Bias in Historical Description Essay Example for Free

Bias in Historical Description Essay The article reviewed was Behan McCullagh’s Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation in which he gave a brief but thorough outlook on the manner to which historical accounts are peppered with biased analysis and his opinion on how historians would be able to diminish, if not fully obliterate, from the nature of recounting past events. Why History is Biased McCullagh started of his piece by constructing four reasons as to why he thought that historical writings are mainly biased. His first reason was that he believed historians misinterpreted evidences without properly asserting the truth about its justification. His second reason was that information may already have been omitted by historians in compiling such past accounts that cater to make their views balanced. The third reason was that he deems general description of any historical information may include certain facts that are possibly false due to the uncertainty of most available sources. Lastly, his fourth reason was in reference to causal explanations, concisely described in the article as events that substantially modify the likelihood of the event, which are usually focused on a few important causes that renders a misleading point of view in the reader’s comprehension of the process of events (McCullagh, 2000). McCullagh voiced out that historians who often make mistakes in incorporating biases in their interpretations are typically motivated rather than accidental. He also noted difference between personal and cultural biases, delineating that the latter is far more difficult to be rectified than the other as it is ingrained, yet maintaining that historians must still try to do away with personal bias. He then goes on to further illustrate the concept of bias in historical accounts (McCullagh, 2000). The concept of Bias in Historical Accounts: McCullagh elucidated on the point that historians choose subjects which are of interests to them, inevitably providing a more partial basis to their interpretation of historical information. Consequently, historians are said to be products of their environment or culture, which will naturally hold general notions about the past. Thus, written accounts by historians are subjected to the availability of information gathered and on the decisions made through constant debates on what gets included and what should be disregarded. Such process is said to most likely offer misleading descriptions of historical accounts that have a particular cause (McCullagh, 2000). However, McCullagh has held that preconceived notions about a historical subject that are not biased could be observed in occurrences that involves transformation within a country’s economy as well as social structures. Biases are only attached when selective causes are highlighted while others of equal importance are disregarded (McCullagh, 2000). The perception of biases in constructing history should be avoided as according to McCullagh it provides a deceptive account of the historical subject which may cause misunderstandings and unnecessary negative consequences in conflict-driven situations. McCullagh presented three reasons as to why there are some who think that there is no way to evade the prospect of bias in historical accounts. First was that the interests of historians are automatically considered in determining the historical importance of a subject, the information extracted and the word preferences to use. The second was that preconceptions of historians and their contemporaries have biased point of views and the third one is the reiterated thought that historians have ingrained cultural beliefs and principles (McCullagh, 2000). Overcoming Personal Bias: McCullagh presented his opinion on how historians could be able to avoid injecting biases in interpreting historical data. He stated that historians should be committed to standards of rational thinking that would bring about a justified description of the past. One way to impose this is through peer reviews so as to motivate historians to follow certain acceptable guidelines in rational inquiry. The role of the historian is an important factor in maintaining social responsibility and creating a fair account of historical events (McCullagh, 2000). He denotes that multiplicity in perspectives is another way to produce rational historical inquiry as it presents different views of witnesses which melds relevant information into one account (McCullagh, 2000). McCullagh also pondered upon the notion that for people to prevail over biases, historians must accept that historiography is limited within itself and that the end of the discipline should also be considered in interpreting the past in a postmodern view (McCullagh, 2000). Reference: McCullagh, C. B. 2000. â€Å"Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation. † History Theory 39(1): 39 – 66.

Domestication of Maize in Mesoamerica

Domestication of Maize in Mesoamerica One of the most basic needs of a human being is that of food. We most eat and drink to survive. Subsistence is a natural thought which consumes every modern humans day. What will I eat for breakfast? What will I take for lunch or will I eat out? Should I take something out for dinner or pick something up on the way home? All of these questions seem at times quite complicated, however are without a doubt, much simpler than what may have crossed the minds of prehistoric humans. Just as it is today subsistence was the center of each cultures world. Whether you were nomadic or sedentary each group of hunter-gatherers had to eat. It is the survival of these societies which allows us as archaeologists a peak into the past. The process of gathering enough food in which to obtain a sufficient amount of calories was first and foremost in everyday life. The process of domestication of certain plants eventually led to more nucleated settlements. Let us keep in mind Morgans theory of culture, if this is correct, that cultural progression is lineal; than it is safe to assume that the only natural progression for prehistoric humans was to transition from the hunter gather stage of obtaining subsistence to a more agricultural life style. One cultigen in particular was maize, now referred to as corn. In this paper an attempt will made to properly explain what maize is, how maize became a major staple in prehistoric peoples diet, and lastly how has maize been detected in Mesoamerica through evidence in the archaeological record. What is maize? It is a large species of American grass of the genus Zea (Z. Mays) widely cultivated as a forage and food plant; known as Indian corn (http://archaeology.about.com). Maize is a cultigen; this is a crop that cannot propagate in the wild without human intervention. Plant domestication can be defined as the human creation of a new form of plant, dependent on human intervention, harvesting and planting for survival. Maize has a distinct planting season, growing season, and harvesting season. There is a worldwide importance placed on corn. In the Western Hemisphere it is by far the most important human food crop (Beadle, 