? Compare the characteristics of a global leader with the characteristics of an effective innovator as described in this week?s resources. In what ways are they similar? How do they differ?
? What is the role of a global leader in leading innovation and how can a global leader help an organisation stay focused on new innovation, even after it has become successful and may tend to become complacent?

Assignment
Part 1: (1,500 words)
? Find a video clip of a global leader exhibiting a specific competency, then define and expand on the competency and explain how you see it displayed.
? Consider a scenario in which you have been asked to create a global leaders development programme. Present the highlights of the programme and describe how the training fits into the model presented in Figure 5.2 of your text.
Part 2: (1,500 words)
? Imagine a scenario where you must select one of three locations?Johannesburg, Mumbai or Bangkok?that is most unlike your current culture as the site of a new leadership position and determine how to prepare yourself to be successful in this new position.
? Research leadership styles, important cultural norms and culturally accepted organizational behavior for the location you selected.
? Present a personal plan of action based on one of the two following options:
o Select at least two different methods from Figure 9.1 in your Global Leadership text to include in your plan; or
o Complete a 2 x 2 acculturation assessment framework with at least three situations in Quadrant 4 and plans on how to move them to Quadrant 1.
References
Include all resources used in completing this assignment. Please make sure that you cite and reference all sources properly, in accordance with the Harvard referencing system.

Discussion Question
One of the challenges facing many organizations today is finding those individuals who can manage global enterprises. What characteristics does such an individual have? Being a global leader involves much more than conducting business with another country. It requires the ability to motivate, communicate and solve problems among different cultures, economic systems and political arenas, all while engaging others towards a shared vision.

In the article ?Effective Global Leadership Requires a Global Mindset?, Cohen argues that ?the most important attribute required for effective global leadership is not a new set of skills or experience, but rather a new perspective called a global mindset? (2010, p.5). However, in Figure 3.3 in your text, global mindset is just one component of a larger set of competencies.

To prepare for this discussion, review the resources. Reflect on the arguments presented by Cohen and the authors of your module text.
With these thoughts in mind, post a 1,000-word response to the following to the Discussion:

Make the case for or against the argument that having a global mindset is the key foundational factor in being a successful global leader, as stated by Cohen. Be sure to support your argument with appropriate citation.

In working out your responses to the Discussion Question, you should choose examples from your own experience and/or the readings for this week, or find appropriate cases on the Web that you can discuss. Credit will be given for references you make to relevant examples from real companies. Please make sure that you cite and reference all your outside sources properly, in accordance with the Harvard referencing system.

How Roche Diagnostics Develops Global Managers

For the purposes of this assignment we were to read the case found in Chapter 15 of our textbook entitled How Roche Diagnostics Develops Global Managers.
Read the case found in Chapter 15 and prepare a three to five (3-5) page response to
the following questions:
1. Discuss who is responsible for producing global leaders.
2. In your professional field, explain the possible ramifications of not having
global leaders.
3. Roche?s Perspectives Program invests many resources to develop their global
leaders. Based on the O?Toole chapter on public policy, discuss the possible
changes that can be made in the U.S. to encourage companies to become global
leaders.
4. In the absence of resources such as Roche has at its disposal of producing
global leaders, describe how smaller organizations can address their global
leadership development needs.
5. Recommend how public policy can influence the development of global leaders
in your community.

As background for this assignment, we are to consider the case (on pages 487-488) in our textbook which is presented below in its entirety:
The health care company Roche has two operating divisions: a pharmaceuticals division and Roche Diagnostics, which applies research and development to identify ways that diagnostic tests can help patients manage their health with individualized care. At its main sites in Switzerland, Germany, and the United States, Roche Diagnostics conducts research by microbiologists, biochemists, geneticists, oncologists, and specialists in infectious diseases. Finding enough people with these skills is difficult, and managing them requires a special set of scientific and business expertise, as well as the ability to navigate the cultural differences of a diverse workforce.
In contrast to most of its competitors, Roche isn't focused on the most efficient way to conduct research in one or two centralized locations.
Rather, the strategy is to have many different groups pursuing a variety of ideas, sharing what they learn so they create the most ideas. Thus, leadership requires a combination of technical strength and communication skill.
Roche develops the necessary management talent through a program of global rotation called the Perspectives Program. Employees who have completed their PhD or MBA and want to pursue an international career are eligible to participate. Participants are selected on the basis of geographic and functional needs.
They are sent on four international assignments lasting six months each. Each assignment takes place in a different country-perhaps one of the main facilities or another Roche laboratory in, say, China or New Zealand. Typically, employees who complete the program (95 percent finish it successfully) are assigned to positions as senior managers or directors. Many find that the experience has led their career in a new direction.
Before managers are sent on these assignments, the company briefs them on what to expect. The briefing includes benefits to seek, reasons why the company selected them and what it is investing, goals for the rotation, and success stories of prior participants.
Roche has run into some challenges in implementing the program. One is that some expats start to enjoy their assignments so much that they don't want to move on when the six-month period ends. Bringing candidates into the program is occasionally difficult because talented employees' managers don't want them to leave for a foreign assignment. The company also found that preparation was sometimes inadequate-either the participant or the manager of the international assignment wasn't fully prepared.
To address some of these problems, Roche is now more careful to layout the plan for the rotation while preparing candidates, so they understand that the rotations will have a limited duration. Rather than simply saying their careers could take them to various places, the discussion now pinpoints locations where there is a need that matches the candidate's talents. The program also has more alternatives so some employees can take assignments for just a year.
For candidates who are deciding whether to participate, Roche lets them take their spouse or domestic partner with them on some trips to investigate the program. Although this adds to the program's expense, it helps to ensure that the participant will successfully complete the rotation. Candidates who are unsure also can shadow a current participant to see
what the experience is like. One way Roche has lowered managers' resistance to losing top employees is to arrange swaps where a manager who lets a key employee participate in the rotation can be on the receiving end and get a top employee from another part of the world.
Recently, when a participant returned from a rotation in Japan, he could readily identify what aspect of the experience had made him a better businessperson. He said he learned to understand the typical decision-making process in Japan, which involves careful discussion
in the office, followed by a late evening out for dinner and further discussion, with key decisions occurring as late as midnight. Knowing the "after-hours" part of the workday is crucial for a company that has many interactions between colleagues in the United States and Japan.

Read the case and prepare a three to five (3-5) page response to
the following questions:

1. Discuss who is responsible for producing global leaders.
2. In your professional field, explain the possible ramifications of not having
global leaders.
3. Roches Perspectives Program invests many resources to develop their global
leaders. Based on the OToole chapter on public policy, discuss the possible
changes that can be made in the U.S. to encourage companies to become global
leaders.
4. In the absence of resources such as Roche has at its disposal of producing
global leaders, describe how smaller organizations can address their global
leadership development needs.
5. Recommend how public policy can influence the development of global leaders
in your community.
The format of the report is to be as follows:
o Typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font (size 12), one-inch margins
on all sides, APA format.
o Use headers for each of the subjects being covered, followed by your
response

There are faxes for this order.

? Using the information in the case study ?From Regional Star to Global Leader?, found in this week?s readings:
o Analyse the global competencies and intercultural competencies of Yang Jianguo. What are his strengths and weaknesses?
o Using this week?s readings including Figure 3.3 text, develop a specific plan to help Yang Jianguo become a more effective global leader.

Reference

Nohria, N., Tsang, K., Javidan, M. & Champy, J. (2009) ?From regional star to global leader?, Harvard Business Review, 87 (1), January, pp.33-39
Figure 3.3 The Pyramid model of global leadership
Source: Adapted from Bird, A. and Osland, J. (2004). Global competencies: An introduction. In Henry Lane, Martha Maznevski, Mark Mendenhall, and Jeanne McNett (eds.), The Blackwell handbook of global management. Oxford: Blackwell: 57?80.

?Analysis of Global Leadership Competencies?, of your ?Becoming a Global Leader? project in which you will be expected to:

Develop a profile of competencies of effective global leadership. Select one global leader from both today and a century of your choice whom you think exhibit the characteristics you have identified and provide a brief summary of their lives.
Provide an analysis on how to incorporate the effective global leadership competencies into your own leadership approach.

Make the case for or against the argument that having a global mindset is the key foundational factor in being a successful global leader, as stated by Cohen. Be sure to support your argument with appropriate citation.
. Credit will be given for references you make to relevant examples from real companies.Please make sure that you cite and reference all your outside sources properly, in accordance with the Harvard referencing system.


Reference
Cohen, S.L. (2010) ?Effective global leadership requires a global mindset?, Industrial and Commercial Training, 42 (1), pp.3-10.

This assignment seeks a deeper yet practical approach to the leader follower relationship with the writing of a popular press article exploring the nature of global leadership. The article should address the global leadership principles that global leaders need to be engaged in for success in the leader follower relationship. This article should be 1000 words

Be sure to include the title of the popular press outlet, the journal or website, along with the publishing/author guidelines when you submit the assignment.

Professor notes: To better address the third section of the assignment, I would suggest that the Global Leader Roadmap should be developed more by elaborating on each section and providing some examples of how these processes would actually be implemented.

Please write one page with example on each global leadership roadmap area 1 thru 6.

Please see attached group project assignment spring 2013, see area in yellow.


Global Leadership Roadmap

1. CREATE YOUR GLOBAL VISION
Clearly define your global vision as well as the strategic and cultural priorities for your organization.

2. ESTABLISH GLOBAL LEADERSHIP REQUIREMENTS
Determine what it will take for your organization to succeed over the next 3-5 years. What are the key challenges (business drivers) that leaders must face to successfully execute on your priorities? Start with the end in mind by developing a Success Profile? for exceptional performance.

3. IDENTIFYHIGH-POTENTIAL LEADERS
Identify those leaders in your organization who have the highest potential to be great global leaders.

4. ASSESS READINESS AND SELECT TALENT
How do you know who?s ready for the world stage?and who?s not? Gauge readiness of leaders to assume global leadership roles in your organization. Leverage the assessment and selection data you collect to make successful hiring and promotion decisions.

5. ACCELERATE DEVELOPMENT
Determine and deliver the right mix of experiences aimed at developing your senior executives and high-potential leaders.

