International Marketing Essay Example for Free

International Marketing Essay UK is one of the major centers for commerce and international business in the world. It is one country that has had to raise its economy through free trade and other business related portfolios. It later developed to principles of liberalization of international trade and investments in order for it to expand and grow especially in the 20th century. It has been able to attract large investments from multinational countries in order to meet the demand for the larger British population thereby minimizing unemployment rates. This paper will therefore examine the investment opportunities and challenges in UK (Office for National Statistics, UK 2006). Foreign investments Opportunities The UK has very many opportunities in terms of foreign investments. It is one of the fifth largest economies in the world and second in the European Union. The country’s capital, which is London, is considered a haven of investments especially in the financial sector. The country has a GDP of $ 2. 1 trillion and a GDP growth rate of 2 %. (2007 estimates). Most of the opportunities lie in the service sector (Office for National Statistics, UK 2006) Industries UK has very many industries that can be invested in by any foreign country and the major ones are; agriculture, telecommunications, manufacture, fishing and tourism. The UK is one of the leading countries in agricultural exports and this is the main driving force for its economy. (Bailey, 1999) International trade statistics Major exports The dollar value for most of the export trading has been improving due to increase in demand for exports going by recent statistics on total exports from the UK. The trend however has been found to be fluctuating and that it depends on other factors such as; political stability, foreign policies etc. (Office for National Statistics, UK 2006) The major exports the country has been undertaking are the agricultural produce; wheat, rice, maize and tea. In the manufacturing the sector, the country exports agricultural machinery such the tractors and its implements, food, tobacco, paper, printing, textiles, paper and publishing. In the service sector, the country has developed high-tech networks in the telecommunications industry. The leading company in this sector is Vodafone and it has also gone global in its service provision. Major imports The major imports that are imported to the country include automobiles, horticultural produce, tea, coffee, and oil. The dollar value for most of the imports is low as the demand for the products reduces in the country. The dollar value increases when oil products become scarce due to international demand. (Bailey, 1999) Balance of payments situation According to the Office of National statistics, the manufacturing industry accounted for approximately 19% of all the national output in UK last year and also made up to 16% of all the employment in the country. The British economy does not however depend entirely on this and it may decline in the next two to three decades. Other industries are coming up especially the service sectors with a view to balance payments situation in regard to treasury bills. (Office for National Statistics, UK 2006) Exchange rates Exchange rates in the UK have been changing since the year 1999 and today, the exchange rates are way below the 0. 54 mark. This can be attributed to the changing events of the decade and globalization (Bailey, 1999). The following table shows the changing exchange rates-over the counter- for the Sterling pound, Euros and the dollars. Year ? /USD USD/? ?/EUR EUR/? 2005 ? 0. 5500 $1. 821 ? 0. 6842 â‚ ¬1. 463 2006 ? 0. 5426 $1. 859 ? 0. 6815 â‚ ¬1. 467 Source: Office for National Statistics, UK 2006 Trade restrictions 1. Embargoes Embargoes are political trade tools that are put by trading bodies or governments in order to support a justified peace process. Trade embargoes in the UK has been used to support either the EU or the UN in order to deny individuals the opportunity to use money from international trade in buying weapons of mass destruction. This will be used for the purpose of containing retrogressive countries the financial capability to use trading activities for insecurity purposes. Such countries which have been blacklisted by the UK include; Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Zimbabwe etc. (Neid, 1988) 2. Quotas Tradable quotas are policy instruments aimed at restraining trade of certain commodities in the UK. Limiting the production or importation of non-environmentally friendly automobiles can reduce taking for example greenhouse gases. The UK has been able to meet its environmental objective through the implementation of quotas systems. (Neid, 1988) 3. Import taxes Import taxes are designed to protect local industries from international competitors who may be financially stronger than them. This strategy has been utilized by the UK in order to protect vulnerable sectors of its economy. Although it allows importation of textiles, the country charges high import taxes on all unprocessed hides and skins to protect its local industries. (Lawrence, 2002) 4. Tariffs Trade tariffs are the main hindrance to trading between two countries. These trade tariffs depend with policies formulated by individual countries concerning how the countries wish to conduct its trading. The United Kingdom has however developed a smooth and business free environment for most countries in Africa, Asia and the U. S. this has made investment more conducive for many multinational firms. (Neid, 1988) 5. Licensing Licensing is one of the techniques used to promote international trading. The UK has been able to utilize licensing agreements with other international firms to boost its trading. The country has also been able to license many international firms to operate in the country as a means of encouraging investments. (Lawrence, 2002) 6. Custom duties Custom duties are one of the main sources misunderstandings between countries due to the fact that they favor the home-based industries. Custom duties are usually employed by the government top curb influx of external products into the country. The UK has been able to utilize this remedy effectively especially in sectors which the government feels threatened such as energy, education, transport and manufacturing. (Bailey, 1999) Extend of economic activity not included in cash income transactions The extent, to which other economic activities which does not include cash income transactions, is not wide and especially that the economy is entirely dependent on two core industries. I. e. service and manufacturing. The rest which may not involve cash transactions. (Neid, 1988) Counter trades The UK has used counter trade strategies to improve their international presence in almost all its sectors. Counter trades function effectively when the trading countries agree on issues such as import duties, taxes and tariffs (Bailey, 1999). Labour force The UK labor force currently stands at 31 million going by 2007 statistics. Majority of this labor force are concentrated in the private sector and some of them in the public sector. Most of the employees in sectors such as the health sector may have been imported to the country to serve as nurse this has been caused by the worldwide shortage of the same. The unemployment rates in UK currently stand at 5. 4 %( 2007 estimates) most of whom are fresh graduates and the poorly educated young men and women in the country. (Office for National Statistics, UK 2006) Inflation rates The inflation rate for the UK as at 31st December, 2006, was 2. 3% and a poverty rate of 17 % by then. The inflation however, fluctuates depending on the economic situation of the country (Office for National Statistics, UK 2006) Developments in science and technology UK is one of the European counties which have invested heavily on innovation and technology. Almost all sectors of its economy are coping up with changes in technology. The country is using technology as means of out-competing its competitors in the manufacturing and service sectors. That is why most firms in the country are investing in research and development. The government has been able to utilize 5. 4 % of the GNP on RD in the last fiscal year ending March 31, 2007. The technological skills of the current labor force in the UK can be rated good depending on which sector one is referring to. With reasonable levels of literacy (79% at the moment), the country’s population can improve. (Office for National Statistics, UK 2006) Conclusion There is a team of science and technology promoters under the department of UK Trade and Investment whose role is to help firms realize their international potential through partnership support and knowledge transfer. It mainly enhances competitiveness of companies trading in the UK and also those involved in international trade. The UK has been able to attract high quality foreign direct investments through this department which offers guidance and direction including available opportunities and marketing. References Bailey, M.(1999): Exchange rate trends and trade performance; Waldwick Archive, Vol 12 Ferguson, N (2004): Empire, The rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global investments. Basic Books, Oxford, p 90 Lawrence H. (2002): Exchange rate between the United States dollar and forty other countries and its effects on investment, Macmillan, Washington. P 34-40 Neid H. (1988): Multinational investment strategies in British Isles, Routlegde, UK. P 122-131 Office for National Statistics (UK 2006): The Official Yearbook of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. P 45-57

