Strategic Management for Professional Practice Essay

Strategic Management for Professional Practice - Essay Example We will determine whether what Google is doing is a winning strategy by using the Goodness of Fit Test and the Competitive Advantage Test. Google started as a smaller company called BackRub in which they discovered and set out to use the new internet and its growth creating a new advertising medium for companies of all kinds. Search based adds became very popular and were proving to be financially exciting with an expected growth to $5.8 billion in market funds by 2013. Then BackRub knew that they had a way to search the web faster than anyone else and get highly relevant results quickly. The then strategic thinking of Larry Page and Sergey Brin collaborated and Google was born from a mathematical term called googol (Gamble, J, 2008). The use of the name Google was meant to be an indication of the random numbers used to create their search method. Manipulating the external environment has been a major strength of Googles from the beginning. Their strategies here have seemed to be crafted and did not just emerge as part of their strategic thinking process (Mintzberg, H., 1987). Understanding the external environment is often not easy but Google seems to understand it well. It is even more complicated in Googles case because their business is the internet and they became a global entity very quickly. They remained, however, consistently aware of the changing of the external environment and responded quickly. In the beginning it was the building of a faster search engine, it has later been the addition of business to expand their influence. Google rose to the top rapidly and had to respond just as rapidly to change. Their search engine became extremely popular in a short time and Google was attracting millions in venture capital. They responded with new technology, search capabilities in several languages, and a Google tool bar browser. They followed these with Google News, Product Search, Scholar, and Local to name a few.

Human Trafficking of Young Women to be sold in Prostitution Essay Example for Free

Human Trafficking of Young Women to be sold in Prostitution Essay Before going into details, it seemed important to define what human trafficking is. Human trafficking regardless of its type is a criminal offense. The UN Convention against transnational crime define human trafficking as â€Å"the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the use of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation† (UN Resolution 25, 2001, cited by Vandermey, Meyer, Rys, and Sebranek 2009, p. 246). Under Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, the US Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are working hard not only to make sure the laws are put into practice, but also to contain this problem (Hart 2009, p. 43). The most severe forms of human trafficking have been defined in U. S. law as sex trafficking in which â€Å"a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained eighteen years of age†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Troubnikoff 2003, p. 3). In order to perpetrate this crime, it needs at least twelve to fifteen people who will be actors. These include an agency manager, office staffs (at least three), recruiters (at least two), a coordinator, drivers, safe house, document vendors, corrupt public officials, operator, cook, and at least six armed men who will take charge of the â€Å"recruits. † It also needs an office space, office equipments, and a safe house. This crime model further needs mobile communication equipments, tainted cars, and high powered guns, and contacts with other transnational crime syndicates are essential in this operation that will facilitate the deployment of women to their prospective clients. Where and how this crime model operates? This type of crime operates in countries where many people are poor and are longing to escape from the grinding poverty. Among their base of operation are the third world countries in Asia, the former Soviet republics especially Russia and Africa. They can easily prey on young women through their promise of dollar earnings plus other benefits that are not available in their country. This crime model operates on two fronts: by fronting a fake man power agency which lured young women into prostitution under a false pretenses of high paying jobs as waitresses, dancers, models, and au pairs abroad, and by kidnapping beautiful young women. The ‘hired’ and kidnapped women will then be required to stay in the safe house where they will be strictly guarded on a twenty four hour basis. The role each actor played On the democratic front, the roles each actor played in this crime model are crucial and communication with clients as well as secrecy is of utmost importance. The roles played by the recruiters, coordinators, the armed men, and the agency manager are the most crucial as they are the ones that are most exposed to their victims. They would be the one that will be subject of the victims’ families rage if their crimes are divulged as well as the object of police manhunt. Thus, they would need to create fictitious names, addresses, and pertinent information. Like in ordinary manpower agencies, the manager confirms the applicants’ application and provides assurance to their â€Å"client† as well as direction of the entire operation. The recruiters are responsible for recruitment and hiring of women. But they need to be very careful because of the government drive to contain the problem of human trafficking. Indeed, they need to use all their convincing power that they offer real job. The agency manager is also the head of the entire operation and is responsible to make their operation smooth and successful. The role played by the coordinator is also important. He is the one that has contact with the clients. In other words, he holds key position and is in contacts â€Å"in some segments† of the operation, and â€Å"organize their services (Zhang 2007, p. 97). Zhang pointed out that the coordinator is central to human trafficking operation though they have â€Å"nothing more than the right connection for to acquire the necessary services for a fee† (p. 97). Drivers, cook, and safe house operators are also important actors towards the deployment of women. Under the law all these actors are equally liable for the crime. But the operation of this crime will not be successful at all without the connivance of a corrupt public official. Corrupt government officials who hold vital responsibility towards the review and issuance of travel documents makes the operation highly successful. The document vendors provide real or false document needed for the deployment. But on the autocratic front, the most critical role played by the actors is that of the armed men who must insure that no one could get away or escape. It is critical because if any of the victims escape, the full force of the law will surely hunt them, as well as those behind them. These men therefore need to be heartless, ruthless, and hardened criminals who would not hesitate to shot or kill anyone would attempt to escape. The Blue print of deceit Ciment and Shanty (2008) asserted that there are various schemes of deceits human traffickers employed to collect and traffic women for prostitution. Among these methods is deception, the recruitment of prostitutes, purchase or rent from relatives, boyfriends, and friends, Kidnapping, and as payment of debt (p. 220). This crime model is a rich source of illegal money as according to estimates, a single individual or a group involved in trafficking women and children for commercial sex â€Å"can make about US$122,000 from one woman in a year† Ciment, J. D. and Shanty, F. G. 008, p. 221) or an estimated 12 billion dollars annually. Deceptions of women are usually done through the form of either false promise of employment or false promise of marriage, or in some cases, a false promise of education. False marriages and mail order brides are used a means of deception to bring women for overseas prostitution. But all these promises are broken once the women are in the hands of the traffickers. They are then turned over to the safe house operators who insure maximum security with the help of armed men assigned to secure any possibility of escape. Recruitment of prostitutes also involved deception as despite these women knew what type of job awaits them. Ciment and Shanty noted that what they are not aware of is â€Å"the degree of exploitation to which