International training and development

The consequences of insufficient cross-cultural understanding in international business clearly can be observed in the rate of premature return of expatriates, and in the substantial rise of the failure cost. Analysis of the importance of cross-cultural training and its effectiveness has demonstrated that it is wrong that organizations believe that the training is neither necessary nor effective (Black & Mendenhall, 1989).

The success of the expatriates depend of the training that the organization offer them in order to be prepared for their life and work abroad. The most important characteristic of expatriate training is cross-cultural training (CCT) (Alrawi, 2008). Cross-Culture Training instructs expatriates not just to work but also to live in a different culture, which is much more challenges than just handle a new job. Technical ability and managerial skills are some of the characteristics that expatriates need to be successful, but also they require cross-cultural abilities that empower them to function in a new environment, which include cultural empathy, diplomacy, language ability, positive attitude, emotional stability, and maturity (Scullion & Starky, 2000). Training and development

Recruting an selecting staff for international assignments

Because of the high increment in the global business, it is very common today that employees of international companies work in a foreign country, and it is also common that expatriates work in more than two different countries while working for international companies during their career (Dowling et al., 1994). International and multinational companies start to notice the importance of internationalized managers within the company. Today one of the requirements for senior manager position is to have a vast experience in international management business. 

Firms usually use a selection system where the candidates are selected by level of high potential, which means that the individual has acquired enough maturity and management experience in the domestic environment. The age range for this kind of position is between the late 20s and mid 30s (Harris & Brewster, 1999). To manage an organization's operations in another country is a very difficult task or assignment that usually requires a deep understanding and sophisticated procedures. Studies of the matter have shown that the high rate of failure of expatriates on international assignments, and the financial expenses of repatriating these managers is not as efficient or effective as hiring host country managers for multinational companies (Dowling et al., 1994). IHRM in Global Market

PepsiCo Dream

The EBV, Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with disabilities is a program that started four years ago at the University of Syracuse. The purpose of this program was to provide training in entrepreneurship and small business management. Many universities are sponsoring this program including Texas A&M, Florida State, UCLA, Purdue, and the University of Connecticut. In 2010, the EBV program partnered with PepsiCo launched the Dream Machine recycling, which was a nationwide initiative project. The computerized machine recycling kiosks were installed in high traffic locations like stadiums, parks, and gas stations.

The main purpose of this recycling project program was to help disabled U.S. Veterans. People just have to recycling. The increase in recycling also increases the funding that PepsiCo can give to the EBV. The other goal is to increase the rate of container recycling in about 47% by 2018. This seems to be the kind of idea that provide benefits to everybody, for example, customers can earn points toward discounts at restaurants and theaters, soldiers who sacrificed for this country can get a degree in entrepreneurship and management of small business, and finally the environment will be less affected by the bad use of resources. Dream into Reality

Women today

In these last three decades we can see how, little by little, women have getting involved in high position dealing with the responsibility of taking critical decisions. In the past, tough women that got involved in leadership activities usually inherited their positions. Today women do not need to be part of a prestigious, powerful, and rich family in order to become a leader, but instead they have to experience and follow more tortuous routes.

Recently in Brazil, Dilma Rousseff obtained victory in the presidential election. She is now part of an increasing list of women worldwide who are leading the way to give women more opportunities and a broader horizon. Some of the most famous women are:

·        Indira Gandhi in 1966 was elected to lead India. She helped to steer India.

·        Golda Meir in 1969 was called out of retirement to lead Israel.

·        Margaret Thatcher in 1979 was elected as Prime Minister for eleven years in England. She was known as the Iron Lady. During her period she permitted the increase in privatization, and also she lived the collapse of the Soviet Union.

·        Corazon Aquino in 1986 became President of the Philippines after the assassination of her husband Benigno Aquino.

·        Benazir Bhutto in 1988 was the first woman to be elected premier of a Muslim country, Pakistan

·        Angela Markel in 2005 was the first woman to lead the European state, Germany. As a Germany’s Chancellor she was underestimated by her colleagues for years.

·        Shelk Hasina in 2008 was elected to lead Bangladesh. Her father led the country after its independence in 1971.

