George Washington Essay Ideas and How to Use Them

George Washington is one of the central figures of American history – as one of the founders of the United States of America in its modern form, the first US President, the general who led armies to victory during the defining War for Independence, he is hard to be surpassed by any other person. However important this other person is for the history of the country, without George Washington there wouldn’t have been any country in the first place. That is why it is only natural for tutors and professors to give their students a George Washington essay to write now and then – and expect them to treat the task with all seriousness. Where to Get Information on George Washington Frankly speaking, anywhere. There is hardly any other historical character that had been the subject of more research that George Washington. Depending on the seriousness of your task, however, you should look for more or less scientific sources. If you are writing an essay for high school, it will be more than enough to surf the Internet and look through a couple of historical websites, possibly to skim through a book or two you find in footnotes in Wikipedia. But if you write for college or university, you need more detailed information on George Washington. Find books by celebrated historians, preferably the ones who specialized in George Washington’s biography. Read them carefully, note the sources they used and, if necessary, do the same. George Washington History and What to Write about It If you have to write a history essay on Washington, choose a specific episode or period from his life. Being an important historical figure who lived in not so distant future, he left many accounts and testimonies from first-hand witnesses – in short, we know a lot about him, there is not shortage in sources of information you may use. Check the facts and choose a more interesting episode, which, in your opinion, has been defining in George Washington history and its influence on the history of the USA and the world in general – it is one of the best ways to write an interesting and captivating essay on this topic even if you don’t have a lot of time. George Washington Essay Paper Topics Try to separate what you know about George Washington into segments, judging different aspects of his personality: as a statesman; as a general; as a political leader; as a private person; and so on. As it is usual in the case of a topic that has a lot of information sources on it, your average George Washington essay paper will only benefit if you somehow narrow the subject matter down. If you try to encompass the entire topic, you are likely to write something rather shallow, and your tutor will be unlikely to give you credit for it. If, however, you take a small part of a larger topic, you will be able to write an interesting and deep account of it within the small space of an essay.

Psychology, Theology, And Spirituality - 1843 Words

Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality Summary McMinn unveils the realism of what essentially happens in the counseling office. He dives into the fitting together â€Å"Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling†. McMinn explains how â€Å"those who enter therapy in the midst of their pain experience a restorative counseling relationship that brings acceptance hope, and meaning into their broken lives† (McMinn, 2011, p. 20). There are various questions surrounding Christian counseling that McMinn faces head on in this book when it comes to the challenges counselors face as it relates to integrating religion and spirituality in their sessions. Life on the frontier as McMinn puts it, is where counselors face six basic challenges. Challenges such as moving from two areas of competence to three, blurred personal-professional distinctions, expanded definitions of training, confronting dominant views of mental health, establishing a scientific base or even defining relevant ethical standards (McMinn, 2011). Personal journey’s that McMinn has taken throughout his career provide him with the knowledge, skills and abilities to depict how we should face these challenges. McMinn talks about how many counselors have a need to interpret studies, have good psychodynamics and figure out which cognitive therapy is right for their counseling. As he states, â€Å"Christian counseling is more complex than other forms of counseling because our goal are multifaceted (McMinn, 2011, p.Show MoreRelatedPsychology, Theology And Spirituality1267 Words   |  6 Pages A 4-MAT Review: Psychology, Theology and Spirituality in the Christian Counseling Introduction Mark McMinn is a trained psychologist who is known for his book that was written in 1996 called Psychology, Theology and Spirituality in Christian Counseling. McMinn had advocated for the Christians who are counselors for many years. McMinn is very experienced in the work and in his field of study. One of the biggest things that McMinn stresses is the importance of establishing and maintaining a goodRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality Essay1665 Words   |  7 Pages Mark R. McMinn’s (2011) Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling establish a way to bring Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality to Christian Counselors. He introduces a replica of how to integrate the three disciplines in the counseling office. The purpose of the book is to instruct counselors how to integrate categories of Psychology, Theology and Spirituality into Christian Counseling. McMinn (2011) contends that many challenges both professional and personal face ChristianRead MorePsychology, Theology And Spirituality1445 Words   |  6 PagesR. McMinn uses his book, Psychology, Theology and Spirituality in Christian Counseling to integrate the use of spirituality in Christian counseling in a way that a counselor can use them in a counseling session effectively. McMinn makes the use of various spiritual techniques like prayer, reading the Word and confession and incorporates them in ways that make spirituality work alongside theory in a cohesive ma tter. McMinn explains the world pf psychology and theology is not only something thatRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality Essay1244 Words   |  5 PagesSummary Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by Dr. Mark R. McMinn is a very insightful reading for Christian counselors. This book was originally written in 1996, but the revised in 2011 with the help of Dr. McMinn s students. McMinn begins his wonderful reading by introducing the readers to religion in the counseling office. He starts this section a potential client scenario. This client is looking for a suitable counselor who