Baidu Enters African Mobile Browser Essay

Executive Summary Baidu Inc. will benefit from partnering with France Telecoms’ Orange to enter in Africa’s mobile searching market which has large potential opportunities and revenues. Africa, the Next Major Mobile Market Africa with the second large population in the world and emerging purchasing power from new middle class requires telecommunication to be popularized. The sudden growth and high density of mobile connection in Africa across countries generate large demand of smartphones and mobile webs or other mobile services. The fast speed of growth rate and potential opportunities in this market attract large mobile operators and search engines, and then Africa will become the major mobile market and transform the global economic landscape. Baidu should enter this market earlier to develop its international business Benefits and Limits of Partnering with Orange Exclusively Benefits:Enjoys Orange’s mass customer base Orange has health growth rate Orange has invested 3G networking in order to expand its market share Orange has more than 800 million customers and spreads its operation across 20 countries. Risk: The exclusive agreement limits Baidu’s expand from cooperating with others Evaluation: Despite the limits of the exclusive contract, the benefits of partnering with Orange are great. Baidu, which has less international business experiences, is good to start cooperating with large mobile operators like Orange to step into the large mobile competition in Africa, which has large potential market, opportunities, and revenues. Introduction Baidu Inc. signs its first global agreement with Orange, on an exclusive basis. The Baidu-Orange browser will provide more affordable and richer browsing experience for customers across Africa by enhancing data  compression capabilities up to 90% of compression. The browser is one-click access to web-search like apps. About Baidu: Baidu is the largest searching engine in China, taking more than 70% of the market share. It beat Google out of the Chinese market in 2010 because it was familiar with Chinese web culture in which allows free downloads and develops general searching However, Baidu lose its ability to be business internationalized, since Baidu satisfied its large market share in the region; at the same time it also lose its good timing to establish and develop its mobile searching while the popularizing and development in smartphones has changed the rules of the game from web networking to telecommunication networking. The need of Baidu expanding its global market and mobile web services is important and urgent. Baidu now is targeting in African as an emerging mobile market in the partnership with Orange, a France’s telecom Africa, the Next Major Mobile Market According to the observation from GSMA, African mobile market has dramatically grown and reaches the highest growth rate worldwide due to the governments have liberalized the telecommunication, and competitions between private telecoms have increased service affordability. Africa has large mobile connection penetration and has speedily gown From 2000 to 2011, mobile penetration has rapidly increased in Africa, from just 2% in 2000 to 63% in 2011, representing a compound annual growth rate of over 46%. It is expected to reach 85% mobile connection penetration in 2015 (GSMA, Africa Mobile Observatory Report, September. 2011) (See Figure 1) Figure 1: Mobile connections and penetration in Africa since 2000. Data sources: Wireless Intelligence. The number of cennections in North Africa has grown by 41% while Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest growth rate with 44% worldwidely, compared to an average of 34% for developing countries and 10% for developed countries.(Deloitte;GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report, November 13, 2012). (See Figure 2) Figure 2: Growth in the number of mobile connections world wide, 200-2012. Data source: wireless intelligence The rapid growth of mobile communication in Africa generates high demand of mobile telephony and mobile service and increases revenues According to Wireless Intelligence and International Monetary Fund (IMF), mobile operators reported over $35 billion revenues in 2011, growing by an average of 18% each year from $8.2 billion in 20000 in Africa. According to GSMA Africa Observatory 2011 Report, over the past 5 years, the number of subscribers across Africa had grown by almost 20% per year and was set to reach more than 735 million by the end of 2012. The mobile ecosystem in Africa currently generated approximately $56 billion or 3.5% of total GDP, with mobile operators alone contributing $49 billion. Africa is transforming the global economic landscapes. African economies are among the fastest-growing in the world while emerging economies in Asia have been slowed down due to their increasing capital and labor costs and markets saturated. Economists predicted that Africa would be poised to transform the global economic landscapes (John J.; Wild Wild, International Business: the challenge of globalization, January 16, 2013). Annual GDP growth averaged 5.7% between 2000 and 2010 in Sub-Saharan Africa. (IBM, â€Å"Is mobile Africa’s future?,† 2011) Expected annual growth averaged 7% over the next 20 years. (IBM, â€Å"Is mobile Africa’s future?,† 2011) 14% of the world’s population, the second large population in the world, provides large consumption base. (IBM, â€Å"Is mobile Africa’s future?,† 2011) New middle class has been emerging in Africa The purchasing powers from large population and middle class must stimulate the sales of mobile products and co-related mobile services. Africa’s mobile market is a good start for firms like Baidu, which seeking opportunities to expand its international business and mobile operation with  less experiences. Demands from large consumption’s requests and purchasing from new class created substantial profits. Benefits and Limits of Partnering with Orange Exclusively The Chinese Web services giant Baidu will bring its mobile browser to Africa in signing an exclusive contract