Problems of Modern India and Swami Vivekanand Essay Example for Free

Problems of Modern India and Swami Vivekanand Essay India is one of the fastest developing countries in the world. With its diversified culture, civilization, natural resources, technology and a wealth of skilled human resources, it is also one of the fastest growing economies in the world. But at the same time there are several problems plaguing our Modern India which are affecting the growth and development of our country. Widespread corruption and terrorism are some of the main problems facing India today. Corruption is very widespread in India. It ranks 72 amongst the top most corrupt countries in the world. In India corruption takes the form of bribes, evasion of taxes, misappropriation of funds, and embezzlement amongst others. A study found that more than 50% of the Indian population had firsthand experience of paying bribes or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office. The main consequence of corruption is a loss to exchequer, an unhealthy environment for investment and an increase in cost of government services. Apart from this Corruption also leads to an unethical society. This increases the already existing gap between poor and wealthy. This may lead to unrest and destruction of modern societies. This social evil needs to be curbed so as to bring back moral values in the society as well as to fill the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor. Swami Vivekananda was, above all, an honest and ethical man on a righteous path. He had a strong sense of ethics, morals and principles. One of his famous sayings is that â€Å"Unselfishness is God†. Selfishness and greed are the main causes of corruption. If we all followed in Swami Vivekananda’s footsteps and followed his teachings, we would know better than to be so selfish as to extort money from other people in the form of bribes and embezzlement. If more people followed Swami Vivekananda’s teachings and principles, we would not have so many selfish people who only think about what they want and not about the situation of the poor person whom they are forcing to pay bribes. We would not have so many greed driven people who, in spite of having more wealth than the person sitting across them, still extort and bully the other person into paying them massive bribes. If only more people followed the righteous path shown by Swami Vivekananda and put the ideals he taught to practice, the evil of corruption wouldn’t be so rampant in modern India. Terrorism today is a global issue that’s feared by almost every country in the world. But it’s a major issue in modern India owing to the basic religious differences present in India since the time of independence. Religion is the main cause behind terrorism. Terrorists commit acts of terrorism and violence in the name of protecting and promoting their religion. Pakistani militants have constantly attacked India since the Mumbai bombings of 1993 in the name of Jihad. Swami Vivekananda always preached about the importance of uniting religious beliefs for the progress of the human race. He didn’t believe in marginalizing any religion and believed every religion to be equal. He definitely was against any kind of violence especially for the preaching of religion. One of his famous sayings was â€Å"The secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice. To be good and do good that is the whole of religion†. He preached about spreading religion by doing good and teaching people how to always do good unto others. Terrorists today have chosen the path of violence to spread their religious beliefs which is totally opposite to what Swami Vivekananda taught us so no wonder terrorism is such a big issue. Religious tolerance and respect for one other’s beliefs would go a long way towards helping us curb the evil of terrorism and also help humanity move forward harmoniously on the path of progress in unity. Corruption and terrorism are two of the major issues eating away at our glorious nation and hindering its progress greatly. Following in Swami Vivekananda’s footsteps and practicing the ideals and principles that he preached would help the populace of modern India be less selfish so as to consider the needs of others and less greedy so that people think twice before extorting and bullying some poor guy for their money. It would also increase religious tolerance amongst people so that terrorism is curbed and modern India can progress without such hindrances.

Understand The Importance Of Leadership Styles And Behaviour Management Essay

Understand The Importance Of Leadership Styles And Behaviour Management Essay Hersey and Blanchard developed a Situational Leadership Model of management and leadership styles in order to present the ideal progression of a team from immaturity (stage 1) through to maturity (stage 4) during which management and leadership style progresses from directing(1), through the stages of increased management involvement of coaching (2) and supporting(3) to the final stage where the manager becomes relatively removed delegating (4). This is the point at which the team is almost self-sufficient and possibly contains at least one managerial/leadership successor. I have applied a Hersey-Blanchard type questionnaire to determine my own leadership style. The analysis of the responses showed that I have a slight tendency to be directing above supporting and delegating with a lesser inclination towards a coaching style of management. Four situations where different leadership styles would be appropriate for your team Directing style this is generally applied when staff in the team are highly motivated to do their work but do not have much experience. It is characterised by the manager providing close supervision and giving specific instructions on what needs to be done. This style would be suited, for example, to a new starter to the team who may need considerable guidance relating to the processes and procedures which the team applies in the first instance. Coaching style this is most appropriate when staff have begun to develop in their roles and hence have grown in confidence which has possibly lowered their level of motivation. In this instance the manager takes on a more consultative persona, asking for questions and ideas, but ultimately makes the final decision. I would expect to apply this leadership style to staff who have perhaps been in their role around 6 months, trying to draw thoughts and ideas from people to show that their opinions make sense and are valid. Supporting style applied when staff have progressed to a higher level of competence and also have key ideas and input which they like to be heard. However, these staff may still lack confidence with respect to taking making decisions. This style is represented by a reduced level of supervision and the manager becoming more participative, forming part of the group and allowing the group to reach its own decisions and implement them. I would apply this leadership style when staff have progressed to being fully competent in their role, but perhaps there is still some self-doubt to take the final step to make a key decision i.e. they still require a level of re-assurance that the