THE CORPORATION

A Corporation can be defined as a group of people with different abilities working together for the same goal, but this is just an innocent concept because when the first corporations appeared, also appeared the desire for growth, and this is what starts “corrupting” corporations, in the way they began thinking in productivity as a principal matter “more per man hour” so corporations get immersed into a very competitive environment in which they only were concerned about making profits, expanding and improving production processes in order to be more efficient, productive and in consequence competitive, so this creates a continuous cycle where principles, values and concern for others were leaved behind and finally forgotten.

The dominant institutions known as corporations are described as “bad apples” due to the damage they cause to the entire society.

“corporations are artificial creations”, are like monsters trying to obtain as much profit as it is possible.

Under the law a corporation is a legal person who is a member of the society and have the same rights than every person, like buy or sell or borrow money, but with the huge difference that they have no body, no soul, no concern for the people around them or the damage they are causing, their only interest is to make so much money as they can, in order to fulfill the expectations of the stakeholders, to gain more investment, to attract more stakeholders and keep growing, so here come the cycle again; it doesn’t stops until this aggressive competitive world end by eating them.

Even they have the same rights than a person, they cannot go to jail, or be punishes like the rest of us, but the guilt must lie on someone, and this someone should be the individuals responsible for the actions taken by the corporation, because the corporation doesn’t act by itself, persons control them and that persons that could be directors, managers, employees or stakeholders should be judged for the actions the corporations make, that in one way or another attempt against society.

1. Image retrieved from: http://www.seekingwholeness.com/crazy-world/and-supreme-court-said-let-there-be-persons-and-corporations-became-persons-supreme-court-saw-that-the-corporations-were-good

IOM and its role with women migrant workers

The INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM) is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration, and it was established in 1951.

IOM works to help ensure the orderly and humane management of migration, to promote international cooperation on migration issues, to assist in the search for practical solutions to migration problems and to provide humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced people.

Retrieved October 24, 2010, from: http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/about-iom/lang/en

Almost half of the total number of migrant workers in the world today are women. While women have always migrated as accompanying spouses and family members, contemporary migration dynamics have shown a considerable increase in the number of women migrating independently of their families to pursue opportunities of their own. On a global scale, a significant number of women migrant workers are employed in low skilled occupations but they are also present in skilled welfare and social professions such as health, education and social services (traditionally female dominated domains). Among these, most women migrant workers are found in the nursing sector.

Labour migration may benefit women through economic as well as socio-cultural empowerment. Unfortunately, the migration experience is not always safe for women migrant workers. Due to their dual vulnerability as migrants and women, they are still disproportionately affected by a variety of risks arising from their mobility. During every stage of their migratory experience, women migrant workers may be more exposed to human rights violations compared to their male counterparts. They frequently have to deal with difficult living and working conditions, increased health risks, a lack of access to social services and various forms of abuse such as the confiscation of passports by their employers.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) through its gender mainstreaming policy is committed to ensuring that the particular needs of all migrant women are identified, taken into consideration and addressed by IOM projects and services.

In order to create an environment conducive to safe and empowering migration, IOM recommends that women migrant workers have the same access to protection and safety at work and to legal redress mechanisms as the domestic workforce. Policy-makers, practitioners and the public need to be better informed about the vulnerability of women migrant workers, including their vulnerability to discrimination, exploitation and abuse throughout all stages of the labour migration process.

IOM actively contributes to protecting women migrant workers from violence by implementing a range of

activities in the following areas:

􀁹 Promotion of legal and safe migration for women migrant workers

􀁹 Promotion of policies that regulate the recruitment and deployment of women migrant workers

􀁹 Promotion and protection of women migrant workers’ human rights

􀁹 Counter-trafficking activities including capacity-building and direct assistance to victims

􀁹 Research and data collection on women and international labour migration

􀁹 Promotion of gender-sensitive international migration policies

􀁹 Fostering interstate dialogue and enhancing bilateral, regional, interregional and international cooperation

Retrieved October 24, 2010, from: http://www.gemmaproject.eu/publicdocs/prevent_violence_against_wmw_2009.pdf

1. image retrieved from: http://www.mikeldunham.blogs.com/mikeldunham/2010/04/nepali-women-migrant-workers-and-the-dangers-they-face.html

MERGING AND ACQUISITION

“As trade barriers are being dismantled and cross-border investments and capital flows are being facilitated, acquisitions of companies abroad for Indian corporates is no longer a matter of choice but an important aspect of strategy for fulfilling global ambitions.”

