Recruitment and selection process of the fast food industry

Recruitment and selection process of the fast food industry This dissertation will discuss the recruitment and selection process of the fast food industry in London and case study about particular company. The practise of HRM in recruitment and selection process will also be discussed in this dissertation. In this chapter the background and motivation of this study is discussed along with the aims and objective. Moreover the research questions and the structure of this dissertation are discussed in this chapter. 1.2. Background and motivation In the past two decades the manner in which organization recruit people for their business has changed into a different level. The practise of human resource management in recruiting people has made a significant changed in the food industry across Greater London. Peoples food habit and ass well as recreational activities has also changed. And for changing those activities fast food played a very vital role in society. The competition among the competitors become intense as this is a very profit oriented business. As the competition gets intense and moves into higher value added work, strategic recruitment and selection is vital for organizations success. The trend of fast food can be tracked from the very early stage of the civilization and in UK from the beginning of the twentieth first century first food is growing as a lucrative business. Fast food gain popularity as peoples life gets busy and subsequently more and more things added in their life. The chain fast food shop start arriving in UK from the late 60s and KFC was the first to introduce followed by Pizza Hut and Mc Donalds. The practise of HRM into the fast food industry was present from the beginning but in many cases in was written or not classified as a necessary step. But in recent years the fast food chains bring themselves under very strict rules and policies. Trained staff always brings more profit to the business. And also for the past decades the kind of people interested in getting those job has changed significantly. Mostly students are seen in these jobs as it gives them the flexibility of working according to their college time table and also they can support their study while their working part time. The main principal for any job is the right person for the right job. Organizations always give importance for its manpower as they are their representative and profit maker of the organization. The operative manpower is equally important as managers working for the enterprise. All business organisations need different people to operate different activities inside their organization and it is equally important to select and recruit suitable candidate for that job. The practise of Human Resource Management in an organization is not possible if suitable candidate is not recruited in the organization. 1.3. HRM practise in the Travel Food industry in London In late 1990s, the HRM was significantly recognised as an integral component of business success by academic researchers and business practitioners (Kalleberg and Moody, 1994; Paul and Anantharaman, 2003; Hislop, 2005). Different arguments and concepts were presented by these researchers particularly how HR practices could affect organisation performance; how economic and social context shapes HR strategies and practices of organisations; the new organisational forms and relationships; and the importance of knowledge management and learning in the workplace. Every organization understands the need of HRM practise in selection and recruitment process. By doing so they prepared particular recruitment and selection plan according to the need of their own organization. Mc Donalds and SSP Ltd collaborated with different university to train up their manager according to their need. Most of the big franchises are tied up with different universities to train their staff in hospitality and Human Resource Management. And if we consider the practise of HRM most food franchise company nowadays has made their own prospectus and procedures about recruiting people. Selection and recruitment are two very interrelated process where one process ends another process starts. They are very important procedure of the organization and different from each other. 3.1 Bright Features SSP is promoting itself as food and travel expert, so giving the best possible service to customer is at the heart of SSP strategy. As a result it is important for the company to maintain cutomer satisfaction. So to maintained customer satisfaction employee job satisfaction is vital as dissatisfied worker may not provide good service to the customers. One who is happy at work place is more likely to influence other in a positive manner to make other happy. Therefore, to increase the satisfaction of customer it is important that employees at different level working for SSP are satisfied. Both at management level as well as ground level were actual customer service is being delivered. Company have a good mix of employees of different backgrounds which makes it even more capable to provide international quality service to its customers. Further, organisation also carry out research for understanding customer need during travelling, as it operates worldwide in 32 country to meet the dema nds of travelling customers. On the basis of customer demands of each location and information gathered through research, company have always tried to provide customers a good mix of food verity that meets their appetite. 1.4. HRM practise in SSP UK Ltd (Camden Food) The concept that people are the organisations key source of sustained competitive advantage continues to be an overriding theme in the research literature and a lever for Human Recourse practitioners Grattan, (2000); Pfeffer, (1994); Barney, (1995). It is not surprising, therefore, that the link between HRM practices and employee and organisational performance has attracted considerable attention over the past decade both in the US Huselid, (1995); Pfeffer, (1998) and the UK Guest, (1997); Wood and deMenzes, (1998). 1.4. Aims and objective The aim of this research is to help industry expert and employee to understand the importance of HRM in recruitment and selection process and the give an overall idea how effective HRM practise can change the recruitment process. The purpose of this study is to give a clear understanding what are the HRM practises used by the employer to select and recruit employee at present. Also suggest employer how the selection and recruitment process can be made more effective. The primary research question are listed as below 1. What procedures are used in recruiting and selecting employee in the industry and how the practise of HRM is ensured in that process? The dissertation will try to find out different process of selecting and recruitment process undertaken by different player in the industry. The reason why these methods are preferred? 