actions they are taking are the correct ones. Delegating style this is used where staff are highly competent and are also solid performers, where the team is self-managing, i.e. it can plan its own work, work through its own problems and take its own decisions. This style is appropriate when the team have reached the stage of being high-performers. This would be the point where I could step-back from day-to-day management of them, considering strategic management instead, and even think about progression to the next step in their/my own careers. Feedback from others using appropriate leadership model As I currently do not have any direct reports (vacancy being progressed). I requested 3 of my colleagues to complete a similar questionnaire (responses were anonymous). The analysis of the responses was quite varied as follows: First respondent suggested a balanced use of all of the 4 styles; Second respondent suggested directing was my least-preferred style and that I predominantly preferred a supporting leadership style; Analysis of the third respondents questionnaire showed a strong preference towards directing and coaching styles with the others to a much lesser extent. Possibly, these responses are not straightforward to analyse, as these individuals are not my direct-reports and had to use only their knowledge of my behaviour from working alongside me to determine how I would react in different situations suggested in the questionnaire. I suggest that my own hypothesis of a directing leadership style is (semi-) supported by the analysis of my collegues responses. Certainly, it has been an approach I have used when conducting Management System audits in the past. How leadership behaviour can be improved in the context of the model One area I need to develop is an appreciation of the benefits to be gained from being able to switch from one management style to another depending upon the situation (i.e. a particular task, project or challenge). A directing approach, if applied too frequently can be demotivating in that staff may feel that they are unable to be left alone to get on with their work, and also that they are also not asked to come up with their own ideas. My own leadership behaviour could be enhanced if, where the situation merited it, I took a more consultative or coaching approach to try to draw ideas out of the team and make them feel as if they are making a positive contribution. Eventually, I would like to reach the point where I am applying a participative or supporting approach i.e. still being the leader of the team but with a greater degree of integration so that planning and decisions are made collectively. The biggest shift that I need to make is away from a mindset which says no-one can do the job as well as I can and micro-managing people so that they deliver products to my exact specification and towards a philosophy where I give staff more freedom to think for themselves and come up with their own (possibly better) solutions. Understand how to build the Team Recognised model to explain how groups are formed Tuckman (1965) devised a model to explain the behaviour of groups of individuals in a variety of environments. The model suggests 4 unique stages that all groups experience and furthermore Tuckman states that a group has to experience all 4 phases to operate at their maximum potential. The progression is Forming; Storming; Norming and Performing. As a team matures in terms of its development and ability, the team dynamics change as do the inter-personal relationships between the team members. The leadership style of the team leader also modifies to suit, this has close parallels with the Hersey Blanchard model discussed earlier. I will relate examples of the formation of Central Assurance Team for Investment Projects to each stage of the Tuckman Model, as an illustration The team was formed as a consequence of a re-organisation of the whole of the Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSQE) function within Infrastructure Investment (now called Investment Projects), approximately 18 months ago. It is a combination of four sub-teams Audit, Systems, Reporting and Licensing. Forming stage- Team places high level of dependence on its leader for both guidance and direction, including the aims and objectives of the team. The roles and responsibilities of the team members at this stage are unclear. The leader may be frequently questioned on what the teams purpose is and its relationships with key stakeholders. The team members often test the tolerance level of the leader and they may also ignore process. As is suggested in the Hersey-Blanchard model, the leader applies a directive management approach. The forming stage for the Central Assurance Team (CAT) can be related to a four-day team building exercise which took place off-site, the purpose of which was for everyone to get to know each other and to understand what the role of the team was going forward. At this time, there was a certain amount of wariness between team members with respect to which role each individual was in the team for and indeed, as time progressed, some of these roles actually changed. Storming stage- The team members try to establish a pecking order within the group with respect to each other and the team leader, they may even challenge the leadership of the group. The teams purpose becomes clearer, however there is still underlying uncertainty. The team may split into cliques and power struggles ensue. The leader will adopt a coaching style of management to focus the team on its goal and avoid unproductive distractions. Very often progress may require compromises. The CAT at this point, was trying to understand a strategy of how they would deliver what was expected of them from the Investment Projects Programmes. The four sub-teams spent time drafting up strategy and functional-plan type documents to clarify their own roles and objectives. People were keen to get started on the day-job. Norming stage-The leader adopts a more participative style at this stage, and his/her main task are to facilitate and enable. The team starts to experience both agreement and concensus and their roles and responsibilities become clear. Big decisions are made by agreement between the group, smaller ones are delegated to sub-groups within the team. The team is highly committed and there is a sense of togetherness, processes are developed as well as a way of working. The leader is generally well respected at this point and some of his responsibilities are shared by the team. For the CAT, this was doing business as usual. As part of the audit team, this meant drawing up an audit plan (in-line with the strategy), producing a briefing pack, designing audit protocols and the forms and templates which form part of our day-to-day work. Then there was the actual auditing activity itself, working with the Programmes to ensure that the activity was adding value and learning lessons from each audit so that the process was improved each time. Performing stage- At this stage the team has strategic awareness, i.e. it understands not only what it is there for but why. The team has a shared vision and is independent of its leader. The team take most of its decisions in