Discuss the Impact of Social Media During the Arab Spring - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2317 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Media Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? 1. Introduction The Arab Spring is a revolutionary movement in North Africa and the Middle East, which began in December 2010 with the Tunisian Revolution à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" before spreading to other Arab countries, such as Egypt, Syria, and Libya, amongst others. While the Arab Spring was not predicted by political commentators and the media, in retrospect, there are a number of reasons with regard to why it occurred, such as longstanding oppressive regimes and difficult economic conditions. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Discuss the Impact of Social Media During the Arab Spring" essay for you Create order However, despite all of this, the catalyst for the Arab Spring came from a twenty-something fruit vendor in Tunisia who, frustrated and angry about the treatment he was receiving from local officials, set himself on fire in protest à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and subsequently died (Haas Lesch, 2013). In years gone by, such an event might have been largely covered up by an autocratic regime that was able to control the mass media à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" but nowadays, in the age of the Internet and social media, such a task is more difficult. Indeed, Adi (2014) has suggested that the use of social media platforms (such as Facebook and Twitter) did play an integral part in the Arab Spring uprisings à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" but reiterates that social media was used as a tool to gather increasing support for the cause, rather than being the catalyst in itself. Therefore, this paper shall discuss the impact of social media during the Arab Spring, and try to ascertain the extent to which it facilitated the gr owth of the movement. 2. Social Media and the Arab Spring To begin with, Howard Hussain (2013)state that: Social protests in the Arab world have spread across North Africa and the Middle East, largely because digital media allowed communities to realize that they shared grievances and because they nurtured transportable strategies for mobilizing against directors (p. 3). Moreover, Howard Hussain (2013)go on to unequivocally state that the Internet, mobiles phones, and social networking have transformed politics in North Africa and the Middle East. Indeed, in light of the Arab Spring movement that began in late 2010, it would be difficult to argue against such a notion. Furthermore, Bebawi Bossio (2014) also point out that the mass media has labelled the Arab Spring as a social media revolution, with citizen journalism and social media reporting helping to sustain the wave of protests in North Africa and the Middle East from 2010. Thus, there are two ways in which social media has been used during the Arab Spring, these being: (1) by helping to coordinate protests on a mass scale, and (2) by reporting on the events without any media bias. This then, is something that was also used to great effect during the 2011 riots in England, when social media was used to coordinate riots in various English cities (Briggs, 2011) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and it is perhaps no coincidence that these riots coincided with the Arab Spring movement and the successful use of social media in North Africa and the Middle East at that time. However, in oppressive regimes in North Africa and the Middle East, unlike in the UK, such technologies are a revelation in communication à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" as these are countries that have traditionally had their media manipulated by despotic rulers and regimes, and have been subjected to extreme censorship and manipulation. Gismondi (2014) notes that a study in Washington found that social media helped to shape and lead the debate with regard to the politics of the Arab Spring, and that young and educated people tended to lead this discourse, with women also being highly involved with social media participation (and the riots and protests themselves). For example, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali discovered the power of social media when revolutionaries posted a video of him and his wife using a government-funded jet to travel to Europe on lavish shopping trips à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" something that angered locals, who were struggling with economic conditions; and ultimately contributed to his downfall. Moreover, the Washington study cited by Gismondi (2014) also found that social media was instrumental in sharing democratic ideas internationally, and this no doubt also helped to fuel the Arab Spring, and to make people in the region dream of living in a free and democratic society. In addition, Khondker (2011) also notes that social media played a vital role in the Arab Spring in the absence of an open media and civil society. Indeed, in Syria, for example, the regi me there is notorious for controlling the mass media à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and remains a very dangerous place for journalists to ply their trade; with there being very few press freedoms, and with Internet activity also being monitored by the government, and being highly censored. However, it is very difficult to monitor and control all Internet activity, and in this respect, social media likely played a vital role in the uprisings there too. Therefore, as a result of the threat that social media now poses to autocratic regimes, places such as the United Arab Emirates now have laws in place that have the power to punish people if they discuss or post photos of other people (which of course includes politicians or people in positions of power), which is causing some concern amongst human rights groups (Tovey, 2015). Thus, while food shortages as a result of the 2008 global economic crisis, global warming, and poverty may all have been factors that led to the mass uprising in the regi on, it could be said that it was social media that help to sustain this discontent, and this is something that autocratic leaders are now well aware of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and as in the UAE, are attempting to mitigate through laws that prohibit people from disseminating information about other people without their consent. However, ironically, it is such violations of human rights and individual liberties that are perhaps causing discontent in the first place à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and the flexing of such political muscles might only serve to further distance the people from the regime that they are being oppressed by. Indeed, Beaumont (2011) has noted that due to the volume of people now using the Internet and social media in North Africa and the Middle East, that blocking such activity might actually cause more problems, and even more discontent. Moreover, it is also highlighted how social media was crucial in covering the initial news of the man who set himself on fire in Tunisia (whi ch could be seen as the catalyst for the whole Arab Spring movement), as a similar event had taken place three month before, but nobody really knew about it because it had not been filmed and posted on social media. As a result of this, in Egypt, the government even went as far as pulling the plug on Internet services and 3G networks so that the public could not organise protests and riots. However, this was responded to with the analogue equivalent of Twitter: via handheld signs that were held aloft at demonstrations, which contained information about the next protest (Beaumont, 2011). Perhaps then, the power of social media comes from its unedited and uncensored format, which allows people to get closer to the truth than traditional media in the region has allowed. Moreover, it is also a tool that allows people to organise, to quickly gather support for a cause, to disseminate information, and to galvanise people into action before momentum is lost. In addition, Wolfsfel, Segev Sheafer (2013) note that the role of social media in collective action cannot be understood without first examining the political environment in which it operates, and that a significant increase in the use of new media is much more likely to follow a significant amount of protest activity than to precede it à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and this was also the case in the Arab Spring. Nevertheless, while some might play down the role of social media in the Arab Spring uprisings, others à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" such as Eltantawy Wiest (2011) suggest that more research is needed in order to ascertain the true extent to which social media influenced the direction of the Arab Spring movement. In hindsight, it seems axiomatic that social media had a big part to play in the Arab Spring uprisings, and helped to maintain the momentum of the movement by continually updating the public with news of oppression and violations of human rights à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" that would, under past regimes, have been cov ered up. However, it seems that it would be a mistake to suggest that social media caused the uprisings, as the protests continued in Egypt à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" as mentioned even after the government pulled the plug on Internet services and 3G connections. Social media then, is merely a tool for disseminating information in a quick and efficient manner à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" in much the same way as leaflets and written manifestos have been in the past (although this is obviously a much slower process). Moreover, the multimedia nature of social media also allows people to instantly post photographs or videos, which can potentially be seen by millions of people à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" which is an unprecedented innovation; and one that could have a big effect on world politics for many years to come. Nevertheless, while the use of social media led to many successful campaigns and the overthrowing of dictators in some countries (such as Tunisia), elsewhere, civil wars are still raging; as in Syri a. Kassim (2012) states that: In Arab countries, many activists who played crucial roles in the Arab Spring used social networking as a key tool in expressing their thoughts concerning unjust acts committed by the government (n.p.). This then, is something that seems to be fairly clear in a subjective sense. However, this sentiment is also backed up with empirical data, such as the study done by Howard, Duffy, Freelon, Hussain, Mari Mazaid (2011), which analysed over three million tweets, gigabytes of You Tube content, and thousands of blog posts, to find that social media played a central role in shaping political debates in the Arab Spring. Thus, they note that: Conversations about revolution often preceded major events on the ground, and social media carried inspiring stories of protest across international borders (Howard, Duffy, Freelon, Hussain, Mari Mazaid, 2011, n.p.). Indeed, this is a study that is also commented on by ODonnell (2011), who notes that in the week befor e Egyptian president Hosni Mubaraks resigned, tweets from Egypt