IT Ethics and Security Essay Example for Free

IT Ethics and Security Essay Piracy has always been a concern with technology over the years. Organizations strive hard to analyze the requirement of the hour of computer users and then develop software that can fully ease the problems of a user. The organizations that develop software obviously need to have a return for their attempt. The software developers’ job is a tough one, because they put off their sleep in order to maintain a tempo in the development of software and organizations often find it difficult to meet the exact requirements on ordered software, due to which several revisions are done on the software before it gets into a final product. The software development market is generally divided into two categories, Open Source software and Close Source software. The Open Source software is the one that are free to use, and the organizations or individual developers who develop this software encourage its distribution, usage and at times modifications according to the requirement of the user. The Source code, which has all the development procedures are provided to the user in this category, therefore the modifications become easy when the software gets into the hand of another developer. (Frederick, 2007) These are great for learning purpose and often are used by immature developers to get help in development. The Close Source software are contrastingly different, the users need to buy these software just like any product in the market and often these kind of software get customer support and trainings â€Å"how to†, so that the user gets full value for his money. The close source software is ones, that are stable and they go through different processes before its final launch. The organization that develop these software often register them with their name so that copyrights and license usage law is applied on them. The licensure law ensures the organization that the software bought but a person will be used according to organization’s specified conditions. (Albacea, 2005) In this particular case where the friend is offering to split the cost is a violation of licensure law. Microsoft is a large enterprise and it develops close source software that are copyrighted and licensed according to their terms and conditions. When my friend bought Microsoft Office, in the product pack he had been provided the terms for use of the product, which states that sharing of the product is a violation to the licensure law. Ethically this is very wrong because Microsoft develops the software after several procedures and analyzing the market conditions, and the price $300 for the office suite the charged is based upon cost analysis of one person. The sharing of one-user license is almost equal to as stealing of a product; because the organization is charging for once only from the user but at the same price another user using the same product free of cost. There have been several discussions conducted in small to large enterprises that develop software about piracy and violation of usage licensure. However many steps have been taken to minimize the violation and organizations also offer some package deals where multiple licenses are discounted which saves a lot of cost of user. This ethical violation of licensure law has been minimized to some extend now due to efforts but it also depends upon the inner self of a person to realize the attempt that an organization does in order to develop the software and stealing the software reduced their return which is an ethical issue.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Jvc Versus Wholly Owned Management Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Jvc Versus Wholly Owned Management Essay When companies enter the international market, they are facing a very important decision-making. That is they enter the target market in which appropriate entry model. There are several entry modes to enter the international market. Two of them were discussed in the report: international Joint Venture Companies (JVCs) and wholly-owned subsidiaries. In light of the influence of the WTO with respect to relaxation of restrictions on foreign ownership across many industries in countries such as China and India, anecdotal evidence suggests that many companies are now opting to set-up wholly-owned subsidiaries rather than international Joint Venture Companies. Reasons they select wholly-owned subsidiaries were analyzed in the report. Disney Paris was taken as the case and the failed joint venture case shows that it is a key issue for companies to select appropriate entry mode to target country when they choose the target market. Advantages and disadvantages of the JVC versus the wholly-own ed subsidiary were analyzed in several aspects. In a wholly owned subsidiary, senior managers almost have the same cultural background and cultural differences and cultural conflicts could be avoided in management, while this cultural differences and cultural conflicts has been there at the time in JVCs. wholly owned subsidiaries have higher control right than JVCs and they can protect commercial secrets in order to avoid losing to the partner and competitors. They put higher investment and get higher returns than JVCs. While compared with JVCs, wholly-owned subsidiaries have some disadvantages in operational risks, higher opportunity cost, relatively large political risk and disadvantage of exit. Wholly-owned subsidiaries have higher operational risks than JVCs due to uncertain factors in operation and higher opportunity cost because they develop new sales channels and advertising channels to operate effectively under the host environment. Political risk is higher as they depend on the host countrys political environment and political stability. Wholly-owned subsidiaries could exit the host country difficultly because the full investment while JVCs are easier to end. More and more companies select a wholly-owned subsidiary as a few reasons discussed above. They hope get appropriate recognition and support from the host country, at the time get larger profit. 2.0 Theory and entry mode Entering the international market is that a business participates in global market competition and international business development with capital, products, technologies, services and policy. Market heterogeneity induces a positive correlation between firms decisions that can be spuriously confounded with positive strategic interactions. (Victor, Mira, Roman, 2007, p.449). Enterprises should elect the appropriate entry mode in understanding various factors. The factors are including companys strategy, international experience, and inherent technology, economies of scale, culture, pricing, promotion, investment costs, market size and market growth, political and legal, risk and so on. It can be seen in figure 1. Figure 1 the Factors of selecting entry mode Political Legal Economic Marketing Research Competitive Analysis Promotions Logistics and Distribution Products Services Pricing Culture Market Entry Strategy Organising/ Restructuring Disney opened the Euro Disney theme park in Paris, France, selecting the joint venture companies with the investment of 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, and 49% of total shares. Which the equity brought about was a considerable control on management and operation. The operating results of Disneyland Paris are not satisfactory so far. The number of tourists in Paris was much lower than expected during the first year and the per capita spending was below the expected level. All these made operating loss reach 900 million U.S. dollars of the Paris theme park, forced the closure of a Paris park hotel, and fired 950 employees. The failed joint venture case shows that it is a key issue for companies to select appropriate entry mode to target country when they choose the target market. The motive of selecting entry mode was to entering the market as fast as possible and to obtain benefit from the existing market share of the local firm.( Estrin et al.,1997, p.136). Enterprises should elect the appropriate entry mode in understanding various factors. The factors are including Unified strategic actions, international experience, and Exit barriers, economies of scale, culture, Control right, Profits received, Trade Secrets, market size and market growth, Limited market size, risk and so on. 2.1 International Joint Venture Companies The joint venture enterprise refers to joint investment, management and shares options and a total risk. The Joint venture partners can take advantage of a mature marketing network and they are easily accepted by the host country because of the participation of local enterprises. 2.2 Wholly-owned subsidiaries An enterprise directly invested to set up wholly-owned subsidiary in other countries. They can use a variety of forms such as brand, trademark, patented technology and other investment. 3.0 Reasons for wholly-owned subsidiaries When a company enters the international market, they do not know whether the selected entry mode is the optimal. They make decision and select an entry mode according to various factors. More and more companies now select wholly-owned subsidiaries when they enter the target country. For example, company with internal funds, or low leverage, are more likely to choose wholly-owned subsidiaries while they need to raise investment. (Klaus Meyer Saul Estrin, 1998. p.9). There are several reasons: firstly, technical content and differentiation in their products are so high. Once other companies master technology, they would lose their competitive advantages. So they select wholly-owned subsidiaries in order to avoid these assets and technology used and obtained by competitors. Secondly, products are difficult to imitate by competitors. They can not b e replaced, so the company does not regard to market share when they plan to enter the target countries. Thirdly, their products are scarce in target countries, and they are easily accepted and applied properly once they enter in. they do not need to rely on local sales channels and political relations. On the other hand, wholly-owned subsidiary is better than joint venture. Firstly, setting-up wholly-owned subsidiaries can help companies retain more easily technology and knowledge to increase corporate brand value. Secondly, setting-up wholly-owned subsidiaries can establish good mechanisms for operational control, handling disputes and optimizing resources to enhance the marketing control. For example, American and Japanese manufacturing companies, financial services companies and tourism companies set up wholly-owned subsidiaries can help in Australia. When they chose Australia as the target country, they analyzed all kinds of factors, and finally they took full advantages in the service and quality, the original brand and trademark, to establish wholly-owned subsidiaries. The subsidiary has the same business model a nd service methods with parent company. Relative advantages and disadvantages of the JVC versus the wholly-owned subsidiary When companies enter the international market, they are facing a very important decision-making. That is they enter the target market in which appropriate entry model. The following will discuss and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of two modes. Table 1 advantages and disadvantages of the JVC versus wholly-owned subsidiary Wholly-owned subsidiaries JVCs Control right High Low Trade Secrets Remain Known by others Unified strategic actions High Low Profits received High Low Risk High low Resources Cost High Low Cultural Differences High Low Limited market size High Low Exit barriers High low 4.0 Advantages and disadvantages of the JVC versus the wholly-owned subsidiary 4.1 Advantages of the JVC versus the wholly-owned subsidiary 4.1.1 Cultural Differences Social and cultural factors have a very important effect on international market entry mode, and it is mainly on the cultural differences between the home country and host country. The cultural value pattern may strengthen the relative importance of one of these values over the other one. (Piotr, Agnieszka Krystyna, 2008, p.227). The cultural differences are from language, values, life and work patterns, management and business model. If the cultural differences are obvious, the home country needs to spend more to adapt to cultural distance. In a wholly owned subsidiary, all senior managers come from the home country. They have the same cultural background and the same management philosophy, the same way of thinking and behavior patterns. When they consider the strategic objectives and strategic interests, they take the parent companys strategic objectives and long-term direction as goals. So cultural differences and cultural conflicts could be avoided in management. While in the joint venture company, managers and employees come from different countries with different cultural backgrounds, they have different values, different management attitudes and different operational practices. Unavoidable conflict happens as long as they work together. The stronger partner usually represents their economic achievements, so at rules, which are proposed by globalization and which would become an assumption not only for development of universal market, but also for standards of appropriate cultural behavior that would be suitable for representatives of all cultures. (Hofstede, G. 2001).And this cultural differences and cultural conflicts has been between partners from the beginning of joint venture, discussing cooperation, deciding to cooperate, establishing joint ventures to co-management and co -operation. 