line with the criteria set by its leader, they also focus on over-achieving on their goals. The team is highly autonomous and disagreements are dealt with in a positive manner, often resulting in changes to processes and structure. The team works towards achieving its goal but also concentrates on style and process issues whilst doing so. The leaders role is to delegate and oversee tasks rather than instructing and assisting directly. With only 18 months of experience behind it, it is difficult to say whether the CAT has actually reached the performing stage in its development. As far as the audit team goes, we are still developing a long-term vision and assessing how the audit plan will be adapted to the customer/stakeholder requirements year on year. Without doubt, each member of the team is committed to producing high-quality work, it is a question of harnessing this towards a common direction. The benefits of understanding preferred team roles This was an area explored by Belbin in the late 1970s. He demonstrated that a balanced team, consisting of members of differing capabilities would consistently perform better than a less-balanced team. Belbin identified 9 roles, which, if they are all present in a team, provide good balance and increase the likelihood of success. An individuals team role(s) can be determined by the use of a Belbin-style questionnaire, examples of which are available via the internet. It is not necessary for the team to consist of 9 people, each one filling a single role, but for all of the roles to be represented by the team. When looking at the Central Assurance (Audit) team, it can be seen that, among 5 people, all 9 roles are in existence, although some are bought-in from outside of the team to provide the full complement. For example, we utilise specialists from outside of the team where we do not have an in-depth knowledge of a particular subject. The plant is seen as the senior manager who has responsibility for all four legs of the Central Assurance function as a whole. The team has a very strong completer-finisher bias. This is because the job dictates a great attention to detail and the closure of issues once identified. Additionally, the implementer role is in strong evidence as the team must convert an audit plan into reality and one senior member of staff within the team acts as the co-ordinator. Belbins study concluded that individuals are more motivated and perform more effectively when they are working in accordance with their own natural style. Hence it is a benefit to the manager to allow individuals to work to these strengths to improve team productivity and the cohesion between the team members. Know how to handle conflict What may have caused the conflict One conflict situation I was directly involved in was during my time on the Network Rail West Coast Route Modernisation Programme on the Lichfield Trent Valley 4-Tracking project (TV4). The project management team were concerned about whether the Network Rail Field Engineers were signing off a sufficient quantity of Inspection and Test data sheets. The Inspection and Test plan document is effectively proof that Network Rail has accepted the construction contractors work as being of sufficient quality and acts as a sign-off document for a particular section of work. As the Quality Engineer on the TV 4 project, I was responsible for providing assurances that these sign-offs were taking place (or that a sufficient proportion were being completed). In one particular geographical area of the works, it was discovered that very few of the Inspection and Test sheets had been completed by the Field Engineers. One of the reasons for this was that the work was spread over a 2-mile stretch of track and it was very difficult for such a small team of Field Engineers to be in place and witness the works and sign it off before the next section of works began. I reported the data to the TV4 Management Team and, unfortunately, this caused a conflict between myself and the Network Rail Field Engineers for that area as they saw the exercise that I had undertaken as something of a witch hunt resulting in a great deal of criticism of them from senior management. Effects of the conflict on individual and team performance The effect that this had was to make me very unpopular amongst the Field Engineering team and also to limit the degree to which they were prepared to assist me in future. They were also quick to make the news known to other staff working on the project! However, the exercise did highlight to management that there were resource problems if they were to provide anywhere near a significant proportion of signed Inspection and Test documents going forward. Recognised techniques to minimise and resolve conflicts In a paper called Resolving Conflict in Work Teams by the Team Building Directory, the authors state that conflict can arise from numerous sources within an team setting and generally fall into 3 categories: Communication Factors; Structural Factors and Personal Factors (source: Varney 1989). Barriers to communication are some of the most important factors and can be major sources of misunderstanding as in the example I have given. The communication barrier that has been noted here is a difference between interpretation and perception i.e. the team are not producing the required output and are therefore lazy and need to be warned to improve their performance. When perhaps the more likely conclusion was that they were drastically under-resourced to achieve the task required. The approach taken was to enforce the rules and this typically brings about hard feelings towards those who instigate it. When negative conflict occurs, there a 5 accepted methods for handling it: Compete; Collaborate; Avoid; Accommodate or Compromise (Thomas and Kilman). Each can be used effectively in different circumstances. For the particular example cited, possibly the best technique to apply was a compromise approach where a bargaining position could have been sought between two parties who had differing ideas on a solution but could not find a common ground (i.e. and agreed target for signing the documentation until the resourcing issue could be resolved). Creating a positive atmosphere and minimising the effect of conflict Negative conflict can be avoided by examining the 6 potential areas described by Nelson in the paper Interpersonal Team Leadership Skills (Hospital Management Quarterly, 1995). Administrative procedures a good groundwork for the effective coordination of work People resources adequate resources to do the job to avoid some carrying too heavy a load. Process for cost overruns proper resources in place so that the team knows what to do when cost becomes a problem and additional funding needs to be sought. This way the problem is resolved before it becomes a problem for management. Schedules the project schedule should be visible. The team should work together so that everyone achieves their deadline. Responsibilties what areas are assigned and who is responsible for them? Wish lists stick to the project in hand, avoid being side-tracked to try to fit other things into it. Do the other things youd like to after the original project is successfully completed.

