International Business Case Study Essay Example for Free

International Business Case Study Essay The first question: how has the globalization of market benefited IKEA? The globalization of market refers to the merging of historically distinct and separate national markets into one huge global marketplace. Falling barriers to cross-border trade have more easier to sell internationally, so it is easier for IKEA to grow into a global cult brand with 230 stores in 33countries and have 5 suppliers of the frames in Europe, plus 3 in the United States and two in China. Because a fewer barriers to cross-border trade. IKEA can easily to open a store in other countries. the second question: how has the globalization of production benefited IKEA? The globalization of production refers to sourcing of goods and services from locations around the globe to take advantage of national differences in the cost and quality of factors of productions, IKEA did a good job, in order to reduce the cost of cotton slipcovers, IKEA has concentrated production in four core suppliers in China. The resulting efficiencies from these global sourcing decisions enabled IKEA to reduce the price of the Klippen by some 40 present between 1995 and2005, because in China we have cheaper labour and lower price of source, it will reduce the cost of production in IKEA, thereby allow IKEA to compete more effectively. What does the IKEA story teach you about the limits of treating the entire world as single integrated global marketplace? In my opinion, every country is unique and has different cultures. If the strategies to provide low price of product offer a company must identify what and which factor that can bring the lowest cost in term of labour, transportation, materials and so on. IKEA first discovered in the early1990s. The company found that its European-style offerings. However, it didn’t always resonatewith American consumers. Because of this reason, IKEA has redesigned its US offerings appeal to American consumers, which has resulted in stronger sales. It is obvious that tastes and preference play an important role in the globalization market. Also, since not everyone had a car, IKEA ensured that their stores were located near public transport.

Human Nature: Exposed :: essays research papers

Human Nature: Exposed More than a century ago, Mark Twain probably composed the single-most important piece of American Literature to ever be composed. This work, widely known as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, essentially follows young Huck on a series of adventures and experiences with his close friend (and runaway slave), Jim, as they both escape society's burdens. The novel, in a sense, encompasses everything good, bad and in between about and concerning the society of that time. A majority of the novel takes place along the Mississippi river, with Young Huck, and Jim each striving to attain a common goal, freedom from the woes of society. In their journey, they come across many different people, and encounter many strange and new experiences that all relate to a common theme that is evident throughout the novel. As their journey progresses, the reader witnesses many horrific and surprising acts, all performed by none other than man himself. Looking deeper into the symbolistic meaning of many of these passages reveals that man, in essence , is cruel, silly, and hypocritical in nature. Through his writing, it becomes apparent that Twain supports the thematic idea of the human race being hypocritical. For instance, take the scene in Chapter 20 where a group of people in Arkansas are listening to the sermon of a preacher. In this descriptive passage, it can be inferred through Twain's writing that the average person of this time was in fact "blinded" by religious influences. The significance of this event can be observed later on in Chapter 21 where Twain describes the horrific abuse of animals. "There couldn't anything wake them up all over, and make them happy all over, like a dog-fight--unless it might be putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting fire to him..." (Twain 140). In putting the two preceding passages in perspective a distinctive irony becomes visible. The same type of individuals whom practice religion in good faith turn around and perform cruel acts to animals, for sport of all things. This is hypocritical because the basis of religion is definitely not to support or defend such acts, but that doesn't seem to have any adverse affect upon the average person who is merely "blinded" by glamour of religion and what it stands for, not having any intention of carrying out it's plight. So all said and done, Twain wanted to make it clear to the reader in a subtle way that these two scenes, in conjunction support the statement that Twain's writing makes the human race out as hypocritical in nature. In addition of Twain using the experiences that Huck and Jim undergo to