4.1.2 Control right Parent company participates in the management and decision-making, according to the Articles of Association, because they are the controlling shareholder of wholly-owned subsidiaries. All of these companies would benefit from a framework for decision making to determine if entry into this market is feasible for them. (Dennis Chwen, 2002, p.332).The principal leaders are appointed by the parent company, and their appointment, assessment, rewards and punishments are done by parent company. On the other hand, the parent company should regulate the business development plan, the orientation of investment and management activities, while the wholly-owned subsidiaries should formulate or revise their own development strategies and recent planning under the guidance of parent company. On the third, the parent company should supervise operating conditions and asset quality in order to security, value-added and profit of invested assets. At the same time, wholly-owned subsidiaries should rep ort the financial condition and ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the provided information of the production, management and financial operations. The company can accept the common control when they select the entry mode of Joint ventures, and they will find the right partner and selecting lower ownership. Joint ventures companies could not control the company because they are in minority equity position. They could not control the management and operation, and they could not control the productions sales and t infringement of copyright and paten. It is hard to find a reasonable partner who is fully meet the conditions. On the other hand, limited resources could not be used rationally because of contention for control right. The lack of resources are caused scattered resources and new contention for resources started, again and again, leading to a vicious cycle. Finally, they lost their core competitiveness. This will cause instability of the joint venture, which ultimately lead to instability of the dissolution of the joint venture. JVCs Wholly-owned subsidiaries High control right High stockholding Low control right Low stockholding Table 2 the control right and stockholding 4.1.3 Protection of commercial secrets Wholly-owned subsidiary have large advantage in trademarks, and other technology to prevent meddle in its technical and business secrets, protection of basic monopoly position. Running a business of wholly owned subsidiary can be a simple assembly or complex manufacturing activities, and they have total control-right. The company could completely control the entire management and sales, production and promotion. They could independently dispose profits, and they can protect technology and commercial secrets. For the joint venture company, the local partners contributions are often the local knowledge, local government relations, market share, sales organizations and customer groups, which are the knowledge and understanding of environmental conditions, while foreign partners contributions are typically including technology, management and international support. For example, Australian companies established joints venture with China or India, they increased business investment, as well as provided a number of high value-added products and technologies. Therefore, it is possible that technical secrets and commercial secrets are lost to the partner, and develop into the competitors. 4.1.4 Higher returns In the long term strategic objectives, parent companies pursue to maximize the total value of foreign market, and they speed up the penetration and more control to put effectively wholly-owned subsidiaries into global system. Setting up wholly-owned subsidiaries could get a full return as the increasing experience overseas, fully using companys abilities and cultivating international competitive advantage. A firms return on capital is increasing its industrys state of demand, so it can takes advantage of favorable economic conditions.( Jose M. Pleth-Dujowich, 2008, p.2). Wholly-owned subsidiaries could introduce more advanced technology and equipment and management methods to produce highly competitive products. And parent companies adjust business strategy according to business activities to obtain the overall maximum benefit. In addition, the profits and other legitimate rights and interests which foreign investors obtained after investment in the host country are protected by the laws of the host. The legitimate profit and other lawful income can be remitted back to the home countries. On the other hand, wholly-owned subsidiaries may enjoy tax reduction or exemption preferential treatment in accordance with the provisions of the host country tax revenue. Relatively speaking, Joint venture companies put lower investment, and therefore, they get back low control right and lower return. The home countries are mainly investment of technology and capital, as well as the training on production and management of local staff to get successful conversion on technology and knowledge. Joint venture companies must be in win-win state. That means the return of each joint venture partner is larger and enough, if they are in win-win state so as to work hard for the next success. If a companys return is not in the win-win state, which shows one investment is failure and maybe the two investments are failure. the joint venture partners could not accept the strategic mistake and they should restructure or abandon the joint venture. The lower risk means lower profit for the joint venture companies, especially when productions of a joint venture company are for export, the profit of return will not be very high and even less. 4.2 Disadvantages of the JVC versus the wholly-owned subsidiary 4.2.1 Operational risks Wholly-owned subsidiaries have higher operational risks than JVCs due to uncertain factors in operation. There are some problems in the management of wholly-owned subsidiaries, such as imperfect governance structure, inadequate organizational structure, and inappropriate personnel selection. All these problems could cause wrong decisions, collusion, and low efficiency. On the one hand, subsidiaries engaged in related transactions or matters beyond approval authority or the scope of business, which might result in investment failures, litigation and loss of assets. On the other hand, the elected directors, managers and chief accountants and other senior managers can not plenipotentiary the parent company and they did not make strategies and consider the interests from the perspective of the parent company, and these would result in incorrect formulation and implementation of accounting methods and inaccurate information on the consolidated financial statements. The inaccurate informat ion and methods would bring out high risk on investors, and the company and investors would make decision-making mistakes and face to legal proceedings and other aspects of risks. The joint venture company has generally no problems above. On the one hand, the home country needs to learn and adapt to local environmental conditions to better understand the host countrys economic, political, social, cultural, etc., so as to help investors make the right decisions. They can absorb partners business management skills, experienced business and promotion channel to changes in demand and market share. Nippa1, Beechler and Klossek (2007) studied IJV success to find IJV regard to the foreign parent-local parent fit in. On the other hand, every decision-making need to be recognized by both home and host country managers. Once one partner that the other one harms the interests of the joint venture resulting in damage to the company, they would make recommendations to board of directors in order to improve co-operation. The two sides are fighting for the maximizing interests to avoid operational risks. 4.2.2 Higher opportunity cost Wholly owned company needs to develop their own knowledge and capacity, develop new sales channels and advertising channels to operate effectively under the host environment. For example, sales representatives need to look for good advertisers, and communicate with the advertising and coordination. Finding a good advertiser needs time and money, because advertisers are producers of goods and services who are interested in selling their products to customers and post ads on the media support. (Claude, Carole Bruno,2009, p.5). So the home country needs to go through best efforts to develop new business, and achieve the certain level in the strategic mode of a wholly owned subsidiary. They have to pass a long-term cultivation to get new business skills and required knowledge, so there is a higher opportunity cost. Joint venture company has low opportunity cost. They can more easily access the local market knowledge, understanding competitors and the local government policy from the partners. Companies develop network relationships with important customers, suppliers that the local business partners possessed through mutual commitments and learning.(Lee, Jun and Johanson, 2006,p.62). The Joint venture partners can take advantage of a mature marketing network, branding, economic relations, political status, consumer preferences, etc. and they are easily accepted by the host country because of the participation of local enterprises. 