Financial Statement Analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Financial Statement Analysis - Coursework Example It can also be defined as a strategy by which a firm buys its own shares, with an aim of reducing outstanding shares (Baker, 2009 p. 268). Firms issue stock repurchases due to the following reasons. It leads to increase in earnings per share, earning per share can be defined as the proportion of firms profits allocated to every outstanding share. The reasoning behind it is that when the number of outstanding shares decreases the earnings per share increase. When a company earnings increase it builds a positive image of the firm and financial stability of the is also boosted. It elevates the value of remaining ordinary shares, the value of the remaining shares increases. When a company repurchases shares, the remaining shares gain value as dilution decreases. This makes a company to boost its financial stability, in a means that does not affect the company adversely, because there is no additional debt (Baker, 2009 p. 174). It’s also a method to earn more returns, the management of the company may decide to buy their own company shares when they are undervalued, and sell them when their prices increases in order to reflect the true value of the company. This helps a firm from takeovers or be acquired by other firms. It leads to investing the excess cash the company has on its own stock. The management makes use of the companys excess cash by investing in their own stock. This is because the management believes that the cash invested in their own company is less risky and have higher return compared to other investments. It leads to lower taxes, when a firm uses excess cash to buy back stock instead of paying dividends, the shareholders are in a position to defer capital gains and taxes especially when there is an increase in stock prices. Dividends declared to shareholders are regarded as income and therefore taxable as ordinary income. Therefore, shareholders are advantaged. Earnings per share can be defined as a measure of

Internet Security IT Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Internet Security IT - Research Paper Example In fact antisocial elements are creating new viruses every day and it is difficult to prevent such attacks. A proper antivirus software can prevent many of the virus attacks. However, such antivirus programs should be updated quite regularly to prevent attacks from newer viruses. â€Å"A basic and key way of staying secure is to make sure you rapidly deploy software updates, such as operating system and browser updates. Make sure too that patches, particularly security patches, are installed as soon as available† (How to deal with Internet security threats) â€Å"If you have ever used an installation program to install system or service software (as nearly every company has), and you have not removed unnecessary services and installed all security patches, then your computer system is vulnerable to hacker attack† (The Top 10 Most Critical Internet Security Threats - (2000-2001 Archive). While installing third party programs, spywares and malwares can also be get install ed in the computer. Many people have the habit of installing free software even if it may not be useful. Majority of the free software available for download contains malware and spyware to monitor the internet activities of the user and also to steal the username and passwords. It is better to avoid installation of free software from unauthorized or non-credible sources. Moreover, under no circumstances, credit card numbers or bank account numbers should be given to the internet sites which have least protection. Before giving such private details, it should be ensured that those sites have enough security certificates and start with https instead of http. While using usernames and passwords for opening sensitive internet accounts, easy to guess type of words or names should be avoided. Under no circumstances, a hacker should not be able to guess a username or password correctly. Pass words should contain alphabets as well as characters and numbers so that hackers may struggle to i dentify it. â€Å"For operating systems, default installations always include extraneous services and corresponding open ports. Attackers break into systems via these ports† (The Top 10 Most Critical Internet Security Threats - (2000-2001 Archive). So, while installing essential software, care should be taken to avoid unwanted services so that the number of open ports can be minimized. â€Å"The top Web-based attacks in 2009 targeted Internet Explorer and PDF readers. Users tend to trust PDF files because they don't think of them as executing anything; however, embedded code in the PDF can carry malware†(Mushthaler and Mushthaler). The above information clearly suggests that even software from trusted and reputed vendors may contain malicious things. Firewalls should be strengthened in order to block the attacks of malicious things such as viruses, spyware etc. All the information entering and leaving the computer should pass through a properly created firewall so that any malpractices can be detected. â€Å"Firewall is combined with other security functions, including (in many cases) web application firewalling (WAF), sometimes also known as deep packet inspection (DPI)† (How To Deal With Internet Security Threats) Trojan software is considered to be the most harmful in terms of E-Commerce security due to its ability to secretly connect and send confidential information. These programs are developed for the specific purpose of communicating without the

A Quick Look at Castiglione and Cellini Life Essay Example for Free

A Quick Look at Castiglione and Cellini Life Essay Lawrence in his book Culture and Values A Survey of the Humanities, stated that Early sixteenth-century Renaissance culture was a study in contrasts. The period not only marked a time when some of the most refined artistic accomplishments were achieved, it was also a period of great social upheaval(332). In fact, there were many outstanding artists at that time, among them were Castiglione known for their philosophy of life and Cellini the first artist who really lived his own life. Castiglione was a well-rounded man with chivalry spirit as the author described He was a versatile man a person of profound leaning, equipped with physical and martial skills, and possessed of a noble and refined demeanor(332). The fact that he well-educated and aristocratic, he worked at the Urbino court from 1504 to 1506 and decided to write The Courtier that took him dozen years. According to the book he wrote, a true gentlemen should have brain and have adequate knowledge about history but the most important thing is do not rely in Christian. He also mentioned in his book about how to refined courtesy because when we redefined courtesy, we can clean the court. A cleaned court leads to a clean country. In addition, a well-rounded person according to Castiglione should do all thing sprezzatura means behavior in which every action is do not with effort and though about it. The influence of his book mainly impacted to the upper classes that taught what gentlemen should be. He imagined a courtiers world is a world very wealthy and aristocratic. Cellini was a talented Florentine goldsmith and sculptor whose life, frankly chronicled, was a seemingly never-ending panorama of violence, intrigue, quarrel, sexual excess, egotism, and political machination(333). He lived a period of religious, political, social and military. He was the first artist ever frankly tell about his personal life at this period. In contrast with Castiglione who wrote The Courtier, Cellinis life was very normal, he did whatever he want, he dared to love and do not care how public criticized him. In short, Cellini did not consider the most talented sculptors and nobody can deny his skill as a craftsman. An airy look of Castiglione and Cellini show us the contrast in humans way of life. In one hand, Castiglione was seemed to be perfect but in my point of view, his imaginary world was hard to be reach. In the other hand, I like Cellini who was a normal guy with his own talent. Life is short and maybe he knew it and he dated to do unusual thing despite of public opinion. Work cited:Lawrence Cunningham and John Reich, Culture and Values A Survey of the Humanities, Thomson Wadsworth, 2005.

