3 Barriers for International Students You Should Know In Advance

As an international student there will be some barriers to academic and social success that are not experienced by American students. Common barriers to success experienced by international students are finances, loneliness, and academic challenges. You should be ready for this and must find ways to overcome these issues in order to grow and develop along your educational journey. Barrier #1. Finances Many international students experience financial difficulties. Finding a place to live that the student can afford may be difficult. Some students need scholarships, which can also be difficult to find. Being from another country some students may find they are only allowed to work on campus, which limits the available job opportunities. Since some employers provide insurance if students cannot work off campus they may be left without insurance and what is the odds someone goes to school two, four, or more years and never gets sick? Students often go without insurance and therefore cannot afford healthcare when they need it. Currency exchange can be a problem especially if the student does not have good transportation to get off campus to get to a place that will do the currency exchange. Transportation can be a problem. Some students do not wish to buy a vehicle for the short time they will be away at college while others cannot afford a vehicle. A bicycle will likely serve the purpose of getting around campus but can present the problem of having to stay close to campus and may be uncomfortable in inclement weather or even hazardous. Barrier #2. Loneliness International students are far away from home and may miss family and friends terribly. Some students will have the ability to communicate via skype or other computer methods with family and friends while others may not have family or friends back home who have computer access. Communication with family and friends may be minimal. Communication with other students is often sometimes lacking and can make students feel isolated or uncomfortable talking to others. This makes it difficult to get new friends. International students are also often uncomfortable with the stereotyping they receive on campus from their peers. If students are fortunate enough to fit in with other groups they may struggle to hold fast to their own culture. With more influence from others than their family and friends back home the student can begin to change, which can present problems once they try to return home. Studying abroad as an international student can bring about changes in the student that may not be accepted upon their return home. Barrier #3. Academics As if it is not enough that the student may struggle financially and socially they may also struggle academically. The overall holistic of the course and classroom can differ greatly from what they have previously experienced in their home country. Teaching styles of the professor and classroom etiquette can present a challenge for the international student. Just as communication can be an issue for international students outside of the classroom so can it be in the classroom as well. Class discussions and writing can present difficult challenges for students. Even if the student has mastered the language well enough to interact socially writing can present many problems because it is structured differently than writing in their native language. Not quite an optimistic picture, is it? But forewarned is forearmed.

Kurt Vonnegut - An Anti War Book - 1671 Words

Casey Delaney DeHorn English 11 (1) 24 October 2015 Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut - An Anti War Book Part 1 â€Å"So it goes.† (Vonnegut 2). This quote is from the author of the book and it is said too many times to go unnoticed. Not only is it said on the second page but it is said every few pages or paragraphs throughout the entire book. The author uses this quote after he explains a story so it does not turn into a long and boring ordeal which becomes confusing after a period of time. He uses the quote to end the story in a way so we can only decipher the important details and leave out the rest of the irrelevent information. It is a smart way to end a story; however; the repetition in which the author says this quote is used extensively which makes it unique to his own writing style. â€Å" ‘I tell you what,’ I said, â€Å"I’ll call it ‘the Children’s Crusade.’ â€Å" She was my friend after that. â€Å" (Vonnegut 15). At this point of the book, the author is still deciding on what route his book should take. He explained that he went over to a friends house who was also in the war with him and they shared stories together so that he could write a book about the war. His friends wife was very hostile towards the exchange between the men and did not hesitate to show her anger. Eventually the author finds out why she is so hostile to him; it is because she hates the fact that it is basically just kids fighting in an adult world. To get on good terms with her, the author implies thatShow MoreRelated The Downside of War in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.s Slaughter House Five527 Words   |  3 PagesThe Downside of War in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.s Slaughter House Five Many people view soldiers in war to have nothing more than a duty that they must perform; so they see war as being outrageous or ridiculous. 