4.2.3 High input costs and high risk Establishing wholly-owned subsidiary, the parent company would face new challenges in strategic planning, marketing strategy, organizational design, and resource allocation, especially in financial management and internal control and other aspects. The parent company invests greatly on capital and resources for wholly-owned subsidiary, because the parent company pays the total investment in the host country, so it is extremely risky. The wholly-owned subsidiary has more affected by environmental uncertainties and greater risk. All the capital investment results in difficult changes in the capital, and further results in assets sunk costs. The full amount of capital investment and sunk costs would limit the strategic flexibility and increase the investment risk. At the meantime, large-scale investment of resources will lead to high switching costs, which in turn generates a high risk. So the higher control right, the more capital investment and the higher risk. But the host countries like wholly-owned subsidiaries, because they want to attract foreign investment without their own capital, and they increases tax revenues without the business risk. There is smaller capital and human capital investment for joint venture companies, and relatively speaking, the risk is lower. Risks should be taken to entering international market. Most companies decided to establish joint venture with the local business, because they want to reduce the risk of entering new markets. So they are looking for joint venture partners who are operating related product lines and have a good understanding of local markets. The foreign parent and the local company combined their resources so as to create competitive advantages and create dominant in marke. (Contractor and Lorange, 2002). Firstly the foreign partners started the cooperation from simple sales and marketing operations to a further risk reduction measures. Secondly, they can increase product sales. Finally, the foreign partners can improve or re-design products in order to better adapt to the local market and make large-scale investment. 4.2.4 Relatively large political risk The establishment of a wholly owned subsidiary has very stringent requirements for the host countrys political environment and political stability. The parent company can set up wholly owned subsidiary when the target country is under the situation of political stability, sound legal system, liberal investment policies, and exchange rate stability. In addition, the profits and other legitimate rights and interests which foreign investors obtained after investment in the host country are protected by the laws of the host. The legitimate profit and other lawful income can be remitted back to the home countries. On the contrary, the wholly owned subsidiary would be significant losses if the host country has political instability and investment policies and investment environment get some changes, which might result in the dissolution of wholly owned subsidiary. Joint venture companies get supported by the host governments. For the host countries, on the one hand, Joint venture companies can bring a number of high value-added products and technologies, and new management style. On the other hand, the local companies provide local government relations, market share, sales organizations and customer groups, and they could not lost their control right and equity. While for the home countries, JVCs can reduce the risk of operation and politics in different countries, regions and industries. They could get the support and cooperation on the tax barriers and preferential policies. 4.2.5 Disadvantage of exit For the wholly owned subsidiary, the parent company has to bear all the resources and costs, including costs of human resources, employment, labor costs, the investment of technical support, sales channel development and advertising costs and so on. They have high switching costs. Serious losses would be resulted in if they exit the target countries for some reason. For example, political situation of the host country has undergone drastic changes, and the wholly owned subsidiary can not maintain their normal production and operation, so the parent company had to close wholly owned subsidiary. The parent company may not fully recover the investment cost before they exit the host country, without mention profit. So it is very obvious disadvantage of exit. The joint venture companies are easier to end. JVCs entered the host country with lower cost of investment and some were into target country only with technology. They could end relationship of cooperation and exit target country when political environment changed and economic deterioration was serious. And they end the relationship with lower cost. On the other hand, they can terminate the agreements when market conditions or the business itself have also changed with lower price or cost 5.0 Conclusion Entering the international market is that a business participates in global market competition and international business development with capital, products, technologies, services and policy. The home countries should select the right entry mode for the international strategy and they should clear their own objectives firstly to choose entry mode. Entry mode provides information about the consequences of enter international relating shifts in market demand to changes in the equilibrium number of firms. (Timothy and Peter, 2008, p.978). Two of them were discussed in the report: international Joint Venture Companies (JVCs) and wholly-owned subsidiaries. Different entry mode means different control right. Enterprises should elect the appropriate entry mode in understanding various factors. The factors are including Unified strategic actions, international experience, and Exit barriers, economies of scale, culture, Control right, Profits received, Trade Secrets, market size and market g rowth, Limited market size, risk and so on. Compared with JVCs, wholly-owned subsidiaries has advantages in cultural differences, control right, protection of commercial secrets and higher returns. On the other hand, wholly-owned subsidiaries have some disadvantages versus JVCs. In the long term strategic objectives, parent companies pursue to maximize the total value of foreign market, and they speed up the penetration and more control to put effectively wholly-owned subsidiaries into global system. While, as for the joint venture, the local joint venture partners contributions are local knowledge, local government relations, market share, sales and customer groups because they have well-known about the local market, culture and knowledge and the understanding of economic environment. The foreign partner invested in technology, management and international support. This combination can reduce opportunity cost and switching costs to have clear business and promotion objectives and win the market share. However, there is no general optimal entry mode when enterprises enter the international market, because the international economic environment is perplexing and political environment is complex. The parent companies should select the reasonable entry mode acc ording to their own resources and strategic objectives and strategic policy.

Business Organisations In A Global Context Commerce Essay

Business Organisations In A Global Context Commerce Essay The process of strategic planning is not simple and easy one, it involves a lot of industry research and clear understanding of your market, your customers, your competitors, your team, your core competencies, the environment in which you are operating, changing parameter, your vision and mission etc. These are not easy question to answer as well as its not a quick process. Effectively management of people can produce substantially enhanced economic performance. A plethora of terms have been used to describe such management practices: high commitment, high performance, high involvement, and so forth. A social unit of people, systematically structured and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals on a continuing basis. All organizations have a management structure that determines relationships between functions and  positions, and subdivides and delegates  roles,  responsibilities, and authority to carry out defined tasks. Organizations are open systems in that they affect and are affected by the environment beyond their boundaries. Globalisation is a phenomena that is used to interact among different countries attempting to develop global economy. It is a process of connecting the worlds markets and business with each other. It is basically a process by which different economies, cultures and societies are combined together by latest communication system. Globalisation has been defined by different experts at different places, according to an economist Harris (1993), the increasing internationalisation of the production, distribution and marketing of goods and services is globalisation. Another definition of globalisation is the functional integration of national economies within the circuits of industrial and financial capital.(Rhodes, 1996). The key differences between global business operations:- Businesses operate in a global context: even if they do not trade directly with other countries, they might be affected by a domestic shortage of skilled labour or may be subject to developments on the global financial markets. Globalization and international business as business terms are often used synonymously in casual conversation. As economic pressures continue to abound, many corporations are looking within their organizations to determine how to improve operations and reduce costs. Cost constraints, efficiency gains and productivity measures are commonly sought to achieve this objective. It is no surprise that development of or improvement in an enterprises service delivery model is desired. Many companies have developed some aspect of shared services, and many more have embraced the outsourcing service delivery model as one lever to drive economic improvement. However, we believe there are plenty of opportunities remaining with respect to shared services in general along with some terrific opportunities for an emerging concept called global business services to drive significant improvement and manage all service delivery model alternatives. WHAT DO WE MEAN BY SHARED SERVICES? A successful shared services model typically incorporates these concepts: Focused company resources Process ownership as a key characteristic Critical values of partnering, teamwork and adding value Effective leverage of tools and technology Accountability by specialists with service focus (internal and external) Strong communications and governance principles Centre of excellence and a company asset for developing talent Results that emphasize efficiently meeting customer requirements Focal point for company best practices Responsibilities of organisations Importance of ethics in the business world is superlative and global. New trends and issues arise on a daily basis which may create an important burden to organizations and end consumers. Nowadays, the need for proper ethical behaviour within organizations has become crucial to avoid possible lawsuits. The public scandals of corporate malfeasance and misleading practices, have affected the public perception of many organizations. An organizations responsibilities are not limited to primary stakeholders. Although governmental bodies and regulatory agencies do not usually have ownership stakes in companies in free-market economies, they do play an active role in trying to ensure that organizations accept and meet their responsibilities to primary stakeholder groups. Organizations are accountable to these secondary stakeholders. All companies, especially large corporations, have multiple stakeholders. One way of classifying stakeholder groups is to classify them as primary or secondary stakeholders. Primary stakeholders have some direct interest or stake in the organization. Secondary stakeholders, in contrast, are public or special interest groups that do not have a direct stake in the organization but are still affected by its operations. The impact of external factors on organisations: There is a simple rhyme which goes: Environment to each must be. All there is that isnt me. You can see therefore that the business environment consists of all those things outside the business. The business needs to keep a watchful eye on the environment because it is continually changing. Key elements in the environment are: 1. Competition. Rival companies are continually changing what they have to offer. They may lower prices, bring out new products, engage in exciting new advertising campaigns, and a range of other activities. 