is spiritually sensitive. Different counselorsRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality1411 Words   |  6 PagesPsychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Counseling by Mark R. McMinn is a book that discusses two different characteristics of the Christian Counseling field: in counseling sessions and life beyond the counseling sessions for example, the counselor’s job and the counselor’s life. Dr. McMinn starts his book with a brief section written with James Wilhoit that discusses religion in the counseling office. This first section talks about the importance of making good use of the Christian faith in counselingRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality891 Words   |  4 PagesReview of McMinn Summary In the book Psychology, theology, and spirituality in Christian counseling by Mark McMinn (2011), he explores the simultaneous integration of psychology, theology, and spirituality in the counseling relationship. McMinn (2011), stresses the importance of this skill throughout the text and offers insightful and effective ways to manage this. In order to further breakdown this information, McMinn (2011) discusses and evaluates six religious intervention strategies: prayerRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality1658 Words   |  7 PagesSummary In the book, Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling, McMinn expands upon the theory of integrating psychology and theology by providing the reader with concrete methods to utilize in counseling. His approach to integration is filled with helpful guidance for any counselor striving to strike the appropriate balance in their sessions. McMinn divulges into how and when to use scripture, prayer, confession and redemption. He advocates for utilizing these methods on aRead MorePsychology, Theology, And Spirituality1413 Words   |  6 PagesThe book â€Å"Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christianity Counseling† by Mark R. McMinn (2011) is an informative read that delves into the issues of practically integrating concepts of psychological counseling in the Christian context. Some of the questions that McMinn (2011) aspires to address in the book include whether it is appropriate to pray with clients, the role of confession during the therapy process , whether counselors should use scripture memory during the interventions as wellRead MorePsychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by Mark McMinn1464 Words   |  6 Pages4 MAT Review McMinn Lynetric Rivers Liberty University Abstract In the book, â€Å"Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling†, author Mark McMinn gives the reader information on how these three entities can work together in Christian counseling. McMinn offers several ways in which this can be done including the use of prayer, Scripture, confession, forgiveness, the effects of sin, and redemption in counseling sessions. Through narration of counseling vignettes displaying differentRead MoreA Review Of Mcminn s Text : Psychology, Theology, And Spirituality1195 Words   |  5 PagesA Review of McMinn’s Text: Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling Summary McMinn tells how psychology, theology, and spirituality are used and how they should be used in Christian counseling. A Christian counselor has to look at not necessarily psychology and theology in a counseling session but how religion and spiritually is brought into the session. McMinn (2011) states, â€Å"Religious interventions require us to understand spiritual formation, place priority on personal spiritual

Carlos Ghosn Nissan Ceo Free Essays

Carlos Ghosn as CEO of Nissan and Renault: Can He Rework the ‘Nissan Magic’? â€Å"We knew some people were concerned about the potential for culture clashes, between the French and the Japanese, but it was not an issue. Cultural differences should be used as a catalyst for change, not as a crutch that inhibits change. You can learn a lot from somebody who is not like you. We will write a custom essay sample on Carlos Ghosn Nissan Ceo or any similar topic only for you Order Now â€Å"1 – Carlos Ghosn, CEO, Nissan. â€Å"Make sure you are focused on your own people. Bring in them motivation and sense of ownership, then you can do your miracle. 2 – Carlos Ghosn, CEO, Nissan. Introduction In 2002, Louis Schweitzer, CEO of Renault announced that Carlos Ghosn, the president and CEO of Nissan would also take over the reigns at Renault in April 2005, while Schweitzer would remain the chairman of the board. With the new position , Carlos Ghosn would lead two companies Nissan and Renault. As of 2004,Renault held 44%stake in Nissan and Nissan owned around 15%of Renault’s shares. ‘Turnaround artist’, as Carlos Ghosn was called was behind the industry’s most remarkable turnaround at Nissan. After he became the CEO of Nissan in 1999, he had brought in many un-Japanese changes in the Japanese company and had actively persuaded the employees to accept change. Carlos Ghosn was credited for reviving the company from$254million losses and $19billion debt in 1999 into profits within two years. After taking up his position as the CEO of Renault in April 2005,CarlosGhosn is likely to face many challenges. Heading two different automobile companies from two different countries was first of its kind and industry observers expressed doubts whether Ghosn would be able to take up the pressure and rework the ‘Nissanmagic’. Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’In March 1999,Renault, the then ninth carmaker in the world announced its alliance with Nissan investing $5. 4 billion. Nissan was in losses for many years from 1990-1999 except for profits reported in 1997(Annexure I) and looked out for partners to recover from the troubles. The brand recognition was very low and it was estimated that Nissan was losing $1000 for every car it sold in US. By the end of 1990s,Nissan exported cars to Europe and Australia and some parts of Asia. The company was in losses to the tune of $5. billion, had debts totaling around $19 billion and was suffering from a poor product portfolio and diminishing brand value. Nissan’s market share had dropped from 6. 6 %in 1991 to 4. 