies really did not take cultural values and differences into consideration as much as they should have and as it turned out they had a difficult time communicating with each other, not only due to language barriers, but also just because business was conducted so differently between the French and American cultures. THE ALCATEL-LUCENT MERGER ! 7 References Alcatel-lucent to transform KPN s fixed network operations in the ne therlands over next five years. (2013). MENA Report, Retrieved from http://search. roquest. com/docview/ 1313279184? accountid=8289 Alcatel-lucent university. (2010). Development and Learning in Organizations, 24(2), 31-32. doi: http://dx. doi. org/10. 1108/14777281011019515 Lazonick, W. , & March, E. (2011). The rise and demise of lucent technologies. Journal of Strategic Management Education, 7(4), 201-270. Retrieved from http:// search. proquest. com/docview/1015336210? accountid=8289 Sorkin, Andrew Ross, and Simon Romero, 2001, Alcatel and Lucent call off negotiations toward a merger. New York Times, May 30.

Carl Sandburg’s Chicago

The poem Chicago by Carl Sandburg is a depiction of how the city really looks like. It is a picture not just of an imaginary location but a total imagery of how everyday Chicago is. There is an attempt to elucidate in the reader’s mind the general description of Chicago, as well as the subtle references to specific elements that govern the whole of the poem. Sandburg also tries to commend Chicago in high reverence, with respect to other cities that the readers may give value to. He uses figures of speech to strengthen his presentation of the poem into an appealing one, something that could easily captivate the attention of the readers. Also, very simplistic and ordinary wordings were used that the poem could be grasped in an almost literal manner. The first three lines of Sandburg’s poem is a call to the citizens of Chicago, specifically the workmen or the so-called proletarians. He refers to the hog butcher, tool maker, wheat stacker, railroad player, and freight handler – all but the men who do the (literally) dirty jobs in the agricultural, manufacturing, and transportation sectors. Why then was he referring to these men who could be considered of â€Å"lower status† in contrast to the doctors, engineers, or lawyers, or the ones with titles before their names? Perhaps this is a symbolism for the physicality of Chicago. Chicago is considered as â€Å"stormy, husky, [and] brawling† (Sandburg 1, line 4). It is called the â€Å"city of the big shoulders† (line 5) because of the people that inhabit it. The rise of industrialization paved way for the generation of many an industries such that the labor force is centralized on what needed strength more – construction work, manufacturing work, and the likes. The big-shouldered are indeed the main characters that make Chicago turn, and Sandburg’s call to these characters makes an analogy of Chicago in a whole. He typifies this call in the context that personifies Chicago in a way as though he was really talking to it. He used several pronouns, like those in the sixth line â€Å"They tell me you are wicked and I believe them† (Sandburg 1) which relate to â€Å"they† as an allusion of an outside persona and is absent in the conversation; â€Å"you† is being referred to the personification of Chicago; and â€Å"I† is used to depict the poet himself. The pronouns were not only used to illustrate personification, but it is also used to differentiate the personas or characters in the poem. Several other characters used in the poem create further imagery, like the painted women (who are prostitutes), the gunman (who killed without being imprisoned), and the women and children (who were marked with hunger) (lines 7, 9, 11). The â€Å"archetypal industrial city in which large numbers of jobs were available† (Koval and Fidel 100) seems not a haven for these people, but still a place for struggle from poverty and its breeds. Sandburg used this irony to give twist to his work: that while there is wickedness, crookedness, and brutality in Chicago, he still considers it as proud, alive, strong, and cunning which cannot possible be paralleled by another city. There is no point in comparing, as Sandburg might mean, in his depiction of Chicago as â€Å"a tall bold slugger set vivid against the little soft cities† (line 18). He identifies Chicago as a slugger, a fighter that strikes from side to side in his combat. He also used several words that repeat, if not strengthen, the vividness of Chicago in a macho way: fierce, cunning, â€Å"bareheaded, / shoveling, / wrecking, / planning, / building, wrecking, rebuilding† (lines 21-25). There was a sequence in his words, playfully revolving around the process of building and rebuilding, or making and unmaking, which connotes further to how a strong character (here, Chicago) undergoes a process of growing. Sandburg’s last lines in the poem repeatedly use â€Å"laughing:† â€Å"laughing with white teeth† (26), â€Å"laughing as a young man laughs† (27), â€Å"laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs† (28), â€Å"bragging and laughing† (29), and â€Å"laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth† (30). In essence, the â€Å"laughter† which he repeatedly used, is symbolic of triumph over the city’s languid background. He maintains that there is victory underneath the notions of smoke, burden, and battle. The atrocities felt by Chicago in its experiences of â€Å"dust all over [its] mouth† (line 26) or â€Å"the terrible burden of destiny† (line 27) cannot thwart away the known success it has in its continual fight for everyday survival. Chicago is juxtaposed to its people: the harder their everyday experiences are, the stronger they become. Hawkins-Dady describes Sandburg’s work as a conscious work that relates not merely to aesthetic means but which displays historical, economic, and ideological designs (678). Sandburg repeats his first lines at the end part of the poem, but supplying a complete difference in the tone of the presentation. In the introduction of the poem, there seemed to be a brusque, if not antagonistic, characterization of Chicago and its people. Thus, the last lines prove to be a turnaround in the sense that the poem connects laughter in its personification of Chicago’s working masses. The turnaround is an effective way of ending the poem since it suggests a positivist point of view, a rather agreeable analogy from dimness to light. The poem Chicago by Carl Sandburg is considered as a piece of work that not only illustrates the intermingling of both simple and complex correlations to Chicago’s people, but it also suggests the underlying strength of this city that makes it grow amidst the seemingly muddled background. Sandburg closes his poem in these words: â€Å"Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of Youth, half- / naked, sweating, proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, / Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler / to the Nation. (lines 30-33). With such references to Chicago, Sandburg is definitely saying that he himself is a proud son to the City of the Big Shoulders.