2. How selection and recruitment process can be more effective and how it can contribute performance of the employee. 1.5. Limitation of the study Limitation in any study is not an unusual matter. Every research encountered by limitation. The study is undertaken in a small sample group from the hospitality industry and fast food industry. There are many organizations in the industry and many more way of selecting and recruiting people. This is a major limitation of the study as the finding only concentrates a particular organization. A larger sample size would give the chance to go through more data and also the application of both personal and HR functions. It can also be possible to investigate variety of examples of organizational practise if the sample size is larger. It would be better to investigate more than two organizations recruitment and selection process, but due to time constraint this could not be achieved. The researcher selected two group of people one pass through the selection process and get recruited and the other group who is looking for job or attempted but failed to pass the recruitment process. Some data were confidential enough not to pass to the researcher. As the topic of the dissertation covers a very wide area, researcher tried to cover as many areas as possible. 1.6. Contribution of the study The analysis of the study reveals the aims and objective of the research. Among the contributions are the literature for the researchers in future in relation to the HRM practice for the other industry. Analyzing the function of modern human resource management is another contribution in the perspective of academic study. Secondly, HR manager of travel food industry and more specifically SSP UK Ltd can evaluate their existing recruitment and training program. The study will help understand the standard recruitment and selection procedure and thus compare it with their own recruitment and selection procedure. 1.7. Research structure This study will follow a certain structure. The structure followed is given below Chapter 1: The introduction part will discuss the purpose of the study and also the aim and objective of the study. It will also briefly discuss the motivation and background of the study. A short description about the industry and also the history of the industry. Chapter 2: The literature review part will discuss the HRM practise in recruitment and selection process. It will also discuss the related theory about selection and recruitment process. The part will consist the definition of recruitment and selection and the process of respective ones. This part will relate the theoretical analysis and also states the finding of different scholar in this field. Chapter 3: In chapter three general research methodologies are described. It also discuss the method that this research use to complete the study. The data collection method and the difference between secondary data and primary data are also discussed. The limitations of the data collections are discussed at the end of the research. Chapter 4: Findings of the study and data are discussed in this chapter. Data are gathered from different sources for the study each source has been described with the method used. Chapter 5: At the end of the dissertation a thorough indication and conclusion of the current research have been drawn. Other important part of this chapter is to describe the contribution and benefit of this dissertation. Based on the research results some recommendations have been given followed by limitations of the current study, and future research. 2. Literature review 3250 2.1. Introduction The relevant literature review of this study is discussed in this chapter. The previous chapter has been discussed about introduction of the study which discussed the motivation and background, the aims and objective of the study and also the structure of the study. The chapter starts with a brief discussion about HRM and the role of HRM in recruitment and selection. The relevant theory about recruitment and selection are discussed followed by their process. The factors influencing the recruitment and selection process are also discussed. The historical work of previous researcher are also discussed and used as a guideline for further research. 2.2. The role of HRM The key characteristic of the HRM approach is the involvement of the personal function at a strategic level. The increased globalisation of busyness world and a very competitive market has triggered the emergence pf human resource management. Personnel management is the part of an organization which is concerned with people at work and their relationship with the enterprise. Personnel management aims to achieve both efficiency and justice. It seeks to provide fair terms and conditions of employment, and satisfying work for those employed (Cole, 2002). The modern human resource management has emerged from traditional personal management. Human resource management is defined as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizations most valuable assets the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives (Armstrong 2006). It is the people who always represent the organization in front of the public, so the management of people inside the organization is very important. And it is the trained and skilled staffs that generate the profit and give the organization a better position in the market. Organizations now days even compete about their staff that who has the better staff. They even hire independent organization to judge the service between different companies and based on that report they improve their service and organization. The synergy is achieved when the approaches are practiced all together. When practices are implemented together and synergistically then it is called bundles. The concept of bundling has defined strict definition but finds its roots in the concept of internal fit developed in the strategic human resource management literature (Bowen and Ostroff, 2004). The organization can deliver better service if all part of their business is providing a quality service and thus the organization as a whole performs better. If an organization implement couple of high performance work practise in their workplace that will not make a big difference as they are still lacking in many other part of organization skills. Suppose the organization implement team work as their high performance achievement but the total team performance will depend not only on one colleague but the performance of all colleagues. Different team members can have different issue with organization which might affect their performance so that also make a difference on the collective performance of the team work. Employment motivation is also a very important fact in case of team work. In 1998, British Workforce Relation survey (WERS) conduct a survey among the employer in Britain and found that there are some number of key human resourse management practise among British organisations that includes careful recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, training and team working. The survey also found some evidence of the integration of human resource management practise and survey(Cully et al.1999). There are two different side of the survey which is visible through data, the practice of human resource management in British organization is widespread but the level of strategic integration of these practises is quit low. Cully et al found is his research that only 15 percent of the role of training in 265 workplaces had a majority of the human resource management in place. Studies of high performance work systems have also shown a similar pattern; relatively common adoption of individual practices but little evidence of widespread integration (Appelbaum et al., 2000). 