Divergent Cultural Characteristics

Almost all politicians told you that everyone is created equal, but the truth is we are not created equal. We are born light or dark-skinned, to parents of education or parents without access to education, and we grow up short or tall. Therefore, we all have viewpoints of our own, but we are shaped by our interactions with communities. In doing business, we must examine several points of divergence across cultures, in order to win the opportunity to cooperate with business partners.

Individualistic versus Collectivist Cultures

According to the book Business Communications for Success, by Scott McLean, people in individualistic cultures value individual freedom and personal independence. For example, Amazon's stock soared recently, triggered many online media to post articles about it to get attention. Most of them are focused on how much money the CEO Jeff Bezos is earning per day, how worthy Jeff Bezos becomes, or what percentage does Jeff Bezos increasing his rich. These newspapers authors, editors, or publishers are reflecting their cultural viewpoint.

Collectivist cultures, on the other hand, focus on the needs of the nation, community, or groups. Ownership of private properties is one of the ways to examine this difference. You probably saw the movie line before, "Get out of my private property!" many times, it reflects the opposite of collectivist cultures.

Explicit-Rule Cultures versus Implicit-Rule Cultures

Did you ever been to airports? What are the rules you have to comply with? What happens if those rules are implicit? If custom rules are not clearly communicated, even no agenda, airports will work inefficiently. For example, what are dangerous goods? A knife can be a danger to the general public, but also can be just one of the necessary tools for a chef to make delicious meals. Instead of discussing this topic all day, we set these explicit rules to avoid arguments and save time to work more efficiently.

In an implicit-rule culture, where rules are often understood nonverbally. The premise is that everyone must have known what role each member plays, the rules, even though the expectations may not be clearly stated. However, It can be a huge challenge for people from outside this culture to understand the rules of the context.

Uncertainty-Accepting Cultures versus Uncertainty-Rejecting Cultures

Have you ever been to a strange place alone? What would you do? Happy to explore the unfamiliar place? Or, it is impossible for you to explore any unfamiliar place. Similarly, when we meet each other for the first time, we often use what we have previously learned to understand our current context. 

Although there are always a little bit uncertain feelings, some people are happy to build a new relationship, some are not. Uncertainty-Accepting cultures, such as the United States and Britain, tend to accept a higher degree of uncertainty, while others go to great lengths to reduce it. On the other hand, uncertainty-rejecting cultures in the Arab world, tend to avoid uncertainty and resist to change or take risks.

Short-Term versus Long-Term Orientation

When you start up your own business, do you want to take back your costs immediately or wait for a long term revenue that is much more profitable? Did you ever dedicate yourself to a long-term goal? In doing business, the two different cultures tend to create different leadership, entrepreneurship, and management. For example, a coffee company, Nespresso, sell their expresso machines for a long-term reason, to sell their coffee capsules. 

Direct versus Indirect

Have you ever been invited to a business meeting? How did it start? Right straight to the points, or start with those unrelated things such as the weather or the recent news. Some cultures tend to get straight to the most important topic since they think it avoids the waste of time, while people with indirect cultures are talking about those unrelated things.

In Taiwan, people tend to be like in materialistic culture which emphasis external goods and services as a representation of power, and social rank. For example, an iPhone may be an expensive smartphone for someone, but it also represents an effort. It represents how many engineers spending their time on study, and how much money their parents spent on their master's degrees. But most of the people in Taiwan, do not care about the efforts behind it, they commonly talk about the prices, the CP ratio(cost-performance), and the brand image.

Reference

McLean, S. (2015, November 25). 18.4 Divergent Cultural Characteristics. Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://open.lib.umn.edu/businesscommunication/chapter/18-4-divergent-cultural-characteristics/

The 6 principles of persuasion

Principle of Reciprocity

"The reciprocity principle is one of the basic laws of social psychology"(Budiu, 2014). Mentally, we tend to pay back what we received from others. For example, if someone does you a favor, you’re likely to remember it and to return it one day. Moreover, free samples tend to encourage people to buy some of the corresponding products because they feel that they have to return the free goods of being given something for free. 

I saw this type of propaganda around the MRT stations and department stores. The salesperson gives you a free sample to attract you and reduce your barriers. In other words, they give you something before they ask for anything from you. Similarly, some retail websites offer discounts from 10% off to 30% off in order to get your personal information such as email, phone number, or membership. There are so many more examples of returning the free goods of being given something for free, but the idea is the same, the principle of reciprocity.

Reciprocity also builds trust and the relationship develops and brand loyalty. By taking the lead and giving, governments around the world can build in a moment where people will feel compelled from social norms and customs to give back.