615). It is still the most important crop in all of Latin America. On a worldwide basis it is the third most important human food crop, with an annual production of some two hundred metric tons (Beadle, 615). When Columbus arrived from the Old World and stumbled upon this strange crop on the island of Cuba, essentially all major races of maize-some two to three hundred- were already in cultivation and had been disseminated from its place of origin, probably southern Mexico (which will be explained further in the paper), to mid-Chile in the south and to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in the north. The passage below from a science magazine will further help explain the definition of maize. Corn, also known as maize (from the Spanish maiz) was first domesticated nearly 10,000 years ago from teosinte, a wild grass that looked quite different from our modern crop. Teosinte grew in Mexico and Central America as a bushy plant with many spikes, the precursor to our familiar ear of corn. The small teosinte spikes had only two rows of nearly inedible kernels, or seeds, each enclosed by a hard covering. These seeds separated individually at maturity and were dispersed widely. In probably less than a thousand years, the tiny spikes of ancestral teosinte transformed into larger ears with edible kernels that remained on the cob for easy harvest. How these dramatic changes occurred has been a puzzle for over a century. Geneticists are now convinced that humans living in the Balsas River region of Mexico were foraging teosinte seeds when they noticed rare aberrations-likely caused by random mutations-that increased spike size dramatically. Seeds were propagated from these bigger spi kes, and thus the remarkable events of domestication began. By studying the maize genome, researchers have now confirmed that mutations in single genes, such as Teosinte glume architectural (Tgal). Alter kernel and plant structure and that changes in many genes influence complex developmental traits, such as the time to flowering. As human populations migrated throughout the Americas, new varieties of maize were selected to grow in local environments. Some varieties were maintained as so-called landraces, each growing in ecological niches in Mexico and South America. Now, these varieties and landraces hold a wealth of genetic diversity, which is being tapped for both basic research and as traits for crop breeding(http://www.sciencemag.org/products/posters/maize_poster) How did maize become a major staple in prehistoric peoples diet? Where there other uses or maize other than subsistence? New research shows that there is unequivocally four major independent centers of plant domestication; the Near East, China, Eastern North America and Mesoamerica. (Smith 1989: 1566) The Americas is believed to provide the clearest record there is of agriculture origins anywhere in the world, providing new understanding of the process involved in this key transformation in human history. However, the process is believed to have started in Mesoamerica. Maize has many uses; food, feed for live stock and energy for industries. As a food, the whole grain, either mature or immature, may be used; or the maize may be processed by dry milling techniques to give a relatively large number of intermediary products, such as maize grits of different particle size, maize meal, maize flour and flaking grits. (http://fao.org) These materials have a significant number of applications in a large variety of foods. Maize grown in subsistence agriculture continues to be used as a basic food crop. In developed countries more than 60 percent of the production is used in compounded feeds for poultry, pigs and ruminant animals. In recent years, even in developing countries in which maize is a staple food, more of it has been used as an animal feed ingredient. High moisture maize has been paid much attention recently as an animal feed because of its lower cost and its capacity to improve efficiency in feed conversion. The by-products of dry milling include the germ and the seed-coat. The former is used as a source of edible oil of high quality. The seed-coat or pericarp is used mainly as a feed, although in recent years interest has developed in it as a source of dietary fiber (Earl et al., 1988; Burge and Duensing, 1989). Wet milling is a process applicable mainly in the industrial use of maize, although the alkaline cooking process used in manufacturing tortillas (the thin, flat bread of Mexico and other Central American countries) is also a wet milling operation that removes only the pericarp (Bressani, 1972). Wet milling yields maize starch and by-products such as maize gluten, used as a feed ingredient. It is this flat bread or tortilla that is speculated to have been used in pre-historic times. This is not the tortilla that we think of today, however, the basic concept is rudimentary and could have been used even 10,000 years ago. George W. Beadles research shows that the probability of maize being similarly used as what we refer to as popcorn is high. This high probability points to the use of teosinte, which has been argued among scholars as an un-usable product, therefore not an ancestor of maize. Beadles research has proven that even the triangular kernel of teosinte could have been heated on heated sand, hot rock or fire and would have popped. There is speculation that in prehistoric time, maize had a religious and ceremonial purpose. It is written that in the height of the Incan empire maize was used in ritual and ceremonial gatherings in the form of beer. (Fernandez-Arnesto; 243) There isnt anything to indicate any different anywhere else that maize has turned up within the archaeological record. With a better understanding of maize and its possible functions, lets address where maize originated. Blake, Clark, Chisholm, and Mudar consider the transition to agriculture in the Formative period of coastal Mesoamerica (from approximately 1500 B.C. to the birth of Christ), specifically along the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico. These scholars review the evidence from this area in terms of two competing hypotheses: the competitive feasting model of Hayden (1990) and the interaction of plants and humans as described by Rindos (1984) and Flannery (1986). MacNeishs work in the Tehuacan Valley has shown that the origins of maize and its integration into a system of agricultural production that included a variety of plants began as early as 7000 B.C. The earliest people to use and domesticate these plants were not sedentary, instead, they were nomadic foragers who incorporated these domesticates into a complex seasonal pattern of hunting and collecting (MacNeish 1967, 1972; Flannery 1968; Flannery 1986). It has been believed that from Formative times forward that maize is typically seen as the main staple crop in Mesoamerican prehistory. Agricultural advancement has long been thought of as the cornerstone of early sedentary village life and one of necessary conditions for the development of complex society (MacNeish 1972). Maize yields a high amount of caloric intake which is necessary in the process of sustaining the level of