2.3. Recruitment There are few definitions available of recruitment. Recruitment involves actions and activities taken by an organization in order to identify and attract individuals to the organization who have capabilities to help the organization realize its strategic objective. Breaugh gave the following definition of recruitment Employee recruitment involves those organisational activities that 1) influence the number and /or the types of applicants who apply for a position and /or 2)affect whether a job offer is accepted. Edwin Flipo states that recruitment is the process of searching for prospective candidate and stimulating them to apply for the job.(Edwin Flipo, 2001) Recruitment includes the set of activities undertaken by the organisation for the primary purpose of identifying a desirable group of applicant, attracting them into its employee ranks, and retaining them at least for short time. (Taylor Collins, 2000). Recruitment involves actions and activities taken by an organisation in order to identify and attract individuals to the organisation who can help the organisations achieve their target and goal. Recruitment has emerged as arguably the most critical human resource management functions for organisational survival and success. Many organisations have increased their budget for recruitment. 2.3.1. Principal of recruitment process There are number of important characteristic in recruitment definitions. Firstly the process involves specific actions and activities that are undertaken to achieve particular outcome. Secondly in indicates that the purpose of those activities are to generate a pool of candidate to enhance their interest towards the organisations and eventually to accept a job offer in the organisation. The third important characteristic is that it the number of people attracted towards the process might have the capabilities to be hired but it depends on the selection process where the overqualified and under qualified people will be excluded from the process. Fourthly the recruitment is the process where any post hire process are not discussed because recruitment is the process to influence candidate to apply for the advertise jobs and accept the job offer. 2.3.2. Purpose and importance of recruitment There are some purpose and importance of recruitment which required to be clearly defined in any research. The importance can described as follows 1. Determine the present and the future requirements of the organisation on conjunction with its personnel -planning and job analysis activities. 2. To keep the cost minimum and also attracting maximum candidate. 3. As selection process depends on recruitment process it is the job of the recruitment process to increase the success rate of selection process by reducing the under qualified or overqualified job applicant. 4. It is also the recruitment process where the it is given priority that the recruited candidate stays inside the organisation for maximum number of year. 5. Organisations legal and social obligation about the ratio of recruited people whether ethnic, local or gender in its workforce is also served through recruitment. 6. Recruitment is the first step where the potential job applicants are identified. 7. By practising the daily job the effectiveness of different recruiting techniques and sources of all types of job applicants are explored. 2.3.3. Recruitment process In recruitment process identifying and attracting qualified candidate is the most important aspect. There are five interrelated steps about recruitment process. They are- Planning Strategic development Searching Screening Evaluation and control 2.3.1. Planning Planning is the first stage of the recruitment process. It involves about the vacancy and the duty surrounded by that role. Planning also gave an clear idea about number of candidate and the type of candidate applying for the job. An important part of the planning is to attract more people than the organisation needed so that they can choose the right candidate and also attracting the type of candidate similar to the advertisement. 2.3.2. Strategic development After deciding how many people are required and what qualification required the management concentrate in the strategic development. Different companies have different view about strategic development. The first thing is to decide in strategic development is to decide whether to recruit someone with past experience or whether to recruit someone with fresh knowledge and invest towards the future training of that employee. After deciding the eligibility of the employee the organisations look different medium to advertise the job and which labour market they want to target. All these activities are inside the strategic development of recruitment. 2.3.3. Searching The searching process begins after the planning and strategic development. If the first two processes run well then in searching process the organisation should receive many application because at this stage the medium is activated as the HR manager gives green signal about vacancy inside the organisation. All the application must be screened and after careful screening the candidates who passed should called for interview and the candidates did not pass should sent letter explaining the reason of failure. Another important criteria about searching process is to pass the proper massage through the proper channel. And it is the duty of searching option that maximum attention gets from the candidate by avoiding the undesirables. 2.3.4. Screening The selection process begins after a carefully scrutinizing the candidate at the recruitment process. However good the attraction process it is probable that there will be more candidates than positions to be filled and often the case there that there will candidates than can be realistically taken on to the next stage of more time consuming selection processes such as interviewing and testing. The reason for screening inside the recruitment process is that selection process starts only after candidates are short listed for the next stage. 