Principle of Scarcity

Have you ever feel that you can not have anything? Don't worry. It's normal and universal. Even the king of North Korea, can not live forever and get everything he wants. You may commonly hear the law of supply and demand in Economics classes, states that a low supply and high demand for a product will typically increase its price. The prices can be lives, time, or even happiness, not just value in money. And, the rarer or more difficult to obtain a product, offer, or piece of content is, the more valuable it possibly becomes, consider the product we want will soon be unavailable to us. Therefore, for some businesses, sometimes less is more.

Principle of Authority

Have you ever walk into a luxury jewelry store, looking at a beautiful golden necklace, you pretty like it, but you worried about it is a fake product. If you trust the honesty of the store, you may purchase it without thinking. Therefore, trust is crucial to the purchase decision. Some countries have already built credibility within their society, culture, and career. For example, products made in Japan may be seen as high-quality products. Recently, products made or came from China may commonly be seen as fakes or inferior products. 

Expertise is also an essential part of credibility and authority. Will hire an accountant or see a doctor who does not get the certifications? Similarly, if a drug has passed the FDA test, and the other one not. Which one would you like to buy? I think the answer is clear. Therefore, many commercials advertisements where a doctor, dentist, athlete, or even more and more celebrities recently, has recommended products for their sponsors. This is how the principle of authority is work. Carefully use the principle will increase your chance to succeed. But remember, without integrity, there can be no trust. 

Principle of Commitment and Consistency

Have you ever state a goal or promise something publicly? Did you feel that you have more motives to accomplish it? Mentally, We’re more likely to do something after we’ve agreed to it in writing. For example, doing charity. Once you’ve committed something out loud you will have more incentive to keep up your end of the deal.

As a retailer, if you can get customers to make a small commitment to your brand, like a membership, they are more likely to purchase from you. Many e-commerce companies selling products with a free return policy, and a warranty. Although there is no commitment, customers feel the commitment as soon as they open the boxes. 

Principle of Consensus

Did you ever follow the lead of someone that you did not truly agree with? Well, if you did, you are not alone. According to an experiment conducted by a Polish-American gestalt psychologist, Solomon Asch in 1951. When people are unsure how to act in certain situations, they tend to look to others to see how they should respond. 

The Asch conformity experiments were a series of studies on how individuals yielded to or defied a majority group and the effect of such influences on beliefs and opinions. In the experiment, a group of eight male college students participated in a task. In reality, all but one of the participants were actors, and the true focus of the study was about how the remaining participant would react to the actors' behavior. 

First, students viewed a card 1 with a line on it, followed by another card 2 with three lines labeled A, B, and C. One of these lines was the same as that on the first card, and the other two lines were clearly longer or shorter. And then, each participant was asked to say aloud which line matched the length of that on the first card. But all actors were given detailed instructions on how they should respond to each trial, except the last one the real participant who is actually be tested. 

In the first two trials, the actors gave the correct answer. On the third trial, the actors would all give the same wrong answer. It was aimed to test: Will the real participants change their answers to conform to these actors, despite it obviously being "wrong"?

What was the result? One-third of all responses were incorrect, and these incorrect responses often matched the incorrect response of the majority group. Overall, 75% of participants gave at least one incorrect answer out of the 12 critical trials.

Is it unnormal? Not exactly. It is part of human nature. It makes us think, there’s safety in numbers, even though there are chances that all these other people were all wrong. The consensus principle helps business owners to influence their clients to do what they want them to do.

Principle of Liking

Did you ever been promoted by a salesperson? Did you like him/her? If you did like the salesperson, will you patiently listen to him/her? Did you feel like you are easier to be persuaded to buy something by a salesperson you like? That's the principle of liking, we are more likely to be persuaded by people we like. 

In addition, if you are a business owner, how your workplace looks will influence how your employees feel about being there. The "workplace" doesn't just mean the building or the outfits in which you work. It can also mean your team's intranet and culture.

Putting The 6 Principles of Persuasion to Work

As the CEO of a tech company, I have a new project call, Herospro which is making products for firefighters, rescue teams, or even soldiers. I try to cooperate with the largest retailer in Europe, Decathlon. And, I have to teach my general manager how to handle this case and getting advantages.

I teach him to start with the reciprocity, to give instead of taking first. We provide the orders on hand and our patented technology to benefit their products and revenues, in order to get their resources such as the market shares, and the brand image. 

To persuade them that our company is the best choice and this cooperation will be a wise choice, we need to show them that our technique is the best in this industry and has been certificated by many related authorities. Demonstrate the credibility of our patented technology and earn their trust. 