2. Political factors. The action of government affects business and other organisations. Governments are continually changing the rules and the laws that affect business. This is illustrated by the way in which government rules affect schools. Simon Jenkins in an article in The Sunday Times, on 24 September 2006 illustrates this well when he wrote: This government tries to keep control of every school. Since coming to office its education department has issued 500 regulations, 350 policy targets, 175 efficiency targets, 700 notes of guidance, 17 plans and 26 separate incentive grant streams. 3. Economic factors. The economy consists of businesses, individuals and government. The international economy consists of the economies of all the countries in the world. The economy consists of many markets the market for goods, the market for services and the market for money are key parts of this. These markets determine the price that business has to pay for its resources such as labour, and raw materials. Businesses are continually affected by changes in the economy. 4. Social factors. Society is made up of all the people in a given area. It is important to be able to find out what the main trends are that are happening in society because these trends affect business. For example, changes in age patterns, such as the increasing numbers of older people in the population, determine which goods are popular. Then there are social trends which are affected by fashion for example this year some goods will be in, whereas next year nobody or very few people will want to buy them. 5. Technological factors result from the development of new techniques, i.e. new types of products and new processes to make products. For example, recent years have seen a massive change in information technology which has transformed the way we run our lives. For example, today more than 90% of young people possess a mobile phone. (www.acquaint.me.uk) The impact of global factors on business organisations Businesses are affected by an external environment as much as they are affected by the competitors. Global factors influencing business are legal, political, social, technological and economic. Understanding of these factors is important while developing a business strategy. a. Social factors These factors are related to changes in social structures. These factors provide insights into behaviour, tastes, and lifestyles patterns of a population. Buying patterns are greatly influenced by the changes in the structure of the population, and in consumer lifestyles. Age, gender, etc all determine the buying patterns and understanding of such changes is critical for developing strategies which are in line with the market situations. In a global environment it is important that business strategies are designed keeping in mind the social and cultural differences that vary from country to country. Consumer religion, language, lifestyle patterns are all important information for successful business management. b. Legal factors These factors that influence business strategies are related to changes in government laws and regulations. For a successful business operation it is important that the businesses consider the legal issues involved in a particular situation and should have the capability to anticipate ways in which changes in laws will affect the way they must behave. Laws keep changing over a period of time. From the point of view of business it is important that they are aware of these changes in the areas of consumer protection legislation, environmental legislation, health safety and employment law, etc. c. Economic factors These factors involve changes in the global economy. A rise in living standards would ultimately imply an increase in demand for products thereby, providing greater opportunities for businesses to make profits. An economy witnesses fluctuations in economic activities. This would imply that in case of a rise in economic activity the demand of the product will increase and hence the price will increase. In case of reduction in demand the prices will go down. Business strategies should be developed keeping in mind these fluctuations. Other economic changes that affect business include changes in the interest rate, wage rates, and the rate of inflation. In case of low interest rates and increase in demand Businesses will be encouraged to expand and take risks. Therefore, business strategies should have room for such fluctuations. d. Political factors This refers to the changes in government and government policies. Political factors greatly influence the operation of business. This has gained significant importance off late. For example: companies operating in the European Union have to adopt directives and regulations created by the EU. The political arena has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses, and the spending power of consumers and other businesses. Business must consider the stability of the political environment, governments policy on the economy etc e. Technological factors These factors greatly influence business strategies as they provide opportunities for businesses to adopt new innovations, and inventions. This helps the business to reduce costs and develop new products. With the advent of modern communication technologies, technological factors have gained great impetus in the business arena. . Huge volumes of information can be securely shared by means of databases thereby enabling vast cost reductions, and improvements in service. Organisations need to consider the latest relevant technological advancements for their business and to stay competitive. Technology helps business to gain competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. While designing the business strategies firms must consider if use of technology will allow the firm to manufacture products and services at a lower cost. Firms can select new modes of distributions with the help of technology. It has become easier for companies to communicate wi th their customer in any part of the world. (http://www.businessteacher.org.uk) Strategies employed by organisations operating globally Operations strategy is the development of a long-term plan for using the major resources of the firm for a high degree of compatibility between these resources and the firm long term corporate strategy. Operations strategy addresses very broad questions about how these major resources should be configured to achieve the desired corporate objectives. Some of the major long-term issues addressed in operations strategy include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ How large do we make our facilities? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ What type of processes do we install to make the products or provide services? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ What will our supply chain look like? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ What will be the nature of our workforce? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ How do we ensure quality? (http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0070922837/158533/sample_ch2.pdf). Managing culture, society and economy challenges Companies move to other countries to expand their business and to increase the profits. When companies do move to other countries they face different challenges like meeting local customers demands, understanding the rules or regulations of local government, language problems etc. If we sum up these problems generally there are three main problems in moving business to overseas countries which are social, cultural and economic factors. Companies do have to understand the culture of the country so that they can run their business properly. They have to understand their social customs and economy of the country. For example McDonalds, KFC or Subway, these companies have operations all over the world. They sale poultry, pork and meat products. Now expanding their business to Asian countries, they first get knowledge about their social, cultural and economy factory. Taking example of Muslim countries, when these three companies moved to Muslims countries they cannot sell Pork or Non-Hala l products in Muslim countries because it is against their cultural values or religious values. So they do sell Halal products to these countries and avoid selling of Pork. This shows that companies have to change themselves according to local culture and social life to do good business in other countries. Also they do offer prices according to local economy or purchasing power of customers. They cannot apply the same prices both in US, UK, India and Pakistan because the economic condition of all these countries is different. Conclusion There is no doubt that with the progress in globalisation living standard of people in many countries has improved but there is also no denial to the fact that most of benefits are being gained by developed countries. They are exploiting the rights of developing countries in the name of globalisation. The income gap between developed countries and developing countries has been increased which is a matter of concern. Through globalisation many companies have also gained benefits especially multinational companies and big companies. They are getting huge profits through globalisation. But they are also exploiting peoples right to some extent, like they are not giving the same pays to developing and developed countries.

Varying Patterns of Speciation Essay -- Wallaces Line Plate Tectonics

Varying Patterns of Speciation Wallace’s line, located in the Malay-Archipelago, is one of the best known and most studied boundaries of zoogeography in the world. It is a transition zone between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi and the islands of Bali and Lombork, which marks both the convergence and division of the diverse flora and fauna found in the Asian (Borneo, The Philippines, and Western Indonesia), and the Australian regions (Sulawesi, Eastern Indonesia, Australia, and New Guinea) (Schulte 2003). The hypothetical line was first proposed by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1858 after observing many morphological differences of various bird species in the Asian and Australian regions (Raven 1935). In the past, to confirm the placement of Wallace’s hypothetical line, researchers have applied the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift in order to create geographical reconstructions of land masses. From this information, researchers were able to substantiate a majority of the boundaries of the originally drawn line. Presently, however, due to the enigmas found on the island of Sulawesi, a portion of the line between Borneo and Sulawesi (Celebes) still remains uncertain (Whitmore 1981). Researchers have identified two genera that contradict the location of the line: the macaque monkey (Macaca species) and the Sulawesi toad (Bufa celebensis) (Evans et al. 1998). Whereas geographical phenomena such as tectonic plate shifts, rising and falling sea levels, and climatic fluctuations have caused the morphology of the Sulawesi toad to remain fairly undifferentiated, the ancestral macaque monkeys have evolved into seven distinct endemic species. The zoogeography on the eastern and western sides of Wallace’s line... ...esi. Evolution. 57:6:1436-1443. Evans, Ben J., Juan Carlos Morales, Jatna Supriatna, and Don J. Melnick. 1998. Origin of the Sulawesi Macaques (Cercopithecidae: Macaca) as Suggested by mitochondrial DNA phylogeny. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 66:539-560. Michaux, B. Land Movements and animal distributions in east Wallacea (eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Melanesia). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 112:323-343. Raven, Henry C. 1935. Wallace’s Line and the Distribution of Indo-Australian Mammals. New York. Schulte, James A. II. Jane Melville, and Allan Larson. 2003. Molecular phylogenetic evidence for ancient divergence of lizard taxa on either side of Wallace’s Line. The Royal Society. 270:597-603. Whitmore, T.C. 1981. Wallace’s Line and Plate Tectonics. Clarendon Press. Oxford University Press, New York.

