Blue Ridge Spain Essay Example

Blue Ridge Spain Essay Example Blue Ridge Spain Paper Blue Ridge Spain Paper Overall comments: need to tie narrative to terms/concepts from the book. Should stratify comments into uncontrollable and controllable forces. (like Todd did) Although Blue Ridge Restaurants had success with expansion and joint ventures in Australia, the UK, France, Italy, Brazil and Hong Kong through 1987, many differing factors were at play when Yannis Costas evaluated the market and strategy for the Spain in the 1ate 1990s. Factors described by D. A.Ball, et al, 1, considered relevant in a country screening and assessing market expansion, especially the xx screen, political and legal and the fourth screen, socio-cultural, were not favorable for an aggressive expansion in Spain. The key issues in the Delta Foods expansion in Spain are: Probe deeper on these questions: 1. What are the expertise strengths and unique resources that each partner brought to the joint venture? 2. Why does or doesn’t Blue Ridge need a joint venture in Spain? 3. Why does or doesnt Terralumen need a partner to develop such a business in Spain? Environment for joint venture * Peculiarities for doing business in Spain-failure to use value chain analysis What was the competitive cost position at the end of the value chain? * Terralumen is a package good company looking for restaurant partner * Market demand-package foods industry and non-tapas menu items popular with working professionals in urban areas only * Pressing Spaniards on American goals * Spanish economic trials of 1998-2004 * Lack of implementation plan-see keys to resource deployment Impedances: Socio-Cultural Fear of being exploited * Explain uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/femininity concepts for Terralumen and BR/Delta Cultural differences, as related to doing business, come into play here in the Blue Ridge case Study. Significant cross cultural conflicts between parent companies of different nationalities paved the way for the dissolution of the joint venture between Delta and Terralumen. In a Board of Director’s meeting, the American-Spanish joint venture partners could not work together or agree on common goals and policies, or resolve problems. The Hofstede Model has demonstrated that individuals living in a particular country tend to share similar values, and that they bring these values to the firms for which they work. The stark contrast of cultural values between managers of Delta and Terralumen make it difficult to ensure the success and the longevity of Blue Ridge Spain The European Regional Director, Yannis Costas, is of Greek nationality. According to Hofstede, Greece is high on power distance and high on uncertainty avoidance. In the Greek culture, people respect senior manager and would not prefer a young inexperienced manager. On the one hand Costas has put much effort into the joint venture and identifies with his work. That’s why he wants to help Blue Ridge. On the other hand, he has a good relationship to the Spaniards who value his ability to establish an interpersonal relationship which can also be traced back to his Greek roots. Decisions are made on subjective feelings and he wants a harmonious balance, a consensus. Overall, he is rather on the side of the Spaniards. As a Greek, Costas values the solid interpersonal relationship and trust which he and Francisco Alvarez had built over the years in trying to foster a successful joint venture. Costas was often employed to solve conflicts and mend damaged relationships. He also questioned the ethics of his company’s strategy to secretly achieve the upper hand in buyout negotiations. Alvarez, representing Terralumen, is from Spain. He shares many similar cultural characteristics with Costas, including patience and mutual respect. This explains how Costas and Alvarez have come to establish solid friendship and cooperation throughout the joint venture Add: Impedences: Ethics * Avoid retelling the facts of the case * Is there something in the Donaldson article on ethics? Geoff Dryden and the company he represented faced the ethical dilemma of how one should act when cross the national boundaries; with unfamiliar law and unclear ethical conduct he faced, one should question Geoff conduct. Geoff who had no overseas experience was transferred from US Delta snack food division to Europe had secretly made suggestion to let Terralumen default on its debt so that they can force a buyout. Geoff and Delta did not act ethically by pursuing this strategy which showed ethical imperialism of individual and the company which allowed it to happen; one should not act differently when away from home. People’s perception would be affected if they knew that Delta had intensionally let the other could have financial implication In addition, another unethical moment came from Bill Sawyer when he deceived Costas by suggesting that the company will be hiring someone with experience but in turn they hired someone with very little experience compared to Costas’s. The core values establish a moral compass for business practice†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I honesty and integrity is a universal practice and by Bill’s actions and company’s tolerance of it, it represented low level of ethical standard for himself and the company that did not allow full disclosure in hiring process. Also Terralumen had decided to give power of attorney to one individual who can make a decision that will impact the entire joint venture existence; this decision represent unethical practice for the company. Terralumen should have full disclosure practice that would allow for all critical decision been communicated among joint venture. This practice would have allowed other members a chance to evaluate the decision taken by Terralumen and see what impacts will it have on the existing joint venture. To give the power of attorney to