We must let them know that the patented technology is scarce in this industry and very hard to develop. Only our company can keep this technique up to date and even better in the future, to ensure the products we build together are the top choice in the world. 

After demonstrated our patented technology is scarce, been certificated, and it does reciprocate throughout the deal. We still need to commit, to reduce the barriers between this cooperation, such as free authorization during the first year. Even commit to sharing 20% of the overall spending on ads associate with our techniques. 

If their decision-makers like us, the deal will be much easier to make. Therefore, we need to understand what their recent goals are, what their objectives are, where did they want to improve in the past. In business, decision-makers tend to like those who can help them fix issues, handle problems, and grow together.

According to the principle of consensus, when they are unsure what to decide on our offer, they may tend to look to others to see how they should respond. In order to get the deal, we can invite some firefighters or some professionals to try on our prototypes. If these professionals all recommend our prototypes, it increasing the choice for them to choose us as a partner to build a strong business relationship.

Were All 6 of The Principles Applied to The Process of Persuasion? 

Yes, all these 6 of the principles have been applied to the process of persuasion to induce my potential client to join my plan.

Reference

Ahearn, B. (2016, February 05). The Principle of Consensus. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from https://www.influencepeople.biz/2009/04/consensus.html

Asch, S. (2020, May 26). Asch conformity experiments. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments

Budiu, R. (2014, February 16). The Reciprocity Principle: Give Before You Take in Web Design. Retrieved July 25, 2020, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/reciprocity-principle/

Bernazzani, S. (2017, May 10). The Scarcity Principle: How 8 Brands Created High Demand. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-scarcity-principle

Eisenhauer, T. (2018, April 07). How to Use the Persuasion Principle of "Liking" at Work. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://axerosolutions.com/blogs/timeisenhauer/pulse/836/how-to-use-the-persuasion-principle-of-liking-at-work

Lindquist, M. (n.d.). " Getting Consumers To Say Yes: Commitment & Consistency. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from http://www.straylight.se/getting-consumers-to-say-yes-commitment-consistency/

The Elevator Pitch

Intro & Background

Decathlon is a French sporting goods retailer. With over 1,500 stores in 57 countries, it is the largest sporting goods retailer in the world. Decathlon develops and sells its own brands. Each sport or group of sports has a separate brand name. Jean-Francois, Guislain is now, the CEO of Decathlon. 

My Elevator Pitch

Good morning, CEO.

I'm Bruce. A firefighter from Taiwan. I'm also worked as an intern in a Decathlon store one year ago. And now I'm a founder of a tech company, Herospro.

What do you think your business will become if the Ironman's armor is made by Decathlon, and selling in Decathlon? You may think I'm joking, but I'm not. I just saw how great Decathlon will be if we combine the advantages of us. 

I knew that your stores are selling a variety of products for so many kinds of sports. So, I would like to work with you on a project called, "Decathlon Herospro" which is making products for firefighters, rescue teams, or even soldiers. Even the Avengers in the future. Yeah, the Avengers, you heard me.

The Decathlon Herospro project can benefit your group in two ways. The professional brand image and these profitable markets will take your group up to a higher level, both professionalism and profits.

Those jobs are really professional and even being seen as heroes since the 911 terror attack. Therefore, if those heroes are wearing your products, your professional brand image would be hugely increased, and so does the brand loyalty.

Now, with your stores, resources, combining with our technology, everyone can be attracted by those products on the heroes. Here's my card, contact me if you want to be a hero for everyone. It would be my honor to work with you. 

References

Decathlon (retailer). (2020, July 11). Retrieved July 25, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decathlon_(retailer)

The Three Additional Qualities of Good Writing

The Three Additional Qualities of Good Writing

How the post-COVID workplace will change business for the better

(https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/how-the-post-covid-workplace-will-change-business-for-the-better/)

Summarize

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced organizations across the globe into a balancing act, protecting the health and safety of their employees while simultaneously continuing their operations. Businesses owners revised their strategies, and change how they operating, such as remote working, and digital services to put their business continuity.(Written by Mark Pringle, How the post-COVID workplace will change business for the better)

As we rethink where the business is done, it creates the opportunity for organizations of all sizes to advance and achieve their goals and experience a more flexible culture, reduce their carbon footprint, enhance diverse talent recruitment and make new investments in innovation.(Written by Mark Pringle, How the post-COVID workplace will change business for the better)

Businesses start to create more flexible conditions of the workplace to help them execute their strategy. They develop new ways of working, investing time and money on the things that matter most, increasing team member flexibility and choice, more flexible work arrangements, and opening new opportunities to bring in diverse talent.(Written by Mark Pringle, How the post-COVID workplace will change business for the better)

Meets The Reader's Expectations

When readers click a link or search for an article, they all have their expectations of what they want to get from it. So, you can either create their desire or just give what they want. The writer needs to understand who the intended reader is, such as your boss, a coworker, a manager, or clients. The basic and the first step to meet the reader's expectations, is to know who they are. If you don’t know who they are, you don't even know about their expectations. Although you may never meet the people who will read your articles, you still can predict why they would be addressed to your articles and what they would expect to read.