6. DEPLOY TALENT
Decide how you will deploy your talent around the world. At the end of the day, the ultimate objective is to deter- mine who will have the highest probability of achieving your global vision and executing successfully against your business and cultural priorities

Write an essay involving the lists below. Mention all the important concepts and theories?
? Define global leadership
? Distinguish between global leadership and traditional leadership
? Evaluate how globalisation and the global context influence global leadership
? Analyse challenges and opportunities facing leaders in today?s global environment
? Evaluate the changing expectations and roles of global leaders in managing change
? Foster global leadership development in yourself and others
? Assess the role of ethics in global leadership

Assignment
This assignment will focus on the characteristics of global leaders. You will be working on different components of what will help you take what you are learning about global leadership and begin to apply your new knowledge in a real-world context. In this submission you will develop certain sections of your overall plan.
This assignment is divided into two elements:
A submission of 1,500 words which will be ?Analysis of Global Leadership Competencies?, of your ?Becoming a Global Leader? in which you will be expected to:
? Develop a profile of competencies of effective global leadership. Select one global leader from both today and a century of your choice whom you think exhibit the characteristics you have identified and provide a brief summary of their lives.
? Provide an analysis on how to incorporate the effective global leadership competencies into your own leadership approach.

QUESTION
As the level of global business expands, business leaders find they must continually be monitoring any important shifts in international and domestic policies or new opportunities that may present themselves. At the same time, leaders must be aware of the complexity of intercultural relations and the priorities of the individuals with whom they will work. As a global leader, you may even be confronted with national laws, standards or norms which are in direct conflict with the corporation's global ethical standards. As a leader, how will you handle such situations?
To prepare for this discussion, review this week?s resources, as well as those from the previous weeks. Reflect on how the concepts presented relate to your leadership style and that of those leaders you have encountered.
With these thoughts in mind, post your 1,000-word response to the following to the Discussion:
Your business is planning to expand within the next several years and this will include constructing a new manufacturing centre. The proposal involves finding a location that would benefit from new development and provide adequate resources and labour. The vision is to have the centre be managed and operated locally. You have been given the assignment of identifying possible locations.
What factors in the global context would be important to consider and how would you monitor these factors? Develop a specific plan for environmental scanning. How you would help the local leaders ensure that all of the global and local considerations are addressed?
In working out your responses to the Question, you should choose examples from your own experience and/or the readings for this week, or find appropriate cases on the Web that you can discuss. Credit will be given for references you make to relevant examples from real companies. Please make sure that you cite and reference all your outside sources properly, in accordance with the Harvard referencing system.

? Using the information in the case study ?From Regional Star to Global Leader?, found in this week?s readings:
o Analyse the global competencies and intercultural competencies of Yang Jianguo. What are his strengths and weaknesses?
o Using this week?s readings including Figure 3.3 in Chapter 3 in your module text, develop a specific plan to help Yang Jianguo become a more effective global leader.
In working out your responses to the Discussion Question, you should choose examples from your own experience and/or the readings for this week, or find appropriate cases on the Web that you can discuss. Credit will be given for references you make to relevant examples from real companies. Please make sure that you cite and reference all your outside sources properly, in accordance with the Harvard referencing system

Rewrite using the same subject and information as below you may use the same source.

I chose FedEx as the company for my SLP. According to the FedEx website FedEx Corporation provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. FedEx Express invented express distribution and remains the industry?s global leader, providing rapid, reliable, time-definite delivery to more than 220 countries and territories, connecting markets that comprise more than 90 percent of the world?s gross domestic product within one to three business days, is a leading provider of ground small-package delivery services, providing service to the U.S. and Canada. FedEx Home Delivery, the industry?s first ground service dedicated to residential delivery, is available from FedEx Ground and is backed by a money-back guarantee, FedEx Freight is the market leader in providing less-than-truckload (LTL) freight services across all lengths of haul, and FedEx Services operates combined sales, marketing, administrative and information technology functions in shared services operations that support our transportation businesses and allow us to obtain synergies from the combination of these functions.
FedEx, in all of its many branches, is really just a service company at its base. It provides service by delivering goods, mostly in the form of mail. It employs over 290,000 people to ensure they can provide that service.
FedEx promotes quality by training their employs to remain ?absolutely positively? focused on safety, high ethical and professional standards, and to focus on customer and community needs. They also offer a money back guarantee on their ground delivery.
The company delivers to more than 220 countries and does more than 3.6 million shipments a day. They offer services at their retail stores across the world making accessibility to the average customer easy. They also use independent owner/operators for freight operations, helping to keep costs low. FedEx has its own fleet of air planes in order to ship by air. The fact that they don?t have to contract air service out aids in keeping costs low and delivery schedules on the FedEx timeline. They can air ship all across the world and then use independent truck operators to ground ship to even the most rural of areas.
The FedEx website says they value their employs and promotes diversity. They earn the respect and confidence of the FedEx people, customers, and investors. This is backed up by the numerous shifts they have that would fit almost anyone?s lifestyle. The shipping warehouses have full and part time shifts that make it easy for people to accommodate their personal timelines. When a company can employ many people with many different scheduling times it makes it easier to cover 24 hour operations that are needed to push out that kind of service.
FedEx must maintain a fleet of planes as well as local delivery trucks. This means that scheduling maintenance and inspections is a tedious task that must be given close attention. They have the Airbus A310, delivery trucks, and freight trucks that all fall into the maintenance portion of operations management.
The FedEx strategy is to compete collectively by standing as one brand and with one voice, to operate independently to meet distinct customer needs, and to manage collaboratively by working together to sustain loyal relationships with the workforce, customers, and investors.

References
FedEx Corporation Company information Retrieved on 24 April 2012 at
http://about.van.fedex.com/company-information

Assignment 3: LEADERSHIP OF RICHARD BRANSON
1) Assess the key elements of Richard Branson's leadership style and the impact that those elements have had on his business success. Provide support for your rationale
2) Given that the Virgin Group has been described as a fast-growing entrepreneurial company with many facets to the group, suggest how the unique aspects of Richard Branson's leadership style mesh successfully with the particular attributes of a multifaceted organization like Virgin
3) Determine two (2) key ways in which Richard Branson is likely to motivate employees in order to achieve his goals for the Virgin group. Indicate whether or not his approach is likely to work in a different organizational setting. Provide support for your rationale
4) Assess the effectiveness of Richard Branson's ability to articulate and communicate his vision for his company to employees and other stakeholders. Provide support for your rationale
5) Assume that you have received a job offer to be a manager within the Virgin Group. Determine the criteria you would use to evaluate whether Richard Branson's leadership style is a good fit for you as a manager and what conclusion you may draw about working under this type of leader
6) Take a position on whether or not you believe Richard Branson is a global leader. Justify your position and provide support for your justification
7) Predict Richard Branson's success as a leader over the next five (5) years. Support your prediction

Using the Internet and the text book Daft, R. (2012). Management (10th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning research Starbucks organizational culture and the key leadership and management traits used to execute the business strategy.

PLEASE USE THE BELOW FOR THE TEXT BOOK REFRENCE
TEXT BOOK Daft, R. (2012). Management (10th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Reference:
GO TO: http://www.coursesmart.com/
GO to Sign In: email:




VERY IMPORTANT: YOU MUST STATE THE QUESTIONS BELOW IN BOLD BEFORE YOU RESPOND TO THEM WITH SOURCED INFORMATION WHILE MAINTAINING APA FORMAT

Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:
1. Suggest the key elements of Starbucks organizational culture that contributes to its success in a global economy. Indicate managements role with creating and sustaining the organizational culture.
2. Assess the effectiveness of Starbucks management decisions in providing innovative offerings for its customers (e.g., WiFi, style of coffee, etc.) in order to achieve its current competitive marketplace advantage. Provide support for your rationale.
3. Determine one (1) key management competency that a successful manager at Starbucks is likely to have. Indicate one (1) way in which this particular competency is a good fit for the organizational culture.
4. Speculate on whether Starbucks would achieve long-term sustainability as a global leader in the coffee industry without the organizations CEO, Howard Shultz.
5. Use at least two (2) quality academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the students name, the professors name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Examine the concepts of management related to modern-day work environments.
Analyze the corporate environment, culture, and challenges for managing in a global environment.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in modern management.
Write clearly and concisely about modern management using proper writing mechanics.

There are faxes for this order.

Whirlpool Corporation is the worlds leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances. Founded in 1911 by Lou Upton, Whirlpool initially produced motor-driven wringer washing machines. Today Whirlpool Corporation realizes annual sales of approximately $19 billion, has 73,000 employees, and maintains approximately seventy manufacturing and technology research centers around the world. Whirlpool Corporation manufactures and markets major brand names that include Whirlpool, Maytag, Kitchen Aid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, and Bauknecht to consumers in nearly every country around the world.
During its first fifty years, the company grew and expanded manufacturing operations to include a full range of kitchen and home appliances. By the 1970s, company leadership began globalizing with expanded operations in Brazil, Mexico, and India. Whirlpool Corporation accelerated its global leader in the home appliance industry.
With the acquisition of Maytag Corporation in 2006, the company drove efficiencies that resulted in an even stronger organization that was able to offer more to consumers in the increasingly competitive global marketplace. Whirlpool Corporation became a more efficient supplier to trade customers while offering a broader portfolio of innovative, high-quality branded products and services to consumers.





Using the above information as a reference; using the below information as heading, write a 5 page paper, double spaced, Times New Roman font (size 12), one inch margins on all sides, APA format:


1. Discuss what factors emerged at Whirlpool that impacted its talent needs.

2. Discuss how expanding globally changed the talent requirements at Whirlpool.

3. Discuss how Whirlpool used its Leadership Model to manage its talent.

4. Discuss how Whirlpool used metrics to improve the quality of talent hired.

5. Discuss future consideration at Whirlpool related to managing and sustaining talent.

Books:
(chapters 1-3)
Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Socities
House, R, Hanges P., Javidan, M. Dorfman, P. and Gupta, V. (2004)

(Chapters 1-2)
Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind
Hofstede, G. and Hofstede, G.J. (2005)

1. What is the phenomenon of globalization?
2. What is the changing globalization paradigm?
3. What are some of the powerful forces driving economic and scoial change that in turn demands a different leadership mind-set?
4. The authors identify and discuss a plethora of competencies that they believe are essential for global leaders of the future. What are the 5 or 6 competencies that are most important for global leaders?
5. Is global leadership really different than personal or organizational leadership?
Customer is requesting that (mwriter2010) completes this order.

I plan to interview a global leader within my organization, so if this can be written in a general nature which I could then take it and apply to my organization. I don't know if writing this type of research paper is possible with your service. I look forward to understanding if your service will work for me.

