Parsing of American Business

8/4/2019 Parsing of American Business

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WILKES UNIVERSITY

AN INTRODUCTION

Wilkes University is a private, non-denominational American university located in

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It has over 2,200 undergraduates and over 2,200

graduate students (both full and part-time). Wilkes was founded in 1933 and became

an independent institution in 1940, naming itself Wilkes College, after English

radical politician John Wilkes.

In 1947, Wilkes College was instituted as an independent, nondenominational four-

year college, with programs in the arts, sciences, and a number of professional fields

as well as numerous extracurricular activities. Wilkes was given university status in

1990.

The Jay S. Sidhu School of Business & Leadership was created in 2004. Students in

the university's business program are required to take courses across several schools

with the intent to provide an emotional education in addition to the typical business

experience.


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WILKES UNIVERSITYMISSION, VISION AND VALUES

Mission: To continue the Wilkes tradition of liberally educating the students for

lifelong learning and success in a constantly evolving and multicultural world

through a commitment to individualized attention, exceptional teaching, scholarship

and academic excellence, while continuing the universitys commitment to

community engagement.

Vision: Wilkes University will provide exceptional educational experiences that

transform students and develop innovations through scholarly activities that lead to

national recognition and shape the world around us.

Values:

Membership: Nurturing individuals to understand and act on their abilities while

challenging them to achieve great things.

Scholarship: Advancing knowledge through discovery and research to better educate

our constituents.

Diversity: Embracing differences and uniqueness through sincerity, awareness,

inclusion and sensitivity.

Innovation: Promoting creative scholarly activities, programs, ideas and sustainable

practices.

Community: Appreciating and collaborating with mutual respect to foster a sense of

belonging.


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MBA @ WILKES

The Wilkes MBA program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business

Schools and Programs (ACBSP). This distinction shows potential employers,

doctorate programs, and professional schools the comprehensiveness and excellence

of Wilkes Universitys curriculum. The ACBSP accreditation creates a competitive

advantage over others seeking a career in business or admission into a doctorate

program.

The curriculum leading to the Master of Business Administration degree at Wilkes

emphasizes a general, broad-based approach to graduate business education.

Students acquire the quantitative and judgmental skills necessary for a manager to

succeed. The program provides advanced training in the functional areas of business

and also provides the opportunity for specialization in selected fields through

additional training. The core objectives of the MBA program include:

. To develop professional managers, with emphasis on the organization, operation,

and control of an enterprise;

. To enable individuals to create and evaluate alternative courses of action as a

procedure for making decisions;

. To give business persons an understanding of international business policies and

practices;

. To prepare these business persons for the challenge of understanding and

appreciating the cultural and sub-cultural similarities and differences in various

business environments;


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. To prepare students for further training through post-graduate and/or doctoral

studies in business and related disciplines.

The concentrations available in MBA program are:

1. Accounting

2. Entrepreneurship

3. Finance

4. Healthcare Administration

5. Human Resources Management

6. International Business

7. Marketing

8. Operations Management

9. Organizational Leadership and Development


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HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN

AMERICA

(by Dr. Gary L. Gordon)

Regardless of what country one belongs to, the meaning of Human Resources

Management (HRM) remains the same Attracting, retaining, motivating a

qualified workforce.While HRM is sometimes referred to as a "soft" management

skill, effective practice within an organization requires a strategic focus to ensure

that people resources can facilitate the achievement of organizational goals.

Effective human resource management also contains an element of risk management

for an organization which ensures legislative compliance. HRM is a series of

activities which first enables working people and their employing organizations to

agree about the objectives and nature of their working relationship and secondly,

ensures that the agreement is fulfilled.

Human resource management is sometimes referred to as:

- Organizational Management

- Personnel Administration

- Manpower Management

- Human Capital Management

- Industrial Management


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KEY CHALLENGES IN HRM

There are many new challenges that Human resources management has to face in

order to maintain the organization standards to the expected levels. It is a battle

where one realizes that the balance comes from a lot of sharing of common chore, of

sharing responsibilities and of sharing understanding most of all. The challenges

faced by Human Resources Management are depicted in the following diagram:

Key challenges in Modern Human Resources Management

1. Globalization: Many firms are compelled to think globally, something which is

difficult for managers who were accustomed to operate in vast sheltered markets

with minimal or no competition either from domestic or foreign firms. To achieve


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success in global marketplace, the challenge of all businesses regardless of their size

is to understand global corporate cultural differences and invest in human resources.

There are certain human resource management issues that are particular for the

global enterprise. The key issues involve staffing policies selecting and retaining

talented employee, training and development whilst encouraging employees to be

innovative and creative, culture barriers, and legal frame work. Others issues include

understanding the challenges of living and working overseas, performance

appraisals from a distance, training and management development, compensation

packages, and labor relations and organized labor laws.

2. Managing Diversity: Employees demand empowerment and expect equality with

the management. Previous notions about managerial authority are giving way to

employee influence & involvement along with mechanisms for upward

communication and due process. So every time there is need to redraw the profile of

the worker and discover new methods of training, hiring, remunerating and

motivating employees.

3. Outsourcing HR Activities: The trend towards outsourcing has been caused by

several strategic and operational motives. HR departments are divesting themselves

from mundane activities to focus more on strategic role. Outsourcing has also been

used to help reduce bureaucracy and to encourage a more responsive culture by

introducing external market forces into the firm through the biding process. It is a

big challenge before the HR manager to prove that his/her department is as

important as any other functions in the organization.


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4. Changing Workforce Dynamics: Frequently, physical relocation is required.

The increasing number of dual-career professionals limits individual flexibility in

accepting such assignments and may hinder number of dual-career professionals

limits individual flexibility in accepting such assignments and may hinder

organizational flexibility in acquiring and developing talent. Some demographic

changes in the workforce having their own implications to the HR managers are:

(i) increasing number of working mothers

(ii) a steady decline of blue-collar employees who are giving way to white-collar

employees

(iii) increasing awareness & education among workers

5. Balancing Work-life: Balancing work & life assumes relevance when both

husband and wife are employed. Travails of a working housewife are more than a

working husband, thus balancing it is becoming a major challenge for HR manager.

So a program aiming balancing work-life is required and are supposed to include:

Childcare at or near the workplace, Job Sharing, Care for sick children and

employees, On-site summer camp, Training supervisors to respond to work and

family needs of employees, Flexible work scheduling, Sick leave policies, Variety of

errands from dry cleaning, dropping children at schools, making dinner reservations

etc. and many more like the same or other.

6. Making HR activities ethical: Hiring ethical strong employees is only the

beginning. The need to institute mechanisms to ensure ethical conduct of employees

is increased a lot with the passage of time. The HR manager needs to carefully


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screen applications for jobs, weed out those who are prone to indulge in

misdemeanors and hire those who can build a value driven organization.

7. Organizational Restructuring: Peter Drucker prophesis is showing its colour

and many big companies has reduced their number of management grades,

elimination of layers, & redrawing reporting lines within their organization. Shaw

Wallace, Compton & Greaves are some of the companies that are doing so. Changes

are required particularly during the time of Acquisitions and Mergers also during the

bad weather of the firm. This is of need to keep people with and working effectively

and efficiently. These are done according to the changing character of competition,

as major companies operate through complex web of strategic alliances of varying

degrees of permanence.