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Hilariously, he made fun of his world and attempted to teach a lesson regarding society’s quirks and highlight what he thought about society. Born November 11, 1922 and raised by wealthy Germans in Indianapolis, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr’s family abandoned their German culture to prove their patriotism in view of the anti-German sentiment afterRead MoreSlaughterhouse Five Are Obvious And Piercing As One1139 Words   |  5 PagesSo It Goes Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war novel, Slaughterhouse Five, illustrates the ghastly experiences within World War II and the journey through the universe and time of the main character, Billy Pilgrim. Although war is a sensitive subject in most cases, Vonnegut’s sarcastic, dark humor on the matter helps bring light to the fact that war is horrendous. Slaughterhouse Five demonstrates the reality of war throughout its major themes, historical accuracy, and Kurt Vonnegut’s personal experiences withinRead MoreA Conversation With Real Life Director Harrison Starr1693 Words   |  7 Pagescompares anti-war books to anti-glaciers books In the first chapter, which serves as an introduction, Vonnegut directly addresses the reader, pointing out his attitude towards war. The author makes it clear that he sees it as something ugly and horrifying, however, it seems like he is resigned to the fact that war will always exist. In one passage Vonnegut recounts a conversation with real-life director Harrison Starr. When Vonnegut explained that he was working on an antiwar book, HarrisonRead MoreKurt Vonnegut s Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim Question913 Words   |  4 Pageswant to forget about it. Kurt Vonnegut abjects this illusion of free will in his novel by his use in ‘characters’ and having free will. In Slaughterhouse-five, Billy Pilgrim question the Tralfamadorians, â€Å"Why me?† Their response is simply, â€Å"†¦There is no why.† The Tralfamodorians exemplify the role of â€Å"the other† that marks free will as a distinctly a human characteristic. Billy use’s this as a means to cope with the reality that pain and suffering is a guarantee. Vonnegut repetition of the phraseRead MoreKurt Vonnegut : A Hybrid Of Science Fiction And Satire1716 Words   |  7 PagesLeanne Arata English 11 Mrs. Wheeler 5/8/2016 Kurt Vonnegut The idea of making a work that does not fit into a single category of work is how Kurt Vonnegut has become such a phenomenon. Kurt Vonnegut has a hybrid writing style which allows him to critique human nature and this is evident in his work. A hybrid writer is someone who makes something by combining two different genres to create something new. Vonnegut’s work is a hybrid of science fiction and satire. Satire is an author’s way of sayingRead MoreEssay about Slaughterhouse-Five: A Peace Novel1419 Words   |  6 PagesWar is a tragic experience that can motivate people to do many things. Many people have been inspired to write stories, poems, or songs about war. Many of these examples tend to reflect feelings against war. Kurt Vonnegut is no different and his experience with war inspired him to write a series of novels starting with Slaughter-House Five. It is a unique novel expressing Vonneguts feelings about war. These strong feeling can be seen in the simila rities between characters, information aboutRead MoreEssay on Anti-War Sentiments in Cats Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five1173 Words   |  5 Pagessurface, Kurt Vonneguts Cats Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are vastly dissimilar works of literature, each with its own creative style and plot. 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The strategy of The Body Shop Free Essays

string(232) " Kenneth Andrews and addresses, amongst others, the view that: â€Å"Strategy is concerned with identifying opportunities in the enterprise’s external environment which it is better qualified to exploit than its competitors\." â€Å"Business people have got to be the instigators of change. They have the money and the power to make a difference. A company that makes a profit from society has a responsibility to return something to that society. We will write a custom essay sample on The strategy of The Body Shop or any similar topic only for you Order Now † 1 (Roddick, 1991) This statement, by Anita Roddick OBE, founder of ‘The Body Shop’, demonstrates the strong ethical dimension of the company’s way of doing business. She opened her first shop in Brighton on March 26th 1976 selling 25 varieties of 100-percent natural skin and hair care products inspired by cultural knowledge from around the world. The company has expanded dramatically since its origins and now has over 1900 stores worldwide. Despite its rapid growth, the strong beliefs and values existent in 1976 remain deeply embedded within the organisational culture. Throughout this writing I will discuss these beliefs and values in the context of corporate strategy and decision-making, and demonstrate how it relates to theoretical frameworks within the corporate strategy field. I will analyse The Body Shop’s strategies using these theoretical models, and compare and contrast the models themselves. The strategy of The Body Shop in comparison to other businesses within the cosmetics and toiletries industry was unconventional. Their rapid growth, achieved mainly through franchising, was primarily due to the ‘green’ nature of the organisation, prioritising ethical practice over making profits. â€Å"Ever since she started The Body Shop in 1976, Roddick had made a habit of going against the tide of the industry’s established business practices.