We can see that women can not only assume positions with high levels of responsibility, but they can also perform a remarkable job. Female Heads of Gobernment

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          Because of the high increment in the global business, it is very common today that employees of international companies work in a foreign country, and it is also common that expatriates work in more than two different countries while working for international companies during their career (Dowling, Schuler, and Welch, 1994). International and multinational companies start to notice the importance of internationalized managers within the company. Today one of the requirements for senior manager position is to have a vast experience in international management business. Firms usually use a selection system where the candidates are selected by level of high potential, which means that the individual has acquired enough maturity and management experience in the domestic environment. The age range for this kind of position is between the late 20s and mid 30s (Harris & Brewster, 1999). To manage an organization's operations in another country is a very difficult task or assignment that usually requires a deep understanding and sophisticated procedures. Studies of the matter have shown that the high rate of failure of expatriates on international assignments, and the financial expenses of repatriating these managers is not as efficient or effective as hiring host country managers for multinational companies (Dowling, Shuler, and Welch, 1994). Interesting to read

Human Resource Management in the Global Market Abstract

          Because of the globalization of industry, today many firms must to compete on a world-wide business market. Human resource management in this international context requires developing an understanding of the issues facing multinational enterprises. Researchers continue studying the phenomenon of globalization and its impact on the entire human resource management system. The human resource functions in the international environment are more complex due to more complicated business environments and the levels of cultural diversity. The human resource management has a very critical function on the organization's international business strategy. The tasks of human resource still are focused on human resource planning, recruitment, selection, placement, performance management, training and development, remuneration, career management, and industrial relations.

           The purpose of this paper is to present a better understanding of the global human resource management and the effect that it can have on the organization's success.

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Due to inconsistent regulation, rise of private operators, and political factors, it seems very difficult to find a partner in India. There is an opportunity and interest, but there are too many factors that challenge the idea. India is in the middle of the revolution of higher education. Because of the demand, the public university system has been compelled to give up and let private colleges keep up with the demand, which will decrease the level of regulation. India is one of the countries that has the most number of higher education institutions in the world. It has three times as many higher education institutions as those that exist in United States.

Nowadays, these private colleges are the possible partners of choice for the American institutions. Until now, schools from Georgia State and the Wharton business school at the University of Pennsylvania have collaborated exclusively with unrecognized non-degree-granting private institutions.

Today, the Virginia Technology Institute has the opportunity to sign on to construct a campus in southern India. This university was founded in 1872 as an agricultural and mechanical college in Blacksburg, Va. This university has been very perseverant in its idea of obtaining a campus of its own in India. They see a very interesting opportunity there and they are willing to take the chance. Virginia Tech Project

Global Business

Do you know that India spends 7.5 billion dollars annually earning degrees in foreign countries. Their presence is bigger than other nationalities in American Universities. India is concentrated in the expandability and improvement of higher education. Today, there are many foreign institutions, from Northwest to North Dakota State, that have some arrangements with indian colleges. Manipal University in India has offered programs with 10 colleges in the United States. These can benefit both sides, the American Universities increase their global prestige and also the amount of student enrolled in their programs, and the indian students typically pay $ 10,000-$20,000 in annual tuition and they can spend time in both of the two campuses.

The Ohio State University has prepared a management course that is offered to the Graduate School of Business in Hyderabad. The indian school of business pays around $1 million to use the curriculum and the Ohio State University brand. Another American institute that obtained a partner to an Indian school is Virginia Technology Institute, which offered a master's program in information technology and exported its curriculum and faculty to India. They offered a bona fine Virginia Technology Institute degree. In this case the S. P. Jain Institute of Management in Mumbai, India has to provide the campus, facilities, and recruited students for the benefits of the link with an American college. After four years, some Indian's organizations began to be concerned about the fact of rising foreign influence, so they started to question the validity of other programs that S. P. Jain managed. The Indian government is wary to open the door of its home to foreign colleges to set up campuses. Learning Curve

The New Test

 It seems that a new test for early Alzheimer's disease detection has been determined. Dr. Lee Goldstein is a psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry and Surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He has studied and determined that the Alzheimer disease process that occurs in the brain also can be detected in the lens of the eye. Optical Tests

A pair of optical tests have been developed by Dr. Goldstein. These tests permit to determine the presence of amyloid beta proteins in the lens of the eye which is also found in the brain of Alzheimer's patients. The presence of the protein can be detected by using a laser ophthalmoscope instrument, which can pick up the gummy aggregated particles in the eye's lens in the very early stage before the formation of cataracts. They need to differentiate the common cataract to the Alzheimer's cataract, so Dr. Goldstein uses a technique where special fluorescence dye drops bind to the amyloid beta proteins. If the proteins glow under the infrared light then the Alzheimer disease is present.