Assignment:
Interview a global leader to determine the global challenges they currently encounter in their organization.
From the interview, what do you think are the major factors of the identified challenges?
Describe in detail the global issues and leadership dynamics you see.
In what environment, or world, does the leader view the organization as existing?
Provide alternative explanations and theories that might explain why the problem exists.
Detail an action plan for the leader that includes how they can resolve the global challenges you described.
Support your position.
This report should be 1500 words (?10%)

These are for 5 discussions questions and response should be 100 - 150 words each and written, cited, and referenced in APA style. When submitting back to me, please include the original question along with the response under it for each of the 4 questions. Please use the reference for each question and list it under the question. I will include them in the attachment. I have also attached samples that have been done for me before by Writemyessay.com, the only thing is they didnt list the reference under the question. Please add the reference under the question. Thank you.
1) According to Eagly and Chin (2010), the omission of diversity from leadership theory has resulted in a failure to address important issues, including, "(a) the limited access of individuals from diverse identity groups to leadership roles; (b) the shaping of leaders' behavior by their dual identities as leaders and members of gender, racial, ethnic, or other identity groups; and (c) the potential of individuals from groups formerly excluded from leadership roles to provide excellent leadership because of their differences from traditional leaders" (p. 216). Other research emphasizes the organizational aspects that serve as structural barriers to women, and the styles, behavior, or identity of women leaders.
For your initial post to this discussion, read the articles dealing with gender and leadership diversity and respond to the following questions. In what ways do these institutional barriers intersect with leader behavior and identity? Is it enough for women leaders to develop effective behavior and styles to become more effective leaders?
Reference: Eagly and Chin
Eagly & Johannesen
Sanchez-Hucles

2) According to Ospina and Foldy (2009), traditional leadership theory and research are based on predominantly western ideas, a preference for positivist methodologies, and operate with color-blind and gender-blind assumptions. For your initial post to this discussion, summarize the results of their research, identifying three key learnings about leadership diversity. Identify three areas in which future research is needed. What are the ways you might apply their findings to your practice of leadership to create a more diverse leadership group?
Reference: Ospina & Foldy

3) Javidan, Dorfman, Howell, and Hanges in Leadership and Cultural Context: A Theoretical and Empirical Examination Based on Project GLOBE (Nohria & Khurana, 2010) provide an overview of the Project GLOBE research on leadership in 62 societies. A key finding and contribution of their research is the idea of culturally-endorsed implicit leadership theory (CLT), developed from the concept of implicit leadership theory (ILT).
In your initial post to this discussion, explain the differences between CLT and ILT, and explain how these ideas shape the ways people of different national cultures consider leadership. Then, choose a country and look at the data provided on country cluster analysis in Javidan, et. al. (2006). Analyze leadership within the context of your country of choice, using the information in the data, and provide a snapshot of what CLT might be in that country, and how you might lead people from that country and culture. How useful is this research for application to the practice of global leaders?
For additional resources, you may want to review the research conducted by Geert Hofstede.
Reference: Javidan
www.geerthofstede.com

4) Dorfman, et. al. (1997) found that while there are a number of universal leadership behaviors that appear to be universal across cultures, their impact on subordinate performance varies as a result of cultural values. In your initial post to this discussion, explain why this conclusion was reached by the researchers, supporting your post by comparing the data from two countries of your choice. What are the implications of these results for the practice of leadership and for further leadership research? What might be some areas for future research in the area?
Reference: Dorfman

5) The readings for this unit address leader development from a number of perspectives, including identity-based development, experience-based development, and the development of human capability. In your initial post to this discussion, briefly articulate the main points of each of these approaches to developing leaders. Then, consider these development approaches in the light of what you have learned about leadership this quarter through your study of research. Think creatively about what perspectives and approaches you might add to development programs to help leaders become more effective in their work, based on research evidence about what makes an effective leader.

Please write an essay about the topic "Women in Business". Please include in the essay what you think are the key qualities women must possess in order to be successful in today's business world. In addition, mention how, in your opinion,the increase in women holding managerial positions has changed the dynamics in today's business environment?
Why do you think it is important to have women in leadership positions?
Do you think the increase in women holding managerial positions has changed the dynamics of today's business environment? How and why?
What makes a good global leader? Explain how you have demonstrated these attributes.
What are your post-study career aspirations?

Please use max. 2 sources. They have to be reliable. No Wikipedia or other similar sources are accepted. No plagiarism allowed. The essay must be completely written by yourself.
The language style should be very sophisticated.

Read article, in 750 words express your opinion about this article. Are you agree or disagree? Why? give on example to support your argument.

Article

Perception of Leadership Styles and Trust across Cultures and Gender: A Comparative Study on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton

Quader, Mohammed Shahedul, South Asian Journal of Management


The race to be the 56th President of the United States has conjured an unprecedented contest in the American Democratic Party between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The purpose of this study is to quantify and examine the perception of the contrasting leadership styles between these two candidates using a survey method. There appears to be a shift away from the skill-based leadership traits of decision making and experience to a preference for a more intangible evaluation of a leader's character: the level of their moral compass. No significant gender or cultural differences were found between the trustworthiness and likelihood of voting for either Obama or Clinton's leadership styles. Finally, there was also a noticeably high association between the perception of trust and the likelihood of voting for a leader.

INTRODUCTION

The relationship of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's leadership styles has to be investigated from the view point of four distinct variables: gender, culture, trust and likelihood of voting. It is necessary to examine which leadership traits were considered to be of significant while addressing perception of trust and likelihood of voting. According to our study, the perception of fairness is the single most essential leadership trait which leaders should acquire in order to garner trust and commitment among voters. This in turn translates to employees in a business world. Other seemingly more obvious traits linked to current leadership studies, such as visionary and inspiring are both considered to be less influential in this study. The absence of both gender and cultural differences in the perception of trust and likelihood of voting towards both of the candidates' leadership styles is also very interesting. Thus, attention should be placed back upon transactional leadership, which has been pushed into the background and criticized for the being supposedly less effective than transformational leadership in the modern world. This finding has also placed extra weight on the study of how global leaders should be concentrating on how to project a perception that can be universally appealing based on values and its accompanying actions. The modern leader must hence be able to exhibit virtuous moral values in their leadership to be a true global leader. It is no longer much about which leadership style is moral suitable but rather the multiple realities and perspective that leaders have to reflect in order to inhibit trust within their workplace.

PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this research is to provide scientific evidence for the effects of different leadership styles specifically on the issue of trust among people of different cultural backgrounds and gender. This is a great opportunity to study two very distinct types of leadership; with Barack Obama's seemingly more inspirational style and Hillary Clinton's more pragmatic approach. Trust is an important issue in terms of a leader-follower relationship within a business environment. It will be a significant study to investigate whether or not people of different cultures and gender react to different types of leadership styles. The implications of the findings will be significant especially for multinational companies as well as changes in organizational leadership as a result of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&lA). Human Resource departments in companies shall also be equipped with the added knowledge for making recruitment decisions for future employees and executives. The result of this research finding will be useful to organizations which will hence be able to implement new strategic initiatives in leadership style and structure across these demographics.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This research paper has three specific objectives. Firstly, to quantify the perception of leadership styles of Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Secondly, based on these leadership styles mentioned, is there a difference in the perception of trust for different cultures and gender. Thirdly, what are the implications for organizations and business for this difference in perception of leadership styles on trust? The study will focus on combining analytical discussions of the empirical evidence as well as theoretical studies in order to present practical implications of this research to the workplace scenario of leadership.

LITERATURE REVIEW

LEADERSHIP STYLES

Leadership styles have been emphasized ever since the Romans wondered whether force or inspiration was more effective as a motivator (Ancona, 2005). A large number of empirical studies have showed that leaders do influence people to achieve organizational goals (Barrick et al, 1991; Rumelt, 1991; and Koene et al., 2002). The empirical study of Lieberson and O'Connor (1972) which is most widely known as providing evidence for the irrelevance of leadership have even begun to acknowledge the fact that leadership does matter when it comes to company performance. Recent research on leadership has moved beyond the arguments about whether leadership is important and has begun to examine when and under what circumstances would leadership matter more or less (O'Reilly et al, 2005). Interest in this question has only intensified as a new world unfolds in the aftermath of September 1 1 and more recently during the credit crisis for the past year. The concept of good leadership remains amorphous. A research conducted by Boseman (2008) reveals that there are four characteristics and traits that followers seek in leaders. They found that followers want leaders who are honest, forward-looking, inspiring and competent. It is justifiable that the last trait is one which Hillary Clinton commands respect for during the Democratic Party nominee elections; a well-established, well-staffed and well-financed national organization (Dionne, 2007). However, where Clinton seems to lag behind Obama is in the first three traits. Barack Obama's reputation in honesty, forwardlooking and inspiration precedes his political policies. In terms of competency he has shown the ability to have measured leadership as well. He not only embodied the traits of being a competent planner and a skilled organizer, he started an unheralded campaign by building a 700 person organization from scratch (almost akin to an Internet start-up company) to begin his fund raising efforts for his primary election campaigns in order to become the Democratic Party Nominee Elections (Alter, 2008) . However, leadership traits do not necessarily justify the effectiveness of good leadership and hence researchers have shifted to look beyond traits and focused on the behavior and style of the leader.

Lord and Maher (1991) suggest that leadership qualities are attributed to individuals, and people are accepted as leaders because of the degree of congruence between their behaviors and the leadership theories held by their attributers. Among the most recognized leadership theories are transactional leadership, also called leader-member exchange approach (Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995) and transformational leadership (Bass, 1990). There is also the trait theory approach (Stogdill, 1974), the participative approach (Tannenbaum and Alport, 1956), situational leadership (Tannenbaum and Schmidt, 1958) and the contingency approach (Fiedler, 1964). All of these behaviors and styles are now deemed to be determinants of leadership effectiveness (Yukl, 1998).

PERCEPTION OF LEADERSHIP STYLES

Leadership starts with getting people emotionally on-board (Hill, 2008) . This emotional dimension which is attached to leadership emphasizes the importance of leadership when it is sensed rather than characterized as a definition. The 34th United States President, Dwight Eisenhower once said, "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it" (Harteis, 2006). A recent study of employees' perceptions of their leaders discussed the effects of employeesupervisor demography similarity to the perception of these supervisors' leadership ability. It is found that a strong correlation between employees who were in senior level management had a more positive perception towards their leaders who were demographically similar. However employees who were in lower level management perceived their leaders more negatively if they were demographically different (Goldberg et al, 2008). This further justifies the importance of perception as being an important aspect in order for leaders to communicate their vision accurately and effectively throughout the organization. This is especially true in the tussle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Party nominee elections. The elections provide an exciting and interesting dynamic in politics where two individuals were required to create an impression on millions of voters' everyday. Managing perceptions or image as the media and entertainment industry would call it, should be considered a fundamental component in leadership today (Harris, 1987). However in 550 BC, Lao Tzu was quoted as saying "The leader shows that style is no substitute for substance - that creating an impression is not more potent than acting from one's centre" (Miller, 2007). Therefore, it bodes well to look into more concrete evidences of the different types of leadership styles there are and how they can be used to project their intended perception to their audience accordingly.

