Thursday, January 30, 2020

Alibaba Essay Example for Free

Alibaba Essay He and his team have achieved many firsts in the area of Chinese Internet Trade. He founded the first internet commercial website in China, and created a 82B marketplace platform to all small and medium-sized enterprises in Asia and around the world. He promoted the Trust Pass plan on the website, which created the worlds first on-line credit platform for companies. Under Jack Mas leadership, the Alibaba 82B websites have attracted more than 17 million registered members in 220 countries globally, with daily postings exceeding 35 million, making Alibaba. om the most active Internet market place and 82B community worldwide. Since the inception of the company, more than 400 media have reported about Alibaba and Jack Ma, in dozens of languages. In addition to numerous awards presented to Alibaba. com, Jack Ma was lso selected by the World Economic Forum as one of the 100 Young Global Leaders in 2001; was named Business Leader of 2001 by Asia Commerce Association of USA; and was featured on the covers of Forbes Magazine, Nikkei Magazine, and Fortune (China) Magazine. In 2004, Jack Ma was honored as one of the Top 10 Economic Personas of the Year by CCTV. In 2005, Fortune Magazine ranked him one of the 25 Most Powerful Businesspeople in Asia and this year Business 2. 0 ranked him 1 5th among 50 Who Matter Now and Silicon. com ranked him 1 lth among its top 50 Agenda Setters 2006. company, Alibaba. om builds its business success and rapid growth on entrepreneurship, innovation, and service. Says Jack Ma: The company will remain a start-up no matter how long it has been in existence. What ever has been stable, I will disrupt that stability. The company needs to continue to innovate and grow. I want the employees to believe that we are a small company, no matter how big we get. I believe we can create a system and culture to perpetuate this culture of entrepreneurial and start-up spirit. To fuel the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit, along with a service attitude, Jack Ma is looking for people with the following characteristics: 1) People with a dream. Dont let your colleagues work for you. They need to work for their dreams! If people dont believe in the dream and Join the company purely for money, they wont stay long (refer to Appendix 2 for Alibabas vision, mission, and values). 2) People with shared values. The value system is very important at Alibaba. We are crazy for it! In China, we might be the only crazy company who so strongly maintains our value system. People who dont fit our values cannot survive in the company. (Alibabas six ore values are customer comes first, teamwork and cooperation, embracing change, integrity, passion, and honoring your Job). 3) People with a smile. When we hire people, we look for people who are naturally optimistic and happy. In the start-up process we will meet with difficulties and challenges. Optimistic and happy people can better deal with these challenges and succeed. Its hard to make a happy person unhappy, but its even harder to make an unhappy person happy. I am able to tell whether a person is on our staff by their smile. 4) People who enjoy work and can turn stress and challenges into innovation. Employees must be able to handle pressure and challenges, and turn them into positive energy for innovation, not negative energy for depression. 5) People who work together. We dont welcome people who think they are smart because they may think they are above others. This industry is so new that it really doesnt have any real talents. The people who are real talents probably dont know they are talents. Everyone has tremendous potential. We all use other peoples strengths to overcome our weaknesses We are all ordinary people, but our goals are extraordinary. While Alibaba seeks people with strong rofessional skills, these characteristics are even more important in deciding whether a person will Join, stay, and enjoy working in the company. 2 Alibabas Unique Value Proposition † a Smiling Community with a Dream While Alibaba is clear about what kind of talent they need for business success, the question is: how can the company attract, retain, and engage such talent, especially in the startup stage, when Alibaba had limited resources? The answer is a dream, a dream to make a difference in the way people do business, and a dream to create wealth together. During the start-up stage of Alibaba, Jack Ma often told those nterested in working for Alibaba, not of the great working conditions or the high pay, of what they could earn elsewhere. Alibaba also strives to provide a community, where employees can have fun to work together to pursue their dreams with minimal bureaucracy and politics. Ma recently painted a vivid image of his ideal work environment for his employees as follows: Blue Sky Processes, systems, and decisions need to be open and transparent. Theres nothing that should be hidden from employees. We should be