activity that prehistoric people in Mesoamerica needed to survive. A recent re-analysis by Farnsworth et al (1985) of archaeological data from the Tehuacan Valley, including a stable carbon and nitrogen analysis of the human skeletal remains, suggests that a heavy dependence on grains, including maize began as early as the Coxcatlan phase (ca. 5000-3000 B.C.). In Oaxaca, excavated macrobotanical remains show that domesticates, including maize, beans, squash, and avocados, were in use and consumed both before and after the appearance of the first sedentary villages (Flannery 1976, 1986). Kirkbys (1973) study of agricultural production suggests that the main staple, maize, was cultivated and relied upon from the Early Formative Tierras Largas phase (1400-1150 B.C.) onwards. She suggests, however, that maize did not reach a threshold of productivity, until about 100B.C. when larger varieties allowed greater yields per cultivated hectares of land. The assumption is that as maize cob size grew, and the plant became more productive, then early villagers c ame increasingly to rely on it as a subsistence staple. Both the Tehuacan and the Oaxaca data suggest that after agricultural products, particularly maize, became important in the subsistence system by the Late Archaic period, the trend towards increasing reliance on these plants continued through time. The movement of a relatively small amount of maize from established agro-ecology over long distances into a new environment is equivalent to an evolutionary bottleneck or a founder event (King, 1987; Mayr, 1963). Because only a small portion of the population is represented after one of these events, sampling error will result in, among other things, changed gene frequencies, breakdown of co-adapted gene complexes, and sometimes increased additive genetic variability (Cheverud and Routman, 1996). The above mentioned on page 2 and 3 of this paper attempted to explain the process of genetics when involved in the process of advancement of a plant. We can refer to this as agricultural evolution. Farming in modern day seems to be, from an outsider looking in; hard work, dirty work, and monotonous work. If with modern equipment farming is difficult what would it have been like in prehistoric Mesoamerica? Why farm at all? We look at hunting game now in present day society as romantic and sportsman like. There is a challenge to the game. There is fancy equipment purchased and well kept. Hunters tell stories that are passed on from generation to generation, hunting stories in prehistory had to be just as exciting and the stuff of which myths were made. So, again why farm at all? Many scholars have argued that without agriculture societies would not have existed. Only agriculture, with its pattern of population growth, urbanization, and economic surpluses has produced civilizations (Reed, 5). Thus helping to explain why agriculture led to complex societies. Varying conditions such as altitude, rainfall, soil, and seasonal temperature rand and latitudinal differences in the length of day during growing seasons led to the eventual diffusion of maize northward into North America, however for the sake of this paper the focus will remain on Mesoamerica. The research indicates that the evidence in the archaeological record states that the coastal areas show maize before any other area. Coe and Flannery until the 1980s were the only two researchers to report domesticates at Early Formative cities along the Pacific Coast of either Chiapas or Guatemala. Other than these few incidences relatively few sites have produced macrobotanical evidence of cultigens among their subsistence remains. Richard Scotty MacNeish conducts what he called the great corn hunt in 1958. MacNeish believed by tracking pre-ceramic caves in the southern part of Mesoamerica, namely, in the caves of Copan and the Comeagua Valley of Honduras he would have a better chance of tracking the corn (MacNeish 1962). His search extended to Zacapa Valley of Guatemala in 1959, as well having brief visits in Oaxaca and the Rio Balsas Valley of Guerrero. In 1961 MacNeish and his team started the Tehuacan project which yielded to be a great unbelievable success. Among many question with this project MacNeish and his colleagues were able to solve the problem of the origins of corn and were able to attack the how and the why of many other domesticated plants in highland Mesoamerica. According to MacNeish the amount of artifacts (50,000 lithics, more than 100,000 plant remains, over 10,000 bones and some 250 human feces) found in the 454 sites gave the team a time span that roughly stretched from 20,000 to 2000 B. C. Since MacNieshs research and excavations there have been over 1000 sites found and more archaeological evidence to support his original findings. In conclusion, the topic of maize is one that has intrigued and puzzled archaeologists for many years. The domestication and evolution of maize in and of itself causes much debate. It is because of great archaeologists like MacNeish and his unwavering curiosity of the great corn hunt as to why we have the information that we have today. The mere evidence of 454 sites becoming 1000 in a matter of years speaks for itself. The fact remains that there are 4 major independent centers of plant domestication, the Near East, China, North America, and Mesoamerica. It is the intent of this paper to have clearly introduced even the novice of persons to what exactly is the definition of maize, how maize became a major staple in prehistoric peoples diet, and how maize has been detected in Mesoamerica through evidence in the archaeological record.

Mitochondria Essay -- essays research papers

Mitochondria Mitochondria are tiny organelles found in nearly all eukaryotic cells. They are rather large organelles ranging from 0.5Â µm to 10Â µm in length and 1Â µm in diameter. The mitochondria are the energy factories of the cell and are located in the cytoplasm. They are the sites of cellular respiration. The mitochondria are responsible for generating ATP from such organic fuels as simple sugars and fats in the process of cellular respiration. This doubled-membrane organelle has its own DNA and can reproduce by splitting itself. The mitochondria are sausage-shaped structures that move, change their shape and divide. They are distinct organelles with two membranes, the inner membrane and the outer membrane. The outer membrane is smooth and limits the organelle. It is highly permeable to small solutes such as molecules and ions, but it blocks off passages of proteins and other macromolecules. The inner membrane of the mitochondria is folded into shelf like structures called cristae. The cristae does not even allow the passage of small ions and so it maintains a closed space within the cell. The many infoldings of the cristae are responsible for providing the mitochondrion with a large surface area which enhances the productivity of respiration. The inner membrane and outer membrane effectively divide the mitochondria into two internal compartments. The space located between the outer and inner mitochondrial membrane is called the intermembrane space. The space enclosed by th...