The readers expect to know "how" or "why" the post-COVID workplace will change business. And the writers did give them the answers, which are "businesses start to create more flexible conditions of the workplace to help them execute their strategy. They develop new ways of working, investing time and money on the things that matter most, increasing team member flexibility and choice, more flexible work arrangements, and opening new opportunities to bring in diverse talent".

Clear and Concise

Some academic rarely-used words or complicated grammatical structures, may not proper to anyone. Although two sentences state the same point, they may differ significantly in terms of length, describing words. You should make your articles more punchy by removing words, or phrases that contribute nothing to the overall topic. If you are not so sure you have written for clarity of meaning without any grammatical errors, you can ask someone who is not familiar with what you are studying to read your work, that's what this discussion forum is doing for us. 

The writer may consider the readers should be in a normal educational level, high school or higher. So, the writer formal words much more than informal words. For instance, "As we emerge from coronavirus lockdowns, we need to evolve the dated mindset that being in an office full-time is an actual business imperative", "emerge", and "mindset" are formal words. But it is still a concise format, as the writer lists the changes separately.

Efficient and Effective 

There is no single step to achieve the most efficient and effective writing. Start with a draft, you can revise it to the most ideal one. If the meeting only takes 30 minutes, what or how should we talk to make sure our client gets the most information? How do we meet ever-increasing expectations?

Because your written documents are products and will be required on a schedule that impacts your coworkers and business, you must succeed in accomplishing its purpose. To do that, you must first understand the objectives, goals, and desired results of your writing assignment. 

The writer has succeeded in efficiently, and effectively accomplish the purposes of both the readers and himself. The writer simplified the goals he wants to say, and explain them with a couple of examples. "Dell Technologies is working through this challenge to implement the most effective approach for protecting as many stakeholders as possible. And, it’s critical that we partner with customers to put their business continuity, remote working and digital services into practice."(Written by Mark Pringle, How the post-COVID workplace will change business for the better).

Reference

Written by Mark Pringle, S. (n.d.). How the post-COVID workplace will change business for the better. Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/how-the-post-covid-workplace-will-change-business-for-the-better/

Rdelder1. (n.d.). Academic Voice.docx. Retrieved July 02, 2020, from https://www.bradford.ac.uk/t4-ssis/ruski-files/academic-voice/page_06.htm

Ariganello, M. (2015, February 12). Tips For Effective and Efficient Writing. Retrieved July 02, 2020, from http://trisight.org/tips-for-effective-and-efficient-writing/

The Four Major Emphasis Strategies That Are Used to Enhance Verbal Communication

The Four Major Emphasis Strategies That Are Used to Enhance Verbal Communication

Visual Communication

Visual communication is the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be seen. Visual communication in part or whole relies on eyesight, it an important of our feelings, and even how we know this world in the beginning. We saw what is happening and think about how it happened.

Visual communication often used to help audiences to better understand the topic being presented. And depends on their preference and the information they are trying to present, there are many different types of visual aid. Presentations or information such as advertisements, teaching and learning, speeches, and presentations all involve some kind of visual communications. 

Although visual aids can be a very powerful tool to enhance the impact of presentations, you still must be very careful before you consider using it and ensure it will be used correctly, and beneficial to the overall presentation. Therefore, you must plan ahead and choose an appropriate visual aid.

Moreover, when driving on the road, we also communicate with other drivers. What happens if we give the wrong signal to others? 

Signposts

The signpost is one of the ways you can help your audience avoid this by signaling to them when a change is coming, the keywords that alert the audience to a change in topic.

The prefrontal cortex in our brain is like a limited temporary memory widget which implicated in planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior(SoP et al., Prefrontal Cortex 2020). 

Readers or listeners may lose their directions sometimes, forget what point is being made or variables progressively across time. However, you can help your audience avoid this by signaling to them when a change is coming. Helping them to catch the points, and follow up.

Repetition

Repetition can be an effective way to help your audience retain it in their memory, if you use it appropriately. In an analysis of nearly a million job listings, Monster.com found that the ability to communicate effectively was one of the top skills sought by employers. However, despite this reality, LinkedIn research has found that the number one skills gap across 100 major U.S. cities is communication(Cornett, Why Effective Communication Requires Repetition).