† 2 (Mintzberg, Quinn, Ghoshal, 1991: 447) This quotation reinforces the notion of The Body Shop’s alternative approach to strategy. Unlike other companies within the industry, they didn’t make miraculous claims for their products; they allowed labels with detailed lists of the ingredients and properties of products to tell customers about each good. This links in with the fact that a major component of The Body Shop’s strategy was that they never engaged in any advertising. Throughout history and in contemporary advertising, organisations within the health and beauty sector have constantly bombarded the public with claims and promises associated with their products through the use of adverts and promotions. â€Å"The cosmetics industry makes its money through packaging and advertising, which together are 85 per cent of its costs.† 3 (Mintzberg, Quinn, Ghoshal, 1991: 453) This is a cost that The Body Shop’s strategy enabled them to avoid. The business was started with just a $6000 bank loan, and so it wasn’t possible to engage in expensive advertising campaigns, moreover, it was against the values of the organisation, who preferred to rely on word-of-mouth and publicity to secure sales. It is said that the initial success of the first store was a lot to do with the curiosity and publicity acquired through a local newspaper article illustrating the fact that it was called â€Å"The Body Shop† and was located close to a funeral parlour. Their strategy exploits the fact that they are a socially responsible organisation, meaning that customers buy their products knowing that nothing has been artificially manufactured and are produced with 100 percent natural ingredients. This unique selling point, together with their prominent beliefs and values, has the affect of providing The Body Shop with a competitive advantage over other firms in the industry. This will be developed in more depth later in the writing. The Body Shop’s strong social message is reflected in every aspect of their mission statement. From dedicating the business to the pursuit of social and environmental change, to meaningfully contributing to local, national and international communities in which they trade.4 â€Å"The company is significantly involved in local communities and is prepared to get political and talk about big issues in countries where it does business. No company in the world campaigns at the level we do, or turns their shops into action stations, or challenges the role of business like we do.† 5 (Roddick, 2002) Throughout history The Body Shop has rapidly expanded geographically as well as in terms of their sales and product portfolio, however, in the late 1990s their performance began to suffer. As a result, February 2000 saw fundamental changes to the organisation and management, including substantial changes to the board of directors, and the outsourcing of manufacturing to a company named ‘Creative Outsourcing Solutions International Limited’. Anita and Gordon Roddick became non-executive directors and there were five new appointments to the board, including a new CEO. Despite these changes The Body Shop’s performance failed to be rejuvenated, which forced them into more drastic changes. â€Å"In the most recent annual report, Peter Saunders (CEO) commented that the group’s objective now was to apply a strategy to drive performance across the global business†¦The single most important priority, he added, was to improve comparable sales performance across stores through effective new product launches.† 6 (‘Mintel’, 2003: 137) These new objectives seem to have the effect of diluting the self-proclaimed visions and primary concerns of The Body Shop. It could be said that the current management have somewhat contradicted Anita Roddick’s earlier philosophies. â€Å"Too many businesses have gotten distracted with management structures and†¦making money.† 7 (Roddick, 1991) One of the main underlying reasons why they have encountered their current problems is because many companies within the health and beauty industry have noted the success of The Body Shop and are responding to the ever-increasing ‘green consumer’ themselves through the release of their own versions of ‘all-natural’ products. Examples being ‘Està ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½e Lauder Origins’, ‘Revlon New Age Naturals’, and ‘Clairol Herbal Essences’. Competition erodes profit, and, as a result of the increase in competition, The Body Shop have lost their competitive advantage of being able to supply what others cannot. The strategies of The Body Shop can be analysed using several theoretical models from within the strategy discipline. Situation analysis can be used to determine what advantages BS have, or have had, over their competitors, and can illustrate how The Body Shop was so successful for many years. This theory, termed by Mintzberg as the ‘Design School’, was based upon work by Professor Kenneth Andrews and addresses, amongst others, the view that: â€Å"Strategy is concerned with identifying opportunities in the enterprise’s external environment which it is better qualified to exploit than its competitors.