8. Managing Diversity: Its value is getting more important issue because of:

Increase in the number of young workers in the work-force, increase in the number

of women joining the work-force, increase in the proportion of ethnic minorities in

the total work-force, increase in mobility of work-force, international careers &

expatriates are becoming common, international experience as a pre-requisite for

career progression to many top-level managerial positions. Organizations that can

manage diversity better trend to be more flexible because they have broadened their

policies are more open-minded, have less standardized operating methods and have

developed skills in dealing with resistance to change.

9. Attitude towards Unions: Unionization is preferable because to remain unio-free

costs the organization heavily. Pay raises, out of turn promotions, generous perks &

other benefits need to be doled out frequently to appease workers. General


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perception of managers is to avoid unionization but it is very beneficial to the

organization. It provides a mean for workers to express before the management

conditions prevailing in the workplace. But at the same time because of voice

mechanism or the instrumentality role, unionized firm have lower turnover rate and

encourage organization to provide more rational and professional management. So

the work of HR mangers gets tough here to decide whether it should be there in the

organization or not and if yes then how to control it. Strings of the union are

required to be checked time to time for better performance in the firm.

HRM ACTIVITIES

Human resources management involves several processes. Together they are

supposed to achieve the above mentioned goal. These processes can be performed in

an HR department, but some tasks can also be outsourced or performed by line-

managers or other departments. When effectively integrated they provide significant

economic benefit to the company. The following points encompass the activities

covered by Human Resources Management.

HR Planning: Workforce planning is the business process for ensuring that an

organization has suitable access to talent to ensure future business success. Access to

talent includes considering all potential access sources (employment, contracting

out, partnerships, changing business activities to modify the types of talent required,

etc.). By talent is meant the skills, knowledge, predisposition and ability to

undertake required activities including decisions making. Strategic Planning

considers the business risks concerning insufficient, disrupted, mis-deployed talent


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on the organization's business priorities. Workforce planning is considered an

iterative discipline. The cycle of workforce planning includes filling resource

requests, analyzing resource utilization, forecasting capacity, managing and

identifying the resources (human) to fill that capacity, and then re-starting the cycle.

Recruitment: Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and

selecting qualified people for a job. For some components of the recruitment

process, mid- and large-size organizations often retain professional recruiters or

outsource some of the process to recruitment agencies. The recruitment industry has

four main types of agencies: employment agencies, recruitment websites and job

search engines, "headhunters" for executive and professional recruitment, and niche

agencies which specialize in a particular area of staffing. Some organizations use

employer branding strategy and in-house recruitment instead of agencies.

Recruitment-related functions are generally carried out by an organization's human

resources staff.

Recruitment Process:

1. Job analysis: The proper start to a recruitment effort is to perform a job analysis,

to document the actual or intended requirement of the job to be performed. This

information is captured in a job description and provides the recruitment effort with

the boundaries and objectives of the search. Oftentimes a company will have job

descriptions that represent a historical collection of tasks performed in the past.

These job descriptions need to be reviewed or updated prior to a recruitment effort

to reflect present day requirements. Starting recruitment with an accurate job


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analysis and job description ensures the recruitment effort starts off on a proper track

for success.

2. Sourcing: Sourcing involves 1) advertising, a common part of the recruiting

process, often encompassing multiple media, such as the Internet, general

newspapers, job ad newspapers, professional publications, window advertisements,

job centers, and campus graduate recruitment programs; and 2) recruiting research,

which is the proactive identification of relevant talent who may not respond to job

postings and other recruitment advertising methods done in #1. This initial research

for so-called passive prospects, also called name-generation, results in a list of

prospects who can then be contacted to solicit interest, obtain a resume/CV, and be

screened.

3. Screening and selection: Suitability for a job is typically assessed by looking for

skills, e.g. communication, typing, and computer skills. Qualifications may be

shown through rsums, job applications, interviews, educational or professional

experience, the testimony of references, or in-house testing, such as for software

knowledge, typing skills, numeracy, and literacy, through psychological tests or

employment testing. Other resume screening criteria may include length of service,

job titles and length of time at a job. In some countries, employers are legally

mandated to provide equal opportunity in hiring. Business management software is

used by many recruitment agencies to automate the testing process. Many recruiters

and agencies are using an applicant tracking system to perform many of the filtering

tasks, along with software tools for psychometric testing.


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4. Onboarding: "Onboarding" is a term which describes the process of helping new

employees become productive members of an organization. A well-planned

introduction helps new employees become fully operational quickly and is often

integrated with a new company and environment. Onboarding is included in the

recruitment process for retention purposes. Many companies have onboarding

campaigns in hopes to retain top talent that is new to the company; campaigns may

last anywhere from 1 week to 6 months.

Training & Development: In the field of human resource management, training

and development is the field which is concerned with organizational activity aimed

at bettering the performance of individuals and groups in organizational settings. It

has been known by several names, including employee development, human

resource development, and learning and development. Training and development

encompasses three main activities: training, education, and development:

Training: This activity is both focused upon, and evaluated against, the job that an

individual currently holds.

Education: This activity focuses upon the jobs that an individual may potentially

hold in the future, and is evaluated against those jobs.

Development: This activity focuses upon the activities that the organization

employing the individual, or that the individual is part of, may partake in the future,

and is almost impossible to evaluate.


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Performance Appraisal: A performance appraisal, employee appraisal,

performance review, or (career) development discussion is a method by which the

job performance of an employee is evaluated (generally in terms of quality, quantity,

cost, and time) typically by the corresponding manager or supervisor. A

performance appraisal is a part of guiding and managing career development. It is

the process of obtaining, analyzing, and recording information about the relative

worth of an employee to the organization. Performance appraisal is an analysis of an

employee's recent successes and failures, personal strengths and weaknesses, and

suitability for promotion or further training. It is also the judgment of an employee's

performance in a job based on considerations other than productivity alone.

Generally, the aims of a performance appraisal are to:

a. Give employees feedback on performance

b. Identify employee training needs

c. Document criteria used to allocate organizational rewards

d. Form a basis for personnel decisions: salary increases, promotions, disciplinary

actions, bonuses, etc.

e. Provide the opportunity for organizational diagnosis and development

f. Facilitate communication between employee and employer

g. Validate selection techniques and human resource policies to meet federal Equal

Employment Opportunity requirements.

h. To improve performance through counseling, coaching and development.


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Methods: The most popular methods used in the performance appraisal process

include the following:

a. Management by objectives

b. 360-degree appraisal

c. Behavioral observation scale

d. Behaviorally anchored rating scales

Compensation Management: Compensation Management is an integral part of the

management of the organization. Compensation Management contributes to the

overall success of the organization in several ways. To be effective, the managers

must appreciate the value of competitive pay, their human resources, and have an

investment view of payroll costs. We want to maintain pay levels that attract and

retain quality employees while recognizing the need to manage payroll costs.

Pay is a difficult topic of conversation in most organizations. In fact, the topic is

altogether taboo in many workplaces. It simply isn't discussed unless absolutely

necessary. And, when it is necessary, such as when a pay raise (or lack of one) must

be explained to an employee, many managers find themselves at a loss for words. As

the dreaded date of such a discussion approaches, managers may begin checking

their sick time banks to see if they can disappear for a day or two.