à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and around the world à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" that talk about political change in Egypt proliferated from around 2,300 per day, to around 230,000 per day. Thus: Online activists created a virtual ecology of civil society, debating contentious issues that could not be discussed in public (ODonnell, 2011, n.p.). As such, in the absence of a civil society and an elected government in places in the Middle East and North Africa, a virtual and comparable environment was created in cyberspace where political discourses could be relatively safely held. 3. Conclusions While this relatively brief discourse has shown that social media had a major role to play in the Arab Spring uprisings, it has also demonstrated that there is still a lack of consensus on the extent of its impact. Thus, while Wolfsfel, Segev Sheafer (2013) suggest that social media discussions tended to increase in volume after a major revolutionary event during the Arab Spring, Howard, Duffy, Freelon, Hussain, Mari Mazai (2011) suggests the opposite: that social media content increased before a major revolutionary event during the Arab Spring. Nevertheless, what can be said without any doubt is that social media was used during the Arab Spring to great effect, and that it had some degree of influence on its outcome. Indeed, without people posting images and videos of events in the Arab Spring, and commenting on what they saw, then the revolution may have never gained the momentum that it needed to topple the long-standing regimes that activists opposed. However, with laws being formulated in places such as the UAE that curb social media use by making it illegal to comment on and post photos and videos of people without their consent; autocratic leaders are now clearly afraid of the power of social media and the impact that it can have. [2,011 words] Bibliography Adi, M. (2014) The Usage of Social Media in the Arab Spring, Berlin: Lit Verlag. Beaumont, P. (2011) The truth about Twitter, Facebook and the uprisings in the Arab world, The Guardian [online], https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/25/twitter-facebook-uprisings-arab-libya, Date accessed 16/10/2015. Bebawi, S. Bossio, D. (2014) Social Media and the Politics of Reportage: The Arab Spring, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Briggs, D. (2011) The English Riots of 2011: A Summer of Discontent, UK: Waterside Press. Eltantawy, N. Wiest, J. B. (2011) The Arab Spring Social Media in the Egyptian Revolution: Reconsidering Resource Mobilization Theory,International Journal of Communication,Vol. 5, No.18, pp. 1207-1224. Gismondi, A. (2014) Occupy Wall Street: Social Media, Education, and the Occupy Movement. In: Vladlena, B. (Ed.) Cutting-Edge Technologies and Social Media Use in Higher Education, Hershey: Information Science Reference (pp. 156-173). Haas, M.L. Lesch, D.W. (2013) The Arab Spring: Change and Resistance in the Middle East, USA: Westview Press. Howard, P.N., Duffy, A., Freelon, D., Hussain, M., Mari, W. Mazaid, M. (2011) Opening Closed Regimes: What Was the Role of Social Media During the Arab Spring? ICTlogy, https://pitpi.org/index.php/2011/09/11/opening-closed-regimes-what-was-the-role-of-social-media-during-the-arab-spring/, Date accessed 16/10/2015. Howard, P.N. Hussain, M.M. (2013)Democracys Fourth Wave? Digital Media and the Arab Spring,USA: Oxford University Press. Kassim, S. (2012) Twitter Revolution: How the Arab Spring Was Helped By Social Media, Policy Mic [online], https://mic.com/articles/10642/twitter-revolution-how-the-arab-spring-was-helped-by-social-media, Date accessed 16/10/2015. Khondker, H.H. (2011) Special Forum on the Arab Revolutions Role of the New Media in the Arab Spring, Globalizations, Vol. 8, No. 5, pp. 675-679. ODonnell, C. (2011) New study quantifies use of social media in Arab Spring, UW Today [online], https://www.washington.edu/news/2011/09/12/new-study-quantifies-use-of-social-media-in-arab-spring, Date accessed 16/10/2015. Tovey, J. (2015) United Arab Emirates is a dangerous place to use social media, human rights groups warn, The Sydney Morning Herald, https://www.smh.com.au/world/united-arab-emirates-is-a-dangerous-place-to-use-social-media-human-rights-groups-warn-20150713-gibjbv.html, Date accessed 16/10/2015. Wolfsfeld, G., Segev, E. Sheafer, T. (2013) Social Media and the Arab Spring Politics Comes First, The International Journal of Press/Politics, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 115-137.

Following A close study of Tyger Tyger by William Blake...

Following A close study of Tyger Tyger by William Blake and Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes, discuss the poets attitudes towards the animals in the poem. I am following a close study of the poems Tyger Tyger by William Blake and Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes. Tyger Tyger is about an evil fearful tyger and was written in the 18th century during the industrial revolution and this is shown in the text as it is written in old-fashioned language. The second poem I am studying is Hawk Roosting which is about a hawk in a forest and was written during the 1950s. The first poem I am going to study is Tyger Tyger by William Blake. From the first line of the first stanza Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright the alliteration gives the†¦show more content†¦The word top not only means that he flies above everything else but also that he is top of the world. The poet feels that the hawk is strong and focused as is shown on the third line Inaction no falsifying dream. This means that the hawk doesnt need dreams as his life is perfect the way it is. The poet also feels that there is a sense of menace or danger of the hawk as is shown on the third line Between my hooked head and hooked feet:. The repetition in the word hooked gives the hawk a sense of menace. The poet shows how he feels the hawk is arrogant again in the last line of the first stanza Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.. This shows that the hawk feels that he is perfect and no one is equal or better than him. It also shows that the hawks like revolves around killing as he is either killing or thinking about killing. By saying this the poet shows that he feels the hawk is a killing machine. Nicole Kilcoyne William Blake relates the tyger to it surroundings and the rest of nature and creation by throughout the whole of the poem. For example he mentions the forests of the night which makes one think of a huge scary tyger in the dark gloomy forests. Also he says how even the heavens think that the creator has made a mistake in inventing such a horrible killing machine in the 1st and 2nd lines on the fifth stanza when he says When the stars threw down their spears, and watered heaven with their tears,. Which gives

Cross Cultural Management free essay sample

For the purposes of this poster you are required to select a product or a service and demonstrate effectively through your poster how national culture has had an impact on the promotional or advertising strategies used to advertise that product or service in different countries. In doing this you are being asked to explore how national culture impacts on the way a brand or product is promoted in particular countries or regions. You may select a product (e. G. Shampoo, Chocolate, Beer) a brand (e. G. Coke, Nikkei, Apple) or a service (e. G. Airlines, health promotion, banking) o use as the basis for your exploration of the impact of cultural differences on its promotion. We will be looking at some examples in class based on airline safety promotions and condom advertising. You can assess the impact of culture on advertising in many ways and use various frameworks to assist with this analysis. Design/methodology/approach – Data for this exploratory study was obtained from a sample of 66 respondents from lodging organizations with membership in the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH amp; RA). Data was collected by means of self-administered, web-based surveys. Findings – Participants in this study indicate that expatriate management skills vary in importance for hotel expatriates. The results of the analysis of variance demonstrate that the importance placed on the different expatriate management skills varies based on country of origin of both the expatriate and the parent company. Respondents and companies originating in different countries place more importance on certain expatriate management skills than others. Analyses also indicate that seven of nine cross-cultural training activities provided by the parent company are perceived to be effective for the success of an expatriate assignment. Practical implications – This study suggests that opportunities do exist for international hotel companies to better prepare hotel expatriates for foreign assignments by integrating more effectively issues of cultural awareness into their preparation programs. Additionally, although it may appear counter-intuitive for a future expatriate to focus on the structure and processes of the home company before embarking on a foreign assignment, the results of this study suggest that such knowledge is very valuable. Originality/value – While studies investigating expatriation management in the mainstream literature have been growing recently, only a handful of published studies have explored the issue in the hotel industry. Answers to the research questions that guided this study add to our knowledge and enhance our understanding of the issues related to expatriation management within the context of the hotel industry. The present study generated fruitful avenues, especially with regard to the issues related to the variation of management skills according to the country of origin of participants and parent company. Keywords Hotel and catering industry, Management skills, Country of origin, Expatriates Paper type Research paper Introduction The need of international hotel companies for effective expatriate managers has never been more genuine. The success of foreign operations of these hotel companies depends Expatriation in the hotel industry 885 Received 29 August 2010 Revised 2 December 2010 19 February 2011 2 March 2011 Accepted 9 March 2011 International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 3 No. 7, 2011 pp. 885-901 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0959-6119 DOI 10. 