they will be subjected (p. 220). The danger for this operation however is that when the supposed victims verify the identity of employment agency with proper government authorities regarding the legality of such employment agency, or the truth about the offered job with embassy of the particular country where the jobs are supposedly available. The same with the mail order bride, there is a need to verify the information of the man to be marrying with the embassy of the country where that man lives. If this is the case, there is a tendency that the whole operation will be disrupted as when formal complaints is made with government authorities regarding the discovery, the whole operation might be disrupted This operation therefore requires careful planning especially with regards to hiring, keeping and deploying women. One particular problem for them is that the families of these women are keen on the developments regarding their daughter’s longing to work abroad. In other words, they might be sensitive to anything that might be suspicious relating to working abroad. With various laws that apply to this crime such as kidnapping, illegal detention, illegal recruitment, exploitation of women and children and anti-human trafficking laws, they can easily be rapt by the authorities. That is, the families and friends of the victims can report to the authorities what ever they perceived as irregularity on the processes, the very time their daughter left their home as they are supposedly in touched with her, all through out the entire processes. In other words any thing that would create suspicion would mean risk for this business; risk in the sense that these families and friends might report to the police the disappearance of their daughters. Thus, they need to carefully lay out plans for deceitful their schemes. They might even involved in civic duties and social functions, befriend people in high places, and to even to the point of disguising as philanthropist in order to project an image that will unlikely to be suspected of crime involvement, and be generous to the families of the victims during the initial stages of the hiring. The actors in this crime model therefore appear harmless, genuinely concern, and would hardly be suspected of any crime involvement. Outwardly, they are not dangerous, dignified, and innocent but inside; they are ruthless, cruel and hardened criminals. The actors of this crime group however will use its entire means to control these women once they have gotten in their hands these women. They will confiscate all communication devices such as cell phones and devices, as well as passports and other travel documents to ensure no one will dare of escape. In order to appease the families of the ‘hired victims’ the agency might provide cash incentives or advance payment to which after everything has been facilitated particularly the deployment of women to their prospective clients, the office will banish in the thin air to transfer to a new location with a new name, new address, new schemes, but the same people, the same processes, and the same modos operande. Upon hiring of women, they need to provide assurance that everything is fine to avoid any suspicion. However, when this democratic approach proved ineffective, they will use violence to silence the families of the victims. Beeks and Amir (2006) cited that once a woman is in trafficker’s hands, the latter uses any and all means to control her: violence, including sexual assault, threats to the victim’s and her family’s lives, drugs, and threat to turn the woman over to unsympathetic authorities (p. 68). Beeks and Amid stated, â€Å"many women refuse to cooperate with the authorities because there was little or no protection, and they faced deportation, and threats against their families if they cooperate with foreign law enforcement† (p. 68). The extent of this crime model Trafficking of women for prostitution is the worst of all the types of human trafficking. According to Ciment and Shanty, there are an estimated 800,000 to 900,000 individuals that trafficked each year to which the majority come from Southeast Asia, particularly Myanmar, India, Thailand, and Cambodia. The former Soviet Union is now seen to be growing source of trafficking for prostitution and the sex industry (p. 195). The extent of human trafficking is not only confined in Asian countries and the former Soviet Union. Nicola (2009) noted that trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation, â€Å"has involved all the European Union and more in general Western European countries in the past twenty years (p. 3). The extent of human trafficking for prostitution apparently is global because the demand for commercial sex is global. There are no doubts that about the global extent of trafficking in women for prostitution as according to Jeffereys (1997) prostitution has been â€Å"industrialized internationally† (p. 307). Jeffreys pointed out that prostitution is a result of the increasing â€Å"internationalization of the world economy, in which local communities in the third world become an integral part of the industrialized countries† (p. 308). Jeffreys explained that as a consequence of the lost traditional resources, such as land, paid labor or other means of income were felt greatly by women and girls who have to take care of children and family because of tradition or the disappearance of male support (p. 308). Jeffreys asserts, â€Å"Military prostitution and sex tourism have increased the global demand for prostitution† (p. 309).

The History Of International Cybersecurity Politics Essay

The History Of International Cybersecurity Politics Essay The United States, England, and Continental Europe have very different approaches to cybersecurity. The United States and United Kingdom conceive of cyber primarily as a national security problem to be handled by the military- which in turn sees the Internet as a fifth domain of war to be dominated. The rest of the European Union, however, sees cyber threats mostly as an irritant for commerce and individual privacy that should be dealt with by civilian authorities working in combination with private enterprise. Additionally, while the United States can have a single policy, even though its one implemented by many different federal departments, the European Union is made up of twenty-seven nations with their own laws, notions, and philosophical differences over how to approach cyber issues. Finally, there is NATO, where a unified transatlantic cyber vision must be reconciled and arranged in a coherent manner among twenty-eight allies through a cumbersome bureaucratic process. To make sense of these conflicting visions, this essay reviews cyber attacks against NATO members, attempts to outline the challenges of developing a transatlantic vision for cyber policy, and highlights some of the fundamental differences among NATO members. It is helpful to remember that although the Internet is so ensconced in most of our lives that it is hard to envision living without it, the first modern Web browser didnt debut until 1993 and broadband access has only become widespread over the last decade. As a result, senior government and military leaders did not grow up with the Internet and are gradually having to adapt to emerging cyber realities. Franklin Kramer, who worked as assistant secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton, draws a comparison with the Great Fire of London, he notes that it nearly destroyed the city in 1666 because an advance in living conditions- wooden houses for many- was not matched by security measures. There were no firefighting technologies, no firefighting processes, and no resources devoted to fire fighting. This was still true more than two centuries later with the Great Chicago Fire. Despite our slow learning curve, in the modern world, while fire may strike, it is not the city-devourin g scourge that it once was. Through government regulations that established building codes and through volunteer and government-run fire departments, a protective-response was established over the centuries.  [1]   Former Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III uses a more aggressive analogy: The first military aircraft was bought, I think, in 1908, somewhere around there. So were in about 1928, he said. Weve kind of seen some à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ biplanes shoot at each other over France, he added. But we havent really seen kind of what a true cyberconflict is going to look like.  [2]   Currently, European policymakers seem to treat cybersecurity more along fire-prevention lines rather than as biplanes over France. And framing is critical when thinking about cyber issues. As Kramer observes, Ask the wrong question, and you generally will get the wrong answer. And cyber- and what to do about cyber conflict- is an arena where there is generally no agreement on what is the question, certainly no agreement on what are the answers, and evolving so fast that questions are transmuted and affect and change the validity of answers that have been given. He argues that the lack of agreement over the nature of the problem, lack of coherent regulation and authority mechanisms, and conflict between connectivity and security together make cyber a wicked problem not easily susceptible to resolution.  [3]   Lynn manages to frame the issue in military and security terms but fully acknowledges that the reality is quite blurred and that no clear lines exist in this new domain. I mean, clearly if you take down significant portions of our economy we would probably consider that an attack. But an intrusion stealing data, on the other hand, probably isnt an attack. And there are [an] enormous number of steps in between those two.  [4]   Lynn goes on to say, one of the challenges facing Pentagon strategists is deciding at what threshold do you consider something an attackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I think the policy community both inside and outside the government is wrestling with that, and I dont think weve wrestled it to the ground yet. In other words, it is difficult to know whether the house is on fire or biplanes are shooting at each other.  [5]   Correspondingly tricky, defense officials say, is how to pinpoint who is doing the attacking. This raises further complications that are clearly at the heart of the Pentagons mission. At the Council on Foreign Relations Lynn summarized the issue If you dont know who to attribute an attack to, you cant retaliate against that attack, As a result, you cant deter through punishment, you cant deter by retaliating against the attack. He discussed the complexities that make cyberwar so different from, say, nuclear missiles, which of course come with a return address.  [6]   The cyber threat is very much a part of our current reality. Over the last several years several NATO members and partners, including the United States, have been targeted by severe cyber attacks. Estonia What is commonly believed to be the first known case of one state targeting another by cyber-warfare began on April 27, 2007, when a massive denial-of-service attack was launched by Russia against Estonia over a dispute involving a statue. The attack crippled websites of government ministries, political parties, newspapers, banks, and companies.  [7]  The attack was nicknamed Web War One and it caused a resonation within transatlantic national security circles.  [8]   The German newspaper Deutsche Welle wrote that Estonia is particularly vulnerable to cyber attacks because it is one of the most wired countries in the world. Nearly everyone in Estonia conducts banking and other daily activities on line. So when the cyber attack occurred, it nearly shut Estonia down.  [9]  Then-EU Information Society and Media commissioner Viviane Reding called the attacks a wakeup call, commenting that if people do not understand the urgency now, they never will. Her reaction was to incorporate a response into an EU-wide law on identity theft over the Internet.  [10]  Additionally, NATO did establish a Cyber Center of Excellence in Tallinn, which will be discussed later in the essay. Georgia While not a NATO member, Georgia is a NATO partner, and the April 2008 Bucharest Summit declared that it will become a member at some unspecified time in the future, a promise reiterated at the November 2010 Lisbon Summit.  [11]  Weeks before the August 2008 Russian land invasion and air attack, Georgia was subject to an extensive, coordinated cyber attack. American experts estimated that the attacks against Georgias Internet infrastructure began as early as July 20, with coordinated barrages of millions of requests- known as distributed denial of service, or DDOS, attacks- that overloaded and effectively shut down Georgian servers.  [12]  The pressure was intensified during the early days of the war, effectively shutting down critical communications in Georgia. After defacing Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilis web site and integrating a slideshow portraying Saakashvili as Hitler, coming up with identical images of both Saakashvili and Hitlers public appearances, the site remained under a sustained DDoS attack. Writing as the attacks were under way, security consultant Dancho Danchev believed it smells like a three letter intelligence agencys propaganda arm has managed to somehow supply the creative for the defacement of Georgia Presidents official web site, thereby forgetting a simple rule of engagement in such a conflict- risk forwarding the responsibility of the attack to each and every Russian or Russian supporter that ever attacked Georgian sites using publicly obtainable DDOS attack tools in a coordinated fashion.  [13]  Bill Woodcock, the research director at Packet Clearing House, a California-based nonprofit group that tracks Internet security trends, noted that the attacks represented a landmark: the first use of a cyber a ttack in conjunction with an armed military invasion.  [14]   The nature of cyber attacks is such that, two and a half years later, there is still no definitive answer on who caused the attack. They certainly emanated from Russia, but the precise role of Moscows military and intelligence services remains unclear. Given that the cyber attacks preceded and accompanied conventional military attacks, there appears to be a link to the Russian government. A March 2009 report by Greylogic concluded Russias Foreign Military Intelligence agency (the GRU) and Federal Security Service (the FSB), rather than patriotic hackers, were likely to have played a key role in coordinating and organizing the attacks. They added, The available evidence supports a strong likelihood of GRU/ FSB planning and direction at a high level while relying on Nashi intermediaries and the phenomenon of crowd-sourcing to obfuscate their involvement and implement their strategy.  [15]   United States In a 2010 essay for Foreign Affairs, Lynn revealed that in 2008, the US Department of Defense suffered a significant compromise of its classified military computer networks. It began when an infected flash drive was inserted into a US military laptop at a base in the Middle East. The flash drives malicious computer code, placed there by a foreign intelligence agency, uploaded itself onto a network run by the US Central Command. That code spread undetected on both classified and unclassified systems, establishing what amounted to a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control.  [16]   The upshot is that adversaries have acquired thousands of files from US networks and from the networks of US allies and industry partners, including weapons blueprints, operational plans, and surveillance data.  [17]   Lynn classified this attack as the most significant breach of US military computers ever and stated that it served as an important wake-up call.  [18]  He acknowledged that to that point, we did not think our classified networks could be penetrated.  [19]  The result of this new awareness was Operation Buckshot Yankee, a fourteen-month program that rid US systems of the agent.btz worm and helped lead to a major reorganization of the armed forces information defenses, including the creation of the militarys new Cyber Command.  [20]   United Kingdom In a speech at the 2011 Munich Security Conference, British foreign secretary William Hague revealed that a series of cyber attacks on his country took place the previous year. He noted that in late December a spoofed email purporting to be from the White House was sent to a large number of international recipients who were directed to click on a link that then downloaded a variant of ZEUS. The UK Government was targeted in this attack and a large number of emails bypassed some of our filters.  [21]   Additionally, sometime in 2010 the national security interests of the UK were targeted in a deliberate attack on our defense industry. A malicious file posing as a report on a nuclear Trident missile was sent to a defense contractor by someone masquerading as an employee of another defense contractor. Good protective security meant that the email was detected and blocked, but its purpose was undoubtedly to steal information relating to our most sensitive defense projects.  [22]   Finally, in February 2011, three of my staff were sent an email, apparently from a British colleague outside the FCO, working on their region. The email claimed to be about a forthcoming visit to the region and looked quite innocent. In fact it was from a hostile state intelligence agency and contained computer code embedded in the attached document that would have attacked their machine. Luckily, our systems identified it and stopped it from ever reaching my staff.  [23]  Still, the prevalence and sophistication of these attacks are a principal reason why cybersecurity and cyber-crime were listed as two of the top five priorities in the UKs National Security Strategy.  [24]   Given the interconnectivity of the Internet, Hague argued that more comprehensive international collaboration is vital, noting that, while cyber security is on the agendas of some 30 multilateral organizations, from the UN to the OSCE and the G8, the problem is that much of this debate is fragmented and lacks focus. He continued, We believe there is a need for a more comprehensive, structured dialogue to begin to build consensus among like-minded countries and to lay the basis for agreement on a set of standards on how countries should act in cyberspace.  [25]   US- European Attitudinal Differences We begin to be able to discern a pattern: The United States and the United Kingdom take cyber security very seriously and view it primarily through the lens of national security. The EU and most Western European members of NATO see it primarily as a national infrastructure problem. In the run-up to the November 2010 Lisbon NATO Summit, Pentagon officials were pressing very firmly to incorporate a concept of active cyber defense into the revised NATO Strategic Concept. Lynn argued that the Cold War concepts of shared warning apply in the 21st century to cyber security. Just as our air defenses, our missile defenses have been linked so too do our cyber defenses need to be linked as well. However, this notion was firmly rejected by the Europeans, with the French particularly adamant.  [26]   USCYBERCOM A July 2010 Economist story proclaimed: After land, sea, air and space, warfare has entered the fifth domain: cyberspace.  [27]  It noted that President Obama had declared the digital infrastructure a strategic national asset and had appointed Howard Schmidt, the former head of security at Microsoft, as the first cybersecurity tsar. Peter Coates notes that the air force had actually anticipated this move in December 2005, declaring cyber a fifth domain when it changed its mission statement to To fly and fight in air, space, and cyberspace. In November of the following year, it redesignated the 8th Air Force to become Air Force Cyberspace Command.  [28]   In May 2010 the Defense Department launched a new subunified command, United States Cyber Command, with Gen. Keith Alexander dual-hatted as its chief while continuing on as director of the National Security Agency. CYBERCOM is charged with the responsibility to direct the operations and defense of specified Department of Defense information networks and prepare to, and when directed, conduct full spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure US/ Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries.  [29]   As the scale of cyberwarfares threat to US national security and the US economy has come into view, the Pentagon has built layered and robust defenses around military networks and inaugurated the new US Cyber Command to integrate cyber-defense operations across the military. The Pentagon is now working with the Department of Homeland Security to protect government networks and critical infrastructure and with the United States closest allies to expand these defenses internationally. An enormous amount of foundational work remains, but the US government has begun putting in place various initiatives to defend the United States in the digital age.  [30]  Even with stepped-up vigilance and resources, Lynn admits, adversaries have acquired thousands of files from US networks and from the networks of US allies and industry partners, including weapons blueprints, operational plans, and surveillance data.  [31]   The cyber policy of the United States is rapidly evolving, with major developments under way even as I write this essay. The White House issued a new International Strategy for Cyberspace in May 2011. While not by any means moving away from a defense-oriented posture- indeed, it generated breathless commentary by declaring the right to meet cyber attacks with a kinetic response- it sought to bring commercial, individual, diplomatic, and other interests into the equation. This was followed by a new Department of Defense cyber strategy in July 2011, which built on Lynns Foreign Affairs essay. European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) While CYBERCOM is the most powerful and well-funded US cyber agency, the lead EU cyber agency is ENISA, the European Network and Information Security Agency. Whereas CYBERCOM is run by a general with an intelligence background, ENISA is run by a physics professor with long experience in the IT sector, including the energy industry, insurance company engineering, aviation, defense, and space industry.  [32]  The agencys mission is to develop a culture of Network and Information Security for the benefit of citizens, consumers, business and public sector organizations in the European Union.  [33]   In December 2010 ENISA released a report identifying what it sees as the top security risks and opportunities of smartphone use and gives security advice for businesses, consumers and governments. The agency considers spyware, poor data cleansing when recycling phones, accidental data leakage, and unauthorized premium-rate phone calls and SMSs as the top risks.  [34]  New regulations are proposed that would see the perpetrators of cyber attacks and the producers of related and malicious software prosecuted, and criminal sanctions increased to a maximum two-year sentence. European countries would also be obliged to respond quickly to requests for help when cyber attacks are perpetrated, and new pan-European criminal offences will be created for the illegal interception of information systems. Home affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrà ¶m added that criminalizing the creation and selling of malicious software and improving European police cooperation would help Europe step up our efforts against cybercrime. ENISAs new mandate will let the agency organize pan-European cybersecurity exercises, public- private network resilience partnerships, and risk assessment and awareness campaigns. ENISAs funding will also be boosted, and its management board will get a stronger supervisory role. ENISAs mandate is also to be extended by five years to 2017. The new directive will also supersede a 2005 council framework decision on cybercrime because that previous regulation did not focus sufficiently on evolving threats- in particular, large-scale simultaneous attacks against information systems, such as Stuxnet, and the increasing criminal use of botnets. Stuxnet was recently used to attack Irans nuclear power infrastructure, and a single botnet, Rustock, is estimated to be responsible for two-fifths of the worlds spam.  [35]   Additionally, EU states are constrained by Directive 95/ 46/ EC, better known as the Data Protection Directive, which provides enormous protection for any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. Compare this to the USA Patriot Act, which gives enormous leeway to US law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access electronic data held by US companies in order to investigate and deter terrorist activities. In June 2011 Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft UK, set off a firestorm when he declared that European customer data stored on cloud computing services by companies with a US presence cannot be guaranteed the protections afforded under the Data Protection Directive, setting off a demand from some EU lawmakers to resolve this issue.  [36]   Germany In late February 2011 Germanys outgoing minister of the interior, Thomas de Maizià ¨re, unveiled the countrys Nationale Cyber-Sicherheitsstrategie (National Cyber Security Strategy).  [37]  To American eyes, the fact that it was the interior ministry, not the defense ministry, issuing the strategy is striking. It was no accident: this is by no means a defense document. The documents introduction notes that in Germany all players of social and economic life use the possibilities provided by cyberspace. As part of an increasingly interconnected world, the state, critical infrastructures, businesses and citizens in Germany depend on the reliable functioning of information and communication technology and the Internet. Among the threats listed: Malfunctioning IT products and components, the break-down of information infrastructures or serious cyber attacks may have a considerable negative impact on the performance of technology, businesses and the administration and hence on Germanys social lifelines. Contrast this with Lynns analogy of biplanes over France, and his pondering at what threshold do you consider something an attack? German security scholar Thomas Rid laments that the strategy is coming a bit late and that Germanys thinking lags that of the United States and the United Kingdom. Beyond that, he notes that the two agencies created to manage cyber issues are woefully understaffed and tasked with myriad responsibilities related tangentially at best to cyber security. And, according to a cyber kodex established in the new strategy, German interests in data security à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ would be pursued in international organizations such as the UN, the OSCE, the European Council, the OECD, and NATO- in that order.  [38]   United Kingdom as Outlier As is frequently the case on matters of international security, the United Kingdom is much more in line with its American cousin than its neighbors on the Continent. In an October 12, 2010, speech at Londons International Institute for Strategic Studies, Iain Lobban, director of GCHQ (the UKs National Security Agency analogue, responsible for signals intelligence) noted that his country combines the intelligence and information assurance missions in a single agency, an arrangement shared by only a few other countries, most notably the US. It gives us a richer view of vulnerabilities and threats than those who consider them purely from the point of view of defense.  [39]   He confessed to constant barrages of spam, worms, theft of intellectual property on a massive scale, some of it not just sensitive to the commercial enterprises in question but of national security concern too, and all manner of other attacks that have caused significant disruption to Government systems. Consequently, his government was looking to significantly increase its investment in the cyber realm even at a time when the global recession was forcing significant austerity in other departments, including in more traditional military assets.  [40]   Thomas Rid notes the sheer breadth of Lobbans focus: Cyber encompasses, for instance, more and more online government services (read: steadily increasing vulnerability); critical national infrastructure, publicly or privately run; online crime in all its facets; espionage (both industrial and governmental), and such things as the proper norms of behavior for responsible states.  [41]   The implications are vast, as Lobban hints and Rid explicates: partnerships of a new kind are needed to deal with cyber threats and risks. International partnerships, with like-minded countries that need to establish and maintain appropriate norms of behavior in crisis situations- and intersectoral partnerships, between government agencies and industry, especially the high-tech sector.  [42]   In his Munich Security Conference speech, Hague noted that we rely on computer networks for the water in our taps, the electricity in our kitchens, the sat navs in our cars, the running of trains, the storing of our medical records, the availability of food in our supermarkets and the flow of money into high street cash machines. Further, Many government services are now delivered via the internet, as is education in many classrooms. In the UK, 70 percent of younger internet users bank online and two thirds of all adults shop on the internet.  [43]   Given the new awareness of vulnerabilities and the degree of dependence, then, the United Kingdoms new National Security Strategy ranks cyber attack and cyber crime in our top five highest priority risks. This is not lip service. At the same time that the British military is suffering such severe cutbacks that the Royal Navy is reduced to sharing a single aircraft carrier with France, the current budget provided  £ 650 million of new funding for a national cyber-security program, which will improve our capabilities in cyber-space and pull together government efforts. As part of that effort, Hague said, We have established a new Ministerial Group on cyber security which I chair. And we have boosted the UKs cyber capabilities with the establishment of a new Defense Cyber Operations Group, incorporating cyber security into the mainstream of our defense planning and operation.  [44]   NATO Responses After months of study and debate the 2010 NATO Summit in Lisbon issued a new strategic concept on November 19, 2010. In it, cyber issues were officially recognized for the first time as a core alliance mission. Recognizing that cyber attacks are becoming more frequent, more organized and more costly in the damage that they inflict, NATO pledged to develop further our ability to prevent, detect, defend against and recover from cyber-attacks, including by using the NATO planning process to enhance and coordinate national cyber-defense capabilities, bringing all NATO bodies under centralized cyber protection, and better integrating NATO cyber awareness, warning and response with member nations.  [45]   This was followed in June 2011 by a revised NATO policy on cyber defense and a parallel cyber defense action plan. Combined, they offer a coordinated approach to cyber defense across the Alliance with a focus on preventing cyber threats and building resilience. Additionally, all NATO structures will be brought under centralized protection.  [46]   What practical actions will flow from these policy statements remains unclear, especially in an era of radically declining budgets. But they give an overview of what it terms NATOs principle cyber defense activities.  [47]   Coordinating and Advising on Cyber Defense The cyber-defense policy was implemented by NATOs political, military, and technical

Plagiarism and the Internet :: Cheating Education Essays

Plagiarism and the Internet It appears that plagiarism is a problem that has very unclear guidelines according to most. People seem to be struggling with the concept of it in regards to the internet because others do realize the vastness of information on the internet is very difficult to regulate in plagiarism. The realization is that in many institutions instructors simply overlook the crime because they themselves find it too tedious to check all the information on the websites to verify their originality. This seems shocking because of all the warnings students receive about plagiarism. The largest concern it seems is finding ways to sift through all the information that is turned in for a paper. One of the websites used to aide in this process is turnitin.com. It is a place where students can send their papers to be checked. It searches the internet and finds anything that is plagiarized in the entire paper. This then also rids the instructor from having to check all the sources the student used because that is what the website does. "Who wants to sit around looking for websites trying to find out if a paper is plagiarized or not... pretty soon you're a private investigator." -- a Stanford University professor, from an article in TechWeb News. (http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism_stats.html) While the internet is so huge and many ideas circulate throughout it at all times, there are proper ways to do a research paper without having a problem with plagiarism. There are several websites that list the proper way to cite several types of information on the web. There are plenty of resources available giving out information and warnings about plagiarism. One website offers information about the situations instructor face when dealing with students who plagiarize. The website commented that it is something that can be  ¡Ãƒ a painful, time-consuming experience for faculty. ¡ÃƒÅ" Because there are different levels of plagiarism sometimes faculty feel that the punishments that universities give are too much and need to vary with the level of plagiarism.