The positive aspect about this finding is that if doctors have the possibility to detect the disease and start the treatment during the early stage, then they can slow the disease and maybe cure it. This new discovery cannot only give the patients the chance to start an early treatment, but it can also help in the development of new drugs for the Alzheimer's disease.

Hope

I have some friends that are living the terrible experience of having a relative with Alzheimer's disease, so, when I read this article I was glad to know that today there is a bigger understanding of the disease which gives the victims a new hope.

The Alzheimer's disease is related to the slow deterioration of the mind where the person experiences the loss of themselves and life. This disease is very common today. The number of Americans with Alzheimer's has almost doubled to 4.5 million since 1980, it is even estimated that by 2050 about 13.4 million of Americans may be affected.

Nowadays, advances in the human genome have given the opportunity of new forms of exploration for the Alzheimer's researchers to find a prevention or treatment for this disease. For years scientists have been studying the possible factors that are involved in the development of the disease and trying to find the cure without success. Today, scientists are most optimistic because of their ability to apply two important lessons learned from their past experience. First, scientists are convinced that the disease must be treated as soon as possible in its early phase, even before the patients show any symptoms of memory loss or cognitive decline. Second, the scope of the medical assault is very important; they need to use an approach that addresses as many of the disease's complex abnormalities as possible because this may improve the chances that using new therapies early on will delay symptoms and also reverse them. What is Alzheimers?

The World's New Perspective of China

     Keeping its currency undervalued, China could help its manufacturers sell their products at a very affordable price in foreign markets like the U.S. and Europe. But there were other factors like low wages, increased infrastructure, businesses' hospitality, and hard-working labor force that helped China to become the key manufacturing base of the world.

     These past decades, China has been working on building up its physical infrastructure such as factories, roads, highways, airports, etc. Today, China's next strategy is to invest in human capital. It started to invest in education, nearly tripling the share of GDP allocated for it. Beijing is a clear example of that. China has experienced a massive expansion of education. They doubled the number of colleges and the number of students attending from 1 million in 1997 to 5.5 million in 2007. they have identified nine of their top universities as Ivy Leagues. Richard Levin, the president of Yale University, said, “This expansion in capacity is without precedent. China has built the largest higher-education sector in the world in merely a decade's time. In fact, the increase in China's postsecondary enrollment since the turn of the millennium exceeds the total postsecondary enrollment in the United States” (Time Magazine, Oct. 2010). This is China's strategy to reach its goal to enter into higher-quality goods and services and often better competition to the markets.

     India is one of the strongest countries in the service sector, but now that China has invested in education, and its students have learned English better and trained in technology, China's firms can enter in this market as well.

     It seems like China will be a real challenge for the U.S. and Europe in the next decade. Now the question is how is the rest of the world going to react to this reality? Are they going to concentrate in making structural reforms and new and better investments in order to make their economy more dynamic and its workers more competitive? The New Challenge from China (Time Magazine)

Facebook's Privacy Problems

     Facebook has been a phenomena among young and old alike for some time now. It's popularity can even be seen as the movie, The Social Network, has come out as number 1 in the box office since its release on October 1. People enjoy being able to share their experiences with their friends and family, although they may be thousands of miles away. They not only share pictures and ideas, but also show people their likes, dislikes, and even their relationship status. This may all seem harmless and fun, however, like most technology, it can be ill used.

     People need to be aware that what they are posting on their walls can be displayed all over the Internet, which has no borders. Recently, Facebook has been having to deal with privacy issues, especially when they gave users more privacy options and made the default option public. All users had to go to their privacy settings and change them from public to private, or whatever else they chose. If they had not realized this earlier and placed something on their wall that they wanted to be private, it was too late now. With new applications, like Facebook Connect and Open Graph, people are able to learn more about others. For example, as long as Facebook can get you to share more information to more people, it can give a whole lot more data to advertisers.