The Study On Nokia S Utilizing Of Communications Mix Marketing Essay

The Study On Nokia S Utilizing Of Communications Mix Marketing Essay 1 Introduction When it comes to modern international marketing, it is not just confined in developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and making it available to target customers. Firms need also communicate with current and potential customers. For most companies, the question is not whether to communicate, but how much to spend and in what ways. This is what the communications mix is good at. Communications mix is comprised of sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, advertising, and direct marketing tools which the firm uses to fulfill its marketing objectives and strategy. Here the theory of communications mix is primarily analyzed related with the case of Nokias. The international company Nokia takes full advantage of the theory of communications mix to fulfill its strategic goal. Under the guidance of the theory of communications mix, the concrete marketing measures or activities taken by Nokia are analyzed. It mainly includes: how Nokia makes full use of advertising, publ ic relation, promotion and direct marketing in its international marketing, cultural influences on the communication, and the recommendations, etc. 2 Communication Mix Marketing, as a concept with specific meaning, has come into being for about one hundred years. Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and exchanging products of value with others (Kotler, 1967). It is a definition grounded upon human needs and wants, which are satisfied through products or services. When marketing crosses borders, it is called international marketing. There are literally dozens of marketing methods, for instance, customer segmentation, product/service offering, market research activity or part of their communication mix. Communication mix is emphatically discussed hereinafter. The communication is comprised of direct marketing, advertising, personal selling, promotion and public relations. Communication mix is mainly used to promote the new products. It is an effective method to attract consumers and increase the selling (Gatignon, 1993). 3 The Background of Nokia In 1865 when Nokia was established in southwestern Finland, it was a little company. At that time, Nokias business covered mainly following sectors, such as televisions, personal computers, shoes, electricity production, communications cables, capacitors, paper products, etc. In the 1960s, the electronics section of the cable division was founded and it witnessed a modern Nokia. In 1967, this section was divided from into its former division and became independently, and started to produce telecommunications equipments. In this period, Nokia got itself more involved in the telecommunications industry and began to develop its network equipment products. In 1992, Nokia changed its name and began to use the name of Nokia Telecommunications, which is todays name. Since 2000, Nokia has begun to expand its business and cooperation with other companies. In 2006, Nokia and Siemens made an unprecedented cooperation in the fixed line and mobile phone network equipment businesses and built one of the largest network companies all over the world. The two companies jointly held a fifty percent stake in this infrastructure firm and built Nokia Siemens Networks. About 20, 000 Nokia employees had been transferred to this new company. Nokia is the leading mobile phone manufacture around the world. Its logo Technology Connecting People has been deeply rooted in customers mind. Nokia House was constructed between 1995 and 1997. Nowadays, there have been more than 1000 Nokia employees in its company. At the same time, Nokia is a customer oriented company. There has been a continuous and progressive increase contact in technology and communications all over the world. Nokias strategy is to build trusted consumer relationships by offering compelling and valued consumer solutions that combine beautiful devices with context enriched services. And, Nokia promises to connect people in a better and new way. 4 The Communication Mix of Nokia 4.1 Advertising It is any paid form of no personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor. It is a widely-used means of publicity. The major media types for advertising are: newspapers, television, magazines, radio, internet and so on (Rao, 1993). Advertisements help to draw the publics attention and make people aware of this product. As a result, it undoubtedly could promote a companys sales. However, it is also kind of double-edged sword as advertisements can be very money-consuming. What is more, advertisements may mislead consumers if they are not properly designed or contain any exaggerated information. Therefore, when a firm chooses advertisements as it means for promotion, it must be very careful to select a advertising company and be clear the messages and the image that it wants to convey to it current and perspective customers. Technology Connecting People is Nokias distinguished brand concept. Through TV advertisements, magazine advertisements and leaflets; the concept has been deeply rooted in consumers mind. Except some traditional promotion ways, Nokia adopts some new ways to announce its new products. When selling classical mobile phone Nokia 8810, Nokia sold the products on Internet and became the first firm adopting interactive advertisement in Asia. Nokia held celebrity salon with the theme the upper life to push its new product Nokia 8800 in 2006. Its target consumer was the top end consumer who paid attention to life quality and adored elegant product design. 4.2 Public Relations Public relations mean establishing good relations with the publics by earning a good reputation, shaping a favorable image and dealing with the companys rumors and events (Doyle, 1994). It mainly contains keeping good relations with the firms different social groups by getting favorable publicity and setting up a healthy and good corporate image in public and at the same time, tackling or heading off stories, rumors, and events which damage its reputation. As a result, consumers get a good impression with this kind of firms and, therefore trust and purchase products manufactured by them. From the perspective of enterprises social obligations, especially in modern times, companies can be condemned and eventually be abandoned by consumers if they fail to perform their social responsibilities. Therefore, today, it is not whether firms should build good relations with the public, but how to construct it in a better and more impressive way. In order to develop public relationship promotion, Nokia tries best to be all excellent enterprise citizen in China and makes its effort to sponsor the development of the society, sports and education through series of innovation activities. The first series of activities are donations. In 1998, it donated RMBl0 million to the districts suffered from flood in China. From 2000 to 2001, N0kia launched the planting trees activities in China with its cooperators. Up to now, Nokia still takes these activities as all important components of its marketing methods. The second series of public activities ale gym support activities. By gym support activities, Nokia builds a stylish, leading, and creative brand among the young generation. In 1995, Nokia sponsored Beijing international tennis match. In 1997, Nokia sponsored the No8 national chess match. In 2000, it donated mobile phones to sports meeting for the disable. In 2001, Nokia sponsored No 21 national university match. In 2005, it supported China international diving match. In 2006, it supported NBA China Jam Van and Basketball without Borders activities. The third series are education activities. From 1999 to 2000, Nokia held series of activities in theme of innovation is the source of wisdom to promote teenagers innovation abilities. In 2000, it organized Nokia 2000, flew ideas match with the theme of advancing to future in Beijing University. In recent years, Nokia paid more attention to develop the campus marketing. In order to ease the university enter exam pressure, Nokia held campus activities named communication crates happiness. By humors pictures and creative attempts, these activities added fun to campus life, also set up a good brand image among the campus. 4.3 Promotion Promotion refers to activities or performances taken by companies in a short term to stimulate the purchase or sale of the product or service using varieties of formats such as premiums, coupons, contests, etc (Brick, 1982). Through a serial of activities or performances, it can promote people to purchase more. And sales promotion is targeted at final buyers, wholesalers and retailers, other business customers and members of the sales force (Schall, 1983). It can be effective especially for introducing new products or services. In order to announce its new product, Nokia cooperated with the famous star Wang Lihong and pushed its new product Nokia 3230 to the youth. Nokia 3230 was a music smart phone, which embodies the demands of the youth at that time. In December 2006, Nokia cooperated with Hunan TV Station, and held a concert named Music let me feel happy to push its middle end products. In July 2007, Nokia held a concert named Nokias stylish trend night to announce its new product Nokia 7500 prism, which was the unique design for Chinese market that month. 4.4 Direct Marketing It refers to direct contacts with carefully targeted individual customers in order to acquire a reply in time as well as cultivate permanent consumer relationship, for example, using telephone, mail, fax, e-mail, the Internet, and other tools to communicate directly with specific consumers. Direct marketing is very useful helps companies obtain the first hand information directly from consumers. And companies can give an immediate reply to their customers if there are any questions. Through this way, customers obtain a sense of being respected and cared by firms and, therefore, consumers can be loyal to this kind of companies. However, there are also negative effects brought by direct marketing. Firstly, it undoubtedly costs a lot of money, time and human resources. Secondly, companies may not draw any useful conclusions for decision-makers at all if information is processed in a scientific way. Therefore, to make full use of direct marketing, firms must make sufficient preparations. When it comes to the contour design, Nokia appears to be rather conservative and backward. Especially in China, consumers pay a lot of attention to it. Compared with its competition rivals such Motorola and Samsung, Nokia seems stubborn in reaction to market. However, by directing contacts with its consumers and obtaining the relevant information from the Chinese market, Nokia finally produced its freshly designed foldaway mobile phone 7200. However, any one aspect of the communications mix is not enough to guarantee a good marketing. Instead, a successful promotional strategy should adopt the concept of integrated marketing communications widely by coordinating the promotion channels and tools. Through putting together and reinforcing all the images and messages, it constructs a famous brand in public. Integrated marketing communications requires that all the messages, positioning and images, and identity from the corporate are harmonized across all marketing communications venues. Under this concept, to deliver a clear, unchangeable, and convincing message about the organization and its products, the company should be careful to integrate and bring into line its many communications methods. In terms of this aspect, Nokia really excels in. 5 How Culture Affects the Communications Mix of Nestle 5.1 The Introduction of Culture Since 1871 when the founder of cultural anthropology E.B. Taylor put forward the definition of culture in his works Primitive Culture, scholars have raised hundreds of definitions about culture from different perspectives. The definition of culture given by Taylor is that the so-called culture or civilization is an internal integration of knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws, customs and other capabilities and habits acquired by human beings as community members(Taylor, 1871 ). His view has a deep influence on the later research and has been accepted by many scholars. In the West, the origin of the word culture is cultura in Latin. In English, the very beginning meaning of the word culture referred to agriculture and raising of plants. Since the 15th century, it has been extended to cultivate peoples morals and competences. And culture is also a basic definition in both sociology and anthropology. In broad sense, culture is the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human beings; in narrow sense, it refers specifically to spiritual wealth including language, literature, art and other ideologies. Based on the analysis above, the thesis adopts the definition of culture in large sense, that is, culture is composed of three aspects: material culture, spiritual culture and behavioral culture. 