TRUST

In an article Hill (2008) emphasizes the importance of closing the emotional gap between leaders and followers in order to compensate for the financial gap between them. Character communication is considered to be a key determinant of the extent of people's trust and commitment. The ability of a leader to communicate the confidence of trust is essential to the future performance of their company (Casimir et al, 2006). Leaders and followers negotiate on a relationship based on reciprocity and mutual benefits. However, it is argued that reciprocity fails to build relationships of trust. In order for trust to be truly realized, leaders have to abide on an ethical responsibility to reduce fear and increase followers' participation in an organization (Rusaw, 2000). Taking Barack Obama's winning Democratic Party Nominee Elections campaign for example, his change message was far superior in 2008 from an ethical standpoint (Obama, 2008). The shining star in Obama's campaign strategy was to enforce that unlike Hillary Cliniton, he justifies change by refusing to take campaign money from federal Washington lobbyists. Obama's roots were traced back to the day when he started his professional life as a community organizer after graduating from Columbia compared to Hillary Clinton's rise to political maturity working for the Democratic Leadership Council, a more top-down elite group (Dionne, 2007). These messages help exude his aura of authenticity and giving his campaign a sense of national movement. The tone of every organization is set from the top. Barack Obama enhanced the tone of his campaign by a carefully constructed grass-roots campaign organization and concentrating on public donations which serves to increase followers' participations around the country. According to Podsakoff et al. (1990) follower trust in the leader is one of the most important variables that can mediate the effectiveness of transformational leadership in terms of producing performance outcomes. There is always much expectation towards a leader; in terms of a vision for their organization and a leader's competencies. The bottom line of leadership, as suggested by Christenson (2007) is that a leader must be trustworthy because there is nothing so elusive, yet nothing so essential as trust alone.

CULTURES AND GENDER DIFFERENCES

The increasing interdependencies among the world's economies have highlighted the reality that leaders no longer operate in the relative isolation of domestic markets (Aimar and Stough, 2007) . Today, leaders are constantly exposed to different cultures with different lifestyles. It is therefore essential to have a fully comparative understanding of managing and leading global business corporations. This comparative understanding of managing across-cultures will assist leadership theory to look beyond what Vaili (1993) suggests is the Western myth that culture is irrelevant. A recent study conducted by Aimar and Stough (2007) proved that the cultural context plays a 'critical' role in moderating the relationship between leadership style and vital employee attitudes towards work such as satisfaction and commitment.

Unfortunately, reports reveal that almost 85% of fortune 500 executives believe that their firms lack competent global leaders (Muczyk and Holt, 2008). In order to succeed in today's economy, multinational organizations ought to have global leaders who are able to transcend both cultural and gender boundaries. It is exactly these two factors which have proved to be a challenge for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. From a demographic and strategic perspective, the election seems to be one which is based on race and gender (Kantor, 2008). Obama carried the AfricanAmerican vote in every single primary state while Clinton carried the white vote in all but seven states. In terms of gender, Hillary Clinton was clearly the winner with more women voters, winning by 20-5 1 % for most states compared to Obama's average winning percentage of only 15% among women. Obama however took the male vote in all but nine states (Carter and Cox, 2008). A new strategic approach is necessary for Barack Obama to win the general election. His message of change is one which is appealing to all and no longer focuses on just specific demographics in order to garner votes. This new approach to appeal across cultures and gender presents a stark contract to Karl Rove's 51% tactic to vindicate two successful elections for President George W Bush (Blaz and Allen, 2004). With the United States' history of refusing both blacks and women the right to vote, this year has been a quantum leap forward in a struggle for equal representation at the highest level of leadership in government. More importantly, it provides a testing platform to showcase which type of leadership style will be more effective and successful in gathering together cross-cultural and cross -gender votes (Walumba et al, 2007).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY RESPONDENTS AND STUDY DESIGN

The 81% of the survey participants are students from University of Strathclyde and University of Glasgow in the UK and the rest are students from universities or business schools around the world. All the participants are identified to have the same standard of academic background. They are all recognized as having graduated with at least a bachelor's degree or equivalent in all different disciplines of study. The participants were all informed that the survey was voluntary with anonymity assured. The survey conducted was independent and confidential as the names of the participants were not asked for. They were also asked to complete the survey individually so that the results were not affected by discussions with other participants. Overall, 103 students participated in the study by completing surveys that were sent to them through an internet survey site. Some of the participants were offered to fill in the survey on paper with exactly the same questions as the Internet survey website. Among the 225 people who were sent the survey, 44.4% responded and amongst those who responded, 98% returned a fully completed survey. The final selected sample yield consists of 100 observations. The respondents ranged in age from 20 to 30 years old, with the mean age of respondents being 25 years. Across the sample, the percentage of male and female participants is 54% male and 46% female. In terms of nationality 45% are identified to be from the east and 55% are from the west. The timing of the survey is deemed important in terms of generating the perceptions of the participants towards Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The survey was distributed only after the Democratic Party nominee was announced on June 7, 2008. This was a result of Hillary Clinton conceding the race for the nomination and thus giving Barack Obama the nomination victory on the same date (Knowles, 2008). In light of this, the following assumptions were made for the survey:

* Barack Obama's victory does not have enough significant empirical influence on the results of the survey.

* All the participants have been following the progress of the elections through the same three forms of media: Internet, television and newspapers.

VARIABLES USED FOR STUDY

Independent Variables

Nationality: The nationalities of the participants have been divided into two geographical areas: The East and the West. The East consist of countries in Asia and Eastern Europe, including Russia, the Indian subcontinent, the Far East, the Middle East and Central Asia. The West includes the Americas, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. For those with dual nationalities, they have been asked in the survey to pick one nationality. It is assumed that the country they have chosen is the one which they have lived in the longest. The individual is assigned the binary number 1 for West and 0 for East.

Gender: The variable gender is also divided into binary numbers, with 1 for male and 0 for female.

List of Leadership Traits As Independent Variables: The independent variables below represent the different leadership traits and characters deduced from the study of leadership styles over the years by different authors and researchers. The list of traits and characteristics are listed alphabetically in the survey to remove any hint of importance for the leadership traits. This has enabled the survey to be conducted in a fair manner and in order to produce the most accurate results. Participants were asked to rate how much they perceived Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to embody the respective individual traits. In order to assure that there is no bias towards the difference in leadership styles, no questions about specific leadership styles as stated in the literature review. This enabled the study to concentrate on which leadership traits each candidate was perceived to have a higher relation to and hence the candidate's definitive leadership style would be able to be deduced from the survey result. Respondents were required to rate each candidate's leadership traits in the survey based on a 5-point Likert scale (Trochim, 2006), such as (a) Strongly disagree, (b) Disagree, (c) Neither agree nor disagree, (d) Agree, and (e) Strongly agree.

The leadership trait theories developed by Stogdill (1974) are particularly suited to leadership. McCaIl and Lombardo (1983) then advanced the research above and further identified four traits such as (a) Admitting Mistakes, (b) Composed, (c) Fluent in communication, and (d) Intelligent, by which leaders could succeed or derail. Another leadership style which has been identified is the participative leadership style made famous by Lewin et al. (1939) research. Both of them identified styles of leadership which were centered on decision-making. Decision making is constantly dependant on all different situations and this result in the addition of a separate style called the situational leadership style. Tannenbaum and Alport (1956) took the more generalized decision making situations and reduced it to a more limited set of behaviors. It has been deduced in this study into three primary independent variables suitable for the survey, such as (a) Autocratic, (b) Decision-making, and (c) Team Player.

The transactional leadership style suggests that people are being motivated by reward and punishment (Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995). Therefore the transactional leader works through creating clear structures and telling the subordinates their responsibilities by being: (a) Competent, (b) Experienced, (c) Fair, and (d) Risk-taking as suggested by Hill (2008) . According to Bass (1990 transformational leadership style determines inspiration as the most important and effective method of leadership. While the transformational leader will ultimately try to lead changes within the organization, there is also a tacit promise to transform their followers in one way or another. Furthermore, Kouze and Posner (2002) developed a survey that asked people which common characteristics of leaders would cause them to willingly follow the leaders and over a period of 20 years they came up with 20 characteristics out of survey conducted on seventy 5,000 people. The nature of their study is transformational leadership based and thus the following characteristics used are a result of those which match research of Bass's (1990) research as well and hence are used in this study of comparing the leadership traits of Obama and Hillary, considering (a) Autocratic, (b) Ethical, (c) Honest, (d) Inspiring, and (e) Visionary.

Dependent Variables

Extent of Trustworthiness of Each Candidate: The participants were asked to determine to what extent they consider Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton trustworthy, which is a measure of trustworthiness. They were required to give a rating between 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest rating, or meaning the participant do not trust the candidate at all and 5 being the highest rating, or signifying that the participant trusts the candidate entirely. This was placed as the second last question of the survey after they had to evaluate each candidate in terms of their leadership traits and characters. This was done on purpose to provide the participant with the appropriate time and questions to prompt all the participants to think in a similarly structured way about each candidate before they made their decision on the level of trust they had of each candidate. The 1-5 scale rating measures the participants' perception of trustworthiness of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the basis of their basic observations and extent of knowledge of each candidate. It is both interesting and important to point out that both candidates have had to deal with two scenarios which would have affected the issue to their level of trustworthiness in the public's eye. Hillary Clinton's case of mistrust is she has lied during the election period about risking her life under sniper fire during a visit to Bosnia during her days as First Lady (Earle and Hurt, 2008) . Barack Obama similarly tried to justify his presidential case with a relationship he claimed to have with a pastor who believed that the US government spread the AIDS virus and called on God to 'damn America' (Lowry, 2008). These were top stories in the media during the nomination race and it is assumed that the participants in the survey will be taking both these news stories into account when they were asked to evaluate the trustworthiness of both candidates.

Likelihood of Voting for Each Candidate: In this study, the likelihood of voting for each candidate is used to determine the level of commitment which the participants would have for the candidates of choice. This was the last questions in the survey, placed after the trustworthiness question as stated above. Participants were required to rate their likelihood of voting for each candidate (assuming they had the right to vote) based again on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being least likely and 5 being the most likely.

Control Variables

Character of Participant (Rationale or Emotional-Based): While the participants have equivalent educational backgrounds, how they perceive both the candidates might vary according to the participants' character itself. Therefore two control variables for the participants' characters; rationale-based (set as the binary number 1) or emotional-based (set as number 0) have been created. This way the sample population can be divided into two characters and the regression of each character towards the dependant variables (trustworthiness and likelihood of voting for either candidate) can be investigated.

Participants' Own Political Value (Characterized More by Obama's or Clinton's): The participants can also be controlled into two samples by how their political values match either candidate's values and political policies. In this variable, if the participant's political values are characterized more by Barack Obama, the individual will be assigned a binary number of 1 and the number 0 for Hillary Clinton.