Brave New World: Out of Control Essay -- Brave New World

Brave New World: Out of Control In the 1932 satirical novel Brave New World, Aldous Huxley describes an emotionless, mechanized world of the future, set mostly in London, in which individuality is eliminated, creativity is stifled, and such institutions as marriage, family, and church are unpleasant artifacts of a world long gone. In this society, people are mass-produced; human eggs are artificially engineered by technicians. Happiness is achieved through physical gratification and peace is safeguarded by the conditioning of youth and by dispensing soma, a tranquilizer. Bernard Marx is the main character and his unorthodox viewpoints and physical difference from the rest of his caste makes him as an outsider. Bernard and Lenina, his present "girlfriend", receive permission to visit a Savage Reservation in New Mexico. They return to "civilization" with a savage, John. There he struggles to understand this so-called utopia and is eventually driven to suicide while Bernard is exiled to an island for his unconventiona l beliefs. Bernard Marx's bitter nonconformity comes from his resentment towards the state and its citizens. Dark and small when he should be fair and tall like the Alpha-plus he is mentally, he is a social outcast. He is essentially an opportunist who just wants to be accepted, just wants "no more talk of the alcohol in his blood-surrogate, no gibes at his physical appearance"(156). Nevertheless, Bernard is the perfect character through which to highlight the utopia's moral values or the lack thereof. In Brave New World, Bernard fights against a society that devalues his individuality and thereby lessens his sense of identity and self worth. From birt... ...n't want change. Every change is a menace to stability"(224-5). The idea of keeping an individual preoccupied with meaningless or unnecessary tasks so that he might never question his own individuality is an important one and forms the base on which their society is built. When Bernard criticized this social order in his report to Mond on the Savage, the World Controller vowed "to give him a lesson"(159), which he ultimately did. Huxley attempts to unsettle the reader's uncritical faith in progress and technology. The novel is a fantasy of order and technology and in it he warns us that if we don't solve problems such as overpopulation and overconsumption ourselves now, a police state will do it for us. Without being able to balance progress and human need, and unable to control our own technology, we may be forced to give up more than we imagine.

Repetition, Diction, and Simile in Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing Essay

Repetition, Diction, and Simile in Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Crossing, there is a dramatic sequence described by the narrator.   The author uses many different techniques to convey the impact of the experience on the narrator.   Some of these such techniques are: repetition, diction, and simile.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Of the aforementioned techniques, the most obvious is repetition.   The author uses the word â€Å"and† a total of thirty-three times.   However, the simple usage of the word is not what is to be noticed.   It is the placement of the word that is interesting.   In sentences in which there is mention of the wolf, the word â€Å"and† is used twenty times.   This amount is 150% higher than the amount of times the author chose to include the word â€Å"and† in sentences which did not mention the wolf. There are times in which it would be just as easy, if not easier, for the author to leave out the word â€Å"and†.   For example, McCormac could have said: â€Å"he touched the cold, perfect teeth†.   However, â€Å"and† was again squeezed in for the purpose...

Cross Cultural Issues Essay

With hot topics like globalization and cross-cultural opportunities in the Asia Pacific rim, one might think it would be easy to research the implications of cross cultural issues. Rather, what the writer found was a significant discussion all around the periphery but little in-depth analysis. Discussion prevailed on the socio-economic and technological ramifications. Others resources focused on the language issues but little work was intuitively available on the subtleties of cross cultural issues one may encounter. Based on experience working in the Asia Pacific rim for two years as a PMO Manager, and training PM’s in many European countries, I decided that understanding international socio-cultural issues encountered in business is essentially at the heart of the issues companies will encounter in globalizing operations. Therefore, the writer will approach the crosscultural issues from a personalized understanding based on his many months of first hand mistakes in understanding cultural issues encountered in Asia Pacific. I will base my observations of cross-cultural issues on my experiences in working most closely with individuals from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and India. Naturally there are more countries in the Pacific Rim but these mentioned provided the most opportunity for interaction. I want to also acknowledge the contributions of my wife, Helena Shiu Leung Chow Ballow, whom I initially met in Asia. Her wisdom, coaching, and meaningful insights on the many differences between Western and Eastern business and cultural practices were, and remain till this day, illuminating, helpful and daunting. Introduction Clearly we all understand to some degree the impact of cultural issues in communications. If nothing else, we have encountered situations where language was the barrier. But language may be the smallest of the issues when dealing with other cultures. Even when we pull out our Translation Guides or employ translators we may get pass some of the language difficulties. But from the writer’s experience, language is the least of the issues. Ingrained and systemic patterns of cultural behaviours can be so subtle as to completely deny meaningful communications. I found a really good example of just how easily cultural variances can cause communications problems. In this case the issues was â€Å"psychological filtering† of appearance or gesture. I would think is would also be easy for the reader to extrapolate this example into some experiences that may have encountered even in the West. Timofeev (2002), in an article in National Concepts and Globalization, provided the following example: â€Å"The idea or rather the hypothesis that underlies this paper was stimulated by a trivial chat with a friend of mine. Being a linguist by trade, Russian by origin and living in Finland, she is well aware of cross-cultural discrepancies and provided me with a curious example. It was a TV commercial of an international brand of Persil washing powder. Two young ladies were shown sitting in a crowded place, some restaurant or a cafe. One of the ladies notices quite a peculiar manner her friend has chosen to wear her wristwatch. It was placed