Meaning of Public Enterprises

MEANING OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES As state earlier, the business units owned, managed and controlled by the central, state or local government are termed as public sector enterprises or public enterprises. These are also known as public sector undertakings. A public sector enterprise may be defined as any commercial or industrial undertaking owned and managed by the government with a view to maximize social welfare and uphold the public interest.Public enterprises consist of nationalized private sector enterprises, such as, banks, Life Insurance Corporation of India and the new enterprises set up by the government such as Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Gas Authority of India (GAIL), State Trading Corporation (STC) etc. CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES Looking at the nature of the public enterprises their basic characteristics can be summarized as follows: A. State control:  The public enterprises are financed, owned and managed by the government may be a central or state governmen t.B. Rendering service:  The primary objective of the establishment of public enterprises is to serve the public at large by supplying the essential goods at a reasonable price and creating employment opportunities. C. Government Ownership and Management: The public enterprises are owned and managed by the central or state government, or by the local authority. The government may either wholly own the public enterprises or the ownership may partly be with the government and partly with the private industrialists and the public.Autonomous or semi-autonomous organization:  Public enterprise is an autonomous or semi-autonomous organization because some enterprises work under the direct control of the government and some organizations are established under statutes and companies act. D. Financed from Government Funds: The public enterprises get their capital from Government Funds and the government has to make provision for their capital in its budget, they become financially indepe ndent by arranging finance for day-to-day operation. E. Public Welfare: Public enterprises are not guided by profit motive.Their major focus is on providing the service or commodity at reasonable prices. Take the case of Indian Oil Corporation or Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL). They provide petroleum and gas at subsidized prices to the public. F. Monopoly Enterprises:  In some specific cases private sectors are not allowed and as such the public enterprises enjoy monopoly in operation. G. Public Utility Services: Public sector enterprises concentrate on providing public utility services like transport, electricity, telecommunication etc. H.Public Accountability: Public enterprises are governed by public policies formulated by the government and are accountable to the legislature. The state enterprises are liable to the general public for their performances because they are responsible for the nation. I. Excessive Formalities: The government rules and regulations force the p ublic enterprises to observe excessive formalities in their operations. This makes the task of management very sensitive and cumbersome. J. A direct channel for use of Foreign money:  Sometimes the government receive foreign assistance from industrially advanced countries for the development of industries.These advances received are spent through public enterprises. K. Agent for implementing government plans:  The public enterprises run as per the whims of the government and as such the economic policies and plans of the government are implemented through public enterprises. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTOR ENTERPRISES By private sector, we mean, economic and social activities undertaken privately by a single individual or group of individuals. They prefer to do business in private sector basically to earn profit.On the other hand public sector refers to economic and social activities undertaken by public authorities. The enterprises in public sector are set up with the main aim of protecting public interest. Profit earning comes next. Besides the difference in the objective, the enterprises in both these sectors also differ in many other aspects. In this section let us know the differences between the enterprises of public sector and private sector. Basis of difference| Private sector enterprises| Public sector enterprises| Objective| Maximization of profit| Maximize social welfare and ensure alanced economic development| Ownership| Owned by individuals| Owned by Government| Management| Managed by owner and professional managers| Managed by Government| Capital| Raised by owners through loans, private sources and public issues| Raised from government funds and sometimes through public issues| Area of Operation| Operates in all areas with adequate return on investment| Operates in basic and public utility sectors| FORMS OF ORGANISATION OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISES There are three different forms of organization used for the public sector enterprises in India.These are (1) Departmental Undertaking; (2) Statutory (or Public) Corporation, and (3) Government Company. Departmental Undertaking form of organization is primarily used for provision of essential services such as railways, postal services, broadcasting etc. Such organizations function under the overall control of a ministry of the Government and are financed and controlled in the same way as any other government department. This form is considered suitable for activities where the government desires to have control over them in view of the public interest.Statutory Corporation (or public corporation) refers to a corporate body created by the Parliament or State Legislature by a special Act which defines its powers, functions and pattern of management. Statutory Corporation is also known as public corporation. Its capital is wholly provided by the government. Examples of such organizations are Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Trading Corporation etc. Government Com pany refers to the company in which 51 percent or more of the paid up capital is held by the government.It is registered under the Companies Act and is fully governed by the provisions of the Act. Most business units owned and managed by government fall in this category. DEPARTMENTAL UNDERTAKINGS Departmental undertakings are the oldest among the public enterprises. A departmental undertaking is organized, managed and financed by the Government. It is controlled by a specific department of the government. Each such department is headed by a minister. All policy matters and other important decisions are taken by the controlling ministry.The Parliament lays down the general policy for such undertakings. FEATURES OF DEPARTMENTAL UNDERTAKINGS The main features of departmental undertakings are as follows: (a) It is established by the government and its overall control rests with the minister. (b) It is a part of the government and is managed like any other government department. (c) It i s financed through government funds. (d) It is subject to budgetary, accounting and audit control. (e) Its policy is laid down by the government and it is accountable to the legislature.MERITS OF DEPARTMENTAL UNDERTAKINGS The following are the merits of departmental undertakings:- (a) Fulfillment of Social Objectives: The government has total control over these undertakings. As such it can fulfill its social and economic objectives. For example, opening of post offices in far off places, broadcasting and telecasting programmes, which may lead to the social, economic and intellectual development of the people are the social objectives that the departmental undertakings try to fulfill. b) Responsible to Legislature: Questions may be asked about the working of departmental undertaking in the parliament and the concerned minister has to satisfy the public with his replies. As such they cannot take any step, which may harm the interest of any particular group of public. These undertaking s are responsible to the public through the parliament. (c) Control Over Economic Activities: It helps the government to exercise control over the specialized economic activities and can act as instrument of making social and economic policy. d) Contribution to Government Revenue: The surplus, if any, of the departmental undertakings belong to the government. This leads to increase in government income. Similarly, if there is deficiency, it is to be met by the government. (e) Little Scope for Misuse of Funds: Since such undertakings are subject to budgetary accounting and audit control, the possibilities of misuse of their funds are considerably reduced. LIMITATIONS OF DEPARTMENTAL UNDERTAKINGS Departmental undertakings suffer from the following limitations: (a) TheInfluence of Bureaucracy: On account of government control, a departmental undertaking suffers from all the ills of bureaucratic functioning. For instance, government permission is required for each expenditure, observanc e of government decisions regarding appointment and promotion of the employees and so on. Because of these reasons important decisions get delayed, employees cannot be given instant promotion or punishment. On account of these reasons some difficulties come in the way of working of departmental undertakings. b) Excessive Parliamentary Control: On account of the Parliamentary control difficulties come in the way of day-to-day administration. This is also because questions are repeatedly asked in the parliament about the working of the undertaking. (c) Lack of Professional Expertise: The administrative officers who manage the affairs of the departmental undertakings do not generally have the business experience as well as expertise. Hence, these undertakings are not managed in a professional manner and suffer from deficiency leading to excessive drainage of public funds. d) Lack of Flexibility: Flexibility is necessary for a successful business so that the demand of the changing times may be fulfilled. But departmental undertakings lack flexibility because its policies cannot be changed instantly. (e) Inefficient Functioning: Such organizations suffer from inefficiency on account of incompetent staff and lack of adequate incentives to improve efficiency of the employees. STATUTORY CORPORATIONS The Statutory Corporation (or Public Corporation) refers to such organizations which are incorporated under the special Acts of the Parliament/State Legislative Assemblies.Its management pattern, its powers and functions, the area of activity, rules and regulations for its employees and its relationship with government departments, etc. are specified in the concerned Act. Examples of statutory corporations are State Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Industrial Finance Corporation of India, etc. It may be noted that more than one corporation can also be established under the same Act. State Electricity Boards and State Financial Corporation fall in this ca tegory. FEATURES OF STATUTORY CORPORATIONSThe main features of Statutory Corporations are as follows: (a) It is incorporated under a special Act of Parliament or State Legislative Assembly. (b) It is an autonomous body and is free from government control in respect of its internal management. However, it is accountable to parliament and state legislature. (c) It has a separate legal existence. Its capital is wholly provided by the government. (d) It is managed by Board of Directors, which is composed of individuals who are trained and experienced in business management. The members of the board of Directors are nominated by the government. e) It is supposed to be self-sufficient in financial matters. However, in case of necessity it may take loan and/or seek assistance from the government. (f) The employees of these enterprises are recruited as per their own requirement by following the terms and conditions of recruitment decided by the Board. MERITS OF STATUTORY CORPORATIONS Statut ory Corporation as a form of organization for public enterprises has certain advantages that can be summarized as follows: (a) Expert Management: It has the advantages of both the departmental and private undertakings.These enterprises are run on business principles under the guidance of expert and experienced Directors. (b) Internal Autonomy: Government has no direct interference in the day-to-day management of these corporations. Decisions can be taken promptly without any hindrance. (c) Responsible to Parliament: Statutory organizations are responsible to Parliament. Their activities are watched by the press and the public. As such they have to maintain a high level of efficiency and accountability. (d) Flexibility: As these are independent in matters of management and finance, they enjoy adequate flexibility in their operation.This helps in ensuring good performance and operational results. (e) Promotion of National Interests: Statutory Corporations protect and promote national interests. The government is authorized to give policy directions to the statutory corporations under the provisions of the Acts governing them. (f) Easy to Raise Funds: Being government owned statutory bodies, they can easily get the required funds by issuing bonds etc. LIMITATIONS OF STATUTORY CORPORATIONS Having studied the merits of statutory corporations we may now look to its limitations also.The following limitations are observed in statutory corporations. (a) Government Interference: It is true that the greatest advantage of statutory corporation is its independence and flexibility, but it is found only on paper. In reality, there is excessive government interference in most of the matters. (b) Rigidity: The amendments to their activities and rights can be made only by the Parliament. This results in several impediments in business of the corporations to respond to the changing conditions and take bold decisions. c) Ignoring Commercial Approach: The statutory corporations us ually face little competition and lack motivation for good performance. Hence, they suffer from ignorance of commercial principles in managing their affairs. MERITS OF GOVERNMENT COMPANIES The merits of government company form of organizing a public enterprise are as follows: (a) Simple Procedure of Establishment: A government company, as compared to other public enterprises, can be easily formed as there is no need to get a bill passed by the parliament or state legislature.It can be formed simply by following the procedure laid down by the Companies Act. (b) Efficient Working on Business Lines: The government company can be run on business principles. It is fully independent in financial and administrative matters. Its Board of Directors usually consists of some professionals and independent persons of repute. (c) Efficient Management: As the Annual Report of the government company is placed before both the house of Parliament for discussion, its management is cautious in carrying out its activities and ensures efficiency in managing the business. d) Healthy Competition: These companies usually offer a healthy competition to private sector and thus, ensure availability of goods and services at reasonable prices without compromising on the quality. LIMITATIONS OF GOVERNMENT COMPANIES The government companies suffer from the following limitations: (a) Lack of Initiative: The management of government companies always have the fear of public accountability. As a result, they lack initiative in taking right decisions at the right time.Moreover, some directors may not take real interest in business for fear of public criticism. (b) Lack of Business Experience: In practice, the management of these companies is generally put into the hands of administrative service officers who often lack experience in managing the business organisation on professional lines. So, in most cases, they fail to achieve the required efficiency levels. (c) Change in Policies and Managemen t: The policies and management of these companies generally keep on changing with the change of government.Frequent change of rules, policies and procedures leads to an unhealthy situation of the business enterprises. IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC SECTOR ENTERPRISES  § Balanced Regional Development  § Boost the basic industries of an economy.  § Concentrate on public welfare activities.  § Promote exports  § Price control of essential goods  § Limit the influence of private monopoly.  § Ensure security of the country.  § Minimize the economic inequalities.

French revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

French revolution - Essay Example The revolution reached its climax in 1789 upon the reconvening of the estates-general, France’s ancient legislative arm, when it became apparent that the higher class had refused to give away their privileges in the interest of saving the nation’s crippling economy. The ordinary French citizens seized this chance to force a revolution. The revolution thus got born out of a battle to attain equality and remove oppression and thus reshaped France’s social and political dimension. The French revolution served an unexpected blow to the nobles. The revolution saw the abolition of privilege and the declaration of rights of man and citizen (Hunt 62). The document of declaration made it clear that each French citizen was equal. The nobles had managed to monopolize all of the country’s wealth and had become adamant in their refusal to share the tax burden that got inflicted on the country’s wealth. With the onset of the revolution, a few nobles who sensed da nger switched sides and fought for the revolution. The nobles who still remained adamant to their privileges faced the fury of the revolution mob (Tackett 101). Many got sent to the guillotine. The revolution achieved the aim of bringing equality among the French citizens. The abolition of privilege also saw a new tax system get put in place where every citizen got to pay his tax share according to the wealth he possessed. Nobility got completely ended. The revolution also saw the abolition of church privileges that impacted on the clergy. The clergy got considered as first class citizens and most of them made up the noble class. Most of the clergy were bishops who got nominated by the king. The clergy got viewed in the same league as the aristocrats. Church property got confiscated early in the revolution. Church lands became nationalized and got sold leading to a full tenth of France’s lands to change hands. The revolution brought a massive redistribution of land that previ ously got consigned to the clergy. In present day France, church property belongs to the locals (Tackett 33). Priests got demanded to take new oaths of allegiance and loyalty to the state. Those who refused got imprisoned, executed or went into hiding. The clergy got employed as salaried officials of the state. The revolution also provided a beacon of hope and freedom to the lives of the ordinary people in France at the time. The revolution led to the creation of new political forces that centered on democracy and nationalism. This new forces gave the ordinary people hope of having an equitable and just society (Hunt 101). The revolution saw the birth of a new government system that shunned monarchy and aristocracy. The ordinary people became the significant beneficiaries of the fruits of the revolution. In the old order French society, not everyone got to enjoy rights. The revolution made a huge step towards having all men enjoy equal rights. The document of declaration of rights o f man and citizen showed promise to the ordinary people who got placed in the lower echelons of society. The French revolution did not only impact and shape the political arena in France; the revolution had a far reaching political consequence on the continent of Europe too. Most European countries at the time of the French revoluti

Humor and Socialization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Humor and Socialization - Essay Example ..a 2005 study by the University of Maryland School of Medicine showed that laughter helps blood vessels function better" (BIOMED, 2006, p. 420). For academic integrity it should be noted, however, that not all experts agree on this point: Sahakian & Frishman find that that there are "many discrepancies and conflicts in the medical literature regarding laughter, humor, and their effects on the cardiovascular system" (2007, p. 57). Beyond the positive physiological effects, there is a social component to humor which sociologists and the psychological sciences have begun to explore. Van Wormer & Boes, in their study on the social perspective of humor in the emergency room setting, posit that "humor usually cannot be enjoyed alone, interaction and sharing are important components" but go on to conclude that "in the short term, humor can provide a healthy catharsis" (1997, pp. 89, 95). It is this aspect of humor which this study proposes to undertake. There is a case to made for the position taken by social scientist like Lauer, that "we find things funny because we are social beings, and laughter is just one form of communication" (2007, p. 22). That position, however, does not address nor allow for the solitary laugher.

Case Study Foreign Direct Investment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Case Study Foreign Direct Investment - Essay Example Continuous growth is essential for company’s survival in the interest of its investors and work force. Hence, this reports addresses strategy development directions in this regard. The idea of growth should be one of the business objectives. The company needs to engage in strategy development so as to create competitive advantage over its competitors. The strategy development is important as it should be difficult for the competitors to replicate. Collaboration with business partners or the stake holders such as the company’s suppliers, distributors and customers is a guarantee creating a competitive advantage which the competitors cannot easily emulate (Campbel, Stonehouse, & Houston, 2002) Different strategies to achieve competitive advantage are 1) knowledge-based strategy, 2) generic strategy 3) hybrid strategy and 4) core competence/distinctive capability/resource-based strategy. Organizations generally will select one of the strategies and incorporate value-adding activities in support of the strategy selected. These strategies are briefly explained (Campbel, Stonehouse, & Houston, 2002). ... Tacit knowledge is that which cannot be stored being mostly of individual experiences of experts. This is also not possible to be copied by the competitors (Demarest, 1997). There should be at least three types of knowledge available within firms. They are know-how, know-why and know-what referring to practical knowledge, theoretical knowledge and strategic knowledge respectively. All these combine to form core competencies of a firm. Generic strategies are the well known Michael Porter’s generic strategy frame work that explains the competitive advantage of a firm. (Campbel, Stonehouse, & Houston, 2002). Hybrid strategy is the combination of knowledge strategy and generic strategy. Lastly, the core competency strategy which is nothing but the essence of the firm’s vast experience in the tradional activity the firm has been engaged in. Ansoff’s matrix will also serve to give the proper direction for the company’ s future activity. In view of the saturated market in Europe, the only way out for XYZ Plc is to seek greener pastures abroad. Developing countries are the niche market for automobiles because the globalization has improved the standard of living for the people therein resulting in creation of demand for automobiles. Markets for automobiles in these countries has not yet saturated. These countries are attractive not only within the context of domestic market for automobiles but also the savings in wages by almost 65 per cent. The countries offering huge opportunities for investment are China and India, the world’s two largest populated countries. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) These countries have benefited a lot from the inward FDI flowing in continuously. India especially has survived the economic crisis that

Kinship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Kinship - Essay Example Though no material evidence suggests literacy with writing and reading, they can facilitate daily communication with composite form of language (Chagnon). Since the horticulture-inclined Yanomamo have become accustomed to waging village warfare, it is a normal tendency to form political allies and functions which, by the systematic principles of kinship, decide for the village people in the aspects of shelter, tribal relationships and other social issues, as well as the manner of adjusting with the environment. The Yanomamo, due to arranged violent encounters, have in a way manage to shape their culture by following certain behavior acquired in response to the sensitive call for survival (Chagnon). Through the system of kinships that constitute their living, social and familial ties are further enhanced as Yanomamo natives conduct frequent and periodic occasions of feasting and trading (Kittelson & Stafford). Arranged intermarriages via the kinship ruling are based upon the fighting skillfulness of a male relative after each combat with triumphant results.