Physics of Neurons Essay -- physics neuron

The human nervous system is divided into two parts, the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system, CNS, is just the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system, PNS, includes the nerves and neurons that extend outwards from CNS, to transmit information to your limbs and organs for example. Communication between your cells is extremely important, neurons are the messengers that relay information to and from your brain. Nerve cells generate electrical signals to transmit information. Neurons are not necessarily intrinsically great electrical conductors, however, they have evolved specialized mechanisms for propagating signals based on the flow of ions across their membranes. In their inactive state neurons have a negative potential, called the resting membrane potential. Action potentials changes the transmembrane potential from negative to positive. Action potentials are carried along axons, and are the basis for "information transportation" from one cell in the nervous system to another. Other types of electrical signals are possible, but we'll focus on action potentials. These electrical signals arise from ion fluxes produced by nerve cell membranes that are selectively permeable to different ions. Neurons and glia (cells that support neurons) are specialized cells for electrical signaling over long distances. Understanding neuronal structure is important for understanding neuronal function. The number of synaptic inputs recieved by each nerve cell in our (human) nervous system varies from 1-100,000! This wide range reflects the fundamental purpose of nerve cells, to integrate info from other neurons. Cellular organization of neurons resembles that of other ce... ...ive current flow. Another way to improve the passive flow is to insulate the axonal membrane with myelin. This reduces the amount of current that would otherwise leak out of the axon and increases the distance that the current can flow passively. Myelination, aka axon insulation, increases action potential conduction up to 150m/s compared to 0.5-10m/s conduction velocities of unmyelnated axons! Speedy delivery of current (information) along axons is also due to the nodes of Ranvier. Nodes of Ranvier are gaps between insulated portions of the axon. The gaps create a place where the current can flow out of the axon so an action potential can be generated. Action potentials are started at one end of the node, flow passively through the myelinated axon, and pop out the other side to jump to the next node. This jumping of action potentials is called saltatory.

Voting Rights Act

Movement was a social revolution that had been an Important part of the united States for decades, but it wasn't until the sass's that the movement actually began to actively affect the daily lives of Americans. Previously, the Civil Rights advocates had been attempting to simply integrate themselves into the whole of America as a result of the discriminatory mindset of many whites and the unfair treatment of blacks, but this goal shifted dramatically during the sixties as the movement pushed forward.These early Integration attempts Included non-violent ethos such as sit-ins, demonstrations In Birmingham, and the March on Washington, yet even though the protesters were persistent and used non-violent methods to accomplish this early goal, much of America still refused to listen. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act outlawed segregation in public accommodations, which was monumental to the Civil Rights Movement because It shattered the Jim Crow system.The year after, the Voting Rights Act wa s passed which prohibited racial delimitation while voting. However, even with the ability to fairly vote and with discrimination outlawed by the Civil Rights Act, blacks still found themselves in a seer position than most whites in society and began to strive for higher goals than just integration. Once they had more or less achieved desegregation, many blacks wanted to advance their goal beyond desegregation and into black power.Because of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the goals and strategies of the Civil Rights Movement shifted from non-violent civil disobedience to more militant methods in favor of self-defense and black power even though there was a scarcity of white support. Before the Civil Rights act of 1 964 and the Voting Rights Act f 1965, much of the Civil Rights Movement focused on achieving desegregation and equality.For example, the (The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) was founded by college students in 1960 with the goal of equality and integration, and specifically sought for a social order of Justice permeated of love. Martin Luther King and the people who protested in Birmingham believed that Injustice threatened America, and sought to bring this to the attention of the country. The tactics of the pre-1965 Civil Rights movement varied in specifics, but the overall strategy followed nonviolent methods.Groups such as the SYNC strove for courage, love, acceptance and hope through nonviolent methods, while protesters around the country had similar tactics. For example, in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, call rights protesters stood up against unfair laws and police brutality without raising a hand to defend themselves. In such demonstrations, they relied on the media and the pictures taken of their efforts to spread their message across America and raise support.These actions were modeled after other nonviolent movements throughout history such as the Indian Independence Movement in the early sass's. Mo re specific strategies of the Civil Rights Movement included bus boycotts to Integrate public transportation, sit-ins to Integrate public the movement didn't aim to overcome discrimination swiftly; they were thorough and won victories slowly. Movement had moderate goals, and generally did not aim to overcome prejudice in a swift and aggressive manner.Document A: SYNC (The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) was founded by college students in 1960 with the purpose of equality, integration, and with the hope for an integrated society using non-violent methods. Document B: In 1963, civil rights workers protested the treatment of African-Americans in Birmingham, Alabama, and workers including Martin Luther King were arrested. While in Jail, King wrote a letter from Birmingham Jail to the Episcopal clergy of Birmingham with the intent of persuading the people to take action.Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere. Document C: Document D: In 1963 President Kennedy told the nation about his goal to provide all Americans equal rights and equal opportunities by asking the United States Congress to act on the subject of equal laws for all citizens of America. As an indirect result of this report, the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, which outlawed many forms of discrimination, amended unfair voter registration requirements, and ended racial segregation in public accommodations.Document E: By 1966, the goals of the Civil Rights Movement had shifted from national integration and brotherhood to a more powerful role of black people in society. People such as Stokers Carmichael and other activists for black power aimed for well- off black communities in which humanistic love would prevail. Document F: Civil rights protesters became impatient with the slow-moving pace of non-violent, defenseless demonstrations that had been taking place in the earlier years of the sass's. As a result, groups such as the Black Panther Party were formed, which called Ame ricans. Document G:As a result of both the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Freedom Summer, the percentage of registered African-American voters increased significantly in the south, showing that many of the strategies of previous civil rights workers had begun to change the unjust laws of the American society. Document H: Despite the committed efforts of the civil rights workers to integrate the American society, there were still millions of whites who disagreed with racial equality and the consequences that came with it, as shown by the 1968 election statistics in which nearly ten million people voted for segregationist George Wallace.