Application Software

LP2 Assignment: Applications Software Managing Information Systems David Khuong National American University Author Note This paper was prepared for Managing Information Systems, Course ID: MT3500/CI3510, taught by Dr. Kim Eastern LP2 Assignment: Applications Software The three primary features commonly used applications software that will be summarized in this paper are personal application software, workgroup application software, and enterprise application software.Personal Application Software’s 1) Word processing; helps create, edit and print text documents. I. e. , Microsoft word, Corel WordPerfect, Google Docs, Apple Pages and Sun Writer. 2) Spreadsheet; provides a wide range of built-in functions for statistical, financial, logical, database, graphics, and date and time calculations. I. e. , Microsoft Excel, IBM Lotus 1-2-3, Google Spreadsheet, Apple Numbers and Sun Calc. 3) Database; stores, manipulate, and retrieve data.I. e. , Microsoft Access, IBM Lotus Approach, B orland dBASE, and Sun Base. 4) Graphics; develop graphs, illustrations, and drawings. I. e. , Adobe Illustrator and Adobe FreeHand. 5) Project management; plans, schedule, allocate, and control people and resources needed to complete a project according to schedule. 6) Financial management; provides income and expense tracking and reporting to monitor and plan budgets. I. e. , Intuit Quicken. ) Desktop publishing; use with personal computers and high-resolution printers to create high-quality printed output, including text and graphics, various styles of pages can be laid out; art and text files from other programs can also be integrated into published pages. I. e. , Quark Xpress, Microsoft Publisher, Adobe PageMaker, Corel Ventura Publisher, and Apple Pages. Workgroup Application Software Support local and international teamwork and utilizes groupware; software that helps groups of people work together more effectively.Groupware is defined by Ernst & Young’s rules â€Å"Thr ee Cs†. * Convenient; if it’s too hard to use, it’s not used; it should be as easy to use as the telephone. * Content; it must provide a constant stream of rich, relevant, and personalized content. * Coverage; if it isn’t conveniently accessible, it might never be used. Enterprise Application Software * Software developed to benefit the entire organization. * (ERP) Enterprise resource planning software; set of integrated programs that manage a company’s critical business operations for an national and international organization. Application software is integral for information Decision Support, and Specialized Purposes. Overall the application software applies the power of the computer to solve problems and perform specific tasks throughout the organization from personal, local to global level. References Fundamentals of Information Systems, Sixth Edition. Chapter 2, Hardware and Software. Retrieved from: https://online. national. edu/d2l/lms/conten t/viewer/main_frame. d2l? ou=20924&tId=921805