1108/09596111111167515 IJCHM 23,7 on technically competent and culturally adaptable expatriate managers (Yu and Huat, 1995). As these companies continue to be even more international in scope, the benefits of having such expatriates are numerous. For instance, expatriates running foreign operations are more likely to be familiar with the corporate culture and control systems of headquarters than are host-country managers. This results in more effective communication and coordination with the corporation (Barber and Pittaway, 2000). The 886 use of expatriates also provides managerial talent in developing countries where there is limited local talent, and enhances the global mind-set of the organization. Expatriates are also a better option than domestic managers when short-term international visits are insufficient for successfully growing a business in the target country.? However, there is also a downside to using expatriates. Expatriate failure rates (the rate at which expatriates return prematurely from foreign assignments) have been argued to be notably high in the international hotel industry (Magnini and Honeycutt, 2003; Yu and Huat, 1995). Financially, the impact of the resulting turnover has been described as very expensive (Magnini, 2009). In addition to monetary costs, failed expatriate efforts can also lead to negative organizational outcomes such as delayed productivity, poor relationships with local nationals, negative perceptions of the company, difficulty for expatriate successors, and ineffective repatriation (Bennett et al. 2000). Failed expatriates also adversely affect important relationships with clients, local businesses, and local government officials as well (Shay and Tracey, 1997; Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985). The lack of cultural preparedness and training was considered to be a cause of expatriate failures, yet few companies have adequate processes for selecting and training their ex patriate managers (McGrath-Champ and Yang, 2002; Porter and Tansky, 1999; Kealey and Protheroe, 1996; Tung, 1987; 1981). Interestingly, research ndicates that some companies believe that training cannot do much to resolve the various issues associated with expatriate assignments (Black and Mendenhall, 1990). The aim of the current study is to contribute to our understanding of the issue of expatriation management within the context of the international hotel industry. Need for more research Despite the extraordinary interest of international hotel companies in expanding their operations globally, very little is known about their management of expatriates. While studies investigating expatriation management in the mainstream literature have been growing recently, only a handful of published studies have explored the issue in the hotel industry. This dearth of hospitality expatriation research prevails despite that the few empirical studies (e. g. Magnini and Honeycutt, 2003; Feng and Pearson, 1999) conducted within the context of the hospitality industry reveal that there is a real and growing need for hospitality research which facilitates the understanding of expatriation issues in the hospitality industry. Further, in reviewing the relevant literature, it is noticed that most studies on managing expatriates have been conducted across a variety of industries, with limited to no inclusion of the hospitality industry (see Shen and Darby, 2006; Linehan and Scullion, 2001; Caligiuri et al. , 2001; Enderwick and Hodgson, 1993). Many studies have focused on expatriates and companies originating from one country (e. g. Shen and Darby, 2006; Enderwick and Hodgson, 1993), or expatriates of one country working in either one other country (e. . Celaya and Swift, 2006; Selmer, 2001) or a very few number of countries (e. g. Linehan and Scullion, 2001). A need for empirical studies that include a wider range of participants and countries is called for in the literature (Shen and Darby, 2006; Caligiuri et al. , 2001). Additionally, Caligiuri et al. (2001) report that most of the cross-cultural training and experiences have been conducted with populations of international sojourners (i. e. students, pe ace corps volunteers), not with expatriate people. Magnini’s (2009) study on expatriate training focused exclusively on real-time training, leaving much to be learned about other types of cross-cultural training. While overcoming several of the drawbacks identified in previous empirical studies, the current study attends to this need. Given the lack of sufficient literature on international hospitality companies, a study, which sheds light on their practices in terms of the development of their international managerial cadre is warranted. Answers to the research questions that guide this current study will expand our understanding of expatriation in the international hotel industry. Research questions The specifics pertaining to expatriation in the hotel industry remain inadequately investigated. While overcoming several shortcomings in previous studies, this study sought to answer three questions. Management skills of successful expatriates While technical skills are often used by companies when selecting managers for international assignments (Kealey and Protheroe, 1996; Tung, 1981), existing literature presents a much broader inventory of competencies and skills that are needed for successful expatriates. Heller (1980) talked about personality, broad intellectual horizons, values of cultural empathy, friendliness, patience and prudence, impeccable educational and professional credentials; all accompanied with immaculate health, creativity, and respect for peers. In another study, Dulfer (1990) proposes that international managers must be effective team players, demonstrate appropriate reflection on complex problems, find new solutions in the face of unexpected changes, display confidence in solving problems, and motivate others to cooperate. McCall and Hollenbeck (2002) present similar but distinct competencies needed of an expatriate executive: open-minded and flexible in thought and tactics; culturally interested and sensitive; able to deal with complexity; resilient, resourceful, optimistic, and energetic; demonstrate honesty and integrity; maintain a stable personal life; and possess value-added technical or business skills. Some studies have looked beyond skills and characteristics to explore psychological dispositions and orientations. Mendenhall and Oddou (1985) identified four dimensions that are believed to predict success in expatriation assignments: * (1)   self-orientation (the qualities that strengthen the expatriate manager’s self-esteem, self-confidence and mental well-being); * (2)   others-orientation (the bility to develop relationships and communicate with nationals of the host country); * (3)   perceptual ability (the ability to comprehend why people of other countries behave in certain ways; being nonjudgmental and non-evaluative); and * (4)   cultural toughness (how well the expatriate manager adjusts to cultures that are distant and unfamiliar). Expatriation in the hotel industry 887 IJCHM 23,7 888 A notable tendency in the literature is to attempt to identify a universal set of competencies and skills that can be expected to apply to the majority of expatriate jobs arou nd the world. However, it is reasonable to assume that different regions of the world and different expatriate jobs may require different emphasis on certain skills than others. Empirical studies conducted within the context of the hotel industry, for example, have generally suggested that the emphasis placed on certain skills and competencies may not completely conform to the more generic skills proposed in general expatriation management literature. A relatively early study by Shay and Tracey (1997) indicated that â€Å"the reasons for failure and the attributes required for hotel-management success abroad appear to be particular to the industry†. The study identified the following as the most desirable attributes for expatriate hotel managers: people skills, adaptability, flexibility, and emotional maturity. Similar beliefs are shared by D’Annunzio-Green (1997) who argued that due to the international nature of the hospitality industry, different needs for developing international managers do exist. Feng and Pearson (1999) designed a study to identify the selection criteria and skills/areas of knowledge that are important to the success of expatriate hotel managers in China. These researchers surveyed managers belonging to two hotel companies headquartered in Hong Kong and the USA. The study concluded that adaptation skills, interpersonal relations skills, cultural stress management, knowledge of Chinese culture, and survival language were the most important skills for hotel expatriates to master in China. Kriegl’s (2000) study used the alumni atabase of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration to draw a sample of 100 non-US managers for her survey on most important skills for international hospitality managers. The findings indicated that these skills, in a descending order, were cultural sensitivity, interpersonal skills, managerial flexibility, adaptive leadership, international motivation, intercultural competencies, ability to work with limited reso urce, understanding of international business, interest, international etiquette, stress management, functional skills and technical skills. Considering the generalizability limitations of the few hotel-related studies, the hospitality literature clearly presents a need for further understanding that is based on investigations with a wider scope, informed by hotel managers originating from and working in varied countries. RQ1. From a practitioner’s perspective, what are the most important management skills hotel expatriates should possess? Influences of country of origin There is evidence that national cultures vary and that a variety of managerial practices differ by national culture. Cultural value systems, which may differ from one nation to another, influence patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting (Hofstede, 1980). These patterns affect the ways of life, philosophies, and value systems of people of a particular nation. Empirical investigations by Ayoun et al. , (2010a,b) and Ayoun and Moreo (2009) verified a presence of national cultural differences among hotel managers belonging to different countries, demonstrated in different managerial philosophies and styles when developing business strategies. Hotel managers from different cultures may view the same managerial situation in significantly different ways and behave differently in any particular situation based on their beliefs and values. The country of origin is a variable that has been frequently explored in studies of expatriation management. For instance, in a seminal work, Tung (1981) found that among American companies surveyed the reasons for expatriate failure were cited to be (in descending order of importance) inability of the spouse to adjust, manager’s inability to adjust, other family reasons, manager’s personal or emotional maturity, and inability to cope with the larger verseas responsibility. Interestingly, in repeating this element of the study with the Japanese organizations, the reasons were ranked in almost exact opposite order of the American organizations. Among European organizations, the only reason for expatriate failure that respondents consistently marked was the inability of the spous e to adjust. Similar studies have been conducted with Japanese (Allen, 1988), British (Hamill, 1989), and Australian (Dowling and Welch, 1988) expatriates. A qualitative investigation in the hospitality industry by Gannon et al. 2010) found that managers from specific nationalities were preferred and demanded for specific positions. Similarly, the literature proposes that if expatriates originate from a country that is culturally similar to the foreign country where they will operate, they would generally be more successful in doing their work. A notable number of scholarly works in expatriation management (e. g. Black et al. , 1991; Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985) support the notion that cultural distance between home and host cultures plays an influential role in expatriate success. For example, testing hypotheses based on transaction costs theory, the study by Colakoglu and Caligiuri (2008) suggests that firms rely on a