Business history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business history - Essay Example By the time of the first Sino- Japanese war in 1894-1895, her position was greatly weakened. It was not surprising that Japan won the war, having built their strength during the Meiji restoration. The loss to the Japanese marked the shift in the dominating power in Europe and the end of the beginning for the Qinq dynasty. The loss of the war was an indicator of the weaknesses within the dynasty and foreshadowed the Boxer rebellion, the revolution of 1911 and the downfall of the Qing dynasty in 1912 that would make way for the later rise of communism (Akimova 1971). By 1925, the population of china was around 450 million people, most of whom got their livelihood from agriculture. There was a great unevenness in the distribution of the land. More than half the national population was completely landless, working as laborers for the land owners who were made up of only roughly 20 percent of the population. Through out Chinese history, the imperial powers, knowing too well on what side their bread is buttered, have had a stringent control on the economy of the country. Other than land, the imperial powers had control over more than half of china’s biggest industry, textile production together with a third of the railways system whether directly or indirectly. The imperialists also monopolized the shipping on Chinese waters which accounted for 80% of her foreign trade (Blackwell, 2008). Why the revolts by the peasants were always thwarted is because they could not master the forces needed to fight against the imperial powers. This was another ploy by the imperialists to guarantee that there was no real threat because they knew the forces raised by the peasants were puny and could be easily crushed (Blackwell, 2008). Imperial china was slow to pick up what is termed as the capitalist revolution, where individuals work by themselves, to earn their own profit. It was detrimental for china to choose the communist

Strategic and organization Change at Black & Decker Essay

Strategic and organization Change at Black & Decker - Essay Example The purpose of this report, is to pursue the question as to why did it take Black and Decker two decades to effect a change in strategy and structure. Black and Decker have been primarily known for power tools .It has been one of the older multinationals initially with operations in Canada and Britain. The company has two well known brands, the Black and Decker Consumer Power tools, and Professional power tools. . Black and Decker have been selling in 100 nations. Revenue has gone in excess of $5 billion, more than half of which the company has been able to generate outside the United States. The company has grown rapidly, and has also been able to make name and create monopoly Share in the consumer and professional power tools market. This monopoly has been based on the handheld power tools. Black and Decker have also significantly grown in the international markets. The company has been able to achieve this by setting up wholly owned subsidiaries. The company has 23wholly owned subsidiaries in foreign nations and two joint ventures. Black and Decker during its rapid growth phases, and also during its international expansion peri od, have functioned with 'decentralized' form of organization. Each subsidiary has been given considerable autonomy to run its own business. But it is then observed that in the mid 1980's competition emerges in the form of 'Nakita','Panasonic' and Bosch. The Black and Decker's monopoly beg... Factories have closed down. Particularly, in Europe. Globalisation remains a key strategy for Black and Decker. This is highlighted in their Annual Report in 1985. Also in 1985 the company made sound progress. The company have been designing and marketing products for the worldwide market instead of just the regional ones. Design Centers, created by Black and Decker have promised to deliver more global products in the future. Because of these design centers, Black and Decker has cut on the number of R&D's it had. Major decisions regarding where to produce have all been made in the corporate head quarters. The autonomy of the factories also has been decreasing significantly. The national subsidiary is still maintained a fair degree of autonomy.The Black and Decker companies have been competing each other. Black and Decker have recently announced a restructure initiative. The Effectiveness of Black and Decker's decentralized, rationale, management style during the earlier years of growth in power tools market is most evident by the fact that their revenue had an excess of $5billion , they were expanding well nationally and internationally . By , setting up of wholly owned subsidiaries , giving them considerable amount of autonomy , accepting and realizing , that globalisation was upcoming , they needed to be apart of this and so they setup design centres . In order, to achieve the targets, of producing global products in the future. Looking at the not so effective side of this sort of decentralized Organization. We then observe, in the long run, as competition rose, Black and Decker started eroding from the market. The two very famous, brands had to see tough competition on hands. The factories were closed down, particularly in Europe. National subsidiaries on