However, repetition not just boringly say the same word over and over again. You must have an alternative way to share your idea. The tile, “Global warming is raising ocean levels.” maybe not so understandable to people. But if you can prove that their house will be flooded over, or show them those scary videos, such as entire islands are going underwater. People always remember bad things longer than good things. 

Internal Summaries and Foreshadowing

Similar to signposts, internal summaries and foreshadowing also help audiences to keep on track by reviewing what has been covered, and by highlighting what is coming next.

For instance, If you’re unable to work one of your shifts, and you have to give it to one of your coworkers (drop the shift) or trade shifts with one of your coworkers (swap shifts), you must communicate with them for where or how much the works have been done. 

Is there one in particular that you believe is most effective? 

According to my personal experience, all of the four major emphasis strategies are very helpful. They are all part of how our brain works, and we all have to consider all the factors before we choose one or all from them, since the variety of personalities.

Is there one in particular that you have used in the past that successfully enhanced the message you were trying to deliver verbally and in a business setting?

Recently, one of my friends started to host his apartment on Agoda. In the beginning, he found that his customers cannot easily understand his apartment is in a great place and near a train station which is pretty convenient. Then, I started to think about the solutions. And I found that I can introduce the apartment with a map. On the map, I can show it to the customers with far more details, and the great restaurants nearby. After putting my idea on, his apartment for accommodation is increasing much more reservation rate.

Reference

Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books

Visual communication. (2020, April 23). Retrieved June 25, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_communication

SoP, Prefrontal cortex of left cerebral hemisphere. Shown in red. Polygon data were generated by Database Center for Life Science(DBCLS)[2]. – Polygon data are from BodyParts3D[1], Prefrontal cortex of left cerebral hemisphere. Shown in red. Polygon data were generated by Database Center for Life Science(DBCLS)[2]., 6, N., 3, R., 6, N., . . . *, N. (2020, April 12). Prefrontal Cortex. Retrieved June 26, 2020, from https://www.thescienceofpsychotherapy.com/prefrontal-cortex/

Cornett, I. (n.d.). Why Effective Communication Requires Repetition. Retrieved June 26, 2020, from https://www.eaglesflight.com/blog/why-effective-communication-requires-repetition

"Tactics for Effective Communication," in The Business Professor, updated October 9, 2019, last accessed June 26, 2020, https://thebusinessprofessor.com/lesson/tactics-for-effective-communication/.

What is your strongest skill?

What is your strongest skill? 

After I read the top five personal qualities or skills potential employers seek, I don't think I have one of those strong skills. Even I did have one, I still think it is not strong enough. But I would say, I really want to improve all these skills to a higher level. If I really need to pick one, in particular, I would say that I am good at breaking things down to pieces and achieve them piece by piece, just like the principle of management. Make a plan, set goals and objectives, and finish them by a logical process. I considered it is an analytical skill maybe, but I am not so sure it is good enough. So, I came here to learn more.

What skill needs improvement?

Well, clearly all of them need to improve. I like to learn things that I love, and look back to what I have improved. So, I would learn all of the top five personal qualities or skills potential employers seek as good as I can. 

What skill do you think you will need the most in your future/current profession?

I think I will need all of the five skills in the future. Communication skill is one of the power to build strong connections between people. The same ideas can end up with different results if you switch it to different terms and words. A strong work ethic is what I need my future employees to have, so I have to know and learn it first, in order to create a better culture for my company. We all need to work with other people unavoidably, so teamwork skills are the way we can put our effort into the place where we do best.

A vocabulary list of unfamiliar words from the required readings and provide definitions. 

Inherent

From the textbook, page 28, "Your audience comes to you with an inherent set of expectations that you will fulfill these responsibilities."

Definition: Adjective

Existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute; inhering: an inherent distrust of strangers.

Facets

From the textbook, page 28, "As the business communicator’s first responsibility, preparation includes several facets which we will examine: organization, clarity, and being concise and punctual."

Definition: noun

1.one of the small, polished plane surfaces of a cut gem.

a similar surface cut on a fragment of rock by the action of water, windblown sand, etc.

2.aspect; phase: They carefully examined every facet of the argument.

3.Architecture. any of the faces of a column cut in a polygonal form.

5.Zoology. one of the corneal lenses of a compound arthropod eye.

Concise

From the textbook, page 28, "As the business communicator’s first responsibility, preparation includes several facets which we will examine: organization, clarity, and being concise and punctual."

Definition: adjective

Expressing or covering much in few words; brief in form but comprehensive in scope; succinct; terse.

Punctual

From the textbook, page 28, "As the business communicator’s first responsibility, preparation includes several facets which we will examine: organization, clarity, and being concise and punctual."

