Ben & Jerry’s Case

Started almost 20 years earlier, Ben & Jerry’s had plenty of great opportunities to expand the business by entering into foreign markets. However, their attempts of expansion cannot really be considered successful (note: the case describes the period 1978-1997). In the following paragraphs, I will evaluate their international market entry strategies, based on the ’International Market Entry Evaluation Process’ described by J. K. Johansson in his book Global Marketing – Foreign Entry, Local Marketing, and Global Management written in 2000.According to the process, the five steps of evaluation are Country Identification, Preliminary Screening, In-Depth Screening, Final Selection and Direct Experience. Before its idea of entry into Japan, Ben & Jerry’s attempted to expand their business in six different countries on three continents, none of which was approached in a systematical way eg. based on the above-mentioned process. Had the company followed a well-thought-out plan, it probably would have realized more success than it actually did.The first country Ben & Jerry’s tried to set foot in was Canada, which comes by no surprise as the Country Identification step assumes foreign partners to be chosen based on geographical closeness. The strategy was not successful as the company finally had to repurchase its licensing agreement because of high taxes and low quotas. The next country of attempt was Israel, which I consider an opportunistic approach since the license was given based on friendship and not real evaluation.The country held good opportunities though with the product being sold in supermarkets and restaurants, but the partnership did not result in high income according to the terms and conditions of the contract. The first joint venture in Russia did not prove to be a lucrative business either, and the four years spent in the country ended on disadvantageous terms. It could be considered as a free give-away of tec hnologies, equity and equipment. The last three foreign markets approached were the United Kingdom, France and the Benelux States.In none of these cases was any of the steps of the International Market Entry Evaluation Process followed which resulted in very opportunistic approaches without consensus, a well-designed plan or a valuable strategy. I do not consider the first six foreign entries to be successful at all, however, some of the countries held good potentials but lack of experience and knowledge made Ben & Jerry’s not successful. The company has a great chance to increase its sales, market share, profits and income by entering into the Japanese market.Probably having learnt from its previous experiences, the approach of the Japanese market has been more systematic than the previous one. It has actually been quite consistent with the steps of the International Market Entry Evaluation Process, they have even reached the stage of the last step, as it turns out at the be ginning of the case – they made a trip to Japan to get first-hand experience before making a decision. The Japanese market has correctly been evaluated to have a large market and an existing demand for super premium ice-cream, which makes it a prospective opening.At the same time, the company has recently been experiencing declining market share on the domestic markets, worsened by decreasing growth rates. The combination of these factors result in finding the idea of entrance appealing, however, the complicated process of entering into the market must be taken into consideration too. In my opinion, it is time Ben & Jerry’s did the necessary steps to expand their business. The company has seen different ways to approach Japanese consumers, however, the two best ones has been to enter with Seven-Eleven or through Mr.Yamada. These represent two totally different strategies and both have their advantages as well as disadvantages. Entering with Seven-Eleven has the advanta ge of providing high sales and also a lot of experience in effective involvement of professionals. Making them partners would also mean a quick access to the Japanese market. On the other hand, they have expressed a complicated way of logistics and inventory management, and they would also presume a very dominant position in their partnership. Making Mr.Yamada their partner seems to be a much easier way to approach Japanese consumers. Mr. Yamada does not have complex and specific requirements as Seven-Eleven but he still has the extensive knowledge of the market, however, what he does not have is a proven business plan to start the business. Although it may seem to be easier to choose the strategy that involves less complications, Ben & Jerry’s has reached the stage where they ought to make responsible long-term decisions rather than focusing on short-term convenience.Seven-Eleven has a lot of requests to be followed, it only proves that they have experience and market knowle dge and they know what type of products there will be sufficient demand for. In my opinion, the company should choose Seven-Eleven to form a partnership with, based on the information provided by the case. The chance to succeed in the Japanese market would be higher this way. Bibliography Johansson, J. K. Global Marketing – Foreign Entry, Local Marketing, and Global Management, Johansson, 2000.