2.3.4. Sources of recruitment There are two types how recruitment are processed in an organisation. They are internal recruitment and external recruitment. 2.3.4.1. Internal recruitment The advantages of internal recruitment are that: financial costs associated with recruiting can be saved by internal recruiting. It will also save training costs and time as the employee will have insight knowledge of the organization (Wanous, 1992). There are some tools organisation uses for internal recruitment. Promotions and transfers Promotions and transfers are very important role for internal recruitment. Promotions have very positive role inside the organisations as they encourage colleague, built moral attributes among employee. Through this process organisations can build employee by their need and as those employees are serving for a long time for the company they feel for their organisation. Employee referrals When an employee is working for an organisation for a long time they know the need of the organisation and sometime they refer employees according the need of the organisation. This way organisation can sometime get high skilled employee but in a very minimum cost. Another positive side about employee reference is through this employer are fulfilling their social obligation and establishing goodwill. Former employees Another source of internal recruitment is former employee. Former employees sometimes return to the organisation for better career growth and also sometime after in another job they can compare which is better this way they can differentiate which employee is better. 2.3.4.2. External recruitment External recruitment makes is possible interview a wide a range of candidate and chose from that selection. Sometimes employer need to pump some fresh blood inside their organisation to get some new business ideas and also to put some energy inside the organisation. But sometimes company end up with huge cost for hiring external employees but they are not as qualified as their curriculum vita says. Advertisement The most popular method of job recruitment is the advertisement through different medium. Employers describe the job responsibilities and requirement of the job followed by how to apply and by which date they have to apply. The most popular medium of advertisement are the newspaper, company website and different jobsite which post job from different company. Most people apply through this medium and sometimes company also promote themselves through these advertisements. Professional and trade association Professional association for trade and technical bodied are very active in the field of recruitment and selection. They provide employer with people according to their need and those professionals are trained with international standard. Like for accountant and technical jobs are always preferred by the professional bodies. Now days there are some websites like linked in which network among different professional people. Walk in store Another popular method among the employee or ob seeker for different store and food shops are known as walk in store. Company advertise in front of the stores or there is a particular place where companies hired. In Europe and other western countries where the chain stores are established they managed to recruit people from their own recruitment centre. In this process mostly entry level and unskilled employees are hired. Employer sometime announces open day recruitment for hiring people. Through open day recruitment organisation External Forces Supply Demand Unemployment Rate Labour Market Political Legal Image Recruitment Internal Forces Recruitment Policy HR Planning Size of the Firm Growth Expansion 2.4. Selection Selection is the process where employer chooses from a pool of candidate who is best suitable for the organisation. From the beginning of the selection process till the end selecting the right candidate is the only objective and to do that there are different test that employer choose to differentiate among the candidate. Selection is a process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify those with a greater likelihood of a success in a job. (Stone, 1999) Selection is a very constructive process through which right candidates comes out. 2.4.1. Preliminary interview The first step of the selection process is the preliminary interview process which comprises the subject to scrutiny the candidate based on their application and also eliminates the unqualified candidate. For HR managers scrutiny is the process to eliminate candidate based on the information provided on their application. Preliminary interview is the next available step for selection. Preliminary interview helps get that information which is not in the available in the application form. It can be held formally or informally, over the telephone or in a coffee shop. It helps HR manager to get an idea how many applicants can make it through the next stage and eventually will go forward. The interview processes are different in different countries. In UK they are more structured type. In UK they said that the more information you get about a person the reliable the person and the more valid and reliable your judgment is. Tixier in a survey in EU (but excluding France) Sweden, Switzerland and Austria found that structured interview were favoured in the UK, Scandinavia, Germany and Austria. This contrasted with Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg and Switzerland where unstructured were preferred (Tixer, 1996) 2.4.2. Selection test The essential criterion in choosing supplementary method is that they should provide information that is directly related to performance on the job. This should be the guiding principal both in choosing off-the-shelf tests and in designing exercises tailor-made for a particular workplace. In their review of what they call personal testing, Murphy and Davidshofer (2001) stress that better results are obtained the more closely a test, such as work sample test, resembles things that are actually done in the job concerned. A related issue that candidate can easily see the point of a test that requires them to do something they know will be done on the job. Psychological testing The term psychological tests are also known as psychometric test. They are developed to judge people based on their different capability. They are professionally developed and checked for reliability and validity. They are administered and scored in a standardized manner. The results found from these tests can be compared to norms for relevant population. The standardised administration of tests means all applicants answer the same questions in the same condition and objective scoring means that the scores are not open to individual interpretation as is the case with interview responses. Intelligence test Intelligence test is