     Nonetheless, this is only one aspect of how sharing on Facebook can invade people's privacy. Using the applications that Facebook provides is done with consent. The users know they are putting personal information that their friends, bosses, co-workers, etc. can see. They are setting themselves up to potential problems coming from too much sharing. On the other hand, people's information might be put up on the Internet without their knowing, and therefore without their consent. This is unjust to these people; they might not want to have certain pictures, videos, or other kind of information displayed to hundreds of other people they have never met before. As was the case with Tyler Clementi at Rutgers University, he was spied on and was unknowingly broadcasted on a live feed on Facebook. Due to the contents that were broadcasted, the young man decided there was no other way but to take his own life and jump off a bridge. The two students who used the web cam in Tyler Clementi's room to transmit his doings in his own dorm room obviously did not realize what the consequence to their actions would be. They rashly placed this video on the web without thinking about how Clementi would react or feel about it. People have begun to lose their empathy and human connection with others. Used with the wrong intentions, technology can devastate anything it is used against. Facebook and Time Magazine

Blockbuster's Bankruptcy

The other day I found an article in the Time magazine informing that Blockbuster has been declared in bankruptcy on last Sept. 23^th. The company is going to close about two-third of its outlets. Imagine this company has 3,500 stores, 25,000 workers and 7,500 of them are full-time workers, and more than a half could be unemployed in the following months. Analysts think that bankruptcy could give the company the opportunity to provide movies to its costumers via vending machine, at this moment the company count with 6,630 DVD dispensers, also by mail and Internet. It seems to be that people think that the company still has the possibility to survive. Blockbuster was the retail chain that once dominated the industry and now is in bankruptcy and trying to compete with companies like Netflix, Apple , Amazon, and Walmart. How companies like Blockbuster can just fail like that. Maybe the company did not take serious the complexity and risky of the situation and when It came to react it was too late. The advance in technology is moving at high speed so companies need to be prepared for Blocbuster Bankruptcy/The New York Time

According to Clayton Christensen, a professor who studied technological change and its effect on large companies from Harvard University, “many of the decision that led Blockbuster to bankruptcy might have appeared rational at the time, but when faced with a threat by disruptive competitors like Netflix, the circumstances were different. Decision that in other circumstances would have made sense, instead drove the company into the ground.”

Outsourcing

The other day I was working on a research paper for some of my other courses. The topic was IT Outsourcing risks. Information Technology Outsourcing is define by some writers as turning over several IT activities to external vendors (Weinert and Meyer, 2005) . Today there are two basic types of work that IT organizations can outsource: 1) specific functions relevant to IT operations like for example, software development and infrastructure, and 2) operations of business that have significant impact on IT systems like for example customer call centers and manufacturing (Lapland, Costello, Sigh, Bindingness, and Landon, 2004).

If it is true that outsourcing has been increasing since 1990, the nature of the practice has been changing: companies are consolidating and creating larger providers offering a broad range of service, countries such a China are beginning to compete with India, smaller and mid-size companies start to outsource work, and some of them are starting to outsource whole project including Research and Development (Leavitt, 2007).

The Forrester study showed and statistics that attracts the most attention track job losses. This study projects that offshoring by US companies will cause a loss of 3.4 million service jobs by 2015. At the same time, various studies suggest that something like 40% of offshore projects fail to deliver the expected benefits (Meyer, 2006). This is an interesting article (IEEE Computer) Revolution in Software Engineering

A new wave of Music

Another  article from Time magazine was entitled "10 Start-Ups That Will Change Your Life". The article focused on ten individuals who were bringing fresh ideas into the global market. One of these spotlights concentrated on a man named Daniel Ek who co-founded Spotify, a music database which allows unlimited music-listening for $15 per month. To many people, this breakthrough sounds amazing, even better than the illustrious iTunes. People today, especially of the younger generations, seem to be consumed entirely in their iPods. They can be seen walking with their earphones in and moving to the music. Nowadays, it seems that most people need music at their fingertips. This is exactly what Mr. Ek has wanted to give people with his company. “People amass more music now than ever, but it's not about ownership. It's about accessibility. We're not selling tracks; we're selling access,” (Moskowitz 85). Tech Pioneers/Time magazine article

Human Behavior

The other day I was just reading the time magazine and I found and article that described the drama of 33 Chilean miners that have being trapped inside a mine for months. They are confined in a very small space 538 sq. ft. (50 sq. m) at 2,300 ft. (700 m) below Chile's Atacama Desert since August 5 and they are facing the possibility of staying there for four months, that will be until December. This is another problem to consider because of the upcoming summer. Psychologists and anthropologists are studying the human behavior by situation analysis and observation.