Approaches of compensation management:There are 3P approach of developing a

compensation policy centered on the fundamentals of paying for Position, Person

and Performance. Drawing from external market information and internal policies,


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this program helps establish guidelines for an equitable grading structure, determine

capability requirements and creation of short and long-term incentive plans.

The 3P approach to compensation management supports a company's strategy,

mission and objectives. It is highly proactive and fully integrated into a company's

management practices and business strategy. The 3P system ensures that human

resources management plays a central role in management decision making and the

achievement of business goals.

* Paying for position

* Paying for person

* Paying for performance

Because it is so important to employees, the issue of pay deserves to be clearly

addressed. In spite of their hesitance, managers are capable of dealing with this

sometimes difficult issue in a professional and effective manner. By keeping the

following basic points about pay in mind, they can address virtually any pay-related

topic with their employees in a professional and productive manner.

Union and Collective Bargaining: Collective bargaining is a process of

negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees

aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions. Collective

agreements usually set out wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety,

overtime, grievance mechanisms and rights to participate in workplace or company

affairs.


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The union may negotiate with a single employer (who is typically representing a

company's shareholders) or may negotiate with a group of businesses, depending on

the country, to reach an industry wide agreement. A collective agreement functions

as a labor contract between an employer and one or more unions. Collective

bargaining consists of the process of negotiation between representatives of a union

and employers (generally represented by management, in some countries by an

employers' organization) in respect of the terms and conditions of employment of

employees, such as wages, hours of work, working conditions and grievance-

procedures, and about the rights and responsibilities of trade unions. The parties

often refer to the result of the negotiation as a collective bargaining agreement

(CBA) or as a collective employment agreement (CEA).

MAJOR EMPLOYMENT LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES

1. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) 1938: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),

which prescribes standards for the basic minimum wage and overtime pay, affects

most private and public employment. It requires employers to pay covered

employees who are not otherwise exempt at least the federal minimum wage and

overtime pay of one-and-one-half-times the regular rate of pay. For nonagricultural

operations, it restricts the hours that children under age 16 can work and forbids the

employment of children under age 18 in certain jobs deemed too dangerous. For

agricultural operations, it prohibits the employment of children under age 16 during

school hours and in certain jobs deemed too dangerous. The Act is administered by


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the Employment Standards Administration's Wage and Hour Division within the

U.S. Department of Labor.

2. Equal Pay Act 1963: The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is a United States federal law

amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on

sex (see Gender pay gap). It was signed into law on June 10, 1963 by John F.

Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program and was enacted by the 88 th United

States Congress.

The law provides that no employer having employees subject to any provisions of

this section [section 206 of title 29 of the United States Code] shall discriminate,

within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between

employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment

at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex

in such establishment for equal work on jobs, the performance of which requires

equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar

working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority

system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or

quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex.

3. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was

enacted on July 2, 1964 and was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States

that outlawed major forms of discrimination against blacks and women, including

racial segregation. It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements

and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the

general public.


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4. Executive Orders 11246 (1965) and 11375 (1967): The Executive Order 11246

(E.O 11246) prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors and federally-assisted

construction contractors and subcontractors that generally have contracts that exceed

$10,000 from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color,

religion, sex, or national origin. It also requires covered contractors to take

affirmative action to ensure that equal opportunity is provided in all aspects of their

employment. The E.O. 11246 is administered by the Office of Federal Contract

Compliance Programs (OFCCP) within the U.S. Department of Labor.

Executive Order 11375, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 13,

1967, mainly claims that it is the policy of the United States Government to provide

equal opportunity in Federal employment and in employment by Federal contractors

on the basis of merit and without discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex

or national origin.

5. Executive Order 11478: Executive Order 11478, signed by U.S. President

Richard M. Nixon on August 8, 1969, prohibited discrimination in the competitive

service of the federal civilian workforce on certain grounds. It claims that it is the

policy of the Government of the United States to provide equal opportunity in

Federal employment for all persons, to prohibit discrimination in employment

because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or age, and to

promote the full realization of equal employment opportunity through a continuing

affirmative program in each executive department and agency. This policy of equal

opportunity applies to and must be an integral part of every aspect of personnel

policy and practice in the employment, development, advancement, and treatment of

civilian employees of the Federal Government.


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6. Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967): The ADEA prohibits

employment discrimination against persons over the age of 40 and was enacted to

promote employment of older persons based on their ability rather than age; to

prohibit arbitrary age discrimination in employment; to help employers and workers

find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of age on employment.

The ADEA, which applies to employers, labor organizations, and employment

agencies, makes it unlawful for an employer to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge

any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to his

compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such

individuals age. The statute not only applies to hiring, discharge, and promotion,

but also prohibits discrimination in employee benefit plans such as health coverage

and pensions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is

responsible for enforcing the provisions of the ADEA.

7. Occupational Safety and Health Act 1970: This Act was enacted by the Senate

and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress and was

to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women; by

authorizing enforcement of the standards developed under the Act; by assisting and

encouraging the States in their efforts to assure safe and healthful working

conditions; by providing for research, information, education, and training in the

field of occupational safety and health; and for other purposes.


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8. Vocational Rehabilitation Act 1973: This act was mainly enacted because of the

two primary reasons that are:

(1) to empower individuals with disabilities to maximize employment, economic

self-sufficiency, independence, and inclusion and integration into society, through--

(a) statewide workforce investment systems implemented in accordance with title I

of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 that include, as integral components,

comprehensive and coordinated state-of-the-art programs of vocational

rehabilitation;

(b) independent living centers and services;

(c) research;

(d) training;

(e) demonstration projects; and

(f) the guarantee of equal opportunity; and

(2) to ensure that the Federal Government plays a leadership role in promoting the

employment of individuals with disabilities, especially individuals with significant

disabilities, and in assisting States and providers of services in fulfilling the

aspirations of such individuals with disabilities for meaningful and gainful

employment and independent living.


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9. Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) 1974: ERISA consists of

four titles. Title I sets out specific protections of employee rights in pensions and

welfare benefit plans. Title II specifies the requirements for plan qualification under

the Internal Revenue Code. Title III assigns responsibilities for administration and

enforcement to the Departments of Labor and Treasury. Title IV of ERISA

establishes the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

10. Immigration Reform and Control Act: The Immigration Reform and Control

Act of 1986 (IRCA) was passed to control unauthorized immigration to the United

States. Employer sanctions, increased appropriations for enforcements, and amnesty

provisions of IRCA are the main ways to accomplishing its objective. The employer

sanctions provisions designates penalties for employers who hire aliens who are

aliens who are either not lawfully admitted for permanent residence or are not

authorized to be in the United States.

Some other major employment laws enacted in the United States are Pregnancy

Discrimination Act 1978, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act 1988,

Americans with Disabilities Act 1990, Civil Rights Act 1991, Family and Medical

Leave Act 1993, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act 1996, Pension

Protection Act 2006, Norris-LaGuardia Act 1932, National Labor Relations

(Wagner) Act 1935, Labor Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act 1947 and

Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure (Landrum-Griffin) Act 1959.


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AMERICAN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

(by Dr. Jeffrey R. Alves)

@Wilkes University, the Allan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise and

Entrepreneurship is dedicated to the teaching of the principles of free enterprise and

entrepreneurship. Although the Center is affiliated with the School of Business and

Leadership, it is an independent center that serves the entire University, as well as

local and state functions. The distinguished professor Dr. Jeffrey Alves and guest

lecturers teach courses each semester and stress the real world application of

classroom material.