5.2 How It Affects the Communications Mix of Nokia As an international company, Nokia needs to handle cross-cultural problems and culture plays a significant role in Nokias application of communications mix. Undoubtedly, Nokia is a firm sensitive to cultural differences and adapts varied cultural counter-measures in varied regions. Advertising is the most commonly utilized promotional method. Companies must be very clear who their potential customers are probably to be, make effective contacts with those consumers, and be aware of the relationship between the culture and advertising, i.e. .cultural impacts. Various cultures reaction to communications and messages are quite different. Companies which realize these differences may succeed; those that totally neglect them fail. In Korea, consumers often recommend the suitable and good products to their friends, relatives and workmates. Therefore, the word-of-mouth advertising is very popular: a consumers testimony works more effectively than advertisements on television or in newspaper. In the same way, Chinese are also dependent on this form of communications. The Chinese consumers value and trust their family and this is justified by their purchasing products through their families recommendations. Thus, Nokia have noticed that and put a great emphasis on this i n East Asia. For example, Nokias advertising message is technology is people-oriented. As everyone knows, people-oriented thought is put forward by ancient Chinese two thousand years ago. Therefore, Nokias advertisement is rather successful. It is a typical example of Nokias combination of its own enterprises culture and local culture. Many companies today use marketing public relations to support their marketing departments in corporate/product promotion and image making. The Japanese have little concept of public relations in the American sense. Since the Japanese are very modest and self-effacing, they cannot understand self-promotion. They have little need for corporate public relations. The tendency o f the Japanese conservative and low profile way of doing their business results from many economic and cultural factors. From the ancient times, Japanese society has been comprised of exclusive groups and even within groups there are smaller ones. Each one is cared about its living, obligations, and powers and is generally hostile to the other. Therefore, when Nokia operates its business in Japan, it also adapts the way Japanese companies take and keep a low profile in public relation. Although it still seems to make a better job than Japanese firms. Culture also has a deep influence on Nokias promotion. When Nokia notice that todays youth are passionate for fashion, music and sports, it adapts the concept of youth marketing and cooperates sports and music stars to promote its new product. For example, in China, as Nokia 3230 was a music smart phone, it cooperated with the famous star Wang Lihong and Wang especially wrote a song for publicizing the new phone. 5.3 Recommendations International companies must objectively know and learn the diversity of the culture, turn the cross-cultural awareness to the cross-cultural marketing skills and develop cultural sensitivity (Schwartz, 1981). Culturally sensitive companies understand that differences exist and make corresponding accommodations for them. Advertising is a key tool in international marketing, and it is required to accurately position the product as desired for multinational companies. For an international company like Nokia, firstly, it needs to emphasize one characteristic that caters for local culture. Therefore, in the United States, Nokia should focus on durability and economy; in France, it could be leisure and power; in Germany, utilization; in Mexico, price; and in Venezuela, quality. Secondly, it must be aware of local taboos and idioms when selecting the advertising message. Otherwise, it could be at least embarrassing and even hurt local consumers trust and respect towards Nokia. For example, an advertising campaign used by Pepsi-Cola-Come Alive with Pepsi-translated too literally in some countries. The German translation of come alive became come out of the grave, while in Chinese it read Pepsi brings you ancestors back from the dead. In Spanish, the very word for advertising poses a problem since the corres ponding Spanish word means propaganda, which has other connotations in English. Public relations are designed to promote and/or protect a companys image or its individual products. However, under different cultural background, there are different skills in carrying out it. For example, in China, Nokia needs to focus on such activities as lobbying and counseling-the former aims to improve the relationship with legislators and government officials, and the later, connected with public confidence and loyalty. In this respect, Amway set a good example-through out the seven years after its entry into Chinas market, it has always been concerned with the Chinas children, and it has sponsored nearly one hundred charity campaigns to help these children, such as Chinas Hope Project or Spring Bud Project, through which it obtain sanction from the government and popularity from the citizens. 6 Conclusions It has been proved by many international companies that a good quality of products does not certainly guarantee companies successful sales, and that a proper and wise application of communications mix is indispensible in this respect. Communications mix is essential to help a company maintain its market share and even obtain more, build its good image such as innovation, responsibility and so on, stimulate consumers to buy more products, and also get people to know its new products. However, a firm may be end with a loss if it fails to know positive and negative aspect of each method and choose the right one or ones in the right time and in the right place. Especially when the firm selects more than one method, it needs to make sure that all these methods are to convey a consistent, clear message about its image and products. If it fails to do so, consumers can get confused and therefore, there be will no loyalty customers. Besides, culture has a substantial influence on communicatio ns mix. For those companies which are not sensitive to cultural differences, they cannot obtain the result they have expected by using communications mix in better and even worsen their selling. The international company Nokias leading role in mobile phone market tells us that a successful is the result of the combination of a good quality of product and of proper using of marketing strategy.

Effect of Globalization on IT Service Providers in Europe

Effect of Globalization on IT Service Providers in Europe Opportunities and challenges presented by Globalization: IT Service providers in Continental Europe EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Enterprises within Europe are increasingly trying to seek the advantages of global sourcing. Unlike enterprises in U.S. or U.K., continental European countries have historically been reluctant to engage with offshore providers. The reasons were far stretched, ranging from political sensitivity, labor laws, cultural compatibility and language requirements. Globalization, however, is creating new avenues that European companies can not ignore. A recent report by Gartner shows the potential IT Offshoring market to be in the range of about $ 200 to 240 Billion. The market is expected to register double digit growth for years to come. The current offshore spending by firms amounts to just $17 Billion worldwide. This clearly shows a big gap, a huge market potential which is yet to be exploited. The huge demand has also led to emergence and growth of several new players in the field of IT Outsourcing/ Offshoring services, this is leading to ever increasing competition in the marketplace. In order to cope up with this increased competition and to provide better services, these service providers are increasingly adopting Global delivery models. By selecting an advantageous and cost effective proportion of resources worldwide, Global Delivery Model boosts business performance while also lowering costs. It also helps the supplier deliver requirements that are met on-time, within budget, and with high quality; greater efficiency and responsiveness to their clients. In Europe, nearshore models still dominate the market. But these models are continuously being updated, with more and more providers setting up Offshore Development Centers in locations like India. A framework for building an optimal combination of onsite, nearshore, and offshore delivery capabilities is provided by Capgeminis Rightshore ® model. A recent Gartner report has suggested that, the current US economic slowdown is expected to lead buyers of IT services to consider increasing the percentage of their labor in offshore locations. India will remain the dominant location for IT offshore services for North American and European buyers as a result of its scale, quality of resources and strong presence of local and traditional service providers. INTRODUCTION: EUROPEAN IT MARKET The European market remains a highly complex and competitive market with a large number of providers. Mergers and acquisitions will continue but will be balanced by new market entrants Outsourcing adoption in Europe is increasing for both infrastructure and applications; the widespread lack of well defined sourcing strategies among buyers and the realities of ever-changing business requirements will generate frequent deal negotiations and renegotiations Global delivery and utility services are irreversible trends evolving at different speeds among various European countries. The European multi country, multi language/culture composition increases the evolutionary complexity of these trends Selective outsourcing with multiple providers will remain the preferred model of engagement for European buyers. Governance and end-to-end integration/management of different providers/solutions are the most challenging aspects of it ITO market maturity varies: UK is the most matured IT market in Europe. The other European markets are maturing at different speeds. An acceleration in ITO adoption is now apparent in countries such as France and Germany A focus on achieving service delivery excellence and the best value/quality balance is increasingly driving European organizations (especially those beyond the first generation deal) to consider selecting multiple providers for an outsourcing contract. For example, in the IT Telecom sector, the most common division is by service tower, with customers opting to choose different providers for their network, desktop, data center and application competencies. At the moment, however, providers tend to join forces in an opportunistic manner, as a response to customer demands. This is the cause behind the ever-changing composition of the providers teams; as a consequence, consolidating best practices to manage IT service spin offs between different providers in an effort to guarantee end-to-end service delivery excellence remains challenging. As the number of providers engaged is set to increase, this challenge is likely to intensify. It will also be driven by other market characteristics, which include a persistent tactical use of outsourcing by European customers, insufficient process maturity, and lack of clarity in the definition of roles and responsibilities. As we look at global delivery, it is fair to say that there are two major misconceptions that still exist among the European