9%by late 1990s. Renault at the same time was expanding internationally through acquisitions. After the unsuccessful merger with Volvo, Renault under Louis Schweitzer entered into an alliance with Nissan acquiring a 36%stake in the compan y. Triggering the alliance was Nissan’s strength in product designs and sophisticated manufacturing that blended well with the engineering quality at Renault. For Renault, the alliance would help in international expansions in the long-term while for Nissan; it was to get rid of its short-term troubles that had accumulated. Initially industry observers were skeptical about a non-Japanese manager successfully leading a Japanese firm. While Carlos Ghosn was successful in cutting costs and had sometimes imposed hard regimes during his tenure atMichelin3  , many were apprehensive if he would be successful in Japan. | | He was 46 when he joined Nissan and was far younger than the middle-level managers in the company. Carlos Ghosn knew nothing about Japan and had no knowledge of the culture there. He once said that he had a ‘very vague’ idea about the country and accepted, â€Å"I did not try to learn too much about Japan before coming, because I didn’t want to have too many preconceived ideas. I wanted to discover Japan by being in Japan with Japanese people. â€Å"4  On the first day, when Carlos Ghosn arrived at Nissan, he took an elevator to reach his office. As he entered the lift, which was already packed with workers who were coming up from garage, everyone knew he was the new CEO. To his surprise, at every floor the lift stopped, none got down. Finally, when he got down, the employees bowed as he left and went back to their floors. After such an unexpected incident, which reflected major cultural difference, Carlos Ghosn realized how important it was to understand them. Since the first day, Carlos Ghosn had made the cultural diversity a catalyst rather than a crutch for the company. 5 Next gt;gt; 1]Carlos Ghosn’s interview, â€Å"Interview: The road to ruin†, www. themanufacturer. com, December 2002 2]Parachkevova, Anna â€Å"CEO outlines Nissan’s resurgence†, www. thedartmouth. com, May 12th 2004 3]Carlos Ghosn joined Michelin in 1974, where he was chairman and CEO of North American operations and had undertook several cost cutting initiatives. 4]†Carlos Ghosn: standing at the global crossing†, http://web-japan. org, April 5th 2002 5]†Throwing away the culture crutch†, 2000 Automotive News World Congress, January 18th 2000 Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ However, since the beginning, Carlos Ghosn was in a Catch-22 situation as Japanese were not used to dictatorship kind of leadership. He knew that if he tried to dictate terms, that could lead to bruising employee morale, and if he remained lenient, it could hinder the required change. Instead of imposing change ,CarlosGhosn brought about the need for urgency in operations by mobilizing   them an agers. Carlos Ghosn identified that the basic flaw with Nissan’s culture when he took over was that employees were reluctant to accept the failures and held other departments or economic conditions responsible for them. This resulted in a lack of urgency among employees as everyone assumed the other would take action. He found that instead of solving the problems, they were trying to live with them. Nissan throughout 1990s, had been concentrating on short-termmarket share growth rather than long termgrowth and instead of investing its profits towards product portfolio improvement itwas spending themtowards equity purchases of other companies especially its suppliers. Its product profile was comparatively outdated with old designs when customers craved for stylish designs while competitors were steadily focusing on new product designs. By 1999, it had around $4 billion held in the form of shares while its purchasing costs remained very high, around 20-25%more than that of Renault’s. The employees openly resisted cross-functional teams, as they strongly believed in territories and sectionalism, which was a major part of their culture. Carlos Ghosn explained, â€Å"Engineers work very well together, financial people work very well together, salespeople work very well together. But when you start to add an engineer, a marketer, a salesperson, and a manufacturer, here all the strengths of Japan in teamwork disappear. â€Å"6  To overcome the resistance, he had to explain to the employees why the cross-functional teams were important and how they would impact the overall benefits. Carlos Ghosn believed that the general human tendency was to resist anything different. He considered that by accepting change, people tend to become stronger, as they understand the differences and try to analyze the causes for such differences. Cross-functional teams were formed and employees were involved in the revival process. This helped Carlos Ghosn explain his plans and gain acceptance easily. Through these cross-functional teams, employees were made to look beyond their line of responsibilities, understanding the nitty- gritties of the other departments as well. After the cross-functional teams were in place, people owned up responsibility whenever something went wrong. â€Å"The solution to Nissan’s problems was inside the company. The main [idea] we would have for revival of the company would be a rebuilt motivation of Nissan employees and partners,† he explained. 7| | Immediately after appointing the teams, they were asked to submit plans to achieve the maximum possible output in each area and within a week decisions were made. The outcome was the Nissan Revival Plan (NRP). After the NRPwas announced, every aspect from the timing, the plan schedules and the commitments as well as targets were clearly stated. Shiro Tomii, vice president, Nissan Japan remarked, â€Å"He establishes high yet attainable goals; makes everything clear to all roles and levels of responsibility, works with speed; checks on progress; and appraises results based on fact. â€Å"8 Next gt;gt; 6]†Carlos Ghosn: standing at the global crossing†, op. cit 7]Saadi, Dania â€Å"Nissan’s miracle man offers clues to solving national economic woes†, www. lebanonwire. com   8]David Magee, Turnaround: how Carlos Ghosn rescued Nissan Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ Listening to the employees and facilitating their participation in the decision-making process, was key aspect of Carlos Ghosn’s leadership. By avoiding impersonal meetings through mails, he stressed the need for face-to-face communication. He believed that the people close to the company could come out with better solutions than an outsider like him. In contrast, the Japanese were polite, reticent and never spoke about the plans to their boss. Carlos Ghosn had to repeatedly explain to the employees that he needed their viewpoints and would not mind if they speak out. This, according to him was the greatest hurdle. While in France at Renault, he emphasized on teamwork, in Japan he believed it was not required and instead individuality was given more prominence. Price Water house Coopers in a report on change management listed Carlos Ghosn’s key human resource management techniques calling them very simple and straightforward By maintaining transparency from the stage of planning to action, he aimed at the best