with France Telecom’s Orange network, the third-biggest mobile operator in Africa. Benefits of partnering with Orange Orange, which has a mobile customer base of more than 80 million subscribers and covers 20 countries in Africa, has continued to see its smartphone user base in Arica and Middle East increasing, for example the demand for Android devices in Egypt has doubled in the second half of 2012 by Marc Rennard, senior executive vice president for Orange. (Deloitte;GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report, November 13, 2012) Orange has recently been deploying 3G networks in countries where it has operations and makes more low-cost smartphones available; customers have been steadily moving from basic feature phone towards more low-cost Android smartphones. (Deloitte;GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report, November 13, 2012) The mass user base, the wide geographical operations and the increased growth of smartphone users from Orange help Baidu expand its mobile services and data collecting in the new emerging market. This not only makes Baidu get a slice of Africa’s lucrative mobile and data market but also helps Baidu gain experience of transforming itself to be business internationalized and searching mobilized under the pressure of globalization and development in smartphones. Limits of Partnering with Orange Emeka Obiodu, Principal Analyst for Telecom Strategy, Ovum Research, pointed out that there is a limitation for Baidu by dealing with Orange exclusively. Baidu’s deal with Orange may limit the firm’s maneuverability in the market. If Baidu sticks to Orange exclusively, it will depend on Orange’s expansion of its geographical footprint. Obiodu later added his concern for Baidu that Over time, this lack of maneuverability will influence, and maybe undermine, Baidu’s ability to exploit emerging opportunities in the market. While Baidu is tie-up with Orange, its largest competitor Google has already entered in the Africa’s mobile browsing market. Google not only has a deal with South Africa’s giant telecom operator Telkom’s cellphone network unit 8ta but also rolls out a new services in Sub-Saharan Africa though operator Zambia Telecommunication Company, a government-owned telecom. (IDG Reporter, â€Å"Africa is the newest telecoms battleground,† January 27, 2013) The spread of Baidu browser is limited because it is depended on Orange’s geographical footprints due to exclusive agreement, compared with Google, which has multiple partnerships with large government-owned and private-owned operators. Despite the limitation, the benefits from cooperating with Orange for Baidu are greater. Baidu as an inexperienced international investor could decrease its risk to fail the first entry into an emerging market with the helps from sharing Orange’s wide geographical footprints and mass customer base. (TitaniumMedia, Baidu’s Radical Internationalization, 2013) Evaluation of Baidu’s Entry into Africa’s Mobile Bowering Market though Exclusive Partnership with France Telecom’s Orange. Africa’s mobile market Mobile market in Africa is potential and profitable (Deloitte;GSMA, Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report, November13, 2012): 85% mobile connection penetration in 2015 (forecast)  44% mobile connection growth (the highest growth rate worldwide) $49 billion revenues (mobile operator alone)  The fast and wide dissemination of mobile connection and communication in Africa makes the demand for smartphones and mobile web be on the rise remarkably, creating potential mobile market and providing healthy grown profits for Baidu, which is seeking opportunity to internationalize and  mobilize its operation. Partnership with France Telecom’s Orange Despite the limitation of just cooperating with one company, Orange is still a good partner which already has mass customer base and keeps growing users doubly though its investment in 3G networking. Baidu, a Chinese searching engine which has less international business’ experiences, takes advantage of cooperating with Orange in order to lower the risk of first entry into a unknown market by sharing Orange’s mass customer base and wide geographical operation . Entry into Africa and cooperation with Orange are a good start for Baidu turning itself internationalized and mobilized. References Wild, J. J., & Wild, K. L. (2013). International business: the challenges of globalization (Seventh ed.). : Pearson College Div. Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012. Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from www.gsma.com/†¦/SSA_FullReport_v6.1_clean.pdf Arican Mobile Observatory 2011 Driving Economic and Social Development through Mobile Services. African Mobile Observatory Report. Retrieved , from www.gsma.com/†¦/2011/†¦/Africa-Mobile-Observatory Afica is the newest telecoms battleground. (2013, January 27). . Retrieved May 2, 2014, from http://www.cnmeonline.com/analysis/africa-is-the-newest-telecoms- battleground/ Is mobile Africa’s future?. (2011, January 1). . Retrieved May 15, 2014, fromhttp://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/global/share/19jan2012/mobile_africa/ Baidu’s Radical Internationalization. (2013, March 31). . Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://tech.163.com/13/0331/09/8R9JOH9O000915BF.html Appendix A Important notice about GSMA and Deloitt Frequent uses of data, facts, and statistics are from â€Å"Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012†, a report is prepared by Drloitte for GSM Association with contract. The â€Å"Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012† is provided exclusively for the GSMA’s use under the terms of contract. No party other than GSMA could be entitled on the report for any purpose whatever Deloitte accepts or not. Appendix B Figure 1 and 2 Figure 1 is from GSMA’s â€Å"Africa Mobile Observatory 2011 Driveng Economic and Social Development through Mobile Services.† Figure 2 from GSMA’s â€Å"Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory 2012.† Both figures of the charts are collected data from Wireless Intelligence