market: 1) Global delivery is often considered as a synonym of offshore, and 2) IT services delivered through global delivery capabilities are application services. In reality, in the past few years, the European market has witnessed a considerable expansion in terms of both geographical location options (in areas such as Eastern Europe or North Africa, for example) and portfolio of services offered (now including, for example, help desk and remote infrastructure management services). Global delivery and offshore, however, remain the key deal characteristics that need to be treated with extra care in many European geographies, and as a consequence, many deals remain confidential. Traditional providers investment will be directed toward enhancing existing capabilities (especially near shore in Eastern Europe) and ensuring process solidity. Offshore providers inv estment on the other side will be centered on creating front-end capabilities with a focus on specific country and vertical-oriented competencies. While these global delivery models mature and are refined/ optimized, customers satisfaction will remain a challenge. KEY TRENDS SHAPING IT OUTSOURCING MARKET IN EUROPE TRENDS CHARACTERISTICS Selective Outsourcing With Multiple Providers * Embraced by majority of European companies * Objectives: IT excellence and cost optimization * Integration and governance challenges Global Sourcing and Global Delivery Models * Near shore proximity key for European market * Expanding portfolio of outsourcing services * Key area of investment for providers and buyers IT Utility * Industrialization is accelerating * Convergence of IT utility and global delivery * Key drivers: flexibility, efficiency, optimized cost, speed Aggressive ESP Competitive Landscape * National, global and offshore ESPs converging * Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures to continue * Providers are implementing new business models * New offshore market entrants Application Outsourcing to Grow * Drivers: portfolio rationalization, legacy modernization * Global delivery will gain acceptance * Multitude of providers competing Source: Gartner The U.K., Netherlands, Sweden and Finland are examples of countries more attracted by the global delivery model. However, in the meantime, the impact of global competition has started to drive countries such as Germany and France to consider global delivery as a viable option to be considered strategically, rather than when all other options have been exhausted. Despite a slower gestation and the fact that a complete infrastructure utility (IU) offering has not yet been developed, the IU model is continuing to attract new offerings and/or new providers. In the meantime, European customers, attracted by the idea of being able to access IT services in a flexible way, remain cautious as they expect further clarity on issues such as unit definition, pricing mechanisms, integration to existing systems, and security portability In the near future, we expect that the IU for ERP platforms will remain the most common battleground for providers; other providers are expected to instead mask their IU offering behind a package that includes product and support services. The concept of software as a service (SaaS) or ready-to-use applications will continue to generate lot of interest. Expectations for a solid delivery and specific functionalities will drive providers to specialize their offerings. Finally, gains in terms of process efficiency will be seen as crucial to deliver enhanced competitiveness, flexibility, agility and cost optimization. GLOBAL TRENDS: IT OUTSOURCING and OFFSHORING MARKET IT Outsourcing market is showing an average growth of 9% p.a. IT Outsourcing Worldwide forecast (Million $) Source : Gartner Dataquest In terms of volume, North America continues to be the leader in IT outsourcing. Latin America and APAC have shown good growth Europe has fast emerged as a big IT outsourcer Global offshore spending is continuing to register double digit growth. Worldwide Offshore IT Services Spending by Importing Region (million $) Source: Gartner Dataquest, 2004 and Worldwide and U.S. Offshore IT Services 2006-2010 Forecast In terms of volume, the North America continues to be the leader in IT offshoring. Once averse to the idea of outsourcing, Europe is now steadily adopting an IT offshore model to boost the economy Global offshore spending is projected to increase to 29400 $ Million in 2010 The graph on the next page shows the potential market for various types of sourcing options. This clearly depicts that he IT and Business Process offshoring market has grown at a tremendous rate over the past 7 year and the market provides a huge potential which is yet to be exploited. IT and BPO market Source Gartner, Dataquest, Aberdeen Group, McKinsey, Evalueserve, Infosys, IDC and Nasscom strategic review 2008 Currently we are not even exploiting 10% of the potential market size ( IT services off shoring just at $17 Billion, whereas market potential is about $200-240 Billion *) According to a new research by Gartner, the market is likely to grow further after the financial slowdown, as firms will try aggressively to reduce costs and improve efficiency Different Sourcing Models In-sourcing / Shared Services: Sourcing from internal sources or from an affiliated firm in the home economy Onshore Outsourcing: Sourcing from a non-affiliated firm in the home economy Captive Offshoring: Sourcing from an affiliated firm located abroad Offshore Outsourcing: Sourcing from a non-affiliated firm located abroad REGIONAL DYNAMICS ACROSS EUROPE The following section will describe the regional ITO trends and local dynamics across different European locations. UK and IRELAND 2005: â‚ ¬17.2B 2010: â‚ ¬25.7B 2005-2010 CAGR: 8.3% ITO drivers: Improve IT quality for end users, speed/flexibility, access to technical skills, cost reduction Inhibitors: Loss of control, lack of trust, security/privacy, IP Key trends: †¢ Most mature market in Europe with wider number of mega deals (public sector) †¢ Deal sophistication, including government. Increasing interest in new pricing schemes, business enhancement and shared services †¢ More selective sourcing and global delivery †¢ Areas such as Scotland and Ireland feeling pressure of Indian and Eastern European operations †¢ Wide potential for application engagements to mature from project engagements into outsourcing based engagements Despite being the largest and most mature market in Europe, the U.K. remains also one of the fast-growing ones. Here organizations seem to have moved away from the equation of outsourcing = cost reduction. While cost remains a key component, other objectives seem more important, such as improving IT service delivery, gaining specific skills, especially for application outsourcing deals, and becoming a more flexible organization. (See Appendix F) Inhibitions remain related to a general lack of trust in the ability to join forces with the providers to manage security, control over IT operations and IP. The U.K. market is characterized by a large number of mega deals, especially in the public sector. These outsourcing deals often include initiatives that have classically been carried out through project engagements and now are increasingly being performed in the initial phases of an IT outsourcing or BPO deal. This change reflects the growing desire of customers for a tighter link between investment and results (for which the outsourcer is responsible during the duration of the contract) and the important shift in role for the internal IT department. Rather than focusing on assembling and managing all of the necessary skills and capabilities to meet a certain objective, IT organizations, in this scenario, are responsible for coordinating the objectives of the Business Unit and the internal and external providers engaged to support them. Often infrastructure outsourcing is at the core of these complex relationships. At the same time, the U.K. is also the largest market in terms of adoption of IT services delivered through a network of global delivery capabilities (which include nearshore and offshore locations). From this point of view, areas that used to be considered as low cost for outsourcing operations (Scotland and Ireland) continue to feel the pressure of Indian and Eastern European capabilities. Finally, organizations that have engaged for a long period of time in project-based application deals are planning to elevate them into more-strategic, long-term application management engagements. This will allow them to gain a longer-term commitment from the service provider and the relevant support to re-evaluate their application portfolio. NORDIC COUNTRIES 2005: â‚ ¬5.2B 2010: â‚ ¬7.6B 2005-2010 CAGR: 8.2% Drivers: Cost reduction, access to technical skills (especially in application outsourcing engagements), support in global operations, focus on core business Inhibitors: Loss of control, security/privacy, lack of trust Key trends: †¢ Nordic market generally mature. Many large deals are in second or third generation. Some likely to evolve toward multi sourcing †¢ Large corporations see global delivery as a viable option. SMBs see nearshore option more favorably †¢ Consolidation drives specialization by geography, vertical market or horizontal service †¢ Increased competition between regional and global ESPs †¢ Cultural affinity seen as crucial to guarantee deal success/longevity Each of the four country markets that compose the Nordic region has its own distinct characteristics and buying behaviors in IT services. However, if we look at the forecast growth between 2005 and 2010, we expect the region to grow at a similar speed (despite size differences) of about 8%. Denmark: Sometimes seen as the entry point for the global service providers to the Nordics. Expected growth is from â‚ ¬856 million in 2005 to â‚ ¬1.2 billion in 2010 (CAGR of 7.8%). Finland: Unique in the Nordic region as buyers focus much more on business value of an outsourcing deal rather than just cost. Expected growth is from â‚ ¬1 billion in 2005 to â‚ ¬1.45 billion in 2010 (CAGR of 7.5%) Norway: Remains the smallest outsourcing market in the region. Expected growth is from â‚ ¬1.2 billion in 2005 to â‚ ¬1.8 billion in 2010 (CAGR of 8.1%) Sweden: Largest market and very cost-competitive. Probably the Nordic country targeted most by offshore providers currently. Expected growth is from â‚ ¬2 billion in 2005 to â‚ ¬3.1 billion in 2010 (CGR of 8.7%) From a client perspective, the Nordic region market is generally mature, with many large corporations in second- or third-generation outsourcing deals. Global delivery is widely accepted as an option. Competition between regional providers and global providers is increasing; this was initiated by the inability of local providers to support the operations of key Nordic organizations around the globe. However, recent acquisitions and divestitures by both local and international providers prove that the market has still got room for further maturation and consolidation. NETHERLANDS 2005: â‚ ¬3.4B 2010:â‚ ¬5B 2005-2010 CAGR: 8% Drivers: Cost reduction above all, agility/flexibility, improving service to end users Inhibitors: Loss of IP and control, security/privacy, high cost Key trends: Market shows mixed signs of maturity (organizations accept global delivery) and immaturity (sourcing strategy is often neglected) Market split between large global corporations and wide portion of SMBs Increased competition for local/national champions Application under scrutiny for externalization The market in the Netherlands is one of the more modern IT outsourcing environments in Europe, closely following the U.K. in many trends. A focus on global delivery and the expansion of many deals into the application or business process layer points to more market maturity. This maturity is driven primarily by the relatively high proportion of large (and often multinational) enterprises headquartered in the Netherlands and competing in major markets such as financial services. But there are some contradictory characteristics that point to an immature market (cost cutting is by far the major driver, and sourcing strategy is often neglected); this, as a consequence, often inhibits the potential success of outsourcing initiatives. The market remains very challenging and