Healthcare Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Healthcare Research - Essay Example Summation of the finding of multiple qualitative studies with a focus on a particular evidence produces new interpretations of the qualitative research finding yet remains faithful to the philosophical, theoretical, or conceptual frameworks associated with the original research design (Kent & Overholt, 2008). There is growing acceptance of the value of this type of study and its contribution to qualitative research. Qualitative research itself can make great contributions to improving health care though evidence based information. With the evolving nature of research at this time, meta-synthesis shows major generalisable reality which a single study cannot. In contrast, grounded theory is done the opposite of the usual kind of research. Grounded theory starts with the problem, and in healthcare, this may likely be the method of use (Waldrop, & Kirkendall, 2009). An example might be that a particular ICU is having trouble with ventilator pneumonia. In grounded theory, that is the problem, increased numbers of ventilator pneumonia in the ICU. The next thing to do is to research what the evidence shows should be done to solve the problem.

Comparisons Over 1000s B.C of Years of Western and Asian Warfare Essay

Comparisons Over 1000s B.C of Years of Western and Asian Warfare - Essay Example In the ancient period, wars occurred for many reasons, some which were petty while others which had long term consequences. Some of the themes related to ancient warfare are the following: the ambitions of the various rulers of the time, the need to acquire scarce resources, wars in the name of religion, and finally the need to emulate the great empires or states that existed at the time. The personal ambitions of various rulers in the ancient world were a major factor behind the wars that occurred during that period. Rulers such as King Xerxes of Persia wanted to secure their positions at home. This was because when these rulers came to their thrones, their positions were very weak due to the fact that they had yet to prove themselves to be worthy of their positions. Very often, they had to go to as many wars as possible early in their reigns to not only to show their battle prowess, but also to prove to those that wanted to overthrow them that any sign of rebellion would be met wit h brutal force. Another way of proving their worth was by contributing to their forefathers’ legacy by adding to the territories which they had inherited. An example of this was when Xerxes who, within a few years of coming to the throne, embarked on the conquest of Greece which ended in the Persian defeat many years later. The same can be said of Alexander the Great of Macedon who within the ten years that he ruled Macedonia had conquered Persia, the largest and most powerful empire of the time. He did this not only to satisfy his ambition but also because he believed that his birth was divine and that he was therefore worthy of great deeds to prove that he was the son of a god. Until his sudden death at the age of thirty two, his greatest ambition had been to conquer the whole of the known world. A common theme closely related to the above was tyranny, especially in Ancient Greece which occurred mostly between the sixth and the fourth century. Fagan G G and Trundle M (229) state that the tyrants needed a constant supply of money to support not only themselves but also their regimes. These necessitated wars which if won would ensure a constant flow of tribute from the defeated foe. Mercenaries hired themselves to tyrants because of the good pay which they tended to receive, while the tyrants often hired them because their loyalty to their employer remained absolute so long as he kept them paid. The Persian Empire also had a long tradition of hiring mercenaries and this can be seen when one looks at the composition of the Persian army during the invasion of Greece. Soldiers from as far as India and Nubia in Africa were to be found within the Persian ranks and these, especially Nubia, were not even close to Persia. Ancient Egypt was and still is largely a desert with very few resources and heavily dependent on the River Nile as the source of its livelihood. The ancient Egyptians therefore had to look without to find those resources that could not be foun d in their country but which they really needed to make their lives more comfortable. It was with this in mind that the pharaohs, especially those of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twenty fifth dynasties embarked on a series of wars of conquest to bring other states with vital resources into the Egyptian sphere of influence. At its greatest extent, Egypt controlled Nubia in what are now southern Egypt and northern Sudan, and the whole of Palestine including the Phoenician city states. As a result, exotic goods from tribute

Evans and Blackmores Decision Making Assignment

Evans and Blackmores Decision Making - Assignment Example It should be noted that as the acquisition of the new machine will entail discarding the old, all options will benefit from the revenue of selling the old machine. Due to equity considerations, this report opted to disregard the salvage value of the three machines on the sixth year. Since the salvage value of Models B and C cannot be determined, it is more rational to omit the revenue to be derived from the future sale of the machines. The payback period is one of the simplest ways in ascertaining the feasibility of an investment. This tool is used to determine the length of time that the company can recoup its cash outlay. Table 1 shows the computed payback period for the three options. Quantitative analyses show that Model C or the machine from France is the best choice as it has a relatively shorter payback period of 3 years and an NPV of 16,455. However, using the qualitative information supplied by the managers of Evans and Blackmore Model C is the worst choice as the company will be incurring a high training cost together with the lack of local maintenance firm to service the machine. The last factor mentioned is seen to erode the cost savings generated from the machine. It is irrefutable that maintenance services for a machine is very important as it will help the company fully realize the expected gains from Model C. In case of defects, it can be seen that the costs associated with finding a foreign maintenance firm to restore the machine can offset the high NPV and cause disruption in operation. This report recommends that Evans and Blackmore choose Machine A or the machine from USA. Model B is ruled out as it generates a negative NPV. The rationale of the choice is that Model A has a positive NPV though significantly lower compared to Model C. The presence of a local firm to maintain the machine is a significant advantage. 2.0 Make or Buy Decision The quantitative analysis of the make or buy decision faced by Evans and Blackmore is shown in Table 3. It can be seen that the increase in labor cost coupled with the decrease in material costs brought down the per unit cost to 51.94. The computed values are for 8000 units of component X. Table 3 shows that manufacturing 8000 units of component X will entail the company 415,520 while buying will give a cost of $480,000 ($400,000 for the components and $80,000 for stockholding.) Table 3. Make or Buy Decision This report favors the in-house production of component X instead of outsourcing it. The cost of manufacturing the component is relatively lower as shown in the above computation (Table 3). Another important consideration is the stockholding cost associated with outsourcing. It should be noted that the demand for component X is stable and there is even a possibility that

Icon Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Icon Analysis - Assignment Example They represent the much needed leadership traits that American leaders must possess. In times of recession, people need characters that would serve as an inspiration in battling whatever crisis a country faces. According to Robert Pattinson, "Twilight is a big metaphor for sexual abstinence, and yet its erotic underneath. There are so many elements in the story which are sexy." This is true indeed that is why Pattinson has many die-hard fans. Pattinson represents the sexual urge that is subtly represented by his vampire character in the sequel â€Å" Twilight†. Young viewers can easily identify their repressed sexual feelings with Bella and Edward which is why this movie is successful. Lastly, Michael Jackson is still one of the world’s popular icon. His death made people cry for it symbolizes the good old days of the 70s of which soul, rock and roll as well as other significant events such as man’s landing on the moon happened in that era. Michael Jackson represents the decade where Cold War put the world in a political tension. Moreover, MJ reminds middle age people of their innocence at that time. MJ is a successful popular icon despite the fact that he had numerous legal battles involving sexual abuse of