the most widely practised test in the selection process. The ranges of skills cover are verbal, arithmetical and diagrammatical reasoning. Selection team use intelligence test as one of the first tool to judge a candidate. Ability test Ability test are more specific test designed for individual to show their ability towards a particular test. How well a person can perform in a job can also be tested through this. There are two type of ability test one is attainment test and the other is aptitude test. Attainment test assess skills and knowledge that have been acquired through experience and learning, and aptitude test measure individuals potential to develop ability. Work sample test or school exams are examples of attainment test and the use of these would not require the special training. Where as aptitude test measure whether a applicant have the ability to learn something if training is provided. Most of the time aptitude test run when the candidate has no previous experience. It gives the indication that how successfully an individual can engage in a specialized activities. There is different type of aptitude test for all sector of the organization. Test of interest The relationship between interests and motivation and successful performance is not a straightforward one. For this reason these test are not used for selection (Smith and Robertson1993). But interest test can be used in career guidance and counselling. It gives an idea about the likings and disliking of the employee and give a hint sometimes why employee want to change their career. Personality questionnaire Personality questionnaire has been used in preference to personality test. When measuring the personality test there is no right or wrong answer rather than they are indication of habitual performance meaning that they reflect stable traits that are likely to be revealed in typical behaviour. Personality test is very important in case of job application. A person can do well in the entire test but may fall short as they have lack of motivation. It shows the maturity, interpersonal skill and behaviour in terms of difficult situation. 2.4.3. Work sample test When recruiter asks a candidate to perform a task that is related to the work or a element which is part of the job is known as work sample test. A recruiter may ask the employee to perform a lecture or to teach a subject to a group of people as a part of work sample test if the interview is about university lecturer. 2.4.4. Assessment centres An assessment centre is a method rather than a place, although some employer, particularly large organization might have premises dedicated to assessment, especially if they use them for both selection and development purposes. (Woodruffe, 2000) In a assessment centre a number of people are assessed at the same time by a number of assessor judging their numerical skill, interpersonal skill and how they coup with their colleague. This gives the chance to the employer to compare collection of range of information and observation and evaluation the candidate. The task included in an assessment centre test is work simulation where candidate were given a real life task usually performed in job. A based on their performance it is easier for a recruiter to distinguish the potential candidate. Group exercise is another tool used in ass

The theme of the novel Russlander (By Sandra Birdsell) :: essays research papers

The October revolution of 1917 in Russia was a turning point that defined Russia as a nation. It was one of the most dramatic events in the history of the Russia that had completely changed the lives of the people at that time. The Russlander by Sandra Birdsell describes the live of a girl who was raised on a wealthy Mennonite estate. It seemed like her parents were ignoring all the troubles in the outside world, living a happy life together. But nothing lasts forever, and their happiness ended with the start of the revolution. At that time Katya was only 16 years old. Just like many people at that time she lost her family and friends, who were killed by the Bolsheviks. The conflict with the new leaders of the country started when her father refused to pay taxes and support his country, and ended with this horrible tragedy. Katya had lost everything that her family owned and was forced to move to another country, where she had to start a new life from scratch. Even though she had relatives living in Canada, it was not an easy task. Just like other immigrants to Canada, she had to face many difficulties, like the learning of the new language, and adapting to the new lifestyle. Many years later, she came back to her homeland to visit the places she grew up in. After more than fifty years she still remembered the tragedy that suddenly ended the happy life of her family. People should value other things, besides money and their estate. Everyone should show more love and attention to the members of their family, because nothing can be compared to the importance of the family to any person in the world. It is unfortunate that in many cases, people realize how important their family is after they lose one or more of their relatives.

M & a of China Automobile Industry Essay

The Researches on Overseas Mergers and Acquisitions of China Automobile Industry in Post-Crisis Period? ZHU Qin School of Economics, Zhejiang Gongshang University, P. R. China, 310018 Zhuqin9871@163. com Abstract: Since the 2008 financial crisis, the overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of China automobile industry have become a topic the world’s automobile market most concerns about. This paper views that the rapid growth of the domestic automobile market, the adjustments in overseas auto industry and much support from government’s policies provide a good background and favorable conditions to overseas M&A of China automobile industry. It also points out that although China’s state-owned enterprises are still the main body of overseas mergers and acquisitions of China auto industry, private enterprises are playing an increasingly important role. Through studying specific cases, the paper proposes countermeasures concerning overseas mergers and acquisitions of China automobile industry in post-crisis period. Keywords: Post-crisis period, the automobile industry, overseas mergers and acquisitions 1 Introduction The rapid growth of China’s economy since the reform and opening, the explosive increase of automobile industry in recent years and government’s supporting policies on the automobile industry altogether offer new opportunities and conditions to overseas M&A of China automobile industry. At present, China has become the largest automobile producer in the global. In 2009, the top ten automobile manufacturing countries were: China (13791000), Japan (7. 935 million), United States (5. 697 million), Germany (5. 206 million ), Korea (3. 513 million), Brazil (3. 183 million), India (2. 