transparent. Solid Ground Everything we do should be honest, ethical and contribute to the welfare of the ociety. The company should be on solid financial ground so employees wont worry about the financial future of the company. Free-flowing Ocean Talent must be allowed to rotate Jobs across subsidiaries and departments. Green Forest (R Conducive conditions for continued innovation. Harmonious Community Peers with shared values and simple interpersonal relationships. The ultimate objective of such a community is to offer employees a work environment to grow, contribute, and live out their dreams. Bureaucracy, secrecy, and stagnation are all attributes that inhibit employees, and the company must actively seek out these ehaviors and destroy them. Alibaba from the Eyes of Employees To what extent do employees at Alibaba experience what the company intends to offer? Why do they Join the company and how do they feel as employees working there? Our focus group discussion with employees in different functions and levels confirms that Alibaba is indeed a unique company to work with. The following themes and direct quotations capture their experiences and the feeling of working at Alibaba: A leader with charisma and credibility: Jack Ma is the magnet that draws people into the company and provides them with a credible dream. When I spoke with Jack Ma, I was impressed with his vision and business model. I had been in the internet business for a while but had not seen a successful model like the one Alibaba is employing. Tang Zhenrong, International Website Engineering Department, and one year with the company. Although the objectives for each year seem to be very high, somehow we have always managed to accomplish those objectives. With past success, we have built up confidence that were able to achieve the objectives no matter what they are. Lili Li, Sales Research Department, six years with the company. The passion of Alibaba is from within and radiates outward to others. We can see that they truly believe in the company and the culture of Alibaba is built from there, not by programs or processes. Echo Lu, Director of Organization and People Development. The company is true to its values at all levels. When Jack Ma talks to management about hiring, he told us that we must hire people With the same smell. Zhang Yu, Director of Marketing, Taobao. com Changes, challenges, and growth: People grow under tremendous pressure to change and grow. The speed of change is three to four times that of other organizations. The objectives are crazy, but when we reach and surpass the targets, we then have a profound sense of accomplishment. With the constant pressure and changes, were also forced to evaluate how we do our own Jobs and how we work as a team. Is it sufficient to accomplish the new objectives? Do we need to look at the challenge differently and try different things? Zhang Yu, Director of Marketing, Taobao. om 4 Communication and transparency Jack will meet with all new employees in a group setting, has meetings with management at least quarterly, and bi-annual staff meetings with all employees. On the intranet, theres a BBS that allows staff to post their thoughts and opinions. Jack often interacts with staff on the BBS in an open and casual way. Echo Lu, Director of Organization and People Development A company that cares about employees During the SARS crisis, because of one suspected case, Alibaba made the decision in one day to have all employees work from home and to pass the required isolation period. As a result of this quick action, we contained any possible outbreak, May. Employees continued to perform Jobs tremendously well at home. We encouraged each other through BBS, phone calls, and e-mails. Lili L, Sales Research Department The most positive thing to result from the SARS crisis was an enormous amount of pride for employees who went through this crisis together. They built a strong bond through experiencing this event together. Its still a much talked about event in the company. In fact, some employees have named the day that staff were sent home to contain the outbreak, Alibaba Day, to commemorate the event. The spirit of Alibaba came alive on that day. Echo Lu, Director of Organization and People Development Leadership and Management Practices that Create the Unique Value Proposition Leadership priority: As CEO, Jack Ma invests most of his time in three areas: vision/ mission/strategy, customers, and employees. By clearly articulating and constantly communicating the vision and mission of the company, he creates the most important foundation in attracting outstanding talent. Dont let your colleague work for you, but work for their dreams! Also, it is important to deeply understand customer needs, not competitors actions. Understanding customer needs can help Alibaba develop concrete business plans and focus on realizing its dream. Finally, it is also critical to realistically assess the competencies of employees. It will decide how