competitive. This is due to the high presence of small and midsize businesses (SMBs), which traditionally tend to consider outsourcing as a threat more than an opportunity and require a higher level of customization, which tests the profitability model of service providers. Competition remains strong for national champions as global and offshore providers continue to target opportunities in the country. Increasingly, application outsourcing opportunities are emerging as organizations look at portfolio rationalization, legacy system transformation, and custom application software development initiatives and accessing application utility solutions. FRANCE 2005: â‚ ¬6.6B 2010: â‚ ¬10B CAGR: 8.4 % Drivers: Cost reduction, refocus internal IT, speed/flexibility Inhibitors: Loss of control, lack of trust, security/privacy Key trends: Beyond its reliance on staff augmentation, Frances outsourcing market shows opportunities in all facets of outsourcing: infrastructure, applications and BPO Selective outsourcing has gained acceptance, and organizations show cautious interest in global service delivery National champions remain under competitive pressure from the global and multinational providers France has long been considered behind in the outsourcing trend. Now, however, the French outsourcing market is consolidating and growing, while the long-standing reliance on staff augmentation is losing strength. The major driver that will support a CAGR of over 8% between 2005 and 2010 is the need for French organizations to reduce cost and enhance their level of competitiveness in the market by refocusing their internal IT skills on more-strategic tasks while gaining flexibility. On the other side, it is interesting to see that challenges related to HR management have lost strength, compared with the traditional fears related to loss of control and security and lack of trust. Large organizations have recently moved toward the adoption of selective outsourcing with multiple providers. This model has gained acceptance as organizations look at maximizing the balance between cost and service delivery excellence. There is also a new focus on application outsourcing. This trend is important not only because it signals an acceleration in the growth of outsourcing in France overall, but because it signals a major change in the way French organizations use different kinds of IT services. Increase in application outsourcing deals also touches on one of the major taboos of IT services in France: offshore outsourcing. As such, although offshore remains a word to be used with extra care in the French market, many organizations would consider that access to global delivery models is an appealing part of outsourcing, especially when delivered by traditional players. In this case, North Africa (Morocco, for example) is emerging as a viable near shore location. National champions, the providers that focus on a specific region or country, remain under competitive pressure from the global and multinational providers. GERMANY 2005: â‚ ¬10.6B 2010: â‚ ¬16B 2005-2010 CAGR: 8.6% Drivers: Cost reduction above all, focus on core business, refocus internal IT Inhibitors: Security/privacy, lack of trust, loss of control Key trends: Global economic pressures have forced many organizations to look at outsourcing as a viable option In the short term, objectives such as flexibility and agility are secondary Pressure to divest internal IT departments or internal shared service organizations remains strong Global delivery gaining ground especially toward Eastern Europe Intensifying competition between strong German players and global ones Legacy system modernization will remain a key objective The German market is â€Å"federated† in several ways: government responsibilities, industrial centers, buying centers within enterprises, and management structures in place. All of this makes doing business in Germany (and negotiating significant IT service deals) unique. Decision processes tend to be longer, require more consensus building and often entail more travel than in other parts of Europe. For a long time, the majority of German organizations have considered IT operations as a key component to maintain or enhance their level of competitiveness in the market. This has, as a consequence, slowed the outsourcing growth. In the past two years, however, economic pressures have forced many organizations to look at outsourcing tactically to cut cost. While in the short term, achieving flexibility is a secondary objective, organizations look at outsourcing as a way to refocus their internal capabilities while focusing on their core business. The traditional inhibitors around security, trust and loss of control apply. While non-German external service providers (ESPs) still find it difficult to position themselves in Germany (exceptions are IBM Germany, which established itself early on as a â€Å"German† ESP, and HP, based on its early SAP hosting business and penetration as a technology provider), German providers maintain strong domestic positions and are starting to focus on expanding their international presence (through T-Systems). In the short term, German organizations will still consider selling their own IT capabilities, while global providers will see these as viable targets to build capabilities as long as they provide financial support through a long-term outsourcing deal. Finally, beyond potential healthy growth for ERP application outsourcing initiatives (especially SAP), as many organizations look at legacy system modernization, it is likely that many projects will evolve and deploy model to include the long-term management of applications. EASTERN EUROPE 2005: â‚ ¬1.1B 2010: â‚ ¬1.6B 2005-2010 CAGR: 7.9% Drivers: Acquisitions made by large Western European organizations, increased competition, need to revamp obsolete IT environments (leap-frog) Inhibitors: Low expertise to manage OS deals, high cost of OS, loss of control Key trends: Slow internal consumption of outsourcing Key nearshore delivery hub for providers supporting operations of European organizations Local Eastern European service providers will remain target for acquisitions Long-term growth will be supported by increasing competition, acquisitions made by Western companies and the penetration of Western ESPs in the region The region has become a strong global delivery hub Recent admission to the European Union has transformed countries such as Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic into attractive locations to establish global delivery capabilities designed to deliver IT services to European or global customers. Eastern Europe has been identified as an ideal region to establish a service delivery hub by U.S.-based providers (IBM, Accenture and EDS), European ones (Atos Origin, Capgemini, T-Systems, SIS and ST) and offshore ones (Ness, TCS, Satyam, Infosys and Wipro). When necessary, providers are openly seeking acquisitions to gain scale; it is the case for SIS, which acquired ELAS, HT Computers in Slovakia, and Ibis-Sys in Serbia (February 2005). Others, like Austrian-based ST, are pursuing a strategy of becoming the provider of choice in Eastern Europe through a combination of organic development and local acquisitions. ST acquired Computacenter Austria to strengthen its product resale capabilities. Although internal consumption of outsourcing has been slow, it is expected to grow rapidly, thanks to increasing competition driven by the fact that private-sector companies and public-sector organizations are now focusing on bringing their systems into line with market standards. This is leading to some â€Å"leapfrogging† effects — the IT utility approach, for example, holds significant appeal without posing the same transition challenges as elsewhere — but because these markets are fairly immature, there is still a strong focus on products and product support services rather than more-sophisticated IT service engagements. Italy and Spain are two other major countries with an expected ITO market size of about 5 Billion $ each by the year 2010. GLOBAL DELIVERY MODEL GDM is a unique approach to outsourcing and off shoring, which offers the best of both worlds by blending onsite, onshore and offshore resources and locations. By using a far-reaching network of onsite, onshore, and offshore resources, GDM aims to cuts across geographies to access the right resources, in the right place, at the right cost. By selecting the most advantageous and cost effective proportion of resources worldwide, Global Delivery Model boosts business performance while also lowering costs. It also helps the supplier deliver requirements that are met on-time, within budget, and with high quality; greater efficiency and responsiveness to their clients. In this section we would discuss in detail, the key drivers to a successful GDM. Source: Capgemini, 2008 KEY DRIVERS OF A SUCCESSFUL GDM STRONG PROCESSES Strong processes are the backbone of a successful Global Delivery Model. There is a strong need for detailed, documented and time-tested processes for all the activities and interfaces. Strong quality and project management processes ensure delivery excellence. World class processes for knowledge management and sharing resources encourage improved learning among teams. Processes for managing talent ensure that the projects get the best and most motivated people. Strong processes for interaction and communication within team make it possible for globally distributed groups to interface and collaborate in an effective manner while delivering excellence on a continuous basis. On the other hand, processes, while strong, should leave ample space for creativity and flexibility. It is only then that the Global Delivery Model (GDM) can create far more value than the traditional sourcing models. Here is what it will translate into: Quicker, seamless transitions, and early project ownership Optimum onsite/ offshore mixes through intelligent allocation of the available resources High degree of predictability through processes, sharing and reuse A strong relationship approach to ensure continuity and business focus Sharing of best practices and tools across the enterprise Depth and quality of resources, continuously trained and retrained to suit project needs Adherence to SLA based pricing models to ensure good Return on Investment (ROI) and drive customer satisfaction PROCESS ARCHITECTURE Companies rely on processes to consistently deliver high quality solutions while executing a number of engagements from multiple locations. According to the policies adopted by a leading IT services provider: values, vision and policies should form the first level of the three-tiered process architecture. These are then implemented through process execution at the next level. These processes are defined with clear ownership and clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Quality System Documentation Quality System Documentation defines clearly all the processes that should be put into place. These documents provide the engineers and consultations with a vast repository of detailed procedures, templates, standards, guidelines and checklists. The comprehensiveness of these documents supports all tasks from higher-level information abstraction and definition to tasks such as coding and documentation. This is crucial to assure clients with the delivery of high quality and predictable IT solutions that meet their business needs. These documents should also be monitored and updated regularly. Knowledge Sharing Employees are given a forum like a website portal, to share knowledge gained from their experience at the organization. It is meant to be a central repository of the knowledge that can be tapped by peers and as sometimes external clients as well. The collection of documents on this portal is reviewed and classified into different areas: Software development life-cycle activities such as requirements specification, design, build and testing documentation. Software-related topics such as tools and quality documentation. Topics of general or operational interest such as travel or HR policies, etc. Process Assets This is a repository to facilitate sharing and giving out of engagement learning across the organization. The user has the facility to submit to the repository, retrieve from the repository and obtain information on the