A Tentative Study of Trademark Translation Essay

Abstract: Trademark is a special kind of language signs. It is the concentration of commodities’ distinct characteristics, the core of commodities’ culture, and the powerful weapon for an enterprise to participate in international competitions. With the development of globalization and the increase in international trade, the products of importing and exporting strengthen day by day; the translation of trademarks is gaining more and more attention. Nowadays, more and more people have realized that a good translation of a trademark in promoting sales is crucial to the development of international markets and profits making. According to some instances of trademark translation, this thesis summarizes some main characteristics of trademark, and discusses the principles and some general methods of trademark translation. Key words: Trademark; characteristics; translation principles; translation methods : , , , , , , , , , , : ; ; ; Introduction According to R. Heis, an American economist: â€Å"A brand name, i. e. trademark is a name, form, sign, design or a combination of them that tells who makes it or who sells it, distinguishing that product from those made or sold by others. † (Guo Guilong & Zhang Hongbo, 2008: 100) A trademark is just like a product’s name, which is the representative of the image of a company and the symbol of quality. In promoting sales, the trademark plays a very important role in arousing consumer’s desire to shop, bringing the huge economic benefits and even in determining the survival of a company. With China’s joining to the WTO, China strengthens cooperation with other countries, including increasingly frequent economic and trade exchanges. How to introduce our products to foreign countries, bring foreign products into the domestic markets and conduct a successful sales business has become quite important. Therefore, a successful translation of trademark becomes urgent and necessary for the enterprises. While trademark translation is not only a simple conversion from one code to another, but a clear intention of the cross-language commercial, a special cross-cultural communication activity. Thus, it is vital for us to pay more attention to the principles and methods of trademark translation. Chapter1 The Characteristics of Trademark Though there are various definitions of trademark, they share something in common. In general, a trademark should be simple and easy to remember, and should be distinctive and favorably associative. 1. 1 Simple and Easy to Remember It is a basic requirement for a trademark to be simple and easy to spell. Choosing short and simple words for composing trademarks will help consumers comprehend them more easily, because simple and short words are easy to keep in memory. Nowadays, with the fast development of economy, more and more trademarks flood into the market, how could consumers memorize all of them? Therefore, if a trademark is short and easy to spell and memorize, it can occupy the market easily. In fact, most well-known trademarks are in short form, such as Nike, Sony, Apple and so on. 1. 2 Distinctive from Similar Products We all know that the purpose of using trademarks is to distinguish one product from others. Therefore, to be distinctive is another important characteristic of a trademark. Trademarks, in a sense, are equal to signs and reputations. Distinctiveness can help customers not to be easily confused with other trademarks in the market either by sound or appearance. Distinctive and typical words may be used to distinguish the relevant product from others. â€Å"Kodak† (camera) created by the manager, is distinctive and easy for the potential consumers to memorize. The Chinese famous trademark â€Å"Lenovo†( ),can easily be differentiated from other computers, because â€Å"Lenovo†, a coined word, can be associated with the word â€Å"legend† which is particular and attractive. Lenovo is more innovative than legend. Adventurous consumers will prefer that trademark distinguishes the relevant product from other computers with consummate ease. 1. 3 Arousing Favorable Association Most trademarks can arouse favorable association, which is an indispensable feature of trademark. Owing to the requirement of marketing, a trademark is not only a sign, but also an advertisement. It should arouse the favorable association and show the good quality to consumers. Some trademarks have inherent meaning and some have historic or cultural connotations, both of which can arouse favorable associations. â€Å"LUX† (soap) is a product of Unilever Company. â€Å"LUX†, a Latin word, means â€Å"sunshine†. So the consumer can associate it with â€Å"bright sunshine and healthy skin†. This trademark even let people imagine the romantic feeling on the summer beach. What’s more, consumers can associate â€Å"LUX† with â€Å"lucks† and â€Å"luxury† from its appearance and pronunciation. Thus, Unilever Company publicizes the good quality of its products by the favorable association of the trademark. From the above example, we can see that the inherent meaning of trademarks plays an important part in advertising and can arouse people’s desirable association and let them accept the products. Chapter 2 The Principles of Trademark Translation Trademark translation is an art as well as a science. It is a comprehensive process which is related to linguistics, translation theory, intercultural communication, aesthetics, and consumer psychology. Generally speaking, trademark translation is a complex task of compromising between the meanings of trademarks and their consumers. Therefore, to translate trademarks successfully, some principles should be taken into consideration. 2. 1 Reveal the Products’ Characteristics Usually, every product has its identification. Trademark translation should show the features and functions of the products, so that the buyers could immediately think of the usage of products when they see the trademarks. As has been discussed by Xu Hui and Cheng Zhendong, the characteristic of a product means that it has some basic elements which differ from those of others (Xu Hui, 2004:55-56). The translated brand name should match with the characteristics of products and show the idea of the original name. The characteristics of products not only distinguish from others, but also contain the ability to communicate with the consumers. Thus, in the process of translation, the translator should grasp the characteristics of the products, so as to promote the understanding of products for consumers, and help learn the characteristics and functions of the products by the first sight. For example, a trademark of suit-dress â€Å"Hope Show† is translated into â€Å" †, in which the word â€Å"? † instantly reflects in the products for the apparel category, and â€Å"? † add more promotion of a happy and peaceful feeling to the goods. The translation not only reflects the features of the product but also caters to consumers’ aesthetic taste. Nobody will have interest in products which they are not acquainted. A successful trademark translation should have the trait that customers can learn the category and characteristics of the product. Like â€Å"Nike†, the famous American brand of sports wears, is the name of the goddess Victory in Greek myth. According to its pronunciation, it can be translated into â€Å" † or â€Å" † in Chinese. However, these two names can’t reveal the characteristics of the product, but even give people a misunderstanding that â€Å"Nike† is some products for women. â€Å" † is better. â€Å"? † means something durable. As the sport wear, durability is equal to good quality. â€Å"? † implies that people can finally overcome difficulties and succeed, conforming with the connotation of Victory. These two words in Chinese show the features of the product perfectly. Another example is Procter & Gamble’s antidandruff shampoo â€Å"Head & Shoulders†. The translation â€Å" † means dandruff disappears when washed, and highlights the distinct characteristics of the product fully. Another two examples are â€Å"Sportsman† (bicycle) and â€Å"Unlsports† (sports shoes). The former is translated into â€Å"†, the latter into â€Å" †. If you are not familiar with the trademarks, who will associate it with their products? 2. 2 Choose the Appropriate Words As the symbol of products, trademarks should be simple and easy to remember and understandable for consumers. So in order to leave the best impression on consumers, translators should choose some appropriate words during the process of trademark translation. The more complicated words in the translation, the weaker the trademark sounds and the less memorable it becomes. For instance, McDonald’s was transliterated into â€Å"† in mainland of China before and now is displaced by â€Å" †. Also, in mainland, the brand name â€Å"Hewlett & Packard† had a long translation of â€Å" - † for a long period. Now, the six-character version, long and meaningless, has been replaced by the two-character version â€Å" †. Balancing these two versions, we can see the latter is easier to pronounce and memorize. Moreover, â€Å" † contains more meanings and can stimulate more favorable e favorable association of the the productassociation of consumers. Similarly, â€Å"Head &Shoulder†(shampoo) was transliterated into â€Å" † before and now a more compact and meaningful version â€Å" † is popular. â€Å"Stafanel†, the brand name for apparel from US, is translated into â€Å" † now. However, what about a two-character version â€Å" †? Also in China, â€Å"Mercedes-Benz†, the brand name for a quality car from Germany, was transliterated into â€Å"  · † before and yet is put into â€Å" † at present. A car from Great Britain â€Å"Rolls Royce† is translated into â€Å" † now instead of the former transliteration â€Å"  · †. The Chinese version for â€Å"Fair Child†, a semi-conductor from the US, was â€Å" † before and now is â€Å"  Ã¢â‚¬  instead. â€Å" † is easier to be pronounced and memorized than â€Å" † for â€Å"Nescafe† from Swiss. The upper new versions have replaced the old renderings because they are simple and easy to be accepted by consumers, in pronunciation, form and meaning. Easy acceptance by consumers finally promotes the sales of the products. On the contrary, some translations sound profane or may lead to negative associations in the Chinese language. Thus such translations would not be recognized and accepted by consumers. For examples, â€Å"Psorales†, a drug, was put into â€Å" † when just coming into China. No one knew what â€Å" † was and assumed it to be something discarded. It is not hard to imagine nobody would buy things that sound worn and useless. Later, it is replaced by â€Å" †,a more vivid and meaningful version, and its sales was improved afterwards. 2. 