greater number of parent country expatriates when they are culturally distant from the subsidiary. Several other studies, however, have shown that the relationship between country of origin of the expatriate and the host country is more complex than it is typically assumed. Empirical results by Selmer et al. (2007) call into question previous findings that substantiate the relationship between cultural distance and expatriate adjustment. Abdellatif et al. (2010) confirmed the ambiguous effect of distance (cultural and geographical) on internationalization strategies. In addition to the inconclusive results associated with influences of country of origin, an investigation into the potential influences of country of origin on the perceived importance of management skills of expatriates is warrant. RQ2. Do the management skills perceived by hotel expatriates vary by the country of origin of the expatriate and parent company? Cultural training Several authors (e. g. Hutchings, 2003; Varner and Palmer, 2002) point out that one of the key aspects contributing towards achieving effectiveness of expatriates is cross-cultural training. The term â€Å"cross-cultural training† can be applied to a variety of different training courses. Each in essence aims to develop awareness between people where a common cultural framework does not exist. In general, cross-cultural training has two parallel strands: cross-cultural awareness training and culture/country specific training. Cross-cultural awareness training deals with the manifestations of culture in the workplace and has many applications. Its main purpose is to evaluate and constructively tackle the challenges cross-cultural differences can bring to the workplace (Gliatis, 1992). Culture/country specific training is generally aimed at individuals or teams that regularly visit a foreign country or who frequently interact with overseas clients or colleagues. Such training usually focuses on areas such as values, morals, ethics, business practices, etiquette, protocol or negotiation styles with reference to one country. This better equips participants with the key skills that will help in building successful business relationships. Expatriation in the hotel industry 889 IJCHM 23,7 890 Most scholars of expatriate training recommend similar types of training for staff (Forster, 2000). The various types of cross-cultural training commonly discussed in literature include the following: * . cross-cultural communication (communicating effectively with different people in different languages and from different cultures); * . cross-cultural negotiation (etiquette of meeting, greeting, verbal and non-verbal communication, gift-giving, entertaining, building rapport, negotiation tactics, facts and statistics of negotiation); * . usiness and culture (understanding how culture influences business relationships, practices and policies and providing strategies to using it positively); * . business etiquette (understanding of the ins and outs of the target cultures for business); * . cross-cultural team building (working in multi-cultural teams either in the same office or across borders); * . cultural-diversity training (und erstanding the impact of multi-cultural diversity on both the harmony of the workplace and possible legal implications, including insights into an assignment specific religion, race or nationality); and * . outh cross-cultural training (focused on children and teenagers who may be accompanying their expatriate parents abroad). ?These different types of cross-cultural training allow the expatriate to target and improve specific weaknesses or gaps in their skills. An expatriate’s own cultural background greatly influences how successful he/she will perform in a foreign assignment. For example, it has been found that language barriers and cultural differences are among the highest management difficulty factors perceived by expatriate hotel professionals in China (Yu and Huat, 1995). Therefore, self-awareness, analysis of one’s own values and their effects on behavior need to be an integral part of expatriate training both before and during the foreign assignment. Once the expatriate understands his/her own cultural orientation, he/she can better focus on relevant elements in the target or host culture and make the changes in strategy necessary to achieve organizational goals. This concept can also apply to the family of the expatriate as well, as a major component of their support network. The time and costs invested in providing expatriates and their families with such cultural awareness briefings would contribute to minimizing the risk of early returns of expatriates and the potentially more damaging cultural offense and alienation of local employees and business partners (Hutchings, 2003). ?With specific regard to the hospitality industry, a study by Dewald and Self (2008) focused on cross-cultural training given to expatriate hotel managers in China to help them succeed in foreign environments. The authors interviewed three Directors of Training and Development at three different hotel chains. Based on the interviews, it was concluded that the overall level of cross-cultural training received by expatriate hotel managers in these three hotel chains was minimal. The scope of the training generally covered such topics as the â€Å"do’s and don’ts† while abroad along with perfunctory meetings with the human resource department at the new locations. Responding to increasing calls in literature, Magnini (2009) investigated the current state of practice of real-time training modes (sources of information and advices an expatriate can utilize to handle various situations as they arise) by hotel companies. Among other findings, the study found that the most commonly used source of real-time training is â€Å"local nationals†; the use of CD-Rom products was found to be inversely related to the number of previous expatriate assignments; and repatriates were utilized less when expatriates were assigned to an individualistic host nations or when there was a sizable cultural distance between home and host countries. Expatriation in the hotel industry Given the myriad of cultural training available, a difficulty faced by companies is? eciding on the training program. That is, â€Å"which will be the most effective in view of 891 the task for which the executive has been selected and the culture in which they are to? operate? † (Celaya and Swift, 2006). Another complicating factor, as observed by Selmer? (2001), is that it is still not clear whether traditional pre-departure cross-cultural? training can equip expatriates with the required cultural familiarity, despite the studie s? that have addressed the issue previously. There is limited generalizability of the? indings produced by research conducted in the hospitality setting. This is mainly due? to the small sample size, geographic concentration of the participating hotel chains,? and scope of training activities investigated. This demonstrates that more research? conducted around the world is needed to explore cultural training within the? international hotel industry. RQ3. What cross-cultural training activities that hotel companies provide are perceived by hotel expatriates to be the most effective for an expatriate assignment? Methods Sampling Representatives of the lodging organizations who are members of the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH amp; RA) were identified as a source of potential expatriates in the international hotel industry. The IHamp;RA is an international trade association exclusively devoted to promoting and defending the interests of the hospitality industry worldwide. Organizational members of the IHamp;RA belong to hospitality properties as well as lodging and foodservice associations, all over the world. The representatives of these organizations are top executives, managers, directors, controllers and researchers. The international perspective and the score of experiences of these individuals made them ideal for the purpose of the present study. For this particular study, only the representatives of the lodging properties and associations were part of the study. At the time of this study, membership of the IH amp; RA included 60 hotel properties and 82 hospitality associations, located all over the world. A simple random sampling was conducted to determine which organizations are to be included in the survey. Using a cluster sampling procedure, five clusters were identified for the associations and three clusters were identified for the lodging properties, for a total of eight clusters of organizations included in the survey. After securing the cooperation of these organizations, an email message with an accompanying explanatory letter was sent to the contact person in the corporate offices of the eight organizations. The corporate offices then forwarded the invitation for participation to their qualified professionals. Contact persons in the lodging organizations were asked to forward the survey link to the professionals who have experience working as an expatriate at least once in their career, regardless of title or position. In doing so, the invitation to participate in the survey was limited to those IJCHM 23,7 who belong to lodging organizations and also have experience working as an expatriate at some point in their professional careers. Each organization was asked to provide information about their professionals who were currently on foreign assignment or had been on expatriate hospitality assignment. By sending the responses directly to the researchers, the anonymity and confidentiality of the participants and their responses was assured. From the eight organizations, there 892 were a total of 200 professionals who met the criteria set for the present study. A total of 66 responses were received in the survey. Upon the request of corporate offices of the participating organizations, follow-up mailings were not possible.? Table I shows the demographic information of the respondents. The respondents’ ages varied widely, with over 20 percent representation in three of the five age brackets. Respondents who were aged between 51-60 years old made up the largest segment (30 percent), while only 9 percent of the respondents were aged from 20-30 years old. Most of the respondents were male (73 percent). An overwhelming 61 percent of the respondents were married, 27 percent have never been married, and 3 percent of the respondents were widowed. Over half (55 percent) had received a graduate degree, while those with only some college were tied for the lowest percentage (3 percent) of responses with those who had acquired some graduate school. The majority (97 percent) had previous overseas experience or they had experience working outside of their home countries prior to their present job. More respondents had six months or less experience with being an expatriate manager. Most of the respondents were either top executives (42 percent) or they were a director/manager (41 percent). There was a considerable distribution of departments represented with a significant (33 percent) amount of respondents that did not clearly fall into one of the pre-determined categories. Overall, the expatriates in this survey saw themselves as successful, with only 18 percent responding that they were either not successful (3 percent) or just somewhat successful (15 percent). Survey instrument Given the global spread