Virtuoso Teams Essay Example for Free

Virtuoso Teams Essay In a day-by-day shrinking world where new organizations are popping up like mushrooms on a wet forest floor, what can be the one factor that sets you apart from the rest? The common answers would be better technology, brilliant strategies, great work atmospheres and many other such options. While one can’t deny the importance of all this, isn’t it obvious that every business unit on the planet is aware of these factors and trying in their own way to improve upon them. In a world where complex and intricately-woven ideas generally sound â€Å"smarter† it is often a simple and honest idea that does the trick. While thinking of better ways of resource utilization and profit maximization, we often end up overlooking the most conveniently available resource available to us- the â€Å"human resource†. While human capital management and human resource development (HRD) may now sound like run-of-the-mill terms, companies can take these concepts beyond their conventional boundaries to chart new stories of success. â€Å"Virtuoso teams† are the call of the future. When big, discontinuous change is required, a different sort of team and leadership is needed. These Virtuoso Teams make the difference between real success and just achieving another modest result. What are these â€Å"virtuoso teams†? Are they the proverbial genies from an Arabian Nights story that can make all our problems disappear? Well, not quite so fantastic but somewhat equally efficient, these teams are an elite squad- Revolutionaries that are catalysts for big change. They are utterly unique in the ambitiousness of their goals, the intensity of their conversations, the degree of their esprit, and the extraordinary results they deliver. Not bound by the usual rules of the game, these teams comprising of brilliant individuals working together and yet always competing with one another are dynamic and charismatic in their approach. In a world where there is no dearth of talent or skill, the star achievers are no more content with their accomplishments. There is always a hunger for more. Self-actualization needs makes a majority of workers hop jobs in the search for better prospects. The talent-drain problem is one of the major causes of concern in all major companies. A great idea would be to group such star achievers in teams and put before them the toughest challenges whereby they can not only use their exceptional individual skills but also collaborate for doing something truly remarkable. Traditionalists criticize such teams branding them â€Å"too risky, too temperamental, too ego-centric, and too difficult to control†. But they forget an important fact, the innovators and change agents in today’s world are individuals with these very same characteristics. What if Mark Zuckerberg and his team of innovators had preferred â€Å"playing it safe† instead of charging ahead with their self-belief. The world never would have shrunk so close as it has through â€Å"FACEBOOK†. We may call people like Zuckerberg mavericks and temperamental even ego-centric but who can deny that feeding one’s ego is what actually keeps the crà ¨me-de-la-crà ¨me striving for continued excellence. Virtuoso Teams tell some of the most compelling and wide-ranging stories of remarkable team leadership ever assembled. These teams are intense and intimate. They assume that their customers are every bit as smart and sophisticated as they are, so they don’t cater to a stereotypical â€Å"average.† Leaders of virtuoso teams put a premium on great collaboration—and they’re not afraid to encourage creative confrontation to get it. Top companies are realizing that such teams not only engage some brilliant minds in realizing their true potential but help the company as a whole do much better. Other employees are motivated and work harder to be a part of this elite team, top management can delegate responsibilities to these teams and be sure of effective solutions and the team members have what they crave for most- jobs that challenge them to keep doing their best. The future of business enterprises can be defined through proper handling of these virtuoso teams.