3 Analyze the Aesthetics Features Trademark translation should comply with the characteristics of morphology of trademark in the TL. â€Å"Getting the best out of the combination of beauty in meaning, sound and form is the internal requirement if we want to realize the associated function and the advertising function of a brand name†. (Tang Zhongshun, 2002:75-77) The translated trademark accordingly must be normative, elegant, vivid and visual. Firstly, â€Å"beauty of meaning† means the translated terms should produce an artistic conception through a favorable association of words or component words so that people will have rich and nice association and arouse the expectation and pursuit of wonderful things. We have the typical examples of â€Å"Sprite† (beverage) and â€Å"Tide† (washing power). Since â€Å"Sprite† was translated into â€Å" † in Chinese, this product has prevailed in China due to the brilliant color and abundant connotation. The translated term â€Å" † in sound is not only quite close to the pronunciation of the original brand name, but also makes people have a favorable association of lustration, neatness and tidiness, showing the sort and feature of the product. Secondly, â€Å"beauty of sound† means a brand name of the original and its translated version should basically share the same or similar pronunciation with the quality of sonority, rhythmization and musicality so that an aesthetically pleasing enjoyment is gained in hearing that brand name (Zhang Quan, 2004:77-79). There are many successfully translated versions fully reflect the beauty of sounds. Take â€Å"OMO† (washing power) and â€Å"Clean&Clear† (facial cleanser) for example. As â€Å"OMO† is translated into â€Å" †,it sounds like a compliment â€Å"great† in English. The translated term of â€Å"Clean&Clear†, â€Å" † makes good use of alliterative rhythmic reduplication in order to achieve a combination of phonetic rhythm and verve. Lastly, â€Å"beauty of form† means the translated trademarks should make the best of conciseness and simpleness in structure, namely using few syllables, readability and understandability of the words and avoiding difficult and seldom-using words. People prefer two or three words of translated versions because this structure better accords with the referential custom and aesthetic psychology. There are many famous translated brand names with the above feature, such as â€Å"Head&Shoulders† (shampoo), â€Å"Avon† (cosmetic), â€Å"Johnsons† (cream) and so on. Especially the translated version â€Å" † is full of the characteristics of concision, elegance and vividness representing the feature and function of the product. 2. 4 Pay Attention to Cultural Differences Edward Taylor defined culture as â€Å"a complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by individuals as members of a society. † (Taylor Edward B, 1871:36) Namely, the major factors contributing to the making of culture are the religions, habits, customs and history, which vary considerable from countries to countries. As a carrier of culture, language is an important part of culture which reflects the characteristics of a nation, which not only includes the nation’s historical and cultural background, but also contains the national outlook on life, lifestyles and ways of thinking. From the relationship between language and culture, it is obvious that translation is not only a process of transferring the source language into the target language, but also a process of a mutual communication and exchange between different cultures. Therefore, during the process of trademark translation, as language and culture are inseparable from each other, it is essential to pay more attention to cultural differences. 2. 4. 1. Differences in Religions Religions, myths, legends, and images from literary works are an in-separable part of culture. They are deeply rooted in culture and at the same time contribute a great deal to the formation of people’s concepts about certain objects. These elements, when involved in brand name translation, call for the translator’s sensitivity as well as flexibility in cultural adaptation in order that functional equivalence could be attained between the source brand name and the target brand name. For example, Goldlion was not well-liked when it first appeared in the Chinese market with the nameâ€Å" †. It is said that many people would not buy that product just because the name sounds very close toâ€Å" †in some Chinese dialects. Other people believe that the name was not well accepted because it resembles the sound ofâ€Å" †,which is also a taboo idea in China, especially in Hong Kong, where people display a particular liking for things with luck-bearing names. Anyway, the product did not sell well until the new nameâ€Å" †was adopted by Zeng Xianzi, a famous Chinese entrepreneur. He skillfully took apart the source brand name intoâ€Å"gold†andâ€Å"lion†. The first part was literally put intoâ€Å"? †to be faithful to the original, while the latter adopted the method of semantic transliteration and was put intoâ€Å" †,meaningâ€Å"bringing profit†. Such an auspicious name has helped a lot in building up the good fame of the product. 2. 4. 2 Differences in History. Every country has its own history. In the history, many historical incidents happened. These incidents have carved into the culture and have become a part of it. Being unaware of the history when translating a trademark will lead to failure. â€Å"Opium† is a brand of perfume. Actually in the western cul ention to hich reflects nd nice associationame, but also makes ation. things. he producr. ture, such kind of trademark name is popular, such as Poison, another perfume brand. However in China, â€Å" † has a negative meaning. The Chinese people experienced the shameful history related to opium since 1840, when the notorious Opium War broke out. Without the consideration of history, this brand encountered the resistance from the Chinese consumers. Finally, the trademark name â€Å" † was banned in China. 2. 4. 3 Differences in Customs and Habits Custom is one of the branches of culture reflecting the specific characteristics of a nation or parts of the nation. It is the sediment of long history and closely linked with the surroundings and the way of life. So some customs and habits exist in one culture but may be absent in another, which brings about an obstacle to Chinese-English brand name translation. Many Chinese brand names come from Chinese custom. One of the most famous rice wines named â€Å" † (Daughter Wine) is produced in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province of China. To Chinese customers, the brand name represents the happy events in one’s life, while they cannot arouse the same feeling in westerners if translated literally and that will absolutely cause cultural loss, because the western consumers do not know about the custom of the ancient Shaoxing. It is said that in ancient Shaoxing a jar of this wine was buried under the ground when a daughter was brought into the world. When the girl grew up and became a bride, the jar was dug out and presented to the guests attending the wedding. As the wine was uncapped, the smell of the wine spread far, and all guests became excited and congratulated the parents, so it was named â€Å" †. When a translator translate the trade mark, it is very necessary to reveal the cultural information of the brand names. It is not only easy for customers to know about the origin of the wine but accept it quickly, because any one from any country would like to equally appreciate the beautiful things, enjoy the happy feeling and desire success. Thus, in order to reveal the cultural information of this brand name, perhaps the translation â€Å"Daughter’s Wedding Wine† is more suitable. 2. 4. 4 Differences in the Attitudes towards Animals and Numbers People living in different cultures hold different attitudes and beliefs towards animals and numbers. What is considered a good omen in one culture may not symbolize the same in another. Therefore, it is generally advisable that people should not use this type of words to name the relative products, and when one translates existing brand names of this type, cultural adaptation may help him find a more proper target brand name. The difficulties caused by such words in brand name translation may be illustrated with the following example. As we know, the Chinese people often associate bats with good luck because the Chinese character â€Å"? †sounds the same asâ€Å"? †(meaningâ€Å"good fortune†). Some Chinese legends even say that when a bat lives 100 years, it turns white in color and hangs upside down from a tree, and eating that bat could bring a person longevity. A red bat foretells even better luck forâ€Å" †sounds exactly the same withâ€Å" †(being supremely fortunate). Some Chinese stick to the belief so much that they name their productsâ€Å" †. But if the translator adapts his linguistic choices to the different attitude towards the animal in European cultures, he would not considerâ€Å" Bat† a good name, for bat is regarded as an extremely evil omen in many European folklores. Perhaps translations like â€Å"Fortunes† would be better. Besides, numbers bring about different associations. Generally speaking, each culture has certain numbers believed to be either â€Å"lucky† or â€Å"ominous†, but this may often differ from individual to individual. Let’s take the translation of â€Å"7-up†, a brand of soft drink, as an example. The number â€Å"7† is thought to be a lucky number to many English speakers, but it does not have the same meaning in Chinese. Considering the cultural difference, the translator, in order to create a similar effect among the Chinese consumers, worked out the nameâ€Å" †. The name is quite satisfactory because its first partâ€Å"? †remains faithful to the source brand name without conveying any unfavorable meaning, and its second partâ€Å"? †conveys the meaning ofâ€Å"happiness and good luck†,and hence makes up for the loss of connotation in the numberâ€Å"7†. Chapter 3 General Methods in Trademark Translation Peter Newmark once said that different translation strategies should be adopted according to the different functions of different works (Mou Yan, 2008). It is well-known that trademark translation is not only to convey the cultural information of the source culture, but also to set up a good image in the target culture, and finally to attract the people in the target market to the product. In order to achieve these purposes, translators should adopt the following methods in the process of trademark translation. 3. 