† 8 (Lilley, 2003) The current situation of The Body Shop was analysed by Mintel and appears in their February 2003 publication on health and beauty retailing in the UK. STRENGTHS * Strong worldwide coverage helps to spread corporate risk. * Well known and well respected global brand. * Franchising has enabled the company to grow at lower cost and lower risk. * Still has strong ethical and environmental credentials. WEAKNESSES * Mature business, with declining like-for-like sales. * Appears to lack the inspiration to re-invent itself. * Vulnerable to imitators. * Franchising reduces level of corporate control. * Rapidly rising rental costs in the UK. * Limited growth opportunities in terms of new geographical regions. OPPORTUNITIES * Still potential to enter new markets in Europe especially Central/Eastern Europe and other parts of the world. * Implementation of strategy to control costs and working capital in order to improve profitability and cash generation. * Development of more pharmacy concessions in Ireland and possibly other markets. * Further development of e-commerce and other non-store channels. THREATS * Strong competition from other innovative and environmentally friendly health and beauty retailers. * Great competition from discounters and grocers’ health and beauty offer. * Recent new product launches have yet to produce a positive impact on sales densities. * Continued lack of like-for-like sales growth threatens profitability and the group’s scope to expand physically. ‘Figure 1’: SWOT Analysis of The Body Shop International Plc. 9 (Mintel, 2003: 144) The above analysis was compiled after The Body Shop’s decline in performance – it is clear that all the threats from the external environment are modern occurrences that wouldn’t have been an issue during their period of rapid growth in the 1980s. Throughout this time they effectively maintained a portfolio of differentiated products and, perhaps more prominently, a unique and differentiated brand image, which enabled The Body Shop to compete and be successful. â€Å"Product differentiation means that established firms have brand identification and customer loyalties, which stem from product differences, or simply being first into the industry.† 10 (Porter, 1980: 9) The environmentally friendly and ethical practices that The Body Shop claim they dedicate their business to could be described as their core competence within the industry. Even to this date Anita Roddick and the organisation actively campaign in issues such as animal testing, human rights, and protecting our planet. No other business within the health and beauty industry is as heavily associated with ethical and environmental practices as The Body Shop. The core competence of an organisation characterises its whole range, take for example, Sony’s ability to miniaturise electronics or Aston Martin’s competence in producing flawless motorcars. It is clear to see that The Body Shop’s core competence is not only reflected throughout their product range, but is evident throughout all their business activities, from their minimal use of product packaging, to the layout of stores. â€Å"Core competencies and market-led strategy are nowadays the only pathways toward success.† 11 (Sophocleous, 2003) The strategy that The Body Shop employed can be analysed with another useful framework in the field of strategy, namely â€Å"The Five Competitive Forces that Determine Industry Profitability† by Michael E. Porter. This cannot be applied directly to The Body Shop, but can be used to analyse the external environment in which they operated in the past, and how it changed in the late 90s. ‘Figure 2†²: Forces driving industry competition. 12 (Porter, 1980: 4) The main principle behind this model is that the profitability of an organisation is determined by the collective strength of the five forces; in other words, the industry structure directly affects industry profitability. The Body Shop initially operated within a niche market where there were no real competitors offering the same products nor backing the same principles that they were. The threat of substitutes was minimal because if customers wanted all-natural products they would almost certainly have had to buy them from The Body Shop. In relation to the threat of new entrants, initially there was nothing stopping rival firms from competing within the all-natural cosmetics and toiletries sector, however, no other companies actively engaged in the ethical and environmental practices to the extent that The Body Shop did. The barriers to market entry increased in relation to the amount of stores opened by The Body Shop, and during their period of rapid growth, their power within the niche market could have been regarded almost as monopolistic. However, customers who preferred to buy all-natural products but didn’t regard it as being entirely necessary could easily have turned to other companies’ products within the wider industry, that didn’t exercise such dominant views on ethical and environmental issues. The low threat of ‘all-natural’ substitution that existed in the earlier stages of The Body Shop, coupled with the fact that the arrival of new entrants was particularly low, provided them with the opportunity to control the prices they charged for their products. The argument becomes more complex when trying to categorise The Body Shop into a particular market. They could be regarded as operating completely within their own sector, but can also be viewed as just another cosmetics company with the advantage of having a differentiated product range and image. â€Å"Differentiation, if achieved, is a viable strategy for earning above-average returns in an industry because it creates a defensible position for coping with the five competitive forces.