Definition: adjective

1.Strictly observant of an appointed or regular time; not late; prompt.

2.Made, occurring, etc., at the scheduled or proper time.

3.Pertaining to or of the nature of a point.

References

https://my.uopeople.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=210074

Inherent. (n.d.). Retrieved June 21, 2020, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/inherent?s=t

Facets. (n.d.). Retrieved June 21, 2020, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/facets?s=ts

Concise. (n.d.). Retrieved June 21, 2020, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/concise?s=t

Punctual. (n.d.). Retrieved June 21, 2020, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/punctual?s=t

The 8 Essential Components of Communication

The 8 Essential Components of Communication

Source

Where did you get the information about the advertisement for the new product of your favorite brand? In an advertisement case, the source is the marketing media who give the information. The source is about where does the information or messages come from and where do they go to while receivers give feedbacks and replies. By analyzing for the receiver’s reaction, the advertiser (the source) perceives how well they received the message and responds with clarification or supporting that information.

Message

The stimulus, the definition, the information produced by the source for the receiver is the message. For instance, when you plan to post an advertisement on your firms' Instagram, your message including the words you choose, and the pictures you choose that will convey what you want to achieve. In the advertisement, the message consists of the way you sent it—through a post, with the pictures, the famous stars or actors in the pictures, and the formatting you choose. Also, this kind of message may only be received by those who already on Instagram.

Channel

If your message is a boat, then you need the water to help them travel. As I mentioned in the post of an advertisement on your firms' Instagram, your post needs to be sent on Instagram. 

Receiver

The receiver receives the message from the source. They analyze, unlock, memories, and understanding the message in ways both intended and unintended by the source. Recall the advertisement case, think of the receivers on Instagram. 

You sent a post (message) to the followers (receivers), who may see and interpret what you are trying to deliver. You may intend for the followers (receivers) to get your idea (message) in your way, but the receivers may see things differently and reducing the effectiveness of your advertisement (the intended meaning). Therefore, you must imagine yourself in their place, you anticipate what you would look for if you were them. 

Feedback

When the followers of your firm respond to the source, intentionally or unintentionally, your followers are giving feedbacks. In this case, the feedback is composed of the comments (messages) the followers (receivers) send back to the source. Those feedbacks allow the producer of the advertisement to analyze how well, how accurately (or how poorly and inaccurately) the message was received. And finally, as the amount of feedback increases, the accuracy of communication also increases.

Environment

When we mention the environment, we are likely to think about the earth we lived on, the atmosphere, other animals we are living with, and the physical existence which are those objects. To be more clear, the environment can include the tables, those comfortable chairs, warm lighting, and 8D sound around the room, just like you are in a nightclub or a coffee shop. In a coffee, they may text each other, or talk to each other softly compare to their laugh out loud in a nightclub.

Context

What is the context of communication? It involves the setting, scene, and expectations. For instance, an advertising producer set a scenario and made a story to induce their customers to increase their sales. In this case, the sale is the expectation, and also the customers get their desires.

The degree to which the environment is formal or informal depends on the contextual expectations for communication held by the participants. On your personal Instagram, you post a lot of your own story and present it in your own way. But on your business account, you may post it differently and considering it with different logic. As we can understand, the context is about what people expect from each other. Context plays a very important role in communication, particularly across cultures.

Interference

We mostly called it noises, and it can come from any source. To be more specific, interference means anything that blocks or changes the source’s intended meaning of the message. For instance, when you sleeping at night, a mosquito flying around your head and give you a bite without your permission, it is truly an interference.

It is also can be psychological. Recall the unhappy night you had, you feel tired and hangover. When your boss assigns you a task, you do not work out any solution to achieve it. Then, you become inconvenienced in your job. What was the problem? Can we fix the issue?

However, not all noise is bad, but noise interferes with the communication process. We do need to consider them carefully. 

What Would Occur If One of These Elements Was Taken Out of The Process of Communication? 

Let begin with the one we are most likely want to remove, the interference. We often feel great when we have removed interference. But the truth is, it is not always as bad as we think it is, particularly not for everyone. For instance, your favorite hit hop music may be a relaxing noise to you, but it may interrupt the communication process in a meeting.

How About No Feedbacks?

Imagine that you post your advertisement on Instagram, and there are no comments, likes, or shares. How do you know that your advertisement actually works as well as you think? More than that, the communication will be just a one-way path, no interactions, or information exchanges.

The word count: 885 words without the references.

References

Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books

File for Bankruptcy Instead of Completely Shutting Down

Many firms in the United States file for bankruptcy every year, yet they still continue operating. Why would they do this instead of completely shutting down?