FAMILY TRADITION

If an Entrepreneur wants to succeed, persistence is the key. Failure along the way is

no reason to quit dreams if dreams are to become reality. Failures along the way are

a normal result of earnest effort in pursuit of goals. People came to America to be

free and Self-Sufficient. In The United States we are presented with 2 choices: be

either the Entrepreneur or the Employee of an Entrepreneur. There is pride in both if

they are each done well. The Entrepreneurs are the "risk takers" and therefore earn

the most when their business succeeds. Entrepreneurs enjoy the most freedom of

choice in any business enterprise.


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ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY IN THE PAST

The entrepreneurial activity had been constantly declining in the previous decade

until 2003 where it showed a rise of 13.33 percent (from 10.5 percent in 2002 to

11.9 percent in 2003). The United States exhibits the seventh highest Total

Entrepreneurial Activity rate (TEA) among the 31 countries surveyed in the GEM

(Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) study and the highest TEA rate among the G7

countries. Also, in 2003, 9.1 percent of Americans were starting a new business to

pursue opportunities that would improve their condition, while only 1.7 percent were

starting a new business due to the lack of alternative job opportunities.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND JOB CREATION

More than 70 percent of those currently involved in a start-up or in managing a new

business employ at least one person. More than 80 percent of them plan to employ at

least one person within the next five years. Finally, more than 20 percent of those

currently involved in entrepreneurial activity plan to employ at least 19 people in the

next five years. These estimates suggest that the increase in TEA rates from 2002 to

2003 may have a positive impact on employment statistics in the near future.


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ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND POPULATION PROFILE

People between 25 and 34 years of age are the most active in entrepreneurial activity

with a TEA rate of 17.3 percent. Also, men are more likely to be involved in starting

a new business than women. Specifically, in 2003, in the United States, the TEA rate

was 15.7 percent among men and 8.2 percent among women. This means that there

were 1.9 men involved in entrepreneurship for every woman. Also, people with a

specialized professional, technological, or business school degree exhibited the

highest total TEA rate at 17.8 percent, and the highest proportion of opportunity

driven entrepreneurship at 13.3 percent.

Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) by country in the last decade

Source: GEMUS Report


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TOTAL ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY: DEMOGRAPHIC

AND ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS

1. Age: GEM findings have shown a strong systematic relationship between age and

entrepreneurial activity across all countries in the study. In particular, it has been

shown that the rate of involvement in entrepreneurial activity increases with age,

peaks and then declines. This pattern applies to the United States as well. Figure 7

shows that entrepreneurial activity in the United States varies significantly across

different age groups. The highest level of involvement is shown by people in their

late 20s to early 40s. Specifically, the age group most active in entrepreneurial

activity in the United States includes people between 25-34 years of age, who

exhibit a TEA rate of 17.3 percent. The propensity to start a new business sharply

decreases when people approach retirement age.

Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) in U.S. by Age


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2. Gender: In addition to age, GEM findings have shown the existence of a strong

systematic relationship between gender and entrepreneurial activity across all

countries. In particular, the findings have shown that the rate of involvement in

entrepreneurial activity for women is lower than that of men across all countries in

the study and that men are about twice as likely to start their own business as

women.

In the United States, there are 1.9 men involved in entrepreneurship for every

woman (TEA rates of 15.7 among men versus 8.2 percent among women), which is

slightly higher than the world average of 1.7. Thus, the gender gap in

entrepreneurship seems to have slightly increased when the ratio of men to women

in entrepreneurship was 1.6 for the United States and 1.5 worldwide.

Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) in U.S. by Gender


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The breakdown shown in the figure reveals that U.S. women are significantly less

likely to become both opportunity and necessity-driven entrepreneurs than men. In

fact, the gender gap is marginally larger in the United States than the world-average

for both types of entrepreneurship. For opportunity entrepreneurs, the men-women

ratio is 2.2 in the United States versus 2.0 on average. Similarly, for necessity

entrepreneurs, the men-women ratio is 2 in the United States versus 1.3 on average.

3. Education: The following figure shows that educational levels influence the

propensity for entrepreneurship in the United States. The lowest TEA rate (6.2

percent) is reported for individuals with no more than grade school exposure.

However, due to the lack of alternative employment choices, this is the educational

group with the highest propensity to engage in necessity entrepreneurship (3.6

percent). Most of the potential entrepreneurs in this group are likely to start new

businesses in traditional sectors. At the other end of the spectrum are people with a

specialized professional, technological, or business school degree. This group

exhibits the highest total TEA rate with 17.8 percent, and the highest proportion of

opportunity-driven entrepreneurship (13.3 percent). Only 0.6 percent of Americans

in this educational group start a business because they cannot find other employment

options.


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Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) in U.S. by Education

From the above figure, it is clear that the influence of education on the likelihood to

become an entrepreneur is not strictly linear. Groups of people with more education

are not necessarily more entrepreneurial. Individuals with only grade school

education have the lowest TEA rate. Individuals with professional and business

school degrees have the highest TEA. However, individuals with some high school

education but no degree have a higher total TEA rate than those who completed high

school. This is largely due to a higher rate of necessity-driven entrepreneurship

among those without a high school diploma.

4. Household Income: Access to financial resources is one of the major constraints

for the successful start of a new business. Accordingly, one might expect a strong

positive correlation between household income and entrepreneurial activity. The

figure below shows that, although the highest rate of both total TEA and


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opportunity-driven TEA can be found in the highest income group, the pattern

among all income groups is complex.

Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) in U.S. by Household Income

Overall, total TEA rates do not strictly increase with higher income. Also, a higher

household income does not necessarily correspond to a lower level of necessity

entrepreneurship. For example, the necessity TEA rate is higher for people with a

household income of $75-100K/year than for people with $25-74K/year. This

unexpected finding is likely the result of the recent wave of unemployment

experienced in some traditionally high-paying sectors such as communications or

financial services, where qualified people have been forced to reinvent themselves.

5. Ethnic background: The following figure provides a breakdown of

entrepreneurial activity by ethnic background. In the United States, African

Americans exhibited the highest TEA rate with 16.5 percent. Hispanic Americans

had the next highest TEA rate with 15.2 percent. The lowest total TEA rate was


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found for white Americans with only 10.8 percent. Both African Americans and

Hispanic Americans exhibited higher rates of opportunity-based entrepreneurship

than Asian Americans and white Americans. At 3.4 percent, the highest rate of

necessity-based entrepreneurship was found among Americans who did not classify

themselves as white, black, Hispanic, or Asian. The lowest level of necessity-based

entrepreneurship was reported for Asian Americans (0.8 percent).

Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) in U.S. by Ethnic Background


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GOVERNMENT AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT TOWARDS U.S.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Government support includes the extent to which government policies are size-

neutral or encourage new and growing firms. This includes but is not limited to

issues such as taxes, regulations, and public procurements. Government support also

includes the presence of direct programs designed to assist new and growing firms.

Finally, the government is to a large extent responsible for the degree of market

openness and the facility with which markets can adjust to changing conditions, for

example, through labor laws and regulations. In relative terms, the government

policy, programs, and market openness indexes for the United States are the closest

in value to the world averages among the U.S. indexes. This evidence seems to

indicate that, although the U.S. government is traditionally supportive of

entrepreneurial activity, experts feel that much more could be done to increase the

extent to which these entrepreneurial framework conditions support or not hinder the

efforts of new and potential entrepreneurs.