† 13 (Porter, 1980: 38) To justify this quotation in relation to The Body Shop we must consider them to be in the wider cosmetics industry, which has a high level of competitors. Their differentiation led to customers’ increased loyalty in The Body Shop brand, which resulted in a lower sensitivity in price. This had the effect of protecting the company from competition and rivalry. However, as time progressed, other companies intentionally sought to compete directly in the field of environmentally friendly products. The Body Shop was able to gain an advantage over competitors by not utilising traditional distribution channels – for many years they only sold their products through their own shops. This reduced the threat of new direct competition from other companies, as the level of investment required by a new entrant would be extortionate considering they would have to open an abundance of specialist shops. However, to overcome these problems the new competitors emerged using traditional distribution channels, such as through supermarkets and department stores. â€Å"The strength of the five forces varies from industry to industry, and can change as an industry evolves.† 14 (Porter, 1985: 4) The above statement from Porter’s work in 1985 is related to the case of the cosmetics and toiletries industry in that the emergence of greater competition in the 90s meant that the strength of the competitive rivalry aspect of the five forces within the industry increased. In addition, customers now have the ability to simply pick and choose alternative brands’ all-natural products in confidence – an increase in the threat of substitution. Through the use of Porter’s five forces model we can see that the changes in the strength of the forces within the cosmetics and toiletries market have accounted for the recent decline in performance of The Body Shop. In the early days of the company, the threat of like-for-like substitutes and the associated power of customers were relatively low in comparison to the modern day situation. Competitors have increasingly matched the core competences of The Body Shop, and, as a result, the significant competitive advantage that they once had has been reduced. â€Å"Competition in an industry goes well beyond the established players. Customers, suppliers, substitutes, and all potential entrants are all ‘competitors’ to firms in an industry.† 15 (Porter, 1980: 6) This quotation by Porter reveals that the five forces model has limitations with regard to The Body Shop case. The Body Shop do not regard their suppliers as competitors; in fact they want to actually financially support their suppliers. This is evident from their mission statement in their aim of balancing the financial and human needs of their suppliers. These more esoteric aspects of The Body Shop’s strategy, termed by Anita Roddick as them doing ‘business as unusual’, highlights another main drawback of the five forces model, in that it is geared around profit being the primary concern of an organisation and doesn’t provide any flexibility or scope for change. The Body Shop’s early successes can be partly attributed to the strong customer base they secured due to the general movement in society towards being more environmentally and ethically aware. The framework doesn’t deal effectively with this idea of customer preference or changes in trends, nor does it cope with the notion that customers were gained through the fact that they appreciated, and could relate to, the values and beliefs of The Body Shop and their efforts to pursue social and environmental change, and not just because of factors relating to price. On the other hand, the SWOT analysis model is useful for clearly displaying the advantages of an organisation in relation to the market within which it operates, together with the negative aspects of the internal organisation and external environment. As with all theories, however, there are a number of limitations associated with it. All of a business’s strengths do not necessarily directly contribute towards providing a competitive advantage, SWOT analysis also has the tendency to take a single dimension of a firm’s strategy over-emphasise it. It is difficult to prove which strengths are likely to provide the most benefit to an organisation, and also determine which opportunity should be given more attention to shape the overall strategy of the business in question. The findings of SWOT analysis are greatly shaped by the opinions and perceptions of managers or analysts, meaning that they can be regarded as subjective in nature as opposed to the, perhaps initial appearance of being objective and rationally constructed. â€Å"What we are dealing with here is not the organisation or environment ‘in itself’, rather we are attempting to extract and combine the perceptions of these entities that exist in the minds of managers.† 16 (Lilley, 2003) In conclusion, after analysing the strategy of The Body Shop using frameworks from the strategy discipline, it is apparent that SWOT analysis deals well with the unique aspects of The Body Shop’s strategy. Although the analysis of The Body Shop’s situation is greatly dependent upon personal judgement, their strengths shown in figure 1 give an accurate account of the 25-year success story, which was primarily based upon The Body Shop’s core competence in displaying continuous proactive dedication towards ethical and environmentally friendly practices, together with their prime high street and inner-city shop locations, and famous and respected global brand. The reasons for their decline in performance during the late 90s are clearly displayed in the ‘threats’ category of the analysis, prominently highlighting the emergence of increased competition from other companies operating within the health and beauty industry, who are reaching consumers through traditional distribution channels and via supermarkets. Michael Porter’s model of the five competitive forces is valuable in