Basis of Knowledge (Perception, Researching Facts, Media): A binary number of 1 is given to basis of knowledge if the participants show in the survey that their decision is based on perception and/or researching facts and/or media and a 0 is given otherwise. The participants can therefore be controlled into samples according to their basis of knowledge and its effects towards the dependant variables as stated above.

Hypothesis Testing

Having considered the Literature Review, five hypotheses were suggested for the study.

Gender and Cultural Differences on Trustworthiness

* There is a significant difference between genders in the extent to which they perceive the trustworthiness of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

* There is a significant difference between participants from different cultures in the extent to which they perceive the trustworthiness of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Gender and Cultural Differences on Likelihood of Voting

* There is a significant difference between genders in their perceived likelihood of voting for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

* There is a significant cultural difference between the participants in their perceived likelihood of voting for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Trust and Commitment

* The perception of Trustworthiness and Commitment (likelihood of voting) towards leaders is highly related.

ANALYSIS

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This study attempts to determine the leadership styles of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton based on perception. Furthermore, the study tries to assess the importance of certain leadership traits on the issues of trust and their willingness to vote for a certain politician. The study then further investigates whether or not there is a difference in perception between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's leadership styles from the point of view of students from different countries and gender. If so, to what degree does it differ? and which are the leadership traits and characteristics which influences those perceptions? (Table 1).

Following the Democratic Party Elections, it would be interesting to first of all determine which three leadership traits have been identified by the sample as being the highest rated for both candidates. Barack Obama is most highly rated for his oratory skills (fluency in communication), intelligence and being a visionary. Hillary Clinton received high ratings for her intelligence, experience and competences. In trying to envision a reason for Hillary's loss in the nomination race according to the sample, Hillary is perceived to be rather unethical, poor at admitting her mistakes and being unauthentic.

The Candidate's Leadership Styles

The study has also found that the sample perceives Hillary Clinton to embody transactional leadership traits according to the theory developed by Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995). On the other hand, Barack Obama is perceived to be a more transformational type of leader based on Bass (1990) research on transformational leadership. This difference in the sample's perception of both Obama and Clinton's leadership styles seems to work out exactly the way both candidates wish to be perceived. Senator Clinton has argued that the role of the President is not only to provide visionary leadership but to also control the federal bureaucracy downwards to ensure policies are carried out faithfully and effectively (O'Toole, 2008). This bureaucratic downward leadership style clearly shows in the sample mean's perception of how autocratic her leadership style is, with Hillary being given a rating of 3.25 out of 5 compared to Obama's 2.64. In sharp contract, Senator Obama declares that he will be managing his Presidency in a more chief executive style by wholly focusing on vision, judgment and inspiration. Once again, the perception of the sample proved Obama's reputation and leadership style as a transformational one with his much higher ratings in vision (3.95 compared to Clinton's 3.29) and inspiring (4.22 compared to Clinton's 3.81). It is then proceeded to test which of the leadership traits recorded in the survey would have the most substantial effect on the study's two dependant variables of trustworthiness and likelihood of voting for both candidates.

The Candidates' Most Significant Leadership Traits

The adjusted R2 is 0.3971 which indicates that approximately 39.7% of the participants' trust towards Barack Obama is affected by the leadership traits of being fair (0.4723) and autfantic (0.2906) (Table 2).

Table 3 shows that the adjusted R2 is 0.5624 which reveals that approximately 56.2% of the participants' extent of trust towards Hillary Clinton is affected by the leadership traits of being fair (0.4490), visionary (0.2407), honest (0.1835) and composed (0.1545). In terms of trustworthiness of both candidates, the result from the study shows that fairness is the most important leadership trait to have as a leader because it is the only quality that is listed as significant for both of the candidates (Table 3).

A very high adjusted R2 of 0.6928 indicates that the likelihood of the participants voting for Barack Obama is 69% dependent on the following leadership traits: fair, political values, vhionary, competent and authentic. By referring to the coefficient recorded for political value, it as the highest effect (0.9819) on voters' likelihood of voting for Barack Obama. This suggests that if Obama's political values are perceived to be more characteristic of the voters' own values then they would be very likely to vote of Obama as well. The experience issue that Obama has been struggling with in comparison to Clinton shows no effect whatsoever in affecting the participants' likelihood of voting for him with the variable experience having only a coefficient of 0.0444 (Table 4) .

Compared to Barack Obama, the adjusted R2 for leadership traits to affect the likelihood of voting for Hillary Clinton is much lower at 0.3805. Nonetheless, the most important traits are fair, inspiring, decision-making and honesty, with the highest coefficient again being fairness at 0.3161. Once again, by referring to the result for both "trustworthiness" and "likelihood of voting", being fair is the only primary leadership character that is shared as being most essential for both candidates (Table 5).

Hypotheses 1 to 4 were all proven to be wrong (Refer Appendixes 1-8). This means that according to the sample, Hypotheses I and 2 were rejected as there is no significant difference between genders in their perception of the trustworthiness and their likelihood of voting for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Also contrary to Hypotheses 3 and 4, there is also no significant difference in the perception of trustworthiness and likelihood of voting between the different cultures (nationality of origin) recorded in the sample. According to the correlation matrix between variables, a particularly significant observation was the high correlation between the perception of trustworthiness towards both candidates and the likelihood of voting for them (0.644 for Obama, 0.637 for Clinton) . Therefore, Hypothesis 5 has been proven to be correct. This means the perception of trustworthiness and commitment towards leaders is highly related. This means that those who trust the candidates more will be more likely to vote for them as well. This result proves to be important to be seen in tune with Podsakoff's et a?., research in 1990 which shows that follower trust in the leader is one of the most important variables for producing performance outcomes in the end. By referring to this study's explanation on likelihood of voting being a measure of commitment towards the leader, it would seem to be accurate to suggest that trust ensures commitment which ultimately improves performance for the future.

Correlation Matrix

Barack Obama: Strong relationships were recorded for authenticity (0.503), ethical (0.418), and fairness (0.568) on the trustworthiness of Obama. Furthermore, being autocratic will prove to have a negative effect on the trustworthiness of Barack Obama (-0.041). In terms of the likelihood of voting for Obama, once again authenticity (0.525), being ethical (0.515) and fair (0.677) were recorded as being very important. Besides that, other variables worth mentioning are honesty (0.511), intelligence (0.505) and being inspiring (0.483) . These leadership traits are hence considered to be important for creating a perception of Obama's attributes as a leader and increasing his chances of getting more votes. It is also determined that other variables which have a strong correlation to the important variable fair are: honest and admitting mistakes. This result reveals that in order for leaders to be perceived as fair, they have to also be perceived as honest and good at admitting their mistakes. Barack Obama's reputation as a great orator has a surprisingly low relationship with both trustworthiness and likelihood of voting with the variable fluent in communication recording only 0.247 and 0.368 respectively. However, Obama's vision of hope and change from the current government proves to be important in garnering the likelihood of the sample to vote for him with a correlation coefficient of 0.497 for the variable visionary.

Hillary Clinton: Hillary's trustworthiness is strongly related to the variables of being ethical (0.539), fairness (0.668), honesty (0.562) and providing inspiration (0.472). Strong relationships were also recorded for fairness (0.479), honesty (0.490), being inspiring (0.496), good decision-making (0.400) and being a visionary (0.457) towards the likelihood of her being voted by the sample as a leader. Once again the variables of honest and fair carry such importance in the follower's trust and commitment towards a leader. It is interesting to see that despite how skill based a president's job description is, the sample still insists on making their decisions based on the candidate's attitude and character. Furthermore, despite Hillary Clinton's strategy of running as a more experienced candidate, the variable experience did not turn out to have a significant relationship with either the sample's trust towards her (0.159) as a leader nor the likelihood of voting for her (0.327).

IMPLICATIONS TO LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS

The analysis which has been carried out above has yielded a number of interesting findings concerning the ddrent leadership styles of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as well as the inter-relationship between gender and culture with trustworthiness and likelihood of voting for both candidates. It would be impractical to suggest that politics is like business, a political party is like an organization and the party is the brand. However, it should be noted that just like politicians, business leaders are not exempt form the general sense that those in positions of authority are not to be trusted (Kellerman, 1999). Hence the results of investigating the perception of the varying leadership styles of Senators Clinton and Obama across different cultures and gender can go a long way in providing business leaders wifh a sense of what would enhance trust, commitment and ultimately raise the performance of their workforce. According to Ibarra (2008), there are three key areas of competency for leaders: skills, developing relationship networks and style. What this study has demonstrated is the importance of a shift from hard tangible skill-based leadership where leaders rely on simply functional and operational-based knowledge to a much more intangible skill-base. Taking the variables of these hard tangible sills, it is proven that in this study Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are equally perceived in terms of competency (3.72) as well as almost equally intelligent (4.07 for Obama, 4.13 for Clinton). Therefore, what the study has surprisingly shown is that the intangible skill base which makes the difference consists of the leadership traits affair, honest, authentic. It is easy to see how these ethical leadership traits will be important to employees especially in terms of cultural and gender expectations. It could even be assumed these attitudes are simply prerequisites to becoming leaders. The study has highlighted that in spite of all the convoluted discussion on leadership, it is essentially still back to the basics of having good human character.

These virtuous skills might be considered somewhat less attractive than other perceived traits such as visionary or inspiring. Even Machiavelli (1991) strongly argued that doing the right thing morally or spiritually often meant doing the wrong thing when it comes to being effective. However, the empirical evidence gathered in this study has shown that being fair will make the important difference in building trust and commitment. Once trust accumulates, relationships are more reliable and thus reliability makes relationships more efficient between the leader and the follower (Young, 1991). In terms of style, this study has shown that both Barack Obama's transformational leadership style and Hillary Clinton's transactional leadership style can transcend gender and culture. This proves to be in direct contrast with what was pointed out by Yang (2006) who established that a transactional leader promising individual rewards for extra effort instead of a collectivistic approach to work is nowadays very likely to potentially damage trust and follower performance. What this also means is that the 'glass ceiling' (The Wall Street Journal) (Menon, 2008) which acknowledges that being black or female will create a hidden barrier and inhibit the opportunity of being the President of the United States may finally be 'smashed'.

Before results of this study are used to continue speculating about how transformational and transactional leadership are essentially similar in terms of garnering trust and commitment, it is required to take a look at the demographic of the sample of study. First of all, the average age of the participants is 25 years old and among those more than 85% have studied business related degrees. The sample study has also very limited experience of work-life. Therefore, it would not be accurate to suggest that a leadership role in any company should override any gender or cultural role expectations. What it does prove is that perception can be a reflection of reality. It would be true to suggest that many of these participants have sat through business education classes on leadership and being informed that transactional leadership is considered to be more ineffective and traditional compared to a transformational one. The results are significant in the way that even with the knowledge which the participants are equipped with, they have still chosen to trust and commit to Hillary Clinton as much as Barack Obama. What does remain interesting for companies is that the search for a global leader should still be for that person who executes fairness among employees from different cultures. This reiterates the point that good cultural understanding is still very important in order for the company to be led by fairness. An important reason for this is due to the increasing number of M&A between companies from the East, especially in the Middle East and the West. In 2007, M&A deals involving the Middle East have reached at least $105 bn with 21 deals in the United States and 19 in the United Kingdom attracting total values of $23.3 bn and $13.9 bn each (Grocer, 2007). With that amount of funds and interest involved, having the right leadership to satisfy the different demands of culture and gender in these companies will become increasinglyimportant in order to achieve synergy and to boost their returns.