Learning Experience at Texas

Texas A&M was certainly an experience different from anything I encountered before. I surely have had my share of studying in high school – in fact, it seemed at times that I had had more than I really wanted. The semester at Texas A&M, on the contrary, left me eager for more, seeking new revelations, interesting discoveries, meetings with friends and greater scope. It has also left me with a better understanding of the world so exquisitely made by our Creator and appreciation of its wonders. Education is certainly no small feat, and one needs real inspiration to get through the challening workload of math problems, English essays, and learning new concepts and ideas. The time I spent at Texas A&M not only helped me improve my educational background, equipping me with instruments to approach complex things, but also boosted my inspiration to overcome challenges and move toward my professional goals, step by step, each day making these goals come closer. I know now what I see as my main step: it is the completion of the Bachelor’s program at Texas Christian University. Its program is tailor-made to fit my personal needs and will help me move on in life. Texas A&M was to me a great lesson in the value of education. The time spent there also left me with a more serious attitude toward college studies. Being a Hurricane Katrina student, I for a time lived with the sense that there are more important problems to get over in this world than studies, and my mind was often focused on other things. This naturally affected my performance. As time went by, however, I could not remain indifferent to the intense learning process that was going on around. I learned that getting engrossed in studies was a good way to cope with shock, and that being in possession of valuable information makes one better prepared to conquer problems and challenges and take control of life. My strong Christian faith was a continuous source of inspiration in my studies at Texas A&M. It was my Walk with God that gave me the strength to master a new environment, improve my educational potential, and improve my educational performance. My prayers were a source of consolation in times of need and provided inspiration when I had to make another leap forward in my learning. I cannot underestimate the support of my friends. The environment at Texas A&M turned out to be ideal for establishing friendly contacts, and I at once felt encouragement and attention of other students who were willing to help me, given my traumatic background as a Hurricane Katrina student. I see human communication as an inalienable part of the education process. It is one feature that makes it inherently appealing to a sociable person like myself, eager to absorb knowledge through collective learning effort. My studies at Texas A&M were only a springboard for my future academic endeavors. In fact, I strongly believe that from this point on, I am about to embark on a lifelong learning adventure. I trust the words of Robert M. Hutchins who said â€Å"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.† I hope that college will give me a strong background from which to see and learn new things, quickly putting them in context. Such learning can never stop because a human mind is always receptive to new and new turns of events that swirl around. I believe that education obtained at Texas Christian University will prove to be an ideal foundation from which to begin my professional career. With its powerful Christian focus and impressive academic strength, the university will be an ideal place for me to turn myself into a really educated person. The university is an excellent opportunity to reach my goals and aspirations in life. I hope to get a chance to prove my worthiness of this great academic and Christian tradition receiving a place in TCU’s program.   

Why 40% of Mergers and Joint Ventures Fail †Business Essay

Why 40% of Mergers and Joint Ventures Fail – Business Essay Free Online Research Papers Why 40% of Mergers and Joint Ventures Fail Business Essay There have been a lot of companies in the recent past who have merged with other companies. They could be successful or after some time, they may fail. A successful company merger presently could be Sony Erickson, with Sony being one company and Erickson another before the merger. An incident of a merger failure could be Dunlop Pirelli. This essay will attempt to show the reasons as to why 40% of mergers and joint ventures fail. The topics under which the writer will prove this are change, leadership, communication, culture, McGregor’s X and Y theory. Regarding change, resistance to change will be talked about when it comes to two or more companies merging. When it comes to leadership, the possible clashes between autocratic and democratic leadership styles will be discussed. We will see what Gaut and Perrigo have to say about it, and also from Adler and Elmhorst. The laissez- faire style of leadership will also be discussed. As for communication, the possible problems that can occur with companies who have open communication merging with others who have closed communication will be discussed. Clashes with supportive and defensive communication will also be shown. It would be clearly explained by Gaut and Perrigo. Culture is a very big factor which decides whether a merger is a failure or not. Under culture, low context culture versus high context culture; Individualism versus Collectivism; High power distance versus low power distance; Low uncertainty avoidance versus high uncertainty avoidance; masculinity versus femininity, and finally monochronic versus polychronic will be discussed. Here again, Adler and Elmhorst, will explain individualism and collectivism, and so will Trompenaars. We will see the different types of cultures Handy talks about, and also what Hofstede has to say about culture. McGregor’s X and Y theory will be discussed, where problems of X workers clashing with Y workers will be explained. Mergers take place when two or more companies join together to form one big company. Joint ventures are similar to mergers, but the only difference is that the two companies still keep their separate identities. â€Å"A merger can resemble a takeover but result in a new company name (often combining the names of the original companies) and in new branding; in some cases, terming the combination a merger rather than an acquisition is done purely for political or marketing reasons.†(1) One main reason as to why mergers fail is that both companies have different leadership styles. If two different leadership styles come together, the chance of a successful merger is very slim. The meaning of leadership is as follows: â€Å"In the most simplest terms, leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something we want them to do.†( Gaut Perrigo). According to Adler Elmhorst (2005), there are three main leadership styles. The first style is the autocratic style. â€Å"Some leaders are authoritarian, using legitimate, coercive, and reward power at their disposal to control members.†(Adler,R Elmhorst,J). Gaut Perrigo (1998) acknowledges the fact that an autocratic leader is someone who sees himself as the central person in authority and who has power over his workers. Adler Elmhorst continues by saying that there are democratic leaders who invite the workers to help in decision making. Gaut Perrigo (1998) also demonstrates that a democratic leader is a person who involves his followers in decision making. There could also be a third leadership style which is laissez- faire. â€Å"The designated leader gives up the power of that position and transforms the group into a leaderless collection of equals.†(Adler Elmhorst). Therefore one can see that if any of these types of leadership come together then it would be disastrous, as the management of one company will be in conflict with the management of the other merging company as to which leadership style to adopt. They could ultimately come to no agreement and the merger would fail. The next factor that is going to be discussed is the different types of communication styles of merging companies. According to Gaut Perrigo (1998), â€Å"Communication style is defined as the manner in which you disclose information to your co-workers, supervisor(s) and subordinates.