International Businesses Actual Applications Scenarios

Question: Describe about the International Businesses for Actual Applications Scenarios. Answer: Reflective Writing Introduction The current coursework introduced me to analytical thinking, and actual applications in case scenarios. The purpose of this reflective essay is to apply five ethical diagnostic tool results generated for my personality onto case studies. The Ford Pinto Case and the EastPac Bank case are used as the two case studies. The tools used are MCI score tool, the Values questionnaire, the BIG 5 personality inventory, the Ethnocentrism scale and the Material values scale. An analysis of what form of decisions would I have made and why I would have made it and if the results of diagnostics makes me change my opinion, now that I have a better understanding is discussed. Case Study 1 -Ford Pinto Case In the case of the Ford Pinto case study, in spite of following the US safety and construction standards, there is a known defect that could lead to rupturing of the Pinto fuel tank and could engulf both care and occupant in flames. The re-engineering necessary to address this defect was not done because it was deemed expensive and analysis proved that the re-engineering cost was set at 137.5 $ million which was estimated to be higher than that of the cost of 180 burn related deaths. Case Study 2- EastPac Bank EastPac bank is being fully privatized and as a result is only operating in high income areas, shutting down offices in other areas and have been laying off people in those branches. In addition, it uses the business process out casting model in order to move most of its business processes to countries like India and Philippines resulting in further job loss within Australia. With the cost savings, the company's CEO takes home a salary which is 10 percent higher than the next largest Australian Bank Moral Competency Inventory The Moral competency inventory MCI score scale indicates an alignment of High, at 80-89 percent. There are ten main competencies in the scoring (Park, Peterson, 2006; Martin Austin, 2010) which are as follows. In the context of Acting consistently with principles, values and beliefs, I have scored a medium with respect to the importance that I might give to my principles values and beliefs versus that of accomplishing my goals. It is true that working in a company like Ford and in setting up manufacturing I would also try my best to be aware of costs versus benefits. Costs would definitely be important to accomplish my goals, but not at the risk of harming someone else. My principles and my beliefs will never allow me to harm anybody or take advantage of anyone whatsoever. So if I was to make the decision, then I would recommend the reengineering as the only option and if an alternative decision making was to conflict with my goals then I would work on it. Secondly in terms of tel ling the truth, I have scored high in MCI and I have scored a medium in standing up for what I believe in, so it is more likely that I would even leave the company so as to push for the reengineering in Ford. The MCI scores also show that I would keep promises, admit my mistakes, and embrace responsibility as well care about others actively. These are definitely keeping with my character. With respect to my personal values when it comes to EastPac I would definitely believe that EastPac has the right to reduce costs for the company so as to bring good investments for the company and benefit its shareholders. However, sending a majority of the jobs as out sourced processes to countries with very limited banks or countries where it does not even have branches is not the right option. Many Australians lose their jobs and EastPac has a social responsibility to maintain. Secondly, I also believe that EastPac must not close all its branches, it must have some minimum functional branch for customers who need it too. Values questionnaire The values questionnaire attempts to present indicators of preferences with respect to different values (Lee et al, 2000). In terms of theoretical value, I have scores 83, and in terms of economic values I have scored 98 and in aesthetics I have scored 66. In terms of social, political and spiritual values I have scored 65, 63, and 47 respectively. People should give a lot of importance to data, facts and truths and from my scores it can be seen that I do so too. So in the case of the Ford Pinto case study, if there is established test data to show that the Ford Pinto could result in injury to a person then I would definitely not recommend manufacturing of the vehicle. I have scored 98 in economics, which indicates that the emphasis is on the practical and in particular the material values. Economic concerns of firm have to be taken into account but not at the risk to ones life. So even if there is a conflict, the chances are that I would decide in favor of data, facts and truths mor e than others. Emphasizing relationships and concerns for others is reflected in the social value (Cennamo, Gardner, 2008) A business must be such that it is able to connect with the society in which it is established and must strive to give back something to society as well (Inglehart et al, 1998). I have scored 65 in terms of social value which is very less compared to that of economic value scores. According to the scores and my own beliefs as well I would definitely factor in how reduction in jobs and branches and the outsourcing affects people in Australia, in the bank case study. BIG 5 personality inventory The Big 5 personality inventory is used by major organizations in order to attempt to understand and help their employee understand their personality traits (Hayes, Joseph, 2003). My Big 5 score indicates that I would be more inclined to be open to experiences as my score tends towards high and not low. Similarly, I would be a highly conscientiousness person and would be an extravert who is quite agreeable and is more neurotic. Now being a more open person would keep me more open to ideas such as outsourcing as in the case of the EastPac bank case study. However, my high level of conscientiousness would also help me consider my options carefully. People who are understand facts, analyze them and then take decisions would be helping all stakeholders. I believe my Big 5 personality traits as applied to case study shows that I would be balanced in decision making. In the case of the first case study, I would not be making the decision to go ahead with the original manufacturing model. My scores indicate that I have a high level of conscientiousness, so the chances of going ahead with a failure model that would affect others would be very low. My scores indicate that I am highly agreeable and as research on the Big 5 suggests that this means the person would very likely to avoid disagreements in the workplace or conflicts (Hurtz, Donovan, 2000; Fagley, 2012). Now this score opposes conscientiousness as seen from the first case study, as the decision to add re-engineering would definitely invite opposition within the company. However, I believe, conscientiousness would prevail when it comes to avoiding conflicts. Ethnocentrism scale Ethnocentrism is the evaluation of cultures according to one's own culture (Saffu Walker, 2005). The Gene generalized ethnocentrism scale is used here. In the scale it is mentioned that a score more than 55 indicates a high level of ethnocentricity. In my case the score is above 55 and hence it could be said that I am highly ethnocentric and might tend to evaluate others cultures and practices according to my own. This is a good trait, but has its cons too. The pros exist because I would be able to understand others problems and issues as my own and this would hence be good, however cons exist because I might be biased in my thinking (Frenkel-Brunswik, 1948). With respect to the bank case study, my ethnocentrism should have worked in favor of keeping jobs within the country. In a similar way I believe, according to my ethnocentric beliefs that life is valuable and cannot be put into jeopardy for the Ford Pinto case study. Material values scale Material values scale shows how much of material elements one is drien towards for defining life values (Richins, 1004; Burroughs, Rindfleisch, 2002). As part of the millennials, the acquisition centrality score is 2.8. High acquisition centrality score indicates that it is more probable for the person to see pursuit of material items as a primary life goal. In pursuit of happiness, my score is 2.8, indicating a drive towards material pursuit again. Now although this score tends towards being high I believe material acquisition and killing a life can be said to be equal. So in the Ford Pinto case, I would definitely go ahead with re-engineering to save lives rather than sell the faulty model. In terms of success definitions, the score is 2.4. I believe that I would be competitive in the case of the Bank study, but competitiveness would not lead to the tradeoff of values, there would be a balance here. Conclusion Two case studies were reflected on based on understanding of my personality through 5 diagnostic tools. Reflective writing undertaken in this coursework helps me understand my own personality traits as applicable to real world situations. The five diagnostic tools helped in self-evaluation and I was able to learn pros and cons in my trait. This course in particular helped me improve my analytical skills. The number of in-class cases that were analyzed in this semester taught me to observe details given a case scenario. Things are not always black and white, and in evaluating a case, many details have to be given consideration. I believe my analytical skills were improved during the course of this semester. References Balabanis, G., Diamantopoulos, A., Mueller, R. D., Melewar, T. C. (2001). The impact of nationalism, patriotism and internationalism on consumer ethnocentric tendencies. Journal of International Business Studies, 32(1), 157-175. Burroughs, J. 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