This study has also shown that the respondents are more likely to vote for the candidate who has the same values as they do. This seems to be why Obama's campaign has managed to gather such a strong movement of support Obama's message of change is synonymous to most of the public's desire for a new government after the Bush administration. As shown in this study, the values that he has created alongside the message have managed to resonate very strongly among participants from both the East and the West. It is worth noting here that only 2% of the respondents are from America so therefore it seems clear that Obama's values can go beyond the differences in culture and gender outside of America too. What this symbolizes is the influence which a leader of a multinational company can generate if they have embedded values for the company's employees to feel personally attached to. This can be viewed in a slightly different light to Bass' (1990) argument of generating a common goal. Unlike goals, values shape the motive of the company, which is the whole point of ethical and corporate- social-responsibility based businesses these days. It is therefore not surprising to see that there is ample research showing that adaptable and value driven companies are the most successful organizations on the planet (Barrett, 2005).

By focusing on commitment (likelihood of voting) towards leaders, the results of this study suggest that being visionary (for Obama) and inspiring (for Clinton) (See Appendixes 3 and 4) are almost equally important. The ability to manage through commitment therefore requires more flexibility, less hierarchy, less bureaucracy whilst also requiring an enhanced capacity for collective action between leaders and followers. Making promises can be one of the first steps to combine the value driven leadership as discussed above and the traits of vision and inspiration. A company can be regarded as nothing more but a network of internal and external commitments (Highsmith, 2008) . Executing such promises within those commitments would be the main challenge for leaders. Explanation would be important as part of the execution and that is shown again in the study that leaders ought to be authentic and honest in doing so. It will help the general workforce understand why these promises are important to them which will hopefully create a gut feeling inside them to take notice and respond to the vision or inspiration. Promises, not processes therefore should be the focal point of leaders in achieving the desired return in commitment both by shareholders and employees alike. It is also interesting to note that Clinton's rigid commitment processes in her strategy and Obama's simple but strong promise of change is also the speculative reason (Alter, 2008) why Obama won the Democratic Party Nomination. Stern (2008) argued that we have to keep our hero-worshipping of leaders under control amidst the United States presidency election this year. "It is the managers who will ensure the roads are safe to travel on, employees get paid and the hospitals stay open." The purpose of the study is not to cast aside managerial skills as uninspiring or mundane. Leadership choices need to be taken upon by companies in order to exude the right perception to ensure trust and motivate commitment among managers into performing the best they can for the organization. As discussed above, the study has identified that these choices have to be virtuous ones.

CONCLUSION

By the means of using both empirical research data and literature review, the study has managed to present striking results regarding the perceptions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's leadership styles. The outcome of the results is able to stretch beyond just political realms and into the practical influence of leadership in businesses. The results of this research data revealed that Hillary Clinton is indeed perceived as a transactional leader whereas Barack Obama is perceived as a transformational leader. This study also made significant comparisons between how these styles are perceived in relation to culture and gender and found that there was no difference for both these variables. Finally, the relationship between different leadership traits and the issues of trust and commitment were also investigated. Leadership traits which are closely linked to morality and ethics such as being fair, authentic and honest, are of considerable importance to the extent which leaders' trustworthiness is being perceived as well as the level of commitment which followers are willing to give. This has proven to be a contradiction to the perceived excellent communication skills which Obama possesses and Clinton's experience in politics which were deemed to be major factors throughout the nomination race and yet verified to be unimportant in generating trust and commitment amongst respondents.

The study found that there were neither cultural nor gender differences in the perception of the extent of trust and likelihood of voting for either candidate. No evidence has been provided that males might trust Barack Obama more or be more inclined to vote for him and vice versa for Hillary Clinton. There was also no evidence to suggest that there was any difference in the preferences in voting among participants from western and eastern origin. The results of these investigations show that perhaps it would be wise to take a step back from making constant comparisons between different leaders. It would be beneficial to take a bird's eye view of the scale of the unprecedented contest between these two leaders over the past year. Hillary Clinton was widely expected to acquire the nomination but suddenly found herself losing to the young Obama in 2008. What the Democratic Party Nomination race has proved is that a political race can be so similar to the unpredictable nature of the world of business. The strong differences in opinions and a long bitter campaign for both these candidates have caused the speculation that the next US President will most likely come from the Democratic Party. Thus, within such an ever-changing and complex environment, it seems to be for the greater benefit of the organization and its people if there are constant criticisms shown among leaders.

Limitations of the Study: It has to be acknowledged that there are some limitations to bear in mind when interpreting the results of this study. First of all, the sample of study used is relatively small and it might not seem to be representative of what the result for the whole population could be. This is especially true for the variable culture because there is a definite discrepancy in the number of participants for each country. Therefore the sample has to be divided into East and West origin, instead of individual countries.

[Reference]

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[Author Affiliation]

Mohammed Shahedul Quader*

[Author Affiliation]

* Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing Studies and International Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh. E-mail:

INDUSTRY PROJECT:
Objective: the objective of this paper is to tie the relationship of Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting and Financial Management. This is achieved by having the students us Financial Accounting information and do managerial analysis. The student is to pick a company of their choice and use one of the large web based financial companies such as YAHOOfinanace.com.

I work for an orthopaedic company called DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. (a Johnson & Johnson owned company) out of Warsaw, Indiana. I would like this to use this company for this paper. You cannot use the company "Zimmer", as this company was used for an example paper the instructor provided. I will add (below the requirements) this sample paper for this requested paper to resemble.


REQUIRED SECTIONS OF PAPER:
1.TREND ANAYLSYS (minimum of 10 items): The student should complete a trend analysis utilizing the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow for the organization. A basic analysis of what trends are developed and why. Possible solutions can be acknowledged.
2.RATIO ANALYSIS (minimum of 10 items): The student needs to also obtain industry ratios for the industry that this company is in some finance companies will automatically calculate these for you. The student may calculate the ratios themselves if desired. A comparison to the industry needs to be done that includes ratio comparison and acknowledgements of key drivers to the business. When analyzing the ratios the student should be able to identify if the company is strong or weak and reasons for their conclusions. Suggested ratios to be analyzed: Current Ratio, Quick Ratio, Inventory Turnover, Days Sales Outstanding, Fixed Asset Turnover, Total Asset Turnover, Total Debt to Total Assets, Times Interest Earned, Profit Margin on sales, Basic Earning Power, Return on Assets, Return on Common Equity, and Stock Price to Earnings.
3.SWOT ANALYSIS (from a financial standpoint): In the SWOT analysis the student needs to, from a financial standpoint, identify the companies Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This analysis can be done utilizing analysts remarks and articles on the company. It is helpful if the student uses a company that either they know something about or that is doing something interesting such as acquisitions, bankruptcy and so forth.
4.OVERALL ASSESSMENT (1 paragraph): The student is to indentify if the company is either: excellent, average or poor condition financially and give their justifications.
5.RECOMMENDATIONS (minimum of 5): Discuss recommendations the student has for the company. Should the company become more conservative or less conservative. If the company has a large growth opportunity how is it best to obtain funds for this growth being utilizing existing cash flows, debt or additional equity financing. If the company should exit markets what should they do with the cash.

Minimum standards (deductions from the grade will result in failure to meet these):
1.Paper must be 10 pages (minimum) typed (double space) 12 pt.
2.Title page identifying student, class, company and a required proofreader.
3.The company financials and ratios used should be attached to the back of the paper.
4.A works cited/bibliography page.

Possible additional research websites: quicken.com, multexinvestor.com, etrade.com, moneycentral.msn.com, rmahq.org, yahoo.market.com, NYSE.com, Hoovers.com, Smartmoney.com, schwabnet.com, edgardata.finsys.com, buyandhold.com, and Morningstar.com.




EXAMPLE OF REQUESTED PAPER:


Enhancing the quality of life for patients worldwide

Company Overview
Zimmer Holdings, Inc. (Zimmer) is a global leader in the design, development, manufacture and marketing of reconstructive orthopaedic implants. This includes hip, knee, extremity, dental, spinal implants, and trauma products. These products restore function in joints that are diseased or have suffered trauma. The company also distributes orthopaedic surgical products (OSP). Some OSP products such as tourniquets are used in surgery while other products such as slings and braces aid in post-operation rehabilitation.
The company has operations in over 25 countries. They market products in over 100 countries throughout Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Corporate headquarters are located in Warsaw, Indiana, with more than 100 manufacturing, distribution, and warehousing facilities worldwide. The company sells products direct to healthcare institutions, through independent distributors, and direct to dental practices.
Zimmer identified three corporate strategies that focus on the ability to ENABLE, to INNOVATE, and to GROW. Identified trends below will tie back to the companys strategic initiatives and strategy.
Trend Analysis
Income Statement
Zimmer reported net sales of $3.9 billion in 2007. This represents a 12% increase in reported sales of $3.5 billion in 2006 and an 18.6% increase over reported sales of $3.3 billion in 2005. The company continues to do well by increasing sales every year. This substantial growth is attributed to several factors. The percent of sales generated from new products continuously increases, demonstrating the companys committed investment towards innovation and strategic initiative to innovate. New products generated 21 % of sales in 2005, 24% in 2006, and increased to 25% in 2007. New products representing growth include Gender Solutions Knee Femoral implants, Gender Solutions M/L Taper with Kinectiv Technology, Trabecular Metal Acetabular Cups, Dynesys Dynamic Stabilization System, and PALACOS Bone Cement.
The company has grown sales in all regions. In 2007, sales in Americas grew 10%; Europe grew 16%; and Asia Pacific grew 12%. Sales growth was evident in all product segments. The extremity product sales increased 34% and dental sales increased 23%, representing the growth leaders for the company. The Bigliani/Flatow Complete Shoulder Solution and Coonrad/Moorey Total Elbow led extremity sales. The Tapered Screw-Vent Implant System led dental sales. All other segments reported growth including 12% in knees, 11% in spine, 9% in hips, 8% in OSP and 6% in trauma. Existing products representing growth include the NexGen LPS and CR Flex Knee, NexGen Rotating Hinge Knee, NexGen LCCK Revision, Trabecular Metal Primary Hips, and Zimmer Periarticular Locking Plates.
The knee and hip business represent the largest amount of sales. The knee products generate 42% of the companys sales and continue to hold the number one market position at 28% of the $5.8 billion dollar market. Hip sales generate 33% of Zimmers sales and also hold the number one market position. The company holds 26% market share of the $5.0 billion dollar market. Other product segments generate 3% to 6% of the business and hold 3% to 22% of the global market share.
Cost of revenue for the company increased at 18.4% from $739 million in 2005 to $875 million in 2007. Cost of revenue increased just slightly lower than the increase of total revenue at .2%. As total revenue increases, the cost of revenue will also increase. A major factor of this increase is due to the large amount of new products being introduced. The company has a strategy to innovate, and the cost of revenue will continue to increase as new products are being produced.
Research and development increased 19.4% from $175 million in 2005 to $209 million in 2007. The company continues to increase spending and invest in research and development in all product segments based on the corporate strategy to innovate. Investments were made in 2007 to research and development facilities in Warsaw, Indiana. The company continues to research genetically engineered tissues such as soft tissue biological repair and replacement. Research is being conducted on cartilage regeneration and cell-based therapies. Zimmer collaborated with ISTO Technologies and announced that clinical trials began in 2007 for DeNovo ET Engineered Tissue Graft. Additional research is also being conducted on advanced metals.
The compay also signed an agreement with Regeneration Technologies, Inc. (RTI) in 2007 to distribute a new allograft bone paste in flowable and moldable formations. Approval was received by the FDA in 2007 on the Zimmer NexGen LPS-Flex Mobile Bearing Knee and the Zimmer M/L Taper Prosthesis with Kinectiv Technology. The company will continue to invest heavily in research and development in order to keep new, innovative products in the pipeline and continue to remain competitive and a leader in the orthopaedic market.
Selling and general administrative costs increased 18.2% from $1.2 billion in 2005 to $1.4 billion in 2007. This is expected to increase as revenues increase. Revenues increased 18.6% indicating that selling and general administrative increased slightly below that at 18.2%. The company has a corporate strategy to enable. They have increased and innovated training and education through the Institute, which has increased costs. The company has also launched an extensive Direct-to-Patient campaign focusing on the Gender Solutions Knee and Back in the Grove Community Healthcare Program aimed at providing consumers joint replacement information. Zimmer has invested in the enhancement of the companys quality systems, information technology efficiency, and expanded their compliance program.
The companys interest expense decreased substantially from $14 million in 2005 to zero in 2006 and 2007. Zimmer had zero interest expense for two years, making this a strength of the company.
Net income increased 5.5% from $727 million in 2005 to $773 million in 2007. Zimmer continues to increase net income. Factors affecting the increase include higher operating profit, lower acquisition expenses, and decreased interest expense.
Balance Sheet
Cash and cash equivalents increased 90.1% from $245 million in 2005 to $466 million in 2007. The largest increase came in 2007 with $466 million compared to $268 million in 2006. This would indicate the company could possibly be preparing to buy another company for cash. The companys strategy is to grow and would be successful in growing by buying another company to complete their portfolio. The company could also be preparing to buy additional manufacturing space or another facility.
Net receivables increased 22.3% from 583 million in 2005 to $829 million in 2007. This is consistent with the increase in revenues. As revenues increase, net receivables will also increase.
Inventory grew 24.6% from $583 million in 2005 to $727 million in 2007. This is due to several factors. Zimmer retains ownership to the majority of products sold while consigning to healthcare institutions and distributors. The company implemented an initiative in 2007 to increase U.S. field consigned inventories to better position the distributors to quickly react to local demands from doctors and hospitals. Investments were also made to facilities which enable the production of additional inventory to reduce backorders.
Property, plant, and equipment also increased at 36.9% from $708 million in 2005 to $971 million in 2007. One of the companys strategic initiatives is to grow. Zimmer invested heavily in facilities around the world. Manufacturing and distribution facilities in Warsaw were expanded in 2007 as part of a $66 million dollar project. The expansion added 100,000 square feet to the distribution center and 120,000 square feet to the manufacturing facility. In 2007, a Global Enterprise Resource Planning project kicked off to implement a single, global ERP system to set global operational and data standards. Investments to property, plant, and equipment are considered a strength of the company and positions the company for growth.
The company purchased Centerpulse in 2003 resulting in an increase in goodwill. Goodwill increased 7.9% from $2.4 billion in 2005 to $2.6 in 2007. Acquiring Centerpulse was important for Zimmer to gain sales and market share. Zimmer paid top dollar for the company while competing with extremely high offers from other orthopaedic companies. In 2007, the company acquired Endius Inc., a spinal company, for $80 million. They also acquired ORTHOsoft, Inc., a computer navigation company, for $50 million. These acquisitions attribute to increased goodwill. The company did have a reduction in goodwill of $61.4 million due to a decrease in tax liability under FIN 48.
Accounts payable rose 18.4% from $413 million in 2005 to $489 million in 2007. This is consistent with the increase in revenues, cost of revenues, and increase in selling expenses. Long term debt decreased 45% from $231 million in 2005 to $104 million in 2007. This is a strength for the company as it continues to pay off debt.
Retained earnings increased 82.8% from $1.9 billion in 2005 to $3.5 billion in 2007. This includes a reduction in retained earnings of $4.8 million due to the decreased tax liability under FIN 48.
Cash Flow
Total cash flow from operating activities increased 23.4% from $878 million in 2005 to $1 billion in 2007. The principal source of cash was net earnings of $773 million. This is a 5.5% increase over net earnings of $732 million in 2005. However, 2007 net earnings reflected a decrease of 7.4% from 2006 earnings of $834 million. This is due to reduction in earnings of $169.5 million paid in a settlement to the Department of Justice. The company used $53.3 million of cash towards investments to support sales growth. Accrued but unpaid dollars to healthcare professionals under contracts amounted to $23 million in 2007.
Total cash flow from operating activities increased 57.9% from $311 million in 2005 to $491 million in 2007. Contributing factors for this increase were the acquisitions of Endius and ORTHOsoft at $160.3 million. The company also invested in additional instruments ($138.5 million) and information technology that contributed to a small increase. Investments were also made to property, plant, and equipment through expansion of facilities in Warsaw, Indiana, Puerto Rico, and Switzerland.
Cash flows from financing activities decreased 17.6% to $399 million in 2007 from $484 million in 2005. The repurchase of common stock affected this in 2006 and 2007. Change in cash and cash equivalents increased an incredible 152% from $78 million in 2005 to $198 million in 2007. Zimmer is in a strong financial position for investment to carry the company forward. The companys corporate fact sheet states, Our strong cash flow generation positions us to return value to stockholders through strategic acquisitions, investments in our business, and share repurchases.
Ratio Analysis
Zimmer is a financially successful company as proven by their above average industry ratios. They lead and surpass the industry in nearly every ratio. The P/E Ratio (price per share/earnings per share) for Zimmer is 16.51 compared to the industry ratio of 4.17. The expectation for future earnings and the value of this company is good. The quick ratio is 1.74 for the company versus the industry ratio of 1.58. The quick ratio measures the current assets, less inventory, divided by current liabilities. A quick ratio of one or higher is favorable. Zimmer is way ahead of the industry and the S&P of 1.03. This is a big strength of the company and puts them in a great financial position. The current ratio measures the current assets divided by the current liabilities. The companys current ratio of 2.73 is also higher than the industry ratio of 2.07 and the S&P ratio of 1.27. This demonstrates the companys ability to meet current obligations. Total debt to equity is 5.98 versus the industry debt to equity of 23.15. This is due to Zimmers low debt (long term debt decreased 45%) and increased assets of 15.9%. Zimmer is doing much better than their competitors in managing debt and has tremendous financial strength. This puts the company in a stable position should there be a downturn in the economy.
The majority of all profitability ratios exceed the S&P but more importantly exceed the industry. Gross margn (ratio of companys operating revenue to sales) of 76.43 substantially exceeds the industry of 8.52 and S&P of 37.05. This demonstrates very efficient operations of the company. Operating revenue (sales revenue minus cost of goods sold) of 27.16 also exceeds the industry of 2.66. Net profit margin (ratio of net profits to sales) of 18.84 versus the industry of 1.94 and S&P of 11.25 proves the company is efficient and profitable as the higher net margin ratio, the better.
Zimmers efficiency ratios are performing above the industry, proving the company provides a good return to their investors. Return on assets (net income divided by total assets) for the company is 14.07 compared to the return on assets of 1.58 for the competition and 8.14 for the S&P. This demonstrates the companys ability to use their assets to generate earnings. The return on investment ratio of 13.13 is higher than the industry of 2.20 and S&P of 11.15. Return on equity (12 months net income divided by common stock equity) of 14.36 is well above the industry of 3.11 but slightly below the S&P of 20.37. This important ratio measures how well a company performs for its shareholders. Zimmer performs well within the industry but slightly below other companies outside the industry.
The revenue per employee ratio is calculated by taking the revenues divided by the total employees to show the labor intensity of the company. Zimmers revenue per employee is 541,500 compared to the industry of 340,163 and S&P of 862,606. This suggests that the competition expects more of their employees than Zimmer does, making this a strength of the company. Inventory turnover ratio (cost of 12 month sales divided by average inventory) is 1.31 versus the industry ratio of 0.52 and S&P of 9.39. The higher the number, the better the company is moving inventory. Zimmer moves their inventory better than the competition. Companies outside the industry move their inventory better. Orthopaedic companies normally must take an entire set of implants (along with several different types of sets) into surgery. The doctor will chose the appropriate size needed and only use (buy) that particular size and type.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Total Revenue increased by 18.6%
Gross Profit increased by 18.6%
Operating Income increased by 6.8%
Interest Expense decreased 100%
Net Income increased by 5.5%
Cash and Cash Equivalents increased by 90.1%
Inventory increased by 24.6%
Net Receivables increased by 22.3%
Property, Plant, and Equipment increased by 36.9%
Total Assets increased by 15.9%
Long Term Debt decreased by 45%
Retained Earnings increased by 82.8%
Total Stockholder Equity increased by 16.3%
Cash and Cash Equivalents increased 152%
P/E Ratio 395% higher than industry
Current Ratio 31.8% higher than industry
Total Debt to Equity 74.2% lower than industry
Gross Margin 897% higher than industry
Operating Margin 1021% higher than industry
Net Profit Margin 1023% higher than industry
Return on Assets 890% higher than industry
Return on Investment 596% higher than industry
Return on Equity 461% higher than industry
Weaknesses
Total Cost of Revenue increased by 18%
Selling General and Administrative increased by 18.2%
Total Liabilities increased by 13.9%
P/E Ratio 61.9% lower than S&P
Return on Equity 70.5% lower than S&P
Receivable Turnover 50.2% lower than S&P
Opportunities
Increasing global obesity will raise global market
More active lifestyles will increase number of procedures
Longer life expectancy will increase number of procedures
Desire for less invasive approaches will increase MIS procedures
Younger patients undergoing joint replacements
Increasing demand for Gender specific implants; Zimmer first to the market
Significant new products scheduled for release in 2008
Shift in demand to premium products
Acquisition of Endius, Inc. which will increase spinal sales and market share
Acquisition of ORTHOsoft, Inc. to bring innovative tools to marketplace
Announcement to additionally invest in spine and dental products
Plans to develop additional manufacturing facility in Ireland
Threats
Increased compliance requirements will create roadblocks
Stricter governmental policy/reimbursement practices will make business difficult
Increased pressure from competition; potential loss of sales
Business highly dependent on distributors to sell
Business highly dependent on receiving raw materials from suppliers
Adoption of hip resurfacing will threaten hip sales growth