According to John Fairbank, and expert on traumatic stress from Duke University, these men are experiencing all kind of possible stress. First thing that people undergo after a crisis is what Colonel Tom Kokditz, a psychologist and behavioral science at West Point, called “mortality salience”. Usually people have a normal understanding of death, they know that everybody will die eventually, but when the possibility of death is imminent the human behavior change. People tend to come together as a whole unit when they are facing death. Another thing that caught my attention was that in this kind of crisis the younger guys will probably defer to the older ones because their experience and maturity. In order to maintain these men under control psychologically the experts try to keep them busy and make their live meaningful because this create civility, which prevent conflict and atrocities. Chile's Trapped Miners

Global Visualization

Because globalization has caused a tremendous impact in most of the world, we can see now how some programs in education have been changed in many different disciplines or careers. One of my daughters is a junior in the Parkland High School, so this is the year that she needs to be focused and visualize her career inclination. She started to prepare for the tests and at the same time to search universities of interest. It is amazing to see how universities have changed their perspectives about the kind of programs they need to offer in order to satisfy the needs of today's world. For example, without going too far, Lehigh University has more multi-dynamic programs where students can graduate at the end of their career with two different majors, for example, Engineering and Business. Vanderbilt University (Vanderbilt's International Program) offers Study Abroad, international services experiences, and International design projects in Bioengineering. Rice University has programs in Bioengineering like GLHT(minor in global health technology through BTB ( Beyond Traditional Borders), a multidisciplinary program designed to educate and train students to reach beyond traditional disciplines to understand, address and solve global health disparities. Georgia Institute of Technology offers International Plan – degree-long program that integrates international studies/ experiences into majors at Georgia Tech (must be abroad 26 weeks), BME Study/Work Abroad Program – course “International Considerations in Bioindustry” couple w/5-6 month international internship with biotech/medtech/pharmaceutical industry partner.

Business Globalization

Globalization is present and it can be appreciated in many different aspects today. Because of the advance in technology and the revolution of the internet, the entire world is connected. Nowadays, there is an increasing importance in the global business. Big companies cannot just remit to domestic businesses in order to analyze the company's success. They need to be more broad in their business perspectives. According to Nancy Adler and Allison Gundersen in their book “International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior,” foreign competition is seen as a very important factor in the success of the companies' business by more than two thirds of the world's CEOs. Therefore, companies are expecting to increase in the amount of employment and revenues from outside of their countries. That is one of the main reasons for why it is crucial for companies today to invest more time in the study of managing human resources and to learn more about the culture and behavior of other countries in order to maintain and improve good relationship as a strategy to succeed.

 Taken from www.pokeraffiliateuniversity.com

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This semester seems to be interesting. I am taking three classes this fall and two of them are quite related to my interest of starting a small business. Nowadays, I can see that there are so many areas from which somebody can start a business. But on the other hand, it is something so risky and complex that without the prior knowledge this adventure can result in a total disaster. Because of that, I know that to take this challenge I need to be prepared, so I thought that it would be a good idea to earn a MBA degree which will give me the educational knowledge and the management skills that will enable me to reach my goals.

This is about me, what about you?

Hello! I am Marcela and I am originally from Chile, South America. Currently I am living in Allentown where I have been for the last 12 years since I came here in 1998. I obtained my bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Kutztown University. During my senior year I was dedicated to do a research under the supervision of my advisor Dr. Matthew Junker. After that I also decided to explore the clinical field in order to expand my professional knowledge and experience, so I did an internship for about a year at the Reading Hospital Medical Center. I was working in my area for about 2 years. My last job was at RMA Medical Center where I was part of the andrology technical staff working in reproductive medicine and fertilization. I loved my job but usually the schedule in the health industry sucks. This made me come back to the idea that my husband and I had about starting a small business. So I decided to enroll into the MBA program here at Kutztown.

As I said before, I was born in Chile and all of my family stayed in the country. So this summer, I decided to pack up the family and take a month-long vacation. My daughters, Angelica and Raquel, are 15 and 12 years old and were able to see their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents after five years. We also visited my husband's family in Peru where we took time to stop by Cusco city and went to see Machu Picchu, one of the new seven wonders of the world. If you guys would like to try some gourmet foods, you should definitely take a quick 8-hour flight to Peru to taste some of the most amazing dishes. My daughters especially like all of the exotic desserts. Here is a link to one of the most famous Peruvian chefs- Peruvian Food Americans will love

My oldest daughter, Angelica, is soon going to college. She is already in her junior year in high school. How time flies so quickly! I am hoping to finish my MBA in the next three semesters. It's a competition between her and I to see which one can enter/leave college first.