of the potential respondents and that they can easily access the internet, data for this study were collected via a web-based survey. Compared to other methods of data collection and when surveying expatriate managers, a web-based approach, Celaya and Swift (2006) state, could also be faster and less intrusive. The survey instrument was developed by the authors, guided by the research questions and following an extended relevant review of both the mainstream and hospitality literatures. In addition to the demographic and professional characteristics of the respondents, the survey instrument measured the opinions of the participants on the most important management skills by direct single question. The respondents were provided with a list of skills and were asked to rank the most important using a scale ranging from 1 (indicating the most important, to 5 for 5th most important). Cross-cultural training activities were measured with a single question, where respondents were asked to indicate whether their companies provided them with the various training activities. After collating the relevant variables from the literature, the initial draft was sent to academics for review and evaluation. Furthermore, the researchers interviewed two hospitality expatriates (one retired and one still active in a hotel facility in the southeastern part of the USA) to confirm the truthfulness and relevance of the information identified in the literature. Both groups of expatriates and Age 20-30 years old? 1-40 years old? 41-50 years old? 51-60 years old? 61 years old and above Gender Female Male Current marital status Married? Never been married? Widowed? Highest educational level obtained/achieved? Some College? College Degree (hospitality undergraduate degree)? College Degree (other undergraduate degrees)? Some Graduate School? Graduate School Degree? Other? Number of months as an expatriate executive in the host country Frequency Percent 6 9. 1 18 27. 3 14 21. 2 20 30. 3 7 10. 6 16 24. 2 48 72. 7 40 60. 6 18 27. 3 2 3. 0 2 3. 0 4 6. 1 8 12. 1 2 3. 0 36 54. 5 6 9. 1 16 24. 2 8 12. 1 8 12. 1 10 15. 2 0 0. 0 8 12. 1 8 12. 8 12. 1 2 3. 0 27 40. 9 5 7. 6 28 42. 4 4 6. 1 6 9. 1 8 12. 1 10 15. 2 4 6. 1 8 12. 1 22 33. 3 2 3. 0 10 15. 2 30 45. 5 16 24. 2 8 12. 1 Expatriation in the hotel industry 893 Less than six? 7-12 months? 13-24 months? 25-36 months? 37-48 months? 49-60 months? 61 months and above Missing/No answer Job title Consultant? Director/Manager? Educator? Top Executive? Department in which the respondents worked/are working Personnel Marketing/Sales? Food and beverages? General Management? Front Office? Financial control? Other? Level of perceived success as an expatriate executive Not successful? Somewhat successful? Successful? Extremely successful? No answer Note: n 1? 4 66 months Table I. Frequency distribution of the demographic and professional information of the respondents IJCHM 23,7 894 academics scrutinized the survey instrument and provided insights and suggestions on the language and length of the instrument. Following their feedback, changes were made to the survey instrument. In addition to the extensive review of the literature and deliberations with hospitality expatriates and academics, the rigor of the survey instrument was further ensured through pilot testing. A pilot study was conducted for one week among 30 subjects. Identified by the researchers based on their knowledge of their background, these subjects were or have worked as expatriates in one way or another, such as academic expatriates and I-CHRIE members. The researchers noted the comments made by the subjects, and applied them to the questionnaire before it was finalized. These managers and educators confirmed the accuracy of the directions and reaffirmed the clarity of each statement. Additionally, these individuals were asked to review the list of statements to ensure that behaviors relevant to international success had not been inadvertently omitted. The questionnaire was slightly modified based on the result of the pilot study. Results The results section is organized in three subsections, each addressing a research question relating to the management skills, the influence of country of origin, and cultural training activities. Several statistical analyses were performed to answer the research questions based on the survey responses. In addition to descriptive statistics, one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test differences in cultural training activities based on the country of origin of respondent as well as the country of origin of the parent company. Furthermore, independent samples t-tests were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the cultural training activities provided by the parent company as perceived by the respondents. Most important management skills of the hotel expatriate The most important management skills identified by respondents for hotel expatriate managers are listed in Table II. Ordered from the highest to lowest mean scores: grasps Table II. Descriptive frequency distribution of the most important management skills that hotel expatriate executives should possess Management skills Grasps on how all the parts of the organization fit together? Has the mental capacity to understand the overall workings of the organization and its environment? International negotiation skills? Gets along with subordinates, peers, and those at higher levels of the organization? Views the organization in a holistic manner? Understanding international marketing? Understanding international finance? Ability to work in international teams? Effectively receive ideas and information from others? Effectively convey ideas and information to others Note: n 1? 4 66 Frequency Mean 44 3. 59 52 3. 58 36 3. 44 56 3. 32 40 3. 30 38 3. 26 34 3. 24 54 3. 19 52 3. 15 58 3. 10 Standard deviation 1. 386 1. 13 1. 362 1. 574 1. 604 1. 349 1. 362 1. 555 1. 500 1. 575 on how all the parts of the organization fit together (mean 1? 4 3. 59); has the mental capacity to understand the overall workings of the organization and its environment (mean 1? 4 3. 58); international negotiation skills (mean 1? 4 3. 44); gets along with subordinates, peers, and those at higher lev els of the organization (mean 1? 4 3. 32); views the organization in a holistic manner (mean 1? 4 3. 30); understanding international marketing (mean 1? 4 3. 26); understanding international finance (mean 1? 4 3. 24); ability to work in international teams (mean 1? 4 3. 9); effectively receives ideas and information from others (mean 1? 4 3. 15); and effectively conveys ideas and information to others (mean 1? 4 3. 10). Influences of country of origin of the hotel expatriate and parent company ANOVA was employed to test differences in cross-cultural training based on the country of origin of the hotel expatriate (see Table III). The F test indicates that the importance placed on the different expatriate management skills varies based on country of origin. The variables that were statistically significant were: understanding international marketing (p 1? 4 0:038); ability to work in international teams (p 1? 0:027); grasps on how all the parts of the organization fit together (p 1? 4 0:045); and views the organization in a holistic manner (p 1? 4 0:004). ANOVA test was also used to examine the relationship between country of origin of the parent company and the various management skills. The results, presented in Table IV, indicate that the management skills of understanding international finance (p 1? 4 0:000), international negotiation skills (p 1? 4 0:002), has the mental capacity to understand the overall workings of the organization and its environment (p 1? 4 0:027), and grasps on how all the parts of the organization fit together (p 1? 0:018) vary by the respondents’ location of the parent company (i. e. Australia, China, India, the Middle East region, Switzerland, Thailand and the USA). Tukey’s HSD multiple comparisons revealed that on the item of â€Å"understanding international finance†, companies from Australia, China, India, the Middle East region, Switzerland, Thailand and the USA were significantly different from each other. Also on the variable of â€Å"international negotiation skills†, companies from Switzerland are significantly different than their counterparts from China, India, and the Middle East region. Expatriation in the hotel industry 95 Management skills Effectively convey ideas and information to others Effectively receive ideas and information from others Understanding international finance? International negotiation skills Understanding international marketing? Ability to work in international teams? Gets along with subordinates, peers, and those at higher levels of the organization? Has the mental capacity to understand the overall workings of the organization and its environment? Grasps on how all the parts of the organization fit together Views the organization in a holistic manner Notes: *Denotes significance at p # 0. 5; n 1? 4 66 Levene’s statistic 5. 880 6. 124 5. 922 2. 558 3. 423 5. 204 4. 439 3. 638 3. 638 4. 085 F Sig. 1. 133 0. 386 1. 246 0. 330 2. 400 0. 064 1. 970 0. 117 2. 784 0. 038 * 3. 051 0. 027 * 2. 193 0. 085 2. 389 0. 065 2. 650 0. 045 * 4. 753 0. 004 * Table III. One-way ANOVA of the relationship between management skills and the respondent’s country of origin IJCHM 23,7 896 Table IV. One-way ANOVA of the relationship between management skills and location of the parent company Management skills Effectively convey ideas and information to others Effectively receive ideas and information from others Understanding international finance? International negotiation skills Understanding international marketing? Ability to work in international teams? Get along with subordinates, peers, and those at higher levels of the organization? Has the mental capacity to understand the overall workings of the organization and its environment? Grasps on how all the parts of the organization fit together Views the organization in a holistic manner Levene’s statistic F 5. 880 1. 612 6. 124 2. 09 5. 922 23. 264 2. 558 5. 629 3. 423 2. 214 5. 204 2. 273 4. 439 2. 441 3. 638 3. 103 3. 638 3. 433 4. 085 2. 575 Sig. 0. 198 0. 067 0. 000 * 0. 002 * 0. 087 0. 080 0. 064 0. 027 * 0. 018 * 0. 054 Notes: *Denotes significance at p # 0. 05; Factor variable: location of parent company (Australia, China, India, the Middle East region, Switzerland, Thailand and USA) Most effective cross-cultural traini ng activities for the hotel expatriate Table V shows the independent samples tests of the effectiveness of the cross-cultural training activities provided by the parent company. The effectiveness of the training program provided by the parent company had a four-point scale: * . 1 1? 4 for not effective; * . 2 1? 4 for moderately effective; * . 3 1? 4 for effective; and * . 4 1? 4 for extremely effective. ?The t values indicate that seven of the nine cross-cultural training activities provided by the parent company were statistically significant: * . cross-cultural team building, t 1? 4 3:241 (p 1? 4 0:002); * . cross-cultural management, t 1? 4 3:352 (p 1? 4 0:002); * . cross-cultural negotiation, t 1? 4 3:639 (p 1? 4 0:001); Mean Levene’s statistic t Sig. Table V. Independent samples tests of the effectiveness of the cultural training activities provided by the parent company Cross-cultural sensitivity training 2. 83 Cross-cultural team building 2. 