628 million), Spain (2. 17 million), France (1.935 million), Mexico (1. 561 million). Large-scale production capacity endows China auto companies with a base to expand overseas. Following the 2008 financial crisis, the global economic downturn has had the international Automotive Group faced with overcapacity problem; meanwhile, the global credit shortage has brought great pressure to the survival and development of the automobile business. Funding gaps emerged in many international auto giants. After the financial crisis, the asset value of many foreign enterprises is seriously underestimated, which gives a good chance for Chinese enterprises to take a shot. Through overseas M&A access to the dreaming international auto brands, the core technology and international marketing channels can be acquired at low costs. At the same time, Chinese auto companies have sufficient capital reserves at the present stage, and with the strong support from the government and national financial institutions, there is a potential for them to become competitive buyers for part of the international Automotive Group’s quality assets. It is worth mentioning that related departments in the Chinese government treat the auto industry as a pillar industry of national economy, giving it much positive policy support. â€Å"The automotive industry restructuring and rejuvenation program†, promulgated in 2009 increased efforts to support the automobile industry. First, the program states that â€Å"it is required to promote the restructuring of the automotive industry, to support M&A of large-scale automobile enterprise groups, to expand the scale of major auto parts enterprises through M&A. † Previously, the major auto companies were not willing to conduct cross-regional restructuring because of too many barriers. â€Å"The automotive industry restructuring and rejuvenation program† can effectively solve this kind of concerns. In related detailed ? [Sustentation Fund]: National Science Fund of China (70703030) , Zhejiang Province Science Fund (Y6080222), Humanity and Social Science Fund of Chinese Ministry of Education (07JA790083, 09YJC790240) 43 M & D FORUM regulations, associated guidelines are made which involve the acquirer and acquiree, such as the source of acquisition financing, tax issues that may arise in acquisition, the asset disposal of acquired companies and employee relocation and other problems prone to cause disputes or already existing barriers. At the same time, it will lift the standard of admitting foreign asset and acquiring related domestic enterprises to (protectively) enhance the competitiveness of domestic auto companies. In addition, in March 16, 2009, the Ministry of Commerce issued † procedures for the administration of foreign investment † to further reform foreign investment management system, promote the facilitation of foreign investment, support Chinese enterprises to â€Å"go out† and participate more in international economic cooperation and competition. These help to raise strong and positive support for overseas M & A of China automobile industry. 2 The Main Body of Overseas M&A of China Automobile Industry Before 2008, although there were many cases of overseas M&A in China automobile industry, such as SAIC’s acquisition of Ssang Yong in 2004, Nanjing Auto ’s acquisition of Rover in 2005 and so on, the overall impact and scale were still limited and attention from the domestic and international was not intense enough. From 2006 to 2008, the scale of M&A China’s major automobile companies has been further reduced, with the total number of only 7. It only covered 19% of the total number of Chinese car companies’ various overseas investment. Other overseas investment approaches were: 21 cases of joint ventures or strategic alliances, accounting for 57%, 8 cases of factory founding directly, accounting for 22%, and 1 case of technology transfer. But after 2008, when the world auto market is still full of financial cold haze, the Chinese auto companies went against the trend. A number of enterprises joined with foreign auto brands in carrying out cross-border marriage. In this short year, both the vehicle industry or parts manufacturers lunched many acquisitions either far-reaching or with extremely high degree of concern. Beijing Automobile Works acquired Saab, Geely acquired Volvo, Beijing West Industry’s acquisition of the U. S. Delphi, Geely DSI bought Australian automatic transmission companies, to name just a few. Overall, in the current automobile industry, China’s M & A main body is evolving towards a diversed boom. China’s automobile companies participating in overseas M & A are no longer confined to state-owned ones. Due to their growing strength and government’s supportive policies, private enterprises have become the new force, injecting new vigor and vitality into the overseas M&A of China automobile industry. However, state-owned enterprises are still the most important main body in cross-border M & A activities [7]. In this M & A wave, the Beijing Automotive, as one of the state-owned enterprises, successfully finished the acquisition of the Swedish brand Saab in December 2009. State-owned enterprises have an advantage of large scale, but often there is a serious deficiency in the governance, a general lack of motivation of in the management. A majority of state-owned operators have an incomplete momentum for cross-border M & A. The private enterprise, with their natural clear property rights, fewer policy constraints, and a flexible structure and mechanism are playing an increasingly important role in the wave of automotive M&A. Thanks to less intervention from the government and following less protection compared with the state-owned enterprises, private enterprises possess stronger self-awareness, risk awareness and a sense of competition. Increasingly powerful private enterprise group is supposed to become an important force in the cross-border M & A in the future [15]. In this M&A wave, the most distinctive representative of private enterprises is China Geely Group. As a leader of China’s private auto enterprise, in March 2010, it successfully reached an agreement with General Motors, purchasing 100% of the shares of GM’s Volvo. 3 A Study of Overseas M & A Cases in China Automobile Industry 44 M & D FORUM 3. 1 Overseas M & A cases of automobile enterprises In the choice of overseas M & A targets, China’s auto enterprises prefer developed regions like Europe and the United States, especially concentrating on world’s top 10 auto-producing countries besides China such as the United States, France and other places. The vehicle industry in these areas has long history, with many powerful brands, more developed economy, higher living standard and stronger consumer ability. In the choice of specific targets, Chinese enterprises are in favor of those enterprises that are of highly well-known brands, a long history, as well as advanced technology and experienced management. However, during this financial crisis, a serious setback in operating performance led some of these companies or brands to great losses or even near-collapse. Geely’s acquisition of Volvo and Beijing Auto’s of Saab is representative ones. They are very typical in this M&A wave starting after the financial crisis. 