Nikes Competitive Advantages: Strategies in China

Nikes Competitive Advantages: Strategies in China With widely globalization movement, managers in MNCs have to be continually involved into the challenges that mainly include competitive and collaborative challenge. Facing the challenges, Nike has always been a leading sports product organization. Thus, it is meaningful to analyze Nikes global success which will benefit from obtaining relevant international management issues. The aim of this project is to reveal Nikes competitive advantages in global market and especially focus on company strategies in Chinese market. In order to achieve practical guidance, some theoretical tools will be adopted. The project will firstly introduce a literature review which provides the underpinning and explanation of these analysis tools. In the following, Nike company analysis will be discussed into four aspects. The first aspect will examine the national business environment of Nike in the USA by using Porters diamond. In the second and third section, Bartlett and Ghoshals theory will be used to analyze both the competitive challenge and the collaborative challenge of Nike in China. Hofstede culture dimensions will be adopted to analyze the cultural challenge Nike is confronted. Finally, it comes to the conclusion. 1.2 Company overview Through an investment of $500 each by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman, the company (then called Blue Ribbon SportsBLS) was founded in 1964. It has evolved from an importer and distributor of running shoes to the world biggest leader of athletic footwear. Our business model today is basically the same as our model in 1964.It is that we invest our money in design, development, marketing and sales and then contract with other companies to manufacture our products. Knight developed Nikes business model when he was attending Stanford Business School in the early 1960s.He realized that most leading footwear companies were still producing their own shoes in higher-cost countries like the United States and Germany while he US consumer appliance and electronic markets, were starting to be taken over by lower-cost, high-quality Japanese producers. Knight believed that Blue Ribbon Sports could sell in a lower price by distributing its production to Japanese producers to break into this market. So Blue Ribbon Sports began to import high-tech sports shoes from Onitsuka Tiger of Japan. BLS began to have its own branches of shoes, as sales increased to almost $2 million in the early 1970s. The company officially changed its name to Nike, Inc. in 1978.At the beginning time Nike developed a strong working relationship with two Japanese shoe manufacturers, Nippon Rubber and Nihon-Koyo, but as a combination of a tighter labor market, the impact of the first Oil. Crisis on Japans economy, and a shift in the dollar/yen exchange rate in the 1970s, Nike began to search for other producers. Nike established its ow n shoe factories in Maine and New Hampshire to develop a reliable and high-quality production to supply its growing domestic market during these same years. The company also began to contact potential suppliers in Korea, Thailand, China and Taiwan. As costs continued to increase in both Japan and the United States, by the early 1980s, and the Korean government created many incentives to develop Koreas footwear industry, Nike closed its US factories and sourced almost all of its production from Asia. In 1982, 86% of Nikes athletic footwear came from Korea and Taiwan. However, costs also began to increase in the two countries. Nike had to urge its suppliers to re-locate search for other owner-cost countries to relocate their operations. Then the company opened up their factories in Indonesia, China and Vietnam. Nike was able to help its lead vendors establish an extensive network of footwear factories throughout Southeast Asia by guaranteeing a number of important orders and by placing Nike employees at these new factories. At the present, Nikes products are manufactured in more than 700 factories, employing over 500,000 workers in 51 countries of which only 22658 are directs employees, the majority working in the United States. Over the years, Nike has broadened its product range. Whereas in 1980, Nike sold 175 different styles of shoes, it offered many different styles in its spring collection. The company has also focused on apparel and sports equipment and expanded its sales to Europe, Latin America and Asia. Last year, Nike made about $9.5 billion in revenues, of which 59% came from footwear sales and 29% from apparel. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Porters national competitive advantage Michael Porter (1990) meticulously introduced a model that intended to answer the questions, why do some nations succeed and others fail in international competition? and â€Å"why some industries within nations are more competitive than others are† in his book The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Porter (1990) states that the sources of competitive advantage can be found in the â€Å"national diamond,† comprising four major economic attributes: factors conditions, demand conditions, supporting industries and firm strategy and structure. Porter believed that the four elements have bilateral impacts, forming a diamond system. Besides, there are two variables: the Government role and opportunities. The opportunity is beyond control, and the impact of government policies can not be ignored. All the determinants comprise a diagram as follow. Factor conditions Factor conditions can be categorized into two forms: â€Å"Home-Grown† resources and highly specialized resources. The first one referred to the original resources from one nation. And the latter one pointed out that a country creates its own important factors such as skilled resources and technological base. In the actual competition, Porter (1990) stated that sufficient in natural resources or low cost factors often result in inefficient allocation of resources. By contraries, local insufficient in factors of production could lead to innovation. Also, resource constraints may encourage development of substitute capabilities. For example, Japans relative lack of raw materials has stimulated miniaturization and zero-defect manufacturing (Grant, 1991). Demand conditions According to Porter (1990), demand conditions in the domestic market provide the primary driver of growth, innovation and quality improvement. A strong domestic market could be seen as stimulation to the firm from being a startup to a slightly expanded and bigger organization. For example, the worlds famous automobile companies like Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche in the case of German have dominated the world when it comes to the high-performance segment of the world automobile industry. However, in German, automobiles with a cheaper price in the market have little competitive advantage. The reasons could be attributed to the demand conditions in domestic market. The Germany market traditionally demanded a high level of engineering performance. Also, the transport infrastructure of Germany such as Autobahns does tend to favor high-performance automobiles. Related and supporting industries The third determinant of national advantage is the presence in the nation of related and supporting industries that are internationally competitive. Based on Porters view, when local supporting industries are competitive, related company will enjoy more cost effective and innovative inputs. Secondly, this effect is strengthened when the suppliers themselves are strong global competitors. Firm strategy, structure, and rivalry Inevitably, the strategies and the structure of the firms play a key role to influence the national performance in particular sectors. Also, competition indeed has a great impact on driving innovation and the subsequent up gradation of competitive advantage. Obviously, domestic competition is more direct compared with the impact of foreign competitors. So the stimulus provided by home national competition is higher in terms of innovation and efficiency. As an example, in the Japanese electronic industry, there are many local competitors (Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and so on) providing intense competition in the domestic market, as well as the foreign markets in which they compete. Governments role Despite the impact from Government policies and regulations do not belongs to the major determinant of national advantage, to some extent, they play an important role on influencing the national system. Porter (1990) pointed out â€Å"Governments proper role is as a catalyst and challenger. At first, government can provide a basic environment for industry development, since it could invest on infrastructure development, opening up capital channels, training information integration and so on. Also, governments can create new opportunities and pressures through intervene activity. In addition, governmental sourcing could enlarge product demand. What is most important, the government could ensure that the domestic market is under lively competition, avoiding Trust status. Opportunities Opportunities can not be met rectifiable, and one opportunity could influence the four elements to change. Porter (1990) pointed out that, in terms of the enterprise development, there are several circumstances when chances are brought: the basis of scientific and technological inventions, fault emerging in traditional technologies, a sudden increase the cost of production caused by external factors (such as the oil crisis), financial markets or major changes in the exchange rate, market demand surge, the governments major policy decisions and war. In fact, the opportunity is a two-way. It is quite often that new competitors gain an advantage accompanying with an advantage concession of other competitors. And only when enterprise could continually meet the new needs of manufacturers, â€Å"opportunities† will be developed. Flaws in Porters diamond Although Porters model is widely used, it also has a number of critics. Firstly, Dunning (1993) pointed out that there is nothing new in Porters diamond analysis. Dunning commented that a countrys competitive advantages were under the impact of globalization of production and markets. He also pointed out that value generating assets of a country has been taking the form of created assets like human capital instead of the natural assets like land and untrained labor. Thus, Dunning considered that Porters diamond of national competitive advantages was required to be transnational since widespread globalization of the world economy. Secondly, Rugman and DCrusz (1993) stated that Porters diamond underestimated the importance of foreign investment. This model could not adequately explain the competitive advantages of developing countries which heavily depend on foreign direct investment. (Lee, 1998) And they also commented that this model is incomplete for small economics which are not pa rts of the trial nations and is only applicable to triad nations. Thus, they thought Porter only thought over the exports and outward FDI of domestic industries and further neglected the sales abroad by foreign subsidiaries. Whats more, Bosh and Proijen (1992) stated that Porter paid too much attention on the importance of culture while evaluating the international competitive advantages. Meanwhile, Ball and McCulloch (1999) implied that this models evidence is anecdotal without empirical evidence. And it is an ex-post model and has no predictive powers since the number of variables lead to weaken any predictions, in particular inclusion of chance into the equation. To sum up, Porters diamond still is a useful tool to examine competitive advantages although it has insufficient application. 2.2 Competitive challenge MNEs need to create and sustain competitive advantages to overwhelm the competitive challenges from the global competitors. There are a great many of varied prescriptions about selecting strategies to develop advantages. It is argued that one of the successful strategies is to produce products standardized and sell them throughout the market via the same ways (Levitt 1983). On the contrary, some scholars suggest that, rather than single product, a relatively broader product portfolio with products diversity can enable the share of investment (Hamel and Prahalad 1985). In addition, Porter et al (1982) indicted that, to implement global strategy effectively, it needs a number of approaches including exploiting economics of scale via global volume and managing interdependently to achieve synergies across different activities. Two basic types of competitive advantage which are lower cost and differentiation are suggested by Porter (1990) as well. Porter points out that, to achieve competitive advantage, it is necessary for a firm to provide customers with values more efficiently (low cost) or to create greater values and charge a premium price in a more special way (differentiation) than its rivals. By contrary of the above statements, to build up competitive advantage sustainably, MNEs are suggested to achieve three strategic objectives which are global efficiency, multinational flexibility and worldwide learning (Bartlett et al. 2008). However, it challenges almost all MNEs to achieve all of these objectives at the same time. Efficiency can be considered as the ratio of the value of a firms output to the value of its input while Flexibility means the â€Å"the ability of a company to manage the risks and exploit the opportunities that arise from the volatility of a global environment† (Bartlett et al., 2008, p.200). The last objective refers to the ability of a firm to learn from its exposure and opportunities internationally, and to apply the learning in a global environment. For the purpose of building up global competitive advantage, it is suggested three fundamental tools: â€Å"exploiting differences in sources in sourcing and market potential across countries, exploiting economies of scope and exploiting economies of scale† (Bartlett et al. 2008, p.201). Factors which may lead to competitive advantage are indicated by every goals-means intersection indicates (Bartlett et al., 2008). Table 1 shows the varied goals and means to