japanese interment camps :: essays research papers

Japanese Interment Camps How would you like it if you had suddenly had 24 hours to pack, and in that short allotted time? That is exactly what happened to the Japanese-Americans in the year of 1942, directly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The reason form the U.S. government is that they didn’t want to have an inside accomplice that was aiding the enemy. They order was given by Theodore Roosevelt, and his word caused many â€Å"Relocation† or â€Å"Isolation† camps to spring up throughout the U.S. , including Canada.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The location of these camps varied – they each had their own region. A region normally consisted of 2-3 states. All the people with any type of Japanese heritage would be sent here and watched over closely so they could try any â€Å"Funny Business†. The United States didn’t want them to escalate the war situation and aid the Japanese in any way. This is similar to what we did recently – after 9/11-- with the whole situation in the Middle East when Muslims would try to board a plane and since they look suspicious they were kicked off the plane. This caused much aggravation in the U.S. with all the people with Muslim heritage; they thought it could be a repeat of what happened in 1942.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The camps or these â€Å"Relocation† centers were not any Ritz Carleton, they were poorly put together. They were made in such a hurry that the doors would fall off and there were gaps in the walls. This was because there was no sign of war pre-hand and they had no clue that they were going to have to take extreme measures. The camps were all made into cabin form, and were tightly packed together so they didn’t waste room.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the people were placed in these camps they were forced to do work. Some of the jobs that they endured in were; Gardening, Planting, Landscaping, Cleaning, Cooking, Digging Irrigation Ditches, and many other things that involve hard labor. If they didn’t do and complete their work, they were punished and confined to smaller and less luxurious quarters, sometimes pictures of loved ones would be taken away.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What many people don’t know is that there were numerous â€Å"Relocation† camps in Canada.

Essay --

Social Media marketing is modern marketing communication tool that helps marketers to engage with customers, prospects and other stakeholders of the business online. These are relatively low-cost communication channels that help firms to personalize theirs brands among the target audience. Primarily social media marketing assists companies to spread their intended messages mainly with the use of words, videos and photos. Some of the widely used social media channels are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Myspace. One of the major objectives of social media marketing is to communicate product and service offerings to those who interested in and also to make them visible to new target markets. Importantly social media channels create brand personalities, strong presence and relationships within the selected audiences. Social media provides firms with the opportunity of creating repeat and loyal customer base. The flowing can be identified as some key differences between social and traditional media tactics. Building relationships through adverts It is evident that there’s less or no interaction with target audiences with the use of traditional media tactics. They will only help firms to present their product or service. Whereas with use of social media, companies will be able to truly interact with customers and will help to build sustainable relationships through active and real communication. Operates within the boundaries of internet Traditional media tactics go beyond internet to try to reach people in off-line. Even today there are significant amount of customers who are yet connect online due to a number of reasons. By concentrating only on social media tactics, a company would not be able to communicate ... ... as 1) to determine whether the campaign adds value to the brand 2) to determine any necessary changes to make to the campaign 3) to obtain customer feedback 4) follow up leads. The effectiveness of a social marketing program will mainly depend on the following factors, 1) Align with the set objectives of the campaign (Targeted and focused) 2) Effects on brand awareness and reach (Number of people follows on Twitter; number of Facebook likes, number of downloads etc.) 3) Lead generation (people who shown interest via Twitter, returning visitors etc.) 4) Sales/ conversion rate (online purchases, favorable comments, referrals, number of people registered) 5) Level of interaction/ dedication of the marketing team (regular updates, comments, tweets) 6) Value additions within the campaign (games, mobile apps) – encourage people to actively participate in the campaign.