fast, how far, and how the company can execute its business strategy and targets in the coming year and next three years. His attentiveness to talent is ref lected in two management practices. First, in the monthly senior management meeting, the first question he always asked is How is your team doing? instead of How many sales has your team made? Second, he always spends a lot of time alking around different business units and departments to smell how the people are doing there. If he smells something wrong, he will immediately talk to the unit head to identify problems and improve the situation. As a matter of fact, all senior executives at VP level and above must develop such smelling skills at Alibaba, to make sure that people are being managed properly. Value alignment: Strong shared values are essential in building a harmonious community where people feel comfortable working together and in ensuring that decisions and behaviors are aligned with company direction. Alibaba has gone the extra mile to make sure that people share the same values. When Alibaba hires people, they look for people with the same smell†people who are optimistic, happy, team oriented, ha rd working, and willing to invest their lives to achieve an ideal. When employees Join the company, they attend at least 10 days of orientation, focusing primarily on the companys vision, mission, and values. When the company assesses the performance of employees, 50% is tied to values and 50% is tied to business results. When employees demonstrate behaviors contrary to company core alues, they are asked to leave no matter how strong their business results are, or very important at Alibaba. People who dont fit into our values cannot survive in the company. Stretch opportunities and challenges: While Alibaba offers different training programs for different levels of employees in both technical and management areas, people grow rapidly by achieving impossible targets year after year. Although the objectives for each year seem high and unreasonable, somehow, we have always managed to accomplish those objectives. With past success we have built up the onfidence that we are able to achieve the objectives, no matter what they are, says Lili Li, of the Sales Research Department. At Alibaba I have been stretched and challenged. I have seen myself grow more than in my previous Jobs, says Zhang Yu from Taobao. com. Indeed, Jack Ma believes that all people have potential that can be unleashed in the right environment, allowing them to stretch and challenge themselves. Ma quoted one of his favorite examples, Several years ago when I looked at the current COO Li Qi, there was no way he looked like a COO. Nowadays, from all different angles, he really looks like a COO. Talent has tremendous potential to grow. However, in order for people to grow under challenges, three elements are important. First is teamwork. Alibaba uses teamwork to complement individual strengths and weaknesses to achieve extraordinary goals. Second are the right people, who enjoy challenges and have fun working. Third are line managers who are accountable for personal growth within their teams. Jack Ma remarked that all line managers at Alibaba are entrusted with two scarce resources (capital and talent) to create value for the company. In addition to ensuring good financial returns, they lso need to create value for their talent in terms of their growth and retention. Thats why Jack Ma also walks around the company to smell how people are being managed in different departments, and why he always asks business leaders how their teams are doing in the monthly CEO review. Wealth creation and sharing: All employees of Alibaba receive stock options, and in effect are owners of the organization. At Alibaba, stock options are not a tool for retention but for reward sharing. From five cents per share to five dollars per share in 6 years, many employees have not only shown tremendous pride in the company but also shared the fruits of their collective success for the well-being of both the society and themselves. Transparency and communication: Communication is an important practice within Alibaba that helps maintain a culture of transparency to all employees. Employees have easy access to all executives, including Jack Ma, through the use of email, BBS, and face-to-face meetings (monthly, quarterly or bi-annual staff meetings). Jack Ma sets a high standard for his executives to follow by regularly interacting with employees. All decisions are transparent, and people can see how they are made. This transparency is getting somewhat lost as we get bigger, but were still given a lot of information when possible. Our trust in the leaders has helped us to overcome this change in transparency. Communication is always good and strong from Sales Research Department. Advice to other CEOs When asked about what advice he would like to offer to other CEOs in China, Jack Ma suggested four: 1) Always believe people are the most important asset, and capital comes second. 2) It is not necessary to find the best talent but the talent that best fits your company. 3) Find and groom the talent inside our company rather than keep searching for talent from outside. The best talent is home-groomed people who fit our company culture. It always takes at least three years before people become fully immersed into our company culture 4) Believe in the potential of talent.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Emily Bronte Bibliography :: essays research papers