† Gaut Perrigo further explains that there can be open communication and closed communication. They say that open communication is all about people sharing information and opinions freely. They add that, in contrast closed communication involves little information shared and that workers don’t feel free to tell their opinions. Another type of contrasting communication styles according to Gaut Perrigo are defensive and supportive communication. They say that defensive communication will be there when the workers lack openness and also honesty with each other. In contrast, they explain that supportive communication is where there is plenty of openness and honesty. Therefore, defensive communication reduces the communication effectiveness but supportive communication enhances job productivity and satisfaction. Therefore, if there is a clash between any of these types of communication styles when merging – like open and close communication, defensive and supportive communication – then the merger can turn out to be a failure. This is because workers who are used to one type of communication won’t get along with workers who are used to another type of communication. A very important factor that will decide whether a merger is successful or not, are the culture of both companies who are merging. There are many sub- factors under this. Culture could be defined as follows: â€Å"The shared values, traditions, customs, philosophy, and policies of a corporation; also, the professional atmosphere that grows from this and affects behaviour and performance† (2) There could be one company who has an individualistic culture merging with another company who has a collectivist culture. Adler Elmhorst(2005) explains that workers in firms who nature individualistic cultures tend to think about themselves first, and then only the society. They also say that there is a lot of freedom available to them. This is given to them in order to achieve their personal goals. Trompenaars(2003) says that individualism affects three critical areas, which are negotiations, decision making and motivation. He says that individuals seek to be distinguished within the group, and that the other members also approve of this. He says the word â€Å"I† is the most used word for individualism. Adler Elmhorst(2005) say that in collectivist cultures, contrastingly, the workers work in groups and their first loyalty is towards one another in the group. They add that workers of collectivist societies are likely to believe that the welfare of the company is as import ant as themselves. Therefore as we can see, individualistic workers and collectivist workers will never go hand in hand with each other. This is because both types of workers are working with a different mind set which are two extremes. The other type of culture clash is power distance. Adler Elmhorst defines that â€Å"power distance refers to attitude toward differences in authority.† They say that there are high power distances and low power distances. They continue by saying that high power distance cultures emphasizes that there is unequal power distributed among the workers. Some workers are believed to have more influence and resources than others. Whereas low power distance cultures treat everyone equal, and even if the manager has a bit more power than the other workers, the managers’ powers are not exaggerated. According to Handy, he divides culture into four categories. The first is power culture which means authority is with a few people only. It has a few rules only. The second is role culture, where the amount of power is defined from the role of the person in the company. He names the third as task culture where teams are formed to solve the firm’s problems. The last is called a person culture where the workers think they are more important than the company. (3) If two different cultures explained by Handy merge, for example – power culture and task culture, then the risk of failure will be very high. In contrast, Hofstede talks about five characteristics of culture. He agrees with Adler Elmhorst that there can be differences in the power distances, which can be high or low. He also talks of individualism where workers are supposed to stand up for themselves, the other being collectivism where workers work as a group. Additionally, Hofstede talks about masculinity versus femininity, which explains the differences between male and females values. He says that male values usually include competitiveness, ambition and things like material possessions. On the other hand, he describes female values like being feelings and relationships. He also talks of uncertainty avoidance where he says that society or, in this case a firm will be prepared to accept risks only to a certain extent. He also mentions short and long orientations. (4) Another type of culture clash is between high context culture and low context culture. According to Adler Elmhorst, a low context culture means that workers will use verbal communication to show feelings, thoughts and ideas. On the other hand, a high context culture expresses meaning by using nonverbal methods, in order to maintain harmony between the workers. The final factor in culture which will be discussed is the concept of monochronic and polychronic. People(in this case workers) who are monochronic will do one job at a time, whereas people who are polychronic will tend to do many jobs at the same time, but at the end of the day hasn’t finished a single job. Monochronic people concentrate really hard on the job they are doing, they also take deadlines very seriously. Contrastingly, polychronic people are very distractible and are prone to interruptions. Monochronic people are low context and need a lot of information, whereas it’s the opposite for polychronic pe ople where they are high context and already have plenty of information. (5) Therefore, it can be said that if polychronic workers of one firm merges with another firm which has monochronic workers- the merger won’t be a successful one as these two types of workers won’t work well hand in hand. The next topic which will be discussed regarding mergers, is the concept of change. Resistance to change will be discussed in detail as it is appropriate for mergers, and whether they are successful or not. Resistance to change can be defined as: â€Å"Resistance to change is the action taken by individuals and groups when they perceive that a change that is occurring as a threat to them.† (6) The workers of a company who are about to go through some kind of change, in this case a merger, will start to oppose the change if they feel that they are going to lose out in the merger. There could be an instance where there is resistance from the customers regarding the merger. They may not support the change, and may switch to firms which are rivals to the merging firms. (7) As can be seen, resistance to change is a threat to the success of a merger. The management of the two firms merging will have to deal with the problems created by the workers. They may lose customers who are a gainst the merger. All this could spell failure. McGregor’s X and Y theory states that there are two types of workers X and Y. â€Å"Theory X assumes that the average person: dislikes work and attempts to avoid it; has no ambition, wants no responsibility, and would rather follow than lead; is self centered and therefore does not care about organisational goals; resists change; is gullible and not particularly intelligent.† (8) Theory Y is just the opposite of X. Y workers are committed to their jobs, and seek responsibility. They seek rewards and will work hard in order to get it. They are creative and genuine. If there is a merger, where in one company there are X workers and the other- Y workers, probability of a successful merger is very slim. Therefore, from the above established information, one could see that most mergers would fail due to the above reasons. The writer would also like to add a few things. The problem of tall and flat structures could also be present when two companies merge. A tall structure is where a firm has many layers from the top manager to the lowest worker. A flat structure doesn’t have many layers. If a manager of a flat organisation mergers with an organisation which is tall, he would want to get rid of unnecessary workers by delayering. Many workers will lose their jobs, and they will demand compensation. This is costly as the company will have to pay every worker who got unemployed because of the merger, and if they don’t compensate they will create a bad image, and therefore customers may switch their loyalty to other rival companies. The merger would ultimately fail. Regarding resistance to change, one solution could be educating the workforce. The managers could tell the workers of the benefits that the merger could bring. This would definitely reduce the amount of resistance and would lead to a successful merger. However, this method may not always work as some workers may not change their minds. Other solutions could be participation and involvement, where the managers will ask the workers to help in the process of merging. This would make the workers more involved, and they would resist less to the change. Facilitation and support could be a third solution where the managers would try to help the workers during the process of merging. The managers could strike an agreement or negotiation with the workers. All this will reduce the amount of resistance. When we talk about culture clashes and its problems, the solution that comes to mind is that the managers of the different firms which are coming together should first agree on one culture. This corporate culture should remain and should not be changed. However, they