Financial support determines the availability of financial resources, including grants,

subsidies, equity, and debts for new and growing firms. Traditionally, financial

support for the entrepreneurial sector is relatively strong in the United States.

However, historically low interest rates and the wave of small business failures over

the last few years have produced a tightening of credit conditions which, of course,

penalizes relatively smaller and newer firms because of the higher degree of risk

usually associated with them. Although the flexibility and development of U.S.

financial market has a strong positive influence on the entrepreneurial sector, the

financial support index by itself (3.57 in the United States versus a world average of


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2.61) does not provide much information in this regard. The issue of financing will

be discussed in detail in the last section of this report, which is dedicated to venture

capital and other financing venues.

NEW INDUSTRIES TO BE LAUNCHED LATER THIS

CENTURY BY 20+ AGE GROUP:

Here are the industries that are likely to be initiated predominantly by young

generation group of people in the near future:

Personal Computers, Biotechnology, Wireless Cable TV, Fast Oil Changes, PC

Software, Wireless communications/handheld devices/PDAs, Healthful living

products, Electronic paging, CAD/CAM, Voice mail information technology,

Cellular phone services, CD-ROM, internet publishing & shopping, desktop

computing, virtual imaging, convenience stores, digital media & entertainment, pet

care services, voice over internet, green buildings, large, scalable wind & solar

power systems, biofuels and biomaterials.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE U.S.: A LAND OF

OPPORTUNITY

At the most basic level, Entrepreneurship is the demonstrated ability to organize,

manage, and assume the risks of a business or enterprise. The United States is a Free

Society that fosters Free Enterprise.


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CURRENT SITUATION

Nowhere in the world is there so much entrepreneurship as there is in the United

States. Small Business is "booming"! Small Business employs more than large

companies; 68.2 million workers or 58% of the total employed workforce. On

average 2,346 small businesses are established each business day! Of course many

are disestablished too, about 2106 per business day! There are about 5.8 Million

firms and about 10.1 million self-employed people in this country. Entrepreneurship

is alive and well and it keeps this country moving!

Federal, State and Local laws all encourage the development of business. Many

books have been written on the subject and courses are available in our learning

institutions. The Small Business Administration also provides support for

Entrepreneurs.

THE FUTURE

The Internet is promoting an explosion of Commerce at "light speed" on a global

scale. Free help is available to those who have access to a computer and want to

learn. Immigrants continue as always to flow into our Country because it truly is

"The Land of Opportunity".
http://www.sba.gov/http://www.sba.gov/


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SMALL BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES

(by Prof. Ruth C. Hughes)

SBA defines a small business as a concern that is organized for profit; has a place of

business in the U.S.; operates primarily within the U.S. or makes a significant

contribution to the U.S. economy through payment of taxes or use of American

products, materials or labor; is independently owned and operated; and is not

dominant in its field on a national basis. The business may be a sole proprietorship,

partnership, corporation, or any other legal form. In determining what constitutes a

small business, the definition will vary to reflect industry differences.

Small Business Size Standards: SBA has established numerical definitions, called

"size standards," for every private sector industry in the U.S. economy; the North

American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is used to identify the industries.

An industry is coded with a six-digit number, such as 541330 for Engineering

Services. A size standard, which is usually stated in number of employees or average

annual receipts, represents the largest size that a business (including its subsidiaries

and affiliates) may be to remain classified as a small business for SBA and Federal

contracting programs. All Federal agencies must use SBA size standards for

contracts identified as small business.

The following table shows the most commonly used size standards within an NAICS

industry sector. If the size of a business exceeds the size standard for its overall

industry sector, it may still be a small business for the specific six-digit NAICS

industry. Some industries have higher size standards than the general one for the


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industry group. SBAs Table of Small Business Size Standards lists size standards

by six-digit NAICS industry codes.

NAICS Industry Sector Size Standard

Manufacturing 500 employees

Wholesale Trade 100 employees

Agriculture $750,000

Retail Trade $7 million

General & HeavyConstruction (except

Dredging)$33.5 million

Dredging $20 million

Special Trade Contractors $14 million

Travel Agencies$3.5 million

(commissions & otherincome)

Business and PersonalServices Except:

$7 million

Architectural, Engineering,Surveying, and Mapping

Services$4.5 million

Dry Cleaning and CarpetCleaning Services

$4.5 million

RECENT TRENDS IN SMALL BUSINESS

Already some financing trends are emerging as 2011 begins. Entrepreneurs have

been learning since the credit market tightened that funding does not necessarily

have to come from large banks. In fact, several non-bank sources of funding are

gaining in popularity. Here are the five of those emerging trends:

1. Credit Unions: The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) found that

the cooperative financial institutions or (credit unions) are among the most active for


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offering small loans. Credit unions provided business loans of more than $33 billion

in 2009a huge increase from the $12 billion in 2004.

Biz2Credit research shows that credit unions and other non-bank lenders, including

community development organizations, are the lenders that are actually providing

capital to small businesses at the moment because of:

a. Credit unions are local in nature, are more connected with the small businesses in

their areas, and do manual underwriting. (Whereas the bigger banks are more

automated and less flexible with regards to credit scores.)

b. Community-based lenders understand issues related to low personal and business

credit scores and are usually less rigid in their funding parameters.

c. Smaller lenders' decision-making is quicker, and they are often more willing to

provide more money as a business grows.

d. Many times, credit unions can give better lending rates than the bigger banks.

2. Micro lending: Micro lenders help people start small business ventures by

offering small loans usually below $10,000 and sometimes much less than that. The

popularity of micro-lending has spread to the U.S. entrepreneurs looked to start

business ventures with less than $50,000 business loan (to reduce their debt risk and

to have a better chance of securing capital). ACCION, a member of the Biz2Credit

lending platform, is the largest organization providing micro financing to small

businesses. The organization gives loans starting at $500 and averaging more than

$5,000. The Association for Enterprise Opportunity's searchable database is a good

means to research on micro lending programs across the U.S.


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3. Bootstrapping: "Bootstrapping" means to make use of one money-making

venture in order to fund another. For this purpose, one may tap on personal savings,

ask friends and relatives for money, and provoke vendors to start supply for delayed

payment terms. While it may work in the beginning for start-ups, it is not a solid

long-term financing option.

4. Crowdfunding or Crowdsourcing: Crowdfunding or crowdsourcing has been

popularized by the website Kickstarter.com. Crowdsourcing means a group of

people working to fund a project through a cluster of small donations. Kick starter

launched the idea by providing financial help to struggling artists. In return for their

financial support, donors receive get goods or services and/or equity stakes and

interest payments. This idea is becoming popular in business ventures, but it is not

advisable for companies that need larger amounts of money to get started. Because it

is social networking-based, it may also be difficult to raise capital for businesses that

are not appealing to younger donors. For instance, a trucking company, which is

certainly an industry that is not flashy, may have difficulties in securing funding. (I

will be detailing the pros and cons of Crowdsourcing in an upcoming column.).

5. Funding for Environmentally Conscious Entrepreneurs: Investors' Circle is an

organization that seeks find for funding and businesses that address social and/or

environmental issues. It seeks to get at-least one million American to invest 1% of

their assets in local food systems by the next decade. The goal is to help

entrepreneurs engaging in local food and agriculture to find the seed funding.