possible out comes while also lifting the morale of the employees who were particularly distressed after the crisis at the company. He invited suggestions from every influential individual from suppliers, Nissan’s ex-employees, dealers etc. He explained, â€Å"As you know credibility has two legs, performance, and transparency. Performance, we had none to show at the time, so we were determined to be highly transparent. â€Å"9  He called the NRP, an ‘organization’s collective effort’ involving thousands of employees at every managerial level. To show his commitment to the plan, he declared that he would resign along with other top executives if the plan fails in bringing in the benefits. Carlos Ghosn wanted immediate results by fixing short-term targets. While he called the passive style of management-by-consensus a killer, an active and constructional version could work miracles, according to him. He believed that an 85%consensus was enough and 100%was not always essential. While cultural adaptability had been his key, he was also at the same time affirmative about giving more priority to the bottom-line growth rather than just to the cultural aspects. He remarked, â€Å"I do not want to intentionally offend people, but I am more concerned about making Nissan profitable again than being culturally sensitive. â€Å"10| | The first phase of NRP focused on cutting the costs and improving profits. The first major step Carlos Ghosn undertook was divestments from subsidiaries to reduce the debt. Suppliers accounted for major part of costs of production and the age-old Keiretsu system and the obligations that came with it were adding to heavy costs11  . Deviating from the system, Carlos Ghosn opened the purchasing offer to all the suppliers encouraging new suppliers who were ready to supply at low prices. As part of the revival plan, suppliers were forced to offer discounts to the tune of 20-30%and the number of suppliers was brought down to 600 from 1145 while the purchasing costs were reduced by 20%. During a meeting with the dealers of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn announced, â€Å"I don’t want any excuses. I want to know what you are going to do to make things better. â€Å"12  Cost cutting at each stage began to be regarded as the need of the hour as the employees were encouraged to reduce expenses through all possible ways. The cross functional teams were given one month time to identify areas to cut costs and increase the profits through bottom-line growth. Next gt;gt; 9]Ibid. 10]Larimar, Tim â€Å"Japan, Nissan and Ghosn revolution†, www. sb. columbia. edu 11]The Keiretsu system, in which the companies maintained partnership with each of its suppliers, holding shares in those companies, transferring managers characterized the big family of companies and its suppliers were both shared relationships 12]Larimar, Tim â€Å"Japan, Nissan and Ghosn revolution†, op. cit. Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ The most un-Japanese practices like c losing plants and cutting work force, in a country, which believed in lifetime employment, were the biggest of all challenges. When he planned to close five plants which included both assembly plants and power train plants, the board of directors were not informed until the night before, as Carlos Ghosn knew some people within the company wanted his plans to fail. After he announced, he was reported to have threatened, â€Å"If this leaks out, I’ll close seven plants, not five. â€Å"13  For Carlos Ghosn, convincing the labor unions over the disadvantages of rigid job definition was a big task. The seniority-based promotion that was entrenched in the Japanese firm was replaced by a performance based and merit-based incentive system. Instead of sacking people, which was against the culture in Japan, 21,000 jobs were cut through retirements, pre-retirements and golden handshakes out of which 16500 were in Japan alone. The plants were closed, while offering alternative jobs to the employees in other plants of the company. The complex manufacturing structure, which involved 24 platforms at seven assembly plants, was brought down to 12 platforms, which were shared by four plants. Around 10%of the retail outlets were closed and 20%of the dealer affiliates was streamlined to further reduce selling and marketing expenses. After the phase one of the revival plan was over, Nissan reported profits of $1. 5 billion for six months between April to September, which was the best results the company had ever seen. At the same time, Carlos Ghosn began to be called an iconoclast, who had brought in some un-Japanese, western style of culture in the company’s operations. He, in contrast to the traditional Japanese business etiquettes, shook hands with his partners and other executives. As a result, there was discontent among the traditionalists and other industry associations in the country. And his bold decisions like closing plants, had invited repugnance among many including the insiders and Ghosn began to take along a bodyguard wherever he went| | The cross-cultural merger between a French and a Japanese firm, raised several other challenges. The alliance aimed at cost savings through sharing of platforms and engineering capabilities. Initially though the employees and the design engineers were convinced over the superiority of the platforms brought in from the Renault plants, they were reluctant to adopt them. To overcome resistance, regular meetings were conducted among the Nissan and Renault employees. While at the same time, Carlos Ghosn began to recruit more designers from Japan to design new models. He maintained that the best way to solve the cultural differences was to avoid forcing the cultural blend. Rather, he believed in appreciating the differences between the cultures and minimizing the cultural clashes by bringing in a performance-driven management. To ensure that the Japanese staff understands what the French managers spoke, English was made the common language in the company. A dictionary of 100 key words used by them management was prepared to solve the differences in the way each work was interpreted by French as well as Japanese. The words included ‘commitment’, ‘transparency’, ‘objectives’, and ‘targets’ etc. Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ In Japan, attending all formal parties of suppliers was very important and one was not supposed to miss them unless there was a strong reason. When Carlos Ghosn missed the New Year Party hosted by the suppliers’ association, it was considered as a sign of disrespect to their culture. Carlos Ghosn had attended all such gatherings since then. Carlo sGhosn understood all these subtle aspects, which were an essential part of the culture, as he began adapting to them. In the second phase of the revival plan, which started in 2001, Carlos Ghosn stressed on selling more cars, improving the top line growth as well. Dropping non-performing products from its portfolio, the company introduced trendy new models in SUVs and minivans category. An updated Z sports coupe was reintroduced in the market. The phase two increased sales by one million and debt was brought down to zero. With his unconventional leadership style and charisma, he began tow in praises from the employees of the company as well as from the industry and the public. Sometimes, people in streets would stop him and wish him success saying, ‘Gambatte [go for it]’. TIME magazine named him the most influential global business executive and more and more Japanese companies were embarking on the gaijin [Foreigner]-Ghosn’s style for attaining maximum benefits in a short time. His colleagues at Nissan were particularly impressed by his dedication towards achievement of targets and his 24/7 work ethics reinforcing the importance of hard work. His devotion towards the revival of the company from problems, for which he was not in any way responsible, encouraged his peers to work hard and contribute towards a common goal. Toshiyuki Shiga who was made in charge of the Nissan’s expansions in China had once remarked, â€Å"He told me to make a clear strategy for Nissan in China, and he gave me two months to do it. †Ã‚  14  While he ensured that the progress was undertaken without holding any individual responsible for the past crisis, he was also at the same time particular about results. | Dominique Thormann, senior vice president, Nissan Europe, said, â€Å"To people who don’t accept that performance is what is at stake, he can be ruthless. â€Å"15 Calling his turnaround at Nissan a ‘near death experience’, Carlos Ghosn said he had experienced extensive cultural diversities during his tenure at Renault, Nissan, Nissan’s North American business and Samsung motors, a Korean based co mpany acquired by Renault. His management style is woven around two attributes- ‘value and motivation’. He believed in motivating employees and demanding performance by empowering them. Your employees must be interested in what is going on in the company. Nothing is more inefficient than a boring company. You have to create an interesting environment where people are interested in the story you are creating and want to hear the happy ending†, he said. He was called ‘Ice Breaker’ by Daimler Chrysler’s Chairman Jurgen E. Schrempp because of his unconventional thinking and implementing western style of management in Japan breaking the prevalent myth in the industry. Carlos Ghosn: The ‘Nissan Magic’ Cont†¦ The biweekly comic series, ‘The true life of Carlos Ghosn’ featured Nissan’s CEO Carlos Ghosn, depicting his popularity in the industry as well as the country. Some others called him ‘an ambassador of change’, ‘the troubleshooter’ and considered him as a role model for all those business executives who were seeking solutions to the poor state of their companies in Japan. After the implementation of the Nissan Revival Plan (NRP), within two years, the company recovered from the losses and reported a 10. 2%increase in its revenues and nearly 84%increase in its operating profits . Though the sales had not considerably improved, the cost cuttings contributed towards improving the bottom line. In May 2001, the company reported its largest net profit of $2. 7 billion. Carlos Ghosn was named the ‘Businessman of the year’ by Fortune magazine in 2002 and Auto mobile Magazine called him’ man of the year’ for his contributions to Nissan. Renault increased its stake in Nissan to 44. 4%while Nissan owned 13. 5%of Renault’s share capital. However, by 2003,Nissan started experiencing a downward trend in its sales, as the volume of goods that passed out from dealers was dropping in size. Customers regularly complained of quality defects and Nissan’s rank in overall quality (as per a survey by J. D. PowerAssociates) dropped to 11th in 2004 from6th in 2003. It looked as the rigorous emphasis on the faster execution of the restructuring had resulted in these quality defects while Ghosn assured he would fix them. To counter the situation, in May 2004, he sent a quality control team of 220 engineers to the Nissan plant in Smyrna (Tennessee) and every part of the assembly line went through a detailed scrutiny. Subtle issues like the workers who wore studded jeans and rings causing scratches to the freshly painted cars, etc came to light. Ghosn was amazed at some very obvious ones, which could be rectified at the plant, like defective doors and reading lights etc. Carlos Ghosn had already achieved two of the three goals that were set for NRP, the debt was cleared and profitability was achieved. | | The Nissan 180, an extension of NRP was launched and aimed at additional sales volume of one million annually from 2005, the third objective of NRP. US market was considered to play a key role in achieving the goal of additional one million sales. A new plant was set up in Canton, the first in North America where Nissan was facing challenges from other Japanese automakers, Toyota and Honda. Mean while, Nissan was planning an alliance with Mitsubishi after Daimler Chrysler gave up its plans of partnership with Mitsubishi. The partnership would help Nissan enter the mini car segment while Mitsubishi would be able to reduce cost burden of new product development. The shortage of steel supplies forced Nissan to reduce its production in 2004, affecting production of 15,000 units amounting to $58. 5million of loss in sales. Nissan closed its plants for five days following the shortage of supplies, as steel prices in creased with demand for steel increasing after the economic boom in China. While halting production was considered a sign of mismanagement many felt that Carlos Ghosn’s attempt to bring down the number of suppliers as part of NRP, had resulted in over-reliance on few suppliers . However, Ghosn defended himself saying that the savings achieved during that phase were far more [$9. 7 billion] than the losses incurred due to loss of sales. Renault – The French Automaker Renault was a state owned government enterprise since 1945. It was started as a motorized vehicle assembler in 1898. Renault built trucks, airplane engines and heavy vehicles during the World War II and after the war and with the economic boom, Renault achieved high volume sales with its low cost cars like 4CV, Renault 4 and Renault 5 through the 1970s and 1980s. During early 1980s, Renault expanded into US by acquiring half the shares of American Motor Corporation. However, the deal was unprofitable and the company had to withdraw from the market in 1987. A similar deal failed in Mexico, and with both the deals financed through debts, Renault was left ith huge debts accumulated by the end of 1980s. It reported losses of $3. 