research study on gender differences Essay -- essays research papers

Non-verbal communication is defined as communication without words. (Devito, 116) Throughout your interpersonal interactions, your face communicates many things, especially your emotions. (Devito, 125) Women are stereotyped in today’s society as to being more emotional than men in emotional settings. Not in all instances is this true, however, men feel they need to set a strong, domineering, display of their emotions and the way they react towards certain emotional situations. Gender display rules are a set of rules that usually either male or female follow in order to fit their specific gender script in society. It is stated in the textbook that women talk more about feelings and emotions and use communication for emotional expression more then men, and because of this females express themselves facially more than men. (Devito, 148) The research article I chose to summarize for part two of the textbook is titled, â€Å" Gender Difference in Facial Reaction to Fear-relevant Stimuli†. The focus of this was to discover whether females are predominantly more facially reactive than males, or whether females are more emotionally reactive in general, as reflected even by non-facial reactions such as autonomic responding and emotional experience. (Thunberg & Dimberg)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In previous research on nonverbal communication, results stated that females tend to be more emotional than men in emotional situations. (Thunberg & Dimberg) Research also found that imagery-induced emotions as well as visually presented emotional stimuli generate specific facial EMG responses that are interpretable as negative and positive emotional responses. Further studies with EMG testing, which is a test that evaluates reactions towards emotional activity, shows that women are more emotionally reactive in general. With these given results to previous research, the authors of this article presented two hypotheses, which they will use to explain the following study. These hypotheses are, 1. That when exposed to emotional stimuli, females are specifically more facially reactive, but not more reactive in other respects, and, 2, that females are more emotionally reactive in general. (Thunberg & Dimberg, 2) The main purpose of the study was to distinguish the resu lts between the two given hypotheses.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ninety-six students from Uppsala ... ...n my family, I can speak that my family is different when it comes to gender display rules. When I was fourteen years old I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. When I found out the diagnosis, I cried for weeks, along with my mother, father, and brother. My father and brother were not ashamed to cry in the hospital with me. However, my family has always been emotional, and I am aware that every family and person is different. Thus, having an emotional family, gave me reason to think that it is not true that men don’t cry or show emotions. Of course, everyone is different, and after taking this class in concert with Family and Society I am on my way to a very open attitude about a lot of different aspects on different issues with Gender, families, communication skills, etc., where to before I was very objective to everyone and everything, except my own. References Devito, Joseph A. Messages Building Interpersonal Communication Skills. Hunter College of the City University of New York. United States, 2005 Thunberg, Monika, Dimberg, Ulf. â€Å"Gender Difference in Facial Reaction to Fear- Relevant Stimuli†. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. New York: Spring 2000. Vol. 24, Iss1; PG 45

Handling Interpersonal Conflicts Essay

Have you ever been involved in an interpersonal conflict that was not necessarily handled in the most effective manner? During that occurrence did you notice that you and the other individual seemed to be on different pages after the fact? Being able to handle an interpersonal conflict in the most effective manner could potentially keep you and your significant others relationship close as opposed to tearing it apart. In the movie â€Å"Hitch†, Will Smith states, â€Å"Sixty percent of all human communication is nonverbal body language; thirty percent is your tone, so that means ninety percent of what you’re saying isn’t coming out of your mouth† (Lassiter, 2005). With this being stated, body language, tone, and verbal language are all things that must be particularly paid close attention too and effectively utilized, whether you are the speaker or the listener. While watching the movie â€Å"Hitch†, there were a few interpersonal conflicts that were not handled effectively. One specific conflict that was not handled effectively was when Sarah found out about Hitch’s career as a â€Å"Professional Love Doctor†. This conflict was not handled effectively for a multitude of reasons. Previously Hitch and Sarah were really â€Å"falling† for each other, being sincere, genuine, and in the â€Å"honey moon† stage. After the conflict was initiated, Sarah’s body language started to change. She began to deny Hitch’s kisses by turning away, she ruined the romantic wine moment by tipping the bottle up as opposed to drinking out of the wine glass that Hitch had already prepared for her, Sarah began to snarl, both Hitch and Sarah began to become aggressive in their actions by throwing food at each other out of anger, and Hitch insulted Sarah by telling her that she had a crappy newspaper. All of these actions are considered to be ineffective ones. While trying to choose a more effective route of handling this conflict so that the relationship remains close, one must show ositive body language, positive tone, positive verbal language, as well as a few other effective solutions. Solutions such as empathizing with one another by putting themselves in each other’s shoes, evaluating the message by waiting for the speaker to finish speaking before evaluating the message, not becoming emotional at the speaker, and showing more self-disclosure at the beginning of their relationship so that each other could grasp more of an understanding of each other’s background and career. Sole states, â€Å"While emotions are normal and are to be expected in conversation, especially when information of a personal or sensitive nature is being shared, it is helpful to hear the speaker out and to try to control these emotions until the remarks are finished† (Sole, 2011). If both Sarah and Hitch had done this, their argument most likely would have been invisible. They may have understood where each one was coming from and actually taken the time to hear what each other were trying to get across. Doing all of these things could help eliminate the interpersonal conflict that both Hitch and Sarah encountered. All in all, interpersonal conflicts have the opportunity to happen on a daily basis; however, being able to handle them in the most effective manner could potentially keep you and your significant others relationship close instead of tearing it apart. Remember, whether you are the speaker or the listener, you must always try to pay close attention to body language, tone, and verbal language as well. Being able to come together as one, empathizing with one another, evaluating the message, not becoming emotional and showing more self-disclosure with one another are some key concepts to eliminating potential interpersonal conflict amongst you and your significant other.