Overall Assessment
Zimmer is a financially strong company that is well ahead of the industry. Revenues continue to increase annually. Significant investments continue to be made in Research and Development ensuring the company will always be working towards improving processes and bringing innovative products to the market, keeping them ahead of the competition. The company has little debt and spends cash towards the investment of additional companies to gain market share and expand their product portfolio.
The companys 2007 annual report sums it up well and states, Solid financial results and market changing product innovations demonstrate that our deep-seated commitment to enhancing patients lives also represents sound strategy and the foundation for continuing progress.
Recommendations
Cost of revenue for Zimmer increased 5.5% from 2005 to 2006 and 12.2% from 2006 to 2007. Any decreases in the cost of revenue would increase profits. Improvements to scrap rates on certain products would improve costs. Other processes could be improved to speed up production time on products that are difficult to make. A clear understanding of product demand would ensure the production of correct quantities, which would also decrease costs.
Selling and general administrative costs could also be reduced. While it is a strength to attract employees to the company with a Revenue/Employee ratio higher than the industry, it could also mean that Zimmer has a more relaxed environment resulting in additional costs.
Another recommendation would be to reduce liabilities. Total liabilities increased 13.9% with a significant increase in accounts payable of 23.3%. Considering the long term debt decreased 45%, total liabilities should have also decreased. The company should also continue to reduce long term debt as they have in the past.
While the P/E ratio for Zimmer is well above the industry, it is 61.9% below the S&P. The value of the company is good, but may not be as good as other companies in other industries. Any improvements the company could make to the P/E ratio would attract additional investors from different industries. This is also true with the companys return on equity. While it is a strength within the industry, it is a weakness compared to companies outside the industry. Any improvement could attract additional investors from outside the industry. The company could improve this by increasing revenues, reducing cost of revenue or operating expenses, which increases net income.
Zimmers inventory increased by 24.6%. On one hand, that is a strength of the company as they increase manufacturing capacity to make sure the right products are on the shelf when needed to minimize backorder. On the other hand, it represents a weakness as the amount of inventory has significantly increased.
My final recommendation would be to continue to invest in and research genetically engineered tissues, cartilage regeneration, computer assisted surgery, and minimally invasive surgeries. These technologies are the wave of the future and position the company to service the surgeon and patient of the future.

Works Cited
Beginners Guide to Financial Statements. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 5 Feb. 2007. 21 Nov. 2008 .
Corporate Fact Sheet. Zimmer. 2008. Zimmer, Incorporated. 3 Nov. 2008 .
Form 10-K for ZIMMER HOLINGS INC. Yahoo! Finance. 2008. 31 Oct. 2008 .
Ratios. Reuters. 2008. 22 Oct. 2008 .
2007 Annual Report. Zimmer. 2008. Zimmer, Incorporated. 3 Nov. 2008 .
Understanding Financial Ratios. Money-Zine. 2007. 21 Nov. 2008 .
Zimmer Holdings, Inc. Yahoo! Finance. 2008. 22 Oct. 2008 .

Section 1 QUESTION
In this article by Earley and Mosakowski, the authors include a brief test entitled, ?Diagnosing Your Cultural Intelligence?. What does it tell you about one competencies? In which areas should you continue to develop ones skills?
Reference
Earley, P.C. & Mosakowski, E. (2004) ?Cultural intelligence?, Harvard Business Review, 82 (10), October, pp.139-146 [Online



Section 2
? Global leadership competency assessment instruments
? Broadly classified, assessment instruments used in developing global leaders fall into one of three categories: cultural difference assessments, intercultural adaptability assessments, and global leadership competency assessments. We shall consider each type below, and discuss specific assessment instruments.
? Cultural difference assessments
? It is appropriate to recognize that practitioners and scholars have developed a variety of assessments and survey instruments for identifying variations in national cultural values across a range of dimensions, although these are not directly focused on assessing global leader competencies. A number of the more widely used instruments (see, for example, Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars 2000; Hofstede 2001; Maznevski and DiStefano, 1995) are often construed as a form of indirect competency assessment. In a typical application along these lines, a manager?s cultural profile (i.e., score or position on various cultural value dimensions) will be computed and will be used within the context of a training program to determine developmental needs. In this regard, it is appropriate to view cultural profiles as competency assessment proxies, as they are used to identify areas where the development of hard competencies is presumed to lead to superior performance.
? Taras (2006b) has compiled the most comprehensive catalogue of such instruments to date. More than 100 instruments cover the gamut of work- or business-related dimensions on which cultures are likely to vary, including the common ? e.g., individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and universalism ? and the not so common ? e.g., family integrity, faith in people and upward influence. Where available, Taras (2006b) also provides the specific items in the instrument as well as Cronbach alpha and test?retest reliabilities.
? It should also be noted in passing that Taras (2006a) has compiled a similarly comprehensive catalogue of surveys and instruments used to assess acculturation. Though less frequently used for global leader competency assessment, acculturation surveys are sometimes used in corporate training and development programs. This catalogue contains information on fifty assessments and also includes Cronbach alpha and test?retest reliability information where available.
? Intercultural adaptability assessments
? In this subsection we will consider several instruments that have as their primary focus effective intercultural competence. Instruments that fall into this category are frequently used in conjunction with global manager development programs. Because effective interaction with culturally different others is a critical aspect of effective global leadership in most contexts, the assessment of intercultural competence is highly appropriate. At the same time, it is important to recognize that intercultural competence represents just one aspect of a global leader?s competency set.
? There are numerous intercultural adaptability assessments that are commercially available, but for which there is scant, if any, research literature. Stuart (2007) provides a practical, though perhaps less than critical, review of a range of instruments.
? The Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory
? The Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI) was developed by Christine Kelley and Judith Meyers (1995a) as a self-assessment tool for cross-cultural adaptability training and development. Over time it has come to be used for measuring competency acquisition, as in pre- and post-test measures in conjunction with training programs. The CCAI measures four dimensions: flexibility/openness, emotional resilience, perceptual acuity, and personal autonomy. After reviewing the literature and interviewing expert interculturalists, the developers originally settled on five dimensions, but dropped ?positive regard? for others when their pilot studies failed to differentiate this dimension from the other four (Kelley and Meyers 1995b).
? ? Flexibility/openness. The first of the four dimensions addresses the tendency to be open to others and broad-mindedness toward people and ideas. It also reflects a willingness to be flexible and nonjudgmental in one?s perspective. (? = 0.54)
? ? Emotional resilience. The ability to navigate the unfamiliarity associated with intercultural situations while maintaining positive emotions is the focus of the second dimension. Negative emotional reactions, such as culture shocks or bumps, are frequent occurrences when working in intercultural contexts. Emotional resilience reflects an ability to cope in, as well as quickly recover from, such situations. (? = 0.80)
? ? Perceptual acuity. Openness to new people and experiences and an ability to cope with stressful situations can be easier when an individual is able to read situations
? Assessing global leadership competencies ? 67
? 68 ? Allan Bird
? accurately and detect and appropriately respond to verbal and nonverbal signals. The third dimension also refers to an ability to communicate effectively in such situations. (? = 0.78)
? ? Personal autonomy. The final dimension focuses on the possession and maintenance of a strong personal identity in the face of adapting to a new cultural context that involves others whose values may different than one?s own. (? = 0.67)
? The CCAI includes fifty items and is administered using a paper-and-pencil format. The survey is self-scored. The average respondent requires about ten minutes to complete the inventory. There is no mechanism for monitoring social response bias. Results are reported by tallying scores in four columns, with each column representing one of the dimensions. Interpretation of scores requires a facilitator/trainer.
? The CCAI has primarily been used in studies attempting to measure the effectiveness of intercultural training programs. For example, Cornett-DeVito and McGlone (2000) used it to evaluate the effectiveness of intercultural training programs for law enforcement personnel. Similarly, Goldstein and Smith (1999) relied on it to evaluate the effectiveness of training programs for business professionals. However, in a recent factor-analytic study of the CCAI Davis and Finney (2006) found that inventory items did not support a four-factor structure. They conducted further exploratory factor analysis but concluded that no interpretable structure could be identified. There does not appear to be any published research demonstrating the CCAI?s ability to predict interculturally effective behavior in managers or in any other group.
? Intercultural Development Inventory
? The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) was developed by Mitchell Hammer and Milton Bennett on the basis of Bennett?s theory (1993), the development model of intercultural sensitivity (DMIS), which identified six stages of intercultural development and associated competencies that group into two sets: ethnocentric and ethnorelative. The ethnocentric stages, in order of development, are Denial, Defense, and Minimization. The ethnorelative stages are Acceptance, Adaptation, and Integration. The IDI measures an individual?s worldview regarding cultural difference, which may be construed also as a capacity for intercultural competency. The ethnocentric stages can be interpreted as different ways of avoiding cultural differences, such as by denying that differences exist, defending one?s culture against differences, or minimizing the extent or significance of the differences. The ethnorelative stages are ways of seeking cultural difference, through first accepting the importance of difference, then adjusting or adapting one?s perspective to take difference into account and, finally, by integrating the concept of culture and difference into one?s identity. Each of the six stages can also be broken down into substages.
? ? Denial. This stage is characterized by a condition in which one?s own culture is taken to be the only culture. Though other cultures may exist, they should be avoided or isolated. People in this stage are uninterested in cultural differences, but when
?
? (Mendenhall 66-68)
? Mendenhall, Mark. Global Leadership: Research, Practice and Development. Routledge, 12/14/2007. .

QUESTION


? Select one of the intercultural adaptability assessments that are provided above. Then examine the differences and similarities between Earley and Mosakowski?s instrument and the intercultural adaptability assessments you selected. Provide a brief analysis of the theoretical underpinnings along with other distinguishing characteristics. Then provide different examples and/or scenarios when each of these assessment tools could be used to examine cultural adaptability.?