88 Cross-cultural management 2. 84 Cross-cultural negotiation 3. 11 Cultural diversity training 2. 67 Cross-cultural relocation 2. 82 Youth cross-cultural training 3. 25 Business amp; Culture 2. 89 Business Etiquette 2. 71 Notes: *Denotes significance at p # 0. 05 9. 213 1. 827 0. 597 3. 241 0. 989 3. 352 0. 024 3. 639 5. 818 0. 487 0. 895 2. 754 0. 095 4. 498 0. 019 5. 086 0. 597 3. 241 0. 074 0. 002 * 0. 02 * 0. 001 * 0. 628 0. 008 * 0. 000 * 0. 000 * 0. 002 * Perceived effectiveness of the cross-cultural training activities provided by the parent company * . cross-cultural relocation, t 1? 4 2:754 (p 1? 4 0:008); * . youth cross-cultural training, t 1? 4 4:498 (p 1? 4 0:000); * . business and culture, t 1? 4 5:086 (p 1? 4 0:000); and * . business etiquette, t 1? 4 3:241 (p 1? 4 0:002). ? The results showed that cross-cultural sensitivity training and cultural diversity training, with t values of 1. 827 and 0. 487 respectively, were not perceived to be effective. ?Discussion and conclusions ? Participants in this study indicated that management skills vary in importance for hotel expatriate. An interesting finding is that the two highest ranked skills (grasping on how all the parts of the organization fit together; and the mental capacity to understand the overall workings of the organization and its environment) and the fourth and fifth ranked skills (getting along with subordinates, peers, and those at higher levels of the organization; and viewing the organization in a holistic manner) relate to the expatriate’s ability to understand and communicate back to the home organization. Although there exists some literature that has found the benefits of organizational support for expatriates (Avril and Magnini, 2007), it would perhaps appear counter-intuitive for a future expatriate worker to focus on the structure and processes of the home company before embarking on a foreign assignment. However, the results of this study suggest that such knowledge is very valuable. The third, sixth, seventh, and eighth ranked skills (international negotiation skills; understanding international marketing; understanding international finance; and the ability to work in international teams respectively) are those that are more oriented toward facilitating intercultural contact and foreign operations. The balancing of expatriate work skills presented by this study is similar to the cultural balancing as studied by Tung (1987), in that the most popular method for acculturation was to take elements from both the home culture and the host culture to operate effectively. On a similar note, soon-to-be expatriate managers should not neglect the development of their ability to work effectively with their home corporation. ?Perceived importance of management skills varied by the hotel expatriate’s country of origin. The items that were statistically significant included: understanding international marketing; ability to work in international teams; grasping on how all the parts of the organization fit together; and viewing the organization in a holistic manner. This is in line with the results obtained by Feng and Pearson (1999) who found that hotel expatriates, and their spouses, originating from Asian countries tended to experience fewer adaptability difficulties while in China than their European counterparts. Asian hotel expatriates were found to attach relatively more importance to human relations skills. The importance given to different management skills also varied according to the location of the parent company, which could also suggest that there is a difference on the development of different management skills of managers based on the location of the parent company as well. Hotel companies originating in Australia, China, India, the Middle East region, Switzerland, Thailand and the USA differed on the extent of emphasis they place on the skills of: understanding international finance, international negotiation skills, understanding the overall workings of the organization and its environment, and how all the parts of the Expatriation in the hotel industry 897 IJCHM 23,7 organization fit together. This suggests that parent companies value their own organizational culture and they want their foreign branch companies to adhere to this. Cultural training activities that the parent company provided were found to be exceedingly effective for the success of an expatriate assignment. In summary, out of nine cultural training activities provided by the parent company, seven were perceived to be effective and two were perceived to be ineffective. The seven effective 898 cross-cultural training activities provided by the company were: * (1)   cross-cultural team building; * (2)   cross-cultural management; * (3)   cross-cultural negotiation; * (4)   cross-cultural relocation; * (5)   youth cross-cultural training; (6)   business and culture; and * (7)   business etiquette. The two cross-cultural training activities that were ineffective were: cross-cultural sensitivity training; and cultural diversity training. This is contrary to the findings of Kriegl (2000), who found that cultural sensitivity was the highest ranked skill by hospitality managers in her study. However, the ineffectiveness of these two cross -cultural training activities may have been caused by the inability of the organizations that employed the respondents to encourage them to participate in such training. Another reason could be the content of the training program may not be interesting and interactive, or managers may have perceived the training as redundant when considered with cross-cultural team building, cross-cultural management, and international business and culture training. A practical implication of these findings is that opportunities do exist to better prepare hotel expatriates for foreign assignments by integrating more effectively issues of cultural awareness into their preparation programs. In conclusion, the participants in this survey perceived the management skills of hotel expatriate more or less similarly. It can be stated fairly that they agree as what are the â€Å"right† management skills that are important for hotel expatriates to master. However, differences in perceived emphasis on management skills of a hotel expatriate are seen more clearly when considering the country of origin of the expatriates and their parent companies. Respondents from different countries place more importance on certain expatriate management skills than others. Furthermore, the findings of this study suggest that, at least for the companies and organizations represented in this sample, the hotel industry provides good coverage of cultural training activities. This confirms the tendency among international hospitality businesses, as reported by D’Annunzio-Green (1997), to place a high priority on developing managers for international postings. Hotel expatriates are responding positively to exposure to cultural training that is offered by their companies and perceive these activities as valuable to them in their expatriate assignments. Nevertheless, as the hotel industry continues to internationalize, more demands will be placed on the roles of expatriate hotel managers. Hotel companies will find it necessary to provide opportunities for these expatriates to acquire even wider skills and knowledge than were needed before. Limitations and future research The generalizability of the results of this exploratory study may be rather limited for different reasons. The accuracy of the findings relied on self-reported data, with the possible associated reporting bias. The survey instrument was restricted to a number of expatriate management skills, which are frequently mentioned in expatriation management literature. Other skills, however, could be of importance as well. The non-response bias could not be assessed in the present study because of the unavailability of an external source that can provide the relevant characteristics of hotel expatriates around the world for comparing the characteristics of respondents with the non-respondents. Due to the cross-sectional character of this study, a comparison of the characteristics between the early and late respondents could not be established. Accordingly, it is possible that expatriates who responded to this survey may not be fully representative of those who did not. This study is meant as a step toward enhancing our understanding of the issues related to expatriation management within the context of the hotel industry. The present study generated fruitful avenues, especially with regard to the issues related to the variation of management skills according to the country of origin of participants and parent company. Certainly, more research needs to be undertaken. Future research needs to test the generalizability of the findings of this study. Utilizing a larger sample size, with wider representation of different countries around the world can contribute to toward this greater generalizability. Other extensions can be investigated. In particular, future studies should address underlying causes for differences in perceived importance of management skills among culturally-different hotel expatriates. For example, cultural dimensions as identified by Hofstede (1980) can be utilized in an attempt to explain such differences. Furthermore, a study that brings together data from several segments of the larger hospitality industry would greatly illuminate the magnitude of differences that may exist. Such investigation will make comparison with the present results more informing. 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B. 1997), â€Å"Expatriate managers: reasons for failure and implications for training†, Co rnell Hotel amp; Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 30-5. Shen, J. and Darby, R. (2006), â€Å"Training and management development in Chinese multinational enterprises†, Employee Relations, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 342-62. Tung, R. L. (1981), â€Å"Selection and training of personnel for overseas assignments†, Columbia Journal of World Business, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 68-78. Tung, R. L. (1987), â€Å"Expatriate assignments: enhancing success and minimizing failure†, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 117-26. Varner, I. and Palmer, T. (2002), â€Å"Successful expatriation and organizational strategies†, Review of Business, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 8-11. Yu, L. and Huat, G. S. (1995), â€Å"Perceptions of management difficulty factors by expatriate hotel professionals in China†, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 14 Nos 3/4, pp. 375-88. Corresponding author Gina Fe Causin can be contacted at: [emailprotected] edu To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [emailprotected] com Or visit our web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints Expatriation in the hotel industry 901