above the cuff of her blouse. It turned out in a second that the only reason for placing her watch there was to cover some stain that regular detergents failed to deal with. Oh dear, you should use Persil instead! † So everything was straight and simple. But before that, when the attentive and thoughtful lady was describing her version of her friend’s peculiar manner of wearing her watch in Finnish (and I guess that the German, French and English versions were quite similar to that in Finnish), she said: â€Å"You are such a busy person. You have to wear your watch so that it can always be seen. † While in Russian the same lady made quite a different guess: â€Å"Your watch must be terribly expensive since you wear it so that everyone can notice it. † †¦ The Russian version, when translated into English, seems to be full of irony; it describes the lady’s manner as showing off. It would definitely undermine the main purpose of the ad, which was to provide a friend and those watching the commercial with thoughtful advice about using detergents. (p. 1)† To understand the issues we must start with a framework definition of culture. There are just too many definitions of culture, and even speaking the same language, we might get off tract pretty quickly. So, the writer did some research and decided on the following foundational definition of culture upon which to proceed. This is summarized by Kim (1999): â€Å"As the author himself confesses that there are 160 different definitions of the term ‘culture’ and picks up the definition of scholar Clyde Kluckhohn. According to him, â€Å"Culture consists of patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i. e. historically derived and selected) ideas and attached values. † continued  © 2004, 2005 Dennis G. Ballow, Sr. , PMKT, Inc. , All Rights Reserved Globalization and Cross-Cultural Issues in Project Management, page 2 Another scholar, Triandis, presents a psychological perspective to the description. â€Å"Culture is a subjective perception of the human – made part of the environment. And this includes the categorization of social stimuli, associations, beliefs, attitudes, roles, and values individuals share. † Culture thus is a melting pot consisting of many things gathered over a period of time in which religion and language play a great role. (p. 228)† Now, with a definition of culture in hand, and a real life example to back up the idea, we will look at some relatively common cultural issues that impact communication, and thus, also have implications for Western corporations working in the Asia Pacific Rim. Cross-Cultural Issues and Implications I will present the materials in a table format such that it may be easier to digest. A simple summary provided by Bhagat et al (2002 provides a good stepping-stone for analysis of the cross-cultural issues: Cross-border transfer of organizational knowledge is most effective in terms of both velocity and viscosity when the type of knowledge (i. . , human, social, or structured) being transferred is simple, explicit, and independent and when such transfers involve similar cultural contexts. In contrast, transfer is least effective when the type of knowledge being transferred is complex, tacit, and systemic and involves dissimilar cultural contexts. (p. 204) Table 1: Cross-cultural Implications – Asian (China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan) and the West Cross-culture Dimension Language Implications Asian Perspective Not that complicated to the Asian. Foreigners should have more respect and learn the language. American Perspective English is the international business language so everyone should use it. Implications It is generally good practice to â€Å"localize† materials when feasible. Local words and expressions sometime just do not properly translate for English and may actually be offensive. A focus on team activities and collaboration vs. individual competitive activities is preferred. Individualism vs. Collectivism Strong Collectivism – The Asians depend more on groups or institutions to determine what they should do and emphasize loyalty to the group. They are more likely to cooperate with others to avoid risks and reduce responsibilities. Their value systems appreciate duty to the group and harmony among its members while pursuing personal goals is viewed rather negatively in Asia. The Asian person does not consider contracts as seriously as the Americans. They think there will always be changes and the contracts can be reasonably modified according to changes. Instead, they tend to pay more attention to relationships than contracts. Strong Individualism – They rely on their own view to determine what they should do. They tend to work alone and are reluctant to cooperate because their individualism and masculine culture view cooperation in general as a sign of weakness and place a high value on independence and control. Americans place greater importance on contractual safeguards than the Asian. They believe that contracts can ensure that their partners’ tendencies to focus on individual goals and aspirations do not interfere with their own individual goals and aspirations. Cooperation Nothing is cast in stone for the Asians. Authority is seldom, if ever, challenged. But when encouraged and trust is gained by the instructor, students will interact better, and challenge each other in a negotiative manner as not to create a †save face† problem. This takes much longer that you will ever plan – so take time to let the process work itself through. Asian employees seldom have the chance to really participate in the decision-making process. So activities requiring decisions may well take longer. continued

Multi-Modal Transport System Effects on Selection of Global Supply

UNIVERSITY OF GLAMORGAN BUSSINESS SCHOOL| Globalization of Logistics and Supply Chain: Selection Of Global Supplier Over Local Impacts On Sustainability of Supply Chain| Key words : Sustainable Supply Chain, Multi- modal/Intra-modal Transport, Transport modes, Logistics, Operations, Sustainability, Triple bottom line| | Aqeel Iqbal| 15-Apr-13|This paper is conceptualizing on combination of transport modes organisation use to maintain sustainability in their supply chain by keeping the carbon foot print to minimum, this paper utilizes desk research to evaluate the impact of this approach on the organisations who prefer global suppliers over local evaluating the trade-offs these organisations need to make in order to maintain an equilibrium of sustainability in their supply chain concluding on the fact that dependent on an organisational willingness to be environmentally sustainable future most practices don’t need a choice of cost over environment but some need sacrifice of at least one to maintain sustainability. | Introduction This research paper is aimed to critically evaluate and answer the research question of: how selection of global over local suppliers affects organisation’s sustainable supply chain strategy while considering the impact of ‘‘multi-modal’/‘intramodal’ choice’ and what trade-offs does these organisations need do in order to achieve this?To answer this research question it is essential to address two wide areas in business literature, gaining an understand of what these areas actually mean to an organisational operational strategy: first being identification of different intramodal/multimodal transport choice used in local and global supply chains; whereas the second to critically evaluate why priority is given by different organisations to select global suppliers over local, while achieving reasoning from prospective of different Industries and organisations within those industries for t he trades-off they are willing to do in order to implement selected means in to practice, while maintaining the sustainability of their supply chain. This paper divided into four nterlinked parts will use desk search to grasp understanding on wide topics of present transportation modes, multi-modal/intramodal transportation system, and sustainability of supply chain (focusing on logistics and operation function) and Impacts of selecting global supply chain; dividing each part by sub-research questions asked to the reader at end of each part; While concluding the paper on the notion that selection of the mode depends on trade-offs an organisations is willing to make between being ecological sustainable to cost and service. Transportation modes at present In the past decades the transportation system has been regarded as a separate function and an additional cost to the organisations supply chain (Huge-Brodin, 2013); which has also often been likened with the objective of cost minimis ation rather than a value adding factor (Cunningham, 1982).However, this long-established concept has been critiqued to be a value added activity in the supply chain from literature of twenty first century (E. Bo and Hammervoll, 2010; Freight best practice, 2013; Huge-Brodin, 2013) based on the emerging demand for advanced logistics services and the globalization trends, demand in cutting of lead period, short product life cycles, and increased technology use and outsourcing trends (Anthony D. Ross, 2012). This notion has lead organisations consider flexible and effective freight flow which can match and fulfil organisation needs dependent on their market and environment (Cunningham, 1982; Murphy and Farris, 1993; Huge-Brodin, 2013).In order to understand how to use the right transportation mode freight movement it is eminent to know different transportation methods used by organisations at present and critically evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each of them (see Appendi x A & B). (Appendix A&B) does not show one of the major transport mode pipeline mainly because of its use in movement of specific kind of freight like oil and gas thus not firmly a modal choice it has a high initial cost of setup but is full reliable cost effective and environment friendly (CEFIC, 2011; Freight best practice, 2013). There are four major categories of freight transport used presently: inland water and sea, air, pipeline, and land.Whereas most literatures in the past categorised land into sub modes in order to evaluate the effectiveness of them as Road and Rail (Murphy and Farris, 1993; Freight best practice, 2013); thus for the purpose of this paper five inclusive the sub categories will be used. Maria Feo-Valero and her colleagues (Feo-valero, Menendez and hidalgo, 2011) in a review to bibliography has highlighted Freight Value Of Time (FVOT) as a scale for the methods of transport mode selection; based on the rate of substitution between travel cost and time called value of time (VOT) as different modes vary majorly in consciences of amount they carry in given time and the cost to the organisation (Feo-valero, Menendez and hidalgo, 2011) .As different organisations in the same industries have different priories of transport mainly dependent on their locations, sustainability, market share, quantity, size and weight of inventories (Carter and Rogers, 2008; Meixell and Mario, 2008) as an example retail industry consists a combination of deep-sea mode which commute inventories internationally (may contain inventories for various competitors within the same region in a container (Fawcett and Mangan, 2002; Pettit, Liu and Beresford, 2011)) then through either rail or road depended on inventory size, weight, type and location of main warehouse and sustainable practice of the organisation is selected from which may be distributed via road transport either to depot or directly to the retail store (Wu and Dunn, 1995; Huge-Brodin, 2013). The FVOT value has been an important addition to the logistics planning following the concept of cost reduction with less recognition over time but similar frameworks illustrate results which have been used to optimize time and cost of transportation of freight (Murphy and Farris, 1993; Carter and Rogers, 2008).Which lead managers and academics to a conclusion that combination of more than one mode is mostly profitable to organisation (Murphy and Farris, 1993) but depended on type of freight and relative distance but is it that simple in present world? Multimodal/ Intermodal Transportation System Multimodal and intermodal being the two words used in literature with synonymous meaning of: ‘usage of one or more than one mode of transport’ innocently interoperated occasionally. Thus it is important to address this for the purpose of this paper: intra-model transport with only one significant difference to multimodal is that the freight being transported are not handled on every occasion when the mode of transport is changed (Freight best practice, 2013) in opposition to multi-modal where freight are andled each time for example in case of container caring automobile that arrive at deep sea port is opened and cars remove from the container are loaded on a auto-transport trailer to carry by the trailer to showroom (Worthington and Britton, 2006). For the purpose of this paper multi-modal will be used to demonstrate more than one of transport. Multi-modal transportations have answered to the cost reduction of the orthodox literature on reduction of cost and time freight transport: as discussed earlier in the retail example for the ship carrying inventories of different competitors in a shared container reducing cost by sharing of container, and dependent on the agile approach of any of these competitor time frame of getting inventors from deep sea port to stores can be reduced by using road mode rather than rail (Logistcs Cluster, 2011).As the field of transportation evolved â€Å"Deregulation of the rail and trucking industries, implementation of innovative manufacturing strategies such as Just in Time (JIT),increased emphasis on quality management† (Meixell and Mario, 2008) and stakeholder (R. E. Freeman, 1984) consideration have all contributed to cause complexity in transportation selection (Murphy and Farris, 1993) developing the traditional view of just selecting the mode and type of carrier (Meixell and Mario, 