3. 1. 1 Beijing auto’s acquisition of Saab On December 28, 2009, Beijing Automotive Holdings formally announced the acquisition of relevant intellectual property rights of Saab cars at a cost of 200 million U. S. dollars. By then, Beijing Automotive has gotten the core data of the complete research, production, marketing, quality control system. This international transaction is the first successful case for a domestic automobile enterprise to carry out the acquisition of foreign advanced and complete vehicle power technology since 2009. As one of a few China’s Automotive Groups who not yet have their own brands, Beijing Automotive is very urgent on owning its own brand-related technology. So the successful marriage with the Saab is of great significance for Beijing Automotive to speed up the process of independent R & D and internationalization. 3. 1. 2 Geely’s acquisition of Volvo On December 23, 2009, Ford Motor Company released a statement of reaching a framework agreement to sell its Volvo to Geely. In March 28, 2010, Geely signed a definitive stock purchase agreement with Ford to buy 100% of the shares of Volvo Car at a cost of 1. 8 billion U. S. dollars and then signed a definitive agreement concerning related assets [32]. This saliva battles full of troubles ended with Geely tenaciously achieving its dream of â€Å"snake swallows elephant†. It is a spur for other domestic auto enterprises, also a major step for Geely towards the international market Simultaneously it helps the Volvo brand to further open the Chinese market,. However, it is not easy for Geely to â€Å"digest† Volvo. Whether it is because of the picky European Union, or high operating costs for brand, or cultural integration, especially the integration and management of Volvo’s distributors, factories and suppliers scattering over more than 100 countries and 2,400 regions. There are a series of huge problems. 3. 2 Overseas M & A cases of automobile parts enterprises After the financial crisis, overseas auto parts enterprises were faced with greater difficulties than full-vehicle enterprises. Bankruptcy and M&A happened frequently. Influenced by this round of auto industry structure adjustment, the integration of parts suppliers intensified, and M & A wave aimed at supplier groups resurged. Foreign well-known auto parts enterprises like Australian transmission company DSI, Delphi in the United States and so on occupy pivotal positions in the auto parts industry, and even have a significant impact on the development of the full-vehicle market. Direct purchase of foreign auto parts enterprises is local suppliers’ one way of gaining access to core technology. After the current financial crisis, the M&A cases of auto parts enterprises are quite frequent and also larger and more far-reaching than that of before the crisis. Such as Geely’s acquisition of the Australian transmission company DSI, Beijing West Industry’s acquisition of U. S. Delphi, WanXiang Group’s acquisition of the U. S. DS automobile steering shaft and so on. 3. 2. 1 Beijing West Industry’s acquisition of Delphi On March 31, 2009, Delphi formally agreed to sell its global businesses of braking and suspension to Beijing West Industry. Beijing West was prepared to pay 90 million U. S. dollars in cash to acquire Delphi’s related machinery and equipment, intellectual property and real estate, including its businesses of braking and suspension in eight plants, five technology centers and 14 technical support and customer 45 M & D FORUM service centers which locate worldwide. 3. 2. 2 Geely’s acquisition of DSI. On March 27, 2009 in New South Wales State’s Government Building, the signing ceremony of Geely acquiring Australian Automatic Transmission Company was held. According to a statement from Li Shufu, the Chairman of Geely Group, Geely conducts a wholly-owned acquisition of DSI for it values DSI’s complete designing and manufacturing capabilities accumulated over 80 years. DSI Automatic Transmission Company is an automatic transmission specialist centralizing research and development, manufacturing, and sales altogether. What is more, it is one of the only two global automatic transmission companies that are independent from all automotive vehicle companies. 4 Countermeasures and Suggestions for Overseas M & A of China Automobile Industry 4. 1 The selection of objects for overseas M & A First of all, when making overseas M & A, Chinese auto enterprises need to be careful of those M & A targets who already have no competitive advantage within the industry, and just to sell companies to reject the burden. Therefore, they should be especially cautious in the choice of Objects for overseas M & A and take various factors into consideration. Second, while doing overseas M&A, Chinese auto enterprises can not just focus on targets of low purchase price, but on the potential value of the enterprises after the acquisition. Therefore, the Chinese auto enterprises ought to choose targets that are consistent and coordinated with their own strategic objectives, and can complement their own businesses to achieve synergies; to choose overseas assets with low cost but are able to produce better results through the integration. Finally, in assessing M & A targets, priority should be given to smaller yet high quality objects in accordance with their requirements. M & A are to be done for many times, at small amount and with steady integration. 4. 2 A careful and scientific implementation of overseas M & A After enterprises have determined the strategic premise of overseas M & A consistent with their own development requirements, they need to compare the key links in tactic and carry on related initiatives. First, in M & A planning session, to establish a more comprehensive overseas assessment system; to do a comprehensive and quantitative research with regard to the status of the host country market, national policies and regulations, competition pattern, the main risks; to do further accurate assessment of the target company’s technology, independent intellectual property rights, operation status and potential value, weighing the risks and opportunities. Second, after selecting the target of M & A, a comprehensive understanding of the business-related technology, the details of intellectual property rights should be gained, and the specific items and amounts of M & A be finalized. To maximize benefits at the lowest cost by conducting effective negotiations. Third, after the transaction is completed, to assess comprehensively the differences of both managements in management philosophy, and the differences of staff in culture, values, benefits, remuneration and so on. To orderly propel the process of integration in achieving M & A objects. 