status of the repository. A process asset can be any information ranging from an engagement, which can be re-used by future engagements. Typically these include project plans, configuration management plans, requirements documents, standards, checklists, design documents, test plans, causal analysis reports and utilities used in the engagement, etc. Process Database The Process Database is a software engineering database to study the processes at the organization with respect to productivity and quality. More specifically, its purpose areas are as follows: To aid estimation of effort and project defects To get the productivity and quality data on different types of projects To aid in creating of a process capability baseline Process Capability Baseline (PCB) Process Capability baseline is used to specify, what the performance of the process is, i.e. what a project can expect when following the process. This estimation is done based on the past data. The performance factors of the process are Effect of Globalization on IT Service Providers in Europe Effect of Globalization on IT Service Providers in Europe Opportunities and challenges presented by Globalization: IT Service providers in Continental Europe EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Enterprises within Europe are increasingly trying to seek the advantages of global sourcing. Unlike enterprises in U.S. or U.K., continental European countries have historically been reluctant to engage with offshore providers. The reasons were far stretched, ranging from political sensitivity, labor laws, cultural compatibility and language requirements. Globalization, however, is creating new avenues that European companies can not ignore. A recent report by Gartner shows the potential IT Offshoring market to be in the range of about $ 200 to 240 Billion. The market is expected to register double digit growth for years to come. The current offshore spending by firms amounts to just $17 Billion worldwide. This clearly shows a big gap, a huge market potential which is yet to be exploited. The huge demand has also led to emergence and growth of several new players in the field of IT Outsourcing/ Offshoring services, this is leading to ever increasing competition in the marketplace. In order to cope up with this increased competition and to provide better services, these service providers are increasingly adopting Global delivery models. By selecting an advantageous and cost effective proportion of resources worldwide, Global Delivery Model boosts business performance while also lowering costs. It also helps the supplier deliver requirements that are met on-time, within budget, and with high quality; greater efficiency and responsiveness to their clients. In Europe, nearshore models still dominate the market. But these models are continuously being updated, with more and more providers setting up Offshore Development Centers in locations like India. A framework for building an optimal combination of onsite, nearshore, and offshore delivery capabilities is provided by Capgeminis Rightshore ® model. A recent Gartner report has suggested that, the current US economic slowdown is expected to lead buyers of IT services to consider increasing the percentage of their labor in offshore locations. India will remain the dominant location for IT offshore services for North American and European buyers as a result of its scale, quality of resources and strong presence of local and traditional service providers. INTRODUCTION: EUROPEAN IT MARKET The European market remains a highly complex and competitive market with a large number of providers. Mergers and acquisitions will continue but will be balanced by new market entrants Outsourcing adoption in Europe is increasing for both infrastructure and applications; the widespread lack of well defined sourcing strategies among buyers and the realities of ever-changing business requirements will generate frequent deal negotiations and renegotiations Global delivery and utility services are irreversible trends evolving at different speeds among various European countries. The European multi country, multi language/culture composition increases the evolutionary complexity of these trends Selective outsourcing with multiple providers will remain the preferred model of engagement for European buyers. Governance and end-to-end integration/management of different providers/solutions are the most challenging aspects of it ITO market maturity varies: UK is the most matured IT market in Europe. The other European markets are maturing at different speeds. An acceleration in ITO adoption is now apparent in countries such as France and Germany A focus on achieving service delivery excellence and the best value/quality balance is increasingly driving European organizations (especially those beyond the first generation deal) to consider selecting multiple providers for an outsourcing contract. For example, in the IT Telecom sector, the most common division is by service tower, with customers opting to choose different providers for their network, desktop, data center and application competencies. At the moment, however, providers tend to join forces in an opportunistic manner, as a response to customer demands. This is the cause behind the ever-changing composition of the providers teams; as a consequence, consolidating best practices to manage IT service spin offs between different providers in an effort to guarantee end-to-end service delivery excellence remains challenging. As the number of providers engaged is set to increase, this challenge is likely to intensify. It will also be driven by other market characteristics, which include a persistent tactical use of outsourcing by European customers, insufficient process maturity, and lack of clarity in the definition of roles and responsibilities. As we look at global delivery, it is fair to say that there are two major misconceptions that still exist among the European market: 1) Global delivery is often considered as a synonym of offshore, and 2) IT services delivered through global delivery capabilities are application services. In reality, in the past few years, the European market has witnessed a considerable expansion in terms of both geographical location options (in areas such as Eastern Europe or North Africa, for example) and portfolio of services offered (now including, for example, help desk and remote infrastructure management services). Global delivery and offshore, however, remain the key deal characteristics that need to be treated with extra care in many European geographies, and as a consequence, many deals remain confidential. Traditional providers investment will be directed toward enhancing existing capabilities (especially near shore in Eastern Europe) and ensuring process solidity. Offshore providers inv estment on the other side will be centered on creating front-end capabilities with a focus on specific country and vertical-oriented competencies. While these global delivery models mature and are refined/ optimized, customers satisfaction will remain a challenge. KEY TRENDS SHAPING IT OUTSOURCING MARKET IN EUROPE TRENDS CHARACTERISTICS Selective Outsourcing With Multiple Providers * Embraced by majority of European companies * Objectives: IT excellence and cost optimization * Integration and governance challenges Global Sourcing and Global Delivery Models * Near shore proximity key for European market * Expanding portfolio of outsourcing services * Key area of investment for providers and buyers IT Utility * Industrialization is accelerating * Convergence of IT utility and global delivery * Key drivers: flexibility, efficiency, optimized cost, speed Aggressive ESP Competitive Landscape * National, global and offshore ESPs converging * Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures to continue * Providers are implementing new business models * New offshore market entrants Application Outsourcing to Grow * Drivers: portfolio rationalization, legacy modernization * Global delivery will gain acceptance * Multitude of providers competing Source: Gartner The U.K., Netherlands, Sweden and Finland are examples of countries more attracted by the global delivery model. However, in the meantime, the impact of global competition has started to drive countries such as Germany and France to consider global delivery as a viable option to be considered strategically, rather than when all other options have been exhausted. Despite a slower gestation and the fact that a complete infrastructure utility (IU) offering has not yet been developed, the IU model is continuing to attract new offerings and/or new providers. In the meantime, European customers, attracted by the idea of being able to access IT services in a flexible way, remain cautious as they expect further clarity on issues such as unit definition, pricing mechanisms, integration to existing systems, and security portability In the near future, we expect that the IU for ERP platforms will remain the most common battleground for providers; other providers are expected to instead mask their IU offering behind a package that includes product and support services. The concept of software as a service (SaaS) or ready-to-use applications will continue to generate lot of interest. Expectations for a solid delivery and specific functionalities will drive providers to specialize their offerings. Finally, gains in terms of process efficiency will be seen as crucial to deliver enhanced competitiveness, flexibility, agility and cost optimization. GLOBAL TRENDS: IT OUTSOURCING and OFFSHORING MARKET IT Outsourcing market is showing an average growth of 9% p.a. IT Outsourcing Worldwide forecast (Million $) Source : Gartner Dataquest In terms of volume, North America continues to be the leader in IT outsourcing. Latin America and APAC have shown good growth Europe has fast emerged as a big IT outsourcer Global offshore spending is continuing to register double digit growth. Worldwide Offshore IT Services Spending by Importing Region (million $) Source: Gartner Dataquest, 2004 and Worldwide and U.S. Offshore IT Services 2006-2010 Forecast In terms of volume, the North America continues to be the leader in IT offshoring. Once averse to the idea of outsourcing, Europe is now steadily adopting an IT offshore model to boost the economy Global offshore spending is projected to increase to 29400 $ Million in 2010 The graph on the next page shows the potential market for various types of sourcing options. This clearly depicts that he IT and Business Process offshoring market has grown at a tremendous rate over the past 7 year and the market provides a huge potential which is yet to be exploited. IT and BPO market Source Gartner, Dataquest, Aberdeen Group, McKinsey, Evalueserve, Infosys, IDC and Nasscom strategic review 2008 Currently we are not even exploiting 10% of the potential market size ( IT services off shoring just at $17 Billion, whereas market potential is about $200-240 Billion *) According to a new research by Gartner, the market is likely to grow further after the financial slowdown, as firms will try aggressively to reduce costs and improve efficiency Different Sourcing Models In-sourcing / Shared Services: Sourcing from internal sources or from an affiliated firm in the home economy Onshore Outsourcing: Sourcing from a non-affiliated firm in the home economy Captive Offshoring: Sourcing from an affiliated firm located abroad Offshore Outsourcing: Sourcing from a non-affiliated firm located abroad REGIONAL DYNAMICS ACROSS EUROPE The following section will describe the regional ITO trends and local dynamics across different European locations. UK and IRELAND 2005: â‚ ¬17.2B 2010: â‚ ¬25.7B 2005-2010 CAGR: 8.3% ITO drivers: Improve IT quality for end users, speed/flexibility, access to technical skills, cost reduction Inhibitors: Loss of control, lack of trust, security/privacy, IP Key trends: †¢ Most mature market in Europe with wider number of mega deals (public sector) †¢ Deal sophistication, including government. Increasing interest in new pricing schemes, business enhancement and shared services †¢ More selective sourcing and global delivery †¢ Areas such as Scotland and Ireland feeling pressure of Indian and Eastern European operations †¢ Wide potential for application engagements to mature from project engagements into