Investors who support the movement are encouraged to support ventures that will

bring profits to the community, create jobs, and foster the local food chain.


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MARKETING STRATEGIES IN THE

UNITED STATES

(by Prof. Kathleen Houlihan)

MARKETING CONCEPT IN THE UNITED STATES

Unfortunately, there is still a misunderstanding about the word marketing. Many

people in the US, including top executives, use it as a sophisticated term for selling.

Marketing representative is commonly used in ads to recruit salespeople. Actually,

marketing is a way of managing a business so that each critical business decision is

made with full knowledge of the impact it will have on the customer.

Here are some specific ways in which the marketing approach differs from the

classic, or sales, approach to managing a business.

1. In the classic approach, engineers and designers create a product, which is then

given to salespeople who are told to find customers and sell the product. In the

marketing approach, the first step is to determine what the customer needs or wants.

That information is given to designers who develop the product and finally to

engineers who produce it. Thus, the sales approach only ends with the customer,

while the marketing approach begins and ends with the customer.

2. The second major difference between the sales and marketing approaches is the

focus of management. The sales approach almost always focuses on volume while

the marketing approach focuses on profit.


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In short, under the classic (sales) approach the customer exists for the business,

while under the marketing approach the business exists for the customer. The

marketing concept is a management plan that views all marketing components as

part of a total system that requires effective planning, organization, leadership and

control. It is based on the importance of customers to a firm, and states that:

* All company policies and activities should be aimed at satisfying customer needs.

* Profitable sales volume is a better company goal than maximum sales volume.

ESSENTIALS TO SUCCESSFULLY CONDUCT A MARKETING

PROGRAM

In order to conduct a successful marketing program, one must be able to answer the

following questions:

1. What type of business is one into (manufacturing, merchandising or service)?

2. What is the nature of his product(s) or service(s)?

3. What market segments does he intend to serve? (Describe the age, sex, income

level and life-style characteristics of each market segment.)

4. What strategies will he use to attract and keep customers?

(for example: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Persuasion (personal selling))

5. What is his unique selling proposition (USP)?

6. Who is in his competition, and what can he do to control his share of the market?


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A good Marketing Plan consists of the following four components:

a. Analyze the Market: The first and most important point is that you should

understand the situation clearly. How long has your product or service been on the

market? What similar products or services in the market compete with you? What

makes your product or service better than that of the competitors? If you are able to

answer these questions quickly and concisely, then you are in a position to design a

good marketing plan. It is also important to take a close look at your competition

whether it is around the block or around the globe. The more you know about your

competition the better prepared you are to deal with it. Know your competitors

hours of operation, their organizational structure, their promotions, their advertising

outlets, whatever you can find out.

b. Identify Marketing goals and objectives: A solid and tangible objective is vital

for getting positive results from a marketing plan. How do you set your objective?

Be specific. Come up with a sales goal and a date that you will hit that goal. Both

the number and the date must be very clearly defined while setting the objective.

This objective will be important in analyzing the results of your marketing plan once

the date of your objective has come and gone, when you compare the data with your

competitors.

With the information about your target market and your competition in hand, you

can better outline your marketing goals and the steps to take to achieve these goals.

Identify what you think are your company's strength and weaknesses, and the

resources you have available including staff and finances. Committing your goals


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and the steps to a calendar will help keep your marketing efforts on track and

provide you with direction.

c. Defining Marketing Strategies and Tactics: When you are clear about the

situation and the size of the market, then strategic planning becomes easier. Strategy

entails concentrating on the target customers exactly at the time when they need

your product or service the most. A good strategy is the central ingredient of a good

marketing plan. The better your strategy, the better the results of your marketing

plan will be. For example, you need a price point, packaging, and you need to decide

if and how much you are willing to offer as a discount. All of this will help you

properly position it in the marketplace. This information is the foundation upon

which all your marketing and promotional materials are created.

The next step in the process is tactics. Tactics are the specific action steps you will

take to achieve your goal. They are the implementation of what you have planned

while designing the strategy.

d. Implementing and Evaluating Marketing Programs: The final two

components are equally important. You got to define a marketing budget, determine

how you want to spend it and evaluate its effectiveness. Besides the marketing

avenue, decide whether or not you need to hire employees, and what training they

will need. Determine how you will motivate your employees, including your

management, so that they share your goals and vision.

Evaluating your marketing programs is just as important as the other steps. You may

find you need to revise your marketing efforts including lowering the price,


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highlighting different features, even selecting different marketing programs. An

effective marketing plan is one that is regularly updated.

SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AMAZON.COM MARKETING

STRATEGIES

Professor Kathleen Houlihan provided a special reference to Amazon.coms

Marketing Strategies in which attention was given to the procedure that the company

adopts in making the availability of their product as compared to their competitors

relatively easy. Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO, dreamed about books.

In 1994, he created Amazon.com, Inc., which he labeled as Earths Biggest

Bookstore. The ecommerce company went online in 1995 and soon expanded into

other media, including DVDs, VHS, CDs, MP3s, and eventually a wide range of

other products, including toys, electronics, furniture and apparel. As such, the

tagline soon changed to Earths Largest Selection.

Now, 45 million satisfied customers shop at Amazon.com for everything from books

(most popular) to fashion apparel to fine jewelry to Christmas toys. It has one of the

most recognized brand names in the world and garners an estimated 50% of its sales

from overseas consumers. Surviving the dot-com bust of the late 1990s and early

2000s, Amazon weathered the e-storms and now thrives in the retail marketplace,

challenging vending giants like Wal-Mart and Target.


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Amazon.com bases its marketing stratagem on six pillars.

1. It freely proffers products and services.

2. It uses a customer-friendly interface.

3. It scales easily from small to large.

4. It exploits its affiliates products and resources.

5. It uses existing communication systems.

6. It utilizes universal behaviors and mentalities.

Pay per clicking advertising: Independent Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising has

been the outcast element of Amazon.coms marketing campaign. Their first PPC

campaign attempt was the mediocre Clickriver, a middling PPC program that kept

its head above water but certainly swam no great channels. ProductAds replaced

Clickriver in August, 2008. It allows any web merchant to purchase PPC ads on

Amazon.coms website, leading some pundits to sarcastically comment about

Amazon.coms possible pursuit of Googles web browsing crown.

Despite its potential interest in Googles regime, Amazon.com continues to purchase

PPC advertisements on Google to direct browsing customers to their websites. It

buys space on the left side of Googles search listing results, and pays a fee for each

visitor to Amazon.com who clicks on their sponsored link. This is typical of

Amazon.coms marketing strategy.

Continual website improvement: In todays stop-and-go internet traffic, an

engaging, simple and easy-to-use website is a necessity. Amazon.com expends


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millions of dollars and hundreds of man-hours to identify problems, develop

solutions, and further enhance the customers online experience. In a study of 20

ecommerce sites, Amazon.com scored 65% higher than the average of the other

nineteen sites usability. It has a class-leading 99.9% mobile device availability, and

uploads several seconds faster than some of its competition. In one test,

Amazon.com uploaded in 2.4 seconds, while Target took nearly seven to finish. A

navigable website has consistently topped the priority charts of Amazon.com.

Streamlined ordering process:Easy ordering is Amazon.coms ultimate goal in the

quest of making the product swiftly available to its customers. It eagerly develops

technology to allow customers to better navigate and explore their online retail mall.