"Emily Jane Bronte was born at Thornton in Yorkshire on 30 July 1818, the fifth of six children of Patrick and Maria Bronte (nee Branwell). Two years later, her father was appointed perpetual curate of Haworth, a small, isolated hill village surrounded by moors. Her mother died shortly after her third birthday and she and her sisters and brother were brought up by their aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. Apart from a few short periods, she remained in Haworth. Her only close friendships were those with her brother Branwell and her sisters Charlotte and Anne; only three perfunctory letters by her survive. "From accounts by those who knew Emily Jane Bronte, there emerges a consistent portrait of a reserved, courageous woman with a commanding will and manner. In the biographical note to the 1850 edition of Wuthering Heights, Charlotte Bronte attributes to her sister 'a secret power and fire that might have informed the brain and kindled the veins of a hero', while Monsignor Heger, who taught her in Brussels, was impressed by her 'powerful reason' and 'strong, imperious will'. "Emily Jane Bronte began writing poems at an early age and published twenty-one of them, together with poems by Anne and Charlotte, in 1846 in a slim volume titled Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. At an even earlier age, she collaborated with Charlotte, Branwell, and Anne on the 'plays' and tales that developed into the Glass Town saga. By 1834, Emily and Anne were thoroughly engaged in writing their own saga involving two imaginary islands in the north and south Pacific, Gondal and Gaaldine. No early prose narratives survive, but several poems by Emily and Anne refer to Gondal places and characters. Emily Jane Bronte is best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, published under her pseudonym of Ellis Bell in 1847, almost exactly a year before her death on 19 December 1848. She became ill after attending Branwell's funeral, and died of tuberculosis after an illness of about three months." Three writers who influenced the direction of the English novel also happened to be sisters. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte were all born in Thornton, England in the early 1800s. Their father Patrick was born in Ireland, educated in England, and became an Anglican clergyman. He and his wife had six children. The two oldest daughters, Maria and Elizabeth died before reaching adulthood. Of the remaining children, Charlotte was the eldest, born April 21, 1816; followed by brother Patrick Branwell, born June 26, 1817; then Emily, born July 30, 1818; and Anne, born January 17, 1820. Shortly after Anne's birth, their father accepted a position in Haworth, located within

Monday, January 13, 2020

Banana Fibre Manual

Waste to Wealth : Craft Development Using Banana Fibre A PEOPLE’S MANUAL WASTE TO WEALTH : CRAFT DEVELOPMENT USING BANANA FIBRE CAPRE FOUNDATION | Page 1 www. caprefoundation. org A People’s Manual Waste to Wealth : Craft Development Using Banana Fibre About CAPRE Foundation CAPRE Foundation is a non-profit, voluntary organization registered in 1999 under Section 21 of the Societies Registrations Act, 1860. It was founded by grass roots people including tribals with a social conscience to work for socio-economic, cultural and educational upliftment of marginalized/underprivileged people.The foundation has been actively involved in social concerns such as sustainable livelihood, health and non formal education and is working on development programmes in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Delhi. Mission Creating Awareness Programs to promote development as a liberating force aimed at inclusivity, social justice, economic growth and selfreliance for the upl iftment of rural marginalized and underprivileged people. Vision To create global awareness about the exclusion that underprivileged people suffer in India together with becoming a leading organization in transparency, good governance and best practice ________, Editor  © CAPRE Foundation, Allahabad Address Registered Office : 24 Strachey Road Civil Lines Dist. – Allahabad – 211001 (UP) Field Office : Professor’s Colony, Near Manavi, Shiv Pahar, Dumka – 814101, Jharkhand E-mail : [email  protected] com Website : www. caprefoundation. org Printed By : Page 2 A People’s Manual Waste to Wealth : Craft Development Using Banana Fibre Contents The Tree The Fibre Fibre Extraction Characteristics of Banana fibre Applications of