KFC and McDonald’s marketing strategy in China Essay

Abstract McDonald’s is the greatest fast food chain in the world, its company sales and operate income was largely exceeded KFC on a global scale, but it confronted a strong challenge from KFC when it emerged into China. This essay analyzes the comparison between KFC and McDonald’s marketing strategy, emphases on finding the similarities and differentiations from â€Å"Seven P Formula† and finally makes a conclusion that localization is more suitable than globalization as the marketing strategy when fast food chain emerged in China’s market. Introduction Localization or Globalization has long been discussed when choosing strategic orientation in international marketplace. These two international marketing philosophies influenced enterprises’ current situation and future development. There are two fast food international companies named McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) who initially adopted different marketing strategies in China that led to differentiation for their future development. McDonald’s first franchise was founded in the United States in 1955, serve people for hamburger, french fries and other type of fast food, while KFC also from the same country, is now one brand of Yum, which first restaurant was founded in 1952 and mainly sells unique taste cooked chicken. From global scope, McDonald’s is exceeding KFC from company sales, operating profit to worldwide system units. McDonald’s company- operated sales were ï ¼â€ž18875 million, operating income was ï ¼â€ž8764 million and it had 35429 systemwide restaurants in 2013(McDonald’s, 2013), while KFC’s company sales were ï ¼â€ž11184 million, operating profit was ï ¼â€ž1798 million and there were 18875 KFC restaurants in 2013(YUM, 2013). However, as these two global fast-food brands emerged in China, the situation has been reversed. McDonald’s annual report uses APMEA (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa) as representative of Asian but not show the profit from China while KFC can saw significant progress in China, and it highlighted the progress in new restaurants, recruits and volume growth in annual report. The difference between these  two fast food companies was mainly due to their marketing strategies. That is, localization is more suitable than globalization as the marketing strategy when fast food chain emerged in China’s market. Definition The concept of marketing has long been defined by different people. The easiest one to understand may be a process of planning and executing, from price, products, ideas and services to satisfy customers and organizations objectives (Ferrell et al, 1987). This definition emphases marketing as a process preformed in organization, which has an overview of its practical function. It has mutually beneficial between providers and customers’ exchange, where provider’s goal is to offer products and service to achieve profit and customer’s goal is to purchase products which benefit their daily life. Marketing strategy could be the plan that identifying what is the customers’ requirement and what marketing goals and objectives could be achieved if selling particular goods and services in an available time (Jonathan, 2009). Briefly is the competitive plan that the organization will have. Marketing strategy enables an organization to have an understanding on the envi ronment and achieve its goals and objectives by using its resources that can meet the needs of customs (Douglas et al, 2010). A good marketing strategy would effectively improve company to supervise their value and create consumers’ brand loyalty. Localization is a strategy that advocates enterprises to adapt to local culture. The process often set up their products, services and promotion customized relate to local market. Enterprise should try to integrate into and treat them as an inherent member but not a foreigner to the local culture in the target market, which emphasizes the enterprise must adapt to the environment to gain more space in order to further development (Warren, 2008). KFC is an example that has developed food, drink and service highly sensitized to localization. KFC was the first western fast food chain emerged in China in 1987. In order to succeed, KFC abandoned its U.S. business model and planned to sell core products and services locally. Since it started to now, the company’s strength and competences accumulation has exceeded a major part of fast food companies and successfully posed formidable barriers to competitors in China. Globalization was defined by Edmund as the process of creating links  between individuals and organizations that transcend national boundaries and a re not subject to political interference (Edmund, 2008). Globalization is also a marketing strategy that the organization extended their activities worldwide, it is a main tendency for international companies or company who want to operate in other countries. This tendency was influenced by technical factors such as information and communication technology revolution, and principle of finance and trade, also affected by the movement of people. Globalization will continue be a major tendency in the future because of opportunities, which created huge increases in prosperity, notably in emerging markets, such as China (Martin, 2013). McDonald’s was the example that opened it first restaurant in China in 1990 and adopted globalization strategy initially, but eventually achieved few successes than KFC in China’s market. The similarity and differentiation between KFC and McDonald’s in China’s market KFC opened its first outlet in Beijing in 1987, it was the first western fast food company at that time and now it has 4563 outlets, which can be regarded as the largest restaurant chain in China (YUM, 2013). McDonald’s first restaurant opened in China in 1990, and now it has 2003 outlets all around the China. From the apparent distinction of the outlets, it is necessary to analyses the similarity and differentiation between them. The largest difference was the time these two companies settled