that it offers a simple, structured analysis of the industry, but is limited in the sense that it’s unable to satisfactorily consider the dynamics of markets, for example, the movement of consumer preferences towards environmentally friendly products. It can provide a helpful starting point for further analysis, but simplified versions alone can prove inadequate. It provides an account of how conventional, profit-maximising firms are affected by the structure and occurrences of the external environment, and how those firms can work towards shaping and exploiting the environment to their advantages, but fails to comprehensively account for the successes of unorthodox firms like The Body Shop, who do not, at least in their own claims, follow the usual route of or towards profit maximisation. How to cite The strategy of The Body Shop, Papers

Mission and Leadership Approach at Google and Google Recent Ventures

Questions: Case study 1 As a strategy consultant to Googles triumvirate, advise them on the relevance of its current mission and its effectiveness in achieving a sense of mission Case study 2 Evaluate Googles strategic-decision making process and its significance for developing innovation capabilities, taking into accounts the choices and key actions of its strategic leadership which support the capability development process. Answers: Case study 1 Structure of answer The answer will contain detailed information about the Mission and leadership approach at Google The Ashridge Mission Model Faults in the Organization Corporate and Strategic Decisions Recommendations Mission and leadership approach at Google A strategic leader has the responsibility of the overall mission, vision or strategies that could motivate others. They also create certain beliefs by which people works together and helps to develop detailed strategies in the organization (Papanastassiou Pearce, 2009). A strategy leader may also influence the organizations strategy that is to be taken. The mission of Google is to sort and order the worlds information and to make it accessibly throughout the world. Google by its own has in a few years time achieved a growth at a lightning pace in the area of internet search. It has attracted attention of many people like analyst, researcher etc. many organizations are trying to unfold their success formula. Google started as a small search engine in 1998 (Vise Malseed, 2008). Within years it gained momentum and attracted more users and followers. From the very beginning the company has a hanger in its belly and for which by 2004 they have been able to launch IPO in the stock market of USA. The mission of Google has always been to do something out of the track; something innovative which others will not think of doing. Like for example, they launched an open IPO instead of allowing investment banks to dictate on the IPOs; which other companies might not have thought of. Once again Google made a difference when they introduced a two-tier system of board of directors which was very rare in the USA at that time but very common in some European countries. The two founders of Google Larry Page and Sergey Brin took alternate roles while Larry concentrated on the social structure while Brin looked on the ethical part. After its inception only Google has a strong market share which now has increased to 67.5% whereas its next competitor Yahoo is at 8.4% which is way behind Googles market share. Google is a widely diversified company. Apart from a search engine it has other fields of operation like online payment services, mobile phone operating systems blogging social networks and radio and TV advertising (grant, 2015). Another important aspect of Googles operation is that if they cannot innovate anything new in the organization; they buy those products. A famous example of it was the buying of YouTube in the year 2001. In Google it is said that the organization is run by its culture and not necessarily by the board of directors. The people do what they want to do every day which is much easier since the employees never face any problems. This form of work culture is very different from the traditional one where there is always a CEO statement telling what to do and what not to. The people in the organization are provided with 20% free time during their work hours within which time they are allowed to exercise, swim have free meals etc. this shows that the company values their employees and always try to allow them to think freely and come up innovating ideas. Though Google has always tried to do something very innovative each time, but their main motto was always to organize the information of the world. Leadership of Larry Page Larry Page always believes that they should try to build something which does not exist. They do not pay much attention to the competitors who are working on similar products since they are sure that they will be always be one step ahead of them. It is in the leadership style of Larry Page that makes the company innovative and ahead of its competitors. He is a true transformational leader who can lead his team to new heights. It is really the people that make the company what it is. The company hires people who are smart and dynamic and determined towards their work. For the success of the organization it is very essential that the vision of the CEO is in line with the companys vision and mission. The leadership style is reflected in the openness of his ideas and his curiosity to innovate greater ideas to put and develop the organization. The Ashridge Mission Model and Application to Google The Ashridge mission model