5 billion between 1984 and 1986. Further, because it was a state owned business, obligations with labour unions led to more costs for the company. When Louis Schweitzer joined Renault in 1986,Renault had accumulated debts to the tune of $9 billion and was in huge losses. Its proposed merger with Sweden based ABVolvo in 19 93 failed due to unfavorable French political climate and with Swedish shareholders expressing reservation. The company continued to be in losses till 1996,when Schweitzer brought in Carlos Ghosn as the executive vice president. Under the duo, product quality was improved, outsourcing secondary activities and overheads were reduced along with reduction in workforce. The same time, French government started setting ground for its IPO when Louis Schweitzer discovered that privatization of the company could only save it. In July 1996, the IPO was completed. By 1998,with the midsize model Scenic, Renault was successful in European market and in 1998 alone it made profits of $1. 4 billion from$40 billion sales. 16 While Renault became the No. 1 automaker in Europe, to be a global player, it had to expand its operations further. By the end of 1990s, it had a very small presence in Asia and was totally absent in the North American market. After the merger of Daimler and Chrysler in 1998, for Renault, expansions became a requisite. And, Nissan seemed a lucrative opportunity, as an alliance with Nissan could help in easier market expansion for Renault in developing markets. While others including Ford and DaimlerChrysler had earlier attempted a deal with Nissan, they later withdrew keeping in view the huge debt that Nissan held and its culture that was inflexible. | After the alliance, Renault managed to reduce its launching and warranty costs for new product introductions by recruiting managers from Nissan to undertake the launch. At the same time, it sent its employees to Nissan to oversee manufacturing, to achieve cost efficient production. Later Renault acquired Samsung Motors in South Korea and Roman automaker, Dacia as part of its international expansion. With the launch of multi purpose vehicles, Laguna II and A van time in 2001 and Espace IV in 2002 , and after its association with Formula One racing between 1992 and 1997, its brand popularity improved. By 2004,Renault held strong foothold in European market and reported a 6. 5%increase in sales by the first half of 2004 and was the fourth largest auto company in the world. It held nearly 11%market share in Western European market in passenger car and light vehicle cars. At the same time, Renault performance in large cars segment was sluggish and was struggling to achieve operating margin of 4%, when the demand for cars in the European market was low. Some of the new launches like the Vel Satis, a tall saloon luxury model, were not very successful in the market. Are launch in the US market was also underway. Renault was facing other challenges along with Nissan and other automakers. Environmental friendly cars, which seemed a likely potential opportunity, were costly to manufacture at the price the customers were ready to pay. Renault was planning for expansions in Chinese market and South Korea and other parts of Asia through alliance with Nissan. Next ;gt;;gt; 16]†For Renault, a new chance to take on the world†, www. businessweek. com, November 15th 1999 Carlos Ghosn as CEO of Renault and Nissan By 2010, Nissan and Renault would build their cars using the common building blocks. Ghosn viewed the alliance as â€Å"managing contradiction between synergy and identity†17  and confirmed that while gaining synergies, the individual identity of each brand would be safeguarded. The other major alliances in the industry, the DaimlerChrysler and the GM/Fiat had not proved to be very successful because of improper management of merged assets, trans-atlantic product development and failed attempt in understanding local market; Ghosn confirmed that Nissan’s alliance with Renault would creatively achieve it. At the same time the alliance would avoid merger and would maintain ‘a spirit of partnership’18  . The alliance would be the fourth largest automobile group in the world. In October 2004, the first car was built using a common platform of Nissan and Renault. Modus, a subcompact minivan of Renault shared its base with Nissan’s Micra saving $500million for Renault every year. After Carlos Ghosn succeeds Schweitzer at Renault’s in April 2005, he would also continue as the CEO of Nissan. Carlos Ghosn was affirmative that he would not leave the company unless he finds the right person who would succeed him at Nissan. He stressed on the need for a Japanese as the CEO of Nissan in such a culture sensitive country. While at Nissan, he had transformed himself into a Japanese, adapting to the culture, analysts feared if he would breach the French business etiquettes as he takes up the rein at Renault. 19  Two of the five vice presidents at Renault would retire soon, and Carlos Ghosn was to take up the reigns at both the companies, during such senior level management changes. At the same time, many feared if the sense of urgency brought through NRP would continue at Nissan or will the company slip back to its old habits, when Carlos Ghosn leaves. The pressure was considered to be very high, as an analyst stated, â€Å"He will be less present at Renault than he was at Nissan, and less present at Nissan that he used to be. I believe this challenge will be more difficult. â€Å"20 The alliance had helped both the companies equally, in terms of cost savings from not requiring to construct new plants where the alliance can use common buildings, common platforms etc. This had also helped them enter new markets faster and gain other synergies . The purchasing power had also increased as they ordered and bought components through Renault-Nissan purchasing organization for both the companies at a time. | The alliance had from the beginning ensured that the inter-company cultural clashes do not exist, by maintaining individual cultural identities. While a merger had been avoided since the beginning, Carlos Ghosn confirmed that it would be its agenda in future also. Carlos Ghosn remarked that when he takes up the two positions, he wou ld blend the strengths of the people at the companies, the innovation excellence of the French and the dedication towards manufacturing of the Japanese. 21  He affirmed that his tenure at Nissan had allowed him to learn the real essence of successful leaders, and would drive his success in future also. He called himself, ‘not a theorist of citizenship but an expert in multi nationality’. 