Banana fibre Cost Benefit Analysis CAPRE Foundation ‘s efforts promote banana fibre craft A few products being developed by CAPRE Foundation 4 4 5 5 6 7 8 9Page 3 A People’s Manual Waste to Wealth : Craft Developmen t Using Banana Fibre The tree Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. Almost all modern edible parthenocarpic bananas come from the two wild species Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana or hybrids Musa acuminata ? balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution.The old scientific names Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca are no longer used. The major banana producing states of India are Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Madhya Pradesh. The Fibre Banana plant not only gives the delicious fruit but it also provides textile fiber, the banana fiber. It grows easily as it sets out young shoots and is most commonly found in hot tropical climates. All varieties of banana plants have fibers in abundance. These fibers are obtained after th e fruit is harvested and fall in the group of bast fibers.This plant has long been a good source for high quality textiles in many parts of the world including India. After the fruit and the leaves are harvested, the bark of the tree is used which otherwise would have gone waste. The fibre is extracted from the bark of the tree which is the mother of so many beautiful handcrafted banana fibre products. Page 4 A People’s Manual Waste to Wealth : Craft Development Using Banana Fibre The banana fibre is composed of cellulose – 62%, lignin – 29%, hemicellulose 3%, rectin – 2%, miscellaneous – 4%. By-products of the fibre are : fabrics, ags, various types of mats, interior decoration items, window blinds, cushion covers, bolster covers, table lamps and folders, to name a few. The products are completely eco-friendly and bio-degradable. There is no consumption of electricity while making the products as it is made on the handlooms. Also, no chemicals are used in the manufacture. It is an excellent substitute for plastic and paper. Fibre Extraction Banana Fiber is extracted from Banana tree bark. The trunk is peeled. Browngreen skin is thrown away retaining the cleaner or white portion which will be processed into knotted fibers.The fibers are extracted through hand extraction machine composed of either serrated or non serrated knives. The peel is clamped between the wood plank and knife and hand-pulled through, removing the resinous material. The extracted fibers are sun-dried which whitens the fiber. Once dried, the fibers are ready for knotting. A bunch of fibers are mounted or clamped on a stick to facilitate segregation. Each fiber is separated according to fiber sizes and grouped accordingly. To knot the fiber, each fiber is separated and knotted to the end of another fiber manually.The separation and knotting is repeated until bunches of unknotted fibers are finished to form a long continuous strand. This fiber can now be use d for making various products. Characteristics of Banana fibre Banana fiber is a natural bast fiber. It has its own physical and chemical characteristics and many other properties that make it a fine quality fiber. ? Appearance of banana fiber is similar to that of bamboo fiber and ramie fiber, but its fineness and spinnability is better than the two. ? The chemical composition of banana fiber is cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin.Page 5 A People’s Manual Waste to Wealth : Craft Development Using Banana Fibre ? It is highly strong fiber. ? It has smaller elongation. ? It has somewhat shiny appearance depending upon the extraction & spinning process. ? It is light weight. ? It has strong moisture absorption quality. It absorbs as well as releases moisture very fast. ? It is bio-degradable and has no negative effect on environment and thus can be categorized as eco-friendly fiber. ? Its average fineness is 2400Nm. ? It can be spun through almost all the methods of spinning in cluding ring spinning, open-end spinning, bast iber spinning, and semi-worsted spinning among others. Applications of Banana fibre In the recent past, banana fiber had a very limited application and was primarily used for making items like ropes, mats, and some other composite materials. With the increasing environmental awareness and growing importance of eco-friendly fabrics, banana fiber has also been recognized for all its good qualities and now its application is increasing in other fields too such as apparel garments and home furnishings. Banana fiber is also used to make fine cushion covers, Necties, bags, table cloths, curtains etc.Rugs made from banana silk yarn fibers are also very popular world over. Different applications of the fibre are – ? Banana fibre has great potentialities for paper making special demand of Hand made paper. ? Its fibre has used like rope, mats and other composite materials. ? Banana fibre has recognined for apparels and home furnishings. Pa ge 6 A People’s Manual Waste