in China and implemented their strategies. Franchising is a business format that the franchisor grants a license to franchisee and franchisee then can use it logo, products and goodwill. For example, McDonald’s allow other business man open their chain by using the same name if they have paid initial fee and ongoing management service fee (Colin, C et al, 2012). KFC use collaborative mode l of direct and franchise chain which laid the solid foundation of completive advantages. KFC is earlier than McDonald’s to implement franchising, who established the first franchising restaurant in 1993 and continue implement â€Å"do not start from scratch† mode, which means franchisee do not need to found a location, recruiting and training new employees but apply to join in and take over a mature restaurant. In that situation, franchisees can omit the preparatory work and incorporate themselves to the standard management system as soon as possible. However,  McDonald’s insist on implementing direct chain operate until 2003, while KFC has developed about 40 franchise locations during this period. Thus, McDonald’s was fall behind to KFC at the initial stage, which have deep influence on their future development. Marketing strategy helps make recognition of international opportunity on seven parts: product, price, promotion, place, positioning, packaging, and people. The â€Å"Seven P Formula† was used to evaluate and reevaluate the b usiness activities. As the marketing environment changed so rapidly that it is vital to track and achieve the maximum results by adjust seven P (Brain, 2004). The similarities and differentiation of seven P between two companies also illustrate localization is suitable than globalization. Product â€Å"A product is anything that be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.† (Philip, 2011). A product contains good, service and ideas. Food is a heart concept of the society and services from the fast-food chain would attract consumers and change customers’ attitude. KFC obtained the success of fast food market mainly by selling chicken products. KFC’s products utilized standard production, which selling inexpensive western-style items with local favor. KFC’s menu changed rapidly to follow the changeable market as they followed product life cycle from introduction, growth to maturity and finally decline. Some products offered temporarily while other permanently. For example, since 24th of March in 2014, KFC started to use the new menus, which eliminated seven items, renewed one item and added fourteen items. The totally variety has reached to 66 products. The success of KFC also from its spec ial ingredients, Sanders’ Original Recipe of â€Å"11 herbs and spices† is one of the most famous trade secret in fast food industry (Chartrand, 2001). The mystery ingredients mixed with local ingredients created a large amount of customers. The manager of KFC realizes that the customers in Sichuan, Hunan and Chongqin are preferred chilly while Shanghai customers would complain the dishes are too spicy. So the company adopted the localization strategy in products and finally changed its recipes to suit the region. McDonald’s mainly selling hamburger with beef, which is a typical western food style. Chinese prefer chicken to beef for some reasons. Firstly, may be  the price, according to the latest price of beef and chicken, there is large gap between them, the average price of beef is 66.60RMB (approximately 6.5 pounds) per kilogram while the average price of chicken only in 19.58RMB (approximately 1.8 pounds) per kilogram (data from the government of china price). Secondly, the traditional cultivation industry in China raise more chicken than cattle, as cattle is so heavy that will eat more and its long growth stage means costly when buying. Due to the price of raw materials, company would change their recipes to adapt the regions, which means products localization. By far, McDonald’s menus have seventeen types of burger and four type of rice, others are beverages and dessert. And McDonald’s insist on standardization on products and just had little change on some food, such as start to sell soy milk for breakfast from 2011. From the difference of the menu, it is obviously that KFC has more products and local appetite products than McDonald’s. Compared the products, KFC’s localization strategy is more suitable than McDonald’s globalization strategy in China. Price Price is the customer pays for a product or a service. It is the most important factor of marketing (McCarthy, 1975). Prices would affect company’s marketing decision and organization’s goal and the achievement in sales volume would influences price reversal. So, it is difficult for manager decide which price is the best, especially in a downturn. Because recessions make customers are able to shift another products or service with lower price as alternatives or substitute (Douglas.2010). The price of a product may go up or go down along with time and location. The right choice of pricing strategy will benefit the company’s competitive position. KFC and McDonald’s use multiple pricing strategies in different situation. They mainly choose the price skimming strategy, the process of selling product or a service for a high price initially, then gradually reducing the price in order to access new market segments(Price , 2009) as their pricing strategy in China. The staple food in KFC contains ten units(six of burger, two types of roll and two types of rice ) in the latest menu, hamburgers’ price fluctuated around 14 RMB (approximately 1.3 pounds), while McDonald’s have nine burger as its staple food and the price range from 6 to 16.5 RMB due to  different meat. McDonald’s mainly sell beef burger all around the world, but the high price is not suitable in developing country, therefore, it started sell burger with pork, chicken, duck and fish. KFC and McDonald’s fierce competition sometimes force each other to adjust their price according to the cost and demand. Promotion Promotion is an activity that designed to boost the sales of products and service (Jonathan, 