2008). In present time logistics/operation manages are bound to understand the Industries challenges faced by the organisation as explained by (Meixell and Mario, 2008) in their paper comparing â€Å"Transportation capacity shortage, and International growth, Economies of scale and scope, Security concerns, Environmental and energy used†.As research carried by (Pettit, Liu and Beresford, 2011) on the extraction and transportation of iron ore from Australia to China utilizing multimodal transportation relied on more co nvectional mode of transport Deeps Sea for country to country transportation but other than that saw were some limitations imposed on multimodal transport options for bulk cargoes. As Iron ore flows are typically as â€Å"high volume – high weight – low value and transhipment is time consuming, energy intensive and expensive† thus minimising the modes of transportation and limiting â€Å"large number of transhipment points†. As the research question point out need to investigate the sustainable options to transport the next parts of the essay will achieve an understanding: Is global multi-modal transportation a sustainable option for an organisations supply chain and what trade-offs are organisations willing to make in order to implement this modal in their supply chain?In order to answer this it is critical to first grasp an understanding of what sustainable supply chain means to an organisation? Sustainability of Supply Chain Shareholder theory stating the organisations primary focus being increasing shareholders wealth (Friedman, 1970) has overly been critiqued by the stakeholder theory over the topic of ill consideration of environmental and social sustainability (R. E. Freeman, 1984; Jensen, 2002; Murphy, 2012). Sustainability as defined by (Worthington and Britton, 2006: 510) â€Å"An approach to economic growth and development which takes account of the social and environmental consequences† also referred to as the triple bottom line approach (Elkington, 1994; Carter and Rogers, 2008; Seuring and Muller, 2008).Supply chains by definition necessitate organisations to work collectively with the purpose of adding value to the customer by physical movement of goods. In present world combination of different supply chains have come together to form a supply web (Poter. M. E, 1985,1996; Handfield and Nichols, 2002). As the research question only relates with the impact of the multi-modal choice impact on the supply chain thu s functions supporting function from Poter’s value chain model are side lined and emphases is given on the inbound/outbound logistics and operations (Poter. M. E, 1985,1996) value chain model (explaining supply chain as a combination of value adding activates within an organisational structure).Inbound/Outbound logistics being one of the most important function of the supply chain (Carter and Rogers, 2008) has been linked to sustainability because of inclusion of one the most costly and environmentally harmful sub-function (transport function) in it (Huge-Brodin, 2013) as according to (CEFIC, 2011) report Transport including freight accounts for 20% of all EU’s green house gas emissions which was projected to raise to 30% by 2020 if precautions are not taken. Sustainability a wide topic in itself has been of great interest to all the stakeholders in present time especially to customers, governments and non-Governmental organisations (NGOs); Pressurising organisations t o operate in environmental and social friendly manner and demanding transparency from organisation supply chains (Carter and Rogers, 2008; CEFIC, 2011; Freight best practice, 2013). This transparency majorly driven y corporate reporting, â€Å"Interoperable software and globalization of supply chains† making it hard and risky for an organisation to do corporate unethical activities (Carter and Rogers, 2008)as: in case logistics external stakeholders are mainly interested in the economical and the environmental impact on sustainability for example raised awareness in sustainability of environment presently as consumers looking at carbon foot print (total amount of carbon emission done in to getting the product to the end user (Freight best practice, 2013))before purchase of a product (Anthony D. Ross, 2012); Carbon footprint is one of most important variable, while calculating environmental sustainability (Anthony D. Ross, 2012; Carter and Rogers, 2008; Feo-valero, Menendez an d hidalgo, 2011).As all three Economical, social and Environmental impacts are considered while making a mode selection, (Carter and Rogers, 2008) drew a wider picture of implications in the their version of triple bottom line(3BL) (see Appendix C)by including the risk management, organisational culture, transparency and organisational strategy as the factors basing the triple bottom line of an organisation. Whereas placing a question mark at being good which relates the social and environmental factors of 3BL following the viewpoint of some scholars like (Walley and Whitehead, 1994) stating â€Å"environmental and social initiatives are costly undertakings† (Carter and Rogers, 2008).In contrast to statement by (Walley and Whitehead, 1994) some logistics and operations functions fall in the category of being sustainable in all forms as resulted in a study done in 1980 on 45 firms in Denmark; results found suggested 20 out of 45 to be cost saving options (Dielman and de Hoo, 1 993) for example: efficient routing of transport, reducing packaging, improving operational order in warehouses and having fuel efficient transportation, (Carter and Rogers, 2008) and reverse logistics for some Industries as the fabricated metal products industry and electric/electronic products industry used as topic of research by (Talbot, Lefebvre and Lefebvre, 2007).According to (Wagner, 2005) In practice, organisation try hard to achieve a win-win situation when considering the economic and the environmental aspect; but when it comes to trade-offs based on the analysis of all there dimension (Seuring and Muller, 2008) have rated the economic dimension of being the most important from the view of the organisation explaining the notion that â€Å"without economic success, there would be no supply chains† whereas trade-offs between environmental and social dimension dictions have not been clear (Wagner, 2005). This now leads to the question of: Are global multi-modal sustai nable and what trade-offs does an organisation need to make while selecting them? Global Supply chain Impacts and Trade-offs Following the challenges faced by the organisations highlighted earlier in the paper by (Meixell and Mario, 2008).As different Industries operate in different ways and organisations within those industries may also differ in operation and strategy example form the fashion retail industry being: Zara fashions, number one fashion retailer of the world benefited with highly agile supply chain function; highly integrated communication and inventory management system (Euromonitor International , 2011) . Where as in comparison its