is based on the four pillars that is purpose, strategy, behavior standards and values. The model can be applied to achieve organizational benefits. It is a useful tool used for analytical purpose which helps organization to set their missions clearly. It can also be applied to create new missions for the organization and also to examine the organizations current mission. The organization seeks to align their organizational goals with that of the employee values, by doing so they try to reach their organizations goals (The Economist, 25 March 2006). Google has always tried to keep their employees benefits at the front. They provide all the benefits necessary for the employees to prosper. Allowing freedom in the work helps motivate the employees which make them come up with new ideas. In doing so they take ahead their mission of presenting the world with updated information. The statement is an expression of the mission of the company. Google follows this mod el in their work culture. The model combines the cultural and the strategic motivators so as to guide the organization. The mission statement of the company is to sort and order the worlds information and to make it accessibly throughout the world. For doing so the company from its inception have tried to achieve the mission and has now become a house hold name. People often say to google a word if the meaning is nit found. The purpose is mainly to ensure why the company exists. It is clearly defined that why the company exists. It is to ensure that it can lead the market in terms of information search. The strategy of Google is to achieve a competitive stance in the market. It has achieved such a competitive position that now it has increased to 67.5% whereas its next competitor Yahoo is at 8.4% which is way behind Googles market share (B.V., 2015). The value of Google is in its ability to make its employees feel committed to the work. The assessment of the company is done on the v alues it maintains such as to deliver good information and data. Faults in the Organization Though Google has always tried to maintain its position in the market, it has many a faults inside the organization. It is mainly a disorganized organization where it becomes very difficult to guess who is responsible for which job. As it happened that no represent of Google was present at the court room in Belgium when a case was filed. Another problem that Google face is that their employee manager ratio is not maintained properly. Whereas in other US organizations the ratio of employees to managers is only 1:10; in Google it is 1:20, which is double that of other organizations. Google has introduced a system whereby the employees are allowed to have 20% work time for personal projects, which may even extend to 30% of the work time in the organization which they believe which will give rise to new opportunities and new ideas. The company has a large work force but the way of recruiting and the critical method they follow make the job seekers feel depressed at some point of time. Corporate and Strategic Decisions Irrespective of the image that Google has as a organization that gives its employees benefits to free themselves from managerial control, it has a strong recruitment process. Thus no wonder it is so lenient with its employees. The pay is also competitive but not much ahead of its competitors. However the perks like messages, free meals and swimming pool helps to attract employees to a great extent (Keen, 2011). Moreover the employees mainly engineers must possess a masters degree or doctorate from leading universities. Each and every candidate has to pass through the psychometric tests before joining Google so that a good number of the population can be retained. The company follows a laissez-faire attitude which gives the management to control the employees as well as freedom to the employees (Sandberg Rollins, n.d.). Peer review is extensively followed in Google where by employees are constantly being reviewed by their peers which improve their work quality. Moreover other constra ints are also effective in the organization. The team of workers on a certain project is limited to not more than six; even deadlines for submitting the projects are also maintained at not more than six weeks. The company is boastful that they are analytical and everything in the company is measured and systematic (Vise Malseed, 2008). The hourly updates are taken on spreadsheets and monitored. The technical platform internal to the company is one of the major sources of its success. The organization has its own intranet called Moma which can track a very large amount of data within real time. Google is to capture and track information and present it in a proper and organized manner. Recommendations Google should try to organize its work force so that the responsibility of each people can be distinctively identified so that lack of information about responsibilities of the workers is identified. The company should try to bring down the ratio of the employee to managers like other American countries, or even lower like some European countries for example in France the ratio is 1:7.5 The system followed by Google of giving 20% to 30% of their work time for personal projects which could give rise to chaos in the work place. So such a large span of free time should be generally avoided so as to maintain a cordial working environment within the organization. The decision to buy YouTube was made; but who made the decision was not known. These certain facts should be made clear before the people as well as the government. The