achieve competitive advantage throughout the world. Table 1: Worldwide Advantage: Goals and Means StrategicObjectives Sources of Competitive Advantage National Differences Scale Economies Scope Economies Achieving efficiency in current operations Benefiting from differences in facto costs-wages and cost of capital Expanding and exploiting potential scale economies in each activity Sharing of investments and costs across markets and business Managing risks through multinational flexibility Managing different kinds of risks arising from market-or policy-induced changes in comparative advantages of different countries Balancing scale with strategic and operational flexibility Portfolio diversification of risks and creation of options and side bets Innovation, teaming, and adaptation Learning from societal differences in organizational and managerial processes and systems Benefiting from experience- cost reduction and innovation Shared learning across organizational components in different products, markets, or businesses Source: Bartlett et al. (2008), p203 There are four strategies which can enable exploiting competitive advantage through different goal-means combinations (Bartlett et al., 2008): Multinational strategy achieves most strategic goals by emphasizing national differences. The firms which have adopted this strategy tend to operate business based on local environment. They are flexible and responsive to local environment, but there is a lack of capability to learn globally within these firms owing to the fact that almost all national units operate independently. Based on the worldwide environment, international companies apply all the approaches to create and exploit innovations. This approach is helpful to strengthen the ability of developing innovations and leveraging knowledge on a worldwide basis; however it is challenged by the problem of deficiencies in both respects of efficiency and flexibility. All the means are applied by MNEs which adopt global strategy to realize global efficiency. However, flexibility and worldwide learning this kind of approach may be negatively influenced by this kind of approach. What is more, high sourcing risks may be resulted from the focus of activities of achieving scale economies. The three traditional strategies discussed above respectively possess unique assumptions about how to build up worldwide competitive advantage. Multinational companies emphasize differentiation, international companies focus on innovations, and global companies concentrate on building the best-cost position. It is indicated that a global industry can be more successful than a multinational one in some industries (Yip 1989). Additionally, Yip (1989) also suggested that a balance between overglobalizing and underglobalizing can be found in most successful strategies. Nevertheless, Bartlett et al. (2008) believed that the best strategy should be consisted of syntheses of all these approaches. It suggests that MNEs should adopt the transnational strategies which â€Å"focus on exploiting each and every goal-means combination to develop layers of competitive advantage by exploiting efficiency, flexibility, and learning simultaneously† (Bartlett et al., 2008). Strategic orientation and configuration of assets and capabilities vary with the four types of companies, which is shown by table 2. Table 2: Strategic Orientation and Configuration of Assets and Capabilities in Multinational, International, Global, and Transnational Companies Multinational International Global Transnational Strategic orientation Building flexibility to respond to national differences through strong, resourceful, and entrepreneurial national operations Exploiting parent-company knowledge, capabilities through worldwide diffusion and adaptation Building cost advantages through centralized, global-scale operations Developing global efficiency flexibility, worldwide learning capability simultaneously Configuration Of assets and capabilities Decentralized and nationally self-sufficient Sources of core competencies centralized, others decentralized Centralized and globally scaled Dispersed, interdependent, and specialized Source: Bartlett et al (2008), p206 2.3 Collaborative challenge A number of organizations tend to cooperate with other parties such as their suppliers, distributors and competitors, when they believe that it is difficult to develop and enhance the global competitive advantages in the increasingly complex global environment (Bartlett et al. 2008). The strategic alliance is viewed as the most important collaborative strategy, which is to set the cooperative relationships between MNEs and their rivals (Bartlett et al. 2008). Bartlett (2008) stated that â€Å"strategic alliances had become central components of most MNE strategies† The strategic alliances is divided into two categories namely scale alliances and link alliances (Daniels et al., 2007). Moreover, Griffin and Pustay (2005) identified two broad types of the strategic alliance, which includes the comprehensive and functional alliance. The latter one includes production alliance, marketing alliances, financial alliances and RD alliances. The alliances assist of some types such as cooperation agreement, franchising and joint venture (Bartlett et al., 2008). There are some differences between the traditional joint venture and the new forms of strategic alliances. The traditional form seems to be used for a senior multinational firm in an industrialized country and a junior local partner in a less-developed or less-industrialized country. The new strategic alliances tend to serve the organization in industrialized countries. At the same time, the modern alliances concentrate on the development and innovation of new products and technologies rather than t he distribution of existing ones. What is more, the present-day strategic alliances seem not to survive for a long time to contribute for the companies. There are some main reasons that the companies need to set the collaborative arrangement. Daniels et al. (2007) identified two groups of motivations. In the first place, the companies need to consider the general reasons, which involve spread and reduce costs, specialize in competencies, avoid or counter competition, secure vertical and horizontal links, and learn from other companies. The second one is the specific reasons, including gain location-specific assets, overcome legal constraints, diversify geographically, and minimize exposure in risky environments. However, Bartlett et al. (2008) outlined that there are five significant motivated issues to support the building of strategic alliances: technology exchange, global competition, industry convergence, economies of scale and reduction of risk, and alliances as an alternative to merger. Bartlett et al. (2008) also identified the risks and costs of collaboration. The collaborative alliances could create the opportunities for one or both cooperators to enhance the competitive advantages better than other, and there is the risk that â€Å"collaborating with a competitor might be a precursor to a takeover by one of the final† (Bartlett et al. 2008). Therefore, the organizations need to have the capability to manage the cooperated relationship in order to reduce the collaborative risks. There are three dominating challenges namely managing the boundary, managing knowledge flows, and providing strategic directions. However, there are some principles set to estimate which companies benefit most from competitive collaborations. These principles include as: collaboration is competition in a different form; harmony is not the most important measure of success; cooperation has limits; learning from partners is paramount. 2.4 Cultural challenge Understanding culture differences and diversifications is vital for MNCs managers in international business and foreign affairs. In this context, the major task for MNCs is to adapt different culture in different countries effectively and efficiently. 2.4.1 Hofstedes cultural dimensions Hofstede (1980) created five dimensions to distinct countries with their respective culture backgrounds, which are Individualism-Collectivism, Power distance, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculinity-Femininity and Long term-Short term orientation. Power distance Power distance is â€Å"the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations accept that power distributed unequally (Hofstede and Bond, 1984).† Leaders from high power distance countries, for example, Belgium and France, are more likely to enquire the low-level employees to obey their orders blindly. What the subordinates think or achieve for the company is not important. So the authoritarian and paternalistic leadership style could be accepted in these countries. On the contrary, low power distance countries for instance, the US and UK, leaders from these countries should be resourceful democrat. And subordinates expect to be consulted and their advices to be taken seriously. They also consider hierarchy in organizations as exploitation (Yates, 2008). Therefore in these countries participative leadership style could be useful. Uncertainty Avoidance Uncertainty avoidance is â€Å"the extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid this (Hofstede, 1980). In high uncertainty avoidance countries, such as Belgium and Japan, leaders generally do not like uncertainties. They trust on experts and their knowledge, institute many rules to fulfill the high need for security and nearly have no tolerant for deviant ideas (Hodgetts, 2006). Thus, authoritarian and paternalistic leadership style could work in these countries. Conversely, in low uncertainty avoidance countries such as The United States and The United Kingdom, leaders are more of risk takers. Fewer rules are set in the organizations and deviant ideas are to some extent welcomed by the leaders. Therefore, participative leadership style could be popular in these countries. Masculinity Masculinity is defined by Hofstede (1980) to describe â€Å"a situation in which the dominant values in society are success, money, and things.† The other side versus the masculinity is femininity which is also defined by Hofstede (1980) as, â€Å"a situation in which the dominant values in society are caring for others and the quality of life.† Japan has a highly masculinity orientation. (Hodgetts et al, 2006). Leaders with this kind of cultural background are expected to be decisive, firm, assertive, aggressive and competitive culture heroes. Few of them are female. On the contrary, Russia and most of the socialist nations scores low for this dimension, such as China and France (Brandley, 1999). To support the needs of the workers and their families is the most important role of the manager with in these countries. They are employees like others. Individualism Individualism is â€Å"the tendency of people to look after themselves and their immediate family only†. (Hodgetts et al, 2006) The opposite side versus individualism is collectivism which is â€Å"the tendency of people to belong to groups or collectives and to look after each other in exchange for loyalty (Hodgetts et al, 2006). Most high individualism countries are wealthy countries with high GNP. However, Japan is an exception, Leaders from collectivism countries pays more attention on work in a union. Japan is a typical collective country. For example, the president of Sony Corporation, Akio Morita once said his firm likes a ship; each employee shares the same fate. All staff would suffer if one went wrong (Lee, 1982). In the contrast, individualism focuses on individuals. As an example, the USA leaders usually appraise the performance of the substance individually, because it was found by Earleys study (1989) that, American performed well when they are told their achievement would be measured individually. Long-term orientation Leaders from LTO countries are persistent, ordering relationships by status and observing this order, thrift and having a sense of shame. In the contrast, STO countries leaders are with personal steadiness and stability and reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts (Hofstede, 1991). Therefore, authoritarian and paternalistic leadership style could increase the efficiency of management in the LTO countries. On the contrast Participative leadership style could be efficacious in STO countries. In the background of global economics, multinational enterprises are growing rapidly. It has become a common phenomenon that a manager enter into a new countries to lead a group of people with diverse cultural background. Nike is one typical MNC among them. In the following parts, this essay will use the Nike case as an example which manifests that different countries with their respective culture backgrounds require different leadership styles. 2.4.3 Criticism Hofstede derived his data from questionnaires that were distributed among employees of IBM. However, this theory may hide certain dimensions, or values may be wrongly derived because of certain situational influences on the respondents. As a result, Hofstedes research has been criticized by other theorists. Firstly, Tayeb (1996) pointed out that this research was based on attitude-survey questionnaire which could not effectively reflect underlying values of culture. Secondly, IBM as the only sample is not representative. (Robinson, 1983) This is because IBM mainly is comprised of middle-class employees and it has a powerful US-derived organization culture, namely, the respondents may not reflect local national cultures. Thirdly, Hofstede and his associates come from Europe and America and may have cultural bias. (Roberts and Boyacigiller, 1984) Fourthly, Mead (1994) stated that Hofstedes research has been outdated whose research was conducted between 1967 and 1973. Young people have being influenced deeply by the development of globalization and they tend to share a common set of values recently. Generally speaking, despite Hofstedes model has many limitations, it is still a simple and easily comprehensible model to research nations cultural differences. 3 Company analysis 3.1 Sports products Industry relate to American National Diamond 3.1.1 Factor Conditions From the factor conditions view, there is a good home base for sports products companies in US. Firstly,