to Wealth : Craft Development Using Banana Fibre ? Polypropylene reinforced with banana fibre is used by automobile companies for making underfloor protection panels in luxurious cars like Mercedes. Banana fibre mostly used in making handicrafts and home decorative. ? Composite material of banana fibre used in building boards and fire resistance boards. ? Banana fibre is making products like paper bags, filter paper, greeting cards, decorative papers, pen stands, lamp stand and many more. ? Banana fibre in used currency notes in Germany and trial run in India also. ? During the research, it was found that paper made out of this fiber has shelf life of over 100 years as it is the strongest of the long fibres ever found amidst natural fibres.It can be folded for as many as 3,000 times. It can used currency and value-able documents like manuscript document preserver (Pundulipies). Cost benefit analysis (These costs are average estimates) Input cost: Nil Fixed Cost: Fibre Extraction Machine : Rs. 40,000 Variable cost: Plant cutting and useable raw material cost (Rs/acre): 3000 Labour cost (Rs/ month): 5000 Electricity charges (Rs/month): 1000 Other charges (Rs/months): 1000 Total cost (Rs/month): 10000 Output : Income from banana fibre (Rs/ Acre): 8000 Income from banana ibre (Rs/month): 16000 Income from Manure (Rs/Acre waste): 2000 Page 7 A People’s Manual Waste to Wealth : Craft Development Using Banana Fibre Total income: 18000 Net Income Rs : Output- Input : 8000 CAPRE Foundation ‘s efforts promote banana fibre craft The latest innovative idea being pushed by CAPRE Foundation is teaching women how to produce banana fiber and craft items from this fiber in Shankargarh and Kaurihar II block in Allahabad district with collaboration from Eco Green Unit of Coimbatore.Considerable work has been done in the field of direct use and product development from banana fruits. However, not much attention has been focused on effective utilization of the huge biomass generated in the form of pseudostem, leaves, suckers etc. In India, presently this biomass is dumped on roadside or burnt or left in situ causing detrimental impact on environment. Though, the technologies for extraction of fibres and paper making from pseudostem are available, not much has been done in northern India in this regard whilst Southern India is the leader in banana fibre craft.Capre Foundation has taken the lead and in collaboration with ECO GREEN UNIT from Coimbatore. However, there exists a vast potential of extracting fibres from pseudostem and using the fibre in making craft such as coasters, mats rugs wall hangings which CAPRE is already implementing with an effective marketing strategy in place with 100 per cent buy back by Eco Green Unit in Coimbatore. Page 8 A People’s Manual Waste to Wealth : Craft Development Using Banana Fibre A few products being developed by CAPRE Foundation Page 9 A People’s Manual

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Was Obama An Imperial President. . . . . Emma Hopkins.

Was Obama an Imperial President? Emma Hopkins Williams Economics (2) 10 February 2017 Despite having a democracy or republic as the foundation of the country, America’s most prominent leaders including the president can still undermine the idea of reasonability, fairness, and democracy right under their noses. Former President Barack Obama was elected on November 4, 2008, sworn in on January 20, 2009, re-elected on November 6, 2012, and sworn in for his second term on January 20, 2013. His last day in office was January 20, 2017. Obama’s presidency was full of many firsts: he is the first sitting president to publicly declare his support for same-sex marriage, †¦ However, Obama’s presidency was not†¦show more content†¦Not following a clear budget law is an example of Obama not faithfully executing the law. One of these budget laws is the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 which requires the president to submit a budget of the American Government â€Å"On or after the first Monday in January but not later than the first Monday in February of each year [†¦] for the following fiscal year.† Obama displayed his unconstitutional ways when he submitted his budgets after the specific deadlines given. He illegally missed his first budget proposal for 2010 by 98 days, he illegally missed it again for 2012 by a week, he illegally missed the budget submission again for 2013 by a week, he illegally missed the submission for 2014 by two months and six days, and he illegally missed the budget proposal for 2015 by a month and one day. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 also requires the president to submit an additional summary of the budget before July 16 of each year for the same fiscal year as the ones previously mentioned. Obama again decided to not follow the clearly-worded law and displayed his unlawful behaviors by missing these deadlines as well as the January or February deadline: he unlawfully missed his first mid-session review for 2010