Case Study Of Reebok and Adidas Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Case Study Of Reebok and Adidas. Answer: Introduction The industry related t the production of the athletic shoes initiated in the year 1895. The establishment of the brand Reebok was seen in the year 1958. Reebok started manufacturing running shoes with spikes invoiced in the sole of the shoes. Being the initiator of the spiked shoes the brand gained popularity and the rate of global acceptance of the brand was very high. With the high acceptance rate of the products that were being manufactured by Reebok, the global scenario of the brand in the perspective of sales and brand popularity was at its peak. With the introduction of Nike in the field of athletic shoe manufacturer the sales and the popularity of Reebok was facing a downfall in the global market. This report will discuss about the objective and importance of the case study. This report will also discuss about the details of the case study that are relevant in nature. This report will further provide the analysis of the case study. This report will also discuss about the theor etical implications of the marketing strategies of the project that is being initiated. This project will also discuss about the key issues of the brand Reebok that has been the main reason for the downfall of the brand. This report will also provide recommendations to the brand to sustain the market. Despite of the downfall that it has been facing in the market. Relevant details of the case Emergence of the athletic shoe brands Te emergence of the athletic shoe manufacturing brands started in the year of 1980s. The four brands with high aspiration entered the market for achieving the silverware by manufacturing the sports shoes. The legacy of manufacturing athletic shoes started in the year 1895, when Joseph William Foster decided to manufacture athletic shoes and invoiced spikes into the shoes in order to help the runners to gain grip during running. The spikes were totally hand-made. In the year 1958 the two grandsons of Joseph William Foster established the brand Reebok. After the emergence of Reebok, during 1995, when Reebok was going through the downfall, Nike started emerging as the leading athletic shoe brand manufacturer. Adidas saw themselves emerging in the year 1954, after the Second World War. They gained popularity as they supplied cleats to the German International team during the world cup victory. Life Cycle of Reebok Despite of the fact that the life cycle of Reebok initiated at 1958, Paul Fireman initiated the modern version of Reebok in the year 1979, when he first came across the shoes in an international trade show. After being introduced to the shoes, he started negotiating for taking the right to sell the brand in the North America. In the year 1979, Paul Fireman established the company with the name of Reebok in the Northern America. In the year 1982, Reebok started manufacturing aerobic shoes that helped women who practiced aerobic. With the drastic growth rate in the acceptance of the brand in the year 1995, Reebok made a sale of $3 billion since the last decade. In the early years of 1990, the trend of aerobics was decreasing in a rapid rate, which causes a decline in sales for Reebok as it was mainly focused on the sales of the aerobic shoes that were targeted for the female clients of the brands. Reebok wanted to expand its business in other sector of sports but Nike was already predo minant in the field where Reebok was trying to set up their business. In the year 1995, Nike surpassed the sales of Reebok by $1.33 billion. The main hindrance that stood in front of Reebok the lack of are the lack of relation between the Foot Locker and their brand. This communication gap was made full use by the Nike athletic shoes production house. Previously, when Nike was not completely established and was just emerging as a brand in the field of manufacturing athletic shoes, Reebok got the chance to start the business with the Foot Locker but due to the lack of time to produce custom footwear for the Foot lockers the business never progressed to a fruitful end. Nike in other hand had agreed to meet the requirements of the Foot Lockers and manufactured custom athletic shoes for the Foot Lockers. Considering the weak market bases Eli Lily, the trainer in the Reebok thought that there must have been some software issues that has led to the lack of sales of the brand. Reebok along with Lee and Wrangler processed the advancement of the SAP version. This advancement took longer time than the expected deadline of the project. In the mid 2003, Reebok gained their sales and made a great business. The reason of this increase in their sales was the conflict between Nike and the Foot lockers. In 2005, Adidas took the initiative to buy Reebok. Adidas was fighting to sustain the competition in Europe as Nike proved to be the killer of the entire competition. To face the fierce competition provided by Nike Adidas decided to buy Reebok and use Reebok in the department of training and fitness. After failing to sign Jordan as the basketball ambassador and again losing the chance of signing the wonder kid of basket ball Lebron James, Adidas decided to invest in signing multiple stars as their rookie in the field f basketball (Mantovani and Galvo, 2017). Adidas soon realized that launching the predator soccer shoes in Europe will help them conquer the market as emotion re r elated to the predator shoes were used by the likes of David Bekham and many other soccer stars. Gradually Adidas started outshining Nike in the mid range sport shoes. Despite the fact that Adidas combined with Reebok was giving a tough competition to Nike but Nike was still crowned as the brand that is labeled to be selling the highest number of pairs of athletic shoes. In the mid 2000s, Reebok was one of the reasons that brought Adidas the success. Out of the net turnover of $12 billion in Europe, Reebok had its share prominent with $1.9 billion. Reebok restocking the old stock of athletic shoes that were in trend that got the brand promoted to the highly ranked tier standing second just behind the likes of the Skechers (Tae-Gyu, K.I.M. and Wi-Young, 2015). The CEO of Adidas was much pleased with the growth of the brand under their legacy. This growth in the brand of Reebok forced Nike to collaborate with the brand named Converse and invest a lot of revenue to buy the brand in ord er to compete with Adidas in the field of training and fitness field. In the year 2009, Reebok manufactured toning shoes that claimed that wearing them itself is enough to get rid of specific muscular problems and no other mean of treatment will be required. This model of the shoe was targeted mainly for the women. But the science and technology used in the making of the shoes was not well matched with the claims that were made by the brand. Reebok had to settle a lawsuit and pay $25 million to the U.S Federal trade Commission in order to repay the unsatisfied clients. Despite these acts Reebok has still been doing well in the market of athletic shoes and is collaborated with the SAP ERP to sustain the competition with Nike. Analysis of the case This case study initially deals with the emergence of the athletic shoe brand Reebok. The brand seems to emerge in a very fast rate, as they were the initial manufacturers of athletic shoes with spikes invoiced in the shoes that will help the athletes to gain a proper grip during running in the track (Romeo, 2016). The business of Reebok was flourishing in a very fast rate as it started manufacturing products that were aimed at a particular scope of the athletics field as well as the products for the general athletic fields. With the increase in popularity of the field of athletics that the brand was gaining, according to the report the brand was not willing to make further modifications in the making of their products. This stable and never changing technology in the brand motive brought in stagnation in the market for the style of shoes that Reebok manufactured. Due to lack of time, Reebok could not manufacture customized products for the Foot Lockers. The gradual profit terms were decreasing in annual basis as the in between 1997 to 1999 the net sales dropped by $3.6 billion again in between 1999 to 2000, the sales decreased by $2.9 billion. This decrease in the net sales of the brand Reebok resulted in growth of the brand Nike as an elite athletic shoe brand. Nike took the advantage of collaborating with the Foot lockers for the supply of their athletic shoes (Jain, 2017). This causes the flash marketing for the Nike as they were collaborated with the Foot lockers in order to increase the sales growth. This growth in the sales of the athletic shoe with the Feet Lockers took Nike to an elite level. This phenomenon was the main reason behind the decline in the growth of Reebok (Fatma, 2018). Another aspect that resulted in the down fall of Reebok is that the downfall in the interest of the aerobics, as Reebok mainly focused on the field of aerobics under which they targeted the women participants of the field (Kempf and Franklin, 2016). Due to the lessening o f the interest in the field of aerobics, the sales of athletic shoe decreases which in turn affected sales of the brand annually (Erus, 2016). Adidas being another athletic shoe manufacturing brand that has been emerging as one of the biggest brands after Nike in Europe. To get into the competition of being the biggest manufacturer of athletic shoes, they decided to collaborate with Reebok and spent a huge revenue to buy the brand (Lee and Kahle, 2016). After buying the brand for few years Reebok was not yielding the expected outcome in number of sales, but during the conflict of Nike with the Foot Lockers Reebok again gained the acceptance in the market by restocking the old foot wears and was just ranked behind Skechers in terms of yearly turnover of the training and fitness aspect of athletics. In 2010, a web served store was constructed where the shoes of Reebok was sold as the official product where discount on very less amount was provided (Erhard, Werner and Michael, 2014). T his increase in the emergence of the turn over by Adidas that had already collaborated with Reebok forced Nike to collaborate with Converse and spend a huge revenue. Despite all this competition, Nike remained the brand with the highest turnover (Cho and Kim, 2016). The SAP version that was used initially by Reebok was also upgraded to a much updated version of SAP which was possible with the help of LEE and Wrangler as the modification was suggested by the Reebok, Lee and Wrangler (Duncan, 2016). Key issues The main issues in the management of Reebok that led to the downfall of the brand are that the brand after getting a proper start to the marketing aspect of the brand due to the innovative ideas that were incorporated in the products that were manufactured by the company and did not intend to evolve their manufacturing infrastructure (Chatwin, 2017). The main motive of the company was to manufacture the most in numbers and to reduce the cost of production. This aspect of the increasing the production as well as lowering the production cost leads to the factor of not being able to customize the shoes manufactured by them. This led to the decline of the brand (Dolgin, 2017). Another reason of the company for not being able to flourish is the reason that they did not pair up with the Foot Lockers despite the fact that the Foot Lockers wanted to collaborate with the brand but due to lack of time for customizing shoes for them the Foot lockers and Reebok did not went on to crack the deal (Burns, Carberry and Schwartz, 2015). Nike was later seen to collaborate with Foot Lockers and reach the highest standards of the business their field leaving behind Reebok as their competitor. Recommendations The only recommendation that can be provided to the brand is that they must not provide