outsourcing based engagements Despite being the largest and most mature market in Europe, the U.K. remains also one of the fast-growing ones. Here organizations seem to have moved away from the equation of outsourcing = cost reduction. While cost remains a key component, other objectives seem more important, such as improving IT service delivery, gaining specific skills, especially for application outsourcing deals, and becoming a more flexible organization. (See Appendix F) Inhibitions remain related to a general lack of trust in the ability to join forces with the providers to manage security, control over IT operations and IP. The U.K. market is characterized by a large number of mega deals, especially in the public sector. These outsourcing deals often include initiatives that have classically been carried out through project engagements and now are increasingly being performed in the initial phases of an IT outsourcing or BPO deal. This change reflects the growing desire of customers for a tighter link between investment and results (for which the outsourcer is responsible during the duration of the contract) and the important shift in role for the internal IT department. Rather than focusing on assembling and managing all of the necessary skills and capabilities to meet a certain objective, IT organizations, in this scenario, are responsible for coordinating the objectives of the Business Unit and the internal and external providers engaged to support them. Often infrastructure outsourcing is at the core of these complex relationships. At the same time, the U.K. is also the largest market in terms of adoption of IT services delivered through a network of global delivery capabilities (which include nearshore and offshore locations). From this point of view, areas that used to be considered as low cost for outsourcing operations (Scotland and Ireland) continue to feel the pressure of Indian and Eastern European capabilities. Finally, organizations that have engaged for a long period of time in project-based application deals are planning to elevate them into more-strategic, long-term application management engagements. This will allow them to gain a longer-term commitment from the service provider and the relevant support to re-evaluate their application portfolio. NORDIC COUNTRIES 2005: â‚ ¬5.2B 2010: â‚ ¬7.6B 2005-2010 CAGR: 8.2% Drivers: Cost reduction, access to technical skills (especially in application outsourcing engagements), support in global operations, focus on core business Inhibitors: Loss of control, security/privacy, lack of trust Key trends: †¢ Nordic market generally mature. Many large deals are in second or third generation. Some likely to evolve toward multi sourcing †¢ Large corporations see global delivery as a viable option. SMBs see nearshore option more favorably †¢ Consolidation drives specialization by geography, vertical market or horizontal service †¢ Increased competition between regional and global ESPs †¢ Cultural affinity seen as crucial to guarantee deal success/longevity Each of the four country markets that compose the Nordic region has its own distinct characteristics and buying behaviors in IT services. However, if we look at the forecast growth between 2005 and 2010, we expect the region to grow at a similar speed (despite size differences) of about 8%. Denmark: Sometimes seen as the entry point for the global service providers to the Nordics. Expected growth is from â‚ ¬856 million in 2005 to â‚ ¬1.2 billion in 2010 (CAGR of 7.8%). Finland: Unique in the Nordic region as buyers focus much more on business value of an outsourcing deal rather than just cost. Expected growth is from â‚ ¬1 billion in 2005 to â‚ ¬1.45 billion in 2010 (CAGR of 7.5%) Norway: Remains the smallest outsourcing market in the region. Expected growth is from â‚ ¬1.2 billion in 2005 to â‚ ¬1.8 billion in 2010 (CAGR of 8.1%) Sweden: Largest market and very cost-competitive. Probably the Nordic country targeted most by offshore providers currently. Expected growth is from â‚ ¬2 billion in 2005 to â‚ ¬3.1 billion in 2010 (CGR of 8.7%) From a client perspective, the Nordic region market is generally mature, with many large corporations in second- or third-generation outsourcing deals. Global delivery is widely accepted as an option. Competition between regional providers and global providers is increasing; this was initiated by the inability of local providers to support the operations of key Nordic organizations around the globe. However, recent acquisitions and divestitures by both local and international providers prove that the market has still got room for further maturation and consolidation. NETHERLANDS 2005: â‚ ¬3.4B 2010:â‚ ¬5B 2005-2010 CAGR: 8% Drivers: Cost reduction above all, agility/flexibility, improving service to end users Inhibitors: Loss of IP and control, security/privacy, high cost Key trends: Market shows mixed signs of maturity (organizations accept global delivery) and immaturity (sourcing strategy is often neglected) Market split between large global corporations and wide portion of SMBs Increased competition for local/national champions Application under scrutiny for externalization The market in the Netherlands is one of the more modern IT outsourcing environments in Europe, closely following the U.K. in many trends. A focus on global delivery and the expansion of many deals into the application or business process layer points to more market maturity. This maturity is driven primarily by the relatively high proportion of large (and often multinational) enterprises headquartered in the Netherlands and competing in major markets such as financial services. But there are some contradictory characteristics that point to an immature market (cost cutting is by far the major driver, and sourcing strategy is often neglected); this, as a consequence, often inhibits the potential success of outsourcing initiatives. The market remains very challenging and competitive. This is due to the high presence of small and midsize businesses (SMBs), which traditionally tend to consider outsourcing as a threat more than an opportunity and require a higher level of customization, which tests the profitability model of service providers. Competition remains strong for national champions as global and offshore providers continue to target opportunities in the country. Increasingly, application outsourcing opportunities are emerging as organizations look at portfolio rationalization, legacy system transformation, and custom application software development initiatives and accessing application utility solutions. FRANCE 2005: â‚ ¬6.6B 2010: â‚ ¬10B CAGR: 8.4 % Drivers: Cost reduction, refocus internal IT, speed/flexibility Inhibitors: Loss of control, lack of trust, security/privacy Key trends: Beyond its reliance on staff augmentation, Frances outsourcing market shows opportunities in all facets of outsourcing: infrastructure, applications and BPO Selective outsourcing has gained acceptance, and organizations show cautious interest in global service delivery National champions remain under competitive pressure from the global and multinational providers France has long been considered behind in the outsourcing trend. Now, however, the French outsourcing market is consolidating and growing, while the long-standing reliance on staff augmentation is losing strength. The major driver that will support a CAGR of over 8% between 2005 and 2010 is the need for French organizations to reduce cost and enhance their level of competitiveness in the market by refocusing their internal IT skills on more-strategic tasks while gaining flexibility. On the other side, it is interesting to see that challenges related to HR management have lost strength, compared with the traditional fears related to loss of control and security and lack of trust. Large organizations have recently moved toward the adoption of selective outsourcing with multiple providers. This model has gained acceptance as organizations look at maximizing the balance between cost and service delivery excellence. There is also a new focus on application outsourcing. This trend is important not only because it signals an acceleration in the growth of outsourcing in France overall, but because it signals a major change in the way French organizations use different kinds of IT services. Increase in application outsourcing deals also touches on one of the major taboos of IT services in France: offshore outsourcing. As such, although offshore remains a word to be used with extra care in the French market, many organizations would consider that access to global delivery models is an appealing part of outsourcing, especially when delivered by traditional players. In this case, North Africa (Morocco, for example) is emerging as a viable near shore location. National champions, the providers that focus on a specific region or country, remain under competitive pressure from the global and multinational providers. GERMANY 2005: â‚ ¬10.6B 2010: â‚ ¬16B 2005-2010 CAGR: 8.6% Drivers: Cost reduction above all, focus on core business, refocus internal IT Inhibitors: Security/privacy, lack of trust, loss of control Key trends: Global economic pressures have forced many organizations to look at outsourcing as a viable option In the short term, objectives such as flexibility and agility are secondary Pressure to divest internal IT departments or internal shared service organizations remains strong Global delivery gaining ground especially toward Eastern Europe Intensifying competition between strong German players and global ones Legacy system modernization will remain a key objective The German market is â€Å"federated† in several ways: government responsibilities, industrial centers, buying centers within enterprises, and management structures in place. All of this makes doing business in Germany (and negotiating significant IT service deals) unique. Decision processes tend to be longer, require more consensus building and often entail more travel than in other parts of Europe. For a long time, the majority of German organizations have considered IT operations as a key component to maintain or enhance their level of competitiveness in the market. This has, as a consequence, slowed the outsourcing growth. In the past two years, however, economic pressures have forced many organizations to look at outsourcing tactically to cut cost. While in the short term, achieving flexibility is a secondary objective, organizations look at outsourcing as a way to refocus their internal capabilities while focusing on their core business. The traditional inhibitors around security, trust and loss of control apply. While non-German external service providers (ESPs) still find it difficult to position themselves in Germany (exceptions are IBM Germany, which established itself early on as a â€Å"German† ESP, and HP, based on its early SAP hosting business and penetration as a technology provider), German providers maintain strong domestic positions and are starting to focus on expanding their international presence (through T-Systems). In the short term, German organizations will still consider selling their own IT capabilities, while global providers will see these as viable targets to build capabilities as long as they provide financial support through a long-term outsourcing deal. Finally, beyond potential healthy growth for ERP application outsourcing initiatives (especially SAP), as many organizations look at legacy system modernization, it is likely that many projects will evolve and deploy model to include the long-term management of applications. EASTERN EUROPE 2005: â‚ ¬1.1B 2010: â‚ ¬1.6B 2005-2010 CAGR: 7.9% Drivers: Acquisitions made by large Western European organizations, increased competition, need to revamp obsolete IT environments (leap-frog) Inhibitors: Low expertise to manage OS deals, high cost of OS, loss of control Key trends: Slow internal consumption of outsourcing Key nearshore delivery hub for providers supporting operations of European organizations Local Eastern European service providers will remain target for acquisitions Long-term growth will be supported by increasing competition, acquisitions made by Western companies and the penetration of Western ESPs in the region The region has become a strong global delivery hub Recent admission to the European Union has transformed countries such as Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic into attractive locations to establish global delivery capabilities designed to deliver IT services to European or global customers. Eastern Europe has been identified as an ideal region to establish a service delivery hub by U.S.