In the United States, bankruptcy is governed by federal law. The state laws are often applied to determine how bankruptcy affects the property rights of debtors. However, there's a threshold. Bankruptcy cases are usually either voluntary or involuntary. Involuntary bankruptcy, which is the majority of cases, debtors petition the bankruptcy court. With involuntary bankruptcy, creditors file the petition in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy system generally tries to reward creditors who continue to extend financing to debtors and discourage creditors from accelerating their debt collection efforts. Avoidance actions are some of the most obvious of the mechanisms to encourage this goal.

Although they file for bankruptcy, and they possibly have to shut down in the end, they still continue operating. Why? Recall the profit-maximize firms are increasing their production until their marginal cost equals the marginal revenue, which doesn't make sense to produce one more to lose more money, and we can split the average total cost into two parts, the fixed cost, and the variable cost. The reason why they still stay in the market and continue operating is their operations can cover some fixed costs since the revenues are higher than the variable cost. If the price, the marginal revenue is higher than the variable cost, it means their operations actually help them to pay for some of their fixed cost. 

Suppose the Starbruce Bank is operating in the negotiation of bankruptcy. It earns $1,000,000 in revenue but has to pay $5,000,000 for fixed cost, and $200,000 for variable cost. So, the profit is $-4,200,000. If the Starbruce chooses to shut down, their revenue is zero, but still has to pay the $5,000,000 for the fixed cost. Compare those two options, you may find that continue operating is a relatively better choice.

Now we know the reason. Firms in the United States continue operating after filing for bankruptcy become it's less costly to file for bankruptcy and continue operating than to shut down because there are costs to shutting down and to resume business operations.

Imagine that you are managing a small firm and thinking about entering the market of a monopolist. The monopolist is currently charging a high price, and you have calculated that you can make a nice profit charging 10% less than the monopolist. Before you go ahead and challenge the monopolist, what possibility should you consider for how the monopolist might react?

While the oil price rises in earlier years, America’s shale oil industry entering the market of a near-monopoly market which almost being controlled by the OPEC. They clearly need to consider how the monopolist might react. The OPEC reacted with predatory pricing, which uses the threat of sharp price cuts to discourage competition. In the beginning, the OPEC wants to reduce the marginal revenue generated by America’s shale oil industry to make them unprofitable, since they can produce at a very low price. 

Similarly, if I managing a small firm and thinking about entering the market of a monopolist, I would have to consider the predatory pricing the monopolist might react. And I also need to consider the roots of the monopoly, was it natural, control of a physical resource, legal monopoly, patent, or just intimidating potential competitors like the OPEC. Before setting the strategies to entry, I better know how it monopoly or what is the monopolist. 

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_in_the_United_States

Putin dumps OPEC to start a war with America's shale oil industry. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/3/6/putin-dumps-opec-to-start-a-war-with-america-s-shale-oil-industry

McFarlane, S., & Minczeski, P. (2019, April 18). OPEC vs. Shale: the Battle for Oil Price Supremacy. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/opec-vs-shale-the-battle-for-oil-price-supremacy-11555588826

The Kinked Demand Curve and The OPEC

Would you expect the kinked demand curve to be more extreme (like a right angle) or less extreme (like a normal demand curve) if each firm in the cartel produces a near-identical product like OPEC and petroleum? What if each firm produces a somewhat different product? 

If the kinked demand curve to be a right angle, it more like a price ceiling set by the government or OPEC, which doesn't make sense since they all want to gain more profits. In an oligopolistic market, a firms' perceived demand curve is not fixed, since it keeps changing as competitors change the prices and the quantity of output. Moreover, in many oligopolist markets, it has been observed that prices tend to remain inflexible for a very long time. Even in the face of declining costs, they tend to change infrequently. In cartels like OPEC, their producers cooperating and controlling the output and price in the market to increase gains that behave like a monopoly. In this case, the demand curve becomes less extreme, which more like a normal market demand curve. 

The kinked demand curve of oligopoly assumes that response to a price increase is less than the response to a price decrease, and the elasticity of demand is perfectly elastic if price increases and perfectly inelastic if the price decreases. Although OPEC obviously knows that Oil has an inelastic demand curve, they mostly control and cooperating with reducing or increasing the output. They do not want to offer the market shares to the shale oil producers. 

Suppose each firm produces a somewhat different product, it may depend on either they are substitutes or not. If they are perfect substitutes, the price change will not seriously affect each other like they are producing identical products. Ultimately, they still have to consider the normal demand curve, since they cannot perfectly or totally control this market. 