misleading marketing policies as they did for the toning shoes which will lead to the decrease in good will of the brand and the brand loyalty decreases and this in turn positively affects the growth of their competitors (Nigg et al. 2015) . The company must seek to improve their technologies and the modification and customizations must be made in order to stay updated with the regular trend. The company has already collaborated with Adidas hence must act with the technology that the Adidas uses in order to gain the dominance in the global market and reach the peak of the market. The software systems that the brand is using must be updated to its highest order. This updated version will provide the increase in the efficiency of the marketing strategy of the brand leading to the success in marketing of the products that will be launched by Reebok. On following these recommendations the brand can re gain its glory days. Conclusion From the above discussion it can be concluded that the emergence of Reebok was an obvious choice as it was the first brand to launch athletic shoes with spikes in order to found better grip on the track. Despite of getting a massive launch Reebok failed to maintain the dominance in the field of athletic shoe brands as Nike took over Reebok as a brand due to the availability of customized shoes. Reebok did not intend on growing as fast as it needed to and did not focus on modifying the shoes as per the requirement of the clients. This factor of not being capable enough to cope up with the pace created Nike the space to conquer the market. The downfall of Reebok embarked the superiority of Nike, which later led to Reebok being sold to Adidas for te betterment of the company. References Buckeridge, E., LeVangie, M.C., Stetter, B., Nigg, S.R. and Nigg, B.M., 2015. An on-ice measurement approach to analyse the biomechanics of ice hockey skating.PloS one,10(5), p.e0127324. Burns, R., Carberry, S. and Schwartz, S.E., 2015, April. Classifying Salient Textual Entities in the Headlines and Captions of Grouped Bar Charts. InFLAIRS Conference(pp. 217-220). Chatwin, C. R. (2017). Rapid prototyping, tooling and time compression. Cho, S. and Kim, Y., 2016. Empirical Rationalization of Prior Substantiation Doctrine: Federal Traded Commission v. Reebok Sketchers.Loy. Consumer L. Rev.,29, p.55. Dolgin, E., 2017. Outside the lab: Side jobs for scientists.Nature,549(7671), pp.297-299. Duncan, C., 2016. Purchase of Safety Shoes on an Annual Contract with two (2) options to renew for various Gwinnett County. Erhard, Werner, and Michael C. Jensen.Putting integrity into finance: A purely positive approach. No. w19986. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2014. Erus, O., 2016. The Benefit of Targeting Trending Niche Marketing Segments and Re-positioning of a Company: Choosing the winning marketing strategies for Reebok. Fatma, S., 2018. Brand Revitalization: Reconnecting Emotionally. InDriving Customer Appeal Through the Use of Emotional Branding(pp. 262-272). IGI Global. Jain, S., 2017.Feasibility study for launch of mission athletecare in India. NIFT-Mumbai. Kempf, M. and Franklin, P., 2016. adidas and Reebok: What Expatriate Managers Need to Manage MAs Across Cultures.Intercultural Management: A Case-Based Approach to Achieving Complementarity and Synergy, p.148. Lee, C. and Kahle, L., 2016. The linguistics of social media: Communication of emotions and values in sport.Sport Marketing Quarterly,25(4), p.201. Mantovani, D. and Galvo, F.H.S., 2017. Brand priming effect on consumers financial risk taking behavior.Revista de Administrao,52(1), pp.15-25. Romeo, M., 2016. Standing in the Octagon: The Ultimate Fighting Championship's Battle to Legalize Mixed Martial Arts in New York State.Ariz. St. U. Sports Ent. LJ,6, p.109. Sapra, G.K., 2015.Measures to improvise the key categories in order to establish reebok as a fitness brand in India. NIFT. Tae-Gyu, K.I.M. and Wi-Young, S.O., 2015. Effect of functional rehabilitation exercise on chronic ankle instability in elite athletes.South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation,37(2), pp.47-60.

Critical Review of Chapter 1 and 2 of the book Globalization A Very Short Introduction, by Manfred B. Steger

Case Study Climate of Diversity

Case Study Climate of Diversity Introduction The art and science of hiring employees for diversity requires a perfect balance into the interplay between professional issues, job demands, and the diversity paradigms, policies, and initiatives as set out by the organization.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Case Study: Climate of Diversity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In equal measure, it is now known that to remain competitive in today’s ever changing and continuously more complex global business environment, it is important for all stakeholders involved to make a conscious effort towards attracting, hiring, and retaining highly qualified employees from diverse backgrounds, who will have the necessary strength, independence, and innovativeness to enable organizations scale new heights as they consolidate the gains made so far (Arthur, 1998). Analysis Summary The introductory remarks, in my view, inform the decision to hire the second appl icant – a recently divorced professional woman with no family attachments at the moment. The vacant position that necessitated the interviewing of the four applicants should be guided, in principle, by four critical points, namely: high professional qualifications; need to implement diversity initiatives; independence of movement by virtue of its global outreach, and; a penchant for results. It therefore follows that applicants with school-going children and other binding family commitments, though qualified to the wire, may find the position unrewarding since it involves a lot of travelling at a global level. Such a job orientation, in my view, will definitely affect their productivity and morale, implying that the organization will be unable to achieve its growth targets – both short-term and long-term. In summary, the decision to hire the professional woman divorcee for this plum position is informed by two critical factors – preservation of diversity initiat ives as underlined in the organization’s policies and the need to have an independent person fill this position. As noted by Greenburg (2009), â€Å"†¦an organization’s success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace diversity and realize the benefits† (para. 5). Equally, this applicant has no family engagements and, by extension, no children. The position, by virtue of the constant travel to global cities, calls for an independent, free-minded person, who will direct all her energies to the cause of the position without getting distracted by the events occurring within the family setup.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Consequences The consequences of taking this decision, if well managed, can only bring positive outcomes. Although problems may present in terms of communication barriers and resistance from other members of the organization who may feel they deserved to be given the position, it is unprofessional to forget the many benefits associated with maintaining diversity initiatives in the workplace, which includes introduction of new thought systems and paradigms, increased adaptability, introduction of a broader range of service, and more effective execution of the organization’s policies and strategies (Greenburg, 2009). Potential Impact The decision to include diversity considerations in the hiring process will definitely bring good tidings to the marketing department in particular and the organization in general. As the head of marketing, I shall rest assured that I have an employee who will help the organization attain its growth targets. As observed by Greenburg (2009), â€Å"†¦employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences in suggesting ideas that are flexible in adapting to fluctuating markets and customer demands† (para. 6). However, it i s proper to prepare for a potential backlash from other senior employees from the department, who may feel that they deserved the position. The organization, too, may initially face resistance from other senior personnel who may think that they were bypassed, but such resistance must not be allowed to overshadow the potential benefits achievable through adapting diversity initiatives Global Implications At a global level, the organization will be positively impacted by this decision owing to the fact that increasing globalization of business suggests that diversity is critical to the existence and survival of organizations (Greenburg, 2009). When global organizations use diversity paradigms to attract, hire, and retain qualified employees, they not only enhance their global corporate image, but also their productivity, profit, and return on investment Reference List Arthur, D. (1998). Recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and orienting new employees. New York, NY: AMACOM.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Case Study: Climate of Diversity specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Greenberg, J. (2009). Diversity in the workplace: Benefits, challenges, and solutions. Web.

The Costs and Benefits of Joining EMU Case Study - 1

The Costs and Benefits of Joining EMU - Case Study Example The increasing interdependence among the European states is aimed at creating free mobility of goods, services, labour, and capital within the trade region (Debra, & Colin, 2007, p. 162). The EMU has increased the common rules among the member states to combine the separate markets and economies by increasing the economic coordination and cooperation and setting new competition policies for the member states. The EMU has created economic interdependence so as to eliminate monetary policies that undermine and distort benefits realized from such interdependency (Debra, & Colin, 2007, p. 162). For the EMU to function smoothly, the following feature must be present: The member states of EMU must surrender their sovereignty in some areas of policy formulation. Such areas include interest rates and exchange rates determination, and constraints acceptance in macro-economic exercise (Debra, & Colin, 2007, p. 163). The politicians from the member states of EMU are required to undertake unpopular policies required for a state to qualify to be a member of EMU, and also introduce economic structural reforms that will ensure their country’s economies survive within the economic and monetary union. However, reluctance among the major European Union community has led to serious problems of EMU. The above feature and condition do not determine whether the European Union has an ideal environment for using the common currency. The optimal currency areas (OCAs) theory sets the preconditions for use of common currency among states. For the EMU to succeed in using the common currency, the following conditions must be fulfilled: Though the EMU has been launched, some of these conditions appear to be lacking within the European Union trade region. However, some benefits have gained by the European Union countries for being members of EMU. The main perceived benefits of joining economic and monetary union include low costs of the transaction, single market consolidation, the convergence of prices, stabilization of foreign exchange rates, and price stability (De Grauwe, 2005).