An author, in his Amazon Marketing Strategy: Report One, notes that, When you

visit amazon.com, you can use [it] to find just about any item on the market at an

extremely low price. Amazon.com has made it very simple for customers to

purchase items with a simple click of the mouse. When you have everything you

need, you make just one payment and your orders are processed. This simple

system is the same whether a customer purchases directly from amazon.com or from

one of the Associates.

Partnerships and web services: Amazon.com has shook hands and signed

contracts with quite a few partners. Not only does it operate many of its own

websites, including A9 and CDNOW, but it hosts and manages retail web sites for

an array of other retailers, including Target, Sears Canada, Bebe Stores, Timex

Corporation and Marks & Spencer. It previously hosted Borders bookstores

websites, but that relationship ceased in 2008. For several years, Amazon.com

partnered with ToysRUs.


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AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM

(by. Dr. Anthony Liuzzo)

The American Legal system is broadly divided into three main constituents, which

are as follows:

1. Executive

2. Legislative

3. Judicial

Let us discuss about them in a little detail.

1. EXECUTIVE

The executive branch of the United States Government consists of the President,

Vice President and fifteen Cabinet-level executive departments. The power of the

Executive Branch is vested in the President of the United States, who also acts as

head of state and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The Vice President is

also part of the Executive Branch, who assumes the office of the President should

the need arise. The Cabinet and independent federal agencies are responsible for the

day-to-day enforcement and administration of federal laws. The Executive Branch

employs more than 4 million Americans.

The President is both the head of state and head of government of the United States

of America, and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The President is

responsible for implementing and enforcing the laws written by Congress. The


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President appoints the heads of the federal agencies, including the Cabinet. The

President also appoints the heads of more than 50 independent federal commissions,

such as the Federal Reserve Board or the Securities and Exchange Commission, as

well as federal judges, ambassadors, and other federal offices. The Executive Branch

conducts diplomacy with other nations, and the President has the power to negotiate

and sign treaties.

The primary responsibility of the Vice President of the United States is to be ready

at a moments notice to assume the Presidency in case of the Presidents death,

resignation, or temporary incapacitation, or if the Vice President and a majority of

the Cabinet judge that the President is no longer able to discharge the duties of the

presidency. The Vice President also serves as the President of the United States

Senate, where he or she casts the deciding vote in the case of a tie. Except in the

case of tiebreaking votes, the Vice President rarely actually presides over the Senate.

The Cabinet is an advisory body consisting of the heads of the 15 executive

departments. These departments and agencies have missions and responsibilities as

widely divergent as those of the Department of Defense and the Environmental

Protection Agency, the Social Security Administration and the Securities and

Exchange Commission. All the members of the Cabinet take the title Secretary,

excepting the head of the Justice Department, who is designated as Attorney

General.


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2. LEGISLATIVE

The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government. It is

bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate.

House of Representatives: The House currently consists of 435 voting members,

each of whom represents a congressional district. The number of representatives

each state has in the House is based on each state's population as determined in the

most recent United States Census. All 435 representatives serve a two-year term.

Each state receives a minimum of one representative in the House. In order to be

elected as a representative, an individual must be at least 25 years of age, and must

have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years.

Senate: In contrast the Senate is made up of two senators from each state, regardless

of population. There is currently a total of 100 senators (two from each of the 50

states), who each serve six-year terms. Approximately one third of the Senate stands

for election every two years.

3. JUDICIARY

The Judiciary explains and applies the laws. This branch does this by hearing and

eventually making decisions on various legal cases.

The Judicial Branch is in charge of the court system. There are three different kinds

of courts found in the federal court system. The lowest level is the district courts.

The 2nd level is the court of appeals. The top level is the Supreme Court.


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All United States District Courts must follow the interpretation given by the Court

of Appeal for the circuit in which it sits.

State courts are bound to follow precedent set by the Supreme Court and by the

Courts of Appeals on issues of federal law, but not as to state law. Each state

Supreme Court is free to interpret the laws of its state as it sees fit, as long as the

interpretation does not violate the United States Constitution.

The Supreme Court has the power to and does occasionally completely reverse an

existing precedent. Although they can do so both as to statutory and constitutional

issues, they often state that they are less likely to do so in matters of statutory

construction.

MAJOR LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES

There are mainly two types of laws that are prevalent in the United States, namely

Civil Laws and Criminal Laws.

a. Civil Law: Civil law seeks to resolve non-criminal disputes such as

disagreements over the meaning of contracts, property ownership, divorce, child

custody, and damages for personal and property damage. A civil court is a place

where people can solve their problems with people peacefully. The function of civil

law is to provide a legal remedy to solve problems. Sometimes civil law is based on

a state or federal statute; at other times civil law is based on a ruling by the court.

Civil law covers a wide spectrum of topics. Some of these topics are consumer law,

international law, agricultural law, employment law, animal law, entertainment law,


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business law, family law, sports law, tax law, intentional torts such as libel, slander,

defamation of character, battery and assault and negligence.

Parties in a Civil Law:

Plaintiff: the person who feels he or she has not been treated fairly by another person

and seeks a solution in a civil court. This party has the burden of proving that he or

she was treated unfairly.

Defendant: the person who the plaintiff claims has treated him or her unfairly.

The Civil Laws are further divided into Tort Laws and Contract Laws.

Tort law is a branch of the law which covers civil wrongs, such as defamation and

trespassing, among many other transgressions. Under tort law, if someone suffers a

physical, legal, or economic harm, he or she may be entitled to bring suit. If the suit

is deemed valid, damages may be awarded to the victim to compensate for his or her

troubles.

Many people divide tort law into three rough categories: negligent torts, intentional

torts, and strict liability torts. Torts arising out negligence are civil wrongs caused by

negligent behavior or a failure to practice due diligence. For example, if you are

playing soccer in the street and you accidentally kick the ball through someone's

living room window, this may be a negligence tort. Medical malpractice and other

forms of professional negligence are also covered under the umbrella of negligence

torts. Intentional torts are torts which involve a deliberate attempt to harm.

Defamation is often viewed as an intentional tort, as is battery, fraud, false

imprisonment, and interference with the economic operations of a company. Strict


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liability torts cover product liability. For example, if a potato peeler takes your

finger off when you operate it as directed, the manufacturer could be liable.

Contract Laws function is to make possible, or at least to facilitate, this activity---it

is to help private parties in planning for the future by protecting the expectations that

arise from the making of bargains. Consider, for example, a simple agreement in

which a seller promises to deliver corn to a buyer in six months, and in which the

buyer promises to pay $10,000 for the corn on delivery. If when the time comes the

seller should fail to deliver the corn, the buyer will have to buy substitute corn in

replacement; if the price of corn has risen, the buyer needs a legal remedy---since his

expectation was precisely that the agreement would provide protection against just

such a rise in the market.


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LEADERSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES

(by Dr. Matthew J. Sowcik)

Let us start with analyzing how the Unites States has emerged as a leader itself in

job performance of leadership through the following figure:

Leadership lecture in the United States was undoubtedly one of the best experiences

that I had during my 21 day Student exchange program visit. Dr. Sowcik

demonstrated how well an effective leader can carry out the managerial activities in

his daily life and can be a motivator towards his/her organization and the workforce.