-based providers (IBM, Accenture and EDS), European ones (Atos Origin, Capgemini, T-Systems, SIS and ST) and offshore ones (Ness, TCS, Satyam, Infosys and Wipro). When necessary, providers are openly seeking acquisitions to gain scale; it is the case for SIS, which acquired ELAS, HT Computers in Slovakia, and Ibis-Sys in Serbia (February 2005). Others, like Austrian-based ST, are pursuing a strategy of becoming the provider of choice in Eastern Europe through a combination of organic development and local acquisitions. ST acquired Computacenter Austria to strengthen its product resale capabilities. Although internal consumption of outsourcing has been slow, it is expected to grow rapidly, thanks to increasing competition driven by the fact that private-sector companies and public-sector organizations are now focusing on bringing their systems into line with market standards. This is leading to some â€Å"leapfrogging† effects — the IT utility approach, for example, holds significant appeal without posing the same transition challenges as elsewhere — but because these markets are fairly immature, there is still a strong focus on products and product support services rather than more-sophisticated IT service engagements. Italy and Spain are two other major countries with an expected ITO market size of about 5 Billion $ each by the year 2010. GLOBAL DELIVERY MODEL GDM is a unique approach to outsourcing and off shoring, which offers the best of both worlds by blending onsite, onshore and offshore resources and locations. By using a far-reaching network of onsite, onshore, and offshore resources, GDM aims to cuts across geographies to access the right resources, in the right place, at the right cost. By selecting the most advantageous and cost effective proportion of resources worldwide, Global Delivery Model boosts business performance while also lowering costs. It also helps the supplier deliver requirements that are met on-time, within budget, and with high quality; greater efficiency and responsiveness to their clients. In this section we would discuss in detail, the key drivers to a successful GDM. Source: Capgemini, 2008 KEY DRIVERS OF A SUCCESSFUL GDM STRONG PROCESSES Strong processes are the backbone of a successful Global Delivery Model. There is a strong need for detailed, documented and time-tested processes for all the activities and interfaces. Strong quality and project management processes ensure delivery excellence. World class processes for knowledge management and sharing resources encourage improved learning among teams. Processes for managing talent ensure that the projects get the best and most motivated people. Strong processes for interaction and communication within team make it possible for globally distributed groups to interface and collaborate in an effective manner while delivering excellence on a continuous basis. On the other hand, processes, while strong, should leave ample space for creativity and flexibility. It is only then that the Global Delivery Model (GDM) can create far more value than the traditional sourcing models. Here is what it will translate into: Quicker, seamless transitions, and early project ownership Optimum onsite/ offshore mixes through intelligent allocation of the available resources High degree of predictability through processes, sharing and reuse A strong relationship approach to ensure continuity and business focus Sharing of best practices and tools across the enterprise Depth and quality of resources, continuously trained and retrained to suit project needs Adherence to SLA based pricing models to ensure good Return on Investment (ROI) and drive customer satisfaction PROCESS ARCHITECTURE Companies rely on processes to consistently deliver high quality solutions while executing a number of engagements from multiple locations. According to the policies adopted by a leading IT services provider: values, vision and policies should form the first level of the three-tiered process architecture. These are then implemented through process execution at the next level. These processes are defined with clear ownership and clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Quality System Documentation Quality System Documentation defines clearly all the processes that should be put into place. These documents provide the engineers and consultations with a vast repository of detailed procedures, templates, standards, guidelines and checklists. The comprehensiveness of these documents supports all tasks from higher-level information abstraction and definition to tasks such as coding and documentation. This is crucial to assure clients with the delivery of high quality and predictable IT solutions that meet their business needs. These documents should also be monitored and updated regularly. Knowledge Sharing Employees are given a forum like a website portal, to share knowledge gained from their experience at the organization. It is meant to be a central repository of the knowledge that can be tapped by peers and as sometimes external clients as well. The collection of documents on this portal is reviewed and classified into different areas: Software development life-cycle activities such as requirements specification, design, build and testing documentation. Software-related topics such as tools and quality documentation. Topics of general or operational interest such as travel or HR policies, etc. Process Assets This is a repository to facilitate sharing and giving out of engagement learning across the organization. The user has the facility to submit to the repository, retrieve from the repository and obtain information on the status of the repository. A process asset can be any information ranging from an engagement, which can be re-used by future engagements. Typically these include project plans, configuration management plans, requirements documents, standards, checklists, design documents, test plans, causal analysis reports and utilities used in the engagement, etc. Process Database The Process Database is a software engineering database to study the processes at the organization with respect to productivity and quality. More specifically, its purpose areas are as follows: To aid estimation of effort and project defects To get the productivity and quality data on different types of projects To aid in creating of a process capability baseline Process Capability Baseline (PCB) Process Capability baseline is used to specify, what the performance of the process is, i.e. what a project can expect when following the process. This estimation is done based on the past data. The performance factors of the process are

The Rebellion of Nora in Ibsens A Dolls House Essay -- Dolls House e

The Rebellion of Nora in A Doll's House      Ã‚  Ã‚   A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen, was written during a time when the role of woman was that of comforter, helper, and supporter of man. The play generated great controversy due to the fact that it featured a female protagonist seeking individuality.  Ã‚   A Doll's House was one of the first plays to introduce woman as having her own purposes and goals. The heroine, Nora Helmer, progresses during the course of the play eventually to realize that she must discontinue the role of a doll and seek out her individuality. David Thomas describes the initial image of Nora as "that of a doll wife who revels in the thought of luxuries that can now be afforded, who is become with flirtation, and engages in childlike acts of disobedience" (Thomas 259). This inferior role from which Nora progressed is extremely important.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ibsen's A Doll's House depicts the role of women as subordinate in order to emphasize the need to reform their role in society. Definite characteristics of the women's subordinate role in a relationship are emphasized through Nora's contradicting actions. Her infatuation with luxuries such as expensive Christmas gifts contradicts her resourcefulness in scrounging and buying cheap clothing; her defiance of Torvald by eating forbidden Macaroons contradicts the submission of her opinions, including the decision of which dance outfit to wear, to her husband; and Nora's flirtatious nature contradicts her devotion to her husband. These occurrences emphasize the facets of a relationship in which women play a dependent role: finance, power, and love.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ibsen attracts our attention to these examples to highlight the overall subordinate role that a woman ... ...y is representative of the awakening of society to the changing view of the role of woman. A Doll's House magnificently illustrates the need for and a prediction of this change. Works Cited and Consulted: Clurman, Harold. 1977. Ibsen. New York: Macmillan. Heiberg, Hans. 1967. Ibsen. A Portrait of the Artist. Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami. Ibsen, Henrik. "A Doll’s House." Perrine's Literature.   Forth Worth:   Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998.   pp. 967-1023 Northam, John. 1965. "Ibsen's Search for the Hero." Ibsen. A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Shaw, Bernard. "A Doll's House Again."   Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.   Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1979. Sturman, Marianne Isben's Plays I, A Doll’s House Cliffs Notes, 1965. Thomas, David. Henrik Ibsen. New York: Grove, 1984

Employee Rights and Property Searches Essay

Mopak Corporation performed a search for drugs and guns on the employees and contract workers vehicles with the assistance of a private security company and drug detection dogs. In the search, guns were found, but not drugs, in several vehicles. At the completion of the search, five employees along with ten contract workers whose vehicles where the weapons were found were terminated, due to the corporation’s belief that the employees violated the company policy. The terminated workers immediately sued Mopak for wrongful termination. Though mostly in the United States employees are â€Å"at-will† employees, the arguments for wrongful termination the employees from Mopak can make in their suit is that Mopak performed an unreasonable search of their vehicles, violating their expectation of privacy. The search was made without a warrant and violated their Fourth Amendment Rights. (Lawyer. com, 2013) The contract workers are bound by contracts that may have an at-will clause in it, in which case they, like the regular employees, can be terminated at-will. Even though when there is a contract, written or oral, it’s based on a promise of job security, but with an at-will clause, contract workers may either leave a contract job or be terminated from a contract job at-will. †Employers often, and legitimately, ask employees to sign contracts or agreements that document and enforce the terms of at will employment, usually in company policy manuals. † (Lawyersandsettlements. com, 2013, para. ) The arguments that Mopak Corporation will make in response to the wrongful termination suit are that in the employees’ policy manual, handbooks or contracts reflect that the employee and/or contract workers must agree to random vehicle searches, random drug testing, and an at will clause for employment; that when signed by the employees and/or contract workers, it becomes binding, implied, or implied-in-fact contracts. In the 1988 decision of landmark case Foley vs. Interactive Data Corp. it brought to light that employees enter into implied-in-fact contracts with the acceptance of great merit reviews, promotions, raises, and with verbal assurances of job security. I believe the Mopak Corporation would win. I do not believe that a corporation with so much to lose would perform an illegal search of employee’s vehicles. They must have in the company’s policy manual that such an act would be permissible once the employees and contract workers sign that they have rea d and agreed to the terms and condition of the policy and/or contracts.