GPS-GSM based Rail Signaling and Tracking System

GPS-GSM based Rail Signaling and Tracking System Abstract: In this paper, we propose a system for monitoring, tracking, and automating the trains. In contrast to the existing methods, we employ a global position system (GPS) and Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). The messages are sent and each train is individually tracked. We utilize signaling techniques like GPS and GSM, which provide information to the loco pilot proactively. The proposed system has advantages in terms of communication range and accuracy with respect to wi-fi based rail tracking method. The work has potential applications in bad weather and emergency situations like collision. Keywords: Train Tracking, Collision Detection, Collision Avoidance, GPS, GSM, Railway Signaling. I. INTRODUCTION Railway tracking in the countries like United States, Russia, China, and India assumes significant attention. The railways traverse the length and breadth of the country and carry over billions of passengers and million tons of freight daily. In recent years, a hectic problem around the world is regarding traffic densities. This is not uncommon in railway sectors either. We often hear about the word train collision and its huge impact on precious human life and time. With great passion for this issue, the paper proposes the solution for this grave problem. Especially if we consider the case of Indian railway, most of the train tracking is based on manual entry from stations. The railway is always looking for the specific tracking methodologies, which will provide prior state of the train before arriving to the station. The GPS-GSM tracking system overcomes many problems like multiple aspect color light signaling, relay interlocking, and various kinds of block working, point operation and train tracking. The proposed system is applicable for reducing the damages to a greater extent and it is helpful to both railway system and loco pilot. Uvaraja et al. presents advanced pre-warning system (Railways). The proposed system is an upgrade of the existing train protection warning system (TPWS) and Anti-collision device (ACD) systems. The system makes use of radio frequency identification (RFID), FLIR cameras and other embedded systems [3]. Immanuel et al. proposes real time wireless based train tracking, track identification and collision avoidance system for railway sectors [4]. Shaik et al. presents rail tracking system (RTS). For transmission and receiving of the information, GPS is utilized. A message exchange link is given between rail tracking system and control room based on the GPS. The location of the train is tracked using GSM technology herein [7, 8]. K. Vidyasagar et al. proposes signaling based system that utilizes radio frequency and infrared technology for train tracking. This paper utilizes a switching logic methodology, technique to meet the issues of the train tracking method. This work also focuses to map the train on the display screen [6]. The above systems have constraints in real time; most of these constraints can be overcome in the proposed GPS-GSM based technique. The objective of this paper is to monitor, track and automate trains based on GPS-GSM techniques. The subsequent section of this paper is organized as follows: In Section II, we describe the GPS-GSM modules used for tracking purposes. Section III discusses the performance evaluation of the GPS-GSM module for tracking of the train. Section IV concludes the paper and discusses the potential future work. II. GPS-GSM MODULES FOR TRACKING AND SIGNALING The proposed system consists of two parts, tracking and signaling. Both tracking and signaling are carried out with the help of GPS and GSM modules. A. RAILWAY TRACKING USING GPS-GSM TECHNIQUE Our proposed method for tracking and signaling relies greatly on the wireless communication. It uses GPS and GSM for the communication between trains and operation centres. When each train gets their own module, it connects using GPS to obtain their position. The module which is mounted on the train sends the position and train details using GSM technology proactively. This data is received by a central sever, which in turn sends this data to the trains on that track and operation centers. Hence, within the required distance, if any train is traversing in a same track can read this data and can calculate the distance the two trains. Therefore, based on the distance between two trains, the various alarm levels are raised, when the distance is less than predefined threshold. Then, the proposed system (Train mounted Module) starts warning the driver to avoid the collision occurrence. The proposed system responds quickly and avoids the train collisions. The Figure 1 illustrates the flow chart of the GSM-GPS based rail tracking system. The distance between the trains can be calculated using latitude and longitude provided by the GPS module. Haversine formula can be used for this calculation and given in terms of inverse tangent formula to obtain the great circle distance between two locations. The formula for calculation of distance using GPS coordinate s is . Where  signaling terminologies: red signifies stop instantly before entering the next track section occupied by an ahead train; yellow shows move ahead with reasonable speed (45 km/h) as far as the signal. Green signal illustrates that the subsequent track is not occupied and the train may enter that particular section at the maximum possible speed. In heavily rush tracks; two other signal terminologies are also utilized. Two yellow lights show the restricted speed, and one yellow and one green light show the reduced speed. The working of our system is illustrated with an example of two trains A and B. Suppose there are two trains A and B on the same track, As the GPS co-ordinates of the signal post are fixed, we directly encode those positions in the module so that when the train A which is ahead of the train B crosses the signal position and signal is changed to red, the signal which is changed is directly fed into the train B using GSM module and we can show the current signal of the signal post on a screen in the locomotive. In this way it is helpful for loco pilots to observe the signal during bad weather and low visibility conditions. III. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION In this section, experimental setup, hardware details, results and their analysis are provided. A. Experimental Setup Main module used in this work is SIM 908 Module, which has GPS, GSM and GPRS combined and Arduino UNO board. Arduino UNO is a microcontroller board based on ATmega328 as shown in Figure 3. It has 14 digital input, output pins and 16 Analog pins. It can be communicated to the computer via USB cable. All sensors and communicating devices are connected using microcontroller. SIM908 is integrated with a GSM-GPRS technique that is of high performance and a GPS engine as shown in Figure 4. The GSM-GPRS technique is a quad-band module that works on different frequencies like EGSM 900MHz, PCS 1900MHz, DCS 1800MHz, and GSM 850MHz. SIM908 utilizes GPRS multi-slot class 10 and class 8 and CS-1 to CS-4 coding schemes are employed herein. The experimental setup is shown in Figure 5. Figure  trains are subsequently calculated using GPS coordinates and warning system as shown in Figure 6, 7 and 8. Signaling of the train is also achieved successfully. Real time results of GPS coordinates on the map are shown in Figure 9 which shows the effectiveness of the proposed system. IV. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK The proposed system provides the promising and reliable output. The tracking system using GPS and GSM modules may enable the rail department to safeguard the human life from accidents. The position and the current status of the signal in the signal post are directly transmitted to the train and can be displayed on the screen. In future this work may be extended for automation and driver-less train using GPS, GSM and GPRS techniques. Real time data of moving trains like speed and current location may be tracked and monitored at the control station. Such real-time information can be utilized for system upgrade so as to avert accidents due to natural calamities such as landslide and cyclone. An additional geographic sensor and interface with geographic information system may be required for the same. Furthermore the analysis of such data is bound to provide us with much deeper insight as to why such accidents take place. Learning from such an analysis can be applied to the system, further improving it over time as their data is collected and studied. REFERENCES [1]. N. V. Chawale, P. J. Kadam, S. N. Khodke, P. L. Thakre P.S. Borkhade, K. A. Dhobale ZigBee and RFID Based Train Tracking System International Journal of Thesis Projects and Dissertations, Vol. 2, Issue 2, PP (1-3), April June 2014. [2]. G. K. Dwivedy performance of new technologies in signalling systems on indian railwaysIRSE, 2012. [3]. S. Uvaraja and R. V. Prashanth Advanced Pre-Warning System (Railways) International Journal of Engineering and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 2, April 2012. [4]. R.I. Rajkumar, P. E. Sankaranarayanan, and G.Sundari Real Time Wireless based Train Tracking, Track Identification and Collision avoidance System for Railway Sectors International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Engineering Technology (IJARCET) Volume 3, Issue 6, June 2014. [5]. T. Takashige Railway technology today 8 signaling systems for safe railway transport japan railway and transport system 1999. [6]. K.vidyasagar, P.S. babu,R.R.Prasad, Train Tracking and the signaling system using IR and RF technology International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 8887) Volume 119 No.23, June 2015. [7]. R. Takagi Synchronisation control of trains on the railway track controlled by the moving block signalling system Vol. 2, Issue 3, pp.130-138, September 2012. [8]. Q. Gu , T. Tang and F. Ma Energy-Efficient Train Tracking Operation Based on Multiple Optimization Models IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 17, Issue 3, pp. 882 892, March 2016