Employee performance for customer satisfaction Essay

Employee performance for customer satisfaction - Essay Example Speculation - Ensuring that company employee maintains quality standards and execute work functions according to the requirement set forth by best practices is difficult, since managers view it as time consuming and often do not understand the contributory value of single employees, as opposed to work teams and departments. Efficiency can be maximized were the performance of employees monitored and measured and an individual accountability system established. Numerous companies are, therefore, implementing performance measurement and accountability tools and several have found accrual accounting packages to be the most effective and economical means of doing so. Intended Project Outcome - My expected outcome will be a document detailing how the implementation of an Accrual Accounting system generates performance measurement data on individual employees, thus inciting commitment to quality work standards. Design for Collecting Primary Data - Primary data will be gathered through a survey targeting a sample of SME service industry HR, IT and other department managers. Three sets of five-point Likert scale questionnaires will be carefully designed. One will target HR managers, another, IT managers and the remaining one, other department managers.

Is Inclusion a failed ideology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Is Inclusion a failed ideology - Essay Example Teachers must have enough training such that they can teach children with disabilities without any problems. On the other hand, parents must work hand in hand, with teachers to ensure the smooth learning of their children (Gray and MacBlain 2012). However, according to a report released by the House of Commons education and skills committee, the government’s policy of inclusion has been criticised for its confused and unclear definition of special schools. This has forced some children into wrong mainstream schools, something that result into distress for both children and their parents. According to the report, the government should concentrate on not just putting up special schools, but how the whole system should have high quality and well resourced to meet the needs of every student. While the world is advancing and normal people continue to enjoy education and other facilities at their disposal, disabled youth are left behind. Norwich 2008 argues that this is not only soc ially wrong but also ethically inappropriate. Including students with disabilities in our education system where they will get their special needs, in addition to what their able, peers are getting is a big step towards achieving the aim of better education for all (Atkinson and Claxton 2000) With reference to Sage (2004), many people have never been able to differentiate between mainstreaming and integration from inclusion. Mainstreaming tries to bring people with disabilities to regular classrooms so that they can grow with their peers without giving them support. Conversely, integration gives these disabled pupils a part time interaction with their peer, and this denies those students an opportunity of feeling that, they are members of that class. Never the less, inclusion gives equitable education and training opportunities for all young people. This help to prepare all young people to a productive life ahead. Therefore, those who have various disabilities can be able to live th eir lives to the fullest (Wilkinson and Ahmed 2007). Special Education Needs (SEP) are the principles that govern sustainable inclusion, and outline several practices that various shareholders are required to do to ensure that the project succeed. Norwich 2008 argues that, if inclusion is to be successful, early intervention and involvement of children is required. Many parents don’t give their children time to develop among their peers. Schools do not have special facilities to cater for the needs of these children. Later in life when these young people are introduced in the normal classrooms at their secondary or more advanced stage, they cannot co-exist with other children. This limits the effectiveness of inclusion (Byers and Rose 2004). Is Inclusion A Failed Ideology? The idea of having inclusion in the education system was a smart move and although this idea has not been fully realized. For example, a study conducted by Blazzard 2011, evidenced that some teachers displa yed negative attitudes towards pupils with special needs. This, according to Blazzard, affected school’s commitment to commitment. In addition, parental resistance to inclusion, lack of funding, training and resources were also among the identified barriers. However, students with disabilities are likely to have high self-esteem when they attend classes with other student than when