Pragmatism, Perfectionism, and Feminism :: Feminist Feminism Pragmatism Essays

Pragmatism, Perfectionism, and Feminism ABSTRACT: I consider the revision of pragmatism by three leading neopragmatists: Richard Rorty, Richard Bernstein, and Cornel West. I argue that their vision of pragmatism lacks a teleology, though a teleology is suggested by Bernstein's description of a pragmatic ethos. I appeal to Stanley Cavell's notion of 'moral perfectionism' to suggest a kind of teleology that is available to pragmatism. Finally, I find the weakness of pragmatism done without teleology well exemplified in the exchange between Rorty and Nancy Frazer at Rorty's 1990 Tanner Lecture. Rorty's paper, "Pragmatism and Feminism," was meant to offer feminists some pragmatic strategies for improving their position. Frazer's strong response finds Rorty's suggestions only marginally helpful. I interpret her criticism of Rorty's suggestions to be that they lack something like a teleology. To me, this suggests that pragmatism can learn from feminism. Pragmatism is revolutionary both in the sense of being a philosophy that is critical, destabilizing, and progressive, as well as in the sense of being a philosophy that, in the turning philosophical tides, has come back. Pragmatism was eclipsed in the first half of the twentieth century by analytic philosophy, in its various forms, but in the last decade or so pragmatism has returned in full force, and with an explicitly philosophical agenda. In this paper I will examine this new wave of philosophical pragmatism, sometimes referred to as neopragmatism, as it appears in the works of three of its leading proponents, Richard Rorty, Cornel West, and Richard Bernstein; and specifically, how it compares to, contrasts with, and contributes to feminism, as illustrated in the exchange between Rorty and Nancy Fraser that occurred as part of Rorty's 1990 Tanner Lecture. A difficulty that arises in talking about pragmatism, new or old, is that pragmatism comes in so many forms. For Rorty, the most influential of the neopragmatists, pragmatism is primarily anti-philosophical. He defines its role in terms of negations: it is anti-representational, anti-universalist, and anti-foundational. One of Rorty's descriptions of what pragmatists do is, "pragmatists keep trying to find ways of making antiphilosophical points in nonphilosophical language." (1) For Cornel West, pragmatism represents a kind of return to philosophy, a return, that is, from a false to a genuine philosophy. It is a return to a philosophy that, at last, addresses the loci of our real needs. In his impressive, The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism, West describes the return to pragmatism as follows:

Gender Stereotyping in Media Advertisements Essay

The tremendous influence of the media as an important cultural vehicle on the preservation and reinforcement of existing societal norms, beliefs, and behaviors has been under increasing scrutiny from academics, scholars, and feminists in an attempt to understand the code and language within which the media operates and its impacts on various audiences. (Dines, Humez, Hoynes, & Croteau, 2003; Silverstein, Perdue, & Kelly, 1986; Gamble 1997) Lately, there has been a growing concern over the role of the media in helping to maintain the long-standing inequality between sexes in the way that it continues to exploit gender stereotypes overtly as in the case of television programming, to the subliminal messages conveyed by product advertisements, music videos, and other forms of visual entertainment which now include fashion spreads and magazines. (Dines, Humez, Hoynes, & Croteau: 336; Gamble 272) This concern comes amidst allegations that the media, specifically product advertisements, is somehow responsible for the proliferation and reinforcement of unhealthy attitudes and biases against women and women’s bodies, for instance, in warping the definition of physical attractiveness to that of ‘thinness’(Silverstein, Perdue, & Kelly: 519; Gamble 272) and of self-worth to being ‘pretty’ or desired by the male (Dines, Humez, Hoynes, & Croteau: 247). In its many forms, product advertisements, through graphic, in-text, and non-graphic representation, are guilty of exploiting the prevailing societal concepts of femininity and masculinity in their sole objective of increasing demand for the products which translates to increased profit margins. (Wiles, Wiles, & Tjerlund: 35) Product advertisements are also a cause for special concern in that they are easily accessible and are barely constrained by censorship and other legislation. The fact that they are ubiquitous in almost all forms of media—be it print, broadcast, video, and the internet—make them doubly powerful in molding, or warping, the minds of individuals young and old. Dines, Humez, Hoynes, & Croteau (2003) point out, for instance, how â€Å"elements of the pornographic can be located in advertisements,† (p. 336) referring not only to graphic sexual acts or innuendos but to specific representations of female and male constructs and of power relationships between and within these constructs that are seen in advertisements. It is argued that masculinity and femininity are always constructed in the â€Å"conventional† way: that the male is â€Å"bigger, stronger, and has the ability to hurt the women† (Dines, et. al. 336) or in a position of greater power over the women, who are always depicted or associated with the weak, delicate, and passive role. (Gamble 272) In the same manner, women are often portrayed as inferior to men through the use of the following graphic illustrations: â€Å"women appear shorter; men instruct women; women appear to be drifting in deep thought while men? Eyes are focused purposely; and women appear helpless. †(Wiles, Wiles, & Tjerlund, 36) Indeed, one need not look further than the nearest perfume advertisement to see how men and women are portrayed as predator and prey, respectively, signifying the women’s degraded position in the gender stratification. More notable is the apparent absence of ‘others’ in the gender spectrum which may not be totally accepted by societal standards: bisexuals, lesbians, and gays, who barely make it to product advertisements except for those products specifically intended for their market. Furthermore, results of Wiles, Wiles, & Tjerlund’s (1995) study of the portrayal of women in magazines in three countries which include the United States, the Netherlands, and Sweden supported the contention that â€Å"role portrayals presented in magazine advertising depict cultural biases and stereotypes† which tended to portray men in active roles and women as men’s sexual objects or in decorative, passive positions. If art imitates life and culture, this only goes to show the extent to which gender inequality remains as much a challenge to overcome in real, reel, and the simulated world of advertising. Works Cited: Dines, G. , Humez, J. M. M. , Hoynes, D. W. , & D. Croteau. Gender, Race, and Class in Media: A Text Reader. Sage Publications, 2003. Gamble, T. K. & M. W. Gamble, â€Å"Gender and Non-verbal Language. † Contacts: Communicating Interpersonally. Boston, M. A. : Allyn and Bacon, 1997.

Monticello Jefferson’s Dream Essay - 2115 Words

Monticello: Jefferson’s Dream â€Å"Monticello†, the Italian word for little mountain is the appropriate wording for Thomas Jefferson’s dream home. He picked out the site for such a fabled home as a young boy. At eight hundred and sixty-five feet tall, Jefferson truly does have his little mountain on which to live. Thomas Jefferson built his chalet in an abnormal spot in accordance with the times. Most if not all the people in the seventeen hundreds built their homes in the low lands or near rivers. On the contrary Thomas Jefferson was an abnormal man as that he was a statesman, a designer, a scholar, a astronomer, a philosopher, and lawyer. The fact that Thomas Jefferson was an untrained designer with what seems to be†¦show more content†¦Jefferson is the first American who has consulted the fine arts to know how he should shelter himself from the weather. Not only was Jefferson the architect but in many cases, he was the general contractor. He was surely a tradesman too as in he taught his slaves and free men bricklaying, stonecutting, carpentry, cabinetmaking, and ironmongering. Jefferson’s genius is easily seen and should be researched and studied. Jefferson was also the second vice president and the third president of the United States of America. There is a history in the United States of holding whatever the Presidents have and do as national treasures. This includes the building in which they were born, grew up in, lived in, and died in. It seems that the popularity and success of the President is also a variable in the public’s eye. Under this assumption, Monticello would also be studied since it is the place where one of the greatest Presidents of all time lived and died. Monticello is considered one of the greatest architectural feats for the time in which it was built. Thomas Jefferson built a home that was years beyond its time. He included sunlights to let in the sun for extra lighting. 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