Dickens uses language Essay

When Mrs Gradgrind passes away in chapter nine, Dickens uses language to create sadness. Victorians loved sadness and tragedy in books and the portrayal of her death is done very emotionally. She is firstly described in the chapter as â€Å"helpless† and â€Å"feeble† to which the reader empathises with her. All people hate to see people they love and cherish grow old and weak and Dickens is brilliant in displaying the image of this. â€Å"The poor lady was nearer truth then she ever had been† This shows how Dickens disliked the utilitarian system, stating that Mrs Gradgrind’s nearest point of truth was on her death bed. As well as showing Dickens’s view, it also saddens the reader to know how close to death she is. On being told that â€Å"Lady Bounderby† had arrived, she retorted that â€Å"she had never called Bounderby by that name since he married Louisa† and that her choice of name for him was â€Å"J†. This will take the reader back to when she had no idea what to call him, and the memory is a nice one which again makes it sadder that she is dying. It also shows that she has not changed and is still the woman she used to be. She seems to â€Å"have no pulse†, but when Louisa kisses her hand, she can see â€Å"a thin thread of life† left in her. This description is again emotional as it shows how little life there is left in Mrs Gradgrind. Within the conversation between Louisa and her mother, Mrs Gradgrind often goes very â€Å"silent† for periods of time and has an â€Å"awful lull on her face, like one who was floating away on some great water† and â€Å"content to be carried down the stream†. This clever piece of descriptions meaning is that Mrs Gradgrind is slowly allowing herself to be carried into the â€Å"abyss† of death. But Louisa â€Å"recalls her† to ask what it was she wanted to speak to her about. The use of this river terminology is used again as Louisa again tries to stop her mother from â€Å"floating away†. Mrs Gradgrind is troubled because of what Louisa has not learned. She has learnt all the â€Å"ologies† from â€Å"day until night† but there is â€Å"something that her father missed,† She asked Louisa for a pen but â€Å"even the power of relentlessness had gone†. Even so, she â€Å"fancied that her request had been complied with and that the pen she could not have was held in her hand†. From this she began to â€Å"trace upon her wrappers†. It is very sad to see how Mrs Gradgrind is finally seeing the truth and wants Louisa too to see it but she cannot tell her and â€Å"the light that had always been so feeble and dim behind the weak transparency, went out† The figurative language used to describe both her weakness and death creates a solemn, melancholy surrounding and although she was never made to be a character the reader was so fond of, it is still saddening that she has passed away. It ends with a quote of religious terminology from the Psalm, Mrs Gradgrind â€Å"emerged from the shadow in which man walketh and disquieteth himself in vain†. This quote has a definite platonic reference to it as in Plato’s analogy of the cave, the prisoners who have seen shadows all their lives (which symbolise the visual world) needed to escape from the illusion created by their senses and find the truth. Throughout this section of the book, Mrs Gradgrind is said to be â€Å"closer to the truth then ever before† and â€Å"emerged from the shadow† so the Platonic reference is defiantly there. Mrs Sparsit resented Louisa from the moment she accepted the proposal from Mr Bounderby. It had been her plan all along to marry Mr Bounderby but this had been taken from her and her envy towards Louisa was immense. In chapter ten, Mrs Sparsit’s envy and grief are shown to be getting out of control and she, in her mind â€Å"erects a mighty staircase† that she believes Louisa to be on. At the bottom is a â€Å"dark pit of shame and ruin† and â€Å"down those stairs, from day to day and hour to hour, she saw Louisa coming†. Her physiological instability can be seen as she becomes obsessed with this ides, â€Å"it became the business of Mrs Sparsit’s life, to look up at her staircase, and to watch Louisa coming down†. If Louisa had once turned back, â€Å"it might have been the death of Mrs Sparsit in spleen and grief†. Mr Harthouse was a big part of this scheme, as he seemed to be â€Å"wooing† Louisa and the more time she spent with him, the closer she got to the bottom. â€Å"Mrs Sparsit had no intension of interrupting the descent† and was â€Å"eager to see it accomplished†. â€Å"She kept her wary gaze upon the stairs, and seldom so much as darkly shook her light mitten at the