22 Carlos Ghosn called the three major attributes, ‘Value, Transparency and Performance’ as the ones that would determine the competence of any CEO. He believed that they act as standards for leadership in global business, in the light of growing corporate scandals, when the top executives of the companies were increasingly coming under scrutiny. He explained that the actual results that are delivered along with simultaneous value creation to the customers and the other stakeholders through maintaining transparency, reflect an efficient leadership. By communicating every strategy to every person concerned, he maintained that it would facilitate a faster reaction to dynamics in the fiercely competitive global market place. An analyst once called Carlos Ghosn, ‘amanager without borders, polyglot and cosmopolitan’. Talking about his dual roles and the cultural barriers that he will have to face as he moves to Renault while also heading Nissan, Carlos Ghosn said, â€Å"Global is global. In my opinion, this is going to be the story of the twenty-first century. This is what’s going to happen in the twenty-first century – you’re going to see the emergence of more ‘global’ standards, some kind of global references; you’re going to see more and more of it. But ‘globality’ doesn’t mean ‘uniformity. ‘ It doesn’t mean that. You’ll still have different cultures, you’ll still have different tastes, and you’ll still have some adaptations to make to different countries, but you’ll have some basic things that will be common globally, especially in the economic area. â€Å"23 17]†Renault’s alliance with Nissan†, www. economist. om, August 16th 2001 18]Parachkevova, Anna â€Å"CEO outlines Nissan’s resurgence†, http://thedartmouth. com, May 12th 2004 19]†Carlos Ghosn- Nissan motor†, www. businessweek. com, January 8th 2000 20]Tierney, Christine â€Å"Leadership, bold moves help Renault save Nissanâ₠¬ , www. detnews. com, October 24th 2003 21]Smith, Duvergne, Nancy â€Å"Nissan Renault alliance faces down few challenges†, http://web. mit. edu, November 18th 2004 22]Abescat, Bruno â€Å"I am an expert of multi nationality†, http://livres. lexpress. fr 23]†Carlos Ghosn: standing at the global crossing†, op. cit How to cite Carlos Ghosn Nissan Ceo, Papers

Dinner and Dance Party

Question: Describe about the activity of project manager who provides dance and dinner party service to clients. Answer: Introduction This assignment is about the activity of project manager who provides dance and dinner party service to clients. This kind of company belongs to service providing industry. There are different layers in the project that relates to design dance and dinner party. The company deployed a project manager to manage the entire events. At the first part, the project manager found out different scopes of the upcoming project. Different components are analyzed in depth, that requires to fulfill the clients requirements. After that, the priority of the project has been analyzed according to the managers opinion. In this segment the business perspectives are explained in depth. The company makes its profit by providing service to the client and against of it earns fees or remuneration that has been explained in this segment. After that total projects cost estimation has been given is table and that has been elaborated below (Kaplan, and Anderson, 2013). Finally, it can be concluded that the diff erent discussion on various topic made this assignment subjective. Some authors opinion are taken to make the assignment subjective. Project Scope A project manager should check some significant scopes of project before starting the dance and dinner party. The project manager has to contact with the supplier at morning of the program. The entire orders have to crosscheck with the individual suppliers. If any of the items are, left then that should ordered as early as possible. For this reason the most significant scope of the project are discussed below: Dance area: the first priority of the project is dance. Therefore, the dance floor or stage is needed to prepare, that should be according to clients choice. The dance floor should make with wooden board. So many other options are there but wood will be the best and safe option for making the dance floor or stage because wood is inconvenient of electricity. Safety measures should be there on the dance floor (Resurreccion, et. al., 2012). The wearing of lights and sounds will be there but that should be masked with electric inconvenient tapes. Another reason of masking, the guest or dancer will not stumble with the sounds and lights wearing. Lighting the lights are another important object for the party. There are two phase of lighting. One is dance area lighting and another is dinner area lighting. The dancing area lighting will be variable in nature because electrical fluctuation and decoration matter is important there. However, dinner area lighting will be simple in combination. Sounds After lighting the sound is another scope of the project that has to be checked by the project manager. The party is depends on sounds and music. The guest would like to have variation in music and volume as well (Dhillon, 2013). The music list arrangement should be variable in nature. Food and Beverages After dancing the guest will go for dinner and the area should prepare with the clients criteria. The food items should be full with quantity and the service person should be ready little before dinnertime. The hygienic factors should be checked before serving because this is the matter of goodwill of the company. Guest List the client supposed to give a list with total number of guest. The dinner plate and food arrangement should match with the given number of coming guest. After starting the party, the guest number should be confirmed by the get keeper who will stand in front the entry of the project area. Transportation This service is required by the end of the projec t (Tan, et. al., 2012). As the party is going to end at late night then transportation from the project area will be a further requirement. A project manager had to face this kind requirement many times at the end of late night party. A little management of transportation should be outside of the project area. Project Priority As project manager should be focused on total quality of the service, as the top priority. This kind of business is belongs to service industry so the quality of the service should be best in nature. Furthermore, the client criteria should maintain appropriately. Each and individual items of service are analyzed properly with previous experience. A project manager has analyzed some important things for a dance and