4. 3 The implementation of the strategic resource reserves in overseas M & A To obtain opportunities of overseas M&A, auto industry are required to carry out resource reserves in four aspects. First, human resources reserves. The Chinese auto enterprises should consciously reserve all kinds of overseas M & A professionals as soon as possible. Second, M & A experience reserves. By continually accumulating experience through practices, enterprises can learn more about related laws and regulations, operating procedures, and precautions to reduce risks, and then improve the success rate. Third, M & A financial reserves. To fight for access to financial support from the government or large financial institutions. To ensure enough amount of money while minimizing financial costs. 46 M & D FORUM 5 Conclusion During post-crisis period, the China automobile industry is facing an unprecedented good opportunity in overseas M&A. With the support of concerning policies, the China auto industry is adopting an active global strategy. Through the integration of global auto industry resources, the international competitiveness force of China auto industry is enhanced in a great degree. In the process of overseas M&A, the China auto industry needs to actively carry out relevant strategic resource reserves, scientifically select acquisition targets, and carefully as well as scientifically implement specific overseas M & A strategy. Author in brief: Zhu Qin, PHD, Associate Professor, School of Economics, Zhejiang Gongshang University Email: zhuqin9871@163. com. References [1]. Stefano Rossiand Paolo Volpin. Cross-Country Determinants of Mergers and Acquisitions [M]. London Business School, 2002 [2]. Guo Jianhua. The global automotive industry changing situation report [R]. Beijing: Equality in Automobile Research Institute, 2009(in Chinese) [3]. RolandBerger Strategy Consultants. China’s auto industry development, in the current financial crisis the opportunities and challenges [R], 2009 (in Chinese) [4]. State Council Development Research Center of Industrial Economics Research Department, Society of Automotive Engineers of China, Volkswagen Group. China Automotive Industry Development Report [M]. Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2009. 7 (in Chinese) 47

Comparison of War - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 775 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/09/20 Category History Essay Type Narrative essay Tags: Novel Essay War Essay Did you like this example? The two novels, All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque and The Storm of Steel by Junger, are two different perspectives of a common theme, the theme of war. While Junger’s recollection of the war seems to glorify battle, Remarque strongly emphasizes the horrors of war. Throughout his novel, Junger seems to be a bloodthirsty murderer, whereas Remarque shows regret and remorse for taking a man’s life. Though each book gives a different perspective, both novels give a sense of patriotism to the reader. Throughout Remarque’s recollection of the Great War, he gives a very dark and truthful description of battle. â€Å"I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another. (263) This excerpt alone gives the reader a sense of the horrors of war. Remarque emphasizes the point th at people don’t simply kill, but they â€Å"innocently slay† each other. This adds to the dark tone of the novel, whereas Junger emphasizes heroics in his recollection. â€Å"The bravest push to the front shooting and bomb throwing. † (273). Junger glorifies the leaders of war by calling the men brave and at one point he describes a man’s death by saying that, â€Å"he slipped over to death smiling like a child† (274). Junger sees war as an inevitable part of life, and Remarque describes the whole thing as chance. â€Å"†¦every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck. † (101) After reading both novels, it is very clear that Junger is much more willing to take another man’s life. He even comes off as blood thirsty in excerpts such as â€Å"†¦ I threw away my rifle and rushed with clenched fists on to the road between the two sides. † (277). This gives the reader a sense the hatred that Junger had toward th e enemy. To charge the enemy with no weapon would be considered ludicrous and suicidal but Junger does it without a second thought. On the other hand, Paul from Remarque’s novel kills only out of the animal instinct of kill or be killed. After killing his first enemy in hand to hand combat he says, â€Å"Comrade, I did not want to kill you†¦ Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy? † (223). This quote clearly shows Paul’s compassion and regret whereas Junger is a hardened officer who knows he cannot show emotions in front of his men. Both accounts of the war show a form of Patriotism. Ernst Junger clearly displays his patriotism by writing, â€Å"†¦we believe ourselves entrusted with the true and spiritual welfare of our people†¦ Germany lives and shall never go under! (318-319) Junger obviously believes in what he did and would do it again whereas Remarque, on the other hand, writes about how Paul and his men often questions why they f ight. Remarque writes, â€Å"We loved our country as much as they; we went courageously into every action; but also we distinguished the false from true, we had learned to see. And we saw that there was nothing of their world left. We were all at once terrible alone; and alone we must see it through. † (13) This is an ideal quote to show how Paul had lost faith in his government and in his commanders. He does not even know what he is fighting for, he doesn’t know who is making them fight and he doesn’t know why he must kill. He realizes that he must finish what he has started. There is no turning back. As you can see, even though both novels share a common theme of war, it is viewed in two very different perspectives. Junger’s book glorifies war and its heroics whereas Remarque views war as the closest a man can come to Hell while his heart is still beating. Junger clearly recalls why he is fighting and is strong in his patriotism but Paul, however, is confused on why he is fighting. He is only playing the cards he has been dealt. It is also very clear that Remarque’s character is not a born killer like Junger. Paul is simply just a kid who was handed a gun but war can harden anyone into a soldier as expressed by Remarque, â€Å"We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces. The first bomb, the first explosion, burst in our hearts. We are cut off from activity, from striving, from progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war. (87-88) Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Comparison of War" essay for you Create order