should introduce it slowly and not at once, so that the workers will have time to get used to it. If the merged company introduces it too quickly, then workers would not be able to adapt to it. They may get frustrated and leave the company (including efficient workers). In the end, the company would suffer from a shortage of workers and would have to start recruiting workers. This would be a difficult procedure and the merger would eventually fail. Another factor that could increase the chances of a merger surviving, are government subsidies. If the government thinks that a particular merger is beneficial for the society, then it would provide subsidies which will reduce the cost of merging, and therefore make it easier for the merger to take place. However, the opposite could also happen. The government may think that the merger is not in the best interest of the people. If it thinks like that, it may make it very difficult for the two companies to merge. It could, for example, increase the corporation tax rates of the merged firm. Therefore the firm would have to pay a higher percentage of its profit as tax. The profitability of the firm would fall, and it would fail. One definite threat for a smaller company merging with a very large company is the fact that it could result in a take over, where the large company would have the ability to take over the smaller one by buying more than 50% of the shares. In which case, the smaller company would lose its identity. Therefore, the workers who were working in the smaller company could become non- co operative because they feel that they have lost their identity. Therefore, the overall efficiency would go down, and they would become less competitive and ultimately fail. Therefore, if a merger is to be successful, it would be advisable that two companies of similar sizes merge. Then, they would have similar powers and not an imbalance of power. As had been said before, there could be autocratic leaders and democratic leaders. A solution that can reduce the possibility of a merger failing could be that the new management could appoint a leader that can be both democratic, and also autocratic at times. This is because when two companies merge, there will be all sorts of workers. There could be workers who are lazy and inefficient, and there could be workers who are efficient and like responsibility. This type of leader could be democratic towards the workers who are efficient and hard working, but could be autocratic towards the lazy ones. This way the company can get useful ideas out of the efficient ones, and also would be assured that the inefficient workers work. This approach would definitely reduce the possibility of a merger failing. There could be an instance where one company which is producing one type of product merges with another company producing a different type of product. Since the managers of one company do not have the expertise in the other company’s product, and vice versa, the management decisions would not be professional. This could make them incompetent, and they would lose customers and market share. They would eventually fail. On the other hand, one could say that if two companies producing different products merge, then they would be diversifying. This would be really good as they would have more security. For example, if one product is making a loss, it would be covered by the profit of the other product. Therefore, this would help the merged company to survive in the market and not fail. Mergers could achieve economies of scale or suffer from diseconomies of scale. This could be further explained. The general understanding is that when a merger takes place, the new company would become bigger in size. This could be an advantage to them as they will have the ability to achieve economies of scale. This is where an increase in output reduces the cost of input. However, if the company goes over the optimum level of output, they could suffer diseconomies of scale, which is when the cost of inputs increases at a higher rate than the output. As a result, if the company can not control its cost due to diseconomies of scale, they would fail. To avoid failing, they should produce the optimum amount of units. International mergers are discussed when we talk about mergers. It could be said that international mergers, where a company from one country merging with a company from another country, could have less chances of survival. This is because the two companies will have different styles of working. In one country, the people in general may consider relationships and socialising the top priority, and then only working. In the other country however, they may consider work as the highest priority, and then only things like social activities and relationships. Therefore, both companies will probably have different priorities, and so in the end, nothing will be achieved and it will be a disaster. Therefore, if international mergers were to take place, the merger should be with companies of which the two countries have the same priorities. Then only will there be good co ordination. The other big problem when it comes to international mergers is the communication barriers that arise. Since th ere is a big distance between the two companies, there could be breakdowns in communication. Misunderstandings can occur which can lead to wrong decision making. If they are operating in a competitive market, this wrong decision made could cost the merged company a lot and they may fail. However, these days, due to technological advancement – the amount of distance has reduced for internationally merged companies. In other words, globalisation has helped reduce the possibility of failure. An example of technological progress is in the invention of video conferencing, where the managers from two different countries, can see the person they are talking to without ever actually having to leave the country. This will save time and cost, and reduce the amount of misunderstandings. When we discuss merger failures, we were mainly talking about the internal factors that contribute to their failure. We have to consider the external factors as well. We could say that if interest rates change, the company that is merging has no power over it. If interest rates increase, then the cost of merging will increase (especially if there were a lot of borrowings involved). This unanticipated cost may be too much to cope and it will fail. However, if interest rates fall it would be beneficial. If inflation rates increase after the merger takes place, the demand will fall as people reduce their spending as it is expensive. The merger will have to cope with the lower demand first up in addition to its internal problems. They may suffer with the huge pressure. However, if the inflation rise is temporary, then it would not be a problem. There could also be special pressure groups who could campaign against the merger for some reason. One reason could be that the merger will conve rt the new company into a monopoly with over twenty five percent of market share. The pressure groups could convince the public that the merger is not in their interests. The consumers may retaliate be not buying the company’s products. This would lead to a reduction in sales and profits. The company may close down because of this. Therefore, from the above factors discussed above, it could be agreeable that many mergers fail. However, one doubts whether the percentage of mergers failing could be as high as 40%, it could be a bit lower. The reasons that would explain that 40% is too high can be shown by the following: Most mergers that are set up have been carefully planned by the merging firms. It’s not practical to choose any firm to merge with. There should be a careful screening of firms, and the firm that is the most compatible one to the other firm who is selecting, should be chosen. Even if mergers do have problems at the start, it would only be in the short term. In the long term, however, the merger would reap positive benefits. They would become a large stable company, and would become very competitive in the market. They could also achieve economies of scale, which would reduce costs. The end result would be that they become very profitable, and would not definitely fail. Therefore, it would be natural for companies who are merging, to go through the usual cycle of short run difficulties, followed by long term gains. There would be cases of mergers failing, but it could be said that it would not be as high as 40%, as long as there is careful planning and selection of the companies who intend to merge. Research Papers on Why 40% of Mergers and Joint Ventures Fail - Business EssayBringing Democracy to AfricaOpen Architechture a white paperThree Concepts of PsychodynamicAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaStandardized TestingThe Project Managment Office SystemMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenTwilight of the UAWRelationship between Media Coverage and Social and