figure coming down. This scene does not bring sadness to the reader, but instead a certain amount of empathy to Louisa. She seems to be in the crossfire of everyone yet she is one of the most innocent of all. As she has rarely experienced emotions due to her â€Å"ology† filled bring up, she does not know how to react to Mr Harthouse who except in kindness as she believes he is being kind and honest to her. Yet his plan is to seduce her, and this is not out of love or passion, but to give him a challenge to fulfil. Mrs Sparsit wants her to fall into a pit of â€Å"shame and ruin† out of her own jealousy yet again, Louisa has no knowledge of this and has done nothing wrong to provoke it. There is a definite repetition throughout the chapter of Louisa’s â€Å"downfall† from the top to the bottom of the stairs which shows that, although patient, Mrs Sparsit is in no way stable and is becoming more and more addicted to this allegorical image in her mind. She watches Louisa like a hawk, waiting for her to make a mistake and get â€Å"nearer and nearer to the bottom†. In chapter twelve, Louisa goes home to seek her father. The chapter is bares huge turning points in the book as it marks the spark of emotion ignite in Louisa and Mr Gradgrind see the error of his system. The storm outside creates a pathetic fallacy with the mood inside the room. Louisa is described as â€Å"dishevelled†, â€Å"defiant† and â€Å"despairing† which is a shock as she has never had such vast emotive descriptions until then in the book. She first states to her father that â€Å"he has trained her from the cradle,† It is sad to see that she uses the word trained instead of loved or cherished as it makes her sound more like a dog then a daughter to him. She then bursts out with â€Å"I curse the hour in which I was born to such a destiny†. Her emotions have been unleashed and she is now angry, in despair and confused of what to do. She is dishevelled and has returned home to question her father on her life and its meaning. This is not sad for the reader, but it is very traumatising for Louisa which again creates empathy for her as she has finally realised the error in how she has been brought up. She asks him â€Å"Where are the graces of my soul? Where are the sentiments of my heart? What have you done O father, what have you done with the garden that should have bloomed once?† This metaphoric language shows her outburst of imagination and her exercise of â€Å"fancy†. She is asking him where is the love and emotion she does not have, and what he has done to stop her â€Å"strive against every natural prompting that has arisen in her heart†. Mr Gradgrind is â€Å"so unprepared† that he has difficulty answering and when he does, it is only to say â€Å"Yes, Louisa†. She goes on to say that she does not â€Å"reproach† him, as â€Å"what he has never nurtured in her, he has never nurtured in himself†. This creates a lot of respect and empathy for her as she is not condemning her father after all the years of no emotion and too much learning. It can be seen that this strive to teach him his errors is making an effect as he â€Å"bows his head upon his hand and groans aloud† and calls her â€Å"poor child†, realising the mistakes he has made. She asks him whether he would have â€Å"doomed her† to a life of loneliness or â€Å"robbed her† of how she should have been had he nurtured her differently if he could see how she would turn out. She then states that if he had ignored and hated her, how better off she might have been as she would have been â€Å"free†. She has been won over to the world of imagination and fancy. Throughout the chapter, he moves to support her as she is letting herself out and he actually begins to give her attention and love as a good father should. It is ironic that his child who he has taught his system to is the child who shows how insensible it really is. To conclude, Dickens uses language and dramatic disasters to create sadness throughout the second book. In 1854, the time at which the book was written, people loved romantic tragedy and trauma which the second book has with both Rachel and Stephan, and Mr Harthouse and Louisa. The death of Mrs Gradgrind is another tragedy which Dickens portrays well and is very emotional. He uses the metaphor of life as a river in which we all just drift down until the end and these uses of language as well as others he uses throughout the book are methods which Dickens uses to sadden the reader. The final scene in which Louisa lets out her emotions upon her father, condemning the day she was born and questioning his motives which lead her to be so dispassionate.