decisions taken within the organization should be transparent so that the question of who took those decisions should not arise. Case study 2 Structure of answer The answer will contain detailed information about the - Googles recent ventures Findings Advantages Disadvantages Googles recent ventures From its very inception Google has been always trying to do out of the track innovations and developments. In 2004 a series of new products were launched by Google. Google acquired 99 companies between 2004 august and end of 2011 (Wired,2012). There was a series of introduction of new products by Google which started with goggle acquiring YouTube in 2006 followed by the introduction of the android operating system used in mobiles in the year 2007. In September 2008 the web browser called Chrome was introduced. Soon after, the announcement of making Chrome an open-source operating system was made (Scott, 2008). This has only added to Googles image of continuously updating strategy. Googles mission is to continuously collect and analyze data and present it to the world at large for referencing. The acquisition of YouTube has rightly followed its mission by collecting all the audio and video and presenting it under a same roof (Vise Malseed, 2008). Findings Decisions in the company are taken within the company as no one is certain about who is taking which decision. There arose certain situations when law suits remained unattended due to identity crisis as each and every employer perform all the jobs. But most importantly Google has not always remained loyal to its mission and vision. While venturing into the web browser it has not collected all the data and made it accessible to the users!! Apart from that it must be noted that due to diversifying nature its revenue has an upward trend. Their revenue in the year 2006 was $10,604.9 million to $ 37,905.0 million in the year 2011. From the above figures it can be seen that Google has always been in the want for more achievements. Achievements which many other companies may not think of; and for this reason their revenue has risen more than three times within five years. Google has recklessly expanding in the recent years. The most talked about acquisition was that of the Motorola Mobility the maker of the wireless handset. The acquisition was made for a $12.5 billion. It is considered as the first billion dollar venture of Google. Prior to the acquisition of the Motorola, Google was in the software business companies, but after the acquisition of motorala, Google has stepped into the hardware business as well. Advantages The simplicity of Google with the white background and the logo of Google makes it a sought after search engine. In the initial years Google did so well searching things for people that now people can accustom it with search. When CEO of Google Eric Schmidt was replaced by Larry Page, in 2011 it was said that adult supervision has been replaced by youth venture. The focus on product, social networking sites and focused leadership has recognized Google as Larrys company. The social networking site Facebook, the android based mobile software is centre for advertisements. With these the company will maintain its advertising business which will grow at jaw dropping pace. With Googles reckless expansion, it has now business in both the software and hardware sectors. Disadvantages It was seen in case of Google that the ambitious initiatives of Google have eventually adding to the cost of the company and even distracting the management. With Google expanding in such a wider genre like mobile operating system, productivity applications, web browser; its identity is getting muddled. People find it hard to articulate whether it is a company for software or a web company! Googles initiative of diversification has made little efforts to boost revenue rather than to increase profit on a large scale. The company in 2011 lost about 20% of its market share due to Motorola. And Motorola is likely to drop down the companys earnings in the years to come. The company due to its leniency towards the employers often leads to a chaotic situation within the organization. The concern for such diversifying initiatives had generated little profit than to boost the revenue. Conclusion To conclude it can be said that that Google has always given priority to its mission. The mission of Google is to collect the information of the world and then present it in a systematic way for the world to view and access. For that reason Google has always delved into business which could keep its mission alive. But for doing so it has sometimes fallen into controversies as to whether Google is a web based company or it is a software producing company or a hardware company is a much talked about question. But the Ashridge model in which the organization seeks to align their organizational goals with that of the employee values. Google also tries to do the same, so that they try to reach their organizations goals. Google on one hand strictly follows the time limit for the work; the team of engineers handling a project is restricted so as to ensure quality work. On the other hand the employees are allowed 20 percent of their working time free in which they could do recreational activ ities. They are sometimes given freedom in their work so that creativity comes in their works. References Google. (2014).ECOS. doi:10.1071/ec14171 grant, r. (2015).corporate strategy. Keen, A. (2011). Google's inner workings.New Scientist,210(2809), 50. doi:10.1016/s0262-4079(11)60935-4 Media, B. 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