dinner party these are as follows (Prahlad, et. al. 2012). The quality of the food and beverages plates should be best but the cost should be budgeted before the business deal. As a project manager the profit making scopes will be the first priority because a service providing organization wants good amount of profit margin at the end of every project. This kind of project are seasonal in nature so every business making prospects are to done accurately. A clear business deal should be there with the client and the company. The cost estimation with provided items should be t here in the list. the client usually checks the requirement that has been provided before the project day. The entire items should be crosschecked with the prepared list. Here different items like food, light, sound and decorators are there as vendor who are responsible to provide required items (Drury, 2013). Vendors contract should be clear and accurate after finalizing the deal with the client. The dance and dinner party projection totally depends on vendors item. A project manager should analyze the cost estimation with profit margin before making the contract because only this thing is responsible for profit. Work Break down Structure The project estimations are directly related with matter of breakdown. The ordered items may be break down at the time of the party going on. For this reason, the assumptions with previous experience of a project manager have taken here to prepare emergency measures. The fisrt object was dance floor that has planned to make with wooden board. The wooden board maybe break at the time of dancing with bigger number of guest. Substitute wooden board should be in the store and that thing should be confirmed with the decorators with their labors. After that, the lighting is the important thing that relates to electricity. Technical faults or electrical disruptions may happen any time in the party. Electrical generator and extra lighting options should be there in party place. In case of any emergency, the party cannot be stopped by providing emergency electric or lighting service. Now the firefighting arrangement should be there in the party place, because fire can happen any time in the p arty. The cooking area and lighting area are highly inflammable (Wodchis, et. al., 2012). This is the most important factors of breakdown inside a party area. Food quantity shortfall is another countable breakdown that has experienced by a project previously. The budgeted quantity of food may differ from the actual demand in the party time. The food making vendors should prepare with extra quantity of required raw materials and that should utilize in case of any shortage happens during the party. The project manager should aware with this kind of significant breakdown. Cost estimation breakdown is very common factors that has been analyzed by a project manager many times before. This kind of breakdown will be the reason for low profitability. The client should be convinced with the variation of price according to need. The cost breakdown is nothing but increase of expenses to provide better service in party time. Cost Estimation Particulars Budgeted Cost ($) Lighting 2250 Sound 2750 Food 9500 Decorations 1500 Total 16000 A client declares his requirements and then wants estimated cost. The factors of negotiation come after the given estimated cost. Now, A project manager has given an estimated cost according to the party type (Martens, et. al., 2012). The client has declared his budget with the amount of $15000 to $16000 maximum. The project manager has estimated suitable cost of the project according to client financial capacity. The variation of lighting depends on the vendors service the sound quality also depends same. The manager is responsible to produce a better service with the budgeted components. The client deal should be clear with the service price. In case of any changes then alternative options are there is the hand of the manager. If the client does not want, spend $2250 for lighting then the manager will reduce the quality of light. If the client wants more decoration then the vendor will be asked to decorate more and that makes higher cost. However, the overall cost-expanding figure should be balanced because, the client has given his budget previously. In case of profitability, the managers should maintain the incurred cost volume. for this reason, the managers should have alternative options of vendors to make a reasonable amount of project cost. The service vendor market should examined by the project manager to find out the cheap and best quality service vendor. This thing will lead the company towards profitability. However, the project manager should not compromise with service quality because the goodwill of the company depends on service only (Silalertruksa, et. al., 2012). The company service amount should be charged at the time cost estimation because it is the most significant source of income of the company. References Kaplan, R. and Anderson, S.R., 2013. Time-driven activity-based costing: a simpler and more powerful path to higher profits. Harvard business press. (Kaplan, and Anderson, 2013) Dhillon, B., 2013. Life cycle costing: techniques, models and applications. Routledge. (Dhillon, 2013) Tan, S.S., Bouwmans, C.A., Rutten, F.F. and Hakkaart-van Roijen, L., 2012. Update of the Dutch manual for costing in economic evaluations. International journal of technology assessment in health care, 28(02), pp.152-158. (Tan, et. al., 2012) Drury, C., 2013. Costing: an introduction. Springer. Wodchis, W.P., Bushmeneva, K.S.E.N.I.A., Nikitovic, M.I.L.I.C.A. and McKillop, I., 2012. Guidelines on person-level costing using administrative databases in Ontario. Health System Performance Research Network, Toronto. (Wodchis, et. al., 2012) Martens, B., Walterbusch, M. and Teuteberg, F., 2012, January. Costing of cloud computing services: A total cost of ownership approach. In System Science (HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 1563-1572). IEEE. (Martens, et. al., 2012) Silalertruksa, T., Bonnet, S. and Gheewala, S.H., 2012. Life cycle costing and externalities of palm oil biodiesel in Thailand. Journal of Cleaner Production, 28, pp.225-232. (Silalertruksa, et. al., 2012) Resurreccion, E.P., Colosi, L.M., White, M.A. and Clarens, A.F., 2012. Comparison of algae cultivation methods for bioenergy production using a combined life cycle assessment and life cycle costing approach. Bioresource technology, 126, pp.298-306. (Resurreccion, et. al., 2012) Prahlad, A., Kavuri, S., Madeira, A.D., Lunde, N.R., Bunte, A.G., May, A. and Schwartz, J.A., Commvault Systems, Inc., 2015. Systems and methods for storage modeling and costing. U.S. Patent 9,111,220.