He started with explaining us the most fundamental concepts of knowing leadership

qualities, viz:

1. There is No Such Thing as Natural-Born Leader. Leadership skills transcend race,

class and gender. All you need is the will to properly learn the fundamentals of

leadership. Nothing more, nothing less! The leaders around us weren't born that


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way-- they developed their leadership skills to the point that they are regarded in

awe.

2. Leadership Can Be Applied to ANY AREA of Your Life Where You Want to

Excel. Yes, you read that correctly. Leadership skills are so powerful, so universal,

that they can be used to wield influence on anything we want to achieve. Can

leadership skills help you make more money? Yes. Can leadership skills help you

have better relationships? Absolutely. Guaranteed. These skills are that awesome,

that big, and that relevant.

3. Leadership Skills Can Be Mastered By Anyone, Anytime. Leadership skills are

not limited to politicians, the wealthy, or pro athletes. You don't have to be member

of a secret club to learn these techniques and tools. The happiness and rewards that

leadership bring should not be restricted to the wealthy or the elite!

Here are some of the effective leadership skills that a person needs to embed in

himself to be successful leader in his life:

a. Boundless and Relentless Enthusiasm: Imagine being able to push through the

difficult stretches in your life to persist for the things you care and long for the most.

b. A Superior Sense of Poise: While everyone around you stresses and panics, stay

as cool as ice and reap all the opportunity that arises from times of difficulty.

c. Utter Fearlessness: Control and manage your fear -- whether it's of failure,

success, or of fear itself. How much could you accomplish with the ability to put

aside your irrational fears and focus exclusively on the things you want from life?


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d. Promote Participation: This trait encompasses following attributes:

(i) Be a good listener.

(ii) Ask open ended questions

(iii) Take ideas & screen them according to priority

(iv) Be an effective communicator

e. Elicit extraordinary performance: If a person has done something that is worth

a pat on the back or just a hand shake for congratulations, do not feel hesitate in

making it a substantiality. This thing imparts a sense of confidence boost up in that

person and provides him a thrust of self confidence in being innovative hence forth

thus bringing new ideas for the development of your organization.

Also, analyze and test an individuals ability to handle stressful situations and

accordingly provide him the necessary feedback. Secondly, recognizing

performance, as stated above, is the coolest thing that your employee would feel

proud of, as in todays world, money is not the primary thing; its the job

satisfaction that drives ones passion to be inclined towards his task.

The above statistics clearly indicate how well this developed economy has

administered its leadership attribute. People from different parts of the world are so

fascinated by this feature that the largest number of people immigrating wants to

have their destination to be America, as depicted by the diagram on the next page.


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Source: http://www.gallup.com/Home.aspx

Be itAuthoritarian, where the leaders tell their employees what they want done and

how they want it accomplished, without getting the advice of their followers, or

Participative, where leadership involves the leader including one or more employees

in the decision making process (determining what to do and how to do it), or

Delegative, where the leader allows the employees to make the decisions (however,

the leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made), leadership should be

implied wisely as it is the manner and approach of providing direction,

implementing plans, and motivating people.


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PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN THE U.S.

Being in the United States of America was just like a dream come true, if you ask

me. Along with the staff members from Wilkes University (Karen Alessi and Joshua

Savitski), we visited numerous amount of places and got to know about the

American culture and different people. Here is a glimpse of the different places that

we went to during our 21 days stay:

TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK CITY

Source: Self clicked


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Times Square was one of the best Human Inventions, reason being the amount of

technology you observe that goes into building such a beautiful place. May be its

due to the impeccable attraction of the Times Square that the New York City is

called as The City that never sleeps.

BEST BUY

Best Buy Co., Inc. is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United

States, which also operates in Mexico, Canada, China, Turkey and the United

Kingdom. It involves selling of thousands of electronic goods namely LCDs, LEDs,

PlayStation, Personal Computers, Apple devices, Digicams in just one store. Best

Buy was named "Company of the Year" by Forbes magazine in 2004. was ranked in

the Top 10 of "America's Most Generous Corporations" by Forbes magazine in 2005

and made Fortune magazine's List of Most Admired Companies in 2006.

Best Buy is also the largest retailer of cellular phones with phones from Verizon

Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, and T-Mobile.

In 2011, during the three-month period ended February 26, Best Buy saw its revenue

and profits slide, but generated a profit of $651 million on revenue of $16.26 billion.

In comparison to the same period in 2010, it tallied $16.55 billion in revenue and a

$779 million profit.


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Best Buy alone accounts for 1/5th of the total retail market in the U.S. The table

below shows Best Buys sales to customers by Geographical region in last 2 years:

Geographic Region Total Sales (in millions)

United States 35,070

Europe 3,205

Canada 5,174

Peoples Republic of China 1,558

Other Area 8

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_buy


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U.S. CAPITOL

The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the

legislature of the federal government of the United States.


NIAGARA FALLS

Undoubtedly one the worlds beautiful places to be, the Niagara Falls, Buffalo, NY,

was admired by each us as we were spellbound by its ecstasy. Huge amount of water

falls every second within this natural beauty which is situated on the border line of

two countries, the United States and Canada. The governments of the two countries


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make huge amount of profits every day, considering the specialty of the place which

needs no demonstration.



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CONCLUSION

To be a part of the developed economy like the United States business provides a

great deal of learning experience which if we try and implement into our countrys

business and trading practices can make it one of the great booming nations in this

decade. How well everything is managed, right from purchasing a small needle to

that of buying a luxurious Limousine depicts that a business to prosper fruitfully

requires effective management. Although different places have different ways of

carrying out business practices, even then the crux lies in how comfortable the

workforce feels the ease of being working under a supervisor/manager, as Philip

Kotler said, Management is to get things done rightly through others.

The visit to America was not only a study based on academics and how well we

attend the symposium and able to grab the knowledge thereby, rather it was to gain

an understanding about the American values, tradition. Americans believe in

individualism, i.e., they believe that a person make his environment better and can

make other person feel happy only if he is happy to start with.

The work life and personal life is so well maintained that a person really loves his

profession, a zeal that continuously makes him optimist about living life in a better

manner.

At last, I would definitely mention, God bless America..but only after our

Incredible India !


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BIBLIOGRAPHY / REFERENCES

1. Dr. Gordon, Gary L, (Assistant Professor of Management), Human Resources

Management in America, June 9, 2011.

2. Howden Lindsay M and Meyer Julie A, Age and Sex composition: 2010, 2010

census briefs, Issued May 2011.

3. Kelley Donna, Bosma Neils and Amoros Jose Ernesto (Global Entrepreneurship

Research Association), Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2010 Global Report, June

7, 2011.

4. Regulations: Knowing the rules, Small Business Resource, Eastern

Pennsylvania SBA, 2010-2011, pp 19-23.

5. http://tinyurl.com/3sn9yhs (August 12, 2011)

6. http://www.yourleadershipbook.com/(August 14, 2011)

7. www.sba.gov (June 7, 2011)

8. www.irs.gov (June 7, 2011)

9. www.wilkes.edu (August 12, 2011)
http://tinyurl.com/3sn9yhshttp://www.yourleadershipbook.com/http://www.sba.gov/http://www.irs.gov/http://www.wilkes.edu/http://www.wilkes.edu/http://www.irs.gov/http://www.sba.gov/http://www.yourleadershipbook.com/http://tinyurl.com/3sn9yhs

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