Francisco Alvarez without consultation of other member of joint venture represented unethical act. While the culture and personality of the decision makers impact the important choices made in cases like this one, equally important are the countless spreadsheets and documents that contain the financial factors integral to the success or failure of an international business affair. The original development plan agreed to in 1998 (exhibit 2) was a far more conservative approach that would see approximately ten new stores per year opened in Spain. With an initial capital investment of around $1 million per store, and a lengthy 18-24 period between the time of investment and the construction of the location, the venture would be operating on very thin margins in the early years, with the hope that the continued expansion would lead to higher profits in the latter years of the plan. Financial Analysis Insert your sources/citings Delta’s overly aggressive growth strategy set a goal at expanding at three times the pace of the 1998 agreement. Delta’s decision to utilize a consulting firm based in the U. S. might have been a contributing factor to this unrealistic goal. As Bell (2010) states, sometimes management needs to gather data in the potential market rather than just using desk and field reports. For example, the American consultants might not have been privy to the key money costs of around $100k paid off-the-books to property owners at the signing. With a goal of opening thirty stores per year, this would add an additional $3 million per year in expenses in addition to the other costly expenses. It would’ve also behooved the Delta consultants to consider the uncontrollable economic forces that were going to come into play with their expansion plans. While there were some key economic indicators in Spain working in Delta’s favor, such as a GDP went from just under 3. 5% in early 1997 to over 4. % in early 1998, there were also some warning signs that should have lead them to temper expectations in this market . One of these warning signs deals with Spain’s unemployment rate. As shown by the chart below, Spain’s unemployment rate during this time period was hovering around 20%, although it was beginning to show signs of improvement. While this might be a sign of many possible new hires to work in the restaurants, it also signals a rather weak economy and a potential dearth of customers. Some of the controllable forces that Delta could have adjusted their approach to help the joint venture deal with the exorbitant royalties and fees the company desired to collect from its Spanish partner right from the get-go. Squeezing the restaurants for this money in the early stages of expansions could have a demoralizing and costly effect on the local managers as they attempted to build their business and compete against better known Spanish restaurants. The growth strategy into Germany and France seems to be an overly optimistic one, as well. Blue Ridge already had failed at one attempt to enter the French market, and Germany has a culture vastly different than Spain. How could Delta prognosticate having 55 stores within three years in a country where the business model had been an abject failure years before? Without proper planning and a gradual implementation to determine whether the restaurant could succeed in these markets, the company could be faced with an overburdened agenda that could sink the entire plan. Other U. S. ompanies, such as Wal-Mart, learned this lesson the hard way. 1 Ball, D. A. , Geringer, J. M. , Minor, M. S. , and McNett, J. M. (2010) (Assessing and Analyzing Markets) International Business: the Challenge of Global Competition, (12th ed. ) pp 427-464, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin 2 Donaldson, T â€Å"Values in Tension: Ethics Away From Home. † Reprint No. 96502. Harvard Business Review, 2010. ,65 pg 69-72. coursesmart. com/9781609272852/firstsection#X2ludGVybmFsX1BGUmVhZGVyP3htbGlkPTk3 ODE2MDkyNzI4NTIvNzI=

How to Use Sociology to Counter Claims of Reverse Racism

How to Use Sociology to Counter Claims of Reverse Racism A former student recently asked me how one can use sociology to counter claims of â€Å"reverse racism.† The term refers to the idea that whites experience racism due to programs or initiatives that are designed to benefit people of color. Some claim that organizations or spaces that are exclusive to say, black people or Asian Americans, constitute â€Å"reverse racism,† or that scholarships open only to racial minorities discriminate against whites. The big point of contention for those concerned with â€Å"reverse racism† is Affirmative Action, which refers to measures in applications processes for employment or college admission that take race and the experience of racism into account in the evaluation process. To counter claims of â€Å"reverse discrimination,† let’s first revisit what racism actually is. Per our own glossary definition, racism serves to limit access to rights, resources, and privileges on the basis of essentialist notions of race (stereotypes). Racism can take a variety of forms in achieving these ends. It can be representational, manifesting in how we imagine and represent racial categories, like in costume at â€Å"Ghetto† or â€Å"Cinco de Mayo† parties, or in what kinds of characters people of color play in film and television. Racism can be ideological, existing in our world views and ideas premised on white superiority and the presumed cultural or biological inferiority of others. There are other forms of racism too, but most important to this discussion of whether or not affirmative action constitutes â€Å"reverse racism† are the ways that racism operates institutionally and structurally. Institutional racism manifests in education in the tracking of students of color into remedial or special ed courses, while white students are more likely to be tracked into college prep