nearest competitor GAP utilizing a more leaner approach to reduce the uncertainty; both organisations being global brands but with different operational strategies and possessing their own comparative advantage within fashion industry.As both these companies source some of their products from global suppliers but because of difference in o rganisational strategies and core competency rely on different sources as Zara with its most of its operations and headquarters in Spain use more European to aid its agile approach with tradeoffs cost to small batches of inventory levels at each store every fourth week (Euromonitor International , 2011; Paloma Diaz Soloaga and Mercedes Monjo, 2010) making Zara environmentally and economical less sustainable to GAP but Zara make that up with local most manufacturing locally in Spain (Euromonitor International , 2011). As the research question converse the notion of impacts of selecting a global supplier over local supplier it is important to address the reasons for selecting one? As some nations are more comparative than other nations as explained by (Porter, 1990) possessing a unique quality that attracts organisations to select global supply chains rather than local mostly looking for economic sustainability (Yip, 1989; Elkington, 1994; Seuring and Muller, 2008).Organisations decid ing to select a global supplier than a local supplier decreases environmental sustainable supply chain but mostly has an opposite impact on economically. Successful businesses respond to both internal and external changes and amend their strategist in the same manner. In order to ain supplies globally even with increased pressure from customer demands of being ‘green’ and highly imposed governmental regulations in most regions around the globe organisation in turn making diction hard for logistics managers to do certain trade-offs to maintain sustainability on ‘cost, quality and service’, while limiting dangerous emissions to atmosphere (IBM, 2008).Managers devising an operational strategy of an organisation analyse cost and profit in perspective of corporate goals and objectives. The main Trade-offs linked to each part of sustainable supply chain as in acquisition of raw materials sourced by inbound logistics, involves purchasing purchase of ‘greenâ €™ raw material may be costly to normal material leaving a trade-off to buy form low cost supplier or environmentally friendly. Organisation indoor to stay sustainable only trade from suppliers that are certified to International Organization of Standardization standards (ISO) has lead organisations dealing in third world countries with less awareness of ISO regulations to find alternative sources of suppliers (Wu and Dunn, 1995; Anthony D. Ross, 2012).The selection of the vendor will also influence the transpiration mode of selection as for example in third world countries there is lack of infrastructure of trains is not of high speed and precise in timing as in European countries which causes delays, unpredictability and also be unsustainable by possessing extra cost and additional CO2 emissions’; where as some don’t have facility of using road rail combination at all, in both cases trucks to transport goods from remote locations of railway station or deep seapor ts may increase the Carbon foot print more than of that of a normal raw marital bought from a local supplier (Wu and Dunn, 1995).Smart Packaging is another part of logistics in which organisation can do trade-off to stay environmentally sustainable as global supplies use containers to send bulk of goods packed together reducing packaging and material handling costs; another way is being minimizing protection packaging can improve space utilization and reduce handling costs (Sony Global, 2012) at each point of transportation reducing carbon footprint. Lean approach within the supply chain makes it environmentally sustainable but adds usage of ware housing costs with storage of goods in oppositions to widely uses JIT approach (smaller regular shipments) (IBM, 2008) as warehousing occupies excess and and generation of excess packaging waste hat can be reduced by using a local supplier as organisations trade-off of selecting a leaner approach while selecting a global supplier being risk of excess inventories stuck with in the warehouse with an unpredictable customer demand (Wu and Dunn, 1995) as demonstrated by Appendix D demonstrating an example of relationship of all variables of trade-off while comparing operational strategies with shipment consolidation used by IBM (IBM, 2008) to explain effects on environment. Reverse logistics have solved this problem of excess cost of packing and return items by the customers to be sent upstream to supplier using standardized renewable packing (Walley and Whitehead, 1994; Wu and Dunn, 1995; Anthony D. Ross, 2012)but when considering a global supplier it will be addition cost of transportation to the organisation using reverse logistics resulting in excess waste creation an unsustainable option (Talbot, Lefebvre and Lefebvre, 2007; Feo-valero, Menendez and hidalgo, 2011).Information and communications (ICT) can also played an important role in sustainable global supply chain substituting Information with inventory levels (Wu and Dunn, 1995) devising the right routs and knowing the exact times inventory arrivals, conciliation of shipments and optimising waste by minimizing large number of suppliers to just few, maximizing truckload in forward and backward supply chain over all removing uncertainty of supply chain (Mason, Lalwani and Boughton, 2007) the tradeoffs of the initial cost of implementing the ICT systems in organisation to long term sustainable benefits (IBM, 2008; Feo-valero, Menendez and hidalgo, 2011; Sony Global B, 2012).Dependent on the trade-off an organisation is willing to make over cost, service or environment organisations can select a sustainable multimodal method of transport(see Appendix E ) as trade-offs may vary according to selection of a local supplier. Conclusion This paper was aimed to answer question of how selection of global suppliers affects organisation’s sustainable supply chain strategy in light of multi-modal choice while considering the impact and what trade-o ffs does these organisations need do in order to achieve a sustainable supply chain? It is best to conclude this paper at notion of Industries and organisations vary in the need of supply chains dependent on the variants discussed in the paper; taken as a whole, these factors explained by (Carter and Rogers, 008; Meixell and Mario, 2008) play a very important role in selection of mode transport and over all operation strategy and an organisation should assess the trade-offs based on these factors. Whereas overall the decision of using or changing the multi-modal used depends on an organisational willingness to be environmentally sustainable future most of the changes are both cost and eco friendly whereas some require to long protesting one on other. 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