High School Dropouts Essay

It’s been known for years that young people who do not earn a high school diploma face many more problems later in life than people who graduate. Dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, have poor health, live in poverty, be on public assistance, and be single parents. It all began in the 1960’s when students started to drop out due to the racial discriminations and gang violence. . High school drop outs have been a very serious problem in the United States. Here in this essay I will clarify how high school dropouts is a problem that should be solved. High school dropouts have been a continuous matter for many generations. Pregnancy, poor grades, truancy, low income, and bad behavior are the main causes of dropouts. Which leads for young people to more likely to unemployed, live in poverty and be depending on the help of the government. Approximately 7,000 high school students drop out every school day, which translates to one in three students. Once students make the decision to drop out, they lack the tools to compete in today’s society and diminish their chances for greater success in the future. Many years of failure and frustration can also lead for a person to dropout. The loss of motivation, source of support and encouragement lead students to not believe in them selves and only find the solution to drop out. Now in days, there are many options for high school dropouts. The government offers students to enroll themselves in vocational and trade school or non traditional schools. Which allow students to finish the rest of their credits or receive there GED. Vocational schools allow for students to study the field in which they are interested in. This is an effective option as most students that drop out struggle with some classes, but excel in a class that they enjoy. Of course the best solution is for students to stay in school, but if a student is going to drop out there are options to help him or her get the education and experiences to help him or her to succeed. There is defiantly many advantages in these programs. Dropouts have the opportunity at a second chance to be successful. The only disadvantage there can possibly be only relies on the individual. The person is the only responsible one and it is up to them if they truly want to commit themselves to an education. If the person does not commit themselves they will only loose the chance and go back to the possibility of being unemployed or getting paid minimum wage for the rest of there life. It is important for young people to take school seriously in order to prevent a very unfortunate future. In my opinion I think that the best solution is to stay in school. It will prevent people from having to deal with unemployment and poverty. Staying school will allow students to achieve there goals and most of all make others feel proud of you as well. High school can defiantly open many doors only if he or she is committed to their education and motivated. It is time for people to make a difference and speak to future generations regarding there education. Preventing dropouts can certainly change the world in the future.

Strength Assignments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strength Assignments - Essay Example The proposal got accepted. Since it was my idea, my team members looked up to me to know the details and where to start. I began by searching my knowledge base all I knew about selling Babson hats. I assigned Martha to fill in the information gaps by searching over the internet. She refused as she said she did not like the idea of selling Babson hats and warned that she was going to leave the team. I thought I could easily convince her since all other members agreed. With the consent of others, I came up with the idea that we all would take her to Pizza Hut for lunch if she did not leave. That came out to be a magic trick. Thus, we all started and it was me who assigned everyone his task. When somebody disagreed, I sat down with him, listened to his objection and would come up with a sound alternative that was acceptable to everyone. That was the biggest strength I found me, that is, I could help others to find compromises between differing viewpoints. I also tried to introduce new a nd fresh ideas to the team which everyone welcomed. We had arguments over the project most of which were so time-consuming that we would not know when the class time was over. This was because we seldom reached a decision acceptable to all members. Everyone had his objections which I tried to resolve using my wits and logic. I would not get swayed by emotional arguments often raised by Bob whom I had named Mr. Emotion and everybody had laughed so much. The only weakness I found in me was that I occasionally became aggressive when somebody came late for discussion or left early or did not meet deadlines. I think I could better convince them to be punctual by being nice instead of being aggressive. I always tried to remain on the positive side during all arguments and this was what all members of my team loved when they felt disappointed or distressed over the project. I tried to lift their spirits through my humor and commitment. I always praised them

Pay for Performance why it doesn't work in the Workplace Essay

Pay for Performance why it doesn't work in the Workplace - Essay Example To show the extensive use of the reward system, the author writes on using rewards to recognize teamwork, monetary rewards for employees for undertaking trainings and gaining new skills. The author states that rewards often impede than they enhance performance on many tasks with specific emphasis to those that require creativity with the example of Japan and Germany countries that do not use reward incentives and are successful in employee motivation. The other further explores the fact that there are no empirical studies linking motivation to rewards showing poor implementation of compensation systems. In fact, research by Jenkins in 1986 shows no relation between quality performance and rewards (p 124). In a case where incentives were withdrawn, production decreased then after sometime rose to reach a better level than when there were incentives further showing that incentives do not motivate workers for quality or higher productivity (p 124). The author then delves into the reasons for the failure of incentives including lack of necessity that is the introduction of incentives unnecessarily resulting in lack of any impact on performance. The second reason is secrecy where there is no transparency on each employees earning leading to overestimation and belief of differences in pay resulting in low morale and turmoil at the workplace. Other reasons are lack of match between performances and pay and expense in rewards solved via using noncash rewards. The other reason is too big versus too small incentives where small incentives do not have an impact while large ones are not received by all the workers resulting in failure of incentives to motivate performance. Short-term versus long-term incentives are the other reasons for incentives failure where employees may make decisions countering long-term interests when incentives base on short-term performance. Objectivity versus subjectivity,