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter History

The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was developed for the US Air Force as a supersonic interceptor. Entering service in 1958, it was the USAFs first fighter capable of speeds in excess of Mach 2. Though the F-104 set a multitude of airspeed and altitude records, it suffered from reliability issues and possessed a poor safety record. Briefly used in the Vietnam War, the F-104 was largely ineffective and was withdrawn in 1967. The F-104 was widely exported and saw service with numerous other countries. Design The F-104 Starfighter traces its origins to the Korean War where US Air Force pilots were battling the MiG-15. Flying the North American F-86 Sabre, they stated that they desired a new aircraft with superior performance. Visiting American forces in December 1951, Lockheeds chief designer, Clarence Kelly Johnson, listened to these concerns and learned firsthand the pilots needs. Returning to California, he quickly assembled design team to begin sketching out a new fighter. Assessing several design options ranging from small light fighters to heavy interceptors they ultimately settled on the former. Building around the new General Electric J79 engine, Johnsons team created a supersonic air superiority fighter that utilized the lightest airframe possible. Emphasizing performance, the Lockheed design was presented to the USAF in November 1952. Intrigued by Johnsons work, it elected to issue a new proposal and began accepting competing designs. In this competition, Lockheeds design was joined by those from Republic, North American, and Northrop. Though the other aircraft possessed merits, Johnsons team won the competition and received a prototype contract in March 1953. Development Work moved forward on the prototype which was dubbed XF-104. As the new J79 engine was not ready for use, the prototype was powered by a Wright J65. Johnsons prototype called for a long, narrow fuselage that was mated with a radical new wing design. Employing a short, trapezoidal shape, the XF-104s wings were extremely thin and required protection on the leading edge to avoid injury to ground crews. These were combined with a t-tail configuration aft. Due to the thinness of the wings, the XF-104s landing gear and fuel were contained within the fuselage. Initially armed with a M61 Vulcan cannon, the XF-104 also possessed wingtip stations for AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. Later variants of the aircraft would incorporate up to nine pylons and hardpoints for munitions. With construction of the prototype complete, the XF-104 first took to the sky on March 4, 1954 at Edwards Air Force Base. Though the aircraft had moved quickly from the drawing board to the sky, an additional four years were required to refine and improve the XF-104 before it became operational. Entering service on February 20, 1958, as the F-104 Starfighter, the type was the USAFs first Mach 2 fighter. Cockpit of a F-104C Starfighter. US Air Force Performance Possessing impressive speed and climb performance, the F-104 could be tricky aircraft during takeoff and landings. For the latter, it employed a boundary layer control system to reduce its landing speed. In the air, the F-104 proved very effective at high-speed attacks, but less so in dogfighting due to its wide turning radius. The type also offered exceptional performance at low altitudes making it useful as a strike fighter. During the course of its career, the F-104 became known for its high loss rate due to accidents. This was particularly true in Germany where the Luftwaffe grounded the F-104 in 1966. F-104G Starfighter GeneralLength:  54 ft., 8 in.Wingspan:  21 ft., 9 in.Height:  13 ft., 6 in.Wing Area:  196.1  sq. ft.Empty Weight:  14,000 lbs.Loaded Weight:  20,640 lbs.Crew:  1Performance Power Plant:  1 Ãâ€" General Electric J79-GE-11A afterburning turbojetCombat Radius:  420 milesMax Speed:  1,328 mphArmament Guns:  1 Ãâ€" 20 mm (0.787 in) M61 Vulcan cannon, 725 rounds7 Hardpoints:  4 x AIM-9 Sidewinder, up to 4,000 lbs. bombs, rockets, drop tanks Operational History Entering service with 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron in 1958, the F-104A first became operational as part of the USAF Air Defense Command as an interceptor. In this role the type suffered teething problems as the squadrons aircraft were grounded after a few months due to engine issues. Based on these problems, the USAF reduced the size of its order from Lockheed. Lockheed F-104A Starfighter of the 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Taoyuan Air Base, Taiwan, on 15 September 1958, during the Quemoy Crisis. US Air Force While issues persisted, the F-104 became a trailblazer as the Starfighter set a series of performance records including world air speed and altitude. Later that year, a fighter-bomber variant, the F-104C, joined the USAF Tactical Air Command. Quickly falling out of favor with the USAF, many F-104s were transferred to the Air National Guard. With the beginning of the US involvement in the Vietnam War in 1965, some Starfighter squadrons began to see action in Southeast Asia. In use over Vietnam until 1967, the F-104 failed to score any kills and suffered a loss of 14 aircraft to all causes. Lacking the range and payload of more modern aircraft, the F-104 was quickly phased out of service with the last aircraft leaving USAF inventory in 1969. The type was retained by NASA which used F-104 for testing purposes until 1994. An Export Star Though the F-104 proved unpopular with the USAF, it was exported extensively to NATO and other US-allied nations. Flying with the Republic of China Air Force and Pakistan Air Force, the Starfighter scored kills in the 1967 Taiwan Strait Conflict and India-Pakistan Wars respectively. Other large buyers included the Germany, Italy, and Spain who bought the definitive F-104G variant beginning in the early 1960s. Featuring a reinforced airframe, longer range, and improved avionics, the F-104G was built under license by several companies including FIAT, Messerschmitt, and SABCA. In Germany, the F-104 got off to a bad start due to a large bribery scandal that was associated with its purchase. This reputation sank further when the aircraft began suffering from an unusually high accident rate. Though the Luftwaffe endeavored to correct problems with its F-104 fleet, over 100 pilots were lost in training accidents during the aircrafts use in Germany. As losses mounted, General Johannes Steinhoff grounded the F-104 in 1966 until solutions could be found. Despite these problems, export production of the F-104 continued until 1983. Utilizing various modernization programs, Italy continued to fly the Starfighter until finally retiring it in 2004.