Life-Changing Experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Life-Changing Experience - Essay Example Consequently, the event was of extreme significance to my life as it offered a platform for a sound future (Ariely 34). Having grown up in China, I did not envision completing my advanced studies overseas. In my home country, a citizen’s freedoms were virtually controlled by the state. Therefore, my sole duty was to be of service to the state. Although the constitution guaranteed human rights on paper, its implementation in the rule of law was poor. The set freedoms and regulations offered little protection in the actual practice of the rule of law. For instance, property rights were not effectively protected, and the poor would end up being treated in a discriminatory manner, as opposed to the wealthy in the society. In addition, the internet was closely monitored by government agencies. This was in an effort to control public criticism of the Communist Party. Therefore, the internet was not easily available or accessible. The fear of being impeached by government officials p revented me from interacting with the rest of the world through the internet. I was afraid of being found in violation of the set regulations. Consequently, I never had ambitions for overseas studies. My mind was focused on how I would be of service to my country. Moreover, I did not even have the courage to explore foreign tertiary study opportunities. The fear of being an obstacle to social stability prevented me from pursuing this overseas exploration. In addition, my country offered various acknowledged world class institutions for advanced studies. Therefore, I harbored no intentions of leaving my country for overseas tertiary studies. However, during my high school education process, I discovered the numerous opportunities that overseas education had to offer. This was owed to my interactions with other students with foreign education experiences. In addition, my fear of the federal governments prying eye on the internet had also diminished. Consequently, I started exploring o verseas education opportunities. First, I had to decide on the course I wanted to pursue. Consequently, I decided to pursue a degree in jewelry appreciation. This had been my dream course since my childhood life. As a toddler, my mother informed me that I was always attracted to anything that glittered. Consequently, this attraction had gradually developed into a passion. Eventually, I became obsessed with jewelry and worked hard to acquire different sets of jewelry. Coming from a culturally diverse background was crucial to my endeavors with regard to jewelry appreciation. In addition, my country also offered a variety of jewelry works of art that were essential to the development of my passion for jewelry. For instance, my community was extremely religious. These religions differed from Buddhism to Taoism. However, both dialects employed various forms of jewelry and works of art in their forms of worship. Consequently, this provided a platform for interaction with various forms of this art and jewelry. This, in return, further fuelled my passion for jewelry appreciation. However, I discovered that there was a need for increased appreciation for jewelry as a work of art. In most cases, this field was usually treated with disrespect. Consequently, jewelry appreciation was not accorded the respect it deserved. For instance, the art in jewelry was not noticed or praised as opposed to other forms of art. Many people tend to appreciate jewelry based on the price as opposed to the work of art employed in the designing process of the jewelry. Therefore, appreciation of jewelry had only been reduced to the price tag attached to it, its size and few other tangible attributes. Consequently, based on my passion for jewelry appraisal, I felt the urge to promote a system that appraises jewelry

International Marketing of Marks & Spencer (M&S) in Vietnam Essay

International Marketing of Marks & Spencer (M&S) in Vietnam - Essay Example The focus in this paper is on Marks & Spencer (M&S), a UK-based company that was established by Michael Marks and Time Spencer many years ago, and it is now one of the largest clothing, food, and home product retailers in the world. The company has an ambitious goal, which is to become the â€Å"world’s most sustainable major retailer† by 2015. The company has a group revenue of  £8,733.0 million in the UK and  £1,0073 million in the international market. Providing needs and satisfying customers with the best product experiences across the world are the top priorities of M&S; in fact, they have continued to meet expectations of their 21 million weekly customers by expanding in many international markets. M&S has about 700 domestic retail stores in the UK and â€Å"361 wholly-owned, partly-owned, and franchised stores in 43 territories across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.† Macro-environment is one of the environmental issues that influenced the retail indu stry in Vietnam, as well as the industry’s growth prospect. This analysis will focus on major trends that have an impact on the organizational growth of foreign-invested companies including socio-cultural and demographics, technology, economic condition, ecology and physical environment, and political-legal. In every investment, understanding customs and behaviors of a certain country is one of the important factors to be successful in foreign markets. Vietnam is a socially stable country because of its economic renovation policies; however, social discrimination or divisions have been part of its local customs, particularly the treatment of men and women in the society, as well as the working and middle class Vietnamese. International businesses are placing a significant value on customs and cultures of their host countries because these are substantial in gaining a market share. Vietnamese customers are hard to please because they are price sensitive and value or quality co nscious, and doing business in the country needs patience because Vietnamese prefer to have lengthy negotiations. Furthermore, the family is the basic unit of the society in Vietnam; however, inequalities in terms of gender issues and classes can still be observed. For instance, men are considered superior or better than women in such a way that they have the power to make decisions for the family and do outside activities while women are left in the house to do household chores. This attitude is also practiced in the workplace wherein lower-level employees are not empowered to make decision, initiate change, and keep information without the approval of those in managerial positions. On the other hand, there is an unequal distribution of income and a biased tax system between rural and urban communities wherein taxes imposed to rural residents are higher compared to urban constituents; this event shows that government policies are concentrated to the growth of urban areas (Cao & Aki ta, 2008, p.12). Other urban biases are observed in terms of trade liberalization or industrialization, tax distribution among industries, credit admission, foreign direct investment (FDI) programs, employment opportunities, service access, and many more. In terms of demographics, Vietnam has a total population of 91,519,289 wherein 25.2%, 69.3%, and 5.5% of the population are 0-14, 15-64, and 65+ years old, respectively (Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.). This age structure implied that Vietnam is equipped with a high and substantial workforce, which is favorable to international businesses because the population is young. For instance, half of Vietnam’s total population is the young generation or â€Å"