4 APR, 2010, 02.28AM, Global acquisitions: India Inc in premier league now , reteieved 10-23-2010 from: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/Global-acquisitions-India-Inc-in-premier-league-now/articleshow/5758620.cms

For example the JK Tyre’s acquisition of Tornell, JK Tyre’s is the pioneer enterprise of radials in India and Tornell is the most traditional enterprise of tires in Mexico, is a “company with large presence in North America is a case of a successful takeover and management. JK Tyre helped Tornell improve its operational efficiencies and enhance productivity leading to extensive all-round savings.
So what are the learnings for Indian companies? JK Tyre’s success lay in its ability to use local management and skills (only 4-5 Indians were sent) through adoption of its own best practices, suitably modified for local conditions. Cultural integration was key, achieved through extensive communication at every level including Indian personnel learning to speak Spanish. Acquisitions have to be made where they provide strategic value rather than just a desire to grow. Thus, selection of target companies and assessment of what it would provide to acquirer should be the starting point.”

4 APR, 2010, 02.28AM, Global acquisitions: India Inc in premier league now , reteieved 10-23-2010 from: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/Global-acquisitions-India-Inc-in-premier-league-now/articleshow/5758620.cms

“A merger is a combination of two companies to form a new company, while an acquisition is the purchase of one company by another with no new company being formed.”

Retrieved October 23, 2010 from http://www.answers.com/topic/mergers-and-acquisitions

1. Image retrieved from: http://www.trendbird.co.kr/32

I also recommend to watch this video:

UBUNTU

The philosophical thought system known as UBUNTU can be defined as humaneness, a pervasive spirit of caring and community, harmony and hospitality, respect and responsiveness that individuals and groups display for one another; which most important attribute is the high degree of harmony and continuity throughout the system.

So it’s really important to stand out the quantity of positive characteristics of this humanist philosophy that can contribute to the improvement of work environment and efficiency of organizations and managers. So it would be a good decision for cross-cultural managers to go deeper in knowing this culture, to learn all the aspects of their way of live and work and be able to apply that bunch of attributes for their personal growth and in consequence the growth of organizations; as they say: a team can accomplish more than if each individual works alone, the creation of a whole is larger than the sum of the individual parts, but in order to accomplish this, managers and employees should internalize and agree with this notion of synergy.

Like this one, there are some other attributes that should be consider for example in the decision making process, that diversity of vision is not only permitted but also protected and encouraged and that the goal of decision making is to preserve harmony and achieve consensus, this differs from some vertical companies in which the decision is made by one, and diversity of vision is not even considered, but companies mostly differs from the goal of the decision making that is primarily generate incomes, increase utility instead of preserve harmony and ensure a consensus in the decisions; like they say: a decision supported is considered superior to the “right” decision that is resisted by many. Another characteristic to consider is how UBUNTU is aware of the communication between workers to ensure the establishment of relationships that improves effectiveness and decreases antagonistic feelings toward the organization.

To conclude UBUNTU helps in affirming universal human values, like humaneness, dignity, empathy, respect, responsiveness and compassion for others, and organizations that apply this set of values will enjoy more sustainable competitive advantages.

Based on "building competitive advantage from UBUNTU: management lessons from South Africa" (Mzamo P. Mangaliso)

1. Image retrieved from:http://www.ihousephilly.org/ubuntu.htm

2. Image retrieved from:http://enzofabioarcangeli.wordpress.com/000-guide-2-static-pages/