1 Literal Translation Literal translation, referred to as semantic translation by Peter Newmark, is a way of translation which aims at preserving the most possible cultural messages (including the communicative aspect of culture, such as, the formal elements of the SL) of the source text at the sacrifice of the formal elements of the target language and sometimes even the intelligibility of the target text (Zheng Shengtao, 1994). Since the formation of words in the Chinese language is different from that in the Western languages, it is actually impossible to achieve trademark translation by word-for-word translation in most cases. Peter Newmark favors â€Å"literal translation† too. He says, â€Å"I am somewhat of a ‘literalist’ because I am for truth and accuracy†. (Newmark Peter, 2001:62) Although sometimes literal translation may create something exotic or even eccentric for the target language readers, it will gradually be accepted by the target language and its culture. As long as the translated brand names from foreign language can be understood and accepted by the target consumers, literal translation is the best way for promoting cultural exchange through the brand name translation in China. As the brand name translation is to transfer between cultures, translators should make the target consumers understand the source culture. Some people say there is a better way for translators to approach the original. That is literal translation, which can keep the national feature. For example, some traditional brand names, which are very familiar to the Westerners even to the world like â€Å" † (The Yangtze River), â€Å" † (the Yellow River), and â€Å" † (the Great Wall) are chosen by the producers, as they are the symbols of Chinese wonderful natural history. When translators translate them, they have no need to do any translation. As these brand names are well-known to the world, and these Chinese characteristics of brand names are fresh and mysterious to the Westerners, it is easy to evoke the target consumers’ purchasing desire. Translators can adopt literal translation. The brand names â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" † carry our ancient cultural information. When translators translate them into the Western languages, they should keep literal translation and add some notes, in order to let the target consumers know the source culture. Literal translation also keeps the general form and keeps the structure of the source language. Today, Chinese culture are getting more and more popular in the world, and more and more Westerners are eager to study our language in order to learn our long history. Therefore, the kind of translation is a necessary way to let more people learn our traditional culture. On the other hand, in the English-speaking countries, there are some brand names which can be literally translated. For example, the very famous brand name â€Å"White cat† is translated into â€Å" †. And the brand name â€Å"Camel† is translated into â€Å" †. All these translated brand names are very suitable for the products, and the products will very probably be loved by the consumers in the target market. Here literal translation is not the same as word-for-word translation. Word-for-word translation is to rigidly reproduce every word in the process of translation. Strictly speaking, it is not a translation method. But, literal translation is a skill of translation, even if there do exist some additions or deletions while the essence of the original is not destroyed. Literal translation makes the target language more smooth and acceptable. Although literal translation can most possibly maintain the cultural messages of the source language, it sometimes will cause misunderstanding of the cultural messages or create unintelligible meanings. Let’s take Sprite as an example. If the word â€Å"Sprite† is translated literally or directly, it might be â€Å" †. The version would put Chinese consumers into great confusion because â€Å" † is a human-like monster in Chinese culture. Thus translators should consider other methods. Literal translation is adopted as the most ideal translation technique in reproducing images because it can preserve the original images as much as possible. Some English expressions wearing word-for-word similarity to some Chinese expressions may mean something quite different. In this case, translators should go deeper to find out what these English expressions really mean; otherwise mistakes will be made in literal translation. 3. 2 Transliteration Transliteration in a narrow sense is a mapping from one system of writing into another and it is mostly based on the pronunciation. Transliteration attempts to be lossless, so that an informed reader should be able to reconstruct the original spelling of unknown transliterated words. To achieve this objective, transliteration may define complex conventions to deal with letters in a source script that do not correspond with letters in a goal script. Transliteration means that trademarks are translated into similar names in pronunciation according to the original ones (Li Yi, 2009:232-234) It is generally believed that the adoption of this method can help to achieve various purposes. Some trademarks obtained in this way can effectively remind the customers of their classic status. Such trademarks are easier for target consumers to pronounce and memorize. Still, some trademarks are deliberately transliterated in order to cater to the foreign consumers’ general preference for foreign goods because some thus-translated trademarks sound more foreign-like. The world famous trademark â€Å"Intel† means: the ability to learn and reason and the capacity for knowledge and comprehension. Now you see why it is translated into â€Å" † which sounds foreign-like and is easy to memorize and read. Meanwhile, it indicates the characteristic of the product. Another example is the translation of â€Å"Ya Ya†. â€Å" † (down wear) is transliterated into â€Å"Ya Ya† instead of â€Å"Duck†. The translated trademark â€Å"Ya Ya† is a catchy name that can fulfill the simulating function of trademark effectively. These two examples show the characteristics of being simple and easy to pronounce and memorize and as well obey the principle of aesthetics. Though transliteration embodies the sound beauty of the original one, the translated trademark dictions should be chosen carefully. During transliteration, it is important to obey the characteristics of arousing desirable association. â€Å"Philip† was once translated into â€Å" † which sounds more similar to the original one than â€Å" †. But the three characters â€Å" † will arouse unfavorable association. People prefer good and appropriate words, and hence, when using transliteration method, translators should do their best to choose beautiful words. For example, â€Å"Lancome† (cosmetics) is put into â€Å" †. The two Chinese  characters are beautiful and can be associated with an elegant woman with certain spiritual qualities. These two words â€Å" † are always connected with beautiful things, such as â€Å" , †. That’s why Chinese females have a partiality for â€Å"Lancome†. In translation practice, we find that English trademarks are highly coherent in letters or words and can be pronounced easily in one breath, while the transliteration of Chinese trademarks are broken into independent words in accordance with the specific Chinese characters. So the English version often lacks coherence. To avoid the disadvantage of transliteration in strict accordance with the standard Chinese pronunciation, we can use transliteration method flexibly. To some extent, we can translate a trademark according to the local pronunciation. The following examples successfully avoid the above problem. â€Å" † (refrigerator) is translated into â€Å"Frestech† instead of â€Å"Xin Fei†. â€Å"Frestech† is composed of â€Å"fresh† and â€Å"technology†, which is coherent in structure and pronunciation. What’s more, it also implies that the product is produced with advanced technology. â€Å"† (tonic food) means that happiness is coming, suggesting the product will bring happiness and health to consumers. The English version â€Å"Life† caters to westerners’ psychology and is easier for them to pronounce and spell. 3. 3 Free Translation â€Å"Free translation reproduces the matter without the manner, or the content without the form of the original. Usually it is a paraphrase longer than the original. † In order to take advantage of the target language and make translated brand name more idiomatic and acceptable, some imaginary brand names are freely translated. Free translation can communicate the information of products clearly and vividly. It will make a strong impression on the target language consumers and arouse their response. There are many successful examples to show this method. For example, â€Å"Ariel† (washing powder) is rendered as â€Å" †. The word â€Å"? † means â€Å"clean† and â€Å"clear†. So â€Å" † indicates the super cleaning capability of the washing powder. Similarity, â€Å"Safeguard† (soap) is not literally translated into â€Å" †, but â€Å" †. The translation describes the product’s function and attributes. â€Å"Rejoice† (shampoo) is not translated into â€Å"†, but â€Å" †, meaning softness and glossiness. â€Å"Slek†(shampoo) is also rendered as â€Å" † through free translation. â€Å" † in Chinese can be a noun as well as a verb phrase. If â€Å" † is interpreted as a noun, it means beautiful buds, implying ladies will be like an elegant bud after using the shampoo; if â€Å" † is interpreted as a verb, it means nourishing a bud to make it come out. This implies the shampoo can make hair glossier. â€Å"Zest†(soap) is paraphrased as â€Å" † through free translation. â€Å"? † is a very popular word in China, which brings the soap a fashionable element. This translation is improved from the original one â€Å" † in literal method. â€Å" † is more proper and suitable to meet the needs of the youth who are the target customers. 3. 4 Liberal Translation plus Transliteration In order to reach the criteria of trademark translation—beauty in meaning and sound, and to make the translated versions possess the general features of good brand names, we can use the combination of liberal translation and transliteration to translate brand names, since in many cases liberal or transliteration cannot do the job along. A good translation of a brand name should not only be similar to the original sound but also reflect the connotation of the original. The combination of liberal translation and transliteration may achieve double purposes, as the message of the brand name will be more vividly reflected so that it will be more impressive to guide consumption. Here we take some examples to appreciate the merits of this kind of method. For example, â€Å"Pampers†Ã¢â‚¬â€diapers from P&G, is rich in meaning and clear in pronunciation. The translated brand name â€Å" † has got a balance between the meaning and the pronunciation. The brand name of a medicine â€Å"Bufferin† is translated into â€Å" †. The translated brand name does not tell us what the medicine is, but it forms a sound which is very close to that of the source brand name. A drink named â€Å"Milo† is translated into â€Å" †, which not only makes us know that the pronunciation of the translated word is close to that of the original, but tells us what the product is made from and the property of the product.