Diversity Leadership in IHRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Diversity Leadership in IHRM - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that diversity is often referred to as the differences between the individuals. The dissimilarities among individuals materialize in both nonvisible and visible aspects. Some of the key examples of diversity among the individuals are dissimilarities in gender, age, skills, sexual preferences, learning styles, tenure, etc. These differences are evident the workplace but at times the differences are not visible. â€Å"Excellence through diversity is one of the Chancellor's goals†, yet this term is often faced confusion, controversy, and tension. Regarding this aspect, scholars such as Griffin emphasizes managing diversity in the firm offers various advantages and the most common one emerges in the form of catering to the diversified base of customers. However, contradicting this statement another set of scholars such as Inyang and Akpama and Kiggundu believes that although managing a diverse workforce provide benefits to a firm, but it requires strong management and failure to which can lead to intergroup conflicts. Hence, it is obvious that firms planning to recruit diverse employee group must a good frame management system. In this rapidly changing workplace environment, maintaining a diverse workforce helps a company to remain competitive in the marketplace. Scholars such as Inyang emphasizes that diversity not only brings fresh perspectives to the company but also promotes innovation and equips the company with the ability to solve complex problems. Furthermore, having a diverse workforce also allows a firm to have an efficient workforce, which is a necessity in this diverse business setting. Executives who are having intercultural management skills have high demand as they have the ability to constantly adapt to this shifting trend of a marketplace.

Personal Narrative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personal Narrative - Essay Example It was first weekend after I had come of age when I could right ask my father to give me driving lesson. My parents were really enjoying my impatience and quite shamelessly made me do all the things like washing dishes and cleaning the car. But nothing could faze me and woke up early to take my first driving lesson! When I sat on the driving seat, there was no holding back my happiness and I was grinning widely. My father indicated all the controls and cautioned me especially regarding the accelerator and break. It was trusted old Beetle that I had got accustomed to watching my parents drive so various controls were easy to understand. I turned the key and started the motor. Wow! The thrill of holding the steering wheel and letting go the break was just divine. It was on first gear and though slow, I was independently handling the car. My father took me on a long drive which had lots of curves and by-lanes. I was not allowed to change gears till after I had become accustomed to the b reak and accelerator which father had made me use frequently on the track that was still isolated. Putting the car on second gear had given me huge confidence because I could speed up the car a little more. After about an hour of practice lesson, we headed back. The first driving lesson was memorable because my father was proud of the way, I had managed my driving.

National General Hospital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6000 words