When OPEC raised the price of oil dramatically in the mid-1970s, experts said it was unlikely that the cartel could stay together over the long term—that the incentives for individual members to cheat would become too strong. More than forty years later, OPEC still exists. Why do you think OPEC has been able to beat the odds and continue to collude? 

OPEC has acted as a monopoly for decades. They keep the price high to make higher profits. Oil has an inelastic demand curve, and this natural resource is luckily gifted to these countries. From the organization is started, they enforced cooperation through policy such as group production ceiling divided among members. Amazingly, OPEC has been successfully operating for decades, and its members are mostly oil-producing countries. 

Although OPEC has strong market power, each oil-producing country still needs that the world should have a high demand for its petroleum, and the alternative power resources are big threats. By cooperating, they may slow down the development of the substitutes. Furthermore, OPEC operates as a formal structure instead of an informal cartel who has to work behind the curtains. The structure of this organization helps the members implement more strict rules, ensuring they can trust each other, and able to supervise the overall supply. 

Reference

OpenStax College. (2016). Principles of economics. http://cnx.org/contents/69619d2b-68f0-44b0-b074-a9b2bf90b2c6@11.330

Stevens, P. (2020, April 10). OPEC and allies agree to historic 10 million barrel per day production cut. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/oil-jumps-ahead-of-make-or-break-opec-meeting.html

Kinked Demand Curve: Concept, Graphical Representation, Examples, etc. (2019, December 3). Retrieved from https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-economics/determination-of-prices/kinked-demand-curve/

Perfect Competition Market

Perfect Competition Market

1. Perfect competition is a theoretical market structure.
2. All firms are selling identical products.
3. All firms are price takers which means they cannot influence the market price of their product.
4. Market share has no influence on prices since the price is determined by supply and demand.
5. Buyers have complete information about the product being sold and the prices charged by each firm.
6. Resources (such as labors) are perfectly mobile.
7. Firms can enter or exit the market without any restrictions.

The Government Should Intervene in The Perfect Competition Market?

As a free country like Taiwan, the government is trying to do as few regulations or interruptions as they can. But sometimes, there are always some reasons the government should intervene or not. Most countries intervene in some specific market for multiple reasons such as national security, public health, avoid crime or fraud. However, even these restrictions seem to be positive, there are always some side effects that occur. The intervention is sometimes necessary and assists the market to increase the quality of the products or services. 

Reasons to Intervene

Most governments have a combination of many different objectives when they intervene in the market. 

Social Welfare

Without regulation, businesses can produce negative externalities without consequence. This all leads to diminished resources, stifled innovation, and minimized trade and its corresponding benefits. 

To Improve Variety and Quality

Choices are the basic power to move the economics forward. For instance, many Japanese railway companies are owned by private. If they are operating exactly the same lines and services, they don't have to compete with each other, they just have to operate like zombies. But if the government intervene in the market and regulate with the basic rules, the railway companies will follow up the steps to improve their services. Suppose the government regulates that all railways have to purchase insurance for their customers, those companies will now have to upgrade in order to stay in the market.

National Security

This is one of the most common reasons for governments to intervene in a perfect market since it is reasonable for a government to do it. For political reasons, it is also understandable. For instance, in the national defense industry, if firms can enter or exit the market without any restrictions, those secret data will be easy to out exposed.

For Macroeconomic

Governments are supposed to intervention to overcome prolonged recessions and reduce unemployment. Firms can enter or exit the market without any restrictions mean that the workers are at high risk. 

Public Goods

In a free market, public goods such as law and order and national defense would not be provided because there is no financial incentive to provide goods with a free-rider problem (you can enjoy without paying them). Therefore, to provide public goods like lighthouses, police, roads, it is necessary for a government to pay for them and out of general taxation.

Reasons for Do Not Intervene

Free market economists argue that government intervention should be strictly limited as government intervention tends to cause an inefficient allocation of resources.

Wrong Decisions

Governments are possible to make the wrong decisions and influenced by political pressure groups, they spend on inefficient projects which lead to an inefficient outcome.

Personal Freedom

Government intervention is taking away individuals' decisions on how to spend and act. The economic intervention takes some personal freedom away.

Reference

Hayes, A. (2020, February 5). Understanding Perfect Competition. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/perfectcompetition.asp

OpenStax College. (2016). Principles of economics. http://cnx.org/contents/69619d2b-68f0-44b0-b074-a9b2bf90b2c6@11.330

Boundless. (n.d.). Boundless Economics. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-economics/chapter/government-intervention-and-disequilibrium/

Pettinger, T., & Wes. (2020, April 30). Should the government intervene in the economy? Retrieved from https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/5735/economics/should-the-government-intervene-in-the-economy/