courses. It also exists in the educational context in the rates at which students of color are punished and reprimanded, versus white students, for the same offenses. Institutional racism is also expressed in biases teachers reveal in doling out praise more so to white students than to students of color. Institutional racism in the educational context is a key force in reproducing long-term, historically rooted structural racism. This includes racial segregation into poor communities with underfunded and understaffed schools, and economic stratification, which overwhelmingly burdens people of color with poverty and limited access to wealth. Access to economic resources is a significant factor that shapes one’s educational experience, and the extent to which one is prepared for admission to college. Affirmative Action policies in higher education are designed to counteract the near 600-year history of systemic racism in this country. A cornerstone of this system is undeserved enrichment of whites based on historical theft of land and resources from Native Americans, theft of labor and denial of rights of Africans and African Americans under slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath, and denial of rights and resources to other racial minorities throughout history. The undeserved enrichment of whites fueled the undeserved impoverishment of people of color- a legacy that is painfully alive today in racialized income and wealth disparities. Affirmative Action seeks to redress some of the costs and burdens born by people of color under systemic racism. Where people have been excluded, it seeks to include them. At their core, Affirmative Action policies are based on inclusion, not exclusion. This fact becomes clear when one considers the history of legislation that laid the groundwork for Affirmative Action, a term first used by former President John F. Kennedy in 1961 in Executive Order 10925, which referenced the need to end discrimination based on race, and was followed three years later by the Civil Rights Act. When we recognize that Affirmative Action is premised on inclusion, we see clearly that it is not consistent with racism, which uses racial stereotypes to limit access to rights, resources, and privileges. Affirmative Action is the opposite of racism; it is anti-racism. It is not â€Å"reverse† racism. Now, some might claim that Affirmative Action limits access to rights, resources, and privileges for whites who are thought to be displaced by people of color who are granted admission instead of them. But the fact is, that claim simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny when one examines historical and contemporary rates of college admission by race. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 1980 and 2009, the number of African American students enrolled in college annually more than doubled, from about 1.1 million to just under 2.9 million. During that same period, Hispanic and Latino enjoyed a huge jump in enrollment, multiplying by more than five, from 443,000 to 2.4 million. The rate of increase for white students was much lower, at just 51 percent, from 9.9 million to about 15 million. What these jumps in enrollment for African Americans and Hispanic and Latinos show is the intended outcome of Affirmative Action policies: increased inclusion. Importantly, the inclusion of these racial groups did not harm white enrollment. In fact, data released by the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2012 show that white students are still slightly over-represented in terms of their presence in that year’s freshmen class at 4-year schools, while black and Latino students are still underrepresented.* Further, if we look beyond the Bachelor’s degree to advanced degrees, we see percentages of white degree earners rise as does level of degree, culminating in a stark underrepresentation of black and Latino recipients of degrees at the level of Doctor. Other research has shown clearly that university professors demonstrate a strong bias toward white male students who express interest in their graduate programs, much to the expense of women and students of color. Looking at the big picture of longitudinal data, it is clear that while Affirmative Action policies have successfully opened access to higher education across racial lines, they have not limited the ability of whites to access this resource. Rulings from the mid-1990s that have outlawed Affirmation Action at public educational institutions lead to a fast and sharp drop in enrollment rates of black and Latino students at those institutions, quite notably in the University of California system. Now, let’s consider the bigger picture beyond education. For â€Å"reverse racism,† or racism against whites, to exist in the U.S., we would first have to reach racial equality in systemic and structural ways. We would have to pay reparations to make up for centuries upon centuries of unjust impoverishment. We would have to equalize wealth distribution and achieve equal political representation. We would have to see equal representation across all job sectors and educational institutions. We would have to abolish racist policing, judicial, and incarceration systems. And, we would have to eradicate ideological, interactional, and representational racism. Then, and only then, might people of color be in a position to limit access to resources, rights, and privileges on the basis of whiteness. Which is to say, â€Å"reverse racism† does not exist in the United States.   *I base these statements on 2012 U.S. Census population data, and compare the category â€Å"White alone, not Hispanic or Latino† to the White/Caucasian category used by the Chronicle of Higher Education. I collapsed the Chronicle’s data for Mexican-American/Chicano, Puerto Rican, and Other Latino into a total percentage, which I compared to the Census category â€Å"Hispanic or Latino.†