National General Hospital - Essay Example Moreover, the hospital is a service-oriented organization that aims to provide all kinds of healthcare services to the people living in the vicinity of the facility. With the passage of time, however, the research and development areas should also be a point of focus during the study. In order to evaluate the performance of the management of the hospital, all operational aspects will be studied and evaluated, and the results will be presented. Current situations, potential issues, as well as a need based analysis will be covered under this research report. Finally, after summarising the current needs, performance and future requirements will be made a part of the report by providing suitable suggestions and recommendations based upon the findings of this study. Executive Summary The aim of this case study is to discuss all the relevant and significant aspects of operations management. Therefore, the choice of a hospital has been made with respect to the numerous kinds of services bei ng provided, the nature and scope of business in the community, as well as the customer/patients turnover ratio. Beyond these components, this kind of business is not always profit oriented, rather it depends on the objective of the owners/shareholders as to whether they desire it to be a charity organization or a profit earning institution. By keeping all of these points in mind, it bears mentioning that the hospital is the kind of business that is always at its best when providing quality health services to its patients. This research is exploratory in nature, which includes primary as well as secondary data sources to be used for purposes of research. Similarly, the results have been made more generalized and easy to understand because of the nature of hospital business. This data will not be presented in a complex way so that a better understanding can be developed in readers. During the case study, the researcher studied many interesting concepts that will be made a part of the eventual research findings. Moreover, conclusions and a few recommendations have also been give due consideration in the end, so that the research report could be made more effective and comprehensive. One of the salient recommendations is to have a continuous system of checks and balances in the hospital, which is needed in order to fulfil the needs of the social enterprises where maintaining the quality of health care is of prime importance. Introduction Overview National General Hospital is one of the most famous small size health care centres in Saudi Arabia. It was established in the late 1990s for the purpose of providing basic health services to a small town near Jeddah. With the passage of time, however, the shareholders earned reasonably large profits that urged them to do more with the facility. Therefore, they converted this small clinic into a hospital providing detailed treatments to the patients. In 2006, the hospital set up its outpatient department that functioned e xtremely well, and after only a couple of years this 50 bed hospital was converted into a complete hospital with 2 operation theatres, outpatient facilities and special wards for adults, as well as children and infants. Now the hospital has a great reputation and residents of nearby localities also prefer to be referred to NGH in times of need. Now this hospital is a 100 bed complete health care centre providing all kinds of basic as, well as specialized, health care services to the patients at affordable

Business Research Project Essay Example for Free

Business Research Project Essay Last week our team was requested to identify a company that has faced or is currently facing problems or situations that can be addressed by research. We chose Blockbuster as our research project, we analyzed the company and identified the company’s bankruptcy as our research problem. Based on that, we set our research hypothesis as the possible causes or reasons that lead the company to bankruptcy. According to that hypothesis we formulated our research questions. In order to go ahead with our investigation and find out if any of the independent variables proposed in our research is related to the bankruptcy of Blockbuster, we have to identify who is going to be our population and our research sample. Let starts first by understanding what populations and a sample are. In statistical terminology a population can be understood as a determined or specific set of things or units that are going to be investigated or studied, while a sample or population sample can be described as a subset or portion of the total units comprising the population. In other words the population is the group of elements or objects to be studied or investigated and of which inferences are made, that later will be tested to be finally accepted or discarded. By sampling a representative portion of the population is selected to be tested the results and conclusions about the population are drawn. Our investigation is limited to Puerto Rico area, so our targeted population will be Blockbuster customers in Puerto Rico. Our sample will consist of 24 puertorrican Blockbuster users selected utilizing the random sampling method. Once we have identified the sample we need to determine which data collection method will be used to obtain information. The collection and analysis of information is extremely important and there are four basic ways in which data can be collected. The first one is to obtain the data from a previously published source, this one is possible when someone has already collected and published the data needed. The second method is to perform an experiment to obtain the data. By this method a specific experiment is  designed and performed by the researcher under specific and controlled conditions. The third method is performing a survey, this method consist of selecting a sample and delivered them several question and record the information given by respondents. The last method is the observation, by this method the researcher observes behavior of the population in their natural environment and records the findings. As our data collection method we chose the survey that will be delivered to the selected sample of Blockbuster customers in Puerto Rico. Our survey will contain several questions to be answered and will consist in to parts. The first one will have multiple choice questions and the second one will have question that will require the opinion of the respondent. This method will allow us to have and insight on what was the real reason behind Blockbuster’s bankruptcy, and the closure of its video stores. This surveys will be sent by email to the personal email address of the respondents. They will have 7 days to answer it and send it back by email. Once the responses are received the answer given in the multiple choice question will be tabulated and the others will be recorded and analyzed. Reference University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Statistic for Business and Economics 11th Chapter 6. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website. University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Statistic for Business and Economics 11th Chapter 7. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website. University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Business Research Methods 11th Chapter 10. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website. University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Business Research Methods 11th Chapter 11. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website. University of Phoenix. (2014). Week Three Statistics: Business Research Methods 11th Chapter 12. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, QNT/561PR website.