2009). Sales promotion also defined as an activity or martial that acts as an inducement to stimulate consumers to buy the products (Sally et al, 2012). Companies are aimed at stimulating sales through advertising campaign, temporary price reductions and variety types of promotion methods. The brand would be intangible assets and goodwill of a company. The more successful it promote, the more it will creating brand loyalty from customers. KFC restaurant in China has a large logo of ‘KFC’ and the portrait of Colonel which leave deep impression on Chinese. It has changed old logo to a new one, which stress on â€Å"Taste† and present youthful energy, friendlier and more welcoming. The promotions of KFC are varied from advertising in television to Internet, or distributing coupons in public place. Every year, KFC would have new menus to attract customers and provide meal set, such as buy burger with cola together will save money. Sometimes KFC will send gifts as premiums to attract customers, especially children. It also distributes coupons in the street or can download app of KFC, then you can get small discount from the product. McDonald’s logo is a golden arch of M, with a slogan of ‘I’m lovin’ it’. The promotion method of McDonald’s is similar to KFC. Coupons, package and digital marketing all create growth in marketing. Place and Positioning Place is where the products or service actually sold, it includes geographical location which offered products or services and different types of distribution channel (McCarthy, 1975). The product or service positioning has been described as the place occupied in a particular marketing where product is targeted by customer (Wind, 1980). Generally, Fast food chain has two target consumers. One is the people who live in a busy life. Such as employees who spend whole day in front of computers. These people busy at their working and had no time preparing food. Fast food gives them the chance to eat in a very short time. The other is the consumer who does not like cooking such as young people. KFC and McDonald’s give them the chance to try new. Target on these consumers, these two companies has their special outlets placement strategy. In order to satisfy consumers who have a busy lifestyle, they open their outlets in cities, in which has a higher population density and well-developed transport system. And to those who want to try new and unwilling to cook by themselves, the restaurant always placed close to schools, universities, city centre and commercial areas that young people study at and prefer to go. It has published in McDonald’s official website for the restaurant development. â€Å"McDonald’s looks for the best locations within the marketplace to provide our customers with convenience. We build quality restaurants in neighborhoods as well as airports, malls, tollways, and colleges at a value to our customers.†(from McDonald’s official website), while KFC provides customers with the most convenient, desirable and accessible restaurant locations across the country, such as the outlets in the city centre of Beijing and Shanghai, where has shopping mall or commercial street. People go shopping in those place prefer to find a comfortable place to have a rest, drink a cup of tea or coffee and eat some food. KFC and McDonald’s success in choosi ng location set a good example for other fast food restaurants. Packaging Packaging is a part of marketing process and link to brand identity. The impact on the image of product ultimately derived from customer’s perception of satisfaction. Package is a vital part of a product that making it more versatile, safer and easier to use (Sally et al, 2012). The customer would evaluate the product or service from the first moment of seeing. And package characteristics help sharp buyers’ impression during use. Then their attitude would influence their purchase decisions. KFC’s package adopted world class packaging with new logo which has character of KFC and the portrait of Colonel in the middle of front page. And the design is flexible to local market. McDonald’s package use more colorful package with creative idea. And also has the logo ‘M’ in every package. These two companies both  adopt family packaging, an approach in which all of company’s package are similar or include one major element of the design (Sally et al, 2012), as their approach to promote. Both of their package had live a deep impression on Chinese. People All the people directly or indirectly involved in the service or production will concern in market when making marketing strategy. Customers, employees and other people are inseparable when production and consumption happened. It is essential to pay attention to those people (Booms et al. 1981). KFC in China targets on the concepts of family and group. The customers range from children to the elders. Before 2004, McDonald’s insists on families centered on children, at the same time, attracted young person and young parents. After the year of 2004, the target market has been young people whose age between 4 and 30. McDonald’s advocates the passion and enthusiasm in younger while KFC emphasis on the harmony between family members, in China, this particular marketing where the concepts of family was strengthen, KFC therefore occupied advantages. Through the comparisons of KFC and McDonald’s from seven aspects in marketing strategy, it can have a clear judgment between them. The reason why China has become the place that KFC exceed McDonald’s initially because the policy makers think highly of this particular market and understand the cross cultural management, the appropriate survey helps avoid mistake. Conclusion In conclusion, KFC and McDonald’s adopted different strategies for their development in China. The gross or net profit from their annual report shows that they both have success on operating and developing, but the content emphases on China’s market have apparent difference as their initially adopted localization and standardization (globalization) in advent of China. 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