OB CASE STUDY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

OB CASE STUDY - Essay Example This will be achieved by drawing parallel between the situation that James has found himself in and the principles driving these motivation theories According to McClelland’s theory, each employee has one of the three motivation drivers that are dominant in him or her depending on their personal aspects. Bruce’s main driving force is achievement. He would like recognition of the work he is doing at the hotel and being rewarded for it. Working twelve hours a shift requires a better pay or at least another demand since, according to Adams Equity theory, Money is not the main factor of motivation but recognition and appreciation is. Bruce’s next source of dissatisfaction in the workplace presents itself in the lack of equity in how the hotel treats its employees. Jeanette Smith, a colleague who joined the hotel at the same time as he and with the same qualifications has been sponsored to take HND in the hotel and catering. Bruce was also promised the same sponsorshi p during recruitment, but no follow-up has been made. Worse still, whenever he approaches the supervisor, he is put off using flimsy excuses about being busy or is told to bring the topic up the following year. This is contrary to what is advocated for in Sirota’s three-factor theory. ... This is what makes Bruce bitter. From this incident of sponsoring Jeanette and leaving Bruce out despite the promise made to him during the interview, it is evident that the organisation does not keep its promises and commitments. Theory X/Y as advanced by McGregor classifies such as an organisation in the X class. Organisation in the X class usually withheld likes (the sponsorship) and did not deliver on promises. The organisation is not concerned about the staff welfare and morale and is instead focussed on one goal, which was to reap maximum benefits from the customers. When Bruce was summoned to the HR department, he was informed that ‘the customers were always right’ the implication of this statement is that the organisation does not care about it employees at all and is willing to subject them to all manners of ill treatment if only to make a profit. Another characteristic of theory X organisation and indeed the Ambrose hotel is being poor listener since they did n ot listen to what Bruce had to say about the incidence. This kind of organisations issue threats to get things done, and Bruce was treated no differently. The organisation should have focussed on how to avoid recurrence of the incidence rather the blaming Bruce for the whole incidence. This would save them potential customer and employee loss. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, the ideal workplace should provide an individual with the opportunity to advance, in their career in relation to levels four and 5 of his theory. Ambrose hotel was instead curtailing Bruce from advancement through overworking him and withholding the promised sponsorship.

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 10

Case Study - Essay Example Leaders create visions and goals whereas the managers and administrators work towards achieving them. The fast changing pace of the technology can be observed in the study of the organizations and the changing role of leadership within the organizations. The role of leaders, managers and the administrators of the organizations become more challenging when new technologies are introduced in the organizations. The good leadership ensures effective communication with the employees with shared vision of the new technology, thus promoting better understanding among the employees for easy changeover. The managers and the administrators need to be guided by the group leaders within the organization to implement the changes in a smooth manner. In the contemporary environment of competitive business, the leadership style and leadership initiatives become major propellant of gaining effective leverage against business rivals. Discussion of leadership with reference to large organization is as important as that of small one for the simple reasons that the leaders within the organizations, not only provide an intangible stability among the employees and facilitate integration with the system, but they have been known to promote collective vision of the organization and provide the necessary impetus to the employees to strive towards it. Scholars assert that in the increasingly changing environment of global competitiveness one needs to ‘approach managerial leadership as a relational, ongoing social construction process rather than as a single clear cut phenomenon’ (Sjostrand and Tyrstrup). The emerging new managerial leadership has encompassed a very important aspect of organizations, that of making effort to involve employees in the decision making process. The leadership has recognized the importance of people’s participation in the overall strategy of having collective goals through shared